(Jason, 16)

I'm not sure how long I'm frozen in shock for, but Anaral waits for me, my grandmama and brother standing near the entrance to the cave. A golden dragon, still alive. I know I killed all of them as Nolan, and I know I destroyed their eggs. Every last egg belonging to a silver or gold dragon, I hunted down and destroyed. Every last silver and gold dragon, I killed.

Yet here is a golden dragon. They stop growing after around two hundred feet in height, which they reach after only two centuries. There's no sure way to know how old this one is, beyond him being at least that old.

"H-how?" I finally manage to break the silence.

"You have not recovered that memory yet, it seems," Anaral speaks, his voice booming through the air.

Right. Golden dragons preferred speaking with their mouths over their minds, unlike other dragons.

"My memory of it?" I ask.

"Yes," he responds. "I was still an egg, so I do not possess the direct knowledge, but when I hatched, the Delvarkari who were present explained that you had left a single egg. When your slaughter ended, you approached one of the few survivors and handed my egg to them. You said not a word, just did that and left. At least, that is what the Delvarkari alive back then said."

"How old are you?" I ask.

"I hatched around three thousand years ago," he answers. "Shortly after you departed."

After I departed? He's not referring to when I left after giving the clans his egg, which means he's referring to my ascension out of this form. Why did I save one of the eggs? I suppose it's something I'll know only if I recover the memory of it. Now, things that trigger memories also trigger remembering reasoning behind something, on occasions. That will likely only continue as I continue to grow more powerful.

Hopefully, something triggers the memory of the egg soon, because I can't see why I'd leave alive something so powerful and dangerous. Something which greatly resembled the gods of old.

"Do you have any questions for me, before you leave to visit the other places?" The dragon asks.

"Yes, actually," I sit down. "Fael Mira might be able to answer as well. It seems that recorded history goes back only fifteen centuries. At the same time, it seems like something happened which… caused everyone to forget about the war. About the truth of the heavens, too."

Anaral thinks it over for several moments, and I marvel at the fact that there's a gold dragon which isn't exerting its dominance immediately. Anaral is different from the ones in the past. Did I do something to him? Was it the circumstances of his birth and childhood? Or something else entirely?

"I do not know," he eventually answers. "While we do keep tabs on the outside world, we keep mostly to ourselves. None here are quite sure why the true history was forgotten. When I discovered this twelve centuries ago, I sent several, Miralandis included, to investigate, but they could not find the source. Those who lived through it had already died, which meant their minds were not available to search."

"I see," I say. "What about the massive mating the clans did with outsiders? The only blonds before were Delvarkari, and now, most of Ikarix is blond."

Jarenidis snorts behind me, and Fael Mira hushes him. Anaral chuckles, lowering his head.

"Of course you would notice that," he says. "I take it the other Magi haven't wondered?"

"If they have, they have not mentioned it," I state. "What was the deal with that?"

"After the war," my grandmama explains, and I look at her. "There were very little humans left, and the ones who were around were weak. The tainted came to be, and ogres began to rise in power. Humans were weak and fragile, with little strength to defend themselves. They began dying out even more rapidly once the twelve of you Ascended away.

"When Lord Anaral discovered this," she continues. "He sent our people out with the mission of increasing humanity's strength. They would mate with the adults of each settlement, protect it as the children grew up, then move on to another settlement to do the same. Each settlement had at least five different Delvarkari doing this per cycle, and this went on for ten generations, around two hundred years or so. While human blood was reintroduced to keep them from growing too powerful and to prevent our blood from affecting humanity too much, the addition of our power increased things as well.

"Most of this," she continues. "Went on in what is now Varil, which is why its mages hold so much power. Though they were weaker, and their bloodlines weakened with the addition of more humans, the Delvarkari influence remained. It was enough for humanity to fight back against the monsters. Our ancestors returned here once their job was done, leaving humanity to be as it was."

And if I remember genetics properly from my life as Lucas, ten generations of having blonds with blue eyes introduced to the lineage would effectively erase other traits, especially as those two traits would continue to breed in long after that. Blond hair and blue eyes are recessive traits, so once someone was born with those, they would be carried on to their children, especially if both parents possessed those traits.

The reason everyone is not in the upper levels of power is because not everyone would use magic after a time, and as threats went down, that much power wouldn't be needed. Weaker magicians would reproduce with stronger ones, weakening the magic of the offspring, and weaker magicians would mate with weaker magicians as well. Over time, that resulted in the current state of magicians.

"I see," I say.

So two of my major questions have been answered. Well, one has, and the other is an 'unknown'. I turn my attention back to Anaral as I stand.

"Do you know who I am?" I speak in a tongue I know even Miralandis would not know, but all dragons do. It returned to me after I remembered my true identity. There is much still to recover, as only a few pieces of information came with the truth. Only a few memories. "Who I really am?"

"You are the Father of All," he answers. "The Great Dragon himself. Born into a mortal's body, for some reason beyond my knowledge. Born with a mortal's power, for some reason beyond my knowledge."

So he can tell. Can other dragons? Or are they unaware of our true identities as the Divine Beasts?

"I may tell you one day," I smile, then switch back to the ancient tongue. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Anaral."

"You as well, Jason," he responds. "I hope you enjoy your visit here well."

"Thank you," I say.

Fael Mira opens up a gate, and we step through. Now, we're in a settlement surrounded by wooden logs fifty feet in height, though I know that between the wood is stone. At least, if it's anything like how they were during the war, when I was still Alorovos and Nolan.

Stone buildings surround us, many two stories tall. We've exited the gate outside a large bonfire, surrounded by men and women wearing boots or who are barefoot, wearing pants, and wearing either vests or tunics. Most of the men and boys wear vests, as was the old way. All have violet magical power, even if only lower violet for many of them. Fael Mira did mention there were a couple of other greys, didn't she? They must not be around, unless I'm not remembering that correctly.

The bonfire rests at the center of the settlement, with a lot of space around it, full of tables. The tables are covered in food as well, and some sort of massive boar is rotated by magic on a spit over the flames.

I was expecting to be relieved of the Traitor branding, not a feast. I don't have time to question it much, however, as I'm quickly pulled into everyone greeting me and the feast. There's a lot of drinking and a lot of eating, and a lot more drinking, too. The Delvarkari can handle quite a bit of alcohol before feeling negative effects.

Despite that, I keep my alcohol consumption to a minimum, to ensure I don't start to lose my edge. I'm still surprised by the gold dragon not being an arrogant beast who wishes to exert dominance and force worship of himself.

As the feasting and introductions begin to settle down, Fael Mira informs me that she wishes to take me somewhere, the opens a gate and gestures for me to step through. I do, expanding out my scanning spell once more.

I find myself in a forest, probably near one of the settlements, based on my estimate of the trees here and what the ones outside the settlement we were just at looked like. Fael Mira steps through, Jarenidis following.

"My father found this," my grandmama tells me as she begins talking, and we follow. "A few years after Anaral was born. We're outside of the clans' territory, even if we go by our old range, but not too far. We think you did that intentionally, a way of still respecting your past."

"What is it?" I ask, then sense it in my scanning spell. "Is that-"

"Yes," she says, and I feel Jarenidis's scanning spell extend out. "That's what you likely think it is, Jason."

We reach the location a few minutes later, and I stare at it. A tomb – a Magus Tomb. I already knew where eleven were. The only one I didn't know the location of was my own. The one where I seemed to have buried myself. Since I know now that I knew I would ascend from my form during the last Gathering, I must have simply put myself to rest in it and sealed the place.

The tomb's exterior is grey, with violet markings around it. The torches blaze endlessly, their violet flames tinged with gold. We enter, and I find it designed similar to all the others, complete with a pair of statues of me.

As with the other statues, they are carved of pure-white marble, naked, and modeled after the Magus the tomb is for. These ones are clearly designed to look like I did as Nolan, appearing as I did when my aging halted at twenty-one. Unlike at the other tombs, the statues do not hold items, yet they are enchanted just as heavily.

They're also spaced halfway between the door to the actual burial chamber and the wall rather than directly beside the door. The wall behind them is a mosaic, a pair of dragon wings stretching out behind my statues. The braziers in here use the same violet-and-gold flames as the torches outside as well.

The door to my own chamber is adorned with a grey dragon, facing us and symmetrical, save for its tail, which wraps around its right side. Its wings are partially extended, filling in much of the space, its head held high.

"We've never been able to pass through," Fael Mira tells me as I realize my brother is in awe of the space. He must have never known about this. "Only a handful of us were aware of it, and we've attempted to enter the inner chamber. When this place was built, it was connected to the dragon veins of the world and enchanted with far more power than we could hope to wield. The statues made it clear what this place was."

"What is it?" Jarenidis asks. "A workshop or hideout or something?"

"A tomb," I state, and he stares at me. "Mine, from when I was Nolan – Alorovos. I have the key to the inner chamber, but… I can't access it right now. It's in my spatial storages."

Which means it will be two or three months before I can probably find out what's stored in my own chamber. I had the most of all the Magi. I had more texts written than any of them, more items created. What secrets are stored within my own tomb?

(Alex, 16)

After Jason left, I wandered around Varil for awhile, then made my way home. Now, I'm staring uneasily at the royal carriage out front. That ain't the one Prince Jacob or Princess Lina uses. That's the one for the damn king himself. This makes me uneasy, but there ain't a way to know why he's visiting the Amarxik Mansion without entering.

Since a warrant for my punching Jacob would have already been issued by now, considering it's been six days, and the royals wouldn't be the ones to deliver it, he probably came to do some official business with my brother or something.

Relaxing a little, I enter the mansion, where a butler greets me immediately as I remove my jacket.

"Please come this way," he says as he takes my jacket. "His Majesty wishes to speak with you."

Or he wants to speak with me. Why?

The butler takes me to one of our waiting rooms, where King Zachary is seated on a couch. He has three pieces of paper setting on the table in front of him, either blank or upside-down.

"King Zachary," I dip my head to him, more than a little uneasy. Especially with the Royal Knight and Royal Mage behind him. I might be able to take them, if worse comes to worst. I'd have an easier time if Niko'd given me my swords back. "Welcome to the house."

Probably not how I'm actually supposed to greet him, but the proper stuff gets mixed up in my head whenever Connor and Jason try to teach me. It ain't my life at all, and it ain't one I really want to be a part of.

"Alex," he gestures to the couch across from him, on the other side of the table. "Have a seat."

I sit as the butler leaves, closing the door behind him.

King Zachary flips over the paper on my right. It's the warrant from years ago.

"You were given a warning," he says as I tense up. Did he really come to arrest me in-person? Ain't many out there who could make that claim. And now that they know I can transmute mithril binding cuffs, they'll probably use something more powerful. "And yet still attacked my son. Twice."

He flips the second paper over, which is a new warrant for my execution. It ain't signed, which confuses me, but it's still a warrant for my death.

"Now," he says. "This is the seventh copy of this. Why? Because Jacob has destroyed each of the first six. I had to personally write this one to avoid him intercepting and destroying it. He is quite insistent on granting you forgiveness for what happened, regardless of the law. You might be a Magus, Alex, but that is a past life, not this one."

Prince Jacob has destroyed six copies of the new warrant for my death? I know we at least apologized and are tolerating each other's presences, but that is not something I would think he'd do. At all.

"As you will notice," His Majesty indicates the bottom. "I have not signed it yet. Despite the hostility you hold towards him, he is insistent on forgiving you and ignoring your crimes. I know that signing this paper will turn my son against me. I also know it will likely cause Jason to leave, and if he leaves, so will the aid the Sages have been giving us, even if they will continue to aid Mar and Kelrar, for their own reasons. It also means they will likely decrease their company's dealings within Varil. I would need to discuss things very carefully to minimize the negative impact it would cause."

He then indicates the third paper.

"You are not entirely without abilities, Alex," he says. "You are the Leviathan Alex, and the Leviathans who served under you are talented as well. A situation that works out for all of us is the third paper. You have three days to provide results. Fail to do so, and I will see it as a rejection of the offer, then will sign the warrant for your arrest. You may keep these copies."

He stands and leaves, leaving me confused. I have three days to provide results? For what?

Knowing the third paper holds the answers, I grab it and read it. Then again. Then a third time. His Majesty wants me to act as a slave, of sorts. I'd go unpaid for the work, but in exchange, he grants me a pardon for my actions towards his son and a lifting of the first warrant.

The job would be a regular thing, and I would be pardoned of all crimes dealing with it, provided I am not caught. My crew would be allowed to participate as well, if I decide their help is necessary.

If I accept this offer, the first job is outside of Varil City. With what information is on the paper already, I know it's meant to be an execution.

The choice here is a no-brainer. Have a warrant for me death and flee, or become a form of secret police? I've been itching for a proper job, too. I might have a past of battlefield warfare, but in this life, I've a past of back alley stabbings, thievery, and more.

I'm sure the crew might enjoy a job like this, too. We can head out tonight. Tomorrow or Sunday are plausible as well, but as long as we have what's necessary, we can do it now.

(Niko, 16)

Aiden opens a gate up to his tent. On the battlefield. He says that he figured out the spell after hearing about it, and I am impressed. He is also indigo in magical power, which means he's stronger than me, for now. Lina and I follow him into it, and I look around.

The tent is made of leather, with furs covering the floor and a bed of furs in one spot. Shelves with books and scrolls and supplies are set up, along with a couple of racks of weapons and two stands of armor. A desk sits against one side of the tent as well, papers on it.

"The explanation," Aiden says. "I gave for why I'll be in my tent so long is that I needed rest after what happened last night. Do you remember the rest of the plan?"

"Yes," I nod.

Aiden convinced me to help him come out to his troops. He has around three hundred soldiers and staff. He did have more troops originally, but they are currently stationed at our western border, dealing with ogres and corrupted, and it seems they have been losing troops more than normal the last few months. Father has not been able to reassign additional troops out here to make up for that, either, which is why Aiden wanted to speak with me and have my assistance now.

It seems that he had actually asked Sage Samuel to call me out for some reason or another without making me aware of his presence, but my decision to show Lina my home came before Sage Samuel could make the call.

From his description, there's an ogre lord nearby, leading the assaults. It is being careful, though, and most of its actions ceased a few weeks ago – after the battles in Kelrar.

He wants my help driving back the ogres from here. His troops are greatly loyal to him, and he is uncertain how they will react to seeing me use magic. They know I am a mage, but that does not mean they will accept it, even if some accepted magic after seeing how it could deal with ogres and corrupted.

Once he sees their reactions, he will figure out how to inform them he is a mage.

Personally, I believe they may already suspect he is a mage, and I think he suspects that as well. They live with him, they serve him. It would be strange for them to not suspect. If they figured it out, they have kept silent about it under a rule of 'do not speak of it, and the issue shall not be dealt with'. A way of dealing with something without actually dealing with it.

My brother mostly wants to see if they do already suspect it, and seeing their reaction to me will help him with that.

"Good," Aiden says. "Let's go."

He leads us out of the tent, into the colder mountain air, and I notice Lina shivering. I arranged for her to have a warm coat, but she is not used to the cold of the mountain winters. Varil is quite nice this time of year, even with an ice storm every now and then. It takes her only a moment to begin using an environmental spell to warm herself.

There are a few soldiers milling about, and they all give me and Lina confused looks when they see us.

"Sir," one of the soldiers hurries over to Aiden, briefly looking at me before turning his gaze back to my brother. "Around an hour ago, the larger ogre began moving towards us with a force of around fifty ogres and twice as many of the corrupted beasts. We aren't sure if it's planning on performing a full attack or just intimidate us."

"That's not a problem," Aiden places a hand on my shoulder. "Niko wanted to visit me and see how the fights were going. I'd barely told him about the situation when he volunteered to do what he could. It would be with magic, but it may finally allow us to secure the border once more."

"Erm…" the solider gives me a confused look, then looks at Aiden once more. "Yes. Understood."

They know Aiden is a mage. That look of confusion was definitely because he knows Aiden can use magic and fights with magic. The looks of confusion all of the soldiers who heard him gave us were definitely because of that. There was something strange about that look, though. I can't quite place it, but there was definitely something more to him being confused about me handling the situation rather than my brother than just that.

"Where is it?" Aiden asks.

"This way, sir," the soldier answers, then begins walking.

We follow, and three more soldiers accompany us. It is a short trip outside of the camp, which only has around thirty soldiers protecting it at any given point in time, according to Aiden's report. Most others are on patrol, resting, hunting for food, training, or protecting our border. The ogres and their corrupted have been pushing us back further and further, and took over one of our forts just this past summer.

When we reach the small valley in the mountains, I can spot the ogres easily, along with one around seventeen feet in height. Based on what my brother said, it usually throws a spell or two at the camp or kills a few guards, then leaves. Its troops might kill a few soldiers before fleeing as well.

Usually, we manage to kill one for every twenty or thirty they manage, but here, the number of ogres and corrupted is too high for that. Since the ogre lord began its raid, we have killed zero while they have killed more than two hundred.

Part of why Father is visiting the warfronts bordering our neighbors right now is to see the situations at them to know if he can send anyone out here from them. He does not want to ask Sage Samuel to defend us, as asking for his teaching is a lot already.

"May I borrow a sword?" I ask.

"A sword?" Aiden asks in surprise and confusion. "I thought you were a mage, Niko? Why do you need a sword?"

"To tone down how frightening I am," I answer. "Most of my large-scale attacks are quite terrifying to see, I have been told. If you have not received word of what happened in Kelrar, I unleashed a cloud which killed every ogre and corrupted it touched. Thousands. The few people who saw it were paralyzed with fear."

"You have more normal spells," Lina says.

"I do," I nod. "And they are either the sort where I would need to use over and over to effectively take out this horde, taking more time than necessary, or the sort where I would use a lot of magical power and create mass destruction. A sword would be best."

"Why not use one of yours?" She asked.

"The only weapons I have are Magus Swords and Sacred Swords," I tell her. "Are you sure you want me to use that for this?"

"Good point," she laughs. "That would be quite terrifying for them to see, I am sure."

"A sword, please?" I ask. "One which can be destroyed without causing an issue for its owner. My attacks will do that."

One of the soldiers hands me his sword, and I examine it, then nod and begin walking towards the army of monsters. I flick the sword out to the side a few times, testing its weight. A fine balance, if my knowledge of weapons serves me well. Aiden's main forces are not equipped with cheap equipment, but quality ones. They are among our most elite forces, and the best deserves the best.

Visualizing the spells I have in mind, I shape my mana into them, ensuring that I use the purification spells as well. We will need to teach them to Aiden, so that the land where he kills these beasts does not become tainted and need additional purification or years of time to recover.

The blade begins to glow orange, then white, and flames begin to swirl around it. I stomp my right foot as the ogre lord pauses in its advance, and a chunk of earth breaks through the snow, flying up into the air. As it comes down, I bring the sword back, then swing it. The blade cuts through the chunk of dirt, which turns to molten stone. Lava.

The lava increases in volume, stretching to coat the sword while also forming an arc in the air the shoots forward, cutting into the front of the army. As the ogre lord summons up water and ice to counter this, I enhance my body for speed and strength, then move forward.

When I reach the front of the army, I jump up, my enhanced strength allowing me a greater height than normal. I land behind the ogre lord before it can move to counter me, and I cut across its back with the sword of lava, breaking a barrier of blue magic that formed to stop my attack. Another wave of lava is released, killing both the ogre lord and the monsters near us, and I release the sword. At this point, it is destroyed, and my spell unravels without the base creating its form.

With those two attacks, I took around more than a quarter of the monsters. In addition to that, I have created two small lines of lava. Either they will have to jump over them, or they will need to run to the sides to escape it.

I clap my hands together, releasing a shockwave, then stomp once more, this time with my left leg. With this stomp, the land shakes, and the lava spreads rapidly, forming a ring around the monsters as the ground pulls away from its outer edges.

Jumping over the gap and the ring as several monsters fall or step into the lava, I pull my hands apart, a stone sword forming of magic between them, the hilt of which I grab with my right hand. As I land, I slice into a corrupted bear, which quickly turns to stone.

An ogre charges through it, breaking the stone, and I stab that as well, before moving on to another corrupted. As I fight, I hear a screeching. Lina must have been feeling left out. Even without looking, I know she manifested a combat construct.

Sure enough, a thunderbird of wind and darkness flies towards us, dive-bombing some of the monsters. It begins to attack as I continue turning the monsters to stone, and within two minutes from when I created the ring, all that is left are corpses and statues.

My sword breaks, shattering into dozens of pieces, and I allow it to fall to the ground. Then, I crouch, before springing up, launching myself into the air and landing in front of Lina, smiling.

"I had it handled," I tell her.

"I know," she smiles back. "But I have been feeling left out of the fighting lately. The temptation to slaughter monsters was just too strong to resist."

Likely something leftover from our births as Magi – a desire to slay threats, monsters, and evil.

"Have I told you I love you?" I ask.

"Every day we see each other," she smiles. "And even on days we do not."

I kiss her, the two of us separating when Aiden snorts.

"Okay," he says. "I can tell you two really do love each other. Are you always like that?"

"Sometimes," I feel my face heat up, so I look at the battlefield. "This ogre lord was rather weak. It died too easily."

"That was weak?" One of the soldiers asks in shock.

"Yes," I answer. "The ogre lords – who are behind the false religion worshiped in these mountains – are the ogres taller than others. They grow more powerful by consuming the fresh hearts of those weaker than them. This one was weaker than the five which attacked the Kelraran capital. It had created a barrier, but I was able to easily pierce it. The ones in Kelrar were several times more powerful."

The soldier stares at me in shock, and I realize that he and the others here are responding far more receptively to my use of magic than I had expected, even with them knowing Aiden was a mage in addition to a knight.

"Now do you see why I want to implement daily magic training?" Aiden asks the soldiers. "Not this 'whenever you feel like it' training?"

Did I hear that right?

"Y-yes, sir," one of the soldiers responds, looking somewhat embarrassed. "While it is doubtful we could do things like that, it is obvious that we are lacking in something which will help us reclaim our borders."

They have known for awhile Aiden was a mage. He lied to us! So convincingly, too!

"Good," Aiden says, then gives me a grin. "Only a small lie, Niko. They confronted me about being a mage a few months ago, having recognized their own weakness against the ogre lord's magic. I have been teaching what I can since. A few days ago, I announced we were changing to a mandatory daily magical training for anyone learning magic, and people were wondering why when we were managing to decrease deaths already and everyone was improving."

And now they know.

"You lied to me," I say. "You also used me to make a point."

"I did," he nods. "And I have something to make it up to you, too."

He creates a gate, and gestures for me to step through.