“Where’s Osmond?” The dark elf asked. “I need to talk to him.”

“He and Cruz are at the school, trying to continue teaching the children. I’m not quite sure if it’s possible though, given how frightened they were.”

“I see,” Regis sighed as he activated his far-caller while heading back to the manor. “Osmond, you there?”

“You’re back? How did it go?” The loremaster received a pair of questions as his answer.

“They agreed to foot the bill regarding the more arcane resources and they’ll also help power up the gate.”

“Anything to get that archdemon off their backs, huh?” The bone puppeteer hummed.

“Yeah. Anyway, could you come over to the manor? I have a task for you that needs to be done on the low.”

“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

“Because it’s not one of my brightest ideas.” Regis admitted as he kept on walking, the rest of his companions heading their ways for the time being.

As soon as he got home, the dark elf hurried over to his study room where he began to write down his plan on an empty parchment. Halfway through writing down what he wanted, his chest began to hurt as if someone was trying to squeeze it.

“What is this?” he heard Ulgrath’s voice in his mind. “Someone’s being a naughty boy.”

“Ulgrath, Wha... how?” He muttered in utter shock.

“Oh please,” she sighed. “Don’t tell me you made me pledge an Archaean oath without knowing its full capabilities. I can sense when you have thoughts nearing violation of our agreement.”

“Just thinking about killing you counts as a violation already?” He tried to wiggle his way out of the situation as he realized that the archdemon could only sense his intent.

“Not unless you’ll try to act on it. But why would you think such horrible things? I thought we had something special. I mean, it’s been a while since a man was able to force me into making fair deals.”

“I went to meet with the others,” Regis began to explain. “And by others, I mean the nobles mages and the church of course.”

“Oh,” a slight curiosity could be felt from her voice. “How did it go? Wait! Let me guess. The church called you a heretic and threatened to turn their forces against your people if you tried to help me.”

“Let’s just say that they weren’t too happy about me making deals with an archdemon. Words were said and I was put on the spot in a… bad way. Of course, the princess was all in for deporting your pretty butt off this world and the nobles were also happy with not having to lose more of their forces.”

“You think my butt is pretty?” Ulgrath asked back with a sultry voice, making the loremaster sigh.

“Is that all that stuck from my explanation?”

“What can I say? I love it when men are honest about their desires.”

“I hate to break it to you but I’m already spoken for and I’m rather monogamous.”

“You scoundrel,” she berated him with mock anger. “I thought you loved me!”

“Don’t push your luck,” Regis’ tone turned cold as he fought with the increasing pain in his chest while his desire to kill the archdemon flared up for real this time.”

“Come now dear,” she chuckled. “You are so easy to rile up, I just couldn’t stop myself from teasing you a bit. Back to the more important manner at hand. Did you manage to convince them in the end?”

“The mages will provide me with the materials necessary and the nobles will stay out of my way.”

“And the church?”

“The church will stand aside... for now. They’re expecting you to somehow find a way to go back on your word without getting killed by the Archaean oath.”

"Why would I want to do that? There’s nothing for me here in this God's forsaken world. All they have to do is to stay out of my way and I leave on my own. Why can’t they understand that?”

“I’m pretty sure they would have been more understanding if you hadn’t used their people to kill Bergaldeen. Things like that can make people less trustful toward you.”

“I don’t need their trust,” it was Ulgrath’s time to turn colder and the loremaster could feel her bloodlust through their bond. “I just need them to stay the hell out of my way.”

While the archdemon was grumbling, Regis heard a slight knock on the door before Osmond entered the room. The dark elf immediately raised his finger to his mouth, prompting the bone puppeteer to stay silent as he approached him. He quickly finished writing down what he wanted, handing it over to his companion.

“Now who’s thinking of breaking their oath?” Regis asked, distracting the demon from his own sigil’s reaction. “You better watch that blood thirst of yours.”

Osmond read the scroll that was given to him, his eyes almost popping out after seeing its content.

“Are you serious?” He mouthed silently, earning a slight nod from the dark elf before he waved him away.

“Anyway, as much as I enjoy your company, I have things to do on my end. I’ll start building your gate tomorrow morning so you can tell your cultists to bring over the necessary runes.”

“Fine,” he heard a short answer. “They’ll be waiting for you. Try not to get a heart attack until then.”

As her words resounded in his mind, he felt their bond breaking, allowing him to finally breathe up.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The pain began to lessen in his chest and he finally noticed the strange warmth beneath his eyes. He tried to wipe away what he believed to be tears, only to find some blood smeared on his sleeve.

“That was too close.” The loremaster sighed tiredly, getting up from his seat.

He left his study and he went upstairs to the attic, harvesting the elemental stones his runic arrays slowly formed over time. Once he got rid of everything, the loremaster brought them down in front of his workshop before entering the room. ‘There should be a few handfuls in the storage.’ Regis thought as he stepped over to the door of his storage at the side of the workshop and opened it, emptying the place of any leftover elemental stones. The dark elf put everything inside the wooden crate and brought it over to the entrance door where he left it beside the marble column. With the matter finished, he headed over to the kitchen where he found Dana the maid busy as always.

“Do you need something, milord?”

“Sorry to bother you,” he spoke up. “I just wanted to tell you that I plan to go to sleep early so I won’t be joining you for dinner.”

“Oh,” the maid hummed. “Would you like me to make something for you quickly so you won't fall asleep on an empty stomach?”

“That would be great.” The loremaster nodded with a slight smile at the thought of her concern.

Minutes later he received the plate with a couple of sandwiches on it that was made from the roasted meat left over from the previous day. He thanked her before hastily eating his early dinner. A quick bath later he headed upstairs to his room and collapsed on his bed, the pain in his chest finally disappearing as he fell asleep.

The sound of the accursed rooster woke him up, mild curses leaving his mouth as he got out of bed and got dressed. As soon as he went downstairs, he was greeted by the sight of Euric chatting with Letty and Quentin in front of the entrance door.

“Morning everyone,” he greeted them. “Looks like you can't sleep either.”

“Morning.” The two replied immediately, Letty giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

“We decided to go with you just in case someone tried to cause trouble.” Quentin claimed.

“Fine by me.” The dark elf agreed.

As they talked, the butler handed over a small package of rations made from the previous day's dinner.

“Have a safe journey, sir!” The man said, earning a slight nod.

“Thank you. I’ll leave the manor in your hands.”

“Of course, sir.”

Regis put the wrapped-up food into his satchel and walked over to the room that housed his personal gateway. A flash of bright light consumed him before arriving at the fort where he was greeted by a group of guards.

“We were expecting you, milord.” One of them greeted him respectfully.

“I take it you’ve been made aware of the situation.”

“We are,” another one nodded as he awkwardly scratched his head. “We were ordered to show you the way, but they told us that you do not need a mount.”

“No,” the loremaster confirmed as he summoned a bound mount, using an enchanted trinket he created for such purposes. “Shall we get going?”

“Yes, sir!” The guardsmen confirmed before climbing atop their mounts, leading the way out of the fort.

Regis helped Letty onto his horse, climbing up behind her while Quentin summoned his own mount. Although it didn’t take long to arrive at the battlefield, the ride there was filled with a strained silence. As they arrived, they found an open-sided tent waiting for them with a few soldiers and mages standing by.

“Good morning, Lord Regis!” A spellcaster of the second tier greeted him. “The council had prepared the materials as promised.”

“Thank you,” he said while getting off his glowing-eyed horse before dismissing the creature. “Any sight of the cultists yet?”

“Not yet, but they too should be arriving soon.”

“I guess I might as well begin. It’s best to get this done as soon as possible.”

“As you say, milord.” The mage agreed with the guards nodding in agreement.

True to his words, the dark elf began to use his earth-shaping magic to form a large archway from condensed dirt which he then turned into granite. While he was shaping the gate, the soldiers brought over the small crates that held the different elemental and hollow arcana stones. Regis fused the hollow arcana stones into the sides of the archway, making it look like an oversized piece of jewellery with all the shining stones dotting its surface. He was almost done when he heard one of the guards call out to him.

“Lord Regis! The cultists are here.”

He turned around and saw a pair of horsemen riding towards the group, only slowing down when they were nearing that tent. Surprisingly, both of them were humans. The first one held onto the reins of the horses while the second one walked forward with slow steps, his hands raised in the air.

“We came here on the order of Lady Ulgrath,” the man stated. “We are here to deliver a scroll to the enchanter.”

“That would be me.” Regis replied as he walked closer, the cultist throwing a parchment over to him.

The dark elf unfolded the scroll to take a look, a familiar runic diagram greeting him. It was highly similar to the one Grandmaster Felix handed to him when the allied army wanted him to be the Gate of his own. This one however had several extra runes that were clearly demonic in origin. As he focused on the symbols, he tried to reach out to Ulgrath through the bond they shared due to their Archaean oath.

“Well, well,” he heard the sultry voice of the demon from inside his mind. “I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon. Did you miss me that much?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he retorted in his mind. “I just received your package.” “Then I take it you can start working on my gate now?”

“I can, but I would have appreciated it if you at least described the runes you expect me to infuse into it. From all I know, I might as well be crafting a permanent gate to your old domain to let your army through something.”

“You’re really trying my patience,” she grumbled “Fine, I’ll show you their meaning, but it will hurt a bit.”

A moment later a splitting headache ran through his mind as the meaning behind the demonic symbols became known to him. If he could trust the knowledge imparted to him, the alterations were to make sure that the gateway was able to send the demon to her desired world without any planar interventions.

“There,” she said it. “You should be able to understand them now.”

“I do.” He confirmed.

“Then get to it. I want to leave this realm as soon as possible.” Ulgrath ended their conversation with a commanding tone.

As the connection between them faded, Regis turned his attention back toward the stone archway while the pair of cultists got back onto their horses and left. With the modified diagrams in hand, the dark elf could finally start the real work. It took him half a day and a small basket's worth of elemental stones to infuse the soft grey-coloured ‘trash’ ranked runes into the gate. By the time he was done, his stomach was grumbling and his mind felt weary. He joined the others in the open-walled tent, his bored companions finally showing some sign of interest as he appeared.

“Are you done already?” Quentin asked surprised.

“Not really,” he sighed. “I only finished the lowest grade infusion. We would need the gate to be at least a ‘well-made’ or even ‘excellent’ grade to be usable for Ulgrath’s plan.”

“So...” Letty hummed as she handed him a wooden plate with some food on it.

“I guess it will take at least another day or so to finish it completely.”