"Have you heard of Addas before Major Dio?"

I could feel that Hakim's story would drag on as usual, and he topped it off by yelling the whole thing into my ears, riding a wyvern roughly ten thousand feet high. Normally I would have been struggling with the cold and the winds this high up, but it was Midgard, the highlands down there were scorching hot even in this late autumn, so the air felt nice.

"All I know is that he's the Appenon nomad's guardian deity or something." I humored the bard to pass the time but felt bad for my ears in advance. It has been some time since I got to ride a flying mount, especially with a second person in the saddle, but he had this master plan to end the campaign quickly, and it only took him three days to get permission from the Demon Lord himself.

"That much is correct, yes." He had to shout it across the winds, although being the kind of magician he was, he didn't have issues reinforcing his voice. It hurt my ears though. "He is the only god that never signed the Pact, or joined the Cranta Panteon, and managed to avoid banishment while still having quite a few priests remaining."

"You want to talk about rogue deities this high up in the air?" I asked a bit annoyed. "We could have discussed it on the ground too, you should be focusing on finding those domination thingamagics instead."

"Oh, I am, Major, I just wanted to explain how these things work, and how I'm going to find them." He laughed, but I could tell from his tone that my question offended him. I was on the fence for a while, leading recon and raiding parties all day was tiring, and now my time to rest was curtailed because of his request.

"Fine then, explain, but try to avoid your usual roundabout storytelling, and get to the point. It's hard to concentrate while flying these beasts." I shrugged, although the wyvern was flying itself for the most part. "So your Addas is still active somewhere, avoiding the Inquisitorias?"

"Yes and no." His answer didn't explain anything. "He was active even up to the Collapse, and was never caught by the Church, but he disappeared not long after, and his priests couldn't perform a single miracle ever since. Me included, that's why I started my journey."

"You mean to tell me, you were an Addas priest before?" I raised my eyebrows, but he couldn't see that since he sat behind me. "Is it how this works? You pray for your god, then if he doesn't answer you just exchange him for a lute and go with that?"

"Technically you are not wrong." He noted with laughter. "You must be aware that whether you are a priest, a shaman, druid, or wizard, you need to be attuned to the magicules first and foremost, and the method you utilize after that is entirely up to your preferences."

"I doubt it would be that simple." I shrugged, but he continued.

"To become a wizard, or a sorcerer in your case, you would need to learn for years, maybe decades, right?" He asked the rhetorical question and paused for a moment. "Very few magicians are talented, let alone patient enough for that, but that is not the only way to become one. You can make a pact with the gods, spirits, and maybe even nature itself, and let them cast the spells for you in exchange for your mana, prayers, sacrifice, or whatever they desire. While it’s rare that multiple deities answer the prayers of the same person, nothing stops you from learning magic after you become a priest. If you have the opportunity, at least."

"Okay, is this going to get us somewhere, or you'll explain the whole history of magic before getting to the point?" I yawned and didn't even have to pretend. The winds, no matter how gentle, made it rather difficult to keep my eyes open, and this made me sleepy after the long days, and his long-winded sentences. "I have no aptitude for magic so your explanation is wasted on me. Just tell me how you will find our target."

"I'll get there in a moment, but I thought it wouldn't hurt if I told you about the basics first." He was difficult to shoot down, so I braced myself for a long history lesson. "I, for one, was indeed a priest for Addas, and he granted me excellent miracles for my prayers, but once he disappeared, I had to seek other ways to make myself useful."

"Useful for whom though? Aren't you a loner?" I asked confused.

"I wasn't always like that, but I got separated from my comrades in Saipole. It was a steep price to pay for the opportunity to learn their magic based on music, but so far it makes me think, it was worth it." He explained, and I already regretted asking. "In any case, I never ceased to be a priest either. Even if my guardian no longer answers my prayers, more than enough perks I gained as his follower are still useful. Passive abilities, something like seers have."

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

It reminded me of the Princess, who didn't seem to be any kind of magician, be it practical, or one like the paladin that escorted her, yet she could detect the Goddess of Luck without doing anything. The landscape below us remained unchanged even after flying above it for hours. If the lizardfolk didn't threaten us thanks to the Elder, there would have been no reason to set foot in this area. The only feature I spotted the entire time was a deep riverbed that cut the highlands in half and the Imperial Road that led through it.

A bridge led over it, according to the maps I studied before taking off, but it was blown to smithereens. I read the report Gorgon wrote about the incident, it seemed to be the Fire Witch's doing, but now that I saw it with my own eyes, it must have been quite the spell, if she was able to demolish a bridge this massive. Hakim never finished his story though, I just missed a few sentences, while lost in thoughts.

"So one of the most important perks I gained from Addas is the ability to detect high concentrations of mana." He was still at it, and I listened in with half ear, hoping he would get to the point soon. "Your Demon Lord for example is quite the powerful being, I could sense his presence from dozens of miles away. Hence why we have to fly this high, and preferably far away from him, so he wouldn't screw my senses."

"You mean to tell me, you can detect magicians and artifacts just like that?" I asked genuinely amazed. And angry. His ability would have come in handy multiple times to avoid ambushes set by the lizardmen shamans, not to mention during our misadventures before we met. But that was at least not his fault yet. "You should have told me sooner."

"Well, I say it's a passive ability, but the truth is, I still have to concentrate on it quite a bit. Most of the time I simply ignore it, because it's tiring." He explained, only confusing me even more.

"Then what about it is passive exactly?" I shook my head, pulling the reins of the wyvern, and circling over what seemed to be a lizardmen tribe.

"I don't need to pray for it, nor use my mana. So while it was granted to me by Addas, even though he disappeared, I can still use it when needed." Hakim said, but he made another long detour before getting to the point. "This is how I found you, and your Nightmares in that Lansum city by the coast, and knew that I should follow you, instead of simply taking your valuables. Which you didn't have much anyway."

"Please, get to the point already." I rolled my eyes, changing directions once more. "So you can detect high mana concentrations, and I assume these domi-somethings have quite a bit. So where are they? Where should I fly? I'd like to get this done today, if possible."

"Yes, I'm working on it, bossman." He patted my back. "But it's not that easy, you know? This is a passive ability, so it’s not as powerful as what the seers have. The range is rather limited, and the results can be skewed if multiple sources of magicules are around."

"So until you pick up something, you want me to fly aimlessly over the highlands, and if you do find something, it can be completely unrelated?" I asked, losing my patience, although this method was still more efficient than hunting down each tribe on the ground, one by one.

"If they use Domination Stones, their signature should be strong enough to pick up from a dozen miles, without mixing it up with any other signals. That is if that's what this Church woman uses to control them." He noted, and I was starting to lose hope.

"What do you mean, if? Didn't you say with certainty, that it is the only way she could control them?" I asked angrily, and he grabbed my shoulders. I couldn't see his face since he sat behind me, but I was familiar enough with her mannerisms already, I could just imagine his reaction.

"Now, now. I said that so the Demon Lord would allow this search, but to be fair, it is more than likely those artifacts are involved." He tried to calm me down, continuing. "Even if that's not the case, you'd need some powerful wizards or priests to keep them at bay, so my sense would pick those up too. For example, that tribe we flew over a moment ago? It had one mediocre shaman with them. Probably. It's unlikely that they have proper sorcerers or magical artifacts that could emit a similar signal."

"So you can't tell them apart unless there is a significant difference in their concentration? You'd feel the same if it's ten weak magicians or one that's very strong?" I tried to get a grip on his vague ability.

"No, of course not. I can tell them apart, more or less. If I were to focus more on the individual signals, and nothing blinded my senses." He claimed confidently. "But you could put dozens of shamans and sorcerers next to your Demon Lord and I would still only detect his overwhelming magicules. If it's all similar signals, I could get attuned to them over time, and tell who's that magician I'm feeling without looking at them."

"What about these stones then? Could you tell them apart from other signals, if they even exist?" I kept probing him, doing another large circle above the previous tribe, just in case.

"Yes, artifacts tend to have a distinct way of resonating with their environment, that can't be mistaken easily. And Domination Stones in particular have such a strong aura, that even animals get affected by it without any aptitude to magic." He confirmed. "It should also allow communication between these tribes and that Elder woman, so in theory, I could trace it back to her, if we catch them in the act."

"There isn't any point, we already know from the reports it's her, right?" I shook my head. "But I hope you can find the specific tribes before I grow a beard."