Fayde and his group stealthily made their way closer to the main camp of Mystra’s Elven army. It wasn’t a problem for the shapeshifters, but it was a struggle for Felicia to move quietly through the undergrowth without making a sound. Fayde had regained some of his power so using his Void energy to remain unnoticed wouldn’t be an issue.

‘You would think being a Tigerkin that she would be a little more adept at this.. When fighting she is so ferocious, but otherwise she is so clumsy..’

Fayde couldn’t help laughing to himself while he watched Felicia clumsily following him. He decided to use some of his Void energy to secretly help her. Of course, by using the Void energy within him, he didn’t realize that someone had noticed.

“Who are you?”

A voice suddenly said within Fayde’s mind. He was surprised and almost lost his footing. He was not expecting someone unfamiliar to suddenly send him a mental message. He didn’t know what he should do at first, and noticing his slip up, the others stopped.

“Fayde, are you okay?” asked Felicia.

“I am exerting much of my power to send this message. I will lose soon, so I no longer need to pay attention to the battle. Someone is interfering with my ability to see what is going on there. Is it you?”

Fayde stilled his thoughts and did not respond. He didn’t know who it was that was talking to him. The voice sounded feminine, but he didn’t recognize it. It wasn’t Mystra, he knew that much. Could it be Kalina? He was worried about failing the mission and so decided not to respond.

“Are you the Void?” the voice asked, surprising Fayde once more.

Before he knew it he had already thought, ‘No’, but he wasn’t sure if his thoughts could actually reach whoever it was that was speaking to him. He almost slapped himself for answering and quieted his thoughts once more. He felt resistance, but he struggled to block off his thoughts entirely. Before long, his mind grew quiet once more.

“Fayde, Fayde, Fayde, FAYDE!”

Felicia kept yammering at him when he didn’t respond.

“Nothing, it’s nothing Felicia! Be quiet or you will alert the enemy!”

Fayde finally hushed her. The shapeshifters were looking at them funny.

“Can you two stop fooling around? What kind of nonsense is this?” whispered Kerron angrily. He could only shake his head at their unprofessional behavior.

Didn’t they realize they were on a mission? One had suddenly gone blank, seemingly losing their mind, and the other wouldn’t shut up. It was a wonder that they hadn’t been found out yet, but there was still some distance from the main camp. It seemed these Elves were very arrogant and didn’t even bother having scouts around the main camp. They didn’t even detect any alarms set up by magic or sensory spells.

The shapeshifters couldn’t use magic themselves, but they were actually very sensitive to it since magic originated from the Void. They were very much creatures that had been tainted by the Void to begin with, how could they not be sensitive to it? It was exactly why they were so confused about Fayde. He appeared Human, but at the same time, not.

“Sorry, we are here. Is it time yet?” asked Fayde.

“Our shapeshifter army has already attacked the Dark Elves. Mystra will soon win the battle. This is the best moment to strike.”

“Good, how many enemies are there around the command tent?”

“A dozen guards at most around the command tent. They have grown quite lax since the battle is moments away from finishing. There were many more Elves around the perimeter we passed earlier, but with the General using his authority of the fragment to confuse their senses we were easily able to get past them. That is why we have had such an easy time getting this close. This is as much as he can help us, are you ready?”

“Yes. Do your thing, take out the guards and Felicia and I will rush the tent.”

“Wait here, we will return shortly.”

The several shapeshifters quickly left the area and only Felicia and Fayde remained. They were crouching in the dense foliage and looking out towards the command tent which was much larger than expected. It was quite garish and luxuriant looking. One could say it was a palace among tents.

“Mystra’s general must really be an arrogant one.”

“Why do you say that Fayde?”

“Just look at that tent, it’s practically an arrow that says ‘Look, here I am. Only an idiot or a real pompous fool would have a tent like this. I don’t know if it is because of the arrogance of Elves or what. Well, my experience with Elves only includes one so far, and he was a jackass.”

Felicia giggled, “Well, at least it makes our job easier.”

“Yep. Look, there goes one guard, two. These shapeshifters sure are efficient. They will be a big help to us once we return.”

Fayde admired the quick and silent movements of the shapeshifters from his cover. They were very skilled in killing silently.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Fayde, that’s Kerron, he is signaling us.”

“Alright, let’s go. Rush the tent.”

Felicia and Fayde didn’t bother hiding anymore. They got up and quickly ran straight for the entrance of the tent. The guards had already been dispatched so there was no need to keep hidden. They still couldn’t make too much noise though, at least not until they killed Mystra’s general. It was a short run and the two burst into the command tent which was far more spacious inside then they expected.

“Well, this is awkward.”

Fayde looked around and the inside of the tent may have actually really been a palace. Surprisingly, there was no one inside that they could see from the entrance. Of course, the entrance was a large hall with many rooms.

“Fayde, where are we? This place is creepy.”

“Hmm.. Well, I don’t know much about magic, but this must be some kind of space manipulation. I guess the inside of the tent is its own space.” replied Fayde.

“I don’t get it.” Felicia scratched her head in a cute manner.

“Forget it, let’s just find the general quickly.”

The two quietly made their way down the hallway and slowly opened each door. Each door they opened led to a different room, each with their own furnishings and purpose. Some of the rooms were quite strange and Fayde couldn’t figure out what they might be used for. The purpose of most of the rooms seemed to be for leisure of some kind however, or perhaps entertainment of some kind. Every door he opened seemed to be a room more exaggerated than the last.

“This is reminds me of a house of horrors..”

“What’s a house of horrors? It sounds scary…” Felicia asked with some concern.

“Nothing, nevermind. let’s just hurry up!”

Once they finally made it towards the end of the hall, there was only one door remaining. It was fancier than the rest and very ornately decorated.

“This has got to be it, are you ready?”

Felicia nodded enthusiastically and Fayde opened up the door and rushed in with his sword at the ready. He was immediately met with a very frightening scene. A naked Elf was admiring himself in an overly large mirror. The Elf was equally as surprised at the intrusion of the two, but once Fayde’s and the Elf’s eyes met, there was a look of shock.

“Glafandal!”

“YOU!”

“Good! I was just thinking about when I would get to see you again! As they say, enemies truly do meet on a narrow road you bastard!”

“You’re supposed to be dead, what the hell are those shapeshifters doing!? Are they trying to rebel?” Glafandal couldn’t conceal his anger.

“Doesn’t matter, you won’t be alive to find out.”

At that moment, Fayde’s power exploded. The General hadn’t let him down and his power poured into Fayde filling Fayde with the power of the Void. It was only a temporary power boost, but the power he received from the General was immense. It was only a shred of the power he once possessed, but it was greater than Fayde expected.

Glafandal was shocked once more at Fayde’s explosion of power and he fearfully stepped backwards. Noticing his life was in danger, he immediately began summoning his own magic to defend himself from Fayde’s attack.

“You are no match for me now Glafandal!”

Fayde blasted a beam of Void energy repeatedly against Glafandal’s defenses. The scene was quite awkward due to Glafanda’s nakedness, but this didn’t dissuade Fayde and Felicia from acting. Felicia immediately rushed Glafandal while Fayde blasted him with ‘Void Beams’. Glafandal could just barely block the ‘Void Beams’ with his magic, but it left him strained. With Felicia closing in, he jumped back while blocking Fayde’s attack and attempting to use his magic to strike at Felicia.

“Do you really think you can take your eyes off me?”

The Void energy grew thick around Fayde as he summoned dozens of ‘Void Blades’ which crossed dimensions to strike at Glafandal, catching him off guard. Although Glafandal had fought Fayde before, Fayde was much stronger than previously with the aid of the black dragon’s power. Glafandal attempted to defend himself from the dimensional blade strike, but he could only block a few. There were just too many, and there seemed to be an endless number of sword strikes slashing at him.

Glafandal dropped to his knees bloodied right at the moment Felicia jumped with her hammer raised upwards. She slammed her warhammer down with incredible strength, activating one of her powerful skills. Glafandal looked upwards in fear as he attempted to draw upon his remaining reserves of magic and braced himself for the impact. He was able to block some of the incoming damage, but the warhammer hit an incredible force which almost crushed him beneath it.

“Mystra has achieved victory in this battle, Kalina’s general has been slain!”

A strange robotic voice announced throughout the fragment the victory of Mystra, but it was too late for Glafandal.

“NO!!” Glafandal screamed as several dimensional blades pierced his body and one final blade cleanly removed his head.

“Mystra’s general has been slain.”

Another announcement sounded out surprising the elves who had been battling against the dark elves. The battle had just finished a moment before and was soon followed by another announcement before anyone could even celebrate.

The entire fragment began to visibly quake, causing many of those currently within the fragment to trip and fall. They were not expecting such an outcome and were clueless to what was going on. Even the shapeshifters were uncertain, nothing like this had ever happened before.

“Fayde, what’s going on?” Felicia asked before turning around to look at Fayde.

Fayde was clutching his head and visibly in pain. His eyes were closed and his eyelids were quivering like he was struggling with something.

“Fayde! What’s wrong!?”

Felicia rushed to Fayde’s side and grabbed onto him, but Fayde didn’t answer. Fayde was struggling due to the immense power that was currently flowing into his mind. It was almost like a dam that had been broken, causing the Void energy within him to pour out like a flood. He screamed, falling to his knees and panting. It was an incredible amount of pain, something he had felt before whenever an incredible amount of Void energy entered his body. It was remaking him internally in a way that he didn’t quite understand. He could feel is inner body wriggling and churning, but he had no idea what was going on.

Felicia was panicking and didn’t know what to do, she tried to help Fayde stand but was blown away from him by some type of energy that surrounded him. Although Fayde was in extreme pain, his mind regained clarity and he was suddenly thrust into a strange place within his mind. There, he heard a gentle voice.

“Thank you Fayde.. Please, watch over my people.. And take care of my brother and sister. They are the last of my family…”

The voice faded, and Fayde was filled with silence. But that wasn’t the end. His body suddenly felt light and immaterial. He couldn’t see what was going on, but he appeared within a strange and dark space. He was once more surrounded by the light of the stars.