Alerius Otravion sat behind his desk as he had most days over the last two centuries. William left the fortress a week ago, so he had a reprieve from wearing the mask on his face. This “Master” business had become tiring, but had also proved undeniably lucrative over the time he spent here. The other three that had travelled with him to pick up the boy worked as guards at the gate, as they were not suited to teach and only to fight. They only trained William in his various weapons, such as with swords and the like.

Now, he just laid back to relax. The paperwork was not part of the deal that he thought he was signing. The stranger that had given William to them with instructions to train him had only said that they would become wealthy enough to retire quickly. Alerius highly doubted he would ever get to retire so long as William was alive. He and the other two were loose ends now if they left, and they were just people who could reveal the entire project.

He was focusing on his next task when there came a knock on his door. A slim man wearing scouts armor entered into the room alone. He saluted Alerius, as he was the commander of this fort, and stood at attention.

“What is it?” Alerius asked impatiently, as the man was intruding on his relaxation time.

“There is a man at the gate asking to see the Master.” The scout replied immediately.

Alerius’ eyes snapped to the scout he second said this, so he replaced his mask over his face, and he said, “Send him in.”

It was only a few moments before the man entered the room. Alerius relaxed visibly, as it was not the stranger who gave him William to train. Instead this was the Soul Mage that the stranger assigned to them.

William was taken when he was eighty years old so he still retained memories of his childhood as Wyrran. However, the stranger that gave William to them assigned this soul mage to attend to them every decade to replace a ward onto William’s soul that forced his memories of his first eighty years to be repressed.

There’s only one reason this man could be here… Alerius thought shakily.

He had not checked the date once he received the missive from Valerion. A rush job like that would charge a king’s ransom easily, and Alerius had already begun counting the gold the second the messenger bird had brought it to him. Never in his wildest dreams would he have expected that it would be during the same time that William’s soul mark needed to be replaced. If that was the case, William most likely began having his memories return over the last week.

Shit! He cursed inwardly.

The soul mage, unaware of Alerius’ inward struggle said, “Well, it is nice to see the Master again. It is time for the Specter to renew his soul mark. Where is he?”

“He’s out on a mission” Alerius said dejectedly, “He should be back within another week.”

The soul mage’s face revealed obvious shock as he said, “If that mark is not placed today then he will almost certainly receive all of his memories at once. This is an incredibly dangerous thing to allow to happen, for if he is in the middle of his mission, he will without a doubt collapse from the pain. It will feel like his skull had been punctured and almost as if another person’s memories had been injected into his mind. I’m going to have to inform your… acquaintance of that I wasn’t able to do the job today as he wasn’t here. I don’t want your friend thinking that I failed.”

Alerius nodded absentmindedly, “Yes. He cannot know that I failed.”

The soul mage stood there for a second, replaying his words and said, “No. That’s not what I said. I said that he-“

Suddenly Alerius was behind him, and snapped his neck within the same second when he said darkly, “Yes. He cannot know that I failed.”

After discarding the soul mage’s body, Alerius sat at his desk once again and pulled out a piece of parchment. He did not know where the stranger was located, but the man gave him a bird that could take any message to him within a short amount of time. The bird would only leave if this specific piece of parchment was tied to its leg however, to prevent Alerius from sending the man messages with the intent to follow it. He wrote into the letter that today was the date the soul mage should have arrive, but never did. After investigating they found the man in the forest a short ride from the fortress with his neck snapped, and questions how they should proceed.

Once he completed the letter he rolled the parchment, and took it out to the bird that they had caged and never used over the last two centuries. Alerius was uncertain what race the bird was, but it did not age or wither away. Yet there it remained after all this time. He tied the letter to its tiny leg, and released it into the air. Then prayed that the stranger would never uncover the truth.

**********************************************************

William sat silently for a few moments, considering his next course of action. How she had noticed him while he was using his invisibility technique he did not know, but he assumed she must have some sort of item which granted her such an ability to scan the surroundings for people doing exactly that. Aella stared straight into his eyes, as though she could see him.

“Well?” Aella said confidently, “Are you planning to wait until I go to sleep?”

He sighed, and unveiled his invisibility spell. This woman was much more cunning than he had assumed. William supposed he should have watched her longer before getting anywhere near her, but he had been in the room alone with her numerous times. Was it a new item that she only wore today, or had he been just outside of its range earlier?

William stared at the strange woman curiously and asked, “How exactly did you notice me?”

Aella smiled and in the same tone replied, “I don’t think you have the right to be the one asking the questions here, assassin. That’s why you’re here is it not? Did King Valerion pay you to kill me?”

A smirk formed by itself on William’s face from the woman’s foresight and he responded, “I have a feeling you wouldn’t believe me no matter what I said.”

Aella’s smile fell and her eyes went cold when she said, “No, you-“

William didn’t wait for her to finish. He assailed her as quickly as possible. She appeared to be supremely confident that she had nothing to fear against him, and William found the reason why the second he reached her. He hit a wall the moment he was only a few feet away, a subtle defense measure that she must have activated when she first called out to him after her maid departed. Aella couldn’t believe how quickly the assassin moved when she was speaking, and couldn’t only rely on the ward. She flinched when he hit the wall, unsure if it would completely stop him from coming to her.

Aella smiled once again and said, “It’s a defensive ward that doesn’t allow anything to pass through it. No weapons or people, not even an insect would be permitted to enter. You shoul-“

Aella watched in horror as William raised his hand, and physically grabbed onto the ward. He put his two hands together, and tore a hole large enough for his entire body to fit through, and jumped in before releasing it. Two weeks ago when they first arrived her and all of her entourage had poured every ounce of mana into that ward to make it exceptionally powerful. They had been bedridden for two entire days, and this thing had just ripped directly through it. She tried to see under the dark hood the man wore, because he certainly was a man after hearing his voice. Then, after stepping the entire way through the ward without an issue, William smiled slyly.

Aella shook out of her stupor, and began reciting another spell. She created a defensive spell around herself to protect her against mage attacks, for this man was certainly a mage if he could somehow tear through wards. Then she unsheathed a sword that was sitting under her desk, and did not hesitate to strike at her assailant.

William, having already known that the sword was there from his cursory search that morning, had no issue deflecting her onslaught. The second her sword struck his, William heard her whispering another incantation which sent a spell in his direction. Their proximity was close so the spell hit him nearly immediately without having the chance to dodge it.

The spell seemed to attack the soul, as there was no physical manifestation of any kind of element. So William focused on his will to fight, as the Master had instructed him to do, but something went wrong. The second that he attempted to focus it was as if a damn burst open, and William dropped his dagger and pressed his hand against the side of his skull to relieve some of the pressure.

Aella watched as the man fell to one knee and pressed one of his hands to his head, dropping the dagger he held, and attempted to take advantage of the mishap. She believed her spell, which was meant to knock the man out, had somehow only given him a headache. Her sword arched downwards to take off his head, but William blocked it relatively easily with his hand. Aella, deciding her magic was the easiest way to take him out, released her spell. Once again the proximity was troubling for him, but he had expected it this time. He jumped backwards, hitting his back against the ward which still stood, but that made the spell miss its target. His head smashed into the wall unexpectedly as he had forgotten about the ward because of the pain, and once again the pain surfaced. This time however it was worse, the dam seemed to completely open, and it felt as though the woman before him had skewered him through the eye with her sword. William fell over immediately, unconscious.

Aella was completely bewildered. She knew without a doubt the second spell missed. The fact that he had been able to still defend himself at all once he was hit with her first one was amazing. She released the ward that was keeping her from crossing to the door and opened it. Outside was the guard, still standing directly in front of it, and he stepped aside once the door opened. Looking inside and noting some of the things that were on the floor, appeared like there was a struggle, the man was confused.

She immediately said, “A man attacked me in my office. Get three others and have them help you take him down into the basement, and then set up a magic array around him. He seems to be able to walk through wards so have the other two help you set up a makeshift cage as well. I do not want him to escape, understand?”

The guard straightened once he heard this and said, “Yes, My Lady.”

He left and then returned with the other four guards as he was instructed while Aella watched the assailant. She didn’t want the man out of sight, even unconscious. The sentries picked up the would-be assassin and took him directly down the stairs. They dumped him onto the floor once they reached their destination, and started setting up the cage for the unconscious man.

Aella only watched for a few moments before she said, “Let me know when he wakes.”

************************************************************

William had a dream, although it was strange considering he was extremely young in all of it. In all of them there was a small girl who spent quite a bit of time with him. One memory in particular stood out.

William was swinging a sword a little too large for him at a wooden post. After his 20th strike against the post he heard a loud voice shout, “Stop!”

He looked over and noted it was a large elf, at least three times his own size at this point. The man was extremely well built, most likely some kind of blacksmith from what he could tell.

“Not you Wyrran. I’m talking to Aella.” the trainer said.

Aella? William thought. What did he call me?

“Aella. Your strikes are too light. The sword may be too large for you now, but you will grow into it. Adjust to the situation you are faced with! At some point you may be required to pick up an enemy’s sword and use that instead of the one that you’re used to. Choke up on the handle and keep your swings under control.”

“Yes sir.” a quiet voice sounded from next to William, and he turned to look at the girl.

She was small, just like William, but she looked fairly familiar. She appeared to be about 7 years old in human standards, had raven black hair, and light blue eyes. Her name was Aella too, that name seemed to strike something in him. William returned to striking the post, and the girl did as well. This went on for another twenty minutes before the man once again called a stop. This time however, it seemed this training was over.

What is the point of hitting wooden posts? William thought. Like targets are much better training. At least, that’s what the Master had me doing when I was this age.

The two of them, William and Aella, turned the practice swords in to the trainer. After that, they began running in the direction of a massive palace. William remember this palace, it was the one from his previous memory when he entered Valerion’s castle. They appeared to be racing, but William couldn’t really tell. He had no control over his own body.. A forest was before them after a minute or two of running. Most of the area surrounding them was forest in fact, but they followed a road that was in the direction of the palace standing in the distance.

Aella called from behind him, “Wyrran hang on! I need to stop for a moment.”

There’s that name again. Why are they calling me Wyrran? William thought.

He heard his own voice respond, “Fine.”

They stopped in a clearing with a small creek running through it. William wasn’t tired at this point, but when he looked at Aella was doubled over, hands resting on shaking knees as she tried to steady her breaths. Once again he was confused. Why was she so tired? Was it possible she had just begun training?

After a few moments William once again heard his voice ask, “Are you ready yet? My mother and sister are waiting back at the castle.”

Aella, through deep breaths said, “I only need a few more seconds. Give me a break! We just practiced for four hours. How aren’t you tired?”

William felt a smile creep onto his face and responded, “I use magic to enhance my muscles and keep me from overworking them.”

William himself was just as surprised as Aella appeared when she heard that. Though that is an efficient way to use magic in a battle, it is not efficient to use it at all for training. In fact, it would negatively affect his own training by preventing him from building the proper muscles so that he could fight without the magic.

Aella responded angrily, “Wyrran! You know that you aren’t supposed to do that. If Leon found out about it he would seal your magic for weeks to ensure you did your training correctly! How didn’t he notice your magic?”

William, smiling smugly and with a proud tone responded, “I created a method to use it with a masking technique. It prevents detection from others more than three feet away from me, so as long as they don’t hear the incantation I whisper they won’t notice my use of magic at all.”

Brilliant. Why do I sound so proud though? William thought. It’s as though I believe I am the only one to do that. Also, has the Master not taught me to cripple my pride?

Aella’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as she said, “That’s amazing! Can you teach it to me?”

William’s eyes rolled and he said, “You know I will. I teach you everything. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to do it since you don’t specialize in this kind of magic and usually only use soul magic. Let’s get back to the palace. My mother and sister won’t wait much longer.”

After this was said, William’s sight went white, and then he was surrounded by darkness.

Aella stood in her study, pacing as she thought of what she was going to do about the King. Suddenly, the door to her study opened to one of the guards that carried William to the basement.

“He’s waking up My Lady.”

“Finally.” Aella said impatiently.

She started down the stairs to the first floor, and then went to the door to the basement. She took a deep breath, considering how she was going to handle questioning this unknown man, and opened the door. She reached the bottom and found William sitting there waiting for her.

She stared at the man for a few seconds before gaining her confidence and saying, “Who are-”

William interrupted her immediately and asked, “Who is Wyrran?”

Aella stared at him dumbfounded, and then after gripping the bars to his cage hard asked icily, “Where the hells did you hear that name?”