Alaster reappeared deep in the forest West of Onigas. His Undead army began to march towards the nearest Death Knight, who could serve as a return to his Soul, though they couldn’t serve as an exit.
As his vast hordes of Undead vanished from the forests, Alaster summoned Nightmare from his Soul and jumped on.
Knowing what he was about to do, Alaster closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he summoned the envelope from his Ring of holding. The envelope Arthur had given him the day of the wedding and made him promise not to open until after.
The envelope that contained the name and location of one of the men responsible for the death of his parents.
‘Be sure you are ready.’ Belgroth cautioned
‘I’ve been ready since that day.’ Alaster countered, glaring at the folded paper, his fingers clenching it tightly.
‘No, you have been wanting. But you were not ready.’ Sedall spoke, ‘for that last several years, you have been living a life on your own. With the distant goal of eventually finding your parents’ killers. But this is the first step towards that revenge.’
‘Are you going to lecture me about how revenge isn’t right? How I should learn to forgive and forget.’
‘Are you seriously asking that question to a being your Species calls a Demon?’ Belgroth said in a way that hinted that he would roll his eyes if he had any, ‘There are many who would do so. Who would say that Revenge is wrong and should not be pursued. Those people are either naïve or doing something that would make people want revenge. It is not wrong to desire payback, it shows just how much you care. If you didn’t want revenge, I would question just how much you cared about your parents.
Let me tell you a truth. A truth of reality that everyone inherently knows, but many refuse or reject it.
Revenge is crucial to any society. Revenge makes people fear attacking others in any way. Revenge makes the world honest.
A world that shuns revenge is a world controlled by cowards.
So open that damned envelope, but you better be damn sure you are ready for what comes after.’ Belgroth growled.
Sedall spoke up, his calm voice attempting to ease the tension, ‘Destiny and fate are commonly misunderstood. There is no such thing as predicting the future, though there are plenty of ways to determine certain possibilities, but those possibilities are constantly changing and shifting.
The details of predicting the future are such that some people spend their entire lives studying it. But it can basically be boiled down to just this.
Destiny is ever changing, nothing is certain or unstoppable. However, if someone throws a rock at a steep slope of gravel, it is almost certain to cause a landslide. Nothing is certain, but there are some things that can be thought of as destiny or fate.
The power of your will, the fury in your heart, the darkness in your mind, if you open that envelope, it is fate that many cries and blood will follow. Many people could not handle that. Make sure you are ready.’
Alaster did not hesitate. He ripped open the envelope and took out the paper within. There were just two lines of writing on the folded paper.
‘Quinn Reyes.’
Below the name was the man’s address.
The name of the man who held a knife to his mother and father. The name of the man who had stuck them on meat hooks as a display. But he was not the only one, nor was he the one who had ordered it.
The address was in Zolis so Alaster relayed the name and address to Fenrir. He could faintly feel the rage radiating off Fenrir through the link between the two, but he knew that Fenrir would not let that hinder their goal. They might be different, but they were the same person. Their goals and desires were the same.
Fenrir took the name and immediately ordered his Shadow Assassins to begin hunting for the man. By now, his second body had already taken control of the Slums. The other Crime Lords of Zolis had begun making preparations to invade, but they had been forced to delay those plans as the hatred against the Magics reached a critical stage.
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With control of the Slums, Fenrir was able to extend his influence widely throughout the city. Unfortunately, it had not provided many results. While Fenrir remained only a name to most people, he had only taken control of the Slums in order to accelerate his search for Evelyn.
Alaster liked his sister’s name, but at that moment, he really hated how common it was. And that was only if she still went by that name, or if she even went by any name. While he knew from numerous sources that she was being treated well, there was no evidence that she was not imprisoned somewhere.
In Zolis, Fenrir sat on a bone chair in a darkened room. None of the wooden chairs had been strong enough to support his weight. Laid out on a table in front of him, Fenrir studied the map of Zolis. A map that he had drawn himself, with the much more accurate and detailed Shadows guiding him.
Together, they had drawn a map of such detail that, if sold, would easily go for hundreds of gold, purely for its detail. However, maps of the Capital City of Zolis were illegal. None of the Nobility wanted people charting their estates or defenses.
The map Fenrir had created was such that anyone with it would be executed without trial. Not that Fenrir cared. He was perhaps one of the strongest Experts in the city and even if he was cornered, he could merely swap with any Minion within a ten-mile radius.
The map had numerous small figures on it. White bone figures depicting a guard displayed the guard patrols. Black bone guards showed the Guard stations and barracks. More figures showed other strategic locations within Zolis. However the figure that Fenrir truly cared about were the simple bone coin that displayed the locations that the Shadows had not been able to infiltrate.
These were the locations Fenrir truly wanted to gain access to. By this time, his Shadows had already scoured the city for Evelyn but had not seen or heard of her. Of course, however, the Shadows could not be everywhere at once.
If they had not found any hints in the areas they could enter, then naturally, Fenrir wanted to enter the areas they could not. But he held off, for now. Alaster would soon be welcomed into the higher echelons of Zolis as a Diplomat from the Independent Cities. He would be welcomed into the areas the Shadows could not enter.
Fenrir instead turned his focus onto this Quinn man. He moved around the table until he came to the location that Quinn supposedly lived around. His predatory eyes narrowed, imagining the type of man he would find, and what he would do to him once he did.
Back in the forests of Onigas, Alaster crumpled the envelope and paper in his hand before allowing it to burst into flame. He tossed the burning bundle aside. It burned to mere ash before it even reached the snow-covered ground.
Lightly touching the new ring Colius had given him just before he left, Alaster waved his hand forward, commanding Nightmare to being walking. Nightmare’s hooves crushed the snow underneath as she led the column. Behind her, two dozen Purple Hooded Forgotten followed in two neat lines, riding her younger siblings. Undead Horses, that could take the appearance of an ordinary living horse. Alaster was quite proud on himself for that, unfortunately, he had not had the time to figure out how to change the horses’ colors, so they were all pitch black.
Alaster would have had the Undead Heavy Cavalry escorting him, but he was supposed to be going to Zolis as a dignitary. And the city already had strong feelings about ‘Dark Magic’. So Alaster had spent a little bit of time to create a force that could easily pass as ordinary creatures.
The Ring that Alaster had asked Colius to make was actually quite a simple and common enchantment, meant to block outsider’s ability to detect the wearer’s magic. If Alaster cast any Magic, then people would still be able to detect it, but if he did not, then not even Sir Castiel should be able to detect Alaster’s Magic.
Unfortunately, Alaster would still be influenced by Sir Castiel’s ‘Light Magic’ presence. He would likely still take damage just from being around him, though he certainly hoped he would take less, seeing as how Fenrir was entirely composed of Necrotic Mana and he had nearly died just from being near him for too long. However, Alaster was still flesh and blood, merely infused with Necrotic Magic.
However, with this Ring, he would be able to conceal his Magic, and since his power was largely reliant on Minions, he could order them around just as he normally would. He just wouldn’t be able to summon more.
Many of the Forgotten in the escort raised the Banners of their Legion, the first Legion. Alaster normally would want to remain unseen, but since he was technically on official business from the Independent Cities, he needed to announce himself and act like a Noble. Which meant announcing his presence with banners. And since he did not want to casually reveal just how many Legions he had, he had Catherine’s first Legion escort him.
Even if no one would look at the Fourth Legion’s Banners and think there were more Legions, they would likely think the roman numeral four was integrated into the banner itself and did not have any other meaning. There were other Noble Banners that did similar. Alaster merely wanted as much of himself to remain a mystery, even if he was supposed to reveal himself to the public in such an open way.
Yet again, to retain the illusion of an ordinary delegation, Alaster was forced to travel slowly. While he could travel to Zolis in less than a day, he was forced to travel slowly, which meant it would likely take him roughly six days. During which time he would be seen by Lissura’s agents, they would see his banners and tell their superiors. In that way, he would be able to travel through Lissura uncontested and even be welcomed once he reached Zolis.
Even now, Alaster wore not his Pact Armor, but a travel set of clothing that Lady Siphas had chosen for him. Everything had been carefully orchestrated to retain the illusion, and Alaster hated it. He wanted nothing more than to storm into Zolis, torture Quinn for information about anyone else connected, and find Evelyn.
But he controlled himself. As much as he hated it, he would do anything for his sister.