“Not precisely the reaction I was hoping for, but I suppose it’s warranted,” Tarixi’s ghost said with a touch of wry amusement. “I take it you weren’t expecting an Echo?”
“An Ech—Just hold on!” Aurelian said with a shake of his head while he turned to face the goddamn ghost standing before him. “You’re dead! I saw you die! Literally lived it, thanks to this—this thing!” he shook the cardinal at her for emphasis.
“Yes. I am quite dead,” the goblin confirmed cheerfully.
“Then what—?”
“I am an Echo. A vestige of Soulforce imprinted upon the Memory Gem within your hand. While holding it, or so long as it is attached to your person, I can communicate with you.”
Aurelian listened in silence and looked down at the gem, and then back to the faintly transparent goblin.
At least she had robes on.
“So, you’re sort of like my spirit guide?”
“Spirit gui—? No,” Tarixi said with a shake of her head that sent ghostly ears flopping. “I am not. My duty here is to help you understand what you must do, and to grant you access to what you were meant to have.”
“You mean like a weapon or something?” he asked with a flare of excitement. “I already have a Runesword, but—”
“No,” Tarixi interjected firmly. “Not a weapon. Though…” she hesitated for a long moment before continuing. Aurelian, meanwhile, tried to continue to be not-weirded-out while he listened. “Well, I suppose one might say it can be weaponised, but that is a terrible mitigation of its true importance.”
“You are being very vague,” he observed.
“I know,” she said with another smile. “Oh, and you may want to take care of that.”
“Take care of wh—Oh god damn it!”
Aurelian turned while he was speaking, and his sudden gripe was owed to the fact that several of the skeletal Anointed—Godsworn, as Tarixi called them in the memory—were beginning to stir. Their eyes, the same hateful acid-green, were angled towards him while they attempted to disentangle themselves from the various weapons, and other bodies, they had in some cases fused with over the untold years they had languished in the same position.
Aurelian glanced down at the gem, and then made a snap decision and slotted it down into his belt, folding the top of his pants inward slightly so that the gem was resting against the skin of his waist.
“That is… unique.” Tarixi observed mildly.
“Yeah, well, it isn’t like I have much to work with,” he replied while his eyes took stock of the rising undead. “We can discuss a more permanent solution when I finish taking care of these wankers, alright?”
“Wankers, hm?” she repeated thoughtfully while she appraised them, before abruptly lighting up with a brilliant smile. “An apt descriptor, despite their lack of sex organs. Yes, Reclaimer. Put down these skeletal wankers!”
Aurelian needed no further encouragement and reached up to draw his Runesword as he burst into a charge towards the rising line of undead. He was quite proud of the fact he only hesitated slightly when he saw some of them were wielding weapons when they rose. Wasting as little time as possible, he started on the creatures closest to him and on the far right of the battle line.
His Runesword whined as it scythed through the air and clashed against the upturned, rust-speckled blade of a skeletal knight.
Aurelian leaned into the engagement and used his superior speed, trusting his instincts when he stepped away from the deadlock, dodged around a responsive cut at his shoulder, and rammed his blade home into the undead’s skull.
“Your form needs work.” Tarixi observed from where she sort of just drifted alongside him. “But your enthusiasm is splendid.”
“Who—?” he began before ducking a swinging greatsword with a curse, and rolling away from a follow-up kick. He pushed himself up and surged forward a second later, slicing his blade in an arc and bisecting the knight at the waist, after which he ended it with a quick downwards thrust of his Runesword.
“Who what?” Tarixi asked curiously.
“Who asked?!” Aurelian shot back as he stepped forward into battle with yet another foe, blade meeting blade in a resounding clang of steel. He could tell that he was going to rapidly become outnumbered, and so he used the tactical knowledge he’d gleaned earlier to navigate through and around the line of battle.
His Runesword clashed twice more with his undead foe’s weapon before Aurelian leveraged his better speed and baited in a strike, evading it with barely an inch to spare and quickly cutting off the risen warrior’s head. He kicked the crumbling knight away and faced the remainder, counting off close to a solid dozen with a groan.
“Hey Tarixi?”
“Yes, Reclaimer?” she responded mildly.
“If you have any ancient battle mage insights, I am all ears.”
“Well given your complete lack of any form of training, magical knowledge, or—”
“Let me specify!” Aurelian cut her off as he moved to engage another of the undead while keeping his flanks as covered as he could. “Helpful insights! Helpful!”
He grunted as another strike against his Runesword rattled his arms, and then leaned into the deadlock, waiting only long enough for the undead to press against him before snapping back his sword and forcing the creature off-balance.
A quick spinning slash took off its upper body at the sternum, and he left whatever animation remained to writhe impotently on the ground several feet away while he turned to regard the next challenger.
A skeleton wielding both blade and shield advanced towards him, and Aurelian grimaced in concern.
The good news, at least, was that he had definitely improved with his Runesword.
He could feel his body knowing where and how to move, and could process those instincts into active output with seamless ease.
The rate at which he’d increased in skill was, frankly, absurd.
But even if they were undead, with all the odd puppet-like awkwardness to their movements; they were still warriors. There was a dire cunning behind how they fought, and even if they failed to properly react to his movements the way a living opponent might have, Aurelian had a feeling that his success until that point had been more based in positioning and tempo than any real advantage.
“Tarixi?!” He called out with an edge of desperation when he met the sword-and-board wielding undead head on a moment later, and parried away a probing strike.
“You are wielding a Runesword, correct?” she asked calmly.
“I am!” he affirmed with a curse when he staggered backward from a head-rattling shield bash, and only barely managed to nimbly dodge away from a follow-up slash.
“Then their armour will not save them.”
“And your point is?!” Aurelian asked while he pushed a flurry of wild, aggressive strikes onto the knight to keep it momentarily occupied.
“If their armour won’t stop you, then neither will—”
“—their shield!” Aurelian finished with a mental ‘duh’ as he swiftly rolled towards the skeleton’s other side and charged directly for its shielded left. The creature attempted to raise the shield in defence, and Aurelian simply speared his blade through it at an angle, and pierced the tip through the creature’s jaw. It de-animated instantly, and collapsed into a pile of bones while he kicked the shield off of his blade.
One dead, another crippled and clacking around on the ground, and ten to go!
Aurelian searched around when the remaining undead started shamble-running towards him, armour rattling and weapons held still, and his eyes eventually landed on the blackened shaft of what appeared to be some sort of diamond-tipped wand.
He ran towards it quickly and scooped it up in his left hand while he stared at it.
“Tarixi, how do I activate magic with this thing?!”
“That is an inaccurate assertion as to the nature of spellc—”
“Tarixi!”
“You channel mana into it,” she said with a sigh, “and point it at the enemy.”
“Well here goes nothing…” Aurelian muttered to himself while he pointed the wand at the advancing undead, gathered his mana as best as his Mana Control skill would allow, and imagined shoved all of it into the instrument through flowing rivers of light.
“Just ensure you regulate the proper amount,” Tarixi continued while she drifted over. “Or else you will suffer backbl—”
Her words were cut off by a cacophonous WHUMP when an explosion of air pressure erupted from the tip of the wand, and subsequently detonated the tip of the wand. Aurelian was sent hurtling backwards arse-over-skull along the marble floors, shouting in pain and confusion at the detonation, until he came to a bruised and bloodied halt some twelve metres from where he’d been standing.
Tarixi pursued him at a stately pace with a quiet ‘tsk’ of disapproval, but Aurelian barely noticed.
Condition: Concussion (Minor)
Mana Control is now Level 2!
Mana Control is now Level 3!
What he did notice was that the ten undead chasing him had suddenly been reduced to four… and a massive hole had been blasted through the piles of skeletons in alignment with the direction of his impromptu air cannon. The ruined wand lay splintered and useless on the ground, its diamond nowhere in sight—likely shattered, he supposed—and several parts of its shaft were simply gone from the force of the detonation.
The faint ringing in his ears would have confirmed he had, in fact, released some sort of percussive wave of concentrated air even if the obliterated undead and destroyed skeletal corpses hadn’t done it already.
Tarixi was saying something to him, but Aurelian couldn’t hear her.
A glance at his status screen showed why.
Condition: Deafened (Minor), 3 Second Duration
Aurelian winced while his ear drums rapidly healed, and his hearing returned with a pop.
“...ckless use of an irreplaceable wand. Were you an initiate in the Magisterii, Reclaimer, we’d have you lashed for such a reprehensible use of priceless—”
Aurelian ignored the annoyed spirit’s stern reprimand and scrambled to his feet, taking only the time to search for his quarry before hurtling towards where he saw a nearby wand.
This one was topped with a red gemstone.
He had plenty of giddy suspicions about what that meant.
Aurelian scooped it up as he passed and spun around, the weak grip on the soles of his shoes forcing him into a sliding locomotion across the marble flooring while he faced down the approaching skeletons.
It probably looked like he was floor-surfing toward them.
“Don’t you dare, Reclaimer!” Tarixi cried out.
Too late! He thought smugly.
The skeletons, for just a moment, hesitated.
Aurelian grinned.
BOOM!
Condition: Concussion (Moderate)
Condition: Burned (Minor)
Condition: Bleeding (Minor)
Condition: Deafened (Minor), 3 Second Duration
Mana Control is now Level 4!
Mana Control is now Level 5!
Aurelian stirred with a low, uncomfortable moan. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and had been compressed by a magnetic press. His body was sore, and he had the strangest sense of tingly numbness in his fingers. Aurelian allowed a few moments to pass so he could catch his breath, and then cracked open his eyes and winced. Blinding brightness assailed his head as his wounded brain tried to parse the information from his senses. Everything hurt everywhere, and he swore he tasted metal in his mouth.
He grimaced at the flash and chime of new alerts.
Pain Tolerance is now Level 23!
Durable is now Level 13!
Durable is now Level 14!
Tactician is now Level 8!
Longsword Mastery is now Level 20!
Longsword Mastery is now Level 21!
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Dodge is now Level 14!
. . .
Dodge is now Level 17!
Congratulations, Aurelius Lucis Imperius!
You have met the requirements to unlock the skill Fire Resistance (UC)!
Resistances are what allow denizens of the Realms to weather the powerful differences in climates and terrain one might find across territories, and of these the elemental resistances are often the most potent. You have managed to inure your body, in some meaningful way, to the scorching touch of the flame.
Time to turn up the heat, Reclaimer!
Fire Resistance is now Level 2!
Fire Resistance is now Level 3!
You have reached Level 17!
You have reached Level 18!
Aurelian wheezed while a rush of System energy flooded his nervous system, easing his pains and spiking only a slight amount of discomfort at the mass of it. Compared to his last multi-level experience, this one was a downright feather tickle. He felt his ear drums return to normalcy with the same pop as before, and even his concussion downgraded from ‘moderate’ to ‘minor’ at the influx of restorative energy.
Aurelian winced moments later when he felt the thickening of his muscles and the subsequent density increase of his body, biting back a curse at the poignant ache in his bones as the System provided an increase in their mass. His strength, vitality, willpower, and charisma all increased in their own ways, and he leaned back against the wall and sighed long and low in relief when the moment of discomfort and pain passed him by.
“Are you quite satisfied with yourself?” a chilly, high-pitched voice asked from nearby.
“Wha—Fuck—Oh. Tarixi.” Aurelian had, in his disoriented state, completely forgotten about the little goblin until that moment. He did however consider it a small win that her spectral status no longer phased him. “If you’re asking about whether or not I regret that absolutely awesome use of magic? No, not really.”
“You destroyed two priceless battle wands!” the little ghost exclaimed.
“They’ve been sitting here untouched for how many hundreds of years?” he asked tiredly. “I don’t think anyone is left to miss them,” he caught what he was saying almost immediately after it was out of his mouth, and his eyes widened. The fog lifted abruptly as well. “Oh god. Tarixi. I didn’t mean—I’m sorry for—”
“It is fine, Reclaimer,” she responded a little stiffly. “I understand your words were not meant to be cruel.”
“Oh,” Aurelian responded lamely. “Okay then.”
Several moments of awkward silence passed between them, and finally the little goblin sighed. “You are not what I expected, Reclaimer.”
Aurelian looked at her carefully when she broke the silence, and this time chose his words with greater caution. “In what manner?”
Tarixi turned her eyes to the obliterated field of battle around them. “You are reckless, untested, uneducated, and most definitely not a creature of exacting elegance. In the brief minutes I have known you, you have waded in against undead heedless of your own safety, almost blown yourself up—twice!—without care for the consequences, and have shown no true measure of regret for any of it.”
Aurelian opened his mouth and then closed it. Was he really that bad?
“But…” she said after a long moment and drew his attention back to her from where it had wandered to view the area. “You are confident, and courageous, and I could feel you suppressing your fear of the undead and the pain they inflicted while you fought. I can also tell you are not a cruel person, based on how you reacted after your careless words. I do not know if you are a truly kind or sensible person, Reclaimer, but I can believe you are a strong and brave one.”
“Wow…” Aurelian said after she was done and a mix of embarrassment, shame, indignation, chagrin, and pride warred inside of his heart and mind. “I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or I should feel insulted. Heh.”
“I suppose neither, or perhaps both,” Tarixi said with a spectral shrug. “That is for you to decide.”
Aurelian nodded in understanding and almost thought to push himself up, before freezing abruptly. “Hey, Tarixi?”
“Yes, Reclaimer?”
“Can you tell me about skill points?”
His eyes turned to the little goblin, and she appraised him with an unreadable look.
He waited. She watched. Time passed.
Finally, she nodded her consent. “Yes. I shall, but only if you promise to consider my advice carefully.”
Aurelian nodded quickly. “Of course. I will do my utmost to consider your wisdom.” And he meant it. There was no point gaining access to a powerful, ancient spellcaster if he didn’t listen to anything that she said.
At that point he would have just been asinine.
“Skill points come in three forms,” Tarixi began without preamble, “which are defined by their function. The first and most common is the generic and literal Skill Point value, which may be used to increase a selected skill. This is not a straightforward matter, however, as the investment required to increase a skill depends wholly on the tier of the skill, the quality of the skill, and your skill limit penalty.”
Aurelian lifted a hand immediately and then lowered it quickly, feeling like a fool.
He’d acted as if he were a student in a classroom.
Tarixi, however, seemed to almost approve of the action and lifted an eyebrow at him in question.
Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Aurelian spoke. “My Nephilim origin nullifies the Skill Limit Penalty,” he said with a hint of the uncertainty he felt. “So does that mean it doesn’t apply anymore at all?”
Tarixi’s eyes widened, and she let out a long, slow sigh. “Of course. Nephilim. How could I forget? Your kind has such immense power and potential.” Tarixi laughed at her own words. “Then yes, we can forget about the penalty. The rest still applies, however.”
“Oh! Also!” he realised he likely sounded mildly chaotic, though in his mind it was unavoidable. He just had so many questions! “Why do I only gain experience and new skill levels after combat? Shouldn’t it happen at each moment?”
“Tempo,” she explained with a look of forced patience. “The System evaluates your gains based on a number of factors, so we came to believe, including the number of foes, speed of dispatch, and the intensity of the conflict. It will grant you levels and experience inside of combat at times, but not often. We do not know what the key to that deviation is. It is not an exact understanding.” she finished with a small shrug.
“Okay. I apologise for interrupting. You were talking about the different skill points?”
Tarixi smiled at him approvingly before continuing.
“Thank you, Reclaimer. As I was saying, that is the first type of skill point. The second are Skill Upgrade Points, which can be used to directly change a skill from its current quality into the directly superior version.”
“Like how my Mana Channelling became Mana Control?” he asked curiously.
“Precisely like that, yes,” Tarixi said with an affirmative nod. “Though there are limitations, and you require more points with every level of quality. Common to Uncommon requires one, Uncommon to Rare requires two, Rare to Epic requires three, and so on. This cost is also escalated by the tier of the skill. A Novice tier skill increases the cost by an additional one point, Adept tier by an additional two points, and so on.”
“I see…” Aurelian said quietly while he listened, leaning back against the wall and folding his arms over his ruined shirt. “So, if I wanted to upgrade my Longsword Mastery, which is Common but is Adept tier, it would cost me two Skill Upgrade Points?”
“Correct,” Tarixi said with an approving smile.
“And if I wanted to upgrade my Revelate, which is Epic but Beginner tier, it would cost… Four?”
“Also correct,” Tarixi said with a nod. “Though most people don’t bother upgrading skills above Epic.” she said with a hint of finality.
“...Why?” Aurelian asked with legitimate confusion. He would love Legendary skills!
“Cost efficiency and greater efficacy over time,” Tarixi answered simply. “It is better to have a broad investment, with capacity for more widespread returns, than a narrower one that is only occasionally profitable.”
Aurelian couldn’t help but laugh when she gave her description, and lifted a hand to forestall her when he saw confused ire cloud her ghostly features. “N—No, Tarixi. It—It isn’t the knowledge…” he drew a breath while he reigned himself in, and then turned and smiled at her wryly. “It’s just that you used very familiar language, reminding me of what I used to do before…” his mirth trailed off slowly as more context flowed back to him. “Well, before I was here. It was just an amusing coincidence.”
It no longer seemed funny to him, however, when he remembered the events that precipitated his rebirth. “My apologies. Please continue.”
Tarixi watched him with something he identified as coming dangerously close to pity but didn’t press the issue—for which he was grateful—and instead resumed her education on skill points. “The final and rarest type of skill point is a Skill Evolution Point. These are highly sought after and rarely attained, and allow Cultivators to not only upgrade their skill, but evolve it as well; creating a new, and potentially unique ability all their own.”
Aurelian went very still at her words, and slowly raised his hand.
“Yes?” she prompted him patiently.
“I, uh, have three.”
“Three questions?” Tarixi attempted to clarify.
“No, uh, three Skill Evolution points.”
Tarixi’s ghostly form went very, very still and she leaned towards him to stare at him for a long, drawn-out moment. Aurelian felt himself wanting to shift away from her gaze but didn’t move, and instead allowed her larger and rounded eyes to stare at him like he was some sort of bewildering scientific anomaly.
“Show me.” she said finally.
“How do I—?”
“Will your Animus Registry to appear. I can look through our connection.”
“My—? Oh!” he smacked his forehead. “My character sheet. Sure.”
Tarixi barely had time to look confused before he brought up his sheet.
Name: Aurelian Lucis Imperius
Temper: Untempered Novice
Core: Calamity Core (Ignition Stage)
Level: 18 | Race: Elysean (L) | Origin: Nephilim (L) | Gender: Male | Zodiac: Dragon (L)
Health: 560 | Mana: 186 | Stamina: 119
STR: 56 | AGI: 30 | DEX: 40 | VIT: 56 | END: 21 | INT: 40 | PER: 21 | WIL: 66 | CHA: 24
Mind Skills: Revelate (E) 9 | Linguistics (UC) 1 | Philology (R) 3 | Exploration (UC) 4 | Investigation (UC) 7 | Iron Will (R) 16 | Tactician (R) 7
Body Skills: Pain Tolerance (UC) 22 | Longsword Mastery (C) 21 | Running (C) 12 | Dodge (C) 17 | Durable (UC) 14 | Fire Resistance (UC) 3
Spirit Skills: Mana Control (R) 5
Traits: Fast Learner (E)
Titles: Elysean Reclaimer (U) | Survivor (R)
Languages: Common | Elysean | Draconic
39% to Level 19
You have 12 Attribute Points Available!
You have 20 Skill Points Available!
You have 3 Skill Evolution Points Available!
Tarixi’s expression grew increasingly more incredulous over the time he watched her read over his sheet, to the point where he saw the Echo actually reach up and tug on her large, ghostly ears in frustration. When she at last finished her apparent dissection of his sheet, she turned to him with a mix of that same frustration and disbelief.
“You are a monster!” she said with an accusing finger.
“Well that’s ru—”
“Five attribute points per level? One skill point? Three different attribute increases?!” The goblin threw her elongated hands up as if to signal her surrender. “Nephilim! Utterly, absolutely idiotic! No wonder the Calling was forbidden for so long. You already have a Calamity Core in your Novice stage!”
“So is that bad, or…?” Aurelian asked nervously.
“It means that our Imperatrix and Imperator truly were absolutely out of their minds to summon you,” she said with a shake of her head, “and it only makes me happier that they were. By the Mantle, Aurelian… you have the potential to be the most powerful creature in the Realms!”
“Hey, you used my name!”
“It is on your animu—sheet, yes.”
“Nice to feel like a person again, is all,” he said with a smile.
“How long have you been here?” she asked after he spoke.
“Yeah… about that…” he said while he reached up to rub the back of his neck.
“What is it?” she asked with narrowed eyes.
“It’s… kind of my first day.”
Tarixi closed her eyes and appeared to be taking slow, measured breaths in order to calm down what Aurelian assumed was some sort of emotional reaction to what he’d said.
In fairness, it wasn’t as if he could blame her.
He’d have likely reacted the same way if he’d been in her position, and someone had come along that upset everything he knew to be true and right about the laws that governed the world.
Even to him, his progress seemed, well, a little over the top.
“So, to clarify this,” she said after several moments’ silence, “in less than one day you have acquired seventeen levels, awakened a Calamity Core, obtained three skill evolution points, and even managed to attain a Crest?”
“Uh… Yes.” he said with a shrug he hoped came across as humble.
“And here I thought my task would be difficult.” she said with a snort. “Very well then, I suppose we should just proceed.”
“Hold on,” Aurelian said. “What about my points?”
“Which ones?” she asked crisply.
“I mean… All of them, I guess? You’re an ancient battle mage from a bygone era, surely you have some knowledge or advice or—?”
“Does what you are currently doing feel comfortable for you?” she interjected.
“Comfortable?” Aurelian asked with a measure of uncertainty.
“Yes. Do you feel comfortable and confident with your current, ah, build?”
Aurelian took a moment to think about it, and then nodded.
“Very well then, stick with that.” she said decisively. “When designing yourself, your comfort and ability to reliably interface with your own abilities fully outstrips any level of ‘ideal’ or ‘perfect’ advancement that someone may try to peddle to you.” her expression scrunched when she said it, and it looked as if she’d tasted something foul or unpalatable before she continued. “Only you can know what your body needs and is truly capable of. Others may guide you towards using your existing capabilities, but they can never make a better decision than what feels right for you.”
“But what about advice? Insights?” Aurelian pressed.
“Advice and insights from experienced parties hold great value,” she agreed, “but that is primarily for those with limited avenues of advancement who wish to pursue a very, very specific path or purpose. You, Aurelian, are a Nephilim. You are unfettered by such paltry worries. If your current path is to your deepest satisfaction, then pursue it until that changes. Nobody else except perhaps another Nephilim, of which there are none, could tell you, in truth, what might work best for you. Only you can decide that.”
Aurelian stared at her for a long moment, and then looked back at his character sheet. Moments of consideration and assessment rolled through him, and he stared at the numbers in thought.
What makes me comfortable, huh?
He chewed his lip idly while he analysed, theorycrafting and imagining different possibilities all the while. Finally, he sighed and reached up to muss his hair in annoyance at his own indecision and doubt.
He had already decided on his path after his first crucible with the initial group of skeletons. The only thing he was being affected by was self-doubt radiating from the ability to finally ask someone questions, and she had reaffirmed that his own gut-guided choice was usually the right one.
Yet… it was hard.
It was hard to accept that he truly did know best. Even with his generous boost to intelligence, there was so much he didn’t fully grasp—more that he perhaps never would.
“All I can do is what is comfortable,” he murmured to himself. “Right?” he asked in a more normal voice when he turned towards Tarixi.
“Right.” she agreed with a serious nod.
Aurelian nodded back and immediately dumped 10 Attribute Points into Agility, bringing it up to parity with his Dexterity—and then placed the remaining 2 points into Perception. The moment both investments landed, he grimaced against the changes in his body. It was hard to define what Agility did to his physical structure, other than he felt like he could move more efficiently and at faster speed than before.
It wasn’t even something he could fully quantify.
Perception, meanwhile, was just a small and uncomfortable itch behind his eyes that slowly faded. It was not a large enough change to stir a fuss.
Aurelian turned back to Tarixi when his eyes had completed their change and then willed his sheet to her again. “What about my Skill Evolution Points?”
Tarixi hesitated and then shook her head. “Those can wait, as can your Skill Points. I have something to show you first.”
“What is it?” he asked curiously while he picked himself up and checked to make sure he had everything with him. His sword he could summon back—which he set to doing right then and there—and his satchel was in good repair. That just left his bedroll… which was also whole and in place.
He was ready to go.
Tarixi, Aurelian noticed, once again hesitated at his question; her features drawn in thought while she looked away from him and towards the remains of her friends—and herself.
That had to be weird.
“I have to trust that you will do the right thing, Aurelian. You are the Reclaimer. There are no other options left to this Echo of who I once was,” she turned back to him while she spoke, and her transparent features were grim. “I truly hope you are everything my liege hoped you would be.”
“What did they hope I would be?” he asked warily.
Her answer was just as cryptic. “Strong enough to succeed where we failed.”
“How did you fail?” he continued as his blade appeared and he sheathed it.
“We lost,” she said with chill finality, and then started to lead the way.