“Where am I?”

Reaper looked at the dreadful scene and couldn't understand what was happening. He tried to move his sight but his body failed to respond. After failing to make other movements, he started considering if this was his body.

Ahead, thousands of bodies laid in the colorless fields, some rotting while others looked fresh. He saw grey and purplish forms float around the bodies, somehow he knew that the forms were souls that just left bodies.

He looked at the bodies and didn't feel a thing, shouldn't I feel sad or disgusted? Before he could think of an answer, the scene changed. It appeared like years passed, then dozens of years and even hundreds of years. It rained and snowed, the plants grew and died, more bodies, more souls.

The fast-forwarding of time finally stopped. Reaper could still see the bodies, but this time he also saw living beings. Thousands of Humans, Beastmen and other races he didn't recognize stood far ahead, facing him. He knew they were here to kill him.

The Army started to run towards him, or towards the body that he was in. They yelled and raised their weapons showing their mighty and fury. Somehow, Reaper didn't feel fear, on the contrary, he felt like they were powerless against him.

He raised his hand forward. Finally, he could see a part of this body, confirming that it wasn't his, or was it? After so many years, he couldn't say anymore.

A dark mist started to circle his arm, it looked like it was being attracted to his hand. Soon, a dense black ball formed above his hand. He knew that the dark mist was death energy. He spoke something in a language that he didn't recognize, but knew the meaning.

“Codi… Ysbrydion.”

The ball traveled forward and stopped midway to the attacking Army. It rotated while releasing dark mist everywhere around it. Soon, many dark silhouettes started to form above the bodies, they look like a mix of souls and death energy.

The beings gained red eyes and the form of adult men, Reaper knew what they were, Wraiths. For the first time, he heard something, the Wraiths gave high-pitched screams that seem to make many of the attacking Army reconsider, but they didn’t stop.

The dark beings floated in fast speed towards the upcoming Army. The clash was a gory and somehow calm scene. Again, time fast-forward and the Army was reduced to three pointed-eared beings, no Wraiths remained.

A bright light energy ring appeared above his enemies bringing, for the first time, color to the scene. Reaper was finally able to distinguish the blood in the fields, it was the purest red that had ever seen. The three survivors ran towards him and the light ring grew even brighter.

For some reason, it made Reaper feel fear. Again, the death energy started to gather in his hand, but this time at higher levels and faster than earlier.

“Marwolaeth.”

The colorless world started to expand again, fighting for space with the colorful world. The two enemy sides finally collided.

.........

“Ahhh...”

Reaper woke up screaming and his attendant rushed into the room.

“Young Master, what happened?”

Reaper looked around trying to identify where he was, the sweaty covers and the familiar room showed he was home, making him sighed in relief, everything that happened before was a dream.

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‘It looked real...’

“Young Master, are you okay?”

“Hmm... Yes... I'm fine Dolan... Help me get cleaned…”

The suspicious servant left with the room's bucket to get water, he knew something was wrong but couldn't upset his Master. Fortunately, he would only take a couple of minutes to get the water.

Dolan walked to the nearest window and held the bucket outside. The waterfall filled it in seconds and he ran back to his master's room. One of the good things about serving in the Crystal Palace was that he could get water practically everywhere.

.........

‘I have to think about water and air at the same time... Phew… Look at my bubbles, they are smarter than me, they get it…’

Alice released many bubbles just to observe how they traveled from her mouth to the surface. After months of training, she could stay with her eyes opened below water without them hurting. Her bathtub was also very illuminated, which helped her see the bubbles clearly.

Unexpectedly, one bubble stopped midway and floated through the water in front of her.

‘What a strange bubble... It stopped... Maybe it's...’

When Alice started to think about the floating bubble, she felt without air and had to take her head out of the water. She was greeted by her attendant's look of concern.

“Mistress! Mistress... I thought you had drowned...”

Alice was confused, Clarissa had accompanied her in the bathtub training every day for the last three months, why was she making so much fuss about it?

“Clarissa, why are you being dramatic? We've been doing this every day...”

“Mistress, you... You stayed almost ten minutes... If it wasn't for the bubbles I would have pulled you out...”

“I... What?... I did it. I did it, Clarissa!”

Alice jumped out of the bathtub and started to hug Clarissa while yelling. The confused servant could only wait for her Mistress to calm herself and explain.

“Clarissa, the first step of my advance is to increase my affinity with my element... In my case, I had to improve the time that I could hold my breath underwater... Now, I can start my advancement... Quickly, help me change! I have to tell Reaper...”

“Mistress… Is not my place to say but… You should stop hanging out with that… with young Master Reaper… He's not... If you two continue to spend time together, her Grace will not like it... Young Master is her Grace's son, so you'll be the one getting punished...”

“Why would her Grace do that? Who told you that her Grace doesn't want for us to hang out?”

“Mistress… Everyone talks about it…”

.........

Reaper entered the Ice Throne room ready to kneel and pay respect to his mother, however, he failed to locate her among the present.

“Mother will arrive shortly, Reaper. Just come here and stand next to me…”

Reaper quickly moved through the ice floor without considering much. He spared a glance to admire the ice sculptures that portrayed the previous Water Lords and Duchesses. His sight stopped in the last sculpture, which represented his mother.

While looking at his mother's sculpture, Reaper couldn’t help but feel complicated emotions. The Water Duchess wasn't a very warm person, not only to him but to all her children.

“Brother, you should stop spending time with Alice, people might get the wrong idea…”

“Alice? Why?”

“Reaper, don't play dumb... You should know about it... You don't? Oh... Reaper, Alice is gonna be my wife”

“Wife? How… That… When did you ask her?”

“I didn't but I don't need to... As soon as Alice advances to an Invoker mother will announce it... You know, the hybrid elements genes? You shouldn't be jealous, Reaper, when you advance, mother will get you many wives and concubines...”

Reaper was speechless, he couldn't process this information. The thought of Alice and Timber getting married made a strong bad feeling rise inside of him.

Timber started to feel sick and tired, he looked at Reaper with a scared expression. When he was about to say something, the doors opened and a cold majestic feeling broke them out of the strange situation.

A blond and pale woman wearing a luxurious blue gown crossed the room while everyone kneeled behind her.

“You may rise.”

Her grace, Water Duchess Rainna, looked at her right side attendant and gave her an approving nod. The servant stepped forward and started to announce:

“Today is a glorious day! The Origin blessed us with two special gifts… This morning, Lady Alice experienced her first signs of advancement.”

A round of claps started around the room and many happy exclamations could be heard. Shortly, the Water Duchess' gaze silenced everyone, showing that it was enough. The attendant continued:

“The second gift just arrived by a messenger… The resources needed for Reaper's advance are secured and will be delivered before Fall.”

Everyone looked at Reaper, but nobody clapped. Some looked afraid, others had complicated expressions. The Duchess, however, held a wicked smile, she looked at him and said:

“Reaper, you have to work harder to be ready for when the crystals arrive… Now that we have the necessary resources, you should increase your training… efficiency”

She gave a wicked laugh and looked towards the Four Houses symbol that represented the Serion Kingdom:

“You won't have to wait for much longer... All of you will kneel when I bring Death to you...”