The Lightbearer's Gift

Everything was being finalized for my departure from the capitol. As enjoyable as the experience was, the constant eyes on me were becoming uncomfortable. The leads on the second matriarch had gone completely dry. The only thing of significance that he found was that there was a meeting in the elven coalition with all matriarchs, they even invited Queen Sianna to attend. That was significant. The content of the meeting isn't known but anything that could push the matriarchs to invite the exiled queen was something important. Humans weren't actually allowed inside Isran itself. There was a small town a few miles out from the forest where humans and elves traded. Denerif had an agent in the town who pays good coin for information.

A groan from beside me brought me out of my contemplation. I was in one of the guest rooms in Denerif’s manse. And the night before I had sent for some entertainment. The whore was still here for some reason, sleeping next to me on the large four post bed. I shoved on the blonde woman's shoulder until she awoke her eyes, confused about where she was. My constitution was considerably higher than a normal humans, so I recovered from heavy drinking rather easily. The whore not so much.

Once her eyes focused on me. I pointed at the door and said. “Leave.”

It took another few seconds for the command to register.

“Yes Milord” she said, her breath stank of alcohol. So did mine most likely.

She spent some time searching the room for her clothes before she dressed and left. And I finally had my thoughts to myself.

I spent the last few days in deep contemplation trying to figure out what I wanted to do. While taking over some country was largely something I wanted to do out of vanity. I realized there could be an actual purpose. Considering how many lives it took to evolve a second time, a third would likely require at least 600 or maybe even close to a thousand lives. Gathering and holding that many humans to be consumed in such a brief time would require a large amount of effort. The cabal would never support such an endeavor. With such a large number of people the information would leak.

There was an island nation between the two continents called Moria ruled by some despot and his family. The capitol city was on the south coast and the ruling nobility were not kind to the citizenry; corruption, violence, and crime was rampant . This eventually lead to several failed rebellions. Since the south had the coin, more soldiers and two mages every attempt to fight was quelled. Now the rebellion was practically vestigial. I just had to strategically insert myself into the rebellion and take control. With my abilities, winning against the ruling family would be easy. Then I would have them eliminated and wrest control from the rest of the nobility.

The more I thought about it the more enthused I became. Feeling motivated I hopped out of bed and headed to the baths.

An hour later I left the manse on foot to enjoy the morning. I had my amplifier slung over my shoulder inside the carrying case and my sword was left in my room. I headed to the upper market intent on purchasing some maps and any books I could find on the island of Moria. Benny was out running some last-minute errands, and we were supposed to meet up later today. Apparently, she had something to show me.

The streets were clear for the most part, with little through traffic. At least that meant there would be very few stares. Usually, I would obscure my location, but we were leaving soon so it didn't matter. I would be half a continent away in a few hours. I stood in the middle of the street glancing at the many shops looking for a bookstore.

“Pardon me, My Lord,” someone said from behind me.

Strange that I didn't hear them approach, but it's not as if I was on high alert at the moment. It was a young brown haired human man. Smartly dressed, but every bit the servant. He stood a few feet away holding a velvet envelope. I had this happen to me dozens of times already, the best way to get rid of this errand boy was to simply accept the letter. I could also threaten them with death, but I was in a decent mood. I'll toss it into the fireplace later.

“Approach.” I said.

It was standard practice to only approach a noble with permission.

“A missive for a Lord Moon, from Lord Graymore.” the man said and strode forward, the letter in his left hand. He bowed and presented the letter holding it towards me. As soon as I touched the velvet envelope the man acted. In an instant he dropped the letter and grabbed my hand, pulling me off balance. In his right hand a dagger appeared from nowhere. With supernatural speed he slammed the dagger directly into my heart.

Or at least he tried. The dagger stopped as the blade met my shield. It had to be some kind of enchanted dagger to drain almost two thirds of my carapace’s strength, not even an overcharged fireball could do that much damage at this level of overcharge. I wasn’t passive however; in the same instant I summoned a radiant lance directly next to his head, almost as fast as he drew the dagger. The cylinder of light burned a hold directly through his skull killing him instantly. I watched in macabre fascination as the man's form blurred, and there, lying dead, was an elven woman. Though she still had the same brown hair.

I didn't even have time to react to that information as warning bells started to sound in the ether. Five, no? Ten? No there were more. Twenty? Thirty spells were released as soon as the elf fell. My radiant shield popped into existence. I pumped ether into the spell as fast as I could. It expanded to around ten feet across before the spells impacted. Fire, ice, wind, earth, water. Pummeled my shield, blocking out my vision, and draining massive amounts of ether in the process. But I was not the Lightbearer for no reason. I refuse to allow the barrier to drop.

Almost a minute of constant bombardment passed before I could even see outside the shield. While it was happening, I pulled my amplifier out of my carrying case. And recast the radiant carapace overcharging it to over 20 times its normal strength. I looked at the dead elf and its dagger. It was an ornate silver, similar to Lilian’s, with the exception of a powerful enchantment. There was no spellscript to read. And other than some strange patterns in the ether. I couldn't really tell what the enchantment did, other than it was quite strong. I shrugged and tossed the dagger into my carrying case and slung it back over my shoulder. The lighten enchantment on the case itself made it feel like I wasn’t carrying anything.

I created another shield using the amplifier after a small delay in the absolute bombardment of spells. I dismissed the first shield and replaced it with the second. Now that I was fueling the shield using the amplifier I wouldn't have to worry about the stamina drain from sustaining it. The bombardment from my 5 assassins was a light evening rain compared to what the elves were doing.

Finally, it ended, some idiot probably realized that they weren't getting through the shield anytime soon. Surrounding me in the large open square were 30 elves. They were all female from what I could see, with matching nondescript brown leather armor. Though from the ether I could tell that they had some strange, enchanted items on their person. Elven magic was a strange thing, it was less casting and more directly manipulating the ether that they had affinity with. Streams of fire or blades of ice simply appeared with no circuit.

The entire area was devastated, and the smooth orderly cobbles were gone. There were massive craters of burnt earth, a pool of lava was right next to me and above my shield seemed to be the remnant of a gigantic stone fist. They were standing in a rough semi-circle, hands extended, waiting for something. Were they waiting for me to drop my shield? As if I would, I will sit here like a turtle for the entire day before I drop this shield. Soon enough the guards will turn up and numbers won't be on their side.

“Did you morons really think that would have worked? I'm literally called the Lightbearer. No one can get through my shields.”

They did not respond, just stood there like statues.

“Oh, come now, at least banter with me, the last ones didn't.”

It was a bit awkward, no one was doing anything, and I certainly wasn't going to drop the shield. A massive explosion to the south caught my attention. It was too far from me to feel the shift in ether, but by the diminishing pressure wave in the sky and the sonic boom, that was an overcharged air blast. Dread started to mount as I assumed that had to be Benny. My standing order was, as it always was, if you're in danger hold nothing back. She was going to the markets by the docks for some shopping. It would take me over an hour to get there on foot.

Then my eyes flicked back to the elves as I realized their plan. I had to choose to drop the shield and face them or let my apprentice die.

Noire! she could get to Benny. Unfortunately, Benny couldn't command her and sending her to grab Benny at an opportune time was too complex a command to give her without constant direction. I revised my plan. I don't have to win here; I simply have to create an opening for Noire to grab me. It would take no more than a minute to reach Benny’s location.

‘Noire come to me.’ I commanded through our connection; she was nesting over at Denerif’s so she shouldn't even take more than 30 seconds to get to me. I agonized over the decision, but I didn't have too much time to consider every detail. A piercing shriek echoed across the city. It was loud and filled with pain.

Noire was clearly being attacked. I focused on the connection to Noire in the ether.

I practically screamed along the connection. ‘ESCAPE AND COME TO ME.’

The screams became louder and more frantic before they were cut off. I watched as the connection faded into nothing. That could only mean Noire was dead. Another blast in the distance once more, likely another one of Benny’s spells. Good she was still in the fight. I refocused on the elves forcing Benny out of my mind to concentrate on the battle. I didn't have too much time, so I was going to hold nothing back.

Pushing my control to its limits I summoned 4 more circuits bringing my total to five. I firmly grasped my staff in my right hand and focused on the elves. They were only a hundred feet away, well within my range.

I dropped the shield unleashing 3 radiant lances. Aimed at different elves, the ones on the edge and one in the center. The near 300-foot-long cylinder of light instantly killed two of the elves but there was a pulse in the ether from the one in the center and to my fascination the lance literally curved around the group of elves. As if a prism was refracting it. They did not sit idly by however as they released a cacophony of fire spells at me, but one of those 4 spells was a shield that I instantly raised. Blocking what appeared to be hundreds of blades of fire.

The elves remade their formation into a tighter group probably to allow whatever light blocking spell that mage used to cover everyone. Testing again I repeated with three radiant lances and like before there was a pulse as soon as I dropped the shield, and the lances warped around them. They responded with a lance of ice that extended from the palm of one of the elves. It rocketed towards me so fast that it almost reached me before my shield activated. The lance of ice connected with my shield and started spidering out and then stopping. MY shield was actually being drained from being in contact with the ice.

I reduced the size slightly to stop the drain. The lance wouldn't work anymore so we just have to go for a more direct approach. They were all bundled up so might well go for absolute destruction. I summoned 3 air blasts and an additional shield, perfectly willing to devastate the entire area. I pushed the spells to their limits. Let’s see how they handle this. I released.

To my utter fascination instead of detonating they veered off course one flying to the right detonating in the distance. The other two flying off into the air. Of course, they responded in kind with their own spells, but my shield was already up.

I took a deep breath and decided to go all out. Pushing my control and senses to the limit. Fireball airblast; airblade; For each spell regardless of the type were, either blocked or deflected. Back and forth we went, for nearly a minute exchanging over a hundred spells and the entire area was completely devastated. A FEW WERE ABLE TO GET THROUGH injuring an elf, but it wasn’t enough. Any projectile based spell if it was a spell construct, they simply redirected, that means I have to try physical attacks. Which means earth and water spells.

I need to break apart their formation. Let’s see of that barrier can handle every other attenuation. I created Earth Barrage, Ice rain. I dropped the shield and released them, the ground in front of where my shield was, simply detonated. The blast of fire didn't hurt me, but the concussive force sent me flying. My carapace absorbed most of the blast and I held on to my amplifier, but I tumbled, flipping end over end along the street of the upper quarter, sliding to a stop. I was glad at least that I heard some high-pitched screams of pain before I was blasted off into the distance.

As soon as I stopped, I raised a shield knowing that they would have another attack planned. I hopped to my feet. A literal fist of stone fell from the heavens and smashed against the shield. The absurd drain sending me to my knees. But I persisted. Using a bit of living ether, a healed the cracked ribs and broken arm from the explosion. Was that some kind of remotely detonated magical bomb? I shifted my glance into the ether.

“Damn elves.” I whispered to myself.

There were hundreds of odd concentrations of ether in the ground all around me; they definitely weren't there before. I had to keep my vision in the ether if I dropped the shield, they would simply detonate the one nearest to me. The elves spread out this time though there were only 22 of them now. I refreshed my carapace once more, not liking how much power that blast drained. Almost a third. Where the blast had occurred was a massive crater.

Another explosion sounded off in the distance, reminding me of the fight Benny was in. Where were the guards, they should have been here at this point. No, they weren't coming. I was on my own for the moment. I needed to start heading to where Benny was. I didn’t have the time to slowly wear down their numbers. I needed something big and indirect, not projectile based. They were spread out waiting for me to drop my shield. Flicking through all the spells in my mind I decided on Sun.

Unlike meteor it didn't need to be cast in two parts. The only problem was that I would be in its range. I didn't care about the burns; I just wanted to kill or cripple a large number of the elves. I could use an earthen wall for cover. Taking my staff in hand I began casting the master level spell pumping massive amounts of ether into the circuit. Once I dropped my shield, no doubt they would detonate another bomb. But I can tank the blast and fortunately, I didn't need to sustain the sun. It would shine until the construct ran out of ether. The bomb will help me get out of its range. I could actually maneuver the orb before I triggered the spell, but I doubt they would give me the time.

I dropped the shield and pushed the orb as far away as I could before several bombs detonated and I went flying. Again, my carapace saved my life, though I was flown hundreds of feet into the air. I smashed into a neighboring rooftop before rolling off and clattering onto the ground.

The Sun spell activated in the same moment, and everything turned white. I managed to get my head straight and cast earthen wall as fast as I could. Even behind the wall the heat was sweltering. I smiled and I heard the scream of dying elves. Good riddance, after barely 15 seconds the light cut off.

What? That should have lasted several minutes. Somehow, they destroyed the spell construct itself. I coughed up blood and started repairing the broken ribs, punctured lung, and shattered collarbone. with a combination of living ether and overcharged healing light spells. Using my staff to help me up I peered around the 10-foot wall while looking into the ether.

The cobblestones were glowing white hot; however, the magical bombs were gone. Perhaps the one that cast it was dead? Burnt Elven corpses littered the ground. Not all were dead though, since there were several domes of white smooth stone. Now was the chance I had to make my leave. I cast Strengthen overcharging it to increase my physical strength. And began sprinting down the wide cobblestone path towards the lower city. I sprinted past the domes. As I ran, I sent massive fireballs and airblasts at them but to my surprise they didn’t so much as singe the outside. The sparse amount of people in the early morning was gone and the streets were barren. But the farther I got from the battlefield the more people I saw.

I even started seeing guards, some nobles started to yell and point as I sprinted towards them. Were they forming some kind of barricade? Men on horses were shepherding people away from the location. I spotted one guard on a horse and sprinted towards him. MY fine white clothes were stained with dirt and blood. I never expected I would be attacked so I didn’t wear my enchanted armor.

“Halt.” A guard shouted.

At this everyone's attention was turned to me. Over 30 guards started drawing weapons and a few created spell circuits. A few bolts of fire and spikes of ice came at me, but I simply summoned and dismissed a shield to block them each time. I reached the man on the horse, and I knocked him off with an ice spike. It was actually powerful enough to kill the man, but his armor seemed to be enchanted. I vaulted onto the brown mare and spurred her on to the exit of the upper quarter.

With one hand on the reins, I kicked the horse into a gallop, casting a strengthen on the horse itself. I galloped past the open exit leaving the guards and startled nobles in the dust. We sprinted through the streets dodging people, carts, merchants, and other horses. Generally causing chaos at our high speed.

I raised my shield to block a lance of ice. I spared a glance to note an elf in burnt armor standing there on top of a roof.

Dammit how did they catch up. Magical bullshit probably, the elf literally started to hop from roof to roof. With around 10 following behind her. I summoned a radiant lance, overcharged it, and pointed it on the roofs to hopefully catch them. The lance of light tore through the building causing collapses and sending people screaming. I released fireballs, air blasts constantly towards the rooftops. Some detonated against the building while others were reflected. Only managing to catch one of the following elves. The horse started to slow so I cast an invigorate and pumped living ether into the mare. This was enough to get her back up to full gallop. Glancing along the passing rooftops I noticed there were no elves to be seen.

A fiery explosion to the east was enough to alert me where Benny was. Good she had the same idea I had since she was coming closer. Guessing where she was, I noticed she was only a few minutes away. This caused a lapse in my focus, and I was too late to react to another lance of ice. It connected with my carapace draining is strength and snaking around me. The force of the lance was enough to knock me from the horse sending me into a building. Not caring who was hit I summoned an overcharged stream of fire and air. The two spells enhance each other. From the wreckage of the building the massive cone of fire burned and destroyed everything in its path, catching every shop stall and human who was unfortunate enough to be in range. The ice that was wrapping around my chest broke apart and fell. Though it was enough to drain my shield completely. What kind of spell was that?

Instantly I started to recast the radiant carapace without bothering to use my amplifier. What I could only describe as an ice arrow buried itself in my left shoulder before the spell was cast. Dammit I didn't even feel a fluctuation in the ether. Still the arrow froze everything it came into contact, doing tremendous damage to the flesh beneath. At least it wasn’t progressing further. I sprinted out of the building noting only 8 elves along the rooftops. The horse was dead so I would have to continue on foot. For hundreds of feet down the road the streets were completely consumed with fire. I didn’t bother thinking about how many people were caught in the flames. Spells rained down; I blocked them in time. Not even bothering to respond, I simply ran towards Benny’s location.

The elves would rain down spells, but they were neither as many nor as powerful as before. I ignored the pain from my shoulder and sprinted along, occasionally bringing up a radiant shield. To block a barrage of spells. Without their numbers they couldn't hope to get past my shield now. Finally, I reached the area Benny was fighting in. I followed the trail of destroyed buildings, craters, and the mangled bodies of humans. I even spotted a dead elf or two. The streets were barren of people. It took another five minutes but eventually, I turned a corner and saw some people standing around someone lying prone on the ground. Unmoving.

Blue nondescript armor, masks. They turned around at my approach and started to cast. They had no chance though. The three were inside the range of my radiant lance and no human can match my casting speed. Instantly I severed their legs at the knees with one lance. The pain was enough to break their concentration. I killed two and left one alive. The elves took this chance to launch a few spells at me, but I easily blocked them. I didn't even bother to look back. I sprinted towards Benny, sliding to a stop ignoring the man screaming and clutching his severed legs.

I cast a radiant shield fueling it with my staff. In the same moment I created 4 healing spells overcharging to dozens of times their normal strength. Benny was face down on the ground, so I turned her over and started pushing living ether into her. But there was nothing. The ether washed off of her as if I was trying to heal a rock. I switched my vision into the ether and that was enough to confirm.

Benny was dead and her soul wasn't there anymore, without a soul there was no living ether. I tried again forcing ether into the body. It was just enough to be able to see how much damage she sustained. Broken ribs, punctured lungs, cracked skull and massive Intracerebral hemorrhaging. I moved her brown hair away from her eyes. Most of her injuries were internal, likely from being flung around by enemy spells. She wasn't skilled enough with light magic to cast radiant carapaces yet so once they got through my carapace their greater numbers won out. Still, she managed to kill two of them. I closed her eyes and arranged her more respectfully. They will pay for this.

The elves were still there waiting for an opportunity to attack. I slapped a hand down on the screaming man's face and rendered him unconscious.

I was too late. I sighed as I turned to the 8 remaining elves. I removed the ice arrow from my shoulder and repaired the damaged flesh. I dropped my staff and prepared to fight.

Five minutes later and four of the elves were dead. The other four were prone, unconscious, to an airblast that caught them off guard. I dragged them a small distance away from benny. I arranged them in a neat line and starting with the first one, a lovely blonde elf I put a hand on her face and using living ether severed the connection from her spine to her limbs. Making her a quadriplegic but leaving her sense of feeling. Then I woke her up.

Her blue eyes flicked open, fear showing as I looked down at her coldly. Without saying anything I disabled her voice box. Then I ignited every single pain receptor in her body. I didn't even want to imagine what kind of mind melting agony it must be. I made sure to monitor her health the entire time ensuring that she didn’t die in the process. After counting to one hundred I stopped.

In an emotionless voice I said. “I'm going to ask you some questions. You will answer them honestly. If you lie, I will leave you in that state permanently. Do you understand?”

She nodded frantically, with tears flowing from her eyes.

“Who sent you?”

“Matriarch Xalia.” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

“Why would she want me dead? I thought it was known that I had no interest in elven affairs.”

“Yes, it is and when she told the rest of the matriarchs and Queen Sianna your words verbatim, they were outraged by the disrespect of our ancestors.”

“Then why, that would essentially guarantee her position.”

She swallowed, “It did, for a while, but a few things you said lingered, and your words started to fester. “The past is dead and gone.” “It's best to tear it down and start over.” “Arlathan is a monument to failure and stupidity, not something worth desiring.”

She swallowed once more, her mouth dry. I cast water stream and allowed her to drink then she continued. “More elves started to hear your words, they were crude, disrespectful, irreverent to the point or rage inducing. But they were not wrong, for centuries elves clung to their past while the humans grew to surpass us. But the arrival of the last royal male, one so irreverent one that if given power would destroy the old elven world and rebuild it as he saw fit, things began to shift. Some started to wonder if it would not be better to simply wed the two royals and return the royal heritage to the elves. Then your unique abilities come into play. With flying mounts, we would be able to rebuild our fallen dominion. None could match elven power. Ever since the end of the royals we have been in decline.”

So, I started to understand. “Given time the sentiment would grow, and it would erode Xalia’s position.”

“Yes, your first assassination was largely on a whim. Xalia and Boriel heard that a royal was alive. This was a threat to them so they decided it's best to kill you. They used a group from the underworld famous for killing mages. They failed and it was months before you turned up again with an apprentice and a flying etheric beast. Your power, even greater. Killing you was'nt the best option anymore. But one meeting with you was enough to make her realize that she could never control you. She would have killed any male in an instant for such the disrespect you showed her she assumed the rest would be as repulsed, so she invited Sianna to crush any aspirations she has for you.”

At this point I was sitting cross legged next to her head holding my staff in one hand maintaining a shield at least two hundred feet across so I could have privacy.

“So, she decided to send you all after her plan backfired. Killing me would kill the idea and end any plan Sianna had.”

“Essentially, but we were running out of time, we had to attack when you were separated from your apprentice. She saved your life so we were confident that you would not abandon her to death. Though we didn't know how fast you could cast, nor that you could use 5 circuits simultaneously. Poisons wouldn't work and mage killers couldn't get past the carapace. By the ancestors how much ether was in that carapace.” she just started rambling.

Mage killer? I assume she meant the dagger.

I wanted some more focused information. “Who in the imperial family helped fund my assassination.”

She rolled her eyes. “The first prince.”

“Why would he care about me?”

“He wanted the secrets to elven enchanting; we promised him it in exchange for coin. The fool didn't realize that all the text would be in ancient royal elvish. Tired of living in his sister’s shadow I suppose. Not even I can translate them. He didn't even ask for what we wanted the coin. Once we realized where you were going the guards were removed from the area by his order though this time, he knew we were going after you since they were tracking your movements as well.”

I almost wanted him to be some dastardly mastermind, not just some fool seeking glory and getting caught up in elven plans.

“What will you do now?” she asked.

“It's simple, I will take the heads of Xalia and Boriel, even if I have to make a mountain of elven corpses. But first I'm going to massacre every member of the underworld I can find in the city, after torturing the information out of that fool.” I said pointing to the assassin.

“And us?” she said.

“Death.”

“Ah I see, no less than we deserve, my apologies for the death of your apprentice Benny and your Mount Noire, but a matriarch's orders cannot be refused. May I request a quick death.” she asked.

“Very well”

I rendered her unconscious and ripped the living ether from her soul. Killing her. Interestingly, elves had around 50% more living ether than a human. I couldn't care less if they were ordered. Everyone had a choice in life, they chose to obey the command, they chose to risk the consequences of failure. Now they will pay the price.

Half an hour later and every elf was dead, as well as the human mage. The story was the same, some had more detail, some had less but there were never any inconsistencies.

The human mage squealed like a pig, giving me the location of many of the underworld's hideouts. Then I ramped up his pain for nearly 10 minutes until his heart burst. I looked at the bodies and found a water and fire amplifier on two of the mages. They were crude and bleeding ether, honestly it was best if I just took the gems and remade them.

Then I turned to Benny and cast telekinesis on her body lifting her gently off the ground, I very much doubted that another attack would occur but just in case I cast another carapace. I headed towards Denerif’s home. It was still early in the morning, and I had a lot of killing to do before I left the city. People watched me pass in fear. One group of guards stumbled upon me. They began to march towards me before one man stopped them, a conversation was had, and they ran off. I Walked towards the noble quarter observing the destruction done to the city during the battle. Fires were spreading across the city, probably from my fire spell. I couldn’t care less, as far as I was concerned, it was self-defense.

Denerif found me before I made it to his home. His large black enhanced warhorse skidded to a stop as he saw me walking towards him. Then he glanced at Benny's floating body and noted my dead expression.

“I’m sorry Moon.” he said.

I kept my voice neutral. “It's fine, can you find me a safe place in your home to keep her body until I finish my business. Also gather all our things as well as a few months of supplies in a carriage.”

He nodded and said. “It will be done within the hour. What will you do in the meantime?”

“Killing the underworld. I’ll be done in a few hours.”

It took more than a few hours. That mage had a lot of information, hideouts, bars, taverns, brothels, and secret meeting places. I didn't ask questions, I just walked in and started killing, I would leave a few alive and just torture them for information. Then I continued the slaughter, it is a wonder that no guard came to stop me. The only benefit was the large amount of living ether that I had harvested.

Still the killing couldn't last forever. After leaving another hideout in flames and devoid of life I headed to a tavern and found it abandoned. This repeated several times before I concluded that most were in hiding. Still the death toll was over 500. I killed everyone with even the slightest connection to the underworld. Barmen, guards, runners, bookmakers, gang leaders, pawnshops loan sharks and a few mages. Nearly a third of the lower quarter was burning. It didn't matter if they begged, pleaded, or surrendered. It didn't even matter if they were innocent or ignorant. There was no mercy in my heart.

Fourteen hours of work later I entered Denerif’s manor, the sun starting to dip below the horizon. Outside was Denerif and a few of his staff. The large two horse wagon was packed with everything I had specified.

“My thanks Denerif.” I said as I approached him.

There was an odd screech from the carriage, so I had to walk over and check. Benny’s body was laid in the center covered in clean white cloth. Her body must have been prepared. One side was a cage with and odd lizard creature. It had white scales and blue eyes with wings that folded. It crawled along the cage walls like a bat. A wyvern? It was barely 3 feet long.

Denerif had come over and said. “She bought it yesterday and wanted to show it off to you. Apparently, she had been looking for just the right one for weeks.”

“Ah, I see,” I said, not really listening.

“I'm sure I’ve caused quite the stir, so I think it's best I leave for some time. When I'm ready I'll contact our friends. It was the first prince and Xalia. I'm not sure how the empire will react to the destruction and the many dead in the lower quarters. But I can guess it's not good. I'll take my pound of flesh from the prince in time but not now.”

Denerif ever the pragmatic man said. “It will cause problems, but they can be managed. Some rumors of the imperial paying off elves to kill you and your apprentice should keep them occupied. Apparently, there were a lot of casualties from bystanders. We will shift the blame from you to the treachery of the imperial family. Fortunately, Princess Morianne is not in the city so no one can stop you at the moment.”

I didn't really care how he wanted to spin it. “Do as you wish. I will retrieve Noire and see to the burials myself.”

I headed to the rear of the house and found Noire’s body. There were massive burns along her wings as if she was held with burning rope. One leg was completely severed. It would appear that something had pierced her heart. From Denerif's report she managed to kill one of the elves that attacked her which, was satisfying to hear.

With Denerif’s help I left the city in the dead of night, though with the giant floating body of Noire following behind I doubt it was anonymous. There was a mountain range to the west of the city, which would be a decent location. I kicked the horses into motion and headed west, the incline slowly increasing. The constant drain of Noire's body was becoming a problem, but I pushed through it. I followed winding roads and steep paths using living ether to push the horses past their natural limit.

The travel went on for hours with nothing but my thoughts plaguing me. Oddly numb from the events. Complacency that’s what it was, my smug self-satisfaction from my own abilities was what caused me to lose focus on the danger. People were trying to kill me so why would they not try to target my apprentice. I never expected they would be desperate to make such a bold attack. Hiding the full extent of my abilities proved to be a double-edged sword. It gave me the advantage when in direct confrontation. But in the same breath gave them false hope that they could win. Which led them to think using Benny as a crutch would mean victory. I never really considered that I had any chance of losing.

In a way I didn’t, but this day did not feel like a victory. I had the bitter taste of defeat. The body of my apprentice in the back of my carriage served as a constant reminder of the price of my arrogance. I need to be more present; I think. I should have prioritized getting Benny to a second evolution, pushed her to choose a mount quicker and not dallying about trying to find the perfect one. Because of my power I felt like I had all the time in the world, never realizing how close death could be. I would simply have to live with this failure and do better in the future.

After nearly a day of travel I finally found a location that seemed appropriate. I was on a large plateau with the sun just starting to crest above the horizon. It was a large circular area of mostly short grass around a thousand feet above ground level. Even though the sun was just starting to rise most of the stars were out and the sky looked beautiful. Using an earthen wall spell I created a platform about knee high.

I went back to the carriage and lifted the white cloth to see her face one last time. It was gray and lifeless, no sign of the bright young girl.

I gently carried her from the carriage by hand and lowered her onto the platform.

Then I created a larger platform for Noire behind benny. I didn’t really know what to say so I just said whatever was on my mind.

“I never asked how you would prefer to be buried, mostly because I never considered you would die. Warriors in this world are often cremated and you once said that you don't want to die in that forest, buried not a few minutes walk from your birthplace. So perhaps this is appropriate.”

Strange it hasn’t even been a year since I’ve known her.

“10 Months Benny, that’s all the time we had. I never told you I'm not from this world. I was someone else, another name, another place, another body. I don't know if I had children. But I wouldn't mind calling you daughter.”

“But now I will never have that chance. I don’t think I’ll ever find another like you in this world.”

I thought back to her callous ruthlessness when I brought up the topic of draining humans for power and chuckled. I thought back to first meeting her in that forest.

“You know when I ran into those men, I nearly killed myself trying to get away from them. Somehow you managed to kill two and a few elves. That's damn impressive my apprentice. I am so proud.”

From the devastation in the city, she must have put on a hell of a show.

“I could only imagine the heights you would have reached. Hopefully, your next life is a good one if reincarnation is your destiny. Perhaps we can meet again, as unlikely as that sounds.”

“Goodbye Benny Solaris, my apprentice, my daughter, may you find peace.”

I used the advanced version of the candle spell to create large fires around both Benny and Noire. I sat on the ground for hours watching as the bodies burned to ash. I used significantly larger flames for Noire to quicken the process. The sun was high in the air by the time the spell ran its course, and nothing was left but gray ashes. Using a cone of air, I blasted the ashes into the air allowing them to fly away freely into the wind. I stared numbly as they drifted and disappeared.

I sat there for hours my rage boiling and fading into nothing repeatedly, both at the elves; and my ineptitude. I didn't think they would attack while I was in the city. And on such a scale, it seemed too foolish.

A small shriek from the back of the carriage snapped me out of my mood and I went back to check on the wyvern. In the light it was rather fearsome looking with sharp spines on its head. Inside its mouth was filled with sharp teeth and when it extended his wings, they had a blood red hew. Without melanin the blood vessels gave the wings thier color. The only thing with any real color was its blue eyes. It had to be leucistic then.

I imagine she was ecstatic when she found this wyvern. A small smile came across my face. Which quickly faded and turned into sadness, then rage. Yes, this creature will be the tool of my revenge. I met the creature's blue eyes and tried to think of a name. I smiled again knowing exactly what Benny would have named it.

“Baelathor, that will be your name.”

End of Book 1