February 14th, Year 021 Angels Descent

Donovon was a simple mercenary who often performed contracts for the adventurers guild. But a recent contract that was way too juicy to turn away had come his way. When he had investigated the one providing the contract, he had discovered he was a simple steel-rank adventurer from the Dark Continent.

At first, he had wondered if an inhuman race behind it but was relieved to discover he was human. He even had a dwarf companion, the only other race the church always taught him could be tolerated. Overall though, he had assumed it was some rich kid playing adventurer with his dwarven caretaker.

Arriving at the tavern named the Rusty Bucket, where he had been told to meet them, he found a few faces he recognised from his various jobs. Some through the guild and others more under the table. Regardless if they were recruiting this many people, it must mean it was something big.

“Yo, Donny!” a voice called out. Looking to its source, he could see it was Vel, the man who he had apprenticed under; way back when he was a rookie.

“Hey, boss,” Donovon replied, giving a friendly wave to his mentor. “Any idea what the job is?”

“No idea; they are being tight-lipped. The only thing we can tell is the money is real and very good,” he replied.

“Ok, you can come on in; the boss will see you now,” A man with a gaunt appearance said as he opened the door. Donovon did not recognise him as one of the staff of the tavern. So he must’ve been one of the underlings of the man hiring everyone.

Walking into the tavern they found all the tables and chairs had been stacked in the corner and all that was left was a cavern of a room. Slowly but surely the remainder of the mercenaries all entered the room and began to mill around.

“Yo skinny, where’s your master at?” Vel asked the gaunt man with a glare he often gave civilians to show them he was the boss. But contrary to what he and many others expected, the gaunt man just looked mildly miffed about the attempt. If anything, he was slightly amused.

“Yes, he is over there,” the gaunt man said, gesturing to a corner where a heap of cloth was. Tentatively approaching it, one of the mercenaries poked it, causing it to wriggle.

“I said I’m uppp…” a clearly hungover man groaned as he batted away the butt of the spear being used to jab him.

“Yuu!!!” the man shouted, causing the cloth to wriggle more as a young-looking girl climbed out. She had features that could only be described as adolescent by anyone. But her harsh gaze cut across the room, making everyone aware she was not the age she appeared.

“So that’s the dwarf,” Donovon muttered.

“Greetings,” the man said, stumbling up to the middle of the room. “I am the one going to hire you.”

“Who are yah?” one of the mercenaries Donovon didn’t recognise asked.

“My name is Helsh-” he paused to cough loudly. “Sorry, I got my names muddled up there. I am Alexander; it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” to punctuate his sloppy introduction, he gave a very showy bow.

“Great, so it is a babysit, a rich brat job,” Donovon grumbled. If the coin wasn’t enough, he would turn down the contract by now.

“Now let me start with this… I don’t need you for the main job. Me, Yuu and Sithy here are more than enough,” he explained with a dopey grin as he swayed back and forth. Donovon half suspected he still was slightly drunk from the previous evening.

“I need you drunks, reprobates and all-around troublemakers to do one thing,” he explained with a bleary expression as he paused to examine the finger he held up as if it was the most fascinating digit in existence.

Watching all this, it took all of Donovon’s energy not to walk up and sock him in the face. Looking around the room, Donovon could see a few others were having similar thoughts. The only one remaining unaffected by this Alexander's drunken insult to their professional reputations was his mentor.

“What is that thing you need of us?” another mercenary Donovon didn’t recognise asked.

“I need you to attack the Holy Port Citadel,” he replied as he staggered forwards.

“ATTACK?!!!” The one who had asked the question exclaimed.

“Yeah, do your best to earn my paycheque; otherwise, I won’t give you a penny,” he replied with a blithe grin.

“YOU CHEEKY BRAT!!!” A booming voice shouted. Donovon recognised it as Placks, a man who many suspected must have some Titan blood in his ancestry due to his sheer size.

Stomping into the middle of the room, he let his whole height tower over the drunken rich brat, clearly expecting him to wet himself. But the boy was either too drunk or too dumb to recognise the threat in front of him.

“Calm down, big fella… I’m sure you will do a good enough job,” Alex replied, patting Placks on the cheek.

“I’m going to hit you now,” Placks said as he drew back his fist, only to collapse in a heap on the floor abruptly.

“Now, now. Violence won’t solve anything here,” Alex admonished.

“What did you do?” Donovon asked, finally breaking the silence that had permeated the entire tavern.

“I killed him, of course. The history books always said he was the first to die. Can’t go breaking history’s book; otherwise, he will hunt me down.”

‘Kill?’, ‘History’s book?’ It was now clear to everyone present this was not some rich brat but a lunatic and a monster whose den they had entered without realising it.

“I have no intention of killing anyone who behaves,” Alex explained. “I just need you to do the job I’m hiring you for.”

“You do realise you are giving us a choice between death by your hands and death by the crusaders' hands, right?” Donovon’s mentor said.

“Well, if you die to them, you will at least get an afterlife. I, however,” as if to emphasise his point held out his hand and revealed a clear blue orb in his hand. “This is that man’s soul; I am holding it. No afterlife if I do this,” Alex then, to the absolute, unrestrained horror of all assembled, crushed the orb in his hands.

“I can use heresy magic. In fact, the moment you stepped in here, I already bound your souls. I am not a cruel man, however. I will compensate you for your efforts. You obey my contract and survive; you will be paid. Hell, the contract will even pay any widows or loved ones in the likely event you die.”

“What’s to stop us from all attacking you right now?” Donovon asked.

“That,” Alex replied, gesturing to the corpse at his feet. “I don’t even need to touch you. Any malicious intent directed my way, and boom. You die, and I get to keep your soul.”

“You monster,” Donovon replied through gritted teeth.

“I get that a lot… no, wait… I will get that a lot,” he said with a snap of his fingers. “Timelines can be weird sometimes, can’t they?”

“So we will attack the citadel? I assume this is just a distraction from what you are planning to do?” Vel asked.

“Exactly, me, Yuu and Sithy over there are going to attack their mines and steal a valuable artefact they uncovered that we want. You just need to keep them occupied. The moment we have it, you can run away or surrender. I don’t care.”

“How will we know?” Donovon asked.

“Simple, a little light will glow on your chest,” Alex explained as he poked his own chest, causing a light circle to appear.

“Understood. Do we have free reign on how we accomplish our assault?” Donovon’s mentor asked.

“Sure, do whatever you want. Just be sure to draw all the guards your way,” Alex replied with a nod. With little choice stuck with a metaphorical dragon at their back, the mercenaries geared up and prepared to assault.

“Boss, how are we going to do this?” Donovon asked.

“We are going to attack from the side of the citadel that is as close to the mine as possible. We will keep our attacks light and just enough to meet the contract. The moment we are free, we turn on those Dark Continent monsters and kill them all with the crusaders. We are being coerced by soul magic, after all.”

With a grimace, Donovon nodded and followed the rest of the band of mercenaries on their way to their assault.

----------------------------------------

“You can get back up now,” Alex said, kicking Placks on the foot.

“They all gone then, boss?” Placks asked.

“Sure are; you have played your part magnificently. I’ve added a platinum piece to your pay. Now get out of the country, or I will kill you for real,” Alex warned to which Placks hastily nodded and ran away.

“Yo Alex…” Yuu began before catching a pillar to steady herself. “Aren’t we attacking the docks?”

“Yuu, you should remember this? A mercenary band served their contracts to the fullest, attacking the citadel then leading the crusaders on a wild goose chase to the mines leaving the port so lightly defended that we steal the ships.”

“Oh yeah… I kinda forgot we did that.”

“How? Don’t you have access to all your memories right now?” Sithy asked.

“We do, but some of them are blurry,” Yuu replied.

“So what is the real plan?” Sithy asked, turning to Alex.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Simple, we are going to take the entire moored fleet and sail it away,” Alex replied.

“I’m pretty sure even with you conjuring undead, we can’t operate that massive fleet in the harbour.”

“Is that so, Mr imperator dragon?” Alex replied with a big smirk.

“Gods, that grin… you have planned something, haven’t you?” Sithy asked.

“Well I plan many things. It’s what I do. Only better planny thingamajig than me is Meso,” Alex replied as he swayed forwards and fell flat on his face.

“Alex…” Sithy began before sighing and helping his friend back up, only to grimace at how broken Alex’s nose obviously was.

“I’m still yet to hear what I get out of this?” Sithy added.

“Simple, you get all the gold in the holds. They use it to pay their troops and bribe traitors,” Alex explained in a conspiratorial whisper before both he and Yuu broke down in a fit of laughter.

“You know I sometimes wonder how I became friends with you?”

“Please, me and Yuu practically adopted you. You were such an awkward bookworm before we met you.”

“I still prefer reading a good book in isolation. You two seem to always drag me out somehow.”

“Oh, Sithy?” Yuu said as she stroked his illusionary face. “You don’t need to keep the illusion up. I just remembered you did it in your true face.”

“OH YEAH!!!” Alex said with a beaming grin. “Ole Mr grumpy pants went full flaming face and scared the few whatsits to capitulate,” Alex added with a snap of his fingers.

“I do not like exposing my face. You know this!”

“Why not??? It’s a handsome face. I worry my wife would leave me for you sometimes.”

“Wife?… Alex, you aren’t even engaged…”

“Oh, crap, yeah… Well, you can’t have Elissa. I will lay waste to your home if you try,” Alex said, releasing so much focused aura that the building around him exploded, leaving the trio exposed to the daylight.

“Whoah, I have no interest in flat-chested elves!” Sithy replied, trying to calm Alex down.

“She is aerodynamic!!!” Alex shouted back.

“Fine, I’m sorry!! I will go in my real face!!!”

“Atta boy,” Alex said limply, hanging his arm over Sithy’s shoulder.

“You guys want me to go full form?” Sithy asked.

“Nah, that would draw their crusaders to you and us when we steal the ships,” Alex replied just as alarm bells began to ring from the citadel, and they could see countless soldiers rushing to defend the fortress.

“Showtime!!” Alex said with a beaming grin as black necro smoke began to billow around him, cloaking him in the smoke of pure death. The only thing missing was a scythe to harvest souls with.

Yuu, meanwhile, had taken out a little box Sithy recognised as her personal dimension container. One with a machine she had made that was so terrifying he doubted he could beat it in his full-sized form.

“Not yet, Yuu, only the little one,” Alex said, resting a hand on hers. Yuu just gave a pout and took out a more human-sized suit of battle armour she had manufactured. It was coated in enchantments that would enhance her strength to near the level of Elissa.

“Waiting on you, bud,” Alex said, gesturing to Sithy, who just sighed and removed the shimmer field he had around him. The only thing the changed about his appearance was a scarf tightly wound around his neck and lower face. Every so often, a jet of flames would rush out the top of the bundle of cloth.

“Don’t worry. You just got to become an ancient dragon in like sixteen years. The flame control you want is only a few centuries away,” Alex said trying to reassure his friend.

“It is my own fault for growing too fast. At the very least it is intimidating,” Sithy replied as he let out a deep sigh causing the flames to grow in volume.

“Ok, to the docks!!!” Alex cheered as he led the way.

Thanks to the attack on the citadel, the odd trio could make it to the military docks unobstructed. Arrayed out in front of them were over a hundred galleons all loaded and ready for an invasion of their homeland.

“Ok, Yuu, you take the thirty-five to the left; Sithy, you take the thirty-five to the right. I’ll handle the thirty in the middle.”

Sithy turned to look at Alex, who had a big grin at his terrible joke. He had been tight-lipped about how they were going to steal an entire fleet, and only he and Yuu seemed to know it could be done. Every move they had made was almost like they had a premonition.

When he had inquired about it, they had revealed the insane thing they had done and that they genuinely did know everything that was coming. Knowing his friends, they were either tricking him just to get him out of the library, or they were being genuine. He half suspected it was both.

“Ok, first things first,” Alex held a finger to his chest, creating a light similar to what he had shown earlier.

“Time for our sideshow to become the main focus,” he said with a grin that made Sithy’s hairs stand on end.

“We can give it a few moments for them to turn traitor and lead the army away before we do the next part.”

“What is the next part, by the way? I’m still in the dark. If you expect me to carry one of the ships, I would be able to manage it. Maybe two, but any more, and I won’t be able to fly anymore.”

“As fun as it would be to create the lucid treasure with a dragon engine several centuries early, we will have to pass. No flying ships for the time being,” Alex replied as he put a finger from either hand in his mouth and made an ear-splitting whistle that Sithy had no doubt was being enhanced somehow with magic.

“There she should be on her way,” Alex said as he held his hands on his hips in triumph.

“Who is?” Sithy asked only to see a wake in the water approaching the harbour. Even from where they were in the harbour, it looked ungodly massive, but the closer it got the bigger Sithy knew it was.

All at once, the surface of the water broke, and the shadow of an oily-black form rose up out of the water. The form writhed and twisted, eventually bringing an eyeball the size of the tavern they had just come from resting right in front of them.

It was a sea leviathan. A beast of gargantuan size and power that many still worshipped as old gods. Sithy glanced at his friends who seemed to be ecstatic at the arrival of this eldritch horror.

“FLUFFY!!!!” Alex shouted with joy. “LOOK HOW BIG YOU’VE GOTTEN!!! YOU MUST BE EATING LOTS!!!” Alex shouted with evident joy.

“Fluffy? He named an eldritch monster after his rat familiar?” Sithy asked, turning to Yuu, who was covering her mouth to hold in a laugh.

“That is the rat,” Yuu replied before snickering. Sithy paused in thought but just shook his head. He had long ago abandoned any hope of applying common sense to these two. If anything, he couldn’t help but smirk at how the scene must appear to an outsider.

A tall spindly man with fire puffing in his face every so often, what appears to be a knight snickering like a teenage girl. A skinny, bedraggled mage addressing a sea monster with a pet name. He had no doubt this was the kind of thing eldritch madness probably consisted of.

“Ok, girl, can you go take those toys back home for us?” Alex said, gesturing to the fleet. Fluffy wriggled in joy, acceptance, loyalty, whatever it was Sithy wasn’t sure, but he watched as this sea monster wrapped its tentacles around half the fleet and began dragging it out to sea as if it wasn’t any issue.

“Ok half down, half to go,” Yuu said as she looked at Alex.

“Not yet Yuu,” Alex admonished. “Ok next we do this,” Alex held his arms wide and began muttering a spell under his breath.

“LUMUS REX!! LUMUS REX! LUMUS REX!!! LUMUS REX!!! LUMUS REX!! LUMUS REX!!” Alex repeatedly cast the light spell, creating more and more light circles that merged into what appeared to be an astrolabe.

“Alex, what is that?” Sithy asked.

“The final evolution of my spell system. The Light Star!” Alex replied with a smug grin. The sheer concentration of energy Sithy could see flowing through it; he was sure that if it went wrong, the entire world would be destroyed. But as it had been structured, there was no turning back now.

“ACTIVATE!!” Alex shouted, causing the orb with dozens of light circles to plunge into the water, which began to bubble and shake before a large serpent consisting entirely of water appeared.

“Take as much of the fleet straight north to the Octogram!!” The magically conjured spirit beast nodded and created waves behind a further twenty ships. Guided by the overwhelming current, the ships all began to sail themselves out of the harbour.

“Now?!” Yuu asked, bouncing up and down.

“Yes, you can do it now,” Alex replied with a nod. Sithy watched as Yuu reached into her dimension container and took out what looked like a little toy. With all her might, she threw it into the harbour and mid-arc; it expanded into several hundred feet tall. It was a golem battle suit similar to the one Yuu was currently wearing but vastly larger and more powerful.

Even in his full form, Sithy did not fancy his odds fighting that behemoth of metal.

“Ok, Yuu will get in; I will focus on getting the ships linked to it.”

“What do I do?” Sithy asked.

“Go big and look scary,” Alex replied with a smirk before running off and air walking onto one of the ships.

Sithy was unsure of how to look scary. He could go big, but his full form was such a bother that he preferred to keep his humanoid form at all times. It made reading books far easier. His descent into his thoughts was broken by the rushed metallic clanking of hundreds of soldiers charging to their position.

“YOU THERE, HALT!!” A crusader ordered as he pointed a spear in his direction.

“I wasn’t moving,” Sithy replied.

“STAY THAT WAY!!” The crusader ordered.

“Ok,” Sithy replied with a shrug.

“WHAT IN THE GODS' NAME IS THAT?!!!” A fresh crusader with a plume atop his helmet shouted in shock as he pointed to Yuu’s battle suit that was in the process of linking another ship to its shell.

“That is my friend,” Sithy replied honestly.

“YOU ARE ONE OF THEM MONSTERS. LOOK HE IS PUFFING FIRE!!” A panicked soldier shouted as he shot a barbed crossbow bolt at Sithy. The bolt flew fast and true and landed with a thud into Sithy’s chest.

At least, that’s what it appeared to the onlookers. Sithy, though was beyond furious. Ripping out the bolt, he checked his breast pocket where a pocketbook of adventure stories he was part way through now had a hole and was torn to shreds.

“I hadn’t finished that book yet…”

“He is a tough bastard; men, ready your spells!!”

“It isn’t in print anymore…”

“Prepare a monster mana dispersion field!!”

“I was going to place it in my hoard…”

“FIRE!!!” At the commander's order, a volley of spells was launched at Sithy. Every single shot hit, whether it was lightning, an earthen bullet or even a water lance. Every spell struck true, and slowly but surely, Sithy’s clothes were torn away, all except his scarf.

“Alex wanted big and scary? Well, I’ll show him big and scary…”

“HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!!!” The commander shouted, fear entering his voice.

“You seem to be under a misconception… you see…” Sithy’s body began to warp and change shape. A pair of silver-scaled wings sprouted from his exposed back as his entire body grew larger and larger. Soon Sithy was nearly as big as the battle suit Yuu was piloting.

“DRAGONS ARE IMMUNE TO MAGIC!!!” Sithy roared. His roar shook the very earth itself as his fury had been unleashed. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled a focused stream of fire that could melt even mithril.

“THAT’S FOR MY BOOK!!!!!” Sithy continued to rage as more of the port began to be set aflame.

“THAT IS FOR MY SHIRT!!! AND THIS IS FOR MAKING ME FEEL AWKWARD!!!” Sithy continued to breathe every element into his surroundings, forcing the approaching army to hastily retreat.

“A DRAGON?!!!” The commander cried as the smell of ammonia began to increase around him.

“I AM INSITHRILAX!!! I AM THE IMPERATOR OF DRAGON KIND!!!! I WILL TOLERATE NO ILL WILL TOWARDS MY BOOKS!!!”

As Sithy raged behind them, Alex finished linking up the final ship to Yuu’s battle suit and gave her the signal to go.

“I’m going to get him to calm down,” Alex explained as he air-stepped across the harbour and stood in front of Sithy’s face.

“Oi Sithy.”

“YOU!!!! YOU ARE THE WHOLE REASON I AM-” Sithy froze in his tirade as he saw what Alex held in his hands.

“Is that the pocketbook of adventurers?” Alex nodded.

“A signed first edition directly from Sloth’s personal archives.”

“First… Edition? Signed? Sloths Archives? IT HAS SO MUCH HISTORY!!!!! LET ME HAVE IT!!!” Sithy demanded his dragon's desire for treasure, trying to overtake him.

“You can have it, but we have to make our getaway,” Alex replied, dispelling his necrosmoke cloak and gesturing to the now-empty harbour.

“Fine, I expect an apology when we get home,” Sithy replied as he lowered his body to allow Alex to land on it. Sitting down on the massive Dragon's back, the stunned crusaders could only watch as the dragon and mage flew over the horizon, bickering about stories within the book.