The joyful atmosphere had died down. Bodies lied inside of the castle. Some from the guards or trusted magicians of the court, some others from the attackers that failed on assassinating King Alexander, if it extended his life for much longer is something that the history books will tell us soon.

“My King, the people want to speak to you, they saw what happened.”, Leonnatos explained to his King. The rather short, middle aged advisor of the king played with his mustache a tic that revealed his nervousness towards the King.

“Well it seems like it's over when time comes we will thank our saviors.”, The King explains and looks towards the guild Members that all smiled at him. Nolan’s smile was extra bright as he was allowed to keep the expensive whine he had hard times of obtaining by himself.

However his smile vanished as he looked towards Arkevh, who came back from being unconscious. As he raised his head he saw the King and his Guild Members looking at him, he saw Craftol and Kalliope next to the bed they placed Arkevh in. Craftol climbed on Kalliope's shoulder and looked at him rather unwell.

“Hey, are you feeling better?”, he asks and gives him a light smile.

“I think so it’s, Dammit .”, Arkevh interrupts himself as he touches his arm, it was still broken and before he could do something his nose started to bleed again, tainting the white bed with red dots as his sense for pain came to him again.

“Your arm seems to be broken.”, Nolan explains he held himself back from making a joke as he saw Arkevh's face and the blood coming from his nose.

“Your condition is unstable.”, Kalliope says coldly and eyes her companion, who looks at her with an unsure face and sighs.

“I-I will be fine.”, Arkevh says and starts to stand up again.

“Just give me time and I will get it healed.”, Arkevh explains.

“Arkevh how did you feel after Darkingstone?”, Kalliope asks him not losing the cold attitude in her voice.

“Just fatigued” Arkevh explains and looks away from her.

“And now you cough out blood at something way lighter than what you did in Darkingstone.”, She reminds him.

Arkevh looks down at himself, eying his tunic, soaked in his own blood. As he raises his head again he saw his own reflection in the mirror, placed on a closet in front of him. The ornate crafted glass surface gave the magician a view on himself. He was even paler than before and looked awful, his hair was chaotic and his eyes lost in color in addition. In addition he was plagued by a headache that now started to reveal itself, annoyed he turned towards Kalliope.

She answered before he could.

“You can’t control it, am I right, every time you use these powers you lose life energy rapidly.”, she explains seriously.

“And what am I supposed to do?”, Arkevh asks her, not realizing how he raised his voice in an angry tone. Regretting it as he turned around.

“I’m not sure but I maybe can teach you how to control your anger. It may have something to do with that.”, she explains and smiles at him even though he could not see it.

“Thank you.”, Arkevh explains and looks at his reflection once again.

Did his own powers the only thing he could really do kill him over time, was he able to gain control over them to counteract that?

“Arkevh, where is Donovan?”, Craftol asks, resulting in Arkevh to let his view Ponder towards Trisor. He and his sister were tied up by two guards and looked rather annoyed about the fact they were still handled like Criminals.

“Gone, already somewhere else.”, Trisor just explains.

“He played with you all this time.”, Fade continued and looked over to Arkevh, he took a sigh once again.

“I don’t care about this right now, I care more about what you said back then. Was that your opinion?”, Arkevh asks seriously.

“Let's just say I spent some hours replicating Donovan one by one, so I also was able to see what was going on in his mind. You feared it didn’t you, you are quite the opposite.”, Trisor explains.

Arkevh says nothing for a while and looks towards his Guild Members.

“Where is Corin?”, he inquired, not being able to see the old guard, trying to change the topic.

“He is in the sick bay currently.”, The King eases him.

“My sign to participate in my duty, the guests have probably seen him, getting taken into safety. I need to ease their worries as well.”, Alexander explains and turns back into the hallway. However Leonnatos goes in his way.

“My Lord, let me help you.”, Leonnatos offers his aid.

“I pass the Guards will assist me into the main hall, you take care of the Guild they will get their reward when I'm done. You know what is more important now.”, Alexander assures his trusted advisor who nods and looks after the King for a while as he parts away from the side room.

Then he turns around and looks directly upon Arkevh, Kalliope and Craftol who positioned themself next to each other.

“Well now that we are here and we have some of those Criminals at bay I wanted to task some of you with something important.?”, Leonnatos starts.

“As soon as possible we need to send some of you into Carwitz Territory and try to meet up with Garwin to find out if he and Carwitz are really working together. However we need to have a force that won’t provoke the Noble, a Guild like yours will be perfect.” Leonnatos ensures.

“After my arm is healed I will be available.”, Arkevh explains and looks towards Nolan who just shakes his head.

“I won’t be so sure if your arm will heal so fast, even with healing magic it takes some time to fully heal a bone if you are not skilled enough.”, he explains to his Arkevh.

“Let that be my concern.”, Kalliope explains.

“I have a plan.”

Slowly Karsa dragged herself across the grass, past the perfectly shaped boxwood bushes she wasn’t able to admire. The right side of her head was completely unrecognizable, full with burn marks and an eye that dangled from her left eye hole. Parts of her body were still covered in blood, her fine dress covered in dirt and ripped on some parts. She lost it for more than just regenerating her wounds so she survived. She also needed to protect her vital points from Kalliope's blow that almost crushed her whole brain.

Now she had almost nothing left, under painful movements she crawled across the floor and hoped to find a victim.

This world showed her mercy as she encountered multiple workers of the royal garden at another terrace on which a hut was located. It seemed to be their residence, filled with working tools but also beds. The Terrace itself was decorated with flowers on the side, while the Workers sat around a table with fresh food from the Kitchen. A Dog lying next to them.

“Help me.”, Karsa lures her prey,

“Who is there?”, A Gardener asks and stands up, drawing a scythe.

“The Gardens are off limits to this time.” he continues and drops his scythe as he sees Karsa on the ground.

The other guards look at her deformed appearance in shock and rush towards her, trying to help her up.

“What happened to you my lady?”, one of the gardeners asks as he approaches the noble. Then he turns towards one of his coworkers.

“Flora get some bandages from the hut quickly.”, he explains and turns to Karsa who smiles at him.

“You will surely help an old lady feeling younger again, will you?”, She asks the three Gardeners who stood by her. Smiling unsure at what they thought was a joke at first. However as they approached her to carry her into the more clean hut, two of the workers got impaled by the strings by an instant. Sucked out by their life force they collapse on the terrace. The third gardener looks at Karsa in shock and is not able to defend himself, as the strings surround his head, cutting it in even slices.

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With them Karsa is able to generate parts of her face but does not look any younger.

To her luck in that moment the young woman returns, dropping the bandages instantly as she sees her dead coworkers. Karsa however eases her with strings impaling her body, transporting her Mana in Karsa's body. She was young and full of energy, exactly what Karsa needed. She felt young again and would enjoy this moment if this annoying dog would shut up. Silencing him she can finally enjoy this moment of being young again. However she would not return to finish her job with Kalliope another time. She needed to regroup with Nash and later on Donovan. Her lust for unlimited youth will not be able to be held with Carwitz or even Kalliope. There was more to gain with Donovan and Helland, Helland the one that carved her path giving her this power. With someone so young like Donovan she could find what she searched for.

Seeing Karsa's Mantle burn in the fireplace of the Guild, Kalliope shows a relieved smile towards Arkevh and takes the new Mantle Nolan gave her afterwards. Kalliope did not want any money so the king gifted her a new mantle, with purple color. Something that his tailors made with a purple clam delivery that they received a week prior. Craftol on the other hand was given a magic pocket. Something that could store even more trinkets. Arkevh however was given a pendant Kalliope recommended to him. Something that stored Mana when used.

As the Karsa's Mantle seemed to have burned into ashes for good this time Kalliope speaks up again.

“So are you ready for your training?”, Kalliope asks Arkevh.

“With the broken arm?”, Arkevh questions his own condition.

“Don’t worry if I'm right then your arm will be fixed soon.”, she explains and walks towards the training area.

Craftol stays inside however.

“I don’t want to interrupt you two, with that much pocket space I can start preparing some trinkets again.”, Craftol smiles and leaves towards his room.

The Fresh air of the second day of Fall blew through Helgria as Kalliope and Arkevh stepped outside. The Guild was able to recruit a lot of new members yesterday, and Nolan got a tip from the King to restore the old Guild Building further. Even though Arkevh needed to get used to curious people only coming to see the heroes that saved the King, Arkevh was happy for Nolan but especially for Bryan and his Sister that were able to afford their Mother a new house.

As they let their view ponder across the training grounds they were able to see Fest and Corin training, Corin himself took Fest as a student for the royal Guards training and started to work again, not even two days after his wound. An old man who never seemed to give up.

With a clap Kalliope got Arkevh's attention again.

“Before we start I have a question for you, do you still have the Lunar flower?”, she asks, resulting in a nod from Arkevh, who grabbed it from his mantle.

“Back then, as I lifted the flower I was able to feel not only Karsa but also a connection to you in some way. I have something similar inside me, as I fought against Karsa I got overtaken by something, in the end it helped me to regenerate all my wounds. And I think it can help you.”, Kalliope explains.

“There is something that I can teach you, something that is similar to fire magic. Fire magic does not only need a controlled breath and avail to air. But also a clear mind so you don’t burn yourself.”, Kalliope starts and punches Arkevh in the stomach out of the blue.

The Punch proved useful as it revealed Arkevh's third eye for a while, which looked at her as Arkevh groaned.

“What was that for?”, he asks annoyed, his nose started to bleed as the eye vanished.

Kalliope gave him a tissue and looked at him demanding.

“I’m sorry but that is what I was expecting.”, She starts.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”, Arkevh jokes in response but gets an annoyed expression from Kalliope as result.

“There is something strong in you, I could sense it as the eye appeared. You fought against Veleno didn’t you?”, Kalliope inquires.

“I did and he was the one that broke my arm.”, Arkevh explains.

“So it’s true.”, she whispers but then speaks up louder.

“Arkevh there is an immense power inside of you, revealing itself the angrier you get and the more pain you receive, it's a defensive mechanism of sorts.”, Kalliope explains.

“I knew that already, however I can't control it.”, Arkevh explains. Disappointed by himself.

“I know you can, you are one of the most known and probably skilled magicians out there. You believed in me so I believe in you as well. Let me explain something to you.”, Kalliope smiles.

“Magic has something to do with our soul, our soul controls our mood. If you feel happy your soul is pulsating, giving more Mana into your body. If you are satisfied it gives you a controlled Mana flow. However if you are angry for example, you have a rapid Mana flow but you will be burned out or hurt yourself afterwards. Fire Magic for example is one of the most pulsating forms of magic, however to not burn yourself you need to have a clear mind. It's the same thing with your magic. It's probably the most pulsating kind of magic out there, but you let it freely rush through your body. Focus.”, Kalliope urges him.

Now Arkevh Understood. Taking over by his magic, just wanting it to end, he completely forgot the basic rules of Mana control. His feelings controlled his Mana and the wish for him not needing to use this magic caused his Mana to rapidly leave his body, weakening him afterwards. The whole Time he never thought of wanting to control it, just to get rid of it.

Eagerly he takes the pendant from his neck and looks at it and then back at Kalliope.

“Punch me again.”, Arkevh explains.

Kalliope nods, even though a bit surprised by his excitement she goes for another punch in his stomach.

Kalliope's punches were strong and hurt more than he thought as he had trouble keeping his food inside. However he focused his feelings fully on the pendant, grabbing it more and more intensively until the pain had started to go away. The whole time he had closed his eyes, however as he opened it he could see his pendant lighting up in a violet color, an eye staring back at him. A part of his Power contained in the pendant. He touches his nose. No blood. He raised his head more and looked Kalliope in the eyes. She smiled satisfied.

“Now try to put the pendant on.”, Kalliope explains and watches excitedly as Arkevh put on the necklace with the amethyst that radiated in a purple light.

Arkevh felt an intensive energy going through his body and before he could anything his broken arm started to weirdly move around. With a pain distorted face he looks at his arm that twisted in weird ways, before he could scream out however it was done and his arm looked like normal.

“D-Did it just heal itself?”, Arkevh asks confused

“It seems like it, having your Mana in your Body for long enough, roaming freely but controlled has healing properties.”, She smiles once again and gives Arkevh a hug.

“Thanks for helping me out. I want to stay in this guild, with you guys.”, she explains and lets loose of Arkevh.

Arkevh responds with a smile.

“I also have to thank you, without you I may have never found out how to get rid of this problem.”

“You should look out, however, this Pendant won’t work forever, that’s why we need to train more so you can fully control it without them.”, Kalliope explains.

“What if i don’t want to use them though.”, Arkevh explains and looks away.

Kalliope just smiles once again.

“Think about it, if you have full control on them you can use them for good, not for destruction. If you are then able to combine them with other magic types like Light or nature magic you could do great things. However I don't force you, it’s your decision.”, Kalliope eases him.

Arkevh nods once again

“Thanks for everything.”

“You're welcome, now let's continue training.”