Following his words, we did the one thing that most wizards would do when confronted with the possible end of civilization. We drank. We went through three bottles of pear brandy. By the end of the night, we had found ourselves on the roof. There we composed bad poetry. Poetry about the giant lamprey corpse sitting in the lake. When I noticed Alred had fallen asleep on the hard stone of the roof, I took myself to my bed. It was late morning when I awoke and found that he had already departed. His warning left me with a number of concerns, but no immediate direction in which to pursue them. I took breakfast in my study as I considered the matter. If the other side of the mountains were overrun with Pestilence, then there was little I could do about it at the moment. The monster I fought wasn’t unstoppable, but it was nearly so. It took three armies and several fifth-tier combatants to put it down, and that was only a single creature. Poison hadn’t worked. Nor fourth-tier earth magic and wind magic. Cannonballs bounced off its hard scales. Ice magic slowed it some, but not enough to kill it. Remove a head and two grew back. The only thing that stopped it was fire, and only when applied to an open wound. I considered the means I had available. If I perfected the tea, I could turn some of the creatures against the others. It wasn’t likely, though. That creature had eaten entire towns and fields leaving nothing but dirt and stone in its wake. The amount of tea I would need would be tremendous. Mind magic was an option. The monsters weren’t too intelligent, as much as most beasts. However, I would need to redesign the [Charm] or [Dominate] spell so that it affected all heads at once. When the kingdom tried it against one of the heads of the Pestilence, it had amounted to little. That wasn’t the best solution because I didn’t know how many heads each would have. A spell varying the amount of targets would be incredibly difficult to create. If I obtained several large size rubies and combined them to make a giant one, then I could theoretically summon a fire elemental lord. An elemental lord though would take all my mana to summon and all my willpower to control. If it could be controlled. Even then, I wasn’t sure how well one would match up against the monsters. It might be better to encircle the kingdom with a barrier of dead land. If the Pestilence saw no food nearby, perhaps it would seek it elsewhere. I could cast a—my thoughts grounds to a halt. Why was I thinking of defending the kingdom? Was that a symptom of the loyalty-inducing tea? No. I won't let that get the better of me. I had been thinking in the wrong direction. Who else would have the capabilities to fight these creatures? How can I get them to do so? That’s what I need to plan out. I just wasn’t certain who that would be. If I were, then I should be able to design a weapon to put in someone else’s hands. If I had kept a trophy from the creature, then I could be testing it for weaknesses. I should inquire about a scale or bone. Given the size of it, there must be some parts that remained. That would take time, though. Time we didn’t have. Or did we? How long have those things been on the other side of that mountain? What’s keeping them there? These were answers I needed. I glanced down at the breakfast I had brought with me and realized it had grown cold while I pondered. They aren’t attacking today, I decided. Today, I needed to do something about the Carcass of Foul Fumes polluting my lake. Outside, my elemental perched atop the carcass of the lamprey coiled like a sleeping snake. I didn’t think that the lampreys could be more disgusting than they already were. Fate conspired to prove me wrong. The worm-like creature bore the wounds of the battle all across its body. Bile and organs spilled out in piles. Flies and other insects buzzed around it in thick clouds. The smell only grew stronger as I approached. My stomach, weakened by the night of drink, grew more and more unsettled with each step. I was only half the distance to the thing when I needed to stop and heave. I cast wind magic to keep a breeze coming from the other direction, but that only lessened the odor. When I arrived at the foot of the beast, I took into account its true size. The creature lay on its side, its body lumpy and deflated. Even with that, it was nearly twice as wide as I stood tall. My water elemental peeked its head over the side to look down at me. It projected its thoughts to me in a sequence of images and emotions. A thrill as it hunted. A hesitation when it encountered this beast. The ferocity in which they battled. The heavy wounds it took. Victory. Pride. The arduous journey it took to drag back its trophy. The confidence it held as it took its place on top. Then dismay and concern as it waited for me to see its accomplishments. Fear it had done something wrong. When it finished, it just waited. I took it all in and received its story and emotions while I battled not to vomit again. After I composed myself, I projected my thoughts back to it. Happiness in its victory and return. Gratitude that did as I asked. I stopped there as my elemental started to preen. It undulated in a wavy dance, projecting a sheer childish joy. When it stopped a few minutes later, it turned back to me and I projected another thought to it. The odor of the corpse. With alarming speed, I watched as my elemental jumped from the corpse and swam away. It stopped near my tower wall and waited. Using [Fire Manipulation] I burnt away the corpse, leaving thick black clouds floating off into the air. When only the bones remained, I used [Earth Manipulation] to pull them into the mud below. The elemental returned and circled me as I headed back to the tower. When I reached the wall, I once again used [Earth Manipulation] to etch an image of the victorious elemental atop the body of its enemy. I projected that image and where I carved it to my elemental, who splashed happily against the etching. Soon enough, I found myself back in my study to plan. Where once I had one goal, now I had three. I still wanted to complete my longevity spell, but that was no longer my biggest concern. My biggest concern was the Pestilence. If it was truly the end of the Age, then I needed to find a place I could retreat to. Or a way to defend my tower that wouldn’t be overcome. I didn’t like the idea of moving so soon. I felt as though I had recently arrived. It also meant that I needed to shelter some of humanity. I wasn’t sure how many. A village size would ensure I always had servants available. A town size would ensure I never wanted for furniture or food. Beyond that, I had the tea to consider. I couldn’t ignore what the crown did to me. After all I had done to support the kingdom, they would chain me? No. I would have my vengeance for that betrayal. Many slights I could ignore, confident that time would punish them more than I ever could, but not this. I would ensure they felt my wrath.