Legosia and the prince grew closer to each other. The former grew further and further in rank, while the latter indulged himself in tomes and politics. They raised each other up to greater heights, covering for the other as they trusted no one else to.

And so, their companionship continued, until the fateful day of King Vernash’s passing.

-From the 5th Chapter of “The Remont of Elneshe”

Galeon sat on the outskirts of the camp. He dropped a bundle of sticks on the ground, near a little area he'd set up. He sat back on a log, picking up one of those same branches. Placing his palm to the edge, he freed his bewl. The energy coursed through the jet, igniting the branch instantly. Galeon threw it on the rest of the pile. A fire sprang up in front of him, thawing out the snow and warming Galeon.

He stared back at the camp, where bewllan lit up the streets. Something repulsed him from staying inside. Kept him outside and aware. The Afterplanar, as Galeon had taken to calling him, was out here somewhere.

He kept his eyes peeled for any sights of Planar portals. There were already Afterburners in the sky at all times, scanning from above. But the woods, those were blocked from their view. No one thought that the Planar would come through there, but Galeon wouldn’t believe it.

If the man had two powers, who knew how much bewl he could use. Galeon stared right into the heart of the forest. Hours passed in front of the crackling fire. Snow fell all around Galeon, and he kept his eyes fixed on the forest still.

Foxes and Squirrels peeked out of the forest, crossing close to the Afterburner and his flame. A single fox was brave enough to approach the flame, and laid down next to it. It looked lethargic and underfed, and Galeon gave it a pitying look.

He took out a pouch of rations he had with him. There was only so much dried jerky left, so he took a single stick and held it towards the fox. Its eyes were closed, but it sniffed at the air in front of it. A few moments later the animal rose up and followed the scent to Galeon’s hand.

the Afterburner held it out for the animal, who snapped it up in its jaws. It swallowed it down in an instant, then sat a bit closer to Galeon. He patted the fox, continuing to look into the forest.

But nothing came. Emile would’ve been much better at this, wouldn’t he? He’d always known more about spying than him. Galeon thought it was his own special kind of hallowmancy. One that isn’t an explicit power, nor restricted, but earned instead.

But if Galeon told him that, he’d laud it over Isil, wouldn’t he? Emile would’ve taken any chance to get one over on the Planar. And Isil wouldn’t notice, walking away through another portal as the scout shouted at him.

And Novi would reprimand them for their antics. Tell them how they were all acting like kids. She’d tell Galeon to stop laughing at Emile, even if a smile snuck onto her face sometimes.

Galeon let out a chuckle. The fox twitched an ear at him, and he stopped. Fire crackled in front of him, and he was brought back to the now.

Emile and Isil were gone now, and he was suffering for his own decisions. He could’ve killed them all. Driven them off enough for Emile and Isil to run. Yet, a stupid sense of justice had held him back, and killed his friends.

Was this Seraphas’ lesson? Knowledge imparted on him only though pain and suffering? But preservation was his domain. Seraphas wouldn’t send down a lesson so cruel to Galeon, not when it went against what the God stood for.

Galeon breathed out a sigh. A branch cracked at the edge of the forest and Galeon snapped his head in its direction. There was someone inside.

Galeon waited a few moments, listening to the forest intently for another sound. His breath quickened. If he was back, then… Galeon rose up from the branch, brandishing his knife. The fox rose up as well, on guard.

“Come on now, lad. I’m not here to kill you,” said a voice.

Galeon saw a shadow in the forest. It formed into the figure of Duke Lambre, and he sighed.

“You shouldn’t be out there, sir Lambre,” Galeon sheathed his knife. The fox had long run off at that point.

“I could say the same to you, couldn’t I?” the duke told him, rubbing his bushy moustache.

“You shouldn’t be out here, sir. There’s a dangerous hallowmancer roaming around,” Galeon told Duke Lambre.

“I’ve heard of it, Galeon. A surprise to be sure, but not the first one of them I’ve seen,” Duke Lambre replied, moving closer to the young Afterburner. He took a seat on the log beside him and gestured for Galeon to do the same.

“But I’ve nothing better to do, so I thought I’d lecture a promising young soldier.”

“You’ve faced a dual hallowmancer before?” Galeon asked him.

“Triple,” the duke told him.

“Three hallowmancies?!” Galeon exclaimed. Even two was unheard of, and yet the Duke had mentioned three of them?

“You’ll come to realize, Galeon, that we aren’t just weapons of a single God. The Phasin Gods can choose multiple blessings to bestow on someone, if they see it fit.”

“How strong was the hallowmancer you’re talking about?” Galeon asked him.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Oh, her? Weak. Set herself up a nice cult on the fringes of the country during the civil war. His Highness had me get rid of them before they grew too strong.”

“How? Wouldn’t she be three times as powerful as any of us?” Galeon asked.

“That there lies the problem, Galeon. She wasn’t three times as strong, the woman just had three times as many things to master. She’d only recently learned of her own powers, and practice didn’t come easy for them. By the time me and my soldiers arrived, she was competent, yes, but nothing we couldn’t handle,” Duke Lambre explained.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you like getting yourself in trouble. Even if I try to keep you out of it. If you’re going to keep doing that, I might as well give you some advice on how to face a hallowmancer with multiple powers,” the duke told him.

He launched into a tirade about the woman he’d faced. A Commander, Devourer and Soulweaver, she had an eclectic set of powers that made her trouble to deal with.

“That’s not the main problem with those types, though. Something deeper happens between the powers. I’ve only seen it once myself, but they mix together to give rise to something else. Let us hope this one hasn’t learned to do so,” Duke Lambre.

“That’s unfair! How is a hallowmancer supposed to deal with them?” Galeon asked. The duke smiled at him.

“The same way most normal soldiers deal with even a single hallowmancer. Smarts and tactics. Crowding tactics and traps to take them out. That’s how we overpower them,” Lambre told him.

Was this how helpless the troops on the ground felt? While he was gallivanting in the air, they were trying to keep themselves alive under the heel of demigods?

“We’re going to need more wood,” the duke said, standing up. He raised himself up with hands on knees, then dusted his hands.

“I’ll go bring some.”

Then he left Galeon by himself to wonder. Afterplanar was still out there, and he didn’t know what he was planning. Galeon would only learn his master if he caught the man. It was looking more and more unlikely that would be the case. If it was a contest between Afterburners, he had no doubt he could win. But it wasn’t nearly so easy for him.

Duke Lambre returned only moments after, bearing a load of branches under his arm. He sat down near the log and brought out a small dagger, whittling away at the pieces.

“So, are you still set on this course? Where you’re fighting someone much stronger than you?” Lambre asked him. The general was warning him. Galeon knew the danger he was going to face.

I can bring the others. But he discarded the thought. No, he couldn’t. not after last time. Stele, Janel, Ninel and Raya weren’t as fast as him. they’d be killed, and Galeon would find himself in that dark pit once more. The thought made his arms shake.

“I’ll do it. Alone,” Galeon told him. the duke didn’t react, but the way he scraped the branch showed disapproval.

“Fine. I can only hope you’re not the one to find him. A dim hope, when talking about you, Galeon,” the duke insulted him.

Galeon shifted nervously around on his log. He’d kept a single piece of information hidden for himself. That of the third faction. He didn’t want the Duchess getting suspicious. If she did, he knew who she’d go after. Not him, nor Leane. But Noviselle.

She was a Countess, yes, but that was only a position for her. The title only lent her respect among the people, and denoted her position. In reality, she was part of the army like anyone else.

She’d be an easy target, given how closely she worked with the Grand Duchess. No, he couldn’t let the duke know, not when allegiances were so hard to grasp.

“You’re staring off again. Something wrong, Galeon?” the duke asked him. Galeon shook his head.

“Ah, no! Just tired,” Galeon lied.

“It is getting late in the hour, I suppose…” the duke’s words drifted off.

Test the duke’s allegiance… how could he do such a thing?

“Sir, you’ve asked me what I believe, but you’ve never told me about yourself.”

The duke stopped whittling the branch he was on. He threw it into the fire, where it crackled into flames.

“What’s there to know?” he asked.

“How can you kill people so easily?” Galeon asked. It wasn’t the question he was thinking, but the one that had been on his mind. If he faced Afterplanar again, the man wouldn’t desist, would he? Galeon would be forced to take his life.

“You’re making a mistake thinking it’s easy, soldier,” duke Lambre said. “It’s never easy, from the first kill to the last. But it is simple. For normal soldiers, the motions are drilled into their head until doing it isn’t a conscious action anymore.”

“But I never had to,” Galeon told him.

“There’s much less of us than there are of them, Galeon. Most of the hallowmancers already learn by the time they graduate how to take a life. You’re one of the fringe cases that didn’t,” the duke told him.

“Whenever we had training exercises, they were bloody. But at the end of it all, we’d be offered a bewllan crystal and go back to the barracks. I thought… that was how we were supposed to engage the enemy,” Galeon told him.

“You took it too lightly, soldier. You don’t know how lucky you are to have a friend that’s willing to take the headache of commanding such an Afterburner,” Lambre told him.

“I’m supposed to just go out and slaughter the helpless by the droves?” Galeon told him.

“You’re supposed to kill the enemy when they threaten us. Or do you think that letting them go to kill another day is the better option?” Lambre asked him.

“They didn’t choose to join Ravenishtan in its conquest!”

“Then neither did whoever killed your friends, did he?” Lambre told him. Galeon jumped from the log. He balled up his fists, freeing bewl through them. he was about to raise it, but the imposing figure of the duke stopped him.

“You have a responsibility, Galeon. With your talent, you can change the tide of battle better than tens of normal Afterburners. Do what’s right. Why else were you born hallowed?” Duke Lambre asked him.

It made a man not want to be hallowed at al. Maybe he would’ve been overlooked then. He could’ve spent his time back at Shimmerlake, working at the forge till he grew old. Instead of out in the battlefield, which only took and kept taking.

“What’s right? We’re not much better than the Ravenishtanis, are we, sir?” Galeon asked him. the duke narrowed his eyes at Galeon.

“Those people that killed General Feranz. I saw them with my own eyes. They were Phasgorian,” Galeon told him.

“Not one of ours. The King didn’t authorize the death of the Armon’s son,” Lambre replied.

“Maybe he didn’t. but what about another noble? Some Duke or Duchess that thought it best to remove a piece from Ravenishtan’s side?” Galeon asked. “Why shouldn’t I just fly away? Take who I care about and leave this battle?”

The duke gave him a mournful look.

“You’re not alone in that thought, soldier. Many have thought it before and abandoned the battle. But could you? How would you change what you hate if you were to leave now. All that talent, Galeon, and you’d rather keep it than put it to use?”

“Maybe Phasgoria doesn’t deserve me,” Galeon said. The duke should’ve given more of a reaction. In outrage, or disbelief. But he just looked pensive.

“Maybe it doesn’t, yes. And it never will as long as you don’t try to change it,” the duke told him. he threw another stick into the fire. The duke had run out of branches, and stood up to leave.

“If an Afterburner were to go missing tonight, I suppose no one would really care. They certainly wouldn’t have the resources to chase him down and bring him back, at least.”

Was that an offer? A free pass for Galeon to leave.

“I just wonder if leaving would really satisfy that Afterburner,” Lambre added. He stepped over the log and walked off towards the camp. Galeon was left by himself once more, with only a warm flame to keep him company till the morning.