“What do you mean ‘if we didn’t have to abandon it’?” Mrs. Lu asked.

“What if you could start each day here—in paradise—and then go to the inn from here in the morning,” Alex suggested. “What if you had help, like an innkeeper who could manage the inn in the evening, while you came back here?”

“Well, there's an idea,” Mr. Lu chuckled, taking a long sip of wine. He was beginning to look a little flushed. “But we can't have you teleporting us between here and Alric every morning and every night.”

“And besides, I like taking care of the inn,” Mrs. Lu said.

“I also like baking,” Aex said. “But I have someone to run the bakery when I'm not there, so I'm not chained to it. If you want to be hands-on, of course you can be, it’s your choice, but wouldn't it be nice to have more time to yourselves? To have time for family, to visit your sons, your daughter, me and Selina. Not to mention, Brutus!”

“It does sound nice, I must say,” Mrs. Lu said. “But we can't have you teleporting us to and from Thameland every day.”

“I wouldn't have to,” Alex said. “Not with what I have in mind.” He said, putting his knife and fork down and leaning forward. “At the university and Greymoor, Baelin set up a teleportation circle for us to use. It's a permanent way to teleport folk from Generasi to Greymoor and back. Well, the Cave of the Traveller—and the thieves’ guild in the Irtyshenan Empire—provide access to those types of portals for travelling to different places. Think about it like a permanent doorway that you can use to get to certain places, places that you want to get to.”

“That sounds useful…so, do you mean to arrange for one for us to use?” Mrs. Lu asked.

“I think I could do it: if Hannah and Kelda could, then I don't see why I wouldn't be able to figure it out. I think it'd be great for all of us: it’d let us see each other as often as we liked, and also give us a permanent connection to Alric.”

“I…I don't know what to say…where would we live in Generasi? We couldn't afford anything here,” Mr. Lu said, his face flushing redder.

Alex smiled. “Not that long ago, Selina and I needed a home, and you gave us one, if you hadn’t, the church would have taken us to an orphanage. You gave us a home and you gave us a family, so, I'd like to give you a new home in return.”

Mrs. Lu's eyes began to shine.

Mr. Lu looked up at the ceiling. “Best son-in-law alive. But honestly, Alex, you don't have to do anything like that.”

“I want to do it. I know I don't have to,” the young wizard said.

“Oh, Alex,” Theresa smiled, her hand going to her heart.

“I'd like it if we were all together,” Selina said, smiling at the Lus. “I've missed you all a lot.”

Mr. and Mrs. Lu fell silent, looking at one another, their sons and their daughter, and finally, at the siblings they’d raised as their own. They reached for each other’s hands.

“We'll have to talk about this as a family,” Mr Lu said. “But thank you for such a wonderful offer, Alex. It truly is wonderful.”

“Your parents would be so proud of you,” Mrs. Lu smiled.

“A beautiful moment,” Khalik said, swirling wine in the bottom of his glass. “A beautiful moment for a beautiful reunion. Times like these make the heart sing, and bring it much joy. They are much appreciated, especially after the dark times you have been through for so many months, my friend.” He raised his glass to Alex.

“But…forgive me for my burning curiosity in this fine moment. Theresa has told me of what you learned and I was wondering how your meeting with the king went.”

The Lus looked at the prince in surprise.

“The king?” Mr. Lu asked.

Alex turned his attention to Theresa, she nodded.

“What's going on?” Selina asked.

“I have lots to tell everyone,” Alex said. “It's a long story, and it's not a pleasant one, but it’s one you need to hear.”

Alex went into the story, telling them all he’d learned since he’d come back from the Empire. He told them everything; about Uldar’s death, his treachery, and that he’d created the Ravener.

The room grew quieter as Alex spoke, recounting what he’d learned.

Selina gasped when she heard Uldar had planned to kill almost everyone, nor was she alone.

When the story came to an end, all cheer had left the room. The only sound to be heard was the crackle of firewood, but everyone's faces spoke loudly. Rage, shock, disgust, sorrow and disbelief screamed from the expressions they wore. Mr. Lu’s jaw clenched and unclenched. Mrs. Lu’s hands trembled. Their son who’d wanted to go back to Thameland to fight Ravener-spawn for Uldar’s cause, had stomped from the room. The other sat with his eyes squeezed shut, fuming.

Selina broke the silence. “He really wanted to kill everyone?”

“Just to keep himself alive…” Khalik muttered. “Any king who is callous enough to sacrifice his entire kingdom in order to prolong his own life, is no king, he is a monster. After all, when his land is destroyed, and his people are dead, what is there left for him to rule? What is the point of his crown?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“It’s only a shiny ornament,” Thundar agreed.

“These things have become no less shocking to hear than when I was in his sanctum,” Isolde said. “I am pleasantly surprised that the high priest supported us so quickly.”

“I was too,” Alex said. “And it really was a welcome surprise, let me tell you. The king is on our side, and the church will be with us too.”

“But Uldar’s body being taken away is most disturbing…” Khalik muttered. “It can only mean that we are in the calm before the storm.”

“What do you mean?” Theresa asked.

The prince tented his fingers. “The Ravener has likely learned that its creator is dead. Perhaps it is taking time to process this and has not unleashed its full fury, but I believe that is imminent. I would expect that after it has…planned and grieved…its threat will unfold in a great wave.”

“Which is why the Heroes and I, and all of us, need to get stronger,” Alex said. “I have to see if I can push harder with the Traveller’s power and learn more spells.”

“We could use Baelin right about now,” Thundar said. “But, I guess we gotta just assume he won't be coming back anytime soon. We can’t risk planning for him to be around to help us, ‘cos if we depend on him and he doesn’t come back, we could be pretty screwed.”

“If luck favours us, he will be back,” Isolde said. “But if not, we must be prepared to fend for ourselves.”

“He was training us to do just that, wasn’t he?” Alex said. “Now we've just got to put his teachings to use.”

“Something bothers me though…” Khalik frowned. “I could see the Ravener taking the body of its creator…but why the throne?”

“Merzhin and Tobias said that it was a focus for Uldar’s divine power,” Alex pointed out.

“I can understand that…” Khalik said. “But, does it mean to destroy it? If it does, would that not depower the priesthood?”

“Actually, I'm…not sure…” Aled admitted.

“If it was me…” Claygon joined in. “And father had a throne…I would want that too…I would not want it in the hands of his enemies…”

Khalik nodded enthusiastically. “I would be the same, the thought of my father and mother’s thrones, or crowns in the hands of some traitorous scum…would not sit well with me and would call for retaliation.”

“So what happens now?” Selina asked. “How do you find the Ravener?”

“We're working on that,” Alex said. “There's basically two mysteries we have to solve before we have any hope of stopping the cycles forever. The first one, is how do we find the Ravener, and the second is how do we get rid of it foreveronce we find it.”

“Do you think you're really going to figure out how to do both?” Selina asked.

“We have to. We've come too far now just to fail,” Alex said. “But it won’t be easy: we don't have anything that’s leading us to where it could be, and we really don't have direct ways to test how to keep it from coming back. We still need to solve those problems. It’s key. So, that’s what we’ll have to keep our focus on. We’ve never let roadblocks stop us before. We beat the demon summoner, and the demons that came to raze Generasi with Ezaliel. We’ve beaten Uldar’s hidden church, and we’re going to beat his Ravener.”

“Finding it could be difficult,” Khalik said. “Likely more difficult than in previous cycles. With Uldar using each cycle as a way to feed himself faith, he would have needed the Ravener to be found by the Heroes. Now, it’s in the construct’s best interest not to be found.”

“Doesn't matter,” Thundar said. “Like Alex said, we've come too far. Besides, this is going to give us time to get more powerful. By the time we find it,” his right hand balled into a fist. “We'll be tough enough to stop it.”

“It feels a little silly to be attending classes when there’s so much on the line,” Khalik said.

“Don't worry about that,” Alex said. “You all have to live your lives. We all do. You have classes to go to, and I’ve also got my businesses…we can't just forget everything beside the Ravener. We don't know if we'll find it next week, next month, next year, or when. We should live our lives while we can, and live them as well as we can.”

“Well said,” Mr. Lu said, raising his goblet of wine. “To the future! A future, without evil gods, and a future without the Ravener!”

“To the future!” Everyone at the table raised their glasses, with Claygon raising his left fist.

The family and cabal drank deeply.

When Selina put her glass on the table, she looked at Alex, her expression grave. “Don't die. Okay? You promised me before that you wouldn’t, and you kept your promise, but things are getting more dangerous now. I don't want to lose you like we lost mum and dad, so promise me again that you’ll be careful.”

“I'm going to be around for a long time,” Alex promised his sister. “I won't tell you not to worry, but I can promise you I'm going to do my best to beat this thing and come back home.”

“Good.” She frowned. “I wish I could actually do something to help. It’s frustrating that I have a fire affinity, but I'm not even strong enough to help with this.”

“That's not your job,” Theresa said. “We're making a better life for all of us. You just need to grow up and enjoy it.”

“Theresa’s right,” Mr. Lu said.

Selina shook her head. “But if I was stronger, I could make sure that you're there with me when I'm growing up. It was terrifying staying here, just waiting for news, news that could’ve been terrible. It's terrifying staying home, waiting for bad news. I'd like to be there with you, protecting all of you. I'd burn the Ravener to ashes. Or take its heat away to freeze it,” she said. “Things stop moving when they freeze. Maybe I could paralyse it or something.”

Something in what Selina had just said sparked a hint of something in Alex's mind. But he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. It was there, playing at the tip of his brain, but wouldn’t come any closer. He’d have to file away what she’d said for later.

“Speaking of fire…” she paused, looking shy. “I've gotten a lot better with spellcraft, Alex. I've learned so much since you were gone, and I really want to show you. Can we go to school tomorrow? I’d like to show you everything I can do now, and I also want to see my friends again…it's been too long.”

Alex smiled. “We’ll get you back to your classes after I speak to the registrar. I’m sure he’ll have paperwork to do. As for tomorrow? Tomorrow we can go to campus, and you can show me all the spells you've learned.”

“Especially the fire spells,” Selina said. “I'm best at those. I guess that's not really surprising, right?”

“I can hardly wait to see them,” Alex said. “I've learned some good fire spells too.”

“Why don’t we all go together?” Khalik said. “I am curious to see what magic you both can do now. What tier have you reached, Alex?”

“In summoning?” Alex asked. “Ninth.”

Thundar nearly spit his drink across the table. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, man!” Alex grinned. “Ninth-tier!”

Khalik’s jaw dropped. “So you, my friend, are now an archwizard!”

“According to an astral engeli I summoned, I am!” the young wizard rubbed his hands together with glee.

“That is so unfair,” Isolde sniffed.

Mr. Lu looked at Theresa. “I take it that ninth-tier is impressive?”

“Yes, father,” she said.

“Well, congratulations!” Mr. Lu beamed. “And speaking of congratulations. Show us that fancy new Mark of yours! Well…maybe not at the dinner table. Show it to us in the morning. I'm curious to see what it looks like.”

“I will,” Alex promised. “Right before we go to campus.”

“Here, here!” Thundar cheered. “Now, let's get back to eating and drinking!” He raised his glass. “It's celebration time, after all. Then, tomorrow you can show us what a monster you've become.”

“Oh, don't worry, my plan is to make you all monsters,” Alex grinned at his cabal. “With some…training, that is. I am a General, after all.”

Thundar flinched. “Easy training?”

Alex’s grin turned evil. “Quite the opposite. Easy training does not a Proper Wizard make!”

Isolde shuddered. “Professor Jules was right. The chancellor is a bad influence on you.”