Natalie smiled and gave a thankful nod before she began her so called explanation.

“I know that you’ve heard things about my family. Bad things. It comes with being influential and having enemies. I hope that you could at least give me a chance to explain things a bit.”

“Sure.” The dark elf nodded. ‘It can’t hurt to hear her side of the story as well. Who am I kidding? They’re friggin demon worshipers! I do owe her the chance of explaining things at least.’

“The Argent family came here with the same intentions as any other of the great families. We want to carve out a place for ourselves in this world filled with magic. You know how thin arcana was back on Earth, so can you really blame us for doing the one thing we could to keep the traditions and the flow of power alive in the family? I admit; corpse sacrifice isn’t the most subtle ritual, but from what I’ve gathered, you yourself tend to use it quite frequently as well. My family might have overdone it a bit, but our funeral parlour made every necessary arrangement for the deceased people to have a proper funeral. Digging the corpses back out later to use them for the ritual was… understandable. None of the family members found out and the graves were restored after. No harm no foul, right?”

“I guess not.” Regis nodded.

He had to admit that it was a pretty decent and harmless scheme. No one would want to exhume their loved ones once they were buried, and the corpses would only rot away anyways. ‘I might have done the same thing myself if I had the means to do so. Like hell I’d do that. They’ve done far worse things than digging up corpses and she knows it. I can’t really blame her family for clinging to their past glory, even if they’ve used such a distasteful method.’ He nodded to himself as he listened on.

“Anyways; what happened on Earth, stays on Earth. Since our arrival to the Shardlands, my family has done everything by the book. We’ve kept our deals in the open and helped defend this sorry excuse of a town in the past days. As for my reason for wanting to recruit you; I think it’s obvious. Even though you aren’t a pure blood, you’re still a dark elf like us. You would always have a place with us either way, but your skill and talent in enchanting makes you all the more wanted." Here she cleared her throat and smiled at the young spell weaver.

"Of course, we would provide you with the best treatment you can ask for. We’re already building supply networks and as soon as the situation on the continent stabilises somewhat, our efforts will bear even more results. For now; all I can offer is what the family’s willing and able to afford. You would get the best resources possible to procure, along with any books, journals and notes we can get that contain enchanting relevant knowledge. And as a bonus; you would get your own personal assistants,” she smiled as she eyed him up with a sultry look. “They would take care of your needs in any way necessary.”

“That does sound like a tempting… fuck.” Regis was about to agree as the subtle screeching noise in the back of his head began to turn louder.

His head felt as if the soft droning headache got turned up a notch. It was as if someone took a hammer to his skull, knocking rusty nails in it. ‘She has a point. I am a dark elf, so no matter where I go; I’ll stand out as a target. Sticking together is the safer option. No it’s not! Something’s wrong here. Her offer also sounds better than whatever scraps I could get in East Fork. Something’s fucking wrong, but what? I mean, having a pretty dark elf girl or two at my back and call is an offer that’s hard to refuse. I don’t know what’s wrong! What was that rumour about Natalie?’

“He seems to be struggling.” Etienne said as he was about to step forward, but his sister stopped him.

“It’s a pretty big decision, so it’s understandable that he needs to think it through, but I’m sure he’ll come to see it our way. No one would give him as much for his services as the Argent family. He surely understands that as well.”

Regis kept staring forward without a word as a single drop of blood trickled down from his left eye. ‘She’s right about it. No, she’s not! Most people would simply try to force me to do their bidding; especially the local nobles. She’s doing something to me, but what? There won’t be another offer as lucrative as this one. What was she rumoured to be proficient in? I mean, she’s pretty and she’s offering a lot to me. I could get resources, and pretty girls. I might even get her favour… Fuck! She was rumoured to be a damn enchantress who bent people to her will with her voice! The damn bitch!’ At that moment, it was as if the rusty nail was finally struck deep enough as a moment of clarity spread through his jumbled back and forth hopping thoughts. For the first time since he was able to use magic, both of his hands began to trickle arcana as a pair of spells simultaneously began to form.

“Get the fuck out of my head!” Regis roared as he looked up at Natalie and her brother, his arcane intimidation skill activating with a vengeance.

The dark elf siblings reeled back for a moment, struck by the wave of furious intent. When their mind stopped reeling from the sudden intimidation attack a moment later, they saw Regis raise both of his hands, cherry sized deep blue orbs floating in front of them.

“Oh fu…” was all Etienne managed to spit out before the near point blank runic arcana shot blasted him and Natalie in the head, tearing through their eyes first and their brain a split second after.

The siblings fell backwards, respectively hitting the ornate desk and the ground. Regis could finally breathe up as the pressure in his mind subsided, letting him understand what just happened. Natalie began to force her enchanting magic or skill or whatever it was on him the moment she started talking about the Argent family’s offer.

He wouldn’t even notice that something was wrong if not for his high willpower attribute that kept at least a part of his subconscious mind immune and warry of the attack. Now the dark elf siblings were dead and the familiar dark smoke began to rise from their bodies to cover their corpses before they would vanish. A sound from the other side of the locked door dragged back Regis to reality as he realised this previous roar must have caused the guards to react.

Now they were surely on their way up the stairs to check on them. Without even taking a second to second guess himself, the dark elf got up from the chair and grabbed his staff. He turned towards the opened window that looked out towards the surprisingly empty street and he jumped through it, falling downwards fast. Near the last moment before impact, his body twisted with an unnatural cat like agility thanks to his high deftness attribute, allowing him to land on his feet.

A loud crashing noise from the window signified that the guards broke in, spurring the young dark elf into a mad sprint through the alleyway towards the docks. He didn’t look back; he couldn’t look back. Regis knew that the guards of the Argent family weren’t complete morons. They would surely figure out what happened when they’ve found only a pair of dissolving corpses in the meeting room and hell would follow.

The way towards the river docks was as crowded as expected and the young spell weaver had to push through quite a few people before he could get anywhere near the pier. He could see the boats that were mostly already full of mercenaries and guards. The sight of Amanda standing at the helm of one of the large boats with the others made him double down on his effort to reach them. His tussle with the anxious crowd drew the attention of his group, earning several questioning gazes as they saw him running towards them like a madman.

“Regis! What happened?” Quentin called out to him after seeing the distraught on the youth’s face.

“Argents!” Regis yelled without slowing down, his steps hammering on the pier.

“Okay, fuck this!” Valerie cursed as she stood up from her seat while pulling her whip free from her belt.

She turned to the right, looking towards the boat beside theirs where a not at all suspicious dark elf warrior made a knowing face after hearing its family name. Valerie stepped forward winding up her whip into a large swing. The whip caught ablaze in the air, cutting through the space between the boats as it was aimed straight towards the dark elf sentry of the Argent family.

A loud boom could be heard as all of the built up momentum and destructive force landed on the terrified dark elf’s face, exploding the better part of his head. The corpse fell backwards from the impact, landing in the murky river with a splash.

“We’re leaving, now. Everybody grab a paddle and row like there are demons on our heels!” The infernal woman yelled, encouraging the rest of the people present on their boat to get into rowing position.

Khan cut the boat’s rope before taking up his place at the side with a paddle.

“I ain’t going to be left behind by a bunch of brats!” A mercenary leader yelled before he too slashed his boat’s ties and his men began to row in earnest.

The guards present wanted to stop the troublemakers, but the memory of the dark elf’s exploding head stopped them just long enough for Regis to rush by them, vaulting over to the boat that was already a good three meters away from the end of the pier.

“What the hell…”

“Row!” Regis cut into Khan’s words as he tossed his staff into the middle of the boat before grabbing a paddle and sitting into the only empty position to join the rest.

With the hatred fuelled yells of the arriving dark elf guards in the distance behind them along with several boats rowing to race them, the ragtag warband of outlanders finally began their journey up river to the besieged town of East Fork.

End of book 1