I had taken some time to let the family be, left the house and left them to their own thoughts while I cleared my head. I wasn't expecting to be called to the lord's chambers the moment I returned as he had been waiting for me that entire time. I was not exactly prepared to immediately be stopped upon returning but I had been waiting to chat with him for a while as this is his property and family, I shall not make him wait long. I have collected the book and headed straight to the study to meet him and communicate.

"Please allow me to record this conversation, This has been put off for quite too long." ... "sorry about that, I was unaware that you were not fond of limbless reptiles."

The lord was allowed to read a few moments before deciding how to proceed after floating the book to him. "Yes, I will consent to being recorded so long as you stay on that side of the room. While I don't particularly like serpents, I dislike you far more as a ghost. I have been leaving to find more professional advice and most fear you."

he left the ball to me to keep rolling so I shall offer what I can. "I understand that I have invaded your home and can remain outside if you so desire. I seek to protect those who have or will be in need. My actions are hard to explain as I barely understand this call except maybe as a sense of honor pulling me via magic that over so many generations, I still return to distant members of a family that only these books I write would even hold reference to most likely."

The lord "Enough of this, you are haunting my daughter because we share some ancestory? So you curse us for our forefathers? You claim a sense of honor yet you leech on my daughter like a monstrous fae parasite. I despise your kind, lingering and feeding on people. I did not loose friend and family in the war of the dead to be mocked by a corpse that wants to act like a hero. You shall address me as Vigo Ridgethorn, not just 'lord' beast, you don't even give a name for me to address in this book. What do you have to say for this?"

"May I have a moment to think, war of the dead? When did this occur? I have been gone for quite some time though I don't know how long that has been. I have been present for most wars."

Lord Vigo Ridgethorn "It was one hundred and twenty years ago, in the age of 1704 since the re founding of the imperial states. You are dodging the question though, I would not put up with this façade if it weren't for your spells you have cast you slug."

"I wanted a frame of reference for time to understand what has been said. I was actually a familiar during that time and so I was not able to become aware of your family branch's plight. I take it that you had a warlord as powerful as I, that had possessed someone to have such hatred to me?"

Lord Vigo Ridgethorn. "Not much of a divine beast then," He says, pausing a moment to actually take his question into thought before responding. "I don't think they were very powerful in total, but they had numbers to buff their pushes as they were so numerous that steps were taken to prevent our own allies from joining them."

"hmm. I fear that they are still about and fled, collecting that many souls that aren't masters of the arcane would be impossible otherwise. Hopefully my presence here will be able to prevent that again."

Lord Vigo Ridgethorn. "You dare question my judgement? thinking that I can't protect my own family and staff? My own lands and people? I would have no such words from you, You will leave my daughter immediately and-"

"sorry to cut you off mid rant with another book and pages, I just severed the link to your daughter, I now know nothing of her condition and plights, this is quite taxing to hold this form. But I will add these pages to that book regardless, though they won't be protected."

Lord Vigo Ridgethorn. "You, what?" he stops to look at the book in question then at the new book that materialized before him. "You linger here yet further as a ghost, and haunt my presence with yours after taunting me such. Do you have any idea the power I wield?"

"Who or what did you take it from and give to your daughter?"

Lord Vigo was quite furious and had shattered the window with the new book. before responding, not knowing I was still recording. "You go too far, my daughter means the world to me and that kind of power should never have been used. Her mother..." he said trailing off as he walked around the room, quietly in a hushed rage as a patient man's fury. "She had given herself willingly to her child, though I did persuade her on her death bed." He said as he took a swing with a sword from the wall, the blade masterfully hidden with magic against detection but his blow was lost to the flooring as I had fallen through them into the crawl space bellow. "YOU WILL BE FORCED TO THE OTHER SIDE BY MY HANDS SNAKE!! I WILL NOT LET YOU DARKEN MY DOORSTEP AGAIN!!"

-hidden by magic-

You might not have been expecting that, especially with how the book had to have reached your hands by now but I unfortunately was quite well aware of what was almost certain. I believe his weapon was made to mana tap a victim, even if he had stabbed me it most likely wouldn't have done his desired job as using an instrument is no substitute for the ritual but most would never use such a blade for the mana must go somewhere and there are consequences.

Stolen novel; please report.

Don't be confused though, it is powerful and most souls will be unwilling to even attempt to recover from the psychological and magical damage it would do, most undead will not return after being stabbed by such a thing. The problem though is what such power represents and even more so what kind of people use them as they are more often used to steal power from another by any means and denying them any option as the brutality of it is far more painful than any mere sword would suggest.

I should finish the story though as it was, These segments are for history and your lessons in power, survival and a tiny bit of humor at how much growth I had to make over all this time.

-

Sam had nodded to the elder mage and then decided to put his tail tip in the water as he wasn't sure he wanted whatever was done to the water on his nose. As he watched the waters ripple, he really didn't notice the face of Lucious scrunch up as he counted to four and watched four lights around the goblet light up, one of which blinked slightly.

"My my, you made quite the companion sir, even with some back water from your mana, it had rippled that much, though the gems are dull, it appears that he has entirely opposite affinities to you. Though he is under a body and soul spell... maybe several as well. The familiar contract would possibly explain the soul, but not why it flashes. Can you two find any means of communications so far?"

Nicolas was scooping Sam up and placing him back across his shoulders as he replied. "None that we have tried yet, I wasn't sure he had even remembered writing given how brutal he seemed to have died." He commented, knowing much more than he was even allowed to let on so he thought and kept quiet after that, but realized he needed to answer to something about the situation. "I think Sam had been in shock, he had actually died only days before I had found him and-"

Lucious cut him off there. "Ah, that would explain some of that. He was still probably clinging to what he had in life and time flows much differently in the astral, if you were near him after his death, he may have gotten lost in the idea of time differences and not had enough time to process his loss while still coming to grips with his pain." He said, rubbing his fingers together like he had ink on them from memory, not that he had used the blessing to ask what he was doing to find out that some familiars that are summoned quickly on death had phantom pains and lashed out with nightmares at times and he had recorded someone who was wounded by such a victim and had to banish their familiar for their wild frenzy. "Please be careful young wizard, familiar Sam, your journeys have just begun, again. You aren't nearly as powerful as you were before your death either so try not to let being between level three and five go to your head. it is more likely on the lower end." He said, referring to the average human medium in which mages begin with. The fact that Nicolas was already level two meant to Lucious that he'd most likely been extremely practiced in his work or an accomplished hunter. Which Sam didn't believe he had gotten that much with just work, but the latter didn't seem too likely, till he thought of the gifts and that it seemed that a hunter had been doing a similar gift as Nicolas had before. Since Nicolas didn't know at the time though, it was unfortunately not within the blessing's power to fish for the answers.

They bid their farewells and waved goodbye, getting a few looks as the rattle of the tail had most definitely drawn some attention. The rest of their stay wasn't very eventful, some soup at a local gathering place and a shelter for the night for guests of the village was all that happened till they went to leave. The guards weren't at their posts and were instead harassing someone from the looks of it. There wasn't much that could be identified from the distance though there was an occasional 'squeal' sound as the hairy man in the distance shouted something as he tried to defend his actions. Sam didn't put nearly as much thought into it at the time but he should have.

The distant individuals views on the situation. - Orichalcum soldier, traitor, born with boar features as his whole clan had been. There to deliver important news.

- Hero captain of the guard, catcher of Orichalc's, defender of the city and rescuer of fine damsels.

- Guy not wanting to die, waiting for the captain to get there so the rookie doesn't do something stupid and get within the reach of a beast man's deadly grasp.

Sam thought they were probably fine at the time though he definitely didn't want to be near someone who used gold and copper for the weight over bronze or iron for cutting. He probably could have used that temporary blessing better but he didn't know better.

-

At the time of writing this, I have managed to steal the book back, add the pages, reform the familiar pact, and all while avoiding your father's attention. There is a terribly simple fact that many people overlook is that magical detections are not infallible and if you know the method, a spell caster that only relies on magic detection will be rather blind. I have actually hidden myself inside the book making it much easier to do the majority of the list, but he is probably going to have a terrible day when he realizes that the book has been moved.

To do this trick, you often need to have something of equivalent mass, energy and volume to hide with against the backdrop of your surroundings. The trick works wonders if you are out of line of sight but any movement will often give you away. Transformation spells or non detection spells might do more for the application you need but enveloping yourself with mana that mimics something tends to be much cheaper and time effective so long as you don't leave the cloak's perimeter, and movement might spike a detection. You need to be aware of this while fighting any of the undead or spell caster. There are always more senses than what you can fool with magic too so don't expect everything to be cured by just a few spells. Magic, even as powerful as mine, has limits.