‘In position,’ Elijah read on the enchanted paper. It came from Aleksi, the giant finding his place down in one of the nearby alleys.

Similar messages began to appear seconds later, as Harper, Fade, Fox, and a few others who worked under Vera confirmed their readiness. He wrote in his status as well a bit later, announcing that their plan was soon to start.

They’d taken longer than intended with the preparations. Standing on the rooftop just a block away from the central area of the Academy, he could see the white lines of the ritual circle begin to glow. It was bright, lighting up the otherwise dark area, and nearly blinding Elijah as it flared up more and more. The initial pulses, the call to the moon, meant that the ritual was soon to start.

His eyes narrowed as he watched two bodies be carried into the circle. Jack and Sasha, both injured and unconscious but otherwise alive. He could see as Rubeus stood before the center, guiding the two bodies as they floated towards the exact middle.

When they found themselves in place properly, and the other Royal Mages started to get into position, Elijah knew their time had come.

With barely a sweat, he leaped from one rooftop to the other. His knees shouted at him as they survived the slight drop, but Elijah had no care. Bringing out the larger vial filled with white liquid, he prepared himself for what was to come.

‘Brace,’ he wrote onto the paper, to make sure everybody important looked away. Then came the enhancement of the white liquid, one that made the vial vibrate as the energy within threatened to break it then and there. “Let’s see what you can do.”

He threw it as hard as possible. The vial continued to vibrate more and more as it soared through the air, but it held on while coming down close to the edge of the circle below.

One of the Royal Mages noticed the projectile, raising a hand and making the vial halt its fall.

A mistake.

Elijah had earplugs along with having the edge of the rooftop to hide the light. It helped very little, as the night became day for several seconds while a howl worthy of a dragon in volume came from below. He could feel the building shaking and hear the people scream, but Elijah could likewise sense the ritual starting up regardless.

He ran for the ladder, taking a moment to see the assault start in full. Green eyes were in his sights before the body of the giant came barrelling out of one of the alleys. The two Royal Mages closest by were taken by surprise, skulls crushed before their bodies were thrown into the direction of incoming projectiles. In that brief second, Aleksi was able to avoid spears of ice, the jaws of an imaginary serpent, and a flat disk of metal that embedded itself in the wall next to the giant.

Certainly a distraction.

Aleksi ran from the assault a moment later, fleeing down the alley while a barrage of spells came hurtling toward him. Elijah prayed that none hit, while he reached the ground and found himself unnoticed. Not because of his lack of sound as he went down the ladder, but because of the shroud of invisibility coming over him.

“Help me,” Harper said, holding up the illusion as she pushed the barrel out of the alley. Those nearby were still blinded and deafened from the flashing, and the others were thoroughly distracted by the attempted annihilation of the giant. Elijah hurried to help because of it, the two swiftly pushing out the barrel from the alley and incredibly close to the circle. “Get ready to run.”

He was already moving as she pulled out a dagger and broke the lid stopping the contents from spilling out. The second that it did, the noxious green gas began to fill half the area in seconds. They were barely able to escape from the initial wave, hurrying down one of the streets while keeping up the veil.

Coughing and retching could be heard behind them. Most were from the Royal Mages, but some were from those bound and pressed against the side of the streets. A necessary sacrifice, and not a lethal one regardless since the gas would only incapacitate at this level. While it would make most unprepared fall and empty their stomachs, it wouldn’t outright kill them.

Elijah hadn’t had time to make that happen.

“Where are the arrows?” Elijah questioned when seconds passed without the sound of bowstrings. The other servants Vera had gathered should’ve been sending arrows into the army of mages already, yet there was no sound of strings being released.

They found the answer to their question as a body fell from one of the rooftops. On the shoulder of the dead man was Vera’s insignia.

We’ve been discovered.

Faster than expected as well, that fact only worsened as a wave of pure force forced both of them onto the ground. Horror filled Elijah as the gas meant to linger for minutes without issue was pushed away. Their assault had been halted before it could properly begin.

Not good.

“Plan B,” he muttered as he got back up. Something in his back had twisted, forcing him to slow in his steps, but it didn’t matter. “Get going.”

Harper nodded sharply, dagger out of its sheath as she ran forward. The nearest Royal Mage, never having seen either of them, found the blade lodged into their throat. They died before they could think about it, and the Illusionist continued her run after that.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Some of the Mages tied up on the ground screamed at the sudden death, but it only got worse when Elijah appeared out of nowhere. A dagger had reached his fingers, and he was more than ready to use it.

“Keep quiet, and you might live through this,” he instructed as he approached the group. Some wore the robes of Royal Mages, but most had more blue colors to signify their rank as simple students. “This will hurt. Don’t make noise through it.”

Even with the blade sharpened beforehand, it still took effort to cut through the ropes around their hands and feet. Neither did the enchanted material appreciate his work, tightening more and more as he continued to cut into it. Elijah didn’t care much for that, keeping up his efforts and freeing more and more from their restraints.

“We can’t run,” one hissed. “Those who ran were killed!”

“You’re going to be killed if you stay as well,” he countered. “The only way to survive is to kill them first.”

The students didn’t understand that. The Royal Mages that were still loyal did, as they helped more and more to be released from their restraints.

And, when one of the people noticed what was going on, trying to shout about the escapees, they found themselves filled with holes as chunks of flesh were teleported a meter to the side.

“Keep that up,” Elijah ordered as he hurried along. This should work as a distraction while he figured out where Aleksi had ended up.

Turning down one street, briefly hiding in an alley to avoid purple robes running by, he continued onwards until he heard another voice.

“Elijah?”

He froze, glancing into the alley where a familiar pair of eyes looked back at him.

“Grace?” he said, seeing the blood that stained her head and hands as she walked into the light. A packet of healing paste was in his hands before he knew it, pressed against the cut on her head as he channeled Mana through it. “What happened to you?”

“Spat in the bastard's face,” she answered groggily. “He hit back with a tendril. Blacked out.”

“Nearly having your skull split open does that,” Elijah muttered, seeing as flesh regathered at the side of her head. Taking care of the bone which had likely taken quite some damage would require more extensive work, but there wasn’t time for that now. “You need to hide here until it’s over. When morning comes, you can—”

“No,” Grace cut in before he could finish. “I’m helping.”

“You’re injured, Grace,” he instantly rejected. “You can’t do anything against these people. They’re on—”

‘Behind you!’

Dawn’s warning came a moment too late, as he turned to the street and saw a Royal Mage forming a short spear of blood from their hand. He blinked, took a step to the side, and then the projectile was flying faster than anything else.

A shout began but ended shortly after as he felt it go through his upper chest. There’d been no hint of resistance, his flesh and bone giving away instantly.

Elijah wasn’t sure when he fell to the ground after, the shock and pain making memory impossible to manage. Grace was screaming at him, and Dawn was saying something as well, but neither made much sense.

It was only when a flash of gold came about, the duck appearing next to his face and biting at him that he moved his eyes.

‘Get up!’

He couldn’t. He could feel the blood pooling, could feel it increasing as his heart continued to push the liquid out of the wound. While it had missed the most vital organ, he knew it’d gone through the top of his right lung. If the blood loss didn’t kill him soon, he would be dead within thirty seconds from the liquid replacing the air in the open space.

‘Up!’

‘I can’t.”

She bit at his face. He couldn't gather the strength to move a muscle in response.

Grace shook him, making his head turn to her. Were those tears? Elijah couldn’t tell anymore. The only thing he could truly focus on was the hair of the young woman slowly rising, blue and white lines starting to grow across her body until they nearly blinded him.

Was this the wave of hallucinations coming before a full-body shutdown? If so, they were awfully creative. He could almost feel the wind as it pushed him to the wall of the alley, could see as Grace put out her hand and stopped a spear from reaching her, and as she shouted and brought the world to a close.

At least he could imagine her cutting down the Mage in the end. It wasn’t a bad way for Elijah to go.

‘No going!’ Dawn shouted in his head. ‘You stay!’

He wanted to calm her but couldn’t find the words coming to mind anymore. The only thing he could notice was that slow cold coming through him. It was steady in its flow, starting at his hands and feet before coming to his core body and progressing from there.

His vision dimmed, even when his eyes were wide open, and he felt… calm.

‘Not allowed!’

Elijah gasped for air as a pain unlike any other came through him. Grace hurried over to him, saying things he couldn’t process, but he had to push her away as he rolled over and lost both the contents of his stomach and the blood that had filled his right lung. More and more liquid left him, filling the ground with a red mess that made him want to fall unconscious again, but his body was so high-wired at that moment that it wasn’t possible.

His skin felt like it was on fire, his nerves warning him of frost and fire while his eyes lit up in colors that he’d never seen before. What was happening?

“Elijah, your wound!” Grace said, keeping his steady as he finally got himself together and felt where the spear had traveled through. “What happened?”

The right side of his chest no longer had skin, everything replaced by the green texture you’d find on flower stalks.

What?

‘I made you stay!’

… What?