The hexmountain is the largest mountain on the continent. Somehow those words don't really seem to do it justice. Even standing here It is hard for me accept that the thing in front of me is supposed to be a mountain.

From where I am standing the place seems to be a wall of stone that is covering everything in front of me. You can imagine that half of the world has suddenly been replaced by stone. The angled slope of the mountain is vast and uniform that it almost looks as if the mountain was created by some giant that bent the ground towards the sky.

Though, to be honest I would struggle to imagine a large enough giant to be able to achieve this feat.

From where I am situated the buildings most of which are the offices of all the important people in the black mountain look like a toy. Most of these are palaces that would make the temporary fort look like a commoners house.

It is for this perspective that I even dare to be so high up. I am looking at the mountain from as high as I can and all I can see is the wall of rock. It almost feels like somebody has turned the heaven and earth by ninety degrees. For a few moments i wonder if this is what a man crashing to the ground would look at.

Any higher than this point and even this sturdy ship will broken due to the storms that rage in the mountains. Even coming this high was already a risk. It is a wonder that my master Is already not here.

One of the consequences of being one of the tallest mountain is that the mountain is plagued with storms, capable of crushing the bones of anybody that crosses the storm line. The Storm line is the point beyond which the storms on the mountain become deadly.

I have heard that only the generals are able to survive beyond the storm and even they have to be careful when they reach the peak. Though nobody would be stupid enough to try such a pointless act.

"Get the ship down, you have already damaged the ship too much.", a voice behind me speaks. It is my master who seems to be quite annoyed by my daring.

"I will, I will. I am sure that even you don't get many opportunities to appreciate the beauty of the place.", I reply. "You can do with a bit of relaxation in your life, old man. Anyway the ship is more than capable of taking care of itself."

The storms of the hex mountain are sight to behold to those that have the sight. It looks like a painting in which one could get lost in, ever changing and always unique. I could look at it for hours.

Still, I heed my masters command as I tip the ship to dive downwards. Just making my way here already was unwise, but it was always something of a wish to atleast reach the storm line, either personally or in a ship.

Anyways, My Target is my masters personal landing square which is one of the least used places in the mountain. My master is a solitary man and I am the only person other than him that is allowed into his complex.

The only reason that the man even has a landing strip is that it was built in when he was given this place and the strip never came in the way of my masters own renovations. Well, it ultimately ended up benefiting me since the man is pretty unlikely to ever use it.

Dropping of the man shouldn't have taken long, but the man had finally decided to go into a lecturing mode (I have honestly got too much experience due to trevor.). Most of it were warnings not to damage the ship as soon as I got it without any oversight.

My master office is one of the closest to the storm line. One of my very first challenges when I became his disciple was to make my way to his office on foot. The result was that the young me was almost blown into the air due the strong winds in the place. It almost killed me and did result in me breaking both my legs. Some kind of a tradition for my master. He has many of those.

Now, with the mana in me I can easily do that now. It does not mean that this particular mission left me without a healthy respect for the mountain.

the man takes his leave as I go to another place in the hex mountain. This spot is a not as private as my masters, but I don't need to spend long here as my troop enters into the ship.

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It has been quite a while since I have seen the three people. In all of the mana spots in this busy place it is hard to tell who is who, but the man in the middle is certainly Trevor.

Well, can't keep staring at the idiots, after all I have to remove the ship as quickly as possible or it is pretty likely that I will cause an accident in this busy landing area. They are used to much larger or much smaller ships than mine.

The minute that I confirm that the three men are in the ship I take off. For a few moments I feel cheated as I do this. After all I was supposed to be left alone for atleast a couple of months before being given another mission.

I then remember that I would have technically failed in the mission since I had essentially abandoned the troop. I could argue that I was forced to go to the temporary fort, which caused the events after that.

One should not forget that the first priority of the guard is supposed to keep the scholars as safe as possible. The people that would judge me would certainly not have a very deep idea about the nuance of the situation I was in.

Anyways, it doesn't take me long to leave the hexmountain though it will remain visible for a very long times, it ever changing color becoming a bit more static.

(After a while)

Assigning rooms to the three soldiers doesn't take long, though trevor has beconed me into his room the instant that he has settled.

"The head office is quite angry at you at this moment.", Trevor begins, with a gravity that leaves me worried.

"Well, there is little I can do when the commander cannot do anything against an enemy. I was pretty sure that I was going to die.", I reply, my tone more defensive than I hoped it would be.

"Well, that is fine. We guards are imprisoned all the time. The head office has a problem with the way that you have abandoned the scholars to galavant off." Trevor speaks, his tone quite serious.

"Well, how was that galavanting. It is not like I wanted to do that. I almost ended up dying too", I reply, Getting a bit mad.

"Well, that doesn't really matter to the council. You were already a pretty unpopular choice in the council for captaincy based on what i have been hearing and the way that you have acted in your first mission was supposed to be the proof that you could handle it.", Trevor speaks, his tone getting a graver as he speaks. How the hell does the man do that.

"I followed your suggestion then and you have done these a thousand times haven't you." I ask the man. I don't even know why I am quite so emotional at the moment.

"Well, these things happens. We can just adapt to the cards we are dealt with. I gave the best suggestion according to the situation. Anyways, your master has managed the situation now. They have given you a more suitable mission they feel.", Trevor replies. "If you fail this one, I think they will quite likely remove you as a guard."

"Well, what exactly is the mission then. My master has only told me that it is something to do with a place called the mayfire castle and that bandits were involved.", I ask the man.

"The mayfire castle is a fort that exists about two days from the hex mountain. It is lead by a friendly mage family called as the mayfires. They are master of flame magic and have been responsible for providing security for the food caravans passing in the region.", Trevor replies. "At the moment, the only thing that we know is that the mayfires have stopped communication with us for some reason and we have not been getting as many food caravans as we should be getting."

"So we are supposed to see what has happened to the mayfires.", I ask.

"No, you are supposed to ensure that the food caravans are protected. How you do that is up to you. The main threat that you are likely to face is a group of bandits called as the bloodheart gang. They are relatively old group of bandits, that have expanded quite heavily recently.", Trevor speaks. "That means that you should be able to deal with a majority of their ambushes. Atleast that is what the head office assumes."

"So what is that you assume.", i ask the man.

"You can try the legions method but that would mean you are treating the symptom rather than the disease. You will have to spend time constantly doing patrols and even then it would likely that you will be struck here for a very long time.", trevor replies. "The blood heart is like a slippery eel if you chase after them directly."

"What else can we do though, it is not like we can know of their headquarters to then attack them headon. Anyways we do not have that much firepower, to take on a gang like that.", I reply.

"The point is you don't need to. The mayfires have always dealt with the bandits. It is their food that is being sent to the hexmountain. They themselves will be undergoing heavy losses in this. They should have the most experience in dealing with the bloodheart gang. They are old enemies.", trevor speaks. "Firstly they have completely cut off communication with us and they seem to have retracted a majority of their forces. That is why the bloodheart gang is acting up so much. Better to deal with whatever problem the mayfires have and then return."

"But if they needed help why would they shut of communication with us. It is not like we would not come if they asked for help.", I ask.

"Well, you are assuming that it was them that shut down comunications with us. There is a significant chance that outside forces are closing this communication.", he replies.

"Well, we are pretty close to the hex mountain. Which force would be able to pull of something like this.", i speak. "It cannot be anybody from down south."

"Such assumptions are unwise. They might be engrossed in their war but we are in their sights. If they can they will take us down. So it is not like we don't know how to fight them. Anyways, it need not be any of the major powers. We are not the only people that can study magic." He replies." It has to be a force other than the blood heart gang. If they had a way of disrupting our communications they would hold it to their chests. After all the guard corps are ultimate threat the bandits have to face. Messing with our communications at the right time will be enough to be a new lease on life for them. So it is somebody new i feel."

"Well, then we will figure out what to do once we reach the mayfire castle, about who to go after.", I reply.

"I will have to assume so, but I won't speak in certainties. After all I have never encountered a situation like this.", he speaks, tapping his figure on the table which I have to assume is a proof of just how nervous my Ally is at the moment. The man was still relatively calm on our journey to the north, so this is enough for me to enter a similar state.