The time had come. In preparation, Sek’hana and Mary crept into the rendezvous point, a park that we met our contact at. Sek’hana crept into the ethereal plane using Voidwalk and Mary used her Invisibility.

With cunning and subtlety, Flynn and I went to retrieve the king instead of the promised seal. Dad was on my back, and the king was on Donna’s. We were the only two capable of Levitate, so there could be no other way. Donna had to keep up both Invisibility and Levitate, plus hold her husband up. No idea how she got through it. The king provided us with a fake seal of his own before we met up with the contact that Anton had waiting under a tree in the park, dressed in regular attire to not attract attention.

Dad and I came out of Invisibility whilst still out of the sight of people and dad encroached the man, passing on the scroll to him in a wrapped piece of cloth. The contact identified the seal, shook Flynn’s hand and walked off. We followed in rather slow pursuit, as he took his time walking to the old abandoned house that Anton awaited him in.

When it became obvious where the contact was going – a house on the outskirts of Endathal – Flynn casted a sleep spell on him, placed Invisibility on him and dragged him out of sight. Behind the growing bushes of an unkempt yard was where the switch-up took place. Flynn made the king to look exactly like our contact with his spells of trickery. Although I saw them as something I didn’t need because of my brazen nature, I couldn’t deny their usefulness.

The king knocked and entered the dark house, with me, Mary, Flynn, and Sek’hana in tow to ensure his safety. He didn’t know about Mary and Sek’hana though. There was a rather dim light so as not to attract the attention of the rare passer-by on the outside. Sitting with Anton was a cloaked man. There were also two mages and two soldiers probably quite trusted by Anton.

“Come now, Mason. Did you get the seal?” Anton asked, hurrying ‘Mason’ along.

The cloaked gentleman sitting at the table laughed, “I’m afraid that’s not Mason, Mr Du Bois.” The fellow said, pointing out our illusion immediately. His smooth voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t put my finger around it. Upon hearing this, the king motioned Flynn to release the spell, returning him to normal.

“Farron?! I-I mean, my liege,” Anton corrected himself, bowing immediately.

“I’m, quite disappointed in you, Anton. I thought you a friend. Perhaps, I’m even more disappointed in my trusting you. You have attempted to steal the royal seal, Anton,” the king pointed out somewhat sour, yet angry.

“Well, I was planning to have you killed and the throne usurped in the near future, but I guess that plan is going to take place now,” he gestured for his mages to attack the man.

The minute their arms began moving upwards, Mary’s blade cleaved right through one of their necks, then she rammed the dagger into the throat of a nearby soldier. The other mage was pulled, as if by a magnet by Sek’hana’s Convergence, then immediately pulled the other way by another Convergence spell, both fighting for the mage’s body, ultimately tearing it apart.

Anton stood up, backing off slowly in fear. We were surely winning, but that fellow sitting at the table disturbed me. How does one be strong enough to see through Flynn’s godly illusion magic, yet not take action even whilst his partners die in front of him? The last soldier gave up, putting his sword on the ground.

“Do something, you blasted Apostle!” Anton shouted out, not at all caring for subtlety now.

“Ah, my sincerest apologies Mr Du Bois, but I won’t risk the wrath of my master by harming her people.”

“You damned worthless pile of shit!” Anton cursed his hired spell-hand and instead prepared a novice fire spell of some sort he managed to learn, but that was quickly distinguished by my Arc Lightning. With the spell channelling through my hand, I gazed indifferently at the hooded man.

“Dude!” I said, finally putting the familiar feeling he had into a proper memory, “You’re the guy from Gassity, right?”

He chortled, seeming like quite a friendly lad, “That I am. It’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr Archibald.”

“Can I ask you somethin’, buddy? If I wasn’t acquainted with your master, what would you have done back in Gassity?”

He smiled again, “I would have captured you.”

“And had I resisted?”

“I would have killed you,” he replied in a friendly, yet ghastly manner, as if those words meant absolutely nothing to him.

“Did your master tell you not to harm me?” I grew a little angry for some reason. No, not for ‘some reason’, I knew exactly what I was angry about. His nonchalant way of saying he could kill me should he so please was like being spat on, and that solely because of the mere fact that the witch and I met a few times, he refused the very people he worked for. Why was he working these backdoor jobs anyway?

“Why, no!” he exclaimed, as if appalled, “I simply judged that to be the best course of action. Well,” he stood up, “I suppose I should be on my way.”

Donna suddenly came out, “Hold it!” she commanded, finding his very personality to be a grotesque charade. Anton’s eyes grew wide when he noticed who spoke. “Why are you working for these people?” she asked, quite in an interrogative manner.

“Donna, fellow disciple of the Crescent Moon. I thought you passed away, what a pleasant surprise that you’re,” he suddenly fixed his eyes to me for but a second, “alive.” That man gave me chills, prideful and brave as I was. “Even in my elation to see you alive and well, I do suggest you release me, Donna. I’d rather not endanger the master’s favourite.”

“Endanger?!” Donna growled, pissed off at his careless underestimation of her, “Let’s go you son of a bitch!” Her magical power roared, shaking the wooden walls and floor, “Show me how you’re a danger!”

He finally turned around to face her, and that’s when I noticed whatever spell Donna used to keep him still had broken. A cold wind even in a windowless house had blown around.

“Wait,” I placed a palm towards him, “Sven, right? Listen, no one’s fighting,” I said, pushing Donna away a little. “I’m sure no one here wants their business out in the open. No one wants to explain what they were doing here to anyone. So, let’s just be about our ways, alright?”

There was a long silence, until Sven pulled his hood back up, nodded at me thankfully and left. Donna was rather irritated, but she took my advice on the matter and let it go. Without any further words, she simply returned to my mind.

A carriage took the king and the captive back to the castle, providing them safety was the fact that it was inconspicuous as well as dad and I gliding alongside it–though he just hitchhiked.

Anton Du Bois, minister of defence was tried before the courts and quickly sentenced. I guess the king’s word was all that was needed. He was imprisoned so quickly it seemed like nothing we did before was even real. I assumed the process would be long and dragged out, but I guess I was wrong.

The court had rewarded my party with hush-gold, though, nowhere close to the mountainous amount that we would’ve originally gotten had we completed our mission, so of course the mercenaries were quite sour. But they couldn’t complain; it was either gold or imprisonment.

“You’ve done well,” Aldis said to us with his fellow councilmen behind him. “We shall report these events to the rest of the council, and we’ll be sure to put in a good word about you as well to your superiors, Mrs Archibald.”

“Take Gale,” I said, offering them a quick trip home to Aquan. They were quickly on their way, preferring to return to the boring daily life of a councilman. The mercenaries left Endathal to go wherever they go to lay-low. The Garran siblings simply waited until Gale dropped off the old councilmen so she could return for them and my parents. Four people wasn’t her limit, but someone would probably fall off if there were more people.

The about a day and a half passed and Gale could be summoned again to begin her second trip to Aquan. Seeing my parents and the Garrans off heralded the start of my rather absurd requests. The king had chosen to reward my parents and I even more generously, but they both passed up their earnings to me, to which I happily obliged. Was I selfish? Probably, but what I had in mind was worth it.

Farron, Gabrielle, Donna and myself had just finished dinner the night of my parent’s departure. “So, you took your parents’ share of extra coin, but then rejected it in favour of something else. What would that be?”

“I can guarantee it’s something stupid,” Donna commented, gently dabbing her lips with a handkerchief.

“Shut up,” I blurted out and noticed the king and princess’ aghast faces. They quickly accepted it though, seeing how Donna also spoke to me in the same fashion of verbal abuse. “It’s absolutely brilliant, but maybe a little disturbing, but I’d still like to do it.”

“Okay, then voice your desires, Eric Archibald.”

I beamed, my whites showing in full glory, “I’d like the corpses of the men we killed to practise healing magic.”

Gabrielle, drinking her last bit of juice, almost choked on it. “You’re mad!”

“Told ya it’s stupid,” Donna shrugged.

The king however, sat by quietly, giving it an earnest thought. “I’m, afraid I cannot grant that request, young mage. Were they but expendable mercenaries with no families, I would. But, regardless of how heinous a crime one may commit, the family must be shown the proper respect.”

“Maaan, that’s a drag!” I said, and kind of rested my forehead down onto the table in disappointment.

“Is there anything else?”

“Well,” I sat upright again and exhaled wearily, “there’s this tribe of orcs that study magic. They’d like start cross-studies of magic with the Order. Their leader is in Endathal with us, she also killed one of the guards running to attack you.”

“A-apologies, mage, but you gloss over what you just said like it was nothing. Do you know of this, Donna?” he asked his wife and she ended up properly explaining everything that happened to him in my stead.

He laughed, “Is that it? We can more than put in a good word for the Ingen, but you’ll still have to do your part in convincing the Order of Mages. But I doubt they’ll need much convincing after a letter from me,” he playfully laughed.

We had a few laughs and small talk afterward. The next day, Donna sought to spend time with her daughter, and somehow or the other, the king roped me into a small little heart-clenching conversation as we watched them walk down the hallways of the palace.

“Eric Archibald. Donna loves you, doesn’t she?”

What the… I couldn’t believe how direct he was.

Very simple question, with a very complicated answer. “W-what are you talking about?”

He sniggered, “Don’t think I’m blind, young mage. I knew her heart was elsewhere the moment she came back home. To be frank, I’m happy she met you. We’ve both already moved on in our lives, so, don’t worry about that. Just keep her happy.”

“Dude, uh, you realise you just gave me permission to do your wife?”

He coughed, then cleared his throat, “Yes, well,” and cleared it once more, “we’ve both been a little promiscuous even before she died,” then turned and walked away like he didn’t want to go into the details of their infidelity. I laughed a bit at it.

Well, my head’s still intact, so that’s nice. I glided over to the cheeky mother and stunning daughter having some giggle-worthy chit-chat which immediately stopped the moment I encroached. One of my eyebrows shot up in question of their behaviour. With Donna, I’d expected as much. But Gabrielle? “Please, for the sake of your own mental health, don’t let her rub off on you,” I warned the young maiden in earnest.

“But,” Donna placed a finger to her chin as if thinking, “you rubbed off on me. So…” she shrugged.

“Yeah, but, um…” I scratched my head, at a loss for words.

“Yeah, you’re a bad influence,” she complained. “I’ve always been a proper queen with behaviour and mannerism befitting royalty… and then I met you.”

“And you became so much more!” I added with pop and flare! “So, what were you guys talking about before? Don’t think I didn’t notice that suspicious-ass laughter.”

Gabrielle immediately averted her eyes, making me even more curious. I walked right up to get my face uncomfortably close to make her equally uncomfortable. “What? Would you like a kiss?” she asked rhetorically.

“Oh, God! Donna, what have you done?!” I exclaimed. Knowing fully well she put Gabrielle up to it, despite how unplanned it seemed. But alas, when I looked at Donna, her eyes showed genuine surprise. I then looked back at the princess, thinking for but a moment that she might’ve meant what she said but all that graced my eyes were the coy curling of her lips and a following snigger. They played me. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it off you devils.”

Our stroll through the tranquil gardens was brought to a halt by Phoenix. He forcefully brought himself out, “Eric! We need your help! Tarit’s losing his shit!”

The panic in his voice was perturbing, the fear in his eyes easily inducing anxiety. This was the first time I’d seen Phoenix with so much dread smitten across his face. I knew the tiger was stronger than the other faction spirit lords, but seeing his reaction to whatever was going on only reinforced the idea to a degree that invoked second-guessing myself.

But me, Eric Archibald? Shirk away from a challenge? Refuse aid to a friend who’s always rendered it? Show fear? Never. I sat down and let my mind sink into meditation. I heard bits and pieces of a hurried goodbye and felt Donna assimilate into me. In a few seconds, I was off, Phoenix taking the lead in warping me into the spirit world.

Making a large circle around Tarit, the leader of the lightning faction, in the open expanse of a meadow painted in the colours of dawn was a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar faces alike.

They all had their strongest warriors by their sides against the unstable monster that was Tarit.

Gale was perched on a nearby mound, her sisters of the talon circling in the air around her. Some were owls, some eagles. Their mastery of wind was nothing like the birds on earth. You could very easily tell the enhancement that wind magic graced them with. They were so skilled, some even floated backward with no effort.

Kor’zha kept poised to strike. There were a few rock golems around him, there appearance one of near-black. A dim white light shone where their eyes should be. They all brandished weapons. Some with shield and swords, others with polearms, and one without anything.

My self-proclaimed lover, Hydra, swam in a levitating pool of strange and mystic waters. She once told me of a type of liquid that was a poorly conductive medium for electricity to pass through, that pinkish hue of liquid must’ve been it. Surrounding her, in their own pools of water were rather strange aquatic beasts that looked exactly like orcas. The only jarring thing about them was their ability to easily split in half, separating the black and white parts which they did as easy as I could breathe. It was almost as if they themselves were made of liquid.

The fiery avatar of bluster was surrounded by what could only be coined as devils. They, as he was in his true form of the Phoenix, were literally ablaze with fire whilst their blackened skeletons from within gave contrast to the rage of bright orange about them. There were horns jutting out of their foreheads and tails which they moved about like whips, very much like the actual engulfed whips in their hands. In the other hand would be a skull held firmly in position.

All these strong beings gathered here, around a lone spirit lord of lightning.