“You’ve seen others like me?”

“A few — less than a handful,” Jeremy answered as they walked towards the village. The sound of hammering stopped, replaced by cheers and greetings. He waved the villagers on, urging them to continue with their day. There were a few curious stares — mostly for the newcomer.

“What makes you think they’re like me?” Mason asked.

“This for once,” Jeremy gestured at the distance between them. “Normal people would be quite uncomfortable staying this close to me, but you don’t even mind.”

“I’ve known you since you were a child, Jeremy,” the old man raised an eyebrow. “If that’s your reasoning, is your father like me too?”

Jeremy laughed. “Father can’t stand this close to me without the corner of his mouth twitching every minute or so. You don’t even know what I’m talking about.”

“Explain.”

“It’s better to show you.”

They walked a quarter of a mile away from the village. It was surprising that the old man could keep up. Every step he took seemed surer than the last one, as if he was gaining strength by the minute.

In front of them was an empty field. It would have been overgrown, but Warden and the others kept the grass low to maintain the scenery.

Jeremy took a few steps, distancing himself from Mason. He raised a hand, clenching it as if gripping something in the air. A few steps away from him, the grass started to wither. Green faded into brown as the field of grass slowly crumbled into dust. The only green left, was the small circle where he stood.

The old man stared at the desolation around him, confusion on his face. “What was that about?”

“Exactly,” Jeremy smiled. Very few people could stand his life ward — most felt an instinctive fear or panic when getting close to him. Veterans who faced death dozens of times or imprisoned villagers might not notice it as it normally stood. However, when he went full desolation — it might be harder not to notice, especially when people started dying.

“This is necromancy,” Mason stooped to tough the dust on the ground. “Amos was bragging that you were death incarnate. We all assumed he was joking.”

Jeremy frowned. “I don’t usually use my wards that way,” he started to explain, “My wards are there to keep bugs and jerms out.”

“You killed everything around you, except—“ Mason stopped, noticing the green patch beneath Jeremy’s feet. “Except the things close to you.”

“I didn’t before,” Jeremy laughed. “But a few weeks of the runs made me change how my wards worked.”

He stared at the old man. It was difficult to consider Mason as old. Yes, he was ancient — but how old could he be if he was ageless? For all he knew, the man could be a child, still living the dawn of his life.

“You missed the point, uncle,” he smiled. “You didn’t even feel anything.”

“That’s true but—“ Mason’s words died out, unable to refute the young wizard’s claim. It was wrong to doubt Amos’ son. As the Blackstaff said, his son was honest — even painfully so. He had no reason to deceive him.

“What of the others?”

“I never bothered to keep tabs on them,” Jeremy shrugged. ‘It was what they were. Some of them knew — some of them didn’t. I’ll send word to father if I happen by one of them. I didn’t realize you were interested in finding them. Most of them are… unimpressive.”

Mason nodded. “Shall we head back?”

“We should,” Jeremy answered. “Sebas said he was preparing tea, we should get back before they turn cold.”

He turned to walk back, starting at a brisk pace then jogging. His father all but forbade running — something to do with a wizard’s dignity. However, it felt right with the old man trailing behind him.

***

Spiders. It was spiders again.

Siege ran his sword across the belly of a spider as it jumped. Splitting the creature in two. His armor was bathed in acidic gore and he felt a tingle in the exposed parts of his arm.

“Close ranks! Form a circle!” he commanded. He wasn’t with his usual party. They left for the capital a few days ago to make a name for themselves. They had grown too big for Bountiful. Their growth in power allowed them to tackle stronger foes — and the small city had none of those.

He chose to stay out of loyalty and gratitude to the Scourge. No — it wasn’t that. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that staying by the wizard’s side was the surest way to gain power. There were no stronger foes than the demons they faced in hell. If there were, then the Scourge would be the way to find them. Together with the wizard — he would visit strange places, meet new creatures, and hopefully kill them all.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

But now, he was stuck babysitting.

Siege turned towards the four — three boys and a girl. Two of them were his apprentices — Robin and Glim. He met Fisher, the other boy from the mines. A strange name for a boy — then again, one of them was named after a bird. His last ward was Jinea, a girl from the barn. She was a bit older than the boys — probably older than Warden. She was their mage, though the three boys could use earth magic.

Robin was the biggest of them. He was almost dwarf-like in his features — barrel-chested and a bit short. He was armored in leather, fortified with a steel breastplate and a pair of vambraces. Like himself, the boy wielded sword and shield.

Glim was smaller — not in height, but girth. He would be considered thin for a warrior, but the boy had steel in his sinews. With a bit of training from the Scourge himself, the boy used his spear like a demon — which meant he left a lot of openings. The boy relied on his armor too much — but he managed to take most of the blows he received on his breastplate.

The burly Fisher was strange. He had no interest in the forge, yet he happily went to the mines. He was a mix of mage and warrior — using magic to create earthen spikes while wielding a sword. Unlike the two farmhands, he wore only leathers — and it had cost him. A spider managed to get close to him, severing an arm as he defended its strike with it. The injury would have prompted the end to their training, but the boy urged them to continue.

Siege would not have agreed, but the boy surprised him. Fisher took out a few of the ores they gathered and melted them with a touch. It was a long touch, close to half an hour — but there was mithril in the ores.

A hand formed from the melted ores, and the boy affixed it to the stump of his hand. He expected a scream, even readying himself for the arrival of enemies drawn by the sound. Instead, the boy snickered — saying something about Shelby.

Jinea seemed quite disturbed at what the boy did. The barn girl previously got word of their little expedition and demanded to join. She was their artillery — blasting spiders with her spells or encasing them in ice. She was a pain to work with. Her spells tended to target everything in sight, including her allies. If not for his sword, he would have been scorched numerous times by her haphazardly thrown spells.

It would have been easier if he was alone. The spiders could do little to him in his armor, and he was strong enough to take multiple attacks without getting sent to the ground. He knew taking children along was risky, but they were low on mithril — and the Scourge urged him to take some of the kids who knew how to fight with him.

Siege shook his head. The Scourge was reckless — not even minding how he was putting the children at risk. Then again, he did send his party to hell to face demons. But the wizard wasn’t here, and Fisher’s silver hand was proof of his bad judgment — that and the horde of spiders in front of them.

He stood in front of the boys. Fisher had set up an earthen wall behind them protecting their back and allowing Jinea to cast her spells in safety.

The spiders were relentless. Siege bore the brunt of them. One or two would pass his guard, but the others could deal with them.

Righteous Indignation pulsed with power, slicing through blade-like legs, venomous fangs, and soft spider bellies. His sword seemed to take a life of its own, stopping his momentum at opportune moments, preventing him from overswinging. It also seemed to stop the spiders, even the jumping ones. Siege could feel the weight of the spiders as his sword cut through them — but it should have been double from the force of their jumps.

He dashed to the left as another pillar of fire erupted from the ground taking out three of the creatures. The young sorcerer chanted in whispers — but he could sense her spells unlike the boys’. It was strange, considering he practiced earth magic as they did.

“Wave.” Jinea warned.

Voicing her spell was one of the few things he demanded of the sorcerer — but she only gave warning when it was this particular spell.

Siege plunged Righteous Indignation into the ground beneath his feet as a wave of blue fire swept the ground. It was a spell commonly employed by fire teams to prevent goblins and orcs from spawning. The girl’s spell was a bit different — tailored for combat rather than decontamination. It wasn’t lethal but it could leave unarmored combatants burned up to their knees — and the spiders had no armor.

The cavern was filled with the sound of screaming bugs. Most of the creatures faltered and fell, their legs too injured to bear their weight. A few of them managed to remain standing, but the three boys made short work of them.

The farmhands and the barn girl were a good combination. The boys served as the aegis and the girl was the lance. No — she was more of a catapult than a lance. While Siege could see the advantages of battlefield magic, he still preferred Gwin’s more accurate spells.

“All of you did well,” Siege proclaimed. “Aside from one setback — that was surprisingly handled well — everyone performed admirably.”

Fisher stared at his silver hand, seemingly admiring it.

“The Scourge should be able to fix that,” he reassured him. “He took blood from everyone. He should have a Lifesaver™ with your name on it stored somewhere in his lab.

“I was thinking of keeping it,” Fisher said quite proudly. “Doesn’t it look amazing?”

“You could,” Siege sighed. “But what would your parents think? You’ll probably get the Scourge in trouble — and you don’t even know what having a silver hand could do to your body.”

“Can I keep it, at least?”

“That’s out of the question,” Siege growled. “That hand has mithril in it, and we’re running short on supply.”

They left the caverns soon after. There were a handful of spiders on the way back, but Siege took care of them without fanfare. The children seemed tired — the boys more mentally than physically. They were tireless throughout their training session, but their faces betrayed their weariness in their mind.

Jinea was different. She was physically drained from all the running and walking, but she seemed less stressed than the others. Staying safe behind the boys was easier on the mind — but dangerous in the long run. She would have to learn to face enemies on her own and adjust without her protectors.

Shelby met them as they emerged from the cave. She was probably sent by the Scourge to take them back, though Siege had a suspicion she was watching all the time.

The trip back was uneventful. No creature would dare to come close to the giant snail — and those that did wouldn’t be able to keep up with her.

Their training session was far from perfect — Siege considered it a disaster as Fisher lost a hand. He would have to discuss the matter with the Scourge — but he had an inkling that the wizard would brush it off as a minor setback.