(Jason, 16)

I am so, so grateful Papa Samuel and Papa Michael listened to my telepathic warning to stay back. They would die in moments against Enamas. I could die in moments against him. One wrong move, and I am dead. It would be so easy to flee here, but if I do, what happens then?

Enamas might kill everyone else, but even if he fled, more people would die because of the lack of one more warrior and mage to fight against the ogres and corrupted hounding this place. Especially if he killed Niko. Losing both of us would doom this entire region before even factoring in what Enamas would do once his revenge against me finished. This god has clearly not reformed, and would likely restart that ancient terror that reigned the world if he's let loose.

Gritting my teeth, I look at my missing left arm, before I look at the stump of a right leg, severed halfway down the thigh. Enamas is doing a number on me, and only by magic have I not died just from blood loss yet.

So much pain. So, so much pain. What can I do to stop this god's rampage? If he isn't stopped, then he will no doubt restart the issues that we Magi put a stop to. He will no doubt enslave humanity while simultaneously repairing the passages from this end.

Which would lead to the gods and angels returning to Midlaris much, much sooner.

Which means that he needs to be ended. Here. I don't have the power necessary to bind him up again, I'm only lower grey. Barely lower grey.

Idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot!

So what if I'm barely lower grey? That doesn't mean I'm the only grey being around. Nor him the only god around. There are plenty of other forces which can take care of him, even with him being a god of the Second Order. A very powerful one, but just as killable as the others.

(Niko, 16)

Unless I am mistaken, the entire battlefield went silent as the divine presence disappeared. Even the ogres and corrupted have stilled. What just happened? I want to check on Jason, but something tells me that he is no longer here.

What happened? Where did he take Enamas?

Shaking my head, I return to restoring the walls and killing monsters. An hour after the sudden disappearance, Sage Samuel lands beside me, concern on his face.

"Have you heard from Jason?" He asks.

"No," I frown. "What happened?"

"We aren't sure," he answers. "Jason was fighting the god, and then both disappeared. We think Jason lured him through a gate, and I wasn't able to track him to where he went. Do you have any thoughts on where he might have gone?"

"No," I answer. "Jason's ways are his own. What of the ogre lords?"

"The five we know of are in the castle," he informs me. "Michael and I bound the place, so they won't be escaping anytime soon. We'll finish clearing the city of monsters and sending the survivors to the camp, then deal with the five of them. Let us pray to the King and Queen of the Gods that Jason is okay."

"Jason is the High Magus," I tell him. "He is far more resilient to harm than you might think."

"He was facing a god," Sage Samuel says. "One whom even he feared dying against."

"Perhaps," I say. "But when bad turns worse, and worse things turn to the worst, the High Magus stands above all. There are some things which are in the soul."

I touch my chest.

"And in the heart," I add. "And those things rarely change. I may worry for Jason as well, but he is the High Magus. I have absolute faith in him and in his powers."

Sage Samuel still looks uncertain, but nods, and I turn my gaze to the small horde of ogres and corrupted approaching. Should I make another stone garden? Or show Sage Samuel what a Magus can do, even with only blue magical power?'

Deciding on the latter, I step to the edge of the wall and inhale, raising both hands as I weave together the spell. The air around me begins to fill with feeling of my magical power, and I can sense the Sage's unease. Even if my magical power is weaker than his, a spell like this is not something to take lightly. The very feel of this spell's formation would unsettle even the most oblivious of observers, and Sage Samuel can read magics.

Even before we were at grey magical power levels, we Magi were fighting forces far above our own magical power. We layered spells and made them redundant, fed them each other to fuel their power. We twisted the very laws of magic to our whims on more than one occasion.

It was we Magi who first mixed types of magic, we Magi who first ignored the boundaries each type of magic was believed to abide.

That power is what allowed us to fight angels and demons as equals before we were grey, and to completely dominate them even without our Sacred Swords and Magus Swords once we turned grey. This spell is one of the many from back then, and should show Sage Samuel that no Magus, especially not the High Magus, should ever be underestimated.

That Jason will survive.

He may not have realized it yet, but I have recovered certain memories. Memories which reveal a truth about him that he might not even know. So I know that Jason will survive, even if I worry for him. He might not know what I have remembered. His ascension to grey magical power last night and its influence on me likely unlocked some of the memories the Great Meddler bound, which is no doubt the reason I have recovered those certain memories.

Finishing shaping my mana into the spell formation, I activate it.

The mountain itself shakes and rumbles, and the ground beneath the monsters falls away, a cloud of black and golden magic filling the hole below. Some of the monsters attempt to flee, but the hole continues to widen itself. Any beast which touches the cloud of magic below twists and corrupts in a different way than before.

Their flesh turns grey and sickly, and deformities appear on them. All begin to sprout wings of stony flesh, and as the alterations complete, the lesser, temporary gargoyles fly out of the pit and towards the capital.

As the spell finishes, I drop to my knees. That drained me. A lot.

"Niko, those are-"

"They will fight their former comrades until they are done," I gasp. "I forgot how taxing that spell was. One bad thing about only having the memories instead of the also experiences that came with them. Give me some time, Sage Samuel, and I should be fine."

"What did you do?" He asks.

"I am the Magus of Curse," I answer, watching as my new army joins the fight, a few staying behind to attack those which managed to evade the trap or were not close enough to it, the pit now four hundred feet in diameter and no longer expanding. "The King of Decay. I am the Gargoyle of the Magi. And now, my foes are my slaves."

"That sort of spell-"

"There are no laws against specific magics here," I state, holding out a hand and shaping another spell. "Only the abhorrence against all magics which the churches instilled into the people of these lands. That spell is just as despised as a healing spell, and it is a spell which will assist us in the recovery of the capital. Finish the rescues, Sage Samuel. I will continue to repair the walls so that no more enter."

My spell finishes, and I feel a great deal more of my mana flow into the spell, though it is only a great deal due to how much I used to perform the other spell. Hundreds of golems begin to rise from the mountain.

"We will guard the walls as I repair them," I state. "Do not worry for Jason. He will return. Even if Enamas did everything in his power to kill Jason, the High Magus is not so easily killed."

I jump off the wall, using magic to slow my descent once I reach the golem. Landing on its shoulder as if it were a seat, I direct it to walk, the other golems summoned beginning to move as well, to protect the holes I have yet to reach. They will remain as I work.

Sage Samuel watches me travel for a minute, then returns to the fray, and I sigh in relief. It will take me some time to recover from casting that spell. Because I am still only blue and not yet back to my grey status in magical power, the gargoyles are not true and will decay away. At least I have bought more time, as they will not attack the humans. Their orders are to kill monsters and rescue humans.

That should help some, as they can reach the recovery camp quickly, taking maybe five to ten minutes, rather than the hour a person would need to travel. Even if it's not as fast as gates, each gargoyle knows how to cast them. As soon as they've been to the camp, they will be able to open gates for humans to pass through.

I did not want to cast that spell before, though, because of the magical, mental, and mana drain it put on me. It was even greater than I had expected, though.

I do now wonder how many of my 'children' are still around, though. My children as Benjamin, when I created true gargoyles for the war. Ones that don't decay away, the magic which changed them permanent, dissipating as it simply became part of them rather than part of their sustenance.

Dismissing those thoughts, I continue repairing the walls, but my progress is slower now, and after only another hour, I find myself needing to rest. My guardian golem secures me against its chest as I close my eyes, and four other golems take up positions around me. I pull in my scanning spell. The golems can cast their own, and so will be alerted to danger sooner.

There is no reason to worry about Jason, but I do pray to the King and Queen of the Gods he recovers soon. Now that he is of grey magical power again, he will be fine.

All creatures with it heal from damage, so long as they have mana. Completely heal. He will regrow his missing limbs. And Enamas knows who we are. Who we really are. I heard his comment to Jason, his mention of Jason's mother.

The god wasn't referring to the one who created Jason's physical body within her womb, especially since that mother is dead and has been for almost sixteen and a half years.

Enamas was referring to the Mother of the Magi. Has Jason remembered her, and her hand in us? Even if he has not, he no doubt suspects about her hand in our original births here on Midlaris. On how Midlaris himself welcomed our births.

But why would the god think he could kill Jason? Some of those memories I recovered, which the Queen of the Gods had no doubt bound up, revealed to me the truth of the Magi. At least, part of it. We are immortal. We cannot be killed. We are not gods, nor divine beings, nor anything like that, but we possess the same immortality as them, maybe even a stronger one.

If Enamas knows who we are, then would he not know that, too?

Please, I pray to the King and Queen of the Gods. Let Jason have enough mana to recover quickly, to ease his pain. Please do not allow Enamas to harm him too badly before whatever Jason's plan is happens. Please.

My prayers and rest are interrupted early when the golems send me a message. There are newcomers whom they are not certain of, and they do not know if they should fight or wait. Opening my eyes as the golem lifts me back to his shoulder, I look to the newcomers, who are flying towards us.

As they land, I stare at them. More specifically, the figure in the lead. She looks like a woman in her twenties, bare of clothes, and made entirely of stone, her eyes black with golden lines through them. All of the newcomers are similar to her, of varying ages and of both sexes. All are naked as well, as they would be with what they are. Clothing is a construct of man, not beast.

Each one has a pair of wings of stone feathers, a pair of horns atop their heads, and minor deformities which some might say make them ugly, yet do not detract from the angelic beauty they once held. There are some which have monstrous forms, but the majority are humanoid at their base.

Gargoyles. Gargoyles I made as Benjamin, during the war.

The lady in the front bows, and the others all follow.

"Lord Benjamin," she speaks in Kelrar. "We have sensed your distress and come to your assistance. What are your commands?"

They recognize me by my magic and soul, not by my appearance. It takes me a few moments to overcome my shock. I know I thought about them and wondered if they were still alive just a short while ago, but I did not expect to actually find any!

Right. Commands.

"I am Niko in this life," I respond in Kelrar, using magic to enhance my voice to guarantee all one hundred or so gargoyles can hear me. "Repair the walls of the city, as well as their gates. Kill any ogres or corrupted you come across. You are free to turn them into minions if you wish. I have several minion gargoyles already created, as you no doubt have noticed. Once the walls and gates are repaired, you are to kill any ogres and corrupted you can find within the city. If you come across a human, open a gate spell to the recovery camp. You will need to visit it once to be able to perform the spell. A gate spell is a connection between two locations, as if you are simply walking through a door or gate rather than traversing space itself."

I open a gate.

"Step through it and return," I command. "So that you may open gates there as well without need of flying there, to save time."

"Yes, milord," she complies.

Each of the gargoyles takes their turn stepping through the gate, then returning and bowing once more. One of them steps forward after returning from the camp, bowing deeply.

"Lord Ethan has requested permission for several of us to join them in its protection," he says.

Jacob came? Why did he come? How did he even learn of this? His father will be furious at his presence here. I pray to the King and Queen of the gods King Zachary is light on him, then return my attention to the gargoyles. There are far more important things right now.

"You ten," I point at ten of the gargoyles, singling them out individually. "Return to the camp and protect them from any attacks by bandits, ogres, corrupted, and other things."

"Yes, milord," the ten walk through my gate and I dismiss it, now that they have all been to the camp at least once.

"As for the rest of you," I say. "You have your orders. We are here to rescue the capital and its people from the ogre lords. Those are contained within a barrier within the castle, leave it be for now."

"Yes, milord!" The gargoyles move, though the female in the lead and one of the males remain behind.

"We will protect you, in addition to your golems," she says.

"Thank you," I say. "I need to recover some more, I have taxed myself quite hard using the pit."

The cloud will eventually be used up, but until then, it will turn anything that falls into it into a temporary gargoyle, the sort that look sickly rather than are truly autonomous stone beings. As long as I have not given them a command, a true gargoyle, such as the ones who joined us, will be able to command the temporary ones.

"Yes, milord," she responds.

I signal for the golems guarding me to continue walking along the wall, so that I am not just, well, here. The gargoyles are repairing, quite literally, every part of the wall with damage to it. Even a tiny crack or gap. They are fast and efficient, however, so it is not too much of an issue. The pair accompanying me assist from time to time, but for the most part, they protect me and fight ogres and corrupted that draw too near.

My rest comes to an end when I receive a signal from several of my golems outside another section of the city that there is a threat approaching which they cannot handle.

"Minaira," I speak, using the name the female gargoyle gave me as I open up a gate to that location. "I need you to go through there, then open a gate back here large enough to bring my golems through."

"Yes, milord," she steps through the gate, and a moment later, a large, grey gate appears.

The rest of us pass through it as I dismiss my own gate. I could have made one that large, but I doubt its stability and did not want to put it to the test during such an event as this. I had a feeling she would be able to manage, however. Gargoyles are grey-level creatures, after all.

True gargoyles, at any rate.

When we pass through, I see what caused the reaction in my golems, why they all alerted me to danger. Another horde of ogres and corrupted. This one is led by two ogre lords and contains no less than three hundred ogres and two thousand corrupted. One of the ogre lords has a strange stone staff in its right hand, a staff which gives me a disturbing feeling.

"You wait here," Minaira tells me. "We will handle this."

"I will provide backup," I hold up a hand, summoning a spell I saw recently. Jason used it against Enamas, though I know mine will be weaker. He used it through Calamity, but even without that, Jason himself is far above me. Regardless, it should be enough. "I have recovered enough, mentally."

She nods, then leads the golems and gargoyles here in a charge against the ogres and corrupted. I unleash a lightning which decays anything it touches. The true gargoyles and my golems will be unaffected, as they are already stone, so they only damage I have to worry about with them is from the lightning itself. However, the true gargoyles will shrug those off.

They are creatures of grey magical power, after all. My blue magical power is something which they can ignore in its entirety.

The pair of true gargoyles who stayed to protect me fight against the ogre lords, fighting first on equal, then on greater terms. The staff poses a problem for them, however, as it can generate a powerful flame which melts even their stone and an ice which freezes them as well, the male gargoyle learning that the bad way.

I continue to unleash lightning as my army fights theirs, and I cannot help but have a bad feeling about that staff. How are its flames so strong, its ice so effective against even a true gargoyle?

Too late, I realize how. But only right before Minaira manages to destroy the staff.

An aura of divinity washes out, and a seal which Nolan created three thousand years ago breaks. A second god has been released, and this one, I do not recognize. He has silver hair and eyes, like most gods, and is just as naked as they often were back then. Silvery runes mark his body, though they fade away after a few minutes.

Tall, with a godly beauty, he stares out at the field, then locks eyes with me. Then my golem moves to shield me as a wave of ice and fire is unleashed from the god. It burns at the golem and my hastily-erected shields, punching through both, and pain fills me as my mind is shattered from the destruction of so many golems at once.

It takes me more than a few moments to realize there is screaming, and a few moments longer to realize I am the one screaming. The pain is awful. Burning in both heat and cold, a sensation I never before thought possible. This is not good. Not good!

I manage to open my eyes and find myself on the ground, my golem and most of the gargoyle minions destroyed, the wall behind me obliterated by the attack as well. The horde is gone, that is at least good. The true gargoyles are still standing, grey shields flickering in and out of existence as they fight against the god.

Right. Gargoyles are grey-level beasts, which means that they can fight against a god. I would estimate it to be a god of the Second Order, and them, maybe upper grey. Minaira and the male who stayed to protect me are likely greater grey, though.

As I take in my surroundings, I come to realize something. While my golem and shields managed to protect me from the sudden attack, they did not protect all of me. My left leg is destroyed, missing almost to my crotch.

"Kenmi a'nil Kurativai, anilra vaini koilai mo'nesai!"

Better not allow my parents to ever know the translation to that, they would likely ground me for eternity for saying it. I pray to the King and Queen of the Gods they both never hear that I said that nor ever learn its translation.

As I tend to my wound with what healing knowledge I have, I give the battle a few looks. The god is struggling against the gargoyles, who have inflicted various wounds upon it, and continue to do so as it heals. Their own bodies are damaged, but as they are beasts of grey magical power, so they are healing as well. Recovering.

The god is unable to kill them outright, so it has to wear them down until they run out of mana and stop healing. Unfortunately for it, it has found its match in the dozen gargoyles present, and they only need do the same to it as it must do to them.

Leaving them to the god's death, I place my hands on my leg, the bleeding stopped by my magic as I begin the next part of my recovery. This is not going to be pleasant.

Shaping my mana into the spell, I am very careful about what I want it to do and be as I visualize it with both my mind's eye and my magical eye. As soon as the spell formation completes within my senses and my mana is shaped into it, I pour my power into the spell, activating it.

Immediately, stone begins to grow out of the wound, a pale grey stone that grows into a leg, complete with a knee and foot. Agonizing pain fills me as the spell works, but I grit my teeth through it. Things become a lot more difficult without a leg, and Tasha is currently unable to regrow them. Jason might not even be able to regrow someone else's limbs as he is now.

Once the gargoyle leg is complete, I begin treating the various burns and cuts on my body with what mana I have left. I am drawing dangerously low on mana right now, but better to be healed and alive than wounded all over.

The battle is still ongoing, so I pull off my remaining boot and what remains of my pants, ignoring the biting cold that threatens to harm me as I quickly pull pants out from my spatial storage and pull them on, along with a fresh pair of boots.

Much better, and just in time for the male gargoyle who was protecting me to deliver the finishing blow, a spike of stone through the god's heart. The god gasps, reaching up, but the gargoyle punches him once, twice, thrice, and then punches off his head.

Efficient. I like it. There are few gods which could recover from a severed head.

With the god here dead, the gargoyles incinerate his remains, then return to me.

"How are you?" Minaira asks.

"Exhausted," I answer. "I am nearly out of mana."

"That is not what I meant," she gives me a look I have seen King Zachary give Jacob and Lina before when they are avoiding answering about their state. "You lost your leg, Benjamin."

"Niko," I correct, then take a hesitant step forward, limping a little. "It will take me some time to adjust to a gargoyle leg, but I will manage. I performed this operation several times in the war for others, and they always adjusted soon enough."

I look to the capital. We need to end this. The Sages are no doubt still battling it out inside. They are no doubt exhausted as well, and still need to deal with the ogre lords.

I turn my gaze to the gargoyles, who are recovering. They can handle the ogre lords, actually. Jason estimated the strongest of them to be around upper violet, while the gargoyles are made of stone and are grey.

"If I had the mana," I say. "I could end this a little more quickly, now that the number of threats in the capital are down. As I do not, I will ask you to continue to protect me. However, I do wish for several of the gargoyles to go into the castle and eliminate the ogre lords within. Minimal damage to the castle, if possible."

That should save the pair of Sages the hassle and injuries they would no doubt sustain in the battle.

"As you command, milord," Minaira says, then issues orders, several of the gargoyles approaching me and bowing. "If you are in need of mana, they are willing to sacrifice themselves for you."

"That would not be appropriate," I state.

"You are our creator," she says. "It was through our mana that gargoyles exist, Magus Niko. Take the mana they have now, recover, and end this war."

"I will be ending a battle," I say. "But the war is no doubt only just begun."

Limping to the bowing gargoyles, I place a hand upon them, then push my mana into them, mingling it with theirs before drawing it into me. A technique that mixes curse magics, holy magics, and special magics to perform, and one which would be forbidden everywhere if known.

It is a technique which only we Magi likely know out of all of Midlaris's children. We Magi made sure to destroy any references to it and erase all knowledge of it from humans and beasts alike after the war ended.

Removing its knowledge from everyone was one case in which I am sure I envied Quinn's powers. The King of Knowledge, the Magus of Minds, was not someone to trifle with back then when it came to mental warfare. Even the grey-level beasts were susceptible to his power over minds.

The reason we did such a thing back then was that from moment this spell begins, it cannot be canceled, and it drains mana away until the target is completely empty. Not just empty, but empty. They die.

I feel the gargoyle's mana pulling into me, and once the gargoyle is out, it crumbles into dust. I repeat the process with the other four, feeling myself fill back up. It would ordinarily take me more than a week to recover my full mana from empty, but the five gargoyles are enough.

And considering that grey-level beasts have an inherently high amount of mana, that speaks for how much mana I possess.

Restored and full of mana, I pull out my comm plate and use its radio function to contact Sage Samuel and Sage Michael at the same time. Both respond immediately.

"There are gargoyles on their way to the castle," I say. "Allow them to enter; they will deal with the ogre lords inside. Alert me the moment there is an all-clear on the civilian front, and I will finish the fight."

"Niko," Sage Samuel says. "Are you certain you can-"

"I will be fine," I interrupt him. "But as soon as all civilians are out, I will be performing a spell which will target all living things within its range, though I will exclude the castle. However, make sure there is a protective spell around the castle as well. The barrier should be infused with growth, healing, and restorative magics for optimal protection."

Jason gave me the okay to use this spell, should he no longer be a part of the battle. We doubted he would be taken out, but the unexpected can happen, and one never knows when a god might show up and try to kill him.

"Understood," he says. "We believe we are almost done, the gargoyles you sent here are helpful, though some of them don't look like the ones your pit generates."

"Because they are true gargoyles," I explain.

"That explains their grey gates," Sage Michael comments.

"What kind of spell are you performing?" Sage Samuel asks.

"The kind which would look and be a lot more amazing if I were at grey magical power," I answer, then end the call.

Only a few minutes pass before the Sages give me the all-clear, and I have the two gargoyle guards of mine fly me over the center of the capital. The castle is not in the center, and I am instead over someone's house. That does not matter, however.

Spreading out my magic as I shape my mana into the spell, reaching out with my full power as I call upon the final death within all life. When the spell completes, I activate it, and a blue fog streams down to the city, imbued with the black and gold of my curse magics. The fog spreads out, quickly filling the city with its presence.

Anything living but not made of stone decomposes rapidly, turning to dark, fertile soil in mere seconds from the moment of contact. A few ogres manage to cast barriers, but their shields are too weak to resist the spell, which eats away at those as well.

Only a minute later does my spell finish its job, then dissipate.

Were I more powerful, I would have been able to control the fog directly, choosing who and what it affected, allowing me to have cast it even while there were civilians around. Sadly, I am only blue, not grey.

I really hope that my prediction is off and I return to grey magical power sooner than two years. Some of my old spells work best with that much magical power.

Looking down at my leg, I sigh. As long as I have the mana for it, I can keep the gargoyle leg. Not that it would be too much of a hassle to remake it, very little ever requires me to use enough mana that would be an issue, but it was painful to create. I knew from my memories as Benjamin that others were in pain when I used it on them, but I never realized just how much they were in.

The only person I plan on allowing to know about this for a long time is Jason. Lina will eventually find out, but I hope that can wait until after we marry in a few years. I have at least four and a half years, probably. That should give me enough time to adjust to the leg and gather up the courage to inform her of what happened.

As for Jason… there will be no avoiding him finding out. His scanning spell seems far more complete than the version he taught the Sages, so he will no doubt know of it the moment he sees me again.

At least his rampage will be far more subdued than if it were Alex who lost his leg, especially with him suppressing his feelings for the leviathan. I just hope there is something suitable for him to take it out on quickly so that it does not build up too high.

My comm plate is activated, so I pull it out and answer the call from the Sages.

"What in Midlaris was that?" Sage Samuel and Sage Michael ask simultaneously.

They must have decided to watch my actions.

"I was in a rather bad mood," I say. "And watching and feeling as things decompose is quite soothing."

"Remind me to never incur the wrath of a Magus," Sage Elena says, making me aware of her presence in the radio call. "We could see that fog from here, and Jacob gave me several examples of what it could be. None of which were pleasant. After what you said Jason did, Samuel, and knowing from the context that Niko just decomposed all of the monsters left in the city, the Magi are frightening."

"That, we are," I say. "But being ruthless to our enemies and developing powerful spells is how we fought against demons, angels, and gods three thousand years ago, Sage Elena. Please remember that even we can fall."

I nearly did, here, and paid the price for not being aware of something. How long will it take me to adjust to having a gargoyle leg?

"And know this," I say. "A second god appeared, and only because of the arrival of the gargoyles was it defeated. Only beings of grey magical power could truly fight such beings as those from the underworld and the heavens. And only the greater mages and warriors of grey magical power could challenge their lords."

There is silence for several moments as they digest the news.

"Speaking of gods," Sage Elena says. "What happened to the one Jason was fighting? And Jason?"

"Unknown," I answer, turning my gaze to the area where they fought, the land ruined by their battle. "Jason took him somewhere else."

"He hasn't responded to our attempts at contacting him," Sage Elena says. "We are all worried that Jason has-"

"He is alive," I interrupt before they could say they believe him dead. Jason cannot be killed, none of us can be. "We Magi are not easily killed, even against a god. Wherever Jason is, he is alive. He may be unconscious, recovering, or out of mana and unable to pull the comm plate out of his spatial storage, but he is most assuredly alive."

I just hope we hear from him soon.