After eating what humans would call dinner, the atmosphere rather awkward as Ieros had to teach Rose to eat. Aftr the ordeal that was dinner, Ieros rested. He had made a separate room in the cottage, this one for him and as he laid down to rest, the fragment began to sleep. But not how humans sleep. Rather, its thoughts gradually transitioned to dreams while shadows all over the world stopped. All was silent, the forests that were normally full of the chatter of animals were hauntingly silent and the usual bustling of cities were replaced by quiet tranquility.

Ieros dreamed, the first one that he had ever had, about something that was strangely familiar yet alien at the same time. He was a creature, not human nor any mortal in the universe though if he was to make a comparison, he’d have to say that he was similar to a bacteriophage. He had seven legs, three arms and nine eyes. His eyes were spread out equally on the black transparent icosahedron that was his head with his legs and arms equally spread out on the sheathing coil that was his body. He was in a endlessly large chamber, with rows upon rows of strange shelves that had circular holes in them. Out of some age-old instinct, his body moved and positioned itself over one of the holes, a spear emerging as the coil shortened and he promptly squatted on the hole, the spear entering it.

In an instant, information flowed through his mind, an overwhelming amount, even for one such as him. Most of it went left his mind as it had come, except for one thing. It had stayed but he could not comprehend it, a piece of information written in the same strange language that he had used to write the inscriptions on the amulet. But unlike his imitations, these were filled with power and meaning, these were words of great importance. But he couldn’t understand them and when the day called his consciousness to wake, the words retreated to the back of his mind, waiting for the day that they would be understood.

Ieros woke without memory of his dream, only that it was something strange and yet familiar. A tear streaked down his face without him knowing why, even though his state wasn’t emotional in the slightest. He wiped it away without much further thought and stood, wondering just why he had slept. But seeing as he felt refreshed, he decided that ultimately it wasn’t a bad thing. Perhaps he would do this from time to time again. But that dream… it wasn’t really a dream, more like… remembering something. Was this… Darkness’s memory?

But then something shrouded his thoughts, another being that Darkness had created. It sealed those errant memories once more, wiping the fragment’s mind clean of the information. It had been commanded to seal such things away and it would do so and unlike the fragment, it had no emotions nor will to question its creator. Once more, it hid itself, waiting until it would be needed once more. Meanwhile, Ieros woke, unaware of the dream that he just had, nor the words that remained within his mind. The words had ingrained themselves in the depths of his mind, woven so tightly that the best the being could do was just hide them under more memories. It’s job done, it retreated, leaving Ieros to return to its usual life.

Ieros then walked out of the cottage, Rose still asleep. He instructed the Sentinel once more to watch over Rose, her abilities may serve to be extremely advantageous one day. As she was the only one of her kind as of yet, it was imperative to keep her alive. It also didn’t know that if she were to reproduce that her children would have the same ability. It could try but then again, to take care of children would be unnecessary and with how protective mothers are, he would most likely either kill her or drive her insane. Besides, if memory was to be trusted, Magic just agreed to answer the wishes of premen, it has decided to do so with her. Unless it chooses another, this phenomena would never happen again.

So for now, she was safe, after all, the ability would grow with her and it would have to observe everything. But now it had to return to Athera, he was being called. He left as he came and reappeared in the throne room, this time in the company of other court mages. They looked at him, some with curiosity, others with interest and a few with hostility. This was a child compared to them, these mages who had spent decades and some centuries perfecting their craft. To have one not even twenty years old among them was a miracle to say the least.

But their first impression of him was of someone that was far older than any of them, for even though the fragment was suppressing his aura, it was still able to be sensed by the mages, an ancient being whose lifespan was so large that eons by comparison was a mere but a mere speck. Then there was the gate that he used, the so-called “Perfect Mode of Transportation”.

They had also seen his legion, the Dark Legion as people were beginning to call it. They were amazed that a mere boy was able to make such things, exquisite in detail and nigh invincible. But their focus mostly went to the giant, a dominating figure who just by itself would be able to turn any battle. Even though they were still, they radiated magic, rather, an aura that devoured mana. But even though they devoured mana, it was undeniable that these things were in a sense, alive. They just did not move as they were not commanded to.

The King seemed delighted to have Ieros, though the two priests from the Luxian Theocracy weren’t so happy. They had heard from their counterparts at Seris, about a young mage whose abilities seemed to be a challenge to the gods, that Man too could reach such heights. They looked upon him disapprovingly but kept their silence, they had also heard about how he wielded the power to make even angels bow down. The King had also heard of this and once Ieros arrived, he took the opportunity to ask,

“Ieros, is it true that you summoned an angel and a demon?”

Ieros bowed, “Yes, it is your majesty.”

The King said, “Then could you use them for battle?”

Ieros replied, “If you so wish.”

The King asked, “Could you summon them now?”

Ieros answered by summoning, keeping silent as a brilliant star and a sphere of darkness appeared at his sides. They then took a more humanoid shape, the angel and demon from before appearing. The mages who had smirked at his claims paled, even they could tell that this was no illusion. The angel and demon were really before them, their invincible power unmistakable, yet, were they really invincible if they bowed down to him? But even for all the energy dispensed, Ieros did not seem to be fatigued. The reason was simple, to create an angel or a demon was far easier than to create one golem. For unlike angels or demons who are in the end made of flesh, it was far harder to make solid dark matter.

For unlike creating mortal things, dark matter was something else. The flesh of Darkness must be compressed by staggering ratios, one mile cubed is equal to a foot cubed. Of course, Darkness itself could create miles upon miles cubed of dark matter but it wasn’t so easy for Ieros. It was in the end a fragment and a fragment can only wield so much power. For a moment, it entertained thoughts of what it would be like to be Darkness but it immediately crushed the thought, it seems that the disease that was emotions was infecting it more and more.

It wondered if it would have to live with the disease for the rest of its life or should it create a clone and destroy itself now. Its consciousness was already infected, thus it would only have to transfer memories and then destroy itself, a simple process. But doing so right now would be rather difficult, it would have to return to the privacy of the forest. It began the creation of its clone, transferring all of its memories to the Sentinel minus its emotions. It then instructed the Sentinel to create a clone of Ieros with all of its memories, Ieros’s included.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

But the clone did not wake, it would only wake once Ieros was destroyed. It had to do it while it still was mostly free from the influence of emotions, it was too late for it now. But of course, the meeting was still going on, though the presence of the divine beings bought Ieros a few moments of silence. So when he returned his attention to the meeting, he did not miss anything important. He was ordered to dismiss the divine beings which he did, the angel and demon bowing to him before collapsing into a sphere of light and darkness before those too imploded until they disappeared.

The rest of the meeting wasn’t anything too important, it was just the King assigning military positions to each of the mages and giving them each an army to command with the exception of Ieros. Ieros was given free command, meaning that he would do as he saw fit on the battlefield as long as what he did wasn’t detrimental to the Atheran forces. Of course, this didn’t go well with the other mages, they thought that one so young would know nothing of real battle. But of course, Ieros was no regular child. He did not have such things as excessive caution nor excessive recklessness, only a cold logical mind which saw countless scenarios for battles and which specific one would be most beneficial.

He also possessed nearly omniscient abilities for the shadows were his eyes, he could see the battlefield and respond accordingly, taking out flanking units and sending units to flanks if necessary. He possessed the ultimate strategic tools for war and had the ultimate army. He could win the entire war all on his own if he so wished. Even now, his omniscience was at work, the shadows seeing an army of ten thousand serisian soldiers march upon an atheran border fort. The fort was ill prepared for battle and was quickly taken, the serisian forces establishing it as their stepping stone for the invasion.

No messengers were able to be sent by the defending atherans as the serisians cast anti-communication magic and killed any messengers sent by the atherans. Athera did not know that they had just been invaded. But of course, Ieros did not say anything, what fun would the war be if the invasion force was stopped there? Instead, once the meeting was over and after exchanging platitudes with the other mages, he returned to the forest, making sure that the clone had an exact copy of all of its memories. Once that was done, it made a sword of light and impaled itself on it, the light burning away the darkness.

Soon, there was nothing left of the previous Ieros, his body having returned to dust and the fragment’s original form completely purged by light. The emotions had been destroyed along with it and the new Ieros woke, retaining all the memories of its predecessor. It then made a mental note not to make the same mistakes as the original and then stood, its eyes glowing silver in the shadows of the forest.

Suddenly, it sensed intruders, their power enough to defeat the shadow golems. Ieros made a gate to the disturbance and stepped through, seeing the two Luxian priests as well as Kyle and Aria. Remembering that it was supposed to maintain a friendly relationship, it put on a friendly persona, a small small on its face as it looked at Kyle and Aria, the smile reaching its eyes. But of course, it did not do the act 100%, otherwise it would only develop emotions like its predecessor. But his gaze turned cold when he looked at the priests and he asked,

“What is your business in my domain?”

The priests bowed politely if not respectfully and one spoke, “Young mage, we just came because we sensed a great amount of darkness in this forest and decided to cleanse it.”

Ieros said, “They are of my creation, they merely protect my domain from those who wish to disturb it. Those that wish to collect herbs go unmolested.”

The priest said resolute, “It is our duty to cleanse darkness wherever we see it.”

Ieros then said, “Very well then, I will not stop you. But beware, these are not the strongest of my creations, more still roam the depths of the forest and it would be wise you avoid them.”

He then turned his attention to Kyle and Aria and with a small smile on his face, he apologized, “Sorry I haven’t seen you guys in awhile but I’m so busy, you know, being the court mage and all.”

A bit uncertain at first, Kyle was the first to walk over and hug Ieros, saying, “Hey, you could have at least spoken to us with magic.”

Ieros chuckled, “I was busy escorting the Princess at Seris.”

Kyle released Ieros from the hug and joked, “Ooh, you lucky bastard. So… you and the Princess together now?”

Ieros laughed, “No, you misunderstand. She and I are not intimately related at all. It was just, the people of Seris tried to assassinate her and I had my hands full trying to keep her alive.”

This time Aria said, elbowing Kyle in the ribs, “What Kyle meant to say is, that we’re glad to see you again.”

She smiled at Ieros and for a moment, Ieros saw pain in Kyle’s eyes. He had known that Kyle had liked Aria but Aria did not return those feelings. Instead she was attracted to Ieros, something that Ieros did not need.

Ieros returned a more polite smile, saying, “So, Aria, how have you been?”

She said, “Oh, it’s actually been pretty peaceful ever since you left, the noble girls didn’t have a reason to bother me anymore since you were gone so they left us alone. Though, the young noblemen began to hit on me.”

Ieros asked, “Isn’t that a good thing, you’ll marry into a rich family, of course, hopefully with the one you like.”

Aria then blushed, “Well, the one I like isn’t a noble.”

Ieros’s smile grew smaller, asking, “Oh?”

Aria seemed to want to say more but she couldn’t and finally, to break the awkward silence that was between them, Ieros said, “Aria, it’s me you like, right?”

She nodded and the awkward atmosphere only increased but Ieros, immune to such things pushed on, his face solemn yet pained, “I’m sorry Aria, I can’t return your feelings. I have promised the King that I would not marry, to keep from disturbing the power balance. As you know, I am a powerful mage, with one of the most purest mageblood in the kingdom. That is why the daughters of nobility chase after me, to gain power. But doing so will upset the power balance and may cause a civil war, therefore I must live a life of solitude for the country.”

Her face fell, gazing up with helpless hope, “We could run away…”

Ieros’s face remained stoic, his voice only having a slight tinge of sadness, “I can’t. I am a court mage and I have sworn loyalty to Athera. I cannot… will not let love get in the way.”

Aria nodded, tears in her eyes. She then turned and walked away, Kyle looking at Ieros with understanding and helplessness.

Ieros’s face grew sad, “Hey Kyle, I’m sorry.”

Kyle nodded before turning and running after Aria. Finishing off its masterful act, Ieros grew solemn once more and turned towards the priests, warning them one last time before returning to the forest,

“Do not go where light does not shine. Only Death lies beyond for those of the light.”