Thanks to Darius and his timely intervention, the trip with Telarion would take place after his lesson on crafting.

“For the next month or so, you'll be helping me with examining this body and figuring out how these runes work, I need a fresh set of eyes for this. Geez I'm getting too damn old for this.” Said Darius rubbing his shoulders, 90% of his life has been dedicated to his passion of crafting. He didn't regret it at all, but everyone's got to retire at some point and his time was coming. His son was never interested in crafting so he never really had a real apprentice so he figured he’d force it upon Solstice. Thus began a year of analyzing runes and other types of crafting, throughout that year Solstice picked up a lot of techniques, but he didn’t have the practical experience since a lot of types of crafting required a lot of mana, which he didn’t have much of. But over the process of doing what he could, his mana capacity increased by a staggering amount that was comparable to an 18 year old after exhausting it on a daily basis essentially.

On the final day of his training time with Darius, he was handed a crystal.

“I’ve had this prepared for a while but I think after this coming invasion, I think I'm going to retire. This crystal is basically an amalgamation of everything I know, don't open it now. But when you get a little older, it would give me peace of mind if you at least passed this knowledge on. Be ashamed if all my hardwork over the years ends up being lost.” Darius said with a weak smile.

“I’ll top you in no time old man.” Was all Solstice could muster up to say. It pained him knowing that Darius was gonna die sooner than later. He never pursued the path of power, yeah he got decently strong since his mana capacity is incredibly high from crafting all these years, but that can only get you so far.

After Solstice left the underground workshop he made his way to his parents. When he arrived in the living room he saw that Ariel was currently talking to a man with demonic features. Before he got close enough to take a look at the man, Ariel was handed a potion from him and he disappeared through a portal.

“Mom, who was that?” Asked Solstice curiously. Ariel made the man leave immediately after seeing Solstice enter the room so it was weird.

“Nobody son, come over here. It’s time we talked a little.” It had been a while since she put off Solstices eye sealing and it was finally time to clear it up.

Solstice sat down mildly confused and just waited for what she was gonna say.

“If I’m being honest with you, I have no idea what your eye really is. I remember around the time I was born I saw some elves with it, but I was incredibly young when they all disappeared. They hid me and my sisters away one fateful day and after that we were alone. Not many people were in this world at the time, but we got by. The elves who left made sure to leave us a stable way to cultivate future elven races, so that’s where all these other types of elves come from. But other than that? It’s all a mystery, maybe in your lifetime you can figure it out.” Ariel was not even ten years old when the other elves of her race vanished, but they left behind enough for the trio of sisters to survive and thrive in this world.

“I can seal the eye again if you want, but I’m leaving this up to you. I’ll give you time to think about it, but before the ceremony I need an answer. Got it?” Ariel said while ruffling her son's hair.

“Will do! By the way, where’s dad?” He looked around curiously and noticed that it was eerily quiet in the house, meaning no Telarion.

“We had a disagreement, so I sent him somewhere.” She said with a shit eating grin.

Solstice decided to not delve into the topic any longer before seeing Bela staring at him from the stairs. She had finally decided to give in to Ariel’s request after all these years. After hearing about the escaped prisoner, she knew the world was going to go south soon, so she wanted her little boy toy to make it out alive at the very least. All she could do was stare at the boy, he had so much going for him but he didn’t even know it. She knew he was gonna be a looker first off, I mean both his parents are incredibly attractive so it goes without saying. Elves are already known for their looks, but having an ancestor for a mother? That elevated him to another level. Instead of being super lean, he was incredibly well toned from the dragon blood coursing through his veins. Needless to say he was gonna have a blast when he got older with the women. But she needed the first taste of course, because of all her hard work obviously.

Second off both of the races he had in him were arguably the strongest in the hierarchy going by singular entities. It’s just a matter of growing into what he’s got at this point, surely after the upcoming ceremony many targets would get painted on his back.

—--In the Elven Kingdom of Silverdawn

Currently the elven kingdom is facing terrorist attacks from an unknown group.

“I bet this has something to do with that damn prisoner who escaped recently.” Irian said while in a meeting with other elders of the elven kingdom.

“I believe the best course of action sir, is to commit to martial law and enforce a curfew. I know it seems like overkill, but after what happened those years ago, i believe we should proceed with utmost caution. Especially if they’re linked to the invaders.” Said a younger elven elder. This man was a rising star in the elven kingdom for the main fact he was headstrong and not overly prideful like the rest of the elven leaders. His name was Feyrith Moonstar, he had long silver colored hair with an incredibly lean build. He was born a commoner but climbed out from his conditions and became a well respected leader in the elven community.

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After Feyrith threw in his opinion on the situation, the older elves began to speak up in opposition.

“Idiot, we should show the world we can handle these things without breaking our stride!” Yelled an elf who looked like he was at death's door from how old he was.

The majority of the other elders agreed with the older elf, but before anyone else could say anything Irian released his pressure silencing them all.

“Quick question for you “elders”. Did any of you fight the invader those few years ago?”

All Irian received was a deafening silence, minus Feyrith raising his hand.

“Ah yes my apologies Feyrith, that day honestly is somewhat of a blur in my memory.”

All Feyrith could do was bow and wait for the rest of his speech.

“While you old elders were in the confines of your homes doing whatever you were doing, brave soldiers and leaders of our country fought with their lives on the line. Do you wanna know what their lives were met with? Utter annihilation, the majority of them couldn’t even get a swing in before being cleaved in half. Without a break in his stride.” Said Irian glancing at the elder who was overly pompous.

That day was etched into Irian's mind. It wasn’t a blur to him, he truly wished to forget it deep down. Seeing your beloved people and comrades being killed like livestock was demoralizing. But he knew that someone that day had to step up to combat the invader that day. He just wished that instead of using those soldiers to gauge the enemy, they took the enemy serious from the start. Thousands of lives were lost and for what? To see that he could overpower practically every powerhouse in a duel? After that day, all sense of pride he had was devoured.

But after that day, Irian and the other kings realized something. They were weak, truly weak in the face of these invaders. So Irian went back to vigorously training every chance he had, he even attempted to get Darius to make him a better bow but the dwarf turned him down. Finally after reeling in his thoughts he took a look around the table to see the elders patiently waiting on him.

“After this meeting I no longer need any elders here except Feyrith. Everyone is dismissed, stay behind Feyrith.” After hearing this the elders started to say something but we’re silenced by the killing intent leaking behind the doors to the meeting room. Slowly a man with draconic features stepped inside and surprised everyone. Quickly they all scurried away trying to avoid the hot blooded Telarion.

After they all left, the only people in the room were Irian, Feyrith and Telarion who seemed incredibly pissed off.

“It’s been a while since I saw your true form Telarion. You must be angry.” Chuckled Irian. Dragons in Aevis weren’t all just gigantic beasts who flew around. Once they reach a certain level, their body goes through an evolution of sorts that erases the need for big bodies and makes them much more compact. Solstice merely skipped that part since he was a half breed.

“Fucking Ariel is too soft on my son. I’m telling you it’s going to be his undoing.” Telarion said while clenching his hard so hard it drew blood. He was going to take Solstice on a trip to kill bandits but Ariel interjected after she heard about the attacks going on around the world. Before he could argue she waved her hand and tossed him into a portal and he ended up right outside the city.

“I’m assuming she heard about the attacks we’ve been suffering recently. Can we count on your assistance?” Asked Irian, it wasn’t everyday Telarion left the confines of his home. But when he did, people made sure to be on their best behavior. Telarion was widely known throughout the world by being a complete brute who refused to think about anything before punching.

“I need to relieve some anger so sure. Just point somewhere and I’ll go.”

“Just don’t kill civilians please, and capture any elves you can. Any kind of info is appreciated. Feyrith, could you wait in my study? I need to talk privately with Telarion.

All Feyrith did was nod and exit the room, he didn’t wanna spend another moment in the room with that man. The amount of killing intent coming from his body was enough to make rethink going back to the battlefield.

“Do you think Ariel will allow my daughter to stay with her? I don’t know how this fight is going to go, it would give me peace of mind if she was over there.” Pleaded Irian, his wife passed away during the massacre and since then his only family was his daughter. He wasn’t willing to risk anything.

“Of course, but I refuse to contact her, that’s on you. Damn cunt.” Telarion was angry and had regressed to acting like a child openly to express himself. Irian simply laughed and walked out of the room to make the preparations needed for the upcoming future.

——-In hell

“My oh my you’re very quick with your work.” Said Cinder, it has only been around a year since Alpha 2 had escaped but he wasted no time in organizing unrest in multiple parts of the world.

“I’ve got a job to do, my leader expects no less from his soldiers.” Alpha 2 for the most part had been quiet regarding anything involving his forces. Cinder was very experienced in subterfuge but none of it worked on him. The reason his family was the most powerful under the king was the fact they had dirt on pretty much every other duke except one. But no matter how he tried to steer the conversation, he wouldn’t slip up at all.

“How are your efforts at getting dirt on the last duke's house?” Asked Alpha 2, he didn’t want any possible obstructions on his path to taking over Aevis.

“I'm trying, oh master of mine.” Cinder said, he loved playing around trying to get reactions from him but to no avail.

“Good, I’m retiring for the night.” Alpha said sternly before heading to his bedroom. When he entered his room he placed an object on the ground and weird energy spread throughout the room. This object was a piece of tech that prevented people from using mana to spy on him.

He pulled out another device that was circular and had an image on it outlying a map that looked a lot like Aevis. Each day Alpha 2 had been free, he had been gathering information on the hierarchy of the world and how they operated. Initially he overestimated them, but he didn’t expect people here to have powers related to space, time and gravity. Over the countless worlds they had conquered, nobody had those powers until now.

“Well, at least we only sent a scout force here. When the gate opens back up we’ll overrun them in no time.” Said Alpha 2 before putting up his tech and going to sleep.

After a few hours, a shadow moved out from under Alpha 2 and disappeared into the night.