“Eggs?” I asked the housekeeper if she wanted any, then poured some from a platter into her plate without waiting for her to answer. By the time I’d awoken, Anjali was long gone. Steyza apparently was coaxed into going somewhere with Bianca, but Aaralyn was still sleeping from a long night of performing.

“T-thanks,” the housekeeper muttered, and continued eating. Donna came out eventually, stole a couple strips of bacon and returned in my mind.

“You’ve had some, intriguing thoughts last night, huh?”

Ugh, are we really going to have this talk?

“Of course, we are. I don’t want you to think I was happy about causing you all that turmoil.”

I exhaled. I know you didn’t. It wasn’t something you or I could avoid anyway so I’m not blaming you for it.

“You can, though. I did look for immortality after all. Because of my thirst for knowledge I did up causing you a lot of pain.”

But you taught me some pretty cool spells, so we’re even. Stop worrying about it. If you’re really sorry, give me a clone, eh?

She came out once again, “Why have the clone,” she seductively pulled her dress up, revealing a leg, “when you can have me?”

The housekeeper swallowed her juice in surprise and nearly choked. “Uh, excuse me,” she got up and left.

“You scared her away,” I said, casually feeding my queen some scrambled egg. “Have you seen Gabrielle yet?” I changed the topic before she could justify her previous lascivious attempts.

“Oh, I haven’t yet!” she gasped and got off my lap. “I’ll head over now. Wanna come?”

“Nah, I want to spend the day in serious training. Just make a clone before you disappear.” At my request, she left me with a clone.

After breakfast, I returned to the tranquillity of my study with her clone. Aerellis hasn’t returned my clone yet. I wondered if her sexual appetite was insatiable or if my clone enjoyed himself so much, he forgot to bring her back to train me.

Only the most comfy and softest chair would do for me to meditate on my training. Donna’s clone snuggled close and plastered her legs over mine. Luckily, it didn’t make me uncomfortable. I began mind manipulation again, shining a light on all the dark corners of her mind. Unlike exploring my own, I couldn’t see her memories, or any other beings’ memories for that matter.

The general shape remained the same as mine; it made me wonder if all humans’ minds were somewhat similar. Humans do have marginally different levels of sentience, so perhaps Donna’s similarity to mine shouldn’t have been a surprise. Still though, I progressed with understanding mind magic. And perhaps, it was my very careful inclination not to harm her – despite just being a clone – in any way, and also her love for me that sparked the creation of a brand-new spell.

Very simply, it caused the target to like you. It could go from simple admiration to deeply respecting, to idolisation, infatuation, being enamoured and even blindly falling in love. Enthral, I thought to call it after getting a grasp of its general effects. Sadly, Donna was a poor test subject, as she’d already been obsessed with me. It had to be someone who was somewhat neutral with me.

I told the clone to let Donna know she could be dismissed, then Riftwalked to Aquan. Whilst there, I visited Shyla and Dawn’s graves, placing flowers down. This would probably make you mad, I talked to Dawn in my head, but bear with it, alright?

Alas, I was in my hometown. It felt so nostalgic, yet somehow smaller. Ambling in the streets, I noticed a young woman cleaning an outdoor table at The Big Boar. Perfect. I mentally apologised to the stranger before beginning. Once Enthral hit her, she stopped her arm’s rotations and had a questioning look on her face, but quickly returned to wiping another table.

I slicked my hair back to neaten it, pressed my eyebrows down with a bit of saliva and made my way toward her like the chick-magnet I was – or at least pretended to be. On my way there, I realised it would be stupid to put my best foot forward. Instead, to truly test the limits of the spell, my worst foot had to be put forward.

“Hey,” I said roughly, “this damned place open yet? The hell you guys doin’?!”

She looked up at me, and it looked like her mind totally emptied itself. She was bent over, the damp rag in her hand at a standstill. It’s disinfecting scent swarming around my nose was pleasing, but I had to remember to put up an annoying face. “Well? You dumb or somethin’? Speak if you can hear me.”

Suddenly, I noticed a shadow from the inside of the establishment drawing closer. I quickly made a clone that appeared behind the young woman I was talking to. He skipped off towards the approaching person to explain what I was doing and ensure they didn’t spoil it.

Finally, the woman stood upright, one hand clutching the other hopelessly, squeezing so tightly on the cloth that water ran down from it and onto her apron. “I-I-I’m humbly apologise, sir! I mean I’m humbly sorry!” she tripped over her words. “If you don’t mind, you can have a seat inside. Maybe I can convince them to open a bit earlier?” Her voice went quiet, “I-if you don’t mind, that is…” and she kept averting her eyes from me, but was still incapable of resisting the urge to glance at me.

“Hey! Look at me!” I commanded, almost feeling sorry for her at this point. She forced herself to look me in the eyes, but would still occasionally look down at my chest and as if suddenly remembering what I told her, she’d return her attention to my eyes. I inspected her. “Hmm…” I invaded her personal space, but didn’t touch her, “you don’t look half bad. You got a boyfriend?”

She closed her eyes at the question, and shyly, yet vigorously shook her head. “D-do you…” she muttered.

“Hey! Didn’t I just tell you to look at me when we’re speaking? And speak clearly!”

She dropped her cleaning cloth, “Do you, have a, you know… a girlfriend.”

I have three, but let’s not say that. “I’ll tell you if you get me a pint.”

“I-I’ll see what I can do. Um,” she brushed her hair behind an ear, “what’s your name?”

I decided to stop it right there and dismissed the Enthral spell; it worked as intended so there was no need to test any further on that subject. She looked at me weirdly, probably wondering why on earth we were so close to each other. After a couple steps back, she asked me what I wanted in a manner that made me feel like a pervert creeping in someone’s backyard trying to see them naked.

“You, don’t remember anything?”

“Remember what? Who are you?” She put a finger to her chin, “Come to think of it, wasn’t I just wiping the tables? How the hell did I get over here? You a mage ain’t ya?” She surmised from my robes, “Did you do some shit?”

“Sorry, it was mind magic to make people like the caster but it wouldn’t work if the person was expecting it.”

The owner of The Big Boar, somewhat of a big boar himself, came out soon after. “You’re kind of an idiot, aren’t you, Lilly?” he dissed her and she turned around in anger. “Stop being so damn violent and take a second look at who you’re talking to! Sheesh!” The man returned inside.

She gave me another look like the man suggested, “Who the hell are you supposed to be then?”

“Um,” I chuckled a little, “well that would just give me away, wouldn’t it?”

She grunted, “You do seem a bit familiar…”

Hmm, she probably knows me from my days at the Order. I changed my current black robe into the silver one that mages in the Order don. “Better?”

After a couple seconds of staring, her eyes widened in wonderment. “You’re Eric Archibald! You’re one of the heroes who saved Methelia!” Her hands clasped her mouth and she almost couldn’t believe it. To be honest, I wasn’t aware there were people who looked at me like that, but I guess that’s about right after getting statues erected in front of the capital.

“So,” she kind of fiddled with her thumbs. Maybe another type of Enthral was cast on her a long time ago. “Can you, put in a word for me?”

“Hmm? For what?”

“You know! To join the Order of Mages. They’re up to their neck in members, so they made the entry level higher!” Her face contorted. “I’m, not really that good at magic. I just wanted to learn some basic spells.”

“Pfft,” I laughed, and she really didn’t appreciate that. “Basic spells you say? You can get those anywhere, right? You must have another reason for joining the Order.”

Turned out, she did. Once the owner gave her the okay to leave work for a few minutes, I flew her over to her home to see her sick little brother. This boy was the reason she wanted to join the Order. Even after she put up requests at the Order, any mages who attempted to heal the boy couldn’t do it. It made water-based healing spells null. He was extremely frail when I saw him, and Life Perception showed his life essence quite weakened. A simple Renew fixed that. A health potion would then see him through his body’s quest for recovery. “Well, that’s that.”

“Huh?” she questioned me. “Are you, finished?”

“Hmm? Yeah. He’ll be back to new once his muscles properly rebuild. Probably won’t take more than a day or two. Just make sure he rests and let the potion do its work.” With that, I dropped her back off to her job and she couldn’t stop thanking me. I bade her farewell and teleported back to Grove of the Ancient.

I kid you not, I heard moans the moment I used Riftwalk. The place was full of the scent sex carries. I made a little wooden chair and sat down, watching the two from afar. I’m pretty sure Aerellis knows I’m here, but she didn’t stop at all. “Where’s my training, huh?” I spoke aloud.

The dryad looked up, but still didn’t stop. “It’s, happening, right now!”

The hell is she… A scary thought ran through my mind at that point, so I Levitated over to see if it was true. Hydra’s majestic ass, she wasn’t kiddin’! My clone looked like he was in another dimension as she rode him. So that’s how I look in Phantasm? Suddenly, he took in a large breath of air and snapped out of it.

I smiled, because I realised now that instead of ditching me, she just chose to teach my clone instead. But at the same time, I cried internally, because I knew the training was interlocked with the sex they had, so all those memories would return to me as if they were my own. I was going to cheat on my wife and had no way to avoid it. On the bright side, whenever they finished drowning in ecstasy, I would be able to break free of Hethekk the Scryer’s Phantasm and be free to try finding a way to tackle the situation of the maddened mages.

I returned home to my room. Steyza walked in the bedroom with nothing but a towel on. Maybe it was watching all that action between my clone and Aerellis, but Steyza looked especially sexy. “I don’t like that look,” she said, but that didn’t save her.

Lying with her in bed, I found myself thinking of her homeland. More accurately, I wondered what it was like to venture into the other great lands besides the elven country, Tyrr. “You know, I’m kind of glad I came here with you. The people here are really nice,” Steyza commented.

“There’s a ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?” I predicted.

She sighed, “Yeah. I just want to know what would happen to my father, seeing that he’s a werewolf.”

Admittedly, I was curious about that as well. “Fenral Rilas, huh?” I thought out loud. “Now that the werewolves are known as hostile and violent, I’m a bit worried about if he’d continue getting treatment at the Morrhiggans.”

That set off something in her. “He’s not a violent man! I’ll find a way to remove that hound blood from him…” she defended her father, despite the fact that he killed her mother. She sat up, kind of irritated about my comment about the werewolves’ violent side. I tittered. What a good daughter you have, Mr Rilas.

“Tell you what, I can send you back to Tyrr, but I’ll be a few weeks maybe before I return to Jynnak to continue my adventures.”

She readily agreed and gathered her stuff. It was kind of saddening, but I was happy that she chose to tell me what she wanted. I did feel a little bad about just having her live with me in a world far from her own. Well, I could teleport now, so it’s no big deal. I can see her anytime I want. Once we returned to her house near the Rizt school, I loaded her place with thousands of mana potions. She would be far above the need, or even desire, for synthesised mana crystals. And if she ever needed coin, she could just sell a potion or two at an exorbitant price.

Upon returning, all the memories of my clone’s busy time with Aerellis were pushed to my mind, along with the familiarity of Phantasm’s effects. Goosebumps enveloped me and a chill warped around me. Aerellis, you’re a really bad dryad.

Finally, I was prepared for confronting Hethekk. Just to be sure that he couldn’t mess with me, I roped August into it as well. I was talented, yes, but it was pretty damn hard to beat magic resistance over ninety percent. I geared him up we teleported to the outskirts of Inferno Desert.

“So, there’s something out here that messed up Pyro? He’s pretty damn strong though,” August donned the iridescent longsword from his time in Ulanos and a rather normal set of steel-plated armour. The only thing differentiating him from knights was his lack of helmet.

“Yep. Volt wanted to keep it hush-hush, so y’know, don’t tell anyone. You ready, buddy?”

He put his fist out, “Damn right I am.” After we bumped fists, he led me into the desert. I stayed in Voidwalk and flew close behind him. Not long into our highspeed flight, we encountered a sandstorm. It was filled with mana.

I cast a Renew on him through Light Link – his cue to stop, and so he did. We landed on the dunes of Inferno Desert. The overbearing sun couldn’t even scratch us in the midst of the swirling sands. In fact, the damnable sand was getting in places it shouldn’t, so I activated Earth God and Wind God, effectively cancelling the sandstorm. Although, that meant I had to come out of Voidwalk.

Even as the place brightened up and the sun beat onto us, a strange whistling sound still swept into our ears. A wispy voice, without any real direction sounded, “Leave!” It spoke, drawn-out, “Leave this place!”

“Nah! Don’t wanna!” August yelled out. “Are you Hethekk? Show yourself!”

Geez, took the words right out my mouth. With my Avatar buffs on and Timedial nearby, I simply exercised patience.

“You,” the creature’s deathly slow and whispery voice called, “cannot comprehend! Leave!”

I rubbed my neck, thinking what a pain this was. “Hey, asshole, you cast Phantasm on some people recently. I’d like for you to undo its effects and return them to normal. Else we’re going to have a problem.”

A bump formed in the sand a bit off. Something was tunnelling its way to us, almost like a snake. But its approach wasn’t one meant to surprise you. It stopped about a couple metres in front of us and the sand kept rising, until it eventually began falling over the creature to reveal its face.

The hissing sound it made and the forked tongue painted a rather strange picture in my mind. It stood upright, the elongated reptilian partly hidden by a huge and beaten cowl. The cloak that accompanied it was a bit holey as well, as it spanned down to base of the monster’s tail. Once it fully emerged, it towered over three metres tall, but that was only on its stompy hind legs and with a rather badly hunched back. Its claws were long, and fingers bumpy. The seaweed-coloured reptile hissed once more, bringing our attention to its face and forlorn eyes. “Then, bear witness!” It whispered contradictorily loud and raised forth its scaled hand.

The sand beneath us suddenly began falling and we in turn, fell. But… I thought, wondering why I didn’t feel Phantasm creep onto me. Dispel was cast at least five times in a row, but nothing returned to normal. August and I hovered whilst the sands caved in upon itself, revealing an underground path.

The minute we took our eyes off Hethekk, he disappeared. What he used was plain old draconic magic, the earth element. He did or said nothing that particularly painted him as a master of mind magic. Although, he did have quite the creepy and unsettling vibe about him. Life Perception didn’t show any signs of him either, so the only other lead we had was to see with our own eyes what was down in those tunnels; we had to ‘bear witness’ to something.