Sitting under the cobalt skies glittering with floating diamonds, August and I drowned in our pillars of creation. He focused solely on enchanting and I began alchemy, still practising transmutation through the conversion of random rocks to the needed herbs, and boy was that list of herbs long. I tried doing the ultimate magic potion, that super cool blue one that the witch once made for me. Spell potency, mana-cost reduction of spells, mana regeneration and increased range were its greatest attributes but there were other minor things as well that I won’t bore you with. Of course, attempting that potion resulted in a total failure. For now, mana regeneration and spell potency were what I focused on.

August reached about halfway through his enchanting skill so his progress was quite nice. His quint usage also hit ninety percent. That fast progression was thanks to him being adorned in enchanted accessories. Too bad he couldn’t enchant stuff that made any of the pillars easier.

“Really?” he inquired as I decided to now concentrate on Eden. “You have another woman? Dude…”

“It’s not official. In fact, I’m not even sure it’s happening.”

“So, what will you do? With the business thing I mean.”

“Eh,” I stooped down to think about a couple things concerning Eden, “well if Dawn and Anjali are fine with her then I guess I’d be too. Donna’s lie detector didn’t send any red flags so at least she’s sincere,” I then sighed, taking my mind off Eden to think about the situation. “I probably should’ve just rejected her. Just having Dawn is a big thing, but I got Anjali too.”

Donna slipped out of my mind right then, “And what, you don’t have me? Am I not a big thing?” she pouted.

“Of course not. I don’t love you no more!” I jested.

“You suck at lying, remember?” she hit me on the noggin. “Anyway, quit yappin’ and get to practisin’.”

And so, I did. Using Renew through Light Link made the bond stronger, but I found simply that transferring light magic–even though it did nothing–accelerated the progress of Light Link. I kept practising on August in the spirit world. After a few hours, we decided to head home, bidding farewell to the stoic Kor’zha.

We returned finally to Aquan and the moment of truth came the next day. Calla was to meet with Dawn and Donna. Anjali had long since returned to Endathal.

“Hey,” Calla called out to me before we left the inn where she lived. “Forget about this. Forget about, me.”

“Cold feet?” I asked.

She fidgeted a little, then sighed, pulling the band from her hand and letting it loose. “Maybe, but I don’t think so. I don’t know!” She grunted, “You already have three women. I can’t imagine sharing you with them, nor can I imagine fitting in with them. You guys live in a different world. I’m just,” she took a long pause, softly saying “a normal girl.” She took a seat nearby her dining table and looked down at her hands despondently.

I took a look out the window, then at her. “What is this, some sad romantic fairy tale? Don’t be childish.”

“I’ll sew that damn mouth for you, mage,” she threatened.

“I won’t be able to kiss back if you do that. You were the one that confessed her undying love to me, remember? You can’t take that back.”

“Yes, I can.”

“Well, yeah, you can. Anyway, let’s go meet these people you’re afraid of before you decide who’s not normal.”

She still hesitated a bit, but I took her hand and led her out anyway.

It was already late afternoon by the time we got there. Donna, Dawn, Pyro and someone else was at The Big Boar. A young woman with green shoulder-cut hair. She visited mom at the hospital if I remember correctly. Anyway, I introduced Calla to my two beautiful girlfriends and vice versa.

Pyro also introduced the girl. “…and guys, this is my frie–” she elbowed him, not at all subtle in her attack, “–girlfriend. This is my girlfriend, Valerie. And yes, she’s a mage.”

“Well, pleasure to meet you, Valerie. All the best in surviving Pyro,” I greeted her and she gave me quite the confused face.

“That’s his nickname,” Dawn clarified with a little titter.

Well, it didn’t take long for Calla to be charmed by the allures of Dawn. It took even less time for her to get along with Donna because the queen was basically just like me, but a bit more responsible.

An hour in, the alcohol was beating the shit out of my senses. I stared excessively at Valerie. There was this feeling of familiarity. I grew a little quiet while the company I was with grew louder. They gave me a little leverage to gaze at her without being noticed. Yes, she was damn gorgeous. But no, I didn’t think along those lines. I’m not that perverted, dear reader.

Oh! I get it now! You’re Gabri–

My thoughts were stopped by a sudden ripple of wind. I wasn’t sure where it came from. Wait, did I just say that out loud? Alcohol sure was dangerous. But now I knew for sure that she was Gabrielle, Donna’s daughter and Methelia’s princess disguised as a normal girl.

And as if that burst of wind wasn’t enough to shut me up, Donna sure did. “You’re really an idiot, huh? You stay here this long staring at her only to now figure out who she is? I should disown you as a student.”

Shut up! I mean c’mon, she was blonde before! Long hair and everything, now she’s–

Suddenly, I felt a cold searing pain slip through me, a few of them at that. But the numbing effects alcohol employed through my blood made it difficult to quickly pickup what had happened. In fact, Donna reacted much faster than I did. She suddenly stood up and began firing off some strange void spells I’d never seen her use or even talk about. In fact, every other person at the table reacted in some way. Dawn, Pyro and ‘Valerie’ – who’s really Gabrielle – quickly decamped the table, leaving my defence to the strongest mage in the group. Well, technically I was stronger, but an Apostle’s experience outweighed that raw magical power easily.

Dawn’s leviathan buffed and helped protect everyone, even me. Its orca-like form’s black half buffed me whilst its white half removed whatever had struck me before. If not for that leviathan, I’d still be sitting on the table with my head in an uncomfortably awkward position.

“This person, used Plasma Shards,” Donna spoke to my mind, unable to concentrate on me whilst battling whatever mage assaulted me so her flow of words was broken, “Use Renew, get that alcohol out of you!” she commanded, probably having a harder than usual time against that mage. I did as she said, casting Renew a few times rinsed my intoxication away, at least most of it.

Plasma, no wonder I couldn’t move. I pieced together the importance of what she said after putting on my Avatar buffs. My attention turned to our enemy now. This attacking mage wore a simple black robe with a cowl and a mask, completing hiding his or her identity. Joining the fray, a double-casting of Phoenix Wave introduced me and forced the enemy to relocate. In fact, he began running, using big leaps with the power of wind to escape. I thought about using Arcane Missiles but that would require me to be stationary even if the spell would follow him. Also, it would surely kill, and we needed the attacker alive to get information. Arc Lightning didn’t have any effect for some reason, and any other stronger lightning spell had a chance to kill. I settled for Convergence, accepting the fact it won’t actually stop him from casting counter spells so I kept Magnet on the ready. The void orb’s gravitational pull was absolute once placed well and it stopped the fleeing mage.

As he was dragged on the ground by Convergence, he cast Plasma Shards again, but Reflect sent it right back at him, impaling and stunning him. I used that opportunity to close distance before he could use Dispel, but the minute I got close enough to knock him unconscious, he just disappeared into smoke.

You jackass! I fumed. Why bother running if you could do that in the first place?!

I gave Donna a questioning glare. “What?” she shrugged. “I dunno who that was. It didn’t seem like an Apostle of the Crescent Moon if that’s what you’re asking.”

“So,” I squatted for a while to try retracing the things I might’ve done that would earn someone’s ire, “wonder what I did this time?” I thought out loud. Truly, that list was a long list with infinite possibilities. I let it go; no point in brainstorming who I pissed off. They probably numbered in the hundreds.

“Let’s regroup,” Donna stuck her hand out to me and I took it. This whole thing hit me pretty hard when I saw the others. Yeah, we survived ridiculous encounters like Inferno Desert, Ashfur, and Liana, but there was something about an actual human wanting to kill you that forced a different perspective onto you. Yeah, my friends and family were top tier mages, but how prepared we were to live whilst having to watch over our shoulders every waking minute? In fact, I didn’t even know if they wanted just my head, or the heads of my people as well. It’s dumb to think they’d only target me. With the notion that others might get caught up in whatever hatred my enemy wrought unto me, I had to make a choice.

Those were the thoughts running through my head whilst I purged the alcohol from everyone’s blood through Renew. They conversed about it, but I was unusually quiet. This was the first time that murder was totally justified in my mind. Donna flicked me on the forehead, “Don’t do anything reckless. Just keep training.”

With that, I escorted my friends home using my clones.

“What do you think I should do?” I asked when Donna and I got home. “Investigate and hunt th–”

“Relax, man,” Donna stopped that line of thinking. “Like I said, just focus on becoming stronger.”

I looked back at her after I closed the door and just sort of ogled. She really was a beauty to behold. Perhaps because I’d gotten so used to her always being with me that I never spent as much time admiring her as I did with Anjali and Dawn, especially the latter.

“What? Are you stunned by my dazzling gorgeousness?”

And just like that, the admiration stopped.

~

“Assassin?” August hammered down on the heated metal, “That’s some serious stuff. So,” the sweat dripped from his chin on the next strike, “you told the authorities?”

When he noticed I didn’t answer, he peered back at me and we both shared a bout of laughter. Don’t get us wrong, Aquan’s battlemages were by no mean slouches when it came to apprehending uncontrollable mages, but that only spoke true for rank three Veteran practitioners in the Order of Mages. One with the title of rank four Officer was usually much more of a risk and the battlemages and other Officers would have to jointly settle the matter. I on the other hand was past rank five councilman, past rank six, past spirit lords, and most recently, past Apostle level–at least in terms of raw magical output.

Assuming my enemy had any brain function, they would gather intelligence on how strong their opponent was before attempting to do anything. If they knew, that meant that the masked assailant was at least Apostle level, which made narrowing down the suspects a lot easier. I relayed those thoughts to August. “Apostle of the Crescent Moon, huh? I don’t know, man. I think the witch invested a bit in you,” he wiped his cheek of sweat and took a seat whilst a piece metal heated again, “plus I’m sure she blabbers to them ‘bout ya from time to time. Don’t think any of them has the guts to target ya.”

“That, would make sense if…”

“If?”

“…she wasn’t so neutral. Truly, I don’t think she’d care if I die. She’s immortal, man, and people die all the time.”

He defeatedly nod his head in agreement. We dropped the conversation afterward and instead began focusing on the pillars of creation once more. After a lot of struggling, I concocted a basic mana potion that increased mana regeneration. It was a hardly noticeable change. If my mana fully recovered in two minutes, probably twenty seconds got shaven off after consuming the potion.

Giving that a rest, I then went back to manipulating light magic, weaving it through several Light Links I created with random plants around August’s house. It seemed like the more I did it, the more I realised what made me progress wasn’t actually weaving the light through the plants, but instead meditating on the connection that Light Link provided.

After hours of meditation, I could see a faint current-like light flowing from me to the plant, but only for fleeting moments. This kept occurring until the bellows from my famished stomach brought me back to the present. I was surrounded in darkness. Geez, it’s already night.

After a quick meal from a bit of soil thanks to Earth Wall and a pinch of transmutation, I returned to cooking up some potions. Sad to say, there wasn’t much improvement. A yawn escaped me and I rubbed the back of my neck. Donna’s with Dawn, huh? I glided slowly through the quieting eastern district of Aquan. Its nightlife sure was restless. Entering a park in the more commercialised and artsy western district, I had a chance to think over my direction as a magic practitioner whilst the tranquillity pervaded the air.

“What’s on your mind?” a soft, enchanting voice shook me from my thoughts.

“Emily…” I said the witch’s name in a sort of relief. Ever since that masked mage attacked, I’d been a little edgy. “You know what’s on my mind already.”

She sat down next to me on the bench, her crescent birthmark in view thanks to the dim streetlights. “I don’t. And I won’t if you don’t tell me.”

“Don’t you have a spell for that?” I asked drudgingly.

She looked up at the starry skies above then at me with a childlike smile. Sometimes she’d appear like this cute little kid you’d want to protect, then other times she was like a god in human flesh, an otherworldly being of power incomprehensible to even the most brilliant minds. “Well,” she conjured a couple glasses of what seemed to be wine. After tasting, I could confirm that it indeed was. “Sure, I do. But there isn’t a single human thought that could surprise me anymore anyway. I tend not to bother doing it.”

“What’s your plan? Why bother helping me? I’ve been thinking about that attack and a lot of other things. I’m almost certain there are no other Apostles of the Crescent Moon who’s had their mana’s power increased.”

“So? What are you getting at?”

My fist clenched for a second. “Fuck! Stop playin’ coy, bitch! You think I didn’t figure out Elder’s journal?! You think I don’t know about Donna’s assassination?!” I rolled my eyes, “Come on! Tell me what the fuck’s goin’ down!”

“Oh,” she giggled, and summoned an entire keg of wine this time along with another glass because I broke the one I had in that fit of anger. She tapped where I was sitting before I stood up and yelled at her, “Looks like you have an idea of things. Sit down,” she offered the glass but instead I sat down without accepting her drink.

With folded arms, I looked right at her, “Well? Start explainin’ this shit then!”

She took a sip with such elegance I wondered if my choler ruffled her even a bit. “The information in the former leader of the Order of Mages’ journal was part truth, part lies. Yes, the Order’s councilmen were indeed involved in her murder, but that was under the veil of politics. Should it ever be found out she was killed, that would be the reason told to the masses–political agenda. But in reality,” she took another sip, “it was I who had her killed.”

“…” an ensuing moment of silence passed between us.

“Aren’t you going to ask why?”

I sighed, knowing she would explain it anyway, but to avoid the small talk I obliged. “Why did you kill her?”

“Because, that is my duty. She was trying very hard to uncover the secrets behind immortality. In truth, there is no such thing as immortality if it’s not directly granted by the great goddess of life. That is how I’m immortal. Donna wouldn’t have found immortality if she had kept going, she’d have found a great magic she couldn’t control, one that would mar her soul so heavily that it would most likely deny her the opportunity to enter this realm’s afterlife. Her search for immortality would’ve ended in something even worse than death – non-existence. That is why I had to stop her, but no matter how I tried to deter the little rascal, she never listened.”

“That can’t be why…” I gave her a no-nonsense look and she could only cackle in return.

“Maybe you’re getting to know me too well. You’re half-right. That wasn’t the only reason why. The other, more important reason, was to stop her from obtaining that self-destructive power. The power is like a symbiote. It gives you incredible magical fortitude. Strength in the same tier as mine. However, it devours your soul in the process. The more it devours your soul, the more it takes over you, and it’s hell-bent on destruction. If she would’ve obtained that power, most living creatures would die, upsetting the balance. My very purpose for existing in this realm is to maintain the grand balance. This is why I try recruiting those with an extremely strong will. I could influence them much easier with simple words if I’m their master, so that they wouldn’t stumble upon any such power that’s strong enough to tip the scales of the realm too much.”

I got up, paced about a bit, then stooped down in thought. “Your ultimate purpose is balance, so why the hell did your increase my mana’s power? You even gave me two pillars of creation. As far as my knowledge goes, your Apostles had no such treatment.”

She showed her whites in a beaming smile and teleported us to, a house? It was more like a mansion actually. Through the windows, the morning light shone bright. Why the hell is it morning? I thought to myself, wondering if this was the other side of the world or something. Lining the walls were shelves upon shelves of books. There were plush sofas here and there throughout, giving a library vibe. At the end of the hall-like room was a half-dome of beautifully decorated glass. It gave light to an elevated platform with a desk and high-back chair, something akin to a damn throne, really. The witch pulled me by the hand and only let go right before she set foot on the mini staircase to reach that elevated opened office-like place. I looked up.

The absolute strongest creature in our entire world not only bowed, but kneeled before a mere chair. My mind was in shambles.

“Rise,” a woman’s voice said. It managed to be the gentlest yet most commanding voice I’d ever heard. Frankly, it didn’t even seem real. Such a contradiction could not co-exist together, yet, here, it did.

Finally, the chair turned, and seated within it was a girl, probably no older than Gabrielle. But, calling her a ‘girl’ wasn’t the right thing to do. In fact, there was no word in my vocabulary that was great enough to describe what she was.

She and Emily had shared a few words, and they both eventually looked my way, then walked my way. Folks, I cannot explain this, but without even a moment’s notice, without even realising it, I was grovelling at her feet. Literally. Kneeling wouldn’t even do her justice. There was this profound respect and admiration that was otherworldly, something I couldn’t grasp. All my life’s experiences, values, morals, family, friends, bonds, and every single breath I took paled terribly in comparison to how important this single person was. Every cell in my body felt that truth through pure instinct alone. To be fair, if I died right then, I could say without a shred of doubt that I had the most fulfilling life that could ever be had amongst every single being to ever exist. At least that’s how it felt. I couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like for Emily. To simply see this woman was a blessing greater than life. But to be in her presence, to have her look upon you, to set foot into the same room she had graced, was so enlightening despite not having gained a speck of knowledge about anything.

Seconds later, footsteps encroached from behind the girl and a man with wild hair looked at me. That indescribable feeling happened all over again until my brain could no longer take it and I passed out.