Crows flocked down to the site of death. Bodies of men lay in their own unique positions across the grass plains. Some of the bodies had endured swiping cuts across the abdomen and others appeared untouched but lay motionless all the same. The caw of the crows drew a larger flock and soon they began to peck at the faces of the heavily cloaked men whose journey appeared to have been cut short by some force. The emblem of a clan was inscribed upon the necklace of one of the barbarians. The necklace was ripped off the neck of the man by a large, firm hand. The crows didn't seem bothered by this man, and they pecked at the necklace-less man's corpse nonetheless as the crow man knelt by the dead body. A crow glanced curiously at the man, but his face remained an unknown, a masked helm coverering his face, and somewhere deep within the eye slots were a pair of beady, yellow eyes.

Heavily plated armor buffed his shoulders and his torso, reinforced by a strong silver breast plate and a purple cape that flapped in the winter winds as it clung to the gaps in his armor. He rose to his feet and surveyed the large plains and muttered foreign words to himself as he glanced cautiously to all sides. He raised one hand into the air as visible particles of a light green hue stirred subtly in the gray-toned sky. His horse slowly cantered up to his side once his observation of the scene seemed to be done. His hunt was only getting started as he mounted upon his destrier and headed south. He knew he wasn't far behind.

8 Hours Earlier

Vince's face grimaced as Magnar the Madman lowered his shoulder into his chest. Had he meant that? Vince turned aggressively but Magnar had kept walking. Vince spat into the dirt, disgusted. He watched as Magnar returned to his camp where his Ulthraki men sat on logs and stoked a large fire for themselves. Some had already set up tents for the night and unfurled their cloaks to rest. The sun was down, and they had journeyed far for a day's work. Vince and Fintan had set up camp some fifty yards away from the Ulthraki's. Fintan claimed it was necessary for the two contrasting groups of men to have space, especially after the recent happenings. There had been high tension in the air since the attack on the temple when many of the Ulthraki's had lost their lives to the horde of orcs. One Ulthraki had gone hay-wire and fell himself upon his own axe, ending his own life. The mood amongst the group was abysmal, but Magnar had insisted they were to continue on until vengeance had occurred.

Fintan spoke to Vince privately, warning him of the dangers of vengeance. "It is a mindset," he had said. "It is a mindset that leads to self-destructive decisions and irrational thinking. A Magi knight never thinks this way." They journeyed onward, but the gap between the Ulthraki's and the two Magi Knights had lengthened over the time, and Fintan had to slow his pace so they could keep up. Vince suggested going on without them and telling them to meet at Weptswur in their own time, but Fintan had waved the idea away, suggesting sticking together benefitted both groups.

Fintan and Vince both sat now against their furled-up cloaks, allowing the warmth of the fire to warm their bodies. The cold winds had taken their toll on them physically and mentally and so now they basked in the glory of the heat.

"Fire 'tis a true blessing by The Creator," said Vince.

"It is true, but I question it at a time, whether it is good or evil," Fintan spoke in his usual wise tone.

"How can fire be good or evil? It is not a being."

Fintan pursed his lips and paused before he spoke, "I suppose you are right. But there have been many times I have been regretful of its very existence. There are many things like this—something is meant for good but used for other purposes opposite of good."

"Like when, master? I think it is only fair now that you tell me an instance in which you did not find fire to be a blessing. I mean, obviously you must know how to use it, or it will cook you."

Fintan only chuckled and moved his hands out in front of him before the fire. He was slow to speak but when he did Vince was eager to listen now, "Fire is the emotion of anger. Those who use it well with intent to diminish life likely do not have the blessing of The Creator."

"What's the point then? If the stone gives you the power, why not use it?"

"That's exactly it, the stone enables you to fight with your sword, with boldness and with strength. All the while, your abilities are bonded to the will of the One True Creator. Therefore, your strength comes from that, and not in the relentless flicker of the flame."

Vince had been curious all along to many things, but he sensed now was a good time as any to ask, "When you use the stone apart from the will of The Creator, are certain abilities and magic available to you that wouldn't otherwise be?"

"That would be correct. That is dark magic, Vince. That is a path leading to destruction. There are many, many tales of fallen Magi who have attempted to use the stone with their own strength, and their rise was great, but their fall was greater."

"Then why did The Creator allow the stone to produce such capabilities if he knows it cannot be handled by mere men."

"Because...because the stones were not made for men."

"Who then? Who were they made for?"

"They were made because of us, but not for us. The One True Creator made the first stone for the first man of the Ertorin heritage, but he was not of the race of men. He was one of the undead, the guardians of Mestrane. They are a race that our race depends on, yet many men refuse to accept it or believe it."

"Until now I've never believed that sort of talk. I suppose I could believe it to be true to hear it from you, master."

Fintan gripped Vince's collar so fast he jumped out of skin and Fintan yanked Vince in inches from his face, "If you think for one second our species would have survived on our own in the world you are mistaken beyond measure." Fintan released his grip and Vince furrowed his brow and sat facing the fire, a scowl over his face.

"I will tell you truly how it is, and you will believe it."

"Yes master, as you say." Vince was still rubbing his neck.

"There is a species, the first inhabitants of Mestrane they are, that were created first before men. They ruled the beautiful land of Mestrane and they lived in harmony and peace for many ages before the first man. The creation of man brought responsibility for the Maldur, as they called themselves, who were given the responsibility of protecting the race of men from themselves. The first stone was issued to the King of the Maldur—Ertorin himself. He fashioned many stones from the power of his own stone, and he entrusted the wisest of the men amongst the realm one stone each so that they might bind their wills to the stone, and in that way men would be connected to the goodness of The Creator and not their own will, for it was known the race of men had impure hearts. The men who were entrusted the stone became known as the Magi Order. The code of the Order originates from Ertorin himself, who created the Order while he was still within the realm."

"It is said that the Maldur once had power that overrode all other life forms in the realm but is also said that some Maldur became corrupt with the power they had over men. Somewhere along the way, Maldur's corruption and greed led them to have relations with men that saw men become an equal, and eventually men were granted access to the forbidden land of Mestrane, against the will of the Creator—and because of that he allowed suffering and war to mar the way of the realm, and no longer was there peace amongst beings of the realm."

Vince was prepared to ask one of his unending questions, but Fintan saw it coming, "Be patient, Vince. I know what you are to ask but I have more to say. The great curse has been broken, yes. The Maldur King who stood at the meadows that prevented man from ever returning to Mestrane was slain, and now the dormancy of the Great King Steed has been overturned as it was written that it would. The great evil that rises is led by King Steed, who now sits the throne of Mestrane, and he enslaves the Maldur, forcing them to aid him in his vision of one realm serving under his rule."

"And how about the orcs that attacked the Magi Temple? I did not know orcs roamed these lands; I grew up with knowledge that they only dwelled in faraway continents away from our own."

"Orcs were creations of one of the past fallen Kings of the Maldur. Created to serve his purposes, the orcs will always serve the highest seat of whatever land they inhabit, which is now King Steed."

Vince's mind was swirling. He had heard of many contrasting tales, but never had he known as to the truth of the matter.

"What is King Steed then? Is he the next Maldur King who now reigns?"

"No, he is a fallen Magi Knight of the Order, whose soul was stolen by dark magic."

Vince gulped heavily and felt the blood leave his face. His thoughts wondered back to his vision. He remembered flying upon the wings of that dreadful dragon, inside the body of some foul creature. The eyes of King Steed had pierced right through him, seen everything. Vince wondered as to the limits of the stones. He didn't feel like asking, he had little patience to hear Fintan go on and on about what he knew. Fintan had once told him that he would have learned much of this knowledge if he was a conventional Magi Apprentice at the temple, but they were living in unique circumstances with the temple being destroyed and the age of war having torn the kingdoms apart.

Vince wondered about King Steed. Did he have some connection with King Steed? He had felt as though he had been face to face with King Steed in that chilling vision, and he felt as though he had contributing his own abilities towards dark magic ever since the death of Gerd.

Sounds of conversation had died down in the Ulthraki camp. Most of the men were out of sight now, retreated to their tents and sleeping places for the night, or so Vince assumed.

Fintan spoke now to break the silence, "I must go be in quiet for a time, I'll return shortly." Fintan rose from his spot next to Vince and vanished into the night, leaving Vince alone to reflect. How much of his struggles with dark magic was Fintan aware of?

Vince glanced down and admired his sword. The hilt was beautifully crystalized and glowing in the night by the stone that was embedded in the pommel. It took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the dark after glaring into the bright flames of the fire. He felt alone without the presence of his master. What was to stop another bodily transition into Mestrane again? Or another vision of King Steed where he didn't truly know if the dark lord King Steed was truly seeing him or not? His thoughts wondered. His family began to creep into his mind, but he shoved it away quickly. Fintan had taught him that. Nothing made one softer or weaker when away from home than thinking about family. He wondered how Egalo and Randor were doing. They hadn't heard or seen them since they had watched from afar and seen them taken away towards Mestrane. He trusted Fintan was monitoring them through his visions of his stone. He was probably doing that now, now that he thought of it. Fintan had told him how visions were a fairly personal ordeal and should be kept private unless they were of importance to the mission at hand or seemed to signify impending trouble. Vince had cringed at that part, knowing his visions may well qualify, but he felt he had everything under control, at least for now.

The fire began to die to a few wisps of smoke here and there and Vince allowed it to die out. He stabbed the tip of his blade into the soft ground and stared into the stone of the pommel. That stone doesn't belong to you, Vince heard a voice in his head. You stole it from its owner, a Magi would never accept it. Vince removed his gaze from his sword and tried to think of something to fill his mind. He didn't need to think long before a shadow covered the last light of the dying fire and he knew someone was behind him. A cold blade came from behind him and pressed against the flesh of his neck, choking him as he leaned back from the tightness of its pressing.

A voice came from the owner of the blade and Vince recognized it as Magnar, "That's a nice blade you got there, Magi apprentice. I think it would do a fine job for the way back to Ulthrak from here. Maybe slay a few orcs on my way back. Seemed to do a good job for you back at the temple, didn't it?"

Vince struggled against the strong grip he had on him. He realized he was severely outnumbered, as around ten more Ulthraki's came upon him, surrounding him in a circle. There was no way out of it. Each of the Ulthraki's wielded a battle axe in hand. They weren't planning on screwing this up, thought Vince.

"Calm, easy Magnar. Let's discuss this and settle this without blood."

"Don't you be telling me how things are done, boy. You'd be fortunate to lend me that blade and make it out of here alive," Magnar was furious at his feeble attempts to ease tensions.

"I'll decided how this will end after you left my people out to dry for those thirsting orcs. I think I made myself clear, I'll take your blade and I think I'll just be on my way."

"Fair, Magnar. Take it, I'm not going to stop you. It's yours."

Magnar kept his steely blade against his neck. He nodded for one of his men to grab the sword. He stepped forward and stared incredulously at it as he lifted it from its position in the dirt. He lifted, but the blade didn't move. He tugged as hard as he could again, it didn't budge.

"I will not hesitate to slide this blade across your neck if that sword doesn't move, Magi scum." Magnar's voice sounded ice cold and Vince fought his fear to succumb to the command. He stared down the stone, willing it to stay right where it was.

He felt the blade's edge cut into a shallow layer of skin and that was it. Vince threw his head back, smashing the top of his head against Magnar's chin, knocking him back slightly. A couple of Magnar's teeth dribbled from his bloodied mouth. It was just enough for Vince to lose the tight grip of the blade on his neck. He rose, turning to land a hook right into Magnar's right cheek but Magnar was equally quick. His hand met the punch and his fist closed around Vince's hand. He grabbed and twisted, spraining Vince's wrist but his left hand closed around the hilt of his sword. He yelped in pain at his sprained wrist but with his left hand he swung the blade wildly, cutting through the abdomen of the man who had attempted to lift the blade from its fixed place in the ground.

Magnar had withdrawn his blade now and met the slashing stroke of Vince's blade. The two parried a couple times, neither advancing ground on the other but furiously meeting blow for blow. The men surrounding the scene closed in, leaving Vince helpless.

Vince couldn't believe what happened next, and neither could Magnar seemingly, as the two paused from their duel as the Ulthraki men who surrounded the two began crying out as they were cut down from seemingly thin air. The two backed off from each other as another Ulthraki man near to them was left checking his surroundings nervously. Screams filled the air as a wild beast, fur as black as the night, charged right through the man with his twisted horns. Its eyes glowed a thin ring of yellow around a pupil darker than black itself. It rose from its four legs, standing double the height of the tallest Ulthraki before him. The beast breathed one simple breathe louder than the loudest scream from the throat of the Ulthrakis.

Vince knew what happened next. He was inside the body of the beast and the Ulthraki who had seemed so imposing and fierce a moment ago now seemed like a miniscule impediment. He felt rage surge through his twisted horns and returned to his four legs and pounced himself upon the Ulthraki who flew down to the ground, his axe skidding across the ground. The sheer weight of his body slamming down onto the Ulthraki ended the life from within him. Vince turned now to face Magnar. He saw himself, his own body, standing beside Magnar, but he could not tell that he was no longer inside. He felt himself charge towards Magnar, but Magnar was smarter than the others. He grabbed an axe off the ground and flung it towards him. The blade of the axe nearly swiped across his face. He felt his claws dig into the soft ground and fling himself right to avoid the flying axe. He rose to his two hind legs and roared. The sound must have stirred Fintan from his place, because out of nowhere he arrived now. He felt an immense anger towards Fintan and Magnar. Both were his enemies. The rest of the Ulthraki's hurled their axes at the beast, and Vince felt their sting as they clattered off his back. He roared in pain and soon Fintan had arrived. He feared Fintan greatly, he could sense his presence and power and suddenly he was back in his own body. The beast appeared scared and skittish. Vince watched as it pranced away, but Magnar blocked its escape and sunk his blade into the back of its neck, defeating it. Vince felt the anger rise in his chest, a part of him had been attacked. He could feel it, his heart hurt. It was personal. He advanced on Magnar, Fintan somewhere beyond him yelling to stop. Vince swiped stroke after stroke but Magnar held his own. Magnar was certainly smaller of stature but knew his way around with a sword. Magnar yelled at his surviving men to come to his side but the appearance of the wild beast had bestowed fear upon them. Some turned to flee but Fintan arrived and hacked down a few men with his blade. A few swift strokes and an Ulthraki was down, clunky as ever with their hefty axes. Fintan cursed at the other Ulthraki's to leave back to the rest of their camp. They fled at the first telling.

Fintan turned just in time to see Vince side swipe Magnar, catching him in the side. Magnar faltered and Vince dared to end his life with an overhead stroke on his head. Vince began to heave his sword back over his head.

"Leave him, Vince. There is no reason to end his life this way."

Vince had Magnar on his knees now, panting from the pain of the injury to his side.

"Master he wanted the stone for himself. He was going to kill me for my sword."

Fintan heaved a sigh of frustration, "Vince we will talk about this after, let him go."

"Or put him out of his misery." Vince came down on Magnar with the tip of his blade, but Fintan deflected the stroke with his own blade.

"Vince I am telling you now to release your grip on the sword and leave Magnar to me."

Vince pursed his lips and threw his blade down, furious. Fintan approached Magnar, who now lay despairingly on the ground.

"You are lucky to be spared, Magnar. Give me a reason why I was right to let you live."

Magnar could barely squeak out a word from the gash in his side, "Family. My people." He barely got the words out when Fintan and Vince were side tracked by the sound of charging Ulthraki's from their base camp fifty yards away. The remaining Ulthraki's that Fintan had gracefully let retreat now charged as a group of about twenty men towards the scene.

Vince looked to Fintan, "Now?"

"Yes, finish him." Vince sent his blade crudely into Magnar's back and then retracted the sword to prepare for the horde of Ulthraki's. He winced briefly as he watched Magnar's mouth tremble and his eyes widen as he gasped for breath but instead choked on his own blood.

Fintan looked to Vince and nodded, and Vince returned the nod. Fintan slammed his stone into the ground, and it embedded itself into the earth. A wave sent the ground shaking and the men trembled and faltered to the ground. Cracks appeared in the ground after the powerful shock wave, as the energy from the stone coursed through the caked earth. Green fluorescent light glowed through the shallow cracks on the surface, filling the earth with the power of the stone. Fintan muttered foreign speech that Vince had never heard leave Fintan's lips and rays of green light shot out from the stone and stunned the Ulthraki men. The men fell flat to the ground, the green light absorbing the air from the lungs and taking the life from their bellies. The light returned to Fintan's stone and he picked it up from its place in the earth. Vince had to hold him steady; he was about to faint. Vince had no time to stand in awe of what happened, but instead he looked to Fintan as he held him with a smile of victory. There was no such look in Fintan's face, only exhaustion and fatigue loomed in Fintan's eyes.

"You have a lot of explaining to do. And it'd better be good."

The smile left Vince's face as he remembered the situation, he had thrown the both of them into. The two gathered their things and left the camp, neither speaking a word.

"We'll travel quicker now without the Ulthraki's right?" Vince asked.

No response followed from Fintan, and the two continued on in silence towards Weptswur.