Originally uploaded Jan 31, 2023

Art Pov

"Would you like something to drink? Tea perhaps?" I asked Tess as I sat in my chair. Cynthia had given me a office of my own despite my protests. It was furnished in a similar style to hers but was about half the size.

Not that I'd mind. I would have been fine with just the normal student or teacher dorms.

"Some tea if you don't mind." Tess curtly replied as she sat across my desk.

While preparing the tea I could see her curiously eyeing my office. If was well decorated but I had refrained from adding any notable additions myself. Interior decorating wasn't my strong point after all. The only thing I did add was small framed picture of my family, which stood on my desk.

Finished brewing the tea I brew it over to the table and hand Tess her cup. While I was not expert on tea making I was forced to take some classes while I was a king.

She took the cup in her dainty hands and drank it. Her expression turning to one of surprise and enjoyment.

"I take it that it's to your like?" I ask as I sit back down in my chair, while Sylvie rested on the small cushion I had prepared for her beside my seat.

"You make surprisingly good tea Art!" She exclaimed in surprise.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean? I am not some mindless brute who used strength for everything."

She only chuckled at my lighthearted response as she placed her cup back down.

"So what does princess want to about with this humble assistant director?" I say, mocking the pompous tone that nobles use.

"Hey Arthur..." She spoke in a tone that seemed a bit too serious.

'Ah crap, guess this conversation has to happen some way or another huh.'

"Are you mad at me?" She continued, with a worried look as she stared me in my eyes.

"Do I have any reason to be?" I questioned while slightly tilting my head. Well I do have multiple reasons to fear and hate her, but none of them are her fault per say...

"Why does it seem like you have been avoiding me?" She asked again, this time with a sad frown.

"Come on, Tess! You're a student, I'm the assistant director. It would be a bit weird for us to spend time together like fellow students." I tried to lighten the mood with a friendly joking tone. Which only seemed to backfire.

"You know what I mean! Ever since you left Elenoir you never even reached out to me. Heck! Even before that you all your actions with me all seemed disingenuous, like it was all an act!"

'Seems like my acting skills still needs a bit of work.'

"I just want things between us to progress you know." Tess finished, seeming more sad and disappointed than angry now.

Their was a brief silence as I considered what I should say. And she was waiting for me to say something.

'Well here goes.'

"Tess, have you ever considered how I felt?" I said flatly in a tone I rarely used in front of people close to me.

"Huh?" Tessia seemed just as confused by my words as well as my tone of voice.

"You might think of me as childish. Being only confident in fighting and magic, only confident in them because I am good at them. That I'm not good with dealing with feelings of other people, always wearing a mask when I can't handle the situation. While I admit that that's right don't you think that you might also be childish and selfish to project your feelings onto someone else? Forcing them to accept them?"

Tess only sat there in stunned silence with her grey bangs covering her eyes.

"Tess, I don't hate you necessary. But I don't believe I am mature enough to reciprocate your feeling. But you also need to learn to deal with other people's emotions as well as rejection. Those are your shortcomings being raised as a princess."

Finishing what I had to say I stand up from my desk. Me only staying would be a waste of time. She needs to figure things out on her own.

'Sylv, come.'

Sylvie looked at Tess with a concerned look before jumping down from her cushion and following me.

Before leaving my office I turn back to Tess still unmoved from her previous stance, her head down, not facing me.

"Oh, before I forget. Good luck on your little field trip to the dungeons."

***

Alea Pov

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Thin strains of vines ran throughout the dark cave system. With my mana imbued through each of them I could sense my surroundings. Much like a bat with echolocation.

Hastening my movements I make my way along my vines. The cave I was in was too cleanly cut to be a natural formation. But was too large to be just a random burrow dug by a regular mana beast.

Feeling for the way ahead I stop in my tracks.

'The trail splits here as well.'

All of the cave systems I have been investigating all seem to be following some sort of pattern. All converging in a single location. There was no way the Titanic Bloodworms were moving by their own accords. Wild animals don't just coordinate on mass like this.

My vines extend inwards towards the two pathways before me. Closing my eyes I focus in on my mana. Feeling every nook and cranny for any anomaly.

Sensing a foreign mana signature in the right one I dash towards it. Channeling mana into my legs to carry me faster.

'I have a bad feeling about this.'

The cave stop more abruptly than I had anticipated as I nearly fell of a steep cliff. While being a white core mage meant I could fly, falling wasn't my concern.

My concern was the unnatural angle and steepness of my incline. It almost seemed as if all these caves were man-made.

The deeper region was darker and took my eyes a second to readjust. But before my eye could see it I felt it.

The overwhelming sense of dread. The mana emitting from it felt like poison as it attacked my senses.

I was glad I wasn't consciously sensing for it, it would have knocked me out if I had.

I could see it. A large hooded figure, standing well over two meters tall. With abnormally long arms that dangled from his sides.

It seemed to be waiting for something, or waiting for someone. Before I could realize what I had gotten myself into it seemed to look up towards me.

The figure got up from its stone chair it was seating on and floated up to me. Seeing as it had no wings and was flying with mana it was a being who was at the white core stage.

It took out its hands from it black robes and showed me two long fingers. Each ending with a sharp black nail.

"I give you two options. You can die or you can join me." The being said its face now clearly visible, With two horns jutting out from its head. It looked like the demons from children's books.

It seemed to be in a general form of a human but its features made me uneasy and the aura it was emitting was sickening.

I could only assume this thing was a Alacryan, who had weaseled its way into our continent.

A sword created itself in my hands as I charged at the beast. Several tendrils of vines all covered in thorns and ending in sharp points all grabbed at the grey demon.

"Do you think your efforts will make a difference? War is coming and there is nothing you can do."

With him moving, several dark red spikes were birthed from the cave walls and ceiling. All shredding my own attacks. The speed of his casting was inhumane, it was basically instant.

Before I could counter I was sent flying back into the wall.

A burning pain radiated from my chest. Looking down, a obsidian spike was deeply embedded into my chest. Pinning me against the wall. I coughed up blood as I feebly tried to dig out the spike.

"This is the finest of your continent? What a shame." The horned demon mocked as he slowly approached me. With every footstep an overwhelming sense of dread crept into my very soul.

He was now before me, licking his lips as he bent down to be face to face.

"I do believe you won't be needing these anymore." He said as he grabbed both of my legs that were uselessly dangling in the air.

But before he could rip of my limbs a loud sound resonated throughout the cave. Shaking the entire cave itself.

No, it was more akin to a roar.

My attacker turned to see the source of the sound and I could see it.

The unmistakable figure of a winged beast that every person would wish to catch a glimpse of.

With two horns that protruded from each side of its head and iridescent eyes that ooze a sense of intelligence as well as ferocity. Its scales were a rich black with seemed to blend in seamlessly into the darkness.

It was a dragon.

But it was the person below the legendary beast of myths and children's books that truly inspired a feeling of awe.

Dawning a white hooded clock, that seemed to more likely belong to a noble with a white mask covering his face. With two gold cat-like eyes that seemed to see through everything.

I couldn't tell if the blood loss was making me see things. But it seemed as if the very space around him was moving away from him in fear.

The dragon roared again, now at deafening volumes as it shook me to my very core.

And for the first time since becoming a lance I felt just how small and weak I truly was.

A sword shimmered to life in the masked man's hands. A blade made of pure purple magic, with its surface taking on a liquid like consistency as it subtly changed shades of purple.

He spoke, the mask clearly augmenting his voice. But it seemed oddly familiar.

"Uto, Retainer of Vechor. Stand down, this is my first and last warning." He spoke with confidence and authority. More like a king ordering his subjects.

"Pwah! You think that pet dragon will save you lesser?" The demon called Uto mocked, practically belly laughing.

And that laugh was all he got before the masked swordsman appeared in a flash of lightning. With purple lightning still coiling around his body like snakes he aimed his sword at Uto's heart.

Uto quickly recovered as a barrage of blood spikes rained down from the ceiling. But they all were blocked by the swordsman's sword or harmlessly bounced off his skin.

I honestly thought I was dying and was hallucinating when the large shadow of the dragon loomed over my body.

It craned its long neck downward. Opening its maw, that was larger than my torso a faint mist of purple washed over me.

As the mist came into contact with my body it eased my pain and I could feel myself becoming more lucid.

"Stay still." The dragon bellowed in a deep voice.

'Scratch that, I'm not lucid.' I know dragons are so rare that they are extinct so there is very little information on them. But I didn't expect them to talk.

Turning my attention to Uto and the masked man. It was unbelievable.

Uto was on the back-foot. Constantly backing away while launching a rain of obsidian spikes while the masked man's blade work all made short work of his attacks.

His swordsmanship was impeccable. Honed to near perfection, I wondered how many battles he had fought for him to be this proficient.

With one clean swipe, one of Uto's arms was freed from his body. And not long after the other one was liberated as well.

The masked man stood tall over the horned demon who was laying on the cave floor. With several deep cuts from his opponents sword.

The swordsman stomped down onto Uto's chest as a resounding crack reverberated throughout the cave and an orchestra of bones breaking filled the cave.

"Don't you know who I am!" Uto wheezed out as he began coughing blood.

The masked swordsman looked the demon in the eyes before replying.

"I do." He grabbed one of Uto's horns atop his head and pulled.

A bloodcurdling scream came from Uto before it was cut short. The hooded man stood there. Still holding onto Uto's horn that was now attached to the severed head of the Retainer, with a portion of his spine still attached to the head.

With another sweep of his blade he freed the two horns from the disembodied head before discarding the corpse.

He then made his way towards me before reaching for his mask.

I couldn't believe my now eyes. His man who just defeated an enemy I couldn't even compete with. No, it wasn't even a fight.

He looked back at me with a warm smile, but his glowing yellow eyes were hollow, showing only emptiness.

He then opened his mouth to speak.

"Greetings Lance Alea."