It seemed he flew from Ingen straight to the Order, a foolish thing, but desperate nonetheless. It was hard not to believe someone in this state, but I had to be cautious. Within his hands was a letter of summons for me, and also a request for aid from the Order. A quick meeting was started by the councilmen regarding the matter in their usual room.

Frankly, it was a matter in which I couldn’t just run to help her. For a mage who not only started the integration programme, but also acted as the mediator between the Ingen and the Order, my actions now had dire consequences. Higherups had to be contacted about the matter. I thought about just having Donna make the decision right then, but there would be hesitation to believe her claims of royalty despite being able to prove it.

After a day of flying about on Gale with a couple other people, the answer was quickly decided on. The Ingen tribe would receive help from the Order with the permission of Aquan and Endathal governance, but at that point, the Ingen mystics had to know.

The day after, we flew there. During all this politicking, I couldn’t help but think of my pre-Order of Mages self. Sek’hana would already be rescued even if my decision was brash. There was no way I’d wait around on Aquan and Endathal to come to a decision. Every passing second could mean her death, yet we had to endure this bureaucratic nonsense for days. The minute we arrived at Ingen, the mystics gathered. With me was a royal official – the same woman who hid her identity at the meeting before – and Elder. However, I did most of the talking as we’d already settled on a decision regarding Sek’hana’s capture; there wasn’t much for them to say so they simply acted as witnesses.

The mystics from Ingen were quite wary of going in to save her just like that, considering she was the strongest of the entire Ingen tribe – denoted by her very title of chieftain – and was actually captured.

We agreed on a force of equals to rescue her. Neth and a few of his men would secure her, and I along with some other Order mages would keep her captors busy. Her brother knew her location and confirmed that the ones imprisoning her was indeed the Virai. What’s stopping her from using Voidwalk? I wondered but figured that the Virai must’ve had some sort of backing for them to become this brave. Neth also knew they were headed straight for the Virai capital, and time was of the essence.

Everyone couldn’t possibly fit on Gale, so the Ingen had to use their gliders to follow along but also took breaks to regain their stamina and mana. We were certainly not slow for a group of mages, but for a matter as critical as this one, we were nothing more than a sprinting turtle.

Words of the meeting with the mystics replayed in my head, “Don’t be stupid! Don’t even entertain that idea!” Sek’hana’s mom promptly warned me after I asked about soloing it. Really, the only people I knew were faster than Gale would be Emily with her teleportation – who was not at all obliged to help us – and Volt with his zappy thing that shot him across the skies quite literally in the speed of light.

My putting up with this nonsense made me question just how much I even cared for the chieftain. If the person kidnapped were my family, students, or Aug, I’d be there within a heartbeat, doing away with any formality the Order or any such organisation would try to impose. It was then I realised with every passing day I was becoming groomed and domesticated into something. I didn’t know what that something was, but the fact still remained. By our next stop, I made the decision.

“Neth, Elder, Anjali, I’m sorry, doing this now after going through so many meetings, but I’ll just rescue her on my own.”

“That action was strictly prohibited by the Ingen mystics. You cannot,” Anjali firmly warned. Being the representative for the royal family, she’d developed a stern and almost masculine voice when becoming serious. A persona she used to box her way through negotiations with difficult people. Neth and elder didn’t reply to my statement.

“It wasn’t a question. Aquan is in the same direction, I’ll take you and Elder there.”

Elder finally opened his eyes from his meditative position, “Your request is denied, Eric Archibald.” A sound and resolute sentence.

In the coming seconds, both the Elder and I knew just what would happen, and I believe the others felt it too. Anjali and Neth’s men backed off. “Neth, I’m sorry for only manning up now,” I said to him. I knew he agreed and trusted in me to perform a timely rescue, but I betrayed his expectations and my own ideals. The orc spy nodded and backed away as well.

“So be it, then,” Elder stood. Heatwaves of murderous intent emanated from both of us. I was fully expecting him to use the magic he did to inject fear into his councilmen, but I guess it would be null if his opponent was ready and willing to take him on. Despite the goals of this battle being to restrict and subdue, we both knew the dangers of the other mage, whilst not exactly knowing each other’s spell books. Neither of us could underestimate each other, and that meant we couldn’t use your everyday spells for capture. We’d have to fight to kill else we’d be killed.

Within just a second a bunch of spells activated. I cast Frost Trap on him and an Arc Lightning burst forth from the tip of my finger but the minute it touched him, a shield appeared around him and the spell was reflected back at me but passed through me and into the void because of Magnet. A quick Dispel released him from the bonds of Frost Trap. That little exchange concreted that this fight might just be a mortal one and that was the end of me testing the waters. It was quite obvious his shield spell couldn’t work against indirect spells at that point, and so my next line of spells was planned.

Convergence was placed in front of him and level three Divergence at the back, blasting his body forward to me in a split second, but he returned right where he was standing just as fast, like he teleported. Now I knew moving him was impossible. I sighed mentally, alright then. Was the Elder more important to me? Or was Sek’hana? Of course, it was the latter.

A barrage of Hand of God spells showered the man, only to be deflected by his strange shield back into the air. I changed them to instead be Arm of God, the helix-shaped monstrosity that effectively doubled the power of the previous. His precious shield was cracking, I could see the pressure on his face. One thing was for certain, a mage without Division could not hope to win a battle of attrition against one who’s achieved it. He looked like he was using all his mana and focus to use the shield. I switched to Wrath of God, the highest point of the trio of lightning spells. It produced level three Divergence on contact automatically. To make it worse, it was three times as strong as Arm of God.

The first one completely obliterated his shield and sank his body into the ground. His body stiffened, but he didn’t die. Right then, as I was going to cast another, Anjali tackled me, not to attack but to get my attention, “Stop! Please, just stop!” she said, her eyes teary as she looked up desperately at me. Elder was unconscious.

She kind of slumped down, leaning against me, crying against my leg. What’s with the overreaction?

“Didn’t you realise? Elder is her father.”

You gotta be kiddin’!

“Nope. It’s funny, I wouldn’t have minded if he died.”

What? So, you’re not okay with a criminal like Munroe being killed but you’re okay with Elder being killed?

“Well, pssh, yeah. It was unspoken, but it was understood that any one of you could have died. He knew what he was getting himself into, unlike Munroe. Anyway, get a move on.”

I summoned Gale again, casted Levitate and went over to the great owl. “It’s probably a stupid question to ask but, are you coming, Anjali?”

She looked in the direction of Elder.

“Nope, I’m not carrying him. I don’t know when he’ll wake up and try to kill me. I’m already taking a risk by offering to take you to Aquan.”

“Go ahead,” her voice was surprisingly empty of contempt towards me, “we’ll find our way.”

I nodded at Neth, mounted Gale and was on my way to the far west.

“What will you do if she’s dead?”

Nothing I can do then.

“You won’t try to cast Light Resurrection?”

I won’t. I meant it when I said you were the only person I’d do that for.

It was a topic I was unmoving about, and something I thought would bring a smile to her face, but it didn’t. I smelled a faint odour of irritation off her. Don’t sulk and mind your tongue around me. Might I remind you, my mind is leased property. My payment is also knowing all your thoughts.

“You really want to know?”

Shoot.

“You’re a damn fool to not abuse Light Resurrection.”

Explain.

I felt her fume a little more. “What’s there to explain? It’s a spell. You’re Eric. Use it. Not even the witch would dare tell you not to use it. It was her decision to grant you the ability to use light magic. And you need the permission of the person you’re reviving either way, so there’s nothing wrong with it. If they wish to remain dead, then no matter what you do, you can’t force them back.”

You assume she’s dead?

“It’s been a few days since. Really, if I ever get captured like that and you dawdle so much, I’ll fucking skin you alive.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out. “You know, Gale, Phoenix will come to appreciate your love someday. Never give up.”

“I’ve got all eternity,” she replied, not even an inkling of doubt in her future acquisition of the fire avatar’s heart.

A few hours later, I ditched her to use Avatar of Wind, then eventually avoided flying on the whole, opting for a quiet glide with Levitate and Voidwalk in tandem. I snuck around the impossibly huge capital, going to what looked to be the major buildings laden with horns of game that they killed for decoration. The places I checked were those that had prisons and dungeons in search for Sek’hana, but she was not in any of those places. Voidwalk’s ability to go through physical walls unseen certainly gave it superiority over Invisibility. After failing to find her in the places I supposed she’d be, I decided to comb every single home or building, starting with the most prestigious one.

I went through every room and eventually found her in a normal bedroom. A mattress of stitched leathers and furs was provided, along with some rather archaic chairs, a hammock and a table. The bare minimum of furnishings, excluding the hammock. I could see how the Ingen was vastly different from the Virai. A couple guards stood watch over her and she simply sat on the chair, mindlessly looking into space. Most of their conversation consisted of their disappointment in not being allowed to violate the scatty chieftain. And most of their actions–or more precisely their only action – was ogling Sek’hana. Part of me could relate to them. Heck, she was more attractive than a lot of the human women I’d seen around.

I stayed my hand for now. Donna also sensed something amiss about the way Sek’hana acted, or the way she didn’t. What do you think? I asked the perspective of the residing Apostle but she found it hard to grasp the situation before her. We waited. Sure, I rushed ahead, but that doesn’t at all entail that all of my actions would be decided with haste as the most important factor. What good was bringing Sek’hana back to Ingenaar in the state she was in? I’d be delivering a husk and be in deep shit because of my fight with Elder and receive some contempt from the royal court on the very whim that I displeased Anjali, the Maxwell family’s representative. Things certainly weren’t coming together how I expected it. If not for this strange situation, I reckoned by now I’d be flying away with Sek’hana whilst Kor’zha trapped and Phoenix scorched the entire Virai capital.

Though, their lands already seemed barren. I don’t know what they did for food or how they survived. It was certainly a chaparral-like environment. Living here was tough, and so were these orcs in every sense of the word. Whilst I glided through the streets, random fist fights would break out at random times. I even saw two people greet each other then proceed to bash each other’s face in. The Virai’s thought process stunned and amazed me. They were rather ritualistic, traditional and conservative of their rites. Strength meant, everything. Even more so than the Ingen tribe’s infatuation with magic. These guys had arms twice the size of my torso’s circumference. Buff was an understatement. They didn’t have doors, they had cave openings to their homes. Really, even official-looking fellows that appeared to have an important job denoting that of aristocracy would smash their fist into someone on the street. How did children grow up here? Would they break out in a fight if someone called another a bad name? Their system was distastefully hierarchal with the only criteria being your physical strength, and to a minute portion, skill.

Despite how much I scoffed and looked down on their primal and unintelligent dogmas, I’d have to admit a horde of them would be unstoppable.

Donna finally decided to answer me after pooling her thoughts together. “These guys, have someone of great power behind them. A mage, most likely. Chances are, said mage is diggin’ up some dark magic here, mind magic I’d say. Just look at how spaced-out she is.”

Mind magic again? I exhaled, silently though. But it didn’t matter, since technically I wasn’t in the same plane as the guards, they couldn’t possibly hear me. Well, do you know any spells to remove it? I wished Dispel could work, but that was a self-only spell. I doubted it was strong enough for whatever magic they used on Sek’hana anyway.

“Why do you even ask? You already know the answer. Quit botherin’ me.”

This damned woman was incorrigible. But she was right, I knew the answer. If someone’s life was rapidly fading, the link between caster and target would diminish before death. All I had to do was heal her before I killed her. Easy enough. I appeared right between the two low-sentient guards and casted a crappy sleep spell I learned from Flynn. It was an easy enough spell to shrug off, but I guess not for the Virai.

Sek’hana turned around, and I immediately regretted not using my element of surprise to cast it on her first. She pulled me forth with Convergence and opened a strange portal, sliding me through the void and making me pass right through the wall. I was now outside, but the minute I saw the light of outside, I slipped through another of her portal things, sending me back to the corporeal plane and falling from the tower where she was. Levitate saved me, but she was now over me and two Convergence spells were forming on opposites sides of me. I doubted I could use Magnet as a defence against other void magic, so I opted for something physical instead. Earth Walls were sacrificed instead of me and I flew away with Avatar of Wind. Avatar of Lightning sent my reactions and reflex to godlike levels. Sek’hana and I eventually touched down onto the hilly landscape surrounding what seemed to be the castle of the Virai capital.

She casted Ice Shards, a spell with numerous footlong needles made of ice that didn’t need the greatest of aiming to kill someone because of their numbers. The most elegant and graceful use of Convergence level two was seen when she directed Ice Shards to me over and over even after they missed their target. When she realised that they would never hit me because she was in the corporeal plane and I wasn’t, she casted Voidwalk and then casted Ice Shards, making Magnet nil. I dodged it and fired off a Phoenix Wave at her, but she disappeared with Voidwalk again, quickly appearing right under me with her palm opened. An Ice Javelin shot through my shoulder when I attempted dodging. At least it wasn’t fatal. I casted level two Divergence and it flung her away instantly then used Renew to heal my injury. Some of the pain still remained, but another cast of it left my shoulder feeling brand new.

She tumbled downwards into a gathering of drinking orcs. My Phoenix Wave’s second aim was gunning for her. I didn’t see exactly where she was when she fell, but the place lit up when Phoenix Wave hit down there. I jumped and casted Levitate to glide onto the roof of a nearby house. The orcs were incinerated, barely twitching as death took them, but Sek’hana was not there. Again, she appeared next to me with uncanny speed, and I tried dodging once more, but she didn’t immediately use a spell. Instead, she grabbed my entire body in a hug. It felt like my body began freezing from inside-out. I used both Discharge and Dispel. She was stunned but didn’t exactly let go. I had to wait a couple seconds for Dispel to take effect for me to be free of the freezing spell she used. The minute freedom of movement came back to me, I kept her in place with Arc Lightning then used Ice Javelin to pierce an artery in her arm. Patience was paramount here, but so was being able to keep her stunned with Arc Lightning and looking out for any attacks that may come from the Virai. I had to keep this up until the mind magic used on her receded.

It could be difficult, but Donna came out then and kept watch for me as I monitored the chieftain. After a minute or so of profusely bleeding out, she suddenly opened her eyes wide. “What…” she said, but her strength wasn’t even enough to properly speak. I immediately used Renew a few times. At this time, Donna was already making a mess of an oncoming horde of orcs, a matter as easy as breathing for her.

I summoned Gale and put Sek’hana atop the owl. They took off and I turned my eyes towards the stronghold. Donna kept off the horde, Hydra had my back and I worked up an Incinerate, reducing the building Sek’hana was held captive in to ashes. And almost as if I flaunted my mastery of elements, I casted Arctic Rage, a spell I never found a use for ever since learning it years ago. With Division’s freedom, most of the city was encapsulated in a blizzard much larger than Arctic Rage ever allowed before. The spell naturally made ice missiles that would seek out any living things except the caster and impale them, immediately freezing and shattering them. Should the missiles not get to a target, the unreal temperature would freeze all within its parameter within the minute. Donna slipped back into me and I flew off after Gale.

Gale slowed her speed to a crawl with assisting winds and I landed on her back. We returned to Aquan. “Good work, man.”

You too. It was like stepping on ants for you, huh?

“Yes, yes it was. Those orcs were, probably under a mind spell too.”

I returned to the Order with Sek’hana in tow. Neth and his men were already there. Elder and Anjali were of course, days, probably weeks behind. I should get them.

“Be careful.”