I ate so much food it felt like my stomach was fifty percent of my weight. My destiny tonight was to stay here and sit out this heaviness. Sek’hana’s parents were awesome, especially the part where they drank like there was no tomorrow. Neth passed out early into the game. The mother gave up close to the end and I competed with her dad but he showed no signs of slowing down. I lost.

Later into the night, when things slowed and crickets communed, he went into a room nearby and returned, calling me outside. “Walk with me,” he said, sauntering down the street in the dead of night. I scuttled a little to catch up. “That spell you used, earlier today, there’s only one I knew of that could’ve used it,” he stopped and turned to face me. “For you to know Divergence, means you have some connection to her. It means there’s something you know of her that I don’t. She was a fellow Apostle, and a friend. I’m sure she’d have wanted you to hold on to this,” he gave the object wrapped in cloth to me and the feel of it made the object in question’s identity obvious.

I peeked under the loosely wrapped cloth. A codex? Just what are these? Hold on…

“You’re an Apostle?!” I shouted silently.

He nodded, continuing our walk, “Something my family doesn’t know of yet. To the Ingen tribe, magic is everything, but so is the joy of self-discovery. We taught ourselves through hard trial and error. We’re almost rooted in those ways, but not Sek’hana. The youngsters are a lot more open-minded, much more flexible,” he stroked his beard, “and that’s the way it should be.”

Later that night, I placed the white book’s care in the hands of Hydra, my unofficial bookkeeper. How many is that now? What the hell are these for, Donna?

“Psh, I don’t know! I didn’t even know he was my friend! But he does seem familiar…”

What a nutcase she was, but I guess her indifferent nature bloomed because I rubbed off on her. I began feeling woozy; the alcohol chimed the charms of slumber in front of me and I couldn’t help but love its tune.

The morning after, I was the last to wake up. By the looks of it, I was in Sek’hana’s old room when she lived with her parents. Ugh, I miserably failed at shunting the languor from my bones. The door felt heavy to pull. Everyone’s gone, huh? I thought. After somewhat getting myself together, I returned to the building we had our big meeting in.

I had to leave. A few days went by since we separated from the main party and I wanted to catch back up with them, but it would be quite discourteous to just leave Ingenaar without a word, especially after they agreed to joining hands with the Order.

The freakin’ door’s locked! An exhausting grunt escaped and I sat on the staircase like a vagrant. The blistering heat wasn’t helpful at all. The minute I decided to just leave, Neth swooped down with his glider, “Here’s where you are! Looks like someone owes me some coin. Come on, Sek’hana’s waiting for you at the square.”

“The square?”

“You didn’t see the note? It was big, stuck onto the door.”

I shook my head. Was there a note left for me?

“Yup.”

You’re, such a bitch. You could’ve just told me.

“And you’re not a very smart mage. Quite a contradiction.”

Apparently, they were waiting on me to conduct some sort of ceremony to bless our journey. “You’ve embarrassed me, Eric,” Sek’hana pointed out the obvious after we took to the skies.

“Yeah well, it wasn’t exactly un-embarrassing to be the last guy walking into the ceremony with everyone watching me like they want to murder me.”

“I suppose it’s partly my fault. I didn’t know humans slept-in so much.”

“Ooh, if only she knew it’s just you who wake up at noon every single day.” Donna teased. I couldn’t help but nervously chuckle and look away.

After a couple days of flying, Gale brought us back to the party. We made circles far above them. “So, yeah, listen…”

“I can’t be seen, I know,” Sek’hana said what I was about to, “but I can Voidwalk for a while before my body fails.” Having an orc help us on a quest to start a war against said orcs would be a big red flag for the rest of the party. After all, humanity didn’t even know there were two tribes between the orcs.

“That’s good,” I shouted to combat the horrible air resistance, “Flynn can use Invisibility on you when you get tired. You can just interchange to keep hidden.”

After some more talks, we dived with her glued to my back. Halfway down, she used Voidwalk so it just looked like I was in a weird position falling. Eventually I landed safely using Levitate and glided towards the party walking along a country road.

Surprisingly, they weren’t very suspect about my late and sudden appearance. Much more so because the councilmen amongst us didn’t react negatively about it. Well, that’s what I was thinking before my wrists and ankles ended up ensnared in sand and bolted onto a tree in the middle of the night. I guess taking a leak by myself was a bad idea. “Why did you return by yourself? Spill it.” The cloaked stranger asked.

“Hey, buddy. You can’t just take what you want like that. Wine and dine me first or something,” I poked fun at him, which only caused the bindings to tighten and his patience to thin.

“Gus!” I heard a voice call out and footsteps encroach, “What are you doing?!”

It was the woman who spoke to me at the beginning of our journey. Hmm, what was it again? N-Nadine? Nyla?

“Nayla.”

Nayla! Of course.

“Yeah, what you doin’, Gus?” I copied her.

“He’s my stress reliever. Just leave him alone,” she tried pulling his spell arm down.

Did she just…

“Pfft, I guess you’re just meat to her,” Donna teased and I felt the mental taps of pity on my shoulder, “but now that she mentions it,” I felt her grip tighten, “I haven’t gotten a taste of you yet. There’s no way she’s going first.”

What the hell am I to you people?

Despite Nayla’s effort, Gus refused to release me from the bindings, “This joke ran its course, don’t ya think?” I intervened into the tomfoolery, casting Dispel and rubbing my wrists a little after the sand fell from me, “I’m from the city of mages, you really think a weak-ass spell like that would contain me?” I sniggered a little at the end then turned my back to do what I came to do.

Both of them argued for a hot second and footsteps began approaching me. Kor’zha was already primed to impale someone with one of his tails, but that wasn’t necessary. Nayla leaned against the thick tree and audaciously peered right at my member. I was so shocked I tensed up for a while and the liquid stopped pouring. But what was I to do, go pee elsewhere? I just resumed as normal.

“I’ve, been looking forward to this,” she commented, not breaking her stare for anything.

“You know,” I shook, “I have a g–”

“Girlfriend?” she asked, then showed me her wedding band on her hand, “Does it matter?”

It does! “You’re married and cheating?”

“Listen, kid, when you’re a mercenary, there’s probably a lot of people after your head. The thought of dying at any time makes you wanna get some,” she so graciously advised and suddenly began reaching for it before I popped it back in. But before her salacious fingers could touch its target, Donna brought herself out and grabbed onto Nayla’s wrist and my poor boy with a tight grasp of the situation. I jumped, as did Nayla. Who exactly are you mad at?!

Donna didn’t say a word, she just shook her head, rejecting Nayla’s advance. Nayla almost had a heart attack. She yanked her hand away from Donna’s grip and ran back to the camp. The queen quickly returned inside me. Well, want to explain?

“I thought I wouldn’t mind you doing her, as long as I went first. But I changed my mind, I don’t want her near you at all.”

I, can’t tell if that’s jealousy or not.

“I don’t know what it is either,” she shrugged.

I summoned her back outside, “Do you like me, Donna?”

She could’ve hardly kept her laughter in, “What kinda stupid question is that, man?”

I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, forcing her to look me in the eyes without saying a word. She breathed out and inched closer herself, “Well, ‘like’ is kind of a weak word obviously. I love you, Eric. As a friend? Yeah. As a lover? Yeah. Like a mother? Yeah. I was pretty conflicted about it at one point too, but eventually I realised and succumbed to my selfishness. I want to be all of those things to you, for you.”

“And what about Dawn?”

“Dawn, huh? She’s, a good girl, but…”

“But?”

“I, I don’t know! I thought about her feelings as well, I even thought about Emily and, well,” she grimaced, “I still want you. So, suck it up. You’re going to have to tell Dawn about us at some point.”

I tilted my head, “You make it sound like ‘we’ are already a thing.”

She smiled coyly, “You know you’re talking to the woman who’s been in your head since you were eight years old, right?”

My face scowled without restriction. Hiding any thoughts or feelings going though me away from her was as effective as outing fire with fire. She knew me inside-out, even better than August, which was quite the feat despite not exactly trying hard.

She swarmed into a light once again and entered into my mind. I made my way back and had a good night’s rest after having Flynn cast Invisibility on Sek’hana.

I woke up to a glare mixed with contempt and desire from Nayla, and pure distrust from Gus as expected. After a quick breakfast, our group was on the way to the capital, Endathal.

Wonder how your family’s goin’?

“Eh, probably bored outta their minds. When we resolve this, we should take Gabrielle out.”

Who the hell’s Gabrielle?

“My daughter, you dolt!”

Ah, right, of course. Hey, you know anything about light magic?

“I didn’t even know it existed before you resurrected me,” she shrugged. What a pain that was. For the rest of the uneventful journey to Endathal, I practised over and over trying to bring back the vibrancy of dead leaves, but only managed a measly amber hue. Well, incremental progress was still progress, though I can’t say I had a revelation about how light magic worked at all.

We finally arrived at Endathal after some weeks of travel. “Finally!” Sek’hana breathed a sigh of relief after we took lodging in an inn and got our own rooms. She sprawled out onto a bed, truly happy to exit her constant Voidwalk.

“Hey, jackass, come over here a minute,” Flynn called out to me. “Honey, I’ll need you to stay here with the orc,” dad told mom, “and you,” he looked at me, “for her to see what’s going down, you’re going to have to be there with me. Well, that’s what I was thinking, but you have a better idea don’t you?” he inquired after seeing the cheeky smirk on my face.

“Yeah. The minister…” I placed a hand over my forehead trying to remember his name.

“Anton Du Bois,” mom stated.

“Yeah, Anton. All we need is evidence that he’s the one up to it. And currently his seal isn’t on anything concerning this mission, so I was thinking, why not just get Donna to get the king to see for himself?”

Flynn smacked me about the pate, “To think you were this stupid. It’s appalling!”

Mom rubbed her chin in thought, “A confession is out of the question as well. A man like him would never plead guilty.”

“So then how do we tie him to it?” I asked and earned the very eerie stares of both parents.

Soon, I realised where their heads were. It’s almost scary how synchronised they were sometimes as they both had the same plan in mind.

And so, their ‘masterplan’ was set in motion. I casted Levitate and glided to the royal palace leisurely, albeit, with dad clutched to my back. We were under the guise of his peerless Invisibility spell. Mom had one that made it hard for us to notice, but dad’s own was second to none. At a side entrance, two guards stood in front of a small opened gate. There was a translucent and covert magic net acting as in indicator for thieves who thought they could sneak in using magic. It would not only temporarily stun them, but also make it obvious to the guards that there was an intruder.

Why the hell are we sneaking? You’re the queen! You can just walk in the front entrance!

“We discussed this, dumbass. Anton Du Bois has his fingers in every crevice of the palace, he can’t know we’re here or he’ll think something’s up. What would you do if you were him and the dead queen suddenly shows up right when you set out to steal something important?”

Okay, okay, fine. You’ve got a point.

“Damn right, I do!”

This magic net was nothing a Dispel couldn’t deal with, but I’d have to actually have a negative magic effect on me for Dispel to work at all. That meant I had to wilfully walk into the invisible net, but then the guards would know I was there. What a pain in the ass this was. After doing so much sneaking around, the very first part of our plan failed. Unless… I glided a few metres away, going around a corner then summoned a lesser earth elemental. It served as a nice distraction as it somewhat attacked the guards by dislodging the ground beneath them so they’d lose their footing. Just long enough for me to entangle myself in the web and use Dispel on it. Finally, we were past the grounds and into the actual palace.

Okay, guide me. After some scouring around for the king, we happened upon Gabrielle, the princess, in the garden speaking with a young man. Your genes are a hell of a thing, woman.

“They are, aren’t they?”

Who’s that guy, though?

“Oh, must be some suitor for her. You jelly?”

Kind of. Dawn’s pretty but your daughter is… Well, your genes are unfair.

After our mental small talk, I tried getting Gabrielle’s attention, invisible as I was.

“Hey,” I whispered, bringing Levitate a little closer to the ground than usual so she’d be within earshot. “Hey, Gabrielle!” I whispered again, but soft enough for the fellow walking with her not to hear anything. The quiet of the garden was both a friend and foe in this situation. She looked around in reflex. “Dammit Gabrielle, stop walking!”

She stopped, taking a truly good look around and squinting her eyes in confusion. She dismissed her suitor’s question of her being alright. “Sorry, I felt like someone was calling my name for a minute,” she giggled.

“Someone is!” I whispered again, “Somewhat is calling you, Gabrielle!” This, time, she totally stopped, finally. “I have an Invisibility spell cast over me. Just uh, smell some flowers or something to not look weird!” I advised.

“Have you ever wondered,” she said suddenly, “who calls your name?” she asked a horribly strange question, probably wanting to find out my identity with a not so subtle question to her suitor. He gave her a bewildered response. “Sorry, that was a strange question, wasn’t it?”

After they had their giggles, I found a quiet time of their conversation to answer her question. “Eric. I’m the guy who brought your mom back. Can you ditch this guy, already?”

And so, she did after a couple minutes, bringing up some excuse about her studies. She went to her room, dismissing the guards outside it and leaving the door open long enough for me to enter. She pulled her curtains close and dad broke his Invisibility spell.

“Finally!” he exclaimed in relief.

“Shut up, I should be the one saying that!” I retorted, rubbing my poor back after he got off. Donna assimilated at my side, hugging her daughter immediately. I could tell she wanted to stay and chat, but I ensured she got straight to the point of our visit.

After a couple minutes of explanation, Gabrielle spoke. “So, you run away with some brat and only visit your family for the seal?”

“Hey!” I snapped, a little irritated by how nonchalantly she called be a brat.

The princess sighed, almost too mentally exhausted to argue her points. She led us to the king, Farron Maxwell, who dropped his current proceedings at the heed of his daughter. We returned to the closed-off room to discuss, once again, the situation.

“What?! Anton? The seal? War on the orcs? Impossible!” he said, his trust in the defence minister almost blinding, but his trust in his queen even more so. “I, believe you, of course,” he sat down at the mere thought of this being a reality, “but I cannot just put a man who served that many years under accusation without concrete proof.”

“Yeah, about that proof, we were thinking…” I laid out the plan for him, and he hesitantly agreed to it, his greatest reasoning behind it to prevent an unnecessary war with the orcs.

“Alright then. Should this be true, the Order will be rewarded, especially those who have sought my side in your party. You need only pass through the sewer on the far ends of the palace grounds and it will take you directly under the palace. From there, you may sneak in and we shall commence with the operation.”

For such a high hurdle, the first part of my parents’ plan went quite smoothly. Now all we need to do was wait for our contact to make moves.

Morning broke in quite nicely, with a partly cloudy sky watching over us. Flynn was the only person needed to meet the contact, but of course Mary and I stood from afar and watched over him. Her ridiculous speed and agility coupled with her combative spells made for an invincible battlemage. No one could best her at mid to close range. I, on the other hand, had very many powerful far range spells, so much so that my repertoire showed quite the imbalance towards those destructive spells.

The man, covered in a long cloak handed a note over to my father after exchanging a few words. That was all. But Flynn made sure the man revealed his face, which was a needed thing to see the plan through.

We returned to our rooms. The councilmen in the party were mildly concerned about how the quest was going. Sek’hana was very interested, seeing that stopping it played a pivotal role in introducing her ideas to the Order. The mercenaries on the other hand, didn’t at all care. Gus kept far away from me. Nayla would pass by me and intentionally bump into me every so often. Any chance of seducing me without earning the wrath of the woman inside me, she would take. But all that quickly changed when she went around Endathal for the nightlife.

“Okay, so,” Flynn placed a fake seal, a schematic of the palace and a paper with some notes on it onto the table in our room, “this is what we got. It’s going down tomorrow morning, before the sun rises. That’s right before the guards change shifts, that’s when they’re the most tired. Eric, I need your ass for this, don’t fall asleep on me.”