A fog clouds his mind, smothering his thoughts. He was… lost… alone… Back in the darkness. The despair once again presses in on him, an oppressive weight, so heavy, so all encompassing that he would never be able to escape from beneath it. Unable to die, yet living a hollow life without her. An eternity of loneliness the only future he could see.

Wait. That’s not right.

Lilia was back in his life.

Flashes of memory, of Lilia, flicker through his mind. Two different faces, but underneath the same soul, the same woman he loves.

Reud tries to gather his mind, fighting against the fog obscuring his thoughts. It’s hard, each time he pushes it back in one direction it flows in from another, smothering his attempts to think.

With sheer force of will, he begins to build a shell around the core of his mind, a wall that keeps the smothering fog at bay. Finally, he can try to take stock of his situation. What was going on?

They’d been in Littlestream, improving relations with the villagers. Readjusting to being in each other's lives. Both he and Lilia had changed so much. Then he’d been… looking into something… investigating?

A new flash of memory. He was clinging to the skeleton of a huge mutated stag, his legs wrapped through its ribs. Together, they raced through the undergrowth, smashing through anything in their path. He arrived at a village, barely larger than Littlestream. The inhabitants were... pleasant? He can’t really remember.

The image of a warm tavern room, it’s air thick with the smell of wood smoke, pops into his mind. Is that where he went first? No, before the tavern he spoke to many people about the Seekers, about the children.

That’s why he was there! He was looking into how many children with magic were born. Far too many, isolated to only the villages along the Great North Road. It was late afternoon when he’d made it to that tavern room. There he’d met an old man who knew everything about the village’s history.

There was something else though. Looking back at his memories now, it should have been obvious, but he was complacent. Foolish. Everywhere he’d gone, there was a figure there, at the corner of his eye. Sometimes accompanied by others, sometimes alone. A lantern and eye sigil emblazoned on their clothing. A familiar sigil. Seekers.

In the tavern he’d shared a drink with the old man, attempting to gain his trust. They’d been jostled, one of the stalkers bumping into him on purpose. Why were they there? What did they want?

The old man had told him something strange. Every couple of years a particular group of Seekers would come to the village, led by a man with a spiralling scar on his cheek. After a few nights they would leave, only to return six months later to do the same. Then he wouldn’t see them again for a year and a half more, when the pattern repeated itself. The man swore that when they came to the village they always sought out pregnant women. He’d said more, but the rest of his words were lost in the fog.

Reud thinks harder, but his memories stop in that tavern. Why? What happened next?

Unless. When he was jostled, his drink! He’d been drugged!

Reud reaches for the link to the restoration spell. The fog fights back against him, pressing against the edges of the bubble of clarity he built. Pulling in even the slightest hint of mana is excruciatingly difficult, the fog solidifying against any attempts to penetrate it.

Reud redoubles his efforts. He’d been careless, lulled into a sense of security by the easy few weeks. Now though, he wasn’t going to be beaten by some... concoction. He’d lived for centuries, transcended the barriers of life and death. No mere potion was going to keep him from his magic!

With one final push, the link to the spell snaps into place and activates. Magic slams into his body, reshaping him back into his familiar form. Instantly, the fog vanishes from his mind. In its place comes an overwhelming onslaught of new sensations.

He is sat on some hard surface, his arms pulled painfully behind his back and his wrists bound together on the other side of some solid pole. From all around him come the sounds of a large crowd, shuffling and murmuring. Cracking open his eyes slightly he glances around, taking care not to move his head. It seems he is back in Littlestream, in the village square. Given that he is above the head height of the surrounding people, he must be sat on some sort of raised platform. He didn’t remember there being one in the village square, so a new construction? From where he is sat he can see some of the houses bordering the square, and beyond that the village’s northern gate. Armoured soldiers dot the perimeter, penning in the villagers.

With a crash, the door to the house in front of him flies open. The mayor’s house. A tall man strides out stroking a thick moustache. Following him is a younger man with floppy blonde hair covering half his face, his hand resting on a rapier strapped to his belt. He turns back to the open doorway, waving his hand at something, revealing a cloak on his back emblazoned with a lantern and eye symbol.

Reud sighs inwardly. Seekers. So his memories were correct. Damn.

A moment later Graham stumbles out, his face covered in dark bruises. He sags to one side, a hand pressed to his side as if in pain, a trickle of blood running from a cut on his forehead.

Behind him emerges a woman, her mouth twisted into a snarl. Her short red hair and a scar running diagonally across her face giving her a feral look. Her eyes blaze with purple light, and between her fingers flash discharges of violet sparks. She steps forward and touches Graham on the shoulder. He immediately goes stiff, face distorting in pain, his mouth open in a silent scream.

The blonde haired man grabs Graham as he collapses to one side, yanking on his coat to keep him upright. With a shove he forces the old man forward, towards the platform, towards Reud.

There was no way this was going to end well. He needed his minions, right now. Squeezing his eyes shut to hide the purple glow of magic, Reud focuses inward. His skeletons were deep in the woods, dutifully waiting for him. To fetch them, he would need to call to them, to touch their souls and call them to the village. This close to Srinaber, however, it would be foolish to send out a such a call carelessly. Such a blanket spell risked calling the… thing… slumbering beneath the ruins of his home. Better to take the extra time and energy to exclude Srinaber from the call, then to awaken that mistake.

Removing Srinaber from the radius of the spell takes precious seconds, but finally it is complete. Reud unleashes the magic, blasting his silent words out for leagues in all directions.

COME TO ME, PROTECT YOUR MASTER

The sound of the crowd changes, and Reud risks cracking his eyes open again. The crowd parts in front of the trio of Seekers and the mayor, falling into silence. The leader of the group, the moustached man, climbs up onto the stage and turns to face the crowd, putting his back to Reud. The other two climb up as well, dragging the sagging Graham with them, before moving to the side out of Reud’s sight.

“I am Lord Seeker Sar.” The moustached man bellows. Pausing, he waits for the crowd to fall silent before continuing. “I am here today to investigate a most blasphemous crime.“ he pauses, looking over the crowd.

“You have hidden a free mage!” He bellows, gesturing violently. “And you have harmed a Seeker!”

The fear in the air is almost palpable, the crowd looking to one another in fear. Sar begins pacing up and down the platform, his arms folded behind his back.

“Yesterday, Seeker Isabella signalled me from the vicinity of this village, indicating she was in danger. This alerted us, and we were able to capture a free mage as he attempted to flee for his life.” He snaps around to face the crowd again. “I will find out who had the audacity to harm a Seeker, and they will be punished! No such affronts to his Holiness will be tolerated!”

Sar pauses for a moment, looking out over the crowd. “Today, you face a reckoning for your sins.”

He gestures to his side, toward where the other Seekers had dragged Graham. “Your mayor knowingly accepted free mages into the village. He allowed them to slay another mage, without challenge. He did nothing to report their presence. And most heinous of all, he allowed a Seeker to be harmed on his watch.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about!” Graham protests weakly. “There are no free mages in Littlestream!”

Sar spins to face him. “Silence! Your poison words cannot save you now.”

Graham is shoved back into Reud’s view, forced to his knees at the edge of the platform by the blonde haired Seeker.

Sar turns back to address the crowd. “Two eyewitnesses independently reported this man’s crimes. Hamo, servant of Telac, and Farlin, son of the Aldsville mayor. They both confirm that free mages took up residence in Littlestream.”

Sar raises his hands and gestures to the crowd.

“You all share in this crime. The law must be upheld by all the citizens of the Holy Empire, with no exceptions.” He turns to Graham, addressing him directly. “Graham, as the landholder you hold the greatest responsibility for upholding the laws. I find you guilty of heresy of the greatest order.” He nods to the blonde haired man standing behind the kneeling figure of the Mayor.

The blonde haired man draws his blade from its sheath, his eyes blazing with indigo light, a white glow covering his body. Suddenly, his arm flickers, the blade disappearing for a moment. Everything goes quiet for a moment, the crowd holding their collective breaths.

A wet gurgle bursts from Graham as a fountain of blood sprays from his neck over the crowd.

The crowd bursts into screaming. A wave runs through the people as those close to the platform recoil as Graham slumps forward, his body tipping over the platform's edge to flop lifeless out of Reud’s sight. Some people turn to flee, slamming into others and causing them to back up into yet more people. Chaos explodes through the crowd.

Through the cacophony Reud picks out a familiar voice.

“No! You can’t. Stop fighting me!”

Snapping his head around, all pretence of unconsciousness forgotten, he looks at the source. Rachel is trying to force her way through to the front of the crowd, her face twisted with the pain of loss. She is restrained by another figure, her body shrouded in a cloak. Her soul, however, is instantly recognizable to Reud. Thank Idia! They haven’t captured Lilia!

Reud returns his head to its previous position, hoping the Seekers on the platform haven’t noticed his movement.

“Enough!” Roars Sar. “Have some decorum! You are citizens of the Empire, act like it! Kneel and pray to his Holiness. Only then can you achieve salvation.”

Repeating his words, the soldiers surrounding the crowd begin shove people down, forcing them to kneel. The villagers look to one another, then slowly the whole crowd begins to drop to their knees.

Suddenly, Reud’s hood is torn from his head, making him recoil from the sudden glare of light in his eyes. The red haired woman stands over him.

“Lord Seeker! The mage is awake!” She shouts.

Sar spins around, narrowing his eyes as he glares at Reud. “So the free mage awakes at last. It seems the Manathief Elixir is far less effective when not used on children. No matter, you will die for your crimes soon enough.”

Reud glares back at him, abandoning all pretence of being affected by the drug. “What crime, exactly, is it that I’m accused of?”

“The crime of existing without his Holinesses permission, of course.” Sar says, stroking his moustache. “Without such laws mages would roam the land, slaves to their unholy urges. Under his Holinesses guidance, young mages can be shown the right way. The way to peace, and prosperity for all.” Sar’s eyes go distant as he speaks, seeing some distant vision. “But you. You are a free mage, matured away from His guiding light. The rot has been allowed to fester in your soul, and now the only way for you to achieve salvation is through holy fire.”

Turning back to the crowd, Sar raises his hands again. “His Holiness has decreed a way for you to atone for your sins.” The faces of those in the crowd fill with hope.

Sar lowers his arms and his voice. “The women will be permitted to live. The rest will die.”

Screams erupt throughout the crowd again, interspersed with begging. The soldiers around the square draw their blades, stepping forward towards the crowd, violence in their eyes.

Enough of this.

With a thought, Reud reaches into his body, feeling out his own skeleton. Mana rushes into him, filling his mind with power that ignites his eyes with indigo light.

The red haired woman steps back from him. “Lord Seeker, the free mage is-”

Gritting his teeth, Reud grips hold of the bones in his arm. Gone was the time for subtlety. Just like controlling one of his skeletal creations, he commands his bones to move. His muscles tear as the movement of the bones twists them in ways they were never designed to move. The bonds binding his hands together dig deep into his flesh, tearing deep into his skin. Reud lets out a scream as agony blazes up his arm, the bones in his wrists fracturing as the magic forces them to strain against the rope binding him. One more surge, and it is the bonds that give way, snapping with a loud crack.

Sar spins around just in time to see Reud charging forward straight into him, Reud’s shoulder catching him in his stomach. A wheezing shout escapes his mouth as the air is driven out of him, and together they tumble to the ground. Reud rolls off the large Seeker before he can recover, dropping off the platform to the ground beside Graham’s body. Blood still pumps in great spurts from the rent almost severing his head, a large puddle of the red liquid ringing him. A tiny hint of regret flickers through his mind at the sight. If only he’d reacted faster.

A tirade of expletives from the platform behind him spurs Reud back into movement. As fast as his body will allow, Reud launches himself into a run to the side, agonizing pain washing up from his broken arms with each step.

Just a little longer.

“Get him! Leave them and get that mage! Do not allow him to escape!” Bellows Sar from behind Reud.

Away from the crowd, Reud stops and spins to face the soldiers charging towards him. He feels out with his mana sense, feeling the resonance barrelling towards the village. A smile spreads on his face.

It’s here.