22th of Firstleaf, third month of 984:

In the dead of the night, the day before they were expected to collide with the rebels, Noct stood awake. In front of him, on top of the ground, stood a piece of cloth. On it, nine rings stood. Having cleared them of their older enchantments, he started enchanting new ones.

‘’Shadow step’ will go first.’ The sudden and blinding blue light produced by a small blue laser, fruit of several spell circles he had weaved above the cloth, illuminated the tent as he carved the metal. His eyes hidden by forging glasses, he focused on his task. ‘Next ones will be ‘Shadow spikes’, ‘Shadow hands’, ‘Shadow emergence’, ‘Conflagration’, ‘Regeneration’, ‘Wind domination’, ‘Fire whip’ and ‘Mirror Shield’. As he recited the names, he crafted the new spell pathways. They would work in the same way a wand worked, but with a pre-written spell. These rings would only be able to be used to cast the spells they had been engraved with, granting their casting near instantaneous speed.

The light sounds of the melting metal work filled the void of his humble room. Its sounds reached the outside of the tent, where Eve rested against its cloth, having melted with the shadows of the night.

It was a bit lost, and the conversation it had stalked kept replaying in its head.

‘“I will engage the mages and prevent artillery fire. That will grant the corps more leeway. We cannot let this battle fall into a long affair, we won’t hold against the attrition. High Commander Andras, you are to spearhead into the centre together with the Barony’s forces, Johan’s unit and High Commander Lantraz’s entourage, to find the commanders and cut the snake’s head. You up to it, High Commander?”

”Yes, my Lord. But, if I may ask…”

“Do not fret, your daughter may not go.”

“Thank you, Noct, really.”’

Another heart had been born, now in its mind, that contracted and dilated, spewing hate and turning her vision red. So much it was feeling its head had started to hurt, a thing it had never experienced before.. ‘Your lord is electing to go fight almost thirty mages alone and you ask about your daughter! You should have knocked him out and muzzled him!! That way I could carry him out of your mess!...I will enjoy tearing your heart out, you ungrateful greedy bastard! Your daughter being here is not a reason to forsake your duty!’

Trying to calm itself, it tore, again, the skin of its left upper arm, even reaching the meat under it, where the loyalty crest resided. It could not be voided with such barbaric methods, not that that knowledge would make it stop from trying.

The sound of welding metal calming it, it sighed, ‘So be it. I will do what I have been ordered to as quickly as I am able, and I will come to your rescue.’

…………….

Trilus continued to patrol as he replayed the debrief he had had with all of the high commanders.

‘We will wait in the woods, shielded by illusions. When a tenth of their men have passed the central point, the fire corps will launch their first volley and the cavalry brigades will crash on the confused lines. Following them, our infantry will rush to leverage the surprise caused by this attack. Once a battle line has been established, the cavalry will retreat. The enemy won’t stay quiet once we show ourselves and will try to flank us. That's where your armies come to play. You will strike at the same time as the cavalry, and will retreat once significant pressure is being built up. I can trust your discipline so you will organise your retreat while fighting, as the aim is to form a line in the shape of an U from our starting ambush battlelines, I I. My forces will deal with the main army, as we shall be the centre of the operation. That would leave us open to being surrounded, so the cavalry’s job will be to keep them on the defensive with hit and run tactics. If that should not prove enough, the flanks will push forward. If that fails, we will retreat while maintaining the formation.’

“A death sentence to the flanks.” The words escaped his lips. That was the only compromise he had been able to achieve with the leader of the fenix corps. If they survive the worst of the battle their transgressions would be forgiven, but only if they made significant contributions to it. The undead, on the other hand, would be lucky if the fenix corps didn’t randomly decide to open fire on their lines. ‘At least some lives may be spared….Not that Argus is a fool, he knows we need the manpower. He only wanted to clean his hands off this mess. Arguing against me is excuse enough with his standing. The one who will be punished for both of our crimes will be me. But, if we lose, both our heads would roll. He will behave in the earlier parts of the battle plan and if it gets hairy.’

“Excuse me, my lord?” The unexpected answer made Trilus turn towards his second in command.

“Just speaking aloud. What did you want, Higher Commander Jess?”

She hailed again. “Just wanted to ask a…” She started.

“Why are we fighting shoulder to shoulder with undead?”

She looked away and nodded, knowing that she was doubting the actions of her Lord and even asking him upon them.

Trilus nodded and answered, “They may be abominations, but I trust the necromancer behind them.”

“Why?”

Shrugging, he half asked, “Why didn’t he run away then?” Turning to the undead campament, he ended with, “What matters are actions, and he delivered and he will deliver. And not a single dispute has occurred, yet.”

Jess, not convinced, asked, “What gives you that much confidence?”

“A background check. He has a family back home.” Shamefully admitted Trilus.

“Does a necromancer look that human to you?!” Snapped Jess, “A family?! That’s your reason?! For Gods’ sake, for all you know they could be already dead!”

“You may be right. Still, I have placed my bet.”

Jess looked like she wanted to strangle him but, after a few seconds, calmed down and nodded. “So be it, Marquess. We will follow, no matter where.”

“And I will lead.” Nodded, grateful.

…….

Noct started to walk towards the backline. Morning did little to help in his sneaky march, not that he needed the subtlety, as the noise produced by the marching enemy army was enough to shield him from any detection. He was also far to the north, away from the ambush point. As he scanned for the smallest indication of mages, words he had almost forgotten came back to him.

‘“Remember son, while being flashy is cool, that won’t grant you any favours in the academy. Fire magic is visible and spectacular, yes, but that carries the danger of feeling as spectacular as it. Air magic is way more inconspicuous and will carry the same power. Also, being flashy means being noticed...”’

‘To the….north? That far away?’ The magic he had started to detect came from the depths of the forest. ‘A bad angle of attack for artillery…’ Meditated, as he stalked towards it.

After a few minutes, and once he started to dive into the forest, his growing doubts were confirmed, as he stepped onto a well hidden mine and had to shield himself with his shadow to prevent damage. Still, the shockwave made his back impact against a tree, activating an electric sigil for which he had no more defences to up.

His body being darted forward, he was only able to roll away from a magic arrow that impacted against the position he had been thrown, shooted from the canopy of a tree some fifteen metres away, thanks to his enchantments of ‘pain blocking’ and energising magic. Jumping from the ground, evading the worst of another mine’s explosion, he unsheathed his sword and, in the same motion, cut another magic arrow. These were purple projectiles from the energy branch of magic, similar to arrows in form but able to free fly. Once they impacted, they released burning mana onto the target, a thing that Noct experienced in his own flesh from two different magic arrows that had been casted from different arrows as their aim found his right flank.

Utilising the inertia from the magic arrows, he turned his collision course towards a nearby shadow, utilising ‘shadow step’ to melt into it and reappear behind another tree, putting it between him and the casters’ positions.

Once again he played right into the ambushers’ hands, for, as quick as he reappeared, the tree in front of him started to blur as an invisible mage casted ‘fire cone’ and drenched in flames the area around Noct, together with his position. The inferno having completely enveloped both the tree Noct was against, the nearby ones and the ground, the casted casted from a scroll a magic shield to hide from the flames and started to untie another.

Before he could unroll it, shadows blurted from the inside of that fiery hell and a black sword made for and by itself a passage through his shield and stabbed him in the chest, reaching deep into the wood of the tree behind him.

Noct, unhurt after using ‘shadow emergence’ to give substance to his personal shadow, making it protect him from the flames, quickly turned the stabbed corpse to the left side, making it tank another magic arrow.

…….

“That monster is using Oscar as a damned shield!!” Snarled Antras as he utilised the carvings he had made on the tree he was standing on to cast magic arrow repeatedly, only managing to further tear apart his comrade’s corpse.

“Stop! It’s not working and we need full visibility on him!” Shouted Ocarina, trying to see behind Oscar, not that the fire, smoke and crouched position of the enemy behind it was making it any easier. Her comrade still acting foolishly, she abandoned the idea of making him stop and refocused her ‘bird eyes’ spell and tried to prove behind the body.

‘Are those….shadow spikes?’ Realisation coming to her mind, she tried to turn as she casted a magic arrow in her right hand before a sword cleaved her right arm. A kicking sended her, screaming, to the ground twenty metres below, as the forest was seeded with greater conifers, mega evergreen behemoths towering on the icy tundra, empowered by the northern dryads.

“Wh, Oca!!” Was the last thing she heard before crashing onto the ground. She did not hear her comrade following her example.

…….

“I refuse to believe it was this easy.” Said Ilkom, as he watched Noct rush into a blatant trap. Watching him get shooted at, he weakly added, “It is that easy.”

“He is braver than most and it is a valid, even if suicidal, strategy. If we had not prepared a group of mages for this we could have experienced heavy losses if he had managed to invade their emplacements.” Defended Larra. Watching the work of the mines and sigil, she added, “Maybe ambushing with five mages was too cautious on our part.” Turning to look at Ilkom, she spat, “And hiding ourselves with illusion magic in the backline speaks volumes about your bravery.” Not wanting to pay more attention to a minuscule battle, she turned towards the mirrors that were replaying the ambush that was happening.

Stolen novel; please report.

Ilkom cursed under his breath as he expected more, he raised an eyebrow once he saw the surprising death of Oscar.

“A shadow magician? Impressive.” The bored tone of Ilkom heated up as his eyes gazed upon the demise of yet another mage. Larra’s hand almost struck Ilkom before she stopped herself, as he started to loudly laugh, distracting her.

“That piranha of a man! He used a low tier illusion spell to obfuscate his position before phasing onto the enraged mages, focused on a corpse held up with dark magic!” Ilkom said in a loud voice.

‘That sword, wasn't it the one that cut through an enchanted shield?’ The gaze of Ilkom tried to take in all of the details of the fight.

…………

The regeneration magic kicking in, he started to be able to breathe in. Inhaling fire was never pleasant nor would he get used to it. ‘The broken ribs will have to wait…Thanks for granting us the tools to invent pain blocking magic, Eclair.’.

The casters from the other tree didn’t let him have his much needed respite, as a ray of concentrated light cut the tree by the vertical vector, making it burst into flames and missing Noct by a centimetre. Now also falling to the ground together with half a tree, he willed into the ring engraved with ‘wind domination’, forcing the spell circle of the spell to form around his left hand. Activating it, he started to condense air in his trajectory, slowing him down enough as to lessen the impact on the ground.

Quickly casting ‘mirror shield’, the well aimed light attack was reflected and dissipated in the sky high above. Evading with a duck a magic arrow, he shielded himself with yet another tree. This time he was prepared and the hidden sigil discharged its electric rays onto a wall of shadows. With the mirror shield casted in his left arm, equaling a normal shield, and his sword in the right, he jumped and, using wind domination, he condensed a foothold of air which he used to propel himself up midjump.

Scaling upwards and blocking or cutting the attacks, Noct jumped in quick succession towards the casters’ position.

……….

“Could use a bit of help here, Lucar!” Bitterly said Lili, as her light attacks were either deflected or crushed with that damned sword. “By Karax beard!!” Throwing caution to the wind, she started to alter the spell by memory. Eyeing her left side, where Lucar should have been, she saw nothing on top of the branch. “Damnit!”

Her altered spell finished recasting and, pushing her to hands together and forming an ‘U’, she created a ball of light that exploded in several rays that travelled in all directions but that, ultimately, bended towards Noct. The response of Noct, as her light ball charged up, was to turn around and, as he started to fall head first to the ground, create another air platform and kick it with both legs, propelling himself to the ground. Evading most of the rays, he reflected one, crushed another with his sword and let the last one pierce his leg. Noct unnaturally turned and started to slow his descent

Lili didn’t let up and returned to her earlier barrages, trying to tear out an advantage out of his new wound. Her new and only condensed ray of light flew true and pierced the head of Noct, dispelling the new illusion at the same time as the sound of a man hitting the ground was heard. Quickly turning to look at the sound, she saw a diminishing amalgamation of shadows.

Half a second later, the sound of her shields breaking apart reached her ears, while the sword of Noct reached her left lung and skewed her from the behind.

……..

Making a sudden movement, he threw the corpse off his sword and off the tree. His green eyes scanned the surrounding area from his high point, as he knew another wizard was left. ‘There he is.’ Detecting the light fluctuations from a hastily casted illusion spell he jumped from the tree and controlled his descent with wind magic, reaching ground and rushing towards that anomaly.

The air near the burned area getting more unstable, it launched an electric arc against Noct, who blocked with the sword. Recognising the caster once the illusion wore off, Noct stopped his sword on the neck of Mart.

“Ah!” Mart whimpered, his face pale and full of fear. He put up the face of a terrified person to try to subtly cast a spell with her left hand, which was behind his back.

Noct, oblivious to the plot, looked at him in the eyes and resumed the sword’s trajectory, opening his neck and almost beheading him.

“He did not have blue eyes.” Muttered as the illusion faded away. ‘I…I am Mart, sir! I also want to be a mage!!’ Only thanks to their sacrifice had he been able to orchestrate the familiar attack. Their information had also enabled him to prepare for today. Giving a single gaze to the corpse of a woman he did not know, he returned to the search of the rest of the mages.

……….

Ilkom was no longer laughing as he observed Noct as he beelined towards their position, guided by Gods’ knew what. He turned slightly to the right, trying to spy on the woman, not that she would have noticed as problems had sprung on the frontline, making her focus solely on making new commands.

Looking to a nearby knight, Ilkom mumbled, “You, bring more mages.”

Confused, he asked for clarification, “...Sir?”

“I gave you an order, boy. Bring, more, mages. Intercept that black knight.”

“Ho-how many?”

“Ten.”

“But that will severely slow the….”

“Ten.”

Hailing, the knight nodded and departed.

His gaze returning to Noct, he mused, ‘At least some wounds won’t heal in time…Necromancer, huh. Maybe I should try it too, it does seem worthwhile.’

………….

Sweet permeating her forehead, Soral continued to try to stab through the wooden shield of Sorak. Another sidestep to counter an horizontal slash, another feint to try to move the shield to where she wanted it to be, another stab and backstep to make more space between the two of them and repeat. She was losing, slowly but losing nonetheless. It was only a matter of time until she failed a dodge and, once she did, Sorak knocked her to the ground.

“Well done, Lady Soral.” Said as she lent her her hand.

“Well?...Well my bottom.” Retorted an angry and tired Soral.

“Didn’t you win against me yesterday?”

“Yesterday’s yesterday. And it doesn’t matter if I haven’t learnt how to do it.”

Sorak gave her a few claps in her shoulder and retorted with, “I also can learn your method of fighting me.”

“As if. Thank you for the lessons still.” Said Soral as she dried herself with a cloth.

“You say that every day, lady Soral. It is my pleasure.” Smiled Sorak, action that was quickly returned. “Still, I apologise for cutting this lesson short.”

Not minding it, Soral simply waved and returned to the castle to change.

‘That nonchalance runs in the family, huh.’ Joked Sorak in her mind, trying to quell her internal doubts. Her gaze fixing on her back, she saw the curse that Noct had written about. It spoke volumes about his ability that she had been unable to detect it until he pointed it out. ‘Still, for it to be a vampiric curse, that's cruel even for you.’ It was a simple curse. It only worked in a simple and non magical wound, making the attacker receive the wound instead of the victim once the injury was open.

Her mind still thinking about dozens of useless things, she turned one last time to look at Soral before setting course towards the church.

She had grown accustomed to the lively new roads. Today, though, they made her feel small and observed, causing her to quicken the pace.

Crossing the great doors of the Church of Elenia, she reached the main room without much protocol, as the paladins of the bishop Adelene were too cooperative today, and kneeled together with her knights, who had arrived before her.

“High Paladin Sorak, I apologise for the unexpected Calling, but both dreadful and great news have come from the front.” Her badly contained smile rested strength to the former news. “While the Imperial Reinforcements have united arms with the honourable northmen and will push the rebels out, their mages have communicated a dark secret that has now come to light. Our pride has been tainted by the corruption of the traitorous Noct the necromancer!” Monologued Adelene, with, maybe, a bit too much energy, “Our order shall save the legitimate ruler of these lands and by our hand will the darkness, casted by the heretic, be cleansed from them!”

Now looking at her, she ended with, “Make haste, before the undead abominations of the heretic harm our Lady.”

Sorak was not a fool, and catched the reasoning behind. ‘“Quick, let us seize the young leader for us,” is it?’ She rationalised in her mind.

“Pardon me for this interruption but, is the news from a trustworthy source? The Ashen Household is at war after all.” Asked Jetlo, usually silent.

“It comes from the Marquess itself, paladin.” Her gaze turning cooler, she continued, “Should you really be wasting time asking questions? Your lady could be in danger at this very moment.”

“We will make haste, Bishop.” Interjected Sorak, her gaze shutting up her fellow paladins. Turning to the bishop, she nodded and, together with her comitive, left the church.

Once outside, Hans weakly said, “Well, you were right after all, Sorak.” That small affirmation pickled her. The irony of his comment being right was not lost to her. But it was her opinions about the church that were right. While the church of Elenia had refused to comment or act in any shape or form against or for the rebellion in fear of losing power in case they chose the losing horse, the ‘heretic’ had been the first to spearhead the coalition against it.

“Told you we had to be careful, even if only to protect our hides.” Rebated Jimo, slightly happy with the news. Sorak could but see him, for a small moment, as a turncoat of his lord, even if she knew it to be foolish.

On the other hand, the silence of Jetlo, as he marched at their side, spoke in the absence of his words.

“Our opinions don’t matter, right or wrong. We have orders and we will follow them.” Tried to quiet them Sorak, immersed in her own thoughts.

…….

After having taken command, by Bishop’s order, of the guards of the castle, he marched towards Soral’s room, every step being harder than the last. Doubt mounting onto doubt, she asked herself, “Was she a puppet of Noct, of the church, did she have no will of her own? Should she follow her church’s orders and reject the request of Noct, turning her sister into a puppet? Should she follow her faith and reveal the wrongdoings of both of them, condemning Soral to a criminal’s death? Should she betray her faith and follow an heretic’s word? What did she even want to do?”

Still, escorted by two guards, she arrived at the door of Soral’s room, guarded by another two guards. Nodding at them, she intruded without asking.

“Sorak? What is this all about?” Asked Soral, looking her eye to eye, as she had been detained by the guard she had builded up and had started to nervously walk in her room, not daring to sit on a chair.

To Sorak, it appeared to be the first time she had truly looked at Soral. ‘She is but a lovely kid.’ The thought ran inside her mind.

“Leave us.” Sorak said to the guards that had been escorting her. Once the door closed again, Sorak turned silent again.

“So….Sorak?” Seeing a part of the trust in Soral’s eyes turn into worry and fear stabbed Sorak’s heart, but that pain made her realise something. ‘Maybe I am not as faithful as I had taken myself for.’

“Lady Soral.” She gulped down, ‘Curse the church, curse that damned Adelene, curse that bastard of Noct. I do not want to see her suffer, much less live a puppet's life.’ Sensing a part of her dwindle, she stated. “Noct has been discovered as an heretic and you have been determined as a useful puppet to my church. I am to ‘rescue’ you.”

“Will you?” The simple question, devoid of anger, reinforced Sorak’s resolution.

“No. I will follow Noct’s last orders. While the plan has changed, it should still work.”

“I will put my trust in you then. What is the plan?” Life came back to her eyes.

“Noct left a curse on you. I will dispel it and you will change how you act, as if you had been controlled before. You will publicly denounce your brother and, before anyone can take your reigns, you shall celebrate your coming of age ceremony. Nobody should oppose it as you could have been forced to withhold it by your brother’s schemes.”

Soral nodded before asking a single question, “Wouldn’t that weaken my b…, Noct’s position and probabilities to get out of this mess?”

“No.” ‘Paladins mustn't, can’t, lie. So, why is it so easy?’ “He is prepared for this and will run north once the battle finishes.”

“I see.” Badly hidden relief showed in Soral’s tone as she nodded. “I will get to work then.” Looking at her one more time, she walked towards Sorak and hugged her. “Thank you.”

“No need, my lady.” She did her best to not shown her conflicted feelings

………………..