I lay in my chambers staring at the ceiling, my mind pondering about what had occurred in the last few hours. The elves were a live and let live kind of people, not caring about peoples personal preferences or choices for example currently the moon goddess was in vogue, most of her followers being faithful because of the silver pendant that they were required to wear on all their attire, before that it was the goddess of the hunt because of the midnight feast and orgies in the wild that happened periodically and were invitation only, however one thing elves did not mess with was matters of the soul. Once an issue rose up affecting their souls elves got as nervous as a virgin facing her first penis, this was partly why mages were looked down upon after all some spells affected the soul, as soon as I discovered this about the elfin culture I had immediately began to research two things, how to conceal or protect my soul and second techniques to observe the soul and how to counter them. Among all of Shikubu’s memories and all the books, scrolls and manuscript in both the black sword and Rost castle one technique stood supreme, the celestial god eye.

The celestial god eye was a heaven tier technique requiring three things, an immortal body, durable mana pathways and five hundred years of refinement. The young master of the Van Linterg house had obviously two of the three things, all elves are born immortal even though it was an imperfect immortality and all elves in one form or the other could wield energy making our energy pathways very durable, however Lairden Van Linterg was not up to five hundred years old and that was the fact that had stopped me from bringing hellfire and brimstone down on him, and yes It was within my capabilities to do that, what had me on my back staring at the ceiling wasn’t all this however, it was the fact that no one seemed aware of what Linterg was in possession of in fact for all twenty seven years of his life he had been ostracized because of it. Feeling like I had dodged a bullet after all if it was found out that my soul wasn’t elfish in nature it won’t be a matter of me being exiled, it would be more like me being hunted down, dismembered, placed on a stake and burnt to death, all in all not a good experience, the fact of the matter was that in slightly less than five hundred years from now a pair of celestial god eyes would emerge that would be a threat to me and that was why I was currently laying on my bed pondering what to do.

After I had managed to stop myself from nuking the hell out of Lairden, I had invited them to dine with me before offering him and his retainers beds for the night, during the course of the dinner I discovered a few interesting things, Lairden for one wasn’t actually the son of the current head of the house of Van Linterg, his mother Reina Fallen the current consort to the head of the house, had a son from a previous union which was Lairden, on becoming the consort to the head of the house Van Linterg he had adopted him into the main branch, thinking about it with a clear head it was a win-win situation, the house of Van Linterg gained a son and Lady Reina had secured the future of her child. But the lord of the Linterg house already had a son from a previous marriage and in the twenty years they had been married they had managed to produce a female child as well, making Lairden’s existence more of an inconvenience than anything else.

For someone who had spent the last twelve years of his life being shuffled from one clan to the other with no place to call home and been all but abandoned, Lairden was surprisingly upbeat. Over the course of the dinner he had expressed sincere admiration in my ability to suppress the rebellious elements in my house, and had spoken none stop praise about how I easily subdued the mana war beast, even letting it slip that it was originally meant for his younger sister, who was a mage, but she had been unable to tame it for up to six month. Lairden’s straightforward nature was like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer’s day, we spoke late into the night before turning in.

I sighed despondently to myself, my original plan was to ambush them on their way to the elfin port city and exterminate everyone, but I was having second thoughts about the entire matter, i mean he wasn’t even refining the eyes he was a swords man not a mage, he posses absolutely zero threat to me….right now, and there in laid the problem, even though he wasn’t a threat now he might be in the future. I sat up on my bead as I came to a final decision, I would not judge him on what he might do in the future, but still I would have to seal those eyes, he had complained about the eyes been sensitive to sudden surges of energy even going so far as to say that they sometimes blinded him which for a swords man was crippling. You could just imagine two swords men duking it out in the rain when suddenly one prepares his ultimate attack and launches it at his opponent when some douche bag decides to shine a flood light into the opponents eyes is what I got from his description, because his god’s eyes where unrefined they had yet to desensitized to energy surges so to him surges of energy where like salt on a fresh wound. The easy method would be to use runes of power from Shikubu’s to enchant some sort of head gear to cover his eyes with, but releasing such powerful runes to a noble house who five hundred years from now might be hunting me was the very definition of folly, I believed in the goodness of people’s hearts as much as the next elf but handing over such powerful magic was like gifting them a ship full of smart missiles. The second more complex and pain in the ass way was to use the less powerful elfish runes of power to make the seal, with the first one I could be done in a night maybe a day if I really took my time but with the second it would require a week maybe two and I would be pushing things and won’t have time to go over my work.

I stared into the empty space that was my chambers or should I say chamber because I had all the walls knocked down making it one massive space the size of an American football field, it served as my private training grounds with my massive bed taking a tiny corner of the space. Staring back at me was the second big event which had been massively over shadowed by the discovery of the unrefined god’s eyes, the mana war beast. I had decided to call him Raijin, which was the Japanese god of thunder, I briefly toyed with the thought of calling him kaminari-chan, little thunder, which was the nick name my grandmother often called me in my first life because of my large size and teddy bear ways around her leading her to believe despite my large size and imposing demeanor I was harmless, but him being a war beast I was meant to ride into battle with I decided Raijin would be more appropriate. The reason I had decided to name him after thunder was because it turned out he was all bark and very little bite. Raijin was currently lying on a bed of pillows with his feet in the air, as soon as his cage had been brought up to my chamber and I had released him into the massive space that was my room he had bolted to the other side of the chamber, me still worried about what to do about the god’s eye had then proceeded to completely ignore him, three hours later as I lay on the bed thinking of the various method of dealing with Leander when I had felt a slight nudge at my feet, glancing down I had seen the most comical and yet disturbing thing in my short elfish life. Raijin was crouched low on the ground his tail tucked between his legs in submission however, the hairs on his neck and shoulder were standing in aggression and he had all his teeth bared, it was like he couldn’t decide whether to be submissive or aggressive and had decided to go for a bit of both, after staring at each other for a while I’m guessing hunger must have won out, because he let out a meow so heart retching that if anyone else had heard it the RSPCA would have been battering my door down. After having lots of raw meat delivered, the big cat had inhaled the massive serving and then promptly went to sleep right beside my bed as if it had been doing that all its life.

I combed my fingers through my hair sighing in frustration as I watched the sun rise through my window, after all this I would still have to deal with the bickering nobles and conniving delegates later in the day, I swear if not for the fact that Vanlathriel had tried to have me assassinated and also planned on evicting myself and mother from the Van Rost lands I won’t even have bothered to stop Glander from being named house head. it would be wise to get some sleep so I could face the dangers that lay ahead with a sharp mind and with that I lay my head down to sleep expecting to wake up well rested.

Is what I thought, it seemed more like I blinked slightly before I heard a knock on my door. Rising groggily from the bed I was about to scream profanities at whoever was knocking when I noticed I could no longer see the sun from my window which faced the east, meaning it was at the earliest mid noon. I staggered over towards the door as the person continued to knock insistently, I glanced over at Raijin who hadn’t even bothered to get up but was watching the door intently. With a wave of my hand I dismissed the wards protecting my door, don’t trust these bastards, and raised an eyebrow at Felina.

“Lord Tal it’s time for the final fittings of your robes for this evening” Felina said and behind her stood three elves, two male and one female, staring at me with inquisitive eyes. “give me a moment” I said to Felina before closing the door and turning to face Raijin, “in your cage” I commanded the big cat, if it was Felina alone that had come to visit me I won’t be so worried after all against the young war beast she was more than able to take care of herself, but she was bringing three other people who I was unsure of their level of adeptness, coming from a world where if your dog bit somebody it would most likely be put down and you would face a barrage of legal drama I wasn’t taking any chances. Raijin first resisted, baring teeth at me and a low growl emitting from his chest, but after I barraged him with killing intent he wisely retreated to his cage.

“Come in” I said to the elves standing outside my door as I opened it for the second time, “Lord Tal it is an honor that my small shop has been chosen for this auspicious event” the female elf said bowing in gratitude, “Felina have the delegates begun to arrive?” I asked after nodding in acknowledgment of the tailor’s thanks, “yes my lord, four of the royal houses from the capital territory have sent delegates, five if you include my lords guest lord Lairden Van Linterg, but…..” she began before pausing slightly a look of worry flashing across her face, suddenly I had a bad premonition, Felina took in a deep breath and looked me in the eye “both of the royal houses present in the new lands sent delegates as well……both of them” she finished emphasizing on the last part. Suddenly I felt a wave of tiredness washed over me as I realized from her words the evening celebrations were going to be much more stressful that I had originally thought.

When I was four, the various leaders of the clans associated with the house of Van Rost decided to form a coalition with the house of Van Flotina, another of the three royal houses that had made the new lands their home, in support of this deal myself and the daughter of the head of Flotina were formerly engaged to each other and were promised to be married once I turned sixty. Vanlathriel who before my awakening was my favorite person in the world had instructed me to be very nice to Lamlen Van Flotina seeing as she would be my future wife, I had taken this mission to heart going above and beyond to get close to the little elf child, Lamlen had taken full advantage of that turning me into a door mat, after news that I had been crippled spread, the house of Flotina sent a formal letter of divorce and immediately distanced themselves from me Lamlen herself often denying to any who asked if we were ever engaged, three months ago after I had reclaimed the title of house head I had suddenly started receiving letters with the house of Van Flotina’s emblem and I immediately knew what it was pertaining to, I refused to open even one of them, burning them all, but it seems not hearing from me had not discouraged the head of house Flotina now he had sent someone in person, the problem was I knew even though it hadn’t been formal, they had promised the hand of Lamlen to Glander.

“damned if I do damned if I don’t” I murmured to myself before firming my resolve, “Felina after we are done here tell the captain of the guard in charge of security to triple the soldiers charged with guarding this night, inform him to put green sashes on the soldiers guarding the inner hall, orange on those guarding the outer hall and red on those guarding the perimeter of castle Rost, anyone out of their place and not wearing the appropriate sash should be detained”. Felina’s eyes bulged as I rattled of instruction pertaining to the security of this night’s event as the tailor pulled out a red robe with black and gold lining, I slid out of the dress shirt I was wearing and pulled on the red robe, it hung on my body perfectly.

After an hour of trying various red robes along with some other robes, tunics and breeches the tailor had made in way of thanks in endorsing her shop, I saw a certain trend begin to arise, all the clothes were styled after what I wore on the failed coronation of my cousin Glander, I sighed internally promising myself to set the tailor straight on my fashion preferences but for now I let it slide, “once again thank you for choosing our shop Lord Tal” the tailor said as Felina escorted out and five elves carrying a massive tub filled with hot water walked in next, I started stripping as they added various scented oils, leaves and powders into the tub before they exited as well and shut the door.

I stripped till I was bare and climbed into the tub allowing the warm water soothe me, no matter if I was in an elfin body or a human, there is nothing like a hot bath to reduce stress, I thought to myself. After soaking in the tub for thirty minutes, in all honesty I think I dozed off, I climbed out and toweled myself dry before beginning the long arduous process of combing my hair, it had grown to reach the middle of my thigh and I was beginning to think I should cut it, but every time the thought crossed my mind, I remembered my elf mother combing it back at black sword castle as I soaked in healing salves and pastes recovering from bruises she had inflicted on me moments ago. With another sigh I began the combing procedure and an hour and half later I had wrestled my hair into a warrior’s knot.

As I was about to begin dressing up for the big event Felina came to talk to me but more intriguingly she had a deep blue robe in her possession. “My lord one of the two aids of the tailor was seen talking to members of the Van Flotina delegate” she simply stated and instantly I understood taking the blue robe from her, “I still informed the soldiers of your security wishes but changed the colors to white for the outer perimeter, black for the outer hall and purple for the inner hall” she continued as she discretely turned away as I began to dress. “Thank you Felina, you did well, also have Vanlathriel and the other leaders of clan loft along with their immediate family moved into the inner hall, we might need them to weather the political storm that is coming” I said as I pulled on the black silk tunic and breeches that went under the blue wide sleeved robe. As I turned to look for my boots as I saw the conflicting look that flashed across Felina’s face, “what is it?” I asked testily as I fully knew what had her bothered it was an argument we’ve had before, “my lord at least one piece of jewelry should be allowed in this most joyous of occasions, it is only proper” she begged but I only waved her protest aside and began pulling on my knee high boots. Sighing in defeat Felina sank to the ground and began helping me lace up one leg of my boots while I did the other all the while muttering “first he doesn’t want a bed servant then he dismisses his personal convoy but no that wasn’t enough, he then asks for all the walls in the chamber to be knocked down turning it into a well lit cave, is he some kind of bat?, then he asks us to release a barely tamed war beast into his room then sleeps through the night like that is the norm” she stated before viciously yanking the last loop of shoe lace into place and tying it up, “at least I’m wearing this ring” I said indicating a black ring, with the house emblem on it, on my fore finger but Felina only sneered at me before replying “that is the house emblem worn by the head of the house, if by house law you weren’t required to wear it at all times you would have thrown it away long time ago”.

I made sure food would be brought up for Raijin before heading towards the guest wing where Lairden and his retinue would probably be, since I had decided not to kill the young master of The Van Linterg clan I intended to use him as a shield this evening. As I turned down the hall leading to the guest quarters, Lairden, Angrod and the rest of the Van Linterg entourage were already walking down the hall towards me. A shiver ran down my spine as the pure white eyes fixed their gaze on me, I forced a smile and strode forward to meet him, “lord Lairden, it seems you are already prepared to weather this bothersome event with me” I called out jovially as we met grasping each other’s mid forearm in a show of friendship, “it would be my honor Lord Tal, it is I who is rather worried that my reputation would tarnish this event for you, my condition is well known in some circles” he replied a look of anxiety on his face, I waved my hand in a dismissive gesture to put him at ease as we fell in line with each other and began heading to the main wing, “anyone who discriminates against my friends discriminates against me” I stated firmly. It was like this we bantered back and forth until we finally arrived at the main hall.

As soon as I came into view a black haired elf with vivid green eyes stepped forward and loudly proclaimed, “the new lord of house Van Rost Lord Tal Van Rost and the young master of house Van Linterg Lord Lairden Van Linterg!” he loudly proclaimed and all eyes immediately swiveled to meet us at the entrance. The festivities had started since morning and the party was well on its way when I made my entrance, alliances been formed and enemies made already, from the corner of my eye I could see the look of surprise on both Lairden and Angrod’s faces, normally my name would have been announced first to give me time to bask in the attention of the invited guest then after a respectable amount of time had passed they would be ushered in but instead they had announced us together making him the honored guest of the event. “Come Lord Lairden let us go sit so these people may enjoy the rest of their evening” I said to the startled elf beside me with a nod to Felina who escorted everyone else to the Van Linterg table, as Lairden made to follow them I placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to pause mid step, “where are you going Lord Lairden?” I asked fixing a look of confusion on my face even though I already knew what the misunderstanding was about, he simply gawked at me making vague indicating motion towards where his envoy was seating, “no no lord Lairden you are seating at the head table with me or I fear I will die from boredom in this dreary event, regale me with tails from the proving grounds and all the adventures you’ve had in it” I said firmly directing him towards the inner hall where the main table stood. Like a dear in the headlight Leander eyes were opened wide as I directed us to the high table before seating down and firmly sitting him by my right side.

Elfin banquets were not like I thought it would be, I mean I wasn’t expecting champagne towers and caviar but I thought it would be more formal, I was expecting a long table with formal seating and a dance space where people waltzed to classical music like in the days of queen Victoria, instead each ‘table’ was actually a low table piled high with all kinds of food and there was no formal seating instead they had these sofa like low chairs where one could seat comfortably or recline fully if one chose, various entertainments such as jugglers, or gymnasts or dancers meandered from table to table entertaining guest and a flurry of maids and butlers scampered with trays making sure no table lacked for anything for any period of time, it had a very ancient Persian feel to it, I quite enjoyed it. It was also at this point I understood why fighting for seating was so fierce, when the advisers had said seating they had meant space or position, the best space was as close as you could get to the main table signifying your importance to the person who was hosting the event, between the main table which sat the host and the next table which usually had the elders and advisers of the house was a wide open space meant for plays and dance numbers and acrobatic acts so the further away you were the poorer the show.

As the sky darkened and Lairden finally relaxed, beginning to tell me about the various rules and customs of the proving grounds and in particular a prank they had played on one of the particularly over bearing seniors, Felina approached me to indicate that the guest would like to start presenting their gifts, I groaned loudly knowing that presenting gifts would also include me having to listen them rant for awhile, “ my mother always said give them time equivalent to the gifts they bring, if the gift is good let them rant for awhile if it is poor cut them off early” Lairden said chuckling beside me, it was sound advice and with that I indicated for Felina to start letting them present themselves.

First were the independent merchant houses, each coming forward with a variation of the same gift, a dozen or upwards large barrels of exotic wine followed by X amount of gold bars or gems and jewelry, then an item unique to their trading company, maybe a leather cuirass made from some exotic mana beast or a bottle of medicine with unbelievable healing properties, all at the end would hint about how it would benefit me to enfold their merchant house into my clan. Then came the merchant houses who were affiliated to one royal house or the other already, they were the heavy hitters gifting bastard swords made purely from mitral or shields made with heavily infused ebony, the blue wind merchant house affiliated with the Van Dowen house brought me a war beast saddle specifically fitted to accommodate Raijin’s growth for the next year, how they got that information was a sharp reminder on how poor my internal security was, then came the independent clans, usually with necklaces and rings set with diamond and pearls but all with some variation of a precious metal decked out with rare stones. After the last independent clan was received and the gifts were carted away under the watchful eye of Felina, there was a short interlude where a theater troupe came on to perform a play about a young elf who went about challenging all the great elfin warriors to duel until there was no one else to challenge anymore, in her arrogance she cried to the heavens that there was no one who could defeat her under the sky, the gods in order to teach her humility breathed life into her reflection who promptly challenged her to a duel, because they were so evenly matched it is said that till this day they still fought on a distant hill in a far away land, the gods allowing no one to approach so that the punishment would last for eternity.

After the theater troupe cleared of the space the royal houses geared up to do war through their gifts, not putting in it boxes or partially covering it up like the merchant houses or independent clans had done but putting them on platforms carried by four elves, the five royal houses from the main land didn’t pull punches. The first house brought copies of ancient magical texts from all across the elfin lands along with precious magical ingredients and gilded bows with a mountain of quivers, the second house brought towering jars of expensive perfume and roll after roll of precious silk. As the gifts kept on coming each time I stood with a smile and graciously accepted the gifts on the other hand I could feel Felina smoldering besides me as every gift had its hidden insult or mockery within it, archery was considered a hobby within commoner circles, because it was used by commoners to hunt for food it wasn’t considered dignified for a noble elf to hunt for himself, of the precious magical materials twelve of them were meant to treat invalids and the badly injured most likely in reference to the fact that I was crippled, each and every gift though extravagant contained a well aimed insult all disguised in gold and precious gems.

Finally the house of Dowen deposited their gift which, it seemed, was the only one that was just that a gift or maybe I had yet to grasp in which way I was insulted. I sank down into the comfortable sofa and was about to continue eating when a soft voice called out to me “greetings Lord Tal”. I raised my head to identify the individual and what greeted me was a stunning sight, clad in a red dress with gold and black embroidery was a female elf, the dress caressed her body flowing along her curves showing just enough cleavage to peak ones interest but hiding enough to desire more a dress that if I had worn the robes I had intended to would have made us seem suspiciously like an intended couple , her skin looked like living silk and her lips were luscious and pink her brown eyes were clear and alluring and her black hair reflected the light from the torches that lit the hall. As I gazed upon this vision of beauty I felt a sharp stab of intense emotion, in any other elf you would have said love on first sight or maybe the more common but lesser acknowledged lust but the emotion I felt was a deep seated hate for the person before me, after all it was Lamlen that stood there.

Even though deep loathing coursed through every fiber of my being, I kept a plane face as I observed the female elf in front of me before raising a single eyebrow in question. “it is I lord Tal, Lamlen” she said mistaken my gesture for an inability to identify her, “oh Lamlen” I declared jovially and I could see the relief wash over her face briefly before she heard my next words, “what can I do for the house of Van Flotina” I said my eyes sweeping the space beside her, indicating to all who were watching that she had come for a favor and yet brought no gift. As the interaction between Lamlen and I started the entire hall became more quite as it was quite known that when news of my….situation spread the house of Van Flotina had not bother to send an envoy to annul the formal engagement between our houses but had sent a simple letter instead, this act had been frowned upon, but with my future looking bleak nobody had bothered to speak out against it. Suddenly from a corner of the outer hall came a forced laugh “ha-ha, lord Tal I know it has been a few years since you and the lady Lamlen have seen each other but didn’t you both use to be close friends” a male elf spoke out walking out towards the front of the hall to join Lamlen in the open, from the familial appearance they shared I’m guessing he was also from the house of Van Flotina, Lamlen being an only child and her father and mother already approaching there first millennium, so the individual before me must be the Lady Giber Van Flotina’s younger brother, Indwe Flotina. “Yes we use to be friends” I stated and left it at that letting the silence drag on, sensing that whatever ploy they had schemed up was not working Indwe hastily bowed before stating “we just came to wish the new lord of the Van Rost house happiness on this joyous day” and placed a hand on Lamlen’s sleeve attempting to steer her away from the main table, but who was I if not a malicious bastard, if you were to kick a person while there down you better do it until you are satisfied because retribution will come either way. “Aren’t you going to see your fiance? My cousin Glander is just over there” I stated loudly pointing towards a table where Vanlathriel and her son Glander sat, my statement caused both Lamlen and Indwe to freeze mid stride and the hall to erupt in whispers, the fact I had been dumped by letter was well known but the bit of gossip about her trying to marry my cousin who attempted to usurp my position was news to the audience.

Vanlathriel who had received news that she had been upgraded to the inner chamber instead of feeling joyful had been largely suspicious, my recent antiques had shown I was not one to easily forgive, but as the night had gone on I had seen her begin to let her guard down and enjoy basking in the glory of the event. As every eye in the hall swung to Vanlathriel’s table her eyes narrowed in hate as she looked my way, Glander on the other hand was looking devastated, his eyes stared longingly at the back of Lamlen, the poor sap must have actually been in love with the tramp, but it was time for me to press my advantage no room for pity. “after I received my letter of divorce I was devastated” I said showing a sad face and wiping a false tear from the corner of my eye, “but when I heard that Lamlen and Glander were to be married I was joyful no two people deserve each other more” I continued looking back and forth between Lamlen and Glander. Indwe turned to face me with a frown on his face, as he opened his mouth to speak Vanlathriel cut in, “careful elder of Van Flotina for every agreement there is some form of proof” she said her face looking as calm as the resting sea but the knuckles on her hand gripping the table had turned white. Indwe’s mouth snapped shut as Vanlathriel had countered his claim of the rumor been false before it had even left his mouth. Lamlen and Indwe stood in the middle of the hall under the scrutiny of the entire crowd, there escape route cut off because to flee know was to say Lamlen had wronged both Glander and i. just as I was about to let them retreat with some pride Lamlen turned to face me as well, the beautiful calm face was gone and instead a vicious sneer had taken its place, “it will do Lord Tal well to remember to show mercy to others after all it wasn’t not long ago that you were in a position of weakness, you been a cripple and all” she stated loudly for the entire hall to hear, absolute silence followed her words.

Most elves when offending others, especially in public, used veiled barbs and insinuations, for her to so directly and loudly proclaim this slight was shocking to those present but was more to my style of doing things. “hahaha, the true colour of the rose has shown itself, after drinking my wine and eating my food you deem it fit to insult me because I point out your loose ways, the house of Van Flotina is indeed bold, parading a harlot as a maiden and promising her to every eligible young noble with a cock between his legs, tell me in this brief period before you desperately crawled back to me on your knees how many elves have you bedded Lamlen, or has the house of Van Flotina fallen so low that they have sunk to prostitution” I asked with a smile no longer mincing words. If Lamlen’s statement had silenced the crowd with surprise mine did with absolute shock, Indwe who had been trying to physically drag Lamlen away face had gone red with rage and Lamlen stood there mouth open and eyes dazed as if she had been struck physically, Indwe stepped forward furiously “do you think the house Van Flotina would let such a slight be, you’ll regret this boy” he yelled at me while jabbing his finger at me in fury, “and the slight of breaking two engagements to the house of Van Rost, attending my ceremony without gift and insulting me under my roof should be what? Ignored, forgiven. The house of Van Rost does not fear Flotina do your worst and I shall do mine we will see which house remains standing at the end” I replied calmly. The tension in the hall shut up to the roof as I had all but declared war between our two families and things had gone from juicily entertaining to dead serious in a heartbeat, as if realizing the direction all this was heading and also seeing Lairden by my side, indicating that house Van Linterg might be supporting me, Indwe took a step back before ceasing Lamlen’s elbow and storming out of the hall loudly saying “remember this slight lord Tal for the house of Van Flotina shall not forget it”, with a smile I calmly replied “I forget no one who has wronged my house” I said then shifting my gaze from the back of the retreating couple to fall on the main houses that had come from the mainland “no one” I restated this time locking gazes with each of them, it was a simple statement meant to drive a point home, I had acknowledged there insults and will pay them back in time. Lamlen and Indwe, needless to say, left the celebrations early but there sudden departure did not sully the festivities and instead the celebrations carried well into the early morning of the next day before the guest grudgingly began to leave and after a respectable amount of time from the first guest leaving I and Lairden retired for the night.

“that wasn’t too bad” I said to Felina as I threw myself into my oversized bed, “Van Flotina will not let this insult go unanswered” she tiredly replied picking up the robe I had discarded and folding it neatly, “if I had answered them with caution they would have still found a way to take offense, either way the outcome would have remained the same” I replied rolling around on the bed trying to find the most comfortable spot to fall asleep in, “damned if you do damned if you don’t” she softly said restating a quote I had previously said earlier that very day, “you knew that this was going to happen, all of it” she said her face going slightly pale in horror. It would be very easy to let her believe I was all seeing and all knowing, but whether it was fatigue or just being tired of all the scheming and plotting I answered her honestly, “all of it no, but the fact that I would never agree to marry Lamlen was a given from there it was easy to predict the rest of it, finding a way to capitalize on the situation that was the tricky part” I told her while sitting up and glancing over at Raijin who was currently gnawing on a thigh bone of some creature. My respect for Raijin as a wild animal was rapidly declining, once it realized that with some slight showing of obedience it could leave in extreme decadence it had not so much as sent a growl of defiance in my direction when I returned to my chamber. With a sigh I turned back to Felina before putting my thoughts in order and beginning to plan ahead, “I am going to escort the Lairden to the port so he can board a ship to the capital, while am gone I need you to do a few things so bring me ink, quill and paper so I can give you necessary authority, then I’ll send some proclamations through you to the head of the Loft clan, the fact that we haven’t heard from grandfather is leaving me uneasy” I instructed while gathering the last of my energy to power through. With a nod Felina left to follow my instructions, leaving a detailed least of all the gifts I had been presented this night. After writing instructions, proclamations and various decrees I simply fell back and let exhaustion take me.

I woke up mid noon again the next day and had to saddle Raijin within my chambers to avoid any incident outside, luckily the saddle also came with a muzzle, then headed to the front of the estate where Lairden and his envoy along with three hundred of my soldiers were preparing to depart, on seeing me the courtyard instantly went silent and Angrod rushed forward along with Lairden. “Lord Tal you are dressed as if you were to travel with us” Angrod said letting out a false chuckle as if he couldn’t believe the absurdity of the statement he just uttered but indeed from my attire it looked like I was set to travel. I had abandoned my usual plain silk tunic and breeches for a dirt brown leather trousers and a sleeveless leather cuirass of the same color, strapped to each thigh were three daggers and on my hands were dirt brown riding gloves, behind me trailed a sulking Raijin who had not taken kindly to being muzzled. “Indeed I am coming with you lord Lairden, as I pondered yesterday I realized I might have the solution to your eye problem” I said directing my answer to Lairden while smiling benignly. Lairden’s eyes opened wide in shock as a slight trace of hope appeared on his face, “do not jest lord Tal I have long since reconciled myself with living with this curse do not offer me false hope for I could not bear another disappointment” he said fear joining the hope on his face, I laughed softly placing my hand on his shoulder, “the reason I am coming with you is because I cannot invoke the enchantment with the little time you are gracing me with your presence, I hope to complete the item we will use to suppress the curse by the time we get to the port city of Letharen, though I do not promise to cure your condition but I can make it more bearable” I simply stated.

Suddenly Lairden sprang towards me, sweeping me into a hug and lifting me bodily from the ground, as he placed me back on the ground a look of absolute joy was on his face, “I swear to you Lord Tal even though I am nothing but a burden to my house and my clan if what you say is true you have earned a friend who will lay down his life for you no matter the situation” he said while grabbing both my forearms firmly, and so the recruitment begins, I thought to myself “as long as you stop calling me Lord Tal and simply refer to me as Tal I would consider all debts paid” I said grasping his forearms in return. The entire time this interaction was taken place Angrod stood to the side a complex expression on his face but his silence also confirmed my suspicion, Angrod was not here to see to Lairden’s need but to closely monitor his every move, “this is truly wonderful news, lord Madilhan would be most pleased to hear this” Angrod said finally recovering from his stupor.

“Lord Tal I have carried out your instructions” Felina’s voice said coming from behind me, I swung round to face her only to see my latest acquisition sulking beside her. Mablung Tulcan, the winner of the martial competition three months ago and an unwilling recruit into the we support Lord Tal faction, in the best of times he was quite and withdrawn on bad days he was downright hostile, fortunately for me and unfortunately for him I had very quickly discovered what made him tick, like my mother he desired nothing more than to improve his strength and train in peace and like my mother I played him like a fiddle. “ I answer your call Lord Tal” Mablung gruffly stated irritation in his voice, I chuckled loudly letting an annoying grin spread across my face “come now Mal, I intend to have you leading my entire army one day, you have to start somewhere” I jovially said gesturing to the three hundred soldiers preparing to depart in the courtyard, his face showed slight irritation at the nickname I had christened him with before he let out a sigh and walked towards the stable to have a horse saddled. “Lord Tal if you are to leave without incident you might have to depart soon, Vareyen somehow got wind of your intentions and the leaders of the various clans are gathering to stop you” she said while she handed me a medium sized sac, filled with the ingredients necessary to make the sealing item for Leander’s god eyes, an exquisitely made bow and two quivers filled with arrows. After accepting the items from Felina I turned to face Leander with an embarrassed smile “it seems I will depart before you and meet up later at the first checkpoint” I said before promptly turning and sprinting out the gates of the estate Raijin closely behind me.

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It had been eleven days since I had departed from castle Rost, and life couldn’t be any sweeter, by day I roamed the thickly wooded forest with Raijin hunting or simply traveling at high speeds, or finding a cave where I practiced my various techniques without fear of been spied on, at night I raced to catch up with the heavily guarded procession of wagons and soldiers heading towards the elf port city of Letharen where Mablung would have a tent set up and I could continue the process of creating the seal for Leander’s god eyes. I was currently balanced on a tree branch high in the canopy of the forest, arrow knocked and breath silent as I gazed down at a vacant river bed twenty yards in front of me, or so it seemed. Raijin crouched form was down below to my left slowly inching towards a river bed where it looked like a mountain of red clay was standing, in actuality the red clay was a wild pig who was currently in a stare down contest with Raijin, since the first day we took off from castle Rost it had become painfully apparent that like I had suspected Raijin was raised in captivity, the way he moved through the forest was amateurish at best making loud noises and pouncing at every bird or mouse he saw, but as the days had gone by he had begun to improve even managing to sneak within twenty feet of the current wild pig before he had unluckily stepped on a dry branch leading to the situation below. The wild pig snorted in warning as Raijin tried to inch forward once more, the reason the pig hadn’t run away yet was because its piglets were currently crossing the river behind it, the pig was just keeping Raijin at bay until it could cross itself, I was simply there in case things took a turn for the worse for Raijin I would put the pig down. After the last piglet waded across the river the wild pig promptly turned round and unceremoniously leapt into the deepest part of the river furiously paddling across, Raijin sprang forward to give chase but to my disbelieve as soon as he got to the edge of the river he came to an abrupt halt before dipping a single paw into the water, like a person testing for the temperature before plunging into the bathtub, with a chuckle I let the tension out of the string of my bow before returning the arrow back to one of the two quivers that hung behind me. Bow firmly in hand, I let myself fall to the forest floor, rapidly circulating energy in the pathways of my feet so I could land softly, “hey you, you’re a war beast you know, if other war beast saw that shameful display what they would say” I mocked the big cat who was currently sitting at the edge of the river staring forlornly at the disappearing figure of the wild pig, “let’s go big guy I’m sure you’ll get them next time” I said consolingly and began heading to the next camp site we had agreed upon before we set out that morning.

As the sun set and darkness began to encroach, Raijin and I approached a cluster of tents in a field that had music playing and large fire in its center, “greetings Lord Tal” a guard at the perimeter stopped his patrol to greet me before carrying on after I nodded in acknowledgement, I walked into the clearing at the center of the tents to see a large moose like creature roasting over the open fire, and a multitude of elves drinking ale while sitting on fallen logs surrounding it, among them was Lairden who in the last week had become extremely friendly. “Lord Tal you have returned!” Lairden shouted in drunken joy as soon as his pupiless white eyes landed on me, “yes I have” I replied with a smile trying not to flinch as those eyes landed on me once more, i walked over to the fire where an elf sliced of a large chunk of meat for me another shoved a mug of ale into my hand, as we had traveled from Rost town the soldiers under my banner had not known the way to behave around me, should they bow and scrape their knees on the ground like most nobles demanded of soldiers in their employ, or would I rather have them ignore me and do their jobs, like some clan heads preferred, I soon rendered their worries useless as I promptly disappeared with Raijin for the entire day only returning at night upon which I instructed the elves in charge of the wagon to reveal the barrels of ale, to their delight that very fast night they were allowed to drink to their hearts content and the meat we had roasted that evening had been a wild buck which I had personally hunted, on the morning of the next day I had instructed Mablung to divide the three hundred elf squad into two, the first half would ride close to the Van Linterg envoy and the wagons protecting them at all times while the other half would ride in two sections one in front and one in the back both two hundred yards away from the main procession, the guards on the outside of the procession who had the harder job of protecting the perimeter and remaining vigilant at all times would be allowed to drink till their hearts content that evening while the guards on the inside could participate in the feast but were not allowed to drink wine or ale, they were also take shifts in protecting the perimeter of wherever we decided to camp, the groups alternated roles so that each had sufficient chance to drink till their hearts content, as we continued to travel together the soldiers soon realized if they perfumed their duties to the best of their abilities they would have nothing to fear from me.

I sat down besides Lairden while Raijin slunk of to my tent, not a fan of loud noises, where he knew he would be left alone, “forgive the slow procession lord Lairden, I am just trying to buy time to finish the item I promised you” I said putting an apologetic smile on my face, “it is fine Lord Tal, I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun while traveling” he replied with a laugh swinging the mug of ale in his hand energetically, I stayed in the festivities for a brief while before retiring to my tent where Mablung came to brief me before I was finally left alone. My tent was large by any estimation, as it stood I was certain it was the size of a two bedroom apartment back in my first life but there was a reason for this. I picked up a stick which I had carved various runes of power into and drew a large circle which had a radius of three feet then a smaller one inside it with a radius of two feet, within the smaller circle I drew a five point pentagram making sure each point touched the boundary of the inner circle at those points, between the larger and smaller circle, I drew smaller circles with a pentagram in each one before stepping out of the entire construct and drawing one more circled pentagram this one with a one foot radius then linking it with the larger construct with three lines. I stepped away from my work and appraised it silently on the signs looking for any wobbly or broken lines, for what I needed it for it was overkill but this was the aspect of magic I was least proficient in so I was least proficient in so I was taken no chances on backlash, the arcane arts unlike its mage craft counterpart did not use emotion or feeling to work , it was based in precise placement and manipulation of symbols, runes and energy following a predetermined and secure path to reach a predefined outcome, it was as sciency as magic got on this world and science had never been my strong point. I brought over the sac that Felina had given me on my esc….exit from castle Rost and began to place each major ingredient at the points of the pentagram within the smaller circles at its boundaries before finally placing twelve cups worth of sand at the center of the biggest pentagram, all branches of the arcane art had the pentagram involved one way or the other be it, alchemy, animation, binding, summoning, transfiguration or enchantments, the pentagram was essential to its working which was why it was the symbol of the arcane and any practitioner who desired to be proficient in it had to learn to pull off a perfect pentagram. I sat in front of the one foot radius encircled pentagram, stick in hand, and began channeling energy into it, the smaller pentagram lit up with a faint glow before the light started flowing up the three lines connecting the smaller and bigger constructs and lighting up the larger encircled pentagram, I swiftly brought the point of the engraved stick into the pentagram in front of me and scribbled the elfish rune for fire in the middle of the pentagram, the rune flashed briefly before disappearing, I glanced at the corresponding space in the larger pentagram to see all the particles of sand floating in the air and a white flame blazing underneath it, I fixed my gaze back down on the pentagram in front of me on the highest point scribbled the runes used for refinement on the next point on the left the rune for water on the one below that the rune for extraction on the point on the right side the runes responsible for purification and on the last point the runes responsible for endurance and stability.

As I scribbled each of these runes into the pentagram each of them flashed briefly before disappearing and the ingredients in the corresponding space where each of the runes were written slowly rose into the air and began to be processed, at the apex of the pentagram the tiger grass was being shredded into fine powder and all impurities were being flung out of the pentagram, on the left a cube of solid chalk like substance was being dissolved in a bubble of water turning it green and a femur of a seventh tier mana beast was having the bone marrow extracted from it, on the other side the same thing was happening to the last two ingredients as the runes I inscribed had their respective effects on the various ingredients. I shifted my gaze back to the center of the pentagram where the grains of sand had turned a bright red and were more liquid than solid, I stabbed the point of the engraved stick into the middle of the pentagram before me channeling energy through it but this time instead of inscribing a rune I sent a clear imprint of my will along with the energy and the liquid sand began to converge before twisting and turning to take the final form I had in mind for it, as the sands final form emerged, the processed ingredients floating at the outskirts of the pentagram began converging at its center, blending into the molten sand one by one before finally the pentagrams glow faded and I withdrew my energy from it staring silently at the finished product. If an elf had seen the finished product of my labor they would have assumed it was a glass visor of some sort, but if anyone from earth had seen it only one would have come to mind, sunglasses. I picked up the wrap around shades that were slightly translucent with a hint of blue and slid them unto my face, I had blunted the surrounding edges so they would not cut into skin when worn, they weren’t heavy more of a comfortable weight so the wearer won’t forget that they had them on, “now comes the hard part” I said out loud to myself placing the glasses back in the center of the pentagram and picking up the engraved stick. For the next week after roaming the forest with Raijin by the day, I spent my evenings reinforcing the glasses with runes of power aimed to both suppress the god’s eye and shield the glasses from interference from other mages, I never did like strangers touching my stuff, until finally a day before we were to reach Letharen I set the last rune of power into place just before the sun rose.

I stood up from the pentagram stretching my aching body, I would have normally broken the work I had done the previous night into two parts but after working so long on a project when the end becomes visible you turned to try and finish in one go. I picked up the glasses trying to see if I had messed up in my rune work in anyway, wishing one more time I had more time to scan through I let out a sigh of regret before heading out of my tent where the workers had already begun to make breakfast and take down some tents. I strode over to the cluster of tents meant for the Van Linterg envoy and flagged down one of the maids assigned to help them, “please go in and inform Lord Lairden that I would like to see him” was my simple request then I moved slightly further away, after ten minutes a sleepy Lairden emerged from his tent closely followed by two elves who I had not been introduced to, “greetings lord Tal, I was told you wished to see me” Lairden said as his gaze fell on me, without replying I simply raised the item in my hand into his line of sight, “is that the item you have been making?” he asked swiftly closing the distance separating us his eyes shining with reluctant hope, once again instead of replying I simply handed the glasses over to him gesticulating how he should wear them. As soon as he put on the glasses, silenced spread through the camp as even the workers who were packing away empty barrels and folding collapsed tents paused in their work and held their breaths after all tales of the partially blind adopted son of the Linterg house had been around before I was born, as the silence stretched on Lairden swung his head to face me and to my horror to streams of tears flowed down from his eyes, “I can see!” he loudly proclaimed joy evident in his voice, “things aren’t fuzzy anymore, everything is sharp and clear, by the heavens Tal, I CAN SEE!” he bellowed and sprung away from me grabbing the sword from one of the elves that had followed him from out of his tent as he swept past and swinging it around with a wide grin on his face. “It might take some getting used to but give it time and you will adjust” I said with a chuckle as a sense of relief settled into me, Lairden, barely acknowledging my statement, was still busy balancing on the logs that we had used as chairs near the burnt out fire pit as he swung the sword in his hand in increasingly complicated patterns before suddenly coming to a stop, “lord Tal, on this day you have given me a gift more precious than the stars in the sky, I swear I shall dedicate the rest of my life to repay you” he said leaping down from the logs and approaching me before firmly grasping my forearm, “if you count me as one of your friends Lord Lairden I will consider all debts repaid, and drop this Lord Tal nonsense call me Tal like you just did a moment ago” I said jovially grasping his forearm in return, only to see Lairden face blush a deep red, we spent the remainder of the journey with me trying to convince Lairden to call me without any titles and him obstinately refusing. As the journey came to an end and Letharen came into view along with the smell of the sea, I felt a wave of accomplishments wash through me, this was the first problem I had resolved without beheading someone, maybe there was hope for me yet, I thought to myself with a smile which soon froze on my face as I saw an elf on a horse riding furiously from Letharen towards our procession, my frown only deepened when on being halted by Mablung the two of them shot towards me at an even faster pace. “report” I stated coldly when they both came to halt in front of me, the terrified elf simply stretched out a folded piece of parchment in his hand which I plucked swiftly unfolding it, as my eyes ran over the words written down on the parchment anger soared through my veins, it seemed my grandfather had finally made his move.

“inform Lord Lairden of my regret in not sending him of personally tell him unforeseen circumstances have hastened my return to Rost town, ensure he receives the gift sword I planned to surprise him with” I said to Mablung as the parchment caught fire in my grip and was soon reduced to ashes, “I shall return alone, head straight back to the manor and aid the Loft clan in restoring order I shall join you soon” I said pulling on Raijin’s reigns to turn him around, as if sensing my anger he did not so much as grunt in protest as I spurred him into a sprint back down the road where we had just come from Felina’s message still burning in my head, lord Rumil Tuwele of the black sword clan has raided the tower of mages and seized all the scrolls, was the single line that had adorned the parchment and for the first time since I awakened in my second life I regretted the promise I made to my elfin mother, the promise not to kill my grandfather.