Amset – Captain of the Desert Jackals guild
“So you’re telling me that not only did you kill the Necroshade but you also want to offer us a job then once the job is over you’ll help us in getting to the Sand dune tombs next time a window arrives?” Amset watched as Nubit asked the question of this Felix Aesir who sat ahead of them.
“Essentially yes.” He replied with a jovial smile but the strange material his eye patch and the raven perched on his shoulder made it hard to trust him outright.
“What is the job?” Amset asked with narrowed eyes.
“Well, I need you as a trainer for new recruits as well as sparing partner for the captain of my guard. The one who wounded you.” He said with a smile and Amset almost brightened at that. It was hard for him to face opponents of lesser skill but with enough speed and strength to make up for it and give him a proper fight of late. Then Felix continued. “I’ll also have to ask you to help in any excursions that the academy might plan as a guard and group vice leader. I am need of experienced and veteran staff, someone who’s seen real combat and knows what it’s like.”
“So what will I do then?” Nubit asked curiously. The salary Felix had proposed would help them quite a bit from some of the costs their quest for the Sand dune tombs had demanded.
Felix smiled a smile that showed his rather pronounced canines. “You will do the very same thing. I’m thinking of this as a two year contract. You will train the recruits I gather for you at my manor in six months. I will provide room and board as well as facilities to train at the manor, then you will help with either the recruits or students of the academy when they take excursions on low ranked jobs for the Association.”
“These are rather generous working conditions. Is the timing correct as well?” Nubit questioned.
Felix placed a finger to his chin and he thought for a moment. “It is true that the timing might change but it will be within the five year time that the next semester for the royal academy is. I can send a letter with my familiar here to you giving you a three month head’s up if you two are so adamant on returning to the Sand sea.”
He then reached forward and created a small figurine of a chess pawn just smaller than usual. It was a level of control Amset hadn’t seen before, not even Nubit could structure her mana stones like that and she was a prodigy. She’d told him it was a matter of knowledge as much as skill.
“As long as this is out in the open then my familiar can find you to deliver the message. If you need to contact me then pour a bit of mana into the crystal and I’ll know. I’ll dispatch my familiar to you and then she can deliver your message.” Felix then said with a smile as the finger at his chin moved to gently stroke under the ravens chin perched on his shoulder.
Amset and Nubit looked at one another for a long while in silent conversation with their eyes before Nubit reached out and picked up the crystal pawn figurine. “All right, while I can’t promise that we can respond right away when the request comes we will at least give you a satisfactory answer.” She said with a soft bow to Felix who smiled and bowed his head in return.
After the dragon elf of all things had left the room they were staying at there was a heavy silence between Amset and Nubit. “Can we trust what he said?” Amset then asked and Nubit frowned a little.
“I’m sure the offer was genuine but I don’t know. It feels a bit...” She began.
“Too good to be trrrrue?” Amset finished and she nodded to him. “We still could use the money he offerrrred.” He added and then another silence fell on the room as both thought things through.
“Well we don’t have much to do since I’ll stay wounded thrrrough ourrr window now so we should have fully prrrreparrred by the next one rrrright?” Amset then asked and got a silent nod from Nubit.
Amset reached out and held Nubit’s shoulder as he allowed her to lean on his shoulder. “We’ll get therrrre.” He then quietly reassured Nubit. They at least had time and the option to say no to the generous offer made to them by Felix.
Some time on the dune sea would do them both good after the rather disastrous trip this had turned out to be. From his impulsive joining of the tournament in the grand colosseum that lead to him being too wounded to participate to the destruction of the underground arena as a light blessing.
He had felt uneasy about the whole thing, enough so that after being wounded he decided not to go and watch. Thankfully he had in hindsight as from what he heard almost everyone there had died because of a voidborn of all things attacking the place.
Still Veta of late left him feeling uneasy and he was glad their ship would depart tomorrow morning. He looked over at the pouch that Nubit had placed the crystal pawn figurine that Felix had given them and thought creased his brow.
(Jonah)
The alley stank to high heaven with grime, slime and other unmentionable liquids running in a tiny stream down the middle of the alley. Trash and other refuse littered the area in heaps with small feline lizards the same size as the rats that skittered about. An echo system in the refuse of another's.
One of these heaps moved when Jonah stirred awake, checking the bottle in his hand for any remaining liquid before moving his large cloak away to greet the last remaining rays of the sun overhead. He slowly got up, dusting himself off after another bender in the cities taverns. His well made and quality kandora, boots, gloves and hooded cloak now caked in grime and other filth only three days after he’d gotten it.
He’d earned quite a bit in the tournament by betting on himself and had splurged on new clothes, arms and armour for himself. The purple marble effect of his Deep Steel armour now barely visible. He checked himself to see if he had everything on him. His breastplate, grieves, tassets, forearm guards and armoured gloves all there. His Shamsir, his twin Jambiya daggers, spatial bag and coin purse. All his belongings were on him and he smiled weakly.
“No! Go back to Master! He’s here, he’s here!” The voice began with it’s incessant nagging. It had started a week after the roadside incident. It started as a whisper at first, just at the edge of hearing more a buzz in the background but after that week it had grown stronger and stronger over a two week period till it was what it was now.
The voice was why he drank, it tormented him. Telling him to follow and meet it’s master, a being he believed was the one that caused the roadside incident. Someone he didn’t want to meet ever again, no that wasn’t correct. He would meet him again, when he killed him for doing this to him. Then the voice would stop but he knew he wasn’t strong enough to kill the man in the black cloak. No, Arkhan that was his name, he’d found out right as he was leaving Bedelev about the necromancer who could control spirits and connected the dots.
He would head up north and once he was strong enough he’d have his freedom from the incessant voice. He stumbled as he rose from the pile that had served as his bed for most of the day. Managing his steps he began to head out of the alley when a light tapping of metal on cobblestone caught his attention.
Turning his head he noticed the sharply dressed elf with a white misty mask and top hat walking leisurely towards him. Tapping his cane who’s head was a female angel with her wings on full display for the handle. Jonah was instantly on guard and moved his hand ever so slowly under his cloak to one of his Jambiya daggers. “That will not be necessary Jonah.” The elf said as he continued to walk towards Jonah.
“What won’t be necessary?” He asked as his fingers curled around the handle of his dagger.
The elf sighed and then Jonah felt it, he was before a god for just an instant before the feeling went away. He shook in fear as he stared at the god before him, swallowing nervously. The elven god shook his head and stopped three steps from Jonah. “I can help you get your revenge. I’m rather angry at the same individual but first if I am to help you I need something from you.” The elf said as he stared at Jonah with glittering eyes, like he’d just found a treasure.
Jonah wet his dry mouth and swallowed before speaking. “What do I need to do?” He asked then as he wanted the voice out of his head so desperately.
“Become my herald, I’ll give you two powers and tell you how you can get your revenge as easily as possible.” The elf said as he reached his hand forwards in a handshake. His eyes the only thing one could see from the blank white mask still glittering in mirth and enjoyment.
Jonah was a bit taken aback, weren’t heralds supposed to be envoy’s of their gods? That was why they were usually brought into the world from another or at least that was the story. “NO! NO! Go back to Master!” The voice screeched in his head and he firmed his resolve and grasped the offered hand firmly.
A low mirthful chuckle came from the god in front of Jonah before he felt the world turn slowly black at the edges. His limbs felt sluggish and his head was awfully hard to keep upright all of the sudden. His knees slowly buckled under him as he sank down into the muck in the alley. Slowly, his head wobbling, he looked up at the elven god as if to ask why he felt like this.
“Shhh.” The god soothed as he reached out and gently stroked the side of Jonah’s face. “It’s all right, it’s all a part of the process.” He soothed and Jonah smiled gently as his heavy eyelids began to droop ever lower.
Right as his world went black he saw the outline of the god begin to change and morph before his very eyes but the calm and soothing black took him and he pushed it out of his mind. He was safe now, the voice wasn’t there any more he could finally rest.
Above him stood Thesimus, a sinister curled smile on her now pouting lips. What a treasure she had found and just in time too. “Soon little Baron, very soon.” The goddess of trickery and games chuckled out in a mirthful laugh akin to happy bells as she reached down. Grabbing the breastplate of the unconscious Jonah she then raised him up over her shoulder like he was a jacket to casually hang on her shoulder.
Then two more steps and she along with Jonah vanished into a white swirling mist heading in the direction of Hardows ridge.
(Morice Havenfield)
“So what exactly is this supposed to do?” He asked as he sat on the edge of the flat roof of the manor. Watching Vlad sit in the middle with an intricate ritual circle made of mana stone growing from under his crossed legs as if ink was moving from a source to fill in a shape with a radius of eight meters . The mana stones were of the lowest possible grade that one could create but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a use for it.
“As I said this is an experiment to see if I can’t gather a certain type energy from the atmosphere with a modified gathering ritual circle. Since I’m making this out of mana stone I’ve created I will be able to manipulate it’s shape at will to pin point a specific type of energy or all types of energy as I desire. The secondary base doesn’t have as much as above ground does. I’m trying to solve that problem.” Vlad said with closed eyes and a calm expression upon his face as the mana stone began to fill into the circle underneath him.
“Right and this chi you mentioned, think you’ll be able to gather that?” Morice asked then as he noted the six slots in the ritual circle, most likely for receptacles for the energies.
Vlad opened his eye and looked at Morice. “I think so but I don’t think we’ll be able to get overly much use out of it. It can only be created in areas like Vete, with both abundance of soul energy and mana in the air that I can use to combine into it. To my knowledge there are no natural places of power for chi on this continent which will make it most likely only possible to move into the very beginning stages of true cultivation but it is still an edge we might gain over our opposition.” He answered equally as calmly as before.
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Morice had to admit as angry as he’d been at Vlad for making him think he was dead for a few days this newest rebirth he’d gone through had done the man good. He was much more calmer and collected than before, no erratic and sudden movements of his face as if he was wincing every so often. Morice went into deep thought on Vlad’s words then and hummed a bit to himself. “I guess I can see that as a problem. Maybe we could make a pipeline down to the secondary location to continuously funnel mana into it?” He suggested.
“Perhaps, though I’m sure that we’d need to carve in some wards and protections before doing something like that. Large foci of mana underground are easier to detect than above ground after all.” Vlad said as he stood up and stretched his body a bit.
“Why is that?” Morice asked curiously.
“Well because mana is generated by life and while there is plenty of life underground there is still a much more abundant source of life above ground.” He answered with a smile as he began to fashion three mana crystals and three soul gems, all of the exact same size and shape which he then placed into the slots on the circle.
“Then why won’t people detect this?” Morice asked curiously once again as he watched Vlad triple check his creation two more times.
“Because into this ritual circle are weaved wards and misdirection spells to prevent that, all of them the most basic but still useful nonetheless.” Vlad said as he then walked to the centre of the circle and concentrated hard for half an hour, sparks the only show he was putting in anything effort wise.
For the half hour Morice simply sat silently watching and contemplating things. Whatever training Vlad had been going through while asleep it was clear it was a very advanced one. He was meticulous with everything that connected to magic and he had been taught how to create his own spell circles using what spells he already knew as a base.
Vlad finally managed to create what he was trying to create and a crystal as clear as water was created in the centre of the circle with a pure white spark of energy inside it. Sighing Vlad stood and it showed that this working of magic had already taken a toll on his reserves of magic and mental energy.
With a soft wave at the circle once he’d stepped out of it, Vlad activated the ritual circle. It shone softly and then Morice felt it, the tug on the soul energy and mana in the air as it began to slowly gather towards the circle, a weak funnel that wouldn’t be noticed all that much as different from the same feelings of pulled mana coming from some of the other manors in the district.
“So this will gather and refine the energies inside those crystals before mixing in any excess to turn into chi?” Morice asked Vlad as both of them looked at the dully glowing blueish crystal ritual circle.
“The stones will refine themselves to a greater quality with a third of the energy it gathers, store a third while the last part is refined into chi in the middle crystal. The Chi crystal will use half it’s energy to refine itself to a greater quality while storing the other half. Any excess energy will be used to refine the energy itself if possible for all seven crystals.” Vlad explained and smiled.
“It’ll turn itself off when all the stones are of the highest quality and as packed with energy as they can be so no worries about overly charged mana stones exploding or anything.” Vlad then added with a wider teasing smile.
“Well you did have me worried there for a second.” Morice answered with a grin. Vlad only continued with his smile as the two made their way down to the backyard. The prepared food ready to be grilled as they had decided to enjoy the evening out in the backyard. Lemonade, wine and other drinks were ready for them to enjoy with side dishes already prepared as Vlad moved to the grill and lit it up with a simple gesture.
Camille had returned earlier that day and she alongside Freyja, Selma and Bau were talking among themselves on one part of the patio. Abhorash was going slowly over a sword style with Akasha and Gandas in the part of the backyard designated for training.
Before long the imperial family arrived along with Theodore Dunleavy and his family as well as Nafir, his husband, his wife, son and grandson. Both Vlad and Morice exchanged baffled looks at seeing Nafir and his family when they arrived and had been introduced.
Then when the scent of grilled meat was thick in the air the large group enjoyed the meal cooked by Vlad and the girls in the backyard. Small lanterns of mana created by Vlad their source of light as the sun had set by the time dinner was ready. The night spent in merriment and relaxation.
(Akasha von Carstein)
“He’s like a woman.” Bertille Alocia said with wide smile as the two sat to the side and enjoyed their lemonade while the adults talked in the backyard. Akasha understood what she meant. Her father had changed drastically and his hair reached down to his knees even with the way he swept it back it still made him look like a woman when viewed from behind. A very tall woman.
“Think we could get him to shave?” Akasha asked with mischief in her eyes and the princess looked at her with an equal glint in her own eyes. Then both girls giggled and began to think up more games to play the next time they met when they saw how short the night would be for them.
Then all too soon the time came for Bertille to go home with her parents and Akasha sat on her fathers lap with what he’d called Icelandic pancakes in her hand and a happy grin on her lips. “I’m ordering a tailor to come tomorrow for us.” Vlad said above her as he gently ran his fingers along her scalp in a gentle combing of her hair.
“Is it because you got so tall?” She asked him with a smile and some cream on her face from the pancake.
“Yes I did sprout up didn’t I?” Vlad said with a smile as he moved took out a handkerchief and began to wipe at Akasha’s face with it.
She struggled a little against him but once he was finished she gave him a slight pout before giggling as he tickled her. “How have you been little Baroness?” Vlad asked with gentle smile as he allowed Akasha to curl up against him while he gently rocked from side to side while rubbing her back.
Akasha listened to the slow heartbeat that came from Vlad’s chest as she thought on her answer. “I’ve been a bit lonely.” She admitted.
“Even with Morice and Abhorash here?” Vlad asked gently.
She shook her head. “It’s not the same when someone is missing.” She muttered softly in reply. She then remembered when she’d disappointed Vlad. When Camille had joined the house she’d walked up to her and when told she was a reincarnator she’d asked if she was from the same world as Vlad. Apparently he’d wanted to keep it a secret for a little while but she’d just blurted it out without thinking.
“You’re not mad at me are you?” She asked as she looked up at him and saw his confused face greet her.
“Why would I be mad at you?” He asked softly as he began to look a bit worried.
“For asking Camille if she was from your world.” She said in a low tone and without realizing it she’d looked up at Vlad with a sad puppy look. Vlad’s cheeks suddenly puffed out and he began coughing and banging his fist against his chest.
Soon the worried girl was put at ease when Vlad got his coughing under control and he spoke with a smile on his lips. “No I’m not mad. I didn’t tell you about her before she arrived so it is my own fault. It is all right, she’s grown a little used to us so there is no need to worry. Things worked out in the end so there is no need to fret over it.” He said as he stroked the top of her head reassuringly and she slowly smiled up at him.
They stayed there in companionable silence, she rested her head against his chest while he gently rocked from side to side. He had his head leaned all the way back in his chair as he lounged with her on his lap.
Raising her head up she watched as the clear night shone from above. The twin moons in their eternal waltz across the black were trailed by a more noticeable cluster of stars than the rest of the heavens. The shape of the cluster like a ribboned dress trailing behind the larger of the moons.
“In the beginning there was only one moon.” Vlad suddenly began to tell a story in a comfortable tone. “The sun had the earth you see but his sister the moon had no one. The moon grew lonely as she saw the creatures that the earth gave birth to with the help of the sun.” He waved his hand towards the backyard and into existence came three figures. A stately man with fire for hair wearing a white kaftan, A comely woman wearing a green Khimar with blue eyes tanned skin and auburn hair and finally a slim but tall woman with snow blonde hair, soft grey eyes and pale skin. The three began to move around with the man and comely woman huddling together and different creatures began to spawn between them.
“However Sun also loved his sister and hated to see her so alone.” Vlad continued and the representation of sun looked up sadly at the one representing the moon. “So Sun went on a journey as perilous as it was mysterious but when he returned he did so with another moon.” The sun suddenly appeared again after disappearing as he’d been a candle blown out, this time with a man smaller than moon but with the same ethereal beauty as moon did.
“The new moon introduced himself as Nacht and brought the gift of names to the others. The sun chose the name Solar while the earth chose Gaia and the moon chose Lunabell for her laugh was like the tinkling of bells.” The figures now spoke animatedly without giving any sound.
“Nacht fell in love with Luna and began to court her, bringing her flowers and songs of devotion.” Then as Nacht went down to a knee and looked to have begun to sing to Lunabell but the voice that could be heard was Vlad’s softly whistling a tune in his stead.
At the end of the song Lunabell began to walk towards Nacht and the two embraced. “Then after a month of courtship she accepted and the two took to dancing in the sky at night. So while Solar and Gaia brought forth life upon the earth, Nacht and Lunabell danced the night away in a dazzling procession of children of their own, the many stars we see.”
This time Nacht and Lunabell moved through the air slow at first before they were dancing in the air and looked madly in love while Solar and Gaia watched on with fond smiles from the ground bellow.
Akasha had been a rapt audience while Vlad told the story and showed it like he did so by the time he’d finished his tale she just stared dumbstruck at the place he’d showed the figures. Then Vlad placed his finger under her chin and tilted her head back to look up at the night sky and she could see it now. Like an outline created from the stars of their parents dancing through the night, still very much in love.
“If you don’t close your mouth flies will get in.” Vlad said teasingly as he flicked his finger to close her mouth. At first she blushed but then she looked over to Vlad and hugged him tightly.
“Can you teach me to do that?” She asked with large pleading eyes.
“Oh dear!” Vlad began theatrically as he gripped his heart with one hand while the other was placed with the back hand on his forehead. “Puppy eyes, my only weakness. You’d wound me so?” He mock moaned in despair only for her to laugh at him for his antics.
Vlad laughed softly before he rested one hand atop her head and smiled at her. “I’m sure you’ll be even better than me in the future.” He said with a smile as he picked her up and placed her on the chair next to him. “Ok you remember the feeling of mana when you moved it around inside you?” He began as he went on to teach her how to materialize her mana.
At first it was just a tiny ball of light that soon turned to a small needle like shape that wiggled a little around by the end of it. She was a bit frustrated hers wasn’t as defined or shaped like Vlads had been but he praised her for being a quick study.
“Dad can you make a sword and fight with it using mana?” She asked as she remembered the lesson from Abhorash before the barbecue, as Vlad had called it, had gone into disarming.
Vlad thought a bit before he answered. “If I used my entire mana pool to create a single sword I would be able to fight with it yes.” He said though still clearly in thought. “However, if I spent half my mana pool I could create a sturdy sword out of mana crystal instead while neither would ever truly compare to a real steel sword. So while you can I wouldn’t recommend doing it, it’s much too wasteful of your mana to use it all just to create a sword that’s like a poor quality steel sword at best.” He said and she could see his point.
“If instead all that mana was used in spells then it wouldn’t be such a waste.” Vlad got a cunning smile to his lips then. “Of course not many know that, so if you really need to bluff your way out of something then creating a sword out of thin air could be used to stop a fight from happening.” He spoke and she furrowed her brows a bit.
“But isn’t that dishonourable? Lying and tricking like that?” She asked and Vlad grew a complicated expression on his face.
He chewed his lip a bit as he picked her up and began to head back inside the manor. “Honour is a strange subject Akasha.” He said as they were alone in the hallway of the manor. “Many say that it is the quality of knowing and doing what is morally right. Others say that one’s honour is the worth of their word and others still say it is the actions we take.” He explained in a calm and soft tone though in a manner like he was chewing on the words he spoke himself.
“I think that one’s honour is a mixture of all three. If you give your word upon your true name then you must keep it Akasha but only if the person receiving that word does so in good faith. If they already intend to betray you then you aren’t obligated to keep your word to them. You should also think through your actions, what might the consequences of it be and being willing to bear them.”
He paused then as they came to her bedroom door and he opened it, her held up at his side. “If you give your word, keep it and take responsibility for your actions then you are honourable... at least to me. If that also includes doing what many would think is right then you can simply think of that as icing on the cake so to speak.” He said with a smile as he walked into the middle of the room with her still in his arms. “However, tricking and lying can be honourable for example if it is done to prevent death or the like.”
He opened the window with a soft wave of his hand and focus of his mana as he walked with her onto the balcony for her room to look up at the starry night sky. “Akasha if you want the be honourable then live life true to yourself. I’ll always stand by your back no matter what.” He said his smile turning gentle and fatherly as he leaned his head down and kissed her forehead.
Slowly and gently Vlad began to sway softly to the gentle cool breeze of the clear night while he patted her back. At first he hummed a bit before he sang for her, a song she’d asked him once to tell her what it meant. He’d called it the wolf’s song and it was for the wolves in the night to not take his child away.
“Vargen ylar i natten skog
Han vill men kan inte sova
Hungern river i hans varga buk
O det är kallt i hans stova
Du varg du varg, kom inte hit
Ungen min får du aldrig.”
As the song continued her eyelids got heavier and heavier and soon she was fast asleep in her fathers arms. The stranger that had turned to a father in her eyes gently rocking her while he sang her to sleep.