Chapter 2

Harsh Realities

Located in a western part of the large forest of Fengle’s Mourning there laid a mercenary camp known as Fengle’s Grove. In actuality, it was only known as a mercenary camp to a select few, while everyone else considered it merely as a bandit’s safe haven.

The natural forests’ area provided deceptive camouflage for the mercenaries and bandits hiding here. This was because the camp was situated in a hidden forest ravine adjacent to a mountainside, with only one entrance leading in. By using this perfect cover, the bandits and mercenaries could hide from the martial forces of the three large kingdoms without fear.

On the continent of Tolboud, the current ruling kingdoms were the Azarasi, the Tolboud, and the Marizon Kingdoms. Although the continent was known as the Tolboud continent, the Azarasi Kingdom actually held the most power.

Threatened by this sudden rise in power, both the Tolboud and Marizon Kingdoms formed an alliance to stop the Azarasi kingdom from further dominance. Because of the ever looming threat of war there were mercenary camps spread all throughout Tolboud continent, with each camp holding alliances to one of the three kingdoms.

Although the other camps had pledged alliances to one of the three kingdoms, it wasn’t known what alliance Fengle’s Grove was loyal to since it was mainly seen as a bandit camp. This was because, if a bandit was running from one of the kingdoms forces, Fengle’s Grove would shelter the fleeing bandit and take them in as one of their own.

Built magnificently, Fengle’s Grove was comparable to a fortress. It had seven meter high palisade walls surrounding the encampment area with a giant gate and two large watch towers on either side. Looking threatening, archers with longbows stood at the ready always overseeing and controlling who was permitted to enter the main camp and who was not.

A vast number of tents were typically sprawled everywhere outside the main encampment area, where most of the regular bandits would reside. Yet inside the main encampment, behind the large palisade walls, was where the mercenaries and bandit leaders would take up residence.

Typically, in order to enter the inner portion of the camp, a member from inside the encampment had to permit your entry. The only other way to gain entry was to have the badge of a Fiery Crimson Claw, which only the leaders of the camp wore.

The current leader in charge of Fengle’s Grove was a man named Azon. This impressive man was almost two meters tall with a decently built figure. He had attractive black hair that flowed down to his neck line complimented with a short stubbly beard. Altogether he was a figure that presented a rather menacing aura.

In fact given his aura, he had no concept for mercy and his hazel eyes implicitly held an icy chill to his gaze to prove this point. Yet, a seeming resolve was expressed upon his face due to the hard life that he had lived up till now. This was because over the course of his life he had seen plenty of death and killed countless people.

Since he was the leader of the camp, he proudly wore a badge of a Fiery Crimson Claw over his right breast. In fact on his leather armor he wore, it held the same symbol embroidered on the chest and even his cloak had a broach that also carried that same symbol.

Being rather skilled, he was successful in achieving the fifth rank of cultivation in the laws of a warrior and he had gotten the position of leader by his own strength. The mercenary group he personally assembled he decided to call the Crimson Claw Mercenaries.

However, even though he was in charge of the mercenary group, he had them operate like a group of bandits. Unbeknownst to everyone, even most people within the camp thought that it was just a highly structured bandit camp which it was not. Seemingly, only select few members behind the palisade walls knew the truth and he wanted to keep it this way.

To tell the truth, he served the Azarasi Kingdom and acted like a group of bandits on the Azarasi noble’s orders. They would intercept, kill, kidnap and steal from the citizens of the Marizon and Tolboud Kingdoms. It was the perfect cover story and because of them, the woodland area of Fengle’s Mourning near Domington was thought to be plagued by a legendary group of bandits known as the Crimson Claw Bandits.

Actually the reason they became notorious, was because they wore the symbol of the Crimson Claw. Using his Intelligence, Azon staged everything as regular bandit attacks and they were not pursued after because there wasn’t a necessity for the Marizon and Tolboud Kingdoms to involve themselves with bandits, unless reasonable circumstances required them to deal with it.

Sitting outside his tent, he carefully read a report from the Azarasi kingdom’s nobles. Coursing his hand across the stubble on his face, he read the coded message in the report regarding information that was obtained about a caravan that may be passing through. Luckily, he was not alone in commanding this large force of mercenaries and had a second in command that was named Vanrus.

The young man known as Vanrus stood nearby waiting for him to finish reading the coded message. He was sharp and fine young man that had long blonde hair that flowed off his shoulders and had dark brown eyes. Sadly, he was a tad shorter then Azon but, as good fortune would have it, he held a well-defined figure with a charming face that only a handsome noble would have.

Standing next to Azon looking rather majestic comparatively, he wore leather armor that was highly decorated and had a cloak that enshrouded his figure with a broach also that of a Crimson Claw. With a fire blazing from his brown eyes, he carried a resolute and strong willed aura which might have been why Azon chose him as his second in command.

He currently was in the fourth rank of cultivation and seemed to have an excellent aptitude for the laws. However, the exact reason he specifically decided to join Azon’s camp was still a mystery to him, but he could recall that it was Vanrus who sought him out with a decree from the Azarasi nobles stating he was to be stationed at Fengle’s Grove under him.

It was surprising that nobles were lenient to Vanrus and gave him an option of what camp to choose from because usually they were assigned a location for a set period of years.

Unfortunately at some point, Vanrus must have offended an important official and been sent off. In fact he probably held a bright future before, although after he got stationed here he did not seem dispirited in the slightest which was surprising. Because of his spirit Azon held great respect for him and was proud to make him his second in command.

After pulling away from the past Azon in his usual gruff voice turned to Vanrus and said, “It would appear a caravan will arrive in three days’ time from the Tolboud Kingdom, it’s heading to Domington. We have orders to intercept.”

Nodding in acceptance Vanrus replied correspondingly, “I will make the arrangements and the men will be ready. Luckily with the men taking care of it, there should be no need for you to trouble yourself personally with this trivial matter.”

Satisfied, Azon smiled in gratification and nodded his head at Vanrus’ capabilities at handling these matters so he could stay put and handle more pressing concerns. Following his reply, Vanrus put his fist to his chest bowed then promptly left Azon to stew in his own thoughts.

Unbeknownst to Vanrus, he actually wanted to retire from the position of leader and hand the reins to Vanrus. In actuality, he was in no obligation to remain the leader and only did so to provide a sense of personal loyalty and honor to the Azarasi Kingdom.

Many years ago, back when he was still in his prime, he had been exiled from the capital of Azarasi Kingdom after a small incident with the Church of Ascension and was not allowed to return to the capital. Set as an indomitable figure, the Church of Ascension was a religious order that was established several millennia ago by one of the original heroes, and she was known as Eunomia the Lawful.

Sitting at the apex, the church was the most formidable power in the world which no one in the five continents dared to offend and because of this it had forced the Azarasi Kingdom to exile a promising aspect.

If you were to compare the church in military strength to the entirety of the world it would be greater than, Tolboud and Vernef continents combined, which are in fact the top two militaristic continents almost making it unfathomable to want to cross.

Located to the east of the Tolboud continent and across the ocean laid the Vernef continent. Mighty and fearsome, Vernef was full of powerful mages and warriors and the continent itself was constantly dealing with infighting amongst the empire that held power and its various kingdoms.

Similarly, Tolboud also had constant wars, and while the quality of the armies was not high, the sheer amount of combined forces living in the Tolboud continent was enough to bend the knees of the martial forces on the other continents.

While the size of the forces of the church was not large, but the quality was riddled with top class warriors and mages who sought to further increase their cultivation in the laws. This made offending the church impossible.

In fact most nobles sent their sons and daughters to the church to cultivate, which provided great honor to the clan, and in the process made it easy to offend important noble families as well. Throughout the centuries that have gone by, the Church of Ascension had created many establishments throughout the five continents but the biggest one was centered in the Gramrot continent.

After offending the church and in order to atone for his shame, Azon with his clan in mind, created the Crimson Claw Mercenaries and slowly built a camp located here in the forest of Fengle’s Mourning.

Not to long later after hearing of his group of mercenaries, his clan made contact with him and seemingly decided to make use of him and his mercenaries in order for him to wipe away his stain of disgrace and possibly regain honor again within the hierarchy of nobles in the Azarasi Kingdom.

A long time ago, he had betrayed his clan in his youth by stealing forbidden knowledge and many powerful techniques and utilized those techniques to his own agendas. Unfortunately, he was discovered by his clan, but upon seeing his talent they instead decided to aid him in cultivation.

This was all until one day he killed a nobleman who offended his clan in arrogance. Later investigation of the event would reveal that this man was actually an important figure to the church and this led to the eventual ordering of Azon’s exile.

Fortunately, the church decided he was far too talented and skilled to be put to death so they let him serve the Azarasi Kingdom in exile. However, with no longer having help in cultivation, he became slow at progression in the laws.

The technique he had used to kill the nobleman was a forbidden technique he originally stole from the clan called the Crimson Claw. It was a difficult and not a well-known technique from the clan. Other than Azon, only the great ancestor within the clan could perform this technique.

However, the ancestor desiring solitude had left matters of the clan to others long ago and hasn’t been seen for several decades.

The Crimson Claw technique required the user to have their fingers act like claws of an eagle. It was a brutally savage technique that would mar the opponent unrecognizable. It was precisely this same technique he used on the nobleman, killing him instantly and ultimately causing him, his exile.

Sighing, he contemplated the past while looking to the horizon, where the sun still had a few more hours till it would disappear for the day. Nearing his fifties, he knew his life was more than half over and it was time to give the reins to a younger generation. Luckily, Vanrus was in his thirties and showed to be full of promise.

As he was deep in thought, a sudden bright flash of light from the heavens shot down towards the center of the forest. Upon seeing this bright light, naturally he grew curious. Oddly, there were many mysteries of the world and the heavens above and yet whatever the beam of light was he wanted to know and if possible obtain it.

Things like this have happened before and the individuals to search after the locations of those beams of divinity usually found divine treasures which would greatly increase their powers. Brightly filling the sky with its radiance, the beam of light shined down towards the edge of the forest nearest to him. Seeing the light come down from the sky, he naturally decided that he wanted to head in that direction and obtain the treasure.

With great speed, he gathered together a small group of his men, and quickly taking to horses scouted deeper into the woodlands. Thoroughly searching deeper into the forest to his surprise, nearly a half hour later, he found a small village which was virtually unguarded. Remarkably, he had never seen this village before, even though it was relatively close to his hidden camp, and this entire area was new to him.

Feeling excitement from this sudden discovery, he was eager to take his men and loot the village while hopefully capturing some of the villagers to sell as slaves on the slave market. Entitling him to richness, he could make quite a bit of profit from this endeavor. Upon this wonderful discovery they returned back to camp where he hastily told Vanrus of the situation.

Seizing the opportunity, both Vanrus and Azon ordered up their men, desiring to set off before the beam of light completely faded. Shortly after gathering up a sizable force of the Crimson Claw bandits, they saddled up on their horses and headed towards the heavenly beam of light.

While riding with his men for a good while he came across a farm with a small hut. Fortuitous fate would have it that the small hut near him was where the beam of light ended.

Radiating an evil greed, he grinned maliciously and said, “I want ten men to follow me.”

Then turning to Vanrus, maintaining that devilish smile he said, “Vanrus, I want you to take the rest of the men to loot the city and capture slaves that we can sell for a good price.”

Putting his fist to his chest and bowing his head, Vanrus replied curtly, “Yes, commander.”

Taking the initiative he assigned ten good men to aid Azon, and then he ordered the rest of the men with him, leaving Azon with those ten bandits. Satisfied with the selection, Azon led the ten men directly to the hut.

Looking around, he found the largest man there amongst the group who was named Brumar, and said to him, “I want you to take these men and kick the door down and bring me those inside. However, be sure to bring out everyone inside alive to me.”

Rubbing his hands together and grinning he said greedily, “I have questions I want to ask those in that house.”

Smiling with wicked intentions Brumar said, “Of course commander, it would be my pleasure.”

To satisfy his greed, Azon had to interrogate them to find out if there was indeed a divine treasure he could get his hands on.

Without saying he still held quite a bit of ambition although his current circumstances prohibited him greatly. In fact, while wanting to quit the pretense of a bandit life after accruing a decent sum of money, he still held aspirations to pursue. Eventually, he could leave the role of leader to someone like Vanrus if such a time came.

He wanted to get ahold of a divine artifact, and in doing so he could further his cultivation, and perhaps even one day be able to return to the capital as a powerful figure. In the past those that obtained divine artifacts were considered top tier warriors or mages and held extremely long life spans of hundreds of years, compared to people of lower cultivation capabilities; which unfortunately had no hope of living more than eighty years.

Divine artifacts allowed them to reach a new efface of cultivation and granted them prolonged lives. Desperate, he needed the divine artifact badly, in order for him to progress further along with the laws of a warrior. Because just recently, he had reached a bottle neck in his cultivation and he could not see past it.

However, before the men reached the hut, a beam of light enshrouding the hut slowly faded away. It was in fact a matter of pure luck that he acted as fast as he did, since the beam of light only seemed to have lasted a couple of hours, and he possibly could have lost this chance forever.

Although, once he could obtain the divine artifact he would instantly become an immeasurable force to be reckoned with. Excited and rather expectant, he watched as his men smashed the door open wide and stormed in.

Hardly ten minutes passed before his men remerged from the hut dragging out a man, whose legs were scraping on the ground, swiftly followed by a woman. The woman held a baby in a tight embrace against her bosom as one of Brumar’s men held onto her arm, roughly forcing her outside.

Following the woman, a young boy and a teenage girl were forcibly being taken outside. As cruel fate would have it, the man that was being dragged out was in fact Geron and the others were his family.

It was regrettable, but one of the bandits was dragging out a bloody corpse of an elderly woman out of the house, which was in fact Daphiel’s corpse. Sighing Azon shook his head in disapproval, as he had explicitly told his men to bring them to him alive. However in his eyes, the life of the elderly woman was not important.

Geron had his legs sliced so he couldn’t walk on his own and needed the bandits to hold him up using his arms as they swiftly dragged him in front of Azon. Seeing this scene Azon knew the man must have resisted and his men sliced Geron’s legs to prevent him from further resistance.

The bandits holding him roughly tossed him in front of Azon, causing him to fall face first into the dirt. Following their father, the bandits rudely kicked Tamlin and Amriel down into the dirt as well. Meanwhile, out of courtesy for the baby she held, the bandit that tightly gripped Seri left her standing near Geron.

The burly bandit, Brumar grabbed a tuft of the Geron’s hair on his head, and forcibly raised his head from the dirt to look at Azon.

Threatening Geron, Brumar said, “My commander has questions for you. Should you answer them, your death will be quick, if not...” without finishing his sentence Brumar snorted in an arrogant manner.

Despair filled Geron’s gaze as he realized his life was forfeit either way. Taking a moment to size up Geron, with sinister intentions Azon slowly smiled and spoke, “There was a beam of heavenly light that struck here. My patience is thin and I will ask you once, where is the divine artifact?”

Coldly peering up at him, Geron replied, “Indeed, there was heavenly light, but no divine artifact came from it.”

Laughing sourly, Azon retorted brimming with anger, “Do you take me for a fool? I know for a fact, where divine light hits, there is always treasures to be held.”

Understanding the situation was quickly becoming bad, Geron grimly replied, “I speak the truth!” Pathetically begging with his eyes, he said with desperation, “I have no reason to lie please believe me.”

Snorting and not believing his words, Azon nodded at the bandits restraining Geron’s children and said, “Slit their throats then he might be willing to talk.”

Horrified, Geron yelled out but he could only watch as the men holding his two children slit their necks. Petrified in terror, the children’s faces held fearful expressions as the color from their faces drained and blood gushed down their necks. Uncaringly, the bandits who killed the children let their bodies fall on the ground as pools of blood formed under their corpses.

Watching her children die, unbearable anguish hit Seri, and she let out a stifled yelp but she quickly kept silent as tears rolled down her cheeks. Also mourning at his lose, Geron broke down in tears watching his children die in front of him.

Like a merciless devil, Azon present a slight demonic smile and responded to his reaction by saying, “Tell me what I want to know, and you can join them with a quick clean death, if not you can watch your wife get killed then watch as your baby dies.”

Sobbing and giving up what defiance remained in his heart, Geron replied, “My lord, truly no divine artifact appeared here, this I swear!”

The remaining stubbornness disappeared and letting out an anguished cry, screaming at the heavens and truly giving up everything, he then continued, “The heavens light came as my baby was born.”

“Truthfully, I have found no artifact and the only artifact would be my child as the light enveloped him during his birth.” Mentally broken, he sobbed nonstop after telling Azon what transpired.

Listening to his explanation, Azon’s face instantly frowned. He had never heard of the heavens light striking down to the birth of a child. Considering his words, Azon’s wheels circled in his head, suddenly his eyes grew wide. “Indeed, this child may be a living artifact,” he thought.

If he could wait for the child to cultivate, his potential could be exponentially high, and he could have a real treasure in his hands. Realizing, this could be a good opportunity for him but he had to keep this matter quiet. Quickly deciding his fate, he turned to the Brumar who was still holding the Geron’s head and nodded, signaling to kill him.

Obedient to his commander, Brumar let go of the Geron’s hair and let him fall face down into the dirt. Before Geron could move away or even react, he pulled out his axe and chopped his head off in a clean strike.

After Geron’s head separated from his body, he kicked his head and watched it roll away. As the despicable human he was, Brumar couldn’t help but smile and let out a hearty laugh. A grotesque scene was left behind, as blood pooled under Geron’s severed neck and a trail of blood followed where his head had rolled.

Completely dispirited and broken, Seri was in tears and fell on her knees in the dirt crying heavily. She had watched as her husband and two children were murdered right in front of her. Unable to bear the pain and grief anymore she knelt there and bawled.

Snorting, Azon glared at the women and said, “Bring me the baby, kill the mother or do whatever you wish with her.”

Lustfully, all ten of the bandit’s eyes shined with that information, she after all had a good figure and was well endowed. Quick to react, the bandit holding her arm ripped the baby from her grasp with seemingly little effort and handed it to Azon. Traumatized, she was too shook up to put up any resistance and the bandits effortlessly dragged her back to the hut for some personal time.

Feigning ignorance of their actions, Azon lifted the baby up and took a good look at the baby. What surprised him was during this whole ordeal the baby had remained silent and did not cry even once.

Glancing at the baby he noticed the baby’s sparkling blue eyes gaze back at him. Giving off a creepy sensation, the baby’s eyes seemed to pierce through his very soul. Shivering and shaking that feeling off, he lowered the child back down. Feeling rather quite pleased with themselves, after thirty minutes the bandits came back out of the hut and walked back over to his location.

Still holding the baby, Azon then led the men toward the main part of the village. As they neared the village he paused momentarily and asked a nearby bandit on the outskirts of the village, “Where is Vanrus?” Responding to him, the bandit pointed to a house down the road.

This caused him to raise an eyebrow, but he nodded at the bandit and tossed him five silver coins. Clumsily catching them, the bandit smiled greedily and said, “Thank you sir, you honor me.”

He paid no heed to anyone else and abandoned the ten bandits following him, leaving them to their own devices. Currently still holding the baby, he trekked ahead towards the house that Vanrus was said to be in.

Approaching the house, several bandits were stationed outside and he quickly learned that Vanrus was with a woman. In all honesty, he frowned on the concept of his men lying with women not belonging to them, but did not want to disturb his business and waited outside.

Stricken by his previous delusion of greed, he already was quite disgusted with himself that he allowed the ten bandits to rape the woman who gave birth to the baby in his arms, and started to get restless with Vanrus for taking too long.

A bandit stationed outside the house, upon noticing his restlessness, decided it was best to inform Vanrus that he was outside. Swiftly, the bandit entered the house for but a moment then promptly left the house.

Just mere moments after, a pained shrill could be heard as Vanrus skewered the poor women. Almost nonchalantly, he stepped outside the house with blood dripping from his sword while wearing a satisfied grin. Approaching Azon, Vanrus quickly becoming more professional and put his fist to his chest bowed his head, and respectfully said, “Commander.”

In response Azon nodded his head, he understood men needed to be rewarded for service from time to time, while he was disgusted by some of it, he saw no disrespect in his actions. Suddenly noticing the baby in Azon’s arms, Vanrus was shocked but said nothing.

Guessing Vanrus’ sudden shock, Azon smiled slightly and said, “I will be raising this child as my own. Soon after we finish here, let’s head back to Fengle’s Grove, there we will split up the goods.”

Money was always a good incentive, which caused even Vanrus to smile in greed. Delighted, he replied, “Yes commander, I will have the troops gather and we will bring our score in tow.”

Content with his reply, Azon nodded and left the house. Patiently waiting on top of his horse in the middle of the village, he sat there for about an hour while his men gathered up what loot they could carry and the slaves they captured. Fortune favored him, because there was a fair amount of money and slaves from the village raid.

Bringing his horse up to Azon, Vanrus nodded respectfully and lightly said, “Commander.”

Once Vanrus arrived, Azon turned to the large group of bandits to address them, and yelled, “Torch the houses and let’s head back to Fengle’s Grove!”

Immediately, after setting fire to the village they rode back to the bandit camp with the slaves in tow. Wasting no time, as soon as the Crimson Claw bandits arrived at Fengle’s Grove, Azon went directly into his tent with the baby and ordered a crib to be made.

Sadly his little excursion to find the divine artifact failed, but it had instead yielded him a living divine artifact. He decided to not dwell on his loss long since he knew that the baby might be a bigger treasure. Actually, thinking about it made him realize he had yet to give this baby a name.

Staring down at the baby, he was thinking of a name when suddenly out of nowhere almost like it was inserted into his mind, he had a name come to mind. Smiling, he looked down at the baby and said, “Ornias!”

Although already his late forties, he had no children of his own so naturally, he did not know how to take care of little Ornias. Pondering, he decided to have one of the slaves that they captured from Limwell to take care of Ornias.

Forming a biased opinion, he thought if they were from the same village it would be far easier than having to actually buy a random slave to take care of Ornias in his weaning years.

Confident in his decision, he headed towards the area in the camp where they kept the villagers they had captured, and he took a quick look at the stock of the slaves. Glancing around, he noticed a female who would make a good fit. She was in her late twenties and held mother like qualities that could potentially be a good fit to take care of Ornias.

Her physical features entailed long brown hair and hazel eyes. Looking rather pitiful, her clothing was muddy and torn in places. While she, herself was a bit bruised up and beaten, but she had nothing was broken, so she would work just fine.

Satisfied with his choice, Azon ordered the Jailer to bring her out so he could size her up a bit more. Unusually frightened, she didn’t dare look at him as she was led out and stared intently at the ground. Seeing her close up, he discovered she was a rather curvy and attractive female, causing lust to suddenly swell within him as his gaze peered at the beauty craving her.

After snapping back to reality, he quickly looked at the jailer and replied, “I am taking this one. Here this is for your troubles.”

Graciously, he pulled out three gold coins and handed it to the jailer. He knew that she was one of the more attractive ones and most likely was currently being used for the bandit’s unwinding time. Of course, the jailor would be paid to let the men have some time with the women so naturally, he wanted to compensate him for his loss of stock.

He turned and asked the female, “My name is Azon, and may I ask what your name is?”

Filled with fear the female replied, “Cecilia, my Lord.”

Nodding in approval, thinking it was a good name, he said, “Cecilia, I am going to give you an opportunity to live a better life. Feeling generous, I even decided to take you in under my wing and have you serve me.”

His gaze grew fierce as he said, “I only require you to obey my commands the first time they are given, no questions asked. However, if you cannot obey me, I may punish you but I shall never hurt you. Do you understand?”

Hastily nodding, showing she understood, she said, “Yes, my Lord.”

Putting matters aside, he led her back to his tent were Ornias was sleeping in a crib that he made his men create. Gesturing towards where Ornias lay in his crib, he said, “All I need from you is to take care of this child, I obtained from your village, till he matures to a man.”

He threw his thumb out pointing to himself, and said, “Don’t worry I will protect you, and you will have status above most men in this camp. Also if any issues arise, feel free to speak with me, and I will resolve the matter immediately.”

Clearly, he wanted to make it apparent that she was to be treated better since he wanted to make sure she would take good care of Ornias in return. With a noticeable sincerity her lightened tone, she replied, “I am most grateful, my lord. I will take care of this child for you.”

Satisfied, his usual cold gaze became warmer and he happily nodded and said, “Please do not feel constricted here, in fact I will make sure you can move around as you like. I will even give you a pin that symbolizes your mine, and if you wear it and you should be able to freely walk around anywhere in camp.”

Being generous, he pulled out a pin that held the symbol of the Crimson Claw and handed it to her. She was hesitant in receiving the pin, but regardless pinned it on herself anyways and gratefully bowed and said, “Thank you, my Lord.”

Puzzled upon receiving the pin, she walked over to Ornias and picked him up. Gazing innocently, his bright blue eyes stared at Cecilia. Peering down back at him, she looked deep into his sparkling eyes as she felt strange and started to seemingly lose fact from reality and felt as though her body was drifting out of existence.

Mysteriously, his eyes seemed wise and unfathomable as his gaze caused her to feel as if she no longer existed in this reality. Shivering, she thought to herself, “Who is this child that Azon wants me to watch?”

Previously, she had served under Amron in the village of Limwell and was aware of how great a magician he was. She could even recognize when a power beyond her was present, and she knew this child was far more than what he appeared.