Thomas woke in an empty room. That in and on itself wasn’t disconcerting, he often woke in an empty room. No, the concerning part was that this wasn’t his room or a room he was familiar with. Slowly the events from yesterday seeped into his thoughts, driving away confusion, replacing it with dread instead. “Hello?” He called out. There was no response. He pulled the covers away to find himself naked. “Shit.” He muttered. “Shit, shit, shit.” He searched the room, which wasn’t more than four walls, a bed and a chest.

He opened the chest and let out a sigh in relief. Inside were clothes, which he put on as fast as he could. The trousers, shirt and jacket were all in black and had a distinct visius feel to them. He walked towards the door and tried the knob. It opened obediently. He entered a corridor, with several identical doors in them. Each one was marked with a different symbol, which he recognized as visius numbers.

“Hello? Is somebody there?” He called out again. The door opposite to his room opened, revealing a sleepy looking Jared. The visius blinked twice, transparent white skin briefly covering the black pools, before his face split into a wide grin. “My friend, you are awake and dressed very fashionably, if I might say so.”

Thomas was confused for a second then shook his head. “Never mind that. Where is Anna? Is she safe? Is she alright?” Jared’s face briefly became blank, before another smile appeared, this one feeling forced. “She’s alright, perfectly fine even, but my friend circumstances have changed while you were asleep.” A cold hand gripped Thomas’ heart. “What?” He heard himself say. “Your fiancé is gifted and she has sold her apprenticeship to mage Chaim.” Jared said as he laid a hand on Thomas’ shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Sold her apprenticeship? What the fuck does that even mean?” Thomas yelled out as he pushed away from Jared. The visius tried to shush him, but anger and fear had combined to form a pit in Thomas’ stomach. He grabbed Jared by his collar and pushed him up against the wall. “Where is my wife?” He growled as he lifted the scout off the ground. “My friend you’re being very erratic, let’s sit down and talk about it.” Jared said, his tone patient. “Where is she?” Thomas shouted.

Jared sighed. “Out the door, second building on your right.” Thomas released him and he landed in a crouch. As the human ran towards the exit he shouted after him. “I’m going to be beat the shit out of you during practice later.” Thomas didn’t even respond as he jumped down the stairs. “And I thought mages were insane.” Jared grumbled as he got up and went into his room to get dressed. He had a feeling that he was going to spend most of the day cleaning up his friends’ messes.

Ɏ

It was a big day for Viceroy Benroy. After months of continuous testing and sending messages to the capital the Gate was finally opening for its second major influx of people. Special Brigadier General Ofira joined him on the platform, that had been raised in his honour, just as the sun peaked over the mountains in the East. “Everything is going smoothly viceroy.” She said, her usual mad smile absent. Benroy’s nostrils flared. No blood or magic, clearly the special brigadier general had no intention of practicing any magics herself today.

“Good, it has been ages since I was in the presence of civilized bloodlines.” Benroy said, pleasantly. He ignored the look that the special brigadier general gave him, no mage bloodline was truly dignified. A, by now familiar, tone became louder and louder as blood rose up to form the gate. “Per your instruction we’ve found a way to reuse the blood after closing the gate.” The special brigadier general sounded less than happy about it. “The quality of the ritual is lessened by it, but shouldn’t have an effect on the gate itself.”

“Good.” Benroy said again, not caring a single bit about the unhappiness of the mage. Personally, he found magic filthy and honourless. He wouldn’t deny its uses, but there was a certain cowardice in not facing your enemy head on. That the enemy often was several feet below him didn’t lessen that fact. Even up on Iskar he was still vulnerable to a well-aimed arrow or a properly manned siege engine. Mages however could rain destruction on the enemy without ever being seen. It was dishonourable. Still, he would tolerate the presence of mages. Victory, after all, wiped away all dishonour.

The blood turned into a bright white field and through it they came. Golden bonfires ignited in Benroy’s eyes as he beheld the procession that marched through the gate. More than two dozen noble banners were carried by household troops. From the South-East many lords and ladies had answered his call to form a proper court. From the midlands fewer had come, but that wasn’t unexpected. Many of the nobles there still harboured a grudge against his older brother. From the South-West only Lady Rakefet mon Someir had come. She was, cruel, sadistic, possibly insane and definitely the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes upon. The northern traitors hadn’t been invited, as was only natural.

He barely paid any attention to the merchants, settlers and other low born that passed through the gate. Instead, all his attention was focused on the group of nobles that were gathering on the plaza in front of his platform. A week ago, it hadn’t existed and General Jader had balked at the priority status Benroy had given it, but for this moment it was all worth it. Below him his former peers stood, dressed splendidly in the latest court fashion. He locked eyes with the Lady Rakefet, dressed in a very tight uniform, which managed to leave everything and nothing to the imagination. She gave him a very pointy smile, before licking her lips.

“My friends,” His voice magically enhanced, by two small cuts to his throat. “my rivals, I’m so glad you decided to join me in this new world.” It was a good thing that he had decided to wear a black uniform today, his red one wouldn’t have survived the black stains of this small incantation. Magic was so inconvenient where it came to personal hygiene. “The second capital of our great nation still needs a little work, but I’m sure that you will add to its elegance, if only by walking its streets.” There was applause at those words, because flattery went a long way with most folks.

“This world is large and bountiful and so I gift to you space in our capital to built your homes in all possible splendour! May this city, which I have named Yesharas in honour of our great queen, become as great beautiful as Tarabash itself! All hail Yeshara the fountain of wisdom and strength from which the empire itself sprouts.” Was the speech a bit grandiose and over the top? Yes, of course it was, but spectacle had its place and now more than ever he needed his support for the official crown to be without doubt.

Going by the thundering roar of approval his countrymen had bought into it. “But until your palaces stand, my friends, you are more than welcome to my palace where you will enjoy all hospitalities I can offer.” A second, even louder roar, came from below. Lady Rakefet blew him a kiss, which he acknowledged with a subtle nod. Her bloodline was old and pure, as was the case with all of the highborn gathered below. If his father had been alive to see this gathering, he would have been proud. With a dramatic sweep of his ridiculously expensive purple cape he made his exit. All in all, not a bad first impression at all.

Ɏ

A bit further to the south an angry, young interpreter kicked in the door of another recently raised structure. “Anna?” Thomas called out as his eyes roved over the interior, searching for his fiancé. She was sitting on the ground her hands and lap covered in blood an equally bloody visius sitting opposed to her. “Anna!” He shouted and without another word he jumped on the man who had harmed his fiancé.

Mage Chaim had a single second to utter a curse before a fist connected with his jaw and he was thrown on his side. “Light! Thomas?” Anna said, confusion clear in her voice. Thomas wasn’t stopping however. He rained blows down on the mage lying on the ground. “Thomas! Stop! Thomas!” A wave of force threw him off the mage, who had passed out. “Thomas, by the light, look what you did!”

Anna walked towards the unconscious mage. “Chaim? Chaim, are you okay?” After a few seconds the visius opened his eyes. He sat up with a groan, before his eyes locked on Thomas. Red flames ignited in his eyes, until they were completely red. “You will regret laying hands on me barbarian. For this offense I will take your life.” The blood on his hands gathered turning into dozens of small, vicious looking needles. “Chaim, wait, stop. That is my fiancé.” Anna said, but the words spoken in Solestian meant nothing to Chaim.

He raised his hand and all the needles pointed towards Thomas. “Wait, Chaim, this is all a misunderstanding.” Anna walked forwards to stop Chaim, but the mage threw his other hand up, from which black blood seeped, and she was halted in her steps. The red needles started spinning, a cruel grin on the mage’s face. “As if some mutt could touch me and not pay for it with his life.” He snarled.

“Mage Chaim, I suggest you stop that. Unless you want to anger the general that is.” A calm voice noted. Chaim turned his burning gaze to the utterer of those words. “And why would the general care that I executed another rioter?” He barked. “Because that is the guy you saved a couple of hours back? He’s under the general’s protection.” Chaim turned back to look at his assailant. After a few seconds he recognized him. He cursed and the needles dissolved. Thomas coughed as he sat up. “Light, that smells bad.” He said in Solestian.

Chaim spit a phlegm of black blood on the ground. He looked at it disdainfully. “What a waste.” He muttered. He turned to Thomas. “You, if you ever lay a hand on me again, I will kill you. Consider this your first and final warning. And you,” Red flames blazed in his eyes as he looked at Jared. “Keep your dog leashed or I will put a binding spell on him unlike this world has ever seen.” The mage stalked out of the building.

Anna rushed to Thomas’s side. “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. Here let me look at that.” She examined the cut. “It will be fine, it isn’t deep.” She stopped talking, then bit her lip. He knew that look; it was the look she got before she decided to do something reckless. It was the same look she had when they were young. The look which had got him into trouble countless times. She brushed a stray red hair out of her face and nodded. “Okay, watch this.”

She brought her thumb to her mouth and bit through the skin. “Anna, what in the light are you doing?” Thomas asked baffled. “Just watch, you oaf. This is what master Chaim and I were doing before you barged in.” She muttered a couple of words, before pressing her still bleeding thumb to the cut on his head. He felt the wound close, which was unsettling, before the smell hit him. He almost gagged on the smell of blood and rotten fruit. He looked up into Anna’s beaming face. “See, all better and doesn’t it smell wonderful? I can practically smell spring coming.”

As he looked at her, he realized that there was something strange about her face. There was something wrong with her eyes. As he peered into them it was almost as if within her pupils small black pools had formed. “Thomas?” She asked, concern in her voice. He blinked and when he looked again it was gone. “Hmm, yes?” He half asked half said. Joy was replaced by annoyance. “You’re not even listening. You weren’t listening when you came in and you aren’t now.”

Thomas shook his head. “I’m sorry, must have hit my head too hard. What were you saying?” Annoyance made way for excitement again. “Master Chaim says that I have a very strong gift and that I should cast as much as possible.” Thomas looked at Jared in a brief moment that Anna was distracted. The visius shook his head and mouthed the words dangerous and madness. “Ehm love, are you sure it is safe?” He said as nonconfrontational as possible. “Oh, don’t get all worried on me. Master Chaim says that it is all about control and that he will teach me just that and much more. Isn’t it exciting?”

When she got excited it felt like life itself was just a bit brighter and it was clear to him that this meant a lot to her. “Very exciting, yes. I’m happy that you’re getting along with Jared’s people. If you want to, I can help you learn the language, it isn’t that hard when you get the hang of it.” Jared snorted. “You sound like snow bird, too fast, chittering.” He said in Solestian that made both Anna and Thomas flinch. “Breakfast, together, now, yes?” He said, before he turned around and left the building. Thomas looked at Anna, who shrugged, and the two of them followed the scout outside.