The streets of Londonium were bustling as always in the day. Yet, at night the magic lamps along the street made the alleyways and back streets extra dark, gifting those unsavory members of its populous travel unseen by the constabulary. For Darak Lordarn it was the best way to get closer to his target, his fine clothes did draw the eyes of some, the well-made suit and dress shoes were a fortune to those that lingered around him, his black wood cane that hides a blade did nothing but punctuate his movements with light clicks where it landing on the stones of this alley, but his familiar on his shoulder made all of them think thrice before approaching him, the magic glow in that cat’s eyes unsettling anyone but the most well-trained magic user. This alleyway was one he had traveled before, its twists, and turns were familiar to him, yet not for some nostalgic warmth of longing but instead it stoked his desire to see his mission done, his goal a difficult one, one that would do far more then anyone would dare to try, but that was the talk of the undriven, and he was driven, he had spent years overseas learning all he could so as to gather power.

As he came around the last corner his eyes landed on his objective, taking enough step until he was at the edge of the shadows, the gleaming manor of Baron Wiandran, almost as large as the manors of the Dukes, yet most resplendent as the Baron’s magic had made it so, the fence made intentionally to be magic circles that the ordinary citizens can see, and know of his power and might so that they would know their place, the three floors resting on top of a half basement where the maids and butlers lived, the guards that stood inside the gate, hired and equipped to protect the house from everything from the citizens and magic assault, a fortress to its self, one of many throughout the city, yet this one, this one manor for a court mage, this one home to a noble bloodline made Darak’s blood boil most, for it was the home of his bastard baring father and his vile wife.

Darak never wanted to be born, his one wish throughout his early life was to live with his mother in peace and serenity, a life that would have been his if the Baron’s wife hadn’t given birth to a son and a seven-year countdown started. But now fifteen years after his mother’s banishment, thirteen years after her death at the hands of his men, twelve years after his flight from the city, and onto a ship for Farnkia. He has returned to reap what that woman has sown, and he will do it in brutal fashion, as befitting a house of a baron. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the target, the lights within were dimmed save the locations of guards moving within, the stillness of the late hour letting him feel a bit at ease as he did not need to hide his wrath behind a mask of a well-mannered mage.

But a sudden tug on his pant leg drew his eyes away, and curled up in a heap beside him was a starved and disheveled woman, her eyes showed little in the way of recognition of her actions, but something else drew his eyes as he saw the bundle she was holding on to carefully, even now, as she crawled closer to him she held that bundle with care, her eyes trying to see who he was, and her voice weak and nearly gone.

“Please, Milord, save my baby, I know I shouldn’t have, but that is my sin to carry, have mercy.” She requested, her strength barely enough to pull herself up, her frail form too weak to hold on.

Darak took a knee and pulled the hood that covered the bundle, and he saw the eyes of a baby less than a year old, close to death’s icy grip. His eyes were gone like its mother, but he saw them, eyes like his vibrant green. Darak leaned down a bit and scooped the woman up, carrying her like a bride, as he looked over to the house of the baron.

“Yet another bastard you abandoned, Fear not Lady Jazabel, I will return soon.” Darak said with venom at the manor. Then looked to his shoulder, “Zaiz, teleportation to our home, I would not like to be seen taking her.” He ordered his familiar.

The jet-black cat with glowing red eyes stepped onto the woman, pulled a small pouch out of Darak’s pocket, and placed it in Darak’s right hand, then curled up around the child.

Darak focused his magic energy into the pouch while summoning a mental image of his new sitting room, taking deep and careful breaths as he did. Then when all was set for the spell he opened his eyes and spoke the words to activate the spell. “ Ekat su ot ym s’emoh gnittis moor.” then the strange man who walked the back street without fear, his devil-eyed cat, and the dying woman and baby vanished in a whirl of silvered dust.

The sitting room of the townhome Darak had bought was furnished in a manner to allow it to be his arrival zone while also acting as a space to entertain his guests, the large couch on one side facing inwards, flanked by tables with magic lamps on them, the two recliners facing it, made of the same soft padded silk, and the tea table in the middle, all of which rested on a carpet gifted to him by his master of summonings from the Arabia corridor, Darak walked carefully and lay the woman to rest on the couch, then stood over her while pulling a second pouch out of his pocket, and prepared a new spell.

“Master, Are you sure you wish to use this spell on her?” The mental words of Zaiz rang in his head, as the cat leaped up and onto the high table behind the couch, his eyes focused on the man. “That is a lot of costly material, why waste it on her, we can find someone else to help.”

Darak stopped his preparations and reached down and focused on the woman, sending his mana in waves into her, to feel her whole being and even her soul, he found something interesting, so he started his preparations again as he spoke, “Yes, she has a mana point, it is small but undeveloped, she will be of use, and I can show her how much I have used tomorrow, that way she will owe me her’s and her baby’s lives. Now be silent, I need to focus.”

Darak formed a mental image of the woman and baby, healthy and whole, while also making minor changes to them, changing the child’s eyes from green to blue like his mother, and modifying her form to be more robust and elegant, Finally opening his eyes and dropping his illusions that hide when he used his power, the swirling mana flowing from his eyes, “Lady Freya, I beseech your almighty power, this woman and baby need your life-giving kiss so that they would be whole, heed my call and renew them and make them anew.”

A magic circle formed over the woman and showered her and her baby in a mana rain that restored her body to health, her hair growing clean and untarnished, her skin smoothed and vibrant, while her body came back to how she may have looked but a few days ago. Her baby was whole again and moving a bit in his mother’s arms, as it was about to cry out and disturb his mother, Darak leaned down and poured a soothing and tranquil mana into the baby, lulling it to rest. Finally, he stood up and gave a flourish in the air calling for two blankets, willing one to rest on the woman, while he took the other and sat down in one of the recliners.

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Darak looked over the woman, thinking over his plan, he could breach the defenses of the baron’s house, however doing so would only complicate things, he wanted the baroness to suffer as she had made him and his mother suffer, officially he was pronounced dead in an alleyway years ago, an unfortunate end of an illegitimate child of the baron, but the truth was that the Baron had killed his mother, and tried to kill him too, saved by his rage that forced his mana into saving him, carrying him into the path of a ship that had set sail, taking him to the mainlands of Europa, and to the nation of Frankia.

Darak had no dreams or vivid memories to run through as he slept but was awoke by his familiar “Master she is waking up,” Zaiz notified him, and he opened his eyes to the cat resting while watching the woman stir a bit.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking up at the cat, and shrinking back away from the red-eyed black cat that was watching her, fearful of the clearly magical being. But her body shuddered as a voice rang out from her right, “Zaiz, you are scaring our guest, now come here.” She slowly watched as the cat got up and leaped over her to the tea table, then up into the lap of a finely built man dressed in a three-part black suit of sharp blue accents, sitting in a recliner, his eyes emitting a soft blue glow of mana, his smile was warm but hid some other desires behind it. His hair was cut a bit short and framed his face, his sharp chin and full cheeks made him look youthful yet the few points where scars could be seen made it clear that his training in magic was hard. “Good morning, I hope you slept well.” he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, calling for a tray of tea that hovered in from the back of the room, the pot emitting steam a few seconds later. “Tea?” he said with a gesture.

She shook her head, and sat up while holding her baby “Are you a mage? You have a familiar.” she asked warily, a fear of him being something other than a mage meant she would be in deep danger.

Darak shook his head but stopped the mana-pooling technique he was using, revealing his green eyes, “My name is Darak Lordarn and I am an Arcanist, I have not been back to this city for many years. This is my bound familiar Zaiz, short for Zaiz-zaila-quaiz-phox. Last night you grabbed onto my trousers and asked for my help, and I did, but you should know that magic is not easy or cheap, so I allowed you to stay here for the night so that we could discuss payment.”

She shuddered a bit, and looked down at her baby, closing her eyes tight and shedding a teardrop, “I will give you my soul as long as you vow to take care of my child, he is not much but he is precious to me.” She said in a fearful voice as she cradled her baby. “That is all I have to offer.”

Darak smiled, “I will take it, As of today, you will be my wife and you will seek to aid me in all my endeavors whether they are good or ill. In return for this payment, I will care for you and your child, while teaching you everything I know.” He said back with confidence.

“What?” She said a bit flustered, her hand holding a bit tighter on her baby, and she scooted a bit away from him “Wife?”

Darak smiled warmly, “Yes, for my plans I need to be a married man, and I find your determination to save your child admirable, in fact, I would say you have thoroughly gripped onto my heart, as black as it is.” he said as he ran his hand over Zaiz’s fur. “That and I found out that you can do magic too, so training my wife in defensive magic would be considered fine within the city.”

“But I can’t use magic, my father was a peddler, and my mother was a seamstress, I am a commoner.” she said back quickly a clear effort to refute his claim that she was more than she was taught to believe.

“No, you have a mana point like mine, however, yours is weak and heavily underdeveloped,” Darak said back with a dismissive hand wave, “With training and knowledge you can be an Arcanist too.”

“What is an Arcanist?” she asked as she looked over at him and then down to the cat. “You have a familiar so you can use Mage magic, but you called the tea over like a Seer.”

“An Arcanist is a practitioner of magic, they have no set field of study, and their mana is flexible and not set so they can use every form of magic, be it healing, summoning, spirit seeking, or contracting familiars.” he said with a happy tone, “They need years to truly master their craft but even a three-year arcanist can hold their own against ten-year mages. I have a dream that is grand but I need to have you at my side to succeed,” He stood up and walked around the tea table and to her side, pulling a multi-gemmed ring from his pocket, and came to a knee while presenting it to her “So, I ask again will you be my wife.”

“But surely you have better prospects than me, like a nobleman’s daughter or a lady-in-waiting somewhere in the city.” She said back still reluctant to agree to the marriage that was born of his own desire and designs.

“Yes, I guess you may be right in the long run, however, my plan would be delayed by months if not years until I could see if the woman I am courting has the mana points I need.” Darak said back, his tone a bit infuriated but not angered, “However, fate has been kind to us both, you called for aid and found it in me, and I needed someone with your kind of mana to achieve my plans. But if you insist that I stop this request for payment then I guess I’ll have no choice but to throw you out, as painful as it is.”

The woman stared at him for a few seconds, then glanced down at her baby, “I can’t do this, it is too much for me to accept, I know nothing of you or what you may do to me if I fail you. But it is clear I have little choice if I want my child to live happily.” she said while stroking her baby’s face carefully, “Will you truly take care of my and my child?”

Darak bit on his index finger and traced a magic script into the air, forming lines of glowing magic over his head, “I, Darak Lordarn, hereby make a vow upon my soul to the great realms, to treat the woman before me and her child with neither malice nor discontent, to uphold them as I would do myself, and see to their safety and comfort for the rest of my days.” he said aloud and the script flashed and turned in to a piece of parchment, that he caught and held out to her with the ring. “I am a man of my word, As long as you help me in my goals, I will care for you and your child.”

The woman stared at him, her eyes welling up with tears as whatever fears she had for her and her child’s safety was shattered by him and the magic vow he had made to her, then held out her hand while nodding, “Yes, I will marry you for as long as you will have me.”

Darak slid the ring on and poured a bit of mana into it, making it resize to her finger and activate the layers of protective charms and spells he had placed within, then looked up to her with a smile. “Then may I know my wife’s and child’s names.”

She smiled back, “My name is Meaio, and my son has no name.” she said then pulled back a bit “He is the bastard son of the heir to the Barony of the Grand Magus, please protect him.”

Darak smiled, and spoke, “I see then we should give him a name, do you have a suggestion?”

She thought it over and smiled, “Arcaio, his name will be Arcaio Lordarn, son of Darak and Meaio Lordarn.”

Darak smiled back at her while reaching over and tenderly tracing a pattern on the boy’s forehead, “Arcaio, as of now you are my son in all that I do, I bless you with life, love, and happiness, I ward you from fear and gift you the brilliance of mind with all the powers I have within me.” he said and a small glow enveloped the boy before dissipating. He then looked up to Meaio, “Come, we need to get some food for you and me, and get you some clothes befitting your new status as my wife.” he stood up and extended a hand to her.

She smiled and took his hand, letting herself and Baby be lifted up and to her feet, finding him a head taller, but he guided her to the corridor, pulling a long cloak free and throwing it over her. “What are your goals, I would like to know what design you need my help with.” she asked as he adjusted the covering over her.

Darak smiled, “I plan to overthrow the kingdom and make this nation one of magic that is free and accessible to all, not just nobles.” He said back then leaned down and kissed her hand. “But I will never make you blood your hands, for that will be my work.”