Kor’zha bowed and burrowed underground to pass on my message to the others. You don’t mind if we take a detour? I asked Donna.

“No. We can get more information this way. Besides, once Kor’zha tells them you and Mary are going to the orcs, they’ll probably slow their pace.”

Gale flew us in the direction that Mary pointed and we caught up quickly. Despite mom’s very hot-blooded decision to swoop down and wipe out the orcs that the kidnapper rendezvoused with, I urged her not to. After all, this was Flynn, the master of thieving and illusionary magics. He could’ve escaped anytime he wanted to, but he didn’t, so we stayed our hand.

After some days of tailing them, we crossed border into orc territory and continued along until we came across what looked to be their city. There was no way we’d get this far tailing them without at least one orc noticing us, yet we reached their city. With stolen cloaks over us, we stuck to the alleyways of the city, simply following Flynn until he came to a definite stop. We came across what looked to be a regular house, albeit a bit bigger than the usual.

“How long will you two keep hiding?” a voice came from somewhere around us, and the same ball of magic energy that shattered the earth beneath us whilst be traversed the mountain pass was again coming at us. I pushed it right back at its caster draped in black robes with level one Divergence. He nudged his head to the side, avoiding his own death and gave a friendly laugh. “Come on inside,” he invited, and turned his back as if we weren’t going to try killing him.

We went inside, cautiously. Kor’zha had long since returned to me and stayed beneath the earth, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. I kept my spells readied, and mom, her blade. We brushed the curtains aside and beheld Flynn digging into a hearty dinner with some female orc.

“Mary, honey! Eric!” he stood up in ecstasy, “You guys have to try th–” he stopped when he noticed her taking a couple steps forward then giving a quick sprint to dropkick him. It was one of the most beautifully crafted things I’d ever seen. The meat flew out his mouth so shamelessly that even the couple orcs inside had a laugh out of it.

Mom grabbed him by the collar, “Do you have any idea how worried I was?! And you’re here eating chicken?!”

“But, sweetheart,” he pleaded, “it tastes good, though,” then shrugged. He got a bit of a beating afterwards, out of love of course. Mary was a demon, but not an abusive one.

“Why aren’t we fighting right now? What’s going on?” I asked the orcs seated at the table. Many of their dogmas and traditions seemed to mirror humans. Pieces of art on the wall, framed pictures of loved ones here and there, a dining room table. It resembled the average human home and set the notion that they were a lot more relatable than our prejudice about them led us to believe.

“Sit down and eat,” she invited, going into explanations. “I am Sek’hana, chieftain of the Ingen tribe. We took Flynn because we know you plan to steal the royal seal. We’re also aware that you’re against that plan, despite your involvement in it. We’re also against it.”

As she stood there explaining various things, I couldn’t help but wonder at her beauty. Yikes, I know. An orc? Beautiful? Hardly two words that go smoothly together. However, she wasn’t as athletic as some other female orcs I saw. She had no tusks or any such thing. Really, the only aesthetic difference between her and another average woman was that she had a bigger skeletal structure, and a culmination of brown and green skin. I then inspected the other orc who she introduced as her brother, Neth, and noticed that he wore no armour. His body wasn’t as huge and meaty as your typical orc. He was lean and quick on his feet.

“Are you two, really orcs?”

“You’re observant,” Sek’hana commented. “We are. However, orcs have a very fast acting evolution system. Depending on the lifestyle of the parents or grandparents, orcs undergo exponential physiological change with each birth. It’s better to say our bodies have a much larger range of physical prowess than humans. There are some Ingen orcs that can’t lift a finger to humans, even in their adolescence. But there are some adolescent orcs that even the mightiest of humans can’t topple.”

Interesting. “Did you, always have that type of flexible evolution?” I questioned, being intrigued somehow. “It was to my belief that that wasn’t always the case.”

“You’re correct. Us orcs weren’t always divided. We were just one before. It was only centuries after our meathead ancestors learned about the witch that orcs first gained an interest in magic. More orcs kept succumbing to the charms of magic and began practising, but brains and brawn don’t usually coexist together. There were a lot of fighting over superiority. Eventually the orcs that saw magic and peace as a better way of life formed the Ingen tribe. We built this empire studying h–”

“Sek’hana!” Neth raised his voice a little, “You’re straying. Keep on topic.”

“Party pooper,” she said under her voice. “Anyway, we kidnapped him because we figured your entire party would stop to get their friend back. We were going to use this opportunity to try talking you all out of it.”

“Talking us out?” Flynn scoffed, “You’re right in that we here don’t want to do it, but there’s no way you’d have convinced the others. You must’ve at least suspected you’d fail.”

Neth nodded in agreement, “She’s quite the wishful thinker, however, I must say that I agree with Sek’hana here. If you start a war with the Virai tribe, humankind would not distinguish between the different tribes and would just try to slaughter all orcs. The Ingen would become wrapped up in it because of the stupid Virai.”

“We knew that diverting your attention to us was a much better alternative than trying to convince the Virai,” Sek’hana added. “They’re bloodthirsty morons who live for blood and glory. Having talks with humans has a way higher chance of success than with the Virai.”

“Wait, pause,” I butted in, “how’d you even know we were going to steal the seal?”

“I was sneaking about the room when Carl Rawlings met with all of you. Meagan and Keagan Garran. Flynn, Mary, and Eric Archibald. We know that for some strange reason, all of you accepted the quest under false pretence.”

So, they don’t know about you. Good.

We were all somewhat on the same page now. We understood what was going on. But something rubbed Mary wrong. “There’s more to this,” she accused, looking right at Sek’hana. “For you to be partly responsible for stopping a war is a great achievement. And where there’s achievement, there is reward. There’s bound to be something in your sights.”

Sek’hana let out a soft breath, “Desensitisation. I want the sight of an orc in human settlements to be the norm. I want humans to come to us without a single thought of hesitance, should they want to further their studies in sorcery. We command magics the other wish they had. Through magic, I’d like to foster open grounds between humans and Ingen orcs. As long as the war doesn’t play off, I’d like to use Ingen tribe’s hand in preventing it as proof of amicability.”

Mom stood up and dad soon followed suit. “We’ll leave it to you then, Eric,” she said, calmly walking out the house.

“I’m sorry, wh–”

“Don’t sweat it, kiddo,” dad interrupted my protest. “You’re the one who beat Ashfur by himself after all,” dad backed her up and went outside.

I’m, just fifteen! “I’m not qualified to do that ki–”

They flew off before I could finish my complaints, with my spirit, Gale! My arms dangled in stupor as I stood outside, watching them leave.

“Man, sometimes I think I’d make a way better parent for you than those two.”

You already are. But man, this is a really frustrating position! If they left me here, does that mean they want to accept the Ingen on their behalf? I mean, Flynn is absolutely necessary for the mission. I glanced at Neth and Sek’hana. Do I accept them?

“I don’t see why not. I mean, would you actually turn down a chance to learn magic?”

Hell no! Thanks for pointing that out. I don’t need to think about it anymore.

“You’re the mage,” Sek’hana pointed weakly, “that killed Ashfur?”

“Forget Ashfur. What kind of magic do you use?”

That question spiralled us into one of the most fascinating and fulfilling talks I’ve had in ages. Really, even Neth grew tired of us and eventually went to sleep. The more she spoke, the more I came to the realisation that her hunger for magic mirrored mine, down to the slightest detail. Perhaps she loved magic even more than I did. Void magic, huh? I thought about the rarity of it. I’d never even heard of it.

Arcane magic was primarily a magic of utilization. Any spell that wasn’t based off an element, or had a clear-cut offensive purpose would usually fall under arcane. Void magic was like empty space in an alternate dimension. It was basically a connection to some other plane of existence, as she dubbed it. It derived its power from the strong gravitational pull of the other side, the ethereal plane. That was how Neth swooped across the sky so blindingly fast, by using void magic to pull himself toward Flynn.

We messed around with spells, burning the midnight oil in the endless indulgence of learning. She taught me Convergence. Yeah, it’s exactly what it sounds like, the very opposite of Divergence. The creators of those spells must’ve done that on purpose. I progressed with Convergence quickly enough, but that’s solely because of the freedom Division granted me.

The next day, I was shaken awake by Neth. Sek’hana and I fell asleep, sitting down, leaning against the house’s wall. My head resting on her shoulder didn’t help the embarrassing situation of falling asleep outside.

Can’t believe I fell asleep.

“I can’t believe you fell asleep on her shoulder! Hmm!” Donna pouted. What a drama queen.

After breakfast, I brought up a rather ungrateful–at least it felt so–point. “You guys are cool and everything, but how do I know you’re actually who you say you are?”

Neth almost died of laughter, “You ask that now?! After you two fell asleep outside?!”

“I got distracted, alright?” I admitted, earning a nervous chuckle from Sek’hana. She was as guilty as I.

“We can’t exactly prove that to you unless you come to Ingenaar. There you will meet our mystics. You will know then, that I am the chieftain.”

I thought about it, contemplating the time it would take, but Donna urged me to go. “Gale can get you back to the crew in a few days of flying depending on how long you take at this Ingenaar place. Besides, your curiosity is killing you.”

Right she was. Sek’hana and Neth led the way through the skies toward their capital city, Ingenaar. They flew through the skies with retractable gliders at first, only using Convergence to keep altitude and speed up occasionally. However, compared to Gale’s speed and mastery of wind, I was constantly taking the lead despite not knowing where to go. They eventually landed on the snow-feathered wind spirit and we made our journey over many orc towns and villages.

Despite their usual brutish ways, their civilisation and modernisation rivalled that of us humans. This rang especially true when we finally made it to Ingenaar, a city more than twice the size of Aquan. Of course, a giant bird in the sky drew their attention like moths to a flame and they themselves took to the skies to observe up close. After their pure elation to see Sek’hana and Neth, I could no longer deny the claims made of her position. We landed in a huge courtyard, dead centre of Ingenaar. It was probably close to the size of the entire Order of Mages; most certainly for practising their magic.

“What do you think?” she asked me.

“It’s beautiful, really. The scenery especially. But, let’s get down to business, shall we?”

“Well,” she placed an arm over my shoulder whilst Neth flew off to his own affairs, “I’ll need some time to get the mystics together. Even if I’m the chieftain, I’d still rather convince them that joining hands with the Order is of benefit to us.”

“And that’s where I come in?” I asked, and she nodded. Her assistants quickly made accommodations for me. Usually I wouldn’t idle around and wait for things to happen, but knowing I temporarily represented the entirety of human civilisation, I steeled myself to be on my best behaviour.

The afternoon chimed in and those mystics she told me about all gathered under the same roof to meet me. It felt like going back to the throne room in the capital to meet Donna’s family. “Just um,” Sek’hana held me back before entering, “know that they’re no-nonsense kind of elders. You know how the old ones are. My parents are there, and they’re especially, well…” she scratched her neck nervously.

“Sek’hana,” I faced her, looking up into her eyes without breaking gaze, “my parents probably aren’t like yours. I wasn’t raised in a strict fashion. They’re quite complacent, but they love me to death. Do you really think parents like that would leave a boy in unknown lands with orcs who they believed to be savages if they didn’t think he was competent?” I tapped her arm, “Don’t worry.”

“Oh, you’re going into debate mode, aren’t you? Kick ass.”

Goddamn right I will.

We entered and I was introduced to the mystics. She was right, they were quite old, and probably thought much less of me when they saw the youth in my face. Their scary demeanours were probably their way into strong-arming the best possible outcome of this meeting.

After quick introductions, one of them, seemingly the most outspoken of the group seated in the middle jumped right into it, but at an odd, yet understandable angle. “Do forgive us, uh, Eric Archibald, was it? But I had expected the human representative,” he glanced quickly at Sek’hana seated next to me to place an underlying pressure on her, “would be one with years reflecting a bountiful knowledge in magic. Yet, you are…”

“Ah, yes, I do understand your concern, but it is misplaced. I know much more than I let on. My understanding of magic surpasses many top tier human mages.”

“We have no reason to believe that, Mr Archibald. Not once had there been a human mage–or orc even–whose magic surpassed the more seasoned practitioners,” another pointed out.

I wasn’t sure which ones were her parents amongst the seven mystics. My hopes were to maintain a diligent conversation, but…

“Here he goes,” Donna said to herself, knowing fully well I was about to turn the conversation on its head.

“Guys, let’s skip all the trivial small talk and intimidation tactics. You and me both know you came here fully informed the minute you knew who Sek’hana brought to Ingenaar, so don’t feign ignorance of the power I possess. Let’s skip to the important parts that you actually want to know, namely, what the Ingen is getting out of this venture with the Order.”

There was a concerning silence about the room. “Do you take us for fools, boy?”

“Not at all. I take you for very busy people. So why not discuss the things that actually matter?”

One of them exhaled, “The war…”

“Bingo!” I said. “The war. Now,” I stood up, ambling back and forth, “two things are very apparent to me. The first and most important is that the Ingen doesn’t want to deal with the shitstorm that the Virai wants to cause. The second is, by actively but indirectly assisting in stopping the Virai, you gain the favour of us humans. Making your integration into our society, and ours into yours, a much more seamless one.”

“But,” one cleared her throat, “what of those humans who want to steal the royal seal?” Her voice and way of speaking gave it away immediately. She was definitely Sek’hana’s mother.

“Their plan is already doomed to fail. The seal is safe. There will be no immediate war unless the Virai does something unforgivably atrocious. As for the hatred, discrimination and so forth, frankly, we won’t be rid of that easily. It will take time to dissolve prejudice, and there will be issues, but for the most part, your people will be safe once inside the Order. The very essence of being a mage is maintaining a constantly shifting perspective, so you will adopt well into our mages, but I can’t say the same for those who don’t practise magic.”

They mumbled some things amongst each other. “How would we know the seal will remain in the royal court’s hands?”

“Because I am a friend of one of the royals. They already know what’s happening. It’s only being allowed to play out for evidence’s sake against the perpetrator.”

They spoke hushed words again, but they weren’t nearly as defensive as before. “My daughter brought you here,” one pointed out.

And there’s dad.

“I’d like to know, Mr Archibald, if the rumours of your power hold true.”

I shrugged at him, a reaction he didn’t quite expect, “I mean, I can tell you, but that’s boring, isn’t it? There’s a huge playground outside. How’s about it? You come at me with everything you got, or send whoever you think are good mages. Let me put your worries to rest.”

“Stop, this isn’t nece–”

“Let’s go, then!” her father encouraged, cutting the chieftain off, almost giddy with excitement. I guess he was a hothead.

“If you get one hit in with any magic of your choice, you win,” I explained, going closer to the centre of the courtyard, “but if you don’t get a hit in ten seconds, you lose.”

He nodded his head, already focusing on me. Being a senior man, I didn’t expect him to fling his coat and start sprinting at me, but he did. He shot a Fireball at me, but the spiralling mass of fire was blasted away with level one Divergence. Suddenly, my head was forcefully yanked back. The charging madman placed a Convergence orb behind my head. I used Dispel immediately after, but when I looked forward for him, he completely vanished. Invisibility as good as Flynn or better. He used Convergence again, pulling me forward, but didn’t yet reveal himself. I could feel he was near and by force of habit, nearly casted level two Divergence, but that would’ve counted as an attack, so I opted for an Ice Wall. A wall of flames blasted at me from the side but I was safe anyway. More of his Convergence pulled the Ice Wall spells apart, and only then did he appear at the side of me, with his balled fist heading right for my cheek. Levitate secured me a safe exit from that fiery punch, but right after he belched another fireball. I simply dodged it, then realised the woe of my ways as it sought me out like a missile. Phoenix Wave, a homing missile of my own, killed its firepower.

He clasped both hands together, preparing a big spell, but Sek’hana intervened, announcing that ten seconds had already passed. Well, that was certainly different.

The surprisingly agile orc cleared his throat, “That was an, interesting way to defend. Your spells are certainly, quite intriguing. Might I ask the name of your mentor?”

“Sorry, she’s quite secretive about her identity,” I chuckled nervously. He walked up to me and I looked up to keep eye contact.

“There is something I wish to share with him,” he told Sek’hana, “bring him for dinner, will you? Be sure to drag Neth along as well. It’s been a while since we ate together.”

All she afforded him was a distant look, but she didn’t say no.

“Guess you’re here for the night.”