I turns out that Adrian's parents were a bit harder to convince than he had originally hoped. His father was vehemently against Adrian leaving the farm to become a mage when he could stay and inherit the farm while remaining a humble, but supposedly far more useful, hedge wizard. His mother was rather on the fence about the whole thing, not minding Samuel taking Adrian away for a little bit of proper training, but wanting him to wait until winter so that Adrian could help run the farm. His siblings, who were largely just grateful to get a small break from their many chores, occasionally weighed in, mostly to say they didn't want to do more chores just so Adrian could play with magic instead of doing real work.

Samuel seemed to be taking all of this in stride, remaining serene and calm as he calmly guided the conversation like the wind blowing grass. He spoke of patience and later rewards, comparing letting Adrian become a mage would be like growing grapes or trees, something without immediate reward that would bear riches in the long run. Adrian himself remained on the side lines, feeling an excited worry at the idea of getting to really be a mage!

He was the one who first heard the approaching footsteps approaching the door, the slow crunching of the dirt on the path calmly approaching the door. A polite knock echoed through the house, bringing the debate to a pause. Adrian's father approached the door, pausing to point at both Samuel and Adrian, "This discussion isn't over."

Three men stood at the door. This was not in and of itself too odd, as neighbors would occasionally visit to barrow a bit of food or a tool, but the who of the trio as rather alarming. The one who most immediately caught Adrian's eye was a plump yet proud man, his nose ever so slightly lifted up dressed in bright finely stitched clothing. He was immediately recognizable as Baron Baron, the local Baron, he had passed through the tiny town five years ago upon inheriting the title from his father and Adrian recalled feeling awe at the tall, rich, and unbowing man at the time. Said Baron now looked rather nervous and frightened.

The second was the local Chief Constable Cruz, a man who had migrated from the elsewhere bringing stories of strange far away lands on the other side of the country. He was a mountain of muscle, quick with a smile and friend to all her met. Every time Adrian had encountered the man in town he had always stopped to ask how his family was doing. He was now clad in a chainmail hauberk with sword at his side, smile a gone, replaced by a grim worry.

The last man was a stranger. A tall muscular man, dressed in noble finery under a dusty travelers cloak, who gave an odd feeling of age despite his face being hidden in the almost unnaturally deep shadow of his wide brimmed cap. While Adrian could not make out the third man's face, he seemed to radiate good cheer and amusement.

The trio seemed to bring Adrian's father up short, not that he could blame him, who wouldn't be shocked to find such power gathered on his humble doorstep? After an awkward moment his father bowed deeply, "M'lord, I can not say I was expecting you, would you like to come in?" His father stepped back hold the door wide for the noble guest.

Baron Baron simply shook his head slowly while Cruz stepped forwards, "I'm afraid we simply don't have time to stop and partake in your generosity Adam. We are looking for someone. A very dangerous fugitive is believed to be passing through the area and are performing a search. Have you seen-?"

Before Cruz could even finish his question, the third man, still as amused as ever had peaked deeper into the house where his unseen gaze rested on a suddenly nervous and sweating Samuel. A mountain of a voice spoke with a sing song tone from the darkness beneath the hat, "Found you."

"Greater Incineration Vortex," Samuel spoke and gestured. The entire front of the house, the three man outside, and Adrian's father were all caught and consumed in a swirling vortex of flames that instantly ate through all of them reducing them to charred bones which seemed to be blowing away in the swirling tornado of flames.

And then suddenly it was like the it had never happened, everyone was whole and complete, the house was unmarred, and even the smell of smoke rapidly vanished from the air. The Baron, Cruz, and Adrian's father collapsed, hyperventilating and clutching themselves in terror, the stranger simply walked forward an ear to ear toothy grin now visible beneath his hat's shadow. Adrian's siblings fled the room screaming, his mother remained frozen, eyes wide with fright, Adrian himself remained locked in place, confused and horrified at the events and the approaching man.

"Dust of Ages!" Samuel snarled, a black beam hitting the Stranger in the chest. The man's flesh seemed to rot away at a running pace, yet the rot's spread halted before fully consuming his chest and reversed in an instant leaving the man again unharmed. The man paused to glance with curious amusement at Samuel.

"I'll deal with you in a moment little minx," the Stranger reached out and slowly poked Adrian with a single finger. Adrian collapsed as pain consumed him, wondering if her was rotting away or burning like the Stranger had. He tried to cry out in agony, but the pain had paralyzed him to the point that his lungs refused.

The pain left him as quickly as it had come, leaving him gasping on the floor. Looking around Adrian saw that Samuel had retreated to the far side of the house, eyes still locked on the Stranger who advanced with causal slowness. In between the two stood his mother, still frozen with shock or fear. The stranger lifted a finger out towards his mother.

"Fireball!" Adrian cried in desperation, expecting little having seen the Stranger withstand far worse.

"Entropic Hunger!" Samuel barked at the same moment.

A dark maw sprung up before the Stranger seeming to suck all the light, warmth, and hope from the room, but leave the Stranger untouched. Then Adrian's fireball struck the man in the back, leaving naught but a large soot mark on the man's back, but it did cause him to stumble forwards into the maw which tried to slam shut. Everything seemed to pause as the Stranger's posture shifted briefly to surprise and he slowly turned to look down at Adrian, his toothy smile all the wider. "A brilliant maneuver! Very well done! I shall see you two in a bit."

Then the maw slammed closed and the Stranger was gone. Adrian blinked and held his breath half expecting the Stranger to suddenly reappear, untouched once again. Instead Samuel sprinted forwards and grabbed him up. "Come boy, time to run now!"

"What's going on? Who was that?" Adrian asked, eyes still locked onto the collapsed form of his mother and the trembling form of the three men caught up in the battle's opening volley.

"We are running for our lives, m'boyo, you heard the Herald, they found me again!" Samuel stated dragging Adrian stumbling behind him as he ran.

"Herald? A herald of who? And why would they be after you?" Adrian asked trying to resist the elder mage's pull, "And why do I have to come with you?"

"A Herald of Times Order, or something equally pompous and vague." Samuel spat, "What's important is that they work for the King himself. As for why they're after me, well, I may kind of sorta maybe be a tiny bit of a necromancer and since you attacked the Herald to defend me they likely think you're one too now. So stop dragging your feet and start beating feet before he breaks free."