Briox groaned, his body felt as if it were made of lead, molten burning lead. His fingers twitched and sent a shooting pain throught his body.

"Ah so your awake"

Crossax cassually remarked from a seat beside the bed. A seat Briox was sure was not there before.

"Don't bother trying to move, as is your fortunate that they used a spell that triggered out the tip of the sword and so you lived."

Briox groaned again unable to talk with a lead tongue as Crossax rang a small bell and continued.

"What you did not do is instantly recover from a suicidal stab that injected all but a minute amount of your mana into another magi. Ignoring all the ways that could have gone wrong, considering your untrained. The way it did go wrong compounded with your previous mana exhaustion"

Briox heard the door open and turned his head just a fraction before it became too hard and too painful all at once. He heard footsteps and the sound of utensils being used or set upon wood before Crossax continued.

"It appears you have managed to damage most of your body by forcefully pulling the mana out as you did. The good news is, that despite our lack of healers it is an easy treatment. The bad news.."

Crossax's voice trailed off as he appeared in Briox's view holding a funnel attached to a tube and a large silver teapot.

"...is you are not going to enjoy this at all, nor will this be a quick recovery."

Briox tried to protest as Crossax slid the tube down his throat, and when he poured the piping hot mixture down his throat. However his body was too weak, he could barely move.

When the mix hit his stomach and the world began to change colors, brutal cramps struck and his contracting muscles hurt even as they burned, and yet despite his thrashing were too heavy to move.

Crossax left the room his featureless face unable to show any emotion as he left Briox to toss and turn in agony.

Crossax looked at the nearby goblin attendant "The pain should ease in a hour if it does not, inform me"

The goblin nodded and then cringed as a scream of agony from the room beyond spooked her.

Tenatively she asked "Will the Magus be okay?"

Crossax sighed "he will recover, this is the first time in days we have been able to get food inside him, the added materials to boost his mana recovery would not be nice even on a full stomach, let alone with the added cramps. In a few hours pour a light broth into him and then 3 times a day broth and tea for food and mana. After a few weeks of that he should be recovered."

The goblin nodded quickly and pushed the tea trolley away. The cooks would have the broth ready by the time the young magus was ready to consume it.

If Crossax had been able to sigh he would have. In truth Briox being alive was already an incredible accomplishment. However he was not sure what his plans were for their allies in this venture.

Should he send out scouts to find them? Aid them? It would be dangerous, but they may be able to do so...Crossax pondered as he slowly faded from view.

Then an idea struck him and he appeared at the gate room of the castle, one fist striking his upturned palm as an exclamation. Of course he needed to find them, the lot of them needed to pay for the services rendered!

Once that was done...Crossax rippled with excitement, they would need a place to stay. Then they would need more supplies so the realm was not strained taking care of them.

If they needed supplies there was only one place they could get them, Crossax stared at the realm gate. The Black Gang, as thieves and spies they would have an idea where to strike or know how to find out.

A chain of events that was perfectly reasonable, necessary even, but that would end with Briox and the Black Gang raiding across the realm. Disrupting the Hyser Empire, and restocking Crossax's realm.

With more supplies Briox could make more forces. With more forces they could attack stronger targets. Eventually they would become too big to hide, and then they risked being crushed by Hyser's might. Before that however they would have time to grow, to plan...and maybe even to escape.

Crossax turned from the realm gate and began walking, he needed time to think and plan. This would be the start of something, he could feel it, like a ripple spreading through space.

Crossax shift between one step and another deep into warrens below the castle. A mighty set of iron doors, gilded with gold upon the decorated lions and griffons set into it stood before him. Massive fires burned eternally, red crystals stood at their hearts providing energy and a link to the essence of fire itself.

He slowly laid his hand upon the massive doors, pausing for a moment before pushing one side open with a groan of metal moving. He slowly walked into the darkness beyond until a number of silver flames began to flicker into being. Each one illuminating an ornate silver pedestal.

He strode by books of arcane knowledge, wands and enchanted daggers, orbs filled with power and an endless array of enchanted items. His Creators vault was deep and long, his spoils of war many.

Magus Vandolheim was once a name to be feared both by the Dark Lands. So feared that three high dark lords of those lands joined together to lure him to a trap and slay him.

The resulting battle had shocked both Islandyer and the Dark Lands. Magus Vandolheim had survived the attack of three high lords and their armies. Two of the dark lords had even fallen in battle, it was a mighty victory for Islandyer.

However, it was also a terrible failure for Vandolheim. His army was devastated, his orkin slain to the last, his grey cats left with only a breeding pair left at home because of the kits. Even the goblin supply teams had less than one in twenty survive.

In the end he had returned home with his army broken. Over a century of accumulation of wealth and veteran forces wiped out in one battle. Even if the loss had not been a personal one, there was no way for him to return to the frontlines without decades of recover.

So Crossax's creator had chosen to retire, leaving the wounds of the battlefield behind. Despite his title as a Magus Creator, Vandolheim had never been particularly skilled in that regard. His talent with tactics and personal strength had been what made him feared. So he took up a job teaching tactics to creators and that was where he was when Hyser struck.

Crossax stopped finally at his destination. It was not the deepest part of the vault for he could not reach there. The darkness was actually a bit of space bent and twisted as his creator had willed but not even Crossax could see through the space that his creator had hidden his greatest secrets within. One of those secrets being the methods behinds Crossax's own creation.

With an almost sigh Crossax reached out and picked up a small pouch, the jingle of metal on metal ringing out as he lifted it. With a glance inside Crossax confirmed what was inside.

Over a dozen rings, some large, some small, some light, some dark, some decorated, some not rings of all types. Vandolheim had spent a number of years crafting or trading for these, and gifting them to his elite commanders. Spacial rings that would allow whatever you touched to them to be stored, weightless, and away from from air or other elements.

There were limitations of course, limited space, limited weight, and if you put a liquid in everything would get wet as it spread around the place. But they were awfully convenient when you needed to move a large amount of things fast, a wonderful tool for raiders, though only a special kind of raider could even dream of using such a tool.

Crossax turned to leave as the pedestal faded away, he slid the pouch into his robes and continued walking. He could not leave or enter the vault as easily as he could travel his realm. But that was alright, he would use the time to plan as he slowly walked out.