《Breaker of Chains》 Prologue Standing on a hill overlooking a hidden valley was a lone figure wrapped in a blood-stained cloak. The wind fitfully pulled at the cloak, a bit of unseasonably cold in the air. The sun had long ago fallen below the horizon, and in the light of the twin moons it was bright enough to easily make out the cloaked figure. She was a young girl with ghostly grey hair. She was staring at the quiet town in the middle of the valley. The town itself had only a few lights lit at this time of night, almost no motion was visible from the hill. Kay¡¯rin stared at the town she grew up in. It was a little hovel, hidden away in a valley. She had no fond memories of this place, excepting it was where she met her only friend. Her friend was special to her. When she had been at the worst point in her life her friend had come to her and helped her. Rescued her. She never told anyone about her friend, as her friend begged her never to talk about her to anyone. ¡°Melis? Why did you want me to return?¡± Kay¡¯rin¡¯s voice was quiet and shy, she spoke into the quiet lonely night as if expecting an answer. ¡°Because you¡¯ve been fighting with me recently Rin. I was hoping returning here could help renew our friendship.¡± Melis¡¯s voice was confident and cold ¡°I didn¡¯t fight with you Meli.¡± Kay¡¯rin¡¯s voice pleaded ¡°Yes you did. Else why did you not kill that monster Jace? Why did you leave anyone alive? I thought I was clear about this. That island was to sink. Yet you fought me every step of the way. Why?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Kay¡¯rin was torn on how to answer her friend and touched one of the still healing wounds on her arm. That island had been a disaster. Everything seemed so nice there, and then all of a sudden everything had gone so wrong. She still didn¡¯t know exactly what happened, all she knew is she went to sleep one day and the next she was buried under a pile of stones in a strange place with the island breaking apart under her. It was terrifying, and had Melis not walked her through how to leave she might have died. One more time she failed Melis. ¡°You¡¯re weak. You left me to kill your parents, do you forget that?¡± ¡°No¡­ but¡­¡± The comment brought a strange memory to her mind, one she would think of from time to time. From time to time she¡¯d remember pouring something into her parent¡¯s food which killed them. Which was strange because she also remembered Melis doing the same thing while she cried in the corner. Her head and heart hurt. ¡°How many people have I killed for you now? No, better yet, how many people have you killed for me?¡± ¡°I¡­ I haven¡¯t killed anyone for you.¡± ¡°Is that fair Rin? Why must I be the bad one?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like¡­ blood¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t leave blood. You have the power to do that you know.¡± ¡°Yes, that is true.¡± ¡°Then since we¡¯re in agreement, kill this town, everyone in it. There must be no one left breathing.¡± ¡°Wai¡­ what?¡± Kay¡¯rin¡¯s face drained of what little color she had. She couldn¡¯t believe what she just heard from her friend. Her heart felt like it stopped, and the blood drained from her face. ¡°I said kill your home town. Kill them all.¡± Melis¡¯s voice was cold and uncompromising. ¡°But¡­ bu¡­ Blood?¡± ¡°You just said you can kill without seeing blood. Do it.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± tears started to fall down her face. ¡°I don¡¯t want¡­ ¡° ¡°You don¡¯t want to talk to me anymore? Is that it?¡± Melis¡¯s voice sounded sad, almost at the point of tears. ¡°N¡­No!¡± ¡°Then why won¡¯t you kill this fetid little town?¡± ¡°Meli, don¡¯t make me¡­¡± Kay¡¯rin whined under her voice. ¡°I won¡¯t talk to you again if you don¡¯t do this. Think carefully.¡± Melis¡¯s voice now was hard and angry. Kay¡¯rin cried quietly. ¡°Meli?¡± No answer The silence cut deeply into her heart. Meli had always been with her. For Meli to be gone now, it was like her guts were pulled out of her. ¡°Meli?!!¡± falling to her knees Kay¡¯rin sobbed the name, her heart breaking. Meli had been her friend her whole life. Her only companion when her father beat her. Her only companion when her mother beat her. Her only companion when old men would fondle her. Her only companion when people would beat her. Her life had been hard, but without Meli how could she survive? Why didn¡¯t she want to destroy this town? Nothing good had ever happened there. It took minutes for her to catch her breath. She simply couldn¡¯t breathe or see she was panicking from the thought of Melis leaving her alone. Recovering her breath, she slowly stood. She didn¡¯t know much magic. But what Melis said was right, she did know how to do this. She looked around at the area around her, no sign of Melis anywhere. She was worried that Melis was already far away, so she had to make this spectacular so that Melis would know she did it. Tears streaming down her face she incinerated the whole town in the bottom of the ravine; it was a simple action hardly requiring a little bit of thought. Like all magic this just came. The screams of the people in the burning town rose in a short lived ghastly wail which could be heard over the thundering noise of the inferno. However, the temperatures were too great for that type of noise to continue for long, and as soon as she heard the ghastly sound it vanished. The fire lit up the night sky. It was so hot she could feel the oppressive heat from the great distance she was standing away on the lip of the hill overlooking the valley. It turned the clouds in the sky orange. Then the fire burnt down leaving nothing but a valley filled with ash. ¡°Meli?¡± Her small terrified voice was the only noise in the night air. ¡°Yes Rin?¡± ¡°MELI!¡± Kay¡¯rin¡¯s tear streaked face split into a smile, a rare smile.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You did good Rin¡­¡± Whatever Meli was going to say next was cut off as she suddenly shrieked a high pitch shriek as if all the pain in the world was suddenly crashing onto her head. The shriek went on and on and on. Kay¡¯rin panicked and started to call for Meli again, when the western horizon lit up almost as if the sun were about to rise, then as the light became blinding a pillar of light suddenly stretched into the heavens, the beam of light cutting a path through the milky ring in the sky and illuminated the night sky. The scene was so stunning she almost forgot about Meli¡¯s screams. Just as she was about to call out for Meli again the 2nd moon fractured and then splintered into dust. On her knees Kay¡¯rin stared in terror as the white luminous body came apart. Simply unable to turn away or even notice the screams of Meli. The scene was majestic and terrifying. Eventually as the dust of the moon started to disperse into the milky band across the sky, she was brought back to the here and now by the screams. The shrieking went on until dawn. As the sun rose Red into the sky shining down on Kay¡¯rin¡¯s lonely figure on that lonely hill, Kar¡¯rin¡¯s fear which had been at a near gibbering level thanks to Meli¡¯s screaming in pain, only grew greater. She had lived with the moon mark on her forehead her whole life. Yet unlike others ever since she met Meli, she had always seen the sun as yellow-white. Meli had told her this made her special. A chosen of the gods. Begging silently for Meli to tell her what was wrong, Kay¡¯rin stared at the horrible red sun in abject terror. What had happened? Meli¡¯s pained voice sounded in her ear. ¡°Rin?¡± ¡°MELI!!!¡± Kay¡¯rin shouted in excitement. ¡°Rin, listen closely¡­ I cannot speak for long. I¡¯m hurt Rin. That bastard Jace¡­ You must kill Jace, but not before he teaches you what he did. Torture him, slaughter those he loves, destroy everything he is. Quickly, this is a catastrophe¡­¡± Melis¡¯s voice was too quiet to make out as if she was struggling to breath. ¡°Meli! I¡¯ll do it! I¡¯ll save you!¡± ¡°Go¡± a breathy whisper on the wind Kay¡¯rin, without hesitating turned and left the lonely empty hill, and started moving West, tears of worry about her bodiless friend falling from her eyes. Shawey was watching snowflakes fall slowly in the night sky. It had been another good day running the shop. Peddling in healing was solid business, especially when it turned out she was rather better at it then the locals. This wasn¡¯t all that bad of a way of life really. She liked helping people, better still she wasn¡¯t living amongst humans. Her trust of her own people had dropped pretty low. She pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders and watched as her breath made a cloud that quickly dispersed into the night sky. She knew what she was doing was moderately dangerous. Fairies had done a lot to kill off human mages. However, it seemed like Karius was right about this city of Fallah, they apparently were willing to overlook a mage or two as long as it brought them something they needed. The Fairies even helped her hide what her shop was, what she was, by naming and registering the shop as a herbalist/lay healer¡¯s shop. Since the local authority was protecting her, none of the other fairies gave her any trouble either. As she watched the cloud of mist vanish the night sky ripped open, as a beam of light burst into the heavens. It blindingly bright, and far to the north. But it was clear to see as it stretched into the starry sky. Shawey stared in amazement at the beam of light, which seemed to go on forever. There was almost no noise in the city. All the pedestrians were staring at the sky just like she was, unable to comprehend what must have occurred. Then someone shouted in alarm, it sounded like a woman¡¯s voice screaming in terror. Shawey looked around for what might have caused the scream, and her eyes landed on the 2nd moon in the sky starting to break apart. It simply crumbled. She was struck speechless at the spectacle. The moon didn¡¯t simply fracture into smaller parts, it seemed to vaporize. The beam of light wasn¡¯t anywhere near the moon, yet she knew it beyond a shadow of doubt that it was responsible for what she was seeing. Before long nothing was left of the moon except for a milky white powder stretching and joining the white band already belting the night sky. The twin moons were no more. She was surprised she wasn¡¯t terrified at the sight. The whole thing had been rather beautiful, if disturbing. In the end, she knew she had to talk to Karius. He knew more about things like this, perhaps he¡¯d know what this was about. Hurrying down the stairs to the shop, she pushed aside a book shelf, and slipped into a small room which was disguised by an illusion of a wall. In the room was a teleportation circle, the light of the circle enveloped her and instead of finding herself in the small manner house, she found herself standing in the middle of a dark forest. Stunned she looked around confused. There were no lights anywhere, no sound, she couldn¡¯t even make out the night sky. Stumped she turned around and nearly collapsed as fear gripped her heart. Towering into the night sky was a large shape which obscured what little light made its way down from the stars and moon. It was a huge shadow, that was easily twice as tall as a man, she had seen these creatures before. But no one would ever willingly get as close as she currently was. The moon dissolving into the night sky didn¡¯t scare her a fraction what this large Rock Devil did. Staring at the huge creature part of her mind suddenly realized her mistake, when the moon vanished all the teleportation arrays in the world would break, because they were all designed with the moons as points of reference. It seemed like a foolish reason to die to her. Sa¡¯manatha was watching the pillar of light stretch into the heavens from her bedroom window. In the weeks since the flight from the island her broken heart had slowly recovered. She still couldn¡¯t sleep well at night; the dreams of her torture were too much they would wake her in terror all the time. The death of the child she had been carrying was a heavy blow on top of the physical impairment. Her world had changed. In her heart, she was very thankful for Karius for healing the injuries as well as he had. She didn¡¯t blame him for failing to heal the large toes. Learning to walk again without your large toes was difficult, but not impossible. She felt a bit like an old lady now. The bounce to her step was gone in many ways not just literally. The other women all treated her well, well enough she almost forgot she was a slave at times. Many of the women were deeply thankful for Jace, and because of that they treated her well. Some of the women were thankful to her as well, for her hospitality when they were on the island. She didn¡¯t feel like she had done much but it apparently had broken down what walls might normally exist between slaves and non-slaves. Many slaves had joined the fleeing group of women when they left the island, so she knew many of the slaves here. Yet despite being surrounded by kind people she found what she most missed was Jace. She wanted his arms wrapped around her so she could properly greave with him over the loss of their child. So, he could tell her she was beautiful again. Yet despite all her asking no one knew anything of his whereabouts or health. Eventually she stopped asking because she knew the answer. She knew they weren¡¯t lying to her about it. They simply didn¡¯t know. She knew she had to do something with her life, she just wasn¡¯t sure what. The questions Verna asked her rang in her mind. ¡°What would you do with your life if you were not a slave?¡± she had asked. ¡°You have no answer because you have no dreams. You decided a long time ago that your life was no longer your own to live, so you''re happy to let others make the choices for you.¡± As the pillar vanished the second smaller moon started to dissolve. Sa¡¯manatha watched it turn to dust, as she recalled the look on Jace¡¯s face when he first saw those moons. He was in awe; a tear was running down his face. He looked so happy. She felt tears running down her face from the corner of her eyes as the moon finished turning into powder. Her answer to Verna had been she wanted Jace¡¯s love. Now she just wanted him to hug her. She wanted him to be alive. The fact she had no answer for herself to Verna¡¯s question about what she wanted out of life became a keen edge to her heart. She blinked some more tears from her eyes, then carefully wiped her face. Her hair had been growing back nicely, though it was still boyishly short. She had lost her ivory comb, not that it was long enough for that. The hair that was growing back was coming back silver/grey, whatever yellow was in her hair before was now gone. She ran her hand through the short hair and stopped watching the night sky, returning to her bed, she wondered what it was she could do with her life now that it was no longer her world which had changed, but the world itself that had changed. Althos Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Chapter 1 - Usually youd fire the lazy DM who started an adventure like this A tall young blue haired man with fine features, stylish clothing and a large sword, was studying the mug while sitting at an empty table in a bar. The mug was full of a powder blue liquid called ¡®Darial¡¯ a human specialty in Lostorn his mouth twisting in distaste as he doodled designs on the table with some of the spilled drink and his fingertip. The flavor of Darial was something like a cross between charcoal and the exceedingly bitter Wullumba plant bark, which was fitting as it was made from fermented dew from the Dacalla plant, a smaller and bluer cousin to the multipurpose purple-red Wullumba plant. The mug was resting on a Wollumba plant table, aged and ill kept, the stains on the surface almost turning the table brown from its natural off white color. Wollumba wasn¡¯t the best material to build things like chairs and tables but it was so abundant it almost always was used by the poor for most of their furniture; which meant of course in this human city, nearly everything that wasn¡¯t made of stone was made of Wollumba. Even the scaffolding and temporary roof over the damaged dome in the keep was such adorned. Kelog had been in the city for just over 2 weeks, in those days he had witnessed one shocking or unexpected thing after another. He glanced at people in the crowded bar, mostly human men, no matter how the rules and laws changed human women were typically scarce. The men were awkward. He could tell they weren¡¯t really sure what to do with themselves. Many of them were former slaves and looked uncomfortable, seemingly having a great deal of difficulty knowing what to do with their newfound freedom. The awkward stilted laughing, the over the top drunkenness, he couldn¡¯t tell if anyone was actually happy with their freedom from slavery. Certainly, if he asked them if they¡¯d rather be slaves he¡¯d probably have an angry mob chase him from the bar, but he suspected, at night with no one around some of them, many of them were terrified of their newfound freedom. So, they drank and tried to socialize, and tried to find their way in the ¡®new¡¯ Lotsorn. New Lotsorn of course still in its formative stage, it was still a place where blood ran in the streets constantly, yet now it was thanks to ¡®Laws¡¯ instead of base human brutality. He couldn¡¯t be sure if all these changes were good or not. Either way he felt like this was a city on the edge of complete collapse. That said it wasn¡¯t all bad, the public fountains were all running, the cisterns were cleaned and working as were the aqueducts, bringing and storing fresh clean water to the city. In contrast to his prior visit there no longer was trash in the streets, the sewers were working and from what the people claimed, cleaned and repaired as one of the first acts by their new ¡®Sorcerer King,¡¯ Jace. Of course, these were the good things. The problems mostly stemmed from the people adjusting poorly to the new laws. In the past week alone he had witnessed 87 men and 2 women put to death. All public executions. Spectacles really, as at every public execution the laws were read again. Those laws were basic. He sighed and looked at the wall where a copy of the city¡¯s laws was posted in plain sight. Of course, only some people could read them, so at every major street corner there were people reading out the new laws. Employees of the palace he figured.
  1. ¡°Hurt someone, and die.¡±
  2. ¡°rape a woman and die.¡±
  3. ¡°abandon your children and die.¡±
  4. ¡°abandon your wife and die.¡±
  5. ¡°steal and lose a hand¡±
  6. ¡°steal twice and die¡±
  7. ¡°damage property, pay for the repair and be branded on your forehead¡±
  8. ¡°kill someone and die by torture¡±
  9. ¡°harm a child in a way not related to the child¡¯s discipline and education and die¡±
  10. ¡°by your 30th birthday have at least 3 children, or be expelled from the city, and dissolve your marriage¡±
SLAVE AND DEBT AMENDMENT: People are allowed to sell themselves into slavery to clear debt. Slavery shall never extend to decedents or people who did not accrue the debt. Debt does not pass on to further generations, but ends with the life of the debtor. The terms of the slave contract are between the debtor and lender; however, at no time shall the terms of the Slave contract be ¡®intentionally¡¯ for life, there shall be a finite number of years to the term of service not exceeding 20 years, nor invalidating their human rights to safe work and clean living. He actually approved of the laws, for the most part they weren¡¯t too far off the laws of the People of the World. For a human city, these laws were practically civilized. However, the animalistic way these people had lived for thousands of years wasn¡¯t that easy to fix. His eyes traveled to a young barmaid. The girl was probably an ex-slave. He could tell for several reasons. One she looked extremely uncomfortable in clothing. Two, she wasn¡¯t wearing any shoes. Most of the former slaves didn¡¯t. As many never wore clothing before, looking uncomfortable in them was expected, but shoes? Shoes were probably a step too far for many of them. Three, the skin was paler where a collar would have been around her neck. Four, she had a timidity that was unmistakable, ¡®you can take the chains off the slave but a slave raised from birth as a slave pretty much will always be a slave in their heart.¡¯ At least that¡¯s what he was beginning to believe. While he was musing about slavery, a graceful looking man joined him at the table. This man, unlike Kelog¡¯s blue hair had orange hair, wild like a mane. He was also one of the People, though from another country, the nation of Eldorath. Eldorath and Ghanarai had a very tentative relationship, as they shared a long border, and due to their people¡¯s fiercely territorial nature their peoples had been at almost constant war for centuries. Of course, the wars between Eldorath and Ghenarai were usually limited to border skirmishes. This was because the cities weren¡¯t particularly close to each other, and because both cities were separated by a small mountain chain. ¡°Well?¡± Kelog kept his voice down, while what they were discussing wasn¡¯t particularly important, and the fearful looks in the eyes of the humans told him none would cause him trouble, he still wanted to keep his voice down. There was no telling who might be trying to scry this conversation, especially since this Jace was likely a Sorcerer. ¡°It¡¯s as we heard. The pirates gave up their slaves after this Jace slaughtered the captain and crew of the ¡®Fairy Queen¡¯. Furthermore this Jace seems to be giving them something called a [Letter of Marque].¡± The orange haired man spoke quietly. ¡°Le-Ter ov Marg?¡± Kelog sounded out the strange words with a confused look on his face. ¡°Are you making things up Faris?¡± Faris shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s what they were calling it. A [Letter of Marque]. It apparently is a royal decree which gives them legal permission to pirate under the flag of Lotsorn. The Sorcerer King is putting his name on the piracy apparently. He¡¯s also made them ¡®pay¡¯ for the [Letter of Marque]. ¡°Pay? What is this paper worth?¡± Kelog was puzzled. ¡°The cost is apparently to pay taxes on their gains, and to agree to not kill anyone who surrenders, and to give the palace the right to decide the fates of slaves, either slaves captured from the captured vessels, or slaves made from the crew of those vessels. They also had to release all their human slaves who had the moon mark released, and to agree to only enslave their captives for 20 years.¡± Faris spoke this all out slowly and quietly. Kelog frowned. ¡°This Jace, what is he doing?¡± ¡°Seems to be trying to remake humans. You saw those rules about thieves? Well you¡¯d think the thieves would be the first to try to put a knife in this sorcerer¡¯s back, yet he¡¯s been hiring the former thieves into the army as scouts. The army is already frighteningly and almost fanatically devoted to him. ¡°You would be too Faris if you were neutered when you joined the guard and then not only had your freedom restored but had those missing parts repaired. I dare say those guards are going to defend this Jace till their last breath.¡± A woman sitting at a table next to theirs by herself, suddenly turned around and pulled her chair up to them and sat down. She had the same pale skin around her neck as the serving girl, however this woman didn¡¯t seem particularly uncomfortable in clothing. She was clean and well groomed, rather pretty by human standards, though she clearly lacked any sort of curves, rather she seemed bone thin. She then spoke in a pretty voice, joining their conversation. ¡°He¡¯s actually rather smart, this ¡®Sorcerer King¡¯. Don¡¯t you see what he¡¯s doing? The pirates would have kept pirating unless he killed them all. Then new people would pirate. Pirating is one of the main means of income for this city. It¡¯s not about a [Letter of Marque]. It¡¯s about making the pirates part of the LEGAL system here. They¡¯re going to be pirates anyway. This way he knows who they are and can restrain them a bit. In exchange the pirates now have a pretty strong backer, and the freedom to operate in the open, which should increase their profits.¡± Kelog had problems keeping his mouth closed. A pretty human woman ex-slave just butted into their conversation, more so she was rather smart. ¡°Who are you?¡± Faris asked suspiciously. Kelog¡¯s eyes widened when he noticed Faris reaching for his blade. His eyes going back to the human woman. He was too distracted by the girl¡¯s face and had missed what Faris noticed immediately. His eyes caught the glint of steel and realized she had a drawn ¡®something¡¯ in her right hand, pointed at him under casual eyes/under the table. It took him a moment to realize it was likely a small crossbow. Kelog winced and realized since it was unlikely Faris had seen the weapon in her right hand from where she was seated, it was likely she had something similar pointed at him. He couldn¡¯t believe a human got the drop on him this effectively. As he was deciding how to deal with the situation the woman smiled a charming smile and spoke in answer to Faris¡¯ question. ¡°Jaenin, though I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not asking me about my name.¡± Despite the situation her voice was light and carefree. ¡°Jaenin?¡± Faris seemed to pause in thought about the name. ¡°I¡¯ve heard this name¡­¡± he trailed off.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°You have?¡± She tilted her head letting her long pale blonde hair fall over her shoulder. It was uncombed and wild looking but clean like the rest of her. ¡®She smells like the sea,¡¯ Kelog thought to himself, something about the name Jaenin and the sea seemed to tickle his memories. Shocked he suddenly felt the pieces come together in his head. ¡°Impossible, it¡¯s not possible.¡± He spoke out loud. Faris still was making a look on his face as if he didn¡¯t know who she was but seemed to be thinking quickly. ¡°Oh, ho, who else would dare to call themselves Jaenin?¡± She spoke in that same carefree tone. Faris went pale as a sheet seemingly recalling what Kelog recalled earlier, looking at her in abject terror. The fear on his face was what hammered home what Kelog was feeling. While Kelog was an aspiring blade master, Faris was a true blade master, to see that fear on his face said all Kelog needed to know about the likely identity of this ¡®girl.¡¯ He realized he was striding along a thin line of life and death and decided the path of wisdom and cowardice were often one and the same. Without regard for his pride he bowed his head to this ¡®girl.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I offended with my common tone.¡± The words escaped his mouth before he could think straight. Jaenin frowned at his bowing of his head. ¡°Stop that. Don¡¯t make a scene. Jace is a sorcerer after all, no need to let him know I¡¯m here yet.¡± Knowing he was displeasing her he straightened immediately, and quickly placed his palms on the table top, away from his sword. The crossbows in her hands were laughable, they were nowhere near the danger this person represented. He still couldn¡¯t help glance at the pale skin ringing her pretty neck and wonder what Jaenin was playing at. ¡°I actually met you two by accident. But sometimes my friend fate is like that. I¡¯m not really all that interested in what this Jace going to do, so forgive me for butting into your conversation. His actions are interesting but nowhere near as fascinating as those of the Kindred woman at his side, and the Fairy girl she¡¯s been ordering about. Tell me, what do you two know about this Kindred priestess Verna, and the Fairy Seer Easol?¡± Kelog blinked at the question and couldn¡¯t hide his surprise. ¡®Jaenin is looking into Easol? What has she been doing?¡¯ The thought troubled him. He had heard no word about Easol since arriving in Lotsorn and had already written her off as a casualty, now not only did he hear her name, but he heard it attached to this Sorcerer King. Kelog had a sinking feeling this chance meeting with Jaenin would turn out to be particularly troublesome for him. What surprised him was it was Faris who answered. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering the same thing. The girl seems to be carrying out the Kindred woman¡¯s orders. But I can¡¯t decide what the ultimate purpose is.¡± ¡°Wait, what? You had word of Easol and didn¡¯t tell me?¡± Kelog looked at Faris with a frustrated look on his face. ¡°Why should I have? For all I knew you were already in contact with her and working together. She¡¯s from Ghanarai, what other assumption was I to make?¡± Faris spoke unapologetically. Wincing, Kelog spoke quickly to Jaenin to explain, ¡°I didn¡¯t know she was even here. She was my fianc¨¦, her father asked me to look for her, but I had not received word of her presence in the city yet.¡± Jaenin looked at him curiously, then dismissed him for the moment and spoke to Faris, ¡°tell me what you¡¯ve heard.¡± Faris spoke slowly, ¡°Well, not much, but it does seem like they¡¯re operating independently.¡± ¡°Explain¡± Jaenin spoke quietly, and leaned closer. Faris leaned closer and spoke quickly ¡°This Jace is always around anything he does. I mean, granted I could see why he wouldn¡¯t be around these actions, but it seems counterproductive for him not to put his face on it. So it seems to me someone else is doing something in the palace. Well Easol is clearly doing their bidding, as she¡¯s had her hands on it quite publicly, and without attempts to hide it. Yet her actions don¡¯t match either. Why would a Person of the World be willing to destroy all temples to Elis? Or even more so, to Vigelli? While Vigelli isn¡¯t quite the patron of the People of the World, we¡¯ve always had a good relationship with her. The statues and images to the grey king were all torn down and new ones to this sorcerer King appeared in their place. Why? What about the cults that sprung up to worship this Jace as the savior of mankind and the world? I mean there probably would be some organic desire for such a thing, but this is organized, and Easol¡¯s hands are all over it.¡± He paused then spoke again ¡°any way you cut it she doesn¡¯t have a motive to do these things. And almost all of these things would be aided by Jace¡¯s presence. So, you can conclude he doesn¡¯t know about it. This leaves one person, the Kindred women who is like his queen. This makes a lot of sense if it¡¯s her behind this. However, beyond the obvious reasons why she would be doing this, I mean all of this only cements his position here. I can¡¯t figure out why she¡¯s doing it behind his back or even hiding her involvement by making Easol do it herself. Furthermore, now Easol is gathering up groups of people with nothing in common with each other and taking them to the palace.¡± Jaenin nodded in agreement with Faris¡¯s words then spoke, ¡°I suspect it¡¯s all connected. I just can¡¯t decide how. This is why I want to be selected by this Easol, to enter the palace. And you two will help me.¡± By which, Kelog was sure Jaenin meant ¡®he¡¯ would have to help her. Cursing to himself he couldn¡¯t help but wonder what made a monster like Jaenin so interested in his rival and ex fianc¨¦. A beautiful sapphire blue haired girl hurried through the streets of Lotsorn. Her clothing was all black, and like all fairies her clothing seemed to drift and float with her hair as if she were submerged in water. Her eyes were a much deeper shade of blue, dark blue, nearly purple. Her delicate features and slight frame were indicative of her race, and though she hurried, passing through a tightly packed crowd of people, her feet made no sound on the stone, nor did she ever seem to touch anyone as she drifted through the crowd. Many people stopped to look at her, especially the men who got a good look at her face, as she really was breathtaking. But no one stopped her, and most quickly looked away in fear. Easol was hurrying after someone in the crowd. She had not got a good look at them, just saw a glowing golden aura of fate and knew this might be the person Nana had sent her to chase after all those weeks ago. Nana, had sent her on a lot of tasks since that night when the moon vanished from the night sky. Just thinking about that night still gave her nightmares. She was a Seer, able to read and see the path of time, she could see current and past events, and was used to seeing some terrible things. However, that night was some of the most terrible moments she had lived through. Right up next to her baptism. Six weeks ago, she had nearly become cursed by the horrible curse which afflicted mankind, a curse afflicted on man by the Sun god Elis. The curse was a blight upon this world, which affected all the humans born in it, some worse than others, but all of them none the less. Had that been all there was to the curse she would hardly give it much thought; however, the curse was doubly nefarious because it also was still active and spreading. The conditions for it to spread were fairly simple. It would spread to anyone who helped a human being. As a result, all the races, whether they were friends or foes of humans, no longer dealt with them in friendship, further oppressing the race into a ragged and desperate state. In her case, she had the curse triggered through her actions to keep herself alive. The Sorcerer Jace had just entered the throne room of the King, and an assassin had tried to kill him. Though she could see the future and knew that Jace would survive the assassination attempt, she also knew his rage would lead him to slaughtering all the nobles and herself in the throne room. Rather than die like that she chose to take a knife for him, a path she knew would win his sympathy and mercy. Unfortunately, this also meant she was to be cursed because she acted to save a human; well she thought that might have been the reason. Whatever the reason she was cursed alongside Jace and the kindred vixen Nana; Jace had taken hours to create a massive magic circle and removed the curse. Not just from them, but from the city and all the cursed people within sight of the city walls. She could never forget the image of that young human man, cutting off his leg. Or breaking through as a sorcerer. Or regrowing his lost limb. The image of him on his knees carving the last few runes in that monstrous magical circle by torchlight, while an icy rain fell was etched inter her mind. She never believed anything he would try to do would work. However she could FEEL the power of the circle he was creating. The very air seemed to warp and twist, she felt a crushing pressure on her as he finished the circle, almost as if this circle should not exist in this world, and the world was breaking down around it. It was a horrible sensation. Of course the most terrifying part was yet to come, it happened as he channeled magic into the massive circle, she felt like her soul and fate were separated for a moment, then she felt fate itself bend, warp and leap, from one branch to the other of the plant of fate. She couldn¡¯t even conceive of such an occurrence. From what she knew of magic, the glyph and fate it wasn¡¯t even possible. While she felt the curse torn from her, and fate flip, she had found herself kneeling on the stone floor, soaked in the icy rain eyes on the starlight sky, watching as the second moon disintegrated. Of all of the things that occurred that night this was the least impressive thing. Still it was momentous and she still couldn¡¯t decipher how that had happened, but one thing she did know. Now there were two very angry gods, a missing moon and a red sun. The events of that night were stressful enough. Then came her meeting with the Kindred woman Verna. Her heart had been in her throat the whole meeting. She couldn¡¯t keep her eyes off the woman¡¯s full lips, hips or bust. The way her clothing fit her figure was almost criminal. She knew when she met her that this was the woman for her. And needed to make Nana, her¡¯s. Unfortunately, the woman seemed to not notice any of her advances. The knowledge that the alluring woman both ignored her advances and slept with that plain faced human Jace was frustrating. Worse, she was terrified of rejection. This was the first time she ever felt the desire for another person so strongly that it overwhelmed the longing her people felt when sleeping far from the ground they were born. The longing for the kindred woman was so intense she could barely sleep, yet she could not muster up the courage to tell her, or to try to romance her. She feared the woman¡¯s rejection. So she became Verna¡¯s errand girl, voluntarily. Verna in the first days after Jace¡¯s seizure of this city was looking for someone to carry her orders and do some tasks for her. Many of the tasks were seemingly innocuous, passing letters or collecting them. But then there was the order to destroy all the statues and likenesses of the grey king and replacing them with those of Jace. Or the order to find people with strong fate. Verna never explained any of the orders she gave but the last two definitely stressed her a bit. Verna was definitely up to something, all the minor tasks seemed to point to it. She just wasn¡¯t sure what it was. She would gather as many people as she could find with strong fate, and every couple of days Verna would do something with them, she never learned what. What frustrated her to no end was the fact that Verna never told her specifically she was looking for. As a result, she had been searching for this person or persons diligently for weeks. ¡°Who would have thought Kelog would help me find this treasure?¡± She was still confused about that meeting. It had come suddenly a few hours ago, Kelog told her to tell her parents she was still alive. He had that horribly arrogant air about him as if the act of talking to her alone was beneath him. It was infuriating as always. Yet he suddenly suggested she meet a friend of his, a human none the less, which lead to a misunderstanding which lead to this chase. She HAD to get her hands on this girl Jaenin. Her thoughts came to a screeching halt as she spotted the golden aura again ducking into an ally way, she almost had her! Chapter 2 - An unwelcome visitor A tall beautiful fire haired woman sat on a lovely purple and silver chair next to a great throne in the middle of a grand marble throne room. The phrase fire haired was not a saying, her hair was orange and red, and almost gave off the impression to observers of being made of fire from a distance, closer in her hair lost the fiery illusion but the colors of her long silky hair became much more pronounced, hues of orange and red that were not natural for humans; however quite normal for the Kindred who are descended from fire dragons. The only thing most people would consider more striking then her hair or figure would be her golden yellow eyes with vertical cat like pupils. This beauty was wearing a full-length blood red gown; which was buttoned to her neck, it was form fitting, accentuating every inch of her curvaceous body. Wrapped around her shoulders was a red shawl. The room was cavernous; made out of a black almost obsidian like stone with a great dome ceiling, now broken. The damaged stone from the collapsed dome had been recently removed, and the only thing keeping the throne room from being exposed to the elements was the Wollumba plant wood like roof that had been built to cover the gaping hole in the dome. It was a temporary fix, but considering the amount of work that would need to be put in to rebuild the hundred-span tall dome it was effective at the moment. At least it kept the wind and snow out; though the great burning braziers kept most of the chill out of the air, it was almost impossible to keep this huge dome warm on this overcast day while it rained and snowed outside. Verna had a terrible headache and was doing her best to keep herself warm in the chilly air in the throne room. She had spent weeks doing the equivalent of sifting through a mountain of white sand looking for one solitary sparkling red grain. The worst part about this task was it was one she took upon herself. The only thing keeping her from dropping it in frustration was because she was grudgingly in awe of the work that Jace had been putting in over the past couple of weeks. She found herself impressed with the tall young man and all he had done in the past six weeks. He clearly never really had any leadership training. In many ways, he was not qualified to lead a squad of men in a military formation, let alone this city state. However, his work remaking this state and the humans within since that fateful night have been remarkable. His first act was to free, cloth and house all the slaves in the city, Then he went through and purged the nobility and freemen who were resistant to his changes. Those purges were bloody, at one point in time it erupted into a full out mini rebellion. Yet the now free people of the city, especially the women, all unified behind their liberator, and whatever trouble the nobles and former freemen tried to cause was swiftly stomped out. Through seizing the assets of the traitors the nearly empty treasury had been refilled, which was then when Jace really started his great public works projects. First was the removal of all of the debris and repair of the damage caused by his seizing charge. He also launched a huge project to repair and maintain the sewage/drainage and cistern systems in the city. Seeing clean running water in the public fountains were a wonder for the people who had been used to making long journeys to the few non-polluted wells. Following those acts he started a project to house the newly freed slaves (lots of empty buildings made that a snap) and naturally that caused a huge spike in demand for furniture and pottery, so soon a whole string of new business started up in carpentry and pottery. He then cleared land around the city, and employed people as farmers. Before the dust was settled from this, he won over the city guard by healing the gelded ones. He tore up the old laws and in just one day replaced them with something fairly brutal. He also outlawed ¡°rape¡± via penalty of death a crime he had to define as many of the humans didn¡¯t consider what they were doing as ¡°rape¡± or even know what that word was. That law sent the city into another series of armed rebellions as well, as a surprisingly large number of men simply weren¡¯t willing to follow those rules. Again it was largely due to the support of the former slaves, especially the women, that the revolt was ended swiftly and brutally. Just this week he had won over the pirate groups that operated out of the city; and turned them into something he called [buccaneers] a strange word from his native tongue, which meant they were state approved pirates. They all paid for the right, and agreed to follow certain rules under penalty of death. He transformed the city and the people in it almost overnight. Cannibalism was eliminated, rape, while still occurring was definitely no longer a public act, and the guard was so fiercely loyal to Jace (what man wouldn¡¯t be after he regrew their manhood) they enforced his laws with zeal making the number of rapists quickly decrease. The city no longer smelled of an open sewer, and the new bank he founded seemed to be igniting the economy, as the number of unemployed was shrinking rapidly. Overall what he had accomplished was nothing short of a miracle considering it all occurred in less than 20 days. Because of his efforts refused from backing down from the task she assigned herself. Her task required some finesse since she didn¡¯t want Jace to know what she was doing yet. One of the first actions she performed was to demolish the statues of the old Grey King. Using coin she embezzled from the treasury, she hired several gnome sculptures to carve a great statue of Jace in the largest square in the city (this was just the first step, she would follow this up by replacing all images of the grey king with images of Jace). Great men should always have a legend to inspire others, so she was going to insure Jace¡¯s image and legend was cemented with the people. Of course all of this is secondary to the major miracle he created that night. She purposefully avoided looking at the blackened tiles to the left of the throne. When she felt the curse activating she was sure that was going to be the end of her. She could feel her life drain right out of her. Then Jace started to make magic. She had tried studying the magic array he created, she had never seen anything like it before, and couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of it. It operated on principles she never heard of before, and the way it was interconnected made her head hurt. When it activated and she felt the curse snap, and her longevity flood back, she was so stunned she actually missed the breakup of the 2nd moon. What came next was even more remarkable, it seemed the effect of his magic didn¡¯t just affect the 3 in the circle, it affected the whole of the city. All of the slaves and cursed humans, or cursed slaves from other races had their curse removed. When the sun rose bloody the next day she had to admit she was confused and asked Jace about it. Jace was speechless as well, but then shrugged and said that he meant for the curse to rebound on the Gods responsible for it, but never expected a moon to vanish and the sun to change. Now the whole world was bathed in the cool red light of the Sun. She wasn¡¯t sure if this was the result of the curse rebound or Elis punishing the world in response to the curse rebound, either way it was an inauspicious sign. Of course, how could she miss the changes in the man since that day? Leadership did not weight on him well. She was growing more concerned as he grew more distant. He was already alone in this world, she didn¡¯t like how he was spending more and more time isolating himself from everyone else to stare at that horrible green cube. Some of the changes in him were to be expected, sorcerers tended to be withdrawn, but she could see something was off about him recently. While Verna was busy dwelling on her own thoughts she failed to notice a beautiful girl with sapphire blue hair enter the hall. She was an unearthly beauty even by the standards of her own people, with a thin, delicate build. The girl was halfway to Verna before she noticed her and flinched, her first thought was to hide. The girl was smitten with her. At first when she noted the girl¡¯s interest in her, she had thought to use it to draw her into bed with Jace. That plan however had failed. The more time she spent with the Fairy girl the more she realized the girl simply had no interest in men. Worse, the girl¡¯s infatuation with her was quite real. She had not lied to Jace when she said she wasn¡¯t particularly into women in that way. So this was definitely unwanted. If it was simply on the level of lust, she would have spared some time for the girl, though she didn¡¯t really find other women interesting in that way, she saw no harm to a little fun from time to time. It was different and interesting in its own way, if unsatisfying. However, this girl was infatuated, which meant crossing that line would bring ¡®feelings¡¯ into the equation. And she had no interest in a female love interest. She still was trying to decide if her interest in Jace went beyond physical attraction or not, and without even trying to make love with the Fairy girl she knew Jace was many times more interesting in bed then that smitten virgin girl. Her yellow eyes narrowed as she realized she was thinking about escaping from the girl. ¡®Me? Run from another woman?¡¯ Her pride would not allow that. So she forced herself to smile. A smile so fake even a child would notice, and greeted her pleasantly; without standing up. ¡°Easol, child, to what do I owe this honor?¡± The girl practically came out of her cloths when she heard Verna use her name. Bubbling with enthusiasm she smiled and spoke sweetly to her, ¡°Nana, I did as you asked and was able to accomplish the task you set before me.¡± She smiled and twisted, preening as if expecting praise. ¡°This lot will be better than the last one correct?¡± Since the girl wanted praise, Verna intentionally gave her none. That she used the nickname ¡°Nana¡± only irritated her more. She still couldn¡¯t get Jace to call her that. She didn¡¯t want to hear that name from some woman¡¯s lips. Easol seemed to deflate a little at the cold tone, ¡°Of course they¡¯re better. Though the only reason I didn¡¯t succeed the last 4 times is because you haven¡¯t told me what you¡¯re looking for; ¡®you¡¯re a Seer, you¡¯ll know it when you see it,¡¯ is hardly instructions.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Verna smiled slightly at the girl¡¯s hurt tone. Part of the reason the instructions were that vague was because she wanted the girl out of her hair. Part was because a seer on the lookout for people with strange or interesting fate can turn up gems. And partly her reasons were none of Easol¡¯s business. ¡°If you wish to know the answer to those questions convince Jace to let you into his bed. We both know all you¡¯ll lose is your virginity, humans and fairies, despite their close physical appearance cannot crossbreed. Who knows, you might enjoy it. And you¡¯ll get your answers.¡± The smiling, playful look on her face vanished instantly. ¡°I can¡¯t, Nana, don¡¯t ask that of me.¡± ¡°Your loss then. I must say, though his face is rather plain, and his physical strength isn¡¯t quite up to par, he¡¯s quite good at it. If you¡¯d like to see what you¡¯re missing you¡¯re welcome to watch us tonight. Just don¡¯t let Jace run you out of the room.¡± Verna¡¯s playful tone caused Easol to blush. Which in turn caused Verna regret her tone. Though she¡¯d like to toss the Fairy girl at Jace if only to bring a little more joy into the boy¡¯s life, and to get Easol off her back, she feared the girl would only take up that offer to see her nude. Which of course would only increase her passion. ¡°Nana, come on, I should have a reward shouldn¡¯t I? I found you good sculptors, and someone to fund that huge statue of Jace. I helped you clean out the old king¡¯s harem and get those women set up with new lodging, even renovated those rooms. You need to motivate me somehow. Else after this group I won¡¯t help anymore.¡± Easol was now pouting like a child. Verna felt her headache grow worse; this girl was treading on her last nerve. ¡°No you do not. You¡¯re staying in Jace¡¯s kingdom, you¡¯re not producing anything and eating the food while sleeping on our beds. We are already being lenient on this point. If you don¡¯t want to help move into the city or go home.¡± Easol looked surprised at Verna¡¯s harsh counter to her playful request. ¡°Nana, don¡¯t be like that. We¡¯re friends aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°A friend wouldn¡¯t try to coerce sexual favors from another friend.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯re doing with me? What is your insistence I sleep with Jace if not coercion for sexual favors?¡± Easol now sounded a bit hurt ¡°Didn¡¯t you just answer your own question?¡± Verna¡¯s cold answer and the venom in it brought a spark of anger to Easol¡¯s face. ¡°Is that so Verna? I did not know you thought so little of me. In that case I will be leaving.¡± Verna winced. She had let her headache talk. While she had no interest in the Fairy girl, she knew Jace would need the girl¡¯s help in the future. Tossing a skilled seer aside was foolish. ¡°Easol, my apologies. I spoke poorly. You see I have a terrible headache.¡± Verna paused and put on a believable smile. ¡°Listen, child. I owe you the truth. The truth of the matter is I want you to become part of the royal harem.¡± Easol stared at Verna, a complicated look on her face. ¡°There is no harem. You threw them out. Besides I already told you no.¡± Verna sighed, ¡°Listen girl, I do appreciate the help you¡¯ve given me. But that boy needs our support. He deserves yours.¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t deserve anything, he was the cause of my problem, it was his job to fix it, and he did. We owe each other nothing. What I¡¯m doing is help you.¡± Verna watched her closely and then shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s a shame you know. For such a pretty girl such as yourself to waste away. I won¡¯t talk you out of liking women. This was how fate made you I think, nor would I ask you to like men. Forgive my continued hounding on this issue. I thought you were throwing a fit, with those black cloths and angry eyes. I didn¡¯t credit your tastes enough.¡± Easol was quiet a moment watching Verna, then sighed ¡°Forget it. I did bring you a new group to look over. There is one in particular I think might be the one you¡¯re looking for. A human girl called Jaenin, she has a strong fate, so strong she practically glows gold to my eyes.¡± ¡°Jaenin?¡± Verna¡¯s eyes took on a distant look as she thought on the name, ¡®Why does that name sound familiar?¡¯ she pondered for a long moment, then gasped. ¡°Jaenin?! You are sure it¡¯s Jaenin?!¡± ¡°Yes, JAY-NIN¡± She pronounced the name slowly. ¡°You said ¡®girl¡¯, what game are you on? Jaenin is no human and no girl either.¡± ¡°What? She is a girl. She even has a human fate.¡± ¡°Child did you never study history? Think. I can¡¯t believe the People of the World would forget Jaenin.¡± Verna was thinking quickly, she didn¡¯t know why THAT decided to show up, but she did know she didn¡¯t want Jace within a hundred miles of it until she knew what it was here for. ¡°Quickly, get Jaenin and bring it here, and remember to treat it like it was an angry dragon.¡± Verna stood up and smoothed her dress nervously. Then she changed her mind, rather than summon Jaenin, she¡¯d see him personally. She called out to Easol, stopping her, and caught up. She wasn¡¯t comfortable moving this quickly in dresses, and preferred armor, but she had been in the mood to play around like a queen this morning, now she wished she hadn¡¯t been so frivolous. Jaenin was a dangerous entity. Though sword and armor would be worth nothing they¡¯d make her feel more comfortable. Jace stared at the green cube floating in the middle of a large empty room in the lower levels of the keep. It was levitating without any supporting magic circles, furthermore the green cube resisted all attempts to move it, be it physical movement or using magic to do so. The surface of the cube was carved in strange designs that seemed to have little to do with each other. Just a series of lines and shapes overlapping with each other. It rotated quietly, and from time to time he almost felt like he could detect something pulse from the object, similar to the feeling he got from the pulse of the world. There was nothing in the room which explained what this object was for, and after a search of the keep he turned up no clues to its purpose. During his first days in the keep he had been unable to study the strange object stored here, as he was busy with the cleanup and reorganizing of the city. Of course, most of the cleanup had to be done by himself, as no one else had the power to repair the walls and the building, with all the giant stone blocks tossed about during their assault upon the keep. Furthermore, the more he looked into the doings of the nobility the more nobles he executed. The treasury was filled with more Tals then he had ever seen in one place. A literal mountain of gold. The clerks told him there were tens of thousands of tals and complained that the city was impoverished. Something Jace had trouble wrapping his mind around. So when he started executing the nobility he started seizing their assets, properties and businesses. By the time his purge of the nobility was over, the state was positively overflowing in tals, the income far outstripped the expenses, and the vault was now stuffed with coin He did a number of things to turn the city around, mostly pulling out ideas from social study classes he had and barely paid attention to in school. His one act of mercy and charity, healing the missing manhood/balls of the soldiers/slaves probably did more to insure his success in taking over the city than any other action taken. Recently he had been busying himself with the pirate issue and had he been willing to slaughter them all like the crew of that one ship he probably would have if only to spare himself the headache. However, the killing of that crew on top of the oceans of blood he spilt to keep his throne and keep the changes he was making made him ill in a way he never experienced before. It was almost as if the wanton death was repulsive to the pulse of the world in some way, and he felt almost as if his very being was warping out of alignment with the world. The sensation still was in him, almost as if something was crawling under his skin. He hadn¡¯t eaten since. With no sorcerers to consult about this feeling he didn¡¯t know if this was because of his actions, conscience or some deviation or flaw in his magic technique. He was blind aboutthe cause and though he experienced the effect personally he had no idea if these strange feelings would go away or not. ¡°¡®For all I know, this is just because I¡¯m not sleeping enough,¡± he murmured under his breath. The echo in the nearly completely silent room brought him out of his stupor of self-reflection and brought his eyes back to the cube. The cube started spinning again, before stopping. He studied the surface of the cube, his problem was the surface changed every time it started to spin. Almost as if it was telling him or testing him in some way. However, the Glyphs on the face were almost completely indecipherable. In the beginning, he had thought the spinning, timing and glyphs were all related to the secrets of this device. He dutifully recorded the 6 faces of the cube on paper and waited for it to spin, then recorded the new appearance, and continued to do so as time passed on. The problem was apparent 100 pages in. The surface of the cube never repeated a design, and observing it at the same time of day didn¡¯t seem to matter. He suspected it might be designing out a large magic circle but none of the glyphs even meant anything in the magic system of this world to begin with. He had tried upside down and inside out, again nothing. The designs seemed to be completely nonsensical. As a result of his initial failure he tried other things. He tried elements, he tried force, he even tried touching it as if there was some secret button hidden in the designs. In the end, he simply took to meditating next to the cube, feeling the pulse, and watching the cube spin endlessly whenever he had free time. Though he couldn¡¯t discern the meaning for the cube he did feel like he was closer to comprehension while he sat there merging with the pulse then he did doing anything else to open it. Right now, however his merging with the flow seemed to be disturbed by the strange sickness he was feeling in his heart. It was a strange sensation, almost as if he wanted to vomit or cry, and didn¡¯t know how to do it. This confusing and odd sensation was making the pulse resonate strangely with him, as it if was drumming lightly on the nerves of his body. He wondered if this was the result of his conscience and not anything about the world or a sickness at all. Before a little over 100 days ago, he had never killed anyone before. But now, he had probably personally killed with his own hands and magic hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, many if not most of whom were humans. The way he killed and even tortured people still repulsed him to the point he still could not sleep well at night. It had been 6 weeks and he still remembered to appearance of the king and his sister as they were suspended in that stasis formation while their torment dragged on and on. Their inhuman screams, how those screams turned almost so sound like a dying animal. He had lost his appetite completely for meat after that night. He suspected his current diet was unhealthy in the extreme. He could tell in the past 6 weeks his clothing was getting loose. His lack of appetite, his lack of exercise, both were starting to rob him of his health, so he figured he shouldn¡¯t be surprised at his ill health now; the pain in his guts grew a bit beyond discomforting, as he shifted his stance. He had just merged with the pulse again, when he felt something enter the keep. It was a presence, which did not set off a single ward, yet he could feel it through the pulse. A disturbance so great he was actually alarmed. Eyes snapping open, he looked up at the section of the palace and debated if he should charge up there, while the pain in his body twisted tighter. Chapter 3 - Violation The tall flame haired and slightly shorter blue haired beauties continued their conversation in a carefree tone as they moved toward the waiting room where Easol had told her latest group to wait. ¡°¡­ It¡¯s been six weeks child. There will be a harem. This is the way of great men. I would like for you to be in it. To be the first concubine, to stand at Jace¡¯s elbow and lend your consul, and yes to share his bed.¡± Verna gave up maneuvering the girl and laid her cards on the table. ¡°I will not. Wait. IS THAT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT?!!¡± Verna winced, then covered it quickly, she was wondering how long it would take the Fairy girl to realize her purpose with all the tasks she had been setting her on. ¡°Oh gods above! You¡¯ve had me out looking day after day for remarkable women to form a harem for Jace? Tell me all the other tasks weren¡¯t for this purpose as well. What was that statue for?¡± Easol looked livid. Her outrage seemed rather funny to Verna. ¡°Yes, the statue was to ADVERTIZE his appearance to the women of the city.¡± ¡°And the bards?¡± ¡°To spread the word that the king was looking for a new harem.¡± ¡°The Cults?¡± ¡°To create a grass roots level adoration for him, and yes to find beautiful women who want to serve their new God King.¡± Verna was speaking in a calm and serious tone. It seemed pretty clear to her how every step she had taken was well considered and planned out. Furthermore, all these things had ancillary benefits of cementing his rule. ¡°Is that all we¡¯ve been doing for the past six weeks? Trying to build a harem for this human? Gods! My mother always warned me never to be drawn into a kindred¡¯s schemes. ¡®They¡¯re crazy and waste time on foolishness¡¯ she said. How right she was.¡± Verna gave her a serious look feeling a little bit irked at this silly girl and her brainless mother, ¡°Crazy? Waste of time? How dare your mother categorize my people in this way? Furthermore, how dare you! We¡¯ve put a lot of time and effort into laying the foundation for that man¡¯s Harem. This is vital for a well-run kingdom. Have you not seen what happens in kingdoms where the King is unhappy?¡± Verna saw Easol get red in the face, it was such a shame this girl had no interest in men, she would have made an excellent plaything for Jace, considering how she was cute even when she was livid, and knowing the next words to come from the irate fairy were going to be mostly pointless, started tuning the fairy out as she thought about how to deal with Jaenin. ¡°Nana, let me tell this to you straight. I¡¯m not going to help you any further to build a harem for that man¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll stay if the work is useful yes?¡± Verna countered absentmindedly Easol visibly hesitated, ¡°Yes¡± ¡°Well building a harem is useful. We don¡¯t need an angry, upset or bored king here. Furthermore did you not think about what it would mean if you lead this harem? You would be surrounded by beautiful girls, all the time.¡± Verna dangled the largest carrot she could think of out in front of Easol¡¯s face. ¡°Human girls¡± Easol sounded a bit less heated. Verna knew she was getting close with this tactic. ¡°Yes, human girls.¡± ¡°Where is your place in all of this?¡± Verna paused a moment. ¡°I¡¯ll be an official wife. Queen perhaps. Or just another women in the harem, this is up to Jace.¡± Easol sighed, ¡°My mother was right. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m actually listening to this.¡± She felt she almost had the child, a little more of a push in the right direction was needed. Of course, the girl would have to throw her heart into this plan for it to succeed, Jace, looked for a lot more than a pretty girl. Of course, without Easol, Verna would have to find another way to look for potential girls for this harem, so winning her to the plan was vital, no matter how headache inducing. Worse she was finding little worth keeping in the dreck Easol kept bringing her, though considering how humans treated women, she suspected she might have to take some potential beauties under her wing and train them up over a period of years to be worthy of Jace. Finding good playthings for Jace was proving troubling. Verna had allowed Easol to completely distract by her, sidetracking her from thoughts about Jaenin as she wandered into the waiting room. She came to a halt, sure enough much to her chagrin the Jaenin that Easol found was the Jaenin she feared. Jaenin in a dress was still Jaenin. Verna started at him/her for a long moment then decided to find out what Jaenin¡¯s game was immediately. With a flurry of black smoke, Verna vanished from where she was standing, the world stretching around her has she arrived behind Jaenin, striking out with her fist, a blow strong enough to cave in the skull of a human with ease. Easol¡¯s heart caught in her throat as Verna teleported herself across the room and launched a vicious attack at this Jaenin, more so since she actually seemed serious about killing this starving human. Verna¡¯s form vanished and appeared behind Jaenin, her hands empty but with the strength of a kindred this wasn¡¯t a serious problem as she swung hard at Jaenin¡¯s head. Easol couldn¡¯t help screaming inside her heart ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell to treat this Jaenin like he was an enraged dragon? Who would attack an enraged dragon?¡± Jaenin barely moved, and simply let Verna hit her, and a strange thing occurred. The fist sank into this Jaenin¡¯s head as if her head was made of stew. Staring at the strange sight of Verna with her fist embedded into the half destroyed head of Jaenin, her jaw dropped as Jaenin spoke as if the first was a trifling matter. ¡°Verna, it¡¯s been how long now? Almost 50 years and this is how you say high to a good friend?¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Jaenin, since when were we good friends?¡± Verna¡¯s reply came quickly, as the others Easol selected quickly fled to the side of the room, cowering in fear. Considering the fact there was some enraged kindred who just put her fist through the head of a creature which apparently wasn¡¯t mortal in the normal sense Eason judged their reaction to be wise in the extreme and retreated with them. Jace felt the approach of the entity through the palace; He had left the cube and released the pulse and despite the troubling aura, he had hurried to use the privy, his ill stomach acting up, though of course nothing had come out. He had been terribly constipated for several days despite the pain in his guts. One of the blessings about getting the cisterns and sewers working, AND becoming the king of this pile of trash was he didn¡¯t have to use a chamber pot, furthermore the privy was restricted for his use and therefor clean. Buckling his pants back on he sighed as he noted his belt was now being belted a whole notch smaller then when he came. His head swam as he straightened and started to walk toward the door, when he felt that horrid nerve pain, and now a new crawling sensation under his skin as the world swam in his vision. He had the uncontrollable urge to vomit so he just made it back to the bowl in time to throw up. He hadn¡¯t eaten anything in days, so he was surprised to see the vomit was almost a shit colored brown, and thick. The vomit basically spewed out of his mouth uncontrollably, as his sides cramped. His vision blurred as he felt the stabbing feeling grow greater and the vomiting went on and on. He couldn¡¯t help breaking out in a cold sweat, or at least he thought it was a sweat, until, in between vomiting bouts, when he wiped his brow he saw something black smeared on his hand. He was trembling uncontrollably and though he had ignored his physical condition for a while, now even the most intractable person would have no other conclusion to make then to admit, something was critically wrong. Verna was walking next to Jaenin knowing she could do nothing if Jaenin wish to slaughter everyone in the city, let alone stop him from killing Jace. The part she couldn¡¯t figure out though, was why Jaenin was looking for Jace in particular. Well, that wasn¡¯t true, she could think of several reasons why Jaenin might be there. Starting with the celestial body missing from the sky, and rounding out to the removal of the curse. But she couldn¡¯t figure out why Jaenin would care enough about either of those events to come seek Jace out. Jaenin was a strange existence, old even by a dragon¡¯s reckoning, he/it popped up from time to time in old records dating back from prior to the grey king and the gods. If he was the last of his kind, or the only one of its kind no one knew. Jaenin wasn¡¯t particularly reclusive, just the quieter and less pivotal a moment might be the more likely it was to cross his path. Verna herself had met him once, when she was a younger woman, before meeting her husband, she had met him by chance and picked a fight with him. It was a humiliating memory. Made more so because Jaenin dragged her back to her tribe and before most of the tribe, including the patriarch, and humiliatingly spanked to the roaring laughter of the tribe. It was an experience made no better when she learned who this Jaenin was. The patriarch, the Dragon King himself, told her she must be blessed to survive and to actualize that blessing by becoming a priestess. Striding alongside Jaenin, she wondered about the dress, and about the charade. Jaenin clearly remembered her, he/it could have entered the keep without the game. Even if Easol never said anything about him she would have discovered his infiltration the moment she saw him. There was no real reason to do any of this. ¡°Does this Jace have any male friends?¡± Jaenin spoke as they moved through the keep. ¡°Not really. Frankly he doesn¡¯t really have any friends, except, perhaps me.¡± Verna¡¯s answer came quickly. ¡°A man needs male friends. I wonder what it is that is keeping him from making them. Is he not sociable?¡± Jaenin kept speaking as he was walking. ¡°He¡¯s not particularly withdrawn, or he wasn¡¯t. This is not his native tongue, but he speaks it clearly¡­¡± She trailed off not sure why she was talking to Jaenin about Jace, feeling a bit conflicted. ¡°But?¡± Jaenin spoke quietly, as his slowed his pace. Verna couldn¡¯t figure why Jaenin was eyeing the privy. To her surprise, he stopped directly across from it, and was watching the door intently; the guards outside it were strange, and Verna pondered the meaning briefly before answering. ¡°He has grown more withdrawn recently.¡± Verna concluded the thought, and then cursed at herself for speaking freely like this. She was beginning to suspect Jaenin was using some sort of mental magic upon her. ¡°You are sleeping with him correct? I can smell that you have chosen a mate.¡± ¡°Yes¡± The quick answer that escaped her lips sparked her rage as she now knew for certain he was using some sort of mind magic on her. ¡°Your kind mates for life usually. I thought you were married before. Ahhh, even a child and you never chose him as your mate? Was he not strong enough? The great beauty Verna G¡¯Tharon, marrying a weaker male? How did this happen? I bet half the men in your tribe were crying tears of blood at the sight¡± The cruel question and the lewd smile on Jaedin¡¯s face was like adding gas to a fire, as her rage soared. But it was impossible to resist speaking in the face of his questions and to her horror her mouth moved and said words she never would have admitted even in her heart, ¡°It was a mistake, I married a man who I felt I loved, not one who won me with his strength. I thought my people¡¯s traditions were rubbish, and gave no credit to my parents and elder¡¯s wisdom.¡± She never wanted to kill someone as much as she wanted to kill Jaenin right at this moment, but she found she couldn¡¯t even lift a finger against this ¡®thing¡¯. It was as if she was a passenger in her own body, the realization made her feel fully violated. Jaenin lost his cruel smile and glanced at the door behind him then spoke quietly in an almost taunting tone. ¡°That was the first time you actually seriously wanted to kill me girl. I would have thought you would have learned your lesson last time. Even the great king watched me warm your bottom, laughing. It was shapely too. Oh, it still is.¡± He paused as if savoring her struggle, shame and humiliation, then spoke again, ¡°Let¡¯s play a game. You¡¯re going to come with me of your own free will. We will speak with this Jace, and when I ask you something, you answer honestly before this Jace. No matter what the question. I will no longer compel your tongue or body. If you can do this, I will not destroy this Jace¡¯s, body and soul, while making you watch. Don¡¯t over think your answers when I ask you girl, I only want your complete honesty. Understood?¡± Verna felt the ¡°hold¡± he had over her vanish. Staring murder at Jaenin, she nodded reluctantly. Her rage and shame warring within her. She knew Jaenin could be maddening, but this was a violation. Her fear for what he planned for the rest of the day grew. She was so wrapped up in her anger she actually missed Jaenin turning into a boy in front of her. The clothing and hair changed, what was once a dress turned into a tunic and pants. His hair shortened, and now he looked like the spitting image of the man she met once upon a time. ¡°Come Verna,¡± his overall change in appearance almost threw her for as bad a loop as him walking into the privy. Verna followed behind him cautiously, uncertain of why, only after entering the privy she suddenly heard some faint desperate panting. Her nose crinkled, she thought she knew that smell. Pushing past Jaenin, she rushed around the corner and found Jace on his hands and knees, something that looked like black blood oozing out of his skin, his eyes bloodshot staring into space as he struggled to breath. He was coughing uncontrollably. ¡°Poison!¡± Verna shouted, and then started channeling healing magic into Jace as she placed her hand on his forehead. She felt her palm go numb and prickly where she touched the black fluid or blood. Her channeled power dissolving as it touched Jace, just like all wizard¡¯s magic did when touching a sorcerer. Her breath caught in her throat at that moment. Panic rose up, threatening to overwhelm her. As she felt the panic dissolve all her rage she only now realized how much this man had started to mean to her, now she was faced with the prospect of losing him. Chapter 4 - Some days just suck Jace was struggling to breath in his own private hell. He felt like he was drowning, his head felt like it was splitting open, and his skin felt like it was going to burst open from the inside. Nothing he could do would change the agony. It was so great he couldn¡¯t even shout and call for help from his guard. He fumbled with the pulse over and over again, as if in the hope merging with the pulse would resolve the problem, yet every time he started to merge with the pulse the level of pain would go up even higher. A dim part of his mind started to put together a theory about what was happening to him, but it was so far outside his experiences in his life to this point, his desperate mind was unable to credit how likely it was. He only knew it wasn¡¯t poison. He had tried to detoxify himself almost immediately. He feared a plague, but it didn¡¯t seem to be the case either. Rolling on his side he coughed and gasped for breath, completely unable to raise his voice. It felt like something had a firm grasp of his throat and chest, or perhaps he suspect this might be what it was like to drown. As he coughed he tasted something vile in his mouth and spat out more of the ¡°black¡± substance oozing out of his pours. His vision was growing blurry and his eyes hurt combining to give him the worst headache he had ever felt in his life. Since coming to this world, he had been injured badly a number of times. Broken bones, flayed flesh, it was to the point he felt like he was growing a rather high tolerance for pain. But none of those experiences were quite as terrifying as this one. In those horrible situations he didn¡¯t feel like he was dying. And though he did fear he would die, that¡¯s not quite the same as fearing you WERE dying. Well he felt like he was dying, and though the pain wasn¡¯t that extreme, the fear certainly was. He no longer could really see out of his eyes, they throbbed in pain and as he struggled on the floor. Alone in the dark, with nothing but his pain and fear he started gasping like a fish out of water. Trying to force breath into his chest by taking mouthfuls of it. The world started to grow darker and colder and he felt his thoughts start to drift a little, the pain grow a little distant and he suspected, deep in his heart if he passed out that would be the end. He felt something grab his shoulder, he couldn¡¯t really tell who it was, but it was like a lifeline in the darkness, his hands clasping onto the wrist of ¡®someone¡¯. He knew they¡¯d have to be as blind as he currently was to not know he was in trouble, he wanted them to go for help, but he also didn¡¯t want to be left alone dying in the dark. So he held on with what little strength he had. His gasps for air were now the only noise thundering in his ears, they sounded like a death rattle to him. He could barely get any air at all. His hand lost strength as his consciousness drifted. His last thought before his mind went blank was he thought he could hear Verna. Shawey was crouching by the side of a path. She desperately wanted some new clothing, what she was wearing was caked in mud, ripped in a number of places and basically falling apart. It had been a brutal 6 weeks since her bad teleportation. The Rock Devil had so frightened her she had fled from it, running through the dark grove of Wollumba plants, she didn¡¯t even know if it was chasing her, and just as she was about to venture a glance behind her she ran right off the side of a cliff plummeting into the darkness. She was certain she had died for the 2nd time in one night. Fate however had other plans, as she, instead hit the surface of a river. A rather deep river, and of course Shawey couldn¡¯t swim. In a dress, dragging her to the bottom, she ripped at the pulse and using it managed to create air for her lungs, it was enough air to give her long enough to get out of the dress, which was tangling her up and drowning her. In the process, she lost her small focuses which Jace had made for her, lost the pulse and hit her head on a rock. When she came to, she was on the side of the river, in her underthings. It was a sharp pain in her leg which had woke her up, and panicking, her eyes snapped open, only to see her leg being gripped by the poisonous talons of a Giant Owl-like creature called a Flur¡¯a¡¯gah. Her confusion cleared up instantly, and, without the aid of the focus burned the flying creature to death. Cleansing the toxins out of her blood was simple, however she found without the focus it was almost impossible to channel at any distance from her skin. It was mortifying to realize how much she depended upon those focuses. And how easily she gave them up in the river. It had been 6 weeks since then. In that time she had almost froze to death more times then she could count. Her underthings were not much for warmth. She had been able to make water with her power, and getting food was simple. Wollumba bark, as awful as it tasted was edible, if boiled, not to mention the hands full of other edible plants she had come across in her journey across country. This road however was the first sign of civilization she had seen since she started walking. She was extremely cautious. Civilization wasn¡¯t necessary much safer than the wild. She was about to step out from cover onto the road and pick a direction (at random) when she felt a thin blade placed on the side of her neck. ¡°What have we here?¡± A course male voice whispered into the air. ¡°Up on your feet girly. You look like an escaped slave.¡± Cursing to herself she stood slowly. ¡°I¡¯m no slave. No moon mark.¡± She slowly turned to face him. The man was dressed in shades of purple and red, he blended it rather well with the foliage. His hair was grey and balding, thin and small, only a little bit taller than she was. His mouth was free of teeth for the most part, making his thin lips draw back in, and his eyes were tilted, combined with his hooked nose he looked like a scraggly purple lizard. The man¡¯s eyes transversed her body lingering on the exposed skin. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re not. But you are shapely. Where¡¯s your husband?¡± She sighed at the question. Not even a half a year ago, this man would have been a nightmare for her. Compared to the Flur¡¯a¡¯gah or the Rock Devil, or the moon vanishing in the middle of the night, he wasn¡¯t a threat. Still she didn¡¯t want to make things too awkward, as he likely knew where civilization was. ¡°I¡¯m a witch.¡± She turned her palm over and a small flame sprung into being. ¡°I was stranded out here by a teleportation mistake when the moon vanished.¡± The look on his face was priceless. A moment ago, he was licking his lips as if thinking about the healthy young flesh he was going to be enjoying, now he looked like he was going to wet himself in fear. ¡°Um, yes, well miss. What can I do for you?¡± The man¡¯s tone changed immediately.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I need clothing. And I need to know where I am.¡± ¡°Clothing, right, here. Take this.¡± He started digging through his pack, eventually pulling out a long moldy and stained cloak, then held it out to her. She grabbed the cloak, hiding the disgust on her face and knowing more proof of herself probably was necessary. Holding the cloak, she channeled the glyph of water soaking it thoroughly. She then used the glyph ¡°squeeze¡± to press all the water and dirt out of the cloak. Had she the focuses she probably could have used ¡°clean¡± to actually clean the cloak. But with her limitations this was about all she could do. She then followed up with ¡°Dry¡± and removed the remaining wetness from the material, and tossed it around her shoulders. ¡°Where are people?¡± The man pointed south down the trail. He was looking at the puddle of water with a look of fear on his face. Nodding to herself, she started walking down the path. And right into an ambush. She made it all of 20 yards before 40 men popped out of the underbrush. Every one armed. The footsteps of the lizard faced man sounded on the path behind her. It looked like this promising day just turned sour. Jace woke very slowly. His head was resting on something soft, and he could breathe again. ¡®Breathe again?¡¯ The thought brought the last misty memories back into focus. With a start his eyes sprung open, what greeted him was a pair of yellow eyes on a beautiful face framed with red/orange flame like straight silky hair. His tension drained. Judging by the look on her face he could tell she was very worried for him. Glancing around slowly he realized he was probably in his quarters of the keep. There was a strange effeminate blonde haired man standing at the foot of his bed, and the blue haired Fairy girl was drifting around near Verna¡¯s shoulder. ¡®Easol¡¯ he vaguely recalled. Speaking slowly and quietly he said to Verna, the pain in her eyes was cutting him a bit so he did the only thing he could think to boost her spirits without lying, ¡°Nana, you found me?¡± The worry and concern on Verna¡¯s face melted into pure joy. ¡°You called me Nana.¡± A small smile touched his mouth. ¡®This kindred woman was exceedingly simple sometimes.¡¯ He thought to himself. While most Americans might consider a nickname like ¡®Nana¡¯ to be almost grandmotherly, Jace never once thought along those lines. He never called his grandmothers ¡°Nana¡±, in his family they were ¡°Grandma¡±; instead in his mind the name ¡°Nana¡± was the name for a cat his neighbor had. It¡¯s was an adorably playful tiger stripped cat, that spent most of its 8-year life thinking it was a kitten. To Jace the idea this cool seductive and beautiful woman had anything to do with a frisky playful kitty was almost impossible to put together in his mind, so he simply and stubbornly refused to call her by that pet name out of pure principle. However, now he was seeing that smile on her face and the look in her eyes he almost regretted playing with the woman by not calling her by her preferred nickname all this time. ¡°[How long?]¡± He spoke quietly in English, before noticing the look on her face, and repeated himself in her native tongue. ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°Two hours.¡± Came the swift reply, this time instead of draconic it was in the common tongue. He swiped his hand across his forehead, half expecting to see more of that black substance, however his fingers merely found dry skin. ¡°What happened?¡± Verna hesitated a moment then her eyes glanced over to the unisex blonde human. The blonde smiled and spoke quietly, ¡°Jaenin. You would not know me naturally. As ¡®Nana¡¯ informed me of your situation.¡± Jace glanced at Verna, and was surprised at the killing rage on her face. He went to reach for her hand, taking it in his, his actions felt awkward to him, as if his body wasn¡¯t responding properly to what his mind was telling him to do. When his hand touched hers, she broke the murderous gaze she had for this blonde fellow, and looked down at Jace again. The switch from murderous intentions to that tender gaze threw him for a loop. She never looked at him like that. She would get mad at him, tease him, or be seductive toward him but this was the first time he saw something approaching ¡°tender¡± or ¡°loving¡± in her gaze. It actually made him feel a bit uncomfortable as he never really thought of Verna as someone to ¡°love¡±. Breaking the silence he spoke toward the boy Jaenin. ¡°I¡¯m sure you and Verna have a history. I don¡¯t know what you did to make her so mad, or if she deserved it. But can we cut through the [bullshit] um¡­ I mean cut the crap? How can I help you? I¡¯m gathering you¡¯re here because you either saved me or want something and Verna by herself couldn¡¯t stop you either way.¡± The almost human - man Jaenin smiled, and spoke ¡°Alright. You are right, Verna couldn¡¯t stop me. Nor could you. And you¡¯re right, I helped you with your little problem. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve seen something like that. But I knew you were going to have it. The problem I mean. Which is why I came.¡± ¡°Alright. Then you have my thanks.¡± Jace spoke slowly. He was thinking about what this thing Jaenin just said ¡°problem¡± a problem he had seen before? That implied he knew the cause, since he said he expected it to occur as well. The ¡®man¡¯ Jaenin nodded and then spoke, ¡°I¡¯m not here for your thanks.¡± ¡°Then how can I help you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not here for your help either. I am here for a promise I made. A little over 23,482 years ago. I can¡¯t really be sure exactly how much longer past that it was. After about 10,000 years it stops meaning much. I made a promise to the last human to become a Grand Sorcerer to assist any humans who managed to become Sorcerers. I owed him my life. So, I agreed to help the next one. Of course, who would have expected that he was the last till now?¡± Jace silently waited for the creature to speak, knowing clearly that his first impression of this thing was it was not a human was completely correct. ¡°Do you not find that strange? Why would sorcerers occur in every race but humans?¡± He paused a long moment. Obviously waiting for their answer to his question, Verna had an uncomfortable look on her face, which made Jace wonder if she knew the reason. Frowning at the lack of an answer or even a guess the creature continued ¡°What if I was to say it was because only humans could become Gods?¡± That statement got the gears in Jace¡¯s head turning, as he pieced through what he knew of this worlds history. ¡°Sometime around 20,000 years ago, the first gods showed up; history doesn¡¯t record where they came from. That would mean history intentionally didn¡¯t record the truth. Those gods warred for a time, great human kingdoms rose up, they enslaved the races and ruled the world, but they warred constantly, as the gods fought with each other. Then all of it stopped about 12,000 years ago. The wars on this land and in the heavens, it all ended as the Grey Dragon King took over the continent, world even. At the same time the Gods, who were so active vanished. Until 2,000 years ago. When the king was killed. The oppression of human mages became standard with the Grey King, and human mages were sent off to Erindalle in the Sky, never to be seen again, and after the Grey king, the only thing that survived his kingdom was the wholesale slaughter of human mages by Fairies now.¡± Jace spoke all of that out loud. Then added in a flat tone. ¡°Are you saying the Gods killed every human capable of becoming a god, while they killed each other. Then they coerced or raised up this Grey King to systemize the situation, and likely used the Fairies in the same manner. NO the curse did the job for them.¡± He felt his conclusion was far too cynical. But the look on Jaenin¡¯s face told him he might not be cynical enough. ¡°Mostly correct. Actually, the Grey King never existed. Oh, I mean sure he looked and sounded like a dragon. But the Grey King was actually me.¡± Chapter 5 - The Grey King ¡°Wait!¡± The one who shouted out at this point was Verna. ¡°Don¡¯t believe this nonsense Jace. He¡¯s lying to you.¡± Jace looked at Verna a moment then looked back at Jaenin. ¡°Please keep going.¡± He squeezed Verna¡¯s hand and gave her a smile, she looked back at him irritated, and yanked her hand away from his. ¡°You see, near the end of the God¡¯s war I was captured by Elis. I am not a God, well not in the sense that those 8 are. If I were something, I¡¯d say I became something like Fate. Only nowhere near as powerful. Fate isn¡¯t really a god either. It¡¯s the First Plant, a Wollumba plant that gained ¡°godhood¡±. I was raised like as a fungus at its feet. And in time I gained thoughts as well, and became a god. However, we are merely aspects of this world. Fate is fate. I am not. I am, if you could call me anything I¡¯d say you could call me the memory. Whereas fate is an aspect of the future I am one of the past. Unfortunately, the past has little power over the here and now, or even the future. So, while Elis could not subdue fate he could capture me, and through me weaken fate.¡± Jaenin paused and stared at the ceiling of the room a desolate look upon his face. ¡°I was bound. Made to play the role of puppet for Elis. Oppress the people of the lands, oppress the humans, while Elis found a way to ¡°Rob¡± fate. This I cannot explain, but he found a way to alter fate so that he became greater for it, while Fate became lesser, and he was using and suppressing human mages to accomplish it. Eventually I found a solution to my problem. I made a sword which when in the hands of a human would be able to break the bindings upon me and shatter Elis¡¯s hold on Fate. It took almost 2000 years to make the plan and execute it. I used generations of humans to create the sword in secret outside of Elis¡¯s eyes. With the aid of Fate I planted the seeds for Darius to rise in rebellion. I let the sword do the rest. What Darius didn¡¯t know was he wasn¡¯t killing me, he was simply freeing the world from the control of Elis.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, the plan failed. Elis, somehow created a curse, he spread prophecy of the curse through the churches which of course stood in complete opposition to Darius¡¯s rebellion. Somehow history turned this truth into me as in I mean the Grey King, giving this prophecy when Darius thought he was killing me, or at least that¡¯s how history records it. This curse the humans suffered¡­¡± he shook his head ¡°¡­Terrible, they¡¯re all basically power supplies to make Elis ¡®more¡¯ then a God. You know I never gave a prophecy about a human hero to cure the curse? How could I? I¡¯m History not Fate. That was another add-on to the events of the Grey King¡¯s death you can thank Elis for. He figured prisoners would be more willing to suffer their fate if they thought ¡°someday¡± it might end. You know this curse is actually a curse of¡­¡± Jace cut him off, ¡°It¡¯s a curse of fate. I know. I did remove it. I couldn¡¯t have done that if I hadn¡¯t figured that much out.¡± Jace¡¯s mind was spinning. The things this Jaenin freely said did answer a lot of questions drifting in the back of his mind since he learned the so called history of this world. ¡°Correct. He leveraged the faith of all of his believers, and their anger and rage about the death of the king, and used them to create the curse. Yes, he didn¡¯t have the power to curse the world. The humans of this world cursed themselves, through their faith in Elis, and a ritual they performed. You know those who actually performed this ritual were the ones who got the original moon marks? They thought those were marks showing their PROTECTION from the curse. By the time the truth was known, the lie had decades to promulgate. Once the curse ignited Elis and Vigellisyphoned the very fate of billions of humans and others vastly increasing their power and lifespans. Fate was now bound by Elis. He had lost control of me, the past, but gained the future. It makes me wonder if he had been behind my rebellion in the first place.¡± Jaenin was still staring at the ceiling. Then he kept talking. ¡°Fate is bound, not completely but Fate is bound. Do not forget this. Anyway, another 2000 years passed and this world degenerated to this state. The wars were better than this slow march into ruin, degeneracy and ignorance. It is not just the humans who have suffered. And now we come back to why I¡¯m here, the promise.¡± He stopped looking at the ceiling and looked directly at Jace. ¡°You will die if you do not heed this warning.¡± ¡°Stop using magic.¡± Verna cleared her throat. She had been silent throughout the conversation but now spoke ¡°Jaenin, how could anything you just told us be true? I¡¯ve never heard this. And the kindred have long memories and longer lifespans. Dragons longer still.¡± Jaenin looked at Verna, ¡°And your Dragon King in Erindalle in the Sky helped Elis suppress the humans throughout my so-called reign. What reason would he have to tell you the truth? Sure, he likes to fuck human women. He also enjoys Fucking lots of things. You know when he was a little thing with no pretense to the word ¡°king¡± he used to fuck a little creature known as a Vorl. Well Vorls no longer exist, but the offspring of that coupling, the Harkan, most certainly do. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m insulting your king for fun. Many dragons liked to fuck Vorl. He wasn¡¯t alone. The only thing dragons enjoyed doing more than fucking Vorl was EATING Vorl. Is there any doubt how there are no more Vorl in this world? Well if Dragons, the one species which enjoyed fucking the Vorl couldn¡¯t be bothered to keep the Vorl alive, what do you expect the dragons think about the humans? They certainly like fucking humans too. But when it was a question of Vorl or Human, believe me a dragon would fuck a Vorl. And they¡¯re extinct. ¡° ¡°What about Kindred eh? Well dragons didn¡¯t bother to fuck the Harkan, and they don¡¯t seem to like fucking the Kindred much either. How much do you think they¡¯ll be willing to ¡°cherish¡± your people? About the only thing, the Kindred have going for them is the fact they worship the dragons. Treat their draconic ancestor as their patriarch. This just proves you know how to stroke a dragon¡¯s ego. They like veneration almost as much as they like fucking and gold. ¡°Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Your own sister is a woman in the Red Dragon King¡¯s harem is she not?¡± Jaenin¡¯s direct question seemed to rattle Verna, so she spoke through clenched teeth. The look on Verna¡¯s face troubled Jace. ¡°Yes she is.¡± Jace caught the smirk on Jaenin¡¯s face and started wondering about their relationship, it seemed like Jaenin had something on Verna. ¡°Very admirable. Though I¡¯m willing to bet she has not been a favorite of the king. Too much like dicking a daughter I suspect. And while dragons will dick mostly anything, I¡¯ve noticed they lose interest in their kin pretty quickly.¡± Jace had little interest in the libido of dragons, he was much more interested in what this Jaenin meant when he said not to use magic again. He also suspected Verna wasn¡¯t enjoying this turn in conversation either. ¡°Alright, I get it. Jaenin, let us say you are history, and you¡¯re here on a promise. What do you mean don¡¯t use magic?¡± The refocusing of the conversation seemed to get Verna¡¯s attention and she lost a bit of her hostility. Jaenin thought a moment then spoke, ¡°Becoming a sorcerer¡­ I¡¯ve never done this, so, I can only guess at it, what it means. My powers were more similar to a God¡¯s ever since I grew consciousness. THAT SAID, I watched many humans and OTHER sorcerers fail to become grand sorcerers. Many humans and gnomes who became sorcerers died. Yes, died. It took a long time for people to discover how to successfully navigate that stage.¡± ¡°Amazingly (or not, if you were paying attention) right around the time humans discovered the keys to successfully become Grand Sorcerers, the God war started up. And that knowledge was lost soon after, along with the knowledge of how to become a God.¡± The look on Jaenin¡¯s face got a little conspiratorial. ¡°A good friend of mine told me the steps to both. And begged me to pass them on to humans who were to become sorcerers. I refused. He saved my life once. I would only save one life. So the deal was to pass on the secrets to becoming a grand sorcerer. No more.¡± Jaenin was now smiling. Easol, silent this whole time finally spoke, butting into the conversation. ¡°How can we trust any of what you are saying Jaenin? You say you¡¯re interested in the King because of a promise made 20,000 years ago. Yet you also make it clear you fight Elis, you dislike the fact that he has Fate bound. And yet you suddenly show up at the place, the first place in 2000 years to break Elis¡¯s hold of fate? It seems to me your purpose is different then what you claim.¡± Jaenin simply smiled. ¡°History, the past, the true past does not lie. I am here for a promise. It may appear that I have other motivating reasons to come here, but in reality, it was the promise that I came for.¡± Jace stared at him. He was a young man, he wasn¡¯t particularly sophisticated in reading the hidden meaning in a conversation, frankly he always was much more of a do¡¯er then a talker. Though the past few weeks certainly was rapidly developing his skills as a talker as well. He didn¡¯t miss what the creature, this ¡°history¡± was saying, and decided to return the conversation to the point. ¡°So then, I don¡¯t use magic. To what purpose?¡± Jace started small, he needed to know what was happening to him. ¡°I am not using magic right now and I feel like my skin is crawling, and I could be sick at any moment. There is more to this. Please tell me what you know.¡± ¡°What I know is that when you become a sorcerer, you¡¯ve stepped onto the path to Godhood. Thinking of yourself as a proto-demigod would not be far from the truth. However, to become a God is no small step. You¡¯re changing. Your body and soul no longer mesh. Your soul is FAR too strong for your body. Frankly, no mortal body could properly hold a sorcerer¡¯s soul. This step kills most humans. Kindred and Dragons are damned near immortal at birth, so kindred produce a number of sorcerers, and they know nothing about ¡°difficulties¡± about their step. The People of the World however rarely CARE enough about magic to become sorcerers. They have their own innate magic that they usually use instead of the pulse. Gnomes and Humans however, are in trouble once they step into the sorcerer stage.¡± Jaenin paused. Jace was thinking about the sensation he felt, the disconnected sensation, how he felt removed from the world ever since he stepped into being a sorcerer. Even fucking Verna became perfunctory. Something, on reflection he hadn¡¯t done in a week. One thought dominated Jace¡¯s mind at this point, ¡®this Jaenin is a gold mine.¡¯ So, he let him continue. ¡°The first key to surviving this stage is to stop using the pulse until the body ¡®transforms¡¯.¡± Jaenin continued. ¡°That black substance is parts of your body expelled. The non-immortal parts. If you replace too much at once you¡¯ll die. And the only known way to replace too many parts at once is to channel the pulse. The more you channel the pulse with a mortal body the more the pulse will rebound, and FORCE the transformation. Channeling literally is killing you. Keep it up and you¡¯ll die.¡± Jace could feel the truth in the words spoken. He could FEEL the rejection when he merged into the pulse. Had he never created that fake leg he never would have recognized it for what it was. The pulse objected to his ¡°being¡±. ¡°After your body, has transformed you can use magic again. Actually, at that point, depending on your ties to the world, you might just be a Grand Sorcerer.¡± He cryptically added at the end. Jace stared at him then spoke slowly, his mind coming to one conclusion, this man was ¡®history¡¯, ¡°How does one forge closer ties to the world¡± Jace wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d answer. And was surprised when he did. ¡°By loving it. By becoming part of it. You hate this place. I can feel it. Every inch of your body despises this world. Cannot wait to return to your land. Like this you¡¯ll never become a Grand Sorcerer. The best you¡¯ll hope for is to finish your transformation and become a true, full Sorcerer, in 50 years or so.¡± Jace sat there in deep thought, then looked at the stone ceiling. He knew this ¡°History¡± was right. He hated this world. Even the laws he created made his skin crawl. He was used to his Xbox One, not that he was a huge gamer, but he was looking forward to games like Madden, FIFA and NHL. He wanted to find Jenn, he wanted to go to and then graduate from high school, go to college and buy a home. Part of him still wanted to play hockey. Heck, he wanted to see the Buffalo Bills or Sabres become world champions. He didn¡¯t want anything to do with this world. In a way, every part of his soul hated being here. And now this ¡°history¡± told him to get home he needed to love this place. The difficulty level togo home just increased beyond Jace¡¯s imagination. Chapter 6 - The Long Road Home Jace was so busy contemplating the things that Jaenin had said, he only barely paid attention when Verna started speaking. ¡°50 years? 50 years? Did you just say 50 years Jaenin?¡± Jaenin smiled, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with 50 years? He¡¯s forging an immortal body; do you think this is a fast process?¡± ¡°But humans don¡¯t live that long. You¡¯re telling me Jace needs to be 70yo before he can start to channel the pulse again?¡± Verna pressed the point. Jace felt like he had been dunked in icewater as he heard Verna¡¯s comments. Snapping out of his thoughts he looked at Jaenin, and quickly repeated what Verna just said. ¡°50 years?!¡± Jaenin stood there unmoving a mischievous smile on his face and answered. ¡°Yes, I believed I said 50 years, your ears are not in error.¡± Jace¡¯s face lost all color. He felt a deep, bone deep despair well up inside him. Everyone he knew would be dead if he could return back to earth. 50 years, he would be lucky if anyone even knew him. Graduating high school as a 70-year-old man? What about college and the house? How many Superbowls or Stanley Cup Finals would he miss? Jenn would be a grandmother, his father would be buried, and unless he was really lucky, and his brother was still alive he¡¯d never even know where to find that last resting place. He had cast away a lot to survive in this world. But 50 years was too much. He had long ago prepared himself for an extended stay. He had worried about losing too much of his life but part of him figured he probably would only lose 2 or 3 years to this world. Mentally he had never considered the possibility he would be here for much longer than half a decade at the most. Speaking slowly, and with dread deep in his heart he asked the only question he could think of. ¡°Is there any way to speed it up?¡± Jaenin was watching Jace¡¯s face closely, the sardonic grin never slipping. ¡°I said. ¡®You hate this place. Like this you¡¯ll never become a Grand Sorcerer. The best you¡¯ll hope for is to become a true, full Sorcerer, in 50 years or so.¡¯ I never said anything about the process of which I spoke being a 50-year long process. Only that the path you¡¯re walking on this was the best you could hope for, as long as you continued to reject and hate this world. If you want to properly become a grand sorcerer, the process can take a year or two at the longest. But that is for someone with deep ties to the land. For you, who knows how long it will take living in this palace. It might take a couple of decades or so.¡± Jace spoke slowly, ¡°So you do know how to speed it up. But it¡¯s something dependent on my state of mind, or heart.¡± He closed his eyes, the fear that gripped him was still real. He started thinking about what Jaenin said again. Then spoke. ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me to leave Lotsorn. And do what? Commune with the world?¡± Jaenin smiled, ¡°That¡¯s not a bad start, though I¡¯d suggest you not just commune with the world, but with the people of it. The animals. The fish. The humans of that age, before the gods war used to go on long trips by themselves. They¡¯d wandered far and wide. Living as fate took them. Some became warlords, others hermits, some simply traveled to the coast and fished for a few years. And in the end, they found their place in the world, with this world, and loved this world for it. It¡¯s not something you can do with people directing your feet. It¡¯s something only, you can discover.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just leave alone on some half assed spirit quest at the words of this Jaenin.¡± Verna¡¯s voice interrupted the conversation. Jace knew what she meant. He had become a leader of this city. Like it or not he had a responsibility for what would happen to them. He was about to say something when Jaenin cut in, ¡°Actually he has more than a responsibility to this city. He has one for you too Verna. Correct?¡± Verna winced, and nodded, ¡°yes.¡± ¡°Can you tell Jace why?¡± Jace looked between the two of them curiously. Then Verna spoke slowly. ¡°You are my mate.¡± Jace¡¯s mind came to a stop. ¡°Wait, what?¡± Jace heart Jaenin¡¯s laugh. He saw Easol whip around staring at Verna in disbelief. He was expecting her to say a lot of things, but what she did say only puzzled him. ¡°Mate? What does that mean?¡± Verna hesitated then Jaenin added, ¡°Tell him.¡± ¡°Dragons are promiscuous. However occasionally a dragon will mate with a stronger person. One strong enough to completely dominate it. In the dragon¡¯s very being they¡¯ll submit to that individual. And be monogamous for the rest of their life. Typically dying alongside their mate rather than live on alone. Kindred have this instinct to choose a mate like a Dragon. Most kindred marriages occur between two kindred of which one is mated to the other. In fact, most male kindred won¡¯t marry a female if she isn¡¯t mated to him. The heart has nothing to do with it, mostly. It¡¯s a strong instinct. As a result, some kindred like me, marry without choosing their future husband as a mate. I chose to marry for love. However, he was much weaker than me. And could not get me to submit. Nor would he submit to me, as he had his male pride.¡± Verna spoke in a dull monotone as if reading it. Her voice had no inflection in it.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°I became your mate during our first night on that boat. It wasn¡¯t something I could chose, it just happened. I didn¡¯t tell you because I knew it would only confuse our relationship. The sex was too good, why complicate it with ¡®feelings¡¯? Being mated doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t sleep with other men, it simply means I¡¯ll never find them stimulating. More so, it means a greatly improved chance of pregnancy. Female Dragons and Kindred rarely are in heat and capable of creating offspring unless they¡¯re mated.¡± Some things suddenly clicked into place when he thought about their first time together. ¡°Wait, that¡¯s crazy.¡± Jace cut her off. ¡°You¡¯re telling me you¡¯re linked for life with me all because you were clawing at my back too hard, it hurt and I pinned you down to keep you from skinning my back?¡± He completely ignored Easol and Jaenin while looking at Verna with a look of disbelief on his face. Verna¡¯s blush was all he needed to see. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. He knew why Jaenin wanted him to travel alone. Other people would influence his ¡®experience¡¯ of the world. If he traveled with Verna, he knew he would just fuck her every night. He wouldn¡¯t bother talking to the humans of the world as she would be a deadly bodyguard. His whole experience of the ¡°world¡± would be colored badly. He also knew why Jaenin wanted him to leave Lotsorn. There was no way to be introspective about the world while reigning here. He also suspected there was another reason for getting him to leave the city. Perhaps staying here made him an easy target by the gods while he couldn¡¯t defend himself. Sighing he suddenly smiled. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll leave.¡± He paused as Verna appeared to be gearing up to argue with him further on this point. She would have a point too, he had a responsibility to Lotsorn. So, he spoke words he never imagined speaking before, ¡°Verna. Will you marry me? Verna looked at him like he was crazy. ¡°No. Why would I marry you?¡± He actually laughed hearing her reply and knew he was doing the right thing. ¡°Marry me.¡± ¡°I said I¡¯m not going to marry you. Just because I¡¯ve become your mate does not mean I have to marry you. The ego of some men.¡± She huffed. ¡°Besides you¡¯re too young. What are you, 20? My son is older then you.¡± ¡°Eighteen actually¡­ wait.¡± He pondered a moment. He had been sucked into this world in March back on earth, he had been here a little longer than 30 weeks, 300 days, or roughly 10 months on earth. Pondering for a long time, he said slowly. ¡°No, I think I probably turned 19 recently. But that¡¯s beside the point. Verna I don¡¯t love you. I owe you my life, and have fun around you when you¡¯re not driving me insane. You¡¯re a far prettier woman then a guy like me should expect to have as a wife. Furthermore, since I¡¯m going to be leaving both you and Lotsorn behind for a while, I need someone strong enough to rule it for me. Someone who won¡¯t usurp my rule or undo the changes. Someone strong enough to hold onto the throne. Sorry this isn¡¯t romantic or tender, but I¡¯d rather not [bullshit] you.¡± Verna sat their quietly. Then shrugged. ¡°Fair enough. For those reasons, I¡¯ll marry you. I was worried you wanted to marry me because you felt guilty for the ¡®mate¡¯ thing, I¡¯m glad that fear was unfounded. The last thing I¡¯d want is to guilt someone into marrying me. I won¡¯t be pitied.¡± ¡°Are all marriages so, passionless?¡± Easol suddenly spoke up. ¡°You sound like you¡¯re agreeing to a business proposal. Does not love matter at all?¡± Verna and Jace shared a look, Verna¡¯s eyes rolled, and Jace laughed. ¡°She¡¯s so innocent. Why were you trying to shove her into bed with us?¡± Jace knew what Verna had in mind for the Fairy girl Easol the moment he saw Verna hanging out with the girl. Part of him would have liked to be married to a girl he loved, but really, this answer solved all his problems so neatly he was having issues seeing any flaws in the plan. ¡°Don¡¯t be so sure she won¡¯t come around.¡± Verna said airily. Judging by the look on Easol¡¯s face Jace knew that would be a very unlikely event. Easol looked like she was about to say something rather rude, so Jace spoke to Easol. ¡°Don¡¯t let my lady wife bully you around too much. I¡¯m sure there is some handsome Fairy boy back in Ghanarai who will make you a happy wife.¡± He felt the nice words he just spoke should have diffused the situation, however Easol looked even more irritated, while Verna was trying not to laugh. Jaenin watched the conversation then smiled and said. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ve honored my promise. If you don¡¯t mind I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± And turned to walk away. Jace¡¯s eyes shot to the departing ¡®thing¡¯ and spoke quickly. ¡°Wait, Jaenin. I have a question well several.¡± Jaenin paused then spoke quietly. ¡°when you understand that green cube, unravel its secrets, I suspect you¡¯ll have most of your answers you seek about how to return home. The sun is currently Red because that is a fake star. The sky has been fake since the end of the Gods War. If you think of this world as separated from the sky, then you¡¯ll not be wrong. As for why the Gods haven¡¯t killed you yet, it¡¯s because currently they¡¯re locked into the prison in the sky. That prison is how the Gods War ended. Finally, only humans can become gods because everything in this world is balanced. The fairy get strong gifts of power at birth, the gnomes as well, as do the kindred or even the rock devils. Only humans are gifted neither a tough body or limitless life or innate magic power. So only they can know powerlessness. Because of this, they are the only creatures which may become gods. I did not make the rules. But those are the rules. As to Easol¡¯s question of why I chose to sneak into the keep? That was my choice and the answer is not deserved by anyone here. Now I don¡¯t think I have any further things to tell you.¡± Jaenin started walking toward the door. Jace spoke once as Jaenin was walking out of the door. ¡°Thank you.¡± Jaenin paused a moment upon hearing those words then he continued out the door and vanished. Chapter 7 - Parting Jace¡¯s wedding to Verna was a lowkey affair as far as royal wedding can go. A simply ceremony held in the square now called ¡°Sorcerer Square¡± where that huge and embarrassing statue of Jace himself had appeared. Jace had seen it once before and decided not to look into who commissioned it, as he suspected Verna was behind it and didn¡¯t feel like asking her questions she clearly didn¡¯t want him to ask. Verna thought herself subtle, but if there was one thing Jace had learned is the woman only ¡®thought¡¯ she was subtle. Staring at that huge statue before the ceremony he actually had a wild thought that perhaps the reason Verna had the statue made was to advertise his looks for possible women to make a harem for him. He almost punched himself for having an ego big enough to make that type of assumption. Not everything in the world revolved around him, he had to remind himself. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t Verna¡¯s work and the citizens simply wanted to glorify their liberator. That thought sat a lot better with him, so he decided that was the way he¡¯d assume the statue got made. Of course, removing the curse from all the humans in this city had been accidental, which of course only made him feel a bit guilty about this ¡°Breaker of Chains¡± nonsense he had heard talked about him. Either way, they married in the ¡°human¡± way, which was conducted by the Seneschal of the Palace a man called Lord Argoth. It involved some vaguely religious and magical references, some calling on Fate to bless them, and since Jace had rather openly declared war on Elis, they used a priestess of Ssaras to provide the holy blessing of their union at the end. Per ancient palace traditions, Jace showered the crowd with gold, and then escaped back to the palace with Verna. They actually did the newlywed thing for a week, locking themselves in their room. There was a desperate animalistic edge to their last week of lovemaking together. Almost as if they were trying to cram years of time together into a week. Because at the end of it all, they would be separating for an unknown period of time. Years, perhaps decades. Jace spent a lot of time between the extended bouts of passion with Verna speaking about himself. Marriage to him was never something he aspired to. Yet like all young Americans it had some sort of magical aura to it. Even though he was a man, he had always expected he¡¯d get married to the ¡°girl of his dreams¡± settle down and live a healthy and happy life with her, making a family. In theory, had he been happy with his life here, he could see how marrying the stunning Kindred woman and being a liked king of a city state would be the end point of most fantasy stories about someone being transported to another world. However, he never was happy with this life here. The state of life in this world, how the humans lived, was appalling. Even in this city of Lotsorn, even with the changes to the laws, he could see the lack of empathy, the base nature of these people might take centuries to correct from the damage done by the past 2000 years. Even now he knew there was a large number of young women prostituting themselves, mostly because they had spent most of their lives spreading their legs for any man who felt the need, now because of the laws, they could even charge for this same service. It¡¯s how they always lived, all that had changed is they could say ¡®no¡¯ now. So of course, the women were happy about the changes, even the ones who prostituted themselves out. No matter how much he hated it, and wanted these people to stop it, they were going to continue to behave badly Setting aside the monstrous task of making these people see some value in their lives and dignity, Earth was where he belonged. He missed his home. He missed his family. He missed his friends. He¡¯d be willing to give up all his magical power, this beautiful kindred woman, the castle, the fame, if it meant he could live a normal life back home. In his conversations to Verna he told her a lot about earth, it¡¯s history, it¡¯s people. A lot about technology and the food. About his home town. He told her about his impressions of this world. He wasn¡¯t sure why he was telling her all about himself, and on reflection he thought it might be because he wanted her to know who she married, or who he was, in the event he never saw her again. In turn she told him about her life. About her prior marriage and husband, about her wishes and hopes. While he didn¡¯t feel in love with the woman, he felt rather close to her. In all his time here, while he considered Sam a friend and a lover, there was a deep dependence in that relationship that even he had to admit at this point was probably something akin to Stockholm syndrome. With Verna, he felt like she was a good trusted friend. While getting married to her was for practical reasons, very unromantic reasons, he didn¡¯t hate it in the least. And deep down inside he hoped she didn¡¯t resent him for it either. He was sticking her with a rather large responsibility after all. He just couldn¡¯t help but feel like he was sticking her with the bill at a 4-star restaurant, and couldn¡¯t figure out how to make it up to her. This was an elegant solution to HIS problems, but what about Verna? In the end, he was too ashamed to ask his new wife if she would resent him if she never saw him again. Verna watched Jace finish loading his boat from a nearby pier in the harbor. She was dressed in blood reds, a long glorious gown with a golden tiara on her brow. She was actually rather amused at Jace¡¯s behavior this past week. He was a kindhearted man. Kindhearted to a fault. So, she intentionally let him stew, rather than set his heart at ease. He needed to toughen up if he is going to be a king. And King he would have to be. Verna felt no need to point out to Jace how certain she was she would see him again. She had two reasons for her certainty. One was Easol, some of the things the Seer had seen more than implied Verna would see Jace again. The other reason was she suspected some of the things Jaenin had stated during his visit implied return to Jace¡¯s Earth was impossible.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. She smiled a little bit, thinking about her second husband. She wondered a bit about his insistence of his mediocrity back on this Earth. She found that very hard to believe. For someone that well educated, that dedicated, and physically strong to be ¡®mediocre¡¯ implied he was living in an almost fantasy world of gods. Of course, his tales made it seem like he was. Flying machines which traveled faster than sound. Metal machines which could reach into the heavens. A device which connected every person in the world with each other. All the knowledge of the people accessible in a few seconds. Schools for every child, and medicines which could cure plagues. She understood his desire to return to such a world. She also understood how he could have such a strong will to return that he could do some of the things he did. His loss of his leg never even caused him to pause. His loss of his love was just a hiccup. Though his heart broke for Sa¡¯manatha¡¯s death, he never let it distract him from his path home. His actions in this city. The rebuilding of the leg. When you considered all the pain and effort he put into creating that fake limb, you¡¯d expect him to hesitate to remove it when he wasn¡¯t sure if he could grow a real one, yet he didn¡¯t hesitate. They shared a long last look at each other. He was wearing some well-made brown undyed leathers. Skrike hide she thought. It was what most mariners liked wearing, as it apparently was waterproof, buoyant and mostly arrow proof. She knew his black and silver armor was left in the keep. He did take the sword though. They looked at each other a long time. His blunt and plain face and green eyes, brown hair trimmed back to his shoulders, in a short ponytail. She knew most women would find his face unremarkable, but she found it deeply attractive, the green eyes and brown hair, the brown short trimmed beard, it made him look older then he was, stable, someone you could trust with your life. Then he was back to the bow of his boat, pulling up the anchor. She remembered him using his magic to pull it up in the past, now it was done, hand over hand. She remembered her last words with him. He had held her by her waist with his large hands. Standing in a small skiff which would take him from the pier to his boat. He was looking up at her and he smiled a half smile, she knew he was feeling guilty. He seemed to be searching for something to say so she spoke first. ¡°If you expect me to cry or ask you to stay you misunderstand your wife badly. You seriously must be the most foolish king in history. Handing your kingdom over to your new wife to go wandering the world.¡± His awkwardness vanished with her tone. ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯ll return after a 10-year journey to find we made a child, who didn¡¯t know me and resented me. And you surrounded by 108 beautiful male suitors all vying for your affection because the world is certain I am dead. Each one will want the beautiful Verna¡¯s hand in marriage to become king of this city. But you instead will be stringing them along, as not one will measure up to me. Ultimately, you¡¯ll be mad because I left you to deal with the headaches of ruling this place, and will force me to prove I am worthy of being your husband. So, I will have to kill all 108 men.¡± She snorted, ¡°Sounds like a rubbish tale. Who said I¡¯d even give you a chance to prove your worth to me? And who would put up with the nattering of 108 men? If you do not come back to me a Grand Sorcerer then you are not allowed to come back, and if you find me in need of rescuing from 108 vapid men, then you married the wrong woman. If you feel like bringing someone or ten back to our bed you¡¯re more than welcome to. Just keep in mind I don¡¯t want a snorer, and she must be able to keep up with you. Don¡¯t worry about your lady wife straying. I have a toy Fairy to help keep me warm at night. And I promise she¡¯ll be much more interested in what you¡¯ll bring to the bed when you return.¡± Jace started to laugh long before she finished what she was saying. ¡°That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve heard the Odyssey dismissed as a rubbish tale. Goodbye Verna, just don¡¯t burn the city down when I¡¯m gone.¡± She laughed at that and bent down to kiss him, then he let go of her waist and was rowed out to the boat. Overall, she didn¡¯t doubt in the least she¡¯d see him again. So, she had to make sure this was a city which he could be proud of. Steeling herself for what she was going to do next, and schooling her face to hide her dislike, she turned to Easol, and smiled a lovely smile, and spoke softly. ¡°Now that the ball and chain is gone, how about we return to the palace and spend some time together?¡± Chapter 8 - Everyone Has Problems Jace had been sailing south for a little more then twoweeks. He didn¡¯t really have any real destination in mind as he traveled. Ultimately, he wanted to make it to Khavar, and search for the old research facility he was summoned into, but there was almost no way to search for it, or to enter it until he could channel again. As a result, he was in no particular hurry to get there. He had spent a lot of time reading between the lines of what Jaenin said, and thought he heard a few hints about Godhood in what he was telling him to do. In preparation for the journey he studied a lot of maps available in the palace. What bothered him when he was studying the maps was the distances involved. He had a chance to look at maps before when he was back in that dungeon. But he didn¡¯t quite grasp this worlds measurement of distance, and frankly it meant little to him because there were no full continent maps. In studying maps this time around he came across three full continent maps including one which had what he thought was the old magic academy on it. He even was able to figure out the units of measurements, they used something called a ¡°Ra¡± for longer distances, and after jogging one measured out Ra, he thought a Ra might be pretty close to 2 or 3 miles. He had jogged 3 miles a morning back home (when the weather allowed) so he had a pretty good feeling for the distance, and he was pretty sure this was a bit short of 3 miles. No matter how he looked at it, the ¡°Ra¡± had to be something like 2.5 miles, yet if you used that as your basis of measurement, then he traveled something like 8,500-10,000 miles in 40 days on a small sailboat. While the J/24 probably could manage that if everything went right and you sailed it actively 24 hours a day, he didn¡¯t believe it was possible with the way they were forced to hide below deck for long stretches of time tethered to a sea anchor. 5,000 miles, easy. 7,000 miles was plausible, but 8500-10000 miles? It just didn¡¯t make sense to him. Which meant the maps were wrong. After realizing the maps were probably not accurate he remembered his father telling him longitude was the hardest thing to properly measure before the clock and compass were invented. He didn¡¯t think these people navigated by the stars much, or at least he didn¡¯t see anything like a sextant anywhere. Nor did he see anything like a clock or star map. Which meant navigation and likely map making was probably stuck in some stage prior to the Age of Discovery on Earth. Of course, assuming the maps are wrong only made his sailing journey that much more interesting. He really wanted a watch, a compass and a star map, but this world had none of those things. Nor did this world have binoculars, which meant he was forced to attempt dead reckoning navigation without an accurate map, compass or clock. This meant he was forced to say within sight of land, which of course meant he was in rather serious danger if a real storm snuck up on him, OR he ran into something like a reef. What made his prior journey relatively safe was he could take a reading of the depth under the keel miles in front of his boat, at any time he felt like it. He was never in danger of hitting anything. Since he was taking this trip alone he didn¡¯t have anyone to be a watch out, which meant he had to use the shoal maps made by the traders and pirates of the coast, which of course he now knew were completely inaccurate. At least he had a trusty rock on a knotted rope to help him measure depth. The first 20 days of his journey south went well. The weather was mild, which was unexpected. He had brought a lot of equipment to help him survive a winter storm, the surface of the sea was still relatively warm, which meant he had to deal with fog every morning, which meant he couldn¡¯t really sail anywhere until it lifted. The fog worried him. It made it almost impossible to tell what type of weather might be heading his way, and of course there was something spooky about being on a boat in a fog bank that could make you believe old ghost stories pretty easily. What he didn¡¯t expect was the solitude. He knew traveling alone would suck, but sailing alone was another level of isolation he hadn¡¯t considered. In his whole life, he had never been so alone. He had no one to talk to but himself, and found himself daydreaming a lot, singing to himself made up songs, fishing fruitlessly, and in general making himself as busy as he could to keep from dwelling on his loneliness. The seawater, the sound of the sail, and the gentle swells under the boat were exactly like he remembered sailing on earth. Had it not been for the purple and red shoreline he was tracking, or the blood red sky, painting the sea black, he would have found the journey beautiful. Unfortunately, those things just reminded him he was on an alien world. The concept of loving the world was hard for him to wrap his mind around. He thought what Jaenin might be discussing was that feeling of closeness he felt when he was submerged in the pulse, only deeper. The idea he would actually have to develop an emotional attachment to the world to step into the realm of a grand sorcerer seemed a bit iffy to him. It was too unscientific. And while he was mostly just an athlete back home he wasn¡¯t an idiot. Having been raised in a school system on a planet which had the historical ¡°Enlightenment¡± in the 1700s meant he learned the scientific method. He couldn¡¯t put wrap his mind the idea an emotion like ¡°love¡± had anything to do with become a grand sorcerer. Furthermore, he couldn¡¯t see how those gods which were dominating the world, could possibly love it. Their actions were aggressive and abusive to the world and its peoples. How could they have ever loved the world? Without a way forward with his questions he quickly got bored with the questions. So instead spent a lot of time thinking about the glyph form. He was trying to visualize other uses and potential blends of glyphs. It was a fun and interesting time, especially when he started to visually some glyph constructs that were mutually supportive. For example, the constructed glyph ¡°Ice¡±, which was made out of the glyphs for water and fire, and death, if you twisted the glyph form you could find the constructed glyph ¡°storm,¡± which was made out of the glyphs air, fire, water, then of course if you twist the form a little more the constructed glyph ¡°Cyclone¡± forms within storm, (air, strong), then another twist and you come to the form ¡°overwhelm¡± (strong, power, break), all these glyphs were physically within and part of each other, each one sharing something that connected to each other. Which made him wonder what would happen if he tried MIXING the glyphs ¡°Ice, storm, cyclone, overwhelm¡±. He really couldn¡¯t wait to try. It was for brainstorming and visualization sessions like this that he brought along paper and quill with ink to write with. He started collecting as many ¡°supporting¡± glyph constructs as he could conceive. He could almost feel the world rejecting the notes he wrote when he wrote ¡°time, space, rift, pull, force, crush, light, death¡±. All those glyphs were tied together, supporting, and he suspected what he¡¯d create if he tried it might not be far from a black hole. If there was one thing about his journey which he enjoyed it was the simple peace of a boat on the water. The sound of the wind blowing the sails, the noise of water slapping the hull. All of these things brought him back to his life on earth. So, he did spend a lot of his time wrapped in memories of his family and friends and days spent on boats on Lake Erie. It pained his heart to think he might never enjoy that simple peace and joy again. Of course, the peace of the journey south would not last. He was waiting out a fogbank on the morning of the 21th day when he heard someone shouting for help in the fog. It sounded like a kid, or a woman. Voices can travel a long distance over water, though fog can dampen that a bit. He was pondering whether he should pull up his anchor to sail toward the voice, when he realized he couldn¡¯t really tell which direction the voice was coming from. Somewhere to the port didn¡¯t help. So he shouted. ¡°THERE IS HELP CLOSE. BUT I CAN¡¯T SEE YOU IN THE FOG. JUST STAY AFLOAT AND WAIT OUT THE FOG. KEEP TALKING TO ME.¡± The voice stopped shouting once he started. He thought he could hear water splashing, then a clearer voice shouted out. ¡°SAVE ME!¡± He was fairly sure the voice was almost straight to the port amidships. It was also much closer then he thought it was at first. This made him ponder for a moment how someone could get out here without him hearing it. If they were that close were they from a wreck? Were they tossed overboard? He wasn¡¯t sure; having little experience with the sea creatures of this world, he was even wondering if it was some sort of siren of legend who was calling to draw him into a maritime disaster. He continued to shout to the voice periodically, calling for it to come to him, while the voice, it was clearly female, kept begging for help in between ¡®apparently¡¯ breaths of air. He went below deck, for some supplies he did not have on his flight from the island. It was a type of leather bag, which held air fairly well, apparently, the sailors in this world used them as a type of pillow, seat cushion and floatation device. He thought it might be useful to have some sort of floatation device on hand, so he had one prepared for him. He also had some rope. Tying the rope to the mast, he removed his boots, shirt and pants, and tossed the rope into the water. Still holding the bag, he eyed the black water suspiciously. He could see nothing in the depths, then scrounging up his courage jumped into the water, holding the bag.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The water was actually warmer then the cold early morning air, not that it was all that warm. Sputtering the salty water out of his mouth, he raised his voice again to let the person know he was coming. Then started to swim out in the direction he thought he could hear the calls for help. It didn¡¯t take long before he could no longer see his boat, had it not been for the rope he would have had a lot of trouble making it back to it in the fog. Following the cries for help he made it a hundred yards into the fog, when the rope went taught, stopping his forward motion. Cursing under his breath, he looked hard in the fog for the girl crying for help. He could clearly hear her. However, he couldn¡¯t see her at all. ¡°Hey! Can you come to me?¡± He shouted again. ¡°Help me, please. I, can hear you but I can¡¯t see you, where are you?¡± Was the reply. ¡°Follow my voice. I can¡¯t get any closer until the fog lifts¡± ¡°I¡¯m holding onto a barrel, I can¡¯t swim to you. If I let go of it I¡¯ll drown!¡± The reply made him frown. ¡°Then hang on and wait for the fog to lift. Worse case you¡¯ll drift a Ra or two from here. I¡¯ll find you pretty quick in my boat. Since you¡¯re not drowning right now, no reason to panic. Just hang on, I know you¡¯re there.¡± ¡°Alright¡± The voice replied in a worried tone. Jace quickly made his way back to the boat, and using the rope pulled himself back on deck. He dried himself off and dressed himself. All the while shouting out from time to time to let her know he was still there. He thought she sounded closer every time she replied. The fog lifted as the sun raised higher over the horizon. He kept a good watch toward the port side of the boat. Eventually he could make out what looked like a floating pile of flotsam and what was perhaps a young woman in a sodden dress clinging to part of it, just a few hundred yards off the port side of the boat. Seeing how far she was, he was thankful he didn¡¯t risk letting go of the float and rope. Had he done so he¡¯d never had found the boat again in the fog. When the fog lightened enough he could tell there was no obvious nautical hazard near him, he pulled up the anchors, and raised the main. There wasn¡¯t much wind, but there was enough to make way a bit. Slowly the boat drew near the flotsam; the next part was simple. He used the same float, and rope, and tossed it to her, after getting within 10 yards of the mess, turning into the small breeze to keep the boat from moving too much. She grabbed onto the rope, and he pulled her in. She was so light he was sure she was a young child, he pulled her into the boat without any real effort. She collapsed onto one of the benches, and he had a chance to get a good look at her. His breath caught. For one she was lovely. Even half drowned she was perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. A human woman, large blue grey eyes, great figure with a good sized bust, and long dark/blonde hair. The hair color he couldn¡¯t be certain since it was wet what color it was but it certainly wasn¡¯t one of the normal human colors of grey, white or platinum blonde everyone else seemed to have. She was so attractive his mind actually stopped a moment, but that was just for a moment. Jace spoke calmly. ¡°Alright. Want to tell me what you are?¡± He knew there was no way this creature was a human. First of all, her looks were stunning on the level of a mesmerizing spell. Secondly, hours or perhaps days adrift didn¡¯t hurt those unearthly looks. Third, this whole event was so strange he had difficulty believing it. Finally, she was far too light to be a full-grown woman. ¡°I¡¯m Jennie.¡± Came the cute reply. Yes, she was cute while saying it. ¡°I want to know ¡®what¡¯ you are, not who. Speak up or back into the water you go.¡± Rather than approach her he actually retreated back away from her to get out of arms reach, making his way closer to where he had his sword stowed. ¡°But I¡¯m human. Please hero, you saved my life. Won¡¯t you plant a child in my belly?¡± Came the cute reply, yes, Jace had to admit, despite the strange words coming from her mouth, Jace thought she was cute saying it. Without taking his eyes off her, he reached behind him into the portal leading below deck, and seized the hilt of his sword, then drew it in a swift motion. ¡°Alright. Listen. I don¡¯t want to get blood on my boat. I have to credit your guts sneaking onto a ship carrying the name of the King of the Sea, Alayah¡¯s name. You¡¯re clearly intelligent enough to understand the meaning of that name. I have met him. He liked this ship. Go prey on another vessel.¡± She sighed sadly. ¡°But I thought I was pretending to be an ideal woman for you humans.¡± Came a plaintive whine. ¡°Don¡¯t throw me out.¡± ¡°Start with what you are, and tell me the truth.¡± ¡°I¡¯m one of Alayah¡¯s daughters. Jeanah. Now worship me human!¡± The creature transformed into a small dragon about 5 feet long, it had the same pretty sapphire blue scales, yellow eyes and similar appearance as he recalled from Alayah, with a thick mane of blue hair and ivory color horns, she looked like a miniature Chinese New Year¡¯s paper dragon, complete with 4 small legs tipped with pearly claws. Jace sighed, the tension of the moment completely gone. So, he sheathed the blade, then sat down across from the pretty serpent. He desperately wished he had found a human eating Siren from Greek legend, he suspected one of those would have been less trouble then what this little dragon would end up being. Kay¡¯rin was studying the statue of Jace in the middle of what the locals were calling ¡°Sorcerer¡¯s Square.¡± She was cloaked in a long dark cloak with a hood pulled up to hide what was left of her hair, and was wearing a very conspicuous mask. She had started to wear the mask when she caught a strange illness several weeks ago which caused her to bleed black poisonous blood and eventually caused her skin to flake off in strips leaving open oozing wounds. Her body was failing around her, she would have panicked had Meli not told her it was a temporary sickness that came with becoming a sorcerer. Meli had taught her some herbs to use to dull the pain and suppress the sickness, which made it possible for her to continue the journey. Now that she arrived in Lotsorn she was depressed to learn that Jace had left weeks ago. ¡°Meli, I want to rest for a bit. I don¡¯t feel good. Can¡¯t I just get a room at an inn?¡± ¡°No you foolish girl. The illness is temporary, it will cause no real harm. Ignore it. Find a way into the keep and the palace within, we must see the circle this Jace used to harm the moon.¡± ¡°Meli¡­¡± She whined, knowing it would do no good but really feeling ready to collapse and die. ¡°I told you child, you are to kill Jace and learn what he did. If you have to kill every person in this city to learn how he did it, you will do it. Perhaps you can use the death of this place to draw him back from wherever he went.¡± Sighing sadly, Kay¡¯rin turned her tired and sore feet toward the keep. Jace was studying the horizon, with a frown. A dark line of storm clouds seemed to be rolling in. The journey had been relatively safe until the past week, when one storm after another rolled in. It had ground his forward progress to a halt. Now it appeared he¡¯d have to button up again to ride out another storm with nothing but a foolish little dragon for company. It had been several weeks since he picked up the little pain in the ass dragon. He now knew the Kindred¡¯s flare for overbearing theatrics was probably genetic, as the little creature was prone to make grand proclamations and demands at a whim. Of course a 5 foot long serpentine creature declaring the boat hers was a lot less intimidating then a kindred with a sword, so he usually dealt with her stupidity with a quick thwack with his hand on her head. The smack usually ended up causing the silly beast to curl up and cry wet tears for her father, which actually terrified Jace the first time she did it. The threat however lost its meaning when Alayah never showed up. He did feel a bit like a bully sometimes, the dragon was fairly stupid so he tried not to bully it too much, but it never seemed to learn unless he smacked it on the head. Keeping it from unpacking and ruining half the supplies on the ship seemed to take up more and more of his time, as the little beast was full of endless curiosity. It was much like a little child, only physically far more capable of carrying out mischief. He got the impression from the creature that nothing had ever told it ¡°No¡± before from how it would act when it heard the word. It ignored the word completely. Dropping the sea anchor and securing the sails he headed below deck. The little dragon had spent every single storm curled up and sleeping in the hold of the boat, this time she was watching the storm with interest above deck. Jace paused on the short ladder below deck looking at the small creature. ¡°I¡¯m going to button up the hatch shortly if you want to come below?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because these storms can sweep a person off the deck of a boat and drown them.¡± ¡°So, you don¡¯t like the storms?¡± Came the obscenely innocent reply. The small blue head cocked slightly to the side as if curious. He would have considered it cute if this was the first time he had this conversation with it. ¡°They slow my trip down and endanger my boat, so no, I don¡¯t.¡± He had explained this to the small Dragon every single time a storm came. The repetitive conversations were a drag as this small creature rarely bothered to listen to his actual answers. ¡°Ok.¡± The dragon simply nodded then said ¡°Then the storm won¡¯t come here.¡± The innocent tone made Jace dismiss the nonsense for a moment but it was curiosity that made him take a step up and take a glance back toward the bow of the vessel his eyes widening. ¡°What?¡± There wasn¡¯t a cloud in the sky no matter where he looked. His eyes darted back to the little creature disbelief painted on his face. The Dragon looked quite pleased with itself. ¡°Praise me human!¡± It bellowed out in a small childish voice. Jace sighed and approached the small dragon and pet it once. ¡°Good job. How long have you been able to do that?¡± ¡°I always could.¡± Came the small reply. Jace couldn¡¯t help himself, as he rapped the small beast on the head with his knuckles, and while it was crying out in surprise in a cute voice, seized it behind the neck and tossed it overboard. Chapter 9 - Death Verna was buried in paperwork, she had a whole team of skilled people working for her in aiding in administrating this city. They had, at her direction started a whole series of new enterprises, all owned by the crown, employing huge numbers of former slaves and starting to create something akin to a functioning economy in the city. In reality most of the leg work was being done by the Seneschal who seemed to have a good head for business. But she liked to keep her hands in everything to keep the man on his toes. She didn¡¯t know him well enough to leave him unsupervised. Still the changes to the city had been mostly positive. Now many of the abandoned building were homes for new families (a policy she had started, which rewarded marriages with a home), there were still a number of issues confronting the city, crime for example continued to be an issue, but she felt like it was starting to stabilize into something approaching functional. This place had come a long way in the weeks since Jace left. Correcting the morals of the populace was an ongoing war. There was a huge social upheaval which she was now overseeing. In the first week after Jace left she had to put down a huge revolt lead by a number of the remaining nobles and freemen aiming to take back ¡®their¡¯ city. This lead to a week-long battle where perhaps 1 in 3 of the men in the city had to be killed to end opposition to the new laws. Thankfully the women and army were almost completely behind her, which made the battle turn into a general slaughter. Following the purge of dissents, she focused on a census and citizenship. What she found was depressing, 90% of the population was <25yo, almost 3 in 5 people were women, and of the men, perhaps half were completely uneducated. The only jobs the men seemed to hold were those of pirate, or soldier. There was almost no industry to speak of, as almost all of the land had been held by the nobility (nowthe crown). The problems were endless, and she was poorly educated or suited to fix them. In the end she had to find people who knew things about ruling, economy, business. She created a bank, she created a lending mechanism, she created businesses (on paper) then sold the land and buildings forthem. Remembering Jace¡¯s stories about his home, she created schools for children and adults, located teachers or at least educated people to teach reading and counting. She created a magic academy, and put to work anyone who could channel to teach in it, using the handful of focuses Jace had designed. It was seemingly endless work, which she was still fighting with on a daily basis to make work properly. Currently she had set up soup kitchens and shelters for people who weren¡¯t employed yet, the whole city was being reworked from the ground up, and if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the citizens were young and enthusiastic for the change, and started to take initiative, she probably would be destroying the city rather than building it up. The workload and paperwork was enormous so when she heard the explosion sound coming from the main gates she actually felt a moment of relief to know that she didn¡¯t have to look at this paper anymore. Grabbing her sword, she moved toward thesouthern entrance. She had been waiting for this day since Easol told her about it. The girl Kay¡¯rin was coming for a visit. The halls of the palace stretched before her eyes as she teleported to the main southern entrance. She recalled what Easol had told her of this event, and had made what preparations she could. Part of her was a little worried as the future sometimes changed, but she trusted the girl would have told her if something changed to make her plans invalidated. She quietly backed into a small corner near the southern entrance, drew her blade and waited silently. There was no sound of battle. Which meant the soldiers were following her orders. So far everything was progressing according to plan. Kay''rinwas staggering through the hole she made in the gates. She was surprised no soldiers were coming to fight her, and stood there puzzled. ¡°Move quickly, its likely no one is in charge now that this animal Jace went missing. Head to the palace.¡± Melis¡¯s voice echoed in her head. Nodding to her friend she made her way straight for the palace, it¡¯s ruined dome covered in wooden scaffolding, the whole inner courtyard of the keep covered with snow. She saw footprints everywhere but no one around, so she walked toward the keep, her feet hurting badly, the pulse surging in her grip, threatening her hold on it. She could feel her skin crawling and knew she must be bleeding again, as she felt something wet trailing down her face. She fumbled with unfeeling fingers, their tips now black, and smelling of rot, in a pouch, pulling out a purple/yellow leaf, then lifting the corner of her mask to put it into her mouth. The taste was bitter as always and her head swam. Melis didn¡¯t say anything as she paused to treat her pain. Lowering the mask, she started to make way toward the palace again. Shawey was sitting by a burning brazer, a bored expression etched on her face, the clipped screams of a tormented Fairly barely registering in her ears. It had been weeks since she was captured by this group of humans. The called themselves ¡°Free folk¡± and as far as she could tell they lived a migrant life well away from cities and human villages. They were a strange mix of peoples. Some were clearly wanted fugitives, scum really, fleeing from the authorities wherever it was they committed their crimes. But the majority of the people were living this lifestyle for generations. She remembered a conversation with the leader of this group of humans. He was the chief of the band, a man named Mah¡¯di. Mah¡¯di told her the verbal history of the ¡°Free Folk¡±, apparently, they had been formed around the time humans decided to make their ¡°laws¡± about women. A group of men with their wives, daughters and sons, refused to abide by the new ¡°human¡± laws and fled civilization to live by the ¡°old¡± laws. These people were strange, there was no forced public sex as she had seen her whole life. Women were married to men, and the men slept only with those women. They raised children as a family, similar to how she was raised, and how she saw some of the older human noble families. None of the horrible treatment of their fellow man occurred in this people.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Of course, that was one side of the coin. The other was the crushing poverty. Because these people couldn¡¯t farm they were basically hunter/gatherers. They all were marked with the moon; their lives were short and sickly. The girls married early, of course this was a polygamous society, so this Mah¡¯di had half a dozen wives. These people were not saints, they had a sizeable number of female slaves as well, and while their slaves were all dressed they were used much like female slaves were elsewhere. She, herself had a slave collar on, but unlike the other female slaves, none of the men dared approach her for those services. She had long since proved her bonafides as a witch to these people. As such she served as Mah¡¯di¡¯s personal ¡°Witch¡± whatever that was supposed to be. Thus, far all she could tell her presence was used to further intimidate and make the man seem like a powerful leader. So, while she couldn¡¯t flee, at least she was well fed and had clothing and a safe place to sleep, so her situation was a lot better than it had been. Still she had no idea where she was and the Mah¡¯di didn¡¯t seem inclined to tell her. Likely in fear she might just try to walk toward civilization if she learned. Currently their troop was heading toward a small festival that was held randomly between different bands of the ¡°Free people¡±. Apparently, the main point of the festival was some sort of gladiatorial battles between the tribes. She didn¡¯t particularly care about that either. What she was concerned about was the Fairy that Mah¡¯di was questioning. The torture was disgusting. She really wished she didn¡¯t have to watch it. In a way, she was doing her best not to pay attention to it. But from what she learned from these people the Fairies did try to capture or kill the Free People whenever they found a band. It was a great concern what this fairy knew. If he was a scout for a company of fairy soldiers they¡¯d soon find themselves in a great deal of trouble. She hated the blood and screams she made herself wait by the fire, and hope this Fairy knew nothing. Verna waited calmly, her breath coming very slowly, she had woven a net of cold air around her, freezing the walls, the only way someone would know she was here is if they scry¡¯ed for life. Any other form of scrying she was relatively sure would come up with nothing, even done by a sorcerer. Normally she wouldn¡¯t dare take on an alert sorcerer, but from what Easol told her this was one of the rare chances she¡¯d get against this little monster. Kay¡¯rin walked up the steps of the palace toward the ruined south wing entrance. It wasn¡¯t much of an entrance, the hall was mostly destroyed, however there was a new wall and large door as well as a cleaned pathway to take to enter the door. She idlily wondered at the damage done to the palace but in the end, couldn¡¯t find much interest in it. Targeting the door with the glyph of air was all she needed to bust open a hole for her entrance. Her vision swam, and she staggered as she lost feeling in her left leg. Pausing she vomited noisily all over the white snow, some sort of brown substance. The cramps that came with the vomiting threatened to take her to her knees. ¡°Stand up your little worthless child¡± Melis¡¯s voice rang in her ears. ¡°Meli¡­ ¡°She whined between heaves. Verna flinched slightly as she heard the door burst off its hinges, however she didn¡¯t move a step and continued to control her breathing. She heard some noises that sounded like someone being sick outside, but restrained herself from approaching. The waiting was making her bladder tighten, bringing on a strong urge to pee. She suppressed the urge and kept herself as still as she could. She was hunting one of the most dangerous existences on the continent. This wasn''t the time to get distracted. After almost 5 minutes Kay¡¯rin regained her footing, and placed another leaf in her mouth. The mask was washed off as was most of the vomit from her clothing. She had taken some time to wash the black blood off her forehead as well, snowmelt worked well for most of that. Then she progressed groggily toward the open door. The difference from the outside light and indoor was enough to blind her blurry vision. Taking an unsteady step forward into the darker interior of the entrance hall she had only a moment to look around. Her eyes spotted something that looked like a main hall and blackened tiles in the distance. Something told her this was what she needed to see. She took a step forward, toward the main hall and the world tilted in her vision, then went black. The shock of the moment seemed to drag on for an eternity. Verna smiled as the body of the girl dropped to the floor, headless. Kay¡¯rin¡¯s head bouncing on the floor separate from the body. Her blade stained with blood. She strode forward and almost gagged on the stench coming from the corpse. Her curiosity warred with her sense of caution, curiosity winning out, she used her sword to remove the leather mask on the face of the head. What was under the mask was a nightmare. There was almost no skin remaining. Just rotting flesh like a corpse. No eyelids. No lips. Ooozing black liquid and yellow/green puss everywhere. The nose was gone, leaving a hole in the face. She gagged and the stench grew thicker, without even a moment¡¯s thought she seized the pulse and channeled the glyph of ¡°fire¡± incinerating the corpse on the spot. Whatever it was that made a sorcerer immune to magic left the body with its death, as the corpse burned quickly, leaving nothing behind. She recognized that black liquid, and couldn¡¯t help but hope Jace was refraining from using the pulse as he was warned. Jace was too busy cursing Jeanah and dragons in general to care about drying off. He was standing on a desolate shoreline. Black wet stones underneath his feet his ship smashed into pieces most of his provisions in the bottom of the sea. A raging storm had appeared almost within seconds of tossing that stupid little dragon into the ocean. Without a chance to set an anchor, and with almost no warning, he was washed overboard by a rogue wave that hit the boat within seconds of the little dragon hitting the water. He had managed to get back onto the boat, after 20 minutes of struggling in the stormy waters, but by that point in time it was too late, as between flashes of lighting and 40 foot swells he could tell he was already close to shore. He made a dangerous choice, and abandoned the ship, keeping what he deemed most valuable for survival, and taking a floatation device and his sword while he plunged into the raging waters. Normally leaving your boat was the worst thing you can do in a storm. However, he could clearly see how close shore was getting when illuminated by flashes of lightning in the raging storm, and the idea of being on this boat when it hit a rock seemed suicidal to him. So, he took the plunge and struggled to remain afloat. The following hour was a struggle to survive and not drown. Somehow, he kept a hold of his things and as his strength ebbed, he felt rocks underfoot. Staggering out of the water battered and bruised, into the icy and wet air was miserable, yet what really pissed him off was the knowledge he had just been shipwrecked by a stupid little dragon throwing a tantrum. Leaving the shoreline, he found some shelter from the wind and rain a little way inland and spent the next 10 hours trying not to die from hypothermia. When the following dawn came he finally made a small fire, he took the opportunity to chop down a small Wollumba plant and build a much larger fire with its fibrous wood then warmed himself up, finally he stopped shivering violently in the icy and foggy dawn. After the fog lifted he found his way back to the shore, and saw the ruins of his boat scattered across the shore. Thoroughly cursing the stupid dragon out, he picked through the wreckage looking for useful supplies. In retrospect, had he known a baby dragon had the power to do this, he had to admit he probably wouldn¡¯t have bullied it so much.