The Emperor began to laugh as he heard Visalia’s answer, saying, “A woman who wants power, not unheard of but rare nonetheless. And so ambitious as well, to rule the entire world!”

Visalia was silent as he laughed, unsure as to how to respond. Like Ieros, the Emperor was one of the few men that she was unable to read. Not surprising really, the Emperor had to be unreadable, it was how one stayed on top in the game of politics.

He finally stopped laughing, becoming serious once more, “Although I cannot give you my throne, I can give you more power if you so wish, the North is a vast region filled with great potential. I will be willing to finance programs that will turn the North into a prosperous region.”

He continued, “Of course, you will be the leader of this region, only having to answer to me but other than that, you will have unquestionable authority. Of course, you will also have a standing military but should you use it against me, Ieros will send his Teryo and his stone army against you.”

Noting that, Visalia bowed my head politely, “I thank you, your majesty, for this chance. I promise that I will not betray your trust.”

Things were going far better than she had hoped, she expected to be imprisoned at best but here she was, being given the territory of the North. Of course, there was the threat of Ieros’s Teryo but she could wait, wait for the perfect chance to arise. She was sure that with Ieros out of the picture, her Northern Garrison would be more than enough to challenge the Imperial Army.

She was soon dismissed amicably from the presence of the Emperor, a servant guiding her to her quarters. Once she had left, the Emperor’s smile fell from his face and he called out to Ieros who revealed himself, casting off the illusion magic.

He said, “I trust that your spies can keep an eye on her, correct?”

Ieros nodded, “You are correct, her every move will be watched and anything suspicious will be reported.”

The Emperor nodded, “Good. You are dismissed Archmage.”

Ieros bowed his head and opened a gate, stepping through. The throne room was empty except for the Emperor and his Imperial Guard, the Emperor sighing as he relaxed in his chair. The duties of an emperor weren’t easy, especially for the largest empire in recent memory. In truth, it was also a lonely job, there were none that he could speak with as equals, well, except for Ieros. He was an archmage, and a strong one at that, stronger than most archmages in all of Athera. Although he was polite and obeyed his orders, the Emperor knew that if it suited him, Ieros could easily wipe Athera from the face of Agleon, he was just that powerful and will only continue to grow in strength.

That was what most frightened him about Ieros, that he would only grow stronger as time passed. He chuckled once again, oh well, it’s not like he could do anything if Ieros turns against him. He could only stand there and fight futilely, at least dying an honorable death. But what happens will happen and he could do nothing but wait for Fate to take its course.

Meanwhile, Ieros had returned to his mage tower, although this time he did not busy himself organizing data. He decided to take a walk, after all, he had to remind the local populace that he existed. It also wouldn’t hurt to help the locals with various problems that couldn’t be fixed through mundane means. After all, it wouldn’t do to have the villagers become dependent on him, that would restrict his freedom too much. He was a welcome sight to the villagers who all began to ply him with requests but he hushed them all with a hand, saying,

“From now on, I’ve decided that it would be best that I only help on matters that are beyond mundane solutions. You villagers are a strong people and you should be independent of me so that your children can be raised to be strong adults. To rely on me, no matter how tempting it is, is not healthy. I hope you understand.”

The villagers were very understanding, his words had riled a sense of shame in them, it was shameful that they needed to depend on a mage for everything. But there were still some things that couldn’t be handled with just the villagers and Ieros was glad to help, like healing sick cattle whose condition remained unaffected no matter what the villagers did. With his conditions that he set forth, there wasn’t actually a lot for him to do but that was of no consequence. He would still be able to build relations with the villagers while having a lot of free time. Once he was done helping them, he took a long peaceful walk through the forests which his Teryo had made safe from monsters.

It was tranquil within the forest, a quiet that was only disturbed by the rustling leaves and a soft breeze that blew between the trees. He walked ever deeper into the forest, a few days passing as the shadows grew darker and more ancient as he wandered ever deeper. Rarely have humans tread on this ground, it was far too deep and there was something about this part of the forest that unsettled them, not that Ieros blamed them. The shadows dislike being disturbed and the humans must have unconsciously picked up on their animosity.

But the shadows were quite respectful to Ieros as all shadows were, whispering greetings to the Fragment. The Surveyor acknowledged them but continued to stay within Ieros’s body. Right now it wanted peace, not to mingle with lesser shadows. But as Ieros continued walking, he began to hear strange things from the shadows, something about “intruders”. Ieros asked them to lead him to the intruders and the shadows did so, taking the form of wildlife as they bounded through the forest, although always keeping within sight of Ieros. Soon they lead him to an area where they were unable to pass, saying that beyond were the intruders.

Ieros thanked them and continued onward, the Surveyor feeling a strange sensation as they passed the invisible boundary. It immediately began to try and find out the reason behind the sensation, finally deducing that it was magic that was designed to keep out demons. It would not fully affect it as it was not some lowly demon but as demons possess a pathetic imitation of Darkness, it had reacted to him. Hmm, that meant that this barrier was no ordinary barrier. Curious, Ieros continued to move on, unable to rely on shadows to see what was up ahead as all the shadows within the barrier were dormant, forcible sealed away. But this did not worry Ieros and in turn the Surveyor, it possessed a great amount of power and unless the person who set up this barrier was stronger than End herself, it doubted it would be defeated.

So it continued on its way, climbing up a small hill from the top of which he saw a small cottage off in the distance. Between him and the cottage was a large sloping meadow, where a few cattle grazed peacefully and a small piece of land that had been cultivated for crops. Why a cottage was all the way out here was beyond the Surveyor but that was not the problem. The problem was its inhabitants. As Ieros stood there, he noticed movement some ways to his right, there were two children playing in the meadow near the trees. They weren’t too far off and Ieros focused his attention on them, using magic to magnify them.

He saw one boy and one girl playing a game of tag, their golden hair gleaming in the sun and their emerald green eyes filled with cheer. Suddenly, they stopped playing as the girl had noticed him, her piercing green eyes locked on Ieros’s hooded face. The boy turned to look and with wariness in his eyes, he shouted for his sister to run. She did so, running back to the cottage while the boy slowly backed away, making sure to keep his eyes on Ieros. Ieros just watched him retreat, not moving from his spot. He then turned and disappeared through a gate, reappearing in a location not far off from where he was originally, still watching the boy who was confused.

After looking around a few times to make sure that Ieros was gone, he sprinted back to the house while Ieros watched. This was very strange, strange that there was a family out here and even more so because they were elves. He hadn’t noticed it at first because as they were playing, their hair hid their ears but when the boy was standing still, he could see the long tapered ears belonging to elves. Why would elves be here? As Ieros mused on this, he saw the father step out of the cottage armed with a sword, a sword that Ieros had never seen.

It was a leaf-blade sword, with a jade hilt and an emerald blade. But unlike the other swords that Ieros had seen, this blade was magical. A sword that was imbued with magic during the forging process, a blade that allowed its wielder to use magic without having to learn spells. The Surveyor had seen magic blades before during its century of observation but it had yet to see this exact blade, nor these elves. They had somehow remained hidden from it and the Surveyor was very curious as to how they managed this. For now, the Surveyor deemed it best that Ieros show himself to show that he means no harm. It did not want to fight against an elf as harming one earned the animosity of the entire race who would be able to identify the offender.

It was best that things ended peacefully, it did not wish to exterminate another race for a few decades at least. So Ieros walked out from the woods in a slow manner, his hands raised to signify that he did not mean harm. The elven warrior pointed his blade at Ieros, the sword emanating a green aura.

Ieros remained calm and still as the warrior demanded in elvish, “Who are you?”

Ieros replied in elvish, “I am a humble wandering sage. I stumbled upon your cottage and was curious. I will leave immediately if that is what you wish.”

The elf was obviously very confused, saying, “I did not know that there were still humans who knew how to speak our tongue.”

Ieros replied, “I’ve wandered Agleon for a long time.”

The elf sheathed his blade and said, “Well one who has received an acknowledgment from an elf cannot be all that bad. What is your name, sage?”

Ieros answered, “I am Ieros.”

The elf introduced himself, “A pleasure to meet you, Ieros, I am Elnaril Enril.”

Ieros bowed his head, “No, it is mine. Even for a wanderer such as I, it is rare to meet elves and even rarer to speak with one.”

The elf then offered, “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Ieros bowed his head, “I would be glad to accept, it has been long since I’ve eaten a proper meal.”

The elf then led the way back to his home, Ieros following behind. As they walked, a female elf stepped from the cottage with a glowing mage staff pointed at Ieros.

Elnaril quickly stepped in between them, saying, “Ieros, this is my wife, Ivana Enril.”

She was silent, distrust in her eyes which only dimmed slightly when Elnaril tried to persuade her that Ieros was of no harm. Ieros spoke in elvish to convince her but, of course, she was still wary. She did however stopped channeling magic into her staff and let him in, although she kept her children close to her. Ieros said nothing while he sat in a chair that the male elf provided, remaining still under the observant gaze of the female elf.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Finally, she asked, “Why do you keep your hood up?”

Ieros said, “I have been scarred terribly, I don’t think it is a sight to show to children.”

She crossed her arms and said, “I will not have you under my house unless you show your face.”

Ieros tried to compromise, “I would not like the children to see-”

But he was cut off by Ivana who simply said, “Off with the hood.”

With a sigh, Ieros slowly reached up and pulled back his hood, revealing his half skull face. There was shock in all of their faces, Ieros’s remaining part of his face impassive. He pulled back on his hood after a few moments and the Ivana didn’t stop him, still shocked at the severity of his wound.

After a few moments, she apologized, “I am sorry. Please forgive me.”

Ieros bowed his head, “It is not your fault, you did not know.”

Meanwhile, the children were still staring at him as if they could still see his face behind the shadows. Ieros meanwhile decided to review some data, reaching into a small gate and pulling out a book, a book from the Surveyor’s Library. This was data about the sky turtles, with detailed descriptions and illustrations of the beast and its various parts. It had even explored the insides of the great beast, although the Surveyor used a body of shadow to make it easier to explore. Within was almost another world, with its own ecosystem and everything. It was a complete shock to the Surveyor who had never seen anything like it. There were crab-like creatures which wandered within the intestines of the creature, seeming to feed off of secretions made by the sky turtle.

Within its relatively small stomach, there were more creatures, creatures that resembled slimes in nature which only ate a certain part of the food, absorbing it and then breaking it down before spitting out the waste that it did not eat. Of course, this waste was still very much edible and they seemed to be impervious to the stomach acid that the creature would release once every three days. Then there was the flora of the creature, a sort of moss-like plant that clung to the walls of the large intestines, absorbing small bits of nutrients as they passed by. All these creatures and more were studied by the Surveyor to be remembered for an eternity, they would live on forever in Darkness’s memories.

Suddenly, one of the elven children asked, “What are those creatures?”

It was the boy, who had managed to sneak away from his mother and to the side of Ieros.

Ieros looked at him and then back at to the creature the boy was currently looking at, a strange worm-like thing that had a mouth, not unlike that of a lamprey. These were parasites which clung to the fleshy walls of the great sky turtle, feeding off of its very flesh. Of course, even if there were hundreds of them, it didn’t affect the sky turtle too much as spider-like creatures would feed upon them as well as passing scraps that the turtle’s stomach didn’t finish off.

Ieros began to explain, “This is a strange creature that I encountered on my travels. I searched various libraries for a reference to this creature but I have found none, it is a species that had managed to elude scholars over the millennia. It is an exceedingly interesting creature and not dangerous at all despite its looks. It is much too slow to be of any real danger even if it wanted to eat you.”

The kid looked on curiously at the page and turned it, revealing another strange creature.

He asked, “What’s that?”

Ieros replied, “I’m not entirely sure either, I would like to go back and find out but I was forced to return. After all, not all of these creatures are docile like the creature you saw before. What I do know however is that this creature is some sort of predator, as signified by its fangs and by its similarity to a spider, venom sacks within its mouth. I saw it hunt the creatures you saw earlier, although it seemed far too easy for the spider as it merely bit them. But I have seen those worm things fight back before, latching onto its legs and holding even beyond death. They swarm the spider until either they die or it does and mostly, the spider never emerges once that happens. They are truly fascinating, and I am certain to return there again.”

The kid looked up at Ieros for a few moments before looking wonderingly at the creature, saying, “I’d like to go there someday.”

Ieros said, “Perhaps you can but it is highly unlikely. I was barely able to enter without dying, there are a host of dangerous creatures that protect this place and I doubt that even your father could make it through unscathed.”

The kid then pouted, “Then how did you get through?”

Ieros replied, “Barrier magic, one that I personally developed and one I call the Absolute Barrier. I call it that because as of yet, nothing is able to pierce it. It’s one of the few reasons why I’m still alive.”

Elnaril who was listening asked, “I’d like to see if it can it stand against my blade. May I?”

Ieros nodded, “It would certainly be very interesting and if you do succeed in breaking it, it will allow me to fix its flaws.”

So the two went outside with the mother and children watching safely from the window. Ieros then conjured a barrier, this one visible to the naked eye so it would be easier for the elven warrior to strike it. He then waited behind the barrier, wondering just how powerful the elf’s attack would be. As a precaution, he made barrier cube around the two of them so that the house would not be harmed.

He then waited for the Elnaril’s attack, the warrior hesitating, “Are you not going to retreat?”

Ieros bowed his head and said, “I am confident in my barrier.”

Elnaril shrugged and then held his sword with two hands, holding it above his head. He breathed in, breathed out and then sliced downward, his blade colliding with the barrier with great force. The barrier visibly shook but otherwise, there was no great damage to the barrier, it certainly wasn’t broken. But that strength was nothing to be laughed at. Ieros was glad that he set up the cube barrier, otherwise, the cottage may have been blown away by the shockwave. The elven warrior had been knocked down by said shockwave, although he kept a tight grip on his sword.

Ieros dispersed the barrier and walked over to him, extending a hand. The elf took it and Ieros pulled him up, saying, “An impressive attack, I hadn’t seen an attack with such power since I accidentally stumbled upon a dragon’s nest.”

Elnaril thanked him, “Thank you for your praise, but a dragon?”

Ieros nodded, “Oh yes, it’s quite a long story… ”

They made their way back to the cottage where Ieros continued speaking about his tale, obviously made up but the elves didn’t know that. The food served were various meals made from solely plant-based ingredients, although some of the vegetables and herbs were native only to elven lands. The elves were vegetarians as they viewed all life as sacred, although they had been known to eat meat when circumstances had forced them to it. But Ieros did not care that there was no meat, he was rather curious to taste elvish cuisine. They then enjoyed dinner, the meal invigorating and although not delicious, it was of a pleasant taste. Once finishing the food, Ieros stayed a while to tell tales of his journeys to the elf family, the children having warmed up to him quickly and listening avidly to his stories.

But as the night grew and the day long gone, Ieros stood and said that he must leave.

The children begged him to stay and Ivana offered him a bed for the night but Ieros refused her offer politely, saying, “It is quite alright. I must get going, there are still more mysterious places for me to explore.”

Ivana then offered, “Then at least allow me to try and heal your wound.”

Ieros turned around and said, “I don’t think you can.”

She countered, “You don’t know until you’ve tried.”

Ieros decided to accept her generous offer, pulling back his hood and sitting down while she inspected it more closely.

She asked, “How did you get this wound?”

Ieros replied, “I dabbled with something I shouldn’t have. I tried to create a divine object and I paid the price for my foolishness. This is the result, a curse caused by the gods' wrath.”

She was surprised, she had not thought it possible for mortals to create divine objects.

As this was a divine affliction, this would be hard to cure but nevertheless, she set about trying to heal it, chanting, “Oh Spirits of the Forest, please cleanse this poor soul who has been afflicted with a curse. Purge the evil from his wounds and allow him to heal!”

With her final words, a sudden light green light shone forth from her hand, shining upon his wound. It began to smoke as the curse began to gradually recede, being burned away by the light. But it did not disappear easily, it writhed and sometimes even fully encompassed Ieros’s impassive face although Ivana constantly maintained the beam. After what seemed to be an eternity it was finally defeated and Ieros reached up to touch his face, finding it to be whole. Ivana swayed unsteadily before being caught by her husband who looked at her worriedly. Ieros blinked, getting used to having both eyes to see before focusing his attention on Ivana. He then stood and made his way to her, taking a hold of his amulet and pressing it in her hand. He then began to direct pure energy into her body, pouring enough that she had not only recovered but was full of energy.

He bowed his head in gratitude and said, “I owe you a great debt, you have healed me of a wound I thought I would have to live with forever. Thank you.”

She smiled, “No need to thank me, I simply did what any healer would do.”

Ieros straightened up and said, “Nevertheless, you have done me a great service and it would be rude of me not to repay you.”

Ivana replied, “You do not need to, the energy that you provided me is more than enough to repay your debt.”

However, Ieros insisted and in his hand formed a crystal amulet which was a communication crystal. Through this, they could call upon him should they need his help.

He then handed it to her and said, “This amulet will allow you to call upon me should you need my help. When you call upon me, I will do my utmost to help you.”

Ivana tried to refuse, “No, something like this is too much.”

Ieros insisted, “Nonsense, this is the least I can do.”

She reluctantly accepted it and with a small smile on his now whole face, Ieros bid farewell, “Farewell, Family of Enril. I will not forget the kindness which you showed me today.”

But before he left, Elnaril who had been observing him, asked, “Who exactly are you? I’ve never seen a human wield such power.”

Ieros turned and with a faint yet sad smile, he re-introduced himself, “I am Ieros, the last of the Premen.”

There was shock and recognition in the elf’s eyes but before he could say anything else, Ieros bowed his head in farewell, turning and disappearing through a gate. He left the meadow, Elnaril in shock. To think that he had met one as ancient as a Preman… Elnaril thought back to when he was a young elf, only a few hundred years old, one of many elven warriors who marched to aid the gods in their effort to destroy Premanity. He personally witnessed Eversor the Destroyer slay a god and the invincible Teryo which defended their homeland fiercely. But not even these warriors could stand against the Immortals who slowly overran them with sheer numbers.

He had thought that since their defeat, there was no Preman alive who still retained their old strength. His thoughts were interrupted by his wife who worriedly grabbed his shoulder. She had not been born when the elves marched to war against the Preman, she was born in the times of peace afterward when knowledge of the Preman had been suppressed by the gods. He was silent as he looked once more to where Ieros had disappeared.

He murmured, “So, one has survived…”