“How many of you have stealth abilities?” Reylor asked.

Khes and Aileen raised their hands.

“Alright. Elany and Flint, stick close to me so I can easily cloak you guys. This time, we’ll be the ones attacking.”

Flint cracked his knuckles. “Alright! It’s about time we did something fun.”

The mood was contagious. They had been at the school for four years already, and this was their first unsupervised mission. Also, they were about to engage live opponents, rather than just sparring with other students. This was their first real fight since attending Votran.

“Void sight.” This was a skill that allowed a practitioner to have a bird’s-eye view of any place within 100 miles of the caster’s position. Seeing that the retreating mages had stopped he took a look at the area where they ended up. Sure enough, there was a camp. A casual onlooker would never have been able to identify it, but since Reylor knew this was a likely spot, he observed carefully and was thus able to make out a few irregularities in that part of the forest.

I’ve found the camp. When we get close, we’ll have Khes do some internal recon to insure these really are our targets. After that Elany will cast a light spell to distract our opponents, giving us an extra moment to begin our attack. Other than that, we will stick with the default plan and formation. Let’s go!”

The group used their stealth abilities and proceeded in the direction of the camp. When they arrived close by, Reylor had Khes send a scout into the camp. Being a Lich, he could directly see and hear what his reanimated creatures witnessed. His face turned a bit grim.

“Yeah, it’s them, if the pile of bodies in their fire pit has any meaning.” Elany and Aileen both took on dark expressions.

“Alright, good job Khes. Let’s get a bit closer.”

They carefully moved closer. Despite using stealth abilities, it was nearly impossible to become completely invisible, so they still moved with caution. As they did so, the camp revealed itself. There was a large fire pit off to the side, revealing the cruel fate of several recent travelers. There were a few people in watchtowers and a few groups of people in the camp, some engaging in various tasks, and others conversing. One thing was the same, though. They were all outfitted in their battle equipment, prepared to be ready at a moment’s notice.

After making sure everyone was ready, Reylor motioned to Elany.

“Brilliant lights, Star Fall explosion!”

“Bang” A white sphere materialized directly above the camp, releasing a blinding glow. Meanwhile, Reylor, Flint, and Khes rushed in. As they did so, Reylor’s eyes narrowed as his senses were assaulted by the thick, negative karmic auras.

“These are monsters, show no mercy.” Reylor said under his breath.

The brilliant glow lasted for just a moment, but that was enough for Khes, Reylor, and Flint to destroy five of the murderers.

A yell rang out “We are under attack!”

“Void Matrix!” Reylor called out. He then proceeded to get rid of the tower sentries.

Though holding a longsword, Khes moved nimbly, reaping the weaker members like a god of death. Flint distracted the stronger members, allowing Khes to do his job.

“Die!” a berserker yelled out, as he swung his great sword down on Flint. Flint slightly curled his lips upward. “Terran Wall!” A wall of earth exploded up from the ground. The berserker’s sword sliced into it. “Condense!” The wall shrank and turned into stone, trapping the berserker’s sword in place. Flint flipped around the wall and planted his fist into the man’s back, just behind the heart. The life drained from the berserker’s eyes as he slumped to the ground.

Suddenly, all the enemies retreated, at which point Reylor’s squad heard the last three words: “Rain of Embers!”

“Aileen!” Reylor shouted, as he dove into her dome barrier. Understanding the situation, she created a rectangular barrier over Flint and Khes, allowing them time to retreat to her dome barrier. Just as they made it in, her barrier crumbled under a rain of condensed fire magic. In contrast to that barrier, the dome barrier surrounding her was far stronger, and it easily withstood the area attack. The remaining enemies flooded back in, signaling the end of the fire attack. Khes and Flint resumed their previous tactics, while Reylor went straight for the mage that had unleashed that attack.

“Clang” His sword met the blade of another person, blocking his path to the mage. A surge of light energy passed from the swordsman’s blade into Reylor’s. Reylor smirked as he watched the swordsman’s face pale. A torrent of void energy pushed all the light energy back. The man tried to pull his sword away, but it was too late. He was blasted into a tree, stunning him for a moment—which was far more time than Reylor needed in order to send him to the spatial hall.

(AN: Remember that the spatial hall is where souls go to after a person has died)

And without the swordsman, the mage’s fate was sealed, as well.

The battle ended in just a few short while.

“Help!” A muffled cry was heard.

“Hmm? Did you guys hear that?” Aileen asked.

I think it’s coming from that tent!” Elany quickly said. Flint and Khes went to investigate.

“Reylor, there are some Votran students trapped in here!” Flint called out. “The inside is a prison, but the bars are enchanted. I’m not sure if I can break through.

Reylor walked over to see a steel cage inside the tent. Inside the cage were several Votran students—presumably a squad—sitting in the darkness. Their clothes were shabby, revealing the fight they must have been put through prior to their incarceration. The reason Flint knew they were from Votran was the badges displayed on their shoulders. Squad members sent on low-risk missions were required to wear a badge to spread Votran’s fame, but also to lend them credibility when dealing with civilians.

Reylor placed his hand on the lock. A dark energy flowed around his hand before he said the word, “Break,” at which the lock, along with the enchantments, crumbled. The door swung open, releasing the students, along with a couple civilians.

Suddenly, a void gate opened. A man walked out with a cold look on his face. “Reylor, what on Aretor are you doooing”—his voice trailed off as he saw the carnage before him. This was one of the instructors from the academy. Noticing that Reylor’s group had left their appointed patrol area, he had come out to check on them. This is not what he had expected to see when he arrived.

“The heck?” finishing his survey of the bodies littered around, he looked up to see the tattered and famished Votran squad being helped out of the tent by Reylor’s group. They hadn’t eaten in quite awhile, and were quite weak.

At this point a returning group of thieves had just made it back to the camp. Seeing the state of things they immediately turned to escape, but they were not fast enough to escape the instructor.

“Space Lock, Void Suppression!” The entire squad crumpled to the ground and passed out, just like that. Votran Instructors were way too OP!

The instructor then waved his hand, opening a void gate to the academy. “You guys help those students back to Votran. I’ll sort the rest of this out when these guys wake back up.” He lightly kicked one of the guys he had just knocked out.

Reylor nodded, and the two squads went back to Votran through the void gate. “What a day!” he thought, as they made their way to the shrine, which served as both the school for holy arts, and as the medical center.

*** *** ***

Meanwhile…

“Your highness, a report!”

“You may speak,” Orvan replied.

“We have discovered a missing document from the archives.” The man said.

“Go on.”

“It is the one detailing our assault on Splendor.”

“What?!” Orvan stood up from his throne. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, your highness. There is no mistake.”

“Dangit! Delstur, have the captain triple the palace patrols. Also, contact Votran. We need more detection arrays.”

Things were not looking good. Orvan was, in fact, the one who ordered the assault on splendor. Now that the records were gone, he believed that the Crystal Witch was out for revenge. This would mean that his trusted men were in grave danger, and even he, himself. He knew the Witch was not someone he should underestimate.

In truth, this was indeed the case, only he was outmatched by more than he knew. He might have fainted right then and there had he known that the one who had taken the documents, and was in league with the Witch, was Votran’s very own Xendus. Things were not in Orvan’s favor.

*** *** ***

“Reylor! On behalf of Votran, I would like to thank you for your work. When these students went missing a few weeks ago, we went searching for them but would never have guessed that they would be just right outside our door! Also, destroying that camp was equivalent to an A+ rank mission, so your squadron has been automatically cleared for Rank-A missions. Oh, and here is your pay for the missions.” An administrator for Votran handed Reylor a sack of coins. “This is just a bonus for the rescue mission. You’ll also see that you and your squad members have received quite a few contribution points in addition.”

Reylor thanked the administrator after taking the coins and promptly distributed the funds. He then checked the squad standing.

Their merit had increased to 2 percent. This was for an S-Rank rescue mission. Apparently graduation would not be soon. Still, they had received a bounty of Votran contribution points, and a decent sum of Velii besides. The best part, though, was A-rank mission clearance. It would have taken a long time to unlock those otherwise, so this gave them a head start.

Of course higher ranked missions gave better rewards, including the merit points necessary for official graduation. Now they could just quit whenever they wanted to, but if they stayed they would be able to select a prime spell at graduation. Even if Reylor could care less about them, this was very important to the rest of his squad, save for Elany. Of course she could be happy with just about anything if she was with her friends.

“What’s next, Reylor?” Flint asked.

“Let’s take a look at the mission board,” he replied.

“What about this one?” Aileen said, pointing a job posting “They need someone to investigate an area with an abnormal concentration of shade beasts.”

“Rank B…” Flint said, a bit incredulously.

”I think it’s a good idea, considering our mission is to get rid of them, anyhow,” Khes asserted.

In the end, Flint was outvoted. Shade killing was their main purpose after all, so Reylor agreed with Khes. Of course, half the reason Khes even spoke up was because of Aileen, but minor details…

After another night of sleep, they set off again, but this time in the opposite direction—south into the deep Grimwoods region.

“Bang” “Rip” “Thud” “Shing!”

The shade beasts fell one after another as the group continued through the forest. The area became far less lifeless. Unfortunately, that was not a good thing, because more than half of the beasts were shade creatures at this point; but for a squad of Votran seniors, it was quite easy to dispose of the monstrosities. Exhaustion was the only danger posed.

“What that? Reylor said, looking at a wolf. It looked like a normal wolf, but moved like a shade wolf. “Aileen, could you cage that for me?”

“Yep.” A barrier formed around the creature, trapping it within.

They walked up to inspect it.

“It’s a shade,” Khes said. “Or I guess you could call it a half-shade.”

“Half shade?” Reylor said questioningly.

“Yeah, shade beasts do reproduce, but the originals were all regular beasts to begin with. Then they become infected and slowly turn into shade beasts. This guy is in the initial stages of becoming a shade beast.”

“How do they become infected?” Elany asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think it has to do with were they live. Vilnor has done some tests that show the infection is not spread directly. Even if a shade wolf bites another wolf, the other wolf will not become a shade if it is kept in a city. Out here, though, it just seems to happen, somehow. That’s about all I understand of the situation.”

“Hmm, interesting. Well, that’s all I needed. Go ahead and release it. If it wants to run, let it, since we are a distance from the academy.”

Aileen released the barrier. The wolf hesitated, but fled in the end.

“Let’s continue.”