Time passed fast and Riou was still stuck in that strange place with no way to get back.

The village aspect changed considerably since his arrival. The boy taught the residents how to build houses, how to better use the metal from old swords and monsters’ parts. Improving armors and taught them how to use the enchantments he created for day to day needs. Heat, cold and even pumped water from the stream, improving drastically the lifestyle and protection of the village.

With the time spent on the village, Riou even developed a sewer system and explained the importance of hygiene and basic health hazards.

The health, security and life quality increased by leaps for the small village that now resembled a small fortress with large reinforced walls and many wooden spikes to prevent attacks.

And attacks did happen, despite his aura protecting the place. They were attacked mostly at night in a sporadic manner. Aside from the solitary beasts and Dracars crazy enough to go against Riou’s presence, the most concerning enemy were undead. They somehow banded together in groups. They were formed of all kinds of things, beasts and even humanoids alike that showed up every now and then to attack the village coming from who knows where.

The village used to struggle to contain them. But now, they were a concern but not a deadly one as the sturdy walls now withstood the strongest of those undead.

With the threat levels lowered, Riou began to explore the world with more intent, searching for  clues on how to get back.

He left the village from time to time, sometimes taking weeks before returning.

When back, he brought resources he had found to improve the village even further. With time to spare, he decided to sit down to learn their language and even the common tongue. With proper teaching, it didn't take him too long to learn them both.

His personal guard attended all classes with him, despite his insistence on dismissing them. They stubbornly continued to try to follow him everywhere, even when going out. But Riou would quickly outrun and lose his bodyguards, forcing them to return, but nonetheless, they tried to keep up with him every time.

After mapping the nearby region, Riou discovered that the beast village was deep in the forest, surrounded by many perils. 

To the north, before the mountain range, there was a lengthy deadly swamp that was filled with strange mushrooms, they were so big that they were the size of a child.

They were brown and hollow with many small tendrils inside its body. From time to time they bent themselves exposing its tendrils liberating a smoke of deadly spores. Many carcasses could be seen all around on the swamp, beasts that entered and breathed the deadly gas. The ominous brown fog could be seen from afar only when the spores were recently shot out.

To the south, the forest went on. Another swamp area with a dense white fog… continuing through it Riou found villages of goblins and even High Orcs much further away to the south. They seemed struggling with the undead menace as well, but Riou avoided contact for the time being.

To the west and east from the village there were plains filled with strange wild life, most were aggressive towards anything.

After a while in that world, Riou changed his clothes and enchantments to better move in that place. He was now using a long cape and hood with stealth enhancements to make him harder to perceive and also to restrain his presence completely.

He began to wear a protective mask with poison immunity to avoid any surprises. It was not unusual to land near one of those strange mushrooms or find another poisonous beast.

That outfit quickly became the village scouts official vestment, as it greatly improved the users’ mobility and survivability in that world.

The villagers were a mixture of races so they had a very open mind and affinity towards both ways of magic. Riou was able to teach the adepts the easiest enchantments and even began to show them his way of doing some things.

----------------------- Time passed

The boy suddenly appeared inside the village after returning from exploring the east. Everyone was used to his ways by that time. He appeared and walked by the village and everyone would always stop what they were doing to bow to him as he walked by.

Riou now spoke to them in their own language to make them more comfortable and to try to stop the strange behaviors they had acquired since his arrival. But as always, the most prominent beastmen trait, stubbornness towards their tradition and honor, was always in the way.

His personal guards always knew when he was back, as if constantly watching and waiting for him, the four promptly joined him every time he returned.

On that day, he called for Arthas as he entered his house. It was a small square house with an improvised kitchen and clay stove, a bathroom created with Riou’s sewer system. The place had magic generated water that supplied the whole house. Bathroom with heated shower, it was not a problem using the enchanted metal as resistors in improvised stone showers.

It was a village powered by many modern comforts that Riou missed for so long. 

“Did you call for me Master Riou?” said Arthas as he knocked and entered the house.

He nodded and waved at him.

 “How are things going since I left?”

“We finished the last house's sewer system as you instructed and reinforced the south side of the wall with more of those magic traps. I must say, this is all too amazing. I never thought such things were possible… The villagers are quickly adapting to the new lifestyle” said the lion-man as he approached Riou.

“When I came in today I saw some fruits and meat in the middle of the village, near some swords that were put to the ground. What’s that about?” 

“The villagers are offering them to you, praying for a safe trip and return,” said Arthas.

“What? Tell them to stop that immediately. Do not waste food or good swords with that kind of thing. If they want to please me, tell them to eat  them instead of letting them rot away” added the boy as he approached a small table.

Arthas nodded understanding the order.

“How is the crop project doing?” questioned Riou as he prepared a few stones on the table.

“We have extended the walls over the stream source and plowed the field separating them as you asked. The one for this season will soon be ready to sow, so we can start the rotation. We don’t have many farmers, but I think we will be able to learn it.”

Riou nodded. “Don’t worry, they will get the hang of it with hands-on experience. A bit of food surplus will be good for us. Now listen to this” said the boy as he pointed to a stone on the table and put another far to the right.

“We are here, about 5 days to the east, after the ridge and that big floating island, I found the remains of a large stone road far down in the plains. I will follow it to see where it leads. If there are roads, there must be a city, right? Maybe someone there might know how to get back” said the boy with his hopes up.

Riou walked towards the wall and with a stone marked with 7 vertical lines, showing the time he spent away. He looked at those many lines and took a deep breath. ‘Shit… I have to use my time better, just me exploring is not good enough… at this rate I may not find anything in this lifetime.’

He spent a couple months there and still no clue on how to return.

“Please master, be careful, we were told to not roam outside the forest too much. The elders say the dead ones will become infuriated and come in even larger numbers” said Arthas concerned.

Riou shook his head. “Don’t worry. If that’s true or not, we will deal with it. If there is really a city, I must find it” said the boy, returning to the table.

“Arthas, we need to improve the fighters so they also can run scout missions. We need more people able to survive out there. We need more people helping on the search for a way out of here” spoke Riou looking at his personal guard.

Arthas nodded.

“Tell the elders we will start with classes in common tongue for everyone, I want it tonight. These 4 specially must attend” said Riou, pointing to the half-lionesses that self-proclaimed to be his personal guard… secretly hoping to get some free time from their relentless protection.

“For now, all of you, follow me…” He said to all those inside the house “if you really want to be useful you will have to improve and fast. From now on, you will be under rigorous training and you will stay at it until you can keep up with me, at the very least.” Riou turned to Arthas. “Specially you”

---------------------------------------- Some more time later

Riou had followed the remains of the stone road to the northeast for a couple of days until he finally saw the remains of a city in the distance. It was far away, but he’d reach it very quickly. With all the constant exploration and traveling around, he developed good techniques and spells that allowed him to travel at a very fast rate for a very long time, with little to no after effects to his body.

Approaching the place, what remained of the city had a light cream color to its rocks, the remains of stone arches and what must have been high towers could be seen on the outside of the high walls, crumbled over them to the outside and now mixing with the vegetation.

The walls were not intact, they were mostly cracked and many holes could be seen all around the city.

Riou approached one of them, quickly but cautiously. It was the middle of the day and there were no signs of anyone outside or inside the remains of that city.

He glimpsed around, but could see nothing. So he decided to climb the walls using magic to have a better view.

From the top of the high wall, he looked inside. To his surprise, a sea of undead could be seen roaming the inner part of the city. Riou watched them as he continued to follow the walls to the west, he seemed to have found why there were undead attacks to the village.

Riou observed as many of the undeads gathered on a side street near one of the holes in the walls. As more entered the street it pushed them more and more towards the hole and when one of them finally noticed it and moved through it, the others seemed to follow it out creating the undead groups.

And somehow they would find their way towards the forest direction and the village.

Watching the city with more attention, he noticed that everything there was old. Whatever happened there, it was long ago. But then, Riou had a question he could not answer. How come after all this time that the undead are leaving the place, how come that the number of the undead remains so high?

He continued investigating the place. The house’s doors and windows were already gone, most of the metal was rusted to a point that no one could recognize what it was before, only the stones remained.

Stones and the rotten undead that Riou couldn’t quite tell which humanoid race those bodies belonged to. Some were large, resembling an orc, some were smaller resembling stranger humanoids creatures, goblins, kobolds and other things. Some were tall and slender like a human but most showed strange horns on the head.

Riou jumped through the crumbled houses and buildings in the city, evading the streets and moving towards its center, keeping above the ground level that was infested with the undead.

The city was huge, Riou still couldn’t tell what could have caused all that to happen or why those undead were there.

Moving forward he discovered a massive barrier protecting the city’s center. Probably someone’s attempt to prevent the undead from entering it, a safe haven inside the ruined city.

‘Interesting… is there someone here? Let’s deal with these undead and take a better look around it.’ thought the boy as he positioned himself.

Concentrating his mana to his hand, he created a holy spell, pouring enough mana into it to cover the whole city. The process took him a while, but once he thought it was sufficient, he released the spell into the sky.

“Sunlight Reaver!” said Riou as a white light seemed to shine through the sky lake, from high above. A soothing light that slowly spread everywhere, covering the whole city. A bright light that came down to cast away the darkness, penetrating through every crack and dark corner and permeating through it, bringing its heavenly light inside of the buildings and wreckage.

The blessed light seemed alive, illuminating everything on its own accord.And every undead struck by its warmth, stopped moving and disintegrated into dust instantly in a burst of flames.

It cleaned up the whole city in a moment and as the spell faded away, a wailing sound echoed throughout the city.

*AAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

“Who dared to attack my dominion?” an eerie voice followed it and a ghastly apparition emerged from the rubbles of the city.

A dense gray fog appeared around it as it moved from side to side, searching for the one responsible for the attack. 

I had a hard time, but finally noticed the boy that wasn’t even trying to hide in the top of one of the buildings nearby.

“You!” said the ghastly entity as it approached him, Riou was able to look at it with more attention.

It clearly was humanoid in nature and spoke in the common tongue, but the lack of flesh made it difficult to discern what those bones once were. Beside it, a dense fog covered most of the remnants of the phantasmagoric rotten body, only the skeletal upper part was left visible with long and sharp arms with slender fingers. The skull was deformed in a way that there was no way of telling if it was human or something else.

“I will drain the life from your body until only your bones remain… you and these elves will die, all who live shall die!” screamed the entity in madness, advancing toward Riou.

The boy shot a fireball at it, but the spell went through it without any damage.

He then tried ice and pure magic energy next. Again, no effect everything just went through without damaging it and the ghost continued approaching him.

“Damn, these ethereal beings…” said the boy, jumping up on another building to gain some distance.

He pulled his dagger. ‘This is a magical dagger right? In theory it should damage that thing’ said Riou as he prepared to attack the ghost that approached him, unimpeded through the walls.

Riou jumped at him with the dagger burning with it’s black fire. But the dagger and Riou went through the enemy completely once again.

On the other hand, the ghastly image was able to attack him during the event, the boy was slashed on his body by the sharp fingers of the ghost, the armor was cut deeply, the enemy had almost reached his skin.

“Holy blast!” shouted Riou as a white beam went towards the ghost that covered his eyes.

It certainly didn’t like the bright light, but the spell went through once again, doing little to no damage to it.

‘How to fight against ethereal beings?’  thought the boy as he gained distance. ‘It was the same with that damn chain… nothing works’

Riou rushed through the city using holy spells to blind the ghost. He had to gain time to think of a way to counter it.

Suddenly, from within the barrier at the center of the city, a spell was shot. A blue light that went towards the entity. Hitting it on the back as it looked for Riou. Suddenly, its fog became thicker and the being fell down to the ground, losing all it’s fast floating mobility.

A strange male voice shouted, echoing something that Riou was not able to understand.

Nonetheless Riou noticed the change in the enemy and decided to attack. The boy once again shot a fire spell on the ghost that was trying to stand up from the ground.

But this time, the fire spell hit the undead and burned it. The fire began to appear on it’s bones.

Seeing the effectiveness of the spell, Riou seized the opportunity. “Forge Flame!” shouted the boy as the fire greatly increased in temperature, consuming the undead completely in an instant.

With the threat gone, Riou approached the barrier where the voice came from and suddenly it vanished.

A dark elf appeared from within the inner center of the city.

His dark gray skin contrasted with his short white hair. Despite being an Elf, he seemed not so young. A man in his mid-30’s with slight pointy ears. He was not that tall for an Elf, just a palm or so taller than Riou himself.

His armor was of a dark brown leather strapped to his chest, covering a bit of his legs. Many leather belts were used to hold it together. His forearms were covered with gloves and wrapped in leather stripes until his elbow. In the same fashion, were his shoes and leg protectors above his dark pants.

He wore a small cape that wrapped around his neck. A hood could be seen behind it, covering 2 short swords attached to his back in a cross shape.

In the front, 2 daggers could be seen attached to his waist belt.

The man confidently approached Riou, who was still wearing its cape and hood.

The Elf once again spoke in a language that Riou assumed to be Elven.

“I don’t speak Elven…” replied the boy beneath the hood in the beastman tongue.

The man looked at him sideways, his hand went inside a side pocket on his bag and he took a small pendant.

“Who are you wizard? Show me your face.” said the man in beastman tongue after picking up the pendant, his hand was already moving towards his dagger.

“Easy now,” replied Riou in beastmen tongue, taking his hood off and showing his face. Seeing the boy’s face, the elf calmed down.

“You are no beastman, why do you speak their tongue… you are human, right?” questioned the elf quite unsure.

Riou nodded.

“It’s been centuries since I last saw a human. They don’t tend to last long in here” said the dark elf.

“I can imagine why… but tell me, what did you do to that thing back there? Why does my spell suddenly work?” questioned Riou, intrigued.

“I just severed its connection to the abyss so it could not prevent the damage. It’s momentarily, but very effective on those beings. Their physical bodies are rather weak without the support of their realm” answered the dark elf.

Riou nodded, understanding the concept. ‘So basically, that thing was phasing between two realms… huum interesting theory’

“How do you do it? How do you sever its connection?”

“It’s rather easy, as any severance spell would do. A mage like yourself certainly knows plenty of them” 

Riou forced a smile “Not quite. Can you teach me some?”

The elf was very surprised “That’s quite a revelation… but I don’t think we have the time for such endeavors. Maybe on another occasion”

Riou nodded “I see, but can you tell me more about that thing? What was it?”

“A dark wraith. A lost soul, torn apart and corrupted, forever bound to the abyss mana” said the elf.

“Did it create the undead?”

“Yes, these dark guardians have a strong connection to the Abyss, they corrupt all things around them. Some even summon these undeads”

“And who are you? How do you know all this?”

“My name is Garus, I’m Death Warden from the order of Shilen” he said introducing himself. The elf extended his hand in greeting, Riou promptly shook it. “That was an impressive display of magic, human wizard. You are very capable, may I ask what brought you to this realm?”

“You can call me Riou. Actually, I was kinda thrown in this place, unwillingly. I’m trying to find a way back to my world… any of the two at this point” joked the boy.

“Two?” The elf was quite confused.

Riou just waved for him to forget about the joke and continued “You said you were a Death Warden? I guess you hunt these fiends and these undead, am I right?”

The dark elf nodded. “Yes, I’m clearing the undead from the old cities. My last stop was this one before returning to my order to rest. The dark elf smiled. “But luckily, you showed up. It would have taken me months to cleanse this city alone. Your help was greatly appreciated, wizard Riou.”

“No need to thank me. So, do you know how one can go back to the human world from here?”

The dark elf thought for a moment. “The human world and this one always moved together, side by side. They are connected by the flow of mana. But that was before that” He then pointed up to the silver lake in the sky. “Before it, you could find pathways in many places. Beasts and people used them to travel through in the old days. But now, most of the flow is diverted to the abyss, without the normal flow of mana, the pathways are drying up, breaking and our worlds are more and more drifting apart.”

Riou frowned. “Damn, why? What’s that silver lake all about?”

The dark elf invited the boy in, towards some building nearby. A small house that was still standing that the elf was using as his campsite.

“Thousands of years ago, we were at war against the dark invasion. A human mage named Oulan Skaralt came to this realm, powered by death magic like no other. He claimed that he was one of the death gods and that he was sent to help us. He promised to subdue the dark forces that were invading and destroying this world if we gave him what he requested.”

“Dark forces?”

“Wicked things within the Abyss, beings that defy all power and logic. They wish to conquer and absorb all realms life and mana. They managed to find a way into this realm through a dark portal, they invaded and laid waste to most of the living beings. When we were almost lost, the human mage appeared with his false promises and hopes”

“What happened?”

“What else could we do? We accepted the death mage’s request. We showed him how to seek the power of the elementals. But his intentions were never to fight the invading forces of the dark. Instead, he made a deal with them. He used our knowledge to trap the elementals and with their power he created the skylake. A spell so powerful that it slowly syphons this world’s mana into the Abyss, strengthening the Dark ones”.

Riou nodded “So that’s why there is a silverlake in the sky…”

The elf continued “We just changed from one enemy to another. The death mage was ruthless, with his power he raised legions of undead and proceeded to conquer our ravaged world. The few of us that remained had to choose. Flee from this realm into yours or fight” explained the elf.

“I see… but even with the skylake, there must be some passage that still works, right?”

“It’s possible, this realm is not dead yet, some mana veins must still be strong enough to resist the skylake influence” said the elf, packing his things into a leather bag.

Riou sighed a bit relieved to hear that. “You don’t happen to know where the closest passages would be? What do they look like?” questioned Riou, watching the dark elf packing his things on the house.

Garus thought for a moment. “Try the temples of Brine in the remains of the old cities, they used to build the pathways with water as it always made good portals, many were disguised within the temple’s pools for the elemental mother. Perhaps the junction in one of them might still be working. Just beware of the Death mage’s forces, they are not to be taken lightly, especially those of the cities our orders were not able to cleanse.”

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“Thanks, but did you find any temple on your way here? Where are these other cities you spoke off” questioned Riou.

“I must confess I wasn’t looking for them… but all non-elven cities must have one or more temples for the elementals. Hopefully some are still intact” said the smiling elf.

“Why didn’t you guys flee through them if the situation is so dire?” questioned Riou, scratching his head while thinking.

“How can one flee when his soul burns in anger? When his brothers and sisters can’t rest in peace beside the immortal god because their souls are tormented by the wicked? No elf that leaves their homeland will ever find rest, or peace.”

Riou nodded understanding his feelings.

“Besides, I have heard from other travelers like yourself that the death god had already set his foothold on your world as well. It is a matter of time for him to do there like he did here. There is nowhere to flee, there is no option but fight” he said with resolve.

The boy pondered for a moment on what the elf said, then continued with his questions. “One other thing, have you ever heard of a human world without mana?”

The dark elf frowned. “I never heard of a world without mana, how can a pathway form to such a place?”

Riou smiled expecting such a response, “Where can I find more cities like this one?”

“All around, they are many and very far from each other. The closest one is to the north in a valley, you can see it from the top of the mountains in that direction.”

Riou thanked the dark elf for all the information. At least now he had a clear goal in mind.

The dark elf approached him. “Thank you as well for all the assistance here. May the immortal creator and the elements smile upon your quest and allow you to reach your home safely.”

“Thanks Garus, good luck in your fight as well” replied the boy. “Before you go… how do I find you if I have more questions?”

“I’m afraid that may be very difficult, the path to Shilen’s order is hidden to all but the initiated. But fear not, I have a strong feeling that I will see you again, human wizard.”

After the dark elf left the city, Riou began his search for the temple. But everything was destroyed. There was nothing that resembled anything like a temple or passage anymore.

------------------------------------------------------

The so-called spirit world was not being kind to Riou, the numbing sensation had returned in increasing frequency. It was probably because of the different mana density of the spirit world that was somehow affecting him.

Back to the village the preparations to increase the scouts were on the way.

He needed the beast men’s help immediately to search the broken cities. And with more people scouting, more fighters were needed to protect the village, so training needed to be extended to the others as well, children and elders had to improve and help as well.

Riou was training Arthas and the four lionesses in the most varied spells and fighting tactics for many months now.

He taught them, with some difficulty at first, how to use his methods of mana enhancement by teaching them day and night while he was at the village.

Noticing that pushing it was not working, he decided to take a step back. Rushing it would not make them no good.

First they had to learn the basics, so he taught them about muscle and cell biology until they were able to understand the concept and put it into practice.

The first one to be ready was Arthas. He was not only a smart man but very disciplined and focused on his tasks, he wouldn't stop or rest until he accomplished the goal.

Despite the beastmen's cultural predominance, they weren’t averse to learning magic. Since they were a mixed race, the human magic affinity with the clan’s strength and skill weren’t a taboo like it seemed to be in the other world.

His personal guard didn’t fall much behind Arthas. They were clearly the top fighters that the village had to offer, and despite the stubbornness of the beastmen, they were all able to learn, especially if they were being taught by Riou himself.

The 5 under Riou guidance, started to pass the knowledge to the others in the village while Riou was out on a mission. Soon, more people were ready to teach others and training levels began to appear within the village. That way everyone was able to progress between them as they improved.

Everything was taught, from stealth tactics, spell fighting and swordsmanship to basic knowledge. Everything was taught with Riou’s techniques and knowledge in mind. They had to abandon many of their ways but there was not a single complaint in the village, everyone revered the young hero and felt first hand how much more effective and powerful his ways were.

It didn’t take long after that for Riou to be able to put Arthas in command of the first scout party that was trained. The best stealth users were specially selected for the scout job.

With a school and training system in place, soon more scouts would follow and they would be able to cover more ground than ever. Riou was certain they would eventually find a way out of that place.

----------------------------------------------------- Some time later

The spirit world was becoming even harder to bear for Riou. The cycles of numbness were frequent and eventually became cycles of pure pain. An acute, lingering pain that lasted an entire night or day. His body seemed to be changing, recovering some of its lost time during those painful ordeals.

Riou blamed the mana in that world for the phenomenon and his constant mana usage while searching for an exit. Despite cursing the pain he was glad to be returning to his old self. The only problem was that it was a damn slow process.

He had recovered a couple of years and was looking like a 17 years old now.

Riou was in his house waiting with Arthas for one of the scout parties to return.

“Master, they are here” spoke Attia by the door.

“Let them in”

The scouts were injured and being dragged inside in a hurry by other villagers.

“Healing” said Arthas as the white light appeared and cured their wounds. “Report,” continued the lion.

“We found a city, mostly intact, to the west, far past the dead plains, but a black wyrm was guarding it. We think it made its nest there. We tried to approach the city but it was able to detect us and attack. It was more than we could handle, the beast is too powerful for us, master,” said the scout.

Riou nodded. “Attia, Bellica, prepare to leave immediately we will go take a look at this beast and I want to see how you two are faring in combat,” Said the boy as he knew the two were the best fighters after Arthas.

The 4 lionesses and personal guards were very used to going on missions by themselves, they even tried to clear the undead from the cities so their master would not need to go there personally to do that, but only when they judged possible and when the city had no guardian present.

Riou and the two lionesses went to the city informed by the scouts. Riou watched from a distance as the black wyrm circled the city. It was a very big beast. 2 legs and 2 wings with a large body, a very long tail and neck. It flies around the city very high in the sky as if patrolling it.

He looked at Attia and Bellica, nodding to them.

Both girls instantly rushed towards the open plain in the direction of the city, with weapons in hand they quickly got the wyrm’s attention.

The beast turned and aimed for a sweep. The two lionesses prepared their swords. Blue glowing runes shone brightly on the blades. Both of the girls pointed their palms to the wyrm that was approaching fast.

Both lionesses shot lightning bolts at the flying creature, hitting it with considerable power.

The wyrm fell to the ground, hitting it hard but the beast quickly stood on its feet. Smoke was oozing from its hard scales that suffered no damage from the lightning.

The second part of the fight began. Attia and Bellica surrounded the wyrm immediately, preventing it from taking flight again. With Attia distracting the beast on the front, Bellica tried to strike from behind.

A red and intense fire was breathed at Attia that deflected with a powerful wind barrier. Seizing the opportunity, Bellica jumped at the beast, planting the sword in the wyrms neck.

She pierced the neck and pushed the sword for a clean cut, killing the mighty beast as its flame poured out its cut neck until it ceased moving completely.

Riou approached them and looked at the beast’s leather. “Nicely done, you can easily deal with a wyrm now, very good progress,” praised Riou as he looked at the scales on the body. Attia and Bellica smiled at each other as they received the praise, they were overjoyed.

“Small scales, thick leather… We can make a few good armors with this. Skin it properly and prepare the leather and scales for the trip back. Meet me at the city entrance when you are done.”

Once everyone was at the entrance with Riou, they finally went into the city, searching for any temple they could find.

Attia and Bellica were in charge of killing the undead that appeared. The group walked without fear in the infested streets. Dozens of Undead were taken down at every few steps they did.

It didn’t take long for them to find one temple and it was promising, it was well conserved on the outside.

As they entered it, the city’s undead guardian noticed their presence and began to move on the streets. Attia and Bellica quickly heard the rattling of the bones and waited by the entrance.

A giant abomination made of piles of bones and rotten flesh walked towards them, crushing other undeads beneath its massive legs. Not all cities had a guardian, and  they were all different from one another.

They never knew what they could encounter so caution was always advised when entering the ruins of a recently discovered city.

Attia pointed her finger at the thing, a golden light shone at the monster that stopped and covered itself cowering from the light. Bellica followed with a fire spell that set its rotten flesh ablaze. Attia then followed up another fire spell, the flames increased quickly and incinerated the flesh of the undead to the very bones. Without the flesh, the bones fell down, crumbling on top of each other.

“Very good” said Riou to them as he watched the fight.

The girls smiled with satisfaction to each other once again.

Inside of the temple, Riou walked to the very center of the main hall, where a small round pool could be found. Riou entered it and focused his mana on its waters.

Nothing.

“It’s closed…” disappointed he continued “We will have to keep looking.”

---------------------------------------------

After the first wave of training, the constant success of the missions made the scouts grow bolder, many began exploring the cities by themselves. 

Some of the best scout parties were even able to clean the cities by themselves. Riou was pleased with the results and even praised their attitude.

But encouraging such actions brought inevitable consequences.

Their confidence grew too quickly while their ability did not. They eventually found stronger foes and death followed.

Many parties were crushed by the guardians, unable to fight or flee the monsters.

Riou blamed himself for the losses and enforced order on the village, changing the easy going training methods into a more strict and disciplined orientation. He greatly increased the requirements for the levels of training and created new directives for the villagers to be able to leave the village on scouting missions.

They were only allowed to find and map a city’s location, leaving the investigation and cleanse for more specialized and bigger parties of fighters.

--------------------------------------------- The 4 Lionesses

Without their master around, the four lionesses used their time to train even harder as Riou had requested.

Fabilla was taking some time to train her younger brother, Hagwin. Arthas went to the training grounds to talk to her. 

“We need a scout party to search to the southeast. We have no information of what lies beyond the valley in that direction. I need 2 scouts to map the region beyond it. As the master ordered, only the main landscape points of reference and report any lost cities sighted. Nothing else. I’m assigning you and Gadora to this”

***************

Hagwin looked at Fabilla with excited eyes and turned to Arthas. “Can I volunteer!” The 17 year old boy said excitedly.

Arthas looked at him and turned to Fabilla. “Isn’t your brother a bit too young to be at this level of training?”

“I’m the same size and age as the great hero! I can go! Please, assign this mission to me Arthas!” he replied, assured of himself.

Fabilla shook her head. “Don’t even try to compare yourself to him, he is on a completely different level than all of us.” She then turned to Arthas. “Hagwin might be young, but he trains twice as hard as the others, he is a good warrior and I believe he is ready to be a scout” she said smiling to her brother.

Arthas looked a bit further from them and called the young man training there as well. “Renn! Come here”

“Yes Arthas?”

“You have experience on scouting the west right?”

“Yes, I’ve been there a few times already”

Arthas nodded “Good, Hagwin and Renn will leave in the next morning. It’s a regula scout mission, no infiltration or engagement, just mapping what lies beyond the west valley and reporting back” said the Lion as Renn dropped his shoulders, clearly displeased by the task assigned to him, he sighed but ended up nodding, agreeing to the task.

Renn was a young man in his 20’s with short black hair. He didn’t resemble any specific clan and just recently had finished the scouts training level and run a couple missions with other veterans.

The next morning Hagwin and Renn moved fast by the forest and were already farther away from the village than Hagwin had ever been.

Wearing the capes and hoods specially designed by the hero, they could pass unnoticed by the beasts and monsters with ease.

“Don’t forget to mark the trees and rocks with the hero symbol, so we do not get lost” said Hagwin to Renn.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m doing it,” he replied, not seeing the point to it. The mark was just an arrow pointing in the direction they were going.

They reached the valley and began looking for geological marks or even cities to map in that direction.

Since they couldn’t find anything of relevance they took notes and continued a bit further than they were supposed to.

“Hey Hagwin, we must go back, if we are late Arthas will be pissed at us. We already covered the land and have the notes. Let’s head back”

“Come on, we found nothing, this land has no marks… let’s look a bit further since we are already here, there is no point to turn back now empty handed”

Moving further west they finally found the remains of a very old city, much further away from the valley.

Curious, they cautiously approached it, knowing all too well about the hordes of undead that lurked those places.

But strangely, there were no signs of the undead.

Upon reaching its open gates, Hagwin looked inside. “Wow… look at the size of these buildings. How many people do you think used to live here?”

Renn was also impressed, looking inside with an open mouth. “I don’t know… this place is huge, it could easily fit a hundred villages like ours”

“But… where are the undead?” said Hagwin, approaching the entrance more casually.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. We aren’t supposed to see them anyway, we can go back now that we found this place”

“No way, there is no undead in this city… we could find the temple and see if there is a passage. What do you think the hero and Arthas will say if we come back telling them we found a functioning pathway on our first mission!?” said the excited young Hagwin.

“It would be nice though. We would be able to go back and live in a more peaceful land” replied Renn.

Hagwin marked the door with an arrow and entered the city. “Come on! If we find any undead we can flee, we are faster than they are!”

Renn looked around unsure. “We are not supposed to go inside, Hagwin! The hero’s orders remember? We are disobeying him! Hagwin! What if a Guardian appears!?”

“Come on… look around, there is no undead here, one of those elfs that the hero told us about must have cleaned this place already! Come on, we will be heroes too!”

“No Hagwin… the orders are clear, no infiltration! We must report back!”

“You can go back if you want to! But I’m going in!” said Hagwin, already distancing himself.

Renn looked back for a moment “Damn, wait for me… I can’t go back alone, we are not supposed to split the party… come on Hagwin, let’s head back!” said Renn going after him.

----------------------------------

After returning from a long trip of yet another unsuccessful search, Riou entered the village and went straight to his house to shower, eat and sleep. He was tired and needed some rest. 

The crops were beautiful, the fields were many, the elder villagers were already used to the farmer lifestyle. They gathered seeds in the forest and already had a vast variety of vegetables and fruits growing there.

Hunters always were able to find meat from the beasts. The first thing they learned from Riou was how to improve their cooking methods, so the food was always good as they were taught Riou’s recipes from his other world.

Riou had no complaints about the comforts he was having there. He clearly had grown used to how he was living, not only him, all villagers quickly adapted the better lifestyle as well.

Arthas came to him in a hurry the moment the lion noticed he was back.

“Master! Forgive my intrusion… but something needs your attention, it’s urgent” spoke the lion as he entered Riou’s mansion. The place was centuries more advanced than Allard’s architecture.

Riou was drying his hair with a towel in more comfortable clothes as the lion went towards him in a hurry.

“What happened?”

“A scout party didn’t return from a search in the western region… Fabilla and Gadora went after them” spoke the lion with concerned eyes.

Riou found it strange. “Just the two of them? Where were the others?”

“There were no other veteran parties available… and the one that went missing was Fabilla’s brother. They were set to stay one weeks out and return but when they didn’t come back, Fabilla and Gadora went after them”

Noticing the concern on Arthas Voice Riou promptly asked him “How long have they gone?”

“A couple of weeks now… none returned yet” he said once again with great concern.

Riou nodded understanding. “Where are Attia and Bellica now?”

“They are still on the northeast with a full cleaning party, in the old city found a few days away from the large lake in that direction” replied Arthas.

“Fetch me some supplies, I will go after Fabila and Gadora… until I return, hold all searches and scouts, don’t let anyone else leave for any mission until I return,” said Riou, concerned and picking his armor. Near it, was the black leather and the scales of the wyrm. The leather was cured and ready to be crafted into armor.

-------------------------------- The old city to the Southeast of the village.

Riou followed the direction the scouts should have gone, he was able to track them with ease given he knew where to look. Marks on trees and stones indicated their direction. He followed them at great speed until he found the old remains of a city.

It was between mountain ranges far away from the valley.

Riou approached it noticing no sign of the undead. On the very gates of the city, the mark of the scouts could be seen.

‘What were they thinking? They are not supposed to enter…’  thought Riou remembering his orders.

He continued inside, walking with caution as he could see nothing unusual at the city, there were no signs of fighting or even recent undead activity. The place was eerily well conserved when compared to the other cities he had seen.

‘This is too strange… the footprints are still fresh. I can see the old scout’s footprints in the dust and more recent ones of the girls…’ Riou looked around as a dead silence covered the untouched city. ‘I can’t feel anything coming from this city either. I don’t like this.’

‘The scouts must have thought it was empty and entered it, the girls seeing their markings came after them’ a bad feeling grew stronger in his guts.

‘Didn’t they think this could be a trap? What are they teaching in the scout training?’ he thought with anger, stepping up the pace. ‘Damn, it’s not like Fabilla to go against the orders… to have entered this city only the two of them, they are not ready for this. She must have been really concerned about her brother… damn, all because someone broke the rules. There are rules for a reason!’

It was in the middle of the city when he noticed the first signs of struggle, dry blood stains on the walls nearby and markings on the ground, someone was attacked and ran away.

He followed the small blood marks towards the big temple in the city’s center. It was made of many columns and white stones, with nothing but a big opening leading to its interior.

Riou entered with caution. Inside, there were many sculptures of what seemed to be the representation of the water elemental, a big statue of a naked woman with her hands up in the very center of the temple.

The other statues were smaller, but depicted the same woman in other poses, all around the walls of the hall.

He lost the tracks inside and wandered the large temple, searching for clues. There were many corridors and inner chambers to follow, the place felt like a maze.

Following one of the corridors down, he found more dry blood stains from beneath a closed door. Trying to open it he noticed that it seemed to have been barricaded from the inside.

Riou blasted it open without delay.

Inside the small storage room, he saw the young scouts. Both sat down on the back of the small space, long dead, with many small punctures all over their bodies. On the walls, signs of struggle, they had a slow and painful death in that place.

“Fuck! Why didn’t you listen to my orders? Why do you think the rules exist in the first place? Shit… Why did you have to enter this city? Did nobody teach you to not trust your eyes? Godammit!” said Riou to their bodies, as he couldn’t avoid the strong sense of guilt for their deaths. They were clearly not ready, and despite his demands for better training, that still happened.

Riou knew the villagers worshipped him, they would do anything, go to any lengths to make him proud and that feeling was eating him from the inside. There was no one to blame but himself for their deaths. If they were unprepared, he was the one at fault.

A mixture of emotions got to him. The only certainty he had it was that things would have to change when he went back to the Village.

“The girls!” said Riou, concerned as he rushed searching for the two. He ran through the corridors, looking for their signs.

“Fabila! Gadora! Where are you?” he shouted in the empty corridors.

Suddenly, he hears a scream coming from the levels below.

“Arrhhhggg!” a woman’s voice echoed in the stone corridors.

Riou moved to the steps that led down and reached the inner quarters below, the source where the voice seemed to have come from. 

The stone door was closed, but he blasted the stone without delay.

Inside, he felt a strong presence within the room.

A monster that resembled the shadow fiends he fought long ago, appeared in the middle of the room.

But differently from the fiends, this one had a huge and arched back that held two red eyes. He had no legs, just a single large body with a thin shadow stripe that went towards the ground.

His arms were thick and changed length and shape as it moved around, as if floating without any mass, it moved around without difficulty.

Behind it, Riou saw Gadora and Fabilla’s.

They were laid down like a ragdoll near the walls, pale and perforated all over their bodies in similar fashion to the young scouts.

The room was mostly destroyed by the fight. Stone debris could be seen everywhere, signs of vicious spells and an extended battle. The blood of the girls was splattered all over the walls, floor and even the ceiling.

Strangely, they seemed long dead by the time Riou arrived.

Their weapons were broken, the stone around them had their nails marked as if they tried to claw whatever it was attacking them without success.

A statement that they stayed alive for a long time while slowly bleeding to death in pain and terror.

Riou's heart grew heavier by the sight of such desperation. He couldn’t imagine what they had gone through.

The shadow being then let out another woman's scream. “Aaaahhhh!” and looked at Riou with its emotionless red eyes.

Riou could feel the mockery and wicked sense of pleasure the thing felt from torturing them. That scream was also a statement of the shadow wickedness. It wanted to be found and wanted Riou to see his companion’s bodies and all the desperation in their last moments.

“You…” said Riou breathing deeply and rapidly as a surge of anger had taken over him.

Without delay, he attacked. Shooting a massive fire at the shadow.

But the entity showed no concern towards it. The spell passed through the shadowy body as it was nothing.

Then it suddenly extended his right arm at great velocity, like a spear aiming towards Riou’s shoulder. 

He dodged to the side when an acute pain hit his leg.

Looking down he saw a shadow extension of the thing’s arm already piercing his leg. There was an extension of the shadow spear coming from within his own shadow.

Despite the armor and Riou’s natural defenses, it still was able to pierce through all that, greatly damaging his leg.

‘This is how he got them…’ thought Riou as he quickly cast heal and regeneration on himself, quickly regaining the movement on his legs. ‘It trapped the girls… they healed themselves, while he kept torturing them until they had no more mana left

Riou pointed his hand to the shadow and condensed the spirit mana of the place, trying to lock down the being and prevent it from phasing his attacks; it was a variant spell developed by him after meeting the dark elf Garus.

He then released the spell followed by another fire attack. But to his dismay, both spells were just absorbed by its dark body with no effect.

“What the fuck? Why didn't it work?” 

The trapping spell worked on so many ethereal and ghostly beings since then. He couldn’t see how this one was different.

“Maybe because this one is a shadow fiend? There is probably something different about this thing…”

Once again the attack came, but this time Riou shot a light on his own shadow as he jumped to avoid attack that he was certain to come from below again.

He was wrong, the attack followed from the shadows on the room’s corners, another of the monster's piercing attacks coming in his direction  “Barrier!” Riou put up a wall to try and avoid the attack.

The pointy arm of the shadow moved around the barrier, bending and stretching without limit as a shadow passing above a small bump in its way. It was aimed towards his left side of the abdomen.

Riou dodged most of it at the last moment, but it still got a deep gash on his side.

“Damn… heal!” he said holding up the pain. It was a stronger surge of pain, much more than that wound should have produced

Unfortunately or luckily, he was very used to it by that time.

“Motherfucker, don’t think you got me already... you will die by my hand for what you did to them even if it's the last thing I do” Riou was more than angered now.

He quickly moved back and began to spread his mana very quickly, involving the whole room in it.

“Don’t worry, I will not banish you back to your home… I will kill you, here, today” he promised to the shadow being.

The dark shadow wobbled as it mocking him and moved slowly to the center of the room as if waiting for his spell to finish.

“I don’t know how you are doing it, but it has to be something similar to what those ethereal beings do. So If I can’t find out how you are doing it, if I can’t sever you away then I guess I will have to sever the very plane itself.” With great effort and remembering all the theories behind multiple realms and planes of existences, Riou called upon a powerful abjuration spell he recalled deep within his mind “Planar Disjunction!”

Riou saw the very plane of existence folding on itself like a paper, as the whole room was severed from all other planes. The absurd spell folded the very space itself. Enclosing both him and the shadow being in a place in space and time completely disconnected from everything else.

That room was a plane apart from all existence.

Riou and the room remained intact, the spell just seemed to have an adverse effect on the shadow fiend.

The dark cone that went to the ground from the fiends body now became a small shadowy tendrils, with a clear end to them above the stone on the ground. They were too thin and feeble and could barely hold its big body up as it stood up with difficulty from the ground.

It was clearly not used to walking like that.

Noticing the change on the fiend, Riou smirked devilishly and shot a concentrated light beam at the shadow fiend, making a small hole in its body.

The fiend made no sound, but Riou could tell on his eyes that it felt desperation after being injured, probably for the first time in its miserable existence.

Riou proceeded to shoot a few more, slowly perforating its shadow body, the same way it has done to the scouts and the girls.

The shadow fiend tried to attack at first, but its arms no longer stretched to his will.

On the ground, it could only crawl away from Riou. But there was no way out of that place. He was trapped with that human in that small plane of existence. There was no fleeing or escaping.

“What is it? It’s not that funny now? I know you can understand me… how does it feel knowing you will die?” Riou said as he kept shooting it.

Once the shadow stopped moving it was already full of holes.

Riou pointed his palm to the shadow. “Sun blast” a shine light covered the fiend exploding it and burning all its remaining pieces, completely erasing it into oblivion.

Riou sighed, looking once again at the girls’ bodies. He then looked up, taking a deep breath.

---------------------------------- The Winds of Change

Riou was back to his 20’s year old.

He lost track of the time he spent on that world as he stopped the markings on the walls a long time ago.

It sure felt like years had passed by.

As the days and nights were much longer than what he was used to, the sense of time from the other world slipped away completely.

The young man was now wearing a black leather armor. It had a dark blue heavy cloth as a large scarf.

Details of great craftsmanship covered the black leather armor on the right and from the left of his chest to his shoulder. There was a similar blue cloth also wrapped around his waist, beneath his belt and served its purpose of providing another set of enchantments to the armor.

The black leather armor was made from wyrm leather and covered his chest, arms and legs. It was tied down and held into place by a couple of leather belts. The gloves were just another layer of the leather for more protection. 

The armor was long and covered him well.

Below it, he wore heavy pants. Shin and boots were reinforced with studded leather.

Riou’s clothes now were mostly black with the dark blue cloth and the few shiny gray dots from the steel pins on the belts and nails that held the leather together.

Above the armor he had a softer cloth also in black color to serve as a hood.

He used the scarf to cover his face to protect against the poisonous parts of the forest as well as for help hiding his presence for him.

His personal guard was not far behind regarding equipment, wearing a steel plate armor on the chest and shoulders as well on the forearms. Below the plates, they used a dark leather armor from what remained of the wyrm leather, covered with belts to hold everything together, allowing further mobility with great protection.

Everything was enchanted to the best of Riou’s ability and items' affinity.

Riou ensured that everyone would have everything needed to survive any encounter, as he didn’t want to lose anyone ever again.

The changes made to training since the event with Fabila and Gador was much harsher. Riou himself went through training to improve his abilities to the fullest.

He did not rest until he was sure that the top fighters could survive any encounter. They didn’t need to win it, but they certainly had to be able to flee or remain alive until help arrived.

With the years of training, the rite of passage into scouting became some sort of a tradition and it was not considered a simple feat anymore. Fewer were the scouts, but their ability had to be great.

The candidates for the role of scout had to pass a test. To go into the forest and flee from Arthas, Attia and Bellica successfully, using any means necessary to achieve that.

No one of the candidates ever succeeded at a first attempt, but they kept improving until some began to pass the test and become scouts.

These elite fighters became the scouts that were able to explore alone that dangerous land. They used stealth and cunning to survive any encounter, especially designed to flee from any danger.

Single scouts parties began to map and search with extreme efficiency. They managed to enter cities and look for the pathways without alerting the undeads and most of the guardians.

Those unfit for the scout mission became fighters. Their parties were sent to the places that needed cleansing before any investigation could be taken. They became so powerful that a single party could cleanse a city in a few days.

As time passed and the mapping increased at great speed. Riou quickly  realized that the world was massive. Something outside of the comprehension.

They found so many cities in every direction they went and still, despite covering so much ground, no signs of any civilization, nor the elves mentioned by Garus nor the so-called Death mage.

------------------

The training levels eventually took form and Arthas divided it into colors for easier identification.  Attia, Bellica and Arthas were without equal and were granted the black colors, the highest rank that could be attained in the village.

The 3 would be able to survive anything that the spirit world could throw at them.

Attia and Bellica were able to keep up with Riou’s traveling speed and even in training, they were becoming good opponents to him.

Their magic was varied and attended many needs, especially when fighting for survivability.

Riou taught tactics, traps, runes, enchanting and everything he could think of that would improve their chances.

Arthas specialized in swordsmanship and enhancement spells following the beastmen tradition. But he also studied some restoration and protective spells. And differently than the others, he was clearly being trained by Riou to be the village’s chief.

And so the time went on. While he was not on mission searching for a way back, he was at home. But despite where he was, his mind constantly wandered about. Wondering what had happened to a certain princess and old mage he once knew.

Amidst sleepless nights of pain, sweat and muscle contractions… his mind sought refuge on the memory of crystal blue eyes.

Holding on to the image of Eileen in mind he would withstand whatever that world could throw at him. No matter how long it would take, even if she had forgotten all about him. He promised himself to return and see her one last time at least.

---------------------------------- Somewhere North of Allard, Unknown time frame

It was a small lake from which suddenly a young man in his 24 years emerged.

He moved cautiously to its margins, all covered in black leather armor and dark blue cloth. He looked around after removing his hood and cloth from his face.

The older Riou had a beard and looked around the place with open eyes.

“In position” he said at the margin of the lake as his personal guard emerged from the waters following him. Attia and Bellica quickly positioned themselves nearby him, watching the surroundings with their hands on their weapons.

One after another, the villagers began to emerge from the small lake carrying many bags and supplies with them.

Attia and Bellica constantly looked up, completely curious to see that yellow thing shining on the sky. Riou smiled at them, knowing all too well that he was back to a less stranger world.

And the terrain seemed somewhat familiar to him as well.

Mountain ranges to the coast and to the west into the distance. He could see a forest to the east and green plains and fertile soil to the south. 

It was very cold, but there was no snow.

“We are in Allard’s territory… probably between Longart and Brigantium given these mountains, somewhere to the north of the main road probably.” said Riou while looking around, talking to himself with a smile.

Arthas approached him as the last villager emerged “Master, what do you wish to do now?”

Riou pondered for a moment. “Make a fire so everyone can dry themselves and fight the cold, gather everyone around it, I have something to say.”

Riou gathered them around the big pire of fire.

“You are back to your home world now. We are in a territory called Allard, founded by your hero of old. To the south of here, far away after a large body of water are the beastmen plains, a land formed by the white king. You are free to decide what you will do from now on… As you know, I’m not Arthur nor am I a beast king. So, please, you are dismissed from any duty towards me to do as you please in this new land” shouted Riou addressing everyone.

Arthas kneeled, followed by everyone else after Riou spoke, even the children, without a moment of delay.

Attia and Bellica kneeled towards him after rushing to his side.

“There are no words for us to thank you.” said Arthas, looking up to Riou.

Riou nodded with a smile. “Raise up my friend, there is no need for this…”

Arthas refused “I know we are unworthy… but please, heed once again our request. We have no place to call our own in this world. And you gave us so much... there is nothing we wish more than to remain by your side. We knew you’d say these words… and we already talked amongst ourselves, so please master, there is nothing we wish more than to continue to be by your side” spoke Arthas with deference.

“Allow us to be your sword and shield, eyes and hands, we will follow you to the abyss itself if necessary.” said another one from the crowd.

Riou sighed as everyone looked at him with pleading eyes.

He glanced at Attia and Bellica “We are yours to command” both of them said without even raising their heads, instinctively knowing he was looking at them.

He scratched his head, looking around once again. ‘Damn… I grew used to these guys, we spent so much time together.’

Riou looked at them once again. “Fine, after all, you are all free to do as you please… so for those who wish to stay, we will rebuild our home from scratch, right here in this land. A much better village than the one we had before… now get up, you are all wasting daylight! Get to work!”

Everyone smiled and shouted with happiness, quickly positioning themselves in their known groups to receive their assignments. They looked more like a well-trained army than people from a village at that point.

Even the children and elders were deadly after the second wave of training, no one was spared of improving themselves.

“Arthas, we will use this place as a foothold. We need to guard this lake since it has a connection to that world. Once we have everything going, let’s set some protection and traps on the other side as well. I have a feeling this may help us in the future”

“As you wish master” replied the lion with great pleasure.

“Well, you know what to do. Provide shelter to everyone and prepare. I don’t care whose lands these were. They are ours now.” Riou nodded to Arthas and continued, “I will have a look around and will be back by night time” Riou walked towards a large rock near the lake.

“Yes master. By the time you are back, the houses will be ready and the wall will be on the way. I will send scouts to look for cities nearby,” said Arthas.

Riou smiled. “Tell them to not kill anyone… there are no undead here and the cities are all populated with real people. Friendly people”

Arthas smiled. “So I’ve heard, but I will only believe it after I see one.”

Riou nodded and picked the almost forgotten half crystal from a battered old pouch. He set it on the stone carefully. “Nobody touches this until I get back” advised Riou as he opened the portal.

A dark room could be seen on the other of the portal. It resembled the room on the famous tavern that Riou used to go a long time ago. He smiled at the familiar sight. It seemed that despite the time that had passed by, Syldis still kept his room.

Attia and Bellica stood by his side ready to follow him.

Riou nodded to them and crossed the portal followed by the two lionesses.