ã€ŠThe Misadventures of a Story Lover (A dark comedy)ã€‹


 Book 1, part 1, Chapter 1: A brilliant idea!/Cataclysm given form

    The clattering sound of her bones against the firm stone floor was like music in her ears¡­ Or they would if she actually had ears!

    She had to suppress a giggle. No matter how much time had passed, she never grew tired of those jokes, even if she was the only one telling the jokes towards herself. But when you have such a great sense of humor, you gotta let the jokes fly even if the audience is only yourself.

    With a happy pirouette followed by a gleeful little skip, she made her way to one of her ritual chambers and with a screeching groan due to infrequent use, opened the door.

    A thin layer of dust being kicked up from the new air flow which kind of confused her. She didn¡¯t have skin to make dust. Was it just from her arts and crafts projects over the years? She should probably get one of her spare golems to start cleaning the place at some point. But then again, the dust kinda added to the aesthetic and that was very important. Not like she actually had a nose to worry about.

    She was getting distracted though, but how could she not be. This was her first time out of her humble little hovel in a few hundred (thousand?) years, give or take.

    Honestly she never really bothered to keep track of something as meaningless as time. Other sentient beings loved to do this but she never really bothered. Time was different depending on what material plane you were in and it doesn¡¯t really matter when you live forever anyways.

    She moved her eyes (or rather the eye sockets of the skull she wore) over the chamber. She had actually made this ritual chamber shortly after the creation of her little pocket dimension.

    The one thing she had learned from the first Material plane she lived in was that mistakes can happen. Now that she was about to go out into this new material plane she had attached her pocket dimension too, It was time to use the chamber.

    She placed a small dark orb in the center of the chamber with massive carvings all around and poured a ton of mana into it causing all the runes surrounding the orb to light up brilliantly before slowly easing until it was but a soft glow.

    Success! She hadn¡¯t actually used this spell before but knew it worked in principle. Despite her finding the concept of time rather meaningless, she was quite proficient in time magic. The Irony wasn¡¯t really lost on her.

    A brief nod of her head for a job well done, she turned and skipped out of the room, flicking her wrist causing the doors to slam shut behind her as she went. Hopefully she wouldn¡¯t need it since it was a one use kind of deal and making a new one was a pain in her boney behind due to how tedious the whole process was.

    It wasn¡¯t even fun to make like her arts and crafts projects. Just boring which was what made it so tedious. Plus since the orb required an extremely sharp focus to detail she couldn¡¯t even read one of her beloved books in the process.

    But why was she doing all of this? Why was she about to head out of her pocket dimension after staying so isolated all of these years?

    Well it all started 30 some years ago (this current plane''s understanding of a year anyways) when she was rereading one of her favorite adventure novels. It was a classic, from the original material plane she had stayed in. As she reminisced on the beauty of the book and the story it told she had wished she could actually watch and experience such a classic adventure.

    Then a bolt of inspiration struck her! Why wish?? She was never someone to just casually let things she wanted to get away from her. And if she wanted to do something she always charged ahead, consequences for others be damned!

    So she wasn¡¯t going to settle for wishing, or fantasizing. She was going to go out there and start the events that will allow her to watch a real life story of heroes, monsters, villains and true love!

    If she had lips she would be smiling uncontrollably. But since she currently had a human skull as part of her vessel you could say she was always smiling uncontrollably! Hahaha!

    The silence towards the joke she thought of annoyed her and she made a mental note during her outing to find some people who would be able to appreciate her sense of humor too. And if that didn¡¯t work she would just start an arts and crafts project to make some creatures who were genetically altered to laugh at her jokes when she got back home.

    Of course after her amazing bout of inspiration she had to work out some kinks. A good old fashion brainstorming session occurred but she didn¡¯t write anything down as that would get in the way of her thinking/fantasizing.

    One such issue was how was she going to be able to watch things? Sure she could follow one individual around but she would have probably end up missing a ton of other fun stuff if she just stuck to one perspective.

    Her solution to that was she would enchant a bunch of scrying orbs to stealthily follow people around and she could just watch it all from a far, only really acting if she needed to adjust the story in a direction she wanted it to go.

    But she quickly realized another potential problem that arose. She loved going back and rereading her books. Especially if it was a book she really loved. What would happen when the story outside was finished and she wanted to rewatch it again?

    This got her thinking and after a few failed experiments and ideas she had finally gotten something in place!

    She opened the door to another ritual chamber, this one being very recently built and thus no dust was kicked up (mental note, add dust here for aesthetic). A solid obelisk with runes covering every cranny of the thing stood.

    She was very proud of this. So instead of all her scrying orbs sending what they saw to her. They would instead send everything to this obelisk where it would capture and hold everything that had been shown. Then when she got back after the story was finished. She could just use this obelisk to watch the whole story unfold!

    After a final check up to make sure everything was in order with her scrying capturing obelisk (She would need to workshop that name) she turned around and skipped out of that room as well and headed towards the stairs

    Her little pocket dimension was sort of like an upside down tower, or maybe an upside down multi layered cake? The first floor was basically just her entrance and was also the smallest, the second floor had a bunch of ritual rooms and various labs and was significantly larger than the first but smaller than the other floors, her third floor was her dungeon (Technically it was her storage room but dungeon was cooler) and once again larger then the second. The fourth floor was used mostly for her arts and crafts and testing what her new creations could do and was the second largest of her floors. The final floor was by far the largest and she used that to let her more peaceful creatures, or at least the ones who weren¡¯t hostile to her, roam free and enjoy her artificial landscape.

    She had initially made the fifth floor as a reading floor where she could read in whatever setting she felt like. By a waterfall, a sandy beach, peaceful forest, frozen tundra, scorching desert? All there and all places she would read.

    She later decided to use that floor for the other creatures cause it helped add to the scenery and she felt it was big enough all things considered. It was actually massive since she kinda went and took parts of various landscapes from the material plane she had initially stayed in to make it.

    Anyways, she happily marched down the stairs to the ground floor which was really just a large circular room with one side that had stairs to the second floor and the other side had a simple door.

    As she made her way towards the door, a couple of her Tymbots were flapping around, and a simple hand bag with a cute flower print that she absolutely adored sat on the floor.

    Her Tymbots were actually a very early arts and crafts project of hers. Even before she had created her pocket dimension. She had gotten the idea when she wanted to create her own cherubs after seeing some cute art in a cover of an old book she read. But she wanted to improve on the design, make them a little cooler and cuter you know? The whole thing was a resounding success.

    After that she started to actually use her little Tymbots to fetch her more books from across the world and occasionally bring some material she needed here or there and she couldn¡¯t get/make herself on the fifth floor.

    She had to modify them a bit to give them some invisibility and some defensive capabilities since people kept rudely killing them for whatever reason.

    After she arrived on this material plane she had basically been using her Tymbots for roughly the same thing. She kept sending them out to grab various books or material she needed that she couldn¡¯t get or grow from here.

    Though due to their somewhat playful nature they will occasionally bring her back something she hadn¡¯t requested or wanted. Anywhere between a mundane rock to some living humans on occasion. But she was always resourceful and still made use of it all even if it wasn¡¯t ideal.

    She headed over to the Tymbots and gave a scratch underneath one of her Tymbots chins before turning her attention to her bag on the floor.

    She opened up her bag to have one final check of everything she had in there was everything she would need. Then she realized how silly her doing such a thing was as when she looked inside it was just filled with her time prisons.

    Another little invention of hers. They were small blue glowing cubes that held a lot of stuff in their small little space. But she had a lot of cubes in this bag. A LOT of cubes. And the cubes had some books, both ones she wanted to reread and ones she had plans to read, some magic artifacts and some stuff integral for her ¡°watch a real story¡± like extra observation orbs and the such.

    The time prisons were capable of holding a crap ton of stuff in their little cubes and not only that, they froze time to everything inside also. She could put a burning match inside a time prison, leave it alone for a year then take it out again the match would still be burning.

    And the thing was she didn¡¯t want to go through every single cube to make sure she got everything.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    It would be very time consuming. Or rather it would be very boring and she was just using the excuse of time consuming cause it sounded better¡­ Sorta.

    Besides, what was the point of double checking anyways when she was more than smart enough to remember everything the first time anyways.

    Sooooo, yep! She has everything, and if she didn¡¯t. Then it probably wasn¡¯t important enough if she had forgotten it so why worry.

    With a twinkle in her eye (Which was hilarious since she didn¡¯t actually have eyes) she passed her bag to a Tymbot and shoved the doors open revealing a purple swirling portal. The doors weren¡¯t actually necessary, she had just put them there for again, aesthetic.

    With high spirits, she marched through the doors and into the portal that led to the Material plane. This would be her very first time stepping out into this Material plane since she had gotten here. Wonder where the portal would spit her out to anyways? In retrospect she probably should have checked before walking through.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Naro stood unmoving from his spot as the guardian of the entrance to the evil entity that had enslaved him all that time ago. How long ago it was he did not know and was almost scared of the answer. What was certain, anyone he had ever known was long since dead. The creaking of his armor that was his body stood untiring from his position.

    The place he stood was a rocky island with no real vegetation and you could probably walk across the whole thing in an hour or two before you¡¯d hit the ocean. If there was one thing he was thankful of was the location of the monster''s lair was very secluded and thus hardly anyone ever came across the area.

    The helmet that was his head creaked as he looked over at abandoned bird nests that were all over. It was that time of year where the birds that normally nest on this island were all gone and no matter where you looked or stood it was ocean all around. It was hard to not let his mind start to wander back to his stupidity and the mistakes that lead to his cursed existence.

    The memory still haunted him, He had been lying in his bed ill and dying. Having lived a life of crime working as a bodyguard for a crime family, he had climbed his way up to a respectable position. But upon his death bed he worried that upon his death his soul would be sent to hell for punishment and not up to the heavens. So when he saw a creature he mistook for a demon he pleaded and begged for mercy.

    The demon heard his plea and took him to its master, its mistress, the vile entity that lived behind the invisible gate he now guarded.

    When his eyes gazed upon evil incarnate. He once again pleaded for mercy, and the creature seemed all too happy to indulge his plea in its sick twisted mind.

    The memory was hazy after that but he did remember the feeling. The feeling of his soul getting ripped out of his dying body and being trapped and fused to the body of armor that he now stood in.

    He could not sleep, he could not eat, he couldn¡¯t feel anything. He had long since forgotten what these feelings were to the point he wasn¡¯t even sure if he missed them or not.

    After the violation she reaped upon his soul, the damnable thing threw him back out to the real world and gave him the order to ¡°have fun¡±. It was very clear she was mocking him since he was only on a small island surrounded by ocean.

    He had nowhere to go and thus he remained standing here. He was too scared to leave the island as he had no idea where to go and the last thing he wanted was to be stuck and lost at the bottom of the ocean forever.

    Now that he was here, standing upon the island did he appreciate the irony in a very morbid way. He had started as a bodyguard and a bouncer for a crime family. Now he basically stayed here as a bodyguard or bouncer on the deserted island.

    But he played the role of bodyguard and bouncer out of mercy for the few times an individual found themselves unlucky to wash upon this island. Over the course of his time staying upon this island, which if he were to guess would be over a hundred years, there had been a few who would wash ashore whether because of a shipwreck or they were lost at sea, or some other cruel fate that eventually brought them to these cursed shores.

    Upon witnessing him, if they had the strength they often screamed or tried to fight back or even run but he always caught them and killed them as quickly and as humanly as possible. Those that didn¡¯t have the strength usually looked at him with horror and even cried with a prayer on their lips.

    He knew death would be far preferable than anything she would deliver to them. Even if their destination was hell. But he always prayed that they would head to the heavens and under the protection of the gods.

    One of the most thankful things was that she had never left her domain. But she never seemed like she needed too. Whenever the portal opened up, it was to send her minions out to likely wreck havoc against the world. It was almost always her little demons, the same ones that had delivered him to his fate.

    He remembered that one time a large number of those fiends had brought a group of humans into her realm with him unable to do anything. Then after a while the creatures left with the group of humans but they seemed deformed and changed. He had no idea what she did to them but he said a prayer for them regardless and hoped they were not being sent out to cause whatever twisted machinations she had planned.

    He shuddered to think what evil she and her minions had committed and it was in those brief moments he hoped that any potential descendents he had were long dead.

    The hazy memory he had of her haunted halls filled with sights and things of unspeakable horrors still made his very essence shudder and wish he could forget such sights that haunted his mind.

    Suddenly he felt a surge of energy pulse behind him and he quickly stepped to the side, most likely the damned entity was throwing out one of her vile creations to wreak havoc against all those in this realm or sending out one of her fiends to fetch her something for a new creation or idea she had.

    As the purple portal appeared out of nowhere, he felt his soul twist and crawl in his armor. It was due to the sense of wrongness, something that exists but shouldn''t. He felt the strange, otherworldly pressure seemingly slip past the armor to dig and burrow into his soul making him shudder.

    That''s when he saw her, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say it. A skeleton wreathed in flame as black as ink. Twisting across its bones like snakes, snapping and hissing at the very air itself. It¡¯s empty eye sockets, void of all light, like staring into an abyss. It almost seemed like the space around the monster seemed to bend away from it. As if reality was scared of the creature''s existence.

    Next to it were two of the fiends that brought it whatever they desired. A creature with twisted wrinkling skin that still seemed to stretch too much across its thin frame. With a face that seemed to be stuck in a silent scream of agony. Despite the thin body, it had a belly sticking out of its frame with leathery bat-like wings flapping frantically to keep its body afloat.

    One of the two friends held a bag with a pattern that seemed to constantly shift around on itself. Twisted vines and flowers with teeth that grew out of corpses. Which seemed to perfectly encapsulate the creature that stood before him.

    Naro took a step back, the shock and terror of seeing the creature stepping out of her dimension overwhelming him before he quickly dropped to the ground pressing his head to ground. Hoping against all hope that the monster before him would forgive the discretion of his hesitation. For he had no hesitation in believing she would deliver an even worse torture for his existence should he offend her in anyways.

    It had been who knows how long since he last saw the monster after the creature threw him outside after stitching his soul to the armor. He had thought he remembered perfectly how terrifying the monster was but it was clear time had lessened his fear. This was his reminder and it might just cost him his life.

    He kept his head down for several minutes, he knew it was still there, standing there doing something. Despite the terror that gripped his very being he dared to look upon the monster''s visage.

    They were standing there slowly turning around inspecting the environment like a predator does with its prey. Likely gloating in the fact that soon, even this simple island will burn in its never ending hate and malice.

    But soon the monster¡­ His torturer turned its attention towards him. Looking down at him for a solid minute that felt like an eternity before it spoke. A voice came out of what could best be described as feminine elegance were it not for how each word seemed to feel like sickly oil slithering over his mind.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    His mind froze. What kind of question was that? Was it a test? No, a creature like this would have no reason to test him. He would either do his task or suffer oblivion. So then why would it ask the question? Was there something wrong with his bow?? Was he supposed to do something different should she exit her domain??

    He tried to double his effort in thinking frantically over what his master could have meant by such a question. Did it tell him something before the monster threw him out onto the island? Did he miss an implied instruction? Too caught up in his own self pity and loathing??

    Lying would be pointless, the monster would easily see through any lie or any attempt at subterfuge. They could probably read his thoughts right now and were undoubtedly taking some kind of sadistic glee in his mental anguish. It would be best that he just told the truth and both hope and pray that the answer was satisfactory enough.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been faithfully guarding your home as you commanded all those years ago My ladyship¡± He was thankful that he no longer had a throat or tongue as his voice would undoubtedly be shaking right now had it were.

    The monster, his master, continued to stare at him for a good long while before turning away. ¡°Carry on then¡± and then stepped away from the portal as it slowly closed behind it and vanished from view.

    Relief instantly washed over him. It would seem that she had decided to spare him this time.

    ¡°I will be gone for a few years. Continue doing as you¡¯ve been doing I guess¡± She walked past him with a tone of indifference, her little fiends flying just behind her.

    He felt his soul shiver at the casual delivery of the statement. ¡°O-of course my ladyship! I am happy to serve!¡±

    He knew he shouldn¡¯t continue this conversation but he felt like he needed to know. ¡°If I may ask. Why is the ladyship going to be gone for the next decade or two?¡±

    She stopped and turned back towards him. He swore the skull seemed to grin larger as he felt the unyielding pressure of her attention on him and the following words out of her mouth made him despair ¡°Entertainment¡±

    With that she simply waved her hand in a dismissive gesture signifying the conversation was done before she took a few more steps away from Naru and with a small pop. She and her fiends blinked out of existence in what he could only assume was some kind of teleportation spell.

    Only then did Naru feel all the tension he had been holding leave him and he promptly fell flat to the ground unable to suppress his shaking, his armor clanging against each other as he did.

    He felt like if she had stayed there for but a moment longer he would have fully cracked. Had she seen through his partial truth and just decided to let him live. After all, he had been protecting the gate to her domain. He was just protecting others from her than her from others though he doubted she would actually need that. It was the least he could do, even if he was damned he would do his best to make sure others did not suffer the same fate.

    But that really wasn¡¯t the worst of that interaction. She was heading out into the world to find more souls to torment all for entertainment. The sadistic monster likely was growing unsatisfied from the occasional tribute her fiends brought to her and now was looking to cause wide scale suffering.

    Would the few years even be enough to satisfy her bloodlust? He wasn¡¯t so sure. Likely she would get a taste of playing with people''s lives on a wide scale and then crave more.

    What kind of horrific plan she had masterminded was terrifying to think about. He knew it probably didn¡¯t involve world domination or destruction. A being as powerful as her wouldn¡¯t need a decade or two to take over or destroy every single country.

    He didn¡¯t know and he was scared to learn. Instead, as he found his strength to move again he got up and prayed to whatever god or gods that could hear him. He prayed that any creature, sentient or otherwise would be spared her wrath and destruction.

    Who knew what horrible twisted thoughts were going through her head right now as we spoke.

 Book 1, part 1 Chapter 2: Every Story Needs A Bad Guy/Never Trust a Demon

    Ugh! She absolutely hated awkward conversations with people she never bothered giving a nickname to. Plus that whole interaction was confusing which just added to the awkwardness. He clearly felt awkward too based on how tense the armored guy seemed to be.

    Armored Guy¡­ Eh, as good of a nickname as any. She really wasn¡¯t going to add thought to the nickname seeing as how she had no real intention of having any more interactions with him. That and she was just being lazy

    She continued to draw the summoning circle in the valley she had chosen to teleport too as she pondered that whole interaction.

    When she stepped out of the portal she wasn¡¯t expecting to see some armor with a soul attached to it practically prostrating themselves before her (not like she minded that kind of devotion but there was a time and a place for everything).

    She was so caught off guard in fact that when she realized he was there she sort of just froze and stared at him, hoping he would say anything which would give an explanation on what he was doing. Alas he offered none and just kept bowing leading to a horrible awkward silence that seemed to stretch on.

    She was never good at small talk or most social interactions honestly. Heck, if she was, she wouldn¡¯t have bothered secluding herself in her pocket dimension for so long.

    I mean, she strongly considered just disintegrating the Armor Guy just to be done with the whole thing but felt that probably would be an over reaction on her part so she eventually managed to squeak out a ¡°What are you doing?¡± while trying not to die from embarrassment.

    Then, the armor said something about protecting her gate which just confused her even more. Like why would she need someone to protect her gate? It was undetectable from just about any creature she had ever seen and even if they did somehow detect it there was no way they could get in! The only ones who could were her, her Tymbots, annnd¡­ Thats It.

    Well she supposed if you wanted to be technical, anything her Tymbots brought with them could also go through the gate but that didn¡¯t really count.

    As she continued to draw the unnecessarily complex summoning circle, (stupid demons and their theatrics) she scoured her memories trying to figure out what the hell Armor Guy was even talking about.

    As she pondered, she seemed to vaguely remember a time when one her Tymbots brought her some decrepit dying old man (Why the hell it decided to bring her such a useless thing she had no idea)

    The man had pleaded, telling her how he did not want to suffer so she decided to use him for an arts and crafts project she had been considering.

    She had always wanted to see if human souls were capable of living in a vessel that wasn¡¯t their own body. Plus this way she would be able to grant his wish as it¡¯s not like one can suffer from old age and pain in a suit of armor.

    So she took the guys soul out and fused it to some armor she had lying around when she tried to recreate an armor from a book series she really loved. Obviously she didn¡¯t use her finished project, but rather a scrapped version of it. But it was still a nice piece of armor.

    After she did her good act of the decade and ran a few tests on him to see how he adjusted. She threw him back outside and told him to just do whatever as she did not want him coming back.

    I mean really, who on earth would want some blubbering crying weirdo distracting them from all the important stuff. Like reading or other arts and crafts projects.

    How he got ¡°guard the gate¡± from that was baffling. The man was clearly an idiot, but he was an idiot who clearly had so much gratitude towards her for saving his life that he started to worship her so she guessed she would give him a pass.

    Though some good did come from that interaction as it gave her a really fun idea for her story! She was totally going to have a scary and powerful gate guardian the hero would need to defeat before they could storm the big bad''s main lair!

    Speaking of big bads. She looked down across the summoning circle she had just finished drawing. The stupid thing took up a good chunk of the valley.

    When she had wanted to summon demons into her pocket dimension after arriving in this material plane so she could gather some rare material. She had to renovate the second floor just to have a room large enough for these stupid circles! The demons in the first Material Plane she had stayed in were not that picky over how they were summoned which just annoyed her even more.

    But she was getting distracted from the main point which was demons! Demons were perfect for a big bad! Most people saw them as evil, malefic, sadistic, and all those other synonyms she couldn¡¯t be bothered to think of. Demons, especially powerful demons, offer massive potential for the big bad in any story, and she had the perfect one in mind!

    Well¡­ Maybe not perfect but she couldn¡¯t think of a better one that would fit her criteria so she had to make do with the options she had, especially since she had promised the Demon king she wouldn¡¯t summon him again. (Whiny brat. It was only a few eyes, hearts and livers.)

    Granted she could probably look into crafting a better demon but that would take time since she had never really bothered to make demon chimera so there would have to be some trial and error test subjects which would take some more time and she was impatient. She wanted to start watching the story play out now, as opposed to whenever she finally finished which could be one year to a few hundred give or take.

    Letting out a breath (Which was really just some mild wind magic for aesthetic purposes since she didn¡¯t actually have lungs to blow out air) she swelled her mana and poured into the summoning circle causing it to glow a rather lovely red. A small tremor shook the valley before a loud crack with an excessive amount of smoke burst forth from the center of the circle and there stood the silhouette of the demon she summoned.

    If she was being totally honest. She would have actually preferred something a little more intimidating. But of the demons she could think of, this one was probably the most intimidating of the bunch unless you counted that Pus Bucket but even she thought he smelled bad which was certainly saying something since she didn¡¯t have a nose. Plus he wasn¡¯t really scary looking. Just ugly.

    This demon that she had summoned however was called Rillan. A kind of squat looking thing barely passing twelve feet with four lanky arms that dragged on the floor. Bat-like wings that stretched fairly wide and a goat-like head with a mouth that ran all the way down its snout and even slightly down its throat. Honestly the only real thing she liked about his appearance was his tail that was a three headed snake.

    ¡°Wh-What are you doing?? It isn¡¯t my turn yet!¡± The Big Bad Demon Lord voice came out in a shrill which was a little grating, she had forgotten how annoying this demon''s voice was.

    ¡°It''s not my turn! It should be Yauls turn! Send me back and summon him instead!¡±

    She let out a huff (wind magic!) And issued a command ¡°Silence!¡± causing The Big Bad Demon Lords mouth to slam shut. She really didn¡¯t like his voice and definitely didn¡¯t want to deal with his complaining.

    ¡°Good gracious, I did not summon you cause I wanted some of your organs. If I did I wouldn¡¯t have summoned you in this valley and would have summoned you in the usual room¡±

    The Big Bad Demon Lord''s eyes widened and quickly looked around and seemed to relax a tad before tensing again and looking at her with some kind of new fear which she felt was rude. Was she really going to have to explain to a demon that she wanted him to be a demon??

    ¡°Would you please stop looking at me like I am going to torture you? I am not going to do anything bad.¡± Not like she had done anything bad to these demons anyways. They always grew back the organs she harvested. It was like a tree complaining when she broke off a branch.

    ¡°I just need someone to play the role of the super evil Demon Lord and cause all sorts of evil chaos¡­ Stuff.¡± Describing what she wanted wasn¡¯t her strong suit. Especially since she hadn¡¯t really bothered with real conversations in who knows how long.

    The Big Bad Demon Lord tilted his head in confusion causing her to let out a sigh (wind magic~) in frustration ¡°you may speak now if you have a question¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by playing the role of a super evil demon lord?¡±

    Why did every demon she interacted with lacked brain capacity? It¡¯s a good thing she never needed to harvest their brains as she didn¡¯t doubt they would be of especially low quality.

    ¡°Exactly that. I want you to rule minions. Cause havoc! Ham it up when the hero comes to stop you and your dastardly deeds!!!¡± She got more excited as she talked thinking about what was to come and tried to quickly rein in herself.

    The Big Bad Demon Lord was giving her an odd look and had even taken a step back. Why? Just cause she had passion didn¡¯t mean she was crazy!

    ¡°Look, I am going to provide you with some minions. They breed quickly and are good at menial labor. They will probably make decent grunt soldiers for a large army. Also I will provide you with some golems to help construct an evil super fortress! The bigger and more imposing the better! Also also I need you to breed with some of the minions that I am giving you so we can have special elite monsters that provide an obstacle for the heroes to overcome before they get to you! Also I need!¡±

    She was rudely cut off by The Big Bad Demon Lord by raising all four of his arms ¡°Wait stop! You aren¡¯t making any sense! What the hell are you talking about???¡±

    ¡°Of for the love of!¡± Demons and their stupidity! She promptly stepped into the summoning circle and gripped The Big Bad Demon Lord on the neck with his matty fur. Dragging him down to the ground so his goat-like head was within reach.

    She promptly placed her hand onto his head and with some powerful mind magic, forcefully put her plans into his head minus the ¡®hes suppose to die in the end¡¯ and ¡®she will be sending a hero to kill him¡¯ parts.

    Granted her plans were pretty vague actually. Mostly build an army, create an evil fortress/city/country. Cause havoc and be super evil. The reason for this vagueness was she felt like it would ruin her immersion when she was watching everything later if things played out as she ordained and if The Big Bad Demon Lord knew what was going to happen to him in the end he¡¯d probably be a little upset.

    Once done with her spell she took a step back and glared (As best as one can glare without eyes) at him ¡°there, do you get it now?¡±

    The Demon Lord sat there in a daze, his eyes so vacant that it probably matched his actual brain capacity before shaking his head to snap out of it. ¡°You¡­ You are basically giving me free reign to cause as much havoc and chaos as possible?¡±

    He finally gets it. Should have just used that spell at the start. ¡°More or less, though I will have some occasional tasks for you to do but that won¡¯t be happening for a few years outside of the building up a strong powerful army and a massive imposing fortress¡±

    ¡°Army¡­ What are these creatures that are supposed to make up my army?¡± Now that the Demon Lord was finally starting to understand what she was saying, she could move on. Taking out one of her Time Prisons from her bag she examined it with amusement.

    ¡°Honestly I never thought I¡¯d have use for these guys when I made them. Just got bored one decade and thought it would be fun. Stored them in a time prison after I realized I was a little too successful with their high breeding capabilities.¡±

    The Demon Lord just looked at her confused but rather than explain things even more which would probably just be a lesson in futility. She tossed the cube a little ways off and spoke the phrase needing to break the enchantment of the time prison and release everything all at once ¡°Oi! Wake up and come out of here¡±.

    It should be noted she was in a rush when she caught them and couldn¡¯t think of a better phrase when she stored them into the time prison since she didn¡¯t want to risk some escaping and she¡¯d have to spend who knows how long trying to capture/exterminate more and thus couldn¡¯t come up with a more cool passphrase.

    The cube cracked and shattered followed by a flash of light and the entire area was filled with a ton of humanoid bunny looking creatures lying down¡­ asleep? Maybe some were dead but she was pretty sure most were asleep.

    And when she said it filled up the whole area she meant it filled up the whole area. Their bodies seemed to have covered most of the stupid valley, many even lying on top of each other. Were there really that many in the time prison? Yeesh, no wonder she had such a hard time rounding all of them up in the first place.

    She looked at The Big Bad Demon Lord with pride as she showed off one of her creations ¡°I got the idea for their appearance after having experimented on a bunch of humans by giving them animal-like qualities. But I used bunnies as a base for these guys and wanted to try and make them humanoid.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    She paused though as she looked at the Demon Lord and back at the bunnies ¡°I am curious what your kids will look like, A mix of these chimeras with a demon lord could be rather promising. So be sure to show me when I come back at some point. I¡¯d love to do an autopsy to get a better sense of their inner workings.

    ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t worry about their lack of movement. They should be coming too in an hour¡­ish. Getting stuck in time stasis can make you a little groggy when everything starts resuming¡±

    The Demon Lord stared at the sleeping (Dead?) creatures for a small moment before turning back to her ¡°And the golems?¡±

    Well it was nice he was keeping up with everything this time. She rummaged through her bag and eventually took out another time prison. She had technically made the time prisons initially to hold powerful monsters that could not be restrained by other means but quickly realized that worked far better as easy and convenient transportation and luggage carrier

    Another quick toss, and the phrase ¡°something something metal golems out¡± (she wasn¡¯t feeling very creative that day) another flash of light and over a hundred metal golems stood before her. A few standing on some now certainly dead humanoid bunny creatures.

    ¡°Also I leave you in charge of giving these bunny creatures a name for their species. Make the name scary and imposing. Something to strike fear in the hearts of men¡±

    The Big Bad Demon Lord simply stared at the golems for a long moment ¡°and I am to use all of these to build an army, a kingdom, and to wreak havoc upon the world?¡±

    ¡°Yep! Should be fun for a demon like you right? Oh, but hold off for a bit. I will give you the word when and where to attack, after that you can go all out. But I want you to build up that army and kingdom. So just focus on that first.¡± She didn¡¯t want The Big Bad Demon Lord to destroy everything before she could get everything set up and into place. Plus she didn¡¯t want him killing a perfectly good Hero candidate.

    He slowly turned to face her. His face was somewhat hard to read but that could have just been because it was a goat ¡°is that all?¡±

    ¡°More or less, don¡¯t sweat the details. Just let me take care of it all.¡± She gave him a reassuring pat on his head causing him to tense real quickly

    ¡°Oh right! Almost forgot.¡± She went through her bag until she found all the time prisons she had prepared for this and tossed them over to the Demon Lord ¡°here you go. This should be enough material to construct everything you need. From buildings to weapons and armor.¡±

    She gave a small stretch which she technically didn¡¯t need to do since she didn¡¯t have muscles but it was a fun gesture to do to show how hard she was working for others. Context clues were important for social interactions she read one time and wanted to put that in practice

    ¡°Anyways. Got a whole lot more to do and so very little time to do it in. So gotta go. Get to work building an army and making that imposing fortress! I¡¯ll check up on ya in a bit and then you can get started with being a super big bad!¡±

    With that she teleported away to her next destination with another small pop. Eager to take the next step of her masterplan!

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Rillan watched the force of nature that was that Thing disappear before letting out a breath of relief he hadn¡¯t realized he¡¯d been holding. None of the demon lords, himself included, could handle dealing with that monstrosity. The day she anchored her pocket dimension onto this Material Plane was a day none of them would ever forget.

    He took a breath to calm his nerves. Every time he was summoned he somehow forgot how uncomfortable just being in her presence was. He didn¡¯t know if that was a spell of some sort or if her aura was just naturally like that. If the latter, then that would probably be even more terrifying.

    Even now he felt like there was something suspicious about this plan of hers. He could never read her intent no matter what he tried to do. And he was honestly too scared to try that hard for fear of being put in an extra long organ harvesting session.

    The demon lords often, albeit quietly, curse their king when he gave that monster the ability to summon them.

    The deal he had struck had two simple terms if he recalled, and one was in return with the know-how to summon all of the demon lords, she would not summon their king again. Or at least not summon him to harvest his organs or deal any kind of harm to him.

    He turned his head to the somewhat messy sprawl out before him. The bunny-like creatures seemed to be roughly 5 feet tall with bulky muscles lining all over their body with harsh bristly fur sticking out of their skin. Large sharp fangs seemed to stick out of the front of their mouths and he could tell from the way a few of them snored that their back teeth had molars that almost seemed ideal for crushing bones.

    He had to give credit where credit was due, these creatures seemed like they would have amazing fighting capabilities with some proper training and equipment. Even if she hadn¡¯t ordered him too he probably would have had children with them to create even deadlier creatures that could easily rip apart humans

    But the most interesting thing was the golems he had been given. Standing nine feet tall in a genderless, featureless human shape, their silvery metal bodies gleaming in the sun.

    The metal was very interesting as he couldn¡¯t quite identify it but had a strong feeling that even if he were to punch the golem with his full strength it would only leave a small dent. At the end of their hands though were fingers that ended in sharp points. Good for carving stone and perfect for rending flesh.

    He loomed his way over to the golems and looked down to the one in front before gesturing with one of his claws towards one of the boar creatures that was still alive but asleep. ¡°Kill that one as quickly as you can¡±

    Faster than even he would have given it credit for, it shot forward towards the sleeping creature and smashed it¡¯s foot into its head with a satisfying crunch.Blood splurting out across the ground.

    A slow burbling chuckle began to creep up his throat before his mouth erupted open, spreading open all the way down his snout. His cackling laughter echoing all across the valley causing the bunny-like creatures to slowly rouse from their sleep before looking around in bewilderment and eventually terror as their eyes landed on the golems and then the demon before them.

    Rillan was pleased at this. These creatures at least understood who their better was. A sickly grin twisting across his face as his mind raced with the potential.

    He finally had an opportunity to get back at that damn undead monster who had spent so much time torturing him. All for the sake of her ¡°experiments¡± and her ¡°Arts and crafts projects¡±. Just thinking of those lame excuses made him sick. She was clearly mocking them as she committed her torture.

    He apparently had a bit of time to at least get a plan going. How he was going to kill her he didn¡¯t know yet, but he had some ideas of how to start so long as he was careful.

    He would need to locate where she had anchored her blasted pocket dimension. Aside from the fact that she had a ton of magical artifacts and all sorts of powerful creatures, potions and items that would make even the king of demons green with envy. He also just wanted to utterly trash her home and destroy everything she held dear.

    However that would have to be a lower priority until he actually dealt with that damnable undead.

    He would also need to build up an army, one that even she would hesitate to fight. And she thankfully gave him all the resources he could ever need or want. Practically dropped them on his lap begging for him to take them. It would delight him to no end to watch her struggle and slowly succumb to the army she had given him.

    Now normally, when a demon was summoned they were unable to plan or conspire against the one who summoned them. Directly anyways. But that was if, and only if you established a binding contract of the demon to you after you summoned them.

    If you were to break the summoning circle before you did this binding then you were basically at the mercy of the demon and they were free to do as they please.

    She had just made one of the biggest rookie mistakes when it came to demon summoning when she walked into the circle breaking the binding to him. He was actually a little surprised that she hadn¡¯t realized her mistake and quickly unsummoned him which made him think she didn¡¯t view him as a threat.

    An insult for sure but one he was oddly thankful for. That was another mistake that even veteran demon summoners forgot. Demons were always a threat, and the moment you let your guard down they strike.

    The only reason he didn¡¯t rip her apart right there and then was due to the fact that he was still too shocked and overwhelmed from everything that was happening. Then when he had a bit of time to recover from the shock. He didn¡¯t want to risk getting dismissed from this new playground filled with precious little play things he could tournament.

    Which led him to the final issue he currently had. Finding something to keep him tethered to this realm. A large risk many demon summoners had was that those who hunted demons often just targeted the demon summoner. Kill the summoner, the demon goes back to hell.

    Really the only reason why so many demons would have a hand in their summoner''s demise was usually because they despised being subservient to humans and returning to hell was far preferable. Plus, when there they usually would find the soul that summoned them and took great delight in inflicting punishment for their humiliation.

    But he was a demon lord and a unique opportunity has presented itself to him. Being free to do whatever he could try and find something that could help keep him tethered to this world even after the undead abomination was dead. Then he would be free to conquer all of this material plane. A dream of any and all demons.

    He had a lot of work to do it seemed. For now he would play nice, be the good little servant so she wouldn¡¯t suspect anything. Especially since he doubted he would be ready when she checked back in later.

    But he had every intention of crushing that damned woman''s entire body in his jaws, and if that didn¡¯t kill her. He¡¯d throw her in the unending void where she can spend eternity. He actually quite liked that idea now that he thought about it. Perhaps her demise would even be met by a void spawn.

    A slight shiver ran down his spine at the thought of one of those things and he shook his head to get himself focused on the task at hand.

    Clearly she was overconfident in her abilities or had just simply grown too relaxed from all the times she had tortured him that she forgot he was a demon lord of this world. There was only a single entity above him in hell and that was the demon king himself.

    His mind drifted as he thought about the demon king, the one who was basically responsible for the undead being able to summon him and other demon lords.

    When he returned to hell after having conquered this material plane and having killed or tossed into the void that vile undead. He could easily see the other demon lords rallying behind him so he may overthrow the current king and he would take his rightful place on the throne as king of all hell.

    There were probably several items in her little pocket dimension that could help with that also so before he returned to hell he would have to make sure to raid her dimension for all of its valuables but again, he would place that on the back burner for now cause he had something he needed to take care of now.

    His head turned towards the bunny creatures. Many were huddled together scared while others seemed to look at him with eagerness. The golems stood as quiet sentries, awaiting for their next orders. Now what was the best use of these resources that he had been gifted.

    Rillan cooed as he spoke to the bunny creatures, sending his intent into words to make the dull creatures understand him. His voice sending shivers down the creatures as they should.

    ¡°I am your master now, given as a gift by your creator to serve me and only me. Follow me and you will be able to bring this world down to its knees and destroy all who would oppose my will.¡±

    ¡°food?¡± His eyes swiveled towards one of the bunny chimeras that was in the front looking at him with awe. So these rabbits possess enough intelligence for speech, that would make giving orders easier.

    ¡°I shall give you all the delicious food you want. And there is no food more delicious for savage and powerful creatures like you than fresh human meat.¡±

    That seemed to bring rapture to their eyes, nothing better than simple creatures being motivated by simple desires. They were already grunting and chittering to themselves. Clearly eager for all the meat they would be able to eat.

    He decided to keep it simple and name these creatures Orants. He didn¡¯t care about naming what would undoubtedly be canon fodder but orders were orders here. And the undead abomination told him to name them so he did.

    He ordered the freshly named Orants to stay exactly where they were, an order they seemed happy, or at least indifferent to follow. He then turned his attention to the golems and time prisons that the undead witch claimed held enough supplies to create his own kingdom and army.

    He moved to the golems that stood attentively and gave the order to half of them to spread out and secure the borders of the valley. Any and all living creatures to be killed and brought to the center of the valley to feed the Orants.

    However there were so many of these bastards he would probably have to set up a far larger hunting ground. Hopefully he wouldn¡¯t have to resort to animal husbandry and farming. But winning wars was far more about logistics than anything and keeping the Orants fed would be important. Hopefully they would eat more than meat though. Perhaps cannibalism would work too?

    Shelving that idea he ordered the rest of the golems to be on standby. He needed to know what kind of stuff he was working with and then he could formulate what resources go towards buildings, fortifications, weapons and armor.

    He walked over to where the time prisons were laying on the grass and reached down to grab the nearest cube. The grin that hadn¡¯t really left his face began to stretch again across his snout. Now, it was time to see what sort of material she left him. He was utterly giddy that she had given him so many things that he could use to kill her.

    He tossed the time prison a good distance away from him but then froze. A slow and infuriating realization began to dawn on him. She used a passphrase to unlock the prison for both the golems and the Orants. And both of the prisons had different phrases right?

    Panic started to swell in his chest and he spoke the two phrases he had heard her say. None of the time prisons cracked or opened up and revealed the treasure inside. There was no flash of light and no large mass of material.

    Rage boiled up within him as he knew what she had just done. That conniving monster was treating him like a horse, dangling a carrot in front of him so he would do as she says!

    He clenched his fists and forced himself to calm down. It was not the time to let his anger grow. If he let his anger get a hold of him now he would undoubtedly lash out and now was not the time to do such a thing.

    The question was why. Why would she withhold the key phrases for the time prison? Did she just take delight to dangle resources in front of him and not actually provide the means to get them.

    That actually seemed the most likely, she probably took a sick delight and withheld the material in the time prisons. But also, she might have withheld the material until he proved his worth.

    Those were probably the reasons or at least the ones that seemed most likely to him. To test his loyalty by the tasks she had given him without the resources and the sick delight of keeping them from him.

    He clenched his fists again and slammed it into one of the golems standing at attention with a satisfying gong. The Golem flew through the air and smashed into the ground a good distance away but seemed to be relatively okay.

    Huffing he turned to the rest of the golems with his nostrils flaring. ¡°Listen up golems! I want you to start digging into the mountains around this valley, clear out all Flora and Fauna until it is bare!¡± If he couldn¡¯t use the stuff in the time prison but was still expected to make a fortress and city then fine. He would carve it out of the damn mountains.

    He would show her that he can accomplish everything she had tasked him and do so above her expectations. He would laugh in her face when he showed how much he had accomplished.

    If anything this might work even better in his favor. Showing how good of a servant he was would help lure her into a false sense of security. Act like an obedient demon until it was too late. Then he would finally have his satisfaction.

    Suddenly he heard some flapping sounds and turned his head to see two deformed humanoid creatures that were hovering roughly where the abomination had teleported out.

    He didn¡¯t even realize they were there in the first place but knew them well enough. She had called them Tymbots, which was a terrible name, and there was always at least a couple of them around her. She must have left them here for some reason. Likely to monitor and keep an eye on him.

    He suppressed a shiver as he turned his attention away. They were so freaky to look at it.

 Book 1, part 1, Chapter 3: Time for the set up/An unknown enemy

    This was the second time today she felt like she was forgetting something, multiple things actually, which irked her to no end but again, if it was something important then she feels like she would remember it so it probably wasn¡¯t¡­. Hopefully.

    She decided to ignore that annoying feeling and looked down at the map she had of the continent that she should be on. Several years ago she had her Tymbots scour the world to bring her a bunch of maps so she could get a better idea of what she was working with and where she wanted the story to start.

    This continent she was on was actually perfect for her plans as most of it was unsettled wilderness filled with mountains. Perfect for hiding the Demon Lord and its army.

    Of course that is not to say the continent was completely unsettled. There was a kingdom that had settled a good chunk of this land. Judging from the map it was probably a fifth of the whole continent which she guessed was somewhat impressive.

    She pulled out a smaller map that was just of this kingdom, looking over it before she raised her head to look up towards the city sprawled in front of her.

    Well, perhaps calling it a city was being generous. There was like, what. Five hundred thousand people max behind those outer walls? Maybe another ten thousand around the outside of the outer walls?

    If she hadn¡¯t checked out the rest of this country she would think she was staring at a small town, not the capital of this kingdom. This whole place just felt like she was in the boonies.

    While the accommodations in this town (city?) would probably be less than stellar, this was actually what she wanted. This kingdom would eventually fall to the demon''s invasion to help give the Hero and the rest of the world a strong motive to stop him.

    Then she would have the hero travel the world, deal with political intrigue, collect allies, and learn how big the whole world truly was before the final confrontation. All while he is being hunted and attacked by the demon lords forces of course.

    Hopefully the rest of the world wasn¡¯t as backwards as this kingdom. But what were the chances of that right?

    She flew down from where she was levitating in the air under an invisibility spell and landed in a small part of the forest where she had placed her carriage earlier.

    Nicely crafted if she were to compliment herself, which of course she did. (when you were as amazing as she was, you gotta compliment yourself every now and again for a job well done).

    She then turned to her full body mirror to see the mature and elegant woman standing in front of it. She did a little twirl as she admired her new appearance.

    The illusion magic held up well, even under scrutiny. Plus she was quite attractive. A mature beauty that held wisdom in her eyes, poise in her posture, and strength in her presence. Yes, this disguise was perfect for the older mentor and the mysterious woman who brings prophecies of doom but also a bringer of hope.

    She started to shiver in excitement over her role she appointed to herself. She had been practicing her acting skills ever since she thought of the idea and decided to cast herself as both the older mentor and also the mysterious stranger bringing prophecies. The best role in her opinion even if she was being completely biased right now.

    She had briefly thought about being a wise but grumpy old man to play the part but felt like a mature elegant beauty was more her style.

    Packing up her mirror, which was just her throwing it into the time prison which she was keeping personal effects that weren¡¯t books. She climbed into her carriage and sat down, waving her hand to make the carriage spur forward and start to move on its own, crashing through the woods until it popped out onto the road and started to head towards the capital.

    The fact that this kingdom was so behind in its magical technology that they still needed horses to pull their carriage was just depressing, she shuddered at what else they were behind on and was suddenly thankful she didn¡¯t ever need to use the bathroom.

    But it wasn¡¯t all bad. The horseless carriage would attract more attention as the mysterious powerful stranger who has visited the kingdom with a warning.

    The carriage went down the road and towards the town (city?). Traveling for about 20 minutes as they passed various commoners who were probably marveling at the elegance of her carriage, before coming to a halt. Halting too soon actually based on the speed they were traveling.

    Pulling the curtain to the side she peeked her head out the window and¡­ Okay, She was absolutely not doing that.

    There was a good line leading up to the gate her carriage had decided to head towards. Stupid self driving carriage taking the worst route possible! Especially since there seemed to be other gates around the walls that didn¡¯t have much of a line!

    The people right in front of her were staring wide eyed at her carriage, a few were even sitting super close to it as well, obviously marveling at its craftsmanship. So maybe she could forgive her carriage. She was trying to grab people''s attention after all.

    With some quick thinking she stepped out of the carriage and walked towards the people in front.

    The people, a family by the looks of them, bowed before her, trembling slightly, which made her straighten her back a bit more. Clearly the peasants knew a noble when they saw one. Making the illusion puff out her chest to give off the noble dignified look ¡°Greetings fine common folk. I have a pressing need to get to the city rather quickly.¡± She took out a chunk of gold from a time prison that was in her bag ¡°Would you kindly let me to cut the line¡±

    The father seemed to sputter before practically collapsing in a bow ¡°O-of course my lady. Thank you for your kind generosity!¡± They quickly bowed and stood to the side all quickly looking over the gold she just gave them

    She then repeated the process all the way through the line till she got to the gate before her with about every single commoner reacting the same.

    Turns out she was smart to bring all this gold with her, she basically filled up a whole time prison with the stuff. It was easy to transmute and create but humans in her old material world loved the somewhat useless metal and she banked on the humans of this world to love it too.

    Sure gold had its uses for her as well. But that was largely for aesthetics and occasionally needed for some magic. But humans loved to use it for money claiming it had value which she found funny.

    Finally she made her way to the gate, cutting past everyone in the process, where the guard before her seemed to be a little intimidated as she approached so she smiled gently to try and help ease them as the one to the left spoke ¡°Y-your papers please m¡¯lady.¡±

    Papers? Why would a backward kingdom have some kind of registration where people needed papers?

    Ugh, that was annoying, how was she going to go past that part ¡°You¡¯ll find that is completely unnecessary. I have an important matter to address with the king of this nation. Would you be a dear and kindly take me to him.¡±

    The guard looked a little dumbfounded. Likely processing that he was talking with such an important person as he opened his mouth slightly before shutting it again. ¡°I uh.. I should probably get the captain.. If you would wait one moment?¡±

    She gave him a wave to dismiss him and he quickly ran inside the gate house only to return a minute later with a man that almost seemed too big to be a human. He glanced at her, then threw a glance at her carriage which only made his frown deepen before he made his way towards her.

    When he spoke his voice was gruff and his speech slightly slurred as if he had been drinking ¡°You uhh, Need to speak with her majesty? Whos you suppose to be?¡±

    She made a quick mental note that the ruler of this kingdom was a queen and not a king. Perhaps she should have done some research into the kingdom but eh, too late now.

    She puffed herself up (or rather made her illusion do that) ¡°A person of great importance who has come from across the ocean with an important message that this kingdom and all the people are in danger.¡± She tried to enunciate all the important bits with her best ¡°Mysterious stranger¡± voice

    The man just stared at her for a second before blinking slowly ¡°and what do I call ya?¡±

    She froze at that question when she realized she forgot to do something completely obvious. She never gave her character a name.

    She had gone by many names in the past largely because she kept forgetting the names she had used previously and needed to think of a new one the next time someone asked her the question.

    Why didn¡¯t she use the name she was born with? Because her stupid creator never gave her a name when he made her, it was the same for all her siblings as well. And even if he did she would have thrown it back at his many stupid faces!

    I mean names were pretty pointless when you never needed them in the first place and her ¡°family¡± (which she used in the loosest possible terms) never needed names to communicate with each other anyways.

    She understood why humans or other sentient races would need names to talk to each other. It was why when back in her original material plane she had used various different names when she was talking or dealing with people back then. But again she kept changing names cause she kept forgetting the ones she had used previously.

    So now that she was taking part in the story she needed a new name and was metaphorically kicking herself for not thinking of a name earlier.

    ¡°Y-yes, my name issss¡± she quickly looked around for potential clues, relying on her quick thinking to get her through this. ¡°Gatess¡­ Captain¡­. First name Captain last name Gates¡±

    The man stared at him with a blank expression before finally speaking. His slurred speech had cleared up at that moment ¡° Your name is actually Captain Gates?¡±

    ¡°My parents had a weird sense of humor.¡±

    The man examined her for a couple of more seconds before glancing back at the carriage then back at her. His speech going back to being slurred as he spoke ¡°Why don¡¯t ya come with me, and bring dat carriage with ya. Mys subordinate here said it moves on its own?¡±

    She smirked with her illusion, glad that the man was perfectly reasonable and also a total idiot for falling for her quick thinking. Guess the quality control for those in leadership was bad ¡°It does, under my orders of course.¡±

    The captain merely grunted before turning to the subordinate. ¡°Wake-¡± He pauses for a second as if trying to remember who he wanted to wake up before speaking again ¡°Wake Hans, give him a bottle in the liquor cabinet in my rooms and tell him to take over. If he complains, give him a second bottle¡±

    The guard quickly saluted and rushed in the gate house while the captain turned and started to walk away, which she assumed was him escorting her to the castle. So, because a noble lady of great importance like herself doesn¡¯t walk with the common riff raff, she climbed into the carriage and issued the order to follow the captain as he led them forward, relaxing back and enjoying the ride.

    After a bit of time with her reading a book she had brought along the way, her carriage passed through a gate and up to a mansion which was most certainly not a castle in the middle of the city.

    She made her illusion frown a bit (since she didn¡¯t actually have lips to do so). ¡°Excuse me Sir.¡± She called out to the gate captain (Cursing her naming choice for herself slightly in the processes)

    The gate captain (not her) who had been escorting her carriage turned to look at her ¡°Is there a problem?¡±

    ¡°Well, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that this mansion was distinctly not the castle of the ruler of this kingdom which I had requested. Was I a little unclear in my instructions¡± I mean come on, sure the guy was a drunk idiot but he couldn¡¯t have been that stupid. Or was he just too drunk to not realize he led her somewhere different?

    After she had finished the gate captain (not her) made a small grunt, though kept his expression neutral as he walked/wobbled towards her.

    ¡°Sssorry ladyship. But I do not have such da authority to introduce you to the Queen so I have taken you to Count Tirran who iss my employer and also responsible for those who go in and outs of the Gate you had entered. If you truly have a message about da wellbeing of the kingdom. He will have the power to introduce you to the Queen so you may deliver the warning. Now if I may, I needs to return to my job.¡±

    She simply waved her hand to dismiss him and he left, leaving her standing in the courtyard in front of the mansion with a couple of guards by the front doors.

    Shortly after the gate captain (Not her) left. The doors of the mansion open and out marched a man dressed in a rather ugly looking robe with equally ugly looking clothes underneath.

    Just because you have the money to decorate your clothes with gems and jewels doesn¡¯t mean you should. Or at least not in that way! Why can¡¯t rich people buy taste, it would spare her eyes at the very least. Or it would if she had actually had them! HaHA!

    Suppressing audible laughter over her internal joke she faced the man walking down the stairs, his eyes constantly throwing glances towards the carriage with so much naked greed in his eyes that she was almost unsure if this person was an actual noble with how clear his emotions were out in the open.

    She always had trouble reading people''s emotions and even SHE could tell that he was thinking about snatching the carriage from her.

    ¡°Ah! To be graced by a beautiful young woman''s presence on such a lovely day, the gods have truly blessed me. Please please, come in. Nethin, the man who escorted you, sent a messenger ahead explaining the situation. I am sure we have much to discuss.¡±

    Young? Beautiful, sure but she was not young. Maybe he was into grannies or something and anything younger was too young? Or he was trying to flatter her. But he clearly sucked at it. Also he¡¯s creepy., And gross, and has a terrible fashion sense.

    She did her best to ignore the attempt at the compliment ¡°So you know that I have urgent business to discuss with the Queen then. I am going to need an audience as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Of course of course. Let us head in and we can happily discuss everything.¡±

    Happily discuss? She was here with world ending news. Or at least kingdom ending news. How is that going to be a happy discussion? Why! Why was everyone she talked to an idiot!

    As she grumpily followed the Count through an ugly looking mansion that had about as much taste as the man''s clothes, she was eventually led into what looked like a parlor.

    She noted five men in the room in each corner and one by the windows with weapons sheathed and clearly on edge. Combining that with the few guards behind her made seven  ¡°Who are these people?¡±

    The Count simply looked around the room as if he just realized the men with weapons were here. ¡°Ah, not to worry. Merely guards for my safety. Important for a man of my position as I am sure you know. I have had several assassination attempts on my life sadly. Though that does make me wonder. Where are your guards?¡±

    Oops. Yeah that makes sense if she had guards given her noble character. She would need to get some soon. Perhaps mercenaries dressed up?

    ¡°Under normal circumstances yes, but I have traveled here in secret and felt it was best to travel with as little attention as possible.¡± So long as you ignore the eye catching self driving carriage and her flinging gold around like it was nothing.

    The count raised his eyebrow as he licked his lips and rubbed his hands ¡°So you came here alone and no one knows you are here?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± She felt like this was going somewhere but she really didn¡¯t get-

    She felt a sudden pressure behind her and looked down to see the tip of a sword sticking out of her chest. Slowly turning her head a full 180 degrees towards one of the guards that had been standing behind who had apparently just stabbed her. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    The guard blinked in surprise, then horror, before pulling out a dagger from his belt and stabbed her in the neck.

    ¡°Okay first off.¡± her hand reached out and grabbed the man''s neck, and with a small squeeze crushed his windpipe ¡°That was very rude.¡±

    She turned to the other guards that were charging her with their weapons drawn. And grumbled ¡°It¡¯s bad enough to suffer fools, it¡¯s worse to suffer rude fools¡±

    She raised her hand and a green serpent like mist shot out of her hand and into the nostrils of the guards charging her. They instantly collapsed to the ground convulsing, bloody foam spitting out of their mouths before falling still.

    She then turned towards the Count who had fallen on his ass and had scurried back to the corner ¡°What on earth made you think that attacking me was a smart idea?¡±

    ¡°Wait wait!¡± He quickly got onto his knees and bowed towards her in an undignified manner ¡°I promise to give you whatever you want! Just please! Spare me!¡±

    Ugh, just looking at this dude was giving her second hand embarrassment. She had never seen someone ugly cry like that. It wasn¡¯t even charming in the same way some ugly crying could be. ¡°How about some information then. Why the hell did you just try to have me killed?¡±

    ¡°Y-your carriage and all the gold you seemed to have! A carriage that runs by itself with such a beautiful and well made design! You were obviously loaded with money! And seemed really easy to rob!¡±

    Well that was a little insulting. If she had lungs she would be huffing right now. Thank goodness for wind magic!

    But seriously, how short sighted does someone have to be to attack a foreign guest of mysterious origins. When she brought this up he quickly explained that it would have been super easy to cover up since he was part of some group that ran some kind of criminal organization or something.

    Her interest peaked at that for the simple idea of having the future hero deal with some shadowy organization that ran the criminal underlord. Thankfully she didn¡¯t really need this guy to be alive for that future plot point and she really didn¡¯t like the dude anyways. So she killed him the same way she killed the guards albeit a bit slower and more painful because of his horrible taste in fashion and d¨¦cor.

    Of course now she was in trouble as she was without any contact to get her to the castle and the queen¡­. Is what she would say if she was incompetent. Thankfully she was a brilliant mage (Who was also quite beautiful even without this illusion running)

    She made the illusion grin for added effect as she realized she solved her guard problem with this idea too.

    Swelling the mana at her fingertips she forced the seven guards that had attacked her to awaken as some undead soldiers. Even going the extra mile to give them sentience and intelligence to be on the safe side. Really she just wanted them to look and be intimidating. Though she should probably have some visors or masks to hide the gray skin of the faces and glowing red eyes.

    As for the count. She poured more mana into this body. The body twitched before she summoned the mans souls and forced it back into its dead body. Causing the thing to thrash about before jerking up into the sitting position.

    This wasn¡¯t a true resurrection, those were a pain in the ass to do and cost way more mana. This was more her chaining the man''s soul and forcing it back into a dead body as your slave, or perhaps puppet. She didn¡¯t bother making him stronger than he was when alive. She¡¯d probably find a way for him to ¡°Accidentally¡± die after he ran his use here.

    Thankfully she had gotten so good at undead summoning and creation that she didn¡¯t really need to do the rituals for them anymore. It was basically the same for her with all forms of magic outside of something super complicated.

    In fact now that she thought about it. She hadn¡¯t summoned an undead in a while. It was rather nostalgic. Maybe she should summon some more undead at some point. Or upgrade the undead she currently had.

    ¡°How may I serve you my mistress?'''' She was rudely interrupted by the undead man before her. He even seemed pathetic as an undead as well. She¡¯d make his accidental death embarrassing as it seemed appropriate.

    ¡°Right, I suppose we should get to business. You are to inform the Queen that you have a very important and rich guest who brings an important message that could threaten the destruction of this very kingdom and possibly the whole world. Play it up a bit. Add some dramatic flair and all that. You seem like you would be good at that.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    When the undead count didn¡¯t move she clapped her hands together. ¡°Well?! Chop chop! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    The undead count quickly bowed and left without saying a word more to her. Why is good help so hard to find these days? If she ever had a brain she would definitely be getting a headache and she wasn¡¯t going to use magic to give her one for the roleplay.

    She looked at the undead guards and mimicked a sigh. She couldn¡¯t believe she just let one of them stab her like that. Thankfully all who saw were dead now.

    But that was still embarrassing. She really should start being mindful of her surroundings in case of any more surprise attacks. A few thousand years in isolation made her lose her touch a bit she supposed.

    Thankfully it was only a slight hiccup that she easily recovered from and didn¡¯t have to worry about anything else.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Queen Cathryn, first of her name, sat up on her throne overlooking her court with a slight frown upon his face as Count Tirran stood behind a woman who seemed to be in her forties to early fifties, she had a sophisticated beauty to her that was hard to place but also seemed deceptive in some way. Like what he was looking at was handcrafted.

    If that wasn¡¯t enough, she had an unsettled feeling while looking at her. It was hard to place but to deny it wasn¡¯t there would be folly.

    Cathryn had been told the woman had called herself ¡°Captain Gates¡± Which was so laughably bad that she probably would have granted her an audience for no other reason than entertainment if she didn¡¯t know everything else.

    ¡°I take it you are the one Count Tirran has told me so much about and you are here to deliver an important message?¡± She spoke more to address the court more than anything else. So much of courtly politics felt like theater.

    The woman smiled and gave an over exaggerated bow ¡°That would be correct your majesty. I have come to your kingdom to share unfortunate news.¡±

    She raises her hands up into the air and dark mist starts to pour out which had Cathryn jump up gripping his sword by her side and her guards quickly drawing their weapons and moving in front of her to protect her.

    ¡°Peace, peace My lords and ladies!¡± Tirran quickly pleaded as he raised his hands in her defense ¡°This is all part of the message!¡±

    Cathryn''s eyes snapped to Tirran who had spoken. ¡°You better start explaining yourself now Tirran before I sentence you to the dungeon for treason¡±

    It was Captain Gates who answered her instead with poorly hidden joy in her tone ¡°I believe a visual would help you understand the importance of everything that will happen should you not heed my warning my Queen~¡±

    Cathryn glared at the woman who spoke as the black mist slowly started to form above her as a heavy cloud.

    ¡°Its true my lords and ladies¡± Tirran spoke again, bobbing his head up and down like a fool. ¡°She means you no harm at all and will be the best thing for this kingdom if you let her speak her truth¡±

    Cathryn shifted her glare towards Tirran before finally signaling for her guards and protectors to stand down. Cathryn proceeded to sit back upon her throne. Waiting to see what would happen though the guards were still on edge, ready to move at a moment''s notice if need be.

    However she was not expecting to wait two whole minutes to see what Ms. Gates was going to do. She was no mage, but she didn¡¯t feel a change in the mana density for a good minute and half making her wonder what kind of spell was being cast and why there was such a delay.

    Finally the black mist started to twist and form into a twisted monster with four arms standing above savage looking creatures with long ears and fangs.

    ¡°Soon!~~¡± Cathryn turned slightly startled by the projection of Captain Gates voice as she sounded way too excited and vaguely gave off the impression of a first year thespian who just landed their first role ever.

    ¡°Soon an army led by a mighty demon will arrive and slowly sweep across this entire country, killing and devouring everything in its path.¡± The mist twists into villages and cities being destroyed by the previous visages of monsters that she showed.

    She heard some gasps from the court as they watched the mists play out. It was actually somewhat gruesome with scenes showing people getting brutally mauled. Almost seemed like a sick joke with the needless graphic showing

    ¡°But!! There is hope, A young hero!¡± The mist turns into a vague male humanoid standing proud and tall but instead of the black mist it is a glowing white light. ¡°Wielding a mighty and holy sword created by a famed blacksmith long ago and blessed by gods!¡±

    The visuals changed to the human leading other humans charging demon and monsters ¡°Only he, leading a group of powerful champions from across the world will be able to slay this demon and his army, bringing prosperity and peace to the whole world!~¡±

    The mist dissipates as she drops her arms, looking quite proud of herself though what she was proud of seemed questionable. But Cathryn had to swallow that as she spoke to Captain Gates.

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°And?¡± Captain Gates seemed confused by the question posed.

    ¡°Is that all?¡± Cathryn clarified and Captain Gates seemed slightly perturbed by the question.

    ¡°Yes. What else would there be?¡±

    Cathryn resisted the urge to sigh and played along ¡°So this demon is the threat you want to warn us about? Do you happen to know where this creature and its army resides?¡±

    She bowed ¡°I am afraid I do not know of his location as of yet as I am still unfamiliar with this geography but I hope to find its location with my scrying abilities within a few months.¡±

    ¡°And this boy who will save us?¡±

    ¡°I am currently looking for him as we speak, when I find him I will be sure to inform your majesty.¡±

    She resisted the urge to roll her eyes ¡°And where did you say you were from again?¡±

    ¡°Across the ocean my Queen, when I received the prophecy I knew I could not let such evil stand. Thus I came here with my warning¡± She gave another exaggerated bow

    She tapped his finger on the armrest of his throne before standing up and forcing a smile on her face.

    ¡°I see, it is clear that you must be tired from not only such a long journey but also with all the effort you have been putting in to help us. I will offer you a place to stay in our castle for you, I will expect you to move in within a few days. You may keep your carriage at our stables, I shall have servants bring your belongings from Count Tarrows place¡±

    Captain Gates did another over exaggerated bow ¡°your majesty is too kind.¡±

    She snapped her fingers and a servant moved up towards her. ¡°Please show Ms. Gates to her room in the northern tower¡± The servant gave the slightest pause at the mention of the destination before bowing and began to escort the woman out of the throne hall.

    She proceeded to address the whole court as Captain Gates began to leave the throne room. ¡°That is all for now. I must head to my chambers to think about what has been revealed to us. You are all dismissed.¡± Not bothering to see the rest of the court bowing towards her, she got off her throne and left through the back doors of the courtroom.

    Cathryn made her way through the castle''s halls only being accompanied by two of her royal guards till she made her way to her private office. It wasn¡¯t much as she preferred simplicity to extravagance if given the option. But even still, the office was probably nicer than most nobles'' rooms.

    She went and sat behind her desk and leaned back into her chair as she waited for her two guests to arrive. It only took another minute before she heard a knock on the door and it opened up with two men stepping in who were also her most trusted advisors.

    The first man who came through was an old man with the slight hunch to his back named Riez, the top mage of the kingdom plus her teacher and mentor when she was a child and who would teach and mentor her own children when they were old enough.

    The second man who followed right behind Riez was only a year younger than her at 28 named Ignes who probably had no real noteworthy features except for a nasty scar that ran down his jaw. He was not only her right hand man but also a loyal friend since she was a child. He was also the leader and founder of a new organization in her kingdom called the shadows. A group that specialized in espionage, sabotage, assassinations, and scaring the hell out of people she wanted to be scared.

    ¡°Alright Ignes.¡± Cathryn spoke with authority and made the men stand at attention

    ¡°I want you to go over the report you gave me two days ago for Riez sake since he has not heard it yet.¡±

    Ignes gave a quick bow to her and spoke as if reciting an invisible and boring document he was forced to read ¡°Three days ago one of my shadows that I had infiltrate the Underground syndicate was working as a captain of the gate that Count Tarrow had control of. He was to monitor and keep track of the various cargo that passed through the gate without proper inspection. That was when Ms. Gates arrived and demanded to speak with you claiming urgency and the fate of the entire kingdom rested on it.¡±

    Cathryn nodded but asked a question that had been pestering her ¡°Why did he take her to Tarrow anyways? She was clearly a shady character without any form of documentation or registry.¡±

    Ignes nodded ¡°He had standing orders from Count Tarrow that any important looking people were to be brought to him personally. And she was clearly an important person who had extreme wealth and power given the horseless carriage that can drive itself. He believed that since Ms. Gates was clearly not expecting to be questioned at the gate that she must have been told to go through Tarrows gate to be let through though now we know that is not the case.¡±

    Cathryn nodded and gestured for Ignes to continue

    ¡°After he escorted her towards Count Tarrow he said he would leave but once he was out of eyesights he used an invisibility spell on himself and tailed them into the Counts Manor, using the Counts Sigil to bypass the protective wards. It was then he saw Count Tarrow have his guards attack Ms. Gates too apparently grab her wealth¡±

    Cathryn shook her head at such a brash action. Tarrow was both impulsive and short sighted enough to do something so stupid. He was a useful wealthy idiot that the leader of the underworld, Pirran Hillside, used as a pawn. Largely to get various smuggled goods in and out of the capital with ease.

    But he believed himself to be indispensable so probably thought he could get away with anything. Even if he had succeeded, there would have been way too many eye witnesses to report Captain Gates heading towards Tarrows mansion and her suddenly disappearing which probably would have been enough for Cathryn to detain him and use that as leverage to get to Pirran Hillside.

    Ignes continued probably thinking the same thoughts as her though not expressing them ¡°What he witnessed was certainly questionable, and were it someone other than one of my shadows I probably would not have believed him. One of the guards had stabbed her both in the back and neck but she was totally fine afterwards. She then proceeded to kill all of the guards, one by crushing their windpipe. The others with a spell he could not identify. After a brief interrogation, she killed the count as well. And that was when she used some kind of terrifying spell to bring not just Tarrow back to life but also the guards as well. All seemed loyal to her but certainly changed. The guards especially.¡±

    Cathryn nodded as she sat in her chair at her desk before looking at Riez ¡°What are your thoughts on this?

    Riez rubbed his wrinkled forehead ¡°Outside of it being very bad? These kinds of spells. Raising the dead and making them servants. It has always been theorized about but never once confirmed. But even the theories we have, such magic wouldn¡¯t be possible without much prep work and grandiose and complex rituals. Not to mention the amount of mana consumption it would take.

    ¡°And the worst and most worrying bit is how they all became loyal to her after she brought them back to life. Imagine someone being able to kill all of your soldiers and loyal followers only to then bring them back and use them against you. Such power would be something I have trouble imagining but it could very well threaten the whole kingdom. But that still isn¡¯t everything.¡±

    Cathryn looked at Riez, trying her best to fight the oncoming headache that was building in her head, waiting for him to continue.

    ¡°The enchantments of her clothes seemed beyond anything that I have ever seen. And that is not even counting the carriage she rode here on. Have you seen it?¡±

    Cathryn shook her head, she had only heard rough explanations of it from the report from Ignes and so Riez continued.

    ¡°I had a brief period to examine it when she parked her carriage in the stalls to come up and meet with you. The runes and complexity of everything there is utterly brilliant. Even if we were to ignore the beautiful craftsmanship of the carrier. It is absolutely brimming with power. A carriage that drives itself by the owner''s wim, with various protections and seems like it also has some kind of assault magic runes too meaning it is capable of some kind of attack also. But this is all speculation because these runes are all ones I can only vaguely understand so far.¡±

    Cathryn felt the headache growing as he started talking more about his obsession. ¡°And this is big I take it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s huge! This could revolutionize magic! So many possibilities have been opened up! Especially if she has all new sets of runes and enchantments that we don¡¯t know about. I am asking, no begging, to be allowed to study the various enchantments that she has and her equipment!¡±

    Sighing, Cathryn leaned back on her chair and took a tone that offered no leeway ¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself Riez. But I do agree with you. Getting these enchantments wound undoubtedly increase our kingdom''s strength as a whole. Would it be possible to get closer to examine these enchantments and runes more closely?¡± She glanced at Ignes.

    Ignes snorted at the question. ¡°While she seems powerful. Probably stronger than anything I have seen, she is utterly careless. Even if you ignore the fact that she casually walked into an obvious ambush by Tarrow. There is nothing stopping someone from closely examining the runes on the carriage and learning from them.

    ¡°I would say our main concern is her being so careless with her magical knowledge that she gives it away to potential rivals or enemies. I would suggest limiting the people who interact with her as much as possible and monitoring everything she says or does as best as we can¡±

    ¡°Agreed, I will have you set things up Ignes, but now we have a couple more points we need to discuss¡± Cathryn responded

    ¡°Like her potential immortality.¡± Riez followed up with excitement in his voice

    Nodding solemnly, Cathryn looked at them ¡°Getting stabbed and being completely fine means we can¡¯t act out against her in any shape, not without knowing why she can¡¯t be killed through conventional means at least. Thankfully she doesn¡¯t seem to be outright malicious but she could still hold ill intent. In fact I think we should assume that she does mean harm to this kingdom and us.¡±

    ¡°Her claiming she lived on the continent across the ocean is also a clear lie¡± Riez said which made Ignes chuckle in amusement as well as he spoke.

    ¡°That¡¯s good though, it means she is not from here or knows much about us or anything from across the ocean. The kingdom of Altior would have had her killed if she showed any hint of magical talent. And even if she wasn¡¯t from Altior she would still have had to cross the kingdom to get here. And their inquisitors would have easily spotted and killed her¡±

    ¡°Which of course begs the question where did she actually come from. Can we rule out hell, heaven or the fey planes?¡± Cathryn looked at the others and they all gave shrugs. ¡°Than I want us to look into that possibility as well¡±

    She then turned to Ignes ¡°I think it''s about time we sent the shadows over to Altior to try and steal some of there magic devouring steel, that could help us greatly should we ever need to fight this person¡±

    ¡°While difficult it will probably be needed and even not, I still say it would be worth the risk. But the operation will probably take some time if we are to try and keep a minimal risk diplomatically. I also would have to say that if we want it to go without a hitch I should be the sole one to go¡±

    She didn¡¯t like the sound of that, having Ignes gone would greatly worry her but he was also the best one for the job too. ¡°Very well, she doesn¡¯t appear to be an immediate threat though if I feel like we need to expedite the process than be prepared to do so¡±

    Ignes nodded again in understanding as Cathryn gathered her thoughts.

    ¡°Now for the final point. This demon thing. Do you think there is any weight to her claim¡± She looked at Riez since he would know the most about demons.

    ¡°Demons are tricky creatures, very dangerous, and are also a good boogeyman to get the masses scared. That is not to say there isn¡¯t a demon, just that she might not be telling the full story¡±

    Riez let out a sigh as he gave it a bit more thought ¡°She could be employing a demon, she could be making this story up. Or perhaps she actually has received a prophecy and is merely hiding her past for some unknown reason. The problem is that we just don¡¯t have enough to go on to make any logical conclusion.¡±

    ¡°Right..¡± Cathryn rubbed his head ¡°For now we watch her carefully. Learn everything we can and see if we can gain some magical knowledge from her. Monitor everything¡±

    Cathryn then smiled just a little bit ¡°In the meantime, this is probably a good enough excuse to try and push through some of the policies and expansions. While anyone who has witnessed the scene happening in the court will call bull, a few well placed rumors to the masses will help greatly in public support¡±

    Ignes grinned and bowed ¡°I will start getting the shadows ready. This will also help us greatly with cracking down on Lord Pirran Hillsides operations. Especially since one of his underlings seems to be inundated with Captain Gates. He has been sending more messages to the kingdom of Altior and his influence grows. If things keep going as they are I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if tries for a coup within a few years ¡±

    Cathryn nodded. ¡°Good, best get going, the sooner we get these rumors circulating the sooner we can start moving¡±

    ¡°Before I go. The shadows you want monitoring her. I¡¯d like to send a few as undercover servants for her. Would that be acceptable?¡±

    Cathryn thought about it for a second before speaking ¡°Okay, but I don¡¯t want any shadows as her personal servants. Someone with this many unknowns could prove dangerous. Have them stationed as servants working in the tower instead.¡±

    ¡°As you wish. But that does bring the question of any potential servants we can give her personally. It would be considered rude to not provide someone who is our guest.¡±

    ¡°Someone easily expandable and replaceable would be preferable. Nobody with any kind of connections. Once we have a better idea of of who she is and what she is capable of, we can easily get rid of the servant and replace them with a shadow¡±

    ¡°I will be sure to relay everything and find someone suitable for personal maid¡± With that Ignes bowed once more and left the chamber as she then turned towards Riez

    ¡°I want you to get to know Captain Gates, it should be easy enough for you given your absolute love of magic, you basically won¡¯t even be lying by saying you want to spend time learning from her¡±

    Riez shifted a bit while leaning on his grizzled staff ¡°You underestimate my abilities in subterfuge, remember I also helped teach you and Ignes in such things also. But I do have a request albeit perhaps a risky one.¡±

    Cathryn raised an eyebrow as Riez continued ¡°I wish to take my grandson with me when I meet and talk with her¡±

    ¡°Your grandson? You mean Marrow? Isn¡¯t he only 9 years old?¡±

    Riez let out a hearty chuckle ¡°He does look younger than you would think but no, He is actually 12¡±

    ¡°Because that is much better. I am not sure I want a child being near someone who can potentially be this dangerous and more importantly influential over a young mind¡±

    ¡°He is much smarter than you would believe, and he has inherited my love for magic. He is actually more talented than I was when I was that age. I hope that while his mind is still young he will be able to learn and understand all of this new magic. But if that is not enough, I think he would be helpful in getting Ms. Gates to open up and teach some of her magic.¡±

    She knew the old man would be stubborn on this so reluctantly agreed ¡°Fine, but Riez, I want to make this clear. If I have suspicion that your grandson has possibly grown too fond of this Gates character or might have any reason to question his loyalty he will suffer the consequences. Do I make myself clear?¡±

    Riez huffed in response. ¡°Fine, But you have no need to worry. Marrow is smart and he is loyal to me and this kingdom. He would not fall victim to something as simple as manipulation¡±

    ¡°Heh. Don¡¯t pretend your motivations for this are pure. You probably just want him to get even more of a head start so that he can become a Court mage when he comes of age¡±

    ¡°Obviously not. I fully expect him to become a court mage before he becomes an adult.¡±

    ¡°You certainly speak with confidence.¡± Cathryn smiled a little ¡°Alright, if your grandson becomes a court mage by or before he reaches age. I will give you the bottle of my Dragons Flame whiskey you have been practically begging me for since I acquired it. But if he doesn¡¯t then you need to give me a bottle of your Tears of Sorrow wine. Deal?¡±

    She raised her hand which made Riez shake it with enthusiasm. ¡°I look forward to proving you wrong. With that bottle in my possession I will probably have every single one that is in existence.¡±

    Cathryn smiled but took on a more serious tone ¡°Please be careful Riez. Don¡¯t overstep yourself and if you think there is potential danger you are to report back to me immediately.¡±

    Riez grin grew ¡°Oh please Cathryn, you know how much of a careful guy I am.¡±

    She just gave him an annoyed look ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I am worried. When it comes to magic you suddenly forget you are over 60 and act like a teenager, with the same mistaken belief that nothing can harm you that badly¡±

    ¡°Have I been wrong before? Wait, don¡¯t answer that. I don¡¯t want to spend the rest of this day of you going through the list. Just know I will be careful, when it comes to important matters I have never failed you, nor will I ever¡±

    Cathryn nodded and Riez soon left her office as well leaving her alone with her thoughts. She hated not knowing what was happening and this Captain Gates seemed like a whole lot of unknowns that was hiding a whole lot of future problems. But for now she would prove useful if for no other reason than perhaps advancing their might in magic and using her prophecy to help push through some of her policies she wanted to make.

    Still though, she had an uneasy feeling that something bad would happen. Hopefully she could catch it in time but if she didn¡¯t, hopefully it would happen soon. Oftentimes waiting for something to happen was worse than when it actually did happen. She only hoped she wouldn¡¯t have to wait long.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Sharrel kept herself in the shadows holding her breath, too scared to move as one of Whines goons moved past her. She waited another ten minutes before finally stepping out from the shadows of the crates she was hiding behind. A surprised seagull let out a squawk and flew away when she emerged which made her cast a worried glance around but saw no one.

    She couldn¡¯t believe they chased her all the way to the docks but hopefully she had lost them now.

    She began to move her way back through the city till she got back to the slums, if she were to be asked to describe what misery smelled like. It would probably smell a lot like the slums around here.

    She was thankful though since Whines hadn¡¯t found the house they were currently squatting in but she suspected they would have to move soon as she felt like today was way too close of a call and he was probably narrowing down their position.

    It¡¯s not like she has ever missed a payment so she didn¡¯t know why they hounded her like that. But still better they focused on trying to get to her then trying to get to Aion.

    Opening the door to their little hovel she couldn¡¯t help but notice all of the grime and mold that had been growing throughout the shack. No matter how much she tried to clean it, it always seemed to grow back.

    She looked over to the corner of the room where a poorly maintained bed lay and a sickly looking child was sitting looking out the only window admiring the flower plant that sat on the window sill that offered very little actual sunlight.

    She let out a sigh but couldn¡¯t quite keep the smile from her face as she moved up to him. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be sleeping?¡±

    Her little brother turned towards her with a flat look on his face. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be home a lot sooner?¡±

    She smirked ¡°I would have but I had to fight off some rich lady who wanted the flower I got you¡± She pulled out the small flower she had gotten that had almost gotten her caught by those goons. It was a little crumpled from her carrying it in her pocket but it still held its luster.

    The way Aions face lit up upon seeing the flower was totally worth almost getting caught.

    ¡°You got me a Nirrogold! Quick! We need to get it into the pot!¡± His body started to move before he suddenly collapsed and began coughing.

    ¡°Shit!¡± She started to grab Aion but he slapped her hand and through a fit of coughs managed to get out.

    ¡°Flower, plant, now!¡±

    She wanted to curse his stubbornness and help him but fully knew he¡¯d just refuse whatever help she tried to provide until she planted the stupid flower.

    She hastily and somewhat sloppily crossed the bed to the window sill and planted the flower in the flower bed they kept there before quickly moving back to Aion and helped him lie down back on the bed.

    She waited till his coughing fit had finished before looking at him ¡°Have you taken your medicine today?¡±

    He nodded weakly before mumbling ¡°I''m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean for you to worry¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. But the flower is far less important than you are¡±

    He smiled weakly ¡°Not sure the flower would agree with you.¡±

    ¡°Okay, well the flower would have been fine for a couple more minutes while I made sure you were okay.¡±

    His smile seemed to only grow larger as he sleepily spoke ¡°Funny, I am also okay while you took the couple minutes to make sure the flower was safe¡±

    She watched as Aion fell asleep. He had likely been up longer than he normally was and that sudden excitement at the end was too much for his poor body.

    She let out a small sniffle and whipped her face. ¡°You dumb idiot.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t the first time he scared her like that and it certainly wouldn¡¯t be the last She hated how useless she was to help Aion.

    She got up and looked at the large dress that did not fit her in the slightest. She didn¡¯t have a chance to tell Aion but she actually had a job opportunity at the lords manor that she would apply to tomorrow. Apparently the head maid was always looking for the down and disenfranchised to work there and when she heard she couldn¡¯t believe her luck.

    She had to put on her best performance if she wanted to be accepted for such an opportunity that could be life changing. Maybe she¡¯d actually be able to take Aion to a proper doctor to get him fixed¡­

    She turned her head towards the dirty mirror they had in the corner of the room. Most probably wouldn¡¯t even realize she was 14 years old. She had heard people on the street talking about how stress ages a person, perhaps they had some merit.

    Soon, soon their lives would get better. They had to get better. They needed to get better. She wouldn¡¯t even acknowledge such a thought as being a fools hope. They will get better, and this job was a step in the right direction.

 Book 1, Part 1, Chapter 4: Settling in/Scum of the earth

    Nice!! Easy peasy. Smooth sailing. Effortless. No problem, and all those other phrases. The Queen doesn¡¯t suspect a thing and now she just needs to easily integrate herself into the nobility so she can have a stronger influence on society.

    She looked around the room she had been placed in that would serve as her little home for the next few months until she found her hero.

    It was quite nice if a little empty but that was to be expected since they probably expected her to put her own things in here. Even had a whole balcony without any doors and windows so she can get a nice breeze and an uninterrupted view of the Town (City?). How fancy

    ¡­Actually that might just be a hole in the wall. But that doesn¡¯t make sense. Why would she be given a room with a hole in the wall. It''s most likely a type of fashionable balcony or something. Humans loved coming up with weird things like this.

    Before her train of thought could continue she heard a knock on her door. With a tilt of her head, she walked over and opened the door to see a woman standing there shifting awkwardly and she couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp upon seeing the woman''s appearance which caused said woman to flinch.

    She looked like a fairly normal woman if you discounted the six other black glassy like eyes on the side of her head and forehead. Or the fuzzy mandibles by her lips. And the 4 other extra arms that seemed to have some extra white fuzz to them sticking out of her side.

    ¡°Oh My God!¡± She couldn¡¯t help herself as she stared at the woman in front of her who started to fidget.

    ¡°I-I a-am terribly sorry mam.¡± She managed to weakly stutter out ¡°I-I know my appearance will rightly offend you but I was assigned to be your personal maid by the queen herself and I can¡¯t-¡±

    Honestly she wasn¡¯t listening to a word this girl was saying. She couldn¡¯t believe it!! One of her arts and crafts projects was still here!

    Well maybe not the ones she personally worked on but a descendent of theirs????

    She remembered when a bunch of her Tymbots came back all at once carrying a bunch of people. She didn¡¯t really know what to do with them so she decided to run a basic experiment with making chimeras with a human base.

    It was a relative success and afterwards she told her Tymbots to bring them back wherever they found them.

    Now here was one of their descendants standing before her! She needed answers!

    ¡°But I promise! I promise that I can p-put in the work and and will do eve- Wah!¡±

    The maid let out a yelp when she grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her inside her room.

    ¡°Oh my gosh! This is great! Now tell me! What other body parts do you have? What were the parts your parents have? Were both of your parents chimeras or just one? What is your average life span of your kind? Does said life span differ depending on the chimera species? Do you consider yourself a separate species of humans or do you consider yourself the same? What do you think of- Actually hang on! I need some paper and pens so I can write down this stuff! One second!¡±

    The maid awkwardly stood with a dazed expression on her face. She had thrown a ton of questions at The Maid at the same time so she guessed it was a little understandable but she was so excited she couldn¡¯t help it!

    After pulling out her pen and paper she marched up to The Maid ready to write things down looking at her expectantly.

    The Maid just looked back at her, stumbling over her words for a bit before managing to mumble out ¡°Um.. C-Could you repeat the first question¡±

    ¡°What other body parts do you have? Actually better yet, I need you to strip down so I can closely examine you¡± She moved to start undressing The Maid who quickly jumped back looking horrified, the human skin on her face turning red in doing so.

    ¡°I-I Think that. Or I mean.. Wait.. Just.. Um no! You wouldn¡¯t want to look at me like that! Us forsaken aren''t anything special!¡± She barely managed to stammer out

    ¡°Forsaken?¡±

    The Maid nodded, still seeming flustered ¡°Yes Mam, my kind. We are called the forsaken. D-did you not know this?¡±

    Forsaken¡­. That was so cool! Of course the descendants of her lovely creations were given a cool name! It would only make sense.

    ¡°Nice! Love the name. Now strip! We got some-¡±

    She was interrupted by a knock on the door and she glowered at it before looking at The Maid ¡°were you expecting someone?¡±

    She quickly shook her head and with some enthusiasm rushed to the door to answer it, almost tripping over herself in doing so. She certainly seemed enthusiastic about doing her job.

    The Maid swung the door open and bowed quickly as a young man stood before grinning ear to ear. Or rather young by her standards. He was probably old for humans, looking somewhere between 40-80 years old? When did most humans get a bunch of wrinkles on their face again?

    ¡°Ah!¡± The man spoke with a jovial tone¡° You must be the famous Captain Gates! I hope you don¡¯t mind me visiting so soon after your arrival but I just had to meet you. See, I happened to see your carriage and was beyond impressed with the runes on it.¡±

    She strained her back a bit at that ¡°Why thank you. Glad to see someone can recognize art. Can I help you though?¡±

    ¡°Yes, how could I be so rude.¡± He gave a respectful bow towards her

    ¡°You may call me Riez, I am but a humble mage under the court of her Majesty Cathryn. And I must emphasize the word humble for seeing the enchantments on your wagon as well as your little show in the throne room. I have to admit that there is much I still need to learn. I am, after all, a researcher first and foremost and when I see something I don¡¯t know or understand in magic then I must find out.¡±

    He flashed her a smile ¡°So what do you say, care to entertain this old man and offer me some of your limitless knowledge?¡±

    ¡°Nah¡± She used a bit of telekinesis to swing the door shut on him making The Maid jump back in shock. She had stuff to do and had no interest in teaching someone basic level magic stuff.

    Unfortunately the moment the door slammed shut, the old man started pounding on the door followed by some utter pitiful whining. ¡°Please! Just hear me out! Please! I need this magic to learn! I need-¡±

    She swung the door open and glowered at the Annoying Court Mage who seemed to be groveling at the door but quickly stood up like he wasn¡¯t just and readopted that air of jovial old man ¡°Oh good, I am glad you agreed¡± And promptly marched into her room before she could even say anything else.

    ¡°I.. Okay look, what was your name again?¡± She asked the Annoying Court Mage who beamed at her

    ¡°Riez, pleasure¡±

    ¡°Right, Riez, I will happily show you a couple of tricks or something. But later. I just got here and I would like to start my search for the prophesied hero as soon as possible¡±

    ¡°Ah of course of course. I suppose that makes sense. In that case I shall leave you to it for now. I will come back in a few days with my grandson so we can start learning some of your magic.¡±

    ¡°Hold on! Grandson! I never-¡± The door slams shut as The Annoying Court Mage left. Gods she hated talking to pushy people. She was really tempted to just kill the guy when he came over next.

    Thoughts to return too, right now though. She slowly turns her head towards The Maid making her illusion smile about as wide as the skull she has as the Maid slowly backs up ¡°Where were we?¡±

    The Maid backed up slowly. ¡°Um¡­ Mam. I- I¡¯m really am not comfortable with whatever it is you have planned.¡±

    She huffed in annoyance. ¡°Fine. No stripping or body examination, for now, but you are an assigned maid or servant for me by the queen?¡±

    She nodded quickly ¡°I-if you would have me. I understand I might not be what you would hope for but I promise I am a hard worker and dedicated! I won¡¯t let you down and will work twice as hard as any servant you have had in the past!¡±

    She seemed worried she was going to get rid of her? But why on earth would she do that? It is pretty awesome to have a descendant of one of her arts and craft projects working for her. Plus this way she can examine and see how they acted up close. Maybe she isn¡¯t very good at being a maid? Well that was an easy enough fix.

    She walked over to her bag that she had set down in the room and began to shuffle through her time prisons. ¡°Let¡¯s see, not this one. Not this one either. Ah hah! Here we are.¡±

    She went through the contents of time prison without taking anything out until she found a few books she was looking for and selectively pulled those out of the prison by stating the objects name followed by her pass code ¡°Something something book time prison number six¡±

    Once she pulled out the various books she promptly plopped them down in front of The Maid. ¡°Right, here we are. A book about cleaning and the best ways to go about it, a few books about cooking, and a book about manners and how to prepare a place for guests. That should be enough wouldn¡¯t you say?¡±

    The Maid looked almost confused at the books before looking back at her ¡°I¡­ These s-seem to be odd books to carry around with you on person.¡±

    ¡°A lady must always be prepared and that means having books for every possible occasion on her at all times¡± she proudly declared.

    ¡°Oh, also take these.¡± She handed over a pair of enchanted glasses. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be able to understand the language so I think it would be best if you wore these, it will basically turn the text into a language you can understand.¡±

    The Maid very gently took the glasses with her more humanoid looking hand as if terrified the slightest pressure would break them ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s okay to give someone like me such a valuable thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes? It¡¯s because of who you are that I am giving you such things in the first place¡± Plus they weren¡¯t really that valuable. She had several copies of all her books and multiple pairs of those glasses but if she wanted to think they were valuable who was she to say no. Then again all books were valuable so perhaps she had a point. But a book that isn¡¯t read is a book that has no purpose. So giving them to someone who will read them lets them serve their purpose wonderfully.

    ¡°Anyways. If you are going to be my servant. I suppose I need to know your name. What should I call you?¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± She seemed to realize she forgot to introduce herself and quickly bowed several times ¡°I am so terribly sorry for my rudeness mam! I mean my Ladyship! You may call me Vera.¡±

    ¡°Vera huh¡± She nodded, that should be easy enough to remember.

    ¡°Alright Vera, how about you start studying those books, I need to unpack and make this place look a little more presentable for a lady of my position and standing¡±

    The maid nodded and bowed again, much deeper then before ¡°Thank you for giving me a chance M¡¯lady!¡±

    She waved The Maid off and turned to the room. Now how was she going to decorate this place.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Riez grunted as he moved through the castle. Walking all the way from the north tower was annoying as his body just wasn¡¯t as young as it used to be.

    ¡°Success?¡± Ignes had asked, standing by a corner that Riez just passed. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Most were intimidated by the man, scared they would be the next ones to vanish in the night to never be seen again. Perhaps he would be too if it weren¡¯t for the fact he basically taught this man since he was a kid. He just found his antics silly and wished he didn¡¯t bother doing so with him.

    ¡°Things went smoothly. I¡¯ll be heading there again later down the road. Shouldn¡¯t you be getting ready to leave?¡±

    ¡°I am leaving shortly. I wanted to check to make sure you didn¡¯t screw up the first meeting. I have to admit that was some performance you gave her when she shut the door on you like that.¡±

    Riez frowned, dropping his normal cheerful demeanor  ¡°You forget yourself Ignes. Never forget I was the one who made you who you are today. Do not question me or my methods. If debasing myself and throwing away any pride I might have means I can further my objective. Then it seems like a small price to pay. You should keep that in mind. Your ego tends to get in the way of your job.¡±

    Ignes looked away before grunting and started to walk off. ¡°I¡¯m going to be late. I leave the Queens protection in your capable hands¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am sure.¡± He continued on his way till he eventually made his way to the part of the castle where several of the court mages practiced their craft. After heading into his personal laboratory he saw his grandson sitting at one of his tables reading a book on magic that was probably too advanced for someone his age.

    ¡°And what are you doing Marrow?¡±

    Marrow didn¡¯t respond, too engrossed in whatever he was reading. So Riez stepped closer and lightly bonked him on the head with his staff causing Marrow to snap up his focused gaze training onto him.

    ¡°Oh hi grandpa!¡± His beaming smile suddenly faltered as he slowly registered what Riez had done and then clutched the top of his head as tears began to form in his eyes. ¡°Ow! What was that for!¡±

    ¡°For not greeting your elders when they come through the door. You should have better manners. What if I had been the Queen?¡±

    Marrow just rubbed his head and didn¡¯t acknowledge his comment.

    ¡°Now, I want you to start getting ready. Have you heard of the guest that is currently staying in the north tower?¡±

    Marrow titled his head ¡°The north tower? I thought that was under construction?¡±

    ¡°It is. Can you perhaps tell me why the Queen might have given someone a place to stay like the north tower despite it being under construction?¡±

    Marrow sat in thought for a second. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose its because she forgot it was under construction¡­ Did she do it perhaps to insult her?¡±

    Riez let out a grunt, not expecting his answer but happy that he could get it partially right. ¡°The queen gave it to her as a show of force and as an insult. It was a way of showing that the guest is still reliant on her and her accommodations of luxury will be poor if the Queen so desires¡±

    Marrow didn¡¯t look entirely convinced. The boy was a prodigy with magic but he feared for his weak heart. The boy was just too soft. He was actually worried about needing to use Marrow in his schemes for simply the reason he feared Marrow would grow too attached to her despite the threat she posed. But that was a potential problem in the future and they needed the information. An earnest child seeking knowledge was hard to say no too for anybody. And it was easier for someone to drop their guard around too, even if there were other people in the room.

    ¡°I will be making visits to our guest and I will be taking you with me¡±

    ¡°What?? But I don¡¯t want to go! I¡¯d rather stay here and keep learning about magic!¡±

    ¡°She is a talented mage, one who possesses more magical knowledge than even I.¡±

    ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll go!¡±

    Just like that? Marrow could have at least protested and said something like ¡®What? No way Grandpa! No one is better at magic than you¡¯. Instead of just quickly accepting it! This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Trying to ignore the insult, Riez continued ¡°We will be visiting her in a week. So be ready. I am about to cram a lot of magical information into your head. I want to impress her how much of a prodigy you are¡±

    Marrow simple puffed his chest out in pride as a response. He was talented, extremely so for his age but he was also arrogant. Riez was going to have to crush that out of him by any means necessary starting today.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Sharrel kept herself composed with the rest of the servants as the maid in front of her was beaten by the lord of the manor. Each loud crack of his whip threatened to break her composure but if she did she would be the next one on the post.

    It was shortly after she had gotten the job she learned what it really entailed. The head maid would hire kids off the street like her, ones desperate for money that had no connections.

    They were largely used as expendable assets for the lord of the manor to whip and beat so he wouldn¡¯t take his anger or frustration out on any of the more important work staff that had connections or ties to important family members.

    The lord of the city cracked his whip once more against the maid that was tied to the post before she completely slumped unconscious.

    ¡°Weak little girl¡± The Lord growled as he turned his eyes to the servants that were lined up before his eyes landed on Sharrel as his eyes narrowed ¡°You. You are new here, correct?¡±

    Sharrel nodded keeping herself as composed as possible ¡°Yes sir¡±

    The lord smiled cruelly as he pulled his whip ready. ¡°How about a game? If you flinch, you get tied to the post. If you don¡¯t, then you all get to go back to work¡±

    She knew it wasn¡¯t really a question as she straightened her back, her nails digging into her leg. She could do this, just don¡¯t focus on the

    CRACK

    She bit down on her tongue as the whip snapped towards her face and she felt a stinging on her cheek but she held her composure as she kept her eyes forward.

    The lord watched her carefully before grunting ¡°My aim was off, I was going for your eye.¡±

    He wrapped the whip up around his arm. ¡°Let it be known that I am a man of my word. You are all dismissed. Someone clean up this sorry mess on the ground¡± He stated gesturing to the collapsed maid on the ground before turning and leaving

    The moment he stepped out of Sharrels sight, her legs gave out from underneath her and she fell on the ground. Her breathing went harsh and fast as she felt tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.

    Several of the servants went to pick up the maid that was tied to the post as another went up to her. ¡°Hey, are you doing okay?¡±

    Sharrel looked at the servant and quickly did her best to compose herself ¡°Yeah, yea. I¡¯m fine. Thank you¡±

    She accepted the hand the other maid gave her and was pulled back to her feet. ¡°I know how to do some basic stitching for your cheek if you¡¯d like¡±

    Sharrel almost declined as she knew she needed to get home to Aion but he would probably get really upset if he saw a fresh wound on her cheek so she agreed and she was lead to a servants quarters where she pulled out a sewing kit and started to stitch Sharrels cheek

    ¡°I¡¯m Nancy by the way.¡±

    ¡°Sharrel, and thanks¡±

    Nancy gave a small smile ¡°I take it you will be coming back tomorrow¡±

    ¡°Is it that obvious¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s how it always is. Everyone here, or at least everyone doing the more messy work can¡¯t afford to leave. All of us need the money, and they know it. Just don¡¯t lose heart and don¡¯t make any serious mistakes and you¡¯ll do fine¡±

    Sharrel was about to respond when the Head Maid burst into the room and anger covering her beautiful face as she glared the two of them. ¡°There you are! Nancy get back to work this instant and you!¡±

    She jabbed a perfect pedicured finger towards Sharrel. ¡°You are done for today right? Go home! We don¡¯t need more of you street rats in this palace then is necessary! Now move!¡±

    Nancy quickly bowed towards the head maid and scampered off as quickly as she could while Sharrel kept her head low and went to change out of her maid outfit into her usual clothes. They weren¡¯t allowed to take anything back from the mansion as they didn¡¯t want them selling anything. That also included food too sadly.

    After she changed, she got her days worth of pay and began to head home leaving through the low class servants exit.

    She wanted to try scrounging around for food to bring home but she was already late and Aion would be worrying.

    She started to dart through the various back streets and alleyways towards the slums. Going through the safer alleys she had learned so as to avoid the attention of guards looking to abuse their power or the more unsavory people looking for whatever it was they were after.

    As she made her way to their little hovel her steps slowed down as she heard a deep voice coming from inside.

    ¡°It is quite clear the flowers are well taken care of. You should be very proud.¡±

    Sharrel felt a spike of dread as she quickly opened the door and saw five men standing around their shack, with a sixth sitting on the bed with Aion. It was so cramped that she was surprised anyone could actually move.

    ¡°Ah good¡± The man sitting on the bed as he turned to Sharrel, a man she knew all too well. Whines

    She reached for the makeshift dagger she kept hidden on her leg but the man closest to her was far quicker and his meaty fist slammed into her gut knocking the wind out of her before grabbing her and shoving her into the ground before Whines.

    She could hear Aion screaming before a loud smack echoed through the room and he fell silent.

    She saw red and despite having the wind knocked out of her she launched herself up with her makeshift knife and thrusted the pointed end at the bastard who would dare strike Aion, aiming for his eye.

    His hand smoothly grabbed her wrist before she could get close and twisted. Flipping her over onto the bed post with an audible crack before he grabbed her hair and brought her face down into the ground with yet another loud crack and her vision swam.

    As things slowly came back into focus she made out Whines yelling at the goons. ¡°What if she actually got close! She could have hurt me, you useless bastards! What the fuck do I pay you for!¡±

    She shifted, trying to get her body to get up so she could stab the asshole in the back but her body wasn¡¯t listening to her properly and she awkwardly fumbled on the floor. Which was enough to draw their attention.

    ¡°Ah! Good, glad to see that didn¡¯t kill you. Where the fuck is my money you brat¡±

    ¡°Fuck you! I already gave you this months payment!¡± She spat out some blood her mouth with as much vitriol as she could muster.

    Whines simply grunted ¡°The monthly payment just went up, and you haven¡¯t delivered.¡±

    He then turned to one of his goons. ¡°Strip her and find whatever she might be carrying.¡±

    The men moved quickly and ripped her clothes off of her and took her pay that she got from today''s work.

    Whines then counted and pocketed ¡°Hmph, a paltry sum but along with the money we found hidden in the floorboards I would say that will cover this month''s payment. Lucky you. It would have been a real shame if you couldn¡¯t have made the payment and we had to take something else to cover it.¡±

    His face twisted into a cruel grin ¡°I know of a few people who might enjoy a girl like you. Or perhaps that sickly brother of yours. They would definitely enjoy someone as frail and feeble as him for a night or two.

    ¡°You best have the new payment for next month. Don¡¯t care how you get it but you better have it. And if you try to move into another place again I will have to assume you are trying to nag your debt and will not be so nice the next time I find you.¡±

    She watched as they started to move out but she couldn¡¯t just let them leave with all the money Sharrel had been saving up and she reached and grabbed Whines boot ¡°Wait, please, I need that money for Aions medicine. I have been saving it up for several months. I promise I will start with the new monthly payment next month and I won¡¯t run or anything. Just please leave this money so I can get-AH!¡±

    She let out a pained scream as Whines ripped his foot out of her grasp and slammed it down onto her hand. ¡°If you want to blame anyone then blame your parents who couldn¡¯t afford having kids. Be thankful my bleeding heart has given you more chances then I would have with anyone else. If I were you, I¡¯d kill your brother as all he does is drag you down. But if you ever decide to go that route contact me and I will take whatever he sells for off of your debt.¡± He said with a sneer

    With that he stormed out with his goons leaving Sharrel to lay there as the adrenaline died away and she felt the pain all over her body.

    It was then she heard a very weak voice from behind her ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± Followed by sniffling of Aion clearly trying hard not to cry.

    Despite the pain she slowly pushed herself up from where she lay and made her way to the bed and placed a hand softly on Aions forehead. He was starting to burn up. No doubt from everything that had happened. His body wasn¡¯t able to take it.

    Aion tried to push her hand away though ¡°Stop! I am Fine! I will be fine! You need to stop! You need to stop doing these things for me! He¡¯s right! You should have just killed me! Our parents should have never had me! I can¡¯t even do anything to help or protect you! I¡¯M USELESS! IM USE-less¡±

    His last word broke as he broke into a fit of sobs and Sharrel just grabbed and held him in her arms. Pushing her own tears down.

    She wished she could offer words of comfort to him but knew anything she would say would just come across as disingenuous so she just held Aion as he continued to cry until his sobs slowly lessened into whimpers, and those whimpers turned into soft breathing.

    ¡°We will get through this. One way or another we will get through this.¡±

    ¡°How¡­¡± His voice was meek, soft, yet scratchy from his crying.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet but I will figure something out. Name a single time I have ever let you down?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything¡­¡±

    ¡°Exactly. One way or another we will get through this. Get away from Whines, get you healthy. What would be the first thing you¡¯d want to do when you are healthy.¡±

    ¡°Flowers¡­ I want to see a field filled with flowers¡±

    Sharrel couldn¡¯t help but let out a small laugh at that. ¡°Then let that be your goal. To keep going, to keep living and moving forward so you can see a field of flowers that go on forever and ever.¡±

    Aion gave a meek smile ¡°I¡¯d like that. But what about you¡­ What would your goal be¡±

    ¡°To make sure you see that field of flowers.¡±

    She thought that answer would please him but Aion simply frowned. ¡°But thats mine. What is yours!¡±

    Sharrel didn¡¯t really respond because she knew she didn¡¯t really have any goal outside of taking care of Aion. Wasn¡¯t that enough?

    Instead of answering she kissed the top of his head ¡°You need to get some sleep. Your fever is already getting worse. Maybe when you are feeling better I will tell you.¡±

    Aion looked like he wanted to protest but his body clearly had had enough and he quickly drifted off into sleep.

    Seeing him asleep she got up from where she sat and began to clean up her clothes. She would have to do a quick patch job fixing them and make sure she didn¡¯t have any serious visible injuries for tomorrow. Or at least not ones that she could easily explain away.

    She grabbed her dress and started to sew it back together. Her hands were shaking making sewing difficult.

    She couldn¡¯t do anything again. Just like Aion she felt so utterly useless, utterly powerless. This time, now that nobody was around to see, the tears began to fall and they didn¡¯t stop throughout the night.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Jacob knocked on their room loudly ¡°Clair! Unlock the door! You can¡¯t just keep me out of my room like this just because you-¡±

    The door swung open and his older sister glared down at him ¡°What Jacob! I am trying to work and don¡¯t want to hear your pestering or badgering¡±

    Jacob made sure to roll his eyes as visible as possible while also trying to stand up straighter so she looked down on him less ¡°Please, no matter how many pieces of clothes you patch it¡¯s never going to be enough and it''s my room just as much as yours. Now let me in.¡±

    ¡°Wow, way to act like more of a dick than usual. No, all you are going to do is disrupt my work. Now go away. I don¡¯t have time for you.¡±

    Before she could slam the door on him Jaocb quickly spurted out ¡°Mom is in one of her moods again.¡±

    The door froze and Clair closed her eyes in clear frustration before swinging the door back open for their room ¡°Fine. But if you start to disrupt my work I am kicking you out¡±

    Jacob nodded and quickly scurried into the room and towards his bed that was near the only window in the room, much to his sisters annoyance and much to his delight.

    ¡°I take it she is upset about dad again?¡± Clair asking him and Jacob nodded

    ¡°Something like that. So naturally it''s our fault he isn¡¯t ever home or blows his money on who knows what¡± he vented out.

    ¡°Whatever. You can stop talking now.¡± Clair sat at the workbench table they had in their room with a massive pile of clothes that was stacked to one side and some other clothes that were neatly folded on her bed.

    The money she was saving up from patching and fixing other people''s clothes was so she could eventually leave Haven and move somewhere that was away from their parents though he didn¡¯t see how she¡¯d ever be able to save up enough.

    Even if she did somehow save up enough money to leave, where would she even go? Their aunt lived in the capital and probably wouldn¡¯t want a useless niece like her hanging around her place even if she claimed she wanted Clair there.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t know why you keep bothering with that stuff. It¡¯s not like you will ever save up enough to actually leave. You should just listen to mom and dad and apply yourself towards something more useful.¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡± Clair said through gritted teeth ¡°One more word and you will get kicked out¡±

    ¡°Fine fine.. Just telling the truth, no need to get pissy with me¡± He muttered that last part but the room was small enough for Clair to hear and she slammed the clothes she was working on down on the table and stood up and marched over. Forcefully grabbing his arm and throwing him out of the room despite him trying to fight back.

    ¡°Wait Clair! Come on! You can¡¯t just throw me out like that!¡±

    ¡°Look Jacob. I can¡¯t deal with your shit today. Go find Erin and bother him or something. He is always more accepting of your stupidity then anyone else anyway¡± She then proceeded to shut the door in his face.

    ¡°Tough talk for someone like you. Just you wait. When I get older and stronger I will be throwing you out of MY room and there is nothing you¡¯ll be able to do about it!¡± There was no response from the other side of the door and he turned around and stormed off.

    He walked past his moms painting room where she usually stored all her alcohol and his dads study which he usually used as a gambling den for him and his friends and began to make his way down the stairs to the ground level.

    He quickly shifted to moving as sneakily as he could creeping through the floor before he heard his mom suddenly shout in a drunken voice ¡°There you are! What are you doing sneaking around here like some common criminal? You''re trying to avoid me aren¡¯t you! After all I do for you and for this family this is exactly the kind of thanks my ungrateful child would do!¡±

    Jacob did his best not to outwardly flinch at the sudden barrage his mom just dumped on him and put on the necessary smile that was needed as he turned around ¡°Not at all mom. I wasn''t trying to avoid you. I was just trying to move quietly to not disturb you as you had asked me to do.¡±

    ¡°Lies! You are trying to avoid me cause you hate me! Why do you hate me! I swear you are just like your father! Now why! Why do you hate me!¡±

    Jacob was actually lying and he did hate his mom but acknowledging any of that would just cause more trouble for him so he doubled down ¡°Nonsense mom. I love you¡±

    He gave her a quick hug ¡°You probably don¡¯t remember cause you were distracted with some of your painting when you said it. You know me. Always accidentally making noise at the least opportune times. That is why I was trying to walk quietly. Trying to fix that issue so you can have some more peace and quiet while you work¡±

    His mom mumbled something as if she was trying to remember if she had truly said something to him about being quiet so before she could push past the haze of the alcohol he continued

    ¡°I will be heading out for a few hours. Take care, shouldn¡¯t be gone for too long¡±

    ¡°Fine. Have your fun and let your mother rot away. And if you happen to see your father! Tell him if he doesn¡¯t bother showing up tonight then he can not show up at all! I¡¯m sure he would take delight in watching his family rot away.¡±

    Jacob was loathed to admit that he actually agreed with her statement there. He probably would take delight in seeing all of them rot unless it hurt his image that is.

    He quickly left the house before his mom could go into another tangent and began to make his way over to the wall. He hoped Erin wasn¡¯t on duty as he did not want to be alone. It was pretty sad that he was having to resort to hanging around Erin of all people. Just went to show how desperate he was at this point.

    As he made his way to the wall he began to poke around looking for him but had trouble. He shouldn¡¯t have been that hard to spot given his appearance. He was probably in the barracks then. He briefly debated about heading over there to see if he could find him when a voice called out to him.

    ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you Manis¡¯s son? Was it Quill?¡±

    Jacob turned around to see who the speaker was and spotted a man in a helmet with a red feather sticking out of it signifying his captain status. ¡°It is Jacob actually and yes, Manis is my father¡±

    ¡°I see, what are you doing here then? Your father should be with the Baron should he not?¡±

    ¡°Yes well I¡­¡± He let out a sigh as he couldn¡¯t think of a good excuse ¡°I am looking for Erin. Is he at the barracks?¡±

    The captain made a face ¡°No he isn¡¯t. The bastard is actually taking the test to be a ranger. The leader of the rangers is here looking for new recruits and he actually thinks he has a chance.¡±

    Jacob almost laughed at the stupidity of Erin actually being accepted into the rangers. If the captain of the rangers were to actually accept someone like him then their standards had certainly lowered.

    He thanked the guard captain as that was what was expected of him and left. He couldn¡¯t go home so he mindlessly wandered through the streets, passing by people as he made his way with no real destination in mind.

    Eventually his feet took him to the park that was close to this city''s castle and he continued to wander mindlessly until he stumbled across a small pond and stared out into it.

    It was all stupid. His mind flashed to the faces of all the people he past by as he wandered around the city. Their smiling happy faces were completely oblivious to the suffering he had to constantly endure!

    If they were actually decent people perhaps opening up and asking for help would do something but he knew what would happen, they would offer their sympathies and leave him to rot. No one actually cared.

    His eyes slowly drifted towards a tree that stood by the pond. It¡¯s huge branches stretching up to the sky as he stepped closer and looked at the rough tree bark, his fists tightening more as he continued to process his thoughts.

    They all meant nothing to him! Every single one of them was happy to let him suffer! Suffer for no crime he committed! Just cause he was an inconvenience to help he would suffer! They all probably looked down on him and secretly mocked him behind his back!!

    His fists flew towards the trunk of the tree and slammed into the bark, pain flashed through his knuckles and up his arm but he slammed his fists into the trunk again and again till the dark brown bark was stained red and he collapsed to the ground desperately pushing back the sobs that wanted to be let out.

    The pain gave him some small relief from the emotions that threaten to overwhelm him and he would not cry! That would show weakness and he was not weak! He will be stronger than that!

    Gritting his teeth he forced his tears back and took a deep breath. He looked down at his bloodied up hands and if anybody questioned him on it he would just say he got into a fight with some lowly street rats trying to steal merchandise.

    Jacob smiled a little at that. He sort of liked the sound of that. Perhaps he would try to find some, would be better than hitting this tree anyways.

    He noticed the sun was starting to set and knew he needed to head back home. It was a frustrating day but at least it would be over soon.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 1: Potential hero?

    1 year and 2 months later

    Boris reached up and grabbed the apple from the tree before leaning down and giving said apple to the little girl. ¡°Here you go, I made sure to grab the freshest, reddest juiciest apple on the tree just for you¡±

    He smiled broadly at her as the little girl squealed in delight. ¡°Thanks Boris!¡± The girl grabbed the apple and ran off with it. Yet another successful good deed complete.

    The world was hard enough to deal with as it was. Why make it harder by being mean or nasty to people. Gosh darn if you truly wanted to make a better world then it always starts with an act of kindness he says.

    He watched as the little girl ran back to her friends and after making sure she was safely with them he turned and began to make his way back to town.

    As he was walking down the road he noticed old miss Nan walking down the same road hunched over with a large bag over her back.

    ¡°Old Miss Nan!¡± Boris voice boomed as he trotted over waving happily as she turned towards him. The wrinkles on her face slowly spread as she gave him a toothless grin

    ¡°Ah! Young Boris! So happy to see you today. It always warms these old bones of mine to see you out and about. Say, would you kindly do me a favor?¡±

    Boris smiled at the warmth of her voice and nodded ¡°Of course. You know me. Always happy to help!¡±

    ¡°Thank you dear¡± She shifted the bag off her back and Boris with casual ease picked it off the ground with one of his large hands. Then, without bothering to ask as he knew she would protest, easily lifted Old Miss Nan up with his other arm and let her rest on his shoulder. Keeping that arm lifted to ensure she had enough sitting space.

    ¡°Oh dear Boris. You shouldn¡¯t suddenly do that to a lady as old as me. Near gave me the fright of my life. I am perfectly capable of walking on my own two feet you know¡±

    ¡°I know, but if I can help ease your journey to town then why wouldn¡¯t I. It is no trouble for me. And It makes it easier for you. It is a full win scenario¡±

    Old Miss Nan let out an exasperated but yet thankful sigh. ¡°Oh there is just no winning with you is there? To think our town is blessed to have such a kind natured soul such as you around.¡±

    Boris happily made his way into town making small talk with her. Greeting and saying hello to everyone he passed as they made their way to the marketplace. He then helped Old Miss Nan set up her stall as they continued to chit chat and once it was all done he bid her a lovely farewell but only after refusing her payment for his help. Helping was more than enough of a reward for him.

    He noticed the slightly sad and lonely look she got as he left and promptly resolved himself to make sure he took the time to visit her to have a chat when he had the chance.

    He stopped by a market stall selling some skewers of grilled meat with some kind of sauce slathered on it and ordered two skewers, paying the man just a little bit extra as headed off.

    The couple of skewers of meat could probably fill the stomach of an average man but it could hardly be constituted as a snack for Boris who was much bigger than everyone else. But it should be enough to tide him over till lunch.

    He walked through the streets as he made his way to the church of the gods that also housed the orphanage. It was there he happened to catch sight of a cat scampering into an enclosed alleyway.

    Feeling a strange compulsion he stepped into the alley way and watched as the cat went over to a small litter of kittens.

    He smiled at the cute scene ¡°Aww. Nothing warms the heart more than seeing a parent taking care of their young.¡±

    The cat looked up as he spoke and eyes him wearily and Boris let out a low chuckle ¡°Not to worry I mean no harm to any of you.¡±

    He then placed the skewers of meat down somewhat near the cat but not close enough that it might start to feel threatened.

    ¡°Here you go. You need these more than I do.¡± With a wave of his hand he left the cat with the food and went on his merry way. He should probably bring the cat some more food on a later date.

    He eventually made his way to the church where he saw the priest Corrin standing by the steps no doubt waiting for him. Upon spotting Boris he smiled and gave a wave as he trotted over.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°There you are, I was almost starting to wonder if this would be the first time you were late.¡±

    ¡°My apologies, you know how I am sometimes, constantly getting distracted no matter where I go¡± Boris offered a good hearted chuckle which Corrin returned in kind

    ¡°Most wouldn¡¯t call helping every single soul they come across as getting distracted but I can hardly complain, it¡¯s that very attitude of yours that makes you such an amazing individual. Come, I am sure the children will be excited to see you.¡±

    Boris grinned and followed Corrin through the church and toward the orphanage, paying a small prayer to The Dreamer as he did, the god Corrin served under

    ¡°Boris! Boris is here!¡± A happy cry echoed through the courtyard snapping Boris out of his thoughts as he looked over just a second before he was swarmed by small children giggling as they tried to climb up him happily.

    Corrin clapped his hands ¡°Children. I am sure Boris will happily let you use him as a mountain for you to climb later but for the time being I need his help so we can expand the orphanage. Now come on. Off you''ll go¡±

    The children all seemed disappointed so Boris made sure to promise them that he would play with them all later, and he always kept his promises as they knew. But duty waits for no man and so he began to make his way to the construction site they had been working on.

    ¡°Again Boris I can not thank you enough for all the help. I am sure the kids will be happy to have a bit more personal space when all of this is finished.¡±

    ¡°It is no trouble for me at all¡± He reached down and picked up a large heavy wooden beam that probably would have took 5 people to lift normally and began to move it into position

    Corrin simply stared in amazement for a second before shaking his head ¡°No matter how many times I see it. I don¡¯t think I will ever get used to it.¡±

    He then offered Boris a polite smile ¡°Well I will leave you to it. Come find me if you need help with anything.¡±

    Boris nodded and continued, letting his mind rest as he continued to work. There was something peaceful about just turning your mind off and just letting your physical body do everything. To get lost in the work. Corrin had said he was entering an awake dream when that happened but he didn¡¯t really know if that was true which was not a knock on the man''s belief. He just held some skepticism.

    As he worked one of the orphans suddenly came running towards him frantically ¡°Boris! Boris! Corrin needs your help! The sharks are here again and they are demanding payment! You need to help!¡±

    Boris didn¡¯t really know what he was talking about but he also didn¡¯t really need to know much else other than Corrin needed help and so he dropped what he was doing and quickly ran over to the church. His loud feet thumped across the ground as he quickly marched into the church.

    There he saw Corrin with his back to the wall as three men surrounded him. One holding Corrin by the scruff of his shirt with the other two holding knives.

    The one holding Corrin turned around with a gruff and scarred face and looked at Boris ¡°The fuck is this?¡±

    ¡°Boris! Get out of here and just pretend you never saw anything.¡± Corrins voice came out as strained as he pushed against the wall ¡°I don¡¯t need your help¡±

    ¡°Yes you do!¡± Boris responded and began to march towards them with determination and the man in the center gestured with his head towards the two cronies flanking him, they then stepped towards Boris with their knives out. The one on the left letting out a little cackle.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t you go start thinking of your Mr. tough guy just because of your size shit head. Haven¡¯t you ever heard the saying? The bigger they are! The harder they F-'''' He didn¡¯t get a chance to finish as Boris slammed his fist into the man''s face with an audible crunch and knocked the man back several feet to the ground.

    ¡°Wha-¡± The second man seemed somewhat taken aback by what happened but his shock didn¡¯t really last long as with another satisfying crack, he also flew back and joined his unconscious friend.

    The man in the middle snarled and threw Corrin to the ground ¡°Are you fucking insane! Do you have any idea who we work fo-¡±

    He didn¡¯t get a chance to finish his sentence as he joined his two cronies on the ground and Boris simply grunted.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who you work for. The world is filled with enough misery as it is. It does not need low lives like you contributing to it.¡±

    Corrin sat up from the ground clearly shaken and Boris went over to him and helped him up.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± He asked as he helped brush some of the dirt off of his robes and Corrin nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah. I am okay. Just. Shaken. Word of advice Boris. Always find out who you are accepting money from even if it seems like a gift.¡±

    Boris looked at the three unconscious men ¡°I take it these are loan sharks. What, did they offer money as a donation and then came back ready to shake you down.¡±

    Corrin nodded ¡°more or less. I¡¯d been trying to keep it away from other people but they were getting more and more bold. Even threatening the kids¡±

    ¡°Well I put them in their place. I doubt they will try anything like that again.¡± Boris replied but Corrins simple shook his head.

    ¡°I am afraid it won¡¯t be that simple. They are part of the Blood cutter gang.¡±

    Boris'' face darkened and he looked over at the three collapsed men on the ground. With a deep breath and a nod he turned back to Corrin ¡°Alright. I guess that means we have some problems that need to be sorted out. But us standing here worrying won¡¯t solve this issue. If you owe a bunch of money then I guess we will have to find a way to pay them back plus interest.¡±

    ¡°And if they won¡¯t accept or even retaliate because of this attack?¡±

    ¡°Then I guess it is a good thing I was the one who did the attacking¡± Boris grinned and flecked his arms ¡°What better ally could you ask for in a situation like this?¡±

    Corrin shook his head in amusement ¡°You truly are something else Boris. Fine, and also¡­ Thanks¡±

    ¡°Of course. You know me, always happy to help. Now come, lets get these guys tied up just to be safe and lets start brainstorming a solution"

 Book 1, Part1, Chapter 5: Getting into the roleplay/When death visits

    Ugh! Another failure for her story. She glowered at one of her scrying orbs as the man named Boris started tying up the gang members. Sure he probably could have worked at the whole hero gig it''s just¡­

    He was too tall. She wanted her heroes to look a certain way and that guy was just too tall. He was still young too so he probably had more to grow which would make him too taller.

    Yet another failure.

    She began to put away all her scrying orbs. She would like to keep looking for more potential candidates. Largely because it had already been a year which was way too long but alas, she had something very important to do today.

    Probably even more important than finding the hero candidate actually.

    Her gaze turned as she glowered at the book that sat on her desk. The Maid had suggested she perhaps buy a book that talked about the Forsaken. Saying they had already been extensively studied and should look at what the experts were saying.

    Personally she thinks that was just an excuse by The Maid to try and get her to stop asking for her to strip. She kept saying no frustratingly. It¡¯s not like she was doing anything that might actually warrant uncomfort like an autopsy or something.

    She got up and picked up the book that the hack fraud had written. It was titled. ¡°All you might need to know about the forsaken and how to deal with them¡±

    She had gotten it from the bookstore when she asked the shopkeeper (A very pleasant old man) about the latest book of study on them and was given this utter piece of trash.

    Now she wasn¡¯t going to blame the book store owner. Good heavens no, all book store owners were innocent in her eyes.

    But she absolutely was going to blame this writer hack who wrote this utter piece of drivel that should not ever see the light of day again!

    Seriously! She called the children of her creation horrifying beasts, not worth the air they breathe! The whole book could basically be boiled down to ¡°The forsaken are dumb violent brutes that need the more civilized to offer a guiding hand and that is why it¡¯s okay to have slaves if one has even a drop of forsaken blood in them.¡±

    Personally she was 99% sure the author was just projecting his own insecurities on them as basically everything he used to describe the forsaken could very easily be applied to humans as well. She had half a mind to smack the hack writer with a mirror so that he may take some time to self-reflect.

    They weren¡¯t even called ¡°The Forsaken¡± cause it is a cool name. No! They called them ¡°The Forsaken¡± cause they believed the gods had forsaken their people and thus were cursed to bear the deformities!

    They weren¡¯t curses! They were improvements!!! IMPROVEMENTS!!!!!!

    And shame on the gods for actually allowing such a terrible misunderstanding to go around for so long!

    She was already getting herself worked again. She glared at the book which had the author''s name at the bottom. Some no name looser called ¡°Pirran Hillside¡±.

    Right, first she had to find out where this loser lived, then find a good enough mirror (She obviously wasn¡¯t going to use her own mirrors) And then she would make just a quick visit to say hello to the bastard.

    She heard a knock on her door which The Maid went over to open before she had time to stop her. She didn¡¯t really want to deal with anyone today.

    Upon opening the door she saw the Annoying Court Mage standing at the doorway with his Grandson, ¡°Annoying Brat¡±, behind him.

    Before she could even get a word in edgewise Annoying Brat ran past The Maid and into her room ¡°So Teacher! What are we going to be learning now?? Are you finally going to teach me how to fly today?? I want to show off to Yin that I learned how to fly before her hawk does!¡±

    She was pretty sure if she actually had flesh and blood, a vein would be bulging in her forehead. Thankfully she had her illusion to do that for her. She needed to keep up the appearance of her character.

    ¡°Marrow¡± She said through gritted teeth ¡°Didn¡¯t I mention I was going to be unavailable today?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that does remind me. Where did you say you were going again?¡± Annoying Court Mage asked and she turned her attention to him

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say where I was going. Very important things that are also personal. Nothing to do with the prophesied hero or demon though¡­ Actually, completely and totally unrelated to where I am going or what I plan to do but do you happen to know where a man named Pirran Hillside lives?¡±

    Annoying Court Mage slowly blinked at her before shaking his head ¡°I am afraid I do not know of his location. I have a quick request of my own to make though. Would you please watch Marrow before you head out. I have to go run a very quick errand¡±

    ¡°Huh? Absolutely not. I am not playing baby si-¡±

    But Annoying Court Mage was already walking off ¡°Thank you so much, will be back in a moment!¡±

    ¡°I! You!¡± The urge to kill that man only grew as she slowly turned around and glowered at Annoying Brat who was currently opening one of her non magical books looking at its content and then shutting it before opening another.

    She really had half a mind to leave him right there, or perhaps punt him out of the open view balcony. Hmmm. Actually.

    ¡°Say Marrow, want to try to learn how to fly?

    Marrow''s head snapped up in excitement ¡°Really??¡±

    ¡°Sure. But I have a condition. You can¡¯t tell your grandpa how to. It will be his own fault cause he had to leave and didn¡¯t want me to pass down my infinite knowledge. Think you can do that¡±

    Marrow grinned eagerly ¡°Yeah! Then I show up grandpa by knowing something he doesn¡¯t! He¡¯s always going on and on about how much better he is because he knows more. Well now I am going to know something he won¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°All the better. We are in agreement then. Now your first order of business. Jump off the balcony!¡± She pointed to her balcony.

    Annoying Brat turned his head and looked outside before turning back to her ¡°You mean the hole in the wall?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been over this! It¡¯s a fancy balcony for fancy people. Now jump¡±

    Annoying Brat shifted uncomfortably. ¡°Um.. Shouldn¡¯t you teach me how to actually fly first? Or maybe start with something smaller?¡±

    ¡°Well sure we could. But that would hardly get you to learn the proper way. Now jump.¡±

    ¡°M¡¯lady, i-if I may interject. P-perhaps young Marrow is right? Maybe start with j-jumping off a box or something that might be more appropriate?¡± The Maid spoke with slight tension as she cast a worried glance out the balcony and back to her.

    The Annoying Brat looked at her like she was almost his savior. It was actually nice that he had stopped looking at her with disgust for a few months now. He seemed to slowly be warming up to The Maid.

    But that was beside the point as she looked at The Maid. ¡°As I said. This is the proper way to do it. It¡¯s how I learned, only instead of a tower I jumped off a high mountain cliff.¡±

    She then looked at the Annoying Brat ¡°now jump.¡±

    Annoying Brat stood at the edge of her balcony and looked down with clear hesitation. ¡°Um, Teacher I don¡¯t mean to question your teaching methods but-¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t¡± and promptly shoved Annoying Brat off the balcony.

    ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!¡± She watched as he began to plummet down the tower towards the embrace of the earth below.

    As tempted as she was to just let him hit the earth she knew that wouldn¡¯t look good on her and would probably lead to some hostility with the nobility of the kingdom unless she did a mass memory wipe so she quickly teleported down to the ground with a small pop and watched as he got closer and closer till finally she reached her hand out and forced gravity to stop around the Annoying Brat as his face was mere inches from the ground.

    Aaaand now he was sobbing. Great. This is why she didn¡¯t like kids. Their emotions were all over the place. She twirled her finger as she righted him up in the air and released her magic prompting him to land on his butt.

    Unfortunately the Annoying Brat was still sobbing and seemed to be hyperventilating now. The noise was kind of grating on her ears (Metaphorically speaking of course) as she glared at him

    You know, it probably wouldn¡¯t take that much effort to just kill the kid and easily cover it up. Some memory alterations, a few well placed lies, and she¡¯d actually have some more peace and quiet to read her books more often.

    She raised her finger and began to summon up some lighting. She¡¯d make it quick and he wouldn¡¯t feel a thing. No one would have to know¡­.

    She let out a sigh and lowered her hand. It was certainly tempting but the effort to cover it all up wouldn¡¯t really be worth it.

    So instead she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and teleported back up to the top of her tower with another small pop.

    She thought about using a spell to forcibly calm his emotions but people tended to get real touchy about that kind of thing if her memory served correctly. Thankfully she had an idea to get him to calm so instead she went over to her bag and pulled out one of her time prisons and carefully took out a few things.

    She then turned to The Maid ¡°Hey Vera, could you make some hot coco, I have the ingredients here and you should know the recipe if I recall.¡±

    The Maid nodded and grabbed the material and began to expertly make the mug of Hot Coco as she had learned from one of her cookbooks.

    The books of how to cook were mostly stuff from her favorite meals, she only ever really needed to eat every few thousand years give or take but she had found grazing greatly helped stave off the hunger for longer and if you are going to eat. Might as well eat something tasty.

    When The Maid finished making up the mug of hot coco she took it from her and handed it over to the Annoying Brat ¡°Here, drink this.¡±

    The Annoying Brat took the mug and slowly began sipping at it while she sat down and opened up her book to read until he was ready to listen to her.

    Finally after several minutes she looked back up and saw the Annoying Brat had finally calmed down. When he noticed she was looking at him, he quickly backed up, eyeing her wearily.

    ¡°Do you know why I threw you out of the balcony?¡±

    The Annoying Brat shook his head in response so she continued.

    ¡°Because you are green. You see magic as this wonderful thing with no consequences. You are only half right. Magic is a wonderful thing but it is also extremely dangerous. And in the hands of someone who doesn¡¯t understand that danger it becomes even more so.

    ¡°You don¡¯t teach a kid dangerous magic for the same reason you don¡¯t give a kid a sword and tell them to practice swinging it around in a busy market.

    ¡°What you just experienced is what would have happened to you if you were flying with a spell and your concentration slipped, or you got distracted, or perhaps you just ran out of mana. It is easy to ignore the consequences of messing up when you haven¡¯t actually experienced what they will be.¡±

    She used her best mature mentor voice and was actually pretty giddy she got to play the role even if it was just for Annoying Brat. This would be good practice for when she needed to play the role for real.

    She made sure to let her words sit with him for a good long moment and then continued ¡°You are a prodigy by yours and everyone else''s admission and that is all the more reason for you to take care. No matter how smart, talented or powerful you may think you are, at the end of the day. You are mortal and will die all the same. Death is the great equalizer and you will do well to remember that¡±

    ¡°Even you?¡± his voice came out as soft and vulnerable.

    ¡°Oh good heavens no. I am going to live forever and nothing will ever stop me.¡±

    The Annoying brat let out a small snort before starting to laugh. She found herself drawn into the laughter herself before composing herself after a short bit.

    ¡°Okay look. I will not apologize for what I did cause it was something you needed to know but I will admit I probably could have taught that lesson a bit better. Will you forgive me?¡±

    ¡°You want me to forgive you without you apologizing?¡±

    ¡°Obviously¡±

    ¡°You are clearly crazy¡±

    ¡°You are not the first person to call me that¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    She tilted her head in confusion at him as he continued ¡°I think I needed to know that. Even if you could have gone about it a bit differently. I still want to learn how to fly though. If I am ever in a situation where I am falling from a tall height like that, I¡¯d rather have a way to not die in the fall.¡±

    Nice!! Mature wise mentor role is coming along perfectly! ¡°Alright, But I will teach you how to fly later. I am still running my errand first.¡±

    Annoying Brat simply nodded and she decided to go over some basic rune crafting with him. Well basic by her standards. Apparently this stuff was more complex for them. No wonder this kingdom was so far behind in their magic.

    Finally Annoying Court Mage came back though he seemed a tad out of breath when he arrived

    ¡°Hey Grandpa! Guess what, Teacher threw me out of the hole in the wall¡± Annoying Brat said with way too much enthusiasm while also giving her a smug grin.

    That stinking snitch! Annoying Court Mage turned his attention on her with narrowed eyes ¡°She did what now?¡±

    ¡°Whelp! Time to go! People to go, places to see! Should be back soon, don¡¯t wait up alright, byeeee¡± She grabbed her bag and bolted out the door before there could be any follow up conversations giving a quick wave to The Maid as she left.

    When she got back she was definitely going to throw the Annoying Brat out of her balcony again.

    But right now she had more important things to think about. Like trying to find this Pirran Hillside place. She supposed she could just keep asking around and see if anybody knew. He was an author of a book (Even if it was a terrible crime against all decency) and authors were like the most important people in all of creation.

    She continued to make her way through the castle, thinking that perhaps she¡¯d stop by the library and asking the librarians if they knew where he might reside when a voice interrupted her.

    ¡°Ah! Ms. Captain Gates! It is quite wonderful to see you out and about from your tower today. How are you doing?¡±

    She inwardly groaned as she didn¡¯t want to be talked to again by some random person as she turned to face the man walking towards her with a cheesy smile.

    Noble #13 looked like every other typical noble that hangs around the castle which is to say gaudy. Lots of colors and jewels with no real cohesion. It was clear they were only worn as a symbol of wealth. It is just a shame that they assaulted her eyes every time she looked at one of them¡­. Or it would if she actually had eyes, haHA!

    ¡°I am doing fine, but I am in kind of a rush so if you¡¯ll please excuse me¡± She couldn¡¯t even remember the guys name and it would become especially awkward if she started calling him Noble #13¡±

    ¡°Ah! Perhaps I can help! I am very good at helping out anyone who might need it. For a small price of course¡± He rubbed his hands eagerly as he smiled all the wider at her.

    She highly doubted someone like him would be of any use to her in this situation but you miss all the shots you don¡¯t take. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know someone named Pirran Hillside would you?¡±

    Noble #13 blinked in surprise ¡°You mean Duke Pirran Hillside. Of course I know him. I doubt there is anybody in this kingdom who doesn¡¯t.¡±

    Huh. Well Annoying Court Mage certainly didn¡¯t. Guess he just isn¡¯t as smart as she thought.

    ¡°Well great. Could you tell me where he is or where he lives then?¡±

    ¡°Of course! I could set up a meeting for you if you are so inclined. For a small fee of course¡±

    ¡°Nah, that is not necessary. I just need to know where he is¡± She pulled out a map of the kingdom from her bag and opened it in front of him.

    Noble #13 seemed to start getting a little flustered. ¡°Uh¡­ I am having a bit of trouble remembering where his place of residence is. Perhaps something can help jog my memory.¡±

    Yeesh. Humans and their love of money and gold. She still didn¡¯t get it. She had been throwing around so much gold that she actually ran out of the amount she initially brought and had to make more. But at least it was easy to do and it made it easier for her to get what she wanted.

    She reached into her bag and pulled out several chunks of gold and some jewels. ¡°Here, does this help?¡±

    ¡°Ah! Yes!¡± Noble #13 quickly snatched the gold she offered and then pointed to some town on the map that was by the coast ¡°He lives in the city of Nirra. His place of residence is almost as impressive as this very castle if I were to say so.¡±

    Finally, she had a destination. ¡°Oh, one final request. Do you happen to have a mirror I can have.¡±

    ¡°Of course I do. But I am afraid I can¡¯t simply part with my beloved mirrors without proper compensation I am sure you understand.¡±

    .She stared at him for one long moment. ¡°You know what, I am already in a bad mood and could use someone to vent a bit of my frustration¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Noble #13 managed to ask before she gripped his head and forcefully shoved mind magic into him, bringing him completely under her control but still totally conscious of everything.

    ¡°There, now about that mirror?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in my bed chamber at my place of residence¡± His voice came out as monotone which didn¡¯t match the horrified look in his eyes.

    Figures. She would just head to a store and buy one then. Ugh, this thing is going to be her whole day isn''t it?

    She looked at Noble #13 who let out a soft whimper and beckoned him to follow her to a window that overlooked a courtyard in the castle and promptly shoved it open.

    ¡°Well come here. I want you to stand here.¡± She pointed to the very edge of the window and he dutifully stepped where she pointed.

    ¡°Now then, this hall is currently empty. But the moment someone steps into it and spots you. Jump the window and kill yourself.¡±

    Noble #13 started to cry and let out more whimpers, unable to speak or protest as she turned around to leave. Busy busy busy busy. There was just no time to rest for her.

    pop

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Cathryn''s headache was starting to worsen as she paced her office trying hard to figure out what the hell ¡®Captain Gates¡¯ was planning to do with Pirran Hillside. If she got into contact with him and they began to work together it would cause a lot more work for them.

    When Riez came rushing in and informed her that she had asked him who Pirran Hillside was and where she could meet him she felt her blood turn cold and quickly started to mobilize her available shadows. She genuinely hated that Ignes was still away at this point and time but also knew he would likely be gone for a few more years.

    She had already sent out a message to the shadows she had stationed at Nirra and she was hoping that the message would get there before Captain Gates and they could run interference.

    It was bad enough that Pirran was expanding his underworld empire to the kingdom across the ocean and running dealings with them and the nobles here. But if he got the power and backing of someone like Captain Gates it might spell the end of the kingdom from within.

    She spat out a curse at the damned woman who decided to show up in her kingdom. At this point while they haven¡¯t been able to prove it yet, she was certain that Altior was backing her.

    Captain Gates already had multiple nobles in her pockets through her bribes and giving away money and precious jewels. The people in the capital have even started calling her a saint due to her just giving away money whenever she goes out by paying ridiculous sums to get what she wants. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The economy was starting to get unstable due to the mass influx of gold and it was clear that was her intention all along but no matter what she tried to do to fix the issue people just thought she was being overly cruel!

    If Captain Gates got into contact with Pirran then he might actually have enough backing and power to initiate the coup he always wanted and take control of the kingdom for himself. And since he was in contact with the empire of Altior and expanding his operations there, it would make sense that he would also receive their backing so long as he became their little puppet ruler.

    Then their kingdom would just go right back to being under Altiors thumb all over again. The very thing they had fought so hard against 200 years ago.

    Now all she could do was wait and hope that the messenger was faster than Captain Gates'' carriage. She had told one of her shadows to monitor the carriage and inform her the moment she left and to track her movements without being seen.

    Her door suddenly burst open as one of her guards rushed in ¡°Your majesty! Count Mesha has just committed suicide!¡±

    ¡°What?? Take me there now!¡±

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    ¡°Gotta move your feet more¡± Erin spoke to Jacob as he rubbed his arm from the wooden sword blow that was just delivered.

    ¡°Standing like a statue is only good if you are trying to purposefully get hit. If that is not your goal perhaps you should move your feet like I told you.¡±

    Erin offered him a grin that looked deformed on his mostly human-like face. The lizard eyes with brown like scales around said eyes offer an ugly contrast to his face. The sharp teeth certainly didn''t help.

    The only other feature of his forsaken heritage was that of claws on his left hand with the same brown scales going up to his forearm. Jacob couldn¡¯t for the life of him understand how his Aunt was so madly in love with this man. At least Erin had the good sense to break it off with her.

    ¡°Right, Thanks¡± Jacob muttered. Not making his actual thoughts known ¡°Can we go again. I need as much practice as possible.¡±

    Erin gave a small chuckle and readied his wooden sword ¡°You know, I still think you would be better off trying for the Rangers. The Shadows are probably more difficult to get into and they aren¡¯t really well liked among the general populace. Or the nobles either¡±

    ¡°Good, being liked is overrated. I¡¯d rather have my enemies fear me.¡±

    Erin looked around the courtyard and gave Jacob a look that he hated. ¡°What enemies Jacob? You don¡¯t have enemies?¡±

    Instead of responding like some weak willed loser he decided to start the bout again and charged with the wooden sword raised high and swung down which was easily blocked and countered. Hitting Jacob in the shoulder again

    ¡°You over committed in a really telegraphed move. Try to be more patient and don¡¯t go for a finishing blow like that unless you are absolutely certain it will hit.¡±

    Jacob snarled at that and started trying to hit Erin with various jabs of the sword to which Erin easily parried all of them before stepping close and body checking him to the ground and paced the tip of his sword to Jacobs throat.

    ¡°I think that is enough for now. You should take a break. You getting angry like that means you make more mistakes.¡±

    Jacob smacked the sword away and stood up ¡°Me being angry doesn¡¯t mean I am making mistakes! You¡¯re just better than me cause you have had more time to practice. If I had the same amount of training I bet I could easily beat you¡±

    Erin shrugged ¡°Perhaps. But you will never get better if you can¡¯t even admit to your faults. You asked me to train you, there isn¡¯t much purpose in me doing so if you can¡¯t even take my advice without making excuses.¡±

    Jacob wanted to argue if for no other reason then the fact that he was right. When he found out Erin had actually made it to the rangers he decided to swallow his pride and ask him to train him.

    He hated being weak and Erin was probably the strongest and most capable fighter he actually knew. Even the guards and soldiers hadn¡¯t been able to beat him in one-on-one combat.

    If he could get as strong or even stronger then Erin, he¡¯d never have to worry about people trying to push him around.

    He took a deep breath and faced Erin again ¡°Alright, I am ready. I¡¯ve calmed. Let¡¯s continue.¡±

    Erin looked at him with skepticism before lifting his wooden sword. ¡°Alright. But if you can¡¯t stand against me for more than 5 seconds then that will be it for the day¡±

    A grin spread across his face ¡°Think you can last that long?¡±

    ¡°Ha! You¡¯ll be lucky to land a blow on me after a minute!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit. Get ready¡±

    Jacob took a guarded stance. Despite his bluster he wasn¡¯t actually sure if he could get past the five seconds. So instead of taking on a more aggressive and leaving himself open he decided to opt for a more defensive tactic.

    Erin, realizing Jacob wasn¡¯t going to make a first move and shot forward. Aiming directly for his sword which Jacob blocked making him feel a shudder run up arm as he quickly realized Erin was putting more strength into the swing then he had before.

    But at the same time he left no openings like Jacob had as the sword was soon coming directly towards his head without a chance to block or counter attack.

    It surprised Jacob that he was able to back step away from the blow but he hardly was given a chance to breath as attack after attack came for him. Jacob was just barely able to move backwards from each blow as every time he blocked he felt his arm grow slightly numb from the sheer strength of the blow.

    Eventually his luck ran out and Erin threw a faint that Jacob fell for and soon the wooden sword stopped just at the edge of his neck. Jacob was almost certain that if Erin used the same strength he was using towards his sword and chose to strike him. He¡¯d be dead.

    Swallowing he stepped backwards as Erin pulled the sword away. ¡°Good job. You lasted for six seconds. I guess we can keep going if you want too¡±

    ¡°You went easy on me didn¡¯t you¡­¡± Jacob tightened his grip in frustration and Erin just laughed.

    ¡°Jacob, I¡¯ve been going easy on you since we first started sparring. If I actually went all out you wouldn¡¯t learn anything at all. Though that is not to say I let you go past the five seconds. If you couldn¡¯t keep up with me then we would have ended the day here. You are still progressing faster than most¡±

    Faster than most doesn¡¯t mean faster then all. He was still too weak and he needed to become ever stronger. He looked at Erin with determination ¡°Another round.¡±

    Erin grinned and raised his sword but both were interrupted by a booming voice that Jacob knew all too well. ¡°What on EARTH do you think you are doing!?¡±

    Jacob swallowed and turned towards his dad marching towards them angrily. ¡°Do you not care about my position! If people saw you associating with someone like him it would hurt me!¡±

    Before Jacob could respond, his dad slammed his fist into his face knocking him down into the ground. It was only thanks to Erins training that he actually managed to turn with the punch to take less damage because of it.

    ¡°Hang on Mr.¡± Erin started but was quickly cut off by his dad.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare start on me forsaken. Just because my sister in law has a soft spot for you doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t or won¡¯t make your life a living hell if need be. Don¡¯t test me!¡±

    Erin clamped his mouth shut and bowed, making sure to keep his eyes turned to the floor as he did so which made his dad turn his attention back to Jacob who gulped.

    ¡°As for you!¡± He reached and grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him up onto his feet.

    ¡°You are to report home and stay in your room until I come back and then I, and your mother will discuss what the appropriate punishment will be! I have to put a stop to whatever horrible rumors are already floating around before they reach the ears of someone important!¡±

    ¡°Yes Father.¡± Jacob responded following Erins example and keeping his eyes lowered.

    ¡°Then go!¡± His dads voice boomed and he quickly turned and scurried away as fast as he could. He hated how he had to run away like this but what else could he do.

    He began to make his way back through the city towards his home and again, just seeing everyone that passed him made him grow angrier. He hated every single one of them.

    As he finally made his way home he opened the door and stormed inside where his mom saw him and started shrieking at him with her usual tirade of bullcrap.

    He just drowned it out. He didn¡¯t need to hear it as it was probably just the usual stuff. He just agreed, did his apologies till she was placated and then went upstairs. She would probably yell at him some more whenever his dad came back and told her he was hanging out with Erin again.

    As he made it to their room he found the door locked and not even bothering with knocking he slammed his shoulder hard into the door busting it open.

    ¡°Shit!¡± Clair jumped up from her work bench and glared at Jacob. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Shut up Clair. I am not in the mood and dad told me I needed to wait in the room anyways. So unless you want to explain to him why I wasn¡¯t where he said I should be you can just shut the hell up.¡±

    Clair glowered at him and sat back down at the pile of clothes. ¡°Whatever. Just don¡¯t make noise while I am working¡±

    ¡°I can make as much noise as I damn well please! What the hell are you going to do about it huh? You aren¡¯t strong enough to throw me out of the room anymore!¡±

    Clair growled ¡°Fine, I am sorry. I am sorry. Now let me fucking work.¡±

    Jacob huffed and stormed to his bed and laid down. It wasn¡¯t worth the time or energy to deal with his sister. His fist tightened as he thought long and hard about everything.

    One of these days he¡¯d get strong enough that no one would ever look down on him or bully him. Then every single one of them will rue the day they ever met him.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Sharrel made her way through the streets towards the master''s mansion. She tries to change the route every day so as not to rouse too much suspicion towards her. Even trying to change her hairstyle when possible.

    She had become a fairly decent pick pocket over the course of the year. Stealing from pockets on her way towards the castle and on her way back. When she had finally made sure Aion was okay and was resting well she would then head out at night to see what she could sneak in and steal.

    It had basically been this way every day for a year. The rings under her eyes had gotten considerably worse and her skin had started to look somewhat sickly but she couldn¡¯t just stop. The constant debt and the threat of Whines and his goons were ever present and this was all she could do to keep themselves afloat.

    She had been even stealing from the doctors and apothecaries when she could just to try and get some of the medicine Aion needs to keep himself alive.

    She hated it, she hated all of it. And worse of all. She hated how utterly useless she was. She was certain if she did not change something soon her body might give out on her and then what would Aion do? He couldn¡¯t even leave his bed without coming down with a fever.

    She slid past a well dressed man who was too distracted by the giggling of prostitutes to notice her hand slip into his purse and quickly pull out a few coins.

    Good, she just needed a few more to make next month''s payment which was unfortunately due in two days. With a bit of luck she should make the last bits tonight.

    Probably the only reason she had lasted this long was because she doesn¡¯t go for large valuable things that would undoubtedly get the guards after her. But small stuff.

    The only downfall of course was that she had to work extra hard. But it was starting to look increasingly likely that she would have to take that risk. A potential life saving money or an inevitable slow death. It almost didn¡¯t feel like a choice.

    She finally made her way to the lord''s mansion and with a deep breath entered the low servants door, nodding as she passed the couple of guards sitting at the table playing poker and into the area where she could change into her maid uniform.

    ¡°Ah! There you are!¡± Sharrel almost groaned as the head maid marched right towards her. The only reason she ever talked to her was when she was about to be assigned to do something nobody wanted to do.

    ¡°You need to go to the kitchen and pick up a tray of cookies and tea for the master. He is currently waiting on them and therefore waiting on you. Now move it!¡±

    Sharrel almost cursed out loud but that definitely would have earned her a whack. Ever since the day when she managed to avoid flinching, the master had taken an interest in putting her in increasingly no win situations, no doubt he was using the head maid to help him.

    She hadn¡¯t slipped up yet and earned whatever cruel punishment he had planned but it was starting to feel like it was only a matter of time. She was honestly thankful the master seemed to have made a game out of trying to make her mess up when he could have just punished her whenever he wanted.

    As quickly as she could, she changed her clothes and rushed to the kitchen through the servant hallways. For once she had some luck on her side as she saw the current cook Daur in the kitchen whisking something in a bowl.

    He looked up when she entered and slightly winced ¡°Better get going Sharrel, I¡¯ll call up and mention that there was an issue with the oven and the cookies took longer than expected. But that excuse will only go so far¡±

    He gestured towards the silver tray with the cookies and tea sitting at the ready and a bit of relief crossed her shoulders as she went and picked up the tray. ¡°Thank you Daur.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, seriously. Don¡¯t. But when you are coming back, stop by before you get to your normal duties. I¡¯ll probably be busy getting dinner prepared and might not notice if an extra piece of bread or fruit that I put out goes missing. You know how food can sometimes disappear.¡±

    She hid her slight smile with a quick head nod and began to move. Heading back into the servant quarters and began to make her way up to the 5th floor.

    Before she exited though she took a deep breath. She knew she needed to move but she was starting to breath heavily from the trek up and didn¡¯t need that as the excuse for her being punished just because she moved too quickly.

    She also just needed her hands to stop shaking. Even if she didn¡¯t want to admit it. She was scared of the Master. He could kill her with a simple order if he wanted. Hell he could probably order the extermination of her family and no one would even question it. Though if that were to include her parents. It might actually be worth it.

    She held onto that amusing thought as her hands finally stopped shaking and made her way out of the servants hallway and into the main hall, beginning her walk as dignified as she could towards the Masters study.

    As she rounded the corner her firm steps slowly began to stall as she realized something was wrong. The two guards that were stationed at the end of the hall by the doors to his office seemed to have a dazed look on their expression.

    Neither of them seemed to be overly conscious or unconscious. Plus they weren¡¯t making some kind of lecherous comment or offering her on a date as was the usual routine she had come to expect.

    If this was a normal situation she might have gone and gotten someone to take a look at this but on the off chance everything was actually fine and the guards were merely drugged out of their minds. She could not take the chance of delaying the delivery of the lord''s tea and cookies.

    Thus she knocked on the door as usual before entering, announcing that she had brought the tea and sweets as she opened the door and

    DEATH

    She dropped the tray to the ground, horror filling every fiber of her body as a skeleton stood before her wreathed in devouring black flame that seemed to consume the very reality around it.

    This was death, death stood before her, above the master''s body and it slowly turned towards her, a mocking smile in its skull seemingly finding her terror amusing before its feet began to move and it approached her.

    Each step it made towards her brought her closer to her own demise. Perhaps calling this thing before her as simple death was a disservice. This was a being that ruled over death. A god of death. The god of death was before her and she was the next one to be claimed!

    She didn¡¯t want to go!

    Five more steps

    Her body refused to move as her mind seemed to stagnate yet race at the same time. She didn¡¯t want to go. She didn¡¯t want to go¡­.

    Four more steps

    She couldn''t¡¯.. She couldn''t die here... Please¡­ she couldn¡¯t¡­.

    Three more steps

    A brief flash of Aions face crossed her mind and she bit down on her lip hard. She needed to think. What would a god of death even want so that it might spare her.

    Two more steps

    This was a god of death yet it hadn¡¯t taken the souls before her. The guards and the master were still alive as far as she knew. So what if?!

    One more step

    She snapped out of her shock and quickly bolted up from where she lay., yanking out the dagger she kept strapped to her leg out and quickly slashed the throats of the two guards that were standing there in a daze seemingly oblivious of what was happening.

    The moment their throats were slit they seemed to regain their sense before collapsing dead to the floor, their eyes filled with terror and confusion.

    Sharrel quickly looked at the god of death that stood before her, it was studying her but not moving. Yes, that''s right. It was waiting to see if she would kill the lord of manor as well. Prove her loyalty to the god by offering the life of her previous lord. For what was the loyalty towards a mere lord when faced with a god!!

    She then rushed past the god and towards the lord of the manor and began to frantically stab his chest over and over again till she was certain that the man would breathe no more.

    She turned to face the god again who continued to watch her. Right! How could she be stupid! This was a god!

    She quickly bowed before the god and pleaded ¡°I Offer these deaths to you oh god of death! Please accept my tribute and offer me your mercy!¡±

    She was trembling hard, unsure of what was to happen next. The god stood there for a long moment before walking up to her and then passed her towards a bag she didn¡¯t take notice of until now.

    Reaching in and uttering some words she could not quite make out before seven soldiers dressed in full armor and gear popped into the room out of nowhere.

    The god then uttered a couple more words before taking out several books from her bag that looked old and seemed to emit a sinister aura.

    The god then looked back to her and gave her a small pair of glasses and the books before speaking to her.

    ¡°I expect you to use these gifts well.¡± It, no her voice sent shivers through her. This was the voice of a divine who held sway over death. It was terrifyingly beautiful, a voice fit for a divine being that stood above all others.

    And then with a pop she disappeared, leaving her alone with the three dead bodies, several large sinister looking books, a pair of glasses and the seven terrifying looking soldiers.

    The moment the goddess disappeared the soldiers took off their masks and knelt before her. Their skin was different shades of gray and dry with their eyes bloodshot red. The one in the center spoke ¡°We will follow you, our new master and do the best we can to protect and serve however you see it.¡±

    The man''s voice was gravelly from rare use but possessed a gentleness to it she had not expected and she looked at the man before her. ¡°What are you?¡±

    ¡°I, as well as my compatriots, are soldiers for the one that created us, and have been gifted to you by the mistress. Though I am afraid I do not know much more than that.¡±

    Sharrels mind started to turn. The god of death had given her gifts. Had tested her, spared her and gifted her with these soldiers and these books? Had she been chosen. Chosen by such a powerful being and if so for what purpose?

    She swallowed and slowly grabbed the books. All her life she had lived feeling powerless against the whims of what life threw at her. Many times she cursed it. Cursed her situation, cursed her life. Everything.

    Now a god of death. Her god¡­. Her beautiful wonderful god. Had given her the tools and the means to fight back. Had given her a gift of power to spit in the face of life itself.

    She felt a slight giggle begin to escape her lips at the sheer absurdity of it all which made the soldier in the center speak. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    She quickly had to shake her head and push all the emotions and thoughts that were threatening to spill over back down and reflexively went through her breathing technique to calm down. She needed to get back home to her little brother first. She could process what had happened after.

    ¡°Follow me. We need to get out of here as quickly and as quietly as possible.¡± She spoke to the soldiers. The guardians that would protect her from now on.

    ¡°As you command mistress. Shall we take the bodies with us?¡±

    ¡°No, leave them to rot.¡± She stated and the guardians bowed and quickly began to move, surrounding her in a guard like position as they began to move down the main hallway and into the servants halls.

    She was more than a little surprised at how effortlessly they mimicked her movement. Not even the guards that had followed her now ex master were that capable.

    No¡­ That wasn¡¯t it. She practically cursed herself in her heresy for thinking such a thing. She should not be referring to that man as her master whether ex or not. That was tantamount to blasphemy. For there was no one who would stand above the goddess that she had just witnessed.

    She made her way through the halls and towards the lower servants exit. She knew the guard change would not happen for a few more hours and no one ever really dared to venture up to the 5th floor without purpose.

    Granted some might wonder where Pirran was but no one would ever dare venture up to see what was going on. Perhaps a detriment to making everyone scared of you.

    She had passed a few servants on her way to the door but the moment they saw her with her guard of 7 heavily armed men surrounding her with red eyes, they quickly and perhaps wisely turned and went the other way and avoided eye contact.

    It was a miracle, likely one given to her goddess that she had even gotten this far uninterrupted. Until she heard the familiar shrill voice ¡°Where do you think you are going???¡±

    Sharrel turned and saw the head maid marching towards her. Seemingly blind or perhaps ignorant to the guards that surrounded her. But then why shouldn¡¯t she be. She basically had the protection of Pirran and believed no one would touch her. She probably just assumed the guards surrounding her worked for Pirran.

    ¡°You had better not be shirking your duties! If you are I will be sure to tell the master that you are and I believe we all know what would happen then! Shall I report this!¡±

    Sharrel looked at the woman with a noticeable lot less fear. Not because of the guards she now had but she just seemed so little and so pitiful compared to her goddess. Even her supposed beauty seemed so miniscule in comparison.

    ¡°How many of us street urchins have you taken in with the promise of help only to then keep us trapped here to be used and abused by the one you call master?¡± Sharrels voice came out calmer than she expected it too.

    The head maid blinked as if caught off guard by the question before her face twisted in anger ¡°How dare you insult me like that! I will make sure you regret this and beg for mercy by the end! Guards! Detain her!¡±

    The seven guardians did not move at her demand and instead looked at Sharrel.

    ¡°Bring her to her knees¡± two of the guardians moved with speed she hadn¡¯t thought possible and gripped her arms and forced her down to the knees as she pulled out the knife she had used to kill her master with and placed it to her neck.

    ¡°How many?¡±

    The woman seemed utterly baffled before screaming ¡°Guards! Come quick! Guards!¡±

    Four guards came rushing in from different directions and like clock work her own guardians moved with far more agility and grace dispatching each man who came to help the Head maid in a smooth brutal fashion.

    Sharrel marveled at the gift she had been given by her goddess before turning her eyes towards the head maid who now was paler than the men who held her. ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t really matter in the end. You die no matter the answer¡±

    And slashed the knife across her throat. The guardians holding her tossed her body to the ground with a satisfying crack.

    She then looked up at the servants who had come in to see what the noise was about. They all were frozen in place at the scene before them.

    While the guards under Pirrans command were not innocent in his dealings, the servants, as far as she knew, were. And they had enough trauma in their lives already.

    ¡°Come on, we need to leave quickly¡±

    She issued her order and her guardians and began moving. The one who spoke to her before spoke again. ¡°Forgive me mistress, but you are too slow. If permitted I will happily carry you to the next destination.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is fine. I will direct you where we need to go¡± With permission granted she was easily scooped up and they were off with far greater speed then she likely could ever do.

    Sharrel directed them through the back alleys and the winding maze that was their city. Keeping to the shadier areas or the least populated ones. Most people in this area wouldn¡¯t talk to any form of the law, and if they did it was usually to give bad information or unreliable ones.

    Eventually they made their way to the little shack that she had been living in for little over a year. While no one in the manor knew where she lived. Whines did and she wouldn¡¯t put it past him to sell out her location for some coin.

    Hell he would probably just try to kidnap her and sell her to whomever was in charge of her capture. Of course now she actually had the power to fight back. But now was not the time nor was this shack the place. They needed to move and find a place to lay low but where.

    ¡°Are any of you good or capable of finding a place where we can lay low and stay hidden from any scrutiny?¡±  asked the guardians and gave a prayer to her new goddess.

    Two of her guardians stepped forward ¡°We both can. We shall return here within a couple of hours with what locations we deem suitable. Will that suffice¡±

    Sharrel nodded ¡°It is more than I would have hoped for. Thank you¡±

    Both the men nodded and sprinted off in either direction she then looked at the other guardians ¡°Listen. My little brother is here and he is not very strong and has a sickly nature. Please try not to startle him or risk scaring him.¡±

    The guardians exchanged glances before one spoke ¡°Perhaps it might deem prudent then mam if you were to change out of the blood soaked dress?¡±

    Sharrel looked down and almost face palmed. Yeah, that would probably upset Aion greatly. As she looked back up another of the guardians was gone. She hadn¡¯t even heard anything.

    Before she could even ask, the guardians quickly ushered her into a small corner and turned their backs to her forming a wall ¡°Please change out of the clothes, we shall ensure no one will see and the one that left will be back momentarily with some adequate clothes¡±

    Once again her goddess had given her such capable people. She offered up a second prayer as thanks for these blessings she had been given.

    Sure enough the guardian that had left her soon returned with some fresh clothes. Well fresh was probably not the word she would use. But they were wearable and no worse then the clothes she had that were sitting in the small storage locker at the manor.

    After quickly changing she went back to her little shack. Right, time to try and explain to Aion about everything that had happened. With a deep breath she stepped in with her guardians following behind.

    ¡°Aion, I am back and I have some people with me. Please don¡¯t freak out, they are good people and friends.¡±

    Aion was sitting up on his bed looking out from his window when he turned to face them and his eyes snapped to the guardians before looking back towards Sharrel.

    ¡°Your friends have red eyes.¡± he said with a flat expression on his face and a tone that seemed to say. ¡®You do see that right?¡¯

    Sharrel almost sighed in relief that he didn¡¯t actually freak out and began to explain everything that happened. They would need to move soon and it was best if he was caught up to speed.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 2: Another potential hero?

    Another 1 year, 3 months, and 1 week later

    She lurked in the shadows slowly stalking her prey with intense focus. The man who moved through the city had made a lot of powerful people mad and were more than happy to pay her price to ensure the job was done correctly.

    She remained perched on the roof from her vantage point feeling no need to stalk her prey with the crowd. That was only done by people who did not respect their own profession. Who had some faint hope of possible integrating back into the society that scorned and hated them. Not like her though. She knew who she was, and she embraced it, Making her far better than the rest of her so-called colleagues.

    They were all simple people, unaware of their own worthlessness. All of them wouldn¡¯t even be worth a nugget of copper which was just how worthless they were. And should any of them get in her way she would dispatch them with ruthless efficacy.

    The target, her prey, moved further into the commercial district and she quickly followed. Her shadow, her only true companion moving with her and seemingly also cloaking her in darkness despite the bright sunny day outside.

    The target soon stopped outside of a restaurant. The owner, she assumed, was happily gesturing for him to come in, likely to eat. Another useless activity the masses indulged in which she only partook because it was the only way to stay alive.

    The prey walked in, happily talking with the owner and she moved till she found the closest alley that was near the restaurant and dropped down. Easily blending into the lurking underbelly of the city that would never see the light or warmth of the sun. Moving through the alleys till she got to the restaurant her target was partaking in which would inevitable be his last meal.

    She knew of this restaurant actually, it was one of the grievances one of her clients spilled on and on about before hiring her to do this job. Apparently he was the landlord of this place and was going to close the restaurant.

    But the man she was hired to kill stepped in and helped organize a strike with his various other clients and forced the landlord to back off as public opinion was greatly against him.

    He had apparently done a lot of similar things to her client along with a few other landlords and nobles too. Getting in the way of their profits and angering the wrong people was always a death sentence and really her prey had no one to blame but himself for his inevitable demise.

    Adjusting her mask that covered her face that held the print of a lower half of a skeleton and making sure her black hood covered her head she moved and entered through the back of the restaurant as only a fool of an assassin would enter any place from the front.

    With ease befitting her skill and small stature she snuck past the cooks, to focus on their meaningless meager jobs to realize how easily she could have killed all of them without a trace.

    She then entered the dining room proper. Her eyes easily picked out her target and in order to avoid suspicion, she quickly moved to the quietest corner of the restaurant with the most shadows and kept her back to the corner so she could observe all while barring no risk of getting snuck up on. No doubt if anyone actually saw her where she sat they would realize how terrifying and powerful she truly was.

    She kept her position, waiting as patiently as a spider until she saw her prey move and head towards the restrooms in the back. This was finally her chance!

    She slid out from her corner with feline grace and easily stalked him into the back. As he opened the bathroom door she quickly pounced. Stabbing one of her knives perfectly aimed into his lungs to avoid him making too much noise. Pushing him into the bathroom with her as she quickly shut the door behind before facing her target who had stumbled to the other side of the room looking at her with fear.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± He seemed to painfully wheeze out.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    She did not answer for she had no name and her blades did all the talking for her. Knife after knife she plunged into his body. Her clients wanted her to make him an example.

    Each biting edge piercing his body with tactical ease, every edge spurting out a bit more blood from his body. Every edge spelling his inevitable doom.

    Soon his body lay on the bathroom ground. Many of her disposable knives sticking out of him like a pin cushion. She took no trophies as there was no point.

    She stepped out of the bathroom and made sure the occupied sign lay visible. That would give her enough time to flee the scene before the body was discovered. Not that there was much point even if they did. You could not reverse what she had done. Just like you could not reverse fate itself.

    She made her way back to her den, she would report her successful kill in due time though no doubt the news would travel fast. She would visit the noble tonight to accept her payment. And if he tried to skimp on her she would then just collect a different kind of payment by taking their lives.

    As she entered her lair, the place that gave her shelter but she would never call home, a slight shift in the shadows in the corner nabbed her attention and without hesitation she pulled out one of her many hidden daggers and flung it to the movement only for it to be easily parried out of the air and a man stepped out with an almost slimy grin on his face.

    ¡°Nice to see you too Beverly. How have you been?¡± The man spoke as he came more into view with his pale skin and black hair slicked back.

    A sickening twist in her stomach churned at hearing that name ¡°I do not know who that is. My name is Night Demon. And you should remember me as such¡±

    The man, whose name was Iris, rolled his eyes ¡°It¡¯s Night Demon now? What happened to The Elusive Shadow?¡±

    ¡°People kept thinking I was part of the Queens Entourage. I could not bare the idea of being mixed with those who might bring my name down¡±

    Iris sighed and sat down ¡°Listen Beverly¡±

    ¡°My name is Night Demon!¡± She yelled in a tone that accidentally came off as whiny rather than intimidating. She quickly cleared her throat and spoke again ¡°I mean. My name is Night Demon¡±

    ¡°Right, Night Demon. Listen, this isn¡¯t a pleasure call¡±

    ¡°I would have said no if it was.¡±

    ¡°Please let me finish¡±

    ¡°... Sorry¡±

    ¡°I am here on important business. I had just gotten a contract and was told to find a person to help carry it out. Normally I wouldn¡¯t consider you given your rather eccentric personality but I don¡¯t think anyone else would be more qualified then you.¡±

    She frowned at the comment of her being eccentric when she viewed herself more as a realist and let Iris continue.

    ¡°A man came by and gave us the contract. When I read it, I realized it would be a rather great opportunity for you, especially for who gave us the contract.¡± He smiled his slimy smile at her

    ¡°It¡¯s your Uncle Night Demon. Your uncle wants an assassin. And you will be meeting with him in two days.¡±

    She felt her stomach twist into several knots at that mention and she began to tremble ¡°No. That can¡¯t be right. My uncle would never order an assassination on anybody!¡±

    Iris raised his hands in self defense ¡°Hey, I am just the messenger here. It is you who will now have to meet him and find out why. I thought it would be good for you. Nothing like a good family reunion right?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a sick bastard, you know that! I absolutely refuse to be part of whatever twisted game you are planning!¡±

    His smile stretched across his face ¡°This isn¡¯t a request. This is an order. You will meet with your uncle and you will carry out whatever assassination your uncle demands. He paid good money and we are obliged to offer a good service¡±

    She quickly shook her head trying to keep her panic from bubbling upwards ¡°I won¡¯t do it!¡±

    Iris grin spread even more as his eyes turned into black coals and horns began to grow out of his head ¡°As I said Night Demon¡± His tone became mocking as he spoke those words

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a request, it¡¯s an order from the top. Have a good day¡± And with that he melded into the shadows and disappeared leaving her alone.

    Her hand tightened into a fist as she cursed the day she signed that damned contract

 Book 1, Part 1, Chapter 6: Romance connoisseur/Taking back power

    She leaned back from her chair and let out a frustrated sigh after watching the events that had unfolded before her play out. Another failure, though when she first found this potential candidate she kinda suspected they would be a failure from the get go. They were just so freaking short! She can¡¯t have a short hero for her story! That would be embarrassing.

    Even more embarrassing than someone who was too tall. You could at least sorta work around that by being all like ¡°Oh! They have giant blood¡± Or something. What sort of excuse was she supposed to give for someone who was so short? They have gnome blood? Lame!

    Plus even if she could get past the shortness (Which she couldn¡¯t) She wasn¡¯t sure if having someone pretending to be a super cool assassin when they clearly weren¡¯t was a good fit.

    She turned her attention to some of her other orbs, all scouring the land and cities for potential candidates. Some currently follow a few people but she didn¡¯t have much hope for those ones either. What does a gal gotta do to find herself a hero?

    She shifted focus to a different orb that was floating separately from the rest. It was currently following that girl she met a little over a year ago when she went to smash that mirror into the hack writer''s face.

    It was a weird interaction to say the least and one she really didn¡¯t know how to make sense of. But she was quite pleased that the lady had killed that bastard in her name.

    I mean they were obviously horrible people. The only reason why she didn¡¯t kill them herself was she felt like it wouldn''t be worth the potential trouble. It was not because she was too lazy to bother. Nope!

    But after the nice girl killed the fraud and also the two guys who were guarding him and offered their deaths to her. How could she not be touched by such a thoughtful gift. So she decided to give one in return.

    Since she had seemed kinda focused on death and had asked her to spare her life she thought the best gift to give her was some old necromancy books she had brought with her on the off chance necromancy was acceptable here.

    Heck she even gave away those undead guards she made to help protect her since she could probably see a bit of blow back for killing the fraud and what was the point of giving gifts to someone if they were just going to get killed shortly after anyways.

    Plus she was kind of looking for an excuse to get rid of the guards. They were just taking up space in one of her time prisons and she forgot to modify their appearance to look more human when she made them and was too lazy to upgrade them. So it was only a matter of time someone discovered they weren¡¯t human if she let them out.

    After that she bid her an adieu but not before setting one of her scrying orbs to monitor the girl just to make sure she was safe and doing alright.

    She took to her books quite well too. Studying them to an almost fanatical degree, it was nice to see someone enjoy books almost as much as she did. She even got to watch as she raised her very first zombie which actually happened yesterday and she felt so proud. It was like watching a baby bird take flight for the first time

    She had now officially given the girl the nickname ¡°Necromancer Girl¡± and quite honestly hoped she would go and live a good life.

    With a small sigh she started to stow away all her orbs. It wasn¡¯t like she wanted to stop looking, especially since this whole ¡°Finding a hero¡± thing was taking longer than she thought it would. But unfortunately she had her role to fill in this story, she was the powerful and influential figure of this kingdom and thus she needed to keep up appearances which meant attending a boring meeting.

    She heard a knock on the door which she was expecting ¡°Come in¡±

    The Maid stepped in and gave a quick bow towards her ¡°Greetings M¡¯lady. It would seem M-marrow is here to see you¡±

    Just the Annoying Brat? But not The Annoying Court Mage. That was odd. They usually visited together at the very least, even if The Annoying Court Mage would leave from time to time. She was 90% certain she was being used as a free babysitter. Also she had that court meeting she was supposed to go to so she couldn¡¯t entertain him anyways.

    Before her thinking could go further the Annoying Brat ran into the room past the Maid before she had a chance to tell The Maid to not let him in. Why does she keep letting her thoughts distract her! Why!

    ¡°Marrow, what are you doing here? I have an important meeting to go to so I am afraid there are no lessons I can give you at the moment.¡± She began to walk towards the door.

    ¡°Wait! Please, this isn¡¯t even about magic! I just have a couple of questions that I promise will be quick!¡±

    ¡°Somehow I doubt that.¡± She let out an exasperated sigh (wind magic~)

    ¡°Fine. But I will not be staying here. Ask your quick questions and let us be done with this¡± She picked up her bag getting ready to leave.

    ¡°Well, you are a woman right?¡±

    Eh close enough but not like she could admit to that. ¡°Indeed¡±

    ¡°What would be the best way to ask another woman out?¡±

    ¡­.. Oh??????? Was she hearing a potential romance subplot?????? ¡°And whom might this woman be?¡±

    She had to keep her voice as calm as possible lest she ruined her mystical persona but she was practically brimming with excitement.

    Marrow shifts a little clearly embarrassed as he softly mumbles ¡°It¡¯s Yin, I¡¯ve¡­ Kinda had a crush on her for a while. But I don¡¯t really know anything about courting women, I¡¯ve mostly ever been around the other court mages and they are always too busy to offer me advice that isn¡¯t anything magic related and Grandpa will probably tell me not to bother with such a pointless endeavor until I get older. But I really like her and I want to know how to court her and you are really the only friend I know that isn¡¯t Yin. So I thought maybe you¡¯d be able to help.¡±

    Annoying Brat, say no more ¡°Well good news. I happen to be an expert on romance and romantic acts of affection and courtly love! I can very easily guide you till she is practically swooning and is ready to be swept off her feet!¡±

    Annoying Brat looked at her with hope ¡°Really?? No offense but you don¡¯t exactly strike me as someone who has had a lot of experience. I was only asking because you are the only other friend I have.¡±

    She absolutely took offense to that! How could he be so rude! She has read countless stories that involved romance both as a main plot and as a subplot. Hell some stories just seemed to throw some romance in cause it was expected and she absolutely was expecting it too so good call.

    Needless to say she had a ton of knowledge of all sorts of romance and it was time to put that useful information to use

    ¡°Well I can guarantee that I have extensive knowledge. Come, let us sit down, we have much to discuss.¡± She then turned to The Maid

    ¡°Would you be a dear and prepare some hot chocolate for young Marrow here.¡±

    The Maid bowed quickly ¡°Yes! r-right away mam¡±

    She quickly scampered off to where she kept her food table for when guests arrived and began preparing everything that was needed. Man was she ever thankful to in giving The Maid those books on cooking. She also noticed that The Maid wasn¡¯t stuttering or shaking as much as she used to. Nice improvements there.

    ¡°Um¡­ Didn¡¯t you say you had to attend the important courtly meeting, I know Grandpa was going as well and he did tell me to make sure you go as well.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re far more important things to deal with. Now, details!¡±

    ¡°Details?¡±

    ¡°Yes! This is the girl that¡¯s a couple years older than you right? The one with the pet hawk and wants to be a ranger right? I need details!

    ¡°I¡­ um¡­ I''m not sure I''m comfortable with this. I just want some advise¡±

    ¡°Ugh, fine¡± Good thing she has a scrying orb capture and monitor Annoying Brat. She can¡¯t wait to see everything that has led up to this moment and of course everything that would soon follow.

    ¡°Alright. What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°Um.. Just. What would you think would be a good way to start courting her?¡±

    ¡°Ah! Now that is a perfect question. They¡¯re plenty of ways to court and romance people. Obviously since you are both human we shall use that as the basis for our planning!¡±

    Annoying Brat tilts his head confused ¡°Obviously? Would you offer different advice if we weren¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Of course! If you were a celestial, demon or a fey it would demand entirely different tactics. I mean I guess we could go with the kidnapping tactic but I don¡¯t think you are rich enough for that to work.¡±

    ¡°Whoa! Hold on! Kidnapping?? I just want to court her! Also why would a demon or celestial ever try to court a human or vice versa? And since when do fey care about romance??¡±

    Man, the human propaganda machine is pretty heavy in this Material World. I mean she was fine with it. Made her story with clearly defined good guys and bad guys easier but yeesh. Not all demons were bad, not all celestials were good, and not all fey were confusing dicks. But she wasn¡¯t about to try to explain to him the deep political structures that governed those realms. That was totally off topic.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, just forget what I said¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Moving on. I think I know of a good tactic we can use. We gotta go for the wow factor! Something grand and memorable! Make it so that she will never forget the day and night something where you will always be on her mind!¡±

    Marrow paused. ¡°That does sorta make sense. But what would I do to impress her?¡±

    ¡°She has a hawk right? So does she like animals?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she actually likes nature in general. She is planning on trying to become a ranger within a year.¡±

    ¡°Great! Give her an animal! A whole zoo of animals!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that is possible.¡±

    ¡°Right, not rich enough.¡± Should she whip up some chimeras for him? Nah, she didn¡¯t want to interfere too much.

    ¡°Okay, so surprise her with some sort of nature stuff and some animals. Work some magic to give off a big spectacle. We are talking about flower petals falling from the sky, singing animals, and when the mood is just right you profess your undying love with sweet poetry and the like.¡±

    The maid came back and placed a glass of hot chocolate in front of the Annoying Brat. ¡°What do you think?¡± She looked at The Maid who had just come back with a glass of hot chocolate and placed it in front of Annoying Brat.

    ¡°I uh¡­ Don¡¯t think I am qualified to make such decisions.¡± She managed to squeak out a response

    ¡°What?? A good looking girl like you probably has a ton of suitors lining up to be with you?¡±

    The Maid, seemingly getting more flustered, quickly bowed and rushed away. That girl needed to work on her confidence.

    ¡°I am getting what you are saying¡± The Annoying Brat started to say as he seemed deep in thought.

    ¡°Great! Now, lets start to formulate a game plan. Something that will be completely foolproof!¡±

    The Annoying Brat quickly nodded ¡°right! Thanks again for the help!¡±

    ¡°Of course! What kind of teacher would I be if I let my annoying pupil flounder about when it comes to love!¡±

    They began formulating the game plan. For some reason The Maid kept face palming in the background. Maybe she was screwing up the cookies.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Cathryn was doing her best not to keep her nerves from showing throughout the whole meeting as she went through various issues of the kingdom with the nobles and/or their representatives.

    Several things the nobles reported during the meeting were false or misleading based on the reports from her shadows which was to be expected and she would deal with their lies with the appropriate punishment.

    She was extremely thankful for the enchanted pens they had distributed to the Shadows with Riez efforts to learn different kinds of magic from Captain Gates. Said pens allowed a pair to mimic each other''s movements even if it was all the way across the kingdom.

    It made intelligence gathering much easier and she would learn about something the same day it happened. Her only real regret was that Ignes had left before she could have given him one of those pens, she could have really used him here right now.

    ¡°My lord wishes to know if you have made any headway in finding his fathers killer?¡± The representative of Oroum Hillside spoke, dragging Cathryn out of her thoughts.

    ¡°As you know, we are doing our absolute best to find the murderer, I am already preparing to send one of my best shadows to Nirran to work with Duke Hillside personally so that we may bring to justice¡±

    That seemed to placate the representative for now as he backed off the questioning. The reputation of her shadows helped greatly in that endeavor.

    Ever since Pirran Hillside was killed and his son took over there had been a massive power vacuum in the underworld which led to multiple gang wars all over their kingdom.

    In a strange twist of fate, she found herself working alongside Pirran Hillsides heir Oroum to help bring things under control.

    Oroum Hillside was a fool, a cruel fool yes but a fool all the same and one she could much more easily reign in and control then his overly ambitious father. Especially now that she would be sending a shadow to help oversee his operations.

    Of course she also had her shadows trying to find out the suspected killer of Pirran Hillside. Or rather who the general public thought was the killer. Some street rat servant was found fleeing the mansion after killing the head maid with several armed guards.

    She had no doubt the street rat had something to do with his death but she was almost positive the real person behind his death was Captain Gates.

    The real reason why she was having her shadows look for this girl was a couple reasons. One to find out what really happened during that day or at least get a better idea. And two, to serve her head on a silver platter to Oroums to make him even more indebted to her.

    Unfortunately while they were slowly wrestling back control of the underworld''s operations. They have had no such luck in trying to find the street rat. It was getting more and more frustrating, especially since Oroum was starting to take more extreme measures to try and find his fathers killer.

    These thoughts all came back to her due to the fact that Captain Gates was missing from this meeting and she just knew that her missing meant something horrible was going to happen and she didn¡¯t know what or where she might be.

    She was going to chew out Riez for this as he was suppose to meet and then escort her to the meeting but instead he sent Marrow who wanted to briefly talk to her before the meeting

    She just knew that whatever reason she was absent would undoubtedly be a determinant to the kingdom and would just add on to her stress. The moment this meeting ended she would send out every possible shadow she had to try and figure out where she had gone, why she was absent and what possible damage she would need to play damage control for.

    * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Jacob sat with his back against a tree trunk as he tried desperately to hold back any potential tears that kept threatening to well up in his eyes. He was stronger than this. He did not need to cry and he would not cry.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    It just wasn¡¯t fair though! How the hell did Clair get enough money that she could move away! She was barely making anything from the clothes she patched up!

    She had told him a week ago that she would have enough by the end of the month and was getting ready to move to the capital to stay with their aunt. It had been such a shock to Jacob initially that he didn¡¯t believe it at first.

    But seeing how happy she was and how much faster she was working it became all too apparent what was the truth. It eventually got to the point where he couldn¡¯t even stand being in the same room as her.

    It wasn¡¯t fair that she got to leave and he was forced to stay! Sure she SAID that he could visit her and when he turned an adult he could move in with her. But those were obviously lies to make him feel better. She was probably gloating to herself over the fact that she would be away from him.

    ¡°Am I interrupting?¡± A voice from behind made him jump and he quickly got up and whirled around to see Erin standing with his shoulder against the tree Jacob was sitting with his back too.

    ¡°Woah! Sorry there. Didn¡¯t mean to scare you.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t scare me¡± Jacob grumbled ¡°Just startled me is all. What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I was coming back from a scouting mission when a friend I have that works at the east gate saw you running off looking upset. He knew you and I are acquainted so he told me about it and I came out here looking for you. You are getting fairly hard to track. I almost want to give myself a pat on the back for training you so well in sneaking and stealth¡±

    Erin gave a light hearted chuckle while Jacob resisted rolling his eyes. Great. So the only person who cares about him is a forsaken. What does that say about him?

    It was true that Erin had still helped him train even after his dad found out. They had just been more discreet about it since. It was something Jacob was reluctantly thankful for.

    ¡°So what¡¯s been eating you?¡± Erin asked

    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business. Why don¡¯t you bother someone else. I don¡¯t need your help here.¡±

    Erin scratched his head and let out a sigh ¡°Fine, if you don¡¯t wish to talk I won¡¯t force you to. But at the very least you need to come back with me. The forest around Haven can be dangerous at night. Especially for someone who doesn¡¯t know much about wilderness survival. Come on now.¡±

    Erin turned around and started to head off and Jacob, knowing there was no room for refusal in his declaration, reluctantly followed.

    They walked in silence for a bit as they made it back to the main dirt road and began to head towards the city. The sun was starting to set and it painted a rather nice picture of Haven standing before the sea of mountains to its west.

    ¡°Have you been far out there?¡± Jacob asked, hating the silence that was lingering in the air between them.

    ¡°Not too far admittedly, but I would like to explore more. It¡¯s pretty dangerous terrain, though I have heard some rumors circling around that the captain of the rangers wants to find a place where we can set up a permanent settlement. It would still need the queen''s approval though and she seems more focused on other things.¡±

    ¡°LIke what?¡±

    ¡°Oh all sorts of stuff, most are just rumors I¡¯ve heard from other people. But the underworld has been seriously destabilized, the economy is in extreme flux with prices both soaring and crashing at seemingly random, and who knows what else. It is pretty bad if just one of these things happens but when stuff like this happens at the same time. You don¡¯t really have much time for anything else. I¡¯ve heard the Queen has aged almost 10 years since these problems started.¡± They passed through the gate with Erin giving a brief nod to one of the guards who gave him a nod back.

    ¡°Listen Jacob. I don¡¯t know what has upset you but I also know you are a smart kid. I am sure you¡¯ll be able to find a solution to whatever it is that is bothering you.¡±

    Jacob paused as he took in Erins words. He did bring up a valid point. He could put a stop to this. Change things to be better. And he was pretty sure he knew how too.

    A small spread across his lips and he looked at Erin. ¡°Thanks for the advice. I will try to keep it in mind.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I hope whatever it is works itself out.¡± He paused for a second and continued

    ¡°Will you be okay going home? I know home life isn¡¯t the best right now but..¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Don¡¯t worry about it¡± Jacob responded and gave Erin a quick wave as headed back. It was almost dark now so he picked up the pace till he got home and entered. Relieved that made it back before his dad, which only became better when he saw his mom was actually sober for once and working on some painting in the living room.

    ¡°Welcome home dear.¡± His mom said when she saw him back ¡°Are you okay? Have you already eaten?¡±

    His mom wasn¡¯t a bad person when she was sober. It¡¯s just her sobriety was few and far between.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m good, I¡¯m feeling rather tired though so I will be going upstairs to go to sleep¡±

    ¡°Okay dear. Hope you sleep well.¡±

    ¡°You too¡± He then left the living room and headed upstairs and into his room. Clair had stopped locking the door after Jacob showed her he could easily break the dumb thing open.

    Clair looked up from her work ¡°Oh. Welcome back Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m tired so I will be going to bed.¡±

    Clair nodded ¡°Sleep well. And Jacob.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± He looked over to her

    ¡°Just wait. I know it will be rough for a couple of years but when you are an adult I will send you some money to get you out of here as well. Just promise me to stick with it for that long.¡±

    He almost wanted to sneer at her for what was an obvious lie but he kept his tone polite and hopeful ¡°Of course Clair. Thank you for everything¡±

    She nodded and seemed to smile a bit before focusing back on her clothes as Jacob quickly changed and got into his bed with his back to the room. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

    Jacob lay there for a couple of hours. He heard his dad come home and some yelling ensuing downstairs but it would have been more shocking if there wasn¡¯t yelling.

    Eventually his sister blew out the lamp light in their room and he heard her climb into bed. After waiting another 30 minutes and listening to the slow breathing of Clair he slowly and carefully got out of bed.

    Moving quietly he crossed the room to where the Clairs work table was and stealthily opened the drawer he knew she kept her money in and took out the bag that had all her coppers and pennies.

    She was not going to just leave him here to suffer on his own while she got to have the good life.

    To make sure he covered his tracks he opened all the other draws too and gently moved some stuff around as if someone had rifled through it. Then he left through the door and left it ajar as began to make his way through the other rooms.

    It would look suspicious if only one room was robbed so he grabbed stuff he knew was valuable. Taking extra care when he entered his parents room and lifted some jewelry before sneaking back out with them none the wiser asleep in their bed.

    He made his way downstairs, making sure to avoid the creakier areas and took some paintings out of their frames that he heard his dad bragging once over how much they cost and then headed for the door.

    The whole process took him no more than thirty minutes so he still had plenty of time but he also felt like the longer he kept this up the higher the risk of him getting caught was.

    He took the stuff outside, keeping the shadows as best he could and snuck through the city till he got to where he thought was far enough away and snuck into the sewers.

    There he kept as far as he could from the wet parts and stashed it all away in a corner that hopefully would go unnoticed on the off chance somebody did come here. He didn¡¯t just get rid of it since he might be able to use this money later for himself if need be.

    He then left and went back the way he came. Thankfully the whole operation went by without a hitch and he made sure to leave the front door open and unlocked as further proof they had been robbed before sneaking back into his room and climbing into bed.

    Now Clair won¡¯t get to abandon them like she had always wanted. Or at the very least he would have delayed it for a few years. Sure she would be upset but it would all be for the best. He closed his eyes and slept like a baby that night.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Sharrel rubbed her eyes after taking off the glasses as she looked up from one of the books that had been gifted to her by the goddess. There was so much information filled within just a single one of these books and there were several so it could almost be a little overwhelming.

    She had been studying and trying to learn as much as she could from these tomes of knowledge and had only recently gotten her first successful breakthrough when she created her very first zombie a few days ago that she was currently keeping locked away for now.

    She knew that there were other types of undead, more complicated forms and beings that defied all logic but she was nowhere near good enough to create or summon such beings.

    The guardians that had been gifted to her by the goddess was one such example but she didn¡¯t know what kind of undead they were and neither did they. But they were much stronger and definitely smarter than the zombie she had created.

    These books were the key to her, Aion, and the guardians getting out of the somewhat messy situation they were currently in. Oroum had been trying to find them and she knew she needed more power before being able to confront him.

    She heard a knock on the door  ¡°Mam, it is Clover, may I come in?¡±

    ¡°Please do.¡± She got up from her chair and turned to look at Clover as he came inside. Clover being one of the guardians she had been gifted by the goddess. Because they were basically entirely new beings when her goddess had given them to her they didn¡¯t have names and as such she let Aion name all of them.

    ¡°What can I do for you Clover?¡± She gave a polite smile as he gave her a bow

    ¡°I have procured that man you asked me to get.¡±

    She took in a sharp breath and composed herself. She was no longer beholden to that man. Now it was her time to be the one in power.

    ¡°Thank you Clover. If you could lead me to him?¡±

    ¡°Of course Mam, if you would please follow me?¡±

    Sharrel got up from where she was sitting and was instantly overcome with dizziness. She started to fall forward but thankfully Clover was quick enough to catch her before she toppled over.

    ¡°Mam'''' His tone took on a bit more of a serious tone. ¡°While your tolerance to the miasma is impressive enough as it is, and only seems to grow with every passing day. If you don¡¯t take the time to properly rest and eat it will only make the effects worse and start to cause you to have failing health.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± She said, shaking the dizziness away ¡°I was just caught up in the book I was reading, that is all.¡±

    One of the interesting things about undead was that they produced a sort of toxic magic called Miasma. Or at least it was toxic to things that were alive. For undead it was almost like fresh clean air when they were within it.

    She actually felt a little bad for her guardians as they were undoubtedly uncomfortable within their current environment but they never once complained. If anything they always seemed to express worry for her and especially for Aion as his weaker constitution made more vulnerable.

    She began to follow Clover out of her little pocket room and into the warehouse they had been hiding in for the past couple months.

    They had changed locations multiple times as the hunt for them hadn¡¯t really eased up much. Thankfully the guardians were excellent at keeping watch and spotting potential spies or people who might report their location and it allowed them to move before there could be any real response.

    They made their way through the warehouse moving through a small maze of crates. Apparently this warehouse hadn¡¯t had use in over a year, she suspected it had something to do with Pirran but since he was no longer around it had just been sitting at the docks unused.

    Eventually they got to the clearing where a man was bound with a bag covering his head. Daisy and Aster stood over him with Daisy having a foot placed on his back. Upon seeing her he took his foot off and gave a bow along with Aster.

    ¡°Mam, we are glad to see you are doing well. We have brought the man just like you asked.¡± The man bound started thrashing about after Daisy spoke with muffled unintelligible noises.

    ¡°We also thought it prudent to tie and gag him as his shrill voice and constant thrashing was proving to be annoying.¡± Daisy added, looking rather smug.

    Sharrel nodded. Ever since she had mentioned what he did to her and Aion they had been very enthusiastic about hunting down the man before her.

    She knelt down and yanked the bag off of his face to reveal Whines. His eyes blinked as it got used to the light before landing on her. Recognition flashing across his face and he started to thrash harder. His muffled words were still unintelligible but she had a feeling it had a lot more curse words in it this time.

    She was pretty tempted to just kill him now and not offer him any last words but there was something she needed to know. She removed the gag from his mouth and he spat on her hand which made Daisy and Aster reach for their weapons but she raised her hand to stay theirs.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± She glared at Whines

    ¡°Hello, it''s been a long time since we had a proper talk. After your last visit when you struck Aion, you sent your goons to collect the payment every month. Couldn¡¯t even do it yourself could you. What? Was watching two kids slowly waste away too much for your conscience?¡±

    Whines spat on the ground ¡°More like you weren¡¯t worth my time. Now listen here girly¡± He let out a sudden pained gasp when Daisy kicked him hard in the ribs.

    ¡°You will address the madam with proper respect or the next blow will be far more painful¡± Daisy snarled out with scorn

    Aster put a hand on Daisy''s shoulder to calm him down. A small shake of his head and Daisy took a step back but still glared down at Whines as he let out a painful cough.

    ¡°Listen Sharrel'''' He spoke through gritted teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you think you are or where you got these men to do whatever dirty work you want. But you are basically screwed. It¡¯s not just the underworld that is after you, it''s the shadows too. Oroum is sparing no expense in making sure you are brought to him and he has the queen on his side. Granted you are worth more alive but you will still set someone up for life if they brought you in dead.¡±

    Sharrel shook her head. She already knew this. It was part of why they had been moving constantly within the city and hadn¡¯t been able to really leave as it would probably draw too much attention. The fact this city was such a maze with so many buildings and an overpopulation was actually working in their favor

    ¡°But I can help you¡± Whines continued, which made her frown at him

    ¡°I know the ins and outs of this city and of the operations with more than enough money to bribe the right people. I can easily get you out of this city without any trouble and without anyone noticing. Of course that is for the right price¡±

    ¡°Why on earth would I ever want or ask for your help?¡± She stared down at Whines utterly baffled.

    Whines did not seem to expect that question. ¡°That was why you kidnapped me and brought me here right?¡±

    ¡°No, you are mistaken. I brought you here cause I want to know where my parents are.¡±

    Whines paused as he looked at her before beginning to laugh. ¡°Even out of all this time. You still miss your mommy and daddy?¡±

    His laughter was quickly cut short by Sharrerl kicking him hard in the face knocking him to the ground. A tooth clattering across the concrete floor as he landed.

    ¡°I do not need to explain myself to you! Now where are they!¡±

    Whines spat some blood on to the floor and glared at her ¡°And why the fuck would you think I would know where they were. If I knew, wouldn''t you think I would be going after them for the debt instead of their kids?¡±

    ¡°No, cause you knew there would be no way they would actually pay you back. Probably would just scamper off again after somehow saddling some other person with more of their debt. That¡¯s just who they are.

    ¡°You probably kept tabs on them for when we eventually did fail to make those monthly payments and got sold off. You would magically find them again and set an example for trying to skip out on you. Of course you had to pretend you didn¡¯t know where they were if you wanted to keep collecting money from their children.¡±

    Judging by Whines face she was right on the money and she spoke again with gritted teeth ¡°Now where are they?¡±

    Whines swallowed as he looked around them before settling back on her. ¡°Okay. But if I tell you. You have to let me go. Do you promise?¡±

    ¡°Promise. Now where are they.¡±

    ¡°They live on the west side in the west wall district. On Illeas street.¡±

    Sharrel slowly nodded. She finally had their location but the question was would she be able to confront them. She felt like she wasn¡¯t really ready to do that. Even if she wanted to.

    ¡°So, are you going to let me go?¡±

    She got up and gave a brief nod to Daisy and Aster as she stepped back, ever taking her eyes off of Whines.

    ¡°You¡¯re letting me go right?¡± He turned towards Daisy and Aster. Aster having removed his hand off of Daisy and allowed him to advance towards him.

    ¡°Wait! I can give you money! Whatever she is paying you I will double it! No! Triple it! I also have connections! The underworld could always use good muscle like you guys! Set for life!¡±

    Daisy let out a small sadistic cackle as he reached up and removed the mask he wore, revealing his dark grey skin with red eyes and sharp crooked fangs. ¡°Set for life? What a stupid joke. Something I¡¯m sure the goddess would appreciate though.¡±

    ¡°What¡­ Are you???¡± Whines eyes opened wide in fear as Daisy knelt down.

    ¡°You have caused untold suffering to the ones we are in charge of protecting. Personally I believe this fate is too good for you. Please give thanks to the mistress for her mercy and a prayer to the goddess that she doesn¡¯t torment your soul as punishment for how horrible you have treated her chosen.¡±

    Whines whipped his head around terrified as he looked at Sharrel ¡°Please! Anything you want! I will give you anything you want! I¡¯ll even forgive your debt! You want that rig-¡±

    His words were cut off as Daisy chomped down on his neck. Ripping through and tearing it apart as Sharrel watched. Finally he was dead. A man that had caused them so much suffering was dead. There wasn¡¯t really any satisfaction. Just relief.

    ¡°Mam¡± She heard a voice behind her and turned around to see Pansey standing behind her.

    ¡°Aion has requested you.¡± He looked behind her where Whines body was currently getting eaten ¡°Should I tell him you will be delayed?¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. Thank you. I¡¯ll go to him now.¡±

    She turned away from the graphic scene. She didn¡¯t need to see anything else. She had confirmed his death.

    She began to make her way through the warehouse until she eventually got to where Aion was staying, a room that was likely some kind of office. Pansy had stopped a ways back and she also saw Tulip standing next to him.

    It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t want to be closer, they just didn''t want to risk the Miasma they naturally generate to affect his already poor health. They had thankfully been able to get medicine by sending one of the guardians to the apothecary with some money they had either stolen or gotten from sold off material they took. So his health wasn¡¯t always in the critical condition as usual but better safe than sorry.

    She stepped into what was Aions room where he lay on his bed. He sat up towards her with a smile which quickly turned into a frown ¡°You haven¡¯t been sleeping again have you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing gets by you does it?¡±

    ¡°I know what lack of sleep looks like and how it feels Sharrel, even if you slapped on the best makeup in the world I would see it. You should be getting sleep.¡±

    ¡°I know I know. The guardians are getting on my case about it enough as it is. I don¡¯t need my little brother to do it either.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we wouldn¡¯t get on your case if you¡¯d actually listen to us¡±

    ¡°I feel like you¡¯ve gotten worse with your back talk.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve always had the same amount of back talk. Just never felt well enough to commit to it¡± Aion gave her a smirk and she couldn¡¯t help but snort.

    ¡°Speaking of. I think I found the perfect undead form for you assuming you are still willing to do this. It would be risky and I am nowhere near ready enough to try something like it but..¡± She trailed off

    Aion simply smiled ¡°I trust you Sharrel, no matter what. You don¡¯t need to worry. I have full faith in you.¡±

    Sharrel smiled at him and rubbed the top of his head ¡°Thanks, I need to remember that the goddess put her faith in me, and even gave me the tools to help make you better. Even if I don¡¯t have faith in myself I need to have faith in her who has faith in me¡±

    ¡°I hope I get to meet her one day. The way you and the guardians describe her just makes me feel¡­ Reverence. And I¡¯ve never even seen her.¡±

    ¡°She really invokes the feeling of reverence. None of the other gods even come close to her¡±

    ¡­.¡±Then why do you think she is not part of the pantheon? Or why there is no mention of her¡±

    ¡°I wish I knew. But I am afraid I don¡¯t.¡±

    They fell silent for a bit before Sharrel finally spoke up ¡°So why did you ask me to come here?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Um..¡± Aion bit his lip for a second ¡°I was wondering, I heard the screams from the outside by the warehouse. I was wondering if you guys found Whines.¡±

    ¡°We have.¡±

    ¡°Is he dead?¡± Aion seemed hesitant. He was tough, but despite that he still didn¡¯t particularly like the idea of people dying. Even if he knew it was needed.

    ¡°He is. He won¡¯t be able to threaten us again.¡±

    ¡°Did he tell you where our parents are¡±

    That bit of info she did not tell him, and had no intent of telling him which meant one of the guardians told her ¡°And how do you know this?¡±

    ¡°Azalea. Now answer the question¡±

    Of course it was Azalea, the blabbermouth. She let out a sigh ¡°Yes, Whines told me where our parents are. I want to make something clear though. They do not care about us. They have never cared about us.¡±

    ¡°I already know that Sharrel. I also don¡¯t even want them in my life either, it''s just¡­.¡± He trailed off ¡°I don¡¯t really know though.. What will you do now that you know where they live?¡±

    She was about to say she was going to kill them but something caught in her throat and she looked down ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±

    Unlike Aion who was probably too young to remember anything about them, she still had a few memories of their parents. The main issue she had was she couldn¡¯t really tell if they were simply memories warped by a damnable desire for love from them. She thought they were good memories but she also felt like she wanted them to be good. For her wanting to believe their parents still loved them in some way.

    A knock on the door interrupted her train of thought and she got up and walked over to it, opening the door to see Clover standing in front of the door and he gave a bow when he saw her.

    ¡°Mam. Lavender has found a new place for us to move too that is better than our current location. When would you like to move?¡±

    She looked over at Aion who gave a nod ¡°I am feeling well enough to make the trip. It would make more sense to do it now then later.¡±

    She turned to Clover ¡°We move as soon as possible again. When we are ready, inform Aster he will be carrying Aion again.

    ¡°Right away mam.¡±

    She knew they couldn¡¯t keep moving and jumping around like this forever but it was her best option for the time being.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 3: Yet Another potential hero

    Yet another 1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days later

    He looked in the mirror and smirked. Finally, his hair looked perfect. Almost as perfect as him. And he needed everything to be perfect today for the honor of his cousin twice removed was resting squarely on his shoulders.

    Most normal people would likely crack under the pressure but not him, never him. For not only did he stand strong on top of the pillar of perfection but he had the support of his family and friends also.

    He grabbed the small brown pouch that might as well contain his soul and headed towards the door that will lead to his destiny ¡°Mom! I am heading out for a few hours!¡±

    ¡°Okay dear, be sure to be back by dinner.¡± his mom called back as he left through the door.

    He began to make his way through the street towards his destination. People stepped away and gave him looks as he walked forward with confidence. It was only natural that people would take notice of his perfection.

    Soon he turned down the alley at the end of his street and cut his way through till he stepped out into the park where the rest of his kind would be meeting. To make sure he wasn¡¯t late, he quickly picked up the pace till he eventually got to the group of people all bunched around in the circle.

    People naturally stepped aside when they realized he had arrived, whispers of awe as he moved to the center where he saw his arch nemesis standing in the center with a huge smirk on his face.

    ¡°So you finally came, and here I thought you would have realized how trife and pointless it would be to go against me and save yourself the embarrassment by just not coming¡±

    ¡°Hmph. I would never back down from a challenge. Especially not from someone who would disrespect my friends so shamelessly.¡±

    His arch nemesis scoffed ¡°Please, words are cheap here. I think it is time we settle this¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t agree more!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s play!¡± They both declared as they stood across from each other from the circle. The bunch of marbles in the center were already set and the referee stood to the side who would be monitoring their match and make calls if there were any problems.

    ¡°Since I am that of a higher, nobler breed I shall take the honors of going first¡± His arch Nemesis declares and takes out his signature Taw marble and aims it towards the marbles. Firing it and scattering the marbles around the circle. Knocking one out of the circle already with his Taw staying inside.

    ¡°Ha! Looks like I get to go again! But what can you expect from a pro like me.¡±

    ¡°Tck, stop your bragging and make your next shot. I don¡¯t want to be standing here all day¡± He countered and his arch nemesis scoffed again in return. Taking up his Taw and firing it at the next marble that was already close to the border. Knocking out of the ring. But thankfully his Taw rolled out of the ring as well allowing him to make his own turn.

    Stepping up to the circle he knew he could not let down his cousin twice removed, his friends or his adoring fans. Taking out his own Taw marble and taking aim towards the marbles, firing it towards what was an easy shot.

    He gasped in surprise when what should have been an easy point that would have kept his Taw inside the circle somehow skitted a little off to the side and passed the marble he was aiming for. Not only that it went past the circle too, making him lose his turn.

    ¡°My my!¡± His arch nemesis smirked smugly. ¡°It seems like you might be off your game. Or perhaps you aren¡¯t as talented as you claimed. I suppose if you spend all your time beating losers in the lower classes, you might develop an ego.¡±

    ¡°Argh!¡± He glared at the man who dared mock him. What happened! He knows his shot was perfect. It was one he could do in his sleep even! How could he have failed such an easy and simple shot!

    ¡°I guess it is my turn then¡± His arch nemesis declared and decided to take the shot of the marble he had missed.

    With practical ease he fired his Taw and knocked the marble out of the circle with his Taw staying in. He then managed to knock another marble out of bounds with his Taw finally going out of bounds. Putting his count now to 4.

    He would be lying if he said he didn¡¯t feel nervous over the sudden lead that was placed. All his Arch nemesis would need would be 2 more marbles and he would win. It was time to take this seriously.

    ¡°It is my turn now!¡± He aimed his Taw towards one of the marbles. He still remembered that he missed his first shot, something he knew wasn¡¯t his fault. Taking care he aimed for an easy shot and fired his marble.

    It was going perfectly fine, and that was when he saw it. His Taw started to tilt and turn and this time he saw why. Reaching into his bag he took out a spare marble and flicked it towards his arch nemesis smacking it into his knee.

    ¡°Ow!¡± he yelped and the earth within the circle shifted as a slight mound bumped up knocking his marble further off course and out of the circle.

    ¡°I knew it! Earth magic! You¡¯ve been cheating!¡± The crowd gasped as they saw everything play out and the referee frowned

    He then turned towards the crowd ¡°It is no secret that his father is a well known mage that specializes in earth magic. It is not far-fetched that his son might know some earth magic also.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    He pointed down to the circle ¡°And if that is not enough to convince you, look! When I hit him in the knee causing him to lose concentration and accidentally make the earth move more than he meant too. Furthermore! If you look closely you can see the slightly disturbed earth of when he changed the trajectory of my marble the first time!¡±

    Loud gasps could be heard all around as the referee moved in and looked closely at the battle ground before leaning back up ¡°He is right! The ring was tampered with by earth magic!¡±

    ¡°Argh!¡± His arch nemesis was sweating bullets as the referee turned to face him.

    ¡°You know the rules for cheating. That means you are disqua-¡±

    ¡°No!¡± More gasps erupted as he stepped forward

    ¡°Now that we know he was cheating he won¡¯t do it again and if he does then he will be disqualified but otherwise I still wish to continue to this game¡±

    ¡°Wh-What??¡± His arch nemesis glared at him angrily ¡°Are you underestimating me???¡±

    He simply smirked at him ¡°I am not underestimating you. You just simply aren¡¯t a threat. Having to resort to petty tricks to try and win.¡±

    He gave a shrug as his smile grew wider ¡°I will still win this¡±

    ¡°You!! Fine! We will see who is laughing last! Since your marble rolled out of the circle it is now my turn!¡± He then took out his Taw and aimed towards one of the marbles in the circle and fired it. He could already tell that the shot wasn¡¯t as good without the help of the earth magic. However it was good enough to hit the marble he was aiming for and knock it out of the circle. Thankfully though his Taw marble also went out as well.

    He heard his arch nemesis growl at seeing this.

    ¡°Well then. it would appear to be my turn now.¡± He took his Taw Marble and launched it to the first marble. Easily knocking it out of bounds and keeping his Taw inside the circle.

    He then fired his next two shots with a similar outcome but sadly for his fourth shot, while he knocked out the marble his Taw also rolled out. He realized that none of the shots were good and now the final two marbles were right on the edge almost guaranteeing that any shot for them was bound to also go out of bounds. But what was worse¡­

    ¡°hehehehehehehe¡­.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA¡± His Arch nemesis began to howl with laughter as he jabbed his finger towards him

    ¡°You fool! You should have taken the win when you had the chance. Now I win! All I need to do is knock a single marble out and it is over! And I think I have the perfect way to do it.¡±

    A sick grin spread across his face and took out a different Taw from his bag.

    ¡°N-No! That¡¯s!¡±

    ¡°Yes! This is the Taw marble I took from your cousin twice removed when I crushed them in marbles! You should have seen it! How they begged and cried for me not to take their special marble. It was pathetic, perfect for a pathetic player like them!¡±

    ¡°Argh! How dare you mock them! That marble was special to them, given to them by their father before they passed!¡±

    ¡°Hehehehe. That makes them all the more pathetic. But don¡¯t you worry, you will soon know what defeat tastes like when I beat you with your Cousin twice removed marble! It is time for your perfect streak to end here!!¡±

    And with that declaration he fired his Cousin twice removed Taw marble towards one of the marbles that were on the edge. He watched as it got closer and closer but then he realized. The aim was off. It was just barely by a hair but he saw the Taw miss the marble and roll outside of the circle.

    ¡°What???? How???? You somehow cheated didn¡¯t you!!¡± His arch nemesis declared and that elicited a grunt of annoyance from him.

    ¡°You fool! You thought to defeat me with my cousin twice removed Taw marble but you failed to take into account! My cousin''s twice removed soul is in that marble! They would never betray family and therefore would never betray me! Your own sadistic nature was your undoing!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr! You bastard. I think you are failing to realize one thing! The two marbles on the ground are on opposite ends of the circle and both are too close to the edge for your Taw to stay in the circle! So go ahead! Fire your last shot and then when you knock one of the marbles out I will fire mine and secure the victory and finally crush the Champion of games!¡±

    A slow confident smile began to spread across his lips. ¡°If what you say is true, then why do you seem so nervous while I have all the confidence in the world that I will win.¡±

    He then put the taw he had been playing with away and brought out a different one. One that was pure black. So black in fact that light seemed to almost be absorbed into it and tons of gasps and murmurs could be heard all around him.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be! The legendary marble of the greatest marble player to ever exist. I thought it was lost to time itself¡± One of the members in the crowd murmured

    His arch nemesis snarled ¡°So what if you got some legendary marble. There is still no way you can make an impossible shot!¡±

    ¡°Hehe. That is where you are wrong! I have already won!!¡± With that he launched the Taw high up in the air eliciting gasps from everyone and watched as it fell right on one of the marbles, knocking it right out of the circle.

    ¡°Ha! Even that move won¡¯t work as it will bounce out of the circle!¡± His arch nemesis exclaimed!

    ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± He retaliated.

    ¡°What??¡± He then took a closer look at the Tow still being in the circle and soon everyone realized it as well.

    ¡°I-Impossible! You made it do a reverse spin! Wait! That means!¡±

    ¡°Exactly! A reverse spin so it can hit the marble that is directly across from where it now stands!!¡±

    ¡°N-no! No No No No No!¡± His eyes watched in horror as his Taw spun and shot across the circle, slamming into the final marble knocking it out of the circle.

    ¡°And that makes my score 6, the winning number for this game which makes me the winner and you!¡± He took a step forward and pointed an accusatory finger towards him ¡°The loser!¡±

    ¡°NOOOOOOOOO!¡± His arch nemesis clutched his head as he fell to the ground on his knees. Broken and defeated. The crowd erupted in applause at his win once again.

    Feeling smug after that match he picked up his Cousins twice removed Taw along with the rest of his marbles and began to make his way out of the crowd as he heard the crowd speak.

    ¡°He really is the Champion of all games! No matter what he plays, no matter what opponent he goes against! He will always win!¡±

    He held his head up even higher. Indeed, he was the Champion of all games! For he had the perfect win streak without a single blemish. And he will continue to do so for his whole life. No one can defeat him!

    ¡°Hold on a second there Champion¡± He turned and saw a man in a nice outfit who had been watching there game from afar

    ¡°I happen to have been watching the various games you have played and have taken an interest. Tell me, what do you know about the secret society of Gamers.¡±

    His eyes widened and the mysterious man chuckled ¡°Ah, so you are aware of it. Good, good. Then you should know only the best of the best are allowed to be a part of it. And one can only enter through invitation by an already existing member. You have sparked my interest. So consider this a potential invitation. Meet me back here tonight and we will decide if you are truly worthy of joining.¡±

    Without leaving him any room to ask a question he turned around and walked away leaving him feeling extremely excited over the potential prospect of actually joining such a seclusive society of elites.

    He made his way back home in high spirits and entered his home ¡°Mom, I¡¯m back!¡±

    ¡°Welcome back dear. Did you have fun with your friends?¡± she called from the kitchen

    ¡°I successfully defended our family''s honor!¡± He announced proudly

    ¡°That''s nice dear. Now go wash up, we are having some chicken soup for dinner¡±

    ¡°Okay¡± He quickly rushed up the stairs to wash up. Stopping briefly to check his reflection and make sure his hair was still in perfect condition. And it was. Because everything about him was perfect!

 Book 1, Part 1, Chapter 7: Annoying sympathies/Best laid plans

    Ugh!!! Why was it so freaking hard to find a hero! Why was there always someone who just didn¡¯t quite meet the requirements! Stupid stupid stupid!!

    She glared at the crystal orb from the guy she had been observing. Granted, the marble match was extremely fun to watch. But there was a horrible glaring oversight that she could not look past with this guy.

    What the hell was wrong with his hair??? It was a multicolor mess that was twice the size of his head going in 6 different directions including inward! How does one even do that??? How is that even possible????

    Plus she probably would have had to teach the Big Bad Demon Lord how to play games. And what kind of silly story would have a monster of extreme power be thwarted by what essentially amounts to a children''s game.

    She leaned back with a groan. This was taking too long. It felt like with every passing moment she was getting more and more tempted to just make a human homunculus and prop them up as the hero. But that was just too artificial! She didn¡¯t want that!!

    She let out a rather undignified whine that was unbefitting of a woman of her station¡­ Well a woman of her station that she was pretending to be.

    ¡°Are you okay m¡¯lady?¡± She looked over to see The Maid standing over in the corner looking a little concerned.

    ¡°Yeah yeah. I¡¯m fine. Just annoyed over stuff, pressure trying to help save the world and all that.¡±

    The Maid gave her a thoughtful nod which was nice. The Maid had gotten a lot more comfortable around her at least. It might have something to do with her no longer asking ¡°Invasive questions¡± As The Maid put it but she still argued they were perfectly normal questions. If she was being totally honest with herself she was starting to enjoy The Maids presence. She knew how to make a damn good cup of tea.

    She turned her attention back to her scrying orbs and let out a frustrated sigh. She needed a break. Even if she was putting more work into trying to find her hero she just couldn¡¯t look every hour of every day. Not when there were books to be read!

    She went over and sat on a rather comfortable looking chair. She didn¡¯t really know how comfortable it was considering she didn¡¯t have nerves. But it looked comfortable and that was what truly mattered.

    ¡°M¡¯lady, would you like me to prepare some tea for you?¡± The Maid asked.

    ¡°You know, that would actually sound lovely. Thank you.¡± That would absolutely add some extra character to the scene. Dignified women sitting with a hot cup of tea, reading a book in a comfy looking chair as she overlooked the balcony to the town (City?). Ah! She was really enjoying these role playing moments even if she was the only one there to appreciate it. Thankfully The Maid was also here so that gave her an extra win!

    She couldn¡¯t believe the Queen had tried to take The Maid away from her earlier this year and replace her with someone they said was more suitable. It had taken a few well placed bribes to put a quick stop to that and her opinion of the Queen seriously took a nosedive afterwards.

    The Maid had actually been super emotional about it too. Was practically sobbing out of all of her eyes thanking her profusely for keeping her employed. Kinda made her feel good in a way she wasn¡¯t expecting or was particularly used to.

    She looked up from her book and out towards the town (City?). Things just felt peaceful at this moment. It was nice this was basically her day off from Annoying Court Mage and Annoying Brat. If she had to deal with either of them she would undoubtedly-

    Her door slammed open disrupting her thought process ¡°TEACHER!!¡±

    Why! Why did she jinx it! If she was a normal mortal she would think the gods of this world had it out for her! She sure as shit hoped that wasn¡¯t the case! The last thing she wanted was a repeat of the last Material World she was in with stupid ¡°Holier Than Thou JerkFace!¡±

    She slowly turned towards The Annoying Brat who had burst through the door about to tell him to go jump off the balcony but paused when she saw how upset he seemed to be. Great, whatever was about to happen was going to take her entire afternoon wasn¡¯t it.

    ¡°Teacher! I need your help! Please! I was out in the woods with Yin and her hawk blood wing but then some poachers shot down her hawk! Please! I don¡¯t know who else to turn to here! I need your help!¡±

    He somehow managed to say that all within a couple of seconds. Didn¡¯t even realize humans were capable of talking that fast.

    ¡°Slow down Marrow. What are you even talking about?¡± She responded, pushing her annoyance of getting interrupted on her free day down since there was clearly something bothering him.

    ¡°Yins Hawk! They were shot by an arrow and are dead! Please! You have to help!¡±

    ¡°Hold on a second! What makes you think I can help a dead hawk?¡±

    Marrows mouth opened briefly almost at a loss before speaking again ¡°But you have to help! You have constantly bragged about how you can do anything with magic and there is nothing that you can¡¯t do! Please!¡±

    She almost let out a sigh as she stood up but felt like that would come off as insensitive considering he was very clearly distressed. ¡°Alight alright. Give me a second.¡±

    She looked at The Maid. ¡°Would you care to join us? It¡¯s not like I will be able to drink the tea you are preparing anyways.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Um¡­ are you sure that would be wise?¡± The maid seemed nervous. This was perhaps a trait she did not like. She was constantly under the impression that if she was constantly going around the castle and being seen with her it would ruin her status or something. Personally she thought it added to it and if someone couldn¡¯t see past their own prejudices that was their own fault.

    ¡°Yes I am sure. What kind of lady would I be if I walked around without my personal maid. A bad one that is what!¡±

    ¡°Can we please hurry!¡± The Annoying Brat responded clearly wanting her to move faster.

    ¡°You said the Hawk was dead right?¡± She looked at him and he nodded quickly.

    ¡°Yes, that''s why we need to hurry!¡±

    ¡°Why though. They are already dead. It¡¯s not like the hawk will magically become even more dead then the dead it already is. No point in frantically rushing about like a chicken with their head cut off.¡±

    Marrow looked like he was about to cry again and she quickly course corrected. ¡°Look, go and comfort your girlfriend, tell her I will be there soon and see if I can help, keep the hawk''s body safe. I¡¯ll be there shortly after you. I promise.¡±

    The Annoying Brat nodded and began to run out the door calling out ¡°We will be just outside the Queens forest by the Rangers lodge!¡± and disappeared from sight.

    Cool¡­ She had absolutely no idea where that was. She slowly turned to The Maid who looked at her and gave a brief nod ¡°Not to worry m¡¯lady. I know where it is.¡±

    Thank goodness! She was starting to wonder what on earth she did without having an assistant/maid before. She was definitely going to make her own one when she finished with her story¡­. Assuming she ever found her blasted hero!!!

    After packing up her bag she gestured for The Maid to lead the way and began to follow her through the castle as she began to slightly reminisce. Ever since The Annoying Brat got into a relationship with The Ranger he hadn¡¯t been visiting as much.

    Which was to say he had been giving her a two day break every week instead of visiting every single blasted day. It was almost a little unsettling how quiet everything was when he wasn¡¯t there.

    Either way, helping The Annoying Brat court The Ranger was the best decision she ever made given that it gave her a free day or two every week. Obviously their extensive planning worked wonders.

    Well she believed it did. The Annoying Brat said it was actually a disaster but they still ended up together so was it really a disaster? She didn¡¯t think so. She¡¯d figure out what exactly happened when she went back and watched everything since The Annoying Brat had been closed lipped on what actually happened.

    She followed The Maid as they made their way to the stables where her carriage was kept. One of the stable hands spotted her and called out ¡°Ah! M¡¯lady, are you here for your carriage?¡±

    She gave a brief nod ¡°I am, I¡¯m heading to the Queens forest briefly to deal with a silly matter. I won¡¯t be gone for very long¡±

    ¡°Of course Of course. But I am sure you are aware of the fee to come and go from the stables, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes yes, not to worry.¡± She took out a chunk of gold and gave it to the stable hand who grinned happily.

    ¡°A pleasure M¡¯lady. Have a pleasant trip.¡± The man bowed towards her and gave a nasty glare towards The Maid before walked off to do whatever it was he did as she and The Maid got into her carriage

    ¡°Pardon me M¡¯lady for perhaps speaking out of turn but..¡± The Maid faltered slightly.

    ¡°Well, speak up. Can¡¯t start a sentence like that and then not finish it.¡± She countered and The Maid nodded.

    ¡°You realize they are taking advantage of you. I¡¯ve seen how you constantly give away money towards people. There is no such thing as a fee to enter or leave the stables.  It¡¯s the same for many other things you¡¯ve paid money for.¡±

    Wait really?? But humans have always been so obsessed with money it almost made sense that they would try and charge people for everything. Huh.. Well, how was she going to explain herself without coming off as stupid.

    ¡°It is none of my concern. Money is worthless to me anyways and those who obsess over something as worthless as gold and jewels when they¡¯re more worthwhile things one should focus on. While they may be rich in the physical. They are poor in the soul.¡±

    Yeah, that seemed like a good enough excuse to her. Judging by The Maids expression it would seem her words had an impact on her.

    ¡°Besides¡± she continued as she ordered her carriage to move ¡°I have a feeling they will get what''s coming to them.¡±

    She made her illusion smirk as she commanded her carriage to lurch forward at a high speed which then allowed her to hear a sudden yell of surprise followed by a scream of pain as the carriage bumped up slightly and moved forward a bit more.

    ¡°Oh dear, it would seem we hit someone, better back up to see what that was¡± She then ordered her carriage to back up and after another bump, and a crunch the air fell silent.

    ¡°Oh? Things are quiet now. Guess it was nothing then. Now where are we going Vera?¡±

    Vera seemed a tad stunned before snapping out of her shock and quickly gave her where she needed to go and they sped off.

    They sat in silence for a while longer as the carriage moved through the city. She was pretty sure she heard a few panicked screams as they moved but no screams of pain or unusual bumps so she didn¡¯t worry about it.

    They eventually made their way to the Queens Forest. When she had questioned the name at one point someone told her that the name would change whether their ruler was a Queen or a King which sounded unnecessary to her. Just pick a name and stick with it.

    When she got out of the carriage she actually spotted The Annoying Brat and The Ranger kneeling by the Hunters Lodge with what she assumed was the dead hawk in front of them.

    She actually had the original nickname for The Ranger be ¡®The Annoying Brats Love Interest¡¯ But aside from it just being a really long nickname, after she got to know her a bit more she thought the nickname ¡®The Ranger¡¯ was more fitting. Plus it just sounded cooler.

    Making her way towards them, noting that aside from The Annoying Brat just looking really distressed, The Ranger had clearly been sobbing. Now she was starting to feel a little bad for taking her time.

    ¡°Right, soooo. This is the hawk?¡± She really had no idea what to say in a situation like this.

    The Ranger looked up towards her. Her eyes bloodshot from having cried a lot, she tried to say something but couldn¡¯t really form the words and so The Annoying Brat spoke up instead. ¡°Can you do something? You said you could, right?¡±

    Could she do something? Of course she COULD do something but the question was would she? That was a different matter. Once someone knows you can resurrect the dead it becomes an endless barrage of sob stories from everyone in all walks of life needing their loved ones brought back. It was a horrible pain in the ass.

    She was about to reject them until she saw how distraught Annoying Brats face was and let out a very exasperated sigh (Wind magic~) ¡°I will do as you ask. But I have a specific condition. The both of you, under no circumstances, can tell anyone what I am about to do. You need to swear to me right now.¡±

    ¡°I swear!¡± The Ranger said instantly, The Annoying Brat hesitated for a brief second before speaking.

    ¡°I swear also¡±

    Well, not like she really could do much else without doing a special binding to them from the oath and she wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable doing that with them, oddly enough she did trust them enough to think they wouldn¡¯t break the oath.

    ¡°Alright, let''s see the hawk.¡± She knelt down and picked the Hawk up briefly examining them. It was totally unnecessary on a technical level but absolutely necessary for theatrics.

    She first healed the wound on the Hawks chest, performing a true resurrection on someone would be pretty pointless if you didn¡¯t actually heal the wound that killed them in the first place.

    Now it was time to perform a true resurrection. It wasn¡¯t possible to perform such a thing if the being has been dead for more than 24 hours. Actually no, that probably wasn¡¯t true, she was sure there was some work around but she didn¡¯t know what it was and she never really bothered to experiment with it as she didn¡¯t really see much point in the relatively useless spell. Heck, she only bothered learning it on a whim as she didn¡¯t have nor was ever really going to have a real reason to use the spell.

    She also briefly considered raising the hawk as an undead but she was pretty sure The Ranger wouldn¡¯t want that, and that would mean The Annoying Brat would just get more upset so true resurrection it was.

    At least it was a hawk, True resurrection took a lot of mana to do, even more so if she had to yank the soul out of a celestial or hell plane, yanking them from the well of souls should take a lot less mana and she didn¡¯t really think any of the gods on this plane would bother with a simple hawk.

    She actually felt the drain of her mana this time when she performed the spell needed. Grabbing onto the soul that had called the hawk''s body its home and yanked it back to this world.

    She let out a small breath of relief (Wind Magic~), but before she handed the hawk back she quickly pushed a bit more of her magic into the Hawks body. Doing some slight modifications to the hawk to enhance their body. Nothing super serious or anything. But it would be enough for them to easily dodge an arrow even if caught unaware. She really didn¡¯t want to perform yet another true resurrection if she could help it.

    She handed the hawk back to The Ranger ¡°Here. They might be a little disoriented and perhaps a bit lethargic for a day or two. But they should return to normal soonish.¡±

    The Ranger blinked with still a few tears in her eyes and looked down at her Hawk. ¡°Blood Wing? Are you there?¡±

    Blood wing? Her opinion of the Ranger went up as anybody who would name their animal a cool name like that had to be pretty cool too.

    The hawk slowly opened their eyes and let out a tired little squawk before The Ranger gave them a hug and Marrow let out a relieved laugh and gave them both a hug.

    Well alls well that ends well she guesses. ¡°Now remember to not tell anyone that I can do something like this. It could lead to horrible consequences.¡±

    The Annoying Brat looked up and asked the very obvious question she knew was coming. ¡°But why though? Imagine all the good we could do by bringing people back from death. People wouldn¡¯t have to mourn their loved ones! People wouldn¡¯t-¡±

    Nope! Time to play up the wise mentor. ¡°I am stopping you right there Marrow. Do you realize the negative consequences of messing with the natural order of things? The consequences of performing something like this on a wide scale. Chaos, destruction, and unstable magic tearing apart the world. To go against such a natural order will always lead to consequences, something small scale like this won¡¯t do much of anything at all. But a death through a thousand cuts is still a death. Remember what I said. Death is the great equalizer¡±

    The Annoying Brat fell silent as he seemed to contemplate her words. Of course everything she just said was bullshit. They¡¯re plenty of ways to cheat death for a time. Even ways that would be morally ethical by human standards. Why would death care anyways. Whether it was a hundred, a thousand, or a million years. Death still claims you.

    Heck most of the downfalls she had seen with people who had achieved immortality or would regularly perform resurrections was usually their own doing that was completely separate from what the whole immortality or resurrection shtick.

    ¡°You understand the danger this poses right?¡± The Annoying Brat nodded and The Ranger also nodded before speaking

    ¡°Thank you though. I know this was a risk and I promise I won¡¯t say anything or ask it again. But thank you for your help. I get why Marrow is constantly talking about you.¡±

    She briefly glanced at The Annoying Brat who blushed from clear embarrassment. Well that is nice. Glad he held a high opinion of her. But who wouldn''t? She was amazing after all.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you three alone now.¡± She turned around and headed off with The Maid following behind and towards her Carriage.

    ¡°M¡¯lady.¡± The Maid spoke and she glanced behind her to see her ¡°You seem to be capable of doing anything with magic¡­ Do.. Do you think it would be possible to make me look normal? For me to not be a forsaken?¡±

    She froze and glared at The Maid who seemed to start to tremble from her glare. ¡°Yes, I could. I could make you look like a human, look like the very people who ridicule and mock and belittle you. Wouldn¡¯t that be just wonderful?¡±

    ¡°But then they wouldn¡¯t be doing that to me!¡± She snapped and quickly gasped and bowed ¡°I¡¯m sorry M¡¯lady, I shouldn¡¯t have spoken out of turn like that.¡±

    Ugh. She guess she could see why. But honestly she didn¡¯t want to damage one of the descendants of her creations like that just to be like everyone else. It¡¯s lame plus it would honestly just be a downgrade.

    ¡°If someone doesn¡¯t like you then find someone else. And if you can¡¯t find someone else then go ahead and make one or create your own community that is accepting. I don¡¯t really care but I am not changing you when you are perfect as you are.¡±

    Though if she was being honest she didn¡¯t really know why she was getting worked up over that answer. Sure she was a descendant of one of her arts and crafts projects but it¡¯s not like she was actually one of them so she didn¡¯t really have any vested interest in letting her stay a forsaken.

    Plus it probably would only take her a few minutes at most to make her fully human so it¡¯s not like time was the issue.

    Just something about The Maid hating her appearance and who she was just rubbed her the wrong way. Eh, she will figure it out later.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just go. I feel tired and want to finish with this day. I will simply say this. Forsaken is an awesome name, you are a decent person, just cause others can¡¯t see it doesn¡¯t mean all will.¡±

    The Maid didn¡¯t seem entirely convinced with her words. She would need to think of something to help convince her otherwise. Just another thing she would need to do¡­

    Actually¡­ Why did she need to do this? This had no bearing on the actual plot of the story she wanted to create! Heck the hawk thing had no bearing on the plot either! Why did she¡­

    She saw the melancholic look on The Maids face and paused.

    Fine. She will figure out how to work that into the story. She was brilliant after all. Should barely take any effort at all.

    Actually! A sudden idea formed in her brilliant beautiful head. Who said anything about adding The Maid into HER story.

    Time to go see what the Necromancer Girl was up too

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Riez tapped his pen a little annoyed as he stared at Marrow and Yin who stood before him. ¡°So you are saying that your frantic running through the castle to get Captain Gates was because Yins hawk was shot by a poacher but it only got its wing. In your panic you didn¡¯t realize this and believed the hawk was dead.

    ¡°When Captain Gates arrived she pointed out the hawk was already alive and only had an arrow through its wing, after a quick spell to heal said hawk everything was fine.¡±

    ¡°Yes Grandpa, that is correct¡± Marrow responded though he wasn¡¯t quite able to look directly at him. Yin however, being the better liar nodded.

    ¡°That is correct Lord Riez. I apologize for making a scene, I had a little too much to drink last night and wasn¡¯t really feeling myself this morning. When I saw my hawk get shot by some poachers I got distraught and couldn¡¯t really focus or believe what had happened. It was unbecoming of someone like me and I have learned the lesson to not drink so much again¡±

    She gave a bow as an apology as Riez leaned back in his chair contemplating on whether to call them out or not. Finally he decided against it and gave them a stern glare.

    ¡°For causing such a disturbance in the castle Marrow, you will be cleaning the court mage''s quarters and labs for the foreseeable future. As for you Yin, as a recent member of the Rangers, how you acted was not fit for someone of such a respected position. As I don¡¯t really have authority over you I can not punish you I will be talking to the Ranger Captain and they will give you an appropriate punishment for this little incident. Do I make myself clear?¡±

    ¡°Yes Sir.¡±

    ¡°Yes Grandpa¡±

    ¡°Good, you are both dismissed. Get out of here.¡± He felt a little bit of his anger slip through and they both quickly bowed and left as quickly as possible without trying to appear rude.

    He then leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. That certainly wasn¡¯t what was supposed to happen.

    ¡°You may reveal yourself now¡± He spoke out loud and one of the shadows stepped out of a corner almost appearing out of nowhere.

    ¡°Lord Riez,¡± the shadow spoke bowing towards him. Her appearance was ordinary, in fact she could probably perfectly blend into a crowd should she step into it. Forgettable and perfect for a spy. She was also the one who was currently in charge of the Shadows while Ignes was gone.

    ¡°Are you sure you shot the hawk and killed it?¡± He spoke and she kept her expression neutral as she answered.

    ¡°I did not miss, that hawk was dead before it even hit the ground.¡±

    ¡°But you were ultimately caught. Something that you were not supposed to do.¡± Riez turned a glare towards her but she remained firm.

    ¡°I did as you said and made sure they spotted me as disguised as a poacher. However the information I was given was faulty in the talent that both your Grandson and Yin had. They managed to track and capture me without much effort at all by working together.

    ¡°While I probably would have escaped Marrow by himself with a bit of effort. I would have been hard pressed if it was just Yin. But the fact that either by themselves could give me trouble should be a testament to how good they both are.¡±

    Riez let out a breath of frustration and a tad mix of pride. His Grandson, who wasn¡¯t even trained that much in combat, could at least cause a bit of trouble with a shadow. It was impressive. But also the fact that Yin, who was one of the youngest Rangers in this kingdom''s history could make her sweat too.

    The frustration stemmed from the fact that they were both covering for Captain Gates. He had been trying to find a way to get Captain Gates to reveal to him the secrets of creating undead. A thing she had been extremely tight lipped about despite his hints and prodding.

    Eventually he came up with this idea of using her fondness for his grandson and his grandson''s fondness for Yin to try and have her use an undead spell towards Yins hawk and then he could just ask her outright and have her teach him.

    What he didn¡¯t count on was the fact that the hawk was genuinely alright. He trusted the shadow, if she said she killed the hawk then she killed the hawk. Then the question stood, why was the hawk alive? She had to have done something that wasn¡¯t necromancy and he didn¡¯t know what.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    He had hoped for the shadow to observe them from the sidelines so he could get her point of view but that went out the window when she was caught. He had to pull a few strings to get her released without any questions.

    Then Marrow and Yin were tight lipped about what actually happened and he couldn¡¯t even call them out without revealing what the plan was and that would probably lead to more issues.

    But this also made the problem that he sort of already saw and did predict but hoped that it wouldn¡¯t have been an issue which was Marrow was too close to Captain Gates.

    He had severely underestimated her schemes and influence. It wasn¡¯t just his grandson but half the nobility and a large chunk of the general populace too. Even the ones she would almost run over with her carriage whenever she went out seemed to love her.

    He turned back to the shadow who was still kneeling before him ¡°Thank you for your work. You may go back to your usual assignment. I am assuming Captain Gates suspects nothing?

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think she even realizes that I am there most of the time¡±

    ¡°Good, keep it that way¡± The shadow nodded her head and left to head back to her station leaving Riez alone with his thoughts. He was going to have to do something about Marrow. His allegiance was still towards him and the kingdom but his allegiance was also towards Captain Gates. That would probably be an issue. He would need to figure out something and fix that before it became a major issue.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Jacob adjusted the nice clothes awkwardly. When his parents bought them for him three months for the Barons daughter''s birthday today they fit quite well. So of course he had to go through a growth spurt in that time making the outfit fit tightly.

    He had asked Clair to fix it for him and she refused unless he paid. Saying she didn¡¯t have time to work on anything for free anymore.

    Ever since they had been ¡°robbed¡± She had been working even harder and more frantically. Even taking the odd job outside of patching and sewing up clothes such as construction and who knows what else.

    She was apparently so busy she wasn¡¯t even going to attend the party they had been invited to. He wished she would just wake up and realize she wasn¡¯t going to be leaving this place and abandon them.

    Of course he also wasn¡¯t entirely blaming her for skipping this party either. He had certainly considered it as why would he want to attend a party for some spoiled rich kid to get even more spoiled and rich.

    Eventually though he saw some benefit when his dad pointed out it would be good for networking. The more influential people he knew that would give him a helping hand when he tried to get into the shadows the better.

    Erin also told him it would be good practice for him as Shadows often attended high social events and it would be best to get some kind of practice now so it would increase his chances even further.

    Speaking of Erin though, Jacob was perhaps a little upset he wouldn¡¯t be attending the event with them. Even if he was a forsaken he was also probably the closest person he knew. If it weren¡¯t for his status Jacob would even consider him his mentor.

    After adjusting the outfit as best as he could he bid goodbye to his sister who was hunched over her table and she offered a grunt in response and he noted that the dark eye circles were getting bigger. He stepped downstairs where his parents were waiting him rather impatiently

    ¡°About time. Now let''s hurry. We don¡¯t want to be late!¡± His dad grumbled and Jacob left with his parents. His mom must have been slightly tipsy as she missed the first step of the carriage but soon they were all inside and the carriage headed off towards the castle.

    They thankfully sat in silence through the whole trip which spared him the agony of listening to them both talk about how he better not screw up or how he better be on his best behavior.

    Eventually they pulled up to the courtyard of the castle where the party was being held and all climbed out.

    ¡°So dad.¡± Jacob started and his dad looked at him ¡°Who should I talk to that holds good influence and will be good for networking?¡±

    His dad shot him a glare. ¡°You are to do nothing of the sort. Your job is to stand by my side and smile and be a good son for once¡±

    ¡°I thought I would be meeting influential people to help increase my social standing.¡±

    ¡°You will increase your social standing by standing by my side and be known as a good son who loves his amazing father. I will not have you risk everything by going off on your own and opening your stupid mouth to say whatever stupid thing is going through your head. Am I understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes father..¡± Jacob replied. Tightening his fists briefly

    ¡°If that is the case though, why didn¡¯t Clair come with us so she can also be the good daughter.¡±

    ¡°Because Clair is already a lost cause in every way. The only reason I haven¡¯t thrown her out of the house is because of how poorly such a thing would reflect on me. All that work she does and barely has anything to show for it. I know she is spending all her work money on drugs. I just haven¡¯t been able to prove it yet¡± His father grumbled.

    That was one of the recent things he started believing with Clair but he also knew it was false. He didn¡¯t even know where this delusion came from but it also could have just magically manifested in his head.

    ¡°Now where is your mother?¡±

    ¡°Over there by the champagne table with a drink in each hand¡± Jacob gestured to where she was which earned a curse from his dad as he marched over, likely to try and tell her to moderate herself in the party at least until the end. Either way he left him alone and Jacob was going to take advantage of that. He appreciated the irony of him being grateful for once that his mom was such a drunk

    He quickly moved and got himself lost in the crowd. He knew most people in here were influential figures within the city and even in the surrounding area. So long as he left a good impression or at least showed he was around the influential.

    It hurt his pride to suck up to people that he saw himself above but if doing so meant that he would eventually be given what he deserves he¡¯d happily kiss their feet. Then when he was where he belonged. He¡¯d take their feet as payment for the humiliation.

    A grin spread across his lips as he began to mingle with the crowd. Speaking when it was appropriate, laughing at the lame and stupid jokes. He couldn¡¯t have been a more perfect guest. Make an impression but don¡¯t stand out too much. He was playing a long game here.

    He went through this for a whole hour and he slowly began to feel himself drained from all the socializing and he soon was looking for a way to get out.

    None of the conversations he had were really noteworthy and were all dull and uninspiring which was of course which only drained him more. But some good did come from it. It pretty much cemented in his mind that he really was better than the rest of them.

    He excused himself from a conversation and headed off to the bathroom where he hopefully could just get a moment to breathe and escape from all the people.

    As he walked down a lavish hallway he heard a young girl''s voice around the corner ¡°Here kitty kitty. Come on. I promise I won¡¯t hurt you. Come on¡±

    Not wanting to get involved with whatever that was but too curious for his own good he moved and looked in the room where he heard the noise and saw some girl looking around the room. Likely looking for whatever cat she was calling out too.

    Not really any of his business anyways, he started to move, crossing the doorway to go to the bathroom but the little girl caught sight of him and called out. ¡°Excuse me mister! Have you seen my cat? I can¡¯t find them anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Uh.. No. Sorry. Haven¡¯t seen any cat anywhere.¡± He responded and the girl looked down disappointed and he took that as a means to walk away but the girl spoke something that made him stop.

    ¡°I need to find him. He was a present and I have big plans for him and I can¡¯t do anything if he is gone¡± She let out a small sniffle and Jacob turned around and looked at her.

    ¡°Present? You wouldn¡¯t happen to be the birthday girl this party is for would you?¡±

    She nodded ¡°I am. But if I am being honest I am a little disappointed in it. I wanted something more but daddy didn¡¯t want to spend the money on it.¡±

    ¡°What? Well that is hardly fair. Someone as important as you should be spared no expense for such an important birthday for such an important person¡±

    The girl smiled at his obvious flattery ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking but I don¡¯t think daddy would have seen it that way.¡±

    ¡°Well sometimes fathers aren¡¯t all knowing. Now about that cat. How about I help you find them? Two sets of eyes is better than one.¡±

    ¡°Really?? Thank you! I will start looking in this half of the room and you take the other half!¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. But are you sure they are still in this room? The door was open after all.¡±

    ¡°No, I have been watching the doorway in case they did try to escape so that I would spot them. That¡¯s how I spotted you after all.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense. Alright, let''s start looking¡± As he started to look he only then realized he didn¡¯t actually know the girl''s name. He just hoped he wouldn¡¯t be forced to call out to her before he found out.

    He began to poke through all the various furniture and various decorative pieces. He was surprised at how much useless stuff there was in this room. Seemed beyond excessive. Likely just there to impress lesser people.

    Moving up to the wall and peeking behind a bookcase with a ton of vases, smaller pieces of artwork, and few books, he saw a ball of white fluff with two eyes staring back at him.

    ¡°Hey, I think I found them!¡± He called out while not taking them without taking his eyes off the cat as scurrying feet quickly rushed towards him and peeked behind the bookcase to see the cat there.

    ¡°Snowball! There you are! Come here! You shouldn''t be running away from your owner!¡± She tried to reach behind the bookcase but Snowball let out a hiss and backed up further. Swiping their claws at her but they needn¡¯t have bothered as the girl couldn¡¯t reach them anyways.

    ¡°Come on snowball! You have to listen to me! I am your owner! Now come here!¡± She pouted and tried to reach further in before the cat moved forward briefly and swiped at her hand and she quickly retracted letting out her own hiss of pain.

    ¡°You bastard of a cat! Just for that I am going to make sure I kill you slowly!¡±

    ¡°Uh.. What?¡± Jacob was instantly taken aback by the sudden outburst and the girl cursed before adopting her sweet girl persona that she had.

    ¡°Uh.. I mean.¡± She let out a small sniffle ¡°Owwe. That really hurt¡±

    ¡°Yeah.. I think your cover is blown¡±

    ¡°Damnit.¡± She muttered and then looked at him with cold eyes ¡°Look, if you don¡¯t tell my dad or anyone else I will give you what I want. But you have to also get my cat back.¡±

    ¡°All I want is for you to play up how amazing and helpful I am to your dad and get me into his good graces. Do that and we got a deal¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡±

    He found her sudden shift in personality somewhat amusing as she went from the spoiled sweet girl to some bully who believed she was better than everyone. It would have annoyed him were she not a ten year old girl.

    ¡°Though I have to ask. What are these big plans for the cat¡± Once again his curiosity got the better of him.

    ¡°Well one of the maids told me that a cat always lands on their feet and that¡¯s why they are always okay when they fall from trees. Well I want to put that to the test and I am going to throw her out of the tallest tower and see if she really will survive. Do you have a problem with that?¡± she asked with no small amount of attitude

    Jacob just shook his head ¡°None of my business what you do with your cat. So long as you keep your end of the bargain I couldn¡¯t really care¡±

    ¡°Good, Now tick tock. We don¡¯t have all day.¡±

    Jacob rolled his eyes and pushed her off to the side and out of the cat''s eye sight as he got down on his all fours and reached for Snowball who tried to back up more but was already against the wall. As his hand got closer, snowball took a swiped at him but he quickly snagged the paw and yanked the cat out from the bookcase as they yowled in protest

    The girl thankfully had grabbed some kind of blanket from one of the pieces of furniture and opened it up allowing Jacob to quickly put the cat into the blanket and the girl wrapped the fuzzy menace up as they struggled and yowled at them but there was nothing they could do now.

    ¡°Finally. Shame on you snowball! You better hope you don¡¯t survive the tower fall cause otherwise I will make you regret going against me like that¡±

    Before Jacob could respond a deep voice boomed from just outside of the room. ¡°There you are! I was wondering where you were. The guests are wondering where the special little birthday girl is! What are you doing here Alice?¡±

    Alice quickly adopted her previous persona and smiled happily as she skipped over to the Baron while holding Snowball wrapped up in the blanket ¡°Sorry Daddy. I was trying to find Snowball but he was lost. Then that nice man came and helped me now only find her but get her out from where she was hiding.¡±

    She let out an innocent giggle and the Barons eyes turned towards him and he instinctively straightened his back hoping to make a good impression. ¡°Did he now? What is your name, son?¡±

    ¡°Jacob m¡¯lord¡±

    ¡°Jacob¡­. Jacob.¡± He went cross eyed as he tried to see if he remembered his name before his face lit up

    ¡°Ah right! Aren¡¯t you Manis son? It is a pleasure to finally put a name to that face¡± he smiled broadly and in good humor

    ¡°It is an honor that you knew of me.¡± Jacob bowed towards him and the Baron let out a laugh.

    ¡°Well it is nice to see a commoner with some proper manners for once. I am sure you will end up just like your father¡±

    ¡°I certainly hope not¡± The words left his mouth before he could stop himself and he wanted to curse himself for such an obvious slip up but then the Baron let out a laugh.

    ¡°Good humor too! I look forward to the great things you plan to do young man¡±

    ¡°Thank you M¡¯lord¡± He bowed again and seeing his chance to butter the man up a bit continued. ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but notice all of those mounted animal heads on the walls around the mansion. Bears, wolves, and other dangerous predators. Did m¡¯lord hunt all of those himself?¡±

    ¡°Ah! You noticed, did you? I happen to be quite an amazing hunter, no matter how dangerous a beast it might be, I have successfully hunted them all without even the slightest of injuries!¡± He proudly boasted, talking himself up before Alice let out a small whine.

    ¡°Come on daddy. Let''s go. Can you have one of the maids bring Snowball up to my room? And make sure the maid closes the door. I don¡¯t want poor little Snowball to be wandering the castle all by their lonesome.¡±

    ¡°Of course my little angel.¡± The Baron snapped his fingers and a maid came running towards them ¡°You heard the girl. Make sure her precious cat is safely in her room¡±

    ¡°At once M¡¯lord¡± The maid bowed and took the blanket bundle with Snowball inside and quickly left.

    At that the Baron took Alice''s hand and they walked off back towards the party together and Jacob let out a collective sigh of relief. This was more than he ever hoped for but talking with a member of the nobility was a little nerve wracking.

    Also probably shouldn¡¯t tell his dad what happened. Even if he responded well he¡¯d probably try to take whatever achievements he got and find a way to twist it so he could take credit.

    He was already probably in trouble over the fact that he ¡°disappeared¡± during the party. But whatever. He got more than he could have ever hoped for by attending. If he managed to get into the Barons good graces more then there was a good chance he might send a letter recommendation for him and he was pretty much guaranteed to get into the shadows.

    With high spirits he went back to the party though he hardly paid attention to anything that was happening. None of that mattered anymore anyways.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Sharrel swallowed as she started at the house from the alley she had been hiding in for the past couple of hours. She knew she needed to do this. But she didn¡¯t really feel like she was ready either. But she was never going to be ready at this rate.

    A cold strong hand was placed on her shoulder and she looked up to see Aster staring down at her, his mask was currently off and she saw his concern.

    ¡°Yeah, I know. I need to do this. I am just scared that the answer will be what I think it will be¡­¡± Even if she hated her parents. She felt the ache and longing. The hope for what could be.

    She looked back at Aster ¡°okay, I am ready. I am sorry to ask but could you put on your mask again. I feel like they will freak out of a masked individual. But they would freak out more if they saw how you actually look. No offense on my end.¡±

    Aster smiled slightly and nodded before putting the mask back on his face and Sharrel gave him an appreciative nod before moving. ¡°Right, let''s get this done.¡±

    They made their way as quickly as they could across the street and towards the house. The hunt for them hadn¡¯t really died out but it had stalled. There were a lot less active searches for them but still, seeing a woman with her hood up along being trailed behind by a masked individual was bound to draw some attention even with the light of the sun slowly disappearing behind the walls of the city.

    Soon they made their way to the house and taking out a lockpick she did a quick fiddle with it and clicked it open, easily stepped inside followed by Aster and she shut the door behind them, locking it closed.

    She heard warm laughter pouring from a room off to the side and felt her heart clench before she took a breath and steady herself. Aster gave her a small nudge forward and a reassuring nod and she began to move forward with Aster staying by the front door. She knew Daisy was already guarding the back. The last thing she wanted was to try and confront them and for them to run away before she even got a single word out.

    She made her way down the hallway of the house, getting more annoyed as she saw all the nice decorations and furniture that was thrown about before she reached what she assumed was the living room, peaking past the doorway she saw two figures lazing about some luxurious furniture.

    Figures. She suppressed her anger and stepped out into view which instantly got the attention of both them quickly standing up in shock.

    ¡°Woah! Hey there, we don¡¯t really have that much to rob. You¡¯ll probably find much better stuff from our neighbor next door.¡± her dad spoke, clearly shocked at the sudden intrusion

    She couldn¡¯t help but frown, aside from the blatantly obvious lie given all the luxurious things around them, they didn¡¯t even recognize her. ¡°I am not here to steal anything from you.¡±

    ¡°Crap!¡± Her mom then jittered in a panicked voice ¡°Are you with Harris? Or are you with Oroun? You can¡¯t be with Whines, he is dead and our debt died with him! Plus our children happily took on our debt for us. You should-¡±

    ¡°HAPPILY!?!?!?! YOU LEFT US TO FEND FOR OURSELVES AND HAD WHINES BLEED US DRY SO YOU COULD LIVE HAPPILY OFF OF OUR WORK!!!¡±

    Her yelling caused both her parents to fall to their couch, shocked as they stared at her ¡°Oh my god, Sharrel? Is that really you?¡± Her dad asked with a stupid expression on his face

    She growled ¡°Yes. So glad that you managed to recognize me finally. Aion is doing fine by the way. No thanks to either of you¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡± Her dad spoke happily as he got up

    ¡°You should go get Aion and we can live together again. As I am sure you know, Whines is gone so we can go back to being a family!¡± Her dad started acting like everything was completely normal, as if she just returned after only being gone for a day.

    ¡°And don¡¯t worry about those other two people we mentioned. They don¡¯t even know we were the ones who scammed them¡± Her mom boasted with a happy cheerful smile on her face that was disarmingly innocent and Sharrels fist tightened.

    ¡°So you mean to tell me that you had the money to help us, probably even enough to pay off Whines but instead just used it for you!!¡± She glared at the both of them who seemed to falter but her mom was fast to recover.

    ¡°We had too. If Whines knew where we were he would have killed us since we skipped out on a payment. Even if we had the money it wouldn¡¯t have mattered. He would have killed us to set an example!¡± Both her mom and dad were acting distraught as she tightened her fists.

    ¡°It''s true pumpkin. But we knew you and Aion were tough and would be able to survive. It¡¯s why we left. When we found out Whines was gone we looked everywhere for you two but couldn¡¯t find any trace.¡±

    She had enough. ¡°I¡­ I will need some time to think about this¡­ I will meet you at the large oak tree by the park nearby. You know the one I am talking about¡±

    Both her parents nodded with some slight confusion to their faces and she continued. ¡°If you both genuinely want a relationship with me and Aion. Meet me there by dawn. If you don¡¯t show. I won¡¯t blame you and let you go about your lives free of responsibility.¡±

    She didn¡¯t wait for a response as she turned and left. Nodding to Aster who gave a quick bow and left with her.

    They made their way to the designated park and towards the tree that she had referred too. Night had fallen at this point and it was dark making it hard to see. At least for her. Clover told her that the undead had no trouble seeing in the dark.

    She grunted as she sat down with her back against the tree. Aster still stood beside her and she let out another sigh. ¡°Aster, I get you are worried but this probably won¡¯t work if you are right next to me. Plus I¡¯ll be okay. If things go how I fear. I¡¯ll run and make sure to stay far away enough. Besides.¡±

    She gave Aster a smile ¡°I fully trust the goddess, you and the rest of the guardians. Do not worry¡±

    Aster gave her a long look before nodding and stepping away making her lose sight of him and she leaned back against the tree trying hard not to think about anything.

    She knew there was no way she was going to be able to sleep, not cause the ground was uncomfortable. It was actually more comfortable than some places she had slept. It was what her parents would do.

    So she sat there, staring up at the sky through the leaves and tree branches of the oak tree. Her mind wandered through everything that had happened to her. Everything that probably would happen to her.

    Slowly she got to her knees and bowed till her forehead touched the ground. She had no idea how to offer a proper prayer to the goddess of death so she just did what she had seen other people do when offering prayers to their own gods.. ¡°Mighty goddess of death. I humbly thank you for everything you have done and I know you are watching over us. I know I do not pray as often as I should but thank you again. For everything you have done for me. And I promise to carry out your will and desire no matter what you may ask of me. I only ask that you please¡­ Please help me now. Some kind of guidance. Something¡­. Anything¡­ ¡±

    She had sort of hoped to hear something from her but knew that would be unlikely. Likely too busy for someone as unimportant as her. The tears started to form in her eyes as she kept her head bowed and kept praying until.

    Pop

    Bonk

    She let out a slight curse as something fell on top of her head and landed down next to her. Throwing a slight glare at the object wondering what the hell fell and hit her.

    Her eyes widened in shock as she looked down. A bone white staff lay next to her that almost seemed to let out an ethereal glow despite the darkness. A black gem at the top of the staff that seemed to almost absorb the darkness around it.

    With trembling hands she reached and picked it up. It felt cool to the touch but seemed to almost be handcrafted to fit into her hands perfectly.

    Suddenly she felt something invade her head and she fell to the ground as words seemed to sear themselves into her brain. Every syllable overwhelming her senses and warped reality around her twisting and clawing at her sanity with every passing moment.

    ¡°You do not need my help, I chose you to represent me as my high priestess. Follow your heart and you will follow my will. Here is my gift to you for being such a loyal follower. This will be my final message to you for a long while, take heart and remember I will always be there to watch over you. Finally, I will send someone to you soon, please accept them for who they are and as they are. I trust only you in this my high priestess, my chosen.¡±

    She let out a gasp of pained shock as the presence disappeared from her mind along with the otherworldly blessed pain and she was let on the ground staring up into the sky in disbelief.

    Her goddess trusted her¡­. Her beloved goddess loved her!!! She started to hyperventilate as she clenched the staff that had been gifted to her by her beloved benevolent goddess!

    Yes, there was no need to doubt. No need to seek the love of parents who did not care. Her goddess was the one she should love. Her goddess was the one she needed.

    If anything she cursed the lack of devotion she held before. She worshiped her goddess but she didn¡¯t truly love her. But this. When she asked for help, it was answered.

    Her mind raced more. When she needed help back then her goddess answered. She personally came to her and gave her the gifts she needed! Her goddess! Her beloved wonderful goddess!!

    She began to giggle a little as she hugged her staff. Her goddess. Yes, her goddess! She promised, whomever she sent to her she would accept and help.

    Her goddess her goddess her goddess her goddess her goddess her goddess her goddess her goddess her goddess her-

    A small rustle snapped her out of her reverence and she glared at who showed up only to see her so-called parents step into view.

    ¡°Ah! Sharrel! There you are¡± Her so called dad declared

    ¡°Glad you are here! We were worried you wouldn¡¯t show up. But here we are. Where is Aion? Will you be taking us to him? We would very much like to meet him too?¡±

    She took a deep breath and gave a shout ¡°Clover! Yes or no?¡±

    Her parents looked a little surprised for a second as silence overtook the park before her mom spoke carefully ¡°Uh, Sharrel, sweetie, what are you doing¡±

    She raised her hand telling her to keep quiet and waited until she spotted Clover stepping out of the dark with the mask over his face and a severed head in his hand. Her parents taking a step back in surprise and shock

    ¡°Sharrel!! What is the meaning of this??¡± Her dad demanded! Looking extremely nervous as he kept glancing over at clover

    ¡°It would seem you were correct Madam¡± Clover spoke with a somber tone

    ¡°It would appear they did try to sell you out and collect your bounty. They were going to have you lead them to where you were hiding so they could capture all of us in one fell swoop. That is what he said at least.¡± Clover tossed the severed head towards her parents'' feet.

    ¡°Daisy, Aster, and Pansy are currently taking care of the rest of the guards they had brought with them.. I am truly sorry¡±

    She looked at Clover, to the severed head and then towards her parents before bursting into laughter which seemed to have caught everyone else off guard and she proudly declared.

    ¡°Its fine. I was so caught up in worrying about my parents that I had sort of lost sight of what truly matters.¡±

    She clenched her staff tightly and a smile blossomed on her face ¡°I care not for them anymore. Clover, kill them. They mean nothing to me now.¡±

    Clover bowed ¡°As you wish madam¡±

    ¡°Wait Wait! This is some sort of misunderstanding we didn¡¯t me-¡± Their voices were cut short as Clover cleaved off both their heads in one quick swing.

    ¡°Come on Clover. We have to get home. I will need to council Aion as he probably will be upset over what has happened¡±

    Clover bowed ¡°Are you sure you are okay mam?¡± His voice sounded unsure and she understood. She probably had been acting off. But she was free now.

    ¡°Yes. I am okay. Better okay even! I have got my beloved goddess on my side!¡± She boasted loudly, not caring who could possibly hear her! She was on top of the world and it was time to go home without a burden on her shoulders.

    She practically skipped back to their temporary home, or at least she would have but it was too dark and that likely would have caused her to stumble and fall.

    When they got home, which was currently an abandoned home in the slums, she turned to Clover. ¡°Can you grab everyone, including Aion. I need to make an announcement.¡±

    Clover bowed and headed off, Daisy, Pansey and Aster standing with her. Daisy gave Aster a questioning glance which he just shrugged before looking back to Sharrel, clearly wanting to ask what was going on but also knew they would find out soon anyways.

    Soon all of the guardians arrived with Lavender holding Aion who looked just as confused as the rest of them. ¡°Right, I will make this quick. Our parents are dead¡± She gestured towards herself and Aion making sure to monitor his reaction but he did not give any outward reactions.

    ¡°But before I confronted them the final time I had given a prayer to our goddess and she not only heard my prayers but also gifted me this¡± She held up the staff that had been gifted and guardians seemed transfixed on it and Azalea spoke hesitantly.

    ¡°I can sense a ton of power within that staff, it would undoubtedly strengthen necromancy magic and it would not surprise me if it helped strengthen undead around you. I am sure the rest of you can feel it¡± He looked at the rest of the guardians who all nodded.

    ¡° She also spoke directly to me. She had informed me that I am to be her high priestess.¡± She tried not to cry tears of joy at that declaration, doing her best to keep herself composed as she continued on.

    ¡°Not just that but she will be sending someone to us for us to take care of. She did not specify a date but we will need to make sure we are ready to take care of them regardless of the date or time¡±

    They got all the guardians to stand at alert and Sharrel continued ¡°I think it¡¯s time we start to set up or find a more permanent place of living. We need to start figuring out options for that. I want you all to figure out a good place for us to set up permanently and be ready to welcome our guest. I need to talk to Aion for a bit¡±

    The Guardians bowed and Lavender passed Aion over to her which she took him gently and began to make her way up the stairs back towards his room silently.

    When they entered his room and she laid him back down on his bed he finally spoke up ¡°I take it mom and dad chose to sell you out?¡±

    Sharrel nodded. She didn¡¯t feel anything about her parents. If anything she was grateful for the betrayal. It was like the weight was lifted and now she didn¡¯t ever have to worry about them ever again. But she wasn¡¯t sure about how Aion would take it.

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± She asked him and Aion sat in silence for a moment before answering.

    ¡°I feel more bad about the fact that I don¡¯t feel bad about their betrayal, choosing money over us, and their deaths.¡±

    She had told him that if they did sell her out then they would die, believing hiding that information wouldn¡¯t do any real good anyways. He might have been soft, but he also had a strong will.

    ¡°Does that make me a bad person?¡± She blinked in surprise at Aion who looked up at her with concern

    ¡°The fact that I don¡¯t feel anything for our parents. I¡¯d be heartbroken if you died. And I know I would be upset if the guardians were to die. But I can¡¯t muster any feelings for our parents. They feel like strangers. They are strangers. I don¡¯t even know what they look like.¡± He seemed lost in thought as if trying to will a memory that wasn¡¯t there into existence.

    Sharrel reached over and rubbed the top of his head ¡°No Aion, that doesn¡¯t make you a bad person. I was the one who decided they would die, the guardians were the ones who killed them. Would you say they were bad people? That I am?¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± He almost looked offended as such an insinuation and she let out a small laugh.

    ¡°Well there''s your answer. You don¡¯t need to worry, but knowing you, you probably will. So I ask you not to worry too much. You are not a bad person. And anybody who would say otherwise is insane. Simple as that¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± He clearly wasn¡¯t fully convinced but she knew it would take him a bit to come around.

    ¡°Now come on. You should be asleep.¡±

    ¡°Well I was asleep but then you called a meeting and I was woken up by Lavender and dragged out of bed¡± He gave her a small glare and she raised her hands in defeat

    ¡°Alright alright. I get it. I¡¯m sorry. I got caught up in the moment. It won¡¯t happen again.¡± She tucked Aion into bed and turned to leave but stopped when Aion called back out to her.

    ¡°Hey Sharrel.¡± She turned around and looked over at Aion who was looking back at her ¡°I want to help people.¡±

    Sharrel tilted her head in confusion as Aion continued ¡°The way the goddess helped you. She is also sending someone to us for us to help also right? I want to help people. People like us before you were saved by the goddess. The lost and forgotten¡­¡±

    She looked at him for an extra long moment as she felt her heart resonate with his words. ¡®Follow your heart¡¯. Those were the words she had read from the note. Was that what her goddess meant.

    ¡°I too would like to help people¡± She said carefully ¡°But first we need to make sure we are okay. But that will be our goal to achieve. Of course I will need your help if that is what we are to try to do¡±

    ¡°You can count on me¡± Aion responded. His voice was tired but held resolve.

    ¡°Now no more talk. Have a good night Aion.¡±

    ¡°Goodnight Sharrel¡±

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 4: And yet another potential hero

    And yet another freaking 1 year, 4 months, 3 week, and 2 days 19 hours later

    Storm sleepily raised her head from the pillow as she sat up in the center of a large bed. ¡°Mmmbmmb¡± An unlady like grumble echoed through her mouth as she slowly crawled across the bed and stumbled through the room to the washroom.

    Grateful there was water in the sink she splashed some water over her face before looking at her face in the mirror.

    A rather unassuming woman looked back at her. There was nothing special about her. She was just a normal late teenage girl from a backwater town. Even then her house was pretty far removed from the village being partially in the forest.

    Most of her time was spent hunting and managing the house that was left to her by her grandmother. Or rather. That was how it had been until a year ago.

    She took the comb by the sink. Normally she would brush the rats nest that was her hair every morning but it was Celest turn to brush her hair and he would get upset if she did it herself.

    Plus, a faint blush crossed her face, she did actually like it when Celest or Incu brushed her hair for her.

    She made her way out of her room and down the hall as she entered the kitchen and paused when she saw Celest standing there by the stove preparing a breakfast that she would have said smelled heavenly if she was into corny jokes.

    Celest had bronze skin that was without blemish and perfectly crystal blue eyes that almost sparkled like gems. His body was ripped with muscle that fit his bulky strong frame and his hands. Oh gods his hands were something else.

    Her mind briefly flashed to the way his hands felt on her the night before making her blush even harder as Celest turned to her and with a deep voice like a honey spoke.

    ¡°Ah, my love. I hope you slept well. You seemed tired and I thought you could use a healthy breakfast to help¡±

    He walked over and gave her a tender loving kiss on the cheek. ¡°It will be ready soon. Here why, don¡¯t you sit down and I will serve you.¡±

    He pulled a chair out for her and she sat down. Which prompted another soft kiss to her cheek and he went back to finishing up breakfast.

    Storm sat there patiently until Celest served her breakfast and sat down across from her smiling happily as she began to dig in.

    ¡°is Incu outside?¡± She asked hesitantly and Celest made a face.

    ¡°That demon is out there chopping wood. I have yet to figure out what horrible things he might be planning.¡±

    ¡°Celest, just because he is a demon doesn¡¯t make him a bad person. You should know this¡± She gently reprimanded him and he took it like a puppy who had just been scolded and looked down.

    It somehow made him look even sweeter and more handsome than before. She reached over and gave him a soft stroke of his surprisingly soft cheek ¡°Can you brush my hair please?¡± Hoping the distraction would help.

    He suddenly looked up happily with a smile more radiant than the sun ¡°Of course!¡±

    He got up, took her comb and began to softly brush her hair. She felt his strong hands that were capable of crushing steel in their grip tenderly and gently stroke her hair with each careful brush. Her shoulders released some tension she didn¡¯t even realize she had as she leaned into his touch.

    When he was done she could tell he didn¡¯t want to stop but slowly withdrew. ¡°Do you need anything else my love?¡±

    ¡°No, thank you. I am going to go check on Incu. Could you handle the dishes if it is not too much trouble?¡±

    ¡°Nothing is ever too much trouble when it comes to you¡± He gave her another soft kiss on the cheek and took the plate from her and went to the sink to clean it for her as she got up and headed outside to check on Incu.

    When she stepped outside she almost froze in place, her face heating up when she saw Incu standing there.

    His crimson red skin was glistening with sweat as he swung down the ax to chop a log. His lean muscles seemed to ripple with the motion. His messy black hair that seemed to be stylized that way fell to his shoulders and his black eyes seemed to smolder like embers whenever he would look at her.

    She remembered how lost she got into those eyes last night when he¡­ Her face turned red at the thought almost matching his skin when he turned to see her. A mischievous little grin crossed his almost boyish face.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Ah. My little kitten. It is so nice to see you up and about. I would think you¡¯d have some trouble walking this morning considering.¡± His tone had an equally playful tone and she tried her best to recompose herself, knowing any reaction would just lead to further teasing.

    ¡°I just wanted to check in and make sure you were doing well.¡± She looked at all the chopped wood

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to keep chopping wood. I think we will have enough for the next few weeks. Thank you for all your hard work though¡±

    ¡°Oh but my sweet kitten. I didn¡¯t do it just to hear your thanks. He sauntered over to her and she found herself backing up till she hit the wall of her house. His hand soon placed next to her head pinning her to the wall as he leaned over. Her eyes almost transfixed to his as her lip trembled slightly as he leaned over and placed a passionate kiss onto her.

    She couldn¡¯t help but let out a soft moan as he did as she leaned into the kiss and felt the heat of his body pressing onto hers. It took all her willpower to break away.

    ¡°No, we need to stop. Celest will start to get jealous if we continue without him.¡±

    Incu frowned at the mention of Celest. ¡°I don¡¯t see why that angel is so against fun.¡±

    She gave Incu a stern look ¡°You should know better than anyone how untrue that is. You are only trying to convince yourself if you keep telling such a pointless lie¡±

    Incu flinched back at the reprimand. She would have felt a bit bad like she did with celest but judging by how his smile seemed to grow. He actually enjoyed it when she got stern with him.

    ¡°Come on, let''s head inside¡± She said and walked into the house with Incu walking behind her. Celest was still in the kitchen but this time he was mopping the floor.

    When Celest and Incu spotted each other they both seemed to glower at each other. Neither breaking eye contact as they tried to stare the other down.

    Storm clapped her hands loudly, startling both of them. ¡°That is enough. I have said it once. I have said it twice and I will say it again. If you want to live here then you have to play nice with each other. I want no fighting, not even your passive aggressive comments you throw at each other. If you can¡¯t handle it then you can leave.¡±

    Both looked away clearly a little embarrassed from her scolding, even Incu but then he suddenly looked up and turned towards Celest

    ¡°She is right. I think we should put our differences aside. At least for the time being and work together for the next few hours¡± He offered a smirk towards Celest who blinked in confusion for a second before his eyes widen in realization and nodding.

    ¡°You are right, I think we can find some basic common ground together. Team building exercises would be a good thing to help us grow closer I suppose.¡± They both turned to look at Storm who felt her heart begin to race at being the center of the mens attention and she starts to take a step back.

    ¡°W-wait. That was not what I meant and you guys know this¡±

    They started to make their way towards her as Incu spoke ¡°Now now, you heard the angel. You want us to grow closer, right? Can hardly grow closer if we don¡¯t work together.¡±

    She felt her heart race more as both men moved towards her

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    AAAA!! Her eyes! Her precious innocent eyes!!!.... Is what she would say if she actually had eyes! HaHA!..... But no seriously, she was skipping over this.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    7 gross hours later

    Storm sat up and stretched. Both Celest and Incu were passed out next to her, one on each side. Both clinging to her making it a tad hard to move.

    Taking care not to disturb either of them, she moved their arms from her body and slowly made her way off the bed. She took a look behind her and noticed that with her absence they both were now cuddling each other. She suppressed a small giggle knowing they would be making an absurd amount of excuses as to why cuddling each other didn¡¯t actually count as them showing affection towards one another. One of these days she would get them to admit they cared about the other. It was obvious to everyone but those two.

    She put on her robe and headed into the living room so she could have a snack when she heard a knock on the door.

    She looked over confused. She wasn¡¯t expecting any guests today. Sometimes the villagers would pay her a visit for a medical emergency and needed her to make a salve or some kind of medicine.

    She walked over and opened the door to reveal the stranger standing before her that almost made her heart skip. He stood tall, his silver hair smoothly going down to his shoulder blades, green glowing eyes that reminded her of emeralds stare intensely at her. His pale skin almost seemed to glow as a smile slowly began to spread across his handsome face.

    ¡°Ah. I finally found you. It is time for your parents to pay back their debt, my fianc¨¦.¡±

    ¡°Huh??¡±

 Book1, part1, Chapter 8: Parties are stupid/To find a family

    Why THUNK Is THUNK This THUNK Taking THUNK So THUNK Freaking THUNK Long!

    It was a good thing she couldn¡¯t actually feel pain from her vessel and that she had reinforced it with magic to make sure it wouldn¡¯t break easily. Otherwise it probably would have cracked from the repeated head bashes to the wall she had just done.

    So what was wrong with this candidate for her hero? A Freaking Love Triangle! Who in their right minds would want a love triangle in their story!

    What¡¯s worse was the Angel and Demon didn¡¯t even seem to realize they were in a love triangle! Like hello?? You both were having sex with her at the same time and somehow STILL don¡¯t realize you were in a love triangle! How dense do you have to be!

    Also that woman''s libido was scary. Out lasting an angel was already super scary. But outlasting a demon of lust? Utterly terrifying.

    Plus there was a fey in the picture now?? What''s worse than a love triangle? An unnecessary fourth addition making it a love quadrilateral!

    A depressed groan escaped her metaphorical lips (She wasn¡¯t even in the mood for jokes!) as she leaned back from her table and sent all of her current scrying orbs back into her time prison that was in her bag. She didn¡¯t feel like looking for a hero anymore today, she needed to destress.

    ¡°Uh.. Mam..¡± She looked over at her ¡°Before Marrow and Yin come.. I wanted to finally give you my answer.¡±

    Finally! She had been waiting on her answer forever. She could sort of understand The Maids concern. Big changes could be scary and all that. But she was the one who proposed the idea and she was never wrong.

    The Maid took a deep breath and continued ¡°Despite your horrible lack of boundaries, somewhat sadistic nature, poor understanding of social cues, extreme emotional swings-¡±

    Uh.. She didn¡¯t really need this weird start to the decision. Just an answer.

    ¡°For the first time in my life I didn¡¯t feel hated. I didn¡¯t feel unwanted by someone. I would like to stay with you for as long as you¡¯ll have me but I can tell you are making this decision because you want what''s best for me which is why¡± She gripped her dress tightly as she took a deep breath to steel her decision.

    ¡°Which is why I will place my faith in you on this and if you think that sending me to this person will be good for me.. I-I will do as you say!¡± She stuttered there in the end but it was leagues better now. At least when talking to her.

    ¡°I am glad you understand that. Not to worry though. They will be good people and help take care of you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be taken care of.. I just want people to stop looking at me with disdain.¡±

    ¡°Eh, same thing. So do you want to do this before or after the celebration? Actually hold that thought. I want you to stay if for no other reason then I don¡¯t want to be stuck alone with those two. I need someone on my side while I deal with these miscreants.¡±

    The Maid let out the tiniest of smiles and bowed ¡°As you wish m¡¯lady¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± She got up and brushed her dress from a bit of dust that had gotten on there from her sitting in the same spot for who knows how many hours

    ¡°They have gotten more used to you if that is what you are worried about. Yes they still seem slightly uncomfortable in your presence but they have gotten better. And it has nothing to do with you anyways. All on them.¡±

    She heard a knock on her door that was in the living room ¡°Speaking of¡± She went into the living room and called out ¡°Just come in. You never bothered knocking before why start now¡±

    The door swung open and The Ranger marched in happily with her hawk on her shoulder looking around curiously. The Annoying Brat walked in behind her smiling happily.

    ¡°Thanks for having us on your day off! It is a real lifesaver¡± The Annoying Brat said to her and she resisted the urge to chuck him off the balcony yet again.

    ¡°Yes, well between the crying, begging and bribery. It was more effort to refuse than to just say yes¡± She responded in a cool tone which The Ranger turned around and narrowed her eyes at The Annoying Brat.

    ¡°Wait. You did something like that just so we could celebrate your being accepted into the court mages without getting reprimanded?¡±

    Marrow looked away ashamed ¡°No, not really¡­¡±

    ¡°He absolutely did¡± She quickly responded, causing the Annoying Brat to look at her with betrayal.

    A very mischievous grin spread across Yins face as she grabbed Marrows cheek and leaned in to whisper into his ear ¡°Aw! You naughty boy you. I think I might have to punish you later so you are to learn some manners~¡±

    Their relationship was so weird. But still, if she was going to punish him for her she wasn¡¯t going to complain. Saves her the trouble.

    ¡°Whatever, let''s just get this over with. Yin can you pull the table out to the center. I¡¯ll go grab the food¡±

    When she said The Annoying Brat had begged, cried, and bribed her to throw this celebration she hadn¡¯t been exaggerating. Well the crying and begging part was but he did bribe her.

    Apparently Annoying Court Mage thought that Annoying Brat getting accepted as a court mage was what he was supposed to do anyways and you shouldn¡¯t celebrate what was expected as that would have made him complacent.

    She didn¡¯t really agree with that and seeing the look on the Annoying Brats face when his achievement was treated as nothing special almost made her have a word with Annoying Court Mage on his behalf but she settled for a middle ground with the bribe.

    Apparently Annoying Court Mage had a bunch of super expensive bottles of alcohol that he had been hoarding and while she didn¡¯t like alcohol as she couldn¡¯t get drunk and the taste was horrible. She could see that as her way of getting back at him for denying Annoying Brats celebration.

    The Ranger and the Annoying Brat did the heist of the century if their story was to be believed (She¡¯d watch it when she got back to her pocket dimension) And even bagged a bunch of legendary bottles of alcohol made by some legendary brewer called Dragons Breath and Tears of sorrow. Cool sounding names. Shame they were attached to alcohol.

    So now that brings her back to the present. She pulled out a large cake The Maid had baked for this occasion and placed it on the center of the table.

    ¡°Wow.¡± The Ranger looked impressed and said ¡°This looks really good.¡±

    ¡°I believe you¡¯ll find it tastes even better¡± She responded. She had given The Maid some extra special ingredients to really help make this cake pop with flavor. In her opinion. If you were going to make food for a celebration, you make it as delicious as possible.

    She served them both a slice of cake, including one for the hawk (She didn¡¯t discriminate) and they all sat down to eat making small talk.

    Every bite she took of her slice, the black twisting flames that were her body devouring the tiny morsel. She had actually been staving off her hunger by doing all of this grazing and she really hoped she would be able to stave off forever.

    That was actually another function of the 5th floor of her pocket dimension. It was to allow her to graze her food. The last thing she wanted was to become like her siblings who devoured everything and anything without care!

    ¡°Wha! What''s happening!¡± She snapped out of her thoughts and realized the tower was shaking. She had accidentally let out more emotion then she meant too and quickly calmed down as The Ranger and The Annoying Brat looked around with panic while The Maid was clutching the wall she was standing by.

    ¡°Sorry, My mind just wandered into an unpleasant memory. Pay it no heed.¡± All of their attention turned to her in a mix of confused horror but instead of explaining she quickly changed the topic.

    ¡°So I got both of you a present each on account this is a celebration and all. And before you both even try to reject me, I have already gotten them so you might as well just accept them or they will be thrown away and wasted.¡±

    Both nodded eagerly and neither seemed like they had even considered rejecting her. Yeesh, they could have at least given some false sincerity. Whatever. Let¡¯s start with The Ranger first.

    She pulled out a time prison which she was currently using to keep all of the alcohol The Annoying Brat stole as well as the two gifts. She pulled out The Rangers gift first and a sudden loud squawk was heard across the room and The Rangers eyes widened.

    ¡°Right, since you seemed to love that hawk so much I thought about getting you a second one. You have some kind of magic to tame simple beasts right? So it shouldn¡¯t be too much of an issue for you.¡±

    This gift was a little bit disguised as a gift for herself as well. Since she had improved The Rangers hawk after she did a true resurrection by modifying it slightly, she started to wonder if two hawks with the same slightly modified beings were to have a baby would they keep the traits of the parents?

    So she got a lady hawk to go with the male hawk to see if that would be a yes or a no. She would just steal one of their babies when the time comes to check and give it back once she confirmed. Or maybe modify them more. She would decide in the moment.

    ¡°I love it!!¡± The Ranger Exclaimed snapping her out of her thoughts and getting up and taking the hawk from her ¡°Look Bloodwing! We got a new member of our family! I¡¯m going to have to come up with a name for you. Don¡¯t worry, it will be a name to remember!¡±

    Well she seemed happy at least. That just left The Annoying Brat who looked at her hopeful and eager as well. ¡°Alright, I gave a lot of thought on what to give you. And since you are always bragging about how brilliant you are and how you can master any magic I can give you no matter what. I decided to take you up on that challenge.¡±

    She reached into her bag and dropped several large books onto the table. So many books that it took up half the table and stacked high enough that even if you stood up your head wouldn¡¯t be able to come out on top.

    ¡°Here we have various notes, spells and theories when it comes to dimensions, planes, and void travel. Good luck trying to wrap your mind around any of that. And if you do succeed. Perhaps I¡¯ll introduce you to the more advanced theories¡± She says with pride and The Annoying Brat stared at the stack of books with his mouth hung open before letting out a very high pitched squeal in delight and snatching the nearest book and opening it.

    The Ranger let out a sigh ¡°Great, I will have to drag him out of his room now just to make sure he gets some sunlight and eats.¡±

    Heh. He did tend to get rather caught up when it came to magic. But that was a good trait to have in her opinion. Passion was the fruit of life.

    ¡°Alright, the both of you. Enough celebrating. I have something else to take care of today and can¡¯t keep entertaining you. Marrow, you can send a servant to come pick up these books tomorrow or something. But not today¡±

    The Annoying Brat looked at her almost pleading like ¡°Why not today? Couldn¡¯t you send Vera To do it?¡±

    ¡°No, she is going to be busy. Now up up up. Let¡¯s get going. Yin said she was going to punish you from behaving like a child earlier so go suffer from that.¡±

    The Annoying Brats face went red again and Yin grinned ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry. He is going to suffer a great deal. Thank you for the gifts Ms. Gates. I promise to take great care of this hawk!¡±

    The Ranger grabbed The Annoying Brats hand before he could say anything else and dragged him out of the room. Well, glad that is all taken care of.

    She then looked at the maid who was sitting at the table awkwardly. Despite the awkwardness she noticed her plate that had the cake had been licked clean. So glad she enjoyed her own baking.

    ¡°Alright. Vera¡± She stated causing The Maid to look up with some conflicting emotions ¡°No backing out now. This is for the best. But if you still have trouble. Just remember this moment when you are worried and seem down. It will serve you well.¡± She rested her arm on a lower stack of the books.

    The maid seemed confused as she looked at the books again. ¡°Those are a lot of books.¡±

    ¡°Well dimensions and void travel can be a little complex. Not really sure what use Marrow will have with them actually. Even if he did start to decipher everything in here I don¡¯t really see why he would need to go to another dimension much less a whole new material world.¡± She gave a wink towards her letting her know this was basically just her way to keep him super distracted by a complex puzzle more than anything else.

    The Maids confused face got even more confused at that ¡°Um.. Have you already ordered a coach to take me or am I taking a caravan?¡± she spoke trying to steer the conversation towards something she understood

    ¡°What? Why on earth would I send you on either of those things?¡±

    The Maids eyes widen ¡°You can¡¯t mean to send me to this location with your carriage right? I can¡¯t accept such a luxury from you! I am more than happy to travel with a caravan or even by myself if the caravan won¡¯t allow me too!¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Nah, I mean I don¡¯t really need my carriage to go around. I mostly use it for aesthetic and roleplay reasons. No, I am going to send you over with the best mode of transportation. Teleportation!¡±

    ¡°Teleportation? I am afraid I don¡¯t know what it is¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Be sure to play nice and make new friends, yada yada yada. And most importantly. Have fun¡±

    She put her hand on The Maids shoulder. ¡°Wait. I still don¡¯t know what you me-¡±

    Pop

    And just like that she was gone. She was pretty sure The Necromancer Girl was still on that boat. Or at least she was when she checked in on her yesterday. The boat was also anchored so she didn¡¯t think it would move too much.. Eh she¡¯d be fine. The Maid could swim surely.

    She settled down as the silence of her tower stretched for a good long moment. Now to properly destress and finally get some reading done. She opened up a book that she had been enjoying quite a lot and started reading. It was really starting to ramp up in the action. This dragon that had been hounding the Heros footsteps for past three books was about to have a final show down and things were about to get-

    Her door swung open and in stepped¡­ Someone? Noble #4? Ugh, even his nickname was forgettable. Why did she even bother giving those nicknames out? Also he interrupted her reading and he sure as hell wasn¡¯t Annoying Brat.

    ¡°Get out!¡±

    Noble #4 paused at her sharp response ¡°Ah, come now Ms Gates. I am here for a request. You see Queen Cathryns Birthday was coming up and I was here to commission a-¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t care, get out. It is reading time for me.¡± She snapped. She really just wanted to read right now. The book was getting really good!

    ¡°Ms Gates please. I had to sneak all the way here just to ensure she wouldn¡¯t know what I was planning and-¡±

    ¡°What part of get out do you not get! I! Am! Reading!¡± She felt her tone getting sharper as she felt her agitation increase.

    He crossed his arms clearly not liking how she was addressing him ¡°No, you forget yourself here and know that if I so wish. I could have you thrown into the dungeon for taking such a tone with me. I don¡¯t know why you seem so obsessed with those books. Reading such fictional tales is meant for children and the common folk. A waste of time if you ask me¡±

    ¡°. . .¡±

    * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Cathryn had her guards shove their way through the crowd of horrified onlookers until she could see perfectly the grotesque display before her.

    ¡°Ignes¡­¡±

    Silence met her and she inwardly groaned as in that brief moment of shock upon the scene before her, she forgot that Ignes was still overseas. She could have really used him here right now in this moment as she gazed upon the cruelty that was displayed before her.

    Marquess Yomas Errinas, loyal ally to her, was currently strung upside down thirty feet above her on the castles walls.

    His legs were split apart on either side with each foot impaled by an earth spike, large gashes made across that likely made him bleed out from that position. It was likely a horrifyingly painful death. One that she would have trouble believing not a single person had noticed until now.

    Above his mutilated body, the word ¡°Sinner!!¡± Was written above. She could not begin to grasp what that could mean. Her mind spun with questions that came up with nothing.

    She felt her teeth grind against each other as she cursed in every language she knew towards Captain Gates! She would have that conniving murderous womans head on a spike the moment she had the chance.

    * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Sharrel slowly straightened back up from the ship railing. It had been close to a year since they had taken up residence on this ship after commandeer it from some merchants whose bodies were currently shambling about in the cargo hold.

    She had never been on a boat before and was somewhat excited about it at first, however she quickly learned that it was not meant for her. How anybody could function with the constant swaying was beyond her imagination. How they couldn¡¯t get sick was just as confusing.

    The fact that Aion seemed to have zero trouble with the swaying of the ship had brought a barrage of bragging and teasing comments from him.

    She smiled a little, glad he took such pride in not getting motion sick from the ship before feeling her stomach lurch again and she vomited over the ship again.

    The first chance she got to leave this ship permanently she would. And then she would never set foot on another one of these cursed boats. No matter what she was offered! Never!

    ¡°You have been acclimating well to the ship I see.¡± A snarky voice came from behind her which could have only belonged to one person.

    ¡°Not in the mood Tulip¡± She grumbled.

    ¡°I am serious. You have made great improvements over the course of the year. If this keeps up I expect you to be able to go a full day without throwing up in about a hundred years. I look forward to the day¡±

    ¡°Is there something you want or are you here to just torment me?¡±

    ¡°I can do both, I am quite the multitasker after all¡± Tulip grinned a little. There was no malice behind his comments. Lavender said it was just his way of showing love but ugh. Now really wasn¡¯t the time.

    ¡°Please just get to the point. Or at least wait till my stomach has settled¡±

    ¡°Of course. You see I was out by the market when-¡±

    He was cut off by a sudden popping sound and before she even registered what had happened Tulip had drawn out a pair of daggers, this was then followed by a meek ¡°eep!¡± And a sudden splash.

    Sharrel blinked and looked back over the banister and saw a woman who had seemed to appear out of nowhere and was currently next to the bow of their ship thrashing around.

    ¡°Help! I can¡¯t swim!¡± a panicked voice erupted from below.

    Sharrel whipped her head to Tulip ¡°Quick! Jump in and pull her up on board! Now!¡±

    Sharrel watched as Tulip jumped into the ocean with perfect form and pulled the woman out of the water and brought her on board. Placing her down on the ship as she coughed up some water and Sharrel got a better look at her.

    A forsaken? She looked at the woman and her mismatched appearance. She didn¡¯t really hold much prejudice towards their species. If anything she felt some kinship towards them. Forced to deal with things that were outside of their control making their lives worse. Swallowed in a sea of cruelty with the general consensus of those who witnessed it thinking ¡°Hurry up and drown already.¡±

    But most importantly. Was this the woman her beloved goddess had decided to send to her? She gave it some thought and all the signs pointed to it. Her goddess gave a poor street urchin like her the power to get herself out of her position.

    Now she sends a Forsaken. A species that is looked down upon and hated by those who believe they are better. It really did not seem like much a stretch to believe that her beloved, wonderful goddess wanted to help someone else who had been most likely in a similar position as her.

    The woman was still coughing out some water and Sharrel reached over and gave her a pat on the back to help ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    The woman froze despite the coughing fit and glanced briefly behind her before looking at Sharrel with a mix of emotions. ¡°Y-yeah. I... I think I-I am okay.¡± She managed to squeak out before the coughing fit resumed

    ¡°Alright, here. Let''s get you out of these wet clothes and into something drier. Come with me. Tulip, can you please inform the rest of the Guardians and Aion that we now have a guest.¡±

    Tulip gave a small bow ¡°as you wish mam¡± He turned around and left as Sharrel took the somewhat hesitant woman down into the ship to the private quarters she had set up for herself.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I really have anything in your size but it will be better than nothing. I will be sure to have Tulip or Lavender find you some clothes that can fit you in their next outing.¡±

    She began to dig through the clothes she had, trying to find something that might at least sort of fit. Before she had the guardians and some actual money she would always try to steal some clothes that were several sizes larger than her as she was still growing. But she hasn¡¯t really grown that much in a while and the Guardians were insistent that she wore clothes that actually fit her more or less.

    ¡°Y-you really d-don¡¯t need to. The clothes that I am wearing are perfectly fine f-for me. It. It. It really isn¡¯t an issue¡± she managed to stutter out. Her entire posture looked like she wanted nothing more then disappear from sight

    Sharrel then gave her a hard look ¡°Those clothes are wet, and wearing wet clothes can leave rashes and chafing which is uncomfortable. And those are probably the better options of what can happen to you. It¡¯s not like we are throwing away your clothes, just letting you wear something else while they dry.¡±

    She left no room for arguing as she took out something that would likely fit the woman at least so she wasn¡¯t too uncomfortable and began to help the woman change.

    ¡°I just realized. I never got your name. That was rude of me. What should I call you?¡±

    ¡°Oh! I am so s-sorry! Vera! My name is Vera It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you!¡± She gave quick awkward bows while trying to put on the clothes at the same time leading her to almost stumble to the ground.

    ¡°My name is Sharrel, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. And there is no need to bow to me. I might be the high priestess of our goddess but I am not above anyone else in my opinion¡±

    She smiled a little. While it was true she did not believe herself above others because of her station she still felt pride and joy over being chosen by the goddess to be her high priest.

    ¡°Um.. Our goddess? Forgive me b-but I don¡¯t think I understand what you mean?¡± she shifted her weight uncertainly.

    Sharrel tilted her head at what Vera just said. ¡°The goddess. The goddess of death, the lost and the forgotten. Did¡­ Did she not send you?¡±

    Vera shook her head looking a tad uncomfortable ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. I was sent here by her l-ladyship Captain Gates. She had b-been trying to convince me to come here for over a year.. Saying that I would find a place or a home with the special people who would accept me for¡­. B-being a forsaken.¡±

    Sharrel froze with her mind trying to process what she just said. ¡°Did¡­. Did she really use the word special?¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­ Um.. Yes?¡±

    Tears welled up in her eyes as her knees buckled and hit the floor. Her goddess believed her to be special! Her goddess truly believed it and told other people! To think her beloved, beautiful amazing goddess would think so highly of her!

    ¡°Uh!¡± Vera quickly ran up to her, clearly flustered at seeing her starting to cry ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It wasn¡¯t a goddess or anything. She was just¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Sharrel quickly cut her off and grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned in closely ¡°Don¡¯t you see! This Captain Gates person! They are the goddess disguised! Tell me! Tell me everything you know and everything you can!!¡±

    They then spent several hours with Sharrel grilling Vera on everything that she knew and by the end of it she sat there in silence. Her goddess was truly amazing! She was having some trouble wrapping her head around why the goddess of death was trying to prevent such destruction to the kingdom but she knew that her beloved goddess was clearly a million steps ahead with whatever she was planning that Sharrel couldn¡¯t possibly conceive with her tiny miniscule brain!!

    It was amazing! But then she felt the frustration over what it sounded like was people taking advantage of her generosity and humility. She was trying to save them all from what was undoubtedly doom but they were too busy playing politics or trying to find ways to gain more power through her!

    The people at the top were truly despicable! She sent a very quick prayer to her goddess to let her know she was rooting and supportive of her as well another prayer telling her that she would look after her new guest!

    ¡°Not to  worry Vera. I swear upon my life! As the goddess as my witness, you will always be proteBLAAARG!¡± The ship suddenly lurched from a wave that made her stomach decide to spew out whatever was in her stomach which wasn¡¯t much but it was still horrible and unsightly.

    ¡°Ugh! I hate this ship¡±

    ¡°Um.. If it might help!¡± Vera squeaked out hesitantly ¡°her ladyship h-had once taught me how to make a kind of tea to help with upset stomachs. I am not sure how much it might help but it has to be better than¡­ you know¡­ nothing.¡±

    For the second time today she cried tears of joy ¡°You truly were sent by the goddess!¡±

    Vera stuttered over herself a bit before awkwardly saying ¡°If you say so¡­¡±

    Sharrel couldn¡¯t help but smile a little bit ¡°You don¡¯t believe me do you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a little hard to believe. I don¡¯t think you can blame me¡­ Can you?¡± She looked worried that Sharrel would actually blame her but she shook her head.

    ¡°No. I understand it might seem hard to believe. I am sure if I was in your shoes I too would have trouble believing it. But I also know that you will eventually come to understand and see what I see.¡± She smiled at Vera who still seemed a tad uncomfortable

    A sudden knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Tulip called ¡°Madam, may I enter?¡±

    ¡°You may¡± Tulip entered the door causing a frightened gasp from Vera. She would need to explain the guardians to her as well as the undead she currently had at the bow of the ship.

    To her credit though Vera quickly bowed multiple times and spoke faster then a chittering mouse ¡°I apologies for the sudden rude reaction! Also thank you very much for saving me when I fell into the water.¡±

    Tulip flashed her a smile ¡°Think nothing of it. I probably should have worn the mask since I knew we had a guest over.¡±

    ¡°Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?¡± Sharrel glared at Tulip.

    ¡°Because she is a guest. You are family. Any more questions?¡±

    Sharrel opened her mouth and closed it again. ¡°Whatever. What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, a few things. One dinner is ready and Aion wants to meet the new guest who was sent by the goddess so I hope you don¡¯t mind eating in his bedroom. Sharrel, before you join them for dinner I do still have a report I need to pass on to you if you wouldn¡¯t mind¡±

    Sharrel nodded. ¡°Okay, it will give Aion some time to be able to say hi and talk with Vera¡± Sharrel turned to her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get him too excited. He still has trouble handling too much excitement and can sometimes pass out. If he does, don¡¯t freak out, just give a shout out and someone will come.¡±

    Vera nodded. Clearly confused but didn¡¯t ask questions as Lavender came out from behind Tulip and gestured for her to follow and she did.

    Once Vera was gone Sharrel looked at Tulip. ¡°Alright, so what is it?¡±

    Tulip nodded ¡°it would seem that Oroun has grown tired of no results when it comes to finding you. He has hired a large group of mercenaries and they are now sweeping through the slums as well as mobilizing various gangs within the city as well.

    ¡°They are stealing, assaulting and attacking a lot of people. It would seem Oroun has given them a free pass in whatever they do. Some have tried to fight back but they were quickly squashed. Things are escalating and fast. I am not sure if we can keep hiding like this¡±

    Sharrel took a deep breath to help herself calm down. So now they were just attacking and harassing anyone and everyone. The lost and forgotten. ¡°Tulip.. No more running. Tell Clover that we are going to begin fighting back. It is time for the people at the top to face the consequences for the people they take advantage of.¡±

    Tulip bowed towards her and then turned and left to go find Clover as Sharrel took a deep breath. This was inevitable. She knew that but she had hoped it wouldn¡¯t be. She wasn¡¯t the little girl who was helpless anymore. If they wanted war, then they shall have war. She did not start it but she will absolutely finish it.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 5: How not to quit a job

    Ignes smiled at the guard who gave him a nod and spoke ¡°Hello Mr. Harrow. They asked you to come in late again I see.¡±

    Ignes nodded, adopting a light tone ¡°You know how it is. Those mages are constantly everywhere. You take down one and two more sprout up. There is no rest for guys like you or me.¡±

    The guard gave a grunt ¡°Ain¡¯t that the truth. You take care now will you¡±

    Ignes smiled as he walked past the guard and into the hall of the inquisition. It was only a branch of the main inquisition set up in the port city Torras but it would have what he needed so he felt no need to travel to the capital.

    He walked through the halls, politely nodding and smiling at the people he passed before finally making his way to his office where another man sat there already. He quickly got up when Ignes walked in. ¡°Oh good Harrow. Glad you are here. I uh.. I have what you asked.¡±

    If this had been an operation that he didn¡¯t want word of getting out, he would have had the man flogged for saying something like that to him with the door still open. He adopted a calm attitude and kept a pleasant smile on his face as he shut the door and walked to the other side of the desk and sat down.

    ¡°Lets see them then¡±

    The man bent down and with a heavy grunt pulled the bag up and placed it down on his desk with a loud thud. ¡°This is all I could procure without raising suspicion.¡± His voice then dropped low as he leaned forward.

    ¡°Is it true? Have the mages actually infiltrated the inquisition and tampered with the anti-magic metal?¡±

    ¡°That is what I intend to find out.¡± Ignes replied as he opened the bag to see several ingots of the precious anti magic metal. It had taken him several years to get to this position with a huge risk to his personal being, all for this moment.

    He closed the bag and looked at the man. ¡°Remember. Do not leak this to anyone. If the mages learn that I might suspect them then they will surely retaliate. I am putting my faith in you.¡±

    The man nodded ¡°not to worry my lips are sealed!¡±

    Ignes smiled ¡°I am sure. Now leave. I don¡¯t want people to start wondering what you are here for and why. Their could be spies in this building at this very moment for all we know¡±

    The man quickly got up and scurried off. It had been hard trying to find a person who was horrible at keeping secrets, was bribable, had the connections to give him what he wanted and had a strong sense of patriotism for his kingdom but once he found him it was just a matter of time.

    He had the metal now and began to take out several documents. He had been an exceptional inquisitor for the empire with a huge success rate for catching mages and getting information on mage sympathizers for the past few years, even being promoted because of it on more than one occasion.

    Thanks to this he had built up a pretty good reputation for himself. Plus he had also inundated himself with several minor nobles giving him some fair sway and influence over the common folk as a man of inspiration given his character''s commoner background.

    Placing all the documents on the desk in the order he wanted, he then took out a simple sheet of paper and wrote a somewhat encrypted message and circled it. A red herring of course. To help keep them off his trail and hopefully never find it.

    Once he finished everything he took a deep breath as he picked up the bag of ingots and adopted a frantic expression as he swung open the door and moved quickly and with purpose but with a hint of anxiety.

    As he walked past his secretary he quickly announced ¡°I need to check something! Cancel anything I have later today and take any messages that are needed! I will be back tomorrow!¡± And quickly moved past her without letting her get a word in.

    He made his way through the inquisition hall without acknowledging anybody. He was known for being calm and collected so people seeing him rushing through the hall was going to turn some heads.

    He quickly walked past the guard he had greeted when he entered without acknowledging him and called for a carriage, climbing in and giving them the coordinates for his home and paid extra for him to hurry.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    It didn¡¯t take terribly long for him to arrive at his destination. It was a fairly nice house in a fairly nice neighborhood in a fairly nice part of the city. It was picture perfect and a perfect place for someone in his position to live keeping with the empire''s ideal man.

    He left the carriage and entered the house, shutting the door behind him before readopting his usual calm demeanor ¡°I¡¯m home early!¡±

    ¡°Dad!¡± His step son came running down the stairs happily and jumped to give him a hug which he easily caught ¡°Why are you back early?¡±

    ¡°Actually finished early for once. I think people are finally beginning to learn that to sympathize with a mage makes you just as bad as a mage. Less work for me right?¡±

    His step son let out a laugh ¡°The only good mage is a dead mage!¡± He said repeating some the empires propaganda

    ¡°Does that mean you will be coming home earlier now¡±

    ¡°More than likely. Is your mom home?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! She is upstairs! She will be happy to see you back!¡±

    ¡°I am sure. Come on. Let''s go say hi together¡± Still carrying him he went upstairs and opened his bedroom door to see his wife sitting in the corner of the room knitting a piece of clothes. When she saw him her eyes lit up with delight.

    ¡°Oh! I knew I heard the door but wasn¡¯t expecting you to come back so early¡± She got up and walked over giving him a small kiss on the cheek causing his Step Son to let out a noise of disgust.

    ¡°Did work go well for you sweetie?¡±

    ¡°It did¡± He let out a grunt as he took the bag carrying the ingots off his shoulder and handed them over to his wife ¡°Would you please put this on the bed for me¡±

    ¡°Certainly¡± She took the bag with a sudden exertion of effort ¡°My god. What do you have here?¡±

    ¡°A surprise. No peeking.¡± He said teasingly, causing her to roll her eyes and turn around to bring it over to the bed.

    The moment her back was turned he took out a dagger he kept hidden on his person and plunged it into his step sons neck. Grasping his mouth to keep him from letting out even the slightest bit of sound. His body barely thrashed before falling limp.

    He quickly dropped the body and moved to his wife, plunging the blade up into the back of the skull and into the brain. Killing her before she even hit the floor with a thud.

    He let out a small sigh as he cleaned the blade. Killing them brought no pleasure or happiness but their deaths were needed if he was going to fake his kidnapping and death at the hand of mages and mage sympathizers.

    If he thought he could have gotten into the position he had as an inquisitor without involving anybody else he would have but that was not to be. The empire had expectations for its productive members of society. Having a family was one of them.

    He found a relatively wealthy widow with a child and quickly seduced her. This was always their fate to be. He had no regrets with what he did. But that didn¡¯t mean he wanted to do it.

    Closing their eyes respectfully as one final honor he moved to the mirror that was within the bathroom and began undoing the makeup, hair dye and prosthetics he had on his face that changed his appearance.

    The inquisition was always checking for magically changed appearances but never bothered to check if there were anybody who might change their appearance the harder way.

    In fairness though, the kingdom never bothered with either of those. He would have to make sure that was changed when he got back.

    Once he was back to his usual appearance he started to go through the house making a mess, showing very clear signs of struggle all while letting out faint wisps of mana everywhere that any inquisitor would be able to pick up.

    That done he went back to the bedroom and shutting the door he summoned a concussive blast of kinetic magic and hurled it to the door blasting it open. Before doing the same twice more and hurled it towards the bodies smashing them in. That should have been enough to hide the knife wounds but just to be safe.

    He summoned up some fire magic and began to torch various areas of both the top floor and the bottom. When he was certain the rest of the house would soon go up in flames he left through the back door as the house he had called home for the past three years went up in flames.

    It was now a matter of sneaking through the various side roads and alleyways till he got to the dock district. He had scheduled the meeting with the minor noble the same day a trade ship would be departing for his kingdom so he could leave the same day.

    Perhaps that was him being careless with a potential connection but he felt he left enough bread crumbs pointing in different directions and other possibilities that it was unlikely.

    As he made his way to the ship he walked to the captain ¡°Greetings good sir. How much for passage?¡±

    The Captain gave him a look and a small grunt. Two silver, and a name passenger registry.¡±

    Ignes pulled out 20 silver and handed it to the captain who snatched it from him ¡°Welcome aboard stowaway. Don¡¯t go looking for trouble and no trouble will find you¡±

    Ignes offered his thanks and walked aboard. The ship would be leaving soon and he¡¯d finally be able to return home. He hoped Cathryn was doing okay. Even if they had managed to deal with Captain Gates while he had been gone the ingots would still help for any potential criminal mages.

    He made his way below deck so fewer people would have the chance to see him. It is time to go home.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 6: FINALLY A HERO!

    1 year, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour, and 1 minute later. (also 2 seconds but, you know, WHOS COUNTING!!!)

    Jacob made his way through the street and into the city''s park. His muscles were still sore from the workout Erin had been putting him through to help train him for the Shadows.

    It was grueling training but he didn¡¯t really mind it too much at this point. Though his favorite part was his sword strikes to the dummy. It let him get out some of his frustrations.

    He wasn¡¯t really going home as often as he used to. Sometimes he would even stay out for the whole night. That wasn¡¯t really to say he stayed at Erin''s place either. He knew he meant well and was trying to look after him but he didn¡¯t think the shadows would accept him if he they knew he was closely associated with a forsaken.

    He was still surprised the Rangers accepted him but apparently the leader of the rangers didn¡¯t really care about whether one was a forsaken or not. He just wanted good rangers which to Erins credit. He was.

    Jacob made his way to a more private area of the park so he didn¡¯t have to worry about other people and sat down under a tree by a small pond where some birds were. It was peaceful here and he could really use a nap.

    He closed his eyes and began to relax as best as he could so he could perhaps try to take a small nap but then he heard a girl''s voice calling out.

    ¡°Come down! I promise nothing is going to happen! Get down here this instant!¡± Jacob did his best to ignore the voice but with the continued pleading and what sounded like somebody hitting a tree he knew he wasn¡¯t going to get any sleep with the stupid racket and decided to nap somewhere else.

    As he got up and looked over to the source of the noise he spotted a slightly older Alice standing at the base of a tree kicking it while looking up to the branches where the white cat she had been trying to capture to torment. He was kind of surprised the cat was still alive all things considered. Must have kept escaping.

    Unfortunately because of his movement Alice happened to catch sight of him and called out ¡°Oh Jaocb!¡±

    She adopted her innocent sweet kid voice ¡°Could you please help me! I am trying to get my cat down from the tree but she won¡¯t come down and I am worried about her. Could you please help!¡±

    Jacob just rolled his eyes. He didn¡¯t know why she bothered to lie when he already knew why she wanted the cat, and she knew that he knew. Maybe it was all a game to her. Or maybe she couldn¡¯t help herself. He didn¡¯t really care.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Fine, I will help. But on the condition you let slip to your dad how great of a person I am so that he will have a better opinion of me and how I have helped you out again.¡±

    ¡°Sure. But you have to actually hand the cat over to me if that is the case!¡±

    ¡°Deal¡± Jacob moved over to the tree and looked up at it. The branches were high up but sturdy enough that they would support his weight. Probably the main issue would be the cat himself when he got to it.

    Taking his shirt off and holding it in his hands he jumped to the nearest and sturdiest looking branch and easily hoisted himself up to it. With practical ease thanks to the training he has been receiving he climbed higher till he got to where the cat lay crouched and ready.

    ¡°Alright. Lets make this easy for the both of us. What do you say?¡± The cat glared at him as if understanding what he was about to do and who he was trying to give them too let out his and swiped their paws at him.

    ¡°Hard way it is then¡± Using his shirt and keeping himself balanced on the branch. He moved and snagged the cat, using his shirt as a rebuff against their swipes with their claws which were undoubtedly clawing holes in them.

    The cat let out multiple hisses as they trashed about struggling to get free causing Jacob to almost lose his balance but he quickly regained himself. Noting that the training really had been paying off.

    Holding the cat tightly so they wouldn¡¯t break free he climbed down the tree with a bit of effort and landed in front of Alice who happily clapped jumping up and down. She almost looked like a normal kid if one were to take away context.

    ¡°You better be careful or they will escape again.¡± He said as he handed the cat who was still thrashing about while wrapped in his shirt.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry! They won¡¯t have much of a chance to thrash about for long¡± She responded with a sadistic smile and snagged the cat with his shirt and began to ran off with Jacob calling back out

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to put in a good word for me!¡± He yelled. Getting someone as influential as the Baron will help his chances in getting into the shadows. And if all it took was one silly cat''s life. Seemed like a good bargain.

    He turned away and began to go look for another place to nap when he heard a sudden yowl and then a young girl letting out a yell of pain followed by crying.

    Sighing he turned back around, and this time making sure he was out of sight, looked over to see Alice on the ground crying as she clutched her now bleeding face from claw marks and the white cat running away.

    Well that''s what she gets for not listening to him and not keeping the cat close to her. He wasn¡¯t going to help her if she was so useless she couldn¡¯t even do something so basic.

    He turned back around and began making his way to a different area of the park. It was a shame he lost his shirt. He will have to steal one from Clairs pile of mending clothes when he returned home.

 Book1, Part 1, Chapter 9: A Stumble in the prologue/Call to arms

    Finally!! It had been a gajillion, trillion, billion years but she finally, FINALLY, found her hero. She was hoping this simple process would take her a few months but Noooooo! There was always something wrong with whatever candidate she had.

    It would have been nice if she could have had help to find people, she was under no delusion that she had missed at least a few would be heroes but she could only cover so much ground and observe so many kids at the same time.

    Really though, given the amount of people she had gone through. This entire kingdom had a poor quality of people. She¡¯d probably have to ask The Big Bad Demon Lord to go easy on the kingdom to avoid them from getting wiped out too quickly.

    Thankfully she finally found the perfect one to be her hero. A teen boy in some tiny little village that had the hallmarks of all the perfect protagonists. Naive, innocent, sweet, strong sense of justice, wishing for something more by the looks of it. It was a perfect candidate!

    Well, maybe he wasn''t perfect but at this point she¡¯d settle for good enough, besides she can easily iron out the details as she plays the role of mentor for him before her tragic death scene.

    Honestly she was just excited to get out of this damn castle. Leave it to royal court politics and greedy, noisy humans to remind her why she held no remorse for collapsing her original material world barrier and isolating herself for who knows how long in her pocket dimension. Plus there was also that Annoying-.

    She heard a knock on her chamber door and inadvertently let out a groan, having a very strong feeling of who it was. Wanting to avoid it but not seeing a good excuse to do so, she got up from her chair and opened up the door to see the happy face of the Annoying Brat staring at her.

    ¡°Hey Teacher, glad to see you are awake!¡± He happily marched into the room without an invite as usual. He was certainly chipper this morning, but he was chipper every morning so that wasn¡¯t really notable.

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind me coming by early. I had some questions about one of the books you lent me. I just don¡¯t even get half of the stuff that it talks about. Every time I think I have a slight grasp on what is being mentioned it almost seems to change the rules on me. And that is not even mentioning-¡±

    ¡°Marrow, Marrow. I need you to calm down. Whatever it is you have is going to have to wait. I am leaving now and will probably be gone for more than a little bit.¡±

    The Annoying Brat froze and looked at her with some trepidation. ¡°Leaving? Why are you leaving? Does it have something to do with this hero you have been looking for after all of this time?¡±

    ¡°Indeed it does. I believe I have his general location and a name. I am about to head out to find him this instant.¡± She could actually go and grab him right now if she wanted but she had big plans for the opening act and as such she couldn¡¯t just grab him immediately and needed an excuse as to why she couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Great! Then I will come with you! It would be best if two people were to go looking for this hero then one. Actually, better yet, let¡¯s tell the queen and get the help and backing of all of her forces. We can probably find this person within a couple days at most.¡±

    Uh.. ¡°N-no. That would probably be a bad idea¡±

    The Annoying Brat looked at her confused ¡°Why not? It would be the most efficient would it not?¡±

    Crap! It really would be efficient and if this were a real issue then she absolutely would agree to all the help. ¡°Well.. You see¡­ I.. Am afraid that too much movement would bring the attention of powerful demons and they might try to kill the hero before he has a chance to get to safety. This kind of operation requires stealth and I don¡¯t want to risk an attack.¡±

    The Annoying Brat seemed a little worried by that answer but thankfully seemed to accept her answer as fact. Thank goodness she managed to come up with that excuse just in the nick of time. His inquisitive mind was a great feature of him and she hoped he kept it but damn could it be annoying in the worst possible situations.

    ¡°Ah! If you are going to be leaving for who knows how long then you don¡¯t want to forget your bag!¡± The Annoying Brat ran to the door where she had placed her bag and picked it up. Seemed to fumble with it for a few moments and then ran back to her

    ¡°Here you go. Would have been bad if you forgot all your stuff. Be sure not to leave it anywhere¡± He smiled at her and she took it while giving him a look.

    I mean yeah. She placed it by the door for the whole purpose of not forgetting it by accident. Sometimes she just didn¡¯t know what went on in that man''s mind.

    ¡°Right, thanks. Listen Marrow, you are welcome to tell the queen that I will be going, better that you do actually so she doesn¡¯t get worried about me being gone. She seems to have some anxiety when it comes to my whereabouts for some reason. But I am afraid I can¡¯t tell you where I am going.¡±

    The Annoying Brat nodded ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I understand. Just be careful out there.¡±

    ¡°Pssh. I am always careful. You don¡¯t need to worry about me. And give my regards to Yin and her two hawks as well.¡±

    ¡°Can and will do. I guess I will see you later.¡± He seemed hesitant about something and she found it kind of sweet he was going to miss her. Strangely enough she felt like she was going to miss him too for some reason. She supposed he was a source of entertainment even if he was constantly annoying and interrupting her reading time.

    She bid farewell to The Annoying Brat and headed on through the castle not bothering to stop and talk with anyone lest she get dragged into yet another pointless conversation. She got to the stables, paid her made up fee and climbed into the carriage and with all due haste ordered it to go as fast as it could within reason out of the town (City?).

    She has oddly enough grown a little attached to this quaint little place. She would definitely move the heroes training here when she got him. Oooo! Maybe she should organize some kind of fighting tournament to help train him. Throw in a rival, and a secondary antagonist to interrupt the final showdown between the two where they had to team up to take down the secondary antagonist!

    She started to get more and more excited at the idea and got lost in her own little world as she imagined all sorts of ideas she could do. She got so caught up in the fantasy that she hadn¡¯t realized that the carriage had stopped at her destination.

    Eventually she managed to bring her attention and focus back to the moment and climbed out of the carriage where she had first arrived in some forest that was near the capital.

    After throwing her carriage into her time prison she activated her teleportation spell and her scenery changed from the bright lush and green of trees to a burnt land filled with a bunch of bunny-like creatures.

    When she said it was filled. She meant filled. These things were everywhere! Did she really make them breed that quickly??? She even teleported on top of one of them!

    Though said creature didn¡¯t seem to mind her stepping on them. She wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good thing or not so she quickly dismissed her illusion that made her look like a human woman. This caused panic chittering as the bunny creature tried to get away from underneath her.

    Okay, so very concerning. She quickly levitated a few feet above the ground and threw an ice spear into the perverted rabbit''s head. She was going to need to dip her feet in a tub of acid when she got the chance.

    The flap of wings drew her attention towards The Big Bad Demon Lord as it flapped down from one of the mountains that surrounded the valley.

    Now that she looked around though. In the center of the valley looked to be a nice house with some walls around it but that seemed to be it. The mountains that were all around this valley were carved out. They looked like multiple forts and villages all interconnected to each other, completely surrounding them. It would be quite impressive if there wasn¡¯t something very clearly missing.

    She slowly turned to The Big Bad Demon Lord who landed a few feet away from her and knelt down. Crushing a few more of these bunny creatures in the process. ¡°Rillan.. Where is the imposing impenetrable fortress? I see a nice wall of forts that have been carved out of the mountains. Along with a dingy looking house in the center of the valley. But no imposing sinister castle or scary dreadful city in the valley. Are you incapable of following orders???¡±

    She was definitely peeved. A gajillion stinking years was more than enough time to get a scary fortress in a scary city. Maybe even a scary tower or two but none could be seen. In fact she would say there was nothing in this valley if it weren¡¯t for the massive sea of humanoid bunnies taking up every square meter of space. Seriously! How many of these creeps were there??

    The demons hesitated for a brief moment, throwing a look at the house before looking back at her ¡°Mistress, you gave me the time prisons with the materials needed, but did not give me the passphrase to open them and thus I lacked material to make what you wished.¡±

    . . . Oops. ¡°Right. Obviously all on purpose, it was totally to test how you would handle my demands without all the required material. Congrats! I will now give you the pass code for the time prisons now. I applaud your ingenuity!¡±

    The Big Bad Demon Lord bowed his head ¡°Thank you mistress.¡±

    Well at least he is much more agreeable and subservient now. Makes this all easier. ¡°But first things first. I have an important mission for you. Something to make use of these bunny creatures¡±

    ¡°Orants Mistress¡± The Big Bad Demon Lord interrupted her

    ¡°What?¡±

    Rillan looked at her from his kneeling position ¡°Their race is called Orants¡±

    ¡°That''s a terrible name! Come up with something different! Something scary!¡±

    ¡°They seem to have grown attached to the name. It might be difficult too-¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care how difficult it is! Change the damn name!¡± Ugh, what was he thinking giving these creatures as lame as that.

    ¡°Listen, while you are trying to think up of a better name I have a mission for you to send these monsters on. I want you to send a contingent of these creatures to raid a small village.¡±

    That caused the demon to perk right up upon hearing this. ¡°You mean we can finally start to burn those human lands! Slaughtering all the humans in the process!¡±

    ¡°More or less, but just the parts I am telling you too. Do not go beyond¡± She promptly pulled out a map of the human kingdom and showed it to The Demon Lord.

    ¡°I need you to only hit this part right here¡± She gestures to the smaller section of the kingdom that was on the edge of the mountains towards the southern tip. ¡°But you must hit this little village first¡± Tapping a village named Haven that was closest to the mountains.

    The Demon Lord looked intently at the map ¡°I don¡¯t recall humans putting tiny villages on maps unless they hold a stronger purpose?¡±

    She just casually waved him off ¡°Obviously the map makers for this map were more detail oriented. So listen, send a bunch of these bunny creatures to invade the village. Send one of your kids too. Kill them all, yadda yadda yadda. Think you can do that?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    There appeared to be a slight hesitation before shrugging and a grin started to spread across his goat-like face. ¡°It would be my pleasure~ Shall I send them now?¡±

    ¡°Yep! Now I have a few things to do so I am taking off. Can¡¯t wait to see what kind of havoc you will reap in a few days. Have fun with the destruction¡±

    ¡°W-wait! I still need the pass-¡±

    Pop

    She teleported away. She couldn¡¯t be bothered to micro manage everything. The Big Bad Demon Lord would just have to find a way to solve his own problems.

    Oh right! She needed one of his kids to study. Eh, she would get that when she went back at some point.

    Either way she was excited. While she would be monitoring the village when it was attacked, it would be only to make sure her selected hero survived the massacre. She would be watching the whole thing properly when the whole adventure was done. She couldn¡¯t wait!

    Where was she? Why above the village of haven! Like really high up, cloud level high. She was currently sitting on her flying carpet (She got the idea from reading a book she lost somewhere in one of her book rooms).

    She wanted to be ready for when the army was to invade and make sure the Hero got away safely. Sure she didn¡¯t need to be here instantly as it would take time for the army to arrive but she honestly just didn¡¯t want to talk to The Big Bad Demon Lord or be around all of those Oran¡­ Nope! She was not calling them that.

    Plus, if she was being totally honest with herself. She just wanted to read some more. And every second of talking was a second of not reading and she just couldn¡¯t have that.

    But first she pulled out one of her scrying orbs and began to monitor the Hero of her new story that went by the name Jacob.

    She already has sent several dozen scrying orbs down to the village more or less. Largely for set dressing for when her story starts and before it burned to the ground. She already had a couple of scrying orbs following her Hero now. This was going to be a pivotal moment in his life

    With that she sat and waited¡­. And waited¡­ And waited¡­. And she got bored 5 minutes in and decided to start reading some of her ¡°To be read later¡± books she had stashed away in one of her time prisons. Plus she didn¡¯t want to spoil herself for future events.

    And just like that two full months had passed before her without even realizing it. And by that she meant she absolutely realized it! Why the hell would it take two freaking months for an army to march over some silly mountains!

    What had dragged her out of the enjoyment of her book was the sound of bells blasting down below and as she peeked over her carpet she spotted something in the distance, coming from the mountains.

    A mass horde of Ora¡­ Nope! She still refuses to call them that.

    A mass horde of the bunny creatures being led by a monster that did seem to be a weird mix between the creatures and The Big Bad Demon Lord. It kind of looked dorky so it clearly took after the dad but maybe the humans would find it scary.

    She sat forward and looked down at the village¡­ Though now she looked at the village a bit more closely though. They sure had a lot of soldiers. And they were all manning the wall already? Well guess they wouldn¡¯t be caught unawares but the results should be the same.

    She didn¡¯t want to watch the battle though. Too many spoilers for her and she didn¡¯t want to risk the Hero accidentally getting killed. Thus she proceeded to monitor the Hero who was currently with his family hiding in their house. It was actually really sweet. Oh she was definitely going to shed some tears when she watched this play out. Or she would if she actually had eyes! HaHA!

    So she waited¡­. And waited¡­. Slowly the sounds of battle from her scrying orb as well as up here began to quiet down¡­ And then silence¡­. Why was there silence?

    She looked up from her scrying orb and towards the village. When she saw what happened, her lower jaw dropped and landed onto the carpet which she quickly scooped up and reattached to her skull before her body started to burn.

    They won??? Not only did they win but they also seemed to have crushed the invading force! The walls looked a little worse for wear and there were clearly people dead but compared to all of the dead bunnies she would say it wasn¡¯t even close! Hells! The Big Bad Demon Lords kid that was leading the charge was currently being dragged out of a tower on the wall utterly mutilated and definitely dead!!

    Infuriated she got up from her carpet, and with a small pop  teleported back to the valley and screamed

    ¡°RILLAN!!¡± Her real voice cracked through reality, warping space and time when she shouted, several of the bunny creatures that were nearest to her bled out of their orifices before collapsing unconscious (Dead?) and she had to remember to force her real voice down lest she grabbed unwanted attention from her family.

    She waited impatiently, fuming at how her story got turned around like this. This was the opening act! The opening scene that destroyed the Hero''s understanding of the world and put them on a path they always wanted but couldn¡¯t be prepared for! And The Failure Of A Demon Lord completely blew it!

    She conjured up some blue fire into her eye sockets to show how mad she was and it would allow her to glare at The Failure Of A Demon Lord! Which she made sure to use as he swooped down and landed bowing towards her.

    ¡°Mistress! I understand you are upset but it wasn¡¯t my fault! You said it was a simple village! Not a massive fortified city!¡±

    ¡°It is a village! That dinky little hamlet wouldn¡¯t even have registered as a populous back in the world I came from! You clearly aren¡¯t trying hard enough!  Send a larger army! With more competent children to lead them!¡±

    She caught a slight growl coming from The Failure Of A Demon Lord and her voice turned cold ¡°Is there a problem demon?¡±

    ¡°No Mistress..¡±

    ¡°Good, I expect a better result with this next attack and to watch the VILLAGE burn.¡±

    Rillans head shot up to look at her ¡°Wait! The time pris¡±

    Pop

    She teleported away. She had stopped listening to that blasted failure once he said ¡®No Mistress¡¯. Honestly she was far too upset with him ruining the start of her story to even bear the idea of listening to his grating voice or looking at that ugly face.

    She plopped her bare bony butt down on the carpet above the tiny VILLAGE with her arms crossed as he glared down at the VILLAGE. ¡°Yall better die this round. It¡¯s already screwing up my story¡±

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    ¡°DO I LOOK LIKE I AM JOKING!?!?¡± Cathryn yelled down to the Noble before her as she glared at him from the top of her throne. Several guards stepped forward brandishing their weapons as the noble swallowed and Cathryn continued.

    ¡°An unknown threat of monsters has attacked the city of Haven and for all we know that was just a test on the city''s defenses. If you refuse to send some soldiers to help bolster the cities defenses then I will assume you are on the monster''s side and will be incarcerated with all of your assets seized.¡±

    The nobles eyes widened ¡°You can¡¯t do that! The nobles will rebel against such an act of tyranny!¡±

    Cathryn merely stared at him with her eyes narrowing ¡°Are you willing to place your life on the line for that statement¡±

    The noble swallowed before speaking ¡°At the very least you will need to compensate me. Soldiers need to be compensated after all.¡±

    She almost ordered the man''s execution right there. The sheer audacity and greed of these nobles. They were already swimming in wealth because of how much gold Captain Gates was throwing around, to the point that the economy was becoming more and more unstable. But no, they couldn¡¯t possibly fund their own soldiers. They needed her to do it for them.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± She said through gritted teeth. ¡°You will have some funding. But I expect your soldiers to make it to Haven within 3 days or else¡±

    The noble bowed ¡°Your majesty is most kind¡± He then turned and left with Cathryn glaring daggers at the back of his head.

    ¡°Riez, Aganem, please step forward.¡± Riez and Aganem stepped forward. Aganem was a recently promoted general and one of the youngest generals this kingdom has had. But his tactical prowess along with his gift in the blade made him rise up quickly. The fact that he was the son of a duke and had both Ignes and Riez recommendations certainly helped a lot too.

    ¡°Riez, I want you to send a couple of court mages to Haven. Ones that specialize in earth magic so they may help bolster the cities defenses as quickly and as strongly as possible. You yourself are forbidden to go¡± She quickly added in when she saw Riez open his mouth for a question and snap shut after she said it.

    ¡°Would her majesty at least allow me to send a third of our mages to Haven, one who has specialized in beasts and beasts taming. Perhaps they will be able to offer some insight as to what these creatures are and where they might have come from¡±

    Cathryn thought for a second. She didn¡¯t like the idea of sending two mages much less three but he did make a valid point. The more they knew about this unknown enemy the better it would be.

    ¡°Very well. I will permit this. Have him report back all of his findings of these creatures whenever he can¡±

    Riez bowed ¡°Of course your majesty¡±

    She then turned to Aganem ¡°How many soldiers can we muster up within a week to send to Haven.¡±

    Aganem thought briefly for a moment ¡°We can probably muster up more than is necessary. If we are preparing for another potential siege battle having too many soldiers could be more of a detriment then a benefit. Of course it¡¯s even harder to accurately predict when they¡¯re so many unknowns on our side¡±

    ¡°Give your best guess then¡± she responded and Aganem thought for a second more before responding.

    ¡°I would say six to seven thousand max. But that would come with the caveat that we were given additional food and supplies to help feed everyone. Especially if the second attack is one of a protracted siege¡±

    ¡°Done. I will be sure to get one of our administrators to help you acquire the food and supplies you need. You have one week to gather the men and when you do I want you to march as fast as possible towards Haven. Understood?¡±

    He bowed ¡°Understood. Though may I make another request of you, your majesty?¡±

    ¡°And that would be?¡±

    ¡°I understand that Haven has a garrison of Rangers at its city with the mountains but I worry it might not be enough. I would like to request some more rangers so that we can increase our potential scouting area and can hopefully be warned before another attack. If we remove any element of surprise it would be greatly appreciated.¡±

    ¡°Done. I will send the captain of the Rangers over to you and you can plan out what rangers and how many you can take with you. Is that acceptable¡±

    ¡°It is mam. Thank you¡±

    ¡°You are both dismissed as is everyone else. We will reconvene in an hour.¡± The people in her court all gave bows and left the throne room leaving her alone. Well, not quite alone.

    ¡°Ignes.¡± She responded and the shadows behind her throne morphed and Ignes stepped out of what almost seemed like nothing.

    ¡°Your majesty¡± He gave a bow.

    ¡°Cut the formalities. It is just the two of us. Have you received any word yet from the shadow you sent to Haven.¡±

    Ignes shook his head ¡°I am afraid not. It is like Captain Gates vanished off of the face of the earth.¡±

    She leaned back in her throne in frustration. It was a sheer stroke of genius on Marrows part by sneaking that tracking rune into her bag before she took off to find the ¡°Hero¡± She was constantly going on and on about.

    The only real downside was it wasn¡¯t precise and would instead give a general location. Either way the tracking rune had been hovering over the City of Haven for the past two months but there had been no word or sign of her anywhere. It wasn¡¯t like she was ever subtle in her actions. They had been trying to figure out what she had possibly been doing there but after this attack she was now almost certain she was behind it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be the first to admit. I had my hesitations about having someone like Marrow be used to help learn more and grow closer with Captain Gates, but his quick thinking about placing that tracker in her bag was really smart.¡± He then looked at her ¡°How did he take the news when he found out about the potential threat of Captain Gates¡±

    ¡°Not well. He just didn¡¯t believe it at first despite Riez, myself and others backing up our claims. Even now he doesn¡¯t seem to really believe she is an actual threat and has argued in defense of her character on several occasions. I hope this event will finally wake him up to reality. Both him and his girlfriend.¡±

    ¡°Yin was it? She is also fond of Captain Gates too then?¡±

    Cathryn nodded ¡°They both seem quite fond of her. I do not question their loyalty to the kingdom, but I do question their loyalty to me.¡±

    Ignes fell silent ¡°We will have to make sure they aren¡¯t around to potentially help her when we finally spring our attack on her. They could also just interfere in general.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of that. We will be postponing the ambush of her given recent events¡±

    Ignes nodded ¡°I thought that might be the case. This potential threat is going to have to take far more precedent. Though now that something has happened it does leave me curious when her Captain Gates location did briefly jump to that area deep within the mountains.¡±

    Cathryn nodded ¡°I have been wondering that too. It wouldn¡¯t be much of a stretch to believe one could hide a massive army deep in there without anyone ever knowing. I have already spoken to the captain of the Rangers and he is sending several rangers to roughly those coordinates to report back to us on what they find.¡±

    Ignes turned a concerned look towards her. ¡°When this is all over. I highly recommend you get some rest Cathryn. This comes from a place of love but you look like a wreck¡±

    Cathryn snorted and shook her head ¡°Just stress. It¡¯s one crisis after another it seems and not even crises I can predict either. Captain Gates seems to delight in us running around like headless chickens. She is probably taking delight in the fear she is causing us.¡±

    Ignes was silent for a while before he bowed to her ¡°If that will be all I will take my leave at least temporarily.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead. I will see you tonight¡±

    Ignes suppressed his smile though Cathryn could tell just by the very faint lip quiver ¡°As her Majesty commands¡± And then melted back into the shadows.

    If there was one thing she could say, she was really happy to have Ignes back.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 7: The first battle for Haven

    Erin gripped his bow as he watched the large group of monsters making their way towards Havens walls. All the available guards, soldiers and stationed Rangers were currently up on the walls ready for battle.

    He had not been part of the Ranger group that had come across the monsters that were making their way towards Haven. But once they had received the news the city had gone into panic.

    Several guards had to put down riots because of this. It was foolish of the Baron upon hearing the news to instantly put a food limit and tax on the supplies. Erin was pretty sure he just used it as an excuse to steal some wealth.

    Though frustrated by the man''s greed he had to push it to the back of his mind as the monsters drew ever closer and he was actually capable of getting a good look at them.

    The creatures almost seemed like bunnies. Horrible misshapen bunnies that were unsettling to look at. An almost perverse sin against nature itself. Standing at roughly 5 feet tall on their hind legs. Their matted fur seemed to cling to their fur which seemed to hide the powerful muscles underneath.

    They actually did look sort of like a mix of bunnies and humans if you were to combine the two except for one detail. Their faces.

    The bunnies were almost screeching with foam coming out of their mouths, molars covering all of their teeth except for the front where sharp fangs sat. He didn¡¯t know what would be worse if he was bitten by those fangs or crunched on by the molars. Their eyes clearly gave off a madness he knew all too well in seeing other animals. These monsters were rabid and would fight till they no longer drew breath.

    But that wasn¡¯t Erins biggest concern. In the front, leading this horde of vermin was a different monster entirely.

    It stood at about 8 feet tall easily overshadowing the rest of the monsters that it was with. Possessing a lot of the bunnies characteristics from the hind legs, fur, ears and face. But what separated it was that it had 4 arms. Each holding a crude but cruel looking blade. Large leather wings sprouting from its back making him wonder how they could possibly hold such a large creature afloat but if they could that would make things all that more complicated.

    Upon hearing the captain of the group he had been assigned to call out to be ready,  he pulled out one of his arrows and notched it to his bow but hadn¡¯t pulled it back yet waiting for the order.

    The head monster that was in front of the army let out a loud howl and all the monsters behind him froze. They were just out of arrow range which made him slightly worry that they weren¡¯t as dumb as they appeared to be.

    The monster in the lead snarled and began to pace back and forth. His eyes continued scanning the walls and everyone at the top before his gaze slowly turned to the gate that was at the front.

    The monster scoffed and let out a massive bellow before pointing one of its swords towards the wall and the rabid bunny monsters and they all began to charge.

    ¡°Draw!¡± The voice from the captain Commanded and Erin drew his bow and

    aimed towards the horde.

    ¡°Lose!¡± Erin fired his arrow and began to grab his second. The first few lines of the monsters died. Erin quickly notched another arrow and fired again as he observed the monsters charging towards them at a rapid speed.

    None of them had ladders or siege engines of any kind, and the walls themselves held protective enchantments so he didn¡¯t really see them being capable of breaking through. They were likely to just crash upon the wall where they would basically be fish in a barrel.

    The monsters then jumped easily above the wall''s height as they aimed for the people manning it.

    ¡°Oh yeah. Bunnies.¡± Erin''s reaction was faster than the ones standing beside him as he quickly dropped his bow and arrow and drew his sword. Slashing through the monster''s body in half as it tried to land on top of him.

    He quickly turned his blade onto the bunny-like monster that had tackled the person to his side and slashed it across the back as it was busy trying to bite through the man''s arm.

    He unfortunately couldn¡¯t turn to help the others as the next monster had landed on the edge of the wall and launched themselves at him. Their snout was met with his swords pummel and as he took a step back he brought the blade down and cleaved his blade into its skull.

    He couldn¡¯t even get much of a chance to breathe as soon more of the bunnies launched themselves onto the walls. If there was one thing he was thankful for was that these monsters had no tactics. They just lunged themselves at the nearest person with no regard to safety.

    He soon sort of found an odd rhythm to the bunnies as they launched themselves at him and he quickly dispatched the next over and over again. The stone walls became slick with blood as their bodies fell over and over again. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    More of the soldiers that were next to him fell as they slowly got overwhelmed by their numbers as they hopped over the walls.

    It was then that a dark shadow moved over Erin and his head whipped up to see the 4 armed leader of these monsters flying above them, its eyes trained on the captain that was barking orders with a cruel grin on its face before plummeting and smashing down in front of him.

    Erin barely had a chance to blink before he watched the mans head fly clean off his head.

    ¡°Shit!¡± The leading monster let out a bellow and began to cleave its way through the wall, killing both its allies and foes alike as it moved closer to him with unsettling ease.

    Slashing through one of the bunnies that was nearest him. Erin quickly began running backwards. Fighting that thing head on would be suicide in his opinion. It seemed that most people around him shared his opinion as they also turned around and began running away too.

    Erin had to cut through a few more of the rabbits before he heard the heavy footsteps behind him and following his instincts he dove off the edge of the wall grabbing onto the edge as the monster leader charged through where they were, it¡¯s four arms carving its way through everyone in front of it.

    He probably would have lost his grip had it not been for the claws of his left arm that dug into the stone of the wall.

    With some effort he pulled himself up and saw the carved up bloody remains of everyone and everything. Erin was no stranger to violence and bloodshed but he felt his stomach do a flip because of it. A crashing boom echoed and Erin looked over to see the monster had broken through one of the gate towers and he could hear panicked screaming inside.

    What he wouldn¡¯t have killed for them to actually have a mage here. A powerful spell would work wonders. The only real magic Erin knew was utility and the average soldier didn¡¯t know anything at all.

    With a growl, knowing how stupid of an idea this was, he started to rush towards the gate tower, picking up a short spear along the way and cutting down yet another one of the bunnies that had hopped onto the wall and charged into the gate tower.

    It only took a millisecond for his eyes to adjust and he saw several people carved up dead on the floor. With the monster leader climbing up the stairs killing everyone in its way as they tried to flee in terror stepping to the top of the tower where they had several archers and a ballista up there.

    He quickly ran up the stairs and into the top of the tower where the monster had its back to him as it smashed the ballista to pieces. Wishing he had a better plan than this, he rushed the monster and jabbed the spear into its back where he figured the kidney was.

    The creature let out a massive howl of pain and before it could turn around, Erin stabbed his sword into the other side and quickly rushed backwards just in time to avoid the swords that swung just where his head was.

    Now seeing the monster turn all of its attention and unbridled hatred towards Erin made him really understand how stupid of an idea this was and did the only sensible thing today and ran like hell, jumping into the trap door that lead back into the tower and tumbled down the stairs as the creature howled and charged after him.

    As he slammed to the ground he thrust his spear upwards and into the monster''s thigh causing it to once again howl in pain, tripping and falling down into the wooden floor below, crashing through and into the ground floor, taking his spear with him.

    Erin trotted down the now somewhat broken staircase and headed for the smashed door back out to the wall as he heard the creature crashing about below him but then paused. It wasn¡¯t a smart idea, but what about his previous actions today were smart.

    Before he had a chance to do the sensible thing and keep running, he turned back around and leapt off the second floor and dropped down to the beast below. His sword pointed downwards as he slammed into the creature''s lower back as it was struggling to pick himself back up. His blade pierced through the monster''s spine, severing it and causing it to smash back down in the ground with a howl of pain.

    He tried to pull his sword out but found it firmly lodged into the creature''s back and as such he didn¡¯t notice the meaty fist that whipped backwards and smashed into him. Knocking him off and into the wall.

    If it weren¡¯t for the horrible angel he would definitely be dead. But that did not stop his vision swimming from the blow.

    It took him a couple of seconds for his vision to refocus and watched as the monster was dragging itself towards him with a look that said if it was going to die it was going to take Erin with him.

    With a soft grunt he picked up a sword from one of the dead soldiers at his feet and waited for the monster to get close enough before charging him as fast as he could. Aiming the sword for the monster''s eye and striking perfectly just as a second fist connected with him and all went black.

    * * *

    Erin woke with a gasp and pain racking all through his body. It took him a couple of seconds for him to recognize where he was, which was a medical tent and another few for him to remember what had happened to get him here.

    The fact that he was alive boded well, and the fact that he didn¡¯t hear the sound of battle was also a good thing too.

    In fact, despite the splitting headache, the aches in his body and what he assumed was a broken rib or two, he¡¯d say he turned out really well all things considered.

    As he lay on the bed he heard a rustle and saw a man come up towards him with a smile on his face with a nurse right behind him.

    ¡°As you can see, he is awake now my lord. I will return to tending to the patients now if that is permitted.¡± the nurse spoke with professionalism

    The baron''s simple hand waved her away and she left them alone and Erin a sneaking suspicion as to what was about to happen.

    ¡°I am glad you are recovering well there. It would be a real shame if such a fine Ranger such as you were to suddenly bite the dust like that. I will admit I was hesitant of the idea of having a forsaken be a ranger in our lovely little city but I guess the head ranger has a good eye for talent no matter where they come from¡±

    ¡°Thank you sir¡± Erin said keeping his tone neutral and not betray the frustration of being talked down too like this.

    ¡°Now I am sure you are wondering why I am here¡±

    Erin let out a small sigh as he pretty much already knew ¡°I will stand witness in saying you killed the leading monster.¡± Like the others Erin thought to himself as the baron grinned at him

    ¡°Good man. I knew the rangers hired smart individuals, glad to see that reputation was also not unfounded.¡± He then placed a couple of silver coins into Erin''s human hand ¡°For your troubles. Spend it on something nice¡±

    The Baron then left as Erin lay on his back staring at the top of the ten, the silver coins felt slimy in his hands once again and all he wanted to do was vomit from the feeling that welled in his stomach.

 Book 1, part 1, Chapter 10: Cathartic/What can one do against overwhelming evil

    You know there is something to be said about a good book. Or even a series of good books. One could open up their content and just get lost in whatever world the writer wishes. Hours, even days can pass and you wouldn¡¯t even realize it.

    But there were downsides to this of course. When you finished the book or book series that you were completely engrossed in you were left aimless. You want to start something new but you would never be able to get into it cause your mind is still brimming with excitement and thoughts over the current books.

    It was especially moments like these she wished she could sleep. Sleep seemed to reset other beings'' minds, making it easier for them to start something new. Plus she¡¯d be able to dream too.

    Imagine being able to dream up whole stories that you don¡¯t know anything about but you still participate in. It would basically be what she was doing now except far less work, effort and time.

    But all that aside. What happens when you finish reading all of the books you had planned to read? What happens when the books that you had brought with you were done. You finished all the ones that you were seriously interested in.

    Even with the agonizing several hour wait for your mind to reset you finished all the books you wanted and then you were just left empty. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing to distract you. Just you sitting there in an endless abyss of boring agony.

    This was where she was right now. Lying on her flying carpet staring up into the sky in sheer utter emptiness. The books she had brought with her were finished. Read. Complete. And hardly enough time had passed for her to go back and reread them either.

    She started to even curse a bunch of gold and jewels she still had left over if for no other reason then she enjoyed the irony of crafting curses while she was cursed to sit here in agonizing boredom.

    The only brief moments of entertainment she managed to get was when she would occasionally check in on the Necromancer Girl and The Maid.

    She had largely been doing that in between books to get her mind to reset and it had been entertaining. Apparently Necromancer Girl was starting some kind of underworld war. It was entertaining as hell. But it also had a lot of lull moments and she seemed to keep catching the quieter moments as opposed to the more fun action oriented bits.

    Sure she could scry on other people but she didn¡¯t want to spoil her story and wanted to let things play out as naturally as possible.

    But now that left her lying on her carpet just being alone with her thoughts. Nothing to distract herself.

    This wasn¡¯t even her fault! If SOMEBODY hadn¡¯t screwed up the invasion and screwed up the opening act, she¡¯d still have at least a few more books left. Easily enough leeway to grab some more books at the capital and perhaps even place orders for books from other continents.

    But Noooooo! She just had to summon a Demon Lord who couldn¡¯t even properly destroy one teeny tiny VILLAGE.

    It had probably been a few months by now? Maybe? I mean how hard was it to march an army over some mountains. She even told The Failure Of A Demon Lord to move quickly too. At least¡­ She thinks she did.

    ¡­Ugh¡­ She really hated being in this state. She never liked where her thoughts started to drift off too. Brief memories of her siblings and the creator came to the forefront of her mind and she very quickly suppressed them.

    Bastards the lot of them! She found herself grinding the teeth of her vessel and forced herself to stop. It would seem she was adopting more human traits the longer she was around them.

    Even in the previous material world she stayed in, she always kept everyone at an arm''s distance. Never got too close to anyone. They were nothing but a headache anyways. Always distracting her from all the really important stuff with trivial bothersome things.  And those were good ones too. The wizard council was especially annoying, always telling her what she could and couldn¡¯t do. And even they paled in comparison to Holier Than Thou JerkFace! Pretentious prick!

    The silence was the only thing that greeted her rambling thoughts

    ¡°Maybe I should-¡± She suddenly stopped when she heard bells echoing out from below where she lay

    She quickly snapped up and looked down at the VILLAGE below. People the size of little tiny ants from this distance were scurrying around frantically. Many headed toward the walls.

    Though she did see a few that seemed to be leaving the other way. Likely runners. But that wasn¡¯t important. What was important though was what was coming in from the mountains

    Her gaze slowly lifted up towards where the mountains began and saw a hoard of creatures moving towards the VILLAGE.

    Finally! Her patience had paid off! It was time to get this proper story started!

    The army that was charging towards the VILLAGE was a much more impressive number than the previous version. Plus it looked like they were being led by 5 of The Failure Of A Demon Lords kids. Hopefully they would be more competent than their previous sibling, or at the very least have their numbers to make up for it.

    She smiled (or she would if she had lips!) And looked down at the VILLAGE to see how they would be reacting to their upcoming doom¡­.. There seemed to be even more soldiers there than last time¡­ The walls seemed much more heavily fortified too.

    No no, it¡¯s fine. The horde coming should be able to over run this VILLAGE. If for no other reason than they would probably drown from all the dead bodies¡­.

    She kept the scry orb on monitoring her chosen Hero watching him carefully while silently hoping that the horde would overrun the walls. She didn¡¯t want to watch cause of spoilers but damn was it hard to keep her eyes (well eye sockets) focused on the orb.

    But as she watched the future hero huddled with his family. They seemed safe, secure, and as day turned to night. The sounds of battle slowly dissipated. She slowly and reluctantly raised her head to witness a massacre.

    A sea of corpses completely littered the land with hills of bodies piled up at the walls. It seemed every single one of the Oran¡­ The Bunny-like creatures died trying to assault the village¡­

    She took a metaphorical deep breath and looked down. Uttering a quick spell, teleporting her soon to be hero out of the village to the forest nearby. Then, as calmly as she could (Which is to say not calm at all) she pointed her finger towards the VILLAGE below her and with a single word ¡°Burn¡±  set the entire place on fire.

    Gods was that cathartic. She had wasted another two months because of incompetent minions and ruining the very start of her story. But it was fine. She would try to figure out how to work this into the narrative. Maybe she would say The Failure Of A Demon Lord did this when he underestimated the VILLAGE strength and personally came to deliver a mighty and devastating blow to the kingdom. Gave the soon to be hero a more personal vendetta which was always nice. She¡¯d have to workshop it.

    Either way she was just going to sit back and enjoy the light show. That¡¯s what they get for wasting her time and not following the narrative. She couldn¡¯t help but let out a satisfied little giggle

    * * * * * * * * * * * *This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Jacobs'' surroundings suddenly shifted around him and he found himself in the woods just east of Haven. ¡°Wha???¡± He whips his head around not sure what had just happened before his stomach suddenly lurched and vomits the dinner his mother had made.

    He didn¡¯t know what happened or how he got here. He was hearing the bells signifying the battle was over and was eager to look out over the battlefield but then he was here.

    Thankfully he actually recognized where he was and knew that Haven was close. Quickly rushing through the bushes and trees till he broke through and saw Haven maybe a 30 minute jog away.

    His relief though was short lived as a suddenly bright orange light lit up the scene before him followed by an intense heat that felt like it could searing his skin.

    His mind couldn¡¯t quite register what had just happened. One moment the city of Haven stood after having just fought off another invasion of the monsters, the next it was completely on fire.

    His breath caught in his throat as he stood there shocked, unable to understand what was happening before panic shot through him he started to run towards Haven where his life was.

    He didn¡¯t get any more than a few steps towards Haven before he felt something grip and yanked him back causing his head to swivel to see who it was

    Erin gripped his collar and as he stared over at the burning city ¡°Dammit Jacob, don¡¯t be stupid!¡±

    Jacob didn¡¯t bother to listen and quickly tried to charge around the man only to be gripped again and held tightly ¡°Let me go! Everyone is there! Mom, Dad, Claire! Everyone is still in Haven!¡± his eyes welling with tears as the fire torched the city. He could vaguely hear the cries of anguish and pain through the sound of the raging inferno before him which only made him struggle and sob more against the Man who held him.

    That¡¯s when he heard it. Between the burning flames of Haven and the screams of its denizens he heard a twisted laughter that seemed to echo through his ears.

    Slowly looking up he saw a small humanoid figure up in the sky. While he couldn¡¯t make out any details he felt it. The terror and malice the monster seemed to emit was almost suffocating. A being that upon seeing it gave him a strong sense of wrongness, like it shouldn¡¯t belong there. The terror became too much and his consciousness.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Cathryn looked over the map of their continent with Marrow and Ignes. Riez felt a little too under the weather to join them today. Unfortunately his age was making it harder for him to do much of anything anymore in the physical sense.

    A circle drawn over a section of unsettled land deep in the mountains to the east of their country with another circle over the city of Haven.

    ¡°According to the tracking stone I placed in her bag when I passed it to her before she left. She seemed to have teleported to roughly this area but was only there for less than an hour. Her location then jumped again and stayed in Haven for a couple of months.¡± Marrow gestured towards the map and pointing towards the circle in the mountains

    Cathryn nodded, she had been over this before but was still trying to figure out what her plan was. ¡°After those two months. Haven was attacked by those creatures. The moment the attack failed her location jumped back to roughly that same spot but again for less than an hour before going back to Haven.¡± She looked at Marrow who seemed just as troubled as she was before her eyes went back to the parchment of paper.

    This parchment was written a few hours ago by one of the shadows they had stationed in Haven trying to find Captain Gates. At the top they were informed that the monsters that attacked them two month earlier were attacking again. But expressed confidence that while the army might have over run what they had before. The fortifications and reinforcements Cathryn sent after the first attack would be able to repel this second attack.

    The second part in the middle of the parchment was saying the battle was won with minimal loss with high morale among the citizens and troops.

    Then a third part was written shortly after and had been quickly scribbled simply saying. ¡°Everything burns, city is lost. Long li-¡± and it stopped there.

    She looked at Marrow ¡°was your tracking rune destroyed?¡±

    Marrow simply shook his head ¡°No, we are still getting a rough signal from where Haven is. I will keep monitoring but I believe Captain Gates is still alive.¡± he said with some relief which caused Cathryn to narrow her eyes

    She then turned to Ignes. ¡°Any word on the rangers we have sent to the location in the mountains the tracking rune briefly showed¡±

    Ignes shook his head ¡°Not as of yet but they should be near to its location so I expect to hear a report within a few days of what may or may not be there¡±

    Cathryn glared at the map. They had already dispatched relief soldiers towards Haven the moment they got a report with a larger army being gathered right now. But the dispatched soldiers will take a couple of weeks to get there if they rushed.

    She hated sitting in the dark like this but she also couldn¡¯t help shake the feeling that this ¡®Captain Gates¡¯ was behind all of this somehow.

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Jacob woke up on the ground staring at a cloudy haze in the sky. No, not clouds.. He gasped and jerked up looking around wildly before his eyes landed on the smoldering ruins of Haven. Tears started to form in his dry stinging eyes as he took in the scenery.

    ¡°Finally awake huh?¡± Erin sat next to him grimacing as he sat looking over Haven as well. Tear streaks were visible from his dirty face as he seemed barley

    ¡°Has anyone¡­¡± his throat tightened up and he couldn¡¯t force himself to say the next words

    Erin simple shook their head ¡°We have seen nobody leaving the city¡±

    That was when Jacob noticed a few other rangers were with them. They all seemed to be in equal amounts of shock as he was, a few crying, a few staring, all looking over the city.

    ¡°We were all posted in the forest to monitor a potential flank towards Haven. Or at least that is what we were told.¡± His tone betrayed that he clearly didn¡¯t think that was the reason

    ¡° We were on our way back to the city when the fire suddenly erupted across the city¡­ None of us knew what to do..¡±

    He looked down to the burnt city. ¡°A few of the other rangers are down there looking for potential survivors. I plan to join them¡­ Was just waiting for you to wake¡±

    Erin slowly stood up and began to head towards Haven. Jacob, not really sure what to do, slowly stood up and followed. Some vague hope that maybe, just maybe his family had survived. Any thought that tried to tell him they were dead was quickly squashed. He would not entertain such a thought. He could not.

    The walk to the remains of Haven was painfully slow. The silence didn¡¯t help at all either. But he had no idea what to say and he was pretty sure Erin felt the same way.

    Eventually they reached the chard crumbling walls of the city and passed through  the gate. Erin looked thoughtfully at Jacob before giving him a nudge. ¡°Go to your house, I¡¯ll come by in a bit to check in¡­¡±

    With that he turned and went in the opposite direction leaving Jacob who slowly turned and headed towards his house. Everything felt like a blur until he finally reached his home or what was left of it.

    Trembling he started to move the burnt ruins of everything till he finally found what he had been dreading. Three burnt corpses. The smell of burnt flesh twisted his stomach and felt himself heave. He would have thrown up if he had anything left in his stomach.

    The corpses of his dad, mother, and sister. He couldn¡¯t even see a single distinguishing feature of any of them. Just charred bodies that seemed to have been screaming in pain.

    He fell to his knees and cried. Everyone he had ever known was dead. Burned to such a degree that you couldn¡¯t even identify their bodies.

    That was when he remembered. The figure floating above the sky who he could only assume was the one who conjured this fire that engulfed Haven.

    The malicious laughter, the seemingly overpowering magic. All of the power he had sought. His goal to achieve power that no one would ever dare boss him around or disrupt his life.

    It meant nothing compared to what he just saw. A being that could wipe him out without so much of a thought. What could one do against such overwhelming power¡­ What could anyone do against such evil¡­ What could he do.

    With trembling hands he pulled out a dagger he had been gifted by Erin for his latest birthday. He said it would serve him well in the years to come. He slowly lifted the blade up to his neck. It all meant nothing now.

 Book 1, Part 1, Interlude 8: A very bad day

    Jamous spat out a curse as his foot hold slipped on the edge of the cliff. It was a very narrow pathway that was more fit for a mountain goat than for a human.

    ¡°Careful there. Don¡¯t want to fall¡±

    He glowered at the speaker behind him, Nani was a rookie and one of twelve rangers that have been sent on this mission with Jamous in charge of the expedition since he was most familiar with the terrain. Sadly, even if he was the most familiar with the land in this group, it was still a twisted natural labyrinth filled with treachery.

    ¡°Don¡¯t need to tell me what I already know Nani, just mind yourself.¡± It wouldn¡¯t be good as her senior to snap at such a little thing. He knew she meant well and acting out on his own personal frustrations would just cause trouble.

    He eventually spotted an area that looked like it would be enough to fit all twelve of them if they kept close together and announced to the group that they would be stopping there for the night.

    Because of how twisting this entire area was, they had to use the sun to keep track of which direction they were going, and then use the stars to better understand how far they were.

    Climbing to the edge he sat down and closed his eyes briefly as the rest of the rangers climbed onto the rock that overlooked the mountain they were on. Down below was nothing but canyons and trenches that seemed to wrap in around themselves.

    Pretty much every part of this whole mountain range was like this and that wasn¡¯t counting the potentially dangerous wildlife that made this area their home.

    Territorial mountain goats that will try to knock you off cliffs, mountain cats that will happily look for easy prey. Even venomous spiders that liked to crawl out of small cracks if you got too close to try and bite your hands.

    And as if all of that still wasn¡¯t enough. He had to keep in mind the ever changing weather that could be more dangerous then everything else combined.

    He looked over at Illess who had just climbed onto the cliff edge ¡°When you have a chance to breathe, if you could try to do some divination to see what the weather will be over the night. I don¡¯t want another surprise pop up hail storm to hit us while we are sleeping.¡±

    Illness grumbled ¡°For the last time I am sorry, divination can be finicky even with someone who is gifted in it. And before you start, the weather is chaotic in these mountains and that just makes any future predictions all the less reliable.¡±

    ¡°Just do it. It¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Jamous responded as he pulled out one of the special pens that he knew were to be linked with another pen in the capital and poured magic into it. Slowly and carefully moving the pen on the ground below as he wrote an update to their march.

    He was required to check in one in the morning and once in the evening, with any other reports to be given if they found something important. He was thankful he only needed to carry the pen with him and not any paper as that would have been unnecessary weight for the trip.

    Once he finished giving the standard report, the rest of the rangers that were with him had climbed up to the cliff and settled down just as the sun disappeared across the horizon.

    Because of their exposed nature up on the cliff they weren¡¯t going to be lighting any fires so it was just going to be simple rations for dinner with their cloaks and each other''s body heat to keep warm.

    ¡°Huh. That is.. Hey Jamous, rabbits don¡¯t live in this area that you know of right?¡± Illness asked and the others gave him an odd look as Jamous let out a sigh

    ¡°No Illness, rabbits do not live around these parts. At least not that I am aware of. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Well I was trying to use some divination to see if there would be any problems for us tonight and I just got a couple brief flashes of some rabbits¡­¡±

    Nani let out a snort ¡°Oh no. A poor rabbit is eating my foot. Seriously Illness, rabbits? Are you that much of a wuss that a rabbit is enough for your divination to tell you it¡¯s going to be more of a threat then say.. Hail coming down on our heads while we sleep¡±

    The rest of the rangers let out some light chuckles as Illness grumbled ¡°I already apologized for that! Maybe you guys should have brought somebody with some real divination skills! Oh wait, you couldn¡¯t because they are all fat cats living it up in high society and wouldn¡¯t last more than an hour out here!¡±

    ¡°Enough everyone!¡± Jamous spoke with authority and looked at Illness ¡°Can you cast another divination spell to try and get a better idea of what those brief flashes of these rabbits meant?¡±

    Illness shook his head ¡°Afraid not. Just that brief flash was enough to drain most of my mana, if I try again it will be enough to put me in mana shock.¡±

    Jamous was silent for a minute as he pondered and then felt like it was better safe than sorry ¡°Alright. We are having 1 hour shifts tonight. Draw straws to see who gets to sleep and who will have a shift. We rest here until dawn and then move out again.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    That got multiple people grumbling with several shooting dirty looks towards Illness who was clearly uncomfortable knowing he was going to get blamed for this but Jamous didn¡¯t really care. If they can complain at the end of the day then that means they were alive and they did their job well.

    The straws were drawn and Jamous got one of the short ones and so he volunteered to take the first watch and after a quick bite of their rations the rest settled in for the night leaving him to overlook the canyon they were above.

    With the sun down he could feel the temperature quickly drop with the wind picking up. He threw a worried glance up to the night sky where the stars shone brightly. He couldn¡¯t see either of the moons from their position which would have been nice for the little extra light.

    Because of this he poured magic into his eyes and that helped him see better in the dark. All rangers were trained to have these kinds of basic spells. If he wanted he could have also used a spell that allowed him to see heat but that required more mana. It was actually a recent spell that was given to them by the generous profit in the capital.

    A slight smile tugged a bit at his lips when he thought about her. He had only seen her a bit from a distance but every time he saw her he believed what the masses claimed. Powerful, beautiful, kind, the very embodiment of what a noble should be.

    It just made it all the more clear to him when he heard the nobles seemed to call her a fool that they were jealous of someone such as her. They could not handle a reminder of their own failures.

    The sound of a rock falling brought him out of his thinking and he looked over to the side where he heard the sound drawing his short sword in the process. If it was a mountain goat it would probably leave them alone but there was always the chance of something else.

    He didn¡¯t know why they were being sent where they were being sent. Just that they were being sent out here for a potential threat, but if he had to hazard a guess, he would say they were still a few days away from their destination so it was unlikely that they would run into any serious problems.

    He continued to closely look around the side of the cliff before tracing his eyes up and froze. Several furred monstrosities were moving on the sheer cliff and they looked an awful lot like humanoid¡­. Rabbits.

    ¡°Wake up! Arms! We are under attack!¡± He shouted just as the monsters realized they had been spotted and leapt at them with chittering yowls.

    Jamous didn¡¯t have any room on the cliff side to dodge so he thrust his blade into the monster that leapt right at him. His blade skewering the monster''s mouth and down its throat. But the creature''s momentum still carried forward and crashed into him and back into his squad.

    He was thankful that their training kicked in and most were already up with their weapons drawn by the time the monsters descended on them despite the fact that he ended up crashing into at least one of his compatriots as the weight of the now dead monster landed on top of him.

    Spitting out a curse he shoved the monster off of him and off the cliff as he took his bloody sword and swung it to his side slashing at another one of the monsters side. He heard a lot of surprised shouts and various unearthly howls of pain and anger as he rolled over and leapt onto the monster he slashed at its side back and brought his blade down several times before it stopped twitching.

    The whole encounter couldn¡¯t have lasted more than ten seconds and just as quickly it had started it had now ended.

    ¡°Status Report! Who is alive!¡± Jamous quickly demanded

    ¡°Fuck! Kim and Iona fell off the cliff from the attack!¡± He heard Nani exclaim. It took another minute for them to quickly go over and check the others. Two more had died in the attack and they had three more that were injured making that five of the total people full bodied.

    ¡°Shit! Shit shit shit!¡± He heard Nani exclaim, clearly freaking out over what had just happened.

    He was inclined to agree with her limited vocabulary but he had a job to do first ¡°Alright that is enough!¡± His voiced echoed with authority and everyone went quiet.

    ¡°Illness, help patch up the wounded. I will quickly make a report to the capital over what just happened and after that we pull back and wait for instructions. That noise was bound to have attracted attention and we do not want to be here in case there are more of these things.¡±

    They all quickly began moving as Jamous pulled out the pen that he had used to send a message. They needed to report this as soon as possible and then would wait for a response for

    He didn¡¯t have time to even pour the mana into the pen as a loud crash echoed to his side followed by screams of pain and he turned his head to see a winged monstrous rabbit that stood perhaps seven feet tall with four arms had landed right next to him and flung it¡¯s fist forward and smashed Illness skull into the rocks with an audible crunch.

    Jamous tossed the pen to the side and picked up his sword just as the new monster before him gripped the now headless Illness and swung it around the side smashing into two more rangers and flinging them off the side of the cliff.

    His blade thrust forward and stabbed into the monster''s side making it let out a screech of pain and Jamous just barely managed to duck from the blow but he had to leave his sword embedded into the creature''s side.

    ¡°You fuckers!¡± Nani screamed as she vaulted off the side of the cliff and onto the creatures back. Her own short sword stabbing into the creature as she did so which made the monster scream with pain and twisting his arms back gripped Nani and threw her off the cliff as she screamed out.

    Jamous tried to roll under the creature as it did so hoping to grab another sword that was on its opposite end but the monster seemed to have had more awareness then he gave it credit for and it kicked him hard and he slammed his back into the cliff Hearing an audible crack and collapsed. He felt searing pain from about the chest up but nothing else downwards.

    It left him helpless as he watched the monster easily slaughter the rest of the rangers before turning its attention to him with a malicious smirk across its disgusting face.

    It offered no words of gloating but he could tell it relished in his pain as it lifted its leg and stomped down on his head.

 Book 1, Part 1, Epilogue: What kind of hero does that?!/A big bad!

    She had cut off the scrying on the Hero once she saw him enter the VILLAGE (though she suppose now she should be referring to it as the ruins) Honestly though, she can¡¯t believe The Hero tried to run back into that inferno.

    It was fitting for a Hero but also insanely stupid. Like what did he hope to accomplish? Dying with them? Thankfully she decided to play the mentor role so she can get that suicidal bravery out of him before something bad happens.

    She was also thankful that the forsaken guy was there. They seemed to have a history too which just goes to show she picked a great person as the Hero. He recognized and was on good terms with him and clearly didn¡¯t have the stupid bias towards the forsaken group.

    She sat on her carpet practically fidgeting in anticipation. She really REALLY wanted to go down there right now but she needed to be patient. She wanted to really let the despair permeate. Make him feel like all hope is lost before she shows up and offers a path towards vengeance and salvation.

    She was practically squirming in delight at this and started to run through the various lines she would open with. She wanted to go with caring, wise, a hint of sympathy but a sense of urgency with cryptic words that spoke to a larger plot all together.

    Ah! She couldn¡¯t take it anymore! She stored the carpet she had been sitting on away and let gravity plummet her down towards the ground somewhere in the city. Only stopping a foot from the ground to keep herself from forming a crater and touched down with feminine grace of her character.

    Sure she didn¡¯t actually need to do that but she was getting back into character. She hadn¡¯t been playing her role for several months now and she kind of missed it.

    She quickly took out her full length mirror and made sure her appearance was perfect before bringing out her carriage and climbed into it. She wanted to give him a sense of the razzle dazzle when she showed up and the carriage was great at doing that if her time as the capital had shown her.

    She was pretty sure The Hero was heading towards his home. It would make sense that he had some faint foolish hope his family would live so she ordered her carriage to drive towards there and off it went.

    She took that brief moment to look outside and see the charred remains of the now ruins. Eh, perhaps she went a tad overboard with everything. She had always intended to let some people live in the initial prologue of her story but there was no use crying about it now. It was extremely cathartic after all. Plus it was their own fault for fighting off two waves of the monsters.

    Speaking of. Once she got everything settled and in order she was going to pay The Failure Of A Demon Lord a visit and punish him for failing twice. Seriously, how does one fail twice like that?

    She felt the carriage stop bringing her thoughts back to the present and quickly scurried to the other side of the Carriage and peeked through the window where she saw her Hero knelt down facing the charred remains of his once home.

    He hadn¡¯t reacted to the carriage pulling up but that was fine. The Razzle Dazzle was largely just her trying to show off and she could do that any time during their time together.

    Now was the time to be the sympathetic woman who would became his mentor before facing her tragic end to the enemy. Oh she was so excited!

    She opened the carriage door with poise and began to calmly walk towards the Hero as he knelt there facing away from her.

    ¡°I am sorry, young one. It would appear that I was too late to stop this tragedy. I am thankful that I had at least found someone alive¡± She was pretending she didn¡¯t actually know he was going to be the Hero just yet.

    She stepped forward and placed a hand on his somewhat cold shoulder. ¡°If you would like, I will be heading back to the capital soon to report this event to the queen. I can offer you a ride to come with me¡±

    She stated and The Hero did not respond. It was at this point she happened to notice a pool of blood surrounding The Hero, dampening the ash and soot that floated around them. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    There was no way there should be blood. She had burned everything so hot that any blood would long be gone unless.. She then noticed the knife slick with blood laying beside The Hero

    ¡°He didn¡¯t!¡± She grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head back to see the vacant glassy eyes and a large slash across The Heros throat.

    ¡°WHY DID YOU KILL YOURSELF?!?¡±

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Jacob felt like he was sort of floating aimlessly in a sea of nothingness. His thoughts felt fuzzy, he couldn¡¯t quite remember how he got here or what he was doing or even if he was supposed to be doing anything.

    It actually felt somewhat peaceful all things considered. Like he felt like he could finally rest. Rest and be at peace. No anger, no sadness, no rage, no despair. It was nice.

    A sudden digging pain shot through his side and the fog that was clouding his mind dissipated and he felt himself being forcibly dragged away from where he was in agony before snapping himself back into what could only be described as a black void.

    Well not quite a black void as there were two things that seemed to be there other than him.

    He stared at the massive blue glowing orb that illuminated everything around like a lighthouse. It almost seemed to burn but he felt no heat. He had trouble tearing his eyes away but something else almost seemed to demand his attention. Or perhaps someone

    His attention slowly turned to the towering figure  bathed in golden light that was as bright if not brighter than the massive burning orb despite the mans size being only 20 feet tall.

    His features could only be described as perfect. It was as if the most talented sculptors got together and designed the most perfect being in every way shape or form. And this mans golden glowing eyes were focused solely on him as for the second time in the short time span Jacob stared at a being far more powerful and strong then he would ever be.

    ¡°Pitiful human!¡± His deep voice seemed to rattle his very being as he spoke ¡°I have deemed you as the lucky chosen to help me enact my vengeance. Bow, weep and praise my name for all that is holy, all that is good, all comes back to me!¡±

    Jacob trembled. He didn¡¯t know what was happening but he knew that the being before him was a god. A being of divine power. And he was nothing but a small ant.

    The being stared down at Jacob, the burning armor that surrounded him seemed to flare and Jacob felt the demand to speak what was on his mind. A strong compulsion that overpowered his being.

    ¡°Mighty god¡± His voice almost felt alien, not part of who he was but the words almost felt natural on his tongue ¡°I do not know your name but you wish me to praise it. Please. Please inform me of the name so that I may fulfill your desire!¡±

    The words weren¡¯t his but a part of his brain demanded that they become his. That the words he spoke and the thoughts that accompanied them were all that he needed.

    The god''s body seemed to glow as it basked in his words and he spoke again ¡°I am Ultam! The being who stands against evil and the abomination! I am the first and final bastion against all who seek to disrupt the greater good!

    Jacob trembled and his voice once again came out without him willing it. ¡°Praise to you Ultam! But how may this lowly servant fulfill your wishes!¡±

    The god nodded, pleased with Jacobs response ¡°An Abomination. One that I have chased across the very void itself has sought refuge in your world. Yet for all of my divine power the gods of your meager world seek to bar entry to me!

    But now I have a way in. You will be pulled back to life by this abomination. And I will come with you. Your body will serve as the vessel for a god that stands above all gods! Rejoice and praise my brilliance!¡±

    Jacob wanted to ask what he meant but then he remembered the creature he saw floating above Haven laughing with malicious and ill intent. This.. Thing. Was going to bring him back to life. To torment him?

    He looked back at Ultam and asked ¡°Can you help me if I agree to this?¡± This time it was his voice that spoke. But then the gods fiery armor flared once more as if enraged by his response.

    ¡°Foolish Mortal. I am not giving you an option¡± And then his entire being turned into golden fire, flying into jacobs and he screamed as he felt himself meld and burn.