Velicion stared down at the various runes and ancient arcane letterings that resulted in a completed teleportation circle as she quietly contemplated the results of her hurried workmanship. Within this hastily prepared circle were reinforced lines that slowly morphed into peculiar shapes that had smaller twins copied into their delicately drawn forms. These shapes were accompanied by the ancient language of magic that all users of magic must learn if they wished to cast even the simplest of spells.


    A hand cupped the bottom of her chin as she eyed the various flaws that were visible to her trained eyes after the initial look over. These flaws were minor in detail and wouldn''t prove themselves as hindrances in what she wished to accomplish in several hours from now, but her pride as a sorceress would take a hit if she were to let them be.


    The fact that she so desperately wanted to return to the metaphorical drawing board and fix up the mistakes that she had made in a rush to save those under her care was neither here nor there. The circle was finished, and her desires to perfect the ritual site had to be abandoned if the sorceress was to accomplish her main task at hand.


    Velicion clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth at the thought of teleporting a large group of people to a faraway land. Her goal wasn''t an impossible task to do. She had read on the subject, written her own theories about it, heard about it being done and had even seen the teleportation being done on a very minute scale.


    The only issue was the fact that there were over a dozen teenagers she needed to teleport at once while she would be left behind. Exhausted, and alone with no backup to support her deathly drained form.


    A nearby explosion rocked the earth around her feet, vaporizing her thoughts into the hazy nether that served as her unconscious mind.


    ''Disgusting chattel,'' The sorceress''s thoughts turned towards the humans who had failed to hold their ground and had been routed within a matter of an hour upon contact with the enemy. She had hoped that her allies would prove themselves the victor at the end of the day, but she had been sorely mistaken to place her trust in an army that was nothing more than a glorified peasant mob. ''The least they could do is to serve as glorified target practice for the goblins and their artillery.''


    Velicion shook her head in disgust over her own thoughts as a lonely sigh escaped from her lips. Her frustrations over the day''s events had gotten the better of her, and she had allowed her anger to transform her usually professional attitude.


    With the exception of the young Iskra, the fates of the humans were of little concern for her. All that she needed to do was to cast a communication spell with someone back at Tor’a’noc, the massive citadel that serves as her family''s seat of power and have them serve as both an anchor point for the ritual and a secondary caster. Two people were required for the spell to work, and she needed someone of a moderate skill level.


    There were several people that she could think of that would be of help to her. One of them was in the far north of the world, traversing the harsh lands of the frozen wastelands that were home to hordes of demons. Another was her husband; the rightful heir to all of elven kind, but the man was an unreliable sex maniac who, depending on his mood, would take far too long to even get to the teleportation room without having his other wives vie for his undivided attention.


    Thankfully the self-proclaimed Witch-King of the Dark Elves had an unhealthy fetish for sorceress women and had over a dozen wives who were all sorceresses of various skill levels. So Velicion had plenty of options to pick from when it came to choosing who she should or shouldn''t choose to help her.


    The only real problem that she had was that those that she wished to help her in her time of need either hated her guts or were woefully unreliable when it came to time management.


    Thankfully she would be able to use Prince Aurelius''s name as a means to lock down those she wished to receive help from. All of the members of the Witch-King''s harem were well aware of their Arch-Mistress''s love for her youngest son, and most feared the wrath of the first picked queen of the elves. So it was only natural for Velicion to use the boy as her trump card.


    Another nearby, but still relatively distant, explosion rocked the earth, yet the sorceress paid little attention to the matter. Velicion had long given up the idea of being concerned for the groups'' safety when it came to the enemy''s bombardment of Ruined Home. At one point, during the initial moments of the siege, the sorceress had blamed poor marksmanship for the enemy''s inability to hit anything of note. Yet, it quickly became apparent to Velicion that the artillery''s crew were more interested in inflicting as much destruction as possible upon the human encampment.


    Goblins and orcs were two races that cared little for the beauty that the more civilized races created throughout the years and loved nothing more than to wreak havoc upon the world around them.


    Velicions blatant disregard for the actions of her enemies came to a slow but methodical stop when she realized that a concerned voice had been calling out to her.


    "-ress Velicion!" Shouted Varrik, a boastful boy that had managed to make friends with the sorceress''s half-son in a relatively quick manner. Something that the motherly concubine was glad for, as the young prince had been without friends for most of his entire life. A consequence of the overly protective actions of the boy''s mother.


    Another explosion erupted from the ground around them, forcing quickly heated chunks of mud to rain down upon their many forms.


    "What do you want us to do?" The young teenager allowed his question to hang in the air, confident that the sorceress was aware of the intent behind him asking for direction.


    The teenager, whose hair was as white as the freshly fallen snow, winced in pain as hot chunks of dried mud smacked into his arm, forcing the boy to quickly scrape off the chunks of super-heated dirt while he waited for a reply


    Velicion looked at the boy with a face that only a mother could make. She had told the group of teenagers to remain close and stick together so often that she had wondered if that was all she knew what to say. She had even gone so far as to force the group to recant her instructions on multiple occasions as they ran around their portion of the encampment as they picked up the last of the youthful elven nobility.


    The sorceress was well aware that no one within the adventuring party was thrilled to be treated like newborn infants, but Velicion didn''t care. She needed to get the large group of teenagers to the back of the encampment and teleport the hastily created elven expedition back to their homeland where they would no longer be in danger.


    "Remain as you are and stick close to me," Velicion said with confidence to the boy who could only look at her with a concerned face. The young boy opened his mouth but quickly closed it as he watched the sorceress incant a spell that bathed her right hand in flames. For the next part of her plan to work, Velicion needed to light a fire and incant a quick spell that would allow her to communicate through the recently lit fire. "I want another headcount. Are we all here and present?"


    "Mistress Velicion," Varrik said with a hurried voice as he turned to look around him, ensuring that he did as he was asked while also trying to grab the attention of the powerful sorceress. "I don''t think that- Wait."


    The boy''s confused voice fell into silence as he scanned his immediate surroundings. There were several pressing matters that he wanted to address with Velicion, but the young noble''s mind had stalled out on him as he tried to think of what he should bring up first.


    Eventually, the etiquette of Dark Elven noble society had won in the end, and the words that next escaped his lips brought a sharp breath from the sorceress. "Where''s Aurelius?"


    Velicion''s eyes went wide as she quickly turned around, nearly jumping into the air to avoid twisting up her feet as she called out for the elven prince at the top of her lungs. "Aurelius!"


    Concerned frustration quickly morphed into anger as her eyes failed to catch sight of the golden-haired prince. The elven woman''s usually calm face burned with a fiery rage that only a mother could produce when upset over the actions of an undisciplined child. "Aurelius! Stand in front of me now!"


    As soon as those words left her mouth, Velicion''s thoughts turned towards the frustratingly absent visage of Iskra''s unmistakable form.


    "Where''s Iskra?" The elven mother turned to look towards Varrik, who could only offer a confused look in response to the woman''s inquiry.


    "Who?" The boy asked as he failed to come up with a face to the name.


    "The girl," The sorceress shouted as she brought out her hands to mimic the human teenager''s impressive bust. "The one with the massive tits!"


    "Oh-Uh-" Varrik covered his ears and recoiled back in fright as the ear-piercing screams of the elven sorceress assaulted his senses. The unbridled rage that came from the sorceress was a new sight to behold for the young elven lord, as it was the first time that he had seen a parent so concerned for a child that wasn’t their own. A factor in part due to the fact that the boy had grown up in an emotionally cold and physically distant noble family that saw little use in showing affection to the children that had the misfortune of being born after their firstborn son and daughter. "Well-"


    "I haven’t seen her since we passed through all of that siege equipment the humans made!" Another voice rang out, bringing attention to the group''s chaotic foray into the encampments artillery batter. Other voices rang out in support of the second voice as several others began to offer their own words in the matter.


    Velicion, red-faced and clenching her shaking fists with near unbridled rage, allowed her frustration to manifest itself in a monstrous and deeply guttural growl as she snapped her neck towards the center of the raging inferno that was once called Ruined Home.


    In doing so, the sorceress had caught sight of an approaching horde of goblins, orcs, wargs, and trolls. The hideous and gangly limbed creatures would be upon them in mere moments.


    "Of all of the-" Velicion screamed as she turned her attention towards the band of misfit elven nobles.


    The emotions that raged upon her face was all that was needed to be said for the teenagers to form a defensive position around the angered sorceress.


    "I tried to tell you about them!" Varrik nervously let out before quickly shrinking beneath the sorceress''s burning gaze.


    No one else dared to say a word as the group continued to close ranks and rallied themselves for a tough fight ahead.


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    Blink, had the look of someone that couldn''t believe what had just happened.


    Blink, or otherwise called by the name of Warp, or Jump, it was said that the caster needed to be cautious when breaking out of the realm of reality and into the other-world that lay between the various planes of existence. If you weren''t, then one would find themselves in the exact type of situation that the young elven prince had landed himself in.


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    ''Is it actually not dead?''  Aurelius asked himself as he watched a small number of sinewy strands of muscle strain against the dead weight of the miserable creature''s nearly decapitated skull.


    Kron''ha," The boy heard himself sing as his body was quick to react against the newfound threat and shift itself over to reach out and punch the nearest body. As it swung through the air, Aurelius’ fist became engulfed in a bright purple haze before brutally connecting with the face of its intended target, a goblin with a heavily scarred face. The young prince was taken aback as the creature’s head exploded in a gore riddled shower of shattered fragments of its skull and liquefied brain ooze.


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