Grant looked at me with a stunned expression. "What do you mean it was brought here?" He sputtered with disbelief. "And what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm skinning the krogar." I said without looking up at him. "Don't worry, I'm gonna be carrying it."

"Pretend that we're idiots," Roland said, a tone of exasperation hinted in his voice. "Why?" With a sigh, I finally looked up at them. Before I could answer, Sylvani spoke up.

"Krogar hides are very valuable as armor," she said. "The scales are harder than stone, and the hide itself is so strong, I nearly had to break my bow in order for the arrow to pernitrate it." She was right, with a smile, I went back to work. Once the skin was finally and carefully removed, I handed it to her. Without me even saying anything, she rushed over to the water, and began washing the blood from the hide. Once she left, I began to dig into the corpse. Something that smelt worse than I thought.

"Now what are you doing?" Roland asked.

"Looking for the krogar's stone." I replied. For a chimera to be brought to life, the alchemist needs to use a philosopher's stone. A ruby-like gem that radiates natural magical energy. It's quite literally the life spark for chimeras. That being said, chimeras can't live without one. But somehow, they were able to reproduce. Soon, a hunter found out how that was possible. After a hunt, they had returned to their lodge with a chimera's corpse in one hand, and a shattered philosopher's stone in the other. He had told everyone who would listen that there was an entire pack of these creatures, ranging from small to large. And they all most likely had a stone in them. On further investigation, led by the head mages of the world, they had come to the understanding that chimeras, to make up for not having a philosopher's stone imbedded into their bodies, began to grow their own inside them. An amazing discovery if you ask me. I guess life really does find a way.

"The krogar's stone?" Grant asked. "Why?" Thank Theiard that he knew what I was talking about. I guess he paid attention to Master Varik's lessons on beastiology.

"Because," I said holding back the vomit that was trying to creep its way up my throat, "the krogar had an ability that isn't natural to them. I need to figure out if it's a new evolution, or if the beast was manufactured." After a second or two, I found the stone, wrapped my fingers around it, and pulled it out. With a sigh of relief, I went to sit by Sylvani, who was almost done washing the hide, and plunged both my hands, and the stone, under the water. Moving them around to make sure the blood was thoroughly off of my arms and the stone; I pulled it out of the water. Holding it up to the sunlight, I gazed into the blood red stone with amazement. It was nearly pristine. The inner core of the stone refracted the light, almost making it look like a beating heart. If it wasn't for the small imperfection, this stone would have caught a very high price with the healers. That being said, I began to investigate the imperfection. It was a sort of black material that I've never seen before. So black in fact that it seems to bleed into the rest of the of the stone. Feeling strange, I ran my thumb over the material, and that was when it happened.

I don't really know how it happened, nor could I say what I was feeling. But after I touched the material, I had a vision. Before me was an island that I've never seen before. An island surrounded by storms, yet none of them seem to touch it. At the center of the island was a magnificent city of a strange make. And at the city's heart stood a massive tower, a feeling of dread radiating off of its top. Not being able to handle any more of it, I let go of the stone, and gasped for air. Apparently, I was holding my breath without knowing. "You okay, Little brother?" Roland asked. They had all gathered around me while I was having the vision. I looked down at the stone and saw that the black material had turned into black sand.

"What the hell was that?" I found myself asking out loud.

"You're asking us?" Grant replied. "You're supposed to be the smart one." Waving away his comment, I grabbed the stone and stood up. Looking it over, I began to recount everything I saw. The island, the city, the tower, all of it. But as I began to try and piece it all together, one thing fully clicked into place.

"This krogar was experimented on." I said out loud. Not really talking to everyone around me, but to myself. It was then that I began to pace back and forth as I spouted out my theory. "It had it's stone removed and had some kind of black sand added to it. Then it was brought all the way up here, to a place where the only source of water for miles is this bathhouse."

"So," Roland said, interrupting my thoughts, "are you saying that we might have an alchemist in our midst." I looked at him, realizing that I had forgotten he was here.

"Uh, y-yes," I said, stammering through my forgetfulness, "that's probably what happened. Can't really say for sure who they are, but I may have a hunch as to where they might be." Before I could say anything else, the entire staff of the bathhouse, including some of their patrons, had gathered around our little group. Most of them gasped at the sight of the krogar's skinned corpse, some vomited, and few even fainted. One person in particular looked angry. I could only assume that this was the owner of the place. Standing up, I reached into my pocket, pulled out three gold coins and handed them to him. "Here," I said, patting him on the shoulder, "for cleaning and damages. A member of the Hunter's lodge will be by in a day or two to gather the body. Just move it behind the wall." Gesturing for Roland, Grant, and Sylvani to follow me, we left without another word. To be honest, I kinda wanted to get out of there. Leaving that big of a mess with some guy that looked like he was about to blow a blood vessel in his head was not something that I wanted to deal with. The second we were out in front of the building, I reached into my bag, exchanging the stone for my map.

"Alright, Markus," Roland said in an authoritative tone as we walked up to Thrusk, "talk. Where do you think that krogar came from." After reaching my horse, I laid out the map.

"Astalar Castle." I said in a clear voice. Not just to answer him, but to command my map to show me the location in question. "During the Great Alchemist Purge," I continued, ignoring the groan from Grant as I began the history lesson, "Astalar Castle was one of the few places set up with the tools needed to create chimeras. It was home to the Alchemist Lord, Adrian Premar. When the soldiers of Cyrus came to his home, he surrenders without so much as a fight. After they took him away, the church as well as the mage council order all his alchemical tools to be destroyed."

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"But they couldn't," Roland said, interrupting me. "According to dad, the door to the lab was sealed by some strange magic."

"Actually," I replied, giving him a sideways glance, "it was sealed with alchemy. The same process that was used to create a philosopher's stone, but with an unknown step that was lost when Premar was executed for not explaining how he did it. When they checked his notes, they were all written in a strange code that nobody could understand. He had covered his tracks so well that no one could find out what his secret was, until now at least." Tapping onto the map. "If that krogar came from anywhere, it's here." Rolling up the map, I stuffed it into my bag. "First thing we need to do is head to that castle and stop who ever made that thing from making more." Climbing up onto Thrusk's saddle, I turned to Sylvani. "Need a ride?" Sylvani smiled, turned toward the woods and let out a low, two-tone whistle. A few seconds after, a chestnut mare galloped out of the woods right up to her.

"Her name's Na'al," she said as she patted her horse’s neck, "She'll get me to where we need to go." I gotta hand it to her, that girl is one hell of a huntress. Even Thrusk approved of her with a nod of his head and a stamp of his hoof. As we waited for Roland and Grant to mount up Sylvani began to ask questions. "I have to know. Your brothers, are they a part of your kingdom's military?"

I gave a slight chuckle and looked around nervously. "Well... kinda." I replied. "To be honest, they actually run it." She looked at me, confused. With a sigh of defeat, I told her the truth. "Roland is the crowned prince and Grant is the future commander of the Cyrus Military." I winced as the words came out. I hated admitting to my royal heritage. Like I said, being royal is always a pain.

"So," she looked mildly surprised, "you're a prince as well as a hunter?"

"Well, kinda." I replied. "By birth, yes. My father is the king, and my mother is the queen. However, the moment I became a mage I denounced my claim to the throne." Sylvani shot up as if another lightning bolt hit the ground behind her.

"You're a mage too!?" She practically shouted. At that exact moment, Roland had moved his horse right next to her.

"Yep," he answered for me. "Best one in Cyrus. Next Master Varik, of course." With that, Roland was off with Grant following closely behind him.

"If you want," I said to her with an apologetic smile, "I can tell you my whole story on the way to Astalar. It might help you get to know me. Hell, you can tell me about yourself too. Sound fair?" With a nod of her head, we were off. Making our way to Astalar Castle, and the unknown danger we were about to face.

As we made our way to the castle, I told Sylvani my story. When I found out I was a mage, the beginning of my training, and my belief in how magic and power should not belong to the same person. In exchange, she told me about her life. She was born in a small village in Southern Cardal, called Zarana. When she was fifteen, she began her training to become a memeber of the Huntresses. Like me, she dreamed of adventure, and was willing to give up whatever she could just to take hold of her dream. I gotta admit, she impressed me. As we trotted along, we enjoyed each other's company. A few moments later, I had spotted that Roland and Grant had dismounted and were investigating something at the fork in the road. Curious about what they found, I had Thrusk rush to meet them. As I got close, I saw a shimmering light on the ground before them, and what looked like a glass case. "Well..." Roland said as I finally reached them, "seems you were right about the krogar being brought to the area."

"But not to the bath house it seems." I finished his sentence as I climbed off Thrusk. Kneeling, I inspected the shards of glass on the ground before me. "Looks like whoever was transporting the beast must have dropped it." I began to look around, trying to find more clues. "I don't think they were in any hurry to find it."

"That," Grant said to my right, "or they were told to leave it."

"Either way," Roland replied, "we need to put an end to this right now."

"Before more people get hurt." I finished. To be honest, I could never understand why we did this. But at least we're on the same brainwave. I looked over at Sylvani, who had a bemused look on her face. "What?"

"Do you three always do this?" She asked.

"Sometimes," Grant replied, "It annoys our folks to no end."

"Seriously though," I continued as I looked down the path to the left of the broken case, "we need to find whoever made that thing and stop him from making more."

"Right," Roland replied, getting up to stand to my right, "got a plan?"

"I have some spatial magic," I smirked, "I could teleport myself and one other person in. But I kinda would like a distraction in the meantime. Not to mention I need to know who I'm taking with me."

"Grant and I will make the distraction," Roland said, staring down the path, "while you and Sylvani find the alchemist and take him out." He then gave me a sideways glance and asked, "Did you bring your sword this time?"

"Yep." I said with a nod as I patted my bag. "I remember last time." Not waiting for Sylvani to say anything, we hopped back onto our horses and made the quick trek up the path to Astalar Castle. A minute or two later, we began to see the castle just above the tree line. Once we were close enough, we dismounted from our horses and tied them up so that they wouldn't run away. Hiding behind some of the trees, I did a quick surveillance of the area of the castle grounds. To be honest, it wasn't really a castle. It was more of a stone fortress with a large, wooden gate at the front. Lord Premar took to calling it a castle so that he could feel regal. Kinda made me laugh. Continuing my surveillance, I took notice of a few things. First, it looked like someone lit a couple of torches throughout the castle. I guess I was right about the castle being in use. Second, it didn't look like there were many guards. I mean, yeah, there were two in armor at the front gate, but other than that, it looked as if whoever was running the operation wanted to keep things quiet for the time being. To be honest, I was kinda impressed. Finally, my eyes drifted towards the tower of the fortress, the part that was said to be Premar's lab, and I saw something that made me freeze. Floating, from what looked like a few feet away from the tower's largest window, was a large shadowy figure that just stood there. It scared me, but what made it worse was when I looked down towards me. No. Not towards me. At me. I couldn't say how or why I knew that, I just did. It chilled me to the core. After a few minutes of this thing staring at me, it finally turned back towards the window. Seconds later, it vanished. What the hell was that thing? Shaking the sight out of my head, I focused back onto the plan. Unrolling my map, I whispered the castle's name, and the map came to life. Another neat trick of the map is that, when it comes to buildings, it will actually draw out every room and hallway with such detail, you could almost swear that the ghost of the designer themselves was drawing on the parchment. It can be very helpful when it comes to spatial magic. With one last rundown of the plan, we sprang into action. Grabbing hold of Sylvani's hand, I placed my other hand on the map and cast my spell just as Roland and Grant charged the two men at the main gate, distracting them from the light and sound that my spell gave off.