Being interrupted from meditation is a very annoying feeling. It feels like somebody just woke up a person who is sleeping and you look at the world in that half sleeping half waking state. It is actually quite a dangerous thing to do in enemy territory. Being without mana is more dangerous, if I am to be honest.

It is with this exact annoyance that I am looking at Alfred Mayfire, who had burst into our room in the most dramatic fashion possible. The man has completely pulled me out of my meditation. He should be thankful that my sword is not out. I would have struck him if that were not the case. That would have led to a mess, that I certainly would not like to manage.

I recognised the man the instant that he entered into our room. He did so in the most dramatic manner possible. An eagle made up of pure fire burst through the blockade in our room, completely annihilating every bit of furniture blocked entry into the room. Eagles are one of the more powerful conjurations that a mayfire can create.

Alfred Mayfire is roughly about my age and is known for his skill at conjuration, his families speciality. Other than that though he is supposed to be a very annoying figure. He is considered to be a figure of interest in the black mountain. A person of interest basically means that this person might grow into a threat for the black mountain. He is a young master of the mayfires, one with a decent chance of becoming the family head and in terms of strength, he is certainly many times stronger than me.

"Now who would you be, people. I have never seen a cultivator dressed so plainly.", the man remarks, looking at my dress that I had not changed in a while. I really should get more clothes in the future. “Well, humility is a useful thing to have.“

“I am captain Antonio sevenstars of the black mountain, under the charge of the guard corps to investigate the mayfire castle. Your food shipments have not been reaching the hexmountain in the last couple of months“, I reply, a bit off focus.

“Oh yeah, the troop that was shot down halfway through their flight to this place.“, Alfred replies, feeling quite smug about it. “you have caused quite a bit of chaos in the outer keep, based on what I have been hearing. It has certainly helped us out in here.“

“Well, how would you be hearing this, young master.“, Trevor replies, his voice taking on a tone that I have never heard him speaking in. Fawning and quite humble, this voice would be perfect for bootlicking.

“The fort is ours, soldier. We have been working on the fort since the day that it has been created. We naturally have our methods of looking into it.“, replies Alfred mayfire. “At the moment, you should be having more immediate worries. Antonio, it would be ideal if take our leave from this place. We do not want to get into a melee this deep into the necromancer control.“

“Well, what is it with the necromancers? The hexmountain is under the assumption that you are dealing with vampires.“, I ask the man.

“it is a long conversation, captain. One that we cannot have in the middle of a battlefield. You do not want to be dealing with a group of necromancers in such a congested location, Antonio.“, replies Alfred.

I don't reply as we all begin to move. Maybe my conversation with the man was not particularly awe inspiring, but hey the man had distrupted my meditation. I am still collecting my thoughts. Leaving the room, I can see the destruction that the man has caused in the room in his fight with the necromancer. There are entire piles of corpses burnt to a crisp lying about. It is not a pleasant sight in the least.

The necromancers corpse itself is pretty much in a very bad state. The man is blown up into many pieces, split into many pieces by the man in front of me. It must have been a pretty hard fight judging from the way that the entire thing was riddled with holes. Alfred himself is pretty injured though most of the Injuries are internal, though the man is quite skilled at hiding all of this.

“Well, necromancers are a pain. Rather than fighting them alone it feels like crushing flys in a cloud of flys. We can't even ignore these undead. they activate all of our traps. It has completely messed with our plans in the process.“, replies Alfred. “Let's leave before the other necromancers get a wind that we are here. You certainly don't want to be overwhelmed by them.“

And thus we begin to make our way into the inner keep. Unlike before, where the rooms are connected to each other in thinner and thinner corridors. the rooms here are much larger and much more vital in purposes to the mayfires. I find it hard to believe that the inner keep is so massive.

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I can see Alfred means by the Presence of a horde. Conjuration is a pretty costly magic, if I am to be honest. Using it on a horde is pretty costly on your mana supplies. Right now, the man in front of me must have consumed at least half of the mana reserves of his.

Even me, who is pretty efficient at using mana would be quite intimidated by the number of zombies this man has to deal with. Other than this man, I have yet to find the mana of any other mayfire. They could be in other areas, but beyond my senses. They certainly are not going to be coming to our rescue any time soon.

“Captain Antonio, it would be wise not to get distracted on the battlefield. Necromancers might not look particularly strong but the bastards are tricky enemies to fight. Be especially wary of the corpses. Even this burnt, I am not sure if the necromancers can use their magics through it. They can explode these corpses to poison you.“, replies Alfred.

“Certainly Alfred”, I reply.

And thus we begin to make our way through the inner keep.

(After almost a couple hours or a couple minutes. My sense of time is pretty weird by now.)

The only thing that I remember about our journey is the profound sense of exhaustion that I had felt during the journey. The reason for that I think is due to the fact that I have been focussing at the peak of my senses ever since I have been in the inner keep. I feel like I want to sleep at this moment.

I certainly can't do that now since Alfred is taking us through the inner keep. He is very slow and methodical about it, especially in the corridors particularly around the corpses. Other than that the man has been going through the inner keep as if he knows it from the back of his hand. That familiarity with the place certainly assisted in our quick progress through the inner keep.

Even right now I have begun the process of recording only because we have clearly entered into the mayfire's section of this keep. Even this place is not completely secure. the necromancers have been clearly trying to breach into the place but just from the ever decreasing piles of burnt corpses it is clear that the place is still in mayfire control.

Throughout our trip here, Alfred mayfire has been certainly quite silent. The man has a warriors focus to speak about him. Sadly, I have yet to witness the conjuration that makes these people so famous. Well, sadly would be the wrong word here, since we have not been attacked in our journey to this place. Still, I would be more comfortable if I could know of the capability of the mayfire's.

“Alfred before we go beyond this point you will have to give up on your sword.“, speaks Alfred, who had suddenly stopped at the edge of what I have to assume is another barrier. I am surprised that I was not even able to sense it. It could be my exhaustion or it could be the barrier itself. The latter would be more deadly “This is our absolute shield, beyond which no external formations must be activated. That includes that sword of yours.“

Hearing this, the only thing that I can say is that the mayfire's are certainly obsessed with barriers. An absolute barrier is exactly what is sounds likes. The controller of the barrier will have absolute control of the mana that exists inside the barrier. It is one of the hardest barriers to establish.

It is a sensitive formation though, one that would be messed up if somebody were to move mana inside except the barrier wielder. Naturally, that is not a problem if these people had a person to control the barrier. Without such a person, it would certainly be harder to take control of mana, but it won't be that much harder. I could break through the formation using a large amount of mana that I can certainly produce using the sword.

Well, I don't really have much of an option here, since the man opposite me can burn me into a crisp even if we were to go into a fight. Then there is the problem of the necromancers who can attack us at any second. A fight is not ideal here.

“I understand your situation. Here is my sword.“, I reply, giving my sword to the man.

Naturally the only reason I do this is because my remote link with the formation is still there and I can activate it even if the man in front of me is holding it. The other side is no formation mage, that much I am certain of. All he needs to do is pass through the barrier and I can cause this formation to fail if there is a need.

Even the man seems to be very surprised that I had given up my sword that easily. Well, what I am doing is quite stupid, I guess but what else can I do.

“Thank you. Antonio. You and your troop can enter into the barrier now. You will be greeted by my kin on the other side of the barrier. Just introduce yourself and you will be fine“ Replies Alfred. “I have to hold back this horde of zombies for as long as possible. They have been getting too close for our comfort.“

Saying that the man disappears, taking the route that he taken previously taking my sword away with him. Well, there goes my fancy plans. I have given up the sword now there is no way to reclaim it without things going awry. Looks like the man is aware of the weakness of his defences.

I just stand there paralysed for about a minute I think, trying to figure out what I can do to deal with this particular mess. Just standing there I cannot really string together thoughts. The exhaustion I am feeling is showing its vicious fangs. I just stand there thinking about my inability to think until Trevor speaks.

“We will have to go in captain. It is not like we can trace our way back anyways. The only option is forward.“ Speaks trevor. “We are still at a risk here captain. Atleast in the barrier we will only have the mayfire's to worry about.“

Heeding his warning I take a step into the barrier, not knowing what I would find on the other side.