Inside North-hold.
An armoured figure ran up the stone steps to the commanders quarters in the small military garrison of North-Hold, his standard issues armor larger than his frame moved loosely as he ran, yet the figure didn't seem bothered by the weight or ill-fitting nature of the armor, he understood that it was part of the army's scare tactic, as once a soldier put on their armor they were almost indistinguishable from any other soldier, Aside from the commanders whose armors were tailor made for them. The running soldier was educated, a rare thing amongst the army ranks, and although his commanding officers and fellow soldiers knew about his literacy, non of them suspected the truth due to his young age which seemed to be in his twenties, the truth being the fact that he is actually a Special Agent of an elite group in direct service to the King, they handle matters which if left unchecked would threaten their Kings sovereignty, they possessed varying levels of authority, and were spread across a wide range of duties, from a Mayor to a travelling Merchant. They possess their own secret language, codes, and other resources to keep them effective and secret.
At the moment this Agent was supposed to be at home, his duties for the day having been completed, but by simply putting on his armor and pretending to be on duty with an order to meet his superior officer he was able to enter the garrison.
Arriving at a section of the stone walls of the garrison, he knocked three times on a particular stone and proceeded to do so at varying rhythms and repetitions on other randomly placed stones, with each knock of his hand a slight green ripple appeared on that stone of the wall, so slight that it would be unnoticeable except the individual possessed inhuman eyesight or already knew where to look and what to look for.
After he had knocked on the fifth stone, he whispered a password into the air and pressed his had spread out to slowly push on the wall which gave way slightly, looking up he checked to make sure no one was approaching or watching him before he pushed it open and entered, closing it shut behind him.
Once inside he called out "Infernae" at which a green ripple surrounded him for the briefest of moments before the torches on each side of the walkway lit up, the Agent walked down the path in hurried steps but didn't run, the walkway led him deeper slowly inclining down as he approached the tunnels, a small series of paths and choices that if found by any other than those authorised would keep them trapped in an infinite maze, which isn't actually an infinite maze just a small series of interconnected tunnels over which a Misdirection enchantment has been placed causing anybody aside from those who are aware of it to be lost.
At the end of the walkway, he counted his steps under his breath and walked over the gap in the middle but didn't fall down instead he seemed to hover above the gaping hole beneath him. Ignoring what his eyes said, he counted and stepped to the side, turning around and taking a few steps forward, then taking a step to the side, he continued this way before reaching another section of wall before which he stopped and entered, passing through the wall as though it wasn't there, as soon as he passed through, a grey wind seemed to flash past the tunnels before it resumed its quiet.
On the other side of the wall was a round room around which blue flames burned in braziers which hung on the wall, they burned silently there without fuel giving off no heat or warmth, they only gave a blue light which cast an eerie look on the room. Walking forward, he approached a pool of water in the middle, the room was dim making it hard to make out anything in the pools reflection, but if one looked closely enough they would see that the pool didn't reflect the room or ceiling of the room, but seemed to reflect somewhere else where there was colored tiles in pattern for the ceiling in stark contrast to the earthen cave nature of the ceiling in the room
He walked out and stood in a place where his reflection should be clearly in view of the water and said "I request an audience", he didn't say his name or the name of whose audience he requested, they never said names, only request, as you could never tell who was listening. The surface of the water was still but then a figure seemed to walk in view dressed in common clothes seeming no different from anybody on the street, but he knew better, no one in their organisation would dare to take or give audience or permission if they were not already authorised, They were just that well trained.
As soon as the figure appeared he did not wait for it to speak, he requested the audience, if his information required any action then he would be instructed, if not the figure would simply walk away. So he took a breath and spoke
"I am reporting on strange occurrences in the Region within the past two weeks. Field scouts report seeing what appeared to be a Wraith but was confirmed to be a Banshee, it destroyed a small outlying village after which it was engaged by a single strange individual who bested it and burned it, after the individual departed the went in using Soul Magic to retrieve it. The Individual in question seems to be well trained and powerful, he was able to escape from surveillance carrying with him two young men, the scouts were unable to get a good look at his face but claim that his height is distinctive enough to identify him. A Necromancer was sighted in the region, A small team of three was sent to kill him but have not sent back word, No bodies were found so they may have failed and become assets to the Necromancer. A small Orc bandit group that were being tracked vanished along with the scouts who were following them, the Orc group were responsible for the massacre of several villages in the region, the scouts were ordered to eliminate the threat, their failure to send word back and the disappearance of a the Orc group and the Scouts following the Necromancer suggests that they may have all been compromised making the Necromancer a larger threat than previously estimated. I request reinforcements be sent to deal with the problem to ensure stability in the region."
Once he finished, he stayed silent waiting for response. The figure in the pool seemed to be considering his report and was making its decision, before long it seemed to arrive at a conclusion and said in a deep voice "Standard Protocol" before moving off from the reflection of the pool.
After receiving his orders he left, he understood that he was to go the standard meeting place a month from now to receive the agents who would handle the mess for him, letting out a breath he walked out of the room and straight across walking into another wall which he passed through taking him to a gate. Taking off his Soldier armor he changed into normal clothes, keeping the armor in his bag, then he opened the gate slipped out quietly into the street and disappeared behind a corner. Behind him the gate he passed through seemed to fade out of the wall and existence.
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Tyler POV
It has been three days since I murdered the innocent family of Orcs who were trying to protect their children, using my biased gaming knowledge I had presumed Orcs to be violent irrational creature who were trying to kill us because they enjoyed it, but maybe if the necromancer hadn't forced them they wouldn't have attacked us
We found the necromancers lair but the children were already dead, they'd been turned into undead guards and attacked us the moment we showed up, Alexander put them down and we burned the bodies
Following the Necromancer's trail back to the lair had taken us more than a day away from where we were attacked, he had been using magic to cover their tracks while following all of them from behind, but he failed to cover his own, he must have found it unnecessary
As we headed back so we could make it to the Town once again, I found myself deep in depression, the screams of the Orcs kept playing in my head, the final request of that last Orc in particular haunting me, I had killed them all, Intelligent Sentient people with Families dreams and hopes, and I killed them.
Alexander and Vali hadn't witnessed their deaths so it meant nothing to them, although Alexander had killed a few with his sword but I think he had been a soldier or knight before becoming Von, I was the only one who had watched their flesh boil as it evaporated and their entire bodies turn to ash, It was because I couldn't control it
I was finally realising the limits of creation, it can make things come into existence, but the more abstract the concept of the thing, the more power it takes to make, another weakness is it takes to long to create things and they can't be controlled once created, other things could be created to control the thing but that would take time
I needed the power something like Amaterasu can provide, but I needed to be able to control it at will, when I used it on the orcs I was desperate and full of adrenaline, but now I realise how dangerous it had been, if I had run out of energy to keep the barrier up, or didn't have enough energy to create water to extinguish an inextinguishable flame and in that time the Orcs had all died
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The only way to access both the Power and Control would be a Sharingan, its wide range of abilities would be useful, the ability to see energy would help me control my own energy better, the ability to memorise and perform any action I see would help my close combat, and if the Anime can be trusted I should have better reaction time. It makes the Sharingan the perfect choice for me
The problem is I cant wait to slowly awaken the Mangekyou and proceed, I need the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. I wasn't too sure how to describe the abilities and look of the Sharingan in Words, so I just focused on the memories of its powers, all the abilities even the bloodline limited ones, I focused on the appearance and when I remembered and imagined all I could, I willed it using the energy and BAM pain hit me so hard me head moved back at such speed it looked like I had been hit
My brain and eyes felt like they were being stabbed with needles and dug crudely with a crude spoon, I could feel them liquefying, burning and remaking themselves in my head, I tried to scream but the parts of my brain that handled speech and motor functions seemed to have shut down entirely, yet sensation and thought remained allowing me to feel the pain but be trapped inside my own body unable to do anything but feel it, I tried to move more energy to stop what ever was happening but all of it was already being used, and even though I could feel the energy on the other side of the barrier replenish it and it replenish itself but the changes were taking energy faster than it could replenish itself, I felt Vali and Alexander find me lying there, I heard them sigh as if used to me doing dangerous things, then I felt them carry me and keep me in an upright sitting position, I felt them put my staff in my hand and I felt it start to supply me with energy, the pain continued increasing in intensity until all I could see was white, by the time it finally stopped I passed out instantly
I woke up feeling completely fine, no soreness no pain, but I knew I was just lucky, I cursed at my own stupidity putting my life at risk every time just shortly after I resolve not to be stupid with my power, I would have to stop experimenting and only create complex things after I had given it long and drawn out thought
I opened my eyes and looked around, the world looked vastly different with these new eyes, everything was sharper and in focus, with a simple push of will I could see inside everything, the energy in them, or just zoom in to see their molecular links, but not really knowing much of any science seeing molecular links meant nothing to me except I wanted a nuclear explosion. Realising my thoughts had drifted I quickly stopped myself and summoned Amaterasu which appeared on a leaf I was looking at, I pushed again shaping it into different things in my imagination, I was simple as i'd removed most restrictions when imagining it during creation, I tried a few of its other abilities before I decided to stop, I tried to pull from the familiar source of energy but I couldn't, I brought out the mirror i'd created and stood up before allowing it to grow while standing, my actions caused Vali to audibly groan in frustration and Alexander to shake his head but I ignored them and looked at myself using my Sharingan, I could see a lot of different things but with a push of will all of that disappeared leaving only a very small almost unnoticeable dot close to my heart, I was surprised, from the feeling it had always given i'd imagined it to be almost like a river in my body, but it turned out to be so small I almost missed it even with my eternal mangekyou, I saw a steady stream going to my eyes from it, my eyes seemed to be covered with the energy, the dot in my heart seemed to be from the barrier as I could see a stream moving from it to the mirror. After analysing it a bit I concluded that to power my eyes needed more energy than I had access to, drawing from the barrier too and as a result I didn't have any to use, on the bright side, it seemed that to power fixed effects on things i'd already created I had been using from beyond the barrier and not what I was drawing on meaning I could still use the items i'd already created and power them, I just couldn't create anything for a while, which was probably for the best.
I recalled the mirror to its pocket watch form, which was what I called its small form, I didn't have a chain so I tried to be careful not to lose it, after securing my things, I approached Vali who was visibly angry with me at this point and Alexander who seemed to be worried, if I had to guess, about how he was going to protect someone who was the major threat to himself, before they could say anything I apologized for my reckless behaviour, Alexander started about how I had no need to apologize to him as it was his duty to stay by my side regardless of my behaviour, Vali on the other hand started shouting about how much of a fool i'd been while practicing my magic, putting all of our lives at risk needlessly
I found that his words stung because they were true, although I needed to learn about my powers, I didn't need to rush it like i'd been doing, I could take it slowly and easy without doing stupid things that could get us killed.
Once he was done, I promised them I wouldn't use magic again for some time, only to see them shocked, I then asked Alexander to include me in their morning training sessions, which dropped their originally frozen mouths, I watched them huddle to a side and start whispering to each other, although I couldn't hear them, a benefit of my mangekyou sharingan and the modifications to my brain it came with allow me to lip read. I was obviously the topic of their conversation, and from reading their lips I found them thinking I'd incurred some brain damage from the experiment, to which Vali said "At least he's not dead" which made me feel even more guilty
The next day I joined them in their exercises, I obviously couldn't keep up with the inhuman freaks, but it seems i'm much faster and agile than my original body, I was given Alexander's old sword to use, Vali asked why I couldn't just make one and I lied that if I used magic it would make me use more magic which he didn't seem to completely accept but he left the matter. It turns out I was right, the sharingan allows me much better sight and processing which allows me to see Alexander and Vali's Punches even at their top speed with full exertion, I can even manually turn on my bullet time, but being able to see something doesn't mean you can avoid it, testified by the bruises I had on my arms from this mornings session
We walked though the day and by the time the sun set, we were in line to enter North-hold, before reaching the town I had decided to keep my eyes closed and pretend to be blind to stop people from seeing my red marked eyes which I found I couldn't change to normal as I had forgotten to add that when making it, I could still see through my eyelids if I wanted, but to others I was a blind man who closed his eyes
I was shocked when I saw the Town up close, all around it was a massive wall Eighty feet high and according to Alexander it surrounds the entire Town which stretches to Fifty Kilometers covering their farmlands and a small hunting ground, before I could tell him that would make this a City not a town and question the need to keep a Hunting ground in the city, I heard him explaining to Vali that they categorised their settlements by the amount of Security it could provide, meaning a very small settlement with a very powerful guardian could be called a city, I was somewhat relieved to know that a Kingdom still required Cities and Towns under it to be called as such, but was shocked once again when I found out there were towns as powerful as cities
It got to our turn in line and we passed without issue, they didn't even check our belongings, Alexander explained to Vali again to my benefit that it was more of a show of force to anybody with ill intent entering the town than to prevent any actual entry, and that I was only during wartime that they would check for anything. We entered the Town and walked the streets before finding a suitable inn which we paid for
We all shared a room with three beds, It had a closed off bath and hot water from what I was told were fire rocks, within which I could see flowing red energy, different from mine which is colorless, Alexander pointed out that this Inn was for visiting Nobility and rarely saw any service, and that with our funding we couldn't stay here for long, which pushed me to enjoy the sensation of a warm bath and a comfortable bed, I wasn't sure when I would get them again.