The stillness and tranquillity of early morning was but a false alarm to sedate the alertness of our group. Just a few minutes after we set out, magical beasts began attacking us. Gregor, the deputy captain, thought me to be a non-combatant, and had a few knights surround me and Adrasteia for protection.

Well, that certainly didn’t work out like he intended. A magical beast that had a spiked tongue which would propel like a chameleon’s struck two men in one attack. One of them got impaled in the shoulder and the other was quickly departed from the land of the living after his body’s dying nerves fought their last battle against the gaping hole through his skull and brain.

As other soldiers were about to attack the reptile, a sweeping sound came all too late, a giant eagle swooped down and grabbed one man. His plate didn’t help against its bone-crushing beak.

Adrasteia had just about enough and riddled the lizard’s body with Ice Shards then used wind manipulation to ground the great predatory bird. The minute it landed, a heavy slab of stone smashed down and ended the bird’s hollow bones.

Mana Perception showed dozens of other magical beasts lying in wait, so Adrasteia and I battled through as much as possible. My firepower was but a fraction of what it was because I restrained myself to using arcane magic, but with Adrasteia’s backup, it made things rather easy for me to use simpler spells for defence and subjugation instead of the more difficult spells that would ensure a kill. With the power of arcane, I dipped in draconic, void, mind, and space magic. Sure, an arcane Fireball would be weaker than its pure fire counterpart, but this method gave a lot of experience in arcane magic.

There were minimal deaths once I used Light Link on the soldiers around me; that way, I could send a quick Renew their way and follow up with Convalesce if Renew wasn’t enough. We spent a few days purging the nearby areas of Hyallen of magical beasts, and I wasted nothing. Most creatures’ cells were copied and merged with nature magic – yes, I had to cheat for that one. And I also stole their mana with Scien’s staff afterward.

At night, we would camp and set our course for the next day. After we ate, Adrasteia gave me a weird look. “You’re, not as bad as I thought.”

“Hmm?” I raised my brows. “Really hated my guts, huh? Well, the feeling was mutual.”

“I know. But you couldn’t expect me to be buddy-buddy with you knowing that you are basically the next Emily Crescent,” she sighed, as if still in question of her decisions.

I held my head’s weight on my knuckles and peered at her with deadpan eyes, “Hmm, I don’t know how powerful you are exactly, but I bet my hot ass that you wouldn’t be able to scratch Emily.”

“Are you sure about that?” she smirked. “My father wiped the floor with her in their battle, and even at his peak, he isn’t stronger than me. There was no such thing as soul magic in that realm after all.”

That perked my ears up. I wasn’t particularly interested about the lore between her father and Emily, but I was intrigued by how she learnt soul magic without nature and mind magic. So, I asked her how she came to learn it and she referred to the book Donna began writing.

She grew agitated, “Soul magic has several secrets. That Fatima woman was right in that it uses your soul as a resource instead of mana. It makes everything you cast with soul energy really strong, but she didn’t tell you the best benefit.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” I leaned closer to hear.

She put her index by her lips, “That’s a secret. If you found out,” she shrugged smugly, “you’d abandon your arcane training.” She rubbed her elbow concernedly, “It’s really dangerous.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She smiled, “Who knows? I’m goin’ to bed. Goodnight.”

I sighed and stared at the crackling campfire, contemplating nothing in particular. Dangerous, huh?

Gregor was busy taking notes and making observations for the entire journey. Finally, we returned to Hyallen the following day and found the town in an interesting state. There seemed to be a small skirmish going on, and the aftermath of that would be an encirclement of knights protecting Captain Harris from the mob of angered beastkin.

Looking about the place, there were dead magical beasts, about a dozen dead beastmen and some dead soldiers. So, the beasts got in somehow? I pondered why my clone did nothing, but it’s not like I told him to protect Hyallen; he was to protect Fatima. But still, knowing me, my clone would surely do something about it to prevent people from dying. Which means–

“I told him to do nothing,” Donna revealed.

I reeled. Making changes to a world like Et Draco to lessen the discriminatory practices was one thing, but Rhilstorm was so huge. Even if we were powerful mages, it would be a task we wouldn’t have the time for. Why? I asked, spectating the show that was going on.

“Well, you know, beastkin are good labourers and tradesmen, and most of the old Virai land is still unused.”

I palmed my face. I wasn’t exactly royalty, so I trusted that she knew what she was doing when it came to Methelia’s affairs on immigration, but to do this now was… This was just supposed to be an investigation. Pyro won’t be happy if you escalate further.

Donna chuckled. “Honey, that went out the window the moment you decided to help Hyallen. Besides, if we don’t seriously do something, the beastkin will be killed by the magical beasts. Eric,” she said worriedly, “the situation is a lot worse than you think.”

If you care about the beastkin, why did you let the magical beasts rampage inside Hyallen?

“Oh, my sweet dumbass, Eric. Those beastkin weren’t killed by magical beasts.”

Oh…

As we were talking, deputy captain Gregor and his men quickly came to the defence of Captain Harris. He helped bolster the ranks of human knights and soldiers, and naturally dispirited the beastkin from pushing for rebellion.

“This is how I chose to do things because it opens up two paths. Just like the half-breeds of Et Draco, they could rebel for themselves and claim their own place in Rhilstorm. Or, we could open our borders to them as another option.”

Yeah but, Methelia is Methelia. Will they fit? How long will convincing them take?

“Worry not, not all of them will opt to leave Rhilstorm. We’re merely providing an option to those who can’t stand this world anymore. Anyway, that really is of no concern to us at this moment.”

Indeed, it was of no concern. But our reasons for this way of thinking differed. Donna suspected heavily that the mysteries of Old Castle was what caused the magical beasts to become so aggressive, so despite how she felt about doing something for beastkin people, she prioritised Old Castle’s investigation as she thought fixing that problem would solve the magical beast issue. That way, we’d have time to think about what to do in regards to beastkin discrimination.

My concern was Dawn and the little one inside her. Well, that wasn’t an actual concern, as bad as it might sound; there was nothing I could do that my clone couldn’t, except cast Clone. I wanted to expedite the adventure in Rhilstorm and I’m sure Pyro was of the same mind.

Later that day, when the sun said its goodbyes, we sat down in a room with Captain Harris and his deputy, Gregor. Gregor was definitely the more prudent type, as would be denoted by his age. Harris, the younger of the two, was a tad more impetuous and tons more passionate. The two sat down with us because we basically saved Hyallen from the immediate threat of magical beasts, and so, I wanted to cash-in on the three favours I was promised.

At first, it would be the two knights, Pyro, and I who conversed, but Ebbo suddenly wanted to join the conversation. I figured it was Donna’s doing. Gregor was a bit standoffish around Ebbo, and Harris occasionally glanced at him.

“I want an audience with the king,” I told them, “or whoever has the power to grant us permission to enter Old Castle.”

“As was said before,” Gregor stopped, “the most we can do is pass this request on to our commander. And even he cannot simply tell the King Borakh to grant you an audience, but the king would be more willing to see you if the request comes from the Knight Corps Commander. I will prepare a letter for you.”

“I see.”

“I’d advise you to continue helping other places as you travel to King Borakh. He’d be more inclined to hear someone who’s helped his kingdom. Now,” Gregor interlaced his fingers, “what is an exiled knight doing in our presence?” Even though he watched me when he asked, I could feel like his malintent glared daggers at Ebbo.

“He helped us on our journey, and he wished to speak to both of you,” I gestured for Ebbo to take the floor.

Ebbo cleared his throat, “Congratulations to you both on your promotions. Now, let me get straight to the point. I came here to declare war upon the Knight Corps, and by extension, King Borakh.”

My eyes opened wide and I looked at him. I wasn’t expecting such direct and confrontational words to drop bombs on the conversation. Donna suddenly came out and weaved light magic to calm the anger welling up within Harris and Gregor, “Let’s keep this diplomatic; we don’t know why he said something like this in the first place.”

“We know,” Captain Harris looked at Ebbo in disgust, yet pity, “he has abandoned his humanity and chosen to side with those filthy animals. And now he even wishes to wage a civil war for them. But such grandiose dreams are nothing but that – dreams. He will be executed, just like his family.”

Whoa! Wow! Okay, wasn’t expecting that.

I could tell Donna wanted to input more into the conversation, particularly about her plans to have beastkin immigrate to Methelia, but she held her tongue for some reason.

“I wish not to partake in such matters,” Pyro intervened and then I understood why Donna stayed quiet, at least for the moment. “We’re only here to ensure Old Castle isn’t responsible for the appearance of titans in our world. Captain Harris, deputy captain Gregor, please have the letter ready as soon as possible.”

There was a bit of bickering between the knights and Ebbo, but nothing too important, just old hatreds rekindling themselves.

Later that night, Pyro left the inn and went elsewhere in Hyallen. He stayed there for perhaps an hour, and I became curious so I Voidported next to him. His head hung down and a glass of rusted liquid danced over his head as he loosely held it. The bottle next to him was nearly empty. He brought the glass down with a wobbly hand and stared down into it; his thoughts sank to the bottom of the numbing liquid.

“Another bottle please,” I asked the bartender and Pyro finally took notice of me.

He seemed a bit flustered at first, but he quickly came to realise that there was no hiding that something was wrong. He ran his fingers through his hair as if to gain something of a speck of soberness as he leaned back and caressed the cold glass. “Here to judge me, Sir Archibald?”

My drink arrived, along with a glass filled with ice. “Well, I could, but that won’t make me stronger or anything. I wanted to respect your privacy and give you space, so I didn’t bother to ask you anything. And, I’m not going to. But if you want to talk, then,” I grabbed the bottle and poured another for him, then for me, “let this help.”

“Thanks, man.” He stirred the liquid around a bit. We both sat there in silence for a couple minutes and let our minds wander. “I don’t want you to worry. I’ve long since gotten past of worst of it. I’m at the acceptance stage, you know?”

“Sorry for not being there,” I apologised.

He laughed and shook his head, “Eh, no one would be able to do anything about it anyway. I had to heal myself. Even if I look like shit now, I’m a lot happier than I was before. It doesn’t feel like drowning in my sorrows anymore; now it just feels like remembering the good times and leaving it like that.” Another chuckle came out, “It’s funny, that when I was depressed, I was able to fake happiness so well that no one suspected a thing. Now that I’ve actually started becoming happier, people start worrying. Life is funny.”

“Hmm,” I took a sip and admired the array of alcohols on display behind the bar, “would you say you’re totally healed?”

He took quite a while to answer. Perhaps he mulled over the question to find an answer, or perhaps he already knew the answer and wondered how best to word it. “Nah. And to be honest, I wouldn’t want to be fully healed. I think that’s nothing but ignorant bliss. I want to acknowledge all my scars and overcome them, but I never want to forget them. Mind removing this intoxication? I feel like telling you this is a step I shouldn’t have skipped.”

“Oh? Sure, man.” So, I used Convalesce to totally cleanse his body of the barman’s weapon.

“Damn,” he cursed, “this stuff is a lot harder to say while sober. Anyway, some months ago, Gabrielle cheated on me, and that hit me pretty hard. I know it’s not a big issue compared to the scale of your problems, but it still fucking hurt. Well,” he leaned his glass and stared into it, “the reason I wanted to tell you this is because I blamed you for it in my lowest moments.”

“Really? How come?”

“Guy she cheated on me with was an elf. You brought the elves to Methelia,” he shrugged. “Even though I knew it was dumb to blame you, I still did. I apologise.”

“I see. Well, I forgive you? I do feel a bit guilty about that though, so I’m sorry as well.” I rubbed my chin, “This really is quite a shock. What of them now?”

“She and the guy? Well, I don’t know, but I dumped her ass immediately. She still roams about the Order and tries to talk to me. I’m afraid I’m still not over it enough to give her the time of day,” he admitted. “I definitely can’t trust her again, but at least I’ve mostly forgiven her. Hate is exhaustin’, man.”

“Yeah. Hmm, I guess this explains why Donna refused to tell me what happened.”

“Speaking of Donna,” he suddenly became inquisitive, “are you two planning to do anything about the situation in this world? Her reaction in that meeting was weird so I’d like to know if I should align myself differently.”

“Damn, you’re sharp. Well, we’ll discuss it with her since it was her idea. For now, we have a bottle to finish,” I grinned.

We returned home and promptly went to bed after the bar manager closed up shop. We were awoken ungodly early by a loud bang. After I detoxified Pyro and myself, I realised that an entire squad of knights kicked open the door to the room we slept in.

Ebbo already had his blade clutched in his hands, ready for the Knight Corps’ Captain Harris to even mutter the order to apprehend him.

“Ebbo Andran,” Harris started, “you are guilty of murdering soldiers, knights, tax collectors, and many other officials. We have an order for your arrest; you will pay for your crimes. This entire inn is surrounded by knights. Do yourself a favour – drop the sword and surrender yourself.”

“Donna,” Pyro’s hands lit afire, “now we be a good time to tell me what you plan to do.”

I was about to get into the mix, but since Pyro was willing, I sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the show.

Donna sat up properly, “Harris, Gregor, my name is Donna Maxwell. I am the queen of Methelia, the world we come from. What we plan to discuss with King Borakh includes the issue on beastkin, so I would like to ask for you to stay your hand in regards to Ebbo, as it seems beastkins are partly why he was exiled and did the things he did. If our talks with the king goes in our favour, then you will not be in a position to arrest Ebbo. Can you wait?”

Harris shook his head, “No. He is a criminal, and a criminal must face justice.”

“I see,” Donna sighed wearily because she knew what would happen now. “Ebbo, in terms of military strength, how strong is the Knight Corps and army of Rhilstorm?”

He took a while, never taking his eyes of Harris or Gregor, “It’s hard to quantify, but if half the beastkin population take up arms, even if they’re untrained, they will be able to defeat the Knight Corps and the army. They will win in every facet except strategy and formation. Why do you ask?”

“Just want to know if what we’re thinkin’ is practical,” Pyro explained and blasted a hole through the wall, then used Convergence to pull the knights out the room and into the streets.

Adrasteia had a look of confusion on her face. Fatima though, was a bit more composed. And I, well I just wanted to continue sleeping, but it seemed that was out the window now, just like Gregor and Harris. “Welp, looks like we’re doin’ this.” I cast Barrier to protect the room until everyone was properly dressed.

Donna returned to my mind and Fatima hopped on Skyer with me. Adrasteia grabbed Ebbo and we flew away from Hyallen for now. I left a clone back to use Scour so I’d know the locations of Old Castle and the new castle.

Once we got that information, we ended up stopping somewhere in the woods so Ebbo could send word to his colleagues in Durhan to put some sort of contingency plan into action. It seemed he foresaw that this day would come. “Ebbo,” I got the man’s attention after he sent my clone on his way with the letter, “I don’t want to force you to tell me what happened, but I at least want to know what side we’re on. Please understand, there is a big difference in power when it comes to mages from our world and knights from this world; we don’t want to do things we can’t reverse.”

He nodded in agreeance, “If answering some questions means securing your help, then I’ve no qualms. Ask them.”

“What happened while you were in the Knight Corps that started all of this?” Donna questioned. I’d imagine she cast Mana Perception, so I did the same.

“I fell in love with a beastkin girl. Beastkin aren’t allowed to be knights, and knights aren’t allowed to have intimate relationships with beastkin. It was never like that, but ever since the political reforms, dumb rules like that began to show up everywhere, prohibiting beastkin from many things. Anyway,” he sighed, “I fell in love with her, and promised to protect her. It was never my intention to go public with it, but a jealous fella from her town followed her, found out, and ratted me out to my higherups. They investigated, found the allegations to be true, then revoked my status as a knight.”

His fists clenched as he spoke, “They imprisoned me for months and waited until she gave birth, then they executed my woman and my son right in front of me. I was to be executed as well, but a group of beastkin from her village infiltrated the prison and rescued me. Since then, I swore to make beastkin life better in any way I could, and the only thing I knew how to do was kill; I had no other skills. So, I protected her hometown, Durhan, from knights and officials sent by bigger cities.” He breathed, “That’s the gist of it.”

We learnt he had no family, so his late son and lover were the only family he had. That must’ve been a crushing blow to him.

“Well, at least we don’t have to parley with King Borakh now,” I tried to look on the bright side. “If they insisted on bypassing diplomatic solutions, then we shall do the same. Let’s go to Old Castle.”