This took longer than I expected to complete. I tried changing my style of writing, adding a little more description as requested by some of you. had difficulty switching styles but its finally done. please enjoy and do let me know how you feel about my new writing style.

“Old man! What are you doing to my Kiefer!?!” Nicole exclaimed as she turned Kiefer around and hugged him, shielding him from Drigor. When she had seen the young child shaking in his shoes when confronted by the strange man that just entered the classroom, she immediately ran over to protect him, pouting her lips while glaring at him.

“Hmm? And who might you be, young lady?” Drigor asked, amused at the child’s over-protectiveness, smiling sweetly at Nicole.

“I’m Nicole Varradon, and this is my butler! He’s only 13 years old; of course he will be afraid when some strange old man just suddenly approaches him!” Nicole reprimanded him, having no trouble at all rebutting the Titan, even if she did not know his identity. Her father was a prominent figure in the city and she was by far the top student in the academy. She was sure many people would support her back.

“I see.” Drigor muttered, while stroking his chin where his now non-existent beard used to be. “You are the little genius my informant has been singing praises about. Indeed, you do seem to have a greater aptitude for magic than most people, and your little butler is not far behind you too.”

“So what? What do you want old man? And who are you anyway?” Nicole kept interrogating Drigor, still unafraid of him. She was too preoccupied with protecting Kiefer that she had failed to notice her professor fretting and breaking out in cold sweat, for he knew exactly who the man was. He was the only teacher in the necromancy academy in the palace, the one and only mysterious “Master”.

“Well now now. Calm down young lady, you are quite a feisty one aren’t you? I have a name, but for now, you may call me Master. I am here to cordially invite you and your butler to attend the necromancy academy in the royal palace. You do not need to give me and answer now, but if you do end up deciding that you want to become my student, meet me at the south gate of the palace at sunrise 5 days from now. It’s perfectly fine not to come too.” Drigor smiled kindly, approaching the 2 children to pat their heads, but only to have Nicole move away from him while still hugging Kiefer.

Seeing that the children are still wary of him, he simply gave up on the notion of sensing their mana levels through physical contact and turned to leave the classroom. At that, the professor hurried chased after him, and could be seen frantically bowing his head repeatedly, apologising for Nicole’s behavior. Drigor laughed heartily and wave his hands, indicating that he did not feel insulted, but instead mentioned how impressed he was at the girl’s bravery.

News of Master’s invitation spread by word of mouth through the school, and soon the whole school was talking about it, discussing whether Nicole should join the necromancer academy or not. Personally, Chrisse was against the idea, knowing full well that not only would she lose her only friend in school, but also afraid that her dear friend would be throwing her life away when she eventually joins the war.

That evening, as Nicole and Kiefer returned to their home, they were greeted by Revil at their doorstep. However, Revil seemed to have a frown plastered on his face, brows knitted and the edges of his mouth curves slightly downwards. And yet, it did not seem like he was mad, but instead a tired and worried look. It would seem that the news of Master’s approach had reached his ears and he had been tormented by a decision he could not come to.

Sitting the 2 children down on a lofty sofa in the lounge, Revil pulled up two more chairs in front of the children. He seated himself nervously in one of them as they awaited the arrival of his wife. Kiefer had only seen the wife once in all his time working in for the family. He had gathered that the Wife held a position even higher than Revil Varradon himself and that it was Revil that had married into the Varradon family, choosing to adopt their last name.

While Revil was the face of the Varradon mining conglomerate, it was his wife that would be shut behind closed doors, making important judgement calls and business transactions. Revil was simply the messenger and poster boy of the whole operation. It had been Charlene’s grandfather that made the important life changing decision to switch from manufacturing to mining operations many decades back that had carried the Varradon family to this day.

Kiefer heard a door creak open in the upper floors of the mansion, and slowly but surely, footsteps rang through the empty building and it came down the stairs, heading for the lounge. Kiefer watched, as a woman, only a little taller than Nicole made her way across the lounge and seat herself on the only empty chair in their circle.

Charlene Varradon, the key decision maker of the house had short blonde shiny hair, ending just above her shoulders. Her skin contrasted her hair, tan and matt, and yet smooth without any flaws on her face. Her long eyelashes seemed to steal the limelight away from her blue eyes and pale pink lips. There was almost no emotion on her face, so much so that even Kiefer who had studied his mother’s psychologist skills had a difficult time reading her.

“What a good poker face,” Kiefer thought as he grimaced, still trying to read the lady. “She must have had so many years of practice, it’ll be best not to try to read her.”

Kiefer watched intently, as her pale lips parted, and she initiated the conversation, still without an ounce of emotion on her face, deeply contrasting the troubled look Revil had.

“So Nicole,” she paused, and waited for Nicole to give her full attention. “What do you plan to do with your life?”

“Honey, don’t you think that’s too far ahead? She’s only a child, I don’t think she knows where she’ll be headed” Revil interjected, not waiting for Nicole to answer. Kiefer, just kept silent, watching the family discussion going on.

“Shush Revil. Let the girl talk. We can decide if she’s ready or not later.” Charlene quipped back at Revil, and then turning back to face Nicole, giving a small nod to signal that it’s ok to answer.

“I’m not sure mum. But I think I want to help you run the mines. I can use magic to protect our workers and help the business grow.” Nicole replied enthusiastically, excited that she could finally have a chance to be involved in the family business.

“And what if you had the chance to help your city? What if you were presented with an opportunity to end the war and make it safe for all the families living in Diantes. Would you take it?” Charlene asked, now with a serious expression on her face, her brows twitching a little as if it was difficult for her to ask that question.

“NO-“ Revil interrupted, but quickly shut his mouth and stared at the floor between his feet. Kiefer on the other hand, was laughing internally. He was amused at the sight of how powerless Revil was and how he had absolutely no say in this conversation.

“War? No I don’t like that. I don’t want to kill people. I don’t like to make enemies. I don’t want to be away from you and daddy.” Nicole answered, at which Revil immediately let out a huge audible sigh.

“But you will also make enemies when running our family business. And if you are going to take an active role in protecting our workers, you may even have to kill people who threaten our business.” (Charlene)

“Yes but at that time, I’ll have you and Daddy and Kiefer and Uncle Amestin by my side. So I think I’ll be ok.” Nicole replied without hesitation, smiling widely.

“That’s good enough honey. You must be tired. Why don’t you head on to your room? I’ll have Dorianne bring some refreshments to your room.” Charlene chimed back to Nicole, also beaming at her daughter’s decision.

As soon as Nicole left the lounge and the doors shut behind her, Charlene turned her head sharply from the door to Kiefer, her attitude turning a full round.

“Now your turn, Kiefer. I’ll say this now, I do not appreciate you lying and deceiving my daughter. But you still have my thanks for keeping her safe and keeping my business running. I may not be a mage, but I know full well how powerful you are. Now that you have been invited to the necromancer academy, which was your goal, what would you do? Leave my daughter and break her heart, making her watch you leave and go out to war?” Charlene asked in a low voice, without showing the slightest hint of wariness in front of Kiefer.

“Unfortunately, I will have to take up the master on his offer, of course, as Kiefer the butler. I assume he would be coming around the house soon to ask about the prodigy magus you’ve hired to protect your mines, but you only need to inform him that you do not know of a way to contact the mage.” Kiefer replied firmly, smiling widely, showing that he was glad they were finally able to have a serious discussion.

“And what if he refuses to give up? Then what?” Charlene pursued Kiefer with follow-up questions, frowning visibly as she did not like his plan at all.

“Then he would just have to wait for as long as he can. I can already tell you outright, from his personality I’ve observed today, he likes to get up and personal when handling things. So if you persist long enough, he is most certainly going to attack one of your mines to draw the mage out. When that happens, I will simply turn down his offer and hopefully, he wouldn’t get overzealous in his attempt to recruit me.” Kiefer reassured the Varradon couple.

“Very well then. Putting that aside, how are you going to break the news to Nicole? She’s grown quite attached to you. You are like a little brother she never had and I must admit you’ve played your role pretty convincingly. If you move to the royal academy, I’m almost certain she would follow you to protect you.” (Charlene)

“That, you don’t have to worry. I’m no stranger to breaking off relationships abruptly, but I’ll be sure to break it to Nicole as smoothly and gently as possible.” Kiefer once again reassured Charlene, while showing no form of concrete evidence or even a basic plan for the future.

Seeing Kiefer being ambiguous and not being truthful, Charlene just gave up and decided to trust Kiefer. After all, he had kept up his end of the bargain thus far and he has yet to show them any definitive reason for distrust. With that, the meeting was adjourned and Kiefer left the mansion once more to tour the mines.

Almost as if Kiefer could see into the future, there was a visit from Drigor to their mansion the next day while Kiefer and Nicole were out at school. Drigor was till there by the time evening came around and only left long after nightfall. He kept visiting the household for the next few days, finally, once more just like Kiefer had predicted, caused trouble at one of the Varradon mines.

Moving the ground like it was one of his limbs, Drigor caused a simple cave-in in one of the more sparsely populated mines and sensed a powerful being approaching the mines at astonishing speeds. Within seconds from the cave in, Kiefer approached the mine entrance in full armour and chanted a spell for multiple water-balls, launching it at the earthen wall that Drigor had conjured up to trap the miners inside.

Drigor watched from high up in the air as the masked mage continuously kept up a mana intense water spell to soften the earthen wall into mud and continued with the spell to eventually wash the mud away, freeing the miners. He then watched as the miners came running out of the mine, the masked mage turn to him and fire off multiple ice arrows in his direction.

Kiefer kept firing the ice shards at Drigor as he watched the titan zig zag his way through the air towards him, occasionally swatting the incoming shards back at Kiefer. Kiefer had trouble keeping his eyes on the ever elusive titan, observing the man dodge all his attacks nimbly and easily, before finally appearing on the ground in front of him. Kiefer felt the ground move and allowed himself to be captured by the titan. The ground had risen and swallowed Kiefer up to the neck.

It was not as if Kiefer could not break out, it was just that he had to keep his abilities limited and within human realms. He did not wish to reveal his true strength to his enemy, nor did he want to raise the suspicion of the titan by easily breaking out of a spell that the titan had used. Kiefer saw Drigor smile, as if satisfied with his abilities.

“Boy, I congratulate you for even spotting me in the first place. Not many humans are able to pin point me so quickly. I can see that you do not wish to converse, so I’ll make this very simple. If you wish to learn from me and train to become a necromancer in one of the most prestigious schools in the City, meet me 2 days from now at sunrise in front of the south gate of the palace. And also, congratulations on that wonderful set of armor. I can’t even begin to fathom how much you must have spent to have that set crafted for you. Nonetheless, it will be useful in the future when you serve the country and help take part in the war.” Drigor explained calmly, before burrowing into the ground and disappearing.

Kiefer was relieved he did not need to speak, afraid his voice could give his identity away, even if Drigor had not directly heard him speak before. Sending out a mana pulse, he could sense Drigor travelling quickly underground, as if he was swimming in the ground, away from the mine.

Relieved that his cover had not been blown, Kiefer ran back to the Varradon mansion on foot, still certain that Drigor was tracking his movement. As such, he could not afford to take to the skies until he was sure Drigor’s attention was elsewhere. He sprinted along the port road so quickly that most ordinary merchant and miners on the path only felt the wind rushing in behind him, and yet could not see that phantom that had sped past them.

That night, just after the family was done with dinner, Kiefer escorted Nicole back to her room as Revil made a beeline for his study and Dorianne started assigning jobs to the remainder of the servant. He watched as Nicole plopped herself down on the soft bed preparing to revise the magic theory lesson that she had learnt today.

On normal occasions, Kiefer would shut the door behind him as he left, but tonight, he remained in her room and fidgeted uneasily while casting slight glances at Nicole, waiting for her to notice him.

“Hmm? Kiefer? What’s wrong? Why haven’t you gone to report to Dorianne?” Nicole asked quietly, afraid the other servants would know Kiefer was slacking off.

“Actually, milady… there’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” Kiefer paused briefly to raise the suspense. “I’ve actually made plans to move to Shearwood. I’ll be moving tomorrow morning. My uncle is waiting for me there and Master Revil has kindly arranged for a transport with a merchant group. I am to meet the group at the mines tomorrow.”

Kiefer watched as Nicole dropped the book that was in her hands. She was already on the verge of crying, tears barely hanging on the edge of her eyes. As she opened her mouth to speak, Kiefer interjected, not allowing her to say anything that would disallow him from leaving.

“My uncle is my only family left. I know it is sudden, but I did not know how to tell you. You have been like a big sister to me. You taught me so many things and I really enjoyed learning magic with you. But I can protect myself now, just as you can yourself. I really hope you will allow me to leave.” Kiefer spoke calmly but firmly, unfitting of a 13 year old boy.

Nicole, let her tears roll down her cheeks, but after a moment of contemplation, she simply nodded. She know she had taken him in on a whim, she had grown attached to him, but knew that he probably didn’t feel at home here with her being the only one that pays attention to him. Taking a deep gulp, and sniffing loudly, she managed to ask one final question.

“But, can I at least see you off? I know I will be late for school, but you are more important.” Nicole managed to squeeze the question out in between her sobs.

“Kiefer smiled softly, went up to her and gave her a tight hug, and softly whispered into her ear, “Of course. That would make me really happy.”

Finally releasing Kiefer from her embrace, Nicole no longer had any mood to study and instead lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, reminiscing the moment she met the young boy, how he had protected her from Dominick, how they had learnt magic together and finally the moment when he told her he would be leaving. The images and memories kept replaying inside her head as she continued to sob silently, eventually crying herself to sleep.

The next morning, Kiefer packed a small luggage he had received from Revil and together with Nicole and her father walked to the city gate leading to the port road. They chose to walk instead of taking a carriage to spend more time together, but the trip remained silent as the 3 people took slow steps under the moonlight. Finally reaching the gates, the sun had begun to rise as Kiefer turned to father and daughter pair and prepared to say his final farewells.

Nicole’s eyes were red, having cried herself to sleep and continued crying when she woke. Walking up to her hand hugging her again, Nicole embraced the warmth of the little boy whom she had grown so attached to. He finally whispered into her ear, “I will miss you, but I’ll be with you” before letting go.

Kiefer pulled out a small red circular token with numerous tiny patterns on it. It was smaller than his palm, but looked even smaller in Nicole’s. Strung through the red metallic token, was a single silver strand that glimmered in the sun. It was so thin it was almost invisible except for tiny flashes as it reflected the sun’s rays.

Kiefer had spent the entire night formulating the rune and finally moulding it using orihalcom. He used a thin strand of mithril thread, thinner than his hair and yet stronger than any rope of thread to make it into a necklace. The rune was designed to project a single layer of mana armour around Nicole’s body, similar to his own mana armour. It was strong enough to protect her from most projectiles such as arrows or thrown weaponry. It would dampen the damage from melee weapons striking her body significantly enough that she would escape from grievous injury.

Handing it to her, he spoke softly, “Keep this on you at all time. This is a token to remember me by and you will find that when you need me the most, I will be there to protect you.”

Finished with his farewell, he gave Revil a firm handshake and left the city gates, leaving behind his temporary family at his back. He walked briskly along the port road, with the sun shining from his back as if to highlight his departure. Before long he was out of sight from the 2 in the city, and yet the girl kept looking into the distant road, rooted to the spot the young boy had left her. Strung around her neck and hidden beneath her shirt was the scarlet token that reminded her of the boy and the enjoyable time she had with him.

Kiefer made sure he was a fair distance from the city before checking his surroundings for anybody using his mana pulse. Confirming that Drigor was sticking around, Kiefer equipped his armour and headed to the mines to make his rounds for the day.

As always, he checked each and every mine swiftly but thoroughly, making sure to teleport away just as anyone spotted him. By midday, Kiefer had finished his rounds and decided to take a breather in the woods. He took off his armour and sat down on a fallen log deep inside the forest away from the main road.

This forest separated the city from the port and had many mines dug around in it all nearby the main port road. It was crawling with wildlife as ascertained by his mana pulse, most of which choose to steer clear of human activities. And then, unexpectedly, Kiefer’s mana pulse picked up 10 familiar life forms. All of them were stationary, and following the feedback from the pulse, Kiefer was led to a small cave further south inside the forest.

The cave was dimly lit, and without any ventilation, it was humid. Kiefer approached the 10 animals still snoozing away. Then as one of them picked up his scent, it alerted the rest and they came rushing out to fend off their cave from the human intruder.

Unfortunately for them, when they reached the entrance, their worst nightmare was standing in front of them, blocking their only escape route. As Kiefer scrutinised each of them under the poor lighting, he noticed that the leader of the pack seemed to have the crystals on the back of its neck crushed and somehow regrown.

Seeing how obedient they were, Kiefer finally remembered one certain Fientral that escaped his stomach as he boarded a buff blonde lady man’s merchant ship in Shearwood. It crystals at the back of its neck was similarly crushed when Isana held and carried them by the scruffs.

“Do you remember me?” Kiefer questioned menacingly, staring straight at the leaders eyes. The Fientral nodded obediently, still afraid to lock eyes with Kiefer for anything longer than a few seconds. It was constantly breaking eye contact and returning to gaze at Kiefer.

“Good. Since you understand me, I need you to do something for me, or else I will do to you what I did to your brother.” Kiefer threatened, and waited for the Fientral to nod its head once more.

“Go back to the mines you attacked a few days back. I want you to guard the mines and obey the humans working there. Protect them in my stead and when we meet again, I will give you something that will make you stronger than you ever could be.” Kiefer ordered, smiling at the Fientral.

Instantly, the leader barked out orders to the group and they rushed out of the cave, brushing past Kiefer’s legs. Kiefer followed them to the mines and then calmed down the miners who had thought the Fientrals were back to attack again. After a quick explanation and a lengthy session of hand shaking, Kiefer departed from the mines back to the cave the pack was occupying.

Casting a wind spell, Kiefer quickly made the cave more comfortable and spent the rest of the day and night in the cave, waking up early the next morning to depart for the south gate of the palace. Once again, he flew through the air after confirming Drigor’s position inside the palace, landing within the slums and then walking the rest of his way to the palace gates.

As Kiefer approached the palace gates, he slowed down to a halt and observed the one other person waiting at the gates. The man was dressed in a familiar full plate armour, a head taller than he was and was standing at attention facing the gates away from him. As the man slowly turned around to inspect his surroundings for the elusive ‘master’, Kiefer’s mind stopped working.

It was Varn. He seemed more haggard, with an unshaven look, but always vigilant as ever. Eyes were sharp and chest out proudly. Kiefer had to reconsider his plans now. Varn would instantly recognise him if he went as the butler, so his only option now was to equip his armour and hide his face and voice.

Fortunately, his armour now looked completely different from when he went on the mission with Varn, with the added orihalcom. However, just to play it safe, Kiefer decided to change the shape of his mask, adding 2 horns that grew from each side of his mask that went backwards, made a complete U-turn downwards and ended with the tips of the devil’s horns facing the front, slightly pointing up.

Confident in his disguise, he walked up to the old veteran and waited next to him for more candidates and of course, the ‘Master’. Varn looked at the devil look alike and did not interact with him, choosing to keep to himself. They waited until the sun rose, and finally Drigor showed himself, slightly frowning that there weren’t more students.

As the guards made way for Drigor, Kiefer and Varn both faced the approaching ‘master’ and stood still. Standing just beyond the palace gates, Drigor stretched his arms out wide and loudly welcomed them.

“Well what are you waiting for? Welcome! To the royal palace of Diantes! Come on step inside my students. I shall guide you personally on the path to being a great mage, and an even greater necromancer.”

BEE-TEE DUBS, I still owe you guys 3 chapters so keep an eye out for them.