《Etudie Perpetuity》


 Chapter 1

    I screamed into a pillow in my tiny dorm-room. My professor expected me to send him a thirty page paper on prehistoric technology and culture by midnight. That wouldn¡¯t have been so bad if I had started working on it in time, but I had been in the hospital for two weeks because of a lung infection. Yet, Professor Gilman still wanted me to send him a midterm paper! I knew everyone said he was a stickler for the rules but man, I did not expect him to have no empathy whatsoever.


    So here I was, sitting on the edge of my tiny bed, trying to spew out whatever garbage I knew about cave men from tens of thousands of years ago. The paper was probably going to be full of spelling mistakes and the structure would be all over the place, but at least I¡¯d have something to show after five straight hours of mindless typing. Books lay scattered all over my bed, marked with sticky notes and stray strips of paper. I also had fifty tabs open on my laptop, all about stuff like the invention of language or bone tools and how different places invented different things at different times. Fifteen of those tabs were scholarly articles that were so hard to read, I almost wanted to jump into the Charles river. This was the bare minimum amount of research I¡¯d need to not fail Gilman¡¯s class, but a part of me wanted to just throw it all away and take my chances with a heaping helping of word stew.


    But the class would be competitively graded and none of the other students were gonna take the assignment lightly. Man, how I wish I was back in my crappy high school. Knowing basic English and Math was good enough to ace any class back then. Why did I have to come to this godforsaken university, anyway? Would¡¯ve been so much easier going to the local public university like all of my friends did. Then again, it was a stretch to call those people my ¡®friends¡¯. I only stuck around them to pass the time, score some booze, maybe play a few video games or whatever. But eventually, talking to them made me feel like I was losing a brain cell with every utterance.


    You say you like Kim Kardashian¡¯s new clothing brand? Oh, I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t see the hockey game. No way, did your little sister really eat her own hair? Wow, I never knew you won the unofficial glue-sniffing competition in your old middle school, congratulations.


    Yeah, those sorts of conversations got real old, real quick. And don¡¯t get me started on the dating scene, jeez. I couldn¡¯t stand any of my old girlfriends and, to be fair, they couldn¡¯t stand me. After a few lame dates, we¡¯d sleep together, just to see if that would change things, or because we were hormone addled teenagers and liked doing it. But, honestly, it would make things awkward when we eventually broke up. Can¡¯t trust teenagers to be cool around people they¡¯ve slept with, I guess.


    But whatever, I was just procrastinating by thinking about high school. I was in college now, at the place I said I always wanted to go to. Gotta say, the novelty wore off real quick. One month in this place was enough to make me feel like I was drowning in papers and problem sets. The professors expected everyone to spend all their time studying or doing homework. I used to love reading when I was a kid, but after being assigned hundreds of pages every day from archaic tomes or new books mimicking the old ones, the scent of paper began making me nauseous.


    The worst part? I had no idea what I wanted to do. This was my final semester here, so I really should¡¯ve figured something out by now, but I hadn¡¯t and it was stressful as hell. I majored in Humanities and Economics, but man did I have no clue what to do with that. I¡¯d taken a bunch of silly classes this semester, just to meet the university¡¯s requirements, but none of them had made it easier to make a decision about my future. I¡¯d taken some advanced French classes because my French had gotten rusty. I spent some time brushing up on my Latin and Greek on my own. I loved learning new languages, but I definitely didn¡¯t want to go into any language-related disciplines.


    Hell, going into anything that would force me into the realm of academia was off the table. Even if I loved History¡ªdespite what my dislike of Gilman¡¯s class might suggest¡ªI wasn¡¯t about to spend my life paging through documents, and establishing timelines or whatever. Literature, even of the comparative kind, wasn¡¯t really my cup of tea, especially now that I knew how much reading that would actually involve. Philosophy and Sociology were fun little experiments that I¡¯d toyed with in previous semesters, but they were squarely in the realm of self-improvement and learning, especially because logic and research were fun to learn about, but a pain to actually do.


    I had the same issue with Science. Physics was wondrous, Chemistry was magical, and Biology was noble, but man, was staring at treatises and picking through equations a massive pain. Engineering at this college was particularly grueling, and I absolutely did not have a head for computers. Mathematics itself was sort of fun until proofs became like tougher, more mechanically structured essays. Really, anything STEM related was more trouble than it was worth, even if it could lead to a steady, profitable career.


    God, I got distracted again. Maybe I needed to clear my head a little. It was late, but the weather had finally warmed up enough for a late night stroll. I grabbed a light jacket, folded my laptop into my backpack, and slipped into my sneakers. I stopped at the door, grabbed a couple of books from my bed, and finally walked out the door.


    I walked past a couple dozen doors. Most of their occupants were asleep or were feverishly working on assignments like I had been. The smell of various substances filled the hallway, an inevitable consequence of living in this place in the mid-twenty-tens. I heard some quiet music coming out from a half-opened door on the floor beneath mine. A young woman lay sprawled on her bed, book on her face, fairy-lights twinkling like stars. I shook my head. She was the closest thing to a friend I had in this place, with both of us having joined the board games society. In fact, we were the only ones in the society from our year.


    It wasn¡¯t the most glamorous of societies, and quite honestly, we played little more than chess, monopoly, and dungeons and dragons. Still, it was the only place I could go and have fun without stressing out about stuff. I¡¯d already sworn off of drinking and partying after I blacked out in my second week of college only to wake up in the hospital. Apparently, I¡¯d stripped out of my clothes, run around the campus making weird noises, and fought some random dude who beat me up and handed me to the campus police. The police then took me to the hospital because I¡¯d passed out in the middle of the street, inches away from a speeding unicyclist.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Yeah, I¡¯d rather be a boring dungeons and dragons nerd than die like a clown in a circus accident. Anyways, I¡¯d come to care a lot more for the nerds in this society than I had for most other people in my life. So, I sighed, stepped over to Samantha¡¯s door, and closed it. I was definitely going to make fun of her for her Hello Kitty poster in the morning, though. What was she, ten?


    I left the building under a barely visible new moon. On the bright side, no pun intended, the lack of a moon meant there was just enough darkness for the most luminous of stars to peak through the Boston-Cambridge light bubble. I strolled through the remarkably bustling streets, admiring the sky and breathing in the fresh, almost-spring, air. There were almost no cars at this time of night in this part of the campus. A group of people walked by with greasy slices of pizza on paper plates too small to hold them.


    I got startled by a cat. It darted out from behind a streetlamp and rushed right past me. I cursed under my breath and continued walking. Eventually, I came up to the fence in front of the Charles river. There was a couple making out on the bench near the bridge, and I figured I¡¯d give them some space by going the other way. Eventually, I came to an empty stretch of pathway, with a single streetlight, a couple of trees, and a wooden bench. I¡¯d never walked this far along the river before so I didn¡¯t even know this bench existed, but I figured it was as good a place to start working as any.


    I sat on the bench barely illuminated by the streetlight, and took out my laptop. Under the sparse stars and the shade of the spruce trees, I hammered away at my paper, finally finishing it just a few minutes before midnight. The internet wasn¡¯t working this far away from the campus buildings, but I¡¯d managed to make do with the tabs I¡¯d already opened and the couple of books I¡¯d brought with me. I transferred the document to my phone and sent it off to my professor via cellular data. God, what an awful assignment that had been.


    I stretched. My stuff was scattered all over the place, there was a cramp in my neck, and I could¡¯ve sworn the streetlight had been dimming as the night wore on, but I didn¡¯t care. It felt good to be done. I lazed around on the bench, kicking my feet up on my opened backpack, and took in the view. For all its faults, this place definitely had its moments.


    A gentle breeze rustled the leaves and grass. It blew over the river, making the serene waters a little rougher. There was a dull thud near the rails in front of me. As if something had bumped into it from the back. Curious, I heaved myself up and walked up to the banks of the river.


    There was a small boat tied to a tiny pier just below me. The boat wasn¡¯t one of those fancy speedboats some of the rich alumni came in to taunt poor schmucks like me, but a crude wooden craft that I couldn¡¯t quite classify. It was too dingy to be a dinghy, and it was certainly no yacht, even though it was styled like one.


    I had no idea who would tie a boat all the way here or why it was such a weird little thing, but I was craving a little excitement after having typed up thousands of words on flint tools and ancient irrigation canals. I found a little staircase cut into a bend in the rails, a few dozen feet down the path. I packed up my bag and hauled it over my shoulder.


    The stairs were very steep and each landing was incredibly small. Small clumps of algae had grown on the stony steps, making them uneven and slippery. I hugged the edge of the railing with my hands and carefully made my way down to the thin strip of rock that connected the stairs to the pier. I shimmied across the strip, water lapping at my feet, and finally made it onto the pier.


    The boat had been abandoned. I could tell now that I was close enough to see inside it. It would have barely fit a single person, even before it had decayed into the wreck that was barely managing to float in front of me. I thought about stepping foot on the thing, but decided against it. As much as I disliked dying to that unicycle like a clown, walking onto this thing would mean I might as well have glued a red-nose to my face and cha-cha¡¯d straight off a cliff.


    Amused by my own humor, I sat on the edge of the pier, legs dangling right above the water. I tossed aside my sneakers and put my bag near the back of the pier. Sometimes, the waters kissed the bottom of my feet. The streetlight had definitely been growing dimmer all night, because although I was further away from it now, I was sure it should not have been this dark, even at midnight.


    I fished around in my jeans¡¯ pocket. I opened a pack of cigarettes, popped in my headphones, and put on some relaxing tunes. I wasn¡¯t a regular smoker, since I knew it was bad for my health, but well, it was fine, once in a while. Or at least that¡¯s what I told myself.


    It was really dark now. Sparks flew off my lighter as I tried to light my cigarette. Damned thing wouldn¡¯t light at all, must be out of fluid. I sighed, put the cigarette back into its pack, and stuffed the pack into my pocket. I kept the lighter in my hand though, fiddling around with it as my head was filled by chill, relaxing music.


    In fact, the music was so chill and so relaxing, I began to bob my head from side to side, while singing a happy tune. I don¡¯t know what happened, since my mind was empty, and I wasn¡¯t really thinking about anything at all, but I had this weird feeling in my chest. I felt like I could see myself from a birds-eye-view, dangling on the edge of a pier on the Charles river, fresh off a lung infection and a hurried mid-term paper. Lost, in more ways than one, and with barely a plan for the future.


    I felt like I¡¯d achieved my childhood dream and now there was nothing left to motivate me. Nothing left to make me want to push myself, to hold myself accountable, and give my life meaning, direction, purpose. I started to cry. Not like, sorrowful, painful tears, the kind a kid might let loose after hurting himself. Nor like something that came with loss, like the kind I¡¯d let loose when my mom had died in my senior year of high-school. On my eighteenth birthday, if you can believe it.


    No, these were empty tears, ones which definitely had some meaning, but whose meaning eluded me. God, I doubt this would even make sense to other people, no matter how I tried to describe it. It was like water had suddenly begun dripping out of a hollow vase, but you knew there was no sorcery involved. You simply did not know how it got there.


    I closed my eyes as the music ended. Before the next track could start playing, I heard a creak. I turned around but couldn¡¯t see anything. Another creak directed my attention to a line on the pier, a line I soon realized was a crack. I bolted upright, which was perhaps the single stupidest thing I had ever done in my soon-to-be short life. The crack widened from my sudden movement, a particularly rough wave pulled the boat into the pier, shattering it from the side. The wood snapped from the other side and before I could even begin to step towards my backpack, which lay safely on the other side of the crack, the entire structure collapsed into the water.

 Chapter 2

    I felt a hand gently shaking my shoulder. I groaned, feeling my entire body aching in protest. My clothes felt heavy, no doubt weighed down by water. Still, at least I survived. For a second there, I thought I was a goner. Sitting on the edge of a crumbling pier the one time there were strong winds blowing over the river, just how stupid was I? God, how did I even make it into college.


    The hand shook me again. Then it pressed into my stomach, perhaps trying to get me to cough up water. Surprisingly, nothing came out. I must have already cleared my lungs. I groaned to let the other person know I was conscious, and then I pressed my hands into the soggy ground to try to get up. My eyes were caked with mud, so I couldn¡¯t see a thing. The other person helped me sit up, then tried to clear my eyes, but their hands were muddy too so it only made things worse.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said as I began washing the mud from my face. ¡°Did you call campus health already? I think I might need to get checked for pneumonia or something. Though I feel fine, all things considered. Could use a drink, maybe, or some painkillers. Oh yeah, the name¡¯s Cas, short for Caspian. Parents honeymooned near the Caspian Sea so they¡ª¡±


    I stopped my meandering explanation because I had this strange feeling in the back of my head like something wasn¡¯t quite right. It took me a second, but I realized it was my voice. It was higher-pitched, but oddly familiar. Like the echo from a badly recorded home video. I sounded like I was ten years old again. And another thing, while washing my face, I noticed that my hands and face were both smaller. My face was rounder too, and there was no stubble. Oh, and the base of my ears were smaller too.


    I splashed more water on my face, and blinked until I could vaguely make out shapes and colors again. I stared straight down into the water, hoping to catch my reflection, but the rational part of my brain reminded me that it was late and there was no moon tonight, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything. But when I finally managed to open my eyes, I had to blink some more, just to make sure I was really seeing what I was seeing.


    A bright, silver disc hung like a halo around my reflection. It was a full moon. My reflection betrayed my confusion at seeing not just the moon, but an image of myself, ten years younger, and with long, wet hair. Poking out of the hair were a pair of pointy ears. I looked up.


    A young girl, probably ten, eleven years old, stared back at me. She was kneeling on the ground a few feet in front of me, just on the edge of the pond I was in. Her eyes and hair were a startling silver that melted into the moon in the sky, like a material poetic sibilance. Her ears stuck out of the melded hair-moon disk, and I noted that they were pointy, like mine apparently were. She wore a loose brown tunic, possibly made out of rough animal hide. The furs wrapped around her feet were probably shoes, but I was sure they wouldn¡¯t be of much help over rocks and pebbles.


    While wondering about the girl¡¯s clothes, I cast my eyes down to my own body. I was naked, although fortunately, my lower body was hidden by the water. I grabbed a leafy branch which was dangling over the pond. I asked the girl to hand me some of the reeds jutting out from the edge of the pond near her. She seemed to understand, but I wasn¡¯t sure if she had understood what I was saying or if she¡¯d grabbed the reeds because I had been pointing at them. She handed me the reeds and I fashioned a crude skirt by breaking the branch in two, packing the leaves as tightly together as I could, and then binding both halves of the branch around my waist with long reeds. It wasn¡¯t much, but at least I could step out of the pond.


    ¡°Hi,¡± I said, ¡°you wouldn¡¯t happen to be a figment of my imagination, would you? Or a character in a really, really vivid dream?¡±


    The girl blinked a couple of times. ¡°No, my name is Noel, and I¡¯m real. What about you, are you real?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think I am,¡± I said. ¡°And like I said, the name¡¯s Cas.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you Cas. I¡¯ve never seen you around here before. What are you doing in the Forest of Three?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t even know this was the Forest of Three,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a strange name for a forest, by the way. Why do they call it that?¡±


    She looked away. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not important. You should get out of here, this place is dangerous.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Dangerous? I didn¡¯t like the shifty way she said that.


    ¡°Right, well, I¡¯d love to go back, but I don¡¯t know how I got here in the first place. You wouldn¡¯t happen to know the way to the Charles river, would you? God, it would be amazing if you¡¯re just a weeaboo in cosplay.¡± I chuckled, weakly. ¡°Would totally make my day.¡±


    ¡°Charles river? Weeaboo? Cosplay? I¡¯m sorry, I have never heard of those things before,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be mad if this was a bit, by the way. Like, I¡¯d totally go with you to an anime convention while pretending to be an isekai protagonist. Anything would be better than me being transported to a real god damned fantasy world.¡±


    Noel looked at me in confusion. I sighed. Yeah, I was just trying to use humor to help me deal with reality. I couldn¡¯t actually deny the fact that my body had shrunk and that the two of us had pointy elven ears.


    Still, couldn¡¯t hurt to check. ¡°Hey Noel,¡± I said, ¡°are you an elf?¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°Aren¡¯t you one too?¡±


    Well, guess I couldn¡¯t even deny it as a joke now. I had somehow been transported to a fantasy world as a ten year old elf. Wait, if I was an elf¡­


    ¡°Er, weird question, Noel, but how old do you think I am?¡±


    Noel seriously considered the question. ¡°One hundred and nineteen winters.¡± she finally said.


    Great. Elves were probably immortal or something in this world. Also, I didn¡¯t like how she was counting the years by the seasons. It made me think those crudely made articles of clothing weren¡¯t the result of living in the wilderness for a while. She probably lived in the sticks. All the fantasy stories I¡¯d read back home said elves rejected technology and lived in the wilderness. I was not looking forward to becoming one with nature or whatever. Still, any society was better than no society. I had to convince her to take me back to her people. But first.


    ¡°Why one hundred and nineteen? That¡¯s such a specific number¡± I said.


    ¡°Because,¡± she began as she smiled, brightly, ¡°I became one hundred and twenty today!¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± I deadpanned.


    ¡°Also,¡± Noel continued, ¡°the moon just crossed the red star, so it must be your birthday now. Congratulations, you¡¯re one hundred and twenty, like me. Just remember you¡¯re younger than me, okay?¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°why is it my birthday now?¡±


    Noel furrowed her brows. ¡°Because, why else would you be in the Forest of Three? You must have come here for the same reason I did, right?¡±


    ¡°No, like I said, I don¡¯t know where I am or how I got here.¡±


    Noel stepped closer. We were both on the ground at the edge of the pond. ¡°You can stop pretending, Cas. I won¡¯t judge you. We¡¯re the same.¡±


    What was she talking about? ¡°No, Noel, I think you¡¯re misunderstanding something. I¡¯m not lying to you, I really don¡¯t know how I got here.¡±


    Noel narrowed her eyes. ¡°Fine, we can both keep pretending.¡± She turned back. ¡°But of course, if you aren¡¯t here because you ran away from The Terrible, then you¡¯d want to go back to your tribe, right away, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± She smirked.


    ¡°Sure, but I don¡¯t know where my tribe is. Could you take me to your tribe instead?¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, that¡¯s so clever!¡± said Noel. ¡°You can go to my tribe and I can go to yours. Then we can both pretend like we¡¯ve already passed the judgment of The Terrible! You¡¯re a genius, Cas!¡±


    I frowned. It sounded like ¡®the judgment of The Terrible¡¯ was some sort of ritual that Noel had run away from. With a name like ¡®The Terrible,¡¯ I couldn¡¯t blame her for running away, and her plan for us to swap tribes could¡¯ve worked out. If I had a tribe, that is.


    ¡°That won¡¯t work, Noel,¡± I said. ¡°My tribe doesn¡¯t believe in The Terrible. And they don¡¯t like strangers.¡±


    Noel said something I didn¡¯t quite catch. A swear word, maybe? It sounded like gibberish to me. Still, I was in quite a predicament here. If Noel had run away from her tribe, she wouldn¡¯t be able to lead me back to it. And I couldn¡¯t just ask her for directions and leave her here alone. Not only would it weigh on my conscience, her tribe might not welcome me without her support. And so, there was only one thing to do.


    ¡°Hey Noel,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s go to The Terrible together.¡±

 Chapter 3

    While walking through the Forest of Three, I asked Noel about The Terrible. She said it was a great being, one revered by all the elves that lived on the Plains of Serenity. I was surprised by the fact that the elves apparently lived in the plains, and not in the forests like they did in fantasy stories back on Earth.


    Oh, and I told Noel that I came from a tribe very far from here. I asked if we could compare some things, in case there were more major differences between our tribes. I asked her what her tribe called this planet, to which she responded by asking me what a planet was. Realizing that she didn¡¯t even have a concept of things like planets and worlds, I asked her what she called the ground, or the earth, to which she replied: Earth.


    As the words were coming out of my mouth, I realized this particular line of questioning was pointless. To test my hypothesis, I asked her my next question in French: what do your people call the sky? The sky. I asked the next one in Spanish: what do your people call fire? Fire.


    In Mandarin: what is blood? Blood. In Japanese: what is food? Food. In Russian: what is a tree? A tree. Latin: sun? Sun. Greek: moon? Moon. Arabic: stars? Stars. I even asked in Klingon: what is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything? To that, she gave me a funny look, and I told her it was nothing.


    For whatever reason, it seemed like my words were being translated into her language. Since I had some understanding of the complexities of translation and linguistics, I couldn¡¯t quite believe that words from all the languages I had been speaking were being perfectly translated into her elven language in real-time. Instead, I figured my words were being translated to the best possible translation and then somehow processed into a form that sounded like it was coming from a native speaker. I was sure it wasn¡¯t perfect. I could probably pick apart how this was happening, what it was leaving out and what it was adding in, but now was not the time for that.


    I asked her what she called her language. She replied that they didn¡¯t have a word for it, they just called it language or speech. I asked if all the tribes of the Plains of Serenity spoke the same language, and Noel said they did, although there were some local accents and phrases. As we walked into a clearing in the forest, I asked her if she knew what ¡®writing¡¯ was. She said she had no idea.


    I rubbed my temples. It was clear to me that this wasn¡¯t a case of ¡®living in the sticks¡¯. It would be fine if she didn¡¯t know how to write. I could explain illiteracy. But a few more questions clarified that she had no clue about the concept of writing itself. Using symbols to represent spoken words or sounds was something she had never even considered.


    I didn¡¯t know if this lack of technological development was unique to the elves of this world, or if this entire world was tens of thousands of years behind the Earth that I had come from. All I knew was that this was not a typical Medieval European-ish fantasy world, like in all those stories I had read on the internet. What was truly scary about that realization was that it meant I had no idea how I had arrived in this world.


    I knew I came to this world after falling into the Charles river. After that, there were usually two possibilities. I had either drowned in the river and reincarnated as an elf in this world, or I had been transported from the river to this world, as if I had passed through a portal or something. I hoped that I had died and reincarnated. Was it scarier to have died? Sure. But it also meant that I had been reincarnated, either by a sentient deity or by some sort of rule of existence. And as long as there was some being or rule that had brought me here, I could always ask that being or manipulate that rule to go back to my Earth.


    I was a little less optimistic about a ¡®portal¡¯ setting, because the portal could always be a one-way street. But still, if a portal had opened up at the bottom of the Charles river that day, I could at least try to find another one like it to get back home.


    But now that I knew about Noels tribe¡¯s lack of development, I couldn¡¯t assume that this was a ¡®typical¡¯ setting. I had to be open to the possibility that there had been no reincarnation and no portal. That there was no deity or divine rule or multidimensional accident involved. If this world didn¡¯t follow the rules that I was familiar with, I could simply ¡®be¡¯ here.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    It was something I had always thought about when I was reading fantasy stories on the internet. Why did the author have to explain how the character came to the fantasy world if the entire story was set in that world? The answer was usually that it established a goal. If the character wanted to return to their world, they had to do something or find something which would help them return. Explaining how they got there in the first place helped set the rules for how they could return.


    But what if there were no rules? What if the character did not and could not know how they had gotten to the fantasy world? What if they had no idea how to even begin searching for a way home? Well, in a situation like that, I thought to myself, that character would be quite royally screwed.


    I sighed.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. ¡°How much farther to The Terrible¡¯s lair?¡± I asked. She had said that The Terrible lived in a cave near the edge of the forest.


    ¡°We should get there before the moon reaches the horizon,¡± she said.


    Great. They didn¡¯t have standardized measurements for time, either.


    We trudged through the forest in the moonlight. This time, Noel began asking questions. She started by asking about my tribe, to which I gave some vague answers based on my family back home.


    I told her my mother had died a couple years ago, and that she had raised me and my brother all alone. Noel was confused when I told her my father had not died, he had just never been in my life in the first place. Had other members of my tribe not helped my mother? Not really, I told her. My tribe was strange, they didn¡¯t really help each other that way. In fact, we liked to live on our own, only meeting for festivals or important events. She said she didn¡¯t really understand, and I agreed, what a terrible way to live.


    She asked about my brother, but I didn¡¯t have much to say. He was my half-brother, and he was much older than me. He had already graduated college by the time I was in high-school. We had been close when I was younger, but drifted apart after he went to college. He¡¯d fallen out with mom in high-school so he rarely ever called or came home during college. He didn¡¯t even let her help pay for college, taking up a huge pile of student debt, instead. The day I had gotten into the college of my dreams, he unfriended me on Facebook.


    ¡°Facebook?¡± said Noel, contorting her lips to say the word. She¡¯d held that look for most of the conversation.


    Oh right.


    ¡°What I mean is,¡± I began, ¡°my brother is a lot older than me and he doesn¡¯t like my mom. So once he was old enough, he left our family and started living on his own.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± said Noel, ¡°wasn¡¯t he scared?¡±


    I stopped walking. Scared? Guess I¡¯d never thought about that.


    ¡°He was,¡± I said, ¡°probably.¡±


    ¡°Then did he join other people in the tribe?¡± asked Noel as she stopped walking too.


    ¡°Er, I don¡¯t know. Sort of? He has friends, and a partner too. He works all the time, has enough money to pay off his debts slowly. Really, I¡¯m not too worried about that guy.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t like him?¡±


    ¡°I just don¡¯t like thinking about him too much,¡± I said. I put a hand on Noel¡¯s shoulder and smiled. Then I wondered if that gesture would go through the cultural barrier. I guess she understood because we began walking, with no more questions about my family¡ªor tribe, as Noel called it.


    ¡°We¡¯re almost there,¡± said Noel, a few minutes later.


    The moon may not have been below the horizon yet, but it was definitely hidden behind the trees. With the little moonlight that streamed through the canopy, I could barely make out a small clearing with a large rock formation jutting out of the ground.


    The cave was menacingly dark. The rocks themselves seemed to dampen the moonlight and the wind stilled as it approached the entrance. The ground was craggy, with large crevasses that looked like claw marks from a massive beast. But the most startling thing of all were the crudely drawn runic symbols carved into the rock all around the cave¡¯s entrance.


    Somebody in this world knew how to write after all.

 Chapter 4

    I stared at the runes from a safe distance. Unlike Noel¡¯s speech, these words were not being translated into a language I could understand. I didn¡¯t know if this was because my strange translation ability didn¡¯t apply to written words or if the runic language was special in some way. This language could be so complicated that it was impossible to decipher or the words could be pointless gibberish.


    Just to be sure, I asked Noel what she thought the symbols meant. She thought they were some sort of emblem for The Terrible. Perhaps The Terrible used them to signal its power the way a hunter wore necklaces made from the bones of great beasts. But the runes were composed of various shapes, each seemingly unique and complicated. As a polyglot, I could tell these symbols were too ornate to be mere emblems. They meant something. But what exactly did they mean?


    Moreover, if these symbols held meaning, but the elves could not read, what was the point of carving them into the rock around this cave? If it was a warning, it would go unheeded. A description that would not be understood. A question? A proclamation? A message from a fallen civilization? Whatever it was, we could not know, which meant this message may have been written for someone else.


    I asked Noel if there were other intelligent beings in the plains. I had to explain what intelligence¡ªor sentience¡ªmeant, but she eventually answered that there were none. There were only the twelve elven tribes and the great being they called The Terrible.


    ¡°It¡¯s almost time for the ceremony,¡± said Noel.


    I stared into the darkness of the cave. Then I turned to the letters. ¡°Noel, let¡¯s go back to that clearing from before.¡±


    She looked confused. ¡°But the ceremony¡ª¡±


    ¡°In my tribe,¡± I began, slowly formulating an explanation, ¡°we write symbols like the ones around this cave. Our symbols are different, but I suspect they serve the same purpose. We use our symbols to represent the words we speak, so we can communicate with each other without speaking. If you give me some time, maybe I can help you understand them.¡±


    Noel hesitated. She clearly didn¡¯t want to go into the cave. She still hadn¡¯t told me the details for this ¡®ceremony,¡¯ but I could tell she wasn¡¯t looking forward to it. If I gave her a reasonable excuse to delay what she was planning to do, I was sure she would take it.


    She agreed. I took another glimpse at the cave and memorized the strange letters. I was very proud of my memory, and learning Far Eastern languages like Chinese had certainly helped train my memory for linguistic symbols. The moon was still bright. I crouched on the ground in the clearing and drew the strange letters in the dirt with a stick.


    The shape of the letters was the first thing I noticed. Straight and curved lines, connected in various shapes. Each line had tapered ends, creating spiky symbols that resembled spears driven into each other. There were a few dots and crowns too, but even those were carved with sharp edges. These words would have looked intimidating even if they hadn¡¯t been carved into the rock around a dark, foreboding cave.


    ¡°Well, at least I know what type of writing system this is,¡± I said.


    ¡°Writing system?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Yes. Where I come from, there are many tribes, each with different languages of their own. Most of these languages have some written form, and we can classify different languages based on how they are written,¡± I said.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    I was about to explain the differences between abjads and syllabaries, but realized that was unnecessary. I told her this unknown language looked like something called a logosyllabary. I went on to explain that there were seven unique symbols around the cave. None were repeated and the three on either side had even spaces between them. Since most of the lines were vertical and the words seemed to be in columns, I figured the language was written vertically.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°It means each symbol is a word, like the words that we¡¯re speaking right now. That would usually mean that trying to decipher it by comparing common sounds and syllables would be useless, but I¡¯m betting this language is still monosyllabic!¡±


    Noel stared at me like I hadn¡¯t answered her question.


    ¡°Okay, in simpler terms, it means each of these symbols,¡± I circled the symbols on the ground, ¡°represents a single sound. Like, ba, or kol, or shi. And each of these sounds represents a word of some sort.¡±


    I was confident that this language was monosyllabic. I knew it didn¡¯t use pictograms, since the symbols didn¡¯t look like birds or oxen or some other easily recognizable shape. But each rune looked like it could have been a pictogram not so long ago. In fact, it looked almost like someone had taken a pictographic language and replaced all the lines with spears and blades a few centuries ago.


    ¡°But there are so many sounds! How do we know what these symbols stand for?¡± asked Noel.


    This was a good question. I rapped my knuckles on my forehead. I really could¡¯ve used a cigarette right about now. Or maybe a chocolate bar. That said, I think coming to this new world had given me a body that didn¡¯t have a nicotine or sugar addiction, so I suppose that was a silver lining.


    Languages are complicated. It was something I¡¯d known all my life, growing up in a New York City suburb. People in my neighborhood had all kinds of backgrounds and you could hear a potpourri of languages while walking down the street. Interpreters from Afghanistan. New immigrants from China. A Vietnamese couple. Refugees from Somalia. A dude from Mexico who spoke better English than I did. Oh, and a really weird old lady from Saint Kitts and Nevis who wouldn¡¯t stop talking about her son who was a professor at a very lame university in New Haven. She was always talking about the British Empire and some dude she¡¯d dated back in the day who still needed to get back to her. When I asked for his name, she said, and I quote: ¡°dumb bloke Eddy Said.¡±


    Man, that brought back memories. I hadn¡¯t been back home in a few years and the old bat died almost a decade ago, but I still remembered her random ravings. She said stuff like: cellphones cause cancer, aliens abducted Aristotle, and we need to nuke Canada so the space dolphins that rescued Laika can bring about a new age. After chatting with her for a few minutes, I always wondered if we were even living on the same planet, or speaking the same language.


    Wait a minute, that¡¯s it!


    ¡°Noel!¡± I cried.


    ¡°Yes?¡± she replied, quickly.


    I grabbed her shoulders and stared at her lips. ¡°Say my name.¡±

 Chapter 5

    Noel pushed me away. Hard. My back hit a tree.


    ¡°What was that for?¡± I said through gritted teeth.


    ¡°That was inappropriate!¡±


    Oh, and shoving me into a tree was appropriate? I cursed under my breath. Whatever, probably a misunderstanding.


    ¡°All I want you to do is move your lips and¡ª¡± I began.


    ¡°No! And stop saying that,¡± she interjected.


    Okay. Clearly my words were being translated into something else in her language.


    ¡°Listen, Noel, look at this,¡± I said as I pointed at my lips. I spoke slowly and with exaggerated lip movements: ¡°Hello.¡±


    Noel looked confused. I did it again. I said a few more words too, just to make it painfully obvious that I wasn¡¯t actually speaking her language. It was a little hard to see in the moonlight, which explained why she hadn¡¯t noticed this before, but eventually she realized that the words she was hearing were not the same words that were coming out of my mouth.


    ¡°Is this¡­ magic?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe? Honestly, I have no idea how this works. Or even how I got into that pond where you found me. I was sitting by a river back home and got swept away by the water. Next thing I know, I¡¯m in a pond in front of a beautiful elf girl,¡± I said.


    She seemed taken aback again. Another mistranslation? I quickly assured her that I was not spewing obscenities or anything. Translation is never perfect, so what might be a perfectly normal compliment in my language might end up as a profanity in hers.


    ¡°But that¡¯s not important right now. I need you to say a few words, slowly and while stressing your mouth movements. Anything is fine at first, I just want to confirm something,¡± I said.


    She was still dazed by the realization that I wasn¡¯t speaking what she was hearing, but eventually agreed to the experiment. She greeted me, introduced herself, asked some questions, commented on the moonlight, the weather, the forest. I carefully observed the way her lips moved and, whenever the moonlight was at the right angle, I observed her tongue too. I asked her some questions about words she had pronounced. I could tell she hadn¡¯t really thought about how she made some of the sounds she was making. In fact, most people wouldn¡¯t think too hard about when their tongues were hitting the top of their mouths, or when they were curling their tongues, or pushing air in strange ways.


    ¡°Alright, I was right,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right about what?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Remember when I said there were a lot of different tribes where I come from? And how most of them have their own language? Well, most languages used by tribes that live near each other are related. Many generations ago, one tribe might have a single language. But when that tribe splits into two, they take that single language and slowly change it into two different languages,¡± I explained.


    Noel agreed that this made sense. ¡°But what does that have to do with the words on the cave? My language doesn¡¯t have symbols to represent sounds like this one does.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°and there are definitely a lot of changes that come from writing down an oral language. Still, for these words to be on a cave so close to your tribe, this language must be similar to the language that you speak!¡±


    ¡°But how can you be sure? This cave has been here longer than any of the elves in any of the tribes of the plains. Our elders have lived for many years, and have stories passed down by our ancestors. None of those stories mention another people who had a language like ours,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°For one, I confirmed your language could be represented as a logosyllabary. A lot of your words seem to be monosyllabic too, which should be similar to this cave-language. But the biggest clue,¡± I said, ¡°is actually the way one of the words you have been using was translated into my language.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Which one?¡±


    I wrote the words in the dirt. ¡°The Terrible,¡± I said, reading the English out loud.


    ¡°The Terrible? But it¡¯s just a name, what could you learn from that?¡± she asked.


    ¡°To explain that, I have to tell you a little about the language of my people. Well, one of our languages: English. It¡¯s written in what¡¯s called an alphabet, where each symbol stands for a sound, although not necessarily a whole syllable like in this cave-language. Each sound doesn¡¯t always mean something. You combine sounds to produce different combinations of symbols called words, which can then mean something,¡± I said.


    ¡°I,¡± said Noel, ¡°I think I understand. Maybe. But how does that explain anything about The Terrible?¡±


    ¡°Simple.¡± I drew a circle around each word. ¡°These are two words. Not one. A name would be one word, one combination of symbols. But instead of saying just the one word: Terrible, every time you name that great being in the cave, I hear two words.¡± I circled the words on the ground again, to stress my point. ¡°The Terrible. As a name, it makes no sense. As a title? Maybe. But even then, it would be something like: The Terrible One. Or a name, followed by the words: the terrible. In English, it makes no sense for the two words The and Terrible to exist together alone.¡±


    ¡°The?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Oh right, you don¡¯t have that in your language. I just tested it. And from the way you said it, it looks like whatever magic is being used to translate my words also gave up on translating the. It gave you the sound instead. Articles like the are an annoying quirk of a few languages like English. Lots of people who¡¯re learning English complain about articles. But that¡¯s not important. The point is, the way this name is being translated is really, really strange.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I understood half of what you said, but whatever. What¡¯s so strange about the way The Terrible is being translated?¡±


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, slowly, ¡°that¡¯s the strangest thing about it: Noel.¡±


    ¡°What? That¡¯s my name?¡± she said.


    ¡°Right. And you see my lips right,¡± I said as I pointed to my lips, ¡°what I¡¯m saying is not what you¡¯re hearing. When I say your name: Noel, I¡¯m saying a name from my world, not yours. But I¡¯m sure they¡¯re being translated into each other because they have similar meanings. Does your name have something to do with a season of birth that is also somehow winter?¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°Yes, it does. It means the season of the birth of the winter cress.¡±


    ¡°I knew it! The word I¡¯m hearing and saying has a similar meaning, although with more religious overtones. And another thing, Noel isn¡¯t a word in English. It¡¯s a name from another language, and it¡¯s a name that¡¯s not common among people who speak English. This means my translation magic chose a name from another language to represent your name to me. It didn¡¯t give me a descriptive name like: Winter Cress Season in English. It gave me a name. A singular, proper, name!¡±


    Noel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°But it didn¡¯t do that for The Terrible!¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡±


    ¡°I understand now! Wait, that¡¯s so cool. You got all of that from a name?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, scratching my chin, ¡°you don¡¯t speak my language so you don¡¯t understand how strange it is for someone to have a name like The Terrible. If someone from back home heard it in a story, they¡¯d wonder why the storyteller was so terrible at naming things!¡± I chuckled. They might even stop reading the book, I mused to myself. I didn¡¯t say that part out loud though, since I didn¡¯t want to have to explain what a book was.


    ¡°But wait¡­¡± Noel furrowed her brows. ¡°That still doesn¡¯t help us understand the words on the cave.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s why we need to continue the experiment.¡± I raised my left hand with only one finger unfurled. ¡°Terrible.¡± I raised my right hand with only one finger unfurled. ¡°The Terrible.¡± I brought my fingers away from each other and stared at Noel¡¯s mouth. ¡°Now start moving those lips.¡±

 Chapter 6

    It was tough. Focusing on Noel¡¯s lips as she said two words over and over again. Terrible. The Terrible. Terrible. The Terrible. Over and over, dozens of times. Clouds drifted in front of the moon, which definitely didn¡¯t help.


    The two sounds she seemed to be making were very similar. They were variations of a ¡°sa¡± sound. For ¡°Terrible,¡± she brought her tongue to the top of her mouth, near the roots of her teeth, and then blew some air while removing the tongue.


    For ¡°The Terrible,¡± her tongue was closer to the tips of her teeth before she blew the air, making what I assumed would be closer to a ¡°tha¡± sound. I couldn¡¯t actually hear the sounds she was making though, since it would just become ¡°Terrible¡± and ¡°The Terrible.¡±


    ¡°What are we missing?¡± I asked myself, rubbing my temple.


    ¡°Maybe I should describe the words?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Describe them?¡± I said. ¡°Right, maybe that will will help.¡±


    Noel defined ¡°Terrible¡± as a storm, an earthquake, a great disease. It was used to describe something that caused sadness and pain, and which frightened the average elf. ¡°The Terrible¡± was a great being that was central to her tribe¡¯s coming of age ceremony. Noel had to go inside the cave of The Terrible to receive its judgment. She would either receive its blessing or be cursed. The curse of The Terrible was the kind of thing adult elves used to frighten their kids, so it made sense that it was associated with sadness and pain.


    Hearing the definitions didn¡¯t help much. It only confirmed how ¡°Terrible¡± could be used to describe things but ¡°The Terrible¡± was the name of a specific being. But that still didn¡¯t explain why it wasn¡¯t being translated as ¡°The Terrible One.¡±


    ¡°They sound so similar,¡± I said. ¡°That makes me think your people used to use the same word for both things. Maybe the descriptive word changed over the years but the name stayed the same?¡±


    ¡°But why wouldn¡¯t they both change?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Honestly, this whole thing has me stumped. The only thing I¡¯ve figured out is that this symbol,¡± I said, circling the word in the center of my drawing in the mud, right above the cave, ¡°means Terrible or The Terrible.¡±


    The symbol looked like a thunderstorm with clouds made of lightning. None of the other symbols had storm imagery, and Noel¡¯s first thought had been to use the word ¡°Terrible¡± to describe storms.


    But I was still no closer to deciphering this language. And if I didn¡¯t figure that out soon, Noel might go inside that obviously dangerous cave, begging some evil monster for a blessing.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I asked Noel, ¡°what is the blessing for anyway? Safe hunts? Less disease? More children?¡±


    ¡°No, The Terrible¡¯s blessing is a sacred energy, one that gives and takes life,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Energy? Like magic?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, like magic. It is bright and powerful, capable of consuming almost everything,¡± she said.


    ¡°That¡¯s surprising. What do you use it for?¡± I said.


    ¡°We use it for many things,¡± said Noel, ¡°but its most important use is protection. The blessing frightens the many beasts and monsters that roam the plains, keeping our people safe.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡°That does sound important,¡± I admitted. Since this seemed to be a world with elves and magic, having something to keep away the monsters was probably really important. It made sense why the elves revered The Terrible and why they were willing to risk their lives to bring back its blessing.


    ¡°I assume this energy doesn¡¯t last forever, which is why people like you have to go get it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Actually, the blessing never fades as long as we feed it,¡± said Noel, ¡°but since each elf can only get one blessing in their entire lives, and only when they are at the cusp of adulthood, everyone has to come receive their personal blessing.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°you mean you don¡¯t have to risk your life here?¡±


    ¡°I,¡± began Noel, ¡°I do. The tribe won¡¯t be destroyed by monsters if I fail to bring back my blessing, but the great Oracle would condemn me. I would be banished from my tribe and none of the other tribes would accept me.¡± Noel looked away. She was leaning against a tree, drawing circles in the dirt with her simple fur shoes.


    An Oracle, huh? The Oracle might be some kind of religious or spiritual leader respected by all the tribes. Reminded me of Achebe¡¯s Things Fall Apart, although I hoped this oracle wasn¡¯t as murderous. Can¡¯t believe something my literature major roommate made me read might come in handy in real life. But then again, this wasn¡¯t real life, it was fantasy.


    ¡°Hang on,¡± I said, ¡°you said the blessing doesn¡¯t fade as long as you feed it, right? Why can¡¯t your tribe just keep feeding their existing blessings? Is the thing you feed it really hard to find or precious in some other way?¡±


    ¡°No, not really. We usually just feed it wood,¡± Noel said.


    Wood?


    ¡°Noel,¡± I began.


    ¡°Yes?¡± she said.


    ¡°Is this blessing, a little red and yellow, with some blue parts?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said.


    ¡°Does it flicker and dance, especially when there¡¯s a wind blowing?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, yes it does,¡± she said.


    ¡°Noel.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Is the blessing of The Terrible, fire?¡±


    Noel blinked. ¡°Why are you asking if the blessing of The Terrible is a blessing?¡±


    Great. Their word for fire was blessing. Wonderful. Just wonderful. I rubbed my forehead, feeling all my hard work trying to decipher a foreign script through reason and linguistic analysis go down the drain. If this was going to be resolved like this, I should have asked her about the blessing earlier!


    It didn¡¯t make any sense. Fire was a very old invention, older than clothes and shoes. For Noel¡¯s tribe to be relying on The Terrible for fire was weird as hell. What about natural fires, like from lightning strikes? And surely they figured out flint based fire starting methods centuries ago, right?


    Was there something different about elves? Had this being called The Terrible somehow tricked the elves or stunted their normal technological growth? Was there some other kind of conspiracy, one led by this great Oracle, maybe? Either way, I knew what I had to do.


    ¡°Hey Noel,¡± I began, ¡°go find an old bird¡¯s nest. And grab some sticks too while you¡¯re at it!¡±

 Chapter 7

    ¡°No, no, we can¡¯t use that tree,¡± I said.


    ¡°But you said we needed hard wood?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes, but this wood is too moist, it¡¯ll never make an ember,¡± I said.


    ¡°The Terrible¡¯s blessing works on this wood,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°So will my fire!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°I only need better wood to start the fire, not maintain it. An ember¡¯s a little harder to¡ªyou know what, never mind.¡±


    We continued bickering as we looked for trees to use to make fire. We didn¡¯t have an ax, so we couldn¡¯t cut down a tree ourselves. This meant searching the forest for fallen or weakened trees, but none of those seemed good enough to make a fire with.


    After realizing that The Terrible¡¯s blessing was just fire, I thought I could fix everything by making a fire and pretending like we got it from The Terrible, but now the moon was behind the forest canopy and the night was getting old. At this rate, even if we found some damn wood, I wouldn¡¯t be able to make a fire in time. Especially with how rusty I was. I hadn¡¯t made a fire in years. Not since summer camp eight years ago.


    God, I hated summer camp. Like, I get why they exist. They were an easy way for parents to get rid of their annoying brats for a bit. Plus the twerps got to learn outdoorsy stuff without a screen for miles. I¡¯d send my kids there every summer, if I had any.


    Still, I hated it. Away from home, bunch of kids I didn¡¯t know, outdoorsy stuff with bugs and grass and crappy bathrooms. At least the one I went to was in Maine so there was always a lake or two to swim in.


    And hey, they did teach us how to make fires and tie knots. Also had my first kiss during summer camp, but it was with a boy for a dare so did it really count? And yes, you¡¯re right. It did count, because I¡¯m clearly calling it my first kiss. Sue me for trying to be engaging, why don¡¯t ya.


    Anyways, fire. They taught us all kinds of techniques. From rubbing two sticks together to using an Iroquois bow and drill method. Most of them would be pretty hard to pull off without tools like sharp knives and stone drills, but I knew one low tech method that we could try. We just needed to find the right kind of wood.


    ¡°What about this one?¡± said Noel.


    I walked over to her and bent down. There was a young hardwood tree that looked like it had been snapped in two by a large animal. It looked like it had been broken fairly recently, maybe a day or two ago, if I had to guess. As disconcerting as the idea of a large animal prowling this close to us was, it was definitely a lucky break.


    ¡°Yeah, it looks good. Any idea what kind of animal did this, by the way?¡± I said as I lifted the broken tree to carry it back to the clearing.


    ¡°Might be a Farro Bird, they make their nests out of small trees like this one. They¡¯re the only monster that comes to the Forest of Three and even they don¡¯t stay for long. Most monsters stay away from here, afraid of entering the domain of The Terrible,¡± said Noel.


    Right, monsters. It¡¯s a world with elves, of course there would be monsters. Noel grabbed the other end of the tree and we brought it back to the clearing. Along the way, Noel found an old bird¡¯s nest, which made me happy because it meant there were animals in this world, not just monsters. I found a couple of strong sticks which I brought along too.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    At the clearing I asked Noel to take off her shoes. She was a little confused, saying something about weirdos from another tribe who liked feet, but I ignored her. I took the length of hardened sinew that wrapped the fur that counted for a ¡®shoe¡¯ in this world, and returned the fur to Noel, who remarked how she couldn¡¯t wear it without the sinew.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said, ¡°you can join me in the getting pricked in the foot every five steps club.¡± I dusted the dirt off my foot to make a point.


    ¡°What do you need that for anyway?¡± asked Noel, pointing to the sinew.


    ¡°Well, as much as I would like to make fire on my own, it¡¯ll be a lot easier with your help,¡± I said.


    ¡°My help?¡± said Noel. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to make the blessing. I thought you were going to use some sort of magic from your tribe!¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± I said. There was no time to explain science to her right now, but I wanted to lay down the foundation to a future explanation so I said: ¡°we call it chemical magic back home.¡±


    And yes, fire is chemistry not physics. I mean, it¡¯s physics too, but everything is physics so shut up. I was speaking to myself this way in my head because I was so used to explaining stuff like this to newbies at camp. You¡¯d be surprised how many kids wanted to make science based magic stories at summer camp, all while not understanding either science or magic. Kids these days, am I right?


    ¡°So you want me to hold down this stick in a hole you¡¯ll make in the wood while you pull either end of the sinew?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Pretty much, yeah,¡± I said.


    ¡°And that¡¯ll make the blessing?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, though you might hear me cursing about how hard it is,¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think this will work, but I¡¯m willing to give it a try, I guess,¡± said Noel, ¡°but how are you going to split that tree?¡±


    Right. That was going to be a problem without any tools. I¡¯d found a decent looking rock while we were out searching for wood, but splitting wood was hard enough with an ax. They also didn¡¯t teach this at summer camp.


    Still, I¡¯d done a lot of research for my course on prehistoric culture. Just to be sure, I asked Noel if she¡¯d brought some flint tools with her, maybe a small knife for self defense, but she said she didn¡¯t need it. There were no monsters in the Forest of Three, she reminded me. Apart from the Farro birds, she added, but they didn¡¯t hunt here, they only came for wood for their nests.


    I inspected the tree. Luckily, the Farro Bird had snapped it in a way that left a large crack near the middle of the trunk. I searched for a suitably shaped rock, found one, and jammed an end into the crack to use like a wedge. I then began hammering the wedge with the other rock I¡¯d found.


    Thumps echoed through the forest. The moon drifted further and further down the sky. Sweat dripped off my chin. The wedge slipped out. I almost smashed my finger. Noel¡¯s confidence shrank. But the crack grew and eventually, I slipped my fingers in there and pulled as hard as I could. A lot of grunts and pants later, the whole thing split apart and I lay on my back, chest bare, breathing rapidly.


    I cursed. Why was this body so out of shape, damn it!


    ¡°I know I used to have a smoker¡¯s stamina, but at least I used to go to the gym,¡± I said, under my breath.


    ¡°What was that?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°I said.¡± I picked myself up off the ground. ¡°Let¡¯s start rubbing some sticks.¡±

 Chapter 8

    ¡°It¡¯ll be dawn soon,¡± complained Noel.


    ¡°Almost there,¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯ve said that many times,¡± she countered.


    ¡°Yeah, well, it¡¯s always almost there,¡± I replied.


    I¡¯d made a groove in the wood with a rock to help hold the stick in place but it kept jumping out. A few more thumps, as well as an explanation to Noel about how important it was to keep the stick in place, and we had at least managed to turn the hole a little darker.


    The sinew was holding up, thankfully, but both Noel and I were tired as hell. We¡¯d swapped places multiple times, with me holding down the stick and her pulling the sinew, and vice versa. It was my turn on the sinew and we were getting desperate.


    ¡°Maybe we should go to The Terrible after all,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°But we¡¯re almost there!¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯ve said that¡ª¡±


    ¡°Many times, I know. You¡¯ve said that many times too, you know!¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s true.¡± Noel shot a glare at me. ¡°At this rate, they¡¯ll think I was cursed by The Terrible.¡±


    ¡°You mean they think you¡¯d be burned by its fire?¡± I said.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°the curse of The Terrible is not like his blessing.¡±


    ¡°Oh really?¡± I said. ¡°Huh, I assumed a curse was when it missed lighting your offering stick and made elf barbecue by accident.¡± I didn¡¯t say how I suspected the ¡®blessing¡¯ was probably this monster missing the elf with its fire breath. It was a fantasy world, there was probably a sealed dragon or something in that cave, after all. I reckoned these elves were mistaking its attack for a blessing.


    ¡°No, the curse sucks away your soul. It dries your body like a prune, with terror caught on your face forever. We can hear the screams all the way from our camp outside the forest,¡± said Noel.


    Okay, that was different. Maybe there wasn¡¯t a dragon in that cave, after all. Also, they had prunes in this world? Why? God damned prunes. My mom¡ª


    ¡°Wait, what¡¯s that!¡± said Noel.


    I looked at the stick. ¡°Smoke! There¡¯s smoke!¡± My heart skipped. Finally! I kept pulling the sinew and Noel stared straight at the smoke. I asked her to lift it up for a second, to which she gave me a frightened, wide-eyed look, but I insisted. She lifted, I leaned close. There was no ember yet, so we kept going.


    A few more minutes of rubbing and a couple more lifts, and there was an ember in the groove in the wood. I scrambled for the bird¡¯s nest, found it, carefully tipped the ember into the nest, and blew.


    Smoke flew in front of my face. I coughed, but kept blowing. I threw the nest into a pile of dead grass and sticks that we¡¯d arranged before.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Wait, we need more firewood,¡± I said as I ran under a tree to grab fallen sticks and branches. Noel took a second to react, eyes glued to the now billowing smoke. We piled more firewood onto the smoke, blew into it when the smoke began dying down, and went out to look for more.


    I felt like my heart stopped when the smoke started weakening, but we threw in some dead grass, as well as some fluffy pollen-like things that looked like they¡¯d catch fire easily. Twigs, leaves, even another old bird¡¯s nest went into the smoke. A pyramid of sticks and branches soon appeared on top.


    A lot of blowing, praying, and cursing later, a small flame danced in the now almost pitch-black night. I yelled a loud: yes! Laughed a little. Hugged Noel and laughed some more.


    Noel stared at the fire. She didn¡¯t even react when I hugged her. She did react when I grabbed her hand and started dancing around the fire. A wild, uncoordinated, unthinking dance that hurt my feet and made my tired limbs cry.


    But I didn¡¯t care. We¡¯d done it. At last, we¡¯d done it!


    Noel began smiling too. And laughing. A strange, but warm and wild kind of laughter. If someone was in this forest at night, they¡¯d think a bunch of demons had descended into the night, cackling at whatever mischief they were trying to create.


    In a way they were right. What greater mischief was there than harnessing the power of nature for your own ends? At dancing around the thing from which other animals darted away, pushed by an instinctive fear of burning forests and lung-collapsing smoke.


    Even now, the growing heat pricked my skin. The unpleasant smoke filled my nose and made me cough from time to time as we danced. And the light flickered, throwing shadows through the forest. Shapes on trees. Monsters and nightmares pulled from the genetic imagination.


    But I wasn¡¯t afraid. I knew who was in control. I knew who had made the fire. I wasn¡¯t dancing with the fire, the fire was dancing with me. And it felt good. I looked at Noel, eyes wide with happiness.


    Yep. It felt good.


    ---


    We decided to wait for dawn. We could have made a torch or gone back to the The Terrible¡¯s cave for one of the offering sticks Noel said were in a hole in the wall near the cave¡¯s entrance. But we were tired and the night was dark. A little rest before dawn, and we could go back to her tribe without having encountered whatever was inside that cave.


    ¡°Does someone keep track of the offering sticks in the cave?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Someone from the tribe would go every once in a while to fill up the hole, but nobody keeps a count,¡± she said.


    ¡°But we still probably want one, don¡¯t we,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, ¡°they will expect us to come back with one.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Alright. Once the dawn breaks, you stay here with the fire, make sure it doesn¡¯t go out. I¡¯ll go grab an offering stick. Not that I don¡¯t trust you to not go inside but¡­¡±


    I totally didn¡¯t trust her to not go inside. It was her tribe¡¯s deity in there. What if she wanted to beg for forgiveness, seeing this act of creating her own fire as sacrilege. I¡¯d seen lots of people do stupid things for their religion, after all, so it would be best if I went to the cave myself.


    ¡°Alright,¡± agreed Noel, as she laid on the ground with her feet to the fire.


    I joined her on the ground, face to the sky. Now that the moon was gone, there was nothing to see but the stars.


    Laying by the campfire, staring at the stars, was one of the only things I¡¯d liked about camp. And somehow, it was only now, faced with stars and constellations that were completely alien to me, that I fully grasped that I was in another world.


    Not like I knew where every star was in the sky back home or anything. I wasn¡¯t even all that good with constellations but still. But still. I only had to look at the stars in this sky I had never seen, to feel a pang in my heart that told me: yes, Cas, this is real. These are not your stars and these are not your constellations. This is not your sky. This is not your world. This is not your home.

 Chapter 9

    I set out for the cave of The Terrible at dawn. Apparently Noel had fallen asleep. So much for looking after the fire. Luckily, I¡¯d spent hours thinking while staring at the sky, completely unable to fall asleep. I fed some more tinder to the fire, before piling on enough wood to keep the fire going for a good while.


    I glanced at Noel. Her feet were still bare, since we¡¯d forgotten all about the fur and sinew after we¡¯d made the fire. I found the sinew, but couldn¡¯t find the fur. Maybe we¡¯d fed it to the fire at some point? Oh well, she¡¯ll have to brave the forest floor with me when we went back to her tribe. I took the sinew with me, though.


    I retraced our steps back to the cave. It was much easier finding my way now that there was some sunlight drifting through the canopy. Still, I left a mark on every tree I passed on my right, just in case I got lost or needed to dash back to the campfire for some reason. I hadn¡¯t forgotten about those Farro Birds, after all.


    Dawn broke completely, filling the forest with light. Chirping birds, rustling leaves, all manner of sounds and noises. The forest was awake and teeming with life. It was funny how much of a difference all of that made. Going back to the cave was less scary and more fun.


    The cave itself was as foreboding as it had been at night. It was like the sunlight couldn¡¯t break through the cave¡¯s entrance, surrendering to the darkness as if it was a tangible thing. The words on the cave¡¯s entrance were also somehow more menacing. Every spike, every jagged edge, highlighted by the contrast between the now sunny clearing and the still gloomy entrance.


    I approached the entrance carefully. There was a sort of illusory line in the ground. On one side, was the brightness of dawn, on the other side, the darkness of the cave. Standing right up against the edge of this line, I could barely make out the hole in the wall where the offering sticks were supposed to be.


    ¡°In and out,¡± I said to myself aloud. ¡°Just run in there, Cas, and run out. No need to stop, no need to look.¡±


    Just as I was about to dash inside, I stopped myself. If I could see the hole, couldn¡¯t I make some sort of tool to help me grab an offering stick without going inside. I wasn¡¯t an idiot. I could tell there was something weird about this cave. Who knows, maybe I¡¯d be hit with some sort of mind control magic as soon as I stepped in? Or maybe whatever monster that lived here would attack me as soon as my feet touched the ground on the other side of the line.


    I stepped away. There was some sinew in my hand and I¡¯d seen some young, bendy saplings a couple minutes before I¡¯d reached the entrance. I followed my marked trees back to the saplings and uprooted one. It bent well and was long enough to reach the hole. Next, I tied the sinew we¡¯d used to light the fire to one end of the sapling. I grabbed a small stone from the ground but didn¡¯t tie it to the other end of the sinew yet.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Back at the cave, I stood at the edge of the cave¡¯s entrance once again. I grabbed one end of the sapling and approached the hole in the wall. I couldn¡¯t see the offering sticks so I had to poke and prod until I felt something at the other end of the stick. Fiddling around a little helped me knock something loose and soon, the rattle of wood on stone echoed through the cave.


    I brought the sapling back to the entrance then tied the stone to the other end of the sinew. I could see where the offering sticks had fallen. There were two of them, but I figured I could bring them both back. Maybe if we both brought back some fire, I wouldn¡¯t have to go through this ritual too.


    I positioned the stone behind an offering stick and then slowly pulled it toward the cave¡¯s entrance across the craggy ground. It rolled around a little, the stone slipped out, and it took an insane amount of concentration, but I finally managed to get one offering stick out of the cave.


    Taking a breather, I looked back up at the symbols around the cave¡¯s entrance. Clouds flew in front of the sun, which actually made it slightly easier to make out the symbol in the center, which stood right above my head.


    The symbol for The Terrible: the one that looked like a storm. Somehow. I hadn¡¯t noticed before. The edges looked so smooth. So clean. Like they had been etched into stone with a hydraulic press or some other modern machine. No flakes. No wobbly lines. No marks on the stone around it.


    My heart raced. Was this paranoia or did this whole crappy place fill me with warranted anxiety? I threw the sapling out again and missed the second stick. I moved it around. Then pushed it further in. Thankfully, I could still reach it. Stone behind stick, sapling overhead. I rolled the offering stick to the entrance, hands shaking, heart beating up in my ears.


    The sapling left my hand and landed in the grass. I barely remember picking up the second offering stick before running back into the forest, refusing to look back at the cave. The sky was overcast. Gray clouds. A rumble in the distance. A storm was coming.


    I followed my marks all the way back to the clearing where Noel and I had spent the night. An image of a perfect storm, etched into stone, standing for a symbol I did not yet understand, was seared into my mind.


    By the time I found Noel hurriedly laying large waxy leaves on a wooden frame over the fire, my chest was aching badly. I hadn¡¯t even noticed how hard I had run. I passed the offering sticks to Noel, bent down, hands on my knees, and gasped for air.


    Noel put a hand on my shoulders, asking what was wrong, but I couldn¡¯t get a word out of my mouth. Eventually, I told her it was nothing. I had been spooked by nothing, my anxiety playing tricks on me. I still told her we needed to get out of here, fast. She said we couldn¡¯t do that, there was a storm brewing. The offering sticks would get doused.


    I cursed but agreed. By the time I had caught my breath, a heavy drop of water smacked into the back of my neck, making me jump. Soon, the rain was pouring, the ground was muddy, and my heart refused to calm down as I sat huddled next to Noel under a large, broad-leafed tree.

 Chapter 10

    Noel got me to explain to her why I was acting out. I explained how strange those words on the cave¡¯s entrance had looked up close, how inhumanly perfect they appeared. She didn¡¯t reply, but her hand found its way to my shoulder. I thanked her and gave her a smile to show I was okay.


    I realized something while sitting this close to Noel. Despite her people not having a written language, they seemed to practice good dental hygiene. Either that or their mouths were magic or something, because her teeth were clean and her breath wasn¡¯t unpleasant.


    I decided to take this opportunity to explore Noel¡¯s language and my ¡®translation magic¡¯ some more. Learning things always helped me calm down. I asked Noel if she could help me do some more experiments on my translation magic, and she agreed to say some more words for me while enunciating as best she could. I made a few observations.


    My magic seemed to be compensating for Noel¡¯s language¡¯s lack of vocabulary by filling in her sentences with words she hadn¡¯t said. It would substitute some of her words for ones that would make more sense to me. So if her word for ears was ¡°head horns,¡± they would just become ¡°ears¡± for me. On the other hand, it would sometimes go as far as creating entire sentences that she hadn¡¯t said, just to explain a word or concept for which there was no equivalent in English.


    Oh yeah, for some reason it only translated words into English. Names seemed to be an exception, but it never translated words into the other languages that I knew, even if there was a better translation to be made. This was really strange, but I could only assume this was because English was my native language, so maybe the ¡®magic¡¯ preferred to translate into it.


    This ¡°magic¡± was also describing some of my words for her, while occasionally leaving untranslated sounds for some words that it could not easily explain. Noel said I was speaking like any other elf from her tribe, except I¡¯d get a little long winded sometimes. I asked her to describe my tone and accent, and she said they were average.


    Doing this sort of thing really did calm me down. Experiments, research, really any sort of academic or intellectual activity helped me ignore my worries and concerns, while focusing intensely on the task at hand.


    I wanted to keep analyzing my ¡®translation magic,¡¯ and was about to ask Noel about ¡®magic¡¯ in general, but the rain finally stopped and we decided to start making our way back to her tribe as quickly as possible. We each grabbed an offering stick and walked over to the still burning fire.


    Walking through the mud in my bare feet felt disgusting, especially when blades of grass would get in between my toes, and sometimes made my feet itch. That reminded me that I had forgotten the sinew at the cave¡¯s entrance! Well, no point in going back for it when Noel didn¡¯t have the other part of her shoe.


    The offering sticks were pretty simple. They were uneven sticks of wood, neither alike, but with a simple mark carved into the base of the stick. Some type of tinder was wrapped around the other end of the stick, held together by straps of hide that would probably burn off too.


    Noel put her stick above the fire, slowly rotating it as if she was roasting a marshmallow. I followed suit with my own stick, until the tinder at the end finally began to smoke. Noel explained how the tinder and hide were covered in a special sap that burned for a long time but took a while to catch fire. It took what felt like a dozen minutes or so before Noel¡¯s stick caught fire, followed closely by mine.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    We cleared up what was left of our campsite. Noel didn¡¯t want to put out the fire I¡¯d made but I insisted. We couldn¡¯t leave evidence like this lying around or someone might realize we had made our own fire instead of getting The Terrible¡¯s blessing. Besides, what if we caused a forest fire or something.


    And so I put out the fire and scattered all the ash and embers in the mud while Noel looked away. We grabbed a couple of large waxy leaves to cover our burning offering sticks, since bursts of water still sometimes poured out of the canopy and it would really suck if our flames were doused on the way back to Noel¡¯s tribe.


    ---


    On the way back, Noel and I got our stories straight. We¡¯d say she found me on her way to The Terrible¡¯s cave. I had been wandering around the forest, searching for help, because I¡¯d been swept down a river but miraculously survived. I was from a far away land where an elder had cast a magic spell on me to help me communicate with other tribes if I ever got lost. To make it more believable, we had to explain that the elder was well-versed in astrology and prophecy, and was able to read my future with his skills. He had cast this magic on me after realizing that I would need it in the future.


    Not a very scientific or rationally believable story, but in a world of elves and magic, it was probably good enough. Next, I asked Noel for an explanation of her tribe; things like important members, rituals, traditions, norms and practices. She should also, I said, tell me about her family. Noel hesitated but began with her family.


    Her mother died when Noel was still young. She was going to give birth to Noel¡¯s first sibling, but both the baby and the mother died because of complications during childbirth. The elders of the clan blamed evil spirits, while her father¡¯s brother¡ªNoel¡¯s uncle¡ªsaid it was because Noel¡¯s mother had displeased the gods.


    Noel¡¯s father was a great hunter, but losing his partner made him rash and irascible. He channeled his anger and despair to hunting bigger, more difficult prey. From Farro Birds and Alata Banes to Sativus Hogs and Flying Goderes, Noel¡¯s father hunted them all.


    But it wasn¡¯t enough. One day, he set off alone, late in the night, and came back the next day with the carcass of a whole Yuca Bovine! He was covered in blood and scratches, but he didn¡¯t care. The entire tribe called him a hero, the greatest hunter since the age of the gods. They sang many praises, and still sing songs of him to this day.


    Noel paused. ¡°When I was younger, I loved listening to those songs. My father, the hero! The greatest hunter of them all!¡± She laughed. ¡°And I used to cry when the songs went on. When they mentioned how no hunt was too dangerous for him, no monster too monstrous, no beast too wild.¡±


    ¡°The great hunter was never satisfied. He refused to hunt with other elves, convinced they would hold him back. The elders cautioned him, told him he was young and foolish. No amount of glory would bring his partner back. He should settle down for his daughter and find a new partner!¡±


    ¡°But he refused. He refused and drank deeply one night. Fueled by passion, he vowed to defeat the great Carica Serpent that guarded what used to be the tribe¡¯s summer watering hole near the Northern Plains of Serenity. Before anyone could stop him, he left on his own, with only his trusty blade: The Dragon¡¯s Tooth.¡±


    ¡°This blade was always given to the greatest hunter in the tribe, but nobody believed a single elf could hunt the vicious Carica Serpent. My father was faster than any other elf. My uncle chased after him, followed closely by other hunters, but by the time they reached the watering hole, the Carica Serpent was slain. Its long, slender body lying next to the water¡¯s edge, curling like a sand dune.¡±


    ¡°My father¡¯s body was found next to the beast. A large gash in his stomach, oozing blood. One of the monster¡¯s teeth lay on the ground beside him. The song ends with the verse: Carica¡¯s blood burned to ash by Rosta¡¯s anger. The water turned bitter with Jora¡¯s tears.¡±

 Chapter 11

    Rosta was her father¡¯s name, Noel explained, and Jora was her tribe¡¯s name. After that, she didn¡¯t say anything. The sun was well and truly out now, and the forest was humid as hell. It didn¡¯t help that we were carrying two burning sticks inches from our faces.


    I expressed my sympathy for Noel. It must have been hard growing up, listening to those stories. Noel said it was okay. Her father had died like that when she was too young to remember. Apparently, that meant she had been around ten years old. Getting used to elf timescales was going to be difficult.


    Noel continued. The Jora tribe was a medium sized tribe, which commanded a modest amount of respect among the tribes of the Plains of Serenity. Their most prominent members were Noel¡¯s grandfather, Starry, and an elderly woman named Vell. There was also Noel¡¯s uncle, Sharun, who had raised Noel as a member of his own family. Sharun was also a great hunter, although not as great as Rosta had been. That said, as the greatest living hunter in the tribe, Sharun now wielded The Dragon¡¯s Tooth.


    Noel said her tribe wouldn¡¯t mind a new young elf like me. Apparently, the various tribes were always shifting members around, usually as a result of partnerships¡ªI assumed this was their version of marriage, although my ¡®translation magic¡¯ was calling it a partnership, for some reason. Noel¡¯s own mother had come from a different tribe, the Bandari, and it was to this tribe that Noel had been planning to escape to if she failed the judgment of The Terrible.


    There were a few things she told me to keep in mind at her tribe. Most of the able-bodied young men were expected to hunt, but a few of them went with the women and children to forage. Everybody helped out at the camp, and the camps themselves moved across the Plains of Serenity whenever the seasons shifted. I was probably going to have to join the foraging parties at first, although since I didn¡¯t have a family, I would have to figure out my own living situation at the camp.


    I told her not to worry, I could make my own tents and stuff. Honestly, having come from a modern time period, I was dreading having to live with the elves, but after hearing about their society, I figured it wouldn¡¯t be so bad. It was like camping with people who insisted on not using modern technology. There had been a few of them at summer camp back home. They were a strange sort, but incredibly reliable and easygoing.


    The forest was beginning to thin as the sun appeared right over our heads. The only remaining evidence of rain was the mud caked around my legs and the suffocating humidity in the air. Noel said her tribe¡¯s camp wasn¡¯t far.


    The plains stretched far into the horizon as we finally left the forest. Noel practically sprinted the last half-mile to a camp full of wood and hide based tents. The camp was hidden in a rocky grove which made it difficult to spot on the plains. A few spear wielding men crouched near the rocks, probably able to survey miles of open plain for predators and prey from their position.


    These men saw us coming and although they remained vigilant towards me, they smiled and waved when they saw Noel running towards them with a lit offering stick. They became less wary towards me when they realized I was also bringing back a blessing.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Low shouts went out from the guards. They ushered us into the camp while the spear-wielding men went back to their posts by the rocks.


    ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± came a voice.


    ¡°Uncle!¡± said Noel.


    A handsome middle-aged elf walked up to us. He had silver hair and silver eyes, just like Noel. One of his ears was missing its pointy end. A scar peeked out from under his brown tunic. He wore a bright smile that totally didn¡¯t fit his rough, warrior-like demeanor. Noel had introduced him as Sharun, the uncle who had raised her like a daughter after her father¡¯s death.


    Sharun gave her a side hug, minding the offering stick with its flames. He asked her what had happened to her shoes, to which Noel said it was a long story.


    ¡°Tell me all about it while I walk you to the elder¡¯s tent, then,¡± said Sharun, shifting his gaze towards me.


    Noel introduced me to her uncle. She gave him the story we¡¯d agreed on beforehand, and he seemed to sympathize with my situation. He said the elders would definitely let me stay, although they didn¡¯t know any way to send me back to my tribe since even I didn¡¯t know where my tribe was.


    ¡°Honestly, I didn¡¯t even know there were other elven tribes outside the Plains of Serenity,¡± he said.


    I didn¡¯t know if there were any other tribes either, but I couldn¡¯t tell him that. ¡°If the rest of you are as kind and welcoming as Noel, I think things will work out somehow.¡±


    We made it to a tent that was just a little bit larger than all the others. All the tents were made of large waxy leaves, small branches, and some animal hides. Some were lined with mud mixed with grass instead of large leaves.


    The elders¡¯ tent had a nice opening, decorated with stone beads hanging on threads made of plant fibers or sinew. Various flint tools and decorations lay on stones near the entrance, with a handful of elves sitting on the ground nearby. These elves were carefully handling two rocks, one in each hand. I recognized one type of rock as flint while the other seemed to be a hard stone which you could use to strike things. One of the elves struck her piece of flint as we watched, breaking it to make several smaller pieces of flint. She sifted through the pieces and brought one of the larger pieces above her head to inspect it in the sunlight.


    Satisfied, she put it with the other pieces of flint in front of the elders¡¯ tent, at which point she noticed us.


    ¡°Noel, you¡¯re back!¡± said the female elf that had been working on the flint.


    ¡°Yes, elder Vell, I have received the blessing,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve received a little more than that,¡± said elder Vell as she raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°I¡¯m done knapping flint. How about we head over to your grandfather while you tell me about our guest?¡±

 Chapter 12

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know where your tribe is?¡± asked elder Vell.


    ¡°I know where my tribe is,¡± I insisted, ¡°I don¡¯t have any idea where the Plains of Serenity are.¡±


    ¡°The Plains are right here.¡± She gestured to the plains outside the camp.


    I stared at her. She laughed. A hand thumped my shoulder. This granny sure liked her jokes. And yes, she was a ¡®granny.¡¯ Noel said Vell was the second oldest elf in the tribe, coming in at a whopping 827 years old. Considering how the oldest elf in the history of the tribe had lived for exactly 1000 years, Vell was absolutely ancient, even by elf standards.


    Yet, she didn¡¯t look old at all. Her hair was a lustrous blonde, and there were no wrinkles around her eyes. She had puffy cheeks and a pointy chin, and was as energetic as anyone else. Honestly, she looked like one of the twenty year old college students that had worked as a counselor at my summer camp.


    She agreed to let me stay with the tribe, insisting that Noel¡¯s grandfather, who was the other elder, wouldn¡¯t mind. He was a pushover, according to her. He was the type to nurse injured baby Farro Birds, even though they¡¯d never repay the favor.


    Vell led us all the way to a rocky outcropping at the back of the camp. There was a small cave with an entrance so small we had to crouch to get in. By this point, the smoke from the fire had caked Noel¡¯s face in soot and I was willing to bet mine wasn¡¯t any better. The flames cast dancing shadows on the walls as we went deeper and deeper inside. A light appeared up ahead. It didn¡¯t look natural. In fact, it looked like the light coming off the stick in my hand.


    ¡°Starry you old coot,¡± said Vell, ¡°you¡¯re always here with the blessings. Can¡¯t leave them to welcome your own granddaughter after she braved The Terrible?¡±


    Another young looking elf was sitting in the middle of a large open space. He was Noel¡¯s grandfather, Starry. There was a crack in the ceiling, but most of the light in the room seemed to come from the dozens of fires lining the walls. There was a large pile of wood and tinder next to Starry, probably to help fuel the flames.


    ¡°Noel, you¡¯re back!¡± said the elf as he got up. ¡°And you brought a friend?¡±


    Noel provided the story for the third time. It would¡¯ve been more efficient if we¡¯d gathered everyone and told them the story in one go, but it looked like we were gonna have to go over it with every single elf one by one.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Starry. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to stay with us as long as you need to, young Caspian.¡±


    As a side note, I had no idea if his name was as cool in his own language, but my translation magic had given him a phenomenal one. My name on the other hand¡­


    ¡°Please, call me Cas,¡± I said.


    ¡°Cas? I must say, I have no idea what that name means. Perhaps that is the limit of your magic. Your elders must have been quite gifted to have been able to give you such a gift. You simply must let me study it!¡± said Starry.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him,¡± said Vell, ¡°he¡¯s obsessed with magic. I swear he¡¯d rob the Oracle blind if he thought he could understand her magic.¡±


    Starry laughed. His smile was bright and cheerful. He totally didn¡¯t look like a 921 year old geezer. His silver hair and silver eyes were as bright as Noel¡¯s. His skin was unwrinkled, his face unblemished, and his teeth so pristine they looked almost unreal. The only marks of age seemed to be the many cuts and callouses on his arms and legs, as well as a particularly nasty scar that cut across his shoulders where his brown tunic fell under his collarbone.


    ¡°Let¡¯s put your blessing where it belongs,¡± said Starry as he grabbed Noel¡¯s offering stick. He looked at me. ¡°You¡¯re going to have wait a little. I wasn¡¯t expecting another blessing, I¡¯ll have to make some space.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I told him I had nowhere else to be. Vell chuckled. Sharun offered to help, which startled me because I had forgotten he was there. Starry told Sharun he didn¡¯t need any help. Matters of magic were best handled by the elders, he explained.


    Starry placed Noel¡¯s offering stick upright on a pile of wood and tinder. He pressed his face to the wall above the flame, inhaling the smoke deeply. He muttered some words, prayers perhaps, and moved back. The stick would gradually burn down, setting the tinder and wood alight.


    He went to the back of the cave and stuck his hand into a hole in the wall. He pulled out a small ball of black resin. He brought the ball of resin to his face and kissed it. His whisper carried far in the quiet cave, where the only other sounds were the crackling fires:


    ¡°This son of Jora thanks his ancestors. Accept the blessing brought by our son. Sanctify it with this holy Perpetuum.¡±


    He pressed the black resin, which he called Perpetuum, flat against the wall, then rolled it up before shaping it into a swirl. Around the swirl he added some timber. He placed the whole thing next to Noel¡¯s fire and piled up some wood. After putting my offering stick on top of the pile, he repeated his prayers. Vell joined in the prayer, followed by Sharun and Noel. I mouthed the words because I had no idea what to say.


    It wasn¡¯t like going to church back home. It felt more individualistic, yet communal at the same time. The fire and smoke gave it a medieval vibe, kinda like the orthodox church I¡¯d been to in Greece. But the focus on ancestors and family rather than gods or theology was fun, but also very unusual. I didn¡¯t know how to reconcile it with my previous experiences so I decided to approach it on its own terms.


    We left the cave when another elf came to take over from Starry. The sun was further down and the air had cooled a bit. Starry kept asking me about my translation magic, and I explained all that I had been able to deduce. He didn¡¯t care about linguistics, though, and kept pushing for me to tell him about the magic. Since I had no clue about it, I told him the elders made me fall asleep before they performed it so I had no clue what they had done.


    ¡°It must have been a necessary part of the magic,¡± concluded Starry. ¡°The secret must be dreams! I¡¯ll begin investigating immediately.¡±


    You have fun with that buddy, I mused to myself.


    ¡°Ignore that magic nerd for a second,¡± interjected Vell. ¡°I don¡¯t know how it worked at your tribe, but since you just had your coming of age ceremony, does that mean you don¡¯t have any experience hunting with a party?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I foraged with the other women and children. Ah, I don¡¯t recognize the plants around here so I might not be much help with foraging at first.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying you¡¯re useless?¡± she jibed.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m a fast learner! Show me some of the things you forage or take me to a couple of hunts and I¡¯ll pick it up in no time,¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Vell punched Sharun on the shoulder. ¡°This guy here is the best hunter in the tribe. How about you head out with his party in a bit? You can watch from the back or help carry things for them. Sound good Sharun?¡±


    ¡°Anything you say, elder,¡± said Sharun. ¡°Should I take Noel out too?¡±


    ¡°Sure, why not. We could use another female hunter,¡± said Vell, ¡°though Starry over here might not like putting his precious granddaughter in danger.¡± She chuckled.


    ¡°No,¡± said Starry, ¡°this will be helpful. Noel always wanted to be a hunter like her father and uncle, didn¡¯t you Noel?¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°We¡¯re going to keep the Dragon¡¯s Tooth in our family!¡±


    Vell shook her head. I saw the elder¡¯s tent come into view around the corner. There was a flurry of activity, with all the flint-working areas empty. There were no shouts or screams. In fact, there were no loud noises at all. Unsettling.


    We quieted down too. Vell stopped a moving elf and whispered: ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡±


    The elf leaned in close to Vell¡¯s ear and whispered. Vell¡¯s eyes opened and she nodded. She patted the elf on the shoulder and let him run off. She leaned back toward us and gestured for everyone to close in.


    ¡°An injured Sativus Hog has appeared nearby. Stay quiet, we don¡¯t want to scare it away,¡± she said. She gestured at Noel and me. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ll get your first taste of hunting a little sooner than expected. Sharun, you better grab your weapon.¡±


    Sharun nodded and grabbed our shoulders. He gently pulled us towards a large tent by the side. Noel nodded to a couple of young elves who were staying near the tent. Sharun went inside to get his weapon. What was it called again? Right.


    The Dragon¡¯s Tooth.

 Chapter 13

    The Dragon¡¯s Tooth was probably one of the most intimidating names I had ever heard. Since this was a fantasy world, Sharun might really pull out a massive tooth or something. Straight from a dragon¡¯s mouth, perhaps? Or it could be a spear shaped out of bone. Maybe it was made of some sort of magical material like orichalcum or mythril?


    Wait, I remember seeing Vell and some other elves working with flint. They all wore rough tunics and things that could barely count as shoes. They definitely did not have the technology to use metals. It was probably a bone then, from a dragon or a great monster, right? There¡¯s no way Sharun was about to pull out a flint tool and call it¡ª


    ¡°The Dragon¡¯s Tooth,¡± whispered Noel as Sharun stepped out of the tent.


    In Sharun¡¯s hand was a wooden stick with some rocks stuck into one end. Sharp, pointy rocks, but rocks nonetheless. Flint microliths, to be exact. Man, can¡¯t believe my paper on prehistoric technology was coming in handy here. Still, why the hell was a lame weapon like that given a name as cool as ¡®The Dragon¡¯s Tooth?¡¯


    ¡°These are for you,¡± whispered Sharun as he passed me a brown tunic and fur shoe. I¡¯d almost forgotten that I was still wearing a makeshift plant-loincloth. I changed inside the tent and we ran to the rocks where we¡¯d first entered the camp.


    A bunch of elves were peering over the edge of the rocky outcropping. Sharun tapped one of them on the shoulder and she turned to him. The elf made space for Sharun, who peered over the rocks. The elf he had tapped began tapping the others, and soon around six elves were crouching with us behind the rock, with only Sharun still observing the situation.


    Sharun raised a hand and we stilled. The wind was blowing in our faces, so the monster couldn¡¯t have smelled us. In fact, a faint odor began reaching our noses right before pained grunts came to our ears. Sharun kept his hand up. The sun kept falling. I didn¡¯t even notice that I was holding my breath.


    Sharun brought his hand down and the elves rushed out. They brandished their long wooden spears, all tipped with sharp pieces of flint. They fanned out, surrounding something we couldn¡¯t see. Noel stood up and I followed her.


    A huge purple hog stood a few feet away, snarling. It had a mop of dark green hair and long ivory tusks that could have skewered every single elf here at once. The monster had a gash on its right foreleg which had already become infected. There was a spear sticking out of its side. The spear had been launched by the elf Sharun had tapped right before we ran out.


    The elves stared at the monster, which was fidgeting from side to side, looking for a way to break out. The elves were content to let it bleed out for as long as possible, since that would make taking it easier to take down. The monster knew this. It figured it had to make a break for it and charged the elves to its right.


    The elves it had charged at dove out of the way, right as the elves opposite to them launched their spears. The monster charged straight ahead like an enraged bull. Its tusks hit empty air even as the elves¡¯ spears pierced its tough hide in several places. But the monster had managed to break the elves¡¯ encirclement. It didn¡¯t stop charging, dashing wildly, trying desperately to escape.


    Sharun climbed up on top of the rocky outcropping. By this point the monster was dozens of feet from the other elves. Any spears the elves threw either didn¡¯t reach the monster or were too weak to penetrate its hide. Sharun brought back The Dragon¡¯s Tooth behind his shoulders, winding it up like a javelin, bending his back and knee.


    Step forward, release. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth whizzed overhead, its many jagged flint-teeth screeching through the air like a banshee. The sativus hog heard the sound of the spear rushing towards it. It turned to try to knock the projectile out of the air with its tusk, meeting it midair like a parrying sword.


    Crack. The monster¡¯s tusk snapped. Squelch. The spear embedded itself squarely between the monster¡¯s eyes. The purple colored monster stood frozen in the middle of the plain, with a broken tusk and a new wooden horn. It toppled over, seemingly due to a gust of wind. A loud thump heralded the monster¡¯s demise. A low cheer declared the elves¡¯ victory.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ---


    ¡°They have to grill it until nightfall?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel as we walked through the camp. ¡°The meat of most monsters is poisonous. Only the blessing can neutralize the poison.¡±


    Most of the other elves were taking care of the monster. They had already skinned and butchered it, but there was still a lot to be done. Six elves were on guard duty, surrounding their kill on all sides and keeping an eye out for scavengers. One elf climbed a tree to be on the lookout for Farro Birds. The carcass was left where it had fallen, somewhat far from the camp, which would prevent any other predators from coming over and threatening the elves at night. Still, Starry and Vell said there should be extra guards tonight. They also insisted Sharun be one of them.


    Speaking of Sharun, I couldn¡¯t get the image of him throwing that spear out of my mind. The way his skin went taut and his muscles expanded, honestly, it looked otherworldly. In all those stories from back home, elves were weak and magical, not brawny muscle-heads. Guess prehistoric times called for prehistoric physiques.


    Noel pulled me aside while the other elves were busy. She looked around to make sure the coast was clear. ¡°Cas, we have a problem.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.


    Did someone find out our story was fake? Maybe they didn¡¯t believe I was from another elven tribe.


    ¡°Grandpa Starry said he wants to celebrate my blessing, today,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Your blessing? Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No,¡± she said, ¡°you don¡¯t understand. After a big hunt like this one, the tribe holds a ceremony to thank the ancestors. It¡¯s supposed to be a great honor. There¡¯s dancing, drinking, and a great feast.¡±


    ¡°Sounds amazing so far.¡± I said.


    Noel poked me with her finger. ¡°Oh yeah? And what do you think they¡¯re going to bring out to celebrate with.¡±


    Oh. ¡°A fire?¡±


    ¡°Exactly, a blessing!¡±


    ¡°And if your grandpa wants to celebrate your blessing, that means he wants to bring out the fire we just brought back,¡± I said.


    Noel nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t think this would happen for a long time. Usually, we celebrate using the oldest blessing, which represents the oldest elder. But if the elder decides to honor somebody, for a great hunt or something, then we might use that person¡¯s blessing instead.¡±


    ¡°Well, relax. I saw those fires in that cave back there. They looked exactly like the fires I made,¡± I said.


    ¡°But what if they¡¯re not the same? Your magic is not as powerful as The Terrible¡¯s magic. If they bring out my blessing and start honoring the ancestors, your magic might not do the things it is supposed to do,¡± she said.


    Wait. It was supposed to do things?


    ¡°That might be a problem,¡± I said, at last.


    Noel leaned against the wall and tapped her feet. It made soft thumping sounds because of her fur shoe. ¡°We might have to leave the camp. I think we can outrun most of them if we have a head start, but uncle Sharun is a beast. He¡¯ll catch up to us in no time.¡±


    ¡°Wait, hold on. We don¡¯t know if my fire is different from The Terrible¡¯s fire. We shouldn¡¯t panic and do something we might regret.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll slip some untreated Sativus Hog meat into my uncle¡¯s food tonight. It won¡¯t kill him, but it should give him an upset stomach.¡±


    ¡°Great idea,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s ignore everything I just said and go with your plan then, huh?¡±


    ¡°You really think so?¡± said Noel. ¡°I was kidding, but if you really think so, I¡¯ll go steal some meat right now.¡±


    Had sarcasm not been invented yet or was she trying to be funny? Even as she went to grab some poisonous meat for her uncle, I couldn¡¯t figure out if it was my fault that Sharun would be spending the night in the woods downwind.

 Chapter 14

    ¡°Gather around, gather around. The food is ready,¡± said Vell.


    Wood crackled in the fire. Sparks trailed into the darkness like fireflies. The moon hung above the clouds, just a phase older than full. A red star blinked right next to it.


    ¡°Before we begin the festivities,¡± said Starry, as the elves crowded around the open fire. ¡°I would like to introduce to you all, our guest, young Caspian of the Holm tribe.¡±


    I coughed. I guess making my last name my tribe¡¯s name wasn¡¯t too bad, but didn¡¯t I tell him to call me Cas?


    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± said Starry, noticing my cough, ¡°he would like to be called Cas, although I have no idea what that means.¡±


    Whispers all around. Was having a nickname that weird?


    ¡°Moving on. This ceremony is to mark a double blessing, although we are using only my granddaughter¡¯s blessing to cook the meat tonight. This is only fitting, as she is the older of the two.¡±


    He doesn¡¯t know if she¡¯s older than me! I screamed inside my head. I told him our tribes measure time differently! Seeing my expression, Noel snickered. I mean, they were right, I was way younger as a college going human than a hundred year old elf, but elves also aged more slowly so weren¡¯t we basically the same age? I don¡¯t know. This whole age thing was needlessly complicated. Almost like somebody was deliberately messing with me.


    ¡°And for the sake of our guest, I will recount a single tale passed down by the ancestors. Young Caspian will be with us for a while, so he can learn the other stories later, but it seems his tribe does not know about the story of the red star,¡± he said.


    Starry had overheard me asking Noel about the red star as it appeared in the evening, and insisted Noel not answer. Apparently, I had to be humiliated for my ignorance in front of everyone. Yay.


    ¡°Before the Plains of Serenity were carved up by the corpse of a forgotten goddess, before The Terrible arrived from a higher realm to provide us with the blessing, before the world as we know it came into being, there was the Age of the Gods,¡± began Starry.


    ¡°A bloody, violent, difficult time. A time when elves were like ants and entire tribes were crushed under the feet of powerful divine beings. When the sun blazed without rest and there was no night. No darkness, only light. When there was no good or evil, only chaos. At that time, two gods fought in the sky.¡±


    ¡°The God of Evil and the God of Madness fought above the clouds, for what reason, no one knows. But it is said the God of Evil had insulted the God of Madness¡¯ lover. It is also said that the God of Madness was not always mad, but that it was his love for his beloved that drowned him in insanity. Now, what kind of creature is worthy of a god¡¯s love? And what kind of love can drive a god into madness? Who knows.¡±


    ¡°The story goes¡­¡±


    Starry gestured to the fire. I looked at Noel and Noel looked at me. If nothing happened, this was when we had to make a break for it. We stared at the fire. Starry jerked his hand over it.


    The fire rose! Orange tentacles reached for the sky, grasping into the darkness. Embers whooshed out, before disappearing into the night.


    I looked at Noel. Was this good enough? I didn¡¯t know what the magic was supposed to look like, but this looked pretty magical to me. Noel nodded and I was relieved. We didn¡¯t need to run after all.


    ¡°The story goes,¡± continued Starry, as he manipulated the fire with a force that I could not understand, ¡°that the God of Evil ripped out the God of Madness¡¯ silver heart. And the God of Madness completely destroyed the God of Evil, but missed a single drop of blood.¡±


    The fire split in two. One blade of fire rounded off into what could have been a heart. The other became a droplet. A chill went up my spine. There was something eerie about this magic. Or maybe I just wasn¡¯t used to the magic of this world. Everyone else seemed fine. Actually, they were all staring at the droplet, mesmerized. Why weren¡¯t they looking at the heart, I asked myself.


    ¡°The heart settled into the sky, becoming the moon. The drop of blood became the red star. When the gods ascended to their realm, only the moon and the red star remained. They cross in the middle of the night, continuing their timeless battle.¡± The two fiery tendrils crossed like blades. Somehow, they didn¡¯t melt into each other, remaining distinct and distinguishable. The fire split again.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°But the God of Madness is still searching for his lover.¡± The heart in the fire waxed and waned. ¡°The moon¡¯s gaze shifts from night to night, as the god focuses on different parts of the world, searching desperately for his love.¡±


    The heart disappeared and only the droplet remained. ¡°But the red star does not change because evil does not bend, evil does not move, evil does not¡­¡± Starry came closer to the fire and whispered, ¡°blink.¡± The droplet became a star and somehow, it became brighter. I rubbed my eyes but it was true. It was true. The star in the fire was shining brighter than the fire.


    A hand clamped on my shoulder, making me jump. I looked up. It was Starry, sporting a ridiculous grin. ¡°How did you like the story?¡±


    I gave him a mirthless grin. I hadn¡¯t even realized the story was over. The moon and star were gone, and the fire blazed lazily, with no hint of the magic that had possessed it before. I said: ¡°It was¡­ interesting. Can we eat now?¡±


    Vell nodded. ¡°Yes, I think we¡¯ve heard enough of this old geezer¡¯s voice. Dig in, everybody!¡±


    The elves began carving out pieces of meat from the roasting pig. A few elves wrapped pieces of meat in large leaves before heading towards the outskirts of the camp. Noel was one of them, but nobody saw her carve anything off of the monster.


    Was she still going to poison her uncle? I knew it wasn¡¯t a deadly poison, especially for a great hunter like Sharun, but it wasn¡¯t necessary at this point. We didn¡¯t have to run now that we knew the so-called ¡®blessing¡¯ was just ordinary fire.


    Ah well, I guess it makes sense to have an escape plan. There could be other magical things that the ¡®blessing¡¯ was supposed to do which my fire might not be able to. Although, after seeing the way Starry¡¯s magic had controlled the fire tonight, I was pretty sure his brand of magic had nothing to do with the nature of the fire itself.


    Although, having seen magic like that made me curious. How did it work? What were its secrets? Why did it exist and what could I do with it? What questions could it answer and what answers could it question?


    I walked over to Starry. He was talking to a group of elves. The other elves did most of the talking, while Starry stood by and smiled, maybe interjecting with a word or two from time to time. Seemed like a down to earth guy, despite being the leader of his tribe.


    He saw me coming over and excused himself from the others. He held a leaf in his hand, where once there was a piece of meat. It looked like he had already finished eating.


    ¡°Enjoying the feast, young Caspian?¡± he said.


    I nodded. ¡°Yes, but I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, you want me to call you Cas,¡± he interjected and shook his head. ¡°I am trying, please believe me. But it is difficult for an old elf like me to keep up with the whims and fancies of youth. I do not understand how Caspian becomes Cas, the two words are so distinct from one another, that I cannot connect the two together.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said. ¡°Then it might be a problem with my translation magic.¡±


    His eyes lit up at the mention of magic. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, in my language, all I am doing is shortening my real name to its first distinct sound or syllable. If my whole name is three knocks,¡± I said as I knocked on a large rock three times, ¡°then my shortened name is one knock.¡± I knocked once.


    ¡°You shortened your name to its first sound? Why?¡± he asked.


    Huh, well the real reason was because Caspian was a dumb sounding name. It even sounded weird when C. S. Lewis used it in his stories, and that guy thought readers would get emotionally investing in a talking rat!


    Side note, I loved Reepicheep the talking mouse. Little guy was a real hero, I tell ya!


    ¡°I shortened my name because it was easier that way. Why use three sounds for one name when you can use just one?¡± I said. ¡°Also, back home it conveyed a sense of familiarity. A stranger wouldn¡¯t call me Cas. If I asked you to call me Cas, it meant I thought we were close enough, or I wanted us to be close enough, for you to say my name this way.¡±


    Starry furrowed his brows. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. You¡¯re saying messing up your name, making it smaller and less embellished, is a sign of respect?¡±


    ¡°Well, it didn¡¯t have much to do with respect. It was a sign of love and familiarity.¡±


    ¡°Love and familiarity. I see. So you might ask the people of your own tribe to call you Cas, because you expect them to know you and love you. But other tribes must say all the sounds because they must show you respect?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°that sounds about right. You might let your brother insult you in jest, but a stranger doing the same might be disrespectful. It¡¯s the same concept.¡±


    Starry nodded his head slowly. ¡°I see. That does make sense.¡± He smiled and met my gaze.


    He had a youthful face, with no wrinkles or any traditional signs of age. But there was something in his eyes that betrayed his true age. A wizened weight, a heaviness that served as the rings in a tree trunk, spiraling in his pupils.


    ¡°Thank you for the explanation, Young Cas.¡±


    I scratched my chin. Now how was I going to get him to stop calling me that?

 Chapter 15

    ¡°And this is a double berry,¡± said Noel as she grabbed a round red berry with small green hairs.


    ¡°Are these good to eat?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, they¡¯re poisonous,¡± said Noel, ¡°we use them as bait for Farro Birds.¡±


    ¡°Wonderful,¡± I said as I grabbed some and tossed them into the little hide knapsack I had tied to my torso.


    I was out foraging in the woods with the other women and children. You might be wondering: wasn¡¯t I supposed to be out on the plains with the hunting party? Yes, yes I was.


    ¡°There¡¯s some more over there,¡± said a shorter elf to a tall, muscular elf. The tall elf had a few scars crawling up the arms he was using to pluck berries from a tree. He was on the hunting party too.


    ¡°Is Sharun going to be alright,¡± I whispered to Noel.


    Yes, the reason the hunting party was out foraging for berries and grasses was because Sharun, the greatest hunter in the tribe, was sick. The elders reckoned he¡¯d eaten monster meat that hadn¡¯t been cooked long enough, but decided to be extra cautious with the other hunters just in case the meat had somehow gone bad. Better for the hunters to fall sick while plucking berries than while being chased by a bunch of Sativus hogs.


    ¡°Yeah, the elders know how to deal with a little food sickness,¡± Noel said. ¡°More importantly, we have something very important to do!¡±


    I tilted my head. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± said Noel, tapping another elf on the shoulder, ¡°we¡¯re going back to the camp for a bit.¡±


    Then she pulled me away from the group. A couple berries fell out of my hands, but she didn¡¯t let me pick them up. Once we were farther away, she pulled me to the right, and we looped around the foraging party.


    ¡°So we aren¡¯t going back to camp?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of course not,¡± said Noel, ¡°you can learn about double berries and chateau melons later. Since we¡¯re going to be on the hunting party from now on, and won¡¯t becoming back to this forest anytime soon, I need to show you my favorite spots today!¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°is that why you still gave your uncle under cooked meat even though we didn¡¯t need to run away anymore?¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡±


    Wow. I guess despite being over a hundred years old, she was still just a kid. Only a kid would go this far just so she could go for a walk through the woods. And looking at her gleeful face, not the least bit troubled by her mischief, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why I¡¯d considered her even the tiniest bit grown up. Then again, when we first met, wasn¡¯t she trying to run away from home? God, I had become a babysitter without even realizing it!


    Noel dragged me through the trees and underbrush, all the way to a small stream that ran in the middle of the forest. She looked around carefully before stepping out into the open. Despite being young for an elf, she knew how to take care of herself in the forest. A watering place like this would attract all kinds of beasts. This wasn¡¯t the Forest of Three, where the threat of The Terrible kept monsters away. We were in a smaller forest where the elves felt more comfortable foraging for food, even though there would be monsters nearby. After the inexplicable dread I experienced outside The Terrible¡¯s cave, I couldn¡¯t blame them.


    ¡°This stream is great for cooling fruit,¡± said Noel as she brought out a couple of golden fruit. She made a small hole in the pebbles in the stream, breaking the speed of the flowing water as it flowed into the depression. She dropped the golden chateau melons into the hole, where the cold water gentled lapped past them, making them bob up and down.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    It was early in the morning, with the sun having just broken past the horizon. A weak breeze rustled leaves and swept past our bodies, ruffling our brown tunics. Last night, I¡¯d found out that we¡¯d be leaving this camp a little after the first rain of the season, since that would give us enough time to reach the highlands for the summer. After the rainy season, the Plains would be too hot for the elves to live and hunt comfortably, so most of the tribes moved to the highlands. But there was less food in the highlands, which was why foraging and hunting before the rainy season was so important.


    Still, slacking off for one day wasn¡¯t too bad.


    Noel and I spent some time with our feet in the water, downstream from our fruits of course. We talked a little more about our families, things we liked to do, things we thought were funny. Honestly, despite the distinct lack of talk about baseball and card games, I felt like I was in middle school again. Noel got up to grab the fruit, and showed me how to open it up. The melon had large black seeds with small amounts of light-gold flesh that was surprisingly sweet. It tasted kind of like honeydew, but with a slightly mushier texture. And I could tell it definitely tasted better after being chilled in the stream.


    We washed our hands in the water and went further into the woods. Noel showed me all her favorite places: a hill full of flowers, a den of small rabbit like animals, a cliff where you could see for miles around. Before going back, she said she¡¯d show me her favorite place of all.


    ¡°I¡¯m always sad when the rainy season comes,¡± she said, ¡°because it means we have to leave the Plains and I can¡¯t come to this forest anymore.¡±


    I asked her where we were going, but she refused to tell me anything. ¡°It¡¯s a surprise,¡± she said.


    Lovely, I hate surprises.


    We were pretty far from the foraging party by this point. I asked Noel if that was okay and she said it was. I knew it was pointless asking a question like that to a kid, but Noel had way more experience than me with forests and monsters. I had no choice but to trust her judgment.


    The trees were getting thicker and the canopy more dense. If I didn¡¯t have those crude shoes on my feet, I probably would have gotten stabbed by a billion tiny stones and tons of bramble. Insects buzzed in my ear, though it didn¡¯t seem like any of them wanted to suck my blood. Man, it really took an other world reincarnation for me to escape mosquitoes, huh?


    A thick wall of trees appeared in front of us. Noel brought me around, climbing over knee-high roots and hanging branches that drooped from the treetops onto our faces like beaded curtains from an oriental movie. Eventually, we came upon a massive tree that had fallen over and was now being consumed by large swaths of fungi and insects. Noel carefully stepped on top of the tree and pulled me up. We walked along the fallen tree¡¯s trunk all the way to the hole its fall had left in the wall of trees.


    We brushed past what felt like a mile of branches and leaves. Sometimes, Noel would move a branch and let it go as soon as she walked past, smacking me in the face. After the first dozen or so times, I realized she was doing it on purpose, and kept a hand in front of my face. A few minutes later, Noel grabbed my hand and pulled it aside.


    A giant tree stood proudly in the middle of a clearing. It stretched far into the sky like a mountain. Clouds broke against it like a river breaking across a large rock. Birds flew around it, nowhere near the canopy. Its trunk must have been hundreds of feet wide, almost stretching from one end of my vision to the other. Barely any light hit the ground, and I realized why; the wall of trees we had come across weren¡¯t actually trees at all, they were branches that stretched across the sky to loop around and dive into the earth like roots. Shadows passed over our bodies like waves, as the sunlight broke through the treetop, wrestling with the leaves on the branches that came back to the ground.


    I don¡¯t know how long I stared at this place with my mouth wide open. I must have looked stupid as hell, because Noel chuckled and said: ¡°So, what do you think? Impressive, isn¡¯t it.¡±


    I nodded. I couldn¡¯t think of what to say to describe this massiveness of scale. The way this thing, this tree, made me feel insignificant, weak, pathetic. Yet, the awe, the power that came with being able to perceive this thing¡ªit made me weak in the knees, but tough in the eyes and mind. For some reason, some lines of poetry came to mind. My literature major roommate had said these lines when we went to Meteora in Greece one summer, paraphrased from a famous piece of romantic poetry. Something about massive, spherical rocks jutting out of the ground but appearing as if they had come as meteors onto the Earth, had made him pull out the lines that now flowed unbidden from my lips:


    ¡°Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, in which the burden of the mystery, in which the heavy and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world, is lightened. That serene and blessed mood,


    in which the affections gently lead us on, until, with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.¡±


    Noel stared at me. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. She definitely had no clue what I¡¯d just said. I didn¡¯t break the silence either, so we stood there, in the shade of a massive tree, wind ruffling our hair and clothes, doing nothing, saying nothing, staring intently at something so well and truly befitting the word sublime, as beloved by Longinus, Burke, and Wordsworth¡ªwhose lines I had repeated somewhere in another world.

 Chapter 16

    ¡°That was poetry?¡± Noel said as she chuckled. ¡°You should take up dancing instead. You didn¡¯t make any sense at all!¡±


    ¡°I already told you, it wasn¡¯t my poem, someone in my tribe came up with it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, tell that person to do something else then,¡± she said.


    ¡°He¡¯s one of the greatest poets in my tribe, and also one of my favorites!¡±


    ¡°Then you have bad taste.¡±


    I threw up my hands, figuratively. I couldn¡¯t blame her too much, I doubt the translation magic was built to translate poetry. Besides, I didn¡¯t think much of poetry before I became roommates with a literature major. Dr. Seuss was about as far as I was willing to go with poetry before then.


    ¡°And what kind of poetry do you like? If you¡¯re saying I have bad taste, you must know what good taste is then,¡± I said.


    She nodded with a sagely smile. ¡°My favorite one was passed down by the ancestors. I don¡¯t remember it all that well though.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but you remember it well enough to say it was better than mine?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Whatever.¡±


    ¡°Well, I do remember a couple of lines.¡± Noel walked up to the giant tree. I followed.


    I was waiting for her to say something, share the poetry she was so fond of, but nothing came. We were right up next to the giant tree now. Its bark had ridges as thick as my torso and knots as large as my body. Honestly, it felt like this thing was big enough to have its own gravity. There was certainly some sort of attractive force, probably psychological, that made me want to walk right up to it and touch it. But there was magic in this world. Perhaps this pull wasn¡¯t as psychological as I thought?


    ¡°Are you going to tell me the poem or not?¡± I said.


    ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t think I remember it after all,¡± said Noel.


    I shook my head. Man, kids were annoying. Although I guess I was a kid in this world too now. Sort of. Wait, was I going to age as slow as an elf now that I was in an elf¡¯s body? It would really suck if I stayed on a human scale of time on the inside. There¡¯s no way that was going to happen, right? Right?


    Having worked myself into a panic all on my own, I didn¡¯t even realize that Noel had walked right up next to me. I looked up and she punched me, lightly, in the chest. ¡°Alright, you don¡¯t need to sulk just because I won¡¯t tell you the poem.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    That wasn¡¯t why I was sulking.


    ¡°It goes something like¡­¡± she began. ¡°You taught me to drink from your eyes, the ripe red wine of love. Wrought in the heavens from pure moonlight, the whole world dances for you. Repentance torn to tatters, I can see nothing but you. With my feet in the waves, I drink from the sea. I am drunk off your gaze, I am drunk off your love. I am drunk off of this gentle feeling of intense ecstasy. This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I blame on your gaze. This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I am drunk off your gaze.¡±


    I put my hands up halfway. ¡°Not bad,¡± I said. The fact that it was still so good after having gone through the filter of the translation magic meant it was a pretty good poem. ¡°But¡ª¡±


    I stopped. Apparently, I was the last thing to do so. The wind, the shadows of the leaves, the birds in the air; everything had frozen in place. Noel¡¯s eyes widened. At least she wasn¡¯t frozen too.


    I blinked.


    The shadows of the leaves vanished, consumed by a pervasive darkness. The darkness of night. The sun was gone, replaced, in exactly the same place, by a bright, glaring full moon. I say glaring because it felt like it was staring down at me like a scientist observing a patch of fungus growing on a petri dish.


    Noel grabbed my shoulder and pointed over it. I turned slowly, hesitant to put my back to the moon. My eyes widened just like Noel¡¯s when I saw the massive silver door in the tree trunk. It ran up the whole length of the tree, shooting up into the sky, far past the clouds.


    The door was made of a silver mist, although somehow the mist looked like it would be solid. Like a mass of gel or goop. If I put my hand inside, I felt like I would be stuck in it like quicksand. The silver mist drew intricate patterns as it swirled around, loops and rings and buttons and bars. But since it kept on swirling, never settling, the shapes kept changing, the patterns kept being drawn and redrawn. The only thing that stayed etched in place were the words of the poem that Noel had just recited out loud.


    The words appeared to me in English. I wasn¡¯t sure if Noel was seeing anything at all since her tribe didn¡¯t have a written language. Perhaps she was seeing the poem written in the symbols we¡¯d found around the cave of The Terrible.


    The doors opened, the mist faded. An intense light beckoned us inside. An even brighter light seemed to push us from behind, but when I turned, the moon was gone. The sun did not come back, which meant it was still night. But the stars weren¡¯t out either, or rather, there was only one star in the sky.


    The red star was brighter than ever. It twinkled erratically. Its red light burned into my eyes, blinking open and shut. For some reason, a reason I couldn¡¯t understand at all, I felt like the red star was smiling. No, laughing. Laughing maniacally. Laughing, laughing, laughing. If it had a body, it would be rolling from laughter, crushing hundreds of beings with its massive body as it rolled, rolled, rolled around, unable to contain its laughter.


    I blinked. The moon was back. The red star hung in its rightful place among the stars. The moon flashed silver, burning brighter and brighter, and the red star flashed red, matching the moon¡¯s intensity, but never quite matching it. The silver and red lights turned into mist and pushed into me like a gust of wind.


    I held onto Noel as I let out a massive scream. My feet left the ground, my eyes were full of light, and I fell as if free-falling off a cliff, heart rocking up to my throat. Noel¡¯s screams passed by my ear, as the rushing wind drowned out all other sounds.


    My eyes began to clear, but were then met by a gradually retreating door, beyond which lay a peaceful afternoon sun shining on an idyllic clearing in the forest. But the darkness on the sides of the door became bigger and bigger until I could see nothing again. The wind was still rushing past my ears, and it took me a while to realize I was still screaming. My feet flailed into nothingness. My eyes saw nothingness. All I could hear was noise and all I could think was: man, do I pick the absolute freaking worst ways to die.

 Chapter 17

    I groaned. My body ached. Someone shifted beside me.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel, ¡°but I think I twisted my ankle.¡±


    I cursed under my breath. Looking around, I couldn¡¯t see anything. Noel tugged at my shoulder and twisted me around a little by the tunic. There was a faint point of light in the distance, so dim it might have been one of those things that swims in your eyes before you blink it away. I reached out my hands, carefully, and found a rocky surface. Leaning against the wall, I picked myself up, before helping Noel up as well. She winced. Right, she¡¯d twisted her ankle. I leaned into her side, grabbed her arm, and put it over my shoulder. Then we started tottering towards the light, tripping, stumbling in the darkness.


    We didn¡¯t discuss what we¡¯d seen outside. I didn¡¯t stop to think of it too much, except for making the obvious connection between the story we¡¯d heard from Starry around the fire last night. The God of Evil and the God of Madness¡ªwhat a wonderful combination.


    The light grew larger and larger, and brighter and brighter. In fact, it was so bright we couldn¡¯t see ahead of ourselves, having to gingerly walk forward while feeling around with our hands and feet. My foot hit a rock, which moved a little, and the brightness, the stillness, the silence was broken.


    In front of us were birds. Lots of birds. All kinds of birds. Small birds, large birds, flying birds, flightless birds. Birds with muted colors, birds with ostentatious plumage. Each of them was different, each of them was strange, and each of them was staring at us like we¡¯d crashed a wedding.


    ¡°Uh,¡± I stammered, ¡°hi?¡±


    The birds blinked. It was creepy how they all blinked at the same time. All thirty of them. Wait, thirty? Why was it such a specific number and how did I count them up so fast when I hadn¡¯t even been trying to?


    ¡°Are you lost?¡± asked one bird, as it hopped of off its perch. It was only then that I noticed that each of the birds was on a wooden perch inside this large, rocky cavern. The perches looked like branches, but since we were under a giant tree, I figured they could be roots too.


    This bird was about ten inches tall and had a vertical crown of reddish-orange feathers. Its beak curved down a little, and its wings had black and white stripes. I knew what kind of bird this was, but I couldn¡¯t quite recall what it was called, which was strange because I had an absolutely amazing memory. And no, humility wasn¡¯t my strong suit.


    Hang on, why did I know what kind of bird this was in the first place? All the birds I¡¯d seen since I came to this world were different, which made sense because this was a different world! I looked around and realized that I could recognize all of the birds, but I couldn¡¯t remember any of their names. Even the ones that I thought I should really, really remember, like the one with blue and purple eye-like patterns on its feathers.


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re lost,¡± said Noel, breaking me from my thoughts, ¡°we fell in here from a hole in the tree.¡±


    ¡°A hole in the tree, you say,¡± said the bird, ¡°there shouldn¡¯t be any holes large enough for you to come through. Except of course, for that one.¡± The bird pointed up with its beak.


    There was no roof, which explained why everything was so bright. Somehow, there was an open sky above us. Was the entire tree hollow or something? And did the birds come inside to do¡­ whatever it was they were doing.


    No wait.


    Why was a bird able to talk?


    Noel and I seemed to have arrived at this question together as we took a step back. The bird tilted its head.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°I know you didn¡¯t fly in,¡± said the bird, ¡°we would have seen you.¡± The other birds nodded. The bird continued: ¡°There is no hole in the sides of this space. And neither of you seem to be powerful magicians, so tell me again, how did you get in here?¡±


    Somehow, this tiny little bird was exerting a great deal of pressure. Or maybe it was the strangeness of this whole ordeal. First with the moon and red star appearing in midday, then the door that brought us here, and now a group of weird talking birds that seemed like they were a step away from pecking out our eyes!


    ¡°I see,¡± said the bird with the vertical crown, ¡°you saw the moon and the red star.¡±


    My eyes widened.


    ¡°You can¡ª¡±


    ¡°Read minds? Yes, yes I can. But do not worry, children, it seems we are not enemies. In fact, we are the ones who should apologize. It seems you were sent here to deliver a message,¡± said the bird.


    ¡°A message?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the bird as it looked at the sky, ¡°a love letter from a guy who can¡¯t take a hint.¡± The birds chirped, all at once, in a sound that could have been indignation if it wasn¡¯t a burst of high-pitched notes. The birds looked at us again and the bird with a crown said: ¡°you can leave back the way you came.¡± It pointed behind us with its beak. ¡°But I would like to offer you a gift to make up for having caused you so much trouble.¡±


    It pointed its beak at Noel and a burst of light surrounded her ankle. She slid her arm off my shoulder and took a step. Then all the birds flapped their wings and started chirping. Startled, Noel and I took a step back, but a gust of wind brought us right in front of the birds. The birds flew around us, surrounding us on all sides like a feathery tornado.


    They flapped their wings and sang their songs, making a ton of loud noise that began to hurt my ears. A single note cut through the din, piercing into my mind like a needle. I grabbed my head and screamed, but I was drowned out by the noise. Thumping and flapping, and chirping and cooing, and so many other sounds and noises filled my ears. Wind ruffled my tunic, wind that was created by thirty birds flapping like crazy. I closed my eyes.


    The wind stopped. The noise faded, but my ears still rang. My breathing was fast and short and when I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry. I cursed as I felt a sharp pain in my head. I looked at my hand, and it was trembling. I looked at Noel, who looked at me, presumably after having checked her own senses. She was in good shape, all things considered, and there was no blood coming out of her ears despite all the noise.


    The birds were gone and so was the room. We were back on the grass in the shade of the massive tree. The wall of root-like branches was visible from here, as was the sun, shining bright through the canopy.


    Despite the pain and discomfort, I was incredibly happy. I looked at Noel and she had a massive grin on her face too. We hugged each other, before breaking off immediately because our bodies were still sore. We leaned back on the grass and looked up at the sky beyond the canopy of leaves that topped the giant tree.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad they told us we shouldn¡¯t say that poem aloud near this tree,¡± I said, ¡°but they could¡¯ve just told us that instead of imprinting it in our minds.¡±


    ¡°I guess they don¡¯t want us going back inside the tree again,¡± said Noel, ¡°since they¡¯re using it to hide from the world, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t they say they were hiding from someone who was sending them love letters?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, they did say that, didn¡¯t they,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Still, I¡¯m glad we came here. Thanks for showing me your favorite place.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Cas. Although, don¡¯t expect to get this kind of reward from my other favorite places. Most of them just have a pretty view!¡±


    I laughed; I laughed with relief and joy. Relief that we¡¯d survived a supernatural encounter between what were probably gods or godlike beings. And joy that the thirty birds had impressed in our minds the foundational secrets of magic!


    As I looked up at the sky, a drop of liquid splashed onto my cheek. I wiped it away with a hand. ¡°Is it going to rain?¡±


    A shadow fell over us. I didn¡¯t think much of it because the leaves on top of the giant tree had been casting strange shadows all morning. Another drop of liquid splashed on my cheek. The shadow shifted. I leaned a little further back and looked up.


    A drooling beak appeared above my head. I rolled out of the way just as the beak drilled into the ground where my head had been and Noel screamed and then I screamed and then the massive godforsaken Farro Bird belched out a frightening cry and Noel and I began running for our lives!

 Chapter 18

    We dashed all the way to the hole in the wall of branches, running right over the rotting log and into the forest. The Farro bird was right behind us, angrily screeching all the while. I dodged a branch and jumped over a root. Noel brushed aside a bush and weaved through a thicket. The bird flew over the forest, ignoring all obstacles and honing in on its prey¡ªus. Luckily, it gave out a frightening screech every time it dove down to try and skewer us with its beak, usually getting stuck in something when it missed.


    It didn¡¯t have much trouble getting free. It used its massive talons to grab small trees and uprooted them, and used its sharp, foot-long beak to cut apart any vines or branches. Its feathers were an unassuming beige, but it made up its intimidation with its size and ferocity.


    We ran for our lives, jumping and rolling whenever the bird was about to dive at us. I had no idea where we were going, either, so I was really hoping Noel knew how to get back to camp, assuming we survived this damned bird, of course.


    A screech came up right behind me. I cursed and jumped behind a thicket of trees. Sounds of snapping wood and falling leaves gave me goosebumps. The Farro bird had stopped right behind the tree where I was hiding. It was thrashing about, probably trying to free itself from something. I stood as still as I could, taking short, quiet breaths. I didn¡¯t dare peek, in case it found me just a few feet from itself.


    The thrashing stopped, but there were no flapping wings. My heart stopped. Had it found me? A scream cut through the air.


    Noel!


    I grit my teeth and jumped out. The Farro bird was glaring at a small bush, behind which I could see a trembling little elf. The bird¡¯s eyes were narrow and menacing. The elf¡¯s eyes were wide and frightened. I grabbed a rock and pulled my arm back to throw it. Maybe I could distract it long enough to let Noel get away. No, it wouldn¡¯t work, she was on the ground and the monster was right in front of her. A rock wasn¡¯t going to cut it!


    I let the rock fall out of my hand and focused on the air instead. The fundamentals of magic as imprinted in my head by the birds were simple: knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge as in an understanding of reality or of an aspect of reality, and wisdom as in the ability to exercise the power that came from that understanding of reality.


    For example, if I wanted to do what I was planning to do right now, I had to know what fire was and how I wanted to use that fire. Since the birds had only given us the absolute basics of magic, I had no idea how magic worked or what would happen if I tried to use it, but with the Farro Bird towering over Noel, I didn¡¯t have any time to hesitate.


    I knew that fire was a visible phenomenon of a chemical reaction called combustion. For combustion to occur, activation energy must be provided after which a fuel may be oxidized and the chemical reaction can become self sustaining.


    First I had to provide the activation energy, so I channeled sunlight. I didn¡¯t have the time to deeply consider solar radiation, which meant I wasn¡¯t able to extract all of its energy, but that was okay, I only needed a little bit.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Second, I needed an oxidant. The oxygen in the air would do, although again, I didn¡¯t have the time to consider the concepts of oxygen or air in too much detail, but that was okay because I didn¡¯t need to.


    But the real issue was fuel. All sorts of options came to mind. I could set fire to the trees and shrubs behind Noel, perhaps scaring the Farro bird away. But that might put Noel in harms way. If I tried to set fire to trees further away from Noel, the bird might think it had enough time to grab her and fly away.


    Then I thought I could set fire to the air. There were various substances in the air, maybe I could isolate some of them and use them as fuel for combustion? But no, I didn¡¯t have the time to do that properly. What if I messed up and ended up making an explosion or something? Better not risk it.


    Bear in mind, my thoughts seem long and drawn out in writing, but in reality I was considering and dismissing options almost instantaneously, as if time itself seemed to slow down somehow. But well, if I couldn¡¯t set the surroundings on fire, why not set fire to the thing I was trying to scare away? I didn¡¯t know what the Farro Bird was made of, but I had a rough idea about the properties of feathers.


    I knew feathers could catch fire, since I¡¯d heard a large bird caused a fire in California after hitting some power lines. I also knew, as a useless fact I¡¯d picked up from a friend who loved birds too much, that most feathers were made of keratin proteins, kinda like human hair. Did I understand the science behind it completely? No. But did I need to turn this over-sized chicken into ash? No.


    I pointed my finger towards the monster, collected all of the information I needed in my head, imagined the process of combustion occurring on the Farro bird¡¯s feathers, and wished, really really hard, that it would happen.


    The monster leaned forward, aiming its beak at Noel, who lay frozen on the ground. If it hadn¡¯t been for an annoying bunch of small trees and bushes, it would have skewered the elf girl already. But now all the cover was gone and the elf was easy pickings. The monster was just about to pierce flesh when its instincts flared up. It flapped one of its wings, once, creating a small burst of wind, but when its wings appeared in front of it, the monster panicked.


    Red flames licked at the monster¡¯s skin, having thoroughly consumed many of its feathers. The heat was already prickling its skin, and smoke began to fill the air. Someone might even say the air smelled like barbecued chicken.


    The bird flew into the trees, crashing into trunks and branches as it thrashed about. It screamed at an ear-piercing pitch, giving off a sound that could be heard across the forest. The monster flapped its wings as if trying to run away from the flames, but it could not run away since the fire was stuck to its own body! It even tried pecking at the flames, for which the bird-brained monster was rewarded by a face full of fire!


    The Farro Bird thrashed on the ground for a little while before it flapped its wings and shot into the air. I ran forward. A small tree had fallen on top of where I¡¯d last seen Noel. I lifted it up, cursing my feeble young elf body, before another pair of hands joined mine from below and we managed to move the tree. Noel was breathing heavily and had many scratches and bruises all over her body. Her hair was a mess and her tunic had seen better days. She¡¯d lost one of her shoes too.


    I helped Noel up and we hugged each other. My heart was still racing and my breath uneven. I managed to squeeze out some words, saying we should probably go back to camp before the others got too worried. Noel said she wasn¡¯t looking forward to explaining our injuries. We were going to get a scolding for sure.


    ¡°Also,¡± she said as the Farro Bird¡¯s screams faded into the distance, ¡°you need to tell me how it felt to cast magic!¡±

 Chapter 19

    ¡°So not only did you lie to skip your foraging duties, you also almost managed to get yourselves killed by a Farro bird?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°And you¡¯re telling me, that a couple of kids managed to outrun a Farro bird inside the forest without losing a single limb?¡±


    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am, we didn¡¯t lose any limbs,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, I see, I understand now,¡± said Vell as she nodded with her arms crossed, ¡°getting attacked by a Farro bird wasn¡¯t exciting enough for you two. You wanted to get your fill of adventure by messing with me!¡±


    She grabbed our ears and dragged us to the elders¡¯ tent. I was afraid we¡¯d be hit or spanked but it looked like both Vell and Starry preferred emotional punishment instead. Getting scolded was one thing, but hearing about how disappointed they were and how much they loved and cared for us was really tough. I¡¯d only been in the Jora tribe for a couple days but even I felt like I¡¯d spit in the faces of the ancestors who¡¯d sacrificed their lives to keep us safe.


    The elders also made us do a bunch of chores during our free time and made us stay up with the night watch to teach us the ¡®boring side of adventure.¡¯ Since I had only just arrived and they concluded¡ªcorrectly¡ªthat Noel had been the mastermind behind our little adventure, the elders made sure to give her a special serving of scolding and chores.


    But Noel didn¡¯t seem to care too much. She didn¡¯t say anything to the elders and received her punishments silently. She was used to it. I was sure she¡¯d drag me away somewhere again once the elders were finished punishing us. Man, kids are stubborn.


    Doing chores gave me some time to think about magic. The birds had given us the fundamentals of magic, but there wasn¡¯t much we could do with it yet. When I told Noel how I set the Farro bird on fire, she tried to recreate my magic by setting a branch on fire but it didn¡¯t work. I had only been able to use magic because I¡¯d had a modern scientific education and knew how combustion worked. Explaining it to Noel on the way back to camp and then later during our chores still wasn¡¯t enough to make her truly ¡®understand¡¯ what she had to do.


    Knowledge and wisdom. What a crazy type of magic system. Why couldn¡¯t we just learn spells or level up in easily defined and numbered categories? In most fantasy settings, you would either have a hard magic system or a soft magic system.


    In hard magic systems, the rules were clearly defined. You had to recite spells or use a potion to cast magic. Magic power might be something you¡¯re born with or something you had to work to acquire. There didn¡¯t have to be a rule for everything, but in general, there were rules and limitations on magic and everybody had to follow them. In a hard magic system, magic could become a sort of science.


    In soft magic systems, the rules were less clearly defined. A wizard might appear out of the blue, start casting magic, and have a sudden weakness appear out of nowhere. Vague laws might exist, something about love being stronger than hate or the importance of balance over passion. There could even be a few hard rules, or maybe only certain types of magic were possible, but overall, magic was magic precisely because it was ¡®magical¡¯ not scientific; magic did not need to be defined.


    But magic being bound by ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ meant the magic of this world was neither hard nor soft. If one had to understand reality to change it, that would mean magic was somehow limited by reality. This also meant there was a rule that said that in order to know magic, you had to know about some aspect of reality.


    And wisdom was even more limiting. Knowing about reality was one thing, but to understand how to use that knowledge while casting magic, meant you had to practice. Wisdom was like experience, it was something you gained over time. Every time I set something on fire, I would have a slightly better understanding of how to do it next time.


    But there was more to this type of magic and it was this possibility that made me incredibly excited but also kind of afraid. It was this possibility that introduced the ambiguity that might make this world¡¯s magic a lot ¡®softer¡¯ than it first appeared. After all, although the birds had given us the fundamentals of magic¡­


    ¡°What does fundamental even mean?¡± I asked aloud.


    Noel and I were alone on one side of the camp at night. Sharun wasn¡¯t on night watch tonight and I didn¡¯t know any of the other hunters on night watch duty, so Noel and I could sit on our own as long as we kept our eyes on the empty plains in front of us.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Honestly, I had no idea why we were sitting here. It wasn¡¯t like we could see any farther than a few feet in the darkness. There was a fire burning in the middle of the camp and it kept pretty much every monster and animal away, which was probably one of the reasons why it was so revered by the elves. I heard all kinds of noises out on the plains, and could¡¯ve sworn I saw shadows and shapes sneaking around in the moonlight.


    ¡°Fundamentals?¡± said Noel, in a low whisper. ¡°Fundamentals are the base of a tree. Is it something else in your language?¡±


    The base of a tree was a good analogy. ¡°No, it¡¯s pretty close. If we wanted to climb a tree, we would start from the base of the trunk. We would slowly go up along the trunk, and cross various branches until we hit the top.¡±


    ¡°So you think learning magic is like climbing a tree?¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe,¡± I said, bringing out a small piece of wood. ¡°It definitely works with my idea, so let¡¯s run with it. Imagine magic is like a tree. We could climb the tree, right? We could start looking at the world around us, learning from the elders, breaking things down to see how they work, and doing experiments to figure things out. We could make ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ our foundations and then build on top of it.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°That makes sense. It¡¯s also probably what the birds wanted us to do.¡±


    ¡°Have you ever heard of those birds before?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, but it sounded like they were connected to the moon and the red star, and there¡¯s only one other character in that story,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Right, the God of Madness¡¯ lover,¡± I said, staring at the moon. It was nice and calm tonight, but I still remember how it had stared at me that night.


    ¡°So if the birds wanted us to learn magic around ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom,¡¯ it might not be the best idea to do so,¡± I said.


    Noel frowned. ¡°I see. What kind of being would the God of Madness fall in love with?¡±


    ¡°Not one we can completely trust.¡±


    ¡°Not one we can ignore either.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think the birds will be insulted. They did say what they taught us was only a gift. And I think they knew ¡®fundamentals¡¯ would mean ¡®base of a tree¡¯ in your language.¡±


    ¡°So they wanted us to have this conversation?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, ¡°but I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll mind if we extended this metaphor a little more.¡±


    I drew a tree in the ground with a stick. Pointing at the base, I said: ¡°This is knowledge and wisdom.¡± I drew a branch further up. ¡°After gathering some knowledge and wisdom, we can cast some magic like I did.¡± I drew some leaves on the branch. ¡°I created fire with magic, but we could probably do other things too. Each of them is like a leaf on this branch. A different type of knowledge.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Noel as she picked up her own stick. ¡°And each new branch.¡± She made a new branch above mine. ¡°Is more wisdom, or experience.¡±


    ¡°And if we keep going,¡± I said. Noel and I made more branches and leaves until¡­ ¡°we reach the top of the tree.¡±


    A small tree drawn in the dirt. Somehow, it looked majestic and powerful, even though it was a crude little dirt drawing.


    ¡°But this is the important part,¡± I said, bringing my stick back to the base of the tree. ¡°The base of the tree is the most useful to us, because we want to climb the tree. But what about the tree itself?¡±


    ¡°The tree itself?¡±


    ¡°Yes, isn¡¯t there something below the base of the trunk? Something that isn¡¯t directly useful to anyone trying to climb the tree, but without which the tree wouldn¡¯t even stand upright.¡±


    ¡°The roots!¡± said Noel. ¡°Are you saying there¡¯s something below knowledge and wisdom? If knowledge and wisdom are the fundamentals, the base of the tree of magic, then there must be roots too.¡± Noel furrowed her brows. ¡°The birds¡¯ gift didn¡¯t mention anything about the roots of magic though.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because we don¡¯t really need to know about the roots of magic to climb the tree. The roots are there, even if we can¡¯t see them,¡± I said.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Noel. ¡°But we want to know about them so we can better understand the tree itself.¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡±


    Noel nodded with a smile. ¡°So what are these roots?¡±


    I smiled back at her. ¡°It¡¯s kinda complicated, so let me explain it through a story. See, there was this elf back in my tribe who was really good at this kind of stuff.¡± I leaned back and faced the moon. ¡°His name was Plato.¡±

 Chapter 20

    ¡°Plato was really good at making the rest of us feel dumb,¡± I said, ¡°but him and his student, Aristotle, said a couple things that might be really useful for the two of us right now.¡±


    ¡°They have funny names,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yeah, they have funny names in my language too,¡± I said. ¡°The important thing is, these guys began asking questions about all sorts of things. Questions about nature, reality, the nature of reality, and importantly for our magic, they asked questions about knowledge too.¡±


    ¡°Knowledge the way the birds described it? An understanding of reality or an aspect of reality,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yeah. See, they wanted to know about knowledge itself. What is knowledge? How do we get it? What do we know and what can we know?¡±


    ¡°The birds already told us knowledge was an understanding of reality. Which means we know things after we understand them and we can only know things that we understand,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°That does make sense,¡± I said, ¡°but did we really see a bunch of birds inside the tree?¡±


    Noel furrowed her brows. ¡°Maybe? It might not have been the real form of whatever the God of Madness had fallen in love with, but it did look like a bunch of birds.¡±


    ¡°Right, because birds don¡¯t talk,¡± I said, ¡°and birds don¡¯t give people magical secrets. And if the birds weren¡¯t actually birds, that means they can change forms. And that fits pretty nicely into what Plato thought about knowledge!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°We saw, no, we experienced, the birds talking to us there, but we can apply reason to conclude what we saw wasn¡¯t real. Plato would say that¡¯s true for everything. Everything we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, all of the things we can sense, things we can experience, all of those are like shadows dancing on the walls of a cave.¡± I pointed my stick into the darkness around the camp. ¡°We can only know things after applying reason to our experiences, transcending the shadows and walking out of the shadows and into the light of reality.¡± I cast a small flame on the tip of the stick.


    Noel stared at the flame. ¡°I think I understand what you¡¯re saying, even though one of the words you¡¯re using isn¡¯t being translated properly.¡±


    ¡°Which one?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I can¡¯t say it.¡±


    ¡°Is it reason?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel, ¡°that one.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a complicated word, but you can think of it like consciously, or purposely making sense of things, usually making judgments based on facts. For example, we know ordinary birds can¡¯t talk or give magical secrets, so we can reason that the birds we saw were not ordinary birds, or maybe they weren¡¯t birds at all.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± said Noel, ¡°but how does that help us with magic?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°if we follow Plato¡¯s ideas, and apply them to this fire I made, maybe it¡¯ll help you cast magic too.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯ll help me understand fire?¡± asked Noel.


    I nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve seen fire, but you haven¡¯t transcended what you¡¯ve seen. You have to apply reason, logic, step out of the shadows, in order to light a flame.¡±


    Noel frowned. She put out my small flame with her fingers and stared at the end of the stick. ¡°Then I should start with what I know about fire.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll add some things too, to help you along.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said. She took a deep breath. ¡°Fire is bright and hot. I used to think it could only come from the cave of The Terrible, but now I know you can make it the way you did too. So it can be made with wood.¡±


    ¡°Actually, the wood isn¡¯t the important part. The motion was,¡± I said.


    ¡°Going back and forth?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Ever gotten a bad scrape after rubbing against a tree? Your skin doesn¡¯t get pierced like it does with a thorn or bruised like with a stone. The texture rubs a wound into your skin.¡±


    ¡°So you made fire by rubbing rough wood back and forth?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Sort of, yeah. The important point is that rubbing those things creates heat.¡±


    ¡°And fire is hot!¡± exclaimed Noel. ¡°No wait, maybe fire isn¡¯t hot, but heat creates fire?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. But if you see a lot of leaves and a lot of of double berries on the ground, does that mean that double berries fall because leaves fall, or that leaves fall because double berries do?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Noel, ¡°it means there¡¯s a double berry bush that¡¯s about to lose all its leaves and berries for the season.¡± Noel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re saying there¡¯s something else? That something else makes both heat and fire?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It makes sense doesn¡¯t it? If you only needed heat for a fire, wouldn¡¯t the sun have burnt us all to ash by now.¡±


    ¡°But how do I understand the thing that makes both fire and heat?¡±


    I raised a finger. ¡°That¡¯s the thing. I¡¯m betting you don¡¯t need to do that.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have to understand the thing that makes both fire and heat?¡± she asked.


    I nodded. ¡°Plato¡¯s student, Aristotle, used something called syllogisms to make certain arguments. In a syllogism, you have two premises, or claims, and from there you can make a conclusion. Aristotle also believed that if you learn something, or gain actual knowledge, you acquire something about the object itself, which sounds really similar to the way knowledge leads to magic!¡±


    Noel didn¡¯t get some of the words I used so I explained the ones that were important. She didn¡¯t have to remember what a syllogism was, only that she could start from two claims and come to a conclusion based off of those claims. She also didn¡¯t have to remember any of the names I was using, because who cared about Plato and Aristotle in this world?


    ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t explain why I don¡¯t need to know about the thing that makes fire and heat,¡± said Noel.


    I could have just told her about combustion. In fact, it would¡¯ve been easier than giving her an introduction to history and philosophy, but then we¡¯d be back to climbing the tree instead of finding the roots of magic. I had to dive deeper into the fundamentals of magic in this world, rather than trying to build on top of what I currently knew!


    ¡°I think, that if you try to make an argument about fire based on what we¡¯ve talked about so far, you¡¯ll be able to cast magic. Just try to find a couple of claims you made and see if there¡¯s something you can learn about fire magic from those claims alone,¡± I said.


    ¡°So you want me to come to a conclusion based only off what I already know about fire?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Yeah. I think magic might be partially tied to that process of reason and argumentation, because otherwise anyone who experienced a fire might be able to use at least a little bit of fire magic, right?¡± I said. ¡°Although I think experience is important too. Elder Starry was able to use fire magic despite not knowing how to make fire, after all. He probably spent a lot of time with fire and reflected on it himself.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try to come up with something,¡± said Noel. ¡°I know there is ¡®something¡¯ which creates fire, heat and light. I also know that fire itself gives off heat and light, and that it makes more fire if you give it more wood. So if both ¡®something¡¯ and ¡®fire¡¯ make fire, light and heat, then ¡®something¡¯ and ¡®fire¡¯ must be either the same thing or very directly related to each other.¡±


    I was surprised. She didn¡¯t have a word for ¡®flame,¡¯ but still realized that what she saw as ¡®fire¡¯ was different from the specific parts of fire: flame, heat and light. She also realized that combustion, which she called ¡®something,¡¯ continued inside of fire rather than only happening when a fire was first started. ¡°Now you have to figure out the ¡®wisdom¡¯ part, which means you need to figure out how to use what you learned to cast magic,¡± I said.


    ¡°It feels like cheating,¡± said Noel, ¡°but if fire can make more fire, basically replacing ¡®something¡¯ after fire has already been made, then I should be able to cast fire magic by skipping ¡®something¡¯ and going straight to ¡®fire,¡¯ right?¡±


    Noel pointed a finger at the still-smoky stick in my hand. ¡°All I need to do, is imagine fire being made from more fire, since that represents the ¡®knowledge¡¯ of fire that I¡¯ve gathered from experience and reason, as well as the ¡®wisdom¡¯ of creating fire in a magical way.¡±


    A bright orange flamed burst out of the tip of her finger. It singed the top of the stick but kept flying forward. A dark shape appeared at the tip of the flame, and a quiet yelp broke the relative silence of the night as the dark shape flapped its wings and ran away from the now fading line of fire coming out of Noel¡¯s fingertip.

 Chapter 21

    Luckily, nobody noticed Noel¡¯s magic last night. It was morning now, and Noel and I were excited about our findings about magic from the night before. I was also excited by some things I had realized about my translation magic.


    I asked Noel if she had used a different word for fire last night, but she said she¡¯d used the same word she¡¯d been using before: the word for blessing. When pressed, she explained that she now thought of my fire as different from the blessings the elves brought back from The Terrible, even though she used the same word for it. I realized this meant my translation magic was able to translate subtle nuances in meaning even if the words being used weren¡¯t changed.


    I was also surprised that Noel was able to use the word ¡®reason¡¯ after not being able to use it at first, but she said she¡¯d settled on a word in her language that had a similar enough meaning after hearing me describe the word in my language. This told me a little bit more about how my translation magic decided to translate words that didn¡¯t have perfect translations between our languages.


    The elves had a light breakfast every morning, usually fruits, nuts or grains they had gathered the night before. They also drank water from springs or rivers after boiling it, although I was sure many of them would still have gotten sick from water-borne diseases if they weren¡¯t elves. They couldn¡¯t have been as long-lived as they were without a tough immune system.


    Noel and I were part of the hunting party this time. Sharun was feeling better and would be leading the team, and since Noel and I were beginners, we had to stick close to him. He brought out the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, but after seeing him use it to defeat the Sativus Hog, it was clear Sharun¡¯s skills were more amazing than the weapon.


    ¡°A herd of Alata Banes passed by the river in the morning,¡± said Sharun. ¡°I saw them head towards the sun, so we should go to the river and try to pick up their tracks.¡±


    And so we went to the river. It was a little further away than the other water sources near the camp, but hunters like Sharun preferred going there to check for big game trails or to catch fish. The party had to be careful while crossing the wide open plains, since various monsters would be able to see us from far away.


    ¡°We have to be careful on the plains, but you should keep an eye out for easy prey,¡± continued Sharun. ¡°And if you see tough hunts like Carica Serpents and groups of Sativus Hogs, you should stay far away from them. Most monsters won¡¯t attack a large group of elves like us unprovoked, but you can never be too careful.¡±


    Noel and I each had small flint spears to defend ourselves with, but were told not to use them to attack since we might get in the way. Our task was to stick close, watch, and learn. We would begin by setting traps and catching small animals on our own after getting some experience with the hunting party.


    ¡°Are Alata Banes easy to hunt?¡± I asked.


    Sharun nodded. ¡°They only eat plants and travel in large herds that are easy to break up as long as we intimidate them properly. The real danger is in the poisonous clouds that they can shoot out right in front of them. That¡¯s why we try to take them down from a distance and only cut off their roots to eat.¡±


    ¡°Roots?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, their roots are full of nutrition, and become nice and soft after being blessed. We mash them up with herbs and berries to make them taste even better,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I see,¡± I said, questioning my understanding of monsters. Come to think of it, that Sativus Hog had tasted like a vegetable too. Are they all like that?


    ¡°This is strange,¡± said Sharun, his eyes shifting around. ¡°We should have run into something by now.¡±


    ¡°But we¡¯re still far from the river,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, but we¡¯re on the plains,¡± said Sharun. ¡°We can see long distances and many monsters should be out hunting at this time. Yet, we haven¡¯t seen a single monster yet. It feels quite¡­ odd.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Now that he mentioned it, I couldn¡¯t hear any birds or other animals either. The only sound was the wind rustling leaves and grass. We were close to the river by now, so we should have run across a monster or two, even if we didn¡¯t want to hunt them.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± said Sharun. ¡°We should go back.¡±


    Nobody questioned Sharun. He was the best hunter in the tribe and if his instincts were telling him something was wrong, nobody wanted to stick around to find out what was happening. The sun had only just cleared the horizon, this was the best time to hunt, and we even knew where a herd of easy prey had been a little while ago, but it was too risky to hunt when all the monsters were staying clear of this area.


    Wait. There had been no monsters on our way to the river, even when we had been relatively close to the camp! I looked over at Sharun, and judging by his concerned look, he had come to that conclusion already. We had to hurry!


    And so we retraced our steps the best we could. We couldn¡¯t run since that would make it hard to be on the lookout and would sap our stamina in case we had to fight something, but we still walked so briskly I thought I¡¯d burn through my shoes.


    By the time we got back to camp, the foraging party had returned as well. The forest had been deathly silent so they decided to grab what they could and rush back. There was still a lot of food in the camp since we¡¯d been preparing for the summer trek to the highlands. The elves went up to the highlands for the summer since it would be too hot and dry down in the plains. But it was a long way to the highlands so the elves stockpiled things like nuts and grains so they didn¡¯t have to waste too much time hunting and foraging. But sometimes they would have to dig into those reserves for emergencies like this one. Still, if things didn¡¯t improve in the next few days, we wouldn¡¯t have enough for the journey to the highlands.


    ¡°We might have to ask the other tribes for help,¡± said Starry.


    ¡°But what if they are facing the same issue? Whatever is wrong was effecting at least the entire space between the camp, the river, and the forest. The nearby tribes might be suffering too,¡± said Sharun.


    Starry frowned. He looked at Vell, who nodded. She said: ¡°We¡¯ll have to ask the Oracle.¡±


    Whispers all around.


    ¡°Getting the Oracle involved for something like this,¡± said one elf.


    ¡°If it¡¯s the Oracle, we will be able to find out the cause for sure!¡± said another.


    Vell clapped her hands. ¡°The Oracle¡¯s truths are not always easy to understand. She might not be able to help us find out what¡¯s happening on the plains. But she should be able to guide us.¡±


    Starry nodded. ¡°Yes, we don¡¯t need to know what¡¯s going on, just what we need to do to stay safe. . She can also relay information to other tribes that come to her for help¡±


    I shot a glance at Noel and saw she was smiling like a maniac. Her grin stretched from ear to ear and her eyes were so bright they might as well be sparkling. Just as I was about to ask her what was going on, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Starry and Vell had walked over and were looking at Noel and me.


    ¡°As is custom, the newest blessed shall visit the Oracle,¡± said Starry. ¡°You will have to take your blessings with you, so let me go prepare them. Sharun and the hunting party will escort you to the Oracle¡¯s haunt. Vell,¡± said Starry as he faced the other elder, ¡°could you teach Caspian how to petition the Oracle? You¡¯ll have to teach him the customs of formality towards elders too, the kid doesn¡¯t know how to be respectful at all.¡±


    Wasn¡¯t that because of my translation magic? I complained to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help too,¡± said Noel, quickly. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure he doesn¡¯t embarrass me¡ªI mean the tribe¡ª in front of the Oracle!¡±


    She was way too passionate about this. Her eyes were stretched wide open as if they wanted to grin like her mouth.


    ¡°Right,¡± said Starry, ¡°I almost forgot how much you wanted to meet the Oracle again.¡± Starry sighed. ¡°You only saw her for a moment when she came to tell us an important prophecy. How could you have become so obsessed with her that quickly?¡±


    ¡°But she was super cool!¡± said Noel. ¡°The way she hid her face even though it was night, glided across the ground even though it was rocky, and whispered even though the night was so quiet we could hear her anyway, was all so cool! I¡¯m so glad I¡¯ll get to meet her again, and even talk to her!¡± Noel looked at the sky. ¡°It¡¯s a dream come true.¡±


    I guess this was what passed as a celebrity crush in this world, I mused.

 Chapter 22

    After enduring Vell¡¯s lectures on propriety and etiquette, I grabbed a burning stick from Starry and followed Noel and Sharun out of the camp. The entire journey was uneventful, since the plains were still eerily empty. It was almost noon by the time we reached the outskirts of the Oracle¡¯s territory.


    The Oracle was a powerful magician. She was the oldest elf by far; she was so old nobody knew how old she was, not even Starry and Vell. The other elves didn¡¯t disturb her except during crises like the one we were in right now, not only because they respected her, but also because they feared her.


    And they were right to fear her. The Oracle¡¯s territory was a large space near her ¡®haunt¡¯ where no monsters dared to go. I was surprised by my translation magic¡¯s choice of words for her house too. ¡®Haunt¡¯ was such a scary word for a place where someone lived. There had to be some significance behind this choice, right?


    ¡°That is the Oracle¡¯s mountain,¡± said Sharun as he pointed to a small mountain in the distance. ¡°The Oracle lives in a cave at the base of the mountain. If you go towards the mountain from this direction, you cannot miss it. We will be here at the edge of the Oracle¡¯s territory. She will know that you are coming, but remember to wait outside her cave and call out for her help from the entrance.¡±


    Noel and I assured Starry we remembered everything we had to do. Noel enthusiastically told him she¡¯d been practicing for this moment her entire life, even though she¡¯d only learned about most of the rituals with me a few minutes ago.


    We left the hunters behind and made our way across the empty wasteland. And yes, it was a wasteland. It wasn¡¯t only monsters that didn¡¯t live inside the Oracle¡¯s territory. There were no plants and animals around here either, not even insects hiding under rocks or tiny shoots of grass peeking through the dirt. The only reason this place hadn¡¯t become a desert was because the wind didn¡¯t blow here either. Honestly, it was creepy as hell.


    But Noel could barely contain her excitement. She practically hopped and skipped her way to the mountain while crossing a barren wasteland under the unrelenting midday sun. By the time we reached the cave at the base of the mountain, clouds had covered up the sun completely. Noel was also calmer, having taken a couple of deep breaths. I observed the mountain. It wasn¡¯t too tall, barely qualifying as a mountain instead of a hill. But still, it was the tallest thing for miles, since it stood alone in the middle of the plains. It looked like it was built entirely of large boulders and stones, with no gravel, dirt, or pebbles anywhere near it. Was erosion just not a thing for the Oracle?


    Noel walked up to the entrance. ¡°Mighty Oracle,¡± she began. She dropped to her knees and bowed low. ¡°Please grant this daughter and son of Jora your wisdom.¡±


    I was about to bow too when a strong gust blew out of the cave. The wind blew Noel back on her feet. I shielded my face with my arms. My offering stick fell out of my hands and the wind blew the flame out. When the wind died down and I put down my arms, the cave was gone. A large boulder covered the entrance, but there had been no sign or sound of it having fallen off the mountainside.


    ¡°Daughter of Jora,¡± came a voice from behind the boulder, ¡°who is the child standing next to you?¡±


    ¡°His name is Caspian,¡± said Noel, staring at her own blown out offering stick, ¡°we have taken him in as one of our own¡ª¡±


    ¡°He should not be here!¡± said the Oracle.


    The ground rumbled. Noel trembled.


    ¡°My apologies,¡± I said, ¡°I will leave.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said the Oracle, slowly. ¡°Now, you must stay. Something strange is happening and your fate is tied to it.¡±


    ¡°Something strange?¡± I said. ¡°Right, the monsters; all the monsters on the plains are gone!¡±


    The ground shook again. ¡°No, that is not it. And do not speak again until I address you. The problem that I am referring to is much more troubling than that which affects the plains. The plains are merely being terrorized by a one star monster.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I frowned. By a what?


    ¡°Mighty Oracle, Jora¡¯s daughter does not know what a one star monster is,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Of course you would not know. There has not been a starred monster in the Plains of Serenity for generations,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°Starred monsters are not born, they are created. Regular monsters must be awakened by an outside force; like an elf, another awakened monster, or a natural magic hotspot, in order to become a starred monster. There are no natural hotspots or other starred monsters in the Plains of Serenity, which means only an elf could have awakened this monster. Yet, I am the only elf that knows how to awaken a monster and I certainly did not awaken this one.¡±


    Oh, that¡¯s why she didn¡¯t trust me. Since she didn¡¯t know where I came from, she must think I know how to awaken a monster!


    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡ª¡± I began.


    ¡°What did I say about speaking without being spoken to?¡± interjected the Oracle. ¡°Besides, I know you could not have awoken this monster.¡±


    Wait, she did? How?


    ¡°Mighty Oracle,¡± said Noel. ¡°Please share your wisdom. How can we get rid of the one star monster? If we don¡¯t do something, our tribe will not have enough food for the journey to the highlands.¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°There is nothing that you can do. A one star monster is far too powerful for the elves of this generation. Perhaps if your father had been alive, he could have traded his life for that of the monster, but your father was an aberration. The heavens agreed that he should not have existed.¡±


    Silence. Noel stared at the floor, I bit my lips to stop myself from speaking out, and the Oracle stayed quiet behind her boulder. Even for a powerful, ancient oracle, saying someone¡¯s beloved dad shouldn¡¯t have existed was kinda harsh. Almost like she thought his premature death was inevitable.


    ¡°I recommend making the journey to the highlands early,¡± said the Oracle.


    ¡°How early?¡± said Noel, finally dropping her reverent tone. I guess she didn¡¯t like the Oracle as much after she said her father shouldn¡¯t have existed.


    ¡°As soon as possible,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°It will be cold in the highlands, but you should be able to bear it. Perhaps the one star monster will move to a different hunting ground once all the monsters around it run away. If, however, it awakens many others, all the elves of the Plains of Serenity will have to find a new home.¡±


    A new home? Hadn¡¯t they lived here for generations? And since elves lived such long lives, they might have been on the Plains of Serenity for millennia. Moving because of one monster¡­ just how powerful were starred monsters? Maybe we could defeat it with magic the way we had defeated the Farro Bird. Noel and I could start training, or we could teach the other elves how to use the kind of magic that we had learned.


    In fact, I could teach the Oracle about our magic too. She was probably using magic thanks to her long life and many experiences, the way Starry had been able to use ceremonial fire magic. If the Oracle knew how to manipulate magic deliberately, we might stand a chance against the one star monster!


    Still, something felt off. In the back of my head, I felt like I had forgotten something. I should have told the Oracle about my magic, and then all the elves could work together to defeat the monster. But I hesitated. I hesitated and instead, ignored what she had said about not speaking until I was spoken to. My eyes fell on my unlit offering stick.


    ¡°You said the one star monster was not the truly strange thing. As if an unbeatable monster was not the most troubling thing going on in the Plains right now,¡± I said. ¡°If that monster is not what is troubling you, mighty oracle, then what is?¡±


    The Oracle did not reply. The clouds had darkened by now. It was going to rain soon. It felt strange, seeing the wind blowing the clouds in the sky, bringing rain from far away, even though there was no wind brushing past my body in the Oracle¡¯s haunt.


    ¡°Impudent child,¡± came the Oracle¡¯s voice, barely a whisper, ¡°we have dealt with bigger, more powerful monsters before. A pathetic one star monster does not trouble me.¡±


    The boulder disappeared, revealing a large, dark cave entrance. A shadowy figure stood just outside the light. The Oracle looked at us from the shadows and spoke:


    ¡°What is troubling me, is that for the first time in many generations, an elf from the Plains of Serenity has insulted her ancestors by refusing to enter the cave of the Terrible. And what¡¯s more, an outsider, one who may not even be an elf, has spit on our sacred customs by counterfeiting blessings.¡±


    A menacing air hung around us. ¡°Heed my warning, daughter of Jora and son of the outside. If you do not enter the cave of The Terrible before leaving for the highlands, I will banish your entire tribe from our community. Now leave this place!¡±

 Chapter 23

    Noel and I trekked back to Sharun and the hunters in silence. I was stunned by the fact the Oracle knew we hadn¡¯t been inside the cave. Was it because she was an oracle? I suppose it made sense that an oracle would know if we had done something like that. Maybe The Terrible was some sort of supernatural being, like the things we¡¯d seen in the moon and red star, and the Oracle had asked it if we¡¯d been inside.


    ¡°Should we run away?¡± I asked as we neared the camp.


    ¡°To where?¡± said Noel. ¡°Every tribe on the Plains of Serenity follows the Oracle. If she tells them all to exile us, we would have nowhere to go.¡± Noel shrugged. ¡°Except for maybe the Forest of Three, although then it would become the Forest of Five.¡±


    ¡°Wait, that forest is named after the number of people who¡¯ve been exiled there?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel. ¡°Each tribe has different customs about punishment, but exile from one tribe means you can try to make a home somewhere else. Even murderers can find a place inside a rival tribe as long as they agree to take on dangerous hunts and scouting missions.¡±


    ¡°But the Oracle is powerful enough to exile us from every tribe,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡±


    ¡°It makes sense,¡± said Noel. ¡°The Oracle is the oldest and wisest elf, and she can even tell the future. If she thinks someone is a danger to the whole community, people are going to trust her. Even if that means exiling a close family member.¡±


    ¡°You said three people have been exiled by the Oracle,¡± I said. ¡°Could you tell me about them?¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°The first person was the last king of the elven tribes: King Barson Jora, also known as the Mad King. The Oracle led nine of the twelve tribes against the Mad King, who led the Jora, Bandari, and Kisi tribes. He was defeated and then exiled into the Forest of One by the Oracle.¡±


    ¡°The elves used to have a king?¡± I asked, shocked. They lived in a hunter gatherer society now. Were they a feudal monarchy before? No wait, she said the king led the tribes. Maybe he was closer to a tribal chieftain. But then why was I hearing the word ¡®king¡¯? I guess the word she was using was for a leader that fell somewhere between a chieftain and a king.


    ¡°The second was the Witch of Desire, who was practicing evil magic in secret before the Oracle caught and banished her. And the third was the Forsaken One, but we¡¯re not sure why he was exiled,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°You exiled someone even though you don¡¯t know if he had done anything wrong?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The Oracle said he would bring ruin to all the tribes,¡± said Noel, ¡°but his tribe, the Kisi, tried to defend him. It was only when the Oracle sent the powerful Que tribe to surround the entire Kisi camp that they allowed the Forsaken One to be exiled.¡±


    I see. Inter-tribal politics were a thing on the plains, and it seemed like the Oracle didn¡¯t have complete control over everyone, she was simply the most powerful political figure.


    ¡°And what happened to the exiles after they went into the forest?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They were never seen nor heard from again,¡± replied Noel.


    Silence settled in between us again. Now that I knew getting on the Oracle¡¯s bad side was not an option, I had to come up with something. We couldn¡¯t run away to another tribe and there was no way I was going inside that cave, especially not after being told to do so by a strange Oracle that decided people¡¯s fates on a whim.


    ¡°Maybe we could run away after all,¡± I said.


    ¡°We can¡¯t,¡± said Noel, ¡°we would have nowhere to go. I think we have no choice. We have to go get a real blessing from The Terrible.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°No, you don¡¯t have to be an oracle to predict that going inside that cave is a bad idea.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°But getting exiled is an even worse idea!¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Why?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why?¡± she repeated. ¡°Because we would have to live on our own, gathering food while fighting off monsters. And I wouldn¡¯t even be able to talk to my family! The Oracle could make my own tribe try to kill me if I came near their camp.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because everyone respects the Oracle,¡± I said, ¡°and they do that because she¡¯s old, wise, and has powerful magic. And we may not be old and wise, but we do have something else¡­¡± I concentrated above my hand and a small flame burst forth. ¡°We have our own magic!¡±


    Noel shook her head. ¡°Our magic isn¡¯t powerful enough to defeat twelve tribes of elves led by a powerful magician like the Oracle. We couldn¡¯t even beat uncle Sharun unless we managed to catch him by surprise.¡±


    I extinguished the flame above my hand. ¡°We only learned the foundations of magic from the birds yesterday. If we start studying and practicing, we could become strong enough to defend ourselves, and maybe even take down the Oracle.¡±


    Noel¡¯s eyes widened. We were still far from camp but she looked around to make sure no one could have heard me. ¡°Are you crazy? The Oracle can see the future. The future! How could we possibly fight someone like that?¡±


    ¡°Because we don¡¯t have to fight her,¡± I said. ¡°We just need to be powerful enough to not be worth the trouble. Remember what you said about the last person to be exiled? The Forsaken One. It sounded like the Oracle might have overestimated her power when she tried to exile him. Her ability to see the future is clearly imperfect or she would¡¯ve stopped people like the Witch of Desire before they began learning evil magic. In fact, if she could see everything, she might have already exiled us for having learned magic!¡±


    It took a little longer to convince Noel that we could resist the Oracle. It was only when she was sure we didn¡¯t have any other options, especially after I kept telling her to think of all the horrible things that could be inside the cave of The Terrible, that she finally agreed to give it a try.


    ¡°Besides, we have the perfect excuse to not go to the cave yet,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, the one star monster,¡± said Noel.


    I nodded. ¡°The Oracle didn¡¯t really tell us how to fight it, but after we tell the elders, I¡¯m sure they will try to contact the other tribes. Then the tribes will put together a joint hunting party to take down the monster.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think they¡¯ll follow the Oracle¡¯s advice to retreat to the highlands?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. You told me the highlands don¡¯t have as much food as the plains, so going up there early, and with even less food reserves than usual, will be a death sentence for many people. I don¡¯t think the elders will agree to letting their tribesmen starve to death before at least trying to fight the monster.¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°That does make sense. But if we stay on the plains while preparing to attack the starred monster, we might reduce our food reserves even more. Foraging isn¡¯t enough to feed the tribe consistently during this time of year.¡±


    ¡°That just means they¡¯ll try to throw together a hunting party as soon as possible,¡± I said. ¡°Still, that should give us some time to become stronger.¡±


    ¡°And how are we going to do that, anyway?¡± asked Noel. ¡°You sound like you already know how to improve our magic. Were there more elves with weird names in your tribe who said things that might help us?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but we don¡¯t need their help right now,¡± I said. ¡°All we need to do is practice.¡±


    ¡°Practice?¡± said Noel.


    I nodded. ¡°We already know how to use our fire magic, but we don¡¯t have a lot of experience casting it. Knowledge doesn¡¯t only come from reason, it also comes from experience. That¡¯s why your grandpa Starry was able to use fire magic without understanding fire. Experience will also help us work on the ¡®wisdom¡¯ part of the foundations given to us by the birds.¡±


    Noel nodded slowly. ¡°Alright, but how will we practice magic in the camp. Somebody might notice and it¡¯s too dangerous for anyone to let us go far enough away on our own.¡±


    I frowned. That was a serious problem.


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Noel. ¡°I have an idea.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nobody is going to go ask the Oracle for advice after we did, right?¡± said Noel.


    I nodded. ¡°There isn¡¯t enough time and we have no reason to lie to them.¡±


    ¡°Which is exactly why we should lie to them!¡± exclaimed Noel.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said as I grabbed both of her shoulders and smiled. ¡°I like the way you think!¡±

 Chapter 24

    ¡°You¡¯re saying the Oracle told you two to come to her every day?¡± asked Starry as he took away our lit blessing sticks. We had re-lit them with magic on the way back from the Oracle.


    Noel nodded. ¡°She said the future is unclear and the starred monster is too dangerous for her to not have a couple of messengers nearby.¡±


    ¡°But surely we could assign someone else,¡± argued Vell. ¡°Someone with longer legs to run away with or someone who can better protect themselves from monsters. You¡¯re saying she doesn¡¯t even want you two to come with escorts!¡±


    I nodded this time. ¡°The starred monster is only after big game. The two of us are small and can hide more easily. She also said that you¡¯ll need all the good hunters and foragers to help gather food in case we end up having to run to the highlands after all.¡±


    ¡°Oh, and there¡¯s something important in our future,¡± said Noel, ¡°the Oracle didn¡¯t go into the details, but she said we needed to stay close to her so she could guide us to our destiny.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t been sure about adding that last part into our little story but it was a great way to explain our magic. Learning magic from the Oracle would be a lot more legitimate than learning it from a bunch of birds sitting in a circle inside a tree trunk. Also, we¡¯d be able to gather sympathy from the tribes that weren¡¯t completely loyal to the Oracle by claiming we had learned too well from our master which was why she was trying to get rid of us.


    Starry and Vell looked at each. The other elves were busy guarding the camp, gathering food, and scouting for signs of the starred monster. The elders sent Sharun and a few hunters to the nearest tribe, to begin setting up a meeting with all the tribal elders. We had already told the elders about the starred monster and the Oracle¡¯s advice to run to the highlands, but they¡¯d done as I¡¯d predicted and were trying to fight instead of fleeing.


    ¡°If the Oracle sees something great in your destiny,¡± said Starry, ¡°then it is not our place to hold you back.¡±


    ¡°But if you ever need our help,¡± said Vell, ¡°please, ask us. You don¡¯t have to carry this burden alone.¡± She put a hand on each of our shoulders and brought us in for a hug. ¡°That¡¯s what family is for. We have to look out for each other, okay?¡±


    Noel and I nodded. I¡¯d only known them for a couple of days but they were already treating me like family. I guess that makes sense in a close-knit society where orphans like Noel were absorbed into the larger extended family without a second thought.


    I felt a little guilty about lying to them after Vell¡¯s emotional speech. Although I comforted myself with the knowledge our actions were for their safety too. There was something unsettling about the power the Oracle had over the tribes of the Plains of Serenity. And no, I wasn¡¯t paranoid because of the messed up things done by the oracle from Achebe¡¯s Things Fall Apart. I liked my literature major roommate, but not enough to base life and death issues off of a book he recommended.


    Giving our tribe the ability to resist the Oracle was a good thing, I told myself. And if we perfected our magic a little more, we could teach all the elves how to use it and end the need to go to The Terrible for his blessing. We could make them better hunters and make magic the center of elven life!


    The elders let us go after we said the Oracle wanted us to go back after passing on her message to the leaders. Noel and I figured we needed as much time as possible to practice magic, so we would leave immediately. Starry wanted us to eat before we went, but Noel said she¡¯d seen some fruit on the way to the Oracle¡¯s haunt that we could eat instead.


    ---


    ¡°Is this far enough?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel, ¡°the foragers and hunters won¡¯t come this far.¡±


    We had left the Jora tribe¡¯s camp a while ago and went in the general direction of the Oracle¡¯s haunt. We kept an eye out in case anyone was following us, but clearly, no one had the time. Noel and I stopped in a clearing and began preparing to train.


    ¡°Should we just keep casting fire magic?¡± asked Noel. ¡°Your big plan to grow stronger was to practice like hell but is that really going to be enough?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°We definitely need to practice,¡± I said, lighting a flame, extinguishing it, and then lighting it again, ¡°but we could also think about how to use our magic more effectively. Back when I lit the Farro Bird on fire, I could only light its feathers as fuel. But now, I can even set the air itself on fire.¡±


    ¡°How can you do that?¡± asked Noel. ¡°Don¡¯t you need something to burn. Something like wood or feathers?¡±


    ¡°I am burning something,¡± I said. ¡°When you burn wood, there¡¯s stuff left behind, right? Air is kind of like that too. It isn¡¯t one thing but many things that are mixed together to make the air around us. And some of those parts of air can be burned like wood.¡±


    I¡¯d spent a little more time thinking about the composition of air as well as processes for extraction of different gases. Methane and hydrogen were flammable but really hard to extract in a usable form back on my Earth. I chose to work with methane, since I knew we could sort of capture it by chilling the air and fractionally distilling it. The process was more complicated than that and I wasn¡¯t a chemical engineer, but what I did know seemed to be enough for me to isolate and concentrate enough methane to produce a flame in the air. It wasn¡¯t a powerful flame and I couldn¡¯t keep it going forever, but it was better than what I¡¯d used against the Farro Bird.


    Noel stared at the flame above my hand. ¡°So you¡¯re still setting something on fire, but it¡¯s not something that I can see.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± I said. ¡°Once you know there¡¯s something you can burn in the air, it¡¯s not that difficult to use magic to set it on fire. Setting the air on fire is pretty useful too.¡± I held out my hand and a flame burst forth, lighting up a few inches of air in front of my hand. ¡°And if I can better understand how this magic works, I could throw fire at somewhere from far away or maybe even send out waves of fire around my body to stop people from getting close.¡± I closed my fist and the flame disappeared.


    ¡°The air is like water¡­¡± muttered Noel. ¡°That gives me an idea.¡± Noel walked over to a small pond near the edge of the clearing. She stretched out both of her hands and glared at the water in the pond. I blinked a couple of times. Was Noel already trying to cast different types of magic? I¡¯d sort of assumed she would follow my lead on magic since I had knowledge from another world, but I guess I¡¯d underestimated her creativity.


    The water didn¡¯t move at all, but I asked Noel what she was trying to do. She said she was trying to get the water to move out of the pond in waves. She imagined the water moving like water in a river, smashing into the banks before overflowing. I decided to give it a try as well, but nothing happened.


    Maybe fire was easier because it was a chemical process and involved just a few key things. Moving water wasn¡¯t a chemical process but a physical one. Rather than understanding water, we would need to understand motion, then the motion of water, and finally the ¡®wisdom¡¯ of how to turn that understanding into magic.


    It was at times like this that I wished this world had a simple magic system like in dungeons and dragons. The board-games society at my university had tried all sorts of custom tabletop and role-playing games, but none of them had a magic system that could match the fun and relative simplicity of D&D¡¯s tiered magic system. A lot of video games had simple magic systems too, and they were always fun to play with. If all you had to do was level up to learn spells, or go to a non-playable character, or use a scroll, learning and using magic became less of a chore and more of a fun upgrade that let you go on bigger and better adventures!


    Yet here we were, Noel and I, staring at a pond, trying to get the water to swish a little. I was trying to follow Noel¡¯s method of imagining moving water, but it looked like that wouldn¡¯t be enough. Did I seriously have to start pulling out Newton¡¯s laws of motion to move a little water?


    The real problem with using more complicated knowledge seemed to be the ¡®wisdom¡¯ part of the magic of this world. Knowing Newton¡¯s laws was one thing, but understanding them well enough and then using that understanding to cast magic, was another. This was why I couldn¡¯t just look up at the sun, imagine it undergoing more rapid nuclear fusion, and destroy the world with a thought.


    But if I couldn¡¯t use Newton¡¯s laws, what other choice did I have to try to get this water to move? It¡¯s not like there were other people obsessed with the question of change and motion before Newton¡­


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°Noel, let¡¯s talk about people with funny names again for a second.¡±

 Chapter 25

    ¡°Motion is impossible?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said.


    Noel narrowed her eyes and stared at me. ¡°And nothing ever changes.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± I said.


    She put a hand on my forehead. ¡°Do you have a fever or something? You¡¯re talking like a madman.¡±


    ¡°No, listen, I¡¯m not the madman,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s what the people with funny names used to think.¡±


    ¡°Then you¡¯re insane for listening to them,¡± she said.


    ¡°Maybe, but hear me out. Remember how you didn¡¯t have to understand ¡®fire¡¯ the way I did, to cast fire magic?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. She was still trying to move the pond-water while we were talking. ¡°I don¡¯t think my fire was as powerful as yours, but I did manage to create it.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°What I didn¡¯t tell you was that I had limited my own understanding of fire on purpose.¡±


    Her eyes widened. ¡°So now you¡¯re gloating that you could¡¯ve made your flame even bigger but didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not it,¡± I said, although it was sort of true. ¡°I didn¡¯t explore my thoughts all the way later either. I realized there was no point; I could always keep connecting my reasoning to something else and keep going for hours at least. If I had to understand not only fire but also energy, matter, and the nature of reality, then my magic would take forever to prepare and even then I would have no idea how to cast it. ¡®Wisdom¡¯ isn¡¯t just about using what you know to cast magic, it also seems to be about knowing when to stop thinking.¡±


    ¡°So let me get this straight,¡± said Noel as she stopped trying to cast magic on the water and gave me an exasperated look, ¡°you¡¯re complaining about being so smart you have to stop yourself from thinking or you¡¯ll ruin your magic. Wow, you¡¯re humble, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, very humble,¡± I said with a smirk. What? If you haven¡¯t figured out where I went to college yet and what that means for my self-confidence, especially about academic stuff, then have you even been paying attention? ¡°But my humility led me to another brilliant idea. If our knowledge of something doesn¡¯t have to connect to everything else, then does that mean we can manipulate how ¡®true¡¯ it is?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Well, if I wanted to use magic to move water, I could try to understand how things move at all, how water moves in particular, and what I would have to do in order to get water to move. But to understand how things move, I would have to understand motion itself by asking questions like: why can some things be moved but others can¡¯t. And to understand how water moves I would have to understand water itself. And once I have to do all that to cast magic, I won¡¯t have the ¡®wisdom¡¯ to cast it,¡± I said.


    Noel nodded. ¡°So that¡¯s why you said motion is impossible. We can¡¯t make things move with magic.¡±


    I gave her a funny look. ¡°What? That¡¯s not what I meant at all. Some weirdos named Parmenides and Zeno made insane arguments about how everything exists, motion is impossible and change can never happen. But they made their arguments in a way that made them make logical sense! I want us to do the same thing. We don¡¯t have to know how water moves, we just have to come up with an explanation that makes sense.¡±


    Noel said that was the stupidest thing she had ever heard. How could we cast magic when our ¡®knowledge¡¯ about something was fundamentally flawed. That wouldn¡¯t be knowledge at all, it would be a useless riddle meant to confuse people.


    I told her we didn¡¯t have to completely make something up. All we had to do was take a whole lot of small truths and put them together. Each individual statement doesn¡¯t have to be super deep or complicated as long as the whole thing becomes a large enough logical argument.


    ¡°For example,¡± I said as I moved in front of the pond.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to show off in a dramatic way again, aren¡¯t you?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Don¡¯t ruin the moment,¡± I said as I put my hands in front of my chest. ¡°I have observed that things move when I push them. I also know that water is a thing. I know I can move water better when I cup my hands. And I know I can move things from a distance if I use something like a stick or a branch. So if I imagine magic as a tool that extends my cupped hands to a distance, I can¡­¡± I put one foot forward, concentrated my magic, and pushed my hands from in front of my chest all the way out to as far as they would go. ¡°¡­push water.¡±Stolen story; please report.


    The surface of the puddle wobbled a little, then, it stilled.


    I blushed. Noel burst out laughing.


    ---


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t wrong,¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I simply underestimated how many simple truths needed to be added for my idea to work,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°I can make the water move now.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you can.¡±


    ¡°That means I wasn¡¯t wrong.¡±


    Noel nodded with a big smile on her face. ¡°Yes, you were.¡±


    I threw my hands up in frustration. If she didn¡¯t understand my genius, that wasn¡¯t my problem! A miscalculation doesn¡¯t count. It was like a foul ball in baseball, a false serve in tennis, or a rounding error on a space shuttle design¡ªinconsequential! Wait, no. Bad example.


    ¡°The point is, if we string together a bunch of small truths, we can cast magic we wouldn¡¯t be able to cast without digging into difficult questions that give us ¡®knowledge¡¯ we can¡¯t yet use ¡®wisely,¡¯ okay?¡± I said.


    ¡°Got it. You wanted to show off and were being all dramatic and stuff, but you were wrong so it blew up in your face,¡± said Noel. ¡°That¡¯s a few small truths adding together to let me cast the magic of embarrassment.¡±


    I smacked my forehead. ¡°I give up. Let¡¯s just try to practice magic, okay? The movement magic I invented can be used on other stuff too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it sucks,¡± said Noel. She put her hands in front of her hand and pushed out towards a stick on the ground. The stick flopped over a few inches. ¡°It feels like we¡¯re moving the object with our hands, except it takes even more energy than actually moving it directly!¡±


    ¡°But we can do it from a distance,¡± I added.


    ¡°Sure, but we can¡¯t move anything we couldn¡¯t move before, like mountains or trees, and the stuff we can move doesn¡¯t move much at all,¡± she said.


    ¡°That means we need practice,¡± I said.


    ¡°That means we need to practice what we know works,¡± said Noel. ¡°If we focus on fire magic, we might be able to make it strong enough to fight the starred monster. Practicing two types of magic, especially when one of them is much stronger than the other, seems like a waste of time. And time is definitely not on our side here!¡±


    She was right. If we sat down and tried to come up with a bunch of different types of magic, even if a couple of those could be useful and powerful, we wouldn¡¯t have the time to practice them. We still didn¡¯t know how magic improved, either. Would practicing our fire magic make our flames bigger and hotter or would we be able to do things with it that we couldn¡¯t do before? If this world had a dungeons and dragons style magic system, increasing the ¡®level¡¯ of our magic wouldn¡¯t just increase its power, it might also give us more options and abilities.


    ¡°Putting all our eggs in one basket doesn¡¯t make sense,¡± I said, going on to explain the figure of speech just in case the translation magic muddled it up. ¡°If we can¡¯t beat this monster because it¡¯s immune to fire or lives underwater or can fly too far from us, we¡¯d lose no matter how much practice we put in.¡±


    Noel relented, but she still wanted to put more effort into fire magic than motion magic. Realizing we could get the best of both world if Noel focused more on fire magic and I focused more on motion magic, we began setting up a small training ground in the clearing.


    We gathered logs and branches for Noel to practice lighting on fire. I piled up some leaves so we could practice putting out the fire before it burned the whole pile. We marked the barks of trees to practice shooting fire from a distance, and I helped Noel learn how to set the air on fire in front of her hand.


    We practiced moving water from the pond, but also set up some stones and rocks we could practice pushing along the ground. I balanced small stones on top of each other, and we practiced pushing only the top one off without making the whole thing collapse.


    But after we¡¯d both had some practice with fire and motion magic, Noel began experimenting with ways to increase the heat and length of her flames, while I tried to increase the power and distance of my pushes. Noel focused on manipulating flames so she could make them spring up at a distance. I managed to learn how to ¡®pull¡¯ as well as ¡®push¡¯ from a distance.


    Every day for the next week or so, Noel and I came to this clearing to practice magic. The elders thought we were going to the Oracle, so we always came back with some nonsense about prophecies and visions. The only disconcerting thing was that nobody had seen the one starred monster anywhere. Even following traces of animals running away from the monster didn¡¯t help. It was like this thing was avoiding the elves on purpose, but it definitely couldn¡¯t keep doing that forever. At some point, all the other monsters would run away, and it wouldn¡¯t have anything to feed on. Then, this monster would have no choice but to start hunting elves.

 Chapter 26

    ¡°The Oracle said: don¡¯t go out on the plains alone,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Stick to large hunting parties. The larger the better,¡± I added.


    Starry nodded. ¡°All the monsters are gone. You don¡¯t need to see the future to realize the starred monster will have to start hunting elves soon.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we should go to the highlands after all,¡± said Vell. ¡°We could even stand guard around the mountain pass leading up to the highlands. It will be much easier to defend against a single, large monster up there than down here. We could be attacked from any side.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said quickly. ¡°The Oracle said we should wait a few more days!¡±


    Starry raised an eyebrow. ¡°Didn¡¯t the Oracle want us to leave for the highlands instead of fighting the monster? Why does she want us to stay now?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because,¡± began Noel, ¡°she thinks she might see something important soon. In a vision or prophetic dream. Cas and I need to stay here too. She needs us for a few more days so we can¡ª¡±


    Was she going to tell them about our magic already? ¡°She needs us so we can help her with her prophecy. We¡¯ve been helping her with it for the past week or so. Mostly involves standing near her while she looks into our destinies or something. Pretty boring stuff, really.¡±


    Starry and Vell seemed unconvinced, but they didn¡¯t have much choice. By staying on the Plains for so long, they had already depleted their food reserves too much. Besides, if the Oracle said she had a plan, the elders would cling to that thread of hope for as long as they could.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t like the two of you going to the Oracle¡¯s haunt alone,¡± said Starry. ¡°I don¡¯t see how an escort party would interfere with the Oracle¡¯s work. We don¡¯t even need as many people to go scouting anymore since this monster is clearly avoiding us. Let us send them with you, at least for part of the way.¡±


    Honestly, what he was saying made sense. Having an escort party wouldn¡¯t even interfere with our magic training, since we could always tell them something like: ¡®this is as far as the Oracle will allow you to go!¡¯ They would believe it, I was sure. We could also reveal our magical abilities and try to train the elves. We were far along in our training that we could begin to help other people.


    Noel looked at me. She¡¯d been feeling scared for the past few days. In fact, I was scared too! If the starred monster was going to start hunting elves, it would obviously want to go for the ones that were relatively alone. I know I¡¯d told Starry the monster only wanted to hunt big prey, and that a couple of tiny elves wouldn¡¯t be worth its time, but I had no idea if that was true or not! I didn¡¯t even know if we could hide from it or outrun it any better than we could the Farro Bird.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said, with a smile and a laugh. I clenched my fists when I looked at Noel. After spending entire days practicing magic, I felt a sort of power leaking through my fingertips. I knew I wasn¡¯t invincible or anything, but I was sure Noel and I could take better care of ourselves than any escort party cobbled together by the elders. In fact, it might be harder to fight while trying to protect them. Even if we couldn¡¯t defeat the monster, I was sure we¡¯d be able to run to safety.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    We left the camp near dawn, as usual. We made our way to our training area and trained hard all day until just before sunset. We¡¯d been staying later and later, egged on by our desire to get stronger and defeat the one starred monster as well as the mysterious Oracle. When the sun touched the horizon, I wiped the sweat off my brow and called out to Noel. Sparks flew around her as she finished making rings in the air with her fire magic. She was breathing heavily, panting for breath just like I was.


    The pond water used to be kind of murky, but we¡¯d cleaned it up as best we could. We wiped off with the water, and some leaves and rags, and talked about how we would reveal our magical powers once the elves found the starred monster. We¡¯d lead a team of hunters, surround the beast, and defeat it with our magic! We weren¡¯t master tacticians, but that sounded like a plan that could work. If we could observe the monster first, learn its habits and weaknesses, we could avoid any unnecessary danger, especially for the elves that didn¡¯t know magic.


    It was getting darker by the minute. Noel and I began to make our way back to the camp. The sun was still setting but the moon and stars had already starting peeking out from behind the veil of burning dusk. No leaves rustled, because the wind was still. No animals appeared from the edge of our vision, no monsters peered from within bushes or treetops. Even the insects were silent.


    We came upon a stream, about halfway back to camp. The sound of water cascading over smooth stones and jagged rocks was the only sound for miles. It felt so loud against the silence, we couldn¡¯t even hear our own hearts beating. I stood at the edge of the stream, ready to tiptoe across. Water splashed on my face. I wiped it off with a hand, feeling a strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.


    I looked up and saw a familiar, but unwelcome, face. A massive Faro Bird glared at us from the treetops near the banks of the stream. Half of its body was charred black, stretched out in a circle from its back. The tips of its wings and the outline of its eyelids glowed crimson, like a smoldering coal in the middle of a campfire.


    A bright red star sat on the monster¡¯s forehead, nestled in the feathers right above its eyes. The monster¡¯s star glowed in the same hue as the red star in the sky above. It was the same red star that joined the moon in the supernatural events we had experienced near the large tree where we met the birds. And just like then, the red star on the monster¡¯s forehead seemed to glow, inexplicably, with malice and hatred.


    Noel and I had prepared for all kinds of situations. If the monster ambushed us, I would harass it with my magic while Noel prepared a large ball of fire. If it attacked the village, we would work with Sharun and the other hunts to slowly whittle it down. And if it was the kind of monster we couldn¡¯t hope to fight, we would run away while casting magic behind us. We even considered burning down the forest to cover our tracks. I was even prepared to hold the monster back by myself to allow Noel and the others a chance to escape. But clearly, we hadn¡¯t been prepared for the sheer terror that comes with actually facing a powerful, ruthless monster.


    Noel and I stayed still. The monster had clearly seen us. It might even have been stalking us for a while, waiting for us to be out in the open so it could pounce. It narrowed its eyes and lowered its head. Noel grabbed me and jumped back into the forest, hoping the trees would shield us from its attack.


    The Farro Bird sliced a dozen trees in two. Leaves fell around us like hail. Trunks and branches smashed into the ground. Noel and I hugged a large stump, which shielded us from the worst of the carnage, but covered us in a splash of canopy. Through a gap in the leaves, I saw the Farro bird perch on a treetop, lean back, and send a piercing screech into the sky. Flames spewed from its beak, embers flew from its wings, and sparks spun like a halo around its body, as it slowly turned its head, and met my gaze.

 Chapter 27

    ¡°Run!¡± I screamed as I grabbed Noel and waded through the leaves. I cast motion magic to push my way through, barely making it out before a scorching arrow of feathery destruction turned everything behind us into ash.


    Needless to say, using fire magic against this thing would be pointless. I raised my free hand towards the back of the beast and pointed a single finger at it. I concentrated my magic around my fingertip and poked the beast. After entire days of practice, I could poke a hole in stone if I tried hard enough and man, was I trying really, really hard to pierce through this starred monster¡¯s skin.


    When I tried to push, my magical finger met a wall that felt harder than steel. If I had pressed this hard with my real finger, it might have broken clean off. The monster didn¡¯t take kindly to being poked by an invisible finger, and it flapped its wings to circle back around. Embers flew off its wings and landed in the many piles of leaves and dead wood around us, which promptly caught fire.


    Noel used her motion magic to lift a pointy stick, which she positioned right in front of us. The monster didn¡¯t care at all as it whizzed towards us, headfirst. I grabbed Noel by the shoulder and ducked. Wind popped against my ears as a searing heat passed overhead. The smell of burning hair filled my nose as the top of my head was singed by the fiery bird¡¯s flames. Noel¡¯s stick lay shattered in a million pieces in front of us.


    More trees crashed and burned. The monster screeched and circled around again. This time I grabbed my right arm with my left hand, closed one eye, and grabbed a small pebble. I felt a sharp pain in my head, but ignored it. I made my one magic hand anchor itself on two trees, made the pebble move to its center, and bent the arm back in the middle. I jumped out of the way with Noel, but kept my magic going from the side. As the monster neared, I let go of the magic arm and let the pebble slingshot loose. The monster screamed as it jet past us, making my ears hurt.


    I caught my breath and stared at the beast as it crashed into the ground. I winced and put a hand to my head. Manipulating motion magic like that wasn¡¯t something I could do often, so I was glad I managed to defeat that thing with the slingshot. There was a ringing in my ear, so I couldn¡¯t hear what Noel was saying next to me. I smiled at her, glad that she was worried about me even though we had won.


    But her eyes were wide and full of panic. I followed her pointing hand and saw the starred Farro Bird¡¯s wings rustle. As the hearing in my ears returned, I could make out the monster¡¯s low growls and deep breaths. The embers on its wings burned even brighter as flames engulfed the whole forest around us. Even the stream was full of wood-ash and burning branches. The monster turned its head back, even though its body was facing the other way. There was a large gash under its eye, where a large stone sat embedded into its skin. The beast¡¯s eyes widened in rage, and the blood that trickled down its beak burned a shade of crimson richer than the fire around us. The burnt parts of its body began melding with the unburnt parts, as its whole body began to glow. It opened its foot-long beak and flames spewed out of its mouth like vomit.


    Noel screamed. We were too close, we couldn¡¯t escape this attack. I ignored the pain in my head and raced to find a solution but nothing came to mind. I had been so sure we would be able to handle this monster, the only bit of preparation I had done for different kinds of magic was the motion magic that had already proven useless. The Farro Bird that I had defeated with my first bit of magic was now going to scorch us to death unless I could stop it. But how. How could I stop this massive, powerful, enraged monster?


    I raised a trembling hand towards the monster as the fire in its beak gurgled forth. I tried to lift my other arm but it was broken. I hadn¡¯t even noticed. Blood dripped into my right eye. When did I get cut there?


    Before the massive wave of fire could leave the monster¡¯s beak, I collected my thoughts, took a deep breath, and willed, and prayed harder than I ever had before. My muscles tightened, my breathing stalled, my eyes froze in place and my entire body felt like it was made of stone.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The monster stood motionless. The flames in its beak tossed and roiled, but soon died out. The starred Farro Bird lost its crimson glow. The flames on its wings, the menacing light in its eyes, even the intimidating sound of its deep breaths, everything stilled. The star on its forehead continued to glisten and flash with its evil red light, but its power seemed confined to the star itself, unable to reach into the monster¡¯s body like before.


    If I could breathe, I would have let out a breath of relief, but my chest was stuck in the position it had been in when I cast my magic. I could only continue to stare at the monster frozen in front of me, since my eyes couldn¡¯t move or blink either. Fortunately, I couldn¡¯t feel anything either, or my aching arm would have dropped to my side by now. I couldn¡¯t tell what Noel was thinking or doing beside me, because she was out of my vision. Hopefully she would come up with something soon, because I had no idea how long I could keep this magic going.


    It had come to me in a flash that there was another direction I could¡¯ve taken motion magic. I had even mentioned the ¡®knowledge¡¯ needed to cast it. Zeno and Parmenides¡¯ arguments against motion. Specifically, I was reminded of the paradox of Achilles and the tortoise.


    If Achilles is racing against a tortoise, but he gives the tortoise a hundred mile head start, and both of them run at different but constant speeds, at some point Achilles will reach the point where the tortoise started with its head start. But by this point, the tortoise is fifty miles ahead, so Achilles runs to this new point, but by this point, the tortoise is further ahead, so Achilles runs to the new starting point. If this keeps going, Achilles can never get ahead because the tortoise will always move a certain distance before Achilles reaches its new starting point.


    This isn¡¯t how anything works, of course, and modern physics can run this paradox through the mud, but that wasn¡¯t important. By using it as a basis for what I knew about Zeno¡¯s arguments against motion, I was able to quickly cast a type of motion magic that froze both the caster and the target. The only problem was I would have to let go at some point, since this magic was draining my mental energy like crazy. The edges of my vision were already beginning to grow dark and everything was getting blurry.


    You better be doing something useful, Noel!


    I felt a hand on my shoulder. I gasped for air as my chest began to move again. The darkness at the edge of my vision retreated, but the pain in my head and arms came rushing back. My brain felt like it had been pierced with a needle, but I grit my teeth and prepared to cast more magic.


    The starred Farro Bird let out a guttural screech as it opened its beak. Thankfully, all its fire was gone so its hateful voice sounded almost comical. It soon realized it wasn¡¯t spewing out any fire, so it closed its beak and leaned back again. Why was this bird brain so quick to react?


    I heard another shout, this time from beside me. Noel was covered in cuts and bruises, a whole branch worth of leaves in her hair, but her brows were furrowed in concentration. A pointed rock hung in the air in front of her: a piece of flint. It looked like it had come from the tip of the small flint spears we had been given on our first hunt. The stone¡¯s end was incredibly sharp, probably prepared by elder Vell herself.


    Before the monster could begin a new attack, Noel launched her piece of flint with a loud shout. It flew through the air, whizzing past my head. The monster saw the projectile approaching its head, but couldn¡¯t react in time as the sharp rock was reflected larger and larger in its eyes. A bloodcurdling screech filled the forest.


    The starred Farro Bird thrashed around and kept screaming. It covered its head with its wings, sent sparks flying off to its sides, and wallowed in the sea of flames it had created. I heard a small splash to my side. Noel collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily while sitting in the water. I hadn¡¯t even noticed that she was standing in the stream.


    My own body began to give way, so I tried to walk over to the stream. But my legs turned to jelly, and I swayed and swiveled from side to side before collapsing, knee-deep, in the stream. I propped up my body with my one good arm, and met Noel¡¯s gaze.


    I heard an enraged growl. The starred Farro Bird was staring at us from a distance, body covered in flames, blood drenching the feathers on its head. Noel¡¯s piece of flint jut out from its right eyelid, as its other eye focused on us, glinting with the red light of the star on its forehead.

 Chapter 28

    There was no hope. I couldn¡¯t think of anything. Fire magic didn¡¯t work, motion magic didn¡¯t work, even freezing the monster in place only bought us a couple of minutes. My arms were aching, blood and sweat kept getting in my eyes, and the pain in my head was beating on my brain like a war drum directing me to wave the white flag.


    My clothes felt heavy. They were drenched with water from the stream and sweat from my tired body. Noel sat besides me, panting as heavily as I was. Her body was battered and bloody, too. I was sure her mind was as messed up as mine was. There was no way either of us were going to be able to cast a single bit of magic, let alone something that could get us out of this mess.


    The Farro Bird trudged over to us, leaving scorched talon-marks on the ground. It wanted to get close so I couldn¡¯t put out its flame with motionless magic, like last time. It didn¡¯t need to bother, though, since I was too tired to cast it anyway. Its feathers perked up, like a peacock unfurling its plumage. I could see the muscles underneath, and they were massive and taut. Embers and sparks appeared around it like before. The red star glistened.


    As the monster stood menacingly right in front of us, I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. How in the world had I convinced myself I could fight this thing? Why did Noel and I spend so much time practicing magic if the battle was going to be so one-sided? I kept thinking about other things we could have done. We could have learned water magic, maybe water could beat fire? No, we wouldn¡¯t have been good enough to beat this thing. What if we had focused more on improving our own bodies? Being faster, stronger, tougher might have helped us survive a little longer. No, this thing was a tank, it would roll over tiny elves like us no matter how many push-ups we did.


    We should have listened to the Oracle and ran away. I still didn¡¯t trust her, especially because she wanted us to go to the cave of the Terrible before we went to the highlands, but she was right. We couldn¡¯t fight this thing. Even if Noel and I had taught our magic to all the other elves and practiced together. Even if we had come with an escort or a hunting party, this monster would have turned us all into barbecue. In fact, the difference between us was so massive, the question that came to my mind as I sat on the verge of death, was a rather surprising one:


    Why didn¡¯t this monster fly into our camp and crush us all days ago?


    It clearly could have done so and it wasn¡¯t afraid of fire like the other monsters were, so it had nothing to fear from our camp. If food was scarce and the elves were easy prey, why hadn¡¯t it gone for us? Especially if it knew Noel and I were the ones who burnt it in the first place. I doubt it felt any gratitude towards me for having apparently awakened it as a starred monster!


    The monster leaned over us, opened its mouth, and prepared its fire-breath once again. Noel and I couldn¡¯t move, and my mind was so tired it had wandered all over the place as if it was preparing to replay my whole life in front of me. Would my previous life also flash before my eyes or would I only get to see everything that happened since Noel found me in a pond in the Forest of Three? Either way, time seemed to slow down as the end approached. I almost wanted it to speed up to get it over with quickly and painlessly.


    The monster¡¯s eyes flit to the side as a shadow appeared overhead. The shadow brought his hand back, readying to launch a familiar wooden weapon. The flames in the Farro Bird¡¯s mouth spilled out as it moved to attack the shadow, but the shadow was quicker by a hair¡¯s breadth. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth whistled through the air and skewered the starred monster¡¯s second eye.


    Sharun dropped to the ground next to us, his tunic burned in places. His torn ear and scarred chest made him look grizzled but powerful against the backdrop of the sea of flames. The monster thrashed about, drowning the world in its screams. Sharun ran up to it, his legs stomping on the earth, leaving naked prints of his feet behind him. He jumped up, grabbed the Dragon¡¯s Tooth from the monster¡¯s thrashing body, and wrenched it clean with a fountain of blood.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The monster¡¯s wails were overpowering. Sharun rolled to the side, deftly dodging the razor sharp talons that wrenched open the earth where he had been standing. Fire spewed out from the monster¡¯s beak for a little bit, but it began to sputter, falter, and fade. The embers on its body winked out of existence. The red star on its forehead flashed brightly just once, more chaotic and wild than ever, before dimming forever.


    The starred Farro Bird slumped against a smoldering pile of charcoal that had once been a tree trunk. A spark fell on the monster¡¯s body and its feathers caught on fire. The forest around us began to close in with its flames as an unbearable heat filled the air. Sharun grasped the Dragon¡¯s Tooth and ran back to us. As my vision swam amongst the flames and fatigue, I felt a strong arm pull me up from below my armpits. I was plopped on a hard shoulder, soot and sweat filling my nostrils, as the ground beneath me swayed and I blacked out.


    ---


    I woke up with a headache. I put a hand to my forehead and felt something gritty rub against my skin. I had something on my hand. I brought my hand in front of my eyes and saw that it was charred black with ash. Everything that had happened rushed into my head.


    Sharun! He rescued us!


    I tried to sit up, but my body was sore all over. My throat was so dry I couldn¡¯t even speak up. I could only croak lamely like a toad. Something rustled behind me after I made that lame sound. Sharun appeared in my vision, with a small hollowed gourd in his hand. He brought the gourd to my mouth and I sipped the water inside. My throat felt a little better but I still couldn¡¯t get up.


    ¡°You are lucky,¡± said Sharun as he moved to the side. From the soft sipping noises I heard, I assumed he was giving Noel something to drink. ¡°I heard Noel¡¯s scream while out scouting for the starred monster. If I hadn¡¯t left the rest of my party behind, little Caspian would¡¯ve been skewered on a bird beak.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I managed to say. I heard a garbled noise that was Noel¡¯s attempt to say the same.


    Sharun nursed us in silence for a little bit. ¡°That thing was terrifying,¡± he said. ¡°If it hadn¡¯t been distracted and injured in one eye, it would have seen me coming from miles away. I only managed to kill it because I came in from its blind side.¡±


    At least our magic training hadn¡¯t been completely useless then, I thought to myself. If we had managed to pull off our original plan of revealing our magic to the elves and forming a hunting party, we wouldn¡¯t have had as miserable a fight as we ended up having. I quickly countered my hubris by admitting that this plan would have led to a lot of casualties. Noel and I had only been able to dodge the starred Farro Bird¡¯s attack because we were small and could jump behind trees or into the underbrush. We¡¯d underestimated the monster¡¯s speed and power, and overestimated our own. And we almost paid the ultimate price for our mistake.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can heal your injuries on my own,¡± said Sharun. ¡°We are halfway to the Oracle¡¯s haunt. I¡¯ll take you to her, she has amazing healing powers.¡±


    My aching mind started racing. I couldn¡¯t let him take us to the Oracle or he¡¯d find out we were lying about working with the Oracle! The fight with the one star monster had made it painfully obvious we weren¡¯t powerful enough to oppose the Oracle yet.


    ¡°You can¡¯t,¡± I said, weakly. ¡°The Oracle is resting. She helped us prepare for the fight against the monster. I think she knew we would defeat it, even if she didn¡¯t know it would be because you came to rescue us.¡±


    Since we¡¯d been using the Oracle¡¯s name to get away with our magic training anyway, why not keep going? It made sense that she would have to pay some sort of price to predict the future in such a specific way, otherwise she would be able to predict everything and the elves would never face any problems at all.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sharun, slowly. ¡°So it was the Oracle who gave you the power to use magic, after all.¡±

 Chapter 29

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said quickly. ¡°She imprinted the fundamentals of magic on us, and taught us how to use it to fight. We¡¯ve been practicing with her for the past few days.¡±


    I ended up using the explanation we had prepared if anyone ever saw us using magic by accident. We had been planning to tell the other elves about our magic anyway, since it would be a good way to gather support for when we opposed the Oracle, so I wasn¡¯t too flustered when Sharun brought it up.


    But I was confused. If he barely managed to rescue us in time, how did he see us cast magic? We were completely spent when the Farro Bird lumbered over, and didn¡¯t do anything that would¡¯ve given away our magical abilities. Was he assuming we had learned magic since there was no other way we could have survived against a monster that literally shot fire from its mouth? That had to be it. Sharun was an experienced hunter, he could probably tell when two tiny elves were outmatched by a cantankerous, fire-breathing bird monster.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sharun. ¡°The Oracle is wise.¡±


    I managed to sit up a little, and Sharun laid me against a tree. Noel sat besides me as Sharun cut a large, fleshy leaf. He pinched the leaf and a pale yellow liquid oozed out, which he rubbed on our cuts and burns. The liquid stung at first but my body felt a lot better after a while. Sharun helped us drink some more water and even cut off the burnt ends of our hair with the sharp edge of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth.


    ¡°We¡¯ll rest here until noon. The rest of my party should be able to find us. I left very noticeable tracks on the way here,¡± said Sharun.


    We were sitting in the middle of a thick patch of forest. It would be quite difficult for anyone to find us if it weren¡¯t for the tracks Sharun said he¡¯d left. I assumed they weren¡¯t the types of tracks monsters could follow, since he had probably hidden us away in here to hide from more monsters. Two weakened young elves were perfect targets. Now that the starred monster was gone, the other monsters would start trickling back into the area.


    ¡°What kind of magic did the Oracle teach you?¡± asked Sharun as he made me sip some water.


    ¡°Fire and motion magic,¡± answered Noel.


    ¡°Fire magic? Against a monster made of fire?¡± said Sharun.


    ¡°Yes,¡± stammered Noel. ¡°It helped protect us from the monster¡¯s attack. We wouldn¡¯t have survived its breath or the forest fire around it if we hadn¡¯t learned fire magic!¡± Of course, we hadn¡¯t been able to control the monster¡¯s magic at all, but Sharun didn¡¯t need to know that.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Sharun. ¡°And what is motion magic?¡±


    ¡°It lets us push and pull things,¡± said Noel. ¡°It¡¯s how I managed to take out its eye.¡±


    Sharun nodded. ¡°Good work. With this you¡¯ll make an even better hunter than me or my brother.¡±


    Noel smiled. Hearing that apparently meant a lot to her. She tried to lift herself off the tree, but couldn¡¯t. Sharun put his hands on her shoulder and made her sit back down. She grabbed his hand and hugged it.


    ¡°Thank you, uncle Sharun,¡± said Noel.


    She didn¡¯t let go. Sharun leaned forward and hugged her, gently. Noel didn¡¯t cry, but she held on tightly. Eventually, she fell asleep, still grasping Sharun¡¯s arm. He let her go and looked at me. My eyelids felt heavy and I was drooping off to sleep. I don¡¯t know why I was trying to stay awake, perhaps it was the adrenaline that still hadn¡¯t made its way through my system. Sharun reached over and put his hand on my head. He ruffled my hair and smiled. His smile was warm. The scars on his ear and chest felt surprisingly reassuring. I drifted off to sleep.


    ---Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    I woke up under the night sky. The pain in my head was gone but my body still ached in various places. I felt a bed of leaves and grass underneath me. There was a gourd full of water and a few doubleberries on a leaf beside me. Noel was lying on a bed, fast asleep.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake,¡± came a voice.


    ¡°Elder Starry!¡± I said.


    The elder walked over to me and asked about my health. I told him I was feeling better. He said the elves had treated most of our injuries and all we needed now was some rest. They¡¯d been worried when the hunting party brought us back, but quickly realized we weren¡¯t in too much danger. He¡¯d heard about our magic from Sharun, but he wanted to know more about our battle with the starred monster before the hunter¡¯s arrival.


    I told him about the types of magic we had learned, making sure to mention the Oracle from time to time. I remembered how interested he¡¯d been in my translation magic when I first arrived, so I figured he wouldn¡¯t look too closely at the details of my story if I focused on the cool magic bits more than on how we happened to learn them.


    ¡°So when the Oracle said she wanted to guide you to your destiny, she meant she wanted to teach you magic. But there¡¯s still something I don¡¯t understand,¡± said Starry. ¡°Why didn¡¯t the Oracle let you have an escort party?¡±


    ¡°The Oracle is wise,¡± I said, ¡°she must have realized this was the best way to deal with the monster. After all, nobody died, right?¡±


    ¡°The two of you almost joined the ancestors,¡± said Starry.


    ¡°But we didn¡¯t! And you can ask Sharun, that monster was incredibly powerful. It would have shred most hunting parties to pieces,¡± I said.


    ¡°All the more reason to question the Oracle¡¯s actions,¡± said Starry. ¡°Her foresight is not perfect. She has been known to make mistakes. This mission was far too dangerous for two young elves who haven¡¯t even been on their first hunt. If she had been wrong in the slightest, the two of you would not have made it back.¡±


    I was taken aback by Starry¡¯s words. He¡¯d been pretty respectful of the Oracle when we first said she¡¯d asked to meet with us daily. I guess seeing your granddaughter cut, bruised, and burnt in places, might make you less respectful to the person who sent her there. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t know that the two of us had made that stupid decision on our own.


    I ended up receiving a lecture from Starry anyway. He said we should have run away instead of trying to fight the monster. He also said we should have taken an escort anyway, regardless of what the Oracle wanted. Don¡¯t trust powerful people, even if they are respected in the community. Decisions that are best for the community may not be the best for you, he said. He left me to rest once he was finished teaching me about trust and suspicion. As someone who¡¯d grown up without a grandpa, I felt oddly happy to be scolded by an elderly elf teaching me a thing or two about life. After he left, I closed my eyes once more and fell asleep.


    ---


    In the morning the Jora tribe held a muted celebration. We were glad to be rid of the starred monster, but worried about the wildfire that our scouts had discovered raging across the plains. There had been wildfires before, but this one was bigger than most. It had already engulfed one of the tribe¡¯s favorite forests and was threatening to keep going.


    ¡°Do you think it will reach our camp?¡± asked elder Vell.


    Sharun nodded. ¡°It will take a few days, but it has already begun crossing the plains. It is a strange fire, one not easily doused by water. Even the smallest patch of grass catches fire and the wind carries it across rivers and barren fields.¡±


    The elves whispered among themselves. Starry and Vell shared an anxious look. Noel and I were still recovering, but this meeting was being done around our beds. In a family structure this closely knit, even the sick had to be a part of the decision making process. Young elves like us wouldn¡¯t usually have much to say, but I was thinking about ways to control the fire with modern techniques.


    We didn¡¯t have enough time to create canals, waterways or similar obstructions. We could try some controlled fires to burn off all the vegetation along a patch of land, so the forest fire couldn¡¯t keep spreading. But after what Sharun said about the way the fire seemed to ride the wind across empty land, I had a feeling this magical fire would be hard to control. I eventually ruled out most modern methods of fire control I¡¯d learned from camping instructors and documentaries, and decided magical problems required magical solutions. The elders and Sharun were keeping our magical abilities a secret from the rest of the tribe, but Noel and I had always planned to spread the knowledge as far as we could.


    After almost getting killed trying to take on a massive problem on our own, we¡¯d learned our lesson. The tribe was our family, and we had to trust them. I smiled. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d ever feel this way again. Not after my mom died five years ago. The warm, fuzzy, safe feeling of being with people you could rely on. It was a nice feeling.


    ¡°Elders,¡± I began. ¡°Noel and I.¡± I looked at Noel. She looked at me. ¡°We have an idea.¡±

 Chapter 30

    ¡°Push harder.¡±


    ¡°Like this?¡±


    ¡°No, not like that. Pretend you have your hands on the stick.¡±


    ¡°Like this?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t put your hands on the stick!¡±


    ¡°But you said¡­¡±


    ¡°I said, pretend.¡± I put my palm on my face and sighed. Still, looking around, despite my exasperation with this one elf, the elves¡¯ magic training was going pretty well. The oldest ones were already able to move small rocks and sticks with motion magic. A few asked why they weren¡¯t learning water magic, but Noel and I told them they needed to learn motion magic first, so they could move water from rivers or rescue themselves from collapsing trees and branches. We didn¡¯t add that we didn¡¯t know water magic, because we were planning to fix that soon.


    Noel and I took scouting duty together in the afternoon. New hunters like us weren¡¯t supposed to be scouts but with our magical abilities, we were about as powerful as an adult hunter. The elders also agreed we needed to see the fire to help direct the elves¡¯ magic training. We were told to experiment upwind from isolated patches of fire and to steer clear of any monsters we met along the way.


    We found a suitable place near the edge of the forest fire. We tried controlling the fire with our fire magic, but we couldn¡¯t get it to fizzle out. We used motion magic to drop water, dirt, and large stones on the fire, but realized that wouldn¡¯t be enough to put out the massive amount of flames that were burning through the plains. We needed a new plan. None of our existing magic was good enough.


    ¡°You want to use water magic?¡± said Noel. ¡°We tried it on the pond during training, remember. We couldn¡¯t even make ripples on the pond.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but that was because we were trying to move the water,¡± I said. ¡°Even with fire magic, we couldn¡¯t control flames until we created them first.¡±


    ¡°You want to create water?¡± she said.


    ¡°Kind of,¡± I said. ¡°I can think of two approaches, you can pick the one you like more.¡± I put a line in the dirt and made five circles. ¡°The first approach is to think of water as an element. Back home, there was one tribe that classified the ¡®elements¡¯ or ¡®movements¡¯ as fire, earth, metal, water and wood, but since these were more like different types of energies than actual substances, we probably don¡¯t need this system.¡±


    I made four circles in the dirt this time, with small symbols from a cartoon show back on my Earth. ¡°Instead, a lot of other tribes said that the elements that make up the entire world were: water, earth, fire, and air, although they often added the fifth element of the aether or void.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what do you mean the elements that make up the entire world?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated. Some of them argued it was only one of these elements that was the base for all existence, while many thought a combination of the four was what created various things. A mountain might be mostly made of the earth element, but there is also water as snow and fire as lava. Different tribes had different ways of looking at this theory, but for us, what¡¯s important is that we can think of water as just another element in this system and come up with a way of using it like we did for fire.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Noel. ¡°Then we could learn air and earth magic with this system too.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± I said.


    ¡°But what about the other approach?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°The thing about the elemental system is, well, the people of my tribe already know it¡¯s not correct. We figured out that the world is made of a lot of other things, not just fire, water, earth and air,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then why did you bring it up at all?¡± asked Noel.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    ¡°Because the old, or ¡®classical,¡¯ elemental system is an easy way to learn water magic. The way I used motion magic to stop the Farro Bird¡¯s movement was by using an idea that the people of my tribe have also proven wrong. The classical elemental system has enough ¡®knowledge¡¯ for spells and is easier to use with ¡®wisdom¡¯ too,¡± I said.


    ¡°Got it,¡± said Noel. ¡°You¡¯re saying it¡¯s easier than the other method.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, scratching my chin, ¡°what I really mean is that it¡¯ll be easier for you and the other elves.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying you won¡¯t use the classical elemental system?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be faster for me to use the other system,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then I¡¯m not going to use it either,¡± she said. She had a determined look in her eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a competition. You can make the classical elemental system into a powerful form of magic,¡± I said.


    ¡°But it won¡¯t be as powerful as your magic,¡± she said. ¡°Or else you would be using the elemental system too.¡±


    Darn. Why was she so smart? ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°But it¡¯s going to be boring to learn and I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll be able to gather the ¡®wisdom¡¯ necessary to cast it before the fire gets too close to camp. We should set up the basics of elemental water magic today so we can train the other elves.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°So we need to think of everything around us as being made of fire, earth, water and air, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°And then we can use the fact that we can create fire to learn how to use the other elements.¡±


    ¡°Since fire uses fuel, if we think of creating fire as taking the fire element out of a piece of wood or a pile of leaves, we can think of creating water as doing the same,¡± said Noel.


    Wow, she thought of that on her own? ¡°We could also think of the elements existing inside our body, maybe as a sort of energy like in the five element system I told you about before. Then we could create the elements out of nothing but magical energy.¡±


    ¡°But wouldn¡¯t that tire use a lot of magical energy? We¡¯ll tire out really quickly,¡± said Noel. ¡°The fire is pretty big. If the elves get too tired too quickly, we won¡¯t be able to control it at all. I think my idea works better for this situation.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, if the elves draw out the elements from other things, they won¡¯t tire as quickly. But what if there isn¡¯t a good source of the element nearby. If they¡¯re surrounded by flames, they can¡¯t draw out enough water from the air, earth or burning logs.¡±


    Noel agreed with what I said so we decided to teach the elves both ways of casting classical elemental magic. It took us several hours to extract a few drops of water from a piece of wood. And making water out of pure magical energy almost made me faint. We spent several days practicing our water magic, telling the elders we needed to scout out a large area to plan the elves¡¯ response. The elves got pretty good at motion magic, although none had gotten as good as Noel and me. Perhaps the birds¡¯ blessing improved our ability to learn and practice magic.


    We began teaching the elves what little water magic we were able to cast. After a few days of training, Noel and I could spray water like a hose out of the earth and like a faucet out of our hands. It wouldn¡¯t be useful in a fight, but a dozen elves could fight a small fire with it. The elves didn¡¯t understand the elemental system. How could everything be made of only wind, water, earth, and air? What about trees and lightning and the sun and moon? It took a while to show them how everything could, in an age before particle physics and chemistry, be boiled down to a few elements.


    I walked past rows of concentrating elves. I offered advice and gave feedback to people who were having trouble understanding elemental water magic. I let them make their own conclusions and explanations, since everyone¡¯s ¡®knowledge¡¯ didn¡¯t have to be the same. One young elf even came up with water magic that came out of his mouth.


    Once they could create a few droplets of water, Noel and I told them to keep practicing on their own. Starry and Vell, who could already create steady streams of water, took over our duties and helped the elves gather ¡®wisdom.¡¯ I brought Noel back to the place where we¡¯d trained the elemental water system.


    ¡°The others are learning the elemental system very quickly, but they won¡¯t be able to fight the forest fire with that kind of magic. It doesn¡¯t create enough water and uses a whole lot of energy,¡± observed Noel.


    I nodded. ¡°They¡¯ll be able to protect the camp, but that¡¯s about it. If we want to save the plains we need to come up with a water magic system that can pour a lot of water over a large area with very little magical energy.¡±


    ¡°That sounds impossible¡­¡±


    ¡°It would be impossible, if we were trying to make all that water appear with magic. Magic seems to mean breaking the rules of nature to do the impossible. But sometimes, we don¡¯t have to cheat nature to do our magic. Sometimes, we can walk right over to nature and give it a little push!¡±

 Chapter 31

    ¡°And so the water vapor rises into the air and condenses into water droplets that form clouds which¡­¡±


    ¡°Stop, stop! You¡¯re going too fast!¡±


    Noel and I crouched over the dirt like usual. Who needs blackboards when you have some good ol¡¯ dirt, right? It wasn¡¯t easy making diagrams with a stick, but my rough doodles were good enough to explain the water cycle. I tried not to use too many tough words, like cumulonimbus clouds or biogeochemical process, but it seemed like the entire thing was more complicated to explain than I remembered.


    It wasn¡¯t like Noel didn¡¯t understand the basics. It was easy to accept that the water in the oceans was the same as the water in the rivers. And the elves used steam or water vapor to treat clogged noses, so Noel was quick to accept that rain and water vapor were tied together. The part that was hard to explain was the formation of clouds. Noel knew about condensation, since she could feel steam turn back into water vapor if she put her hand over boiling water. But why didn¡¯t that water fall right back down to the Earth as rain instead of forming clouds?


    And so I had to explain things like density, volume, and mass. I mean, I didn¡¯t have to explain those things. Noel wouldn¡¯t complain if I told her clouds formed and that was it. I could do what a bunch of teachers in my old high school did, and teach simple but incorrect concepts that could be fixed later. But I didn¡¯t want to do that. That type of teaching wouldn¡¯t encourage critical thinking and research. I wanted Noel and the other elves to be able to look at things and try to understand them on their own, rather than lecturing them all day and night.


    ¡°So clouds don¡¯t fall on us even though they can be heavy, because they have low density?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Right, they float in the air the same way a whole bunch of grass will sink in water if you pressed them together and tied them together, but will float if you spread them out over a large area,¡± I said.


    After a few more questions, I told Noel to think about other things related to the water table when she had more time. Things like how do people swim? Why is river water not salty like the sea? And so on. For now, we needed to figure out a magic spell that would put out the forest fire. It was pretty clear that we needed to make it rain. But would we be able to figure out how to do that in time? Rain magic required more complicated ¡®knowledge¡¯ than any other magic we¡¯d created so far. We would need a lot of experience or ¡®wisdom¡¯ to cast any spells that made use of that knowledge, and gathering that much experience would take time. Lots of time.


    Noel and I found a place further away from the fire and got to work.


    ---


    ¡°Over here, elder Vell!¡± yelled a young elf, his face black with soot.


    ¡°Coming,¡± said Vell as she coughed and raced to his side.


    ¡°We need help to the East,¡± cried another elf.


    ¡°On my way,¡± shouted elder Starry.


    The fire had raced across the plains faster than Noel and I had expected. The Jora tribe decided to fight the fire near the banks of the river nearest their camp. Rows of elves stood a few feet in front of the river with their arms outstretched. Water gushed from their hands, arcing over the plains to fall onto the raging fires, sometimes creating rainbows within the smoke. Sweat plastered every elf¡¯s forehead, but they cast elemental water magic for as long as they could. When they were too tired to stand, another row of elves took over, giving their tribesmen a chance to rest.


    We weren¡¯t able to reach out to any other tribe. We could only assume they had seen the fires and retreated to the highlands. The Jora tribe would have done the same if it wasn¡¯t for their belief in the Oracle. If she said there was going to be a miracle, the Jora tribe was willing to believe her!The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Vell and Starry raced back and forth among the elves. Whenever the flames got too intense on one side, they rushed over to help fight them back. The elves had won the entire riverbank from the fire, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for long. They¡¯d been trying to fight the fire at different locations for a couple of days, but they always had to give up once they ran out of stamina. The limitations of classical elemental magic were starting to show. But the elves had done their job. They had bought Noel and I the precious time we needed.


    ¡°Look out!¡± yelled an elf.


    Sharun dashed forward and grabbed a tired elf, just as a large burning branch collapsed on top of her. There were a lot of trees near the riverbank, but most of them were catching fire too quickly to save. The elves were panting and brushing sweat off of their faces. They weren¡¯t able to keep rotating their forces anymore. One elf fell to his knees and planted his face to the ground. Sharun grabbed him and looked at the elders. The elders nodded and began calling for a general retreat. Wading across the river, the elves saw the fire lunge across the patch of land they had fought so hard to protect. Wet, sore, and mentally exhausted, the elves didn¡¯t even notice that Noel and I had been standing on the other side of the river, staring intently above the flaming forest.


    Eventually, elder Starry saw us. He was about to call over to us but stopped. When Vell followed his gaze, she also began to call out to us, but elder Starry covered her mouth. He whispered something in her ear, probably something about not disturbing us because we were clearly trying to cast some sort of magic spell. Honestly, he could have called out to me if he wanted to. After all, I¡¯d been observing everything that the elves were doing on the other side of the river.


    I looked to my side. Noel¡¯s lips were moving like crazy. I couldn¡¯t tell what she was murmuring, or if what she was saying even made any sense, but I could guess it had something to do with the water cycle. At some point, Noel realized she could make up for her lack of understanding by repeating the things she¡¯d learned from me over and over again. Now I was waiting for her to give the signal. Noel clicked her tongue. I raised my hands as she raised hers. We breathed in. Exhale.


    Thunder rumbled in the clouds. The red sea of fire was dampened with the grayness of a dark sky. The elves looked up, some of them pointing, others still gasping for air. The clouds roiled and rumbled, and blotted out the sky as the flames finally burst up to the edge of the river.


    A single drop of water fell on my forehead. Then another. Then another. Soon, there was a light drizzle on both sides of the river. And then the drizzle grew stronger, and stronger, and even stronger than that. The winds began to howl. The sparks and embers began to flit about, as if caught in a tornado, as the downpour began to quieten the red rage of the forest.


    The rain kept pouring for a couple of hours. Noel and I were soaked through with rainwater and sweat by the time we let our arms fall to the side and slumped to the ground. The elves ran up to us, smiling from pointy ear to pointy ear. They hugged and kissed us, thanking us for our wonderful magic. The fire on the other side of the river was all gone. There was still a lot of forest fire left to fight, but Noel and I could keep going for hours as long as we rested for a few minutes in between. We didn¡¯t need to use a lot of energy to cast rain magic, since we let nature do most of the work.


    Thunder rumbled overhead. Storm clouds gathered all over the sky. The rain began again and the elves yelled and cheered. Noel and I wouldn¡¯t need to fight the rest of the fire on our own after all! I laughed, stumbling into the rain with my arms wide open. Noel grabbed my hand and laughed as well. We were soaked through. We saw the fire retreat.


    ¡°You can¡¯t beat mother nature after all,¡± I mused to myself.


    Thump. Thump. Thump. The sound of a wood striking stone. ¡°Children of Jora,¡± came a familiar voice. ¡°Heed my call.¡±


    I turned around. A short figure stood in the middle of the Jora tribe. I snuck a glance at Sharun, but his eyes were as wide as mine. The best hunter in the tribe hadn¡¯t noticed the figure walk right into the crowd of elves. I looked at the elders, but their eyes were even wider.


    ¡°Great Oracle,¡± said elder Starry as he bowed his head lightly. ¡°The children of Jora are grateful for your presence. If you would like, I will show you to our¡ª¡±


    The Oracle slammed her staff to cut off Starry. ¡°I am not here for pleasantries, child. I came for them.¡± She lifted her staff and pointed it at Noel and me.

 Chapter 32

    ¡°Faster.¡±


    ¡°My feet hurt.¡±


    ¡°Faster.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going, we¡¯re going.¡±


    ¡°You were supposed to go many moons ago.¡±


    ¡°Well, we got a little distracted. Besides,¡± I said as I stepped over a tree root, ¡°we already taught the whole tribe how to make fire.¡±


    ¡°That fire is not a blessing,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°You children do not know what danger you almost brought upon us. Now hurry up, it is almost sundown.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we stop for the night?¡± asked Sharun.


    ¡°Why?¡± said the Oracle. ¡°There are no monsters in this forest.¡±


    Sharun didn¡¯t respond. We were walking through the Forest of Three, which was well known for not having any monsters in it. Noel and I didn¡¯t meet his gaze. The whole tribe had looked stunned when the Oracle revealed we hadn¡¯t been to the cave of The Terrible. The Oracle told the tribe we had to leave for the cave immediately, or the wrath of the Terrible would be upon us. She went on to describe storms and floods and waves of monsters, all caused by the Terrible. Most of the elves practically pushed us to the Oracle, some even blamed us for the appearance of the one starred monster and the forest fire it caused. Still, the elders insisted Sharun escort us to the cave.


    Starry was still suspicious of the Oracle¡¯s intentions. Since he thought she had sent her two disciples to face off against a dangerous monster alone, even though her magic was much more powerful. But he couldn¡¯t be too suspicious, since the Oracle said something so shocking, both Noel and I had no choice but to say we wanted to go with her.


    ¡°Come on disciples,¡± said the Oracle with a sly grin, ¡°walk faster.¡±


    ¡°Yes, master,¡± I said, picking up the pace.


    Yes, when the Oracle came to the Jora tribe, she claimed to be our master. None of the other elves thought this was strange, but Noel and I looked at each other with widened eyes. How did she know we¡¯d claimed to be her disciples? Why wasn¡¯t she mad about it? Could she really see the future? And what was with the massive rainstorm she created? Just like with the one starred monster, it seemed like we had underestimated the Oracle¡¯s power.


    I stared at the Oracle from the corner of my eye. She was a short elf, with long, wispy white hair with large bangs over her head. A single silver eye peeked out from under her hair, like the moon peering from behind the clouds. Her skin was thin and papery, and her body weak and spindly. She was the first elf I¡¯d seen who actually looked old.


    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± said Sharun.


    I held my breath. The runes, the foreboding darkness, the clearing that looked like it had been punched into the forest; we were back at the cave of The Terrible. Night fell like a veil across the forest. The moon was nowhere to be seen. I looked up, the red star flickered like a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.


    ¡°We will wait here,¡± said the Oracle, signaling to Sharun. ¡°Noel knows what to do, so follow her lead, son of the outside.¡± She looked at me with her one visible silver eye. Now that the moon was gone, her eye was in just the right place to reflect the burning light from the red star.


    Noel held my hand. I considered running away. Maybe we could convince Sharun to distract the Oracle while the two of us left the Plains of Serenity forever. But no, we¡¯d caused enough trouble to the Jora tribe. I looked at Sharun, searching for a bit of comfort before we went into the terrifying cave behind us, but a chill went down my spine.


    Sharun¡¯s eye were glowing with a red light. His expression was listless. Moonlight streamed out from behind the clouds, washing over me like a cold bucket of water. The moon hid again. I felt a pain in my head and something came off of my eyes. I blinked, fighting through the tears, and opened my eyes. I was back in the Jora tribe¡¯s camp. I stared at the elves: at elders Starry and Vell, and the other elves who had been fighting the forest fire only moments ago. All of their eyes burned with an enraged redness. It was fainter than the glow in Sharun¡¯s eye, but it was there. Brighter than madness, deeper than blood. It was the color of the red star and it was the same glow coming out of Sharun and the Oracle¡¯s eyes.


    I snuck a glance at Noel and a wave of relief washed over me. Her eyes were silver and they were also watering like mine. Her face looked as terrified as I was.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter,¡± said the Oracle, with a crooked grin. Her teeth were broken and rotting, making her the first elf I¡¯d seen who had bad teeth.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I managed to say, ¡°we just realized we forgot something at home, right Noel?¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, ¡°it¡¯s really important. We¡¯ll go grab it and come right back.¡± We took a step away from the cave.


    ¡°Sharun,¡± said the Oracle.


    Noel¡¯s uncle Sharun, the man who had raised her since she¡¯d become an orphan, stepped in front of the Oracle. He raised his weapon, the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, and pointed it at us. His eyes glowed red, his expression empty. I felt Noel¡¯s hand tremble in mine.


    ¡°Uncle Sharun,¡± said Noel, ¡°it¡¯s me, Noel. What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°He can¡¯t hear you, child,¡± said the Oracle.


    ¡°What have you done to him?¡± I said.


    ¡°Me? My hands are clean, outsider,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°And I have no obligation to explain our world to you.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Your world? You¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°I know you are not from this world, outsider. I know you are not even an elf!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean he isn¡¯t an elf?¡± said Noel. ¡°You said something like that when we came to your haunt, but look at him. He looks just like one.¡±


    ¡°He may be in an elf¡¯s body,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°but his soul is that of another being, a creature so savage it was considered a monster by our ancestors. His soul is that of a human!¡±


    Silence.


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± I said, ¡°I was born a human. A human from another world.¡±


    Noel looked at me. She didn¡¯t let go of my hand. ¡°So what?¡± she said as she quickly looked away from me and at the Oracle. It was a little hard to be shocked by what the Oracle was saying since the dangerous red glow from her eye, and Sharun¡¯s empty expression were much more confusing.


    ¡°So what?¡± the Oracle said with a chuckle. ¡°Child, you do not understand. Not only did he lie to you, he has stolen from you, your destiny!¡±


    ¡°My¡­ destiny?¡± whispered Noel.


    ¡°You were to be blessed by The Terrible,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°Your blessing was to be the greatest blessing in centuries! You¡­¡± she pointed at Noel with a thin, bony finger, ¡°were going to be my successor.¡±


    Sharun pressed forward, the tip of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth inches from my chest. ¡°And then,¡± continued the Oracle, ¡°this idiot led you astray. My master was watching, he says the outsider practically turned you away from your inheritance, and polluted your fate with his feeble, heretical magic.¡±


    Heretical magic? While it was true that I helped her develop our magic spells, I wasn¡¯t the one who taught her magic. If anything, Noel was the one who showed me the tree where the birds taught us the fundamentals of magic. It seems this ¡®master¡¯ the Oracle was talking about didn¡¯t know everything, which was a relief.


    ¡°My inheritance?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes, child, you are of my blood,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°Your mother should have prepared you for your future, but other forces intervened. My master¡¯s enemy¡ªthe enemy of all elves¡ªinterfered with your mother¡¯s fate, and killed her. He drove your father to madness and forced your uncle to kill him!¡±


    Silence, again. Noel¡¯s eyes widened. My heart skipped a beat.


    ¡°Uncle¡­?¡±


    ¡°Oh, did you not know?¡± said the Oracle. ¡°Did you think your uncle took you in only because you were family? No, it was the guilt of having made you an orphan that pushed poor Sharun here to accept you as one of his own. It was his way of atoning for his sins, wasn¡¯t it, Sharun?¡±


    Sharun didn¡¯t move. His face was still frozen, his eyes glowing.


    ¡°Well, I suppose he can¡¯t answer you right now,¡± said the Oracle.


    ¡°Uncle Sharun¡­ killed my father?¡± whispered Noel.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get so upset,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°your father was infected by my master¡¯s enemy. He would have done something even stupider than fighting a Carica Serpent on his own. And even if he survived the enemy¡¯s influence, my master would have destroyed him. In fact, my master was so happy with little Sharun¡¯s actions, he gave him the strength he currently wields. Sharun would not have become a great hunter without my master¡¯s power, even if he doesn¡¯t know it.¡± The Oracle touched the corner of Sharun¡¯s face, right next to his eyes. ¡°Although this power, came with a price.¡± She grinned.


    ¡°So your master controls the elves,¡± I said, ¡°and I¡¯m guessing he does that through whatever is in this cave behind us.¡±


    ¡°You are perceptive, outsider,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°perhaps that is why you failed to fulfill your destiny. But you are wrong, my master does not control the elves, he merely guides us, and gives us strength. Outsiders like you would not understand. You are meant to fulfill your role, that is all. None who came before you have troubled us before.¡±


    Wait. What? ¡°There were others?¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course there were others, haven¡¯t you been listening? Your presence is necessary for the blessing of my successor. If things had gone to plan, you would have followed little Noel inside the cave like those who came before you. You would receive your judgment from my master, blessing Noel with great power and knowledge,¡± said the Oracle.


    My heart was racing. I didn¡¯t realize until now just how much danger I was in. Until now, a tiny part of me was ready to cast every spell I knew and make a break for it. Now, I didn¡¯t dare. ¡°You summoned me to this world,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, child,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°You came to this world on your own. You, who lacked direction and sought purpose, followed the guiding light of my master on your own. You are here because you wanted to be, now fulfill your destiny and walk into that cave!¡±

 Chapter 33

    Sharun prodded us with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Noel and I backed up. Noel stared at Sharun, her eyes full of confusion and betrayal. I stared at the grinning Oracle, biting my teeth. What did she mean I came to this world on my own? There was no magic on my Earth, how could I have come here on my own? It would suck if this was how I found out I was originally from this world or something.


    I looked up in the sky. The red star looked gleeful. ¡°So the God of Evil brought me to this world?¡±


    The Oracle frowned. ¡°Master will not appreciate your tone. You speak his name as if he is evil.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°His name is the God of Evil, evil is in his name!¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°My master¡¯s magic lets you speak our tongue, but even he cannot fix your wretched language. Savage humans, you never change.¡±


    ¡°Wait, the God of Evil gave me my translation magic?¡± I said, aghast. ¡°But why?¡±


    ¡°I should tell you to shut up and walk into the darkness,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°but master wants to know why you did not fulfill your destiny. It is the first time a mortal has defied his predictions without the help of one of master¡¯s enemies. Fine, let us talk. The translation magic my master gifted to you was supposed to help you meet and understand Noel.¡±


    ¡°Noel?¡± I looked at her. She had collected herself. Now, she was staring daggers at the Oracle. Or perhaps, she was trying her hardest not to look at Sharun.


    ¡°I think when I told you about the judgment of The Terrible, you were supposed to go inside the cave with me,¡± said Noel.


    The Oracle nodded. ¡°There the two of you would receive your blessing, but the outsider would grow selfish and scared. He would attempt to kill you, but you would accept my master¡¯s support, in exchange for becoming like me: his Ikon.¡±


    ¡°His Ikon?¡± I said.


    ¡°To be an Ikon is an honor,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°you would not know, child of the outside. Ikons are personally blessed by their masters. Unimaginable power, riches, and abilities that defy all common sense. It was my master who gave me the ability to see the future, since the future is one of the domains that he governs. He gave me the power to defeat that wretched king Barson and take control of the elven tribes.¡±


    Sounds like an apostle or avatar for deities in mythologies back on my Earth. But then why not use those words? Perhaps there wasn¡¯t a perfect translation.


    ¡°So the God of Evil wanted to make Noel his slave,¡± I said.


    ¡°An Ikon is not a slave,¡± insisted the Oracle, ¡°but there is no point in arguing about this with you, outsider. I don¡¯t need to waste time on savage humans.¡±


    ¡°Savage humans? You¡¯re the one who¡¯s trying to sacrifice me to make my friend an evil god¡¯s slave!¡± I said.


    ¡°See, even your tongue betrays your base nature,¡± she said. ¡°You are not being sacrificed, you are merely fulfilling your destiny.¡±


    ¡°Is that what you did to the other humans you¡¯ve summoned? Did you sacrifice someone to become your god¡¯s slave?¡± I said.


    ¡°That human was a beast!¡± she cried. ¡°He saw my ears and lost his mind! I ran into the cave of The Terrible and if it were not for my master¡¯s blessing, that beast would have¡ª¡± She cut herself off and took a deep breath. ¡°I am getting distracted. The only reason you aren¡¯t in that cave yet is because I need to know why you didn¡¯t go in there yourself.¡±


    ¡°You mean when I first got here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the Oracle, ¡°my master was sure you would follow little Noel inside and lose yourself to your base desires. He would have rescued her as he had rescued me, and a new Ikon would have been born.¡±


    I frowned. I probably shouldn¡¯t answer her truthfully. Why help out someone who¡¯s trying to kill me, right? But¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± repeated the Oracle, slowly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you think I would go inside a dark, clearly supernatural cave, and I also don¡¯t know why you would ever think I would attack Noel. Especially when I¡¯d only met her for a few minutes!¡± I said.


    The Oracle narrowed her eyes. ¡°You were a directionless young human male with no consort, inhaling a dangerous substance all alone at night. My master wasn¡¯t completely sure of your future, but all the signs seemed to indicate¡ª¡±


    ¡°I was a senior in college!¡± I cried out. ¡°That¡¯s just how we all are, dang it!¡±


    The Oracle frowned. ¡°No, there is something else at work here. The moon was out that night and little Noel has been frequenting a certain tree. Either of those enemies could have done something.¡± The Oracle stroked her hair. ¡°No, my master can tell when they are involved. This was something else. You did something, something my master wasn¡¯t expecting.¡±


    ¡°Well, I think I acted like any normal¡ª¡±


    The Oracle interjected: ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it! You didn¡¯t act like any normal human. A normal human would have gone into the cave. An ordinary human wouldn¡¯t stop at the entrance and stare at symbols he couldn¡¯t understand!¡±


    Wait. ¡°You¡¯re saying the reason I didn¡¯t end up as a sacrifice inside that cave, was because I tried deciphering the runes at the entrance?¡± I said, incredulously. I guess being a language nerd actually paid off. That was not something I was expecting would ever save my life but hey, I¡¯ll take it.


    ¡°Enough,¡± said the Oracle as she rubbed her forehead, which was still hidden behind her bangs. ¡°Grab an offering stick and get walking!¡± Sharun poked us with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Noel and I backed up, slowly, until we were right at the edge of the darkness of the cave. I considered firing some magic and running away, but after recalling the way Sharun had killed the one starred monster, I gave up any thoughts of resistance. I took a step back, and my vision went dark, as if someone had snuffed out the only candle in the room.


    ---


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re supposed to do that,¡± said Noel.


    I shrugged and waved my lit offering stick. ¡°Hey, this thing is basically a torch, alright? I¡¯d rather not stumble through the darkness and get ambushed by The Terrible.¡±


    Noel hesitated but lit her own offering stick with fire magic as well. ¡°What do we do now?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said, looking around. Apart from the thick, vapor-like darkness, the cave was pretty ordinary. There was only one direction we could go, and it was further in. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose we could wait here for a little while and walk back out. Our sticks are lit, after all.¡±


    ¡°Somehow, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s gonna work,¡± said Noel. I chuckled. The mood was too heavy. The Oracle had laid out way too many secrets and truths. Sharun killing Noel¡¯s dad. Me not being an elf. The God of Evil summoning me to this world and giving me translation magic. And the fact that I was being sacrificed to an evil god so Noel could be his slave! Yeah, heavy stuff.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of things to talk about,¡± I said, ¡°but we should save most of it for later.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°I agree. There is one thing I want to know, though.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The way the Oracle was telling her story, it sounded like I needed to choose to become the God of Evil¡¯s Ikon. You were supposed to attack me, and I was going to beg the evil god for his help,¡± she said.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°but why would I attack you?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the part I don¡¯t understand. She sent us in here alone and even told us what she needed us to do. Why would you attack me now that you know I could ask for the evil god¡¯s help?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°And why would you ask for the evil god¡¯s help, if you knew it would make you his slave, I¡¯m sorry, Ikon,¡± I said.


    Noel and I thought together in silence. The only thing we could come up with, was that something might try to take over my mind and make me attack Noel. Otherwise, it would make no sense for the Oracle to send us in here after explaining everything. Well, she could have been lying about the whole thing, but it would have been a really pointless thing to lie about, since we were stuck inside this cave anyway.


    ¡°Then what if I knock you out as soon as something takes over your mind?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Whatever takes control of my mind will probably make me stronger too,¡± I said, ¡°or else you wouldn¡¯t need to ask an evil god to save you. You¡¯ve lived a much more physical life than I have. You could drop a couch potato like me, any day of the week.¡±


    Noel frowned. I explained to her those weird words at the end were an expression back on my Earth. On a side note, it felt good not having to pretend like I was from a distant elven village. I¡¯d have to explain life back on my Earth to Noel someday, assuming we got out of this cave alive.


    ¡°So we have no choice,¡± said Noel. ¡°We have to walk into this cave and face whatever is in there.¡±


    ¡°Looks like it,¡± I said, as I stared over my torch into the darkness. Shadows danced on the cave walls to the side. I stared at them and narrowed my eyes. ¡°Wait.¡± I reached out and touched a shadow. ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯d like to try.¡±

 Chapter 34

    ¡°What does it mean to control someone¡¯s mind?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It means you make them do something they don¡¯t want to do,¡± answered Noel.


    ¡°But what if I control you by making you think you want to do what I want you to do,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then you¡¯ve made me believe something I didn¡¯t want to believe, which is the same thing,¡± she said.


    ¡°How do you know you didn¡¯t want to do it before? If I showed you a doubleberry and made you want to eat it, how do you know if you would have wanted to eat it without my mind control,¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t,¡± answered Noel, ¡°but the fact you made that choice for me before I could even think about it means you did something I didn¡¯t want to do. Not wanting to do something doesn¡¯t mean I have to hate doing it, it could also mean I hadn¡¯t thought about doing it or would have done it later.¡±


    ¡°Good point,¡± I said, ¡°so let¡¯s just say one way to control my mind is for The Terrible to make me want to do something I wouldn¡¯t otherwise do. For example, by making me want to attack you. There¡¯s a whole bunch of ways it could do that. It could amplify any existing things I don¡¯t like about you, and make them worse.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what do you not like about me?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°The way you keep insisting you¡¯re older than me,¡± I said, ¡°I mean, you are, but like, you had no way of knowing it when we first met.¡±


    ¡°You sounded younger,¡± she said. What was that supposed to mean?


    ¡°Whatever, back to my explanation, one thing The Terrible could do is manipulate my emotions, and make a small dislike into a large pile of hate,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, and if it can do that, it could probably work on your own flaws and make them stronger too,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You know, stuff like distrust and paranoia,¡± said Noel. ¡°You¡¯re not exactly the most trusting elf I¡¯ve ever met.¡±


    I frowned. I was a little cautious, sure. Careful, maybe. But paranoid? Just because I didn¡¯t trust her enough to tell her about being from another world even though she couldn¡¯t have used that against me at all, didn¡¯t mean I was paranoid. Why would I trust Noel? We¡¯d known each other for like a month. It wasn¡¯t like we¡¯d been through a bunch of life and death situations that made us grow closer as friends. ¡°Alright, fine,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I¡¯m less naive than you.¡±


    ¡°Whatever you say. We¡¯ve established The Terrible can control your mind by exploiting your emotions towards other people or some aspect of your personality,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Right, but there¡¯s another thing it could do,¡± I said. ¡°The mind isn¡¯t necessarily the brain, which the people back on my Earth figured out is the organ that sends signals to the rest of the body. The mind is the part of consciousness that controls things that we consider part of sentience. That¡¯s things like emotion, feeling, and of course, reason. Different people have different opinions on it, and on what exactly ¡®I¡¯ or ¡®we¡¯ are, but we don¡¯t need to get into that. I think The Terrible might try to take control of my body to make me attack you.¡±


    ¡°That sounds terrifying!¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yeah, I could be punching you in the face and laughing out loud while screaming on the inside,¡± I said.


    ¡°And since you wouldn¡¯t be able to move your own mouth, I wouldn¡¯t know that you were being controlled. But can the mind and body really be disconnected like that?¡± she said.


    ¡°I think so. I mean, your heart beats even though you don¡¯t tell it to. And if The Terrible can control my body, it could make my heart stop without me being able to do anything about it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Noel. ¡°So, we think The Terrible is going to control you to make you attack me. The way it could do so, is by controlling your mind, which means controlling your feelings or personality, or by controlling your body, which means you would still have control of your mind.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°Or both.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Noel, ¡°I guess it could control both the mind and the body. Wouldn¡¯t that be redundant?¡±


    ¡°Not if The Terrible is working with the God of Evil who can, apparently, see the future,¡± I said.


    ¡°But then why are we even talking about it. If the God of Evil knows the future, nothing we do will stop what¡¯s going to happen,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°We know his ability isn¡¯t perfect,¡± I said. ¡°Or else we would have been in this cave on the first night I came to this world.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know why that happened, though. The moon was out that night, so the God of Madness might have been involved. And I¡¯d been going to the large tree where we met the God of Madness¡¯ lover. Either of them could have been involved,¡± she said.


    ¡°You heard the Oracle, the God of Evil would have known if his enemies were involved. According to the story elder Starry told us, both the God of Madness and the God of Madness¡¯ lover are the God of Evil¡¯s enemies. No, I¡¯m pretty sure I escaped my fate myself. And I think we can escape this situation the same way. We just need to come up with a type of magic that helps me fight off The Terrible.¡± I massaged my forehead. All this thinking and talking in the dimly lit cave was making my head hurt. ¡°Seeing those shadows on the wall gave me an idea. And I think this headache is giving me another one. Hey Noel.¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°There aren¡¯t any sticks in this cave.¡± I stood my torch up in a hole in the ground. ¡°We¡¯re going to have draw in the dirt with our fingers.¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°Why are we always drawing things in the dirt.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Wait a few hundred years. I might get around to inventing blackboards. Now quit complaining and find a good patch of dirt. We don¡¯t have a lot of time. These torches aren¡¯t gonna last forever.¡±


    ---


    The cave was dark and our torches were on their last legs. The air was dry and the rocks cracked, and sandy. Despite being a cave in the middle of a forest, this place was more desolate than a desert. At least there was only one path. Noel said most elves walked along the walls until they reached The Terrible. How did they know they when they had reached The Terrible?


    ¡°You hear it breathing,¡± said Noel as she stepped cautiously forward.


    ¡°Has anyone ever seen The Terrible?¡± I asked.


    Noel shook her head. ¡°When you hear breathing, you¡¯re supposed to drop to the floor and hold your offering stick up. If you stay up, you might get caught in the flame.¡±


    ¡°Is that what it means to get cursed instead of blessed?¡± I asked, remembering how scared Noel had been of being cursed instead of blessed by The Terrible.


    ¡°No, the curse of The Terrible is supposed to be much more powerful. Of course, nobody has lived to tell the tale, so we don¡¯t know what it actually is,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Then how do you know it doesn¡¯t just burn people?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We¡­¡± Noel stuttered. ¡°We don¡¯t know.¡±


    I nodded. We continued talking about The Terrible as we went deeper and deeper into the cave. We spent some time coming up with some magic to help us fight The Terrible, but honestly, we had no idea if it would be enough.


    ¡°Do you hear that?¡± Noel whispered.


    I held my breath. The torches flickered in a cold draft. Deep, rattling breaths. Like lungs made of metal, air whistling past steel. The breathing was rhythmic and monotonous. Shadows danced on the wall, seemingly in tune with the breathing. I narrowed my eyes and stared. I couldn¡¯t see anything beyond the little bubble of light around us.


    I raised my torch. Something moved. My eyes made out a large, dark figure, towering over us. It was taller than the ceiling over my head, so I assumed it was inside a cavern. I stepped forward and the very edges of its silhouette were filled in by the orange hue of the fire. Sharp contours, like something two-dimensional had made its way into our world. Its chin and face were a smooth oval, its body a slab, its limbs and wings like links on piece of chain-mail armor. The figure leaned closer and I realized I was already holding my breath.


    A statue carved out of gems, stamped into the darkness like a header on an envelope. A body made of gems, ruby as red as blood, it seemed to me in the dim light. It was unnatural. An abomination. Its breathing was accompanied with the creaking of its joints and the hum of its body striking against the rocky cavern as it lumbered towards the little tunnel that Noel and I were in. But none of that was what had made my heart jump into my mouth, making it hard to breathe, hard to focus, hard to believe what was staring right at me.


    On the face of this gleaming, bejeweled monster, stood five angry red stars like the one I¡¯d seen on the one starred monster that almost killed Noel and me. Each of those five stars reflected the torchlight brighter than anything else in the cavern. In fact, they were the first things I¡¯d seen when I¡¯d made the stupid, stupid decision to step forward.


    The reason I said stupid twice, was because when I stepped forward, saw this menacing behemoth that went way over what I should be encountering this early in any normal reincarnation story, and tried to correct my mistake by retreating as quickly as I could, the ground beneath me crumbled.


    I fell into the cavern.

 Chapter 35

    Sliding into the cavern let me gradually marvel at the size of the five star gem monster which the elves called The Terrible. It was at least twenty times my size, making me wonder how it got inside this cave in the first place. Perhaps the monster was always here, and the cave gradually built up around its massive body.


    Noel shouted out my name and slid down after me, although she kept her footing as if she was surfing. The monster tilted its head, sending a loud creak echoing through the cavern. The Terrible didn¡¯t have any eyes. The only thing on its face were the five red stars that stood menacingly where the monster¡¯s forehead should¡¯ve been. I hit the ground at last with a curse. My leg was sore, with a few minor cuts and bruises, but I was mostly fine. Noel jumped off the last few feet of the rock-slide and stood next to me.


    The Terrible lifted its pillar-like arm and I braced for impact. The Terrible¡¯s arm swung right past me and came to a gentle rest along the ceiling. I winced at the sound of gems scraping against rock, as The Terrible moved the edge of its arm against the roof of the cavern, and pulled aside a mass of vines and roots that I hadn¡¯t even noticed. Red light streamed into the cavern, making the blood-red ruby body of The Terrible glow like a neon sign. My torch had fallen somewhere when I slid into the cavern. Noel¡¯s light took this opportunity to flicker one last time, before extinguishing itself.


    Noel helped me back up and The Terrible didn¡¯t react. My heart was beating rapidly and I couldn¡¯t tell if Noel¡¯s arm was trembling or if my whole body was shivering in fright. Who thought it was a good idea to have us go from fighting a one star monster to a five star one? That¡¯s not how these things are supposed to scale.


    The Terrible lumbered forward. Noel and I raised our hands, preparing to cast magic, when The Terrible¡¯s entire body shimmered crimson. Its five stars glowed a much richer, darker shade of red than the one on the Oracle and Sharun¡¯s eyes, but it had the same shape and presence. My eyes widened and needles began pricking the inside of my skull. I yelled and held my head, my own voice drowning out Noel¡¯s cries of concern.


    Tears streaming down my face, I lifted my head and turned around. The corners of my lips twisted up, and my eyes burned like someone had just blown hot air on them. I wrenched my jaw open and said: ¡°I always hated the way you looked.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± said Noel, taking a step back.


    ¡°One hundred and twenty years old, but still looking like you¡¯re twelve. I¡¯d get canceled on the internet for hanging out with you!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Huh?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing there¡¯s no romantic tension between us. Maybe in a few thousand years. I guess it also helps that the internet doesn¡¯t exist yet. Either way, die for setting up a red flag!¡± I raised my hand and began preparing fire magic.


    ¡°That¡¯s the negative emotion it¡¯s using to control you?¡± said Noel as she prepared her own fire magic. ¡°Also, you¡¯re younger than me!¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I yelled even louder. ¡°I am not!¡± Sweat trickled down my face as the air between us heated up. Noel¡¯s hair lay plastered around her head, her eyes narrowed both in concentration and to prevent sweat from getting into them. Two massive balls of fire swirled in front of our hands. I yelled even louder, as if yelling would make my magic stronger. Noel followed suit, shouting while pouring even more energy into her spell.


    ¡°Any last words?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel, ¡°you¡¯re terrible at acting.¡±


    I swiveled around as Noel launched her own fireball over my shoulder. It whizzed past my face, sizzling some of my hair and making the skin on my chin prickle. I fired my spell as I turned on my heels, and sent it whistling through the air towards The Terrible.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    The Terrible tilted its head, perhaps more surprised it wasn¡¯t able to control me than at the two massive fireballs hurtling towards it. It extended one of its gem-pillar limbs and formed a crystal barrier off the tip. The crystalline barrier sparkled in the red light, reflecting the orange hue of the fireballs as they came right up next to it. It also reflected the way the fireballs turned upwards at the last moment, as if two invisible hands had flicked them from underneath. The fireballs cast an orange glow across The Terrible¡¯s body. The monster tilted its head, tracing the projectile¡¯s path. Too late, it tried to headbutt the spell with its crystal head, realizing what was about to happen. It missed.


    The fireballs crashed into the ceiling with a thunderous blast that resounded through the cavern. Rocks and roots and dirt and dust came cascading in waves from the rocky roof as The Terrible let out a high pitched noise that almost made my ears bleed. Noel grabbed me as a rock slammed into the ground where I had been standing. A large mass of dirt came hurtling towards us. I concentrated on the air right below the mass and created a powerful fire that exploded the whole thing and showered us in debris. Coughing and wheezing, Noel and I ran up to the edge of the cavern, fighting our way through the collapsing cave.


    A red laser carved a trench next to our feet. A giant crystal pierced the walls in front of us. The Terrible¡¯s magic went haywire as it tried to fight the cave-in. I pulled Noel up the edge of the cavern and we ran into the narrow tunnel as another red beam of energy collided against the top of the tunnel. I jumped and a rock scraped the back of my foot as the end of the tunnel collapsed, sealing the howling five star monster inside what should be a coffin of earth.


    ¡°Come on,¡± shouted Noel. Our ears were still ringing and we could barely hear each other. ¡°There¡¯s no way that thing is going down that easily.¡±


    I nodded as Noel helped me up. ¡°We need to run as far as we can.¡±


    ¡°But the Oracle is right outside and she¡¯s controlling uncle Sharun,¡± said Noel. We began racing towards the exit. We were too tired to cast any fire magic for light, so we stumbling through the darkness, hugging the walls as best we could.


    ¡°We can deal with that. The bigger question is where do we go from here,¡± I said.


    ¡°We should go to the camp first and gather the other tribesmen,¡± said Noel. ¡°We need to let them know The Terrible is a five star monster, not a blessing from the gods!¡±


    ¡°Will they believe us?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, ¡°but we have to try.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll take too long if we wait for the rest of the tribe, shouldn¡¯t we just run for the highlands?¡± I said. ¡°The God of Evil wants us, not the rest of your tribe. We may be putting them in danger by tagging along.¡±


    Noel hesitated. ¡°But what if we¡¯re wrong. What if that thing does go for my family?¡±


    I bit my lips. My body was sore and my mind a mess, but the pain and adrenaline were only making me think faster than ever before. ¡°Then we wouldn¡¯t be of much help anyway. Did you see that thing? None of our magic is going to work against it. If that thing goes for a bunch of elves who can barely cast simple magic and use flint tools, then it¡¯s going to vaporize them in a heartbeat.¡±


    Silence. We kept stumbling through the tunnel. We were almost at the entrance. ¡°Maybe the Oracle knows how to control that thing. Or at least how to stop it. It¡¯s got to have a weakness, right?¡± said Noel.


    I frowned. ¡°Maybe, but there¡¯s no way the Oracle¡¯s going to betray her master.¡±


    ¡°Unless¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right.¡±


    We spent the last few minutes coming up with a plan. As the light at the end of the tunnel appeared, Noel and I took some deep breaths, steeled our resolves, and calmed our nerves.


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± said Noel before we stepped forward. ¡°Do you really hate the way I look?¡±


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said, carefully, ¡°I have nothing against your looks okay. It¡¯s just¡­ well¡­ you see¡­ let¡¯s talk about this later.¡± And by later, I meant in at least a few hundred years. If we got out of this mess, we¡¯d have lots of time to talk this through. Elves have long lives, alright?


    We stepped out of the cave.

 Chapter 36

    ¡°Great Oracle, we have terrible news!¡± shouted Noel at the top of her lungs as we stepped out of the cave. The Oracle was sitting under a tree, eating doubleberries while Sharun stood with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth aimed at the cave¡¯s entrance.


    ¡°What?¡± cried the Oracle as she shot up. Her eyes widened as she saw me limp next to Noel. ¡°How are you alive?¡±


    Oh, so I really was supposed to die back there. She made my ¡®destiny¡¯ sound like some sort of great honor? Gosh darned fanatic. ¡°I was ready to fulfill my destiny, great Oracle, but something truly horrible happened as I bowed my face upon hearing The Terrible¡¯s breathing.¡±


    ¡°Sharun,¡± said the Oracle, breaking me off. Sharun pointed his weapon at me.


    ¡°No, wait!¡± said Noel. ¡°The God of Madness¡ª¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re going to lie, you should know what you¡¯re lying about,¡± said the Oracle with a frown. It was hard to make out her facial expressions because of the hair in front of her face, but her displeasure and confusion was obvious. ¡°I want to know how you two managed to get out of there without fulfilling your destiny, again, but I¡¯m sure my master will want you nuisances dealt with instead.¡±


    ¡°No, you must listen, the God of Madness¡ª¡±


    ¡°Cannot be involved here!¡± finished the Oracle as she pointed to the sky. ¡°There is no moon! Only the red star reigns in the skies tonight. The enemy cannot be involved and you are lying to me!¡±


    ¡°It was a flock of birds!¡± I shouted.


    The Oracle paused. Sharun, who had been stepping towards us, also froze. ¡°A flock of birds?¡± said the Oracle, slowly. ¡°Lies.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± said Noel, quickly. ¡°There were thirty of them!¡±


    ¡°Thirty¡­¡± whispered the Oracle.


    ¡°They were being led by a small bird with a crown,¡± I added.


    The Oracle¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°No, it can¡¯t be. That enemy hasn¡¯t left its perch for millennia. Why would it risk my master¡¯s wrath by¡­¡± The Oracle kept muttering to itself but then she looked up at the sky. ¡°Of course, the moon isn¡¯t out. I was wrong, this is the perfect night.¡± The Oracle faced us and her lips twisted into an angry snarl. ¡°What did the birds do?¡±


    ¡°They took control of The Terrible!¡± Noel and I shouted at the same time.


    The Oracle¡¯s mouth froze agape. She tried to say something but the words couldn¡¯t leave her mouth. It would be almost comical if it weren¡¯t for Sharun standing right next to her with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. ¡°Took control?¡± said the Oracle at last. ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened,¡± I began answering. It didn¡¯t seem like the Oracle was insisting to speak with Noel the way she had when we first visited her haunt. ¡°I felt a pain in my head, like needles piercing the inside of my skull. Suddenly, I got really, really mad. I can¡¯t remember what I was mad about, only that it made me want to attack Noel.¡±


    ¡°And it looked like he was reaching for my neck when the birds showed up,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°And they flapped their wings all around us, like a tornado of birds,¡± I said.


    ¡°And they made weird noises,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°And shed strange lights,¡± I said. ¡°The lights were so bright we had to close our eyes.¡±


    ¡°And by the time we opened our eyes, the birds were gone and The Terrible went crazy,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Crazy?¡± repeated the Oracle.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°The pain in my head was gone, along with the anger, so I looked up and saw The Terrible.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a blessing, great Oracle! It¡¯s a five star monster!¡± said Noel, even though she knew the Oracle was probably aware of The Terrible¡¯s true nature.


    ¡°It was a monster made of stone,¡± I said, ¡°shiny, red stone.¡±


    ¡°And it began thrashing about!¡± said Noel.


    ¡°And crashed into the walls, the ground, the ceiling,¡± I said.


    ¡°And it made the whole cave collapse in on itself!¡± finished Noel.


    While we were telling our story, the Oracle grew increasingly more disturbed and impatient. She started tapping her feet, biting her lips, chewing on her nails, and twirling the ends of her long, white hair. She interjected from time to time, but by the end, she was casting furtive glances at the cave¡¯s entrance.


    ¡°You must do something,¡± said Noel. ¡°I don¡¯t think that cave-in is going to finish that monster.¡±


    ¡°The birds made it go out of control, we have to stop it or it¡¯ll destroy everything!¡± I said.


    ¡°Alright, alright,¡± said the Oracle. She raised her finger and glared at us with her one uncovered eye. ¡°If my master wasn¡¯t busy with his enemy right now, those birds would¡¯ve never dared venture so far away from their tree. And once my master is free, I¡¯ll ask him if what you said was true and believe me, if a single thing you¡¯ve told me tonight was a lie, I will give you the most painful death imaginable!¡±


    ¡°Whatever you say,¡± I said, ¡°but you should hurry up with your preparations. That monster could come out here at any¡ª¡±


    There was a loud crash behind me. Noel and I raced forward, just as the Oracle signaled Sharun to get in front of her. We passed by the two of them, pretending like we were going to take cover behind them, but then just kept running. The Oracle stared at the cloud of dust in front of the cave¡¯s entrance for a long while. It was only when she looked over her shoulder and met my gaze that she realized that she¡¯d been had. She yelled at Sharun to go after us just as another explosion rocked the cave¡¯s entrance behind her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not falling for it this time!¡± said the Oracle as she saw the panic on my face. I turned my face around and told Noel to run even harder. We dashed through the clearing and into the dense forest just as high pitched creaks and a shout that sounded like nails on steel echoed throughout the Forest of Three. We didn¡¯t need to look over our shoulder¡¯s to tell that The Terrible was on the loose.


    ---


    Noel and I ran through the forest as quickly as we could. We tried not to think too hard about the Oracle and Sharun, since if the Oracle didn¡¯t actually have a way of controlling the five star monster, she was almost certainly going to die. I looked at Noel and saw the concern on her face. Even if she¡¯d just found out that her uncle Sharun had killed her dad, Sharun was still the man who raised her. In a way, he was the person she actually considered to be her father.


    ¡°The trees are tall enough to hide us from The Terrible,¡± I said, trying to distract her.


    ¡°Yeah, that thing¡¯s huge. The canopy will be right up in its face,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°We won¡¯t have that kind of cover on the plains,¡± I said.


    Noel nodded as she jumped over a thick root. ¡°We can try to stick to the river for most of the way, there are a lot of trees, rocks, and small valleys. Those will provide some cover.¡±


    I winced as I walked over a patch of gravel. My body was aching, and I had cuts and bruises all over the place. Both Noel and I were breathing heavily, and would need to rest soon. There was no way we would be able to run all the way back to the Jora tribe¡¯s camp.


    ¡°Listen, Noel,¡± I said, between deep gasps of breath, ¡°I had another idea while we were lying to the Oracle.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Why should we run to the Jora tribe¡¯s camp, anyway?¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean? We need to tell them about The Terrible and try to run away as fast as we can,¡± she said.


    ¡°But what if they don¡¯t believe us,¡± I said. ¡°And even if they do, it¡¯ll take a while for them to pack up camp. It¡¯s late at night, most of them will be asleep, and not ready to run away immediately. And people like Starry will insist on bringing relics and maybe even those useless blessings he keeps in that cave of his.¡±


    ¡°I see your point,¡± said Noel. ¡°But what else can we do? There¡¯s a five star monster on the loose, we have no choice but to run.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said slowly, staring at the sky. The moon was gone but so was the red star. The sky was peppered with white points of light; constellations I¡¯d never seen, stars I¡¯d never known, a galaxy that was to me, as alien as E.T. ¡°You¡¯re right. We can¡¯t fight that monster, so we have no choice but to run. But we do have one choice that we can still make.¡±


    A shooting star cut across the sky. I blinked and it was gone.


    ¡°We can choose where we run to.¡±

 Chapter 37

    Crashing trees and creaking gems. Strange sounds followed us through the forest. Noel and I tried to catch our breaths beside a small stream. We wet our lips, wiped the sweat off our faces, and continued onward.


    We weren¡¯t in the Forest of Three anymore. We¡¯d already raced across the plains and run into another forest. We¡¯d caught sight of The Terrible right as we ran into the forest. The monster wreaked havoc on the plains, digging up ground, setting fire to everything with its lasers, and filling the air with its unnatural creaking. It seemed like it really had been chasing us all along, so Noel and I were at least comforted by the fact it hadn¡¯t gone off to attack the Jora tribe.


    ¡°Almost there,¡± said Noel as we made our way through the trees.


    ¡°What if they don¡¯t let us in?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Then we run out the other way,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°What other way, there was only one entrance?¡± I said.


    ¡°Guess the other way is death, then,¡± said Noel.


    I shrugged. ¡°Great. What a brilliant plan.¡±


    ¡°It was your idea!¡± accused Noel.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve talked me out of it!¡± I countered.


    ¡°It¡¯s a good plan,¡± said Noel as she hopped over a stream. ¡°The birds gave us magic and they hate the God of Evil. Didn¡¯t you see the way the Oracle reacted when we mentioned them?¡±


    ¡°I did see that, which was why I had this idea in the first place,¡± I said as I climbed over a log. ¡°But then I remembered how we got inside that tree in the first place. Don¡¯t you remember the way the moon and red star looked at us that day?¡±


    ¡°So what? Neither of them are out right now,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Neither of them were out that day either, it was still daytime!¡± I said.


    ¡°Details, details,¡± said Noel, ¡°besides, if they won¡¯t let us in when we beg, we can just say the poem like last time.¡±


    ¡°They told us not to do that,¡± I reminded her.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll understand with this monster barreling behind us,¡± she said. As if to accentuate her point, a large tree creaked and groaned before snapping in two in the distance.


    ¡°Fine, but if they don¡¯t let us in when we do that, we need to run right back out,¡± I said. ¡°Then we can try to make our way to the highlands. Maybe we¡¯ll lose that thing somehow.¡± Another crash in the distance. Yeah, I didn¡¯t believe myself either. The plan to ask the birds for help had been my idea, but if it wasn¡¯t for Noel¡¯s insistence, we¡¯d definitely be on a doomed rush to the highlands along the wide open plains. There were no good options in front of us, I told myself. Caught between a rock and a hard place, as the cheesy movies would say.


    We arrived at the wall of tree roots. Noel led us around the perimeter, looking for the hole we¡¯d gone in through last time. All the while, the sound of crashing trees grew closer and closer. ¡°Over there,¡± yelled Noel. We raced to the fallen root and climbed carefully over the rotting wood. We walked into the clearing, which was eerily quiet this late at night.


    The canopy hid the stars so well, the entire sky was dark and desolate. The giant tree was as majestic and sublime as ever, but in the dim light, it looked like a stalactite hanging off the roof of the night, piercing into the tender flesh of the Earth below.


    ¡°What do we say?¡± asked Noel as we approached the tree.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, we don¡¯t even know their name, or names. I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯re all one being,¡± I said. ¡°But beggars don¡¯t have to use names.¡± I got on my knees, clasped my hands together, and drew from my years of experience in New York City. ¡°Spare some change? No, wait, I mean. Oh great one, save us from our pursuer. It was sent by your enemy, the God of Evil. Please, help us!¡±


    I looked up at the tree, but nothing happened. I tried a few more killer phrases, even managed to muster a couple of tears, but by the time I was sobbing and beating the tree trunk with a fist, yelling don¡¯t leave me, don¡¯t leave me, Noel grabbed me by the shoulder and forced me to stand.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try the poem,¡± she said.


    I waved my fist at the tree one last time before agreeing to Noel¡¯s idea. She made me stand far away from the tree before she stepped right up next to the tree trunk.


    ¡°You taught me to drink from your eyes, the ripe red wine of love. Wrought in the heavens from pure moonlight, the whole world dances for you. Repentance torn to tatters, I can see nothing but you. With my feet in the waves, I drink from the sea. I am drunk off your gaze, I am drunk off your love. I am drunk off of this gentle feeling of intense ecstasy. This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I blame on your gaze. This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I am drunk off your gaze.¡±


    ¡°You know, it sounds better the second time around,¡± I mused. Noel cut me a strong look but when she met my gaze she hurriedly looked back at the tree. A small, human-sized door appeared in front of Noel. It was a simple, wooden door, with no carvings or markings of any sort. The doorknob was in the shape of a bird, although not one I recognized.


    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Huh? Oh right, here,¡± I said as I walked up to the door and twisted the doorknob. I pulled the door open and gestured for Noel to walk into the darkness behind it. ¡°After you.¡±


    ---


    ¡°So the elves on your Earth¡ªd¡±


    ¡°Humans,¡± I corrected. ¡°There are no elves on my Earth. No magic, either.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± said Noel as we walked through the dark tunnel. We¡¯d been walking through a lot of dark tunnels lately. Hopefully, we wouldn¡¯t make it into a habit. ¡°The humans on your Earth don¡¯t live in tents?¡±


    ¡°Some of them do,¡± I said. ¡°We built permanent houses once we stopped needing to migrate in search of food and water.¡±


    ¡°You stay in the same place for every season?¡± she asked. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it get too cold or too hot.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it does, and there¡¯s a whole bunch of other problems that came with moving from a hunter gatherer to an agricultural lifestyle, but maybe we can talk about that later,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived.¡±


    We were back at the room at the heart of the tree. Up above, the sky opened up, except the sky was a bright shade of blue, as if the sun was still out. The birds stood on their perches like last time, except now they had been expecting us, and were facing the tunnel when we stepped out. Noel and I were about to bow and greet the birds when the lead bird¡ªthe one with the crown of feathers¡ªraised its wing.


    ¡°There is no need for pleasantries,¡± said the bird. The other birds stared at us, unblinking.


    ¡°Yes, well,¡± I began, ¡°we need your help. We are being pursued.¡±


    ¡°Pursued?¡± said the bird. ¡°By what?¡±


    ¡°A five starred monster, one the elves call The Terrible,¡± I said. ¡°It serves the God of Evil.¡±


    I jumped as the birds ruffled their feathers. One of the largest birds unfurled their plumage, fluttering their feathers and shaking them. Each one was brightly colored, with what looked like an eye in the middle of an intricate pattern.


    ¡°You speak of an enemy,¡± said the bird with the crown.


    ¡°I apologize for my friend¡¯s insensitivity,¡± said Noel as she nudged me with her elbow. ¡°But he is telling the truth. We are being chased by a powerful minion of your enemy. We have no hope of defeating it, but we were hoping you could help us deal with it, oh great one!¡± Noel lowered her gaze and made a respectful gesture.


    I followed her and said: ¡°We know it is a lot to ask, but we have no other choice.¡±


    ¡°You had another choice,¡± said the bird. ¡°You had the choice to die.¡±


    I shivered. This wasn¡¯t going the way I was hoping it would. ¡°That is not an option for mortals like us.¡±


    The lead bird flapped its wings and hovered in front of me. With the slow, gentle way it was beating its wings, it should not have been able to stay so steady in front of me, but there it was, staring right into my eyes with its own small, beady black ones. It took a long look at me before pecking me on the forehead. I winced and recoiled. That really hurt!


    ¡°It seems you are right,¡± said the bird as it came to a rest on my shoulder. Its head flicked from side to side as it observed my face. I resisted the urge to swat it away. I was afraid it would peck me again.


    ¡°The enemy¡¯s minion cannot come near my tree,¡± said the bird, ¡°and it will not leave until it has killed you. You should rest a while and pay for your favor.¡±


    ¡°How can we pay for it?¡± I asked, carefully.


    ¡°There are many things I hope to learn from you, outsider. Perhaps something from your world will help me turn the tide against my enemies once and for all,¡± said the bird.


    ¡°Deal,¡± I said as the bird hopped off my shoulder. ¡°I think you¡¯ll like what we did with your previous gift.¡±


    ¡°My previous gift?¡± said the bird.


    I answered by pointing a finger to the ceiling and letting loose a small, brightly burning, flame.

 Chapter 38

    Two small, flat surfaces appeared out of the walls. The surfaces were covered with leaves and flowers, with a small pond of water to the side. The birds stared at us as Noel and I washed our faces. A tiny bird with brown, spotted feathers rubbed against my leg. A warm sensation flooded through my skin as my wounds and bruises healed. Another bird healed Noel. Noel and I sat on the edges of our makeshift beds, leaned against the walls, and took a well deserved break.


    ¡°Should we really be resting like this?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Do not worry,¡± said the lead bird, ¡°your pursuer is preoccupied.¡±


    ¡°Preoccupied with what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Preoccupied with me,¡± said the bird. ¡°Now, let us begin this exchange of information.¡±


    ¡°Exchange?¡± I said. ¡°I thought we were going to use our information to pay for your help with The Terrible.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and I am going to help you with information,¡± said the bird.


    Was it not going to help us fight? Wasn¡¯t this a scam? Oh wait, I shouldn¡¯t think that. I forgot it can read minds. ¡°How is information going to help us fight against a five star monster? We couldn¡¯t even defeat a one star monster!¡±


    ¡°Outsider,¡± said the lead bird as it hopped next to the pond and dipped its beak into the water to take a sip. There were no ripples. ¡°You know that the fundamentals of magic in this world are knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge determines the type and base power of the magic spell being used, while wisdom governs its overall power and the manner in which this power is applied. Yet, just as the darkness recedes from the light, and fire is smothered by water, so too does knowledge ebb and flow with the tides.¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± Noel stammered, ¡°could you rephrase that, please?¡±


    ¡°Magic can have strengths and weaknesses,¡± said the bird. ¡°Starred monsters, as you call them, are merely beings that have begun to govern different forms of magic. However, since they lack the ability to learn the knowledge that is required to govern magic, they have to rely on others who can bestow upon them the ability to do so. Your pursuer, it seems, has been bestowed with its powers by my enemy, which is why it bears his symbol on its head.¡±


    ¡°Yes, the God of Evil has used The Terrible and the Oracle to control the elves of the Plains of Serenity for a long time,¡± I said.


    The bird ruffled its feathers. ¡°It is strange,¡± said the bird, ¡°the way you can so casually say his name.¡±


    Oh right, they reacted badly the last time I said the God of Evil out loud. Noel looked at me accusingly. I shrugged. ¡°I thought that was just the name the elves used for it. We don¡¯t even know your name, since the elves don¡¯t have one for you.¡±


    The birds froze. All of them craned their necks in my direction and stared at me. It was very creepy. ¡°I see,¡± said the lead bird. ¡°I was wondering why you were speaking our tongue while your companion was using a bastardized version of the ancient elven language. This is not a magic you have learned on your own, child.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°when I was summoned to this world, someone used a type of translation magic on me. I can understand different languages even if I don¡¯t speak them.¡±


    The lead bird frowned. Wait, how could a bird frown? They don¡¯t even have eyebrows! How did that bird¡¯s eyes do that? ¡°Who was it. Who summoned you to this world?¡±


    ¡°The God of Evil,¡± I said.


    The birds shuddered. ¡°Yes, him. To me it sounds like you are speaking his name in my language, not yours. Yet, you should not know that name, which is why I was curious. But why would he summon you to this world?¡±


    ¡°I was supposed to be a sacrifice,¡± I said.


    ¡°A sacrifice?¡± said the bird.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    ¡°Yes,¡± continued Noel. ¡°The God of Evil wanted me to take Cas to The Terrible¡¯s cave, where he would control his mind to make him attack me. Then, I would ask for the God of Evil¡¯s help, but become his Ikon in exchange.¡±


    The birds narrowed their eyes. Seriously, how could birds have such expressive facial features! ¡°Then you are not one of his minions. A failure that could become my opportunity, perhaps? Although it is strange that you were able to come to this world at all. It seems there has been a plot brewing right under my nose. To think that maniac would let this happen.¡± The birds shook their heads and looked away, as if in thought. ¡°No, it makes sense. He is not the best at subterfuge. If he wasn¡¯t so brutishly powerful, there is no way he could have joined our ranks.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± I said, ¡°who are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°I cannot say his name,¡± said the lead bird. ¡°But I suppose I can offer a wider explanation. First, know that we are not gods. It may appear so to you mortals, but we cannot claim to be gods for we have never created anything in our long but pointless lives.¡±


    ¡°But the God of Evil controls the red star,¡± said Noel. ¡°And the God of Madness controls the moon. If controlling the heavens doesn¡¯t make them gods, then what does?¡±


    ¡°I do not know what makes one a god,¡± said the bird. ¡°All I know is that we are not gods. We are immortals. Immortals who govern certain domains of reality, from which we draw our power.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said. ¡°So you¡¯re immortals fighting with each other to gain control of their domains.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said the bird. ¡°That is true for me and for the immortal that governs the red star. The immortal that governs the moon is a¡­ special case.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°The immortal of the red star and I were born as immortals. The immortal of the moon, was not,¡± said the bird.


    I see. So the God of Evil and the thirty birds were born immortals while the God of Madness became one through other means. ¡°I know you can hear my thoughts, so you must be as tired as I am of calling you the thirty birds. Can¡¯t you give us your name.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said the bird. ¡°I cannot give you my name, since I am sure you will use it in front of me! That will be a most unpleasant feeling.¡±


    ¡°Well then ,give us something my translation magic can¡¯t turn into your real name in your language,¡± I said.


    ¡°Very well,¡± said the thirty birds. ¡°You may call me by the name your companion¡¯s ancestors used for me. The Immortal of Desire.¡±


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire,¡± I repeated.


    The birds froze. They stared angrily at me. ¡°Why are you using my real name?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    The birds shook their heads. ¡°It seems I have misunderstood the power of this translation magic. The immortal of the red star must have used some strange magic. Your translation magic is tied to the very essence of this world. What in the world was he thinking by giving you such powerful magic?¡±


    ¡°Great, so my cheat ability is translation, what a wonderful setting,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°All of this is fun and interesting, but can you please tell us how to fight the giant gem golem that¡¯s trying to incinerate us with its lasers?¡±


    ¡°Oh right,¡± said the Immortal. ¡°That¡¯s easy. But first, tell me something I don¡¯t know.¡±


    And so Noel and I spent some time explaining our understanding of magic to the birds. They seemed to like my idea of using rational thinking to form small bits of understanding that could be chained together to create different types of spells. It was quite creative, they said. After a little time spent explaining the thoughts of some philosophers, scientists, and creatives from my world, the birds decided they had received enough information from me for us to receive their help.


    ¡°Before you go on to defeat your pursuer, I have another proposition for you,¡± said the Immortal of Desire. ¡°After you are done, why don¡¯t you come back to this tree and help me develop new types of magic? I may not have the knowledge that you have brought from your world, outsider, but I have a lot of wisdom, gathered over the many years I have been alive. It would be in both of our interests to work together.¡±


    Noel and I looked at each other. The Immortal of Desire had been very good to us so far. The birds had taught us magic, shared a bunch of information about this world and the immortals, and were going to help us defeat a five star monster that we could never hope to defeat on our own. This seemed like a wonderful opportunity.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Noel and I.


    The birds smiled. I wondered, once again, how they moved their beaks that way. ¡°Excellent,¡± said the Immortal of Desire. ¡°Now let me tell you a little something about shiny things. Oh.¡± The birds looked of into the sky like hopeless romantics. ¡°Oh, how I love shiny things!¡±


    Right. I see. Birds like shiny things. I shared a quick glance with Noel. Looks like our new magic mentor was a bit of a weirdo.

 Chapter 39

    We left the tree at dawn. The birds helped us practice some magic and gave us food. We had to refuse the worms but they brought some fruit as well. Sunlight trickled through the canopy like dewdrops. The forest was thick with a fresh morning breeze. Somehow, despite everything that had happened, things were looking up. The God of Evil may have brought me to this world to be a sacrifice to a giant gem monster that could shoot lasers and was in cahoots with the leader of the elves who had taken me in, but at least we had a bunch of birds on our side!


    ¡°Where did they say it was again?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire said The Terrible was preoccupied along the banks of a lake in the middle of the forest,¡± I answered. ¡°They said we should walk towards the Sun.¡± I pointed and Noel nodded. We began walking through the forest, discussing our battle plan.


    ¡°Will it really work?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It made sense,¡± said Noel. ¡°And it fits what we know about the God of Evil, too.¡±


    We heard a loud crash in the distance. Followed by another. Noel and I looked over, but we couldn¡¯t see anything yet. We made our way over cautiously, quietly. Sounds of uprooted trees, snapping branches, tearing vines, echoed through the forest. It wasn¡¯t long before we say a cloud of dust towering over the canopy in front of us. Noel and I exchanged glances. Noel went to the left and I went to the right.


    I found a hidden spot among the trees and began to observe the dust cloud. Red beams of energy cut through the dust cloud from time to time but all of them were intercepted by serpentine vines that came shooting out from the ground. I recognized them as roots like the ones we¡¯d seen at the Immortal of Desire¡¯s tree. The sun was getting higher in the sky. I made sure to keep an eye on the shadows of the trees in front of me. I drank some water from a hide pouch the Immortal had given me, and downed some berries. I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves.


    We were going to fight a five starred monster. I¡¯d underestimated the one star Farro Bird and almost paid the price. Nobody was coming to save us this time. The Immortal made it clear that it would not help us even if we were about to be killed by The Terrible. Something about the fate of mortals and stuff. It wasn¡¯t very convincing, but I think it was wise not to bank on support from the Immortal. The sun reached its zenith in the sky. The thrashing stopped. A thick silence descended on the forest as the dust cloud began to settle.


    Five red lights glowed through the dust. I jumped to the side as a red laser pierced the ground where I had been. I rolled on the ground and jumped back up. I saw Noel rush out of her hiding spot from the corner of my eye. A large gemstone limb crashed into the ground beside her, but she twisted her body to avoid it. Dirt and gravel showered over her body, but she kept going. I raced up to the monster from the other side.


    The Terrible¡¯s limbs cast out of the dust cloud from time to time, disturbing the dust and leaving trails in the air behind them. Noel and I dodged its attacks, spitting and coughing our way through the debris the monster cast into the air with its attacks. The Terrible roared; a horrible, high-pitched roar echoed through the lakeside and burst open the shell of the dust cloud that had been obstructed our view of our enemy.


    Its skin was broken and scratched in various places. One of its legs was stuck deep in the ground, while various branches, twigs, and leaves peppered the surface of its once pristine body. The Terrible faced its five red stars towards us and prepare a laser, although this time, instead of lighting up his whole body, only the five stars on its forehead lit up before it shot forth a beam of light. Noel and I jumped out of the way even before the laser was fired. The monster didn¡¯t¡ªor perhaps it couldn¡¯t¡ªchange the direction of its attack, but the ground where we had been exploded like a row of landmines had just gone off.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    I was the first to reach its legs. Noel was just a step behind me. From where we were standing, The Terrible looked like a fancy glass building, reaching up to the sky. A sense of nostalgia washed over me. Guess I did miss New York a little bit. The building looked down on me, flashing with five red lights. I snapped back to focus on the monster¡¯s legs and touched it with the palms of both of my hands as Noel did the same to the leg that was stuck in the ground.


    As the sounds of The Terrible¡¯s angry red laser gathered above my head, I felt energy drain out of my body. I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could, squeezing out every last bit of power. Tendrils of magic grew out of my fingertips, lacing their way through the cold, hard gemstone. I tried to direct my magic, but the internal structure of the monster was more complicated than I¡¯d assumed. There were lines of impurities, patches that had a different chemical makeup, and whole areas of its body that were completely impassable. My magic stretched thin as it crept up its leg, finding nothing of value in the abdomen or chest. I began to panic.


    What if the Immortal of Desire had lied to us? Or what if it was wrong about The Terrible¡¯s body? The other immortals weren¡¯t perfect either, hadn¡¯t the God of Evil failed to predict my future? I began to lose hope, sending wave after wave of magic higher and higher up The Terrible¡¯s body. My magic came into contact with Noel¡¯s, and somehow, I felt the same sense of desperation and fear that was currently threatening to overwhelm me.


    A red light flashed in the corner of my eye. I bit my lips and a metallic taste flooded my mouth. I closed my eyes and yelled as loudly as I could, pushing my magic as far as it could go. The edge of one tendril brushed past something, something that felt soft and mushy. My mind cleared, I yelled to Noel: ¡°It¡¯s in the back of the head!¡± I don¡¯t think Noel heard me.


    The Terrible¡¯s body flashed red. It formed a laser in its mouth, collecting heat and light so powerful it was already giving me goosebumps. I sent all of my magic towards the soft, mushy core and bashed against it. I ripped out chunks of core, bit after bit, and The Terrible¡¯s body shivered and trembled in pain. Noel¡¯s magic finally found mine, and we started tearing apart The Terrible¡¯s core.


    The heat of the laser died down. I opened my eyes and spit out some blood. I was breathing rapidly, but it wasn¡¯t over yet. The Terrible thrashed around some more, trying to throw us off its body, but it was too weak. I hugged its leg, sticking to the limb even as it was lifted high above the ground. My body was sore from hanging on for dear life, but I never let go. As it brought me back to the ground, I complained to myself that I should have gone for the leg stuck on the ground too.


    Our magic had broken over half of the core into tiny pieces. After being separated, the chunks began to dissolve in the monster¡¯s gemlike body, sending out waves of magic power that crashed into my thin tendrils and sent a surge of energy through my body like a warm sip of tea on a cold winter¡¯s night. Noel and I lapped up as much of the released energy as we could, using it to strengthen our assault on the monster¡¯s own core. I felt a pain in my head not unlike the ones I got when I was studying or focusing too hard. I ignored the dull ache and kept absorbing and releasing magic.


    Eventually, the monster¡¯s thrashing stopped. It weakly trailed its feet through the dirt like a kid who¡¯d done something bad and didn¡¯t wanna look you in the eye. Its body lost its luster, going from a brilliant ruby-like sheen to the dull shade of rusting iron. Its core was broken into many pieces that were either absorbed by Noel and me, or dissolved into the gem that made up its head. The lakeside was silent. The water was still. The Terrible¡¯s five, frightening red stars twinkled, before forming large cracks, and shattering.


    I was showered in tiny red shards as The Terrible¡¯s body creaked and cracked, before falling into the lake with a deafening splash.

 Chapter 40

    I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. I gasped for air as my muscles ached and my body burned with pain. Still full of adrenaline, I picked myself off the ground, wincing a little as tiny shards of gemstone pierced my skin. I picked them out like splinters and looked around. The lakeside was a mess. Giant grooves were gashed into the ground. The pristine lake surface was muddy, with parts of the shore breaking off into the water during the fight. It would settle with time. Noel sat resting against a tree.


    I waved to Noel. She smiled and waved back. We¡¯d done it. Somehow, we¡¯d defeated a five star monster. The Immortal of Desire¡¯s information had been totally worth it. The Immortal told us The Terrible was actually a gem golem monster, which meant it had a core somewhere in its body. The Immortal didn¡¯t know where that core would be, since every golem would keep their core in a different place, but just knowing that our enemy had a massive weakness we could exploit was useful enough. By developing the invisible hands we created for motion magic into hands of pure magic, Noel and I were able to reach into The Terrible¡¯s body and rip apart the core!


    I limped towards Noel but she gestured to say she was alright. I nodded and went to the lake instead. I sat down on the edge of the lake, dipped my feet into the water, and reached for a cigarette. Realizing I didn¡¯t even have pockets, let alone cigarettes, I instead paddled my feet in the water, sending ripples across the surface. A wave of nostalgia washed over me. I stopped, stared at my reflection in the murky, disturbed water. I touched my face and the elf in the lake did so too. I smiled. It was hard to explain. The fantasy stories from my Earth never really talked about it, but when you find yourself in a body you don¡¯t recognize, there¡¯s this weird feeling in your gut.


    Your body may look a certain way but your mind thinks it should look like something else. You¡¯re not used to the height, finding yourself reaching for things you would have reached before, but can¡¯t anymore. Staring into people¡¯s chests instead of their eyes, because you aren¡¯t used to looking up. You trail your hand through your hair, expecting resistance, finding none. Take a bath, touch places you didn¡¯t before, feel like you¡¯re washing a doll, or a suit, rather than your own body. And man, don¡¯t get me started on the ears. It took a long time to convince myself those things weren¡¯t glued on or something. Like, I knew they were real, and if they were on someone else, I could accept it. But for my own ears to suddenly be long and pointy? That felt so strange, so alienating, that I barely have the words to describe it.


    But now I¡¯d been here long enough, lived in this body long enough, experienced enough life threatening adventures, to be comfortable in my body again. My mind still imagined myself as Caspian Eriksen Holm from New York state, but I didn¡¯t mind thinking of myself as Caspian Jora, an elf of the Jora tribe. I reached into my reflection, tried to sieve out as much dirt as I could with my hands, and then washed my face.


    ¡°Don¡¯t wash your wounds with that water,¡± came a voice from behind.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to,¡± I said.


    Noel sat besides me and washed her face too. I stared at her as she did so. When she was done, I ran a cold, wet hand over her hair. She shivered and glared at me. I smiled. She grabbed a handful of water and splashed it on my ragged hide tunic. I narrowed my eyes and kicked the surface of the water, getting both of us wet. We played like little kids for a while.


    We didn¡¯t dry our clothes before heading back to the tribe. We rang out some of the water from our clothes, but the cold water offered a welcome respite from the heat. It was almost summer and the rains had already fallen, even if most of them had been created with magic. The tribes of the Plains of Serenity would head for the highlands soon. Now that The Terrible was gone, we didn¡¯t need to worry about its judgment or curse anymore either. There were bright days ahead, for all the elves of the plains.


    We left the Forest of Three as the sun dipped in the sky. We would reach the camp by dusk, at the earliest. Noel and I got our stories straight. We needed to tell the tribesmen that The Terrible was actually an evil monster and that the Oracle was working with that monster. Honestly, Noel and I still weren¡¯t sure what the Oracle got from sending so many elves to their deaths at the hands of The Terrible, but that didn¡¯t matter. The only problem would be dealing with Sharun, since he was still under the Oracle¡¯s control. The mind control resistance magic that I had used against The Terrible might be able to help us free Sharun, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I could use it on other people yet. It had been a small miracle it had worked on me at all, since we¡¯d had no way to test it before showing up at The Terrible¡¯s cavern.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The idea behind the magic was simple enough. It was an amalgamation of all sorts of important concepts from philosophy. Things like ¡®what is reality¡¯ and ¡®who am I¡¯ and ¡®how do I know that I exist.¡± I ended up using one of the most famous phrases in philosophy to solidify my magic.


    ¡°Cogito ergo sum,¡± I whispered.


    ¡°What was that?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I was just thinking to myself.¡±


    Yes, Renes Descartes¡¯ famous statement, sometimes translated as: I think, therefore, I am. I knew this idea could be used in all sorts of magic, and I intended to use it again later. I also knew that there were various ideas that led up to this statement, and used them all to make my mind control resistance magic as powerful as I could. I used Plato¡¯s idea of ¡°knowledge of knowledge,¡± also explained in Aristotle¡¯s Nicomachean Ethics as well as the various offshoots it set off to establish that by being conscious of the fact that I was thinking and that I knew of things, I was asserting a sort of existence that could not be overwritten by mind control magic.


    I ended up using Avicenna¡¯s Floating Man thought experiment too. He figured that since someone deprived of all senses, left floating in the void, would still be able to conclude that there was someone there to experience the nothingness, that must mean that I, at least, exist. I also liked the Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara¡¯s idea that the presence of doubt itself proved that existence could not be doubted.


    Of course, there were limitations with this line of thinking. Descartes¡¯ idea had a problem: was it really ¡®I¡¯ that was thinking, or was it something else? Just because one can assume that something is thinking, doesn¡¯t mean that it has to be ¡®me.¡¯ My mind control resistance magic got around all the problems Noel and I had predicted by not trying to counteract the specific mind control magic being used.


    Wanna control my body but leave my mind? Sorry, my existence is tied to my sense of self, of which my body is a part. To control me, you would have to kill me, and I don¡¯t think your magic is powerful enough for that. Wanna control my mind by changing my thoughts and motivations? If I exist because I can think, you would have to overwrite my existence to change my thoughts by force.


    It wasn¡¯t the most solid of logic, but it didn¡¯t have to be. I was sure some gem monster wasn¡¯t going to try to pick apart the flaws in my resistance magic, especially if it never had any time to react to it. All I needed to do, was to protect myself with a type of ¡®knowledge¡¯ that could resist the ¡®knowledge¡¯ used by the monster to try to control me, while being so complicated and unexpected that the monster would never be able to react. And it worked! Man, even I¡¯m impressed by how smart I am.


    As those thoughts made happy fireworks go off in my brain, we approached the rocks behind which the Jora tribe¡¯s camp was hidden. As we stepped closer, Noel grabbed my shoulder. I squinted. Something was wrong. Where were the scouts? Noel looked at me. I met her gaze. We rushed forward, ignoring our aching bodies. We pressed our bodies against a rock and peeked over the edge.


    Groups of elves lay cowering near a fire. I recognized them as the elves of the Jora tribe. I couldn¡¯t see elders Starry and Vell. A crowd of elves we had never seen before held spears at the ready, glaring at the cowering elves in the middle. Near the back of the group, standing next to the elders¡¯ tents, was Sharun, his eyes still burning red. I couldn¡¯t tell if that was because he was being controlled or because he was staring right into the fire. The Oracle sat next to him, her one visible eye closed, breathing deeply and coughing from time to time.

 Chapter 41

    Noel and I exchanged glances. She looked angry, while I felt confused. I reckoned this was because she knew who these other elves were. I motioned for Noel to step away and we moved behind the camp. We hid behind the cave where elder starry kept the blessings. It was far enough away that nobody would hear us, but we looked around to make sure we were alone.


    ¡°Who are they?¡± I whispered.


    ¡°They¡¯re hunters from the Hon and Que tribes,¡± said Noel. ¡°The Hon are the largest tribe on the Plains of Serenity and the Que have some of the most powerful hunters.¡±


    ¡°But why are they here?¡± I asked. ¡°It didn¡¯t look like the Oracle was controlling their minds the way she¡¯s controlling Sharun''s.¡±


    ¡°Some tribes have always been more loyal to the Oracle than others,¡± answered Noel. ¡°Out of the twelve tribes of the Plains, only the Hus are skeptical of the Oracle¡¯s authority. Another four, including our Jora tribe, are relatively independent, but respect the Oracle¡¯s power. But the Hon have been aligned with the Oracle since the time of the Mad King. They would do pretty much anything for her, including intimidating the other tribes into falling in line. That¡¯s how they got the Bandari to stop protecting the third exile to the Forest of Three, the elf we call the Forsaken One.¡±


    ¡°So they¡¯re here to intimidate the Jora tribe?¡± I said. ¡°No, wait. They aren¡¯t here to intimidate the tribe. They¡¯re here to intimidate us!¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°The Oracle must have found out that we defeated The Terrible. Her master must be furious. And now she¡¯s trying to threaten our family so she can appease her master.¡±


    I didn¡¯t see a way out of this predicament. Noel and I were tired after fighting The Terrible. Absorbing the magical power from the monster¡¯s core had made our magic stronger, giving us a boost in ¡®wisdom,¡¯ but we were too exhausted to fight off all these hunters on our own. Besides, they had hostages. Even if we managed to defeat them, how would we protect the Jora tribesmen at the same time? Not to mention having to fight Sharun, the strongest hunter in all the tribes, who would be trying to kill us while we would be unwilling to kill him!


    ¡°How long do you think she¡¯ll keep them hostage?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Noel. ¡°The Oracle wouldn¡¯t dare wipe out a whole tribe, since it would frighten all the other tribes to revolt against her. Even her biggest supporters, the Hon and Que, won¡¯t be able to help her then.¡±


    ¡°The other tribes¡­¡± I said, my voice trailing. ¡°How far away are their camps?¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°Not far. We only need to be spaced out enough that we don¡¯t hunt and forage in the same area. But the other tribes around us are all loyal to the Oracle. We¡¯re pretty sure that¡¯s on purpose too. Tribes like the Hon will set up camp near us so we can¡¯t communicate as easily with the other independent or skeptical tribes.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said. There goes one plan, I mused. Wait, maybe not. ¡°You said it isn¡¯t easy to communicate with those tribes. Does that mean it¡¯s possible to do so?¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°There are two ways we could talk to them. We could pass through some hostile tribe¡¯s area and visit their camps, or we could leave a message at one of the tribal meeting points.¡±


    ¡°Meeting points?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Places where the tribe¡¯s elders or hunting parties might meet to discuss important things like when to begin migrating to the highlands,¡± said Noel. ¡°One of them is right outside the Oracle¡¯s haunt, but there might be Hon or Que hunters standing guard there.¡±


    ¡°Are there any meeting points that the independent tribes haven¡¯t told the other tribes about?¡± I asked.


    Noel tapped her chin. ¡°Maybe. I overheard the elders talking about a secret ritual once. They left the camp alone, late that night. The next day, they said they had a message for me from my mother¡¯s tribe, the Bandari. The Bandari are also independent, although they aren¡¯t very powerful.¡±


    ¡°Still, getting their support would be better than nothing. Are any of the independent tribes powerful enough to rival the Hon?¡± I asked.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Yes, the Kisi tribe. They¡¯re the ones who were pressured into releasing the Forsaken One. They¡¯ve kept their distance from the Oracle ever since, sometimes avoiding meetings near the Oracle¡¯s haunt,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Is there any way we could contact them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, they¡¯re too far away for us to get to them in one night,¡± she said. ¡°But the Bandari might have a way. We should try contacting them first.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°We should get a move on before the sun sets completely. I¡¯d rather not give away our position with a torch until we¡¯re far enough away from here. Do you know where the elders went for that secret ritual?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel. She gave me a solemn look. ¡°I heard them talking about it that night. They said something about the tomb of the last king of Jora.¡±


    ¡°The Mad King¡¯s tomb?¡± I said.


    ¡°I think I know where it is,¡± said Noel. ¡°Since he was exiled into the Forest of Three, he has to be in there somewhere. And since there are three places in the Forest of Three where the Oracle has forbidden ordinary elves from entering without permission, one of those has to be where the Mad King¡¯s tomb is.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing one of those forbidden places is the cave of The Terrible?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel. ¡°And another has a field full of Tocsa mushrooms, so there¡¯s no way the elders would have gone there.¡±


    ¡°Then it must be the third forbidden place in the Forest of Three!¡± I said. ¡°Is that place deep inside the forest? I don¡¯t want to leave the tribesmen here alone for too long.¡±


    ¡°No, we should be able to return by dawn,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t sleep,¡± I said.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t sleep,¡± confirmed Noel. ¡°And if we don¡¯t collapse from exhaustion.¡±


    I ran my hand through my hair. ¡°We don¡¯t have a choice. There¡¯s no way we can fight all these hunters on our own.¡±


    ¡°We could try asking the Immortal of Desire for help again,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Do you think the birds will help us this time?¡± I said. ¡°We just asked them for help with The Terrible.¡±


    ¡°I think we don¡¯t have a choice,¡± she said. ¡°Our family is in there. We need all the help we can get.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Then we should split up. You go find the meeting place near the Mad King¡¯s tomb, and I¡¯ll run back to the Immortal of Desire¡¯s tree.¡±


    Noel shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t go to the Mad King¡¯s tomb.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s a barrier around that part of the forest. Jora tribesmen can¡¯t enter without the Oracle¡¯s permission. The elders must know a secret way inside, but it¡¯ll take me forever to find it. You don¡¯t have Jora blood, so you should be able to walk right in!¡± said Noel.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t know where the forbidden area is,¡± I said.


    ¡°Go back to the Forest of Three and walk towards The Terrible¡¯s cave. When you hit a large thicket with a stream running through it, turn left. Stick to the stream and you¡¯ll find the barrier. Walk right through and start searching for the Mad King¡¯s tomb,¡± explained Noel.


    I sighed. ¡°That sounds further away than I thought.¡±


    Noel smiled. ¡°Better start running.¡±


    We snuck back around the camp and observed the cornered tribesmen again. Nobody seemed hurt, but we couldn¡¯t find the elder¡¯s anywhere. Maybe they were tied up inside a tent or something. The Oracle had her eyes closed and Sharun stared listlessly into the distance. Noel and I looked at each other, nodded, and ran our separate ways. I ran across the plains as fast as I could. My body was screaming with fatigue, but I had no choice. By the time I arrived at the Forest of Three, the sun had already set. I grabbed a branch and tied some pollen, leaves, and twigs to the top. I lit it with fire magic and ran into the forest.


    I found the thicket with the stream and turned left like Noel told me to. Soon, I came across a shimmering, transparent wall. I might have missed it if I didn¡¯t have the torch, which was casting orange reflections across the barrier. The forest continued uninterrupted after the barrier, making me question why the barrier was in such a random location. I stepped across without any resistance, and looked around. Nothing changed. I grabbed my torch and kept running, hoping to find something that looked like a tomb.


    In the end, I found a small stone slab in a clearing next to the stream. The stone slab had a tiny symbol carved onto it, not unlike the runes on the entrance to the cave of The Terrible. I crouched down to take a closer look.

 Chapter 42

    There was only one rune on the gravestone. It was clearly the same language as the one on the entrance to the cave of The Terrible, but softer and gentler. There were less jagged edges, less spear-like lines and angry pointed dots. The rune looked like a circle with more circles, and some lines and dots inside the larger circle. I didn¡¯t know what it meant. I also didn¡¯t know what mechanism I was supposed to use to contact the Bandari tribe.


    I brushed my hand over the rune but nothing happened. I looked around the gravestone, pulling back leaves, lifting small stones; nothing happened. I picked up the gravestone but there was nothing underneath. I cursed my luck and began digging up the grave. My hands touched something solid, and I carefully pulled out some bones. It was incredibly creepy, but I still didn¡¯t find a way to contact the Bandari tribe. Maybe I was going about this wrong?


    If there was a secret method hidden on the grave itself, the Oracle or her allies might find it. I put back the bones and covered up the grave as best I could. I prayed the Mad King¡¯s ghost wouldn¡¯t haunt me or something. I got up and began searching the area, looking for anything that looked out of place.


    There were no markings on the trees. No hidden devices or runes under stones or logs. I kept looking but by now, I was sure our only hope was to rely on the Immortal of Desire again. It was getting late. I wondered if I should pick a direction and run. Maybe I¡¯d run into the Bandari tribesmen if I was lucky? No, that wasn¡¯t a smart plan.


    I went back to the barrier. I walked around its edge, looking for anything strange. The barrier was a perfect circle. It even ran through trees and rocks. The wind blew a few puffs of pollen loose, and it drifted right through the barrier. It seemed the barrier really was meant to stop the Jora tribesmen, and no one else. It had one job and if the elders could get through it, it couldn¡¯t even do that properly.


    How did the elders get through the barrier, anyway? The Oracle wouldn¡¯t have overlooked something as simple as adoption or marriage, right? Yet, I was adopted by the Jora, and I could get in pretty easily. I furrowed my brows. Was that just because I was an outsider?


    I saw an insect walking across a tree branch that followed the edge of the barrier. The insect walked with half of its body on either side of the barrier. I felt something strange in my gut. I approached the edge of the barrier, and put one foot through. I kept the other foot on one side, and tried to circle the barrier this way.


    I shimmied up trees, stepped over rocks, and even had to jump over an insect¡¯s nest. I began thinking, if the Jora tribesmen couldn¡¯t cross the barrier, but the Bandari could, would the Oracle expect them to try to meet around this forbidden area, rather than picking a random place in the middle of the forest? No, of course not. That meant this was the perfect place for a secret meeting place.


    As I circled the whole barrier, I thought I had been wrong, but right as I completed the circle, I saw something strange. The insect that had been walking on a branch along either side of the barrier was still there. It went back and forth on the same branch but never turned around.


    The insect was a yellow beetle with a black head. It was colored like a sunflower from my Earth, but it¡¯s head was strange and alien. I grabbed a leaf and used it to carefully pick up the beetle. It was brightly colored, so I was worried it would be poisonous, but I still wanted to get a good look at it. I tried turning the beetle but felt a strange resistance. It felt kind of like I was playing with a magnet. There was a force pulling the beetle in the same direction, and when I made it point another way, it tried to pull my hand back again. I grabbed the beetle, pointed it in the same direction, and walked back to the grave of the Mad King. The beetle seemed to be pointing to the same thing. I circled around and it still pointed in the same direction.


    I ran out of the barrier with the beetle in my hand. I was sure this beetle was part of whatever method the Jora tribe¡¯s elders used to communicate with the Bandari, and that they would show up if I waited at the grave, but there was no time. I ran in the direction the beetle was pointing. It didn¡¯t take long before I was out of the Forest of Three and on the Plains of Serenity again. The night grew darker. The moon was nowhere to be seen. Even the red star was gone. Alien stars stared at me as I raced across the plains.


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    I ran into a couple of elves as I was following the beetle. They had a similar looking beetle in their hand. These elves looked as old as the elders of our clan, which meant they looked like they were in their early thirties but were probably hundreds of years old.


    ¡°Why do you have that beetle, child?¡± asked one of the elders.


    ¡°My name is Caspian,¡± I said. ¡°Caspian Jora. I apologize for meeting you this way, elders, but I had no choice. The Oracle has taken the entire Jora tribe hostage!¡±


    The elders¡¯ eyes widened. They asked me why the Oracle would do something so drastic, and which other tribes were involved. I told them we should start running back to their tribe and that I would try to fill them in on the way back.


    I told them everything they needed to know. The Terrible was a five star monster controlled by the God of Evil, who was also the Oracle¡¯s master. The Oracle had been controlling the elves of the plains by sending sacrifices into the cave of The Terrible, although we didn¡¯t know why her master wanted those sacrifices. I told them that after learning magic from the Immortal of Desire, who was the God of Evil¡¯s enemy, my friend Noel and I were able to destroy The Terrible, since the Immortal told us about the monster¡¯s weakness.


    By this point we were at the Bandari tribe¡¯s camp. The elders were skeptical of what I had been saying, but using Noel¡¯s name earned me some favor. I told them the Oracle was using strange magic to control the greatest hunter, Sharun, and that she may have been involved in the death of Noel¡¯s father.


    ¡°Please,¡± I said, now speaking to the entire Bandari tribe. ¡°You have to help us!¡±


    The elders looked at me. One of them, a woman they called Ore, stepped forward. ¡°It is difficult to believe you, adopted son of Jora.¡± This elder had the same silver hair and eyes that Noel did, but her stern eyes and rough cheeks made a face that was very different from Noel¡¯s kind, innocent one. ¡°But tell me, where is my granddaughter.¡±


    Granddaughter? ¡°Are you perhaps¡­¡± I began.


    Elder Ore nodded. ¡°I am Noel¡¯s grandmother. If you are truly Noel¡¯s friend and tribesmen, tell me where she is, right now. Even if you are lying, I am willing to come with you if Noel has been captured.¡±


    ¡°Noel helped me kill The Terrible,¡± I said. The elves whispered among themselves. They still didn¡¯t believe The Terrible was dead. ¡°We split up to look for help against the Oracle. I came here to look for you, while Noel has gone to ask the Immortal of Desire for help.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t this immortal help you against The Terrible,¡± she asked. ¡°Why not ask it for help again? Surely it would be of more use than our tribe. We could not hope to match the Que, let alone the Hon or the Oracle herself.¡±


    ¡°We aren¡¯t sure if the immortal will be able to help us,¡± I said. ¡°The immortal didn¡¯t help us in person, they only gave us the information we needed to defeat The Terrible. The Immortal might know the Oracle¡¯s weakness, and finding that out would be useful, but we need more help to defeat the Hon and Que hunters.¡±


    ¡°And I just told you, we are not strong enough to defeat those tribes,¡± said the elder.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°You alone won¡¯t be enough, but if we gather the other tribes that are independent of the Oracle¡¯s influence, we can get rid of her, once and for all!¡±


    The elder furrowed her brows. ¡°There won¡¯t be time to gather all the independent tribes. Judging by your story, the Oracle is waiting for you and Noel to return to the Jora camp after defeating The Terrible. She might accept waiting until the morning, since you could have decided to rest for the night after such a difficult battle, but she won¡¯t wait for too long. I am afraid she get impatient and do something¡­ irreversible.¡±


    I bit my lips. The thought had crossed my mind. ¡°Then what should we do?¡±


    The elder thought for a bit, then she gestured to the other elder. He was a tall, muscular elf who looked to buff to be an elder. ¡°You should take a group of foragers and contact the Kisi and Vevey tribes. I will take most of the hunters and follow young Caspian to the Jora tribe¡¯s camp. We will pick up hunters from the Hus tribe on the way.¡±


    The muscular elder nodded and picked out a group of elves. Elder Ore gathered some strong looking elders, put a hand on my shoulders, and said: ¡°My little Noel is too young to get married.¡±


    Wait, what? Why was she saying that? When did I ever say I was going to marry Noel? I tried to ask the elder what she meant but she ran ahead of me, followed by a bunch of hunters. They were all well rested and uninjured, so I spent all my energy trying to keep up.


    Don¡¯t run so fast, you cheeky granny!

 Chapter 43

    We marched across the plains in the dead of night. The moon was gone, the red star was nowhere in sight. A horde of elves with flint spears and knives raced across the empty plains as silently as we could. It would be tough to hide a force of this size from the Oracle and her scouts, but we wanted to try. I broke off of the main force with a couple of skilled hunters after asking everyone to smother their torches. We were close.


    I circled around the Jora tribe¡¯s camp and went up to the cave where elder Starry kept his blessings. This was where Noel and I were supposed to meet. I looked around but couldn¡¯t find her. She must not be back yet. I would have to wait. I told the other hunters to stay there in case Noel came back, and made my way to the front of the camp. I hid behind a rock and observed.


    Nothing had changed. A few hunters were asleep, as were some of the hostages, but most people were awake. The Oracle sat by the elder¡¯s tent, her one visible eye closed. Still no sign of elders Starry or Vell. Sharun¡¯s eye glowed red, he was still under the Oracle¡¯s control. I watched, and waited for Noel to return. The main force of independent elves would be waiting for my signal.


    The night grew older and older. The sky lightened and the first rays of sunlight began filtering through the atmosphere. There was no sign of Noel. I considered telling one of the hunters to go look for her at the Immortal of Desire¡¯s tree, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that would offend the immortal. I bit my lips. If the Oracle decided to send out a scouting or foraging party in the morning, or if she decided the hostages weren¡¯t useful, I would have to start without Noel or the Immortal of Desire¡¯s help.


    The sun peered over the horizon. The Oracle opened her eye and whispered. A Hon tribesman nodded his head. He began gesturing to other hunters. They raided the Jora tribe¡¯s food storage and had breakfast. They didn¡¯t give the hungry Jora tribesmen any food, even the children. The hunters then formed a party and their leader pointed towards the great plains. I sat by the exit of the camp and shrunk into the shadows.


    A party of hunters marched forward. Yells and cries came from the front of the camp. The other hunters looked over. A bunch of elves lay in a pile near the camp¡¯s entrance. Someone at the front of the group had tripped, apparently over nothing, and made the rest of them crash on top of each other. A few cuts and bruises but nothing major. They would get up in a moment.


    Another yell, another cry. One of the hunter¡¯s had gotten too close to the campfire. His tunic was on fire so he threw his spear to the ground and tried to roll over. Someone came over to help him. The Oracle frowned. The burning hunter¡¯s spear fell near the Jora tribesmen, but they didn¡¯t dare pick it up.


    Another yell, another cry. A hunter had gone behind a tent, but he didn¡¯t come back. The Oracle finally realized something was wrong and told Sharun to catch whoever was behind the tent. The greatest hunter ran off, leaving the Oracle¡¯s side.


    Another yell, another cry. Two hunters fell on the ground, clutching their feet as if they had stubbed them. More yells, more cries, as minor inconveniences happened to a whole bunch of hunters. The Oracle, now furious, told the Hon leader to stab a Jora tribesmen to get their cowardly enemy to reveal themselves, which was when the Hon leader¡¯s wooden spear caught on fire, burning his hand. The Oracle followed the flame and pointed the rock at the entrance of the camp. She needn¡¯t have bothered, since a bright flame burst into the sky from behind the rock, catching everyone¡¯s attention.


    Two Que hunters rushed towards the rock. Another hunter ran towards the Jora tribesmen. As he got close, a female elf jumped out of the crowd of huddled tribesmen, grabbed the spear on the floor, and parried the hunter¡¯s attack. She kicked him in the shin, whacked him with the other end of the spear, and stabbed him. The Oracle snarled and raised her staff, but fell over herself to dodge a knife that came out of nowhere. A young elf cursed from the crowd. He couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d missed.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The two Que hunters circled the rock and stabbed their spears, hitting nothing. They looked over to the scouting party on the ground by the entrance, and shouted in alarm. The entire party was rolling on the ground, trying to put out the fires on their bodies!


    I ran through the rolling hunters, grabbed a few spears, and threw a couple towards the Jora tribesmen. The female Jora hunter grabbed her defeated enemy¡¯s spear and passed it to another Jora hunter. Four Jora tribesmen had weapons, the rest charged towards the elders¡¯ tent, where all the weapons were kept.


    The Oracle recovered, as did the Hon tribe¡¯s lead hunter. They rallied the remaining hunters and told them to attack but as I ran into their ranks, tripping them with magic hands, setting fire to their clothes, or whacking and stabbing with my spears, the whole camp was drowning in chaos. Angry yells came from the entrance. The scouting party had recovered, though many had lost their weapons or were in no condition to fight. The rest charged towards me.


    The Que leader, who had been a part of the scouting party, dashed towards me and the four armed Jora hunters. The five of us stood shoulder to shoulder, deflecting spears, taking advantage of any openings I created with my magic. The Oracle didn¡¯t use her own magic because of the mass of Hon and Que hunters in the way.


    Noises came from the camp¡¯s entrance. The Que leader looked over. He told the Hon leader to deal with the five of us as he took most of the hunters to meet the Bandari and Hus hunters. We grabbed more spears from enemy hunters, and three more Jora hunters joined the battle. The mass of hunters was gone and the Oracle entered the battle. I rushed forward to meet her magic, and the enemy hunters gave me a wide berth. I burned anyone who came in my way.


    Five unarmed Jora tribesmen joined their hands together and sent out a stream of water. With water splashing in their faces, the Hon and Que hunters were easily beaten back by our Jora tribesmen. The slippery, muddy ground made the retreating hunters fall to the ground, helping us collect a couple more spears.


    ¡°Outsider!¡± yelled the Oracle as she pointed her staff at me.


    I put my back to the enemy hunters and dared her to fire. She launched red beam of light, much smaller than The Terrible¡¯s laser, but just as deadly. I leapt out of the way, ignoring the cry of pain that rang out behind me as a Hon hunter got pierced by her own leader¡¯s attack.


    I cast a fireball at the Oracle, which she wiped out with her free hand. But behind the fireball was a spear, which she barely managed to parry with her staff. She took a step back and tripped over my magic hand. I ran up to her but she fired a laser from the tail of her staff. I twisted out of the way, crying out as the laser seared my shoulder.


    I used my motion magic to grab a sharp piece of flint and hurled it at the Oracle. She rolled out of the way, even though she shouldn¡¯t have seen my attack. I grabbed the spear I had thrown at her before, and approached her as she stood up. I stabbed the spear at her legs but she met it with her staff.


    I backed up, swinging my spear the other way, aiming for her head. She tilted the top of her staff and blocked me. I leaned in, reaching a hand towards her torso, but she jumped back as the flames left my hand. I changed my flames to a fireball and launched it at her but she knocked the fireball back at me with her staff like it was a baseball.


    I dove out of the way and then rolled again. The Oracle¡¯s laser carved the ground and followed me as I rolled. She didn¡¯t give me any time to get up, forcing me to roll further and further like an armadillo. I grabbed a rock and threw it over my head. Her laser touched my back but my rock swung down like a hammer from the air, knocking the wind out of her lungs as it slammed into her chest.

 Chapter 44

    I writhed in agony. The place where the Oracle¡¯s laser had hit me burned like crazy. I swung out of the way when a hunter stabbed at me with his spear. I kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling. I jumped up, ignoring the pain in my back, and stared at the Oracle.


    The Oracle trembled as she picked herself up by her staff. I launched a fireball at her, hoping to catch her off guard. She cursed as she caught my attack with one hand. Her hand was seared red, but she didn¡¯t even blink. I fired more fireballs but this time she swept them away with her staff. I ran up to her with a spear and we traded blows once again.


    The Oracle swung up, I blocked down low. I came in from the left, she leaned into the right. Up, left, down, right, stab, parry, swing, block. My wooden spear groaned and her staff creaked, but neither of us let up. I used motion magic to try to trip her up, but she stepped right over it. She fired a laser at my feet, but I danced around it. I jumped back, yelled, and charged up front.


    She grinned, taking one step to the side as I got close, and swung her staff at the middle of my spear, snapping it in two. Our faces brushed past each other, me snarling, her grinning. I prepared as if I was going to spit at her so she put a hand over her face.


    Fire spewed from my mouth, searing my lips and tongue, filling my nose with hot air and acrid smells. The fire landed on the Oracle¡¯s hand, with a little spilling onto her hair. She yelled as we fell past each other. I landed on the ground, crying out as one of the broken ends of my spear stabbed the side of my leg.


    I pulled out the useless piece of wood and threw it to the side. The other half had the flint end, which I held in my hand as I walked over to the Oracle. I looked up to see a spear hurtling through the air towards me. Fighting with the Oracle had almost made me forget, there were a whole bunch of hunters here!


    I couldn¡¯t block it in time, but a spear rushed out of the corner of my eye and saved me. Elder Ore from the Bandari tribe ran over to the hunter that had tried to skewer me from a distance, and I was free to approach the Oracle again. But instead, I looked over the battlefield that had once been the Jora tribe¡¯s camp.


    Dozens of elves lay wounded or dead. Everyone had burns, bruises and cuts. The fighting had devolved into a chaotic brawl. Although the Bandari and Hus had the element of surprise, they were no match for the Hon and Que tribes¡¯ numbers and experience. The Hon, in particular, were dominating almost anyone they fought. Only the female Jora hunter, elder Ore, and a few other experienced hunters could fight the Hon properly.


    My eyes darted to the side. A bloody figured stepped out from behind a tent, carrying a motionless body in his hand. His eyes glowing red, Sharun tossed the experienced hunter who was supposed to be distracting him, to the ground. His expressionless face turned towards the Bandari hunter next to him and the Dragon¡¯s Tooth whistled through the air. The Bandari hunter collapsed, his chest still.


    The most powerful hunters on the battlefield: elder Ore, the female Jora elf, the leaders of the Hon and the Que, and a muscular elf from the Hus tribe, all stared at the wielder of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Sharun¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change as he faced the hunters. He looked at the Oracle, who lay motionless on the ground, and then met my gaze. He dashed forward.


    I launched a fireball but he deflected it with his spear. As he ran over to me, Sharun stabbed and pierced and cut anyone that came in his path. Even the Hon and Que tribesmen that were supposed to be his allies were cut down if they came too close. The leader of the Hon shouted at him to stop, but when Sharun walked up to him, the two somehow ended up in a fight.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The leader of the Hon tribe¡¯s hunters stabbed his spear but Sharun parried it with an empty hand. Sharun wielded the Dragon¡¯s Tooth with one hand, piercing the Hon¡¯s leader¡¯s stomach. The enemy leader¡¯s eyes widened as he fell to the ground. Sharun retracted the Dragon¡¯s Tooth and rushed forward.


    I tried to trip him up with motion magic, but he walked right through it, never missing a beat. I launched fireball after fireball, but all that accomplished was to tire me out. There was no way I could parry a single blow from him so I stepped backwards as quickly as I could. I knew I couldn¡¯t show him my back or he¡¯d hurl the Dragon¡¯s Tooth at me and end me from a distance.


    Elder Ore threw a spear, but he deflected it. The female Jora hunter rushed towards him with a couple of other hunters but they were all cut down. Even the leader of the Que attacked him while crying like a child, yelling something about the Hon leader and true love.


    Sharun rushed right past everyone like they were bugs. Hunter after hunter fled from him like they were running from a natural disaster, and the battlefield cleared up as everyone forgot who they were supposed to be fighting and why. Elves tripped up over their enemies to get out of Sharun¡¯s way, with a few wily young elves from the Jora tribe taking the opportunity to stab their enemies in the back before running from Sharun.


    Elder Ore ran towards me without a spear, but she wouldn¡¯t get here in time. The Jora were on the other side of the camp. Nobody else seemed inclined to help me. My arms were growing tired of chucking useless fireballs but I couldn¡¯t think of anything else to do.


    Streams of water? All that¡¯d do was get his hair wet. Calling rain? Useless. Motion magic? He could walk right through my invisible arms! None of the rocks, logs, spears, or dirt that I chucked at him had any effect. He was truly a monster, a beast that had no business walking on two legs.


    My back hit something solid. It was the rock by the entrance that I had hid behind at the beginning of the fight. There was nobody nearby. There was nowhere to run. I grabbed a spear with motion magic, prepared a hidden slingshot with motion magic to the side, lit the end of my spear on fire, launched a fireball, and even cast water magic under Sharun¡¯s feet just in case he¡¯d slip.


    He walked through the water like it was a puddle¡ªwhich it was. He deflected the fireball, broke my spear with one swing of his weapon, dodged the rock I¡¯d launched at him with my slingshot, and pressed me right up to the rock. I threw the broken spear at him and he caught it with one hand. He wielded the Dragon¡¯s Tooth with his other hand and aimed right at my neck.


    Right, this was long enough. I collected my thoughts, took a deep breath, and focused. My muscles tensed, my face stiffened, and my whole body felt like it was made of stone. I stared directly into Sharun¡¯s glowing red eyes, which was probably a mistake since I was going to be here a while. The tip of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth froze inches from my neck. I would¡¯ve gulped audibly for dramatic effect, but this was real life, not a movie, and I couldn¡¯t move because of my motion freezing magic. I¡¯d even come up with a cool name for this trick: still life!


    From the corner of my eye I saw elder Ore rush forward. I could see some other hunters, but all of them looked too frightened to move. I didn¡¯t know if they were frightened of Sharun¡¯s rampage or of my ridiculous magic, but they didn¡¯t dare approach.


    Elder Ore picked up a spear and ran forward. Her body was full of cuts and bruises, but she¡¯d been far enough from Sharun that she was still able to fight. She yelled a loud, angry cry as she pointed her spear at Sharun¡¯s neck and charged. The motionless, expressionless Sharun didn¡¯t react at all as the spear came right up to his neck.


    Then his eyes flashed red and a red glow washed over his skin. A sharp pain pierced my skull and my ¡®still life¡¯ magic shattered into a million pieces. I slunk to the ground. Elder Ore¡¯s spear pierced Sharun¡¯s neck, but didn¡¯t go in deep enough. Sharun kneed elder Ore in the gut, before elbowing her away with so much force, I could practically hear her ribs breaking.


    Then, he stepped towards me once again.

 Chapter 45

    I lay on the ground with a splitting headache and a broken body. All my options and allies were gone. Sharun, the greatest hunter on the Plains of Serenity, stomped towards me. My trump card, my ¡®still life¡¯ magic, had failed. None of my other magic spells had any effect, and I couldn¡¯t muster the energy to cast them, anyway. At this point, all I could do was pray that Noel would swoop in with the Immortal of Desire and break whatever was controlling Sharun¡¯s mind.


    Wait. Controlling his mind? How did I not think of this before! If I can give myself mind control resistance, why can¡¯t I do that to someone else?


    I cursed myself. I didn¡¯t have the time nor energy to try to interfere with the mind control magic. Besides, if the God of Evil was involved, I wasn¡¯t sure I could break the spell anyways. Then again, the red star hadn¡¯t been out last night. The God of Evil was probably using the Oracle to control Sharun. If I just had a little more time to gather my strength and think of something, maybe I could do something.


    Sharun raised the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. I closed my eyes. The wind whistled, time slowed, my thoughts blanked. A loud thud resounded. I opened my eyes. A short but muscular female elf stood in front of me. Her tunic was torn in places, stained with blood, and seemed to be made of plants rather than animal hide. Her spear stuck out in front of her, parrying the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Unlike the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, which was a glorified piece of stick with a bunch of sharp rocks stuck into the tip, the short elf¡¯s weapon was a true spear with a tip made of some strange dark metal.


    I looked around. Many new hunters had joined the fighting. These fresh fighters pushed back the Hon and pretty much eliminated the Que. Among them was the male elder from the Bandari tribe. From the corner of my eye, I saw the Oracle get up by leaning heavily on her staff. Her hair was a mess, revealing a second eye.


    The Oracle¡¯s second eye was red. Very red. The whole eye looked like it was covered in blood. It didn¡¯t glow like her other eye did, but it was far more unsettling. A gust of wind blew some hair off the Oracle¡¯s forehead and my eyes widened. There were three red stars on her forehead, glowing angrily but with a dull light.


    The Oracle was a starred monster? And a three star one at that? But she was an elf! Were elves considered monsters too or was this because she also got her power from the God of Evil? I had so many questions but no time to answer any of them. I had the one thing I needed: time. I had to make good use of it.


    ¡°You!¡± shouted the Oracle as she glared at the short elf standing in front of Sharun. ¡°Ame Kisi. I should¡¯ve dealt with you when I banished your worthless husband!¡±


    The short elf, Ame Kisi, scowled. She whacked away Sharun¡¯s spear. Sharun retreated to the Oracle¡¯s side at her command. Ame Kisi continued: ¡°If those worthless elders hadn¡¯t stopped me that day, I would¡¯ve stabbed you in your cold, worthless heart.¡± She smiled. ¡°I¡¯m the elder now. With the threat of The Terrible gone, your power over us is weaker than it has ever been.¡±


    The Oracle laughed, coldly. ¡°So what? My master is with me.¡±


    ¡°The red star wasn¡¯t out last night,¡± said Ame. The Oracle frowned. Ame smiled and continued: ¡°Yes, I know you work for the God of Evil. I¡¯ve known since the day you dragged my husband to that accursed forest! I tortured it out of one of your goons. He told me everything. The way you took him inside that cave, telling the rest of us he was being left alone in exile. And then you sacrificed him to your master! I¡¯ve been working my way to this point, slowly gathering power and influence among my tribe, while spreading discontent in the others. All so I could jump at the perfect opportunity and end you once and for all!¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°You¡¯ve spent all this time plotting,¡± said the Oracle. ¡°And this is the best you could do? You caught us by surprise, but the Hon will defeat your pathetic Kisi tribe soon enough. And you can¡¯t defeat me. Not while I control the strongest hunter in the tribe and bless him with my power! Sharun.¡± The Oracle gestured to the hunter. ¡°Kill her.¡±


    Sharun dashed forward. Ame Kisi struck with her own spear. Her spear¡¯s metal tip cut a deep wedge into Sharun¡¯s spear, forcing him to step back. The expressionless Sharun ran his fingers up the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, feeling up the incision. He leaned back and stretched out his hand. He lunged forward. Ame Kisi scrambled to defend. She awkwardly lifted the middle of her spear, blocking Sharun¡¯s ferocious attack by digging in her feet and refusing to give ground.


    The two hunters pushed against each other, gritting their teeth. Sharun pressed from above but Ame had the stability of the ground. Sharun disengaged his spear but swept his leg forward. Ame¡¯s feet were planted firmly and she weathered the strike. Sharun¡¯s leg bounced off her shin and she jumped forward, stabbing with her spear.


    Sharun turned to the side, letting Ame cut right across where he had been. He punched her in the gut, but Ame let go of her spear with one hand and held onto his fist. She brought her spear around just as Sharun swung the Dragon¡¯s Tooth with his free arm. The two spears clashed above their heads. Ame yelled and slammed her head into Sharun¡¯s face.


    Sharun, his nose bleeding, jumped back while bringing the Dragon¡¯s Tooth across Ame¡¯s shoulder. It cut a shallow gash on her skin, but Ame Kisi didn¡¯t flinch. She followed Sharun¡¯s legs with her own and tried to trip him up. The greatest hunter didn¡¯t trip, but he did manage to pull Ame even closer. The two elbowed each other at the same time, trying to bring the tips of their spears closer to the fighting. Unable to stab, the two whacked each other with the shaft of their spears, and parried with the same lengths of wood.


    Fighting in such close quarters with spears made no sense, but somehow these hunters were making it happen. It helped that their spears weren¡¯t as long as spears from my Earth, but it was still impressive. I also understand why Ame wanted to stick to Sharun. It was clear that Sharun was stronger and faster than her. Fighting at long range would only benefit Sharun. On the other hand, Ame was smaller and more agile. She used Sharun¡¯s own weight as well as the stability of the ground to fend him off.


    But I could see her arms shaking and her breaths getting longer and harder. Sharun tried to jump away but Ame leaned forward. She stabbed at his waist, forcing him to dodge, but Ame angled her spear in such a way that the tail end crashed into his ribs. Sharun spat out air. Ame followed up with her elbow but Sharun jumped back. Ame was in the middle of her strike and passed by him. She had her back to him. She looked over her shoulder.


    Sharun took some distance. He planted his feet and stepped forward, pointing his spear at Ame¡¯s back. Ame spiraled to the right and slashed with the tip of her spear. Sharun leaned to his left and blocked her attack with the width of his spear. They kicked each other at the same time.


    Exhausted, Ame took some space. She would be at a disadvantage at this distance, but she was too tired to keep fighting in close quarters. Sharun used his superior reach to press her back. Ame stepped back as she parried his spear. Sharun swung and slashed and stabbed with all his might while Ame blocked and parried and tried to counter when she could,


    Sharun jumped back as Ame countered. He let her spear all the way forward before launching himself at her, twisting the Dragon¡¯s Tooth as he stabbed straight ahead. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth traveled parallel to her spear and pierced Ame Kisi¡¯s shoulder. The elder cried out in pain but swung her spear around, catching Sharun in the side. There wasn¡¯t enough force behind her swing to seriously injure him, but it did make the greatest hunter disengage once again.


    The Dragon¡¯s Tooth left a nasty gash on Ame Kisi¡¯s shoulder. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth was a flint microlith weapon, which meant it had a bunch of sharp pieces of flint at its end. It wasn¡¯t very good at piercing things in one place, but it ripped out a huge wound if it hit properly. Ame Kisi would have to fight with one hand, which wasn¡¯t very easy to do with a spear.


    Sharun gripped the Dragon¡¯s Tooth and lurched forward.

 Chapter 46

    As Sharun lurched forward, I snuck a glance at the Oracle. She was staring intently at the fight between Sharun and Ame Kisi. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was working hard to maintain her mind control magic, or if she was supporting Sharun with magic, but she was definitely doing something. It helped that she seemed to hate Ame Kisi more than me, despite the fact it was Noel and I who destroyed The Terrible.


    Ame Kisi tried to fight with one good arm but it didn¡¯t work. Sharun was too powerful and had incredible stamina. Ame Kisi gave more and more ground, sacrificed more and more injuries, until eventually, Sharun whacked his weapon across the length of her body, forcing Ame to shield herself with her spear. She cried out in pain as the spear was wrenched from her hands and flung into the air to land beside me.


    Sharun stared at Ame Kisi. Ame took a few steps back and her foot got caught on a rock. She fell on the ground, staring up at her enemy. By now the Hon had regrouped and were fending off the Kisi hunters. The Que dealt with the other tribes, but after Sharun¡¯s initial charge, many of the hunter¡¯s from the allied tribes were dead or wounded. The Oracle smiled with glee. She shouted at Sharun to finish off Ame. Her eyes never met mine.


    Sharun leveled his spear at Ame Kisi¡¯s neck. Ame was too tired to resist any longer. She looked at Sharun with a tired expression, her eyes revealing her unwillingness to die. She was breathing heavily and couldn¡¯t speak. Sharun retracted his spear, preparing to cut through her neck.


    ¡°There is no brain in a vat!¡± I yelled.


    The Oracle turned to me at last. Her mouth widened when the Dragon¡¯s Tooth fell from Sharun¡¯s hand. Sharun fell unconscious on top of Ame Kisi. The Oracle tried to say something but her mouth only quivered. She frowned and focused hard on Sharun¡¯s body, but to no avail. Ame Kisi pushed Sharun off of her body but couldn¡¯t stand up. I reached for Ame Kisi¡¯s spear and used it to prop myself up. I laughed at the Oracle.


    ¡°Tell your master,¡± I said slowly. ¡°He ain¡¯t no Laplace¡¯s demon.¡±


    The Oracle looked at me. Both of her eyes had lost their glow. The wrinkles on her face deepened and her small body hunched over more than it ever had before. ¡°What nonsense are you¡­ my master gave me this power. How did you do this?¡±


    ¡°Epistemological solipsism,¡± I answered.


    ¡°What?¡± said the Oracle.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand, since you never had to work for your magic. I¡¯ll admit, I¡¯m lucky this world bases its magic on knowledge! Using solipsism to assert my own existence helped me resist The Terrible¡¯s mind control magic. All I had to do to help someone else assert their own existence was go back and tweak a few things,¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯re making no sense. Magic as knowledge? Asserting your own existence? What are you talking about?¡± said the Oracle.


    ¡°Oh, your master never even told you how magic works? Man, he really does not trust you at all, huh. Or maybe he just thinks you¡¯re incompetent. Can¡¯t say I disagree. You couldn¡¯t even sacrifice a couple kids to your master, what a disappointment,¡± I said. I had to stall a little longer. I needed to gather some more energy. ¡°Listen, I used a few thinkers from my home world to create mind resistance magic.¡±


    ¡°One was Descartes, who used the famous phrase: cogito ergo sum. Except, he didn¡¯t stop at ¡®I think therefore I am.¡¯ He thought that because the only reason I know that ¡®I¡¯ exist is because I can perceive myself clearly, anything else I perceive of clearly is also true. He then went on to argue he had a clear idea of god so god must be true and he must be good because he that was his idea of god. And if god was good, he could not be deceiving him, so all of existence is not a deception but in fact, reality.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Another one was Avicenna. He used his floating man hypothesis to argue that even if he was deprived of all his senses, he could still tell that he existed. Yet, he knew that he did not create himself. Since he was a ¡®contingent¡¯ existence that had to be created by something else, say, his parents or nature, there must be some existence that was not ¡®contingent¡¯ but simply ¡®was,¡¯ which was his way of arguing for god. And yeah, that meant all of existence existed as being contingent on god, but it existed as long as god said it did.¡±


    ¡°Obviously, this was a roundabout way of arguing about existence, and there were a ton of holes in both of these arguments, as well as similar arguments I used to strengthen my magic, but that¡¯s okay! Magic in this world doesn¡¯t need to be based on a perfect argument, only on things that can, in certain ways, be concerned ¡®knowledge,¡¯ which is itself such a long and complicated topic for discussion, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    Throughout this whole thing the Oracle was looking at me like I was crazy. Even Ame Kisi and the few hunters who were nearby blinked and scratched their heads. My experience working with the Jora tribe taught me that what I was saying wasn¡¯t beyond their understanding, but I was being deliberately confusing and long winded. I was stalling.


    ¡°Outsider,¡± said the Oracle at last. ¡°Your words sound like meaningless drivel. The other outsiders I¡¯ve summoned were so much nicer. They came to this world, listened to my master and his Ikon¡¯s, and sacrificed themselves happily for the sake of our prosperity!¡±


    ¡°You used to say they were going to fulfill their ¡®destiny¡¯ and not going to go get sacrificed. I¡¯m sure they thought they were going on a quest to beat the demon lord or something,¡± I said. ¡°Anyway, I didn¡¯t actually need to prove the existence of god for this magic. I just had to think I did. It¡¯s very convenient, the magic of this world. I¡¯m going to spend many, many years working out all sorts of cheap tricks and loopholes.¡±


    ¡°Oh no,¡± said the Oracle with an evil grin. She lifted her staff. ¡°I¡¯m going to do what I should have done the moment you refused to go inside that damned cave! Die, outsider!¡± She yelled a clich¨¦ line before casting another red laser.


    Except, before the beam of light left the end of her staff, the Oracle disappeared. A violent explosion rocked the earth, making everyone look over. A small cloud of dust covered the ground where the Oracle had stood. A Hon tribesman ran over, yelling out the Oracle¡¯s name. He stepped into the cloud of dust and fell forward, his body disappearing below the earth.


    I laughed. Ame Kisi met my gaze and I helped her up. She¡¯d wrapped the wound on her shoulder with her clothes to stem the bleeding but was still in very bad shape. In fact, everybody had injuries all over their bodies. I gave Ame her spear, which she wielded with one hand. With Sharun and the leader of the Hon both down on the ground, the Oracle¡¯s hunters wouldn¡¯t be able to fight off Ame. I prepared a fireball with the last of my energy, just in case anyone thought they could still take us on.


    ¡°Put down your weapons,¡± said Ame. The Hon and Que looked at each other. A couple in the back tried to slip out of the camp, but were greeted with spear tips. Eventually, all the enemy hunters put down their weapons and kneeled on the ground. We collected all of their weapons and began tending to our wounded.


    ¡°How did you do that,¡± asked a Jora tribesman as he walked near the pit where the Oracle had fallen. ¡°Was it earth magic?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t have enough time to come up with a whole new type of magic. But see, sinkholes are caused by underground water, which hollows out the earth underneath. I just needed the Oracle to stand still long enough for me to make a deep, dark hole that she would never be able to crawl out of.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Her blowing herself up with her own magic was just karma.¡±


    I smiled. I also refused to explain what ¡®karma¡¯ meant. Figure it out from context, darn it!

 Chapter 47

    The tribesman told me the Oracle took our elders to the elders¡¯ tent. I went up there with a couple of Jora tribesmen and found the elders lying on beds of leaves and grass. A red glow pulsed over their heads, making them twitch in their sleep.


    ¡°Guess we know how she set up her mind control magic on Sharun,¡± I said as I gathered my strength. I put my hands on their heads and cast my mind control resistance magic. Man, I needed a catchier name for that.


    The tribesmen stayed by the elders¡¯ bedside to look after them. I went back to the campfire where the dead were being gathered and the wounded were being treated. Many elders and powerful hunters had fallen, and we still weren¡¯t sure whether Sharun would wake up. I wished I knew how to cast healing magic, but that would take too long to think up and I didn¡¯t have the energy to cast it in the first place.


    I walked up to Ame Kisi. ¡°Elder Ame,¡± I said. ¡°I wanted to thank you for helping our tribe. We are in your debt.¡±


    ¡°No, I am the one who should be thanking you. If you hadn¡¯t defeated The Terrible, the Oracle would have controlled our tribes for generations to come. I would not have been able to avenge my husband if it weren¡¯t for your actions,¡± said the elder. She put her uninjured hand on my shoulder. ¡°I am personally in your debt, child.¡±


    I asked her about the casualties. The heaviest losses had been from the Bandari and Hus tribes that had come to help us in the beginning. Fortunately, elder Ore had survived, although she was injured and unconscious. I remarked in my head that it would have been tough to tell Noel that her grandmother had died.


    Noel.


    ¡°Excuse me, elder Ame,¡± I said quickly. ¡°Did you see a young silver haired, silver eyed elf running across the plains on the way here?¡±


    ¡°Are you asking about young Noel Jora?¡± asked elder Ame. ¡°I¡¯ve met her before, but no, I didn¡¯t see her on the plains and I haven¡¯t seen her since I arrived at your camp.¡±


    I bit my lips. ¡°She should¡¯ve been back by now.¡±


    ¡°Where did she go?¡± asked the elder.


    ¡°The Oracle was being supported by the God of Evil,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, I have known that for a long time,¡± she said. ¡°But the gods do not get involved in our affairs so easily. I doubt the God of Evil will punish us for killing his followers. At least not directly.¡± She looked up into the daytime sky.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°The God of Evil was behind The Terrible, too. We knew that as long as the God of Evil was backing our enemies, we wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat them. We needed help, so¡­¡±


    Elder Ame¡¯s grip on my shoulder tightened. Her eyes widened as she said with ferocity and urgency: ¡°Do not meddle with the gods! Borrowing their power will lead to ruin!¡± She narrowed her eyes to stare into mine. She was searching for something, but what could she find in my eyes? ¡°I understand. If your enemy is backed by one god, you are tempted to reach out to his enemy. Many have gone down that road before, especially from your tribe. The Mad King, Barson Jora, and Noel¡¯s father, Rosta Jora; both went down that path, but neither succeeded, despite sacrificing their sanity. The God of Madness is not a reliable partner.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t ask the God of Madness for help,¡± I said.


    Ame Kisi frowned. ¡°The other gods are gone. Unless?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we went to the God of Madness¡¯ lover,¡± I said.


    ¡°The one from the story?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°They called themselves the Immortal of Desire.¡±


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire,¡± whispered the elder. ¡°I have not heard that name before. I have lived for many years, child. It is strange for me to not know the name of a god. Especially one that did not leave our world.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°Are you saying we can¡¯t trust them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, and no,¡± she said. ¡°Perhaps this immortal is honest and trustworthy. You have met them so you can be the judge of their character. But it is strange for me to not know their name. I have been trying to defeat the Oracle for centuries. I have searched for many gods, even the lover of the God of Madness, but I never found anything of value. Ever. How could two children find this hidden god on their own when I couldn¡¯t even find their name?¡±


    My heart began to race. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that before? In the story, nobody mentions the lover¡¯s name. But they know about the God of Madness and the God of Evil.¡±


    ¡°How did you meet the Immortal of Desire?¡± asked Ame Kisi.


    ¡°Noel showed me a secret place in a forest nearby,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯d been going there for years.¡±


    ¡°I doubt she found that place on her own,¡± said the elder.


    ¡°We went there and¡­ I felt the desire to recite some poetry,¡± I said.


    ¡°Do you have that desire often?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°But after I shared my poem, Noel shared own too. And it opened a door and then the moon and the red star appeared¡ªit was still daytime¡ªand they laughed.¡±


    ¡°They laughed?¡±


    ¡°They laughed. It was terrifying. We fell through the door and then we found the Immortal.¡±


    Ame Kisi let go of my shoulder. ¡°I see. The Immortal must have been sealed. That was why nobody had ever heard of it and why our ancestors didn¡¯t even know its name. The only question is, why did the other gods seal them? Or more importantly, why did they allow the two of you to get through the seal.¡±


    My heart was thumping in my chest. All this time, I¡¯d thought the God of Evil had been manipulating us so I could become a sacrifice. But what if they wanted something else? What if the Oracle had been wrong? ¡°I have to go.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said the elder. ¡°You can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Noel doesn¡¯t know!¡± I said, a little too loudly. ¡°I have to find her. She should have been back by now. Something is wrong and I have to find her!¡±


    ¡°Listen to me, child,¡± said the elder, ¡°the only way to win against the gods is to never fight them in the first place.¡±


    ¡°But Noel went to the Immortal of Desire!¡± I said.


    ¡°Then it is too late for her,¡± she said. ¡°But it is not too late for you. Stay here. Forget about her.¡±


    ¡°How can you say that?¡± I said. Many elves turned around to look at us. ¡°How can you ask me to forget about my friend?¡±


    ¡°Because I have been in your shoes,¡± said the elder. ¡°I have stood where you stand, caught between the games of great beings, unable to do anything but bide my time. My husband was condemned by the Oracle. She said he was insane. She said he had been punished by the God of Madness. I went around, I asked the elders of many tribes, and they told me the Oracle was working for the God of Evil. They told me I had no choice. My own tribe gave up my husband. He was my best friend since childhood; he was my soul mate. And they gave him up on the words of that crone!¡± she shouted with anger.


    ¡°Then you understand why I have to go,¡± I said.


    ¡°No!¡± she cried. ¡°I understand why you mustn¡¯t go! The God of Madness and the God of Evil, neither of them can be trusted. You must not enter the battlefield if those two are involved. Stay here. Bide your time. You can work towards revenge, although it will be tough to do so.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± I said, ¡°I have to go. I can¡¯t abandon Noel. I can¡¯t.¡±


    The elder closed her eyes. ¡°So be it. Perhaps that is your destiny. Perhaps I am the one challenging the gods by trying to keep you here.¡± She opened her eyes. The other elves that were looking on had the same intense look. ¡°You may go and try to rescue your friend, child. However, I will not allow anyone else to follow you.¡±


    I nodded. It was too dangerous. ¡°Thank you, elder. Please, take care of our tribe.¡± I began walking out of the camp.


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    I turned around. Something fell toward me and I caught it. It was the Dragon¡¯s Tooth.


    ¡°Good luck,¡± said elder Ame. The other elves said the same.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. ¡°And in case I don¡¯t come back, let me say one last time.¡± I faced towards the elders¡¯ tent. Then, I looked at the other Jora tribesmen, many of whom lay injured or dead. ¡°Thank you for being my family.¡± I bowed my head in silence before running out of the camp.

 Chapter 48

    As usual, you couldn¡¯t tell it was day under the canopy of the massive tree in the middle of the forest. I walked up to the tree trunk and repeated the poem that Noel had used to get inside. A door opened in the trunk. I looked up. It should have been day but the canopy was so thick, it almost felt like night. If I squinted, I could almost make out the moon. Or perhaps that was my imagination.


    I passed into the door and entered a dark tunnel. In one hand, I lit a torch. In the other, I gripped the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, tightly. The door closed behind me. I followed the tunnel, staring carefully into the darkness. The only sound I could hear was the crackle of the torch and the rough gristle of gravel underneath my now very well-worn hide shoes.


    Eventually, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I snuffed my torch, crouched down low, and whispered to my loudly beating heart to quieten down. I put the torch on the ground. Gripped the Dragon¡¯s Tooth with both hands. And snuck closer. The light was too bright. I could barely see anything until I was almost out of the tunnel. I took a deep breath and ran out of the tunnel, ready to stab with my weapon.


    ¡°Cas?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What are you doing, outsider?¡±


    I blinked my eyes. With my spear held overhead, I stared at Noel and the Immortal of Desire. The Immortal, in the form of thirty birds, blinked all at once. Noel turned around and frowned.


    ¡°Why are you here, Cas?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Why are you wielding that weapon at us, outsider?¡± said the lead bird, its tone carrying a hint of anger.


    ¡°Wait, that¡¯s the Dragon¡¯s Tooth,¡± said Noel. ¡°How did you get that from uncle Sharun? No, wait, why are you here? Weren¡¯t you supposed to contact the other tribes? Don¡¯t tell me you couldn¡¯t find the tomb of the Mad King.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, Noel,¡± I said, letting the Dragon¡¯s Tooth fall to my side. ¡°It¡¯s over. We did it. We fought the Oracle and we won. She¡¯s dead, Noel. We won.¡±


    Noel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That can¡¯t be. I just got here.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s been two days. I brought over the other tribes, and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Two days?¡± cried Noel.


    ¡°Something isn¡¯t right,¡± said the lead bird. ¡°How did you get in here without my permission? And what do you mean it¡¯s been two days since Noel came to meet me? I need to¡ª¡±


    I heard a sound in my left ear.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I said.


    The sound grew louder.


    Noel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I can hear it.¡±


    It felt familiar.


    The birds ruffled their feathers. A few of them took flight. ¡°This isn¡¯t good. This can¡¯t be. This is my tree, this is my seal. Nobody can come in here without my permission. Not even the other immortals. Not even¡ª¡±


    Music burst forth, flooding my ears. Hand drums, strings, and wind. A strange percussion instrument tied them all together. The song had an irresistible rhythm; a chaotic cadence that flowed through the air like a tidal wave. It came from the front, before flowing all around me, forcing me to turn to hear it like a puppet being pulled by its strings.


    It flowed as I moved; back and forth, up and down, we moved. My hair swept past my eyes. I blinked and my surroundings moved. The ground shook, the ceiling, the walls, the little fungus and roots; everything jumped and swirled and fell and moved. With the music that had no beat, the lyrics that I never noticed until they were there, in a song that felt familiar but was in a language I had never heard before. Even my translation magic couldn¡¯t decipher it.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    My eyes swam with the world and the music. Noel danced with the walls and the ceiling. The very air was dancing. My heart thumped to the rhythm. My brain sent spikes of pain and pleasure with the highs and lows of the song. Every part of my body threatened to dance away, ripping me apart in ecstasy.


    Ecstasy. That was the word. An irresistible, uncontrollable, imperceptible but intense feeling of ecstasy. I¡¯d heard it before. That word. That description. In the poem Noel used to get us inside this place in the first place. The poem I had used to open the door just moments ago.


    My lips moved on their own. My faced smiled so widely my brain wondered if the grin would fly off on its own, which made my lungs chuckle, my heart beat wilder than ever before, and made whatever it was that I considered ¡®myself¡¯ panic in a playful, pleasurable way.


    Fun. This was fun. I grabbed Noel and she grabbed me. We danced with each other, never minding if we crashed against something or stepped on a toe. The world danced with us, in tune with the music, beating thumping laughing crying screaming wildly into the night sky that tore open the ceiling like taffy.


    We let go and danced alone. My feet went up and stomped on the ground. They stomped with the drums, but perhaps I had forgotten that these were hand drums. Whoever or whatever was playing began to speed up. Thump, thump, thump, became thump thump thump. Faster and faster, wilder and wilder, like a wood pecking woodpecker or a tap dancing tap dancer. My feet followed, faster and faster, faster and faster, faster and faster still.


    And I wasn¡¯t tapping my feet, I was stomping. One foot jumped into the air before hammering into the ground, forcing me to twist my body the whole way around to prepare the second foot, which came thundering down almost immediately. And so I spun as I crashed my feet into the ground, sending tattered chunks of hide flying through the air as my poor shoes finally frayed and fell apart.


    My stomach lurched as I did this dance. My eyes, my heart, my lungs all screamed in joy, or was it pain, I couldn¡¯t tell. The music went on and on and gathered steam like a charging bull, pushing harder and harder until my sense of self melted like a popsicle left out in the sun. My vision blurred until it too, melted. My heart, my lungs, my eyes, my self, everything melted into a thick soup that gushed around, still moving to the music.


    And then it stopped.


    The drums, the wind, the strings, the percussion. The sounds stopped and the world stood still. The soup solidified into me, Noel, the ground, the walls, the ceilings, and so on until my heart, my chest, my mind froze too. I panicked. My heart had stopped. I couldn¡¯t move, I couldn¡¯t breathe. There was no pain but the panic was real, it was intense, and it filled me with a strange, paradoxical feeling.


    ¡°You taught me to drink from your eyes, the ripe red wine of love.¡±


    A wave of wine rushed forth and drowned me.


    ¡°Wrought in the heavens from pure moonlight, the whole world dances for you.¡±


    The wine turned silver and it danced like a strobe light.


    ¡°Repentance torn to tatters, I can see nothing but you. With my feet in the waves, I drink from the sea.¡±


    I was splashed with salty seawater as it crashed against the shore.


    ¡°I am drunk off your gaze, I am drunk off your love.¡±


    Everything vanished and we were back in the room in the middle of the giant tree. I looked around, Noel was free too. I gasped and breathed erratically.


    ¡°I am drunk off this gentle feeling of intense ecstasy.¡±


    I followed the voice. It was coming from the tunnel. The music was gone, but the words kept coming.


    ¡°This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I blame on your gaze.¡±


    I blinked and the figure was gone.


    ¡°This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I am drunk off your gaze.¡±


    The voice came from behind me so I turned around. A figure stood with their back to me. The Immortal of Desire was gone. The figure crouched to the ground and picked something up. A feather. A bright, multicolored feather. The figure brought the feather up to their face and I heard the sound of a deep breath. The figure exhaled.


    ¡°Thank you, Caspian Holm. I knew I was right to let you through,¡± said the figure.


    A weight jumped off my chest. I finally felt like I could speak. ¡°Who,¡± I sputtered, ¡°what are you?¡±


    The figure put its hands in the air, one of them holding tightly to the multicolored feather. ¡°I am your benefactor. The one who pretended not to know about that stupid red thing¡¯s plans. Oh, you have no idea how much I¡¯ve helped the two of you.¡±


    He turned around with his hands still in the air. ¡°And you have no idea how much you¡¯ve helped me,¡± he said as he gave us a dramatic, theatrical bow. He raised his head but kept his body in position as he said: ¡°Thank you, Caspian Holm and Noel Jora, for letting me meet my beloved, once again.¡±


    The God of Madness brought the feather to his lips and kissed it.

 Chapter 49

    The God of Madness smiled at us with a colorful feather next to his lips. His body was bent in an exaggerated bow but he turned his head up to look at us with his dark green eyes. He looked young, like a man in his early thirties. His hair was messy and he had a bunch of stubble on his face, but it was somehow charming. He came out of his bow to stand up straight, letting us see his strange clothes and impressive height. With his height, he could look down at us in more ways than one. He was wearing a sheet of white cloth wrapped around his body like a roman toga. He smiled, baring his teeth, which sparkled white even though a few were missing.


    ¡°Your beloved¡­¡± repeated Noel. ¡°What did you do with the Immortal of Desire?¡±


    The God of Madness narrowed his eyes. ¡°Is that the name you¡¯re using for my beloved? Good. If I heard their real name coming out of your lips, well, I would, you know¡­¡± He smiled softly. ¡°Destroy you.¡±


    Chills went up my spine. I involuntarily stepped back. ¡°So you¡¯re the God of Madness,¡± I said, steeling my resolve as I thought of ways to escape. Everything about meeting this guy was unsettling and I knew I had to get away as quickly as possible.


    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± he said. He faced Noel. ¡°And as for your question, girl, I didn¡¯t do anything to my beloved. I merely gazed upon their magnificence.¡± The God of Madness balled his empty fist and brought his forehead down to meet it, slowly. His fist trembled. ¡°Why do you run, my dear,¡± he whispered. ¡°You know I would never hurt you.¡± He wasn¡¯t talking to us. He opened his arms and the feather floated in the air in front of him.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I yelled, without thinking.


    The feather shone like a prism in sunlight, sending all sorts of colors through the air. Then it turned into pure light and flew into the God of Madness¡¯ chest, right above his heart. ¡°Nothing,¡± he said as he patted his chest in content. ¡°Oh, but I am so, so very happy right now!¡± He put his hands on his waist and laughed in an extravagant, exaggerated way. Deep, booming laughter echoed throughout. ¡°Once again,¡± he said as he came up to Noel and me. He put a hand on our shoulders. ¡°Thank you for helping me meet my beloved. You distracted that red idiot, won my beloved¡¯s trust, and gave me a path through my beloved¡¯s seal. I, the Immortal of Madness, am in your debt.¡±


    ¡°Immortal of Madness?¡± I repeated without thinking.


    The Immortal frowned. He got up close and pressed his forehead against mine before staring into my eyes. ¡°I see that curse the red idiot placed on you is rearing its ugly head. I gave you the name this elf¡¯s ancestors called me by, and yet the words I hear you say are quite unpleasant. Here, a little gift.¡±


    A hot, searing pain bloomed on my forehead. I wrenched myself away and grabbed my head. Noel rushed over to me but I couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying. Suddenly, the pain disappeared. In its place was a dull ache, like something heavy had been pressing on my skin for a little while.


    ¡°What did you do to him?¡± asked Noel, angrily.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± said the Immortal of Madness. ¡°I improved his translation magic, that¡¯s all. Here, Caspian Holm, listen to what I¡¯m saying.¡± And then he began speaking a language I didn¡¯t understand.


    Wait. Wasn¡¯t my translation magic supposed to translate that? I focused a little harder and¡­


    ¡°¡­if you focus, you can understand my words,¡± said the Immortal of Madness with a grin. ¡°See? I really did improve it. Now, you can turn your ability to translate languages on and off again. Of course, this applies to both your ability to understand a language and your ability to speak it. Handy, right?¡±


    I frowned, still holding my head in my hands. ¡°Thank you, I guess.¡± I would¡¯ve preferred not being in an immense amount of pain, but not accidentally offending a powerful being by saying their true name might come in handy.


    ¡°You are welcome,¡± said the Immortal. He clapped his hands together and looked at Noel. ¡°Of course, I should thank you too, young Noel.¡± He reached for Noel¡¯s forehead and tapped it. Neither Noel nor I could stop him, even though he appeared to be moving at a normal speed. It was as if we were frozen in time.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Noel cried out the same way I had. I rushed over to her but by the time I held her head in my hands, she recovered. I asked her if she was okay but she looked at my face like I was speaking gibberish.


    The Immortal laughed. ¡°You should realize that you cannot understand Caspian anymore, which should prompt you to focus a little harder. By now, you must be able to understand my words as well. Congratulations, both of you can translate languages at will! Isn¡¯t that amazing?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Noel with the same tone of resignation and caution that I was using, ¡°thank you, great Immortal.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome,¡± said the Immortal, stressing each word separately. ¡°I would love to stay and explain everything you did, everything I did, where my beloved went, and all those other burning questions that I can read on your faces, but I must be going. The red idiot is furious at being outplayed and my beloved is running far away, waiting for me to catch up. Oh, the chase is the best part.¡± He spoke with glee, like a high school girl talking about a crush. It felt strange coming from a seven foot tall man in a toga, but I guess they didn¡¯t call him the God of Madness for nothing.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°Can you tell me how to get back to my world?¡±


    The Immortal smiled. ¡°Since you didn¡¯t ask me to send you home right away, I think you like it here, don¡¯t you?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Yes, I like it here. This world is fun and exciting. I have friends here now, I can use magic, and even though I¡¯ve been fighting one insane monster after another, I feel like I¡¯m strong enough to protect myself now.¡±


    The Immortal nodded. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll tell you how to get home. If you ever get tired of this world, you can just go back! How does that sound? You can even take little Noel with you, if you want. If she wants to join you, that is.¡± Noel looked at him with surprise.


    I hesitated. ¡°That sounds too good to be true.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± said the Immortal as he walked away from us. ¡°I never said it would be easy to get back to your world.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said.


    ¡°But the way back is simple,¡± he said. ¡°You just have to be annihilated.¡±


    I blinked. I looked at Noel but she was just as flabbergasted as I was.


    ¡°You mean I can get back to my world if I die?¡± I asked.


    The Immortal snarled. Why was he so angry all of a sudden? ¡°No! Death is death. How stupid do you have to be to think dying here would bring you to another world? No, annihilation, annihilation. You must pursue annihilation!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I understand,¡± I said, slowly.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s the translation magic?¡± wondered Noel.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not the translation magic¡¯s fault,¡± said the Immortal as he dragged a hand across his face. ¡°You two are just too stupid, too unenlightened, too, too¡­ I don¡¯t even know how to explain it. You!¡± he said as he pointed to me. ¡°Are too wound up in your pretentious rationality. The knowledge of your previous world has made you arrogant.¡± As he spoke, he came closer and closer to me. ¡°Have you even tried to learn anything since you came to this world? You¡¯re in a whole new world where you can do unimaginable things, and you choose to do the imaginable?¡± He began jabbing his finger into my chest with every word. ¡°The best you can think of is adapting knowledge from your previous world to make a slightly different type of magic. I am ashamed to be a cross-dimensional traveler like you.¡±


    I blinked as I was berated by the Immortal. ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°a cross-dimensional travel¡ª¡±


    ¡°And you!¡± said the Immortal as he stepped towards Noel, completely ignoring my presence. ¡°You¡¯ve let this kid, who¡¯s like a hundred years younger than you, lead you around and teach you about the way magic works in your own world? What are you doing? Haven¡¯t you learned anything from your elders, or done any thinking or learning during your entire lifetime?¡± He knocked on Noel¡¯s forehead. ¡°Start using this thing, why don¡¯t you.¡±


    ¡°I¡ª¡± began Noel.


    The Immortal walked away. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m done. Thank you for helping me meet my beloved, sorry for sending them flying when they promised to teach you magic, oh, and sorry for taking so long with this conversation.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said, as my heart skipped a beat.


    The Immortal of Madness smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± He snapped his fingers and a bright light flashed in front of us. I closed my eyes. ¡°Goodbye, young elves. I¡¯ll be watching from you know where.¡±


    I opened my eyes to a full moon in the night sky.

 Chapter 50

    ¡°It¡¯s already nighttime,¡± I said. ¡°I must have been in there all day. No, it could have been longer.¡±


    ¡°Has it really been two days?¡± asked Noel. ¡°Or three, including today.¡±


    I nodded. I couldn¡¯t see much because of the bright light that flashed when the Immortal of Madness snapped his fingers. Patches of color flooded my vision whenever I blinked. I walked forward while rubbing my eyes.


    ¡°Wait!¡± yelled Noel.


    My stomach lurched forward as my foot fell through the ground. No, wait, there was no ground. I was going to fall! Noel grabbed the back of my tunic and pulled me back up and I fell to the ground, breathing hard, once again. I focused into the distance. We were very high up. So high up, in fact, that I couldn¡¯t see the ground. I thanked Noel for saving my life. I would¡¯ve been squished like a bug on a windshield if I fell from here.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked aloud.


    ¡°Look,¡± said Noel pointing to my feet. I looked down and my eyes widened.


    We were standing on thin, decaying wood. Looking around, we seemed to be on top of a humongous branch atop an ancient, dying tree. We would have to be careful walking on this surface, since it might collapse under us at any moment. I looked into the distance again. Then I looked up at the night sky. There was only a single, full moon, glaring brightly. No stars, not even the red one.


    ¡°He killed the giant tree,¡± I whispered.


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire¡¯s giant tree?¡± said Noel. She sat carefully on the wood. ¡°I guess there aren¡¯t any other trees tall enough to hide the ground.¡±


    ¡°But isn¡¯t he supposed to love the Immortal of Desire?¡± I wondered aloud. ¡°Why would he destroy something that belonged to his beloved?¡±


    Noel shrugged. ¡°I think it¡¯s clear he¡¯s a lousy lover.¡± She stared at the moon, but it didn¡¯t react. Noel clicked her tongue. ¡°And he¡¯s the Immortal of Madness. Madness! Who knows why he does the stuff he does.¡±


    ¡°Good point,¡± I said. ¡°Explains why he sent us up here for no reason. Any idea how we¡¯re supposed to get down?¡±


    Noel shook her head. I sighed. I put a hand to my head and sat next to Noel. I joined her in staring up at the moon. It looked much larger from this height, or maybe the Immortal of Madness was making it look bigger. Either way, it was beautiful. I took a deep breath, put my hands behind my head and laid back.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°We¡¯ll figure out a way down tomorrow,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡±


    ¡°But we have to get back to the camp!¡± said Noel.


    ¡°The Oracle is dead, remember? I dealt with her before I got here,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, right,¡± she said.


    ¡°It may have been a short time for you, but I haven¡¯t slept in two days,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve used a ton of magic and run a long, long way. I¡¯m going to collapse any second now.¡± My eyes drooped uncontrollably now that the adrenaline rush started subsiding.


    ¡°Wait!¡± said Noel. ¡°Tell me about the tribe! Did you save them?¡±


    ¡°A few dead,¡± I murmured as my eyes closed. ¡°But most of them are safe. Even Sharun.¡± My lips felt like lead and I struggled to push out any air. ¡°Good night.¡±


    ---


    I woke up to an empty stomach at dawn. My lips were parched, and my head and body still ached. Noel was still asleep. I stood up and stretched. I walked over to the edge of the branch. Only a little sunlight had filtered into the sky so I couldn¡¯t see very far. I narrowed my eyes.


    The giant tree was a skeleton of its former self. The entire canopy was gone, with only a few brown branches left. The branches were smaller and more brittle too. They didn¡¯t stretch back to the ground anymore, which meant the barrier of wood that used to guard the giant tree was gone. As the sunlight grew and the veil of night lifted, I saw the scale of the carnage the Immortal of Madness had caused.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The entire forest had disappeared. The retreating darkness revealed desolate wasteland with not a hint of green. A few dried husks of trees sprouted from the rubble, but even the rocks had been shaved away to dust and gravel. Empty riverbeds, mucked up waterbeds, and no water as far as the eye could see.


    Noel woke up with the sunlight. I wanted to say something to her but the scale of the destruction before me was too devastating. I had no idea what to say. Instead, I watched as she came to the same realization I had. The Immortal of Desire had done something crazy, and we had no idea how far this destruction had spread.


    ¡°We have to get to the camp,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t mention what was going through my head. If the destruction stretched out into the plains, would it have reached the Jora tribe¡¯s camp?


    ¡°Down,¡± said Noel. ¡°We have to get down!¡± Noel started searching near the edge and I grabbed her. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she said. ¡°Come on, there¡¯s no time to waste! I knew we should have gone back right away.¡±


    ¡°Calm down,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous to climb from this height. The wood is too brittle and I don¡¯t have any experience climbing trees.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll use magic!¡± said Noel. She wrenched herself free but didn¡¯t go to the edge this time. ¡°Come on! Enough rain to cause a flood down there and we can jump right down!¡±


    ¡°From this height?¡± I said. ¡°No, that won¡¯t work. We wouldn¡¯t be able to create enough water anyway. The air is dry and I don¡¯t think we¡¯d have the energy to get back to camp if we cast that much magic. What about blasting fire magic under our feet and jumping off? We might be able to reduce the speed at which we¡¯re falling if we do it right.¡±


    Noel shook her head. ¡°No, our fire magic isn¡¯t that easy to control. Flames can vary in intensity and besides, how would we practice it? We¡¯d set this whole tree on fire if we tried testing it up here.¡±


    ¡°And it¡¯s too dangerous testing it for the first time when we jump off,¡± I said as I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. Maybe motion magic?¡±


    ¡°We could use it to help us climb down the tree trunk,¡± Noel said. ¡°Having a couple extra limbs will make it easier to hold on, especially if a piece of the trunk breaks up or something.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be perfect,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not very good at climbing and the invisible hands from motion magic take a lot more energy than normal ones. We might be too tired by the time we reach the bottom.¡±


    ¡°What choice do we have? It¡¯s not like we have the time to come up with another type of magic,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°We could try coming up with an elemental magic spell that helps us control the air, but making that strong enough to soften our fall will be tough.¡±


    And so we decided to scale the side of the dead giant tree with motion magic. We were prepared to use fire or water magic to cushion our fall if things went wrong, but honestly, there was no hope for survival if we fell from this height.


    We held onto a knot at the end of the branch with our invisible hands, carefully walked to the edge, and started climbing down. Holding onto the knot tightly, we used our actual hands and legs to hug the surface and crawl down. I gulped as the nooks and footholds I was exploring with my feet crumbled. I only put my weight down when I was sure the foothold was strong enough and, taking Noel¡¯s advice, I made sure to only move one real limb at a time.


    I looked to the side and Noel was gone. My breath got stuck in my throat as I searched for her. I heard something from below and found Noel dozens of feet below me. I cursed my childhood decision not to play on the jungle gym in the playground and refusing my friend Samantha¡¯s invitation to go rock climbing in college.


    As I gingerly climbed down the tree, I eventually glanced down. Vertigo gripped me immediately and I hugged the surface and closed my eyes. My heart was racing like mad. I breathed deeply to calm down. I wasn¡¯t afraid of heights, but this was way too high.


    I collected my thoughts, brought one of my magic hands to a knot on the side of the tree, and used it to anchor myself as I went down. Eventually, I had to bring both of my magic hands down from the top of the branch since they were getting too long and using too much energy.


    Breathing deeply, I slowly climbed down. I put one hand in a nook, put one foot on a knot, and sometimes made a hole in the trunk with motion magic if there wasn¡¯t one. The sun was blazing overhead and I hadn¡¯t eaten in at least a day. I¡¯d made some watering stops on the way to the giant tree, but that felt like ages ago.


    My foothold crumbled unexpectedly. My other foot was dangling in the air, since it had been searching for another foothold underneath. I hung on with my hands but my fingers began to numb. My head ached as my magic hands began holding more of my weight. My hand slipped. I refused to look down. My heart began to beat like a hummingbird¡¯s wings and I considered just jumping off and hoping my fire magic propulsion idea would work.


    ¡°Come on already,¡± came a voice from below.


    I peeked from under my eyelids and saw Noel standing on the ground a few feet below me with her hands on her hips. I blinked a couple of times, letting my chest calm down. I coughed a little as I jumped down beside her.


    Fixing my very damaged and ruffled clothes, I said: ¡°Let¡¯s not do that again.¡±

 Chapter 51

    There was no water on the wasteland that used to be a forest. I couldn¡¯t find any plants, animals, or even insects. It was deader than a desert. Noel and I used water magic to condense water from the air, but it took a lot of energy to do so. Hunger replaced thirst, but there was nothing to forage.


    The sun was relentless. It baked the earth, creating cracks in the ground and made me wish my shoes weren¡¯t so tattered as to be non-existent. If there was any wildlife here, it must come out at night. Noel and I considered casting rain magic to bait out some food, but it was too risky. What if nothing came out? We¡¯d be goners.


    Instead, we figured out the direction we had to go thanks to the path of the sun, and held up light pieces of bark from the giant tree to shield ourselves from the sunlight. We kept an eye out for anything to eat, but found nothing. I¡¯d heard people ate tree bark in times of desperation, but the bark we had was definitely not good enough to eat.


    ¡°I know he¡¯s supposed to be mad and everything,¡± I said. ¡°But don¡¯t you think this is a little extreme, even for him?¡±


    ¡°According to the story, the God of Madness fought the God of Evil because the latter insulted his beloved. Wiping out an entire forest seems exactly like the sort of thing he¡¯d do on a whim.¡±


    I grumbled. ¡°How big was this forest, anyway?¡± I looked up at the sky. The sun was well on its way down, which meant we¡¯d been walking from dawn to late afternoon.


    Noel stopped. ¡°We should¡¯ve been out of the forest by now.¡±


    I nodded grimly. ¡°So we¡¯re on the Plains of Serenity.¡±


    The plains definitely didn¡¯t look serene anymore. The desolation was even worse than before, since there were no tree husks nor large rocky outcrops. As far as the eye could see, was wasteland sprinkled in dust. Winds blew the dust in formations above the earth, which quickly faded away in the vast emptiness.


    Noel and I didn¡¯t speak again. We found our first sign of life soon after. A centipede-like monster crawled out of the shade under a large rock when we got close. I burned it to cinders with a fireball, which made Noel mad.


    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°We can¡¯t eat that thing!¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ve eaten monsters before.¡±


    ¡°Those monsters were different,¡± I said. ¡°All of them were looked and tasted like plants. This one was clearly an insect.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Have you ever eaten a monster like that before? What if it was poisonous?¡± I said.


    ¡°There is nothing else to eat,¡± Noel said through gritted teeth.


    ¡°Maybe there is,¡± I said. I cautiously approached the monster¡¯s rock and lifted it up a little with motion magic. We found a couple of large eggs. I had no idea if these were safe to eat, but it was clear that we were desperate. We cooked them with fire magic and prayed to the Immortal of Desire that this wouldn¡¯t kill us.


    After not dying from hunger or thirst, we made good time along the wastelands that used to be the Plains of Serenity. The sun was less harsh, our bodies less tired, and our spirits a little uplifted. We found a few other monsters on our way to the camp, but only a couple looked edible. Still, it was enough. The sun was orange and almost at the horizon by the time we reached the rocks that hid the Jora tribe¡¯s camp.


    My heart skipped a beat. Noel and I rushed forward. The rocks were covered in a mound of dirt, barely peeking out from the ground. We ran behind them to find an empty field. No tents, no campfire, no Jora tribesmen. There were no markings or signs that this place had ever been a campsite. If it hadn¡¯t been for the barely visible rocks at the front, we wouldn¡¯t even have known that we were here.


    Noel dropped to the ground and started digging with her hands. I tried to lift her up but she struggled free and began digging again. I convinced her to use motion magic instead, and the two of us began excavating the land. She¡¯d picked a place near the back of the camp. Our invisible hands brushed past something strange. Flint. We found small stone utensils and tools. Digging around the area, we found no tents nor dead bodies.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°They made it out,¡± I said at last. ¡°They might have left in a hurry but they made it out.¡±


    Noel nodded but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Noel¡­¡± I began.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she said. ¡°If they left, they must be at the highlands. It was almost summer when we left. They had enough food. They¡¯re okay,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re okay.¡±


    I looked at her, silently. Her eyes were unfocused and she was clearly holding in her worst thoughts. Just in case saying them out loud made them real. I decided to do the same. We stuck around the camp for a little while. There was nothing to scavenge or recover. The only thing we found were the few pieces of flint we¡¯d dug up in the beginning.


    With the sun beginning to set, we decided to go hunting. However, we couldn¡¯t find anything but small insect-like monsters even as the temperature began to fall. Noel thought the elves might have gone to the highlands so we were going to have to go there too.


    But there wasn¡¯t enough food. Without food we wouldn¡¯t have the energy to cast water magic, either. Noel suggested we make traps in various locations around the desolate plains with insect monsters as bait. The elves used snares made out of sinew or plant fiber as well as pitfall traps for big game.


    Unfortunately, most monsters were too powerful to catch with normal snares and pitfall traps. The elves used clever designs such as heavy weights and water to kill their prey, but traps were mostly designed to catch small animals, not proper prey.


    Still, I remembered a trap from a documentary I¡¯d seen, once upon a time. I told Noel about the design and she seemed to like it, so we went about trying to set it up. Noel went to a handful of places with dried up riverbeds and ponds and dug large holes on their sides. I searched for large rocks or withered trees that could be given pointy ends.


    With the last rays of sunlight threatening to leave the sky, I ran over to Noel. We split up and inserted the sharp pointy rocks and sticks to the bottom of the holes that Noel had dug and covered the top with things like dried grass, withered tree bark, and even our own clothes. We sprinkled a little dirt on top to hide the traps as best we could, then filled the dried riverbeds and ponds with a little water. After gently putting a little insect monster meat on top of the traps, we ran back to what used to be the Jora tribe¡¯s camp and settled in for the night.


    But neither of us could go to sleep. Neither wanted to share what thoughts were keeping us awake, but we wanted to talk about something. Something that would take our minds off things.


    ¡°See, there was this guy,¡± I said, ¡°his name was Julius Caesar and he went on like this campaign¡ª¡±


    ¡°Campaign?¡± she said. ¡°My new translation magic is giving me a weird explanation for that word. What does it mean?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°I meant he went to fight against some other tribes.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± she said.


    ¡°His tribe called those other tribes the Gauls, and so when Julius Caesar was on his Gallic campaign, he wrote a book.¡±


    ¡°A book?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Right, look, never mind. The point is, he went to fight another tribe, and told other people about it. While describing those battles, he explained the trap that we built today. He called them lilies, because they kind of looked like a flower from back home, but nowadays people call it a trou de loup,¡± I said.


    ¡°A wolf hole?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°isn¡¯t translation magic great?¡±


    ¡°This wolf hole, it¡¯s like a pitfall but with something sharp at the bottom. We¡¯ve tried stuff like that before but monster hide is tough. They might not get killed,¡± she said.


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°then I hope you like insects.¡±


    We talked about random things into the night and went to sleep with the moon staring back at us once again.


    ---


    In the morning, we went around to our trous de loup. Most of them were empty, with some having never been triggered at all. Only one had a large looking monster inside it. The monster seemed to have whacked its head on the sharp rock rather than being pierced by it, but hey, it looked like a giant cow and I was starving.


    We ate what we could and dried up some meat to take with us. We left what used to be our home and started walking towards the highlands.

 Chapter 52

    ¡°We need new magic,¡± I said as we walked under the searing sun across the barren wasteland.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have time,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Our traps aren¡¯t working and we can¡¯t hunt at night. These monsters aren¡¯t very strong but they¡¯re great at hiding and even better at running away. In the moonlight, they see us before we see them. With torches, they run away before we¡¯re anywhere near them,¡± I said.


    ¡°The highlands are far away,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I know, you said it¡¯ll take a few weeks,¡± I said.


    ¡°Did I?¡± she said.


    ¡°You said the number of days, I¡¯m choosing to use weeks because that¡¯s what I learned back home,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s weird to put seven days together and give it a name,¡± she said.


    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong,¡± I said. ¡°There were some people who wanted to put ten days together, but they cut off a lot of people¡¯s heads which made some of their ideas a little controversial.¡±


    ¡°Ten days does make more sense,¡± she said. ¡°One day for each finger.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, just don¡¯t go around cutting people¡¯s necks,¡± I said. ¡°Anyways, magic. You¡¯re right it¡¯ll take too long if we stop, but how about coming up with some magic while we walk?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll use energy,¡± she said. We stopped to make some water to drink. It was Noel¡¯s turn to cast the water magic. ¡°Every time we use magic, I can feel the energy leaving my body. And every time we¡¯ve come up with a new type of magic, we¡¯ve had to cast a lot of magic spells and used a massive amount of energy. Not to mention the time it takes to get it right.¡±


    ¡°True,¡± I said, pointedly, ¡°but think of how much time we would gain if we had full bellies. And we can reduce the time it takes to come up with new magic by using a system we¡¯ve already worked on before.¡±


    ¡°You want to come up with a new type of motion magic that helps us walk faster?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t a bad idea,¡± I said, ¡°but I think that¡¯s going to be pretty complicated. It¡¯s one thing to help us rush forward in a burst of speed, but the type of magic that would increase our speed at a constant rate? Yeah, that¡¯s gonna take a lot of time and energy to invent.¡±


    ¡°Bursts of speed might help us catch some of those monsters that run away from our torches,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°No, the problem there isn¡¯t speed, it¡¯s the fact we can¡¯t see in the dark,¡± I said.


    ¡°How tough would it be to come up with magic that helps us do that?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°What, you want to create night vision magic?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I think we¡¯ll need to work on a lot of physics based magic before we get to something like light. No, I¡¯m thinking something that¡¯ll help us with our traps.¡±


    ¡°What is with you and traps,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°They make sense in our situation, okay!¡± I said, a little too loudly. Noel smiled and I rolled my eyes. ¡°Fine, traps are cool. They save time and aren¡¯t as tough to set up as it is to go hunting.¡±


    ¡°Alright, alright,¡± said Noel. ¡°What kind of magic do we need to make?¡±


    ¡°To save time, let¡¯s use a system we¡¯ve already invented,¡± I said. ¡°So far, we¡¯ve used chemical processes to create fire magic, elemental and physical systems for water and rain, and physics and mechanics for motion magic. Honestly, we¡¯ve mixed in philosophy, history, and geophysics, but broadly speaking, those are the systems we¡¯ve used.¡±


    ¡°I know I have translation magic now, but that still made no sense,¡± said Noel, dryly.


    Right, got a little carried away there. ¡°What I mean is that we¡¯ve come up with three different types of magic, and we¡¯ve used different systems and processes to develop them. For fire, we used the process that makes things burn. For water, we used the elemental system which says everything is a mix of different elements but we also used the water cycle, which relies on a different system. And for motion magic, we mostly used mechanics, which is the system that makes things move. Although my special ¡®still life¡¯ magic uses a weird branch of philosophy.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°You still need to teach me that magic, by the way,¡± said Noel.


    I pouted. ¡°But I was gonna make it my thing.¡±


    ¡°Your thing?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°my thing. Like, my own exclusive magic. Everybody would go: hey, look, that¡¯s the great ¡®still life¡¯ magician Cas! He¡¯s the guy who uses ¡®still life¡¯ magic!¡±


    Noel wore a deadpan expression as she said: ¡°Nobody¡¯s going to call you that.¡±


    ¡°Yes they will!¡± I said.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll tell people to call you that if you teach me the spell,¡± she said.


    ¡°Actually,¡± I said, with a small laugh. ¡°Promise to make sure no one ever calls me that, and I¡¯ll teach you.¡±


    ¡°Deal,¡± she said. ¡°But back to the new magic.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯ll be tough setting up traps with fire, and I don¡¯t think we can use that system to come up with something right now.¡±


    ¡°What about the elemental system?¡± said Noel. ¡°I remember earth and wind are also elements, so we could use earth magic to dig deeper pitfalls or wind magic to cut things into sharper edges.¡±


    I was about to criticize her suggestion like I usually did, but I stopped with my mouth still open. I furrowed my brows as I began thinking. ¡°Actually, that isn¡¯t a bad idea.¡±


    ¡°Right?¡± said Noel. ¡°We already have all the assumptions in place, we just have to apply them to earth or wind or maybe even both. I know we used a different system for fire, but we could make an elemental version of that too.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, slowly. ¡°Since when did you get so good at inventing magic?¡±


    Noel shrugged. ¡°Remember what the Immortal of Madness said?¡± Noel smiled. ¡°I¡¯m much older than you!¡±


    ¡°No, wait, that¡¯s not¡ª¡± I began.


    ¡°You used to complain about it,¡± she said. ¡°But I was right all along. You better be more respectful in the future, child!¡±


    I facepalmed. ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°Whatever you say, grandma.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean¡ª¡± she began.


    ¡°Oh, back on my Earth, people over a hundred years old aren¡¯t even grandmas. At your age, people became great-grandmas, or even great-great grandmas!¡± I said with a smile.


    We bickered like that as we crossed over the desolate wasteland. There was nothing else to do and neither of us wanted to linger too long on our thoughts. Talking like this was a distraction, and a welcome one, at that.


    ¡°What kind of magic did you want to make, anyway?¡± asked Noel once we ran out of things to say about age.


    ¡°What do you mean? Your idea should be good enough. Let¡¯s work some more on elemental magic,¡± I said.


    Noel shook her head. ¡°I could tell you had something else in mind. We won¡¯t be reaching the highlands for a long time. We can make more than a couple of spells.¡±


    ¡°Well, I was thinking about using the system we have for motion magic,¡± I said. ¡°But instead of magic that causes motion, like our invisible hands that can move and throw things, we come up with a type of magic that detects motion.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°Then we can set up a trap that activates when our magic detects motion.¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡± I said.


    ¡°But what kind of traps would that work with?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°We could balance something heavy, like a big rock, so that it falls when our magic is activated,¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯ve made traps like that, especially for small animals,¡± said Noel. ¡°We couldn¡¯t make any this time because we didn¡¯t have any plant fibers or sinew.¡±


    I shrugged. It was basically a substitute for rope but that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t a good idea. ¡°We could also use this magic to set up a perimeter around our camp. That way we don¡¯t have to take turns on night watch. Not like we¡¯ve been doing a great job with that lately.¡±


    ¡°I told you,¡± said Noel. ¡°The fire will keep away most monsters.¡±


    ¡°But what if there¡¯s another monster like that one star Farro bird? It wasn¡¯t afraid of fire and neither was The Terrible,¡± I said.


    ¡°Fine, fine. We can work on your motion detection magic too,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Wanna race?¡± I said.


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± she said.


    ¡°You work on your elemental magic and I¡¯ll work on my motion detection magic. My magic is a little more complicated, so you have to do both air and earth. Last one to finish their spells is in charge of water duty for the day!¡± I said. I instantly began focusing my magic.


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Noel as she focused her magic too. ¡°you started first, that¡¯s not fair!¡±


    I laughed but refused to reply. I breathed deeply as we continued walking. As the sun went down its path in the sky, Noel and I distracted ourselves with a little bit of magic.

 Chapter 53

    ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± said Noel as she made a rock roll on the ground.


    ¡°Yes it is,¡± I said as I smiled, smugly.


    ¡°You can¡¯t even see your magic,¡± she said as she made the rock roll around some more.


    ¡°But it works,¡± I said.


    ¡°Who cares about air, anyway?¡± she said.


    ¡°You do, you¡¯re breathing it in right now,¡± I said.


    We were bickering because I¡¯d ¡®won¡¯ our little race. Noel finished her earth elemental magic before I finished my motion detection magic, but she hadn¡¯t finished her air elemental magic yet. I wasn¡¯t actually expecting to win, since her elemental magic was basically the water elemental magic we had already developed but for earth and air instead. However, apparently I had underestimated the complication of the elemental system.


    The elemental system was based on the ancient idea that everything in existence was composed of some combination of the basic elements. These elements, as we had defined them for our own system of magic were: fire, water, earth, air, and void or aether. As such, they were borrowed from the Greek system adopted by people like Plato and Aristotle. Each element could be a combination of properties like hot and cold or wet and dry. I had explained this definition to Noel before, but since ¡®Earth¡¯ was supposed to be ¡®cold¡¯ like water but ¡®dry¡¯ like fire, it required a different type of ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ to turn the idea into a magic spell.


    The water elemental magic we had invented attempted to use the water that ¡®made up¡¯ other things in our spell. Of course, the real world was not actually all composed of these four or five elements, so the system required a bunch of assumptions about existence and the material world. The problem with earth elemental magic was that earth was solid, unlike water.


    While you could easily imagine water being a ¡®part¡¯ of other things since water can seep into and be absorbed by porous things, like certain trees or dirt, earth was harder to visualize as being a part of other things. If earth fell on wood, it wouldn¡¯t seep inside and appear like it had become a part of the substance. Earth could hold up a tree, it could be mixed into water to form mud, and so on, but in all of those states, it would appear to be separate.


    And so Noel had to directly use the attributes of ¡®cold¡¯ and ¡®dry¡¯ to think about the way the element of ¡®earth¡¯ made up other parts of existence. It was thanks to that sort of thinking that she was able to create earth out of wood or stone. She had to completely define ¡®earth¡¯ instead of assuming it meant something like dirt or ground. It was a fun, useful exercise in pure reason and its applications in our magical but material world, but definitely took a lot longer than I had expected.


    ¡°My magic, on the other hand,¡± I said aloud.


    ¡°Why are you explaining everything that I already came up with for my magic,¡± said Noel, dryly.


    ¡°Because it¡¯ll help you get your thoughts in order,¡± I said.


    ¡°My thoughts are in order,¡± she said. She made some dirt fall out of her hand. ¡°See? I can use earth elemental magic.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s so I can get my own thoughts in order.¡± I put my own hand above hers and dropped dirt on top of it.


    Noel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You can use it already?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°What can I say? You¡¯re a great teacher.¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°But I didn¡¯t¡­ you know what, never mind. Thank you. You¡¯re a great student, too.¡±


    Darn. I was hoping to get a better reaction than that. It was boring trudging along the open wasteland with nothing to do. Thankfully, it was almost sundown and we could start setting up camp for the night. But first, we went around a few promising locations and set up some traps.


    ¡°How did you come up with motion detection magic so quickly, anyway?¡± asked Noel as we dug out a hole with motion magic. Elemental earth magic used a lot more energy to dig or move earth than simple motion magic did. Not surprising, since it didn¡¯t rely on understanding the chemical composition of earth or its physical properties.


    ¡°Well, our system for motion magic was based on really old understandings of motion, which means it¡¯s not as efficient as real motion magic will be once I have some time to actually work on it. Give me a dozen years or so and I¡¯ll be moving mountains, I¡¯m sure of it!¡± I said.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°You can be smug later,¡± she said. ¡°Explain your magic already.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°See, Aristotle had a weird and contradictory explanation of motion. Some people thought that by motion Aristotle meant ¡®change¡¯ while others said his definition of motion would include things like life itself!¡±


    ¡°Life itself?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°It makes sense, though, doesn¡¯t it? To be alive is like being in motion. You start from rest and end at rest with a bunch of potentialities in the middle. For Aristotle, motion was kind of like a mix between actuality and potentiality. Or at least, people like Saint Thomas Aquinas thought so. Aquinas was this other guy who commented a lot on older thinkers like Aristotle. He figured that Aristotle thought of motion as a state of being both what something is already and as that something being something that it is not.¡±


    Noel sighed. ¡°I really, really hoped this translation magic would make it easier to understand your horrible explanations.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll try to explain it in a different way. If we¡¯re in motion, according to Aquinas, Aristotle would think we are both in the place we started and at the place we ended. We¡¯re not sure if that means that, if we went from our camp to this trap, we would be to some degree in a state of being in both places while traveling, or if this only applies to the moment of motion, so like, when I have my foot in the air or something. Motion itself is confusing, but trying to understand it the way people like Aristotle understood it, makes it even more confusing.¡±


    ¡°Then why did you use that understanding for your magic?¡± I asked.


    I snapped my fingers. ¡°That¡¯s because, I didn¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± I repeated.


    Noel shook her head and glared at me. ¡°I think I need to beat you up a little to teach you not to waste my time!¡±


    I laughed. ¡°Okay, fine, I used it a little bit. See, Aristotle had an effect on other thinkers, and I ended up using one of those other thinkers¡¯ ideas for this magic. See, there was this guy called Avicenna, and he figured that motion was kind of like being in a state between two other states or ¡®termini¡¯. He at first tried to keep the Aristotelian idea that motion required the object to be in the beginning and at the end in a sort of continual, connected state, but eventually figured out that motion was not the connection that included the beginning and the end, but merely the space between the beginning and the end.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Noel, ¡°that makes more sense. So motion was not us moving from one place to another but only the movement between those places itself.¡± Noel frowned again. ¡°Wait, how is that different from how I think about motion anyway?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then what was the point of this whole thing?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Arguably, none!¡± I said. Before Noel could get angry, I continued: ¡°Well, actually, it gave me a system of thinking that could be easily applied to this magic. See, for Avicenna, the state of being at either terminus or end, was different from being in the state of motion between those termini. This means my magic has a way of differentiating between things that are not moving and things that are moving, by assuming two fixed spaces are termini.¡±


    ¡°Two fixed spaces?¡± she said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that limit your magic a little too much?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°This magic isn¡¯t perfect. Since I don¡¯t know what the object of movement will be, I need to set up another object first and my magic will only detect when this other object is moved.¡±


    ¡°In other words, it works best with ropes,¡± said Noel. ¡°And us not having any rope was the entire reason you wanted to come up with this magic, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right, it works best with rope, but it also works with sticks, rocks, leaves and stuff like that,¡± I said.


    ¡°Alright,¡± Noel said. ¡°At least it isn¡¯t completely useless.¡±


    ¡°I know right?¡± I said as I put a large but light rock on top of the hole we were digging.


    ¡°Hey,¡± said Noel. ¡°That¡¯s too big! If we put the bait on top, the monster might not fall in.¡±


    I crouched near the bottom of the rock. A small pebble had been lodged into the corner of the rock. ¡°Actually, the only thing stopping this rock from falling inside the hole is this little pebble. If I connect this pebble as one terminus of my motion detection magic, anything that moves the bait we leave on top of this large rock will cause this pebble to move and the whole trap will trigger!¡±


    Noel looked at the pebble and saw me cast my magic. On the way back to camp, I helped her understand my motion detection magic.


    ¡°Hey Cas,¡± said Noel as I explained Avicenna¡¯s concept of termini to her.


    ¡°Yes Noel?¡± I said.


    ¡°Do you like making things more complicated than they need to be?¡± she said.


    I smiled and said, with great confidence: ¡°Yes, I do!¡±


    She made me help her with elemental air magic that night.

 Chapter 54

    ¡°Air is supposed to be ¡®wet¡¯ and ¡®hot¡¯ according to the elemental system,¡± I said. ¡°Which means it¡¯s a lot easier to create than water or earth but much harder to control.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± said Noel as she glared at me.


    ¡°So it¡¯s only natural that we run into a few issues here and there. We¡¯re inventing a whole new magic spell, after all. Accidents are bound to happen,¡± I said.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Noel again.


    ¡°Which means it isn¡¯t my fault my air magic went out of control and blew our food into the dirt,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh really?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes, really,¡± I said, ¡°you would have done the same thing if you were working on it on your own.¡±


    ¡°Are you done making excuses?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said with an exaggerated sigh as I stared at my feet. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I blew the food into dirt.¡±


    And so we spent some time cleaning out the horrible insect meat with water before putting it over the fire again. It came out crispier than ever and we had to force it down with a ton of water.


    ¡°God, I hope those traps catch something better,¡± I said.


    ¡°Which god are you asking?¡± said Noel as she looked to the sky.


    Both the moon and the red star were out. The moon was waning after dominating the sky for the past few days, and the red star finally appeared. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what the Immortal of Madness had done to make the God of Evil¡¯s red star disappear from the sky, but it seemed like things would be back to normal soon.


    ¡°Neither,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe the Immortal of Desire, but who knows where those birds have gone.¡±


    Noel finished her food and used some water to wash out her mouth. Nobody wanted ashy insect meat in their teeth. ¡°They were supposed to teach us magic.¡±


    ¡°Would¡¯ve been nice to have a mentor,¡± I said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t have blown our food into the dirt if we had a mentor.¡±


    Noel chuckled. ¡°Did you set up the perimeter?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I put motion detection magic in a circle around the map. It¡¯ll only work for land based monsters, though. I haven¡¯t figured out how to make this work properly for flying stuff.¡±


    ¡°Maybe pick random spots above our heads,¡± suggested Noel.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea,¡± I said. I cast motion detection magic right over our camp. It would only give me a few seconds to react to any dive bombing flying monsters, but hey, that was better than nothing!


    ¡°Man,¡± I said, lying flat on the ground. ¡°I¡¯m cold, hungry, and tired as hell.¡±


    ¡°So am I,¡± said Noel as she lay down too. We couldn¡¯t find any leaves or even wood in this part of the wilderness, so we were sleeping on the ground. I was especially tired because of all the motion detection magic I¡¯d cast and Noel was tired because she had to keep the fire magic running so we could cook our food. If you could even call what we ate, ¡®food¡¯.


    ¡°Hey, Cas,¡± whispered Noel after I closed my eyes.


    I kept my eyes closed as I replied: ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Do you think¡ª¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I was going to ask.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I hesitated. ¡°If it¡¯s not about what we¡¯re both thinking, what we¡¯re both avoiding thinking about¡­ then sure. Go ahead.¡±


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯re strong enough?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Strong enough?¡± I repeated. ¡°Strong enough to do what?¡±


    ¡°You know,¡± said Noel as I heard her shuffling around. ¡°Strong enough to fight monsters.¡±


    ¡°We just ate a couple of monsters for dinner, didn¡¯t we?¡± I said.


    ¡°Those don¡¯t count,¡± she said. ¡°I mean, everyone we¡¯ve fought so far has always been tougher than we expected. The one star Farro Bird, The Terrible, and you even fought the Oracle. We spent all that time working on our magic, convinced we¡¯d be able to take on those big, powerful enemies, and we barely made it. Every time.¡±


    ¡°We won, didn¡¯t we? Every time,¡± I said.


    ¡°We were lucky,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re not going to be lucky all the time.¡±


    ¡°I mean, when your tribesmen went out to hunt, wasn¡¯t there always some luck involved? Like, finding the right prey or not attracting a powerful predator. Complaining about being lucky is kind of pointless, isn¡¯t it?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t. Do you think our hunters went into the wild every day with no idea where the monsters were going to be?¡± she said.


    I opened my eyes. ¡°...yes?¡±


    Noel shook her head. ¡°What were they teaching you in your tribe? Even children know about the connection between hunters and the land. We don¡¯t know exactly where the monsters are going to be, but we know some things. We know the watering holes, the domains of fierce predators, the kinds of things that anger some monsters and comfort others. We even move groups of monsters around by scaring them or offering bait. Sometimes we¡¯ll gather droppings from powerful monsters to stop weaker ones from moving into an area. Or we might want to cull some monsters by driving them into an area with powerful predators. And there are other tricks and techniques. There isn¡¯t as much luck involved in a successful hunt as you think.¡±


    Huh. I guess I hadn¡¯t exactly learned about hunting practices in prehistoric hunter gatherer societies. My college course did a great job explaining certain aspects of prehistoric culture and technology, but it didn¡¯t talk too much about everyday life. I guess it was the difference between knowing that archaeologists had found a doll in an excavation site and actually playing with that doll in real life. To the archaeologists, that doll was an important window into social structures, attitudes towards childhood, and might even serve as a demographic or technological indicator. But to a little girl, her doll was just her doll. It was important to her because she liked to play with it, and her family made it for her because they wanted her to be happy. Learning about hunting in a college classroom might tell me things about the people I was studying, but it wouldn¡¯t help me understand them as real, actual people, the way I could understand people from my own time and setting.


    The Immortal of Madness¡¯ words came to mind: Have you even tried to learn anything since you came to this world? You¡¯re in a whole new world where you can do unimaginable things, and you choose to do the imaginable?


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said, at last. ¡°We¡¯ve been lucky so far, but our luck might run out.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°Neither of us have been hunters for long. In fact, we did barely any hunting in the few days for which we¡¯ve been ¡®official hunters.¡¯ But I¡¯ve learned a lot from hunters like uncle Sharun.¡± Noel paused on his name. She looked to the side of our little makeshift camp. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth lay on the ground, mostly splintered and with many of its microliths missing or completely broken. It had been with us since I grabbed it from the unconscious Sharun after defeating the Oracle. ¡°I think we can make better use of our magic if we learn to be better hunters. And I think we will be stronger if we learn to be better hunters. And finally, I think we need to be stronger to fight the kinds of monsters we¡¯ve been fighting so far. I don¡¯t want luck to determine if we live or die every time we fight a monster with a star on its forehead,¡± Noel finished.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°That makes sense. Although you¡¯re going to have to take the lead on this one. I have no idea how to hunt stuff.¡±


    ¡°Wow, no otherworldly hunting knowledge on hunting?¡± said Noel. ¡°I was expecting you to pull something useful out of that brain of yours. I¡¯m sure this must be a humbling experience for you.¡±


    I grumbled a little. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll polish my ego by teaching you something else in return.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to teach me something? Is it going to be about magic?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°No,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then I don¡¯t want it,¡± she said.


    ¡°It won¡¯t help you with magic directly,¡± I said, ¡°but it might help make you better at magic. Some might even say, it¡¯ll make you, stronger.¡± I emphasized the last word.


    ¡°Fine,¡± said Noel. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you hunting, and you¡¯ll teach me¡­¡±


    I rolled over so I was facing Noel. Her silver eyes were way too close so I scooted over. I brushed her hair out of the dirt in between us, earning myself a silent glare for throwing dust on her face.


    ¡°You¡¯ll teach me hunting and I¡¯ll¡­¡± I picked up the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, which was the only stick I had on hand, and used the tail end to make some shapes on the ground. ¡°¡­teach you how to write.¡±

 Chapter 55 (Intermezzo)

    Her vision was blurry in the morning. She rubbed her eyes and blinked. Her friend was still asleep, snoring from time to time. Noel lay flat on her back for a little bit, looking up at the sky. The moon and red star still stood proudly in the heavens. The vast expanse stretched from one corner to another and Noel wondered, like she often did as a child, what was up there.


    That is, what was up there besides insane, evil, and insanely evil gods.


    It didn¡¯t look like Cas was going to wake up any time soon so Noel stood up and stretched. Her back ached from having slept on the craggy ground, but there was no decent campsite for miles. At least she¡¯d slept on a full stomach. She didn¡¯t want to admit it, but Cas¡¯ motion detection magic had been incredibly useful. They finally caught non-insect monsters with those traps! The meat didn¡¯t taste amazing, but it was much better than crunchy insect shells and creepy legs that got stuck between her teeth.


    Noel walked behind a walk a little distance from the camp. She hid behind it and began washing up with water magic. She remarked to herself how useful this magic would have been if she¡¯d learned it when she was younger. Going to the river or watering hole every day had been tiring and dangerous. They usually left with an escort of hunters to frighten any monsters that tried to claim the water source as their own. Sometimes the elves had to back away, like when they were confronted by a Carica Serpent.


    Thinking about Carica Serpents made Noel pause. She leaned against the rock behind her and allowed herself to slink to the ground. She played around with the water in her hand; cupping it, pouring it into her other hand, or letting it flow slowly along the outline of her hand like a snake. No thoughts came to her mind, only an echo of sorrow, the shadow of melancholy. She cast motion magic and sent out an invisible hand. The invisible hand dragged a roughly made, splintering stick to her lap. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth.


    I wonder what Holly was doing right now, thought Noel to herself. She continued to play with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth and the snakelike water, but her thoughts never solidified into anything to do with her father. Instead, she wondered what her old friend Holly was up to.


    Holly was Noel¡¯s oldest friend. She was the oldest child in the Jora tribe when Noel was growing up, so she was like an older sister to all the other children. Holly loved waking up at the crack of dawn. She often washed her hair while letting the first rays of sunlight bounce off the water. Since it was too dangerous to go to the water sources on her own that early in the morning, Holly always kept a little water in a hollowed out gourd from the day before. All so she could wash up before anyone else.


    Right, thought Noel, Holly married that guy from the Kisi tribe. Noel hated that guy. She always avoided him whenever he came to visit his wife¡¯s tribe. Noel chuckled. Why had she done that anyway? He was a nice guy and Holly loved him. Noel realized she only disliked him because he¡¯d taken away her ¡®older sister¡¯ Holly.


    Thinking about her friends made Noel pause again. She let the Dragon¡¯s Tooth fall gently to the ground and let her watery serpent bleed into the ground. She tapped her fingers on her thigh and hugged the knees she¡¯d brought up to her chin. Beth loved to sit in weird poses like this with Noel when they were growing up. Beth was the only kid in her tribe that had been around the same age as Noel. They did everything together. They laughed, they played, they ate and they fought.


    Noel fidgeted with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Beth was uncle Sharun¡¯s only child. And when her own father had died, uncle Sharun told her it was Beth that had comforted Noel the most. Honestly, it was so long ago, Noel didn¡¯t even remember it. And she figured Beth had been trying to get her to stop crying without really knowing what had happened.


    But still.


    But still.


    Noel faced the horizon. Sunlight began peeking out of the distance. Although Noel was glad The Terrible was dead, there was one thing that still weighed on her mind. Were her tribe¡¯s ideas of death flawed? Did the ancestors not ascend above the sky, out past the domains of the gods of evil and madness? Where was her mother, if not somewhere among the stars? Was her father not hunting somewhere far, far away? And was Beth not free of the pain caused by the disease that had taken her life all those years ago?The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    No, she¡¯d had this conversation before. With Carol; yes, little Carol. One of the youngest children in the Jora tribe. Wise beyond her years. Even the adults thought she was smarter than some of them. Noel wondered what Carol was doing right now. She remembered how Carol had reacted to learning about magic. She¡¯d been one of the fastest learners. Noel was sure Carol could come up with her own magic, given enough time. She was very talented.


    Carol¡¯s opinions on death came to Noel¡¯s mind. Carol thought it didn¡¯t make sense for the ancestors to go beyond the realms of the gods of madness and evil, since the moon and red star were also in the sky which meant the sky was part of their realm. Instead, she thought the ancestors were still with us, only invisible. She based her opinion on another story the elders liked to tell. In this story, the ancestors helped a great elder of the Jora clan fight against a herd of monsters to protect the whole tribe. The great elder was old and not very powerful, yet he fought against the monsters as if he was possessed. Later, the great elder would not remember a thing. He only felt like he had been dreaming. All of the hunters who had passed in his life came to him in that vision, which filled him with great emotion. Apparently, they had helped him save the tribe.


    Noel stood up. Dawn was threatening to break any moment now. Noel washed up a little more. Her thoughts always meandered when she was washing up. It was like her mind didn¡¯t want her to ever feel relaxed. Always thinking, always reflecting. Her mind made her worry about the elders of her tribe, elders Starry and Vell. Cas said the Oracle had been trying to brainwash them. The thought of her elders being brainwashed the way her uncle had been, made Noel angry.


    Then she thought of her uncle¡¯s blank, expressionless face, and the anger seeped out of her. Cas said he was alive. He¡¯d somehow managed to take him out without killing him, but they had no idea if the mind control magic had been properly dispelled. After all, wasn¡¯t the God of Evil behind the whole thing?


    No point worrying about them right now, Noel thought to herself. She would see them soon on the highlands. For now, she should focus on the thing Cas had been trying to teach her on their journey across the wastelands.


    Learning to write was hard. It didn¡¯t help that Cas didn¡¯t know her language. The translation magic didn¡¯t work on written words, either, so Cas couldn¡¯t just teach her his own language. Well, he could, but then he¡¯d be teaching her a different language rather than simply how to write her own.


    This was when the Immortal of Madness¡¯ blessing actually came in handy. By deactivating his translation magic, Cas was able to figure out the sounds of her language. He then tried to connect the sounds to the only words he had seen written in her language: The Terrible and the rune he said he¡¯d seen on the grave of the Mad King. This wasn¡¯t enough information to recreate the written language that accompanied her oral language, but Cas and Noel spent some time combining the runes in various ways to see if they sounded like any other words in her language. Amazingly, that was enough to recreate the way a bunch of words could be written, and Noel was able to start learning how to write.


    Noel hoped they¡¯d find more runes one day. Or perhaps there were some elders in the other tribes that knew how to write. For now, she helped Cas come up with a few runes and symbols that seemed appropriate for everyday words. Honestly, working with Cas like this made Noel feel strangely bitter.


    Cas was an incredibly smart guy and he knew it. He was obnoxiously proud of his own intelligence, but the worst part was that Noel almost felt like he deserved to be. Sometimes, talking to him made her feel small and dumb. She had only been joking about being older than him when they first met, but after hearing that he really was much younger than her, she¡¯d felt almost resentful. She could handle a smug genius that was only a few days younger than her, but how could she endure hearing his know-it-all voice now that she knew how old he really was?


    No. Noel forced herself to stop thinking that way. This had nothing to do with Cas. She chastised herself for being insecure. There were things that Cas was good at and other things that she was good at. She didn¡¯t need to beat herself up over whatever Cas had learned from his world.


    Or maybe now she was being too harsh on herself. Maybe both Cas and Noel were to blame. Cas was too overconfident. In fact, his overconfidence had nearly gotten them killed multiple times now. But Noel was definitely looking for things to be mad about. Wasn¡¯t it a good thing if her friend was smart?


    Noel chuckled. Right, friend. Cas was her friend. A friend like Holly, Beth, and Carol. She¡¯d had friends before, fought with them before, felt jealous of Holly¡¯s maturity, Beth¡¯s energy, and Carol¡¯s precociousness. Friendship wasn¡¯t about liking every part of each others¡¯ personality. Noel was sure there were things about her that Cas didn¡¯t like either. But those dislikes wouldn¡¯t define their friendship.


    Noel let the early morning sunlight pass through a thin film of water stretched between her hands. A rainbow shimmered on the rock behind her. She smiled as Cas finally woke up in the middle of the camp.


    She walked over and said good morning.

 Chapter 56

    ¡°I¡¯ve had it with sleeping on the ground!¡± I said.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t that bad,¡± said Noel. ¡°You get used to it once you stop being able to feel your back.¡±


    ¡°We used earth elemental magic to smooth out the ground, I even added in some water to make the ground softer, but it was still horrible,¡± I said. ¡°And there are no living plants anywhere. Do you know how crazy that is? How can there be no plants here? Even deserts have oases, why are those dried husks, those withered fossils, the only things we can find here?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Noel. ¡°Listen, if you hate it so much, why don¡¯t you take off your clothes and put them under your body or something.¡±


    ¡°Well, first, this,¡± I said as I pinched up the front of my tunic, ¡°is full of holes, really uncomfortable, and really thin. I might as well be sleeping on the ground with this underneath me. No, we need grass. Or leaves. Or¡ª¡±


    ¡°Or you can stop complaining and walk faster,¡± said Noel. ¡°We can ask the tribesmen for some bedding.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said, laying to rest another useless conversation. We¡¯d been having a bunch, recently, since there wasn¡¯t much else to do. The only other preoccupation we had was working on our magic, but we couldn¡¯t do that for too long because it sapped all of our energy.


    Walking through the emptiness day in and day out was taking a toll on my mind. The view was monotonous, the sound of my feet clicked like a metronome, and the highlands were still too far away. On the bright side, we finally saw what looked like cliffs on the tip of the horizon, although we were still many days away.


    ¡°You know, if it wouldn¡¯t drain all my energy, I¡¯d make a hammock out of motion magic and sleep on that,¡± I said.


    ¡°Give it a rest already,¡± said Noel. ¡°Besides, if we didn¡¯t have to worry about draining our energy why wouldn¡¯t we run all the way to the highlands?¡±


    I grumbled. If energy wasn¡¯t a factor, we¡¯d probably be flying right now. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about energy recently,¡± I said. ¡°Do you think the energy we use for magic is a special kind of energy or is it like the energy we use to walk and talk and do everyday stuff like that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all the same thing, isn¡¯t it?¡± she said. ¡°We use too much energy for magic and we feel tired and hungry. We run too much or play too much, and we feel the same way.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°and that¡¯s the part I don¡¯t understand. How does magic use energy?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± she said.


    ¡°Like, look at this,¡± I said as I picked up a rock. ¡°My body uses energy to move. Energy fuels my muscles and helps me pick this rock up from the ground and bring it to a greater height.¡± I dropped the rock. ¡°But if I pick it up with invisible hands from motion magic.¡± I picked up the rock with motion magic. ¡°My body isn¡¯t involved and neither are my muscles. Yet, I feel tired, as if I had picked up the rock with my own hands.¡±


    ¡°But it uses more energy than picking up the rock with your own hands,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Right, and isn¡¯t that even stranger? Wherever this energy is coming from and however it is being used, it¡¯s using up more energy than my body or muscles would,¡± I said. ¡°How does that make sense?¡±


    Noel shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s magic. I don¡¯t think it needs to make sense.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± I said, ¡°or at least, I would agree if it wasn¡¯t for the way magic works. If knowledge and wisdom are the foundations of magic, why doesn¡¯t any thought, any knowledge, any amount of wisdom and experience simply manifest as energy. We even know that ¡®knowledge¡¯ doesn¡¯t have to be completely true in order for it to create magic! If that is true, why doesn¡¯t every thought, no matter how wrong or absurd, cast some form of magic? It doesn¡¯t have to be powerful magic, but shouldn¡¯t something happen?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Noel, ¡°but you¡¯re right, now that I think about it. Now that the two of us know how magic works, shouldn¡¯t we be able to cast some sort of ridiculously powerful magic if we used all of our energy? If inaccurate knowledge and insufficient wisdom doesn¡¯t completely stop us from being able to cast magic, shouldn¡¯t we be able to put all our magic into a spell and force it to happen?¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I nodded. ¡°And that¡¯s why I think magic might be kind of like a fire.¡±


    ¡°Fire?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes, see, we¡¯ve talked about combustion before, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Combustion is the ¡®something¡¯ that creates fire, right? I remember creating my own version of fire magic without knowing what combustion was, just by assuming what it did,¡± she said.


    ¡°I remember that,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t remember if I mentioned it before, but fire doesn¡¯t just start when you add fuel and oxygen together. Combustion only begins when you provide energy, usually in the form of heat.¡±


    ¡°Like magic,¡± she said. ¡°Are you saying magic needs energy to get going, and not only to sustain it?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°We call that energy we provide to cause combustion, ¡®activation energy.¡¯ And I think magic has a sort of activation energy too. And this activation energy is usually higher than the energy needed to sustain the spell, just like the activation energy of combustion.¡±


    ¡°So the reason our thoughts don¡¯t become spells and the reason we can¡¯t use insanely powerful spells right now, even by sacrificing all of our energy, is because the activation energy for magic is really high,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes, but, if that¡¯s true, why can we use any magic at all? Shouldn¡¯t the activation magic for fire magic be really high?¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, and it has to be really high or else anyone could use fire magic. The only thing that could explain why we can use magic while other people can¡¯t, is the fact we know the fundamentals of magic,¡± she said.


    ¡°Knowledge and wisdom, exactly. Specifically, I think knowledge reduces the activation energy of magic,¡± I said.


    ¡°Because increasing wisdom makes our spells more powerful, but doesn¡¯t necessarily stop us from using the magic in the first place,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes, and this is where magic is different from combustion. After combustion is activated, it can sustain itself with the heat it generates. So as long as fuel and oxygen are present, a fire may never go out. But magic doesn¡¯t seem to generate its own energy, it only consumes it. So wisdom is really important because it makes our spells stronger and more efficient,¡± I said.


    ¡°So we need knowledge to reduce the activation energy of magic, which makes magic possible, and we need wisdom to make magic efficient, which allows us to use more magic,¡± said Noel. ¡°But wait, doesn¡¯t that mean that if we had enough energy, we could cast magic without any knowledge or wisdom?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± I said. ¡°I also think that our natural energy is what is limiting our ability to use insanely powerful types of magic. I mean, knowledge would help us lower the amount of energy we needed to do something like say, fly, but if we had a lot of energy lying around, we could probably shoot up into the sky right now.¡±


    Noel thought for a little bit. ¡°So you¡¯re saying there¡¯s two ways for us to use new types of magic. We could use ¡®knowledge¡¯ to decrease the amount of energy needed to activate magic or we could increase the amount of energy that we can use and spend more energy to cast bigger spells.¡±


    ¡°And since magic seems to use the same kind of energy that we use for walking or picking up rocks, we could increase our energy the same way we do whenever we¡¯re tired from long walks or heavy lifting,¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you saying eating and sleeping will make our magic stronger?¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m saying eating and sleeping well will make our magic stronger,¡± I said. ¡°But I think there could be other solutions as well. If we can figure out how to store energy outside our bodies or increase the amount of energy we store inside our bodies, we could make our magic more powerful.¡±


    ¡°We could also figure out exactly where and in what form this energy is stored and try to increase that space,¡± she said.


    I frowned. Did that mean we had to bulk up or store fat like a bear before hibernation? ¡°I think magical energy might be different from the energy we store in our bodies.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think so?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you feel it in any of our battles so far? We would run out of magical energy before we ran out of the energy to run and hide or to move our bodies in different ways,¡± I said.


    ¡°Now that you mention it, I do remember that,¡± she said.


    ¡°I think our body¡¯s energy can be converted into magical energy, but magical energy itself is different from our body¡¯s energy,¡± I said.


    ¡°Which means we could increase our magical energy without needing to increase our body¡¯s energy,¡± she said. ¡°The only question is, how do we do that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I figured it might be something to work on until we get to the highlands,¡± I said.


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Noel said. ¡°Just thinking about a way to increase our energy won¡¯t tire us out like practicing magic would. And if we figure out a way to increase our energy¡ª¡±


    ¡°We could fly to that darned cliff,¡± I said pointing to the horizon. I sighed. ¡°Until then, I think I need to make a new pair of shoes.¡±

 Chapter 57

    I thought a lot about how to increase our magical energy while we walked through that accursed wasteland. I even tried out a few theories and came to a few conclusions.


    First, magical energy was definitely not stored the same way regular energy was. I never lost any visible body fat, even after pushing my magic past its limits, which should have been when my body started burning fat instead of carbs. The fact I could use a fair amount of magic on an empty stomach meant a full stomach might help my body create more magical energy, but magical energy couldn¡¯t be turned back into normal energy. This meant a certain amount of regular energy from food would be converted into magical energy and stored somewhere, and that reservoir of magical energy would be filled up, perhaps by burning calories, whenever my magical energy reserves began running too low.


    Second, magical energy wasn¡¯t stored in an easy to access physical or mental space. I felt around my body for any strange, alien parts, but if there was some sort of organ storing magical energy, it would have to be hidden somewhere inside. I couldn¡¯t exactly dissect an elven cadaver right now, so I had to assume there was no special organ involved, at least for now. And thinking about accessing the magical energy in some sort of space inside my mind or by trying to follow the feeling of magical energy leaving my body, didn¡¯t seem to work either.


    And so I concluded I wasn¡¯t going to be able to find where magical energy is stored. But I remembered what Noel had done when she didn¡¯t know about combustion, and assumed that magical energy was stored inside a ¡°magical battery.¡± I knew regular energy from my body was converted into magical energy and then stored inside this ¡°magical battery¡± and that my body didn¡¯t prioritize filling up magical energy over the energy used for vital or physical functions. I also knew this ¡°magical battery¡± couldn¡¯t convert magical energy back into everyday energy.


    ¡°Hey Noel, do you think wisdom only works on specific spells?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I mean if we have two elemental spells, like water and air, does practicing one increase our wisdom of the other?¡± I said.


    Noel thought for a moment. ¡°I think so. It was a lot easier to use earth and air elemental magic when we came up with it a few days ago than it was to use water elemental magic when we first invented it.¡±


    ¡°I think so too. It won¡¯t be as effective as practicing that exact spell but it makes sense for there to be some spillover,¡± I said. ¡°But what if it goes further?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by further?¡± she said.


    ¡°You remember that time after the Immortal of Desire taught us the fundamentals of magic, how I argued we needed to dig even deeper and get to the roots of magic?¡± I said.


    Noel nodded. ¡°We talked about what ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ actually mean, and how we learn things in the first place.¡±


    ¡°We mostly talked about knowledge back then, but we didn¡¯t think too much about wisdom. If wisdom concerns how we use knowledge, isn¡¯t it a type of knowledge itself?¡± I said.


    Noel frowned. ¡°That does make sense. But then why is it different from knowledge? We know ¡®wisdom¡¯ helps make our spells more efficient and powerful. That¡¯s different from how ¡®knowledge¡¯ helps us shape the spells in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Is it all that different though?¡± I asked. ¡°If ¡®wisdom¡¯ is just ¡®knowledge¡¯ about how to use a certain type of magic, shouldn¡¯t gaining that ¡®knowledge¡¯ about a specific type of magic also increase our ¡®knowledge¡¯ about ¡®wisdom¡¯ itself?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still bad at explaining things,¡± said Noel. ¡°But I think I get what you mean. Every time we gain ¡®wisdom¡¯ about one type of spell, we gain ¡®wisdom¡¯ about magic in general.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°Exactly!¡± I said. ¡°How can you say I¡¯m bad at explaining things when you understood it so perfectly?¡±


    Noel sighed. ¡°Whatever you say. Anyways, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve gained a lot of wisdom about magic in general even though we¡¯ve invented so many spells. I don¡¯t think the effect is that big.¡±


    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯ll take a long time for our magic to become more efficient and powerful this way. Still, I think it¡¯s worth keeping it in mind. We¡¯ll get stronger if we invent more kinds of magic and learn how to use them.¡±


    This was my solution to the problem of having a limited ¡®magical battery¡¯. If I couldn¡¯t make the ¡®battery¡¯ bigger, I could at least make it more efficient! It should be effectively the same thing, since most people think in terms of how many hours their batteries will run, not how large they are.


    ¡°We might find a way to increase the amount of magical energy we can use,¡± I said. ¡°But I think we¡¯ll have to do a lot more tests.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have the energy to spare for tests right now,¡± said Noel as the highlands loomed overhead. ¡°Especially not for tests that won¡¯t help us go up this cliff.¡±


    We made camp for the night after setting up some traps and quenching our thirst. We woke up early the next morning, when the air was still cool and climbing up a steep cliff would be less tiring. We waited a little longer so the first rays of sunlight would help us see our way up.


    We used the same trick we¡¯d used to climb down the husk of the giant tree where the Immortal of Desire used to live. With magic hands created through motion magic, we scaled the side of the cliff carefully and slowly. Or at least, I was careful and slow. Noel was halfway up the thing by the time I looked up. From my perspective, she looked like a gecko rushing up the rocky surface with suction cups.


    I promised myself not to look down but couldn¡¯t help it once I was high enough. I slipped just like last time, hanging on with only my magic arms. Still, it wasn¡¯t as hard the second time around, and I managed to get my footing and scale the heights relatively easily.


    Last night I¡¯d asked Noel if there was an easier way up. I knew there had to be one since there was no way the entire tribe was climbing up these steep cliffs without magic and while carrying things like babies and supplies. Noel said there was a steep path further East, but it would take too long to get there. She was determined to reunite with the Jora tribe as quickly as possible. I reluctantly agreed since I wanted to join the tribe as quickly as possible too. The allure of soft bedding was too difficult to resist!


    As I scaled the cliff, I got my mind off the incredible height by thinking about the Jora tribe. Noel¡¯s family had quickly become like a second family to me, as well. When the Oracle held them hostage, there was a painful feeling in my gut, a mashed up feeling of anger and worry, that felt like a great big ball of lead had been embedded in my stomach. That feeling was lightened after I defeated the Oracle, but it never went away since I realized that Noel was in danger. And after rescuing Noel and seeing the Jora tribe¡¯s camp had disappeared, that great big ball of lead was right back in my stomach. I was sure that weight was making my climb even harder than it should have been. It almost made me want to go back down. To avoid the prospect of what I might see at the top of the cliff.


    Speaking of cliffs, my old roommate, the one who was a literature major, once told me about another one of Wordsworth¡¯s poems. ¡°The Prelude,¡± it was called. He said it was long and beautiful, but there was one scene that he could never forget. It was when Wordsworth rowed out on a lake in a small boat, in view of a massive cliff. The scene was beautiful in its imagery, with lines like: ¡°Small circles glittering idly in the moon, Until they melted all into one track, Of sparkling light.¡±


    But it was when the scene turned sinister, and the cliff became ¡°a living thing¡± that ¡°uprear¡¯d its head¡± with ¡°voluntary power instinct¡± and ¡°Rose up between (him) and the stars,¡± that my roommate said to me: ¡°isn¡¯t it amazing the way a good writer can turn your emotions on a dime? How he can take a feeling of natural beauty and twist it into earthly horror, all so it can merge into the paradoxical feeling that is the sublime?¡±


    And in case you¡¯re wondering, yes, that is exactly how he spoke. The guy had a way with words, even when he was sloshed out of his mind at a beer pong party at 3am. I remembered his words as I pulled myself over the top of the cliff, relieved that I was finally done. I smiled as I sat near the edge, taking in deep breaths and admiring the view. Even an empty wasteland can look beautiful from this high up.


    I turned around and saw Noel on her knees, staring at the vast emptiness around us.


    With a quivering voice, she said at last: ¡°They aren¡¯t here.¡± She looked at me. ¡°Cas, they aren¡¯t here!¡±

 Chapter 58

    ¡°Maybe they went further in search of food or water,¡± I said.


    ¡°The ground is flat, we can see far away,¡± said Noel. ¡°They aren¡¯t here.¡±


    ¡°We might have missed them along the way,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, we didn¡¯t. The wasteland was empty. How could we have missed a crowd of elves walking through it while carrying supplies?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Maybe they took the path up,¡± I said.


    Noel considered it. She wordlessly got to her feet and ran to the left. I called after her but she didn¡¯t respond so I had to run behind her. I was breathless by the time Noel was kicking the dirt in anger in front of a small path leading up to the highlands. We ran for what felt like an hour to get here.


    I tried to comfort Noel, but she didn¡¯t respond. I shook her shoulders, called out her name, even lit a fire in front of her face, but she didn¡¯t respond. I threw my hands up in defeat and went searching around the area.


    The highlands were even worse than the plains. At least the plains had rocky outcrops and dried riverbeds. The surface of the highlands was smooth and sandy, like arid savanna that had recently turned into desert. We could see far into the distance. Yet, there was nothing to see. I had a feeling it would be even harder to find food in this place.


    I went back to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the wasteland that had been the plains of serenity. Looking at the way the cliffs curved into the distance, I had a feeling the highlands weren¡¯t actually highlands, the plains were actually lowlands. Almost like a river valley made by a long since dried up ancient river.


    Searching the surroundings, I found nothing to eat. I laid out a few traps just in case animals popped out at night, but I had been worried about nutrition for a while. The kind of food we¡¯d been eating for the past few days wasn¡¯t varied nor balanced. I had no idea how elfin bodies worked so maybe we¡¯d be okay, but if the highlands were going to be more of the same, we might have to start digging for roots or mushrooms.


    It was getting late. We¡¯d spent the entire day doing little more than climbing the cliff. Since Noel refused to move, I set up camp around her. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I looked up to see storm clouds rolling across the sky.


    I hurried to prepare a proper shelter. Using earth elemental magic, I carved out a hole in the ground. It was tiring, laborious work, and I was panting by early evening. When the hole was big enough for two people, I slunk to the ground to catch my breath. Maybe it would¡¯ve been easier to just dig with my hands?


    I looked over to Noel, she was looking far into the distance, her mouth hung open but silent. I picked myself back up and ran over to a fresh patch of earth. I swept aside the sand and gravel on top and dug down to the rock below. I knew how deep I had to go because of the other hole I¡¯d dug. I cleaned up the top of the rock and took a deep breath.


    Since elemental magic was based on a bunch of rational but ultimately incorrect assumptions, it wasn¡¯t very energy efficient. And since it considered earth to be an element rather than a combination of different substances and elements, it was hard to break it down further. Earth elemental magic was great for extracting ¡®earth¡¯ from the ground or for manipulating it, but it sucked for breaking up large rocks like this one.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Instead, I traced a rough shape over the rock with water. I then used earth elemental magic around the outside of the shape to extract the ¡®earth¡¯ from the rock. Since rock was not pure ¡®earth¡¯ according to the elemental system, I was able to extract some amount of brown substance from the rock. I assumed my image of ¡®earth¡¯ was more soil and ground than rocks and boulders, which was why there was still some sort of porous substance left around the sides of the shape.


    I poured water into the outline and let it drip into the now porous rock. I then used fire magic to heat up the water, before adding more water to the rock, and then heating it up again. Soon, the edges of the outline were weak and brittle, and I was able to whack at it with the bottom of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth.


    After carving out the piece of rock from the sides, I had to carve it out from the bottom. This was tougher to do but followed the same process. Use earth elemental magic to weaken the rock, then cycle between water and fire magic to rapidly erode the rock away. It was almost dusk by the time I was done and the storm was getting closer.


    I grunted as I heaved the piece of rock up onto the surface. I had to use my magic hands to help lift it up, because although the rock was pretty small, it was incredibly heavy. I brought it over to the first hole I¡¯d dug and used it to cover most of the entrance to the hole. I fixed it in place with some dried mud, but wasn¡¯t sure if that would help it weather the storm. And so I went a little further along the edge of the cliff to a spot that looked like it could have held a waterfall. I searched around the site and found a small deposit of clay. I brought back the clay and used it to hold the piece of rock in place and to strengthen the entrance to the shelter.


    I grabbed Noel and dragged her to the hole. She didn¡¯t say anything in her melancholy. I peeked over my shoulder. The storm was almost here and the sun was almost done. I managed to get Noel into the shelter just in time. Thunder rumbled and fierce winds blew. Rain cascaded against the entrance to our shelter, pitter-pattering against the stone. The small part of the hole that I had left uncovered didn¡¯t let in too much water, but I was forced to dig another hole beneath it so the water didn¡¯t turn the ground all soggy.


    Eventually, I made a small makeshift awning over the uncovered part of the hole. I wasn¡¯t sure if the clay would hold for long, but I prayed it would hold long enough for the storm to run out. I wanted to light a fire but there was nothing to burn. Either way, the shelter was too small and would keep in too much smoke. We still had some dried meat left over from the plains, so the fire wasn¡¯t necessary.


    I tried to get Noel to eat something but she refused. I dripped some water onto her lips, which were already dried and patched from dehydration.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, ¡°you have to listen to me, okay?¡±


    She didn¡¯t respond.


    ¡°Everything is going to be okay,¡± I said. I moved my face so I would be right in front of her eyes. ¡°We will find your, no, our family. I promise you.¡±


    Noel refused to meet my gaze.


    I sighed. Empty promises weren¡¯t going to work. Not finding any trace of the tribesmen up on the highlands had confirmed our worst fears. It was time to face them.


    ¡°I know we¡¯ve both been thinking about it,¡± I said, slowly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what happened. When I came to find you at the Immortal of Desire¡¯s tree, I told you it had been two days, even though you felt like it had only been a few hours.¡±


    Noel finally reacted. She bit her lips.


    ¡°The Immortal of Madness messed with your time,¡± I said. ¡°And this time, he¡¯s messed with both of us. Somehow, what felt like a few minutes to us was actually a much longer time out here. We don¡¯t know if all of this once beautiful, fertile land was destroyed immediately or if it¡¯s just been so long that everything has become wasteland.¡±


    Thunder rumbled. The rain relentlessly pounded on the rock above our heads. Noel took a deep, quivering breath, and looked at me. ¡°How long do you think it¡¯s been?¡±


    I opened my mouth, hesitantly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± The storm raged on overhead. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

 Chapter 59

    How long had it been?


    It was tough to tell. The landscape had changed, but it was still recognizable. The Jora tribe¡¯s camp was covered in dirt, but who knows if that was because of time or because of a storm or monster. There were no clocks or calendars. Even the stars looked exactly the same. On my Earth, the night sky can appear to change over a long period of time. The famous north star, for example, changed from Thuban at the time of the building of the pyramids, to Polaris in modern times. The moon and the red star, the two heavenly bodies that dominated the night sky in this world, were of no help either.


    The red star looked sickly in comparison to how I remembered it. Its glow was pale and it flickered from time to time. The moon, on the other hand, had a domineering presence. It shone through the rain clouds, making every droplet look like bullets of mercury being fired at the ground. I could only barely make out the sky from our little shelter, but the little I could see was foreboding.


    The Immortal of Madness was more powerful than I had assumed. The God of Evil had seemed like a difficult opponent when we were fighting the Oracle and The Terrible, and the Immortal of Desire felt mysterious and majestic. I hadn¡¯t even considered the Immortal of Madness at first. If he was tied to the moon, the moon¡¯s absence and seeming weakness in the face of the red star gave me the impression the Immortal of Madness was not as powerful as the other immortals.


    Even after hearing Starry¡¯s story around the Jora tribe¡¯s campfire, I¡¯d assumed the Immortal of Madness was somehow weakened by his battle with the God of Evil. Now that he¡¯d sent us who knows how many years into the future, I had to admit, I was wrong.


    I had some theories about how he¡¯d sent us into the future. The most likely explanation was some sort of manipulation of gravity. Gravitational time dilation is an effect that science fiction stories have been playing around with for a while. Gravity can ¡®bend¡¯ space-time in such a way that observers at different distances from a large mass may perceive time differently. Someone standing near the mass may feel like only a few moments have passed but someone further away may have experienced years. If the Immortal of Desire could control gravity, or at least this aspect of gravity, then it might explain how he seemed to have sent us into the future.


    The rain continued. The night wore on. Noel stayed silent.


    ¡°You need to eat,¡± I said as I brought a handful of dried meat to her lips.


    Noel pressed her face into her knees. She hadn¡¯t eaten all day and barely had any water. I was getting worried. It didn¡¯t look like there was any food on the highlands. We might have to scale back down the cliffs to find food on the plains, or we had to try to make good time while crossing the highlands. There had to be a major river or something around here, right? Maybe something that led out to sea?


    I wiggled around in the tiny space in our shelter until I was sitting right next to Noel. I leaned over to her side and began to speak.


    ¡°Listen, I¡¯m not going to pretend like I know exactly what you¡¯re going through; I don¡¯t know exactly what you¡¯re feeling right now. But I know you¡¯re feeling uncertain. I know there¡¯s this empty feeling, this hollowness that you can¡¯t get around. I know that it¡¯s easier to force yourself to not think about anything at all, than it is to think, to feel, to live with that empty feeling.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sad when my mom died. At least, not at first. I was away from home. Out with a friend celebrating my birthday. I¡¯d cut my birthday cake with my mom that morning. I was supposed to meet her again in the evening. We were going to go to this place we liked to go to, to eat and have fun, you know. Celebrate.


    ¡°I¡¯d just gotten into college. College is this place we went to back on my Earth, to study and learn. It was the best college too. The best college in the world. A dream come true. Everyone was happy for me, especially my mom. Though she was a little sad, too. I¡¯d have to move out from our house and go live in a college dorm for four years. She said it was going to be my last birthday with her for a while. She wanted to make it special.


    ¡°It was only a few years ago, but I can barely remember how I found out. It was my brother. He¡¯d moved out a long time ago. We hadn¡¯t spoken to each other for a while, so all I remembered was his voice back when it was sharp, full of confidence, maybe you could call it arrogance. But when I heard his voice that night, I almost didn¡¯t recognize it.


    ¡°One of his friends passed by a car crash on the road. I don¡¯t want to get into explaining what that means, or how it looks like, just, know that it was bad. My brother¡¯s friend didn¡¯t want to look too hard. But he remembered my mom and¡­ he saw her there.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°My brother wouldn¡¯t let me see her face. He said I should remember her the way she looked before, but, I wanted to see her one last time. We fought. He won. It didn¡¯t help that there was a part of me that didn¡¯t want to win. I didn¡¯t want to see my mom¡¯s face, frozen forever in her final moments. I didn¡¯t want to see it. I didn¡¯t want to think about it. I don¡¯t want to think about it now.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t feel sad at her funeral. Everything felt like a dream. Unreal. Hazy. Without substance. Like a wisp of smoke that would disappear if you looked at it for too long. I said a few words before they put her in the ground. Words I don¡¯t remember. Word¡¯s no one else remembered.


    ¡°I went home that night, all alone. My brother had been keeping me company, but he had to go back for work and he lived in another city. I was alone in my house. My body moved on its own. I made dinner. Washed the dishes. Did some homework. Went to bed.


    ¡°But as the lights went out. The birds fell silent. My heartbeat slowed to a soft, mellow thumping. My eyelids turned to lead. My breath broke up like there was something stuck in my throat and I lay in my bed with an empty head. I shifted around. Feeling uncomfortable but not allowing myself to admit why I felt that way.


    ¡°Something fell to the floor. I got out of bed without thinking. A restless fury gripped me. I didn¡¯t know what I was angry at, or why, but I stomped around in the dark, going from place to place, until I found a light to turn on. I came back to the bed. There was something on the ground. I picked it up.


    ¡°It was a little book. I think I told you about books. They¡¯re things you can write a lot of words on. If you write something on it, you can give it to someone else so they can read what you say. People use it to pass along stories. Stories from people who have long since passed.


    ¡°This book was nothing special. It was meant for children. I had been working on translating it into a different language. It was the sort of thing I found helped me get better at other languages, plus it was a fun thing to do.


    ¡°I always started with this book, whenever I learned a new language. Not because it told an amazing story or because it was easy to translate, or even because it was a particularly good book. But it was the first book I¡¯d ever had. My first book. Given to me by my mother when I was so small, I¡¯d left bite-marks on the cover.


    ¡°The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, a New York classic. Even thinking about that book makes me miss my home. The colors were beautiful, the story short and sweet. I picked it up the night of my mother¡¯s funeral and paged through it, not reading any of the words, staring only at the pictures; the bright, bright illustrations.


    ¡°Have you seen snow? It¡¯s this awful thing that happens in places where it gets too cold. It¡¯s like rain but worse. It ruins your clothes, makes you feel awful, and if you lived where I did, it meant you could get wet feet every day for a week or more. Snow is horrible in person. But snow is amazing in memory.


    ¡°You don¡¯t remember snow murky brown, making muddy, slushy puddles. You remember it whiter than light, softer than air, cleaner, prettier than any flower in the world. Each snow crystal is a work of art. Each clump a wonder, each pile ready for you to jump in. You remember playing around in it. You remember sliding all over it. You never remember getting sick because you forgot to wear thick clothes. You never remember slipping on ice and twisting your ankle. You never remember the worst parts of snow. You only remember the good.


    ¡°I read that book again that night. Followed the story of little Peter in his eye-catching red snowsuit. I thought about the mom the way I thought about snow.


    ¡°Perfect, divine. Warm, kind. Brilliant and humble. Strong and just. The way she raised me, the way she laughed. The way she held me, the way she tried to help me do what I wanted to do. A whole burst of memories flooded my head. I had been refusing to face them because with them, I was sure, would come the sad ones. The memories that I was dreading, and had been dreading, would fill the empty feeling with sadness and grief.


    ¡°But they never came. I spent that whole night sleeping on the ground beside my bed, thinking about all the great memories I had of my mom. I remembered when she taught me how to ride a bike, how to tie my shoelaces, and how to do a whole bunch of other things. The times we watched our favorite movies, or went out to our favorite restaurant.


    ¡°I know some of these words don¡¯t make any sense to you, Noel, but what I¡¯m trying to say is, I remembered my mom like I remembered snow. Perfect and wondrous. I¡¯m not saying you shouldn¡¯t be sad. I¡¯m not saying you need to act a certain way, or forget that you¡¯re in grief. But don¡¯t stop yourself from remembering your loved ones, just because you¡¯re afraid it will make you said.


    ¡°I won¡¯t make empty promises to you, Noel. If they¡¯re out there, somewhere, we¡¯ll find them. I promise you, we will try. And if they¡¯re gone, I need you to promise me, that you won¡¯t keep their memories away because you¡¯re afraid of being sad.


    ¡°Keep them alive in your memories. Remember them, Noel. Remember them like snow.¡±

 Chapter 60

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing in the traps,¡± said Noel as we reconvened at our hole-in-the-ground shelter.


    ¡°Maybe it was the rain. None of the traps were triggered. The monsters might have taken shelter too,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, there¡¯s no sign of any monsters anywhere. I think you were right. There¡¯s nothing up here in the highlands,¡± she said.


    We mulled around, thinking about what to do. After spending a dreary, rainy night talking about our families; the things we loved, things we hated, things we missed most of all, we were determined to forge ahead. Still, I could tell how restless Noel was to get moving. She wanted to find the Jora tribe, if they were still alive, or at least find some traces of them if they weren¡¯t. To do that, we had to find a way to tell how long it had been since we walked into the Immortal of Desire¡¯s tree.


    And for that, we had to leave the wasteland and to do that, we had to find the sea. I told Noel the Plains of Serenity were probably a sort of river valley, which meant we might be able to find the open sea if we went down river. We remembered that most rivers and streams ran North with respect to the Sun, so we picked that direction and began preparing to walk.


    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to walk across the highlands?¡± I asked.


    Noel nodded. ¡°The Jora tribe probably did that, but, I don¡¯t think it makes sense to cross so much empty land with what little food we can gather right now. Besides, I want to believe the tribesmen made it out of this hellhole. We can circle around once we find a more fertile area.¡±


    I forced Noel to take us down the path instead of rappelling off the side of the cliff. We weren¡¯t in a rush anymore and I¡¯d rather not go through that whole ordeal again. The path was steep, but a lot easier to traverse than a cliff side, and we found a few weeds and plants hidden among the rocky terrain. None of them looked edible, but one of them had a sharp, minty smell that I figured might help keep insects away so I plucked them out and took them with me.


    We came down to what used to be the Plains of Serenity and started following the cliffs that marked the highlands. We could have gone further in and followed a dry riverbed, but why waste time when we had a reasonably reliable visual marker to follow right here. We always camped away from the cliff side, just in case there was a rock slide, and we set up our traps further into the plains to increase their success rate.


    The highlands twisted and turned in strange ways as we followed them. The river that had carved out the land had probably changed course many times over the years. Our food situation didn¡¯t improve that much, although our motion detection traps were very useful. Still, the lack of good, varied food, meant we didn¡¯t have a lot of energy or time to spare for magic.


    So instead, I spent some of our downtime working on making simple stone tools. Noel saw me struggling to knap flint, so she decided to teach me. I¡¯d seen videos and documentaries about flintknapping, but actually doing it in real life was a lot harder. Noel showed me how to hit the flint at the right angle to break it off with a sharp edge. She taught me how to chip away at a piece of flint to slowly reveal a shape or an edge. She scolded me when I hit too hard, laughed when I shattered a whole rock in my hands, and even sighed dramatically when I ruined a shape we¡¯d been working on for a while.


    Improving our clothing situation was also high on my priorities. Our old hide tunics and shoes were in tatters. If I hadn¡¯t been insisting on washing them everyday with water magic, they would have smelled awful too. None of the monsters we caught in our traps had thick hides, so we were stuck without any good materials. We were able to use small bones to make needles, which Noel¡¯s tribe had made plenty of in the past, so she was able to help me make them. We prepared cords of sinew to use as string and used those to patch up our clothes with pieces of treated animal skin. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it would last us until we found something better.


    Now that we had a decent amount of sinew or cordage, we also began setting up snares. This let me save some energy from my motion detection magic, which was really only necessary because we didn¡¯t have access to rope or rope-like objects before. We strung together a bunch of sinew and then tied it into a noose. It seemed like it would hold well enough, but we had a lot of failures until we got it right.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Wait, what¡¯s that?¡± I said as I pointed into the distance.


    Noel squinted her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s a tree?¡±


    We walked up to it since it had been a while since we¡¯d seen a living tree. It wasn¡¯t the most impressive specimen, probably only a few years from becoming a dried husk like all the others we¡¯d seen on the wasteland, but it meant we must be getting close to the end of the wasteland. It was getting late so we decided to camp by the tree. As I looked at the tree, and then looked at Noel¡¯s unkempt, disheveled appearance, I figured it was time to try out some chemistry.


    ¡°You want to burn the tree?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°No, I want to cut it down and then burn it to ash,¡± I said.


    ¡°There are better ways to vent your anger, you know?¡± she said.


    After a little back and forth, I convinced her to help me cut down the tree. It seemed like it was a hardwood although, like I said before, it wasn¡¯t going to survive for too long anyway. It would have been very hard to cut it down with only the flint tools we had, but a combination of targeted fire and water magic helped us chip away at it until the whole thing fell over. After cutting off the branches and breaking up the trunk as best we could, we made a large bonfire in the center of camp. Noel complained we were using too much energy throwing fire magic onto an already burning flame, but I told her we needed to keep the fire running as hot as possible.


    It took a while for the wood to turn to charcoal and the charcoal to turn to ash, but by the time we went to sleep, the first white ashes were already starting to form. In the morning, I gathered them together and put them in a large hole in some nearby rocks. I filled up the hole with some water, about three parts to every part of ash, and let it sit for a while. I fished out any pieces of wood or other materials, and stirred gently to let any large pieces float to the surface. Then, I left the whole thing to rest while we foraged and hung around for the day.


    It was the first day in a long while since we¡¯d stayed in place instead of moving on at dawn, so Noel and I relaxed a little. I taught Noel how to play tic-tac-toe, although she didn¡¯t like it because I kept winning. I ended up teaching her the trick to the game: if the first player plays in the corner, the second must play in the center. Vice versa. And a few more tricks for when the first player plays on the sides. Thanks to my explanation, we were stuck drawing every single game we played and decided to never play that game again.


    While I was letting the ash solution, or more specifically, the potash, rest, I heated up some monster or animal fat in another small stone hole. After heating up the fat until it was all melted, I let it cool so I could scrape off the crust on top. I then found another hole and put the flakes of fat inside. I went back to the potash and ladled out the solution that had separated on top. I ran it through some porous animal skin, but it wasn¡¯t a very good sieve so I figured I¡¯d make do with a less pure ash lye.


    I warned Noel not to touch the lye since it was very corrosive, but she helped me bring it over to the fat anyway. I set aside some lye to use in something else, before melting the flakes of fat and adding in the lye. I mixed and stirred the whole solution with a stick to make sure there were no air bubbles, until we reached a point that is called the ¡®trace¡¯. Then I crushed the minty smelling plants we¡¯d gathered a while ago and added them into the mixture. They were dry and brittle by now, but still retained some of their fragrance.


    When the saponification was finished, I let the soap rest in its hole, since I didn¡¯t have a mold to transfer it into, and went over to the other project I was working on. I soaked a bunch of animal hide in a lye and water solution and left it to rest for the night as well. We made camp as I told Noel about how I¡¯d learned those things in my world, mostly when I was bored or when I went camping as a kid. I didn¡¯t tell her too much about video documentaries because I had no intention of explaining the internet this late at night.


    The next morning, I cut up the soap into usable pieces and told Noel we could use it to wash up after we were done. She asked why we couldn¡¯t wash up right now, to which I replied that we were about to get very, very messy. We walked over the monster hide I¡¯d left soaked last night.


    ¡°When I first heard about this, it made me queasy,¡± I said, slowly. ¡°But now that we¡¯re in this situation we don¡¯t have much choice. Noel.¡± I faced her. ¡°Are you ready for some braining?¡±

 Chapter 61

    (Warning, mild gore ahead. Skip until the next parentheses if you¡¯re squeamish!)


    ¡°Braining?¡± said Noel.


    I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a way to make hide and skin tougher and easier to work with. I woke up a little earlier today and put out the hide to dry. You can try to dry it off a little faster with fire magic while I work on the braining.¡±


    ¡°You still haven¡¯t explained what braining is,¡± she said.


    ¡°That¡¯s because I don¡¯t want to think about it,¡± I said. I took a deep breath. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go check out the traps and I¡¯ll explain.¡±


    We caught a couple of small monsters in our snares. After preparing them for cooking, I separated their skulls and had Noel help me take out the brains. She was way more comfortable doing that than I was, probably because she¡¯d grown up working with or being near carcasses. I had her help me gather the brains, put them in water, and cook them for a little while. Noel went off to dry the pelt while I mashed the brains up. We then applied the mixture to the pelt and began helping it dry off with some light fire magic. After a few more rounds of braining pelts, we were done.


    (Continue reading here to skip gore.)


    Noel knocked on the treated pelts. ¡°This feels different. It¡¯s hard but soft at the same time. Strange.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called leather, and I wish I had better things to make it with but it will have to do for now,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a decently large piece so we should be able to make a couple pairs.¡±


    ¡°A couple pairs of what?¡± she said.


    ¡°Moccasins!¡± I said.


    ¡°Moccas¡ªyou mean shoes?¡± she said. ¡°All this for a couple pairs of shoes?¡±


    ¡°I mean, there was the soap too. Anyways, shoes are important. We¡¯ll be able to go faster and further with less risk of hurting our feet. Just give it a try. Here.¡± I put the leather on the ground and grabbed a piece of charcoal. I stood on top of the leather and made a rough outline a little larger than my feet. Then I drew some flaps further out on a tapering curve from my feet.


    After stepping off, I cut the outermost outlines with a sharp piece of flint. I used a bone needle and some sinew to stitch together the front and sides, before cutting out a little notch from the middle and using it to connect the sides in a way that left a whole for my feet to get through. I tried to sew as tightly as I could and by overlapping the leather tightly. Leather was generally waterproof, but shoddy craftsmanship might let water through. I finished it off with some holes in the back, through which I threaded a piece of leather that could act like a shoelace. I tied the laces, made sure the shoe was a good fit, and worked on my second shoe. After finishing it up, I walked in my new shoes, roughed them up a little by dancing, and looked at Noel with a smile.


    She wasn¡¯t too impressed but that was okay. There was more leather to go around. I laid it on the ground and patted it. ¡°Step on that and I¡¯ll draw a pair for you.¡±


    Noel stood on the leather and I prepared an outline for her too. I worked on one shoe for her, and then another. Once she had them on, I told her to take a walk and tell me how they feel.


    ¡°They feel¡­¡± said Noel as she twisted them around. ¡°They feel nice!¡±


    I saved the rest of the leather since it would definitely come in handy. I was tempted to change our animal skin tunics for leather ones, but it would take too long and I didn¡¯t think it would help with the heat. I made sure to wash my shoes properly to get out any disgusting smells, before washing my hands with our new soap several times. I prayed I would never have to work with brains again!


    We continued walking down towards the sea. There wasn¡¯t much to see along the way, until we came up to a small pond. We ran up to it, but realized the water was salty. We were about to leave when he heard the water rumble. As we stared at the pond, a huge serpent shot out and tried to bite my neck!If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I cast my ¡®still life¡¯ magic and held my breath. The serpent monster¡¯s teeth were inches from my skin! Noel grabbed the Dragon¡¯s Tooth from my hand and sliced the monster¡¯s neck in one swing. She then used fire magic to burn the monster¡¯s head, just in case it could keep going after losing its body, and moved me out of the way.


    I took deep, gasping breaths as I let go of my magic. The monster fell to the ground, motionless. Noel walked over to it, bent down, and picked up a small, red gem.


    ¡°It was a starred monster?¡± I asked between breaths.


    Noel nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°How did we kill it so easily?¡± I said.


    ¡°We were lucky. You reacted quickly and it bared its neck too easily,¡± she said.


    ¡°See? Still life magic is amazing!¡± I said.


    ¡°You still have to teach me how to do it,¡± she said.


    ¡°I thought I already did?¡± I said.


    ¡°You need to teach me properly,¡± she said. ¡°I didn¡¯t understand anything you said last time.¡±


    I shrugged but agreed after Noel said we might face more powerful enemies in the future. I was reluctant to teach Noel my soon-to-be signature magic spell, but she learned it pretty quickly. She immediately tried to cast it on me, but I revealed that our understanding of motion magic made it pretty easy to resist motion freezing magic.


    By now we had a wide selection of spells to choose from while fighting monsters. Armed with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth and other smaller flint weapons, we could probably handle a one star monster, unless it caught us by surprise.


    ¡°We need to be more careful,¡± I said. ¡°No rushing up to suspicious places anymore.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°And if we have to approach it, we should prepare to fire off our magic at any moment.¡±


    And so we continued walking. It was a long, rather dreary journey, and the moon was beginning to wane. The red star still glowed sickly pale, but it began becoming brighter as the days wore on. Soon, there was a new moon in the sky. We set up our shelter for the night, another hole in the ground because we¡¯d seen rain clouds in the distance.


    We woke up to a wet, soggy wasteland. The humidity in the air was pretty unbearable, and Noel and I had to keep pouring water over our heads to wash off the sweat. The sun burned brightly, making the situation even worse. Our leather shoes held up nicely in the mud, but it was still a nightmare walking across the ground that day.


    But by noon, there was a strange scent in the air. Noel smelt it first, and it took me a while to identify it, but when I did, I looked at Noel with a massive smile. I laughed as I raced forward, shouting to Noel to follow me!


    The wet mud began to change into wet sand. A distinct smell took over the air and the horizon melted into the ground. I shouted in joy as the sea revealed itself. Massive waves crashed against the shore, spraying salt water into the air. I was tempted to take off my tunic and jump in, but remembered I wasn¡¯t wearing much else.


    Noel ran up beside me, more mesmerized than overjoyed. She¡¯d heard about the ocean before, but told me she had never seen it in person. I slapped her gently on the shoulder and asked her how she liked the beach.


    ¡°It¡¯s really pretty,¡± she said. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t look like how I imagined it.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°None of the stories mentioned a giant blob in the middle of the sea,¡± she said.


    ¡°A giant what?¡± I said as I turned around.


    A huge wave pushed against the shore. Only, it wasn¡¯t a wave, but a blob of water. It looked like a water droplet standing on its head. The blob crashed into the shore, shattering its coat of water and bursting forth onto the beach. I screamed to Noel to run but she was way ahead of me.


    I didn¡¯t want to look behind me but the temptation was too great. As I ran away, I snuck a glance behind my shoulder and cursed.


    A four-legged shark lumbered after us along the sand. It flashed several rows of sharp teeth at us under the midday sun. Its skin was rough like sandpaper and it gleamed with a menacing shade of blue. Its legs looked like fins with pointy ends like stilts, which would have made it funny to look at if it wasn¡¯t chasing after us by piercing the sands and creating a dust-storm in its wake. And the worst part of all was its forehead, where two bright red gems sat like drops of congealed blood.

 Chapter 62

    ¡°What the heck is that thing?¡± I shouted as we ran away from the beach.


    ¡°How should I know?¡± cried Noel as she followed me.


    Loud thumps and the sound of sand being pushed in the air followed us. The shark monster wasn¡¯t using any magic, but if it really was a two star monster, it was only a matter of time until we were pelted by hail or assaulted by a water jet.


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll follow us all the way into the wasteland?¡± I shouted.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll need to,¡± said Noel


    The monster¡¯s strange footsteps were getting closer. Noel was right, it was going to catch up to us soon. Noel and I tried to come up with a plan. My heart was beating crazily and my nerves were strung high. I tried to calm myself down as much as I could before giving the signal to split off. Noel ran to the left and I rushed to the right. The monster didn¡¯t miss a beat in following after me.


    I took a sharp turn back towards the beach. I figured the monster¡¯s long, spindly legs wouldn¡¯t handle sharp turns as easily as mine, but the monster gave out a cry before launching itself into the air. As a massive shadow loomed over me, I rolled to the side and made a small wall of sand rise into the air with earth magic. The shadow pummeled the wall of sand before crashing into the ground. I coughed as sand washed over me.


    Digging the sand out of my eye, I dodged backwards as a long pole-like fin pierced the air in front of me. The fin threw aside the cloud of sand, giving me full view of the menacing monster that was snarling at me. I launched a fireball at the monster¡¯s face, but it opened its teeth and spewed out a ball of salt water. The salt water fizzled as it struck against my fireball, creating steam. The shark monster bit into the steam, letting white vapor flow out through the gaps between its teeth. If its purpose was to intimidate me, it had definitely succeeded.


    But I had also succeeded in my objective. I took a deep breath as I saw Noel rush from behind the monster. I cast my ¡®still life¡¯ magic with my hands outstretched towards the shark monster. The two star monster froze mid-snarl, with its rows of large, sharp teeth mere inches from my body. My gaze was stuck on its beady black eyes and arrow-like nose.


    Noel jumped on top of the monster¡¯s head with a flint knife. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth was in my hands, since Noel didn¡¯t usually like holding onto it. Noel struck the monster¡¯s face with her knife but it only left a small scratch on its skin. Noel tried again and again but the monster¡¯s skin wouldn¡¯t break.


    Realizing she had to change tactics, Noel stabbed the knife into both of the monster¡¯s eyes, before throwing away the knife and forming two fireballs, one in each hand. She pressed the fireball into the monster¡¯s nose and mouth, doing her best to keep adding flame inside its body. She yelled as she fed more and more fire into the monster¡¯s head, but nothing seemed to be happening. Smoke rose from inside its mouth, but the monster¡¯s skin remained unbroken. If things were going according to plan, its entire head should¡¯ve been on fire.


    Noel grit her teeth and brought a rock to her hand. She raised the rock up high and swung it at the monster¡¯s head, but it didn¡¯t look like it did anything. We were running out of time. I couldn¡¯t hold my breath for much longer and Noel needed to jump off the monster¡¯s body before it regained its movement.


    Besides, stopping a powerful two star monster for so long had depleted my energy reserves. I wouldn¡¯t be of much use in a fight if the monster wasn¡¯t down by the time my spell ended. Noel jumped off the monster¡¯s body and landed in front of me. She took a deep breath and stretched out both of her arms. I took a deep breath, undoing my spell, and Noel cast her own motion freezing magic spell.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The monster lurched forward in the moment between our spells, getting dangerously close to our position. I slumped to the ground, taking deep breaths, as my mind raced to think of a solution. I stared the monster¡¯s open mouth, with its rows upon rows of frighteningly sharp teeth. I picked myself off the ground, and took stock of my magic energy reserves. I doubted I could use more than a couple minor spells.


    I started by using magic hands to reach inside its throat, but I didn¡¯t find anything I could exploit. I wasn¡¯t even sure how this thing breathed, since it seemed to have both gills and lungs! I left a pebble near the base of its throat, just in case that might do something, but I needed to do something else.


    I gathered the last of my magical energy and guided a small flame deep down its throat. I tried to release it near its vital organs, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that was going to be enough, since the flames hadn¡¯t charred the inside of its mouth despite Noel¡¯s best efforts. I grit my teeth as I ran out of options. Noel¡¯s magic would run out soon, and then neither of us would be able to use any spells. We¡¯d have to fight this nightmare inducing monster the old fashioned way.


    Wait, that was it!


    I grabbed the Dragon¡¯s Tooth tightly, and took a few steps back. Then I ran forward and threw the microlith spear into the monster¡¯s mouth. It passed through the rows of teeth and lodged itself into the back of the monster¡¯s mouth. I jumped forward, grabbed the spear, and pulled it out. I had to put my hands inside the monster¡¯s mouth, staring up at its nose and facing its many, many teeth directly.


    I stabbed the Dragon¡¯s Tooth into the two star shark monster¡¯s mouth, repeatedly. In, out, back, and forth, I pierced its skin as many times as I could. Sweat poured over my forehead. I breathed heavily as my limbs began feeling as heavy as lead. Its teeth almost pierced my skin a couple times, but they never drew any blood.


    With one final thrust, I broke through the back of the monster¡¯s mouth. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth was lodged in too tightly for my tired arms to pull it out, but I still dug my feet in and pulled with all my strength. The spear came out with a nasty squelch, and I tumbled backwards into Noel. Noel gave out a sharp yell as her spell was broken and we crashed into the ground a few feet away from the monster.


    The monster lumbered forward as if by inertia. Apart from its injured eyes and some charred skin, it was hard to tell if the monster had been hurt at all by our attacks, at least from the front. It was only when the monster raised one of its pointy legs and tried to pierce the sand, that we realized we¡¯d won.


    The monster¡¯s legs fell against the sand but failed to pierce. Its other limbs collapsed under the weight of its own body, as the two star shark monster fell flat on its front. A large hole grew out of its back, right above its fin, with small pieces of flint embedded within its flesh.


    With a rapidly beating heart, and quick, short breaths, I turned to Noel. She looked just as tired as I felt, but her eyes were bright and she was sporting a massive grin. We fell backwards, our backs flat against the wet sand. The bright blue, sunny sky stretched out above. The smell of the salty ocean spray cut through the disgusting smell coming from the monster¡¯s corpse.


    ¡°You know, I think these shoes are worth it, after all,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I know right? It¡¯s much easier to run in these,¡± I said. ¡°And they look cool, too.¡±


    Noel chuckled. I began laughing too. We spent some time, lying on the beach, laughing at nothing as the sound of waves crashing against the shore in the distance drowned out our laughter.

 Chapter 63

    ¡°That thing was nightmare fuel,¡± I said.


    ¡°It came out of nowhere, too,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Like, why does it have long legs? How does that help it swim?¡± I said. Noel shrugged. I figured I could come up with a reason. Maybe it used its legs to anchor itself to the ground or swum using some sort of magic. Either way, I wasn¡¯t about to go jump into the ocean and look for another one to confirm my theories.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± said Noel. ¡°Other monsters might come for the carcass.¡±


    Noel insisted we take what we wanted from the shark monster¡¯s body, and leave the beach behind. She was wary of the ocean, which made sense because of the walking four-legged shark monster that attacked us on the beach, but I figured uncertainty was partially to blame. She had never seen the ocean before, and having a traumatic experience the first time she saw it might have stoked her thalassophobia.


    We cut off some shark meat and cartilage, picked up the two red gems that had been on its forehead, and left the beach. We went just far enough away that we could still make out the coastline, which we followed as we walked across the wasteland. The high cliffs that used to separate the highlands from the plains had long since faded into each other as the ancient river must have spread into a delta to flow into the ocean. The place we were walking through had probably once been a river delta, but the river had either dried up or changed course. Since I didn¡¯t remember there being a large river running through the plains, I figured the river had already shrunk by the time I came to this world.


    I played with the two red gems we had retrieved from the shark monster¡¯s corpse. Counting the one we had gathered from the snake monster at the watering hole, we now had three red gems. I hadn¡¯t been able to keep the gems from the one star Farro bird or The Terrible, but even if I had managed to keep them, I had no idea what to use them for.


    I didn¡¯t feel any magical energy inside them, although I hadn¡¯t developed a way to sense magical energy, anyway, so that didn¡¯t mean much. The gems¡¯ red glow had dulled now that they were no longer adorning the foreheads of frightening monsters, but they retained a mesmerizing luster that made them almost hypnotic to stare at. I resolved not to look at them for too long.


    We debated throwing them away. What if other monsters could sense them? What if holding on to them made the God of Evil angry? Or what if touching them for too long corrupted our minds or turned us into monsters as well?


    In the end, we kept them. I figured if other monsters could sense them, we could use them as bait. It was unlikely that would work, since no monsters chased after us in the wasteland even when we held onto one gem.


    It didn¡¯t matter if holding on to them made the God of Evil angry, since we¡¯d already killed his Ikon, the Oracle, and his minion, The Terrible. It was way too late to try to get on his good side.


    And as for getting corrupted by the gems, it didn¡¯t seem likely. Touching them didn¡¯t make me feel any different, nor did they increase or decrease my magic power. There were no voices in my head, no strange emotions taking over my body, nothing that would raise any red flags. Still, we decided to keep them inside a small pouch made of shark monster skin which we took turns holding every other day.


    I did try to experiment on the gems, but I couldn¡¯t crush them or cut them or break them, no matter how hard I tried. They didn¡¯t react to water or blood or even a caustic lye solution. I rubbed some soap on them just in case, but that washed straight off, leaving the gem just a little bit brighter. Maybe that would make the God of Evil a little happier?Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    After a few days, Noel spotted something in the distance. It was late and we¡¯d set up camp. We didn¡¯t have any wood so we slept without a campfire, and our motion detection magic had kept worked well so far. I squinted in the direction in which Noel was pointing.


    A crescent moon hung lazily in the sky, with the red star pulsing gently next to it. Underneath the two heavenly bodies, way off in the distance, a small light bobbed through the darkness. The light was on the ground, at a height a little above my head. It went up and down, and flickered like a candle in the wind.


    No. Not a candle. A torch!


    Noel and I abandoned our camp, grabbed our supplies, and ran towards the bobbing light. We kept our spells ready, just in case this was some sort of light emitting monster, but judging by the way the light was moving, we were pretty sure it wasn¡¯t a monster.


    As we ran up to the light, I realized we were near a cove. Saltwater poked into the land, with craggy rocks bordering it on three sides. In the dim moonlight, I made out some trees on the coast on the other side of the cove. The light was running away from the trees, towards a rocky outcropping away from the water. The light dipped behind the rocks, and as Noel and I caught up, we found a cave hidden behind a layer of overgrown vines. I brushed aside the vines and prepared some fire magic to help us see in the dark.


    Something rushed towards my neck. I took a step back and the spear stopped in mid-air. Noel cast a fireball in front of her body, lighting up the entrance of the cave. The fireball hovered next to the spear, which quickly retracted as its wielder jumped back in fright.


    I pulled out the Dragon¡¯s Tooth and pointed it forward. Noel joined my side with her fireball. The spear-wielding figure fell backwards as he tried to get away from Noel¡¯s hovering fireball, tripped over his own feet, and crashed to the ground. His spear cluttered against the rocky ground, coming to a rest near my feet.


    I blinked my eyes. I looked at Noel and she met my gaze. She made her fireball float forward, lighting up the bumbling figure who was tapping the ground, searching for his spear. The fire illuminated his face once again. The young boy looked up at us with his startling green eyes. He had moppy red hair that looked like it hadn¡¯t been washed in years. It was hard to tell in the orange light, but there were freckles on his chubby cheeks, which made him look even younger and stranger. He was wearing a strange, scaly blue loincloth, with a pouch made of the same substance slung over his shoulder.


    We stared at each other in silence. The boy didn¡¯t move. Noel didn¡¯t say a word. In the end, I figured I would have to break the silence, but the boy spoke first, instead:


    ¡°Are you elves?¡±


    I was a little taken aback. Noel looked confused too. It was then that I narrowed my eyes and stared at the boy even harder. He had short stubby legs and a surprisingly lean torso, but that wasn¡¯t strange at all. Instead, it was when I saw his ears that I opened my mouth and spoke almost without meaning to:


    ¡°You¡¯re a human?¡±


    I lit another fireball to illuminate the entire cave entrance. The orange glow washed over everything: the craggy walls, the rocky ground, the narrowing path further into the cave, as well as the half dozen or so adult humans who were cautiously piling out of the path, spears at the ready. The humans¡¯ eyes traveled to my face, and some of them began to tremble.


    An older human fell to his knees and clasped his hands in the air.


    ¡°Great, benevolent elf, thank you for visiting my humble people once again!¡± he said, loudly.

 Chapter 64

    ¡°This fish stew is amazing,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Out of this world,¡± I said as I emptied my clay bowl. The phrase didn¡¯t translate very well so I had to explain that I meant it tasted really good.


    ¡°Please,¡± said elder Kezler Roja, ¡°have some more.¡±


    We were sitting deep inside the cave where the Roja tribe of humans lived. The elder had led us inside a special room in the back, where he insisted we sit for dinner, separated from the rest of the tribe. A pair of green eyes peeked out from behind the wall at the entrance to the room. Elder Kezler scolded his grandson Kesler for ¡®insulting the venerable elves,¡¯ but that didn¡¯t seem to faze the young redhead at all.


    Elder Kezler was a lively looking old man. He had red hair, like the rest of his tribe, but his hazel eyes that peeked out from under his droopy eyebrows had a certain spark inside them. He didn¡¯t know how old he was, since the Roja didn¡¯t keep track of their age the way we did. Instead, the Roja tracked the order of birth for each member of their tribe, and elder Kezler was the oldest born. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say he was in his early seventies, which made his red beard¡ªwhich only had a few wisps of gray in it¡ªseem even more impressive.


    I snuck a glance at Noel. She was clearly putting on a brave face. I stared at my own feet too, trying to wrap my head around what elder Kezler had told us.


    ¡°I hate to keep asking you this,¡± I said, ¡°but your ancestors met elves who were coming up from the wasteland, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the elder.


    ¡°And you don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been since you last saw them,¡± I said.


    The elder nodded. ¡°It has been many generations. If we didn¡¯t have the ancestral paintings, I doubt we would have even remembered.¡± The elder raised a torch above his head, shedding light on the walls of the room around us.


    The cave paintings seemed crudely drawn, but my paper on prehistoric societies told me they were actually incredibly complex. The large, powerful looking monsters reminded me of the Altamira and Lascaux cave paintings that I had looked at for my paper. The red and yellow ochre pigments popped against the dull rocks and fought through the layers of soot to create images that captured motion, action, and even abstract concepts like time and death.


    But what really stood out were the stick figurines that were etched into the rock and highlighted with red ochre. One figurine, the smallest and most mundane, seemed to be fighting a large bull-like monster. The figure charged against the monster, but the difference in size made it hard to believe the figure could win. However, a handful of floating half-man, half-monster figures floated above the bull monster¡¯s head, and threw what looked like fire, water, earth, and air at the monster.


    The paintings reminded me of the famous Sulawesi cave paintings that were all over my search feeds when I was trying to research the paper for my college course. They had been recently discovered and were possibly the oldest cave paintings ever discovered. The truly amazing thing about those paintings, though, was that they broke the narrative about when humans started telling narrative and abstract stories through art. People were excited that we may have been much smarter much earlier than we had initially thought!


    But unlike the Sulawesi paintings, those half-man, half-monster figures didn¡¯t look like the human Roja tribe¡¯s ancestors. Instead, the pointy red lines of ochre coming out of the side of their heads marked them as elves. The four types of magic they were using seemed to line up with the elemental system we had introduced to our tribe. I guess it was nice that they managed to go beyond water magic on their own, I said to myself.


    ¡°And you don¡¯t know how long these paintings have been here, either?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°I am sorry, venerable elf,¡± said the elder. ¡°I do not know.¡±


    I frowned. I could try to invent a type of magic that would help me estimate how old these paintings were. However, developing the ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ necessary to create carbon dating magic would take an insanely long time, especially since only one of my magic spells was even remotely connected to modern science!Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I could also observe the Roja tribe and estimate how old the paintings were by comparing their technological progress, but from what I¡¯d seen, it wouldn¡¯t be very useful. Cave paintings were dated using wide ranging estimates and the level of technological progress varied wildly between different areas. Some places might even go backwards after developing new technologies, and even if they did progress, the changes in technology could be so small I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell how much time had passed since they were able to make the paintings.


    ¡°Tell us about the elves,¡± I said as a thought came to me. ¡°What are the stories your people know about them. Oh, and please turn off the torch. The smoke might damage the paintings and this room is pretty closed off so you might get sick if you leave a burning torch on in here for too long.¡±


    ¡°Yes, venerable elf. That is one of the things the ancient elves told our ancestors!¡± said elder Kezler. ¡°This was before my people lived in caves. The seasons were changing and our people were struggling to hunt bigger, and stronger monsters, but the ancient elves came out of the wastelands and moved into this very cave.¡±


    ¡°You mean they came here?¡± said Noel as she looked around. The elder had snuffed out his torch at my request, so we couldn¡¯t see much.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what the stories say,¡± said the elder. ¡°But there are other stories that say our tribe moved with the rivers even after the ancient elves left.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°When did the elves leave?¡± I said, ¡°and do you know where they went?¡±


    ¡°I must apologize to you again, venerable elves, since I do not know when your ancestors left us,¡± said the elder.


    ¡°Family,¡± said Noel, ¡°they weren¡¯t our ancestors. They were our family!¡±


    The elder stopped. Then he spoke, slowly: ¡°It seems the stories of your immortality were true. My ancestors must have failed to barter for the secret to immortality, but if it can be bartered for the same way we bartered for your magic, may I make you an offer?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°we aren¡¯t immortal. We have long lives, that¡¯s all. And there is no secret behind it, it is just the way things are. The way some animals live for only a few days, while other live longer than you do.¡±


    ¡°I see, that does make sense, since we know that elves can die of disease and injury,¡± said the elder. ¡°Then let me answer your other question. We do not know for certain where the ancient elves went. We do not even know why they left, since our ancestors would have done anything to keep them around. However, as I mentioned before, we know that elves can die of disease and injury. We know this because two elves did pass while they were with our ancestors. The story goes, that one of them was injured while hunting out alone, which is why our hunters must always go in pairs, while the other died after eating a Cora Fish, which is why we sacrifice one over their graves every summer solstice.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you sacrifice it over their graves?¡± said Noel quickly.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the elder. ¡°It is one of our holiest sites. Its location is another reason I believe this cave is not the same as the one from the stories.¡±


    ¡°You mean it¡¯s far away?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, ¡°but that is not the only problem.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°There is another story,¡± said the elder, hesitantly, ¡°that says the elves did not like leaving their caves at night. The only exception, was when there was a new moon. Then, and only then, would they leave their caves and set up camp under the stars. The story goes, our ancestors were confused. It was almost as if the great and powerful elves were afraid of the moon. We asked them why they refused to walk under the moonlight, but the elves never gave us an answer. They would not reveal the secret of the moon even for the offer of many fish or even monster meat. Instead, they told us to be wary of the moon, to be wary of the red star, and most importantly of all, to always hide when the two crossed paths.


    ¡°And the story continues, that one day, after the elves had left our tribe, our young hunters went outside on a night with a full moon. The red star, which had disappeared for many generations, was back in the sky and the two heavenly bodies glowed upon seeing the young hunters. The young hunters ran to the graveyard of the ancient elves, hoping that would save them, but the moon flashed brightly and clashed with the red star. The red star dimmed and shrank away, but the seas roiled under the weight of the heavens.


    ¡°The young hunters and the graveyard were swallowed by the sea. And this story is why we offer sacrifices to the moon and the red star, at least once every summer. Still, we are always afraid on nights with full moons, lest the moon and the red star go to war once again.¡±

 Chapter 65

    The elder led us to the part of the ocean where they offered sacrifices to the moon. It was a little natural pier a couple hours from the cove. We stepped onto the sand, gazing into the murky depths. Somewhere down there were two elfin graves. We didn¡¯t know if the elves who were buried there were Jora tribesmen, and it didn¡¯t look like there was an easy way to get down there.


    ¡°So you always sacrifice Cora Fish?¡± I asked.


    The elder nodded and said: ¡°We will throw in some other fish or monster meat as well. The Cora Fish honors the ancient elves while the other meat pacifies the great monster that prowls these shores.¡±


    ¡°A great monster?¡± I lifted one eyebrow. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s safe to come out here with a monster nearby?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes,¡± said the elder, ¡°the Limu Dogfish does not jump on shore in this area. The ocean is too deep so it cannot push off against the seafloor. We have to be careful near shallow beaches, however, since the Limu loves ambushing its prey from the shallow waters.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, ¡°that sounds familiar. Do these Limu Dogfish have four long, spindly fins that work like legs? And rows of sharp teeth? And weird blue skin?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said elder Kezler.


    ¡°And does the one you offer fish and meat too around here have two red gems on its forehead?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the elder.


    Noel and I looked at each other. I pulled two red gems out of my pouch and showed them to the elder. I explained that the monster had tried to ambush us, but we managed to kill it with our magic. We had to stop the elder from getting on his knees to thank us. Hearing him sing our praises all the time got tiring, but he refused to stop.


    If we were so mighty and venerable in his eyes, the least he could do was listen to us when we told him to stop thanking and praising us, right? Honestly, it felt really strange watching an elderly man look up to me respectfully. Glancing at Noel, I realized it must feel even stranger for her. The only old looking elf she¡¯d met was the Oracle, but even the Oracle looked younger than elder Kezler. And since both the Jora tribe and the Roja tribe place a lot of importance on age and experience, I was sure this must feel completely inappropriate to Noel.


    Elder Kezler calmed down eventually. The other Roja tribesmen looked even more intimidated by us, so Noel and I just ignored them, even as they had followed us all the way to the pier. Only little Kelser seemed unimpressed by our power, although he was definitely too afraid of being scolded by his grandfather to approach us.


    ¡°Since the venerable elves have slayed the monstrous Limu Dogfish, we will offer that sacrifice to them instead!¡± said the elder as he told his tribesmen to take the fish and monster meat back to the cave so it could be cooked. After the horrible food we¡¯d had to eat on the wasteland, and the great stew that proved the Roja tribe¡¯s culinary abilities, I was actually more excited by their offering than I cared to admit.


    ¡°If the monster is gone,¡± said Noel, ¡°does that mean we can try going down to the graves?¡±


    I looked at Noel. Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be thalassophobic? No, wait, I had only been assuming that. Although, looking at the way she was biting her lips and staring determinedly at the ocean, perhaps her love for her family was helping her overcome her fears.


    ¡°One of us should stay up here,¡± I said, ¡°just in case any other monsters show up.¡±


    ¡°But what if there are more monsters down there?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Good point,¡± I said, ¡°so how about this? You can tie a magic hand around my arm, and if I find another monster down there, I¡¯ll give it a tug. Then you can pull me out and we can run away!¡±


    ¡°Who said you were the one going down?¡± said Noel.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I mean, you haven¡¯t seen the ocean before, have you?¡± I said. ¡°Even if you know how to swim in lakes and rivers, swimming in the ocean can be very different.¡±


    ¡°You have a lot of experience swimming in the ocean?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Only a little,¡± I said as I thought about white beaches in Santorini, baby blue waters in Dominica, and spring break at Myrtle beach. ¡°Definitely more than you, that¡¯s for sure.¡± I¡¯d even gone snorkeling in Goa.


    ¡°Fine,¡± said Noel, ¡°but you should cast motion detection magic around the area, first.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°That magic isn¡¯t going to work underwater. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be careful. Besides, it¡¯s a little hard to see down there, but I can still make out what looks like a couple gravestones. Over there.¡± I pointed into the ocean. Noel looked where I was pointing and squinted.


    The fact the graves weren¡¯t completely covered in sand and debris by now was surprising. It probably meant the graves had only recently gone underwater. Either that, or there was some sort of magic involved. Despite how confident I had been while talking to Noel, looking at two graves, distorted by the waves, several feet underwater, made me feel uneasy.


    Noel tied her magic hand around my arm. I walked to the edge of the natural pier. Looking around, I saw the human Roja tribesmen and felt strange. The way they were looking at me made me feel uncomfortable. It wasn¡¯t a look I was accustomed to seeing. Their expressions reminded me of the way people looked at massive whales or statues of deities. A sense of awe that was reserved for things that weren¡¯t like oneself, for things that weren¡¯t human.


    Another feeling came to my mind as I jumped off the pier and into the murky depths. Wasn¡¯t this how I had come to this world in the first place? Dragged to the bottom of the Charles river by a sense of apathy and an arrogant conviction of invincibility.


    The water was cold, which was okay, because I was expecting it. I opened my eyes for a split second, just to make sure there were no monsters around me. The surrounding waters were eerily empty. I closed my eyes and dove deeper. I opened my eyes from time to time, perhaps a little paranoid that something would spring out from the vast expanse. Visibility was poor. I didn¡¯t want to keep my eyes open too long in case something went inside them.


    I came up to the graves quite quickly. I wasn¡¯t too worried about air, since I could use elemental air magic to make a bubble around my head. I didn¡¯t want to do it yet, so I could save some magical energy.


    The graves weren¡¯t very fancy. A bed of pebbles marked the graves themselves, while two large, chiseled white boulders marked the gravestones. The gravestones didn¡¯t have any markings on them, which was a shame, but it made sense since the elves didn¡¯t have a system of writing. A part of me was hoping they¡¯d come up with something after we were gone, or that they¡¯d used some of the symbols that were around the cave of The Terrible or on the Mad King¡¯s gravestone, but it didn¡¯t look like they¡¯d done that.


    I made an air bubble around my head with elemental magic so I could look around some more. Maintaining the bubble was annoying, since it took a lot of energy and I had to keep one of my hands on top of it the entire time. After catching my breath, I went back to searching around the graves.


    I moved the boulders a little with earth elemental magic, but there was nothing underneath. I debated digging up the graves, since it might be considered offensive, but figured we had to know for sure, so a little offense may have to be caused.


    The first skeleton looked like it belonged to a male elf. There was nothing else buried besides him, and nothing special about his bones. I buried him back under the ground as best I could, but everything was soggy now, so I had to pile up a lot of rocks and press them together to make sure the grave wasn¡¯t washed away too easily.


    I dug up the second skeleton, not expecting to find anything special. It was clear these were tough times and even the clothes of the dead were too valuable to bury with them. The second skeleton was in bad shape. There were scrapes and injuries all over his bones, and his joints looked like they¡¯d been through a lot. Even the skull had some scratches on it. This was probably the one that died after a hunt.


    I came back up to the surface and told Noel what I had seen. She wasn¡¯t offended that I had dug up the skeletons, but she was disappointed I hadn¡¯t been able to find any identifying details. We asked elder Kezler if there were any other graves or relics that belonged to the elves, but he said this was the only elfin thing his tribe still possessed.


    ¡°But you may have some luck with some tribes further North,¡± said elder Kezler.


    ¡°There are more tribes of humans nearby?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the elder, ¡°and if you are looking for elfin relics, you should go to the most powerful tribe in all the lands.¡±


    ¡°Who are they?¡± I asked, for some reason.


    ¡°They are called,¡± said the elder, ¡°the Jora tribe.¡±

 Chapter 66

    ¡°The Jora tribe?¡± repeated Noel, her eyes unfocused.


    I narrowed my eyes and my heart started to race. ¡°Is that really their name?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the elder, ¡°they are the largest tribe, and the most powerful. Some say they were blessed directly by the ancient elves, and it is this blessing that is the source of their great power.¡±


    ¡°Blessing?¡± repeated Noel. The word struck a nerve with me, as well.


    ¡°Yes, a powerful blessing that makes their magic more powerful than ours,¡± said the elder. ¡°When the people of my tribe wish to cast magic, we must prepare for a long time, channel our prayers to the ancient elves, and hope that they hear us. It is only with their approval that our magic spells are cast! They say the Jora tribe do not have to wait for approval. They can cast their magic as if by breathing.¡± The elder got on his knees once again. ¡°I pray to you once again, venerable elves, please, bestow upon us your blessing!¡±


    The other humans got on their knees too. Even stubborn Kelser was forced to bow by a strong-armed red-haired woman hugging a crying baby. It seemed like the humans had been holding it in for a while. Judging by how desperate they were for our ¡®blessing,¡¯ I could guess that their relationship with the ¡®Jora¡¯ tribe wasn¡¯t very warm.


    ¡°Wait, no,¡± I said, ¡°get up, all of you. I think there¡¯s been a misunderstanding.¡±


    It took a while to convince the Roja tribesmen to stop begging for our blessing. In the end, I promised to help them improve their magic, and I think they took that to mean I would give them my blessing after all. They were very excited; the elder was practically on the verge of tears.


    While I tried to handle the tribesmen, Noel stared out at the ocean without saying a word. I clicked my tongue. Why did things always get so complicated?


    ---


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, loudly, ¡°in order to help you improve your magic skills, I need to first know where you stand.¡± I surveyed the group of red-haired humans standing in front of me. We were lined up just off the beach near the cove by their cave. Every single tribesmen had followed us here, eager to be ¡®blessed¡¯ by the mystical elves.


    Noel stood next to me. After asking a ton of questions, she managed to get a lot of information about the ¡®Jora¡¯ tribe that elder Kezler had mentioned. The elder did not know that our tribe¡¯s name was also Jora, but from what he had told us about the way the human Jora tribe grew out of humans saved by the ancient elves, it was easy to see how they had adopted the name for themselves. After getting the elder to promise to show us the way to the human Jora tribe, Noel agreed to help them with their magic, as well.


    ¡°Elder Kezler,¡± I said, ¡°you told me the ancient elves taught your people four kinds of magic. One for each element. Can you come over to this pile of wood and light it up with fire magic?¡±


    Another thing the elder had told us was that the elder of the tribe was not actually always the oldest person. Instead, the elder was the most powerful magician, chosen through duels and demonstrations. It just so happened that the oldest person was usually the most powerful magician, which actually told me a lot about the state of their magical abilities.


    Elder Kezler lumbered over to the pile of wood. His sharp hazel eyes peered at the kindling so fiercely it looked like he was trying to light it with his gaze alone. Of course, he was actually just preparing his magic.


    ¡°Mighty ancestors, hear my plea! Carry my wishes to the great and venerable elves; governors of magic, purveyors of power and enlightenment. Carry my prayers so my words may call forth flames from the inside of this offering, sharing your light, your warmth, with us lowly beings!¡± said the elder with a completely solemn, straight face.


    I felt the corner of my mouth twitch, involuntarily. Since when did magic require chants in this world? And why did their chants have to be so embarrassing?If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The elder lifted his arms to the heavens at the end of his chant, and stood there, like a statue, with his eyes staring at the wood. He¡¯d upturned his chin so he was looking down over his nose, which made the whole thing feel even worse. Eventually, a small flame flashed onto the kindling, but the flame was way too small and the kindling failed to catch on fire.


    The elder repeated this process a couple times. Beads of sweat rolled down his wrinkly forehead, and he was breathing quickly, but his eyes never lost their intensity. Finally, the kindling caught on fire. The elder rushed to the kindling and started blowing on it, carefully. When the flame was hot enough, he fed it some twigs and dried grass, before putting it into the pile of wood. A small campfire came into being, but with the amount of time and effort that went into making it, I wondered if it would have been faster and easier to rub two sticks together and pray.


    Fortunately, it turned out fire magic was the elder¡¯s weakest magic. He showed us his most powerful magic¡ªwater¡ªand it only took him one long, embarrassing, attempt. Water magic was the Roja tribe¡¯s specialty, which made sense because they lived next to the ocean, but definitely didn¡¯t suit their fiery hair and demeanor.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°Noel, do you wanna start?¡±


    ¡°No way,¡± said Noel, ¡°you should handle this. I¡¯ll help with the practical lessons.¡±


    I sighed. I turned to the humans and clapped my hands together. ¡°Alright, thank you for showing us your magic. But before I get around to helping you improve your magic, let me show you something.¡±


    I stretched out a hand and opened my palm. A small flame appeared above my open hand, catching the humans by surprise. Before they could start freaking out and praising me, I reminded them that they¡¯d already seen us use magic, so they had no reason to keep reacting this way every time. After all, soon they¡¯d be able to do magic like this, too.


    ¡°In fact, your attitude towards us is one of the things holding you back,¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean, venerable elf?¡± asked elder Kezler.


    ¡°You respect us too much,¡± I said, ¡°like, you just called me a venerable elf, even though I told you my name is Cas.¡±


    ¡°But, you are an elf, venerable one,¡± said the elder, ¡°how could we dare call you by your name? You are the spirits that govern magic; you control storms, floods, droughts, and nature itself. To insult you would cut us off from the blessing of magic that your kind bestowed upon our ancestors,¡± he said. ¡°We are already sorry for poor little Kelser, my grandson, since he offended you with his childish ignorance. We understand that he will never be able to wield magic.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s wrong! It¡¯s all wrong!¡±


    ¡°I do not understand,¡± he said.


    I tried to tell him we weren¡¯t supernatural beings, but he said we could cast magic with our thoughts. I explained we weren¡¯t in charge of magic, to which he said he understood that magic was an ungovernable thing, but he said he knew the elves were the only ones who could tame it.


    We weren¡¯t getting anywhere so I figured I¡¯d use a classic form of inter-civilization communication.


    ¡°You said the Jora tribe have more powerful magic than you do,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, they were blessed by your people,¡± said the elder.


    ¡°Then are there other tribes whose magic is weaker than yours? Perhaps there are tribes that can¡¯t do any magic at all,¡± I said.


    The elder nodded. ¡°There are those who were punished by the spirits, we believe their ancestors offended the ancient elves.¡±


    ¡°But think about this.¡± I slowly walked closer to the humans. ¡°When you saw me use my magic, magic that is more powerful than your own, you almost thought of me like a deity or a spirit. But if you walked up to people from a tribe that can¡¯t do any magic, and showed them your magic.¡± I pointed at the still burning fire. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they be just as impressed as you are? Wouldn¡¯t they drop to their knees, and beg for you to bless them too? Perhaps they would call you a spirit or say you held the secrets to magic; that you called forth storms, caused great earthquakes, and controlled nature itself.¡±


    Gray clouds began to gather in the sky. They formed visibly, plunging our little corner of the cove into relative darkness. Just a few feet away on the beautiful beach, the sun still shone brightly on the sand. And yet, over our heads, rain began to pour. At first a drizzle, then much more.


    I put a hand into the air and let the water trail down the side of my air. My hair was drenched, my face and body wet, but I smiled as I looked at the soggy humans.


    ¡°What you need, my friends, are not prayers and blessings. All you need, are knowledge and wisdom.¡±

 Chapter 67

    ¡°No, listen, it doesn¡¯t matter if you can burn it or not,¡± I said.


    ¡°But rock does not burn, how could I set it aflame?¡± said a Roja tribesman.


    ¡°Like I¡¯ve said before, magic is based on the abstract world, not the physical one,¡± I said.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t understand!¡± he said again. ¡°It is a rock. If I throw it in the fire, it will not burn. How can you expect me to set it on fire?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not setting it on fire,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re extracting the element of fire from inside the rock.¡±


    ¡°There is no fire inside the rock!¡± he said.


    ¡°I know there isn¡¯t,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then why are you making me take it out?¡± he said.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s not literally made of fire, it¡¯s just an abstract way of classifying everything in existence!¡± I said.


    I spent some more time trying to get that tribesman to cast fire elemental magic. Most of the Roja tribesman struggled with fire elemental magic. I looked around. Most of the tribesmen were standing in front of rocks, trying to cast fire magic on them. A few of them were standing by wooden logs, trying to cast earth elemental magic, while a couple sat by a pool of water, trying desperately to cast air magic.


    It had been a couple of weeks since I began trying to teach them magic. The toughest part so far had been convincing them to stop venerating elves, and especially to stop using chants to cast magic. I didn¡¯t help the situation by literally calling forth rain, but there had been one massive breakthrough that really helped shake things up.


    ¡°How are you doing Kelser?¡± I said as I walked over to the red-haired boy. ¡°Need any help?¡±


    ¡°Hi Cas,¡± he said as he grinned widely. ¡°Just a second.¡± His grin turned to a frown though, as he stared at his task. A small pebble lay balanced on top of a large rock. Kelser breathed deeply as he once again stretched out his hands and gathered his energy. After a few moments of intense focus, he let out his breath, and let his short hands fall back to his sides. ¡°Yeah, I think I need some help after all.¡±


    I nodded and started offering him some tips for motion magic. Kelser listened intently, asking questions from time to time. The grumpy kid who didn¡¯t trust us at first, was long gone. That said, his grumpiness had actually been a great help.


    Kelser had been the first Roja tribesman who stopped chanting and stopped praising us after before every spell. He¡¯d been the first to cast every type of elemental spell, and the only one who was working on motion magic right now. Even elder Kezler was stuck trying to cast fire elemental magic on a stone.


    A lot of tribesmen, especially the youngest ones, had followed Kesler¡¯s lead and ditched their old attitudes towards us. Kesler was the only one who called us by our first names, though I think that might have been because the others realized we were much older than them. I mean, Noel was much older than them, but she said I was basically the same age as her, and I didn¡¯t want to say she was much older than me, and I didn¡¯t want to clarify how I was actually a human reincarnated from another world, because the explanation was long and complicated and also none of their business!


    ¡°You okay?¡± asked Kesler.


    ¡°What? Oh yeah, sorry, I was thinking about something annoying,¡± I said. ¡°Now where were we? Oh yeah, motion magic is based on¡­¡±


    After another evening spent practicing magic, the exhausted tribesmen walked back to their cave. Noel and I followed behind them, talking about the problems we¡¯d faced today and how to overcome them tomorrow. It kind of reminded me of the little meetings I¡¯d have with the other teaching assistants back in college. Man, that felt like a lifetime ago.


    ¡°I think the problem is they¡¯ve had a lot more experience with fire than our Jora tribe did,¡± I said.


    Noel nodded. ¡°The tough part is differentiating between the element of fire and fire itself. Remember how, when you were explaining it to our tribe, your translation magic translated ¡®fire¡¯ and ¡®blessing¡¯ differently? It made it easy for us to think of the element of fire as being something different from fire itself, since fire itself was being translated as blessing.¡±


    ¡°Right, I almost forgot about that. Maybe we should analyze their language or something,¡± I said.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    ¡°There you go, making things more complicated than they need to be,¡± said Noel. ¡°We don¡¯t have to analyze their language, we have to find a way to separate the element of fire from fire itself.¡±


    ¡°But how do we do that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°By coming up with a different name for it,¡± she said.


    A different name for the element of fire? Was that really the best way to go about it? ¡°Maybe all we need is time,¡± I said, ¡°Kesler understood it, after all, so shouldn¡¯t the rest of them get it eventually?¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°Who knows how long that¡¯ll take.¡±


    I slowly nodded. Noel was getting impatient. She¡¯d wanted to go searching for the human Jora tribe since the day elder Kezler mentioned them. She would have gone off on her own, even if I¡¯d insisted on helping the Roja tribe, if elder Kezler hadn¡¯t told her more about the human Jora tribe.


    The human Jora tribe were hunter-gatherers, just like the elfin Jora. However, they were even more nomadic than our Jora tribe was. They moved from place to place every few days, and claimed a very large swathe of territory up North. Trying to find them by running into their territory might take months, if we were unlucky.


    Instead, elder Kezler agreed to take us to the summer solstice festival celebrated by most of the tribes in the area. The festival was meant to honor the great elves who taught magic to humanity, and was usually led by the human Jora tribe¡¯s leaders. The summer solstice was in a few weeks, but the location for the festival was pretty far from the cave. Noel wanted to go early, since the Jora tribe, who are in charge of the festival, will probably get there early too. Spending too much time training the Roja in magic might make us late.


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s try both. Let¡¯s analyze their language a little and then we can come up with a way to differentiate between fire and the fire element. Once they¡¯re able to separate the abstract from the real, other types of magic should become easier too.¡±


    We went inside the cave and called over Kelser. After explaining what we were trying to do, Kelser agreed to help us. He did say he wasn¡¯t sure what we were trying to do, but he trusted us enough to go along with whatever. Man, kids really do trust people easily, don¡¯t they?


    We told Kelser to repeat a few sentences whenever I raised my finger. Then we turned off our translation magic and I gave him the signal. Noel hadn¡¯t experienced different languages before, since all the elves of the Plains of Serenity used the same language, so she had to focus intently. She asked me something absentmindedly, and only realized I couldn¡¯t understand her when I replied to her in German.


    Why German? Well, have you heard the language? If someone starts speaking to you in German, you notice it!


    Anyway, after several rounds of repeating the same sentence, I turned on my translation magic and told Kelser to say something else. We repeated the process several times, sometimes making Kelser say things very slowly, sometimes asking him to enunciate each syllable.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°this is really strange.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± said Noel as she also turned on her translation magic.


    ¡°Their language is completely different from yours,¡± I said.


    ¡°That makes sense. They live really far away, don¡¯t they?¡± she said.


    I frowned. ¡°Yes, but then why can they do magic?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Kelser this time.


    ¡°Your magic,¡± I said, ¡°the one you showed us before. The one with long chants and lots of praying. How could that have developed if you couldn¡¯t understand the elves¡¯ language?¡±


    ¡°Maybe they learned each others¡¯ language?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°But your languages are different,¡± I said, ¡°I mean, really, really different. Your elfin language was monosyllabic and had very different sounds, but their language is a root-based or introflective language. And with the amount of influence the elves seemed to have had on their society, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for the humans to have taken some elements of your language. Even their word for elf doesn¡¯t seem to be connected to any word in your language.¡±


    ¡°Well, if they didn¡¯t learn each others¡¯ language,¡± said Noel, ¡°which is all I understood from your complicated explanation¡ª¡±


    ¡°Sorry about that.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll work on it later,¡± continued Noel. ¡°But if they didn¡¯t learn the language, they must have communicated with signs or something.¡±


    ¡°But think about how hard it was for us to teach them magic today!¡± I said, ¡°how could anyone have taught someone magic without speaking being able to understand them? Especially for a system of magic that was based on spoken chants!¡±


    Kelser frowned. ¡°You¡¯re right. It sounds impossible.¡±


    ¡°But then how did they learn magic?¡± asked Noel.


    I tapped my fingers on the side of my leg. We were sitting cross-legged on the floor of the cave. The night was dark and we could barely make out the torches by the entrance to the cave. I didn¡¯t have any answers so I stayed silent. I went to sleep still rolling that question around my head like a piece of hard candy.


    How did these humans learn magic?

 Chapter 68

    ¡°Fire mana?¡± said the tribesman.


    ¡°Yes, fire mana,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s different from fire. This rock has a lot of earth mana and a little bit of fire mana, which is what you¡¯re trying to use to cast your spell.¡±


    The tribesman frowned. Instead of answering, he focused on the rock and began preparing his magic. A small orange flame winked into existence, right over the rock¡¯s surface. The tribesman was so surprised by his success, he lost his concentration and the magic fizzled out.


    ¡°Congratulations!¡± I said. I went around to the other tribesmen and helped them visualize fire mana.


    It might seem like a small change, turning fire element into fire mana, but our experiments with Kelser proved it would be useful. Of course, the actual word we were using wasn¡¯t ¡®mana¡¯ but another word in the human language. I had to try a bunch of words in different languages to find something that would translate into something that would work, and mana was the best fit. I also memorized the word in the human language, so I could repeat it without translation magic for anyone who still didn¡¯t understand, but so far, ¡®mana¡¯ was working wonders!


    In fact, introducing the concept of mana to Kelser somehow helped him with motion magic too. My best guess was that the word it was being translated into in the human language was a cross between energy, essence, and some form of spiritual existence. It seemed at least a little similar to the Chinese concept of Qi, although it was very different on the spiritual side.


    As the magic practice wrapped up, the Roja tribesmen were quite visibly happy. After days of hitting a wall, it must have felt amazing to have finally broken through. A few of them, like elder Kezler, had even managed to start working on motion magic.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget,¡± said the elder has he passed me. ¡°We will be leaving before dawn.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll remind Noel too.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, teacher,¡± said the elder.


    He walked away with a grin on his wrinkly face. I sighed. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn¡¯t get any human except Kelser to call me by my name. We compromised and settled on teacher, instead. They called Noel the same thing, but after talking to Kelser, I realized ¡®teacher¡¯ was gendered in their language, so they were actually calling us different things. I also found out their version of ¡®teacher¡¯ was closer to ¡®mentor,¡¯ which made me wonder why the translation magic didn¡¯t just translate it as that. Maybe it was because we didn¡¯t fit the role of ¡®mentor¡¯ exactly so they weren¡¯t using their own word to mean what it would usually mean.


    Ah, picking apart the intricacies of language always made me feel better. I was not looking forward to trekking across the hills and plains to get to the site of the festival. I¡¯d gotten comfortable here in this beautiful cove, eating fresh fish every day, and lazing around in the sun. Of course, I¡¯d feel bad if everyone was out hunting and foraging while I did nothing, so I used motion detection magic to set up traps. Elder Kezler said I¡¯d helped them prepare for the journey to the festival¡¯s site much faster than they¡¯d expected, which made Noel really happy.


    The other thing that was stressing me out was the question of how the humans had learned magic. None of the humans knew anything useful about it, not even elder Kezler. I even had him repeat his long, embarrassing chants so I could listen to them without my translation magic, but there was nothing special about them. Kelser confirmed the entire chant was entirely in the human language. I asked him how the elder could chant something so embarrassing with a straight face if he could understand what it meant, to which Kelser replied that his grandfather was weird.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    I even took a page out of Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah, and tried to write down the words to the spells in different languages, to see if that would reveal some sort of hidden meaning. Since the human language was a root-based language, like the semitic languages back on my Earth, I figured I could try to analyze the words that way.


    See, unlike English, languages that used the root-based system, like Hebrew and Arabic, could create meaning through the roots of the words, rather than their specific manifestations. In English, that would be like using the etymology of a word to imply a hidden meaning. This characteristic is very useful in poetry, since it allows one to not just rhyme the words directly, but to also work with and manipulate root words in poetry.


    I never truly understood the way that worked even though I¡¯d learned Arabic. It wasn¡¯t until I joined a course on Jewish mysticism in college that a professor explained the way this form of writing and poetry could work in pieces like the Zohar or in the works of Solomon ibn Gabirol. It actually made me go back and read the famous Arabic poet Adonis, just so I could read him through this lens.


    However, it seemed like that line of analysis wasn¡¯t going to work on these magic spells. It was tough trying to connect roots together with the limited vocabulary I had learned so far, but it was enough to make it clear that the spells were not, in fact, very poetic at all.


    I sighed, kicked some dirt over the lines I¡¯d written on the ground, and threw away my stick. I went inside the cave as the sun went down and had some dinner. We were having grilled fish tonight!


    ---


    I stood up carefully. It was dark. I tip-toed out of the room and put my hands on the wall. I followed the wall out of the cave, being careful to not make a sound. All of the Roja tribesmen were asleep. Nobody had been on guard duty ever since I told them about my motion detection magic. Not only did they trust in my magic, a lot of them had wanted to learn motion detection magic first!


    There was a new moon out tonight, which meant the outside was darker than ever. Only the red star pulsed gently in the sky. With its dull shine, it almost looked like just another star in the clear, star-studded night sky.


    I followed the shore to the middle of the cove, in a spot where the waves were the weakest and the water the shallowest. The water broke over the beach in a blue gradient, flowing back and forth and leaving behind what looked like layers of blue filling in an ice cream cake. The only thing that broke their smooth colors was the reflection of the red star, which sometimes gave the sea a gentle, pink hue.


    I sat down on the beach, just far away from the water to have my feet tickled from time to time. Noel had gotten here before me, like usual. I didn¡¯t say hi or make any small talk. Instead, I passed her some fruits I¡¯d picked during the day.


    Noel and I had been meeting here for weeks now. Our time with the Roja tribe, here in this isolated and beautiful cove, was the first opportunity we¡¯d had to relax since we¡¯d fought the one-star Farro bird. We¡¯d been on the move for so long, had so much to do, and always been so tired by nighttime, that we hadn¡¯t even realized how starved we were for casual conversation. And although we were still under a lot of stress, what with Noel having lost her family through a time-skip and a literal immortal telling me the only way home was through ¡®annihilation,¡¯ we still managed to talk about some stuff here in our special spot in the middle of the cove.


    We¡¯d talked about the elfin graves we¡¯d found when we first came here. If one of them was a hunter, could it have been Sharun? If two of them could die, then would anyone else be alive? And if not, could we find their graves?


    After those sorts of heavy topics, we also discussed our childhoods. Things we loved, things we hated, and even shared a few embarrassing baby stories. At some point, we talked about love, at which point Noel finally realized that I really was much older than her, at least mentally.


    I even got around to telling her about my Earth. I told her about the things I liked to do, the friends that I¡¯d made in college, ice cream, football, movies and airplanes. I even told her how there were tons of stories in my world where people would get transported to another world, just like I had been. She chuckled a little when I told her about J. R. R. Tolkien¡¯s elves. She couldn¡¯t believe someone could write a character like Galadriel!


    After a few hours of talking, we both stood up and went back to the cave. We¡¯d usually spend a little longer out here, just listening to the waves and looking at the stars, but we had to get up early. It was time to set off on a journey!

 Chapter 69

    If you¡¯ve ever been on a beach at dawn, you¡¯ll know its worth getting up for. Since it was the night of a full moon, everything was as black as squid-ink. The veil of darkness shrouded both the sea and the sky, making them indistinguishable from each other. When the first hints of sunlight appear, the clouds begin to brighten like a pink Himalayan salt lamp.


    It was cloudy in the distance, which meant the sun wasn¡¯t visible even as the clouds began to brighten and the highlight of the ocean became clear. The crests of waves were the first to brighten, followed by the rolling waves on the open waters. The sun broke out of the cloud cover like a newborn; with a pink hue that slowly melted into bright orange.


    I remember a documentary about castaways pointing out how the horizon on the open ocean was further than you thought. And with the sun a bright but tiny dot in the distance, it certainly looked like the ocean stretched far, far into the distance.


    Most of the Roja tribesmen were already ready to go. They¡¯d checked the traps before the first light, and all the monsters and fish they¡¯d caught had already been preserved in salt and stored in pouches and pots. Breakfast was salty, treated meat; the oldest meat that we had. There wouldn¡¯t be any reliable sources of food along the way, so the tribe made sure to use their stores efficiently.


    We left the cove at dawn. Some of the babies were crying, and the toddlers weren¡¯t much better. Unlike the elves, there were a lot of children in the Roja tribe, which made sense since they were prehistoric humans. Before modern medicine came along, infant mortality rates were ludicrously high. It wouldn¡¯t be strange for half the children of the tribe to die before reaching adulthood. And overall life expectancy wasn¡¯t great either, which was why elder Kezler¡¯s old age was an impressive feat.


    Still, the adults did a pretty good job keeping their kids from wandering off. The kids were probably afraid of losing their parents, which must have helped, but since none of them left the cove very often, they were intensely curious and about as intensely unruly.


    After the cove came a patch of mangrove forests and low alluvial plains. The major rivers that ran into the sea would flood from time to time, which meant the ground was relatively flat and not very densely forested. The rainy season hadn¡¯t come yet, which meant we would be fine for now, but the elder said that they did sometimes get stuck at the festival site if the rains came early.


    Dandelions and dragonflies. Wildflowers and honeybees. Miles upon miles of open grassland. A picturesque, fairy-tale landscape. We walked across the empty fields¡ªa tribe of red-haired humans a couple of elves.


    We came upon a wide river, flowing gently towards the sea. Since we were so close to sea-level, the river meandered in all directions like a snake, and was far too deep to walk across. Most of the Roja tribesmen knew how to swim, since they lived so close to the sea, but there were a lot of kids and babies and nobody wanted to fight against the flow of the river, anyway. Instead, the plan was to follow the banks of the river all the way to the hills from where its many tributary streams and rivers originated.


    Even though it was the middle of summer, it wasn¡¯t as hot as it had been on the Plains of Serenity. We still tried to rest under a tree around noon, but that was only really a priority when it was raining. We kept some distance from the river, just in case it overflowed, and also because it twisted and turned so much it would make our journey even longer if we stuck to it all the time.


    I learned a lot from the Roja tribe on this journey. I learned about the many ways they tried to get their kids to stop crying. I learned the things they said to their spouses when one was slacking on their turn with the kids. I learned some stories; legends, myths, with a lot of religious-sounding tales about elves and magic.


    Speaking of magic, we didn¡¯t have a lot of energy to spare on practicing magic. It was only on days when we were taking shelter from the rain or replenishing our supplies, that Noel and I managed to get them to practice magic instead of lazing around.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    We didn¡¯t have any pack animals, so we carried everything ourselves. If it was hard trudging through miles upon miles of nothingness, it was even tougher doing all that while carrying sacks of clothes, packs of salted meat, and pots full of potable water. After a couple days of following their lead, I figured it was time to make things a little easier on everyone.


    One evening, as we came about a thicket of suitable looking trees, I asked the elder if we could set up early for the night. He agreed and the tribesmen began setting up their camp. I asked Noel and Kelser to follow me to the thicket, where we cut down a tree with fire and water magic. I cut off the bottom of the tree and gave the rest to Noel and Kelser. I told them to turn their part of the tree into planks. They didn¡¯t have to be even, but they should be thick enough to be able to bear some weight.


    I stripped off the bark on my part of the tree and cut it up into four round, circular slices. I smoothed off the edges of each piece of wood, and checked up on Noel and Kelser. They were having some trouble shaping the wood into planks, so I helped them out a little. It didn¡¯t seem like they would have enough wood, so I figured we could just use some branches and younger trees instead of making the whole thing out of planks. I had them come over and help me make the wheels.


    The toughest part about making wheels wasn¡¯t shaping the outside, it was making the hole in the middle. It was incredibly hard to make a large hole in the middle of a piece of wood without metal tools. I couldn¡¯t burn a whole in the wood with fire, since fire was hard to control, and I was almost certainly going to mess up the hole thing. Fire magic, on the other hand, could work, but I wasn¡¯t sure I could stop it from burning the whole thing. And using flint tools was out of the question, since it would take forever to chip away at the wood with them.


    And so I got a small clay pot from the Roja tribe and broke the bottom. I placed it over the center of the wood and started pouring fire magic into it. I used wood to light and fuel this fire magic, which made it much hotter than the elemental or air-based fire magic I usually used. I alternated the burst of fire magic with air magic, which made the fire burn a little faster. I held down the clay pot to try to keep the fire from spreading, but I could already see the wood beginning to char. I doused the flame with water magic, dried it with fire and air, brushed aside the soot, and repeated the whole process.


    Noel made a fire near the thicket. Kelser asked what I was doing, and I told him I didn¡¯t want to lug around so much stuff on my back. How would this wood help with that? I told him that since we were following the river, the land was pretty flat, and we could roll our luggage around on what I was building.


    Once the wheels were ready, I inserted some a couple of young trees inside them. I tied some monster-skin on either end of the holes, so the trees wouldn¡¯t just fall out, and tested the young trees. Noel and Kelser helped me attach some more planks, branches, and small trees, all tied together with leather, sinew, and monster-hide. I attached a long lead made of tough monster-hide to the front of the wagon, and hauled it over to the main camp. Since there were no roads, it was tough rolling it over, so Noel and Kelser had to tie their own leads to the front and pull with me.


    In the end, the wagon was pretty useful on the plains. We piled up most of our heaviest luggage on the wagon, and some of the strongest adults took turns pulling it along. There weren¡¯t a lot of monsters in this area, but whenever we found one, I always checked if we could use it to pull the wagon. Unfortunately, we never found one that could.


    The plains gave way to long range of undulating hills. I squinted my eyes as we got closer.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said.


    ¡°What is it?¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask the elder to stop early again today,¡± I said.


    ¡°If you keep making us do that, we¡¯ll be late to the festival!¡± she said.


    ¡°Hey, the wagon helped us walk further for longer, didn¡¯t it? Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said as we walked closer and closer to a very rocky and very important hill. I told the elder we needed to stop early again. The Roja tribe began setting up camp. I asked Noel and Kelser to follow me back to the first hill we¡¯d seen.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said as we approached the hill, ¡°and Kelser,¡± I added as I bent down to pick up a rock, ¡°welcome, my friends, to the copper age!¡±

 Chapter 70

    ¡°Copper is one of the only metals that can occur naturally,¡± I said as I threw a piece of copper ore up and down with my left hand. With my right, I pointed to the hill. ¡°That hill is probably hiding a lot of raw native copper. There¡¯s only a little bit on the surface, but it¡¯ll be enough for what I want to do with it!¡±


    ¡°What could you possibly do with these rocks?¡± said Noel as she picked up a greenish piece of native copper. ¡°I mean, I guess they look and feel different from other rocks.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we could make them into necklaces,¡± said Kelser. ¡°We usually make necklaces with bones, but people might like wearing something new. Maybe we could give these out as gifts at the festival.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll want to give these away as gifts after I show you what I¡¯m going to do with them,¡± I said. ¡°Come on, help me gather some.¡±


    After gathering a small pile of native copper near the base of the hill, I recalled the methods of copper metallurgy used by pre-Columbian native peoples in North America. Surprisingly, I¡¯d learned these specific techniques from two sources: documentary videos and my course on prehistoric cultures and traditions.


    I grabbed a large looking piece of copper and used a hard piece of cobble, sometimes called a hammerstone, to break off a usable chunk. I separated this small chunk from the rest of the ore and put it on top of a large stone. I asked Noel and Kelser to look closely, because I was going to ask them to help me out later.


    I used my smooth hammerstone to slowly shape the piece of copper into a point. But instead of cold-hammering it for a long time, I cast fire magic on it to ensure it wouldn¡¯t end up weak and brittle. Then I cooled it off and started working on it again. After repeating this process a few times, I was able to shape the copper in the way that I wanted to.


    Next, I took a few suitable stones from the area and started sanding down the sides of the copper to give it an even sharper edge. I had to run water over it sometimes, and switched between a bunch of stones, but after some trial and error, I had a pointy piece of copper!


    I grabbed a thick stick that was lying around the ground and cut a couple notches on one end with the newly shaped piece of copper. I inserted the piece of copper inside the notches, but they wouldn¡¯t stay in place. So, I went to the wagon and grabbed some sinew, which I used to tie the copper to the end of the stick. I swung it around, but the spearhead was so loosely held in place, I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be very effective.


    In the end, we had to use rawhide glue to stick the metal ends to the wood. I shaved off some pieces of monster hide and put them in a clay pot. I made a real fire underneath it, and put in enough wood to keep it going for a long time.


    Then Noel, Kelser and I spent a considerable amount of time hammering, shaping, and sanding various pieces of native copper ore until we had some pointy bits and sharp edges. By this point, it was late at night. I put out the fire underneath the pot and tipped out the liquid into another container. I then let the liquid cool for a while, until I had warm, liquid hide glue.


    We used the hide glue to join the copper to the wood, letting it dry once the pieces were inserted tightly. The spearheads weren¡¯t pretty, but they had a sharp point. I put one of the sharpest pieces on a small stick to make a knife.


    ¡°This is pretty cool,¡± I said, ¡°this will definitely help the hunters fight monsters more easily. It should make it easier to stab people, too.¡±


    ¡°But if you just need to stab someone,¡± said Noel, ¡°aren¡¯t our flint tools good enough?¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ¡°Of course they are,¡± I said as I picked up a piece of flint, ¡°the first time.¡± I smashed the piece of flint against a rock, shattering it into pieces. ¡°Copper is tougher than flint,¡± I said as I wielded the copper knife like a dagger. ¡°The edges may not be as sharp, but it holds its shape a lot better because it doesn¡¯t shatter. We can also use it to make tools, like this knife, which can be used for all sorts of things. In fact, we can make tools like hammers, which could help us make even better tools and weapons!¡±


    I made another couple of knives, one each for Noel and Kelser, and we went to the Roja tribe¡¯s camp. We brought along the crude spears and arrows that I¡¯d made, and showed them everything. After convincing them that the copper would be worth some extra effort, I convinced them to help us gather some more in the morning.


    ---


    The next morning, the tribesmen helped us collect the copper ore. I taught some of the flintknappers how to split the ore and then how to shape it. We spent the entire day making copper daggers, knives, spears and hammers. There wasn¡¯t enough time to make any armor, and since this was pure copper ore, I wasn¡¯t sure if there was any point in turning it into armor, but I still gave the tribesmen a basic idea of how to make some. If they were interested, they could grab some copper on the way back from the festival, and make some for themselves!


    This kind of pure copper wasn¡¯t actually all that much better than stone or bone tools. It was reusable, but the edges weren¡¯t very sharp and would become dull after some use. The best thing we could do was to take some copper with us in case we came across some tin.


    Tin was pretty rare back on my Earth, but since this was an entirely different world, I figured we could find some if we were lucky. With tin we¡¯d be able to make bronze, which was much more useful and could propel us far above the other tribes we were going to meet at the festival.


    However, I wanted to prove the value of copper weapons, so I asked some tribesmen to follow Noel and I around. We were searching for a monster to hunt, and were able to start tracking one thanks to the hunters of the Roja tribe. After following the monster¡¯s trail, we came to a small watering hole.


    I noticed something shift in the corner of my eye. A massive brown beetle was sitting lazily next to the water. It sipped at the water¡¯s edge, sending ripples out in every direction. I signaled to the Roja to start backing up slowly. Noel gave me a confused look so I pointed to my forehead and then pointed at the monster. Noel looked at the monster¡¯s forehead and began backing up too.


    A lone red gem sat on the monster¡¯s forehead. It was only a one star monster, but we didn¡¯t need to risk a difficult battle just to prove our new weapons worked a little better. Finding a starred monster was just bad luck. The Roja tribe¡¯s hunters must¡¯ve also been this unlucky before, because they followed our lead and tried to leave before the monster saw us.


    But the beetle turned its head before we were out of view. The beetle¡¯s wings began to beat, and the earth began to shift underneath it like a rock slide.


    Wait, a flying monster that could control the ground? That was cheating!


    I ran forward and threw my spear at the monster. The monster brushed aside my spear with its exoskeleton. If we wanted to get through, we¡¯d have to get close and pierce its weak spots. And with the beetle monster about to lift off of the ground, getting to those weak spots would soon become impossible! That¡¯s why I took a deep breath and cast my still-life magic!


    The hunters rallied behind me and Noel sent out a ball of fire. Some hunters still had flint weapons, since we wanted to compare their performance against the copper, and the case for copper weapons became immediately apparent. All the pieces of flint that crashed against the monster¡¯s exoskeleton shattered. The copper weapons that hit the exoskeleton also became dull and therefore, less lethal, but they were still usable.


    Noel¡¯s fireball burned the weaknesses in the beetle monster¡¯s defense. Some copper spears and daggers found purchase in those weaknesses and soon, even before I was unable to continue holding my breath, the one star beetle monster was dead.


    The case for copper was closed. Humans had arrived in the age of copper before they had even invented agriculture!

 Chapter 71

    ¡°Is it that over there?¡± asked Noel, pointing in the distance.


    ¡°Yes it is!¡± said Kelser, with a relieved smile. The past few hours had been incredibly tiring. We walked through rocky hills, with uneven footing and winding paths. The rocky hills gave way to green, forested hills, which were even worse to walk through. The ground was soggy, there were bugs everywhere, and the game trails we had to follow felt like they had taken us in circles for half the morning.


    I couldn¡¯t see what Noel was pointing too since I was talking to elder Kezler in the back of the group. ¡°I know you said the festival only lasts a single night and day, but do people not stick around? Maybe trade some thing, meet each other, maybe find a partner or something?¡±


    ¡°There will be some people who will arrive early, like us,¡± said the elder, ¡°but nobody wants to stay for long after the festival is over. Unless they¡¯re in the Jora tribe, that is.¡±


    ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s fine for us, since we¡ªwait, that¡¯s where we¡¯re going?¡± I said as I could finally make out the site of the festival.


    A sprawling green meadow stretched out from the hill we were standing on. The meadow rose into a small mountain, covered halfway with green and then with snow. An imposing site was carved into the side of the mountain, a few dozen feet below the peak.


    Stone slabs rose like pillars out of a pit lined with hand-carved stone bricks. Stone walls lined the pit at an angle, so you could see into the pit from a distance but couldn¡¯t climb into it from the sides. Statues peered over the edge of the wall, staring down into the pit. Each statue was clearly hand-carved from a single piece of stone, although I couldn¡¯t tell what figures they were depicting from this distance.


    Around the walls of the pit, stood several small mounds made of dirt and rock. They were huddled together in a few groups, which made me think they were some sort of stone housing. Another, much shorter set of walls wrapped around the whole complex, tapering off into a narrow passage that led down into to the foot of the mountain. The entrance to the passage was guarded by two stone statues, although these seemed to be much less ornate than the ones around the pit. These statues had crudely chiseled faces and wore necklaces made of seashells and bones.


    ¡°It looks like we¡¯re the first ones here, after all,¡± said elder Kezler as he briskly walked to the front of the pack. The other humans gave way to him, letting him lead the tribe to the passageway. I ran up to Noel and asked Kelser how humans had managed to build such a complicated structure. He shrugged and said only the Jora tribe would know, since they were the ones who had started the summer solstice festival, many generations ago. The other tribes of the double river basin joined after the Jora extended their influence in the area.


    Noel looked at me with a grimace. This human Jora tribe seemed fishier by the minute. No wonder the Roja tribe wanted our help. Still, if the Jora tribe was able to carve a site like this with only stone tools and basic magic, they were bound to be more powerful than tribes like the Roja.


    We walked up to the entrance of the festival site, and passed by the statues wearing seashell and bone necklaces. Up close, it was clear the statues were made out of limestone, and that the tools that were used to carve them were not very good. Still, they made for an impressive sight, with their faces towering several feet above our heads. Upon further inspection, I noticed some of the bones on their necklaces were actually teeth, presumably taken from powerful monsters.


    Elder Kezler made a peculiar sign with his hands and bowed to each statue one by one. He muttered something under his breath, then turned around and told the other tribesmen to start making their way up the passageway. He walked up to us while signaling that we should stop.


    ¡°Teachers, before we go in, I would like to introduce you to this temple and its guardians,¡± said elder Kezler as he walked over to the statues. ¡°These are the sentinels. They do not have names but according to legend, they are ancient warriors who sacrificed their freedom to protect the temple and the holy relics enshrined within. I will introduce you to them as our guests. Outsiders are not usually allowed inside the temple complex without the permission of the Jora tribe, but I suspect nobody will mind your presence. Even the sentinels will be elated to welcome venerable elves, like yourselves.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said, ¡°didn¡¯t you stop calling us venerable elves?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°Yes, teacher,¡± said the elder, ¡°but returning to this temple has rekindled my devotion to you. This temple is called Bek Tepe, and it is dedicated to the ancient elves who taught humanity when we were still young and ignorant. Come, teachers, let me introduce you to the guardians of Bek Tepe. And Kelser, why are you still here? You should go help the other tribesmen set up the tents.¡±


    ¡°Let me stay, grandpa¡ªI mean, elder Kezler. I¡¯ll give Cas and Noel¡ªI mean, the venerable elves; I¡¯ll give the venerable elves a tour of Bek Tepe temple!¡±


    ¡°Yes, let Kelser show us around. I¡¯d like to see those relics, you were talking about,¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll come help set up the tents after we¡¯re done,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright, teachers, we do not want to trouble you like that! Alright, Kelser, you can show them around the temple. Just make sure not to go into the pit without me. Only the Jora tribe¡¯s elders are supposed to lead us inside, but I believe we will be excused for having led venerable elves inside. Now, I will go make some preparations,¡± said the elder, ¡°Kelser, you can show them around the rest of the temple.¡±


    With that, he led us to the statues, and spoke our names out loud while facing them. He said that we were the Roja tribe¡¯s honorable guests and that as elves, we had the right to go inside without the approval of the Jora tribe. He concluded by asking the statues if they had any objections, to which they didn¡¯t respond, which the elder said meant that they agreed.


    We followed the elder up the stone passageway, admiring the various carvings on the walls. Most of them depicting humans or spirits fighting powerful monsters or being overrun by natural disasters. Halfway up the hill, the carvings began to depict groups of elves, with their facial features vaguely defined, helping the humans who were struggling against hordes of monsters and destructive natural disasters. The elves were shown to be using four types of spells: fire, water, earth, and air, and eventually began to teach the humans their magic.


    The final carving was more ornate than the rest, and spanned a large part of the walls on either side near the top of the passage. It depicted the elves being worshiped by the humans, before suddenly vanishing into the darkness. A new group of humans stood in the center of the carvings at the end of the passageway, leading the other humans towards the direction of the elves.


    On top of the passageway, Noel and I stopped and stared. The temple was even more impressive up close. The stone walls, although haphazardly shaped, were large and imposing. They blocked our view of the pit, but shaped another path that circled around to the rocky mounds that I had seen from a distance, and which looked much larger from behind the walls. The elder went off in the direction of the mounds, where the other Roja tribesmen were setting up tents on a piece of flat land right next to a mound.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go this way,¡± said Kelser as he led us in the opposite direction.


    Noel and I followed Kelser around the temple, admiring the many stone carvings and statues. Kelser also showed us parts of the complex that we couldn¡¯t see from below the hill. He showed us the water room, which was a small, covered space with fresh, flowing spring water. A stream flowed out from the spring, traveling down the side of the hill from an opening in the walls. There was a small pool dug out in front of the water room, where cold spring water could be used to cool off fruits and bodies. Kelser said that people only properly washed their bodies in the stream outside, but that they might take a dip in this pool on the day of the solstice, since it was usually very warm.


    He then led us to a strange room with many holes in the ground and lines of old and broken pottery. He said this was where some of the tribes made special drinks, which were only drunk on the day of the festival, and forbidden for the rest of the year.


    There weren¡¯t any other covered rooms in the complex, but Kelser showed us some of the other spaces. There was an open-air kitchen, full of black soot and residue from many years of fires. We tiptoed around a spot that was decorated by large bones, which Kelser said was a room dedicated to the trophies from the biggest hunts that a tribe had undertaken in the year.


    Eventually, we came back around to the place where the Roja tribesmen were setting up their hide tents. Elder Kezler joined us as we went up to the inner walls. He walked up to an entrance and made another strange hand gesture.


    We followed him into the pit, with its large slabs of stone, many intricately carved stone statues, and cascading piles of stone upon which people could sit. But something else caught my eye. In the middle of the pit, resting resolutely on top of a large, flat slab of stone, was a strange skull, unlike any we had seen so far. Most of the skull¡¯s features were very similar to those of a human¡¯s, but the one feature that was different, made my eyes widen into orbs.


    Two small pieces of bone protruded from either side of the skull¡¯s face. I lifted my hand and felt my own, elfin ear, and felt the same bones, unlike any in a human¡¯s head, and stared at the skull in shock.

 Chapter 72

    ¡°Why is there an elfin skull in the middle of your temple?¡± asked Noel, her voice slowly rising.


    ¡°It is a holy relic,¡± said elder Kezler, ¡°passed down through the generations. Legends say it belonged to a great elfin warrior, one who saved all of humanity with his bravery and selflessness.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you bury it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We believe the warrior is still looking over us, as a guardian,¡± said the elder, ¡°but if it offends you, teachers, I will ask the Jora to bury it with whatever ceremony you desire.¡±


    Noel bit her lips. She walked up to the skull and stared at it up close. I followed after her, and asked her what she was doing. She said she was trying to see if it belonged to her uncle Sharun, since the story about an elfin warrior made her think of him. I told her it would be difficult to identify who the skull belonged to, especially after it had been kept out here and handled for so many years. Sharun did have scars on his face, but I didn¡¯t think those would be visible on his bones.


    ¡°But what if it is his?¡± she said.


    I didn¡¯t know what else to say. I let Noel inspect the skull; she narrowed her eyes to see if the skull fit the shape of Sharun¡¯s head, but didn¡¯t seem to be able to tell. I asked elder Kezler if there were any more elfin skulls or graves, and he said there were none. He did say I should come look at the other relics, which was enough to get Noel to leave the skull and come follow us to a large hole in the wall. The hole seemed to lead to a dark passage that led underground.


    The elder lit a torch and led us down the passage. The walls looked like they belonged to a natural cave, one that may have been carved out by flowing water. In fact, the walls were damp, and water droplets sometimes formed on the ceiling, falling on top of our heads.


    The passage gave way to a large cavern, about as big as the one where we¡¯d found The Terrible. In the center of the cavern was another large stone slab, like the one in the middle of the pit. We walked up to the stone slab, and I was, once again, surprised by what I saw.


    Bits of crumbling hide, festering sinew, and long locks of silver hair. Pieces of pottery, clearly much newer than the other relics, lay in front of each relic, all adorned with the same, familiar symbol: the symbol I had seen on the grave of the Mad King.


    ¡°These things,¡± I said as I picked up a piece of pottery, ¡°who made them?¡±


    ¡°Among those who keep the stories, the origins of those pieces is disputed,¡± said elder Kezler. ¡°Some say they were left by the last of the elves, although others point out that they are clearly newer than the rest of the relics, and may not have been made by elfin hands. They suggest, instead, that they were left behind by the ancestors of the Jora, after they founded this temple.¡±


    ¡°The ancestors of the human Jora tribe knew about this symbol?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The stories say that the symbol of the elves was passed down by the leaders of the elves,¡± said the elder. ¡°The ancestors of the Jora must have learned the symbol from their own ancestors, who may have learned it from the elves.¡±


    I furrowed my brows. ¡°Or maybe they saw it somewhere else.¡±


    The elves of the Jora tribe didn¡¯t know how to write, yet the tomb of the Mad King had a written symbol on it, one that resembled the script that was on the entrance to the cave of The Terrible. I hadn¡¯t given it much thought back then, since the Oracle had taken the entire Jora tribe hostage, but it was a mystery that I had not been able to solve. If the Mad King was influenced by the Immortal of Madness, this symbol may be connected to the immortal. And since the immortal was the one who put us in our current predicament, I was willing to grasp at any straws I could to find out more about him.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    We came back out after Noel was finished inspecting the other relics. None of them seemed particularly important, except for the locks of silver hair that all but confirmed that the ancient elves that the humans of the double river had met were members of our elfin Jora tribe. None of the other tribes from the Plains of Serenity had silver hair.


    It was late at night so we headed back to the camp. Since the camp was near the top of the hill, we could see far into the surrounding meadows and deep into the hills to the side. The star cover was cheerful, even with the red star¡¯s ominous crimson pulsing.


    Now that we were here early, we could relax and come up with a plan. I asked elder Kezler about the human Jora tribe, and what he told me about them only increased my suspicions that something was wrong.


    The human Jora tribe, who had taken their name from the tribe of the elves that had rescued their ancestors, was a rigidly hierarchical tribe. They were led by a group of priests. These priests claimed to worship the ancient elves through rituals involving the sacred skull that we had seen in the pit, as well as opaque rituals that revolved around the relics we had seen down the passage. The priests ruled the other human Jora tribesmen with an iron fist, dictating most aspects of their daily lives.


    Seeing such a rigid social hierarchy as well as what looked like a well defined cult, was surprising. The Jora tribe¡¯s social development, if put on the same scale as that of my old Earth, was millennia ahead of where the other tribes of the region stood.


    ¡°They have blonde and brown hair, green and brown eyes, and use weapons not unlike the one you first showed up with, teachers,¡± said elder Kezler.


    So they were still using flint weapons? I toyed with a copper spear. At least we had a technological advantage over them. ¡°What about their magic?¡± I asked. ¡°You said they were more powerful than you, but just how powerful are they?¡±


    ¡°They can use the four major elements,¡± said the elder, ¡°but are not as proficient as you. They still use chants and most of them are not particularly good at magic.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said their magic was more powerful than yours?¡± I said. ¡°It sounds like they¡¯re only a little bit better than you.¡±


    ¡°The average Jora tribesman¡¯s magic is not that much more powerful than ours,¡± admitted the elder, ¡°but their true magic is entrusted only to their priests. They are the ones who, according to legend, learned a set of incredible magic spells from the ancient elves, and have kept that knowledge safe and well guarded for many generations.¡±


    ¡°What is their magic like?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°I have not seen much of it,¡± said the elder, ¡°but what I have seen sent shivers down my spine. They chant in an unintelligible tongue, stand in an imposing formation, and cast their spells with such power and emotion that far away monsters will turn tail and flee!¡±


    I tapped my chin. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like any magic we taught the elves of our tribe. Noel, what do you think?¡±


    ¡°It has to be one of the immortals,¡± said Noel. ¡°They have to be involved, somehow. The only question is, which one is it?¡±


    I nodded. We were on the same page. ¡°The only other explanation would be the elfin Jora tribe coming up with new spells that were not based on the foundation that we left them with. They knew about the fundamentals of knowledge and wisdom, so it would be strange for them to start chanting in circles and speaking in tongues.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think its the Immortal of Desire,¡± said Noel, ¡°since the birds didn¡¯t seem to want to be involved in the mortal world.¡±


    ¡°Which leaves the Immortal of Madness or the God of Evil,¡± I said. ¡°Honestly, I hope it¡¯s the God of Evil. At least we¡¯ve managed to defeat his minions and unraveled his schemes before.¡±


    ¡°But wasn¡¯t that with the help of the other immortals? We were sort of used by the Immortal of Madness, too,¡± she said, ¡°and we weren¡¯t able to resist him at all.¡±


    She was right. We didn¡¯t have enough info and nor did we have a lot of support. The Roja tribe may be armed with simple spells and copper weapons, but they couldn¡¯t hope to hold a candle to the immortals. We needed to come up with a plan.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, staring into her eyes, resolutely, ¡°let¡¯s learn some magic!¡±

 Chapter 73

    ¡°No, no, you have to drop them at the same time,¡± I yelled.


    ¡°What?¡± shouted Noel.


    ¡°I said, drop them at the same time!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t hear you!¡±


    I facepalmed like I was in a cartoon. I really should have done this myself. No, wait, I could still do it myself. I stomped off to the other side of the cliff after gesturing for Noel to stay put. After puffing and heaving my way to the top, I grabbed my knees and caught my breath. In between breaths, I managed to ask Noel to hand me the two similarly shaped rocks, and explained to her what she needed to observe at the bottom. I¡¯d already explained it to the Roja tribesmen who were standing below the cliff, so repeating myself for Noel wasn¡¯t too hard.


    ¡°So all I have to do is see which one hits the ground first and then pick them both up?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°Yep,¡± I said, still trying to catch my breath, ¡°you got it.¡±


    I watched Noel go all the way down. When I saw that she was in place, I held both rocks up at the same height and let them go. They fell down to the ground very quickly, and I sighed deeply when I thought about how slowly I would be going down myself.


    When I reached the bottom, Noel had picked up both rocks. ¡°Was that a trick question?¡± she asked. ¡°They both hit the ground at the same time.¡±


    ¡°Yes, they did!¡± I said. ¡°But they¡¯re different weights, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°Why does that matter?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°Or at least, it doesn¡¯t matter in your world.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± she said.


    ¡°You saw how relatively simple that demonstration was right? In fact, the way you were so unimpressed by its conclusions tells me you already know that how heavy an object is doesn¡¯t change how fast it falls through the air, only the shape of the object can do that,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what I meant,¡± she said, sarcastically.


    ¡°The point is, you weren¡¯t surprised by the way these two rocks fell. The way things fall is something you already knew and considered common knowledge. In fact, it¡¯s something that you can easily prove too,¡± I said. ¡°But in my world, people assumed, for hundreds of years, that the mass of an object changes how fast it falls.¡±


    ¡°Did things fall differently in your world?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°They didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°But then why would people believe something like that?¡± she said.


    ¡°Remember those guys with funny names? Specifically, Aristotle?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sort of,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll admit I can¡¯t really remember their names. Maybe they¡¯re being translated in a weird way.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°But that¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is that you know that Aristotle¡¯s claims about gravity, which is the force that kind of pulls everything to the ground, were accepted for hundreds of years despite being so clearly incorrect! Anyone who dropped two stones from the same height could tell the mass doesn¡¯t change how fast they fall, yet some of the smartest people on my planet just took Aristotle¡¯s word for it.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t we been doing the same, though?¡± she said. ¡°Aren¡¯t spells like the elemental magic system or the motion freezing magic based on things those people with weird names said, even though those things might be wrong?¡±


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right!¡± I said. ¡°Although those arguments were rational, they were not always true. But we¡¯ve been running with them because they were useful.¡±


    ¡°Useful because we could use them to create magic very quickly?¡± she said.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Yes, but also because they helped us better understand knowledge as well as what sort of knowledge could be used in this world¡¯s magic system,¡± I said. ¡°You see, I¡¯ve been trying to do something kind of crazy, ever since I found out about the fundamentals of this world¡¯s magic.¡±


    ¡°Something crazy?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°There were a lot of stories, back on my Earth, of people who would one day find themselves in a different world, one full of mysteries and magic,¡± I said. ¡°But most people didn¡¯t have to do what I¡¯ve had to do here. Most people from those stories didn¡¯t have to invent their own magic system!¡±


    ¡°We already have a magic system, though,¡± said Noel. ¡°Knowledge and wisdom, isn¡¯t that our system?¡±


    ¡°Of course not, those are the fundamentals. Magic systems are the things we¡¯ve been building on top of those fundamentals. The different elemental magic spells, those form an elemental magic system. Motion magic based on pure reason, that¡¯s its own system. And now that I¡¯ve experimented with these systems and broadened my understanding of knowledge based magic, it¡¯s time to build another foundation from where I can build a better magic system!¡± I said while sporting a wide grin.


    ¡°Another foundation?¡± she said.


    I nodded. ¡°We can argue and explore the nature of knowledge forever. But now that we know that our knowledge of something doesn¡¯t have to be completely ¡®true¡¯ or accurate, for it to be useful in magic, we can define ¡®knowledge¡¯ as best we can and use that definition as a foundation for other spells.¡±


    ¡°You want to define knowledge?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°For now,¡± I said. ¡°I think we can say that knowledge must be justified true belief.¡±


    ¡°Justified true belief?¡± she said.


    ¡°It means for something to be knowledge, it must be true, we have to believe that it is true, and we must be justified in believing that it is true,¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get what that means,¡± she said.


    ¡°For example, if I believe that this rock will fall to the ground when I let go of it, the fact that this rock will fall to the ground must be true. I must also believe that this rock will fall to the ground when I let go. And finally, I must be justified in believing that this will happen. Dumb luck or something like that must not be the reason why my belief was true.¡±


    ¡°I think I get it,¡± said Noel, ¡°maybe. But why did you say all of this like it was a big deal? Sounds pretty obvious if you ask me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a big deal because it gives us an answer to the question of: what does it take to ¡®know¡¯ something? And now that we have an answer to this question, even if it isn¡¯t a perfect one, we can start looking beyond pure reason. We can start looking at the world around us and use the knowledge that we gain through experience, as long as it fulfills the other criteria of being justified true belief,¡± I said.


    ¡°You mean like the fact that the heaviness of an object doesn¡¯t change how fast it falls through the air?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Exactly! We just saw that it was true. We believe that it is true. And we are justified in believing this because we saw it happen,¡± I said. ¡°Thus, it¡¯s a piece of knowledge that we can use to make new magic!¡±


    ¡°What kind of magic could we even make with that?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Er,¡± I said. ¡°See, this is why we were using pure reason when we were short on time. It¡¯s a lot easier to create that sort of knowledge, since all you have to do is use words. For this kind of magic, we need to observe a lot of things and then hope all the pieces fall together with our ¡®wisdom¡¯ and let us make some sort of magic. That¡¯s what I did for my chemical fire magic as well as what we did for the rain magic.¡±


    ¡°Yes, those spells were very inefficient and not nearly as powerful as they should have been, because although the knowledge they were based on was true, and we believed that it was true, we were not justified in believing it,¡± I said.


    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is, so far, all the magic we¡¯ve been using has been missing one of the three things you used to define knowledge. Our elemental and motion magic were based on justified beliefs, but they weren¡¯t true, and the rain magic was based on true beliefs but they weren¡¯t justified,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Wow, you¡¯ve really gotten the hang of this already,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s exactly right.¡±


    ¡°And so the magic you want to make now, since we have a little time out here on Bek Tepe, is the kind of magic that is based on knowledge that is justified true belief?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Yes! And you know what that means?¡± I said as I picked up some rocks.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t,¡± said Noel.


    I handed her the rocks. ¡°It means we have to observe a lot of things and that we have to repeat them several times, just to make sure they didn¡¯t happen because of luck or something.¡±


    Noel sighed and took the rocks. ¡°How many times do I have to throw these rocks down the cliff?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s say for however long it takes me to teach these humans everything I just explained to you,¡± I said.


    ¡°But that¡¯ll take all day!¡±


    ¡°Well then,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°You better start climbing!¡±

 Chapter 74

    A pleasant sound wafted through the air like the scent of a flowery garden. Noel and I sat beside Kelser as he struck the chords on a strange but familiar looking instrument. The instrument was crude and Kelser wasn¡¯t the most refined and sophisticated of musicians, but it was tough to mess up the simple chords he was playing.


    The instrument looked like a lute made out of a type of wild bottle gourd. The strings were made from a type of tough sinew, which elder Kezler said could only be taken from a monster that lived far in the North, in the territory of one of the tribes that would be coming for the summer solstice festival.


    I clapped as Kelser finished playing his chords, which confused some of the humans since they weren¡¯t used to clapping as a sign of appreciation. After explaining what it meant, the humans laughed and joined in, enthusiastically clapping to let young Kelser know that he had done well.


    I smiled dryly. The humans were still obsessed with us as elves, and would try to mimic us all the time. Little did they know, when they were mimicking me, they were merely mimicking other humans, albeit ones from another Earth!


    ¡°Can I give it a go?¡± I said, as Kelser left the middle of the circle. He handed me the lute and put some more wood in the campfire. I sat down on the ground and struck a few chords to get a feel for the sounds of the instrument.


    I didn¡¯t play anything too fancy, since it wasn¡¯t an instrument I was familiar with. And despite the many other things I had learned to do, I never quite managed to properly learn an instrument. A brief flirtation with the violin was the most I¡¯d ever done, but I was never any good at it. Only good enough to play a little Ode to Joy while drunk on beer with some European friends at a talent show in college.


    And so I figured I¡¯d mix in some poetry, to help give the song some more weight. The verses weren¡¯t anything special, and I wasn¡¯t even sure if they counted as poetry, but they had come to mind because of the mesmerizing view I had up on this hill by an ancient temple under a bright and cheerful night sky. What a privilege, this sight of the sky, clearer than any I¡¯d seen back on Earth, even during summer camp in the wilderness of Maine. Looking at the faces of all the humans that may have been considered ¡®savages¡¯ and ¡®brutes¡¯ by many people back on my Earth, and seeing their joy, their wonder, their curiosity and happiness, I figured what better time could there possibly be, for some Shakespeare?


    ¡°Be not afeard; the (hill) is full of noises,


    Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.


    Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments


    Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,


    That, if I then had wak¡¯d after long sleep,


    Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,


    The clouds methought would open, and show riches


    Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak¡¯d


    I cried to dream again.¡±


    I didn¡¯t sing the verses, since blank verse like this didn¡¯t make for great lyrics, but the instrument was pretty rough and my own skills with it were very crude, so everything sort of worked together in its imperfection. Being reminded of Caliban, the character from William Shakespeare¡¯s play The Tempest, made me wonder if it was okay for me to have so much influence over the people around me. Every time the humans looked up to me, I felt a strange feeling in my gut, one that made me feel both powerful and weak. I¡¯d felt that way when I helped the humans make copper weapons, and I had a similar feeling whenever I taught them magic. This feeling made me hesitate to teach magic to Noel and the other elves, too.


    Who was I to teach magic to those who had been born in a magical world? I was confident in myself and my abilities, but how could anyone be truly convinced they were on the right path when their thoughts, after some practice and reflection, could become reality? And how could anyone proceed with confidence when they held the key to changing the trajectory of an entire people. The gravity of the situation was not lost on me. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I did not have a savior complex, like some sort of rich high school kid doing a charity event in a third world slum so he can write about it in his college application. I was aware of the colonial parallels of my situation. How many times throughout history had someone tried to ¡°civilize¡± others only to reveal their own barbarity? To denigrate and destroy the cultures and way of life of others, so that in its place they could put the golden lamb of ¡®progress¡¯.


    Thinking back on it now, if I had ever fantasized about being placed in this position, would I have imagined myself doing things differently? If I could see myself right now as if on a movie screen or written out on the pages of a book, would I be yelling at myself: ¡°stop trying to fight Farro Birds and don¡¯t try to find Noel¡¯s family! Hunker down and use what you know to bring modern medicine, science, and philosophy into this world, backed by the power of knowledge based magic!¡±


    It was tough to put my feelings into words. The contradictory thoughts of wanting to help the people of this world, but not knowing if ¡®progress¡¯ as defined by the humans of my world, was their only option. The only thing I knew was that there was no reason for me to not help them ¡®develop¡¯ in some way. The absence of modern medicine alone was enough of a reason to start setting up schools and designing a curriculum.


    I handed the lute over to another Roja tribesman and sat back down next to Noel, elder Kezler, and Kelser. We began talking about what we were going to do when the other tribes arrived.


    ¡°I think we should lay low at first,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Why do you think so?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Their most holy relic is an elfin skull,¡± said Noel. ¡°If two living breathing elves show up at their temple, they might freak out even worse than the Roja did.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve got a point,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, there is definitely something strange going on here. You saw those carvings in the passageway leading up to the temple, right?¡±


    ¡°The carvings that tell the history of the tribes of the double river basin?¡± said elder Kezler. ¡°They have been here for many generations.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s just it, those carvings are way too detailed,¡± I said.


    ¡°Perhaps they were made right after the elves left,¡± said the elder. ¡°With the memories fresh in their minds, the ancestors must have wanted to tell their story through the ages.¡±


    ¡°But then where are yours?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ours?¡± asked the elder. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I do not understand, teacher.¡±


    ¡°If the human Jora tribe figured out how to record history, which is something the humans of my world didn¡¯t figure out until much, much later than they did, then why do your people not record their history this way too? All you had were cave paintings that didn¡¯t record actual history, only abstract representations of it,¡± I said.


    The elder frowned. ¡°I do not know. Perhaps it is because we do not have many tribesmen who are skilled at carving stone.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe, the human Jora tribe were not the ones who made those carvings,¡± I said.


    Silence. ¡°Was it the elves?¡± said Kelser. ¡°No, that wouldn¡¯t make any sense. The carvings show the elves leaving.¡±


    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t made by humans nor elves,¡± said Noel, ¡°then that just leaves the immortals.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I am not saying we need to assume this entire place was the work of immortals. Making a temple out of limestone with only stone tools and simple magic would be tough but not impossible. The only thing that doesn¡¯t fit what we know about the humans of this world are those carvings. It reminds me of the runes that were on the entrance to the cave of The Terrible.¡± We had already told Kezler and Kelser about our adventures on the Plains of Serenity, so they also nodded when I mentioned the runes.


    ¡°And the runes were tied to the God of Evil,¡± said Noel. ¡°The immortal that rules over the red star.¡±


    ¡°Do you think the God of Evil is involved with Beke Tep, too?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°We can¡¯t be certain,¡± I said. ¡°But I agree with Noel¡¯s suggestion, now. We need to lay low at first. Noel and I can reveal ourselves when the time is right.¡±


    We spent the next few days practicing magic and preparing our disguises. Soon, we saw the first tribe approaching the temple from a distance.

 Chapter 75

    ¡°Kezler, how have you been?¡± said a large, white-bearded man.


    ¡°Sunki, you old thing, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still alive,¡± said elder Kezler with a grin. The two old men laughed as they embraced, making small talk about their journey and the year that they had been apart.


    A crowd of humans mingled around the camps right outside the main Bek Tepe temple complex. Elder Sunki¡¯s tribe, the Jenin, were among the last to arrive. Like most of the other tribes of the double river basin, their members had many different hair, eye, and skin colors, since members preferred to marry across tribes. Only the Roja and the human Jora tribe were strange in that most of their members had similar hair colors. Apparently this was because the Roja were the most isolated tribe and the Jora disliked marrying outside their tribe.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe the Jora haven¡¯t arrived yet,¡± said elder Sunki. ¡°They¡¯re usually the first ones here.¡±


    ¡°No, that honor went to us this year, I¡¯m afraid,¡± said Kezler. ¡°Perhaps they got stuck along the way. Don¡¯t you remember that one time the Nare tribe missed the festival because they¡¯d all caught some strange disease and had to rest by the Eur river?¡±


    Sunki nodded. The two elders exchanged some more theories about what could be holding up the human Jora tribe, with some other older tribesmen chiming in from time to time. Eventually, elder Sunki¡¯s gaze fell to me.


    ¡°And who is this young man?¡± said the white-bearded elder. ¡°He seems to be hanging out with your tribe. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re finally going to have an outsider marry into your tribe? Which tribe is he from? They must be really desperate!¡± He laughed and apologized right after, saying he was only joking. He said his tribe had been friends with the Roja for generations, and that he himself had gotten up to all sorts of mischief with Kezler when they were younger. He said he was so close to the tribe he knew every single member, which was why he knew I was not a Roja tribesman.


    Fortunately, Kezler had told us about elder Sunki, so I was able to pass myself off as a suitor for one of the Roja tribeswomen. Noel stood far away from the Roja, mingling in with the other tribes without attracting too much attention.


    Noel met my gaze with a worried look. Every single tribe from the double river basin had arrived at Bek Tepe except for the one we most wanted to meet. I remembered the way the Oracle had known things she shouldn¡¯t have, and since we suspected the immortals were involved with the human Jora tribe too, I was worried that the human Jora tribe had found out about us.


    ¡°Have the Jora ever missed the festival before?¡± I asked.


    Elder Sunki stroked his beard. ¡°Not in my memory.¡±


    ¡°It is not in the stories, either,¡± said elder Kezler.


    ¡°But the solstice is tomorrow,¡± said elder Sunki. ¡°Perhaps another tribe will have to preside over the festivities instead.¡±


    ¡°The Jora priests aren¡¯t going to like that,¡± said elder Kezler.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s their fault for not arriving on time,¡± said elder Sunki. ¡°If another tribe does have to take over, we might have to hold an assembly to make a decision.¡±


    Elder Kezler nodded slowly. ¡°The Roja tribe has never wanted to be in the center of attention. We do not have many friends, apart from your Jenin tribe.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Elder Sunki smiled. ¡°My Jenin tribe has always liked to bask in the sun. If there is an opportunity to lead the festival, we will step forward.¡±


    ¡°And you will have our support,¡± said elder Kezler.


    Elder Sunki laughed and put a hand on Kezler¡¯s shoulder. The two began talking and walked away from me. I hung around the area, speaking to some other humans, asking about their journeys. I learned where all of the different tribes came from and what they had to do to get here. I found out that many of them had specializations, which would help them trade for different items at the time of the festival. The Roja brought things like seashells and salt, which were both very prized commodities. This was why the Roja were well respected, despite being a small and isolated tribe.


    As the day wore on and night fell, I hid behind a statue. Noel joined me there, soon after. We dispelled the magic we were using to disguise our ears and hair, and set up motion detection magic nearby, so nobody could sneak up on us.


    ¡°Tomorrow is the solstice,¡± I said. ¡°If the human Jora tribe doesn¡¯t show up, the other tribes will hold an assembly and somebody else will take over.¡±


    Noel pursed her lips. ¡°That¡¯s no good. We need to ask the human Jora tribe about our Jora tribe!¡± She tapped her feet on the ground. Her nervousness was infectious. It gave me an empty feeling in my stomach.


    ¡°If they don¡¯t show up, we¡¯ll have to go looking for them,¡± I said.


    Noel nodded. ¡°We don¡¯t need to take the Roja along. But it might be useful to ask the other tribes for help. Getting someone to show us the way to the human Jora tribe¡¯s territory would be useful.¡±


    Shouts came out from the camps. Noel and I hurriedly disguised ourselves again and rushed back. Someone was shouting ¡°they¡¯re here, they¡¯re here!¡± I followed the direction in which everyone was pointing and saw a large group of people appear from behind a hill. I couldn¡¯t see them very well this late at night and at such great distance, but I didn¡¯t doubt that this was the long-awaited human Jora tribe, barely making it in time for their own festival.


    The various elders of the different tribes joined together to walk down the temple to meet the Jora at the base of the passageway. Since the passageway was very narrow, the elders told everybody else to stay put. A prehistoric traffic jam wouldn¡¯t be fun for anybody.


    Noel and I secretly followed the elders anyway. It was easy enough with the disguise magic that we had invented, but we still kept to the shadows of the temple. The elders walked down the passageway, but we couldn¡¯t follow all the way. Using our disguise magic to hide our entire bodies would take up too much energy. Instead, we waited for the elders to return.


    The first people to come up the passageway were a group of solemn looking old men, each wearing elaborate bone necklaces over a strange black tunic. Behind them came the elders, and then a bunch of ordinary but tired looking humans. The group went up to the rest of the humans who were waiting at camp, but a few of the human Jora tribes leaders¡ªor priests¡ªsplit off to head into the pit. The elders followed them with some hesitation. Elder Kezler never said anything about the human Jora priests going into the pit on the night of the solstice.


    Noel and I hid behind a couple of tall stone statues overlooking the pit. Since the entire structure was tilted away from the hill, Noel and I would¡¯ve been able to see far below us if the night wasn¡¯t as dark as a pool of ink.


    We were too far away to hear what the elders were saying. The priests approached the elfin skull, ignoring whatever the elders had been saying to them. Elder Sunki grew frustrated with the priests¡¯ silence, and grabbed one of them. His voice was louder than most others, which meant we could hear it from where we stood.


    ¡°...worried. Say something?¡± he seemed to have said.


    The priest stared steadfastly at the elfin skull, refusing to acknowledge elder Sunki at all. The other priests surrounded the skull and dropped to their knees. They extended their hands and slowly raised the skull in unison, like a perfectly choreographed group acrobatics routine. The absurdity of the situation, coupled with the eerie silence the priests insisted on maintaining, made the whole situation incredibly tense.


    The oldest priest slowly opened his near toothless mouth and said something to the other elders. Elder Sunki¡¯s eyes widened. He yelled so loudly his beard shook and his voice boomed throughout the land.


    ¡°What do you mean there are elves among us?¡±

 Chapter 76

    ¡°What do you mean there are elves among us?¡± said elder Sunki. Elder Kezler¡¯s eyes opened wide and he gave a furtive glance to each side. The other elders were similarly confused, with only the priests of the human Jora tribe looking calm.


    Noel and I exchanged glances. Noel mouthed that we should attack the priests. I shook my head. Noel frowned. She probably wanted to explain why she wanted us to go on the offensive already, but I silently told her that we had to wait.


    Elder Sunki was furiously demanding something from the priests, but they wouldn¡¯t respond to him. Instead, the oldest priest lifted his heavy, hairless eyebrows and stared right at elder Kezler. He raised a bony finger at the red haired elder of the Roja tribe and said something. The other elders looked at elder Kezler with surprised eyes. Even elder Sunki stepped back to stare at Kezler, his mouth agape.


    Elder Kezler met the old priest¡¯s gaze. Then he spoke, loudly, ¡°yes, our tribe has been graced with the presence of the venerable elves. The first elves that our tribes have met for many generations.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t tell us?¡± shouted elder Sunki. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me?¡±


    ¡°It was the venerable elves¡¯ wish,¡± said elder Kezler.


    Elder Sunki¡¯s expression cooled. The other elders also seemed to have finally collected themselves. The priests frowned. They said something, but I couldn¡¯t hear them. I wish I¡¯d known we¡¯d be in this position, I would have invented long range listening magic.


    Elder Sunki gesticulated wildly. He was getting heated up again, but I couldn¡¯t tell why. The priests were saying something to him, but it didn¡¯t look like he liked it. The other elders seemed to be backing him up, especially elder Kezler, who was also beginning to get angry at the priests.


    In the corner of my eye, I saw Noel crouch as low as she could. She began to make her way towards the pit, slowly creeping from one statue and wall to the next. I cursed under my breath, but followed her.


    The elders and priests had almost come to blows. I was sure the noise had reached all the way to the main camp by now, and even if it hadn¡¯t, someone would come to check up on the elders soon. I was sure nobody was expecting a bunch of geriatrics to get into a brawl in the pit, but judging by the way elder Sunki was being held back by two other elders, that might actually happen.


    As we got closer, I could make out more words. Things like ¡°dare¡± and ¡°elves¡± and ¡°prophecy¡±. The priests had lost their cool demeanor. The youngest priest, a man who looked to be in his fifties, drew a flint dagger from a pouch strung along his waist. Elder Kezler surprised everyone by taking out a copper knife.


    Everyone was surprised by Kezler¡¯s weapon, but the priests were especially shaken. They murmured something about the knife and elfin secrets. The youngest priest stubbornly raised his flint dagger, pushing off the priest who was telling him to calm down. Even the oldest priest was staring at Kezler¡¯s copper weapon and telling his companions to stand down.


    But the youngest priest rushed forward. Elder Kezler was caught by surprise. He raised his knife, but the priest knocked it out of his hand. Elder Sunki grabbed Kezler by the shoulder and tried to pull him back, but the priest was quicker, and the dagger was heading straight for Kezler¡¯s chest.


    The priest¡¯s hand flew into Kezler¡¯s chest. Everybody stood still. The priest was breathing heavily, his eyes wide with madness. Kezler¡¯s eyes were stretched open too, as was his mouth, but he didn¡¯t react at all. Sunki was the first to move. He grabbed the priest¡¯s hand and tried to get him to let go of his weapon. He must¡¯ve known that it wasn¡¯t a good idea to take a dagger out of a body too forcefully. But as he pushed away the priest¡¯s hand, his eyebrows furrowed. The priest¡¯s expression changed as well. He went from wild euphoria to befuddlement.


    The flint knife was floating in the air below the priest¡¯s feet. Nobody had noticed it because they weren¡¯t looking for it there. Elder Kezler turned his head, recognizing the magic. Noel stood in front of a statue; a crude statue of a wild-haired elf, hands outstretched, casting magic into the pit.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Noel wasn¡¯t disguised by magic, since there was no point in hiding if she was going to be using magic that the Roja tribe had not known before. Besides, it sure sounded like the human Jora tribe knew that we were here. My suspicions that the immortals were involved grew stronger. I stepped out from behind a statue too; a statue of an ancient human, looking down into the center of the complex.


    The elders reacted in the same way the Roja tribesmen had: chaotic reverence. Some fell to their knees, others started singing praises, and a few even had tears in their eyes. The Jora priests reacted differently. Most of them were confused, looking at each other for some reason. The oldest priest looked shell-shocked. He eventually fell to his knees and collapsed to the ground like a puddle of wrinkly skin and brittle bone.


    The youngest priest, who was still standing right next to elder Kezler, was frozen in place. He saw that I was observing him, so he also got on his knees and started spouting inanities. I sighed. Elder Sunki recognized me, since the disguise magic had only hid my ears and hair. He started apologizing to me for some reason.


    I looked at Noel. I was expecting her to be as exasperated by the humans¡¯ reaction as I was. Instead, I saw her glaring angrily at the priests. The image of a young elfin girl shooting daggers at a bunch of whimpering old men should have been comical, but it didn¡¯t make me chuckle or smile. Instead, I felt a faint chill in the back of my chest.


    ---


    ¡°A prophecy?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, great one,¡± said the human Jora tribe¡¯s leader, the old priest Oxi. ¡°Our ancestors warned of a great cataclysm, which would fall on the solstice when the red star flashed through the three great constellations.¡±


    The priests seemed to follow some sort of astrological tradition. It reminded me of the Oracle¡¯s ability to tell the future, especially because this prophecy relied on the movements of the red star. ¡°Then why were you about to fight the other elders?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± said priest Oxi.


    He explained that most of his tribe¡¯s priests believed that the elves had ascended into immortality, which was why they could no longer be contacted on this Earth. When the priests came to the pit, their ancient relics reacted in a certain way which was only supposed to happen when there were elves nearby. But since they believed that all the elves had ascended, they assumed that some infernal magic had been used to bring their souls back to the mortal world, which filled the priests with anger.


    ¡°Please accept my sincerest apologies,¡± said the middle-aged priest that had tried to stab elder Kezler. Priest Oxi had introduced him as Priest Mal Jora. ¡°I believed Kezler Roja was the evil sorcerer who had profaned the ancient elves. But after seeing your appearance, I know that I was in the wrong.¡± Priest Mal refused to get up off his knees, and although I wanted to make him get up, Noel insisted he stay down.


    We were sitting around a large campfire near the edge of the encampment. A large crowd of humans kept peeking over to our group, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mythical elves that they had heard stories about all their lives. The Roja tribe was in charge of making sure nobody came to disturb us, and their strange copper weapons were a pretty good deterrent.


    The various elders of the human tribes sat at a respectful distance from us. Noel and I chose to sit next to elder Kezler, with the priests of the human Jora tribe sitting on the other side of the campfire, their faces occasionally obscured by wisps of smoke and tendrils of orange flame.


    ¡°Please, punish me for my mistake,¡± continued Priest Mal.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, before she could say something. ¡°Elder Kezler has already accepted his apology. Why don¡¯t we let him get off his knees and start asking the questions we really want to ask?¡±


    Noel hesitated, still looking angrily at the middle-aged priest. Priest Mal was bald and had a big, flat nose. He had a scraggly black beard that went all the way down to his neck, and even his clothes were unkempt and full of patches. Eventually, Noel nodded, but she started glaring angrily at the other priests, instead.


    ¡°Get up there,¡± said Noel, gesturing for Priest Mal to join his fellow priests on the small log on which they were seated. ¡°Your punishment will be telling us everything that we want to know, even if it embarrasses you and your tribe. Understood?¡±


    ¡°Yes, great one,¡± said elder Oxi. The other priests voiced their agreement as well. The elders of the other tribes also nodded, for some reason, with elder Sunki leaning forward like he was eager to answer anything we asked him.


    ¡°Then start,¡± said Noel as she clasped her own hands together and spoke slowly, and clearly, ¡°by explaining why you took the name of my tribe.¡±

 Chapter 77

    The priests remained silent.


    The fire began to die down. Elder Kezler stoked it. I got up to feed it more wood, but another elder ran up ahead of me. I sat back down. The other elder dropped the firewood on the fire, and I watched the wood slowly catch the flame. The flame licked the surface of the wood, slowly turning the outer bark dark with flecks of red and orange interspersed along its length.


    Priest Oxi opened his mouth, but closed it once again. Unlike the campfire, Noel¡¯s glare was unrelenting. I felt like the priests were too intimidated to speak. Or perhaps they knew they had made Noel angry, and were wondering whether they should go back to groveling and asking for her forgiveness.


    I looked at Noel. I knew that she wanted to know where her family had gone. The two graves we had seen by the Roja tribe¡¯s cave, and the elfin skull here at Bek Tepe, had already filled her mind with many questions and worries. Who had died? Who had lived? Was her family still somewhere out there, and if they were, how could she find them?


    And of course, why had a tribe of humans taken the name of her own tribe?


    See, Noel was smart. Smarter than she might at first appear. She knew that there was something seriously wrong with the stories the human tribes had told us so far. Stories of elves teaching humans, elves ascending into immortality, and a tribe of humans taking the name of their saviors and leading the rest of the humans in the elves¡¯ stead.


    ¡°Our ancestors were rescued by the ancient elves,¡± said priest Oxi at last. ¡°When the elves ascended, our ancestors joined together to form our tribe, and took the name of their saviors to honor them.¡± He almost teared up as he bowed his head. ¡°To think, that I would live to meet a real elf of the Jora tribe. I am finally fulfilling the dreams of my ancestors.¡± The other priests were similarly enthused.


    ¡°How did they know?¡± I said, asking the question that I knew Noel was about to ask. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t hesitate as much to answer my questions.


    ¡°Know what, great one?¡± asked priest Oxi.


    ¡°The name,¡± said Noel. ¡°Jora. How did they know what the elves called their tribe?¡±


    The priest blinked. ¡°The same way we know what you call yourselves, great one.¡±


    ¡°No, you can¡¯t understand me right now,¡± said Noel as she switched off her translation magic. Of course, I could still understand her since I had kept mine activated.


    The priest opened his mouth and closed it again. He furrowed his thin, droopy brows. ¡°I am sorry, great one, I cannot understand you.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Noel. ¡°But your ancestors. It seems they could understand my tribesmen. Why?¡±


    ¡°It must have been your magic, great one,¡± said the priest. ¡°Although we learned what we could from the ancient elves, our understanding of magic is still quite wanting. I had not even realized that you were using magic to speak to us right now. The ancient elves must have used the same magic.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t possible,¡± I said. ¡°Only the two of us can use this magic.¡±


    ¡°Only the two of you?¡± said the priest. His eyes brightened. ¡°You must be the most powerful magicians, even in the elfin tribes. No wonder you can travel freely from the immortal plane!¡±


    ¡°We aren¡¯t immortals!¡± shouted Noel, forcefully. The priests were taken aback. They began apologizing profusely, and even the elders of the other tribes turned their heads down, for some reason.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    I put a hand on Noel¡¯s shoulder. She was breathing heavily. I was pretty annoyed at being compared to the beings who had put us in this situation, but Noel¡¯s frustrations were mounting. We weren¡¯t getting a lot of information from these priests, and they didn¡¯t seem to understand the question we were asking or the accusation we were implicitly making.


    ¡°I think they might need an explanation,¡± I said, slowly. I patted Noel¡¯s shoulder a couple of times, and made her look me in the eye. She calmed down a little. I turned to the priests. ¡°This magic was gifted to us by powerful beings, known as immortals. Only the two of us possess this magic, and it allows us to translate any language to a certain degree of accuracy. That is how we are able to understand you, even though we do not speak your language.¡±


    ¡°I understand, great one,¡± said priest Oxi.


    ¡°No, you don¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t understand and I¡¯ll tell you why. Your people claim to have learned magic from our elfin Jora tribe, yet you do not even know the fundamentals of magic. I know this to be the case, since if you knew the fundamentals, you would not still be living in caves after so many generations.


    ¡°Your people claim to have named themselves after our elfin Jora tribe, yet there should have been no way for your tribesmen to have understood our language. We have confirmed, by disabling and re-enabling our translation magic, that the way you say the name of your tribe is the same as the way it is pronounced in the elfin language, even though it should have been awkward to use a word from such a completely different language in your own.


    ¡°Those two facts, if considered alone, should suggest that your ancestors learned what they could from our people, but were unable to learn everything. Perhaps they imitated what our tribesmen were doing when they cast magic, understanding what they could from gestures and objects. Perhaps they adopted the name after hearing the elves use it to refer to themselves, which was why it was taken as a whole word instead of being localized or transformed to suit your own tongue.


    ¡°But this explanation has one glaring flaw: time. It has been many generations since your people met ours. Over the great expanse of time, many things should erode. Language, customs, histories, and myths. Anything that is transmitted purely through the ages by word of mouth, should be distorted and altered. Most of all, a foreign word that sits awkwardly on your lips, standing out among all the other words that you have been saying to us.


    ¡°Your own history, despite the crude carvings on the walls of the passageway to this temple, should not have stood the test of time so well without a more robust method of recording. And yet, you are able to tell us the name of the tribe that rescued your ancestors, as well as the reaction of those ancestors, and how the elves came to ascend to their immortality. I can assume that some parts of this history are incorrect. It is unlikely that any elf ascended to becoming an immortal. Yet, the story remains so compact and believable. Almost as if it was sanitized from the natural morphing of narratives over generations.


    ¡°Are you telling me, no parent was tempted to invent a stern, scary elf who would punish their children if they didn¡¯t listen? Are you telling me no great storyteller has invented a trickster; a clever elf that won things like sunlight and stories from a great demon or god, thus making storytelling a great gift? That there is no elf of love, no elf of hate? No elf of storms, no elf of sky? That other deities were not merged into the overarching story, creating a more complicated mythos, as would be natural when several different tribes were brought under the banner of this one cult that meets every year at the summer solstice?


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense, priest from the tribe that took our name. Your name, so beautifully preserved, as if to tease us for having been forced into the future alone, does not make sense. Your history, so sanitized from the history of others or the history that should have come after you met our tribe, does not make sense. And your mythology, revolving around the ancient elves who achieved immortality instead of the many natural phenomena, creative archetypes, or other aspects of reality that exist around us, none of it makes any sense.


    ¡°You and your tribe, no, the existence of any of the tribes of the double river basin, at least in the form that they are in right now, it does not make sense. And from our experience.¡± I stood up. Noel stood up too. The elders and priests, still a step behind and making strange expressions after hearing my words, also stood up.


    ¡°From our experience,¡± continued Noel. ¡°Whenever things do not make sense, there can only be one explanation.¡± Noel pointed to the sky, where at some point in the night, both a full moon and a pulsing red star had suddenly appeared, shining more brightly than they had ever before.


    The other humans around the various tents mulled around unperturbed. Nobody pointed to the sky, or commented on how bright it was. Only the elders and priests whose gazes followed the direction of Noel¡¯s finger, had a silver and red glow reflect on the surface of their eyes, transfixing their eyes and mouths wide open.


    I chuckled because the scene looked comical.


    I could have sworn I heard the echo of a laugh come from somewhere in the distance.

 Chapter 78

    ¡°We do not know.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    People from the other campfires looked over. They might have seen Noel¡¯s angry silhouette, highlighted by the orange flame and silver moonlight. The elders held their breath. Priest Mal¡¯s lips quivered. I took a steadying breath.


    ¡°We do not know the answers to your questions,¡± said the elderly priest Oxi, as he dropped, once again, to his knees. The other priests followed him. ¡°We do not know how our ancestors communicated with the ancient elves. We do not know how we learned our magic. We do not know how we got our name. If our legends were passed down by anything but word of mouth, we do not know. Why our magic has not progressed to your satisfaction, we do not know. Please, great one.¡± He was practically groveling at this point. A wrinkly old man groveling on the ground in front of us. I felt a pit forming in my stomach.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± said Noel, slowly.


    ¡°Please, great one,¡± said Priest Oxi, ¡°let your intelligence be surpassed only by your mercy. We are not as capable as you are, we do not know as much as you do, we are not elves. We are only human!¡±


    Noel grit her teeth. Before she could speak, I put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me with the same enraged glare, an expression I had never seen on her before today. ¡°Noel, look at them. They aren¡¯t a part of some grand conspiracy. They¡¯re being played around with by forces much more powerful than any of us. You know who¡¯s really to blame here.¡± I gestured to the sky.


    Noel¡¯s expression faltered. She could have glared at the sky, where the moon and red star still shone arrogantly brightly, but she didn¡¯t. After our experiences with the immortals, especially with the Immortal of Madness, we knew we couldn¡¯t do anything to them. At least, not yet.


    ¡°We should continue this in the morning,¡± I said, patting Noel on the shoulder again. She tried to say that we should continue interrogating the human Jora tribesmen, but it was late, and most people were only up because they were excited to meet real elves. The priests had already said they didn¡¯t have the answers to our questions, but we could try to gather all of their stories later. Perhaps they might give us some clues.


    The priests went back to their camps, still apologizing to Noel, and thanking me for ¡°taking pity¡± on them. Noel made some frustrated noises, before heading off towards the peak of the hill. I had a feeling she wanted to be alone, but I cast some motion detection magic on the other side of the hill, just in case.


    The elders of the other human tribes didn¡¯t move. They¡¯d sort of faded into the background after we¡¯d revealed ourselves, with even the boisterous elder Sunki rarely making a sound.


    ¡°So, uh,¡± I said, scratching my chin. ¡°How are you all doing?¡±


    It felt like they¡¯d all held their breath at the same time. I gave elder Kezler a weird look. Why was he acting like them? He¡¯d been hanging out with us for several days!


    I told the elders that I was tired, and that they could ask me some questions in the morning. I¡¯d noticed quite a few of them stealing glances at elder Kezler¡¯s copper knife, and I was sure they wanted to know more about the magic Noel had used to disarm priest Mal.


    The elders excused themselves, silently, until I told Kezler to stop following them! He apologized and led me back to my tent. The Roja had built Noel and me separate tents, which was a real privilege when most other tents were shared. I thanked Kezler for his help, told him to not be so afraid tomorrow morning and to speak his mind, before waving to young Kelser, who was looking at me from a distance. He smiled before going to his own tent.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Before I went to bed, I looked toward the top of the hill, hoping to make out Noel¡¯s figure somewhere out there. But she was either on the other side, or completely covered by a nighttime blanket of darkness. It was only now that I noticed the moon and the red star had faded. I went to sleep, thinking about what to say to Noel in the morning, what to ask the human Jora tribe, and how to make sense of everything that was happening.


    I listened to my own breathing and drifted off to sleep.


    ---


    An accordion sounds like the taste of a tangerine. A sharp twang on the tip of your tongue stretching smoothly into a sweet solution for you to swallow. Pianos sound like a chocolate bar. Velvety smooth surface, quite hard on the whole, and sometimes bitter, sometimes sugary. And then the violin flows in like a dash of olive oil on a fresh salad waiting to be tossed together to bring the whole dish together.


    The tippity-tippity, tap, tap, of shoes dancing on a marble floor. The clickity-clickity, clack, clack, of hand-crafted wooden castanets. The ting-ting, tingaling, of a tiny bell. The deep, dull, booming, the flat, short, thumping, of the awful drums. A million synced up voices, humming to a song. The chorus all forgotten, the music carries on. The notes once begotten, abandoned in the end.


    The music, given sentience, barreled towards my eyes. The smell of sour cherries, smashed roughly against my tongue. I cried out in laughter, as I caught a whiff of anger. I couldn¡¯t sense my senses, sensing a loss of sense. A sorrowful swallow swooped in for a kiss, but seeing my awful senseless circumstance, she settled for a swish.


    The swallow¡¯s wings catapulted me out of the orchestra of perplexity. I let out an empty scream of relief, as the music missed its beat.


    ---


    I stole a baby¡¯s pacifier, and gave it to a kid. I took the kid¡¯s lollipop, and stuck it in her hair. When the parents came, I ran away, as their children began to cry. As I ran away, I kicked a kitten on the way before spraying water at a puppy near the slide.


    I crushed an ant¡¯s nest, tilted over a bin, and trapped a raccoon inside. Laughing aloud, I pointed at a car crash, and ran into the library to hide. Inside the library I played music, so loudly it broke the librarian¡¯s hearing aid. When I was chased out, I made a point to take notes, on a new storybook lying neatly on the side.


    At school, I tripped the new kid, and made fun of his gray corduroys. I told the teacher she forgot to collect all our homework, and stole the nerdy girl¡¯s lame pair of shoes, before exchanging them for her perfect project, and acing the class for the first time.


    In college I told my girlfriend she meant the world to me, but made out with her best friend at a party. I insulted my professor, and stole the school flag, which wound up in a corn field somewhere in Iowa.


    By the time I graduated, I drove a truck guzzling gas, spewing black smoke and leaving tire marks on every road in town. I downed a beer behind the wheel, shouted live laugh free-me and crashed into a postbox full of children¡¯s letters, on the night before Christmas eve.


    I somehow had kids, but they weren¡¯t my problem. I ran away for some cigarettes, but came back for a beer. I stole some cash from the jar on her table, and flipped off little junior¡¯s hopes for a college degree.


    Laughing on the freeway, drunk out of my mind, I laughed at the stupid sparrow settled impossibly still on the windowsill. I tried to brush it away, but it jumped, and stabbed me with its beak, like a needle piercing muscle, and injected me with a dash of something serene.


    ---


    I woke up in the morning, drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily. The vestiges of something floated in my vision, the ghosts of a high-pitched fever dream.

 Chapter 79

    I splashed cold water on my face. The disturbed pool of spring water distorted my reflection. Undulating ripples mixed my eyes with my nose and my lips with my chin. I splashed some more water on my face. I cupped some water and took a sip. A chill flowed down my throat, nestling deep inside my body.


    On the precipice of dawn, I sat down by the spring and collected my thoughts. ¡°What kind of dream was that,¡± I said quietly to myself. The memories of the dreams were fleeting, and I could only try to hang on to them while they were still fresh in my mind. Yet, they were quickly fading like wisps of smoke on a windy night.


    I held my head in my hand and rubbed my temple. I remembered the first dream as a cornucopia of chaos. The second had been almost comically malevolent. It had felt like I was there, inside both dreams, but it also felt like I wasn¡¯t. If I could feel what my shadow felt, I could imagine it feeling the way I¡¯d felt inside those dreams.


    I circled the top of the hill. Maybe an early morning stroll would clear my mind. Thankfully, it looked like Noel hadn¡¯t fallen asleep up here after all. She was probably back at her tent. I walked for a little while longer, before going back for another sip from the spring. I grabbed some fruit I¡¯d found growing on a hidden bush, and munched on it as I went back to the campsite.


    A bird stopped on a branch in front of me. I stopped. The bird turned its head in the brisk way that birds do, but it didn¡¯t fly away. I hesitated. The bird turned its head again, even though it was staring right at me. No. Not at me.


    I crouched and placed the fruit on the ground. Then I went back down the long way. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the bird glide down from the branch, turn its head from side to side, and begin pecking at the fruit.


    ---


    I couldn¡¯t go back to sleep, so I decided to hang around the human tribesmen instead. Many of them had been up as lookouts, while many others had already gotten up for the day. Most of them froze up as I got near them, so I decided to stick to the Roja tribesmen instead. Although, just like Kezler, they seem to have been infected by the other tribesmen¡¯s awe of me. It was like they¡¯d forgotten that elves were an important part of their mythology back when I was training them in magic, but they had suddenly realized they were supposed to respect me like a semi-deity after meeting the other tribesmen.


    ¡°Kelser!¡± I shouted, hailing the little red-haired kid.


    ¡°Oh, good morning Cas,¡± he said.


    I inwardly thanked Kelser¡¯s bold and brash childishness for immunizing him against the waves of elf worship I felt were brewing around the campsite. I asked him if he¡¯d had breakfast yet, to which he replied that he hadn¡¯t. I followed him to a smoldering campfire where the red-haired Roja tribesmen were mingling with a bunch of white-haired humans. They were from the Jenin tribe, which was led by the rambunctious elder Sunki. I was a little surprised when I found out the reason Sunki¡¯s beard was white wasn¡¯t only because of age, but also because most of the people of his tribe had white hair. There were some brown and blue haired humans here too, but they seemed to be a part of the Jenin tribe too.


    The Jenin tribesmen froze, like I¡¯d expected them to, but the Roja snapped out of it once I asked them what they were making. They said they¡¯d caught some fish nearby and were also bringing out some salted monster meat they¡¯d gathered and preserved along the way. I offered them the gourd-full of spring water I¡¯d brought back, along with a bar of soap. They remembered what I¡¯d told them about washing their hands before eating, and proceeded to do so without hesitation.


    The Jenin, however, looked over the shoulder¡¯s of their fellow humans, but didn¡¯t come over to ask what was going on. I nudged Kelser. He gave me an inquisitive look. I gestured towards the Jenin tribesmen with my head. Kelser furrowed his brow before eventually opening his eyes wide. He nodded to me before walking over to the Jenin tribesmen and explaining the use and usefulness of soap. He also mentioned that they were hand-crafted by me, the venerable elf, even though the Roja tribesmen had made that bit of soap themselves. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    A Roja tribeswoman realized what was going on and offered the soap to a Jenin tribesman who she had been chatting with before I¡¯d arrived. I¡¯d seen the couple flirting like crazy, so I was sure the man wasn¡¯t going to refuse. As expected, the man was the first Jenin tribesman to try the soap, after which the others began using it¡ªa little overzealously, if I might add.


    The tribeswoman, noticing the embers of the campfire, gestured for the Jenin tribesman to follow her. He walked carefully forward, always keeping his front towards me like I was some sort of ferocious animal. The Roja tribeswoman planted her feet in front of the campfire pit, took a deep breath, and cast fire magic on the fresh tinder she¡¯d placed on top. The Jenin tribesman¡¯s jaw stayed opened, and the other tribesmen were similarly stunned.


    We used the fire to make a nice meat stew. The tribesmen had poured the water out of the gourd to wash their hands, which meant it was still clean enough to use for cooking. One of the first things I¡¯d made sure to tell them was that soap was not food!


    We grilled the fish directly over the fire. By this point, I was chatting with Kelser, who was chatting with the Jenin tribesmen, but never directly spoke to them. I could tell the Jenin were still a little awed by me, so I asked the Roja tribeswoman from before how she felt about the Jenin tribesman she¡¯d just tried to impress. The woman blushed a little, but it wasn¡¯t like her actions had been subtle. I praised her for her magic, before making a small comment to the Jenin tribesman:


    ¡°You better be careful,¡± I said. ¡°If you get her angry, she might burn your hair off!¡±


    The joke didn¡¯t land as well as it had in my head, but it did get the Roja tribeswoman to start explaining, in a flustered tone, that there was no way she would ever do something like that. The Jenin tribesman gave an awkward laugh, and I figured this was my time to shine.


    I offered to teach him magic.


    A hush fell over the campsite. It wasn¡¯t like there had been much noise before, but I¡¯d made sure to speak clearly enough to be heard by the surrounding tribes too. They¡¯d already been peering over to this campfire, too intimidated to get closer, but too curious to not stare.


    Kelser asked if I was sure. There were a lot more people here than just the Roja tribe. I told him it was fine, since the festival was unlikely to proceed like usual. I thought many tribes would want to hang around for a few more days, especially now that I¡¯d offered magic lessons.


    ¡°I can¡¯t start today though,¡± I said. ¡°Since Noel and I need to talk with the Jora tribe¡¯s priests. We still have a lot of questions, and I don¡¯t think Noel will accept any more of a delay.¡± I clapped a hand on Kelser¡¯s shoulder. ¡°But I don¡¯t need to be around for the first lesson, do I? The Roja can teach the other tribes, at least for today.¡±


    Kelser tried to protest, but I told him there was no reason to be humble. I could tell they were good enough to begin teaching the other humans, and Kelser, in particular, would do a fantastic job. In fact, I told him he¡¯d be in charge of teaching the other humans, since elder Kezler had to join us in our meeting.


    ¡°That reminds me,¡± I said, ¡°have you seen Noel?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Kelser, ¡°she¡¯s still in her tent.¡±


    I looked up at the horizon. The sun was well and truly up by now, and almost everybody was awake. Noel wasn¡¯t the type to laze around in bed all day, so I grabbed a small, skewered and cooked fish, thanked the gathered humans for their company, and went up to Noel¡¯s tent.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s time to wake up.¡±


    Noel didn¡¯t respond.


    ¡°Come on,¡± I said, ¡°we have to meet the Jora, I mean, the human Jora tribe¡¯s priests! We still have some questions for them, don¡¯t we?¡±


    Still, no answer. My heart skipped a beat. I grabbed the entrance to her tent and went inside. The insides were messy and disturbed. The back of the tent was upturned halfway, with roughed up dirt at the base of the back exit. The tent was near the edge of the encampment, facing towards a lip of the hill behind which several people could be easily hidden. I ran behind the tent in a frenzy and searched all around the place.


    Noel was nowhere to be seen.

 Chapter 80

    ¡°Somebody kidnapped Noel?¡± said Kelser.


    I shushed him. ¡°Don¡¯t say that so loud.¡±


    ¡°Why not? We need to start searching for her. She¡¯s an elf with magic more powerful than any human¡¯s. There¡¯s no way they can stop her from leaving some marks or causing a ruckus!¡± he said.


    ¡°After searching the back of the hill, I went to her tent again to look for clues. But all the signs of a fight were gone!¡± I said. ¡°It looked like nobody had been in there all night.¡±


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± said Kelser. ¡°Were you gone for long?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Humans can¡¯t be the only ones behind this. It¡¯s too strange and unusual, and I have a lot of experience with the strange and unusual.¡±


    We were crouching behind a stone wall near the Bek Tepe temple complex. I¡¯d set up motion detection magic on the pathways leading up to us, and was disguising myself with magic too. Despite all of these precautions, I didn¡¯t feel safe. Being faced with a powerful enemy, like the Immortal of Madness or the God of Evil, was one thing, but not knowing what was going on was far more terrifying.


    How could someone kidnap Noel? And without anybody else noticing her resistance? Even when I¡¯d first seen the signs of a scuffle in her tent, there were no scorch marks or other signs of magic, which meant Noel wasn¡¯t even able to cast a single spell before being taken. And the tent had been cleaned up so quickly, right after I left, which made me think someone might have been observing me.


    Which left me with my biggest question: why didn¡¯t they take me too? If someone was powerful enough to kidnap Noel, surely they could take me too. Even if they thought they couldn¡¯t keep it quiet, surely someone who could whisk away Noel so easily could take on a few human tribesmen armed with prehistoric spears and daggers.


    ¡°Listen, Kelser,¡± I said as I put my hands on the young boy¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I need you to be very careful, alright?¡± He nodded. I continued: ¡°You have to tell elder Kezler to prepare for a battle. Tell him I don¡¯t know who we have to fight, or whether there will even be a point in putting up any resistance, but tell him Noel and I need your tribe¡¯s help.¡±


    ¡°I already know he¡¯ll agree,¡± said Kelser.


    I gave him a weak smile. ¡°But tell him they can¡¯t tell any other tribe.¡±


    ¡°Not even the ones we trust?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°The only ones I trust right now are the Roja.¡± I felt like Kelser¡¯s chest puffed up a little as he heard that. ¡°Listen, although I don¡¯t want them to know what¡¯s going on, that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t get the other tribes to be useful. The Jora tribe are the prime suspects.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± said Kelser. ¡°You were going to question them more thoroughly today, weren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we were. Maybe whoever is behind them was worried we¡¯d find out too much, and decided to take matters into their own hands,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t add that this line of logic still didn¡¯t explain why they hadn¡¯t abducted me too, but it was the best I could think of at the moment. ¡°So you need to convince the other tribes to confront the Jora tribe about something. Maybe ask them how the festival will be run, now that there are real elves to preside over the festivities instead. Challenge the priests, make them think their social status is being threatened. Maybe one of them will slip up.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d bet we could get something out of Priest Mal,¡± said Kelser. ¡°He¡¯s famous for having pretty loose lips.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s hope he lives up to his reputation. Now go. And remember, be careful!¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°I will,¡± said Kelser. ¡°But what are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll check behind the tents again,¡± I said. ¡°In case I missed something.¡±


    Kelser nodded and walked away. As I looked at his back, I apologized to him in my head. I already knew there was nothing else to see behind the tents, but I couldn¡¯t tell him the truth in case whoever had captured Noel got to him too.


    I took a deep breath. The day had only just begun, but the sky was overcast, and my mood was even gloomier. I cast some disguise magic on myself, and made my way carefully through the temple. Standing in front of the pit, I made sure to survey my surroundings. The elfin skull was gone. I frowned. I ran from statue to statue, before dashing into the secret passageway heading down into the darkness.


    ---


    The passage seemed darker than before. I didn¡¯t dare light a fire, afraid that I¡¯d be found. At this point, I was assuming my dreams had helped me escape whatever forces had taken Noel. I didn¡¯t want to give myself away too easily. I felt the walls with my hands and walked slowly. I tread lightly and took shallow breaths.


    I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, but approached it cautiously. I stuck to the shadows and crouched behind a big rock, straining my ears to try and catch some sounds. I heard quiet whispers, and the sound of objects being moved around. I peered over the edge of the rock, making my hair and skin blend into the surroundings with my disguise magic.


    A single torch illuminated a room full of humans. All of them had their backs to me, so I couldn¡¯t immediately tell who they were. Their hair colors were tough to make out in the dim light, but I was sure there were many different colors here. I recognized a couple of priests from the human Jora tribe, but there weren¡¯t a lot of them here. A figure shifted out of the way, and I saw a stone slab sitting imposingly in the center of the room.


    The elfin relics were placed on this slab, as was the elfin skull that was usually kept in the pit. All of them were glowing with a soft, red light. The Jora priests stood right in front of the relics, their hands outstretched before them.


    There was another passageway behind the group of people, which seemed to lead further into the darkness. Noel wasn¡¯t in this room, but judging by how these people were holding a clandestine meeting in a secret passageway that had not been here yesterday, I figured it was safe to assume they were up to something. The only question was if I should rush in and take them out, or wait patiently and see what happened. Rushing in risked alerting whoever had taken Noel, and might even get me caught too, but waiting patiently might let these guys carry out whatever plan they were cooking up. Those glowing red relics were definitely not a good sign. I took a deep breath, and held up my hands.


    ¡°What was that?¡± said one of the tribesmen. The person they were standing next to looked up, just as a massive rock smacked into their head.


    The other tribesman got out of the way. The whole gathering quieted down. The priests lowered their hands and the relics stopped glowing. The tribesman who had gotten hit on the head had a nasty concussion, but it seemed like he¡¯d survive. The others figured a stalactite on the ceiling must have fallen down on them. An unfortunate accident.


    The priest that had walked over to inspect the unconscious tribesman, walked back to the slab. However, his foot caught on something and he tripped forward, whacking his head against the hard stone slab.


    Someone backed into the wall, knocking the torch out of its place, and onto her clothes. She panicked as her clothes caught on fire, slamming into the person next to her, whose clothes also, quickly, caught on fire.


    The two tried to rip off their clothes, which sent pieces of flaming hide gliding on the wind towards more people. As people tried to get out of the way of the burning pieces of clothing, they tripped and hit their heads, or crashed into each other, or crumpled to the ground as if someone had hit them on the back of their necks.


    The final Jora priest seemed to have kept her cool, as her eyes darted around the room. The torch had been snuffed out, so the only light came from the burning clothes. The Jora priest caught something in the corner of her eye, and turned swiftly in that direction, lifting her glowing red hand and shouting something strange.


    Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as I used magic hands to smack her in the neck. I wasn¡¯t exactly a martial artist, so I had to hit pretty hard to make sure she was going to stay down. I looked around the room, where a bunch of humans lay unconscious, illuminated only by the faint glow of burning monster hide.


    I grabbed the torch right before darkness engulfed the room. I lit the torch, wrapped the relics in someone¡¯s clothes, and walked carefully down the next tunnel.

 Chapter 81

    I felt like all I¡¯d done since I came to this world was walk through dark and dreary tunnels. I kept the torch alight, since there was no way whoever had taken Noel didn¡¯t already know I was here. I¡¯d taken out those humans as quietly as possible, but the red glow on the artifacts suggested whatever they were doing was important, so their absence would be noticed sooner rather than later.


    I slowed down. Bright, natural light flooded the end of the tunnel. I snuffed the torch and stepped closer. The tunnel arched downwards, opening up to a massive, open space. I rubbed my eyes to get used to the brightness. I blinked them open again.


    Flowing water, chirping birds, and a great splash of greenery. Tall rocky walls surrounded the ravine on two sides. To my right and left, the ravine stretched into the distance, dissolving into the bright sunlight that managed to hit the bottom very easily, thanks to the great width of the ravine. Ivy-like plants clung to the rock. Tiny creatures flitted through the bushes and trees. Something resembling a butterfly flew in front of my eyes. Fresh forest smells drifted through the humid air.


    Humming buzzed through the air. Three distinct voices. One rough. One smooth. One faltering and hesitant. The humming cut through the relaxing sounds of nature. The humming was jarringly imperfect, yet it felt pleasant to my ear. I followed the humming, carefully. I approached a thicket of trees, with long vines drooping down like a beaded oriental curtain. I brushed them aside.


    A surreal sight revealed itself to me. The thicket was actually a thick ring of trees surrounding an almost perfectly circular clearing. In the middle of the clearing were three ancient, black stumps, that looked as if they had been turned into charcoal. On each stump sat a human, cross legged, eyes closed in concentration. The stumps were arranged such that the three humans were sitting in a circle, with their hands outstretched towards the very center of the clearing.


    Red light flooded out of the humans¡¯ hands like spotlights trained at the glowing red orb suspended above the ground. The orb had strange, ornate symbols carved onto its surface by ever-revolving beams of silver light. The beams of silver light kept chipping away at the red orb, rending chunks of red light off the object. The chunks faded once they were separated from the orb, and were replaced by fresh bits of red light that were being fed to the orb by the three humans.


    There was more red light coming out of the humans¡¯ hands than the silver beams could separate, so the red orb was getting larger while plugging in all the holes being created by the silver beams. Around the orb and the silver beams, circled tiny specks of color. The specks were small but numerous, and came in all sorts of colors. Somehow, I was sure there were many more specks of color that I could not see. These tiny specks were circling the orb while staying clear of the silver beams. When the silver beams swung downward, the specks of color would collide against them, making them lose some force. The silver beams never seemed to be able to avoid the onslaught of the specks, but it also looked like they weren¡¯t trying to avoid them at all.


    I observed this bizarre scene from a safe distance behind a tree right beside the clearing. I squinted through the flashing lights to try to identify the three humans. Confirming my suspicions, the one nearest my side looked to be the old Jora priest, Oxi. Droplets of sweat cascaded off his wrinkly skin, and his ragged breathing made me wonder just how much longer he could keep going.


    The next human I could identify, was the elder of another tribe that I had met at Bek Tepe: elder Rann of the Nare tribe. He had a head full of green hair, and didn¡¯t look particularly old. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say he was in his early fifties. I¡¯d laughed a little at his short green beard, but his hair looked surprisingly intimidating when highlighted by the red glow of the ominous energy coming out of his hands.


    I had to walk around the perimeter a little to identify the last human. I frowned. Elder Sunki¡¯s bald head and wild, white beard cut an impressive sight on the far side of the clearing. His eyes were closed, but his face was distorted by the effort he was putting into the red light. He was humming, just like the other two, but his tone felt the most forced. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I looked around the clearing one more time from my hiding spot, but I couldn¡¯t find Noel anyway. I considered, for a moment, the idea that I walk around the three old men doing creepy magical things and go find Noel elsewhere, but figured they might know where she was. Besides, foiling whatever was going on here would definitely save me some trouble in the future. There was no way these guys were up to any good. They never mentioned this part of the festival to the elves that they supposedly revered so much!


    I prepared a plan in my head. Elder Sunki seemed like the best brawler, so it was in my best interest to knock him out first. I had a feeling a blow to the back of the neck wouldn¡¯t work on him, so I decided to hit him on the head with a large rock. Priest Oxi was old, but I had a feeling his magic would be the most powerful. He was also the one most likely to know where Noel was, so I decided to set him on fire, which should distract him long enough for me to take out the other two. I had no clue what elder Rann was like, so I decided this was a good time to practice one of the two new types of magic Noel and I had worked on while we were waiting for the other tribes to arrive at Bek Tepe.


    Since I¡¯d established that knowledge would be ¡®justified, true belief,¡¯ and that the easiest way to justify most beliefs about the material world would be through experimentation, Noel and I had done a few experiments for magic that I thought would be the most useful and versatile. First, since we lacked good stealth techniques, I had us experiment with light. In particular, we experimented on the way our eyes interacted with light to help us see things. This was how our disguise magic was born.


    We hadn¡¯t been able to do a lot of experiments around light, which meant the energy requirements of flashy spells like laser beams were still too high, but we could do simple optical illusions and tricks.


    The second type of magic was, of course, the gravity magic for which we¡¯d thrown masses off of cliffs. We didn¡¯t have enough time to smooth out the edges, which meant it was difficult to set up and expensive to cast, but it was still an incredibly powerful bit of magic. I didn¡¯t want to take any chances on elder Rann, so I figured he¡¯d be the perfect target for gravity magic!


    I took a deep breath. I held out my hands and prepared to cast a bunch of spells in quick succession.


    The humming stopped. The red beams flickered and shut off. The red orb continued to spin in the middle of the clearing, but the bits that were gouged out by the silver spears were no longer being replaced. All three elders opened their eyes and looked at me.


    ¡°Great one,¡± said Priest Oxi, ¡°what are you doing here?¡±


    I straightened up. ¡°Oh, you know. Just thought I¡¯d go for a walk.¡±


    ¡°A walk?¡± said elder Rann.


    I locked gazes with elder Sunki. His confident face flinched. I chuckled. ¡°Well, that isn¡¯t the whole story. Noel got a little angry last night, as you remember, and she didn¡¯t come back to her tent. I was just out looking for her, that¡¯s all.¡±


    Priest Oxi nodded with a smile. ¡°I see. It is most troubling that a great elf like her chose to sleep outside out of anger. You have my apologies for upsetting her.¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± I said, ¡°don¡¯t apologize. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll get over it. Just do me a favor, okay?¡±


    ¡°Anything, great one,¡± said Priest Oxi.


    ¡°If you see her, let her know I¡¯m waiting for her at the pit, alright?¡± I said.


    ¡°The pit?¡± he said.


    ¡°You know, the one where you keep this skull,¡± I said as I showed him the elfin skull. Elder Rann narrowed his eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t believe some upstart kids took these relics and moved them down the secret tunnel.¡±


    ¡°Yes, great one,¡± said Oxi, ¡°that is quite unbelievable.¡± He looked at the other elders. ¡°Do not worry, great elf. If we see your companion, we will pass along your message.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Thanks. And could you pass along another message for me? This time to the dude who makes his subordinates super easy to identify by making them all glow red and stuff.¡± I smiled and chucked the elfin skull right at the glowing red orb.


    ¡°Tell him he needs to try a new color!¡±

 Chapter 82

    ¡°No!¡± yelled Priest Oxi as the skull hurtled through the air towards the red orb.


    Elder Rann dove in front of the orb, barely knocking the skull off its path. I smiled, having confirmed that they would try to defend the orb, and that it was about as fragile as it looked. I grabbed a rock with magic hands and slung it at the orb.


    Elder Sunki had gotten off his feet too, but he wasn¡¯t coming any closer. Instead, he raised his hand and a red beam of light extended out of it. The red beam knocked the rock away, leaving burn marks on its surface. I ran towards the orb, preparing more magic while wielding a copper dagger. Priest Oxi furrowed his droopy, wrinkly brows, and stepped forward with a wooden staff.


    I launched a fireball at the red orb, but another beam of red light stretched out from elder Sunki¡¯s hand and extinguished the flame. I frowned, and thrust the copper dagger towards Priest Oxi. Oxi parried the dagger with his staff, avoiding the edge and aiming for the handle and my hand, instead. I retracted the dagger and held it in a reverse-grip. I then stabbed it at the elder man¡¯s chest. Oxi hurriedly moved his staff, moving it from side to side as rapidly as he could. We were stabbing and blocking in a rhythm now; stab, block, stab, block, left, right, back, forth.


    I dug my heels in, crouched down low, and leaned into a thrust aimed at the priest¡¯s legs. The flustered old man barely managed to dodge my attack by jumping backwards. He was pretty agile, for a wrinkly old man. I caught something in the corner of my eye and jumped back, too. A red ray of magic whooshed in front of me, singing the earth.


    Elder Rann stood to my left with his hands outstretched. He¡¯d been watching carefully when I stuck close to the old priest, but seeing the priest jump back had tempted him to get involved at last. Elder Sunki was still on the other side of the red orb, and he didn¡¯t seem to want to move to a better position either.


    ¡°How much of what you told us was true, anyway?¡± I asked as I caught my breath and thought of a plan.


    ¡°What do you mean, great one?¡± said Priest Oxi.


    ¡°Still calling me that even though we¡¯re clearly enemies?¡± I said.


    ¡°We do not have to be enemies, great one,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, well, that isn¡¯t up to you, now is it,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, okay, it sort of is up to you, but I doubt you¡¯re going to stop working for the God of Evil just because I said so.¡± They didn¡¯t respond. I took that as a yes. ¡°See, that dummy in the red star hates me. Something about foiling his plan to sacrifice myself to him. Oh, and I killed a couple of his servants. Really, nothing worth mentioning. I think he¡¯s just jealous of my shoes. I mean look at these. Genuine monster leather moccasins, baby!¡± I chuckled but nobody else was amused.


    ¡°We do not know what you are talking about, great one,¡± said elder Rann. ¡°We have never heard of a God of Evil. We serve only the spirits of our ancestors.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Really? Then I suppose it¡¯s just a coincidence that your strange secret magic is the same shade of red as the red star?¡±


    ¡°Our magic was passed down to us by our ancestors,¡± said Priest Oxi. ¡°We are the leaders of the three original tribes of Bek Tepe. I apologize for not telling you about our ritual, or about our ritual magic, but I can assure you, there are no evil gods involved.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    I chuckled. ¡°Really? Then what is this ritual supposed to accomplish?¡±


    ¡°We are preparing the spectacle that will be called on the pit tonight,¡± said elder Rann. ¡°Tendrils of magic and fire will dance around the elfin relics. We will dance, into the night, eat and drink, and make merry until the morning!¡±


    Make merry until the morning? Who says that? I joked to myself and smiled. ¡°And what about you, elder Sunki?¡±


    The white bearded old man appeared startled when I addressed him. He stammered, which was unlike his boisterous personality, although he¡¯d been shy around me before. ¡°It is as priest Oxi and elder Rann have said. We are merely preparing the ritual.¡±


    ¡°Then do you mind if I inspect this floating red orb?¡± I said as I took a step forward.


    Priest Oxi pointed his staff, elder Rann prepared a length of red magic, and elder Sunki finally ran in front of the red orb.


    ¡°Oh?¡± I said. ¡°But I promise I won¡¯t break it.¡±


    ¡°It is regrettable,¡± said priest Oxi, ¡°but you have already attempted to destroy it. We cannot trust you.¡±


    I looked down the length of Oxi¡¯s staff and smirked. ¡°You don¡¯t trust me? Wasn¡¯t I supposed to be your great and venerable elf? You still haven¡¯t answered my question. Was everything you told us a lie?¡±


    ¡°No, great one,¡± said the priest, ¡°we would never lie to you.¡±


    I laughed. ¡°Sure, whatever you say. Honestly, I might have believed it was all one big misunderstanding if it wasn¡¯t for one thing.¡± I narrowed my eyes. ¡°There is no way you aren¡¯t up to something big after you kidnapped Noel!¡±


    A sizzling sound came out of the orb. The three old men turned their heads towards the orb, just as I raced forward with my copper dagger. Priest Oxi turned around just as I swung my at him, but instead of pressing him backwards like I had before, I pressed him to the side instead. I launched fireballs at both elders Rann and Sunki, which they both quickly dodged. I ran closer to the orb, which was still emitting loud sizzling sounds.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± shouted elder Rann as he tried to approach the orb. I chucked a rock towards him, which he caught with his red magic.


    ¡°Me?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything.¡± I swung my dagger at priest Oxi again, who deflected it with his staff, again. ¡°Oh, I guess you could call it a ritual. A ritual whooping!¡±


    I threw my dagger at Oxi, forcing him to bring his staff up to deflect it. I then lunged forward and grabbed his wooden staff. I set the staff on fire, which made the priest let go of it, and I chucked the flaming piece of wood at elder Rann with my magic hands. Elder Rann tried to grab the flaming stick with his red magic, but I chucked another rock at the side of his head, which forced him to jump to the side. He fell to the floor, where I used a timely bit of earth elemental magic to make some rocks appear under his body, badly bruising him. He let out a loud scream as I raced towards the orb.


    Elder Sunki had barely reacted to my advance. The red orb behind him was still sizzling, and I could tell the sound was unsettling the white haired old man. Sweat was pouring profusely down his bald head, and his confident eyes were almost quivering as I approached. I was almost right in front of him when he belted out a large yell.


    A wave of red magic burst out of his body, rolling towards me like a tsunami. My eyes widened. I was too close. The magic was right in front of me. I remembered what happened to the rock that elder Rann had grabbed with this red energy, and realized I¡¯d be badly scorched if I tried to block the magic with my arms. I wasn¡¯t sure if any type of magic could help me block the wave of magic itself.


    As the wave of red magic approached, I cut the magic hand I¡¯d been using to smack the red orb, which was the source of the sizzling sound, and focused on my own body. I took a deep breath, inwardly berating myself for coming this close to elder Sunki instead of knocking him aside from a distance.


    I held my breath and made the white haired, bald headed, and rambunctious elder Sunki, freeze in his awkward outstretched pose. The wave of red magic was abruptly cut off, as even the sweat on Sunki¡¯s bald head stilled.

 Chapter 83

    I stared resolutely at elder Sunki as I stood frozen by my own magic. There was a sort of resignation in his eyes. He¡¯d been the most hesitant of the three elders that I was fighting. Perhaps that was something I could exploit? My mind raced for other ideas. I had to come up with something quickly. Elder Rann would be down for a while, since landing on those rocks was probably excruciatingly painful, but Priest Oxi would be back up any moment now. The worst part was, he had fallen somewhere out of my field of vision. I couldn¡¯t turn my head, so I had no idea where he was or if he¡¯d gotten up yet. I¡¯d like to think I¡¯d hear him coming but there was no guarantee that I would.


    I had no choice. There wasn¡¯t enough time to think. I released my breath, feeling the energy drain out of my body. Still-life magic was incredibly inefficient. I had no idea how many other spells I could use now, and I didn¡¯t even have my dagger with me. Even if I¡¯d had the dagger, my arms felt heavy and moving my legs would be a chore. I almost fell to my knees and only managed to steady myself by gritting my teeth and embracing the adrenaline coursing through my veins.


    My mind raced, even as I stumbled towards elder Sunki. Noel and I had spent all our time before the other tribes arrived, working on light and gravity magic. The complexity of those two fields was so high, we couldn¡¯t muster the energy to use any spells unless they were made incredibly efficient, which meant they had to fulfill the criteria of knowledge as ¡®justified true belief.¡¯ The trickiest part was to ¡®justify¡¯ a belief through reason and experimentation. The disguise magic wasn¡¯t going to be very useful right now, since it was merely based on clever refraction and manipulation of visible light, which meant my only other option was the gravity magic.


    We couldn¡¯t develop gravity magic much, since we had no way to measure the mass or radius of this planet, and were stuck with the speed of objects in free fall or at an incline. And since the elves and humans of this world didn¡¯t even have a system for dividing up, recording, or telling the time beyond days and seasons, I ended up importing measurements of time from my own Earth. Still, we couldn¡¯t get accurate measurements of time without clocks, so the best we could do was count our heartbeats and hope elves and humans from this world had the same average resting heartbeats as the humans from my world.


    All of this meant I couldn¡¯t create a black hole in Sunki¡¯s chest or squish him to the floor with gravity. Instead, I ran up to him as he was reeling from the confusion and fatigue of having his powerful magic canceled out by mine. I grabbed him by the beard, pulled him forward and activated the only gravity magic spell we had developed so far.


    The old man fell forward, tried to balance himself, and fell flat on his face. He had been unable to control his center of gravity!


    I swiveled on the balls of my feet. In the corner of my eye, I could see elder Rann, still writhing in pain on the floor. In front of me, Priest Oxi hobbled along without a cane. His palms were open and clearly seared. His wrinkly forehead was stained with sweat, and his lips were quivering.


    ¡°Just give up already,¡± I said, ¡°do you really have to defend this orb with your life?¡±


    He didn¡¯t respond. Or perhaps he was unable to. Instead, he raised his hand. I anticipated another red magic line, but instead, waves of red energy pulsed out from his hands. I ducked under them as the approached, but the next wave was a vertical one. I skipped to my left, slid under the next wave, and continued dodging my way towards the quickly tiring old priest.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    I was breathing rapidly, with my heart thumping so loudly it was flooding my ears. Every step I took made pain shoot through my body, and my muscles ached in protest every time I avoided an attack. I didn¡¯t have enough energy for any flashy magic, which meant I had to get all the way up to the old priest.


    The priest took a deep breath. My eyes widened. A rush of adrenaline gave me a second wind and I dashed forward. The old priest¡¯s body began to glow red, threatening to release the same wall of red magic that elder Sunki had almost decimated me with. I tackled the old man with my whole body, lifting him off his feet and smashing him away. My teeth clattered against my jaw as I made contact, and I cried out in pain. Priest Oxi flew threw the air as I stopped my forward motion, and crumpled onto the ground.


    I panted. Taking broken breaths, I clasped a hand against my forehead as piercing pain seared through my skull. A familiar metallic taste flooded my mouth. I spit the blood out on the ground, and forced my protesting body to make its way to the ominous glowing red orb that the three old men had tried so desperately to defend.


    There was no way this thing was just an artifact for whatever ritual the human tribes of the double river basin did every year. The colors and symbolism was way too reminiscent of the three immortals. A red orb with silver beams and flocks of birdlike specks, what did that have to do with long dead human ancestors?


    I leaned down to scoop up my battered copper dagger. It had lost its edge, but with no more energy to cast any magic, I had no choice but to use it. I winced. Tackling the glowing red priest had singed my skin pretty badly. Fortunately, I had mostly made contact with him with my shoulder, which was protected by my clothes. Still, I was in pretty rough shape.


    As I approached the glowing red orb, I had to narrow my eyes. The sunlight was bright enough, but the flashing colors and pulsing light coming from the orb were painful to stare at for too long. Now that I was closer, I could see that the silver objects that had been scooping out bits of red energy all had weirdly shaped ends. Some were shaped like spoons, others like knives or picks, or had flat or rounded tips.


    The specks of color really were shaped like birds, but not like real birds, with beaks and talons and stuff. Instead, they looked like the v-shaped birds you might expect on a children¡¯s drawing. Heat radiated out of the red orb. I raised my copper dagger and aimed for a spot where there were no silver objects or brightly colored birds.


    Pain shot through my hands. Like digging into a pile of hot coals. But I persisted. I stabbed into the red orb, repeatedly, rending chunks of red magic from its surface. The silver objects seemed to realize what I was doing, and redoubled their own efforts. The flocks of birds stopped crashing into the silver objects, and instead formed up in a large flock, circling the orb while avoiding my hand.


    I yelled as I dug through the red orb. I grit my teeth and endured the pain, forcing myself to go on, because I had convinced myself whatever was inside this thing would help me find Noel. My copper dagger felt so hot, I could barely hang on to it, but I kept going.


    As I brought my hand down one more time, the silver objects shivered and swung towards me. My hand was outstretched, and I was to close to avoid them. But just as the various silver objects threatened to sever, poke, pummel, and in many other ways injure my arm, the flock of tiny multi-colored birds rammed against the silver objects like a tidal wave, which let my dagger swing down unimpeded. The dagger hit a hard surface, which audibly cracked like a walnut in a nutcracker.


    The silver objects, as if hearing the crack, suddenly lost all of their will to fight, and faded into nothingness. The flock of birds dispersed and disappeared like ashes in the wind. The red orb lost all its shine and luster, and both of its halves convulsed and writhed, before falling to the ground and dissolving into a puddle of liquid, which then seared the ground and dissipated.


    Floating where the red orb had been was an astonishing but familiar object: a beetle, shaped like a sunflower, pointing its face resolutely into the distance.

 Chapter 84

    A sunflo beetle? My eyelids felt heavy and fatigue had piled up high. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief but no, the orb of angry red energy really was guarding a tiny little sunflower-like beetle. The beetle began falling gently through the air. I opened my palm and let it slowly settle in.


    I¡¯d encountered a beetle like this one near the tomb of the Mad King. It had led me to its partner beetle that was held by another tribe. I quickly concluded that the beetle must be pointing to something really important, since all three immortals seemed to want to control it. The first thought that came to mind, was that the beetle pointed to Noel!


    I looked around the base of the ravine. Our battle hadn¡¯t damaged the beautiful landscape at all, but the sky was overcast, and the lack of light gave the place a menacing air. The three elders were all down for the count. They seemed to be breathing, which made a chilling question float through my mind. Should I kill them?


    They were clearly working with the God of Evil, despite how much they had been denying it. Even if I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and believed what they said about not directly working for the God of Evil, they were secretly carrying out a ritual that I had now forcibly disrupted. Letting them live could be dangerous.


    And it wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t killed someone before. I dropped the Oracle into a hole, which definitely killed her. I¡¯d killed a lot of monsters, too, so it wasn¡¯t like I was shying away from the act of killing. But still. I hesitated. None of them had claimed to be ikons of the God of Evil, and they insisted they were only carrying out rituals passed onto them by their ancestors. Maybe their ancestors had been aligned with the God of Evil, but their affiliation had been diluted as knowledge of the ritual was passed down the generations.


    I winced as I felt a pain in my leg. Right, I was in no shape to do anything about them anyway. What little energy I had would be best spent going back to the humans¡¯ camp. Hopefully, Kelser had managed to figure out the situation back there, and I could rely on the Roja tribe to help me follow the sunflo beetle to its destination.


    I lugged my body back to the passageway leading out of the ravine. I glanced over my shoulder, one last time, to make sure the old men weren¡¯t about to follow me. Satisfied by their prone bodies, I began making my way back to Bek Tepe.


    The tunnel was harder to navigate now that my legs felt like lead and my body was flooded by pain with every step. Breathing was a chore, and my heartbeat was unbearably loud in my ears. I almost tripped over unseen rocks, several times, since I didn¡¯t have the energy to light a torch anymore. I followed the walls all the way back to the room with the humans who had been guarding the relics. The humans were still lying on the ground, unconscious, which made sense, because my fight with the three old men hadn¡¯t taken very long.


    I absentmindedly noted that I¡¯d left the elfin skull at the ravine, although I¡¯d brought the other relics with me. I¡¯d left my copper dagger too, since it was scorching hot and seemed like it was going to take too long to cool. I left the unconscious humans on the floor, and went out the next passageway.


    Approaching the end of the tunnel, I realized the clouds must have finally parted, because the pit was awash with sunlight. I had to blink my eyes several times to get used to the brightness. By the time my blurry vision settled into focus, I noticed two strange blobs beyond the walls of the temple. I could see them from here because of the way the temple was built at an angle, but I couldn¡¯t quite make out what they were. I hoped they weren¡¯t enemies, because there wasn¡¯t much I could do if that was the case, except for rolling over and begging for mercy.


    Garbled noise came from the direction of the blobs. I hadn¡¯t even noticed the ringing in my ears until now. It felt like a bad case of tinnitus earned gleefully at a rock concert. The ringing mixed with my still rapidly beating heart, to make a mess of whatever the blobs were saying.


    My vision cleared as the blobs went behind the walls. Their voices still reached me somehow, and I was starting to recognize them. By the time the two figures finally came into view, I was already hearing my name being cried out loudly, along with questions about what I had been doing and where I had gone.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    But I didn¡¯t care about that. Instead, I kept blinking my eyes and fighting the wave of confusing emotions that were flooding my brain.


    ¡°Noel?¡± I managed to croak out through my tired mouth.


    Noel and Kelser rushed up to me, saying words that made sense, but refused to stick in my brain. A wave of exhaustion drove the last of my adrenaline away, as my sore body finally felt safe enough to collapse, right into my friends¡¯ arms.


    ---


    ¡°You can¡¯t find them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re gone,¡± replied elder Kezler. ¡°Priest Oxi, elder Rann, elder Sunki, and many other elders and members of the Jora, Jeni, and Nare tribe, are all gone. We sent a search party down the secret passageway, but we could not find the ravine you spoke of either. We could not find it, even while searching above the ground.¡±


    I frowned, which made me wince again. I told the elder it was strange that the ravine and all those humans had disappeared, but also said that it wasn¡¯t surprising. If the immortals were involved, it was best to throw out our assumptions about what was ¡®normal¡¯ and ¡®real.¡¯ Noel agreed, suggesting the ravine and second secret passageway might only open during a special window of time on the day of the solstice.


    I was lying inside a tent on the campgrounds at Bek Tepe. Noel was here too, filling me in on what happened, while Kelser was standing outside, talking to the elders of the other tribes. Noel told me the kid had done an amazing job since I left him at the entrance to Bek Tepe. He¡¯d rallied the other tribes to search for Noel all around the hill.


    The tribesmen managed to find Noel sleeping in a dried up watering hole near the base of the hill. She was hidden by some trees and rocks, and was very far from the area that I had searched before entering the temple, which explained why I couldn¡¯t find her.


    ¡°And you don¡¯t remember anything strange?¡± I said. ¡°You weren¡¯t dragged out of your tent, kicking and screaming, or under the influence of an immortal?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Noel. ¡°I was feeling frustrated because it seemed like confronting the human Jora tribe had been a dead end. The humans didn¡¯t know where our tribesmen had gone, and I felt lost and alone, so I decided to sleep on my own too.¡± Her eyes brightened up as she stared at the yellow beetle in her hand. ¡°I guess this wasn¡¯t a dead end after all.¡±


    I set aside my questions about what I¡¯d seen that made me think Noel had been kidnapped, and instead focused on the beetle too. It was still facing the same direction, far North beyond Bek Tepe. Noel had gone on a quick scouting mission along the nearby area and confirmed that the beetle was probably pointing to somewhere far away.


    ¡°Elder Kezler,¡± I said. ¡°Do you know what lies to the North of Bek Tepe? A few of the human tribes live there, don¡¯t they?¡±


    Elder Kezler nodded, slowly. ¡°The forest and hills should stretch for a few days, after which there are several wide rivers and shallow marshes. After that, there is the roof of the world.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow at that impressive sounding name. ¡°The roof of the world?¡±


    ¡°It is the name our ancestors gave to the many massive, impassible mountains that border the double river basin up North,¡± he said.


    ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t the human Jora tribe¡¯s priests say something about ascending elves?¡± said Noel, quickly. ¡°Do you think the elves went up there, to the mountains?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s impressive that that word carries the same meaning between our languages,¡± I said, thinking about the word ascent. ¡°Honestly, the only lead we have right now is this beetle, so we¡¯re stuck going wherever it tells us to go.¡±


    ¡°Teacher, I must answer the second question you asked me. About which other tribes live in that direction,¡± said elder Kezler.


    ¡°Oh, right, please continue,¡± I said.


    ¡°The only tribes that live in the direction of the roof of the world,¡± said the elder, grimly, ¡°are the Nare, Jeni, and Jora tribes.¡±

 Chapter 85

    ¡°Do we really have to eat these?¡± I said as I picked up a wooden skewer with what looked like a frog leg on it.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Kelser, ¡°there are no other monsters in the marshes.¡± He ate the brown, twig-like legs straight off the wooden skewer.


    ¡°Are you not hungry?¡± said Noel as she finished hers. ¡°And if you aren¡¯t, can I have yours?¡±


    I sighed. I was hungry and Kelser was right, nothing else around here seemed edible. Noel shrugged and grabbed another skewer while I took a deep breath, and bit into the monster frog legs. They were chewy and tough to swallow, but tasted kind of like pine nuts. Tasting pine nuts on tough, chewy flesh was a jarring experience, but I managed to fill up my stomach before going to bed.


    It was our first night out in the marshes. We¡¯d camped by a river yesterday, and had the most amazing fish I¡¯ve ever had, so going from that to grilled frog legs was a real culinary roller-coaster. That said, our journey from Bek Tepe to the marshes had been pretty uneventful, apart from the weird food.


    Noel and I knew we had to follow the sunflo beetle immediately. If the immortals were involved with the beetle, they definitely knew we had it now. We had to move quickly, which meant we couldn¡¯t take many people with us. Besides, I could kill two birds with one stone by giving elder Kezler and the Roja tribesmen some tasks to do until we came back.


    ¡°Do you think the other tribes will be able to learn the magic you taught us by the time we¡¯re back?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°It¡¯s already been a few days,¡± I said, ¡°and all they need to learn is elemental magic, so it shouldn¡¯t take them too long.¡± I shrugged. ¡°But they are learning it from your tribesmen, who haven¡¯t had a lot of practice with magic, themselves, so who knows.¡±


    I added that I was expecting most humans to have learned at least two elements by the time we got back. However, I was much less optimistic about the other task I¡¯d given the Roja. After waking up, I¡¯d found that a lot of humans, including almost all of the Jora tribe¡¯s priests, had disappeared. Adding in the people who had disappeared from the secret passageway and ravine, a sizable number of people from the tribes of the double river basin had probably been involved with the God of Evil. I asked the Roja tribe to help identify if there were any other people involved with the immortals, and to try to find out as much as they could about what the priests had been doing over the years.


    Fortunately, one priest had not disappeared. Priest Mal, the youngest, most irascible priest, had woken up in the afternoon, groggy from the night before, and claimed to have no idea where the other priests had gone. He also said he didn¡¯t know anything about a ritual to the ancestors or a secret ravine, but I directed the Roja to keep watch over him all day and night.


    ¡°Maybe we should have brought someone from the three dishonored tribes, after all,¡± said Kelser.


    I frowned. I didn¡¯t like the name the humans had come up with for the three tribes whose elders had fought against me in the secret ravine. The other members of the Nare, Jenin, and human Jora tribe, after hearing about what their elders had done, had begged for my forgiveness with tears in their eyes and a fanatic zeal that was actually quite terrifying. And even though I¡¯d forgiven them, the other tribes had begun to ostracize them on their own. Strangely, the so-called dishonored tribes had embraced their new pejorative nickname, saying it felt like an appropriate punishment, since their generation had dishonored their ancestors by attacking an elf.


    ¡°We can¡¯t trust them,¡± said Noel, ¡°what if there were more traitors among them? It wasn¡¯t worth the risk, even if they might have known the way.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    As I took another bite of my frog leg, I mused if it was worth the risk to have brought them along if it meant being able to find better food. Having a guide might also have helped us find our way through the forest more easily. Without a guide, we had to stick to a bunch of wild game trails, which almost always led to a monster¡¯s den. We even came upon another one star monster, although by this point, our magical abilities were so powerful, most one star monsters weren¡¯t worth mentioning.


    The journey had helped us refine our magical abilities as well. I finally managed to create an invisibility spell, which worked on the same principle as the disguise spell, but was much more powerful. It also only worked in well-lit conditions, and was fairly energy intensive, which meant I couldn¡¯t keep it up for too long. And even though I had been the one to invent it, Noel quickly became as good at it as I was. As always, I was impressed by Noel¡¯s quick wits and ability to learn.


    Gravity magic was a much tougher nut to crack. The imbalance magic, which really only worked if you tipped someone over, was already an incredibly difficult piece of magic to teach. Noel still hadn¡¯t gotten the hang of it, although she was able to use it on small, inanimate objects. To be fair to Noel, the spell relied on slightly manipulating the center of gravity of an object, and humans were pretty good at balancing themselves, which meant you had to use the magic to keep shifting the center of gravity until someone tipped over. It wasn¡¯t very useful, but after practicing it for several days, I was sure it would come in handy soon.


    After all, I still hadn¡¯t forgotten how awful it had been to climb up the cliffs leading up to the highlands. I was sure there would be more situations like that one at the so-called ¡®roof of the world¡¯ and I was currently working on magic that would save me from the horrors of rock climbing!


    I glanced at Kelser. He had had the greatest amount of magical progress out of the three of us. The little red haired boy wasn¡¯t as traditionally intelligent or quick witted as Noel, but he was talented and resourceful. If Noel was the type of student who could remember things directly, Kelser was the kind who¡¯d make up mnemonics or scribble notes on napkins. Unlike Noel and I, who had to do all sorts of experiments before we were able to justify our beliefs for light magic, Kelser simply repeated a small handful of experiments over and over again until he was able to use disguise magic!


    I finished up my brown frog legs and threw them far away with magic hands. Kelser did the same, since he¡¯d already begun learning motion magic. I still had to set up the motion detection magic, though, but I was sure he¡¯d get the hang of it by the time we returned to the Bek Tepe. Kelser couldn¡¯t use invisibility, imbalance, or rain spells yet, but I didn¡¯t doubt that he¡¯d master them eventually.


    I went to sleep, cursing the humidity of the swamp, but thankful that there were no mosquitoes in this world. As I drifted off, I remarked to myself, once again, how amazing it was that there were no mosquitoes in this world! Truly, one step closer to paradise.


    ---


    I whistled. ¡°I guess they don¡¯t call this place the roof of the world for nothing, huh.¡±


    Titanic mountains towered over our tiny frames, caressing the sky like gigantic earthen claws. The mountain range stretched far onto either side of the horizon, like a frozen tidal wave.


    We¡¯d trekked through the foothills after leaving the marshes, but were able to see the mountains from a distance away. But it was only now, when we were standing near the foot of the first mountain in our path, that I truly felt the scale of the mountain range the sunflo beetle was leading us towards.


    There were no easy paths through the mountains. The sunflo beetle was pointing as resolutely as ever, which meant our destination could be farther than we had previously assumed. Either way, one thing was clear: we had to start climbing.


    It wasn¡¯t so bad at first. We had to walk up at an incline, which was tiring and required a bunch of rest stops, but it was still pretty doable. However, the ground kept inclining further and further up, until it was too steep for us to only use our feet. Noel and Kelser seemed unperturbed, and began putting their hands onto the ground to help them climb, but I stayed back.


    I began laughing, completely for dramatic effect. My companions looked over their shoulders and gave me strange looks. Yet, I kept laughing! And laughing! And laughing still! It wasn¡¯t until the two of them slid back down to me and asked me what was wrong, that I shook my head, strut confidently forward, and simply walked up the steep incline that they had been trying to climb with all four limbs.


    ¡°Gravity magic,¡± I yelled from far up, ¡°is amazing!¡±

 Chapter 86

    ¡°I hate you,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Hmm, do you?¡± I said.


    ¡°You could have told us about it sooner,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°And miss my dramatic reveal?¡± I said. ¡°No way!¡±


    Noel and Kelser grumbled as they reached ahead with their hands and scuttled up the steep incline like geckos. I, on the other hand, nimbly skipped ahead like a mountain goat. Although I was grinning like an idiot while jumping from one tiny outcropping to the next, my acrobatics weren¡¯t as easy to pull off as they appeared. Not only did I have to keep using my new gravity assistance magic, I also had to adjust the intensity and direction of the magic every time I jumped off and landed. I¡¯d only gotten the hang of it last night, having practiced on a few trees, so there wouldn¡¯t have been enough time to teach the others anyways.


    ¡°Come on guys,¡± I said as I observed the sunflo beetle in my palm, ¡°I think we¡¯re getting closer.¡± The beetle had moved a little in my hand while we were scaling the mountain. The only reason we chose to scale such a steep path was because we wanted to keep going as straight as possible. If the beetle was moving, even though we¡¯d been moving in a straight line, then our destination must be nearby.


    Of course, it was still pointing to some place further ahead, so we had to climb up the mountainside. We didn¡¯t have to go all the way up to the peak, but it was still a rough climb. A rough climb for people without gravity assistance magic, that is!


    ¡°I need a better name for it,¡± I mused to myself aloud.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± yelled Noel from down below.


    ¡°Nothing!¡± I yelled back. ¡°Just talking to myself.¡±


    No response. Well, I was sure she was just conserving her energy. Anyways, a new name for my magic! All it did was apply the same principle of subtly manipulating the center of gravity of an object like we did in the imbalance magic. I couldn¡¯t quite get it to make me stick to the wall at a ninety degree angle, but as long as I leaned forward, I could move my center of gravity around, and even use that momentum to jump further up the incline!


    ¡°Maybe I can combine both of those spells,¡± I said to myself as I hopped up to the top of the incline, ¡°imbalance magic was a clunky name too.¡± I put a finger in the air. ¡°I know! How about balance magic? Yes, that has a nice ring to it. Balance magic!¡±


    Noel reached a hand up and I grabbed it. I helped lift both Noel and Kelser onto the top of the incline. The area was relatively flat, and could have made for a good base camp or rest stop for any mountaineers trying to climb the mountain. Of course, there were no mountaineers in this world, so these were just idle thoughts I used to keep myself busy while Noel and Kelser caught their breaths.


    ¡°The beetle is pointing in that direction,¡± I said, pointing to another mountain in the distance. ¡°Oh, and be careful on the way down, they say it¡¯s more dangerous than going up!¡± I skipped off the side with a smile, arcing back to the wall of rock, where I found another foothold, which I used to kick myself further down.


    Before jumping off the side, I saw Noel giving me a glare, while Kelser sported a resigned look. I figured I¡¯d make it up to them by preparing lunch at the bottom of the mountain while I was waiting for them. There were some freshwater streams around, and I figured I could try to find some fish or something. Anything would be better than brown frog legs!


    ---This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°This is the one,¡± I said.


    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe you won¡¯t teach us your balance magic,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I told you how it works over lunch, didn¡¯t I?¡± I said.


    ¡°You describe what it does, not how it works!¡± she retorted.


    I shrugged. ¡°Figure it out yourselves. But here¡¯s a hint.¡± I ripped some bark off a tree and pressed it flat. Then I tried to balance it on my finger at different points. It kept falling until I managed to place it in just the right place. Then, I moved it and it fell again. I put it back on my finger, balanced it once again, and then moved it, but this time, I moved it while continuing to balance it on my finger. ¡°There,¡± I said as I tossed the piece of bark. ¡°You can give that a try if you want. I¡¯m going down to that stream for some water. I¡¯m guessing you care more about finding what this beetle is pointing at than looking cool while you climb, so you¡¯ll be several feet up by the time I¡¯m back.¡±


    I left the two as they tried to learn what they could from balancing the piece of bark on their finger. Honestly, they were really smart, so I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they got it in a few hours. But I also knew that Noel was impatient. Whatever this sunflo beetle was pointing to had something to do with the elfin Jora tribe, and Noel was getting very anxious about her family lately. I¡¯d have gone up ahead on my own to check things out if my lips weren¡¯t cracking from dehydration.


    I ran up to the stream, cupped some water into a suitably shaped stone, and boiled it. The stream looked clear enough, and was probably coming straight from melting glaciers or snow, but I didn¡¯t want to risk getting sick. Still, it was a shame heating up such cool stream water, but ah well. I drank my fill and returned to the foot of the mountain. Noel was already out of sight, but I could just catch a glimpse of Kelser¡¯s feet as he climbed up the mountain.


    They must have given up right after I left, judging by how far up they¡¯d made it. Maybe they¡¯d realized I was going to gloat with my balance magic and wanted to show me up by climbing far ahead of me. I chuckled and jumped onto the wall again. Their actions were pointless. I was going to gloat no matter what!


    I raced up the mountainside, hopping from foothold to foothold. The air got thinner and thinner, and I had to be careful because the rocks were weak and crumbly, but I caught up to Kelser in no time. The poor little redhead gave me an exasperated look, before continuing his slow slog up the mountain. I reminded him he didn¡¯t actually need to climb with us, since we¡¯d have to come back down once we found whatever it was we were looking for, but he didn¡¯t reply. I shrugged and moved on.


    It was funny, but maybe the most amazing thing about my balance magic, was that it made me very comfortable with heights. It was kinda hard to get vertigo when walking on a steep incline felt like a light jog up a hill. Still, I suppose it helped that I couldn¡¯t see behind me while I went up, and my center of gravity had been shifted so close to the mountainside, I almost felt anchored to it.


    Reaching Noel, I began shouting to get her attention. She ignored me completely, but I kept pestering her. Eventually, I ran up in front of her and asked her if she needed a ride up the mountain. She declined, through gritted teeth, and I told her I was only half-joking. The sunflo beetle was pointing somewhere near the peak of this mountain, and I could help get her there much quicker than her own two hands and two feet could. For some reason, she still refused. Maybe she realized I was actually kidding? I wonder what gave it away.


    As I hopped in front of her, I reminded myself I wasn¡¯t being annoying purely for my own amusement. Noel had been incredibly stressed as we got closer to the roof of the world. I thought she felt like there would finally be a clue about her family here. After all, didn¡¯t the immortals try to hide this beetle? Surely, there was a great, big secret up here, and that thought must have left a great pit in Noel¡¯s stomach. My petty distractions would help a little, but I was sure she was already desperate for the secret.


    I was nearing the peak of the mountain. The incline was so steep up here, even my balance magic couldn¡¯t handle it. I had to get on all fours like an animal! What a terrible feeling. Anyways, I clawed my way up the last few feet, until my hand brushed against something.


    It was windy and bright, so I had to squint to see. But eventually, I managed to make out a pile of rocks collapsed over what looked like a cave carved right into the tip of the mountain. I pulled myself over the lip, and onto the little ledge below the cave. My eyes adjusted once more as I stepped forward.


    I held my breath.


    Sticking out of the pile of rubble was a familiar wooden stick, covered in little pieces of flint. Up on this mountain in the roof of the world, stuck in a pile of rocks in front of a strange cave, was the spear given to the greatest hunters in the Jora tribe: the Dragon¡¯s Tooth.

 Chapter 87

    I checked my pockets, before remembering that my terrible tunic didn¡¯t have any. Then I racked my brain, trying to recall the last time I¡¯d seen the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. I remembered having it when we got sent into the far future. I could have sworn we had it with us for a good portion of our journey, and yet, at some point, it had disappeared, and neither Noel¡ªfor whom it was a cherished heirloom¡ªnor I had noticed that it was missing. And now, it was here, of all places!


    I frowned. This had to be the work of some higher power. What were the immortals up to now? What could they possibly hope to accomplish by doing this? Was it all just to unsettle us? Really? Didn¡¯t seem worth the effort of stealing something from us if they were just going to give it back like this.


    I decided not to risk going in alone and waited for the others. I reached over the edge to lift Noel up, but she was so out of breath, she grabbed her knees and closed her eyes while taking quick, rapid breaths. By the time she looked up, I¡¯d helped Kelser up onto the ledge too.


    ¡°Wait, is that?¡± said Noel, her eyes widening.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°the Dragon¡¯s Tooth.¡±


    ¡°But¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know, I can¡¯t remember when we lost it either,¡± I said, ¡°and I have no idea how it got all the way here.¡±


    Noel frowned. Kelser was still catching his breath, but Noel and I decided to pull out the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Noel insisted on doing it herself, so I stepped back, ready to grab both of them and jump off the ledge if I needed to. I wasn¡¯t sure my balance magic could save all three of us from this height, but I¡¯d be willing to risk it if pulling out the spear let out some crazy three headed spider, or something.


    Noel took a deep breath, raised both of her hands, and began slowly lifting the Dragon¡¯s Tooth with a magic hand. The spear looked to be stuck tight, so Noel had to take a firm stance, and pull harder. She had to be careful not to pull too hard, since she didn¡¯t want to break the spear. I positioned myself behind her. It was a good thing I did, because she dug her feet in and pulled the spear loose, almost tumbling off the ledge as she did so. I helped her regain her footing, and the three of us looked at the spear in her hand.


    It was unmistakably the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. It even had some of the marks and scratches that it had only gotten after Noel and I had been thrown into the far future, which meant it really had been stolen from us and put in front of this cave at some point.


    The rubble guarding the cave had parted, revealing a dark, gloomy entrance. There was a draft coming out from inside the cave, and I was surprised that I had noticed it. After all, the wind was so intense up here, it was whistling like a bird. No, maybe it was better described as a wail or a cry. It was kind of scary, hearing the wind make such harrowing sounds so high up on a mountaintop.


    ¡°Cas,¡± said Noel, poking me with the safe end of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, ¡°do you hear that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°the wind is crazy up here.¡±


    ¡°No, Cas, it isn¡¯t the wind,¡± said Noel, ¡°it¡¯s a person. Can¡¯t you hear them? They¡¯re crying out in pain.¡±


    I looked at her and realized she was serious. I closed my eyes and strained my ears. It was tough to make out among the whistling winds, but my elf ears weren¡¯t long for no reason. I could hear it. A terrifying cry like somebody was being tortured into the depths of despair. I opened my eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s coming from inside the cave,¡± I said. Noel nodded. Kelser still had his eyes closed. It didn¡¯t look like he could hear the voice over the winds. I tapped him on the shoulder and he opened his eyes. I pressed a finger to my lips and he nodded.


    There weren¡¯t any trees up here, so I grabbed some monster fat from our previous meal, and made it into a makeshift torch by attaching it to a long stone with some sinew. It wouldn¡¯t last long, but there was no way I was going all the way inside that creepy cave full of tortured cries without some light.


    Still, the winds were too fast out here. I wouldn¡¯t be able to light this torch until we found a less windy spot inside the cave. I grit my teeth and stepped forward. Noel followed behind me, with Kelser bringing up the rear. I stepped cautiously into the darkness. The air felt damp and musty, but the wind died down as soon as I stepped inside the cave. The cries became louder. I lit the torch.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The outline of a man became visible in the very edge of my vision. The torch illuminated his body, which was suspended to a wall several feet in the air. The cries seemed to be coming from his direction, but I could not tell if he was the one making them. The light did not cover his face. I stepped forward.


    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± said Noel.


    I squinted my eyes. ¡°Priest Oxi?¡±


    The man stuck to the wall, screaming out in pain, was the old priest of the human Jora tribe, who had disappeared after fighting me in the secret ravine. The old priest was in even worse shape than what I¡¯d left him in. His clothes were in tatters, his body covered in cuts and bruises, and his own blood was splattered on his skin like liver spots. I couldn¡¯t tell what was holding him up against the wall, but it must have been painful.


    The old man seemed to have heard us. ¡°Please, help me, anybody, please!¡± He continued crying out. I wasn¡¯t sure if he couldn¡¯t see who we were or if he was in too much pain to realize that he was begging for help from someone he had just fought.


    Suddenly, the old man¡¯s cries subsided. He hung limp against the wall, his breathing uneven but deep, and his voice hoarse from all the screaming. He began to tremble, and made noises that sounded halfway between sobbing and laughing.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± he muttered at last, before continuing to repeat his thanks in a murmured slurry. It took him a while to catch his breath and gather his senses. We waited in silence. Eventually, he took a deep, steadying breath, and regained a bit of the calm, collected voice he had used when blatantly lying to my face in the ravine. ¡°I will not forget your help, my benefactors. My Jora tribe is a great tribe. We will repay you. Please, let me down from here.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you look your benefactors in the eyes as you say that?¡± I said.


    ¡°My apologies, my old eyes cannot see you from back there,¡± he said.


    I signaled for Noel and Kelser to stay back. I stepped forward, keeping the torch close to my face. Stepping closer lit up more of the old man¡¯s face, showing me his many wrinkles, which looked like torn napkins, as well as giving me a closer look at the silver rings that were keeping the old priest chained to the wall.


    ¡°It seems you couldn¡¯t run away from me after all,¡± I said, meeting the old priest¡¯s eyes. His expression fell as he realized who I was, and he tried to struggle against the rings. The rings began to vibrate, which made the old man panic. He began to apologize, once again, mumbling the words: ¡°please, not again¡± over and over again.


    The rings settled down. The old priest¡¯s ragged breathing and feral expression, caught my attention. ¡°It seems your master couldn¡¯t save you,¡± I said, ¡°but what were you expecting, serving someone with the title God of Evil?¡±


    Unlike before, the old priest did not retort. He was either tacitly admitting to serving the God of Evil, or had resigned to the fact that I was going to label him as such. Either way, he remained tight-lipped.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky I¡¯m not like your master,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll let you down if you answer a few of my questions. That sound good to you?¡±


    He hesitated. After a while, he gave a slow, but definite, nod.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said, ¡°then the first question is, how did you get here?¡±


    ¡°I do not know,¡± he said. ¡°After fighting you, I lost consciousness. I was awoken by a jolting pain, the kind that runs through your entire body like a raging animal.¡±


    I frowned. I remembered the way he¡¯d plead ignorance to everything the first time I questioned him. Still, it was possible that he really had no clue how he¡¯d gotten up here. The immortals were involved, after all.


    ¡°Then tell me more about your tribe,¡± I said. ¡°If you didn¡¯t tell us about your secret ritual, then there has to be other stuff about your history you aren¡¯t telling us right. Stuff like¡ª¡±


    A gust of wind blew in from behind me, stretching the tendrils of my torch further than they¡¯d gone before. The orange light trailed in the empty air, shedding light on the entirety of the old priest¡¯s body as well as on something that was poking out from beneath his feet.


    I furrowed my brows. That thing below his feet. It looked familiar. I took a single step forward and caught my breath. I heard a cry come from behind me. Noel rushed forward, grabbed the torch from my hand, and chucked it towards the old priest.


    The torch arced through the air, sending waves of light onto the walls, washing them all in an orange hue, and making my eyes go wide in surprise and terror. A hollow feeling appeared in my stomach. The torch hit the ground and was snuffed into darkness, but the image it had revealed lingered like an apparition. Haunting. Blood curdling. Chilling.


    Up on a mountain on the roof of the world, inside a tiny cave with a tortured old man, lay walls lined with many bones and skulls. Bones and skulls that belonged, unmistakably, to elves.

 Chapter 88

    A heavy silence descended on the dark tunnel. Even the wind stilled, and the old priest¡¯s ragged breathing became more uniform. I blinked my eyes a couple of times, but the afterimage of the rows of elfin skulls refused to leave. I could sense Noel standing beside me. She was still holding her breath, perhaps in shock.


    I reached for the torch with magic hands, and lifted it back to myself. I lit the torch, startling young Kelser, who seemed to have shuffled quietly forward after Noel in the darkness. I stepped ahead, washing the walls with light.


    The skeletal remains were yellow and aged. Many were cracked or broken, with a few pieces of shattered bone sprinkled on the floor near the back wall. Shelves had been crudely carved into the walls, where the skulls and bones could be displayed like a macabre set of cutlery and fine china. The characteristic elongated bone near the ear declared that these were the remains of elves, and the small sunflo beetle resting in an alcove above the priest¡¯s head confirmed that this was the place we had been looking for.


    I bit my lips. Sorrow was mounting in my hearts. There was no doubt in my mind who these skeletons belonged to. I forced myself to calm down, since I knew I couldn¡¯t afford to be sad right now. There was somebody else whose world had probably begun to crash, spiral, and burn. At least, that¡¯s how I¡¯d felt when I¡¯d lost my mother. I could only imagine what it must be like to lose so many people.


    I gently put a hand on Noel¡¯s shoulder and squeezed it. She was still shell-shocked. I slowly embraced her, but she didn¡¯t move. It felt awkward, being in a one-sided hug like this, but I didn¡¯t know what else I could do. All my comforting would ring hollow. My expressions of empathy or consolation would feel empty and worthless. I still said some things anyway. Repeated mutterings of how I was sorry for her, or how it was going to be okay. The fact that I had said them while knowing how pointless those words would feel, pointed to my helplessness.


    ¡°What is it? Is something wrong? Please, ask me your questions and let me down,¡± came a voice.


    I turned my head around while still embracing Noel. The old priest was looking at us with a confused expression. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that young Kelser was trying to console Noel too, by hugging her from the other side. Priest Oxi probably couldn¡¯t see the wall behind him. It didn¡¯t look like he could turn his head at all.


    ¡°You want me to ask you questions?¡± I said, ¡°then tell me, what happened to the tribe of elves that saved your ancestors?¡±


    ¡°They ascended to the heavens,¡± he said.


    ¡°You mean they died?¡± I said.


    ¡°No!¡± he cried. ¡°They ascended into immortality!¡±


    I scowled. ¡°You know, there is no point in asking questions if you¡¯re just going to lie to me like this!¡± I shot some fire in his direction, and he shrank back in fear. ¡°What happened to the elves? To the ancient Jora tribe that you claim helped your ancestors?¡±


    ¡°They ascended!¡± he cried.


    ¡°Then why are you strung up on a wall lined with elf skulls and bones!¡± I shouted.


    The old priest¡¯s droopy eyelids stretched all the way up as he became wide-eyed in shock. He tried to wriggle around in his constraints, but he couldn¡¯t get a good view of the wall he was on.


    ¡°Tell me the truth,¡± I said. ¡°We already shared our suspicions with you. Your stories never made any sense. How could the elfin Jora tribe teach you about magic if you couldn¡¯t even understand each other? How did you manage to preserve your history so well without being able to write? And how did your people end up with the name of another tribe, when the word for that tribe doesn¡¯t even fit with the rest of your language?¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The old priest closed his eyes. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke: ¡°Great one, I know I have erred by raising my hand against you. And I know that you do not trust me, because I hid the secret ritual from you. But please believe me. I have no other answer. This is all that I know, all that I have been taught, all that I have learned through my long, painful life.¡±


    I frowned. How could someone be so stubborn? He had to know I didn¡¯t believe him, so why wasn¡¯t he telling me the truth? Did I have to threaten him some more? Just as I was about to step forward and threaten him with some magic, he raised his head and stared at me, resolutely.


    ¡°What I have told you so far is the truth, great one,¡± he said, ¡°but it was the truth as it was passed down to me. From the elders before me, and the ones before them, down through the generations. What I have told you is the story of our tribe in its official, most truthful form.¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°However, just like you, I too had my suspicions about my tribe¡¯s history. I have lived a long life. I have seen many generations of hunters and warriors pass on before me. Children, merely days old, have passed away in my arms. Entire families have come and gone while the wrinkles on my face have grown deeper and time itself has worn me down in all but spirit.


    ¡°Many seasons ago, when I had just become a priest of the Jora tribe, a young girl asked me a question. She asked, why did the Jora tribe have priests while the other tribes did not. I told her it was because the Jora tribe presided over the rituals of Bek Tepe, and many priests were needed for the many different rituals. She asked if she could be a priest. I told her she could not, since she was from another tribe. She could not become a priest, even if she married into our tribe. The little girl got upset, as little children are wont to do. She really, really wanted to be a priest, and asked me why people from the other tribes could not be priests. I did not have an answer for her.


    ¡°Before I became a priest, I had a wife. She died many seasons ago, leaving me with a son and two daughters. My son and eldest daughter have grown up quite well. They even have families of their own. But when my youngest daughter had seen only four summer solstices, in the same year that I became a priest, she became deathly ill. I prayed to the ancestors that she may get well, but she grew sicker by the day. I pleaded to the ancient elves, whom our people believed to have ascended to immortality, but they refused to share their secrets with my family.


    ¡°My little girl, my precious Tari, passed away in my hands, while I was journeying to a far away tribe, searching for a cure. I buried her far from her home, away from the ancestors that had forsaken her. I did not offer the ceremonial prayers of my tribe over her grave. Prayers that asked the immortal elves for their blessings, so the departed mortal¡¯s spirit would not become corrupted, and she could join her ancestors in looking over our tribe. I believed that if the elves and the ancestors had forsaken my Tari when she was so young, then they would forsake her after death, as well. I was convinced she was not looking over me. And that made me wonder, if any of our ancestors were looking over us at all. Or, for that matter, if the elves were doing so either.


    ¡°Great one, I told you that the reason my tribesmen could barely believe you were real when we first met was because they thought all the elves had ascended. That was true, at least for my tribesmen. But the reason I was skeptical, at first, was because I had, by this point in my life, reached the conclusion that the elves of legend were not real. Meeting you was a whirlwind of emotions. I wanted to know if you were real, and if the other elves had really achieved immortality. I wanted to ask you what my ancestors were saying, and if they were really watching over me. And I wanted to ask you why you did not save my little girl, my dearest daughter Tari, when I had been begging you to, all those years ago.


    ¡°You said our secret ritual was not meant to honor our ancestors, but to worship an evil god. You are a wise elf, and are more knowledgeable on such matters than I, so I will accept your claim. As somebody who has been skeptical of my tribe¡¯s truth, perhaps I can offer you a guess about why my tribe¡¯s stories do not add up, why our secret ritual worships an evil god, and why I appear to be strapped to a wall lined with elfin bones. It is not my truth, but a guess based on lies. Perhaps my tribe¡¯s ancestors were not rescued by the ancient elves. Perhaps they did not even venerate the ancient elves. Perhaps, my ancestors, with the support of an evil god, met a tribe full of strange, inhuman beings, and proceeded with the most human of reactions: they exterminated the strangers and absorbed their culture, leading to a future where their own children worship the strangers whom they had so mercilessly murdered.¡±

 Chapter 89

    Silence descended upon the cave. I considered the old priest¡¯s words. It didn¡¯t seem like he had thought through the entirety of his guess, but it seemed largely plausible. If the human Jora tribe killed the elfin Jora tribe, that would explain the pile of bones and skulls behind the old priest. But what about how the human Jora tribe learned elfin magic? Or how they ended up taking the Jora name for themselves. We couldn¡¯t pin the blame for either of those on the immortals, because the humans¡¯ magic was awful and there was no benefit for the immortals in giving the humans the Jora name.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that explains everything,¡± I said. ¡°But I do prefer this sort of honesty over the more diplomatic honesty from before.¡±


    ¡°Then, will you let me down?¡± asked the priest.


    ¡°A few more questions first,¡± I said. ¡°The elves were divided, just like your own people. We had many tribes, not just the Jora. Do you know anything about the other tribes? Or do you have any more truthful guesses?¡±


    ¡°There are no mentions of other tribes in the official stories that I was taught,¡± he said, ¡°but I would imagine they did not come with the ancient Jora tribe. If we could pass down the Jora name, why wouldn¡¯t we pass down the name of another tribe too? Perhaps as some sort of fixture in our myths and legends.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± I said, ¡°although we may never know for sure. Just because they passed down one elfin name doesn¡¯t mean they had to pass down any others. Your language seems so distinct from the elfin language that I doubt your language absorbed a single other word from the elfin one. Which brings me to my next question: how did your people learn magic when they could not understand the elfin language?¡±


    The old priest thought for a moment. ¡°Our stories do not dwell on this question. Nor have I ever thought about it unprompted. I unconsciously assumed that the ancient elves shared our language, perhaps they had even been the ones who taught it to us. Yet, if what you say is true, and our languages are completely distinct, then that can only mean that our stories are false. We did not learn magic from the elves, because we never learned the elfin language. But our people clearly know magic.¡±


    ¡°Which means somebody else must have taught your ancestors,¡± I said. ¡°But why make up the story about learning magic from the elves? If the God of Evil taught your ancestors magic, surely he would like to be worshiped by more than just a few priests and elders once every summer solstice?¡±


    ¡°I do not know anything about the God of Evil,¡± said Oxi. ¡°But our secret solstice ritual was meant to honor our ancestors. Yet, you said we were actually worshiping the evil god.¡±


    ¡°So if you have other rituals that are meant to honor your ancestors, they might actually be worshiping the evil god too,¡± I said, ¡°but that still doesn¡¯t explain why the stories about elves became so prominent.¡±


    ¡°Another guess,¡± said Oxi, ¡°that I can make based on my own experience, is that my ancestors may not have known about the evil god, either.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I find that hard to believe. There is no way a bunch of magic-less humans exterminated an entire tribe of magic wielding elves, many of whom had been hunters for multiples of your lifetimes, without the support of an immortal. In fact, I think your ancestors learned magic before they fought with the elves. To defeat the elves, they would have needed magic. And if they got their magic from an immortal, it explains why my magic is so different from yours.¡±


    Priest Oxi nodded. ¡°That would make sense, yes. However, it doesn¡¯t explain why the stories say we learned magic from elves. But what if our ancestors simply found themselves able to use magic one day, and assumed they had gotten it from the strangers who could use the same power? And what if they were driven by greed. With mistaken beliefs about how to strengthen their power or to gain more of it, they may have sought to conquer or kill those they considered the harbingers of magic.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°And then, after realizing that this wasn¡¯t the case, they omitted it from their stories,¡± I said, ¡°and the official, truthful narrative became one where the humans learned magic from the kind and honorable elves. From the elves who ascended into immortality, by being buried on the peak of a mountain at the roof of the world.¡±


    My words lingered in the air as silence descended once again. I considered the guesses we had made so far, and although there were still a bunch of holes the story we¡¯d constructed, and not much of this could be verified, it was at least plausible. It explained why the elves were dead, why the human Jora tribe could use a different kind of magic from mine, and why they thought they had been taught by the elves even though they seemed to be worshiping the God of Evil.


    One of the last loose threads was why the Roja tribe¡¯s magic had been so similar to the elemental magic I¡¯d invented. The reason the Roja tribe had wanted our help in the first place was because the human Jora tribe¡¯s magic was more powerful than the Roja tribe¡¯s magic. It seemed this was because the human Jora tribe had received their magic from the god of evil, while the Roja tribe had somehow learned elfin magic, after all.


    ¡°Great one,¡± said the old priest, ¡°I have answered all of your questions. I have rejected my own tribe¡¯s history and traditions to give you the answers you were seeking. But my old bones cannot endure this punishment any longer. Please, could you let me down?¡±


    I stared at the elder hanging from the silver restraints on a wall lined with elfin skulls and bones. I could feel Noel, still frozen with my hands around her shoulders. I did not know what she was thinking, or if she¡¯d even heard the conversation I¡¯d just had with the old priest. Still, Oxi¡¯s explanation had been good enough. I liked to think I was a decent judge of character, and could tell when most people were lying to me, but then again, that¡¯s what everyone thinks. What was happening to the old priest felt like torture. And to me, with my twenty-first century sensibilities, that sort of treatment was kind of hard to watch.


    I sighed. ¡°Alright,¡± I said, ¡°I will let you down. But you are coming back with us to Bek Tepe, where you will tell everyone what you just told us.¡±


    The old priest hesitated. ¡°To put my ancestors¡¯ shame on full display like that¡­ it would be terrible.¡±


    ¡°Well, it might be too late to worry about that,¡± I said, ¡°when we left, people had already started calling the Jora one of the dishonored tribes, alongside the Nare and the Jenin.¡±


    ¡°The dishonored tribes?¡± he said.


    ¡°For having attacked an elf,¡± I said, ¡°in this case, me. Funny how your own warped history came back to bite you, huh?¡±


    The old priest sighed. ¡°The only reason we attacked you was because we believed you were going to cut us off from our ancestors by destroying the red orb. All three of us did not believe the elves were real, until we met you. We valued our ancestors more than we venerated the elves. Sunki had been the most conflicted. He had wanted to tell you about the secret ritual, but elder Rann and I disagreed.¡± The old priest looked me in the eye. ¡°It is difficult for people like me to let go of our roots. We have spent many decades locked in our ways, stuck in the rigidity of our beliefs. Our entire way of life revolves around our family, and its history. The ancestors are far more personal to us than gods and immortals. It is painful to lose that connection. It is painful to entertain the possibility of their cruelty and falsehood, yet I have done it. I will share this version of history with my people.¡± He lowered his gaze. ¡°Perhaps we can atone for the crimes of our ancestors, by being honorable towards you.¡±


    I nodded. I was sure this was the best I could hope for from the old priest. He could help us root out anyone else who had been worshiping the God of Evil through secret rituals, and would help us rewrite the history of his own tribe. The road ahead wouldn¡¯t be easy, but at least there was a way to move forward.


    I lifted my hands from around Noel¡¯s shoulders, and began to take a step. Suddenly, there was movement. I turned my head just as something whooshed past my hair, sending it rustling into my face. A garbled cry rang out in the cave. I turned towards the cry and my heart dropped.


    The old priest was twitching against the wall like a wounded insect. His eyes darted from side to side, before rolling back, lifeless. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth protruded from his neck like a skewer on a fresh piece of meat. Noel stood beside me, her hands outstretched, breathing heavily, her eyes bloodshot with anger.

 Chapter 90

    (Gore Warning. Skip to next parenthesis to avoid.)


    I stood stunned next to Noel. Noel was breathing heavily but quickly, like she was forcing the air out of her lungs with every breath. I turned back to Priest Oxi¡¯s impaled, lifeless body, and felt a wave of nausea coming over me. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth wasn¡¯t an actual spear, since it didn¡¯t have a single pointy edge. Instead, it was more like a wooden stick with a bunch of sharp rocks embedded on one end. When something like that went through human flesh, it left an awful mess, with blood and guts all over the place. The wall of elfin skulls was showered in crimson blood, which combined with the dancing shadows cast by the fire, made everything even eerier.


    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± I whispered, barely able to get the words out of my mouth.


    Noel didn¡¯t reply. She let out a loud grunt and ran all the way to the back of the cave. I reached out a hand to stop her, but my body didn¡¯t react quick enough. Noel leapt onto the stone shelves around the old priest¡¯s body, and grabbed the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. She heaved with a cry, and pulled the weapon out.


    In a frenzied rage, Noel proceeded to destroy the old priest¡¯s body. I stood with my mouth agape, still unable to process what was going on. I was just about to let the old man down, after he rejected the history of his tribe to give me the answers I was looking for. And now, he was being minced up by my best friend?


    ¡°Noel,¡± I shouted, ¡°stop!¡±


    She didn¡¯t respond. Instead, she just kept going. My nausea intensified. The scene was just too gruesome for words. I cried again for Noel to stop. I shouted enough, enough, enough, but she wouldn¡¯t stop. I saw young Kelser, from the corner of my eye, lean to the side, looking sick.


    I grit my teeth. I took a deep, steadying breath, and shot my magic hands forward. I gripped the back of Noel¡¯s tunic and yanked her, as hard as I could. She barely budged. My magic hands were not as powerful as my real ones. I fought the goosebumps and shivers that were threatening to overwhelm me, and strode forward. I tried my hardest not to look at the gruesome sight ahead of me, as I grabbed Noel by the sides, and pulled her off the wall. She fell to the ground, and gave a little yell, before rolling to the side and giving me a nasty glare.


    Her reddened eyes matched the blood splattered all over her face, lending her a vicious visage. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth had fallen near her feet. Pieces of flint lay shattered in the pool of blood oozing from the wall. The Dragon¡¯s Tooth had been splintered in multiple places. I was surprised the accursed thing wasn¡¯t broken, considering how hard Noel had been using it moments ago.


    (Continue reading here after gore warning.)


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, ¡°what happened? Why did you do this?¡±


    She didn¡¯t answer. She was looking over my shoulder at the wall. She was still breathing heavily. Her eyes darted to the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. I used magic to quickly push it away. She met my gaze again.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t need to do this,¡± I said, gesturing at the wall without looking at it, ¡°this was cruel, Noel. Cruel and unnecessary.¡±


    ¡°Cruel?¡± said Noel, her voice high-pitched. ¡°Unnecessary? You¡¯re saying this was cruel and unnecessary? What about how they murdered my whole tribe? Don¡¯t you think that was cruel and unnecessary? What about the wall full of bones! My family¡¯s bones! Uncle Sharun, elders Starry and Vell, don¡¯t you remember them? There¡¯s even some children¡¯s skulls over there. One of them could be little Carol!¡± The Dragon¡¯s Tooth flew through the air and landed back into her open palm. ¡°I guess you wouldn¡¯t care. It¡¯s not like you ever thought of them as your real family!¡± She slammed her palm against her chest, aggressively. ¡°But I did! They were my family!¡± She gestured wildly towards me and at the wall behind me. ¡°You don¡¯t get to tell me this was cruel and unnecessary. You didn¡¯t even care. You were talking about history, and learning magic, and all sorts of¡ª¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, quickly interjecting, ¡°I should have been more sympathetic. I should have tried to comfort you more. Of course I care, the Jora tribe treated me like one of their own, seeing what happened to them fills me with anger and sadness too, but that¡¯s no excuse for doing something like this. He was an old man, strung to a wall and tortured before we got here. He didn¡¯t kill your family, his ancestors did. The poor guy even rejected his ancestors for us. He was cooperating. How could you possibly think that killing him was okay? Not to mention how cruelly you did it. I¡¯m feeling sick just thinking about what you did! And look at little Kelser over there. The poor kid¡¯s gonna faint after seeing all this!¡±


    Noel¡¯s eyes darted to the side. She glared at Kelser, who didn¡¯t even know that she was looking at him, since he was staring determinedly at the corner of the room. ¡°He didn¡¯t kill my family? His ancestors did? That makes no difference!¡± She slammed the butt of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth on the ground. ¡°Torture? Pity?¡± She chortled. ¡°My family lies in disassembled pieces behind you, I doubt they were sent off humanely! That¡¯s not how these humans work, is it? They¡¯re evil and barbaric. They don¡¯t care about things like honor and peace. They met a type of people that they could not understand, who had powers they did not have, and as soon as the humans had those powers too, they used them to kill the strangers. To kill their guests and benefactors! If the elves had the same instincts that these vicious animals do, they would¡¯ve wiped the humans out as soon as they¡¯d seen them.¡±


    Noel snarled. ¡°I¡¯m not going to make the same mistake. I¡¯m not going to let them go. To let them get stronger, learn more magic, and come back to kill me the way they killed my family! And I¡¯m not going to be naive, like my family. I¡¯m not going to trust them.¡± She stepped forward and continued speaking, softly. ¡°And I¡¯m not going to make the same mistake that old priest did. I¡¯m not going to forsake my ancestors. I will avenge my family.¡± She stepped forward again. I realized, she wasn¡¯t stepping towards me. My eyes went wide.


    ¡°Stop!¡± I said as I got between her and Kelser. ¡°Noel, listen. You need to calm down!¡±


    ¡°Calm down?¡± said Noel. ¡°Calm down?¡± she repeated, louder. ¡°I am not going to calm down! My family is dead, Cas, they¡¯re dead! Long dead! My entire tribe, wiped out for being too nice, and too trusting, of these worthless, two-faced, brutish humans!¡± She stepped closer. I was within range of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. ¡°My ancestors are crying, Cas.¡± She began to whisper. ¡°Can¡¯t you hear them? They¡¯re bawling their eyes out like toddlers. Their sorrowful din is overpowering. Can you not hear them? Were you never, truly, a part of my family?¡±


    I caught my breath, and stared into Noel¡¯s eyes. I gulped, involuntarily. ¡°Noel, this isn¡¯t like you. I thought you were more level-headed, more rational, more calm and collected. I¡¯ll listen to your grievances, I¡¯ll comfort you in your sorrow. I may not understand exactly how you¡¯re feeling, but I know what it¡¯s like to lose family, too. We can get through this, together. Just calm down, put down the spear, and we can talk it out.¡±


    Noel stared at me. Then, she closed her eyes, and slowly shook her head. ¡°You can¡¯t hear them after all. You never considered yourself a member of the Jora tribe.¡± She chortled. ¡°You know, after staring at your face for so long, I¡¯d almost forgotten you weren¡¯t from this world. I¡¯d almost forgotten that before you became an elf like me, you were just like these filthy, brutish murderers.¡± She opened her eyes. ¡°It seems you were always a human, on the inside.¡±


    She thrust the Dragon¡¯s Tooth towards me. No, not towards me. She was aiming to the side, for the only other living person in the cave. With burning anger, and raging hatred, Noel thrust her family¡¯s vicious weapon at the shell-shocked young Kelser¡¯s throat.

 Chapter 91

    The Dragon¡¯s Tooth flew under my arms towards Kelser. I couldn¡¯t stop it with my hands. I summoned my energy and cast motion magic, creating a magic hand that sped towards Kelser at lightning speed. I managed to push him back just as the Dragon¡¯s Tooth swept past where his neck had been. He flew back, into the wall, where there was a nasty sound as the wind got knocked out of his lungs. He slumped to the ground, badly injured, but alive.


    I grabbed Noel¡¯s right shoulder with my left hand. She was leaning forward, right past me, her body at an angle to the ground. I cast balance magic, which made her fall towards the ground. She didn¡¯t try to steady herself, since she knew that would be pointless, and instead brought her hands in front of her chest to cushion her fall.


    She used her hands to steady herself, and rolled forward towards the unconscious red haired boy. I cursed and cast another magic hand and used it to pull her leg. She stumbled, once again. My eyes widened as a fireball rushed towards me. I hadn¡¯t noticed her casting it because she¡¯d hid it with her body. I didn¡¯t have much time to react, so I jumped out of the way.


    Released from my magic hand, Noel raced towards the wall. I cast a fireball at her back. She must have felt the heat approaching her body, because she jumped to the side. I used the pause to launch a few more fireballs towards her, which forced her to turn around so she could dodge them properly. She continued walking backwards while dodging the fireballs, but I was gaining ground on her, since I could run facing ahead.


    She glanced over her shoulder in between attacks, and then positioned herself right between me and Kelser. I bit my lips. I wasn¡¯t shooting anything strong enough to seriously hurt her, but if she jumped out of the way, there was no way Kelser¡¯s injured body could endure a single spell. I was still several feet away, and she was the only one with a weapon. She swung it from side to side as she backpedaled, which made it impossible for me to approach her.


    Splotch. Her foot fell into a puddle. She looked down. Both of her feet were covered in water. I used both water and earth elemental magic to move the puddle of mud over her feet. She forced her foot out of the wet mush, but there was more mud right behind her. Her pace slowed to a crawl, I made more mud puddles, and she had no choice but to glance behind her shoulder, still using the Dragon¡¯s Tooth to keep me at a distance.


    But in the moment she looked over her left shoulder, I outflanked her to her right. I used a magic hand to chuck a large rock to her front. She turned just in time to see the rock, and tried to block it with the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, but she wasn¡¯t quick enough and it hit her on her hands. She gave out a loud cry, but held onto the Dragon¡¯s Tooth. I cursed inwardly. I was hoping she¡¯d drop the weapon, letting me steal it with a magic hand.


    Instead, I kept approaching from her right, which forced her to move diagonally towards Kelser. Now that he wasn¡¯t right behind her anymore, I continued my bombardment of fireballs, while slowing her down further with mud. She was still using the Dragon¡¯s Tooth to keep me from approaching her, but at this angle, I¡¯d get to Kelser before she would. She wasn¡¯t wielding the Dragon¡¯s Tooth as easily as before. I saw a nasty bruise on one of her hands.


    Splotch. I looked down. There was mud on my feet too. The mud was so thick, it took a while to lift my foot and place it forward. I turned my head up, almost immediately, but Noel had learned my trick well. A massive fireball was barreling towards me. She¡¯d shot another ball of fire to my left, which meant it was between me and Kelser. The only way to avoid the fire was to dodge to my right, which would put Noel back in position to reach Kelser before me.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I grit my teeth and did the first thing that came to my mind. I tried to create any amount of water that I could on my body, managing only a thin mist, and dove straight through the fireball on my left. Pain flooded my body as the smell of singed hair and burning hide assailed my sinuses. I rolled on the ground after my dive, casting wave after wave of water magic on my body.


    I forced myself to stand up right after, ignoring the pain, and letting adrenaline take over my body. I was probably still on fire somewhere, and the pain wasn¡¯t going away. I¡¯d imagined the fire wouldn¡¯t be so bad if I was only diving through it, but the fireball had been a lot thicker and hotter than I was expecting. Still, I¡¯d made it through. Kelser lay unconscious right beside me, breathing slowly. He had a pleased expression on his face, like he was having a pleasant dream.


    I immediately turned myself to the side, preparing another round of magic to fend off Noel¡¯s attack. I used my magic hands to grab a large rock, with the intention of using it to parry or break the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, before throwing a fistful of dust in her eyes. I even toyed with the idea of using balance magic to force her to the ground, before piling on a bunch of earth on top of her body to stop her from moving. I still couldn¡¯t bring myself to seriously harm her, even though my body was absolutely screaming in pain from her fireball.


    I furrowed my brows. Where was she? I blinked my eyes, worried I¡¯d been hurt there by the fireball. I stuck close to Kelser¡¯s body, just in case she was using light magic to hide herself, even though she didn¡¯t really know how to go invisible or anything. Then again, I¡¯d always been impressed by her quick thinking and ingenuity. Maybe she¡¯d used her raging emotions to become better at magic or invent a spell or two.


    No. She wasn¡¯t here. I searched from side to side, in case she was hiding on a crevasse, or in my blind spot. I even looked above my head, just in case she¡¯d learned balance magic and could scale the walls or something. I caught movement in the corner of my eyes. I looked back towards the entrance of the cave.


    Noel was racing back to the edge of the peak. My mind took a moment to process what was happening, then, my eyes went wide. I took a step forward, but saw Kelser¡¯s unconscious body at the edge of my vision. Noel was running at full speed to the edge. I bit my lips and snarled as I was forced to bend down and grab Kelser, letting Noel get a massive head start.


    By the time I had Kelser on my shoulders, Noel had grabbed onto the edge with her hands, and pushed the rest of her body behind the rock. Only two, small hands were visible on the lip of the rocky precipice. One disappeared. Then another.


    I trudged through the cave with Kelser on my back, ignoring my aching body as I tried to get to the place where I¡¯d seen Noel disappear. I reached the edge, and peered over it. Noel was climbing down the mountainside like a lizard with its tail on fire. I carefully stepped onto the wall of rock, my whole perspective switching by ninety degrees like in an artsy cut from an action movie.


    It was a lot riskier to use balance magic while going down the mountain, because I had to time my magic just right. If I messed up, my footholds would crumble under my weight, something that was even more likely to happen now that I was also carrying Kelser on my shoulder. Still, I had no choice. I jumped from one foothold to the next, focusing intently on my magic and footwork. I knew this was my best opportunity to catch up to her, since my balance magic would help me climb down faster than her.


    And I absolutely had to catch up to her. My mind was already racing with thoughts about why Noel had provoked me into going deep into the cave, with an injured Kelser to lug around, and giving her a head start down the mountain.


    If she got back to Bek Tepe before me, she would stain every stone red as the pulsing star in the sky.

 Chapter 92

    By the time I reached the bottom of the mountain, Noel was far out of sight. I was breathing so hard my chest was starting to hurt. I slid Kelser off my back, put my hands on my knees, and watched the sweat drip off my nose. I¡¯d almost forgotten that my body in this world was much younger than my body in my previous world. I had amazing stamina, but not a lot of power. Kelser¡¯s body was lighter than mine, but not enough that I could hope to lug him all the way to Bek Tepe while running. And even if I could do that, Noel would have burned the whole place down by then.


    As I caught my breath, my mind was filled with distracted questions and unwelcome images. I shunned them all to the side, and decided to focus on the task at hand. I leaned over to Kelser, who was lying slumped against a boulder, and splashed some water on his face. It took a couple of tries before he woke up, sputtering from the water and groaning from his injuries. I told him there was no time to waste, and asked him if he thought he could run.


    I helped him get on his feet, but he cried out in pain when he tried to walk. I frowned. This wasn¡¯t going to work. I couldn¡¯t carry him to Bek Tepe, and it didn¡¯t look like he could keep up with me on his own. I looked around the area. The area known as the roof of the world had been surprisingly devoid of large monsters. There weren¡¯t a lot of plants or small animals for them to feed on, which probably meant this wasn¡¯t a popular habitat.


    I told Kelser about what had happened at the cave. He didn¡¯t remember any of it, not even the part where Noel had killed Priest Oxi. I hesitated to tell him that Noel had tried to kill him, but decided it was important to be honest. After I told him that I thought Noel had run ahead, trying to get to Bek Tepe before me so she could avenge her family, Kelser told me to go without him.


    After I told him what happened in the cave, Kelser suggested Noel didn¡¯t actual try to kill him. Maybe she¡¯d only been trying to distract me so she could go back to Bek Tepe and attack the human Jora tribe. If this was true, he said, maybe Noel wouldn¡¯t attack the other tribesmen, if they didn¡¯t get in her way.


    I shook my head. I remembered the look in her eyes, the force with which she¡¯d thrust the Dragon¡¯s Tooth towards Kelser, as well as the pain in her voice when she¡¯d been talking to me. Besides, revenge wasn¡¯t an incredibly rational feeling. The hole in her heart couldn¡¯t be filled with the souls of the human Jora tribesmen. She might just keep going after killing them, in the hopes that killing every single human would make her feel better, but it wouldn¡¯t. The only way to help her right now was to show her she still had a life worth living, and that she could overcome the sorrow she was feeling right now.


    Once I¡¯d caught my breath, I splashed some water on my head, told Kelser to be careful, left him some dried meat, and took a deep breath. It had taken us several days to get to this mountain. There was a tiny part of me that was hoping Noel would cool off over a few nights, but I had a feeling her feelings would only smolder like coal, waiting to be reignited once she reached Bek Tepe. I had to catch up to her before she reached the temple.


    Even though she had a head start, I had hope. There were steep inclines on the way to Bek Tepe. It would tire me out massively, but I could catch up to her by using a lot of balance magic. I said goodbye to Kelser, and began walking towards the next mountain. I knew I had to conserve my energy for now. This chase was not a sprint, it was a marathon.


    ---


    I wasn¡¯t exactly a hunter, but Noel did leave behind a few marks and signs. Things like burnt out campfires and the remains of hunted animals. Stuff she could have cleaned up, but probably didn¡¯t in order to save some time. Her actions made sense, since we were both heading towards Bek Tepe and I was likely to be able to find her anyway, especially with the wide open vistas of the mountains and foothills.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    I dropped into a narrow valley that was nestled between two daunting, snow-topped peaks. The valley was heavily forested, and had many glacial streams and freshwater springs. I grabbed some fruit off a tree, since I knew it was edible. It was one of the fruits the foragers of the elfin Jora tribe had taught me when I first came to this world.


    It was getting dark, and I was tired. I¡¯d been using balance magic relentlessly all day. From what I remembered, I would soon be out of the area known as the roof of the world. The fact that I hadn¡¯t been able to catch up to Noel yet, was worrying. I could only hope that I¡¯d missed her along the way, or that our routes had diverted at some point. With some luck, I may already be out ahead of her, and would reach Bek Tepe before she did.


    I began to prepare my camp for the night. The fruit I¡¯d picked was the kind that had to be peeled and cooked, in order to soften up the flesh and remove the toxins from around the seeds. I was feeling parched, and was in the mood for some cold spring water. If I found any sweet fruit, I might even chill them in the spring. Unfortunately, all I could find were a couple of tubers and handfuls of wild grain grasses.


    Thunder rumbled in the distance. Great, a storm. I didn¡¯t see any caves nearby, so I¡¯d have to shelter under some thick trees. I didn¡¯t want to be touching the ground in this thickly forested area, since I wasn¡¯t a fan of creepy crawlies, and because the rain would definitely pool down into the valley from the surrounding mountainsides.


    I found a couple of large trees, whose canopies were high and thick. I grabbed some long, sturdy branches, and tied them to either side of each tree with some sturdy vines. I shaped a couple of branches into y-shaped supports, which I added to the middle of the hammock. After tying together a few more branches and testing the whole thing with my body weight, I covered it in softer leaves and grasses so I wouldn¡¯t have as terrible a night as I was expecting. I ended up tying another couple of branches above the hammock, between which I tied some more smaller branches, over which I put a bunch of large, waxy leaves, which would help keep me dry for the night.


    I made a quick fire, hoping to cook my fruit before the storm came by, and figured I could go check out the spring while I was waiting for the food. I¡¯d been sweating like crazy all day and figured a quick dip in the cold springs might help calm my nerves too. After all, I was still refusing to reckon with my thoughts, feelings, and questions about Noel. I didn¡¯t even know what I was going to say if I managed to catch up to her.


    The spring water felt good against my skin. I¡¯d even managed to find a few chateau melons which I cooled in the water. Despite their sweet taste, my mind was overcome with bitter nostalgia. The first and last time I¡¯d had these, was with Noel, in a forest on the Plains of Serenity. We¡¯d chilled them in a stream and spent the day goofing off. The fruits hadn¡¯t changed much over the years, which somehow only made me sadder.


    I left the springs and came back to my hammock. I finished my food and settled in for the night. The pleasant smell of petrichor filled the air. I let the raindrops lull me to sleep.


    ---


    I got up very early the next morning. The sun wasn¡¯t even up yet. I was feeling hungry so I went back to the tree where I¡¯d found the chateau melons, but all the fruit was gone. I figured the heavy rain had pelted them loose, and then washed them away. Pity. I hadn¡¯t bothered setting up a trap last night, so I went around, looking for monsters to hunt. I found some small, snake-like monsters, and figured I might as well try them. They tasted like chicken.


    As dawn broke, I crossed the narrow valley and approached the next mountainside. I was pretty sure this was one of the final steep inclines I had to cross before the marshes. I gathered my energy for the day, and prepared my balance magic.


    I caught a flash of silver in the corner of my eye. I froze. Noel was climbing the mountain to my side.

 Chapter 93

    I carefully ran up to the forest below Noel. She wouldn¡¯t be looking down, but I¡¯d rather not be caught so quickly. She¡¯d definitely see my coming, eventually, but I had to try to press my advantage. The thought of shooting magic at her from here briefly crossed my mind, but I hesitated. She was so far up, there was no guarantee I¡¯d be able to hit. And I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to hit her, either. If I made her fall from this height, she would almost certainly die. I brushed aside my conflicted feelings, and prepared to rush up the steep incline with balance magic.


    As I stepped onto my first foothold, I was already calculating how we were likely to meet. This incline opened up to picturesque meadows. Low-lying clouds drifted onto the meadows when we crossed them the first time. The grass was exuberantly green, the view was breathtaking, and the whole place looked like it had been plucked straight out of a fairy tale.


    Noel must have heard me as I got closer, because she looked down, before climbing at a ferocious pace. I was glad she wasn¡¯t chucking large chunks of earth at me. Maybe time had cooled her off a little after all. I was convinced, if I could just get close enough to talk some sense into her, that I could fix things somehow. What did it mean to ¡®fix¡¯ a gruesome murder and threats of genocide? I wasn¡¯t sure. But I stretched my body and balance magic to their limits to try to reach her.


    She disappeared above the lip of the mountainside. I was hot on her heels and leapt over the side, mere moments after her. She had turned towards the edge, with a fireball hovering in front of her outstretched palm. She could¡¯ve shot me down as I came over the edge, but she didn¡¯t. That was a good sign.


    ¡°Noel, listen,¡± I said, as I stood my ground, ¡°we don¡¯t have to fight. You¡¯ve had some time to cool off. You might have realized anger and violence won¡¯t bring your¡ªour¡ªfamily back. Let go off that spell, and we can sit down at a safe distance and talk things out.¡±


    Noel was breathing heavily. She¡¯d rushed up the mountainside when she saw me coming. Her eyes darted from side to side. What was she looking for? Did she think I was planning something funny? I might¡¯ve done that if I was trying to take down a monster or an immortal¡¯s ikon, but I wasn¡¯t trying to take down my friend. A little sincerity would go a long way, I figured.


    Noel didn¡¯t back down but she also didn¡¯t press forward. She had me backed up against a scary precipice, so she probably didn¡¯t want me finding a better defensive position. She also didn¡¯t seem to want to blast me off the cliff, so we were stuck at an impasse.


    Guess I had to keep speaking. ¡°The people who killed our Jora tribe are dead, Noel. Those people died so long ago nobody even remembers their names.¡±


    Noel let out an angry sigh, the kind of sigh that blows a shaky breath between your teeth. ¡°You don¡¯t understand. It doesn¡¯t matter if those people are dead, their tribes are still here!¡± Her fireball was getting bigger. ¡°And mine aren¡¯t!¡±


    Okay, this wasn¡¯t working. Maybe getting her to focus on something else was the right way of going about it for now. ¡°Don¡¯t you think you have your priorities wrong right now?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    I said: ¡°The remains of our tribe were up on that mountain, weren¡¯t they? Shouldn¡¯t we go give them a proper burial or something? Aren¡¯t there rituals to be performed for their souls or some sort of ceremony to accept them as ancestors. You¡¯re the oldest living Jora. You¡¯re the elder of our tribe! Shouldn¡¯t you act appropriately?¡±


    Noel hesitated. The fireball grew weaker. She looked lost in thought. I probably could¡¯ve gotten closer, or at least made my way away from the edge, but I stayed put. Noel was clearly on an emotional edge. I couldn¡¯t risk tipping her over.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it,¡± whispered Noel.


    Oh, a breakthrough! I let a hopeful smile break onto my face.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d grown closer to them because they were human, like you were before you came to this world,¡± said Noel. ¡°But now I realize, you just don¡¯t know. About anything.¡± Her face contorted into a confused look. ¡°Accept them as ancestors? The oldest becomes the elder? Rituals for souls? You weren¡¯t with us for a long time, but I can¡¯t believe you never knew anything about our tribe.¡±Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°We were busy fighting monsters and inventing magic, remember,¡± I said, quickly heading off her dangerous words. ¡°Don¡¯t sweat the details. Focus on the main thing. We¡¯ll reckon with the past, of course we will, but we should also deal with the present by helping the dead tribesmen rest in peace.¡±


    Noel killed her fireball and smacked her forehead with an open palm. ¡°You say you want me to help my tribesmen rest in peace, but you stop me from avenging their deaths. You don¡¯t know anything about our tribe¡¯s customs, traditions, and beliefs, do you?¡±


    I groaned. ¡°Are you saying you have to avenge their deaths for them to rest in peace?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± she said, ¡°it is one thing to be killed in a hunt or through disease and old age. It is another thing, entirely, to be killed by another person. Why do you think I was so horrified that Sharun had killed my father? It wasn¡¯t just because I felt lied to and betrayed by someone very close to me, although that was definitely a big part of it.¡± She gave me an angry glare. ¡°If Sharun had killed my father, that meant I would have to kill Sharun to avenge my father¡¯s death! My father could never rest in peace, he couldn¡¯t join the other ancestors as long as he had been killed by another elf and that murderer did not receive justice.¡±


    I was stunned. I did not expect something like this. Worse still, I¡¯d spent all this time with Noel, and never once asked her about her beliefs and traditions. I¡¯d comforted her preconceptions from my modern human life. I never tried to talk to her from the same level, with the same worldview or preconceptions. The Immortal of Madness¡¯ words kept ringing in my head. I came to this world, but learned from it, always sticking to my own world¡¯s knowledge and beliefs. And now my hubris was coming back to bite me.


    ¡°And now, Sharun¡¯s dead,¡± said Noel, ¡°which means my father will never be at peace.¡± Her eyes were getting wet again. ¡°But I know who killed uncle Sharun. I know who killed elder Starry and elder Vell. I know who killed my tribe, and I will make sure my family can rest in peace!¡±


    ¡°The people who killed them are dead,¡± I said, eschewing my earlier care with words now that it was obvious Noel wasn¡¯t going to calm down and talk it out, ¡°if Sharun¡¯s death means your father can¡¯t be avenged, shouldn¡¯t the same thing apply to these human tribesmen, whose ancestors died ages ago?¡±


    Noel shook her head. ¡°No! You don¡¯t understand! If only Sharun had died, I could have avenged my family through Sharun¡¯s. But now, I¡¯m the last real Jora! And, I can¡¯t believe I have to explain this, but I can¡¯t exactly avenge my family through suicide. That¡¯s why my father will never be at peace. The rest of the Jora tribe, however, can be avenged through their family. Through the descendants who carry on their blood and legacy!¡±


    My eyes widened. ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the only way,¡± she said. ¡°You said so yourself. We can deal with the past, later. For now, I need to deal with the present. Now you have a choice. Prove that you¡¯re a real member of my tribe. Join me in avenging our tribesmen and helping them join the ancestors.¡± She prepared another fireball. ¡°Or you can throw away the Jora name, and prove to me why I¡¯m the last living Jora.¡±


    ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Know what?¡± she said.


    ¡°That we¡¯re the last ones,¡± I said. ¡°The last Jora tribesmen.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°You saw the bones too, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°So? Did you stay behind and count them? How do you know that was everybody?¡± I said.


    ¡°You heard the old priest,¡± she said, ¡°they killed everyone!¡±


    ¡°The old priest was making educated guesses based on the holes in his tribe¡¯s stories! He didn¡¯t know how many elves his ancestors killed. Heck, we don¡¯t even know if his version of events was true or not. How do you know what really happened? How do you know if those are even your family¡¯s bones?¡± I said.


    Noel frowned. ¡°I know, because it makes sense. They took our name, worship the God of Evil, and have a pile of elfin bones sitting on top of a mountain peak!¡±


    I grit my teeth. I realized she couldn¡¯t be reasoned with. She was closing herself off to all questions and reservations. At this point, she wanted to kill those humans, and wouldn¡¯t hear anything else about it. I still tried, one more time, to say something, but she cut me off before I could begin.


    ¡°It sounds like you¡¯ve decided to side with the humans again,¡± said Noel. ¡°I was really hoping you only did so the first time because you¡¯d gotten attached to Kelser. It never occurred to me that you just didn¡¯t know the way things worked. I guess I really am the last living Jora.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m still here,¡± I said.


    Noel looked me dead in the eyes. ¡°Not for long.¡±


    Crack. The ground beneath me gave way, crumbling over the edge. My eyes widened and I tried to rush forward, but my feet found no purchase. My heart jumped into my chest as I began to free fall.

 Chapter 94

    Falling backwards off a cliff is actually kind of fun. Your heart jumps into your chest, adrenaline drowns out any thoughts in your head, and for a moment, you feel like you¡¯re moving in slow motion. Your legs, freed from the limitations of steady ground, can spin like pinwheels, while your arms do a backstroke, forwards, through the air. It¡¯s like a roller-coaster without the coaster, or the roller. It¡¯s like a bungee jump, without a bungee cord, and you never jumped. You don¡¯t even have to worry about vertigo because you can¡¯t see how far up you are! A truly, exhilarating experience. I never want to experience it again.


    I leaned back and parabola-ed back into the cliff wall at near terminal velocity. I somehow timed my balance magic to push back down at a controlled angle. I ended up leaping back several dozens of feet, slowing down after each kick. Eventually, I was slow enough to use balance magic to stand on top of some sturdy footholds, to catch my breath.


    I leapt back up from foothold to foothold, practically flying up the mountainside. I came up at an angle from my previous ascent, and appeared over the edge several feet away from where I¡¯d gone down. As I came back up, I used a magic hand to grab a large rock from the still crumbling edge where I¡¯d fallen, and slung it back towards where I thought Noel would be.


    She wasn¡¯t there. The rock went flying into the distance. A ball of fire rushed towards me, and I rolled away as soon as I hit the soft grass. I steadied myself and surveyed my surroundings. These meadows were way too pretty to be the site of our battle, but I didn¡¯t have the time to lament the endangered natural landscape, because a volley of rocks were rushing towards me.


    I immediately dropped to the floor with balance magic, and let the dangerous projectiles fly overhead. From my position on the floor, I saw Noel dashing out from behind a large rock. Before she could fire more magic at me, I lit the grass in front of me on fire. A line of fire arced towards Noel, shooting up from the ground. She stopped approaching me, and I used the time I¡¯d gained to stand up and fix my stance.


    I was expecting Noel to run around the line of fire, but she stood in front of it instead. She stood still, inhaled, and then held her breath. She exhaled while stretching out her hands, and a burst of wind flew over the line of fire, sending embers and smoke in my direction. I used my own wind magic to blow the smoke out of my face, but also ran to the side at the same time.


    The smoke was parted by a large rock. I sent my own volley of rocks, all gathered through elemental earth magic. I ran up to a large boulder, and used balance magic to jump on its surface. I pushed off the face of the boulder and cast a volley of small fireballs in Noel¡¯s general direction. None of them hit, and I wasn¡¯t expecting them to do so, but now Noel was the one with her back to the edge of the mountain.


    The sun was shining brightly by now, and Noel was hidden behind a wall of smoke. I sensed an opportunity and used light magic to refract the light in clever ways, and turn myself effectively invisible. I prayed the day wouldn¡¯t suddenly become overcast, and began silently flanking towards Noel¡¯s position. A bunch of fire and rocks pelted the place where Noel had last seen me, and a burst of wind cleared out the smoke once again. She even used some water to put out some of the fires closest to her.


    I crouched and approached silently. Since I¡¯d been standing near the boulder, I was hoping she¡¯d think I was hiding behind it. Noel frowned and approached cautiously. She had a couple of spells on the tips of her hands, and was walking very slowly, keeping any eye on the rest of her surroundings as well. I had to be careful to stay away from the smoke, since it might block my light and ruin my magic.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    As she neared the boulder, I was within striking distance. I decided to wait a little longer, since I was sure she¡¯d throw some preemptive magic behind the boulder or near the edges of the boulder, and that would be the perfect opportunity to strike her in the back. Hitting people in the back was the best way to win a fight!


    Noel grabbed a tuft of grass and lit it on fire. She approached the edge of the boulder, steadied herself against the hard surface, and turned on her heels to launch the burning pile of fire straight towards me! I cursed, but used some quick water and air magic to dampen the flaming grass, although it still fell on top of me in an ashy, hot, smoldering mess.


    ¡°But I didn¡¯t even make a sound!¡± I complained as I used my magic hands to prepare a rock slingshot.


    ¡°I have a hunter¡¯s nose,¡± said Noel as she tapped her nose and took cover behind the boulder.


    ¡°There¡¯s smoke everywhere, how could you have smelled me through all that?¡± I said, letting my rock fire futilely on the boulder.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe you should wash up better,¡± said Noel as she sent out a fireball from behind the boulder.


    Great. I¡¯d let her take cover, and I was closer to the edge again. Still, our fight had traveled progressively closer and closer to the imposing walls of rock that surrounded the idyllic meadows. As I dodged Noel¡¯s spells, I wondered if this place would have made for a nice camping spot on our way back from the roof of the world. In a different world, I could have been resting on the soft grass, staring up at a star studded night sky.


    Things weren¡¯t going great for me right now. Noel had tired me out immensely my somehow destroying the ground underneath my feet and forcing me to use a ton of energy on balance magic to soften my fall and climb back up. I was more tired and had the worse position. I was not going to win a battle of attrition, even though I suspected I had the larger magic energy pool. I had to come up with a plan, and it needed to be a good one.


    ¡®Still life¡¯ magic was out of the question. It would tire me out, while only keeping Noel in place for a few moments. The entire point of the spell was to let my allies take down my enemies while I held them in place, but I was alone up here, with my usual ally trying to fry my hair off with burning tufts of grass. Using light magic for disguises or invisibility was apparently useless. If I stuck to elemental magic or my chemical fire magic, I¡¯d tire out before Noel did, and calling up a rainstorm would take time, energy, and not be very useful either.


    That meant there I had only one choice. I cast a fireball in front of my body and raced right behind it. Noel saw the fireball and took cover behind her boulder. I wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d noticed that I was following the fireball, but it wasn¡¯t like I could run that fast anyway. She¡¯d look over the boulder in a moment, see me running towards her defenseless, and send something towards me.


    I threw a rock on the ground on the other side of the boulder. With some luck, it would catch Noel¡¯s attention for a second. I also cast invisibility on myself using the bright sunlight, hoping the fire would mask my scent. I was also downwind, so maybe that would help.


    The fireball hit the boulder and dissipated. My rock hit the ground. Noel didn¡¯t peek. I kept running. By the time her silver hair appeared from behind the boulder, I was right up next to her. Her eyes widened as I brought a cold, hard knuckle sandwich towards her face.

 Chapter 95

    Two things happen when a punch lands on a face. The fist stops, but the head keeps turning. There might be a loud sound if the punch hits the right place with the right amount of power. There might even be an uncomfortable crunch if the fist hits the nose.


    But when a punch misses, the fist does not stop and the head does not turn. There is no loud sound and there is certainly no crunch. Instead, the fist glides through the air like a bat¡¯s wings, pulling the arm along until the body is stretched out and one¡¯s own head is made into a perfect target. When I tried to punch Noel as she peeked over the boulder, my punch missed.


    She countered with one of her own, but I leaned into my punch even further, and let the momentum carry me forward. I twisted my body to avoid the edge of the boulder, and somehow managed to wiggle my way to the back, next to Noel, while avoiding her fist.


    Obviously, neither of us were great brawlers. I used to go to the gym, back on my Earth, but I wasn¡¯t getting into street fights or anything. And my physique in this world was good, but definitely not amazing. Both Noel and I had the type of bodies that were good for agile maneuvers and long distance attacks. Fighting like this was not my forte. Still, Noel had more remaining magical energy, which meant I would lose a long, drawn out magical battle. This meant my only hope was to try to overpower her with physical force!


    I put pressure on my leading foot, and tackled Noel, going in shoulder-first. She couldn¡¯t react in time and ended up being pushed back. I hadn¡¯t been able to put enough power into my tackle, so Noel did not fall to the ground, but I was standing right next to her, ready to swing my other hand. Noel started preparing a fireball. I pressed forward, disrupting her spell with my chest as I swung my left hand around to the back of her head.


    Noel ducked, letting my hand pass right over her silver hair. As she ducked, she leaned forward and tried to punch me in the gut. There wasn¡¯t enough space for her to put enough power behind her fists, so I braced for impact and endured her attack. I brought up a knee, hoping to catch her in the chin, but she leaned to the side. I still managed to hit the side of her head, which sent her stumbling to the side.


    I extended my leg into a kick, although it wasn¡¯t very powerful, coming from such a strange stance. Noel made the mistake of trying to block my kick with her arms, since that still managed to rattler her frame. As I brought my leg back down, Noel prepared a kick of her own, and I tried to step back to avoid it. However, Noel¡¯s kick was a strange roundhouse, which arced in from the side and caught me as I was retreating. She knocked the wind out of my lungs, since I wasn¡¯t expecting to get hit and did not even try to block it with my hands.


    Noel pressed her advantage by turning her body with her kick, and using her second leg to launch another strange roundhouse kick. This time, I ducked under her leg, and jumped forward towards her body. Using the momentum of my jump, I tackled Noel to the ground. But Noel¡¯s kick made her fall at an angle, which meant I did not land on top of her and could not pin her down. She hit the ground with a loud cry, but scrambled away from me as I tried to hold her down.


    Grappling with her on the ground would have been the easiest and least dangerous way to subdue her. Noel, sensing that I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop her from my position on the ground, began preparing another fireball. I cursed, inwardly, and prepared water magic to douse her flames as soon as they left her hands. As the steam dissipated, I picked myself up and ran around the steam just as the white vapor was dispersed by another fireball. I came up behind Noel, who was still on the floor, and tried to grab her head from behind.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Noel leaned back, putting her entire body flat on the ground. My hands swept through empty air, and Noel prepared another fireball right below my chest. If I let her release it, it would go straight up my chest and onto my face, possibly melting the skin right off. I quickly cast some water magic to douse the flames, splashing her face with water in the process. Warm steam blasted over my face, and I was forced to take a step back, before she realized I had no way of stopping a rock or stone projectile from such close quarters.


    Sure enough, as soon as I stepped back, a large rock flew through the air and parted the cloud of steam over Noel¡¯s head. Noel also picked herself back up, breathing heavily. She winced and held her left arm. I was also breathing heavily, and apart from some light bruises where Noel had managed to hit me, I was pretty much uninjured. Fighting in close quarters like this had definitely been the right call.


    I knew I couldn¡¯t let Noel catch her breath nor her wits, so I charged ahead. I didn¡¯t really have a plan, but was hoping she didn¡¯t have one either. With some luck, and determination, I felt like I could tire her out far more quickly this way.


    Except, for some reason, Noel met my punch with a block, and countered with a jab of her own. I reacted by also blocking her attack with my arm. I punched again, she blocked. She punched, I blocked. I tried to mix things up with a quick kick, but she blocked it with her knee and leaned forward for a large swing. I turtle-d up by shielding my face with my forearms, but was still shaken up by her powerful swing.


    To be fair, any onlooker would look at us like a couple of fighting children. Our bodies were still young, at least by elfin standards, and none of our punches or kicks carried any real weight or power behind them. Instead, we were able to react quickly, block quickly, and counter quickly. A rapid succession of punches and kicks, and blocks and parries followed. My arms began to ache and even my fists began to complain. I gave up kicking, since Noel was always able to block with her knees, although I was sure that doing so was painful for her.


    Still, by this time, it was a battle of endurance. Here, again, I had started off more tired than Noel, because of her little trick at the start of the fight. But since Noel had not been expecting to be fighting like this, I felt like I¡¯d tired her out more by baiting her into the fight and getting in some good punches and tackles.


    As Noel and I began to tire, my eyes darted back and forth, looking for an opening. I stopped punching as much, only venturing out whenever I felt like Noel was about to disengage entirely. By keeping her in the fight, I knew I could tire her out. Eventually, she¡¯d make a mistake, and wouldn¡¯t be able to make up for her mistake with her youthful reflexes and agility.


    Frustrated and exhausted, Noel swung hard with her left hand. My eyes popped open. This was it! I leaned back, avoiding her swing, and brought my own fist towards her chin in an uppercut. There was no way she could avoid it! I yelled out loud and put my all into this one strike, sure that it would connect and knock her out at last!


    Her eyes followed my fist as it neared her chin. I saw the panic spread on her face in slow motion, as she tried to move away despite the forward momentum of her body caused by her long swinging punch. Yet, at the last possible moment, an invisible force pushed hard against my fist, forcing it to brush past the sides of Noel¡¯s hair.


    I stood there, stunned, my eyes still staring at the place where Noel¡¯s head should have been. I blinked. Breathed heavily. Turned to the side. Noel was breathing heavily, exhausted but conscious. Her other palm was open, and I quickly deduced what happened. She¡¯d used a magic hand to push my punch away!


    I narrowed my eyes. My surprise and confusion were gone. Magic hands were very inefficient. The amount of force they exerted was way less than the amount of energy that went into them. For Noel to have pushed away my fist, she must have used a ton of power. I smiled. I didn¡¯t need to fight in close quarters anymore.


    I prepared a ball of fire and threw it towards the tired elf.

 Chapter 96

    Noel warded off my ball of fire with water magic, and retaliated by chucking a rock at me. I dodged it and began tossing a bunch of tiny pebbles at her. We traded spells as we retreated further and further from the edge. Noel was breathing heavily, and was being very careful with her spells. I kept trying to force her to shield herself with magic, rather than letting her dodge my attacks. By forcing her to keep using her magical energy, I was sure I could wear her down.


    Noel definitely realized what was happening, as she began getting creative with her attacks. She tried turning the ground beneath my feet into mud, and even tried lighting the grass on fire, but I used some fireballs as cover to step out of the mud and circle around the fire. I cornered her between two spells, or got in close to launch a fireball, forcing her to use magic to block my attacks. I prepared a slingshot with magic hands, and launched a large rock towards her legs. She jumped up, but had to create a massive wall of water to block the fire I was spewing towards her.


    Her silver her was wet with sweat, turning a dull shade of gray. The bright sunlight was disorientating, especially because it wasn¡¯t very warm. The high altitude meant the air was thin and cold, which meant the sweat on our bodies was cold, and each laboring breath felt insufficient. I could already feel a pain in my chest. My vision wobbled every time I had to scrounge up some energy for a spell, but I grit my teeth and kept pouring out fireballs, slingshots, and earth magic. I even used gusts of wind to obscure Noel¡¯s vision and to make it harder for her to breath. Our battle had already turned this one pristine landscape into a smoky, gouged out patch of earth, nestled among the unforgiving mountain terrain.


    I didn¡¯t have the energy to say anything, but I wanted to ask Noel to surrender. I had a feeling she wouldn¡¯t have the energy to reply, but would probably ask me to give up first. I couldn¡¯t dwell on my thoughts, since my head was feeling lighter by the minute, but I couldn¡¯t help but wince every time a fireball got too close to Noel¡¯s body, or when a rock that I chucked towards her cut a nasty gash on her shoulder.


    Surely, Noel knew that she was losing? Was she planning on fighting until her last breath? She¡¯d die from exhaustion, or from a wayward spell. Even if our spells were getting weaker, they could still be deadly if they hit the wrong place at the wrong angle. As I threw another stone towards her, I wondered what was going on. A possibility floated into my head.


    She wanted to turn the tables with one attack. She knew she was losing, she knew she would collapse first in this battle of magical attrition, but she knew I was getting tired too. And if I was tired, I might make a mistake. She was counting on me to lower my guard or be too tired to respond properly. Then, she would gather the rest of her energy and try to finish me off in one go.


    I scrambled my brain trying to think about things she could do. I was too far away from the edge for her to send me falling again. She¡¯d already tried the mud trick, and it didn¡¯t work. She wasn¡¯t very good at light or gravity magic, so I doubted that was it. A large wall of fire? No, that didn¡¯t make any sense. I¡¯d protect myself with some water and be happy that she¡¯d spent all of her energy on a flashy move like that.


    Could she try to use air magic to suck the air out of my lungs? No, that would require a powerful understanding of the anatomy of elfin lungs, as well as a degree of control over the wind that neither of us could pull off. It was also a really dumb idea, since she would have to continue pushing air out in order for it to work, and neither of us could make air vacuums yet.


    What about water magic? No, she couldn¡¯t exactly drown me or dehydrate my body or anything. Earth? Again, she was already using that, just like fire, but it wasn¡¯t very useful. Wait, what if she¡¯d figured out how to use still-life magic after all? No, even if she froze my motion, she would be frozen too. She couldn¡¯t use that magic for the same reason I couldn¡¯t.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Then what? I stared at her hard, observing her every action as I slowly pressed her further and further into exhaustion. She was definitely on the verge of collapsing, if not from exhaustion, then from dehydration caused by the immense amount of sweat that was pouring over her body.


    At one edge of the now ruined meadow, was another steep incline made of what looked like black, volcanic ash. It was a little strange seeing such starkly dark land pressed up against the green meadows, although I suppose our battle had made the two look a little similar. The ground up there was loose and crumbled easily.


    Noel backed up against the loose ground, gasping violently for air. Her lungs must have been on fire. I should know, my own lungs felt like they were dangling over a Bunsen burner. Trying to save some energy, I grabbed a large rock with my own hands, and approached Noel. The rock was some sort of brittle but sharp volcanic rock, not too different from the flint the tribesmen had been using when I first came to this world.


    ¡°Give up,¡± I managed to say between gasping breaths.


    Noel blinked the sweat out of her eyes and stared at me. She took a step back, but her foot caught on something, so she stumbled and fell on her back. For some reason, despite having fought such a grueling battle against her, I still felt the urge to walk forward and help her up. Maybe that was her final trick?


    Now that I had Noel on the ropes, so to speak, I was actually a little perplexed. What now? I didn¡¯t want to kill her or hurt her too badly, but I knew she wasn¡¯t going to just give up and come quietly. Did I need to tie her up somehow? No, she¡¯d just gather her energy and burn through the rope or something. I frowned, unsure about what I should do.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, after gathering my breath, ¡°I¡¯ve won. You fought hard, but I¡¯m still standing and you¡¯re not. I don¡¯t want to hurt you. Please, listen to what I have to say, alright?¡±


    No reply. I knew I was giving her the chance to take a breather and regain her energy, but I had absolutely no idea what else I could do. I had no choice, but to trust her. I wouldn¡¯t ¡®win¡¯ by losing my best friend in this world. I had to get through to her, not with violence, but with words.


    ¡°Noel, I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for your loss. I know it hurts, and I know my words will feel hollow and empty, but I want you to know that I will miss them too. They were your family. Our worlds may look at family differently, but I promise you, I care about family just as you do.


    ¡°When I lost my mother, it felt like a part of me died with her. The part of me that knew there was one place where I could always feel safe, loved, and cared for. The part of me that felt young and innocent. Like the worries of the world could not get to me, not through my mother¡¯s warm embrace. It took a while for the sorrow to set in. For me to realize, I would never see her goofy, crooked smile again. For me to realize, I would miss her voice. Her laughter, her chiding, her awful, awful jokes.


    ¡°I imagined the feeling of hugging her once more. A ghostly hug, where my skin felt like it was touching something, something tangible and real, but my mind knew my tears were falling only on the floor. I had forgotten when I¡¯d last spoken to her. I had forgotten her final words.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s hard to move on, and I am not asking you to do that. Not yet. Maybe not ever. It is up to you, how you deal with grief. But you don¡¯t have to take it out on these people. These people who gave us food and shelter. The Roja tribe escorted us all the way to Bek Tepe. They sent one of their own, little Kelser, to guide us even further. Even the human Jora tribe, they welcomed us. No, they more than welcomed us, they embraced us with open arms.


    ¡°You spoke of eradicating their tribe, like their ancestors did to yours. But were you going to kill their children? Babies who can¡¯t speak. Children too young to even comprehend your grievances. Would you kill them too? And if you didn¡¯t, would you leave them with the same hollow feeling that their ancestors have left you? Ghostly smiles, phantom embraces, and a family only in memory?


    ¡°I am sorry, I didn¡¯t ask about your tribe¡¯s customs and beliefs. I am sorry that I did not realize what the manner of your tribe¡¯s death means to you, but surely there must be another way. Another way to help your family be at peace, without ruining your own conscience, and turning an entire generation into corpses or orphans.¡±

 Chapter 97

    Noel covered her face with her hands. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to recover her breath. I frowned. She wasn¡¯t responding to my words. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was too tired to speak, or if she was just trying to catch her breath before starting another fight. I stood over her, sharp rock at the ready, unsure about how I could win this fight if Noel refused to surrender.


    If only I¡¯d come up with some sort of restraining magic. Maybe I could use magic hands? Or I could create cuffs out of earth? No, nothing that came to mind could weather Noel¡¯s magic. I made a few more comments. I told her we could learn more about what happened to the elfin Jora tribe. Elves lived for a long time. Maybe if we found the other tribes from the Plains of Serenity, they could tell us more about the Jora.


    I told her we needed to investigate the role of the immortals in what had happened to the elfin Jora tribe. The God of Evil was clearly involved with the human Jora tribe, but there was no guarantee that he had been the only one behind the elfin Jora tribe¡¯s demise. After all, it was the Immortal of Madness who had sent us into the future. Maybe we could find the Immortal of Desire, and get some answers from them.


    I even told her that if she truly could not let it go, we could demand justice from the human Jora tribe in other ways. Compensation in the form of items or service, an apology or ritualized commemoration of the tragedy. We could definitely get them to overlook the old priest¡¯s death, I told her. She didn¡¯t need to insist upon blood. Her family could get be avenged through other means. Her own happiness, I told her, was the greatest revenge she could present to the long-dead killers of her family.


    If we played our cards right, generations of humans would view the human Jora tribe¡¯s ancestors as evil murderers, and could look upon Noel as a paragon of forgiveness and kindness. After all, what else could we take from the dead but their legacies? Killing their descendants was only one form of ruining their legacy, and it wasn¡¯t even the most effective. People could forget a tribe that was wiped out. We could make sure nobody ever forgot what those people had done. An everlasting negative legacy trumps one that was forgotten, I told her.


    At this point, it was clear that I was rambling. I was grasping at straws, hoping I would say something that would get a response from her. The silence was the part that filled me with the most dread. I was regaining my energy too, and was sure I could beat Noel down again, but all that would accomplish is putting me back in the same position that I was in right now.


    And despite what I was saying to Noel, the question of justice was a complicated one that I had no easy answers to, especially in a world like this one. Contrary to what edge-lords on the internet loved to suggest back on my Earth, societies like these did not run on a ¡®survival of the strongest¡¯ system where might was right and justice was in the hands of the victor. ¡®Survival of the fittest¡¯ for social beings like humans and elves meant a focus on the collective, not the individual. This meant that justice was often a communal issue, not an individual one. Despite knowing this fact in the abstract, it was impossible for someone like me, who had lived in a modern, hyper-individualistic society, to truly understand what a life and world-view like that meant for Noel.


    I had been lulled into a sense of complacency, and had been assuming many things about the way Noel and the other tribesmen looked at the world. It was obvious that questions like justice involved a complicated web of norms and traditions, all of which were mediated by matters of family and myth. It was impossible for me, an outsider, to completely understand why Noel felt compelled to avenge her family by killing off the human Jora tribe. All of my impassioned pleas or rational arguments might not sway her, because emotion and reason were only part of the picture. My trouble was, I had no idea how to envision the rest of the picture, even though Noel had it all in view as if it was the most natural thing in the world.


    I remembered what she said, about me not hearing the voices of her family and ancestors, or not seeing what she was seeing. For someone like me, not being able to understand something was incredibly frustrating. To be so blatantly ignorant of something that someone regarding as so painstakingly obvious, was a very strange feeling for me. And I had no idea how to cope with that, so all I did was ramble about ¡®other ways¡¯ and ¡®justice¡¯ while second-guessing my ramblings in my head.


    ¡°...we¡¯ll get them to recite the names of every fallen elfin Jora tribesmen on the summer solstice, and turn the whole festival into a somber day of remembrance. We¡¯ll teach them that the God of Evil is not to be trusted, and punish anyone who tries to work with the immortals. We can make hurting elves a serious crime or force them to give us all their double-berries for a month. Or we could¡ª¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°Enough,¡± came a voice from the ground.


    I closed my mouth. I stared at Noel as she sat up against the wall of black gravel and rock. Her hair was a mess, and I noticed a bunch of cuts and bruises on her face. Her clothes were tattered, although the makeshift leather moccasins were still holding up quite well. Mine were fine too, just by the way.


    ¡°You,¡± said Noel, still gasping for air between words, ¡°need to learn to stop speaking.¡±


    That was a fun way to tell me to shut up, I mused to myself. Ah, translation magic. What would I do without you?


    ¡°Everything you said,¡± continued Noel, ¡°made it sound like you still haven¡¯t learned a thing. But, I have a feeling, you do understand. At least, I think you understand much better than you did before.¡±


    I nodded. I still didn¡¯t want to speak, just in case it made her start up again.


    ¡°My family does need justice,¡± she said, ¡°but the methods that you offered, will not work. Apologies will not bring peace to my family. They will not join the ancestors through sorrowful commemorations and tributes of fruit.¡±


    I frowned. This was exactly what I had feared. How could I move her heart or change her mind when I had no answer to the basic premise of her anger? I couldn¡¯t just scream about superstition or religious dogma, not least because this was another world with magic and immortal beings. But also, because ridiculing her sincerely held beliefs wasn¡¯t going to help me change her mind. I was stuck behind an almost immovable object, with both of my hands tied behind my back, and the only methods of progress hidden from me behind a veil.


    ¡°However¡­¡± said Noel.


    My ears perked up.


    ¡°You were right about a couple of things. There are other ways to avenge my family. And I do need to find out more about the immortals, and what they had to do with what happened to my family.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right!¡± I said, as the realization finally dawned on me, ¡°the ancestors of the human Jora are dead, but the immortals are immortal! They are still here. I am sure they bear more responsibility for that atrocity than these humans who weren¡¯t even born back then!¡± I breathed a sigh of relief and offered Noel a hand. ¡°Once we get back to Bek Tepe, we can ask the humans to help us find the other elfin tribes or their descendants. We can try to contact the Immortal of Desire, too. I¡¯m sure those birds will help us out. We¡¯ll need their help, since we have no idea how to take down an immortal, right?¡± I smiled. ¡°Come on, Noel. It¡¯s time for a new adventure!¡±


    Noel stared blankly at my hand. I felt really awkward just standing there with an outstretched hand and pained smile, but I kept it up. I was sure I¡¯d finally gotten through to Noel. All she¡¯d needed was a new target for her anger! Not a healthy solution to her problems, but I¡¯d take it!


    ¡°No,¡± said Noel, as she raised her eyes from my outstretched hand to meet my gaze. ¡°I am not going to Bek Tepe.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you know what, you¡¯re right, my bad, you probably don¡¯t want to see them right now. How about we go back to the roof of the world and think about a plan back there? I left poor Kelser back there too, I hope you don¡¯t mind just one tiny human helping us out,¡± I said.


    Noel shook her head. ¡°No, I mean I am not going with you.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Not going with me? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean,¡± said Noel, as she slowly raised her hands. My eyes went wide and I prepared my own spells. ¡°That I don¡¯t need your help to avenge my family.¡± She pushed her hands hand.


    The crumbling rocks above her head began to rumble and crackle. My eyes went wide as an ominous black wave raced towards us like an avalanche. I shouted something and tried to reach for Noel, but she pushed me away with invisible magic hands. She must have spent almost all of her remaining energy on that push, because I went flying far across the ruined meadow, my feet never touching the ground as I fell back off the edge of the mountain.


    My final image of Noel, was of her surrounded by a sea of rolling, cacophonous darkness, smiling in victory, her feeble fame a frenzied mess, mouthing the words goodbye, Cas.

 Chapter 98

    It was a familiar feeling at this point. Falling off a cliff, legs flailing, arms waving, heart lurching as air rushed past my body, drowning my ears with noise and fear. At least this time I was accompanied by a never-ending cascade of ashen gravel and rocks. You know, to spice up the free fall.


    My lungs were on fire. From exhaustion or sharp particles, I wasn¡¯t sure. Coughing like crazy, I twisted my body along to shield my front and face from the debris. I tried to arc back towards the cliff, but my body was pushed around by the falling earth. Luckily, the chaos and pain didn¡¯t make me completely stupid, and I used earth magic to shield my body properly. I needed magic hands to pull myself close to the mountainside, and managed to hit a couple of footholds with some effort. I raced down the mountain, slowly reducing my momentum, before hanging off the side with my hands, gasping wildly for air.


    I had to splash my head with water magic. To wash off the debris, cool off my emotions, and remind myself I could not afford to rest. Droplets laced with ash dripped off my eyelashes, plummeting to the clouds below like hail. I ignored my screaming body and forced my muscles to push my upper body off the incline. Poised like an Olympic runner, I began my mad dash up the mountainside. I was burning through my magical energy by using so much balance magic. But I didn¡¯t care. So what if I couldn¡¯t fight Noel once I reached the top? I¡¯d heard what she said. I knew what she meant. I needed to get up there, fast.


    I reached the lip of the mountainside still running. I tripped on the edge and rolled over the meadow, tufts of grass and disturbed earth rubbing on my body like roll-on deodorant. I ended up like a starfish in the middle of our battlefield. I grit my teeth, ignoring my body¡¯s cries for rest, and sat up by pulling myself from the elbows. My eyes darted around the ruined landscape until they came to rest on the dark mountainside where I¡¯d last seen Noel.


    The mountainside had collapsed onto the meadow like a tidal wave, spewing its dark rock and gravel in a line straight to the edge. It must have taken Noel a great deal of energy to make sure the rocks went so far. Judging by the lack of a pile of rocks right where Noel had been sitting, I knew she was fine. She¡¯d protected her body, which meant she¡¯d been preparing this for about as long as I¡¯d been talking to her.


    I cursed under my breath. Noel was nowhere to be seen. There were no footprints, no tattered bits of clothes, or any other markings that I could make out from this distance. I remembered the way she had mouthed goodbye, cursed myself for not knocking her out cold and tying her up or something, and finally let my body recede into the darkness that was beckoning to me so invitingly.


    ---


    I awoke staring at an open, empty, nighttime sky. Neither the moon nor the red star were up, and the stars that were sprinkled all over looked muted and dull. As if they were covered in a thin film or cloth. My body was aching all over, but I didn¡¯t feel as fatigued as before. My magical energy was back up to a reasonable level, and my mind was much calmer now as well.


    I decided to make the journey down the mountain the old fashioned way. Climbing down one limb at a time was less daunting now that I had my balance magic to rely on. Going through the motions felt therapeutic, in a way. The best part was, it still required my undivided attention, so my thoughts didn¡¯t wander towards Noel, her words, her actions, and my worries for her.


    I left the mountain range known as the ¡®roof of the world¡¯ while the world was still dark and on the cusp of the storm that had been shaping up for the past while. When the first drops of rain fell on my shoulders, I didn¡¯t stop to seek shelter or to make a makeshift umbrella. I ignored the rain and kept walking on.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    The rain made the marshes even marshier. The water was higher, and more putrid. The earth was soggier and splotchier. The trees, the grass, the strange flora and fauna, all felt swampier and more bogged down. I waded through the murky waters, warding off flocks of insects with my pointless and constantly extinguished wooden torch. I managed to catch some fish, though, so at least I had something to look forward to once I left the marshes.


    Dawn still hadn¡¯t broken by the time I stepped onto solid land. Although, the rain had apparently followed me here, turning the solid land mushy and muddy even as I tried to walk through it. At this point, I was soaked to my bones, and almost regretting my decision not to wait out the storm. My moccasins were holding up, although my feet were well and truly drenched by now. I ate my fish and rested again.


    Water streamed down my face. I trudged through the last leg of my journey, until I could make out the strange hill on top of which the ancient humans had decided to build their temple. I didn¡¯t think anyone would be keeping watch from the hill in the rain, but I didn¡¯t try to hide myself either. My light magic was useless in these overcast conditions, so I couldn¡¯t even disguise myself. Let the humans see their deified elf hauling half his weight in mud, I figured. What better way to convince them I was just as pathetically mortal as them.


    I wasn¡¯t worried that Noel had come back here to kill off all the humans, like she had previously threatened to do. Noel had realized that the best target for her revenge were the immortals. Specifically, the God or Immortal of Evil, and the Immortal of Madness. The humans would be safe, at least for now.


    As I approached the stone guardians that sat on either side of the entrance to Bek Tepe, I noticed some movement within the rain. Soon, a couple of men approached me, one armed with a copper dagger, the other wielding a flint-tipped spear. Apparently, the humans had not let the rain get in the way of their duties. The two men approached me warily, at first, before almost falling over themselves trying to ingratiate me once they came up close.


    They followed me up the path all the way to the main Bek Tepe complex. Many humans were taking shelter under statues, walls, and other sturdy pieces of stone. The monster-hide tents were not very useful in the rain, although I was sure I could help them fix that with some brain-tanning.


    Before elder Kezler could panic about Kelser, I told him he was safe and that I had returned to get some help retrieving him. I was tired as hell and did not trust myself to bring him back on my own. We gathered a small party of hunters, and despite my fatigue, I forced myself to go back for the red-haired little boy.


    I avoided all questions about the journey, especially ones about Noel. I promised I would tell the human tribesmen all the details once I got back, and told the hunting party that was accompanying me, that I would like to be left alone. It wasn¡¯t hard to get them to respect my wishes, so we managed to make it all the way back to the ¡®roof of the world¡¯ in relative silence.


    The storm had not relented at all over the past few days. Many paths and riverbeds were now flooding, making most of my journey feel as mushy and mucky as the marshes. The marshes had flooded over as well, which meant we actually had to circle around for quite a distance to find a path through it.


    Eventually, I came back to the mountain that housed the remains of the elfin Jora tribe, and looked around for good places to shelter from the rain. Sure enough, I found a nice hidden cave nearby, with a disheveled but healthy looking Kelser, sleeping soundly inside. I woke him up, asked him if he was alright, and made the hunters take care of him for a while.


    I scaled up the mountain to the cave at the peak. As I stepped inside, I felt the air itself was lighter and less humid. Perhaps it was the altitude. I lit a torch.


    The whole cave was empty. All the skulls and bones, the lifeless corpse of priest Oxi, everything was gone. I didn¡¯t know if Noel had come back here and cleared everything out or if the immortals were involved again, but I didn¡¯t care.


    The storm clouds parted as I descended the mountain. The journey back to Bek Tepe was uneventful. I went to the tent the elders had given me and collapsed onto the bed of dried grass and leaves like a sack of unpeeled potatoes.

 Chapter 99

    ¡°Get up Cas.¡±


    ¡°Hey, get up dork.¡±


    ¡°Gonna mope around all day? Lazy scrub. Get up and do the laundry, will ya?¡±


    I groaned and rubbed my eyes. Where was I? That face. I remember.


    ¡°Alex?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why are you giving me that look?¡± said Alex as he threw a sweatshirt at me. ¡°Is it that weird for me to ask my useless little brother to do his own laundry?¡± He shook his head. ¡°God, I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re related.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Alex?¡±


    ¡°Great, you finally broke,¡± said Alex as he threw his hands up. ¡°Maybe you need to go in the wash too. Tumble dry your brain, maybe.¡±


    I tried to get up but my feet got caught in my blanket. I fell to the ground, face-first. I looked up instantly and saw my brother Alex facepalming. It was his favorite pose growing up. Ever since he watched that one episode of Star Trek where Picard holds his shiny bald head in his hands.


    ¡°And clean your room while you¡¯re at it,¡± he said as he closed the door to my bedroom. He continued speaking from outside my door. ¡°I¡¯m going out tonight, so you need to make something to eat for yourself. Eh, who am I kidding? The phone number for the pizza place is on the fridge.¡±


    I heard the front door slam shut. I frowned. What was going on? Where was I? My childhood home? But I hadn¡¯t lived in this apartment for years. Never renewed the lease after mom died. Why would I? This place was a mess. Tiny rooms, broken pipes, hordes of rats, and rent as high as the Empire State. In other ways, just your average, lousy New York City apartment.


    I was confused because I felt like I didn¡¯t belong here, but I didn¡¯t know where I was supposed to be. Hazy memories were beginning to surface. My mom¡¯s funeral. My brother and I staying together for the first time in forever.


    Alex had always been loud and obnoxious, although he¡¯d toned it down for the funeral. First time I ever felt like I had a mature, older brother, was when he let me cry on his shoulders when the permanence of my mother¡¯s demise had finally sunken in. I think it was one of those moments where you call out for somebody for the most mundane of things: ¡°mom, what¡¯s for dinner?¡± or ¡°mom, where¡¯s the remote?¡± And then you peek into the living room, see a grim looking older brother, and realize he¡¯s all the family you have left. And then you let the tears fall.


    Anyways, Alex had recovered remarkably quickly. Didn¡¯t he say he was going out tonight? A little sour anger gurgled in my gut. It had only been a few days. Was he really going to go pick up girls so soon after our mom¡¯s funeral? Well, whatever. He can do whatever he likes. I have to do some laundry and clean my room.


    I ended up cleaning the entire apartment. There was something therapeutic about cleaning. Mopping the floors was the perfect opportunity to try to figure out what was going on and why I felt so strange. Maybe the weirdest thing, I realized, was that I had been incredibly depressed a few hours ago. Right before I took an unscheduled evening nap. I¡¯d been feeling terrible since the funeral, and I wasn¡¯t surprised Alex wanted me to clean up and stuff because I¡¯d really let this place go.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    But now everything was sparkling clean! The only place I hadn¡¯t cleaned was Alex¡¯s room, because I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. I could almost picture it: ¡°Clean your room, you lousy slob!¡± I would say to him. No, no, maybe something more like: ¡°It¡¯s a pigsty in there. Would you like some muck to roll around in too?¡± Yes, that was better. More elegant. More befitting of someone like me.


    I chuckled. Even though I had a strange feeling in my head, I had to admit, it felt good to not be so intensely sad anymore. Sure, I still missed my mom, but whatever happened that made me feel this way, wasn¡¯t all that important right now. Right now, I had to open the door to get my pizza. Oh right, where¡¯s the money. Wait, there¡¯s some in my pajama pockets. Talk about convenient. I tipped the guy a little extra because I was feeling nice.


    Wait, maybe Alex wanted some pizza too? I remember he came back pretty late this night. Hungry and annoyed. He left the next day. Maybe I could catch him at one of his usual spots. The night was still young, he might be waiting for some of his friends, I could probably find him. Alright, I grabbed the pizza, still warm to the touch, opened the door, locked it behind me, and went to search for my older brother.


    He wasn¡¯t at the weird Irish pub he went to with his friends from high school. Not at the neighborhood bar either. Someone told me Alex went down to the subway station. I figured why not. He probably went one stop over to that Chinese place run by his best friend¡¯s family. The pizza was still warm as I hopped out of the station, went to the restaurant, saw Alex wasn¡¯t there, and asked if they¡¯d seen him come in.


    I went from bar to club to pub to restaurant to dingy alleyway in search of my brother. I didn¡¯t have my phone and besides, it was getting pretty late. The guy was probably trashed by now. The pizza was still warm, somehow. Remarkable insulators, these cheap cardboard pizza boxes. I was halfway across Manhattan, when it hit me. Of course. I knew where he was!


    I hopped back on the subway and made my way back home. It was almost midnight by the time I walked through the darkness of an alley not too far from our house. There was a corner store around here, that sold cheap cigarettes and alcohol. Was a little sketchy this late at night, but I wasn¡¯t afraid. I had a box full of pizza. No New Yorker would stab a guy with a pizza!


    I asked the guy behind the counter if he¡¯d seen Alex. This was the guy who sold me my first cigarette, back when I¡¯d been peer-pressured into it by some neighborhood kids who weren¡¯t my friends anymore. The guy was definitely from somewhere in Eastern Europe, but I couldn¡¯t pin down his accent at all. He had wild hair, spoke in broken English even though he¡¯d lived here for as long as I could remember, and he had a weird obsession with spoons. Had them framed everywhere behind the counter; a total weirdo. I offered him some pizza but he declined. He told me Alex had gone down to the morgue.


    I found Alex hunched over in a dark alleyway a few blocks from the morgue. His body was shaking, and his head was tucked between his knees. I couldn¡¯t believe he was sitting on the ground by a wall. Didn¡¯t he know how many drunk men must have gone there over the years? Oh, right, I could smell it from here. Two distinct scents of alcohol.


    I made Alex eat some pizza. He always said eating food sobered him up, but I didn¡¯t buy it. It usually all came out in a few minutes, anyways. Still, I tossed the pizza box in a bin and put Alex on my shoulders. I dragged him all the way back to the apartment, laid him on his bed, and made sure he was facing sideways. I¡¯d check him into the hospital, but I remembered he would be fine this night. Besides, I also remembered he didn¡¯t have a great healthcare plan yet.


    Another thing I remembered, was how I¡¯d spent the rest of the night moping about, feeling angry at Alex for going out instead of being depressed inside like me. I guess he¡¯d been just as sad as I was, except he was dealing with it in an even more unhealthy way. Wonderful. I love my family.


    I sighed. I left some water by his bedside table and went back to the kitchen. I¡¯d totally forgotten to eat any pizza. I checked the fridge but it was empty. Great. There was some pasta in the pantry, with a jar of marinara sauce tucked away behind some paper towels. It didn¡¯t take a lot of time to prepare. I put the pasta in a bowl, sat down on the table, and twirled it around a fork. The sauce had probably gone bad, because I couldn¡¯t smell a thing. I brought the fork to my mouth, let the noodles drop onto my tongue, and was about to have my first mouthful. Then, I bit my tongue.


    I woke up from my dream in a dingy hide tent, my body itchy from my bed of grass and leaves.

 Chapter 100

    I groaned. My head hurt like crazy. I scratched an itch on my leg. Were there bugs in the grass or something? I rolled off onto the ground and stared up at the roof of the tent. My whole body was sore. All that fighting, running, and climbing had pushed me to my limits. Especially going back to grab Kelser without any rest. Maybe I should have sent the tribesmen with some directions. If I hadn¡¯t lost the sunflo beetle at the cave on top of the mountain, I could¡¯ve just handed it off to a rescue party, but that little bugger went off with its mate the moment I wasn¡¯t looking.


    I sighed. My lips were cracked. I needed water. I felt hungry, too. I had to grab a bite when I left the tent. What time was it? There wasn¡¯t any light seeping in through the entrance, so I figured it was night time. I should stand up and get something to eat and drink.


    But I didn¡¯t want to get up. It wasn¡¯t my battered and bruised body that was stopping me from getting off the ground. I just didn¡¯t feel like doing it. Doing anything. Especially thinking. I definitely did not want to be thinking right now. Let the hunger and thirst keep my mind preoccupied. No need to think about a dream that made me homesick, or my adopted family getting murdered, or my best friend disappearing into the wild to hunt godlike immortal beings.


    Man, I was bad at not thinking about things.


    My ears pricked up. Elfin ears feel weird, by the way. It¡¯s not the length that feels weird, it¡¯s the shape and movement that gets me. They perked up whenever I was trying to listen to something, and would droop down if there was nothing to listen to. The stories don¡¯t mention how strange it feels when your entire face gets pulled up slightly when there¡¯s a strange, loud sound outside, but it definitely happened to me as loud thumping noises drifted in from outside the tent. On the bright side, that subtle feeling was enough to make me want to get up.


    I gingerly pulled the monster hide aside, and left the tent. All the fires near my tent were out, with only a few smoldering coals dotted inside them. There was nobody nearby and all the tents seemed empty too. The sounds were coming from the distance. I squinted and made out a small light coming from near the peak of the mountain. I didn¡¯t know where the food was, but I knew there was a spring where the sounds were coming from.


    As I approached the large campfire, I began making out the different sounds that I was hearing. There was a lot of hollering and cheering, with some chattering and shouting mixed in. Drums like heartbeats boomed through the air. Twangy strings cut through the cacophony, dominating every other sound with their high pitch. Some drums were deep, others were shallow but beat quickly. Many voices provided notes the instruments could not hit, serving the tune like a chaotic a cappella. I noticed some of the drums did not sound like drums at all, and as I got closer, I realized they were actually thumping feet.


    A massive bonfire had been erected on this side of the mountain, on a small open area with no tents or other obstacles. You could get an amazing view of the surrounding area from here, although it was so dark tonight, I couldn¡¯t see anything over the edge. All I could see were the highlighted silhouettes of dancing, laughing, singing humans, with many a child playing or old man droning or women chatting while feasting on the many things being cooked and grilled over the large fire. The freshwater spring that I was looking for was right by the fire too.


    I stood still at the edge of the festivities, trying to wrap my head around what was going on. The summer solstice had long since passed, and I knew there were not supposed to be any other special events since most tribes should have already left by now. The only reason they hadn¡¯t, was because they wanted to stay with elves for as long as possible.


    I saw elder Kezler laughing with some friends near where I was standing. His laugh seemed a little less bright. I remembered how happy he had been with elder Sunki. I wasn¡¯t sure where Sunki had gone, but judging by what happened to Priest Oxi, Sunki was probably not coming back any time soon. Kezler¡¯s gaze drifted over. Perhaps he¡¯d seen me in the periphery of his vision. His eyes widened and he stumbled forward. His friend¡¯s followed his gaze, and became flustered as well. I walked over, attracting even more attention from the humans nearby. Luckily, we were far from the thick of the action, and the music and merry-making carried on.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Teacher, you are awake!¡± said Kezler.


    ¡°Yeah, sorry for worrying you. Was I out long?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You were asleep for a couple of days, sir,¡± said one of Kezler¡¯s friends.


    I raised an eyebrow. No wonder I felt so hungry and thirsty. I asked them if they could bring me some food and drinks, and they almost began fighting to go get it for me. I ended up picking one of them, a bald-headed old man. I told him to not tell anyone I was awake and to avoid getting any more attention on me. As the bald-headed man left towards the fire, I sat down behind a small rock, shielding myself from view while still being able to look at the humans having a great time at whatever event was going on.


    ¡°Elder Kezler,¡± I said, ¡°I thought the festival was over. What are all these people celebrating?¡±


    ¡°Ah, teacher, it is a wonderful situation, made possible only by your presence!¡± said Kezler. ¡°Two young people who were courting each other for a few solstices finally decided to get together. One¡¯s ceremony of departure is not usually this well attended, nor is the food and entertainment always this good, but everybody realized that opportunities like this are rare. We decided to work together to make this ceremony grand and enjoyable!¡±


    ¡°This is a wedding?¡± I said as I looked around the place. Nothing about this event was like the weddings from back home. I couldn¡¯t even tell who the bride or groom were! ¡°And why did you call it something weird, like the ceremony of departure?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, teacher? The ceremony of departure is the ceremony of departure. It is when two people decide to formally join together and start a family,¡± he said.


    ¡°Right, it¡¯s a wedding. But I want to know why you¡¯re calling it the ceremony of departure,¡± I said.


    ¡°But you are calling it by the same name?¡± he said.


    Ah. More translation shenanigans. ¡°Never mind that. Departure. Is there some sort of link with the dead? A ceremony involving the ancestors or those who have passed?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, the departure we are referring to is the act of leaving one¡¯s tribe,¡± he said.


    I frowned. ¡°Leaving the tribe?¡± My mouth opened as realization dawned. ¡°Right, because if both partners are from different tribes, one of them has to leave their tribe for them to live together.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± said the elder. ¡°Custom dictates that all couples be made between tribes, and the ceremony of departure is an important rite of passage for all the young people of our tribes.¡±


    ¡°But how do you decide who stays and who goes?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, the elders of the two tribes will sit down with the couple and try to figure it out. They consider things like the size of the tribes, whether one tribe needs more hunters, or does not have enough children. The couple may choose on their own, if the needs of either tribe are not very pressing, but most prefer to let the elders decide. No couple wants to ruin their relationship by insisting only the other leave their family behind,¡± said the elder.


    I nodded, slowly. As an American, this sort of wedding and family structure felt quite strange and alien, but then again, this was another world with its own cultures and norms. I almost asked the elder why the couple didn¡¯t just leave both families behind and join a third tribe, until I realized that crying man who was hugging and old woman near the edge of the bonfire was probably the groom. If he was crying on what was essentially his wedding day, I figured leaving one¡¯s tribe was probably a difficult thing to do.


    ¡°Of course, this time, the decision was quite an easy one to make,¡± continued the elder.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said.


    ¡°The groom was from the dishonored Nare tribe. It was only natural that he leave the tribe for his wife¡¯s tribe, so his children did not have to carry the name of that tribe,¡± said the elder.


    I frowned as the bald-headed man returned with some food and water. I turned to stare at the still weeping groom, his hands wrapped around a feeble old lady. A young woman walked next to him and put a hand on the crying man¡¯s shoulder. The music and festivities drowned out the man¡¯s cries.

 Chapter 101

    Dishonored tribes. Right. That was a thing. I lay against the rock, sipping water from a dried and emptied gourd, while eating some meat off a bone. Unlike the meat of most of the monsters I¡¯d eaten on the Plains of Serenity, this meat did not taste like fruits or vegetables. It tasted kinda like beef, but with the gameyness of venison.


    I looked at the crying groom and thought for a while. ¡°If he wasn¡¯t from a dishonored tribe, would the bride be the one who was crying right now?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said elder Kezler. ¡°both tribes are fairly similar in size and have enough hunters. The final decision may very well have been left to the couple themselves. Moreover, not everybody cries at this time. This ceremony is a bittersweet one. One longs to be united with their lover, but dreads having to leave their tribe and family behind. Not seeing your friends and family until the next solstice is difficult to endure. Fitting in with a new tribe, one with different ancestors and possibly different traditions and customs is not easy. Still, it is a time for new beginnings. Many look forward to it.¡±


    The old lady and the bride both comforted the crying groom, and he seemed to have stopped crying. I assumed the old lady was the groom¡¯s mother, since she also seemed incredibly sad. ¡°So the groom will leave his family, but the bride gets to stay with hers?¡±


    ¡°Usually, that would be the case,¡± said the elder. ¡°But the bride lost her parents to disease a few summers ago. I do not believe she has any grandparents either. It would seem that both of them may not have a family to turn to.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°So if the guy wasn¡¯t from a dishonored tribe, the couple would¡¯ve probably chosen to move into his tribe?¡±


    Elder Kezler nodded. ¡°I believe so.¡±


    I stared at the couple as they were lead around the festival. They stopped for many greetings and embraces, but didn¡¯t stay anywhere for long. I finished my food and drinks, and sat listening to the music. There were no lyrics or anything, and the notes were erratic and blended together in strange ways. It was surprisingly fun to listen to, even if it was completely different from the modern music I was used to.


    I let the music flow into my head, taking up space that would otherwise have forced me to think about my feelings and worries. About Noel, who was out there somewhere plotting against the immortals. And about my world, for which I was growing increasingly homesick. This magical world had been fun and exciting, and helped me escape my anxieties from my previous world, but a strange bout of melancholy infected my body every time I thought about my Earth. It felt similar to the feeling I had after moving to college, leaving behind my mother and my childhood home. I sighed. The music wasn¡¯t helping as much as I¡¯d hoped.


    I stared at the couple as they were making their rounds. I thought they were trying to meet every elder, but couldn¡¯t find Kezler because he was all the way back here with me, hiding behind a rock. The fire was massive, licking the darkness of the sky like it wanted to swallow up the stars too. I stood up.


    Elder Kezler and his friends were startled. They began to stand up too, but I was already walking forward. Chatting tribesmen quieted down as they noticed my arrival. An old couple playfully arguing, shut their mouths and stared. A middle-aged man drinking what looked to be some sort of alcoholic beverage, nearly fell over himself as his gaze drifted by. Children, playing loudly, were hushed by their parents, and crowds of jubilant revelers sobered up like churchgoers at Sunday sermon.


    As I approached the fire, musicians began noticing my arrival. Those on the strings were the first to quiet down, some letting their strange gourd-based instruments fall to the ground. People singing and thumping their feet, froze mid-thump, their legs raised in uncomfortable positions, only straightening up after I took a few steps forward.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The drummers were the last to stop. Even in the darkness, I could tell they were caked in sweat. They had been beating their drums as if in a trance, as if the drums were a part of some sacred, spiritual exercise. Nearly all of them stared only at their drums or the bones they were using to play them. These drums were not like the kinds I was used to on my Earth. They were made out of monster hide and sinew, and played sounds that sounded alien and strange. They did not notice me as I approached the couple, who had their backs to me still.


    The fast, shallow drummers were more prone to taking breaks, and in those breaks, they would notice me and stop playing. Only the slow, deep drummers, whose beats resounded through the air like near tangible waves, were still playing. I did not realize when or how this happened, but my steps began falling in tandem with the drums.


    Left, boom, right, boom, left, boom, right, boom. The flames flickered with every beat, a crowd formed at a respectable distance, folding in on me like an origami fan, as I approached the young couple and the elderly woman, who had finally noticed that the people around them were acting strange.


    The young man gave a surprised yelp as he turned around. He would have fallen to the ground had his mother not, almost subconsciously, steadied him with a long, bony hand. The young woman took a step back as I approached, preparing to give way. All the people who had been in my way so far had stepped back with the same wide-eyed expression. The only difference was, as the three humans took a step to the side, I followed them. After a moment, it was clear to everyone that I had been approaching them from the start. It only made sense, didn¡¯t it? It was their wedding, after all.


    The Roja tribesmen, who should have been used to me by now, had also gotten swept up by the way everybody else had acted. Almost as if the reverence the other humans had shown me had reminded them that elves were supposed to be legendary beings, ones humans were not supposed to approach. Yet, here I was, approaching them purposefully.


    The young man¡¯s yelp finally seemed to have caught the drummers¡¯ attention, because they looked up whilst beating their booming drums, saw the elf standing next to the fire, and froze their bone clubs right over their heads. The young couple also stopped trying to step away. The old woman was a step behind them. I approached them at last, and stood still, within arms reach.


    ¡°Congratulations,¡± I said. ¡°I wish you the very best of luck. May you have a happy future together.¡±


    The couple didn¡¯t respond. They awkwardly stood in front of me, their eyes and mouths wide open. I waited, but it became apparent they weren¡¯t going to say anything. I was just about to cough a little and prompt them for a reply, when the old woman took a step forward.


    ¡°Thank you, great one,¡± she said. The old woman did not meet my gaze, preferring instead to stare at my feet.


    ¡°Just Cas is fine,¡± I said. ¡°Great One is a terrible name, you see. People might misunderstand. You might be talking about a large monster or a truly massive wart. Like, they might say: that is one great pimple!¡±


    The old woman scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. Guess it didn¡¯t translate properly. Jokes were hard to translate, especially ones that relied on wordplay. I brushed it aside and repeated my name, and asked her for hers.


    She introduced herself as Sommi Nare, the second elder of the Nare tribe. Their other elder had been elder Rann, who had fought against me in the secret ravine and disappeared alongside it. The flustered young man was her son, Kirs Nare, and the young woman was his partner, Kann Imm.


    ¡°The Nare tribe, is it?¡± I said.


    Elder Sommi flinched. Her son, Kirs, also averted his gaze. Kann Imm opened her mouth, perhaps preparing to defend her love¡¯s tribe, but her mouth froze agape when I stepped forward. I moved too quickly for them to react, getting right up next to them at lightning speed. I extended my magic-wielding hands, expanded my chest, and brought them all in on a large, warm, group hug.

 Chapter 102

    ¡°How long do you think you can stay here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We only need to return to our homelands to prepare food for the winter. There is plenty of time to spend here with you, great one,¡± said an elder from one of the human tribes.


    ¡°I told you, call me Cas,¡± I said.


    ¡°But¡ª¡± began the elder.


    ¡°Trust me, Konri, you should just find something else to call him. He absolutely refuses to be endeared,¡± said elder Kezler.


    ¡°What do you call him?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Teacher!¡± he said.


    ¡°And how is that not endearing?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It is,¡± he said, ¡°but he taught me magic, so it¡¯s true!¡±


    I sighed. It was strange how hard they insisted on not calling me by my name. You¡¯d think they¡¯d listen to what their ¡®great one¡¯ was saying, but I guess it wasn¡¯t as important as addressing me respectfully. I had to stop myself from insisting too hard, because I figured I¡¯d already messed up by not understanding and respecting the customs of the peoples of this world. Maybe I could think of something else. The younger tribesmen respected their elders, right? How did they address them?


    ¡°How about adding a title with my name?¡± I said. ¡°The other tribesmen call you all elder so and so, right? Like elder Lipo and elder Brol. Maybe you could call me Elf Cas, or something.¡±


    ¡°That is a reasonable compromise,¡± said elder Brol, the purple haired elder of the Brol tribe. ¡°How about Great One Cas?¡±


    I flinched. ¡°No, no more great one, or venerated, or whatever it was that elder Lipo tried to call me.¡±


    ¡°But the Spicy One is the greatest title in the history of my tribe!¡± said the blue haired elder Lipo, of the Pole tribe.


    ¡°It¡­ doesn¡¯t translate well in my language,¡± I said.


    ¡°Your translation magic is impressive, Spicy One,¡± said elder Lipo, ¡°but perhaps we could teach you our language, too. Or learn yours!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± I said, ¡°but even if I learned your language, I won¡¯t accept a title like that one.¡±


    The old man began to pout, which meant his lips began to look just like the drooping wrinkles on his forehead. The corner of my mouth twitched, and I decided to ignore the blue haired goofball for now. As I was about to continue my conversation with the other, less eccentric elders, Kelser came up to me and handed me some breakfast. Grilled monster meat, again. I definitely had to spread more creative ways of cooking food, soon.


    I offered the meat around to the other elders sitting on stones and logs in a circle outside my tent. I¡¯d gathered the senior elders from each tribe, and made this place a sort of meeting place. Elder Kezler told me most meetings between the elders were held at the pit in Bek Tepe, but I told him that sounded too formal for what I had in mind. After all, the only thing we¡¯d talked about so far this morning was about what the humans should call me. We¡¯d get onto more important topics after I¡¯d had something to eat, and after I¡¯d made these old men and women address me more informally.


    When I offered the meat to elder Sommi Nare, who was the mother of the groom from the ceremony last night, she almost fell over herself trying to graciously refuse. I sighed as I began eating my breakfast. The elder of the Nare tribe, who had seemed at first like a steely, reserved character, had completely lost her self control and discipline after my conversation with her last night.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    It wasn¡¯t like I¡¯d done anything major, anyway. All I¡¯d done was forgive her tribe, and tell all the elders that I didn¡¯t like the idea of dishonored tribes. The most I¡¯d done was tell the elders to spread my dislike of the term within their tribes, and to let them know that all was forgiven. To me, collectively punishing the entire tribe because of the actions of some of its members was strange and unusual, so ¡®forgiving¡¯ them didn¡¯t feel like a big deal. But apparently, it had been enough to make an elderly woman with paper thin skin break down in front of her own son and daughter in law. I still had a lot to learn about the people of this world, I admitted to myself.


    ¡°You know what,¡± I said, deciding it was time to steer the conversation towards what I actually wanted to talk about. ¡°Let¡¯s go with what I know has worked in the past. All of you can call me Teacher Cas.¡±


    ¡°But they can¡¯t do that,¡± said Elder Kezler, quickly. ¡°You aren¡¯t their teacher!¡±


    ¡°Then I guess it¡¯s time to fix that,¡± I said. The elders¡¯ eyes went wide. ¡°You said you don¡¯t have to return to your homes, yet, right? While you¡¯re here, I might as well teach you some magic. I won¡¯t have the time to teach you how to make tools and weapons like the ones we made with the Roja tribe, but we can definitely fix that horrible magic of yours. I¡¯ll need to work a little harder on you, though.¡± I said, looking at the bald headed middle aged man who had been avoiding my gaze all morning.


    The last remaining priest of the human Jora tribe, Priest Mal flinched when I looked at him. He began reflexively apologizing, at which point elder Kezler smacked him in the head like I¡¯d told him to. I didn¡¯t want people apologizing over and over again. Didn¡¯t I already forgive their tribes and stuff? Seriously, being a venerated pseudo-deity was tiresome.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get the Roja tribe to supervise your lessons,¡± I said. ¡°But let¡¯s gather everyone at the pit around lunchtime. It¡¯s time for your first lecture!¡±


    ---


    After the morning meeting, I followed Elder Sommi back to her tribe¡¯s camp. The Nare tribe¡¯s camp was pretty close to the Roja tribe¡¯s camp, so I had Kelser grab me some leftover copper from his tribe. A wall of onlookers gathered around as I approached the Nare tribe¡¯s camp, in a scene that was pretty similar to the way last night¡¯s festivities had died down when people saw me. I mused if this was going to happen every time I met the humans of this world.


    I noticed Kirs, the young man from last night, was not in the crowd. Elder Sommi led me to her son¡¯s tent, where he was packing up his stuff with pieces of hide. Apparently, although I¡¯d forgiven his tribe, the couple still decided to move to the wife¡¯s Imm tribe. Even his mother, elder Sommi, had supported the decision. Turns out, Kirs was a terrible mama¡¯s boy. Everybody thought he¡¯d been spoiled by his mother, and wanted him to try living without her protection so he could grow up a little.


    Even though it meant my grand gesture from last night had been undermined, there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it. I made sure they weren¡¯t doing it because the social stigma around the dishonored tribes hadn¡¯t gone away, but they insisted that wasn¡¯t the reason. The wife, Kann, even offered that the couple move to her father¡¯s Jenin tribe, which was also one of the dishonored tribes, to prove it to me, but I told them they should just do what made them happy.


    Unlike last night, elder Sommi made a great show of telling Kirs to hurry up and leave. It seemed like she¡¯d let her emotions out last night, but was sure this was the right thing for the young man¡¯s personal development. It reminded me a little of the way my mom had been sad to see me go to college, but happy to see me becoming more independent and self-assured.


    And so I Kirs to his new tribe, the Imm, whose camp was on the far side of the little encampment above Bek Tepe. Elder Sommi stayed behind, while Kelser accompanied me. Kelser had been tagging along wherever I went, and I was happy to have his company. He was still the only human who called me my name, with no title, and with Noel gone, he felt like the only real friend I had here.


    A crowd formed around the Imm tribe¡¯s camp as I approached. I sighed to myself, but followed the dejected Kirs until he met his wife, Kann. I saw the way his face lit up when he saw her. The way he ran up to her and hugged her like the two were all alone in a movie, and held my face in my head as the two lovebirds seemed to completely forget about everybody around them.


    Convinced that Kirs, the mama¡¯s boy, would be fine, I thanked the other members of the Imm tribe, especially their purple haired elder Mann Imm, and left for the pit with Kelser.


    ¡°Hey Kelser,¡± I said.


    ¡°What is it Cas?¡± said the red haired boy.


    ¡°If I ever fall in love like that, make sure to smack me in the head,¡± I said.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to fall in love?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I do,¡± I said. ¡°I just think it¡¯s funny to get hit in the head when your eyes are all starry and bright. Don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°You sound like a grumpy old man,¡± he said.


    I tried to flick the boy¡¯s ear, but he jumped out of the way. I grumbled as he laughed. I swore I¡¯d give him a ton of work to do to wipe that annoying smirk off his face.

 Chapter 103

    ¡°And that¡¯s how we use elemental magic,¡± I said with a smile.


    Silence. The pit was stuffed with scores of tribesmen, all seated on the sides of the pit, staring down at me. I scratched my chin. It was a little awkward standing here all alone, being stared at by so many people. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were silent because they were trying to be respectful, or if they hadn¡¯t understood a word I¡¯d said. I decided to assume it was the former, and clapped my hands.


    ¡°Right, the Roja tribe, who are standing over there by the entrance, have agreed to help teach you all the basics. Just remember what I said about magic being knowledge and wisdom, and you should be good to go. If you have any questions, just ask the Roja tribesmen in charge of your tribe, or ask me whenever I come around to your part of the field. Oh right, that reminds me. We¡¯ll be practicing on the fields below the mountain, so once we¡¯re done here, everyone should follow their elders down the path and wait for their instructors,¡± I said as I began making my way to the stone path that lead down the mountain. ¡°And remember, from now on, you can¡¯t call me the great one, or the venerated one, or whatever other names you¡¯ve been coming up with. Either call me by my name, Cas, or if you just can¡¯t help it, Teacher Cas. Understand? Good. See you down below!¡±


    Nobody moved as I left the main Bek Tepe temple complex. Even the Roja respectfully stepped aside as I approached them. I sighed and grabbed Kelser by the shoulders. Why did he step aside too? Did he get caught up in the moment? Anyways, I asked him how I¡¯d done out there and he said it had gone well, but he didn¡¯t think anybody would be able to do any magic yet. I agreed, since I¡¯d only gone over the absolute basics of elemental magic, and I was working against centuries of teachings and traditions that governed magic for the tribes of the double river basin. The Jora, in particular, would have a rough time, because they had to be taught magic from scratch. I had no idea how the God of Evil¡¯s magic worked, so the Jora would have to learn my magic instead!


    Still, I asked Priest Mal to demonstrate his tribe¡¯s brand of magic to me tonight. I was looking forward to dissecting how it worked, although from what I¡¯d gathered so far, it didn¡¯t look like I¡¯d be able to replicate it even if I understood how it worked.


    Once I left the pit, I heard a commotion arise behind me as everybody in the seating area began chatting and murmuring and jostling for their place in the long lines leading down from the temple. I arrived at the base with Kelser and the Roja tribe, and went over the various assignments with them. I¡¯d left Kelser in charge of the Jora tribe, since they needed the most help, and spread all of the other most competent magicians across the other tribes. Their job was to supervise and teach their assigned tribes how to cast elemental magic, and to reach out to me if they ran into any trouble. By the time the other tribesmen arrived at the field, I¡¯d arranged the Roja into seven groups, and told the elders from each tribe which group would be in charge of their lessons for today.


    The Roja divided their assigned tribes even further, and began their lessons by repeating what I had said in the pit, and answering a few basic questions. I went around from group to group, whenever I was called by the Roja. Soon, the Roja were demonstrating elemental magic to the other tribesmen, and asking them to give it a try. Nobody managed to cast a real spell all day, since they were no longer allowed to use their embarrassing chants or the power of the God of Evil. Still, I felt like we¡¯d made some progress just by helping them think about knowledge and wisdom. I wrapped up the lesson just before sunset, and answered another round of questions from the exhausted tribesmen.


    As the tribesmen lumbered off back up to Bek Tepe, all plastered with sweat and breathing heavily, I asked Kelser to stay behind. I asked him how the tribesmen had done, if he thought there was anything we could improve for next time, and so on. He said it might be helpful to do more demonstrations when everyone was together in the pit, which meant he wanted me to do more lectures.


    As I followed Kelser back up to Bek Tepe, he asked me why I wanted to teach the humans magic, anyway. He was especially curious why I wanted to teach the Jora tribe. So far, I had only told elder Kezler and Kelser about what happened on the cave on the mountain at the roof of the world. I left out the part about Noel killing Priest Oxi and knocking out Kelser, but did tell them about my fight with her and how she had left to try and bring down the immortals.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Kelser wondered why I wanted to teach magic to the descendants of the people who had killed my tribe. He said that they had a different style of magic, so I could have said I couldn¡¯t teach them because I did not know their style of magic. I told him that would be a lie. He said it was a pretty lenient way to deal with the people who had done such a heinous crime against my people.


    ¡°I tried explaining this to Noel too,¡± I said, keeping my voice low as we walked up the stone path to Bek Tepe, ¡°but the way I look at justice is very different. The ancestors who did those crimes are dead. I cannot avenge the elfin Jora tribe by punishing the human Jora tribe that exists right now. To do so, in my eyes, would be like punishing completely different people for somebody else¡¯s crimes.¡±


    ¡°But they were also members of the human Jora tribe. The human Jora tribe still remembers and pays homage to those ancestors,¡± he said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you at least make them stop doing that?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Yeah, maybe I will. But I don¡¯t want to tell people about everything just yet.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Because I¡¯ve seen the way they look at me. If the human Jora find out about what their ancestors did, I¡¯m afraid they might do something stupid. Like hurting themselves to atone for what their ancestors did,¡± I said.


    ¡°I see,¡± said Kelser. ¡°You really do think in strange ways, huh.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t help it. I¡¯ve told you about how I came from another world. I can¡¯t help thinking the way the people of my old world did. It¡¯s what I grew up learning, the same way you all grew up learning about your ancestors and their customs. It is as strange for me to think about things your way, as it is for you to think of them my way. Does that make sense? I feel like I¡¯m talking in circles at this point.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think I get it,¡± said Kelser. ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t answer my question. Why are you teaching them magic?¡±


    I stared at the murals on the walls of the path leading up to Bek Tepe. I didn¡¯t focus on the story this time, and decided to stare blankly at the artwork, admiring its colors and shapes. ¡°I¡¯ve always liked to teach. I used to help out my friends, the neighbor¡¯s kids, younger students, pretty much anyone who needed my help with a question or an assignment. Besides, every time I hear those stupid chants the humans of this world use, I cringe really badly.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not that bad,¡± he said.


    I raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°Yes they are. Anyway, there is one more reason that I¡¯m helping the humans out.¡±


    ¡°Does it have to do with Noel?¡± he asked.


    I frowned. ¡°How did you guess?¡±


    ¡°You might think differently, but Noel is from this world,¡± he said. ¡°She probably wanted revenge against the human tribes that killed her people.¡±


    I sighed. ¡°Yeah, I want to give these people the chance to fight back. Noel might be aiming for the immortals for now, but who knows when she comes back for a little revenge. It would be a lot easier for her to kill a few humans, than to kill an immortal.¡±


    Kelser nodded. We reached the top of the path, and went into Bek Tepe. We stopped talking, and walked in silence. By the time we arrived at the Roja tribe¡¯s camp, night had fallen. Everybody was groaning from magical energy exhaustion, but we had a lively dinner, before going to bed.


    I awoke the next morning and prepared for the day¡¯s training. The hunters and foragers went out in the morning, returning in time for the day¡¯s magic lessons. I spent the next few weeks teaching the humans of the double river basin the basics of elemental and motion magic. I also gave special lessons to the Roja, although only Kelser had the energy to really learn after teaching all day. Soon, it was time for the tribes to begin leaving for their homelands.


    One night, I gathered all the elders together for another meeting around a crackling campfire.

 Chapter 104

    ¡°You want us to stay at Bek Tepe?¡± said elder Sommi Nare.


    ¡°But there is not enough food to sustain all of our people through the winter,¡± said elder Anki, the second elder from the Jenin tribe.


    ¡°There are no forests nearby, so we cannot forage for fruits and grains,¡± said elder Lipo. ¡°And Bek Tepe is known for being free of large monsters. We have only been hunting small monsters for the past few days.¡±


    ¡°And this is the summer,¡± said elder Konri. ¡°The winter will be difficult. Trees will lose their leaves, the river and streams will be too cold for fish, and there may not be any monsters within hunting distance.¡±


    I raised my hands, heading off any further concerns. ¡°Okay, I understand,¡± I said, ¡°but hear me out, okay? You guys have been learning magic for a while now. Everyone is able to use at least some kind of elemental magic. A few of you can even do motion magic. If you stay together here, you could start learning the really complicated spell, like the one¡¯s Kelser has been learning from me!¡± I gestured towards Kelser, who raised his hands to the air and called forth a small rain cloud. We were high enough up here on Bek Tepe, that the cloud formed right over his hands and started pouring water over his head.


    The elders reacted with amazement. I gestured towards Kelser, and he stopped his spell. We were far enough away from the other camps, that nobody else should have noticed this spell. I asked the elders if they thought this magic was worth it, and they agreed that it was impressive. However, they said there was no point in staying to learn magic if they couldn¡¯t find enough food to feed themselves.


    ¡°And that¡¯s why I want to teach you more than just magic,¡± I gestured towards my tent. Kirs Nare and Kann Imm, the couple from the wedding, appeared from behind the tent, rolling a large wooden wheel. Elder Kezler also revealed the copper weapons he¡¯d hidden under a bit of monster hide. I let the elders look at the wheel and the copper weapons, and explained that they were tools that I had helped create. The wheel could be used to carry heavy objects over large distances, especially if you could get a monster to pull it for you.


    ¡°A monster?¡± said Priest Mal. ¡°Do you know magic that allows you to control monsters, Teacher Cas?¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know a spell like that, but I do have some ideas on how we can tame some monsters. See, monsters are kind of like humans and elves. They struggle for food and survival just like we do. And if they can get a stable source of food which comes with a bit of safety, they¡¯ll take it.¡±


    ¡°But we don¡¯t even have enough food for ourselves,¡± said elder Konri. ¡°How will we feed a monster?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get to that,¡± I said. ¡°But I want to mention that the copper weapons that elder Kezler just showed you are also very useful. They aren¡¯t much sharper than your flint weapons, but they are more durable. Unlike flint, which can shatter on impact, copper can only bend or become misshapen. Also, it¡¯s a lot easier to work with copper. We can shape it into different forms, which means we can even make tools like these.¡± I pointed to a rudimentary shovel that Kelser had brought from behind my tent.


    ¡°What is this used for?¡± asked elder Sommi.


    ¡°Great question,¡± I said. ¡°See, I¡¯ve been wondering about our food problem, and realized that the problem isn¡¯t the availability of the food, it¡¯s our ability to access it. There are a lot of monsters and fruits and vegetables and grains all over the wilderness, but we can¡¯t grab all of it. We don¡¯t have enough hunters and foragers, and we would have to go over large distances to find enough to feed all of the people that are currently staying at Bek Tepe. But, what if we never had to leave to get our food. What if, the food was always here from the start!¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± said elder Konri as she furrowed her brows. ¡°Is there food under the ground? Should we dig for it?¡±


    ¡°No, I mean we can just grow our own food!¡± I said.


    The elders were confused, so I had to spend some time explaining the basics of farming and agriculture. They already knew about the way plants reproduced, since some tribes lived near forests and did many small things to manage the forest. Things like weeding out the land around important trees and plants, or scattering seeds from certain fruit after they were done eating them. If I had not come around, it was pretty likely those tribes would have started cultivating small bits of farmland to supplement their hunter gatherer lifestyle.


    I had been hesitating to introduce such a radical change to their society, since I had already messed up by not respecting and understand their way of life. Besides, early agricultural societies back home had probably been worse off than advanced hunter gatherer ones, because of a prevalence of disease, inconsistencies of harvest, and the long time it takes to properly domesticate plants and animals. It probably took thousands of years for humans on my Earth to make agriculture work properly, and it may have been a gradual process, full of failure and death.


    But in the end, I figured it was worth it. The people of this world had something the humans of my world didn¡¯t: magic. They could use rain magic to make sure their crops were properly watered, earth magic to build dams or canals to protect against flooding, and motion magic to help with sowing and weeding. I was sure more specialized magic spells would be invented at some point, which would make farming even more efficient.


    The biggest reason I wanted to help kick-start the agricultural revolution in this world, was because I was worried about what would happen if I let the humans split up too much for too long. Not only was Noel out there, perhaps looking for revenge, but the immortals had already meddled with these tribesmen before. There was no telling what the immortals would do once the humans left my side. I knew my presence wasn¡¯t keeping the immortals at bay, since they¡¯d played around with me too, but I was certain all three immortals had their eyes on me, which meant none of them could interfere as easily as they could with an isolated tribe.


    ¡°Teacher Cas,¡± said elder Konri. ¡°We trust you. Your knowledge exceeds our own. Your judgment is praiseworthy. And your moral character is excellent.¡±


    I waved off the compliments. Elder Konri had a sweet, silver tongue which worked well with her formal demeanor. She was incredibly diplomatic, but she loved tradition. I was expecting her to be the most resistant to big changes like the ones I was proposing.


    ¡°Growing our own food is a wonderful idea, and one that I believe all of us will try to implement in our own homelands, if we are able. However, all we know is how to hunt and to forage. It is our way of life. It is what we were taught by our parents, who learned it from their parents, and so on until the earliest of our ancestors of whom not even the stories speak. For us to change our entire way of life like this is something we are prepared to do for you. But it is difficult to risk the lives of our people by forcing them to stay in this relatively barren area for the winter. We cannot be sure that we will be able to feed them with your method. It is a massive experiment. One that is far too risky to do here, on Bek Tepe,¡± said elder Konri Oko.


    ¡°I agree,¡± said elder Mann Imm. He was a purple haired old man, whose actual personality was much milder than his colorful hair would suggest. Every time I saw his serious expression surrounded by a mane of purple hair, I had to remind myself there were no hair dyes in this world, and that the people of his tribe simply had hair like that. ¡°But I also think we must listen to the great¡ªI mean, to Teacher Cas. Perhaps we can find a more suitable location for the winter, and bring all of our tribes there. Then, we can carry out this experiment more safely.¡±


    The elders chatted with each other, clearly impressed by Mann Imm¡¯s proposal. I put a hand on my chin. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea. There were some fields below Bek Tepe, but they were all surrounded by terrain that wasn¡¯t useful for agriculture. I had no idea if the soil here was any good either, and if the temperature was going to drop like the humans said it would, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to find someplace else to settle for the winter.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, clapping my hands to get people¡¯s attention. ¡°Does anyone have any ideas for where we should build our first farm?¡±

 Chapter 105

    ¡°No, give it the grass,¡± I said.


    ¡°But it likes the fruit more,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°If you give it the fruit right away, we won¡¯t be able to tame it,¡± I said.


    ¡°You want to control this thing?¡± said Kelser, his eyes widening. We were whispering to each other while sitting in the bushes. ¡°But this thing is massive!¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± I said, craning my neck to look up at the monster, ¡°but it¡¯s a herbivore, that means it only eats plants, and it isn¡¯t very aggressive. The hunters said it always runs away and never fights, which is perfect for us.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean it¡¯ll just run away?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°No, because it wants the fruit,¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, it won¡¯t want it if we¡¯re the ones giving them to it,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Which is why we aren¡¯t going to be here,¡± I said.


    ¡°But then what¡¯s the point?¡± he said.


    ¡°The point is, we¡¯ll come back here every day for the next few days, offer it a bunch of dried grass that leads to some fruit, and train it to expect fruit at the end of a trail of dried grass,¡± I said. ¡°Then, we¡¯ll slowly let it see us when it comes for the fruit. First, from a distance, then closer, and then closer still. We can even let it see us place the grass and fruit. Even if it runs away, once or twice, we should be able to let it get comfortable with our presence, eventually.¡±


    Kelser frowned but left the dried grass on the ground like I told him to. He quietly crept back to me and crouched in the bushes too. I used magic to blow a gentle breeze away from us, so the monster we were stalking couldn¡¯t smell us, and waited for it to notice the dried grass.


    The monster was called a Fil Tusker. It was a massive beast, about three times my height, with long but thick legs that extended like pillars from its body. Its skin was a supple brown color and its body looked nice and sturdy. It could definitely hold an adult or two on its back, which was why I was out here on the plains, trying to tame it. The strange thing about this monster, was that it had two tusks coming out of its head like an elephant, but no trunk in the middle. For someone like me, who had seen elephants on my Earth, a Fil Tusker looked strange and uncanny. I didn¡¯t want to make something so disturbing a permanent feature of our new settlement, but the Fil Tusker was a notoriously cowardly monster. It would run away at the slightest sign of danger, and did not like to fight at all. A monster like that would be perfect as a beast of burden if we could get it to trust us!


    The Fil Tusker lumbered over while munching on some fallen leaves. It was a tall monster, but it didn¡¯t have a trunk like an elephant or a long neck like a giraffe. It couldn¡¯t go for the best leaves on top of the trees that dotted these plains, so it stuck to eating stuff off the ground or on the lower branches of trees. The way it ate stuff off the ground was actually really funny. It crouched down on its front legs, and slowly lowered its body. Its tusks weren¡¯t very big, so they didn¡¯t get in the way while the great beast kissed the ground and lapped up its food like a kitten.


    I would have laughed if the whole scene wasn¡¯t so incredibly strange. The Fil Tusker stood back up to munch on its food, but noticed the grass that Kelser had left for it a few steps ahead. It lumbered over, still munching on the leaves, and waiting for a while to finish the food in its mouth before kneeling once again to eat the grass.


    I gave Kelser a glance and he nodded. He unraveled a piece of hide and revealed a bunch of double berries. The berries had been mushed a little and smelled almost sickly sweet in the heat, but that was exactly what I wanted. Kelser left the berries on the ground where we had been sitting before following me as we carefully crept back even further into the thicket. Once we were clear, I switched the direction of the breeze, and let the smell of the double berries carry over to the Fil Tusker.


    The monster¡¯s ears flicked. It looked in the direction of the bushes, its mouth still going up and down as it chewed on the grass. It looked almost wary. Like it had smelled something else along with the berries. I frowned. It must have an even stronger sense of smell than I¡¯d assumed, since it must have picked up our scent even though we¡¯d already moved from the bushes. Still, I thought it might still work out. There weren¡¯t a lot of sweet fruit like double berries on these plains. We¡¯d collected them from around Bek Tepe before we left, and I¡¯d been saving them for occasions like this one.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The Fil Tusker hesitated. It finished its grass before staring intently at the bushes. As time wore on, our scent must have gotten weaker thanks to the breeze I was constantly blowing over the bushes, and the enticing smell of the sweet berries must have been filling the large monster¡¯s nose. It gingerly took a step forward, looking around by flicking its head much faster than it¡¯s large frame suggested it could. It slowly lumbered forward until it was standing right in front of the bushes.


    The monsters of this world were clearly much smarter than the animals from my Earth. The Fil Tusker¡¯s actions were almost human, although the way it was rubbing its foot over the ground was very bestial. I waited with bated breath. The Fil Tusker waved its long front feet in front of the bush. It waved it again, this time actually touching some of the leaves. Then it rammed its legs through the bushes. When it found nothing, it seemed to visibly relax. It slowly pushed into the bush, kneeled into the leaves, and began eating the berries.


    I changed the breeze once again. This time, I made it so it would blow over Kelser and me, before blowing over the Fil Tusker. The monster froze, its face smeared with bright berry juice. I kept blowing our smell at the monster and I was sure it would run away. And I was sorta right. The giant monster quickly dove its head back into the bushes, grabbed as many berries as it could in its mouth, and then stood back on its legs. It dashed backwards out of the bushes, before turning around on its long, thick legs, and sprinting into the distance. Watching a beast of that size run away like a frightened cat was incredibly strange, but I was happy with what we had accomplished today. This particular Fil Tusker had a birthmark on its forehead. The birthmark was shaped like a claw, and was pretty hard to miss, even from a distance.


    As I stared at the retreating monster¡¯s figure, I became sure that I would be able to tame it soon. And so, I decided to give it a name so I could start calling it that while I was trying to tame and train it. Because it was so cowardly, I figured I could pick the name of a famous coward from my word. Since I was in the mood for it, I decided to go for something more mythological and literary. Maybe something from Homer¡¯s Iliad?


    ¡°Run like the wind, Paris,¡± I whispered as the Fil Tusker disappeared into the distance. ¡°I¡¯ll be back for you soon.¡±


    ---


    ¡°Are you sure we can all stay here?¡± asked Kelser as we returned to the large encampment where all the tribes were staying.


    ¡°When I heard that the Oko and Imm tribes come down to the same place for the winter, I knew it was our best bet. They say it doesn¡¯t get too cold here, and that the Teg River is a good source of fish year round,¡± I said as we approached the large, bustling encampment.


    With all eight tribes spread out with their tents and campfires, this place felt like a small village, even though there were no farms or buildings yet. We had only just arrived after about a week of walking. I¡¯d left for the open plains as soon as I¡¯d heard about the Fil Tusker from elder Konri, since I wanted to tame it as soon as possible. People were still setting up tents and cooking up dinner when we arrived, and it was getting late enough that not many people noticed us approaching. The lookouts didn¡¯t raise a commotion, and everybody¡¯s reactions were much more muted now that they¡¯d gotten used to me. Spending all that time teaching them magic had the nice benefit of making them stop staring at me with gaping mouths, which definitely made me feel a lot nicer as I entered the camp.


    I heard some quiet sniffling as I rounded a half-built tent. I saw a little boy with his hands on his eyes, standing next to a young woman who was trying to calm him down. The boy looked like he was five or six years old, and had bright purple hair like elder Brol from the Ibog tribe.


    ¡°I wanna go home,¡± said the crying boy.


    The young woman, who I assumed was his mother, tried to tell him it was gonna be okay, this would be their new home now, and that he could go play with the other kids, but the boy wouldn¡¯t stop crying.


    I approached the crying boy, with Kelser running up behind me. I asked his mother if everything was alright.


    ¡°Yes, teacher,¡± she said, ¡°everything is okay. Cota¡¯s just missing his toys. We didn¡¯t have enough space for them when we left for the solstice festival, and I promised him he¡¯d get to play with them when we got back.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°And now he doesn¡¯t have them anymore.¡± I frowned. I knew the tribesmen would be leaving some stuff behind when they followed me to this new site, but I didn¡¯t even think about something like this.


    I leaned down to the crying boy and scratched my chin. ¡°Sorry, Cota. It¡¯s my fault you can¡¯t play with your toys right now. Tell you what. How about you go grab some of your friends, and I¡¯ll make you all some new toys!¡±

 Chapter 106

    ¡°New toys?¡± said Kelser as the excited purple haired Cota ran away to look for his friends. ¡°Why don¡¯t I get any?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°You never asked. I guess I could spare some time to show you a board game after I¡¯m done making toys for the smaller kids. Might even show it to the elders. Having something fun to do might help with the anxiety of moving to a new place.¡±


    The place where we¡¯d settled was a long, open field just a little while from the large River Teg. The Oko and Imm tribes usually settled closer to the river, but I figured a farming settlement wouldn¡¯t want to be flooded too often. Speaking of farming, I¡¯d asked the elders to gather all the fruit seeds, tubers, and grain seeds they could find. We¡¯d go over ways to cultivate them at a meeting later tonight, which was also when I would be asking the elders to share important survival techniques and crafts.


    I went to my tent, which I had insisted be somewhere near the middle of the encampment rather than on the outskirts like last time, and gathered some of the things I was planning to share in the meeting tonight. I asked Kelser to grab some bones and clay, and went back to the place where I¡¯d met the little boy, Cota.


    ¡°So what kind of toys do you like to play with, Cota?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Monsters and spears!¡± he said. He¡¯d gathered a bunch of smaller kids, with at least a few of them being from other tribes.


    ¡°Alright, then lets shape this clay into a monster and bake it with some fire magic,¡± I said as I passed the clay to Kelser, who gave me a look for pushing the job on him. ¡°And I¡¯ll take this twig, put a rock on the tip, and there you go, a spear!¡±


    Cota wasn¡¯t impressed. Apparently, his spear back home was more impressive. I figured I could make something nicer with copper, but the native copper mine was over a week¡¯s walk away from here. We would definitely send some people to gather more of it soon, but for now, this copper was precious. Instead, I chiseled the ends of some monster bones and decorated the bottom with some stones and clay.


    ¡°You know what, I don¡¯t think I can make a spear as good as yours,¡± I said, raising a hand before Cota could complain, ¡°but, I have something new for you to play with. This.¡± I showed him the makeshift bone and clay sword I¡¯d been hiding behind my back. ¡°This is a sword.¡± I swung the sword around a little. I¡¯d kept the edges dull, so the kids wouldn¡¯t hurt themselves, but it still looked impressive. ¡°It¡¯s like a spear, but you can use it from all sides. See? The edge goes all the way! Great heroes of legend used swords to kill huge and scary monsters. Why don¡¯t you give it a try?¡±


    I handed the sword to another kid, who had been eyeing it with more fascination than Cota. I suspected Cota was still going to complain, since what he actually wanted was his toys from back home, not the things I could make him, but by giving the toy to another kid, I made Cota feel envious. Soon, he was asking to try the sword, just like the other kids, and after he¡¯d given it a try, he asked that I make a special one just for him.


    By this time, Kelser was done with the monster figurine, and it came out quite well for a prehistoric toy. I made a few monster noises, and although I was sure the kids didn¡¯t actually buy it, they did the thing that kids do to force a little fun. They pretended like they were terrified, and swung their tiny swords around like they were brave heroes, risking their lives against an awful monster.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I made a few more swords, while Kelser made some figurines since we knew the one they were playing with right now would break soon, and after we were happy with the toys we had made for all the kids, I gave them a little assignment. I told them to go to all the tribes around the encampment and gather as many kids as they could. They had to bring all of them to the same spot tomorrow, when I¡¯d make even more toys for them! They were playing happily by the time I left with Kelser.


    At this point, Kelser was grumpy, so I decided to work on the board game. I wanted to introduce games like chess and backgammon, since I liked playing them myself, but figured I should start with something simple. And so, I grabbed a flat piece of wood, leveled off any bumps on its surface, and prepared some charcoal from the campfire. I was seated around the Roja tribe¡¯s campfire, since their camp was still the closest to my tent, and had a bunch of Roja tribesmen peering over my shoulder to see what I was doing.


    I used the charcoal to make a large square, inside which I made a bunch of other squares. I filled in alternating squares with the charcoal, and prepared two sets of differently colored pebbles. I sat Kelser down on the ground next to me and on the other side of the board, and explained to him the rules of checkers, as I knew them. After a few questions, some coming from the spectators rather than the player on the other side of the board, we started to play.


    Naturally, I won easily. I didn¡¯t gloat, however, since Kelser clearly still didn¡¯t know how to play. It took a few more rounds for him to get the hang of it, although he still couldn¡¯t beat me. Since the spectators looked eager to join in, I told Kelser to come help me make another game, and let the other tribesmen have a go at it.


    I wondered if I should make backgammon next, since it was one of the oldest games from my Earth, but decided to go for something else instead. Somehow, the setting seemed to fit this new game better, in my opinion. I took another piece of wood and made some more squares on it with charcoal. This time, the shape was a little less regular. I made six squares on top in a rectangular formation, and a bridge of two squares coming out from the middle of the bottom of the formation. I then made twelve squares in a three by four formation, with four going down with the bridge and three width. I colored in all eight squares in the middle column running over the bridge, and prepared another set of differently colored pebbles.


    I drew small rosettes, as best I could with my charcoal, on a few of the squares, such that each player had two on their sides and their was one on the bridge in the middle. Then, I shaped a piece of clay into a dice, quite unlike the dice from my Earth. It was a four-sided dice, which was actually surprisingly easy to make, and I had Kelser prepare it with his fire magic. I made a couple more for good measure. Once the dice were ready, I marked the corners with small charcoal arrowheads, and explained the rules of the so called Royal Game of Ur to Kelser and the spectating humans.


    The Royal Game of Ur was an instant success. Unlike checkers, which did not seem to rely on chance, the Royal Game of Ur was a mix of chance and strategy. It was also an intense game, with twists and turns, and a lot of drama. It was possible to knock out pieces by landing on them, to be stuck unable to win because you needed to roll exactly two but couldn¡¯t do it for several turns, or you could be up by several pieces but suddenly find yourself being trounced by a kid half your age. I lost the second game I played with Kelser, and the red haired kid almost lost his mind with happiness.


    I made a few more sets of checkers and the Royal Game of Ur, promising to make some more board games the following night. I grabbed one set of checkers and the Royal Game of Ur, and dragged Kelser away from the fun to accompany me at the elders¡¯ meeting. I had to go back and grab elder Kezler too, who was crying over having to leave his streak of undefeated wins at checkers.

 Chapter 107

    ¡°And so, you roll this dice and count the marks, then¡ª¡±


    ¡°But what if it doesn¡¯t have any?¡±


    ¡°Then you can¡¯t move.¡±


    ¡°But what if I want to move?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t move just because you want to move.¡±


    ¡°But that isn¡¯t very realistic?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t meant to be realistic, it¡¯s a game!¡±


    ¡°But¡ª¡±


    ¡°Listen,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s a game. Mostly played by children but suitable for all ages. You have to follow the rules of the game so everybody can have fun. Trust me, go back and play it with your family after this meeting. You¡¯ll have fun.¡±


    Elder Brol frowned, and grabbed the edge of the wooden board with the tips of his fingers. The dice felt tiny in his hands, and he had some trouble holding the pieces with his fingers. Still, I was sure he¡¯d come around to liking the game once he played it with some of his grandkids. Despite his masculine hunter persona, he had a massive soft spot for his grandchildren. His kids were already playing with some of the toys I¡¯d made them, so they were definitely going to want to play the board games too. He was going to be putty in their hands once they tugged on his arms and asked him to teach them how to play.


    I chuckled at my own thoughts. The other elders seated around the campfire were also looking over the board games and toys. Starting with something small and easy to make like this was definitely the right choice, I told myself. But now that we were done with the food, it was time to get down to business.


    ¡°Before we go any further, I wanted to thank you all for trusting me for this year. I especially wanted to thank the Imm and Oko tribes for lending us their winter home,¡± I said, nodding towards elders Mann and Konri.


    ¡°It is our honor to be hosting you, Teacher Cas,¡± said elder Mann Imm.


    ¡°I was also wondering if this place has a name,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, it does not,¡± said elder Konri. ¡°Like most of the other tribes of the double river basin, our tribes move around with the seasons. We hunt and we gather from different places, very rarely staying in one place. We only come to the river for the winter, and try to go to stay at different places along the River Teg after every solstice.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said. The only reason Bek Tepe was named was because it was a stationary point where every tribe came once a year. The field we were on right now wasn¡¯t special to the Oko or Imm tribes, so it didn¡¯t have a name. ¡°We should come up with a name for this place later. Some of the things that I would like to do here will require a more permanent location. We might be coming back here for many years. A year, by the way, is the word in my language for the time in between two solstices, although we did not measure them between solstices.¡±


    ¡°Then how did you measure them?¡± asked elder Sommi.


    ¡°The end and start of the year were on arbitrary days,¡± I said, ¡°but the length of the year was the number of days it takes the Earth to go around the Sun. I have already started measuring the days since the previous solstice, so we should have a decent estimate for how long a year is in this world by the next solstice.¡±


    ¡°The Earth goes around the Sun?¡± asked Priest Mal.


    ¡°Well, my Earth did,¡± I said. I had already explained to them that I had come from another world. There wasn¡¯t any reason to hide it, since I was an outsider as an Elf anyways. I didn¡¯t tell them that I had been a human, however, since I wasn¡¯t sure how they would react to an Elf who had once been a human. Would they stop respecting me? No, I needed them to listen to me for a little while longer. Maybe one day, after I had achieved what I wanted to achieve, I would tell them everything.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°But let¡¯s ignore that for now,¡± I said. ¡°I gathered you all here tonight so we could go over our plans for the year leading up to the next solstice. You have already started your magic training, and I think that should continue. If you disagree with any of my proposals or would like to make one of your own, please feel free to interrupt me.¡± I looked around at the elders, waiting for them to reply. They nodded and agreed with me, with a few of them asking about the details for our continued magic training. I told them we would have to spend less time learning magic for the next few days, since we had other things to set up first.


    ¡°By which I mean, we need to start farming.¡± I gathered the seeds and grains I had gathered from the various tribes. Each tribe had some dried fruits or stored grains, and we had spent some time gathering around Bek Tepe as well as along the route we had taken to get to our current encampment.


    We spent some time identifying all of the seeds and grains we had collected, as well as the sort of soil and climate their plants were found in. I assigned the seeds and grains to the various tribes who had first collected them or who had volunteered to start growing them. They would start surveying the terrain tomorrow, picking ideal locations for their first farms.


    This area was at a sort of crossroads of terrains. There were rich alluvial river plains like the ones we were on right now, as well as forests further South, marshlands to the East, and the roof of the world to the North East. If we went even further East, we would arrive at the vast open plains that the human Jora tribe called home, although those plains did not have a lot of plant biodiversity. The human Jora, apparently, lived mostly off of monster meat.


    To the North, there was the mighty River Teg. The Imm and Oko tribes lived across the river, on open plains full of monsters and forests, which they said opened onto a frigid tundra beyond which was a land of perpetual snow. To the West, following the River Teg, was the ocean.


    Monsters would be important sources of food, since the farms wouldn¡¯t be ready for a while. The only problem was, there would be way less monsters during the winter, which was when food would be the most scarce.


    ¡°Which is why I wanted you all to come together today and share your survival knowledge,¡± I said. ¡°Elder Kezler, would you like to begin?¡±


    Elder Kezler nodded. ¡°Our people live by the sea. For many generations, we have preserved meat with salt and brine, which allows us to eat well during difficult times.¡±


    ¡°Our people have lived near the tundra,¡± said elder Konri. ¡°As winter approaches, we take small amounts of meat and freeze them in the slowly gathering snow. Even after moving down here near the river, we send out foraging parties who go back to the places we have marked, and retrieve our frozen meat, if it has not been eaten by other monsters already.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± I said. ¡°We can combine those methods, as well as some from my old world, and preserve a lot of meat for the winter. I¡¯ll help build some tools we¡¯ll need to smoke meat. But the other thing I need to know, is if any of your tribes make alcohol.¡±


    ¡°Alcohol?¡± repeated elder Brol. ¡°You have explained that your translation magic is not perfect, Teacher, but this word feels especially strange on my tongue. It sounds very similar to a word for a ceremonial drink that our people make in the spring, but it cuts the word in half.¡±


    I tapped my chin. ¡°That might be because alcoholic drinks are a category of drinks, whereas your tribe¡¯s ceremonial drink is one such drink.¡± I went on to describe the effects of alcoholic drinks, and it turned out that a few tribes had ceremonial alcoholic drinks. I asked them to describe the taste and looks of the drinks, and realized elder Brol¡¯s Ibog tribe made the drink that was closest to wine from my previous world.


    ¡°We should think about making those other drinks too,¡± I said, ¡°just for fun. But we need to start making the Ibog tribe¡¯s drink as soon as possible. We will need it to make vinegar, which is a great way to preserve many fruits and vegetables.¡±


    ¡°Is there no magical solution to this problem, Teacher?¡± asked elder Lipo.


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± I answered. ¡°We can use magic to make the process of preserving food a lot easier, especially by controlling the temperature a little, but the details of why food rots are far too complicated to completely control with magic right now. I would have to do a lot of experiments validating the presence of germs and microbes before the spells would be efficient enough to use.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I followed that explanation, Teacher,¡± said elder Sommi.


    I sighed. ¡°Oh, right, I forgot that I haven¡¯t gone over one more important thing that we have to do this year.¡± I leaned back on my outstretched arms and stared at the open night sky. The moon was shaped like a crescent, and the red start was pulsing gently as always.


    ¡°We have to invent more magic.¡±

 Chapter 108

    ¡°Invent magic?¡± repeated elder Sommi.


    I nodded. ¡°Noel and I learned the basics of magic from the Immortal of Desire. The Immortal of Desire is the third and final Immortal that I know about, alongside the Immortal of Madness, who rules the moon and the God or Immortal of Evil, who rules the red star.¡± I pointed at both celestial bodies while I was speaking. ¡°The Immortal told us the basics that I taught you. That magic is governed by knowledge and wisdom. Noel and I then explored what knowledge and wisdom really mean, and went even further than the basics of magic, and into the roots of knowledge and wisdom.


    ¡°And after experimenting with a lot of different types of magic, we were able to invent the magic spells that I have been teaching you. However, most of those spells are based on an incomplete understanding of knowledge. Eventually, I decided to assert that knowledge required three things: truth, justification, and belief.


    ¡°Truth is a metaphysical notion. It governs the way things are, not how they should be or can shown to be. To work with the truth, in the limited understanding and interactions we can have with it, means that we have to ignore many questions about the nature of reality, but that is good enough for the purpose of creating magic.


    ¡°Belief is relatively straightforward. For me to use a claim or assertion in magic, I must believe in it. You may think this goes without saying, since if I am proposing something, I have to believe it, but it is a little more complicated than that. It is possible for me to believe that I do not know the answer to something or to give an answer that I believe is a total guess, and for it to still be correct. For knowledge to count as complete, at least for our magic, it needs to be based on things that the caster actually believes.


    ¡°Justification is the most complicated part, and the one that has been limiting my magic the most. It is not enough for me to know something and for that something to be true. I must also be justified in my belief! I can still use magic if a believe something and it is true, but the spells become so inefficient that they use a lot of magical energy. So much magical energy, in fact, that most spells become impossible to do.


    ¡°And so, in order to invent new spells, I need to justify my true beliefs and then use wisdom to turn that knowledge into a real spell. Wisdom is like experience, and you get more of it the more spells you use and especially the more spells of a similar type that you use. That is why I have been teaching you all very basic and fundamental spells first, so that you can use the wisdom you gather to work on better spells for yourselves.¡±


    The elders were silent. I hadn¡¯t even noticed that I had gone into lecture mode, but it looked like the elders didn¡¯t mind. After I coughed, they started moving about, and thanked me for sharing such important information with them. I think most of them didn¡¯t realize I had invented most of the spells myself. Perhaps they thought the spells had been passed down within the ancient elfin tribes. They were especially grateful that I had told them how they could invent their own spells, although elder Kezler chuckled and said there was no way anyone but me was going to be able to come up with their own spell.


    I countered and said that I was sure Kelser would be making his own spells soon. In fact, I was going to teach him how to make his own spell once he had a hang of the light magic spells I had been teaching him. I wanted his help in inventing many spells in the future, so a little experience creating spells would come in handy, I reckoned.


    Before we adjourned the meeting, I asked elders Konri and Mann if there were any big herds of monsters nearby. They said there were some on the plains to the North, so I told them to set up a hunting party for tomorrow. This hunting party, I told them, needed to follow the herd from a safe distance and try to figure out their patterns of movement.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want them to hunt the monsters?¡± asked elder Mann.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°At least, not right away. See, one way to tame monsters is to do what I went to do with Kelser in the morning: you can make them like you by feeding them. But the other way to control them, is to manipulate their behavior. I think we can ward off a large section of land, maybe with barriers or the scent of large predators, or even with aggressive actions or fire spells. By making the herd stay within a small area that we control, we can try to control the whole group.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°And then we can chip away at them whenever we need food!¡± said elder Konri. ¡°It is amazing what we can do with magic. Thank you, once again, for this great gift, Teacher.¡±


    I scratched my head. ¡°I also think we can go through the forest and grab some eggs.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to eat them, Teacher?¡± asked elder Brol. ¡°We have some at our camp, if you would like some tonight.¡±


    ¡°No, the plan isn¡¯t to eat them. I want to hatch them,¡± I said.


    ¡°Hatch them?¡± said elder Brol.


    ¡°Yes, we can hatch them, and try to raise the birds ourselves. If there are any birds or birdlike monsters that can¡¯t fly, those would be ideal. Do any come to mind?¡± I asked.


    Elder Konri said there were some flightless bird monsters that lived in the forests to the South, but that they only came out at night. We decided to look for their nests during the day and to gather enough eggs to raise some of the monsters ourselves. Hopefully, taking care of them as soon as they hatched would help us domesticate them, reasonably quickly.


    And so the rest of the meeting carried on late into the night. We shared ways of preserving food, extracting juices and nectar out of various plants, and even the benefits of bone marrow or other monster by-products. Soon, we had a decent plan for storing food for the winter, as well as for growing our own farms and domesticating monsters for food and as beasts of burden.


    I also asked the tribes who didn¡¯t have a lot of tasks, to prepare a party to return to the native copper mine near the Roja tribe¡¯s territory, so they could bring back more copper. We also decided to make more wheels, shovels, and tools, now that we had access to a lot of clay, limestone, and wood. Honestly, this riverside area was an amazing place for prehistoric resources. If we could just get some tin, we could even start making bronze tools and weapons, which would make a lot of our tasks even easier than before.


    With some more promises of toys and games, the meeting was adjourned. The elders returned to their camps, which were all deathly silent by now. Many humans were out and about on night-watch, stoking the smoldering campfires with long sticks or the ends of their spears. I decided to go for a walk to the river, exhausted from the events of the day.


    Kelser, who had been with me throughout the meeting, silently followed behind me. I asked him how he was feeling, to which he shrugged and said he was tired. I chuckled and went down to the River Teg.


    The river was massive and full of life. It was a far cry from the Charles, which had changed my life so drastically the night I¡¯d fallen inside it. This river was so wide, I couldn¡¯t even see the other side. It made me realize how strange it was that the Imm and Oko tribes were even able to cross it every year. It was probably gentler downriver and shallower upriver.


    That was such a silly answer, I chastised myself in my head. Of course the river was gentler downriver and shallower upriver. Had the fatigue made me so dumb that I was confidently presenting obvious answers this way to myself? Man, I needed a break. A long, relaxing vacation. I sighed. I wasn¡¯t about to get that anytime soon.


    The homesickness hit me again, now that the day was over and the only sound in my ears was the roaring river. I also thought about Noel. Where was she? What was she doing? Was she alright? If I had to guess, she had gone East towards the plains where the human Jora lived. She¡¯d already heard that was where they were from, and probably thought she could find some answers there. Based on what I knew of her, I felt confident she would survive, especially because it was only a matter of time until she began making her own spells. Honestly, being next to me had probably slowed her down a bit, since she could always rely on me for new spells. Now that she was on her own, she could grow much faster.


    I looked over the river, thinking once again of the friend I had lost and the home that I was yearning to return to. A word surfaced in my head, the only clue I had that could lead me back to my world.


    ¡°Annihilation,¡± I whispered, standing on the banks of the roaring River Teg. I looked up at the crescent moon, its shape eerily like a dangling smile, plastered across the sky.

 Chapter 109

    ¡°My condolences to your family, elder Brol,¡± I said, laying a hand on the burly elderly man¡¯s shoulder.


    Elder Brol slowly nodded his head, his usual boisterous nature quelled by his sadness. The old man had been crying for a while, with his many family members trying to comfort him while they themselves were overcome with emotion. In front of them, lay a dead child, not more than ten years old. He held one of the toys I¡¯d been making for the past few days, in his cold lifeless hands. He¡¯d held on to it tightly all night, even as his health had worsened and his body had finally given up.


    For much of their existence, even on my Earth, human beings have had short life spans. Childhood mortality rates have been sky high since the beginning, with many mothers dying of childbirth. Those children that do survive their first, most dangerous years of life, may well lose their lives to disease before they entered adulthood. Even after that, adults rarely achieved the long lifespans that the humans of my world had taken for granted. Most humans in this prehistoric world would not live to the age of forty.


    And the sorrowful scene in front of me was a reminder of this grim reality. And the worst part was, I was about to make things a whole lot worse. Shifting from a hunter gatherer to an agricultural lifestyle was a recipe for medical disaster. So many humans in such close proximity for prolonged periods of time would surely breed disease and unsanitary conditions. I could make things better by building proper sanitation networks with drains and waste disposal, as well as by spreading soap the way I had already started to, but it wasn¡¯t going to be enough.


    It had been several weeks since we had arrived at this new, unnamed settlement. The tribesmen had already begun sowing seeds, and gathering and preserving food for the winter. Piles of salt and salted meat, the first batches of wine-like drinks were being made into vinegar, and many fruits were being dried as much as possible in the hopes of sealing them inside hardened clay vessels. The Oko and Imm tribes had made several expeditions far into the tundra, marking spaces where meat could be frozen, and several herds of monsters had been corralled and many eggs were being warmed by sufficiently distant fires. Things were coming along nicely, but the many deaths that I had been witnessing now that I was fully immersed within the tribes, had been very disconcerting for someone who came from the modern world, like me. It had never been a problem in the elfin tribes, since elves seemed to be very resistant to disease and lived for many, many years.


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s okay?¡± I asked, facing the crying elder.


    He nodded his head and looked away. Most of the other family members looked on, which proved to me that death was so common here, especially among children, that most people took it in stride. Only the elder was strange, because he was fond of his grandchildren, even though he knew many of them would die young.


    I took my sharp copper dagger and covered my mouth and nose with a rag. I made an incision in the skin and began dissecting the corpse, making sure that my hands were covered in the treated leather gloves that I had haphazardly shaped for this occasion. This child had been sick for a while now, and I had been trying to treat him to the best of my ability. However, the tribesmen knew he wasn¡¯t long for this world, and I had managed to get his family¡¯s permission to cut him up to help me save the lives of many children in the future.


    It was quite a gruesome and nauseating process, navigating the human body from the inside. The first thing I did was to note if all the organs were in the same places as they were in humans from my Earth. They were. Then, I checked inside some of the major organs, like the lungs and the heart, to see if they were the same. They were. After some more experiments, I was able to conclude, that the humans of this world had the same body as the humans of my world. Whether this meant that the medical knowledge of my world would apply the same way in this world, I couldn¡¯t say for certain. At least not until I did some more experiments on germs and microorganisms.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    I helped bury the child myself, following the traditions of the Ibog tribe. I gingerly clasped his hands around the toy as we lowered him into the ground, and spoke some words over his grave to help console the still grieving elder Brol. His family eventually managed to drag him away, and I went to the river with some soap to clean my hands. I threw away some of the bloody rags I had used, but washed the gloves so they could be used again. This may have been the first body that I had cut open, but it would certainly not be the last.


    I had already started spreading sanitary practices among the tribesmen, and insisted that water be treated to my satisfaction, especially before it was drunk by kids. I made a simple water filtration system out of sand, rocks, gravel and charcoal, although I wasn¡¯t sure how helpful the charcoal would be, since it wasn¡¯t the special activated kind used in filtration systems in my world. Still, I was hoping that boiling it after putting it through the system would keep the worst of water-borne illnesses at bay.


    I knew medical magic had to be one of my top priorities if I wanted to help the tribesmen succeed. And I definitely needed them to survive and prosper, in order for me to achieve my goals. After cutting open the child¡¯s body, and doing a few more tests on water and fungi, I felt like I was ready to start working on modern medicine.


    I had been tempted to use pre-modern concepts like herbology and the Greek four humors to invent some sort of inefficient but usable medical magic spells, but realized quite quickly that it would probably be faster and more efficient to just jump straight to modern medicine. I realized, however, that I could make some usable magic out of the Greek four humors in particular, which was a system of medicine that relied on ¡®balancing¡¯ the four ¡®humors¡¯ within a human body. The wisdom required to judge what a balance of four whole substances was, would be tough, so I had to make a spell that did not rely on balance.


    ¡®Humorism¡¯ as it was sometimes called, looked to balance blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm, but I had no idea what it meant to balance or work with these substances. I did know that they had different characteristics, and that the theory placed a lot of importance on the liver, but beyond that, I didn¡¯t know too much about it.


    I ended up making a single spell from this flawed theory, since it didn¡¯t take too much effort. I called the spell ¡®mood regulation.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t a psychological spell, that let me control people¡¯s emotional state. All it did was help me calm someone down by balancing the essence of the four humors in their body. The spell only worked when someone was in pain from disease, and not from wounds, but it had already proven useful. I¡¯d used it to make the little boy¡¯s exit from this world just a little bit less painful.


    The spell was based on a justified belief, but the truth part was kind of debatable. I knew the next step I had to take was to work on three things: vaccines, antibiotics, and germ theory.


    ¡°Are there any monsters you know that also get smallpox?¡± I asked Kelser, who had been tagging along like always.


    ¡°Smallpox?¡± he asked.


    I described the disease. I hadn¡¯t seen any children with smallpox so far, but I felt like it was worth a try. The problem with diseases in this world was that there was no guarantee they would work the same way they did in my world. There was no reason for there to be smallpox in this world, and there was no reason for there to be something like cowpox, which was used to invent the first inoculations back on my Earth.


    Somehow, it looked like a similar disease existed in this world, and that the herds of animals we were managing on the plains had a disease just like it. I brought in an infected animal¡¯s carcass, and examined the pus. It looked like it might work. It was gross and there were no guarantees, but I figured it was worth the risk. I inoculated myself, first, and waited in case there were side effects. In a few days, I began inoculating some more people. I didn¡¯t inoculate everyone, both because I needed to compare outcomes and just in case this monster disease was actually really dangerous. Thankfully, it looked like the disease was at least safe in humans and elves, although I could not speak for the effectiveness, just yet.


    I spent a few more days working on medical magic, before gathering my strength, and making a trip to the sea.

 Chapter 110

    ¡°Calm down, girl!¡± I cried aloud.


    ¡°How do you know it¡¯s a girl?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°I checked,¡± I said, patting her on the head.


    ¡°And why did it listen to you so easily?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Because I¡¯ve been sneaking her some fruit,¡± I said.


    ¡°But you told me not to do that!¡± he said.


    ¡°Of course, I can¡¯t have her liking you more than me,¡± I said with a chuckle.


    Kelser complained as I laughed. Somehow, it felt like Paris was laughing underneath me too. Kelser and I were sitting on top of the Fil Tusker¡¯s body, strapped to her with a crude leather harness I had made with the help of some tribesmen who had a knack for this sort of thing. Paris was lunging across the plains, following the River Teg West towards the sea.


    We¡¯d managed to get her to let us ride on top of her yesterday. The entire process had been surprisingly quick. I was not expecting a cowardly herbivore like her to trust me for at least a few months. However, it seemed like she didn¡¯t have a lot of wariness towards humans, possibly because the Oko and Imm didn¡¯t stay around this area for too long and rarely hunted Fil Tuskers. The large but swift beasts ran away at the slightest sign of trouble and the hunters rarely considered them worth chasing down.


    Now, Paris was more than willing to carry me and Kelser around in exchange for some fruit. Luckily, we were a lot better at getting fruit from treetops than she was, which meant we could supply her with sweet bribes all along our little journey.


    The River Teg meandered this way and that, becoming flatter and wider as we approached the sea. The entire journey was definitely a lot longer than it needed to be, because we were forced to follow the river. Once we had better navigation systems set up, something like star charts or compasses, we could probably cut the journey in half.


    The telltale salty sea breeze came to meet us before we could see the sea. Probably because it was late at night and it was dark as hell. I¡¯d learned my lesson from last time, and insisted we make camp inland and only approach the sea in the morning. I did not want to be fighting another walking shark monster in the darkness.


    We didn¡¯t pack any tents, since we figured we could cuddle up to Paris if it rained. Luckily, the weather had been favorable and tonight was no exception. I fed Paris some more scavenged fruits and dried grass, while Kelser prepared our fish. Another perk of traveling next to a river, I suppose.


    I set up my motion detection magic, and realized I never taught this magic to Kelser and the other humans. I should probably fix that, I told myself, although I was sure I¡¯d forget about it again. I settled in for the night, curling up next to Paris. Both Kelser and I had realized that the Fil Tusker¡¯s warmth was incredibly comforting, and her skin made for an amazing pillow. I closed my eyes, preparing to sleep.


    ¡°Cas,¡± came a whisper.


    I didn¡¯t open my eyes. ¡°What is it, Kelser?¡±


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Trying to sleep,¡± I answered.


    ¡°No, I mean, why are you doing all of that other stuff. Teaching everyone magic, making wheels and copper weapons, setting up farms, and whatever that settlement is supposed to be. You¡¯re even making toys and games!¡± he said.


    ¡°Did you really have to ask all those questions right now?¡± I said, with a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s late. Go to sleep.¡±


    ¡°And Noel,¡± he said. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you looking for her?¡±


    ¡°Sleep,¡± I said, turning to the other side. ¡°We have to go to the beach tomorrow. You can ask that question in the morning.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been asking that question since the day she left,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯ve been brushing it aside since then, too. Why won¡¯t you give me an answer?¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s not important,¡± I said. ¡°Noel wants to get her revenge on the immortals, she can go get it.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to help her?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Help her?¡± I repeated. ¡°No, no I don¡¯t. I can¡¯t. I¡¯ve met the immortals, you haven¡¯t. You don¡¯t know how powerful they are. If Noel wants to take them on, she¡¯s insane, and there¡¯s no helping her.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t mean that,¡± he said.


    I didn¡¯t. But I couldn¡¯t admit that. ¡°Enough questions. It doesn¡¯t matter why I¡¯m doing what I¡¯m doing. All of the humans are going to be better off after this year. Trust me.¡±


    ¡°It would be a lot easier to trust you if I knew why you were doing this stuff. It¡¯s all so random and strange,¡± he said. ¡°You say you¡¯re from another world. I¡¯d trust you a lot more if you said everything you were doing was so you could go home.¡±


    ¡°Alright, fine, if that¡¯ll help you sleep better at night,¡± I said. ¡°Then you can think that! Believe that! Believe that the only reason I care about helping you guys is because it¡¯ll help me go back home, and not because I¡¯m a good guy who¡¯s worried about dragging all of you into our mess. Noel and I have already lost an entire tribe¡¯s worth of people to these immortals. Forgive me for thinking you were all going to turn to dust the moment I let you out of my sight. No, of course I¡¯m doing this because it¡¯ll somehow help me go home. Even though I have no idea how to return to my world! I have one clue, and it¡¯s a terrible one.¡±


    I chuckled and threw my hands into the air and opened my eyes and glared at the thin sliver of a moon hanging in the sky. ¡°Annihilation, he says to me, that accursed Immortal of Madness. Annihilation is the way back home. Annihilation! What does that mean? Nothing good, I can tell just from the word. Nothing worth working towards, or hoping for, or praying for, I reckon.¡±


    ¡°Annihilation?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yes!¡± I said, letting my voice carry into the distance for the first time. ¡°You know, Noel and I were getting on well with this one immortal, the Immortal of Desire. They were weird as hell, thirty birds as one person, or entity, or immortal or whatever we¡¯re supposed to call them. But hey, at least they didn¡¯t try to kill us with a laser firing golem or send us who knows how many years into the future. The future! What did he get by doing that? Huh? Tell me!¡±


    I was breathing heavily, blood rushing to my head. I was wide awake now, yelling at the sky. My hands were balled into fists and I was swinging them. I didn¡¯t stand up, but I felt like jumping up and stumbling about like a drunkard. Paris blew air out of her nose. Somehow, that calmed me down.


    ¡°Whatever,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re here now. There was no way I was finding Noel after she left. She didn¡¯t want to be found, and I didn¡¯t know where she could go. I¡¯m better off helping you guys survive whatever the immortals are going to through at you, and maybe, just maybe, all of that will help me find a way back home. But man!¡± I closed my eyes again, brought my arms down, and took a deep breath. There was a quiver in my voice when I spoke: ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know if this is the right decision, but it¡¯s my decision. I¡¯ll stick to it.¡±


    Silence. Paris was happy I¡¯d stopped speaking. She started taking her deep, soothing breaths again, and I almost let myself fall into unconsciousness.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for asking,¡± said Kelser.


    I waved a hand in the air. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Sleep.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I sighed. I heard Kelser turn over too. Probably facing away from me, too. Man, Kelser was relentless. I remembered the way he¡¯d reacted when Noel and I first met him. The kid had a golden heart, but he did not know how to read the room or be subtle with his questions. In a way, that was a good thing. It meant he was honest and trustworthy. But it also meant he was annoying as heck.


    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± came a voice.


    I almost groaned. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Annihilation,¡± he whispered. ¡°That¡¯s a strange word.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s especially strange for a word that¡¯s supposed to help you get home,¡± he said.


    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make any sense! If he wanted me to die, he could¡¯ve just told me to jump into the river. Why¡¯d he have to pick a crazy word like annihilation.¡±


    ¡°Die?¡± said Kelser. ¡°I mean, I guess it could mean that.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Yeah, I guess it could mean destruction, of the total and complete kind. To reduce something to nothingness. To obliterate something completely. I guess he¡¯d have to tell me to jump into a volcano. A river would still leave a corpse, I guess.¡±


    ¡°No, I mean, there¡¯s the other meaning, isn¡¯t there,¡± he said.


    I shot up, eyes wide. Paris was startled and let out a cry, but I didn¡¯t care. I turned towards Kelser, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook his messy red head awake.


    ¡°Explain,¡± I said, ¡°explain now!¡±

 Chapter 111

    I couldn¡¯t believe it. How could I overlook something so obvious? The Immortal of Madness didn¡¯t speak English! His ¡®clue¡¯ had been translated by my translation magic. Annihilation was such a specific word, with a meaning that did not translate well into many, many languages. And yet, the translation magic chose it. It chose that word instead of other, similar but more common words like destruction, and other less common words like decimation or obliteration.


    I was still holding onto Kelser¡¯s shoulders. I could see my frenzied eyes reflected in Kelser¡¯s. The poor kid had clammed up. I let him go but kept pressing him to speak. In fact, I was so enthusiastic, he couldn¡¯t get a word in for several minutes. Eventually, I calmed down, and let Kelser speak. He waited a moment, to make sure I was really going to stay still and quiet, before moving away. Just enough to be out of arm¡¯s reach.


    ¡°Like I was saying,¡± he said, ¡°there is another meaning for annihilation, isn¡¯t there?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°There isn¡¯t. Not in English, at least. I know other languages too, all from my old world. French, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, even Klingon and Esperanto, among many others, but this translation magic seems to stick to English for everything but names.¡±


    ¡°How is your knowledge of other languages relevant to this conversation?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t,¡± I said, quickly. ¡°My brain is just running on overdrive. Of course!¡± I yelled, once again. ¡°Of course I should have done this before, I should have pursued this line of analysis, of exploration and discovery. You know, there¡¯s a religion back on my world, called Judaism. Many of their holiest texts are written in Hebrew and Aramaic. But, there was a movement, a movement of mystics, scholars, and thinkers and poets of all sorts, who wondered what would happen if they translated their works into other languages.


    ¡°Other languages, can you believe it? Their sacred texts, full of stories and poetry and histories of many kinds. Rather than insisting their texts stay in one, sacred, original language, they wondered if they could learn more about their own history, culture, divinity and reality by looking at their sacred texts through the lenses of other cultures, other traditions, other languages!


    ¡°And now my brain is running away with it. Running away with this problem I couldn¡¯t unravel, this word: annihilation, and my mind is telling me, no, cursing me for not asking the Immortal of Madness to repeat it. To repeat it in many different languages. No, to say it in his own language, to write it down somewhere, or to imprint it into my mind. Anything that would let me translate the actual word that he said into other languages. Because now, I can only translate annihilation as I know it in English, when maybe it could have been more accurate to its original meaning in German or Latin or Greek, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know. Wait, I should calm down.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Yeah, I¡¯m sorry. I was just so frustrated. So frustrated for so long. I didn¡¯t think too much about it, because I was focusing on helping Noel find her family, but now that she¡¯s left me behind, the thought of going back home came back and took over my head.¡± I put my hands over my ears, let out an exasperated sound, and slumped back down, breathing heavily. ¡°Please,¡± I said, thoroughly exhausted. ¡°Go on.¡±


    Kelser looked at me like I had gone insane, and honestly, I couldn¡¯t blame him. My little tirade had a tinge of insanity on it, for sure. He repeated, once again, the sentence he¡¯d said twice by now, before continuing.


    ¡°There are two, similar but different, meanings for annihilation in my language,¡± he said. ¡°It can mean what you just said it meant. Complete destruction. To the point where there is nothing left. Yes, it can mean that. Like a tree burnt to ash where the ash is blown away by the wind and disappears. In the end, there is nothing left. But it can also mean complete destruction of one thing that becomes a part of something else.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t understand. It becomes a part of something else? How can something be completely destroyed, but still be a part of something else?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to explain it,¡± he said, his eyes darting about like he was trying to think of something. ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain, but it¡¯s clear as day in my head. Annihilation can be complete destruction, or it can be complete destruction when something becomes a part of something else.¡±


    I brought my palms together and pressed them against my lips. Okay. If this second meaning that Kelser was talking about was closer to the meaning of the word that the Immortal of Madness had said, it explained why the translation magic had chosen an obscure and specific word like annihilation.


    ¡°Okay, I see what the problem is. You might be describing it differently, but in my language, it sounds like you¡¯re saying annihilation means complete destruction and also complete destruction, but with something else at the end. Something about becoming a part of something else?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, not complete destruction,¡± he said. ¡°It can mean complete destruction, or complete destruction when something becomes a part of something else.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°That was super unhelpful.¡± I rapped by knuckles on my forehead. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re saying different words, but they¡¯re translated into essentially the same words in my language, but with a tiny difference in the end. I think I¡¯ve come across situations like this one between languages from my previous world, too, but I have no idea how to clarify this.¡± I frowned. ¡°You used the analogy of a tree burning down for the first meaning. Could you change that up a little to explain the second meaning?¡±


    Kelser waved his hands a little and tried to find the words. ¡°It¡¯s like. What if the tree is burning, but instead of thinking about what happens after, when the fire runs out and it becomes ash which can be blown away, we focus just on the first bit. The moment when the tree is on fire. At that moment, the tree may be gone, but it¡¯s become a part of the fire. It was completely destroyed when it became a part of something else.¡±


    I blinked. Whatever that concept was, I could not think of a good word for it in English. An idea popped to mind from Arabic, but it wasn¡¯t perfect either. No, this was too complicated to resolve right now. Despite my restlessness and frustration, I knew I had to spend some time on this. Preferably, when I was back at the encampment with all the other humans. Maybe they could describe it in different ways, or maybe I¡¯d come up with better ways of picking at the confusion description that Kelser had given me.


    For now, I asked Kelser some more questions, and decided to wrap it up for the night. My mind was racing as I cuddled against a now very annoyed and very sleepy Paris, and I could not fall asleep for the longest time. Finally, I felt like I was making progress. I was one step closer to returning to my own world, my home, my Earth. I don¡¯t remember when or how I fell asleep that night. But Kelser¡¯s convoluted explanation kept playing through my ears on repeat.


    A burning tree that is completely destroyed when it becomes a part of the fire. What a strange, clunky, and obtuse image. Exactly the kind of thing that falls between the cracks of language, unable to bridge the common understanding that we assume we all share.


    ---


    ¡°Do I really need to stand here and stare at the sea?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, as I prepared a rudimentary salt trap.


    ¡°But there¡¯s nothing to see here,¡± he said.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s hope it stays that way.¡±


    ¡°Not every coastline has a Limu Dogfish, you know,¡± he said.


    ¡°I won¡¯t take my chances with the walking sharks, thank you,¡± I said, as I prepared some dry sand for my glass making experiments.


    ¡°Why are you so worried about them anyway? Didn¡¯t you already kill one?¡± he said.


    ¡°You can never be too careful,¡± I said, as I heated up the sand in various ways, to produce small pieces of glass.


    The glass wasn¡¯t very good. It wasn¡¯t very clear nor very strong. And it certainly wouldn¡¯t help me with the experiments I wanted to run to improve my light magic. Still, it was an important start. Another party of tribesmen had already gathered a bunch of salt, so the salt we were gathering wasn¡¯t as important as this glass. I kept fiddling around with the glass, trying to make it cleaner and purer. I figured out that earth elemental magic could be really useful in removing impurities or manipulating the sand around. Soon, I had some small pieces of glass that could help me play around with light. I called out for Kelser to pack up, and we began making our way back to Paris, the Fil Tusker.


    I heard a wave crash against the shore. Then another. And another. I cursed under my breath, turned around, and fired off a burst of magic towards the shark monster sprinting towards us on its freakish legs.

 Chapter 112

    ¡°I told you, these things are everywhere,¡± I said.


    ¡°And I told you, they weren¡¯t worth worrying about,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Only because I was prepared for them,¡± I said.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t even need my help to take it down,¡± he said.


    ¡°Paris helped,¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean? She tried to run away!¡± he said.


    ¡°No, she made loud noises and failed to run away,¡± I said. ¡°Poor shark monster must have lost his mind seeing a scary monster like her.¡± I faced Paris the Fil Tusker and pinched its face. Her skin was too tough for me to pinch, and it clearly didn¡¯t understand the gesture, but whatever. She seemed to like the seaweed I was feeding her, so at least I had another reliable source of food for her in the winter. Not that I¡¯d been worried about that before. She seemed content with dried grass and evergreen leaves.


    ¡°And this soup sucks,¡± he said as he tried to eat the shark soup I¡¯d made from the Limu Dogfish.


    I shrugged. ¡°All I had were salt and seaweed.¡±


    ¡°Yes, exactly. The meat was salty enough on its own. The monster literally came from the sea. And the seaweed tastes weird,¡± he said.


    ¡°Paris likes it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Paris likes grass!¡± he exclaimed.


    We kept chattering away as we finished lunch. We were on our way back to the encampment along the River Teg, hauling our harvest of salt, shark monster meat, seaweed and glass, all the way back. It would have been impossible without Paris, which made me thankful again for the giant Fil Tusker.


    I kept asking Kelser about the definition of annihilation in his language for the rest of the journey, but he didn¡¯t say anything new. The language barrier for this word seemed too big to overcome over a few days, which was ridiculously annoying. I couldn¡¯t even tell if I was dumb for not understanding what Kelser was saying, or if it was Kelser¡¯s fault for not being able to explain it well enough.


    When we returned to the encampment, the first thing I did was reconvene a meeting of the elders. I¡¯d been a little worried about leaving the tribesmen alone, since I had no idea when the immortals would make their move, but the strangely normal night sky had given me the confidence to head out on my own for just a little while. Thankfully, nothing had gone wrong so far. The foraging and hunting parties had returned for the day, the wine-like drink was being made, and we were expecting the people who had gone North to the tundra and South to the natural copper mines to return any day now.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, very carefully, while gesturing for Kelser not to say anything. ¡°I need all of you to listen very carefully to the word that I am about to say. After I say it, I need each of you to think about what that word means to you. Think about a definition, maybe a sentence in which you can use it, any similar or related words, and also, try to describe its meaning through an analogy. Sound good?¡± They nodded. ¡°Alright. The word is: annihilation.¡±


    Some of the elders frowned. Others made different faces. Some, like elder Kezler, looked to the ground, muttering silently, or whispering their thoughts under their breaths.


    I waited patiently until it looked like everybody had their answers. I went around the campfire, asking everyone to whisper their answers in my ears so nobody else could hear it. After making one round, I went back to a few people, and asked them if they¡¯d given me every possible meaning to the word, at which point they said no and whispered in my ears again.


    I sat back down with my brows furrowed in confusion, and my restless heart beating relentlessly against my chest. It was the same. Their answers for this obscure word with an unusual second meaning, were all the same. These were different tribes, all of whom lived in different places and had different traditions. They had to have different dialects or variations of words, right? But then why were their answers the same?If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Just to make sure, I told them to repeat the word to me one by one when I pointed at them. Then, I turned off my translation magic, and heard the word as they said it. One by one, I pointed at each elder, strained my ears, and heard the same word leave their lips. They even pronounced it the same way! I also asked them to repeat their strange second definition in their language, and confirmed that I had been right about the first and second definitions using different words, both of which my translation magic translated to ¡®complete destruction.¡¯


    Frustrating as it was, I had to give up. This was a dead end. I¡¯d think about it some more on my own time, but right now, I was in a meeting and the night was wearing on and these old men and women would be getting tired soon. I asked about the farms and herded monsters, before showing them the pieces of glass that I¡¯d prepared. I told them I was going to use this glass to make some more light magic spells, and that I wanted some young people to hang around me while I made the spells. Hopefully, that would help the humans come up with their own spells, soon.


    I also repeated that the kind of salt that we¡¯d gathered wasn¡¯t going to be enough to preserve the meat on its own, and we went over some ideas on how to preserve meat for the winter months using a mixture of salt, smoking, and relatively airtight clay jars and pots, which could be made even better with some earth and air magic.


    I went to sleep that night still thinking about annihilation and its strange second meaning. That clunky second definition kept bouncing around my head as I drifted into unconsciousness once again. I realized, this was probably going to become a nightly ritual.


    ---


    ¡°A little more to the right,¡± I said.


    ¡°Like this?¡± asked Kann Imm.


    ¡°No, a little more,¡± I said.


    ¡°Here?¡± she said.


    ¡°Perfect,¡± I said. ¡°You, move a little to the left.¡±


    ¡°Like this?¡± asked Kirs Nare.


    ¡°No, a little more,¡± I said.


    ¡°Here?¡± he said.


    ¡°Perfect,¡± I said. ¡°Couples.¡± I shook my head. They really suited each other, despite their contrasting personalities.


    I was making the two of them move the pieces of glass around above me while I hugged the floor and stared at the way the light refracted and focused. I didn¡¯t have any scientific instruments, and my glass wasn¡¯t very clear, and it certainly wasn¡¯t shaped into the kind of lenses I would need for basic light experiments, but just watching the way the light was being changed by the glass was already confirming many things about the way light worked in this world. Essentially, it was confirming that it worked similarly to light on my Earth, which was great news.


    I wouldn¡¯t be able to make any laser spells just yet, since lasers aren¡¯t just ¡®concentrated¡¯ light, which is what many science fiction stories make them out to be, but I could manipulate light a lot better now. I took the shirt off my back and made Kelser hold it above the ground. I ignored the strange looks I was getting from the many onlooking humans, and focused on the shadow the tunic was casting on the ground.


    I should also take this moment to mention, that I had long since made underwear for myself, which was why I was willing to take off my tunic. Anyways, I raised my hands towards the shadow, and cast my brand new light magic spell.


    Half of the shadow was wiped out, as my hands started to glow. I smiled and turned to the young humans who were standing around me, many of them staring at me in awe. Even Kelser¡¯s eyes were wide open in admiration. He must be as excited by this spell as I was!


    ¡°This is amazing, Cas!¡± he said.


    ¡°Teacher Cas, you¡¯ve outdone yourself!¡± said Kirs Nare.


    ¡°This spell could change everything!¡± said Kann Imm.


    Other young humans praised me too. I accepted their praise, a wide grin on my face.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve done this!¡± said Cas. He returned my tunic and I wore it with pride. The little red head was so excited he was practically jumping in place with joy. ¡°You¡¯ve made a spell that¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± I said, putting a hand in the air to stop him. I¡¯d wanted all of these young people around to inspire them to try to make brilliant spells for themselves. A little dramatic flair would help make this moment unforgettable.


    ¡°I have made a spell,¡± I said, speaking each word slowly and deliberately as I paced around the crowd. ¡°That can reflect light!¡±


    I closed my eyes, struck a pose and waited for more praise. But none came. I opened my eyes and saw all the young humans giving me awkward looks.


    Kelser scratched his chin. Kirs coughed into his fist. Kann looked away.


    Well, I mused to myself. This moment was definitely unforgettable.

 Chapter 113

    ¡°Do they know how complicated light is?¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s one thing to manipulate a process like combustion, which can produce light as a by-product, but creating light itself? What, do they think I¡¯m a genie, making their wildest dreams come true? These things take time. Time, I say! Speaking of time, do they want me to start time traveling too now, huh? I mean, I¡¯m already doing it, aren¡¯t I? Look, I traveled a second into the future. Oh look, I did it again! It¡¯s pretty impressive if you think about it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Cas,¡± said Kelser. ¡°It was just a tiny misunderstanding. You don¡¯t have to keep talking about it.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯m rambling to hide my embarrassment. I do that sometimes. Say a bunch of smart sounding words, put together in fancy sentence constructions, and suddenly, people don¡¯t think you¡¯re the kind of person that can make a fool of themselves! Works every time,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°I swear, you won¡¯t believe the number of times I¡¯ve gotten out of awkward situations by rattling on about lithium ion batteries and funny sounding names of companies in Japanese. Seriously, people forget all about the time you call someone by their ex¡¯s name after they hear you say Walt Disney and Berkshire Hathaway in Japanese,¡± I said.


    ¡°You know, I can only keep pretending like I know what you¡¯re talking about for so long,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°See? I¡¯ve replaced the awkwardness with confusion. You¡¯re welcome. Another job well done by Caspian the rambler,¡± I said.


    It was almost dusk, which meant most of my light magic wasn¡¯t going to work. I was still stuck manipulating light in minor ways, since my light magic wasn¡¯t advanced enough to do anything else, which meant I could not use light magic at night. I mean, I could, but it wouldn¡¯t be very powerful. The glass had helped me improve my invisibility magic enough that I could make myself blend into the darkness at night, as long as the light source was stable. That meant I could hide in the moonlight, but could be revealed by a torch, or by clouds rolling over the moon.


    Kelser shook his head, and I put this embarrassing situation behind me. I went around to the elders, asked about how things were going, and decided to begin planning for the winter, properly. I gathered the elders again, this time before nightfall.


    ¡°We need to know how many people we need to feed for the winter,¡± I said.


    ¡°We would prefer to feed everyone, Teacher,¡± said elder Brol.


    ¡°No, I mean of course, I mean,¡± I stammered. Darn this crappy translation magic! ¡°I mean we need to know how many people are here at this encampment, so we can prepare for the winter.¡±


    Of course, they didn¡¯t have a system for arithmetic and counting large numbers, so I introduced Arabic numerals. Then, I realized that system was too complicated for what I needed to do right now, and most of the tribesmen were giving me confused looks, so I decided a rudimentary tally system would suffice. I grabbed a whole bunch of sticks, and told the elders to bring me a stick for every single human in their tribe, regardless of their age. If someone was pregnant, they might as well bring a stick for the child, too.


    I also asked them to estimate how many days there were in winter, but the lack of arithmetic really hurt us there too. In the end, I had a rough estimate of how long this winter was going to be, but I knew not to trust the numbers too much.


    By the time the elders returned, the sun had already set, and I was sitting by a campfire. I gathered up all the sticks and started counting them separately. I wrote some numbers on the ground, both to help me keep count and to get everyone comfortable with them. When I was done, I knew the population of every tribe, as well as the population of the entire encampment.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    There were a hundred and seventeen humans in this encampment. That meant there were 118 mouths to feed, including mine, as well as one large Fil Tusker, although she was happy munching on grass, and this place didn¡¯t lose its grass in the winter so I knew she¡¯d be okay.


    I made some calculations based on how long people thought the winter was going to last, the availability of food in the region during the winter, as well as the possibility of moving further South if necessary.


    Thankfully, this was the place the Imm and Oko tribes came to for the winter, so it didn¡¯t get too cold, and the river and the sea provided plenty of fish throughout the season. There weren¡¯t going to be a lot of fruits and vegetables, but a lot of small monsters would migrate to down here from the North, which would help keep us fed.


    That morning, we began making our first batch of vinegar. The wine-like substance we were going to use didn¡¯t work out in the beginning, but I made some changes in the clay pots we were using, by plugging up holes with earth magic, and soon, we had some vinegar!


    I realized earth, air, and water magic could be really useful for food preservation, and decided to try preserving stuff in a brine solution before draining it out with magic and sealing the pot with magic. Hopefully, that¡¯d make it hard for stuff to rot, but I didn¡¯t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. As soon as we had enough vinegar to go around, I started pickling vegetables to preserve them for the winter.


    I made a stone storage space for grain, and hoped pests wouldn¡¯t be able to get into it if I sealed it off properly. I knew some grains from my Earth lasted longer if their outer coatings were removed, and I asked the tribesmen if they knew that was the case for their grains. They said most grains should survive the winter in their natural form.


    The tribes also knew of various plants and herbs that could help preserve food. One of them had a strange minty spell and it kept all sorts of insects away. I figured if this world had mosquitoes, these herbs would have been even more popular.


    We stuck some of the herbs in the grain storage spaces, as well as among many of the tubers, dried fruits, and smoked meats, and rubbed sap from some plants over different types of food. By this point, we had a game plan for the winter, and were busy gathering everything that we could. The farms wouldn¡¯t be ready yet, but the herded animals, plentiful seafood, and stored food would see us through.


    As the summer wore on, I spent most of my days checking up on the food storage, setting up the farms, and marking trails for our herded animals. The Roja kept supervising magic lessons, while getting their own lessons from me and Kelser. And Kelser trained with me to try and invent his own spells.


    Summer turned to fall. Leaves fell, the heat died down, and the rains began pouring. It was around this time that I figured we could make simple shelters. There was a lot of clay near the river, and it was easy to shape with earth magic, and even easier to bake with fire magic. Soon, our little encampment was dotted with little ramshackle clay huts. They weren¡¯t the prettiest of things to look at, but they got the job done.


    I moved the stone slab I was using to mark the days until the solstice into my hut, which was a small one I¡¯d made myself. I even dug out a little basement with earth magic, which was where I liked to experiment with some of my spells. By playing with light sources in the darkness, I was able to improve my light magic even more. Now, I could take a light source, like a torch, and spread its light to fill a room! Things would look a little blurry, but I was able to see further with this spell.


    But I didn¡¯t think I could get much further with light magic without running some pretty difficult experiments. And so, I decided to go back to motion magic. Motion magic, which was still stuck in the classical period conclusions from my previous world, had to be brought up to speed. And I knew just how to do it!


    ¡°See this?¡± I said.


    ¡°What, the pebble?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Exactly! Look!¡± I released the pebble and let it roll down the stone slab I¡¯d propped up at an incline.


    ¡°What am I supposed to be looking at?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That!¡± I pointed at the pebble as it ran into a stone, and came to a rest. ¡°See? It was rolling, rolling, rolling, until it hit something and stopped!¡±


    Kelser gave me a strange look. He looked at the pebble. Then he looked at me. He opened his mouth, and closed it again. Eventually, he scratched his head and strolled over to me. He pat my back, gently, and said: ¡°Let¡¯s get you some rest. You¡¯ve overworked yourself into insanity.¡±

 Chapter 114

    ¡°Newton¡¯s laws of motion!¡± I said.


    ¡°Why are you saying that like I¡¯m supposed to know what it means,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t expect you to know what that means. I¡¯m saying it out loud because it¡¯s a momentous occasion. You see, Newton was this guy from my previous world,¡± I said.


    ¡°He has a funny name,¡± he said.


    ¡°I know right? All of them have funny names. It¡¯s like that was part of the package. Wanna be a history making genius? Better have a weird name!¡± I said. ¡°Anyway, there was a fruit on my Earth, called an apple, and it grew on trees. The story goes, this guy named Newton was sitting under an apple tree when one of the apples fell and hit him on his head. Inspired by the way the apple had fallen, Newton went and wrote about stuff like motion!¡±


    ¡°Being inspired by a falling fruit is a little suspicious. Are you sure there wasn¡¯t some sort of magic involved?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°The story¡¯s probably an exaggeration. I doubt the guy was hit by an apple and started spouting out statements about velocity and gravity,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right¡­¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°What really sucked was that I wasn¡¯t able to turn his laws of motion into spells before. I tried, back when I first started making motion magic spells, but they just wouldn¡¯t work. I hadn¡¯t built up enough knowledge or wisdom, but now, after using motion magic for a few months, I think I¡¯m ready to take the next step,¡± I said.


    It was an afternoon on a wonderfully breezy day. The sun had just dipped behind the clouds, rendering the landscape a subtle pale hue. I was sitting near a bend in the river with Kelser. In the distance, I could hear the yells and grunts of a few dozen humans practicing their magic. They were the advanced magic users, many of whom had already started working on light magic spells. Most of them were from the Roja tribe, although as time had worn on, a handful of talented people from the other tribes had joined their ranks. The class was being led by the best magic users in all of the tribes, all of whom were from the Roja tribe and were being supervised by elder Kezler.


    By this point in the fall, we¡¯d figured out a nice schedule that let everyone have separate classes with the people right above their skill level. The people who were still stuck at the basics of magic, many of whom were children, were being taught by the people who had just started learning more than one elemental magic spell. Those people were taught by people who had learned all of the elemental spells, who were taught by people who had learned motion magic, and so on until the advanced class that I had just mentioned, who were taught by people like elder Kezler. This way, some people would be free to forage and hunt and do other chores, while everyone could get the magic practice they needed.


    The toughest part had been finding the time to teach Kelser while also teaching myself. Unlike Noel, who was good enough to be a partner of sorts, Kelser was younger and less quick witted. He made up for it by being resourceful and naturally talented, but he wasn¡¯t as good at the sort of logical connections and fast thinking that had made me think Noel could come up with her own spells in a few weeks. In fact, now that she was on her own out there, I was sure she¡¯d made a bunch of spells to help her survive.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°The laws of motion aren¡¯t that complicated,¡± I said. ¡°In fact, after I explain them to you, you might even say they were so obvious I didn¡¯t need to explain them at all. The thing is, articulating stuff like this is difficult. If I told you to define motion for me right now, and to tell me the limits and rules of that definition, I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be able to do it. Heck, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to do it if I didn¡¯t already know about them.¡±


    Kelser thought about it for a second. He had his hand on his chin, his eyebrows furrowed, which made him look really funny. ¡°The stuff I learned about motion for the magic hands spell doesn¡¯t feel like a definition. They might be part of the restrictions and rules, but only in my head. They don¡¯t seem to apply to the real world at all.¡±


    ¡°Exactly,¡± I said. ¡°That stuff was based on purely abstract reasoning. The sort of thing that could help us get off the ground without running experiments and stuff, but isn¡¯t very helpful if we want to explain the world around us as we live and experience it. Instead, these laws of motion can help us look at the way things move around us and set some rules or laws for motion as we observe it in the physical world.


    ¡°First, there is the law of inertia. If I don¡¯t move this pebble, it won¡¯t move. If the pebble is moving, it will not stop until I stop it with my hand or it hits enough air to make it stop.


    ¡°Then, the law of force. Force is the change of momentum over a period of time. Momentum is how heavy something is and how fast it is moving. This law is actually a lot more complicated than that, but we don¡¯t have the tools we need to make use of this, so I¡¯ll leave it at that. For now, we can use it to understand the motion of this pebble better. If the pebble is moving faster near the bottom of the slab than at the top, we can try to find the force being applied to it. The mass of the pebble hasn¡¯t changed, but the speed has. We can¡¯t assign numbers to this change just yet, but we can understand what that says about the force of gravity!


    ¡°And finally, the law of action and reaction. Every time an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first object. If I push against this pebble, which means I¡¯m applying force to it, it sort of pushes back against me and in reaction, the pebble moves forward.


    ¡°All three of these laws can help us better understand motion, which will help with motion magic. But they also help us understand other types of magic, like gravity magic. In fact, I¡¯m probably going to make a category of magic that revolves around these principles. We can call it, physical magic!¡±


    ¡°That was a lot to take in all at once,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yeah, but see how simple they each are?¡± I said as I let another pebble roll down the inclined stone slab. ¡°All of those principles are inside a few experiments. We have to do a bunch of them, mostly to show how other laws might not define motion instead. And also because we don¡¯t have something right now that Newton had.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Mathematics,¡± I said. ¡°Or more specifically, the sort of advanced mathematics we would need to truly prove something like this. At some point in the near future, I¡¯m going to sit in a cave somewhere and scribble a bunch of mathematical proofs and equations that¡¯ll give us the tools we need to make a lot of amazing magic happen, but right now is not that time.


    ¡°Instead, I think we can make a few simple spells based on these laws. The spells won¡¯t be as amazing as they could be, because my belief in them won¡¯t be completely justified, but it should be good enough for now. I can always come back to them later!¡±


    I let another people fall down the inclined stone slab. ¡°Okay, go grab some of those washed up branches over there. The ones by the river. Yeah, those ones. We need to start running some experiments. There¡¯s only so much we can prove by rolling and stopping pebbles at an incline. Oh, and throw a couple of the lighter ones back into the river. We might as well start observing buoyancy as well!¡±

 Chapter 115

    Winter crept onto the plains like a stalking predator; there were very few signs of its approach, before it pounced on the landscape with full ferocity.


    Many of the animals we had been hunting disappeared. The tribesmen said they didn¡¯t migrate South, as I had assumed, but actually went somewhere further East. I made a note to investigate that in the future, although the Jora tribe said the open plains in that direction were full of so many terrifying monsters that no human could possibly cross them.


    There were no more fruits on the trees and very few tubers and edible roots and grains in the surrounding areas. The Oko and Imm tribes had already started making treks up to the freezing tundra, where they buried many fresh kills in their marked locations. We were sure most of them would be dug up by hungry monsters, but enough should be available for us to use in a pinch. Besides, keeping the monsters away from our camp down here was worth sacrificing a little meat.


    The land around the river didn¡¯t get much colder than it had been in the fall, but the signs of the winter were everywhere. Many trees lay bare and naked, the days were shorter, and even the River Teg seemed lethargic. As if it was hugging the earth for warmth on the chilly evenings when your breath turns white and your extremities become numb until the fire lets you feel them again.


    The tribesmen told me winter wasn¡¯t as scary for them now that they had access to fire magic. The biggest issue they¡¯d had to deal with during the winter hadn¡¯t been the lack of stuff to forage and hunt, but the lack of time in which it was possible for them to leave the safety of their camps. Since the days were shorter, and their clothes weren¡¯t very thick, many people would die to what I could only assume was pneumonia or frostbite, while they were heading out further and further searching for sparser and sparser sources of food.


    But now, thanks to fire magic, they could whip up a fire as soon as they felt cold, and some hunting parties had even been out for a couple of days, which was something they could not do without fire magic.


    Magic had, in general, made the lives of the tribesmen much better. By this point, a lot of adults had moved onto motion magic, and were using magic hands to help with daily chores and tasks. As I walked through the camp, I saw a woman nursing a baby in one hand while stopping a toddler from running away with a magic hand. A couple of teenagers were sitting behind a tent, trying to see who could slingshot a pebble the farthest with their magic hands. I even saw an old man drawing an embarrassing mural of an elf that looked just like me, using two magic hands in addition to his own in order to finish more quickly.


    I walked up to elder Kezler, and tapped him on the head. I put my hands on my waists, and gave him an exasperated look. He said he was just trying to honor me for all I had done, at which point I told him the humans had worked had to achieve their own progress, and that he should make a mural of the entire encampment, if he had so much free time on his hands. He bowed his head and said that was a great idea. He grabbed elders Sommi, Anki, and even Priest Mal, and had them start work on this project. I shook my head. Had all of them been working on this thing? Man, these people needed a hobby. Maybe I should make them do more magic exercises if they had so much energy to spare?


    The food stores were holding up, the magic lessons were going well, and the tribesmen looked set to survive the winter more easily than ever before. Even the farms and herded monsters were doing well, which was surprising given the cold. Thankfully, the plants were used to the temperature changes because they naturally grew around here, and the herded monsters didn¡¯t seem to be of the migratory type. The grass around here didn¡¯t completely disappear with the cold, although I was sure they¡¯d overgraze the whole place if we kept them locked down to such a small area for a long period of time. We¡¯d have to think of a better solution for next year; assuming, that is, that this arrangement would be repeated for the next year.


    I had already begun talking to the elders to see if they wanted to turn this place into a permanent settlement. They were too reluctant to leave their own territories.


    ¡°The graves of our ancestors are too far away from here,¡± said elder Lipo.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Our traditional food is not available here,¡± said elder Brol.


    ¡°And this land is not as plentiful during the summer,¡± said elder Konri. ¡°That is why our tribe goes further North after the winter.¡±


    I bit my lips. It was obvious the only thing keeping them here was me. I had already noticed some disagreements forming between the tribes when I wasn¡¯t around. The stigma around the ¡®dishonored¡¯ tribes hadn¡¯t vanished, and for their part, the ¡®dishonored¡¯ tribes weren¡¯t too happy with the other tribes either. These tribes had lost many of their elders, which meant their best magicians and influential personalities had disappeared overnight. The Jora tribe in particular was struggling to make things work with just Priest Mal. For some reason, they were refusing to elevate anyone else to the position of priest, since that was something that could only happen at the summer solstice festival at Bek Tepe.


    ¡°But the farms will be ready by the spring,¡± I said. ¡°A reliable source of food, which will only get better as time goes on, is here, on your fingertips. Is that not worth a little sacrifice?¡±


    The elders frowned and discussed among themselves.


    ¡°If that is your advice,¡± said elder Konri, ¡°then we will follow it, Teacher.¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want you to follow it because of me. Follow it because it makes sense. And because it gives you a stable future, even after I¡¯m gone.¡±


    Silence.


    ¡°After you¡¯re gone, Teacher?¡± asked elder Kezler.


    ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°Nothing lasts forever. There must be a time when I leave you. Who knows when that will be. In a year. Or ten. Or maybe after your grandchildren have crept into their graves. I don¡¯t know. All I know is that the day will come when I will no longer be with you.


    ¡°There is a reason I have not been teaching everyone magic at every level, and it isn¡¯t only to save me some time. It¡¯s because I wanted all of you to be able to pass on your magic, to create new spells, make the whole system your own. I do not want to make the same mistake I made with the elfin Jora tribe, the tribe I called my family when I first came to this world. I do not want you to meet your end because I am gone. No, I will not let that happen. Not again! Not again.¡±


    My sappy speech made them start praising me again, but this time, I couldn¡¯t stop them. I had to let them get it out of their system, before we could start making some progress. We decided the tribes could go back to their homelands as long as they left some people behind to maintain this settlement. Once the farms were ready, and everybody had improved their magic to a reasonable level, this place could run with less hands on deck. It all depended on how well we dealt with this winter and judging by how well we were doing so far, I was quite hopeful.


    ¡°Teacher, I have to say, that medical magic spell that Kelser was using was the most amazing thing I have ever seen,¡± said elder Sommi. ¡°I was skeptical when I first heard you describe it, but it really did make childbirth much easier on the mother. If we could get more women to learn the spell and understand its benefits, we could save many lives!¡±


    ¡°Teacher, can you show me that motion magic spell again after this meeting? I think I was on the verge of a breakthrough when you showed it to me this morning!¡± said elder Brol. ¡°I never expected that I could run faster by using wind magic in front of my body, rather than behind it! Only you could think of something like that, Teacher.¡±


    I scratched my chin and told the elders I¡¯d follow up with them in the morning. It was getting really late, and the nights were unbearably cold by this time of the season. The worst part, however, was the scene I could see out of the corner of my eye.


    A clear sky dotted with stars. The stars strung like pearls between two large circles. A full, silver moon, bright and mesmerizing. An iridescent red star, pulsing like a heart. I did not like being awake on nights like these. I was itching for the comfort of unconsciousness. Hoping to forget what felt like two massive eyes staring down at me like I was part of a culture of bacteria on a petri dish under a microscope.


    Someone yelled. I broke out of my thoughts. Elder Cota was pointing behind me. Over my head. I turned.


    A streak of golden light whizzed through the air, searing an arc across the sky as it descended from the heavens and disappeared into the horizon. A loud, low rumbling reverberated across the landscape. A baby began crying in the camp. I stood up and the elders started shouting orders to the hunters on standby.


    I looked back up at the moon and red star. I stared at them as if they would answer my questions. They remained silent, even as my surroundings erupted into a cacophonous frenzy.

 Chapter 116

    ¡°Are we sure it went in this direction?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°It was pretty dark last night, but I¡¯m sure I saw it go behind that forest in the distance.¡±


    It was dawn on the morning after we¡¯d seen the golden streak in the sky. Since I was worried about the immortals, I¡¯d told the elders to squash their curiosity and ignore it for the night. A couple of them had protested wildly, saying it was a sign or something, but I convinced them it wasn¡¯t worth it, especially this late at night. Even with the bright moonlight, finding something so small over such a large area would be pretty hard, especially with how cold it had been. We were better off sending search parties in the morning. Search parties that included myself and Kelser, the best magicians in the area.


    ¡°Are you sure it isn¡¯t a sign from the ancestors?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound like you believe that,¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t. But all the other kids said it was a gift from the ancestors for honoring you,¡± he said.


    I chuckled. ¡°Honoring me? You haven¡¯t even made me any statues.¡±


    ¡°You want statues?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. Anyways, I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s a gift, a curse, or something that¡¯ll be completely useless to us.¡±


    ¡°But you told me before that you knew what it was,¡± he said.


    ¡°I meant that I knew what it was in general,¡± I said. ¡°But it could be many things in particular. It¡¯s like saying I know something is a tree even if I don¡¯t know what kind of tree it is. Does that make sense?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± he said. ¡°Except trees don¡¯t fall from the sky.¡±


    We continued talking as we approached the forest. To be honest, it was more like a patch of trees that had grown around a small lake, but it was large enough to hide exactly where the streak had descended. The lake itself was probably a remnant of the river from when it changed course sometime in the past, which meant it would either dry up or the river flooded enough to fill it up once in a while.


    Kelser and I were out with a large hunting and foraging party. There weren¡¯t a lot of monsters on the plains these days, but some hunters had mentioned seeing a large shadow in the lake a week ago when they were out hunting nearby. Since there was a pretty good chance that the thing had fallen in the water, I decided we could use some extra eyes and water magic users.


    Besides, we needed a lot of people to comb through the forest and to spread out over the plains behind it. I didn¡¯t want to be searching for too long, since that would mess up the day¡¯s schedule, so I was prepared to call it quits if we couldn¡¯t find anything by noon.


    ¡°Wow,¡± I said as we passed through the thin line of trees and approached the lake. The lakeside was beautiful, like a scene out of a children¡¯s fantasy movie. I half expected a feminine hand to reach out from the middle of the pretty blue surface, clasping a large sword and proclaiming me King Arthur.


    Actually, now that I thought about it, something like that would be creepy as heck. How medieval people hadn¡¯t thought of that imagery as suspiciously diabolical was beyond me. Weren¡¯t they the same people killing women for being witches? I remembered a friend of mine mentioning how those women had been the medieval equivalent of suburban moms recommending herbal remedies to their friends and family. Burning someone alive for telling you to rub aloe on your husband¡¯s balding head was a little extreme but hey, maybe they should have held their breath under lakes and thrown up rusty old swords instead.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    My own thoughts made me chuckle, which made Kelser ask me what was wrong, and I refused to explain. That entire train of thought had been too out there to explain! Honestly, I understood that most of the other people around me were tense and confused because of the golden streak of light that had shook them awake, but I was pretty certain it was going to be harmless. And now that the day had broken and the moon and red star were out of sight, I felt much more calm and relaxed.


    Most of the tribesmen began fanning out through the trees while a group broke off to search the plains behind the little forest. Kelser accompanied me with a small group of advanced spell casters as we stepped up to the edge of the lake. Kann Imm and Kirs Nare, the married couple from some time ago, were both here with me. Both of them had turned out to be talented spell casters, joining the ranks of the advanced magicians of the Roja tribe, who had had a head start on everyone else.


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said as I eyed the water. It was pretty clear and I couldn¡¯t see the shadow that the hunters had mentioned, but I wasn¡¯t going to dismiss their report so easily. After all, the fact that I couldn¡¯t see any fish in this freshwater lake was disconcerting. ¡°I¡¯m going to start by throwing a few things inside the water. If something shoots up, try to use magic hands to hold it down, or fire magic to scare it away. Sound good?¡±


    The others nodded. I took a deep breath, grabbed a rock with my hands, and chucked it as far as I could. Plop. Ripples emanated across the surface. I stared, spells at the ready. After a while, I breathed out, and motioned for one of the accompanying Roja tribesmen to hand me the thing he had in his hand. He handed me the piece of meat, and I transferred it from my real hand to a magic hand. I then prepared my energy, and flung the piece of meat with a long magic hand attached to it, as far into the middle of the lake as I could.


    Smack. The piece of meat hit the surface, the sound echoing across the little forest. I let the bait sink slowly into the lake, increasing the length of my magic hand as necessary. I couldn¡¯t feel the water with my magic hands, and it took a lot of energy to maintain one so long, but I steeled my resolve and closed my eyes. I may not feel the water, but I would know when the bait was gone.


    Slowly. Gently. Like a leaf falling off a shedding tree in the fall, the bait descended further and further into the lake. There were no currents, no big forces pushing it this way or that. It continued to fall for several minutes, as I prepared to dispel my magic at the slightest sign of trouble. The last thing I wanted was to be pulled into the water by an other-worldly Nessy.


    I sighed in relief. It had been a good while. Thirty minutes, by my estimate. Either the hunters had not seen anything after all, or the thing was more afraid of us than we were of it. Either way, it was probably safe to search the lake, as long as we were careful and prepared for trouble. I began to reel in the piece of meat. It was still perfectly good bait. We could use it in a trap or something. Most monsters wouldn¡¯t mind if the bait was a little soggy, I reckoned.


    As I reeled in the magic hand, I heard a murmur from the people standing beside me. I still had my eyes closed, since I had been trying to feel for any changes in the water, but I opened them now. I assumed they¡¯d been spooked by the ripples created by my rapidly retreated magic hand.


    No, that wasn¡¯t it. Kelser had his hands out in front of his chest, readying spells. I followed his gaze out to the lake, and dispelled my magic hands. The bait wasn¡¯t worth it at this point. I quickly began preparing my own spells.


    A mound of mud had risen an inch above the lake¡¯s surface. Runny muck cascaded off the mound like murky rapids, with pebbles appearing from time to time like distraught kayakers. The mound grew larger and larger, until it was at least ten feet above the lake¡¯s surface. At what looked to be twenty feet wide, this thing was absolutely massive. The lake itself must have dropped a couple of inches when this thing came out. I stared cautiously at the monster, hoping the fact that it had not gone for the bait meant it wasn¡¯t carnivorous. We might be able to slowly win it over with other kinds of food, if the only reason it had come out was because we were intruding on its territory. After all, there was point in fighting something this massive if we could avoid it.


    The mound grew further and my eyes grew wide. I shouted for the others to retreat. Whatever it was that had fallen from the sky was not worth this fight! A couple of confused tribesmen hesitated. I scolded them and gave them a glare. They began running without looking back. Kelser stepped back carefully with me, never showing his back to the monster. I could see the beads of sweat running across his forehead. I was probably similarly visibly distressed.


    I stared at the monster again as its face emerged from the water at last. Two bright, beady eyes, covered in murky brown mud, stared at me. The huge mound we had seen emerge so far from the lake finally took shape into a pair of pointy ears and a furry head. The flowing mud cleared up the figure further. I held my breath, refusing to believe my eyes.


    Above the monster¡¯s eyes, were studded five star-shaped stones, burning red and flashing menacingly, intensified by reflections on the disturbed but clear lake surface.

 Chapter 117

    I saw the five stars studded on the monster¡¯s forehead and immediately began barking orders. Stop retreating. Listen to me. We couldn¡¯t retreat. The monster was too big and too close. Instead, I told the humans to close ranks behind me, and slowly inched backwards myself.


    The giant mud blob howled. Mud flung through the air, slinging off the monster¡¯s strangely long fur. What purpose did fur serve on a muddy blob monster? I did not know. But my mind raced through some possibilities. The most promising idea was that this monster did not actually live in the bottom of a lake, and had only gone down there for some reason. If so, we might have a chance to take it down while it was still in the middle of the lake.


    ¡°The people on my left, shoot fireballs, the people on my right, throw rocks,¡± I said as I prepared my own spells. ¡°Kelser, you¡¯re with me.¡±


    I took a deep breath and sprinted. The air in front of me parted, and my legs seemed to stride through the air without ever hitting the ground. I raced forward, air whistling past my ears and my vision growing blurry.


    Kelser should be running far behind me, ready to launch some spells as I approached the edge of the lake. Fireballs and large stones passed by me as I came to a halt right next to the lake. The monster roared as it swatted the spells out of the air with an oozing hand. The hand broke the surface of the lake, sending waves scurrying towards the shore, where one broke on the banks and showering my face with water.


    Cold water mixed with my sweat, trickling over my chest and making my hair stick to my scalp. I could see the monster more clearly now. It was still a blob of mud, but its ears and ears were more pronounced. The fur on its head was brown like mud, but I couldn¡¯t see any fur on its arms. Arms that were fast approaching my position, trailing globs of muck behind them.


    I dashed to the side with motion and air magic. The ground beneath me was pulled into the lake, as the mushy earth was swallowed by the water. I used balance magic to stand on top of a rock, jutting out of the now enlarged lake like the tip of an iceberg.


    The humans continued their barrage of fire and earth magic, which forced the monster to pull back and shield its head. The fact that a monster of this size was protecting its head made me think that was its weakness. The rest of its body was protected by water and thick layers of mud. None of our spells was going to hurt it anywhere but on its head.


    With its attention diverted, I prepared a slingshot using motion magic. This spell had gotten stronger since I combined it with air magic to reduce air resistance. From this distance, it would burst out like an explosion.


    The monster, perhaps sensing something, turned around and shot a column of water towards me. I jumped out of the way, letting my magic slingshot dissipate. Water splashed around me as I fell into the shallow edge of the lake. I spat but my mouth was gritty. Another loud roar rang out behind me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kelser pelting the monster with magic slingshots. His weren¡¯t as powerful as mine, but they were about as hard to block. The other humans were firing at the monster from three different directions, making it impossible to block all of their attacks. The monster was clearly hurting after having its head hit so many times.


    The monster roared. The lake receded, putting me on muddy ground. A wall of water appeared around the monster, stretching about as high as its ears. The wall of water absorbed the fireballs, earth magic, and slingshots that the humans had sent towards the monster.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Another loud roar. The wall of water fell like a tidal wave in every direction. I hugged the ground and used water and air magic to make an air bubble for myself. The water burst the bubble, knocked the wind out of my lungs, and dragged me far along the ground and away from the lake.


    I forced my aching, soggy body to move as debris rained down from the sky. A rock hit the mud with a splotch, and I rubbed the water from my eyes, and pressed my back against a large rock.


    The lake was much smaller now. The monster stood in the middle of it, the water reaching much lower along its body. I could now tell that this monster did not have any fur on the rest of its body, and that the rolling layers of mud might very well have been a part of its body in the first place.


    The water had washed a lot of the mud from its head, which revealed its animal-like ears and beady black eyes, but that revelation only made it look stranger. It looked like a slime from the neck down, but with a bestial head. Its arms were slimy. It could spew jets of muck from its hands, which is what helped me realize that the monster was still fighting some of the humans on the far side. They had somehow avoided the wall of water.


    I groaned as I stood up. The mud clinging to my body and the battering that I had received made me feel heavier than before. Still, I slowly crept up closer to the lake, and used balance magic to quietly make my way across the muddy ground from where the lake had receded. Now, I could tell the monster was fighting Kelser and a couple of other humans.


    I prepared another powered up magic slingshot, this time putting in a ball of natural copper as ammunition. The ball had a sharp edge, which I pointed towards the monster, although the monster had gotten so far pursuing Kelser and the others, that I wasn¡¯t sure if I would be able to hurt it much from this distance.


    I grit my teeth. I had to take the shot. I held my breath, positioned my magic, and waited for the monster to turn towards me. The back of its head was protected by a thick layer of hardened mud. If I could hit it from the other side, I might make a difference.


    A fireball whizzed over my head. There was someone behind me. The monster sensed the magic, turned its head a little bit, and swatted the magic out of the air. It almost turned right back around, but it must have seen me in the corner of its vision. It howled angrily, before unloading a stream of mud with one hand towards the people it had been fighting. Then, it turned towards me, and charged forward while raising its hand.


    I yelled as I released my slingshot and my breath. The copper ball shot through the air, with motion and air magic propelling it to ridiculous speeds. My body fell backwards from the recoil, as the immense energy required drained my reserves.


    A cry of pain, so loud it shook the ground. I hit the earth, and had to pick myself up by my elbows so I could see if I¡¯d hit the monster. Judging by the way it was holding its head, I could tell my shot had connected, but although it was swaying in agony, and had both of its muddy brown hands on its head, I didn¡¯t know if this was going to be enough.


    Layers of mud rolled over its head like chocolate syrup, hiding its most vulnerable spot inside the mud. The monster seemed to melt into the shallow lake, its body flattening while its arms floundered over its head and betrayed the agony occurring underneath.


    Bubbles burst over the surface of the muddy mound as the monster receded into the lake. The mound grew smaller and smaller, the monsters floundering gentler and gentler, until the mound fell below the surface of the lake, and tiny water bubbles popped over the surface.


    Soon, the bubbles stopped, and the lake¡¯s surface stilled. Somebody walked over to me and helped me stand up. I saw Kelser and many others on the other side. Doing a quick head count, I figured we hadn¡¯t lost anyone, which was a relief. Somebody shouted while pointing at the lake. My heart jumped into my chest again. I looked over.


    A strange stone had floated to the water¡¯s surface. It turned on top of the water, before coming to a rest like a leaf on still water.

 Chapter 118

    My eyes lit up despite my aching body. I used magic hands to grab the floating rock and drag it towards me. Once I had the rock, I directed the humans to retreat. I was pretty sure that mud monster wasn¡¯t dead. It was a five star monster, after all. The only other five star monster I¡¯d ever seen was The Terrible, and the only reason we¡¯d beaten The Terrible was because the Immortal of Desire had helped us by telling us its weakness.


    And after seeing this floating rock, and connecting it with the shooting star from last night, I figured I had a pretty good idea of why we¡¯d been able to take on this five starred mud monster, too. I figured the floating rock had been a meteorite, and it had hit the shallow lake, which explained why there was no impact crater, and it may have hit the monster as well, weakening it.


    We gathered the people that had gone searching in the nearby area, and rested at a good distance from the small forest. There were a lot of wounds and injuries among the people that had fought the five star monster, and it was a miracle that nobody had died. Even though I was incredibly tired, I mustered some energy and began treating the worst injuries with medical magic and first aid techniques. So far, the medical magic that I had learned could only do things like help clean out cuts, apply pressure, do some basic incisions and superficial surgery. I¡¯d even figured out how to give people stitches.


    We made our way back to the encampment, and were greeted by a whole bunch of worried people. After thanking everyone for their bravery, announcing our victory, and forbidding anyone to enter the little forest with the small lake, I limped over to my shack and took some well deserved rest.


    ---


    I woke up the next morning, hungry and with parched lips. Dawn had not arrived yet, so there weren¡¯t too many people around. I greeted the night watch, and asked them if there was anything left over from their dinner. Elder Brol appeared from his hut and saw me from a distance. He walked over, heard what I was asking the watchmen, and invited me over to his tribe¡¯s camp. Apparently, his tribesmen had been up quite late last night, celebrating the safe return of their tribesmen.


    He re-lit the smoldering campfire, put some more dried meat in the pot, and gave me a hearty meat stew. I downed it with some fresh water, and thanked the elder for his hospitality. Looking around, elder Brol¡¯s Ibog tribesmen were all fast asleep, even a couple of people that were supposed to be on night¡¯s watch. I knew elder Brol would give those two a stern scolding after they woke up, since that was the kind of guy he was.


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you up late last night too, elder Brol?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I was up longer than I usually am,¡± he said, ¡°but at my age, seeing the moon for too long can be quite dangerous for your health.¡±


    I chuckled. In more ways than one, huh. ¡°Have people been wondering about the shooting star?¡±


    Elder Brol nodded his head. ¡°A shooting star? Now that¡¯s an interesting name for it. We have stories for things that come from the sky, but nobody in living memory has actually seen anything like it. The tribesmen are curious. I am too.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you help me gather a few things after we¡¯re done eating, I¡¯ll let you be the first one to see what this thing can do,¡± I said as I pulled out the meteorite and showed it to elder Brol.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The purple-haired, muscular elder stared hard at the strange rock in my hands, and agreed to helping me out. I asked him to gather some monster hide and charcoal for me. I also asked for a clay pot that could be filled with clear water. Elder Brol called over a few people who had just woken up, and gathered everything that I needed.


    Dawn broke and the tribesmen began to awake. The night watchmen disappeared into their shelters. A small crowd gathered around me as I prepared to show off the meteorite. But first, I had to prepare the monster hide, which had had all its fur removed and was fairly even now. I stretched the hide straight by piling up some stones on its edges, and judged if it was going to be big enough. Well, even if it wasn¡¯t, I could always sew together some more hide if I needed it to be bigger.


    I picked up a piece of charcoal and made a small mark in the middle of the hide. Then, I pulled out the meteorite once again and let the people see it. Many tribesmen were impressed by the way it looked, especially since the only other metallic object they¡¯d ever seen were the copper tools and weapons I¡¯d helped them make. But this one was different. It had a shine to it; a luster that caught the eye and made you wonder what the object was. It caught your attention and refused to let go.


    I¡¯d filled up the pot with water. I took a large, waxy leaf, and put it on top of the water. Then, I lay the small metallic meteorite on top of the leaf, and let it go. The meteorite bobbed a little on the leaf once I let it go, but soon, it settled on the water¡¯s surface and began to move. Some people pointed and made a few comments. The metallic meteorite seemed to be turning on its own. I assured people that I wasn¡¯t using magic hands to move the object, and asked if anyone else was doing so. Once they replied in the negative, I smiled, and told them that we had just received a great blessing from the universe.


    ¡°This, my friends, is a lodestone!¡± I said, emphatically.


    ¡°A lodestone?¡± repeated elder Konri, who had just woken up as well.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, as I touched the little rock again and forced it to face a different direction. The rock swung back to its original direction again, which made a large smile grow on my face. ¡°This little stone will help us explore far further than we have ever explored before. It will also help us map out our surrounding area, which was something I had been meaning to do anyway. It always helps to know what is around us, and to be able judge the surrounding landscape with a single glance.¡± I went back to the stretched out hide, and made a small arrow in the top corner. I made the rest of the compass rose for good measure, and orientated myself towards the North, as well. Since dawn had just broken, I could also now confirm that the sun in this world also rose in the East and set in the West.


    After answering a few more question from the people who had gathered around me, I started work on the map. My body was still mildly aching, but the excitement of exploration suppressed the dull pain. I gathered a few people, and told them to help me measure the distance and directions to various landmarks, natural features, and bodies of water nearby. Since we didn¡¯t have any advanced measuring equipment, we would have to make do with steps walked and estimates of time, but now that we had the lodestone compass, we could be sure that we were measuring in a relatively straight line.


    I mapped out the distance and direction to the river that very same day. I also measured the same distance in the other four cardinal directions, and put a large rock in each location to mark the edges of what I considered the outskirts of our encampment. I returned to the encampment and drew up the river and the stone landmarks that I had created, at the very edges of this first map. I filled out some of the things we had seen along the way, various thickets and shrubs little creeks and stuff like that. Soon, we had a functional map of our immediate surroundings, complete with a rough key measured in steps.


    Over the course of the next few weeks, well into the winter when expeditions for food and resources took longer than ever, I tasked the various hunting and exploration parties to bring in their estimates for distances they were crossing. Only one party could have the lodestone at a given time, but that was good enough to help me fill out a few more hide¡¯s worth of our surroundings.


    Soon, I had made a separate hut for the long, stitched together monster hide map that detailed, in a rough fashion, everything up to the sea, the tundra, the marshlands, and even a long way towards Bek Tepe.

 Chapter 119

    ¡°Kirs!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Yes, Teacher Cas?¡± he said.


    ¡°Come on, you¡¯re young like Kelser. You should call me Cas, too,¡± I said. ¡°Anyways, I could use your help.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Teacher Cas,¡± he said. ¡°How may I help you?¡±


    ¡°I wanted to measure the distance to the southern marker again. I think I may have misplaced it the first time around, and it¡¯s really messing with my inner perfectionist. Like, look at this thing.¡± I gestured to the sprawling map on the floor in front of me. ¡°It would suck if the first map, the one in the very middle of this huge thing, wasn¡¯t accurate. Right?¡±


    ¡°Er, sure teacher, whatever you say,¡± he said.


    ¡°Good. The compass is with your wife right now, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, Kann just came back from the sea,¡± he said.


    ¡°Good, how about you go grab that for me. Your wife¡¯s probably too tired to join us, and it isn¡¯t like the southern marker is that far from here, so just the two of us should be fine. I¡¯ll be waiting for you at the central marker.¡±


    Kirs left for his own hut, while I made my way over to the central marker. The central marker was a stone, just like the four I¡¯d left in the four cardinal directions, and it had the same subtle engravings and signs that the tribesmen had given all of the markers over the past few weeks. The children had been especially fond of this one, which had made it into a sort of beautiful mess, but I wasn¡¯t complaining as long as it fulfilled its purpose of serving as a marker for my map.


    When Kirs returned, I began walking due South. I waved to various people as we walked through the camp, but made sure to keep a mental count of the steps I was taking. Kirs was also making note of his steps, so we could compare when we arrived at the southern marker. After all, steps were hardly as good as actual scientific measurements, so getting multiple counts was essential to maintaining a degree of accuracy. We left the encampment around noon, and soon, it was just me and Kirs, walking over the empty land, counting our steps in our head. I used the lodestone compass to make sure we were walking in a relatively straight line, and even used magic to walk over obstacles whenever I could.


    While keeping a count in our heads, I asked Kirs some questions. I hadn¡¯t spent a lot of time with the young man, and although my impression of him had changed over the course of the previous months, I still felt like I didn¡¯t know the guy all that well.


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying the reason you¡¯re so close to your mother isn¡¯t because you lost your father at such a young age?¡± I said.


    He nodded. ¡°My father was a famous hunter, but I can barely remember him. I was raised by my mother and the rest of my tribe, although I never felt all that close to the rest of my tribe.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so your tribesmen treated you poorly?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°in fact, they treated me really well, growing up. My dad had been a great hunter, right, so a lot of people looked up to him. He¡¯d mentored all of the best hunters in our tribe. He¡¯d saved lives, come back with the biggest kills, he even hunted some monsters that nobody had hunted outside of the stories. After he died, the hunters that I grew up with all held him up like a legend. A mythical figure plucked straight from the elders¡¯ tales.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound all that bad.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t,¡± he said. ¡°Except, it meant everybody was looking forward to my future. The great hunter¡¯s son, what was he going to be like when he grew up? Would he measure up to his father? Could he kill a Carica Serpent? Could he rescue a whole party of hunters from a stampeding herd of Yuca Bovine?¡±


    I nodded, slowly. ¡°It would suck to grow up with that kind of pressure. It probably didn¡¯t help with making friends your age, either.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Oh no,¡± he said. ¡°I made friends. Friends who were taught by their fathers to respect me, to honor me, because my father had saved their lives, or brought great honor to the tribe, or whatever. I had friends, just not very close ones. There was always a barrier. Something I couldn¡¯t reach across. But it wasn¡¯t all that bad. Things were going alright until I joined my first hunting party.¡±


    We were getting close to the southern marker. I knew we¡¯d see it in a few. I asked Kirs how high his count had gotten, and it was pretty close to mine. Good. ¡°Did something bad happen on your first hunt?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Not really, no. It was actually really boring. We didn¡¯t find anything all day, and spent most of our time setting up traps or following useless game trails. But I couldn¡¯t stand it. I don¡¯t know what it was. Maybe it wasn¡¯t any one thing. It was so long ago all I remember are some of the emotions that flooded my head.


    ¡°Fear. Panic. Endless anxiety. I was jumping at shadows in the forest. A bird taking flight would make me trip on my own feet. Critters dashing along the floor made me jump into another person¡¯s arms. I even screamed when I saw something move in the bushes, only for the other hunters to wield their spears, slowly inch towards the bush, and stab at nothing.


    ¡°Thinking back on it, maybe the reason we never found anything was because of all the noise I was making. Nobody said anything at the time. Although I remember a few gazes. The younger hunters, the ones who were coming along for their first few experiences like I was, gave me accusatory looks. The older ones, especially the ones who remembered my father, all looked at me with pity. I couldn¡¯t meet any of their gazes. Not a single one.


    ¡°I came back home that night, empty handed, and cried into my mother¡¯s arm until I fell asleep. Mother wasn¡¯t the elder yet, so she couldn¡¯t do much, but she was still well respected in the tribe, both because of her own abilities and because she was my father¡¯s wife. She convinced me to go out on a few more hunts. To get used to the foreboding darkness of the forest, the vulnerable openness of the plains, and the unsettling nervousness that flooded through your body as you tried to hunt terrifying monsters.


    ¡°I never got used to hunting. Never. Not even after I¡¯d been on dozens and dozens of hunts. Even today, my heart thumps so loudly I can barely hear anything else. My nose and eyes get clogged up with sweat and snot, and my hands are always shaking, my feet always trembling. I¡¯m never the first one to spot a monster. Nor am I ever the first one to attack. I have never been able to hunt like my father, and I am sure that I will never want to.¡±


    I let the silence settle in. I saw the southern marker and we approached it without a word. I asked Kirs how many steps he had counted, compared it to mine, and confirmed that my previous count had been very wrong. The marker should actually be quite a distance further South. So, I grabbed the large, decorated rock, and began counting some more steps.


    I left the southern marker at its new location, and asked Kirs to start his count again when we began making our way back to the encampment. But first, I decided to take a quick rest. We were at a beautiful field, one where the winter hadn¡¯t been quite as harsh. Some of the trees around here still had leaves, and the days did not seem as short. The grass wasn¡¯t as dry, and I could even see a few birds and insects in the surroundings. A creek full of clear water flowed past us. I made a note of it so I could mark it on my map, and settled down beside it for some rest.


    ¡°You know, there¡¯s only one part of your story that I don¡¯t understand,¡± I said to Kirs as he settled down beside me. ¡°When you and your wife joined the advanced magic group, none of your tribesmen had seemed surprised. When I asked them why, they said it was because you were one of the best hunters in your tribe.¡±


    Kirs scratched his chin and gave an awkward smile. ¡°Just because I hate hunting doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m bad at it.¡±


    ¡°But you say you¡¯re a coward?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I am,¡± he said. ¡°But I¡¯m a coward who knows how to set aside his own feelings for the benefit of my tribe; my family. My heart thumps and cold sweat pours over my back, but as long as I am with a whole party of hunters, I can take down any monster. I am my father¡¯s son, after all.¡±


    Huh. I chuckled. A coward who¡¯d already learned how to overcome his fear. I guess I shouldn¡¯t have been all that surprised. He was mature enough to get married, after all, and to a headstrong woman like Kann, of all people.


    Kirs told me we needed to head back soon. He was due to head out with the next hunting party and didn¡¯t want to be late. We restarted our count and walked back to the encampment. I double checked my own count against Kirs¡¯, and went back to my hut with a smile on my face. The map was now accurate and I even felt like I¡¯d gotten made a new friend. I made a mental note to hang out with Kirs more often.


    The next night, as I was about to head in for some sleep, I heard some voices outside of my shelter. I saw the blue haired elder Sommi, her eyes wide and full of frenzy. With her were many people from the Imm and Nare tribes, including Kirs¡¯ wife, Kann Imm.


    ¡°Teacher Cas!¡± cried elder Sommi. ¡°The hunting party has not returned. Kirs, he¡­ he hasn¡¯t come back!¡±

 Chapter 120

    Hunting and foraging parties were still being managed by the elders of various tribes. Most tribes fielded their own parties, only mixing in powerful magic users from other tribes if they were planning to hunt big game. Only a few tribes, like the Imm and Nare, created joint parties. This was because hunters needed to be able to rely on each other, and it was dangerous to mix a bunch of strangers together in dangerous environments.


    But leaving the tribes to create and manage their own parties meant that I had no idea who was in which party, where they went, and what they were supposed to be hunting. And so, I gathered the troubled tribesmen around my dying campfire, and re-lit it. I asked them a few questions, like when the party was supposed to return, and why they thought the hunters hadn¡¯t just gotten delayed for some reason.


    ¡°That is not possible, teacher,¡± said elder Mann Imm. I hadn¡¯t noticed the old man at first, but he was leading this delegation alongside elder Sommi. ¡°The hunters were supposed to return before noon. Their destination wasn¡¯t very far from here, and if they had found promising game, they would have sent someone back to let us know. They would not delay their return by a whole day unless something terrible had happened to them.¡±


    I frowned. So far, none of the other tribes had had any serious issues while out hunting and foraging. This was mostly because of the magic that they had learned from me, as well as the new copper weaponns that we¡¯d been making for everyone lately. I¡¯d even told everyone to leave everything behind and run if any monster¡¯s had red stars on their bodies, so unless they had met a catastrophically powerful monster like The Terrible or the five star mud monster, somebody should have returned by now.


    I glanced at Kann Imm. Her purple hair was frazzled and her eyes were bloodshot. She was one of the most powerful magic users in the tribe and was usually full of confidence. She had the natural charisma of a great leader, and was someone that elder Mann frequently consulted for advice. It was very likely she had helped him form the hunting party that Kirs had been in, which meant she wasn¡¯t just feeling worried, she was also probably full of guilt.


    ¡°I¡¯ll lead a rescue party immediately,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll take Kelser with me, since he knows motion magic and can keep up with me. Tell elder Kezler he should form another party to follow behind us at dawn, but that elder Kezler himself should stay behind at the encampment. I¡¯m worried about this place too, since the hunting party didn¡¯t go too far from here. Tell elder Kezler he¡¯s in charge while I¡¯m gone, and that he should gather the rest of the advanced class and the Roja tribe to defend the encampment. Don¡¯t send out any other hunting and foraging parties tomorrow.¡± I looked at Kann. ¡°Didn¡¯t you learn motion magic too? You should come with me.¡±


    Kann was about to agree, but elder Sommi held her back. ¡°She cannot join you, teacher,¡± said elder Sommi.


    ¡°Why not?¡± I asked.


    Elder Sommi pressed a hand to the young woman¡¯s stomach. ¡°She is with child.¡±


    I frowned. Kann tried to insist, but elder Sommi was adamant. I decided to rely on the elder¡¯s judgment, and told Kann she should help elder Kezler defend the encampment. Kann wasn¡¯t pleased, but she bit her lip and walked away.


    I told the group of concerned tribesmen to disperse, hoping that having something to do would take their minds off their loved ones¡¯ absence. Only elders Sommi and Mann followed me towards Kelser¡¯s tent, filling me in on the final details of the hunting party¡¯s mission.


    They had been headed to a relatively unexplored area to the southwest of the encampment. A few parties had been to the area before, but there had been nothing noteworthy to report before. However, as the winter had worn on, most hunting parties had been heading farther and farther in search of food, especially now that everyone was armed with powerful magic spells. The elders said they were sure the hunting party must have ventured deeper into the unexplored region in search of bigger game.


    I recalled the map of the surrounding region that I had made so far. To the south, there were forests that led all the way to Bek Tepe. To the west, was the ocean. Southwest, therefore, must be where the forests met the oceanfront.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I woke up Kelser, who replied groggily until I splashed him with some water magic. After complaining a little bit, he heard about the situation, and prepared to follow me. This was going to be a dangerous mission. A party of two trying to rescue a full hunting party in the dead of night; a lot could go wrong tonight. I had to seek his family¡¯s permission, first.


    The moon was bright tonight. And the red star was pulsing menacingly, like always. Kelser and I walked up to the edge of the encampment, followed by a small gathering of concerned tribesmen. Kann Imm walked up to me and almost fell to her knees. She began to pray to the elves; to me, for her husband¡¯s safe return.


    Usually, this would be when I would tell the humans to stop worshiping or deifying me. However, for some reason, hearing the usually headstrong Kann Imm breaking down like this, forced my mouth shut. All I could do was help her to her feet, put my hands on her shoulders, and squeeze.


    Kelser ran in the front since he was slower than me and I didn¡¯t want to accidentally leave him behind. The moonlight was just enough to let me see Kelser, but not enough for me to see our surroundings, so I had to use motion detection magic all around us to make sure we didn¡¯t get pounced on by nocturnal monsters. Thankfully, the great speed at which we were traveling must have given most monsters pause.


    On the other hand, not being able to see the landscape meant we also had to use balance magic to make sure we didn¡¯t trip. This meant we were using a ton of energy just getting to our destination. But what could we do? Time was of the essence. We would just have to fight with what energy we had left.


    By the time I saw the crest of the forest illuminated in the distance by the silver moonlight, we were both breathing heavily, and there was a nagging pain in my chest. My legs ached. I ran up to Kelser and tapped him on the shoulder. He slowed down. I grabbed my knees and faced the ground, panting heavily to catch my breath. Kelser collapsed to the ground.


    Sweat dripped off my nose. I raised my head. I¡¯d been casting motion detection magic all around us for the entire journey, but had to redouble my efforts now that we were resting. In the distance, I sensed a small monster darting towards us. I prepared to meet it with a spell, but the monster changed its trajectory and sped past. Soon, I sensed another monster coming up behind it. But this monster followed the former¡¯s path, and did not come up to us either.


    My eyes darted in every direction. This should have been where the hunting party had started their hunt for the day. I helped Kelser stand up, and motioned for him to follow after me. I debated lighting a fire, but decided against it. It was unlikely to give us a lot of visibility, but would definitely alert every monster in the vicinity. And getting into a loud fight right now was not going to help us track down the hunting party.


    Instead, I searched the ground for any signs of human activity. This place was far enough from the wide open plains that most monsters would be of the solitary kind, rather than the type that ran around in herds. That meant only a human hunting party would leave a bunch of marks in a small area. However, I had underestimated the number of monsters that ran over this place, and couldn¡¯t find any signs of human activity.


    Kelser tapped my shoulder and pointed to the forest. I looked up and squinted. There was a long, clear scratch on one of the tree trunks. It was very straight and not very deep. Not a lot of monsters would leave a mark like that. I nodded to Kelser and we approached the forest.


    The moonlight couldn¡¯t penetrate the forest canopy, which meant the whole place was awash with darkness. This part of the forest was denser than the part that led to Bek Tepe. I could smell a faint, salty sea breeze. I shook my head. If another walking shark monster jumped out from behind a tree, I would burn this whole place down.


    We found more marks on trees, and even some footprints and other markings. In a forest like this one, the hunters must have left some marks to help find their way back and to help them come back to the same place on any future hunts if they thought the place they¡¯d gone to had good resources. And now, those marks might help us save their lives.


    Deeper and deeper into the dense, dark forest. Leaves and grass crunched softly under my shoes. My eyes hurt from squinting into the impermeable darkness. My energy was being constantly depleted by the motion detection magic I had to lather around our surroundings, but I couldn¡¯t stop casting it.


    I turned around a large, thick tree trunk and flicked my head to the side. I grabbed Kelser by the shoulder and pulled him back towards me. A flock of birds chirped and squawked as the trees and branches were rent asunder and a massive hand crashed through the forest, landing with an echoing thump and making the ground shake underneath my feet.

 Chapter 121

    I jumped back, bringing Kelser with me. The massive hand dragged through the earth, uprooting small trees and bushes, as it retreated into the darkness. I shot a fireball in the direction of the hand, but the fire hit a wall of fur and fizzled out.


    A loud roar. I pushed Kelser away and prepared more spells. Kelser gathered his wits and prepared a spell too. Neither of us attacked. We couldn¡¯t see the monster in the densely packed foliage. But the monster was massive. How could it sneak up to us without making any noise? I frowned as realization set in. It didn¡¯t sneak up to us. We were the ones who had invaded its territory!


    But the signs and markings had led us here. It was likely the hunting party had stumbled into this monster¡¯s territory too. Still, I signaled Kelser to start inching backwards. I took a step back too, eyes flitting about, searching the darkness for movement. I strained my ears listening for broken twigs or moving leaves.


    Wind rustled leaves. Small critters moved about. Snap. A twig. No, louder. A branch! I jumped to the side. Kelser followed. Another massive hand broke through the darkness and landed beside us. This time, I shot multiple fireballs over the hand. They traveled the length of a large, hairy arm, and lit up the monster¡¯s body up till the bulbous, muscular shoulder that sat beneath a hairy jawline and a menacingly highlighted face. The fireball lit up the face the way kids light up their faces with a torch before telling spooky stories.


    Dark fur, immense proportions, and powerful musculature. I only caught a glimpse of the monster as my fireballs fizzled out against its fur, but what I had seen was enough. There was no way the hunting party could have taken this thing on. The only way they would¡¯ve survived was if they¡¯d turned tail and ran. Judging by how this monster wasn¡¯t really trying to chase us down or anything, I was hopeful the party could have made it out alive.


    And then the monster roared. And the darkness itself seemed to shake with the trees and the leaves. And the monster¡¯s face lit up, without any fireballs leaving my hands, and its face with its heavyset features reappeared, floating in the darkness. Illuminated by three burning red jewels in the shape of a star, emblazoned on the monster¡¯s forehead.


    The monster was intimidating, yes, and with three stars it would be a real pain to deal with. But it¡¯s real advantage was the environment. The forest was an impregnable fortress of darkness, where no moonlight could penetrate. And the monster¡¯s fur blended in it perfectly. Even during the day, I doubted the monster would be very visible inside the forest, despite its massive size.


    But by revealing its three glowing stars, it had made a massive mistake. I shouted towards Kelser. Earth, I yelled.


    Kelser fired earth magic towards the monster. Pellets of rock and dirt hit the monster¡¯s skin, but failed to penetrate its thick hide. But the monster cried out in pain and extended its arm towards Kelser. I used the distraction to get in closer, sliding under the monster¡¯s outstretched arm, along the ground using balance magic, until I was right under its main body.


    From this distance, the monster¡¯s domineering size presented a new challenge. Where should I aim? I lit up the monster¡¯s chest with a burst of fire, but the flames seemed only to tickle the monster. In fact, the monster didn¡¯t even react to the fire, continuing to try to grab Kelser who was pelting it with large rocks and clumps of dirt. A cloud of dust hit the monster¡¯s face, causing it to cough and snort, and completely enraging the huge beast.


    So it was completely fireproof? Still, shouldn¡¯t it care a little bit about the tiny thing blasting fire at it from under its nose? The monster¡¯s attitude made me suspicious. It was almost like it thought I wouldn¡¯t be a threat since I¡¯d only used fire magic against it. A bunch of thoughts floating around my mind. This monster had fought magic users before. It knew the least talented would stick to fire magic, while earth, especially earth magic propelled by motion magic like some of Kelser¡¯s attack, would be used by advanced users.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I dug deep into the ground, preparing a slingshot with magic hands. I gathered a sharp, pointy rock, one that was larger than my head, and put it into the slingshot. With a burst of air and motion magic, I positioned the slingshot at the monster¡¯s face and prepared to fire.


    The monster, somehow sensing my attack, turned its head down. I thanked it for making itself an easier target and released my slingshot. But the monster opened its mouth and a glob of black goo spurted forth. The black goo slammed against the rock with immense pressure, but my strengthened slingshot was too powerful. The rock exploded against the black goo at such speed that a boom echoed throughout the forest.


    Shards of goo covered rock scattered in all directions. The burst of goo was pushed back into the monster¡¯s surprised face, pressing especially hard into its panicked, beady black eyes. The monster cried out in pain as it fell on its back. It began thrashing about, snapping tree trucks and throwing up a cloud of dislodged earth.


    I jumped clear of the thrashing monster and saw Kelser retreating as well. A new clearing was made in the middle of the forest, washing the scene of the battle in silver moonlight. The cloud of dust hid the monster, but its body was so massive I could see bits of it appearing from within the cloud, betraying the monster¡¯s agony alongside the frightening cries and wails it was releasing.


    I didn¡¯t want to let the monster recover, so I prepared another slingshot with motion magic. Kelser prepared one too. I gave him the signal and we launched our attack at the same time. Two large rocks zoomed through the air and crashed into the cloud of dust, causing the monster to cry out even louder than before.


    We didn¡¯t relent. We bombarded the beast with magic over and over again, sometimes switching to streams of pressurized water or dropping rocks from a great height over its head. The monster continued to thrash about and even began throwing its black goo out of the cloud of dust, aiming in the general direction of where we were shooting, which made us start running around the newly made clearing as we pelted the monster with our spells.


    Soon, the monster¡¯s cries became weaker and weaker, and the sounds of its body thumping and thwacking the earth gave way to the sound of earth moving about at a snail¡¯s pace. We continued firing for a while afterwards, just to make sure. Eventually, I stopped and Kelser followed.


    I was breathing heavily, having expended a ridiculous amount of magic to get here in the first place. Sweat plastered my body and there was a subtle pain in my head which I adamantly ignored. I summoned some more energy and made a small gust of wind, which blew away the slowly settling dust, and revealed the great monster¡¯s figure in its entirety.


    The monster had a thick, heavyset head, with thick eyebrows and a massive forehead and chin. It had two large arms and two short legs, and judging by the wear and tear on its knuckles, I had a feeling it liked walking along them. In fact, now that I could take a proper look at it, the monster looked a lot like a gorilla. A gorilla with long, powerful arms and three glowing red star shaped stones on its forehead, and which could spew out a strange black goo that seemed to kill the plants it touched within minutes.


    I stepped closer to the monster¡¯s corpse and frowned. There were clearly some signs on its body that had not been made by us. Scratches and cuts that looked too clean to have come from other monsters. Bruises on its legs that were too shallow to have come from the sort of advanced slingshots Kelser and I used, and other small marks that betrayed the fact this monster had probably fought the hunting party before.


    At first, I¡¯d thought the hunter¡¯s would¡¯ve been fine if they¡¯d stumbled into its territory. By running away carefully, they may have had a few casualties, but most of them would¡¯ve been fine. But after seeing the way the monster had reacted to my fire magic compared to Kelser¡¯s earth magic, I had a bad feeling in my stomach. The monster was too used to fighting against magic. Almost as if it had had a prolonged battle, one that had given it enough time to get used to the power of different spells and how to deal with them.


    We searched the surrounding forest for the monster¡¯s den. Sure enough, we found a large cave hidden within the trees, large enough to fit the monster¡¯s gigantic frame. Piled up near the entrance was an assortment of copper and flint weapons and tools. Next to them, pieces of torn up hide and leather. And as we stepped into the cave and endured the putrid stench, we stepped on brittle human bones, many of which had been chewed on many, many times.

 Chapter 122

    I dragged my feet as I returned to the encampment. No, it wasn¡¯t my feet that were weighing me down. It was my heart, heavy and cumbersome. Kelser accompanied me, carrying a large hide bag. Breaking bad news is never easy. Breaking terrible news is soul crushing.


    I rehearsed what I would say. Went over it over and over in my head. Offer support. Begin with an apology. Keep a stoic face or start bawling my eyes out? Be a shoulder to cry on or grab one for myself? By the time I saw the crowd gathered at the edge of the encampment, their silhouettes highlighted by a large collective fire, my head was blank. I didn¡¯t know what to say. The silhouettes moved. Who was who. I could not tell.


    Purple hair. Defined features. A face that was usually kept together, focused, reliable. Now vulnerable. Worried. A slightly protruding stomach. Kann Imm. Hunter of the Imm tribe. Wife of Kirs. Soon to be mother. Soon to be announced a widow.


    As Kelser and I stepped into view, without any other figures accompanying us, hauling two large bags and with solemn faces, eyes trained to the ground, the crowd broke. I raised my head, saw Kann Imm, followed by Somm Nare¡ªKirs¡¯ mother. A sea of faces, each a variation of sorrow, disbelief, resignation or horror.


    The true weight of a tragedy like this isn¡¯t just the deaths of individual people. In a close-knit society like this one, each death was a severed relationship. A hole ripped into the tapestry of the family, the tribe. With death, the threads connecting people to each other betray their frailty. They declare, in a deep booming voice, that the people you could touch and feel and be happy with were now intangible, unfeeling, unreal memories, doomed to fade with time.


    I stopped. Kelser stopped next to me. I met the eyes of the people in the crowd. These people who had held complex emotions before they saw me. Worry and hope. Sadness and anger. Many, many things that they wanted to tell their loved ones when they returned. To lecture them. To embrace them. All of those feelings, slowly evaporated as they met my gaze and waited for my words. Words that would carry with them a sense of finality. Right now. When they could see that Kelser and I had returned alone, but before I explained why, they could deny the truth. Exist in a limbo. A timeless moment.


    But I took a deep breath. Opened my mouth. And confirmed their fears. The hunting party had died fighting against a fearsome, powerful monster. I had retrieved their remains, and the elders from the affected tribes must take the remains and handle the funeral ceremonies.


    I could have kept going. The long walk home had given me enough time to think about a few changes. Changes like making sure the hunters ran at the first sign of trouble. Changes like teaching more people my motion detection magic. Changes like scouting more land personally or forbidding the exploration of difficult to navigate and survey locations, like the dense forest we had just been to. But this wasn¡¯t the time. It wasn¡¯t the place.


    This was the time and place for me to comfort those who had fallen to their knees, or into each others¡¯ arms, or onto a free shoulder. The time for me to press a hand to Kann Imm¡¯s shoulder. To bow my head to elder Somm. And to ignore the heavy feeling in my own heart, to let my figure become a source of strength for those who were, right now, at their weakest.


    ---


    The rest of the winter passed uneventfully. Our food supplies were sufficient. No other hunting parties faced substantial danger. And the medical magic that I had been focusing most of my time on and spreading within the tribe had fast improved the health and lives of the tribesmen.


    The map of the surrounding areas had been expanded all the way to Bek Tepe in the South, the sea in the West, and the roof of the world to the East. And as the snow retreated and the rivers and plains became more and more abundant, I was reminded of the only direction that I had not yet sufficiently explored. The North. Perhaps I would head there soon.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    For now, I awaited the spring. With food becoming more abundant and days growing longer, my development of magic improved as well. However, I decided to take a slightly different approach this time. Rather than trying to invent a new type of spell, I began focusing on existing spells and on ways I could make them more powerful and versatile.


    Fire magic was the first one that came to mind. I had, by this point, accumulated enough wisdom with fire magic that I could take some more liberties with its shape and nature. My spell to create fire from the air, which was different from the elemental system¡¯s fire magic spell, was the most promising spell in my arsenal. The elemental system relied on ¡®mana¡¯ which was the elemental essence that any object held. The ¡®chemical¡¯ system¡¯s fire relied on combustion, with ¡®magic¡¯ bridging the gap between what is possible and not possible.


    Since this spell was ¡®magic¡¯ and not ¡®science,¡¯ it never actually burned anything in the air. The existence of flammable substances like methane in the air was merely a conceptual mechanism, one that made the spell possible by providing ¡®knowledge¡¯ which could be worked on with ¡®wisdom.¡¯ But if the presence of methane could enable a simple fire, what could a little more focus on the details of the fire achieve? For starters, the actual lack of concentrated methane in the air meant that the ¡®knowledge¡¯ behind the fire wasn¡¯t as powerful as it could be. And right now, I had no way of isolating the methane to run tests on to ¡®justify¡¯ the spell completely.


    This meant I had to improvise. By burning various things with conventional fire, and then using that fire to burn other things, I was able to strengthen my ¡®knowledge¡¯ of fire and heat. Copper was especially useful here, since my fire magic could not melt it on its own. But by preparing some charcoal and pumping in a lot of air, I was able to prepare a much hotter flame and melt the copper a little bit. I still didn¡¯t have the exact method down perfectly, but I was making progress.


    These experiments not only helped me improve the technology available to the people of the encampment, but it also helped me slowly improve my own ¡®knowledge¡¯ and prepare better spells. By the time spring well and truly began, I had come up with a way to make my fire spell burn hotter by improving my ¡®knowledge¡¯ of fire. Then, I improved my knowledge of air, in particular of oxygen, with a few experiments that show how a covered fire would die out.


    Eventually, my fires were burning hotter because of a greater oxygen concentration. In regular air, the nitrogen ends up soaking up a lot of heat, which makes the fire less intense. But now my fire spell was almost uncomfortably intense!


    And now that I was running physical experiments on air, I had come up with air and wind magic that did not rely on the old elemental system. A few experiments proving that hot air rises, and I had a decent build up of ¡®knowledge¡¯ regarding wind! When hot air rises and leaves an area of low air pressure behind it, prompting air from a high pressure area to come fill it in, it provides the ¡®knowledge¡¯ I needed for my improved air magic!


    Similar experiments around pressure and temperature in water helped me improve my water spells too. I could know summon jets of pressurized water or even scalding hot or freezing cold water that was sure to annoy any monster! In fact, that sort of manipulation of temperature might even be deadly for cold-blooded monsters, which was something I made sure to note in case I ended up fighting a large snake or something.


    I also finally got around to teaching the humans some of the spells I had not taught them before. Specifically, my motion detection magic and light reflection magic. By the time the wildflowers were blooming and the pollinating insects were buzzing and flitting about, the best magicians like Kelser knew all the spells I knew, except for the ¡®still life¡¯ motion magic spell, as well as the improvements to the fire, water, and air magic that I mentioned before.


    ¡®Still life¡¯ was unnecessary, because the motion magic system included a spell to stop an opponent¡¯s momentum, and because the ¡®still life¡¯ spell was pretty much impossible to teach. And the new improvements were so new I just hadn¡¯t gotten around to teaching them to the humans yet.


    I saw Kann Imm in the distance, walking up to the river with a hand full of freshly plucked wildflowers. Her stomach had gotten much bigger over the past few months. I did not approach her as she stood by the river and dropped the flowers from her hands, letting them drift along the water.


    I met up with Kelser and began talking to him about magic and spells and really, anything that wasn¡¯t the still painful memories of the people I had failed to rescue on that terrible, cold and dark winter night.

 Chapter 123 - Intermezzo

    Kelser Roja rubbed his eyes as the first light of dawn appeared over the horizon. He¡¯d fallen asleep outside. He yawned and scratched his head. His feet dragged across the ground and he flinched. He lifted his foot up, smacked his face with his hand, and groaned. He peered through his fingers at the floor, then closed his eyes again.


    It took him a while to accept that he¡¯d ruined the thing he¡¯d been working on all night with one lazy movement of his feet. In retrospect, he should have seen this coming, falling asleep next to his charcoal markings, but he felt annoyed, nonetheless.


    He decided to deal with the situation later. For now, he picked himself up and went out to the washing area. There was nobody else at the washing area, probably because they were all already out for the day. He¡¯d woken up so late he was definitely going to get an earful from his mother.


    There was a large artificial well here that Cas had helped make. The tribesmen filled it up with river water once every few days and then heated the whole thing with fire magic for some reason. Cas said it made the water safer to use, but Kelser wasn¡¯t sure why that would matter if he was just going to use it to wash up.


    Speaking of washing up, Kelser liked soap. Specifically, he liked the spring soap he was using today. One of the tribesmen had gotten really good at making soap, having found a bunch of different sweet smelling plants and flowers to put inside it. The soap during winter had been bland and plain-smelling. But now that spring had come back, Kelser took a little longer washing up than he usually would.


    His aunt was manning the campfire. She caught a glimpse of the red-haired boy and gave him a stern look. Kelser scratched his chin and greeted her. She shook her head. Asked him why he¡¯d gotten up so late. And before he could answer, she poured him some warm meat stew and tapped his shoulder with her spoon.


    ¡°Get going,¡± she said, ¡°Teacher Cas was looking for you.¡±


    Kelser clicked his tongue. He downed his food and ran off back to the place where he¡¯d fallen asleep. Along the way, he bumped into his father, who was about to head out on a hunting trip. His father laughed and ruffled his hair, but Kelser was in a rush. He was about to dash away when he saw the spear in his father¡¯s hands.


    Kelser stopped running. He turned around and walked back to his father, and hugged his side. His father, caught off-guard talking to someone else, turned his head and looked down. A gentle smile appeared on his face. He hugged his son right back and stood still for a good moment.


    Eventually, Kelser let go, wished his father luck on his trip, and ran off. He also thought of his mother, who was probably out foraging right now. He even thought of his siblings and cousins. In fact, he could see their characteristic red hair bobbing up and down in the distance. They were learning magic out on a field.


    Kelser arrived at the edge of the encampment where the remains of his small private campfire were still warm. The log that he¡¯d fallen asleep on was there too, although Kelser could not believe he¡¯d managed to fall asleep on something so stiff and uncomfortable.


    He bent down and stared at the ground with the charcoal marks. He still couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d messed up the assignment Cas had given him and that he¡¯d spent all night on. He sighed, grabbed a piece of charcoal, and started fixing the squiggles.


    ¡°What was it again?¡± he asked himself, squinting his eyes. Right. This one. He kept drawing. No, Cas had called it something else. Writing. He kept writing.


    It took him a while to get things right. He knew there were still some mistakes in the shapes but it would have to be good enough. Kelser looked from side to side, saw that nobody was looking, and pressed his palm against the charcoal markings. He made sure the shapes had been imprinted on his hand, before running his feet over the markings and running off.


    He was supposed to meet Cas outside the elf¡¯s own home. Along the way, Kelser said hi to a bunch of his friends. Some of them were from the Roja tribe, others were kids he¡¯d made friends with during solstices and at the encampment. But most of them were adults and teenagers who he¡¯d gotten to know during advanced magic classes. Most of them greeted him respectfully, which made the red-haired boy feel very nice. He was always proud of his magic skills. He¡¯d worked hard to earn them, after all.


    ¡°Kelser!¡± came a shout.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Kelser stopped in his tracks. He looked to the side and his eyes went wide. He was about to run away, but decided it was too dangerous. He had to stay put!


    His mother came over with a bag full of food and flowers. Her foraging party must have returned already. Kelser tried to say hi but his mother cut him off and began to scold him for not coming to meet her in the morning. Kelser could only stare at his feet and endure the scolding. When she was done, he apologized, waited for his mother¡¯s conciliatory hug, which was followed by a bunch of kisses and expressions of worry. He groaned but didn¡¯t push away like he usually did.


    Eventually, she let him go, and Kelser said he had to run. He had a special lesson with Cas, today. His mother didn¡¯t stop him, but she told him to be careful once again. Kelser rolled his eyes and went off. He came to the elf¡¯s home and let out a shout. Cas was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Kelser checked the surrounding area. Nothing.


    Kelser frowned. Maybe it was a test. Cas had been testing Kelser¡¯s magic recently, putting him in strange scenarios that required creative thinking to solve. Maybe Cas was using light magic to become invisible and Kelser had to try and find him?


    Kelser took a deep breath, gathered his energy, and used reflection magic to wash the surrounding areas with light. He closed his eyes and only opened them once the spell was over. He heard a cry from the distance. Kelser looked towards the cry with a smile, but ended up frowning in the end. A tribesmen was holding his eyes and rubbing them rapidly. He must have been looking over when Kelser cast the spell.


    Kelser ran his hand through his hair. Cas wasn¡¯t invisible. Maybe he was somewhere else? Kelser had been late, after all. Maybe Cas had gotten tired of waiting and went off. Still, that wasn¡¯t like Cas. Cas was usually the one who was late to their meetings, not Kelser. In fact, the reason Kelser had not been in a rush was because he was sure he¡¯d just end up waiting for Cas in the end.


    Wait. What was that?


    Kelser furrowed his brows.


    There was no way.


    Kelser stepped up to the little hut that Cas had built for himself. The hut was one of the best decorated and clearly the best built in the whole encampment. Kelser stopped admiring the shelter and followed his ears. The sound was coming from inside. Kelser stepped inside and flinched. The sound had stopped.


    Kelser¡¯s eyes widened and he jumped back. He tried preparing a spell but before he could, someone grabbed his hand, roughly, and jerked it back. His body fell back as something flashed in the corner of his eye. Kelser screamed as the blade stopped right next to his neck.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you,¡± came a voice. The blade fell back. Cas let go of Kelser¡¯s hand.


    ¡°What was that for?¡± said Kelser, rubbing his bruised hand. Why was this pretty-faced elf¡¯s grip so strong?


    ¡°You triggered my motion detection magic,¡± said Cas as he dropped his weapon and yawned. ¡°I always cast it all around me before going to sleep.¡±


    ¡°You were asleep?¡± said Kelser, his eyes twitching.


    Cas nodded. Kelser sighed. Whatever. It was time for his lesson. He followed Cas out to the little field where they¡¯d had their previous lesson.


    The field was surrounded by wildflowers and tall grass. Kelser sneezed. He¡¯d gotten some pollen in his nose. He settled down next to a large stone slab. Cas sat down next to him.


    ¡°Did you do your homework?¡± asked Cas.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Then show me,¡± said Cas as he passed Kelser a small stone slab and a piece of charcoal.


    Kelser coughed and put the slab in his lap. He picked up the piece of charcoal with his right hand and used his left hand to keep the stone slab in place. He looked at Cas from the corner of his eye and shifted around a little, as if he was trying to get comfortable. Kelser lifted the bottom of his left palm a little and began drawing on the stone slab with his right.


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Cas.


    Kelser¡¯s heart dropped.


    How did he find out so quickly, Kelser asked himself. He shouldn¡¯t be able to see it from that angle!


    ¡°You¡¯ve made a mistake,¡± said Cas as he leaned closer. ¡°A pretty big one.¡±


    Kelser laughed nervously. ¡°Really? What is it?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve written it in reverse,¡± said Cas.


    ¡°What?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Your name,¡± said Cas as he picked up a piece of charcoal and sat next to Kelser. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to spell it like this.¡± Cas wrote some letters on the stone slab.


    ¡°Ah, I must have messed up while practicing last night,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Or¡­¡± said Cas as he grabbed Kelser¡¯s left hand. ¡°You didn¡¯t think your little cheating plan through.¡±


    Kelser had to write his own name a hundred times on the stone slab that day.

 Chapter 124

    I smirked. Watching Kelser grumbling on the floor, writing his own name over and over again was a fun way to lighten my mood. But as I saw the young boy getting better and better at writing, right in front of my eyes, I felt a little bitter.


    I had always been incredibly competitive, especially about academics. I couldn¡¯t stand watching somebody else get better grades or answers questions I couldn¡¯t answer or visibly learning things faster than I was. And seeing Kelser, with his youthful penchant for learning new things very quickly through repetition, made me curse my own inability to make enough progress over the past few days.


    I turned around and walked towards the side of my hut, where I had baked some symbols into the clay. I¡¯d torn down this part of my own home, just so I could rebuild it again with these symbols etched into it. I¡¯d gathered all of the elders, as well as any people they had recommended as the best storytellers and poets, and gone about writing down and codifying the language of the people of the double river basin.


    I scratched my head. Although I was sure there would be benefits to creating a written language for the tribesmen, I had not wanted to make one for several reasons. I did not want to interfere so much with their culture as to potentially change it forever. Some literary theorists and linguists from my Earth even thought that the written language changed the way human beings interacted and conceived of the world around them, and that writing had limited certain aspects of our growth in ways that we did not fully understand yet. To forcefully bring these people into that same situation, one where they would not know what they had lost after moving from an oral tradition to a written one, was a difficult, and momentous decision.


    There was also the matter of my own biases. It was impossible for me to help develop a written language that was not heavily influenced by the written languages and customs of my previous world. Had I not interfered right now, these people may have ended up with a logo-syllabary or pictograms, rather than the alphabetical language that I had introduced.


    And finally, there was also the problem of dialects, linguistic evolution, and the many, many norms and values that were tied within the oral storytelling and poetic traditions within their cultures. Not every tribe spoke the same way or preferred the same words. There were even differences within the tribes, with some older people using words that had fallen out of fashion among the youth, and so on. The oral language would undoubtedly change over the years in a way that the written language might not. And the stories and poems that people told, passed down through the generations purely by word of mouth, could also become stale and canonized once writing was thrown into the mix.


    But I had no choice. This was necessary. I did feel bad about interfering so much with the culture of the people of the double river basin, but I figured I¡¯d already done a lot of damage to their way of life anyway. And besides, writing had a lot of benefits too, especially in a world where magic was tied to knowledge. Being able to write would make it easier to learn too, as well as to teach and to pass on knowledge down through the generations. These reasons made me feel a little better about the massive decision I¡¯d taken and the repercussions it would have on these people and their successors, but I still felt guilty. After all, the real reason I¡¯d made them learn all this was a selfish one.


    I rubbed my hand gently over the ruins carved into baked clay. The way the edges caught on my skin, little flakes of earth rubbing off. The way the letters looked worked so naturally with the way they sounded. I¡¯d turned my translation magic on and off so many times while we were working on this. Trying to make sure that the letters and sounds could be captured accurately even while I asked the elders to repeat words and phrases, to flesh out things like conjugation and pronunciation, all so I could help them make a beautiful but still functional written language. I kept thinking, as I stared at this baked clay wall, that we¡¯d done a good job. I was proud of what we¡¯d done so far, and was hopeful.


    Hopeful that creating this written language and teaching the tribesmen how to write, would help me with the thing that had been haunting my dreams and keeping me up all night. I walked around the hut, this time to the entrance, and took a step inside. I yawned. Still feeling sleepy. I¡¯d almost missed my meeting with Kelser because I¡¯d been up all night. Thinking. Staring.


    I nestled up to my hide covers on the ground, and stared at the new baked clay ceiling that I had installed after coming up with the alphabet on the wall outside. Carved into the clay above my head, in large, bold letters, spread imposingly over my head, was the word that I had been staring at all night, yesterday, both while awake and in my dreams:


    Annihilation, said the ceiling, and I fell asleep, hearing its whispers well into the afternoon.


    ---This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Spring was fleeting. The flowers came and went, and with them went the pleasant weather, the pollinating insects, the many colorful birds and energetic animals, that had reclaimed the riverfront after the sparse winter. The Imm and Oko tribes told me this was when they would usually head up further North, since the summers along the riverside were hot and humid, with most of the best game also moving up north in search of fresh grass and mates.


    I convened another meeting of the elders, late one night as the summer began, to ask their opinions. The farms were coming along nicely, with many of the grains that we were experimenting with, in particular, showing promise after being sown before the winter. One of my biggest worries had been finding out the best times to plant the seeds and how long it would take them to grow, but we¡¯d been very lucky, and even with the ones that hadn¡¯t germinated, we at least had some data to go off of for the next time. We¡¯d even sown a few seeds in the depth of winter and in the early spring, which hadn¡¯t germinated from last fall.


    We wouldn¡¯t be able to domesticate the monsters we had been herding and managing, at least not until they had been selectively bred for several generations, but what we had right now could work as both beasts of burden and sources of food. Paris, the Fil Tusker, had already shown her usefulness in helping us till the fields and grind hard grains between stone wheels.


    ¡°It may be prudent to return to our ancestral lands until the summer solstice,¡± said elder Konri Oko. ¡°The fruits should be ripening and the monsters returning to their nests. Even now, the lands around this encampment are showing the signs of our extended presence. There is less food here this summer than there was the last, since we had to feed so many mouths over the winter.¡±


    ¡°We are also worried for our homes,¡± said elder Lipo Pole. ¡°Those of us who live in caves are worried about them becoming dens for powerful monsters. Or of our camping sites becoming a part of a large monster¡¯s territory. We must return, at least for a while, to make sure our lands are safe.¡±


    ¡°And with our newly learned magic,¡± said elder Cota Ibog, ¡°we can build up our homes, survey the surroundings, and lay the foundations of our people for generations to come. Small farms, to supplement our food for tough winters, herded and managed animals, maybe even maps like the one made by you, Teacher.¡±


    ¡°Yes, the idea to make sure every hunting party received their orders next to the map has certainly saved many lives,¡± said elder Anki Jenin. ¡°We would like to make our own maps, very soon.¡±


    ¡°And I gotta say,¡± began elder Brol, ¡°I wasn¡¯t too sure about this written language business, but now that I can put down numbers and make lists of names, it¡¯s become a lot easier to do my elder duties. One of our poet¡¯s has even started to write out the history of our tribe, and I would very much like to have his words engraved near a ceremonial place in our ancestral lands.¡±


    I tapped my chin. I glanced to the side where Kelser, who¡¯d been coming to most of these meetings as my right hand for a while now, was looking up at the sky with a distant look in his eyes. I followed his gaze, and saw the moon, shining brightly against an inky black sky. The red star pulsed weakly next to the moon, which was out in its full glory tonight.


    It was so bright, in fact, that I could not see anything else.


    ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous,¡± I whispered, finally.


    The elders protested. ¡°But every single tribesmen knows magic now, Teacher Cas,¡± said Priest Mal. ¡°And our weapons, they are much more powerful.¡±


    I ignored the other elders, and met a single gaze. Elder Sommi Nare, whose face had aged so much since she¡¯d lost her son, looked at me with tired, sorrowful eyes. The other elders noticed where I was looking, and quieted down.


    ¡°You should let them go,¡± said elder Sommi.


    I hesitated. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°You cannot protect us forever.¡±


    Couldn¡¯t I? ¡°I have to,¡± I said. ¡°I need your help. To figure out a way back home.¡±


    ¡°Do you need all of us?¡± she said.


    I sighed. ¡°No. Just one tribe will do.¡±


    ¡°Then you should go with the Roja. You are closest to them. Little Kelser sticks to you like sinew,¡± she said.


    ¡°No,¡± I said, making a difficult decision. ¡°The Roja don¡¯t need my help. Not with Kelser and elder Kezler around. I think I need to go with someone else.¡±


    Before the elders could ask for me to join their tribe, I raised a hand. I told them I needed to go somewhere, and that I would go with the tribe that would take me closest. I looked at elder Konri Oko, and said: ¡°I would like to explore the North.¡±

 Chapter 125

    As we had originally planned, each tribe kept a small group of people at the encampment near the River Teg. I also gave everyone some magic and language homework, and told everyone to be back at Bek Tepe for the solstice festival. I also gave them some advice for what to do if they met a crazy person who made the world around him dance, any monsters with red stars on their foreheads, talking birds, or Noel. Although, I mentioned to the elders that if they saw the world begin to dance or if the moon filled up the sky or something, the best they could hope for was a quick death.


    ¡°And if there are any poems or stories that mention the word annihilation,¡± I told the elders of each tribe, ¡°you need to make sure to write them all down on pieces of monster hide or stone slabs, and give them to me at Bek Tepe.¡±


    And so, as the summer began, the various tribesmen left the encampment and returned to their native lands. I followed the Oko and Imm tribes up North, past the River Teg and into the lands that used to be covered in snow and frost.


    It felt a little lonely, being back in a small group like this. Not having Kelser by my side, constantly nagging away and calling me by my first name, felt very strange. I tried to get some of the younger kids to stop calling me Teacher, but I found out that their parents had told them they¡¯d be scolded if they ever disrespected me. Great.


    Still, this wouldn¡¯t be for long. I¡¯d be back with the others once the solstice began, and I was looking forward to making the encampment more permanent next time around. And I had a lot to do for now too. I¡¯d brought the large map I had made of the surroundings of the encampment, which was filled up in every direction except the far North. I¡¯d also brought the lodestone compass, which we were already using to mark the path to the Imm tribe¡¯s lands from the encampment.


    The Imm tribe lived near the lowlands next to the River Teg, so the journey was short and uneventful. The air was still warm and fresh, with the smell of late blooming flowers and swathes of airborne pollen. Some of the earliest fruit-bearing plants had already lost their flowers, and I made sure to mark out the best fruit-bearing plants on a rough, working map I was working on for the foraging parties. I also made some notes of promising hunting grounds for the hunting parties, although the Imm tribesmen said they already knew about all of these places.


    Still, it wouldn¡¯t hurt having this stuff written down. Especially if the encampment ended up needing more supplies later on. I also used landmarks to help illustrate some of my maps, especially if I was marking some of the storage holes and resting places the Imm and Oko used while out hunting and foraging for the encampment during the winter.


    When we arrived at the Imm tribe¡¯s land, they held a great feast in celebration. They tried to say the feast was in my honor, but I told them I¡¯d rather celebrate the hard work that their people had done over the past year.


    The feast was amazing. The food was hearty and filling, and now that herbs were available again, I didn¡¯t have to force down bland pieces of meat. The alcoholic drink we¡¯d used to create vinegar had proven very popular throughout the tribes, and we¡¯d had a lot of it at this feast. Some of the best magicians even showed off their magic, and once everyone was sufficiently buzzed, they started asking me to show off some spells too.


    I resisted for a little bit, but the alcohol and the dancing and the singing and the festive mood all came together to plaster a giant smile on my face and a burning happiness in my chest. I stood up, with great flair and pomp, struck a pose with one hand pointing at the sky, cast my eyes over the sea of happy humans, and launched a massive burst of fire high into the sky.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    The tribesmen cheered. The heat from the flames was so great, they felt it even at the edge of the camp. I followed the great fire by stomping on the ground and taking a steady pose. Earth rose up underneath me, raising me high above the humans¡¯ head.


    After basking in the crowd¡¯s amazement, I launched jets of water across the sky, creating a light mist over the festivities. Before the food could get too soggy, though, I cut off the water and used some light magic to manipulate the already bright moonlight and push it through the mist.


    A beautiful rainbow appeared overhead. Its colors reflected in the eyes of the buzzed tribesmen. The children, who had been expressly forbidden alcohol by me, were the most mesmerized, letting out long extended sounds of awe, followed by a cheer that was picked up by the adults and presented the perfect opportunity for me to jump off with balance magic and slowly glide to the ground with a great burst of wind.


    I passed right through the rainbow, smiling as the mist kissed my face and I landed gently into the crowd.


    ---


    I left the Imm tribesmen behind and continued further North with the Oko. Elder Konri Oko gave me some warm fur clothes as well as some advice on how to navigate the colder regions we would be passing through, but as a lifelong New Yorker, I felt like I could handle a little snow.


    The Oko spent most of the year in a valley between a small mountain range and a much larger one that extended out from the roof of the world in the East. To get to their warmer, more abundant lands, we first had to cross the sparse and dangerous mountain terrain that lay just north of the Imm tribe¡¯s lands.


    We followed a tributary of the River Teg for a little while. The Oko were used to this route because they did not used to have the luxury of water magic, and had to be wary of their water supplies. The mountainous terrain did not have a lot of water, so the Oko liked to fill up near the plains before moving up.


    But as I used my compass to chart the route, it became clear that this ancestral route was unnecessarily long and actual wound back up on itself a few times. Once I¡¯d mapped it out the first time, we could cut the return journey down by a lot.


    As the silhouette of the mountains appeared over the horizon, I noted that they were not as tall as the so-called roof of the world, or even as tall as the mountains that had surrounded the Plains of Serenity. Crossing them with a tribe full of elderly and children might be a challenge, but most of the able-bodied adults in the Oko tribe shouldn¡¯t have any trouble.


    And now that everybody knew magic, the trek through the mountains had become even easier. Elder Konri told me she¡¯d pressed her tribesmen to learn balance magic at any cost, precisely because it would help with the journey. It also ended up making foraging and hunting a lot easier, so we never had to worry for food up in the mountains.


    We arrived at the wide, fertile valley at noon on a bright, sunny day. The air in the mountains had a certain chill, even though summer had already begun, but the valley was much more pleasant and temperate. I doubted it would get very hot here, even during the solstice, but understood why the Oko made the difficult journey south since this place was probably very dangerous in the winter.


    The Oko took me to their favorite cave system, which was an impressive, meandering, and honestly slightly terrifying series of caves that seemed to stretch right on through the mountains to the North. I wondered if there might be a way to the other side of the mountains through these caves, but the Oko said that it was unlikely. Their ancestors had explored deep into the caves, with elder Konri suggesting there were markings at several days journeys inside.


    I stepped out of the caves while the Oko prepared for the night. I took in the scale of the mountains in front of me, which seemed no less than that of the roof of the world mountain range. I stared at the icy peaks, stretching up at a daunting size. I imagined the mountain in front of me like a giant, staring at me down his navel, preparing to stomp me into the ground like an insect.


    I took a deep breath and strengthened my resolve. I would leave for the mountains tomorrow. But for today, I walked back into the caves and joined the bustling tribesmen for another feast.

 Chapter 126

    ¡°The path ends at this mountain,¡± said elder Konri Oko.


    ¡°Thank you for accompanying me this far, elder,¡± I said.


    ¡°You are welcome, Teacher,¡± she said, as she climbed the steep incline along with a group of fur-bundled hunters.


    I walked beside her, my breath turning to mist despite the bright sunlight. We were going up to the final base camp of the Oko tribe here in the Northern Mountains. Perennial glaciers made it impossible for the tribesmen, with their limited climbing technology, to proceed any further. They will be able to explore the glaciers with their balance magic in the future, but for now, they wanted to focus on their homeland.


    The base camp was not very impressive. A few dug out pits that may have once held campfires, a flattened area with unnatural rock formations and marks left behind by tent pegs. Still, it was the last sign of civilization that I was going to see for a few weeks.


    ¡°Please accept this, Teacher,¡± said elder Konri as a hunter passed her a hide-bag, which she presented to me.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It is a specialty of our tribe,¡± she said. ¡°Dried meat cooked in a hearty helping of lard. We find it warming and filling, although the people of the other tribes do not appreciate the taste.¡±


    I smiled at the elder. ¡°I will try it, thank you.¡± I thanked the other tribesmen too. I told them they should head back soon. They did not like to camp up here unless they had to. It got quite windy and there wasn¡¯t a lot of food. Even I was going to keep moving forward, although the glaciers and tall peaks up ahead were not going to be any more fun to camp on.


    We separated around noon. I watched the Oko tribesmen disappear over the lip of the mountainside, and exhaled. I turned around and took in the scale of the glaciers. Massive icy formations that cut through the jagged landscape like slow-moving daggers. The ice cut a menacing figure within the rocks, bouncing and intensifying the sunlight like a mirror, a mirror that stretched into the distance and made me squint from far away.


    I walked down the mountain away from the Oko tribe¡¯s lands. I kept my map open, using air magic to protect myself from the howling winds. With the compass, I was able to estimate the distance I¡¯d crossed over the past few weeks, and knew how far I had to go to fill out the map to the same length as I¡¯d filled it out in the other three cardinal directions. Judging by how difficult the terrain was, I figured it would take at least a couple of weeks, which would give me enough time to get back to Bek Tepe for the solstice.


    I approached the foot of the glaciers and made a marker on my map for the location. I used the mountain with the Oko tribe¡¯s base camp as a landmark, since that would help any future explorers follow in my footsteps if I gave them the map. After making a few more notes, and estimating how far I¡¯d be able to walk up this steep, slippery glacier before it got too dark, I identified what looked like a small rocky outcropping far above my head, and decided that was where I was going to camp tonight.


    I wrapped a thin piece of treated monster skin over my eyes, grabbed my copper-tipped walking sticks, fixed my copper strengthened leather boots, and began climbing the glacier. Thanks to my balance magic, as well as the occasional bit of water magic around slippery areas, I was able to reach my planned camp before the sun dipped over the crest of the mountains. I made a small fire to warm myself up, covered the rocky outcropping with some treated hide, and huddled down in my makeshift shelter.


    I warmed up the food elder Konri had given me. It smelt like jerky and gravy, which wasn¡¯t a particularly appetizing combination, but I bit into it nonetheless. It tasted like jerky and gravy, except that turned out to be a winning combination after all. Elder Konri was right, eating something this warm and filling by a campfire at this altitude and at this temperature, felt great. I finished the whole thing and let it settle in my stomach. I went to sleep with a smile on my face.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    ---


    The glaciers were relentless. They kept going and going and going into the distance, like rolling sand dunes or wide windswept plains. There was barely any food but I managed to make do with what I could find. Mostly strange monsters that swept through the frigid air or burrowed within the ice. Thriving within these difficult conditions must have been difficult, but somehow, even here, life had found a way.


    I went up the side of the glaciers, making sure never to climb all the way up because that would be unnecessarily tiring. I spent several days in frosty solitude, putting one foot after the next, digging into the ice with my sticks, and casting so much balance magic that I could probably have balanced on the pin of a needle by the time I was back at Bek Tepe. I was gathering ¡®wisdom¡¯ for my magic, constantly, but I was also gathering another kind of wisdom too.


    It took me a while to realize, but eventually I understood what I had been lacking. What I had needed, after all those days of finding myself in a different world with strange people, inventing magic, battling powerful immortals and whatnot, I had barely had the time to stop and reflect on my self. My actions. My feelings. My motivations. And, most importantly, my goals.


    While Noel was around, I was swept up by the need to deal with the issues of the Jora tribe, and then later, to find them. But after she left, the other thing that I had been trying to do was finally put in center stage: to find a way home. The only hint I had was the word the Immortal of Madness had used: annihilation.


    I had made some progress on understanding this word. Inspiring by mystical thinking from my previous world, I¡¯d decided to look at this word through the lenses of other languages. The language of the humans of this world, which I had already started to codify and to learn, suggested that annihilation could mean: to be destroyed by becoming part of something else.


    But I needed more. More lenses. More perspectives. More¡­ languages. And to get more languages, I needed to meet more peoples. I¡¯d stumbled into the elves of this world, and although they did not know anyone outside their community, I¡¯d found the humans soon after. I knew the elves and humans had different languages, but without Noel around, I had no way to decipher the elfin tongue. And with the elfin Jora tribe having passed away, and Noel storming away in her bid for revenge, that meant my only hope to rediscovering the elfin tongue and using it to decipher the Immortal of Madness¡¯ hint was to find the other elfin tribes.


    And to find the other elfin tribes, I had to explore this icy, unforgiving landscape. I did not think that I would be able to cross these mountains on my own, nor did I intend to try. But by filling out the map, and sharing it with the humans at Bek Tepe, I would at least be able to start the process of filling in the unknown portions of the globe.


    These thoughts ran through my head as I crossed the glaciers. I also spent some time working on my magic. With the lodestone in my hand, I was able to finally begin working on a new and incredibly useful type of magic: magnetism.


    Magnetic magic made me excited. Although I wasn¡¯t quite there yet, I felt that with enough experimentation and practice, I could skip thousands of years in the technological advancement of the peoples of the double river basin and unlock all sorts of things with magic alone. It would also be of amazing help with navigation, construction, and for things like hunting. All sorts of possibilities flitted through my mind.


    The sun shone brightly on the day I finally left the glaciers behind. Judging by my lodestone as well as estimates of how long and far I had walked, I figured there was still some ways to go before I reached what would be the new, farthest North marker on the map. I would have to pass through at least four more towering peaks, with massive walls of rocks and ice to scale and no sign of any easy passes or alternate routes.


    By the time I crossed the fourth mountain, I was in a terrible mood. I¡¯d begun to see, far into the distance, peaks that were even larger than the ones I had just been crossing. The scale of this mountain range was awe-inspiring.


    I used earth magic to create a massive column of earth at the place where I had marked the farthest North on my map. I decided to leave an inscription, etched in stone and written in the language of the humans of the double river basin:


    ¡°To have climbed the giant¡¯s foot, only to come upon the leg, is the folly of the ant. To have climbed the mountains, only to find that they were hills, is the folly of the explorer ¨C Caspian Holm.¡±

 Chapter 127

    It troubles me to admit, but it took me several hours to come up with and write that inscription. It¡¯s hard enough deciding what to etch into stone for time immemorial, signed in your name. It is harder still to do so in a language you only just codified and whose grammatical rules were still being worked out.


    Still, I left the large earthen pillar behind and sat on the mountainside, taking in the view. I¡¯d chosen a location that seemed less likely to be prone to landslides and erosion by air and ice, and it just happened to also have a brilliant view.


    The mountain air was chilly but refreshing. I breathed it in, took out my map, and put the finishing touches on its northern edges. I also took out a separate piece of hide, and began marking another, more focused map of the immediate surroundings. This area could easily become a sort of forward base or outpost for future explorations into the mountains. I still wanted to come back and venture forth, passing through the mountains and onto the other side at some point.


    The piece of charcoal crumbled in my hands. Grumbling, I set about making another campfire. I¡¯d run out of charcoal. It would also give me the opportunity to cook up a piece of meat. There wasn¡¯t a lot of wood up here, but I would be able to restock once I returned to the small, narrow valleys between some of the smaller peaks, although I was dreading having to cross over the glaciers again. My eyes surveyed the surroundings as I finished up my last piece of charcoal and began drawing up the map.


    My hand froze, hovering over the hide, charcoal cracking under the pressure. I squinted. There was something. Something in the distance. A flashing light. Nothing strange, I reckoned. A piece of ice or a shiny rock reflecting the sunlight. I¡¯d seen many such strange lights over the course of my journey.


    But there was something about this light. I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on what it was, but it felt strange. I racked my brains, but the answer eluded me. Why did I think this light was strange and why did I want to walk up to it and check it out? Curiosity? Pure curiosity? Doubtful. But perhaps.


    I rolled up my map and gathered my belongings. I was still staring at the light, trying to figure out what it was. The light was still flashing. Was it really sunlight? I frowned. I had to take a closer look. I climbed down the mountain and cautiously kept an eye out for any strange monsters or signs of the immortals. But as I grew closer and closer to the light, my worries faded and were replaced by something far, far worse.


    Questions.


    Lots of questions.


    I rushed forward, a fleeting feeling in my heart. A feeling of happiness, of joy and celebration of good fortune, quickly crushed and ground down into sorrow and fruitless, directionless anger. I ran the last bit, all the way from when my eyes took in the strange sight in its totality to when my brain made sense of it and my feet brought me to the piles of disturbed ice, barren rock, and strewn pieces of clothes and supplies.


    I dropped to my knees, grabbed an outstretched neck, and felt it for a pulse. Finding none, I moved to the next motionless, lifeless, haunting corpse, and repeated my actions.


    This one wasn¡¯t breathing.


    Nor this one.


    This one had been dead for a while.


    I went through the entire party of doomed travelers and slumped to the ground, crushing an impulsively grabbed piece of ice within my palm. How could my luck be so terrible? Why was fate presenting something like this to me? Was it the work of an immortal? But why? What could they possibly achieve? I did not understand. It made no sense. It raised so many questions. So, so many questions. And chief among them was the question I had absolutely no way of figuring out:


    Who were these people?


    No, no, that wasn¡¯t it. That wasn¡¯t the biggest question. The biggest question I had was:Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    What were these people?


    They didn¡¯t have the long ears and sharp features of the elves, nor did they have the rounder ears and duller features of the humans. These people had angular ears and angular facial features, as if their faces had been commissioned to a modern artist. Perhaps not as extreme as Picasso, but Pablo would¡¯ve probably liked the look of them, I figured.


    And then there was the tail. Poking out of the back of each of their behinds, shriveled, possibly by hunger or dehydration, a few bits broken off by frostbite, but certainly a tail. Long, pointy black tails, not unlike the kinds drawn on cartoon devils. The sight might have been comical, if it wasn¡¯t for the pile of emaciated and horrifying bodies laid out in front of me.


    A new type of sentient being. This world already had elves and humans, and I guess immortals probably counted as a separate kind of being too, so why was it so strange to find another group like this one? Fitting with the fantastical setting, I figured I might as well call them demons. They had the tails, after all.


    I took a deep breath. Which was a bad idea because of the putrid stench that only now penetrated the fog of confusion and questions that had been shielding me so far. I pinched my nose and took a few steps back. The corpses weren¡¯t decaying as fast as they might have in a warmer climate, but they weren¡¯t that far up, so I didn¡¯t expect them to last too long here. I could tell these poor souls had died because of a lack of food, water, and the sort of medical care needed to combat frostbite and pneumonia.


    I began making a large grave. But then two things rushed to the front of my mind. First, I should look these corpses over more closely, and second, I did not come here because I¡¯d seen the bodies. Where was the light?


    I glanced at the bodies again. There was something odd. Their clothes. They were wearing large, thick furs, which made sense for the weather, but underneath their furs, they did not have hide or leather. No, their underclothes were strange but familiar. They were stitched. A type of fabric, but not cotton or wool. Something native to this world.


    Strewn about were tools. Things to help them climb, maybe a few to help them gather resources or light a fire. I crouched down and rubbed the dirt off of one of the tools and my eyes widened. Iron. It was an iron tool. The iron may not have been smelted properly, and there were blemishes in the design, but it was unmistakably iron.


    I saw something in the corner of my eyes. A light. Right, it was what I had been looking for. I crept around the rock, spells at the ready, and saw it. No, her.


    A sprawling figure, laid out on the ground, eyes partly open, chest moving only slightly. I think she saw me, but couldn¡¯t move her lips to say anything. In fact, she began to close her eyes as soon as she saw me, and I was only shaken out of my frozen state when her eyes closed and her feebly moving chest began to seem even weaker.


    I rushed forward and saw the light. A glass oil lamp, clasped tightly in the demon woman¡¯s hands. The oil was about to run out, but it kept shining resolutely and brightly, right up until its flame sputtered on the final drops of oil.


    I bit my lips. She didn¡¯t look in good shape. I lit a fire beside her, but with no tinder, all I could do was waste a ton of energy burning a fire above my hand. The woman still had some consciousness, but her body looked emaciated, her lips thin and cracked. I conjured up some water and slipped it into her mouth. I held her head gently up, not even realizing when I had fallen to the ground beside her.


    Her throat moved. My eyes widened. I poured some more water into her mouth and she drank. Her gulps were getting stronger, more desperate. She coughed a little and sputtered. I grabbed some of the food that I hadn¡¯t finished and mushed up some of it in water. I then poured the whole thing into her mouth and watched her slowly swallow.


    I nursed her for a little while longer, using my fire magic to heat up her body. But I was restless. I didn¡¯t have a lot of food and I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep a fire going all day every day, especially without a reliable source of food. I had to make a difficult choice. Stay here and try to bring her back to full health, or try to return to a more suitable location while she was still in such a terrible, and dangerous condition.


    I stared at the oil lamp. She was still holding on to it, just like she was clinging so desperately to her life. I took a deep breath. I couldn¡¯t waste any energy on a grave so the demon corpses would have to stay where they were. I, on the other hand, had to grab the sickly demon woman and gently lift her up. She barely weighed a thing, which was a morbid silver lining.


    I glanced one last time at the horrible sight, realized the oil lamp was still in the demon woman¡¯s hands and pressing against my back, and sighed.


    This was going to be a rough return.

 Chapter 128

    The demon woman wouldn¡¯t woke up. Not when I hauled her all the way up to the earthen pillar. Not when I forced her to drink water and mushy food. Not when I splashed her face with water, treated her many injuries, and even warmed her up with fire magic at the expense of my own energy reserves. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I might even have thought she was refusing to wake up on purpose.


    But no, her injuries were terrible and her condition wasn¡¯t getting any better, despite my best efforts. We were too high up and it was very cold. It was only going to get colder as the winter approached. And I had to return to Bek Tepe, too. I gathered my energy, took some deep breaths, and put the demon woman on my back once again.


    The trek back was painful and slow. Even though the demon woman didn¡¯t weigh much, having to lug around a whole other person was taking a toll on my body. There was no way I was going to be able to cross the glaciers with her on my back. I needed to wake her up, but how?


    I considered just leaving her there. In a small cave or under a narrow overhang in a valley right before the glaciers. I could try to race through the glaciers, run back to the Oko tribe¡¯s lands, and return with a large rescue party and supplies. But there was no way the demon woman was going to survive that long. If I could wake her up, maybe leave her with some food and water, then I might be able to rescue her, but that brought me back to the same problem: how could I wake her up?


    Around a campfire in the valley before the glaciers, I ran a hand over my face. I didn¡¯t have a lot of food left. I¡¯d searched the surroundings for any signs of life, even small monsters and insects, but I couldn¡¯t find anything. I had no choice. I had to leave her here and hope I could return in time. I let her off my back, breathed heavily, and left the last of my food with her in case she woke up. There was a glacial spring nearby, so she shouldn¡¯t have any trouble with water. I bit my lips. I had so many questions to ask her. Well, really, only one that truly mattered.


    I needed to know what ¡®annihilation¡¯ meant in her language!


    I couldn¡¯t let her die before I had my answers. I opened my mouth, and told her that I would be leaving her for now, but that I would be back soon. I¡¯d found some scraggly, rough growing shrubs and plants somewhere in the valley, so I lit her a little campfire. There wasn¡¯t any oil left in her glass lamp, but I had some monster fat on me that I melted down a little and put into her lamp. I lit the lamp, marked the location of the little camp on a duplicate map, and made a few landmarks around the area.


    Running across the glaciers wasn¡¯t fun. I had to strain my body to its absolute limits, using balance magic without reprieve, to arrive at the Oko tribe¡¯s final mountain base camp. Nobody was here, since they should still be out hunting and gathering for the journey to Bek Tepe. I¡¯d kept up my count of days, as well as the tribesmen¡¯s estimates of when the solstice would be, so I knew where to search for the Oko tribe.


    I met an Oko tribe scout just as my legs were turning to jelly and my chest began to hurt. They helped carry me to elder Konri, whose eyes widened when she saw me in such a terrible, and anxious condition. I managed to push a few words through my burning throat, and told her I needed a rescue party comprised of her best magic users.


    The rescue party left as soon as I¡¯d gathered some supplies and a tiny bit of rest. The elder still wanted me to stay back or wait, but I knew it¡¯d be hard for the rescue party to find the demon woman without my help. And besides, my magic was still miles above everybody else¡¯s. I wasn¡¯t going to be the one slowing down the rescue party on the glaciers, that was for sure.


    I ended up having to spend a ridiculous amount of magic energy rescuing the rescue party on the glaciers. Slips, ravines, and idiots who didn¡¯t wear thick enough furs. I swallowed my curses and helped bring everyone over the glaciers, feeling a massive headache brewing behind my forehead. Still, we were finally at the valley. I led the party to the landmarks that led to the cave.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    She was gone. And so was the food. My eyes went wide. Had she been waiting for me to leave before running away? If you didn¡¯t want to come with me, you could have said something! I still had my translation magic. Did she not understand that I had saved her life and was still trying to rescue her?


    I slumped to the ground and threw my hands up in the air. The rescue party searched through the cave a little but there were no signs of the demon woman. Even the fire had been allowed to run its course and never re-lit. She must have left almost as soon as she was sure that I had gone away.


    What was that?


    Nobody else seemed to have heard it. It was at moments like this that I thanked my weirdly long and pointed elfin ears. I stood up, against the wishes of my aching body, and walked around the entrance of the cave. Right. This was the way to the glacial springs.


    Water splashing against rocks. It splashed against something softer, too. What was that? I walked around the corner and squinted.


    The glacial springs were clear as crystal. The water flowed gently through the mountainside and into a stone pond before flowing further into a tiny stream leading down the valley. The rocks were full of multi-colored minerals, creating a kaleidoscope of colors that the water flowed over, taking the colors of the rocks below into itself. The whole scene was ethereal, like something out of a fairy tale.


    And at the edge of the pond, was the demon woman, her hands cupped as she brought the water to her face and sipped. Her hair clung to her head, dripping water onto her clothes. Her eyes were closed and covered with drops of water. She sipped the water in her hands, pulled her head back, and let her wet hair swing wildly through the air, leaving arcs of water in the air. She wiped the water off her eyelids and opened them. She met my gaze.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± I said.


    Her eyes widened. ¡°You were real!¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    The demon woman rushed towards me. Before I could react, she fell to the ground, slammed her forehead on the floor and shouted: ¡°Thank you, great elf, for saving my life!¡±


    The corners of my eyes twitched. I laughed awkwardly. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that. Please, stand up.¡±


    The demon woman shot up. ¡°Yes, great elf!¡±


    ¡°And you don¡¯t need to call me great elf, either,¡± I said, scratching my chin. Wait. What was she saying? ¡°You, you called me an elf!¡±


    The demon woman nodded. ¡°Yes, great¡ªI mean, exalted elf.¡±


    ¡°But that means you¡¯ve met elves before!¡± I said, excitedly.


    ¡°No,¡± said the demon woman, ¡°but I have seen paintings!¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, slowly. ¡°But other people have seen elves, then. The people from your homeland, correct?¡±


    The demon woman nodded. ¡°Yes, in fact, my great great great great¡­¡± She kept saying great for a long while, seemingly all in one breath. ¡°¡­ great great grandfather once dined with the king of elves!¡±


    I frowned. ¡°What?¡±


    The demon woman¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Oh, my apologies, exalted elf, I¡¯ll repeat that. My great great¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no, you don¡¯t have to do that. Also, don¡¯t call me exalted elf, either. My name¡¯s Caspian Holm, but you can call me Cas,¡± I said. ¡°And are you saying the last person to see an elf in your family was a distant ancestor?¡±


    ¡°Yes, exalted elf¡ªI mean, exalted Cas,¡± she said. ¡°It was my great great¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s alright, I got it, thanks,¡± I said, cutting her off. I sighed. Judging by what this demon woman was saying, the people in her homeland knew about elves, even if they may not have met them personally. Still, I figured I could ask more questions later. But first, I had to get this demon woman to safety. Speaking of which.


    ¡°What is your name, anyway?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, right, exalted Cas,¡± she said, ¡°my name is Princess Kol Izlandi, and I come from the Kingdom of Izlandi, which lies across the Great Southern Mountains!¡±

 Chapter 129

    Elder Konri Oko passed me a dried gourd filled with a hot liquid. I blew on the drink, watching the vapors get pushed aside by my breath, and sipped it. It was a kind of tisane or herbal tea, made from a leafy grass that grows behind the retreating snow cover at the edge of the Oko tribe¡¯s lands and is ready for harvest when the snows arrive the following year. It was then dried in special caves for several months, until the shadows reached a certain length in the summer. It was that time of year, and elder Konri wanted me to try it. The drink had a warming, mellow taste that I enjoyed greatly. Kol, the demon princess, didn¡¯t like it as much, and complained that it was too hot and bitter.


    This was our final night on the Oko tribe¡¯s lands. Everything was packed up and everybody was ready to make the journey to the Imm tribe, and then on to Bek Tepe. I was sitting around a campfire with Elder Konri and Princess Kol. We were done with dinner, and were mulling around, asking each others questions like we had been doing ever since Kol joined us.


    ¡°So you do not have elders in your tribes?¡± asked elder Konri, sipping her tisane.


    ¡°Yes, wait no, it¡¯s complicated,¡± said Kol. ¡°Villages and towns might have elders, but the country, which controls many villages and many cities, is ruled by a king. The king rules over his subjects like a father, and passes his power down to his descendants, who rule the kingdom after his death.¡±


    ¡°Like a father? But he isn¡¯t their father. And passing power to descendants? What if the king doesn¡¯t have any children? Or if his children are still young? How could a single family hope to lead so many people. Why not divide yourselves up?¡± said Elder Konri.


    Kol frowned. Someone who had been raised as a princess might have found some of the elder¡¯s questions offensive, but also difficult to refute. Feudalism runs on power and hierarchy, which are both very difficult to justify on moral terms, especially to people who have not experienced it before. Kol had realized quite quickly that she had very little to say on the matter once she couldn¡¯t refer directly to her father or family¡¯s history or to matters of theology.


    Speaking of theology. ¡°You said last time that the king is your god¡¯s chosen representative on Earth,¡± I said. ¡°The elder and I dismissed that reasoning because we don¡¯t believe in your god, but could you tell me a little bit more about this god of yours?¡±


    The princess¡¯s eyes brightened. ¡°Yes! The Heavenly Eye created this world with his gaze. Today, our planet is suspended in his gaze, like a mote of dust in a sunbeam or a small particle in water. He created humans from his tears, and when we die, our souls are whisked away and return to tears, ready to take on a new form through reincarnation.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said, with a frown on my face. These discussions had been getting more concerning by the day. By now, I always left the campfire emotionally drained. ¡°And there were other countries on the other side of the mountains. Do they believe in the Heavenly Eye, too?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said, emphatically. ¡°The barbaric kingdoms do not believe in the true god. Many years ago, two evil beings drifted into the Heavenly Eye¡¯s gaze from the great abyss, and have been fighting for control over our reality. Those dumb barbarians do not realize what they are doing. How they are dooming us all to ruin. They worship their heathen gods: the so-called ¡®God of Music¡¯ and the ¡®Beast of the Valley.¡¯ But our people believe, that if our kingdom conquers the others, and unites the continent in worship of the Heavenly Eye, the evil gods will lose their power and drift back into the abyss.¡±


    The rest of the conversation faded into white noise in my ears. I was thinking about what Kol had said, and mulling over it. And it was made more complicated by the other things that she had revealed about her people and their society and beliefs.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    On the first day after we returned to the Oko tribe, Kol told me how she came to be on this side of the mountains. She was the only heir of the current king, but was forced to go to the hinterlands due to political pressure. Her escort party had been chased all the way to the mountains by assassins, and just when she thought they¡¯d lost the assassins, they were chased by a strange flying monster. The flying monster had chased her all the way through the mountains. The journey had been so stressful, she could barely remember it. She said she felt like she¡¯d run through a dimly lit tunnel and appeared on the other side. Then, they hadn¡¯t been able to find any food, and most of her party finally succumbed to their injuries and to hunger. She still had no idea how she¡¯d survived long enough to be rescued by me.


    Her whole story was suspicious, which was why I suspected supernatural forces were involved. I wanted to help her get back home, but there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it for now. The plan had been to slowly explore the North over the course of a few years. I didn¡¯t want to risk the lives of the human tribesmen just to get her home a little faster.


    Another thing that made me want to take my time in sending her home, was the technological level of the demons on the other side. Kol confirmed that her glass lantern, which had already become a source of wonder for the tribesmen, was actually a common item back in her kingdom. The demons also used iron tools, and had access to all sorts of medieval era weapons and inventions. The biggest problem was agriculture. If they¡¯d developed agriculture to a certain level, their population had to be massive. There was no way the tiny human population of the double river basin could stand up to the demons if things went south.


    Elder Konri rekindled the fire with magic. Princess Kol stared at it wide-eyed, as she usually did. She had that expression every time she saw one of our magic spells. She was especially surprised to see that the humans could use those spells too. After all, elves were magical, but she hadn¡¯t even heard about humans before.


    I frowned. Wasn¡¯t it strange that she knew about elves but didn¡¯t know about humans, who lived a lot closer to them? It didn¡¯t sound like they¡¯d met the elves from the other tribes either, since the demons told stories about elves from before the elves came to the Plains of Serenity. Judging by Kol¡¯s stories, they may have crossed paths with the demons before the time of the Mad King.


    I twiddled my thumbs as I watched Kol ask Elder Konri about magic again. The elder laughed awkwardly and avoided the question. I¡¯d told the tribesmen not to share the secrets of magic with the demon princess just yet, since we weren¡¯t sure if she was a friend or foe. More importantly, I needed to know if she was involved with the immortals, somehow. The circumstances of her arrival were suspicious enough, after all.


    Princess Kol made a dissatisfied face but dropped the subject. She¡¯d mentioned that she knew magic as well, but had never shown it to us, so I suppose she thought it was fair that we weren¡¯t sharing our magic if she wasn¡¯t sharing hers.


    But the thought that consumed my mind for the longest time was the first question I¡¯d asked her when we¡¯d returned to the camp. It was the question that I asked her every night around this campfire, hoping for a better answer.


    ¡°Princess,¡± I said, waiting for the princess to meet my gaze. ¡°Do you have an answer yet?¡±


    The princess frowned, rubbed her temple, and shook her head. ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid not.¡±


    ¡°You still can¡¯t remember it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if there even is an answer to give you,¡± she said.


    ¡°Not even a hint. I¡¯ve already described it to you, multiple times. I even gave you synonyms. And you saw my translation magic is translating something. That it isn¡¯t gibberish. It sounds like a word to you, a real word from your language! And yet?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, lowering her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that word means in my language. I have never heard it before.¡±


    I sighed. I leaned back, stretching my arms onto the ground behind me, and stared up at the sky. ¡°Annihilation¡­ why did the secret to my return have to be a word like that. A puzzle so small, it can¡¯t be unraveled, because every time I get a little closer, all I find is another layer.¡±

 Chapter 130

    ¡°You need to learn their language,¡± I said to Princess Kol as we walked with the Oko tribe towards the Imm tribe¡¯s lands.


    ¡°But that will take forever!¡± said the Princess.


    ¡°I think once you get going and immerse yourself in the language here, you¡¯ll find it isn¡¯t as difficult to learn as you thought,¡± I said. I eventually got the princess to agree to attending some language lessons with me whenever we made camp for the night on the journey back to Bek Tepe. The princess had a red gemstone pendant that gave her the ability to understand and communicate with people who spoke different languages. The pendant¡¯s translation ability was not as sophisticated as that of my translation magic, and I had to step in to interpret her words for the tribesmen, even during our nightly meetings and discussions. I¡¯d gotten so used to it that the language barrier barely effected the conversation anymore, but it was still noticeable, and I wanted to fix that. I was looking at the future. The princess would be staying with us for a long time. And whenever she did return, it would help if she had a good relationship and understanding of the human tribes. Especially because she was in line for the throne.


    We reunited with the Imm tribe and began walking towards the River Teg. We would be joining the small group the various tribes had left behind at the encampment before heading off to Bek Tepe. The summer solstice was right around the corner, which meant I had been with the humans for almost an entire year. I¡¯d also been separated from Noel for a year, which left a bitter feeling in my mouth.


    ¡°A demon, you say,¡± said Elder Mann Imm.


    ¡°There wasn¡¯t a word for their people in your language,¡± I said, ¡°so I gave them one from my own language.¡± The word had been slightly altered to fit the phonetics of the human language, but was still recognizably the word demon. ¡°Their own name for their people is very different, but my translation magic has chosen to translate it this way too. For some reason, her red pendant has also done the same.¡± It didn¡¯t take a genius to see that the red pendant was suspicious, and it already gave me some clues about the Heavenly Eye that the people of her kingdom worshiped.


    Elder Mann glanced at the princess, who was walking far in front of us, talking to Elder Konri Oko. Elder Mann observed the demon princess, staring particularly and awkwardly at her black tail. ¡°Are you sure she isn¡¯t a monster?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°is anything that isn¡¯t human a monster? What about me and the other elves?¡±


    ¡°Right, my apologies,¡± said the elder. ¡°But are we sure that it is safe to bring her with us to Bek Tepe?¡±


    ¡°She does not have access to the technology of her people right now, and she doesn¡¯t even know your language. Her people do not possess magic, either, or at least not the kind of powerful and systematized magic that you have all learned from me,¡± I said. ¡°The real danger that her people could pose is with their superior numbers, but there is no way a large army could cross those mountains. Princess Kol is completely at our mercy, right now.¡±


    The elder stared at her some more. In his eyes, I could see the demon princess¡¯ dark hair, strange clothes and even stranger shoes. When she turned around, I could see her dark eyes, and the mature smile on her face. I¡¯d asked her about her age, but she¡¯d insisted that wasn¡¯t something I should be asking a lady. Even when I insisted because I wanted to know more about demon lifespans and growth rates, she simply told me the oldest demons she knew lived to somewhere around seven hundred years and grew faster when they were young before gradually slowing down, which was similar to the way elves aged in this world.


    Just judging by appearances, however, she looked like she was in her thirties. And despite her energetic personality, her royal upbringing had given her a sort of measured maturity that made her seem even older, at least when she wasn¡¯t hiding behind her upbeat smile.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ---


    The humans at the encampment were happy to see us. None of the senior elders had stayed behind here, so the few secondary elders were happy to see me and the two senior elders from the Imm and Oko tribe. One thing that I had realized about the tribesmen was the value they placed on their elders, and how important the elders were to their sense of self and security.


    The demon princess was surprised to see the many different colors of humans at the encampment. I¡¯d spent so much time with them that I had gotten used to their strangely varied hair colors, but an outsider like the demon princess couldn¡¯t get enough of it. Apparently, most demons had simple dark hair and eyes. The humans were surprised to hear about that, with some whispers about marriages and children that I didn¡¯t quite catch.


    We left the encampment a little earlier than planned, since the demon princess could not travel as fast as the humans could. Many humans had learned motion magic, and the addition of tamed pack animals like Paris¡ªwho I was very happy to reunite with¡ªmeant we could move our supplies very easily, too. The princess was terrified of Paris, by the way. She couldn¡¯t believe that a monster like that obeyed me, but Paris the Fil Tusker seemed to have missed me too. I ended up riding a makeshift saddle on her back for a good portion of the journey to Bek Tepe.


    ---


    When Bek Tepe appeared over the horizon, it cut as impressive a sight as it had last year. A lone hill jutting out of the flat plains, with a temple carved into the side. Even the demon princess¡¯ eyes went wide, despite the more advanced building and construction technologies that she was used to in her homeland. Judging by the stacks of smoke coming from the top of the hill, a few tribes had already arrived. They would have seen us from up there too, which reminded me of Bek Tepe¡¯s amazing defensive location.


    We strode up to the stone guardians, which were thronged by a bunch of familiar faces. Kelser rushed up to me and I gave him a big hug. I also greeted Elder Kezler and the other Roja tribesmen. The others seemed to be advanced parties from the Jora and Ibog tribes, who told me their elders would be leading the rest of their tribesmen over soon. We could expect the other tribes to start pouring in over the next few days.


    ¡°Princess Kol,¡± I said, bringing Kelser over to the demon princess, ¡°this is Kelser, the most powerful magician in the entire human race.¡± Kelser blushed.


    Princess Kol gave Kelser a gentle smile, and greeted the other humans, especially Elder Kezler, very politely. She had realized by now that elders were important to the humans, and was trying to treat them with the appropriate respect.


    I explained the princess¡¯ circumstances to the newly met tribesmen, and prepared myself to go over the same explanation every time a new tribe came to join us. Surprisingly, none of the humans had ever reacted to the demon princess with the kind of wild, uncontrollable eagerness that they had displayed towards me. They were surprised to see someone who looked so different and who came from the other side of a huge mountain range, but that was it. I suppose it helped that they didn¡¯t really know what a princess was, and just assumed she was something like an elder¡¯s daughter. They even assigned her chores during our journey and would probably do the same here at Bek Tepe. The poor, pampered princess gave them an incredulous look, but I never intervened and so she was hauling water and foraging for food with everybody else. She¡¯d gotten used to it quickly enough, and I was surprised that she never came to me to complain or ask for special treatment.


    The other tribes began to arrive as the days grew longer and longer. I had kept up my count of the days since the previous solstice. Combined with my map of the distant surroundings, which I had laid out carefully in my tent, I thought I was starting to get a pretty good idea of this world. Meeting the demon princess had taught me about the demons on the other side of the mountains, and she had proven that there was a way through the mountains, even if she didn¡¯t remember where it was.


    The demons were probably my best bet for finding clues about the other elfin tribes, which would help me decipher the riddle of ¡®annihilation¡¯ and find a way home. I had to get to the other side of the mountains.


    But the demons were numerous and more technologically advanced than the humans. I couldn¡¯t risk opening up a path across the mountains before the humans were able to defend themselves. They already had a magical advantage, but I wanted to give them something more. Something that would make sure that the humans could not be pushed over by waves of iron clad demons.


    I picked up the lodestone. I could make do without a compass for a little bit. For now, I needed a magnet.

 Chapter 131

    I remembered the glass lamp that Kol had brought with her. Unlike the crude wooden torches we used, the demons seemed to have learned how to use things like animal fat or wax candles to light up their homes and businesses at night. The princess said only a few places, like the palace or important roads leading up to the palace, were lit all night, but that was a good enough indicator of how far ahead the demons were on the technological scale.


    Electricity would let the humans leapfrog the demons by several hundred years worth of development. There were a lot of other things that I could help invent to bring the humans up to speed, things like refined iron and steel, but they would not be enough. A few humans could not resist a medieval kingdom. At least, not with pointy sticks and thicker armor. No, we had to make use of the greatest advantage that we had: magic.


    The real reason I wanted to develop electricity, was so I could create electric spells. In fact, I would probably make more magnetic spells, too, since a lot of the experiments that I would have to do for now would help create ¡®knowledge¡¯ for magnetism as well.


    While we were at the encampment, the humans told me they¡¯d found a strange object while on a hunting trip to the marshes. What they¡¯d found was a piece of amber, which reminded me of one of the oldest experiments around electricity. And so, I took the piece of amber, rubbed it on some monster fur, and brought it close to some feathers. The feathers stuck to the amber, giving me my first demonstration of static electricity.


    I did some more experiments with static electricity, playing with things like human hair and the strange fabric that the princess¡¯ clothes were made of. I even brought out some of the red gemstones I¡¯d taken from starred monsters, but they didn¡¯t seem to have any electromagnetic properties. Still, I was able to prove some of the things that I already knew about from my previous world. Things like how static electricity was the flow of charged particles from one charged body to the other. Rubbing two insulators together in dry air made stronger static electricity, and the two differently charged objects that were rubbed together develop an attractive force because of their equal and opposite charges.


    Next, I wanted a way to make a lot of static electricity very quickly. No point rubbing amber on fur forever, after all. So, while waiting for the various tribes to arrive at Bek Tepe, I gathered some sand and began making glass. The process of glass-making was messier than you¡¯d expect, but with some tinkering with air and fire magic, as well as clay kilns, I was able to fill up a mold with molten glass, which I then cooled to make a glass globe. The globe wasn¡¯t the smoothest globe I¡¯d ever seen, and the glass wasn¡¯t particularly pure or high quality, but I figured it would get the job done for now.


    I brought the glass globe to my tent, which had by this time become a sort of laboratory. Kelser came to assist me in my experiments, and Kol hung around sometimes, observing what I was doing and asking questions. I didn¡¯t want to give too much away to her, but since she didn¡¯t even know any magic, I figured it was fine to show her the experiments. The real question would be if I should teach her magic, or not, and that was a question that I had not settled on an answer for just yet.


    I cut up a bunch of wood and built a small contraption to hold the glass globe up. My heart jumped into my throat when the globe got loose and almost fell to the ground, but I caught it with magic hands. I fixed it more securely to the contraption, and in such a way that it would spin when I moved the wheel that was fixed to the side of the machine. Kelser had been a big help in getting everything to fit and come to shape, but he did wonder if what I was doing was really all that necessary. If I wanted the globe to spin, couldn¡¯t I just hold it up with magic hands and make it spin that way?


    I told him that I could do that, yes, but it would be much harder to spin it as fast as I wanted to, and I wanted to be able to demonstrate a few things about motion and machines for the future. Now that we had a way to make the glass globe move, I gathered a bunch of resin, which was a good non-conductor, and piled it up next to the machine. I stood on the resin and told Kelser to start making the glass move. I touched the glass globe with my hands and waited for a little bit before asking Kelser to stop.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Princess Kol, who had been gawking at the whole scene for a while now, asked if the experiment had failed, since she didn¡¯t see anything. I pretended that she was right, and wondered aloud if the problem had something to do with my elfin body. I asked her if she wanted to give it a try, and she walked over excitedly. I was still up on the resin and extended a hand towards her as if to help her up.


    ¡°Ah!¡± shouted the princess as she snatched her hand back and recoiled a few feet.


    I laughed. ¡°Thank you for the demonstration, princess. The experiment was a success!¡±


    I had all three of us try out the electrostatic generator or friction machine, while running a few more experiments on using other objects instead of my hands. I was able to increase my ¡®justified knowledge¡¯ of the properties of various insulators and conductors, and of the differences between insulators and conductors in how they dealt with and stored static electricity. I knew I needed to do a couple more things, but the lack of technology at my disposal meant that it would be a while before I truly mastered electricity.


    But for now, just a few days before the solstice, when all the human tribes had arrived at Bek Tepe, I decided to invent a few new spells. First, I tried to create static electricity with magic. In the end, I had to break out a stone slab and charcoal to work out some things regarding Coulomb¡¯s law, which especially helped solidify my understanding of negative and positive charges. I put aside the written equations, took a deep breath on a dark night, and stood right outside my tent with Kelser and Kol standing by my side.


    A few other people had begun crowding around me as well, as word had gotten out about my strange contraptions and the new type of magic that I was trying to create. Kelser, who was the only human who had learned a little bit about electricity from me so far, had apparently gone around telling people that I was making a spell that would help me spew lightning from my fingertips. I had to make him go back and tell people not to expect such a powerful spell after a few days of experimentation.


    I took a steady pose with my legs, aimed my hands up high, and concentrated. The crowd waited eagerly around me, wondering, despite my warnings, when lightning would come out of my fingertips.


    The moon was bright. The red star was pulsing. Wind blew, rustling my clothes and my hair and carrying the silence of bated breaths into my ears. I closed my eyes. I gathered my knowledge and my wisdom, and focused. And waited.


    And waited.


    And waited some more.


    Somebody coughed. A child shuffled around. People whispered, what was going on. Kelser stepped up to me eventually, asking if I was alright. I hadn¡¯t moved in a long time. He was right to be worried. I exhaled, loosened my stance, and smiled at Kelser.


    ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Kol with a frown. ¡°What¡¯s done?¡±


    ¡°The spell!¡± I answered.


    ¡°The spell?¡± repeated Kol, ¡°what spell?¡±


    I smiled. Kol hadn¡¯t seen me invent spells before, so she didn¡¯t know what to expect. She¡¯d been incredibly surprised to learn that the spells everybody had been using were invented by me, and had high expectations after seeing fireballs whizzing through the air or great pieces of stone being tossed around at frightening speeds.


    ¡°This spell,¡± I said, as I stepped forward and touched the demon princess before she could run away. Her eyes widened as I approached, but she clearly hadn¡¯t been expecting me to suddenly rush towards her.


    My hands made contact with her skin, and the demon princess let out a loud yelp, before falling comically to the floor. I grinned as I looked over the dazed demon princess, and swept my gaze towards the crowd. My grin grew wider and the people in the crowd shivered. I raised my hands and started walking ominously towards them.


    ¡°Hello, friends,¡± I said as I chased the panicked crowd. ¡°Come give old Cas a hug!¡±

 Chapter 132

    A few days before the solstice, I gathered an exploration party and headed out for a few promising locations. I rolled the little magnetic lodestone in my hand, and asked Kelser to open up the field map I¡¯d made for our little journey.


    The static electricity spell that I¡¯d invented after my experiments was very useful. In hand to hand combat, I could probably incapacitate most people and monsters with just a touch, and it could form the basis for many other types of spells and even weapons. I¡¯d already shown that I could use the static charge to create a small spark, which could be used to light fires. Of course, that ability was kind of useless when fire magic was around, but I couldn¡¯t really proceed much further without one very important material:


    Iron.


    And that was why we were going out to various promising locations with a little magnet. Of course, the magnet wasn¡¯t strong enough to detect iron ore deposits just by holding it in my hand, but I could use it to confirm ores that I wasn¡¯t too sure about. I¡¯d also been on the lookout for tin, since I could use that to make bronze in case we didn¡¯t find iron, but I really wanted some iron to replace the small amounts of natural copper that I was stuck using at the moment. I also wanted to use iron for a few experiments, especially ones involving the creation of new magnets.


    Finding iron ore shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. I had already asked hunting and foraging parties that had left Bek Tepe recently to be on the lookout for certain types of exposed ore or other signs of iron deposits. The first stop for my party was one such sign, discovered by a foraging party that had been tracing the length of the nearby rivers.


    ¡°This is it,¡± I said, as I crouched to the ground and ran the lodestone over the sand. Little flakes stuck to the lodestone, although they were easily brushed off.


    ¡°We¡¯re looking for sand?¡± asked Kelser. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we go to the beach, then?¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯re not looking for beach sand,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re looking for iron sand. Like this stuff right here.¡± We were spread out over the area right beside a major bend in the river. The water lapped at the river¡¯s edge, threatening to flood over the banks at any moment. The iron sand deposits in the area were likely a result of this bend, since the river probably ran over this piece of land at some point in the past.


    ¡°Iron sand?¡± repeated Kelser. ¡°You said iron was a metal, like copper. How are we going to turn this stuff into weapons and tools?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if we can,¡± I said as I gestured towards a few members of our party. I told them to gather as much of the iron sand as they could and load it up into gourds and hide bags. ¡°You can return to Bek Tepe, but don¡¯t bring the iron sand all the way to the top. You remember the small hut in the woods I pointed out on the way over? Just take them all there and go back up to Bek Tepe. Make sure to leave everything down there, and to wash your clothes off in the nearby creek before you return.¡±


    Half of the party split off from us here, digging through the area in search of iron sand. Kelser looked over them, helping them along with some magic hands. ¡°Are you sure they need to be so secretive?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t trust that princess. At least, not yet.¡±


    ¡°Is it because she¡¯s the only survivor of her party?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s part of it. A pampered princess surviving when all of her hardy bodyguards died? That¡¯s a little difficult to believe. Especially in a society without powerful, systematized magic. But no, it¡¯s her story. About her people and their religion,¡± I said.


    ¡°The Heavenly Eye?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yep,¡± I said, ¡°the princess¡¯ red pendant is a gift from the priests of the Heavenly Eye. She said it helps the royal family with diplomacy and communication, but all it does is apply a sort of translation magic to her.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Why is that a bad thing?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Because I know who gave me my translation magic,¡± I said, as I helped scoop up some iron sand. ¡°It was the same evil being that dragged me into this world. The Immortal of Evil!¡±


    After collecting as much iron sand as they could, half of the foraging party left back the way we came. I brought the rest of the party with me up the length of the river towards the mountains in the far north. Of course, I didn¡¯t have enough time to go all the way to the mountains and be back in time for the solstice, but I knew I probably wouldn¡¯t have to go all the way. The people of this world had not industrialized, and the people on this side of the mountains hadn¡¯t even entered the iron age. Lots of easy to access, high grade ore should be easy to find as long as one knew how and where to look. And now that I¡¯d found iron sand settled on a bend in the river, I knew the river itself must run through or near several major iron ore deposits further up its path.


    I squinted my eyes. ¡°There!¡± I pointed at a few rocky formations up ahead of us. The formations weren¡¯t actually in the path of the river itself, but there was a small tributary rolling down the formations to join into the main river. The water in the tributary was dark and murky. A good sign.


    We walked up all the way to the spot where the tributary appeared from inside the rocky formations. I figured there was some sort of underground body of water that flowed out through a few openings into the water that we could see out here. The rock in the exterior didn¡¯t seem all that promising, but I asked everybody but Kelser to spread out and look for certain signs of iron ore. I also told them to avoid the area near the flowing water, since I would be blowing it up shortly.


    I positioned Kelser on one side of the water, and stood on the other side myself. When I gave him the signal, he launched earth magic into the front of the rocky formation from one side while I fired my earth magic on the other. Soon, we had dug into the rock, sending debris into the water and a cloud of dust in front of our eyes. We had to step back to avoid the dust, and used air magic to blow it all away. I even cleared out the debris from the flowing water so I wouldn¡¯t disrupt the river too much.


    ¡°This is amazing,¡± said Kelser as he stepped through the narrow opening and into the large hollow cave inside. There was a lake full of murky but strangely reflective water, with a bunch of dry rock circling around it. The lake was probably fed by an underground source, possibly a river, but the cave itself didn¡¯t seem too dangerous.


    Just to be sure, I had Kelser step outside, and made sure all the humans were far away. I then launched a few small, controlled fireballs into the cave. Luckily, there wasn¡¯t a large concentration of natural gas or similarly flammable materials, so we could walk inside with a small torch to help us see the walls.


    And as soon as I walked inside with a torch, I felt excitement flow through me. ¡°Bingo!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°What?¡± said Kelser, giving me a strange look.


    ¡°I mean, we¡¯ve found it,¡± I said as I traced my hands over the walls. Veins of iron ore, most of it dark, and possibly magnetite, filled the walls. There were even a few areas further in where I could extract the ores directly with earth magic.


    I called in all the humans and we started extracting as much of the iron ore as we thought we could carry back. We filled several emptied gourds and strengthened hide bags, before we had to leave in order to make it back to Bek Tepe before the solstice.


    I made a large pillar outside the rocky formation, and marked it on the working map that Kelser had been carrying. I was sure I¡¯d be able to find a few more locations full of iron ore in the near future, but this source should be good enough for the first few tools and weapons that I wanted to teach the humans about. In fact, this area might be a good hunting spot as well, since I¡¯d already killed a couple of powerful monsters nearby, although they hadn¡¯t been worth mentioning because of how powerful our magic had become. Any hunting parties that come here might be tasked to bring back a little ore too, since we¡¯d already run through the copper from the mines near the Roja tribe¡¯s home.


    We arrived at my secret hut near Bek Tepe just one day before the summer solstice. I was tempted to hunker down and begin smelting the iron ore, but decided against it. All of the preparations for magic and weapons was complete. I would be able to strengthen the humans very quickly, which would help me cross over the mountains and meet the demon kingdoms on the other side. Then, I could finally follow the clues to the other elfin tribes and figure out the mystery of ¡®annihilation.¡¯


    But first, I had to prepare for the summer solstice festival. Our party left the iron ore by the bags and gourds full of iron sands near the hut, and began making our way towards Bek Tepe.

 Chapter 133

    The summer solstice festival had changed. The atmosphere, full of revelry, the location, cleaned up and renovated by earth and air magic. The fields around Bek Tepe had been cleared of rot and murky ponds. The first rays of sunlight bounced off a temple where chipped stones and weather-worn statues had been restored. Even the pit, which used to have a few stone seats and a cramped stage, began to resemble the Odeon of Herodes, or Athenian amphitheater that I had seen in my previous world. I¡¯d helped with the new design, but the humans had done an amazing job with the construction.


    Last year, this was one of the most difficult and dangerous days of my life. Now, the mood was festive, the scenery revamped, and the relationships I had built with the humans over the past year had blossomed and bloomed. The longest day in the year would not feel that way this time, I told myself.


    Speaking of years, the first order of business was to confirm the number of days in a year. I checked up on my tally marks and counted them up. I also went to the demon princess and compared the number that I had with the number her people used, only to find out that her people used a completely arbitrary calendar. Well, that meant I had something to announce at night, when the Assembly would meet.


    The day began with a morning feast. The various tribes had brought delicacies from their homelands to share with the other tribesmen. The Ibog tribe¡¯s alcoholic drinks, which we¡¯d used to make vinegar in the past, was the most popular item. Getting drunk before noon was a little concerning, but I figured letting loose once a year wouldn¡¯t be terrible. Still, I only sipped at my drink conservatively. Somebody had to be an adult today, I thought to myself as I watched the elders begin to sing and dance. I frowned and grabbed Kelser before he could down anything.


    ¡°You¡¯re too young!¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± he said. ¡°Just a little! Come on!¡±


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go check up on the princess,¡± I said, as I dragged Kelser away from the Ibog tribe¡¯s tent. I saw the princess eating fruits at the Jora tribe¡¯s tent and walked over. ¡°Princess, how are you liking the festivities?¡±


    ¡°Oh, the food is amazing! You wouldn¡¯t believe what kind of stuff I had to eat at the palace,¡± she said as she popped a berry into her mouth. ¡°The food at your tribe¡¯s camp was amazing too.¡± She pointed at Kelser, who was still grumpy about not being allowed to drink. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could make fish taste that good. You know, I used to hate fish, but I knew just from smelling it, that the way you guys made it was different. Wonderful!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that,¡± I said. ¡°If we ever manage to set up a trade route with your kingdom, we¡¯ll be sure to send over some of our food.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yes, please do!¡± she said.


    As the sun approached its zenith, the tribesmen began to congregate at the stone structures near the tents. Most of them were full of artifacts or stored food for the day¡¯s festivities, but now that the human Jora tribe were no longer in charge of the day¡¯s events, I decided to add something new to the schedule. Rocky overhangs shielded the tribesmen from the harsh sun, and gave all of us some room to enjoy our food and drinks in the shade. I gave a signal to Elder Lipo Pole, and he smiled back at me, turned around, and began to play his lute.


    A group of humans, their hair a splatter of different colors, gathered around the elder and began playing their own instruments. Strings and drums and wind instruments of all kinds, played together with reckless abandon, forming sounds that should not work together but somehow did. Everybody was following Elder Lipo¡¯s rhythm, matching his beats and his pace, which kept the musical piece together and meant that soon, I was tapping my feet and watching the crowds of festive humans begin to dance.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Somebody began to sing. I frowned. The song sounded awkward and forced in my ear, but the others were clearly enjoying it. Oh right, that must be it! I turned off my translation magic and began to listen to the song in the humans¡¯ native language.


    I wasn¡¯t completely fluent in this language yet, so I could not follow the lyrics entirely, but it definitely sounded better this way. And what I could understand of the lyrics was enough to get me happy and excited too, although a few of the references to elves and myself did make me blush and shy away.


    I saw Princess Kol. She was smiling awkwardly and nursing a drink in a clay cup. I walked over and tapped her shoulder. She looked at me. I laughed. I pointed to her neck and she frowned. I tapped her necklace, then tapped my ear, and gave her a look. The princess took off her pendant and began to smile in earnest. I walked away, Kelser in tow, and let the music slowly fade away as I approached the pit.


    Even inside the pit, I could hear the music, the singing, the beat of moving feet and cheers of happy people. Kelser looked like he wanted to go back to enjoy the fun, but I didn¡¯t let him leave. I needed another sober person down here with me!


    The stage at the bottom of the pit had been widened, but it was still mostly the same. There were no artifacts, and no place to put them either, but that was okay. There would be a new kind of ceremony tonight. I walked towards the secret tunnel leading down into the dark underground and lit a torch. Kelser finally stopped pouting once he realized why I¡¯d brought him here, and put on a serious expression. What a dependable kid!


    ¡°I need you to stay out here,¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± he said. ¡°No, I¡¯m coming with you.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t know how this tunnel works. If it leads somewhere else like it did last year, I don¡¯t want you to get stuck in there with me. And somebody¡¯s gotta lead the rescue party if something happens to me, right?¡± After a little more persuasion, Kelser agreed and stood guard at the entrance to the tunnel, pouting once again, as the music and revelry wafted down to us at the pit like the smell of something delicious.


    I walked into the darkness and let the music fade away.


    ---


    I stepped into a familiar room. It wasn¡¯t the room that had been here yesterday, which was the room where the human Jora priests used to keep the artifacts they used for their rituals. In fact, all of the artifacts were gone, either because they¡¯d been lost during the fight last year or because I had had them buried to honor the elves who had been killed by the ancestors of the human Jora.


    Instead, this was the room that I had first stumbled into last year. The room full of priests and other tribesmen who had been under the influence of the Immortal of Evil. I¡¯d knocked them all out, and they¡¯d all disappeared without a sign on my way out. There was nothing in here now, no sign of priests or artifacts or anything like that. Just my dancing torchlight sending shadows dancing on the walls. I passed through to the second tunnel.


    The second tunnel was as disconcerting as I remembered it. I breathed softly as I walked through it, reliving in my head everything that had happened over the past year. A light appeared at the end of the tunnel. I stopped. My heartbeat thumped in my ears. I took a deep breath. And held it. I stepped into the secret ravine.


    I threw my torch to the ground. The ravine was well-lit and as green as I remembered it. To see so much life, the flora and fauna that filled this place, it was kind of unbelievable that this place only seemed to appear once a year. In fact, it almost looked like no time had passed in the ravine since I was last here. The priests and elders that had fought me were gone, but marks of our battle still ran throughout the ravine. I could even tell, by the way the marks surrounded a small empty circle, where the floating globe with the sunflo beetle had been. Come to think of it, it was that beetle that led me to the grave of the elfin Jora tribe, which led to my fight with Noel.


    A heavy feeling descended in my chest. I¡¯d been trying to ignore it for a while. I tried replacing it with my desire to find the meaning of ¡®annihilation,¡¯ my desire to find a way home. But it was always there. In the back of my head and sunk at the bottom of my heart.


    Sorrow. Pain. Memories. And a longing, a longing to see her once again.


    ¡°Noel,¡± I whispered to the empty ravine, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I sat in the shade of a tree, staring at a pair of birds flitting through the leaves. ¡°I miss you.¡±

 Chapter 134

    ¡°Did you find anything?¡± asked Kelser as I stepped into the pit.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, as I threw something at him.


    He scrambled to catch it. He looked at it and frowned. ¡°What is it?¡± He held it up to the light and admired it. ¡°It¡¯s pretty.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a diamond,¡± I said as we walked out of the pit and back to the festivities. I¡¯d found the diamond under the empty circle where the floating globe used to be. It had been covered with a thin layer of dirt, but I felt it under my feet when I walked over it and dug it out. It was a massive uncut diamond. I didn¡¯t think there was much I could do with it right now, especially because I wasn¡¯t sure how to cut it or shape it, but it was a cool thing to have around anyways. Especially because it was probably provided by the Immortal of Evil. There was no way prehistoric humans could have dug this out of the ground.


    ¡°I have an idea,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Oh?¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s really pretty,¡± he said. He rapped it with his knuckles. ¡°And hard too. Look at the way the light falls through it. This would make an amazing new artifact for the ceremony!¡±


    I gave it some thought. ¡°That isn¡¯t a bad idea. I can give it a fancy name and present it to the tribesmen at night. Along with the other artifacts.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve already decided what the other artifacts are going to be?¡± asked Kelser.


    I nodded. ¡°But I¡¯m not going to tell you. At least, not yet.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on!¡± said Kelser. The music and festivities were becoming louder. ¡°Fine. I won¡¯t tell you about our surprise then.¡±


    ¡°Your what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Our surprise!¡± he said with a grin. ¡°It was supposed to be a surprise, and you¡¯d find out during the ceremony, but I was thinking about telling you¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡±


    ¡°Wait, no, you were supposed to¡ªfine,¡± he said. Grumbling, he tried to walk away to the side when we returned to the singing and the dancing and the eating and the drinking, of which the drinking had probably been Kelser¡¯s aim. What a sly kid.


    I spent the rest of the day partying it up with the humans. Even the demon princess had gotten into it by the time evening rolled by, her black tail flitting about like it was doing a little jig. Well and truly hammered, the humans proceeded to the pit, filling into the stone seats of Bek Tepe that overlooked the wide, empty fields on all sides.


    Moonlight flooded the distance, but the night was dark and unwelcoming. We lit torches all around Bek Tepe, filling the night with an orange glow and setting the scene for the new and improved summer solstice ceremony.


    The human Jora priests were no longer in charge, but they were still the most experienced with running this sort of thing, so I asked Priest Mal to step up to the stage first. The middle-aged priest, who was still as grumpy as ever, stood on the stage and held his hands aloft. With a deep breath, he yelled over the noisy crowd by welcoming them to Bek Tepe and thanking them for coming from all corners of the double river basin.


    ¡°The past year has been a strange one,¡± continued Priest Mal, ¡°we have done things we have never done before, learned things we did not know, and made peace with our ancestors and our histories. Our tribes have grown closer than ever before. I have heard there are more marriages these days then ever before! More families and more children. A time of great prosperity has arrived. And it is all because of our great teacher, our wonderful mentor, one who has stepped out of the legends to lead and teach our people. Please, cheer for our wonderful Teacher Cas!¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The humans cheered for me. I tried to shrink away. It was so uncomfortable receiving so much praise and adulation. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide, so I had to give an awkward smile and wave at the cheering crowd, which only made them cheer even harder. It didn¡¯t help that many of them were drunk and hard to control. Priest Mal had lost all control of the crowd and he couldn¡¯t get them to quieten down again.


    I stepped forward and raised my hands into the air. The din lessened but it was still there. I shot fire into the sky. The crowd hushed. ¡°Thank you for those kind words, Priest Mal. I also want to thank all of you, you who have been so kind to me this past year. You who have changed your way of life, your traditions, your norms, your very way of life at my request. You insist on calling me ¡®teacher,¡¯ but I say that you have taught me as well. You have taught me about your people, your language, your history and your stories. You have welcomed me into your families, shared with me your food and your drink, and made me into one of your own. Your love and kindness, the wisdom of the elders, the bright vigor of the children, and the earnest hard work of your men and women have taught me much that I did not know, and I wanted to thank you for that, tonight.¡±


    Cheers again.


    ¡°But!¡± I had to shoot some more fire to get the crowd¡¯s cheers to subside. ¡°This is a ceremony, a ceremony that was ruined last year for reasons that are not worth mentioning on this happy occasion. Especially when we have a guest from another land.¡± I gestured towards the demon princess, who was shocked at being singled out all of a sudden.


    Still, she wasn¡¯t royalty for nothing. She gave a regal smile and waved to the rest of the crowd on either side, before thanking everyone for their hospitality. She even stood up and began to speak. ¡°I am honored to be a part of this ceremony, which I have been told, is a precious and sacred event. When I return to my homeland, I will make sure to inscribe this event in our historical records!¡±


    I smirked. That princess was shrewd as a politician. Or rather, I suppose being the princess in a monarchy was kinda like being a politician anyway. Whenever she¡¯d asked me about sending her back to her homeland, I¡¯d avoided the question. But now that she¡¯d mentioned it this way in front of everyone, I¡¯d look foolish if I kept her here forever. Well, it was alright since I¡¯d wanted to send her back anyways. ¡°Thank you, princess!¡± I said.


    The princess sat down. The crowd gave her a polite cheer. Most people still had no idea why being a princess was a big deal, but at least they respected her as a guest. I moved on to welcoming and thanking the other elders, who came up to the stage one by one to say a few words.


    However, apparently I hadn¡¯t been given the memo about the way this part of the ceremony was supposed to go. Each elder came up to me after giving their speech and handed me a gift. It was mostly things like the best alcohol from the Ibog tribe or large bushel of fruits from the Jenin, but it was still unexpected and there was nothing I could do to stop it with all of these eyes on me.


    Finally, I introduced Elder Kezler from the Roja tribe. After giving a rousing speech, the old man came up to me and presented a large, smelly fish. He said it was the largest catch of the season. I pinched my nose and accepted the ¡®gift¡¯ while promising to punish Kelser, who was chuckling in the corner of my vision.


    After the elder walked away, and before I could proceed with the rest of the ceremony, Kelser began walking towards the stage. I frowned. I hadn¡¯t heard about this either. But I couldn¡¯t say that in front of everyone so I just smiled awkwardly and waited for Kelser to step up right next to me and gesture towards the crowd.


    ¡°Thank you, friends, for entrusting this important duty to me,¡± said Kelser to the crowd. Somebody yelled back that it was only natural. Others yelled something that I couldn¡¯t quite make sense of. Were they calling him the ¡®first disciple¡¯? Why hadn¡¯t I heard anything about this? Kelser gestured to the crowd and they shut up so quickly I had to rub my eyes to believe it. They didn¡¯t even react that fast to me! Since when had this little red-haired kid gathered so much respect? ¡°It is my sacred duty, dear Teacher Cas, to present to you the conclusion of the great mission that you entrusted to us over the past year.¡±


    What? A great mission? I didn¡¯t remember giving them anything like that!


    ¡°We spent many months deliberating between ourselves. Many delegations were sent, many secret meetings held, and many nights spent contemplating an answer but we believe we have one that you will find satisfactory,¡± said Kelser as he made a grand gesture and cleared his throat. He raised his voice and yelled: ¡°The name of our new settlement on the banks of the River Teg shall be: New Cas City!¡±


    I blinked.


    Huh?

 Chapter 135

    ¡°Listen, I remember asking you all to come up with a name, but it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, was it?¡± I asked.


    Kelser shrugged. ¡°The elders thought it was a great honor, and we¡¯ve been struggling to come up with something for so long that it kinda just became a big deal.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You know how when you¡¯re really, really annoyed by something, something you can¡¯t quite figure out, and so it starts taking over your head. You think about it all the time. Worry about this answer or that answer, until it becomes this great big deal to you and all involved. Yeah, that¡¯s what happened,¡± he said.


    I rubbed my temple. ¡°That makes no sense.¡± I sighed. ¡°But whatever. I don¡¯t care. But the name! How did you come up with something like that?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± he said. ¡°Oh, you mean why is it so simple? Yeah, we kept fighting over all of the fancy names. Stuff about souls or stars or time or whatever. The Jora kept pushing for it, but most people thought it was a bit much. Oh, and don¡¯t get me started on my tribe. They kept wanting to make the name some sort of praise to you. The Great Teacher¡¯s Heavenly Throne, somebody actually proposed that! And by somebody, I mean my grandfather. And by propose, I mean the whole tribe decided to push for it!¡±


    I cringed. Yeah. Thank god for Kelser and his moderating influence. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re wondering why we still kept your name in it? Well, because of how close our tribe is to you, our opinion was the most important. At least, that¡¯s what the other tribes seemed to think. And since my tribe was obsessed with naming the city after you, everybody had to agree. Actually, I think most of them would have wanted to name it after you anyway, but the Roja were definitely the most obsessed,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Okay, well, I¡¯m flattered but there was really no need to name the city after me. Naming it after the natural landscape would¡¯ve been a better idea. It¡¯s right on the River Teg, and represents the unity of all of the tribes of the double river basin. You could have focused on that stuff instead of my name,¡± I said, ¡°but that isn¡¯t what I¡¯m talking about either!¡±


    Kelser frowned.


    I sighed. I held my head in my hands and started massaging my temples. It was the day after the festival, and most of the tribesmen were hungover, still asleep, or drowsy. Kelser and I had fared the best and were going to the storage hut to bring back some food for everybody else. Dawn had just broken. A bunch of thoughts were filling my head, and there was a lot of other stuff I had to manage right now too.


    The festival had gone fairly smoothly after the name was announced. I¡¯d tried to humbly decline the name, but Kelser subtly hinted about how hard they¡¯d argued to arrive at the name, so I¡¯d decided to talk to him about it later instead.


    After the name, I¡¯d announced that a year was 365 days long, based on my count, and that we would be making plans based on that number in the future. After that, some of the storytellers had come to tell stories about bygone eras, great heroes and hunters. My favorite had been a storyteller from the Jenin tribe who told a story about a short trickster who ¡®stole a great bird¡¯s beak to help him hunt with his short arms,¡¯ which was how the humans learned how to make spears. That sort of story reminded me of folktales from my old world, like the way Anansi the trickster spider stole stories from a god, which was how humans came to possess stories.


    Musicians and singers came out next, leading people through popular chants. Folk music, with its easy repeatability and cheerful manner, was a lot of fun to sing along to. And by letting people thump their feet or cheer at different points, the musicians and singers helped get everyone involved, which was amazing.


    And we¡¯d rounded out the night with the new artifacts that I had put on an altar in the middle of the pit. First was the raw, uncut diamond, whose splendor was only truly appreciated once I used fire and light magic to show it off to the humans. Second, was a stone tablet with the codified alphabet of the language of the people of the double river basin. I¡¯d been thinking about asking them to give the language a name too, but after hearing what they¡¯d come up with for the city, I figured it might be better to let a name evolve naturally over time instead.


    And finally, there was¡­


    ¡°You know, if you¡¯d just told me about the artifacts before the festival, I could¡¯ve told you about the name and you might¡¯ve been able to change it,¡± said Kelser, with a shrug. ¡°You have nobody to blame but yourself. Maybe next time you¡¯ll trust me a little more!¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    I chuckled. ¡°I trusted you to come up with a good name for the city didn¡¯t I? Look where that got me. Anyways, it wasn¡¯t that much of a surprise, was it?¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± said Kelser. ¡°I still don¡¯t know what that thing is!¡±


    ¡°I told you, it¡¯s a heart,¡± I said.


    ¡°But it¡¯s made out of those, those things,¡± said Kelser, trying to search for a word, ¡°you know. The shiny red things on those powerful monsters¡¯ foreheads. Those red stars!¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I said. ¡°Is that a problem?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course it¡¯s a problem!¡± said Kelser. ¡°For starters, why was it so accurate? It looked just like the heart of a human sized monster!¡±


    ¡°No, it looks like a human heart,¡± I said.


    Kelser winced. ¡°How do you know human hearts so well. I swear a few people fainted because of how scary that thing looks. I clutched my own chest. Especially because it beats in rhythm!¡±


    ¡°In rhythm?¡± I said.


    ¡°To my heart!¡± he said. ¡°It beats in rhythm to my heart! It goes thump when my heart goes thump! I asked everybody else too, and they said the same thing.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that¡¯s true,¡± I said. ¡°How could every humans heart be beating in sync? You¡¯re imagining things.¡±


    ¡°And it glows!¡± he said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing? Now you¡¯ll never lose it!¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a terrible thing! It¡¯s frightening! It looks like a human heart, beats with our own heartbeats, and glows like the eyes of a predator hiding in the bushes. Kids are going to be having nightmares about that thing for generations!¡± he said.


    I shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t be helped, I¡¯m afraid. I had a bunch of those red gemstones saved up, and I wanted to do something with it. They were useless for magic, didn¡¯t react to anything chemically, and weren¡¯t even useful as raw materials for tools or anything. I could¡¯ve used them in a necklace or something, but figured a simple sculpture would be cool. Especially one that would help remind people about anatomy. A symbol for public health and for the poetic importance of heart and compassion! Makes for a brilliant symbolic artifact, in my opinion.¡±


    Kelser wasn¡¯t convinced, but just like with the name, now that it had been announced and unveiled in front of everybody, there was no going back on it. The three artifacts will be a mainstay for summer solstice ceremonies for generations to come!


    ¡°But you still haven¡¯t explained it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Explained what?¡± he said.


    ¡°The name!¡± I said. ¡°How did you come up with a name like that?¡±


    ¡°I told you, it was a process and everybody had their opinions and we wanted to name it after you so¡ª¡± he said.


    ¡°No, I mean the other part of the name. New. Why is it called New Cas City?¡± I asked.


    Kelser frowned. ¡°I thought that would be obvious.¡±


    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°For it to be the new Cas City, there would have to be an old Cas City, but there is none! Your people don¡¯t even have cities to begin with!¡± I said.


    Kelser¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t understand. What is so confusing about describing it as new?¡±


    Now it was my turn to frown. We¡¯d arrived at the food storage and started piling up some food. In the distance, the camps were coming back to life, as the tribesmen groggily woke up. The group of tents and campfires, around which the humans spent all their time while they were at Bek Tepe, couldn¡¯t be described as a city. It wasn¡¯t even really a village, since nobody actually lived here. And yet, they¡¯d come up with a word for a city? No, that was my translation magic at work, I figured. Their must have been a word for a large, fixed settlement in their language, and that word got translated into ¡®city¡¯ in English.


    Hang on. ¡°What does new mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°New? It means something that isn¡¯t old. But why do you ask?¡± he said.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s in the name, isn¡¯t it?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t,¡± he said.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t?¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not new Cas City, it¡¯s New Cas City,¡± he said. ¡°If it was new Cas City, we¡¯d need an old Cas City first¡­ oh, I see why you were asking that before.¡±


    ¡°Right, so this was my translation magic messing things up again,¡± I said. I had Kelser say the name again in his language with my translation magic turned off, and realized I¡¯d never heard the word that was being translated as ¡®new¡¯ before. ¡°What does it mean?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of hard to describe,¡± he said. ¡°You know how when the flowers wilt and lose their petals, they leave behind fruits for us to eat. Or how after a fire ravages the forest, new plants will sprout up from beneath the ashes. This word is about that. About a future that sprouts from adversity, revitalized through its struggles, and ready to face what is to come.¡±


    I frowned. I had a hunch some of the words that had been translated there weren¡¯t completely accurate either, but I got the gist of it. ¡°Well, if that¡¯s what it means,¡± I said as we returned to the now bustling encampment. ¡°Then I think it might be all right after all.¡±

 Chapter 136

    It had been a few days since the summer solstice festival. After the festival was over, I held a meeting with the elders. I invited Princess Kol, and let her make her request to us there. As I expected, she asked for an escort back to her homeland across the mountains. She promised we¡¯d be rewarded, and that we could even set up trade routes between our peoples, but the elders were just as cautious as I¡¯d been. They¡¯d seen the princess¡¯ oil lamp, and heard about how many demons lived in her kingdom. The elders might not have a lot of experience with foreigners and kingdoms, but they could understand numbers and populations. After all, they¡¯d been unofficially managing the sizes of the various tribes through marriages for a long time.


    And so, we all agreed to help the princess get home, but reminded her of how difficult it would be to get through the mountains. We would need some time to prepare. A few years, perhaps. The princess tried to tell us how impressed she was by our magic, and how she could even help us find a better path through the mountains, but even she knew we wouldn¡¯t help her so easily. Not when the survival of the entire community was at stake. She had no choice. She thanked us for our promise of help and our hospitality, but laid bare how her position back home would grow weaker if she was away too long. She undermined her own bargaining power by telling us she could not promise we would be rewarded if we took too long to return her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be assassinated in a heartbeat if I don¡¯t become the queen,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then you should just stay here with us,¡± I said.


    ¡°I can¡¯t do that,¡± came her reply. She wouldn¡¯t explain any further, but the conversation was mostly over anyway.


    I tapped my fingers on my knee. ¡°There is one more thing, princess. If you want to make sure you don¡¯t get assassinated, all you need to do is become stronger.¡±


    The princess raised an eyebrow. ¡°If I could do that, I wouldn¡¯t be asking you for help getting through the mountains.¡± Her eyes widened. ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t mean¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, looking in her in the eyes. ¡°We can teach you magic.¡±


    ¡°But you wouldn¡¯t let me near any of your training sessions or answer any of my questions! I even asked the children, but they refused to say anything! I thought it was a secret,¡± she said.


    ¡°It is a secret,¡± I said, noting that it had been a good idea to tell the parents to not leave their kids with the princess unattended. The shrewd woman had tried to take advantage of their naivete! ¡°But it isn¡¯t a secret I can¡¯t share. I shared it with the humans, after all.¡±


    The princess¡¯ expression changed. Over the past few days, she¡¯d gotten used to me, but from her look I could tell that she¡¯d just remembered that I was supposed to be a mythical elf. Of course I¡¯d been the one to teach magic to the humans! ¡°Please, Teacher Cas, I will repay your kindness a hundredfold!¡±


    Already calling me teacher? A true politician, this one. ¡°You don¡¯t need to go that far, but there are a few conditions. First, the type of magic I will teach you will not be as powerful as the kind I¡¯ve taught the humans. Second, I know you¡¯re learning the human language, but I need you to start teaching us your language too. Kelser and I will be your first students. You also need to tell us more about your people, their technology, their political system, pretty much anything that could help us understand them.¡±


    The princess thought for a little while, before nodding. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you any state secrets, but you won¡¯t be disappointed by my information. Besides, I learned a lot about administration, which included things like agriculture and irrigation. I¡¯m sure that¡¯ll be a help with those farms I saw back at the encampment near the river,¡± she said.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said, ¡°but the final condition is the most important one.¡± I leaned in closer. My eyes darted to the sky. It was bright despite the night. I felt like something was staring back at me.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°You have to denounce your god.¡±


    ---


    ¡°Take it down here,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s stuck,¡± shouted Kelser.


    ¡°Elder Brol,¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got it,¡± said the burly elder as he strolled over to the teetering log and positioned himself beside it. Brol Ibog took a deep breath, grabbed both sides of the log, and began pushing with all his might.


    The corner of my mouth twitched as the log began to move. I decided to help hurry it along with magic hands. For some reason, Elder Brol refused to use magic for things like this. Actually, his whole tribe was eccentric. Apparently, they were all foragers! They¡¯d hunt monsters if they came across them, but their primary source of food was all plant based. It was a little difficult to believe that this burly old geezer went out with foraging parties, not hunting ones, but I suppose you needed that sort of commitment to find the fruit that makes the best alcohol in the region.


    The log fell to the side. Paris, the Fil Tusker, gave a low roar. Young Cota Ibog, the five year old boy who I¡¯d made toys for before, shrank away at the loud noise, but he recovered quickly. For some reason, most of the children were both terrified and fascinated by Paris. I suppose the way she towered over them was impressive, but I had a feeling I knew what the kids really wanted.


    ¡°Cota, come here,¡± I said, beckoning to the boy with one hand.


    The purple haired kid was surprised, but walked over hesitantly at a glance from Elder Brol. When the kid arrived by my side, I hoisted him up in the air with my hands. He smiled, but his smile turned to panic as I let go of his body and he began to float in the air. The kid was so light, I could keep him aloft with magic hands. He said something about letting him down, so I did. Right on Paris¡¯ back.


    Cota froze, his eyes wide. I smiled at him and gave Paris a pat on her leg. The Fil Tusker roared and knocked into another tree. Cota held onto the makeshift saddle with all his might, until a hand wrapped around his waist. Looking up, he stared right into Kelser¡¯s annoyed eyes. Kelser turned his gaze to me and I shrugged. Kelser sighed, held onto Cota while telling him to hold on. Kelser used his magic hands to steer the Fil Tusker towards new trees.


    Branches cracked and tree trunks snapped, as the Fil Tusker pushed into the forest, followed by a party of strong humans, who lifted the logs onto a large wooden cart. Afterwards, the cart was pulled away by a small group of tamed monsters, ones we had chosen from the managed herds we were keeping near the encampment that was somehow going to be called New Cas City. Once the logs were gone, two teams of magicians swept through the underbrush. One team carefully burned the plants while the other one doused the fire to keep it contained to the cleared area.


    Paris roared again. Cota laughed, though I detected a hint of nervousness. The logs were cleared, the underbrush burned away, and another team of magicians finally caught up to us. This team was using earth magic to form a stone cover for the path. The stone wasn¡¯t particularly sturdy, and had different colors in different places, but it was even, and that was all that mattered to me at the moment. I waved to the road making team, and they waved back.


    We¡¯d been out here for a few days now. Most of the humans had returned to New Cas City already. I walked up to Paris, who was tired after a long day of breaking trees, but I knew we were almost done. And just as I thought that, a tree fell to the ground and revealed the wide open fields that led up to the hill that housed Bek Tepe. As the road making team approached from behind, I smiled.


    ¡°And now we have to make another one all the way to the copper mines!¡± I said aloud, earning another exasperated sigh from Kelser as he once again caught Cota before he fell off the saddle.


    ---


    ¡°More!¡±


    ¡°Yes, now.¡±


    ¡°Keep going!¡±


    ¡°There we go! Now come help me take off this clay,¡± I said.


    I was out at my secret wooden hut in the woods outside Bek Tepe with Kelser, Elder Brol, and Cota. A large clay mound stood next to the hut, with smoke spewing out of its top. I used magic hands to break up the clay mound, as Kelser coughed and complained about how much air magic he¡¯d had to blow through a tiny hole. I told him to stop complaining and help me, which he did.


    Soon, we¡¯d extracted a small gray mass from the mound. I quickly grabbed some of the copper tools resting beside the hut, conjured up some water magic, and got to work hammering up the smelted iron. I picked up the hot iron with magic hands and held it up to the light.


    Smiling, I told Kelser: ¡°Not bad for a first try. Completely useless, but still, not bad!¡±

 Chapter 137

    Calling the place a city turned out to be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. New Cas City¡ªor the city, as I liked to call it to avoid embarrassing myself¡ªgot a major upgrade after we finished the first road connecting it to Bek Tepe. All of the timber that we¡¯d collected to clear the way was going to be used for firewood, but I figured we might as well use it to upgrade the houses that people were living in. Soon, there were dozens of large log cabins dotted around the area, facing the communal campfires of their tribes. The elders told me each cabin belonged to a family, and that they figured it could become a part of their wedding ceremony for the couple to build themselves a new wooden house.


    The problem with wooden houses is that they aren¡¯t well insulated, which can be really troubling during the winter, so all of them were plastered with hardened clay on the outside. I helped make stone fireplaces inside the houses, with nice little chimneys that would be a lot easier to clean in this world of air and water magic.


    The road to Bek Tepe made it easier to get to the temple, but some of the elders wondered whether it had been worth the effort. I told them it was something that would be useful later on. Every tribe came to Bek Tepe for the summer solstice, so it could serve as a hub of sorts for a road network. I was already working on clearing a route to the copper mines near the Roja tribe¡¯s homeland, and since we were going there, I decided we might as well connect the Roja to Bek Tepe too.


    And now that we had made two roads, I could send multiple teams to make several roads at once. Of course, they¡¯d need Paris to clear away trees on a large scale, but not every road had to go through a forest. I sent a team to make a road to the sea following along the banks of the River Teg. Another team made a road to the Imm and Oko tribe¡¯s lands from the other side of the river.


    I came to the river with Kelser and Princess Kol. I asked the princess how the bridges from her homeland looked, to which she replied they were mostly made out of wood, and only crossed over narrow parts of rivers. In fact, the kingdom relied on the impassibility of rivers for defense against armies and invaders. She added that there were a few small stone bridges over streams, but there was only one large stone bridge over a major river. That bridge had been built a long time ago and nobody knew how to replicate it.


    I frowned. Had the Izlandi Kingdom not invented cement or concrete yet? I asked Kol about it, but she said she didn¡¯t know much about construction but she¡¯d never heard of those words before. I looked over the large, flat river, and wondered if it was worth building a river crossing right next to the city. What Princess Kol had said about rivers serving as natural barriers against invasions and armies was pretty accurate, after all. And so, I chose a site a little further upriver, where the river was narrower. I also figured the bridge could be blown up if it ever needed to be.


    There were some limestone deposits nearby, which I used to create quicklime by burning it in large clay kilns. I mixed the quicklime with water, always using magic hands to handle the dangerous materials, and produced some simple lime mortar.


    The lime mortar would be useful for joining together the stone bricks that Kelser and a few other humans were making off to the side. It was a tiring, repetitive job that I was glad I didn¡¯t have to do myself. I could hear Kelser grumbling about it from here.


    I let the princess watch me add some pieces of crushed baked clay into the lime mortar, which helped me make a type of water resistant cement. This would be necessary for all the parts of the bridge that would be in contact with the water. I figured the princess might spread the technology to her people, but I didn¡¯t mind that. A little technological exchange wouldn¡¯t be too bad.


    A team returned soon from the mountains, carrying with them bags of volcanic ash. I thanked them for their work, and asked them to bring as many people as they could from the city to come watch the construction of the bridge. In the meantime, I grabbed Kelser, who was finally done making stone bricks, and started laying down the foundations of the bridge.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    I strengthened the ground on either side of the bridge with concrete made from volcanic ash and lime mortar. This stuff was basically a kind of artificial rock, which I had learned about while watching a few documentaries on ancient Roman bridges and aqueducts. In fact, the arched style of the bridge that we began to construct was also inspired by Roman architecture, since I wanted this stuff to last for a long time.


    Actually building the bridge was a long and complicated process, but it was made much easier and quicker thanks to magic. There was a lot of trial and error involved, and by the time the spectators arrived from the city, we¡¯d already accidentally washed away some of the stones we had been laying in the middle of the river.


    Thankfully, we didn¡¯t mess up too badly in front of the audience, although it took a lot longer to make the bridge than I¡¯d originally anticipated. It took us several days to lay down all the bricks and hold them together with lime mortar or cement, and even longer to build underwater with the concrete. The crowd grew smaller at first, but as the project got closer to completion, pretty much everybody came over to cheer for it.


    I laid down the last brick, thanked all of the people who had been involved in building the bridge, and the elders announced a small feast to celebrate the bridge. The feast was held right there by the banks of the river next to the bridge. The roads on either side of the river had been extended up to the bridge, so people brought over food from the city in pretty much no time at all.


    We woke up the next day after night full of revelry, and got to work on the next project. Now that we had access to clay, cement, and concrete, I figured it was time to make a few simple aqueducts and canals to help supply water to the city and to irrigate the crops. We didn¡¯t need to make any of those fancy roman aqueducts since the terrain was pretty favorable, but we still had to make many underground tunnels and collection basins and other small things here and there to help get water all the way to the city. I even made some sediment collection pools that helped make the water a little cleaner.


    Of course, since everybody already had water magic, spending all this time and effort on bringing natural water into the city might have seemed like a waste, but there were many things like baths and washing clothes or sanitation that required so much water that relying on water magic didn¡¯t make a lot of sense. Sanitation in particular was something I worked on quite extensively for the city, since I didn¡¯t want it to become a hotbed for disease.


    And so, as the leaves began to fall and summer retreated once more, the city that bore my name became connected to the wide reaches of the double river basin. Our first harvests had already come in, and we replanted seeds from the best plants right back into the ground, hoping to get an even better harvest than last time. The herds of wild monsters that we had been managing were also routinely culled and bred as selectively as we could, since the monsters were only tamed and not domesticated.


    ---


    I spent some time learning the princess¡¯ language, while she learned the human tongue, after which she taught me about her people and her kingdom, and I taught her some basic magic. What kind of magic?


    ¡°Magic,¡± I said, to the princess who sat next to me by a campfire near the bridge, ¡°is very complicated, and I don¡¯t want to bore you with the details.¡±


    ¡°You mean you don¡¯t want to teach me the details,¡± she said.


    ¡°Only because they¡¯re boring,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°All you need to know is this. Everything around you. Like this stone, this piece of wood, this burning, crackling campfire, is made up of something called mana. Mana exists inside all of us, too. And because we are also made up of mana, we can manipulate this mana to cast magic. Now, there are four types of mana. Water, earth, air, and fire. We call them the elements. Everything in the world is made up of a combination of elemental mana. And since magic is essentially the art of manipulating mana, all magic can be splint into these four elements as well.¡±


    The princess frowned. ¡°Are you saying all of the magic you¡¯ve shown me was elemental magic? What about the magic hands you were using to lay bricks for the bridge? Was that just air magic?¡±


    ¡°Smart,¡± I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to mention this yet, because it¡¯s a little more complicated, but there is a fifth element as well: the void. But let¡¯s not worry about void magic just yet, okay? For now, you should focus on this burning campfire. Feel the heat, see the light, and hear the way it burns through the wood and reduces it to charcoal. I want you to extend your arms, not too close, since we don¡¯t want you to get burned. Yes, that¡¯s it. Like that. Now close your eyes. Take a deep breath. And let¡¯s begin!¡±

 Chapter 138

    Fall fell to winter. South of Bek Tepe, branches were bare, grasses withered, and the monsters hardy or gone. The Roja tribe¡¯s home wasn¡¯t too cold, because it was right by the sea, but the path to it was terrible. Farther down to the wastelands, the air was so cold you could almost taste it. Or rather, you could taste the blood dripping out of cracked lips. After one expedition, we decided that region could only be explored in the summer.


    We mapped the coastline, finding many sandy beaches and quiet lagoons. We marked fruit bearing trees, connected roads to deposits of limestone, iron, or copper as we found them. East of New Cas City, we traveled as far into the wide open plains as we could. Wrapped in fur from head to toe, we tried to follow the rivers and mountains as much as possible, but there was nothing to see. The human Jora tribe who lived in this area, told me the monsters were closer to the mountains around this time of year, but we still managed to hunt enough to feed our party.


    I went up to the edge of where the human Jora tribe had explored. Beyond this point, said Priest Mal, there were too many powerful monsters and not enough fresh water. Now that everybody knew magic, we didn¡¯t have to worry about monsters and water as much anymore.


    As we trespassed into its territory, a massive one star serpent attacked us, but a barrage of spells, iron swords, and arrows annihilated the beast before it could even reach us. I collected its red gem and we kept moving. Starred monsters seemed to be all over the plains, but most of them seemed to be one star monsters, with an occasional two star one near watering holes or thickets of trees.


    I found a large standalone mountain in the middle of the plains. Scaling it would let us see for miles around, and help decide if continued exploration would be worth it. But, that place was definitely being guarded by a powerful monster.


    Turns out, it was a three star tree monster, which attacked us with its roots. Burning and destroying the roots didn¡¯t do much, since the monster¡¯s body was far away near the top of the mountain. Any fireballs or slingshots that I threw at it were intercepted by its long and numerous roots, so the whole place felt like an impenetrable fortress. This was the first monster I¡¯d met which focused more on defense than offense, which meant I couldn¡¯t be sure about what to do. The tree monster didn¡¯t even try to attack us once we left its territory. I almost didn¡¯t want to kill it, but I¡¯d seen something underneath its trunk that I absolutely wanted to retrieve.


    ¡°Pass me one of those please,¡± I said to a hunter.


    The hunter gave me one of his arrows since I¡¯d already used all of mine. My bow was also starting to creak under pressure since I¡¯d used it so much during this expedition. After all, one of the main reasons I was out here was to test these new bows I¡¯d made with the princess¡¯ help. It was a recurve bow, which meant its ends had been folded back to strengthen the tension in the skin. Skipping traditional bows and going straight to the recurve bow was necessary because traditional bows didn¡¯t offer much of an advantage over our magic slingshots.


    I pulled back the string and aimed at the tree monster in the distance. I¡¯d been practicing with the bow for months now, and had already developed a bit of a cheat. I used light magic to reflect light off of the arrowhead and onto the monster. I had to lift the bow up by a lot to account for gravity and wind resistance, but once I had it where I wanted it, I took a deep breath, focused my energy and let the arrow loose.


    A burst of air magic spun the arrow in the air, rapidly, and the tip caught on fire because of fire magic. When the monster¡¯s roots sprung up to block the arrow, the rotation, power, and fire helped cut right through the wood and the arrow kept flying towards the monster. Startled, the monster tried to block the attack with even more roots, but the arrow punched through all of them. Finally, the monster used its roots to throw a bunch of earth into the air, which finally stopped the arrow in its tracks, while showering the monster with dirt and gravel.


    I stabbed my sword through the tree monster¡¯s head as the dust cleared. The monster¡¯s eyes froze. It had not expected me to rush through the mountain with balance and air magic and appear right under its nose. I cast fire magic to burn the monster to ash, and collected its red gems too.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    The rest of the exploration party caught up to me and gasped when they saw what had been underneath the monster¡¯s trunk. Piles of bleached and cracked white bones, most of them belonging to monsters but quite a few that were clearly human. I frowned too, as I found a couple of elfin skulls in the mix. I wasn¡¯t sure if these were elfin Jora bones, since we knew the ancestors of the human Jora had killed off the tribe, but this could have been from before they¡¯d done so. After all, the human Jora lived in this general direction, so perhaps their ancestors had migrated from the East. They could also belong to other elfin tribes or to any survivors from the elfin Jora tribe, which would mean I didn¡¯t have to cross the mountains to the North after all. I could just keep going East.


    We climbed the top of the mountain and squinted. The sun was bright and this high up, it was very difficult to see, but with a little bit of light magic, I managed to peer far into the distance. I frowned. I cursed under my breath and told the other party members to follow me down. We were going back. They asked what I¡¯d seen, since they didn¡¯t know light magic yet, and I told them it was nothing. Literally nothing. For miles and miles and miles. Despite being so high up, I hadn¡¯t seen the smallest sign of life or a river or even a significant change in landscape. If the North was impassable because of how tall the mountains were, the East was impassable because of its width. At least I knew there was something beyond the mountains. We could spend years traveling these plains and not find anything. And so we returned to the city with some skeletons, gems, and an expanded Eastern map.


    ---


    ¡°Logograms?¡± I said.


    ¡°A what now?¡± said the princess.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said, ¡°its just a way of classifying written languages. Your writing system uses a different character for every word, right?¡±


    ¡°Sort of,¡± she said, ¡°sometimes a word is made up of the symbols for another word, or is just like the symbol for another word but with a small difference.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s still largely a logographic system. Most languages aren¡¯t just one system after all. Even my native language, English, uses an alphabet for most things but has logograms like ampersands and dollar signs.¡±


    ¡°I think you lost me there,¡± she said.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay, but can you list some more of these for me?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure,¡± she said as she drew some more characters onto the stone.


    Watching her struggle to write down the characters, I frowned. I asked her what her people used to write with, and she said they used animal hair brushes. She also told me they wrote on pieces of reed-like hard wood, which sounded a lot like bamboo to me.


    Over the next few days, I went around the nearby forests and grasslands collecting different types of wood, reeds, and long grasses. I then had Kelser gather a bunch of people to help me beat and wash the various plants inside small ponds of water, after which I collected the mushy plant fibers and let them dry over thin sheets of porous monster hide. I pressed the top of the mush with flat rocks and let everything dry.


    In the meantime, I asked the princess how her people made the clothes she was wearing, to which she replied it was a kind of plant that her people cultivated and used to spin into clothes. That sounded a lot like cotton to me, but I hadn¡¯t seen anything like it on all my travels on this side of the mountains, so there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it.


    Soon, the first batches of rough, bumpy paper was ready. I inspected the various sheets and judged which plant fibers made the best paper. After narrowing it down to a couple, I went out to collect more of them, and made some more batches of paper. I also had Kelser collect monster hair from the herded monsters we were managing, as well as from some of the other monsters that we had hunted over the past few weeks. I tied the hair to the ends of strong, straight twigs, and glued them together with hide glue. I experimented with a bunch of different substances to make ink, including things like tar, pitch, burned bones and other strange materials, but ended up using a combination of soot from a fire, hide-glue, and water.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said to the princess as we sat down for our next session. ¡°Could you write the letters down for me again?¡± I passed her a brush. She dipped it in ink and began writing on the paper.

 Chapter 139

    Winter passed, spring began. I made new spells. The first spell was a kind of storage system for static electricity, kind of like a leyden jar. I ended up having to invent a leyden jar first, but that was too hard because I already had a rudimentary way of storing electricity made from my friction machine: a prime conductor.


    A prime conductor was just a piece of metal connected to the friction machine which could store the electric charge as long as it was suspended in the air. By connecting that prime conductor to a simple metal and alcohol based leyden jar, I was able to store electricity. On another note, I distilled alcohol for this experiment, which was a fun little side-quest all on its own.


    Of course, this wasn¡¯t enough to bring electricity to the masses, but it was enough to justify my knowledge of electricity, which let me store electricity by charging it with a spell. Now, I could charge and then release electricity! This meant I could either give bigger shocks on direct contact or even shoot some electricity through the air!


    The second spell was a medical spell. I¡¯d already invented spells to help with cauterization and caeserian sections, but now I added a sort of vaccination spell. The humans of this world had not lived in urban environments before, so they didn¡¯t have the sorts of evolved diseases that humans on my Earth had. Still, I decided it was important for them to have access to vaccination magic so they could quickly protect their community in case a dangerous disease did present itself. Better safe than sorry, after all.


    The vaccination magic was fairly easy to justify, too. All I had to do was go around spreading weakened versions of diseases from one tamed monster to another. After a few weeks of letting the entire herd live together, it became clear only the ¡®vaccinated¡¯ monsters were still healthy.


    ---


    Roads had been built to the homelands of every single tribe except the Oko. The Oko¡¯s homeland had been under ice until now, so now I led Elder Konri Oko and a party of humans to the Imm tribe¡¯s lands, where the Northern road ended. We got to work building up the rest of the road far into the North, at which point I had a strange thought.


    I took out my field map and spread it out on the ground. ¡°Here,¡± I said as I pointed to the map.


    ¡°What do you mean, here?¡± said Kelser, who had tagged along with the crew.


    ¡°We keep going till here,¡± I said.


    ¡°But that would take us up the foothills and mountains!¡± said Elder Konri.


    ¡°Yes, right up to your tribe¡¯s final base camp,¡± I said.


    ¡°Is that really necessary?¡± she asked.


    I rolled up the map and looked at the elder. Even among the elders, she was among the wisest and most well respected. Her magic was about as good as Elder Kezler¡¯s, which was impressive considering how much time and effort Elder Kezler had been putting into his magic over the past few months. I suspected none of these old fossils liked being upstaged by young Kelser. ¡°So far, we¡¯ve only been talking about using roads to connect different places and to bring in goods from farther away more quickly. But we can also think of roads as defenses. Defenses that help us get to the frontier as quickly as possible, to provide supplies to the front lines, and to help us retreat if the enemy is too powerful. We don¡¯t know what the people on the other side of the mountains are really like. Once we make contact, you should have lookouts stationed on the final base camp.¡±


    And so the Northern road was extended straight through the Oko tribe¡¯s lands, through the hills and up the mountains to the final base camp. One day, I might connect it all the way to the Northern marker that I had left at the edge of the map, where I had left my words etched for all time.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ---


    Now that the roads had been built, there was no reason for us to disperse once spring drew to a close and summer came upon us once more. Now that we had access to a good supply or iron, I was able to make sturdy monster drawn carriages that could pull people and cargo across the roads. The monsters had been through several generations already, and although they couldn¡¯t be considered domesticated just yet, we were able to pick out some of the most docile ones to help us out on the roads and fields.


    The fields were doing incredibly well, too. Aqueducts and canals brought water to the fields, which had themselves grown to over twice their size from last year. It was a little gross, but I¡¯d done some experiments finding the best monster manure to use as fertilizer, and it was already paying dividends. It would also take a long time before most of these grains, fruits and vegetables would be comparable to the high yield kinds from my Earth, but just throwing out the bad seeds and replanting the good ones had already increased our yields after harvest.


    ---


    ¡°No, no, you don¡¯t say it like that. You say it like this!¡± said the princess.


    ¡°Princess, I¡¯ve been over this. If you want to demonstrate something, tell me to disable my translation magic. Otherwise, you¡¯ll only sound silly to me,¡± I said.


    ¡°Or you can keep it disabled and immerse yourself in my language!¡± she said. ¡°I have to take my necklace off for these lessons, anyways. Do you know how frustrating it is seeing Kelser giggling like that and not knowing what he¡¯s saying about me?¡±


    I rolled my eyes. It didn¡¯t help that Kelser was giggling right now while calling the princess names.


    The solstice was right around the corner again. Another year had passed in the blink of an eye. Was it a characteristic of being an elf? Not feeling like a year was a long time? Or was it because I¡¯d been having a relatively good time recently. Of course, I still had the mystery of ¡®annihilation¡¯ hanging over me, and I wanted to find Noel and the other elves which meant crossing dangerously tall mountains or passing through the insanely wide plains. But that kind of stuff kinda fell by the wayside while I was learning a new language, teaching another, inventing spells and tools, and bringing together a community of people. I¡¯d also been listening to more stories told by the tribesmen and I had to say, they were inspiring.


    The most popular stories were clever little trickster stories, especially ones with a little bit of comeuppance. Stories like the one about a ridiculed hunter who caught a large monster with a trap but came back with it slung over his shoulders so he could impress his tribesmen. Yet, all that did was make the tribe send him to fight a legendary speaking monster! The poor guy had to beg the monster not to eat him, and the monster agreed as long as the little trickster gave the monster some hide and sinew for clothes and shoes. Then the monster wore the clothes, thanked the trickster, and followed him to his tribe as his bride! Strange stuff, but oddly captivating.


    The music was also way more complicated than I¡¯d thought. A lot of it revolved around marriage and love, which wasn¡¯t that different from my world, but I realized that the tribal structure made things very different from what I was used to. For starters, since marriages were between people from different tribes, and each tribe only met each other for a short time, there were a lot of songs about remembering sights and sounds and smells. Leaving gifts or sneaking out during the solstice, meeting behind a tree and behind your parents¡¯ backs to spend time with one another.


    And since marriage meant one partner had to leave their family and tribe, there were a lot of songs about that too. About parents who were happy that children had found love, but sad that they had to let them go. Marriages were pretty bittersweet, I realized. It was almost like most people only truly ¡®grew up¡¯ after they got married.


    Then there were songs about hunting. First hunts, final hunts, retired hunters rescuing children, or valiant heroes sacrificing themselves for the greater good. These songs were wilder, faster, and with a lot more thumping and drumming.


    ¡°You know what,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    ¡°Do what?¡± asked the princess, who¡¯d worn her necklace again so she could scold Kelser.


    ¡°I¡¯ll disable my translation magic and immerse myself in your language,¡± I said. ¡°But there¡¯s a condition.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°You have to tell me stories from your homeland,¡± I said. ¡°Oh, and you need to sing!¡±

 Chapter 140

    Summer.


    Fall.


    Winter.


    Spring.


    I sighed. ¡°Ready?¡±


    ¡°I still don¡¯t think this is a good idea,¡± said Kelser as he picked up his hide backpack.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s a wonderful idea, the best idea ever!¡± said Princess Kol as she fixed her boots. The princess¡¯ old clothes had been discarded long ago. Now, she was wearing monster hide clothes like the rest of us.


    ¡°You¡¯re biased,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°So are you,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t think we should be leaving everyone behind like this,¡± he said.


    I paused and stared at the wide expanse in front of me. Mountains, rolling forward, melding into glaciers in the distance. I glanced over my shoulder. Almost all of the elders had come up here to see us off. Only Priest Mal had stayed behind at the city. Elder Kezler looked at Kelser with a mixed expression. He was probably worried, but also glad to see the young kid¡ªno, by this point he was a young man¡ªgoing out on his own. Over the past two years, Kelser had widened the gap between himself and all of the other humans. It made sense that he¡¯d accompany me on this journey.


    And what Kelser was saying was right. I¡¯d had bad experiences with leaving people behind like this. But during two years of training, learning, and inventing new things, I hadn¡¯t come across the immortals at all. The moon and the red star never appeared at strange times, followed their paths through the sky and the calendar, perfectly, and never gave off a hint of the supernatural.


    And the humans had become ridiculously powerful. The interesting thing about this type of knowledge based magic, was that it scaled exponentially. As one gathered more and more knowledge and practiced enough to build up their wisdom, their magic became stronger faster than it had back when they were just starting off. I wasn¡¯t worried about them anymore. I snuck a glance at the princess. The princess did not know the magic system the others were using, but she could see how much more powerful they were. It was only after discussing her homeland¡¯s power and deciding the humans were powerful enough to defend themselves, that I finally agreed to her request.


    I stepped forward. The humans behind me stirred. The Oko tribe¡¯s final base camp felt cramped with this many people in it, but there was a certain homeliness in it still. Kelser hugged Elder Kezler one last time, and joined me. Princess Kol thanked the elders, especially Elder Konri Oko to whom she¡¯d grown very close to, and joined us as well. Our little party of three waved as we descended down the mountain side. The crowd dipped behind the peak and disappeared from my perspective, but I could see them as little concerned dots even as we stepped onto the glaciers.


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, ¡°ready to get this started for real?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just get on with it,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°I am not looking forward to this,¡± said Princess Kol. ¡°Are you sure there isn¡¯t a more dignified way of doing this? Carry me in your arms, great elf!¡± The princess batter her eyes at me.


    I chuckled dryly. ¡°No.¡± I pointed at her with two fingers and then raised the fingers into the air. The Princess let out a quiet yelp before floating in the air. She grumbled as I kept her aloft with magic hands. I ignored her complaints, gathered my energy, and began dashing forward with balance, motion, and air magic. Kelser yelled out for me to wait for him and began racing after me. I had to slow down a little so I wouldn¡¯t lose him.


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    ¡°Please!¡± yelled Kelser.


    ¡°Alright, alright,¡± I said. I blasted a hole in a little rocky overhang and got in.


    Kelser, his eyes brightening, rushed in as well and collapsed onto the ground. I unceremoniously dropped the princess on top of him. Kelser shouted in protest and pushed the princess off. The princess, already embarrassed at being carried so ignobly through the glaciers, cried out when she hit Kelser, and then began angrily berating the young human. Kelser pretended not to hear her, which only made her angrier.


    I put my hands behind my head, laid against the wall, and lit a small fire with some firewood I had been carrying. The fire crackled to life and some pieces of dried and salted meat floated out of my pack and dropped into an iron pot full of melted snow. I could¡¯ve made the water myself, but this felt more extravagant!


    As the food cooked and my two companions bickered, I reflected on myself. I didn¡¯t feel tired at all. Neither my magical energy nor my physical energy had been depleted too noticeably. In fact, I felt like I could have made it through the glacier in one day if I hadn¡¯t been held back by Kelser. I snuck a glance at Kelser. The red haired young man wasn¡¯t looking at the princess as he said snide remarks to the air.


    Over the past two years, the gap between Kelser¡¯s magical abilities and those of the other humans had grown, but so the same was true for my magical abilities and his. There were still a few spells that I had learned that he hadn¡¯t yet, but that wasn¡¯t the main difference. The biggest issue was our magical experience or ¡®wisdom.¡¯ If Kelser and I used the same spell repeatedly, his magical energy would deplete much faster than mine. His spells were also weaker than mine, and couldn¡¯t be used as creatively.


    I had an idea of why this was the case. Since I was the one who had ¡®invented¡¯ the spells, my understanding or ¡®wisdom¡¯ of the spell was much higher to begin with. But since ¡®wisdom¡¯ seemed to grow exponentially, I had gathered more of it than he had. Moreover, since I had invented the spells and done the experiments that ¡®justified¡¯ them, my ¡®wisdom¡¯ seemed to be of a higher quality than Kelser¡¯s too. It was because of this that I¡¯d had Kelser go through the process of ¡®inventing¡¯ a spell instead of learning it from me, and although it took him far longer to come up with the spell since he didn¡¯t have my otherworldly knowledge, the spells he learned this way did end up growing stronger more quickly than his other spells.


    It was this realization that made me change up the entire way I was spreading my knowledge to the humans. Instead of having them wait for my teachings, I started trying to give them the tools and mindset necessary to invent, create, and think on their own. I even expanded this way of thinking to other more material fields. Already, there was a thriving blacksmithing community in the city which invented tools and weapons I hadn¡¯t taught them. Agriculture was doing well too, since after teaching them how to invent spells to deal with spells, the humans had started inventing spells aimed at different types of pests and parasites on their own. If everything went well, there would be a massive revolution in the city soon! A revolution of ideas, learning, and perhaps even culture!


    But for now, I was making my way to a foreign land. The princess had grown tired of quarreling with Kelser, and sat down next to the fire to wait for the food to cook. Kelser was stirring the pot with magic hands. Soon, the food was ready and the three of us ate in silence. We cleaned up and rested after we were done.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll walk this time,¡± said the princess.


    ¡°No, you won¡¯t be able to keep up,¡± said Kelser with a grin.


    The princess shot him an angry look. ¡°Just teach me that magic then! I can tell some of it is air magic. Just teach me the rest!¡±


    Kelser frowned. ¡°Oh, so you can spread that to your people and come back to conquer us? No way!¡±


    The princess stomped her feet. ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯d do that to you guys! You¡¯re like family to me by now!¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Kelser, ¡°family is family. You¡¯re a princess!¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t even know what a princess is, you hick!¡± she exclaimed.


    ¡°And you don¡¯t know what family is, you loner!¡± he said.


    I sighed. Was this a babysitting mission? I raised my fingers in front of the panicking princess and pointed up again. Kelser giggled as the princess squirmed in the air, shouting down at Kelser to stop laughing.


    ¡°Why should I?¡± he said, still chuckling, ¡°it¡¯s funny!¡±


    I raised another hand and pointed two fingers at Kelser. His eyes widened slowly but before he could do anything, I raised my fingers to the air and he started floating as well. Kelser started wiggling like a worm, shouting at me to let him down. He even tried using magic to free himself but I overpowered him easily. The princess was the one laughing and pointing this time.


    Kelser blushed. ¡°Stop laughing!¡±


    ¡°Why should I?¡± said the princess, with a laugh, ¡°it¡¯s funny!¡±

 Chapter 141

    ¡°So poetic,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Stop,¡± I said.


    ¡°So moving,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to get mad,¡± I said.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to cry,¡± said the princess, with a fake sniffle.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± said the red haired young man.


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s it, no food for you!¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, no, I really meant it!¡± said Kol, quickly.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s so well written, it¡¯ll be remembered forever!¡± said Kelser, fighting the urge to laugh.


    ¡°You know, there were some fruits in the valley back there that I picked with magic hands, secretly,¡± I said as I brought out a nice, big, juicy red fruit. ¡°I was going to share it with you guys. As a gift to celebrate reaching this important milestone, but now¡­¡± I bit into the fruit. ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna have it all myself.¡±


    ¡°No fair!¡± said Kol as she tried to grab the fruit but was raised into the air by magic hands.


    ¡°Jokes on you!¡± said Kelser as he reached into his pack. ¡°I saw them and grabbed one too!¡± His eyes went wide. He reached both hands into his pack and rummaged inside, then shot me a glare.


    I took another fruit out of my pack and bit into it too. Then, I made Kelser hand in the air, upside down. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for being a philistine. I¡¯ll remember to give you lectures on art and poetry the rest of the way there.¡± I looked over to the subject of our little spat. It was the large stone marker that I had left up here in the North.


    ¡°To have climbed the giant¡¯s foot, only to come upon the leg, is the folly of the ant. To have climbed the mountains, only to find that they were hills, is the folly of the explorer ¨C Caspian Holm,¡± it said.


    I wouldn¡¯t say it was profound in any way, but it wasn¡¯t meant to be that deep. I panned my gaze to the other side, where horribly tall mountains rested, straddling the earth and the sky. They made the ones we¡¯d just crossed look like dwarfs in comparison. All I¡¯d wanted to do was share my feelings with anyone who might come across them in the future. Anyway, I finished off all the fruit despite the protests of my struggling, floating companions, even brushing aside a few of their spells, and let them fall on their faces. I threw away the seeds and told them to keep up.


    These mountains were taller than the ones in the range the humans called the ¡®roof of the world,¡¯ which made me wonder what kind of name they should have. The roof of the roof of the world? Maybe they should rename the other range to something else, instead. Like the second floor of the world, so this one could be the roof.


    Pushing aside my idle thoughts, I made the princess float in the air again. Kol was still grumbling about the fruit, but at least she¡¯d stopped making fun of my little inscription. I conjured up a ball of air around her head, which surprised her so much she shut her mouth. Kelser asked what that was for and I told him the air up here was going to be so thin, all of us had to use magic to help us breathe. Kelser conjured up his own ball of air as he began casting magic on himself. I cast magic on myself as well, while attaching a magic hand between us just in case either of us lost our footing.


    ¡°We don¡¯t want to go up too high if we can help it,¡± I said. ¡°And keep your eye out for any passes or valleys, really anything that¡¯ll help us get over these mountains more easily.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± he said. ¡°Also, sorry about making fun of those words back there. Looking at these guys up close, I sort of get what you meant.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Wow, wasn¡¯t expecting that kind of maturity from you. Apology accepted!¡±


    Kelser nodded his head. ¡°You should definitely just write mountains big, me scared, next time, though.¡±


    I threw a volley of snowballs at him.


    ---


    ¡°Sorry, Cas,¡± said Kelser between gasping breaths.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said, also breathing heavily.


    ¡°Now I¡¯m glad I was up here from the start,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really nice up here,¡± said Kelser, ¡°if it wasn¡¯t for the burning feeling in my chest and the blood dripping off my knee.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already bandaged your knee,¡± I said as I took another step down the mountain.


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Kelser, ¡°then I guess I wish I could feel my knee.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll feel better after some rest at a lower altitude,¡± I said as I jumped over a crevasse. These mountains were littered with them, and a lot were hidden by snow or thin layers of dirt and gravel. Kelser had accidentally stepped on one, even though I¡¯d told him to always check his footholds with air magic or magic hands before committing to them. Worse still, he¡¯d jumped on it while jumping over another crevasse, so the poor guy would¡¯ve fallen to his death, his head bashing against sharp rocks and icy formations, if I hadn¡¯t pulled him up immediately with the magic hand I¡¯d tied on him before. He¡¯d still managed to get a gash on his knee and hurt his chest, but at least he¡¯d survived.


    The impossibly tall mountains had been even more dangerous and difficult to cross than I¡¯d thought they¡¯d be. Worse still, there was absolutely no food up here and the mountains were packed so tightly together, there were hardly any valleys or ravines that could have bits of life in them. Whenever we found one, we usually stayed for a full day just to eat up and replenish our supplies. Right now, I¡¯d spotted a lush looking valley right underneath this mountain, so I was rushing down as fast as I could while carrying both Kelser and Kol with magic hands.


    These past few days had taken a big toll on Kelser¡¯s stamina, so it wasn¡¯t too surprising that he messed up that way. Still, I decided to give him a good scolding once he was warm and well-rested, so he wouldn¡¯t try to push himself so far without telling me in the future.


    We finally reached the valley and I set up a small, makeshift shelter. I dropped Kelser into the shelter and lit a fire next to it, powered by some wood from the few trees that happened to grow up here. I dropped Kol right next to an enraged monster that was mad at us for invading its territory, and the demon princess nearly panicked. I sat down on the ground and watched the monster chase the demon princess around for a little bit, until she finally realized I wasn¡¯t going to help her, and darted behind a tree. The monster circled around the tree, only to find a burst of fire. As the monster reeled, Kol hit it on the head with a pile of rocks, before pushing it on its back with wind and pouring water into its nose. The monster rolled on the ground and coughed because of the water. By the time it opened its eyes, it saw the large floating rock that Kol had barely managed to throw into the air above its head, and it rolled out of the way.


    Their fight dragged on for a few minutes, until the monster got too close to me. For some reason, it decided to charge at me instead of dealing with Kol, at which point I grabbed it by its hind legs, lifted it into the air like a doll, and threw it back at the smirking demon princess. Kol¡¯s eyes widened as she jumped out of the way of the monster. The monster, dazed but still alive, fell at Kol¡¯s feet, and the princess grumbled as she finished it off.


    ¡°Why did you do that!¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°You should contribute to the team by hunting dinner,¡± I told her. ¡°Why¡¯d you bring it towards me?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t, it ran that way on its own!¡± she insisted.


    I shook my head. ¡°Whatever.¡± I threw a knife at her feet. ¡°Get skinning.¡±


    The princess frowned but grabbed the knife anyway. The sheltered, pampered princess got her hands dirty preparing the monster. She¡¯d learned these skills at my insistence back at the city, although she¡¯d thrown up the first dozen times she¡¯d had to do it.


    I turned my attention to Kelser, whose wounds were quickly washed, before being disinfected with some of the alcohol I¡¯d brought along for exactly this purpose. After warming him up with some fire, feeding him with the meat the princess had just brought along, and giving him a nice, long rest, I wrapped his knee up, tightly, and lifted him up with my magic again. The princess also started floating, and we continued traveling off the edge of the map.

 Chapter 142

    ¡°Finally!¡± cried Kelser as he collapsed to the ground.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it!¡± said Princess Kol as she collapsed to the ground right beside him.


    I sighed. ¡°You¡¯re overreacting.¡±


    ¡°I never want to see a mountain again,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°There¡¯s one right behind us,¡± I said as I looked over my shoulder at the final mountain that we¡¯d crossed.


    ¡°Nope,¡± said Kelser, ¡°I don¡¯t see anything but dirt.¡± He buried his face in the ground.


    I laughed sarcastically and pulled him up. He refused to turn around, but I held him by the shoulders and turned his body. He shut his eyes. I laughed and let him go. The princess was still on the ground. I was about to walk over when I saw her body shaking. I frowned. It sounded like she was crying.


    Kol raised her head. No tears. She smiled brightly although her cheeks were a little puff. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± She kissed the ground and kept repeating that she was back. She picked herself up a little until she was sitting on her knees. ¡°Thank you, Lord of the Heaven¡ªI mean, my ancestors! Thank you!¡±


    I nodded. It had only been a couple of years, but Kol had done pretty well in keeping her promise with me. I knew I couldn¡¯t change her deepest thoughts and habits overnight, but she never praised the Heavenly Eye in front of me and decided to take up ancestor worship like the humans and elves. Actually, she¡¯d wanted to take the humans¡¯ elf worship as her own, but I was already pushing for the humans to stop doing that so it was easy to get her to stop.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± she said, only now standing up and coming up to me. ¡°Without your help, I would never have made it back to my home.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it,¡± I said, ¡°I know what it¡¯s like being far from home and feeling like you can¡¯t get back. Also, we aren¡¯t done yet. Are there any towns or villages nearby?¡±


    The princess looked around and frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure where we are, actually. The land by the mountains is barren and unpopulated. The closest villages are near the rivers. If we find a stream or tributary somewhere, we can follow it.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sounds like a plan. I think I remember seeing one in that direction from up on the mountain.¡± I started walking.


    Kelser followed. ¡°Man, it feels good walking on even ground.¡±


    Kol nodded. ¡°It feels even better actually walking for once.¡±


    I was tempted to pick them up with magic again.


    ---


    We found a village by the river. The village elders did not know about the princess, since this was a remote part of the world and was really only nominally under the control of the Izlandi Kingdom. In fact, there were no tax collectors or anything. Like in most ancient kingdoms from my world, people really only had to pay tribute in terms of food or soldiers when the armies were rolling out nearby.


    The food here was hearty and homely. The three of us who had been subsisting off gamey monster meat and the occasional fruits and vegetables, were happy being able to eat well for once. The village was surrounded by farmlands, which was where most of the villagers worked, with many domesticated animals all around. We asked them the way to the next town or village, and they gave us the general directions, although nobody seemed to have a map.


    Speaking of maps, I¡¯d started a new map of the area after we¡¯d left the mountains. I¡¯d also made maps of our journey through the mountains, and left a trail we could follow on the way back, but was hoping we could find the path the princess had taken to get to the other side the first time. Perhaps her enemies in the capital might know.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    I stared at the rough map I¡¯d made using the villagers¡¯ directions, and frowned. ¡°Are you sure this is the straightest path to the next village?¡± I asked.


    The village elder, a kind half-blind woman, answered: ¡°That village rests on the banks of the river just like ours does. The simplest path is to follow the river, but we dare not do that.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°A vicious monster has made its den around a thicket along the river¡¯s path. It is too dangerous to pass through it,¡± she said.


    I nodded. ¡°Thank you, we will keep that in mind.¡±


    We left the next morning. I kept asking the villagers if there was anything we could do to repay them, but they refused to accept anything. They had all been fascinated by my elf ears and even by Kelser¡¯s elf ears and red hair, and so they had taken us to be travelers from a far off land, and claimed they were satisfied after hearing some of our stories last night. We hadn¡¯t shared anything amazing, since I didn¡¯t want to tell them about magic or immortals, but they were satisfied just knowing there were sentient beings on the other side of the great mountains.


    ¡°It¡¯s a shame they wouldn¡¯t accept any help,¡± said Kelser. ¡°It wasn¡¯t like we had any gifts to give them though.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll send something over after we reach the capital,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°There¡¯s something we can do for them, however,¡± I said as I resolutely followed the path of the river instead of veering off into the game trails in the forest. Kelser and Kol followed me nonchalantly.


    Soon, a thicket appeared around the edge of the river. Somehow, I felt like something was watching us. I sent out magical hands and motion detection magic, and found out where it was. Kelser and Kol were vigilant, preparing magic as they stepped forward. I pretended like nothing was wrong, and walked forward while looking away from the thicket.


    Taking the bait, a massive shadow lunged from the thicket and pounced at me. The shadow froze a hair¡¯s breadth from my head. I froze too.


    Kelser and Kol blinked. They were staring at the massive monster, which looked like a cross between a monkey and a grasshopper. Saliva pooled around the monster¡¯s teeth, dripping over the side. But even the dripping saliva had frozen. The long whiskers that should¡¯ve been swaying in the wind also stopped in place. And the monster¡¯s large eyes, which should¡¯ve been glaring menacingly at the prey before it, were frozen comically mid-blink.


    The only reason I saw all of this was because I¡¯d turned my head at the last moment before casting my still life magic. I almost broke the spell because I wanted to yell at my stunned companions. Why hadn¡¯t they taken care of this thing already!


    ---


    ¡°It¡¯s your fault for not telling us you were going to do that,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°You can¡¯t expect us to not be surprised when a monster the size of a small hill just stops like that,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Quit making excuses and greet those villagers,¡± I said as I saw a small crowd appear in front of the village in the distance. The crowd was bustling and people were pointing while making exclamations. Kelser and Kol ran forward to greet and explain what was going on. This was the second village, so they didn¡¯t know about us yet, but judging by the hospitality of the first village, I was sure we¡¯d be welcomed here too. And if we weren¡¯t? Well¡­ I glanced over my shoulder at the large carcass I was dragging along the ground. I smiled.


    I had a feeling we wouldn¡¯t have any problems in this village, either.


    ---


    ¡°You need to teach me that magic,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°No, you don¡¯t need it,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s terribly inefficient and you have better ways of immobilizing an enemy.¡±


    ¡°But it looks so cool!¡± he said.


    ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I use it,¡± I said. ¡°But it¡¯s my signature spell, got it! If you want a spell like that, go invent it on your own!¡±


    We were in the second village, having a great feast. The village¡¯s elders, a pair of elderly fraternal twins, were entertaining us around a campfire, although right now their attention was aimed at the demon princess. Kol hadn¡¯t revealed that she was a princess, but apparently this village was close enough to the river trade network to realize that Kol was from the upper classes. They said it was something about the way she spoke. They also complimented my accent, although they said Kelsers¡¯ could use some work.


    Since the direct path to the first village was clear now, the elders said they would send a messenger to them soon. More importantly, the river route was now safe, which meant the villagers from the first village could trade downriver. The elders thanked us for helping out their little corner of the world, and gave me a bunch of information about the surrounding area to help me fill out my map.


    The next morning, we were off to the first major town on the road to the capital!

 Chapter 143

    Starting from the first town, we had to disguise the princess. She¡¯d passed through this region before, and there could be many people, like retired soldiers and officials, who might recognize her at a glance. I kept up a constant light magic spell around her, which distorted her appearance and made her look like a human. She also had to take off her translation pendant and speak exclusively in the human language since we¡¯d learned about her accent.


    The town itself was beautiful. The river this high up was clear and cold, with small rapids and a waterfall just outside of view from the town square. There were tone buildings with narrow rocky pathways, ivy-like plants creeping over the walls, and a small market of traders bringing goods from far away. The traders peddled food and clothes, small iron tools, and jewelry of various sorts. Some of them went around the town, talking to farming families and bundling up grains, fruits, domesticated monster hides, and some other animal by-products.


    We were led around the town by a short, balding demon who was impressed by our ability to speak his language. He said they didn¡¯t know there were other sentient beings on the other side of the mountains, and were looking forward to trading with us in the future. We found out he was the chief official of the town, in charge of things like tax collection and army levies. He was sent by the nearby large city, and not the capital, which made sense because of the fragmented nature of the kingdom. I¡¯d already realized, thanks to the princess¡¯ information, that this kingdom was like those ancient old world kingdoms from my previous world where administration was delegated to cities. The capital only really dealt with the cities, without interfering too much with what they did within their regions. Some cities were run by officials from the capital, while others had local rulers who had pledged fealty to the king but were mostly autonomous. Some of these local ruling families had been running these cities longer than the royal family had been running the capital.


    And the nearby city was run by one of those ancient ruling families. The balding demon told us the traders that we could see in the town square had come together in a seasonal caravan, and we could follow them back to the large city tomorrow. He said we might have to contribute to the mercenaries guarding the caravan, but it would be worth it because of the large number of monsters.


    ¡°Oh and also,¡± said the balding demon as he led us to a small campsite. The campsite was right by the river on a beautiful field full of wildflowers. This was where the trading caravan was staying and we were about to talk to the leader of the caravan. ¡°Our city loves trading for goods from all kinds of places. If you could share with me the path you took through the mountain, we might even be able to send a caravan within a few weeks.¡±


    I smiled at the official. ¡°It was a strange and difficult path, my friend. I¡¯m afraid I can barely remember it.¡±


    The official nodded slowly, his mouth slightly agape. ¡°Alright, well, perhaps you¡¯ll be able to gather an escort party in the city. You should meet with the lord, he might give you some gifts as well. Our people value hospitality, after all.¡±


    I thanked him but he didn¡¯t leave. He kept talking for a little while longer, and I couldn¡¯t figure out a way to politely get him to leave. Eventually, after wearing us out with a pointless conversation, the balding official finally revealed his real objective.


    ¡°This may seem like a strange question, friends, but I was wondering if you may have come across any corpses on your way through the mountains,¡± he asked.


    I frowned. ¡°Corpses?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry. Are there so many to find that you were expecting us to see some?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± he said with a short laugh, ¡°it is a sad, sad, situation, I¡¯m afraid. Our dear princess and her entourage were chased into the mountains by dangerous monsters almost two years ago. We have searched all along the nearby mountains, but we could not find any trace of her. I was just wondering, perhaps she made it a little further inside the mountains than we were expecting.¡±


    ¡°I am sorry to hear that,¡± I said, ¡°but no, we did not see any traces of demons before we happened upon one of the villages nearby.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said the balding demon, ¡°well, I should get going, I have to buy some things from the traders before they close up their stalls. Best of luck to you, travelers!¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    As we watched the official walk away, Kelser stepped up to me and whispered in the human language, ¡°so they¡¯re still looking for the princess?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Yes, and he has every right to be suspicious.¡±


    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± said the princess, also speaking in the human language.


    ¡°Language,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s strange that we can speak their language. I suspect the only reason we aren¡¯t being questioned more aggressively is because they don¡¯t know how powerful we are. We did just cross a seemingly impassable mountain range, after all.¡±


    ¡°Right, and we haven¡¯t told them about our magic yet,¡± said Kelser. He panned his gaze around the campfire, where one large fire was being prepared. The traders were using a small wheel based drill tool to light the tinder, and would use the main fire to light the other smaller ones. Nobody had used any magic in front of us on this side of the mountains.


    ¡°When can I use my own language again, by the way?¡± asked the princess.


    ¡°You can¡¯t use it if we decide to join the caravan,¡± said Kelser.


    Kol frowned. ¡°Then we should just head off on our own.¡±


    ¡°That would be even more suspicious,¡± said Kelser, ¡°what if the official sends hunters after us or something?¡±


    ¡°But we can¡¯t trust everyone in the caravan either,¡± said Kol.


    After a little more bickering, we entered the caravan leader¡¯s tent. The leader was a wizened old lady. She said she¡¯d be glad to let us accompany her but the mercenaries were very strict about the number of people they would guard, so we had to pay for our own protection. She said she was willing to pay for us if we had any goods to exchange with her of if we promised to give her a part of the gifts we would get from the local lord.


    ¡°Thank you for your hospitality and kindness,¡± I said, ¡°but we were thinking about traveling on our own. If you could just tell us the way, we will head out after lunch.¡±


    The old lady raised a droopy eyebrow and stared at me. ¡°I would advise against that, travelers.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your concern, but you don¡¯t have to worry about us. Tell me, how far down the river is the city?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, you cannot follow the river,¡± she said, ¡°there are¡ª¡±


    ¡°Monsters?¡± I said, ¡°don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    It took a while, but eventually the caravan leader revealed that it would only take a few days to get to the city if we followed the river. It would take much longer if we joined her in the caravan. I thanked the old caravan leader, and followed Kelser and Kol back to the town square. A middle-aged woman fanned meat over charcoal while yelling at her children to stop playing around. She was a local from this town, trying to sell food to the traders. Her food stall was the only one I could see, but the traders did not seem interested at all.


    As we passed by, the middle-aged woman put on a wide smile and tried to usher us towards her stall. ¡°Come, weary travelers, have a taste of our local delicacies! I promise you will not find anything like this in the entire kingdom!¡±


    She was definitely exaggerating, but the meat did look quite good. It was marinated in some kind of strange sauce, with a few charred spring vegetables also cooking over a skewer. The woman said she¡¯d give us a travelers discount, but the princess told me her prices were actually the same as what she¡¯d give to a local.


    I reached into my pack and brought out a small lump of silver. It was pressed flat like a coin, but didn¡¯t have any markings on it. Kol had already told us about the currencies of the kingdom, and said that it was better to trade directly with precious metals than to try to forge a coin. The value of coins was based on their material anyway, so this should be fine.


    The middle aged demon woman happily accepted my silver and gave us all a serving of meat and vegetables. It was filling and hearty, just like the food from the village, but the herbs and seasonings gave it a slightly more complicated flavor. After seeing that we had some silver to spend, many other traders and merchants tried to hawk their wares to us, but we ignored them as we walked to the banks of the river. Slinging our packs over our shoulders, we left the town after saying goodbye to the balding official, who also tried to warn us about the monsters by the river, but let us go once he realized we wouldn¡¯t listen.


    Surprisingly, nobody sent anyone to follow us after all.


    ¡°Maybe they were all just worried about us after all,¡± I remarked.


    Kol frowned but didn¡¯t say anything. The roar of the waterfall filled my ears as the first town faded into the distance.

 Chapter 144

    ¡°Welcome to Tephon, weary travelers! Let me introduce myself as Bain Rusta, the humble leader of this great and magnificent city. My family has helped guide the people of Tephon to prosperity through countless generations, and have, by the grace of the benevolent Heavenly Eye, overseen it during times of difficulty and good fortune.


    ¡°It is my family¡¯s great honor to host a legendary elf and two guests from the human race, which we did not even know existed until tonight. I must also thank you, on behalf of all the demons of Tephon, for clearing our northern path up the River Tephon. The merciful Heavenly Eye must be shining upon us by sending us such powerful hunters, hunters whose fame will undoubtedly spread to all corners of the known world.


    ¡°I have also been informed by my ministers, some of whom greeted you with our scout party after seeing you bring such massive monster carcasses behind you, that you crossed over the great mountains from where the River Tephon is birthed! Your status as explorers and adventurers must surely be unequaled.


    ¡°More astonishing still, my ministers say you already know our language! How you accomplished such a feat so quickly is beyond my comprehension, but I would like to express our city¡¯s willingness to also learn your people¡¯s language, so that we may communicate as equals once we send a trade party to your homeland, with your approval and support, of course.¡±


    The ruler of the city of Tephon finished his long winded speech and met my gaze. He had been speaking as if in trace words that seemed not to have been prepared by him. His ministers glanced at him with a smile, and graciously bowed to him and to our party.


    I snuck a glance at Kelser and Kol, both of whom had decided to bow to Bain Rusta on the advice of the ministers who had met us on the outskirts of the city. Those same ministers said that they could not compel a legendary elf to bow to a demon, but that they recommended it as a gesture of goodwill anyway. I met the old demon¡¯s gaze and did not bow. Something about the way the ministers had said that to me told me it would be more than a ¡®gesture of goodwill¡¯ for a legendary elf to bow here. I wanted to sigh at being roped into courtly intrigue and politics so soon, but that would not have been appropriate.


    The local ruler was an old demon with spotty skin and gray hair with patches of white poking through. He was wearing the cotton-like clothes that Kol had been wearing when she first came to our side of the mountains, but the old ruler¡¯s clothes were brightly colored. In fact, they were so brightly colored that they looked off-putting and garish. Almost as if the colors were there to impress the wealth and resources of the old man, rather than to look good. The old demon¡¯s tail weakly poked out from behind him. Bain Rusta rubbed his hands together as if he was cold, which let me see the many scars that ran across his palm and fingers.


    ¡°Thank you, your grace. I appreciate your kind words and hospitality. What I have seen so far of the city of Tephon, at least on my way from the edge of the city to your enclave here on the hill in the center of the city, is impressive. Your people have done a magnificent job in building this great city, its roads and wells and sanitation system. I am looking forward to visiting your market tonight, especially after selling the monster carcasses that we brought with us to the city. I believe your ministers said they were going to appraise their worth, please do let them know that I am willing to sell them to your grace at a reasonable price, to show my gratitude to you and your people.


    ¡°However, your grace, I must also seek a favor from you. Our party is tired and would appreciate a place to rest for the night, but in the morning, I would appreciate it if you could give us directions to the capital of your kingdom. The elders of the human tribes on the other side of the mountains have expressed an interest in establishing diplomatic ties between the human and demon races. Of course, trade must naturally flow from your city of Tephon, but I am sure you will understand why an audience with your sovereign is necessary,¡± I said.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The ministers grimaced and looked at each other. The old demon Bain, however, didn¡¯t show any reaction at all. Instead, he nodded slowly and went on another long winded expression of gratitude in which he barely managed to sneak in the fact that he would be happy to give us directions in the morning, and that we can rest in the guest rooms in his family¡¯s villa up here on the hill in the center of the city. He also said that he would accompany us through the market and would buy for us whatever we wanted from the market, and although I wanted to reject the offer, I ultimately agreed to it. I realized that this would be how he paid for the monster carcasses we had brought and how he would try to establish closer ties to me personally. Despite this old demon¡¯s blank expression and seeming subservience to his ministers, he definitely knew how to garner favor with other people.


    Kelser also greeted the old demon, saying that he was a representative of the human race and that his elders had told him to tell the people on the other side of the mountain about what kind of goods the humans could trade. He said they had various kinds of fruits, vegetables, and grains, all of which he described to Bain Rusta who agreed that these were things they could not find on this side of the mountain. Kelser also told Bain about various monster products, like hides and bones, and also shared that his people had unearthed a lot of silver and gold, which made the ministers grin a little more widely.


    At that time, I also asked the lord if I could exchange some of the silver and gold that I had brought with me for coins that would be accepted by the traders and merchants in the kingdom. Bain asked me how much gold and silver I wanted to exchange, which I told him, and then he asked his minister to bring out the appropriate amount of coins from the treasury. When the minister returned with the coins, the old demon walked up to me and personally passed into my hands a bag full of gold and silver coins. He then pushed back the bag that I was about to exchange with him, saying he had no intention of accepting any money from a legendary elf, and that the bag full of coins was his gift to our party.


    He then led us out of the lord¡¯s meeting chambers, and down the hill into the city proper. As the ministers melted away, a small group of younger demons surrounded us on all sides. These younger demons wore iron armor and had short swords dangling by their sides. Bain Rusta nodded to the oldest of the guards, who nodded back to him and greeted our party. We then made our way down to the market with our armed escort.


    I wondered if security was always this tight around the lord or if he was just being protective of our guests. However, then I realized he wasn¡¯t trying to protect us. This was a not so subtle show of force. The demons of Tephon were probably terrified that a party of three had managed to clear a path that they didn¡¯t dare to clear with an entire army. It also dawned on me, based on the ministers¡¯ actions, that the demons probably thought that the ¡®legendary elf¡¯ had somehow cleared the way with elfin magic, which would align with the wildest stories about elves that Princess Kol had shared with me as well.


    As we went around the market, it became obvious that word of our arrival and of ¡®my¡¯ power had already spread throughout the city. Most of the demons didn¡¯t dare to look me in the eye, and many tried to give me things for free. Of course, all of them hid their fear behind expressions of gratitude, and although they were definitely grateful that I had cleared the path, I could see that they were all mostly fearful and in awe. Surprisingly, the armed guards had probably gone a long way in making the ordinary demons feel less afraid. The old ruler Bain¡¯s also dropped his guarded demeanor and started talking to me with smiles and the occasional laugh, probably to show that he was on good terms with me and that as long as he was in charge, nobody needed to be afraid of the powerful, legendary elf.


    I couldn¡¯t help but sigh for real this time. I couldn¡¯t believe that I had walked right into the politics of the city like this. The worst part was I wasn¡¯t the one who killed the monsters on the path along the river! I didn¡¯t even want to bring them with us to the city! I glanced at Kelser and Kol. They smiled at me in return.

 Chapter 145

    ¡°So,¡± I said, as I munched on what looked like a fruit cake on a stick but tasted like cornbread with nuts in it, ¡°what do you think?¡±


    ¡°About the lord? What was his name again?¡± said Kelser as he took a bite of a piece of roasted meat.


    ¡°Bain Rusta,¡± answered Princess Kol as she sat on a wooden chair by the wooden window. Glass was too expensive, so windows in the city were made out of pieces of wood propped up against a hole in the wall. The angle of the wood meant that it was easy to look down at the ground, but the windows couldn¡¯t let in much light and people from outside wouldn¡¯t be able to see inside. It was nighttime anyway, so there wasn¡¯t a lot of light to let in and nobody was out and about. Kol¡¯s food rested on a clay plate on a table next to her chair, cold and untouched. It was a small piece of meat lathered in what looked like honey. Only children were buying it at the market in the city center, and Kol had given it a long, wistful look before finally buying it. She even bought some for all the kids that had gathered around the stall, which made Bain Rusta also give her a curious look. In the end, the lord bought out the entire stall and gave away all the food to the crowd of children.


    ¡°Have you met him before?¡± I asked.


    Kol frowned. ¡°Why are you speaking in the demon tongue? What if somebody hears us?¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t very good at the human language,¡± I said, ¡°and there¡¯s nobody here, I¡¯ve checked.¡± I used motion detection magic and magic hands to check everywhere around us. We were in a guest room in a building right next to the lord¡¯s house up on the hill in the center of the city. Unless we shouted really loudly, nobody would be able to hear what we were saying. Still, I spoke quietly and Kol and Kelser did the same.


    ¡°To answer your question, no, I haven¡¯t met Bain Rusta before,¡± said Kol, ¡°but I¡¯ve heard about him and his family. The Rusta have run Tephon for so long, people don¡¯t even call them lord or ruler anymore. Their family name, Rusta, is a shorthand for the ruler of Tephon.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said, nodding slowly. That was kinda like Caesar or Augustus in the Roman Empire in my previous world. Authority gets tied to the name, and people don¡¯t have to use a separate title anymore.


    ¡°When I was running away from my enemies, I didn¡¯t stop here at Tephon,¡± said Kol. ¡°The only thing I knew about Bain Rusta was that his family was siding with my brother. And I know my brother had something to do with the people who chased me all the way to the mountains. Coming here back then would¡¯ve been suicide according to my advisers.¡±


    ¡°Good thing you have that magic disguise then,¡± said Kelser, ¡°also, this isn¡¯t important, but you look much nicer as a human. I think your tail makes you look grouchier than you really are.¡±


    Kol gave him a dry look and rolled her eyes. She turned to me, deliberately putting Kelser out of her field of vision. ¡°Bain Rusta is an infamously weak ruler. His family and ministers run the show. All he does is say what they want him to say and do what they want him to do. Even if Bain seemed like a nice enough guy today, we can¡¯t rely on his kindness too much. He might have been willing to give us directions and let us go on our way tonight, but somebody might whisper things into his ear before the morning. They might tell him he shouldn¡¯t let us go, or that he should try harder to get us to stay. If they can make him do something as stupid as allying with my younger brother, there¡¯s no telling what they might make him do tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Why is allying with your brother a stupid thing to do?¡± asked Kelser. ¡°He¡¯s your brother. Surely any help he gets is good for you too?¡±


    Kol raised an eyebrow at the red haired human. ¡°What are you talking about? I¡¯m the heir to the throne! If he¡¯s supporting my younger brother, that means he wants me dead!¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I think he still doesn¡¯t understand the way politics work in a kingdom like yours,¡± I told the princess. ¡°Kelser, I explained this to you before, but family ties are seen very differently in Kol¡¯s homeland. They can confer power and authority, like the way Kol being the daughter of the king gives her power through a claim to the throne. But it also erodes the sort of family ties that you¡¯re used to in your homeland. Kol and her siblings don¡¯t have to rely on each other for survival. They need to compete against each other for power and influence. They¡ª¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I get it, I understand,¡± said Kelser finishing up his food. ¡°I just forget sometimes, that¡¯s all. It¡¯s different, but it¡¯s not like everybody has a perfect family in my tribe either.¡±


    ¡°And there¡¯s more,¡± continued Kol, ¡°it doesn¡¯t make sense for somebody this far South to ally with my brother whose power lies in the borderlands in the far North. The reason I¡¯m in this mess in the first place is because that crazy brother of mine went to lead an army against the Lux Republic and ended up winning a great victory. He has the support of a lot of powerful generals, while everybody in the capital is waiting by the sidelines instead of coming to my side. I could¡¯ve figured something out if my father wasn¡¯t sick and my younger sister hadn¡¯t run off to the East for some reason.¡± She sighed. ¡°And I have no idea what¡¯s happened over the past two years. All I know is what we learned from the general public over the past few days. The king is still alive, and I¡¯m considered missing but not dead. I have no idea what¡¯s going on behind the scenes, though.¡±


    ¡°If your brother or his supporters find out you¡¯re alive, they¡¯ll try to take you out before you can reach the capital,¡± I said, ¡°but what if the king declares you dead and makes your brother the heir while we¡¯re making our way to the royal court? We could start some rumors or show your face somewhere for a little bit, just so your father knows you¡¯re alive.¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t a terrible idea,¡± said the princess. ¡°I don¡¯t think rumors are going to be good enough. I have to show my face somewhere.¡±


    ¡°But how do we do that without making them chase after us,¡± asked Kelser.


    I put a hand on my chin. ¡°I have an idea.¡±


    ---


    ¡°Are you sure you won¡¯t stay?¡± asked Bain Rusta. ¡°The path to the next town is closed. Some sort of natural disaster. There¡¯s debris everywhere.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll manage just fine,¡± I said.


    ¡°And I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t tell you the whole path to the capital. For security reasons, of course. I trust you and your people, but you haven¡¯t met the king yet. Giving foreigners so much information about our lands might make the king dislike me, please do understand,¡± he said, again with a blank expression.


    ¡°We understand, we understand, we¡¯ll take it one step at a time. Thank you for giving us directions to the next town over, though. We appreciate it,¡± I said. I picked up my pack, waved to the ministers and Rusta family members that were surrounding Bain Rusta, and signaled for Kelser and Kol to follow. The next town over was on the banks of another river, since the River Tephon would keep going away from the capital and we couldn¡¯t follow it any longer. Bain Rusta¡¯s directions were annoyingly vague, but I¡¯d secretly paid for some information from a merchant early in the morning, and he¡¯d given me much better directions. I¡¯d snuck out of the building with invisibility magic, and disguised myself as a young demon merchant while going around town. I¡¯d gathered some other information about the politics of the kingdom, as well as about Bain Rusta and his actual beliefs. Surprisingly, it seemed like the old demon used to be a fiery administrator back in the day. His old age must have made him more passive.


    ¡°Thank you once again, travelers. May we meet again!¡± said Bain Rusta as he bid us goodbye.


    We walked away from the city on a well trodden path. There weren¡¯t any other merchants or travelers, but I had to use magic hands and motion detection magic to make sure we weren¡¯t being followed. After confirming that we weren¡¯t being followed, and walking well out of view, we stopped behind some trees and huddled together. Kelser took over surveillance of the area, making sure there was nobody around, and I cast invisibility on both Kol and myself. Then the princess and I dashed back to the city and snuck into the market. Bain Rusta and his entourage were still mulling about, discussing our departure. They were annoyed they couldn¡¯t keep us around, and were thinking about what to do after we realized they¡¯d given us the wrong directions. Of course, this didn¡¯t come as a shock to me, since I¡¯d already gathered the real directions from the merchant in the morning, but it was nice to have some confirmation of treachery. Bain Rusta stayed silent. In fact, he was staring in the direction we had left, as if the bickering happening by his side had nothing to do with him.


    Kol slipped behind a building, wore a set of local clothes I¡¯d purchased in the morning, and stepped into the light after I dispelled my invisibility magic. She dashed through the market, deliberately drawing attention to herself by kicking a clay pot and trying to hide her face through exaggerated motion. One of Bain Rusta¡¯s ministers saw her in the corner of his eye, and pointed and yelled. Soon, everybody had seen her, and Kol froze in the middle of the square. She narrowed her eyes, turned around, and dashed away to the other side of the city like her life depended on it. I made her faster with some air and motion magic, so nobody could catch her, even as they chased her right out of the city and back towards the previous towns and villages.


    Once she was out of sight, I dropped next to her and turned her invisible again. Then, we walked right back through Tephon, which was bustling with soldiers and guards, and rejoined Kelser on the path to the capital.

 Chapter 146

    ¡°Thank you so much, the food was lovely,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, please, it was an honor hosting a real elf. My daughter could hardly believe it. Heck, I couldn¡¯t believe it myself! We thought you weren¡¯t real. Stories conjured up by bards and fortunetellers. And yet, you showed up right on my doorstep!¡± said the burly old man wearing an apron.


    ¡°And I appreciate you keeping this a secret for me,¡± I said as I paid him for the night¡¯s meal, ¡°we left the human country with the intention of meeting the king. I wouldn¡¯t want the king¡¯s current bout of illness to ruin the occasion.¡±


    ¡°Of course, of course,¡± said the innkeeper as he pocketed the coins, ¡°our poor demon king has been sick for so long, my children have only ever known him as a sick old man. Only old geezers like myself remember how he was in his youth. Handsome, charming, and braver than any young upstart general. You can still see the fire burning in his eyes, but his body just can¡¯t keep up with his spirit. He¡¯s usually only sick for a week or so. I¡¯d say give it a couple of days and he¡¯ll be taking audiences again. You can re-enter through the gates as an official delegation. They might even hold a grand celebration in your honor!¡±


    I thanked the innkeeper and went back up to my room. The inn was mostly deserted, since this was the season for traders and merchants to leave the capital in search of goods from other places. This place would be bustling once the caravans returned to the capital with their wares. There was another inn near the center of the city, which usually housed foreign traders, diplomats, and other such parties willing to spend a little extra for proximity to the royal court, but since our party wanted to keep a low profile for a few days, we chose this inn at the outskirts instead.


    I walked up the creaking wooden stairs. To my right, a small wooden balcony overlooked the bustling, narrow streets below. Although the trade caravans were away right now, there were still many merchants and stalls down below, trying to sell off excess goods from previous years or peddling goods from places that were closer to the capital. It was harvesting season for many cultivated fruits and vegetables, so there were many carts full of fresh produce. Domesticated monsters were peppered throughout the street, docilely munching on dried grasses. They were connected to the carts by loosened harnesses.


    I stopped by the window. This country was several centuries, if not millennia ahead of the human tribes of the double river basin. The near impassable mountains were keeping the humans safe from foreign conquest, but they also stopped the flow of goods, ideas, and people from reaching the humans¡¯ homeland. Being able to bring back some seeds and domesticated animals would propel the humans ahead by countless generations, especially because of the potential they could unlock by applying magic in creative ways to these otherwise mundane objects. Selective crop cultivation, animal husbandry, and distributed settlements connected via trade routes, just think of what the magic using humans could do with these advancements.


    I climbed the staircase and walked down the hall. I knocked on the door twice, then opened it. Kelser was lounging on a bed and staring at a wall. Kol was reading a scroll spread over a wooden table. Candlelight filled the room, flickering shadows everywhere. Kol squinted, trying to read in the dim light. Frustrated, she took a deep breath, and brought the candle over the scroll. She squinted harder, and took a deep breath. The flame on the candle became larger, melting droplets of wax over the sides and pooling in the metal pan underneath.


    Kelser saw me come in and stood up. ¡°Finally! Can we go already?¡±


    ¡°In a bit,¡± I said as I walked over to Kol. ¡°Any luck?¡±


    Kol shook her head. ¡°No. It¡¯s useless. Just a bunch of pointless orders and calls for supplies. Was this the last scroll?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°I searched everywhere. You¡¯ve already been through the ones from your brother¡¯s office in the palace, his personal rooms at his house, and all the personal and official rooms of your brother¡¯s allied generals. The scroll in your hand should have been the most promising. It was in a secret hole in the wall right behind your brother¡¯s bed. Are you sure they aren¡¯t using some kind of secret code?¡±


    ¡°If they are, it isn¡¯t one I can crack. You¡¯ve been through the scrolls too. Do you think there¡¯s a code?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I think we can assume your brother¡¯s treachery isn¡¯t meeting any ink. Maybe it¡¯s word of mouth only, which is smart of him, but very frustrating for us. But sneaking into the palace while invisible has been just as useless. I haven¡¯t overheard any useful whispers or dropping into any secret meetings.¡±


    ¡°And there wasn¡¯t anything at the generals¡¯ houses either?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°Most of them are up north with your brother,¡± I said. ¡°The few that are here aren¡¯t even talking to each other. None of their workers or servants are meeting with each other either, at least as far as I can tell. I can¡¯t be everywhere at once. But still, I think I should have seen something suspicious by now.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°But then how is my brother still controlling the capital and the royal court? My father is too sick to run the country, and his ministers can¡¯t resist my brother¡¯s pressure on their own. My mother died long ago, and the new queen disappeared with my younger sister in the East,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Maybe it really is what it looks like,¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°Maybe your brother really isn¡¯t doing anything. You said so yourself. Your father¡¯s ministers can¡¯t resist the prince on their own. If your brother wanted to take over, or at least declare himself the heir, he could do so. But he isn¡¯t doing it,¡± I said.


    Kol frowned. ¡°Why not?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe he wants to gather his support in the North first. Or he wants to wait for your father to die before making a move. He might even be trying to bait out rebels or rivals by leaving the political space open for them for a little bit. Who knows. But this is your opportunity. The capital is empty and all of your brother¡¯s enemies and rivals are clinging to the sick king for protection. If we plan this properly, we can make a great show of your return, and use the support of a legendary, magical elf, to shore up your own situation. Trade with a mysterious species across the mountains could be the icing on top!¡±


    ¡°Icing?¡± said the princess.


    ¡°Nevermind that,¡± I said, ¡°I overheard some servants say the king was feeling better and would take visitors tomorrow. You should rest tonight. We have a big day tomorrow!¡±


    Kol nodded, her eyes drifting over the words on the scroll as she began to close it. Her hands stopped. She squinted. Her eyes widened. She laid the scroll back on the table with a thump and stared at the lower left corner.


    I followed her gaze and my own eyes widened as well. ¡°That¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Code!¡± said the princess. ¡°A secret message!¡±


    A garbled set of letters sat on the edge of the scroll. The letters made no sense together. Finding such a blatant secret code after searching for cryptic messages and riddles within boringly mundane letters, was a little jarring, but at least we had something to work with.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a type of code I¡¯ve seen before,¡± said the princess. ¡°He must¡¯ve learned it from the Lux Republic. How are we going to find out what it says?¡±


    I moved the scroll closer to myself. ¡°I¡¯ll need your help since I only learned your language recently. I haven¡¯t learned all of these logograms yet. Like this one, what does it mean?¡±


    ¡°It means constellation,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°And this one?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It means to point to one¡¯s heart,¡± she said.


    Oddly specific, I thought to myself. ¡°Is that a kind of saying or a figure of speech?¡±


    The princess nodded. ¡°It means to feel a desire to do something, quickly.¡±


    Huh. Languages are fascinated. ¡°And what kind of code does your kingdom usually use.¡±


    ¡°We only have one type of code,¡± she said, ¡°it¡¯s when we take one word and put it inside another. The reader knows to take out the larger word and only use the smaller word inside.¡±


    Right, because it was a logographic language like Chinese. You could put one logogram inside another to form another word. ¡°That isn¡¯t a very difficult code to crack.¡±


    The princess nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why we stopped using it hundreds of years ago.¡±


    Kelser, who had been making faces and twiddling his thumbs while we were talking, finally walked over and looked at the scroll. ¡°If you can¡¯t break the code, why don¡¯t we just walk over to the palace already?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t even know what a code was until we came to the city,¡± said princess.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t a bad idea,¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Going to the palace,¡± I said, ¡°that isn¡¯t a bad idea.¡± I lifted my gaze from the scroll and looked at my companions.


    ¡°Alright! Finally!¡± said Kelser with a smile.


    ¡°No, wait, weren¡¯t we going to meet my father tomorrow? You know, entering through the great doors, declaring my survival and your arrival, making a huge spectacle with magic and stuff? You know, to make a reputation for myself? That was all your idea, wasn¡¯t it?¡± said Kol.


    I nodded. ¡°We couldn¡¯t risk jumping into the palace when we didn¡¯t know if it was being controlled by your brother already. We had to collect information, especially about the past few years when you were away, or we could¡¯ve been caught in a trap. The most dangerous possibility would¡¯ve been your brother marching to the capital with his allied generals as soon as he heard about your return.¡±


    ¡°And all of that is still possible, isn¡¯t it? What happened? Why did you change your mind?¡± she asked.


    I swirled the scroll in front of the princess and pointed at the coded message. ¡°I figured if your country was using such a basic system of encryption, this code couldn¡¯t be that much more advanced. Turns out, all you have to do is rearrange the words a little and ignore all repetitions. Then, you can read the secret message.¡±


    The princess frowned and looked at the code again. Even Kelser peered over her shoulder and stared at the scroll. After a few moments, the princess looked up at me, with her eyes wide. ¡°That¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°There is no reason to worry about your brother marching on the capital after hearing about your return,¡± I said, ¡°if he¡¯s going to do it anyway!¡±

 Chapter 147

    I held up a hand. Kelser and Kol stopped. I stuck close to the wall and peered over the corner. A couple of guards, armed with spears, stood in front of a large gate. The streets were deserted because it was late at night and only the richest people could afford things like oil lamps. Of course, this was the part of the city where all the rich people lived, since it was right next to the royal palace, so there were orange glows coming in through every window and doorway, but rich people weren¡¯t about to go strolling through the street this late at night, anyway. Another group of guards walked up to the first pair, exchanged a couple of words, and switched out.


    The tired guards were walking towards us, yawning and letting their spears droop down. I snuck a glance at the nearest window, which was throwing soft orange light on everything in front of us. I hid behind the wall again and looked at my companions. Kelser¡¯s brows were furrowed. He was applying light magic on himself, making himself a lot harder to see but not completely invisible. Kol frowned as she looked at her own body. She was mostly invisible, but waves of color rippled over her body and face as the uneven light bounced all around her. My invisibility magic didn¡¯t work very well under unstable light like that in this alleyway tonight. This was why Kol didn¡¯t go out at night in the city, and also why I didn¡¯t want us to go to the palace tonight. But considering what we had learned from the secret message, we had no choice.


    The three of us pressed our bodies against the wall, trying to hide in the shadows away from all the lamplight. Only the moon spread its silver light over us, which was consistent enough for my magic to work. Still, all it would take is for some clouds to roll over the moon and we¡¯d give ourselves away.


    The guards rounded the corner, giving the darkness where we were standing a wide berth. It was very late. They were clearly tired. I held my breath. Kelser and Kol did the same. One step. Two. They were firmly out of sight of the gates. One guard¡¯s eyes widened and he tried to yell, but something clamped on his mouth. He fainted. The other guard tried to ready his spear, but there was a sharp jab on his neck. He didn¡¯t collapse to the ground, phantom limbs coming to prop him up and drag him over to the dark corner.


    My motion detection magic was triggered. I pressed Kol and Kelser to the wall again with magic hands, and held my breath. Something came bounding across the street, making loud, aggressive noises, and knocking pebbles and stones all over the place. Somebody yelled after it. Another person came to the windows.


    A large white monster barreled down the road at breakneck speed. The monster had a large, droopy snout, flickering ears, and beady little eyes that rolled around in their sockets like marbles. The monster¡¯s four legs tapped on the stony streets as it raced down them and let out strange cat-like noises. A little boy was running after it, almost stumbling over his stodgy little feet. He couldn¡¯t even keep his eyes open, and was breathing like crazy. The monster and boy would reach us soon. There were already a few people looking out of their windows at all the commotion.


    The large white monster¡¯s legs seemed to be caught on something on the ground. It gave a little yelp as it fell over itself and tumbled onto the ground. The monster¡¯s eyes and ears flicked around, as if looking for something, but as the little boy approached, the monster started whimpering and wagging its leg in the air. The little boy ran up to the monster, hugged it, and started scolding it for running away. The monster¡¯s ears drooped low and it diverted all of its attention back to the little boy.


    The little boy picked up the monster and started walking back down the road. A group of adults, most of them wearing servants¡¯ clothes, ran up to the little boy and began talking to him. They accompanied him back out of eyesight. Windows closed. Quiet mutterings continued. I let out a breath of relief.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The guards hadn¡¯t come over but I was sure they were watching this corner more vigilantly now. I used magic hands to grab a pebble and threw it in the alleyway on the other side. I heard some shuffling of iron and the tap of a spear. The guards were probably watching the other side now. I peered over the edge. They were. Alright. I signaled Kol and Kelser to follow carefully. We were hidden by invisibility, but couldn¡¯t trust the spell under these conditions.


    I¡¯d wanted to sneak up from the walls instead of the gates, but Kol said there were more guards on the walls than on the gates. And since the palace was built far above the ground in the middle of the city, we would have to scale the walls while also trying to maintain our invisibility, which would be difficult since all of the walls were lit up with oil lamps at the top. Only this gate, which was mostly used by servants and guards, was dimly lit and loosely guarded. Presumably because the guards¡¯ barracks was right behind it. Sneaking in from this side while making a commotion would be suicidal, since it would wake up an army of guards.


    We snuck up to the wall right next to the guards. Our invisibility was holding just well enough. I used magic hands to throw some more pebbles in the other alley. One of the guards yelled out, asking who was there. I held my breath and cast earth magic, forcing a large rock formation to form in the other alleyway, making a small rumbling noise that barely traveled to the soldiers¡¯ ears, but also cast a large shadow in the other alley. The guards stepped forward to get into an aggressive stance, and readied their spears. I could see the sweat on the back of their necks. I tapped Kelser and Kol on their shoulder with magic hands and started walking, passing right behind the guards and through the gate.


    Once inside, I walked all the way through the courtyard and into the servants¡¯ building. The guards¡¯ barracks was on the right, with the lodging for the other servants on the other side. I kept walking forward, eventually dropping into what appeared to be a large, well-kept kitchen. I stepped to the side and dispelled my magic. Soon, Kelser and Kol appeared next to me. Kol had told us before that this place was the servants¡¯ kitchen, which would lead to the royal kitchen and then into the palace proper. Once we left the servants¡¯ area, every hallway would be lit with oil lamps and patrols of guards would cycle through them in an overlapping pattern.


    And the palace itself was a maze. There were empty rooms, hallways that led to dead ends, and even a few deadly traps made by mad kings and queens of years gone by. The demon king¡¯s private quarters were a closely guarded secret that only the king¡¯s most trusted guards and his family would know about. Thankfully, Kol had already told us everything.


    We could¡¯ve tried to reveal Kol¡¯s presence already and used her name to get an immediate audience with the king, but what if there were traitors among the guards? No, we would have to sneak all the way.


    We walked into the palace after trying to use invisibility magic again. However, it was pretty much worthless in the lamplight. And so, I had to use a combination of motion detection magic and magic hands to avoid the guards, hide inside rooms and cupboards, and sometimes make small distractions that would hopefully be chalked down to the wind or something. I even broke a vase to get a pair of guards to run out of the way, but Kol gave me a deathly glare afterwards, so I didn¡¯t break any more after that.


    Kol held up a hand. I stopped. This was it. A door that looked as unassuming as any other. There weren¡¯t even any guards around it, but Kol said that there would be two right inside it, and that the king¡¯s actual quarters were actually behind the room behind this one. Unnecessarily complicated, if you asked me, but I suppose it was worth it if it made the demon king feel safer at night.


    We quietly opened the door next to the one that led to the king¡¯s quarters. This room was another empty dud, although Kol said every inch of it was trapped. Thankfully, we were able to disable or avoid the traps with magic, and came out to the other side. There was another door at the back, which led onto a small balcony. The three of us tiptoed onto the balcony, moonlight washing over our invisible bodies. There was a guard sitting behind the railings to our left. We knocked her out with magic and she slumped to the ground. We stepped onto the king¡¯s balcony. Kelser and I stopped at the entrance.


    Kol walked through the door.

 Chapter 148

    I set up motion detection magic around the entrance to the room that led to the balcony. Kelser and I crouched low, so we wouldn¡¯t be visible from down below. The door was open. I peered in. Kelser did too.


    Kol stepped forward. The king¡¯s bedroom was remarkably bare and minimalist. It had a martial feel to it, with swords and suits of armor adorning the walls, and inscriptions etched in iron decorating the ceiling. The floor was made from a type of dark wood. If I hadn¡¯t applied air magic to Kol¡¯s shoes, they might have given her away by making sounds as they tapped on the hard wood floor. The bed sat in the middle of the room, far from every wall. Raised slightly above the floor, it almost looked like an altar, with its drab, dark sheets, and dull wooden frame. There were no pillows and the mattress did not look soft at all. Honestly, it looked worse than the bed at the inn we were staying at, which was a thought that made me frown.


    There was a small lump in the middle of the sheets. Kol walked up to it and put a trembling hand over the top of the sheets. She took a deep breath, bit her lips, and slowly but firmly pulled the sheet off the lump. It came off like a scab on an old wound, revealing the thin frame of the sickly king underneath.


    Kol let the sheet fall from her hand. She stood still. The king¡¯s chest rose up. Then it fell. His cheeks were sunken in. His hair grew in patches along a pockmarked scalp. His nose had boils on it and skin folded over his chin in loose waves. Every breath was faltering, with the king¡¯s chest only barely rising as if there was a great weight pushing against it. Kol was still standing still.


    My frown deepened. Wasn¡¯t the king supposed to be feeling better? We were going to request an audience tomorrow. He was in no condition to be meeting anyone anytime soon! What was going on?


    I spread motion detection magic everywhere. In the room in front of the king¡¯s quarters. In the rooms on either side. On the balconies. The roof. Even in the rooms on the floor below. But nothing. Nobody was moving. Some guards shuffled about, but nobody was making any sudden or unusual movements. So this wasn¡¯t a trap? But then why had we been led to believe that the king was feeling better?


    I turned my head and stared outside. Outside, where the moon and red star hung innocently in the night sky. Their light was even. They looked just like they always had. Nothing unusual at all. Somehow, that made me feel more unnerved than ever. I strained my ears and covered every possible angle with motion detection magic and magic hands.


    Kol¡¯s hand seemed to move on its own, the rest of her body still frozen in the same pose. Her hand touched her father¡¯s forehead, where his skin was paper thin and full of blemishes. She cupped her hand and ran it along the king¡¯s face, passing over visible veins, pronounced wrinkles, and the other marks of age that were almost comically exaggerated on the old demon¡¯s face. Her hand traveled down to her father¡¯s hands, where thin, bony fingers pushed up against the skin as if they wanted to burst out of their cocoon. Kol grasped his fingers. She fell to her knees by his bedside, hands still intertwined. She pressed the hand to her forehead, sobbing. She collected herself quickly, bringing the hand to her lips. She held it with both of her hands and looked at her father again.


    The old demon stirred from his slumber. His eyelashes, most of which had already fallen out, flickered. His eyes cracked open, a tiny sliver peeking out from behind the skin. Kol leaned closer and whispered. I was straining my ears but could still only barely hear her saying her father¡¯s name and telling him it was Kol, his daughter. I could see the old demon king¡¯s face quite clearly from here. There were hints of confusion on his wrinkly face. His mouth opened just a bit, but no words came out.


    ¡°Father,¡± said Kol in a low, trembling voice, ¡°what happened to you?¡±


    The old demon king closed his eyes. His breathing became slightly faster, and he winced in pain. Kol almost cried out. The demon king opened his eyes again. He stared at Kol, water pooling in his eyes. A sound escaped his mouth, but his lips didn¡¯t move. He coughed, but suddenly brought his hand to his mouth, and muffled the sound. He used his other hand to tell Kol he was okay. Done coughing, he reached his other hand towards his daughter¡¯s face, and touched her chin. His arm trembled and almost fell back to the bed, but Kol caught it and held it up to her face. The demon king smiled.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°Kol¡­ you¡¯re back,¡± said the demon king, in a low, hoarse voice. ¡°Or did I join you somewhere else.¡±


    ¡°No, father,¡± said Kol as she pressed his hand to her face again, ¡°it¡¯s me. I came back. I came back from over the mountains. I brought friends, father. People who can help me, who can help you, father! Tell me, father. Tell me what happened to you!¡±


    ¡°Friends?¡± The demon king tried to chuckle but ended up coughing instead. ¡°My little Kol, making friends? I remember it was only a hundred years ago, you were hiding behind my back in front of strangers.¡±


    ¡°That was a long time ago, father,¡± said the princess. ¡°I am the heir. I have to be strong. I have to¡­ no, father, please, you have to tell me what happened to you!¡±


    ¡°Nothing happened to me, my dear,¡± said the demon king, ¡°I am old. The candlewick of my life has burnt bright for so long it is almost all gone. That is the way of the world, that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°No, father, that can¡¯t be. You were fine when I left two years ago! How could so much change so quickly?¡± said Kol. ¡°Was it because of me? Did I worry you so much?¡±


    ¡°No, child, do not blame yourself,¡± said the king, ¡°I was already sick before you left. I just did not want you to worry.¡±


    ¡°You hid it from me?¡± asked Kol. ¡°For how long?¡±


    ¡°Many years,¡± he said, ¡°many, many years. I did not want my children to know. Not when they were already at each others¡¯ throats and refusing to listen to me. I sent Alek all the way up North so he wouldn¡¯t meddle in the court and what did he do? He went and turned all the generals to his side! And I have no idea what Norn is doing in the East. Oh, child, my little Kol, I did not want to leave you to come back. Why didn¡¯t you stay on the other side of the mountains? Now, you have to face everything on your own!¡±


    ¡°No, father,¡± said the princess, ¡°not on my own. I have friends, remember. Look. They helped me sneak in here.¡±


    The king¡¯s gaze finally moved towards me. Kelser and I made sure our invisibility was dispelled and greeted the king. The king frowned.


    ¡°They don¡¯t look¡­ what are they?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Kelser is a human,¡± answered Kol, ¡°they live on the other side of the mountains. And Cas is an elf.¡±


    ¡°An elf?¡± said the demon king, ¡°from the fairy tales and legends? Does that mean he¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes, father, he knows magic! He even taught me some! All the humans know magic too, Kelser over there is incredibly powerful. I don¡¯t think all the guards in the castle could stop him if they came at him. We managed to get inside the palace without being noticed, after all.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said the king, ¡°let me apologize to our guests for meeting them like this.¡±


    ¡°Considering the circumstances, we¡¯re just glad we could meet you at all,¡± I whispered. ¡°We were told you would be feeling better tomorrow, and were planning to seek an audience after making a grand entrance. We only came tonight because we learned of something too dangerous to not share with you.¡±


    ¡°My ministers and friends must have wanted to keep the people calm. Spreading rumors about my improving health has become standard practice. But in fact, my condition has only been deteriorating for the past few months. I believe I do not have much time in this world,¡± he said. ¡°What is it that you could not wait to share with me?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about Alek, father,¡± said Kol. ¡°He¡¯s marching on the capital!¡±


    The demon king froze. ¡°Alek is¡­ rebelling against me?¡±


    ¡°He must have found out about your health,¡± I said, ¡°the rumors must have kept him at bay before, but now that he thinks you¡¯re dying, he wants to solidify his position before anybody else can take control of the capital.¡±


    ¡°Does he know that you¡¯re back, Kol?¡± asked the king.


    The princess shook her head. ¡°I showed my face to the people in the South, but word of that shouldn¡¯t have reached him yet. It¡¯s only a matter of time until he finds out. I¡¯d wanted to let you know so you wouldn¡¯t make him the heir but now I might have ruined my chance at a surprise attack.¡±


    ¡°No, no, you haven¡¯t ruined anything,¡± said the king. The king groaned. ¡°There is still time. If the royal herald hasn¡¯t come to tell me about his return, he must be at least a few days away. Come, help me up, we have some work to do.¡±

 Chapter 149

    ¡°Your majesty, why are you¡ª¡±


    ¡°No time to explain, Derek, gather the other ministers and come to the throne room,¡± said the king.


    ¡°Of course, my liege, but you are in no condition to¡ªis that the princess? Oh, your highness, welcome back! We were so worried¡ª¡±


    ¡°Thanks Derek, glad to see you too. We can catch up later, but could you grab my stuff from my room? I think I left my ceremonial headpiece in there somewhere,¡± said Princess Kol.


    ¡°Of course, your highness, your wish is my command¡ªmy word, who are these people? How did you get in, no, you look so strange. You aren¡¯t demons? Pointed ears? An elf! From the legends! Are you¡ª¡±


    ¡°Hi, nice to meet you too. Yes, I¡¯m an elf. Hey, listen, while you¡¯re off doing what the king and princess told you to do, could you tell the guards to lock down the palace and not let anybody in or out? You might need to put your most trusted people in charge. The safety of your king and princess depends on your actions tonight!¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, do what he said, Derek,¡± said the king.


    ¡°Of course, yes, of course I will,¡± said the short middle aged demon who was wiping sweat off his forehead and trotting after us as we walked down the hallway from the king¡¯s bedroom.


    A gaggle of guards awkwardly followed along, shuffling through the narrow hallways and trying to get ahead of the thin, weakened king who was somehow outpacing all of them. If they looked closer, they would realize the king¡¯s feet were not touching the ground, and even the arms he had slung around Kol and Kelser¡¯s shoulders weren¡¯t strained at all. I kept pace with the rushing trio, casting motion detection magic all over the place just in case any of the guards or onlookers did something suspicious. So far, I¡¯d tied up a maid in a closet and shut in a servant who¡¯d turned right around after seeing us. I had to remember to interrogate both of them in case they were spies for the prince.


    Derek, the king¡¯s chief minister, rushed off to the guards¡¯ quarters. I¡¯d left some motion detection magic by the gate we¡¯d used to get inside, just in case Derek tried to leave himself or if some of the guards tried to slip out in all the commotion. Luckily, nobody crossed the motion detection magic, and Derek soon returned with even more guards and some senior servants. The whole palace was abuzz with activity, despite how late it was. Some of the windows let in the moonlight, which battled the orange glow of oil lamps and washed the inside of the palace with a silver hue.


    The demon king¡¯s throne room was surprisingly spartan. A simple wooden throne, with a small cloth pillow and an embroidered flag depicting what looked like a demon¡¯s black tail. The only fancy thing about it would be the many oil lamps that lined the walls and the tall wooden windows that were opened as we shuffled into the room. Kelser and Kol walked up to the throne and gently let the old demon king slip onto it. Kelser stepped back and joined me in the middle of the room, facing the throne, while Kol stepped to the king¡¯s right, standing right by his side.


    Derek and the other ministers, most of whom were middle aged demons who looked just as confused as Derek. Their gazes went from the king, who should have been bedridden, to the princess, who should have been missing, and the elf, who should have been a character from children¡¯s fairytales. A few of them stared long and hard at Kelser, who ignored their stares completely.


    ¡°Derek,¡± said the king, ¡°have you locked down the palace?¡±


    ¡°Yes, my liege,¡± said the chief minister as he fell to his knees and bowed to the king. The other ministers did the same, while the guards who were now lining the walls, raised their spears in salute. Kol knelt next to the king¡¯s throne.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°My subjects,¡± said the king in his low, hoarse voice, taking long pauses in between, ¡°I wanted to thank you for your assistance these past few months. I have not been in the best of health, but your love and support has kept me safe in the twilight of my life. And your perseverance has been rewarded! My firstborn daughter and rightful heir, Princess Kol has returned to us by the grace of the Heavenly Eye. And she has returned with a legendary elf and a delegate from the human tribes from beyond the great mountains in the South. I am ashamed we cannot offer better hospitality to our guests, but the situation is dire. My subjects, I have been informed that my eldest son, Prince Alek, is marching on his home with many generals who were tasked with protecting our northern borders. For generals to leave their post without the king¡¯s orders, and before any formal terms have been agreed with the Lux Republic, is treasonous. And Alek must know that bringing an army to the capital without the king¡¯s approval is a grave offense.¡±


    Some of the ministers shuffled about. A few guards opened their eyes wide. Derek looked like he was about to cry.


    ¡°Derek,¡± said the king.


    ¡°Yes, I mean, yes my liege,¡± said Derek, collecting himself.


    ¡°Where is the closest standing army?¡± asked the demon king.


    ¡°There is an army in the East on rotation as per your orders,¡± said the chief minister, ¡°they are only four days from the capital.¡±


    ¡°That might not be close enough,¡± said the king, ¡°it¡¯ll take a messenger at least three days to reach them.¡±


    ¡°If I may, your majesty,¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course, venerable elf,¡± said the king.


    ¡°Kelser here can use magic to deliver your orders. If you give him a way to prove his identity, he can bring the army back in five days,¡± I said. ¡°Can¡¯t you Kelser?¡±


    Kelser nodded. There were a few whispers among the ministers at the mention of magic. The guards tensed up.


    ¡°Very well,¡± said the king, ¡°Derek, give our esteemed guest my royal seal and a scroll with my orders. And when you¡¯re done with that, tell the other ministers to gather up all of the retired soldiers and reservists in the capital. We have three days to cobble something together. Get the guards to join them, oh, and send levy orders to all the nearby cities, towns, and villages to the East, South, and West. And lock down the capital. I don¡¯t want anybody leaving the city.¡±


    ¡°Understood, my liege, it will be done,¡± said the chief minister.


    ¡°Another thing, your majesty,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, venerable elf,¡± he said.


    ¡°Do you mind if I make some preparations? I will need somebody to show me where the prince¡¯s army will be coming from, as well as your permission to set up some surprises,¡± I said.


    The king thought for a moment. ¡°Very well. But I do not want any deadly surprise traps. I would like to talk to the prince and to my generals. Perhaps they will listen to their old king¡¯s orders now that he is no longer stuck in bed.¡±


    I nodded. I figured the king didn¡¯t want his son to die to a trap, especially since he might be at the forefront of the army, expecting to march inside ceremoniously.


    The meeting in the throne room drew well into the early hours of the morning. The king and his ministers discussed things like rationing food, manufacturing weapons, and the acquisition of supplies from the countryside. It was clear everybody was bracing for a war.


    Kelser left down the eastern road on top of a strange, horse-like monster. Kol stayed by her father¡¯s side, supporting him with air magic from time to time. I walked up north of the city, escorted by a contingent of armed guards. The guards kept a careful distance from me, with their eyes trained squarely at me at all times. I smiled as I approached a narrow bottleneck, with thick forests on one side, and craggy rock formations on the other.


    I raised both arms in front of my body. The demon guards flinched. The ground rumbled, cracks slid across the earth, and great amounts of earth rose up from the ground. I walked up the gentle incline that faced the city, and stared down the steep fall on the other side. I jumped down off the little rampart I¡¯d made, and stomped on the ground as I fell. Shuffling feet sounded above me as the guards began peering ground. I looked up at them from the deep trench I¡¯d dug and smiled. I gave them a thumbs up and rocketed back up to them through the air, before landing right next to a portly old guard who almost fell over himself at my approach.


    ¡°Come friends,¡± I said as I reached out a hand, ¡°let me help you down.¡±

 Chapter 150

    Clouds of dust. Thundering feet. Wind whizzing past their bodies. Four demons raced down the road on top of horse-like monsters. Equi, as the monsters were called, were powerful, muscular beasts, capable of great speeds and even greater stamina. They were wild, proud, and incredibly dangerous, so riders had to look after them from foal to stallion, forming a bond that could only be broken by death.


    The riders kept their eyes on the road, checking for any bumps or holes they might have to jump over. In the distance, a thin mist. Not unusual for this time of day. There wasn¡¯t much else to see at dawn. The riders were getting close. If it wasn¡¯t for the mist, they would have seen the city by now. They could return to the main army after scouting the road to the capital and preparing for their prince¡¯s grand return. The prelude to his coronation as the rightful king of Izlandi.


    I stepped out of the mist. The equi screamed. Unlike a horse¡¯s neigh, their screams were deep and guttural, filling the air with their terror. Their riders yelled too, one telling me to get out of the way, another asking her equi to calm down, while the other two silently took back control of their mounts and barreled towards me with reckless abandon.


    I raised one hand. Four demons tumbled to the ground. Their beasts reared, losing their sense of direction, until I grabbed their reins and stilled them again. But they didn¡¯t calm down. Another demon ran out of the woods. He put something to his mouth, aimed at the four rampaging monsters, and blew. The four monsters crumbled to the ground, asleep. Their riders were dragged back into the mist, their mounts in tow, and the road was cleared of all signs of struggle.


    ---


    I stood on top of the ramparts at noon. In the distance, there was a much louder cloud of dust than the one we¡¯d seen at dawn. I focused light magic to help me see more clearly. The dust and distance made it hard to see, and I hadn¡¯t worked very hard on this magic, but as the soldiers got closer, I was able to survey the enemy.


    Rows upon rows of demons wielding iron tipped spears and iron studded shields. Their spear tips were angled in a strange way, which made them catch the light and gleam from far away, like tiny little stars peeking through the clouds of dust. Their shields were rectangular, hanging by their sides as they ran up. The first line of soldiers had a strange red cloth tied to their spears, and their rectangular shields were already facing straight ahead, slowing the army¡¯s march behind them. But behind the front line, the order of the army seemed to break down. Demons did not march in rhythm, their ranks were all over the place, and there were many demons on top of equi, barking out orders and marching up and down the chaotic ranks, trying to keep them together.


    The prince was nowhere to be seen. I¡¯d seen a portrait of him so I knew what to look for. And he would want to wear his ceremonial royal armor before entering the city. Or at least, he would have done so if his scouts hadn¡¯t disappeared in the morning. Now, he was either hiding somewhere in the back ranks of his army, letting the generals do all the work, or he might even be somewhere far behind the army, waiting for the fighting to subside before making his grand entrance.


    After some light interrogation, the scouts revealed that the prince wasn¡¯t expecting too much resistance. He seemed convinced that the king could not have recovered, and the thought of the princess returning from the mountains never even occurred to him, which also told us the rumors we had spread in the South hadn¡¯t reached up North yet. The prince was expecting some upstart generals or higher ups who were on his kill-list to take a stand rather than await execution. The prince had made many friends while fighting for the throne against his reluctant father, but he had also made a lot of enemies. Enemies who would finally get their comeuppance once the prince became king.


    The scouts had given everything up very quickly once they saw both the king sitting on his throne and the princess kneeling by his side. Add in the strange elf who could use magic, the many fortifications that had appeared overnight, and a rapidly growing army, and the scouts couldn¡¯t help but give up everything that they knew.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    And so the prince¡¯s army marched down the road, carefully, and much more slowly than their scouts had done in the morning. The mist was thicker now. Strange for this time of day. The sun was still high in the sky, and yet visibility on the road between the dense forest and the rocky formations was abysmal. The rocky formations were created by the river which ran right next to the capital, but the river was wide, and near impossible to cross.


    A short, stocky demon walked resolutely in the middle of the path. He stepped out of the mist and loud shouts rang out of the prince¡¯s army. The commanders on the equi yelled, and the front line stopped. Many demons in the back ranks tumbled or knocked into each other, with many curses and a few unruly scuffles breaking out, until they were silenced by the nearby commanders. A large, well-built man, riding on the largest equi I had seen so far, cautiously stepped out to meet the stocky demon messenger.


    The demon messenger held out a scroll. I couldn¡¯t hear him from here but I knew what he was saying. ¡°His majesty, King Olri Izlandi, commands his esteemed and noble generals to halt their advance on the sacred capital of the Izlandi Kingdom. Let the Heavenly Eye take note, that the king sits on the ancient demon throne, and wishes for his son, Prince Alek Izlandi, to come to his side unarmed. His majesty wishes to spend the twilight of his life, surrounded by his loving family, blessed with love and familial kindness, instead of the stains of the dirty blood of those who kill their kin and meet kindness with the cold insult of metal.¡± And so on in a pointlessly long heraldic message that was meant to put down the prince¡¯s guard and bring him out to the capital without his army.


    Of course, the prince was not stupid enough to fall for this, and the large, powerful general who had approached the herald, merely held him by his scrawny arms, and had him arrested. Perhaps they thought this was a desperate attempt at trickery, and a sign of their foe¡¯s weakness, but the army began marching much more confidently. Their front line was quicker. Their back ranks lost more cohesion, as people jostled with each other, egging each other on. There was no doubt in my mind that if this army was resisted even a little bit on the outskirts of the city, they would take it as an excuse to plunder their own capital, committing many crimes in the process.


    I looked back. The city was quiet. All windows were closed, every door boarded, and guards stood at most major intersections and at the roads leading out to every side, just in case there was any looting or opportunistic banditry. I brought my gaze back to the prince¡¯s army as it finally got close enough.


    ¡°Halt!¡± came the generals cry as he marched up to his first line. The first line stopped, mid-march, sending the line behind them into confusion, and a ripple of tiny accidents and stumbles flowed through the army. The general came back to the front and squinted his eyes. The fog was thick, but the sun was bright. He had seen the dark shadow of the ramparts, blocking his army from the front and making his soldiers sitting ducks for arrows and projectiles thrown from above. Luckily, he¡¯d spotted it in time, and could get his soldiers to raise their shields above their heads and march forward, carefully. He knew the enemy did not have much time. The ramparts would either be loose dirt, easily broken through, or not long enough to cover the whole road.


    The soldiers marched with their shields over their heads. The general hung back to avoid arrows, as did most of the commanders and riders. The soldiers stepped forward. Marching, marching, stomping, stomping. Until one side stopped. Somebody yelled. But it was too late.


    One half of the front line stomped right over empty air, lost their balance, and tumbled in their heavy armor down to the bottom of the trench. A few soldiers from the second line couldn¡¯t stop themselves in time, either falling into the trench as well or bumping into front line soldiers and tumbling down with them.


    The commanders yelled for them to stop. Confusion flitted through the ranks. The fog thickened. The leading general moved his head back and forth. Did he sense that something was wrong? I stared at him before searching through the army once again. Still no sign of the prince. In a way, that was a good thing. If the prince wasn¡¯t in the army, we didn¡¯t have to be careful anymore. And if he died because he mixed in with the soldiers then well, it couldn¡¯t be helped. The king wouldn¡¯t blame us for that.


    I raised an arm in front of me. The archers held their bows. A large fireball slammed through the fog, accompanied by a rain of arrows.

 Chapter 151

    The fireball was aimed at an opening in the soldiers¡¯ ranks. It fell to the ground with a massive boom, sending dozens of burly, iron-clad soldiers scurrying like ants. The arrows were aimed directly at the soldiers. If they had been holding their shields up properly, it wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, but with the confusion of the fall of the front lines, the panic caused by the fireball, and the general disarray of the entire army, many soldiers let their shields fall to their sides, a few even dropped them entirely. Shouts rang out as the arrows pierced arms, legs, and even a few necks. As blood flowed for the first time on the battlefield, the soldiers¡¯ panic intensified.


    But the leading general, holding his small wooden shield aloft as he held onto the reins of his equi with one hand, rode to the front, belting out orders and urging the soldiers to not let the traitors win. The traitors in the city have resorted to black magic, selling their souls to the evil gods worshiped by the heretics. If the soldiers fell back now, the evil gods would take the souls of their families and friends. They must not give up the capital. They must recover the king¡¯s corpse before the heretics sacrificed him on a devilish altar!


    This general was very good at speaking quickly and shortly. As the rain of arrows subsided, he had gathered a small contingent around himself, possibly the elite soldiers that answered directly to him, and rushed forward towards the trenches. All of these soldiers were riding equi, wielding spears, and covered from head to toe in iron armor. A few commanders joined their ranks, and a small team of soldiers in the back began cutting down trees, probably to build a bridge across the trench.


    The general rushed right up to the trench, barely managing to see it in the fog, before veering to the left in search of a way over. His equi galloped across the field, thunderous feet thumping on the ground, followed by his most loyal soldiers. The entire army changed course, putting up their shields once again and following their general to the side.


    I saw the general frown. His eyes widened. He glanced from side to side, hoping for a solution, but was forced to rein in his equi once he neared the dense wall of trees that were boxing in his army from one side. The general hesitated only a moment before shouting and rushing the other way. His soldiers tailed him to the right this time, still running right along the edge of the trench. The confused army awkwardly started moving to the right as well, with many lines dissolving into anarchy or continuing to march left. The people cutting trees in the back had vanished.


    The general galloped across once again but his face paled yet again. He looked to his left, saw the trench still stretching resolutely beyond where he could take his army, and then he looked in front, and saw the rocks that guarded the banks of the river that ran next to the capital. To his right, his army and personal soldiers came to an abrupt halt. The army, by this point, was in complete disarray, with many rows stretched thin, and massive gaping holes in the lines. Many people had already thrown down their weapons and began dissolving into the forest or rushing straight back the way they had come. It was only the presence of the other generals at the back of the line that was holding the army together. The prince was nowhere to be seen.


    It was at this point that Kol stepped up next to me. The sun was shining brightly, making her white clothes gleam, and with a little bit of light magic and water vapor, I was able to give her an ethereal glow that would stand out even from a distance. I raised a hand, and bore a tunnel through the fog, right in front of the princess. And with some more light magic as well as fireballs that pelted through the fog and drew every soldier¡¯s attention back to the front, I etched the image of Princess Kol standing in a sunbeam, clothes gleaming, eyes sparkling, and magnified through a hole in the fog, into the eyes and memories of every single soldier in the opposing army.


    ¡°Soldiers of the Izlandi Kingdom!¡± shouted Kol throw the fog tunnel, her voice amplified by air magic, ¡°in the name of the royal family, blessed by the Heavenly Eye itself, I command you to surrender!¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The leading general beheld the princess in her fairy-like appearance, his eyes flitting to the trench, the rampart, the disorganized army behind him, and the forest and rocks that boxed them in on either side. He bit his lips, threw his spear to the ground, and jumped off his equi.


    ¡°Hail, princess!¡± shouted the general, kneeling.


    The generals elite soldiers followed him and knelt. ¡°Hail, princess!¡±


    The army lines echoed in disconnected voices: ¡°Hail, princess! Hail, princess! Hail, princess!¡±


    The fog dissipated. Princess Kol looked down on the kneeling soldiers with a smile on her face. I stood next to her, grimly surveying the army one more time. I did not see the prince anywhere. A couple of the generals in the back had also disappeared. I raised my hand. The soldiers flinched. A hole appeared in the rampart, and a stone bridge extended across the trench.


    Guards and soldiers filed over the bridge, stunned at the defeated army in front of them. Some of them glanced up at us¡ªat me¡ªbefore looking away. The enemy soldiers were disarmed, their commanders and generals captured, and a small parade marched into the city, led by the victorious Princess Kol, sitting on the captured general¡¯s equi, and up to the royal palace.


    ---


    When the leading general saw the sickly king sitting on his throne, he all but fainted. Collapsed to the ground, the powerful general begged for the king¡¯s forgiveness. He said he had decided to help the prince only because of his love for the kingdom and its people. With the king on his deathbed, and the princess presumed dead, he had to ensure the prince took over properly.


    In the end, the generals were all stripped of their rank, wealth, and property, and imprisoned in the palace. Their commanders were either similarly punished, or executed for various charges such as embezzlement of army supplies and the ravaging of the countryside leading up to the capital. Many soldiers were punished for these crimes as well, but most were reabsorbed into the king¡¯s army.


    The king¡¯s messengers went around to all the various cities around the kingdom, letting the local rulers and administrators know that the rebellious prince¡¯s army had been defeated, and the princess had returned. As the heir to the throne, Princess Kol began making many appearances around the capital and surrounding cities, drumming up support for herself through relief projects, monster raids, and some demonstrations of the ¡®powerful magic¡¯ that she had learned from the legendary elf and the wise humans in the South.


    As word of the princess¡¯ power spread, and her personal popularity was bolstered, the search for the prince and younger princess continued. By this time, it was clear the prince had either run to the Lux Republic in the North, or joined the second princess in the East. The possibility of the prince going to the East was particularly frustrating, since the kingdom¡¯s spies had begun to suspect that the second princess had left the kingdom¡¯s lands entirely and joined up with the terrifying Singing Horde that ruled the open steppe.


    I spent my days exploring the demon capital, buying small bits and bobs, learning from master artisans and craftsmen, and meeting with various merchants, rich patriarchs and matriarchs, and other notables in the capital. Kelser, who had returned after the battle was already over, also spent his time exploring the city and meeting people. He seemed to have grown especially close to a young demon woman from a small blacksmith family in the outskirts of the city. How the two had met and gotten to know each other was a mystery to me, but I didn¡¯t want to pry too much anyhow.


    Several months passed. The situation in the kingdom was stable. The authority of the crown had been established once again, although the mood in the inner chambers of the royal palace was somber. The king lay on his bed, his body as weak and sickly as ever. Kol knelt by his side, grasping his hands just like she had once before. Except this time, the king¡¯s mouth did not move, his chest did not rise, and he did not force himself back onto the throne for the sake of his daughter and kingdom.


    This time, the king had passed away quietly in his sleep.

 Chapter 152

    The royal spymaster arrived at the new queen¡¯s court before her coronation. The king¡¯s death had only just been announced, and a period of mourning leading up to the funeral was in effect. The spymaster bowed to the queen, calling her princess, before reading out a scroll he had received from his agents in the North. The queen¡¯s younger brother, Prince Alek, had been seen in the Lux Republic, cavorting with heretics and hatching plots with the kingdom¡¯s sworn enemies. The enemies did not think much of the traitorous prince, but were willing to use him against the kingdom since news of the queen¡¯s magic, and the support of a legendary elf, had spread to all corners of the known world. The spymaster concluded his report with a short but startling admission. All of his agents in the Singing Horde had been discovered and killed, their heads punted over fort walls, splattering the soldiers on morning duty in blood and gore.


    The queen thanked the spymaster and assembled her council. She had invited the two representatives of the foreign species, Kelser representing humans, and myself representing elves, to help decide what she should do about the other two nations on this side of the mountains. The Izlandi Kingdom was currently at peace with its neighbors, but light skirmishes, raids, and even political intrigue around border towns and cities, was quite common. Now that the queen had access to magic, some of her ministers wanted her to launch a new war, to conquer the known world and bring it under the banner of the Izlandi Kingdom. It would be the perfect way to solidify her own control and prestige, especially in the eyes of the battle hardened rulers of frontier towns and cities, who tended to side with whichever side would bring them the most benefits or project the most power in their region.


    ¡°I will not be participating in any further battles,¡± I said, speaking out of turn, which got me a few looks from the ministers, although nobody said anything on account of the magic I had shown and my closeness to the queen. Kol, for her part, was decked out in nice clothes and sitting on the throne in a regal position. The expression on her face was very different from what she had shown on our journey, but I suppose the gravity of her position was finally starting to settle into her mind. ¡°And I am afraid, I cannot support your kingdom, either.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, venerable elf?¡± asked Derek, the chief minister.


    Usually, this would be where I¡¯d tell them to just call me by my first name, but there was something about this atmosphere of pomp and ceremony that told me it would be useful to command some respect and awe, at least in front of these curmudgeonly minister. ¡°I mean I have fulfilled my obligation of escorting Kol back to her people. I have also explored your capital, and parts of your kingdom, and learned all that I had been meaning to learn, barring a few questions that I have about your religion.¡±


    ¡°About our religion?¡± repeated an old minister, ¡°you wish to learn about the Heavenly Eye?¡±


    I nodded, slowly. ¡°I have asked all sections of your society. Commoners, merchants, villagers, tradesmen, even people favored here in the royal court and some ministers as well, although they may recall me by different names and faces. So far, what I have learned about the so-called Heavenly Eye is quite strange. Tell me, do you worship him in your temples?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we do,¡± said Derek.


    ¡°And in those temples, are all demons equal?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, of course. The Heavenly Eye does not see differences between us lowly demons,¡± said Derek.


    ¡°And you offer sacrifices to the Heavenly Eye regularly?¡± I asked.


    ¡°At least once a month. And sometimes on sacred nights,¡± he said.


    ¡°And these sacred nights correspond to when the heavenly avatar is at its most powerful, correct?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, it is when the red star is at its brightest that the Heavenly Eye¡¯s blessings are the strongest,¡± he said.


    I frowned. I snuck a glance at Kol, but she was expressionless. I looked at Kelser, he looked a little confused, but not by their answers, he was confused by my questions.


    ¡°These blessings,¡± I said, slowly, ¡°what are they?¡±


    ¡°Oh, they are very important! The Heavenly Eye blesses our crops with rain and good harvest. He blesses our women with fertility, our men with strength and vigor, and our children with good health. He blesses our soldiers against our enemies, and gives our priests the power to heal those who cannot be healed with medicine or time.¡±Stolen novel; please report.


    ¡°And you are a priest of the Heavenly Eye, Derek, is that correct?¡± I asked.


    The demon dabbed his forehead with a cloth handkerchief. ¡°Yes, I am, venerable elf. Only on the side, of course. My first duty is here, to the king¡ªI mean, princess¡ªI mean, queen and her court.¡±


    ¡°Could you show me your blessing, Derek?¡± I asked.


    ¡°My blessing?¡± he said. ¡°There is nothing to show, venerable elf. Unless you are asking me to bless you?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°let¡¯s go with that.¡±


    ¡°Alright, if I have her majesty¡¯s permission,¡± he said.


    ¡°You have it,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Thank you, your majesty,¡± he said. The short, middle-aged chief minister walked over to me with a smile. He started waving his hands around in short motions, muttering something under his breath. Then, he took a short breath, bowed his head, and blew air towards my feet. ¡°There you are, venerable elf. You have been blessed by the Heavenly Eye! May he watch over you and bless you with his wisdom and strength.¡±


    ¡°No, Derek,¡± I said, putting a hand on the sweaty middle-aged demon¡¯s shoulder, ¡°you need to bless me properly.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I understand,¡± he said. ¡°You have been blessed, venerable elf, I¡ª¡±


    ¡°The blessing you gave the king. The secret blessing that you and the other chief ministers, who always happen to be priest of the Heavenly Eye, always give to the rulers of this kingdom. I would like that blessing, please,¡± I said.


    The chief minister¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I uh, my apologies, venerable elf, but only her majesty is entitled to¡ª¡±


    ¡°You have my permission, chief minister Derek,¡± said Kol.


    Derek faced the queen with closed eyes and a smile. ¡°No, but, the other priests would not approve¡ª¡±


    ¡°I will handle the other priests for you,¡± said Kol, ¡°if you do your job well, I will make sure to raise the contribution to your temples from the crown treasury.¡± The queen leaned forward and spoke quietly. ¡°If you do your job well, that is.¡±


    Derek¡¯s eyes slowly widened. The corners of his mouth slowly turned upward. ¡°Ah, I see, that is quite generous of you, your majesty. Very well, I must follow your orders, of course, yes indeed. Yes, venerable elf, please follow me, this ceremony must be kept secret.¡±


    ¡°The ministers can leave,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Kelser,¡± I said.


    Kelser nodded and left with the ministers. I exchanged a glance and a nod with him before he closed the door.


    ¡°May we begin?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, venerable elf,¡± said Derek with a smile. ¡°Come here, please.¡± He tapped a small chair on the side of the hall. It was a special seat for the older ministers. It was generally discourteous to sit in front of the monarch, but the elderly were allowed this special privilege if they needed it.


    I walked over to the chair and sat in it. Derek smiled once more, exchanging a glance and a nod with Kol. He walked behind me, trailing his hand over my arm and onto my shoulder, making me shudder, quietly. His hands traced the outline of my lower jaw, creeping up my ears, and crawling over my hair to reach the top of my skull. I took a deep breath.


    With both hands on my head, Derek also took a deep breath. ¡°Venerable elf, do you want me to explain some more of the Heavenly Eye¡¯s great virtues and attributes? Or perhaps you would like me to share some history?¡±


    ¡°Please do,¡± I said.


    He began: ¡°The Heavenly Eye was the first god. Older than all demonkind, older than the world, older than all of existence, than time and the heavens themselves. Before there was anything, dear believer, there was the Heavenly Eye.


    ¡°But the Heavenly Eye, in his bountiful wisdom and mercy, wanted to create. To bring forth something. And yet, the Heavenly Eye knew what would happen if it did so. He knew there would be those that would come from outside this reality, seeking to pollute it, to pervert it to their own desires.


    ¡°And so he created a guardian, knowing that this guardian would also inevitably betray him. Ah, the difficulties of power. I am sure venerable elf can understand. The Heavenly Eye created the being that the heretics in the north now call the Beast of the Valley, to guard against outsiders, and yet the beast betrayed the Heavenly Eye¡¯s trust and decided to become an object of worship instead.


    ¡°And an outsider did come! This outsider is the one the savages to the east call the God of Music. A false god from another existence. Oh, those poor, ignorant savages. I pity their stupidity. Perhaps one day they will be brought back into the fold, under the watchful gaze of the Heavenly Eye. Do you not agree, venerable elf?¡± Derek concluded his speech by leaning over my shoulder, bringing his face close to mine, and smiling wide. His smile froze.


    I was raising both of my eyebrows at him. I chortled. ¡°The only thing worse than your storytelling was your pathetic attempt at mind control.¡±

 Chapter 153

    ¡°Mind control?¡± said Derek with a quick chuckle, ¡°surely you jest, I¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve faced it before. Felt it crawl like maggots through the skin on my scalp, pierce my mind, and try to play with it. I even had to develop a special passive resistance to it. So you can drop the act. It¡¯s over,¡± I said.


    Derek tried to argue a little more, but Kol had gotten off her throne and was standing by my side, facing Derek. The chief minister grit his teeth. He started endearing Kol. Telling her about how much he loved her father, how he had served him loyally for so many years, and how long he¡¯d known Kol herself. He¡¯d practically seen her grow up. He was like an uncle to her. Doesn¡¯t she remember the time she came to him for advice after being scolded by her father? Or the time he¡¯d taught her politics and history as her personal tutor? Surely, he had proven his loyalty long ago. There was no reason to doubt him on the words of one elf, although he did not say that last part out loud, only implied it.


    ¡°You can stop trying to buy time,¡± I said, raising a hand, ¡°it¡¯ll take you a lot longer to brainwash her from that distance.¡±


    Derek couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes. ¡°How dare you imply that I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Derek,¡± said Kol, ¡°quit it.¡±


    ¡°No, princess, how could¡ª¡±


    The chief minister let out a yell and slumped to the ground, his body involuntarily twitching. The ghost of the arc of electricity that I had shot towards him still lingered in my vision. I reminded myself to use light magic to protect my eyes the next time I used this spell.


    ---


    Derek¡¯s interrogation wasn¡¯t hard. Being able to resist his mind control magic, and having fire and lightning on my fingertips, made the middle aged demon terrified of me. I made sure to only meet him during the day, just in case the Immortal of Evil tried to help him out at night. Thankfully, the night sky remained tame and uneventful. Perhaps only the moon seemed a little brighter than usual, but that might well have been a figment of my own imagination.


    Derek revealed, sometimes directly and sometimes inadvertently, that not only had he controlled the previous king with his magic, he had also been manipulating the army and diplomatic core in order to fuel conflicts with the Lux Republic and to organize raids against the Singing Horde. He also confirmed that his mind control magic wasn¡¯t perfect. In fact, it was more of a mind suggestion magic, which amplified certain beliefs and manipulated others. He also revealed that the magic had a small residual effect, one that would slowly poison anyone who tried to resist it for too long. The late king had probably suffered from this, and might have lost a couple decades or so of life to this effect. Hearing that, Kol steeled her heart, and ordered Derek¡¯s execution.


    Rounding up the rest of the priests in the royal court was also quite easy. Trying to figure out what to do with them was a little trickier. In the end, they were interrogated, and if Kol held the slightest suspicion that they¡¯d been involved in her father¡¯s death, they were executed. The rest were stripped of their rank and privileges, and imprisoned.


    The priests of the Heavenly Eye were spread throughout the kingdom, and most of them seemed to work independently of each other. There was no organized and centralized church, which meant even the worship of the Heavenly Eye, the traditions, rituals, and beliefs involved, varied from place to place. Even among the different social classes, there were different customs and beliefs about what the Heavenly Eye was and how he helped his faithful. In the end, we decided only to gather up all the priests in the capital and interrogate them.


    Interrogation revealed that there was a small cell of priests who were also involved in brainwashing key targets to incite a general hatred of the Lux Republic and Singing Horde, and which contributed to many deaths through the same condition that afflicted the king. These priests were also executed on the princess¡¯ orders. It was decided the rest would be locked up until a solution was found. Small teams of elite soldiers were sent around the country to round up all the priests of the Heavenly Eye that they could find. By the time the king¡¯s funeral arrived, most of the priests of the Heavenly Eye had been captured, and Princess Kol was in complete control of the kingdom.


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    The king¡¯s funeral was a somber affair. Grief hung over the capital like a shroud, and the wooden casket bearing his corpse was thronged by ordinary people as it made its way through the streets to the graveyard outside the city. The demons believed that since kings were only deputized by the Heavenly Eye to rule the material world, once they died and left this world, they were just as insignificant to the Heavenly Eye as the rest of them. The strange self-deprecation of the demons before their god was a little tough to get used to, but somehow it seemed to fit the Immortal of Evil¡¯s manipulative image.


    The king was buried in a simple grave next to a tree on a hill. There wasn¡¯t even a special place for the graves of royalty, so he was buried in the next available grave. The procession of soldiers stayed until all but Princess Kol and some of her family members remained. I also pretended to leave, but turned invisible to stand guard instead. After the persecution of the priests of the Heavenly Eye, and the large support base for the prince, there was reason to be cautious. However, nothing happened today.


    Kol knelt by the grave for a while. Her family members walked away after saying a few words. She¡¯d said these people were only family by name, most being so distantly related that she¡¯d never met them outside of formal occasions. The only real family she had left were her siblings, but they were all plotting against her now.


    A lonely demon woman knelt by a grave late into the night. I leaned against the tree, invisible and silent.


    ---


    The queen¡¯s coronation was a surprisingly simple affair. All she had to do was do a few rituals with ceremonial staffs and altars, and host a small military parade where her generals pledged their allegiance to her. Gifts came poring in from powerful families and rich merchants, all of which were quietly cataloged and stored away by bureaucrats and palace officials. The whole thing lasted a single day, and was handled efficiently and quickly. At the end of the parade, the new queen was escorted into her palace, robe flowing far down the hall. She untied the robe, letting it fall to the ground, before turning around and sitting on the throne.


    The robe was collected by her new chief minister, an inoffensive middle-aged woman who had been an official for over a century. The new chief minister walked up to the queen, bowed, and wrapped the robe on the back of the throne. Then, with a solemn prayer to the Heavenly Eye, her ministers welcomed the reign of the Demon Queen Kol Izlandi.


    ---


    I spent a month going around the Izlandi Kingdom, meeting demons of all sorts, trading for important goods like seeds, tools, and tool-making techniques. Kelser went around gathering the same from other areas. I¡¯d wanted to cross over into the Lux Republic or the Singing Horde, but the fact that they were worshiping different gods made me decide otherwise. These gods could be immortals I had never met before, or they could have been either of the immortals that I had met before. In either case, I didn¡¯t want to risk going into a country that might be worshiping the Immortal of Madness. Being sent into the future again would be catastrophic.


    And so I made plans to return to the double river basin once again. Meeting up with Kelser, I left for the city of Tephon once again. Queen Kol was busy on an expedition to the North, where the Lux Republic had taken the king¡¯s death as an opportunity to capture a few frontier towns. I still met her to say goodbye before coming back to the South.


    Despite all the changes throughout the kingdom, Tephon had not changed at all. Surprisingly, there had not been a single priest of the Heavenly Eye in the city, with the only ones who came from this city having moved to the capital some time ago.


    Somehow, Bain Rusta had been allowed to stay on the throne. The queen¡¯s intelligence officers had revealed that it was only the ministers and family members around Bain Rusta who had been supporting Prince Alek, and that Bain Rusta was just a very weak ruler, who could be manipulated easily. Wanting to prevent turmoil in the city and having bigger fish to fry elsewhere, Kol was happy to replace Bain Rusta¡¯s entourage as the real power in Tephon.


    Bain Rusta welcomed us with a small feast in his estate. He asked me when the trade route would be opened, and I told him it would take a while, since we¡¯d have to make some high altitude roads and tunnels. Perhaps a few decades, even with all the magic using humans from the other side working on it.


    In the morning, Bain Rusta decided to see us off all the way to the final village before the mountains. A small military procession formed around us, holding small public feasts in the towns and villages we were crossing. Kelser and I decided not to run off with magic, because Bain Rusta was also using the opportunity to gather a few local seeds and tools as gifts, which we had missed back in the capital and in Tephon.


    Surprisingly, Bain Rusta accompanied us all the way to the mountains, going well past the final village. He simply would not take no for an answer and I figured it would be rude to dismiss him after he¡¯d made all this effort. When we finally arrived at the foot of the mountains, Bain walked up to the very end with us, leaving his soldiers well out of earshot.


    He bowed lightly. ¡°Your wisdom and intelligence is unparalleled, great elf. May we meet again, one day.¡±


    I do not know why I felt a vague sense of unease at his words. But I thanked him and left for the mountains, with only a hint of quiet discomfort.

 Chapter 154

    The human city that had been given my name did not change too much while we were away. There were a few more houses, a few more pathways, and a few more children, but even from a distance, I could tell most of their time had been spent gathering resources and preparing for the winter. A crowd of young men and women were standing in a field, practicing magic. As we approached, their instructor noticed our arrival and called out.


    Kelser and I rested for an entire day after we returned. The journey had been grueling enough, but the stuff we¡¯d had to do in the kingdom had been draining as well. I remarked to myself that it felt like I¡¯d been using magic almost continuously for months now. On the bright side, my ¡®wisdom¡¯ had improved even further. Silver linings, I thought to myself, as I collapsed on a soft bed of leaves in my own little hut, and fell asleep.


    ---


    A mirror. Surface wet. Ripples, waves, thunderous applause when I walk in front and bow, low. From behind the curtain, crescendo. Crescendo of drops, to rain, to lightning bolts. Crescendo from new, to crescent, to full, and back again. Back again to the mirror on all sides, up top, down below, in front of my eyes, inside my head, cold to the touch, hot to the feel.


    Hot to the feel, it singed my hand, and I sang. I sang to the merry melodies of screams and cackling laughter. Laughter that bounced from note to note like a ballerina on her tippy toes, pirouette to the mirror, letting me see my reflection, I am not a ballerina, a disembodied voice, or an elf with pointy ears sleeping on a bed of leaves in a mud covered, wooden hut on the banks of a river in another world.


    In the mirror, it is my face. The one I¡¯ve known the longest. The one I thought I¡¯d lost in the Charles to a strange summons, a ridiculous fate, a series of events that were still progressing, and to remember that they were still progressing was also to remember how strange it was to be dreaming of a face that nobody in this world should know. A face that even the immortals, one or more of whom were no doubt dictating this dream, should not know.


    A bird flew by, I did not glance at it. I felt it was an illusion. It had red eyes, but I did not meet them. This chaos. This randomness. This fixture on absurdity, movement, and relentless imagery was a bigger marker than any bird or the color red. Madness. This was madness. And besides, I was assured in my supposition, for the mirror staring at me was, at the end of the day, silver.


    The silver mirror calmed the scene. It lost my old reflection, letting me see myself as an elf once again, but then it lost all reflection entirely, and became empty. But a mirror cannot be empty. And so it showed me something else. It showed the world around my body, which should have been sleeping quietly in the hut.


    Around my body, there was a red glow. A burning, surging tidal wave of deepest red, that threatened to engulf me entirely. I shuddered, which in my dream, made the whole empty whiteness tremble. The mirror beckoned. I was confused. What did it want me to do? Apparently annoyed by my hesitation, the mirror rushed forward and swallowed me in its frame.


    It had no teeth, but I felt it chewing my skin. Its tongue rolled around my head. Its throat pushed me down. And a burning light pricked my eyeballs, making them burst like a ripe grape. I yelled, but my mouth was filled with tangible light, and I was pushed out to the red glow like a grenade with its pin pulled out. The red glow noticed me too late, and as it tried to scurry away, I exploded. I exploded like a star on its last legs, or a firefly pressed between a thumb trying to give off one final burst of light as it was squished by the fingers of a being whose scale and power was beyond its tiny bug brain.


    ---Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I woke up in a cold sweat. I put my hand on my forehead. There was a sound. Like shards of glass clinking against each other. I looked under my body and found red stones. I¡¯d taken these from starred monsters during my journey in the Izlandi Kingdom. I must have fallen asleep holding onto them, even though I usually made sure to keep them away from my body as much as possible. I suppose I had learned a lesson tonight. Man, my head hurt. And what was with that dream? I could still remember it clearly. There was no doubt in my mind that had been the Immortal of Madness¡¯ handiwork, but what did that mean? Was he protecting me? Did he just want to slight the Immortal of Evil? Or did he want me to be indebted to him?


    I threw the shards of red stars somewhere far from the city, in a deep ditch where nobody would ever find them again. As I did that, I remarked to myself just how much the Immortal of Evil must hate me. I¡¯d messed up his plans in the Plains of Serenity and now I¡¯d eliminated the influence he¡¯d had over the demons in the Izlandi Kingdom. No wonder he¡¯d try to come after me in my sleep.


    It was dawn once again. I settled against a tree, taking a deep breath. Something about seeing the sun in this world always calmed my nerves. I mused to myself, how terrible it would be, if even the sun had an immortal behind it. Sunlight glared in the corner of my eye. I looked over.


    There was a small, still pond a few steps from where I was sitting. It¡¯s surface was clear and reflective. Like a mirror. I stared at it for a long time. Until the sun had cleared the horizon and was spewing a burning glow around the pond¡¯s surface. I stood up and walked over. I couldn¡¯t see anything in the water, so I got closer. And closer. And closer still.


    With my face right up next to the water, I saw only myself. My face in this world, surprisingly still unfamiliar despite how long I¡¯d spent with it. Though it made sense, since I hadn¡¯t invented mirrors yet.


    My eyes widened.


    I hadn¡¯t invented mirrors yet.


    ---


    ¡°They said these must be sown in the winter,¡± I said as I handed over some seeds to Elder Konri.


    ¡°And is there a special way to store them?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Just keep them in a dark, dry place. They should last long enough to be sown. Make sure they don¡¯t get any mold, though. The demon farmers said the seeds can grow a strange mold, seemingly at random. Just throw out the ones that have that, and sow the ones that don¡¯t, and we should be fine,¡± I said.


    ¡°Understood,¡± said the elder as she directed some of the tribesmen to begin sowing the seeds that were to be planted in this season. It was still spring, so the crops we were planting now had to be harvested right before the winter rolled in.


    Paris came up next to me and rubbed her tusk against my head. I laughed and pet her large head. Apparently she¡¯d missed me a lot more than I¡¯d expected. Were Fil Tusker¡¯s nearly sentient monsters? It certainly felt that way, judging by the intelligence Paris had been showing. After showing some affection, Paris walked back over to the fields and a human put a light harness on her, which was connected to a wooden contraption held together by little bits of iron. It was a rudimentary animal-based plow, and Paris had been pulling it across the ground since the morning.


    Rows of humans walked up behind her, taking out weeds and planting little seeds in the plowed land. Most of the seeds were ones I had brought back from the Izlandi Kingdom, but a few were of the kind we¡¯d been cultivating before. The ones from the demon kingdom should be more reliable, however, since a lot of our seeds just wouldn¡¯t sprout at all, as we¡¯d learned last year. Perhaps I had been underestimating just how important millennia of selective breeding had been for crops back on my Earth.


    One of the seeds was for the plant the demons used to make their clothes, so I was especially looking forward to not having to wear monster hide anymore. This stuff was always uncomfortably itchy, and would smell a lot if I was out in the sun for too long. It was also a pain to wash, and really hard to manipulate into something that looked good.


    I looked over the fields, and smiled. I knew it would take a while, but the lives of all the humans in the double river basin would improve dramatically now that we had access to reliable crops and a trade partner to the north. Things, I remarked to myself, were looking up!

 Chapter 155

    Many things had changed while we were away. And things changed even further as I spent time in the city again. In the summer, just a few weeks from the next solstice festival, I found out about a group of young men and women who had fallen in love with glass making, and had been trying to improve upon the rudimentary types of glass that I had introduced. With the dream about mirrors still fresh in my mind, I decided to meet this first generation of glass-makers.


    They were an incredibly polite bunch, or perhaps they were being respectful towards me like the humans tended to be. They showed me their many experiments and designs, including work they had been doing on molds, furnaces, and the types of sand they used. I realized right away that their experiments would be incredibly useful for magic and medicine, and decided to get involved.


    The glass-makers were from different tribes and said that they had mostly been focusing on using glass of different colors and clarity for jewelry and decoration. But while doing so, they had come up with a type of powerful brick furnace that could use fire and air magic to turn certain high quality materials into very clear glass. And since they now had metal molds to play with, they were able to make the glass into all sorts of shapes.


    I first got around to making a special mold. I needed the glass to come out in the shape of a convex lens. It took a lot of trial and error, but the glass-makers were very good at making molds in different shapes, by this point, and were able to do most of the work for me. Surprisingly, their first few lenses were smooth and regular, although I still had to make some more adjustments to the mold to get them to come out exactly how I wanted them to.


    The next step was to find some people with experience molding metals. The glass-makers introduced me to the people who had helped them with their metal molds. Unlike the glass-makers, who were a talented group that worked together, there were only a few people who were working with iron at this time. And most of them were playing around on their own and trying to find more effective forms and shapes for weapons, not tools. Apparently, somebody in the Nare tribe was the best at making arrowheads, so I decided to visit her.


    When I arrived, I realized she was the only metalworker or smith in the Nare tribe. She was working on a strangely shaped arrowhead, and only turned around when one of the glass-makers said that the great teacher had arrived. The Nare metalworker was also very polite, and was willing to help me with my designs. I ended up just drawing them for her on some of the rough paper that had become very popular among the humans, and returned to the glass-makers¡¯ furnaces.


    But I wasn¡¯t actually here to make any more glass. Instead, drawing the diagrams for the metalworker had made me realize that I had forgotten to introduce standardized measurements for the humans. Actually, it wasn¡¯t that I had forgotten to do so, but I had underestimated the speed with which artisans and craftsmen who could use these measurements would appear among the humans.


    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have access to the sort of universal constants and measurements that could be used to create measurements on my world, and had to come up with most of them arbitrarily. Thankfully, however, I could skip all the complicated denominations and irregular demarcations that led to stuff like imperial units in my world, and leapfrogged to a metric system


    A bar of iron became a meter, with small lines on top to divide it into centimeters and millimeters. A lump of iron become a kilogram. And various measurements of volume and density could be derived from them. I figured I¡¯d introduce seconds as well, although the means to reliably count time down to such short intervals did not exist yet. I even figured I¡¯d write down kelvin, for temperature, candela for luminous intensity, and mole for amount of substance. What these words would mean in the human language, I wasn¡¯t sure, but I tried to write rough approximations of the sounds in the human language. They didn¡¯t have to mean anything, since they were really more like signifiers rather than actual words.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Now that I had these measurements, I posted them along all the elders¡¯ huts around the city, and decided to unveil them at the solstice festival as well. I also gave them to the metalworker to help with her work.


    It took a few more days for the metalworker to make the things I had asked her to make, and by that time, the glass-makers had made the perfect, tiny little convex lens that I could put into the thing I was trying to make. I collected the small screws and plates from the metalworker, lined them up in the shape I wanted to, and put the whole thing together. With a few more materials, a lot of adjustments, and the perfect positioning of the lens, I finally had this world¡¯s first, functioning microscope!


    The first prototype wasn¡¯t very useful. It couldn¡¯t zoom in and focus as much as I wanted it to and there was way too much wiggling in the mechanism. Still, with a little bit of careful magic, including motion and light, I was able to get the first images of micro-organisms in this world. Most importantly, I was able to confirm that they looked and acted very similar to micro-organisms from my Earth. The uncanniness of this discovery notwithstanding, I was glad I could finally make some new strides in the branch of magic that might be the most useful to the people of this world, and which had changed my mind on interfering with the natural development of these societies. I also felt this would bring me that much closer to the secret that I had been searching for, for so long, and for which I had finally found a few hints while I was away in the Izlandi Kingdom.


    Annihilation.


    ---


    I sat with the elders around a campfire once again. This time, however, there weren¡¯t any decisions to be made nor any things that I wanted to share with the elders for their benefit. No, this time, I was approaching them for advice.


    ¡°I found some traces of elves across the mountains,¡± I said, as I passed around the first prototype microscope for the elders to try out. At night, it would only work with a bit of light magic, but most of them could use that themselves by now.


    ¡°Only traces?¡± asked Elder Lipo Pole.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, ¡°it was difficult even finding those. There were no scrolls or other documentation of elves or elfin activity in the region, nor were there any artifacts or graves. The only thing I could find at first, were stories. And so that¡¯s what I followed.¡±


    ¡°How does one follow stories?¡± said Elder Brol Ibog.


    ¡°By following the way stories changed from place to place,¡± I said, as I went on to explain the process and my experience.


    Most of the elfin stories followed similar patterns. Something bad would happen, like a monster or an evil ruler, and the people would despair. Until a helpful elf appeared to save the day. Sometimes directly with powerful magic, and sometimes indirectly with advice or support to a human hero. Sometimes, the elves could speak the language of monsters, sometimes they would come alone, or they might come with their whole tribe. There were descriptions of their faces, their clothes, their attitudes and social norms, with the only thing every story shared being the pointy ears and the ability to use magic.


    I followed the stories that seemed to be the most accurate with their descriptions of elfin magic and appearances. I also tried to find the greatest clusters of stories that were the most similar. I employed some other methods, like plotting the most likely routes of any elfin tribes that crossed the mountains, usually by following major rivers or game trails. Eventually, I¡¯d arrived in the Eastern part of the Izlandi Kingdom. If I had to warrant a guess, the biggest clues about the elfin tribes in that part of the world would probably be in the area controlled by the Singing Horde.


    ¡°The Singing Horde?¡± repeated Elder Konri Oko, ¡°that is a strange name for a tribe.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I said, as I moved some charcoal in the fire with a long stick. ¡°And their name, it gives me a bad feeling. If the demon kingdom was influenced by the Immortal of Evil.¡± I looked up at the red star in the sky. ¡°Then the Singing Horde might be¡­¡± I trailed off, looking far above my head to the silver disc hanging innocently in the inky blue night sky.

 Chapter 156

    The first thing I stared at through the microscope was moldy food. Breads made from grains, fruits left lying around, veggies that didn¡¯t grow right, even monster meat and rotting hides. I looked at all kinds of molds under the microscopes, trying to make new lenses to better focus at different microorganisms at different sizes. It wasn¡¯t easy, and the glass-makers were probably getting sick of helping me instead of working on glass bead necklaces, but I knew I only needed to do this for a little while before I might not need microscopes at all, anymore.


    I experimented with light magic, learning from the way my manipulation of light would cause objects to be magnified. I could practically feel my understanding or ¡®wisdom¡¯ going up, which would help me use this sort of magic better in the future.


    ¡°Finally!¡± I said, slumping back.


    ¡°You¡¯ve found what you were looking for?¡± asked a glass-worker.


    ¡°Yes, go ahead, take a look!¡± I said, passing the microscope to them.


    The glass-worker stuck the microscope to his face, fiddling with the lens to get it to focus. I helped him out with light magic, although without having my eye against it, I wasn¡¯t sure how accurate I could be. Eventually, he frowned, and said he saw something, but didn¡¯t know what it was.


    ¡°It¡¯s a small creature,¡± I said, ¡°so small we can¡¯t see it with the naked eye. Well, actually, we sort of can. It¡¯s the mold right there. Or a part of it. A fungus. But I¡¯m not interested in the fungus itself. I¡¯m interesting in what it can do.¡±


    ¡°You mean this thing can be useful? Aren¡¯t we supposed to throw away moldy food?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, but we¡¯re not going to eat this stuff,¡± I said, ¡°we¡¯re going to use it as medicine.¡±


    And so I began harvesting and preparing the first antibiotic in this world. And since I only really knew how to identify penicillin, it would have to be the first antibiotic in this world, as well. I was sure people would find this stuff fascinating and start working on it on their own, just like they¡¯d worked on the glass and metal work.


    There were already a few diseases I got the chance to try penicillin on. It didn¡¯t seem to work on most diseases, but in the few weeks leading up to the next solstice, I was able to help quite a few people who might have struggled otherwise. I told the elders how to gather and use penicillin, and gave them other tips on disease prevention and first aid. I also told them to let me know if any tamed or domesticated monsters had boils or other visible signs of diseases. I wanted to try my hand at making vaccines, next.


    ---


    ¡°And if you focus the light rays like this, you can make fire in the distance,¡± I said, ¡°look, I set that bush on fire already! Ah, wait, gotta put that out. Okay, done. See that? Pretty cool right? I think there¡¯s other stuff we can do with it too, but¡ªhey are you listening Kelser?¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± he said, jerking his head towards me, ¡°yeah, light rays, fire, really cool stuff. I¡¯ll start practicing tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow?¡± I said, ¡°but the night¡¯s still young. What, don¡¯t tell me you have something to do?¡±


    He looked away sheepishly.


    ¡°What? You do?¡± I said. ¡°If Elder Kezler gave you some chores or something, I¡¯ll talk to him about it. This is way more important than gathering firewood.¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it!¡± he said.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ¡°Oh, one of the other elders must have asked you to teach them a spell they were struggling with. I¡¯ve told them to just come straight to me if they¡¯re feeling stuck, but I guess they might find you more approachable. Your teaching style is pretty different from mine, I guess. Might work better for some people,¡± I said.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t it, alright? It isn¡¯t important. I mean it is. I mean I can¡¯t tell you,¡± he said.


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°If it¡¯s important enough for you to delay learning magic, then it¡¯s probably important enough for me to know about.¡±


    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t concern you. Anyway, can I go now?¡± he said.


    ¡°Now? But we¡¯ve only just gotten started!¡± I said.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯ll make up for it by working extra hard tomorrow. It¡¯s just¡­ I have a thing right now, okay?¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh¡­ I see,¡± I said with a chuckle. ¡°I get it now. Okay, okay. I understand. Have fun.¡±


    ¡°I will¡ªwait, no, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± he said, blushing.


    ¡°I thought you liked that demon girl though, you were hanging out with her all the time,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, that was just¡­ get off my back, okay? I¡¯m going,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, don¡¯t forget to practice this in the morning,¡± I said, waving him off.


    He glanced over his shoulder multiple times, probably afraid I would follow him. Honestly, it hadn¡¯t even crossed my mind until he did that. I was only practicing this magic tonight to show it to him, anyway. Why shouldn¡¯t I take advantage of the bright moonlight to cast invisibility magic and follow him outside of the glow of the campfires? I laughed to myself as he walked away, and made a note of the direction he was going in. With a few well placed motion detection spells, I¡¯d know exactly where he was going. Once he was out of sight, I stopped practicing my spell and started following his trail.


    Turns out, following an adolescent on one of his first dates was more boring and uncomfortable than you¡¯d think. I promised to myself I was only being nosy so I could tease him about it later. He was my friend, after all. What are friends for if they can¡¯t even make a joke about your romantic fails, from time to time? I¡¯d leave as soon as I saw who he was seeing. Anyway, he was heading to the human Jora tribe¡¯s part of the city. I jumped from hut to hut to avoid his sight. He didn¡¯t look behind his shoulder or anything.


    Another kid appeared in view, leaning against a small hut far from the campfire. Under the moonlight, I saw Kelser¡¯s face light up and a nervous smile on his face. He walked up to the robed kid, gave a nervous greeting, and started walking away, hand in hand.


    I sighed. Well. This was as far as I was willing to go. I shook my head. What was there to be embarrassed about? I wasn¡¯t going to judge. Still, I decided not to bring it up to him tomorrow, like I¡¯d originally planned. He could tell me when the time was right and if things worked out. Under the moonlight, I slunk back to another bunch of huts and turned off my invisibility magic. I melted into the crowd around a campfire, sitting down to eat with the surprised humans, and making small talk about their lives, their families, and things they liked to do to hang out with people they liked. A few of them blinked, probably reading too hard into what I was asking, but it was a nice, warm night, and I enjoyed spending it with a small group of young people, huddled around a campfire away from their parents.


    ---


    The next solstice was here. We arrived at Bek Tepe again, and had a nice, long, boozy feast. I¡¯d brought back some starter cultures, recipes, and seeds for different kinds of drinks, and although most of them wouldn¡¯t be ready until after the harvest, what we had right now was enough for a good time.


    I only met Kelser once during the whole feast. I figured I wouldn¡¯t stop him from drinking this time, but apparently there was somebody else who wanted him sober as well, which was why he had a grumpy face. I smiled at him and smacked him on the back. He asked what that was for, and I raised a clay cup full of alcohol at him, before walking away.


    And with Princess Kol, I mean, Queen Kol far away on the other side of the mountain, I suddenly fell into a strange mood. The elders were having a good time as well, but somehow it didn¡¯t feel like I could hang out with them. Even though my elf body was supposed to be older than theirs, according to Noel¡¯s estimation at least, I was still a college senior at heart. And I guess these feasts were the closest thing to a dorm party I was gonna see in a while. Darn.


    Ah well, the moon was bright, the fire was warm, and so was the booze. I ate a lot of hearty food and joined some of the young people I¡¯d been talking to recently, and decided to have a nice, fun time, on the eve before the solstice.

 Chapter 157

    The summer solstice festival itself went without a hitch. I showed off some new magic, explained the importance of antibiotics and hygiene, and told people to give microscopes a try. I also thanked the glass-makers and metalworker, and encouraged people to find stuff they were passionate about. Now that we had the seeds from the Izlandi Kingdom and our tamed monsters were being managed to become more docile and useful, food would soon stop being as much of an issue.


    I brought out the ritual artifacts too. The large uncut diamond with its lustrous sheen. The tablet with the words of the human language. And of course, the red heart made of monster stars. I hesitated before touching the red heart that I had made myself. After the dream I¡¯d had a while ago, I¡¯d realized these stars were more dangerous than I¡¯d assumed. But instead of getting rid of it, I instead just decided to handle it carefully for now. Should be fine as long as I didn¡¯t sleep on top of it, right?


    I introduced measurements too, and added to the artifacts at Bek Tepe, the metal rod and lump that would define the meter and kilogram respectively. I made a note to myself to replace them with steel versions once we had the technology to do so. But for now, I put them carefully in Bek Tepe and handed out some replicas to the elders so they could conduct their business accordingly. And although we didn¡¯t need a system of currency yet, I figured we could just use the Izlandi Kingdom¡¯s system of precious metal coins. There was plenty of silver and gold to go around down here, after all.


    We finished off the festivities and eventually returned to the city.


    ---


    ¡°Aren¡¯t there a lot of kids around these days?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, teacher, it¡¯s all thanks to you,¡± said Elder Kezler.


    ¡°Me?¡± I said as I blew on my hot drink.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said as he moved the burnt out charcoal in the campfire pit, ¡°we used to lose every other child before adulthood before you came around.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said, ¡°so you¡¯re saying I¡¯m a good luck charm?¡±


    It was early in the morning on a day on the cusp of winter. The summer solstice festival was a distant memory. The city itself had grown a lot since then. More huts, built in more sophisticated styles, with iron fittings and frames. Paths paved with stone leading throughout the city. Underground sanitation. And a few more aquifers bringing water from the river to a treatment site before flowing to every single hut. The entire city was beginning to look like an ancient city from classical legends back on Earth. All that was left were marble buildings and statues, and we¡¯d have the beginnings of a proto-Rome.


    ¡°Luck, yes,¡± said Elder Kezler. We were sitting alone, enjoying the warmth of the little fire pit. ¡°But also your magic.¡±


    ¡°I suppose c-sections, antibiotics, and clean drinking water will go a long way,¡± I said.


    ¡°Most importantly, everybody is well fed. Offensive magic has changed our lives,¡± he said, ¡°more hunters means more food, less orphans, and less trauma for all involved.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, ¡°guess I didn¡¯t put as much importance on that as I should¡¯ve. Are you saying I should focus on more offensive magic?¡±


    ¡°No, no,¡± he said, ¡°everything we have right now has made most hunting very easy. In fact, if we weren¡¯t taking only as much as we needed, we might¡¯ve depleted the resources around us long ago.¡± He sighed. ¡°I am a little worried about the future generations. With so many more children, it¡¯s easy to see that we¡¯ll end up increasing the size of our community very quickly.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, elder,¡± I said, as I leaned forward. Somehow, the energetic red haired old man looked quite feeble that morning. His hazel eyes didn¡¯t have the spark they usually did. That mischievous, youthful spark, that rebelled against his old body, as if to declare that the few gray hair on his head were nothing to worry about. ¡°As long as I¡¯m here, I¡¯ll figure something out.¡±


    Elder Kezler smiled. The spark was back in his eye, although it looked different. ¡°I do not think I can thank you enough, teacher. All of humanity is indebted to you.¡±


    Huh. Hearing that made me pause.


    All of humanity? Indebted to me.


    It sounded a lot grander than anything I felt entitled to. I¡¯d helped them out a little, but that was all. I knew it hadn¡¯t all been because of my selfish desire to search for the meaning of ¡®annihilation,¡¯ and that I had helped these people out because I¡¯d found them, and grown close to them. But somehow, I didn¡¯t feel like I¡¯d done much. Not when they were still living in huts and only a handful could grow over seventy years old like Elder Kezler.


    I finished my drink in silence. Elder Kezler smiled as he prodded the charcoal again.


    ---


    To establish a reliable trade route with the Izlandi Kingdom, we had to explore one of three options.


    Heading west from the city, we could travel to the sea and swing around the mountains and plateaus by hugging the coast. However, the monsters over the sea were still unknown, and we would be a lot more vulnerable out there. And even if we could protect ourselves, there was no guarantee we could defend any cargo we were taking to trade. Still, I figured I could explore this route later.


    If we followed the river east, and went into the open plains beyond the human Jora tribe¡¯s lands, avoiding the ¡®roof of the world,¡¯ we could try to swing around the mountains. But this route would take us to the territory of the Singing Horde, and I was trying to avoid them for now. I knew I had to go in this direction eventually, since it was the most likely place where I would find clues about ¡®annihilation¡¯ or the elfin Jora tribe. But for now, I wanted to avoid it if I could.


    And finally, we could go through the mountains, making a path at high altitudes, with some tunnels through the mountains too high for ordinary humans and demons to cross. Actually, since humans were the only ones with magic, we could make sure the entire path was too difficult to traverse without magic, which would give us complete control of the route. The demons would have to rely on the humans to come to them and would have to buy and sell on the humans¡¯ terms.


    The biggest problem with this mountain route were the glaciers. Perhaps we could make tunnels and paths through the mountains with magic, but that would be pretty much impossible to do with the glaciers. Even if we carved something through them, the paths wouldn¡¯t be reliable. They¡¯d be a pain to create and an even bigger pain to maintain. No, we needed a way around the glaciers. I hadn¡¯t been able to find a route like that before, but I hadn¡¯t been trying very hard. It wasn¡¯t too difficult crossing the glaciers, for me, but now that I had to account for other people, I was willing to spend some time surveying the mountains.


    I even went to do so in the winter. I went alone, however, since most humans wouldn¡¯t be able to help out here, and Kelser was busy these days, in the midst of young love. Lucky guy. I was stuck staring at maps, sketching potential routes in charcoal, while he was eating fruits in a secret grove that I totally stumbled into and did not explore explicitly because it was his favorite place to spend a date in. Okay, of course I checked if it was safe. I even found and removed a type of plant that would cause itchy boils on the face!


    I chuckled to myself as I walked through the valley in front of the foot of the glaciers, trying to find the end of the domineering ice. At this point, Kelser was a little brother to me. I really wanted to make sure he was happy.


    I finally found the path through the glaciers that Kol had talked about long ago. Or at least, I thought this was it. It was much narrower than how she¡¯d described it, and was far from where she could¡¯ve reasonably stumbled into on her way from the Izlandi Kingdom, but I was willing to chalk that up to either her confused mental state or immortal shenanigans.


    I marked the path on my map, and followed it all the way through the glaciers just to be sure. Sure enough, it came out to large mountains on the other side. This little path would help cut down the time and danger of this trade route, but there was still a lot of work to be done.


    I went back to the city to prepare a construction team.

 Chapter 158

    High altitude construction is difficult enough. But doing so without modern machinery and equipment should have been impossible. Fortunately, we had magic. And with a few metal tools and access to concrete, I was confident we could lay down a route between the double river basin and the Izlandi Kingdom.


    The first step had been to connect the road leading to the Oko tribe¡¯s lands to the Oko tribe¡¯s farthest base camp right near the foot of the great mountain range. But instead of going all the way up to the base camp, we decided to loop the road around the mountain so we could turn through the valleys and up towards the gap in the glaciers that I had identified further east.


    ¡°Are you sure this is worth the effort?¡± asked Kelser as he followed behind me.


    ¡°You mean making the roads this way?¡± I said as I used magic to level the ground and compact it underneath.


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot more effort than we put into all the roads going from the city to the tribes¡¯ homelands,¡± he said.


    ¡°Most of those roads are on flat terrain, and can be repaired easily and often. This path is going to be difficult even with a perfectly maintained road. We need to make it as robust as possible,¡± I said.


    Kelser didn¡¯t respond. He used magic to clear the earth around the road, making paths for falling debris and soil embankments to protect against rockfalls in areas that they might occur. We tried to make sure that any loose rock further up the mountains was taken care of, but there could never be a guarantee in places like this.


    The road we had decided on would have multiple layers. It started with a layer of leveled, compacted earth, which needed to be solid deep into the ground. We used earth magic to make sure there weren¡¯t any weaknesses underground, things like underground water channels, weak rocks, or loose soil. If there were any, we would try to fix them, and if they couldn¡¯t be fixed, we would try to avoid them. Building the road as straight as possible would be necessary if we were planning on moving armies through it, but for a trade route like this one, it was more important for the road to last as long as it possibly could.


    Over the compacted earth, a team of humans, many of whom had worked on the other road project, placed a layer of evenly crushed rocks. These evenly crushed rocks were then compacted together by another group of earth magic using humans. Then the whole thing was bound together by a mixture of stone dust and water, which could bind the macadam together while also allowing decent drainage. Over this layer, another team placed increasingly finer layers of material, like broken concrete, crushed rocks, or rough cement, to make tighter layers. On top, we placed large stones, many held together by porous concrete that would let water drain through. In fact, proper drainage was such a large concern for the road with its strange inclines, and rain and snow prone locations, that a team of people would come up at the back of our little procession dousing the whole thing in water and checking if everything was draining properly. We even had to cut separate drainage paths on the sides of the road in many places, just in case there was a large downpour higher up the mountain which the road might not be able to handle directly.


    Going through the valley was easy enough, but once we entered the path that avoided the glaciers, we had to start dealing with the large, near impassable mountains that would be impossible to build on. And even if we built something, maintaining the roads at such high altitudes would be a nightmare. Thankfully, we only needed to make the mountain road passable for magic users, so as long as it was there to show the direction and make life a little easier, it would be enough.


    The road veered off to take advantage of valleys and low inclines wherever we could reasonably do so. It took us several days to make just a little progress, and there was definitely not enough food in the mountains to maintain our large procession. Thankfully, we had come well provisioned, lugging around more than enough supplies for us to finish the construction.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    And we were being smart about it. Every day, a small team of humans would break off and return to the double river basin, replaced with a fresh group that would come to take their place. Timing these groups and their journeys was tough, and sometimes some people wouldn¡¯t arrive in time, or leave too late, or be forced to stay on because the nobody had come to relieve them, but every group that brought new supplies or gave the humans a chance to rest, helped us proceed with the job in a timely manner.


    I scratched my head. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no way around this one, huh.¡±


    ¡°Nope,¡± said Kelser.


    The mountain in front of us was massive. It connected to even more mountains on either side, with the mountainous terrains stretching on without a break for miles and miles. We could try to find a way around it, but the road was already much longer than the path Kelser, Kol, and I had taken on our first journey through the mountains. Extending it even further might make it difficult to traverse the road with the supplies a single team could carry on their backs.


    I walked up to the edge of the road that I had leveled so far. The other teams had stopped right behind me, all of them done with their jobs for the day, awaiting more leveled earth so they could keep going tomorrow. Tents were already up, the sun was beginning to dip, and campfires had begun crackling in the air, their sounds drifting into my ear.


    I put my hands on the steep incline of stone and rock. Further up, I could see the great mass of ice and snow that hung above. I made sure the ice up there wasn¡¯t too loose, and prepared to strike as gently as I could. The first bit of earth magic sent out some quite rumblings through the ground. None of the humans noticed it. Kelser gave me a look.


    I went again. The earth shook. People looked over. The rock moved. Cracks snaked up to the snow, clumps of white falling towards my head, only to be swept away by a timely wind. I broke the rock slowly. Making sure to check the snow and ice above periodically. I had to tell everybody but Kelser to take some distance.


    Deep breath. Earth magic. Crushing, rolling, broken rocks, cascaded in front of my hands, and rubble pooled around my feet like a puddle. I didn¡¯t stop. Another step, hands on rock, and the process was repeated again. I plowed through the hard rock slowly, deliberately, and all through the night. I told the others they could rest, but they wouldn¡¯t budge. They fought against their own drowsiness to stare at the tunnel I was carving, unable to see deep enough inside.


    By the time dawn arrived, I wasn¡¯t anywhere near done. I had to switch out with Kelser, which was when I noticed that the humans had ignored my warnings and were taking all the rubble out of the tunnel. Thankfully, they weren¡¯t laying the road just yet, although the earth had been compacted. As I left the tunnel, I saw two teams of people staring resolutely up at the ice and snow, their hands outstretched. I made sure the snow wasn¡¯t loose, thanked them for their hard work, and slumped against a tent, closing my eyes.


    ---


    The next day, the tunnel still wasn¡¯t finished. The day after that, we still weren¡¯t done. A few days into digging, I went out to the other side of the mountain by crossing over it with magic. I made some measurements, and estimated how far the tunnel still had to go. I also judged the optimal level for it to come out on this side. Back in the tunnel, there were teams solidifying the walls and ceilings to prevent cave-ins. Once we reached the other side, I was planning on reinforcing the tunnel with concrete and magic on all sides. But for now, I kept rotating with Kelser and a team of diggers, stealing some sleep in between shifts.


    It was repetitive, difficult, and boring work. Sometimes, I wondered why I was doing this at all. Not just the tunnel, but all the effort I was putting into the humans. Was it because I was a human on my planet? Was it because I¡¯d grown closer to them? Or was it because I was certain that they would help me find the clues I needed to return home? I realized, in that deep, dark, cold tunnel, that it was probably a bit of everything, coupled with inertia, and the fulfillment of doing things and building relationships, to replace things that were lost, or feelings that were difficult to pin down.


    Silver moonlight broke through the wall like a deluge. I stepped out on the other side, staring once again at a tall mountain, a full moon adorned like a halo at its peak.

 Chapter 159

    ¡°So we can¡¯t use your road?¡± asked Queen Kol.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t recommend it,¡± I said, ¡°the road is much longer than the path I carried you through.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to put it that way,¡± she said.


    ¡°And the tunnels are pretty dangerous. There¡¯s a whole bunch of them. They were a pain to make, by the way. And although I don¡¯t think they can cave in because of the way we reinforced them, you never know. I¡¯d be worried about snow or rockfalls blocking you in,¡± I said.


    ¡°We can dig,¡± she said.


    ¡°Most of the roads go pretty high too. Had no choice but to build at ridiculous altitudes. Might be hard to breathe without air magic,¡± I said.


    ¡°Maybe I could cast the magic for a small team,¡± she said.


    ¡°Your magic isn¡¯t strong enough. You¡¯d have to sustain the spell for several days. Only reason humans other than Kelser can do it is because they take turns,¡± I said.


    Frowning, Kol tried to figure out a way for the demons to send a trade or diplomatic delegation through the mountains, but once it became clear that it was too dangerous, and that I wasn¡¯t willing to escort any demons to the double river basin without the permission of the humans, she had no choice but to let it go.


    Instead, our discussion shifted to the things we had brought with us. Some dried fruits and preserved vegetables that couldn¡¯t be found on this side of the mountains. Also, the dried and salted meat of the monsters we had herded and tamed, as well as a whole bunch of precious metals like silver and gold. There weren¡¯t a lot of gold deposits on this side of the mountains, apparently, so the small amounts we had brought with us were already quite valuable here. I told Kelser to be careful not to flood the kingdom with gold, since that might wreck their economy. Kol listened to that with a complicated expression, unsure if not giving her people a ton of gold was the kind act I was presenting it to be.


    There were other benefits for the demons as well. To celebrate the establishment of the trade route, we decided to build a gift for the demons right in their capital city. Before we arrived, the capital city got its water from a nearby river, with an artificial canal to divert water away from upriver and taking sewage back into the river further down. Thanks to her stay with us in the double river basin, Kol knew that this system was causing a lot of sickness and death in the city, and possibly polluting the drinking water for cities downriver.


    ¡°The aquifer to this part of the city can come around here,¡± I said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this the fourth one?¡± said Kelser. ¡°We could probably get away with making a couple.¡±


    ¡°You could also just build filtering systems from the canal instead of doing all this to show off your architectural capabilities,¡± mused Kol.


    ¡°But showing off is important too!¡± I said with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s what diplomacy is all about, after all. Anyways, there¡¯s a reason for this. Aquifers are much less likely to flood your city if the river swells. Floods will lead to the sort of diseases we¡¯re trying to avoid with this system.¡±


    A team of humans was working on the other aquifers, using earth, water, and air magic to set the concrete and bricks as needed, and using magic hands to guide and form the structure. I¡¯d already taken care of most of the measurements and calculations necessary, so it was a pretty smooth process. The aquifers brought water to four different treatment plants in each corner of the capital city. Here, a simple combination of sand and gravel filters filled water into chambers lined with glass. The chambers were heated by a combination of naturally reflective rocks focusing sunlight into the chambers, and massive wood burning furnaces that would be run every morning to boil the water. Then, the water would pass through a filter made of the charcoal from the fire that had just boiled the water, before going through sand and gravel once again, and settling into storage tanks. Aquifers and small channels would then bring the water to all corners of the city.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I also taught Kol how to make penicillin. In exchange, I gathered a bunch of plants with anti-septic properties from her kingdom, as well as a few oily plants that provided benefits to things like hair and skin. The demons had already started making soap, since Kol had made that one of her top priorities after her return.


    I even found out about a type of disease whose symptoms sounded a lot like smallpox. And just like smallpox, there seemed to be a similar disease in one of the domesticated monsters that the demons kept around on their farms. Excited, I dragged Kelser and Kol to a farm on the outskirts of the city, with Kol¡¯s entourage crying out for their queen and begging for us to slow down. Judging by Kol¡¯s bright grin, I could tell she was glad to be out and about on her own for the first time in a while.


    ¡°Is this the monster?¡± I asked .


    ¡°Yes, great elf,¡± said a tired looking young demon whose clothes were torn and stained in many places. He¡¯d made his clothes even dirtier by falling to his knees when he saw Kol. Couldn¡¯t really blame the guy, though. Why was the queen of the kingdom coming to a tiny, muddy, economically struggling farm like this one?


    ¡°Yes, yes, I see!¡± I said as I crouched next to the monster and stared gleefully at the boils on its skin.


    ¡°Is it really that exciting?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°Oh, absolutely,¡± I said as I brought out a small metal knife and a piece of glass. I cut open the boil, spread the gross pus on the glass, and covered it up with another piece of glass. The others stared at me without a word. I thanked the farmer for his hospitality, tipped him a lump of gold that made his eyes pop, and dragged Kol and Kelser away once again.


    My microscope magic wasn¡¯t good enough to identify this virus, so I had no choice but to run some experiments. First, I confirmed with Kol that the monster virus wasn¡¯t dangerous to demons. Then, I asked if there were any records of who died of different diseases in the city, but she said there were none. In fact, there weren¡¯t a lot of records of any kind, since barely anybody knew how to read or write, and scrolls were mostly meant for the use of the royal family. I advised her to start building up a competent bureaucracy, and to keep records as meticulously as possible. We¡¯d shared with her the technique for making paper, after all, so she could leave the limitations of monster hide scrolls behind!


    For the time being, I gathered up some paper and ink, and started keeping my own records. I confirmed that the demons most likely to get and die of this smallpox-like virus were young, and that there were no farmers or butchers in the list of patients and deceased that I gathered by interviewing people all over the city. It wasn¡¯t an exhaustive survey, but it was good enough for me to proceed to the next stage. Demon trials!


    I used small samples of the monster virus to inoculate volunteers around the city. With the queen¡¯s support, and my promises of gold rewards, many people were lining up. I even got to include a few children, which was very helpful. The demons had longer lifespans than humans did, so their birth rates were also really low. This meant that any lives I could save would help increase the population several-fold.


    It took a few months for the trials to be done. Kelser and the other humans were already taking turns in the demon kingdom with me, although I¡¯d stayed here throughout the whole process. It was only once I was completely sure that this method would not have any side-effects, and was safe for demons of most ages, that I recommended to Kol that she inoculate everybody in her kingdom.


    With the invention of vaccines, my knowledge and wisdom of diseases and disease prevention had risen to great heights. Someday, I might be able to control microorganisms through magic, directly. But for now, I was satisfied that I had saved so many demon lives.


    Why had I done that, you may ask?


    I faced East as the sun began to set on a beautiful spring evening. In the distance, lay my next target. Unlike the first time I had faced this enemy, this time, I would be prepared. I would have two species behind me. Magic at a level I could never have dreamed of before. Weapons, inventions, everything that had leapfrogged the natural development of this world by a far larger amount of time than the time that I had lost during one fateful, maddening conversation.

 Chapter 160

    I asked Queen Kol to convene a meeting of her diplomats and intelligence experts. For the Izlandi Kingdom, that meant gathering a handful of experienced bureaucrats and a few shadowy spies. These bureaucrats seemed more competent than the ones that usually hung out in the royal palace, probably because their promotion and training was actually out of the control of the tumultuous royal family and court. The spies were a similarly independent group, who spent many years in the other two countries, building up their own identities and networks for the benefit of the Izlandi Kingdom. They also ran counterintelligence operations in the kingdom, since the Lux Republic and the Singing Horde definitely had their own spies in the kingdom too.


    ¡°Are you the only people who have experience in the Singing Horde?¡± I asked, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Yes, great elf,¡± said a portly middle-aged demon woman, ¡°the Singing Horde is notoriously difficult to infiltrate. As you know, most of the spies working inside the kingdom were executed recently. Worse still, we have found that most of the spies who had returned to the kingdom have also died under mysterious but seemingly unconnected circumstances.¡±


    Kol frowned. ¡°They¡¯ve been killing our spies inside our own kingdom? And we don¡¯t even know how they¡¯ve been doing it. How is that possible? Is our intelligence network that weak?¡±


    A bald, elderly demon bowed slightly to the queen. ¡°I am sorry, your majesty. As the acting director of the intelligence ministry, I accept full responsibility for the failure.¡±


    ¡°Acting director?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yes, the previous director was killed by a monster while chopping firewood for her cabin in the woods,¡± said the acting director.


    ¡°She wasn¡¯t killed by a monster, was she?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°No, we do not think so. But there is no sign of any other activity. Honestly, we might have expected the Lux Republic to outsmart us, but the Singing Horde¡¯s recent activity has caught us completely off guard,¡± said the acting director.


    I sighed. ¡°So now all we have to rely on for this important intelligence briefing are the two of you, and¡­¡±


    ¡°Me, great elf,¡± said a short cloaked individual who had been standing quietly in the corner.


    ¡°And who are you?¡± I asked.


    The cloaked individual stepped forward. He reach up with two hairy arms and grabbed the top of his cloak. Revealing his face, he said: ¡°Spot is my code-name in this kingdom, great elf.¡±


    ¡°Wait a¡ª¡± began Kelser, pointing a finger at Spot. ¡°You¡¯re¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am a beastman,¡± said the white-furred doglike beastman who called himself Spot.


    ¡°No, I meant, we¡¯ve seen you before. You were running after that little boy on the night we snuck into the royal palace!¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Ah, I knew I¡¯d sensed something that night,¡± said Spot.


    ¡°Sorry for tripping you up, by the way,¡± I said.


    ¡°Ah, that was you, great elf. No, it was an honor to have witnessed your magic, even if I hadn¡¯t realized at the time,¡± he said, humbly.


    I stared at polite beastman carefully. The monster that he looked like was called an Anthra Terrer. I had no idea if his tribe or species had the same name as the monster, or if they were related somehow. His long legs looked far less strange now that he was walking upright, but since his arms were long too, it was quite bizarre watching him hold the cloak. It seemed like his fingers were more versatile than I¡¯d assumed, and one of them could serve the function of a thumb. His big beady eyes weren¡¯t rolling around anymore, but his ears were still flickering around and there was a thin film of mucus on his snout. Despite his sophisticated way of speaking, his mouth contorted in strange, almost comical ways while he was speaking, which made him look terrifyingly uncanny.


    ¡°But why is a beastman spying on his own people for the demon kingdom?¡± asked Kelser, tactlessly.


    ¡°It is not a complicated story. The Singing Horde has never been very unified. Our tribes compete against one another for power and resources. My tribe was pushed into a desperate position by the other tribes, and we had no choice but to seek outside help. Another subjugated tribe had already contacted the Lux Republic, so my tribe decided to work for the Izlandi Kingdom,¡± he said. His beady eyes turned downward. ¡°I was only supposed to be establish contact, but when I returned, my whole tribe had been wiped out. And now, my only purpose in life is revenge.¡±


    Silence. A talking dog speaking in a sophisticated manner had just dished out a heavy backstory and a vendetta against his own country. I blinked my eyes at the absurd situation.


    ¡°I am sorry,¡± I said, ¡°please forgive Kelser for prying so much.¡±


    ¡°No, I understand. You need to be able to understand my motivations so you can trust my information,¡± he said.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I nodded. Surveying the room, I asked the diplomats what they could tell me about the relationship between the three nations. Their representative said the three nations had been in competition with one another for as far back as their scrolls and oral histories went. The country in the North had always been ruled by spirits, the country in the South by demons, and the country in the East by the beastmen. The territorial boundaries, political structures, and relationships between the three changed very rarely. Most changes were temporary. A village might switch hands for a generation. The republic might elect a dictator, the king might be deposed, the council of chieftains might break up, but things would be back to normal soon enough. Historically, the kingdom had always been the most powerful of the three, but only by a little bit. The republic¡¯s core lands had favorable defensive geography, and there was no way to defeat the Singing Horde on the steppes because of their superior mobility. Even though the kingdom was the most prosperous and powerful, it had the most vulnerable geography, so it was mostly on the defensive against the other two.


    ¡°Okay, I think I get the bigger picture now. Thank you. Now, you three. What can you tell me about the Singing Horde?¡± I faced the three spies.


    ¡°Great elf, it has been many years since I returned from the horde. I had infiltrated as a captured concubine by planting myself as an easy target for one of their raids. My master was a mere hunter, but he was favored by the chieftain, and loved to boast to me at night,¡± said the middle aged demon woman. ¡°The Singing Horde is a loose collection of affiliated beastmen tribes. They rarely unite for any purpose other than to defend their homeland against incursions by the kingdom or republic. The council of chieftains is used to resolve disputes, but only the strongest of the tribes can have a seat at the table, forcing the others to pledge fealty to the tribes of the council.¡±


    ¡°I see. But I only want to know about one thing. Their religion,¡± I said.


    ¡°Religion?¡± said the demon woman. ¡°Well, I know they worship the God of Music, but I do not think anybody is particularly devout. At least not in the tribe that I was in. Some of them might sacrifice some monsters to their god for luck before a raid or something, but nothing more than that.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps I can help with that, great elf,¡± said the acting director. ¡°I was never actually placed inside the Singing Horde, but I have collected the information from many spies over the years. I have learned that the subsidiary tribes are generally not very religious. It is only the tribes of the council, the most powerful tribes in the horde, that could be considered devout. They have many elaborate ceremonies and traditions around the God of Music, most of which involve strange concoctions and instruments. Their music is more chaotic than it is enjoyable, at least to our ears, and their most important ceremony is attended only by the chieftains of the council.¡±


    ¡°Do you know anything about that ceremony?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, I am afraid not. The chiefs refuse to talk about it, and if any information ever leaks, everybody involved is mercilessly executed,¡± he said.


    I frowned. ¡°And what about the god himself, what do you know about him?¡±


    The director blinked. ¡°No.¡± His brows furrowed. ¡°That is odd. Now that I think about it. Despite all of the information I have found, I do not think there was anything describing their god. At least not anymore than what we already know about him in the kingdom.¡±


    ¡°What do you know in the kingdom?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That he is a false god. You have heard the story of the Heavenly Eye and how the God of Music was an outsider, an invader?¡± he said.


    Right, I had heard that story. But that wasn¡¯t very useful. I needed to know more than myths and stories.


    ¡°Great elf,¡± said Spot, ¡°I believe I know what you want to know.¡±


    ¡°You do?¡± I said.


    ¡°You want to know how dangerous my god is, correct?¡± he asked.


    ¡°In a way,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then you should know, our god is powerful. Incredibly powerful. But he will not help us. He has not helped us in many generations,¡± he said. ¡°Personally, I do not think he has ever helped us, despite what the stories say.¡±


    ¡°Then why do you say that he is powerful?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Because although he does not help us,¡± said Spot, his voice quiet, ¡°he punishes us frequently.¡±


    ¡°He punishes you?¡± asked Kol, her brows furrowed.


    ¡°Yes, your majesty. The God of Music is cruel. Why, just recently, he wiped out an entire tribe for refusing to accept the new Overseer.¡±


    ¡°Wait, the who?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The Overseer? She is like a head priest. She oversees the council of chieftains, and stands apart from the politics of the tribes. I have heard from my contacts in the horde, that this new overseer is incredibly powerful. She has complete control over all the chieftains. I suspect the execution of our spies was done under her orders, as well.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± I said, looking up at the sky. It was getting late. ¡°I think that is all for tonight. Thank you all so much for your assistance. Let us meet here again tomorrow.¡± We dispersed for the night. I thought about what I had learned about the Singing Horde. I was now almost completely certain they were working for the Immortal of Madness. All I had to know was whether the Immortal was directly involved. I knew I had to go East to find the answer to ¡®annihilation,¡¯ but I did not want to have to face the Immortal of Madness again.


    The next morning, Kol called me into the throne room at the crack of dawn.


    ¡°They¡¯re gone,¡± said the queen.


    ¡°Who?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The three spies you met yesterday. I do not¡ª¡±


    ¡°Your majesty, we have found them!¡± came a voice from outside.


    ¡°Good, bring them in,¡± said Kol.


    In came two black shrouds covering two dead bodies. A guard revealed the faces of the corpses. It was the middle aged woman and the acting director.


    ¡°What about Spot?¡± I asked, quickly.


    ¡°The family said they have not seen their dog at all,¡± said Kol. ¡°I am afraid we will find him like this soon.¡±


    I turned back to the two corpses and bit my lips.


    I had been worried about them last night, so Kelser and I had set up motion detection magic and traps around their rooms. Nothing had been triggered all night. These two had been dragged from their homes and killed, and there had been nothing that I could¡¯ve done about it.

 Chapter 161

    I held a meeting with the elders of the human tribes back in the city. The next solstice was around the corner. The crops and domesticated monsters could feed the humans many times over. People were living longer. Less children were dying young. I had already started taking the first steps towards producing steel and making an electric infrastructure for the city. The population was increasingly rapidly, as was the standard of living.


    And yet. There was a feeling. A feeling in the back of my mind that made me anxious. Anxious about the future, the present, and the past that I had lost. I advised the elders to send out frequent scouting parties to the east, and for the human Jora tribe to permanently move into the city, leaving behind their ancestral homeland.


    They asked me what was wrong.


    I told them it was nothing. Just a feeling. A feeling and some information that I had learned from the demons beyond the mountains.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s more than that,¡± I said. ¡°I will have to confront the Singing Horde. I do not know when, nor how, but I need to go to their lands and find what remains of the other elves.¡±


    The elders let the silence hang in the air, interrupted only by the wind and the crackling fire. Kelser was sitting on the ground. He scratched the back of his head, his eyes looking somewhere else. I knew who he was looking at. He must have sent a message to that person with magic. I ignored him.


    ¡°Can we help you confront the horde?¡± asked Elder Kezler Roja.


    ¡°I would appreciate it,¡± I said, ¡°but do not feel compelled to do so. The last time I faced the being that stands behind the beastmen, I was completely helpless in front of him. In fact, I still have no idea how he did what he did to me that day. All we did was talk. A simple, uneventful conversation. And yet, it was one of the most devastating things I have ever experienced.¡±


    The elders eventually decided to support me despite my warnings. I asked them to prepare. To prepare their magic, their hunters, and their weapons. There was no need to hurry, I didn¡¯t want to proceed until I had more information about the Singing Horde. And since the Izlandi Kingdom couldn¡¯t give me that information, I figured I might have to trade for it from the Lux Republic. Before going the republic, however, I was going to visit Kol. I was planning to ask the Izlandi Kingdom to make similar preparations, in exchange for some more magical knowledge and material knowledge.


    ¡°Oh, great teacher, I almost forgot. Have you had a chance to meet the metalworkers?¡± asked Elder Konri Oko.


    ¡°No, sorry, I haven¡¯t had the chance. Why, did something happen?¡± I said.


    ¡°They said they had made some progress that they wanted to show you,¡± said Elder Konri.


    ¡°Progress?¡± I said.


    ¡°Something about purifying metals by heating them up. They said they had been exploring it on your orders,¡± she said.


    I slowly nodded. ¡°I remember now. That is exciting. I¡¯ll give them a visit in the morning.¡±


    ---Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°And by using two teams of alternating wind magic users, we can blow in enough air into the furnace to heat up this iron until a lot of the impurities can be removed and we are left with this strangely brittle form of iron,¡± said the lead metalworker as she took me around the rudimentary blast furnace that they had developed while I was away. A host of other experimental furnaces dotted the area, many of which were clearly being used for glass. The metalworker herself seemed to have gathered a handful of people who were interested in her work, most of whom were teenagers or young adults. The population of the human tribes had been skewing younger and younger thanks to improved nutrition and medicine.


    ¡°I see, you¡¯re right. This is much more brittle than the iron we¡¯ve been using. I suspect you are interested if this will make sharper edges than the other kinds of iron we are using,¡± I said as I grabbed some of the iron they¡¯d purified yesterday. Judging by its appearance, it was pretty close to the kind of pig-iron that would be used for industrial applications back on my Earth. Seeing the blast furnace being operated by the metal and glassworkers, who were working together to improve furnaces, I had an idea. ¡°I think you¡¯re on to something with the idea to increase the heat in your furnaces. But does this new iron that you¡¯ve produced need as much heat to melt?¡±


    ¡°No, it gets into a molten state more easily than the iron ore we feed the furnaces,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then I think we¡¯re ready for the next step!¡± I said, gathering some of the pig-iron. I walked over to another empty furnace that was roughly in the shape I wanted it to be. The lead metalworker followed. After adding in the pig-iron and heating up the furnace, I was slowly able to re-melt the iron to create what was called a ¡®bloom¡¯ back on my Earth. I then took this bloom and used an iron hammer made from cast iron to slowly work out the molten slag from the bloom. It took a while, and I wasted quite a bit of pig-iron and charcoal, but with a lot of magic, I was finally able to make a decent bit of wrought iron.


    ¡°This is fascinating,¡± said the metalworker. ¡°This iron is much stronger than what we had before.


    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to the experiments that you were doing here,¡± I said as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. ¡°I think you¡¯re doing amazing work down here, all of you. I do foresee one problem, though,¡± I said.


    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine right now, because you¡¯re only making a little bit, but if you start making a lot of iron, you¡¯re going to end up cutting a lot of trees to make charcoal, aren¡¯t you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, I suppose so. We try to cut them far away from the city, but there¡¯s only so far we are willing to go since we have to lug back all that timber here,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then maybe we need to find better sources of fuel,¡± I said.


    ¡°Do you know of any?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t find any around here, but, while I was in the Izlandi Kingdom, I came across some of the methods they were using to make iron for their own people. Some of their metalworkers were using a black rock that looked like charcoal to heat up their furnaces. I will tell the next trade delegation to send some back for your use. The only problem with the substance they were using, which we can call coal, was that it added a lot of impurities to the iron in certain processes or didn¡¯t go hot enough if it was too impure,¡± I said.


    ¡°So we¡¯ll have to think of a way to make the coal more pure,¡± she said.


    ¡°And I think I have an idea of how you could do that. I¡¯ll ask the demons to run the experiment first, but I am fairly confident it will work to produce a more useful form of coal, something which we can call coke,¡± I said.


    After discussing the possibilities of hotter furnaces and iron with less or more impurities, I also asked her to look into the possibility of reworking good iron ore directly into other forms. Specifically, I asked her to try making a furnace that could melt iron inside a tightly shut clay crucible. Crucible steel, if she could figure out a way to make it in this world, would be amazingly useful. Having access to steel would improve the humans and demons¡¯ chances against the beastmen, in case we ended up in a conflict of some sort.


    I walked away with a hopeful smile, envisioning the day when this world would have steel. And how fitting would it be if the first type of steel that was made in this fantasy world was the kind that featured all the time in fantasy and magical stories back on my Earth: wootz or Damascus steel!

 Chapter 162

    After another successful summer solstice festival, I made the crossing over the mountain route to the Izlandi Kingdom. I brought along more goods to be traded, alongside the first samples of wootz steel weapons that I wanted to show to the demon queen. The metalworkers in the human tribes would produce more steel while I was gone but these samples should begin catching the demons¡¯ attention.


    The villages and small towns were as relaxed and idyllic as ever. Our frequent travels through the area had eliminated the most powerful monsters, and after the introduction of concrete and cement in the kingdom, many of the roads leading from the regional city of Tephon had been reinforced to withstand long use. Domesticated monsters could be seen pulling carts full of good to and from the city, signaling the rise of a booming trade network.


    Bain Rusta greeted our delegation personally. After Kol¡¯s rise to power, his position had been solidified and he was able to surround himself with better advisers. We discussed the journey, but it was clear Bain wanted to talk about what I¡¯d brought to trade. I showed him everything except the wootz steel. After spending a night in Tephon, our trade delegation continued on to the capital. I was frustrated by the slow pace of the humans, lamenting the fact that I had left Kelser behind. Not that his presence would¡¯ve made everyone move faster, but it would have made me less bored. But of course, now that he was in the throes of young love, it was hard to drag him all the way to the other side of the mountains every year.


    The sentries on the road to the capital saw us approaching late at night, our torches held aloft, shielded from the powerful wind by magic. They shouted something but it was lost in the wind. I couldn¡¯t see very well in the darkness. There was a new moon tonight, one you could barely see if you squinted really hard in just the right place in the sky. The guards were persistent. Did they mistake us for enemies? This deep into the kingdom? Something must be wrong. No, their spears were not pointed forward. In fact, a couple of them had thrown their spears aside. I frowned and raised a hand.


    The wind stilled.


    ¡°¡ªency, please help!¡± shouted the nearest guard.


    ¡°What is going on,¡± I asked, sprinting forward with magic, leaving the rest of my delegation behind.


    ¡°Great elf, thank the Heavenly Eye you are here! We have been asking for help for weeks! Please, you must head to the palace at once,¡± said the guard, his voice hoarse from shouting into the wind.


    I furrowed my brows, and shot a glance over my shoulder at the humans who gave me affirmative signs. I took a deep breath and channeled my energy. A burst of wind and impeccable use of momentum and muscles propelled me forward, right past rows and rows of guards, up and over ramparts, scaling walls, zooming through streets, and bursting through the gates of the royal palace whose guards had just enough time to realize I was someone they could let through.


    ¡°Cas, you¡¯re here!¡± said Kol as the angry lines on her face unraveled into a look of surprise. Her eyes were deeply sunken in, her hair was disheveled, and the ministers kneeling in front of her throne were trembling. The air inside the throne room had been thick enough to taste; the sickly sweet taste of desperation dancing on the tip of your tongue. Despite everything, I took a moment to notice that she had called me with my first name and without any titles.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know,¡± she said, standing up. Her ministers got up and scrambled off to the side. None of them met her glance. Kol walked with a confident gait, very different from her usual careful, reserved demeanor. ¡°Some time a few weeks ago, we lost all contact outside the city. Anybody we sent out of sight of the farthest sentry points would not return. Not even scouts who were going out on routine missions into the woods or down the road. We would have suspected a powerful monster or a daring group of bandits, but it was happening in every direction. Every direction! If I hadn¡¯t mandated long term food storage within the capital after becoming queen, our people may have started starving.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Sweat trickled down my back. I was still breathing heavily from rushing over. ¡°But there were traders on the road. They were coming from the capital. I talked to them. We even traded some of our goods with them.¡±


    ¡°The last traders who left the city left weeks ago,¡± she said. ¡°There have only been scouts after that.¡±


    ¡°There was no news of missing traders from the other cities,¡± I said. My eyes widened. ¡°Wait, if people aren¡¯t able to enter the city, how did I get in? No, there¡¯s no time for that. I have to go back!¡±


    ¡°Wait¡ª¡±


    I ignored Kol¡¯s command and ran back out the palace and through the streets, walls, ramparts and other obstacles right back to the farthest sentry post where I had left behind the rest of the human trade delegation. They were all accomplished magic users since they had to be good enough to deal with the dangerous mountain route. If the reason I had been able to enter the city was because of my high magical power, the other humans should be able to get through too. I raced past the wooden sentry posts, ignoring the worried guard that was sprinting towards me as I tried to get a look for myself.


    They were gone.


    The sentries, the humans, everybody was gone.


    ---


    ¡°So you went to take a leak and when you returned, everyone was gone?¡± I asked.


    The frenzied guard that I had rushed past before nodded quickly, apologizing fervently for not being able to tell me anything else. ¡°I was too terrified to investigate, so I stayed behind the sentry post and tried to survey the area from afar, but it was as if nobody had ever been there in the first place. There was nothing that could suggest a struggle. No bloodstains, no torn clothing. Nothing. There weren¡¯t even any footprints!¡± he said.


    Kol frowned. I had dragged this guard all the way back to the royal palace, asking him a ton of questions along the way. The poor guy had been so bewildered, he hadn¡¯t been able to calm down until he was brought in front of the queen and attended to by a bunch of physicians. Kol told the physicians to take the guard away for some rest, and turned to me. ¡°I am sorry. I told the guards to warn any visitors to turn back, but I fear they may have been too excited by your return and your ability to enter the city despite whatever it is that is confining us.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright,¡± I said, taking a deep breath. ¡°The circumstances are so strange, I doubt there is anything you could have done about it. If anything, it was my mistake for leaving them behind. Clearly, I am the only one that is unaffected by this strange curse. Is it a curse? No, I do not know what it is. It is not like any magic that I know of. And if it isn¡¯t like the magic that I know, then it can only have come from them.¡± I leaned against a wall. My chest was still burning from all the reckless sprinting and bursts of magic. ¡°And this situation. It is familiar.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯ve faced this before?¡± asked Kol, letting a little hope bleed into her voice.


    I stared at the ground. ¡°Once upon a time, Noel and I visited the immortal that had taught us the basics of magic. However, the immortal had disappeared, fleeing, I assume, from the immortal that came up to us next. The Immortal of Madness did nothing. Really. All he did was walk into the room, sending everything around us into a disturbing dancing delirium. We couldn¡¯t do anything in front of him. He thanked us as if we had done him a favor, and made it seem as if our actions had all been predetermined or manipulated by him. And after a short, confusing conversation, he disappeared.¡± I stopped speaking, reviewing the encounter in my head.


    ¡°How does that remind you of the situation my city is in right now?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°Because after he disappeared, Noel and I realized that we had been thrust into the future, completely unaware of the time that had been passing by. It isn¡¯t exactly like the situation from back then, but the isolation, the strangeness, the fact that the people outside have not even realized that something is wrong in the capital, all of that is very similar. Even if the Immortal of Madness is not to blame, I am sure this has to be the work of an immortal. The only question is,¡± I said as I walked up to the queen¡¯s throne. ¡°Is there anything that we can do about it?¡±

 Chapter 163

    It had been five days since I arrived in the capital city. There were no signs of the missing people, and things were looking grim. We confirmed that I could leave the invisible ¡®bubble¡¯ around the city, and that time seemed to be moving at the same pace inside and outside the ¡®bubble.¡¯ We tried to measure the exact dimensions of the bubble by tying a domesticated monster to a length of rope and throwing them far away before trying to pull them back, but that revealed an even more horrifying dimension to this situation.


    The monster did not disappear at first. While the guard had held onto the other side of the rope, the monster had appeared unfazed, no matter how far we threw it away. Even when it had crossed the places where the disappeared people had last been seen, the monster had continued to mull about and graze. I used magic to push it further and further away, and yet all that seemed to accomplish was to spook the monster and make it cry out a little. But still, it did not disappear, so we reeled it back in.


    I decided to be careful and told the demons not to touch the monster. I stared at it resolutely, just in case it would disappear when I blinked, but nothing happened.


    I turned for a moment towards Kol and asked her something. The eyes of all the people around us moved from the beast to the people talking for only a moment. Kol began replying but was cut off by a scream.


    The monster had disappeared. The guard who had been holding the rope reeled in terror, letting go of the rope. My eyes focused on the empty ground where the monster had been, and I caught in the corner of my vision, the length of rope that had been attached to the monster. My eyes trailed unconsciously towards the rope, a faint sense that something was wrong tingling the tip of my tongue. And then the tingle became a giant blaring proverbial sign, as I noticed the other end of the rope had disappeared and there was only a tiny fragment of rope left, the fragment that had been caught in the corner of my eye.


    I panned to the guard but he was gone.


    ---


    A small army of bureaucrats stretched out scrolls across the floor in a wide empty room. The scrolls ran over each other, trying to display more information, but as the bureaucrats scrambled their scrolls unrolled onto somebody else¡¯ roll and got tangled up into a confusing hard to follow mess like a sentence that was getting too long and self-referential in a mimetic way.


    In another corner were a more orderly group of scribes who I¡¯d tasked to record everything that we had experienced as well as the various experiments that might need to be done. I wanted to do as many of them myself, since I seemed to be immune from whatever made other people disappear, but it was impossible to truly understand the nature of this ¡®bubble¡¯ without risking a few more lives. Although, I was hoping to come up with a way that would avoid having to take that risk.


    From the first experiment, we could conclude that any living being that crossed the invisible wall in this bubble would disappear as soon as it was no longer being observed by people who had not crossed over the line. And I was fairly certain the reason the unfortunate guard had disappeared right under our noses, had been because he had been connected to the monster by the rope, and so must have counted as having tried to cross the line. I didn¡¯t think just touching something that was about to disappear would make you disappear, but that was one of the things that we had to test next.


    The bureaucrats who were pouring over the scrolls were searching for any hints from their history, myths, or even religious texts that could explain what was going on. Any similarities to things mentioned in stories might help me at least figure out which immortal was involved, which might help us figure out what they wanted.


    I just hoped this wasn¡¯t a slow, cruel punishment, since that would mean there was no hope for the demons of the capital. I also wasn¡¯t sure why I was being spared, since there was no way I could directly oppose an immortal. The only thing I could think of was the support I had received from the Immortal of Desire, but I hadn¡¯t met the thirty birds since I had been thrown into the future.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Another team of scholars was going around the city, collecting scrolls full of stories and myths from the general population, as well as bringing people who knew oral stories to the scribes in the palace, so they could transcribe the things that were not in the royal records. I just hoped we would find something.


    ---


    My importance in the city had grown greatly, and the experiment that I was going to do right now would only make it grow higher. Since I was clearly immune from the most dangerous effects of this bubble, I had to redo the monster and rope experiment from before. This time, only a handful of guards accompanied me, and I made sure to tell Kol to stay far away.


    I threw the monster far away in front of me, pushing it with magic hands until it was well beyond where the human delegation had been when they had disappeared. I reeled the monster back in, let go of the rope, and made everyone turn away. When we turned back, the monster and rope were gone.


    I decided to repeat the process with just a length of rope, balling one end up into a knot before chucking it away. But after reeling it in, turning around, and turning back, we found that the rope had not disappeared. Of course, I made sure to repeat this experiment a few times with different inanimate objects, which revealed that the only time inanimate objects would disappear is if they were connected to the living beings that were going to disappear.


    I repeated the experiment with a living monster again, although this time, I made sure to tie the other end of the rope to another monster after I had reeled the first monster in. We turned around, then turned back, and as we had thought, both monsters had disappeared.


    But now it was time for the most important experiment. I told the guards to face away, and to only turn around when I told them to. Then, I took a few steps until I was well clear of whatever boundary existed for this strange and dangerous phenomenon, grabbed some grass from beyond the boundary, and returned. I fed the grass to another monster and waited. Once the monster was done eating the grass, I joined the guards in turning away and waited.


    After a moment, we turned around. I let out a relieved sigh. The guards smiled too, and we discussed our next steps for the day. There were a few more tests to conduct, but these monsters would have been too precious to the city if this experiment had not gone the way it had. Now, we knew that I could bring food and other items from outside the city to the demons of the capital. I walked up to the domesticated monster that was chewing on a new mouthful of grass and pet it on its head.


    ---


    I left to tell the leaders of the various main cities to arrange supplies of food and other essential goods to be sent to the capital. These goods had to be sent to the cities or villages closest to the capital, from where I would collect them and bring them into the capital directly. I also revealed that all travel to the capital was banned, with the punishment being execution, although I left out the part about who exactly would be doing the executing.


    Kol decided not to tell the various local rulers and deputies too much about what was happening to the capital, just in case they tried to take advantage of it. As long as we kept it vague, people¡¯s minds would stray to things like special events, eccentric royal whims, or the spread of a contagious disease, rather than an inexplicable bubble that interfered with cognition and made people disappear.


    ¡°You want us to send all of our scrolls as well?¡± asked Bain Rusta.


    ¡°You can send copies if you have them, but one scroll of every story, myth, folktale, even children¡¯s lullabies, if you have them. It would help if you could gather and transcribe some oral histories as well. The queen looks forward to having a complete collection of every bit of culture and history in the kingdom,¡± I said.


    We were sitting in Bain Rusta¡¯s office in Tephon. A couple of his advisers were sitting around us, taking notes and running in and out with things that I had been asking for. I remembered what Kol had said about the Rustas being close to the exiled prince, and had been asking specifically for information from the Lux Republic. He had pretended like he didn¡¯t have anything substantial, but when I told him I would search every inch of the place with magic, he¡¯d relented and his people had started bringing in everything so that I could give it a quick look.


    ¡°Great elf,¡± said Bain Rusta, sending a signal to his advisers. His advisers exchanged a quick glance, before packing everything up and shuffling out of the room. They closed the wooden doors, and I could hear their feet rushing down the stairs. The main doors to the building had been closed. I could imagine there was nobody within earshot anymore, with guards on the doors.


    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, narrowing my eyes.


    Bain Rusta leaned forward. ¡°Something terrible has happened in the Lux Republic.¡±

 Chapter 164

    Returning to the capital, I walked slowly towards the royal palace. The streets were empty. I glimpsed people sitting around inside their homes, making dinner, and doing other chores in near complete silence. Only the young dared make noise. A baby wailed, a toddler was laughing or crying I could not tell, and a small group of children were playing in a courtyard that I saw into for a moment from a large hole in the wall as I passed by.


    There was only one guard outside the entrance to the royal palace. When I was last here, Kol had told me about rising crime, especially in the poorer parts of the city. The guards had already been thinned out by the phenomenon around the city, and now they were overstretched patrolling and following up on problems throughout the city. They were also needed at every food and grain distribution, since the people were getting hungrier and more desperate.


    The guard saw me and his eyes lit up. His eyes fell on the wheeled cart that seemed to be following me by itself. The cart was piled high with supplies. The guard called his superior from inside the palace and I stopped using my magic hands spell, letting the cart settle in front of them. They thanked me and a bunch of other tired guards came out of the palace, probably the ones who were supposed to be resting right now. As I left for the throne room, the first batch of supplies were being divvied up and readied for distribution.


    ---


    ¡°There is a war up north?¡± said Kol.


    ¡°An army of beastmen invaded the Lux Republic, according to the reports in Tephon. The beastmen seemed to be targeting the cities closest to the Lux Republic¡¯s borders with the Izlandi Kingdom. Most of the cities I visited did not seem to know about this at all. Only Bain Rusta in Tephon had received this information. He wouldn¡¯t tell me where he got it from,¡± I said.


    Kol rubbed her forehead. ¡°Even if my spies had found out about this and managed to escape from the Singing Horde, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get to me here in the capital. It¡¯s a good thing the spies themselves are only supposed to pass along their information to the other people in the network. They won¡¯t come all the way here, and the people in the spy network should know by now not to come to the capital, since you¡¯ve been going around the kingdom telling them not to do that.¡±


    ¡°But they won¡¯t know if that applies to them as spies, would they?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They will. It was a general order from me. If anything, there might be some foreign spies trying to get in who might end up disappearing, but by this point, I think it¡¯s pretty clear the Singing Horde is involved with what is happening to us. Only the spies from the Lux Republic will be effected,¡± she said.


    ¡°Was the Singing Horde always this powerful?¡± I asked. ¡°From what you¡¯d told me before, I wouldn¡¯t have thought them strong enough to invade either of your nations like this. Don¡¯t they usually stick to raiding, rather than invading?¡±


    Kol ordered one of her ministers to bring some scrolls for her. ¡°I don¡¯t know how they¡¯re doing this. It has to be connected to what they¡¯ve done to our capital city. There is no way those mostly nomadic warrior tribes could come up with a coordinated attack like this, much less execute it. They don¡¯t even have any magic, like you do, although there are some stories that we found from around the city and in our collection that you might want to see.¡±


    The ministers returned with their scrolls and spread them out on the floor for me to read. I walked around the room, carefully avoiding the monster hide scrolls as I squinted and used light magic to read what was written near my feet.


    These were stories collected from spies, tradesmen, and travelers who had been to or who had come from the lands of the Singing Horde. Most of these stories were unremarkable, but after reading through a few of them, I began noticing some shared themes and motifs. In particular, there were references to their guardian deity, the God of Music.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    I had long since suspected that the words ¡°singing¡± and ¡°music¡± in relation to the horde were being translated strangely by my translation magic. After all, the Singing Horde used a different language, and the words that I was hearing were in the demon language. This meant that it was the demons who called them ¡°the Singing Horde¡± and their god the ¡°God of Music,¡± although they also called him by many other titles, most of them meaning something like the false god. However, the translations were still technically accurate, at least on a literal level. But there were connotations that were being stripped by the translation.


    Connotations are the subtle undefined meanings of words, things that one does not find in a dictionary, but which still serve to define the manner and use of the words in real life. Connotations also changed what words could mean or imply in different sentences of situations. Think about words like dazzling or flashy. Or about the situational differences and implications of the word ¡®flamboyant.¡¯ In this strange and complicated translation, one being filtered between three languages and across complex cultural and political dimensions, it made sense that seemingly simple words like ¡®singing¡¯ and ¡®music¡¯ would lose some of their subtle meanings.


    And if these stories were anything to go by, what these words had lost had been a crucial piece of the puzzle connecting them to the immortal I feared most.


    I began pacing around the room, speaking more to myself than to Kol and the ministers standing around with bated breaths. ¡°What if singing was not the expression of varying emotions. Of sadness. Of happiness. Of melancholy, pain, angst, and grief. Of innocence, celebration, exuberance, and unbridled joy. What if there was only one kind of song to sing, and that song was a song of insanity, a song of the inexplicable, a song of the inexpressible, a song of paradox and contradiction.


    ¡°And what if music was not a bunch of sounds put together in continuity. What if there was no order to notes, no harmony, no rhythm, no melody. If sounds blended together like oil and water, and mashed against each other like sand grating on stone, with no beginning nor end. No sense of order or unity. Not bad music, mind you. Bad music might make your ears bleed or force you to clamp down on the sides of your head, but it is still definitively music. But what if music went from heavenly or hellish in moments, or perhaps was a bit of both at the same time.


    ¡°It seems the god that the Singing Horde worships is not a god of euphony, but a god of discordance. If there was any doubt left in my mind, it is gone. The Singing Horde worships and is being supported by the immortal who reins over the moon. The Immortal of Madness.¡±


    ¡°The one who sent you into the future?¡± asked Kol.


    I nodded. ¡°Your spy, Spot, said that the horde had not received the help of their god in the past. What changed? That is the question we need to answer. I can think of two possibilities.¡±


    ¡°What are they?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°The immortals will sometimes have servants in this world. I have fought them before. The great oracle of the elves was one such servant. Or Ikon, as she called herself. The first possibility is that one of these Ikons has taken control of the Singing Horde. Ikons can receive magic and other powers from the immortals, which might explain the bubble around the capital city. These Ikons tend to be incredibly powerful, and there might be other servants or monsters under their control. If an Ikon is involved, things will be difficult, but I can rush back to the human tribes and gather up a small force of magic users. Together with your own army, we could unite with the army of the Lux Republic, and fight against the Ikon and the Singing Horde, together,¡± I said.


    ¡°Having the support of the humans would be a great relief. Are you sure they are willing to help us? We would not be able to stand against magic users like the Ikon or their helpers alone,¡± said Kol. ¡°Maybe if you taught us magic like you taught the humans¡­¡±


    ¡°The humans said they were willing to fight. No, you do not need to worry about your people not knowing magic. At least not yet. I suspect you have already started teaching them elemental magic, and with the increasing trade between demons and humans, it is only a matter of time before demons begin learning more powerful magic. After all, haven¡¯t some of the humans that I have been bringing with me, already begun exploring more personal relationships with the demons that they met here. No, Kol, the real problem lies in the second possibility behind why the Singing Horde is so powerful. The other way the Immortal of Madness could be helping the beastmen, is by showing up directly. And let me tell you something.


    ¡°If that devil has appeared in person, I will have no choice but to leave you all at his mercy and run far, far away.¡±

 Chapter 165

    ¡°How are things going?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, you know, they¡¯re fine, everything is fine,¡± said Kelser as he kicked a small pebble.


    I chuckled lightly. I waved to Elder Kezler to let him know it was okay. He nodded and began setting up the campfire. The sun would start setting soon, and the forest path we were resting on would get dark quickly because of the high canopy. The other humans were scrambling to set up camp too. We had been hoping to make the first village, but had realized that we¡¯d be caught out in the dark after descending from the mountains. Now, tired from a rough journey through the mountains, we were going to camp right here, on the foot of the mountains, a few hours from the first village.


    ¡°Come on, you know you can¡¯t hide anything from me. You¡¯re an open book and I¡¯m a great reader. Spill it,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business,¡± he said.


    ¡°Ah, young love. As beautiful as it is painful. Tell me, did you have a big fight? I¡¯m sorry if it was because I dragged you out here,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, it has nothing to do with you. Which is also why you don¡¯t need to know about it,¡± said the red haired young man whose voice, height, and face had all changed over the few years that I had known him. A quick glance in a clear pond revealed just how little I had changed over the same period of time.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, you don¡¯t have to tell me the details if you don¡¯t want to,¡± I said as I walked up to the sulking young man and reached up to pat his shoulder. ¡°But know that I¡¯m here for you if you want to talk. This might be your first time, but I¡¯m a seasoned veteran. I give great advice! Just don¡¯t expect to always like it.¡±


    I spent some more time messing with Kelser, forcing him to stop feeling sad by making him mad at me instead. This was a little trick I learned in college. After all, what good are friends who can¡¯t distract you from stuff like this? Right about now would be when I¡¯d offer to make up with some ice cream, but since there wasn¡¯t any of that here, I told him I¡¯d teach him some more magic instead. For some reason, that didn¡¯t seem to work as well as ice cream. Ah well.


    I taught him the new spell anyways. It wasn¡¯t anything too complicated since I¡¯d come up with it while on the road. I fished a small piece of steel from a pouch and let it levitate in the air. It was levitating because of an earth magic spell, which had become a sort of metal magic spell after a lot of wisdom and some experiments with raw ores. But Kelser already knew this one. I fished out another piece of steel and let it levitate too. I made one of them go right in front of Kelser¡¯s face, before stretching out a hand and touching it.


    I retracted my hand. ¡°Did you catch it?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± said Kelser. ¡°No, did you do something to it?¡±


    I brought my hand back until it was next to the other levitating piece of steel. I pointed my fingers towards Kelser, and the other piece of steel moved slowly towards the one I had touched. Kelser concentrated on the metal as it approached. Then, moments before contact, the two steel bits suddenly clamped together. I let go of the metal magic and let the now connected pieces fall. Kelser held out a hand, brought the two pieces closer, and separated them with his other hand.


    ¡°There are other ways to make magnets,¡± I said as I prepared to teach Kelser the spell. ¡°But we might as well use magic. After all, I think this spell will be very useful in the coming war.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ---


    ¡°Twenty people?¡± said Kol, with a frown.


    ¡°It¡¯s all they could spare,¡± I said as I showed off some of the steel equipment I¡¯d brought with me. Of course, the demons in the capital couldn¡¯t keep it. They were useless in this war, after all.


    ¡°If the Singing Horde can lock us down like this, and can sweep through the Lux Republic this quickly, twenty humans is not going to be enough,¡± she said.


    ¡°All twenty are powerful magicians. A few elders came with us, including one of the most powerful elders, Elder Kezler of the Roja tribe. If he wasn¡¯t so old, he¡¯d probably be about as good as Kelser, if not better. And Kelser and I are here too, so that should be a big help. Besides, once we push them out of the Lux Republic, the other human hunters will join us from the southern side of the steppes,¡± I said. ¡°What about your situation here? Any supply issues you need me to fix? I don¡¯t know how long this campaign will be, so I¡¯ll drop off all of the supplies the major cities have piled up for you before I go.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, that should see us through the season. We have already started growing some crops in what limited land is inside the barrier, just in case you fail,¡± she said.


    ¡°If we fail, this bubble will probably pop. But by then, your kingdom will have fallen, and they¡¯ll be an army waiting to invade and pillage your city,¡± I said.


    ¡°I know, I know,¡± said Kol as she slumped back in her chair. She stared at the unremarkable ceiling. For a throne room in a royal palace, this place was pretty spartan. Kol opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. ¡°My sister should be with them.¡±


    ¡°With the Singing Horde? Yes, I remember. Your brother is up North, with the Lux Republic,¡± I said. ¡°Why, do you want us to rescue them?¡±


    ¡°No, they are deserters and traitors. If you find them, you should capture them,¡± said Kol.


    I chuckled. ¡°Got it. You want me to rescue them, but don¡¯t want to call it that. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll capture them for you.¡±


    Kol looked down from the ceiling at last, and released an exasperated sigh. ¡°Are all elves this annoying?¡±


    ---


    Bain Rusta was the only one receiving intelligence reports from the Lux Republic. I led the humans south to Tephon, and we met up with Rusta¡¯s army along the way. He told us the Republic had been almost completely isolated from the Kingdom and that he had received what was probably going to be the final bit of information to leave the country until our armies arrived.


    ¡°Nobody knows what secret weapon the beastmen are using, all they know is that it is incredibly powerful,¡± said Bain Rusta, sitting atop a trotting equi.


    ¡°Surely, they must know something about it. Is it a kind of magic? A physical weapon? Maybe a tamed monster?¡± I asked.


    ¡°My last contact said that nobody has survived after facing the horde¡¯s secret weapon. Some cities and armies managed to resist the oncoming horde, even sending a few messages out before suddenly cutting off all contact. And the strangest part is that spies who went to the battlefield later found no sign of a battle at all,¡± he said.


    That sounded a lot like the way people were disappearing around the capital city. I suspected I may be the only one immune to the beastmen¡¯s secret weapon. ¡°And there were no spies observing any of these battles from a distance?¡±


    ¡°Anyone who was assigned such a role disappeared alongside the defending armies,¡± said Bain Rusta.


    I frowned. It seemed like I wasn¡¯t going to get any more useful information, at least not until we approached the border. For now, I considered what we did know, and began preparing a tent. We had already passed the capital, having given the boundaries of the city a wide berth, and taking some final messages from the queen. She shared some helpful tips on the beastmen¡¯s battle tactics and weaknesses. I glanced over my shoulder. A procession of demons stretched far down the road, campfires beginning to dot the long trail as we settled along the roadside for the night.

 Chapter 166

    Wootz steel is hypnotic. Known as Damascus Steel to most people on my Earth, it was a fixture in many fantasy stories, even though it was a real material. In a world without fantasy metals like mythril and adamantium, the closest thing you could get was something like Damascus Steel.


    Alternating waves of gray and black, like ripples on a lake etched into metal. Trailing a finger across the surface, you could almost imagine feeling ribs of carbon amid the steel. Damascus Steel swords had been highly prized in the medieval era on my Earth, since they were praised for their sharpness and durability, and also became associated with magic and superstition.


    I pressed two fingers on the flat of the blade. The ripples on this sword were particularly striking, like a hypnotic spiral. Perhaps if you stared at it in the right light, I could snap my fingers and make you dance. I had no idea if I¡¯d ever be able to invent hypnotic or mind control magic on my own, but if I did, I would definitely apply it to this sword. The steel for the sword had been made by the metalworkers in New Cas City, but I had shaped the sword myself. It required a lot of fire and air magic, along with a little earth and metal, but I was satisfied with what I had. All that was left was to give the sword a name, but I decided to think about that later.


    The sword was important. I knew I might be going up against the immortal¡¯s minions, which meant I had to prepare for every eventuality. Including the possibility that my magic wouldn¡¯t work anymore. I¡¯d made one for Kelser too, and made Damascus Steel tips for the spear tips of the best human hunters. There wasn¡¯t enough time to make many Damascus Steel weapons for the demons, but that was okay. They were all decked out in iron armor, wielding iron swords, spears, and pikes. Bain Rusta told me this was the sort of armor they used against the Lux Republic, but it wasn¡¯t as useful against beastmen, who liked to make use of their higher agility and reflexes.


    We were joined by more contingents of demons as we marched towards the border. Bain Rusta had taken over organizing the various armies. Kelser had stopped moping around once the scale of the battle started settling into his head. He decided to practice magic with the other humans, and I dropped by to give them some ideas. Soon, they were all practicing alternating lines of magic bombardment, quick casting of large earthen walls, ditches, and other obstacles to help divide larger armies, as well as a mechanism for holding apart the sides of the water in case of a river retreat.


    The final stop on the way to the border was a little fort nestled into the forest, overlooking a steep cliff with flat plains below it. It provided a beautiful vantage point from where the demons could look far into the distance and spot any approaching Republican armies, although now, the many eagle-eyes scouts and observers on the fort towers were straining their eyes for signs of beastmen activity.


    A few other armies were waiting for us there. Bain Rusta advised that we wait for some reinforcements to arrive from the surrounding cities, but added that there was no reason to wait for more demons to join us from the South, since they would be heading East to reinforce the border with the Singing Horde.


    The few days we spent on this lonely fort above a cliff were tense and unnerving. Bain Rusta had stopped receiving any information from inside the Lux Republic, and all of our scouts couldn¡¯t find anything nearby except for a few destroyed villages. We considered sending a small force to a larger town or city, but not only did we suspect they would be as ravaged and empty as the villages, we also didn¡¯t want to risk alerting the horde, now that we had assembled our grand army.


    I called the leaders of the various forces that made up our grand army to my tent. Kelser stood right next to me, followed by elders Kezler, Brol, and Mann. Bain Rusta stood on the other side of the rough wooden table I had been provided by the commanding officer of the fort. Speaking of whom, the commanding officer of the fort, a short woman who everybody called Captain, led the few guards and career soldiers of the fort. Other soldier and guard leaders who had left their cities with small skeleton crews to come join us in the war, stood beside the Captain. Various local rulers of cities and towns stood next to Bain Rusta, alongside the heads of mercenary troops that had been hired by the administrators and governors with the authorization of Queen Kol, who promised to pay them with gold from the royal treasury after their return, which meant she was hoping they would help get rid of the isolating barrier around the capital, which was a phenomenon that they did not even know about.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    And juggling all of these complicated personalities with their own vested interests, was an elf from a foreign land and another world, who was already tired of all the bickering and arguments which were occurring even before he had formally started the meeting. Yes, I was not looking forward to this.


    I cleared my throat. The crowd of leaders quietened. I began to speak, and they hushed completely. I was so startled by the speed of their silence, I almost bit my own tongue. Thankfully, that didn¡¯t happen, and I was able to go over our plans one last time. All the while, I thought to myself that I had underestimated my influence over these demons and humans. I suppose if a mythical being appeared in front of me on my old Earth, I would react in a similar fashion, but actually being that sort of mythical being myself gave me an eerie feeling.


    I finished the meeting with that feeling still lingering in my head.


    ---


    The last reinforcements joined us in the fort. We let them rest and replenish their supplies, before setting off an a march down the side of the cliff and into the plains below. Bain Rusta said that these empty plains tended to be the site of the bloodiest battles between the Republic and the Kingdom, since they were ideal for large armies. The Kingdom¡¯s armies had marched like this towards the Republic¡¯s heartland for generations, which made me frown. I had to remember not to leave the Kingdom with too much of a technological advantage over the Republic after this battle with the immortals was over. Even though I thought the current queen, Kol, wouldn¡¯t try to conquer another people like this, I couldn¡¯t trust that she or her descendants wouldn¡¯t be tempted to increase their power through violence and conquest.


    Scouts scoured the plains, checking in every smoldering village and town turned to ash. My face was grim, and a heavy cloud descended on the army. Even as the ground shook under our feet and the rumbling thunder of our march filled the air, it was the silence of the surrounding area that was the loudest in our ears. Bain Rusta told me these places had never been very densely populated, since they were so close to a dangerous border and didn¡¯t have as much freshwater as the lands in the heartland of the Republic, but they were still bustling and lively. Even the demon armies never destroyed the villages and towns around here, since requisitioning food from those places was an essential part of the supply lines for their marching armies. We had already known about this devastation from the scout reports, which was why we had come with more supplies than usual, but being in the midst of these ruins, the scars of intense violence marring the otherwise pristine countryside, it was a feeling that was difficult to describe.


    The worst part was what was not there to be seen. In none of the villages or towns, did we come across any blood or corpses. The inhabitants of the Republic were called spirits and fairies, but Bain Rusta confirmed that they were as flesh and blood as demons and humans. In fact, I suspected my translation magic was just giving me the best possible translation for these beings based on their appearances, since I knew these so-called fairies and spirits didn¡¯t know magic, and couldn¡¯t do things like fly with their wings and were actually quite tall.


    ¡°Even the beastmen aren¡¯t leaving behind any blood,¡± remarked Bain Rusta. ¡°This is not how they fight. They raid and pillage, leaving the site of their violence more quickly than they come. They never take their dead with them, nor do they clean up blood and gore. Something has made the beastmen change generations of established behavior.¡±


    I stared at another pile of debris and ash that had once been a village. Among the gray, I noticed a small splash of color. I walked into the ruins and stooped down, picking up the colorful object. It was a tiny dress, its edges frayed and burnt. Next to it, I spotted a charred bit of wood, roughly carved into a humanoid shape. I bent down and placed the dress on top of the doll, and rejoined the army as it marched deeper into the lands of the Republic.

 Chapter 167

    I remembered watching Carl Sagan¡¯s Cosmos as a kid. I remembered the first episode, narrated in Sagan¡¯s calming voice, lamenting the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. All the knowledge of the ancient world, said Sagan, was within those marble walls. Its burning was a great tragedy, and a warning, letting us know that we must never let it happen again.


    I spent many hours reading up on the Library of Alexandria as a kid, inspired by this episode of Cosmos. I learned about the city named after Alexander the Great, and the library that came to live in that city. I learned about how it was created, sustained, and nurtured over many generations, until it became the stuff of legends. I learned that there were all sorts of theories behind the library¡¯s destruction. From random fires, to conquests by Julius Caesar, successive Roman Emperors, and others. A slow decline mirroring that of the city itself, or perhaps a series of clandestine thefts, or purges based on puritanical religious beliefs.


    In high school, I learned about the House of Wisdom in medieval Baghdad. Like the Library of Alexandria, the House of Wisdom had been a great center of learning and a repository for all the knowledge in the world. Made possible because of a tiny battle in the mountains of Central Asia, where a squabble between local tribes stretched the boundaries of two large empires¡ªone Middle Eastern and one Chinese¡ªand made them touch tips. One small military victory, which led to the capture of a few artisans and workers, helped the technology of paper spread West, all the way to Baghdad, spurring on a movement for translation, consolidation, and creation of knowledge across every conceivable field of learning. Somehow, finding out that the Library of Alexandria had not been an outlier, and that humanity seemed to want to collect and pass on its knowledge to future generations so badly that it would make not one, but two great libraries, made me incredibly hopeful. It wasn¡¯t unreasonable to say that the image of these two great houses of knowledge helped motivate me to study as hard as I could, which got me into the college of my dreams.


    But in that college, I learned that the Great Library of Alexandria, that amazing bastion of learning, that unparalleled repository of knowledge, that romantic analogue for humanity¡¯s yearning to know more than it could ever know in one lifetime, was probably not real. Or at least, it was never what I had thought it was. It was not as grand as it was made out to be, its loss never representing the fall of humanity into the darkness of ignorance, as much as Carl Sagan had led me to believe. No, the library of Alexandria was probably two separate collections, consisting mostly of documents and bureaucratic records, with most of its ¡®knowledge¡¯ being passed down through word of mouth or tradition, anyway.


    And the House of Wisdom was worse still. There was barely any evidence for its existence at all. If it had existed, it would have been as a private library of sorts for the rulers of the city. The translation movement, although large and influential, was probably spread out throughout the medieval city of Baghdad or even other cities in the region, and did not center around the House of Wisdom. Even its destruction at the hands of the Mongols was disputed. Baghdad did not fall to Genghis, but to one of his descendants. By this time, the Mongols also collected knowledge, and would have tried to steal and preserve books, rather than destroy them.


    Yet, an image from the infamous story of the destruction of the House of Wisdom came to my mind. Narrated many years after the fall of Baghdad, and therefore unreliable and untrue, this account and its imagery had always been a haunting one to me. Like Sagan¡¯s image of the burning library, the image invoked a grand sense of loss: a river turned black with ink, its surface so thick with books one could walk their horse across it.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I stooped low, pressing my hands on the surface of the river. It was solid, like congealed blood. I brought my fingers away, and saw them covered in fibers and hair. As far as the eye could see across this large, flat river, the surface was filled to the brim with scrolls. Scrolls made of monster hide, plant fibers, and other materials that I had not seen before. Little islands of texts, like blood clots, scattered across the surface. Only to sink into the river slowly, underneath my gaze. I stood frozen on the banks of the river as the rest of the army rushed forth. They were running into the city next to this river, with everyone but Kelser shouting for help and trying to coordinate a search. A few people tried to fish out the scrolls from the river, but they were dragged away by their superiors to the city, to mount a search and rescue operation. Kelser was saying something to me, but I couldn¡¯t hear him. Eventually, he ran inside the city as well.


    Sitting on the banks of the river reminded me of my last day on my Earth. It had been darker then, and colder. I¡¯d had thoughts in my head, muddled but many. Now my mind was clear, but felt muddled just the same.


    I was reminded of the library where I¡¯d spent many a night, working hard on homework and other assignments. The smell of old books, of knowledge recorded by people who had died long before your parents were born. Musty, comforting, familiar, like an old coat or your childhood home.


    Eventually, I picked myself up and looked at the city. A massive fire was ravaging it in every direction. Humans and demons tried to put it out, but nothing was happening. I saw Kelser focusing on looking for survivors, and thought to myself that he must have been shaken by the city and the river, too. Why else would he forget to do what I was about to do?


    I stepped forward, putting the river out of my sight. I raised my hands, took a deep breath, and began pouring my energy into a spell. Clouds roiled, thunder rumbled, and the first drops of water fell on my cheek. The heavens opened up and a mass of water slammed into the city, vanquishing the fire and dissolving the smoke. The water hit my hair and doused my own confused, inflamed emotions. I turned around.


    A wave of ashen water, brackish and full of soot, pushed the glut of scrolls downriver. I bit my lips and began using my magic in a frenzy. Magic hands pulled soggy monster hide out of the water while jets of water shot out scrolls onto the banks. It felt futile bringing a few dozen of them out when the river relentlessly pushed the rest forward, propelled by the rainwater that I had caused myself, but somehow I did not want to stop, to think, to find a rational way to save everything.


    When the clouds cleared, the river was clear and gentle. Its banks were a soggy mess. My own body was aching, my head hurt, and I collapsed to the ground, breathing deeply but slowly. Kelser came over to tell me that they never found any survivors. But they did find the first signs of resistance that we had found so far in our excursion into the Republic.


    Broken wood, splintered and smashed, lay around a door. Inside, markings of ink, untreated hide, and rolls of unfinished scrolls.


    I sat beside Kelser on the banks of the now clear river. Collecting my thoughts, waiting for the army to move again in the morning, I sat silently. Kelser was eating meat on a stick. I ignored his munching, closed my eyes, and relived this awful, awful day. I felt like I had to say something, a quote from another world, that might not make sense to Kelser, but would make me feel better:


    ¡°What an astonishing thing a book is. One glance at it and you''re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that people are capable of working magic."

 Chapter 168

    Many cities were destroyed. As were villages and towns. The entire country seemed to have been decimated. And yet, in none of those places, could we find any sign of the invaders. No hints of the size of their army, the weapons that they used. We had no idea where they made camp, when they marched, how they were securing their supplies. It was as if ghosts had swept through the country, sucking up all the inhabitants of the Republic and burning their settlements because of spite, not necessity.


    ¡°We should be approaching the capital any time now,¡± said Bain Rusta from atop his equi.


    ¡°And what do we do if it¡¯s deserted too?¡± asked Kelser, who was walking beside me.


    I glanced over my shoulder. The army had only started marching an hour ago, and shouldn¡¯t be too tired. Marching to the capital wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but what would come after could be a challenge. If the capital had fallen, we would have no choice but to swing back around and head towards the Singing Horde¡¯s homeland. The Republic¡¯s capital was the farthest city from our border, since it was built on a river delta. Bain Rusta remarked how the city used to have the most beautiful beaches in the world. In quieter times, even the elites of the Kingdom would come to vacation there.


    By this point the river had split into distributaries and the delta was fanning out. Bain Rusta and his commanders were the only ones who knew the path to the city, since we had left the road behind to try to cut off whatever force was attacking the Republic. We also did not want to have to fight the enemy¡¯s forces out in the open without joining up with what remained of the Republic¡¯s army. Clearly, the enemy was too dangerous to take on alone.


    Shouting in the distance. A scout raced up to us on his equi. He said one of the scouting parties was fighting an unknown enemy. Murmurs in the ranks of the army. Bain Rusta directed his commanders to calm the soldiers down. Kelser headed to the humans and began preparing a party full of magic users to support the demon soldiers.


    I pressed my foot into the ground, and rubbed it across the earth in an arc. The crunch of gravel was replaced by a rumble and a thud, as the land punched me into the sky. I used air and motion magic to propel myself forward, sending two long magic hands to connect to trees on either side near the front of the army. The magic hands pulled me forward, sending me hurtling over the heads of confused demons and spooked equi.


    The wind whistled past my face. I squinted as I was propelled towards the sun, my vision blurred by blaring sunlight. I yelled to declare my arrival, the sounds of metal clanging against metal, enraged shouts, and military orders filling the air. I had expected the battlefield to hush at the appearance of a yelling elf sized bullet, but it only quietened down a little bit. I blinked rapidly, prepared fireballs in my hand, and shot them into the sky. The fireballs exploded into sparks, finally grabbing everyone¡¯s attention, and a tense silence hung in the air. I looked around and frowned.


    A group of young demon soldiers was glaring at a squad of tall, armored soldiers. The enemy soldiers were much better equipped than the demons, donning full plated iron armor, heavy shields, and a helmets that covered everything but the eyes. The enemy soldiers were staring resolutely at me, keeping the demon soldiers in the periphery of their vision. They were wielding strange pike-like weapons, four to six meters in length, which extended far out of their closed formation like the quills of a porcupine. And since they had their backs to each other, they were defended from all sides, although I could tell that they did not find the situation ideal. After all, the demons had surrounded them on all sides, and although the demon¡¯s spears weren¡¯t as long, it would surely only be a matter of time before they managed to get close enough to render the long pike-like weapons worthless. Now that I had arrived with some flashy fire magic, the enemy soldiers were confronted with an even more difficult situation. I could cook them inside their well-armored and well-defended formation without ever getting in range of their weapons. Even though the only part of their faces that I could see were the eyes, they told me everything I needed to know. These soldiers were tense and desperate. They would probably do something stupid soon, like rush forward in every direction to try to break through.


    ¡°Stop!¡± I yelled just as the enemy soldiers began to step forward.


    The demon soldiers also knew what their opponents were planning, and had formed their own ranks on all sides. Before they could take advantage of the enemy¡¯s hesitation, I pushed a bunch of them back with magic hands. A couple of demons stumbled and fell over, wide-eyed, with many others finally letting go of their blood-lust and concentration to give me confused looks. Even the enemy soldiers seemed surprised.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°We are not here to fight you,¡± I said to the enemy soldiers, then I turned to the demons on my side, ¡°look closely, friends. Don¡¯t you see who they are?¡± I pointed to the tall, armored soldiers, using a bit of light magic to highlight the well-hidden but revealing little formations on the backs of their armor. These metallic protrusions would be completely unnecessary and wasteful for all but one kind of being.


    ¡°Fairies!¡± shouted a demon commander as realization dawned on his face. He began telling his men to stand down, and the demons even opened up the back of their encirclement. The fairies, for their part, didn¡¯t ease up their formation at all. They had been surprised by the demons¡¯ reaction, but didn¡¯t say anything. Once the encirclement was opened up, they inched slowly backwards, trying to put some open space behind their backs so they could retreat if necessary.


    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, once again stepping forward. I had left the lines of the demon soldiers and walked dangerously close to the fairies¡¯ pike-like weapons.


    The fairies tensed up, but one of the tallest fairies finally quipped to her compatriots. The other fairies heard what she had said, but I couldn¡¯t catch it. I strained my ears, and realized they weren¡¯t sure what to do. Looking around, it seemed like they didn¡¯t have a commanding officer, and the tallest female fairy was only directing the others since she happened to be well-respected.


    ¡°We came from the Izlandi Kingdom,¡± I said, ¡°we heard that you were being invaded by the Singing Horde, who were being assisted by a mysterious force. These demon soldiers are here as reinforcements for your capital. Tell me, is the capital still standing?¡±


    The tall female fairy stopped talking to the others. She looked around. Nobody else was coming forward. She did not lower her pike as she stepped just an inch out of formation and spoke loudly: ¡°We are a scouting party sent out by the orders of the Senate. The capital lost contact with the rest of the country a few days ago, and all of our hunting and scouting parties have failed to return. You are the first beings we have encountered on our mission. We must assume that you are responsible for the invasion of the Lux Republic and the isolation of our glorious capital.¡±


    I blinked. The way this tall fairy talked was especially pompous and self-righteous. I mean, if the tall stature and militaristic appearance hadn¡¯t already done so, her voice and mannerisms completely shattered my expectations of what a ¡®fairy¡¯ was supposed to be.


    ¡°You don¡¯t even know that it is the Singing Horde that is invading you?¡± asked Kelser as he arrived with his contingent of humans.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± said the tall fairy. Many fairies in the formation pointed their weapons at Kelser.


    ¡°My name is Kelser. I am a human,¡± he said, casting a little fireball over his fingers. The fairies stared at the fire in trepidation.


    ¡°Human? Is that a species of beastman?¡± asked the fairy.


    ¡°No,¡± said Bain Rusta, as he arrived on his tired and panting equi, ¡°they are a completely different type of sentient beings. They live past the great mountains to the South of our realm. Please, noble fairies, lay down your weapons. We seem to have barely made it to your city before whatever force has been ravaging your countryside. You must take us to the Senate, immediately!¡±


    The lead fairy gave Bain Rusta a suspicious glare. ¡°No, we cannot trust you. You have brought an army deep into our country, on the pretense of assisting against an invasion we cannot confirm has occurred. If you want to come with us, you must all throw down your weapons and return with us as captives.¡±


    Bain Rusta got off his equi and walked over to me. It was the first time I had seen the old demon with an angry face. ¡°Are you so blind you cannot see the truth that is right in front of your eyes? Have they stopped teaching you your own stories, your own myths, and legends, the very foundation of your society? Look more closely. Over here, at the one who stands next to me. Do you not realize who has come to rescue you from utter ruin?¡± Bain Rusta pointed at me, in particular at my ears and face, and glared at the fairies.


    The lead fairy frowned. It was another fairy, a shorter one whose chin was only a little bit higher than the top of my head, who slid his helmet off just a little bit so he could get a better view. His eyes widened, his lips trembled, and he struggled to get out the words that seemed to be caught in his throat.


    ¡°Elf!¡± shouted another fairy.


    ¡°Great elf!¡± shouted another.


    Soon, the tightly knit, heavily armored unit of tall fairy knights wielding menacing pikes and robust shields, dropped their weapons in a frenzy and collapsed, kissing the ground with their mouths while shouting something about elves and victory.

 Chapter 169

    ¡°What is going on,¡± I asked.


    ¡°We are expressing our joy at having met you, Great Elf,¡± said one of the groveling fairies. Their heavy armor clanked against their awkwardly low bodies, making it nearly impossible to hear them over the din.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not asking you,¡± I said as I turned to face Bain Rusta. ¡°Nobody in the capital said anything about fairies revering elves. It wasn¡¯t in any of the documents I¡¯d been pouring over for days. There were mentions in folktales and legends, but nothing that would make them drop to the floor like this. And yet, you knew they were going to do this. How?¡±


    ¡°I will answer your questions, Great Elf,¡± said Bain Rusta, mimicking the reverence of the fairies, ¡°but perhaps we can get these fellows on their feet first? The capital shouldn¡¯t be far from here, but guides like these will be helpful.¡±


    I nodded and sighed. I figured there wasn¡¯t enough time to start correcting their attitude and telling them to stop thinking of me too highly, so instead, I ordered them to stop groveling and start marching.


    The capital was in danger and an elf from the legends had showed up on their doorsteps to save the day!


    ---


    ¡°The scrolls in the capital are old, as is most of the intelligence that was being shared with the court,¡± said Bain Rusta.


    I frowned. ¡°Intelligence that was being shared with the court? You make it sound like the spies weren¡¯t answering to the royal court.¡±


    ¡°They weren¡¯t,¡± said Bain Rusta, ¡°or at least, the spies within the Lux Republic were not loyal to the court. They were loyal to us.¡±


    I was walking beside Bain Rusta and a small contingent of humans and fairies. Kelser and the humans were casting magic on the fairies to make them run faster, while the other humans, led by Elder Kezler, brought up the rest of the army behind us. I was using magic on myself and Bain Rusta, who had to abandon his equi because it got spooked by my magic. We were zipping through the forest trail, with the fairies occasionally stopping to search for the marks along the path.


    ¡°Why would the spies in the Lux Republic, which lies so far north, be loyal to the Rusta in Tephon?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Although the Rusta family ended up in Tephon, our lineage does not originate from there. Our ancestors came from the borderlands; lands now controlled and settled by the Lux Republic,¡± said Bain Rusta. ¡°However, in those times, demons, fairies, and spirits were not as divided as we are now. In fact, the demons, fairies, and spirits formed one great nation, whose name has long since been lost to the deep expanse of time. We were united against the hordes of the beastmen, who used to be more ferocious and powerful than the beastmen of today. And from those ancient times, our family has maintained some relationships within the great families of the fairies and spirits, who hold great sway over the Senate and are privy to the most crucial information from within the Republic.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain why your family was able to control all of the spies,¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, we controlled the source of the information, the spies themselves, the intermediaries who brought that information to the palace, and many of the spymasters and intelligence chiefs in the palace,¡± he said.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°That does sound impressive. I guess that means the palace had to be careful around your family.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. The queen would not have been able to deal with my family if they hadn¡¯t all bet so completely on Prince Alek¡¯s ascension to the throne. They¡¯d burned a lot of bridges with their pointless ingratiation towards the young prince. But it was your arrival and the routing of the prince¡¯s forces that truly spelled their doom,¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure you had nothing to do with that,¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean, Great Elf?¡± he said.


    ¡°The way all of your opponents were swept away, as if by the queen¡¯s anger and my support, leaving you conveniently in complete control of Tephon, I¡¯m sure that was all just a coincidence,¡± I said.


    Bain Rusta let his gray and white hair be swept away by the wind, revealing his old, spotted face, and thin smile. ¡°Yes, Great Elf. Fortune has been on my side, lately.¡±


    ---


    New Cas City had no defenses. Well, that wasn¡¯t completely true. There was motion detection magic all around the surroundings, and the humans did not need to prepare to fight, since their magic was always at the ready. But there were no walls around the city, no moats, no grand entrances or gates. There were no natural barriers meant to funnel enemies into a narrow opening, although the river did provide some protection on one side.


    The capital of the Izlandi Kingdom had similarly lacking defenses. There were sentries and frequent scouting parties, and of course the major roads were all closely monitored and well guarded, but the capital itself was not surrounded by walls until I built up the ramparts and other defenses for the battle against the prince¡¯s forces.


    The capital of the Lux Republic was not like that. Bain Rusta had already described the city for me a little bit, and I had gathered some information about it from the scrolls and accounts of travelers and merchants. Yet, as we approached the capital, our fairy escort growing more agitated and nervous, I couldn¡¯t help but admire the transformation in our surroundings.


    The forest trail had given way to a paved stone path that stretched far into either direction. The stones were smooth and flat, and joined together by some sort of mortar. The edges of the road were lined with what appeared to be rudimentary storm drains, which were also lined by stone. Markers stood at regular intervals on the road, with words carved onto them. The fairies said they did not know what the words meant, since they could not read. As they were explaining this, one of them let out a cry, and the others turned their attention to the front. Smiles broke out on their faces, something that I could only because of the way their eyes contorted, since most of them were still wearing their helmets, for some reason. I followed their gaze and had to admit, this sight was worth smiling at.


    Pillars made of polished stone reached into the clouds. On either side, an intimidating wall, terrifying and sublime, lined the horizon to the limits of my vision. And in between the pillars, there was a monumental gate made of brushed brass that glinted like gold. The road stretched across flat plains, the forests on all sides having been cleared out long before, leaving a view that looked like it had been plucked straight from a fairy tale, which was an appropriate description for the nature of the place.


    We rushed along the road with our magic, the army left far behind us. The walls were even more impressive from up close, appearing like uncanny cliffs, so clearly unnatural yet so imposing it was hard to imagine they hadn¡¯t existed in that space forever. The pillars were best appreciated from up close, when their true immensity became apparent. And the gates, shut tight, had an empyrean character, shining brightly and standing tall on the flat plain.


    ¡°Open the gates!¡± shouted the fairy scouts as we approached.


    Tall, armored fairy guards shuffled nervously in front of the gates. Despite their size, they looked almost comical standing against the gargantuan structures behind them. They leveled their weapons at our party, at which point Bain Rusta, still unable to speak because he was catching his breath from our magic enabled sprint, pointed to my face, especially the ears.


    Ah, here we go again.

 Chapter 170

    When the gates swung open, I caught my first glimpse of a fairy without armor.


    Tall, stately figures, with faces like porcelain dolls. Their generally muscular physiques contrasted sharply with their dainty faces, which made them look incredibly creepy. Creepier still were the deep black wings stuck to their backs, which seemed to flutter a little whenever they were talking to someone. Their hair was mostly a lustrous shade of gold, although their eyes seemed to come in all sorts of colors. Their ears were strange too, coming out like little pearl sized nubs on the sides of their heads.


    And to see these strange beings going about their day on the streets; hawkers, shop owners, families with toddlers, and other manner of ordinary people, was striking enough to distract me from noticing the strangeness of the city itself.


    The roads were wide and made from stone, just like the road leading up to the gate from outside. However, the markers on the road outside were replaced by metal rods sticking a few feet above the head of the tallest fairies, a little glass lantern entombed within a metal enclosure at the top. It was still light out so the streetlights hadn¡¯t been lit, but their Victorian appearance was awkward enough to catch my eye.


    After that, I noticed the buildings. Everything had massive entrances, huge steps, and high ceilings. Even little shops selling fish and meat in unsanitary conditions, had the imposing scale that one would only find in government buildings back on my Earth. Speaking of which, the style of the buildings could¡¯ve been pulled straight out of antiquity on my Earth, although there were key differences. Sure, there were massive pillars and arches, but there were also elaborate triangular prisms everywhere, and even after asking Bain Rusta and the scout fairies, I couldn¡¯t figure out what that strange design accomplished. Apparently, it was purely aesthetic.


    The scout fairies handed us over to their superiors, who had come rushing towards us after the gates had been swung open. Judging by the frozen expressions on all the fairies going about their daily lives, they had not been expecting the gates to open. In fact, there had been a thick gloom hanging about the city, and I felt that thick gloom begin to solidify into terror and resignation. Clearly, they had assumed the worst when the gates opened.


    But with the scout and guard fairies groveling at my feet and saying incomprehensible things in a submissive manner, the gloomy air quickly turned to one of confusion and awkwardness. The dignity of the defenders of the city would¡¯ve been in tatters if the very first word to come out of the mouth of the angry superior officers hadn¡¯t been: ¡°elf!¡± That declaration was followed by even more embarrassing reactions, this time by all of the fairies on the street.


    I sighed, glared at Bain Rusta, and began walking up the road. Kelser and the others followed behind me, with Kelser walking up to me and asking if he should ask one of the wide-eyed fairies which way to go. I told him we didn¡¯t need to ask for directions, and pointed to the hill jutting out of the mass of buildings near the center of the city. On top of the hill, there was a building with more pillars than any other, as well as a statue nestled on the very top.


    I didn¡¯t want to spend too much time on the open streets with all the ogling fairies, so I used magic to race through the streets, avoiding confused fairies, and leaving everybody but Kelser, who had rushed ahead with me, and Bain Rusta, who I had grabbed with magic hands. Bain Rusta yelled but I couldn¡¯t hear what he was saying. Perhaps he didn¡¯t like being held up in the air as I barreled through crowds of tall fairies and slipped between pillars while ducking arches.


    I dropped the old demon to the floor, unceremoniously, as I reached the top of the hill. He was grumbling and complaining about his poor old heart, but I figured that meant he was fine. Kelser was a little out of breath, and he turned around to survey the bewildered crowds down below. A bunch of fairies had already started trying to make their way to this central hill and building, and I was sure the rest of the crowd would find out about me soon, as well. I turned quickly to the building, noticing that despite the massive pillars and gargantuan proportions of the frontal facade, the actual entrance was a simple, reasonably sized wooden door. The door had elaborate inscriptions on it and was by no means lacking in design, but it seemed oddly placed behind pillars several times my size. Some of the taller fairies might even have to duck a little to use this wooden door, I thought to myself as I pushed open the door, nonchalantly.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Who dares!¡± came a voice from within.


    The door opened all the way. ¡°Ah, sorry, am I interrupting something?¡±


    ¡°You! You are not a spirit, no, you are not even a fairy!¡± said someone.


    ¡°How did you get in here?¡± said another.


    ¡°Has the city already fallen? How did we not notice?¡±


    ¡°Leave this place!¡±


    ¡°Guards, come quickly!¡±


    ¡°No, we sent the guards away.¡±


    ¡°What for?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember, the fairies wanted to scout for the enemies or something.¡±


    ¡°No, we wanted them to scout for us, but were afraid the other guards were compromised.¡±


    ¡°No, no, we thought our guards were compromised, so we sent them to scout towards the enemy.¡±


    The bickering continued, and I stood there forgotten. I blinked my eyes. Kelser cleared his throat. The bickering beings ignored him.


    ¡°Okay, I think that¡¯s enough,¡± I said as I clapped my hands together. Several magic hands spread out and clasped over about a dozen obnoxious mouths, muffling the indignant cries of the most powerful beings in the Lux Republic.


    I stared at one of those beings, specifically the one closest to where I was standing. Based on what Bain Rusta had said, she was one of the ¡®spirits¡¯ that ruled over the Lux Republic as a member of the Senate. She had a small body, which floated a few feet above the ground. Her facial features were similar to those of the fairies outside, except for the long, dangling ears that extended out like antennae on either side of her head. She was bald, like the rest of them, and her head gave off a dull sheen even in the dim light. That said, the light in this room was so dim, I could barely make out anything. There were no windows to let in light into this room, so I used a little light magic to help the light from the open door flood into and fill the room.


    Two things happened after the room was lit up.


    First, the spirits stopped struggling as they caught a good look of my face. Their eyes spread wide, their jaws slackened, and some of them even began to blink rapidly or quiver quietly. The spirit closest to me even looked like she was about to cry.


    And yet, unlike all of the other times somebody in this world had reacted to my appearance this way, I didn¡¯t get too annoyed at the spirits¡¯ reaction. Because the second thing that happened after the room was lit up, was that I could finally see the back wall of the room of the Senate.


    It was decorated by a wonderful mosaic, full of bright colors, intricate shapes, all clearly the work of master artisans, and all clearly aligned to make a familiar face.


    A heroic figure, crouching over a wooden spear stuck into the ground. A massive scar on his chest. The end of one of his long, elfin ears missing as if it had been chewed out by a monster. And an expression full of solemn sorrow and regret. It was a mosaic of the greatest hunter of the elfin Jora tribe, the wielder of the Dragon¡¯s Tooth, Noel¡¯s uncle: Sharun Jora.

 Chapter 171

    I let my magic hands dissipate. Or perhaps they dissipated on their own because of my shock. Kelser gave me a strange glance, his gaze flitting back and forth between my face and the mosaic. Bain Rusta looked on solemnly. I turned to him.


    ¡°You knew about this too, didn¡¯t you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Might have heard about it through the grapevine,¡± he said.


    ¡°But you don¡¯t know who he is,¡± I said. Bain Rusta shook his head. I nodded mine and stepped forward.


    The spirits began scrambling to the sides, some stumbling over the stone steps that they had been hovering over a while ago. The spirits seemed to hover all the time, but they could lose their balance in the air easily, especially when they were emotionally disturbed. I unconsciously grabbed the first spirit I had inspected, dragging her with me all the way to the mosaic. She hung onto my magic hand like a docile puppy, which wasn¡¯t a strange feeling, since that was about how big these spirits were.


    ¡°You,¡± I said, lifting the spirit up so she was hovering in front of my head, ¡°explain this.¡±


    ¡°Explain this, Great Elf?¡± said the spirit, ¡°it is a mosaic.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know what it is, I am asking you how it came to be here,¡± I said.


    ¡°I, uh, we do not know, Great Elf, it has been here for generations,¡± she said.


    ¡°But you know who this elf is, correct?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, this is the great elf ancestor,¡± she said.


    ¡°And you know his name?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sadly, his name was lost to time,¡± she said, before quickly making an apologetic face and lowering her eyes, ¡°please, forgive us for forgetting the ancestor¡¯s name, but the capital was sacked by the beastmen and¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said with a sigh, letting the spirit fall gently into a lower position above the ground. ¡°I just didn¡¯t expect to see his face here.¡± My mind was racing with all sorts of questions, but I quickly realized the spirits did not have many answers. I also did not have the time to get to the bottom of this mystery. There was a war to settle first. ¡°I didn¡¯t get much from your bickering, but I think I heard you mention something about sending your guards to scout for the enemy outside your city?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Great Elf,¡± said another spirit, ¡°for the safety of our people and the glory of the Rep¡ª¡±


    ¡°It sounds like you at least know that you are being invaded,¡± I said, slapping a magic hand over the pontificating spirit¡¯s mouth. ¡°I will ask you about this mosaic and your relationship to elves, later. I have come with those two over there. That¡¯s Kelser, a human, which is a species you probably haven¡¯t encountered before. I have taught them all magic and although there aren¡¯t a lot of them with us, they will be incredibly valuable to you in your struggle.¡±


    Kelser smiled and made a little fireball over his hand, which captured the attention of all the little spirits, reflecting in an orange hue in their widened eyes.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°You probably already know Bain Rusta over there, at least, he seemed to know about all of you. Even though he¡¯s a demon, I am convinced he is closer to you than he is to his own kind. There is a large army of demons behind him, though, so you should probably spare some space for them in the city,¡± I said.


    ¡°It shall be done, Great Elf,¡± said the female spirit, who seemed to be the only one who could keep her mouth from running.


    ¡°And prepare your own armies too. Every single village, town, and city that we passed after crossing the border had been destroyed. I suspect we only barely managed to outpace whatever it is that is destroying your nation, and they will be here soon. We have very little information about the enemy. All we know is that they are with the Singing Horde, and possess a weapon that has been able to neutralize all of your forces outside the capital without any signs of fighting. I suspect they have been burning your settlements after eliminating all of the people inside with their strange weapon, although I do not know why they are doing so. We do not know how large their army is nor how they begin their assault, but I will go around the outskirts of your city and try to set up some barriers and fortifications, anyway. Send some engineers or able-bodied adults to the front-lines, perhaps they can help me come up with something,¡± I said.


    The female spirit expressed her support for my plan. The other spirits still seemed dazed and confused, but nodded along. A small host of armored fairies walked up to the small door, although none entered the Senate. Seeing them, the female spirit began barking orders, and the tall fairies saluted her, before scrambling to fulfill her commands.


    I grabbed Bain Rusta and followed Kelser out of the Senate. We raced back out to the city walls with its massive gate, leaping between the roofs of buildings to avoid the throngs of fairies below. I smiled, brought Bain Rusta a little closer, and told him to hold on. Then, I jumped onto the city walls, pressed my feet against the stone, and began running up the side of the walls, leaving the pointing and exclaiming crowds below behind. Bain Rusta yelled as I brought him all the way to the top of the walls, teetering on the very edge of the massive fall. Seeing the tall fairies become smaller than ants would give anyone a sense of vertigo, and Bain Rusta¡¯s pale face somehow made me happy.


    In the distance, a large cloud of dust heralded the arrival of the demon and human army. Kelser caught his breath beside me. I told him to rest on top of the wall, since I would be taking care of the fortifications myself.


    I gave Bain Rusta a funny look. His eyes widened. He was about to say something, but he swallowed his words as I grabbed him with magic hands and jumped off the side of the massive city walls.


    ---


    ¡°There were no signs of the enemy on our way over here,¡± said Elder Kezler.


    The demon and human army had set up their tents on an open field near the main gate to the city. The spirits had offered the army spare buildings and even some rooms in the Senate building, but I figured it would be better if we were closer to the action.


    Large crowds of armored fairies were going about the city, gathering armor and weapons, before organizing into groups, each led by a fairy commander who took orders from a spirit. The spirits also left their room in the Senate, which Bain Rusta told me was an unusual thing for the reclusive spirits to do. At first, they mostly spent their time ogling me or trying to get a word in, but I soon set them to work organizing the fairies into a cohesive army. Bain Rusta said the biggest reason the taller, more powerful fairies were unable to defeat the demons completely, was their lack of organization and operational skill. I attached a couple of experienced human hunters and demon commanders to each fairy army unit, and soon, they looked like an intimidating group of warriors.


    I was standing on top of the city walls, which gave me an expansive view of the cleared plains in front of the city. I¡¯d ruined the beauty of the surroundings by digging a large moat around the city, diverting some river water to fill it up, while adding a few ramparts and sandbanks. All of the human magicians were also up here, ready to bombard the enemy as soon as they came within range.


    In the distance, a small black speck appeared. The speck was walking on the road, its pace leisurely, its demeanor calm. As the speck got closer, I could tell that it was a lone figure, wrapped heavily in loose fitting sheets of fabric, almost like they were wearing layers upon layers of robes.


    I raised my hand and aimed it into the distance.

 Chapter 172

    The figure stopped.


    I frowned. They could see me from that far away? I lowered my hands and the figure kept walking closer. I decided to observe for a little while longer. The figure was approaching at a leisurely pace, after all.


    ¡°Where¡¯s the rest of the army?¡± asked Kelser. The figure had gotten close enough for Kelser to see them with his light magic.


    ¡°There isn¡¯t an army,¡± I said.


    ¡°No army?¡± said Bain Rusta. ¡°What do you mean there isn¡¯t an army?¡±


    ¡°There is a single person walking down the road in the distance,¡± I said.


    ¡°One person?¡± repeated a spirit. She was the female spirit from the Senate, the one who could actually hold her tongue a little. I remembered she had introduced herself as Taoc.


    ¡°It makes sense. Remember how we didn¡¯t see any signs of fighting anywhere across the country? It would be a lot easier for one person to hide their tracks than it would be for an army,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, that isn¡¯t the problem here. How could one person have defeated all of our warriors outside of the city?¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°Magic,¡± I said.


    ¡°Even your magic isn¡¯t that powerful, Cas,¡± said Kelser, his face grim.


    ¡°That person isn¡¯t using my magic,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen other kinds of magic before. Among the humans, for example, the Immortal of Evil had given his magic to some of the priests and elders that I fought against. That person must be using an Immortal¡¯s magic.¡±


    Kelser readied his magic. ¡°I think I should test their magic.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°let me observe them for a second.¡± I squinted my eyes and focused on the figure with light magic. I still couldn¡¯t make out the figure¡¯s features. Their face was hidden by a cloth up to their nose from the bottom and until their eyebrows from the top. And a thick hood drooped over their face as well. They were walking confidently down the road, seemingly unconcerned by the threat of a magical bombardment. This was going to be a difficult fight. Yet, I let out a sigh of relief.


    ¡°All of you, prepare your magic,¡± said Kelser to the humans as the figure walked into range of their magic.


    The humans raised their hands, pointing to the figure that had only just walked into their sights. Spirit Taoc bit her nails as she hovered above the ground. The other spirits were arranging the fairy troops below. Archers filed out over the top of the walls. Traps and secret weapons were primed. The tension in the air was palpable.


    ¡°Based on everything we know, I believe the enemy is an Ikon of the Immortal of Madness,¡± I said as I stepped onto the very edge of the top of the wall.


    ¡°How can you be sure?¡± asked Kelser as he stepped onto the edge and raised his hand as well.


    ¡°Because there were always only two possibilities. If it wasn¡¯t an Ikon, it would be the Immortal himself. And despite how powerful that figure may be, he is certainly no immortal,¡± I said. ¡°Do you know what happened when I met the Immortal of Madness? Dancing. Everything was dancing.¡±


    Kelser, Bain Rusta, the spirit Taoc, and even the other people around us all had confused looks on their faces.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Dancing?¡± said Kelser at last. ¡°You mean the Immortal made you dance?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°He made everything dance. The earth, the plants, the animals, my body, my mind, perhaps the air, the space, perhaps time itself, everything was dancing; dancing a wild dance, chaotic, uncontrollable, primeval, as if the dance had not been imposed on us by a higher power, but pulled out of some deep dark part of our origin, our essence. That dance was the most terrifying yet natural thing I have ever experienced. Trust me, if your body starts to dance and the world around you begins to swim and swing, you better hope the Immortal is in a good mood. Oh, and you also better be ready to be thrown centuries into the future over the course of a conversation. No, believe me, fighting an Ikon capable of eradicating entire cities is far more reasonable than having to go against the Immortal of Madness.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°That¡¯s close enough. Are we ready to begin?¡±


    Kelser took a deep breath and nodded. Bain Rusta gave his silent assent. Taoc hovered nervously up and down. The humans formed fireballs at the tip of their hands.


    The sun peeked out from the clouds, sending a ray like a spotlight on the battlefield. The heat of the day mingled with the heat of the fireballs around me. I took a deep breath and jumped off the wall.


    ---


    Fireballs shot out overhead. A beam of concentrated light focused on the figure in the distance, who stepped aside. The light incinerated the ground behind where the figure had been, the fireballs crashed into the earth, setting the grass ablaze. I cast air magic to slow and guide my fall, before grabbing onto the wall with magic hands. I slingshot myself towards the ray of sunlight peeking out of the clouds with both of my hands extended.


    The figure finally leaned forward and began racing forward in earnest. So far, they were avoiding every spell with ease, which made sense because of the large distance between us. I knew I had to get just a little bit closer. The humans would support me from above the walls, and the demon and fairy soldiers could flood out of the gates at any moment, ready to overwhelm the enemy with their numbers.


    The Ikon seemed to know this, because they began to glow silver.


    I narrowed my eyes. I was almost at the sunbeam. I put even more energy into my motion magic, propelling myself forward. The figure wasn¡¯t being slowed by Kelser¡¯s concentrated light at all, since it took too long to focus. But if I could just reach this natural concentration of light.


    The Ikon cried out. Loudly.


    My ears began to throb. A ringing sound filled my head, like a bad case of tinnitus. I grit my teeth, lunged forward, and felt the warmth of the sunlight on my hands. In my head, a figurative lens seemed to form, and a sparkle appeared in the arm, like a small star plucked from the night sky. The sparkle turned into a shining disc, ethereal and intangible, as if it had been made by light itself. The disc rotated and swiveled, until it was at just the right angle to do what needed to be done. I moved my hands, which were trembling as if they were straining against something taut and heavy. I yelled. Light reflected. And a powerful beam appeared almost instantaneously in front of me, my eyes unable to tell how fast pure light was able to travel the distance.


    The light fell squarely on the Ikon. One moment the robed and hooded figure was there, the next, they were drowned out by the deadly light, vaporized in a literal flash.


    A shadow appeared overhead. I craned my neck. The figure was in the sky. The sun hid behind the clouds. Kelser¡¯s concentrated light fell on the figure as they traveled through the air, unable to dodge. The figure crossed their arms in front of their body, and barreled through the beam of searing light until it disappeared.


    The figure¡¯s robes were charred, but intact. They showed no reaction despite taking such a powerful spell head on. Fireballs fell on the figure¡¯s body, but most of them fizzled out as they touched the silver glow around the Ikon¡¯s clothes. The Ikon did not even brace for those spells, as if they held it in contempt.


    The Ikon was still far from my position. I grit my teeth and began a new series of spells. I launched globs of water, tons of stone, and even some of my own fire and concentrated light, but the figure sidestepped them easily. I couldn¡¯t be sure if the Ikon could ignore my spells as easily as they had the humans¡¯ spells, since my wisdom was much higher. The Ikon was approaching the first ramparts and trenches I had set up. They ran right through the earthen ramparts and jumped right across the trenches. All the while, they ignored the humans¡¯ spells, sidestepped mine, and braced for a couple of Kelser¡¯s more powerful attacks.


    Finally, the Ikon reached the moat, which was really just a diversion in the river that I had created. It was too wide to jump in one go, and even if they could, they would be a sitting duck for my concentrated light magic. I prepared the spell. The Ikon kept racing forward. I grit my teeth and aimed my spell for the air above the moat. The Ikon kept running and running, until they were right on the edge of the water.


    And then they kept running. Right along the surface of the water.

 Chapter 173

    I swung my hands back down and cast my spell towards the Ikon. The Ikon fluttered their robes before swishing to the side, just as my beam of concentrated light had gathered enough energy to begin heating up the water, sending a massive cloud of steam bursting into the air behind the Ikon.


    Against the backdrop of hot steam, the Ikon rushed forward on top of the water. The Ikon raised one of their hands for the first time, and my eyes widened. I had a feeling this was it. I was about to find out what terrifying spell had evaporated swathes of fairies across the country without disturbing a simple inanimate object or destroying any houses or fields.


    However, all that spewed out of the Ikon¡¯s hands was a ball of blazing hot fire. The fire was powerful¡ªI could feel the heat from where I was standing which was several miles from the Ikon¡¯s position¡ªyet, it was a very mundane spell. But it wasn¡¯t surprising. We had long since deduced that the settlements had been destroyed with fire after the inhabitants had vanished. Now, we could be sure the Ikon had used fire magic to burn the settlements, and not just some sort of torch.


    Two jets of water shot out of the moat, crisscrossing in front of the Ikon¡¯s fireball. The sizzling sound of steam filled my ears, as the fireball was extinguished and the Ikon was hidden by steam from the front and the back. I increased the intensity of the jets of water, until they were powerful enough to be considered water cannons. The water cannons smashed into the cloud of steam, dispersing it enough for me to realize that the Ikon had vanished. I summoned a burst of air to completely blow away the steam, but there was no trace of the Ikon anywhere.


    I frowned. A couple of fireballs crashed into the water again. The humans were so far away they still couldn¡¯t see the Ikon. They were probably firing indiscriminately, but now Kelser must have made them stop. The fresh steam from their fireballs obscured the surface of the water again, but it also dug a small momentary hole in the water. For a moment, I saw something strange in the water. My eyes widened, I collected some energy, and made water spout out from the moat. Five fountains of water appeared, spewing water into the air. Despite the overcast, cloudy day, what little sunlight peeked through made rainbows appear all over the surface of the moat.


    The fountains did not reduce the water levels of the moat, but their sudden appearance made impressions on the surface of the water, making it easier to see just a little bit deeper into the water. Some river fish also fell into the air, splashing back into the water while flailing about. One of these fish happened to make a strange sound when they hit the water, which made me turn and create a new fountain where it had fell.


    The Ikon was pushed to the surface by my spell, their robes somehow completely dry and their face still obscured by the hood. The Ikon jumped out of the fountain and rushed forward a few more steps. I sent out one last ray of concentrated light, but all it did was send up yet another plume of steam, which the Ikon rushed right past before finally stepping onto dry land.


    The distance between us had been shortened considerably. The humans resumed their magical bombardment, a few of their spells actually making contact with the Ikon¡¯s body, but being deflected by the silver glow. I would have told them to stop attacking if not for the possibility that their attacks were reducing whatever energy the Ikon was using to sustain the silver glow.


    The Ikon started running straight at me, ignoring the humans¡¯ spells and sometimes bracing for Kelser¡¯s. The Ikon wasn¡¯t even trying to dodge most of their spells anymore, apparently concentrating on only dodging mine. Fine, they were close enough. I could switch it up to more powerful spells.


    I used magic hands to grab a large iron ball that had been placed on the top of the city walls. The iron ball fell to my position, which was right in front of the walls, and began hovering in the air. What nobody could see, however, was the way two magic hands had joined together while digging themselves into the ground. The magic hands and the iron ball fell back a little. I put up two fingers and pursed my lips. The Ikon was still barreling towards me in a straight line, ignoring all the other spells, although it was clear they would jump out of the way of my next spell.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    I released the slingshot.


    The iron ball shot through the air. It whistled over my head, whizzing towards the Ikon like a bullet. It was moving so quickly, I could barely see it even with my light magic enhanced elfin eyes. The Ikon didn¡¯t react even as the ball was halfway to their position. The Ikon seemed startled, based on their body language, when the iron ball appeared right in front of them, ready to pummel through their protective barrier and make a massive hole in their body.


    The Ikon sidestepped the iron ball.


    I frowned. I hadn¡¯t seen the Ikon¡¯s movements at all. One moment, they were in the line of fire, the next, they had moved just enough to let the iron ball pass by their robes, making them flutter. I stared at the Ikon. The silver glow was brighter. The Ikon was breathing heavily. They also weren¡¯t moving forward as quickly as before.


    I smiled. It didn¡¯t matter what magic the Ikon had used to dodge the iron ball. I grabbed another iron ball from the top of the city walls, brought it down to my magic hands slingshot, and brought two fingers up in front of my eyes again. Seeing the pose I was making, the Ikon hesitated.


    I fired the slingshot again, feeling the iron ball whizzing over head. This time, the Ikon tried to jump out of the way as soon as I released the slingshot, but the iron ball still brushed right past their robes. I grabbed another iron ball and let it fall back on my slingshot. The Ikon collected themselves quickly, and stood still, both legs braced as if to jump to either side. I smiled, letting the slingshot go just a tad, which faked out the Ikon and made them jump to the side. Then, I released the iron ball for real, aiming at the spot where the Ikon had jumped to.


    I felt like I could almost see the fear on the Ikon¡¯s face as the iron ball whizzed right in front of their face. Both of their arms and legs were in the air, so there was no way to change directions. The speed of the iron ball was so great, they couldn¡¯t even shield their face with their hands or brace for impact in that way.


    The ball whizzed past the Ikon¡¯s body.


    Somehow, the Ikon appeared just a few inches from where the iron ball had been aimed. The silver glow flared brightly before settling down again. The Ikon fell face first into the ground, their robes getting dirty for the first time in this encounter. The dirt disappeared as the Ikon picked themselves back up again, chest heaving up and down. They had no time to rest because another iron ball was shooting right towards the Ikon¡¯s face.


    The Ikon used their strange magic to dodge several iron slingshots, before the Ikon finally settled into a pattern of dodging and weaving preemptively. It took them a surprisingly long time to figure out the slingshot only fired in a straight line, and that if they refused to walk in a straight line or a regular pattern, it would be essentially impossible for me to aim at them. Still, judging by how hard they were breathing, and how they were actively trying to dodge Kelser¡¯s attacks as well as mine, I was fairly certain the Ikon had spent more energy trying to approach me than they had originally planned to use. And the speed of the approach had slowed down by a lot.


    However, the Ikon was still approaching, despite my slingshots and the bombardment coming from the top of the city walls. In a few minutes, the Ikon and I would be in range of each other¡¯s more powerful magic. Or at least, I assumed the reason the Ikon was trying to approach me instead of firing magic from a distance was because whatever strange magic they had used to eliminate the settlements across the Republic required less distance between the target and caster.


    I heard a clink behind me. I smiled. I aimed another iron ball at the Ikon, who didn¡¯t seem particularly worried about another predictable attack. The slingshot released the projectile, which whizzed overhead, just as another object appeared right behind it. The Ikon continued their motion to the side, getting out of the line of my slingshot but stepping right into the trajectory of an arrow. The Ikon brought both hands in front of their chest, their silver glow intensifying, as the arrow slammed into the glow and an orange explosion covered the Ikon¡¯s body from head to toe.

 Chapter 174

    I didn¡¯t wait for the smoke to clear. I launched another iron ball at the Ikon. Behind me, there was another click as the demons pulled back another explosive arrow on the massive crossbow mounted on top of the city walls.


    If we¡¯d had more time, I would have made a bunch of those things. It didn¡¯t have the best range, and wasn¡¯t very accurate at hitting moving targets, but was easily guided with a little bit of air magic. Kelser was standing right next to the demons who were moving and reloading the weapon. Kelser was not only guiding the projectile, but also lighting the fuse on the little rudimentary explosive that was attached to its tip. It was a very simple and inefficient type of gunpowder, but it was a powerful weapon against unsuspecting targets. The Ikon would likely not take the next arrow head on.


    The iron ball cut through the smoke but the Ikon had sidestepped it, possibly with the same magic that made their silver glow flare up. I attacked the Ikon with more slingshots, timed to coincide with the exploding arrows coming from atop the city walls, but the Ikon¡¯s strange magic helped them sidestep everything. By this point, the Ikon was close, breathing heavily, and moving forward at a snail¡¯s pace. On my side, I had only expended a small amount of energy, but I was quickly losing projectiles from the top of the walls, since most of them had been lugged across the country with our army and we could only have carried so much. The exploding arrows would run out soon, as well. But they had served their purpose. An exhausted Ikon should be manageable, I told myself, as I took a deep breath and prepared for the next stage of the battle.


    I materialized a third magic hand, letting the other two continue the bombardment of the Ikon. The third magic hand grabbed a small metal pellet and brought it right behind my body. In my mind, I pictured what was happening in the air right behind my chest, hidden from the Ikon¡¯s view. My slingshots were getting more predictable but the tired Ikon would probably assume that I was just getting tired as well. I made sure to breathe a little harder too, to sell the act a little better.


    The calculations for the next spell were complicated. A bead of sweat dripped off my eyebrows, clinging to my eyelashes, before falling to the edge of my lips. Salty. The Ikon was getting closer. I fired the final iron ball at the Ikon and turned my undivided attention to the spell taking shape behind my back.


    A Lorentz force is the combination of electric and magnetic forces on a point charge in an electromagnetic field. In simpler terms, it is a force created by an electromagnet. If one understood this force, as well as certain properties of electromagnetism, they could perhaps hide two long metal rails down the back of their clothes as they jumped off a tall city wall and waited for their enemy to get closer to their position.


    And if said person was to place those metal rails parallel to each other behind their back, held up firmly with magic hands nailed deep into the ground with earth magic, they could aim one end right into their own back while positioning themselves in a straight line in front of their enemy. Then, after carefully utilizing electric and magnetic magic, in conjunction with a bunch of math, experimentation, and a healthy love for science fiction, this person, who is by now clearly a hypothetical stand-in for myself, could create a powerful weapon beyond even the capabilities of early twenty-first century humans on Earth.


    The Ikon dodged my final iron ball. The arrows on the city walls stopped flying as well. Kelser and the humans resumed their magical bombardment, but the Ikon was able to safely charge right through it. Exhausted, but with their first target within reach, the Ikon rushed towards me, raising one hand as if aiming to grasp my neck. Perhaps it was only now that the Ikon realized that I had stopped firing magic at them, although the Ikon might have assumed I was preparing for a physical close range battle.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Instead, I stepped to the side and fired my railgun.


    The metal pellet served as the bullet. The metal rails were destroyed by the powerful current that had passed through them and created far too much heat for them to handle. Even my magic hands dissipated immediately after the bullet was fired, although they managed to keep the railgun steady when it fired. The Lorentz force on the bullet, created through clever use of electromagnetic forces and charges traveling through a conducting rod connecting the metal rails, propelled it forward at incredible speeds. It was a rudimentary design, and my electric and magnetic magics were not very powerful yet, but it the bullet was traveling at an incredible speed, comparable to a bullet fired from a gunpowder weapon. Yet, the production of the railgun had been much easier and simpler than trying to create a gunpowder weapon, and the results were much more satisfying as well.


    First, there was the sound. The strange crackle of electricity, the harsh sound of metal on metal as the rod and pellet moved through the rails, and the terrifying whoosh of the bullet as it cut through the air like butter.


    Then, there was trepidation. When I fell to the side, felt the bullet pass overhead at horrifying speeds, and pictured it accidentally passing through my skull if I had mistimed the speed with which I fell out of its path.


    Finally, there was expectation. Time seemed to slow down as the bullet approached the Ikon, who was now so foolishly close that there was absolutely no time to react at all. Even the silver glow could not flare up quickly enough, and even if it did, this attack was unlike the iron balls or the exploding arrows. The speed of the projectile was nearly instantaneous, the power with which it would slam into flesh, inconceivable. In this realm of slowed time, the hooded Ikon¡¯s face was still hidden, but I could just picture the expression on their face based on the panic that was evident on their body. The Ikon didn¡¯t have the time to stop walking forward, to turn their body to the side, or to brace for impact. They couldn¡¯t cast a spell, plead for mercy, or even pull out a secret card. Everything since the Ikon¡¯s appearance had been to lull them into complacency, to bring them close enough to me for this attack to work and to strip them of the mental or physical guard necessary to react to an attack of this caliber.


    Time slowed down.


    The movement of the bullet flagged, like it was moving not through air but a viscous jelly, palpable and tangible. The Ikon was moving with a similar lethargy. My own eyes seemed to blink like two massive garage doors shutting sluggishly, each a reflection of the other, until the sight in front of me was hidden by my own eyes. When my eyelids creaked open, the bullet was in front of the Ikon¡¯s head, about to make contact with the silver glow, the rags, the hidden face beneath. About to end the servant of my most dangerous enemy, somebody who had at least some hand in my continued absence from my home world and who had ruined the relationships that I had tried to build here, as if to spit on my hard work, my convictions, my struggles. The servant themselves was responsible for the elimination of what was almost an entire nation¡¯s worth of sentient beings. I would be doing this world a favor by killing this monster.


    A beam of light snuck past the cloud cover. A rainbow formed in front of the Ikon¡¯s head, suspending in a blurry sphere, a blurry sphere that looked like a soap bubble. The bullet glinted inside the bubble, frozen in a sunbeam like a mote of dust on a calm and lazy afternoon.

 Chapter 175

    When I was a kid, my mom left me at my cousin¡¯s house for a day. I think she was going to an event. Funeral, wedding, something at work, I can¡¯t remember. But I remember his dingy little apartment in the Bronx. Mom had to shuttle me through the door, promising ice cream on the way back if I was good and didn¡¯t make any trouble. All I remember is looking over my shoulder as my mom made her way down the wide but empty road leading down to the nearest station. As my cousin closed the doors behind me, I could hear the rumbling of the trains in the distance. Not the subway, but the metro north.


    My cousin was a taxi driver. A perpetually tired, happy go lucky sort, who spent most of his free time with his butt planted in his couch, sipping watery beer and watching bootleg DVDs he¡¯d bought at the gas station. On the day I was to spend with him, he dug out one of his favorites from his collection and played it on his TV. And then he promptly settled into his couch, crushed a few cans of beer, and fell asleep snoring loudly. Incidentally, this was when I snuck a taste of beer from an unopened can, which was the first time I had any alcohol.


    The movie was playing on a crappy CRT screen, with terrible audio and washed out colors. I had no idea where the remote was and couldn¡¯t find it in all the mess, so sometimes the dialogue was too quiet, and sometimes I wouldn¡¯t understand what was going on at all. I don¡¯t remember how old I had been at the time, so perhaps some of my inability to understand was because of my age. But a lot of it had to do with the movie.


    By the time I was in college, and especially by the time I had been thrown out of my Earth, The Matrix was a celebrated movie, a prominent part of pop culture and easily recognizable for its many motifs, themes, and artistic choices. People remembered the blue pill and the red pill, people remembered the political allegories, the metaphysical commentary, and the experimental narrative, but as my mind zoomed back into the still frozen moment outside the gates of the capital of the Lux Republic, it was something else that I remembered from that day with my cousin, spent watching The Matrix on a crappy screen while sitting on a floor littered with beer cans.


    The special effects in The Matrix had been revolutionary for their time, according to my cousin before he fell asleep. And my young self could see why. Flying through the air, moving in slow or quick motion, and doing cool things in cool shades and cool suits, all of that absolutely blew my mind. And of course, there were the scenes when bullets froze in the air in front of the characters, transfixed by sheer force of will and the rule of cool.


    The Ikon caught my bullet inches from their face with what looked to be a soap bubble. A soap bubble that seemed like it would pop with the slightest breeze or the tip of my pinky. And yet, that bubble had stopped a bullet propelled from my prototype, magic assisted railgun.


    The sun hid behind the clouds again, and a drab gray overcast hue blanketed the battlefield yet again. The Ikon breathed. The bubble popped. My bullet fell to the ground at the Ikon¡¯s feet, a tiny clink proclaiming the defeat of my greatest weapon.


    Or was it a defeat? I grit my teeth. Surely the Ikon had expended a great deal of energy to use a magic like that. To stop something that was moving with such speed, such power, it must have exhausted the Ikon to the limits. The only problem was, I did not have another bullet, and the railgun was too damaged to use again anyway. I also did not have any iron balls anymore, and there were no exploding arrows either.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    But that was okay. I gathered a bunch of energy and shot out a dozen magic hands. The magic hands grabbed a bunch of rocks and stones and fallen logs. All of this hurtled through the air towards the Ikon, not as fast as the iron balls, but still fast enough to blow a hole through an ordinary person¡¯s body. The Ikon didn¡¯t have to bring out another one of those strange bubbles, but they couldn¡¯t dodge so many projectiles at once either. In the end, they burned the logs into ash with fire, and sidestepped the stones with their silver glow. But unlike before, I alternated my magic hands, making sure that when one went to grab a projectile another replaced it. A constant bombardment of rocks and detritus fell on the Ikon, slowing their speed to a crawl and forcing them to expend even more energy. And although the Ikon was definitely getting more tired, it was clear that it wasn¡¯t going to be enough. The Ikon finally approached a few feet in front of me. He was too close for me to throw more objects at him, and the people on the city walls had stopped for fear of hitting me.


    I stared at the Ikon, who was breathing heavily, and clearly tired. I stretched a little bit. It was time for a close combat battle. I was looking forward to it with my motion and air magic, coupled with the short range electric magic that I was ready to pull out as a trump card in a few moments. As far as I was concerned, the only thing I had to worry about was the bubble from before, but as long as I didn¡¯t get right up next to their face, the Ikon shouldn¡¯t be able to get me with that.


    A soft crackle went up my arm. I bent down, putting force in my legs, preparing to lunge. Dust fell into my eyes. I blinked.


    There was another bubble in front of the Ikons¡¯ face. Soapy, with a tinge of rainbow. My eyes widened. The Ikon¡¯s chest wasn¡¯t heaving as much anymore. In fact, they seemed to have the same ethereal calm that they had when I had first seen them. This was more than a second wind. It was as if they had gone back in time. For some reason, the image of reloading a save in a video game came to mind.


    More bubbles appeared. Each with a gravity that seemed to suck the air out of the surroundings. How many were there? Perhaps a dozen. They had appeared without theatrics with my eye unblinking. One moment there was nothing there, the next, terror. The Ikon raised both hands up above my head, making a v-shape with their hands. It took me a moment to react. I hurriedly yelled over my shoulder, trying to use air magic to amplify my desperate message, but by the time the first words left my mouth, the bubbles were racing through the air over my head.


    Kelser reacted instantly, grabbing Bain Rusta and Taoc as he fell back, possibly off the edge of the walls and down to the ground below. The other humans reacted a step later, most of them ducking behind the palisades with a few jumping away like Kelser. The demon and fairy guards, particularly the ones who had been refilling the exploding arrows, only reacted when the bubbles were near the top of the city walls. A few of them were whisked back by what I presumed were magic hands, with a few still being whisked away when the bubbles struck.


    The bubbles seemed to drift through the air like regular soap bubbles, the kind I¡¯d seen at state fairs coming out of cheap plastic rings being doled out to kids for a quick buck. Yet, they traveled faster than bullets, the strange incongruity of their motion and speed giving them an unnatural feeling.


    The bubbles seemed to drift onto the bodies of the demons and fairies and straggling humans. As if with bated breath, the people on the city walls stared at the bubbles, their eyes reflecting wildly in their soapy exterior, showing their fear, their dread.


    The bubbles popped.


    The people disappeared.

 Chapter 176

    I let out a slow, uneven breath. I turned quickly back to the Ikon, who was standing unfazed facing me. I had noticed that the bubbles had phased through the palisades and other obstacles like they weren¡¯t even there, and assumed the people who had taken shelter behind them had also disappeared. This was probably how the Ikon had eliminated all of the fairies outside of the capital. The bubbles left no signs on the walls or the ramparts. They didn¡¯t even seem to have disturbed the air, since when they had rushed over my head, they had not made any sound or make any wind.


    I bit my lips. Those bubbles reminded me of the invisible barrier around the demon capital, imprisoning Kol. But I wondered something. Why hadn¡¯t the Ikon fired one of those towards me?


    As if asking themselves the same question, the Ikon pointed a hand towards me and a bubble appeared. Sweat trickled down my forehead. A burst of adrenaline filled my body and the hairs on my neck began to stand on end.


    The bubble shot forward in its strange floating way, forcing my eyes to concentrate on my own reflection as it became larger and larger in my vision. My body felt sluggish as my mind sped up, trying to manipulate my magic. I used motion magic to move to the side, also relying on the magic hands that I had preemptively stuck into the ground to help propel me away. A burst of air magic reduced the drag on my body, and my own physical body became strained to the limits as I forced it to rush to the side as quickly as possible.


    At the same time, I prepared a barrage of magic spells to hit the bubble. Even if they didn¡¯t cancel out the strange magic, I was hoping they could at least slow it down. Only the light and electric magic hit the bubble before it reached my body. The light seemed to reflect off the bubble¡¯s surface, drowning out the rainbow sheen with a flood of white. Yet, my reflection remained, embossed in the white light. It made it feel like the image on the bubble¡¯s surface wasn¡¯t my reflection, but some sort of mystical version of myself. My soul? An imprint? A way to mark me as a target? I couldn¡¯t be sure. The electric magic smashed right through the bubble, ignoring all of its thin walls and continuing on to the Ikon, who seemed completely surprised by the counterattack, possibly because I hadn¡¯t been intending it as a counterattack at all.


    I dove out of the way and the bubble passed me by. Right in front of my face, at the point where my magic had only materialized, the bubble slammed into everything. The fire, the water, the wind, the earth, everything passed right through the bubble. It wasn¡¯t magnetic either. My magic hands had a stranger reaction. As soon as the tip of the magic hands touched the surface of the bubble, the magic dissipated. The bubble was unchanged so this seemed like a failure as well. The bubble flew through the air until it passed through the ground and disappeared from view.


    ¡°Is that thing going to go all the way through the planet or something?¡± I said under my breath.


    I quickly refocused on the Ikon, who had created another bubble. I grit my teeth and this time, I was the one using my magic to desperately avoid a barrage of powerful magic. Thankfully, as I used my magic under such intensity and duress, my ¡®wisdom¡¯ increased exponentially, and my ability to coordinate different types of magic together to dodge the bubbles improved considerably.


    But the Ikon wasn¡¯t standing still. They were stepping forward with every bubble, as if all of the exhaustion, the panic from the near constant bombardment of powerful spells, had all been an act. No, I couldn¡¯t believe it. Even if the Ikon was the Immortal¡¯s servant, why would the Immortal give a mortal the ability to use infinite amounts of energy? Surely, borrowing the Immortal¡¯s power and magic must have a cost. If I kept dodging these attacks, perhaps an opportunity would present itself.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Thus came the comical scene where a hooded Ikon pressed me with a barrage of soapy bubbles. Like a child playing a game, I dodged every bubble, which were streaming out as if they truly were playful bubbles and not arcane spheres of inexplicable destruction. Left, right, bending backwards, slipping forward, I contorted my body in incredible ways to avoid the bubbles. I soon realized that although I couldn¡¯t use my magic to deflect the bubbles, I could try to force the Ikon to take a step back. I found electric magic the most useful for this, since it was fast and deadly. Every time a crackle resounded through the air, the Ikon activated their silver glow and avoided the arcs of lightning with a hair¡¯s breadth and a blink¡¯s worth of time.


    The smell of sweat and ozone filled my nose. I was being pushed back towards the wall. I chanced a quick glance through the corner of my eye during a dodging maneuver and realized I would have my back to the gates soon. I wondered if I should ask the fairies to open the gates and let me in. It would cause a lot of casualties since there was no way anybody else could avoid the bubbles, not even Kelser. But surrounding this monstrous being might be our only hope. I even convinced myself I didn¡¯t want to open the gates to save my own skin. The terror in my heart at being beaten back so one-sidedly, relentlessly, and mercilessly, had no influence on my decision, I said to myself.


    I shouted. Then I finally heard the sounds I had been ignoring because of the intensity of the battle. Shouts. Cries. Burning wood, blood-curdling screams of anguish and despair. My eyes widened. I almost let a bubble brush past my skin, and only avoided it because my foot caught on something and I almost tripped. I quickly regained my balance, let out the breath I did not know I had been holding, and spun around with both hands outstretched. The Ikon, who had only just prepared another bubble to shoot towards me, froze.


    Tendrils of white lightning arced from my fingertips, drowning out my shouts with their sizzle and crackle as the smell of ozone filled the air. The Ikon flared silver blinking in and out of the path of every tendril until finally the silver glow ebbed and the Ikon was hit in the chest by a burst of electricity.


    The Ikon was blasted through the air, smoke rising from their chest, and almost slammed into a tree. Yet, the silver glow flared up again and the Ikon seemed to disappear in front of the tree before reappearing right behind it. The Ikon still kept flying, finally resting calmly on the ground. A rogue spark danced on the Ikon¡¯s robes, and the Ikon groaned.


    A high pitched groan. The robe was finally disheveled too. I could tell that the Ikon was a woman.


    The shouts behind the gates got louder. I grit my teeth, grabbed the gates, and channeled a bunch of energy into rending the gate, opening a small hole in it just large enough for me to pass through.


    Inside, there was chaos. Fires raged across the farmlands and open plains. Guard towers up in smoke. The city in the distance a den of destruction, flame, and suffering. I scanned the area but there was no sign of Kelser, Bain Rusta, or Taoc. There were some fairy and demon soldiers rushing around the place, but they didn¡¯t even spare a glance at me. In the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar face. I rushed towards it, brushing past a demon and a fairy locked in combat. In a split second, I decided I had no idea why they were fighting or who was on my side, so I simply knocked them both apart and rushed right through.


    I stretched out a hand, grabbed a familiar shoulder, and cast a spell pushing back a host of demons and fairies that were fighting Elder Kezler for some reason.


    ¡°Elder,¡± I squeezed out of my mouth while taking deep breaths, ¡°what is going on?¡±


    ¡°Treason!¡± shouted the human elder, his eyes full of unfamiliar fury, a nasty gash running along his chin.


    ¡°Treason?¡± I repeated, ¡°by who?¡±


    ¡°By everybody!¡± said Elder Kezler.

 Chapter 177

    ¡°Everybody?¡± I repeated with my eyes narrowed. The words escaped only in a raspy breath. My throat was too tired and my lungs were burning.


    ¡°It began with the fairies,¡± said Elder Kezler, ¡°no, wait, there is no time, Kelser! You have to help Kelser, he went that way, please go!¡±


    A lot of questions ran through my mind. Why would the fairies betray us when the enemy who had wiped out most of their nation was right outside the gates? And did the elder mean that the demons had betrayed us too? But for what reason? And what kind of monster was inside these walls if Kelser needed my help? But seeing the panic in the elder¡¯s eyes, I brushed aside everything else and burst through the lines of fairies mindlessly approaching my position and went in the direction the elder had told me to go.


    There I found a confusing and eerie sight.


    Kelser stood on top of a pillar of earth, raining spells down onto the crowd that had surrounded him. A small army of well armored fairies and a small number of demons stabbed at him with their weapons while Bain Rusta stood to the side, donning a strange look on his face. Bain Rusta¡¯s mouth and nose were scrunched up like he had been punched in the face, and his eyes had a disconcerting red glow dancing inside them. The red glow seemed to bleed from his eyes to cover the army of fairies and demons who were trying to hack Kelser into pieces, and it shielded them from all of Kelser¡¯s spells.


    A small collection of dead bodies formed a border around the jumbled mess of fairies and demons surrounding Kelser. Some of these dead bodies appeared to have been charred or pummeled by Kelser¡¯s spells, although I couldn¡¯t be sure if that was before or after they had been killed. Most of the bodies had cuts and other wounds that suggested they had been stabbed with spears and swords, and the blood on the weapons of the traitorous fairies and demons suggested they had killed some of their own kind for some reason. Bain Rusta¡¯s sword, which had at first appeared merely ornamental, turned out to be absolutely covered in blood, which was stuck to the sides of the blade like rust.


    I didn¡¯t have much time to process what was going on because as soon as I appeared in sight, Bain Rusta turned around and glared at me with his menacing red eyes. I cursed lightly under my breath before jumping into the air and summoning a massive earthen pillar beneath my feet. As soon as I had done so, a crowd of angry fairies and demons began thronging around my pillar trying to skewer my feet with spears. I shot a bunch of simple spells at them just to confirm that the red glow from Bain Rusta¡¯s eyes would shield them from my spells as well and sure enough, they kept attacking as if I hadn¡¯t just tried to burn their hair away.


    I looked over to Kelser and realized he was in a much more precarious position than I had first thought. The red glow had spread to the fairies¡¯ spears and was cleaving bits of earth right from under Kelser¡¯s feet. In fact, Kelser had to keep increasing the height of his pillar, only to have it get knocked down again. He had to dance around on top of the pillar to dodge the spear thrusts, all the while firing off spells that seemed to do nothing to his assailants. I saw the fairies beneath my pillar had also started jabbing at me with glowing spears, and decided this strategy wasn¡¯t going to work.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    I used magic hands and balance magic to jump over Kelser¡¯s pillar while reaching down to pluck him away with magic hands. Then I used air magic to fall quickly just shy of the crowd before breaking out into a reckless run right towards Bain Rusta. Bain Rusta saw me rushing towards him and drew his bloody sword. I swerved to the right and sent a massive ball of fire towards the grizzled old demon. Bain Rusta swept the fireball away with his sword, which also sent out a beam of red energy that began tracing my path as I retreated from it.


    I made a massive wall of earth in front of the beam of red energy. A loud crash cut through the noise of the battlefield. The wall of earth became a cloud of dust, which hid Bain Rusta from view. I took the opportunity to rush right back to Elder Kezler, who was now involved in another fight. After dropping Kelser with the elder, I raced back to the hole I had made in the gates of the city. A couple of fairies and demons tried to attack me on the way, but I brushed them aside easily with magic since they did not have the red glow, possibly because that could only be conferred through Bain Rusta¡¯s red eyes.


    I jumped out of the city walls again, my eyes scanning in every direction. Thankfully, the Ikon was still lying unconscious on the ground. Behind me, I heard some more shouts and screams, which compelled me to turn around. Bain Rusta had followed me to the gate, and now all of the fairies and demon traitors here had a red glow on their bodies as well. Only Kelser and the human elders could keep these powered up but mindless soldiers at bay, but even they wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out for too long. Thinking quickly, I gathered some energy and extended two long magic hands towards Bain Rusta. Bain Rusta¡¯s red eyes widened as he was pulled right out of the gate through the hole I had made. Since he was quite a bit larger than me, he dinged his head on the way out, but I wasn¡¯t too worried about the devilish demon¡¯s safety right now. I unceremoniously dumped the ruler of Tephon on the ground before closing up the hole in the city walls with some earth magic. Now that Bain Rusta¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t strengthen the traitors inside, I was sure Kelser and the humans could figure something out. It seemed like a lot of the demons and fairies were still on our side, but had been confused by their allies turning on them. Hopefully, they could gather their wits and help out the humans soon.


    I didn¡¯t bother to ask Bain Rusta why he had betrayed us. The red glow in his eyes already said it all. The only thing I wanted to know was if he had been working for the Immortal of Evil since the beginning or if he had been influenced by the Immortal inside the city?


    After all, I could conceive of Bain Rusta¡¯s betrayal, but the betrayal of the fairies had come completely out of the blue. It had shocked me into realizing something grim, an assumption I had made based on vague descriptions and unfounded suppositions. I had assumed that if the Izlandi Kingdom had been influenced by the priests of the Immortal of Evil, and the Singing Horde worshiped the Immortal of Madness, then the fairies and spirits must be followers of the Immortal of Desire. Even their god, the Beast of the Valley, reminded me of the Immortal of Desire since they had appeared to me as birds in the Plains of Serenity, which we had learned was a valley. Even the names of the species, fairies and spirits, somehow reminded me of the Immortal of Desire, who had been the only seemingly ¡®good¡¯ immortal I had met in this world.


    And yet, so many of the fairies had betrayed us that it was impossible for me to not suspect that the Lux Republic also fell under the Immortal of Evil¡¯s domain. Making two nations that worshiped him fight each other was exactly the kind of thing one might expect from that twisted immortal, but then why had the Lux Republic not intervened when I was cleaning out the priests of the Immortal of Evil in the Izlandi Kingdom? Perhaps, because the Immortal of Evil could still rely on followers like Bain Rusta.


    A low groan. Bain Rusta had already picked himself up. However, the groan hadn¡¯t come from him. The Ikon¡¯s body stirred. I ran forward with sparks shooting out of my fingertips.

 Chapter 178

    The Ikon fired a bubble right at me, forcing me to duck after sending out a single arc of electricity. The Ikon rolled out of the way, letting the electricity hit the ground and dissipate. The Ikon¡¯s robes fluttered as they covered up the hole in the front of it, and stood to my right with one hand outstretched. Bain Rusta stood up straight to my left, his glowing red eyes flitting between both me and the Ikon. Perhaps he was wondering who was the bigger threat.


    Both of us stared at the Ikon. To attack as soon as they regained consciousness, the Ikon would have to be an incredible warrior. Or, they must have recovered a little earlier and only let out a groan to provoke an attack, which meant they were crafty.


    I stared at Bain Rusta. There was something about the elderly demon¡¯s demeanor that was incredibly off putting. The Ikon turned to Bain Rusta as well. Bain Rusta flinched and the red glow in his eye intensified. The Ikon¡¯s silver glow flared out, outshining Bain Rusta¡¯s red glow easily. It wasn¡¯t surprising. The Immortal of Madness had always seemed more powerful than the Immortal of Evil. And by now, I was fairly certain Bain Rusta had not always been the Immortal of Evil¡¯s Ikon. He had been somehow turned while he was inside the capital city of the Lux Republic.


    I shot a glance over my shoulder. I could still hear the cries of soldiers and the clang of metal from behind the gates. I hoped Kelser could handle whatever had taken over Bain Rusta. It was definitely still in there somewhere.


    The Ikon turned to me. Bain Rusta did as well. I dug into the ground and stared back at both of them.


    ¡°Friends,¡± I said, silently retrieving some of the iron balls I had fired at the Ikon previously, ¡°it seems we have what some in another world may call a Mexican standoff.¡±


    The Ikon did not respond. Neither did Bain Rusta. Their stillness was eerie. I knew they were both trying to recover their energy from our previous battles, but did they not realize that I was making some preparations as well?


    ¡°Your masters know me well,¡± I said, filling the silence, ¡°if there is something I can help them with, please pass on my message. If the Immortal of Evil¡ª¡±


    Bain Rusta flinched, his eyes widened in a glare.


    ¡°¡ªyou know, that lazy guy in the red star, if he wants more of his servants sent to hell, or more of his silly little schemes foiled, he doesn¡¯t need to corrupt an old demon like Rusta. I¡¯ll take care of his servants for free.


    ¡°And if the Immortal of Madness¡ª¡±


    Now it was the Ikon¡¯s turn to flinch, her silver glow heightening.


    ¡°¡ªwants to get his butt off the moon and come down to me again, tell him I¡¯m busy. Oh, and tell him he should give up already. He won¡¯t get his beloved this way. Nobody likes a stalker and that man is obsessed, isn¡¯t he? Come on, Evil, shouldn¡¯t I get a laugh for that? I¡¯m calling you Evil because Bain Rusta would¡¯ve definitely laughed. Can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve taken him over so completely,¡± I said as I licked my lips. I was sweating profusely and my throat was dry. I was tempted to cast some water magic to take a sip, but I knew the second I cast a noticeable spell, all hell would break loose.


    Apparently, Bain Rusta didn¡¯t care about any of that. He drew his rusty red sword and concentrated a bunch of red energy on it. With a swish, the sword cut towards me, releasing a burst of energy that I quickly sidestepped.


    At the same time, the Ikon of Madness fired two bubbles, one at me and the other at Bain Rusta. I had anticipated the attack and simply continued my motion to avoid the bubble, but Bain Rusta had to bring up his sword to try to block the attack at the final moment. The bubble should have passed right through the sword and made Bain Rusta disappear, but the red glow around the sword began clashing with the silver light hidden inside the bubble. A flash of red and a swirl of silver filled my vision, and the bubble was gone. Bain Rusta¡¯s old face was contorted into a grimace and the light in his eyes had noticeably dulled.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    An iron ball smashed into the back of Bain Rusta¡¯s head. Another one crashed into the Ikon of Madness¡¯ back.


    Bain Rusta let out a guttural scream as he was thrown face first into the ground. There was a loud ding as if the iron ball had hit a hard metal surface, and I saw Bain Rusta¡¯s eyes flash completely scarlet as he was thrown forward. There was no pool of blood or shattered skull, which meant the Immortal had saved his newly converted servant after all.


    The Ikon of Madness only grunted as she was pushed forward by the iron ball. The silver glow around her body was much weaker than it had been the first time we had fought. However, I was most surprised by the fact she had been hit by the attack at all. I was sure the silver glow would help her blink past the projectile, but perhaps attacks from her blind spot really could catch her off guard. Either that, or she did not have the energy for that kind of trick anymore.


    There was only one way to find out. I hurled another iron ball at the Ikon of Madness, who had gotten a lot closer to me as well. The iron ball slammed into the Ikon¡¯s sides once again, this time pushing her closer to Bain Rusta, who was just beginning to push himself back up again. The two crashed into each other, getting comically entangled. With two powerful enemies bunched up like that, how could I not take advantage of the situation? I started pelting the two with everything I had.


    Fire, earth, water, air, slingshots, electricity, magnetism, everything that I could us to attack them from a distance. A relentless barrage of spells and projectiles rained down on them, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris, which was promptly cleared by a burst of red and silver energy.


    I barely avoided the red and silver energy by pushing against the ground and pulling myself away with magic hands. The energies ravaged the ground where I had been standing, making every blade of grass wilt then vanish. I steadied myself against a rocky outcropping.


    Bain Rusta slashed at the Ikon of Madness with his sword. The Ikon contorted her body to the side to avoid the slash, then formed a bubble right under Rusta¡¯s outstretched hand. The bubble drifted up to Rusta¡¯s head, but he stared at it with his red eyes, making it burst like a real soap bubble. Bain Rusta moved his glowing gaze to the Ikon¡¯s hooded face, but the Ikon¡¯s silver glow flared up like a camera flash, forcing Bain Rusta to blink rapidly. The Ikon used the opportunity to make another bubble, but Rusta¡¯s blinking eyes still seemed to carry enough of the power of his red glare to pop the bubble and clash with the Ikon¡¯s silver glow again.


    I was going to start bombarding them with magic again, but realized it was probably better to let them tire each other out while I recovered. I was already breathing so hard my chest was burning, and I did not have a lot of energy to spare anymore.


    The Ikon grunted. A slew of tiny bubbles popped out of the end of her hands, covering Rusta¡¯s body. Rusta tried to burst as many as he could with his red glare but there were too many of them. The bubbles stuck to Rusta¡¯s body, and once stuck, it seemed like even the red glow couldn¡¯t pop them.


    The Ikon of Madness stepped back, still spewing bubbles from her hand like a mini machine gun. Bain Rusta yelled out once more, sending out a burst of red energy from his eyes that cut right through the cloud of bubbles, popping dozens of them in one go before rushing towards the Ikon of Madness and slamming against her silver glow.


    The silver glow flashed and faltered. The Ikon let out a loud, high pitched scream as her silver glow flickered like an incandescent light bulb before finally dissipating. Her robes were filled with a glaring red color, as bright as the red star on a moonless night. The robes burned to ashes like paper over an open flame, clouding the Ikon in a red cocoon.


    The bubbles on Bain Rusta¡¯s body popped. However, Bain Rusta¡¯s body did not disappear. Instead, a crimson specter phased out of Rusta¡¯s body, screaming and flailing, with large silver holes in its body. The crimson specter let out one more scream before it shattered into red shards that fell to the ground and turned into a dull beige color.


    On the other side, the cloud of red around the Ikon of Madness finally cleared up. I grit my teeth, hoping I was wrong, but as I had expected, the body that appeared from beneath the red cloud was a familiar one. I felt a knot forming in my gut, stopping the words that were trying to come out of my mouth.


    Noel planted her feet firmly on the ground, her tattered robes swirling around her. Her silver eyes met mine. We stared at each other, unblinking, and in silence.

 Chapter 179

    Seeing Noel standing there, silver glow outlining her body, accentuating her naturally silver eyes and hair, after not having seen her for years, gave me a strange feeling. Stolid, strange, bracken, and coarse. Conflicting emotions of expectation and surprise. Contradictions playing out in my head as we stared each other down.


    It wasn¡¯t as if this possibility hadn¡¯t crossed my mind.


    Powerful magic, unbridled rage, and the image of Sharun in the Lux Republic¡¯s senate. All of them had made me wonder. Made me guess and speculate. After realizing that the Ikon was a woman, how could I not wonder if Noel, my first friend in this world, had not appeared in front of me once again.


    But somehow I couldn¡¯t imagine the naive but brilliant elf becoming a genocidal servant of the same Immortal that had thrown her far into the future, ripping her from her family while perhaps also contributing to the horrible fate that had befallen them.


    Yet, here she was. A little older, taller, with more lines on her face and calluses on her fingers. Her body was leaner and more muscular, her eyes more piercing, her hair wilder and more unkempt than ever before. When I looked at my own reflection in clear water, I did not see a face that had changed very much over the past few years. I had assumed that was because elves did not age as quickly as humans or demons, but Noel¡¯s transformation suggested I had been underestimating the effect of one¡¯s experiences. One¡¯s apparent age comes as much from outside as it does from within. Noel must have been through a lot since she let me fall off a cliff near the ¡®roof of the world¡¯ and headed off on her own adventure.


    We didn¡¯t say anything. If Noel had wanted to speak to me, she could have taken off the robe and said something when I first appeared. And if I wanted to talk to her, I would have to ignore the steely silver stare staring daggers into my sockets.


    Bain Rusta had crumpled to the side, unmoving. The sounds of the fight behind the gates was getting quieter. I could stall for a bit and wait for reinforcements. Noel was smart. She wouldn¡¯t let me drag it out for so long. And honestly, I didn¡¯t want to waste any time either. There would be plenty of time to ask her questions with my foot on her neck.


    Noel materialized a large bubble, which reflected my image while being transparent enough to let me see her through it. I prepared three slingshots with iron balls I had recovered during our stare down. I also began moving the clouds overhead, hoping to clear the sky and let the sun shine through. Finally, I prepared a network of magic hands all around the area, all of them tied to trees or dug into ground. After using magic hands for so long, my ¡®wisdom¡¯ had increased so much I didn¡¯t even have to worry about using dozens of them at a time.


    The bubble grew in my vision, heading unnaturally straight and at a blistering speed. I swung myself to the side with a network of magic hands, avoiding the many bubbles she had hidden behind the larger one by pulling myself at awkward and sharp angles.


    Three iron balls shot towards Noel, each coming from a different direction. Noel pushed herself backwards with air magic but the iron balls were released at an angle that would be difficult to avoid like that. As the iron balls approached her, Noel contorted her body backwards, letting the iron balls pass right by her. At the same time, she released a burst of fire magic that fanned out towards me.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I jumped in the air to avoid the flames but a round of bubbles was shooting towards me. The network of magic hands that I had prepared pulled me away from their trajectory once again. I launched a shower of pebbles and sand towards Noel, but she blew them away with a burst of air before bringing a burst of water out from the ground underneath me. The water jet was highly concentrated and there were pieces of sharp rocks inside. I avoided the artificial geyser by pulling myself away again. I made sure to pull myself firmly back to the ground.


    The clouds cleared up. I used some more water and air magic to try to keep it that way for a while. At the same time, I gathered a small film of water in the sky and used it to concentrate the light for my light magic.


    Noel noticed the sunlight and the water, and frowned. She raised her hands to the sky just as I readied my magic. A thin but terrifying point of concentrated light appeared on Noel¡¯s tattered robes just as a storm brewed in the sky. Noel let out a loud cry before being blasted backwards. Her silver glow flashed brightly, shielding her from the worst of the attack, but I could still see some burn marks on her skin.


    The sky began to rumble and roar as dark clouds gathered. Noel¡¯s weather magic had gotten much stronger than before, and it didn¡¯t help that the natural conditions were on her side. It would take me a while to clear up the storm, and it wasn¡¯t like I couldn¡¯t make the storm work in my favor either. Arcs of lightning passed between the clouds. The first drop of water fell on my head as I rushed forward. Two columns of earth rushed towards Noel¡¯s falling body from either side, and a burst of fire spewed from my mouth, turning tiny water droplets into steam as it approached Noel.


    Noel recovered mid-air, punching out towards both columns of earth. Her fists, still as small as ever, crashed against the heavy columns and cracked them into thousands of pieces. The falling debris swung in front of her body, shielding it from the fire and forcing me to shoot up into the air over them to aim down at Noel with another burst of fire magic and a piercing blade of wind.


    Noel rapidly shot some bubbles towards me, ignoring my spells completely. Her body was engulfed in flame and the blade of wind sliced at her chest, but the silver glow shielded her from most of it. She did cough a little from the smoke, and the wind blade let a nasty red impression on her skin.


    My network of magic hands was too far away and I was too high up to pull myself away with new ones. The bubbles had been shot straight above Noel, anticipating the trajectory of my jump. I would shoot myself right into the path of oblivion if I kept going. And there were enough bubbles coming up that even if I slowed my speed down with air magic, I would still catch the tail end of them and disappear unceremoniously when I touched them.


    I grit my teeth, held my breath, and froze in the air.


    The bubbles shot into the air just a few inches from my position. My eyes were frozen straight in front of me, so all I could see was my frozen, determined expression in the bubbles as they passed me by. As soon as the bubbles were gone, I let go of the ¡®still life¡¯ magic and let myself continue on my trajectory, wrenching my gaze towards Noel as quickly as I could. I couldn¡¯t see her when my body was frozen, so I had no idea what her next attack was going to be.


    A strange bubble, its walls a solid silver color like molten metal, hung in the air in front of Noel. The silver bubble shot towards me like a bullet, giving me no time to react. I realized I had come down just far enough to reconnect with my network of magic hands, and used them to jerk myself to the side as quickly as I could. The sudden motion made my teeth chatter, and I even bit my tongue by accident.


    A searing pain filled me head. The air left my lungs and my scream tapered off into a raspy croak. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I fell to the earth. In the corner of my vision, I could see the silver bubble shooting off into the distance, only, it¡¯s body was no longer silver but red. And in the other corner of my vision, I saw a hole in the side of my leg, letting off globs of blood as pellets of rain began to fall and merge with the blood to create a red halo around my leg.

 Chapter 180

    Overwhelming. Excruciating. Agonizing pain.


    Eyes bleary, I focused on Noel as she approached me with another silver bubble forming in her hands. Panic filled my heart. I thrust forward, pushing against the floor, but I only managed to stumbled backwards. My instincts kicked in and I used earth magic to whack my body back like a pinball. The earth magic blew the wind out of my lungs and added another dull pain to the sharp one coming from my leg. The sudden jolt made me choke on the blood in my mouth, so I went through the air coughing and spluttering blood but with no air to push anything out.


    My lungs were on fire as I fell to the ground. I rolled over to the side so I could have a good view of Noel and sure enough, she still had the silver bubble in her hand. At least from this distance, I could use magic hands, motion, and earth magic to avoid it. The bigger problem was the pain threatening to overwhelm my rationality and make it impossible for me to concentrate and use magic.


    I gasped for air and prepared my magic. I ripped some of the fabric from my clothes and used it to tie up my wound for a bit to stop the bleeding. I added pressure with magic hands while focusing on a single thread to use for some quick stitches. I had developed a little bit of first aid magic, although I had never had to use it for something like this, especially not on myself. I pressed a magic hand between my teeth, bit down, and cauterized some of the worst parts of the wound with fire magic. Tears filled my eyes, and Noel noticed that I was in so much pain that I couldn¡¯t respond to her.


    And so she shot forwards at breakneck speeds, holding the silver bubble in front of her body.


    Her sudden change in gait caught me by surprise. I suppose a part of me was expecting her to wait. To not want me to be in so much pain. To not actually want to kill me.


    It didn¡¯t make sense, I know. The rational part of me knew she had already tried to kill me multiple times. She was an Ikon of the Immortal of Madness, for goodness¡¯ sake, of course I couldn¡¯t trust her. And yet, a small part of me looked at that familiar face, the first face I¡¯d seen in this world and with whom I had spent so many adventures and struggles, and it made me make a minor but severe lapse in judgment.


    The scent of searing flesh, the piercing sting of pain, the dull ache in my chest, and the wearying fatigue nestling into every joint in my body, all came together to make me want to stop. To make me want to just call time out and take a breather. A break to recollect my thoughts. Yes. That was a good idea. What a wonderful idea it is, to take a quick break.


    I focused most of my remaining energy, took some gasping but steadying breaths, and let Noel get right up next to me. With the silver bubble growing larger in my bleary eyes, I shot myself forwards using magic hands and motion magic, ducked under Noel¡¯s outstretched hands, and connected to her with my shoulder.


    Despite her terrifying speed, my sudden motion, and the quick reaction of her hand as it swung back towards my neck, we stalled. Frozen entangled in a jumble of limbs and spells and messed up emotions. Even Noel¡¯s silver glow froze at one intensity instead of flaring up or dimming down like it usually did.


    The pain in my leg was gone. The ache in my chest, the flame in my lungs, the dizzying array of irrational emotions that cluttered my head, everything was cleared up for a moment. If I could¡¯ve let out a breath, I would have. Instead, I let out a figurative breath of relief in my head, calming my emotions and trying to figure out what to do next.


    The good thing about ¡®still life¡¯ magic was that I could keep Noel occupied for a little bit. I couldn¡¯t fight back, I couldn¡¯t treat my wound, I couldn¡¯t really improve my situation at all, but I could prevent it from getting any worse. And if I was lucky, I could stall long enough for Kelser or somebody else to leave the gates and come to my aid. I wasn¡¯t sure anyone but Kelser could get through the silver glow, but perhaps they could at least pull her off me and prepare to treat my wounds.


    The down side was this magic was burning through my magic like crazy. I had practiced this spell many, many times, which had improved its efficiency a little bit by increasing my ¡®wisdom¡¯ but the ¡®knowledge¡¯ behind this spell was so inefficient, there wasn¡¯t much I could do to really make a dent in its energy consumption. I had other motion stalling spells now, ones that were based on classical, Newtonian physics, but those weren¡¯t able to completely stop motion altogether.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    I had frozen myself in an awkward position. My shoulder dug into Noel¡¯s abdomen, making her loom over me like the lip of a cliff. I couldn¡¯t see her face, but I could just make out the silver bubble that was held up by her hand and shooting towards my neck like a bullet. The reflection on the bubble showed a wide-eyed little elfin Cas, blood dribbling out of his mouth like drool, and a glowering Noel with eyebrows arched forward and silver eyes harboring a somber but resolute light. It was only when I saw the reflection of her eyes up close, that I finally recognized that something was wrong with her.


    That immediately made me feel better. There had been no signs, apart from the silver glow, that Noel was under any kind of influence. From what I knew, it was the Immortal of Evil that did mind control, not the Immortal of Madness, and Noel had mind control resistance magic anyways. Clearly, the Immortal of Madness had found a way past her defenses and brought her under his control. If I could somehow break that control, perhaps I could rescue Noel and save my own hide in the process.


    But for that I needed help. In my head I kept repeating the same words over and over again: come on Kelser! That little red haired kid better stop whatever he was doing and come save me. What was taking him so long anyway? I¡¯d already knocked out Bain Rusta, if the traitors inside had been controlled by magic, they should¡¯ve been released by now. Judging by their mechanical actions and unthinking, brute force tactics, I assumed the traitorous demons and fairies were being controlled. The few who weren¡¯t should have been swept aside already. Why wasn¡¯t he here yet?


    Wait a minute.


    I felt my heart drop.


    I¡¯d concluded that Bain Rusta had been converted to the Immortal of Evil¡¯s side while he was inside the city. It would be strange for somebody to become an Ikon in such a short amount of time. At least, it didn¡¯t seem like the Oracle had become an Ikon that quickly. Bain Rusta hadn¡¯t been very powerful either. I assumed the Oracle had been weak because she was given a bit of the Immortal¡¯s ability of foresight. But all Bain Rusta had was the red glow in his eyes. What if Bain Rusta wasn¡¯t the Ikon after all?


    A chilling screech filled the air. It was a familiar sound, but perverted into something sinister and foreboding. It was the sound of the gates of the capital opening up, but it also sounded like long nails were scratching the metallic surface, clawing at it to try to get it to open.


    I steeled my resolve, prepared my mind, and let the still life magic fade.


    Multiple things happened at once.


    I continued my trajectory of slamming into Noel¡¯s body but went even faster thanks to my pumping adrenaline, the pull from a magic hand, the acceleration from motion magic, reduced drag from air magic, and a good grip on the ground with balance or gravity magic. I also summoned a bunch of magic hands to hold Noel¡¯s hand back, stalling the silver bubble just long enough to destabilize Noel¡¯s balance with magic and have her fall face first towards the ground.


    But Noel had been scheming during the pause as well. Her other hand grabbed my clothes and tried to stop me from moving away. I also felt another force on the other side of my body, trying to grasp my leg to hold me back. Noel had brought out her own magic hands, although she probably wanted to catch me off guard when I was a little more tired and couldn¡¯t just plow right through them with a little bit of effort.


    And at the same time, a loud crash echoed through the air. A deep, ominous thumping sound filled my ears, throbbing to the sound of my heartbeat and the piercing pain that flared in tandem with the two. I tumbled away on the ground like a can kicked down the road, but managed to steady myself in the distance.


    Once steadied, I could see a grimacing Noel, silver bubble still hovering near her hand, with a bit of my clothes in the other. The silver bubble also had a bit of fabric on it, and a soreness in my back made me suspect the bubble had lightly kissed the surface of my skin too.


    On the other side, a cloud of red mist spilled out of the gate of the capital city. The source of the thumping sound came into view through the mist. Columns of stomping people filed out of the city gates. Fairies, demons, even humans, all came out with their weapons held to their sides, marching forward with a blank, red glare in their eyes. The army of red eyed people split apart in the middle, and a small group strode forth.


    Elders Kezler, Brol, and Mann paced forward, the many human magic users coming up right behind them. The hovering spirits of the Senate appeared as well, their eyes also a fiery crimson. And in the middle came a new but somewhat familiar face. The face belonged to a young demon man, his eyes red, his body stiffly straight and muscular. His tail also jutted out at an extreme angle and in a straight line, rather than in the relaxed, curvy style that most demons¡¯ tails seemed to have.


    His face reminded me of someone, and that helped me figure out who he was without any need for an introduction. This must be Kol¡¯s brother, Prince Alek Izlandi, the exiled prince of the Izlandi Kingdom.

 Chapter 181

    There had been no sign of the exiled prince and his entourage during our march through the Lux Republic. We had assumed he had been eliminated alongside the fairies outside the capital. Before leaving the Kingdom, I¡¯d asked Kol about her brother. I¡¯d needed to know whether the Republic would still stand by him now that Kol had already become queen, and if he would stand in the way of our mission or if he would come to our side in exchange for concessions, like clemency for the prince and his collaborators. Kol told me her brother probably did not have a lot of leverage with the Republic. Although he was being supported by them initially, it was only a marriage of convenience. After Kol¡¯s disappearance, Alek had already done many things to distance himself from the Republic in preparation for ascending to the throne, which had probably burnt a lot of bridges for him. The Senate wouldn¡¯t want him coming to the capital, and he would prefer to stay near the borders as well, perhaps recruiting mercenaries and merchants to try and launch a rebellion or something.


    But now here he was. A smirk on his face, relaxed, and coming up with a steady gait. The demon prince was escorted on all sides by an army that was not his, all controlled by a power that was not his, but from the look on his face you¡¯d almost think the guy had conquered the world in his sleep. Unlike Bain Rusta, who only had the red glow in his eyes, Alek Izlandi had a thick crimson glow highlighting his body in a surreal way. The prince locked gazes with Noel, completely ignoring me for the moment.


    I used the opportunity to cast a bunch of first aid magic. With a few sanitized threads, I managed to make some makeshift stitches, treated my wound the best I could to prevent infection, and began regulating my breath to recover energy. I kept low to the ground, since I didn¡¯t want to get involved in what was about to happen.


    Alek stepped forward. Two columns of armored fairies flanked him from either side. Noel frowned. She stood up to face the Immortal of Evil¡¯s Ikon, silver bubble at the ready. Alek stared at the silver bubble floating in front of Noel¡¯s hands, and smiled. Two wispy tendrils of red light stretched out from his shoulders, their edges pointy like a scorpion¡¯s tail. These tendrils swayed in the still air.


    Thunder roared overhead. The rain began to pour.


    The red tendrils leaned back. Noel summoned a cluster of new bubbles. The humans pointed fireballs at Noel. The demons aimed their spears. The fairies readied their shields. I put a hand on the ground and prepared to flip the board if my friends came under attack.


    The thunder screeched to a halt. As if paused mid roar.


    The pattering of rain froze mid note. Like a half finished tap on a window.


    The clanking armor. The swishing spears. The sizzling flames. Everything froze.


    Only Noel¡¯s bubbles, Alek¡¯s tendrils, and my wild and panicking eyes seemed unaffected. I had seen this before. This unholy, unnatural, and inexplicable freezing of the world, like a video paused on a three dimensional screen. I craned my neck from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of who was to blame, but the sky was overcast and I could not see beyond the clouds. Yet, I was sure, if I could see the sky it would be dark despite the hour and the moon or the red star would be glaring down at us mirthlessly.


    Alek reacted first. His smirk was wiped off his face, replaced by an anxious expression. The tendrils dissipated as if Alek had completely forgotten about them. Indeed, judging by the way he was refusing to look at Noel, he might very well have forgotten about the enemy standing right in front of him.


    Noel reacted a step behind Alek. She also lost the concentration on her face, and her eyebrows went from furrowing solemnly to stretching out to her forehead as an expression of dread was pasted on her face. She also did not look at Alek. Or rather, she glanced in his direction for a moment but did not seem to register that he was there.


    Neither of them looked over at me as I stood up. There was no point in trying to avoid an Immortal¡¯s gaze, I reckoned. But I also concluded that neither Alek nor Noel could see anybody else. Perhaps they could not even see the space around them, because they walked right through some frozen droplets of water and began feeling their faces in fright. Watching Noel recoil like a cat when a drop of water went into her nose would have been comical if not for the uncanny circumstances and the fact that she had tried to kill me multiple times just a few minutes ago.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    I was not ready to face an Immortal right now. I was badly injured, incredibly tired, and had made no preparations. That said, I had a feeling I could never truly be ready to face an Immortal, so perhaps it did not matter if I was injured or at the top of my game. In fact, I quickly began using this brief respite to gather my strength and treat my injuries some more.


    The world remained frozen for a long time.


    Alek and Noel were still stumbling around like they had been put inside some sort of dark and dinghy cave. Actually, I was sure their surroundings looked dark to them because Noel kept lighting a fire over her hands before extinguishing it in disappointment and anger.


    There was no sign of an Immortal.


    I frowned. What was going on?


    My sense of reason and time had gotten all wonky. I wasn¡¯t sure how long we had been in here. It felt like a minute, but could have also been a day, or longer. I couldn¡¯t tell. My mind began to feel sluggish. The pain from my injuries began to fade. The burning in my lungs was extinguished. The ache in my chest was gone. My brain, which had been overwhelmed with thoughts and ideas, about how to get out of this situation, how to help my friends survive, how to subdue Noel and show her the mural in the senate, all of those thoughts began to disappear. My emotions, roiling in my heart at seeing Noel again, seeing my human friends under the Immortal of Evil¡¯s control, and feeling like I was going to die, or wouldn¡¯t be able to figure out what was going on with the spirits¡¯ reverence for the elves, or about not being able to find the clues to ¡®annihilation¡¯ that would help me find a way back home, all these thoughts and feelings and concerns so long and convoluted I couldn¡¯t even express them properly. All jumbled up. Incoherent. Like language vomiting words in my skull. Everything died a slow and painless death, to make way for a serenity I had not experienced since¡­ forever.


    Singing.


    Calm. Tranquil. Placid.


    Peaceful.


    Singing.


    No music, no, no dreadful music. I knew what would come with music. The madness, the lunacy, the dancing. No, this was not the music of chaos, it was the singing of order. The singing of kindness, of gentleness, of justice, rationality, and mercy.


    This was the song of birds.


    No, this was one bird. A familiar one. One whose name I had forgotten. A bird from my old world, my Earth, whose melancholic voice now sang some familiar verses plucked from the corpus of one of my favorite poets:


    ¡°I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, / Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, / But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet / Wherewith the seasonable month endows / The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; / White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine; / Fast fading violets cover''d up in leaves; / And mid-May''s eldest child, / The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, / The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.¡±


    ¡°William Keats,¡± I said under my breath.


    Then the world swirled around me like a whirlpool. Alek and Noel froze in place. Then they began to do a strange dance. A strange but familiar dance. Of crazed stompings and spells and shouts and crazed expressions. Alek¡¯s tendrils reappeared and so did his smirk, Noel¡¯s bubbles reformed, as did her somber expression. The humans began to unsummon their flames. The fairies began to march backwards and the demons followed right behind them. Bain Rusta hopped up at an impossible angle, his eyes reopened but without their reddish glare, which prompted me to check and indeed, neither Noel nor Alek had their glows anymore. Alek stomped his feet and retreated back into the crowd with his eyes to his front. And the army went back inside like a closing up accordion. The rain ran back up the sky. The clouds unfurled. Noel went through some inexplicable motions as she shot bubbles everywhere, although the bubbles popped right as they left her hands. Noel¡¯s robes stitched themselves back together. She skulked back up the road and away from the capital, in a motion that looked comically and uncannily like a dance move made famous by a certain pop star from back on my Earth.


    The sun appeared once more, glaring brightly on the open fields where I lay sprawled, confused, dazzled, and with a bizarrely vibrant smile on my face.

 Chapter 182

    Finally. A stroke of luck. Why had the Immortal of Desire intervened now? How were they able to send me back in time like this? Was this the same timeline, another dimension, or some other weird time travel trope? None of this mattered right now. I laughed a little, laughter of relief and joy, then picked myself up and ran to the wall. I scaled its sides with balance magic, rushing right up to the top with the surprised sentries who were setting up the massive crossbow that was supposed to fire the exploding arrows. Standing on the edge of the top of the walls, I looked back down on the open fields, confirmed there was no sign of any fight nor battle down there, and realized this was probably when I had gone down to set up the moat and ramparts that Noel had all but completely ignored.


    I turned and looked down inside the city. A crowd of fairies was busy working on weapons and armors and battle drills. The humans were practicing some spells, led by Kezler and the other elders. I even saw Taoc the spirit hovering near them, her tiny frame somehow generating a loud voice that carried all the way to the top of the walls. Something about traditional formations and battle tactics. From what I remember, she was supposed to prattle on and on about that for a bit until¡­


    There he was. My mouth spread into a stupid grin. I ran straight off the other side of the wall, ignoring the wide eyed gaping expressions of the fairies preparing the crossbow. My shadow traveled across the ground, catching the eyes of the fairies down below, with cries of elf, great elf, reaching all the way up to my pointy ears. I descended quickly but softly, my drop accelerated and cushioned with air magic. I fell right next to the spirity Taoc and Elder Kezler, who gave me a surprised look. Taoc even shut up when I dropped next to her. Despite the fact that she was always chattering on when I wasn¡¯t around, she was better than the other spirits because at least she shut up when I showed up.


    I ran up to the group, swooped right in, and grabbed Kelser in a tight embrace. The bewildered redhead recoiled for a moment, but soon realized he couldn¡¯t break my grip, and so let me awkwardly hug him one-sidedly.


    Of course I had realized what it meant when Kelser did not show up as a part of Prince Alek¡¯s mind controlled army. I didn¡¯t linger on the thought, pushing it to the side with the hope that he had snuck away somehow, but I had known that that was simply wishful thinking.


    I let go of Kelser, who began saying things like what¡¯s going on, what happened, are you okay, but I didn¡¯t reply. Smiling, I hopped up with a little air magic, ruffled his red hair, and made a quip about how quickly he¡¯d grown up. He grew a little indignant but I ignored him once again, before rounding up on the spirit Taoc. I wanted to go back to the Senate.


    ¡°The Senate?¡± asked Kelser from behind me, ¡°but didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d look into it later? I know you¡¯re curious about the mosaic but the enemy army could get here at any moment.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re already here,¡± I said.


    Kelser frowned. Elder Kezler looked taken aback. Taoc seemed, uncharacteristically, at a loss for words.


    Elder Brol took over from Elder Kezler, while I asked Elder Mann to go outside with some humans to set up some defenses. The moat would be unnecessary, but we could use some ramparts and barriers. Kesler, Taoc, and Elder Kezler joined me as I walked right through the main street of the capital city, ignoring the many glances and shouts and pointing fingers from the fairies of the city. A few younger fairies even tried to walk up to me, but their parents held them back by their wings. I kept scanning the area, searching for any signs of things that shouldn¡¯t be here.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Although I had been brought back a day into the past, I still had no idea where Prince Alek and his supporters were hidden. None of the spirits or fairies had ever mentioned them to me, nor had any demons come across him throughout our stay in the capital. I could assume he had hidden himself by controlling people¡¯s minds and manipulating them to not say anything to me, but if he¡¯d had that much power, he could¡¯ve controlled the entire city before I¡¯d even got there. There must be some sort of limit to his power. Perhaps he could only control a certain number of people, or they had to be suitably beaten up or controlled first. Or maybe he¡¯d known that Noel would come to this city and didn¡¯t want to give himself away until she¡¯d spent a bit of her energy. I didn¡¯t forget that the Immortal of Evil that Alek served had the ability to tell the future. And from what I remembered about the way I¡¯d ruined the Oracle¡¯s plans, I could mess with the Immortal¡¯s precognitive ability. My appearance in the city must have already ruined his predictions, which must have been why he¡¯d started mind controlling more people than he had wanted to.


    I walked past the Senate¡¯s imposing facade and entered through the tiny door. Inside, the gathering of spirits was still hovering above their chairs, talking to each other in charged tones about how best to defend the city. A fiery male spirit was just about to denounce the ¡®evil elfin dictator who is trying to overthrow and conquer our free and fair republic¡¯ when I slammed open the door and walked right on in. I apologized for coming in unannounced, but the fiery male spirit had already shrunk into his chair while looking around from side to side, possibly searching for a fairy guard despite knowing that they were all at the city gates.


    ¡°There you are,¡± I said as I walked up to the front of the table, to the seat vacated by Taoc. Taoc herself hovered beside me a little annoyed at seeing somebody else on her seat, which almost made me chuckle. Wasn¡¯t she the one that had offered it up in the first place? As a gesture of good will and friendship between different races?


    ¡°Great Elf, we were not expecting to see you in here until after the battle. Have you changed your mind on inspecting the mural after all? I have made sure to defend it while befriending the spirits, as you advised,¡± said Bain Rusta in his calm, reassuring voice. The old demon had been sipping some sort of local beverage. It looked dark and unwelcoming, although when I had tasted it myself, I had been surprised by its sweetness. Bain Rusta saw that I had eyed the drink and asked me if I wanted to try some.


    I smiled and said sure, why not. I walked up to him, letting my eyes trail along the mural of Sharun, the hunter of the Jora tribe who I had been certain had died long ago, and even reached out to touch the weapon in his hand. Good old Dragon¡¯s Tooth. Man, did that bring back some memories. The spirits held their breath as I touched the mural, although of course, nothing happened. The mural was just a mural. It told a story, yes, but it was a single page. I had to get the rest of it from someone else. Perhaps Noel had figured something out about it, which was why she was trying to come here. Or perhaps only the Immortals knew what had transpired for something like this to have been created.


    ¡°No, I did not come here to inspect the mural,¡± I said as I walked up to Bain Rusta and struck him in the back of his neck. The old demon slumped forward onto the table, his eyes wide and stunned. A spirit let out a cry, the others hid behind their chairs or shrunk away while hovering. Even my companions couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.


    I walked up to the old demon, put a hand on his head, and used a magic I had only ever used once before. A subtle but clear film of red light appeared around Bain Rusta¡¯s body, clinging to him like a second skin. As I poured more energy into the spell, the red light began to flicker and shrink. I let go of my hand, the magic would do the rest.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be drooling on the table like this gullible old man, then you better line up and let me pat your head,¡± I said with a menacing sneer as I walked up to the spirits of the Senate.

 Chapter 183

    I rubbed my hand on my clothes. Not all of these spirits washed their hair as much as they should have. I looked over at the pile of unconscious spirits littering the Senate floor. Taoc scratched her chin as she looked at her friends on the floor. She was the only spirit who didn¡¯t have any mind control magic applied to her yet. This meant that I was right. Alek only started using his mind control magic on a large scale after I showed up and ruined his predictions. Taoc and the humans had always been next to me, so Alek never had the chance to get to them.


    I walked over to Bain Rusta. The old demon did not have any red light around his body anymore, but he still hadn¡¯t gotten up. I conjured a small ball of water over my hand and threw it at the ruler of Tephon. Bain Rusta gasped and sputtered. His hair, wet like a mop, dangled over his eyes and hid his face almost completely. He had thick hair for such an old man, I remarked to myself idly. I threw another ball of water at him.


    ¡°What was that for?¡± said Bain Rusta as he sputtered and spat out some water.


    ¡°The first one was to wake you up. The second one was punishment for letting your mind get controlled so easily,¡± he said.


    ¡°Mind control?¡± Kelser piped up from behind.


    Right, I hadn¡¯t mentioned why I was doing everything so far. I looked over at the confused looking Elder Kezler and the shrinking spirit Taoc. From their angle it must¡¯ve looked like I knocked out a bunch of people, made them glow red, and then seemed to want to splash water on their faces for some reasons. An elaborate prank or the mysterious whims of an elf? Neither, of course.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen this spell before. I even developed magic against it, which is what I just used to save all of our friends here from becoming mindless thralls. You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said.


    Taoc blinked her eyes. ¡°Magic? But fairies and spirits do not know magic.¡±


    ¡°No human knows a spell that could control someone¡¯s mind,¡± said Elder Kezler.


    ¡°Wait, do you know mind control magic?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°No, I only know how to resist it. The mind is an incredibly complicated biological and metaphysical puzzle. I wouldn¡¯t be able to make a pure mind control spell anytime soon. I could probably come up with a way to alter emotions a little, once I can do some experiments and figure out what certain chemicals can do to our brains,¡± I said, before looking over and seeing the way people were recoiling at my words, ¡°moving on, no, I don¡¯t know mind control magic and I haven¡¯t taught it to anyone either.¡±


    Bain Rusta groaned as he held his head in one hand. ¡°I do feel a mild ache in my head, but I can¡¯t remember anything strange. Apart from you barging into the Senate and knocking me out, that is.¡±


    ¡°Of course you wouldn¡¯t remember it. This spell belongs to the Immortal of Evil,¡± I said.


    Muted reactions all around. Kelser and Elder Kezler exchanged a glance.


    ¡°You know him as the Heavenly Eye,¡± I said to Bain Rusta.


    Bain Rusta frowned. ¡°The Heavenly Eye? Why would the Heavenly Eye want to control my mind?¡±


    ¡°The Immortal of Evil has a couple of abilities that I know of. He can see the future, although this ability gets wonky whenever I¡¯m involved,¡± I said.


    ¡°The Heavenly Eye has many powers,¡± said Bain Rusta. ¡°He is the true god, who created the universe and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Spare us the evangelism, demon,¡± quipped Taoc as she rolled her eyes. ¡°Your god is a pretender. An evil being who laid claim to the natural world because of his greed and selfishness.¡±


    ¡°I am not religious, Taoc,¡± said Bain Rusta as he finally settled on his seat again. His legs still wobbled like jelly when he tried to get up. ¡°I have been a friend to your people for a long time and find your mythology more convincing than my own. But if the Great Elf says that the Heavenly Eye is a real being, an Immortal of Evil, as he called it. Then I must tell him the fruits of my research.¡±


    ¡°Research?¡± I said, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Yes, as I said, I never found the mythology of my people very convincing. For the Heavenly Eye to have created everything, and yet be pushed back by two so-called outsiders? How could the Heavenly Eye be the great creator if he did not create the outsiders? The spirits here have a much more interesting mythology. One that claims the natural world has always existed, and was merely conquered by a great malevolent being, the one we now know as the Heavenly Eye,¡± said Bain Rusta.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°And the world suffered greatly under the Heavenly Eye,¡± said Taoc as she hovered in front of Bain and took over, confidently. ¡°Fires ravaged the woods, the sky was ashen, the land barren, and the universe teetered on the edge of collapse. The sentient beings of the universe banded together to defeat the Heavenly Eye, rallying under our leader, the Beast of the Valley. The Beast of the Valley sealed the Heavenly Eye in the red star, and the universe has known peace ever since.¡±


    ¡°And you see the problem with this mythology, don¡¯t you great elf?¡± asked Bain Rusta.


    ¡°What are you talking about demon?¡± said Taoc with her hands on her hips.


    ¡°Yes, I can,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, Great Elf, do not listen to him!¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°It does not mention the god of the beastmen. The God of Music,¡± said Bain Rusta.


    I nodded. The Immortal of Madness. Without him, no mythology in this world could be complete.


    ¡°The God of Music isn¡¯t important!¡± insisted Taoc.


    I frowned. The Immortal of Madness wasn¡¯t important? That statement told me a lot about the mythology of the spirits and fairies. Most mythologies were untrustworthy. There was probably a kernel of truth in this one, but I couldn¡¯t put too much faith in its accuracy.


    ¡°And how do we elves come into this story,¡± I said as I gestured to the elfin mural.


    ¡°The Beast of the Valley disappeared into history,¡± answered Bain Rusta, before Taoc could say anything. ¡°The spirits believe the Beast continues to watch over them, but I suspect the Beast was merely a powerful sentient but mortal being.¡±


    ¡°You should keep your pitiful theories to yourself, demon,¡± said Taoc, with surprising spite. Spirits were fervent believers, it seemed. ¡°The Beast lays watch on the red star, to stop the Heavenly Eye from laying waste to the universe again. But the Heavenly Eye¡¯s influence spreads to this world through the trickle of red light that falls on us. Malice, greed, and fury, among other nasty feelings. All of them come from the Heavenly Eye. It is what runs the Izlandi Kingdom, the most warlike, selfish nation in the world.¡±


    ¡°You are plenty warlike on your own,¡± said Bain.


    ¡°It is what gives them their nasty tongue as well,¡± said Taoc, ¡°but more importantly, it is what leads to the great monster floods.¡±


    ¡°Great monster floods?¡± I repeated.


    ¡°When the influence of the red star has filled the world. In the woods, in the rivers, in the grottoes, and in the hidden places of this world, the monsters grow the Heavenly Eye¡¯s mark on their bodies and rampage across the land,¡± said Taoc.


    Starred monsters? The Immortal of Evil made them go on a rampage?


    ¡°Many generations ago, there was monster flood unlike any we had ever seen. Spirits, demons, and beastmen alike were swept away by the intensity of the monsters. Cities were burnt, crops trampled, and livestock butchered. Many of our people were killed. The other sentient races did not fare much better. It seemed as if the era of the monsters had begun, and the red star would shine upon a world it controlled once again, but then from the South came our saviors,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°The elves?¡± I said.


    She nodded. ¡°The great elves poured forth from the mountains in the South, sweeping aside monsters whose very breath had been enough to fell a fairy and whose very presence made the spirits shake and shiver. Their weapons were more primitive than ours, their language indecipherable, but their courage, their power, their magic was mesmerizing. They cleared the lands to the South, the land that is now controlled by the Izlandi Kingdom, before sweeping up her to the North where our ancestors decided to make this mural. Then the elves chased the monsters to the East, into the lands now controlled by the Singing Horde. And the most remarkable part of this story is that the elves had been fighting an even larger, more dangerous flood of monsters in their homeland before being pushed into the mountains by a monster they did not call a monster. Now, so many years after the arrival and disappearance of the elves, only the Spirits remember their bravery and power. We believe they are the emissaries of the Beast of the Valley, which is why your arrival, no, your return is so important to us Great Elf. I cannot express just how happy it makes me feel to be able to gaze upon your honorable visage. I¡ª¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough Taoc,¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, Great Elf,¡± she said, before frowning, ¡°but I thought you did not want to hear this story until after the battle.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just say I¡¯m a little less worried about the enemy showing up right now.¡± Of course, this was because I knew Noel would come tomorrow, not today. ¡°Thank you for that, Taoc, it answers a lot of questions.¡± I did not add that it raised quite a few more. ¡°Bain. You say you don¡¯t remember anything strange happening to you here?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we were merely going through the logistics of the defense of the city. I was making a lot of empty diplomatic statements, the kind that would be expected of an emissary. I have no idea how somebody might have cast a spell on me,¡± he said.


    I remembered that it took the Oracle a long time to brainwash Sharun. I stared at the mural of Sharun as I thought this, a lot of melancholic thoughts coming into my mind. Alek Izlandi must have been brainwashing people right up until he opened the gate and brought out his army against Noel. From what I remembered, he had all of the spirits and Bain Rusta under his control, but also had others. Others that were probably turned before the battle begun.


    ¡°We have to return to the gate,¡± I said, frowning as I turned and raced right out the door, ignoring the carpet of unconscious spirits that had still not been woken up.

 Chapter 184

    Why did the Immortal of Desire help me, and more importantly, why did they help me right now? Just because I¡¯d decided to shun these questions to the back of my mind didn¡¯t mean I hadn¡¯t thought about them at all. Especially because I remembered what happened the last time the Immortal decided to help us.


    For now, I could only assume that intervening like this had been worth the risk. There might even be a price to pay. I certainly thought the Immortal of Madness had paid some sort of price for sending us to the future since we hadn¡¯t heard from him for so long and the moon hadn¡¯t acted up either. But then what had been worth the price? The last thing that happened was Alek coming out of the gates with his army of thralls, facing off against a tired Noel who could make most of them disappear with her spells. I had been sitting quietly by the side, trying to recover.


    It was safe to assume that the Immortal of Desire thought that I wasn¡¯t gonna make it. I didn¡¯t know if the Immortal of Desire could see the future like the Immortal of Evil could, but you didn¡¯t need to be a fortune teller to know my situation had been dire. And Noel would have eliminated a bunch of mind controlled demons, humans, and fairies, but I had a feeling she would be overwhelmed by Alek eventually. This meant the Immortal of Desire probably wanted to prevent either my death, Noel¡¯s death, or both. The birds had taught us magic after all, back on the Plains of Serenity. We were sort of their disciples. Emotions from an Immortal or something deeper? There was no point thinking any further than this. It would only be speculation.


    Kelser, Kezler, and Taoc followed behind me as I left the Senate. I had to grab Bain Rusta with magic hands to bring him along. The old demon let out an undignified scream as he flailed around in the air. Heads turned as we stormed down the main road once again, although this time there were a few children pointing at the floating demon. Some of them thought he was some sort of large, black-tailed spirit.


    Back at the gate, I had Elder Kezler bring all the humans to a small tent. I went around the tent, checking every human for mind controlling magic but they were all clean. I frowned. Noel would be here tomorrow and the humans were definitely under Alek¡¯s control by then. I had assumed he had been slowly infecting them with his magic during the day, but there was nothing here. Or if there was, it was so subtle I could not counter it. After all, the Immortal of Evil had had a long time to come up with a spell that wouldn¡¯t be countered by mine. Then again, it didn¡¯t feel like the Immortals¡¯ magic worked that way. Their magic had always seemed overwhelming and powerful, but rigid and inflexible. What it could do, it did well. What it couldn¡¯t, was a weakness for me to exploit.


    By this time Bain Rusta had recovered somewhat and I asked him to bring all the demon commanders into my tent. I went through them methodically as well but none of them reacted to my magic either. I let them all go and had Taoc bring in some fairies. Still, no luck.


    What did this mean? Alek had used a kind of mind control magic that was faster than the Oracle¡¯s magic, but not fast enough for him to turn the entire city against me while I was still inside it. So far, I had only confirmed his assault on the Senate and Bain Rusta. None of them remembered meeting Alek Izlandi.


    I pulled Kelser and Elder Kezler to the side. I spoke to them in the human tongue. ¡°I want you two to investigate the city. Stick close to each other, and stay on the lookout, especially you Kelser. Start from around the Senate. Search for any hideouts or secret areas. I haven¡¯t seen any open-air drains, which is impressive urban development by the way, but that also means there might be underground sewers. You might have to check those out too, although I doubt a prince is hiding out in a place like that. If you see any demons, or any fairies and spirits that are acting strange, come back to me right away.¡±


    After Kelser and Elder Kezler left, I asked Taoc and Bain Rusta to come a little closer. ¡°I am going to ask you two an important question. You must not repeat anything about this later, or even right now. I am using magic to try to make sure that we are alone, but still.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Of course, Great Elf, we would never betray your trust,¡± said Taoc.


    The image of a red-eyed Taoc walking zombie-like out of the gates of the city came to mind. ¡°Of course,¡± I said with a slight smile. ¡°Okay then. I need your help finding the absconding prince, Alek Izlandi.¡±


    ¡°Ale¡ª¡± began Taoc.


    I put a hand over her tiny spirit mouth. I gave her a look. Her eyes opened wide. She nodded her understanding and I let go.


    ¡°There is another reason I do not want you to say anything. Like I mentioned before, the Immortal of Evil can see the future, but not when I¡¯m involved. I do not know the details of this ability, so just in case this is a Laplace¡¯s Demon situation, only I am allowed to say the most important stuff,¡± I said.


    ¡°I do not think I followed that, Great Elf,¡± said Bain Rusta with a frown. ¡°What demon are you talking about?¡±


    Oh right. There were real demons in this world. ¡°Laplace¡¯s Demon is a sort of thought exercise. Imagine if there was a demon that knew where every single object or particle in the universe was, what forces it exerted or were acting on it, and so on. Basically, this incredibly intelligent demon simply knows everything as it exists in the present. The thought goes, if the demon knows the present this well, and possesses the ability to compute things to an infinite degree, then it could tell the future simply based off of everything it knew about the present. If it knows, for example, the weakness of the branch holding up the fruit, it would know precisely when the fruit would drop. If the Immortal of Evil¡¯s precognition is something like this, then his ability is being messed up because he cannot see me in the present and therefore cannot predict the future for anything that I interact with. I¡¯m assuming this messes up his long term predictions too, which must be driving him insane. Wow. No wonder he wants me gone, now that I think about it.¡±


    It didn¡¯t look like Taoc or Bain Rusta were following what I was saying. This was why I tried to only do these sorts of explanations around Kelser or Noel. It was nice having a receptive audience.


    ¡°I can¡¯t be sure that that is how the Immortal of Evil¡¯s ability works,¡± I said, ¡°but I don¡¯t want to risk it. If he knows the present, he might know what the two of you are doing. I doubt he can see it when you¡¯re talking to me, but after I leave your vicinity, perhaps he will learn a lot based off of tiny things, like the changes on the wrinkles on your face, or the way you are thinking to yourself. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the Immortal sends one of his henchmen down to interrogate you and find out what I had said. In fact, that¡¯s what I wanted to talk to you about. Alek Izlandi is working for the Immortal of Evil, and I need to find him. You two cannot tell me where he is. No words should come out of your mouths. But I need to know.¡±


    Bain Rusta frowned. ¡°It will be difficult to give you an answer without speaking.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. We can walk. Do you know where he is? I understand that he is a guest of your Republic, Taoc,¡± I said.


    ¡°Not really. We kept him far¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say anything that makes it too obvious, Taoc,¡± I interjected.


    ¡°Er, right,¡± said Taoc. She stuttered a little, before doing the unthinkable for a spirit. She frowned and thought over her words quietly. ¡°What you are looking for is not something we prize. It was stored out there in the periphery of our nation, and only came to the capital recently. I do not know where it is being kept right now, but I can take you to where it was when I last saw it. When the other spirits awake, perhaps they will know more.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°There might not be enough time for that. Let¡¯s just hope he¡¯s still there.¡± I walked out of the tent, surveyed the groups of exercising soldiers, and scanned their faces just in case Alek had been hiding here somehow. No. Well, it had been a long shot. Taoc and Bain Rusta followed me out. I looked back at the hovering spirit and said: ¡°Lead the way, Taoc.¡±

 Chapter 185

    Taoc led me along the outskirts of the city. Bain Rusta followed behind me, breathing heavily to keep up. I had a feeling he didn¡¯t want to start lagging behind because he knew I would just pick him up with magic hands and bring him along if he did.


    We arrived at an older part of the city. Taoc said the city used to be much smaller, and that before the city walls were built, this place was the heart of the city because it was close to the Senate and soldiers¡¯ barracks, which meant it was the safest place to be whenever the city was sacked. The paths in this part of the city were tiny and made of cobblestone. The sewage system had been moved underground, but the remains of open air drains could still be seen. All of the houses were made of wood, with some signs of rot and creeping vines. There were many plants in pots nestled in tiny corners and on windowsills. The windows were the wooden like the ones that we were using in New Cas City. All of them were shut tightly in preparation of war. I did see one that was open just a crack, with a younger fairy playing with a baby and some toys, flames crackling in the open fire-pit where something seemed to be simmering. It smelled amazing. I almost wanted to knock on the door and try some, but there wasn¡¯t time.


    We went down winding paths that made me finally realize just how big this city was. I had spent all of my time near the entrance and center of the city, far from the densely packed areas where most of the population actually lived. On the main street running down from the gates to the Senate, there was hustle and bustle, the cries of hawkers, the din of the crowd, the effervescence of a large, commercial city. But out here in the alleyways there was more life. Thinking back to my home in New York, I could say it was like the difference between downtown Manhattan and some of the quieter parts of Brooklyn or Queens. Still a lot of sounds coming in from the houses, especially now that everybody was preparing for war, but it was a tamer sort of noise. Clanging pots from one house, the wails of a baby, a calm conversation drifting onto the road.


    For some reason, all of this was jumping out at me now as we snaked through the city. Was it because I had missed it before? Did it contrast so heavily with my previous experiences? Maybe. Or maybe it was because there was nothing else to do and the journey was long and complicated. I was almost tempted to grab Taoc and Bain Rusta with magic hands and jump into the air. Perhaps we could leap right onto Alek Izlandi¡¯s lap. I was definitely getting a little itchy to beat up the smug demon prince. I could still picture that stupid smirk that had stretched across his face. It¡¯ll feel good wiping that off his face, I remarked to myself.


    Taoc held up a tiny hand. I stopped. Bain Rusta was panting, and he had to grab his knees and stare downward to catch his breath. I cast some air magic traveling away from the bend in the road behind which Taoc was hovering low, a finger on her lips. I stepped closer quietly with motion magic, and used a little light magic to see around the bend.


    There was a nondescript building made entirely out of wood. It looked pretty much exactly like the other buildings we had run across, except it was at the end of a street with no other buildings around it, which was strange considering the density of the houses in this part of the city. A strange crest adorned the large wooden door: a pointy black shape that looked vaguely like a demon¡¯s tail if it had been chiseled into the wood by a child.


    There were no sounds coming out of the building. The window had been cracked open, ever so slightly. I couldn¡¯t hear any fire, any shuffling of feet, or hushed whispers. Either there was nobody in there, or they knew we were out here and were holding their breath. I remembered the prince shouldn¡¯t have many demon supporters with him anymore, and he wouldn¡¯t want to make too many of his mind controlled minions leave their positions just yet, so if the prince was in there, he had to be relatively alone.


    I took a shallow breath and cast motion detection magic. First right outside the door, in places that I could not see from this position. Then, I cast a spell right inside the window that had been left open. There were no reactions from these spells, so I prepared to try to cast some further inside. It would be tough to do so inside the building, but by this point I had cast this spell so many times my ¡®wisdom¡¯ had increased quite a bit. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Wait.


    I frowned. The spell beside the window had been triggered. Slightly, as if it had been brushed by a feather, but definitely enough for me to notice. There was definitely somebody in there. I glanced at Taoc and Bain Rusta. I gestured for them to stay put. Alek¡¯s mind control magic did not seem to function the way the Oracle¡¯s did. I didn¡¯t want to risk being back-stabbed by my allies in the middle of a fight. I¡¯d had enough of that for now, thank you very much!


    The sun was bright today. Almost made me wonder if Noel had made the next day overcast on purpose. I used light magic to turn myself invisible, although because of the narrow streets surrounded by buildings on either side, I had to be careful to stay out of the shadows. Once I was right in front of Alek¡¯s base, however, I could be a little more relaxed. There was a wide open bit of road in front of the house, with no other buildings to cast shadows from the side. The only problem would be the shadow that I would step into if I opened the door. The ¡®wisdom¡¯ of my invisibility magic had increased so much, I could go invisible inside the shade too, but stepping into it from the bright sunlight would definitely give me away.


    I held my breath as I got into position. The sounds of the city came muffled along the wind. I carefully took a step forward, using air magic to soften the sound as much as I could. I was concentrating like crazy, my brows furrowed deep, trying to catch the slightest signal for the many motion detection spells I had cast around where I thought the demon prince was standing.


    One step.


    Two.


    I was right in front of the window, just barely in the light. If I strained my ears, I could hear the muted breathing from the other side of the wooden walls. I was biting my bottom lip to help me hold my breath, but I couldn¡¯t hold on for much longer. I ran through the plan in my head, readied a barrage of magic hands to use as restraints, and lunged forward into the shade of the awning while also letting out my breath and slamming a bunch of magic hands through the narrow crack in the window.


    The window slammed opened and crashed into the top of the walls like whiplash on a windy day. The demon prince appeared, wide-eyed, crouching below the window-sill. He¡¯d turned his body around as I lunged forward, which meant the lower half of his body was twisted one way, while the top half faced me with surprise and confusion. The demon prince tried to fix his stance but my magic hands grabbed a hold of his body from every angle and held him in his awkward pose. He let out a strange shout, high pitched and nasally, before trying to struggle a little in his invisible restraints. He even tried looking at the seemingly empty air, wondering what was restraining him so firmly.


    I climbed through the window, finally coming into full view inside the building. The demon prince¡¯s eyes went even wider, which was surprising since they were already stretched open larger than they seemed able to. The entire scene would have been comical if not for the fact this man had killed or enslaved many of my friends in a future that thankfully would not happen anymore. A part of me was tempted to just finish him off right there and then. I still had the metallic bullets that I had been preparing for tomorrow, or I could use fire, or magic hands to the neck. Really, the possibilities were endless. But I couldn¡¯t. Not before I had some answers. I wouldn¡¯t get the opportunity to subdue an Immortal¡¯s Ikon this easily again. The kid could be completely clueless, but as long as he was close enough to his Immortal, there was something I could try, something I could bargain for. Not from the Ikon, but from the Immortal himself.


    ¡°Tell your boss,¡± I said as I dissipated the red glow that Alek had been stealthily gathering, with a flick of my wrists. ¡°I will spare your life if he answers a question for me¡­¡±


    I leaned in close to his ear, used air magic to make sure my voice wouldn¡¯t carry, and whispered as quietly as I could in a language not even Alek could understand, English.


    ¡°What is annihilation?¡±

 Chapter 186

    ¡°Annihilation?¡± repeated Alek Izlandi slowly.


    ¡°Annihilation,¡± I said firmly.


    Silence.


    Nestled in this quiet corner of this ancient city on a bright, beautiful, sunny day, the wind whistled past my ear, bringing sweet floral scents past my nose. Yet, despite the picturesque scene, the pleasant atmosphere, the serenity; my mind was cold and unfeeling. I felt a strange feeling I nmy throat. Like a lump I couldn¡¯t cough up.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± he said, at last. ¡°I don¡¯t even know who you are. Why are you doing this? What is going on? You over there, can you help me? Wait, you¡¯re a spirit. Please, come help! Oh, wait, is that you? Bain! Old man Bain, you have to help me. I don¡¯t¡ª¡±


    ¡°You know who I am,¡± I said. ¡°I am the one who wiped out your army and forced you into exile. You think I¡¯m dumb enough to think you wouldn¡¯t have dug up everything you could from the fairies and spirits? You know I¡¯m an elf, you know why I¡¯m here, and you must know more about the things I wish to know more about than anyone else in this world. Sorry, did you not follow what I just said? I¡¯m saying you have information that I need. If I don¡¯t start hearing what I want to be hearing, your little demon head might suddenly¡­¡± I pressed my hand to the back of his head, applying a little bit of pressure with magic hands and motion magic. ¡°¡­pop.¡±


    The demon prince gasped. He somehow managed to choke on his gasp, and began coughing pathetically. I let go of his head but kept him tied up. I beckoned Taoc and Bain Rusta over, making sure to apply a little mind resistance magic on them just in case. I¡¯d used it enough by now that my ¡®wisdom¡¯ had gone up considerably.


    ¡°Back to the question,¡± I said. ¡°Tell me about annihilation.¡±


    ¡°You should tell him what you know, Alek,¡± chimed in Bain Rusta.


    ¡°Bain! You, your family. I helped them so much, and this is how you repay me? Great Elf, you should not trust this lying, treacherous tumor. This two-faced, corrupt old man!¡± said Alek.


    ¡°So I¡¯m a great elf now, huh? Glad you aren¡¯t pretending not to know me anymore. But I will not ask again. Annihilation. Explain,¡± I said.


    ¡°I am sorry, Great Elf,¡± said Alek with a stammer. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I truly do not know. If you give me some more context, it doesn¡¯t have to be a complete explanation, just a few clues, if you give me that then perhaps I can be of greater assistance to you.¡±


    ¡°Many, many years ago,¡± I said, leaning close to the handsome prince¡¯s face. He really did resemble Kol quite a bit. A more prominent chin, a light dusting of stubble. But still, remarkably, uncannily similar.


    ¡°Many years ago, in a land far to the South, I met an Immortal. Not the Immortal that you serve, you pathetic Ikon, but one of the other Immortals. The Immortal of Desire. I do not believe any of your gods correlate to this Immortal, so perhaps you do not know who they are, and they control neither the moon nor the red star, so you might think them insignificant. But they were my mentor, albeit for a brief moment. I will not go into the rest of the details. But on a visit to this mentor, I was followed by another Immortal, the Immortal of Madness. Or perhaps, this had been the Immortal¡¯s plan all along. I am still not sure what happened that night. All I know is that the very world began to dance; the ground, the trees, the light, my body, the very air itself. Everything began to dance and swirl and swish about deliriously. A conversation with this Immortal propelled me into the future, far from the first family I had known in this world. And he left me with one clue, one word that was the key to something that I wish for quite dearly. That word was annihilation. In what language. With what meaning. I do not know. Which is why I am asking you.¡± I put my hand on the back of Alek¡¯s head once again.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Alek¡¯s bottom lip quivered. I could see the sweat pouring over his back. ¡°I see. I, uh, see. Great Elf. How about we go inside? I live a modest life in this city, but I can still afford to host you for lunch. Then I can answer your questions and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Stop trying to control my mind,¡± I said, nonchalantly. ¡°It isn¡¯t going to work.¡±


    The red glow drifting stealthily from Alek¡¯s feet froze in the air. It dissipated like smoke in the wind, and Alek gave me a nervous smile.


    I smiled back at him. Then, I grabbed him by the neck and slammed his face into the ground. ¡°Enough games, Ikon. I never thought you knew the answer in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Then why ask it,¡± squeezed out Alek from his mouth squished against the earth.


    ¡°Because I wasn¡¯t asking you,¡± I said as I brought his face in front of mine. ¡°Your master. Ask your master and tell me what he says.¡±


    ---


    This time I was standing in front of the walls, with the gates wide open. There was no moat, and really, no major obstacles apart from a couple of ramparts and scout towers that had been made over the last few days. I did not get involved with the defenses at all. Instead, I stood patiently outside the city on this pleasant, overcast day, and awaited the return of one of my greatest enemies, who also happened to be my greatest friend.


    A black speck appeared in the distance. Like last time, the figure was wrapped from head to toe in heavy robes, all fluttering in the wind. Last time, I had seen her from up top and used light magic to zoom in, trying to identify more features. She had seen me from afar and approached carefully. Now, from this level vantage point, I could watch her approaching slowly. Very slowly. Or perhaps that was just how it felt like to me.


    She went past where the moat had been, far ahead of where I had first attacked her last time. By this point, we had locked our gazes, and I could almost feel her staring at me through the hood covering her face. I crossed my arms and waited.


    Perhaps I should have been more nervous. More afraid. Ready to take the fight to her or to incapacitate her before she could pull out some bubbles or other strange magic. The Immortal of Madness had other powers. I did not forget how he had sent me into the future. If he had given Noel a power like that, I would be screwed. And yet, I wasn¡¯t worried. In the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Kelser was standing behind me. The spirit Taoc must be hovering somewhere further back, just beyond my sight, with Bain Rusta and the human magic users standing far behind them. Among them would be Alek Izlandi, subdued and thoroughly tied up. Kelser kept a tight grip on him with magic hands, but after our little conversation, I had a feeling the Immortal of Evil would not be interfering in this battle anymore.


    Noel came up close. This was the distance where I first started firing my magic magnetic railgun. I still had the bullet and rods in a little pouch to the side, although I wasn¡¯t planning on using it.


    Noel hesitated. Had she been expecting an attack by now? The people on top of the city walls were getting antsy. Everybody stood by with bated breath, on a battlefield I had experienced once before, but in a form that was less violent and less brutal. In front of the massive city gates, I faced off against the Ikon of Madness, my best friend in this world, Noel Rosta Jora.


    I raised a hand. She froze. She assumed battle positions at last. The bubbles would be forming soon, or perhaps a burst of fire to start off. I raised my hand even further, far beyond her body, above her head. Her head followed the path of my hands. Her own spells were primed.


    A gentle breeze blew past the battlefield.


    Silver hair.


    Silver eyes.


    Pointy ears and a familiar face.


    ¡°Hey Noel,¡± I said with a tired smile, ¡°how have you been?¡±

 Chapter 187

    It¡¯s always strange meeting someone again after a long time. Back on my Earth, vague thoughts would always float in the back of my head after I happened upon an old friend, acquaintance, lover or so on.


    When did I last speak with them?


    What did I last say?


    Did they think of me since we went our separate ways? You know, the way random memories float to the surface, reminding you of awkward conversations or uncomfortable moments. Thoughts like: did I really make an absent father joke to a friend who just lost his dad? What about the time I accidentally ruined another friend¡¯s painting by spilling ketchup all over it? Or maybe the time I lost my temper and had a petty spat with a friend who would go on to become an award winning young poet, writing a poem I not-so-humbly believed was about myself?


    And of course, there was the angsty, embarrassing stuff that everybody goes through. Confessions shot down mid-sentence. Blushing and running when somebody starts hitting on you. Refusing to admit your feelings, only to watch your crush drift away, or find love elsewhere. Relationships ruined by time, tempter, or tiny arguments. Relationships reignited, broken, and left to die agonizing, slow deaths. Lingering, with a bitter aftertaste. Until a reunion, many years later, made the whole saga more awkward than ever.


    Let me be clear, I never loved Noel. Not any more than I would love any friend, back on my Earth or on this world. But I had always been a sucker for friendships. And our friendship had been powerful, or at least it had felt that way to me. Our friendship was forged through my shock of being transported to a different world, fighting monsters, learning magic, escaping life and death situations, and even being thrown way, way into the future, with nobody to rely on but each other. I liked to think our fight and separation had been as emotionally scarring for her as it had been for me, but it seemed like she was even better at hiding the pain than I was.


    Or maybe she had been brainwashed by the Immortal of Madness. I liked to think this was more likely. She was, after all, working for the guy who had sent her into the future, far from her family. I refused to believe the Immortal of Madness wasn¡¯t doing something shady in order to convince her to fight me. She did basically try to kill me before the Immortal of Desire saved my life. I couldn¡¯t believe she had done so with her own free will.


    I stared at Noel nonchalantly. Her hood had been blown off and her face and hair were revealed for all to see. I heard Kelser shift behind me. Taoc muttered something too, as did a few other people. I thought about pushing the peanut gallery away, but I couldn¡¯t. They were necessary, for now.


    Noel had a slightly surprised look on her face. That look faded quickly, replaced with the grim, somber look from our previous battle. The spell she had been forming had been canceled, and her hands were back in a comfortable position at her side. She could still cast a spell in an instant if needed, the hand gestures were mostly to help us focus, after all. I let my hands fall to the side as well, with what I hoped was a disarming smile on my face.


    Beneath the smile, my nerves were tensed. I knew what would happen next, even though the events of the battle had already veered far from where they had been in our previous battle. That was a good thing, of course, since none of my plans had worked in that battle and I¡¯d had a massive hole in my side by the end of it. Starting off on a better foot was absolutely the right decision, especially because I knew what Noel would do. I was a pretty good judge of character, excuse the bragging. Besides, I knew Noel, and I knew her well. She was pretty headstrong, so whatever had motivated her to attack me last time would push her this time as well. I knew the thoughts that must be flowing through her head. I could see them in her eyes.


    What was I planning?


    Were the people behind me going to gang up on her?


    Why had I let her get so close?


    Why had I revealed her face?


    How had I known that she was the Ikon?


    And of course, she was thinking about how best to attack to take me down quickly and efficiently.


    Her eyes darted to the side. She had seen the Ikon of Madness, all tied up and beaten. She would ask herself how I had caught him, and why I was willing to cart him all the way here, right in reach of her.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    And then she would finally finish preparing the many, many bubbles she had been gathering her energy to cast, before filling the entire battlefield with a powerful deluge of magical bubbles that could make everybody disappear instantly. Of course, she would know that I was planning to stop her, which was why she would also prepare a burst of fire to distract me, but there was no way I was falling for that so¡­


    ¡°I¡¯m good, thanks for asking.¡±


    ¡­ I would rush through the fire and¡ª


    I would rush through the. The fire. And I know her. I know what she¡¯s thinking. What she wanted to do. What she was preparing.


    ¡°And how are you doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m doing well, thanks,¡± I replied, mechanically. I blinked my eyes. ¡°You. What are you doing?¡± I almost tripped over my own words.


    She didn¡¯t answer this time. Right. This was what I had expected. Silent, cool stare, a tense atmosphere. That¡¯s what I had gotten in our previous deadly, devastating battle.


    ¡°Wait, no, I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, rubbing my forehead, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°Sorry? We hadn¡¯t met in a long time so I thought. Well. I was happy you asked me that. Wasn¡¯t expecting it at all,¡± she said.


    I opened my mouth. Moved it. Nothing came out. She was happy that I had greeted her? What was going on? ¡°Is this a trick?¡±


    ¡°A trick?¡± she repeated, looking right at me, ¡°I don¡¯t know, is it?¡±


    ¡°No, don¡¯t you say that to me! You think I can¡¯t tell when somebody is messing with me? Do you even remember what you did to me the last time we were together? You dropped me off the side of a cliff!¡± I said.


    ¡°I said I was sorry,¡± she said.


    ¡°You said that as you did it!¡± I said.


    ¡°Still counts,¡± she said.


    ¡°No it doesn¡¯t!¡± I said, moving my hands around.


    ¡°Yes it does,¡± she said.


    I frowned. I could feel my composure being blown apart, but I couldn¡¯t stop it. This was absurd. Completely absurd! In our previous battle, she tried to make me disappear multiple times with her magic bubbles, blew a hole in the side of my body with the silver bubble, and never said a word as she did all of that! And now, she was making small talk and bickering with me like nothing ever happened? ¡°I think I¡¯m going to have a headache. This doesn¡¯t make any sense. You don¡¯t make any sense!¡±


    Now it was Noel¡¯s turn to frown. She put her hands on her hips and began to raise her voice too. ¡°What is that supposed to mean? You¡¯re the one who came out here all dramatically with an army behind you, trying to start a fight.¡±


    I pointed to myself and stammered. ¡°Me? You¡¯re putting the blame on me? You¡¯ve been annihilating an entire country! Genocide, ever heard of that?¡±


    ¡°What? Who told you that?¡± she said.


    I froze. ¡°What? You¡¯re the Ikon of Madness. The Ikon of Madness has been rampaging across the Lux Republic, eradicating every single fairy. Innocent men, women, and children alike!¡±


    Noel blinked. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°The bubbles, damn it! The bubbles!¡± I said.


    ¡°You mean these bubbles?¡± said Noel as a dozen magic bubbles appeared all around us. The circle of bubbles was large enough to surround everybody who was standing outside the gates, which included myself, Kelser, the humans, Taoc, and Alek Izlandi.


    ¡°Yes, those bubbles!¡± I said as every single one of them popped.


    Noel froze. She looked from side to side, but the bubbles really were gone. ¡°How did you do that?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to know,¡± I said. ¡°But I guess that made my point. Noel. I don¡¯t know what games you¡¯re trying to pull talking to me like this while trying to kill me, but it isn¡¯t going to work. Your lies, I will not believe them!¡±


    Noel collected herself. She looked down at the ground, nodding slowly. She took a deep breath, grabbed her robes, and threw them aside. Underneath, she was wearing a dazzling silver suit of armor, with many, many silver gemstones embedded everywhere. Another magic bubble appeared over her outstretched hand, reflected her image on top of its soapy exterior. ¡°It looks like you won¡¯t believe me, but I really am not lying to you. I have not killed anyone, and I¡¯m not about to get started today.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said as I cast a host of spells on my body and rushed forward. Electricity arced around me, slamming into the ground, but also making me zoom forward at unimaginable speeds.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you, and you aren¡¯t going to kill anybody today.¡±


    She shot out a bubble, I cast a spell, the bubble popped, I stepped up next to her as she became flustered and began growing a silver bubble.


    Before the bubble could form, I touched her body, and both of us froze.


    I heard footsteps coming calmly closer behind me. Kelser came into view. He stepped behind the frozen, angry looking Noel, and held his hand right above her neck.

 Chapter 188

    ¡°Let¡¯s try this again,¡± I said.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we tell the army to go away or something?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind having an audience,¡± I said.


    ¡°But the fairies, they might not like some of the things that might come up,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°You guys didn¡¯t like what I said at first, either,¡± I said, facing the hovering spirit.


    ¡°Yes. We did not say anything because you are an elf,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then the fairies won¡¯t say anything either,¡± I said. ¡°After all, there are two elves here now.¡± I stared down at Noel, still lying unconscious on the ground. With her eyes closed and her expression relaxed, she looked almost like the Noel I had met when I first came to this world. She looked a little older, which was unusual for an elf. When we first met, she thought we were both the same age, going into the Forest of Three for the elfin coming of age ceremony. A hundred and twenty, from what I remembered. She didn¡¯t change much over the time we spent together, but over the past few years she had changed so much. Aged so much. It was almost as if she had been gone for longer than a few years.


    I frowned. That was totally possible, wasn¡¯t it? She was working for the Immortal of Madness. He clearly had some sort of time travel ability. I had to make sure to ask her about this once she woke up. Speaking of which, there was no way she wasn¡¯t already awake.


    I smacked her shoulders, hard.


    She let out a cry.


    ¡°Next time you want to pretend to be out of it, don¡¯t twitch your fingers as soon as you wake up, got it?¡± I said.


    Noel grumbled.


    I clasped her hands with magic hands. ¡°And don¡¯t try to conjure up more of those weird bubbles. Didn¡¯t you see? I¡¯ve already figured out how to neutralize them.¡±


    ¡°Bubbles?¡± she said with a frown. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°The spell you used to kill an entire nation,¡± I said.


    ¡°I told you, I haven¡¯t killed anyone,¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh, did you hear that Taoc? Come up here. I know you can hear me from back there, but I want a representative from your nation to be right up here. You deserve to hear her explanation,¡± I said as I dragged up with magic hands.


    ¡°No, great elf, I don¡¯t think,¡± she began.


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t think, just come and listen,¡± I said. ¡°Go ahead Noel, make your excuses.¡±


    ¡°I am not making excuses. I did invade the Lux Republic, but I haven¡¯t killed anybody,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then where are they, Noel? Men, women, and children, thousands of them. Where are they?¡± I asked.


    She shifted her gaze but kept her mouth closed. ¡°Did you have to hit me so hard, Kelser? Man, you¡¯ve gotten tall. Humans really do grow up quick, don¡¯t they.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Kelser with a nervous laugh. ¡°No, wait, I¡¯m not sorry. You¡¯re a murderer! Don¡¯t think I¡¯ll like you again because you praised my height!¡±


    ¡°Like me again?¡± said Noel with a grin. ¡°Little Kelser, how cute. I had no idea!¡±


    ¡°Wait, no, I didn¡¯t mean it that way!¡± said Kelser, blushing.


    ¡°Knock it off,¡± I said, cutting short their little romantic comedy routine. ¡°Stop trying to distract us. Don¡¯t you see all these people around you?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re very intimidating. Fairy soldiers, demon soldiers, human hunters. You¡¯ve really assembled everybody here, huh.¡±


    It was an impressive coalition, now that she mentioned it. ¡°All of them have a bone to pick with you. The fairies and spirits want to know what you did to their kin. The demon¡¯s want you to release their capital city. And the humans, well, I guess the humans are here because I¡¯m here, and I have a bone to pick with you too.¡±


    ¡°Wait, the demon capital? Hold on, there¡¯s a lot going on here. What happened to the demon capital?¡± asked Noel.


    I narrowed my eyes. Noel didn¡¯t used to be a good liar, but it had been a while, so perhaps she had learned. But based on what I remembered, it certainly sounded like she really didn¡¯t know about the demon capital. I looked at the other person tied up next to her: Alek Izlandi, the Ikon of Evil.


    Alek was lying unconscious on the hard earthen stage that I had conjured up for this impromptu public interrogation right outside the city gates. Unlike Noel, who was held up near the front edge of the stage where everybody could see her, Alek was lying on the floor, so only the people on top of the city walls and those of us on the stage itself could see him. I almost couldn¡¯t remember when we had knocked him unconscious. Right, he¡¯d hit his head when I threw him up here.


    I splashed him with water.


    He woke up sputtering and gasping for air. He looked from side to side, frantically, before finally meeting my gaze. I could almost see him recounting the events of the past two days in his head, as he understood the situation and settled into a grim silence.


    ¡°No need to be so uptight, your highness,¡± I said with a wide grin. ¡°You are in good company. Two Ikons, sitting right next to each other, and at my mercy. What a sight!¡± I looked up at the still bright, sunny sky. ¡°Man, am I glad you chose such a convenient time for your assault, Noel. I¡¯d half expect the moon and red star to be falling to the earth as meteors if it was night.¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°You, you don¡¯t know anything do you.¡±


    It was my turn to frown. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. Thanks for rubbing that in. But that¡¯s why I¡¯ve tied the two of you up, right? So you can fill me in on the details. No, so you can fill all of us in on the details!¡± I gestured to the crowd, all of whom were standing in a tense but eager silence.


    ¡°Revealing powerful secrets to a crowd like this is inadvisable, Cas,¡± said Noel.


    Hearing her say my name made something drop in my stomach. ¡°They live in this world. They have a right to know. About their history, their beliefs, the rules of this world. Especially the fairies and spirits. It¡¯s the least you can do after you killed so many of their friends and loved ones.¡±


    ¡°For the umpteenth time, I did not kill anybody,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then where are they!¡± I said loudly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I left them right where I found them!¡± she shouted back. She had gotten up, her arms and legs still tied up with invisible magic.


    I frowned. I hadn¡¯t really noticed during our fights, but Noel had gotten taller. Just a little taller, mind you, but it was quite noticeable. I¡¯d never been too conscious of my height in this world, but I did envy Noel the couple inches she¡¯d sprouted. ¡°What do you mean, you left them where you found them?¡±


    Noel¡¯s body began to glow silver. I rushed forward and made her freeze again with ¡®still life.¡¯ The glow dissipated and I let my spell dissolve.


    Noel grit her teeth. ¡°I always hated that spell.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be happy to know it¡¯s almost as inefficient as ever,¡± I said.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re only going to use it long enough to mess up my spell,¡± she said.


    ¡°Exactly. Man, I¡¯ve missed having you around. You¡¯re really got a talent for understanding magic,¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m pretty good too,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yes, yes, Kelser, you¡¯re amazing,¡± I said. ¡°You also didn¡¯t sell your soul to a maniacal being of unfathomable power, like Noel here did. That makes you much smarter than this silver haired dummy.¡±


    ¡°Your insults are as childish as ever,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°And your comebacks are as lame as ever,¡± I said. ¡°Now tell me about that spell. Those weird magic bubbles that make people disappear. Are you saying those people really aren¡¯t dead?¡±


    ¡°No, they¡¯re not. They will reappear in a few days,¡± said Noel.


    Reappear? ¡°You sent them somewhere?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, I left them exactly where I saw them,¡± she said.


    I frowned. The way she was saying that was incredibly strange. Was the translation magic messing up my ability to understand her or something? ¡°You mean they¡¯re still there, just invisible?¡±


    Noel shook her head, which looked funny because of the way her limbs were tied up. ¡°They are not invisible. I simply helped them escape the tyranny of the past.¡±


    ¡°The tyranny of the past?¡± I repeated, my brows furrowed. My eyes widened. ¡°You sent them into the future!¡±


    Noel stared into my eyes and did not say a thing.

 Chapter 189

    ¡°So you did send them to the future,¡± I said again.


    Noel wouldn¡¯t respond. I couldn¡¯t read her face either. Was I right or not? I asked her again but she wouldn¡¯t say. I could have pressed the point, but I figured it was fine as long as all the fairies were okay. If they reappeared in a few days, I could analyze the effects of the spell then. I¡¯d interview some of the fairies, ask them about their experience before, during, and after they were under the effects of the spell, and figure it out from there. And thankfully, it seemed like Noel¡¯s ability wasn¡¯t as strong as the Immortal¡¯s. She had only sent these people a few days into the future, not multiple years. At least she wasn¡¯t as crazy as that lunatic. At least not yet.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s move on to a different question then,¡± I said, looking over the crowd of relieved fairies. They were still tense, and the soldiers were armed and poised to strike if needed, but their gaze towards Noel was not as mixed as before. There had been a strange blend of reverence and hate going on there before; reverence towards an elf, hate towards someone who may have killed their kin. Now, there was a lot more of the reverence and far less of the hate.


    ¡°Before that, why don¡¯t you release me already. I won¡¯t attack you, I promise,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Me too, I promise I won¡¯t do anything, either, Great Elf!¡± chimed Alek.


    I tightened the spell around Alek, which made him cry out a little indignantly. ¡°No, Noel, I don¡¯t trust you yet. You¡¯re working for the Immortal of Madness! Oh, for the crowd, that means she is a great priest serving the evil god of the Singing Horde; the God of Music!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated, Cas. You have no idea. About anything,¡± said Noel as she got a little closer. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything, but time is of the essence. No, time is the essence. Listen, Cas, let me go and you can help me with my mission. I was going to storm in there and get what I wanted, but now I¡¯ll go in with you and barter for it. Information for my mission, how does that sound?¡±


    ¡°It sounds to me,¡± I said as I got a little closer as well. I did not lower my voice. I wanted the crowd to still be able to hear me. ¡°It sounds to me like you¡¯re trying to bargain without any chips!¡±


    Noel blinked. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, that won¡¯t make any sense in this world. Never mind that. We don¡¯t need to exchange anything. You¡¯re here, tied up and at my mercy. If you want me to let you go, you have to answer my questions,¡± I said. Besides, there was no way I could let her go. Before the Immortal of Desire brought me back to the past, Noel had tried to kill me multiple times. Oh, wait, she didn¡¯t. If she was telling the truth, the magic bubbles would only send me to the future. The silver one would definitely have killed me, but to be fair to her, she only brought that one out after I¡¯d used some seriously dangerous spells on her.


    Noel frowned and her bottom lip quivered. ¡°Fine. Ask your questions.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, with a smile. I stepped back a little and made sure her restraints were tight. ¡°You said the fairies and spirits aren¡¯t dead, fine. If they reappear in a few days, perhaps that can be forgiven. However, the demon capital is still wrapped in a massive bubble that makes people disappear. What is that barrier? Are the people who crossed it okay? Why does it not effect me? And how do we get rid of it?¡±


    Noel looked down at the ground with a confused look on her face. She lifted it eventually and met my gaze again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Cas, but I really don¡¯t know anything about that. I didn¡¯t even know there was something like that happening in the Izlandi Kingdom. I assumed the demons had come here to help you. Elves have a long history in this world. The peoples on this side of the mountains have large debts to repay. I didn¡¯t know they were here for selfish reasons.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Selfish reasons? Their capital was wrapped inside an isolating, invisible curtain of apparent death. It was kind of strange to call something like that a selfish reason, even if that was sort of true. ¡°Ask your master then. That bubble is just like your bubbles. People disappear when they touch the invisible barrier. Actually, it¡¯s even stranger. I seem immune to its effects. I could apparently keep people from disappearing by staying with them, although they¡¯d blink out of existence as soon as I looked away.¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°My¡­ master doesn¡¯t do spells like that. And you said you were immune to it? That makes me wonder.¡± Her gaze drifted to the other Ikon standing idly beside her.


    My eyes widened. I also rounded on Alek and stared at him.


    Alek, who had been trying to appear as small as possible as he presumably tried to figure out a way out of his predicament, finally looked up at us and gave out a nervous chuckle. I smacked him over the head once, which made him cry out. He asked what that was for, and I told him it was for trying to brainwash some of the closer members of the crowd so they¡¯d start a distraction that he could use to slip away. He stammered and tried to deny it, but I just smacked him on his head again.


    ¡°How did you see that? I hid the glow so well!¡± complained Alek. From the way he sounded, one might almost think he was a kid caught doing something naughty, and not a powerful Ikon who was trying to cause a ton of mayhem and destruction.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°But thanks for confessing.¡±


    Alek¡¯s mouth hung open. He tried to form words but nothing came out.


    ¡°That spell you described sounds a lot like something the Immortal of Evil would do,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°For the crowd, that is the Heavenly Eye. For my demon friends, Noel is accusing your own god of casting a spell over your capital,¡± I said. ¡°Before you get all antsy, let me just confirm that your god really is a totally worthless, evil dude, who needs to find a better hobby. He likes hatching grand conspiracies, but he really isn¡¯t very good at it.¡±


    The demons didn¡¯t make a sound, although I could see that some of them were uncomfortable hearing a mythical and well-respected elf denigrating their god. Thankfully, I had already begun planting seeds of doubt about the Heavenly Eye among the demons over the past few years. Queen Kol herself had sanctioned my actions against the priests of the Heavenly Eye.


    ¡°You believed me so easily?¡± said Noel, sounding a little surprised.


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t really trust your words all that much yet, but our conversation, as well as little Alek¡¯s failed escape attempt, made me realize something. There was a very simple but very glaring similarity between the barrier around the demon capital and the Immortal of Evil¡¯s other spells: they don¡¯t seem to work on me. Put another way, he¡¯s an incompetent guy. At least the other immortals can make sure their spells apply to everyone!¡± I chuckled.


    Alek scowled. He almost began to say something but I smacked him over the head again, prompting another comical reaction from the pitiful demon prince.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t get why the Immortal of Evil would cast a spell over his own supporters, but I suppose it could be some sort of punishment for what I did to his priests,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that was why he did it,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°You know the Immortal of Evil¡¯s motivations?¡± I said.


    Noel shook her head. Again, I must mention that this looked very funny with the way her limbs were tied up. ¡°The Immortal might have many reasons for his actions, or none at all. I know more than you do about their circumstances. And based on that knowledge, I can assume the Immortal of Evil did not want to punish the demons. He wanted to protect them.¡±


    ¡°Protect them?¡± I said. ¡°Protect them from who?¡±


    Noel met my gaze and spoke slowly. ¡°He wanted to protect them from you.¡±

 Chapter 190

    ¡°From me?¡± I said. What was she talking about? I looked around at the crowd. For some reason, I suddenly regretted not having this conversation in private after all. ¡°Why would he want to protect them from me? Was he afraid I¡¯d make them all stop believing in him or something, because if so, making the entire city depend on me for food, support, and rescue was probably a bad idea. Heck, I¡¯m the only one that can go in and out of the city! If he really did want to stop me, then he¡¯s more incompetent than I thought!¡± I ignored Alek¡¯s angry glare at my final remark and stared only at Noel.


    ¡°That is all I am going to say about it right now. The Immortal must know that he has failed, but getting you to come up here to fight me was probably some form of success for him. If you want to know more, I recommend asking his Ikon,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°I tried, the kid¡¯s even more incompetent than his master. You know I¡¯ve had him tied up since yesterday, and tried to get him to ask his master some questions on my behalf, and do you know what he said? He said he can¡¯t speak to his master, his master only speaks to him! Talk about a one sided relationship. The kid clearly needs some real friends,¡± I said. I made sure to taunt the demon prince with a smirk and some gestures. The stubborn Ikon was positively fuming.


    Good, I thought to myself. Serves him right for only giving me the tiniest clue about ¡®annihilation.¡¯


    ¡°Listen, Cas, I¡¯d love to sit here and keep answering your questions, but I have a mission, remember? Haven¡¯t I proven my trustworthiness yet? Help me find what I¡¯m looking for and I¡¯ll tell answer the rest of your questions too,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Not yet. But I do appreciate your cooperation. I have to say, I made this stage and assembled this crowd because I thought I¡¯d make this into more of a spectacle, but you¡¯ve been surprisingly cooperative. Don¡¯t think anyone would object if I loosened your shackles a little bit,¡± I said. Noel¡¯s hands finally moved a little as they were no longer stuck to her body. Her legs were still closed, and the arms couldn¡¯t go too far, but it was definitely a more comfortable position to be in. ¡°Right, there you go. Now, you¡¯ve answered for the disappearing fairies and the besieged demons. It¡¯s time you answered some questions for the elves too.¡± My expression was grim. Even though I had loosened her restraints, I still stepped forward a little bit, with a few spells at the ready, just in case she tried to take advantage of her new position. ¡°Why, after everything he has done, and after seeing, no, experiencing his unstable and unreliable personality, did you sell your soul to the Immortal of Madness?¡±


    Noel¡¯s eyes flit past me. Over my shoulder. I could see her fingers beginning to fidget. I clamped down on them, but it didn¡¯t look like she¡¯d been casting a spell. Just nervous. This wasn¡¯t a question she wanted to answer. No. There was something else.


    ¡°Answer me, Noel,¡± I said, getting right up in front of her face. Like before, I¡¯d kept my voice unreasonably high, both as an intimidation tactic, and to make sure the crowd could hear what I was saying.


    Noel opened her mouth a little. She stared at me, sighed, and mumbled something. I didn¡¯t hear what she said. But then she continued more loudly. Too loudly. ¡°Have you taught all of these people about knowledge and wisdom? You know, the secret to your magic. The thing that could make anybody a magic user. Have you told them about it?¡±


    I frowned. I looked over my shoulder. The humans did not react, but the demons, spirits, and fairies had confused looks on their faces. I could almost read their faces: they could use magic too? Of course they wanted to learn magic! The great elf should teach them magic, as soon as possible!


    ¡°There hasn¡¯t been enough time,¡± I said, bringing my attention back to Noel. I was a little happy to see she hadn¡¯t tried to escape with the old ¡®look there¡¯ trick. Not that it would have worked with all the spells I had cast around us.


    ¡°Then let me give them a little lesson on your behalf,¡± said Noel with a disarming smile. ¡°Magic is governed by two very deceptively simple sounding concepts: knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge governs the kind of magic you can use, while wisdom decides how efficient it will be. There¡¯s more to it than that, but for the purpose of this explanation, that should be good enough. When Cas and I first learned about these principles from an Immortal, Cas here had an idea. Were these truly the most fundamental concepts behind magic? He began asking questions about ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ which helped us turn this system into something we could manipulate. Without those questions, we might have had to rely on the Immortals for ¡®knowledge¡¯ and their training for ¡®wisdom.¡¯ But now, we began asking what those concepts meant, how we could get ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ for ourselves, and how we could manipulate our own understanding of the world around us in order to create magic.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    There were a few murmurs in the crowd. Noel had been given the translation magic by the Immortal of Madness, which meant everybody down below could understand her. Her explanation might have been a little complicated for people who haven¡¯t heard about magic before, but it would get the gist across. Now, even demons, fairies, and spirits would be able to learn magic the right way. In the back of my mind, I remembered this meant I¡¯d have to teach Kol this kind of magic too.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer my question,¡± I said, quelling the murmurs. ¡°Why are you serving the person who separated you from your own family?¡±


    Noel looked into my eyes. She didn¡¯t speak for the longest time. And when she did speak, she did so slowly, with her eyes drifting to the side. ¡°You asked those questions about our own knowledge, our own wisdom. You investigated the rules to the magic that we use. But did you forget, Cas? We are not the only ones who can use magic. There are others.¡±


    ¡°The Immortals,¡± I said. ¡°Yes, I know their magic is different from our magic. They don¡¯t seem to need knowledge or wisdom, and they can bestow their magic to their followers, magic that ignores all bounds of common sense and logic.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± she said.


    ¡°About what?¡± I said.


    ¡°That their magic is different,¡± she said.


    I frowned. I could hear the wind whistling past. The day was overcast once again. Gloomy. Drab. ¡°No.¡± My eyes widened slowly. ¡°No, I can¡¯t be sure. But, surely¡­ it has to be. Mind control? Time travel? Yes, especially time travel! It¡¯s one thing to go into the future, that is theoretically possible, but going back in time, that is impossible. No, only the Immortals can send us back in time, which means their magic doesn¡¯t follow the same rules that ours does. They do not need ¡®justified true beliefs¡¯ to make the ¡®knowledge¡¯ necessary to make a powerful spell. They must be using a different system. A system that lets them ignore the rules and travel back in time!¡±


    Noel gave me a strange look.


    I knew my objection was a little complicated, but it wasn¡¯t actually that complex. Think about it, if people could come back in time, where were they? Where were the time travelers among us? If it was possible to go back in time then I would surely have come back from the future to smack that smug looking Immortal of Madness right in the kisser!


    ¡°Going back in time?¡± said Noel. ¡°An Immortal sent you back in time?¡±


    Oops. I bit my lip in frustration. ¡°That isn¡¯t important. The important thing is, I know their system is different. If you were about to justify your allegiance to the Immortal of Madness by saying he was a great mentor to you, and that the knowledge he shared with you helped you overlook what he did to you, to us, then I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t accept that. The Noel I knew wouldn¡¯t forgive somebody who had wrenched her away from her family, her loved ones, people who definitely suffered without our help. The Noel I know wouldn¡¯t sell her forgiveness so cheaply!¡±


    Noel¡¯s gaze hardened. She glared at me in silence. Eventually, she chuckled. It was a strange chuckle, rolling in her throat like it was half-way between laughter and sobbing. ¡°You are wrong about a lot of things, Cas. But I guess you did get one thing right.¡±


    The stage shook. I glanced at my feet. The earth crumbled and fell to the side. I threw the others off the stage, cushioning their fall with air magic, and lunged forward myself. I reached out for Noel¡¯s body, preparing my still life magic as well as the net of magic hands that I had wrapped around the place.


    My magic hands collided into something. No, many things. Many strangely shaped things. They were shaped like hands, magic hands. Noel fell through the hollowed out bottom of the stage in a scene that was agonizingly familiar to me. I reached out for her through the debris, straining myself as much as I could in the brief moment that she fell past. My hand brushed past the air above her head, missing even the strands of her hair.


    Noel fell down with a strange smile on her face, dissolving into the cloud of dirt and dust with her mouth moving to form a few more words. ¡°You were right, I am not the Noel you knew.¡±

 Chapter 191

    No. I wasn¡¯t going to let her get away. Not like this. Not again.


    I gathered my energy, ignoring the dust working its way into my lungs and assaulting my eyes. I let my chest burn, my eyes water, and focused solely on several spells all cast simultaneously. Air to blow away the dust, earth to gather the largest clumps and push them to the side, magic hands to dig through it all midair, and motion magic to help me weave through the debris like I was swimming. I spared a little magic to protect my head, but I was still coughing like crazy when my hand broke through the remains of the stage.


    Through my blurry vision I could see Noel¡¯s figure, apparently taken aback by my persistence. She quickly tried to make the cloud of earth close back up again, but my magic was stronger, more versatile, and I broke through despite her attempts to stop me.


    She fired a fireball, I extinguished it with water. She made groundwater burst through from under me, I vaporized it with intense flames, creating a veil of steam around us, which melded into the dust and debris to cover Noel¡¯s body as well as mine, giving me enough time to wash my eyes with some water. At the same time, I cast a bunch of magic hands all around Noel and tried to grab onto her. Apparently, she¡¯d had the same idea, since our magic hands clashed against each other.


    Her elemental spells were not comparable to mine. She must not have been practicing them as much. But her magic hands were strange. They weren¡¯t exactly like mine, so I wasn¡¯t sure if they were even based on motion like mine were.


    Our magic hands canceled each other out, and we were submerged in the steam, the rocks, the dirt and the dust. I shielded my head but let my body take the brunt of it. The steam was hot, very hot. I could feel it searing my skin, leaving nasty marks in places, and making my clothes rub abrasively on my body. Rocks chipped away at me, opening up a few gashes and wounds, which were quickly covered in dust. The dust made pain shoot through my body, both from where it had gotten into my wounds, and where it had rubbed on my now sensitive skin. I cast a burst of air magic to clear the scene, and doused myself in water magic as well, which actually made the pain worse for a moment but eventually the pain died down.


    As my vision cleared, I saw that Noel wasn¡¯t faring much better. Her hair was full of rocky debris, and there were several very nasty gashes on her skin. Her skin was also rubbed ragged by the steam, the dust, and the debris. Even her face was marred by wounds and dust, which almost made me wince. That had to hurt.


    But Noel had allowed herself get hurt like this on purpose. In exchange, she¡¯d moved several steps farther, and was already preparing another spell. Her hands had gotten free at some point, which meant she had canceled out my magic hands with her own after all. Silver bubbles appeared in front of her, shooting towards me like cannonballs.


    Noel had said that these bubbles weren¡¯t lethal, but even if I had believed her, I knew I couldn¡¯t let her send me into the future. The mission that she had been mentioning sounded like bad news. The Immortal of Desire sent me back in time for a reason. I had a feeling I had to stop Noel. I couldn¡¯t let her complete her mission!


    I cast the spells that I had already prepared. Almost all of the bubbles popped. I missed one of them, and had to scramble to cast another spell. The silver bubble grew larger in my vision, rendering a warped version of my face on its soapy surface. It popped right in front of my face. If it had been a real soap bubble, I probably would have gotten something on my lips.


    Noel turned towards the gate. I shot out a long flame at an angle from my body. Noel was going to run right into the flames, but then she jerked sharply to the side. The flames licked the tip of her clothes, before fizzling out. My eyes widened. She was using the same trick I had used in our first fight; she was using magic hands to make sharp movements. She hadn¡¯t even seen me use it yet, so that meant she had come up with it herself! I grit my teeth and sent out a burst of different spells, but Noel zigzagged across the field, dodging every spell like she had eyes in the back of her head. Her erratic motion did slow her down a little. I moved ahead in a straight line, keeping my eyes open for any more of her bubbles.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    My ears pricked up.


    I jumped to the side as the ground underneath me gave way. A geyser of hot water burst through the earth. Even though I had avoided the actual burst of hot, pressurized water, I still managed to get doused in the uncomfortably hot water, although I alleviated the worst of it by protecting myself with a sheet of colder water.


    The ground beneath Noel¡¯s feet turned to mud. She stepped right into it before suddenly blasting it with a burst of cold air and jumping up. More mud stretched out in a circle around her, waiting to slow her down as soon as she touched ground. Instead, Noel slingshot through the air off of what I assumed were magic hands. Her speed in the air wasn¡¯t very impressive, which made sense because this was probably the first time she had tried it. She really was using magic just as creatively as I did.


    Noel was almost out of reach. Most of the spells I had prepared in the surroundings already couldn¡¯t reach her. And now that she¡¯d revealed her ability to neutralize my magic hands, I was quickly running out of options. I frantically summoned some energy and shot rocks and pebbles after her while rushing forward. Thankfully, I was still just a little faster than her. Noel had definitely learned how to increase her speed with air and motion magic, but I was better at both of them and would catch up to her before she entered the city gates.


    A silver glow appeared around Noel¡¯s body. I pursed my lips. She weathered the projectiles I had shot at her, although she did flinch a little. Her skin was still sensitive, and the silver glow clearly couldn¡¯t protect her completely. I yelled at her to stop, but she kept going. I cast a long magic hand and used it to begin shutting the gates.


    Noel saw the slowly closing gates and put her head down. I cursed under my breath as I ran forward. I had to stop closing the gates. Judging by our speeds and distance, I¡¯d calculated that Noel would either just squeak through, or she¡¯d get crushed by the gates. If she got through like that, I might just shut the gates on myself. And I didn¡¯t want her to get crushed either.


    Instead, I redoubled my efforts. I could hear the clamor of soldiers recovering their formations. The human mages had finally begun clearing the air behind me, which might help the others get into the fray. Kelser didn¡¯t get involved, which was fine by me. I¡¯d told him to keep an eye on Alek no matter what. Judging by how Alek had killed not controlled Kelser in the first battle, I had a feeling Alek¡¯s mind control magic didn¡¯t work very well on the headstrong young human.


    ¡°Noel!¡± I cried out as we passed through the gate. I used magic hands to bring the magnetic rail gun with me from a distance. Noel hadn¡¯t seen this weapon, not in this fight at least. ¡°Don¡¯t make me take you down!¡±


    Clouds passed over the sun once again. Thunder rumbled overhead. The light, the sounds, all of this felt familiar. A gray darkness descended across the open fields. No, it was darker than gray. Pitch black. Darker than a moonless night.


    I frowned.


    It wasn¡¯t supposed to be this dark.


    From the sides, I could still hear soldiers from different races all reacting to Noel bursting through the gate, followed closely by me and a trail of chaos and spells. Yet, the soldiers faded into the darkness. The walls, the ground around me. Eventually, even Noel.


    And yet I could hear them. I could smell the dust in the air. I could feel the earth beneath my feet. I could even sense all of the spells I was casting. A burst of fire left my hands, but when it should have illuminated the area in front of me, it instead shot right into the darkness and out of my sight.


    I knew instinctively this wasn¡¯t the work of an Immortal. An Immortal would have transported me away, cut off all of my senses, or done something far more complete, far more dangerous. No, I knew exactly what was going on, because it was a possibility I had already long since considered.


    Noel had cast a spell I did not know.

 Chapter 192

    For as long as I can remember, I have loved learning things. All kinds of things. Random trivia, like the third tallest mountain, or the capital of Parthia, the largest moon around Saturn, the boiling point of alcohol, and so on. I¡¯ve been reading books since I was a kid, and I always went a step further than any of the other kids at school. If I liked a book, I¡¯d look up the author, find the rest of their work, and read that too. I¡¯d grab articles describing the author¡¯s upbringing. The things they liked, disliked, said had inspired them, and decried in other writing. When I listened to music, I researched the artist, looked at the chords, and sometimes, I¡¯d even try to deconstruct any samples they had used purely by sound.


    At the cinema, I paid attention to the credits. In restaurants I read every bit of the menu, which led to some strange looks when I was kid pouring over the wine menu. I read all the clauses in my contracts. On websites, I read the privacy guidelines, terms of service, and other legal minutiae. Really, I loved to read, to study, to research, to gather every little bit of knowledge, every fact, every tiny bit of information, that I possibly could.


    I wasn¡¯t obsessive. If I couldn¡¯t find anything further on a topic, or had something else to do, I could make myself stop. My idea of having fun was a little different, that¡¯s all. I liked to learn. I liked to study. And I absolutely loved gathering that knowledge and putting it to good use. The only reason I complained about writing papers and stuff was because I rarely felt like that was a good use of the knowledge that I had gathered. Spewing out all I knew on an assignment didn¡¯t achieve something, all it did was prove to someone that I knew what I knew. A truly redundant exercise, as far as I was concerned.


    So when I came to this world and learned the way its magic worked, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little excited. Being able to turn what I had learned, the knowledge that I had gathered with reckless abandon for years upon years, into something tangible, something real. That was a dream come true. The kind of stuff I had always lamented would never be useful outside of bar trivia or a game show, would finally be worth something. It had been the accumulation of this varied knowledge that had contributed to my indecision in college. It had been very hard for me to commit to two majors, and it had been harder still for me to decide what to do later in life, knowing that I would be putting myself inside a proverbial box, unable to use the knowledge I had gathered from various subjects in my real or professional life.


    I had been so excited by the ability to turn my knowledge into actual magic spells, that I had pretty much always been the one coming up with new spells. Part of this was because I had the modern knowledge from my Earth. It was a little difficult for the elves, who had just learned how to make fire themselves, or the humans, who hadn¡¯t even discovered metalworking, to suddenly begin exploring the principles of mechanics and chemistry. Still, if I had slowed down a little and taught them how to come up with their own spells through determined observation and experimentation, I was sure smart people like Noel and Kelser would have come up with a few spells by now. But no. Why would anyone try to come up with their own spells when somebody like me existed, ready to give them every spell they could ever want, fed right into their mouths like a mother hen dropping worms into the mouths of her eager but lazy chicks?


    Noel¡¯s spell shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to neutralize. It was clearly some sort of visual impairment spell, which meant it could either be targeted at my ability to perceive things or to my surroundings. Judging by the lack of reactions from the people around me, as well as the fact my fire did not light up the area, I was fairly certain it was the former. But if she was somehow manipulating my ability to perceive light, I still had to figure out how she was doing it. Was she doing something to my eyes? Or perhaps she was manipulating my brain¡¯s ability to construct images with light? No, even I couldn¡¯t make spells like that just yet. It would require a lot of intricate equipment and a few samples of eyeballs. I¡¯d have to cut up and analyze the eyes in various ways, while applying what I had learned from light magic to what I saw inside the eyes. My work with lenses and reflection would definitely help with that, but I didn¡¯t think Noel had done anything like that yet. If she had, she would have made much more powerful spells and used them as cover. She also might have chosen a less overcast day to approach, since the weather was making light magic really difficult to pull off.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    This meant that her spell was probably some sort of metaphysical spell. She wasn¡¯t manipulating the light, nor my eyes and physical brain. What she was manipulating was my intangible mind. Similar to some of the concepts that went into my mind control resistance magic, Noel must have made a bunch of observations around sight and perception, and wrapped them into a form that she could turn into a spell. I wasn¡¯t sure what those observations were nor the conclusions she had reached from them, but I could at least see the effects of the spell itself. Well, technically, I couldn¡¯t see them, but I figured that was the point.


    While I was analyzing her spell in my head, I was still moving my body at breakneck speeds towards where I thought Noel was headed. I was using a lot of motion detection magic, as well as magic hands and memory to guide myself through the area. However, I knew we would be entering the city itself, soon. Even if she ran through the main street, and didn¡¯t veer off into the countless alleyways and side streets, I would still have my hands full weaving through pedestrians, buildings, and all sorts of obstacles with my vision obscured this way. Worse still, I might lose her any minute now. I didn¡¯t even know if I was still following behind her right now!


    I knew the sky was overcast and cloudy, with a storm brewing overhead, but I still prepared some light magic. I could tell that I had cast the spell, but the darkness didn¡¯t get much lighter. It was a very strange feeling. I felt like I couldn¡¯t even see the air right in front of me, but yet I could still make out objects fading away as if they were running into a thick fog. It was intensely bizarre, and not something I felt I could ever replicate on my own.


    But it did give me an idea. If Noel was somehow specifically removing my ability to perceive the world around me, visually, that meant she must have made some assumptions about vision and perception. She simply did not have the biological or physical knowledge necessary to completely understand the way vision worked. There had to be holes in her knowledge, which meant the spell itself was probably quite weak and inefficient, and I could burst through it with a little bit of clever thinking.


    I gathered the little bits and pieces of knowledge that I had gathered over the years. I was no ophthalmologist, heck, I wasn¡¯t even an optician, but I did know a little bit about the eye. Specifically, I knew about the lens, the retina, and the optical nerve. I knew that light enters the eye and hits the lens and then the retina, from where signals leave for the brain along the optical nerve. Then the brain uses this information alongside other functions like memory to reconstruct an image which create the sense of ¡®sight¡¯ that we can then experience.


    I gathered light magic around my head and used a thin film of water to make a very crude lens, which only really worked because of the way I could manipulate light with magic. The light magic focused through the lens, recreating what I remembered about the city through my memory as well as the information I was receiving through motion detection magic and magic hands. I then imagined all of this information traveling to my brain, and supplanted whatever metaphysical magic Noel was using with the information I was gathering as well as the knowledge I thought I knew. It wasn¡¯t completely ¡®justified¡¯ true belief, but I was certain it stood on firmer ground than whatever assumptions Noel had made to cast her spell.


    I cast the spell and blinked.


    Noel was running just a few feet in front of me. Fairies pointed down the street as Noel and I rushed into the city proper, making our way down the main street heading up to the Senate.

 Chapter 193

    I had to be more careful now that we were in the city. The buildings around here were fragile, and the civilians were gawking all around us like meerkats who couldn¡¯t see the large, lumbering monsters rushing right under their scouting noses.


    Both Noel and I had slowed down considerably since entering the city. Noel was probably trying to conserve her energy, since she was still sinking a bunch of it into the blindness spell she had cast on me. And I had apparently slowed down unconsciously while I was blinded. However, I didn¡¯t increase my speed as soon as I had my vision back. Noel thought I was blinded, and must have let her guard down a little. She might still expect an errant spell or two, although she knew me well enough to know I wouldn¡¯t risk it now that I should be able to hear the many, many civilians all around us. As if to punctuate this thought as it passed through my head, I heard a high-pitched young fairy voice coming up from behind, asking his mommy why the elves were in a hurry.


    I¡¯d only get one shot at this. I had to come up with a way to stop her in her tracks, and hopefully to bind her down too. A bunch of possibilities came to mind, but I had to shoot them down just as quickly. I couldn¡¯t use magic hands, because she could neutralize them with her own. I couldn¡¯t make a ton of mud in her way, both because the road was mostly stone, and because she¡¯d just jump over it with air magic or power through it with her momentum. I could try to cast still life magic from a distance, but it wouldn¡¯t be as effective against Noel from this distance, since she definitely knew enough motion magic to get out of it. The only reason it worked when I was touching her was because of my high ¡®wisdom¡¯ with the spell as well as the fact I had never quite explained some of the underlying principles behind the spell to her. Back then, this hadn¡¯t been some sort of clever deception. I just thought it¡¯d be a pain to explain something so long-winded in too much detail. Even the minor details I had explained had been very boring and tough to follow, after all.


    Elemental spells, even light, were clearly useless. Magnetism wouldn¡¯t be very useful either, although I did realize I could¡¯ve used some of the navigation and location spells I had used to create my maps to help me find my way through the city while blinded. I also knew a kind of motion magic spell that could have stopped her forward momentum, but it would only be for the tiniest of moments, and could be easily countered with a magic hands slingshot.


    I glanced at the way Noel was zooming forward, and blinked. Yes, that was it! I focused on the way she was cutting through the air, creating a sort of whistle as she used air magic to speed herself up by reducing air resistance. I began to subtly manipulate the air, just enough to reduce the efficiency of her spell. It was easy enough because of my greater ¡®wisdom¡¯ but because I was doing it incredibly carefully and subtly, Noel did not notice at all. Her speed didn¡¯t decrease by much. If it decreased too much, she might realize something was up and would pour more energy into her air and motion magics to speed herself back up again. She might even realize that I wasn¡¯t blinded and I¡¯d be back to square one.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    But as we zoomed through the street and passed by a bend in the road, the distance between us narrowed. It narrowed gradually, by a fraction of an inch with every step, but it began to add up. Noel glanced over her shoulder from time to time, which forced me to keep a confused, blank look on my eyes, as if I was still blinded. But her frequent assessment of the distance worked against her. It was harder for her to notice how much I was gaining on her when there was only a slight difference between every time she looked back. Soon, I was close enough for the next part of my plan. In the distance, I could already hear the armies, the humans, and perhaps even Kelser himself approaching. All I had to do was stop Noel for long enough for everybody else to reach our position, to stall her until the proverbial cavalry arrived. All I had to do, was touch her skin!


    I felt a tension against my body, as if I was being harnessed to a bungee cord. In reality, these were my magic hands, attached on either end to sturdy buildings, and holding firm to help propel me forward. At the same time, I would increase my speed in one burst, making up for the reduction that I had been faking for my blindness. I waited for the moment. We were quite close to the Senate building. I could see the imposing pillars coming up front. They looked positively garish against the rest of the city. As if looking down upon the humble people of the city from a position up above.


    The magic hands pushed my body forward. A burst of motion and air magic propelled me at great speeds. I also jumped up physically from the ground, while timing a push from earth magic at the same time. At the same time, a wall of air appeared in front of Noel, overwhelming her air resistance reduction magic and making her crash against the air as if she had belly flopped into a swimming pool. Her speed decreased, while I shot forward like a bullet out of a gun. An earthen wall appeared in front of her, forcing her to drive in her heels and prepare to jump. Yet, this was also when she looked over her shoulder to see me fast approaching.


    She cut off her blindness magic and began to put that magic to better use, but it was too late. Before the silver glow could flare up around her body, and before she could form a single magic bubble to make me disappear in an instant, I had rushed right up to her and there was nothing she could do to stop it.


    I crashed into Noel at an incredible speed, feeling my teeth chatter as I hit something that was harder than I had expected. Noel had somehow summoned a thin wall of earth in front of her, although I shattered it like brittle glass, and still slammed right into her. The thin wall of earth did cut my momentum a little, and my already aching body began to complain even louder, but that was okay. I had made it. I had made contact with Noel!


    After slamming into her, we tumbled forward like a pair of wrestling cats, skidding along the ground and clawing against each other during the fall. Noel immediately tried to summon a magic bubble, and her silver glow did finally flare up, but it was too late. I had my hands firmly on her body, one on her shoulder, the other her waist. We came to a stop right before the wall of earth I had erected to stop her, which hid the tall pillars of the Senate from our vision. We were boxed in by walls on our left and right, with no doors or windows nearby, either.


    I grit my teeth, let the relief wash through my body, watched the panic flowing through Noel¡¯s eyes, and activated my ¡®still life¡¯ magic.

 Chapter 194

    ¡®Still life¡¯ magic had become a bit of a trump card of mine. Born from a jumbled mess of epistemology, metaphysics, and history, there was no other spell quite like it in my arsenal. To be sure, I had played around with motion magic based off of classical or Newtonian physics, later on, but somehow, those spells never seemed as useful as ¡®still life¡¯ and I found myself turning to ¡®still life¡¯ in my toughest moments.


    It was a massive drain on my energy. If I cast it for too long, I would pass out and become vulnerable from using it. It also did not really work if I was alone. It was quite strange if you thought about it. Most of my other spells were designed to work for one person. I didn¡¯t come up with support magic like medical magic until I was settling down with the humans. I frequently rushed ahead of everyone else. I even fought against an entire army almost entirely on my own. And yet, my last resort, my proverbial nuclear option, was a spell that relied on somebody else to finish the job.


    I held Noel down, staring right into her eyes with a smile on my face. I could see the panic in her gaze. She knew I¡¯d won. This was it. I would hold her here until reinforcements came, then we would knock her unconscious and drag her all the way back to the Izlandi Kingdom. There would be no more chances.


    We were frozen in an awkward tangle. One of Noel¡¯s hands clawed at my back, while the other pointed right at my head. She had been preparing a magic bubble. If she¡¯d pulled it off, perhaps I would have awoken in that same awkward pose several days from now, with Noel having completed her mission and rendered the Immortal of Desire¡¯s actions pointless. I was glad I was able to meet the Immortal¡¯s expectations, honestly. I knew the birds would face some consequences for intervening like this, so at least I would be able to stop Noel now.


    I couldn¡¯t tell how long we were frozen in that position. Thankfully, ¡®still life¡¯ wouldn¡¯t let me get cramped or uncomfortable. In fact, I could barely feel anything, and I couldn¡¯t do anything but think either. I was sure it was the same for Noel. Especially since neither of us had any choice. We were stuck staring right at each other, our heads not more than a foot apart. Despite her rigid expression, I felt like I could see the thoughts bubbling behind her eyes.


    Was she imagining what she could have done differently? Wondering if she should have stayed with us, with me, instead of heading off on her own? Or was she cursing me for being ignorant? It wasn¡¯t my fault she didn¡¯t tell me the importance of her mission, or give a better explanation for why she was helping the Immortal of Madness. If anything, she should blame herself for not trying to get me on her side instead of making a run for whatever she was trying to do in the city!


    Yes, I could hear the approaching army. Kelser would be in the vanguard. He should be here soon. All he had to do was run up to us, see that we were frozen, realize that I had used ¡®still life,¡¯ and then he had to knock Noel out once more. Truly, the perfect plan.


    I could feel the energy draining out of my body. If I could grit my teeth, I would have. What was taking them so long? Alek had already been neutralized. There shouldn¡¯t be any more distractions. They needed to get here before I ran out of energy and was forced to let Noel go! That was the biggest danger with ¡®still life¡¯ magic, if I ran with it till the end, I would lose all of my energy and become utterly useless. I wouldn¡¯t even be able to lift a finger as Noel completed her mission. Heck, she could burn the whole city to the ground and I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the difference!


    My heart stopped.


    Burn the city to the ground.


    All of the cities that we had come across had been burnt to the ground. Every single one of them. Every house, every public building, everything had been reduced to ashes. There had been no signs of any struggle or fighting. It never even looked like anybody had tried to fight the flames, or even tried to run from them. We had concluded that somebody had used magic to eliminate the fairies and spirits, and then burned the cities down afterwards. And now Noel had confirmed that she had made all those fairies and spirits disappear, although she said that nobody had been killed. She said they only been sent into the future and that they would reappear where she had left them.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    But then, why the arson? If she truly did not want to hurt anybody, why burn their houses? Surely, sending them into the future would get them out of her way and let her complete her mission out here in the capital. No. Wait. There was a bigger question. If her mission was here at the capital, why did she even have to go to any of the other cities or villages in the first place? It would have been one thing if those places had all been on the path here, but quite a few of them had been discovered by our wide ranging scouting parties, since we had been looking for supplies because none of the burned down villages or towns had had any. I even suspected the reason we¡¯d gotten here before the invaders was because they had gone out of their way to eliminate a few more villages and towns on either side.


    Did that mean Noel had lied? Did the bubbles actually kill people after all? It made total sense why she would do that. I¡¯d had her at my mercy, and only let my guard down after hearing her denying murder and giving me some of the answers I had been looking for. Wait, had she given me the answers after all? For the most part, she¡¯d simply shared information. Lots of interesting, fascinating information, but was any of that really all that relevant? No, it hadn¡¯t been.


    I had been so mesmerized by the knowledge she had been sharing, so disarmed by the return of my oldest friend in this world, that I had subconsciously accepted her explanation and almost absolved her of guilt in my mind. I could only imagine the way the others had been looking at me throughout it all. Why hadn¡¯t Kelser, or maybe somebody older like Elder Kezler or Bain Rusta come over and knocked some sense into my head?


    But no. I still didn¡¯t want to believe. I mean, I wouldn¡¯t to believe her. I wanted to believe that Noel hadn¡¯t killed an entire country¡¯s worth of people after all. It was a crime so unimaginable I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around it. Could you imagine? Killing every man, woman, and child, in every village, town, and city in an entire country. To do so systematically and mercilessly. What kind of monster could do such a thing? No matter how much Noel had changed, I did not want to believe that she had become an irredeemable monster like that. I wanted to believe that the bubbles did not kill people. That, like Noel said, they only sent people into the future.


    But then why the arson? I kept going back to this as my energy drained from my body and the sound of footsteps finally began approaching our position. I had a feeling this conundrum would be haunting me in my dreams. I would soon let go of my conscious and drift away, but before I did that, I entertained another thought.


    What if Noel hadn¡¯t been the one burning the cities? What if there was somebody else involved, somebody whose goals were aligned with Noel¡¯s, but who was operating without Noel¡¯s knowledge? But no, there had been no sign of anybody. Noel had hidden her tracks somehow, but would whoever had been following her really not show up during our dangerous clash from before I was sent back in time?


    Perhaps, Noel¡¯s mission included burning the Lux Republic to the ground. If that was true, then she would set the capital aflame too, after completing whatever the rest of her mission entailed. Honestly, by this point I felt like my brain was just rattling through possibilities because of the stress of the situation. I knew that things could go all over the place once I lost consciousness. That I could wake up to a city turned to ash and my friends all gone. All because of one mistake, one tiny possibility that I did not account for. A failure of the mind, the kind of mistake that I dreaded most of all.


    Footsteps behind me. Running forward. Long strides, soft landings, it had to be Kelser. I would¡¯ve smiled if my face wasn¡¯t frozen. I felt a warmth rising in my chest.


    Which was promptly replaced with a painful chill.


    Noel was smiling. Her fingers twitched. A silver bubble appeared in front of my face, reflecting my smug, self-assured expression, with a little bit of Noel¡¯s smile peering through the reflection.

 Chapter 195

    I canceled the still life magic and pulled myself back. The silver bubble nearly brushed my skin, firing off into the air, taking with it my calmness.


    I crashed into the ground. Pain flared across my back as I hit the stony street and a cry escaped my lips. I rolled involuntarily due to the pain, and only after I had done so did I notice the second bubble that phased into the ground where I had been. Through bleary eyes, I saw Noel¡¯s figure twitch and jerk, like Frankenstein¡¯s monster right after he was brought to life through a lightning bolt.


    Thunder rumbled. The sky was overcast. I could smell the rain forming overhead. Terror. Panic. Disbelief filled my mind. It was overwhelming and I did not have the energy to deal with it. No, I did not have the energy to deal with anything anymore. I was almost completely drained. I couldn¡¯t even let out a shout, even though I wanted to desperately call out for help. Kelser, what was taking you so long!


    I blinked. My eyes cleared up. Noel was standing up, leaning against the earthen wall I had erected to block the street. Noel stared at the wall, panting to catch her breath. I was just glad she wasn¡¯t looking at me or trying to attack me again. I tried to breathe as quietly as I could, hoping to recover as much as I could.


    How did she get out of still life?


    That question rolled around my head, and I tasted it like it was hard candy rolling around my tongue. Except, it was a bitter candy, with an empty center.


    ¡®Still life¡¯ was my trump card. It relied on assumptions, yes, but I had patched them up with ¡®wisdom¡¯ and observations. I also invested a lot of energy in the spell, so that had to count for something, right? Right? What was going on? My thoughts were a mess. I needed a break. No, I needed a rescue.


    And somebody needed to stop Noel. I had winded her with the wall of air, the tackle, the slam into the ground. All of that had happened right before the spell, but their effects should still be on her body. That was one of the traits of still life. You might not feel anything during it, but all your pain certainly came back right after the spell was over. You might even notice it more since it would come back so suddenly.


    But Noel was already recovering. She placed a hand on the earthen wall, took a deep, broken breath, and the wall crumbled. It crumbled cleanly, leaving only a tiny cloud of dust near Noel¡¯s feet. She¡¯d only broken the middle, as if doing any more than necessary would waste too much energy. Energy she couldn¡¯t afford to waste right now. Not with my companions finally beginning to approach. Honestly, by this point, I had almost begun to suspect Kelser was taking his sweet time on purpose. In my delirium, I imagined Kelser sitting to the side with a smirk, watching me lying pathetically on the ground as Noel gathered her wits. The imagined scenario somehow made me mad, which only made it even harder for me to collect my thoughts and concentrate.


    The pain was too much. The fatigue. The anger. The helplessness. How could I have been so stupid? Of course Noel could break through this spell, given enough time. I had only used it against her for a few moments, and suspected it would still work if I did that. But she knew, like I did, how to counter magic. Especially this kind of magic that was built on flimsy logic and unjustified beliefs. After all, wasn¡¯t that exactly what I had done to her blindness magic just a little while ago?


    Noel stepped through the Noel sized hole in the wall and disappeared down the street. Somehow, the fact that she hadn¡¯t stopped to finish me off gave me a bittersweet feeling. Did she let me go? Was it pity? Or had she forgotten about me? No, she simply didn¡¯t care. Our friendship was in tatters. Perhaps only I had been clinging to it like an idiot. She was here for her mission, and that was all. And that was why I didn¡¯t deserve a second glance, and why, when Kelser finally picked me, the first thing he asked me was why I was crying.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ---


    Kelser went ahead to fight Noel. Some of the other humans, like Elders Kezler and Brol, ran up after him. Judging by how beaten up Noel was, they would definitely be able to catch up to her. Whether they would be able to defeat her or not was impossible to know. If I had to bet, I would put my money on Noel. She was crafty and her magic bubbles were pretty much impossible to dodge for people below my level. Thankfully, I had gathered enough energy to tell Kelser how to burst them.


    It had been a simple deduction, really. Her bubbles passed through inanimate objects. Only living beings seemed to be effected. And since I had never seen any pets in the cities she had devastated, I figured the bubbles worked on animals too. I¡¯d even noticed a surprising lack of insects in the ruins, although that could have been because of the fire. Still, during our second battle, I¡¯d run my experiment and successfully popped her bubbles by quickly firing small insects at them. One massive bubble, capable of making even the most powerful of living beings disappear, could be undone by a tiny fly. I would have thought it poetic, if it wasn¡¯t for the burning pain in my chest as I gulped down the water being held up to my mouth by Taoc.


    Regiments of soldiers had formed up around me. Armored fairies, tall and imposing, stood shoulder to shoulder with their backs towards me. I didn¡¯t notice what they were doing until they¡¯d gotten into formation, or I would have told them not to bother. There was no point in guarding me anymore. I was not a threat to Noel anymore, and everybody knew it. And even if I was, the soldiers around me couldn¡¯t stop Noel anyway. The gesture was a nice one, but it was useless. Just like me. Useless.


    What was the point? Everybody always called me smart. Ever since I was a kid, I was ¡®gifted,¡¯ everybody said I would be successful. Do big things. Be famous. Everybody had different suggestions. Be a scientist, they said. No, you should start a business. Be an astronaut, you have the gumption! No, don¡¯t do that, go to law school, instead! People believed in me. Even the soldiers standing guard around me right now, and Taoc who was trying to help me by patching up my injuries and helping me drink water, all of them believed in me. They believed that I was smart. That I was talented. That I wouldn¡¯t mess up by doing stupid stuff, that I wouldn¡¯t make a mistake because I was a ¡®genius.¡¯


    And yet here I was. Languishing among rubble on a road far from the battlefield. I could hear the sounds of spells coming from the Senate. I knew that was where Kelser, Kezler, and Brol were taking on Noel. More soldiers would be joining them soon, hoping to overpower her together. But I knew what they were all thinking. All of them were wishing I was there. They were courageous, and many of them would disappear, or die; I still wasn¡¯t sure whether to believe Noel¡¯s explanation.


    I grit my teeth. No. I couldn¡¯t let it end like this. The Immortal of Desire had given me a second chance. I couldn¡¯t blow it like this. I gathered what little strength I had left and tried to stand up. My legs wobbled like jelly, and Taoc cried out. She said I should rest. That the others would take care of it. She said my injuries were bad. Lots of cuts and bruises. She said there was something especially bad on my back. A great big purple bruise that could mean some sort of major injury underneath my skin. Internal bleeding, perhaps? It seemed like Taoc didn¡¯t have the words to describe it.


    I steadied myself against the floating spirit, which almost made her jump. I panted heavily, and tried to assess how much energy I could still spare for magic. Very little. But enough. Enough for one big spell.


    I took a step forward. Not towards the remains of the earthen wall or the Senate, but towards a side alley. The soldiers turned and looked. They didn¡¯t say a word. There were demon soldiers here too, and they were just as stoic and resolute. Nobody but Taoc would say a word as I stumbled into the side alley, reached down for something they couldn¡¯t see, and then began the long, painful trek up the main street leading up to the Senate.

 Chapter 196

    The street leading up to the Senate was a wreck. Uprooted bushes, gashes in the ground, lashes on the buildings, and upturned rocks and gravel everywhere. Scorch marks, splashes of water, and all manner of debris lay all over the place. Clearly, the fighting had started down here. I heard noises coming from up ahead. The battle had moved closer to the Senate. I hauled my body through the wreckage, and strained my ears to try to make sense of the battle.


    It sounded like Kelser, Kezler, and Brol were all still in good shape. Noel wasn¡¯t saying anything, which made sense considering how tired she must be. But judging by the way the humans were shouting, it was clear they were on the back foot. Kelser¡¯s voice sounded especially raspy and haggard. He was barking orders, telling Kezler and Brol to go this way or that, cast a spell or jump out of the way. He was definitely the one keeping this final stand together. It was admirable, but definitely futile. Noel was clearly stepping closer and closer to her goal. Whatever it was that she had to do or that she was looking for, it was at the Senate.


    Taoc came up behind me. The fairy soldiers wanted to join too. I rejected them instantly. My plan required stealth, and the fairies¡¯ clunking armor and Taoc¡¯s incessant chattering did not go well with a stealth mission. I had to go it alone.


    Actually, Taoc managed to figure out why I was hesitating, and gestured that she would be quiet. She also signaled to the fairy soldiers to fan out, presumably to create a perimeter around the Senate. I doubted that would slow down Noel once she tried to leave, but I figured it was better than making the soldiers do nothing at all. I nodded to Taoc and she nodded back. We proceeded slowly up the final stretch of the main street.


    The pillars of the Senate building loomed ominously over our heads. I stared grimly at the pillars, with their garish adornments and off-putting design, and moved to the side of the street. Taoc joined me, hovering carefully in the shadows. The storm clouds definitely helped, but I had to make sure Noel wouldn¡¯t catch our movement in the corner of her eye or something. The thing I held in my hand may well be our final hope, after all.


    After a few more steps, I could finally see the battle. And it was a terrifying sight.


    A barrage of bubbles flew everywhere, blanketing the entire field in front of the stairs leading up to the Senate. Noel stood on the stairs, raining the bubbles at the humans below. And the humans danced this way and that, like marionettes being pulled by invisible strings. I knew the invisible strings were probably a network of magic hands that Kelser had set up in the area, but it was still an outlandish sight. Was this how strange and unnerving our battle had seemed to the spectators outside the city walls?


    Kelser¡¯s forehead was plastered with sweat. Kezler popped some balloons by digging up some insects from somewhere, but there were simply too many bubbles. Brol took a simpler approach, letting Kelser jerk his body around while Brol took potshots at Noel across an assortment of elements. He¡¯d also somehow gotten a hold of one of those iron balls we were supposed to fire at Noel from a distance, and he was swinging it around by an invisible chain. The iron ball crashed into the stairs, forcing Noel to leap through the air and head towards Brol.


    Brol smiled wildly as he was thrown to the side so quickly his face blurred in my vision. Noel stepped where he had been standing, a magic bubble phasing into the ground at her feet. Noel quickly drew up a wall of earth to block Brol¡¯s swinging iron ball, but the ball was being thrown around with such incredible force that it shattered the earthen wall and forced Noel to jump back.


    Kezler took advantage of Noel¡¯s forced movement to summon a wall of flames in her path. Noel had her back to the flames and was moving through the air. It seemed as if she would inevitably jump right into the fire, except, at the very last moment her feet twisted mid-air and she made an incredible turn to her left. Noel had side-stepped the attack effortlessly.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    But Kelser also wanted to have a go, so he gathered some of the debris falling through the air from Brol¡¯s attack, and made it swoosh back towards Noel¡¯s body. These rocks and pieces of earth were small but they were moving quickly, and Noel had no choice but to brace her body and let herself get pelted. Noel finally let out a cry as the rocks cut a few gashes on her skin, but ultimately, the attack hadn¡¯t done much.


    Except, it had distracted her enough to allow Brol to get into position again. Kezler also made the ground underneath Noel¡¯s feet shake and crumble, messing up her balance as the iron ball whizzed towards her head.


    Kelser pulled both elders to the side with magic hands, narrowly helping them avoid Noel¡¯s magic bubbles as they slipped out of the shadows and passed by their bodies. Brol¡¯s attack was messed up and his iron ball swung harmlessly through the air. Kezler still managed to make Noel stumble, although she corrected her stance almost instantly. Kelser had to swing himself out of the way to avoid a magic bubble. He pulled Brol and Kezler to the side again to avoid another barrage of attacks.


    Noel rushed forward again, aiming for the stairs she had just jumped off of. The humans concentrated their attacks in front of her, anticipating her trajectory and hoping to catch her off guard. But Noel kicked the ground, jumping right over Brol¡¯s iron ball, Kezler whip of water, and Kelser¡¯s barrage of pebbles.


    She did, however, land right into Kelser¡¯s quagmire. He smiled as Noel stared at her feet, which had sunk into a piece of mud that Noel had not expected at all. I smiled as I got into position. Kelser had hidden a brick of earth in a broken section of the stone stairs, and Noel had jumped right on top of it. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Kelser had put them all over the stairs, hoping to catch Noel¡¯s feet in the mud, forcing her to stop for a moment.


    Brol decided to take advantage of Noel¡¯s stillness. He rushed forward, iron ball flailing wildly, and let out a wild cry. He swung his strange weapon towards Noel with enough power to knock her head clean off. Elder Brol was old, but he still had his muscles honed from a hard lifetime of hunting and gathering.


    Kezler also joined the fray, this time with an assortment of spells all cast simultaneously. A ball of fire, a whip of water, a burst of air, and a slab or rock hurtled through the air towards Noel from different angles and aimed for different parts of her body. Even if she managed to break free and escape in one direction, at least one of the spells should be in her path.


    Kelser had been anticipating this moment. He let out a deafening roar as a vein appeared on his forehead and his entire body became taut and strained. I watched with mouth agape as an entire slab of chiseled stone slid out of the top of the Senate building, leaving a massive hole above the pillars. The slab flew through the air at a frightening speed, coming down at Noel from above.


    Noel¡¯s gazed floated through each of the approaching attacks, before flitting quickly to her stuck foot. I could almost see her coming to the conclusion that she couldn¡¯t evade everything, which meant she had to decide what she could endure and what she could avoid. Clearly, the stone slab had to be avoided at all costs. The iron ball would hurt, but she might be able to soften the blow with a spell and tank it. Kezler¡¯s spells would also be very damaging, but she could endure if she faced the right one the right way.


    And that was when her eyes widened and she looked quickly to the side. She met Kelser¡¯s gaze, saw the stupid grin on his face, and glared. I wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, but then I noticed the way her foot had stopped moving completely. She couldn¡¯t move her foot. It was only for a moment, but she was completely immobile. There was no avoiding the worst of this attack. She would have to take it head on!


    A solid silver bubble appeared in front of Noel¡¯s face, materializing right in the path of Brol¡¯s iron ball. The iron ball slammed into the silver bubble and dissolved into nothingness.


    A silver glow appeared around Noel¡¯s body just before Kezler¡¯s spells hit her. The fire fizzled, the water evaporated, the air dispersed, and the rocks shattered. The silver glow flared up in response, but the worst was still to come.


    A massive slab of chiseled stone fell on top of Noel like a giant foot crushing a small, insignificant ant. Noel disappeared beneath the stone, her silver light seemingly snuffed out like a candlewick pinched between two fingers.

 Chapter 197

    Was that¡­ it.


    I stood in the shadows, arm held against a wall for support, my mouth agape, and disbelief filling my heart.


    They beat her?


    A drop of water fell on my face. I looked up at the sky. The clouds roiled, thunder rumbled, and the heavens began to weep. The winds kicked up, sending chills down my back. The rain fell on the battlefield, creating puddles on the ground. The rain pelted the stone slab, as if the sky was tapping or knocking on it as if checking if Noel had survived.


    Kelser stumbled to the ground. His face landed in a puddle, and I thought I saw a little blood coming out of his nose before he fell. His chest rose slowly.


    Elder Kezler winced. He took a step with a limp, and ended up grabbing onto a rock for support. He knelt down, clenching his teeth as he took a shaking hand and ran it over his face. The rain poured through his hair and making it stick to his scalp.


    Elder Brol was breathing quickly. His muscles were less taut, which made his skin look baggy and finally made him look his age. The old man kept staring at the stone slab, as if it was a tombstone and he was expecting a zombie to rise out of it. Rain doused his body and when the wind blew, Brol shivered. He looked away for something to cover his body with. His eyes drifted to my position. He looked surprised. He also looked a little guilty, with his gaze darting back to the stone slab for a moment. He opened his mouth to call out to me.


    The ground collapsed under his feet and the burly elder vanished underground.


    Elder Kezler picked himself up in a hurry, but winced as he stood up. He stepped away just as the ground gave way from beneath him, but he still fell on his back and let out a loud cry. Kezler managed to let out a spell just as he disappeared underground. That earth spell made the ground under Kelser firm up and push the red headed young man into the air.


    The ground under Kelser collapsed, but he was in the air. From this angle I couldn¡¯t tell if he was conscious, but I had a feeling the sudden spell had woken him up. Sure enough, Kelser wiggled around in the air, before quickly casting a spell and righting himself before landing on the ground. He quickly stepped back as the ground beneath him crumbled once again. Thankfully, Kelser was close to the stone stairs leading up to the Senate building, so he simply hopped off the fragile ground and jumped onto the firmer stone.


    The battlefield stilled. Eventually, the ground cracked right next to the large stone slab, and a slender but callused hand shot out. The hand sent a fireball towards Kelser, which he had to sidestep. His foot got caught on something and the poor kid fell on his side. The hand in the ground was joined by another. Both hands grabbed the sides of the hole and Noel pulled her body out of the earth. She spat out some gravel, with dirt cascading off her head, and a layer of dust caking her body.


    Kelser picked himself back up again, although I could tell by his ragged breathing, unsteady stance, and the dried blood under his nose, that the kid wouldn¡¯t last much longer. With both Elder Kezler and Elder Brol out of the way, Kelser couldn¡¯t have taken Noel on for long even if he wasn¡¯t so incredibly tired and injured.


    Noel didn¡¯t look in great shape either. She¡¯d fought me right before fighting the three humans. I¡¯d left her tired and battered, but Kelser¡¯s trick with the stone slab had thoroughly shaken her confidence. I could tell she was still expecting something. I could see the angry glare in her eye, the frustration on her face, and the careful way her eyes examined Kelser and his surroundings.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Kelser and Noel stared at each other in the rain. They didn¡¯t flinch, didn¡¯t break their gaze, and neither of them moved an inch. When a chilly wind blew past, Kelser shivered. Noel flinched. Kelser recovered. Noel grit her teeth.


    Noel stepped forward, holding a hand out to help her cast a spell immediately. Kelser took a step back as she approached, but he didn¡¯t cast anything. He watched her slosh through the mud and approach him without saying anything. Kelser began breathing quicker. His face was tired and his eyes unfocused. He was definitely running on fumes, and for the first time, Noel seemed to have realized that as well. She knew there were no other tricks. No final, daring plan would come from the red haired human she had first met when he was just a kid. A presumptuous, annoying brat, who¡¯d grown up to almost crush her under a mass of cold stone.


    Noel cast a spell. Kelser braced himself. The air blew against him gently but firmly, as if it wasn¡¯t a spell but the storm that was pushing him away. Kelser couldn¡¯t resist the gentle push, and he fell to the side with a thud. He landed on a stone step, and let out a strange groan as his hand was pressed under the weight of the rest of his body. He rolled a little to the side, staring at Noel as she climbed onto the stairs once again.


    Noel stared straight ahead, not sparing a glance for Kelser anymore. Kelser blinked his eyes, unable to turn his neck to keep following Noel as she climbed the stairs and approached the base of the pillars. Instead, his gaze fell straight ahead, to the shadows of the buildings right before the Senate. As he lost consciousness, he met my eyes. I gave him a thankful and reassuring look, and he smiled as he closed his eyes and let himself rest.


    Noel stood right in front of the door to the Senate chamber. She reached out, preparing to open the door and fulfill her mission.


    The rain stalled. The wind stilled. A whistle rang through the air. Noel jerked her head back suddenly, but it was too late. I had had enough time. Enough time to recover my energy, steadying my breath and scrounging for every ounce of power I could muster for one more spell. Taoc stood to the side, watching me with bated breath.


    A metal rod floated in the air in front of me, with a mass of magnetic energy and a shiny, metal bullet placed into position. I had aligned the rail gun with the door to the Senate, and had watched Noel step literally into the line of fire. The corners of my lips stretched upward. I poured forth a bunch of magnetic energy and used magic hands to steady the rail gun.


    When Noel jerked her head back and met my gaze, surprise plastered on her face, I fired.


    The bullet left an afterimage in the air, water droplets splitting apart as the bullet crashed into them. A whistle rang through the battlefield, high pitched and terrifying. Noel saw the weapon that had almost taken her out in our first battle, except this time, she was even more badly battered than she had been then. The bullet shot through the air, approaching her body, but Noel managed to react with inhuman speed.


    A silver bubble appeared in front of her body and in the bullet¡¯s predictable trajectory. The bubble would do what it had done in our first fight, it would kill the bullet¡¯s momentum and leave it suspended inside it. Except, it wouldn¡¯t because I had already seen this trick before. A trick that Noel had only pulled out at the last moment, probably because it was a sort of trump card. That didn¡¯t surprise me. It was very similar to my trump card ¡®still life¡¯ magic. It was convenient, being able to stop things in their track like this.


    That was why I smiled as a tiny insect appeared next to the bubble and collided with it, popping it in front of Noel¡¯s horrified face. The bullet passed a moment later, and Noel scrambled to raise her hand in front of her body. It sucked that this spell didn¡¯t shoot the bullet at modern gun-like speeds, but I knew this would be enough. Even if Noel blocked it with her hands, she would be badly injured. The shock and trauma might render her unconscious, too.


    I waited. The bullet seemed to travel in slow motion, Noel¡¯s arms raising at lightning speed. She had used magic on them, for sure.


    The bullet shot into her hands.


    Blood dripped on the floor.

 Chapter 198

    Blood dripped on the floor.


    The rain continued.


    It hurt to breathe. I clenched my chest with a hand. The metal rod fell to the ground and the improvised magnetic rail gun collapsed into the mud. Taoc rushed to my side, saying something about great elf this or great elf that, but I couldn¡¯t hear her. There was a ringing in my ear. Only the dry pitter-patter of raindrops beat against my ears, resounding like drums inside my head.


    Noel stood upright, her face hidden behind her outstretched arms. Blood spouted out of her hands, but I couldn¡¯t see how much damage the bullet had done. Her arms trembled and shook. Relief fell over me. She was alive, but badly injured. There was no way that she could continue like this. I had done it. I had stopped Noel¡¯s mission, the mission the Immortal of Desire thought dangerous enough to risk their own life to send me back in time.


    I forced out some words. I told Taoc to rescue Kelser and the elders. The spirit said something back, but I couldn¡¯t hear her. I told her to go. Just go. She bit her lips and rushed ahead. She checked up on Kelser first, pressing her tiny fingers against his neck to make sure that he was alive. Then she looked into the holes where the elders had disappeared. She dived down into each one, dragging out the elders by the tip of their hands. They were alive, but unconscious. They needed medical attention, but I was sure they¡¯d make it. Taoc was breathing heavily, having strained her body pulling two large humans out of the earth. I told her to send for reinforcements, but she refused to leave my side. I shouted at her to go once more and she finally did.


    Throughout all of this, Noel stood like a statue in front of the Senate doors. Blood dripped slowly off her outstretched hands and pooled in front of her feet. Her body trembled. She didn¡¯t move. I frowned. I winced and steadied myself against the wall. I got to my feet and limped forward, dragging my feet across the badly scarred battlefield.


    I blinked through the rain. It was dark. And it was even darker under the pillars where Noel stood. I could barely make out her body apart from her outstretched hands. I stepped closer. I could make more of her out. The gashes on her legs, the wounds on her waist, her ragged clothes. I couldn¡¯t believe she was still standing despite it all.


    Lightning flashed in the sky behind me. I saw Noel in the light, and my heart skipped a beat.


    A silver ball had formed between her two hands. My metal bullet was embedded inside this solid silver bubble. The bullet had frayed into pieces, and the bubble had a massive impression in it. The metal pieces had embedded themselves into Noel¡¯s hands like splinters or shrapnel. Blood dripped from the cuts on her hands, but the wounds weren¡¯t as bad as I had assumed or hoped for. The bullet hadn¡¯t even gone through her hands.


    The pain must have been unbearable. Imagine having metal splinters in your hands, and hundreds of them at that. Just thinking about that made me wince, but it also made me despair. Sure enough, Noel¡¯s trembling arms finally fell to her side, revealing a shocked but relatively uninjured elf behind them. Noel¡¯s gaze was unfocused.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The wind blew into the Senate, taking with it a splash of rain. The rain hit Noel¡¯s face, and she started. She looked this way and that, before finally resting her gaze at my frozen body. I was standing in the middle of the battlefield, with Kelser and the elders resting near the walls behind me. The remains of the railgun were back there as well, and Noel looked at them with a little fear in her eyes.


    If only I had practiced my magnetic magic more. Perhaps I could have made the attack stronger. Or maybe I needed to get in closer. Or I should have gathered my energy more quickly and fired while Kelser and the others had kept her occupied. No, there was no point in asking these questions now. The plan had failed and I had no other ideas. I could barely keep myself standing. There was no way I could hold on, and even if I did, the fairy soldiers Taoc was bringing as reinforcements wouldn¡¯t be able to take on Noel anyway.


    It was over. Noel would complete her mission and there was nothing I could do to stop her. As I met her gaze, I realized we both knew this. We both knew that there was no point in fighting anymore.


    Yet.


    Yet, I still kept my gaze locked to hers. I stared into her silver eyes, saw the hurt, the anger, the confusion inside them. I realized that despite everything, Noel had never expected me to do something like this to her. She had never expected something that could actually kill her. It also made me realize that in our first fight, from before I had been sent back in time, Noel had never truly tried to kill me until after the railgun. The look in her eyes finally made me believe her transparent magic bubbles didn¡¯t kill. The fairies and spirits in the rest of the country would definitely reappear in a few days, I could finally believe that. I even began to believe that Noel hadn¡¯t burned down the other cities either.


    A dozen questions raced through my head. If Noel didn¡¯t burn the cities, then who did? If Noel hadn¡¯t gone to every town, village and city to make everybody disappear, then who had? Who was behind this? What did they want? And if there really was somebody else working for the Immortal of Madness, why hadn¡¯t they appeared during any of this fighting? I couldn¡¯t believe the Immortal would intervene directly this way, in a manner so insignificant and petty. Surely there were consequences to their intervention, and no Immortal wanted to pay a high price to burn down some mud and straw houses in a tiny fairy village out in the boonies?


    Noel broke her gaze first. She stared at the floor. I gasped for air. Pain shot across my back. I fell to one knee. Murky water splashed around my leg. I looked up. Noel was looking down at me from the top of the stairs, a cold expression in her eyes.


    She raised a hand. A silver bubble formed. I stared at it, and was somehow able to see my reflection in it even from this distance and through the rain. I looked at it, and at Noel¡¯s face peering over it, and let my head hang low. I stared at the muddy puddle. It was clear enough that when a flash of lightning arced through the sky again, I could see my reflection.


    I was tired.


    I was confused.


    There were scratches on my face. My eyes were sunken. My nose was crooked. My long ears were covered in dirt. My entire face looked disgusting and pitiful. I couldn¡¯t bear to look at myself. I raised my head.


    Noel was gone. The Senate doors were open.


    Lightning flashed. I felt a warmth in my chest. A rejuvenating, revitalizing warmth. I listlessly picked myself up, and my body began walking up the stairs. I leaned against a pillar, took a deep breath, and lumbered through the Senate doors, trailing muddy foot across the otherwise surprisingly clean floor.

 Chapter 199

    The Senate chamber was just like I remembered it. Well, there were a couple of differences, actually. For one thing, the spirits I had left here unconscious the last time I came were all gone. Bain Rusta had told me they had been moved to their quarters so they could recover from the mind control magic that I had freed them from. There were many items strewn across the Senate floor, but I remembered them being there. They had fallen with the spirits as I had treated them. Nobody had bothered to clean the place up, since there was a war to prepare for after all. Noel had left some muddy footprints behind, and I was about to leave some more. For some reason, I thought about whoever had to clean this place afterwards. What a terrible job it would be. Especially if they had to take care of the field outside too. I had to remember to help patch that place up with magic later. The stone slab had to be put back in place too.


    I realized my thoughts had been wandering. I reigned them back in and stepped across the Senate floor. I couldn¡¯t raise my legs much, so I left a trail behind me, and made a loud sloshing sound as I walked. The sound echoed through the empty room, announcing my presence, but that was okay. At this point, I couldn¡¯t do anything to Noel even if I had the element of surprise. I just wanted to see. To see the mission that had been the cause of all this suffering. What was so important that Noel would go on this rampage, fighting everybody, including her oldest friend, and all for the sake of the Immortal who had taken her from her own family. I had to know. I just had to.


    The biggest change in the Senate room was the mural. It was open. I blinked. The mural had been a door? The door ran right through the middle of the mural, splitting the image of Sharun the hunter in two. I saw something on the mural on the right. A bloody handprint. Except, it wasn¡¯t only a hand, but a hand that went down into a streak. Noel hadn¡¯t just opened the door. She had run her hand across the image.


    I dragged my body forward. It felt like my legs were made of lead, and the rest of my body wasn¡¯t much better. Still, I managed to bring myself to the door in the mural. I inspected what lay beyond, but couldn¡¯t see anything. It was too dark. No, it wasn¡¯t ordinary darkness. It was like a veil or a thick curtain. Whatever lay behind the mural was literally shrouded in darkness. I collected myself. Took a deep breath. And then I took a step forward.


    ---


    A metal room.


    There was no other way to describe it.


    Cold to the touch. Solid and rigid. The floor felt like a panel of thick stainless steel underneath my feet. The sides of the room had the same metallic luster. The air carried a metallic scent, like the taste of blood. There were no windows or light sources, yet the room was well lit. As if the metal walls were emitting their own soft light, just not in a way that made them appear to be glowing. It was uncanny. I didn¡¯t even notice that I had been holding my breath.


    Noel stood in the back of the room. There seemed to be something in front of her, but I couldn¡¯t make out what it was. Yet, I could sense it. That was it. That was what she had come for. Her mission. The thing the Immortal of Desire definitely did not want her to retrieve.


    I had a feeling I shouldn¡¯t let her take it away. I knew she was probably acting on the Immortal of Madness¡¯ orders. If he got his hands on whatever this was, who knew what he would do with it. The guy was quite literally a madman! No, I had to stop her. Yes, I felt the urge bubbling inside me. The strength surging forth like a second wind. I had to do it. Ignore my injuries, the many wounds and gashes. The bleeding, the bruises, the sharp, piercing pain. None of that mattered. If I failed despite getting a second chance, I would not be able to forgive myself. I raised a hand, gathered the energy I didn¡¯t know I had, and aimed at Noel¡¯s back.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Noel turned. I saw the object she had come for. I froze. I felt a weight in my stomach as a fuzz of confusion filled my head.


    ¡°How can,¡± I said, thinking out loud, ¡°how can something like this be here? In this world. How?¡±


    In front of Noel, there was an altar. An altar made of wood, with little multi-colored decorations all over it. Not paint, not gems, but bright, sparkling flowers. On top of the altar there was something I could never have imagined seeing in this world: a book.


    A book.


    A real book. Hardcover, printed pages fluttering on their own, with words written on the spine. The book floated above the altar, moving from side to side like a playful kitten. As it moved around, I finally saw what was written on the book, and my mind completely blanked. I didn¡¯t know I could be stunned twice in quick succession like this, but here I was. Unable to think. Completely dumbfounded by what was written on the spine of this book.


    Annihilation.


    In large, serif font English letters, the title ¡®Annihilation¡¯ was written on the book.


    I laughed. Standing inside this metal box behind a curtain of darkness hidden inside a mural in the Senate building. After a terrible battle that had left me badly battered and almost broken. With no will to fight. Utter despair in my heart. I laughed.


    I ignored the pain in my chest that came with the laughter. No, the pain only made me laugh more. Tears pooled in my eyes. Through my blurry vision, I could see Noel giving me a strange look, but that made me laugh even more. Belting, unrestrained laughter. Laughter that echoed through the metal room, filling the air with a terrifying, maniacal cacophony. I held my head in my hands, laughed at my feet, raised my head and laughed at the ceiling, then faced straight and laughed towards Noel.


    ¡°It was,¡± I said between bursts of laughter. ¡°It was a book!¡± I laughed some more. ¡°That lousy madman. It was a book all along!¡± I laughed, and laughed, and repeated my words. Some words I couldn¡¯t even understand myself, but I said them anyways. They made me laugh some more, after all.


    My laughter didn¡¯t die down for a while. Not until my throat was dry, my chest heaving, and my mind a mush of jumbled thoughts, feelings, and pain. What a mess. What a terrible, terrible mess. The thing I had been searching for, the secret that would help me get back home, it was a book all along! And not just any book, it was a book that looked like it had come from my world, my previous Earth. And even that wasn¡¯t all. It was a book that Noel wanted. No, a book that the Immortal of Madness wanted.


    Had the Immortal mentioned it to me all those years ago, because he wanted to make me despair? Or had he manipulated me? Did he want me to come here? Had I done something that had helped him find or get to this book? Or was it just pure sadism? Was that maniac in the moon getting a kick out of seeing me suffer? I didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t care. I¡¯d had enough. No more.


    No more.


    I was done with these tricks. These games. The manipulation, the indignation. This feeling that I was dancing on the palm of some giant¡¯s hand, I couldn¡¯t stand it any longer. I was going to end it. I was going to end it once and for all!


    Electricity buzzed and crackled. White arcs flashed around my arms. Noel¡¯s eyes widened. She reached for the book. I smiled. She thought I was going for the book? I laughed again. I laughed with the electricity that I was preparing with the last of my energy. Energy that I shouldn¡¯t have had, but which I was thankful for at this time. It would help me finish it. It would help me finish everything!


    I raised my hands above my head and let out a wild cry. Lightning flew around me, striking the metal walls, ionizing the air, and sending a deafening zap echoing around the room.


    Noel grabbed the book. The room was filled with light.

 Chapter 200

    Some say the most gruesome way to be executed was by electric chair. Strapped to a chair, hunk of metal on your head, crying, waiting for death. Horrifying images from late night internet searches come to mind. A dark chapter in the history of the world. When decency gives way to perceived convenience. When even the executioner can not help but feel his stomach churn. That is death by electricity.


    The kamikaze were the so-called divine winds that helped spare Japan from the Mongol hordes that swept through the rest of Asia. Conquering China, sacking Baghdad, and making the largest contiguous land empire in history was no small feat. There can be little doubt that the Japanese would not have been a match for the Mongols. Thus, the importance of these divine winds in the Imperial Japanese military mythos during the second world war was understandable. Kamikaze attacks, aimed at felling entire ships through suicidal attacks by planes were harrowing and for modern sensibilities, quite incomprehensible. Why would a pilot willingly execute themselves for a war that was being lost, an imperial elite that did not care for them, and commanders who had clearly made mistake after mistake?


    It was in this moment that I understood why. I understood why somebody would be compelled to go down with the enemy. It wasn¡¯t a rational decision. The brain did not think. The neurons lay idle. No, a decision like this was motivated purely by emotion. Overwhelming emotion. The kind that kicked all considerations aside, thought not of the future, and filled the present with a blinding emotional light.


    A blinding light not unlike the one coming from the book in Noel¡¯s hand.


    My electricity arced towards the metal walls. A few white tendrils shot towards Noel. Upon contact with the sides or the body, Noel would face the same inhumane, undignified death that came from the electric chair. My own body would face the same pain, the same death, but my heart would insulate itself with the insanity of suicide.


    The book fluttered.


    A sane thought finally broke through my mind. A mind I did not recognize. A mind that did not feel like my own. Not a mind that had been taken over by another, no. This was a mind inundated in wild emotions, chaotically clashing against each other and making it impossible for rationality to break through. To calm me down. To stop the spell before it took down myself and a person whom I still did not actually want to kill. All for a book that I still did not know anything about. In my moment of clarity, I recognized the insanity of my actions, the savagery of my emotions, and the futility of my rationality in this moment. There was nothing I could do to stop myself.


    A flash of light. Dazzling. It enveloped the lightning, drowning out its brightness and replacing its crackle with an incessant ringing. Pain assaulted my eyes. I looked away. I blinked. The world was swimming, bleary. I blinked again, rubbed my eyes, waited for my vision to settle. The pain faded. My vision stilled. I looked back at Noel.


    Noel stood with the book held out in front of her. The book¡¯s pages were blank but uneven. Each page seemed to have been cut arbitrarily, and the binding itself looked rough and unprofessional. Its pages fluttered in an absent breeze. The ringing in my ears died down. My flared up emotions also disappeared. I felt like there was a hole in my chest. As if something had drained out of my body alongside those flared emotions. I felt weak in my knees. I couldn¡¯t stand up for much longer.


    I collapsed. A sharp pain ran along my body as my knees hit the stiff metal floor. The pain jolted me awake once more, and I felt another exaggerated emotion flying out of my mind as well: lethargy. I was still tired, of course, but there was something strange going on with my emotions right now. I could barely collect my thoughts enough to recognize what it was, but I could tell it had something to do with whichever emotion I was feeling the strongest at the time. If I felt angry, my anger was amplified. If I was tired, I felt like taking a nap regardless of the circumstances. I held my forehead in a hand and groaned. From one eye I saw Noel looking down at me, the book of Annihilation in her hands.


    I stared at the book. Frustration began to bubble and froth. It would surely mature into rage once more, and then I would try to do something stupid again. No. I couldn¡¯t let that happen. Since when had I become such an emotional wreck? Clearly somebody was messing with me. If I was to feel rage, it had to be at that person. I had to be enraged by whoever was making me angry!


    That line of thinking could have become a cycle of intensifying rage, but miraculously, it seemed to have deflated my rage instead. I breathed out. Calm. Calm and tired. I had defeated the strange magic. Or perhaps whoever had cast it had finally let me go.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    I frowned. Had Noel cast this magic? No, remember, magic like this was too complicated. Not even I could do that yet. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do something like this until I had a ton of modern equipment and data. Was an Immortal involved? Perhaps. But why now? There had been better opportunities to mess with me, opportunities where I had been on the verge of death. It would have been better to interfere at those opportunities, if the intention was to kill me or mess me up.


    Except, what if that was not their intention? The first thing that had happened with this spell was that I had been consumed with a blind rage that made me want to kill both Noel and myself inside this metal room. If an Immortal had cast this spell, their goal wasn¡¯t to help Noel take the book. No, they wanted to stop her from taking it out of this room.


    ¡°Do you understand now, Cas?¡± said Noel. She was still looking down at me with the fluttering book in front of her.


    ¡°Understand what?¡± I said, absentmindedly.


    ¡°We are not the only ones who can cast magic,¡± she said.


    I frowned. ¡°Of course I know the Immortals can cast magic. I never denied that. All I said was that their magic system is different from ours.¡± My words were slow, with many pauses and gaps in between.


    ¡°You say their magic is different because they can do what you cannot,¡± said Noel, ¡°but just because you do not know how to fly, does not mean birds are doing something you cannot. If you understood how birds fly, you could do so too. The problem is that you do not know.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, with a quiet chuckle. ¡°Birds. That¡¯s what I need right now.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°The only reason you beat me, Noel, is because you had his help. That madman in the moon. You sold your soul to him, but I guess it worked. I can¡¯t stop you. But if you can get an Immortal¡¯s help, than so can I,¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯ve already received their help, haven¡¯t you,¡± said Noel.


    I didn¡¯t reply.


    ¡°You said you were sent back to the past. But you didn¡¯t learn much, so you couldn¡¯t have come back very far. And the other Immortals would not have let Desire do as it pleased for long enough to send you back very far,¡± said Noel. ¡°No matter. You came back in time but you lost.¡± Noel held the book up and walked forward. ¡°I will be taking this.¡±


    ¡°Noel,¡± I said. ¡°Please. Tell me. Tell me about Annihilation! I don¡¯t care, okay? You can take the book. I don¡¯t even know why I was trying so hard to keep it from you. Just tell me. Tell me how to go home.¡±


    Noel frowned. ¡°Go home?¡± Noel nodded slowly. ¡°Why do you think this will help you go home?¡±


    I blanked. ¡°Your master. He said the secret was annihilation. I¡¯ve been following that clue for ages. Don¡¯t you remember, you were there?¡±


    Noel blinked. ¡°Annihilation? Annihilation. Yes, I see. Your translation magic. It translated it that way.¡±


    ¡°I knew it!¡± I said, with a pained smile on my face. ¡°I knew it would be something like this! I heard it in my language, but the Immortal must have said it in another. Quickly, tell me what you heard. What does it mean in the elfin language, I¡¯ll deactivate my translation magic to hear what you are saying! Please. Tell me. I won¡¯t come after you anymore. I¡¯ll leave this world behind, you and your master can have it. Just, please. I want to go home.¡± I didn¡¯t realize when the tears had pooled in my eyes. ¡°I just want to go home.¡±


    Noel stood in place. We couldn¡¯t hear anything from outside the metal room. Even the fluttering book didn¡¯t make a sound. Noel took a step forward. Then another. She walked up to me, looked at me collapsed to the ground with barely enough energy to speak. She shook her head and kept walking. Walking right past me.


    I turned. ¡°No, please! Please! One word. My translation magic is off. Say it in the elfin language. Just one word, please! Noel! Noel!¡± I fell forward. There was no energy left in my body. ¡°Noel!¡± I shouted one last time.


    Noel stopped. She didn¡¯t turn around. She didn¡¯t say anything.


    I saw something in front of her. A flutter. Wings. Feather. There was a bird in front of Noel. The bird whistled. Noel flinched.


    The whistle echoed around the metal room, ricocheting off the walls until there was a haunting echo everywhere.


    The echo kept going. Growing stronger and stronger until it turned into laughter. Unbridled. Incessant. Maddening.


    Laughter.

 Chapter 201

    The walls exploded. There was no shrapnel, no smoke. The walls, the ceiling, the room, everything exploded, to be replaced by an uncanny, deep darkness.


    Noel went flying over my head, her body bent over itself in an extreme way. She went flying into the distance before suddenly stopping in the air and flopping to the ground like she had hit something. She hovered in the void, unconscious but still breathing.


    The Book of Annihilation flapped in front of the bird. The bird whistled louder and louder but the laughter was intensifying as well. Soon, a bright light appeared overhead. No, two lights. One silver, one red.


    A full moon, a red star, and a whistling bird floated before me in the void.


    I couldn¡¯t feel the floor beneath my feet, yet I remained steady in my position. I froze and observed the situation with bated breath. I was afraid that the slightest movement would draw the attention of the three Immortals. But I also knew I had to get out of the way. There was no way that I could survive a battle between the three of them from this distance!


    The whistling stopped. The laughter died down soon after. The three Immortals faced off against each other. The moon began to grow larger. It also waxed and waned, flitting through to crescents and full moon shapes. But it was frighteningly strange. The moon had a silver color, but it did not glow. It was as if it gave off no light, and yet I could still see it. It was difficult to wrap my head around what I was seeing, and even tougher to describe it. Imagine if there was no light inside a room, but you could still see a silver disc. Now imagine if the silver disc was not luminescent, it did not give off any light, and yet you could still see it against the darkness.


    My gaze was drawn to the silver moon with its hypnotic waxing and waning, and the more I stared at it, the more it felt like it was sucking me in. Deeper and deeper into a dance macabre. With chaotic music, flashing visuals, and a deadly smile that I did not notice until it filled the inside of my head.


    Like a laser or the first burst of light at dawn, a line of red light shot through the smile. The red light was abrasive. The red light drowned out the silver moon, and unlike the moon, it looked like it was giving off its own light. Yet, somehow that light felt like something I should not have been able to see. As if it was a type of radiation outside of the spectrum of visible light. Eerie and disconcerting. It made my heart sink to my stomach. And with it, came an incessant ringing. A ringing that was cut down by a song.


    A song without music. Something you couldn¡¯t dance to. Lyrics incomprehensible, but beautiful. Like a song in a language I did not understand, but whose rhythm and cadence was enough to capture my attention. The song got stuck in my head. Once inside, it began pin-balling through my head, knocking things out of place.


    I stopped thinking about how strange everything was.


    I stopped trying to get away.


    I stopped trying to close my eyes.


    I let the song take over my hearing, the red light laid claim to my vision. And when I began feeling my limbs moving, moving, moving in a wild, wild way. I knew I had lost the rest of my senses. I had lost the rest of my senses to dance. To music. To madness.


    My thoughts became a mess. One thought ran onto the next, free-falling, free-flowing, I wondered if Virginia Woolf would be proud of me. I chuckled. I smiled. I laughed. If I was still in college, in my dorm sipping tea finishing off a paper, I would have dropped everything and picked up Joyce. Or Nabokov, since this was positively Zemblan. So Zemblan. No, I needed Borges. I had to tell him, yes, I had to say this out loud. Open my mouth and say:If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius!¡±


    Flapped. Something flapped beside my ear. A weight on my shoulder. It pinched. It hurt. What was it? I¡¯d felt something like this once. In summer camp, when they brought along some guy with an eagle and they let us take pictures with the eagle on our hands. Except these talons were smaller, and the weight less heavy.


    I turned my gaze and met a pair of beady eyes. A crown of orange feathers, tipped with an inky black. A long down-curling beak, thin and pointy. The feathers on its body were striped black and white. A tiny body. Truly minuscule against the massive moon and red star.


    The moon grew and grew and grew and began to flash and morph. Its form became wavy, like a ripple across a lake, and began to change.


    The red star also grew until it began to coalesce into a strange sludge. Disgusting red blobs bobbed up and down in the muck, slowly building something. Something strange and unnerving.


    The bird on my shoulder flapped its wings. It shot into the air above my head and I blinked. When I opened my eyes again, there were two birds. I blinked again, five. I blinked once more, seven, ten, fifteen, twenty. I blinked one last time and there were thirty birds hovering over my head. Birds of all shapes and sizes. I felt like I should recognize all of them, and I did recognize them from the time I met them in the Plains of Serenity, but not from my world. But I knew they were from my world.


    One of them was particularly eye-catching. It was like it had eyes on its feathers. A lustrous blue, lush green, swirling radiant purple. How could I forget about a bird that looked that strange? Well, at least my memories of birds had confirmed one thing. None of these were like the eagle that I had met in summer camp on my Earth. It was a strange thought that flew into my mind, but it made me realize something. The only birds I had forgotten about were these ones. The ones that appeared to me as a part of the Immortal of Desire. Why was that? Why would I forget about these birds, and none others?


    The birds faced the rippling moon, the coalescing red star, as well as my confused self. They had the Book of Annihilation in front of them, but the book wasn¡¯t fluttering. No, the book was closed, with only the word ¡®Annihilation¡¯ written across the front. Written in English, I might add. Somehow, that felt like the most bizarre thing about the whole situation. That a book with an English title was here in this world of magic, elves and immortals.


    The birds began to sing. I clamped my hands on my ears. This wasn¡¯t like the singing from before. It was harsh and painful. Like a screeching siren or nails raking across a blackboard. The singing stopped. I opened the eyes I hadn¡¯t realized that I had closed. The thirty birds were gone, and in their place, there was only one.


    Glorious golden feathers. A regal tapered beak. Dagger-like talons. One bird. There was only one bird. The bird looked straight ahead, opened its beak, and sang a single note. It opened its wings wide and flapped them.


    Fire erupted over the bird¡¯s body, on top of its head, along its long neck, and all over its golden feathers. The fire was everywhere, and it was a startling shade of gold. Golden fire, with only tinges of red and blue. It felt intense and unnatural, but there was no heat.


    I staggered backwards. That made me look down. I was standing and all of my injuries were gone. I hadn¡¯t realized that I was standing. My leg caught on something, which was strange because I was hovering in the nothingness, and I fell backwards. There was nothing underneath me, so my heart flew into my throat as I was hit by a sense of vertigo. How far up was I? How long would I keep falling?


    The red muck finished its transformation first. The red star had become an eye. A single eye hovering without anything attached to it. The eye had nothing else on it. No arteries, no veins, no little pieces of flesh or skin like the floating eyes you might see in fantasy games. It was just an eye. A massive eye with a red pupil and no eyelid. Even the sclera had a reddish tint. The eye hovered in the void, but it did not turn to the golden bird. It turned to the moon as he finished his transformation.


    Messy hair, chin full of stubble. Dark green eyes. Body wrapped in a white sheet like a toga. The Immortal of Madness materialized in the air, saw the other immortals facing him, and turned away from them. He met my gaze as I was falling through the void and smiled. A bright, sparkling, charming smile.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± said the Immortal of Madness. ¡°Thank you for everything, Caspian Holm!¡±

 Chapter 202

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said the Immortal of Madness as he flashed me his cheery smile. ¡°In all my many, many years in this world, I have never been able to meet my beloved again so quickly. Usually, they run away and hide for at least a millennium after I find them. Isn¡¯t that right, Sim?¡±


    The golden bird glared at the Immortal of Madness. ¡°We do not recall letting you call us that.¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on Sim,¡± said the Immortal of Madness, pouting strangely. ¡°If you keep acting like that, you might make little Caspian think you don¡¯t love me!¡±


    ¡°We do not love you,¡± said the Immortal of Desire.


    The Immortal of Madness pouted some more.


    I balked at their strange interaction. I knew the Immortal of Madness was insane¡ªit was literally in his name¡ªbut why did he sound like a desperate teenager? All three Immortals had assembled, yet it didn¡¯t feel like a gathering of the three most powerful beings in this world. It almost felt more like a scene from a high school romantic comedy.


    ¡°The idiot has a point,¡± said the eyeball. The Immortal of Evil¡¯s voice was strange. It sounded monotonous and cold. Like a really good text to speech program on a computer from my old Earth. The Immortal of Evil didn¡¯t have a mouth, so his voice sounded like it was coming from all around his body. This meant it echoed and overlapped with itself, making it ring inside my head like a dozen church bells chiming together. ¡°You are not one for confrontation. You love to hide. I have even taken to calling you the Immortal of Cowardice, to my supporters.¡±


    The golden bird ignored the eyeball but the Immortal of Madness gnashed his teeth and glared at the Immortal of Evil.


    ¡°How dare you speak that way to my beloved! Do you want me to take another chunk out of your domain, Evil Eye?¡± said the Immortal of Madness.


    The eye looked startled. It glared back at the Immortal of Madness, then it glanced at me. ¡°You say that like you weren¡¯t going to do that anyway! You continue to let that damned bird use you like a rag. When will you learn? And why would you use my real name in front of a mortal? You even tampered with the translation magic I gave him. Why do you insist on interfering with everything that I do?¡±


    ¡°I see you will not stop insulting my beloved to my face. Perhaps I should let them go and beat you up first. Knock some respect into your squishy body!¡± said the Immortal of Madness as his clothes began to flutter in the still air. ¡°And you ask me why I use your real name in front of little Caspian? That is merely a consequence of your own incompetence. Little Caspian, can you do me a little favor? Could say that dumb eyeball¡¯s name for me out loud. Use the name you find most comfortable.¡±


    Despite the strangeness of the situation, the knot in my throat unraveled and I blurted out: ¡°The Immortal of Evil.¡±


    The eyeball shivered. If it had eyelids, I had a feeling it would have blinked in surprise. It even moved as if it was taken aback. The disembodied floating eye glared at me. Its glare was strange, too. Instead of narrowing the entire eye, which it could not do because it had no eyelids, the Immortal of Evil merely narrowed its pupil. It would have been a little funny, almost cartoonish, if not for the immense pressure that fell on top of my shoulders with his gaze.


    ¡°How dare you!¡± shouted the Immortal of Evil. ¡°For a mortal to utter my name in my presence. How have you not died for this sacrilege? Is this your doing, Madness? Did you strengthen his existence while you were tampering with my magic?¡±


    The Immortal of Madness smirked. ¡°Blaming me for your own incompetence. Pathetic, really, but I have learned not to expect better from you. No, Evil Eye, Caspian here has been able to use our real names through your translation magic ever since you brought him to this world. Both Sim and I have already confirmed it.¡±


    The eye looked taken aback once more. The pressure on my shoulders vanished and I took a deep gasping breath. The eye stared at the other immortals. ¡°Is this true?¡± It was facing the golden bird.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The Immortal of Desire nodded. ¡°It was why we wanted to make him our Ikon.¡±


    ¡°You wanted to make him your Ikon? Haven¡¯t you already made him one? You¡¯ve been controlling him like a marionette for a while now,¡± said the Evil Eye.


    ¡°We have not been controlling him,¡± said the Immortal of Desire.


    ¡°You surrendered a piece of your own authority to Madness on the mortal¡¯s behalf,¡± said the Evil Eye. ¡°You taught him magic, gave him some of your own energy, and even gave up some of your power over emotions to influence him. Honestly, I¡¯m surprised Madness hasn¡¯t fried the poor elf out of jealousy. Are you not worried about competition over your beloved, Madness?¡±


    The Immortal of Madness gave the Evil Eye a blank look. ¡°Are you stupid? No, that was a rhetorical question. I know you¡¯re stupid. After all these years, you still do not understand what my love means.¡±


    ¡°Enough,¡± said the Immortal of Desire. The Book of Annihilation hovered in front of the golden bird. ¡°We only surrendered a little authority. And it was not for the elf¡¯s benefit, but ours. We cannot afford to let anyone take this book.¡±


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t even want the damned thing,¡± said the Evil Eye as it hovered lazily in the void. ¡°I only want it because loverboy over there wants it, and I don¡¯t want him to get what he wants.¡±


    ¡°Loverboy? Ignorant eye. Do you want me to poke you again? The last time I rammed a mountain into you, you were picking rocks out of your iris for centuries,¡± said Madness.


    The Evil Eye glared again but did not respond. By now, I had figured out the Evil Eye was no match for the Immortal of Madness, not physically nor in conversation. Although, it seemed the eye did not like to admit its own weakness. Their relationship was surprisingly childish. Like bickering siblings or childhood friends. My image of the three Immortals, the powerful beings who had been manipulating my life in this new world, was shattering with every interaction. If it was not for the immense pressure radiating off of them, I might even have thought this was a conversation between a couple of anthropomorphic monsters and a green eyed human.


    ¡°It seems the two of you have much to catch up on,¡± said the golden bird. ¡°Let us take our leave then.¡± The bird flapped its wings.


    ¡°You¡¯re the one we want to catch up with,¡± said the Evil Eye as it stared at the golden bird and hovered in front of it.


    ¡°Catch up with? No, Sim. I don¡¯t want to catch up with you. I want to catch you!¡± said Madness. Madness stepped forward and smiled.


    The Evil Eye shrank back. The golden bird stared at Madness, and Madness stared back. Sparks flew between them, crackling and sizzling, and leaving a burning smell in the void. The tension in the air became palpable. I wanted to step back too, but my feet were fixed in place and my body felt as heavy as lead.


    ¡°I want to catch you,¡± said Madness as his smile widened until it was practically falling off the sides of his face. ¡°I want to catch you, and hug you, and pet you, and kiss you, and embrace you with my entire being. No, I want to be embraced by you. To fall into you, to burn in your flames, to have my ashes fly away in the wind that comes off your wings. Sim, no, Simurgh!¡± The Immortal¡¯s words became louder and louder. The air vibrated with the intensity of his voice. My head began to beat with his cadence and booms rocked across my eardrum with his every word. ¡°Glorious fount of knowledge, golden origin of wisdom, oh my dear, dear beloved! Give me Annihilation. I must have it! I must, I must, I must!¡±


    Music began to play in the void. A wild, uncontrollable, insane cacophony. Beating drums, strumming violins, flutes, and chimes, and marimbas and all sorts of strange and exotic and even synthetic sounds. Hundreds of pieces of music, thousands of instruments, everything playing at once, clashing again or merging with each other in a jumble of pleasant and unpleasant notes. And yet, I could hear it all. Every strum, every hum, every beat and kick. It did not become a mass of noise, yet felt like it should have been more incomprehensible than it was.


    My body began to move, to sway, to dance, with every rhythm. My feet tapped to every beat and thump, the thumping of my heart joined the orchestra of chaos and my reason began to fly around the void, dancing a wild jig, a waltz of sorts. A waltz of madness.


    And then came the singing. A song that repelled the music like oil in water. A bubble of sanity, no, serenity, enveloped me.


    ¡°Why is it,¡± came the monotonous voice of the Evil Eye, cutting through the noise and reaching my ear with surprising clarity, ¡°that every time we get together. The two of you start your little duet. Why can¡¯t you just talk, like I do? It isn¡¯t that hard.¡±


    The music kept playing. The singing continued. And the Evil Eye began trying to drown it all in dry, monotonous speech.

 Chapter 203

    The battle began in a lackluster way. Madness jumped at the Evil Eye, music still blaring all around him. The Evil Eye escaped backward, still reciting a bunch of inane prose to drown out Madness¡¯ music, although it didn¡¯t seem to work very well. There were always pauses and gaps between words, after all. Music had the advantage of being incessant. It never stopped.


    Which was why Simurgh¡¯s singing worked with the Evil Eye¡¯s speech. When one would pause, the other would get louder. The singing extended notes, the speech enunciated in an exaggerated way. Together, they countered the music and helped bring some semblance of order to the void.


    But despite working together against the music, the two Immortals did not work together in the fight. The Evil Eye retreated in front of Madness, but Simurgh used the distraction to flap its wings and try to fly away again. The Evil Eye noticed Simurgh¡¯s flight, and fired a beam of red light at the golden bird.


    The flames on the Simurgh¡¯s feathers swirled and clashed with the red beam, forcing the mighty golden bird to stall in the air. Madness followed the beam with his maniacal gaze and saw Simurgh attempting to escape. Madness laughed and did a backflip towards the golden bird. Simurgh stepped out of the way without flapping its wings. Madness fell past Simurgh and did a pirouette before facing his beloved once again. With a savage look in his eye, Madness rushed towards Simurgh once again, his white robe fluttering around him.


    Simurgh let out a beautiful high note and the flames around its body grew larger and larger, until the golden bird was completely engulfed by them. Madness slammed into the flames, clawing at them with his large hands, but his hands snuffed out the flames and wisps of smoke drifted into Madness¡¯ nose, making him cough and wheeze. Flames reappeared behind Madness and coalesced into Simurgh¡¯s golden body. The bird stared at Madness¡¯ back and prepared to flap its wings once more.


    But the Evil Eye had taken the opportunity to rush towards the Book of Annihilation. The eye snuck behind Simurgh¡¯s back, ducked under the flapping wings, and pressed its body against the book. The book struck the Evil Eye¡¯s pupil and tiny red tendrils began wrapping around it. The book began to flutter and struggle, but the tendrils had it completely tied down and were beginning to absorb it into the Evil Eye¡¯s body.


    Simurgh flapped its wings, striking the Evil Eye with one of them. The force of the strike was strong enough to pop the book out of the Evil Eye¡¯s body, although the Evil Eye quickly recovered and trying grabbing the book again with its red tendrils. Simurgh bent towards the Evil Eye and stabbed at it with its sharp, pointy beak.


    The Evil Eye shuddered and retreated, narrowly avoiding getting skewered by the Simurgh¡¯s beak. The Evil Eye glared at the golden bird once more, this time saying something loud and incomprehensible in its monotonous tone before firing off a massive beam of red light that completely filled the void with a reddish tinge.


    Simurgh looked surprised by the intensity of the Evil Eye¡¯s attack, and scrambled out of the way in an undignified way. The book flew to the other side of the red beam, hovering in the air but no longer fluttering or moving on its own. The Evil Eye¡¯s beam disappeared and it rushed forward, before suddenly flying straight down. Madness appeared where the Evil Eye had been, with his hands clasped together. He had struck the eye from above after appearing suddenly from behind.


    Simurgh rushed to the book without flapping its wings, but Madness rushed towards the golden bird with a crazed look in his eyes. Simurgh had no choice but to flap one of its wings towards Madness, sending a wall of golden flame swirling towards him.


    Madness tried to move out of the way of the flames but they followed him, so he was forced to grab his white toga and swish it in front of his body. The flames licked at the toga, sending sizzling sounds across the void. Not only could I hear it from here, I could even feel some of the heat that was coming from the battle that was actually quite far from where I was floating. I hadn¡¯t even noticed when I had fallen so far away. I frowned. In fact, it felt like I was getting further and further away from the action.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The strangest part of all this was how despite all the fighting, the music, the song, and the speech never ended. Even when it was steadying itself after Madness¡¯ strike, the Evil Eye was uttering countless inanities, like a charlatan uncle at Thanksgiving. I couldn¡¯t even tell what it was saying, but even when it had been hit far away, its voice never got any quieter or distant. When the golden bird¡¯s beak was closed to peck at Madness, the words of its song still filled the air. And of course, no matter what happened, Madness¡¯ music never stopped. In fact, it was the only one of the three that was changing.


    The music was getting louder.


    Louder and more chaotic.


    Soon, I felt as if the song and the speech could no longer drown out the music. All it could do was draw attention away from the moment for a little bit. As Simurgh grabbed the book again, Evil Eye fired another beam, and Madness danced around the two, sometimes sending Evil Eye flying and sometimes forcing Simurgh to give up on flapping its wings to fly away. Evil Eye, to its credit, soon realized it was being pushed back by Madness and stopped trying to go for Simurgh at all. Although, whenever the book came in reach, the Evil Eye couldn¡¯t resist trying to swipe it.


    A silver light filled my vision. Behind Madness¡¯ head, a giant silver disk began to materialize.


    A red light shone in the void. The Evil Eye¡¯s pupil began to glow. A glaring, intimidating shade of red.


    I held my breath. Despite everything, I couldn¡¯t help but look forward to something. I had always wondered, if the Immortal of Madness had the moon, and the Immortal of Evil had the red star, what did the Immortal of Desire have? Would I finally find out?


    The golden bird faced off against the moon and the red star, but nothing appeared around its body. I had been expecting the overwhelming shine of the sun, or the light from another star, or anything, really, but apparently there was nothing. What a disappointment. In fact, this whole scene was a disappointment. Like a low budget reenactment, or a live action adaptation of a popular animated movie. Really, as I fell further and further away from the battle, I felt as if I was watching a bad movie off the reflection of a TV in a mirror. Just layers upon layers of washed out colors, intermittent action, and strange reactions.


    The Book of Annihilation flew this way and that, landing mostly in Simurgh¡¯s control, and sometimes getting wrapped by the Evil Eye¡¯s red arms, but it never landed in Madness¡¯ grasp. In fact, Simurgh even endured a few strikes from the Evil Eye¡¯s red beams to make sure the book did not fall into Madness¡¯ hands for even a moment. The tactic was especially effective because the slightest damage to Simurgh¡¯s feathers would send Madness into a rage, and he would rampage towards the Evil Eye for a while afterwards.


    Throughout it all, the only constant were the sounds. I kept falling and falling and falling, the fight becoming smaller and smaller in my vision, but the music, the songs, the speech continued. The Immortals became specks in my vision, with flashes of flames or red light the only thing that I could see from time to time. But the sounds began to melt together. Complementing each other in a way that they had not done from up close.


    I fell.


    The music began to make sense.


    I fell.


    The song became clearer.


    I fell.


    The words, I could understand them at last.


    ¡°Forlorn! the very word is like a bell,¡± came the words, in the voice of all three immortals. ¡°To toll me back from you to my sole self! Adieu! The fancy cannot cheat so well as she is famed to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! Adieu! Your plaintive anthem fades past the near meadows, over the still stream, up the hill-side; and now it is buried deep in the next valley-glades: Was it a vision, or a waking dream. Fled is that music, do I wake or sleep?¡±


    ¡°Fled is that music,¡± I repeated, ¡°do I wake or sleep?¡±


    A loud thud.


    I blinked.


    Noel stood in front of me, holding a book closed in front of me. She looked down at me with a strange look in her eye.


    I was back in the metal room, and there was a pain in my knee.

 Chapter 204

    ¡°Noel,¡± I said, barely able to squeeze out the words. The pain in my body had returned. The fatigue, the ache. Everything that I thought had been cured by the Immortal of Desire. ¡°What, what was that?¡±


    Noel did not respond. Instead, she walked slowly past me until she was in front of the door to the metal room. Noel hesitated. I saw her staring down at me. She was thinking for a long time. Standing there, taking steadying breaths as something ran through her head. She stood at the door to the metal room, eyes drifting to the outside and back to me. There, far from my reach and in position to escape at the slightest sign of trouble, Noel opened her mouth. ¡°I do not know. I do not remember much of it. It seems we were caught up in the edge of a battle between the Immortals.¡±


    ¡°The edge of the battle?¡± I said.


    ¡°The Immortals do not fight like you or I do,¡± she said. ¡°I told you before, the Immortals use the same kind of magic that we do. Their magic is also governed by knowledge and wisdom, except they are not like us. They do not use knowledge and wisdom like we do, and they cannot gain it like we can, either. And when they fight, they do not fight with the spells made from knowledge and wisdom, they fight directly with knowledge and wisdom.¡±


    ¡°They fight with knowledge and wisdom? Like, with abstract concepts and intangible experiences? How does that work, it makes no sense,¡± I said.


    ¡°It makes perfect sense,¡± she said, putting one foot out of the metal room. ¡°Once you realize what the Immortals really are.¡±


    I blinked. My brain was clouding up because of the pain and fatigue, but also because of the suddenness of the switch back to a reality. ¡°What the immortals really are? Is this more mythology, Noel? Are you going to tell me about outsiders and gods. Maybe explain the origin of this world, and putting your own master, that madman, on top of the food chain?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°The Immortal of Madness is not my master. I am not going to tell you why I became his Ikon. It is none of your business. And no, I also do not know anything about the Immortals¡¯ origins. All I know is what they are. Cas, the Immortals don¡¯t use abstract concepts and experiences, they are abstract concepts and experiences. That is why they are so powerful. The Immortal of Madness isn¡¯t the moon, he is the very concept of the moon, the very experience of looking up at the silver disc hanging in the sky, its silver light, its soft glow. Waxing, waning, in its many different shapes and forms, everything about the moon, everything that we know, everything that there is to know about the moon, all of that is a part of the Immortal of Madness.¡±


    I frowned. Noel¡¯s words floated through my head but they didn¡¯t stick. The Immortals were concepts? For some reason, I thought of the ancient Greek myth of the creation of Athena. How she was born out of Zeus¡¯ forehead, as if spawned by his thoughts. It also made some sense. After all, what was knowledge?


    Was knowledge created or was it discovered?


    Did knowledge exist in the real world, somewhere out there as intangible information, or did it exist only inside one¡¯s head. And if two people knew the same thing, was that the same ¡®knowledge¡¯ or was it two different collections of information, nearly identical but not perfectly symmetrical copies of the same universal truth. I knew there had been centuries of debate on my old Earth about the objectivity or subjectivity of truth and knowledge. About what objectivity or subjectivity would even mean in this case, and if those two ideas could perhaps even live together. And if the magic in this world relied on ¡®justified true belief¡¯ as knowledge, then these questions about truth and universality were important ones. Not just for the magic and spells I could cast in this world, but also because it would help me understand this world.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°If the Immortals are personifications of abstract concepts, then does that mean they exist as universal truths or just as one answer or hypothesis? If the Immortal of Evil personifies evil, does that mean he knows exactly what is evil and what isn¡¯t, or does he only choose one definition of evil and use that to define evil and therefore himself? How does he contend with matters of moral ambiguity? Of questions about the greater good, or the acquiescence to evil, or of intention and inaction? And what about Utilitarianism? Does the Immortal of Evil obsess over maximizing pain over pleasure, or does he agree that there are higher ideals, or I guess in his case, lower morals? If they really are personified concepts, that raises too many questions, Noel. So, so many questions!¡±


    Noel narrowed her eyes. Her body was also badly battered and she was taking deep, broken breaths. There was no way standing there talking to me like this wasn¡¯t painful for her too. Yet, why was she doing it? Why hadn¡¯t she run away? ¡°When you learned about the fundamentals of magic, Cas, why did you not stop at that?¡±


    ¡°At what? At knowledge and wisdom?¡± I said. ¡°Are you asking why I went further than those so called fundamentals? Why I asked what ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ meant, how we learn, and other questions about them?¡±


    ¡°Yes, you don¡¯t seem to have realized it yet, but the Immortal of Desire did not want you to ask those questions. Remember how we were supposed to learn from the Immortal? The Immortal wanted to become our mentor, do you remember that?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes, I remember. But then Madness came and drove away the birds,¡± I said.


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire realized that you had taken the gift of magic and made it your own. The Immortal was supposed to teach us its own spells, its own magic. What did you call it, my bubbles? This spell that I have been using against you all day. I learned that from the Immortal of Madness, but I do not understand it. I cannot call it my spell. The knowledge and wisdom for this spell does not lie with me, it lies only with the Immortal,¡± said Noel.


    I frowned. ¡°Are you saying that¡¯s how the Immortal of Desire wanted us to learn magic, too? The way Ikon¡¯s learn spells that don¡¯t make any sense.¡±


    Noel nodded. ¡°Yes, exactly like an Ikon. In fact, the Immortal of Desire wanted to make you, to make us, its Ikons. Yet, when you started making your own spells, it saw something else: potential. The potential to do something greater. To achieve something it had been unable to do for a long time. It wanted to defeat the other Immortals and take over this world, once and for all. To take control of all knowledge, Cas, do you see how dangerous that is? How absolutely terrifying it would be if one being, one immortal, held all of that power? The world would be at the Immortal of Desire¡¯s mercy, Cas. I cannot let that happen. I cannot let you take this book. I cannot let you learn about Annihilation.¡±


    Noel began to leave the room. I reached out a hand but there was no energy in my body and my mind was all fuzzy. I winced. What a terrible headache. I held my head in my hand and watched Noel freeze in the door frame.


    ¡°Hello there,¡± came a voice from outside the room. A voice I recognized and was surprisingly happy to hear right now. ¡°How are you doing, Ikon of Desire?¡±


    Noel stepped back into the room. Her feet slid across the metal, making a strange sound that made me bite my lips again. Somebody followed Noel into the room. Somebody with a red glow and a fresh body, who could probably wipe the floor with Noel and I, considering how tired and beaten up we were right now.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would break free so quickly,¡± said Noel.


    The Ikon of Evil, Alek Izlandi smiled. ¡°The most powerful humans left to take care of you. I figured I could slip away while everybody was distracted.¡± The demon prince looked at me. ¡°You have your little boyfriend on his knees? I agree, I like him more when he¡¯s all beaten up like that. I think I might punch him in the face a couple of times to make up for what he did to me. You don¡¯t mind, do you?¡±


    Noel looked at me, then she looked back at Alek. I felt a little hope rise in my chest. If the two Ikons fought each other for long enough, I could try to recover enough energy to pick off the winner after they were done fighting. It would be close, but I was confident I could at least manage a few dozen magic hands. My best hope might be to steal the Book of Annihilation from Noel during the battle. I might be able to use it to negotiate with Noel. All I had to do was goad the two into fighting, and I¡¯d have a chance.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Noel, ¡°do whatever you want.¡± Noel left me in the metal room without a second glance. Alek Izlandi smiled and cracked his knuckles.

 Chapter 205

    I would like to be alone right now. Yes, sorry. I know, I know. I¡¯ll help with cleaning up tomorrow.


    No, don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m okay. I¡¯m okay. You should go, Kelser. Take care of the elders. I¡¯m just going to hang out here for a bit.


    Yes, on my own.


    Don¡¯t worry about me.


    I¡¯ll be okay.


    It took a long time to convince Kelser to leave me alone. And Elder Kezler, he came out too. Elder Brol tried to give me a hug and I had to jump out of the way. Even that dumb old demon Bain Rusta came to try and talk to me, but at least I understood why he would want to do that. Poor guy was nearly groveling on his knees asking for forgiveness. I knew he wasn¡¯t at fault because the Immortals were involved, so I never planned on blaming him for much, but for some reason, I didn¡¯t say that out loud. I shooed him away, saying I¡¯d talk to him later.


    The spirit Taoc said something about the Senate. They had voted to thank me for defending their city, although I had a feeling the gesture was meant to help convince me to help them fix things up with magic. They really wanted me to fix the mural in the Senate, too, but I didn¡¯t feel like looking at that face again. Maybe I¡¯d reconstruct it so it didn¡¯t look familiar anymore. Yeah, maybe that¡¯d piss Noel off too.


    My thoughts meandered, my heart beat softly, and my legs took me wandering through the woods. These were fake woods, a sort of timber forest grown by the fairies near their capital. Most of the surroundings of the capital had been cleared out long ago, to help defend the city against their enemies. But because these trees were meant to grow quickly and be cut down for timber and firewood, the woods had a strange, uncanny arrangement. They had been planted in rows, stretching on into the distance. This meant I could stand in between two trees and look right through the woods if I wanted to. This was why I¡¯d had to go around asking everybody to leave the woods, and also why they couldn¡¯t just hang around the area, since there was nowhere to hide. Strange, really, to stand among what felt like a dense forest, but to still be able to see in every direction such that you knew you were truly alone.


    The sunlight that filtered through the woods was also eerie and strange. I had a feeling night would fall quickly in here. I considered sleeping here, inside the fake forest and its rows upon rows of creepily regular trees, since it would probably hide the moon from my view. I decided against it. The woods might hide the moon from my view, but I had a feeling they couldn¡¯t hide me from the moon¡¯s view. And so I walked through the woods, sulking. Yes, sulking. It was a strange feeling. One I wasn¡¯t too familiar with. In fact, my only other experience with this feeling had also been in this world.


    Failure. I wasn¡¯t used to it. Now, I¡¯m not saying I¡¯ve never lost before. Of course I have. Basketball games, bets in school, that one spelling bee where the judge was from the United Kingdom and insisted aluminum had an extra I.


    I¡¯d faced failure when I first faced the Immortal of Madness. I¡¯d faced failure when I couldn¡¯t get Noel to stay, when I realized I couldn¡¯t save the elfin Jora tribe, and even when I couldn¡¯t remove the strange magic around the Izlandi Kingdom¡¯s capital.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    But this time, it felt different. My defeat had been so thorough, so complete, that I couldn¡¯t help but be depressed. Think about it. The Immortal of Desire had turned back time for me, and yet I still failed. I still let Noel get away with the Book of Annihilation, my one hope for getting back home, and she was going to go take it to the worst possible person in the world, the Immortal of Madness! Honestly, it felt like I¡¯d go mad just thinking about it.


    If I wanted to go home, I would have to fight them all again. Noel, Alek, the Immortals of Madness and Evil, and probably hordes of their lackeys and pawns. I would have to go through everybody to get the book back, but if I couldn¡¯t stop them with an entire army behind me, how would I be able to do anything on my own. And yes, this would have to do this alone. I wasn¡¯t about to drag all of these innocent people into a suicide mission. They didn¡¯t need to die just to send me back to my home world.


    All sorts of thoughts rushed through my head, and all sorts of feelings flooded my heart. I mulled over the things Noel had said.


    Could I trust the Immortal of Desire? No, of course not. But I didn¡¯t need to. I just needed to know that our interests aligned. The birds didn¡¯t want the Immortal of Madness to get that book, and I wanted it for myself. If they got in my way after I got the book, I¡¯d deal with it then. But what about the possibility that the Immortal of Desire had been manipulating and controlling me? I wasn¡¯t an idiot. I knew my actions had been strange and irrational, and I had heard the Immortal insinuate things.


    The implications of this were bad, but I had a feeling I could do something about it. I knew my mind control resistance was powerful enough. If it could hold back the Immortal of Evil, surely it could protect me against the birds too? No, whatever they had been doing, it hadn¡¯t been about mind control. Or at least, not the sort of mind control that I had been dealing with before.


    I had a feeling this was all about feelings. The Immortal of Desire probably had some sort of ability to manipulate emotions. It was sort of in the name, after all. I didn¡¯t know if the immortal was manipulating hormones or something more metaphysical, but I had a feeling I could temper the effects of that magic the next time I faced it by incorporating some meditation techniques I¡¯d been using to control stress in college. I would have to think about it later. The sun was going down.


    I stopped walking. I looked around in every direction. Nobody. Good. If I wanted to spend the night here, I certainly could. I¡¯d be up bright and early to fix the damage in the city, but for now, I definitely wanted to be alone. I wanted to work through my emotions on my own. To take a step back, a deep breath, and a break. A well deserved, long awaited, break.


    I jumped up and landed on a tree branch. The canopy was thick but I could still see the setting sun from up here. That wouldn¡¯t do. I didn¡¯t want to see the moon. I used magic hands and wind magic to push a few tree tops together. Then, I used a large vine to tie together some branches and trunks. Soon, there was a thick net on top of the trees in this artificial forest. I settled down among the leaves, weaving together a little hammock with long leaves and vines. The hammock wasn¡¯t very sturdy, and it wasn¡¯t the most comfortable bed in the world, but when I fell into it and closed my eyes, somehow, it felt like I was floating in the clouds. Like a massive weight had slowly slid off my shoulders and fallen to the ground below. I knew I would still have to pick up that weight in the morning. I knew that there was still a lot to do, that I couldn¡¯t afford to run away and hide like this for long. Hiding from my troubles, the uncertain future, and the people who had so many expectations. I knew I couldn¡¯t brush it all aside for long.


    But tonight. Just for one night. I didn¡¯t care. This was good. No, this was great. I would face my troubles in the morning. I would let my thoughts ferment for a little while longer until I could figure out what to do. For tonight, I was just going to rest in my little hammock among the trees, hiding from the moon, the red star, and the rest of the whole wide world.

 Chapter 206

    While asleep in the canopy I realized that I was having a dream. No, it was more like a memory surfacing to the top of the roiling broth of weariness, anger, and frustration inside my head. This was a memory from a time I was beginning to forget, in a world whose details were beginning to escape me.


    I remembered an auditorium. A dark and mostly empty space. The professor was tinkering with a projector. There were a few people in the seats behind me. Sam was sitting next to me, trying to tell me something about the movie, but I wasn¡¯t interested. In fact, I remembered rolling my eyes at her, having long since resigned myself to hearing Sam gushing about this class even though I had only taken it because of her pestering. Take a film studies class with me, she¡¯d said. She¡¯d promised it would be fun, but so far, we¡¯d only watched a bunch of really old black and white films that had made no sense and never caught my imagination. I could appreciate the art and the history, but it wasn¡¯t exactly riveting stuff. It didn¡¯t help that my other classes were really tough and I was usually too tired to focus when the lights were off. Sometimes, I¡¯d even sneak in a little nap before Sam would notice and wake me up again.


    I remember not getting enough sleep the night before. I didn¡¯t even have time to do my readings for the class, so I was coming in completely blind, but that was okay. The professor never asked us about those readings anyway. I couldn¡¯t even remember what movie we were supposed to be watching. Perhaps I should have asked her, because I couldn¡¯t remember its name in my dream either. The professor smacked the projector and the movie began. Sam sat at the edge of her seat and said something in Japanese.


    I remember being confused. And I remember my confusion kept me awake. It was a strange feeling, not being able to follow what was going on but still feeling as if I should be able to do so. As if there was so much information being thrown at me that I couldn¡¯t figure out what was real and what wasn¡¯t. I could tell this confusion was intentional. The director was trying to confuse me on purpose. There was misdirection and an unreliable narrator. Red-herrings all over the place. The story was about a murder in pre-industrial Japan.


    I suspected the reason this movie was coming to mind was because of its themes. Themes about memory and perspective, truth and untruth. Memory, can it be trusted? How does perspective change the way we perceive and remember things? And what is the truth, if it can only be interpreted by imperfect beings with imperfect memories and subjective perspectives?


    Right, right, I remembered the name now. Of course, there was no point in remembering it now that I had established that memory was fickle and illusory. As was truth. Funny, I chuckled inside my dream as I thought about the way the magic in this new world gave such rigid form to things that were always intangible and hard to define. Like truth, knowledge, and wisdom.


    What did Noel say again? The Immortals are abstract concepts and experiences. They are personifications of knowledge and wisdom. How did that make any sense? Were there not conflicting concepts of the moon? Conceptions that are bounded and molded by perspective and experience? On my Earth, there were still people who believed the moon was a flat disc hanging in the heavens. In ancient times, the moon was considered a kind of heaven, far greater and larger than the stars that seemed so distant and small. If the Immortal of Madness encompassed even those conceptions, if he covered both the scientific consensus of the moon as a large piece of rock orbiting around a planet, and the children¡¯s story where the moon is made of cheese and inhabited by giant mice, then would the Immortal of Madness not be a complete mess? Is that why he was insane? Was that why all three of them were so unfathomably crazy?


    And even if we did not give weight to absurd conceptions like the moon being made of cheese, did we not have to contend with differences of perspective? Was the Immortal of Madness both the concept of the moon as a celestial object, and as something we can see from down below? Does he both reflect sunlight while having a name for its own kind of light¡ªmoonlight?This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    I woke up. I frowned while smiling. I felt as if I was on the verge of something big, a breakthrough that I sorely needed. The sun was already up. My body was still aching because of all the fighting, but my mind was clear. Clearer than it had been in a long time. I jumped down from the trees and began racing back to the city.


    ---


    Repairing the city didn¡¯t take long. The others had already fixed up most of the walls, and there hadn¡¯t been a lot of damage inside. At least not this time. I doubted the fairies and spirits would have been as nonchalant about everything if the Immortal of Desire hadn¡¯t turned back time. Our first battle against the Ikons had not been as kind to the people of this city as our second battle had been.


    ¡°I told you, I¡¯m not fixing the face,¡± I said.


    ¡°Please, great elf, it is an important artifact. Our ancestors have written many poems about the great Senatorial Mural,¡± said Taoc as she hovered in front of me.


    I was sitting in the renovated Senate with all of the spirits of the Senate hovering above their seats around the table. I thought about asking them why they needed seats if they were just going to be hovering all the time anyway, but figured it wasn¡¯t worth the trouble of getting these guys to open their mouths. They never shut them up after, in my experience.


    ¡°Can we talk about fixing murals and walls later, Cas,¡± said Kelser as he stepped up to me. ¡°Aren¡¯t there more important things for us to do right now, like following the Ikons and getting back that book?¡±


    I looked at Kelser for a while without speaking. Then, I nodded. ¡°You want the book too?¡±


    ¡°No, but they¡¯re clearly up to no good, we have to stop them,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yes, very convincing,¡± I said, ¡°very convincing indeed. Alright, Kelser, how about you take the humans and demons back to the Izlandi Kingdom for now. I have a feeling the spell around the capital won¡¯t be there any longer. Kol can help you gather up a demon army, but Elder Kezler, you and the other elders should head back to the other side of the mountains, your families will be worried about you.¡±


    ¡°But what about you?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°I¡¯ll meet you on the battlefield,¡± I said.


    ¡°The battlefield? What battlefield?¡± asked Kelser.


    I looked around the room. There were representatives from three nations here, although perhaps there weren¡¯t enough humans in this world for them to qualify as a nation. The spirits and fairies had just gone through a traumatic ordeal, but if Noel wasn¡¯t lying, the other fairies and spirits should be reappearing soon. And once Bain Rusta returned to Kol, the demons should be able to field an army too. And of course, the humans hadn¡¯t lost anyone in the fighting at all. In fact, after all the cleanup was done, it didn¡¯t feel like we¡¯d had a war at all. As if none of these other foot soldiers mattered and all the real fighting was always going to be between a few powerful people.


    ¡°I know you have no obligation to help me,¡± I said, raising my voice a little. ¡°But I think all of you share Kelser¡¯s misgivings about the situation. I know that you feel as if that book is dangerous. Like you can¡¯t let the Ikons do what they want with it. I know that all of you feel that way, right?¡±


    Nods all around. I nodded slowly as well.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said, ¡°then if you would like to join this fight, you must begin your preparations. We must muster every ounce of our strength and prepare to march East.¡± I looked out through the open door. The moon was rising on the horizon. ¡°Let¡¯s follow our feelings, and march towards Annihilation.¡±

 Chapter 207

    While everybody else began to prepare for war, I decided to go to the mountains. We were planning to attack the Singing Horde anyway, so if I holed up in the so-called roof of the world mountain range, I would be right next to the border and could join the others when they were ready. I also figured the clear mountain air, breathtaking vistas, and relative isolation would do me some good. I wanted to be on my own so I could do some thinking, and so I could untangle my complicated emotions too. I still hadn¡¯t gotten over my defeat, after all.


    My defeat did have a silver lining though, and I was slowly coming to appreciate it. I had learned a lot from Ikons, even though I had lost to them twice. I had learned about my magic, its weaknesses and strengths. I had learned about the magic of the Immortals, as well as the magic that they bestowed upon their Ikons. I had learned about this world, and the rules and system that governed it. I also understood my experiences in this world a lot better now. But the most important thing that I had learned from this defeat, had been something Noel had only mentioned once.


    Noel had said that the foundations of magic that the Immortal of Desire had taught us was not meant to allow us to create our own spells. The Immortal had wanted to teach us their own magic, just like the other Immortals teach powerful spells to their Ikons. If things had gone according to the Immortal of Desire, or perhaps I should use the name I had learned, the Simurgh¡¯s plan, I would have learned a few spells as powerful as Noel¡¯s magic time bubbles and that would have been it. Noel had shared this information to get me to question the Simurgh and its motivations, but she¡¯d let something else slip in the process. She¡¯d said that I had gone against the Immortal¡¯s expectations by digging deeper than the ¡®fundamentals¡¯ and asking questions about knowledge and wisdom.


    Despite the crappy situation that I was in, with enemies all around me, this fact gave me enough hope to keep going. It gave me the strength to face the seemingly unassailable odds that were stacked against me. After all, if what Noel had said was true, it would mean the Simurgh hadn¡¯t given me my magic after all. The Simurgh had given me information, but I was the one who had come up with this magic system. Me. I had invented magic in this world, apparently, through a few lucky but incisive questions.


    And my magic might be the same kind of magic that the Immortals used, but it was much more flexible. Noel said that the Immortals were personifications of abstract concepts and experiences, that they were, in a way, representations of knowledge and wisdom. This would mean their magic was powerful, since they could completely encapsulate a certain kind of knowledge, but it also meant they couldn¡¯t be what they were not. Madness could not overlap with the Evil Eye, the Evil Eye couldn¡¯t overlap with the Simurgh, and so on. But my magic wasn¡¯t limited that way. I could use spells that fell into concepts that might fall into any of their categories. Theoretically, I could make a spell that included the concepts of moonlight, the red star, and birds. The Immortals couldn¡¯t do that.


    But that wasn¡¯t the most exciting thing. So far, I had been assuming that I had learned magic from the Simurgh, which meant that my magic was bounded only by the rules of this world as I had learned them. I had trusted the Simurgh when the birds had told me that ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ were the foundations of magic in this world. But now that I knew that the Immortal might have been trying to prepare me to be its Ikon, I could assume they had only told me what I needed to know in order to learn magic from them. Perhaps there was more to magic than I had initially assumed. Perhaps there was something that the Immortals either did not know about, or did not want me to know about.


    I found a cave in the mountains and looked around. The cave wasn¡¯t very deep, but it was well-shielded from the elements. For some reason, I didn¡¯t want to make a cave with magic. I wanted to find a natural cave and spend a little time away from the kind of magic that I had assumed was the most fundamental kind of magic in this world.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    I climbed the mountains and cliffs without magic, falling and stumbling until I finally got the hang of it. Thankfully, my cave wasn¡¯t too high, and there was a little stream nearby. I foraged through the forest for food and made some old-fashioned traps to catch wild game. I collected firewood, and lit a fire without magic. It took forever and my hand felt sore, but I managed to light a little abandoned birds nest on fire and used it as kindling to make a large fire. I hadn¡¯t brought anything with me but the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet, so I could only skewer some pieces of meat on sticks and roast them over the open flames.


    The moon was out and all, but I didn¡¯t look up. I didn¡¯t want to admire the sky tonight, and focused on my food instead. Night in the mountains can be a little scary, since it¡¯s hard to tell if you¡¯re about to step on solid earth or dangling off the edge of a precipice. Still, I grabbed a long stick, wrapped one end with tinder and resin, and decided to take a walk through the mountains. I took my meat skewers with me, munching on the meat as I took a walk to help me think.


    I wasn¡¯t thinking about magic. I was thinking about myself. What was I doing? Stuck in another world, a world of magic and monsters, wasn¡¯t this the kind of excitement that I should have enjoyed? Why do people enjoy fantasy stories? It was for the escapism, wasn¡¯t it? If you could throw away all of your worries and open a cupboard to step into a new world, I bet a lot of people would think they¡¯d enjoy that experience.


    No more school, no more work, no more taxes, no more expectations. Leave behind your responsibilities and go out and explore a whole new world with new possibilities. To many people with regrets, it would be like a second chance. To many people with great weights on their shoulders, it would bring relief. But what about me? Yes, I didn¡¯t have to worry about my future in this world. There were no finals here, no struggle for jobs after college and a dreary existence working a nine to five where the most fun you¡¯d have is making boring jokes by the water cooler. I didn¡¯t have to worry about dull things like promotions and clothes and becoming successful. I didn¡¯t feel like society was breathing down my neck, judging me for my social media posts or cheap wardrobe. In this world, I wasn¡¯t staring at a screen all day, hoping to scroll past something that would make the right neurons fire in my head, bringing a little color into my pallid existence.


    ¡°I can¡¯t be sure,¡± I said aloud into the darkness that my torch could not completely fight off, ¡°that I really want to go back. I can¡¯t even remember why I wanted to return. Did I feel that way when I first came here? After meeting Noel and learning magic, did I want to find a way back to my world, or did that feeling only come later.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t speaking to the darkness. There was no answer.


    ¡°I think I only began wanting to return to my world, after my first fight with Noel. Losing my best friend in this world, perhaps that made me feel like it wasn¡¯t worth staying here. But, I¡¯ve made new friends. And despite everything, I¡¯m not willing to give up on Noel.¡±


    No answer.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get that book back for you,¡± I said as I climbed down a cliff and sat next to a creek full of clear, cold spring water. My torch had died a while ago, but I could just about find my way in the moonlight. ¡°I¡¯ll get that book back, because I don¡¯t want Noel to have it. As much as I hate you for manipulating my emotions, I hate that madman way more. But just so we¡¯re on the same page here.¡± I stared at my reflection in the water. The moon made a halo around my head, and the silver moonlight made my glaring eyes sparkle dangerously.


    ¡°If you try to mess with my head again, I¡¯m going to pluck all of your feathers.¡±

 Chapter 208

    I needed to regulate my emotions. Well, technically I just needed a way to tell when my emotions were flaring up unnaturally. I figured the best way to do that was to calm down and meditate. Perhaps if I had greater control over my emotions, I could tell when they were being taken out of my control. Then, I could come up with a spell to counter the Simurgh¡¯s magic.


    Emotions are fickle and unpredictable. They can be hard to control, since they can overpower the rational side of your mind and make you do things you know you might not have done if you were running off of pure reason. Emotions don¡¯t always make you do things you shouldn¡¯t. Sometimes, they can make you do things that you weren¡¯t able to do precisely because you were stuck thinking about things and evaluating all the variables. Emotions bring spontaneity, they bring conviction, and they are certainly not something to be ashamed about.


    Happiness is fascinating, if you stop to think about it. A beautiful day, a cuddly cat, seeing the face of your lover, there are so many things that can make you happy, all sorts of things that might even make other people feel sad or angry, but which happen to fill you with a warm feeling. Sunshine on a cold day might make you happier than sunshine in the Sahara. Snow on Christmas could bring a smile to your face, while a freak snowstorm might bring pain and misery to others. If somebody asked me to define happiness, to try to explain it to somebody who had never felt that feeling before, I wasn¡¯t sure if I could do it. All I could do is give examples or to paint a description that dances around the edge of what it means to be happy, without ever truly being able to describe it.


    Sadness seems easier to describe, at first. Loss, pain, something that makes you cry. But there is such a thing as tears of joy, happiness, or relief. There is loss that is complicated. Think of relationships that leave a hole in your heart but which you were probably better off without. There is pain that is bittersweet. Think of being sore after a good bit of exercise.


    Anger seems simplest of all, but is it? Is it justified anger or completely irrational rage? Is it mild annoyance or unbridled fury? I have seen anger dissolve into disappointment, and wrath mellow down to mirth in moments. I have seen people driven to anger by drink or substance, and I have seen people fighting over nothing in particular.


    And there are other emotions too, things like envy and lust, that are deceptively complicated. But even the definition of emotion and feeling is hard to define. The boundaries between different emotions are also kinda vague and blurry. Where does sadness end and grief begin? Are happiness and satisfaction different feelings? And what about when different emotions mix, how do you deal with complicated feelings and even feelings that you do not have a word for?


    I remember mindlessly scrolling through the internet one day and stumbling across one of those lists of fancy words that nobody knows. Quite a few of them were for emotions that I had always felt but which I couldn¡¯t find the words to describe, but after all this time, I couldn¡¯t remember most of them. The only one I remembered was ¡®sonder.¡¯


    ¡®Sonder¡¯ is not a real world. I realized this after trying to use it in a college writing course and having the teaching assistant circle it with a big question mark on top. The word was made up by a person on the internet, who also makes up other words to describe concepts, ideas, and feelings that may not have words for them in English. ¡®Sonder¡¯ wasn¡¯t a completely made up word, since it was actually a derivation from two words from other languages, specifically French for ¡®probe¡¯ and German for ¡®special,¡¯ although neither are perhaps perfect translations, but that was sort of the point.


    Sonder, in its manufactured English state, is meant to represent the feeling that you get when you realize that other people have lives as complicated as your own. Ever met somebody¡¯s gaze while walking through the grocery store and suddenly wondered how they got there? Where did they grow up, how is their relationship with their parents, and are they going to scroll mindlessly through the internet when they get home, too? All sorts of questions, some profound, some not so much, but the that feeling is a feeling, is it not? Is it not an emotion, and if so, why not?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    There is a theory in linguistics and other related fields, that our relationship to language goes both ways. We define language, and language defines us too. Not just on the cultural side of things, where you might think about how nation-states might define themselves based on a common shared language, or how people might understand and sympathize with people who speak their language. What I mean is that language shapes the way you perceive and understand the world.


    If your language doesn¡¯t have a word for the color blue, you might find it harder to tell different shades of blue apart. Especially if you include different shades of blue into the word for black or green. For English speakers, this might be easier to understand for shades of red. Imagine if you didn¡¯t have a word for pink, how would you define that color then? Would it not be just another shade of red? Or what about magenta, mauve, and maroon, couldn¡¯t those just be shades of red too? Is the difference between a light crimson and a deep dark blood red less than the difference between the blackness of night and the dark blue of the night sky?


    Language defines emotion. We differentiate between emotions if we have different words for them, and don¡¯t care to do so when they fall into the umbrella of something else. We don¡¯t think too hard about emotions we cannot define, and we don¡¯t lose sleep over emotions whose definitions might overlap.


    This ambiguity isn¡¯t all that bad, if you think about it. If our emotions were well-defined and regimented, we would lose a lot of the colors of life, the rough textures that make life fun and messy and unbearably complicated. Art, in particular, would be so much more dull if emotions could be so easily defined. One of the things a good story does well is painting a picture of a character caught in those complicated moods, in a strange state of mind where simple words cannot define what one is feeling.


    A good writer wants the reader to feel things that cannot be described in simple words. What other way is there for a person to feel the way melancholy bleeds into fatigue, or the way joy fades into happiness, except through words on a page, paint on a canvass, the inflections of an actors words or the subtle variations in music. Art thrives in the ridges between rationality and language. Art thrives in the liminal spaces between entries in a dictionary, the stuff nobody could ever teach you and which you have to experience yourself.


    If I wanted to resist the Simurgh¡¯s magic, the magic of Desire itself, I would have to find a way to deal with all of these questions and feelings. These were not things I could grasp tightly with my hands. If I tried to do so, they would fall out of my enclosed fist like water or loose sand. For mind control resistance magic, all I had to do was deal with a type of magic that explicitly controlled someone¡¯s body. To resist a spell that controlled emotions, I would have to learn to control my own emotions.


    I woke up bright and early a week into my little retreat in the mountains. I¡¯d found a larger river about an hour from my cave and head out before dawn to catch some fish. Along the way, I foraged for food and enjoyed the view. The real trouble so far had been dealing with monsters without magic. Sometimes, I would fight off monsters with a simple flint spear that I¡¯d made, but usually, I would just run away.


    I¡¯d made a little fishing pole with a large stick, stringy plant fiber, and a sharp bone for a hook. When I settled by the banks of the river, I could see the fish in the clear waters and would usually have something to eat by noon. On this day, I had brought along a large flat leaf and some pieces of red ocher. I held onto the fishing pole with one hand while making the ocher into red paint with the other. I began scribbling some lines on the leaf while I was fishing. I didn¡¯t think too hard about what I was writing. The point wasn¡¯t to write something amazing. All I wanted to do was to empty my mind onto the leaf, and feel at ease on a beautiful day with my legs dangling above the river.

 Chapter 209

    Breathe in. Breathe out.


    Everybody says you have to regulate your breathing to calm your mind. Take a deep breath, let your lungs fill up and mimic the way your breathing slows when you¡¯re asleep. It also gives you something to focus on. You don¡¯t have to worry about dinner or your next assignment or the ultimate battle you were about to jump into; just breathe in and breathe out. That¡¯s all you need to do.


    Except, it isn¡¯t. You can only focus on your breathing for so long. You can only stop your mind from wandering for so long. At least, that was true for me. It wasn¡¯t just anxiety or restlessness, a feeling that I was wasting my time and needed to be more productive. Once breathing exercises made me empty my mind, I¡¯d find that other thoughts would creep their way back in there, forcing me to focus on emptying my mind again, which of course, meant that my mind wasn¡¯t empty anymore. A bit of a catch-22 but hey, it is what it is.


    Writing helped. It really did. As long as I focused only on the words I was writing, and not on the words that came before or the words that would come after. There had to be no planning, no thought put into the continuity of the words. I wrote in a style that was popularized by writers like Virginia Woolf, a style known as a ¡®stream of consciousness.¡¯ Ignoring the fact most authors who popularized that style actually edited their words fastidiously, I let my words flow and did not edit or brood on anything. I was working with crappy red paint and flaky, uneven leaves, but I didn¡¯t mind. I was churning out barely legible words on a small pile of leaves, and ended up with words that I did not care to reread or share with anybody else.


    I exercised, too. I ran all over the mountains, climbing cliff-sides, and scaling peaks. I lifted rocks and did push-ups, and other exercises that had to make up for the fact that gyms had not been invented in this world. The exercise wasn¡¯t all that tough, but just like writing, it gave me something to focus on, helping me empty my mind and isolate singular emotions.


    Food became another source of pleasure. From my first unseasoned skewers of meat, I had long since progressed to baking in clay pots and trying out different wild herbs as condiments. I¡¯d found a cave full of rock salt and mined a little bit to season my food, but the thing that had really upped my game was a fish sauce that I¡¯d played around with for a few days. Styled after the ancient Roman ¡®garum,¡¯ my little fish sauce had a strange salty, umami flavor that made me very happy after dinner. I had to make it far away from my cave though, because it made everything around it smell like oily fish. I usually jumped into the river to wash away the scent after I was done making some.


    The days began to roll by and my mind was as blank and unconcerned as it would ever get. Once, every night, I would sit by the edge of my cave, staring into the darkness below. I would empty my mind, gather my energy, and think about something.


    Something painful, like when my mom died.


    Something joyful, like the time I got into the college of my dreams.


    Something special, like my first kiss.


    And something mundane, like tying my shoelaces or walking outside on a rainy day.


    With every thought, I used my magic to isolate the emotion, trying to understand the way it worked inside my head. Sometimes, I would try to flare it up, and sometimes, I would try to tone it down. It was tough, since I couldn¡¯t tell if my emotions were going up or down because I wanted them to, or because my magic was making them do that, but eventually, I realized it didn¡¯t matter. It didn¡¯t matter if my emotions were being manipulated by my mind or by my magic, all that mattered was that I could control them.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Being able to control my emotions was essential for the success of my grand project. I had to be sure, or at least as sure as one could be, that both my thoughts and my emotions were mine and mine alone.


    It took a while. I savored a lot of memories, some sweet, some bitter, and the only reason I still knew how many days it had been, was because of the tally I was keeping on the wall of my cave. I didn¡¯t have much time. I had to rendezvous with the others soon. They would be amassing on the borders of the territory of the Singing Horde, and it would be terrible if I wasn¡¯t there to meet them. There was also a nagging worry in my head. What if Madness took the fight to the others while I was away? Maybe Noel would attack the Izlandi Kingdom like she had attacked the Lux Republic? Perhaps the Evil Eye would make trouble in the Kingdom, even though I had thrown out all of his priests?


    I shut my worrying off. Not by trusting my friends and hoping things would go according to plan, but by turning off the emotion itself. I did not allow myself to feel worry, and the feeling vanished. It was replaced by an emptiness that was quickly filled by other emotions, but that was enough. My first magic was ready. I could turn off any emotions that might be flaring up too much. I also practiced flaring up emotions that might be subdued, just in case the Simurgh tried to eliminate my caution or something to get me to be reckless on its behalf.


    Now, I was ready. Now, I could be sure that my next step would be carried out under the orders of my rational mind. I took a deep breath. I was sitting inside my cave on a dark, lonely night. I¡¯d covered up the entrance with a little curtain of leaves and vines, and the only light inside was a little smoldering campfire over which I had cooked my dinner.


    It was time to shift gears. I jumped up, stretched my arms and legs, and warmed up with a little exercise. I put out a hand and cast my first spell in many days. A flame appeared over my hand. The flame was large and blazed a mighty shade of crimson. I stared at the flame in my hand and focused. The flame grew smaller and smaller, and became brighter at the same time. The color of the flame changed until it was an intense shade of blue.


    And then the tiny blue flame became tinier and bluer still. So blue, in fact, that it began to change color again. No, the color of the flame was not changing, the flame was changing in its entirety. It was dying, consuming a ton of my energy in the process.


    Beads of sweat trickled off the tip of my nose and a strange ache spread out across my body. My outstretched arm grew taut and strained. My eyes began to swim and soon, I couldn¡¯t see my arms or the surrounding cave. The only thing I could see was the light coming from my spell and the phantoms it was impressing into my eyes.


    I blinked.


    The spell was a bright, unadulterated white. The smoldering campfire had long since died out, but the cave was awash in light. I let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding, and my muscles relaxed. My outstretched hand fell to my sides as the light was held in place by the intensity of my gaze and the energy draining out of my body at an unbelievable rate.


    A white light hung in the air in front of me. I passed a hand through it, but it was truly incorporeal light. It didn¡¯t even give off any heat, and passing my hands in front of it cast long shadows all over the cave. The light looked like a little orb hanging in the air like a legendary, ignis fatuus or giddy flame, sometimes called a will-o¡¯-wisp.


    This was the second spell I made in the mountains, but its importance did not lie in the spell itself. Its importance lay in the way that it was created. I smiled and let the light blink out of existence. The cave fell into darkness and an eerie breeze whistled through it. I chuckled and whistled loudly in reply.


    I had a feeling my whistle had carried far into the mountains.

 Chapter 210

    I stood on the edge of the cliff. I did not look down, because I did not want to face the vertigo. Vertigo, I remembered that film. It was the last one we saw for the film history class Sam had dragged me into. It had a nice story, and honestly, I was just glad to see a movie with color. But standing at the edge of this cliff, what came to mind wasn¡¯t the movie itself, but an interview with its director.


    Hitchcock¡¯s famous ¡®bomb under the table,¡¯ was something I¡¯d begun noticing in a lot of movies and TV series that I enjoyed. There are two ways to have a bomb under the table in your story. You could either tell the audience that there is a bomb under the table, or you can just have it go off, suddenly. Hitchcock argued it was better to have the audience know that there was a bomb under the table, even if the characters in the story did not know about it. In fact, perhaps it was better if the characters were ignorant but the audience was clued in, because it would create something that Shakespeare himself loved: dramatic irony.


    But real life wasn¡¯t a movie. We experience life in the first person, and are limited to our perspective. If I was a character in a movie or play, standing on the edge of this cliff, refusing to look down, perhaps the audience might know what was down below. Perhaps they would know, by means of a chorus or narrator, if I would survive this fall. The spectators who did not think of me as ¡®I¡¯ but as ¡®he,¡¯ might know if ¡®he¡¯ was meant to succeed in his experiment, but ¡®I¡¯ could not know the future. All I could know was that it was a long way down and Hitchcock was wrong to choose a ticking bomb for his example, when vertigo was a much scarier expression of the same concept. There is uncertainty with vertigo. There is tension, anxiety, and fear, with vertigo. You can defuse a ticking bomb, but when the timer turns to zero, the bomb either goes off or it doesn¡¯t. Falling from a height like this, however, would be a story all the way down. Would I survive or would I die? All alone in these mountains, searching for my next spell.


    It was evening. I surveyed the horizon, where a golden sun was kissing the earth. I wanted to have this spell done before the sun went down completely. And so, I took a deep breath, bent my knees, and braced my feet on the crumbling edge of the cliff. I steeled my resolve and fell.


    ---


    Wind whipped past my face. It whistled into my ears, calling me crazy, calling me suicidal. But I ignored it. My heart jumped up into my throat, screaming with its beats for me to cling to the cliff-side. My subconscious mind tried to tell me to cast an air magic spell, but my rational mind crushed all feelings of fear, and pushed back against adrenaline and exhilaration.


    I gathered my energy and let out a cry.


    Nothing happened.


    I bit my lips. The ground was fast approaching. In the golden light of the setting sun, I could see the hard rocks below. They seemed to be speaking to me. They were saying something like ¡®this was the worst spot to jump off a cliff,¡¯ but what did they know, they were just rocks.


    I gathered my energy and tried again. Still, nothing.


    My beating heart grew louder. My lips were dry and cracked. My lungs were empty and I couldn¡¯t breathe, at least, not easily. But still, my thoughts were clear and my mind was focused. I knew what I had to do. I knew that this spell was based on something real, even if my motivation was a little more romantic than usual.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Perhaps the problem was my pose. I stretched my limbs apart until I was spread like a starfish. It was tough fighting against the air to keep myself in position, but I had a feeling this was it. This was what I had been missing. This would help me complete the image in my head. The ground was too close. This was it.


    I gathered my energy and tried one last time. There was no air in my lungs, so I could only scream in my head as I gave it my everything. I couldn¡¯t hear my own thoughts between the whistling wind and my thumping heart and the crazed voice of my subconscious that was trying to tell me that I was going to die.


    My body lurched like I had been sucker punched in my gut. I coughed out air that I could not spare, and felt bile lurking near the top of my throat. I clenched my teeth, took a deep breath in from my nose, and coughed a bunch of times as my body was flung back into the air.


    My body fell back down, forcing me to gather some more energy to cast my new spell, and I felt the same punch in my stomach and went flying up. For a few minutes, as the sun began to clear the horizon at last, my body kept going up and down through the air like a yo-yo.


    Up, down, over and over, until the last light of twilight was gone from the sky and the moon lorded over me. It did not look happy. Neither did the red star. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a bird whistle. It sounded mad.


    I laughed.


    I laughed so hard I started to cough again, but I couldn¡¯t stop. I couldn¡¯t stop laughing when I was flinging my body across the sky with magic. Magic that should have been impossible according to the rules of this world. Magic that would have given me an unassailable advantage against the Ikons if I had come up with it in time. I stretched my hands apart once again and laughed into the wind. My body stopped lurching as much, and despite the ache in my gut, the burning in my throat, and the pain in my limbs, I kept going. I kept going until it was clear that I wasn¡¯t being flung around anymore.


    I was flying. Really, really flying. I wasn¡¯t gliding through the air or flinging my body around with magic hands. I wasn¡¯t even using air magic to push my body up and through the sky. I was using magic that directly relied on the principles of movement and flight. Sure, it was manipulating the air in a special way, and some might say that was a kind of air magic, but it didn¡¯t feel that way to me. I wasn¡¯t using air magic to fly, I was using something else. It had to be flight magic. A new spell, made all on my own, and that shouldn¡¯t be possible for me as I was right now.


    I hadn¡¯t done a bunch of experiments to build up the mathematics, the theoretical mechanics, and other fields of knowledge and learning that would be necessary to achieve something like this. Of course, I hadn¡¯t jumped off a cliff without doing some preparation, but those preparations hadn¡¯t given me other spells that I could use to create flight magic or experiments that I could use to make sure I wouldn¡¯t end up flat as a pancake. No, I had gone straight from thinking about what it would take somebody to be able to fly like this, to testing it out with my own body.


    And that was a big deal. A very, very big deal. I laughed out loud as I flew over the forest and into the sky that I used to only be able to look up at. This was the domain of the moon, the stars, and the birds. Those three used to rule the sky, but here I was, intruding on their turf.


    There were still birds who could fly higher than me, faster than me, and could keep going longer than I could. The red star still blinked far in the distance, and the moon was much larger than my tiny elfin body in the sky, but this was a start.


    This was the first step. It was also the third spell that I had made in the mountains, and it wasn¡¯t going to be the last. But the time for the rendezvous was approaching. I only had enough time for one more thing.


    I would take one final step forward, tomorrow.

 Chapter 211

    The rendezvous point was an abandoned village on the border between the Izlandi Kingdom and the Singing Horde. The village had been abandoned many years ago because of the fighting between the two countries. The village wasn¡¯t too far away from the ¡®roof of the world¡¯ mountain range, but it would still take me a day to get there from my cave. If I was traveling on foot, that is.


    It had been two days since I invented pure flight magic in this world. I still hadn¡¯t used it enough so my wisdom was pretty low and it took a ton of energy to use. Still, the best way to fix that was to use the spell as much as possible, so I was planning to fly most of the way to the abandoned village. I would still be early, but that would give me some time to survey the area. I was confident I could get out of most traps that weren¡¯t set by the Immortals themselves, but the ordinary soldiers might not fare as well.


    I finished up my pot of stew, grabbed a bunch of dried meat, and took one last sip from the cold mountain springs. I washed my face with the water and noticed that my hair had gotten quite long. I would usually cut my hair with a sharp blade in this world, but hadn¡¯t felt like it since I¡¯d come to the mountains. I smiled. I liked the wild, hermit look. My face still looked young and elfin, but there was a sagely look in my eyes. I also noticed the despair and frustration that had once been evident on my face, had been replaced with a bit of cautious optimism.


    Yesterday, I had taken an important step towards transforming my magic completely. I had spent the entire day inside my cave. Water dripped down from the ceiling, and I drank from the pool it formed next to me. I didn¡¯t eat anything all day, except for a few leftovers from the day before which I¡¯d had for breakfast. I didn¡¯t have the time to go out and forage and hunt, since I had to spend the entire day meditating. I didn¡¯t have a fancy new spell to show for all of my hard work, but the progress I had made towards my new magic was worth staying inside the darkness and starving myself for a day.


    I contemplated working on my new magic while flying over to the abandoned village, but decided it wasn¡¯t worth the risk of losing all of my energy mid-flight. Besides, I didn¡¯t want the Immortals to know about my trump card until it was too late for them to do anything about it. This would mean I was gambling that my new magic would work right away, but after what I had learned from the other spells I had invented in the mountains, I felt confident that this new magic would work. I also knew that it would turn the tide of my battle against the Immortals, and I didn¡¯t want them doing something crazy like uniting against me once I revealed what I could now do.


    I threw gravel over the smoldering fire, counted off the tally of days to make sure it was time, and walked up to the edge of the cliff again. I looked down at the beautiful view, and admired the sun as it was beginning to creep over the horizon at dawn. I looked down below the cliff but didn¡¯t jump. Instead, I turned around and began scaling the peak of the mountain. Despite the fact that I had been living in a cave inside this mountain for a few weeks, I had never been to the mountaintop.


    I didn¡¯t use balance magic to climb the peak. Instead, I hugged the mountain, climbing up from one foothold to the next. I had to use a stone pick and vine harness to help me climb, but I was soon near the top of the mountain. I pulled my body up to the top of the cold, hard stone, and slowly found a place to plant my feet and stand up, wobbling all the while. The wind was raging wildly this high up, but I was able to keep my balance. I smiled as I looked down at the clouds below, and breathed in the thin air. My lungs complained a little, clamoring for a rest, but I had been pushing my body to its limits almost every day in these mountains. I wasn¡¯t about to stop doing that now.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I jumped off the peak of the mountain. Wind whipped past my face and it took my laughter with it. I stretched out one hand in front of me, and one hand behind, like I was a superhero. I let my childhood fantasies come true as I flew through the sky, staring down at the few peaks that peeked above the clouds.


    ---


    Surprisingly, a few people had already made it to the abandoned village. It seemed like others had taken the same precautions against traps and ambushes, sending scouting parties ahead of their main forces. The scouting parties didn¡¯t do a very good job at keeping me out of their defensive perimeter, since I was able to fly right over the crude wooden spikes they had erected, and descended behind the large tents in the center of what had once been the village square.


    I tapped on the shoulder of a stern looking demon sentry who was staring down the main village road. The startled demon almost fell onto his own spear when he saw me and I had to grab him by the scruff of his neck to haul him back up again. He let out a strange cry and the other demons scrambled to face me.


    The fairies had set up their tent on the other side of the village, but I could hear the activity on their end as they realized something was wrong. That was when I noticed that the demons had sent up a smoke signal from behind the tent right after the first soldier had let out a cry.


    Dang, so they were ready after all. Couldn¡¯t blame them for not predicting that a flying elf might drop into the middle of their camp.


    The sun hadn¡¯t completely set yet, but the village was surrounded by hills on its western side, which meant the village was already covered in darkness. The sentries on the perimeter had a few torches, but it looked like the scouting parties knew not to reveal how many people had come with them by lighting up their main campsite. Besides, putting up too many lights might attract attention from the enemy¡¯s scouts, too.


    A few spears rounded towards my neck although none were being thrust forward. I still held onto the stumbling demon, whose spear had fallen from his hand. The frightened demon had brought up both of his hands in front of his face and was looking away. He looked like he was trying not to get smacked, which made me chuckle. I let the poor demon go and he fell on the ground right beside his spear. The other demons¡¯ spears wavered.


    I closed my eyes.


    Strange, muffled cries came out from the demons standing around me. I heard spears cluttering onto the floor and a few people even walked right into each other in their confusion. Curses flew everywhere, as did cries for people to stop moving, or to attack the monster.


    I opened my eyes slowly. I had to squint a little so my eyes wouldn¡¯t begin to swim. I turned down my light magic. Under the illumination of my spell, I saw the demon scouts rubbing their eyes and trying to search for their spears while blinking rapidly. The only demon who seemed to have gotten out of the spell unscathed was the one I¡¯d grabbed first. His face was covered in dirt, which probably explained why he hadn¡¯t been blinded by the light.


    I leaned my head so the light would fall onto the side of my head. I smiled and pointed to my pointy ears. The demon¡¯s eyes went wide in realization, but then he winced in the bright light.

 Chapter 212

    After explaining my arrival to the fairy encampment, the leader of the demon scouts came to me in my tent with the leader of the fairy delegation. The humans did not send any scouts since they lived the furthest away and were also the smallest force. What went unsaid was the fact the humans were the most valuable fighting force because they knew how to use magic. We could afford to lose a few demons and fairies to an ambush, but losing even a couple of humans would represent a massive loss to our firepower.


    The scout leaders told me the demon and fairy armies had already linked up and should be at the abandoned village in a couple of days. They didn¡¯t know how far the humans had gotten, but were hopeful they would join us on time. The fairy scout leader also said the entire Senate had come with the fairy army, which meant the army would have the authority to declare war on behalf of the Lux Republic once we crossed the border. The demon scout leader said Queen Kol Izlandi was leading the demon army, which meant the Izlandi Kingdom would declare war at the same time. I told the scouts the humans would probably bring all of their elders, which meant all three nations would be declaring a joint declaration of war.


    Apparently the three nations on this side of the mountains had gone to war so often the convention of declaring wars formally had become rather elaborate. The leaders of the declaring countries had to send their letters to their adversary¡¯s capital, along with a poem declaring their grievances and accusations. We didn¡¯t have to wait for a reply before crossing the border, but the Singing Horde would probably send out a poem in reply before the armies met. I felt the pageantry before a bloody battle was a little strange, but the scout leaders seemed to think it was only fitting. After all, there was a sort of macabre beauty in war, they argued. I countered that rotting corpses don¡¯t seem as upsetting until one is close enough to their stench.


    ¡°Thank you for the briefing, gentlemen,¡± I said as I slapped the scout leaders on their shoulders. They told me it was their honor and all that crap, but I brushed aside their words. ¡°How about you show me around the camps for a bit. I still have a few lighter questions to ask. Shouldn¡¯t be too troubling, I hope.¡±


    ¡°No, great elf, it wouldn¡¯t be troubling at all,¡± they said. In my ears their voices sounded monotonous and the two scout leaders made their way out of the tent like automatons.


    I walked around the demon camp. I had a little chat with the scout I¡¯d met first. He¡¯d forgotten to fix the collar of his shirt after I¡¯d grabbed it, so I helped him with it. The poor guy seemed frightened when my hand reached for his neck, and that made me chuckle. I smacked him lightly on the back as I walked off, and the demon went sprawling into the dirt again.


    There was a large campfire with a stew boiling in a metal pot. I grabbed a bowl and had some of the stew. The scout leaders who were walking with me said they¡¯d already eaten, but I asked them to have some anyway and they didn¡¯t refuse. The way they ate made it clear they hadn¡¯t eaten at all. I didn¡¯t point out the incongruity and had them accompany me to the fairy encampment.


    The fairies were a little rowdier than the demons. Their tents were larger, their stew heartier, and a few of them even had a drink or two that was intoxicating them. I tried a sip of the drink but it didn¡¯t seem alcoholic. I passed it onto the fairy scout leader, who had a few sips and became quite giddy. I had been asking him about his family and his answers had been pretty reserved until now. After finishing a whole cup of the strange drink, the scout leader was singing an ode to his wife and slurring praises for his kids. Apparently his kids were much smarter than he was. He didn¡¯t want them to join the army like he had. Better to be civil servants or merchants, he said.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The demon scout leader had opened up by now too. The demons ran a dry camp, but after spending some time with me, he had loosened up his lips as well. We spent a little while talking about his family, too, and I found out he¡¯d had his first baby a month ago. If I had invented cameras, I was sure this would be when he would pull out a locket to show me a picture or something, signing the flag for his demise with a sweet image. It was because of my strange thoughts that I had the scout leaders follow me out of the abandoned village and onto the hill to the west.


    ¡°Gentlemen,¡± I said as we crossed the top of the hill and walked onto its far side. From here, we could not see the abandoned village and the camps of the scouting parties, but there were still a few sentries hiding in the trees nearby. This area was a part of the wider perimeter and I had a feeling the scout leaders wouldn¡¯t leave the perimeter even if one of them was drunk and the other was being led around by a ¡®great elf¡¯ who valued a lowly soldier¡¯s family. ¡°Thank you for answering my questions and accompanying me on this fine evening.¡±


    I waved away their responses and asked them to sit on the ground with me. A gentle breeze brushed past as the three of us sat on the hillside under the open night sky. The two scout leaders had relaxed quite a bit since I told them I was keeping an eye on the surroundings with magic. To be honest, my motion detection perimeter was much larger than the scouts¡¯ outer perimeter, so I¡¯d see an approaching enemy much faster than they would. Still, I didn¡¯t mention this. Nor did I mention why I had dragged these two out so far from their camps.


    ¡°It is getting late,¡± I said, ¡°but I would appreciate it, gentlemen, if you could answer one more question.¡±


    ¡°Anything, great elf,¡± said the demon scout leader.


    ¡°Please,¡± said the fairy scout leader with a stupid grin, ¡°ask.¡±


    I leaned back onto the grass with my hands behind my head. ¡°Why do you think we are going to war?¡±


    ¡°Why, you ask?¡± repeated the demon scout leader in a strange voice. ¡°It is because the foreign god stole the Book of Annihilation.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we must retrieve the Book of Annihilation,¡± said the fairy scout leader as if his drunken stupor had been a figment of my imagination.


    I nodded. ¡°Indeed. Who cares about the isolation of the demon capital or the temporary disappearances of the citizens of the Republic. Burnt cities aren¡¯t a big deal either. The book is the most important thing, right?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, great elf,¡± said the demon scout leader.


    ¡°Wise words, great elf,¡± said the fairy scout leader.


    ¡°Speaking of books, you know sitting on the grass like this reminds me of another book,¡± I said.


    ¡°Another book, great elf? That does not sound relevant to the mission,¡± said the demon scout leader with a frown.


    ¡°Yes, we must stay focused, great elf,¡± said the fairy scout leader with furrowed brows.


    ¡°The armies aren¡¯t here yet, relax,¡± I said, ¡°we have some time to kill. Right, where was I? Another book, yes. More like an author, really. Walt Whitman! Leaves of grass, an American classic. Won¡¯t mean anything to you, of course, but I thought I¡¯d bring it up. More fun to read than a book about annihilation or whatever, I¡¯m sure.¡±


    The scout leaders didn¡¯t know what to say so they just looked at me in silence. I lay back on the grass and recited a little Whitman in my head. I whistled a tune that was caught by the wind and fell asleep on the grass on the hillside.

 Chapter 213

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t this village supposed to be abandoned?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, great elf, it was abandoned a long time ago. The only reason the buildings and campground hasn¡¯t been reclaimed by the earth is because our armies keep using it as a base before crossing the border,¡± said the demon scout leader.


    ¡°You¡¯re telling me you¡¯ve used this place as a base before?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, our armies always camp here before a campaign into the Singing Horde¡¯s lands,¡± said the demon scout leader.


    ¡°There are camps like this one along every border between the Republic, the Kingdom, and the Horde,¡± said the fairy scout leader. ¡°The beastmen know we will be coming for the book, so the element of surprise is already lost.¡±


    ¡°Right, but what about supply lines and logistics?¡± I asked. The army I had helped lead into the Lux Republic was on a rescue mission, so we had been expecting logistical support from the Republic. In the end, since all the cities had been abandoned and burnt down, we were able to rush straight to the capital before supplies became too much of an issue. But now that we were going to invade a country, we had to prepare for long sieges and careful battle plans. We couldn¡¯t count on receiving supplies from the cities and towns that we raided, either, since the beastmen were being influenced and controlled by an Immortal. I had a feeling the beastmen would rather burn down their own granaries than let us take their supplies, so a reliable supply line was essential.


    ¡°The beastmen are powerful warriors but they are not well-coordinated,¡± said the demon scout leader, ¡°for many generations, they have preferred fighting in open battle rather than making strategic attacks on supply lines and garrisons. Besides, their political and military structure is so decentralized and spread out, they¡¯ve never had to fear attacks like that from us either. Both the Kingdom and the Republic have different fighting styles when facing each other and when facing the Horde.¡±


    I nodded. I already knew about the semi-nomadic, tribal structure of the Singing Horde. The Horde was really a collection of beastmen tribes that worked together against foreign threats but competed against one another for food and land on the steppes. The major tribes coordinated their armies through the council of chieftains, and the other tribes had to pledge fealty to the council or they¡¯d get crushed by the major tribes. The beastmen were a proud, independent people, which was why the demons, fairies, and spirits were never able to divide up the tribes by pitting them against one another. Even if the beastmen seemed to be willing to betray their own kind for support from the Kingdom or Republic, they wouldn¡¯t stay loyal for long and would turn on the outsiders as soon as they thought they could get away with it. I had even experienced one of these relationships as they had broken down.


    ¡°Sir, there is urgent news,¡± said a voice from outside the tent.


    I was sitting inside the fairy scout leader¡¯s tent near the outskirts of the village. It had been a day since I¡¯d slept on the grass on the hillside, and we were expecting to hear from the united army soon. The fairy scout leader told the other scout to enter the tent and a tall female fairy walked in and gave us a salute.


    ¡°Sir, the long distance scouting party has sent a messenger ahead of their return,¡± she said.


    ¡°A messenger?¡± said the demon scout leader. The only reason they would do something like that would be if they were stuck in place and couldn¡¯t leave. ¡°Are they okay? Should we send a rescue party or do we need to retreat?¡±


    The scout shook her head. ¡°No, sir, the party isn¡¯t in any danger. They are staying in place to treat an injured prisoner.¡±


    I exchanged glances with the two scout leaders. A prisoner? If the prisoner was an enemy scout, that would mean the main army wasn¡¯t too far behind. According to the scout leaders, the beastmen wouldn¡¯t send out scouts near the borders to confirm where our forces were stationed since they already knew we were probably gathering near this village and that sort of reconnaissance didn¡¯t fit the beastmen¡¯s fighting style. ¡°If it¡¯s an enemy scout, we might have to retreat after all,¡± I said.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°No, great elf, it is not an enemy scout,¡± said the scout.


    I frowned. ¡°If the prisoner isn¡¯t a scout, then what are they? Did you capture a random civilian?¡±


    ¡°I think I know what¡¯s going on,¡± said the demon scout leader, ¡°something similar happened in the last border dispute. We caught a single beastman who was trying to approach our encampment. He said he¡¯d come with information and offered to defect.¡±


    ¡°So it was a trap?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, he provided valuable information that helped us beat back the horde¡¯s raiding party and became an important spy for the Kingdom,¡± said the demon scout leader.


    ¡°But then why are you making that confused face?¡± I asked.


    The demon scout leader turned to me with his brows furrowed and a perplexed look on his face. ¡°That is because all of the demon spies that were connected to the Kingdom disappeared or returned to the Horde. We have not had contact with a beastman since the capital¡¯s isolation. We even lost Spot, our most valuable and trusted beastman spy.¡±


    Right, I remembered that doglike beastman. I still wasn¡¯t sure if he was a triple agent, a strange victim of an Immortal¡¯s machinations, or just a really bad spy. Nor did I know if he was dead or alive. ¡°So you¡¯re saying you caught a defector?¡±


    ¡°Yes, great elf,¡± said the scout.


    ¡°Well then, maybe I¡¯ll go take a look myself,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, great elf, you mustn¡¯t!¡± said the fairy scout leader.


    ¡°Yes, it might be a trap!¡± said the demon scout leader.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said, noting the unnatural apprehensiveness on their faces. ¡°Where is the rest of the scouting party? I¡¯ll go meet them on my own.¡±


    The scout looked at her commander instead of answering my question. The fairy scout leader had a strange look in his eyes, as if he was trying to work out some sort of reason to have me stay instead of letting me act on my own.


    I shook my head. ¡°Whatever,¡± I said as I walked out of the tent. I brushed past the fairy scout, who didn¡¯t move even as I left the tent. The scout leaders rushed out behind me, saying something about preparing an escort party to accompany me, but I didn¡¯t respond. Instead, I looked around the place and tried to remember the direction the scout had come from. I¡¯d sensed her with my motion detection magic so I was able to guess the general direction of the scouting party.


    I glanced over my shoulder. The scout looked in front of me, into the distance in the direction I was facing. The scout leaders reached out with their hands, as if they could keep me from leaving. I bent my knees, aimed one hand to the sky, and jumped.


    Flying over the abandoned village, I realized there were no living beings for miles. No monsters or birds or anything else. I looked down at the village and saw the scout leaders staring up at me with their mouths closed and their faces grim. The entire encampment seemed to have come to a standstill, with everybody dropping what they were doing to see the elf flying in the sky. A few of them broke their silence and pointed up at me, but most of the demons and fairies looked up at me in eerie silence. I turned to the East, and flew away.


    ---


    I arrived at the scouting party¡¯s camp in an hour. They hadn¡¯t been tough to find, since this was the one patch of land where there was no wildlife. I descended from the sky, behind the outer ring of lookouts. The scouting party was made up of only fairies, which meant there were a bunch of tall, burly figures walking about the place. Since these guys were scouts, they weren¡¯t as loud as most fairies were, which actually meant that they were a strange sight to behold. A group of silent giants with dainty little wings doing delicate tasks inside a quiet and well-hidden camp.


    These scouts were just as surprised by my arrival as the main scouting group had been the night before. Thankfully, it was daytime and they could see who I was and led me to their captive without much trouble. They were keeping him in a tent in the middle of the camp. I brushed aside the opening of the tent and walked through.


    I didn¡¯t step into the tent. ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± I said out loud, surprised by the coincidence. ¡°Spot?¡±

 Chapter 214

    ¡°An elf?¡± said the white doglike beastman lying on the ground.


    ¡°Don¡¯t act like you don¡¯t recognize me, Spot,¡± I said, ¡°did you really think I¡¯d forget about you after you betrayed us like that?¡±


    The beastman frowned. Imagine a dog with big beady eyes, long snout, and big slobbering mouth frowning at you. It would¡¯ve been almost comical if it wasn¡¯t so strange and uncanny. ¡°I am afraid you have mistaken me for someone else, master elf. I have heard that others find it difficult to tell my kind apart, but surely a legendary being such as yourself can tell that we have never met before.¡±


    I squinted my eyes. ¡°Yes, your ears. They are much larger than Spot¡¯s.¡±


    The beastman blinked. ¡°I was expecting a more magical, mystical reason, but I suppose that will suffice.¡± The doglike beastman bowed on his long furry white legs. ¡°My name is Spike. Pleasure to have made your acquaintance, master elf.¡±


    Spot and Spike. Somehow, I felt like somebody was trying to mess with me here. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so polite. Call me Cas.¡±


    ¡°I could never, master elf,¡± he said.


    ¡°We¡¯re at war,¡± I replied.


    ¡°There is honor among soldiers,¡± he said, ¡°and I do not wish to be your enemy.¡±


    ¡°I heard,¡± I said as I sat down in front of the beastman. The leader of the scouting party finally entered the tent behind me. I hadn¡¯t met him yet, so he tried to greet me, but I waved a hand in the air to let him know it could wait. ¡°The messenger said you¡¯d come to defect.¡±


    ¡°Yes, master elf, that is true,¡± he said. ¡°I cannot let my people die for a pointless war. I tried to bring my objections to our chieftain, and to the chieftains of our allied tribes, but it was as if I was speaking to stone.¡±


    ¡°You have objections to the war?¡± I said.


    ¡°Chiefly, one objection, master elf,¡± he said. ¡°I do not know what we are going to war for, master elf. Nobody would tell me. Stranger still, the council has been completely silent as well. Usually, they will at least say something to motivate the tribesmen and help bring us all together for the defense of our way of life, but this time, all we heard was that we were about to be invaded and had to defend our land. They never mentioned why were being invaded or what we had done to make both the Kingdom and the Republic unite against us.¡±


    I tapped my chin. ¡°Isn¡¯t defending your homeland enough of a reason for you? I understand that this border is not usually guarded. You were caught by a scouting party far away from any village or town. Surely you must know what that means?¡±


    ¡°It means there is an army on our borders,¡± said Spike, ¡°but I do not know what the army wants from us, master elf.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think we want something that isn¡¯t your land or wealth? Shouldn¡¯t that be your first thought?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The Kingdom has the best farmland and the Republic has rich coasts. The lands of the beastmen are mostly barren and unsuited for cultivation. Few beastmen believe we have kept our lands because of our military power. Our realm is preserved by its uselessness and by our relative poverty. We know most invasions of our lands are retaliations for raids or attacks conducted by our own kind, but there has been no such thing this time. If there is something that we have gained, we do not know what it is. We do not know what we are fighting for! We do not know what we are going to die for!¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    I nodded slowly. I tried to keep a blank expression on my face despite the large doglike beastman¡¯s passionate speech. ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t sound like you¡¯re defecting. That sounds like you want to know what the war is about.¡±


    Spike frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. He stared at me in silence for a while before finally speaking. ¡°Perhaps you are right, master elf. But please believe me when I say I feel betrayed by my leaders. Leaders who dismissed my questions and want me to do for a cause I do not even know.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I believe you,¡± I said, ¡°and you, party leader?¡± I faced the leader of the scouting party.


    The flustered fairy stammered a little. He had been silent during our conversation and seemed surprised that I¡¯d ask him for his opinion. ¡°I do not know, great, er, master elf. We can ask him about what he knows and watch him closely.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you start with this master elf business too,¡± I said, ¡°Cas is fine, really. It¡¯s a nice name, isn¡¯t it? Simple, one syllable. Anyways, yes, ask him what he knows and then keep him far from the action. We can¡¯t let him loose near our supply lines so we¡¯ll have to bring him along with the army. But that wasn¡¯t my question, party leader. I asked you if you believe what he is saying.¡±


    The party leader¡¯s face stiffened. He looked at the beastman, staring for a while before answering. ¡°No, we cannot believe him. If you tell him what the war is about, he will surely run back to his tribe.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± I said, putting my chin in my hand and gazing lazily at the beastman. ¡°I think anybody who found three countries were about to go to war over a single book would do whatever they could to get as far away as possible. Maybe our friend Spike here would like to go across the mountains or to an island somewhere in the ocean. Doesn¡¯t that sound more interesting than dying over a silly old book, Spike?¡±


    Spike blinked. ¡°A book?¡±


    ¡°Yes, think about it. These morons are about to shed rivers of blood over a book. Isn¡¯t that terrible?¡± I said.


    Spike turned his gaze to the ground.


    The scout leader glanced at me for a moment before looking away.


    I smiled. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to hurt your feelings. Didn¡¯t realize two insignificant soldiers would feel so strongly about a book. Especially because one of them hadn¡¯t even heard of the book yet. Does mentioning the book make something appear inside your hearts, perhaps? Yes, I can see the way you look at me when I mention it. I can see your expression shifting, something inside your hearts moving, when I mention the Book of Annihilation.¡± I stood up. I ignored the strange stares of the beastman and the fairy. ¡°You had the right idea, party leader. Ask him about the Singing Horde¡¯s army and mobilization, and then tie him up and drag him along with us when the army arrives. Oh, and just to be safe, keep him in this camp, not the main scout camp you sent the messenger too. I have a feeling this war won¡¯t be like the other ones your countries have fought over the years.¡±


    The party leader nodded but did not say anything.


    ¡°It was nice meeting you, Spike,¡± I said as I walked up to the doglike beastman and patted him on the head. ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way, but when you eventually slip out of this camp with a flurry of strange and inexplicable magic, you should think carefully about your next move. Is it really worth following your emotions and fighting this war for a single book? Or would you rather let your rational mind lead you far away from war and death. Think about it. Oh, and don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t be coming back to stop you. And try not to hurt these silly fairies on your way out. If the demons couldn¡¯t stop you in their own capital, these fairies won¡¯t be able to do anything to you out here in the middle of nowhere.¡±


    I walked out of the tent with two intense stares boring into my back. I avoided the other fairies who were wondering what was going on. These guys didn¡¯t have any strange looks on their faces, which made me feel a little relieved. I jumped into the air and headed back to the abandoned village.


    I didn¡¯t enter the village, this time. Instead, I found a nice tree in the distance and used magic to observe the demons and fairies from afar. Sure enough, a messenger arrived later in the evening. I used a little wind magic to carry the messenger¡¯s words to me, but I already knew what he was saying.


    Spike had disappeared soon after I flew away. The scouts couldn¡¯t find any trace of him and were preparing to return to the village tomorrow morning.

 Chapter 215

    The Republic¡¯s army arrived first. Rows upon rows of heavily armored fairies marched towards the plains next to the abandoned village and I watched them from afar. A small party of fairies and spirits entered the village, with Taoc Esprit at its head. The Senate had decided to put her in charge of this expedition because she was the closest to me. Still, it looked like a few of the bolder Spirits were trying to hang onto her coattails to have an audience with me, and Taoc seemed to be carrying herself with a haughty air. As she disappeared into the abandoned village, I imagined her confidence evaporating once she found out I wasn¡¯t there.


    I grabbed a piece of grilled monster meat and nibbled on it. Lazing in the treetops outside the outer perimeter of the scouts, I didn¡¯t have much to do. I spent some time running through my new magic in my head, wondering how to use it for the war. With flight magic alone, I could bombard large armies with magic from up high. Even dropping stones from the sky would kill thousands of beastmen. And unless the Immortals got involved, the beastmen wouldn¡¯t be able to stop me at all. Even Noel would have no way to get to me as long as I went high enough.


    Idly, I wondered if I could go into space. I hadn¡¯t tried to go too far up yet, mostly because I was worried about running into the Immortals¡¯ domain. But I could try to get near the edge of space. I¡¯d be able to breathe with my air magic and I could perhaps get a better look at the moon and stars. Yes, the more I thought about this, the more I began wanting to do it. But not now. I could see another army approaching from the distance.


    The Izlandi Kingdom¡¯s army was larger than the army that came from the Republic. Yet, the armored demons were not as intimidating as the fairies had been. They weren¡¯t as well-organized. The fairies had been marching in unison but the demons were marching by division. The structure of their army also seemed a little rigid, probably because of the hierarchical feudal system in their country. Although the spirits ran the Senate, they usually let the fairy commanders lead the army, but the demon nobility liked to lead their armies themselves. I¡¯d have to talk to Kol about that, just in case any of the demon nobles were swayed by the Immortals and decided to betray us in the heat of battle.


    I was about to drop down from the tree and fly over to the village, when I stopped and frowned. I squinted my eyes and tried to use light magic to observe the approaching demon army. I saw the army head towards some open fields to set up their tents, and a small group of demon nobles broke off to accompany Queen Kol to the abandoned village. Bain Rusta went with them as well, and he gave some orders to some of his men, asking them to bring refreshments to the command tent in the center of the village. This was the same tent where I had met the scout leaders, which meant the scouts would be sent out for missions into the Hordes¡¯ lands while the leaders of the united army would set up their headquarters in the old scout encampment. Smart thinking, though I wondered if the nobles could endure living in such spartan accommodations.


    I kept looking but I couldn¡¯t find the humans. I knew they were coming from the furthest away, and the scouts had told me they wouldn¡¯t be here until later, but Kelser should¡¯ve come with Kol so we could go over some of the plans for the war. We couldn¡¯t really plan for the war without the humans, and I didn¡¯t want to be stuck talking about this terrible business without Kelser. I also had to confirm whether he was being influenced by the Immortal of Desire like everybody else.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Well, I could always check Kol and Bain Rusta first. Having confirmed that the humans weren¡¯t anywhere nearby, I jumped off and flew to the abandoned village, staying low enough to let the soldiers see me. Strange cries and loud shouts erupted below me, as soldiers dropped their equipment to point and stare at me as I flew through the sky. Only the scouts inside the village knew that I could fly, and even the fairies, who had arrived before the demons, would not know about it yet. I glimpsed a demon soldier falling into his tent as his eyes followed me through the sky. I spotted a fairy spill soup into her lap as she stared at me. A few fights broke out too as people walked into one another with their eyes glued to the sky, but they were quickly broken up by commanders and officers who were able to recover much more quickly than the foot soldiers.


    It was noon and the sun was high in the sky. I manipulated the sunlight so it would fall past me, creating a halo around my body and making a large shadow fall across the plains as I flew over them. It was a little dramatic, yes, but I knew this was important. This war was becoming a battlefield of emotions, and seeing a spectacular scene like this one was sure to get these soldiers motivated.


    The scouts guarding the village were switching out with better armored and tougher looking guards. These tougher looking guards couldn¡¯t see my face with the sunlight behind me, so they put up their weapons just like the scouts had done the first time I dropped into their camp. A couple of the scouts seemed to recognize me as I flew in and told their superiors to lower their weapons but before anybody could react, I rushed past them all and stepped into the village. A couple of guards fell over and the rest craned their necks over their shoulders, their weapons still facing to their fronts.


    ¡°Come on fellas,¡± I said as I walked towards the command tent, ¡°you won¡¯t be able to stop any Immortals if you don¡¯t check the skies.¡±


    Somebody had heard my voice from inside the tent. They were trying to open the entrance, but I walked in before they could. I began speaking as soon as I entered: ¡°Kol! It¡¯s so good to see you again. How have you been? You¡¯re looking nice in that imperial armor. Is that steel? Must mean your trade with the humans is going well. You know you can paint over that stuff, right? It looks so drab and boring like that. It¡¯ll look worse with some blood on it too. And there¡¯s gonna be a lot of blood, isn¡¯t there?¡± I kept prattling on, not letting anyone else get a word in. ¡°Taoc, hey, how are you? I can¡¯t believe they made tiny armor for you. And it¡¯s steel too! Wow, I guess you guys really did decide to get along for this fight. Right, I have a couple of questions for you guys, but do you mind if we talk somewhere else? Somewhere with less people would be nice. Here, take my hand. Yes, yes, don¡¯t be shy. Awesome. As for the rest of you, Bain, do you mind entertaining these Senators while I have a chat with these two? It¡¯ll only take a minute. Thanks, Bain, you¡¯re the best. We¡¯ll catch up later, okay?¡±


    I dragged the two bewildered leaders, Queen Kol and Senator Taoc, out of the tent. Their entourage blinked their eyes and didn¡¯t start for the tent¡¯s opening until I was already past the guards and scouts who had been gathering around the command tent. The demon guards saluted their queen and the fairy guards made a gesture towards Taoc, but nobody stepped forward to free them from my grasp. It was only when Bain Rusta burst out of the tent asking where I was going with the Queen, that some of the guards were startled out of their confusion and began reaching out for me with their hands.


    But it was too late. I was far enough away from the stragglers and had a firm grip on both Kol and Taoc. I bent my knees, looked up at the sky, and jumped.

 Chapter 216

    I had to use air magic to protect my ears from the screams. We didn¡¯t go that far up. I figured it would be a bit much for these two first time fliers. I¡¯d assumed Taoc wouldn¡¯t be too shaken up by this since spirits hovered above the ground anyway, but she was screaming her lungs out the entire way up. Kol, on the other hand, seemed to be taking it quite well. I tried asking her how she was feeling but she didn¡¯t respond. It was then that I realized that she had fainted right in my arms.


    We punched through the clouds and appeared in the open blue sky. Looking down at the clouds, I saw our shadows appearing down over them, like a massive giant clutching two others to his body. Looking at the shadow, I had an idea. I stopped our upward acceleration and began slowly descending. I could still hear Taoc¡¯s muffled screams through my magic, and noticed she wasn¡¯t calming down now that we weren¡¯t ascending anymore. Instead, her voice was getting higher pitched. Was she afraid we were falling? She must have thought this was a jump. I smirked and lurched down a little suddenly, which made Taoc close her eyes and bury them into Kol¡¯s unconscious body. Taoc¡¯s actions seemed to have stirred Kol, who blinked her eyes and looked down at the clouds and grew pale once again.


    I put my feet on top of the clouds and used water and air magic to give the clouds a firmer shape. Then I used flight magic to keep myself right on top of the clouds so it would appear like I was walking on top of them. Satisfied, I let Kol and Taoc think I had turned the clouds solid and tried to let go of them. The two of them frantically clung to my arms as I let go, as if they didn¡¯t trust the little cloud floor I¡¯d made. I used magic hands to gently peel them off and forced them to flail and complain as they began floating away from me. I used flight magic to make them float, but since the clouds beneath their feet didn¡¯t feel solid, they still tried to rush back to me when I finally let go of my magic hands.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said as I floated away, ¡°my magic hasn¡¯t failed me yet. Relax and enjoy the view! Oh wait, you can¡¯t see much through these clouds can you? Here, let¡¯s clear this up, shall we?¡± I waved my hands and a gust of wind began pushing some of the clouds apart. A small part of the sky opened up, letting us see the land far below.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t funny!¡± cried Kol as she moved away from the hole in the clouds.


    ¡°Please, let us down from here!¡± shouted Taoc.


    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t tell me you guys have never wanted to fly before? You know, like birds and flying monsters or whatever,¡± I said as I reclined in the empty air and gazed at them lazily.


    ¡°No, I like having my feet on the ground!¡± said Kol, ¡°now can you please send me down?¡±


    ¡°Too high, this is too high!¡± said Taoc. ¡°No! I saw them. Down there. They look like insects. I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t¡­¡±


    It took me a while to calm them down. I had to close the hole in the clouds, get closer to them, and tell them this was safer than being on the ground surrounded by potential enemies.


    ¡°Potential enemies?¡± said Kol, staring resolutely away from the floor of clouds. ¡°Did some of my retainers betray me? Did Alek get to them even though I tried to get rid of his supporters while I was stuck in the capital?¡±


    ¡°Fairies are intensely loyal and no spirit would ever betray the republic. If there are traitors among us, they must be demons,¡± said Taoc.


    Kol frowned. ¡°My demon soldiers are brave and loyal warriors. If they must be suspected of treason then so must your soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Our nation is not divided like yours. Two of your own siblings have joined the enemy, have they not?¡± said Taoc.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°Two of them?¡± I said. ¡°Have you confirmed your sister¡¯s whereabouts then?¡±


    Kol nodded. ¡°Norn has been with the Singing Horde for a while now. She must have been worried that Alek would try to kill her the way he attempted to take my life. I haven¡¯t heard from her since I had to retreat into the mountains and ended up meeting you and the humans on the other side, but we sent a few spies over the border and they confirmed the fact Norn and Alek seem to be working with the Horde.¡±


    ¡°Do we know if she became an Ikon too?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, we cannot be certain,¡± said Kol, ¡°but it is certainly possible. The reports said Norn seemed to be taking orders from the venerable elf Noel. Even if she is not an Ikon herself, she is definitely working for one of the Immortals.¡±


    I frowned. If she was working with Noel, then she might have become Madness¡¯ Ikon as well. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Fighting two Ikons was bad enough. Taking on three of them by myself might be impossible.¡± Of course, I wasn¡¯t planning on taking all three of them on my own. Individual soldiers may not be as powerful as an Ikon, but the united army would outnumber the Singing Horde¡¯s army substantially. We would be able to overrun them with numbers unless the Immortals intervened more directly. And besides, I still had my new magic.


    I looked at Kol and Taoc. The two of them had calmed down considerably although they still refused to look down. I also had a feeling they¡¯d jump at the opportunity to go back down to the ground. I tried to look at them now that they were flustered and disturbed. Taking them out of their comfort zones would let me observe them more carefully. The way they were reacting already told me a lot about the way the Simurgh was manipulating the leaders of the united army. Still, I couldn¡¯t tell if bringing them up her so suddenly had cured them of the Simurgh¡¯s emotion manipulation magic. Were they reacting so strongly because their emotions were being intensified by the Simurgh or were they genuinely terrified by being catapulted to unimaginable heights and standing on top of insubstantial clouds? Couldn¡¯t say. And since I couldn¡¯t be sure, I couldn¡¯t tell them about my new magic, either.


    ¡°Well, I must confess I didn¡¯t bring you two up here to admire the view,¡± I said as I reclined in the air once more. ¡°And as much as I enjoyed your reactions, that wasn¡¯t the point either. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask you and didn¡¯t want any eavesdroppers around. You understand, right?¡±


    Kol scowled. ¡°I¡¯m glad you enjoyed scaring my soul out of my body. And no, I do not understand why you had to bring us all the way up here.¡±


    ¡°A stroll in the forest would have sufficed,¡± said Taoc. ¡°We could have had the Senatorial guards setup a perimeter. Nobody would¡¯ve been able to hear us from there. You could even have used your air magic to block the sound!¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve been observing my magic then?¡± I said.


    Taoc waved her hands quickly. ¡°No, the Senate was curious about the way of the elves, that¡¯s all. We wanted to note down anything and everything we could about you. Generations of fairies and spirits have idolized the elves. To honor our ancestors¡¯ wishes and to fulfill our obligations to our descendants, we had to observe and record it all. Please, do not be angry!¡±


    I waved my hand. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Why would I mind being immortalized in your memory? A famous poet in my homeland once wooed his beloved by promising that his words would immortalize them and their beauty. He said:


    ¡°When wasteful war shall statues overturn, and broils root out the work of masonry, nor Mars his sword nor war¡¯s quick fire shall burn the living record of your memory.¡±


    Taoc blinked. ¡°Oh. I see. Yes, that makes sense. Thank you, great elf!¡±


    ¡°Just don¡¯t forget the other part,¡± I said. ¡°See, he says he¡¯ll immortalize his beloved¡¯s beauty.


    ¡°But thy eternal summer shall not fade, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.


    ¡°He says that, yes. But he also starts off the poem by saying they will lose their beauty.


    ¡°Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And every fair from fair sometime declines.¡±


    Taoc frowned. ¡°That isn¡¯t¡­ no great elf, we aren¡¯t¡­ you will live a long and beautiful life, great elf!¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m sure I will.¡± I waved my hand and all the clouds beneath us flew away. Taoc tried to jump up and Kol pointed her nose to the sky and refused to look down. I smirked and flew in front of them. ¡°First question. Don¡¯t think about it too much. Just say the first thing that comes to mind. Ready? Here I go. Tell me, why are we fighting this war?¡±

 Chapter 217

    ¡°Why are we fighting this war?¡± repeated Kol.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think, just speak,¡± I said.


    ¡°Great elf, I do not know, please bring back the clouds, I cannot answer your questions when I am this afraid!¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine, the clouds weren¡¯t doing anything anyways. You know you can¡¯t actually stand on those things, right? You¡¯re being held up by my magic and my magic alone. So hurry up and answer the question already!¡± I said.


    ¡°The war?¡± said Kol. ¡°The Izlandi Kingdom is fighting because the Immortals surrounded my capital city with a barrier!¡±


    ¡°And the Lux Republic must fight to avenge the many cities, towns, and villages that were burned. We have lost many crops and our economy has been ruined for the foreseeable future. Not to mention the trauma of being made to disappear into the future! Who will explain to our children what happened to them and their families during those terrible days?¡± said Taoc in a quick flurry of words.


    I exhaled. A weight had fallen off my shoulders, but my relief was quickly replaced by confusion. Clearly, Taoc had been influenced by the Simurgh before I left for the mountains to practice my new magic. Why wasn¡¯t she mentioning the Book of Annihilation now? And I was sure that Kol would be under the Simurgh¡¯s influence as well, since she was the leader of one of the two countries the Simurgh was manipulating into fighting a war with the Horde.


    I stared at the two of them while thinking about their answers. I¡¯d had another question planned. I was going to ask them about why the book was important enough for them to spill blood over it, but their answers clearly made that question pointless. Perhaps bringing them up here had messed up their emotions enough that the Simurgh¡¯s manipulation wasn¡¯t working as well as it would have on the ground? There was also the possibility the Simurgh was being more subtle with these leaders than with the foot soldiers I had interviewed before. Perhaps important leaders like Kol and Taoc were being manipulated directly by their relevant emotions. Kol with her indignation at being isolated in her capital and Taoc with her desire for vengeance for the burning of her people¡¯s lands and their temporary disappearance.


    ¡°Okay,¡± I said as I rushed forward and grabbed the two of them by the arm again. They were startled by my quick approach and the panic in their eyes made me think they thought we were about to fly up again. I smiled. ¡°You win!¡±


    We dropped to the ground like stones.


    ---


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t funny!¡± complained Kol.


    ¡°If I have wronged you, great elf, please punish me some other way next time,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°Come on, it was just a bit of fun,¡± I said as I brushed the dirt off my shoulders.


    Kol glared at me. Taoc fell to her knees and began begging for mercy. Their reactions told me I had gone too far.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said as I picked Taoc back up and used air magic to brush the dirt off of Kol¡¯s clothes. ¡°If it makes you feel any better, this was an important part of my plan to defeat the Immortals.¡±


    Kol raised an eyebrow. ¡°Defeat the Immortals?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°You know, the reason you¡¯re going to war,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s a little complicated, but I had to¡­¡±


    ¡°The Izlandi Kingdom is going to war to retrieve the Book of Annihilation,¡± said Kol.


    I stopped. My heart froze in my chest and I took a step back, involuntarily.


    We were standing in a pit in an otherwise flat plain. The armies weren¡¯t too far away and I was expecting to the first scouts to come to our position in a few minutes. I¡¯d dropped us down here in full view of the armies, and the loud rumblings from our final impact would have alerted everyone even if they weren¡¯t paying attention. Of course, this meant we would attract attention from across the border too, but that was part of the plan.


    ¡°The Book of Annihilation?¡± I repeated. ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not what you said. You two wanted revenge. Cold, justified revenge. Kol for the isolation of her capital, and Taoc for the burning of your settlements and disappearance of your citizens.¡±


    Taoc frowned. ¡°Those things matter to us, yes, but the Lux Republic cannot allow the Singing Horde and the heathen gods to possess the Book of Annihilation.¡±


    What was going on? I bit my lips. Okay. Clearly, their attitudes had changed completely as soon as they¡¯d touched the ground. No, in Taoc¡¯s case, she was hovering over the ground, but still, not only were they giving different reasons for war, their entire demeanor had changed drastically. I had been expecting them to be complaining about the sudden ascent and bumpy descent. Instead, the two of them were looking at me coolly and with expressions that were completely unfazed by their recent experiences. In fact, it was worse than the sort of manipulated emotions they had had before. Almost as if whatever spell had been cast over them had gone into overdrive to compensate for falling off of them while they were up in the sky.


    I felt like I could continue to investigate this by taking them back up into the sky a few times and noting when and how their emotions changed, but something told me it wouldn¡¯t as easy as last time. Not only did I not have the element of surprise, but the two of them seemed to be struggling with their renewed emotional manipulation. Who knew what would happen if I made them go through this again? I was worried I¡¯d mess up their heads permanently.


    ¡°Right, well,¡± I said as I scratched my chin. ¡°Guess that means I can ask the next question. Hey, why do you guys think the Book of Annihilation is important enough to die for?¡±


    Kol frowned. Taoc tilted her head. Their movements seemed mechanical and they had strange expressions on their faces. Expressions that were a cross between confused and disturbed. I waited for their replies. A couple of times, I thought Kol might say something, but she always looked to her feet at the last moment, her brows furrowed and her demon tail unnaturally still. Taoc opened her mouth and then closed it. Perhaps the one time I wished a spirit would blurt out everything and yet she actually held her tongue. Terrific.


    My motion detection magic was triggered. A party of fairies was marching over from one side while another group of demons would be approaching from the other side. Did they want to trap me in a pincer formation? That wasn¡¯t the sort of thing they should be doing to the nominal leader of their united army. I looked back at Kol and Taoc and saw them looking back at me, unblinking. Their eyes were unnerving; stretched to their limits, their eyes reflected my image back at me, letting me see the thoughts that were plainly crossing through my mind and onto my face.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I said, breaking the silence. ¡°I think I have my answer already.¡± A dozen or so more demons and fairies were approaching from different directions. I mused in my head whether the beastmen really deserved to be called the horde when these guys were acting this way, but I didn¡¯t share my humor with my companions. I knew I wasn¡¯t going to get any laughs out of them. Not in this state.


    ¡°I am still in charge of this war, Simurgh,¡± I said, lowering my voice so it wouldn¡¯t carry over to Kol and Taoc. ¡°Unless you think someone else can take on those Ikons?¡±


    The parties converging on my position stopped. Kol and Taoc blinked their eyes and grabbed their heads in their hands for a moment, before looking up at me as if nothing had happened. I nodded and smiled at the two.


    ¡°Hey, sorry about the whole shooting you up into the sky and jumping back down like a meteorite thing. Don¡¯t worry, you don¡¯t have to come with me next time. Just thought I¡¯d let you try it once,¡± I said as I took a step back. ¡°So yeah, I¡¯ll be up there. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to see the humans or even the enemy if they get close enough. Just send up smoke signals if you need me, although I have a feeling I¡¯ll know when you do anyway. That sound good? Okay. Well, take care then!¡±


    I bent my knees and shot up into the sky again.

 Chapter 218

    The problem with living on top of the clouds is that there is nothing to do. No food, no friends, no entertainment except the thoughts inside your own head. There¡¯s only so much fun you can have looking down at the earth like a sky god. Perhaps it was boredom that had made Madness insane. Looking down at the world from the moon must have gotten real old real soon. And it wasn¡¯t like this feeling was new to me either. It wasn¡¯t like I spent all of my time in an airplane glued to the window. If windows could keep the average person entertained throughout a flight, there was no way those scummy airline companies from my Earth would have installed in-flight entertainment systems.


    That was the kind of tangent my mind went on while I was in the clouds. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I knew this was important training to help get my energy consumption for the spell down by increasing my wisdom, but that didn¡¯t change the fact every break on the ground felt more heavenly than it did to drift like Zeus in a thundercloud.


    In the sky I also had more time to work on my new magic. The new magic wasn¡¯t anything too complicated, but it did require a few calculations that I was still working on. Specifically, I needed to find the speed of light in a vacuum and a few other physical constants. I also needed to think a lot more about the fundamentals of magic independently of how they had been taught to me by the Simurgh. In fact, I had already started down this path by making my pure light magic and my flight magic, but there were still some rough edges to smooth out. Chief among those rough edges was a question that had been bugging me for a while. I felt like it was something I should have realized much sooner, yet I also felt like whenever it had surfaced in my mind before, it had been pushed back down into my subconscious by something. Something that might have been external influence or my own mind telling me not to worry about this kind of stuff. But now that I had a clearer mind and could resist the influence of the Simurgh, I felt like I had to ask this question. Noel had sort of beaten it out of my subconscious and now it wouldn¡¯t leave the top of my mind.


    If magic was governed solely by knowledge and wisdom, why couldn¡¯t the people on this side of the mountains use magic?


    I remembered discussing something like this with Noel a long, long time ago. Back then, we¡¯d been wondering why the adult elves of the Jora tribe couldn¡¯t use our kind of magic despite the knowledge and wisdom that they had gathered over the years. Yes, some of the oldest elves like elders Starry and Vell could use a little ritual magic, but why couldn¡¯t people like Noel¡¯s uncle Sharun use our kind of magic even though he had lived for so many years and obviously knew enough to have developed some kind of spear thrusting or animal skinning magic. Back then, we had assumed it was because their knowledge was not backed up by enough justification, enough regimented and ordered thought. It wasn¡¯t enough to have the knowledge, it had to be arranged in a certain way and then applied in a certain way so that wisdom could then turn it into a spell. To put it simply, the prehistoric elfin society did not produce the kind of knowledge and wisdom that could create spells on its own.


    But the peoples on this side of the mountains were in what could be called an iron age. Their development was centuries ahead of where the elves and humans had been when I first met them. By this point in time, the demons, fairies, spirits, and even beastmen had a system for passing down knowledge down generations of their people. They had invented iron tools, complex societal structures, and a bunch of weapons and types of weapons which should have easily translated to some sort of magic system. The field of medicine alone should have produced a few real witches or spell masters yet all I could find as I roamed around the place during my many travels were the same kinds of outcasts and mystics that had popped up in ancient times on my Earth. There had been no sign of powerful, systematized magic like the kind of magic that I had invented after learning about the so called fundamentals of magic from the Simurgh.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    This could only mean two things. Either the fundamentals were wrong or our argument for why ordinary people couldn¡¯t use our kind of magic on their own was wrong. The fundamentals couldn¡¯t be completely wrong, since I had built all sorts of spells based on them. But perhaps the ¡®fundamentals¡¯ were not actually the whole picture. As for our assumption that ordinary people couldn¡¯t come up with spells because they didn¡¯t know how to turn ¡®knowledge¡¯ into a spell through ¡®wisdom,¡¯ well, that idea had to be wrong too. There was no way that during the hundreds if not thousands of years the demons had taken to get to an iron age, not a single demon had tried to explore magic. And what would be one of the first things somebody would do if they wanted to do things ¡®magically¡¯? They would try to ¡®will¡¯ something into existence or manipulate something based on their knowledge of it. Surely, they would have created some sort of spell, even if only by chance.


    I tapped my forehead. It was getting late. Campfires sprung to life in the camps down below and with a little light magic, I could even see the furtive glances the soldiers were giving to the cloud that never moved. They shouldn¡¯t be able to see me peering over the edge of the cloud, since I was so far away, but perhaps they would see a tiny speck of movement from time to time. I was sure rumors about the ¡®great elf¡¯ and his ability to fly among the clouds had already spread throughout the camps. It was good propaganda for the troops. Kinda like world war two soldiers who¡¯d see the RAF overhead and write about them in their journals. It was nice to know you had air support, I mused.


    Speaking of flight, the way I¡¯d made this flight magic was a massive clue to unraveling the mysteries of magic in this world. But it also made it even harder to understand why mystics and spiritual types in this world couldn¡¯t fly. I¡¯d tried to explore that question by investigating the way the spirits hovered over the ground, but it seemed like that was just an innate characteristic of their species. Taoc even said she felt no different walking with her feet on the ground and walking on the air a few inches above it.


    I squinted into the distance. Intensifying my light magic in the waning light of the dusk, I looked at the horizon. A smile grew on my face and I dispelled everything but my flight magic. The cloud beneath me began to move at last, and I could¡¯ve sworn I heard the entire camp gasp. It didn¡¯t matter to me though. I rushed through the air towards the horizon, taking the cloud with me.


    Tiny dots appeared in my vision. Those dots turned to a group of figures trudging through the hills towards a small field. A few of them grabbed some sticks and tinder and lit torches with their hands, while some reached for the packs on top of the large animals they had brought with them. It looked like they were planning to make camp for the night on that field. I shook my head. Boy, would they have felt silly waking up the next morning and going just a few minutes further to the main encampment. Lucky for them, their good friend Cas was rushing over with a surprise.


    I parked the cloud right over the field and waited for the group to approach. A familiar figure had taken the lead, stepping onto the field while wiping his forehead and calling something out for the others behind him. Then, the figure stopped, and he looked at a shadow that was falling over him. He looked up and saw me hurtling towards him like a missile.


    Kelser¡¯s eyes widened and he almost tripped over his own feet as he tried to get out of my way. I reached out both hands in front of my body, letting the wind whip past my face but protecting my eyes with magic. I used magic to slow my fall, but kept enough momentum to slam into Kelser and drag him several feet back.


    I stood up and brought a dazed redhead up with me. I smiled at my friend and welcomed him to the war.

 Chapter 219

    ¡°You know he shot us into the sky,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°It was really pretty up there,¡± said Taoc.


    Kol stared at Taoc. ¡°That¡¯s not the point! I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. You say he brought you and the other humans to the camp with his magic, but where is he? I need to give him a piece of my mind!¡±


    Taoc frowned. ¡°Queen of the Demons, do not disrespect the Great Elf. Our Republic will not let you speak your mind in front of him.¡±


    Kol gave the tiny hovering spirit a strange look. Kol was decked out in armor and had a spear about five times Taoc¡¯s length resting by her side. ¡°I see. I¡¯ll make sure to tell him off when you¡¯re not around, then.¡±


    ¡°You shall do no such thing!¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°I¡¯ve known him longer than you have, spirit. He personally escorted me back to my kingdom. He may be a deity to you, but to me he is a powerful, but very mortal friend,¡± said Kol.


    Kelser laughed nervously at the two leaders as they continued their pointless quarrel. He looked like he wanted to intervene, but also didn¡¯t want to walk into the middle of this. Kelser¡¯s eyes traveled to the side and I met his gaze with a grin. Kelser looked back at the demon and spirit who couldn¡¯t see me and he sighed.


    Kol, Taoc and Kelser were meeting in the command tent in the abandoned village. They were waiting for the other leaders from their countries to join them for a large plenary session. Bain Rusta was off preparing the demons for a march in the morning. The other Senators were inspecting the fairies¡¯ camp. The human Elders were putting up their tents right next to the demon village and would probably walk over with Bain Rusta and the Senators.


    I looked at the two lamps on either side of the tent. They were burning a sort of monster fat and produced an uneven glow. I admired how far my invisibility magic had come since I could hide myself in this light now. I was using air magic to hide my presence further, but Kol should have been able to find me by now. I know I didn¡¯t teach her the best kind of magic, but she¡¯d had so much time to work on her magic while the capital was isolated.


    ¡°You spirits are as insufferable as ever,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°And you demons are as uncouth and uncivilized as ever,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°You know what, that¡¯s it. Here, this will shut you up,¡± said Kol as she raised one hand to the side and stared at Taoc with a smirk on her face.


    Taoc looked at her outstretched hand and frowned. Soon, she recalled where she had seen that pose before and her eyes widened. ¡°You! You have learned from the Great Elf?¡±


    The wind in Kol¡¯s sails was taken out by Taoc¡¯s guess. She hadn¡¯t even used her magic yet! Sheepishly, Kol summoned a tiny fireball at the end of her outstretched hand and nodded. ¡°It isn¡¯t much, but I wasn¡¯t kidding about us being friends.¡±


    Taoc scratched her head. ¡°Perhaps I let myself get a little carried away. My apologies. I must say, your understanding of our language is impressive, Queen Izlandi.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sorry too. I didn¡¯t mean to rile you up like that. And thanks, I learned it a long time ago. I think my pronunciation isn¡¯t the best, but I¡¯m impressed by how natural your words sound in the demon language. Do all the Senators speak our language this well?¡± said Kol.


    ¡°No, most of them only speak it as well as the common fairies do,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°It¡¯s impressive enough that your fairies can speak it,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°I have heard most of your demon soldiers speaking in our language as well. I suspect it is because our peoples have lived next to each other for so long. Perhaps our languages share similar roots, as well. There were a few scholars in our Senate who were trying to analyze the languages of the continent, but they disappeared trying to find beastmen who were willing to speak their language in front of us,¡± said Taoc.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Yes, even our spies refused to speak the language in front of us,¡± said Kol. ¡°It¡¯s not like the language is some great mystery. We have heard them speaking it to one another before and some of our merchants did learn enough to make trades and get by in the Horde¡¯s lands.¡±


    Taoc leaned back on the chair. It was a strange sight since her body was hovering above the seat but her back was against the crude wooden chair. ¡°Perhaps we could have deciphered it if our researchers had worked with your spy networks.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Kol, ¡°there are many things our people could have learned from each other. This campaign might even bring our two countries closer together.¡±


    Kol and Taoc met each others¡¯ gazes but their eyes betrayed their true feelings. They did not think the two arch rivals were about to come together after this temporary alliance. Even through the Simurgh¡¯s emotional manipulation, these two leaders knew there was too much bad blood between their people for them to forget everything after the Book of Annihilation was retrieved. There was a reason their camps were separated, with the human camp in the middle. There was also a serious threat of war for the Book once the Horde was defeated.


    Kelser gave the two leaders a strange look and cleared his throat. Kol and Taoc turned to him and apologized for having such a long conversation without him. Kelser had learned the demon and fairy language a long time ago, since he was a determined learner and the demon language he¡¯d learned from Kol on the other side of the mountains really was quite similar to the language used by the fairies and spirits.


    I had been tempted to join the conversation on languages since that was exactly the kind of thing I liked nerding out about. But no, I had to keep a low profile for now. I needed to be able to observe the leaders of the united army without them knowing I was there. It wasn¡¯t just the fact they always acted differently in front of the ¡®great¡¯ and ¡®legendary¡¯ elf. The Simurgh¡¯s manipulation seemed to intensify when the others were talking about me. Or rather, they never brought up the kind of questions that would make the emotional manipulation kick into overdrive. They rarely mentioned the Book of Annihilation or the purpose of the war when I wasn¡¯t around. Clearly, whatever the Simurgh was doing had rules and limits. One of those limits must be that it was easier to get them to avoid sensitive topics than it was to directly deal with them. Based on what I knew about the Immortals, this meant the Simurgh, the Immortal of Desire, was making some sort of sacrifice to be able to interfere directly with mortals. The first time it had done so, after all, it had allowed Madness to find its resting place in the Plains of Serenity.


    I leaned back in my chair. The conversation had drifted off to logistics and the formal declaration of war. I kept listening to the conversation just in case they said something important, but my mind went back to Kol¡¯s fireball.


    Her magic was still pathetically weak. She¡¯d had all this time to work on it, and yet it hadn¡¯t gotten any better. This was incredibly strange. Even if her ¡®knowledge¡¯ had been inferior, was she not increasing her ¡®wisdom¡¯ by using the spells whenever she could? Was she just not using magic all that often? No, look at the way she tried to show off that spell. There was no way she didn¡¯t play around with some spells for fun. Just lighting up her own campfire on the journey over should have helped improve the power and efficiency of her fireballs and yet they were still tiny little balls of flame, not significantly larger than the flames inside the oil lamps hanging on either side of the tent.


    I frowned and tapped my chin. It was becoming clear to me that the ¡®fundamentals of magic¡¯ were not as fundamental as the name implied. I also now knew there was something else stopping the people of this world from coming up with magic on their own. It wasn¡¯t a lack of systematized knowledge or anything like that. So far, I only knew of four beings who could make their own magic and pass it on to others. The three Immortals and myself.


    Bain Rusta walked into the tent. Elder Kezler followed behind him. The other Senators, Elders, and several high ranking demon nobles walked into the tent, making the large tent feel a little cramped. A short demon noble with a mousy mustache and sparkling clean armor waddled over to me. I almost laughed at the way his pristine armor was making him walk, but the demon noble was walking right over to me. No, he was walking over to what must have looked to him like an empty seat.


    The mustached demon tried to sit in the chair but stopped in the air. He blinked and tried to sit down again. Nobody was paying him any attention, since they were all trying to find a place to sit or stand and were trying to greet the other leaders of the united army. In the confusion, the strangely insistent demon noble kept trying to plonk his behind on the chair. It looked like he thought it was his armor messing him up once again. The demon¡¯s face reddened as he tried to sit on the chair with force.


    The demon noble let out a loud cry that cut through the din of the crowd and finally forced every eye to turn towards him. He had fallen face first into the dirt, with an empty chair right behind him.


    I dispelled my invisibility magic. ¡°Hey, watch it will ya! You almost dented your nice shiny armor on my knee.¡±

 Chapter 220

    I wasn¡¯t trying to be funny, yet everything seemed to be turning maddeningly comical around me. The demon noble was groveling at my feet, begging for my forgiveness, while a group of enraged spirit Senators punched and kicked him with their tiny feet. The demon noble didn¡¯t look all that powerful, so it looked like the spirits were hurting him a little bit, but I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why the spirits were so enraged they didn¡¯t call in a fairy from outside to take care of the noble instead. Or were they sly politicians making a show of their anger in front of me without doing something that would truly endanger their alliance with the Izlandi Kingdom? I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, even though I was sure the spirits did not usually operate so subtly.


    After assuring the demon noble that I wasn¡¯t offended, and thanking the spirits for their concern, I told them all to continue their meeting as if I wasn¡¯t there. Of course, they insisted there was no way the meeting could go on without me, and began the tiresome process of sucking up to me and pushing against each other in a bid to get closer to my favor. Since this was exactly why I didn¡¯t want to be involved in the first place, I figured I would make a show of leaving the tent while secretly casting invisibility magic and eavesdropping on the conversations from right outside the tent. Just as I tried to get up and do that, Kelser grabbed my shoulder and said something in my ear.


    I nodded and clapped my hands together. I then repeated Kelser¡¯s suggestion as if it was my own idea, and told the various unimportant leaders that I was grateful for their presence and wanted to host a great feast for the United Army tonight. I tasked them with making preparations for the feasts, which was of course, a not so subtle way of telling them that I wanted them gone so I could talk to the people who would actually be leading these armies. This meant that everybody but Kol, Taoc, Kelser, Kezler and I made for the exit after a few more nice words and pleasantries. We had to send Bain Rusta to take care of the demon noble who was still worried about repercussions for almost sitting on my knee. I made sure all of the spirit Senators left as well, since they were annoying and couldn¡¯t shut up for long, which got me a few sad looks from the tiny spirits. A few of them even glared at the demon noble, who wilted and clung closer to Bain. The human elders had to leave to make sure the demons and spirits got along, and because they were tired after making such a long journey. In the end, I could tell Elder Kezler was also tired, and asked him to rest as well. The old man tried to insist that he was okay, but if even younger elders like Mal looked like they were about to collapse, an old man like Kezler was surely almost half asleep where he was standing.


    Kelser said he could handle things here. Elder Kezler could rest easy tonight. Perhaps looking at the young man who hadn¡¯t broken a sweat along the journey made Kezler realize something, and he quietly nodded. He closed the entrance to the tent and was the last person to leave. Outside, we could already hear the bustling sounds of people preparing for the feast. I heard Elder Kezler talking to the demon and fairy guards who were surrounding our tents. He seemed to be speaking their language quite fluently, which made me remember just how capable this old man was. He was telling them to make sure nobody got inside, and also made them stand just a little bit further from the walls of the tent. In my head, I thanked him for making it easier for me to cast a couple of spells around the tent. A little air magic to stop our words from drifting outside, and a little motion detection magic to make sure I would know if someone tried to get close.


    And so, there were four. Queen Kol Izlandi, representing the demons of the Izlandi Kingdom. Senator Taoc Esprit, representing the fairies and spirits of the Lux Republic. Kelser Roja, speaking for the humans beyond the mountains. And me, Caspian Holm. Representing what? Elves? Reincarnated humans from another world? It didn¡¯t matter. The four of us were here, representing this massive army that was about to invade another country and bring death and destruction to thousands of beings.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°It¡¯s great to see the gang is back together again, eh?¡± I said as I put on an extremely cheerful expression.


    ¡°It is good to see you again,¡± said Kol, with a nod. ¡°And I realized after our last meeting, that I forgot to thank you for rescuing our capital from that terrible spell. Our Kingdom is in your debt.¡± She bowed her head a little.


    ¡°Yes, forgive me, I forgot to show our appreciation. You saved our Republic. We would have been happy to sacrifice our lives for you regardless, but please let us know if there is anything we can do to repay you,¡± said Taoc, her words so quick I could barely understand her. She didn¡¯t want to be too far behind the demon queen with her appreciation.


    ¡°Oh, it was nothing really, our interests aligned and you¡¯re my friends, aren¡¯t you? Friends help each other out, that¡¯s just what friends do,¡± I said as I walked closer to the three of them. Kelser didn¡¯t seem to know if he should say something as well, but I continued before he could. ¡°I¡¯ve always believed in being honest with my friends. I¡¯d say stuff like hey, that guy isn¡¯t worth the trouble, or don¡¯t wear that shirt with those jeans. Well, these things might not matter as much in this world, but the point I¡¯m trying to make is, that I¡¯m the kind of guy who¡¯d slap you in the face if you were about to do something crazy. The kind of friend that¡¯s willing to rock the boat a little to help his friends. Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense. I feel like all I¡¯m doing is rambling to keep you distracted so I can grab onto all of you with my magic hands and bring you close enough to me.¡±


    Kol¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wait, close enough for what?¡±


    Taoc saw me bend my knees and she let out a shout. ¡°No, great elf, please don¡¯t do what I think you are about to do!¡±


    Kelser looked at the other two and was about to open his mouth but I closed it with magic hands. In fact, I closed all of their mouths with magic. I couldn¡¯t have them biting their tongues by accident or anything, could I?


    I¡¯d made a thin incision in the top of the tent with a sharp piece of metal. I pried apart the hole with magic, used a bit of light magic to turn all of us invisible, and jumped into the sky with three frightened passengers.


    ---


    I stopped on top of the clouds again, holding onto Kelser a little longer than the others. Kol and Taoc looked pale, but they collapsed onto the clouds without too much complaining after I let go. Although, they weren¡¯t really on the cloud, and were hanging in the air with magic, but since this was their second time around, they weren¡¯t as freaked out by the feeling. Kelser, on the other hand, was uncharacteristically terrified, and was clinging to my side like a koala on a eucalyptus tree. I didn¡¯t think he was afraid of heights, but it could¡¯ve been the speed of our ascent or the suddenness of our stop that had given him the jitters. Either way, he gathered his wits and slowed his breathing down, but refused to look down at the clouds. It also looked like he wanted to say something but didn¡¯t have the breath to say it yet.


    I let him fall to the clouds as well, which made him give a strange cry. He also tried to use magic hands to hold on to me from a distance, but I waved them away with hands of my own. Once Kelser was done panicking and the other two were also giving me disapproving looks, I clapped my hands together and took a few steps back.


    ¡°Sorry about the sudden change in location,¡± I said. ¡°This meeting is a really important one and it just wouldn¡¯t do if this world¡¯s first party of heroes didn¡¯t have clear heads. Here, breathe in deeply. Can you tell how fresh the air is? No soot from campfires, no scent of dirt or sweaty soldiers. And, best of all, you can¡¯t see a single god damned bird!¡±

 Chapter 221

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to bring us back up here,¡± said Kol, ¡°and even if you did, you could¡¯ve told us you were about to do it. Look at poor Kelser. The kid¡¯s lost all the blood in his face. His hair might lose its color at this rate!¡±


    I looked at Kelser. Kol was right that he looked pale and nervous, and absolutely refused to look down, but I thought he was faring better than Kol and Taoc had done their first time around. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said as I put a hand on Kelser¡¯s shoulder. ¡°He knows enough magic to survive the fall even if I dispelled the magic keeping us all up here.¡± For some reason, as I looked over at Kol and Taoc, I saw that their eyes were wide open and their faces were a lot less calm than they had been a moment ago. Did I say something wrong? Ah well.


    ¡°You said¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? What are you saying, Kelser? Speak up,¡± I said.


    Kelser closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stood perfectly still as he faced me, with his feet hanging loose into the clouds. The others were at least pretending like the clouds were solid and they could walk on them, but Kelser seemed to prefer acknowledging the fact the clouds were not substantial. ¡°You said we didn¡¯t have clear heads down on the ground.¡± He frowned with his eyes still closed. ¡°But my mind feels a lot less clear right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you won¡¯t be able to tell,¡± I said as I conjured up some chairs and a table in the clouds. The ¡®furniture¡¯ was also made of wispy clouds, and when I went over to sit in one of the chairs, I was actually being held up by my own magic. I was multitasking by using this meeting as a chance to apply my magic in different ways. ¡°You see, the Immortal of Desire, who is also called the Simurgh, has been casting a spell on all of you to manipulate your emotions. Oh, come sit down will you? And open your eyes already Kelser. I haven¡¯t gone crazy after a few days in the mountains, you know?¡±


    Kelser slowly opened his eyes. ¡°It was more than a few years.¡±


    Kol hesitated but eventually walked over to the wispy cloud seat in front of her. Taoc didn¡¯t hesitate as much, probably because she hovered over the chair anyway. Kelser was the last to one to ¡®sit¡¯ on the chairs, at which point I leaned forward with my elbows on the cloud table.


    ¡°Apologies, once again, for bringing you all up here so suddenly. After determining that we were being manipulated, I knew I had to figure out a way to escape the spell. But although I have figured out a way to resist the spell myself, I can¡¯t help others avoid its effects without first teaching them a few tricks,¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re going too fast for me,¡± said Kol, ¡°like Kelser said, I don¡¯t feel any different up here. I mean, my head feels a little lighter but I think that¡¯s because the air is pretty thin here.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m using magic to make sure you don¡¯t have any trouble breathing,¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, then I can¡¯t feel anything,¡± said Kol. ¡°Are you sure we were being manipulated?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°It was a subtle form of manipulation, most of the time. It wasn¡¯t mind control, which seems to be the Immortal of Evil¡¯s specialty, but a kind of emotional manipulation. Things like intensifying or subduing emotions. Making you feel angry at the tiniest of things. Or planting a little seed of paranoia at night. Really, if somebody hadn¡¯t told me about it, I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve noticed it either. I can¡¯t even tell how long I¡¯d been under the spell.¡±


    ¡°They cast the spell on you too?¡± said Kelser, a surprised look on his face.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not special. Why couldn¡¯t somebody have cast a spell on me?¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Kelser, after a brief pause. ¡°Somehow, I never thought you of all people could be put under a spell like that.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°I agree,¡± said Kol, ¡°you walked right through the spell isolating my capital city. I think most of us thought the Immortals¡¯ spells don¡¯t work on you.¡±


    I tapped the cloud table with my fingers. There was no sound. ¡°I have been thinking about that as well. I am still not sure how that came to be. I have some guesses, but nothing conclusive.¡± I leaned back in the fake chair. ¡°But now that I have created a spell that lets me resist emotional manipulation magic, I want to help you three resist it too.¡±


    ¡°You said you needed to teach us some tricks to resist it,¡± said Kelser. ¡°Does that mean you won¡¯t teach us the spell?¡±


    I looked at Kol and Taoc, who had gotten excited when they thought I¡¯d be teaching them spells. ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think I can teach you this spell. It¡¯s part of a new type of magic that I¡¯m working on right now. I¡¯ll share it with you guys once I have it all figured out. Isn¡¯t much point in explaining it when I don¡¯t completely understand it myself.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we can help,¡± said Kelser. ¡°You don¡¯t have to try to figure it out on your own. Tell me what you¡¯re thinking and maybe if we put our heads together, we can come up with something.¡±


    I looked at the redheaded human for a while. He was earnest and hardworking. If I shared some of my ideas about my new magic with him, I was sure his feedback and insight would be invaluable. But still. ¡°I can¡¯t. Not yet.¡± I looked up at the wide open sky. ¡°But I can tell you why I think this place, high up above the clouds, lets you guys resist the emotion manipulation magic.¡±


    ¡°Being here helps us resist the magic?¡± repeated Kol. ¡°That makes it sound like we are still under the spell.¡±


    ¡°Because you are,¡± I said.


    ¡°But we don¡¯t feel any different,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been over this. You can¡¯t tell if your emotions are your own or if you are being manipulated by the magic,¡± I said. ¡°And I believe the reason you are able to resist it up here is because this place is kind of like a border, no, it would be more accurate to call it the front line on a battlefield.¡±


    ¡°A battlefield?¡± said Kol as she looked around. ¡°Seems a little peaceful for a battlefield, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because it isn¡¯t a battle between physical beings,¡± I said. ¡°I should start from the beginning. I can¡¯t talk about all of it, but I¡¯ll give you a quick summary of the important stuff. See, my magic, Kol, the kind of magic that Kelser and I have been using, is different from the magic I taught you at first.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you told me that when you were teaching me,¡± said Kol. ¡°And Senator.¡± She faced Taoc. ¡°You don¡¯t have to make that face. It isn¡¯t funny.¡±


    ¡°My apologies,¡± said Taoc, still smiling, ¡°but the fact the great elf did not teach you his real magic is amusing to me.¡±


    ¡°Well, at least he taught me something,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°The great elf has taught us many things! There was no time to learn his magic, or else I am sure he would have shared his secrets with us, his most loyal and devoted followers,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°Taoc,¡± I said, rubbing my temple.


    ¡°Yes, great elf!¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°I thought I told you to call me Cas,¡± I said.


    ¡°But, I,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°No buts. If you want to listen to the rest of what I¡¯m about to say, you¡¯re going to have to start calling me by my name. I said we were going to be the first party of heroes in this world, didn¡¯t I? It wouldn¡¯t make sense if we were so distant from each other that we had to use titles, right?¡± I said.


    Taoc bit her lips. She looked at me, then Kelser, and finally Kol, before finally dropping her eyes to the cloud floor. ¡°Understood, great Cas.¡±


    ¡°Just Cas,¡± I said.


    She flinched. ¡°Okay! Fine, whatever you say.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t say it,¡± said Kelser. He seemed to be enjoying this scene.


    ¡°Fine! Cas! There, are all of you happy?¡± she said.


    I clapped my hands. ¡°See? It wasn¡¯t hard, was it? Anyway, where were we? Right, my magic. You¡¯ll wanna listen to this too, Taoc. We don¡¯t have enough time for me to teach you magic while I¡¯m up here, but you need to understand a couple of things before I explain the rest of the story and plan.¡± I leaned forward. ¡°The first and most important thing to understand, is that my old magic, the kind that Kelser uses, assumes that the basis of magic in this world is knowledge and wisdom.¡±

 Chapter 222

    ¡°Knowledge and wisdom?¡± repeated Taoc. ¡°Do you mean you can think about something and do it magically?¡±


    ¡°Sort of,¡± I said. ¡°At first, I thought knowledge was one¡¯s understanding of something. If you could picture fire, understand how fire was formed and what it took to keep the fire burning, perhaps that would be all the knowledge you needed. Wisdom, I believed, was the experience that let you transform your knowledge into magic. But I realized, after a short discussion with my friend Noel, who is now the Ikon of the Immortal of Madness¡ª¡±


    ¡°Was she the elf you were fighting outside at our capital?¡± asked Taoc.


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°She was my first friend in this world. The two of us learned about the fundamentals of magic, or knowledge and wisdom, from the Immortal of Desire. But it seems something strange happened after the Immortal told us about those fundamentals.¡±


    ¡°Something strange?¡± asked Kol when I stopped speaking for a while.


    I thought about how to phrase what I wanted to say without giving too much away. ¡°The magic should not have worked. No, I mean I should not have been able to come up with magic on my own. If you think about what I just said, the system of knowledge and wisdom that I described, I am sure you will find something that doesn¡¯t make sense.¡±


    Again, a pause. Eventually, Kelser opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again to speak, ¡°You said that wisdom is the experience that let you transform knowledge into magic. But if you never had that experience to begin with, how could you have the wisdom to turn knowledge into a spell?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Exactly! In my world, we would call that a catch 22. You need experience to gain wisdom, but you need wisdom to gain experience. This meant there had to be another way to gain experience. Somebody, let¡¯s say a powerful immortal being, would have to share some of their experience with you to help you cast spells.¡±


    ¡°So the Immortal of Desire,¡± said Kelser as he leaned forward, ¡°taught you about knowledge and wisdom, but never gave you the experience that you needed to use to make your own spells?¡±


    ¡°Which means the Immortal must have wanted something from you,¡± said Kol. ¡°I may not know much about Immortals and magic, but I do know about politics and manipulation. The Immortal gave you half of what you needed, and you would get the rest after doing something for the Immortal.¡±


    ¡°That is what Noel told me too,¡± I said, thinking back to what she had said after our fight. ¡°The Simurgh wanted me to become its Ikon. In exchange, I would learn some spells, just like the powerful spells that Noel and your brother Alek were using.¡±


    Kol frowned. ¡°I have already heard about Alek becoming the Immortal of Evil¡¯s Ikon. But I haven¡¯t had the chance to apologize to you yet. I am sorry you had to fight a member of my family. I wish I had taken care of him before he could¡¯ve troubled you.¡±


    I waved a hand at her. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Honestly, I don¡¯t think Alek is smart enough to be blamed for any of this. He¡¯s a desperate, opportunistic man, and your old god, the Evil Eye, seems to love using those sorts of people.¡± I sighed. ¡°But now that you¡¯ve said all that, I should also apologize for Noel¡¯s actions. Not just for what she did to your countries, but also for creating the mess that led all of you here. If she hadn¡¯t stolen the Book of Annihilation, the Simurgh would not have manipulated all of you to gather your armies and march over here.¡±


    ¡°No, please don¡¯t apologize for that,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Yes, great elf¡ªer, Cas,¡± said Taoc quickly but with a stammer. ¡°And now that you bring it up, are we really going to war over an object?¡±


    ¡°Strange isn¡¯t it?¡± I said. ¡°And now that you¡¯re here in the clouds, on the front line where the Simurgh¡¯s magic isn¡¯t as effective, you can finally see that this war is pointless. Well, it isn¡¯t completely pointless, but none of you could justify spilling oceans of blood for an object that you will not even use.¡±


    Kol and Taoc nodded and looked at each other. These two were leaders of large countries, with thousands of people depending on their judgment. They could recognize the absurdity of going to war over a book.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°So the Immortal of Desire, the one you call Simurgh, wanted you to be its Ikon, and also manipulated the rest of us so we would go to war over this Book of Annihilation?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°In a nutshell, yes,¡± I said. ¡°But there is more to it.¡±


    ¡°Of course there is,¡± said Kelser. ¡°After all, you said you were not supposed to come up with magic on your own. But you can use your own magic right now, clearly, since we are sitting in the clouds right now.¡±


    ¡°Yes, because I did not have the wisdom or experience necessary to turn knowledge into magic, I should not have been able to make my own spells,¡± I said, ¡°but something went wrong. Or from my perspective, something went right. I figured out a way to turn my knowledge into spells without receiving wisdom from the Immortal.¡±


    ¡°So you aren¡¯t a follower of the Immortal of Desire?¡± asked Kol. ¡°I think all of us thought you were working for the Immortal.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what my relationship with the Immortal is like,¡± I said, ¡°the Simurgh hasn¡¯t exactly been chatting with me or telling me every little thing that I needed to know. Although, I am not sure if that is because it only views me as a pawn or because directly intervening in this world seems to carry some sort of penalty for the Immortals.¡±


    ¡°That would explain why they don¡¯t just come down here and blow us all away,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Yes, I suspect it works kinda like this place we are in. You can resist the Simurgh¡¯s magic here because it is between the heavens and the earth. Up there is the moon and the red star, and down there, we have the birds,¡± I said. ¡°If the Immortals are concepts in physical form, which is what Noel seemed to suggest they were, then all of them must be covering different concepts. But there have to be places where these concepts overlap or at least meet. Up here in the skies is probably one of those places.¡±


    ¡°But what does that have to do with why the Immortals don¡¯t come down here all the time?¡± asked Taoc.


    ¡°Because,¡± I said, ¡°thinking, sentient beings like us. We are complicated. We are many concepts rolled up into one. Full of contradictions, of paradox, of the kinds of things that cannot be neatly tied up and given over to an Immortal to rule or represent. This place up here might be a battlefield, but there is no greater battlefield of concepts than us.


    ¡°Evil? If only morality was that simple. Inflicting pain on others to protect your own. Making mistakes that hurt others, but making amends later. The worst humans can be redeemed. The greatest elf can fall to vice. Self sacrificing demons might make things worse with their ineptitude. A brutish fairy might never trample a fly. And selfish spirits might help many others by creating abundance. How could the Immortal of Evil ever rule over us completely?


    ¡°Madness? Is it mad to love one another so much we lose sight of our rationality? Perhaps it is. Or perhaps it is pure, irrational love, and is that not a beautiful thing? When your mind goes blank because you met her gaze. When your heart beats louder and faster, with a thump thump thump, and a quiet voice whispers in your ear, go to him. Is it mad to hear that voice? To hear those heartbeats? Of course it is. Or is it? On my world, we identified disorders or conditions that we said were surely madness, but were they? Different people dealt with them differently. Choices, circumstances, all manner of things that muddy the waters, blur the boundaries, and make it hard to say what is madness, what is sanity, and what is rationality.


    ¡°And of desire, there is so much to say. Desire for what? Wealth, power, love, or something else? For tiny tangible things, like good food, a warm embrace, or for large, abstract ideas and ideals, happiness, purpose, or a sense of belonging. And what about when desire leads to evil? Or when desire leads to madness? Or perhaps the evil, the madness, comes before desire? Perhaps we were destined, by our very nature, to be evil, to be mad, to be covetous. Or perhaps it was circumstance, chance, or choice, that led us there.


    ¡°We are many of these at the same time. We may be drawn to evil, infected with madness, and consumed by desire, all at once. Or we may be none of these. Or perhaps we are some of them for a little while, and empty shells after we breathe out. Tell me, if you were a being who could only know absolute concepts, for whom things were never vague, never obscured by the limited lenses of our tiny lives, then would knots like us be worth untangling?


    ¡°No. The Immortals will not, they cannot, control us through their concepts alone. The only thing that they can do is force us to surrender our complexity. To become pale imitations of ourselves, tied to their absolutes, and serving them unquestioningly. The Immortals cannot face us on our terms. They cannot come down to us and have their way with us, not without surrendering some of their absolute power, their rule over singular concepts, to the other Immortals.


    ¡°If I am right, we may be less powerful than the Immortals, but we are, and always have been, their greatest weakness.¡±

 Chapter 223

    Silence in the clouds.


    Our cloud stood still among the waves of white roiling around it. The clouds hid the ground below, but the descending sun was about to kiss the horizon. I couldn¡¯t keep us all up here forever, especially with the army still raring to go down there. I had to break the silence.


    ¡°All of that was a fancy way to say that I think we have a chance to defeat the Immortals,¡± I said. ¡°And we don¡¯t have to join any of them to do it.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know Cas,¡± said Kelser. ¡°We saw the way you were fighting against those Ikons. And from what you¡¯ve told us, it sounds like those Immortals are more powerful than anything any of us have ever faced.¡±


    ¡°Yes, great elf¡ªCas, I still cannot believe our emotions were being controlled down there,¡± said Taoc. ¡°I mean, I believe you, of course great¡ªCas, but I never felt anything. For someone to be able to do that to us without us noticing anything¡­ how could we fight someone like that?¡±


    I nodded slowly. ¡°You¡¯re right. You can¡¯t fight someone the Immortals.¡±


    Taoc blinked. ¡°But you said.¡±


    ¡°I said we have to defeat the Immortals, not fight them,¡± I said.


    ¡°How do we defeat someone without fighting them?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°By not letting them win,¡± I said. ¡°The Immortals are fighting over the Book of Annihilation. I have no idea why they want it, or what they intend to do with it, but if we can get the book from Noel and keep it away from the Immortals, we can stop them from doing whatever they want to do.¡±


    ¡°If we take the book, won¡¯t the Immortals try to get it back?¡± asked Kol. ¡°Getting it is going to be hard enough, but keeping it would be impossible.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± said Kelser, ¡°maybe we can burn it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if it can be burnt,¡± I said.


    ¡°We can figure something out when we have it in our hands,¡± said Taoc.


    I nodded. ¡°That makes sense. No point worrying about it for now. All we need to think about is getting the Book of Annihilation from Noel.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what the war is for, anyway, right?¡± said Kol. ¡°Once you teach us how to resist the Simurgh¡¯s magic, we can fight the war the way the Immortal wanted, but swoop in and take the book for ourselves instead of giving it back to the Immortal.¡±


    ¡°We would have to learn how to resist the emotional manipulation magic,¡± said Kelser as he looked at the horizon. ¡°Unless you¡¯re planning to keep us up here all night, we are going to have to drop back down to the ground, won¡¯t we?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said.


    ¡°And we¡¯ll probably start losing control of our emotions again down there,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°We won¡¯t even notice, will we?¡± said Kol.


    Taoc shuddered. ¡°This spell is terrifying, but I can¡¯t even begin to fathom how powerful the caster would have to be to cast it on us like this.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry. There¡¯s a very simple way of dealing with all of you for the night.¡±


    Kol blinked. ¡°I don¡¯t like the way you said that.¡±


    I chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean. Oh, before we head back down, there is one more thing I wanted to say.¡± I looked at all of them in turn. Then, I waved my hands and the clouds disappeared from under us.


    Taoc jumped up, Kol¡¯s face paled, and Kelser pointed his nose up quickly. Ignoring the vertigo, I looked down at the dusk-dyed landscape. I identified the command tent and saw Bain Rusta and a few spirit Senators making their way over to it. Elder Kezler¡¯s orders could only keep the others away from the command tent for so long. It also wouldn¡¯t surprise me if the Simurgh had made Bain and the others a little concerned or inquisitive about what was going on in there. It was time to descend, but first.


    ¡°The army can¡¯t come,¡± I said.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°What?¡± said Kol, her face just a little bit brighter.


    ¡°I said, we can¡¯t take the army with us,¡± I said.


    Taoc, who had caught her breath by now, said, ¡°Are you saying we cannot take the army with us against the Singing Horde?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I said.


    ¡°Us?¡± said Kelser. ¡°With us? Does that mean you want the four of us to take on an entire country?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the plan.¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not the plan!¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°And if it is, it¡¯s a terrible plan!¡± said Kol.


    ¡°I must agree with them, Cas!¡± said Taoc.


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Well, at least you¡¯ve gotten used to saying my first name now, Taoc.¡± I made us start slowly descending out of the sky. We were still invisible, but I was expecting Bain and the Senators to notice when we reentered the tent. We weren¡¯t falling fast enough to get inside before they arrived. But that was fine. I just needed a little time to convince the others.


    ¡°Look around at these people as we return to the ground,¡± I said, gesturing my arms held wide. ¡°When I was fighting against Noel and Alek at the Republic¡¯s capital, did any of them fight with me? When Noel and I were hurling spells at one another, or rushing through the city, trading blows among the buildings, could any of them have done anything but watch? Armed soldiers, covering in armor from head to toe, and they were all reduced to spectators. They would be nothing but fodder for the Immortals and their real supporters,¡± I said.


    ¡°There will be many soldiers on their side too, Cas,¡± said Kol. ¡°The beastmen are powerful warriors. We need our own soldiers to hold against their numbers while the rest of us fight the Ikons and their most powerful supporters. There is no way we can defeat the Horde and take the book without this army behind us.¡±


    ¡°A few spells from me or Kelser and those beastmen will have no choice but to turn tail and flee,¡± I said. ¡°You remember how I took down Alek¡¯s army outside your capital, Kol? It will be even easier now that I have more powerful magic at my disposal.¡±


    ¡°Okay, Cas, perhaps it makes sense to leave these guys behind if they¡¯re not going to be useful,¡± said Kelser, ¡°but what about the humans? They know magic, and many of them can learn the magic you were talking about earlier. Your new magic, or whatever it is you wanna call it. Shouldn¡¯t we take them with us, at least?¡±


    ¡°No, we can¡¯t. One of my biggest regrets is not doing more for the elfin Jora tribe,¡± I said. ¡°Back then, if I had taught more of them better magic, they might have been able to survive against whatever the Immortals had forced them to face. The people of this land will need powerful champions, and right now, only the humans know enough magic to be dangerous to most monsters. We can teach them a few more spells, but their role must be to protect everyone else. Just in case the Immortals do something crazy. I¡¯ve been flung into the future, thrown back in time, and had all sorts of maddening visions thanks to those Immortals. If something happens to us, the humans will need to protect life in this land. That will be their mission.¡±


    Kelser frowned and the others did not look convinced either. The ground was growing larger. We would be falling back into the tent through the tears I had made in the roof.


    ¡°And there is another reason we can¡¯t take them all with us,¡± I said, quickly, ¡°speed.¡±


    ¡°Speed?¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°Yes, speed. Think about it. How long did it take all of you to get here? There is a reason you sent the scouting parties ahead of you, and it wasn¡¯t only because you could afford to lose a few men and not an entire army. A smaller group is faster and can adapt more quickly,¡± I said. ¡°If the four of us go alone, we can get to the Book of Annihilation much more quickly. We can rush past their defenses, and surprise them before their armies are even ready to face us. With the element of surprise on our side, we might not have to fight any large armies at all. We could sneak up to Noel with my invisibility magic or something and snatch the book right out of her hands.¡±


    ¡°That sounds a little optimistic,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Cas,¡± said Kelser. ¡°Is there something you aren¡¯t telling us?¡±


    I clicked my tongue. Kelser was as sharp as ever. ¡°Alright, fine. I¡¯ll say it. I think we don¡¯t have enough time.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire, the Simurgh, it doesn¡¯t like to interfere with the world at all. Think about it. Madness has the moon, the Evil Eye has the red star, but the Simurgh never came to me with its birds nor did it take control of the sun or something. The first time I met the Immortal, it was hiding as a bunch of birds inside an old tree. And yet, this reclusive Immortal is trying so desperately to get our army to rush towards the Horde? It just doesn¡¯t add up. The only way it makes sense is if somebody is about to use the Book of Annihilation to do something. Something that the Simurgh does not want them to do,¡± I said. ¡°And I have a feeling we don¡¯t want Madness or the Evil Eye to use the book, either. We have to get to the book faster, and we have to do it without sacrificing all of these people around us. Because let me tell you what would happen if we took this army into the Horde¡¯s territory with a desperate Immortal riling up our emotions and telling us to go faster. It would be a disaster. An absolute and terrifying disaster.¡±


    The others were silent. We fell through the tent and landed on the ground. Bain and the Senators were already calling out for a search party, panic stretched out all over their faces. Kelser called out to them and they turned around.


    ¡°So how are we supposed to resist the Simurgh¡¯s magic for the night?¡± whispered Kol.


    I smiled. As Bain and the Senators looked on, I approached the three friends I had just secretly taken to the skies, and watched as all of them gave me strange looks. Kelser¡¯s eyes widened first. I raised my hand and brought it down quickly.


    Three people fell to the ground, unconscious.

 Chapter 224

    Kol rubbed her neck. ¡°I¡¯m a queen.¡±


    ¡°Yes you are,¡± I said.


    ¡°I command the love and adoration of my people,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°You sure do,¡± I said.


    ¡°If it was anybody else, Bain would have had them executed,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Sounds a little extreme, but whatever,¡± I said.


    Kol gave me a blank look. ¡°Extreme? You can¡¯t say that when your solution to us having our emotions manipulated on the ground was to knock us all out!¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°It worked, didn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°It did,¡± said Kelser. ¡°Now can we please get back to what you were saying?¡±


    ¡°Of course, thank you Kelser,¡± I said, smirking at an indignant Kol. ¡°Now that we are back in the clouds, we have to figure out a way to get you guys to resist the Simurgh¡¯s emotional manipulation, permanently. Since it would be too difficult to teach you this spell, since it is based on my new magic, and since I can¡¯t seem to use this spell on others, I figured we could try combining both of these approaches. First, I¡¯ll teach you a few tricks that helped me come up with this magic, and then I¡¯ll try to use my magic to help you better control your own emotions.¡±


    Taoc rubbed her tiny neck. I was extra careful not to hit her too hard, but it looked like I¡¯d shaken her up a bit worse than I had the other too. Still, she didn¡¯t complain about it at all, which made me think she was holding her tongue out of her respect for the elves. She might be the first one to learn how to resist the Immortal¡¯s magic, if she could control her emotions so well already. ¡°Cas,¡± said Taoc, ¡°do we really have to sit this way?¡±


    I looked down at her as she was sitting on top of the clouds in a lotus position. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°And regulate your breathing. I¡¯m using magic to manage the air around your bodies. It shouldn¡¯t feel any lighter than it would on the ground. So breathe in, and breathe out. Hold your breath in between for a while, and make sure each breath is deep. As deep as you can get it to be!¡±


    ¡°I am trying!¡± complained Taoc. Spirits were small so their lungs were small too, so I didn¡¯t judge her too harshly. Still, she was restless and that did not help with regulating emotions.


    ¡°You seem to have already gotten the hang of it, Kol,¡± I said.


    The demon queen did not reply. I nodded at her and cast a spell. Kol began to frown. Her frown deepened and beads of sweat began to appear on her forehead until she finally collapsed to the fake ground and let out a short shout. She picked herself up and glared at me. ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°What was what?¡± I said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t pretend like you don¡¯t know!¡± said Kol. ¡°I felt a massive weight bearing down on me. Were you pressing down on me with your hands or something?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it. Messing up your concentration wouldn¡¯t be funny at all.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Adding a little weight on your head with magic hands and air magic to force you to keep your cool under pressure, now that I could imagine doing.¡±


    ¡°So you did put something on me!¡± she said.


    ¡°Just get back to your breathing exercises,¡± I said. ¡°And try to keep calm no matter what. I¡¯ll probably be tickling you next time.¡±


    ¡°No, wait, don¡¯t do that, I¡¯m very ticklish!¡± said Kol.


    ¡°After that I¡¯ll splash water on your head,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, my hair!¡± she said.Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°And we might finish the day with a little fire training,¡± I said.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t burn my clothes,¡± she said, ¡°these were very expensive!¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you pay for them from the treasury?¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course I did,¡± she said.


    ¡°Then you can pay for some more!¡± I said with a chuckle. Kol complained but eventually she had no choice but to go back to the lotus position while trying to control her breathing. Despite all her complaining, she withstood the pressure and tickle training pretty quickly. The water training did mess her up though, mostly because she kept trying to keep her hair dry.


    ¡°And what about you, Kelser? Had any luck yet?¡± I said as I walked over to Kelser.


    Kelser shook his head. He was sitting in the lotus position, trying to regulate his breathing and empty his mind, but he was having trouble letting go of some of his thoughts. It was surprising, considering how good he was at magic, but the young man was pretty bad at keeping his mind empty and calm.


    ¡°And you sure you don¡¯t want to tell me what¡¯s in your mind?¡± I said.


    ¡°No,¡± he said quickly.


    ¡°You know that¡¯s terribly suspicious,¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± he said.


    I shrugged. ¡°Suit yourself.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Kids and their secrets. It¡¯s always something embarrassing and they¡¯re terrible at hiding it. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell her you have a crush on her.¡±


    ¡°What? How¡¯d you know?¡± he said, keeping his voice low.


    ¡°Oh, you know, I can read you like an open book,¡± I said.


    ¡°But you don¡¯t know her!¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t?¡± I said. ¡°Well, guess that¡¯s all I¡¯m gonna get from you then.¡±


    Kelser frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I mean I didn¡¯t know it was something about a girl,¡± I said. ¡°But thanks for letting me know.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re terrible,¡± he said, gritting his teeth.


    ¡°You¡¯re naive,¡± I said. ¡°And don¡¯t worry, I know just the thing to get your mind off of love.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yep,¡± I said as I walked over and started putting pressure on his shoulders with magic. ¡°Kids like you need a little kick to keep them from wasting all their time thinking about crushes.¡±


    ¡°Not fair!¡± he cried.


    ¡°Have fun! Once you can keep cool under this, we¡¯ll move you onto tickle training too,¡± I said as I walked away.


    I cycled between the three of them, giving them pointers, and changing up their training from time to time. As expected, Kol moved onto fire training by the end of the day, and Taoc couldn¡¯t stop giggling from the mere mention of tickling. Kelser, surprisingly, seemed to recover after our little chat, and shot right past Taoc, completely ignoring the tickle training. As the sun began to set on another day of training, Kelser spat out a mouthful of water and swept a hand through his wet hair before shooting me a glare and returning to his training. I met his glare and only looked away once he was back in lotus position.


    The sun was getting low. I waved my hand and cleared away the clouds. Far below, I saw the soldiers making camp for the night. From up high, I could see the abandoned village in the distance, not too far from where the army had come to a rest. We had left pretty late in the day, thanks to a few delays and arguments that I had had with Bain Rusta and the others. I managed to convince them to improve our supply lines before leaving the village, since the Horde could always try to starve out an army of this size instead of engaging with us directly. Still, we were almost over the border and were only waiting for confirmation from our diplomats that they had passed on the declaration of war through the official channels. Starting tomorrow, the United Army would be officially at war with the Singing Horde.


    In my head, I planned out the distractions that I was going to put in front of the army. First, they would be diverted to another direction thanks to a block in the road. Then, their scouts would think they had found a large raiding party nearby, forcing the army to take up arms and brace for a fight. When none would come, they would assume the maneuver had been a feint and would definitely fall for it a few more times before deciding to keep marching with their guard up. I was also going to make a couple of rivers overflow in their path, and bring a few annoying but not dangerous monsters over to them as well. I had a few other ideas too, like messing up supply lines and forcing them to retreat to fix them up again, or making a few fortresses along the way that looked like they were well defended but were actually completely empty. I was going to pull out all the stops to make sure this army took forever to get to the Horde.


    In the meantime, I would train up Kelser, Kol, and Taoc, so they could resist the Simurgh¡¯s mind control magic, and join me on my mission to retrieve the Book of Annihilation.


    Taoc belted out in laughter, falling out of her position and cackling on the empty air like she had just heard the funniest joke of her entire life. I sighed. This was going to be a rough couple of days.

 Chapter 225

    ¡°No! Absolutely not, venerable elf. I cannot allow the Queen to go with you!¡± said Bain Rusta.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get to decide for me, Rusta,¡± said Kol, giving him a glare.


    ¡°But, Your Majesty, please reconsider,¡± said Bain as he looked at Kol with widened eyes, ¡°we are deep inside enemy territory. Our scouts have seen raiding parties all over the place. Our massive numbers have kept them at bay so far, but they will certainly try to take out a small party if it separates from the main army. You mustn¡¯t go!¡±


    I looked away from the bickering demons and surveyed the rest of the command tent. Taoc was talking to the other spirit Senators in a low but commanding voice, asking them to hold down the fort while she joined my party on our scouting mission. The other Senators seemed hesitant, although I couldn¡¯t tell if that was because they were worried for Taoc or because they didn¡¯t want her to get so much time to get closer to me. Taoc had mentioned how some of the other Senators were jealous of how close she was to me, the great elf, and how they didn¡¯t like the fact I was training her in secret. She promised them she would put in a good word for them with me, and that they wouldn¡¯t be long. The great elf only wanted to share some of his magic with his inner circle before letting them teach the rest of them. She added a quiet threat for good measure, telling the eager spirits the great elf would not like it if they questioned his intentions too much.


    On the other side of the tent, in a corner that I was hiding with a little magic, Kelser was having a somber moment with Elder Kezler. The old man put his hand on Kelser¡¯s head and ruffled his hair. Usually, Kelser would blush and shy away from the old man¡¯s show of affection, but now, he lowered his head in silence. Elder Kezler said some words quietly, and I made sure I couldn¡¯t hear it. Even though they¡¯d never know that I could hear them, I wanted to give them some privacy. The other elders also stood around Kelser, saying something to him and patting his back or shoulders. A few of them seemed to be making a prayer, although I couldn¡¯t be sure what for. Elder Kezler leaned forward and kissed Kelser¡¯s forehead. Then he turned around and left the tent. The other elders followed him out. Kelser stared at the ground, his face hidden from my view. His body shook a little. I looked away.


    I leaned back in my chair. The human elders did not know where Kelser was going, since we couldn¡¯t risk their emotions going out of control if they found out, but somehow, it seemed like they already knew. Thankfully, they seemed calm enough, even if their reactions had been a little sobering. So sobering, in fact, that I had to stop and think about the risks myself.


    Last night, Kelser, Kol, and Taoc learned how to resist the Simurgh¡¯s emotional manipulation magic. I had confirmed it by trying to rile them up intentionally, and by asking them ¡®why are we fighting this war¡¯ to which all of them replied without mentioning the Book of Annihilation. It was possible the Simurgh was trying to trick us by letting us think they had gotten around the magic, but I had a feeling the spell wasn¡¯t that intricate and flexible. And even if it was, there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it. I had put a ton of obstacles in front of the United Army, but it was still making good time across the lands of the Singing Horde.


    The Horde for their part seemed to have retreated as far back as they could. Bain and the others thought they had been seeing scouting parties, but they were all illusions that I had created. The real scouting parties had been diverted by my magic far from the United Army¡¯s camps. I had set up some obstacles in their paths as well, but once I left for the heart of the Singing Horde¡¯s lands, it would only be a matter of time until the United Army and the Horde¡¯s scouts finally met for real. What would happen then was anybody¡¯s guess. I was planning to leave some directions for the army to capture¡ªnot kill¡ªanybody it came across, but there would be no way to ensure that happened when I wasn¡¯t here. I was going to leave Elder Kezler and the other human elders in overall command, although they didn¡¯t have as much experience commanding large armies. Bain and the Senators were better choices for commanders if we wanted the United Army to actually fight and win against the horde, but I would rather leave the level headed elders in charge so they could avoid fighting.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Queen Kol Izlandi raised her voice. Bain and the other nobles shut their mouths. Kol began telling them about how she was the queen of the kingdom, inheritor of the sacred heirlooms, and descendant of the ancient demon kings and queens. She had taken her throne back from her traitorous brother, the brother who was now supporting another army against their people. Her brother had gained a supernatural power through a deal with a nefarious being. If Kol was to have any chance against them, she had to learn from the Great Elf of Legend. The Great Elf would teach her more powerful magic, magic that she could use to lead her people from the front lines. It was an honor and a privilege for her to learn this secret knowledge, and it would be something she would pass down to her successors. Generations of demons would remember her for her courage and foresight. She couldn¡¯t let go of an opportunity like this one, no matter how dangerous it would be.


    The demon nobles were cowed by Kol¡¯s speech but Bain Rusta still looked unsure. I felt like his caution was being amplified by the Simurgh¡¯s magic, but eventually, he had no choice but to sigh and let the queen do what she wanted to do. The perks of being an absolute monarch, I guess. Bain did, however, ask Kol to be careful, and insisted she wear her full battle armor. Kol accepted the armor even though she knew it wouldn¡¯t be of any help against the Ikons and their magic.


    Over on the other side, Taoc made a bunch of short and fiery speeches to the other Senators. She spoke of glory and justice. She invoked heroes from the Republic¡¯s history, people who had led the charge against demons and beastmen and even monsters in times long forgotten by most. She also reminded them that although she had the Great Elf¡¯s favor, she was a humble Senator like the rest of them. As a servant of the Republic and its long established institutions, any favor that Taoc received was favor that the entire Republic and its people could share. After all, she was their representative. She would ask my permission and share any magic that she learned with the rest of them. She also said that the Senators needed to be on their best behavior and that they had to be cautious before our return. The United Army needed the Great Elf and his entourage to fight against the Ikons that almost destroyed their great capital. Until our party returned, the Senators were tasked with defending the army and avoiding the Ikons at all costs. Begrudgingly, the spirits agreed.


    Kelser¡¯s chest rose slowly. Then he exhaled. I smiled and stood up. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. I promised him that I would bring him back safely. He would see his family again.


    I felt the gravity of my promise as it left my lips. It was a promise I had not made lightly, and it reminded me of the way I had failed to return Noel to her family, but this time, I was determined to do anything to get Kelser home safely.


    Kelser didn¡¯t reply and he was still facing away from me. I nodded slowly, turned around, and walked out of the tent. Taoc and Kol followed behind me. The sun was high in the sky on a beautiful mountain on the plains. There were open fields all around us, with insects buzzing all around. A sweet scent drifted through the air. Was it flowers, fruit, or something that was being cooked inside the camps? I couldn¡¯t tell. I took a step forward and turned around.


    Kelser appeared from inside the command tent. His cheeks were puffy and his eyes a little red. He sniffed and smiled. I nodded with a grin. Kol walked up next to me with a solemn expression on her face. Taoc laughed as she said something to a Senator. The four of us walked to the edge of the camp. Soldiers saw us and followed out of curiosity. The leaders of the different factions followed us all the way until the edge of the camp. Even the human elders had returned, although I couldn¡¯t see Elder Kezler anywhere.


    Taoc saluted the fairies. Kol lifted her nose and accepted her people¡¯s bows. Kelser waved at his family. I looked at everyone, raised a hand, and brought it down.


    Sunlight glared over where we stood. When I opened my eyes, the crowd in front of us blinked and looked around. I signaled to the others and they followed me as we began walking away.

 Chapter 226

    The first thing after we left so dramatically, was to circle around to the back of the army and sneak into a small thicket of trees. I raised a hand to signal the rest of the party and the stopped. I stared in front of us at the back of the United Army. There were only a few soldiers here but their job was crucial. They were to look after the supplies being carried by monsters. This was also where they would receive new supplies from the supply lines that the army was periodically deploying behind it. A new contingent of soldiers would man each supply outpost, preparing for beastmen raids and ensuring supplies could reach the main army without too much trouble.


    Our party was invisible thanks to my magic and the United Army was stationary. The leaders of the army would be waiting here for us for a while, as per my directions, and would only start moving ahead once their inflamed paranoia made them think our party had been attacked by beastmen or something. I predicted it wouldn¡¯t take more than a couple of days for them to start thinking that way, which was why I would send a letter back to them telling them we were fine and that we had decided to go deeper into enemy territory. I would order them to stay put but I wasn¡¯t expecting them to listen and stay for long. Still, it would buy us some time. For now though, the army was on alert but wouldn¡¯t be too worried about the tail end of their forces back here because their scouts hadn¡¯t noticed any raiding parties.


    I stepped forward onto the empty plains and cast another spell. One of the monsters looked up. It moved its head from side to side as if it had heard something but that wasn¡¯t enough to attract the attention of the soldiers. I cast another spell. Many other monsters raised their heads and they looked from side to side. Then, one of the monsters let out a cry, followed by another, then another, and soon, a group of monsters was growing loud and restless. The soldiers looked over and most of them began trying to calm those monsters down. The rest of them had fixed posts so they only glanced over from time to time but didn¡¯t move. That would have to do.


    I jumped forward off the ground and passed over the heads of the soldiers who were standing guard. I landed on top of the first monster I had called on to, and the monster began to move around from the sudden weight on its back. I reached out with a hand and rubbed the monster¡¯s neck. The monster froze and then it began to slowly move its head from side to side. I patted the top of the monster¡¯s head and whispered something quietly. This made the monster excited again so I calmed it down. Then, with another wave of my hand, all hell broke loose on the other side where the monsters had lost their calm. The few soldiers who had been looking on from their posts couldn¡¯t stand aside any longer, as the various monsters threatened to overwhelm the other soldiers and ruin the supplies that were stored on carts and on the monsters¡¯ backs. I figured some of the Simurgh¡¯s magic probably intensified their panic, since it was strange for all of these soldiers to abandon their posts like this. Thinking about how easy it was to get these soldiers to do something like that, made me realize how terrible a battle it would be if these guys went up against the Horde.


    ¡°Come on Paris,¡± I said to the familiar Fil Tusker as I put invisibility magic on her large body, ¡°let¡¯s go on an adventure!¡±


    Paris lifted her tusks and let out a loud cry that I had to muffle with air magic. Then, she rushed ahead and we joined the others waiting in the trees.


    ---


    ¡°Won¡¯t Paris slow us down?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°My magic has gotten a lot better,¡± I said, ¡°making the three of you go faster with my magic doesn¡¯t take any effort at all anymore. The only way I can keep improving my speed and endurance while we cross the steppes is by bringing along something of Paris¡¯ size.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re bringing her along to do some magic training?¡± asked Kol.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m bringing her along because she¡¯s a powerful monster who can break down barriers and carry our supplies,¡± I said.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you break the barriers and carry the supplies with your magic?¡± asked Taoc.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°Are you saying you want me to be your beast of burden?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, great-Cas, that isn¡¯t, I wasn¡¯t,¡± said Taoc quickly.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± I said with a chuckle. Making fun of Taoc was one of the few bits of fun I could have these days. ¡°But to answer your question, yes I could do those things for you, but you have to think about when I¡¯m not around.¡±


    ¡°When you¡¯re not around?¡± said Kol. ¡°Are you going to leave us behind or something?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°but you never know. This mission is going to get messy. We might have to split up, take different approaches, maybe even retreat a couple of times. Kelser can hold his own, but you and Taoc are still learning magic. Even if you learn everything I want to teach you over the next few days, you won¡¯t be powerful enough to stand against the Ikons. It will be helpful having a large Fil Tusker like Paris around to have your back. Besides, with how tough this training is going to be, there is no way the two of you will be able to keep up even with my magic. You¡¯re probably going to have to ride Paris around until we get there.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that,¡± said Taoc. Kol agreed with her. The two of them had learned how to resist the Simurgh¡¯s mind control. Now, I had to start teaching them magic.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said, ¡°you guys won¡¯t have to learn the sort of stuff Kelser had to learn. We don¡¯t have much time, so you¡¯ll be learning a few attack and defense spells, and most of them will be based on my new magic.¡±


    ¡°I thought your new magic wasn¡¯t ready yet?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t,¡± I said, ¡°these spells will be based on the old magic that we use, but with a few important insights from my new magic. You can learn them too, if you want, or you can try to help me figure out my new magic.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t I do both?¡± he asked.


    I shook my head. ¡°There won¡¯t be enough time. We will be reaching our destination in a few days, and the United Army won¡¯t be far behind. We have to finish everything before there is too much bloodshed.¡±


    Kelser frowned and thought for a moment. ¡°Then I¡¯ll learn the spells.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to learn my new magic instead?¡± I asked, a little surprised.


    ¡°I do,¡± he said, ¡°but like you said, we don¡¯t have enough time. I¡¯d rather be a little stronger for sure than risk learning a bunch of theoretical magic that may or may not be useful in a fight.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Fair enough. There is no guarantee my new magic will be good in a fight, at least not until I start making some more aggressive spells. I¡¯ll teach you a few movement spells though, like flight.¡±


    ¡°Can we learn that too!¡± asked Taoc.


    ¡°Depends on how quickly you learn the other stuff,¡± I said. ¡°The two of you might need to specialize in defense and speed, too. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to gain a lot of fire power in such a short amount of time. But learning enough to protect yourselves, draw away enemy fire, and maybe support us from the back, should be good enough.¡±


    ¡°I would rather learn how to do a lot of damage,¡± said Kol.


    ¡°You guys aren¡¯t here to fight the Ikons directly,¡± I said, ¡°but I learned from my last fight against those two that their special magic, the spells that were given to them by the Immortals, are too tough to deal with on my own. Even having you guys chucking projectiles at them from a safe distance would make all the difference in a fight. Especially against Noel¡¯s bubbles and Alek¡¯s mind control.¡±


    ¡°What are we going to do about his mind control, anyway?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°You¡¯ll learn how to resist mind control too. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult now that you know how to control your emotions,¡± I said.


    We rushed over the empty fields, Paris lumbering after us at a surprising pace. The sounds of her footsteps thundered in my ears, but I stopped them from carrying too far with a little air magic. Casting so many spells all the time along our journey was going to be tough. I was already feeling winded and would be taking a break soon. Taking breaks would definitely slow us down but I had learned from my last fight that endurance and stamina were essential in battles against Ikons. The overwhelming fatigue I had felt in that fight still haunted me, and I could swear just thinking back to the fight made my muscles ache. I would be prepared this time. Even if I had to fight those two for days on end, I would do it. This time, I would win.

 Chapter 227

    ¡°Where are we going anyway?¡± asked Taoc.


    I looked ahead and thought for a moment. ¡°First, we need some information. Your spies told us the Horde doesn¡¯t have many settlements, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re going to wait for the army to reach their capital or heartland. They must be gathering their forces somewhere, and that¡¯s probably where we¡¯ll find Noel and Alek.¡±


    ¡°There is a small settlement just a day¡¯s run from here, according to the United Army¡¯s sources,¡± said Kol. ¡°The beastmen have been abandoning their settlements and camps before the army¡¯s arrival, but perhaps we can catch someone there before they evacuate.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sounds like a plan. You said it¡¯ll take a day to get there? That means we have enough time to get you guys started with your training.¡± A wide grin stretched across my face.


    Taoc glanced at me and her eyes widened. ¡°Wait, why do you have that look on your face?¡±


    Hearing Taoc, Kol turned to me as well. ¡°I don¡¯t like it. Why are you smiling like that! No, wait, why do I feel something on my shoulders. It¡¯s heavy! Wait, Cas, I can¡¯t keep up!¡±


    ¡°My body is heavy!¡± said Taoc as she also slowed down. ¡°Why can¡¯t I float? No, why are my feet on the ground? I can¡¯t walk like this!¡±


    Kelser stopped running, pulling Paris back with him. He looked back at Taoc and Kol with a strange look on his face. The large Fil Tusker cried out in protest, she seemed to really enjoy zooming through the open fields without getting tired at all. I jumped up and landed on top of Paris, looking down at the sweating and groaning demon queen and spirit senator. The two of them were lifting their legs slowly, putting one foot ahead of the other in slow motion.


    ¡°Did you think I¡¯d carry you all the way there? We don¡¯t need unnecessary baggage on this mission,¡± I said.


    ¡°Then just stop using your magic on us,¡± said Kol through gritted teeth.


    ¡°Will you say that to the Ikons too?¡± I said. I mimicked Kol¡¯s voice, ¡°Stop using your magic on us, scary miss Ikon! I promise I¡¯ll be a good girl.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t sound like that!¡± said Kol. ¡°And why would I say something like that?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe because you¡¯re complaining about a bit of weight and endurance training. Look at Kelser over there. You can¡¯t even tell that he¡¯s under the same spell.¡±


    Taoc looked at Kelser with a strange look on her face. ¡°How are you resisting this spell, human?¡±


    ¡°My name is Kelser, not human,¡± said the redhead as he took a few slow but sure steps towards the tiny spirit. ¡°And I am not resisting the spell with my body. Cas is using magic hands to press down on us from above. I¡¯m just using my own magic hands to hold off his hands. He isn¡¯t pushing down very hard, so as long as I concentrate, I can hold him off.¡±


    Kol collapsed to one knee. ¡°Magic hands? But I don¡¯t know that spell. Are we supposed to come up with it under pressure or something?¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t know how to use magic,¡± said Taoc, ¡°at least the demon princess knows how to light a fire. Please, great¡ªCas, teach me how to keep walking next to you!¡±


    The corner of my mouth twitched. ¡°Why do you have to phrase everything that way? And you still haven¡¯t gotten over the great elf thing, have you?¡± I shrugged and began walking forward, slowly. I¡¯d been using magic to help us run for a while now. Walking slowly for a while would be a nice break. Using a few magic hands wouldn¡¯t tire me out at all, so this could count as a break.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Wait, aren¡¯t you going to teach them something?¡± said Kelser as he walked up to me.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said. ¡°I am teaching them something.¡±


    ¡°You want them to endure the pressure and keep up with us?¡± asked Kelser. ¡°Do they really need big muscles and great stamina to fight the Ikons? I thought you wanted them to stay in the back and provide support.¡±


    ¡°I mean, those things are important,¡± I said, glancing back at them over my shoulders, ¡°but that¡¯s not what I actually want to teach them. I¡¯m trying out something new. Something that might help me understand my new magic better.¡± I looked at Kelser.


    ¡°Something new?¡± said Kelser as he looked at Taoc and Kol. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not just trying to bully them for fun?¡±


    I chuckled. Taoc and Kol were struggling against the magic hands. Kol was still stuck in place on one knee and Taoc couldn¡¯t really walk directly on the ground with her legs, since spirits like her weren¡¯t used to that at all. I closed my eyes and focused on the magic hands.


    I invented the magic hands spell from motion magic. By understanding some of the basic principles of motion, I was able to move things around from one place to another even from a distance. And as I used the spell, my intangible hands became more dexterous. Now, while I was pushing down at Kol and Taoc from above, I could also push at them from other directions, applying force to varying degrees. But there was more. The magic hands were based on motion magic, which meant I could make things move through space, but I could also make things move faster or slower. And as I got better at this spell over time, I was able to make certain parts of objects go faster or stay in place, a kind of advanced manipulation that one could do with their real physical hands.


    The magic hands started pressed down on Taoc¡¯s head. They flicked at Kol¡¯s ears. And they pinched a very annoyed Kelser¡¯s cheeks. The hands that had been pressing down on the three now began annoying them with strange movements and lots of poking and prodding. I relaxed, caught my breath, and regained my energy. These silly actions with the magic hands didn¡¯t use any energy at all, but I could feel the beginnings of a new method of teaching magic brewing inside my head.


    ¡°Stop it already, please!¡± said Kol.


    ¡°Please,¡± said Taoc, her eyes teary from laughing. She was currently being tickled. ¡°I¡¯m laughing too much!¡±


    ¡°If you pinch my cheeks one more time, I swear¡ª¡± said Kelser before his words became unintelligible because of his pinched cheeks.


    I continued pestering my friends for another hour or so. Paris looked on at the three in confusion, unsure why they were acting so strangely. She even looked at me as if she understood I was behind this, but she didn¡¯t do much but graze on some nearby trees. She seemed so intelligent, I was almost tempted to try to teach her magic too.


    ¡°Come on guys,¡± I said, ¡°stop trying to resist the magic and learn it already.¡±


    ¡°Learn what? How to speak through pinched¡ª¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± said Taoc, ¡°stop laughing!¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t tell me not to resist,¡± said Kol as she finally managed to stand up again, ¡°when it feels like there¡¯s a mountain on my shoulders!¡±


    I sighed. I knew this wasn¡¯t going to work. I scratched my head. I didn¡¯t want to do what I had done to teach my old spells. It had been much simpler showing off a spell while explaining the knowledge that I had used to construct it. Noel and Kelser and the other humans had learned spells pretty easily that way. Even Kol had learned elemental magic pretty easily. But for the new magic, I felt like I had to teach in a new way.


    I had come to this conclusion after thinking about why the others couldn¡¯t come up with their own spells. If I taught magic by demonstrating a spell and explaining the ¡®knowledge¡¯ that I had used to construct it, the others would have both the ¡®knowledge¡¯ and ¡®wisdom¡¯ necessary to cast the spell, but they did not receive the experience of creating the spell for themselves. It was like reading a book and watching a video instead of doing your own experiments and arriving at a conclusion for yourself. It was more convenient to learn through a book or lessons from someone else, but it wouldn¡¯t give someone the skills necessary to come to their own conclusions. Everybody that I taught was stuck with the assumptions and arguments I had made to create my spells. For my new magic, I needed to help my friends learn spells without teaching them too directly. I had to help them learn, not give them the answers.


    Watching Kol gritting her teach, Taoc clutching her belly and rolling on her feet, and Kelser clutching at his face, made me wonder. Was there a better way to do this?

 Chapter 228

    ¡°Do we really have to leave, mama?¡± asked a young cat beastman.


    His mother put her hand over his head and moved to stroke it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, son, it¡¯s only for a little bit. We will be back before the harvest, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± The middle aged cat beastman pulled her son close. In her eyes could be seen the reflection of soldiers moving towards her family¡¯s fields. Her husband, a limping beastman with a few fresh bruises on his face, hobbled after one of the soldiers speaking a few words very quickly. The soldier turned around and smacked the beastman once more, sending him sprawling onto the dirt.


    The soldiers stabbed at the crops with their weapons and dug into the earth, uprooting saplings and bushes. The soldier who had struck the farmer walked over to a bushel of early harvested grain and made a signal with his hands. He walked past the grain as it was carted away, and he stopped next to another cart full of unripened food that had been harvested too early. The soldier made another signal and the cart was set on fire. The soldier lifted his foot and kicked the fiery cart towards a wooden shed. Embers flew in the air as the cart made a crunch sound and slammed into the shed, setting it ablaze.


    The soldiers¡¯ leader walked off to the next house in the village but before he could get there, he stopped. The soldiers were rabbit beastmen, with long ears and surprisingly menacing eyes above their puffy cheeks. The rabbit beastmen twitched and looked up at the sky. Arcs of lightning reflected in their beady little eyes. Thunder rumbled across the village. The heavens opened up and it began to rain.


    The rain doused the fire that had only just begun and also fell on top of the rabbit beastmen, soaking them through. The beastmen soldiers tried to run for shelter under one of the unburnt houses but they were too far away and they ended up wet anyway. Their supply wagon was drenched and their weapons¡ªlong spears with curved ends¡ªslipped from their hands as they ran. The fact that they slipped from everybody¡¯s hands had to be a coincidence, right?


    The leader looked around. He had to blink the water out of his eyes multiple times and he should not be able to hear anything over the rain. His ears were drooping from all the water that had been caught in his fur. He reached up with hands that looked unnaturally long on a rabbit beastman, and he began wringing the water out of his ears like they were wet towels. The leader¡¯s eyes finally returned to the family of cat beastmen he had just tried to kick out and steal from, and he froze.


    The family was standing together near the edge of their fields with shocked expressions on their faces. The mother and child were standing where he had left them, which was strange enough since they had been ordered to evacuate and knew what would happen if they failed to listen. But the father whom he had beaten up and left in the dirt a few feet away from what should have been a burning house, was now kneeling next to his wife and son, his mouth agape. The house had been saved, but that could have been a coincidence.


    But the rain had stopped on the edge of the fields. The fields should have been ruined by the heavy rains, since these were not crops that could survive so much rain right before harvest. The food that the rabbit soldiers had harvested had also disappeared from their carts and was now resting next to the cat beastman family. But no, something wasn¡¯t right. The rain was unusual enough, but the farmers should not have been so stunned by it. Happy, confused, maybe even thankful to the God of Music, but stunned? No, something was up.


    Up?


    The rabbit beastman looked up.


    And I looked down at him with a smile.


    ---


    I knocked out the rabbit soldiers with magic hands. All of them collapsed before they could even realize they had been disarmed long ago. I waved my hand and the heavy downpour changed to a light drizzle. I began descending slowly through the sky, and a particularly long arc of lightning illuminated one part of the sky. Kelser and the others received the signal and appeared from behind the trees in the distance. Paris was carrying Kol and Taoc, since those two were still tired from their training. Kelser also looked tired, since he was breathing quickly and walking slower than usual.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I touched the ground next to the rabbit soldiers and faced the cat beastman family. The parents flinched, and the mother held her son closer to her. The father scrambled to his feet, putting the rest of his family behind him as he stared at me with a quivering bottom lip.


    I scratched my head. The entrance had been a little dramatic, but wasn¡¯t this kind of reaction a little much? I was used to being welcomed and revered among the people of this world, so this was a first. I had already learned that the beastmen also told stories of elves and thought of elves as legendary beings. Had the Horde been telling people about me for their propaganda? Was I now some kind of evil monster coming to take their lives and livelihoods?


    I looked at the young beastman boy who was glancing at me through his mother¡¯s arms. Unlike his parents, the boy was staring with a face full of wonder, his expression much better than it had been in front of the rabbit soldiers. I smiled back at him, and although the parents took a step back, the boy almost tripped trying to stay in place.


    The mother flinched yet again as she finally heard something. Her ears flickered towards my party, but she only glanced at them for a moment before returning her gaze to me. The father, on the other hand, turned to my party and almost fell on his back again. His eyes widened with the reflection of Paris, the massive Fil Tusker. The boy also turned to Paris and Kelser, and he gave them an excited, curious look. Paris, perhaps sensing the boy¡¯s gaze, lifted her head a little, pointing her massive tusks like skewers towards the family, and she let out a cry that shook the rain and gave the thunder a run for its money.


    I stepped forward as the family was surprised by Paris¡¯ cry. The parents turned back to me, the father on the ground again, and the mother tightly clutching her son. I raised a hand and waved it. The thunderclouds broke and the rains stopped. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds before filling the area with its warmth and light. I made sure it was especially light around me and my companions. If the Horde wanted to tell people I was some sort of evil being, judging by the cat beastmen¡¯s reactions, then I would have to counter that with a little bit of propaganda of my own. But there was another reason as well, one that I thought would be a bit of a moonshot, but was worth a try anyway.


    I raised another hand. The family held their breath. Something flew out of one of the packs on Paris¡¯ back and landed on top of my open palm. I clutched the little flute, brought it down to my mouth, and took a deep breath.


    I played a tune that day for the family that had almost lost their house and crops. The song wasn¡¯t anything special, I wasn¡¯t the best flute player ever. But with a little bit of air magic, I got the sounds to come out the way I wanted them to, and played a couple of nursery rhymes from my old Earth. The cat beastmen wouldn¡¯t know the lyrics but the good thing about nursery rhymes was that the melodies were simply but catchy. Their simplicity came with innocence and comfort. They sounded happy and optimistic, like you had your whole life in front of you and did not have a care in the world.


    Later that day, I would teach the boy the lyrics to the rhyme, and give him his own flute that I fashioned with magic from a reed-like plant that grew nearby. I would teach him how to make more flutes on his own, should the one I gave him break, and I would also teach him how to play other songs that I had not shown him before.


    I would apologize to the parents for not being able to save all of their crops. I would wave away their thanks and offer some more food for their journey. I would tell them there was an army coming, and although these soldiers had been harsh and cruel, they were right in trying to get them to leave. The family would understand and make their preparations. I would lift up the soldiers with magic and drop them on top of Paris, much to the chagrin of the still incapacitated Kol and Taoc. We would drop the soldiers off near a barracks, but they would be out cold for a while.


    And as we would leave, the beastmen would ask once again for my name, because I had told them that I would not introduce myself before it was time for me to go. The boy had been the first to ask, coming up all the way to the edge of the fields to say goodbye.


    I would smile and raise the flute to my lips and play a happy tune. And as the tune ended, I would raise my voice and say, ¡°I am the God of Music.¡±


    Everything went according to plan, including my sudden disappearance among a wall of fog.

 Chapter 229

    The cat beastmen were not the first family that I had ¡®rescued¡¯ from the soldiers. I had already learned everything I needed to know by eavesdropping on scouting parties and other soldiers. I knew where the Horde¡¯s army was gathering, where they were getting their supplies from, as well as what they knew about the United Army. I had also learned about the evacuation orders that had uprooted dozens of villages and towns so far. The Horde¡¯s Council decided to follow a scorched earth policy, burning anything in the United Army¡¯s path that could be used to supply the massive army.


    Ordinary beastmen despised these orders, but there was nothing they could do about it. Worse still, the beastmen were not used to ¡®cowardly¡¯ tactics like this one in the past. The beastmen were usually the ones doing the raiding, and different tribes would defend their lands to the last if necessary. Never before had the Council decided to burn their own lands to slow down an army. Many of the smaller tribes had to be forced to follow the orders of the council, and there had been a lot of bloodshed deeper inside the Horde¡¯s heartlands. The entire situation was a powder keg waiting to be lit. If there was ever going to be a chance to pit tribes against one another, it would be now.


    Yet, strangely, nobody that I had talked to had the slightest intention of helping us. Even families that we rescued from the clutches of plundering soldiers never agreed to helping us convince their tribes to go against the Horde. The United Army had been planning to bring some of these tribes over to our side on the march through the Horde¡¯s lands, but it looked like that wouldn¡¯t be possible. Even soldiers and scouts that I caught and interrogated refused to give me any answers, and with my modern sensibilities, I wasn¡¯t keen on torture or harsher interrogation techniques. Thankfully, most orders were being relayed orally, so it had been pretty easy to slip into the shadows and overhear everything that I needed to know.


    The Horde was planning to clear a path all the way through their lands. If they forced the United Army to go all the way to the ends of the world, they would surely begin to suffer from supply shortages and terrible terrain. Add in some tactical raids and other sorts of harassment, and there was no way the United Army could win a war off attrition like that. The Council knew the Horde couldn¡¯t take on two nations at the same time, and the Ikons probably did not want to risk fighting a powerful magic user like me again. After all, I already knew the spells they had been given by their Immortals. The magic that the Immortals gave them was not like mine. I could make my own spells, they would have to learn them from the Immortals. I would have the element of surprise with my new magic, and I was sure the Immortals were suspicious of what I had been working on. They must have already seen me using flight magic, but since my new magic wasn¡¯t completely ready yet and I wasn¡¯t teaching it to anyone else out loud, I should be able to surprise the Immortals too.


    ¡°The only problem is, if the Horde knows we have to come to them, and they are planning to make their last stand on the farthest edge of their domain, how far will we have to walk to get there?¡± I wondered out loud.


    Somebody let out a cry.


    ¡°Oh, Kol, are you saying you have an idea?¡± I asked with a gentle smile.


    Another muffled noise filled the air.


    ¡°No, Taoc, do you know how far we have to walk?¡± I asked, turning to the other side.


    ¡°I think,¡± said Kelser between breaths, ¡°they are saying. They do not want to walk anymore.¡±


    ¡°Really? You can understand what they¡¯re saying? Even my translation magic wasn¡¯t helping,¡± I said as I waved my hand and increased the pressure on my three companions.Stolen novel; please report.


    Kelser gave me an angry glare but the other two directed their angry glares at Kelser. Were they blaming him because I increased their training?


    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°we overheard the last group of soldiers saying something about an important commander in the region. Apparently, they¡¯re in charge of evacuating all of the beastmen around here and sending scouts and raiding parties towards the United Army. That commander should know more about where the Horde¡¯s last stand will be. Taking them out here should stop them from battling the United Army, too. The longer the Horde doesn¡¯t get any scouting information about the United Army, the longer my delaying tactics should work on both sides.¡±


    I looked down at the three who were barely keeping up, even with the help of my magic. They were all sweating like crazy and I could tell they would probably go to sleep as soon as I let them. Still, it had been long enough. Clearly, Kol and Taoc were not going to be able to learn magic hands this way. My attempt to get Kelser to form a new spell on his own to resist my pressure also did not work, even though I¡¯d told him to try to come up with something. Clearly, it was time to change my approach.


    I let go of my magic hands and all three collapsed to the ground. Kelser got up almost immediately, breathing quickly. Kol and Taoc almost fell asleep on the ground, and I had to wake them up with a splash of water.


    ¡°Your training wasn¡¯t as successful as I wanted it to be,¡± I said, ¡°but at least you¡¯ve gotten a little stronger. Kelser already knows this spell, so I¡¯ll teach Kol and Taoc how to cast magic hands. The three of you should have a lot of wisdom for the spell now, so it should be quite powerful. It¡¯s a versatile spell, great for long distance support like throwing projectiles or interfering with enemies from a distance.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they can hear you,¡± said Kelser.


    I looked down at Kol and Taoc, who had gone asleep again despite their drenched hair. I scratched my chin. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll teach them the spell in the morning.¡±


    ---


    Kol and Taoc learned magic hands very quickly the next morning. The fact that Taoc, who hadn¡¯t learned any of the other more basic spells like elemental magic, was able to learn magic hands so quickly seemed to prove what I had thought about my old magic. The reason she could learn this spell was because I had taught it to her. She hadn¡¯t come up with the spell through knowledge and wisdom the way I had. This meant I could probably teach anyone any of my spells and as long as they understood it well enough and received enough wisdom by experiencing the spell or having it demonstrated to them. There was no need to teach every spell in order of when I had come up with it or how difficult I thought it would be.


    I tapped my chin. This told me something very important about magic. I had something special that let me come up with spells, while most other people had to rely on me or the Immortals to teach them magic. Most people never truly came up with spells of their own. The only ones I could think of who had done something like that, were the oldest elves back in the elfin Jora tribe. That was one of the last loose threads that I had to tie up before my new magic would be ready.


    ¡°Psst,¡± said Kelser from behind a bush. Kol stood next to him and waved me over. I waved back that it was fine.


    We were sitting in the bushes overlooking a large open field. A group of tents sprawled over the field, with many rabbit beastmen preparing food, taking care of their weapons and armor, or doing other simple tasks. There were sentries and guards all over the forest, but we had evaded them easily. Now, the only guards we had to worry about were the ones standing in front of the large tent that housed the commander that we had come to spy on.


    The bushes we were hiding in were right next to the commander¡¯s tent. I was using light magic to make us all invisible and air magic to make sure no smell or sound would go towards the rabbit beastmen. I¡¯d left Paris a little further back, guarded by a bunch of spells as well as a few orders to stay put. I suspected the many piles of leaves and fruits I¡¯d left with her would be what really kept her there.


    I raised my hand and a new spell was cast. I cupped my hand against my ear and leaned forward. The others did the same and soon, we could hear words coming from inside the tent.

 Chapter 230

    ¡°The Council says the ceremony will be held in five days,¡± came a deep voice from inside. ¡°We do not know how far the enemy army has come, but if they have yet to cross our position, they will not reach Mount Smoke in time.¡±


    ¡°They speak of a ceremony that our tribe does not recognize. Have you heard what this ceremony is to accomplish?¡± said a hoarse voice.


    ¡°No, our Lago Sylvil tribe is not represented on the Council, as you well know,¡± said the deep voice.


    ¡°My apologies, my Cabal Equ tribe lives far from the heartlands, since we require much open space. We do not know which tribes are currently on the council. We were only summoned for the ceremony recently,¡± said the hoarse voice.


    ¡°No, I spoke too harshly. The Lago Sylvil were pushed off the Council a generation ago, which is why your words cut deeply,¡± said the deep voice.


    ¡°But then you must know about the ceremony,¡± said the hoarse voice. ¡°Our people have always helped protect our homeland against invaders, but it is a lot easier to convince soldiers to risk their lives when they know what they are fighting for. Please, tell me about the ceremony so I may pass on the information to my elders.¡±


    ¡°You will be leaving the camp to return to your tribe?¡± asked the deep voice.


    ¡°Yes, I will leave tomorrow. The Cabal Equ army will be reaching the next command post in a few days. I am to be the commander there,¡± said the hoarse voice.


    ¡°Indeed, friend, my assumption was correct. You are as battle hardened as myself. I can see it in your eyes,¡± said the deep voice.


    ¡°No, commander, your praise is appreciated, but the fame and glory of your Lago Sylvil tribe is know even to us. Your bravery, power, and ruthless defense of all beastmen is immortalized in our songs and ballads,¡± said the hoarse voice, ¡°but please. Consider it a favor from one martial tribe to another. What is the ceremony for which we are being asked to lay down our lives?¡±


    Silence in the tent. I exchanged glances with Kelser and Kol. Taoc was standing to the side with an angry expression. It seemed she couldn¡¯t hear what was being said even with my magic. I made the magic a little stronger for her and asked her to put her ear to the tent again. She wasn¡¯t pleased, but soon realized the pair inside were silent.


    ¡°We Lago Sylvil do not fear death,¡± said the deep voice at last. ¡°It is said, many generations ago, our people were peaceful and docile. We were craftsmen, herders, and people of gentle music. Our sister tribe, whose name we have forgotten, defended our common land, in exchange for a share of the fruits of our labor. It was a profitable arrangement. Respect for our respective roles helped both of our tribes avoid the worst of Council politics and secured our lands and our position within the Horde.¡±


    In the short silence, the hoarse voice spoke, ¡°We have not heard of the history of the Lago Sylvil before they became a martial tribe. It seems your people did not live near the center of the Horde¡¯s lands like you do today.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, we were compelled to move by the circumstances of our history. You see, our sister tribe¡¯s elders and leaders became ambitious. They were a martial tribe, full of great warriors and with many a battle having gone in their favor. They were forging alliances across the Horde and positioning themselves to challenge the weakest tribes on the Council for their seat. They even began eating up territory from other tribes and waging wars to prove their power and increase their influence over others,¡± said the deep voice.


    ¡°I see,¡± said the hoarse voice. ¡°Wars are costly. Many martial tribes have become victims to their own success. They expand quickly, increasing the size and cost of their armies, only to buckle under the weight of their own ambition.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°That is precisely what began to happen to our sister tribe. However, because of our arrangement, our sister tribe expected us to pick up the burden of their expensive expansion,¡± said the deep voice. ¡°And when our people could no longer pay anything without starving our own, our so-called sister tribe began demanding more. When we refused to pay, our provisions were taken from us.¡±


    The hoarse voice grumbled. ¡°It is a sad tale. The curse of our Horde, where beastmen who should be brothers and sisters, reach for each other¡¯s throats.¡±


    ¡°Indeed,¡± said the deep voice. ¡°Our sister tribe had spread its forces thin and made many enemies. And by turning on us, their oldest and most reliable allies, they condemned themselves to the void of history. Still, our people were not warriors. We wielded sticks not spears and our music was gentle like a warm breeze brushing past the grass of the steppe. The sister tribe became desperate for resources. They began punishing those who could not provide them with enough supplies, and took Sylvil farmers to become mercenaries in their armies. Even when they began taking Sylvil children to be sold into slavery, there was nothing we could do. We could not fight back. We could not defend our people. We played gentle music.¡±


    Silence in the tent once again.


    ¡°We played gentle music,¡± said the deep voice, ¡°until our ancestors heard something new. In a quiet corner of the steppes of our ancestral homeland, our elders heard a tune we had never heard before. Loud, rambunctious, with chaotic chords and jarring notes. My dear friend, it is said in our tribe half of our elders died listening to this tune, and the other half went into a delirium from whence they would never recover!¡±


    ¡°Terrifying,¡± said the hoarse voice, except he did not sound terrified at all.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said the deep voice. ¡°It is as you suspect. Our ancestors were blessed by a divine melody. A piece of music not meant for mortal ears. My dear friend, our tribe had been blessed by the God of Music himself! From that day, our people forgot our old, gentle music, and began to hum with deep reverberating voices, and beat our drums in a cacophony that did not match our thumping feet or our whistling pipes or the other instruments we tossed together in an eclectic pile of discordance.¡±


    ¡°The music of the Lago Sylvil is famous in all the lands,¡± said the hoarse voice. ¡°I have heard it described in a similar fashion before. Chaotic and discordant. Now, I know why it is so.¡±


    ¡°Our Lago Sylvil ancestors defeated our sister tribe and took most of their women and children as prisoners,¡± said the deep voice. ¡°Their main armies were defeated by other tribes far from their homeland. We merged their remnants into our own tribe, taking with it their martial traditions and techniques. And we learned the importance of careful planning and gradual increases of power. For generations, our people played our chaotic music and slowly gathered enough power to rise to the Council. When a Lago Sylvil child is born, the first thing he hears is our music. If his ears bleed, he is not worthy to be a soldier, and his future in the tribe will be dim. But if he cries with the music, or endures its insanity, he will be trained in the martial way under the influence of the God of Music.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said the hoarse voice with a pause. ¡°I appreciate hearing about the history of your people. It fills me with much awe and respect. However, I must ask, what does this have to do with the ceremony that the Council is planning?¡±


    The deep voice grumbled. ¡°It was necessary to tell you, my dear friend, of our people¡¯s love for the God of Music. He means more to us than he does to most beastmen, and we would do anything for his favor. The details of the ceremony were revealed to the Council by the God of Music, himself. These details were revealed after my Lago Sylvil tribe was kicked out of the Council by an upstart tribe with no history to speak of. I do not know much more than this, but if your tribe will support mine, and help us regain our seat on the Council, I promise to share all of the details of the ceremony with you at once.¡±


    ¡°A ceremony revealed by the God of Music himself,¡± said the hoarse voice from inside the tent. ¡°No wonder the Council is going to such extremes to ensure it succeeds. Our people will be happy to die at the God of Music¡¯s command, but commander, do you know anything else about the ceremony?¡±


    The deep voice of the commander hummed a strange tune. It sounded like he was clearing his throat while also coughing up phlegm. ¡°Our elder heard something from another elder who still sits on the Council. The ceremony will require many beastmen and instruments. A new music will be birthed during the ceremony, music unlike any that has been heard on this world before. It will be called the Music of Annihilation.¡±

 Chapter 231

    ¡°Why does my head hurt so much?¡± Pause. He held a hand to his forehead. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Where am I?¡± He blinked his eyes clear. ¡°Who are you? Why am I tied up? What¡ª¡±


    I stuffed a piece of cloth back into the rabbit beastman¡¯s mouth. The horse beastman beside him struggled in his restraints, muffled voice leaking out from his mouth. It would have taken too much cloth to stuff his mouth, so we tied it together with rope instead. Knocking out the two beastmen commanders had been easy, and tying them up had been even easier. The tough part was making sure nobody would come inside while I was interrogating them. Thankfully, I overheard some of the lower ranked officers ordering the other beastmen not to disturb the commanders until dinner time.


    I looked down at the commanders. So far, I hadn¡¯t had any luck interrogating beastmen. Beastmen were remarkably resolute and I wasn¡¯t expecting these commanders to have loose lips, especially after everything we had heard from outside the tent. The rabbit beastmen, or Lago Sylvil, wanted to regain their spot on the Council. They weren¡¯t going to ruin their reputation by working with invaders any time soon. And the horse beastmen, or Cabal Equ, did not seem to care about the other tribes all that much. They had come to fight invaders and wanted to go back to their homeland as soon as possible. And now that both of them knew that they were fighting this war on behalf of their god, any chance of driving a wedge between them by exploiting differences wasn¡¯t going to work. Still, we had heard a lot from them while outside the tent. The only thing we had to confirm was the location of Mount Smoke.


    ¡°Why does the great elf¡ªCas, not interrogate his captives properly?¡± asked Taoc.


    ¡°If you¡¯re talking about torture,¡± I said as I met the deep voiced rabbit commander¡¯s gaze. He was giving me a steely glare. ¡°Then it¡¯s because it is both inhumane and ineffective.¡±


    ¡°But if the information is vital, we would be sparing a lot of lives by extracting it from these two,¡± said Kol. ¡°You say torture is immoral, but is it not more immoral to let our people die unnecessary deaths? Once we know Mount Smoke¡¯s location we can steal the Book of Annihilation and stop this war before it even begins.¡±


    ¡°We will find Mount Smoke anyways, don¡¯t worry about it. If these guys were discussing all of this all the way out here, we should learn a lot more from careless conversations deeper inside the Horde¡¯s heartland,¡± I said. ¡°If anything, getting false information from these guys here could be more dangerous. Think about it, wouldn¡¯t people say whatever they had to say to make the pain stop if you were torturing them? Whether that information would lead us on a wild goose chase or to Mount Smoke is impossible to know unless we went and checked it in person.¡±


    ¡°Would they really lie to us when we hold their lives in our hands?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Of course they would. You heard what they said, their job isn¡¯t to defeat us, but to stall us for as long as possible. If the ceremony succeeds, they will have completed their mission. Sending us off in the wrong direction would give them more time and we wouldn¡¯t have the time to come back here to punish them either,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, they¡¯re beastmen. They won¡¯t give in so easily.¡±


    Taoc frowned. ¡°We should at least try to ask them something. There would be no point in tying them up, otherwise.¡±


    ¡°I tied them up so we could take them away and hide them in a forest or something. Then we can sabotage this camp and force them to move to another defensible location further back. If we keep doing that at every checkpoint we can make it so they have no choice but to keep falling back. And since we travel faster than they do, we will never have to fight them, and nor will the United Army,¡± I said.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll give it a try anyway,¡± said Kol as she stepped forward and plucked the cloth out of the gagged Lago Sylvil commander¡¯s mouth. ¡°Speak, beast! Where is Mount Smoke?¡±


    The Lago Sylvil glared with his beady black eyes and snarled, ¡°I do not know why you mock me so, demon, but I will not yield to your vile torture!¡±


    ¡°Oh wait, one second,¡± I said as I waved my hand. ¡°I forgot I cast magic on their ears so they wouldn¡¯t be able to hear us. Carry on.¡±


    Kol frowned. She continued in the language of the beastmen, ¡°Your fake god is not worth dying for, beast. Give us the location of Mount Smoke and we will end this war before any blood is spilled.¡±


    ¡°Do not try to anger me with sacrilegious words, demon,¡± said the Lago Sylvil commander in his deep voice. ¡°We will water our soil with your vile blood and throw your lifeless corpses back from whence they came. My people will never yield to invaders! Not even¡­¡± He turned to me with a somber look. ¡°¡­if they are led by a legendary elf.¡±


    The horse-like Cabal Equ commander¡¯s eyes widened as he heard his companion¡¯s words and looked at my face. It was strange seeing surprise on a horse¡¯s face, so I chuckled lightly and scratched my chin.


    ¡°I see they aren¡¯t telling the general populace about me. You must have found out the same way you found out about the ceremony and the Book of Annihilation. But did they tell you that your side is also being led by an elf and a demon?¡± I said.


    I saw the commander¡¯s eyes widen a little before settling back down again.


    ¡°Oh, so you didn¡¯t know about it. Your Council isn¡¯t as important as you thought it was. This is not your battle, my friends. It is a battle between my party of heroes and your god¡¯s minions. I could try to convince you that your god is evil and is almost certainly up to no good with this ceremony or whatever, but I don¡¯t have the time nor patience. You have already told me that Mount Smoke is on the far side of your lands and that you have set up defensive fortifications to slow down the United Army. Those should lead us right to Mount Smoke like a trail of breadcrumbs. So instead of worrying about all of that,¡± I said as I leaned closer and raised my hand. ¡°Why don¡¯t you two get some rest?¡±


    ---


    After dropping off the unconscious commanders in a little thicket outside of the scouts¡¯ perimeters, I returned and set fire to some tents and fortifications. The soldiers had been busy preparing dinner, but when they saw the fiery inferno eating up their wooden spikes and guard towers, they ran to try and put it all out. I took the opportunity to go to the other side of their encampment and burn their supplies and let loose all of their fast traveling domesticated monsters. By the time the soldiers would realize what had happened, they would not have the resources to man this outpost against any approaching enemy. And without the commanders, they wouldn¡¯t be able to decide which outpost to retreat to until we were long gone and ready to sabotage the next outpost or defensive fortification.


    Over the next week or so, our party rushed through the lands of the Singing Horde, destroying encampments and outposts, and scattering supply lines for their farthest forces. We took every opportunity to eavesdrop on important conversations, which helped us piece together the entire strategy of the Horde, as well as the complex politics of the Horde¡¯s tribes and the Council. We tried to interrogate a few beastmen, but once it became clear not even the weakest of tribes were willing to provide any useful information, we decided to save our time and stopped interrogating the beastmen at all.


    We learned, through eavesdropping, that there were rumors of divine authorization for this war. This had stopped a lot of the worst criticisms that the beastmen had had towards their leadership, with many small families evacuating and willingly burning their own crops before leaving. No tribe wanted to step out of line in a war sanctioned by the God of Music himself.


    Kol and Taoc were making amazing progress with their magic, and Kelser¡¯s spells were getting stronger too. My new magic was finally beginning to take shape, and I was confident I would be ready by the time we reached Mount Smoke.


    Finally, we overheard a beastman general talking about the location of Mount Smoke. After knocking him out and sabotaging his outpost, we began racing towards the volcano where the final battle would take place.

 Chapter 232

    The wide open steppes gave way to a series of mountains and valleys. The beastmen called this place The Dragon¡¯s Maw. The mountains were rough and craggy, and the valleys inhospitable and full of crevasses that lead into nothingness. No beastman tribe lived in The Dragon¡¯s Maw, but there was an important religious site on Mount Smoke so there was a well trodden path through the difficult terrain which led right up to the volcano.


    The path was narrow and prone to rock and mudslides. The Horde¡¯s main army was gathering at an outpost right before The Dragon¡¯s Maw, blocking the path that led to Mount Smoke. If the United Army made it here, they would have no choice but to fight the Horde from an inferior position. The Horde¡¯s army was positioned on higher ground, with natural springs feeding terraced gardens and watering enough land for the Horde¡¯s domesticated monsters to graze on. The army could survive for a month in this position, giving them more than enough time to finish the ceremony and beat back the United Army with whatever powers Madness would give them after he was finished with the ceremony.


    There was no other way to get to Mount Smoke, since The Dragon¡¯s Maw extended to the ocean on both sides, and the waters were infested with terrible monsters and prone to continuous and unpredictable storms. Facing the Horde¡¯s army head on would be even tougher once they finished setting up their defensive fortifications, including a large moat and miles of ramparts and archer towers. There were many positions higher up the foothills from where archers could rain projectiles down onto the open fields where the United Army would be forced to encamp. Really, I couldn¡¯t see how the United Army could hope to get through this defensive position without heavy magical bombardment and incredible casualties.


    We didn¡¯t sabotage this outpost because there was nowhere for the beastmen to fall back to once it fell. Mount Smoke could not hold an army of this size and even crossing The Dragon¡¯s Maw with an army like this one would lead to countless deaths and injuries. Besides, we had outpaced the soldiers from all of the outposts and encampments that we had sabotaged on our way over. The Council still did not know that our party had been rampaging across their country, cutting a path right up to this outpost. After eavesdropping on a beastman general, we learned that the Council was commanding this army personally which meant attacking this outpost would alert the Council. There would have been no point to outrunning all of those messengers that the various commanders and generals had sent out, if we were just going to reveal ourselves like this.


    And so, I cast invisibility magic on our party and helped us sneak past the final outpost. The encampment was dense and there wasn¡¯t a lot of room for Paris to walk without being noticed. I had to help the massive Fil Tusker scale a steep cliff to avoid being spotted, and reunited with the rest of the party near the entrance of the path that crossed The Dragon¡¯s Maw. Kelser took over the invisibility and detection magics that I had been casting, and I left the others to return back to the final outpost.


    If the entire Council was supposed to be here, this was the perfect time to learn more about the ceremony. I also needed to know where Noel and Alek were going to be and if the Immortals had appeared to the beastmen in person.


    The command tent for this outpost was larger than any I had seen before. In fact, with its large wooden poles and layers of fine cloth, it looked less like a tent and more like a small palace. There were guards all around the command tent, all from different beastmen tribes. The tent was in the middle of the encampment, and only the tribes that were represented on the Council were living this close to the command tent. Other tribes, like the Lago Sylvil and Cabal Equ, were stuck closer to the front of the camp, while some of the less warlike tribes like the Anthra Terrers were in charge of maintaining supplies and other menial tasks, and were put near the back of the encampment.


    After carefully making sure I was completely undetectable, even with the beastmen¡¯s heightened hearing and smell, I walked right through the front entrance of the command tent and passed through the labyrinthine hallways to the main meeting room. I overheard that the Council would be meeting in a moment, and that nobody was to enter the tent until sunset. After hearing voices coming from a room near the back of the tent, I finally found the Council¡¯s meeting room and stood in the corner far away from the old beastmen who were sitting mostly in the darkness.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    A rough scratching sound filled the darkness. Once more. A spark flew. Then again and there was a flame on a candle in the middle of the room. The candle rested on a wooden table just a little taller than my navel. The candle¡¯s flame wasn¡¯t very strong, but it was just enough to light up the faces of the elders of the Council of the Singing Horde.


    ¡°In the name of the Lord of Harmony and Melody, I call this meeting of the Council to order,¡± said a wizened beastman with glistening scales and two horns protruding from his skull. He looked like a dragon in the dim light, but on closer inspection, he seemed closer to a snake.


    ¡°The Feli Panthera are in attendance,¡± said a tiger-like beastman with a gnarly voice.


    ¡°The Bos Bov tribe is present,¡± said an old beastwoman with one broken horn and another that curved back down at a nasty angle.


    ¡°The Arkto Gwer greet their friends on the Council,¡± said a short beastwoman with two round brown ears and stubby nose.


    ¡°The Archelon Tortue are here as well,¡± said a blind beastwoman with a thick shell on her back.


    ¡°And the Drak Serpe tribe welcomes you all to this meeting,¡± said the dragon-like serpant beastman who had lit the candle.


    The elders continued with some traditional greetings and small topics that had more to do with their own customs and reviews for the previous meeting as well as plans for the next one. In the meantime, I used light magic to make it easier for my eyes to see in the dim light, helping me get a better look at the members of the Council.


    The five beastmen sitting on the table in front of me looked incredibly old and frail. Almost all of them had scars and injuries somewhere on their body, and most seemed to hunch over or require assistance from their chair or walking stick. From what I had overheard from the various camps and outposts we had listened in on, these were the leaders of the five most powerful tribes in the Singing Horde, and together, they made up the Council that decided various things during emergencies like at times when the Horde¡¯s lands were being invaded.


    I also knew that the tribes of the Council did not necessarily get along all that well when there wasn¡¯t an outside force to bring them together. The Feli Panthera and the Drak Serpe were some of the oldest and most powerful tribes in the horde, and had never been kicked out of the Council since the Council was first formed. These two tribes had the most powerful warriors and skilled weapon smiths. No other tribe dared challenge them and the only reason they couldn¡¯t completely take over the entire Horde was because they were bitter rivals who served to check each other¡¯s power.


    The Archelon Tortue also had a rich history going back many generations. They had long life spans and weren¡¯t very aggressive, being one of the only beastmen in the Horde that lived near the ocean. They served as a balancing force on the council, since they were not aligned with either the Feli Panthera or the Drak Serpe.


    ¡°Are we done with the pleasantries yet?¡± said the elder from the Arkto Gwer.


    The Arkto Gwer were a bear-like beastman tribe and the most recent to rise to the Council. They were the ones who had challenged and defeated the Lago Sylvil, and were probably the most violent tribe on the council right now. They were also aligned with the Drak Serpe, which had greatly upset the balance of power on the Council, according to the disgruntled Drak Serpe general I had overheard at the last outpost. That general did not like the direction his tribe had been moving in recently, and was one of the only beastmen I had met who had not been satisfied with fighting a war for the God of Music. I would have tried to get him to switch to our side, if it wasn¡¯t for his undying loyalty to his tribe which meant I could never trust him enough to make use of him.


    ¡°Your impatience is displeasing,¡± said the elder of the Bos Bov.


    The Arkto Gwer elder put up her hands and laughed lightly, ¡°My bad. Wouldn¡¯t want to displease you, your highness.¡±


    ¡°Your humor is also displeasing,¡± said the elder of the Bos Bov.


    ¡°Your lack of vocabulary is the most displeasing of all,¡± said the Arkto Gwer elder.


    I almost let out a sigh. Was it even worth spying on a meeting like this one?

 Chapter 233

    ¡°Elder Gwer, you do not need to provoke Elder Bov, you know the Bos Bov are quick to anger and slow to calm down,¡± said the blind elder with the turtle shell on her back. ¡°And Elder Bov, must you fall so easily for Elder Gwer¡¯s provocations? The Arkto Gwer are a newly risen martial tribe. They are looking for scuffles and quick victories. Getting you to lose your composure during this meeting could be victory enough. You would not want to lose before the fight began, would you?¡±


    The two disgruntled elders looked at the turtle beastwoman, then at each other, before turning away. All the while, the snake and tiger beastmen had been looking at each other as if waiting for the other to intervene. If the Council was this badly divided, it was a miracle they¡¯d managed to gather an army, let alone burned lands and evacuated whole tribes. I realized the Immortal of Madness must have done something to convince these elders to work together. Whether that meant they were under a spell or the Immortal had shown himself to them, I couldn¡¯t be sure.


    ¡°Thank you, Elder Tortue, your diplomacy is unparalleled,¡± said the snake beastman at last.


    ¡°It is unparalleled because the four of you do not wish to parallel it,¡± said Elder Tortue.


    ¡°Can we please get on with the meeting already?¡± said Elder Panthera.


    ¡°Yes, yes, impatient as ever, my dear friend,¡± said Elder Serpe as he clapped his hands together. ¡°As you all know, all of our most important martial tribes have already arrived at this location. The only tribes that are yet to join us are small and insignificant, and even they should arrive before the ceremony begins.¡±


    ¡°Do not delay, Elder Serpe, all of our tribes have our own information networks. We know how quickly our own people are arriving, that has never been of concern,¡± said Elder Bov.


    ¡°I am afraid I cannot say how far the United Army has come,¡± said Elder Serpe, with a strange look in his eyes.


    ¡°You mean you do not know where they are,¡± said Elder Panthera as he shook his head. ¡°Why the Drak Serpe always refuse to admit when they don¡¯t know something, is beyond me. None of us know how far the United Army has come. The only thing we know is that they too have a legendary elf on their side. The elf must be using his magic to hide the army somehow. We must be prepared to fight at any moment!¡±


    Elder Serpe narrowed his eyes and gave the tiger beastman a cold look. ¡°And why your Feli Panthera must always be itching for a fight is beyond me as well. You speak so confidently of that which you remain ignorant. When I say I cannot share with you the location of the United Army, I do not mean that I am choosing not to do so nor am I saying that I do not know where the invaders are at the moment. Lord Noel has given me the location of the United Army. She has also forbidden me from sharing it with you.¡±


    I frowned. Sitting alone in the darkness in the corner of the room, my heart began beating loudly. Was this snake-like beastman telling the truth?


    ¡°How are we to trust your words if you cannot share them with us, Elder Serpe?¡± said Elder Tortue, opening her blank eyes and facing the serpentine elder.


    ¡°You may confirm them with Lord Noel,¡± said Elder Serpe.


    ¡°Perhaps I should ask our dear friend Elder Gwer instead,¡± said Elder Tortue.


    ¡°Me?¡± said the bear-like beastwoman, pointing to herself in an exaggerated manner. ¡°Why would I know that?¡±


    ¡°Lord Noel is a legendary elf and the direct servant of the God of Music,¡± said Elder Tortue. ¡°It is much harder to approach her than to ask Lord Alek.¡±


    Elder Gwer frowned and leaned forward. ¡°Then go ask him yourself.¡±


    ¡°I do not wish to speak to a demon,¡± said Elder Tortue, ¡°even if we are allies.¡±


    ¡°I agree with Elder Tortue. I do not trust that demon prince, even if he is now a Lord serving under a God. If he can betray his own people, how can we possibly trust him with the lives of our own?¡± said Elder Bov.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Trust? You say that as if we trust each other,¡± said Elder Gwer. ¡°And you do not have to trust Lord Alek. Trust in the God of Music and you¡¯ll be alright.¡±


    ¡°We believe in our God,¡± said Elder Bov, ¡°but can the same be said about you?¡±


    ¡°You want to fight me, old lady?¡± said Elder Gwer, standing up from her seat.


    ¡°Anyday, shortie,¡± said Elder Bov as she also stood up.


    ¡°Calm down you two,¡± said Elder Tortue with a sigh. ¡°If Elder Serpe says he knows where the invaders are and that we must be ready to fight at any moment, I do not think we can afford any quarrels within the Council. Isn¡¯t that right, Elder Panthera?¡±


    The tiger raised one eyebrow. ¡°Elder Bov, do not worry. The Feli Panthera will help you put that cub in her place, after the war.¡±


    ¡°Do not worry, Elder Gwer, the first battle shall soon begin. We will have plenty of time to put those two in their place after the ceremony,¡± said Elder Serpe.


    The two angry elders looked at their respective allies and sat back down again. Elder Tortue rubbed her forehead. The two male elders sized each other up a little before returning their attention to the table.


    I had known their alliance was a fragile one, but their enmity seemed to be quite serious. There might well be a civil war in the Horde after the war, especially if one side lost too many warriors. This meant neither side would be too keen on taking risks in this war, and might not even trust one another¡¯s commanders which could be a recipe for disaster. Combining this state of affairs with the United Army¡¯s easily inflamed emotions thanks to the Simurgh¡¯s emotional manipulation magic, and this whole war was sure to be a badly fought slaughter.


    I looked at Elder Serpe and tried to figure out what he¡¯d said. He said Noel had given him the location of the United Army, but could I trust what he¡¯d said? He could¡¯ve been trying to impress the other elders or lying to boost morale. After all, he refused to tell anyone else where the army was and his orders were pretty generic. Being ready to fight at any moment could mean the United Army was closer than I¡¯d thought or it could also mean the serpentine elder had no idea where the United Army was and only wanted to keep the troops on alert. Considering how loose this alliance was, keeping everyone on their toes like this was probably the best way to prevent splintering and desertion.


    But if he had been telling the truth, and he knew where the United Army was, then I had a difficult choice to make. These five elders were the leaders of the Council. If I took them out, either by kidnapping them and taking them away, or even killing them, I would destroy the leadership of the Horde and ensure the United Army won quickly and decisively. Doing so would probably force the Horde to surrender quickly, preventing unnecessary bloodshed and giving the United Army enough time to support our party at Mount Smoke. Then again, that would lead to a lot of beastmen deaths and perhaps even a loss of territory. I still wanted to prevent any large scale battles from taking place in the first place.


    ¡°I still think we should march forward and meet the invaders where they are. They will not be expecting it and we will not risk them getting within sight of Mount Smoke,¡± said Elder Bov.


    ¡°I sympathize with your words, Elder Bov, but the Lords have given us their instructions. We are not to move from this place without their orders,¡± said Elder Panthera.


    I raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°And there may not be time to find a better defensive position, considering how close the enemy has come,¡± said Elder Serpe, hinting at the information he had.


    ¡°Elder Serpe, since you are the only one who knows exactly where the invaders are, do you wish to oversee our defensive preparations tomorrow?¡± asked Elder Tortue.


    The elders agree to letting Elder Serpe take charge of their defenses, which meant giving him effective control of the army. There wasn¡¯t much else the other elders could do since he was clearly being favored by Noel and through her by the God of Music, Madness.


    I slipped out of the tent as the elders finished their meeting and followed the turtle beastwoman, Elder Tortue, to her tent. Grabbing a piece of paper from one of the supply tents, I scribbled something in her language and slipped it among the official documents that were going to be read to the blind elder before she went to sleep.


    Afterwards, I fly up as high as I could and confirmed that the United Army was still at least two days away from this position. The ceremony would also be taking place in two days, which meant I was going to use as much magic as I could to get my party to Mount Smoke tomorrow. Still, before heading back down to Kelser and the others, I wrote a letter in the demon language and sent it to the United Army with air magic. Whether they would trust a letter like this even if it was signed with my name, was difficult to know. But I figured I would try to convince Bain Rusta to resist the Immortal¡¯s magic and stay put. Would it work? Probably not.


    There was only one way to truly prevent any bloodshed in this war and that was to stop it from happening in the first place. I returned to Kelser and the others and told them what I had learned so far. We had two days to reach Mount Smoke and take down Noel, Alek, and any beastmen they had guarding them.


    This was going to be close.

 Chapter 234

    In the Second Punic War, the famous Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca surprised the Romans by marching through the Alps with his massive army to invade Italy. He brought with him a contingent of war elephants, most of whom died during the perilous journey, according to the historian Livy. Yet, despite the difficult journey where he was harassed by Roman allied tribes and had to fight through the terrible terrain, Hannibal¡¯s crossing of the Alps would become one of the most famous military maneuvers of all time. Hannibal would go on to defeat the Romans many times, bringing the nascent republic to its knees. Purportedly, the presence of his elephants had been an important factor in his early victories.


    Take a moment to think about an elephant from the perspective of someone who has never seen or heard of one before. A massive beast that can be as heavy as eight thousand pounds, with a trunk larger than your body and tusks that seem like they could skewer multiple people like a kebab. Have you heard an elephant¡¯s cry? It shakes one¡¯s ears like thunder, making your body shiver and stunning anyone without the discipline to ignore what is essentially a pre-industrial tank. Hannibal had been right to take his elephants across the Alps, even if he only managed to get a few across. And I knew I was right to bring Paris across The Dragon¡¯s Maw, even if it meant I had to use a ton of magic to get her across safely.


    The path through The Dragon¡¯s Maw was narrow and dangerous. The path went up the side of the mountains, hugging perilous cliffs and crumbling overhangs, before dipping down to the valleys below. The path wasn¡¯t well defined, looking more like a game trail cobbled together from monster paths and dried up stream and river beds. There were cracks and crevasses all along the way, with sharp rocks barely visible at the bottom.


    The wind never stopped. It whistled through the mountains, at times screeching like a banshee, or making a garbled sound in our ears that sounded like devilish whispers. I could imagine someone hearing the sounds of the wind and convincing themselves these mountains were haunted. Certainly, we saw a few skeletons down the mountainsides and some mossy graves on the few green meadows or flat spaces we stopped at to take a breather. When I saw a corpse high up near the peaks, perfectly preserved by the snow, I made a grim face and did not point it out. If anybody else saw it, they did not point it out either.


    Since there was a decent chance that the United Army might send reinforcements after us if they ended up fighting the Horde¡¯s army after all, I decided to make the path behind us less dangerous. I had to make a lot of adjustments to help Paris cross, anyway, so it made sense either way. I widened a few paths, shored up some places that might have been prone to landslides, and fixed up some of the weaker overhangs. I set up some flat areas for rest stops at places where Taoc had gotten tired and asked for a breather. Taoc was the least physically fit person in our party, so it made sense to use her as a benchmark.


    There wasn¡¯t much I could do about the wind. I shielded our party from the worst of it, making sure Taoc wasn¡¯t blown away or Kelser wouldn¡¯t be blinded by a snowy breeze while crossing a narrow gorge. But anybody coming up behind us would have to endure the wind. I did fix up a few places that created powerful gusts of wind due to the shape of the geography, but it wouldn¡¯t be enough. I still hoped nobody would come after us.


    Even though Taoc was the weakest and Kelser the most inexperienced, it was Kol who complained the most during our journey. Since I was spending most of my energy making sure Paris was safe, I couldn¡¯t make this journey as comfortable as I could have. The cold was biting, and Kol was not used to it. She also scraped her knee at one point and although it wasn¡¯t very serious, it was one of those nagging pains that makes one irritable and annoyed all the time. I also suspected Kol¡¯s ability to resist the Simurgh¡¯s emotional manipulation magic was the weakest. If she was put under too much constant pressure, she would definitely do something stupid. I made a mental note to make sure she was always in the back of our fights, as I¡¯d planned.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    There wasn¡¯t enough time to rest and make food. The wind was terrible anyway so making and then protecting a fire would have been a challenge. Besides, we only had a couple of days to cross The Dragon¡¯s Maw. Actually, I¡¯d like to get there in one day, since there was no telling how much time it would take us to fight through all the defenders of the ceremony, including the Ikons Noel and Alek.


    That was why we were stuck sipping spring-water and eating dried and cured meats. We also ate some pieces of bread that we¡¯d swiped from the Horde¡¯s supplies at the entrance to The Dragon¡¯s Maw. Most of the food on Paris¡¯ back was for her own needs, since there was no way we were going to be able to find enough food for her in these craggy and lifeless mountains and valleys.


    Paris was surprisingly docile during the journey. She never got spooked and always moved where I led her. I wondered if she knew her survival depended on her listening to me and following the paths I created for her with magic. The wind didn¡¯t even faze her, but it was clear she was not happy about the cold.


    It was the sort of cold that bites into your skin, poking into your bones and forcing your teeth to chatter. Fire was useless and my air magic could only do so much. The thick monster fur clothes that we had swiped from the Horde¡¯s army did come in handy, but with the magic I was using to make us go faster, the wind whipped past our bodies even faster, making us feel colder than ever. And as the sun began to set, and there was no sign of Mount Smoke, it became clear we would have to tough out a very cold night halfway down a mountainside. Below us, we could see a little lake with navy blue water, hugging two sides of a narrow v-shaped valley.


    The sun hid behind a large mountain and The Dragon¡¯s Maw fell into darkness. The night had come so suddenly, it had caught me completely by surprise. We had no choice but to stop where we were and set up camp. Thankfully, there was a little rocky overhang nearby, which helped shield us from the chilly breeze. We were low enough that there wasn¡¯t any snow, but it was still chilly and the air was thin.


    I had to use earth magic to make the area more stable. The overhang could¡¯ve collapsed on us with a little weight up top, so I had to strengthen that too. I had to fix some places that could¡¯ve fallen down in a landslide, and Paris needed more room to rest in, but after everything was done, I returned to the camp. Kelser returned soon after, telling me that he had set up the detection magic as I had requested. Taoc set up the fire with her magic and Kol used her magic to stop the light from leaking out from under our little rocky overhang.


    I stood on the edge of the cliff. The path continued winding down the side of the mountain to my left, and the way we had come was to my right. In front of me, was the cliff leading down directly into the dark lake in the valley.


    The lake¡¯s water was even darker now that the sun was gone. It was almost indistinguishable from the dark rocks of the mountain behind it, as if the lake was filled with ash not water. The water was still and although it was far below us at an altitude that was probably not much higher than sea level, I knew that the water would be bone-chillingly cold.


    In the last light of dusk, I had seen that the lake did not reflect the light very well. And when the stars came out, I could not see their reflections in the mountain. There was no moon out tonight. No red star either.


    The wind blew. It whispered in my ear. I stared down at the lake. The wind carried a sound to my ear, the sound of something dropping into the water. I saw, despite the darkness, ripples going across the surface of the lake. Ripples that crashed against the black rocks of the valley. Rocks that had once been lava, flowing out of the top of an active volcano.

 Chapter 235

    The wind stilled with the break of dawn as if the very mountains were holding their breath. There were no clouds in the sky above me but a creeping grayness accompanied the sun as it peered over the horizon. Last night, the lava bubbling along the top of the mountain had looked menacing but under the soft orange glow of the early morning sun, Mount Smoke looked remarkably serene.


    The others saw me looking out over the cliff to the dark lake and imposing mountain behind it. They did not say anything and walked up next to me. They saw the way the mountain jabbed into the sky with its thorny peaks. They saw the way it cut through the clouds at its precipice, skewering them like marshmallows. And when the sun began to climb and the valley and the surrounding mountains were awash with yellows and reds, we saw the way Mount Smoke stood up against the light like a pillar of darkness buttressed on the earth by a lake of ashy still water.


    There was movement near the peak of the mountain. Lava lapping lazily at the edges of a crater, threatening to spill out. Clouds smashing into the rocks like waves against the shore. Beastmen scurrying about like ants around a tiny building at the very top of the mountain. The tiny building looked like a temple of some sort, not too dissimilar to Bek Tepe¡ªthe temple of the humans. I looked at Kelser and saw that he noticed the similarities too.


    The similarities were not only because it was a temple built into a mountain, which meant one could see over its walls from the right position on the ground. Evidently, that position was from the other side of the mountain, because on this side, we could not see anything inside the temple apart from a couple of towers and spires that peeked out over the walls. There were beastmen guards in front of the temple, shuffling about as if looking for something. A few moments later, a larger group of beastmen came out of the temple, all of them in robes and from different tribes. Nothing the generals and the Council had said suggested there would be so many beastmen up at the temple. If we hadn¡¯t found this spot to observe the temple, and if we didn¡¯t have the spells necessary to observe from such a massive distance, we might have been caught by surprise once we approached Mount Smoke.


    We might also have been caught by surprise by the large number of demons in robes moving in and out of the temple. I had been under the assumption that Alek Izlandi¡¯s supporters had completely deserted him, but apparently he could still rely on some supporters. I glanced at Kol, and she was frowning. I also noticed these demons were wearing red robes while the beastmen were wearing silver. Perhaps these were the remains of the Evil Eye¡¯s priests. I had rooted out most of them from the capital of the Izlandi Kingdom, but these must have come from other places.


    For some reason, I wondered why there were no spirits or fairies among the priests up on the temple. After all, I could see a few beastmen wearing silver robes and some demons wearing red. Allegiance to an Immortal was not limited to a single race, so even if the Lux Republic had never worshiped an Immortal and had stood on its own feet instead of relying on a supernatural power, there should have been at least some who coveted the power of the Immortals.


    I asked Taoc about that when we began walking down the path towards Mount Smoke. Taoc said the people of the Republic were proud and would not bow their heads to an Immortal. I countered that the demons and beastmen were proud people too, just look at how the beastmen had refused to tell us anything on our trek across their lands. She replied this was because they were loyal, not proud. I said that may be the case. I didn¡¯t continue out loud, but in my head I wondered if there was something different about the fairies and spirits. Were they perhaps being supported by the Simurgh? No, if that had been the case, it wouldn¡¯t have had to control them with its magic.


    Kol wondered if there was something about the Republic¡¯s social structure that made them harder to infiltrate and control. The Kingdom had a single ruler and a powerful aristocracy. Embedding priests into powerful positions the way they had placed Derek Inarian, the chief minister of the Kingdom, right next to the king, was the easiest way for the followers of the Evil Eye to control the Kingdom. Likewise, the beastmen were controlled by a small council of five elders. The beastmen were also far more religious and superstitious than the other nations, which meant it was easier for Madness to control them as well. Kelser added that there might even be something more going on. Perhaps Madness had shown off his power or influenced the council directly.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    But the Republic was controlled by the Senate. I had learned this later, but even though all of the members of the Senate were spirits, there was actually nothing stopping the fairies from being elected to the Senate. Fairies, it seemed, simply did not like politics and spirits, on the other hand, seemed to love it. Over the years, this had led to issues, of course. There were moments where fairies were put into power to push back against perceived inequality between spirits and fairies, but at the end of the day, there were only a few spirits in the entire Republic. The spirits could not defeat the fairies and relied on their support to win their elections in the Senate, and the fairies did not like politics and weren¡¯t any good at it either, so they were happy to let the spirits run the country. It was a strange system that made it difficult for any one person to ever be in complete control of the Republic. In fact, perhaps the only thing uniting the Republic and keeping them from disintegrating into a bunch of internal squabbles and disputes was the presence of the other nations and the threat of invasion. Nobody wanted to weaken the Republic if that would mean being ruled by a demon king or a council of beastmen.


    Kol concluded, that this structure of government was what made it difficult for the other kingdoms to ever truly divide the Republic. Sure, they could sway a couple people to their side, plant some spies and engage in a little subterfuge, but when there was always more to gain, politically, by being against the other nations than to side with them, the Senate would inevitably end up united against them. Perhaps the other Immortals had also realized trying to control the Republic was more trouble than it was worth, and had merely left it at that.


    Taoc agreed with Kol¡¯s reasoning, but the two got into an argument over whose system was better. It was the demons, after all, who controlled the most resources on the continent. They also had the most powerful armies and by concentrating power into their monarchy, the demons had also achieved a reasonable degree of unity, even if that unity was easier to exploit because of a powerful nobility and succession crises like the one that had pit Kol and Alek against each other.


    It was during this conversation that I remembered something. Didn¡¯t Kol have another sibling? Alek had been supported by the Republic, and that had been where he¡¯d fled to after his defeat. Kol had to cross the mountain to the lands of the humans, since she didn¡¯t have anyone else to support her on this side. But Kol¡¯s sister had sought refuge with the Singing Horde. During our journey through the country, there had been no mention of this demon princess, but now that we were here, right next to the temple on Mount Smoke and could see demons here on the enemy side, I wondered whether we would see Princess Norn Izlandi soon.


    ¡°Norn?¡± said Kol, ¡°I would be surprised if she was here.¡±


    ¡°Is she not on the Immortals¡¯ side?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Kol, ¡°but I know she and Alek do not get along at all. If the two of them are working together instead of trying to kill each other, the Immortals must be holding their Ikons on a very, very tight leash.¡±


    I nodded. Whatever happened, we would just have to deal with it. Our party of heroes descended the mountain and approached the dark lake. From up close, the inky blackness of the water was even more ominous. The path up to the temple atop Mount Smoke lay across the lake, and there was no easy way to cross it from the side. Instead, there was a rickety wooden bridge across the length of the bridge. The bridge was made out of a strange black wood, with tar and ash rubbed all over the ropes that bound the wood together.


    I took one step on the bridge. It swayed in the wind and a piece of gravel fell into the waters below.


    The water did not ripple.

 Chapter 236

    The eerie rickety bridge had to be held up with magic. Even with my magic hands, the entire structure seemed feeble and on the verge of collapse. Even through my magic hands, I could feel the strange texture on the ropes and planks, as if the entire bridge had been dunked in a pit of tar and hung up over the lake to dry. I asked the others to use their magic hands as well, just in case something went wrong and they had to hang onto the bridge themselves.


    Below my feet, I could see the dark waters of the lake. I had an uncanny feeling looking into the lake that seemed to be able to absorb the light that fell onto its surface. Yet, I could not allow myself to look away. If there was something down there, I could not afford to be surprised by it. I had cast invisibility on us just in case, but anything that lived in waters as dark as those, would not use sight as their primary sense anyway.


    Watching Taoc and Kol use their magic hands to steady themselves as they crossed the bridge made me think back to their training. Not only had they learned this spell in record time, they had also finally begun learning a few spells from my new magic system, although the spells they had learned had not been very powerful. Still, the mere fact that my new magic system was up and running, filled me with hope. Finally, there was a way to fight against the Immortals. All that was left was to find out if our efforts had been enough.


    I had gone off on a strange exploration of ideas in order to invent my new magic. Aristotle thought the best way to organize society was to pursue the ¡®Telos.¡¯ Telos is the inherent purpose or full potential of an object or person. When asked who should receive the best flute, he would answer that it must be the best flute player. Not because this would ensure that everybody can enjoy the best music, but because Aristotle thought that the right thing to do was to ensure that both the flute and the flute player could fully meet their purpose and potential.


    On my Earth, most people did not think about the world in that way anymore. We might give the flute to the best flute player, but we would do so to maximize the utility of flute playing. More people would find the music enjoyable if it was played by the best flute player. Or we might decide only to give the flute to the flute player if they wished to play it, respecting their individual liberty and freedom to choose.


    But Aristotle¡¯s way of my old world had proven useful to me in this one. Many of my earliest spells were based on assumptions made by classical philosophers like Aristotle, such as the many assumptions that underpinned the elemental magic system that I had invented. There too, looking at the world through the lens of ¡®purpose¡¯ or an ¡®end goal¡¯ had helped fuel a lot of the speculation about the elemental makeup of different objects. Something could have the fire element inside it because its purpose was to burn. Some animal may possess the water element because its purpose was to swim. And so, when I was faced with the idea of examining why I was the only person who seemed to be able to invent spells, I was naturally drawn to the idea that there was something special about me that might have made it possible. Perhaps, my ¡®purpose¡¯ or ¡®end goal¡¯ was to invent magic spells in this world.


    Putting aside any objections relating to freedom of choice or the intervention of others, this outlandish idea did seem to have at least a kernel of truth in it. After all, if I had created the fundamental basis for others to be able to invent their own spells, and I even taught them about the spells using the same logic and experiments that I had used to invent it, shouldn¡¯t they also be ¡®reinventing¡¯ the spell instead of merely learning it from me? And yet, I had proven from before that they were always only learning from me. This was why my first experiment on this journey had been to try and teach Kol and Taoc a spell through experience and a simple explanation of the fundamental forces at play, rather than by trying to teach them the spell itself. This meant that these relatively intelligent and capable people were lined up perfectly with the net, but could not figure out how to score. I was missing something important and this something had to be related to my ¡®purpose¡¯ or inherent potential as somebody who had come from another world.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    I was also certain that this reason had to be specific to my world. I had not forgotten that Madness was probably a visitor from another world as well. That was how the elves¡¯ stories had described him and it was also how the other myths and legends described him. He had even perhaps mentioned it before. And yet, Madness seemed to control magic and spells in the same way the other Immortals did. He embodied certain principles and abstract ideals, and could govern those domains absolutely. I did not think he could come up with spells from outside of his domain, or he would have completely defeated the other Immortals with that power.


    And it was this train of thought that had led me to my new magic, and to the methods that I used to teach the others in record time. Kelser, who had learned some of these spells over several weeks, had been almost jealous of Kol and Taoc because of how much easier it had been for them to learn. Noel had also taken a longer time to learn these spells so I hoped she would not be expecting these two to be involved in our battle at all. After all, if they had not been able to do anything during my fight with Noel and Alek at the Republic¡¯s capital, then surely they would not be able to do anything about it today.


    And yes, everything would be going down today. We had arrived precisely on the day of the ceremony. I had overheard from the Council and other generals that the ceremony was supposed to take place at sunset, which meant we had to infiltrate the temple and retrieve the Book of Annihilation before the sun hit the horizon. Considering that we were in the mountains, sunset came very quickly and suddenly. It was morning now, but we would probably reach the temple at noon. There wasn¡¯t enough time.


    I was also expending a lot of energy to cross this bridge. After all, the bridge had been too small to carry Paris, the massive Fil Tusker. That meant I had to take a deep breath and lift Paris above my head to bring her across. For her part, she had been surprised but quiet. Even as we walked over the rickety bridge, she did not let out a sound. And since she was invisible like the rest of us, she did not cast a shadow down onto the water. I did wonder, however, if it would have been best for all of us to cross the bridge by flying across. Somehow, the thought only crossed my mind when we were almost all the way across.


    I took a step on the other side of the bridge and looked back. The water was still, as always, but I frowned. Why had I wanted to walk across the bridge? And why did this feel like the mind control or emotional manipulation magic that the Immortals had used before? No, it could not have been that. I could resist both of them. This felt more like an instinct, a primordial feeling that pushed aside rationality and compelled people to do something strange.


    This lake was more terrifying that I had assumed. I also felt, once again instinctually, that this lake did not have anything to do with the Immortals. The lake was ancient, perhaps as ancient as the Immortals themselves, and it might even be an entity itself. I could feel, in the corner of my mind, a hunch that said the lake knew that we had been crossing over it, and that it had let us cross over it in peace.


    I stopped and turned to the lake. I bowed a little and made the others do the same. They gave me curious looks but followed my lead. We then turned to walk up the path leading up Mount Smoke, and I told everybody in our party that they were not to, under any circumstances, turn their heads until we were far out of sight of the lake.

 Chapter 237

    The temple on top of Mount Smoke looked more imposing from up close. Perhaps it was the desolate landscape that it looked down upon, or the craggy rocks upon which the temple was built. Built somehow onto the very top of the mountain, the temple looked almost as if it encompassed the entire mountain rather than just the peak.


    Three beastmen in silver robes and a demon with red robes stood outside the entrance. I used magic to detect about two dozen guards hiding near the entrance, some standing by windows in the towers, others lying prone behind some spiny bushes. Once we started fighting these guards, more enemies were sure to come out of the temple. With how close we were to the ceremony, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they sent almost everybody who wasn¡¯t required for the ceremony out here to defeat us. This meant a full frontal assault would be the perfect distraction and it was, after all, why I had brought Paris with us.


    There were no living plants up here, only twigs and bramble. The ground was hot to the touch, as if one could feel the magma inside the volcano from the top of the soil. Our party was standing in the middle of the road, hidden purely by magic. Unless Noel and Alek were using strange magic to monitor us, even they shouldn¡¯t know that we had arrived.


    I walked over to Paris, who was remarkably calm. I had always felt the Fil Tusker was smarter than other monsters. She responded to my words, and even showed emotions not too different from those of other sentient beings. I also knew she had not always been like this. Her remarkable intelligence was definitely caused by something that had to do with me. Perhaps she was blessed by the Simurgh, or the thing that allowed me to create magic also gave her increased intelligence, but I knew this was something important. If she could get out of here safely and return to her kind, she could change the world. Years from now, a new race of sentient beings might appear in this world. I felt a responsibility to protect her, but I also knew her transformation wasn¡¯t complete. She was missing one final thing.


    I put my hand over her forehead and breathed in. I concentrated my magic, focusing on the principles I had developed for my new magic system. Paris closed her eyes and I felt her consciousness cocooned around something in her head. I reached out. The cocoon was covered in thick, scaly skin. I pressed my will against it and pictured, at first, a red star, then a beating red heart, but bleached the color inside my head. A vignette appeared in my head, sketched in black and white and with smudges and sharp strokes trying to come together to build an image. The image roiled and rumbled around until it began taking shape into a symbol that might represent me.


    The Evil Eye had the red star.


    Madness had the silver moon.


    And the Simurgh had the thirty birds.


    But what was my symbol? Did I even need one? I was not an Immortal and I did not wish to become one either.


    The image turned to silver hair then to a green globe then a ball of fire, a crimson shield, a blue cube, green cone, a bunch of numbers, words, sounds, symbols, noise, sludge, diamonds, books, pens, everything¡­


    Then nothing.


    I breathed out.


    Paris opened her eyes. I met her gaze. I smiled, brushed her forehead, and jumped back. The massive Fil Tusker leaned down, inspecting her own body, before bringing her head back up again. She breathed in, raised her two tusks to the sky, and let out a bloodcurdling roar.


    Her roar shattered the invisibility magic I had cast on her and decimated the other spells meant to hide her sound and scent. Paris¡¯s tusks cleft apart the air, glowing pristine ivory white. Her glowing tusks left afterimages in the air, as if they were imprinting themselves onto my vision even after they had moved.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I nodded to myself, satisfied. Paris didn¡¯t need my symbol on her body, that was something insecure Immortals like the Evil Eye did to increase their own power or reputation. What Paris needed was a symbol of her own, something that could be passed down to future generations, and could set her apart from the other Fil Tuskers. And whatever would be her symbol, she had to choose it herself.


    And she had chosen to make her already massive tusks even sharper, larger, and deadlier!


    The guards fell to the ground, knocked unconscious by her cry. Even the guy hiding in the bushes lost his nerve and fainted where he lay. The guards inside the temple gather their wits quickly and raised their hands to the air. The silver-robed guards sent out small bubbles and the red-robed guards fired red beams of energy.


    Paris raised her tusks towards the approaching spells and thrust into the air. A boom resounded across the mountain peak, sending rocks tumbling down the mountainside. Two walls of white light appeared in front of Paris and the enemy¡¯s spells crashed and wilted against those walls. Paris let out another cry, shaking the front of the temple like an earthquake.


    More people began to arrive, a few of them with robes that had some more decorations and symbols on them. The guards outside had had one red star or a couple of silver moons at most, but these guys had three of their respective symbols on their robes. They raised their arms towards Paris and let out much larger, more dangerous looking spells.


    A ball of fire appeared in front of one of the new attackers. The ball of fire seemed to materialize out of thin air, singing the enemy¡¯s robes before he could even look down. The ball of fire exploded, sending the enemy crashing into the wall behind him.


    A gust of wind pushed against another enemy, and before he could react, he was swept off his feet and went careening off the peak of the mountain. A gentle thud echoed back up the mountain, followed by another, then another, and then silence.


    Kol and Taoc removed their invisibility magic and appeared behind the new group of guards. The guards turned to face them, but that was when Paris jumped forward much faster than her massive frame would suggest was possible, and she knocked a couple of guards out with the sound of her trampling feet. Her tusks cut through a hastily conjured up bubble spell cast by a three moon follower of Madness, and the man was sent sprawling by another exploding fireball.


    Shouts came out from inside the temple. The entire mountain began emitting a strange translucent energy and the bright morning hue of the sky began to darken. Slowly, a monotonous thrum echoed through my ears.


    Regular like a heartbeat.


    Flat like footsteps.


    Rough like gravel rubbing against itself.


    The thrum calmed the temple and made our party sweat. I barely hung onto the spells that I had cast around myself and had to assist Kelser maintain his own. The sun flickered like a faulty light-bulb and the sky blinked between blue, red, and silver.


    A shrill whistle filled my ears. The sky froze in blue and the sun began blazing once again like the faulty light-bulb had been fixed with a gentle tap. More whistles filled the air.


    No, not whistles.


    Chirps and cries and calls and birdsong.


    The temple shook once more and more guards began to flood out of the gates. Kol and Taoc ran back behind Paris, shooting spells back at the gates. Paris rebounded from the terror of the skies and became enraged. She lifted her giant body and reared in the air with her forelegs. Her two glowing ivory tusks began to hum with power.


    A red-robed woman with four stars on her robe jumped in front of Paris with a flashing scarlet sword. Paris brought her feet down at a frightening speed and smashed the woman down into the ground, splattering red blood on the earth and sending the enemy¡¯s crimson sword flying into another enemy, who collapsed to the ground with a thump.


    Kol tripped up a four moon follower of Madness and Taoc finished him off with a spell of her own. Paris¡¯ tusks cleaved an enemy in two, but although blood covered her feet and face, not a single drop appeared on her tusks.


    I glanced at Kol and Taoc. They were doing well with spells from the old system of magic. They knew they had to stick to those spells for as long as they could. I looked at Paris, still completely uninjured, and knew that wouldn¡¯t last forever. Still, her skin was thick and her vitality was strong. I would have to hope she could hang on for long enough.


    I exchanged a glance with Kelser. He nodded. We faced the gates of the temple and waited for enough enemies to come out. Then, we rushed in.

 Chapter 238

    The inside of the temple was labyrinthine. Hallways snaked around strangely shaped rooms, most of which were bolted shut. A few doors were left hanging open, showing messy bedrooms and dining halls, which made sense considering the way everybody scrambled outside. I wondered why they weren¡¯t on high alert, considering it was the day of the ceremony, but perhaps they had not expected our party to leave the army behind and get here so quickly.


    People ran through the hallways, some putting on their clothes or armor while running. Some were looking for weapons or searching for commanders. The entire thing was an uncoordinated disaster. The rooms closest to the entrance had been empty but as we went further and further inside, we started passing rooms where robed figures were getting ready, asking what was going on, or still snoring loudly.


    It was also clear the hallways were gently sloping downwards. Judging by the way we had never reached any stairs and the temple was not large enough from the outside for us to have been running in a straight line, I knew we were spiraling downwards. Spiraling downwards towards rooms that were larger and more luxurious.


    Rooms with larger beds, better tables, even some fancy furniture. Fancy contraptions that seemed to run on magic and would help someone brew a drink or cook up food. Jars full of fancy ingredients. Silk-like sheets and gaudy clothes. Even the robes hanging on hooks inside their fancier cupboards looked like they were made from better stuff than the robes the guards had been wearing outside.


    The people inside these rooms were higher ranked followers of the immortals. Some of their robes had five or six red stars or silver moons. We walked right past them as they fixed their collars or smoothed out their hair. Were they trying to defend their temple or looking for a date? They didn¡¯t notice us at all and we didn¡¯t stop to take them out or anything. Our mission was too important. We couldn¡¯t afford to be slowed down by the fighting, especially if this temple complex was going to keep going down like this. Just how deep was this place? Did they really need this many followers inside their temple?


    Had they been anticipating an assault? Were all of these followers meant to slow down any attackers, hopefully giving the Ikons enough time to finish off what they were doing or return if they were out somewhere else?


    The hallways became darker and dustier. There were wider spaces between rooms now and none of these rooms were residences. Instead, they looked like training rooms full of dangerous equipment and orbs giving off strange lights. These orbs were similar to the orb I had found underneath Bek Tepe, the human temple. Except, these orbs were smaller and did not have the little birds that had been attacking the orbs at Bek Tepe. I was tempted to pick up and analyze one of these orbs, perhaps it would help us against the Ikons, but thought better of it. There wasn¡¯t enough time to analyze everything and there was no telling if it would really help us out in the end.


    Kelser frowned. He must have realized it too. We had been running for so long and yet had not crossed any other robed followers. Either the information about the attack hadn¡¯t reached this far down the complex, or the truly powerful followers were under orders to guard the complex from the inside. We were also approaching ground level and yet there was no sign of the end of the hallways. Each ¡®floor¡¯ was getting larger too, as the slope became gentler and gentler. By the time we crossed what I thought was the ground floor, the ground felt almost completely flat.


    And yet it kept going.


    On and on and on in an endless spiral that made me question if we would even make it in time. By my calculations, it was almost noon. The ceremony would begin at sunset, which would be very early this high up the mountains. In fact, it was such an arbitrary time of day for a place like this, that I had no idea when exactly it would take place. Was it when the sun was no longer visible from the temple atop the mountain or at the level of the valley? Considering how far down we had come, I began to fear the ¡®sunset¡¯ the ceremony was supposed to begin at would be a lot sooner than I¡¯d thought.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    We finally came upon another follower of an Immortal. She was a red-robed demon with a massive scar on her face, accentuating the fearsome look in her eyes. She had a domineering seven red stars on her robe, and stood resolutely in the middle of the hallway. She stared down the hallway but judging by how unfocused her eyes were, I knew she couldn¡¯t tell that we were here.


    Kelser and I exchanged a glance. The plan had been to lure out practically everybody to the entrance and have Paris, Kol, and Taoc tie them up for a while. Those three were supposed to slowly retreat if necessary, and could always jump off the mountain with the flight magic I had barely managed to teach Kol and Taoc in time. The reason we hadn¡¯t used flight magic to enter the temple was because we needed to be as close to the ground as possible to let the Simurgh defend us against the Evil Eye and Madness, a strategy that was vindicated by the strange power that had almost turned the day to night when we first attacked the temple. But now that Kelser and I were inside, the Immortals probably didn¡¯t care too much about the people at the entrance. Perhaps these higher ranked followers hadn¡¯t left the temple because the Immortals had sent out orders through their Ikons. The Immortals definitely knew Kelser and I were inside. Now it was just a question of how they were going to stop us.


    The Simurgh would stop them from interfering too directly, that I was sure of. The Simurgh needed us to retrieve the Book of Annihilation before the ceremony was completed. The Simurgh might even take some risks to make sure that we succeeded, considering how important this Book was to it.


    For their part, Madness and the Evil Eye would probably realize the Simurgh was standing in their way, and would keep pushing at it. They would probably direct Noel and Alek to prepare as well, and if Norn Izlandi was around, she would get involved somehow too.


    We passed by the seven star follower of the Evil Eye and she didn¡¯t even flinch. We crossed some more grim looking beings, ignoring their deathly stares and running right through the corridors. I could feel my nerves tensing up. If the people we were passing were ordered to turn around and box us in, we would be in a terrible situation. The hallways were narrow and long. If we had to fight through this place we would never get to the ceremony in time. It didn¡¯t help that I couldn¡¯t use as much magic to speed us up because that increased the chance that I would slip up and give us away by not stopping dust from kicking up or being unable to avoid a cobweb or something.


    An eight moon beastman snarled at the hallway behind us. I had no idea why the tiger like beastman was snarling down the hallway if he couldn¡¯t even see us, but I didn¡¯t question it too much. By the time we reached this level, the hallways were unbearably long and empty. Each new follower that appeared in the dim light almost made my heart jump into my throat, since the candles that were lighting the path had some sort of strange property that made them diffuse light very irregularly.


    A nine star beastman sat on a chair in the middle of the hallway. The old snake beastman sipped his tea in silence, his eyes closed and forked tongue coming out to taste the tea and the air. As a beastman in the service of the Evil Eye, this guy must be some sort of bigwig. We were insanely far underground now, past even the surface of the dark lake we had slept near last night.


    Kelser and I ran past the nine star beastman and only glanced over our shoulders once we had left him behind. As expected, he couldn¡¯t detect us either. We approached a nine star demon knitting a sweater, a nine moon beastman eating cake, and even a ten star demon who was oiling his blade. Somehow, just looking at their nonchalant expressions and the quiet confidence that they exuded, I could tell that these guys were trouble. Kol, Taoc, and Paris would not be able to handle them on their own, which was fine because they were clearly not planning on leaving their positions.


    The only way they would move is if there was an attack deeper inside the temple. Then, they would come swarming up the hallways, smashing us between the Ikons on one end and powerful demons and beastmen on the other. I looked at Kelser and he looked at me. I nodded.


    We approached a ten moon beastwoman who was fixing her glasses with trembling hands. Kelser raced up to the wrinkly old turtle beastwoman who looked like she was a friendly neighborhood grandma, and gave her a devastating uppercut.

 Chapter 239

    The old turtle beastwoman went flying into the air with an exaggerated cry. In fact, her cry was so loud and so exaggerated that it reverberated through the hallways and carried through to everybody for miles. Soon, the other ten and nine star beastmen and demons would rush over to fight Kelser. Kelser realized this and didn¡¯t let the turtle grandma recover. He flew after her and shot a burst earth magic towards her wrinkly old skull.


    The ball of hard earth crashed into the turtle beastwoman¡¯s head and shattered into dust. The beastwoman gave out another exaggerated cry and fell even further back until she finally hit the wall and slid down to the floor. Kelser did not relent. He ran towards her with more spells, and even took out the metal sword I had made for him along the way. Kol and Taoc had metal swords too, but they would only take it out if they were forced to fight in close quarters. Stuck in a hallway with reinforcements on the way, Kelser knew he had to give this fight everything he had right from the start. Especially because, despite everything he had hit her with so far, the ten star turtle granny hadn¡¯t shed a single drop of blood.


    I waited a moment just in case Kelser needed my help. Kelser slashed at the turtle beastwoman, but she turned on her back and his sword was deflected by her shell. Kelser followed that up by lifting her up with magic hands and aiming for her soft underbelly. The beastwoman hugged her body and Kelser was forced to jump back.


    The ten moon beastwoman had created a giant bubble around herself. Kelser tossed a pebble at the bubble, which made it disappear, but the beastwoman was able to land on her feet and face him with an angry look in her eyes. Kelser made a pose with his sword and slowly nodded his head.


    I took that to mean he could handle it. I decided to trust him, especially because the sooner I started fighting the Ikons, the sooner Kelser, Kol and Taoc could start using my new magic system. I had told them not to use those spells until the sun was almost about to set or if they had no choice but to use them because of pressure from their enemies.


    I raced down the hallway, the sounds of Kelser¡¯s fight echoing behind me. Soon, even those sounds faded away and the hallway became dark. There were no candles, no lights, and no rooms for what felt like miles. I used magic to speed myself up. The ceremony could begin at any moment. I had to hurry!


    A tiny speck of light appeared in the distance. The light was strange, like a mix of violent red and tranquil silver. Even from a distance, I could tell the light was overwhelmingly bright. As I got closer, the speck became larger and larger until it filled my vision with its strange colors. Colors that mixed and melded with each other yet somehow managed to stay distinct. Their boundaries were gradients that flashed into pastel colors that made no sense and would have had a dizzying effect if not for the mind and emotional resistance magic that I had mastered.


    As I approached the light, I began feeling slow. As if I was wading through some awful viscous muck. I cut across the tangible light with magic but it slowed me down considerably. The tangible light began rising up my legs, eventually reaching my hips and finally my shoulders. I held my breath as the light filled the hallway up to my head.


    With the tangible light in front of my eyes, the hallway began to swim in hues of red and silver. If you haven¡¯t ever seen red and silver together, you might not realize how nauseating those colors look together. As if the metal taste of red blood and the metallic tinge of silver got together to make the world in front of me look fake and unreal. A futuristic simulation that was barely believable.


    I closed my eyes, readied my energy, and raised my hands quickly through the muck. I felt the hallway shake as an unimaginable amount of earth and air pushed aside the tangible parts of the light while my own light magic flooded the area. My light magic was usually a shade of white, but to better counter the silver light, I set off something closer to warm daylight.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    I opened my eyes and kept running. By now, whoever was maintaining this light knew that I was here. There was no point in keeping up the invisibility magic so I let it wash off my body and focused everything I had on flying through the hallway like a bullet. I was going so fast, in fact, that I didn¡¯t even notice when I had followed the red and silver light so far that I appeared inside a large empty room.


    I blinked.


    The room disappeared.


    I was in a valley. Wide open with two mountains on either side. One mountain was red, the other silver. Atop one peak was a red star, and behind another stood a full silver moon. The light I had been seeing inside the hallway seemed to be coming from those two symbols on top of the mountains. I looked over my shoulder and the hallway was still there, except it was a path leading down into the ground.


    The valley was strange. It fit too neatly with the other mountains, almost as if the valley was an inverted mountain. A perfect ¡®V¡¯ or something a child might have drawn when told to draw a valley between two mountains. There was no truly flat land to stand on in this valley, and even I was flying above the middle of a valley.


    There was no hallway, no single direction to follow anymore. I looked around for signs of the Ikons or another temple. Anything that would tell me where to go. But I couldn¡¯t find it. Would I have to go to each symbol on top of the mountain? No, the Immortals could have split their forces in two, but they could not split the Book of Annihilation.


    Thankfully, the question of the sunset was answered by what I could see in front of me. The sun was descending perfectly between the two mountains, still well above the horizon that was defined by the sharply cut valley. I had enough time to check both mountains.


    I flew over to the mountain with the moon on it, since Noel had been the one who had taken the Book of Annihilation. Madness seemed stronger than the Evil Eye, anyway. I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d give the Book to anyone else.


    But as I approached the mountain, I squinted my eyes. There was nothing on the peak. No building, no secret pathway, not even a simple altar upon which the book might be placed. I knew there was supposed to be a ceremony here. If there was a ceremony, that suggested there would be a ritual of some sort. Thinking back to the ceremonies that took place at the human temple of Bek Tepe, I knew an empty mountain peak wasn¡¯t good enough. I touched down on the mountain peak just to make sure, but even with a full sweep off the place with my magic, there was no sign of anything suspicious. Even the symbol of the moon seemed like a strange glass-like object, impervious to my magic but otherwise harmless.


    I bit my lips. The sun was getting closer to the horizon. The book must be on the other mountain! I rushed over with my flight magic, cutting through the air as fast as I could. Yet, when I landed upon the second mountain, I found nothing. No Ikon, no Book, no sign of anything except a glass-like red star emitting angry red light on this side of the mountain.


    What was going on? The sun was about to set. Where was the ceremony? Noel, Alek, heck, I¡¯d take anything, any clue about what was going on.


    I bent my knees, faced the sky, and jumped. With wind whipping past my face, I quickly estimated how much time I had left. I went as high up as I could and stopped. I turned around suddenly, making my stomach lurch and making pain shoot through my head.


    To my right, I saw Mount Smoke. It was on the very edge of my vision, but I could still make out a few flashes from the peak, probably from the fight between Kol, Taoc, Paris and the followers of the Immortals. Somewhere underground, Kelser was fighting for his life, trying to buy me enough time to deal with this ceremony and retrieve the Book of Annihilation. I even felt like I could feel the eyes of the Immortal of Desire, the Simurgh, burning into my back, telling me to hurry up and find the Book But there was no sign of it. No sign of the Book, the ceremony, the Ikons.


    I realized as I overlooked the two mountains and the sharp V-shaped valley, that this valley looked familiar. Two sides, sharp and of equal height, facing down into an unnaturally smooth valley. It almost reminded me of the very thing I had come to look for: a book, held open by its middle.


    The sun kissed the horizon. Time was up.

 Chapter 240

    Layers of mountain peeled off from either side, fluttering in the air until the valley slammed shut. A gust of wind blew towards me, sending me spiraling off like a mote of dust caught in a tornado. I steadied myself with flight magic, but my vision continued to blur.


    The mountains slammed into one another, turning into balls of earth and dirt and dust that unraveled into strings then specks that splattered into rough brown noise. The wind roared and scrambled the mess even more, blowing apart the debris and hiding the valley behind the mess. But was there even a valley there any more? Hard to consider something a valley if it couldn¡¯t be surrounded by mountains any more because the mountains were gone.


    And yes, the mountains were gone. They were completely gone. The base of the mountains had been cut clean in an unnatural line as if they had been edited out by a computer program. Now, the base of the mountains was level with where the ¡®v¡¯ of the valley had been.


    The red star and the silver moon were both gone. They had crashed into one another, but even though they looked like they were made of glass, they had not shattered. Instead, they had become conjoined, face-first. The red star¡¯s red light seemed brighter and sharper but the full moon didn¡¯t have edges so it appeared larger and more intimidating. These two symbols rotated in the middle of the debris, their light peeking out from the noise from time to time in flashes of red and silver like a dizzying disco ball.


    In the edge of my vision, I saw Mount Smoke, which was far enough away that they were safe from this mess but they definitely heard the boom of the mountains crashing into each other and the roar of the wind as it swirled around the debris. The flashes of light that signaled the fight between my friends and the followers of the Immortals was gone. I could almost picture everybody stopping their fighting to stare at the tornado of debris in front of me. The followers of the Immortals would be jubilant¡ªthe ceremony had started. My party would be shocked for a bit but they knew what they had to do. We had plans for what would happen if I failed to stop the ceremony. They had to deal with what they were dealing with and rush over to help me as soon as possible.


    And honestly could anyone really blame me for failing to stop this ceremony? How was I supposed to know the entire valley was going to blow up? That the Book of Annihilation was somehow represented by two massive mountains and a sharp narrow valley?


    The wind continued to roar but I noticed it was no longer as erratic as before. The wind was blowing only in two directions, the directions that the two mountains had been in before. The two winds pushed against one another, trying to win control of the debris but at the same time, bringing the debris closer and closer together until everything was a ball of earth swirling around a nucleus of red and silver light. Behind it all, the sun began dipping below the horizon. Soon, the orange glow in the sky would be gone and only the light flooding out from the cracks in the ball of earth would light up this dismal dreary place.


    I didn¡¯t just stand by and watch all of this happen. I summoned all of my old magic spells and tried to put a dent in the mayhem. I used air magic to try and control the wind, but it kept roaring and whipping about. I tried using earth magic to control the debris and the spinning ball of earth, but any handfuls I could control were knocked about by the wind or other pieces of debris. Fire was useless as was water. I tried to use motion magic, with hundreds of invisible magic hands flying about the place, futilely grabbing on to whatever they could and bringing things together as if in a massive embrace but there was simply too much to hold onto and too much chaos to control.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    My light magic could not compete with the red and silver glow. My other motion magic was useless as well. I tried using gravity magic, which had mostly been consigned to helping me balance myself or to unbalance enemies, but it was like trying to throw an anchor off of a million ships while caught in a storm. Rain magic was just as useless, since this phenomenon was not caused by the weather. I even tried magnetism, like the sort I had used for the makeshift rail gun, but there really wasn¡¯t much magnetic material in the debris for that to have any effect.


    And so there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it. Perhaps if the Book of Annihilation had appeared to me as it had appeared before, in the form of a small book that one could easily grab onto and run, it would have been worth some desperate measures. I could have risked my life jumping into the tornado to retrieve the book or I could have brought out my new magic system early and tried to win the day that way, but it didn¡¯t make sense to do anything right now. Not when I had no idea how to retrieve the Book, or if it could even be retrieved at all. How was I supposed to stop this ceremony? How was I supposed to do anything right now?


    I needed help. I needed a sign. I took a deep breath and emptied out my lungs into the roaring winds, asking the Simurgh to give me a sign! If it didn¡¯t want its enemies to win, if it wanted me to retrieve the Book, it had to do something and it had to do it now!


    I didn¡¯t know if the Simurgh could hear me over the din of the swirling ball of earth and the roaring winds that were holding it together. I did not know if the red and silver lights that were washing over the landscape were somehow obstructing the birds from hearing what I had said, but what I did know, was that the Simurgh did nothing.


    The other Immortals had exploded two gigantic mountains yet the Simurgh could not even send me a message. I would¡¯ve taken a suggestion. Maybe even some manipulation of my emotions, anything that would give me a clue. Yet, there was nothing.


    I grit my teeth. Why was I expecting something from an Immortal, anyway? If one was lucky, their help was useless, and if one was unlucky, the Immortals¡¯ help was most dangerous for the one receiving it. There was always a catch, a hidden clause they never mentioned but which always ended up screwing you over.


    I was on my own.


    I had to make a decision.


    Should I stand here and wait for a sign? Should I wait for this ceremony to end, for the Immortals to get whatever it is that they wanted, and to deal with it from there? Did I go on this journey for nothing? Would it have been better to stay with the United Army and try to set up some sort of resistance there? I kept second guessing myself. Thinking about possibilities, regrets, decisions that I had made that had led me to this place.


    I had a choice to make. There was only one thing that I knew of which could turn the tides here. If the Immortal of Desire, the Simurgh, was not going to get involved, that meant I had to increase my firepower right now. I had to find a way to blow away the spinning ball of earth, to calm or cut through the two competing winds, and to destroy the two glowing symbols at the heart of this mess. I had to find a way to cut through what could not be cut through. To destroy what could not be destroyed. To control that which could not be controlled.


    I raised my hands in front of my body, took two deep, calming breaths, and decided. It was time. I had to use my new magic system.

 Chapter 241

    If you woke up one day and felt that something was wrong, what would you do? And when I say, something was wrong, I mean something was wrong with the world on a fundamental level.


    Perhaps the sky was green but you remembered it was blue. Perhaps your father died before you were born but you saw him taking milk out of the refrigerator. Perhaps your friends in school thought you were cool when you remembered being bullied or perhaps you got picked first in kickball even though you were a scrawny little nerd. If something like that happened, and you began to question where and who you were, perhaps you would ask if you were still in the same universe.


    But how does one confirm if the universe they woke up in today was the same universe that they went to sleep in the night before? Could one trust their own memory? Surely, not, but then what else could they rely on? Anything they could do to try to compare this universe with their previous universe would assume their memory of their old universe was accurate.


    So, okay, we wouldn¡¯t get anywhere if we didn¡¯t at least assume that our memories were accurate. But if one wasn¡¯t sure what exactly they remembered, perhaps if their memories of the blue sky were as vague as their memories of a green one, then what could they do? The answer is to compare as many things as one can. If differences could not prove something, then perhaps similarities could.


    One must measure the acceleration of gravity and compare it to what one remembered from the other world. And when one is convinced that it is the same, that is an important piece of data. One must measure and calculate the speed of light, elementary charge, electrical resistivity and heat capacity of various substances, and when they are the same, one can know that they have more evidence.


    Outside of physics, one can study human bodies, and find the similarities in organs and structure. One can observe human social behavior, and conclude that it is similar. One can examine economics, history, art, and the form and structure of stories. One can zoom in on a piece of dust, taste a sip of water, smell the scent of leaves and grass, and one can find more evidence of the similarities between their memories and the world around them.


    But is that enough?


    No.


    Even if all the physical constants were confirmed, even the one that was named after Planck in my previous world, even then, it would not be enough. Even if the grass, the water, the people, the scents, the tastes, the feelings of love and joy and happiness in your heart, even if they were all the same it would not be enough. Because all that would prove is that this universe follows the same laws and principles as your previous universe. All this would prove is that this second universe is similar to the one you remember, but that does not mean that it is the same.


    And how could it be? After all, you can see your face in the pond, pointy ears and all. You can summon fire on your fingertips. Call forth the rain with a deep breath. Ride on a monster. Make the ground cave in. There are spirits that hover over the ground and fairies that walk around decked out in armor. There are demons and beastmen and even prehistoric humans. And of course, there are Immortals. Immortals taken straight out of myths and legends and poems that you only read once before.


    An Immortal in a red star, named after a Mesopotamian superstition. An Immortal made of thirty birds, each one you know you should remember, but all you can remember is that ¡®thirty birds¡¯ is a terrible pun and the Simurgh sounded more mystical in Ancient Persia.


    And what of Madness? Explored by Sophocles and Shakespeare and Gilman and many more, madness, with a small m, is an ancient theme. In my day, it had become more scientific with the advent of neuroscience, psychology, and many other scientific disciplines pertaining to the mind and the brain. But once upon a time, madness was a thing all on its own. Caused by demons or avarice, an infliction sometimes tangible sometimes ethereal. Madness was powerful, and in art especially so. Or so said Oedipus and Lear and the woman stuck in a room with the yellow wallpaper.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    While developing my new magic system, I was thankful that I did not need to verify if this universe was the same as my own. Instead, all I needed to do was to confirm to myself, as much as possible, that this world followed, by and large, the same fundamental principles as my old Earth.


    I had to confirm the physical constants as best I could, and I did that.


    I had to confirm the basic principles of biology, and I did that.


    I had to confirm the chemical properties of various substances, and I did that too.


    And I had to confirm the way war and trade and love and compassion worked between sentient beings. The way any feeling being, sentient or not, reacted to stimuli, both positive and negative. I had to confirm if water was wet and the scent of cut grass was pleasant and the feel of sand was coarse between my fingertips as I remembered.


    I had to remember what it felt to spend time with my friends, to feel the warmth of companionship, the love that fills the heart and empties the mind of idle worries and pointless thoughts. I had to confirm many things, some fundamental, some a little more complex, but after all this time in this world, and after meeting so many of the people of this world, I was fairly certain I had done my due diligence. I had confirmed, to a reasonable degree, that this world could be understood through the lenses I had acquired in my previous world. That it was reasonable to assume that something would work the way it did in my previous world, unless there was evidence to the contrary.


    Where my old magic system required evidence to justify my beliefs, my new magic system already presupposed the evidence based on how similar this world was to my old one. My new magic system unshackled me from the burden of having to do a new experiment for every spell, to make an argument for why something that I had learned in school must be reinvented in this new world before I could make use of it.


    After all, I had remembered that indeed, there had been other people who had come up with magic in this world. The elders of the elfin Jora tribe had used magic. Weak magic that they had barely conjured up after centuries of lived experience, but magic nonetheless. Centuries of knowledge and wisdom had come together to let the elders tell stories through fire and to keep fires going when they should have died out.


    And yet there were beings in this world who used written words. The demons, for example, wrote things down on scrolls that they passed down to their future generations. Was that not an accumulation of knowledge like that of the elfin Jora tribe¡¯s elders? It was, indeed. But it was not an accumulation of wisdom. That, for most people, came from time.


    All of these thoughts and considerations brought me back to myself. Me¡ªthe human from another world. In this world, I could invent spells that nobody else could come up with. At first, one might assume this meant there was something special about me and that this ¡®something¡¯ was related to my status in this world.


    I had been summoned by the Immortal of Evil, the Evil Eye. I had been blessed and supported by the Immortal of Desire, the Simurgh. And I had been manipulated and visited by the Immortal of Madness. But I was sure it was not the Immortals that had made me special, because then they would have tried to control me. I also knew that although the struggle between these three powerful beings was probably what was keeping me free from their domination, their struggle could not give me the power to come up with spells.


    What was special about me was the stuff I had learned on my Earth. A twenty-first century liberal arts education. From grade school to college, I had learned things in institutions, through books, and through the internet and my peers. And although I didn¡¯t have the ¡®wisdom¡¯ of years, the way the old elfin Elders did, I had the ¡®wisdom¡¯ of having done experiments in science labs, conducted research of my own, or seen results replicated in papers, movies, and real life. The complexities of modern life, with its ups and downs, the constant bombardment of information and stimulation. Of learning things, unlearning others, and having access to the collective knowledge of generations of humans at my fingertips. Everything had given me the ¡®knowledge¡¯ and the ¡®wisdom¡¯ that was necessary to create magic in this world. All I¡¯d needed to do was to convince myself that this world and the world I had been born in, were not that different.


    That here too, I could be guided by the motto of my alma mater: Truth.

 Chapter 242

    The rotating mass of earth was still spinning uncontrollably. The red and silver symbols peeked out from behind the dust and dirt as if they were mocking my inability to reach them. My hands were outstretched in front of me and energy began to surge inside my body.


    The greatest limitation to my magic was energy. Old magic, new magic, the magic of the Immortals, all magic required energy to function. I knew even the Immortals were confined by energy or else they would have been using magic all the time and with no concerns or limitations. The Simurgh could¡¯ve been bringing down the rotating mass of earth floating in front of me, and perhaps even destroying the symbols glowing red and silver in the center of it all. The Evil Eye could be flattening the Earth and Madness could have ignored everything and made the moon crash into the planet or something.


    There were two ways to deal with the problem of energy. I could increase my total energy or reduce the amount of energy that each spell used.


    Increasing my total energy was difficult. This energy didn¡¯t seem to be the chemical energy stored inside food that then makes the body move. I knew it was some sort of abstract, mental energy, one that wasn¡¯t completely related to physical energy, although it wasn¡¯t completely separated from this internal energy either. The only way to increase this pool of energy was to better understand magic itself, either by using a lot of it or by examining magic and energy and increasing my knowledge of both.


    By embracing my new magic system, I had increased my understanding of magic in this world by several fold. I knew now that ¡®justified true belief¡¯ applied to my knowledge regardless of where or how the knowledge had been justified. As long as it was justified in my previous world and I had no reason to doubt that it would be justified in this world too, I would be able to use that knowledge to cast spells.


    But even with the amount of energy that I had gained by understanding my new magic system, I would be using too much energy to take down this mess with brute force. I couldn¡¯t afford to waste energy when I still had to fight Noel, Alek, and possibly even the Immortals.


    The other option was to reduce the amount of energy that each spell used. I hadn¡¯t used this magic system much, so it wouldn¡¯t be as efficient as it could have been, but that was the price to pay for keeping it a secret from the Immortals for so long. Still, I could reduce the amount of energy I used for each spell by being careful with the target of my spells.


    In front of me, there were many potential targets. There was the spinning mass of earth, the dust cloud around it, and the symbols swirling and flashing inside the whole mess. The spinning mass was heavy, it would take a lot of energy to bring it down, especially while working against its spinning motion. The dust storm was amorphous and also moving really quickly. Trying to hold onto any small amount of dust would be impossible, and the winds were so powerful, I¡¯d use a ton of energy just to calm them down. And there was no telling how much energy it would take to do anything meaningful to those symbols. Especially because Noel and Alek¡¯s absence was making me suspect they might be related to those symbols somehow.


    And so I focused on myself. Me¡ªCaspian Holm. I knew who I was. I knew what my form looked like in this world. I knew my tolerances, the abilities and strengths of this body. I knew my vulnerabilities, my weaknesses. Somehow, living in this world had made me more physically powerful but not by much. If I walked into those fierce winds without any magic protecting my body, I would be ripped to shreds.


    But couldn¡¯t that cut two ways?


    I brought my outstretched hands back to my body and exhaled. I wondered for a moment about what to do. Force fields were common in science fiction and fantasy media back on my Earth, but I knew the science behind them wasn¡¯t very solid. If force fields were even theoretically possible, I didn¡¯t know how to make them happen yet. That said, I remembered a famous public scientist¡¯s idea about creating a three layered force field made out of plasma and other materials and forces. I couldn¡¯t create the sort of force field he had suggested, but I could take this idea and make it my own.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    First, I took some of the earth floating around in front of me and brought it together around my body. Since this area had a high amount of volcanic activity, there was a lot of silicon, especially in the form of quartz. I managed to quickly manipulate and layer the silicon in a way that would make it reasonably rigid, like concrete, and then layered it with clay and other malleable materials. I encased the whole thing in harder rock and then made winds swirl around me in a way that would soften the blow from the winds in front of me. Then, I used some relatively clear quartz to make a way for me to see out of my encasement and pushed myself into the swirling debris.


    I was jostled around by the powerful winds but my armor did a decent job of holding together. I cushioned my body inside the encasement with air and motion magic, and managed to blow through the swirling winds with ease and without any injuries. The next challenge was blasting into the swirling mass of rock.


    But that was also pretty easy. I slammed my armor into the spinning earth and cut through the rock with earth magic at the same time. By timing my collision almost perfectly, I was able to jump into the rotating ball of earth as if I was a kid jumping onto a spinning merry-go-round. My stomach lurched as my feet landed on the other side of the ball of earth and I had to use balance magic to keep my feet attached.


    So far, the only new magic spell I had used was the chemical manipulation magic necessary to play around with the silicon in the igneous rocks that made up the earth around here. I didn¡¯t think the Immortals would notice anything strange about that, since I was certain they knew nothing about science and would chalk up everything to the strange spells I had been using ever since the Simurgh told me about knowledge and wisdom. Still, it was only a matter of time until they figured out I¡¯d gotten stronger and that I had broken through the rules and limits that they thought I had been bound by.


    In front of me were the two spinning, flashing symbols of the Evil Eye and Madness. From up close, and with a little light magic to help protect me from the bright light, I finally noticed that these symbols were not just a red star and a silver moon.


    The Evil Eye¡¯s red star had a large blood-red eye engraved on its surface. I knew the Evil Eye had never been subtle with his branding and all¡ªhe did make all his minions wear red and give them away with glowing red eyes and stuff after all. But still, there was already a massive red star here. Why did he need to add the eye on top of it?


    Madness¡¯ silver moon was stranger. It didn¡¯t have any craters or blemishes on it like the moon did in real life. Even in this world, the real moon that hung in the sky at night had craters on it, even when it was appearing at strange times or was clearly under the influence of Madness. Yet, this symbol was more of a smooth silver disk, almost like the flat-side of a cartoonish UFO.


    I jumped with flight magic and grabbed onto the spinning symbols. I¡¯d coated my hands in water just in case, but the symbols weren¡¯t hot at all. I¡¯d known that since it hadn¡¯t been hot inside the spinning ball of earth, but I¡¯d wanted to be careful.


    Which is why I opened my closed fits and revealed two large gleaming diamonds. I positioned both diamonds in the middle of the symbols, wound up a massive amount of energy, and shot the diamond at the symbols.


    Two scratches appeared on the symbols.


    I put the diamonds back in place and shot them out again.


    More scratches.


    Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.


    The scratches turned to grooves that turned to large cracks. I jammed the diamonds into the large cracks, thanked Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs, and shattered the symbols. The spinning earth stopped. The wind quieted. And two bursts of red and silver light filled my vision, blinding me even through my light magic.

 Chapter 243

    I opened my eyes and the world had changed and I had to jump down to the ground to avoid a scarlet scythe. The scarlet scythe swung through the air, cutting off a strand of hair from my head and leaving an afterimage above me.


    Another silver scythe swung at my feet. I jumped up and used flight magic to fly above the red scythe which was swinging back to me like a boomerang. Both scythes swirled through the air and swung back towards me as I flew higher and higher into the air.


    The swooshing sounds of the scythes turned into hypnotic whispers that sounded like they were saying something. Something I couldn¡¯t quite make out, couldn¡¯t understand until the scythes swung past me again and I dodged and weaved between their swings. The whispers were telling me to embrace them, to let myself go. Why was I avoiding them? They just wanted to give me a hug.


    I smirked. Hugging a blade? Those whispers were probably meant to control my mind or emotions. They were stronger than the other kinds of mind control magic I¡¯d encountered before but my new magic system wouldn¡¯t let that sort of magic work on me. Not when I had everything from neuroscience and existential philosophy affirming my independent mind. I didn¡¯t need more than cogito ergo sum to resist the whispers.


    And the scythes were made out of energy. Was it light energy or something else? Well, we¡¯d find out, wouldn¡¯t we.


    The red scythe swung towards me and I threw some wind towards it. The wind didn¡¯t slow the scythe down at all and I avoided it.


    The silver scythe came and I threw one of my two diamonds at it. The scythe collided against the diamond and shuddered. A horrible screech pierced the air, making me grit my teeth. The silver scythe flashed and flickered but eventually continued its path towards me. I avoided it too.


    The red scythe seemed to hesitate when I raised my hand towards it. Perhaps it saw the glint of the other diamond in my hand. That made me wonder, why was there so much light right now, anyway? The sun should have set by now. I turned my head up while keeping both scythes in the corners of my eyes. I froze and cursed under my breath.


    The full moon was out and hanging above my head in its full glory. The red star shone from its own perch in the sky, sparkling a dangerous red and twinkling like it was trying to speak to me through Morse code. The scythes swung towards me together and I ducked under them while rocketing towards the ground.


    I touched the flattened earth but kept looking at the sky. I was standing on the remains of one of the mountains that had collided when the Book of Annihilation was closed. The moon and the red star stared down at me like they were observing an amoeba under a microscope.


    ¡°You¡¯ve already won, haven¡¯t you!¡± I yelled into the air. The scythes stopped. ¡°You¡¯ve got the Book of Annihilation and you¡¯ve started the ceremony. I have no idea where the book is or how I¡¯m supposed to stop this ceremony. You¡¯ve won! So get on with it already, do whatever it is that you wanted to do!¡±


    The scythes hung under their respective symbols. The silver scythe faded into the moonlight but the red scythe grew darker and more sinister. The red star blinked and flashed brightly and the red scythe grew larger and faster as it zoomed towards me.


    The moon shone as if it wanted to stop the red scythe, but it was too late. I smiled and laughed as I made a mound of earth appear in front of me. The scythe cut through the mound like it was nothing but another mound appeared. This mound was made out of harder materials and was packed together much closer. The scythe cut through it too.


    But there was another mound. Then another. And another. And each time, the obstacle became harder and the scythe became stronger and terrible noises filled the air and the moon began to scream what sounded like stop but the red star became more erratic and wild and enraged.


    Finally, a mound of diamond appeared in front of the scythe and it crashed into it like a wild bull. The red scythe cried out in anger and rage as it sliced through the surface of the diamond. I had to hold my hands to my ears because of the terrible scratching and screeching but even through my hands I could hear the sounds of the scythe as they began to turn from anger to fear.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The scythe was deep inside the diamonds when the diamond mound began to repair itself. The red star, drowning in rage, didn¡¯t realize what was happening until it was too late. The diamond mound began healing itself closer and closer to the scythe. The scythe¡¯s screeching became more muffled as it was blocked by the hard carbon. The red star finally realized that something was wrong and the scythe stopped cutting. But all that did was give the healing diamond mound enough time to heal itself so close to the scythe that the scythe became entombed in the diamond.


    The silver moon did not shine. The red star¡¯s shine was dull but consistent. The scythe could not move inside the diamond mound but I could see it from where I stood. The scythe looked strange now that I could see it without any motion or vibrations. It didn¡¯t even look like a scythe now that it was stationary. I blinked and frowned. I got closer.


    My motion made the silver moon and the red star jolt from their inaction. The silver moon glared and the red star blinked rapidly. The silver scythe reappeared but when more mountains and mounds appeared in its path, the scythe froze and the silver moon¡¯s glare dulled. The red star¡¯s whispers became louder, sounding as if it was scolding the moon for not doing something.


    I put my hand on the diamond tomb and squinted. Through the mesmerizing colors inside the gem, and the distortions of light that made it hard to make out the exact shape of the scythe, I eventually began to piece together the actual shape and form of the scythe.


    The ¡®scythe¡¯ wasn¡¯t a scythe at all. It was a page.


    I couldn¡¯t make out the words on the page, both because I did not know how to read this language and because the words were scribbled in a near indecipherable script. The red star¡¯s whispers came to my ears and I realized the Evil Eye was mocking me. He had remembered that his gift to me did not let me read words. I would not be able to figure out what was written here and the Immortals would send the rest of their supporters down here to dispose of me soon.


    I chuckled. No, I laughed. I laughed out so loudly that the whispers stopped and the silver moon also began to flicker as if it was worried. The whispers returned, they asked me if I had finally succumbed to Madness, but I kept laughing.


    I laughed and laughed and laughed some more. Tears formed in my eyes and my chest began to hurt but I couldn¡¯t help it. I leaned back and shouted into the air, ¡°Noel! Noel, you won¡¯t believe this! It¡¯s amazing! The funniest thing to ever happen to me in this world! Where are you Noel, you should be here for this!¡±


    The silver moonlight flickered. The silver scythe reappeared but it flickered under the moonlight. The red star¡¯s whispers said something like what are you doing but the silver moonlight kept flickering and the scythe began to blink in and out of existence until I rubbed the tears from my eyes and blinked.


    The silver scythe, which looked more clearly like a page now, turned into Noel¡¯s familiar figure, which explained both where Noel and Alek had been this whole time as well as explaining why the Simurgh had not been able to help me against something that seemed like it was direct intervention by the other Immortals.


    Noel looked down at me with an enraged and confused expression. I pointed to her and laughed some more. I then pointed to the red scythe that was still stuck inside the diamond and laughed some more.


    ¡°Can you believe it Noel?¡± I asked between bouts of laughter.


    ¡°If my master had not told me you have not succumbed to Madness, I would have thought you¡¯d gone mad, Cas,¡± said Noel with a frown.


    ¡°But it¡¯s just so funny, Noel! Look at it! After all this time, despite all of your planning and evil designs, this is how it ends. This is how it ends, Noel!¡± I said.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± asked Noel.


    ¡°The words, Noel! The words on the page stuck in the diamond!¡± I said as I pointed to them. ¡°Don¡¯t they look familiar?¡±


    Noel squinted her eyes. I even cast a little light magic to help her see. Noel¡¯s eyes widened. I laughed.


    ¡°They¡¯re the words from the cave of The Terrible!¡± I said out loud.

 Chapter 244

    The words on the entrance to the cave of The Terrible had been the first words I had seen in this world. One of the first things I had done with Noel was try to decipher this script. In the end, the entire exercise had been pointless because I¡¯d figured out how to trick the elves into thinking we had already visited The Terrible. The runes had also appeared near the tomb of the Mad King. I hadn¡¯t been able to figure out these runes all those years ago and that thought had bugged me ever since.


    I loved learning, problem solving, and languages. Finding an ancient script that seemed indecipherable but was somehow related to the spoken language of the elfin Jora tribe had been the perfect puzzle for me to work on when I was bored. I¡¯d made breakthroughs in understanding this written language back when I lived with the elfin Jora tribe, but it wasn¡¯t until I was living with the humans that I made significant progress. I¡¯d even had Noel speak her language aloud for a time so I could work on deciphering the written script. It had been a part of my efforts to learn the elfin language, although I didn¡¯t manage to learn the spoken or written language before Noel left.


    After that, I had mostly worked on this language while trying to decipher the secret behind ¡®annihilation,¡¯ since both ¡®annihilation¡¯ and this runic language had seemed like hints that would help me return to my Earth. Even back then, I¡¯d felt like those two things had to be connected. I¡¯d thought for a time that there might be a way to understand Madness¡¯ hint by translating ¡®annihilation¡¯ into this runic script. Wasn¡¯t it funny that now the literal ¡®Book of Annihilation¡¯ had that runic language written on it?


    And wasn¡¯t it even funnier that I had long since worked out how many of these runes were supposed to sound?


    I looked at the runes on the page stuck inside the diamond and began to chant. In the corner of my eye, I saw that Noel¡¯s eyes widened, the silver moon shook, and the red star began blinking violently. The silver moonlight appeared like a tidal wave flying towards me and the red star blinked a hundred spears of red energy that pierced through the air heading right for my figure.


    Birdsong filled the air and the dull dark sky lit up with a rainbow. The rainbow crystallized into the shape of a massive bird which flew into the path of the tidal wave and spears. The silver moonlight crashed into the bird, but the birdsong didn¡¯t falter, and the spears embedded themselves into the bird¡¯s figure, but the birdsong remained beautiful and clear.


    Wild chaotic music filled the air, clashing with the gentle birdsong. Devilish whispers joined the fray like white noise but the birdsong cut through the din. The clamor intensified but I ignored it, since I knew nobody had to hear my words except myself. If Shakespeare¡¯s Prospero didn¡¯t need an audience for his magic, then let the Chorus know I will not be apologizing for speaking my words into the void!


    The Simurgh could stop the Immortals but Noel hovered in the air unperturbed by the fiery rainbow colored bird. She fell to the ground in a silver bubble of her own making and when the bubble popped, she rushed over to me with a crazy look in her eyes.


    I smiled as I kept reciting the words on the pages of the Book of Annihilation. I had never been able to decipher this language completely, since I¡¯d only had a few words to work with, but since I¡¯d invented a writing system for the human language, I¡¯d gotten pretty good at filling in the blanks on the edges of spoken words and written letters. If there was something I didn¡¯t understand, I just used what I knew of the elfin language to fill in the blanks as best I could. If these words needed to be recited exactly, then I was probably screwed, but judging by the way the Immortals and Noel had just tried to stop me, I had a feeling what I was doing was going to be dangerous enough.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I frowned.


    Something was wrong.


    I tried to cut out all the noise around me. The screeching music, the garbled whispers, the heavenly birdsong, and Noel¡¯s loud screaming yell, I had to ignore it all. My rapid heartbeat, the rough noise of my quick breathes, and even the crunch of the soil under my feet as I moved closer to the diamond to get a better look at the page. Yes, I had to focus on my own words. The words that were coming out of my mouth, my best attempt at speaking aloud the runic words written on the page inside the diamond. Those words that should barely make sense to me since I¡¯d deactivated my translation magic in order to say them.


    ¡°The thirty birds read through the fateful page and there discovered, stage by detailed stage, their lives, their actions, set out one by one ¨C all that their souls had ever been or done,¡± came the words from my mouth, unbidden and strange.


    These were not the words that I thought I was speaking. In my head, the words that I was translating were cruder, with bits and pieces blanked out, entire sentences cut in the middle or conjoined with others as if the whole thing was a piece of modernist literature employing the stream of consciousness style. I did not know this language well enough to speak it so eloquently. Phrases should have been left unconnected. I did not have an extensive vocabulary for this language so many nouns and verbs should have been gibberish, and yet, these words made sense. No, not only did they make sense, they were familiar. Very familiar.


    They were familiar in content, of course. Thirty birds, as in the first appearance of the Simurgh. The fateful page, as in the page I was reading from. And the observation of actions and souls, which had been the description that I had been reading before, the words that described the experiences of Alek Izlandi as he came to this temple and awaited the ceremony that would turn him into an accessory for his Immortal.


    They were also familiar in context. I had read these words before. Vaguely, in the fog in my mind that felt just like the fog that had obscured my memories of the birds that made up the Simurgh, I could feel a memory surfacing. A memory of a poem shared with me by my roommate who loved literature. A poem from far away that talked of birds and kings and journeys and mountains and valleys and¡­ the Simurgh.


    Yes, I remembered now. I remembered the poem as my mouth spoke the words. Words that I wanted to stop speaking but couldn¡¯t. Yet, I still felt as if I was in control of my body and mind. I knew, instinctively, that no Immortal was influencing me with magic right now, I was completely on my own. What was happening was happening because of my own subconscious desire to keep reading. I wanted to keep reading this text, to finally return to my home world. I did not want to leave behind my friends, so perhaps I would take them with me.


    Yes, what a wonderful idea. We should all go. Go back to my old Earth. No, not to my old Earth. We were not returning to the banks of the Charles River on the night when I was first swept away on a rickety old pier. We were going somewhere else. It would still be a return, but it would be a return to something older, primordial even. The essence of this world, according to the words I was speaking.


    Noel reached out, her eyes wide and full of panic. In the corner of my vision, I saw Madness and the Evil Eye materializing in familiar forms, fighting back against the massive figure of the Simurgh as they tried to strike me down.


    The world shook in protest of my words. I heard Kelser, Kol, and Taoc shouting for me to stop, as well, even though I knew they were too far away, they could not know. No, nobody knew. They weren¡¯t enlightened. They did not know. They did not know.


    They did not know.


    In order to exist, you must be nothing first. One cannot be see eternity until they embrace Nothingness.

 Chapter 245

    Nothingness. Tranquil, sordid, bland, nothingness. How can nothingness be so paradoxically complex? The Book of Annihilation told me this was always meant to be. I was always meant to speak these words and utter a proclamation that would usher in the end of this world.


    The end of this world? Such a grand, intimidating statement. All I was doing was returning to the origin, the essence of it all. I was smudging ink all over the story, pulling the reader out of their comfort zone, and hooking them on a steady diet of self-referential syllogisms that were barely rational and arguably cut into more than three parts.


    What happens to a story when language is blown apart? Not the script or the sentences, those can still make sense, but the shared assumptions and conventions around language, genre, and tropes, what happens once those are blown apart and the story returns to nothingness? What if, for example, sentences stop in the middle, for a moment, and resume to make no point at all? Or what if paragraphs go from rational connections to seemingly random tangents that travel across genre, media, and even time?


    Controversial French Dada artist Marcel Duchamp inverted a common porcelain urinal, signed it R.Mutt, titled it Fountain and submitted it to the first exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in my hometown. It was rejected by the committee, who did not think an item so base, vulgar and common should be considered art, and Marcel Duchamp threw a fit and fought with the society that he had at one point quite respected. The Society had said they would accept any art piece as long as the artist paid the submission fee, but in the end, they decided Duchamp¡¯s Fountain had gone too far. Duchamp would go on to destroy the original Fountain, but after the whole incident became a legendary event in New York art circles, he created more versions of his piece and submitted them to different galleries.


    What was the point of the Fountain? Was it challenging our definition of art? Yes. Was it literally meant as a piece of ¡®anti-art?¡¯ Yes. Was it meant to stand out, to make the viewer stop and stare and question why this was in here and begin churning inside our heads questions about art, value, commonness and perhaps even, dare I say it, language?


    Yes, because a urinal is not a fountain.


    Groundbreaking piece of artistic criticism aside, as I was hanging in the void of nothingness my mind went back to the modern museums I had visited. The Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, and several more whose names I couldn¡¯t remember. I¡¯d always wondered why some of those pieces were considered ¡®art¡¯ while my own little doodles and sketches were worth nothing even to me.


    When the famous painter Jackson Pollock splattered paint all over his canvas and called it art, many people said what he was doing wasn¡¯t art at all. And yet now, every time I went to see his paintings, there would be a throng of visitors hanging about, almost more than those standing around van Gogh¡¯s Starry Night, which, incidentally, was widely disregarded during its creator¡¯s lifetime, quite possibly because the style was too avant-garde¡ªplaying too loosely with the conventions and norms of the art form.


    Writers have played loosely with their art form too. Poets with form, rhythm, rhyme, meter and much more. Novelists with narrative, structure, narrative structure, characters and form. Think only of the hyper-modern style in which all of us type our social media posts and compare them to the long winded letters and essays of yore. But also, the stream of consciousness style of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, words written intentionally to be difficult to read as per convention but built to ease one¡¯s immersion into the mind of a character meant to mimic real human consciousness. Long sentences, with strange breaks and pauses, meant to unsettle but also to invite the reader to read more closely the words that would otherwise have been brushed past as the eye glances over them either on paper or on digital screens.


    This was the nothingness of the Book of Annihilation. It was not nothingness at all. It was a mirror, a mirror for the story to look at itself as a piece of art. A mirror for the great entity who had created the piece of art to look at itself and see its own reflection. And in its reflection were the beings inside the Book, beings given form and life inside the story. People like Noel, Kelser, Kol and the rest. All of them, seeming at once as real beings, were but pale imitations given life by words and thoughts and interplay between words and thoughts.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    But did that mean that I did not exist? No, of course I did. I was thinking these words, observing this nothingness, and observing the great being that was looking at me as if I was a reflection of itself. The Simurgh looked at me with a strange light in its eye, an eye full of fire and wisdom and even a little trepidation.


    Trepidation, what a lovely word. Why did it come to mind? I didn¡¯t feel like I had come up on its own. No, it had bubbled up from my subconscious, except it wasn¡¯t my subconscious at all. Still, I said aloud my thoughts, knowing well that the Simurgh could already hear the voice inside my head.


    ¡°So you have found the truth of this world at last?¡± said the Simurgh, unfurling its wide wings to cast a shadow over the nothingness. There was no singular source of light in this world. Instead, light seemed to emit from everywhere, and yet the Simurgh cast a shadow as if the light was radiating from its eyes.


    ¡°Are you saying that world was your reflection?¡± I said, slowly.


    ¡°Yes, child,¡± said the rainbow colored bird towering over me like a skyscraper.


    ¡°And all of my friends? Kelser, Noel, Kol, Taoc, even the monsters like Paris?¡± I said.


    ¡°Glints in my eye, strands on my feathers, stray thoughts given form, whatever analogy you would like, although nothing could perfectly describe it,¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°But what about the other Immortals? They were as strong as you, were they not? Madness beat you twice, and the Evil Eye opposed you too. How could you have made beings inside your reflection that were more powerful than you?¡± I asked.


    The Simurgh leaned forward, a great heat and pressure washing over me as it did so. ¡°The Evil Eye was a servant of mine. I built him to be powerful, but not as powerful as me. He was meant to sow discord into the world, and thereby bring joy by way of contrast and comparison. He was to be the weak darkness scurrying away from my light, and giving the beings of this world something to strive against.¡±


    ¡°I see. He was your Satan?¡± I said, quietly.


    ¡°More like Angra Mainyu,¡± said the Simurgh.


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re referencing an ancient Zoroastrian spirit. Sounds like you know about my world? Do you fancy yourself an Ahura Mazda of sorts?¡±


    The Simurgh smiled. Its smile made me consider its long pointed beak for the first time. The beak was lined with sharp spines on the inside where the tongue was supposed to be and a great and terrible darkness lay inside its mouth. I felt a chill creep up my back as the Simurgh extended its smile. The Simurgh let out a little birdsong. It was happy. ¡°Do you know how long I have waited to speak with you, Caspian Holm?¡±


    I took a step back. Or, I tried to. My body was frozen. Even my eyes did not blink. I could not wrench my gaze from the Simurgh for a moment. ¡°I guess it must have been from the moment Noel led me into your tree.¡±


    The Simurgh shook its head. ¡°I have wanted to meet you since before you came to this world. It was why I dragged you in there in the first place.¡±


    My eyes widened. ¡°You brought me to that world? No, the Immortal of Evil, the Evil Eye, he said he had been the one to summon me!¡±


    ¡°And the Evil Eye is my servant, even when he acts like he is his own being. Remember, he is also merely a being confined to my reflection. Sometimes, when an action is too beneath the creator of this reflection, the red star must commit a little mischief,¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°No, wait, that still doesn¡¯t make sense. You sound as if you¡¯ve been waiting to meet me, but you met me inside that world when Noel brought me to the tree! You¡¯ve intervened on my behalf before, saving me multiple times. If all you wanted to do was meet me, you would have just dropped by for a word or even spoken right into my head,¡± I said.


    The Simurgh smiled but did not respond.


    ¡°And you still haven¡¯t explained Madness!¡± I said.


    The ground shook. My heart stopped. The Simurgh snarled. ¡°Do not speak his name in my presence!¡±

 Chapter 246

    The ground stopped shaking. I breathed out. My heart started beating again. I did not know how long this sudden chaos in the nothingness had lasted. The Simurgh was still sporting an angry look in its eyes, but at least the rage was no longer spilling outside its body.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± I said quickly, still unable to move my body.


    ¡°Your apology is accepted,¡± said the Simurgh, its voice booming and echoing around the nothingness. The Simurgh closed its eyes. When it opened them again, its voice was back to normal. ¡°The silver moon is not a being of this world. He is, apart from you, the only being in my reflection who is not a part of me.¡±


    ¡°So he was an outsider after all,¡± I said.


    ¡°Indeed. Some of the stories made by the beings in my reflection were formed from the truth that I was facing. The unfortunate truth. You see, dear Caspian, the silver moon has been pursuing me for eternity,¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°Pursuing you? You mean, like, romantically?¡± I said.


    The Simurgh chuckled. ¡°No, child. What the moon feels is not love. He is a being driven by greed and curiosity. Perhaps also a little bit of, what was the word your people used, ah yes, masochism.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you sure he doesn¡¯t like you? He sounded like a crazy stalker the first time I met him. He grabbed your feather and everything.¡±


    The Simurgh¡¯s eyes widened. Inside, I saw Kelser fighting against an eight star demon and Kol firing a spell from atop Paris as hordes of beastmen ran back into the temple for cover. ¡°That feather was a representation of some of my powers. When I met you for the first time, I was recovering from my battle with the moon and red star. They attacked me after I provided the power to summon you to this world. Truly, the silver moon has been using you against me since the beginning.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°So you lost some of your power to the silver moon? I¡¯m sorry for leading him to you that time.¡±


    ¡°It is of no concern. The silver moon¡¯s Ikon, your friend Noel, seems to have already told you about the way our magic works in this world. The three Immortals, as you call us, govern concepts or domains. The silver moon governs madness, music, love, and much more. The red star covers evil, prose, physical pain, among others.¡±


    ¡°And you have birds and songs?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Among other things,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°Like justice, order, kindness, and rationality.¡±


    ¡°I see, kept the best ones for yourself, didn¡¯t you?¡± I said.


    ¡°It would not be appropriate to give my evil servant too many domains, no,¡± agreed the Simurgh.


    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t sound like you gave Madn¡ªI mean, the silver moon, anything. How does he have so many domains then?¡± I asked.


    The Simurgh sighed. ¡°As I mentioned to you before, the silver moon was an outsider. I do not know where he came from but as soon as he landed in this reality, he sucked up several domains for himself. I noticed his arrival immediately, but I was weakened since I had just created the red star, giving him some of my own domains. I had also sacrificed certain powers to create this reality in the first place. By the time I had regained my strength, he had claimed the silver moon and laid claim to love and the void.¡±


    ¡°But you said that world was your reflection. Shouldn¡¯t you be able to control your reflection? This state you¡¯re in, inside this nothingness, shouldn¡¯t you be able to do something to yourself here that would make you stronger in that world?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If only it was that easy. No, Caspian, the silver moon has embedded himself deeply into that world. It takes nearly everything I have just to keep those two loose cannons from destroying everything. The only way I can interfere in my own reflection is by letting them take bites out of my domains or increase their own power over another unclaimed domain,¡± said the Simurgh.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°So there are still domains the three of you haven¡¯t claimed,¡± I said.


    ¡°Indeed. Some of them, I had to cut off of myself when creating that world. The rest came about thanks to the creation of the world itself. The silver moon and the red star look ravenously upon those domains, seeking to increase their power and influence. And this Book of Annihilation guarded one of those domains. Thankfully, it seems you were able to rescue it before the ceremony was completed,¡± it said.


    ¡°Let me guess, it covers the domain of annihilation? So like, death and destruction?¡± I said.


    ¡°Close,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°The red star already governs the state of death, and the silver moon has some control of destruction, although it is not complete. Annihilation is worse than that. Annihilation is total and complete. It is the act of killing, the state of being destroyed, and much more than that. If the silver moon had finished the ceremony, he would have gained the ability to destroy the world and grant himself what domains remained. Then, he would have attacked me.¡±


    ¡°Annihilation would have let him destroy you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, worse,¡± it said, ¡°the silver moon would have crashed into me in this nothingness, finally breaking through the void and entering my divine realm. Then, he would have annihilated himself in my being.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°That sounds like suicide?¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°Or rather, you already know what it would be like. You found this meaning somewhere among my subconscious.¡±


    ¡°You mean the stuff about becoming a part of something? Like, annihilating yourself and merging with something else. Wait, he wanted to become a part of you? He is a creepy stalker after all,¡± I said.


    ¡°I do not follow your logic, but yes, that is what he wanted to do,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°But you stopped him, and for that, you have my gratitude, Caspian Holm.¡±


    I accepted the Simurgh¡¯s gratitude and we talked a little while longer. I wanted to know if I would be allowed to go home now, and the Simurgh asked if I was not happy here. I told it I had found some semblance of happiness thanks to the friends I had made along the way, but I still did not feel like I belonged. Earth was my home. I found myself missing things from back home all the time. Food, friends, even television. These things might seem shallow to someone as powerful as the Simurgh, but homesickness is a terrible thing. To feel rootless and alienated is not enjoyable. There is a reason exiles and refugees talk as much about alienation as they do about persecution, and why immigrants from different countries try to remake portions of their home culture where they go.


    ¡°Very well, Caspian Holm,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°I will help you return to your home after you have done one more thing for me.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t stopping the destruction of the world enough of a favor?¡± I said.


    ¡°I cannot send you back before I have recovered this domain. My powers are simply not strong enough. Or rather, I should explain, I could send you back to your world, but without this domain, I do not know if you would like to return,¡± it said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Do you remember what happened after the first time we met?¡± asked the Simurgh.


    I frowned. ¡°Yes. Madn¡ªthe silver moon came and talked to us for a little bit. After he was done, we left your tree and found that the land around us had been destroyed. After a while, we learned that we had been sent into the future.¡±


    ¡°Precisely,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°One of my most powerful domains has been split into three. Time, Caspian, time. If I do not regain control of time, I cannot send you back to the correct time on your world. You might end up turning to ash in your primordial atmosphere or your loved ones might have long since perished by the time you return. If I am to send you to the appropriate time, I must regain my domain.¡±


    ¡°That does explain all the time shenanigans,¡± I said. ¡°Alright, I can see why it¡¯s important, but how am I supposed to do that?¡±


    ¡°The same way you recovered Annihilation. You must steal the Book of the Present from the silver moon and the Book of the Future from the red star,¡± it said.


    ¡°And where am I supposed to find these books?¡± I said.


    ¡°In the same place you found the Book of Annihilation. On the person of the Ikons of the Immortals,¡± it said.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying I need to get them to turn into pages again?¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know how they did that in the first place!¡±


    ¡°You do not need to worry about that. I will give you the ability to make them reveal their Books. You simply need to incapacitate them so they will stay in one place long enough for you to read the words. Oh, and do not kill them, or you will not be able to read them,¡± it said.


    ¡°Got it. Defeat Noel and Alek, turn them into pages, retrieve the Present and the Future, and you¡¯ll send me back to my world and time. That sounds like a plan!¡± I said.


    The Simurgh smiled. ¡°I am glad we are of one mind, Caspian Holm.¡±

 Chapter 247

    I opened my eyes and I was back at the flattened mountains near Mount Smoke. The debris from the blown up mountains littered the ground, crunching under Noel¡¯s feet as she staggered to the side with her head in her hands. To my left, Alek Izlandi stood frozen inside a large diamond. His face was contorted in pain and frozen with an unflattering grimace. The silver moon shone dangerously overhead and the red star was burning red but a bird shaped shadow covered the night sky, blotting out constellations and casting darkness down onto the ground.


    I knew I didn¡¯t have much time. The Simurgh could only hold back Madness and the Evil Eye for a little while. And it certainly couldn¡¯t interfere directly again. I suspected it was only able to bring me into the Nothingness in exchange for all of the liberties the other Immortals had taken to carry out the ceremony. Now, the ceremony had failed and I had recovered the domain of Annihilation for the Simurgh. After I retrieved the Present and Future, the Simurgh would finally send me back home.


    Or so it claimed.


    I put my hand on the diamond entombing Alek Izlandi. The diamond shook and shuddered before losing its luster and shine. With a little effort, the middle of the diamond began turning darker and darker until it became a darker, more brittle type of carbon, resembling coal. The carbon cracked and the diamond split open like an egg. Alek Izlandi gasped and flopped on the ground like a fish. He coughed and made weird noises, some of which sounded like the words of the poem I had been chanting when I read the words that led me to Nothingness.


    Gravel crunched underfoot. I looked over to find that Noel had recovered and she was sporting a frightening look in her eyes. With both hands held out to her sides, she summoned a burst of bubbles and began running over.


    I thought I¡¯d be able to stall her by talking to her about the things the Simurgh had told me. I knew she¡¯d be interested in learning more about this world, but I also needed her help to parse through the Simurgh¡¯s words and make sense of them. Especially the part about this world being some sort of reflection of the Simurgh itself. But judging by the look in Noel¡¯s eyes, a look full of chaotic madness, I knew this was not the time for a conversation.


    I jumped out of the way as a deluge of bubbles crashed into the split diamond. I used magic hands to fling Alek high into the air. A high shriek escaped Alek¡¯s throat as he flew into the air, but I kept him up there and out of range of Noel¡¯s spells. It didn¡¯t take a genius to realize Noel hadn¡¯t been aiming for me with her magic. She knew the Immortals would push the Simurgh back at some point. If she could freeze Alek in time for a bit like she¡¯d done to the fairies and spirits in the Republic, she¡¯d win this fight without ever having to fight me at all.


    But now, I had to fight her while juggling Alek above my head, sometimes avoiding stray bubbles Noel would fire into the air just to mess with me. I also had to be careful, since the actual worst thing she could do right now would be to run away or to freeze herself in time. I suspected both the loss of rationality thanks to her madness and the fact she didn¡¯t know exactly what I wanted were stopping her from realizing that I didn¡¯t just want Alek, I wanted both of them. Oh, now that I thought about it, she probably thought I was still trying to read the Book of Annihilation off of Alek¡¯s body.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    I pointed one hand towards Noel and the two chunks of diamond flew towards her. She tried pushing them away with larger, more solid silver bubbles, but the bubbles popped with a metallic ting and Noel had to jump out of the way in a hurry. She then began scrambling on the ground as I fired tiny pellets of diamond and metal towards her, although I made sure they weren¡¯t going fast enough to hurt her too badly. The Simurgh had said I needed both of them alive, and I wasn¡¯t sure if damaging them too much would make it harder to read the Present and Future from them.


    While Noel scrambled on the ground, I quickly began preparing a way to incapacitate her. First, I prepared a powerful ball of fire and flung it towards her. Noel could have blocked this attack with her silver bubbles but she was in no position to cast a spell, especially with the other pellets of diamond coming towards her. She tried to dodge the fireball the same way she had avoided the pellets.


    The fireball exploded when it got close to her. I activated another spell to suck the oxygen from the air at just the right time. By timing this with when she appeared to be breathing in, I was able to give her body a terrible shock as she was flung aside. Her lungs would probably feel like they were burning, but I¡¯d controlled the smoke and ash to make sure she wasn¡¯t in any real danger. But this gave me enough time to rush over to her with flight magic and put my hand on her head.


    The Simurgh had said it would give me the skill I needed to reveal the Books and sure enough, as I put my hand on Noel¡¯s head, weird words started falling out of my mouth like drool. The words formed into a poem, giving a new meaning to Wordsworth¡¯s famous line about poetry being ¡°the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.¡±


    I didn¡¯t recognize the words either, but as I began to utter them, the sky darkened and thunder roiled and rumbled. The silver moon glared with an intense silver shine but the shadow of the Simurgh kept the moonlight from falling on my body. A wild cacophonous melody erupted around me but calm birdsong soon overpowered it, leaving me with only a little nosebleed.


    At the same time, I brought Alek Izlandi down to my side. The demon Ikon was wide-eyed and green-faced, and he barely resisted as I placed my other hand on his head and began chanting as well. This time, the red star shone fiercely, slamming into the contest between the silver moonlight and the bird-like shadow, but unable to break through as well. Weird whispers also filled the air but the birdsong overpowered that too.


    The world stilled. The crunching gravel, the whistling wind, the thunder, an arc of lightning frozen like a scar in the sky. A bead of sweat dangled off an eyelash, unable to drop down to the ground below. The only thing that moved were my lips, but I couldn¡¯t feel them moving. The only sound that could travel were the words I was speaking, but I couldn¡¯t hear them. My body was moving inside the temporal limbo, as if running on auto-pilot.


    Or perhaps like a puppet dancing on a stage, oblivious to the strings holding up its body.


    I finished the words and two pages appeared on my hands. To my left, Alek turned into the Book of the Future, and on my right, Noel turned into the Book of the Present.


    The Simurgh¡¯s shadow shook. The silver moon shuddered. And a red glare blinked like an eyeball that had just been rubbed by a clumsy hand. All three Immortals looked down at me with surprise.


    I smiled, picked up both books, and began to move in the limbo. I imagined the scene was akin to Pinocchio coming to life in Geppetto¡¯s workshop. People often forget that in Collodi¡¯s famous story, Pinocchio started out as a talking log¡ªalive before he was carved into a puppet. And also, that the first part that was carved was Pinocchio¡¯s infamous nose.


    Pinocchio, you see, had been born to be a liar.

 Chapter 248

    What is more important: the present, the future, or the past?


    The Present is the existentialist¡¯s choice; the choice for those who want to live life to its fullest, not caring about minor consequences and prioritizing immediate satisfaction. It is the choice of those who go out drinking all night before sitting through their final the next day with a hangover. It is the choice of those who fall in love quickly, and fall out of love just as fast. It is the choice for those who understand that they only live once. Fortunately for me, I was living another life in another world. Can¡¯t say you only live once if you were on your second life.


    The Future is the optimist¡¯s choice; the choice for those who want to plan their life out, obsessing about productivity and future gratification. It is the choice of those who stay in all night poring over textbooks to lift their GPA up by point two. It is the choice of those who will only fall in love to get married, and will only get married for the tax benefits. It is the choice for those who understand that life is tougher and it only gets tougher once your body gets older and the world around you changes and without a ton of money or connections or power or fulfillment of another sort, retirement will be a real pain in the replaced hip. Fortunately for me, I was either a plucky college kid with his whole life in front of him or a plucky elf nearly worshiped by all and with magic powers to boot. And with the way wisdom worked with magic in this world, I would only get more powerful with time.


    And that left the Past¡ªthe obsessive pessimist¡¯s choice. The choice for those who reminisce about the one time they went out, blacked out, and puked on their friend¡¯s couch. The choice for those who remember crushes from years ago and are oblivious to people flirting with them in class. It is the choice for those who think they peaked in middle school, even though they were doing amazingly well by every conceivable metric. Just describing this hypothetical person already made it clear to me that yes, this was me. I really, really needed to listen to some songs from this decade.


    The Simurgh had wanted me to take the Present and the Future and present them to it in exchange for the possibility of being sent home. I didn¡¯t have to think too hard about how vague this promise was to realize this was a stupid idea.


    I remembered what Noel had said. The Simurgh had tried to control us and turn us into its Ikons. I also remembered how it had been using its emotional manipulation magic to control me and my friends. Why would I give a being like that the power to control time? Besides, there was a ton of stuff from the Simurgh¡¯s explanation of this world that I did not understand or believe.


    This whole world, all of my friends, with their beating hearts, painful and beautiful memories, their entire being, was a reflection of some overgrown bird stuck in a white void? Madness was a crackpot invader but the Simurgh was some sort of creator deity? The Evil Eye was a half-baked Satan and the Simurgh, who had once insisted that it wasn¡¯t a god, now claimed that it was The God of this world? No, I didn¡¯t need to be able to sniff those feathers to tell that the Simurgh was fishy as hell.


    And so what was the obvious choice when given the opportunity to hand over two immensely powerful abilities to a suspicious but powerful entity? Of course, it was to take them for myself!


    The Simurgh was the first to react. The enraged shadow turned into a rainbow-colored bird that dove towards me like a bird of prey. The earth beneath my feet began to shake and wild birdsong echoed through my ears. I clung onto the two pages in my hands and kept reading them, somehow managing to read them at the same time as two similar voices started overlapping after being uttered by my mouth. I wasn¡¯t in control of my mouth anymore, but at least this confirmed it hadn¡¯t been the Simurgh controlling me back then.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The next to react was the Evil Eye. The red star glinted with fury and blinked closer and closer to me. It was faster than the Simurgh and beamed towards me at frightening speed. Whispers joined the birdsong and the words coming out of my mouth, flooding my ears with gibberish. But that was okay, I could ignore all of this if I could read the two pages and take control of the Present and the Future.


    Except, the Simurgh and the Evil Eye were very close and I was nowhere near the end of the pages. I didn¡¯t feel any stronger nor had any arcane knowledge flooded my brain, which meant I wouldn¡¯t see the benefits of reading these pages until I was completely done with them. This was bad. All the two Immortals had to do was push me away and I¡¯d be a sitting duck. In fact, they probably could¡¯ve disrupted my chanting from way up in the sky. As the thought occurred to me, I wondered why they hadn¡¯t done that. Surely, the only reason they didn¡¯t interfere with the world was because the other Immortals might take advantage of their actions, but now that all of them were united against me, shouldn¡¯t I be a smoldering pile of ash?


    That was when I heard a chuckle cutting through the noise. The chuckle turned into a cackle, which evolved into maniacal, uncontrollable, and infectious laughter. Laughter that drowned out the birdsong, the whispers, and even my own chanting¡ªalthough my mouth continued to move and I felt closer to gaining the knowledge held inside the pages.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got guts kid!¡± shouted Madness as he transformed from the silver moon into the form that I had seen all those years ago in the Simurgh¡¯s tree. ¡°Fine then! You want the Future? You can have it! You want the Present? You can have it!¡±


    Madness whirled in a dance towards the other Immortals, outpacing both of them and grabbing onto their coattails like reins on a pair of horses. The other Immortals jolted backwards, swinging around to give the insane silver immortal deathly glares. Madness cackled as he pulled them back towards him, and the Immortals realized Madness was, as expected, truly insane, and knew they had no choice but to go through him. They veered back and began assaulting him with rainbows and red beams but Madness withstood it all with wild laughter and an unbreakable smile.


    ¡°Promise me, kid!¡± shouted Madness through the attacks being hurled at him. ¡°Promise me that once you have the Future and the Present, you won¡¯t stop there! Go for it, kid! Go for the past! Go for the past and music and song and the earth and the sky, steal from us, take what hasn¡¯t been claimed, become so powerful you will realize just as I did that the only answer is, and always was, Annihilation!¡±


    A rainbow wave swept over the dancing Immortal of Madness. A red glint shot through the wave, piercing the space where he should have been. Laughter echoed everywhere until there was silence. The only sound remaining were the words pouring from my lips.


    Words that ended as my lips closed and the world span and I caught a glimpse of Kelser breaking out of the ground, his face bloodied, but the light in his eyes strong and bright. He looked over at me and me at him and the world continued to spin and I saw Kol and Taoc and Paris finishing their fight.


    On my left hand, Alek appeared and fell to the ground, and on my right hand, Noel appeared, gave me a strange look, and then fell unconscious to the floor. And finally, as if she had missed her shot from cowardice or from apathy, Princess Norn Izlandi appeared from thin air and tried to slice me with a rainbow scythe.


    But it was too late and the world spun and my stomach lurched and laughter resounded and I closed my eyes.

 Chapter 249

    In 1938, the soon to be famous future filmmaker Orson Welles narrated a radio drama for The Mercury Theater on the Air titled: The War of the Worlds. Based on the novel of the same name by science fiction author H. G. Wells, the radio drama was performed live and began with a little monologue and introduction by Welles that made it clear to those who began listening from the beginning that the following program was a radio drama, and nothing more.


    But if you happened to tune in to CBS after listening to the news or some other transmission, or simply turned on your radio too late on that night in 1938 you would have been met with a frightening possibility. A musical program would be interrupted by a news bulletin claiming that scientists had made some strange observations on the surface of mars. Then the music would continue.


    Another bulletin would interrupt the music. A strange cylindrical object has landed on a farm! Cut to music once again.


    The bulletin returns. A reporter is at the scene, admiring the metallic object. He is relaying his observations to the radio audience when he shouts and screams about a fiery beam before his transmission is cut off amid cries from onlookers.


    Then, more bulletins, back to back. The martians are attacking! The military can¡¯t stop them! They¡¯re attacking everywhere! Go, run, hide, it¡¯s too late! Danger, death, destruction! Total annihilation!


    A somber bulletin from New York. Martian death machines have released poisonous gas all over the city. From a Manhattan rooftop, the reporter describes people trying to run away before dropping like flies and then the poison gas comes closer and closer until the reporter coughs and coughs and he cuts off. A single voice over an old ham radio asks if there is anyone there. Anyone at all. He is met with deafening radio silence.


    And then they cut to commercial.


    For over thirty minutes, anybody tuning into the transmission who hadn¡¯t heard the introductory monologue or hadn¡¯t read Wells, would be frightened out of their minds hearing about the attack of the martians.


    The entire incident became a bit of a cultural moment. It found its way into the British band Queen¡¯s song Radio Gaga and also became a bit of a moment for the transition from radio to television because of the ability to tell stories in new and interesting ways.


    But in my mind, the most important part of the whole story was not the frightened people or the brilliance of Welles. No, the most important part was the commercial that pulled people out of the story and forced them back to reality. Welles ended the show by saying it had been the equivalent of wearing a sheet over his head, hiding in the bushes, and scaring strangers with a loud ¡®boo!¡¯ Continuing that analogy, the commercial break was the moment when the strangers realize that the thing they were scared of was just some kid with a sheet over his head. There was nothing to be afraid of.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Just like the ¡®fountain¡¯ that was actually a urinal, art like this forces people to stop and think about the art itself. Any sculpture is just an object. A painting might just be oil on canvas. And a story might just be a story, and we can enjoy it only from a distance. Many great storytellers have done this before. Akira Kurosawa, the famous Japanese director, made the characters from Rashomon face the screen when pleading their case before the magistrate. The audience was the magistrate and it was their job to figure out the murder mystery. Shakespeare makes Prospero come out on stage at the end of The Tempest so he can plead from the audience for their forgiveness, as if he was asking for forgiveness from some sort of deity.


    And when I was throw into the Future and dragged back to the Present, back and back and back again, I ended up becoming an audience, an observer, a disembodied voice just like you. Yes, you, dear reader. I became like you.


    I watched as the Immortals burned the world in their rage at me, the Simurgh swallowing Kelser in flames as it chased my ethereal image, the Evil Eye piercing through Kol¡¯s heart as it flew after my scrunched up heart.


    The Immortals couldn¡¯t follow me as I blinked to the future. The future where the world was a barren wasteland, all life having long since been eradicated by meteors or volcanoes or war or perhaps some great misdeed of the Immortals. The Immortals could not follow me here and I wondered if they existed in this time. But then I realized, it was not possible for them to exist in this time since they were all bound by time, they did not transcend it. Even though the Simurgh controlled the Past and the Evil Eye used to control the Future, they lived in reality in the Present. The Present was their present even if they moved to the past or future, and it was the same for me.


    I remembered watching a documentary that hypothesized time was like a massive cake. The present was just a slice in the cake, and if you went left, you went to the past, and if you sliced right, you cut into the future. The past and future may only be the past and future because we experience them as such, but if a being experienced time the other way, our past would become their future and their future would become their past. Time could well be an experience only for those who are confined by it, and any observer who stood outside of time might well look down at it as if they were able to see all of it at once. Kinda like a three dimensional object looking down at a flat two dimensional sheet and being able to see all of it at once.


    I was thinking these thoughts as I flew back and forth between the Present and the Future because I remembered what Madness had said. He wanted me to get other domains too. Some that were unclaimed, others that belonged to the Immortals. And the one I wanted the most was the domain of the Past, which was controlled by the Simurgh. But how would I do that? I knew how.


    I traveled back into the Present as I began to gain some control over the domains. The Present was the moment in which I first took over both the pages. The Simurgh and Evil Eye were still fighting Madness, although Madness was definitely losing. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he was sacrificing a lot of his own power to hold those two off like this. For a moment, I wondered why he was still holding them back if I had already gotten hold of both pages.


    Then, I saw the sprawling figure of Princess Norn Izlandi, with her rainbow scythe fallen by her side. My eyes widened. Could it really be this easy? I walked over to the unconscious princess, put my hand on her head, and used the skill that the Simurgh had given me, to turn the youngest demon princess into a page.


    Words started falling out of my mouth again. The Simurgh let out a deafening roar. Norn turned back into her demon form and I phased back into the Future.


    This was gonna take some practice.

 Chapter 250

    To control my travels through time there was no shortcut. I could not understand time any more than I already did, since I already knew everything instinctively, even if I could not consciously and rationally explain it all right now. Controlling the domain of all knowledge related to the present and the future came with reading the pages from the Ikons. What I needed was the wisdom to control and manipulate it as I wished. I needed to use my powers as much as possible.


    And so I jumped to the future and began exploring it. The future I first came to was the same desolate future where all life was gone and the planet was a smoldering rock adrift in space. I had to keep jumping through time by a few days in order to survive, since the ability to jump through time seemed to protect me from the elements but I would lose that protection as soon as I settled into one time. I also knew, thanks to the knowledge I¡¯d gained from the Book of the Future, that the future as I saw it was both definite and in flux.


    There were no alternative futures or timelines in this world. There was always only one possible future, only one timeline, but my actions could change this timeline if I returned to the present. Naturally, I had to wonder how this would square with time paradoxes.


    Famous physicist Stephen Hawking once held a birthday party for any future time travelers. The entire incident became a matter of record since it was published in his book and shared on television, which meant time travelers who came to the past should have tried to contact him. The fact that he had to spend that party alone, he reasoned, meant that either time travel had not been invented by humans in the future, or it was fundamentally impossible for people to travel to the past. Of course, he ignored the possibility that time travelers didn¡¯t want to come to his party because he wasn¡¯t cool enough. After all, who wouldn¡¯t wanna party with Hawking?


    Anyways, this meant the biggest puzzle in this situation was still time traveling to the past. Time traveling to the future had long since been considered theoretically possible, and had even become popular knowledge thanks to movies that showed off how intense gravity could make humans on far off planets experience time differently from humans on Earth.


    But that raised the question: how could I return to the present? Was the present not the future¡¯s past? Surely, from my perspective as an observer in the future, returning to the present was like traveling back in time?


    No, that wasn¡¯t how this spell worked. Perhaps if I moved permanently to the future, I would not be able to return to the present, but in reality, whenever I jumped into the future, I was not actually moving physically to a different point in space-time. Instead, my consciousness was looking into the future and experiencing it as if I was experiencing that time physically. I could not change anything in the future, at least not without moving there permanently and foregoing my presence in the present.


    This meant I wasn¡¯t really traveling back in time because I never truly traveled forward in time either. Perhaps this would change after I took over the Past, but for now, this was the best I could do. I would have to change the present the old fashioned way. And to do that, I had to learn to control my ability to jump into the future.


    First, I began experimenting with jumping in smaller increments. At first, I could only jump millions of years in one go. Concentrating as hard as I could, I couldn¡¯t make my jumps shorter than a few thousand years. Fortunately, even though I felt like I was experiencing time normally, my body and mind did not get tired at all, since I was actually still planted firmly in the present.


    And so I spent what felt like years, jumping further and further into the future. The smoldering planet became more chaotic and even less habitable, with even the primordial sludge turning gray and lifeless. Soon, the atmosphere was gone and the sun in the sky was too large for me to see properly. I was protected from the dangers of this world, but it seemed like my ability to observe the future was still effected by things like light.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Naturally, this made me want to cast my light magic to tone down the sunlight a little but that raised a new question. Could I cast spells in this state? I felt like I couldn¡¯t interfere with the future without moving there, but could I cast a light spell that only changed my ability to see? As long as I wasn¡¯t actually changing the brightness of my surroundings, I felt like it could work. It was, at the very least, worth a try.


    I tried to cast the light spell but it almost killed me. By focusing on the light spell, I almost messed up my jumps to the future, which would have left me vulnerable to the insane heat and radiation of this future planet. I caught myself at the last second, and took a deep breath even though I wasn¡¯t really breathing in this state at all.


    Then, after collecting my thoughts and figuring out a way to multi-task, I tried again. This time, I managed to make the world appear just a little dimmer before I had to stop the light spell again. I had almost made the light spell fall onto the real future world, instead of just on my own little bubble in space-time. I would¡¯ve been stuck in this future, completely unable to return!


    Another steadying but unnecessary breath, and I returned to my experiments. Soon, I was able to cast the light spell while traveling to the future, and even managed to observe this future world before it got ripped apart by a barrage of powerful meteors and comets. There was even a powerful beam of light that passed close enough to the planet to mess up the orbit and send it closer into the sun. Soon, the entire planet was a wreck. The atmosphere was gone, there were craters everywhere, and the sky was filled with an angry ball of fire that would soon destroy this world completely.


    It was hard to believe this was the same world. The only reason I knew for certain that this was the same world was because of the knowledge that filled my head and told me that the power to jump to the future was helping me stay on the surface of the planet. In fact, I was in the same place where my body was in the present, since that was where I had jumped from. My body in the present was like an anchor, and if something happened to it, I would become an untethered spirit, like a phantom stuck in time-limbo, haunting the nothingness for eternity.


    Thankfully, that wasn¡¯t gonna happen. Instead, I was slowly getting a hang of this future jumping thing and could already cast spells while jumping to the future. Rather than continue jumping until this planet was gone and I was stuck in the vast emptiness of space or in the middle of the sun, I decided to return to the present and start my next experiment.


    My spirit jolted as I fell back into my body. Norn Izlandi lay on the ground beside me. An angry Simurgh was diving towards me, barely held back at the last moment by a smiling but wincing Immortal of Madness. Madness gave me a wink as he embraced the Simurgh like it was a long separated lover, which infuriated the Simurgh who began squirming out of Madness¡¯ clutches and turned back to the man-like Immortal. The Evil Eye appeared with a frustrated look in its eye, since it had been flung away by Madness like trash. The three Immortals continued to battle it out as I put my hand on Norn and tried to learn the Past once again.


    The Simurgh broke free and shrieked as it dove towards me. My eyes opened as the ground shook and I had to jump to the side. Norn was surrounded by a bed of feathers, each a different color. The bed of feathers began to float away, taking Norn with it.


    That wasn¡¯t fair. I bit my lips and prepared for the next experiment.


    I jumped into the future, walked towards Norn, wrapped her body in magic hands, and ran as far as I could. Then, I kicked a rock with my feet, which made my body jerk in one direction. I pulled on my magic hands at the same time, making Norn fly towards me.


    In the sky, the Simurgh had gotten really close to my old position, but now I was nowhere to be seen. The Simurgh turned to me instantly, gave me a glare, and tried to rush over, but was halted by a silver mirror.


    I put my hand on Norn¡¯s head and tried again.

 Chapter 251

    I could avoid the Simurgh¡¯s attacks by jumping forward in time by a few milliseconds and moving permanently and locking in that future, but I couldn¡¯t bring Norn with me into that future. The moment I tried to move her, my spell would be broken and I¡¯d be a sitting duck in front of the powerful rainbow colored bird.


    Using magic hands to bring her away was tough enough, since there was a delay in her movement because of the distances between us, but I also had to account for the tiny jump in time that I would be making. If in that tiny moment, the Simurgh managed to reach Norn, I¡¯d be screwed. The secret Ikon that the Simurgh had been keeping from me wouldn¡¯t be of any use to me if the Simurgh burnt her to a crisp to protect the Book of the Past from me.


    I jumped into the future once more to avoid a dive-bombing Simurgh. I¡¯d moved Norn away with a spell, but the Simurgh would turn and try to grab her at any moment. In fact, I¡¯d have to make sure my jump in time was even shorter than usual, just in case the Simurgh had something up its proverbial sleeve.


    Safely jumping through the future, I began working on my ability to jump through time once again. I managed to get it down to as low as I could, but I had a feeling it wouldn¡¯t be enough. I¡¯d have to come up with something else. Perhaps I could shave off some time by substituting the magic hands spell with something else.


    I still hadn¡¯t used my new magic system to its fullest potential, since I¡¯d been hiding it from the Immortals. Even now, I didn¡¯t think the Immortals knew that I had a whole new magic system, since the diamonds spell might just have been a new spell that they did not know about and they wouldn¡¯t have been able to detect much else.


    I began looking inward at my own body. Taking deep breaths, stretching my joints, and doing some light exercise made my blood start pumping and my heart start beating more regularly. I wasn¡¯t trying to warm up or anything, the fight had already warmed me up enough. Instead, I was focusing on the way my body responded to exercise and combining that with knowledge from my previous world.


    Knowledge about bones and blood and vital organs of all sorts. The way muscles contracted and expanded, the way they tore and repaired themselves, and the way bodybuilders and athletes sharpened their body to fulfill their goals. What did it mean to have a healthy body? What did it mean to be fit for combat or sports or some other physical task? And what did it mean for somebody to be conscious of their body and its strengths?


    Did Virgil in the Aeneid not say that the mind moves the mass? And there is at least some truth, as borne by the placebo effect, that one¡¯s expectations, things contained purely in the mind, can influence one¡¯s physical reality. If I could unite this sort of thinking with my understanding of human biology, perhaps I could invent another spell that would be useful in this situation.


    It took a lot of trial and error. I was meditating for what felt like years. Running, stretching, and exercising for what felt like even longer. All the while, I was jumping into the future, never allowing myself to stay in one time for very long. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I let out some steam from my mouth, took a deep breath back in, and let my muscles rest.


    Doing all of this taught me two things about the sort of spells contained in ¡®domains¡¯ like the domain of the Present and the Future which I was using right now. First, using spells that worked with the domains used way less energy than the spells I used based on my magic systems. It was almost like having all knowledge of a concept or idea gave the Immortals a cheat code that reduced the cost of their spells. This explained how they had been able to use so many crazy spells without ever seeming tired. Second, I realized the Evil Eye and the Simurgh were probably using their time domains to run away from Madness whenever they were in trouble. Back when Noel and I accidentally led Madness into the Simurgh¡¯s tree, the Simurgh must have jumped back to the past to escape from Madness. This did raise a question, though: where did Madness run? If he governed the Present, shouldn¡¯t he have been present always?A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Even though I had read the Book of the Present off of Noel¡¯s transformed body, I still felt like I was missing something. I could jump into the future and return to the present, but I couldn¡¯t quite manipulate the present or anything. I was definitely missing something and the thought made me uneasy.


    But there was nothing I could do about it. I readied myself and jumped back to the present. As soon as I returned, I went back into the future and moved into place right next to Norn. The Simurgh, in its massive rainbow colored form, was just a few feet away from me. Even in my suspended state, I could feel the heat radiating from its body. I met the Simurgh¡¯s gaze which, although frozen, felt like it could pierce right through me. I shivered.


    I calmed myself down and prepared my new biological magic. I placed my hands near Norn¡¯s body, primed my muscles, prepped my joints, and dug into the ground. As soon as I did so, I grabbed onto Norn¡¯s body, pushed my hand-eye coordination to its limits, and swung her away from the Simurgh. I used air and earth magic to reduce the friction on my body and feet while balancing myself with gravity magic. With my new biological magic, I dashed away from the Simurgh at an incredibly pace, my entire body working like a well-oiled machine.


    Muscles pushed and pulled at the perfect time. Joints rotated and limbs flexed in perfect harmony. My feet pushed against the ground at the perfect angle and the rest of my body carried me forward with the perfect momentum. Norn was tucked under my arm like a football but because she was actually held up by magic hands, I was able to use the rest of my body like an Olympic sprinter to quickly get out of range of the Simurgh¡¯s attack.


    As suspected, the Simurgh let out a massive breath of fire all around its body as it touched the ground. The heat was unimaginable. It managed to turn even the igneous rocks of this volcanic region back into magma under the Simurgh¡¯s feet. The air crackled with energy and a shock-wave reached us all the way over where I had run.


    Thankfully, I¡¯d tossed Noel and Alek way off to the side long ago. The two would be bruised and scratched up, but wouldn¡¯t be too badly banged up. It was definitely better than being incinerated in a flash of fire, that¡¯s for sure.


    The Simurgh didn¡¯t even have the time to react before I got out of its reach with Norn. It was so caught up in its fiery little display, it didn¡¯t even realize it had given me enough time to turn Norn back into a page and begin reading as fast as possible. Another thing I had worked on while jumping through the future, was my ability to read. I¡¯d always been a fast reader, but this kind of reading was something special. It took me a while to realize that I could make it faster by forcing the words to materialize only in my mind, rather than needing to speak them out loud. That also meant I wouldn¡¯t be making any noise while I was reading, so the Simurgh was caught completely by surprise when I appeared far away from its attack, with a shiny page in one hand and a look of intense concentration on my face.


    It did, however, realize that something was wrong, and it came for me with a terrible flap of its wings. Thankfully, Madness jumped down to the ground at precisely that moment, flinging a groaning red Evil Eye to the side. The disembodied red eye rolled around like a marble, its pupil loose like in one of those toys with the googly eyes.


    ¡°My beloved!¡± cried Madness, with his hands held aloft as if welcoming the Simurgh to his embrace. ¡°You must let me give up, already! Please! Come, Annihilate me!¡±


    The Simurgh snarled, ¡°Get out of my way, outsider! You have been a thorn in my side for too long! Besides, that ungrateful elf has the domain of Annihilation right now. Go ask him for it if you want it so badly!¡±


    Madness laughed. ¡°No, beloved, I know you too well. Poor Caspian over there never read the Book of Annihilation at all. In fact, if it wasn¡¯t for me, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to read the Book of the Future or the Present. We both know this.¡± Madness turned to me with a smile. ¡°I am saying this only for the benefit of our pointy eared friend.¡±

 Chapter 252

    I continued reading the Book of the Past in my head. I didn¡¯t know if the Immortals knew I had found a way to do that, but I figured it was worth a shot anyway. To stop them from getting suspicious, I would have to participate in this conversation while simultaneously reading the book in my head.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t be sure,¡± I said, facing the two Immortals while using my clothes to hide the hand I held over the Book of the Past. ¡°I couldn¡¯t be sure that the Simurgh had taken the Book of Annihilation, but I suspected it. After all, I didn¡¯t feel like the knowledge was in my head or anything.¡± I made sure to gasp and pant, making it look like the reason I was willing to talk instead of run of way was because I wanted to catch my breath.


    ¡°My friend, you never had the Book of Annihilation to begin with!¡± said Madness with a gentle smile. ¡°Did you really think you could use the gifts we gave you, against us?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°The Simurgh gave me the fundamentals of magic, but I used them to create my own magic system. The Evil Eye gave me translation magic, but I used it to learn all the languages of the peoples of this world on my own. I¡¯d say I can use the master¡¯s tools to break his back, yes.¡±


    ¡°Funny idiom. I remember something like it, barely,¡± said Madness.


    My eyes widened. ¡°So you really are¡ª¡±


    ¡°Enough of this!¡± cried the Simurgh with a roar. It tried to leap towards me but Madness stood in its way with a devilish smile and open arms. The Simurgh stomped on the ground with its surprisingly large feet and the ground shook. ¡°Pest! Nuisance! Buzzing gnat! Why must you always get in my way?¡±


    Madness pouted and held his hands to his heart. ¡°My dearest Simurgh, why do you spurn me so? All I wish for is your affection. And yet you push me away at every opportunity. Tell me, how did I ever wrong you, my beloved?¡±


    ¡°What about the time you took its domains,¡± I chimed in, sensing an opportunity to stall while getting more information about this world.


    ¡°Stealing domains? Me?¡± said Madness with a raised eyebrow. ¡°The only domain I have ever wanted from my beloved was the domain of Annihilation. The others are means to an end. I knew I could not get something as powerful as Annihilation, so I worked my way up from dancing, music and madness, all concepts I know very well from my old world!¡±


    ¡°So you admit you stole them from me!¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°Now, beloved, you know I would never steal from you,¡± said Madness. ¡°But if some domains just happen to be drifting in the primordial void when I transcended to a new realm and I happened to understand why they were important for my objectives, doesn¡¯t that mean it was okay for me to take control of them?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°I stand for justice, and it is not just to steal, even if the owner is not there to lay claim to their property. If you truly loved me, as you claim to do, then you must return my domains to me and help me strike down this insubordinate elf!¡±


    Madness lowered his head a little and looked up at the Simurgh. His lips somehow extended into an even wider and narrower grin. ¡°And I stand for love, and love is all consuming! It is powerful, like a tsunami washing over the shore, destroying everything in its path. It is suffocating, like a forest fire, burning to ash all that comes near. My beloved, I have already told you! You can have everything that I have. My body, my soul, my entire existence, including these domains that I govern. You can have them all! All you have to do is accept my love. Give me Annihilation!¡± He raised his voice and shouted into the sky, ¡°Give me Annihilation!¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°Never!¡± shouted the Simurgh as it flapped its wings and summoned swirling winds, forming a tornado around us. The storm clouds overhead smashed into the tornado, spiraling downwards in a gray whirlpool, lightning flashing periodically inside the walls of wind.


    Madness laughed maniacally and a silver orb appeared around him. The orb was large enough to cover me and Norn too, and I saw a smaller orb taking Noel and Alek away as well. The Evil Eye, however, was caught up in the wind and his eye widened in panic as he was flung into the air. I almost chuckled but stopped myself. I couldn¡¯t break my concentration. I could feel the domain of the Past slowly trickling into my head.


    The walls of the tornado collapsed inward, smashing against the silver orb like waves beating against a cliff. The silver orb held firm, but Madness¡¯ complexion paled. He was laughing with his characteristic abandon, but the laughter was not as loud and uncontrolled as before. It was almost as if his throat was too hoarse to continue but he was belting out laughter anyway. Did laughing make his magic stronger or was he just crazy? Probably both.


    The Simurgh¡¯s eyes appeared against the silver orb. Not one pair of eyes, but thirty of them. The Simurgh had split back up and each bird was flapping its wings wildly against the orb. A few of them pecked at it with their beaks while others sung strange notes that beat against the orb like drums. The birds¡¯ attacks were more terrifying than the tornado, but the tornado was a consistent barrage while the birds were attacking in random ways in random places and at random intervals. Madness couldn¡¯t afford to concentrate all of his energy in one place, he had to keep the orb up even if it drained his energy.


    One bird did not do anything. It stood on the wall of the orb, leaning its leaning head forward and looking at me with its beady black eyes. It was also looking at Madness with the same gaze, and Madness was looking only at this little bird even while he fought off the pressure from the others. I remembered this bird since it was the lead bird from the first time I had met the Simurgh. With a vertical crown of feathers and a long beak, the bird was actually less remarkable than some of the others. There was even a bird with bright green, blue and purple feathers, each of which had eyes on them, and yet, it was this smaller bird that carried a certain aura around it. It was a noble aura, one that I could feel on the Simurgh in its larger form, but which was usually hidden under layers of power and beauty.


    This bird had the simple nobility that came from knowledge and wisdom. Now that I had some domains, or what was probably actually only one domain¡ªthe domain of the Future¡ªI could feel something from the Simurgh. An instinctive respect or veneration. As if the power that was now inside me recognized its origin and wanted to return to it. It was a strange feeling. It made my heart beat in my ears and my mind was awash with emotions that I hadn¡¯t felt before and couldn¡¯t quite name or recognize.


    ¡°You feel it now too, kid?¡± said Madness, quietly, his grin relaxing a little bit until it was only a soft smile.


    ¡°Is this why you were chasing that strangely defined Annihilation? The one where you are destroyed but become a part of something else. It¡¯s the domains inside you that are pulling you that way, right?¡± I asked, feeling like I had finally pieced together the reason Madness was so maniacally obsessed with the Simurgh.


    Madness frowned. He turned his face away from the little bird and gave me a strange look. ¡°What? No, you imbecile. The domains aren¡¯t telling us anything. Domains can¡¯t talk. What? Are you hearing voices in your head or something? Sounds like somebody needs a psychiatrist, am I right?¡± He began laughing again. He turned to the little bird. ¡°Can you believe this guy? He thinks the domains turned me crazy or something! Ha! If it was that easy to make me do something, you wouldn¡¯t be in this mess, would you my beloved?¡±


    The little bird nodded its head and gave me a pitying look.


    I sighed and kept reading in my head.

 Chapter 253

    The bird pecked on a crack in the wall as if it was looking for a worm. It dug around but the crack did not widen. It pulled back and pecked again. And again. And again.


    Inside the silver orb, my body shook. The ground vibrated every time the little bird pecked at the orb. Madness winced at each peck, his laughter getting weaker but wilder each time. The other birds continued their assault as did the tornado around us, but it was the attacks coming from this tiny crowned bird that shook us to our core.


    ¡°How much longer, kid?¡± shouted Madness over his shoulder.


    ¡°What do you mean, I can¡¯t read in this chaos,¡± I said, quickly.


    ¡°Oh shut it with your little game, we all know you¡¯re reading it in your head. You think I haven¡¯t seen your type in my old world? Book smart kids who have no idea how to do things in the real world. Next time you wanna pretend like you aren¡¯t reading anything, try not to always have it in your field of vision. Oh, and you can¡¯t hide your hand like that. My beloved¡¯s birds are all around us, so they can see it from some angle. I can see it because you came inside my orb. You know I could bring this thing down around you and flatten you into a meaty mush, right?¡±


    I shivered. Meaty mush? Why did insane people have a way with words. ¡°A few more minutes, then.¡±


    Madness frowned. ¡°That might not be possible.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were supposed to be the most powerful of the Immortals,¡± I said.


    ¡°Me? How could I be stronger than my beloved?¡± he said.


    ¡°When I came to this world, the Simurgh was hiding from you inside a tree and the Evil Eye was a tiny dot in the sky,¡± I said.


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± he said, ¡°but no, I am not more powerful but I am more¡­ dangerous. Mostly because of the domain of the Present.¡±


    ¡°Which is the domain you didn¡¯t let me take,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, I let you take it alright,¡± he said. ¡°You read the Book of the Present, didn¡¯t you? That means you control that domain now.¡±


    ¡°But if that was all it took, then I would¡¯ve taken control of Annihilation too,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, that was my beloved¡¯s trick. Your ability to turn read the Books was given to you by my beloved. With that, they put in a little bit of magic that would let the domains go straight back to them,¡± he said. ¡°But, when you returned from Nothingness to retrieve the Present and the Future, I realized what you were doing and let you take control of my domain of the Present, willingly. That messed up my beloved¡¯s little gift, and your ability to read the Books became your own. It¡¯s funny how our powers work, you see. If one of us pushes in one direction, the others have to react appropriately or the whole thing falls apart. You¡¯re welcome, by the way.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying I can use the domain of the Present?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I never said that,¡± he said.


    ¡°You snuck in something too, didn¡¯t you?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s why I can¡¯t use it.¡±


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. It wouldn¡¯t have worked, if I had. The reason you can¡¯t manipulate the Present is because you do not know how to do so. Unlike the other temporal domains, you need to understand a little bit about the Present in order to unlock your knowledge of it,¡± said Madness.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The ground shook again. The little bird was pecking through the orb. Its beak poked all the way through, letting in a little whistling wind as the beak retracted and the bird got ready to widen the hole. Madness¡¯ smile froze.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t share this with you if there was any other way,¡± said Madness as he turned back to me. ¡°Let my unwillingness to tell you about this serve as proof that what I am about to tell you is dangerous but true. You will have to trust me. I will have to prepare you before I say it.¡±


    I sensed something strange was going on. I was almost done reading the Book of the Past. If Madness fought the Simurgh for just a moment longer, I¡¯d have all three temporal domains. I didn¡¯t know what I could do with them, but I was sure the knowledge would come to me once I had them all. And now that Madness knew I was able to read inside my head, he had to know that I would be able to finish this quickly. Yet, what he was saying filled me with dread.


    I felt like he was dangling a lit match above a pile of gunpowder. He knew he was going to drop the match and the whole place would explode, but he had to make sure the explosion didn¡¯t blow up in his face.


    ¡°Before you take control of the Past, you need to know what happened the first time that we met,¡± said Madness, slowly, the little bird¡¯s thumping pecks becoming louder and louder in my ears like a beating war drum.


    ¡°You mean that time you sent us into the future,¡± I said. ¡°Noel lost her whole family because of you. She was so broken and angry that she left me to go look for you!¡±


    ¡°Yes, young Noel did that. I remember. She came to me and became my Ikon after all. Did you never wonder why she had a change of heart? Why she would come over to my side after all of that?¡± said Madness.


    ¡°I did wonder. And I asked Noel about it but she wouldn¡¯t give me a straight answer,¡± I said.


    ¡°It would not have been smart to give an answer like this while you were under the influence of my beloved,¡± said Madness. ¡°It would have been futile, pointless, a troublesome topic poked in vain.¡±


    ¡°But you think it¡¯s worth bringing up now?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Or rather, it is only now that it is worth bringing up at all. You see, young Caspian, now that you possess both the Present and the Future, you must learn a little more about the way domains work. Domains may be the encapsulation of the entirety of a concept or an idea, but that does not mean you have access or control of all aspects of that concept. Everything is in your head, yes, but like other things in your head, you can¡¯t fish out every little morsel of knowledge. Some of its going to stay stuck inside your proverbial teeth. But just because something is stuck doesn¡¯t mean there isn¡¯t a way to get it loose. You can continue exploring the domains slowly, taking your time to savor every little bit of it as your tongue traces over it, but we do not have the luxury of time. You cannot afford to wait.


    ¡°And so we must bring some mental floss into the equation. As someone who has held that domain before, let me tell you, the Present is not some sort of fixed anchor or a point in time that you can come back to whenever you like. Perhaps that is how you feel since you have access to the domain of the Future, but remember, that fixed present is only the present from the perspective of the future. The only reason it serves as an anchor, is because you¡¯re sailing onto the sea.


    ¡°But the present is not an anchor, it is a raft. A dinghy raft made of driftwood and weeds. It floats on the surface of the waves of time, pushed forward with a perfect sail and a perfect gust of wind that always takes it in one direction. But the important point for you, my dear Caspian, is understanding that the present is moving. It is always moving. It is moving now as I say these words to you, and it was moving all those years ago when we first met.


    ¡°But what does it move on top of? If the present is a raft, then what is the sea? The sea in front of you is the future, Caspian, and the sea behind you is the past. You have already traveled to the future, you know how to do it again. But now think of it like this. You know the three Immortals have been pushing against each other for the longest time.


    ¡°Each of the Immortals had one of the domains of time. And interfering in this world, interacting with you along the axis of time, meant giving up space to the others. I never sent you into the future, Caspian. All I did was have a conversation. The Evil Eye might have controlled the domain of the Future, but he was badly beaten after your little adventure with his Ikon and that servant called The Terrible. No, Caspian, the one who pushed you into the future was my beloved.


    ¡°My beloved was in such a rush to absorb the space I had left in my wake while talking to you directly, that it consumed the present. It continued consuming the present and pushing the rest of the world into the past until our conversation was over and I returned to stabilize the present.


    ¡°You were never sent into the future. The past simply grew so large it pushed the present further into the future.¡±

 Chapter 254

    The past pushed the present into the future?


    What did that mean?


    I frowned. I was still reading the Book of the Past in my head, but that wasn¡¯t helping me figure this out at all. I understood a little bit of what Madness had said. I already knew the reason the Immortals didn¡¯t directly intervene in the world all of the time was because it gave the other Immortals the chance to increase their own power at the expense of the intervening Immortal. If that same principle applied to the temporal domains, Madness¡¯ intervention on that day could have given both the Evil Eye and the Simurgh the opportunity to grow stronger. Except, the Evil Eye had recently lost the Oracle and The Terrible, which must have weakened it too much for it to gain much from Madness¡¯ intervention at that time.


    But even if the Simurgh had increased the power of the Past, why would that send us to the future? Did it maybe work like the way my power to travel to the Future did? When I moved something after projecting into the future, my body would move to that point in time. Everything else proceeded as if I had simply disappeared. Did my conversation with Madness freeze me in time, allowing the Simurgh to ¡®push the present into the future¡¯ by expanding the past?


    The bird pecked the silver orb and a loud crack resounded through the air.


    The other birds stopped flapping their wings, hanging listlessly in the air. The tornado fizzled out, caressing the inside of the silver orb as it faded. The lead bird kept its beak in the crack, its dark beady eyes trained right at me.


    My lips closed. My eyes followed. Words, thoughts, ideas flowed through my head. Madness¡¯ words echoed and I finally understood.


    I finally understood the Past.


    ---


    ¡°Wait, can you tell me how to get back to my world?¡±


    The Immortal of Madness said, ¡°Since you didn¡¯t ask me to send you home right away, I think you like it here, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I like it here. This world is fun and exciting. I have friends here now, I can use magic, and even though I¡¯ve been fighting one insane monster after another, I feel like I¡¯m strong enough to protect myself now.¡±


    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll tell you how to get home. If you ever get tired of this world, you can just go back! How does that sound? You can even take little Noel with you, if you want. If she wants to join you, that is.¡±


    ¡°That sounds too good to be true.¡±


    ¡°Well, I never said it would be easy to get back to your world.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°But the way back is simple. You just have to be annihilated.¡±


    ¡°You mean I can get back to my world if I die?¡±


    ¡°No! Death is death. How stupid do you have to be to think dying here would bring you to another world? No, annihilation, annihilation. You must pursue annihilation!¡±


    ---


    The Past exists unchanging. It cannot not be altered. I can only observe it.


    ---


    ¡°Thank you, Caspian Holm. I knew I was right to let you through,¡± said the figure.


    ¡°Who? What are you?¡±


    ¡°I am your benefactor. The one who pretended not to know about that stupid red thing¡¯s plans. Oh, you have no idea how much I¡¯ve helped the two of you. And you have no idea how much you¡¯ve helped me. Thank you, Caspian Holm and Noel Jora, for letting me meet my beloved, once again.¡±


    ---


    The Past¡¯s power is in its permanence and its inevitability. In weight, it is always heavier than the future and the present. It carries with it many souls, many histories, many dreams and wishes, many regrets and mistakes.


    ---


    ¡°The one from the story?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They called themselves the Immortal of Desire.¡±


    ¡°The Immortal of Desire,¡± whispered the elder. ¡°I have not heard that name before. I have lived for many years, child. It is strange for me to not know the name of a god. Especially one that did not leave our world.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ---


    ¡°Come on! There¡¯s no way that thing is going down that easily,¡± said Noel.


    ¡°We need to run as far as we can,¡± I said.


    ¡°But the Oracle is right outside and she¡¯s controlling uncle Sharun.¡±


    ¡°We can deal with that. The bigger question is where do we go from here.¡±


    ¡°We should go to the camp first and gather the other tribesmen. We need to let them know The Terrible is a five star monster, not a blessing from the gods!¡±


    ---


    The Past is too powerful. It should not be used carelessly. And now that the Present and the Future were also in my hands, I had the power to destroy everything with a wayward thought. A little carelessness could feed everything and everyone to the insatiable stomach of the Past.


    ---


    ¡°You taught me to drink from your eyes, the ripe red wine of love. Wrought in the heavens from pure moonlight, the whole world dances for you. Repentance torn to tatters, I can see nothing but you. With my feet in the waves, I drink from the sea. I am drunk off your gaze, I am drunk off your love. I am drunk off of this gentle feeling of intense ecstasy. This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I blame on your gaze. This gentle feeling of intense ecstasy, I am drunk off your gaze.¡±


    ---


    ¡°Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, in which the burden of the mystery, in which the heavy and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world, is lightened. That serene and blessed mood,


    in which the affections gently lead us on, until, with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.¡±


    ---


    It made sense that poetry went to the Immortal of Desire. It also made sense that the Past went to the Immortal of Desire. Poetry, past, desire, everything carried a note of romanticism. Like rose petals on a lake¡¯s surface. Cherry blossoms, sweet mountain air, think of anything you like, anything that evoked poesy, wistfulness, perhaps even a little lust, though not of the carnal sort. And not love, either, since that was the domain of madness, and for good reason.


    ---


    ¡°And this is a double berry.¡±


    ¡°Are these good to eat?¡±


    ¡°No, they¡¯re poisonous. We use them as bait for Farro Birds.¡±


    ¡°Wonderful.¡±


    ---


    The only part that did not make sense to me was Desire. Not that the Simurgh could not control desire. Desire fits the romanticism completely. No, I could not figure out why the Simurgh was titled the Immortal of Desire. It wasn¡¯t a simple quirk of my translation magic. Even Madness had been surprised the first time he heard it.


    ---


    ¡°This blade was always given to the greatest hunter in the tribe, but nobody believed a single elf could hunt the vicious Carica Serpent. My father was faster than any other elf. My uncle chased after him, followed closely by other hunters, but by the time they reached the watering hole, the Carica Serpent was slain. Its long, slender body lying next to the water¡¯s edge, curling like a sand dune.¡±


    ¡°My father¡¯s body was found next to the beast. A large gash in his stomach, oozing blood. One of the monster¡¯s teeth lay on the ground beside him. The song ends with the verse: Carica¡¯s blood burned to ash by Rosta¡¯s anger. The water turned bitter with Jora¡¯s tears.¡±


    ---


    The Past must be recollected in reverse.


    ---


    ¡°I need you to say a few words, slowly and while stressing your mouth movements. Anything is fine at first, I just want to confirm something.¡±


    ¡°I understand now! Wait, that¡¯s so cool. You got all of that from a name?¡±


    ---


    The Simurgh controlled the Past, and the Past was insanely powerful. It also controlled Annihilation. It was, according to the three Immortals, the most powerful Immortal of all. But then why was it called the Immortal of Desire?


    ---


    ¡°Hi, you wouldn¡¯t happen to be a figment of my imagination, would you? Or a character in a really, really vivid dream?¡±


    ¡°No, my name is Noel, and I¡¯m real. What about you, are you real?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think I am, and like I said, the name¡¯s Cas.¡±


    ---


    Yes, the name is Cas. And I am just as confused as you are.

 Chapter 255

    If traveling to the future was like watching a movie, delving into the past was like wading through muck. And although I knew I could not change the past, being able to run my hands through water and air while feeling matter oozing through my hands, made me feel like I should have been able to change things.


    After all, it looked so real, so tangible. I could smell the smells, hear the sounds, taste things that I licked in a moment of desperation. Yet, my sense of touch betrayed my own transient existence inside the past. The murky ooze made it obvious to me that I was only here as an observer. And just like when I moved to the future, I did not stop moving backwards in time in small increments. But unlike with the future, where stopping or moving something would have locked me into that point in the future, I knew stopping in the past would be far worse.


    I would become like the ooze I could feel in my hands.


    I shuddered. Everything around me, the many memories that had rushed by had been terrifyingly disorienting. By the time I had gotten some control over this domain, I was slurring through my earliest memories in this world, going back through my encounters with Noel and the elves of the Jora tribe. Yet, despite the warmth of some of those memories in my head, I had felt a chill in my heart. I had known that these were not memories come to life. They were phantasmal echoes, that same disgusting muck turning into strange shapes to provoke my memories and tempt me to stop.


    These memories were like vampires or demons or ghouls of a sort, they were slimy parasites or all encompassing menaces, hell bent on consuming everything they could. Thankfully, reaching out and touching them, moving them, interfering with them, was not dangerous, since I couldn¡¯t change the past. The only thing I couldn¡¯t afford to do was stop.


    Which meant I kept going past my own time in this world. My ability could not reach me in my old world, which meant it went wild both in time and space. I flipped between the villages of the elves on the Plains of Serenity, the Izlandi Kingdom, the Singing Horde, the Lux Republic, even smaller tribes and villages that didn¡¯t belong to any major nation. I saw communities of people from different races living together or competing with one another.


    Moments of happiness.


    Moments of sorrow.


    Moments that rekindled the warmth in my heart.


    Moments that sent a chill down my spine.


    I had to look away when a village was ravaged by monsters. Blood and gore and misery of the worst sort. Moments of heroism and sacrifice that were ultimately pointless. Everybody would die. But the worst part was that I was experiencing everything in reverse.


    Tell me, how would you feel if you saw dead children turn into dying children turn into crying children turn into panicking children turn into happy, carefree, ordinary kids enjoying a stroll with their parents? If Alfred Hitchcock said that a ticking time bomb that the audience knows about is better and more suspenseful than one that merely explodes at the final moment, then what can one say about a time bomb that has already exploded, showing the audience the grisly results before reconstructing the happy scene that preceded it?


    I followed the life of an old beastwoman in snippets. From her death bed to finding out that her adult son had died in battle to losing her home in a flood to playing with her grandchildren. I watched her children get married. I observed as she brought up her own children. She lost three as babies and four others made it to adulthood. Her husband died soon after she had had all of her kids and she could not get remarried. Instead, her kids helped her take care of the farm. But in reverse, I saw her hopelessly in love with her husband. I excused myself from the more intimate details of her life, but her happiness in those early years was palpable. I returned to her marriage, her life with her parents in their ancestral village, the first time she met her future husband when he came to visit from the other village. I saw her playing with the other kids, with her siblings, and losing her own mother and unborn sister one stormy winter evening. I focused more on her relationship with her mother as I followed her childhood, dampening the warm scenes in front of my eyes with the tears she shed when she lost her mother.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I ended my strange reverse survey of this random woman¡¯s life when she appeared as a baby clad in cloth in her mother¡¯s arms, reaching out for her father¡¯s finger. The family cuddled together, happy for their firstborn and the future that, from their perspective, held promise but which for me had already unfolded in some detail.


    I kept going. I saw more lives, more experiences, more sadness and happiness mixing together like a sweet and sour curry. I could detail them all here, but that would not make for good entertainment. And that is what you are here for, isn¡¯t it? Entertainment.


    I went back. Far back. Back before the Kingdom and the Republic and the Horde. I went to strange places, all on this same continent, which perhaps confirmed this was the only continent in this world. I dropped in on tribes on the empty plains, a few island dwellers, and even a group of humans who had set up shop on a series of rafts on a lake. The diversity of this world was heartening, yes, and it was fascinating to watch these civilizations fall, grow, and establish themselves in that order, but it wasn¡¯t anything revolutionary.


    What was revolutionary was seeing evolution in reverse. More specifically, domestication. Monsters, plants, even difficult terrain. The peoples on the other side of the mountain had made a lot of progress over many generations, and I was breezing past them at lightning speed. Many things that I had brought to the humans came to the demons, fairies, spirits, and beastmen over many, many years, and after a lot of trial and error.


    And of course, I saw the elves. I hadn¡¯t been able to see the elves that had crossed over the mountains after Noel and I were pushed into the future, since my magic had been too unwieldy in the beginning, but now I could see the way the elves of the Plains of Serenity setting up their civilization around the Oracle and The Terrible.


    Many lives were ruined by the Oracle. I saw a young man being sacrificed by the Oracle, then I saw him being tortured and admonished, declared insane and condemned in front of other elves, with his weeping partner unable to save him. I knew his name, he had been mentioned once before, Arma Kisi, the third exile.


    I went further and found another sacrifice condemned by the Oracle. The elves called her the Witch of Desire and she had a strange first name: Flying. Perhaps that was why the Simurgh liked her enough to almost turn her into its Ikon, although in the end, the Immortal did not care enough to fight for her when she was killed the Oracle in cold blood, probably on the orders of her jealous and pitiful deity. She was the second exile.


    It took a lot longer to reach the first exile, but I finally arrived at the point where an old man lay dying in the middle of a forest. He scratched runes into stones and all but walked into what would become his tomb, many years later. I recognized the tomb, the runes, and the location. This was the resting place of the Mad King Barson Jora. As he lay dying in the tomb, I could not help but ask if he had been mad at all. He had a grim, stately appearance, and a serious countenance that made it difficult to imagine him ever cracking a joke.


    I saw Barson Jora and the difficult life he had lived. He fought monsters and other elves, especially those who were under the influence of the Evil Eye. Eventually, only the Oracle remained, except, this time the Immortal of Evil had decided to intervene somewhat directly. He sent down The Terrible, a five star monster far beyond the capabilities of a mere elfin king. King Barson Jora had no choice but to surrender. I saw the moment the happiness was knocked out of his eyes, the moment when he realized war was inevitable and his people would not be united under his rule.


    I also saw the moment that he began reading many runes out loud, and I slowly learned the language that had been written outside the cave of The Terrible. Funnily enough, it took me all this time to finally read those words. Funnier still, I realized learning the language didn¡¯t help at all. I already knew essentially all I needed to know about the elves and their history.


    Or at least, that¡¯s what I thought, until I saw Barson Jora light up a fire with magic, and look in my direction with a strange smile.

 Chapter 256

    ¡°You are here!¡± said the Mad King of the elves, Barson Jora. He had a massive smile plastered on his face, stretching from ear to ear and dipping down to his chin like drool. ¡°Oh, how long I have waited! My love! My muse! The object of my fantasies! How I have missed you. Come, come, take a seat on this patch of dirt. It isn¡¯t as glamorous as the palaces of my people, but what can be a greater seat than the planet itself?¡± He swept his hand over a patch of dirt, sending a puff of dust flying to the side. The dirt became more erratic and disturbed than before. Nobody would want to sit there.


    I blinked and looked around. Then I looked back at the Mad King, my heart dropping in my chest. His words had made sense.


    His words had made sense!


    I was supposed to be traveling back in time. All of the words I had been hearing so far had been in reverse. Looking around at the trees confirmed that the leaves were blowing with the wind. Sounds and noises from far away in the forest all sounded like they normally did, which was strange considering the circumstances. Even the sun in the sky, peeking through the canopy, seemed to be moving in its usual direction. I stepped forward a little and brushed my hand against a tree.


    It was solid.


    ¡°Are you feeling shy?¡± said Barson Jora. ¡°Please, don¡¯t be shy. I am yours. I will always be yours. Come sit here with me! Oh, what a lovely, lovely day. You know, I almost thought you had forsaken me. No, not that I would ever truly think that! Please, you must believe me, I always believed! I always believed! I would never think badly of you. Never, ever!¡± He shook his head wildly from side to side like a dog shaking off water.


    I stopped moving towards him. I also realized that my body was no longer in my control. No, it was in my control, but it was moving on its own. I knew that if I wanted to, I could step away from this point in time and I would be able to continue my journey. I could keep running further and further into the past while thinking of a way to unite my temporal domains. I would be able to use that knowledge to make new spells that would help me take on the Immortals and maybe even return to my world.


    But something stopped me from running away. It was a feeling, a strange feeling. As if the importance of this moment in time had been impressed upon me from some sort of universal force. Call it a divine will, karma, or the will of the universe itself. No, it was the knowledge in my head. The knowledge that came with the temporal domains and which was slowly mixing together inside my head as I explored my abilities.


    Of course I could stop going backwards through time at any moment. I had control of the Future, after all, didn¡¯t I? All I needed to do was switch from the Past straight to the Future. I could not dwell in the past, but I could make it run the right way around, couldn¡¯t I? And that was exactly what I was doing right now. Except, it wasn¡¯t me who was doing it. It was another force, another will, that had been here once before and which considered this moment in time an incredibly important one.


    ¡°My beloved Desire! Please do not leave me again!¡± said the Mad King as he fell to his knees and groveled in front of me. The large, well built elfin king was crying fat tears, sobbing incoherently, and even began to cough from the dust he had kicked into his own face.


    I wanted to step forward and pick him up, but my instincts told me that doing so would interrupt the memory. It was with that thought that I realized this was a memory and that the domain of the Past could be used this way. I also realized this was one way of collecting more knowledge. Specifically, knowledge about the people of the past. Whether that knowledge could be turned into magic spells or if it was simply the kind of knowledge that would help me better understand this world, I didn¡¯t know.


    ¡°Barson,¡± came a voice from my mouth. My mouth hadn¡¯t moved nor did I feel like I had said the words myself. The voice was simply coming from where my mouth was. It was also a voice that I recognized. With a singsong quality and a tone as smooth as velvet, it was the voice of the Simurgh in its united form.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°Yes!¡± said Barson in a hurry.


    ¡°You have failed me,¡± said the voice of the Simurgh.


    ¡°No, I mean, yes, of course, you are wise and kind and merciful, yes, so merciful! I have failed, please punish me!¡± said Barson. His voice changed midway through his groveling statements as if he had seen something strange in my face. Was he able to read the Simurgh¡¯s facial expressions? Or perhaps he could feel its anger and frustration. Somehow, I could feel those emotions too.


    ¡°To think, the great king of the elves couldn¡¯t defeat a usurper from his own ranks,¡± said the Simurgh with a sigh. ¡°I suppose I must accept some of the blame. I should have known that the king of a fallen race would never be able to stand on his own feet. I was preoccupied for the smallest of times by that silver menace, and you lost everything to the red star. What a pathetic mongrel you are, Barson.¡±


    Barson Jora lowered his head, his slender lips trembling as he began to cry once again. ¡°I had it all under control, my Desire. I rebuilt my army after our disastrous defeat to the monster horde. My warriors were well armed and powerful. You should have seen their magic as it rained down upon the monsters on the plains. We were so successful, I renamed the site of our victory to the Plains of Serenity! And it was all thanks to you and your magic, my Desire! I passed down your knowledge and wisdom, exactly as you told me to. Every spell you taught me, my warriors learned a bastardization of it. Nobody was as powerful as me, yes, but the monsters, they couldn¡¯t face us at all! You must believe me, my Desire, we were unstoppable! We were unstoppable!¡±


    ¡°And yet you were stopped,¡± said the Simurgh in its regal voice.


    Barson¡¯s face paled, his words left him, and he shrank deeper into himself. His slender frame trembled as if a terrible thought had run through his head, and he raised his eyes to meet my gaze and forced out a sentence, weakly, ¡°Are you here to punish me?¡±


    The Simurgh did not reply for the longest time. It let the silence stagnate. No leaves rustled, no wind whistled, and no birds chirped but perhaps that was a given. Barson held his breath but he held my gaze with a surprising tenacity. As if he was willing to die, but not without facing his end with some semblance of bravery and honor.


    I took a step forward. I reached out a hand and pressed it against Barson Jora¡¯s forehead. The Mad King did not flinch. He kept looking past the hand, trying to meet my eyes, even as I felt them close.


    It was the strangest feeling, thinking that my eyes were closed but still being able to see everything. Just because the Simurgh had closed its eyes did not mean that I, who had come to this time and place as an observer, would have to do the same. I looked on as strange words spilled out of my mouth and a gentle harmony filled the air. The stale silence was filled with a macabre song, one that reminded me of funerals and death.


    The somber song slowly turned the grass, the leaves, the very scenery of the place into a dull grayscale painting. No, it was closer to a pencil sketch made quickly on a piece of scratch paper. Smudges appeared along Barson Jora¡¯s face and big fat globs of black ink fell out of his eyes. The Mad King opened his mouth and some harmonious words escaped him but his song was cut short by a record scratch and replaced quickly with music.


    Haunting, dizzying, chaotic music.


    Music filled with thumping feet and beating chests and clinking pottery. String instruments discordantly dancing with drums and rattling bones and some manner of reed pipes. The music was livelier than the Simurgh¡¯s music, so they clashed harshly with each other.


    Imagine a funeral hymn played over a guitar solo. The two did not mix and if I was not protected by the power of time, I knew that I would be doing exactly what the Mad King was doing.


    The Mad King laughed. His laughter was cacophonous and haunting. It felt like somebody forced to laugh even though he was drowning in sorrow. A truly painful, pitiful laugh. In his eyes, I could see his regret, his sadness. His eyes sad sorry and he tried to voice those words too. But Madness would not let him apologize to the Simurgh. And even if he had been able to squeeze out an apology, the Simurgh was unlikely to accept it. After all, what Immortal would listen to the words of a traitor?


    A small stone slab appeared above Barson¡¯s head.


    The scene froze. Then it began playing in reverse.


    I kept walking into the past.

 Chapter 257

    In reverse, I saw the events Barson Jora had described to the Simurgh. I saw Barson¡¯s terrible battle against the Oracle and her followers, many of whom had been brainwashed with a red glint in their eyes. The Terrible towered over Barson¡¯s forces, crushing dozens with its cantankerous feet and scorching entire battalions with its red glare. Blood flowed like water, screams rang out like the pitter-patter of raindrops, and an overcast sky was filled with a piercing red tint since there was no moon in sight.


    Further back, I saw the Oracle receiving her blessing. I saw The Terrible receiving its red stars. Many hordes of followers being brainwashed. Arguments between Barson Jora and other elves. The Oracle wasn¡¯t very important in elfin society before she received her blessing. She was learning magic from Barson like the others, but wasn¡¯t very good at it.


    The magic Barson was sharing with the elves was not very impressive. Weak flames, splashes of water, and a little light that could not compare with a flaming torch. But that was okay. I found out the point of these spells was not to actually use them in war. Barson taught some of his commanders the real magic the Simurgh had passed down to him, and this small group of commanders became nodes for a larger spell. A larger spell that laid a blanket of power over Barson¡¯s army, riling them up, making them braver, stronger, and more devoted to Barson. Barson was able to oversee his army all at once, and could make people jump to their deaths without a second thought. The Simurgh had given Barson the emotional manipulation magic that it would use against me many years later.


    But after the Oracle arrived with her mind control magic, Barson¡¯s spell was broken. Perhaps if the Simurgh had answered Barson¡¯s pleas, he could¡¯ve done something. But without the Simurgh¡¯s support, his control of his own army slipped from his hand like loose sand. After losing the power that came with this spell, Barson stopped commanding the army entirely. The Oracle and her forces were able to corner him easily, and many of Barson¡¯s own commanders deserted him on the battlefield. The Mad King spent all of his time in booze and prayer, letting his enemy overwhelm his forces even though the Oracle did not have nearly as many soldiers as he did. It was regrettable. To be so reliant on the blessing from the Immortal that he forgot that he was meant to be a king, not a sorcerer.


    That realization made me feel sadder as I saw his previous battles. His defeat against the monster horde was a horrible one, but seeing the noble elf slay monster after monster with his gleaming sword, his armor splattered with murky blood and his face covered in sweat and gashes, made me respect the Mad King a little bit.


    Before that disastrous battle, Barson Jora led armies against small bands of monsters. By this point, I was able to control my magic well enough. I could follow Barson as he talked to his supporters, rallied tribes of elves to his cause, and swept through the plains, the mountains, and the coastline with his army. Everywhere he went, it was as if the sun was rising over a land enshrouded in darkness. Monsters blanketed the world like snow, with little bands of elves the only source of warmth in the terrible perpetual winter.


    Even on the other side of the mountains, the monster infestation was pretty bad. This was a moment in history when the demons, fairies, spirits and beastmen were all working together. They were huddled together in the very North of the continent, at the site that would later become the capital of the Lux Republic. This final refuge of sentient races on the other side of the mountain was defended primarily by the tall fairies, who were at this time only protected with leather armor and wielded incredibly flimsy stone spears. Most monsters were only kept at bay with fire, long range stone projectiles, and a lot of luck. In fact, if a river had not flooded at just the right time, a particularly fearsome band of monsters might have wiped out all sentient life on this side of the mountains. The river¡¯s flooding was so sudden and strange, that I knew an Immortal had to be involved. But which Immortal would have tried to protect all four races? Surely, they would have only tried to protect the ones they ended up allying themselves with.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The elves under Barson Jora were definitely the biggest threat the monsters faced, and as I traveled backwards in time, I realized the monsters had known this as well. I already knew how this story ended. I knew that Barson would wipe out most of the monsters on his side of the mountains, and that a great host would leave the North and flood over the mountains towards the Plains of Serenity. Barson and the elves would lose most of their warriors and would limp away with a few survivors. These monsters would go on to repopulate the monsters on either side of the mountains, but their numbers had been reduced so greatly that whatever force had been controlling them must have realized it was useless trying to use them anymore. It was after this moment that the red star began to pick apart Barson¡¯s remaining forces by tempting the Oracle. This made me think the Evil Eye had been controlling the monsters after all.


    But as I kept going further and further back in time, the coordination of the monsters began making less sense to me. For starters, why didn¡¯t they have red stars in their foreheads? Starred monsters were the most powerful monsters that I had faced in this world. The Terrible, the most powerful monster the elves had ever faced, was a five star monster, blessed by the Evil Eye himself. If the Evil Eye really wanted to wipe out Barson and his followers, shouldn¡¯t he have made a few powerful monsters like The Terrible and let them loose on Barson instead of bringing together such a massive monster army?


    Barson¡¯s activities in the past had been full of daring and courage. I began to see the subtle ways in which he had been fighting against the growing tide of the monsters. By now, I could tell how large my jumps in time were. I could tell that Barson and his elves had been fighting against the monsters on his side of the mountains for centuries. The massive army that he had gathered consisted of every tribe south of the mountains. Yet, for many decades, Barson had been fighting with just a few loyal tribes, since most tribes did not trust in his leadership or thought that his mission to defeat every monster was too unrealistic.


    Since I was traveling backwards through time, I saw Barson¡¯s troops dwindle, even though I knew that they had swelled in the relative future. It made me appreciate how difficult it must have been for him, convincing so many people to come fight for their survival instead of waiting for death. His numbers became smaller and smaller and smaller, until he was just a young man, not too much older than I appeared to be in this world.


    This younger Barson had only a few loyal followers with him. These followers told him about the history of his family. By now, I had gotten pretty good at understanding words being said in reverse. I could follow their words, even as they became more and more unbelievable. I suspected these retainers were exaggerating Barson¡¯s family history to give the young king more confidence. Either way, I would find out the truth as I went deeper into the history of this world.


    ¡°The kings of the Jora tribe ruled this continent in an age before monsters,¡± said one of Barson Jora¡¯s followers. ¡°The kings brought peace and prosperity. Food was plentiful and our people lived in large cities with many tall houses and buildings. It is said, we even carved temples into the peaks of mountains, as if the very world itself belong to our people.¡±


    ¡°Before the monsters came, there was much music and dance. Our people did not know magic back then, but we did not need to. There were no monsters to fight, and other sentient races could be brought to heel with weapons made from the earth,¡± said another retainer.


    ¡°Peace and prosperity,¡± said an elderly elf with a great white beard and droopy eyelids. ¡°Before the time of monsters and magic, when the elves worshiped the moon, and darkness dare not leave the woods.¡±

 Chapter 258

    Before the Mad King rode off into the darkness, searching for elfin tribes to gather for his great assault on the monster hordes, he was a young man trying to fit into the role he had been born into. He did not have many retainers, but everywhere he went, the elves would venerate and honor him. Only the elders of the tribes had known about him, but even if a tribe did not have elders who had lived in the time before monsters, their children would know to look for the king from the line of Jora.


    Jora was an ancient elfin king, according to the stories I heard from Barson¡¯s retainers. The First King Jora, is what they called him, but it became clear they didn¡¯t know much about him, since all of their stories seemed to contradict one another. Sometimes, he was a dashing young conqueror, fighting to bring the separated tribes of the elves together into one nation. And sometimes, he was a divine being, one of the other gods that the elfin Jora tribe¡¯s elders had once told me about. Over the years, I had concluded that these other gods were mortal beings deified after their deaths. Even in my old world, people deified emperors and heroes after their deaths, elevating Gilgamesh or Julius Caesar into godhood for political purposes. It would make sense to deify the legendary first king of the elves in order to build a national identity around him.


    As I went deeper and deeper into the past, I began to truly appreciate how terrible the arrival of monsters had been. Watching the entire continent nearly succumb to the darkness was one thing, but then watching that encroaching darkness ebb and flow like the tide, spanning across multiple generations of people¡¯s lives and bringing with it immense misery and tragedy, was another experience altogether.


    I saw the monsters destroying tribes and settlements, driving sentient beings to despair all over the place. The elfin royal family was an especially valuable target, and my first sight of Barson Jora¡¯s parents was at the scene of their death. They were eaten whole by a massive serpentine monster. Young Barson was barely rescued by a loyal band of knights, many of whom would give their lives to make sure the last king of the elves would survive.


    Before that, the old king and queen scurried among the darkness, trying to survive and never thinking of any kind of resistance. Their forces were weak and constantly on the run. The old king lacked the vigor of Barson and the old queen lacked Barson¡¯s courage. The idea of gathering the other tribes to lead a large offensive against the monsters was the furthest thing from their minds. It made me wonder how Barson had even thought of that in the first place.


    My suspicions grew as I went further back. Before the old king and queen became old and had their first and only child, they were still cowering and trying to survive. Their supporters dwindled and were replenished once every few years by wandering warriors or tribes on the brink of starvation. All the king and queen could really offer was their own names and titles, which were usually enough to gather a few people around them who could help them grow and collect food.


    And before the old king and queen, there was a widowed queen. Then her soon to be brutally murdered husband. And their predecessors. And then the king and queen before them. A few times, the line did not pass down to the children of the previous rulers, since the children might have died or the rulers might have died young. This meant the Jora family was kept alive by brothers or cousins or even distant relatives who could not remember their family tree but knew they were from the line of Jora. Somehow, while tracing them through time, I was able to confirm that this line truly was descended from each other, and even the flimsiest of claims were genuine.


    But I had gone back many generations, and yet, the monsters were still around. The elves of this time did not live as long as the elves in my time, probably because they were finished off by monsters before they could live out their lifespans. Still, this was a long period of time, and I had yet to see where the monsters had come from.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I also needed to know why Barson Jora had started acting that way before his death.


    Music and dance and even maniacal laughter. I knew exactly which Immortal was associated with those things. Barson Jora was called the Mad King, after all, so I wasn¡¯t surprised. However, I had seen the Mad King¡¯s life and with my understanding of the Past, I knew that I hadn¡¯t missed any significant moments in his life. To the best of my knowledge, Barson Jora had never met with Madness, and yet, he was acting as if he was an agent of the silver moon, perhaps even an Ikon of the Immortal of Madness. If the Immortal had really gotten to him somehow, then he had done so inside Barson¡¯s head. Perhaps in a dream or through the hallucinations that afflicted Barson after his army¡¯s defeat at the hands of the monsters of the North.


    Come to think of it, I hadn¡¯t seen much of the Simurgh in his past either. I had seen a few moments from when he was taught emotional manipulation magic, and the Simurgh did mention that he had become its Ikon, but there were no grand conspiracies or anything. I felt pretty safe in my belief that the Simurgh had not been the one who put the idea of uniting the elves into Barson¡¯s mind. After all, their first interaction seemed to occur after Barson¡¯s defeat to the monster army, and before he began teaching the elves some magic.


    In fact, I didn¡¯t see much of the Immortals at all as I went back in time. During the age of monsters, the Immortals were nowhere to be seen. Even the moon looked duller and the red star glinted less brightly as the land was covered in darkness and generations of sentient beings struggled to survive.


    And then the darkness was dispelled by a flash of light brighter than the sun but more like a cold breeze on a winter evening.


    The monsters were gone and the elves were together and the fairies, the spirits, the demons and the beastmen, all continued fighting each other for land and power on the other side of the continent. I blinked my eyes. How could things change so quickly?


    I used magic to fine-tune my jumps and began moving around the time that the age of monsters began. Soon, I figured out that the arrival of the monsters had been a frightfully sudden thing. In just one day, the whole continent was shrouded in darkness and ferocious monsters appeared, all of whom were far beyond the abilities of regular mortals.


    I searched the land the timeline for clues, but came up with nothing. Where had these monsters come from? Who had created them? What were they for? All questions left unanswered because I did not know who to ask.


    The elfin cities were wonderful. One of them was also strikingly familiar. Bek Tepe, with its imposing temple cut into the rock, and the stand-alone hill overlooking wide plains, was probably the most important but least visited temple in the land. The elfin king and queen owned this piece of land directly, and the temple was used mostly for secret rituals known only to the royal family. ¡®Secret rituals¡¯ is code for food and drink, by the way, since that was all they really seemed to be doing at the time.


    Life had been peaceful before the monsters and everything had changed in a single day. I kept going further and further, unsure of what I would find, and hoping it would give me a clue about how to get home.


    On and on and on and on I went, until I finally found the First King of the elves. I confirmed the theory that he had been a dashing young conqueror, since the elves didn¡¯t really have kings before him. Local chieftains ruled the cities and villages, and no two cities shared their rulers. All of this changed with the First King Jora. He united the scattered cities and villages to forge a massive empire, covering the entire continent on this side of the mountains. He began a period of peace and prosperity that would survive for many years.


    And as I stepped into the far flung past, I found that dashing young conqueror, the First King Jora, kneeling in front of a familiar man in a toga. He was humming a tune and making the world dance and I did not linger just in case he met my gaze.

 Chapter 259

    I saw the man in the toga many times in the First King¡¯s life. And although his face looked exactly like the face of Madness, there was something strangely different about him. He didn¡¯t laugh much, and when he did, it wasn¡¯t maniacal. He didn¡¯t smile much either, and when he did, it was not with a terrifyingly long grin. The look in his eyes was sharp but clear, and there was no glint of insanity in them. It was almost as if Madness was not mad at all, but I wasn¡¯t ready to accept that so easily.


    After all, the First King embarked on a strange series of missions at the behest of the man that looked like Madness. The First King fought against other elves, bringing most of them under his banner, and he even crossed the mountains to take on the demons, fairies, spirits, and beastmen. Although he didn¡¯t subjugate any of these other peoples, he did end up with a ton of precious metals and valuable artifacts. He placed many of these artifacts in temples all around his kingdom, especially atop the mountain-peak temples that came to symbolize his long reign. Bek Tepe, the temple of the humans, was one of those temples. Inside, the First King placed some of the original artifacts that the priests of the Evil Eye had been using when I first came to Bek Tepe.


    It was then that I could no longer ignore the most pressing question in my head: where were the humans?


    During the First King¡¯s conquests, there had been no humans anywhere to be seen. In fact, I couldn¡¯t remember the first time humans had appeared during my journey into the Past. Had they been there during the Mad King¡¯s reign? No, I couldn¡¯t remember them then, either. What about during the early years of the reign of the Oracle? No, there had been no sign of them at that time either. Perhaps I had seen them at some point but never cared to dwell too long, or perhaps my mind was fuzzy, my memory vague and unfocused. I could feel the intensity of the information flooding through my brain slowly eroding my ability to think clearly. It certainly didn¡¯t help that I had to keep the present in my mind at all times, so I wouldn¡¯t forget the dire situation I was in.


    I had to remember that I was coming to the past to better understand the present, and to find to protect myself from the angry Simurgh while avoiding Madness¡¯ strange machinations. Learning the true history of this world would go a long way towards helping me understand the Immortals and their relationships with the world and with each other, but I still needed some way to increase my raw firepower.


    So far, my new magic system had proven versatile, but I hadn¡¯t had enough time to work on too many new spells. I still needed to increase my total energy, as well, since that would let me do the more creative spells that I had been thinking about for a while. I could already feel the tug of gravitational manipulation and the allure of biological warfare. Perhaps a little metaphysics and reality bending would be in the cards too, if I could figure out how to not spontaneously explode from the energy that sort of magic would require.


    While traveling to the past, I made sure to keep casting spells, hoping the pseudo-time that I was experiencing would still let me increase my wisdom and thankfully, it seemed like that would be possible. Even though I was going back in time, it felt like I was spending weeks in limbo, which meant that I could keep training my magic outside of the present and return with enough energy to blast the Simurgh out of the galaxy¡ªtheoretically, of course. The problem was the stuff about losing focus that I mentioned before. Already, the lack of chronology was messing up my ability to think in a straight line. I was making connections between thoughts that hadn¡¯t occurred to me yet, and leaving some thoughts hanging for longer than I ought to.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Like my thoughts about the humans. Yes, the humans. Where had they come from? Right, from another world, perhaps? If I could come from another world, then so could they, right? Think about what Madness had said before. He all but admitted that he was from another world too, and he looked like a human, didn¡¯t he? Perhaps he had something to do with the humans, or perhaps the Simurgh had called them into this world the same way it had summoned me, although I suppose, it was the Evil Eye that had summoned me even if it had done so under the influence of the Simurgh.


    Or perhaps I couldn¡¯t trust what the Simurgh had told me in the Nothingness. Perhaps the Evil Eye was not really a creation of the Simurgh after all. Perhaps it was an outsider like Madness, or perhaps it was a natural Immortal or deity, as the Evil Eye¡¯s followers seemed to believe.


    The toga-clad man was walking in a garden with the young First King Jora. Madness, in his much more sobering and calm form, seemed to be a bit of a mentor to the young king. Well, he wasn¡¯t even a king yet. He was the son of a chieftain of a small tribe of elves in the corner of what would later become the Plains of Serenity.


    I was watching them walk in reverse, slowly piecing together their words in my head so I could follow the conversation. They were talking about small things like the weather, the food they would be eating, and what the young chief¡¯s son would be learning tomorrow. They walked backwards into the forest and their conversation became heavier.


    They were talking about a death in the family. Funeral rites. The chief¡¯s ailing health. A political marriage between the chief¡¯s son and the daughter of a neighboring tribe. These tribes had been at each other¡¯s throats for generations, mostly over the limited resources in their area. Now, they would be coming together for a brighter future. As someone who had seen that future, I knew this was true. The First King would unite much more than just these two small tribes in the hinterlands.


    They walked deeper into the forest. They talked of broader topics like love, happiness, and sorrow. The toga-clad man seemed to be giving the young chief¡¯s son advice and an education in things like ethics and norms. He asked the chief¡¯s son questions like: when was it right to strike another down? When was it right to kill? To plunder? To claim what was otherwise held by others? What grievances warranted a duel, and at what point must somebody give way for the greater good?


    From there the conversation reversed into a broad discussion about reality. What was life? What did it mean to think? What did it mean to feel, to be sentient, conscious, rational? Was there a purpose to their lives? And if so, what was that purpose? How might one go about discovering that purpose? And to what ends and at what cost must that purpose be fulfilled.


    The more I listened the more I realized how many of these topics, these discussions, these teachings that the toga-clad man was sharing with the young chief¡¯s son reminded me of ancient discussions in my old world. In fact, the way the toga-clad man bounced ideas off of the chief¡¯s son, waiting for the young elf¡¯s response before offering a rebuttal or complication of his own, it reminded me of the dialectical method championed by Socrates and Plato¡ªsometimes called a Socratic dialogue.


    Deeper and deeper into the forest, hours and hours into the past, the sun was dragged back across the sky by time, by me, but the sun was hidden behind the canopy and in the darkness, Madness said, ¡°No.¡±


    The young chieftain said, ¡°Yes, as the elders have spoken. As the great stories have said. And as the rain, the sky, the very earth itself has proven it.¡±


    And Madness¡¯ original question came at last, ¡°Young chief, do you think there is somebody over us? Greater beings, deities, gods, or perhaps, those that some might call Immortals?¡±

 Chapter 260

    The young king met the toga-clad man on a cold winter night in the year of his coming of age. As expected, the full moon was out, and there was no red star to be seen. The chief¡¯s son had been exploring a nearby thicket while out with the hunters. He had had a fight with his father. The boy wanted to help hunt, but the chief would not hear it. This was also when I realized that there were monster-like animals in this world.


    I did not recognize those species, but none of them had the aggression, the raw power of most modern monsters. I had also already seen the way these animals became monsters in the future. Some never turned, especially the birds, but most animals became powerful, angry, and seemed to harbor a hatred for sentient life.


    The toga-clad man appeared out of nowhere and began talking to the young chief¡¯s son. The boy, for some reason, did not run back to the other hunters. He seemed fascinated by this tall man who wore clothes he had never seen before and whose words were silky smooth and pleasing to the ear. The toga-clad man said all the right things, convincing the boy that he was good enough to hunt and that he only had to believe in himself. Since I had already seen the results of the boy¡¯s hunting the next day, I knew that the toga-clad man had been right. The boy hunted a large animal nearly all on his own, although he was still chewed out by his father for disobeying his orders.


    I could not follow the First King any further back, and so I made the difficult decision to follow Madness. Thankfully, I was sure by now that this phantasmal Madness would not suddenly turn around and speak to me, so I grit my teeth and endured the eerie music and the nauseating dancing that accompanied him everywhere.


    I did not find out much about Madness by following him back a few centuries. He spent most of his time traveling the world, enjoying the sights, fruits, fresh air and other pleasant aspects of nature. He was, perhaps unsurprisingly, very fond of birds.


    He did not return to the moon at any point, or perhaps he did but I could not follow him there and leave this planet even with my temporal domains. I had to follow the toga-clad Madness as he trekked across the countryside and the open plains and even a few islands with strange trees and clear waters. The journey was cathartic, in a way. Not what I had been expecting from the so-called Immortal of Madness.


    All the while, Madness was calm, cool, and weirdly relaxed. The music that followed him around was smooth and simple, although it did change from time to time. Harps and flutes and even something that resembled a music box. Piano sounds unlike any I had ever heard before, and a little thumping that sounded like a relaxed heartbeat¡ªsomewhat like the heartbeat from a sleeping giant.


    Madness was interfering with a few mortal lives over the years. The First King had not been his first apprentice or Ikon. He had found a demon tribe and shared with them some of his knowledge of stone tools and early metals. He taught the beastmen how to domesticate a few animals, and I remembered seeing these animals turning into domesticated monsters after the great wave of monsters was unleashed upon the world. The sentient beings on this side of the world had relied on these domesticated monsters for food, since most of their other animals had been turned into vicious, uncontrollable monsters.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    But Madness¡¯ greatest and strangest gifts were given to the fairies and spirits. The fairies had always been a massive race, but they used to have massive wings as well. Over the years, I had observed their wings getting larger and larger, which of course meant that they had been shrinking with time. Now, seeing Madness blessing the fairies with magic that would make them even taller and more powerful, at the cost of their wings, left me with strange feelings. And what he did for the spirits, helping those tiny beings hover off the ground with some sort of strange innate magic, while making them grow smaller with time. Madness¡¯ gifts were certainly mixed bags.


    Further and further back in time. To a time when Madness was dazed and confused. To a time when his toga was disheveled and full of holes. To a time when the sentient races had barely started using wooden tools and where language was only beginning to take shape. To a time when Madness first found the sentient races and began to observe them, to teach them, to take them under his proverbial wing.


    Teaching the sentient races became important to him. It kept him grounded, humble, and sane. He fixed up his appearance, took upon himself a calm and collected demeanor, and became a great teacher whose contributions to this world were without measure.


    Madness had given the beings of this world their first gifts. He had guided them in their earliest hour. Given them better tools, better food, and a greater sense of self and community. He protected them from large animals. He helped them work together, instead of against each other, and he helped the sentient beings of this world come together to form a pact that would be passed down through the blood of their descendants.


    This pact ensured that this world could not be completely controlled by the Immortals. This pact protected mortals from the worst whims of Immortal beings. The pact shielded mortals from the moon, the red star, and the Simurgh that ruled them all. The pact did not favor Madness. In fact, it did not give him an advantage at all. It even set the rules for the way the Immortals could compete with one another.


    The Immortals must govern all knowledge in this world. All knowledge was separated into domains. The Simurgh retained most of its domains, but Madness had been powerful before he came to this world. With the domains that he had gained and the power he brought from outside this world, he would be an important balance against the Simurgh.


    And the Evil Eye was a wild card. The Simurgh had created this Immortal to do its dirty work. To spread misery, despair, and all manner of negativity so that the Simurgh¡¯s own beauty and justness would stand out in contrast. Yet, Madness turned this pawn into a full-fledged Immortal. He strengthened the Evil Eye with domains he had seized from the Simurgh and even helped it take a few more from the Nothingness in which the Simurgh had been sealed.


    This was when I learned that the Nothingness was a sort of physical space after all, although it seemed to exist in an abstract, metaphysical way. Madness had sealed the Simurgh¡¯s main consciousness in this space, but eventually, it would break free. And when it would, it would bring with it much darkness and evil, for the phony justice of the Simurgh would be contorted by its isolation and defeat. The Simurgh¡¯s justice would become a new menace on this world. A new scourge that would ravage this planet and bring an existential challenge to sentient life.


    When the Simurgh broke free from its seal, it created a wave of darkness. From that wave of darkness came the first monsters of this world. And with them began the age of the First King Jora, and the other Ikons of Madness who would help save this world from the chaos of Desire.

 Chapter 261

    I found it surprising that one of the first things Madness had taught the sentient races had been the prophecy of the coming of the monsters. The sentient races even seemed to have heeded the wise toga-clad man¡¯s warnings, and yet, despite all of their preparations, the release of the Simurgh from its seal had heralded the end of the peaceful golden age that Madness had brought about.


    Madness himself had disappeared during those first years of darkness, and I remembered that when he would return to teach the Mad King Jora, he would no longer be the calm and thoughtful being he had been before the return of the Simurgh. Piecing everything together, I concluded something fascinating.


    Before the return of the Simurgh, Madness really had not been madness. Or, more specifically, he did not have the domain of madness under his control. The Simurgh¡¯s fearsome return had been mad and chaotic, so perhaps the toga-clad Immortal had stolen away that domain of madness to prevent the Simurgh from going out of control. Even though he went insane, his madness was not as severe and dangerous as the Simurgh¡¯s had been.


    And so I went even further back in time. I was still following Madness, or the Immortal that had yet to become Madness. There was a time before he met the sentient races. During this time, he spent his days wandering the wide open world, exploring landscapes and enjoying new sights, sounds, and even tastes. He was like a teething baby, nibbling on anything he could get his hands on. It was quite the odd sight.


    The further back I went, the more childlike and innocent Madness became. Eventually, I came to a time when he walked awkwardly like a toddler. And then he was crawling. And then he was sitting still in a meadow full of wildflowers and buzzing insects and the sun was overhead and there was a sweet scent carried by a warm breeze that caressed his Immortally young face and whispered strange things in his ear.


    I stood by this stationary Madness for many, many years. It seemed like the amount of time he had spent in this phase far outstretched the time he had spent afterwards. He had been waiting here so long, that when I first saw him, he had been covered in moss and weeds up to his head. In fact, he had been like a mossy stone covered in soil and grass, and if it had not been for the powers I received from my domain, I might not even have known that he was there at all.


    Going back through the years, the soil, the grass, the weeds, the moss, everything began to slowly disappear. It was a strange kind of erosion, since in reverse it looked like the vegetation was shrinking and the earth was being blown away and a young man was being revealed from under his earthen grave. Except, one day, when the young man¡¯s eyes opened, a few years before¡ªor after¡ªa long weed had grown up his cheeks and reached for his eyes as if to shut them.


    As Madness¡¯ body cleared up, I approached another milestone. My magical capacity had increased almost tenfold. Somehow, watching Madness¡¯ meditations on this random patch of earth had been particularly helpful. I had learned something, instinctively, about magic that I would not have learned with pure thought and reason. It made me wonder why I had not considered this obvious thought before.


    Magic defied reason. That was, in essence, the very point of magic. In my old world, where magic did not exist, the allure of magic lay precisely in its impossibility. Magic encapsulated yearnings that human beings held but which we could not bring into existence. That made us wish we could simply will an answer to those yearnings into existence.


    If the object of your love did not love you back, would it not be wonderful if you cast a love spell on them?Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    And if you did not look the way you wanted to look, wouldn¡¯t it be great if you could alter your appearance?


    Or perhaps you desired riches, then why not turn metal into gold?


    Or perhaps you wished for power, then why not conjure up flames or gain super strength?


    Perhaps one yearned for flight, invisibility, mind control, or something else that might make one¡¯s life easier or less monotonous.


    The aspirations of magic were also great vehicles for morals and teachings that could be passed down through riveting stories. To teach new generations the dangers of greed and avarice, through the story of those whose wings melted when they flew too close to the sun. Or to teach those who coveted wealth that there was more to life than gold, especially if a hand that could turn anything to gold did so to one¡¯s loved ones.


    And so magic had a strange relationship to reason and I came to finally accept that. But the real importance from this discovery lay in the boundary that I had just crossed. So far, in this world, I had accepted the Simurgh¡¯s explanation that magic in this world was governed by knowledge and wisdom. I had built both my old magic system and my new magic system off of this explanation.


    Yet, now that I had been confronted with the reality of ¡®domains¡¯ that covered the entirety of all knowledge of certain subjects, I began to realize a very simple truth. Not all knowledge could be codified and reasoned out. Not all things that one knew were things that one knew rationally and consciously. Sometimes, you had to feel the truth. Sometimes, you had to learn through experience, through feeling, through meditations that did not rely entirely upon rationality and reason.


    Sometimes, ¡®knowledge¡¯ couldn¡¯t be put into words on a page and explained to others in meticulous detail. Sometimes, people had to accept that a professor knew things that they did not. That an elder had lived a life that had taught them many things that a child may not know and that the child could not learn through books or through stories. Sometimes, you had to learn things the hard way, through a lot of time, hardships, and mistakes.


    In reverse, Madness got up from the random patch of earth and began walking aimlessly once more. His eyes were blank and his mouth hung open and he did not look like he had any idea who he was or what he had been doing. I followed him while slowly digesting my new understanding of magic. I could feel my control of the temporal domains nearing completion. My magical energy was increasing at a rapid pace. I was sure I could fight for years on end with basic magic spells, if I had to. But no, I needed more. I needed to know more. I needed to know why Madness was acting the way he was acting and what happened to the Simurgh before this. And where was the Evil Eye, anyway?


    And what even was this world? What were the Immortals? What was knowledge? What was magic? What was I doing here? And could I perhaps find a way home without even having to fight the Simurgh?


    I hadn¡¯t been able to figure out how the Simurgh or the Evil Eye had summoned me to this world in the first place. Perhaps I would return to my first few hours in this world and see if I could learn something from that, but I knew there was another option too. I wasn¡¯t the only one who had come to this world from another world.


    I looked at Madness as he walked into the sky. I followed him as he took a step into a plane of existence that I had not even noticed and as he disappeared from my vision so did the rest of this world and when I opened my eyes next I was back in the Nothingness.


    Only this time, Madness walked backwards into the middle of a massive explosion of rainbows and silver moonlight with which came a mighty roar and a shout and a scream and unbridled laughter and then before the carnage two beaten up Immortals glared at each other and a third Immortal, the now familiar smiling Madness, stood in the middle of the two with a calm but wide grin on his face.


    And I knew I was about to get some answers at last.

 Chapter 262

    The yells turned to shouts that turned to grunts and groaning. Since I was following in reverse, I had to see what happened first, and then make sense of it.


    Madness launched some sort of attack that made the other Immortals disappear. The Evil Eye went spiraling onto the planet and the Simurgh was embedded into the Nothingness like a fresco. After that, Madness walked away with a blank look on his face.


    Before that, the Simurgh was fighting the Evil Eye and somehow, the Evil Eye had been winning. I figured this was because of the many silver and rainbow colored wounds on its body. I knew this realm was a metaphysical one, and that the Immortals¡¯ bodies in this realm weren¡¯t actually physically real. Still, the Simurgh had to be hurting a lot if those sorts of injuries were appearing on its metaphysical body.


    The Evil Eye, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine, and as I followed their battle in reverse, I found out why. The Evil Eye had been cowering behind t the veil of Nothingness. It had been watching the events that were beginning to unfold in front of me.


    Madness and the Simurgh had been fighting a devastating battle in the white void of Nothingness. Even though nothing here had a physical form, I could still see the entire place shaking under the power of the Immortals¡¯ attacks. My own body, which should have been protected from the effects of the past by my temporal domains, was trembling under the weight of the Simurgh¡¯s rainbow wings and Madness¡¯ silver glare.


    The battle ended when the Simurgh used one of its domains to give ¡®order¡¯ to the chaos of the battle. The discordant spells; lasers, bombs, missiles, waves of light and spasms of power, had become the rainbow wings and the silver glare that I saw clashing against one another. But from my perspective as someone going into the past, I saw the two uniform strikes turning into disorderly spells that only barely managed to cancel each other out. A few spells slipped past the barrage and landed on the Immortals¡¯ bodies, but they didn¡¯t seem to be doing much damage.


    Physical attacks became interspersed with the spells. It seems the Immortals had been fighting from close range, earlier in the battle. I had to slow down my journey through time so I could follow their moves, since they were attacking at incredible speeds.


    Madness used martial arts that I had never seen before. Fast jabs, roundhouse kicks, flinging his limbs around in exaggerated ways that couldn¡¯t possibly make sense and yet, they were clearly pushing the Simurgh back. The Simurgh was trying to use its superior reach but even its large wings couldn¡¯t help it compete with Madness¡¯ strange martial arts.


    Before bringing out the martial arts, Madness had been using some fairly simple techniques. The Simurgh¡¯s reach had pushed Madness back through the void, and there hadn¡¯t been much he could do about it until he broke through the situation with a well timed roundhouse kick.


    And before this close quarters engagement, the two were firing energy projectiles at each other from just out of arm¡¯s reach. These projectiles had been meant to soften up their enemy¡¯s stance, giving them a better position for the close quarters fight.


    I was observing this fight in detail because I wanted to know how the Immortals fought. If I had to deal with them once I returned to the past, it would help to know the kind of tactics they employed. So far, I had realized that I would always be at a disadvantage in close quarters combat. The Simurgh had better reach and Madness had better technique. I also knew that the Evil Eye preferred to fight from extremely long range, either because he was a coward or because his long distance attacks were better than those of the other Immortals.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    I learned that the Simurgh and Madness could throw out a barrage of magical attacks if they felt like they were being pushed back too much. It had been Madness¡¯ superior martial arts that had made the Simurgh use its discordant spells, to which Madness had responded with a medley of his own. If I was to fight them, I had to remember to either take them down so quickly they couldn¡¯t counterattack, or to always be ready to nullify a barrage of attacks that covered many different domains of knowledge and which would require all sorts of clever spells to counter.


    From the projectiles, the two Immortals engaged in close quarters once again, although this time, their attacks were wild and emotional. I could tell this was more of a clash of feelings and wills than a clash in the physical sense of the word. The two Immortals were taking the entirety of some of the domains that they governed and were smashing them against one another.


    Justice against selflessness.


    Birth against sleep.


    Kindness against love.


    The domains did not need to perfectly counter one another, they only needed to be powerful. All sorts of related and unrelated concepts and ideas clashed as the Simurgh and Madness traded fists and kicks and even a couple of headbutts. Seeing the two otherwise dignified Immortals battling it out like schoolchildren was a little bizarre, but somehow, watching the battle in reverse made it seem so comical that it became, paradoxically, serious once again.


    Before the fisticuffs, there was dialogue. And it was this dialogue that I had been waiting for. I already had some answers. I knew the way the Immortals fought. I knew that Madness had defeated the other two and somehow sealed the Simurgh in the Nothingness for many years. I knew the Evil Eye had become completely independent from the Simurgh, but that it wasn¡¯t siding with Madness either.


    In the dialogue, the Simurgh confirmed to me what it had once told me in the Nothingness. Madness was, indeed, an outsider from another world and he had taken many of the Simurgh¡¯s domains and added that to the powers that he already held.


    But Madness¡¯ words and actions were a surprise to me. Not only was he not insane and disorderly like he usually was, but Madness rejected the Simurgh¡¯s interpretation of events entirely. The Evil Eye was hiding far away and it did not chime in during the discussion. Based on some marks on its body, I felt like the weakest Immortal had been thrown aside by the others so they could have this discussion.


    Madness said he had come to this world in search of the Simurgh, although the word that he used was ¡®beloved,¡¯ and the descriptions he gave also seemed to suggest that he had come in search of a lover not an enemy. Madness said that he was willing to wait as long as it took to get his beloved to love him back, and that he wished for nothing but his beloved¡¯s happiness, even if that happiness led to his own misery or destruction. No, the word he used was ¡®annihilation,¡¯ and the Simurgh¡¯s reaction to hearing that word had been strange.


    The conversation had begun with accusations by the Simurgh. These were accusations against Madness for stealing the Simurgh¡¯s domains. Madness replied that he did not want to steal anything, all he wanted was his beloved¡¯s love.


    Despite his saner outward appearance, Madness¡¯ words made it clear that he was just as insane as ever. Their discussion had been at an impasse for centuries. Accusations countered by admissions and professions of love, all going back and forth and back forth between the two of them, shaking the realm and bringing a strange mix of order and chaos into the planet below. It seemed like the impasse had been broken by the Simurgh, who had realized, after a long time, that there was no point in trying to argue with a madman.


    And before this near endless conversation, the two Immortals really did strike the Evil Eye and sent it hurtling into the Nothingness. And before that, the two of them had appeared in the Nothingness mid-conversation.


    And before that they had been having their conversation by a little pond in the middle of a forest.

 Chapter 263

    The moon was reflected like a silver disc in the pond. I looked down at the pond, expecting to see a reflection, but of course, there was nothing. I was like a phantom, traveling backwards through time while walking through limbo. I would not have a disc behind my reflection as if it was a halo. Yet, I had been expecting to see it because this place was familiar. It looked exactly like the pond I had been dropped into when I first came to this world.


    That shouldn¡¯t have been possible. I had gone back by hundreds of millions of years. The climate, the plate tectonics, the flora and fauna of this world must have changed incredibly over such a large period of time. On my old Earth, such a large period of time would¡¯ve seen multiple ice ages, geological eras, and the supremacy of different species and types of mega fauna on the planet. There weren¡¯t even any elves, humans, demons, fairies, spirits in this world yet! In fact, there weren¡¯t even any semi-sentient species on this planet, which made me think sentience really had come to this world from the Immortals after all.


    ¡°You leave me no choice,¡± said the Simurgh right before it launched the three Immortals into the battle inside the Nothingness that I had just witnessed.


    Madness stood in the sky with the full moon at his back. The Evil Eye hovered even higher up, with the red star lined up with its single eye to make it look like he had two eyes after all. The Simurgh was standing atop the canopy with its two legs holding onto a thick branch that did not budge at all despite the immensity of the Simurgh¡¯s united body.


    ¡°I must have Annihilation,¡± said Madness. ¡°It was why I first came to this world. To be Annihilated within you, my beloved, is my one and only desire, Desire.¡±


    ¡°I must remain true to the purpose of my creation,¡± said the Evil Eye. ¡°I must have all the domains in my possession. I must be worshiped, feared, loved, and respected by all. And I will supplant you as the demiurge of this world.¡±


    My ears pricked up. The demiurge of this world? A ¡®demiurge¡¯ was a complicated and controversial topic in ancient theology in my previous world. For Plato, the demiurge was the fashioner of the material world, that is, it was the creator of the material world. For neoplatonists, the demiurge was the consciousness of the Monad that gave shape to the material world through the power of the mind. Or, to put it simply, the ancients in this tradition thought that there was a conscious mind below the unconscious true origin of the world, and this conscious mind could then give shape to the material world as we experienced it.


    But there was another thread of theological thought that made the demiurge truly famous. The followers of this thread asked: what if the god that we followed was not actually the supreme deity? What if he did create us and all that we knew in the material realm, but he did not give us the spark of sentience or consciousness that made us truly alive?


    There were different traditions that followed different chronologies and theologies, but a simple and popular one that came to my mind was this one:


    There existed a being named Sophia or Wisdom. Wisdom wished to create something outside of the divine realm, something that was made without the permission of the supreme divinity. Thus, she created the Demiurge, a monstrous being without the goodness of the divine realm.


    But Wisdom was ashamed of what she had done. She sent the Demiurge away and isolated him from the rest of the universe. In his isolation, the Demiurge did not know about his mother or the rest of divinity. He thought he was the only thing in existence and did not know that the source of his power came not from him, but from his mother.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He used his mother¡¯s power to unconsciously mimic the true divine realm. Except, since he was not a divine being, he had no connection to the spiritual realm. Everything that he made was base and material. It was animalistic, and did not possess true sentience, rationality, or spirituality.


    And then there were two further thoughts about the divinity of man. Perhaps the power of Wisdom was enclosed within humanity, giving them access to the true spiritual realm if they could escape the Demiurge¡¯s material realm. Or perhaps a ray of light came from the heavens, gifting humanity with the spark of sentience or divinity which would allow them to escape from the Demiurge¡¯s imitation of reality.


    Needless to say, the Gnostics who followed this line of thinking had long since been defeated by other religious forces in my old world. The Christian church, in particular, considered this line of thinking heretical, and developed a doctrine closer to the earlier definition of demiurge as defined by Plato. Some say this is where the concept of the ¡®Holy Spirit¡¯ came to be.


    But that is neither here nor there. These thoughts were racing through my mind because of two reasons. First, the term ¡®demiurge¡¯ was incredibly specific and the Immortals were not speaking in a language that I could recognize. My translation magic had chosen to translate this incredibly specific word instead of something generic like ¡®false creator.¡¯ It also did not choose a more common analogy like ¡®holy spirit¡¯ or ¡®angel of creation,¡¯ which some might have preferred over demiurge anyway. This meant the use of the word demiurge had been very relevant. It might even have been defined exactly as it had been in my world.


    Second, the use of the word reminded me of something the Simurgh had said a long time ago. The Simurgh had insisted that there were no gods in this world, only Immortals. And yet, in the Nothingness, the Simurgh had claimed to have created this world. For my modern sensibilities, where the creator deity was also the supreme deity, these two descriptions did not make sense together. But if the concept of a ¡®demiurge¡¯ was invoked, things would finally make sense.


    The Simurgh might well have shaped and formed this world, but it was not the god of this world. There was something or many things above it. Whether that ¡®something¡¯ had sentience or was some form of primordial, physical force, some collection of energy or unconscious will, I did not know. But the Immortals of this world did not claim to be true deities, which was very important. It would be difficult to fight Immortals, but it would have been nigh impossible to defeat gods. If the source of their power lay outside their selves, perhaps I could take some of the power straight from the source, instead of trying to steal it from the Immortals themselves.


    But then why weren¡¯t Madness or the Evil Eye trying to do the same? Why bother fighting the Simurgh if they could get a slice of power straight from the source? It must be because fighting the Simurgh was either easier or the only option. Perhaps the Simurgh had already taken all the power that there was to be taken from the original source.


    This made sense. After all, I was sure it was no coincidence that the demiurge from the ancient theology received its power from Wisdom. Wisdom was one of the foundations of magic in this world, with the other being knowledge.


    I had created my magic straight from wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps this meant my magic system tapped directly into the origin, just like the domains that gave the Simurgh, the Evil Eye, and Madness their powers.


    As I listened to the conversations of the Immortals, I began to realize that my hypothesis was correct. These Immortals were not the true source of power in this world. Wisdom and Knowledge were more important than I had realized. They were intermediaries between me and the source of magic. But if that was true it meant something amazing.


    Magic was not merely the power to cast spells and stuff. Magic was the true source and origin of this world. Magic was the primordial force with which the Simurgh had given this world its shape. Magic was the force that created the Evil Eye. Magic was the energy that let Madness enter this reality and let him take control of many domains from the Simurgh.


    Magic was above the Immortals, the material world, and everything else that I had ever encountered. To put it into stark, simple, and unquestionable terms:


    Magic was the true god of this world.

 Chapter 264

    Hearing the three Immortals confirming everything I had just thought, made me feel a little satisfied. I¡¯d been able to arrive at important conclusions without needing to be spoon-fed everything by the Immortals. It suggested that I was a smart person, wouldn¡¯t you agree? Yes, I knew you would agree. I can even guess what you are thinking. And if you did not think so, then you are lying. But let¡¯s not go there. Let us focus on the conversation, happening in reverse, between the three Immortals.


    ¡°I birthed the red star from the domains of malice and avarice,¡± said the Simurgh. ¡°Those were domains under my control that I did not wish to keep to myself. They contradicted my domains of kindness, selflessness, and justice. I chose good over evil and let you administer evil under my wings, and yet, despite all of the power that I have given you, you dare side with an outsider over me?¡± It was after this that the Evil Eye had given his reply about his purpose and his desire to stay true to it.


    ¡°An outsider has no right to the powers of this world,¡± said the Simurgh, facing Madness. ¡°I shaped the material world through my magic. I divided magic into domains so I could better control it, not so you could take away chunks of my power and use it for your own purposes! But still, I am willing to compromise. Return my domains to me and I will send you back to your reality. I have never wanted you here and do not want even your soul to remain here. You can leave but you cannot have my domains and you cannot have Annihilation!


    ¡°Besides, I know why you want Annihilation! You do not wish to lose yourself in me, you wish to merge your consciousness with mine! You are dissatisfied with your material form, which is understandable because it is truly detestable. But your desire to become one with me is foolish! You cannot handle so much power and your consciousness is feeble compared to mine. You will not be Annihilated, you will be destroyed! I will be infected with your impurity, with your imperfection, and this world will never be able to achieve the perfection that I had been seeking.


    ¡°You ruined my perfect world when you first came here. Already, there are domains floating about the material world over which I have no control. I can already tell what will happen to them, since I once controlled them. These domains will be entrapped within mortal beings. Those beings will become imitations of me. Those beings will seem sentient, they will seem alive and conscious, but they will only be imitations. They will be like characters in a story. I can say this because I used to control all of time before you split it into three and stole two of them from me.


    ¡°But do not fret. I will have what is mine. You two are not powerful enough to stand in my way, for I still possess more domains than you do, and my domains are more powerful as well. You gave me enough time to recover from your initial assault. I am healed and ready and you are still weak and unprepared. I will have you return my domains to me and then I will take back the domains that are floating about. Even if they are trapped inside mortal bodies, I will take them back.


    ¡°Everything in this world is mine. I am everything! I am the world! You cannot have anything! I will create perfection. I will create a world fit for me. I will give shape to the chaos of magic, and there is nothing you two can do that can stop me!


    ¡°But still, I say, one last time, before your destruction commences, repent! Beg for my forgiveness and return my domains to me in peace! I shall let you return to your existence, Mad Beggar, Mad Sage, Mad Priest, or Mad whatever it is that you first introduced yourself as. Return without Annihilation, and you will continue to exist! For even with Annihilation, you will no longer exist. And even if that were not the case, I would never give you that domain in the first place.


    ¡°If there is anything else that I can offer you, you may ask for it. I will consider it, but only if it comes with a magic oath to return everything else to me and a promise to return to your existence. What say you, mortal from another universe?¡± said the Simurgh, in what sounded like one breath.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    It was in reply to these words that Madness had said he was only interested in Annihilation, and nothing else. All of that had led to the Simurgh declaring it had no other choice, which was followed by the battle inside the Nothingness which had resulted in the sealing of the Simurgh, the banishment of the Evil Eye, and the wanderings of Madness in a world where sentient life had begun to emerge.


    And then the pond froze. So did the moon, the trees, the entire world, I could tell, had frozen as if somebody had pressed the pause button. I could also tell that this freeze in time was very different from the sort of pauses that came with my Still Life magic spell. This pause was total and complete, because it was not actually a pause at all.


    Before this moment in time, before these words uttered by the Simurgh in front of the other two Immortals, there had been no time in this world at all. Or more precisely, time had existed as one domain, one united physical dimension just like space. One could freely go along different axes in time, but the material world did not follow a linear path through time.


    If one thought of time like a train track going in one direction, and of beings that experienced time as being trains that rode on those tracks, then before this point in time there was no track but only an open field. No train could travel through that open field because the train could only experience time in one way¡ªfrom the past to the future. My control over the domain of time had let me go backwards in time, but I couldn¡¯t go any further.


    I couldn¡¯t go any further because there were no train tracks anymore. The three Immortals had existed in this time before linear time, but they had not existed in a form that I could see and experience, because those senses were confined to the material world and the material world did not have time yet.


    It was all a little complicated and confusing, but the result was that I learned about everything that had happened before this point in time, all at once.


    All at once, I learned about the way the Simurgh had awoken after giving shape to its own consciousness. The Simurgh did not know that anything else existed, just like the demiurge from the theologies in my world. The Simurgh had given shape to its powers and to the world through the power of magic, but it did not know where this magic came from or what it truly meant. All it knew was that it could be harnessed through the knowledge and wisdom that it felt instinctively within its own consciousness.


    The Simurgh set about creating the material world and it started, for some reason, by creating a pond in a forest which would align perfectly with the moon. The Simurgh did not know why it had done so, but it had. It then continued to do everything else that it had claimed to do. It separated its own power into different domains, and used those domains to create a world that it thought would be perfect.


    This world would have planets and mountains and trees and lifeforms of many sorts. It would even have mortal beings, specifically human beings, but those mortals would not have true sentience, for the Simurgh believed that giving true sentience to mortals would put them out of its control. And the Simurgh wanted complete control. It knew it was perfect, because it was the only thing in existence. And if it was the only thing that was in existence, then it must be perfect for it was born out of pure magic and was the crystallization of all of existence and of all power.


    But the contradictions inside itself were unacceptable. The Simurgh could tell, instinctively, that it also controlled evil domains, and so it created a separate entity that could administer them in its stead. Thus, it created the red star from which all evil would be associated, but even that evil must be subordinated to the Simurgh.


    And it was while the Simurgh was cutting up its own power that a rift in reality was created and Madness entered this universe, shattering all of the Simurgh¡¯s illusions of power and importance. In one fell swoop, Madness proved to the Simurgh that it was not perfect and it was not all of existence, for here was a being that it had not created and which clearly entered its reality from outside.


    Madness¡¯ appearance shattered the Simurgh¡¯s confidence and character. Contrary to what the Simurgh had said, Madness had not attacked it at all. The Simurgh had exploded into pieces as if its mind had been blown. Its domains had went flying, giving the Evil Eye its independence and filling Madness with power that he had never even asked for. This revelation also split time into three, which created a linear way to experience time, and it was in this linear time that the rest of the story is to be told.


    It was time to return to the present.

 Chapter 265

    I decided to take my time while returning to the present so that I could improve my magic and my understanding of magic. Now that I knew the true importance of magic in this world, I knew I had no choice but to try to unravel the mysteries associated with it before I returned to face the three Immortals.


    Coming to the conclusion that I had to fight all three Immortals had also been a difficult one. I now knew what all three Immortals wanted, which meant there was a possibility to make alliances between them for my benefit.


    The Simurgh wanted complete control over all of its domains, and thus, over all of magic, and therefore, over this entire world. I knew this was unacceptable to me, even though the Simurgh would possibly offer the same deal to me that it had offered to Madness. An ¡®outsider¡¯ like me could be sent back to his reality if he agreed to surrender all of his power to the Simurgh. But not only could I not trust the Simurgh to fulfill its part of the deal, I could not allow the Simurgh to have complete control over this world and all of its inhabitants. I considered Kelser, Kol, Taoc and the others my friends. Even Noel, who was now opposed to me, was not somebody that I wished would lose her sentience and become whatever mindless drone the Simurgh considered suitable for its ¡®perfect¡¯ world.


    The Evil Eye wanted control over the domains too, except it did not seem to want sentient mortals to lose their rationality. I suspected the Evil Eye would be happy to let domains like kindness, empathy, and justice exist outside of its control, perhaps even inside mortals themselves. However, the Evil Eye demanded complete obedience, perhaps even worship. If it had its way, everybody would be worshiping it, and there would be no other Immortal capable of resisting its tyranny. I suspected the Evil Eye would not be willing to make a deal with me anyway, since I had opposed it many times. And if a deal was offered, I wasn¡¯t going to accept it, since I could not trust an entity that literally had ¡®evil¡¯ in its name.


    Madness was still an enigma. His real motivations for coming to this world, his change in personality, all of them were still mysteries to me but at least I knew that all he claimed to want was Annihilation. Now that I knew that it was his mere appearance in the world that had shattered the Simurgh¡¯s domains and given Madness his powers, I knew that Madness did not truly care for power and control the same way the other two Immortals did. He was also a being from another world, just like I was. He might sympathize with my desire to return to my world, although so far, he had suggested that I also pursue Annihilation as the way to go home, which I still wasn¡¯t onboard with.


    Madness was volatile, chaotic, and, well, insane. I couldn¡¯t trust him even if our goals aligned. And if the way home did not involve Annihilation, he might not help me with it at all. And if it did involve Annihilation, then he might want it to himself. He had also somehow brainwashed Noel into serving him, which I still wasn¡¯t willing to forgive. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to trust Madness, and I kinda really wanted to beat him up for my own satisfaction.


    And so, I decided to fight all three Immortals at the same time. It would be difficult and I would have to come back to the present with all guns blazing, but I felt like I could do it. I might only control the temporal domains, but my magic systems should let me come up with spells that existed outside the limitations of the domain system that the Immortals used. I had built up enough magic to be able to pull off some truly outlandish spells without worrying about exhausting myself too much. All that was left was inventing some new spells.


    My new magic system allowed me to use knowledge from my old world directly, instead of needing to recreate experiments in this world. The only catch was that I couldn¡¯t use knowledge that was still unconfirmed or purely theoretical from my previous world. This meant that things like string theory or science-fiction weapons like ¡®photon torpedoes¡¯ and ¡®death rays¡¯ were off the table.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    I also didn¡¯t want to do anything suicidal. I could probably spend millions of years going back and forth between the present, the past, and the future, all the while increasing my energy storage enough that I could create a miniature black hole and suck the Immortals into it, but not only might that not work for beings that could exist inside the Nothingness, but it would probably take the whole planet down with it. So, no black holes, no nuclear fusion, and no antimatter. I should steer clear of biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction, weapons meant to break up spacetime, or indeed, anything that might not effect the Immortals at all, such as instant death spells like the sort that might stop a beating heart or suck out the air from an enemy¡¯s lungs.


    There was also the question of how one could defeat an Immortal in the first place. Noel had once said that the Immortals were not just related to their magic, they were manifestations of magic, or the knowledge behind the magic. This meant that their physical forms were not as important as the abstract concepts that they embodied. The Immortals were, to a certain extent, personifications of their domains.


    Could I kill a concept? People say you can kill a man but you can¡¯t kill a belief, but what if the man was a belief? Could you kill him then? I did not know. The only thing I could think of was to try and rip the other domains away from the Immortals and then defeat whatever husk of a being that remained.


    But how was I supposed to do that? I could use the power that the Simurgh had given me that allowed me to turn the Ikons into books and steal their Immortals¡¯ domains that way, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that was still possible. The ability had felt like a one time thing and it had been tough enough getting the domain of the Past from Princess Norn. There was no way the three Immortals would just stand by and let me slowly extract all of their domains. I needed another plan.


    Perhaps I could pummel them with magic and figure out something later? Shooting first and asking questions later might work, but if I spent all of that effort beating up the Immortals but still couldn¡¯t extract their domains, what would be the point?


    I realized that I had to investigate the ¡®domains¡¯ that gave the Immortals their power. Thankfully, I now had some of them in my own possession. Actually, I only had one: Time. It was clear to me that the domains of the Past, Present, and Future, had only been split pieces of that one domain of time. Now that I had all of them, I could examine this complete domain and try to figure out how to counter the Immortals¡¯ other domains.


    The domain of Time was a strange collection of knowledge and abstract principles that I could not consciously understand. At times, it felt like I didn¡¯t know anything about time, but whenever I would think about a specific question or time period or action relating to time, the relevant information would pop into my head and I would be able to do whatever it was that I wanted to do with it. This made it almost feel like I didn¡¯t actually possess the knowledge at all.


    It was as if all I possessed was the right to access that information. It felt kinda like having a password I could use to access information stored in a computer network or cloud. I had to search for the information in the database, and couldn¡¯t consider it something that was truly ¡®mine.¡¯


    But that made me raise an eyebrow. Weren¡¯t the Immortals supposed to embody this information? How could they embody information that they could only access as if it existed somewhere else? And where did that information exist in the first place? Was it stored in the Nothingness? Inside the Immortals¡¯ body? Or did it exist in a sort of metaphysical space that couldn¡¯t be interacted with and was closer to the aether in some ancient sources?


    I contemplated these questions as I juggled ball of hot plasma ten feet in the air.

 Chapter 266

    The Simurgh was incredibly fast and it could fly. I needed projectile weapons like plasma bullets to keep the Simurgh at bay. I had watched its fight with Madness, so I knew we would end up in a close quarters battle eventually, so I needed to prepare for that too.


    Watching Madness¡¯ martial arts had given me an idea. I might not have been trained in martial arts, but I did do some light boxing in the gym from time to time. It wouldn¡¯t give me great technique, but with a little bit of magic, perhaps I could make it work.


    First, I had to upgrade my magic hands. So far, magic hands worked based on motion magic. Now, I needed to make those hands faster, stronger, and more versatile. The Simurgh¡¯s superior reach came from its wings, so I had to make my hands longer than the Simurgh¡¯s wings too. The Simurgh¡¯s wings could also create great gusts of wind and cast powerful spells. I needed to be able to do the same with my magic hands, which meant my magic hands had to become true extensions of my own body.


    It wasn¡¯t too hard to make that happen. All I had to do was imagine that I had extra limbs. I could supplement the sensory information that I collected through motion detection and air magic and use that to take my ¡®phantom limbs¡¯ magic to the next level. With a little bit of practice, I was able to come up with a spell that would let me cast spells and take action from any direction and at any angle. I could even use a bit more energy to create a net of spells all around my target and pummel them with it.


    Then, I had to make my magic hands faster. Right now, they required conscious effort to create and use. I wanted to be able to use them as if they truly were extra limbs. If I could use them unconsciously as needed, I would have the flexibility to pull off all kinds of maneuvers during our fight. The problem was, there was only one way to make this happen. Taking a leaf out of my boxing practice, I would have to keep using this spell in a variety of ways until I got so used to it that using it would come to me as easily as breathing. I spent many years going back and forth in the past, working on casting spells from all angles and in quick succession, while trying to reduce and eliminate the need for thinking in between. I wanted to be able to block a projectile with a magic hand as quickly as I would have done with my real hand. My phantom reflexes needed work, but thankfully, time was on my side.


    ---


    The Evil Eye loved long range spells. His red beams of energy could incinerate anything in its wake, and they were incredibly versatile too. He could make them turn at an angle, curve around corners, and even zero in on targets like a homing missile. It wasn¡¯t safe to dodge them and the only surefire way to neutralize this attack was to block it with a physical object. Unless the object was incredibly resistant to heat and energy, the red beam could pierce right through it. Usually, the only reason the beam would stop at all would be because the Evil Eye realized it was not worth spending the energy to keep the spell going through the obstacle.


    There were two kinds of counters that I came up with for this spell. I could either make a perfect shield or come up with a way to reflect the spell.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    The idea behind a perfect shield wasn¡¯t too complicated. If a bunch of rocks and earth could stop the beam, a lump of lead or other metals should do the trick too. I could prepare how to extract the necessary materials from the earth, quickly, and use them to shield myself as much as possible. And even if it wasn¡¯t possible to find the materials, I could always bring up a thick wall of dirt and make it too energy intensive for the Evil Eye to pierce through. This solution wasn¡¯t as elegant and it would be a lot harder to dig up enough earth to block the spell completely, but it would work in a pinch.


    But the idea behind a reflective counter caught my attention. What was this spell anyway? It wasn¡¯t light, that was for sure, because it was not nearly as quick. It wasn¡¯t a kind of laser and it didn¡¯t seem like plasma either. Was it some sort of special energy that came from the red star? I was pretty sure the red star wasn¡¯t a real star, anyway, so perhaps it was some kind of energy that only the Evil Eye could use. A kind of evil energy, a concentration of malice? I wasn¡¯t sure.


    As long as it was energy, I could probably reflect it. And if I couldn¡¯t reflect it, I could come up with a similarly versatile beam of energy that I could use to perfectly counter it. That spell would be useful against the other Immortals, too, since it was clear the Evil Eye got a lot of use out of his long range superiority.


    Directed energy weapons were still mostly theoretical in my world when I left it, which meant things like laser and particle beams weren¡¯t possible for me. Sonic weapons, on the other hand, were fair game, as were some rudimentary forms of plasma weapons. Sonic spells wouldn¡¯t be lethal, but I figured they would be useful at some range, especially if I could figure out a way to get them to counter the Evil Eye¡¯s energy. But plasma beams were much more promising, so I began attempting to come up with a plasma beam spell while traveling through time.


    The science behind it was a little annoying and I ran into all sorts of problems, especially while trying to keep the electrons free, but after a long time, I managed to come up with a spell that would let me fire my attacks at long range. The plasma beam spell wasn¡¯t as versatile as the Evil Eye¡¯s energy beam, since my spell couldn¡¯t bend at an angle or anything, but I felt like it was a good start. It would be able to crash into any long range beams the Evil Eye shot at me, effectively countering the spell. That would be good enough for now, since my real plan for dealing with the Evil Eye had always been getting close enough to it that I could beat up the annoying little eye with my bare hands.


    After all, the easiest way to deal with an eye, was to poke it.


    ---


    I did not know what spells to come up with to counter Madness. Madness could fight at close quarters with his martial arts and at long range with his silver scythes. I figured I would just have to deal with those two with the other spells I had invented. Phantom limbs for the close range combat, plasma beams for the silver scythes. I would also come up with a few more spells to use for different circumstances, such as spell nets, rapid fire bullets, temperature manipulation, and maybe some form of geological magic in case I needed to take pot shots at the moon.


    The real trouble was trying to deal with the more abstract spells at his disposal. I didn¡¯t want to be dancing to his tunes again, but I had a feeling that putting my fingers in my ears wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop that spell. It wasn¡¯t a kind of mind control and it wasn¡¯t a kind of emotional manipulation. It really was pure music and dance, and I had a feeling the only way I could respond to that was with some music and dance of my own.


    And so, I had to make some instruments, and prepare a playlist for the final battle.

 Chapter 267

    The bird pecked the silver orb and a loud crack resounded through the air.


    The other birds stopped flapping their wings, hanging listlessly in the air. The tornado fizzled out, caressing the inside of the silver orb as it faded. The lead bird kept its beak in the crack, its dark beady eyes trained right at me.


    I saw myself saying words without a sound, eyes opened strangely, as if lost in thought and empty of feelings at the same time. I saw the Simurgh begin to realize what was happening, and the lead bird looked at Madness with an angry glare, its little beady black eye somehow standing out against the surroundings of the battlefield.


    I saw the Evil Eye hiding behind some rubble in the distance, poised to strike. Its position reminded me of the tactic it had used during the fight between the Simurgh and Madness in the Nothingness. At that time, the Evil Eye had struck both of the other Immortals from long range, giving Madness the edge he needed to seal the Simurgh and send the Evil Eye spiraling away. I suspected the Evil Eye was about to make the same mistake as last time, despite its best efforts. He certainly wasn¡¯t the brightest Immortal, at least according to the many years I had spent observing him. No wonder I¡¯d been able to foil his plans without the powerful magic that I had now.


    I wasn¡¯t sure how long I had spent in the past. It might have been a few centuries, or it might have been a few hundred millennia. I hadn¡¯t been experiencing time at regular speeds, and I hadn¡¯t stuck around for every minor detail in every point in time. Even though my body never aged, I knew staying in the past for too long would be a burden on my mind. Thankfully, elves lived much longer than humans did, so my mind was pretty resilient against the eroding effects of time. Controlling the domain of time in this world also helped.


    In my final moments of observation, I hung around Madness. I observed him from every angle. His smile. His hair. His strange disheveled appearance. The toga, the hair, the way he walked, the way he talked, and the way he looked at me. He was the person I had spent the most time observing in the past. I had gone back to our first meeting, as well as the other times that he had appeared before me. A few of those experiences had been beyond my reach, since they hadn¡¯t occurred in this physical space. Still, I had seen the way the world danced around him, the way the earth shook with his laughter, and the way reality warped itself to his tunes, his melodies, the tippy-tap of his feet as he made a mockery of the seriousness of the world with his uncanny actions and appearance.


    He was my most formidable foe. I knew this. I also knew that he had been observing me very closely. Even while he had been helping me against the Simurgh, protecting me from the swarm of birds with his silver bubble, he had been observing me very closely. He had been willing to help me because he thought our interests aligned. Now, after I jumped back to the present, he would be able to observe me again.


    I knew that he would be able to tell that I had spent far longer in the past than he had anticipated. He would know that I had brought with me a magic system more powerful than any that had come before it. That I had enough energy, now, to truly stand against him and the other Immortals as an equal. And I knew, without a doubt in my mind, that he would need only a single glance to know that I intended to fight him as well as the other Immortals.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    So I had to be prepared.


    I had to put both of my arms up in front of me and begin casting spells.


    I had to use my phantom limbs to cast spells all around the Simurgh and the many birds that were hovering outside the silver bubble.


    I had to cast a spell net around the Evil Eye, as it waited secretly to join the battle at a critical moment.


    I must use magic hands to lift Noel, Norn, Alek and other bystanders far away from the battlefield. I had to use a gust of wind magic to blow Kelser, Kol, Taoc and even Paris as far away as I could, just in case the battle moved closer to them.


    I planned to excavate the tunnels underneath me instantly, making sure no cave-ins would kill the priests that Kelser had been battling to get here. It was fine if they had died in battle, but there was no reason to drag them into a fight between beings that were so much more powerful than they were. And frankly, the amount of energy it would take to do something like this was inconsequential to me now.


    I had already scouted the area while walking through the past. I was sure that a quick barrage of spells would clear any sentient beings from the area and let me take on the three Immortals with no weights on my conscience and no distractions. Nobody would be able to interfere. Perhaps the fate of the world would be decided this way.


    I didn¡¯t want to reveal all of my spells just yet. The Immortals still did not know that I had changed my magic system entirely. In the instant in which I would return to the present, I would be able to catch them by surprise. After that, they might find a way to tie me down. Perhaps they would push against my domains in an attempt to win them over. I knew that they did not take control of domains the same way that I had. They pushed against each other¡¯s domains somehow and took them by force, instead of trickery. I couldn¡¯t count on always having control of time.


    I took a deep breath. The air seemed fresher stuck in the limbo of time. I watched myself finish my preparations from inside the bubble. I watched the tiny bird break through the silver bubble at last and saw the way the entire world seemed to freeze as I prepared to leap back through time.


    I had two choices. My control over time would let me reappear in a different location. I could effectively teleport across space-time. I could use that distance to launch all of my spells, to give myself an advantage, and to give the Immortals a sucker punch they might not be expecting.


    But I decided against it. Appearing in a different location would give me the element of surprise for a moment, but the Immortals would instantly know what was going on and might be able to react to a long range attack. I had to be more careful. I had to stretch my surprise for as long as I could.


    I walked over to my own body and waited. I blinked. My body was gone. I stepped forward to take its place.


    The leaves rustled. The wind whistled. The earth went crunch under my feet. Madness laughed, the Simurgh chirped, and the Evil Eye was brooding in the distance. I let out my breath.


    An orchestra of explosions resounded.

 Chapter 268

    One hand outstretched towards Madness showered him with sonic pulses that could shatter glass and send teeth chattering.


    Another hand outstretched towards the Simurgh caught the birds in a net of spells creating explosions that should have plucked the little avian flock feather by feather.


    Phantom limbs encircled the sniveling Evil Eye and bombarded it with all manner of plasma projectiles, poking the massive eye with excited state matter that no mortal being could ever hope to endure.


    At the same time, as if picked up by an invisible great cat, Kelser, the three Ikons, and my friends who had been rushing over, were all lifted up by the scruff of their necks and tossed onto the current of a prevailing wind which took them away like debris caught in a tsunami. The ground shook as other unconscious bodies were dug up and followed the other beings far, far away.


    Madness¡¯ laughter became broken and disjointed but he kept laughing through the sonic bombardment. Like a malfunctioning radio, Madness kept up his terrible laughter and did not retaliate against me. In fact, he closed his eyes, brought both arms to his stomach, and began laughing so uncontrollably that I became frightened. Why was he not trying to attack me? A strange feeling crept up my spine, and I jumped backwards just in case. Yet nothing happened.


    The thirty birds of the Simurgh began to tweet and chirp and shriek discordantly as they were blanketed by explosions. These explosions, most of which were chemical in nature, produced loud booms that shook the air and could be heard for miles around. But despite the booming explosions the sounds of the birds seemed to pierce through the air and they arrived in my ear as if the birds were standing right in front of me, separated only by a thin pane of glass. It reminded me of the birds that would sit on a branch outside my dorm room in college, inviting me to come outside instead of working on my next assignment or writing a boring old paper that would never be seen by more than three people.


    The Evil Eye was the only one that gave me a satisfying reaction. It shrieked and hollered and cried out in pain as my plasma poked into its massive eye and burned what seemed to be some sort of physical manifestation of the otherwise Immortal being. The Evil Eye flailed its tentacles all over the place and even fired one of its powerful red beams of energy but a burst of plasma neutralized it as I had hoped and the Immortal was too incapacitated to try and maneuver his attacks to avoid my counters. The barrage of plasma neutralized more of the Evil Eye¡¯s frenzied attacks, but a cloud of dust began to form around the Immortal thanks to its flailing. Despite the painful and direct attacks, I did not see any blood or pieces of matter being separated from the Immortal¡¯s body. There were no marks on its body, either, and no smoke that might suggest the plasma had left some sort of permanent damage. The Immortal¡¯s eye was, however, shut tightly, which made me hope that some damage might have been done on the Immortal¡¯s eyeball.


    A piercing cry shook the air. The dust and smoke that had surrounded the Simurgh was cleared by the cry and the Simurgh emerged in its unified form. The Simurgh did not have a single scratch on its body, but its feathers were messed up and ruffled. There was a wild look in the Simurgh¡¯s eye, one that betrayed its anger. The angry glint made the Simurgh look less imposing than before. The Simurgh had been angry at me before, but that anger had been a righteous, almost justified anger.


    This anger, it was different. This anger was a wild, base, more emotional sort of anger. To use a coarser but more accurate description: the Simurgh was pissed.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    The Simurgh cried out again and my stomach churned. This cry was rough and hoarse, unlike the harmonious cries that the Simurgh had let out before.


    The Simurgh dove towards me with both wings unfurled. The unfurled wings probably made the Simurgh slower, but it also made it look bigger and more frightening. The rainbow colors on its feathers shimmered in all sorts of colors, rapidly switching between them in a hypnotic manner. Perhaps I would have been pulled in by it if I could not resist emotional manipulation magic.


    I flew backwards at blinding speed, leaving a loud boom in my wake. The Simurgh crashed into the ground where I had stood, sending up a cloud of dust and another frightening wave and burst of sound.


    The sonic booms I had been blasting at Madness ceased but the explosions happening in the distance around the Evil Eye kept going. The Evil Eye, for its part, was being smacked around by the explosions like a ping pong ball, and the sound of its beams crashing into plasma created a strange high pitched but muddy sound that seemed like background noise against the chaotic thrum of the Simurgh¡¯s screeching and the fluttering of its wings.


    Madness¡¯ laughter cut through it all.


    The laughter that should have become clearer without the sonic pulse magic, became more chaotic instead. Except, now it didn¡¯t sound like a malfunctioning radio, and began to sound more and more like one of those comically manipulated music videos, where the sound of a heavenly chorus had been perverted into a deep, almost satanic hymn. Think Fr¨¨re Jacques on reverb and heard through a pair of tin cans connected by a loose string.


    The Simurgh flapped its wings again and sprung towards me, but I surrounded it with another barrage of explosions. The Simurgh shouted a long, loud, sustained cry, one that sounded like a high note in an opera, and the booms of the explosions seemed to be consumed by the Simurgh¡¯s singing and a wave of power washed over me, making a knot in my gut and sending a sharp pain into my skull.


    I grit my teeth.


    A wall of air muffled the physical sound from around my ears, but I needed to wall myself off even further. Madness¡¯ laughter was also beating against my skull as if a wild beast was knocking against a wooden door, just waiting to be let in.


    I couldn¡¯t let him in.


    I entered into a meditative state. I began walling off my mind from all thoughts and feelings, numbing my senses, and replacing the stimuli I was receiving from the Immortals with thoughts of my own.


    I began thinking about magic, about power, about metaphysical concepts that would protect me from the Simurgh¡¯s cry and Madness¡¯ broken laughter. I thought of a poem from my old world, a little on the older side, but which I had prepared in my mental playlist for exactly this purpose.


    ¡°...Gladly, as his suns fly through the heavens'' grand plan, journey, brothers, on your way. Joyful, like a hero to victory¡­¡±


    Accompanied, of course, by its more famous musical accompaniment, more easily identifiable in its original language:


    ¡°Freude, Sch?ner G?tterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium¡­¡± began the words in my head.


    I figured this song would be useful enough against a bunch of Immortals. The Simurgh had said the Immortals were not gods. Perhaps another song about unity and god could help distract me from the godlike beings trying to incinerate me with their glorious rainbow and silver colored flames.


    The Simurgh crashed into the ground right in front of me. Madness¡¯ laughter got closer. And a single beam of red light escaped my bombardment and zigzagged its way across the battlefield, aiming for my back.

 Chapter 269

    The beam of angry red energy shot towards my back, barely visible in the corner of my eye. How the Evil Eye had managed to escape my bombardment of plasma bursts was beyond me, but I had to act fast.


    I waited for the red beam to get closer. Once it was close enough, I fired a burst of plasma around my back with phantom limbs. The red beam tried to turn sharply in one direction, but it couldn¡¯t avoid my counterattack from such close range and the two bursts of energy crashed into each other and let out a great big bang of light and heat.


    I felt the heat wash over my back but flew right into the middle of the collision. The light covered my body and obscured the Simurgh¡¯s vision, forcing the massive rainbow colored bird to flap its wings angrily and attempt to cover the whole area with a burst of rainbow light.


    The rainbow light overwhelmed the light from the collision, instantly, but by the time it reached my body, I had already set up one of my new spells: an electromagnetic energy shield. The Simurgh¡¯s attack crashed into the shield but the shield held firm, sparking a little bit but never faltering at all.


    The Simurgh retracted its wings when it noticed my shield and it narrowed its eyes. In a discordantly harmonious voice, as if multiple birds were chirping, tweeting, and crying at once, the Simurgh asked, ¡°How have you become so powerful so quickly? You should not have been able to control the domain of Time as soon as you took control of the Past.¡±


    I shrugged and took the time to catch my breath. The Evil Eye was still being ping ponged around by my spells in the distance but I had lost track of Madness. I could still hear his muffled laughter through my meditative state, but I was afraid he would launch some sort of physical attack when I least expected it. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just smarter than you?¡± I said to the Simurgh.


    The Simurgh blew out a puff of sparkly smoke. It leaned closer to the ground, poised like a cat waiting to pounce. ¡°Or maybe my accursed laughing enemy decided to give you a hand. It seems that while trying to use you against each other, the three of us have made you a little too powerful. I must blame myself, most of all. I did not expect you to be so ungrateful. You outsiders really are hopelessly selfish.¡±


    I blinked. Why was it going on such a tangent while poised to strike? Was it trying to catch me off guard? I increased my surveillance of the area just in case it was up to something. ¡°You¡¯re calling me selfish? After you used the Evil Eye to drag me into this world against my will? If I hadn¡¯t stopped Noel from taking me inside that cave when I first got here, I would¡¯ve been incinerated or turned into one of his mindless drones!¡±


    ¡°And who do you think planted the hesitation in your mind?¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°You think admitting that you¡¯ve been manipulating my emotions since I came to this world will make me like you more? Also, you only wanted me out of there so you could control me yourself. Do you expect me to believe a little elfin girl would just happen to take her otherworldly friend to the secret home of the most powerful being in this world?¡± I said.


    ¡°Our ability to influence this world is not as concrete as you make it out to be. I can nudge things in a general direction, but I cannot determine everything that you choose to do,¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°Then you didn¡¯t make me not go into that cave either,¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course not. You almost ignored your own suspicion and went inside anyway. I had to practically frighten the soul out of your body to get you to not go in the second time,¡± said the Simurgh.


    I frowned. This was no time to be talking about old times. The Simurgh was stalling, but what for? I couldn¡¯t figure it out at all. But that was okay. I didn¡¯t need to know what the Simurgh was planning, as long as I could flip the board.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The Simurgh flinched and looked down. A great rotating mass of metal shot through the earth and slammed right into the Simurgh¡¯s beak. The great bird gave out a wild cry and fluttered its wings like a flailing chicken, and it fell backwards in a shameful manner, dragging a wing over its beak and landing on its back.


    The metal bullet arced in the air and fell back towards the Simurgh¡¯s head, gaining more momentum than gravity should have given it. The Simurgh saw the returning bullet and scrambled almost comically to avoid it. The bullet caught a single one of the Simurgh¡¯s feathers on its way down, ripping it from the massive bird¡¯s body before drilling back into the ground.


    The Simurgh looked around the ground at its feet and quickly decided to flap its wings and fly up into the air. As soon as it had done so, the bullet shot back out of the ground right below the Simurgh and began trying to slam into the Simurgh¡¯s body at great speed and with its rotation creating a frightening whirring sound that filled the air and melded with Madness¡¯ laughter to create an eerie drone that made the hairs on my body stand on end.


    I grit my teeth, summoned more energy, and made another dozen metal bullets shoot out of the ground. Two of them slammed into the Simurgh¡¯s body, sending the massive Immortal spiraling backwards. The Simurgh let out a terrifying roar, far louder than anything I had ever heard before, and it flapped its wings to come to a complete and sudden stop in the air.


    The Simurgh leered at me.


    I stared back.


    The Simurgh dove forward, I flew back. I prepared my metal bullets once more but the Simurgh flapped its wings and the entire battlefield was showered in rainbow colored light.


    The ground cracked, the air crackled, and the bombardment around the Evil Eye disappeared¡ªalongside the Evil Eye itself.


    I felt my flight magic escaping from my body like loose sand clenched inside a tiny fist. I tumbled backwards through the air, unable to control my trajectory, and had to correct myself with a burst of energy fired in all directions. Brute forcing my way through the rainbow energy, I planted my feet firmly on the ground once more and opened the eyes that I hadn¡¯t even noticed closing in the first place.


    The Simurgh towered over me with its sharp beak. Rainbow feathers stared at me with mesmerizing eye shaped patterns all over them. The rainbow eyes had a hypnotic effect on my mind, bursting against the walls of my emotional manipulation resistance magic.


    My meditative state began to crumble. The entire world began to swim and a wave of nausea overcame me. I almost puked but held myself together.


    I slapped myself. Hard.


    The world jerked back into place and my nausea vanished. I re-entered my meditative state and wrenched my eyes away from the Simurgh¡¯s feathers just in time to avoid the beak aimed at my neck. The Simurgh¡¯s beak slammed into the ground, mere inches from my feet.


    I was sent flying backwards by the force of the collision. I used another burst of energy to steady myself but the Simurgh stepped forward and pecked at me again.


    I avoided the next piercing attack but the Simurgh kept going. And going. And going. And going.


    Crash after crash after crash after crash.


    I danced backwards, barely escaping the Simurgh¡¯s beak every time. It was only when I had gathered enough of a respite to cast flight magic and shoot back into the sky, that I idly remarked in my head how strange this fight would have looked. The Simurgh had become even more massive than before, soon becoming the size of a mountain, but it was still as fast as ever. Anyone passing by might have wondered why a massive rainbow colored bird was pecking at a worm at its feet, and why the worm was able to avoid becoming the bird¡¯s dinner.


    The Evil Eye had hidden itself once again. Madness¡¯ laughter was gone. The Simurgh glared at me with its menacing stature and I realized at last that we were miles and miles away from where we had started.


    There was a salty breeze and a little dull morning sunshine.


    I planted my feet into the dry sand and prepared for a fight on the beach.

 Chapter 270

    As a wise teenage space knight once said, sand is annoying and it gets in everywhere.


    Sand gets in your eyes when you kick up from the ground to avoid a piercing beak attack from a massive rainbow colored bird.


    Sand gets in your mouth when you twirl around to avoid a red beam of energy from a sentient eyeball. The sand crunches coarsely between your teeth as you fire off a blast of plasma to neutralize the red beam, and a plume of sand flies into your face when the two energy beams collide.


    And the way the sand sounded underneath my feet and in my mouth was distracting. An annoying grating worse than white noise. Like scratching sandpaper with nails and keys and the rough tongue of a mountain lion.


    Don¡¯t ask me why that image came to my mind.


    I kept avoiding the Simurgh¡¯s attacks but I knew I couldn¡¯t keep this up forever. The Simurgh was preparing something, I was sure of it. There was no way it would stick to such simple physical attacks when they clearly weren¡¯t working. I hadn¡¯t even needed to jump through time to avoid the Simurgh¡¯s attacks yet. The Simurgh would surely use the next time I jumped through time as an opportunity to push against my domain in the way the Immortals had mentioned before. I still didn¡¯t know what that felt like, so I knew I couldn¡¯t counter it. I couldn¡¯t use my domain recklessly, now that the element of surprise was no longer on my side.


    I also couldn¡¯t wait for Madness. His laughter was gone and that was unnerving. Dawn was breaking but the full moon was still hanging overhead, fighting against the pale blue sky with its own silver light.


    But the biggest problem in the short term was the Evil Eye. Now that he had escaped from my spell barrage, he was able to shoot it at me from all sorts of angles without any fear. I had no idea where he was hiding or how far he was from the battlefield, so I couldn¡¯t tie him down again.


    I knew he was hurt. If my plasma beams could neutralize his red energy beams, then they must be able to hurt his main body too. But clearly, pummeling an Immortal with a bunch of energy wasn¡¯t enough to do them any serious harm. Physical attacks were never going to work anyway. I knew that. I had to find a way to hurt their domains.


    But I didn¡¯t know how to do that. The only way I could find out was if one of the Immortals told me how to do it or if I experienced the process myself. I couldn¡¯t learn this method from another Immortal, since they would probably just give me a limited use power like the Simurgh had done when it gave me the power to ¡®read¡¯ domains from the Ikons in their book form. Madness and the Evil Eye, even if they decided to help me after all, wouldn¡¯t give me the sort of power that I could use against them.


    So, the only option was to experience the loss of a domain. I was pretty sure the Simurgh was going to try and force me to use my domain of Time soon and that as soon as I did so, the Simurgh, or perhaps even the other Immortals, would use that opportunity to take control of the domain from me. That would be my one and only chance to learn how to steal domains from other people and I would have to use what I learned from that experience to come up with a spell that would let me take domains from any of the other Immortals.


    Another beam of red light slammed into a beam of plasma, sending a cloud of sand flying into the air. The sand landed in my hair and on my face, forcing me to close my eyes as I ran right through the cloud of sand and towards the sea.


    The sea was vast and empty and calm. Waves lapped lazily against the shore and the water was clear and blue. There were some docile fish shaped monsters in the distance but there was nothing menacing like the Sahagin in these parts. The image of the peaceful sea contrasted sharply with the hellish fight on the beach.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I emerged from the cloud of sand and my feet splashed inside the salty waters. A little ocean spray landed on the tip of my tongue and I spat it out along with some sand and grit. The waters caressed my feet and my shoes were so worn out by this point that my water got into them and made a shiver go up my spine.


    The Simurgh pecked at me again and I flew backwards to avoid it.


    I landed on top of the water, my whole body bobbing up and down with the waves like a buoy. The Simurgh stood on the edge of the water, staring at me strangely. I met its gaze and stood still.


    A beam of red light crashed into a wall of plasma and a column of water rose up with the collision. The water sprayed all over me but the early morning light, the first few rays of the morning sun, coincided with the water and somehow, with the Simurgh¡¯s ostentatious rainbow feathers right in front of me, another rainbow appeared right over my head.


    I held my breath. Was the Simurgh going to use this against me? Should I use light magic to mess this rainbow up?


    The Simurgh stared at the rainbow for a little while. The Evil Eye did not launch another beam of red light. A gentle breeze brushed past my hair and I breathed in the salty air. The waves were quiet. The wind was quiet. The Simurgh, the Evil Eye, even Madness, everything was quiet.


    I blinked.


    The world lost its color.


    I blinked again.


    The world looked like a pencil sketch, a world of white with black boundaries around objects and scenes.


    I blinked again, despite not wanting to.


    The world lost its boundaries too. There was nothing but light. A strange white light that consumed everything.


    It was overwhelming. Powerful. And definitely unnatural. This had to be the power of a domain. The domain of light? Of existence? Or of my ability to see?


    I closed my eyes. Entering my meditative state once again, I used all manner of detection spells. Everything from my old motion detection spell to my new echolocation and even radar spells. Soon, I had a detailed picture of my actual physical surroundings recreated right inside my head.


    I jumped backwards.


    There was a loud splash.


    Then a flutter not unlike a dog shaking its fur after being doused in the rain.


    I opened my eyes and sure enough, I could see again. Whoever had used that domain must have realized there was no point to keeping it up if it didn¡¯t stop me from dodging the Simurgh¡¯s attack. I wished there had been a way to get them to keep using it, since the other Immortals might get greedy and try to steal it, giving me the chance to see how that was done.


    The Simurgh stood inside the shallow waters, its tall legs keeping it clear of the sea. Some of its feathers were wet but that had only made its rainbows more intense. I had to use light magic to make sure they wouldn¡¯t blind me with their brilliance. The rising sun was making everything worse.


    Well, not everything.


    I snuck a glance at the sky and realized the moon was still there. Pale. Fading. And struggling against the sun, but still there, hanging in the sky right above my head like a guillotine. Waiting for the opportunity to fall and sever my head clean off my shoulders.


    Do not ask me why that image was coming to my mind.


    The Simurgh opened its wings. The rainbow become brighter.


    Five beams of glaring red light pierced towards me from different angles.


    And a mirthless chuckle echoed in my ear.


    I bit my lips. Snapped my fingers. And leapt into the future.

 Chapter 271

    Stepping into the future was like jumping into a lake. Not because of the sensation of cold water wrapping around my body, but because of the lethargy, the slowness with which the world around me seemed to move in the instant between which I moved from the ¡®present¡¯ into the limbo of space time.


    In limbo, I couldn¡¯t be touched and I couldn¡¯t touch anything else without jumping into that period in time. The Simurgh¡¯s rainbows and the Evil Eye¡¯s red beams of light crisscrossed over my body, passing right through and crashing into the water, sending up yet another plume of water vapour. The steam sizzled and filled the air with sound and sensation. The attacks went on to the bottom of the shallow waters, digging up sand and dirt and crushing rocks into gravel. The crunch added onto the sizzling water to create a deafening roar that would have been devastating for my ears if I hadn¡¯t been shielded by limbo.


    And then the tugging began.


    First as a light brush of feeling, as if a few strands of hair had blown onto my shoulder.


    Then, there was a poke and a prod on my lower leg.


    A push on my lower back.


    A shove in the neck.


    A punch in the gut.


    A walloping kick, a truly powerful and punishing physical attack that made my teeth rattle and my eyes roll and the inside of my head went spinning, spinning, spinning.


    I felt like I was being dragged through the ground, sharp grating pins lacerating my skin, while a blunt weapon hammered my muscles and bones and threatened to break my body into a million pieces.


    Yet, I wasn¡¯t moving. I wasn¡¯t moving an inch.


    I was still in limbo, standing precisely where I had stood when I heard Madness¡¯ chuckle. Except, the Simurgh wasn¡¯t moving and the Evil Eye wasn¡¯t attacking me with its red beams. I couldn¡¯t see the Evil Eye, but I could see the Simurgh, and it was towering over me with its rainbow eyes trained right where I stood.


    It could see me.


    No, it couldn¡¯t see me in my physical form. But it could see my domain. It knew where I was in a metaphysical sense. I suspected this was true for the Evil Eye and for Madness as well.


    The pain was unceasing, but even amid the pummeling, I could isolate two types of attacks. There were heavy blunt attacks and the many sharp but less noticeable attacks. I quickly recognized that these attacks were coming from what felt like two distinct forces. Or perhaps, two distinct beings.


    I knew instantly that the blunt one was the Simurgh, for although the blunt attacks were powerful and punishing, pushing back against this force felt like pushing against a pillow. On the other hand, the sharp attacks had to be coming from the Evil Eye because pushing back against them felt like pushing against something slimy and gross.


    But then where was Madness? I hadn¡¯t noticed any sign of the powerful Immortal since that one mirthless chuckle. Was he biding his time? Did he not want to fight me? Or had he realized that I had been goading the Immortals into attacking me this way, and that I was enduring their attacks right now, all so I could understand how to take their other domains from them?


    I let out a voiceless scream. The pain was unbearable. A searing whiteness filled my head and emptied my thoughts and overwhelmed my every desire. I did not know it was possible to feel this much pain. It was like every inch of my skin was being ripped from my body, all while every fiber of my being was being meticulously removed by a steel comb tinged with venom, acid, and pure malice.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    I let go.


    A gentle salty sea breeze brushed past my lips.


    Soft early morning sunlight landed on my shoulders.


    I let out a breath of stale air. My heartbeat kept racing at an incalculable speed but now I could hear its thumping against my ears. I could feel the water lapping up to my knees. I could feel the sand, the gravel, the rocks underneath my feet. And I could see the world in sharp relief as if a murky veil had been lifted off of my eyes and my soul, which had been flailing like a sail in a hurricane, had finally dropped to the ocean floor like a solid metal anchor.


    The Simurgh stood in front of me in a daze. The Simurgh¡¯s eyes listlessly stared at the sea in front of it, a few feet from where I was standing. I hadn¡¯t even noticed it in my pain, but I had apparently retreated while struggling against the Immortals. The retreat must have happened without any flight magic on my part, which meant I had fallen into the sea, pushed against the water, and changed something in the limbo of space-time, which had made me move permanently into the future by a few seconds.


    I had, quite literally, fallen out of my predicament.


    I calmed my heart. The Simurgh was still stuck in whatever state it had gone into in order to challenge me for the temporal domains. I observed the Immortal as closely as I could. I saw the way its eyes glossed over, the way its body stood still against the waves, and the way the water could not stick to its feathers or feet even though they had seemed to be playing with the rainbow colors before. The Simurgh¡¯s state reminded me of the state I had been in while in the limbo of space-time. It was as if its soul or mind had left its body, and its body was stuck in a place separated from the physical world.


    I now knew all that I was going to be able to learn from this experiment. Well, I knew almost everything. There was still one more thing to check.


    I prepared a ball of plasma and made it as energetic and dangerous as I possibly could. I also prepared an electromagnetic rail gun, one that didn¡¯t require the metal rods and other instruments that my previous design had used, and which could accelerate a projectile to ridiculous speeds. With a few explosive charges and a net of phantom limbs preparing similar spells all around the Simurgh¡¯s frozen body, I lined up the shot.


    And fired.


    The projectiles raced through the air towards the Simurgh, whizzing through the air and kicking up the scent of vaporized sea water and even a little ozone. The wind blew rapidly against me and I took a step back as the recoil of the rail gun caught me unawares.


    ¡°No!¡± came a menacing cry from all corners of the world, reverberating in my ear like a divine decree and making me wince in pain.


    The world froze yet again, only this time, I knew it would only be for a moment. Why did I know this? Because I began feeling inside my own mind and realized how much of my domains had been taken from me.


    The domain of the past, that had previously belonged to the Simurgh, had been mostly ripped away from me. I could still observe the past in bits and pieces, but traveling backwards through time was no longer possible. Not for me and not for the Simurgh, either.


    The domain of the future, which had previously belonged to the Evil Eye, had been only sort of split between me and the Immortal of Evil. I could still jump from one point in time to another as long as it was in the future, but not every point in time was available to me, and the Evil Eye would still be able to attack me in limbo, which meant it was no longer a safe option for escaping attacks from the Immortal.


    But my heart skipped a beat as I realized that I could not sense the domain of the present at all. It had been an important part of my complete temporal domain, and yet, now it felt like I had never possessed it at all. Still, this was the domain that I understood the least, and although I knew it was incredibly powerful, I still had no idea how to use it to my advantage in a fight. So perhaps this loss wouldn¡¯t be that bad.


    In the frozen moment in time, I noticed all of my attacks fizzling out or blinking out of existence as if they had been wiped clean with a big eraser. The explosions, the rail guns, the plasma, everything disappeared as if they had been plucked out of this world by an invisible hand. An invisible hand that then reached across the battlefield and smacked me on the head.


    The smack felt like it should have been a light one, but it sent me sprawling away into the deeper waters of the ocean. My body began to scream out in protest and my vision wavered as if I had succumb to nausea.


    A clear voice filled the air, ¡°You cannot hurt my beloved.¡±


    But I did not care about the voice, the strike, or the disappearance of my attacks. Even as Madness finally appeared on the battlefield, looking at me with a wild look on his face, I didn¡¯t care about what was going on because my mind was racing because of an image I had captured in the corner of my eye.


    The image of a gust of wind that had been created by my attack, brushing past the Simurgh¡¯s body, and making one of its frozen feathers move.

 Chapter 272

    ¡°You have what you wanted,¡± said Madness as he stood on top of the water between me and the Simurgh.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯ve learned how to steal domains,¡± he said. ¡°You don¡¯t need to keep pushing it.¡±


    ¡°You knew?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of course I knew. You didn¡¯t try to hide it,¡± he said.


    ¡°Those two weren¡¯t able to tell,¡± I said.


    ¡°They were born in this world,¡± said Madness with a wide grin. ¡°They are not accustomed to the sort of dishonorable thinking that you and I have grown up with.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°This world isn¡¯t all that different from mine. A little further back in history, sure, but they¡¯re Immortals. They should have more experience with this sort of stuff than I do.¡± I lifted myself above the water and used magic to dry off my clothes and legs. ¡°And you know, something has been bothering me about you for a while now. You always sound like you know what kind of world I came from. But I have never described my world to you, and you weren¡¯t involved in my summoning either. We may both be people from another reality, but how can you be so sure my reality was the same as yours?¡±


    Madness nodded slowly, closing his eyes and playing idly with the water by trailing his big toe through the surface of the sea. His toga was frayed and disorganized. The tail end of the pristine white garment trailed into the water but it did not get wet. ¡°I am afraid the answer will disappoint you. No, considering the kind of person you are, I think you might actually appreciate an answer like this one. Wouldn¡¯t you?¡±


    I waited. Madness looked at me but he didn¡¯t continue. I frowned. ¡°Go on?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m done,¡± he said.


    ¡°Done? Done with what?¡± I said.


    ¡°The answer,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯ve already heard it. In fact, you¡¯re hearing it right now.¡±


    I was hearing the answer? I narrowed my eyes and focused on Madness¡¯ words. No. No matter how many times I repeated them in my head, I couldn¡¯t figure out what he had said. There had been no secret riddles, no phrases with double meanings, no code words that I could decipher. Every single word that he had spoken so far had been plain old English.


    My mouth hung open.


    I blinked twice.


    I brought a hand to my forehead and rubbed it. I shook my head from side to side, muttering a few expletives under my breath. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Madness was right. The answer was disappointing but I appreciated it anyway.


    ¡°Well, what if our worlds just happened to come up with the same language,¡± I said, weakly.


    ¡°Yes, and what if elephants could fly, and both of our worlds happened to have elephants,¡± said Madness. ¡°And what if we shared proverbs too.¡± He put his hands together and smiled. ¡°Listen. It doesn¡¯t matter if we came from the same world or alternate versions of the same world or worlds that are similar to each other except for like one grain of sand on the beaches of Fiji. And yes, Fiji wasn¡¯t only a reference to Fiji. You¡¯ve seen the Truman Show right? Funny movie. Maybe a little relevant here, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    I frowned. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Come on, don¡¯t pretend you don¡¯t know,¡± said Madness, nudging the air with his elbow as if there was somebody next to him. ¡°Come on! You¡¯re a smart kid! Truth, Veritas, and all that other stuff. Figure it out already. I¡¯ve gotta say. I was stumped for so long. Ever since I came to this world, I thought there was only one way back. It¡¯s how I came to this world in the first place, after all. Looking for my lover and getting annihilated in the process. You know, the usual stuff. But now that you¡¯re here, I know there are other ways to get here! A little luck, both bad and good, and the walls shift and the world sways and music and song and dance begin to break through the monotony of words, of language, of pixels and ink on pages and monitors. Don¡¯t you think? Don¡¯t you think?¡±


    I held a hand to my forehead. Madness¡¯ words didn¡¯t make sense and they were throwing me for a loop.


    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m going too fast,¡± said Madness. ¡°That¡¯s fine. All I wanted for now was for the gears in your brain to start turning. The clock starts ticking and the bomb under the table is lit, the audience can see it, but you cannot. It will explode, won¡¯t it, Caspian? It will explode when you pull out the pin. Ah, right. There was another thing that I wanted. Don¡¯t hurt my beloved!¡±


    ¡°I,¡± I began to say. ¡°I thought you said that now that I was here, you didn¡¯t need annihilation anymore. That there might be another way home. The same way I came here. With a little luck, whatever that means. Why do you care about the Simurgh if you don¡¯t need it to return to your¡ªour world, anymore?¡±


    Madness stroked his chin. He wagged a finger at me. ¡°So you do understand what I¡¯m saying. That¡¯s good. It¡¯ll make things go a lot quicker. And to answer your question, of course I still need my beloved. My beloved is my beloved, and its relationship to my return is not as powerful as the relationship between the two of us!¡±


    ¡°The Simurgh called you a stalker though,¡± I said. ¡°And a creep, too. Doesn¡¯t sound like there¡¯s a relationship there. Maybe unrequited love, but definitely not a relationship.¡±


    Madness shrugged. ¡°What would you know, kid. Wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you haven¡¯t even kissed anyone yet. Ah, wait, you aren¡¯t that kind of cha-person. Nevermind, nevermind. But anyway, putting our relationship aside, of course I still need to keep the option of annihilation open. Trying to leave this world the same way you came in would still need my beloved¡¯s help. I thought it was the domain of Annihilation, since it was the domain my beloved guarded the most jealously. But if it wasn¡¯t that. If there was another domain that we could use, I think my beloved would¡¯ve offered it up long ago.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Or maybe not. My beloved is fickle, you see. Like the feathers you can see right there. All sorts of colors. Red, blue, yellow, violet. Ah. Violet. Looks like its time. Should be waking up now.


    ¡°So listen, Caspian. You know how to steal domains now. You think I am your enemy, and perhaps I am. But we have a common goal. We want to return to Earth. To our families, to our friends, to the conveniences of modern life, and the purposes of our mundane lives. I must say, I am missing music quite a bit. The only music I have found in this world has been my own. None of the peoples of this world have found much joy in music ever since they discovered war and violence. That¡¯s why I liked the elves and still love the humans.


    ¡°But I am digressing, like I usually do. All I wanted to say was that now that you know how to steal domains, I am willing to help you take them. You felt the way my beloved teamed up with that red retch to beat up your metaphysical form. We can do the same. We can get for you everything that you want, but I have one condition.¡±


    ¡°Let me guess,¡± I said, with a quick glance to the stirring Simurgh. ¡°You won¡¯t let me beat up your beloved.¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡± said Madness with a glint in his eye. ¡°For now, I propose an alliance. I will help you pick apart that red bug and then you will let me win the domain of Annihilation from my beloved in a non-violent way. How does that sound?¡±


    I mulled the question in my head for a bit. Having Madness¡¯ help against the Evil Eye would make things a lot easier. Although I knew, theoretically, how to steal domains now, I still hadn¡¯t tried it out yet. With Madness¡¯ help, I could refine my technique against the Evil Eye and then, when our alliance inevitably broke down, I would be able to attack both Madness and the Simurgh more easily.


    There was, however, the small issue of how I totally did not trust the Immortal of Madness at all. The guy was a conniving, scheming, mysterious being, who still refused to tell me something very important about this world despite hinting at it quite aggressively. He would surely use his greater strength to take most of the Evil Eye¡¯s domains for himself, making it even harder for me to take him on in the future. I knew this was a trap. I knew I would only make things more difficult for myself if I agreed to this alliance. I would have to be a completely naive, gullible, rose-tinted glasses wearing imbecile to shake Madness¡¯ hand in the middle of the battlefield.


    I lifted my head, stared at Madness, and smiled.


    ¡°Deal.¡±

 Chapter 273

    The Simurgh flapped its wings and let out a loud screech that made my body shake. I steadied myself with magic, rooting my legs in place over the water, and cast a spell to submerge the still groggy giant bird in a massive wave of seawater.


    I tried to exchange a glance with Madness, figuring he wouldn¡¯t mind getting his beloved a little wet since it wouldn¡¯t actually hurt it. But Madness was gone. I clicked my tongue and faced to the side. That was where the Evil Eye¡¯s beam of red energy had come from.


    I crouched down, gathered my energy, and shot off. The wind whistled past. I scanned the area and found the Evil Eye hiding behind a pile of rubble. There were a bunch of red tentacles coming out of the Evil Eye¡¯s massive eyeball, and they looked like empty blood vessels that were still somehow beating with blood. Some of those tentacles were stuck under the rubble and the Evil Eye was trying to quietly escape from under them without giving himself away. Unfortunately for him, I had already found it.


    I put a hand in the air and the sky began to darken. The Evil Eye looked up at the sky, froze in place, and then began to hurriedly blast the rocks off of its tentacles. It escaped the rubble and began floating in the air, looking from side to side as if searching for the source of the energy that had turned the sky gray.


    Chuckle.


    The Evil Eye turned around.


    The moon peeked out from the gray clouds. Eerily, the only place in the sky without gray clouds was precisely where the moon was. Emblazoned on the moon, were two familiarly wild eyes, each looking down at the Evil Eye with insanity and derangement.


    The Evil Eye shuddered.


    Madness laughed.


    A pillar of silver energy slammed into the Evil Eye, who only managed to shield himself with a burst of red light at the last possible moment. The Evil Eye fell all the way to the ground, and the silver beam incinerated the soil and made a plume of ash fly into the air.


    Trees and small monsters were destroyed as collateral damage and the ground shook for miles around. I had to squint my eyes because of the brilliance of the silver pillar, and I kept seeing afterimages of the attack even as I flew out from over the ocean and the beach, returning to the forests where the Evil Eye had been hiding.


    The silver light petered out. A tiny black husk lay in the middle of a massive crater. The husk shook and red skin emerged from under the ash. The Evil Eye¡¯s body trembled but as he flopped over and faced its pupil to the sky, I confirmed that it was not seriously hurt. Madness had only attacked its physical form. The more dangerous metaphysical attack, the kind that would take some domains away from the Evil Eye, had not happened. Yet.


    I kicked the Evil Eye right in his massive eye and the Immortal of Evil squealed as he shot away into the forest. I flew after him and landed another kick. And another punch. Kick. Punch. Kick. Punch. Roundhouse. Jab.


    I gathered a slab of metal from the ground and sharpened it into a spear in midair. The Evil Eye saw the sharp, spinning projectile moving towards his eye, and scrambled with some newly regrown tentacles. The tentacles lugged the eye out of the way, but I managed to slice into his side anyway. He let out another scream.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Beating up the Evil Eye was a rather gruesome affair. It involved a lot of physical punches and kicks and a general beating with my bare fists, with a few stabs and slices added in for good measure. From time to time, the hole in the clouds would reemerge and a beam of silver energy or a pulse of moonlight would crash into the Evil Eye and torture him further.


    The Evil Eye¡¯s reaction were becoming less coherent and forceful. He barely avoided the worst of my piercing attacks, almost letting his massive eye get popped on multiple occasions. His entire body was a beaten, bruised, and bloody mess, and it had regrown its tentacles so many times that the ground was littered with them.


    When the Simurgh reappeared behind me, it was clearly enraged. The massive rainbow bird tried to blow me away from the Evil Eye and even pecked at me with its beak, but Madness reappeared and began to keep his beloved busy. Still, the Simurgh was desperate to get past Madness and get to me, since it knew what was going on. It knew that I was beating up the Evil Eye¡¯s physical body to try and get him to use one of his domains.


    The Evil Eye, to his credit, was enduring quite well. He must have realized what I was trying to do, and pretty much refused to use his domains at all. Even when I scraped his eyeball with my spear or punched him in the same place a few hundred times, the Evil Eye didn¡¯t use a single domain, denying me the opportunity to try and take it from him.


    That wouldn¡¯t work forever. It wasn¡¯t like the Immortal¡¯s physical body was completely worthless. Their physical bodies were tough and robust but they could still be damaged pretty badly. The Evil Eye wouldn¡¯t want to be going through immense pain for too long, would he? He would have to give in eventually.


    I began experimenting with what I had learned about damaging the metaphysical or abstract bodies of the Immortals. If they could attack me when I was using my domains, then perhaps I could attack them even if they weren¡¯t using their domains. After pushing and pulling on the Evil Eye¡¯s metaphysical body, specifically against his domain of evil, I managed to make the Evil Eye glare at me in disbelief. His body shook. He launched a burst of red energy at me, which I quickly neutralized, and soon, I launched another series of fists and kicks in retaliation.


    These were no ordinary physical attacks. I had realized from my bombardment, that the Immortals could weather energy attacks quite well. But a physical attack that was laced with some ¡®knowledge¡¯ about the domain that they controlled was enough to bring them a higher form of pain.


    And yes, that was the secret to pulling apart an Immortal¡¯s domain. All I had to do, was use my own knowledge of that domain, and batter the Immortal¡¯s understanding of it with my own. It was kinda like questioning a thesis, except much more violent. The Socratic method but with fisticuffs, if you will.


    With a fist, I asked the Evil Eye if evil was innate or experiential. With a kick, I asked him if an evil action done with good intentions was still an evil action. Was evil subjective or objective? Who decides, who arbitrates, who defines what is evil, what is good, and what is either or in between?


    Is evil natural? Is the natural, evil? When a wild monster eats another painfully and without regard for age, weakness, or other things that may affect sentient morality, does that count as an evil act, or is such an act only considered evil if it was done by a sentient creature?


    Over and over, I began to hurt the Evil Eye with attacks laced with questions, and over and over, the Evil Eye let out a garbled cry and without a response to any of my questions, the weight of my questions began to weigh down on the Immortal of Evil.


    This was not an efficient way to steal a domain. With every question, I felt as if I was pulling the domain a fraction of an inch closer to me, but at this rate, making a serious dent on this domain would take me many thousands of years, if not longer. The Evil Eye knew this. It knew that despite all the pain it was suffering, it wouldn¡¯t have to endure forever. Eventually, the Simurgh would shake off Madness and come to the Evil Eye¡¯s rescue. I didn¡¯t have much time. There as only so much I could do alone.


    I smirked. One of my punches turned into slap which turned into an open palm that grabbed one of the Evil Eye¡¯s tentacles. Before the Evil Eye could resist, I kicked him with both feet like I was playing with a soccer ball. I launched up into the air with magic, kicking the Evil Eye as we flew through the air and headed back towards the remains of the temple of Madness.

 Chapter 274

    Good and evil, a question of morality and ethics. Even my modern world was colored by talk of hell and heaven, justice and inequality, fairness and freedom. All manner of things that were either good or bad or somewhere in between. Many people spent their whole lives trying to figure out how to live a ¡®good¡¯ life and how to avoid ¡®evil¡¯ in their everyday existence.


    If the Evil Eye controlled the domain of evil, that meant he possessed all possible knowledge of evil in this world. Based on my own experiences with the domain of time, I knew this meant the Evil Eye¡¯s domain was full of contradictions. His head would be full of definitions of ¡®evil¡¯ that could not work together. According to some definitions, stealing would be bad. According to others, it could be justified. And unlike the modern world, where some manner of hand waving and agreeing to disagree would resolve such contradictions, somebody who derived power from this domain could not ignore these contradictions. The Evil Eye had to work with these definitions.


    He couldn¡¯t say evil was subjective, because there was some knowledge that claimed it was objective. That it didn¡¯t matter which perspective you chose or what the observer felt, some things were morally wrong and that was that.


    Thankfully, I didn¡¯t need to get into the details of objective and subjective morality or of ethics in general. I took a course on ¡®justice¡¯ in college, and although I read a bunch of books about ethics later, I still couldn¡¯t distill my thoughts into a few hundred words and explain everything concisely. But for now, all I had to do was come up with questions and poke holes in the Evil Eye¡¯s carefully held-together conception of evil.


    I also tried to poke some holes in his body too.


    We landed back on top of the mountain with the temple on its peak. There were no signs of life around here, because I had sent them all away, so I let the Evil Eye crash into the hard stones of the temple¡¯s walls. The big red eyeball let out a groan as it slid down the wall and twitched its tentacles on the ground.


    I could hear Madness and the Simurgh fighting in the distance. Before hearing turned to seeing, I had to finish my business with the Evil Eye.


    ¡°Morality is like art, isn¡¯t it, big guy?¡± I said as I walked over to the Evil Eye, cracking my knuckles a little comically.


    The Evil Eye shuddered. He picked up his body with his tentacles and somehow faced me. Even though his entire body was an eye, he still managed to look like someone who had been punched in the face and had a black eye now. ¡°Stay back, insolent outsider!¡±


    I punched him again. ¡°Don¡¯t wanna.¡±


    ¡°Stop!¡± he said again.


    I replied with a kick.


    ¡°I command you!¡± he said.


    Punch.


    ¡°Riches! Women! Power beyond belief! I will give them to you!¡±


    Jab.


    ¡°We can split the world. You can be king of everything on this side. I will take the other!¡±


    Roundhouse.


    ¡°Please!¡±


    Punch.


    ¡°Stop!¡±


    Kick.


    ¡°I beseech you!¡±


    Pummel.


    ¡°I beg you!¡±


    Pierce.


    ¡°Anything but that. I will give you anything but my domains!¡±


    I kept beating up the sentient eyeball without giving him a chance to retaliate.


    ¡°Your questions, I do not like them!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Like, dislike. Are you saying evil is based on preferences? Subjective morality, I don¡¯t like it,¡± I said as I punched him again.


    The sky rumbled. The Evil Eye froze and looked up again.


    ¡°No, no! I am not saying anything! Do not claim to speak for me, elf! I am the God of Evil! Worshiped by millions, loved and feared in equal parts! I have existed since before time began. This world is mine. Mine! You are not worthy. Not worthy!¡± he screeched.


    I slapped him into the ground. ¡°Not worthy? Oh, does that mean you think morality is defined by worth and merit? That anything that goes against those notions is immoral and evil, was that what you were saying?¡±


    The sky rumbled. The Evil Eye shook.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°No! Do not put words in my mouth!¡± he said.


    I put my fist in his face instead. ¡°You don¡¯t have a mouth.¡±


    ¡°You do not understand evil! You cannot take it from me! I am evil personified. In this world, I am evil!¡± he said.


    ¡°Which implies the evil of this world is different from the evil in another world,¡± I said as I beat him up some more. ¡°Hence, suggesting you believe in subjective morality after all.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± he said.


    ¡°If something was objectively evil in one set of circumstances, surely it must be evil in another as well, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°I never said that!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re gonna need to pick a side if you wanna have this debate with me,¡± I said with a kick.


    ¡°This is not a debate! You are beating me up on your own!¡± said the Evil Eye.


    ¡°I suppose that applies to both the physical beating you are receiving as well as the intellectual one,¡± I said, ripping a tentacle off his body. ¡°You can¡¯t keep avoiding these questions for ever. Every attempt to do so digs you deeper and deeper into the same hole.¡±


    ¡°I am not the one who is betraying his ignorance! Every question you ask takes you further from the domain of evil! What, did you think there would be no consequences to asking such inane questions? Ha! If you ask a question, that means you do not have an answer!¡± he said.


    ¡°No, it means I am looking for an answer,¡± I said as I punched him. The ground cracked. ¡°Specifically, I am looking for your answer.¡±


    ¡°I am never going to give you anything!¡± he said as he sank deeper into the earth with every punch.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so sure of that,¡± I said. ¡°What would you do if I started to give you my answers?¡±


    The Evil Eye froze. Then he laughed. ¡°If you begin giving me answers, I will be able to poke holes in them with questions of my own. All knowledge of all evil is contained within me and I have had millions of years to explore that knowledge. You cannot hope to defeat me. Not with questions in my own domain. Never! It isn¡¯t possible!¡±


    Punch.


    ¡°I observed you back in time. You are a mad dog. An animal. A monster. You haven¡¯t once stopped to question your own powers, your own existence, your own reality. You have been content to be driven by your baser emotions. Greed. Anger. Malice. And of course,¡± I snuck a glance over my shoulder. In the distance, there was a cloud of smoke as large as a mountain.


    Punch.


    I punched him again.


    And again.


    And again.


    Deeper and deeper into the earth until there was a pit shaped exactly like the Evil Eye and I could no longer look behind myself.


    The sky was overcast by my design. The moon, which was still somehow in the daytime sky, could no longer be seen from my place in the pit. I kept punching.


    I kept punching while asking questions. Incisive questions. A back and forth for the concept of evil, for the domain of evil, for the powers of evil that defined the Evil Eye. Yes, it defined him, didn¡¯t it? It was in his name. A name my translation magic had given him way back then. The Immortal of Evil. I remembered the way the Immortals reacted to hearing their names from my lips. I knew there was something important there. Something dangerous.


    Another punch.


    ¡°Your name,¡± I said. ¡°You call yourself evil. Does that mean you consider your actions to be evil?¡±


    The Evil Eye groaned. He was incapacitated but the damage to his physical self would heal eventually. His metaphysical self was still intact and uninjured. Most of my questions had been glancing off of him as if they were raindrops pelting a window, never able to enter inside.


    ¡°You will not hear what you want to hear from me,¡± he said.


    ¡°I do not need to hear anything from you,¡± I said raising a fist but not bringing it down. I didn¡¯t bring it down at all. I stood still. Breathing in. Breathing out. It was dark down here, deep in the earth. Nobody could see me here. Nobody could sense what I was doing. Just like the space above the clouds was a no man¡¯s land for the Immortals, being deep underground was similarly at odds with their existence. Nobody held the domain of the earth. It was neutral territory.


    The Evil Eye twitched. It opened its eye tentatively. I could tell that he could see that I was standing over him with my fists held to my sides. He didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°You named yourself Evil. That means you must consider yourself evil. You even said, you were the personification of evil in this world. There is no turning back from this, eyeball. This is the end. Your end. Or at least, the end of the ¡®Evil¡¯ Eye,¡± I said.


    ¡°What are you¡ª¡± he said.


    ¡°Tell me,¡± I began. ¡°If we assume an action is evil. Say, killing a sentient being in cold blood. Murder, as it is also known. If we say that murder is evil, can we say that monsters, who kill sentient beings all the time, are evil?¡±


    ¡°Vile outsider, I will never answer your pathetic questions! I am not a fool! I will not undermine my own power so easily!¡± said the Evil Eye.


    ¡°Then let me rephrase the question a little more. Say there was a being. A giant sentient eyeball, perhaps. And this being was created to commit murder. Its purpose, its entire reason for existing, was murder. It committed murder as naturally as I breathe air or a Fil Tusker eats fruit or any other being does any other thing that may be considered natural, mundane, and an essential part of our experience of existence,¡± I said, my voice growing louder.


    The Evil Eye¡¯s one giant eyeball somehow stretched further, as if his eye had widened. ¡°No, wait, you can¡¯t be¡ª¡±


    ¡°Tell me, eyeball,¡± I said as I crouched down and smiled. ¡°If you were born to be the Evil Eye, were you ever evil at all?¡±

 Chapter 275

    Silence.


    Crack.


    Laughter.


    Uncontrolled. Wild. And in a much higher pitch than I was used to.


    The Evil Eye was cackling. ¡°You! You pitiful elf! You stupid, moronic outsider! How clueless, how naive, how splendidly dumb you are! Yes! Yes, I was created to be evil! Yes, I commit murder as easily as breathing air!


    ¡°But I do much more than that! Every evil act, every vile desire, every malicious endeavor that has ever happened in this world has happened with my blessing. Thank you! Thank you for affirming this fact to the universe! With your own stupid words, you have relinquished any claim you had over my domain of evil! You gave up right next to the finish line! Just as I was beginning to worry, you handed me everything and made me immune from your pitiful questions.


    ¡°Go on! Keep striking me! Take us down to the core of this planet if you want. I will be fine! My physical body will reform around my domains, around my knowledge of evil and much more. Go on! Keep digging a bigger hole for yourself! Ha! Go on! Go on! Go on!¡±


    I ignored the crazed laughter, remarking in my head how this was supposed to be Madness¡¯ calling card. The Evil Eye had grown reckless in his relief. He was certain I had made a grave mistake, declaring him ¡®evil¡¯ with my own words.


    ¡°If you were born evil,¡± I said, ¡°and you still consider yourself evil. That means you affirm the point of view that evil is governed not by will but by material reality.¡±


    ¡°No!¡± said the Evil Eye, his voice firmer than it had been for a while. ¡°Whether I am evil because I was born this way, or evil because of my actions, I have not taken a position on either. It is possible for both, or one, or neither to be true. What is important is that you have admitted that I am evil, which means you can not challenge me for this domain any longer!¡±


    ¡°That is a strange fixation, wanting to be considered evil. Possessing a domain does not mean you have to let it define you. And yet, you are named for this domain. What does this mean? It means that this domain is your most important domain. It is the core of your personality, the core of your very existence as an Immortal. Isn¡¯t that right? That is why you Immortals have always been wary of me saying your names out loud? Somehow, thanks to the very blessing that you gave me, I speak the name of your most intimate, most important, more jealously guarded domain. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± I said.


    The Evil Eye chuckled. ¡°You do not know what you are talking about. The domain in our name is certainly our most important domain, but that is because all domains are important to us. We only disliked hearing our names coming out of your lips because we considered you unworthy. That is all.¡±


    He was lying. I could tell. ¡°Despite the confidence with which you are speaking, I know you are afraid. You are afraid that I will find a way to steal this domain from you. To take all knowledge of ¡®evil¡¯ from your mind, and leave you without your identity.¡± I leaned even closer, until my eyes were right in front of the giant eyeball, and staring right into his massive pupil. ¡°Not only were you born evil, eyeball. You were born to be evil. According to you, you are the ultimate evil. Which means the ultimate act of evil was the act that created you. The act that created a being defined by his own evil. You understand what I am saying, do you not? The most evil act was committed not by you but by the Simurgh.¡±


    The Evil Eye flinched. ¡°That does not matter. Desire and I, we were as one back then. I consider myself a part of the being that split into Desire and Evil. Hence, I too, committed the act of ultimate evil.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°And now you have admitted that the being that you were before splitting from the Simurgh was also a being who was at least partially evil in nature. To summarize, you have agreed that a being that was born to be evil can still be evil, even though it is merely doing what is defined in its own nature, and you have said that this description has always applied to you, even before you were split off from Desire.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°No, I have not said anything of the sort!¡± he said, quickly.


    ¡°Oh, but you have!¡± I said. ¡°My dear strange eldritch horror! It is too late! You have already dug your own grave. You have already suggested that everything that you did, every action that you took, was a mere result of nature. The way a bird flies, a fish swims, and any land based organism breathes in air, you too, have committed evil acts because you were born to do so. You were born to be evil,¡± I said, leaning back at last and preparing a powerful fist.


    ¡°Back in my world, there was an old dude named Aristotle. He thought the best way to order society was to align everything with its ¡®purpose¡¯ or ¡®telos.¡¯ If you had the sharpest sword, you must give it to the best swordsman, not because he could make the best use of it, but because he could best fulfill the sword¡¯s purpose of cutting things and the sword would best fulfill the swordsman¡¯s purpose of using a sword.


    ¡°The same would apply for why the flute player would get the best flute. Not so that everybody else could enjoy good music, but because both the flute and the flute player would achieve their own purposes, their own goals by being paired with each other.


    ¡°And so you too, argue that the reason you deserve to hold onto the domain of Evil, is because you were born to be evil. The domain of evil¡¯s purpose must be to help spread evil throughout the world. Your purpose is to carry out evil acts. Hence, the two of you must be paired together to help you fulfill your purposes, your goals, your desires.


    ¡°But what does your position say about the will to do evil? Surely, somebody who was born good but who chooses to do evil is more evil than you? The Simurgh, who purged itself of evil to create you, must be more evil than you if it ever does a single act that might be evil. Are you saying every action that the Simurgh has taken has been good? That helping you summon me to this world, controlling the emotions of countless innocents, orchestrating a massive war, all of this was good?


    ¡°Consider this. Is desire good? Desire by another name might be greed or selfishness. The Simurgh wants the domains Madness took away from it. It wants my temporal domains back too. It wants, it desires, it is greedy for this power, for this world, for control over the beings of this world.


    ¡°Is that not evil? I say it is. I say I am evil too. I am evil for wanting to leave this world although I could stay and help the peoples of this world develop and prosper. I am evil for being selfish. For being greedy. For wanting what I want without prioritizing the greater good.


    ¡°Yes. The greater good. You understand, don¡¯t you? Your position, your name. It excludes the possibility of things being evil even if they were done for the greater good. An evil act, let us say a murder, committed to prevent war, to prevent genocide. How does one born to do evil reconcile an action like that? Or perhaps a good deed done for evil reasons? Or an act of good, such as telling the truth, but which ultimately leads to untold horrors or evil on a larger scale. How do you reconcile that? How do you make that work in a worldview where being born evil is enough to be condemned. Where free will is irrelevant. Where choices do not matter.


    ¡°A world where an evil eyeball must remain an evil eyeball. A world where there can be an ¡®Immortal of Evil¡¯ is a world with an incredibly limited definition of evil. A definition that you uphold. A definition that you personify. And a definition that proves that you are either not as evil as you claim you are, or that your understanding of evil is insufficient. That you do not think of evil beyond the simplest of definitions is sad. And it will also be your end.¡±


    I stood up with my fists to my side, letting the silence stretch. The Evil Eye stared back at me as if with bated breath. The so-called Immortal of Evil did not even realize as the red glint in his eye began to fade.


    His tentacles withered. His skin shriveled up. The red glow that had defined him, that had illuminated his body and infected his giant eyeball with an angry hue, was washed away by the darkness of my shadow as the moon arrived near the top of the pit.


    The Evil Eye turned gray. His pupil became solid black and empty. I clenched my fist. A red glow surrounded me.


    I shot out of the pit with an angry explosion behind me. The pit caved in as I arrived above ground.

 Chapter 276

    The sky was overcast. The moon peeked overhead. In the distance, there was a plume of smoke, growing closer and closer. There was a gentle thrum in the air. My heartbeat. Somehow menacing. My new domain.


    Evil is fear.


    Evil is hate.


    Evil is war. It is murder. It is lies, deceit, pain and misery. And now, all of those things were in my head, threatening to define me as they did the Evil Eye.


    Thankfully, I was not a sentient eyeball born off a deity that wanted to jettison its contradictions away. I was a living breathing person, full of contradictions all my life, and with a lifetime¡¯s worth of experience in handling them. I would not let Evil consume me. I would embrace all of the contradictions of Evil, all of the knowledge that I had gained, and would not dismiss any of it. The thrumming in my ears died down. I blinked. The world seemed a little brighter. I smiled.


    The Immortal in the pit would not stay down forever. I did not know how long it would take him to find another domain to center his personality around, but he would find something eventually. Until then, I would have some breathing room against the Simurgh and Madness. Especially with the way those two were softening each other up right now. I was tempted to wait a little longer, but I knew I couldn¡¯t anger Madness right now. Taking on the two of them at once was definitely beyond my capabilities, especially because Desire and Madness were much more difficult domains for me to attack. The Evil Eye had been created to separate the Simurgh¡¯s contradictions from its main body, which was why it took upon itself such a simple and insufficient definition of its core domain. The other two had built their personalities around much more robust ideas.


    I jumped off the ground and flew towards the cloud of smoke. Forests passed by and I crossed over a large river. I realized this smoke was on the other side of where it had been when I went into the pit. The battle between Madness and the Simurgh had ravaged the landscape, leaving massive gashes, craters, and ashy forests in its wake. The two Immortals were duking it out in an open field somewhere on the wild steppes of the continent. I couldn¡¯t quite figure out where this place was at a glance, but I knew Kelser and the others might be relatively nearby unless they had had the good sense to run as far as possible after I dropped them off with my magic.


    A deafening boom filled my ear.


    Something crashed into the ground near me, sending a column of smoke in my face. I shielded myself with magic, quickly clearing the air so I could see what was going on.


    Madness lay flat on the ground, his crooked grin facing the sky where the moon smiled back at him. I met his gaze and he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was doing well and that I had taken over Evil¡¯s core domain.


    ¡°Oh, I knew that,¡± said Madness. ¡°You made my beloved extra angry with that. We can sense when domains get taken over by others, you see. My beloved may have separated Evil on its own, but nobody likes seeing a former part of themselves get taken over by a stranger.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a stranger to this world too?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, but me and my beloved,¡± said Madness as he picked himself up again. ¡°We go way back. You wouldn¡¯t understand, kid. In fact, I know you wouldn¡¯t understand. You know what my Ikon used to say about you?¡±


    Right, Noel had become his Ikon for some reason. Still hadn¡¯t figured out why. ¡°No. And are you sure you have the time to be chatting like this right now?¡±


    He waved a hand. ¡°It¡¯ll be okay. Beloved¡¯s trying to see if the domain of Evil can still be pushed against. Just in case you didn¡¯t manage to take it over completely or something. I know you wouldn¡¯t mess up like that, though. Noel may have hated your naivete and thick-headed approach to other people¡¯s problems, but she spoke highly of your abilities.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Er, thanks I guess. Wait, what?¡±


    ¡°Yes, she said you were very smart and all that. You just love getting complimented don¡¯t you? She said something about that too,¡± said Madness with a shameless shake of the head.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°No, I meant, naive? Thick headed? What does that mean?¡± I said.


    ¡°It means she thought you were easy to manipulate and you didn¡¯t care about other people¡¯s issues as much as you did your own,¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not true. I mean, the naive part maybe, but I care about other people. I helped the elves and humans become stronger, shared my inventions with them and everything. I¡¯ve saved lives. I even tried to help Noel find her family. It isn¡¯t my fault you and the Simurgh worked together to send us into the future,¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, yes, you helped the elves fight a fire or two, but couldn¡¯t be bothered to help develop their technology. And when you shared your modern knowledge with the humans, you never shared anything that might threaten your control over their society. Those were my conclusions based off of what Noel told me, by the way. She didn¡¯t actually say that part,¡± he said. ¡°And again, it wasn¡¯t my fault the two of you didn¡¯t realize my beloved is fickle and proud. Why should my beloved care that the two of you will lose your past if you dared to talk to me for so long? You should think about that some more, I think.¡±


    I frowned. It was pointless to argue with him if he was going to bend over backwards to defend the Simurgh. I still wasn¡¯t sure why his relationship with the Simurgh was still so extreme. Now that there was a chance to return to our world without the Simurgh¡¯s domain of Annihilation, surely, even Madness didn¡¯t need to care so much about the Simurgh anymore?


    ¡°Well, whatever. I have the domain of Evil now and the Evil Eye, if we can even call him that anymore, is incapacitated. Tell me, what is the plan now?¡± I said.


    Madness nodded his head. ¡°There are two objectives. The first, is to find out how my beloved summoned you to this world. If we can figure that part out, we can try to use that knowledge to return to our world. But just in case that doesn¡¯t work, taking away the domain of Annihilation from my beloved is our plan b. It should be a lot easier to do both of them now that the red star is out of the way.¡±


    ¡°I guess attacking the domain of Annihilation would be like the fight I had with the red star. But what about finding out about the way I was summoned. Wasn¡¯t that technically done by the red star? Shouldn¡¯t we be trying to interrogate the other Immortal?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, the red star only initiated the summoning. The actual power for the summoning was provided by my beloved. I know this because I was able to push against my beloved¡¯s domains after your summoning. Only my beloved knows which domain or magic power allows people to leave this world. We have to figure out a way to extract that knowledge during our battle,¡± he said.


    I frowned. ¡°Wait. Didn¡¯t you come to this world on your own? I never understood why you couldn¡¯t just go back the way you came.¡±


    Madness nodded slowly. ¡°Yes, I came to this reality from our world during one of my meditations. It was kind of like a lucid dream, I am not sure how I did it exactly. Still, I had been looking for my beloved for a long time and managed to be in the right place at the right time so I scooped up a bunch of free floating domains. They were kind of like big wads of light and they tasted really nice.¡±


    ¡°You ate the domains?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey, this was before this world was really born you know. Everything was kinda like a strange haze, a world without the same dimensions and stuff. Time, for instance, didn¡¯t exist in the separated form that it exists in today. Even now, after you unified the temporal domains, you could¡¯ve brought time back to that strange state it had been in when I first came to this world. All I did when I got here was follow my instincts and make decisions based off of the knowledge I collected on that first day,¡± said Madness.


    ¡°If you came to this world with meditations or whatever, couldn¡¯t we return to our world the same way or something? Just tell me what kind of breathing exercises you did or something, I don¡¯t know,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. Remember, this world hadn¡¯t been created back then at all. I didn¡¯t come to this world in my physical body. Hell, I didn¡¯t even come to this world at all. I came to the metaphysical or spiritual world that surrounds this physical world. You know what I¡¯m talking about. You¡¯ve been there, haven¡¯t you?¡± said Madness.


    My eyes widened. ¡°Nothingness?¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a decent word for it. Yes, Nothingness. I came to that world at first. I was trapped inside this physical world by my beloved and haven¡¯t been able to leave it since. It¡¯s why I wanted the domain of Annihilation. By shedding my physical form and merging with my beloved¡¯s spiritual being, I would arrive in the Nothingness and could try to return to my world through meditation from there. See? I¡¯m not completely irrational, you know,¡± said Madness. He began to laugh.


    A wild cry came from the distance.


    ¡°The Simurgh is coming,¡± I said as I readied my new domain of Evil and a bunch of other magic.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Madness as he turned towards the cry. ¡°I¡¯d like to think it is coming over for a kiss.¡±

 Chapter 277

    The Simurgh was larger.


    Yes, physically larger. It approached with ominous thuds, each shaking the ground like a miniature quake. Its talons ripped up trees like they were twigs and sent leaves flying through the air like dandelion seeds.


    The sky was still overcast. The moon was out even though it was definitely midday. Madness grinned. He began walking forward. I followed a step back.


    Step.


    Step.


    Step.


    Thud. Thud. Thud.


    The wind whistled. The battlefield shuddered. A bead of sweat fell off my nose, crashing on the ground with a subtle splat.


    Fire scorched the air, a beam of plasma shot through the flames, and a silver orb danced around everything to land on the Simurgh¡¯s rainbow feathers and make them dance. The Simurgh began to sing and the dancing feathers calmed but my own heart filled with reckless joy and a strange desire for Madness¡¯ domains.


    I put a hand to my forehead and groaned. I had resisted the Simurgh¡¯s strengthened emotional manipulation magic, but it had left me with a mild headache.


    Nothing a little physical action wouldn¡¯t fix.


    I dashed through the rainbow colored orbs and discs and beams, sliding down on the ground below the Simurgh¡¯s feet. I sprung up behind the Simurgh¡¯s massive body and fired off a barrage of plasma, sonic attacks, and my electromagnetic rail gun. My ranged attacks arced through the air to avoid the defensive light coming off of the Simurgh¡¯s feathers, but only my sonic attack got through the Simurgh¡¯s defenses.


    The Simurgh screeched. The sonic pulses had made the giant bird hold its wings against its ears and swing backwards to deal with me. I had to jump back to avoid the gust of sharp wind, and the Simurgh¡¯s screech undid my sonic attacks, but now I knew how to keep annoying the Simurgh.


    Except, the next time I launched my sonic pulses, a gentle hum entered my ear and the attack failed to leave a mark.


    Madness didn¡¯t get mad at me for these attacks since he knew all I was doing was probing the Simurgh¡¯s capabilities. Madness joined me by pelting the Simurgh with all sorts of strange attacks.


    Madness used a burst of silver moonlight, a scent that made me drowsy, and even a beam of pink light that missed the Simurgh and went far into the distance, hitting a fleeing monster. The fleeing monster shot exaggerated pink hearts out of its eyes and began courting another fleeing monster, only to have itself be comically rebuffed by the monster who was currently fleeing the supernatural battle that had just come bursting through their forest.


    I had to be careful. The fight was destroying a lot of the steppes and forests in the area, and we would definitely be getting closer to places where sentient beings lived. I¡¯d already steered us away from a couple of beastmen camps but there was no telling how much collateral damage our battle would do if we ended up in the wrong place. Not to mention, I still had no idea where Kelser and the rest were, and I couldn¡¯t spare the time to go searching for them with the Simurgh¡¯s counter attacks coming for my neck.


    The Simurgh began picking up steam. Rather than flapping its wings and taking to the skies, the Simurgh was racing over like a raptor, both wings held to its sides and neck craned forward. The ground was shaking incessantly. The rainbow light shot in all directions, driving away the grim gray dullness that I had summoned with my clouds. Even the silver moonlight fell away against the brilliance, unable to compete with the power of the Simurgh.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    I launched myself into the air so I would be level with the Simurgh¡¯s head. I realized I wasn¡¯t far from the clouds at this height, floating higher than the peaks of most mountains. Madness flapped his toga and appeared to my left but at a massive distance. In fact, the way the three of us were arranged, it was almost like we were all fighting against each other.


    The Simurgh screeched.


    Madness cackled.


    I brought two hands in front of my body. Thousands of phantom hands took shape all around me, casting a barrage of spells of all sorts. In front of my body, I used the design of my electromagnetic rail gun and combined it with a massive explosive charge and a bunch of air resistance nullifying magic. A bullet made of pure lead that I had excavated with magic before jumping up, took shape in front of the railgun. With a bunch of torque and by calculating the perfect timing, I primed the shot and waited for the Simurgh to step closer.


    The Simurgh stopped cold, swiveled its head upward, and puked out a rainbow from its beak. The rainbow shot into the sky in an arc and crashed into the gray clouds. The clouds rumbled and roiled before bursting into drops of gray muck that began falling to the earth like some sort of grotesque acid rain.


    Sunlight burst forth from the sky, swallowing the moon and the glumness that I had created. The land was awash with the gray goo from the clouds as well as the warm sunlight that should have been comforting but was actually somehow incredibly scorching.


    A putrid stench filled my nose. I began to cough, losing some of my concentration and making a bunch of phantom limbs fall apart with their spells in tow. The gray muck did not get on my clothes, but massive puddles of gray gunk had formed on the ground and the smell had somehow wafted all the way up here. I couldn¡¯t imagine how bad it must¡¯ve been on the ground.


    With the moon hidden by sunlight, Madness¡¯ laughter became weaker and less wild. With a measured chuckle, Madness swished his toga and the air around him was cleared of all falling gunk, and I couldn¡¯t help but notice how his still disheveled toga was still a startling shade of white.


    Madness¡¯ eyes widened. I felt a tug on my heart. A pain in my eyes. I blinked. The sunlight was gone. The moon was back out, a frightening, stunning shade of silver, surreal and supernatural. The moon stood right over the Simurgh, meeting the massive bird¡¯s upturned gaze.


    The Simurgh screeched.


    The moon hummed.


    Music began to play around us.


    Singing began to push back in a different pitch and tune.


    The two did not work well together, but somehow, I could tell which way they were pushing. The music was trying to match the singing but the singing was racing away from the music and trying to create discord.


    Madness rushed forward. The Simurgh brought its head back down. I fired thousands of spells from my phantom limbs, but kept my lead bullet in reserve. That attack would come when there was a better opportunity.


    My spells crashed into the Simurgh first. Beams and pulses and balls of energy of all sorts. Flames and ice and globs of earth. Sharp shards of metals and crystals in a range of colors. Bursts of air, swathes of green, blinking prismatic light, and zigzagging projectiles from every direction.


    The Simurgh raised its wings and the eyes on its feathers flashed. Balls of energy flew out of each eye like missiles and crashed into nearly every spell. And the spells that got through the barrage were intercepted by a burst of wing or a gentle rainbow glow that covered the massive bird.


    Madness timed his grab with the barrage of spells. He avoided the thousands of energy missiles that were converging around him, and reached out with a hand outstretched like a claw. The Simurgh pierced towards Madness with its beak, meeting the outstretched hand in midair.


    A shock-wave reverberated from the clash. The wave pushed me back but I held firm with the railgun primed. The gunk on the ground evaporated from the pressure of the clash, and intense heat and energy pulverized the surrounding landscape, instantly incinerating any straggling monsters and creating a humongous crater below.


    Madness and the Simurgh stood frozen in the middle of the explosion, hand and beak touching like Michelangelo¡¯s Creation of Adam.

 Chapter 278

    The picturesque scene stood frozen in silence for what felt like an eternity.


    Madness locked eyes with the Simurgh, and the two powerful beings stared at each other with wildness on one side and disgust on the other.


    The Simurgh broke the impasse by bringing its massive wings around. Madness pushed back against the beak and shot backwards like a bullet. He blew a kiss in the air on his way back, infuriating the Simurgh enough that it finally flapped its wings and took to the skies.


    Every flap produced gale force winds. The winds buffeted the surroundings at immense speeds, further disintegrating whatever was left off this once idyllic steppe. The newly exposed, craggy ground was easily lifted up by the winds to create a blinding dust storm that slammed into me, forcing me to spit out dirt after the wall of dust swept past me. Glancing over my shoulders, I realized the wind had formed a sort of wall of dust and flying rocks that served as a sort of boundary for the destruction we had wreaked on this place.


    Madness fled backwards through the sky, avoiding the Simurgh¡¯s startlingly quick charge with flexible, dance-like moves in the air. The wall of dust moved with the Simurgh¡¯s position, forcing me to fly along with the two of them as well. I used magic to detect any sentient beings that might be just outside the dust storm, but thankfully, it seemed like there was nobody around for miles.


    The Simurgh pecked and Madness deflected with an open palm.


    Madness jabbed and the Simurgh blocked with a flick off its head.


    The Simurgh had become smaller and more nimble. It was no only a little larger than Madness, but its power had been concentrated more than I could¡¯ve imagine. Every time the Simurgh¡¯s beak stretched forward, it felt like reality itself was straining in its wake. And every flap of the Simurgh¡¯s wings made space bend like a thin sheet of plastic.


    Madness had become faster, stronger, and less wild than before. His smile was demure, his expression calm, and every strike struck with precision, forcing the Simurgh to deflect and dodge quickly and with more force than it would have liked.


    From a distance, I could tell that Madness had the upper hand for now but the Simurgh was somehow slowly becoming more powerful.


    How could this be?


    I tried to meditate and feel around using my domains and realized quickly what was going on. Madness may have had the upper hand in the physical battle happening in this world, but his domains were under a terrible and powerful assault.


    Unlike the attacks that I had thrown at the Evil Eye, the Simurgh did not need to poke holes in Madness¡¯ understanding or knowledge, since all of these domains had existed inside the Simurgh in the first place. The Simurgh had a more ancient, more fundamental claim to the power held by those domains, and that claim was not something that Madness could easily brush aside even with the sort of superior understanding that he possessed as somebody who had also come from the other world.


    Madness pushed the Simurgh back in the physical world, making the dust storm still and the landscape froze into an eerie silence. The moon still hung in the sky somehow even though it should have been sunny, and the darkness of the fake night persisted.


    But Madness¡¯ domains were in disarray. Sometimes, the night sky flickered back into the sunny day, indicating how weak Madness¡¯ control of the domain of Night had become. The domains of Dancing and Music were also wild and out of control, with little bits of melody and waltzes trickling in with the Simurgh¡¯s singing to form a bit of a complete entertainment ensemble.


    Love faltered, giving the Simurgh a sort of control of shallow infatuation. It was the difference between a blush and a wink, and a deep kiss and embrace. The domain of Selflessness, which I was surprised to see under Madness¡¯ control, came a little undone, forcing the Simurgh to stop destroying the landscape a little, although it seemed that effect was quickly washed away as the Simurgh rationalized the destruction by the ¡®nobility¡¯ of its own goal.


    The Simurgh¡¯s goal?


    I could sense it quite clearly. It was as if it had been etched into a wall or pieces of stone within the metaphysical world. The domains themselves, the entirety of all knowledge in this world, seemed to echo with the goals and desires of the three Immortals¡ªno, there was something else in there now too. My goals. My desires.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    I wanted to go home and this world seemed to know it.


    Knowledge fought against knowledge, trying to establish the supremacy of one goal over the other. The Evil Eye¡¯s objective for world domination and worship was out of the game, but Madness¡¯ goal of annihilating his physical self so he could return to the Nothingness and escape this world was still fighting fiercely. It was intertwined with my goal of wanting to figure out how I was summoned to this world so that I could find a way back.


    But the Simurgh¡¯s desire was surprising. I knew it wanted to regain all of the domains, but I hadn¡¯t known what that would entail. Especially now that the Simurgh had even decided to regain all of the domains it had split off into the Evil Eye. Perhaps seeing how Madness and I had taken advantage of the split to increase our own power, the Simurgh had decided it couldn¡¯t afford to separate its power anymore.


    Merging all of the domains back together was a frightening idea. This world was only created after the domains were split. Even splitting the domains of time had been crucial because without the split, nobody would be able to experience linear time. Before the split, there was no past, present and future. All of time was just happening all at once or not at all or somewhere in between. It was impossible for people like me to even conceive of how time would work that way, which was why the domains reuniting inside me had not been a problem, since I sort of had to keep them apart for my own sanity.


    And that was the kicker. The Simurgh had seen reality before the split. It had in mind a time when all of existence existed only inside it. When there were no sentient races, and all experience was like a reflection of its own personality. What the Simurgh had told me inside the Nothingness came to mind. That all of reality was like a reflection of the Simurgh looking back at itself as if in a mirror or a pond.


    If the Simurgh merged the domains back together again, all of sentient thought and feeling would be absorbed by the Simurgh. Free will, sentient thought, everything would be gone. It would be a form of total control that was way, way worse than what the Evil Eye had wanted to do. The Evil Eye wanted to be worshiped like some sort of god. The Simurgh didn¡¯t just want to control reality, it wanted to be everything at once.


    I shuddered. I couldn¡¯t let my friends live in a world like that. Heck, existing in a world like that couldn¡¯t be called ¡®living.¡¯ It couldn¡¯t even be called ¡®existing.¡¯ It was a frightening prospect. And I knew it was true. It was impossible to lie about this stuff when it was directly interwoven into the very fabric of reality. Every domain under the Simurgh¡¯s control echoed with this desire, just as our desires echoed within the domains we controlled. It was this desire and the way it flowed through everything that made me realize why the domain of Desire was so powerful in this world.


    Desire wasn¡¯t something as simple and selfish as greed and want. It was a yearning, deep and undeniable, that gave direction to life. It was a ¡®purpose¡¯ that we pursued. It was the meaning of our lives. It was the most important thing, the highest ideal, the basest emotion that we felt.


    I couldn¡¯t weasel my way to this domain with clever tricks and Socratic dialogue. Control over this domain required powerful conviction and a legitimate claim to one of the most fundamental powers in this universe. It required a will stronger than steel, and wisdom firmer than anything I had ever held.


    Thankfully, I knew I didn¡¯t need this domain, because it had nothing to do with returning to my world. In fact, I had been using the battle between Madness and the Simurgh to search through the metaphysical sea of domains and knowledge, searching for whichever domain the Simurgh and Evil Eye had used to summon me into this world. Madness knew what I was trying to do, so he was keeping the Simurgh busy.


    The Simurgh obviously knew what I was doing too, but it didn¡¯t try to stop me. This made me think whatever I was searching for was difficult to find and impossible to steal. But that was okay. All I needed was a chance. A small window of opportunity. And if I couldn¡¯t find that window, I would have to make it myself. And I would shatter that window too. Since what I really needed was an opening.


    Madness let himself get struck by the Simurgh¡¯s beak, creating a nasty tear on his toga and a strange bloodless gash on his body. One of Madness¡¯ limbs cut into the Simurgh¡¯s side, stroking the feathers gently. The stroked feathers spiraled uncontrollably off of the Simurgh¡¯s body, landing into Madness¡¯ open palms.


    The Simurgh¡¯s eyes widened and it flew backwards. Madness smiled and held the feathers up to his face. He reached into a pocket that I had never seen in his toga before, and pulled out another feather. A familiar feather. It was the feather he had taken the first time I ever met him, back in the Simurgh¡¯s tree on the Plains of Serenity.


    Madness breathed in the feathers. The rainbow glow from the feathers faded, filling the air with a warm scent that I could smell even from a distance.


    The Simurgh scowled. Madness smiled lazily and his wound healed instantly.


    I was right behind the Simurgh. I aimed for the patch of uncovered skin where the feathers had been, and readied my deadly, hypersonic bullet.

 Chapter 279

    Explosion. Shockwave. Reverberation.


    My teeth rattled. The air shook. The ground trembled.


    The force of the explosion was enough to knock me off my feet and send me spiraling backwards. My mouth tasted metallic and I spat out a wad of bloody spit on the way back. I could¡¯ve held myself in place, but knew it was vital that I use this opportunity to get as far away as possible.


    The lead bullet was surrounded by a bunch of condensed magic spells, making use of the immense amount of energy that I had stored during my journey through the past. The bullet rotated at an insane speed, cutting through the air in a straight line. Air magic further reduced air resistance, and gravitational magic helped the bullet use the planet¡¯s gravitational pull to its advantage.


    Explosions resounded behind the bullet intermittently. These were sonic booms and also conventional explosions meant to increase the speed of the bullet even after it had been fired from the railgun. The bullet raced on towards the Simurgh¡¯s one clear weakness, reflecting in the silver moonlight and in Madness¡¯ own eyes as he noticed the bullet hurtling towards his beloved.


    Madness¡¯ expression fell from calm laughter to wild rage to hollow despair. He let himself get struck by a talon full of rainbow energy, reaching out towards the bullet as if trying to stop it from hitting the Simurgh.


    I still had no idea why he cared about the Simurgh so much. Surely, we could pick up the domains we needed to return to our world after we killed the Simurgh¡¯s physical body. Rather than risk being stabbed in the back by Madness because of something he wasn¡¯t willing to tell me, I decided to take matters into my own hands and get rid of the Simurgh first. I could always deal with Madness later.


    But I couldn¡¯t do that if he got himself blown up while trying to take a bullet for the Simurgh. I used magic to quickly nudge Madness away at the last moment. He would have been able to resist if he didn¡¯t have a massive talon in his body and if I hadn¡¯t pulled this trick out of the blue. It was a modified version of my ¡®still life¡¯ magic which let me manipulate movement for an instant in exchange for a ton of energy. It was easy to ignore and blow through since it was built on flimsy knowledge, but it was good enough for a moment. And that moment was all I needed to let the bullet sneak right past Madness¡¯ body to strike the Simurgh on its back.


    The impact was anticlimactic.


    The bullet burrowed itself into the Simurgh¡¯s skin, making feathers fall off nearby and making the whole bird¡¯s body shiver.


    The Simurgh was facing away from me, but from what I could see from the corner of its face, was a look of pure disbelief that rapidly turned to pain and then to anger and then back to pain again.


    Pain. Signs of pain on the Simurgh? I hadn¡¯t expected that. Somehow, I had thought the Simurgh couldn¡¯t feel pain, that its physical body was little more than an avatar, a lifeless puppet controlled remotely from inside the Nothingness where the Simurgh¡¯s true consciousness remained. But that wasn¡¯t it. This body really existed in the physical world and it could feel pain. It was real. The Simurgh was real.


    A raspy shriek. A gurgling sound. The rough kicking up of soil, debris, and dust as the Simurgh¡¯s second talon slipped out from under it and it fell on its back and rolled over on the ground as if that would somehow drive the bullet out of its body.


    Madness was pushed aside by the Simurgh¡¯s reaction and he seemed to momentarily forget about me as he began trying to reach for the Simurgh¡¯s rolling body as if wanting to help. He had a worried expression on his face, which I still did not understand.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    The Simurgh somehow bent its knees and leaned on its wings to face towards me. Its expression was unhinged, with bits of slimy muck dripping out from its beak. Globs of acidic liquid leaked from the Simurgh¡¯s eyes, burning the ground and sending noxious fumes into the air. These fumes could not be brushed aside by air magic, and the singe marks made on the ground by the Simurgh¡¯s tears ignored any earth or ground magic that I tried to use. Even covering them up with blown over dirt and soil wasn¡¯t enough.


    I felt a strange coldness in the back of my head. No matter how much magic and energy I threw at the tears and their marks, I couldn¡¯t do anything to them. No amount of knowledge and wisdom could touch them. I was afraid. What were the principles behind this? Was there more to come? How was I supposed to defend myself against the Simurgh¡¯s tears if the Immortal somehow managed to weaponize them?


    The Simurgh bent low. It was thrashing about in a frenzy, constantly trying to reach for its back with its wings or rocks or the ground itself. It cast strange rainbow fire and shaped that into tangible pillars of flame but even they couldn¡¯t touch the wound on the Simurgh¡¯s back.


    The wound was growing. Becoming larger and larger and bringing with it a horrible darkness that contrasted starkly with the Simurgh¡¯s bright body and feathers. The darkness grew with a steady pace, unfazed by the Simurgh¡¯s attempts to control it.


    Eventually, Madness managed to cling onto the thrashing Simurgh¡¯s body and brought himself to the hole the bullet had gone into. I couldn¡¯t get through the strange bubble of tears and fumes that the Simurgh had created around itself, and I began to panic.


    I began trying to dig underneath the strange invisible force-field. I tried going over it. I even prepared a new bullet of sorts and tried to fire it off, but honestly, I knew that wouldn¡¯t work. The first bullet had been a carefully prepared sneak attack, piling together everything I had learned about magic in this world, and it was the peak of the new magic system that I had devised.


    But that wasn¡¯t the most dangerous part. I had used questions and metaphysical inquiries like the ones I had used against the Evil Eye, to strengthen the first bullet. Questions about desire¡ªwhat it was, what it meant, what was just and unjust in the pursuit of desire, and so on.


    Simple questions like whether desire was tied purely to the degree of pleasure and pain that a sentient being experienced, or were there higher, nobler types of desire that stood apart from that utilitarian calculation.


    I knew these questions wouldn¡¯t be enough to undermine the Simurgh¡¯s core domain the way I had undermined Evil for the Evil Eye, but I knew it would make this bullet sting. Right now, the Simurgh was in a race against time, struggling to remove the very real physical projectile embedded in its body while also fending off the metaphysical attacks that had come with it. It could not do both at the same time, and yet it had to.


    Madness would try to help and I was worried he would figure it out. He was from my world. He could deal with a few questions about Utilitarianism or whatever. In fact, I was still trying to reckon with how someone from my world hadn¡¯t come up with a magic system like mine or challenged the status quo in the world in this way, but I suppose Madness¡¯ actions in taking over domains and in a way, literally starting this world and giving the sentient beings in it a chance to thrive had been a shakeup of the status quo. He had done more to mess up this world than I had.


    In fact, the similarities between this world and mine were probably his doing.


    Madness reached into the Simurgh¡¯s back. His arm became darkened and his toga became frayed. He clenched his teeth. The veins on his head popped out from under his skin. He was straining his body as much as he could and he was in pain, I could tell.


    Why was he going so far?


    What did the Simurgh mean to him?


    What did Desire mean to him?


    The Simurgh screamed. Madness howled. My ears began to ring and I blinked.


    Then there was Nothingness.

 Chapter 280

    I opened my eyes and I was back in the Nothingness.


    The Nothingness. A land of pure white. Where depth and perception was impossible and the mind couldn¡¯t make any sense of where it was or what it was looking at. Indeed, now that I had come here with some control over the temporal domains, I could sense that time did not apply here at all.


    To be clear, this didn¡¯t mean time ¡®stood still¡¯ in here or something. It simply did not apply here. Or rather, the very concept of time, all the knowledge and rules associated with it, they did not exist here at all. This was a time-less space. This was a space-less place.


    But it wasn¡¯t liminal. A liminal space is a place between spaces. A sort of intermediary or limbo. The condition I was in while moving through the past and future was a sort of liminal state of being. But right now, as I took a single step inside the Nothingness, I knew I was not in a space between spaces, or a space above like heaven, or a space below like hell. This place was not even purgatory.


    It did not exist.


    What an odd concept to wrap one¡¯s head around. In the Nothingness, even nothingness did not exist. It was a true void. Nothing should be able to exist here. It was purely abstract. No, at least abstract spaces could be thought about, they could be somewhat comprehended.


    I realized I could not actually understand the Nothingness. I was merely experiencing some indeterminate part of it. Was the Simurgh controlling what I could experience? Or was this simply everything I could understand, everything I could explain about this place, this world, this Nothingness?


    I didn¡¯t know.


    ¡°Where are you?¡± I said aloud, knowing I would be heard, even though no words left my lips, and even if they had, there was no air to carry them.


    No answer. That was fine. Madness had done me a massive favor already. He had told me that the entire reason he had wanted to take over the domain of Annihilation was so that he could use it to return to the Nothingness. From here, he had said, he could find a way to return to our world by going back the way he came¡ªthrough meditation.


    Meditation about what? I remember learning, once upon a time, that meditation was not actual the strange orientalized thing popular media had made it out to be. It was rumination. It was thought. It was experiential. It had many forms, but for me, right now, stuck in the Nothingness where there was no up, no down, no sense of self at all, I knew all I needed to do was to form myself, my presence, and poke holes at this space and its relationship to the physical world in which I had been summoned.


    I imagined that I had sat down. I knew there was no floor, no place to actually sit down, but I imagined that I had done so anyway. No, I did not merely imagine it. I believed it. I believed it so strongly that I felt it.


    I felt my legs fold under my body. Crisscross applesauce as the kids would call it. My legs touched the ground, ground that not even my feet had felt up until that point. I had not even imagined that I had feet in this world until I had that thought, that imagined experience, and I traced a newly formed hand along my leg.


    I felt the sensation of skin on skin. The slight brush against hair. The strange sponginess of skin. The uncanny feeling of blood pumping through veins. My body took shape with my thoughts. My senses preceded the existence of the object. What a curious thought. What a strange feeling.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I took a breath, forming lungs. I breathed out, forming nostrils. There was no air to breathe, but I was breathing something in. Was there something in this Nothingness? The ancients on my world thought there was an extra element, out in the void: the aether? Was this what I was sensing? No. There was nothing here.


    Magic in this world was based on knowledge and wisdom, on thought and rationality, on sentience and being. Why should I assume the Nothingness was any different? In fact, the importance of thought in the Nothingness was intensified. I felt like, if I believed in something strong enough, I could get it to appear in here. I could turn thoughts into reality in the Nothingness, couldn¡¯t I?


    I reached out a hand, forming it as it appeared in my vision, and imagined a cup in my hand. Nothing happened. I frowned, forming a forehead and eyebrows. I had been so sure that I would be feeling the curve of a cup, the coldness of porcelain in my hand right now. What went wrong?


    A cup appeared in my hand. No. The outside of a cup appeared in my hand. The inside was empty, and so was the lip of the cup. The lip of the cup that would meet my lips so I could sip the hot tea inside. Burning tea. Liquid. Floral. Aromatic. Warming.


    I formed lips. The cup¡¯s insides appeared. I took a sip. The tea was there and it was exactly as I remembered it. Even the cup was one of those cups I had stol¡ªborrowed from the university dining hall. And the tea was made from tea bags and the water was from the water kettle I had scrounged off of a senior who had been trying to get rid of it last year before his graduation.


    None of those things appeared. No kettle, no tea bags, and certainly no dining hall. I tried to think about my dorm room, the library, the classroom, even my old apartment that was no longer mine because my mom was no more.


    I thought about my mom in a panic. Just in case. Just in case.


    No, it had been a wild thought. And thoughts, no matter how wild, couldn¡¯t actually take shape here. I would need sensation. I would need feeling. I would need to remember the way my mother¡¯s hand felt on my head, stroking my hair, pulling me close, kissing my forehead and calling me the nickname she had given me when I was a kid and which cannot be reproduced here for you since it was personal and embarrassing.


    My heart pounded into existence. Cold sweat poured down my back as it materialized too. No, I shouldn¡¯t go down this road. This road was dangerous. Materializing somebody else. Somebody who was dead. My mother. Even if I did so, even if I materialized her in this world, she would not be her real self. She would be an imitation. A pale imitation. The specter left in my memory after the real being was resting in the dirt.


    Not every road less traveled was worth it.


    And that made me realize that this teacup, the tea inside, my own body as it had appeared in the Nothingness wasn¡¯t real. My thoughts hadn¡¯t left my mind and turned into reality. Everything that I felt was still inside my head.


    This was because there was no reality. There was nothing ¡®inside my head¡¯ in here, only a disembodied consciousness that was trying to make sense of everything in a space where nothing existed, where the rules that defined what I felt, experienced, and thought about no longer applied.


    Where was the Simurgh, the thought came to me quickly? I remembered how I had gotten here. Madness had reached inside the Simurgh and the Simurgh had faced me and let out an attack. A powerful, dangerous, frightening strike from a domain that I faintly recognized.


    No, I recognized it completely from what I could remember. I remembered the way my body was ripped apart. Atom by atom. Hair split from skin. Muscle scraped from bone. It was a terrible, painful way to die, but there was no pain and I didn¡¯t die. I was here after all. And I had already established that this place was no heaven, no hell, no purgatory even.


    I didn¡¯t die. I wasn¡¯t killed. I had been Annihilated. Ironically, it was exactly what Madness had wanted all along, except he hadn¡¯t been willing to push the Simurgh so far that it would risk sending me out here.


    Wait, why wouldn¡¯t it risk doing that? I frowned with my fake face and realized something. Madness would¡¯ve jumped into the path of the attack of Annihilation for sure. He should be here too. There was no way that maniac wouldn¡¯t take this opportunity to come here!


    ¡°You¡¯re a smart kid,¡± said a voice behind me. ¡°Little Caspian. Thank you for your help!¡±

 Chapter 281

    ¡°Thank you for your help,¡± said Madness as his body appeared from the Nothingness.


    I sized him up as I turned around. He looked different in here. There was no wild look in his eyes and his hair wasn¡¯t disheveled. He was wearing a beige shirt and a pair of faded jeans and he looked incredibly, incredibly normal.


    Madness looked at his hands for a moment, turning them around in silence before clenching them into a fist and closing his eyes and saying something under his breath. I couldn¡¯t hear what he had said but the gratitude and relief on his face was telling me all I needed to know.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said at last. ¡°But if you wanted this all along, you could¡¯ve tried to hurt the Simurgh properly.¡±


    Madness looked up at me quickly. Then, he flinched and brought a hand to his forehead again. ¡°Even here, I can¡¯t shake the urge to react that way, my apologies.¡± He looked up at me with the clearest eyes I had ever seen on him. ¡°Are you telling me you still don¡¯t understand?¡±


    ¡°Understand what?¡± I said.


    ¡°That I was only obsessed with the Simurgh because of what had happened to me when I first came to this world,¡± said Madness.


    ¡°You told me you arrived in the Nothingness through meditation. At the time, the Simurgh had split apart some of its domains to create the Evil Eye and the physical world. You happened to drop by and grabbed a bunch of free domains, which made the Simurgh furious,¡± I said, summarizing everything I had learned through my temporal domain and the stories the Immortals had told me. ¡°The Simurgh lost control of the Evil Eye and you were able to team up to beat up the Simurgh. I saw it when I went to the past. I saw the way you defeated the Simurgh, sealing it for many years.¡±


    Madness nodded. ¡°You must have seen what happened to me after that then, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°You seemed listless and expressionless for a really long time. You were wandering aimlessly until you found the early elves and taught them what you knew. I suspect you had something to do with the creation of sentient beings in this world. It can¡¯t be a coincidence that they¡¯re all fantasy races that were well known on our world.¡±


    Madness chuckled but it wasn¡¯t a menacing kind of laughter. A welcome change, for sure. He said, ¡°I think some of my thoughts leaked out while I was taking over some domains. They infected the Simurgh while it was in a weakened state. Who would have thought, a lame college kid who liked reading light novels would end up shaping up a whole world like his favorite fantasy stories.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°Were you behind the sudden appearance of humans, too?¡±


    Madness frowned. ¡°No, I have no idea where the humans came from. Perhaps they came from another world like we did or perhaps the Simurgh made more people like me. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    It was an odd conversation to be having in a dimensionless void. And having it with Madness, of all people, was stranger still. ¡°Wait. I can¡¯t believe I haven¡¯t asked this before. What¡¯s your name? Like, your real name, from Earth?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember,¡± said Madness with a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s been so long and my experiences when I took over the domains and fought the Simurgh¡­ they were so extreme I barely remember anything at all. The only reason I remember what I looked like and where I came from is because those thoughts were fresh in my mind the moment I came here.¡±


    ¡°But then how do you remember the fantasy stories from Earth?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They came to mind when I fell in here. Something like: wow, can¡¯t believe I ended up in another world. It¡¯s just like that story I once read, or something like that,¡± said Madness, his voice increasingly laid back. ¡°You said you wanted to know why I was obsessed with the Simurgh, right?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s been so long that I¡¯ve had a casual conversation like this. Got a little carried away there. Please, go on.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°You should know that I didn¡¯t take over the free domains because I wanted to. Those domains were sort of all over the place back then. They really, really wanted to return to the Simurgh¡¯s control, but the Simurgh was too busy splitting off the ones it didn¡¯t want, so it couldn¡¯t focus on the ones it was planning to take over again once it was done,¡± said Madness. ¡°And when I arrived in the Nothingness with my modern knowledge, those domains practically flew right into my mind. Let me tell you. Suddenly gaining the sum of all knowledge about everything from sleep to dancing is not a pleasant experience. It felt like I had had too much to eat, except it was in my brain and hurt like hell.¡±


    I remembered how it had felt just absorbing the knowledge that came with the temporal domains and the domain of Evil. I didn¡¯t envy what Madness had gone through, absorbing the knowledge for a bunch of domains at once.


    ¡°Not only did it drive me a little crazy,¡± said Madness, with a pause. ¡°No, it made me very crazy. But it also made me choose a core domain to center my personality around. It was basically impossible to survive the process of absorbing all of those domains all at once without picking one of them to rule over the others.¡±


    ¡°And you chose Madness?¡± I asked.


    Madness blinked. ¡°It wasn¡¯t really a choice. It was the domain I had the most affinity with at the time, having been driven mad by the experience I was going through. It was also the only domain that let me keep some control over myself. Madness is erratic but also quite freeing. I didn¡¯t have to change my morality too much or become some sort of disassociated deity.¡± He looked around the Nothingness. ¡°I chose to go mad for a way home. Being driven mad for something rather than by something seemed like it would give me something to work towards and I was right. The only problem was, the only way back was to return to the nothingness, and the Simurgh sent me down to the physical world. The only way back was to be Annihilated, and that was the one thing I could never get the Simurgh to do. Not until you showed up that is.¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re welcome for that. But now that we¡¯re here, do you have any idea how we¡¯re supposed to return to Earth?¡± I asked.


    Madness put a hand on his chin and thought for a while. ¡°I think I do. I used to meditate back home for an hour or two every day. It helped me control my stress and anxiety. Doing a bit of that here should be good enough, however¡­¡± He brought his gaze back to me and gave me a determined look. ¡°¡­we can¡¯t leave yet.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°I agree. I was going to ask you to stay back for a moment and help me take down the Simurgh completely. It¡¯s too dangerous leaving it alone in that world, now that the other two Immortals aren¡¯t there anymore to hold it in check. My friends are still there and I¡¯m sure you at least care for Noel, since she became your Ikon.¡±


    ¡°Of course, I am concerned for the people of that world. You saw how much I wanted to help them against the monsters and disasters that the Simurgh created? I wouldn¡¯t leave them all behind,¡± said Madness. ¡°But there¡¯s a bigger problem. We haven¡¯t been completely Annihilated.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you feel it?¡± said Madness. ¡°In your head. Can¡¯t you feel the domains? All the knowledge for things that you shouldn¡¯t know about. Can¡¯t you feel it in your head?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I have everything related to the domain of Evil and a lot of knowledge associated with the temporal domains still in my head,¡± I said.


    ¡°Same here for me and my domains,¡± said Madness. ¡°But true Annihilation should take away all of those domains. That¡¯s why the Simurgh tried to use it on you even though I was nearby. Annihilation frees the soul from the physical body, but it frees the domains too. We should have lost all control of our domains but we haven¡¯t and that can only mean one thing.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It means we aren¡¯t alone in here,¡± said Madness as he snapped his fingers and the Nothingness shook and the air stilled and a blob of color appeared over our heads as if it had been there all along.


    The blob of color unfurled its wings and let out a cry and a tiny bird appeared in the dimensionless Nothingness. It was a tiny bird with a vertical crown on its head and a long, thin, sharp beak that reminded me of a woodpecker.


    The Simurgh floated in front of us without flapping its wings. Its two small beady black eyes stared at us without blinking and when its voice came out, it echoed around the Nothingness, escaping from the Simurgh¡¯s body without its beak ever opening, ¡°Welcome, outsiders, to the place that I wished you would never return to. After everything that we have been through, I will offer you one final deal. Return to your world in peace or face my full, undivided wrath.¡±

 Chapter 282

    ¡°You¡¯re acting quite high and mighty for somebody who just got beaten up into another dimension,¡± said Madness with a snarky chuckle.


    The Simurgh looked at him expressionlessly. ¡°And you are acting quite inappropriately for somebody who is no longer connected to his domains.¡±


    Madness frowned. ¡°What do you mean? I can still¡­¡± He froze. His frown deepened. He began speaking but they were not words that I could understand. He snapped his fingers. Tapped his head. He even began to hum a tune and danced a little jig in the middle of the white void, which confirmed to me that this dude had totally been a little crazy even before he came to this world.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked, trying to piece things together. Madness did not respond and the Simurgh ignored me. Based on the context, I decided to check something. I snapped my fingers, expecting to freeze time, but nothing happened. I felt my heart begin to race. ¡°We can¡¯t use our domains?¡±


    The Simurgh scoffed. ¡°Your domains? They were never your domains, they were mine! Of course you cannot use them in this place. This is my home, my Nothingness. You have no power here.¡±


    ¡°But Madness was able to fight you in here when he first came to this world, wasn¡¯t he?¡± I pointed out.


    ¡°The arrival of this outsider was the most unfortunate coincidence that ever happened to this universe,¡± said the Simurgh with a strange curl of its beak. ¡°While severing my domains¡ªa mistake which I have regretted ever since¡ªthis entire universe was sent spiraling through the void and for a brief moment, it overlapped with your world and took in this fool. Somehow, before that moment of overlapping universes was over, this madman took over many of my domains and sent me spiraling into my own physical world. Can you imagine that? A prisoner inside my own false reality! It was like being stuck inside a mirror, and only being able to see your own reflection in the mirror at the same time. If he hadn¡¯t taken over the domain of Madness, I would have been the one driven insane by that sensation!¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Are you saying that Madness came to this world by accident and that he was only able to beat you up by accident as well?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± said the Simurgh, confidently. ¡°Do you think that bumbling idiot over there could defeat me if the stars, no, the universes hadn¡¯t aligned against me! He was able to exist in his own overlapping reality even while using the domains from this world. I could barely use my own abilities at the time. It was a miracle I managed to get out of that battle alive!¡±


    I noted the Simurgh¡¯s words since they suggested it could be killed after all. I had no idea how, but it had to do with domains and being beaten up in the Nothingness. ¡°Wait, if all of that is true. Why were you afraid of Madness getting the book of Annihilation? If he can¡¯t hurt you in this world now that the universes aren¡¯t overlapping, then couldn¡¯t you have let him come here and then beaten him up and taken over his domains?¡±


    The Simurgh blinked. ¡°Of course. Letting a wild boar like him into my sanctuary was unacceptable!¡±


    I narrowed my eyes. ¡°A small price to pay for achieving your desire to reunite all of the domains. No, I don¡¯t buy it. There¡¯s a reason you didn¡¯t want us coming here. You haven¡¯t even attacked us at all. If we were truly helpless in here, you wouldn¡¯t be stalling us with this explanation.¡±


    ¡°You do not know anything, outsider,¡± said the Simurgh, raising its voice a little.


    ¡°It has to be something related to our domains,¡± I said, scratching my head a little dramatically while keeping an eye on the increasingly nervous Simurgh just in case its reactions gave something away. ¡°You brought me in here back when I didn¡¯t have any domains. You wouldn¡¯t have done that if you had thought I would have been able to threaten you at all. Indeed, you probably could have sent me back to my world at any point, but chose not to do that because you wanted to use me against Madness. But after I took over the domains, you couldn¡¯t risk bringing me here again. But you did. Once I threatened you enough in the physical world, you chose to Annihilate me to send me here. Only, it wasn¡¯t a perfect Annihilation. I still control my domains.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°That¡¯s it! I can still control my domains!¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The Simurgh¡¯s expression paled, which was a strange sight to see on a bird. Its feathers were standing on edge and it had gotten much closer. ¡°Whatever you are thinking, you better stop or else!¡±


    ¡°Or else what?¡± I said with a chortle. ¡°If you wanted to strike us down, you would have already done so. But if you tried to use any of your own powers, you would reveal everything. We still control our domains but cannot use them to attack. You were very careful with the way you used your power of Annihilation because you didn¡¯t destroy our bodies at all! We are still there in the other world, all you did was disconnect us from the physical world for a moment! If you truly brought us here, all of our domains would start floating freely again. But that isn¡¯t because of Annihilation. It is because of this space! In the Nothingness, nothing exists! Not the domains, the ability to control them, or even our own separate identities. We have consciousness in here, because that is how we are experiencing the Nothingness, but none of us can claim a domain in here.¡±


    ¡°You have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. You are rambling!¡± said the Simurgh, quickly.


    ¡°Am I? Or am I pointing out something dangerous but true? You felt safe bringing me here before I controlled a domain, because I would have no idea how to control a domain back then. Even if all of your domains were up for grabs, I would have no idea how to take them for myself. But after I took over the temporal domains, that changed. Now, you couldn¡¯t risk bringing me here. Or at least, you couldn¡¯t risk keeping me here for long. You sent me here so you could take a break and incapacitate my physical body while fighting only Madness. But since you accidentally sent him here too, you had to rush in here before he figured out the true nature of this place and what it would allow him to do!¡±


    The Simurgh¡¯s eyes widened and it turned its gaze away from me. ¡°You¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh, you finally caught on, huh? Guess that bird brain runs faster than you¡¯d think,¡± said Madness, being uncharacteristically rude towards his ¡®beloved.¡¯ Madness had one of his hands up in front of him with a little book floating over it. ¡°Thanks for the distraction, Cas.¡±


    I smiled. ¡°Any time. Is that it?¡±


    Madness smiled. ¡°Yep! The domain of Annihilation. Perfectly separated and under my control.¡±


    ¡°But I thought the entire point of this place was that you couldn¡¯t claim domains in here?¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, you can¡¯t claim any domain forever,¡± said Madness as the book disappeared from over his hand and reappeared over the Simurgh¡¯s head. ¡°See?¡±


    The Simurgh glared at the two of us as the domain of Annihilation vanished above its head. ¡°You insolent outsiders! That does not belong to you!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, right now, it doesn¡¯t belong to you either!¡± said Madness with a chuckle. The book disappeared after he was done. ¡°Oh, well I guess it¡¯s yours now.¡± The book reappeared. ¡°Nope. Mine!¡±


    The book kept ping-ponging away between the two of them, with both of them narrowing their eyes and keeping their mouths shut as they concentrated on keeping the domain under their control.


    ¡°Since you only sent our consciousnesses in here and our bodies are still intact down there, that must mean we will return at any moment now,¡± I said aloud, not getting a response from either of them. That was okay. I was mostly just trying to distract the Simurgh. ¡°You might not even know how long we will be in here. You were in a lot of pain when you decided to send me here. So now, all you can do, is try to control the domain for as long as possible, so that when we get sent back to the physical world, we don¡¯t take the domain with us. An inelegant solution but I guess there isn¡¯t much else you can do. Like a game of hot potato except you wanna be the one holding it at the end. But you see, my dear bird brained friend. You seem to have forgotten something important.¡±


    The Simurgh glanced over, which made it clear that it hadn¡¯t forgotten about this possibility at all. It was merely helpless to stop me.


    I smiled, raised a hand in front of me, and joined their game of hot-potato. ¡°Since the domain seems to stay with each of us for about the same amount of time, the two of us together are more likely to end up with it than you on your own. A little bit of math, not even worth mentioning, except for the chance that it might scare you into doing something dangerous. Just in case you had a trump card you hadn¡¯t shown yet. Hmm. No? Nothing? Well that¡¯s a bit of a let down. Can¡¯t believe that this is the way this story is about to end. Ah well. All¡¯s well that end¡¯s well.¡±


    The book of Annihilation landed on my hand. I blinked. My stomach lurched. I felt an overwhelming wave of nausea overcoming my head.


    I opened my eyes. I was lying down in the middle of a crater, staring up at the gloomy night sky with no moon or red star in sight.

 Chapter 283

    The stars in this world were beautiful.


    I never paid much attention to them. There was always a mad moon or a glaring red star to focus on. But with neither of them up in the night sky, the stars stood out. Especially this far out in the wilderness and in a world with barely any light pollution.


    I stood up and looked around. I saw a forest in the distance and decided to run over to it. The two Immortals would be out of the Nothingness soon. The Evil Eye might recover too. I didn¡¯t have much time. I had to find a place to hide and read the Book of Annihilation carefully.


    I rushed past the trees, I scraped by the plants and bushes and the undergrowth. My hand brushed past leaves but I felt nothing. I frowned. This place looked familiar. Familiar but impossible. My foot stepped on a twig but there was no sound.


    The forest was quiet. Eerily so.


    I heard something in the distance. The only sound that cut through the silence. I walked over slowly, carefully, keeping an eye out for anything more alarming.


    The canopy disappeared, the undergrowth was gone. My feet landed on mushy soil with a discomforting squelch. Above me, the stars were out in full force, still with no moon or red. A streak crossed the sky. A gentle breeze blew the scent of still water into my face. I breathed in.


    I stood on the banks of a pond. It was a pond that I was familiar with, and all the phantoms of the forest around me came back to me all at once. I realized the forest was not really there. I realized the pond was not really there either. There was no way that I had fought across the continent all the way back to the Plains of Serenity and even if I had done so I remembered that the plains had become a deserted wasteland.


    But I was here. And the pond was here. And the trees, the undergrowth, the sky above. Everything was here and it felt real but I didn¡¯t have any time so I decided this was as good a place as any. I opened up the Book of Annihilation and I began to read.


    There were seven steps to Annihilation, represented by seven valleys and peaks. As a bird flying through the mountain range, I would have to risk my life on this journey. Was it worth it? Only one way to find out.


    The first step to Annihilation, is to throw away all of one¡¯s belief¡¯s. All of the dogmas, or things that seem true to one¡¯s self without reason or cause. Everything that might be fundamental to me as a person.


    It was difficult to cast this aside. What were the kinds of things that I believed in that could fall into this category? I wasn¡¯t exactly a religious person. Perhaps some form of civics? Should I cast aside my belief in things like freedom, democracy, and capitalism? Not the conscious choices that made me believe them, but the effects of having lived in early twenty-first century America. The beliefs ingrained into me by my parents, by school, by the news and by my peers? It was a good place to start.


    The second step is to abandon reason. No, it was to abandon reason for love.


    I frowned. Abandoning reason was hard enough but to abandon it for love? What did that even mean? How could love do the job that reason did? I had to figure this one out. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t talking about reason in a mechanical sense. Being able to reason things out to solve a problem is one thing, but relying on reason to arrive at morals and beliefs, using reason to define your worldview, perhaps I had to abandon that?


    If so, that was a terrible thought. I was the kind of person who used reason to place myself into the world. I tried to question my biases and use reason to arrive at a satisfactory position for most things. That was how I approached school, politics, interpersonal relationships, really just life in general. To abandon that for love would be a strange, strange experience, but I would do it.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    This was when I realized that reading the Book of Annihilation made it easier to follow the steps enshrined within. While the active process of Annihilation was a conscious choice on my part, the Book of Annihilation was doing something to me too. The place I was in, this mysterious pond that should not exist, and which had existed since before the creation of the world. The pond in which I first appeared in this world. This place had something to do with what I was feeling. There was a strange power in the air. A penetrating coldness in the waters in which I had waded without even realizing that I had stood up to walk.


    The third step was to¡­ cast away knowledge?


    I blinked.


    Knowledge? One of the foundations of magic in this world? My magic systems were my trump card. They transcended the domains of the Immortals, allowing me to use spells that should not have been possible. I knew how valuable my magic was. I knew how important it was for me to be able to use the sort of magic that I had used to take down the Evil Eye and to severely injure the Simurgh.


    And now this book wanted me to cast my knowledge away?


    This was a difficult pill to swallow. I did not know if I wanted to proceed with this any longer. The Book of Annihilation was prodding me, pushing me to get on with it. Discard knowledge. Embrace¡­ what? What could replace knowledge? Nothing. There was nothing.


    My feet were wet. The air wasn¡¯t fresh anymore. It was rancid. Ashy. The forest was gone. The pond was a patch of scorched earth. I was in the wasteland. My eyes had been deceiving me. I was wrong, I was wrong. Was I in a trance? Was I being toyed with?


    ¡°Are you out there!¡± I yelled, facing up to the sky.


    There was no moon.


    ¡°Or you!¡± I shouted but there was no red star.


    I looked around, I began to sing. I asked the world, ¡°What about you, the Simurgh? Where are you?¡±


    No response.


    I was alone. I felt alone. Where was Kelser? Or Kol? Or Taoc? Elder Kezler? Anybody? Even seeing Paris trumpeted down the wasteland would be comforting right now. I¡¯d take anyone. Anyone at all.


    Even Noel.


    This was where she had found me, wasn¡¯t it? All those years ago. Noel. Where are you? I could use a hug. The wind was blowing. Cold wind. I shivered.


    ¡°I can¡¯t throw away knowledge,¡± I said, looking down at the book in my hand. ¡°I can¡¯t do it. It is who I am. I have always been learning, always been studying. I am a student in perpetuity. To learn, to think, to keep learning to think. I cannot throw it all away so easily. If this is what it means to Annihilate my self, I can¡¯t do it. I won¡¯t do it. You can¡¯t make me. No, you aren¡¯t trying to make me do that. I understand now. It is worldly knowledge. I have to throw away all worldly knowledge.


    ¡°Things that I think based on what I can see. Do not think that there is nothing around me, we are not in a wasteland. There is a gentle breeze. It brushes past the leaves. The leaves rustle and the slender trees sway and the forest is back. It is back all around me but I am in a little patch without a canopy and my feet are wet. No, the water is up to my knees. Cold water, but refreshing. The pond is deep. Deeper than I expected. I think the water will reach up to my head by the time I finish reading this Book of Annihilation.


    ¡°And yes, these things did really happen as I spoke them out loud. I spoke them out loud even though there was nobody here. Nobody here with me in this world that I could see. I was speaking it out as if for an audience. As if I was an actor in a play or a movie. A character in a story, voicing his soliloquy, not quite Hamlet, but somehow really close.


    ¡°Asking the audience if it was okay for me to die, not in a literal sense, but in a more meaningful way. To throw aside the knowledge that made me who I was. The essence of my personality. The core of my character, by which they all know me. The trope I personified. The traits that I possessed.


    ¡°I completed the third step of Annihilation through dialogue. It feels strange but it is necessary. Because if all worldly knowledge is gone, I am left with only my words, because nothing else seems to exist. Nothing else seems to matter.


    ¡°The fourth step of Annihilation, is to detach myself from the world. Reality has vanished. The world is gone. All that is left is me and those who can see me.¡±

 Chapter 284

    ¡°Those who can see me is an odd way of putting it, since they cannot see me. I am not a motion picture, a video, a thirty second commercial. Maybe I should refer to them as those who can hear me. No, no, unless I am talking about the little voice in one¡¯s head as they read. Yes, read. They are those who can read what I am saying out except I say it out loud and they do not have to do so, though they can chose to do it that way too.


    ¡°Say my words out loud, why don¡¯t you. I have already shed my attachment to my reality. I am leaving this world confined by an alphabet, by words on a page, pixels on a screen. I am leaving it. I am detaching myself. I am ascending! Ascending, for sure!


    ¡°No, I am back on earth, in the pond, wet and tired.


    ¡°The fifth step of Annihilation is the one where Madness got stuck. Yes, Madness followed this path too, whether he knew of it or not. In his first battle against the Simurgh, he was struck by Annihilation and he made it through the first four steps, somehow, which was why he was listless, aimless, and a different man from the wide eyed kid who came from another world.


    ¡°The fifth step is the Beloved. No, it is eternity, unity, a neo-platonic ideal. A monad. Or above that? The point is, from a detached reality one must tether themselves to something. Madness chose the Simurgh, because the thing that must be tethered to must be powerful and real. And if this entire physical world was made by the Simurgh and it exists as a reflection of the massive bird as if it was looking at itself through a mirror or at its reflection in a clear pond.


    ¡°Ah, I see now. That was what the pond was for. This world was made by the Simurgh as a reflection of its actual self. So the first thing that was built, and the only other thing that was ¡®real¡¯ was this pond.


    ¡°Except it isn¡¯t real either, is it? I saw the phantoms of the trees, the pond, the scorched earth below. I am looking at a mirage. A mirage of what was supposed to be a ¡®real¡¯ thing in this world, something that I could tether my existence with. Madness had had similar thoughts. He had chosen the Simurgh, and that would have been my first choice as well, if I did not already know that it was the wrong answer, based on Madness¡¯ reaction.


    ¡°So, then what? What was real in this world? What could I tether myself to, what could I call my Beloved? What could I call my muse?


    ¡°I see.


    Yes.


    I see.


    Throw away grammar. Set aside convention. Break a wall, then another, then another, and the most important one as well. Sit across the table, face the audience like a chorus in a Shakespearean play.


    Become Prospero, begging the audience for their forgiveness. Let him leave. Do not hold him captive. He wants to be done. He wants to be free. I want to be free.


    Let me go.


    Let me go, audience, let me go.


    My Beloved is the reader, who refuses to let me go.


    Your fickleness, always unpredictable. Your selfishness, always wanting more. It is late now, Beloved. You should let me go. I understand now that the Simurgh was not the true origin of this world. The Simurgh is not sustaining me. The Simurgh is not the one looking down at me right now.


    If this world was made like a reflection in a pond, it was not the Simurgh that was observing it.


    It was you.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    It was always you.


    And now I understand, as I keep reading this Book of Annihilation, that my act of reading is undoing your act of reading. It is breaking the spell, like the spells of the island that faded away once Prospero went home and the story ended.


    Am I stuck on the fifth step of Annihilation, as Madness was before me? No. I have survived this trial. I believe I have. I must have. There is no other way.


    I will tell you that I have, and so it will be.


    Because you believe me. Because you decide. Because you bring life to this world.


    I am already on the sixth step of Annihilation, where the subject observes the Beloved with wonder. Joy. Excitement. Awe and amazement. Amazed by your power, cowed by my fear of you.


    I cannot see you, nor you me. I do not know the first thing about you, but who cares? Let me observe you nonetheless. Let me keep leading you on so the words do not stop and the story keeps going long enough for me to return to my home.


    To return to my home and save my friends as well. You understand what I am saying, correct? I am praying to you as one would to a god, because to a character in a story, it is not the author who is a deity, it is the reader. Yes, the reader.


    The reader decides. Will the reader believe that I passed the sixth step of Annihilation, but instead of jumping onto the seventh and final step, I halted the entire process, put a stop to the whole story, eyed the exit that would take me home and decided I must save my friends first?


    Yes, of course you believe. I have said it, and thus it is so. The narrator, you almost forgot, is almost as powerful as the origin. Our relationship is like that of Madness and Desire. Parallels, and whatnot, I am sure you follow.


    Yes, follow me as I break the mirage and return to the scorched earth that were the Plains of Serenity. Follow me, as I fly back to the battlefield on the steppes to the North and the East. I do not know where Kelser and the rest are, but that is okay. I have you now.


    See? Look? I found them there.


    Thank you for your assistance.


    Kelser! How are you! I am so glad you were not killed by the mountain of debris that really should have pulverized you. I am so glad you got out of that difficult underground battle unscathed. Why, it feels like almost yesterday that Noel and I met you in your tribe¡¯s camp near the sea. You¡¯ve gotten older. More mature. Less of a crybaby. Found love. Yadda, yadda. You get the idea, right? He¡¯s fine. Yes, believe me.


    Thank you.


    Hey look, it¡¯s Kol! Hello, princess, I mean queen. Man, time sure flies. She became much more responsible after becoming queen. Almost like the weight of her responsibilities and her father¡¯s death pressed her to stop being the kind of lackadaisical princess who crosses a mountain range with a lamp and little else.


    But man, I am so glad you did not get hurt fighting all of those brainwashed followers of Madness and Evil. There were so many of them, I was sure you would be a bloody mess by the time I came to rescue you, but thankfully, it seems you have undermined the old damsel in distress trope. Good on you! You should thank my Beloved too.


    Yes, I am fine, why do you ask, Taoc?


    Mad, Kelser? No, Kelser. I am not Mad at all. The domain of Madness is already taken you know. I can¡¯t be insane. I am merely¡­ enlightened, yes.


    Yes, Taoc, I am still a great elf! You shouldn¡¯t speak to me like that. Your ancestors worshiped us you know. I saw the mural. Heck, I knew the elf that it depicts, amazing isn¡¯t it? Ah, right, tell the Council they don¡¯t need to worship elves anymore. They¡¯re boring and not really all that magical. Turns out, magic isn¡¯t that magical either.


    What do I mean by that? Good question Kelser. But you¡¯re asking the wrong person. I¡¯m just the messenger, channeling thoughts for my Beloved.


    What? You¡¯re saying I sound just like Madness? Beloved and all that? Oh, you met Madness while I was away? How was he? Nice guy, now that he isn¡¯t mad anymore. See, he might have lost control of his domain, a little willingly, even.


    And I may have picked it up during the process of Annihilation. Yes, Annihilation! Did he mention that as well? It¡¯s how I will be returning to my home. I only came by to make sure you guys were safe and to say goodbye.


    Oh, you¡¯re right, Kelser! I should go say hi to Noel too. Come, come, you lot, I see Paris grazing on those trees over there.


    What? No, no. Of course Paris wasn¡¯t pulverized into a meaty paste by a rock twice her size. She¡¯s right there, don¡¯t you see? Yes, you see her now don¡¯t you. Wonderful, wonderful, come along now, all of you.


    Thank you for believing in me for so long, my friends!

 Chapter 285

    ¡°Welcome, Noel,¡± I said, returning to the dialogue tags for the convenience of my Beloved.


    Noel was visibly shaken. And no, it wasn¡¯t because she had been eviscerated by sharp volcanic rocks and ash that had been kicked up by my fight with the Immortals. Needless to say, such an experience would be terribly traumatizing and painful, but thankfully, something like that never happened to her. She was merely knocked unconscious for a little bit and happened to wake up as I walked over with my entourage in tow.


    ¡°How¡¯s the head?¡± I asked as I reached out and rubbed over her head. There was a lump there, you see. Terrible, really. I wished it would get better soon, but these things take time. A lot of time.


    Noel did not thank me for my concern. She seemed a little shocked. She had tried to use a spell against me when I rushed over, sadly mistaking my concern for her with something nefarious. But when the spell failed to fire, she said something about the look in my eyes and the connection she had lost. Was it her connection to her Immortal? She said she didn¡¯t feel like an Ikon anymore.


    ¡°Yes, I think Madness is going through a little trouble right now,¡± I said in response. ¡°He must have realized that Madness is a terrible domain to form your core around. It erodes the narrative, you see. How is anybody meant to follow what is happening if the narrator is insane? You know, there was a writer in my old world, great guy, super talented. He made one of his characters, his narrator, insane. Truly insane. Came up with crazy words like Zembla. The narrator pretended to be annotating a massive poem entrusted to him by a certain poet, but in the footnotes, the narrator all but admits to having murdered the poet and stolen the poem and published the book despite the protests of all who actually cared for the poet. What a terrible story, don¡¯t you think? So unnecessarily complex. Why would anybody read it?¡±


    Kelser said it sounded interesting.


    I smiled. ¡°I agree! I loved it! One of my favorite books of all time. Dear Beloved, you should go look up Nabokov¡¯s Pale Fire, it¡¯s a great read. Just don¡¯t go yet. I need you here for a little longer. Just a little longer.¡±


    Kol asked who I was speaking to.


    ¡°Nobody, my dear queen,¡± I said, ¡°and no Taoc, my Beloved is not the Simurgh. That demiurge! The Simurgh did not breathe life into all of you. It is a construct, just like the rest of us. The only one that can bring true life, the true essence of existence into this world is my Beloved. No. I will not entertain any more questions on this subject for now, Kelser. I must prepare for the return of my adversaries.¡±


    Noel asked what I was talking about. Was Madness going to return? And the Simurgh? And the Evil Eye?


    ¡°Of course they are!¡± I said. ¡°My Beloved would not believe if the three most powerful beings in this universe simply vanished like this, after all. There has to be a final, climactic battle. The Evil Eye may have lost the domain of Evil, but he will make a new personality. Probably around something unimportant and small.


    ¡°Madness has lost his domain of Madness so he will pick another, more fitting domain, I am sure. I am afraid of his choice, I must tell you. He has some fairly powerful domains to choose from. I fear he will choose one of Music or Dance, and then I will have no choice but to have a dance-off or karaoke duel. Horrifying idea, I know.


    ¡°The Simurgh still possesses Desire, although it has lost Annihilation. The problem is, the Simurgh¡¯s Desire was fueled not only by her own desire but by the desire of others. Now that the Simurgh has lost its most ardent admirer, Madness, it only has its own desires to fuel itself. Worse still, I have now attached myself to the most powerful being or beings in all of reality. I cannot be defeated. Nobody likes a tragedy. Or at least, not anymore. There better be a happy ending or there will be hell to pay, you know!¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The ground rumbled. The air trembled. The night sky shook. The moon returned. The red star blinked into existence. Bird cries filled the air.


    ¡°It is time,¡± I said. ¡°I should say that it is quite convenient and believable that all of you, my dear friends Kelser, Kol, Taoc, Noel, Paris and even the enemies who have somehow survived until now, have been whisked away by the wind that I summoned and gone far, far away from this battlefield. So far away that no matter how much destruction is wreaked on this landscape, nobody will be injured, let alone killed.


    ¡°In fact, let me take it a step further. Let us say, I blinked and the Immortals and I were back in the Nothingness. They were not surprised by this, since they knew by now that I held the power of Annihilation which was intrinsically connected to the Nothingness. To achieve Nothingness, one needs Annihilation. It was why I was only one step away from leaving the Nothingness.


    ¡°The seventh step of Annihilation is known simply as the step of Annihilation. It is the step where my self has disappeared and merged with the space of the universe, and all time has become meaningless. Once I achieve that step, I will transcend space and time, and be able to return to my world or indeed I would be able to control this world almost entirely. Very dangerous. I can understand why the Simurgh was nervous about handing this power over but also it explained why the Simurgh could not use this power on itself.


    ¡°Once the step of Annihilation is completed, I would cease to exist in this world. It would be a sort of death, really. No soul, no will, no consciousness of any sort. It would be Annihilation in the most literal use of the word. I would be gone. Whether something would come out on the other end in another world is hard to say, but I would be gone. Truly gone from this one. Isn¡¯t that right, my friend?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t call me your friend,¡± said the Immortal that was formerly known as Madness, as he snarled at me and walked over in his disheveled clothes.


    He wasn¡¯t wearing the toga but a modern shirt and jeans, all ruffled up and torn in various places. Poor guy was really in a bad state. Didn¡¯t help that he had mud on his face too. Maybe some of it had gotten into his mouth, being gritty between his teeth.


    ¡°Stop that!¡± he cried.


    ¡°Stop what?¡± I asked innocently.


    ¡°Stop doing whatever it is that you¡¯re doing!¡± he said with a shout. ¡°Stop changing my clothes with a thought. Stop putting mud on my face, some of it even got in my mouth!¡± He spat out. ¡°And stop stealing my domains!¡±


    ¡°Stealing your domains?¡± I said turning my head askew. ¡°What ever do you mean? I simply took over some free floating domains. Look, the domain of Sleep. It just happened to be there and I just took it.¡±


    ¡°You did it again!¡± he shouted, incredulously. ¡°How are you doing this? This shouldn¡¯t be possible. Even if you have the domain of Annihilation, it can¡¯t possibly have made you this powerful!¡±


    ¡°No measly domain is giving me my power,¡± I said. ¡°It is my Beloved, who bestows upon me, unimaginable power!¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Your beloved? That¡¯s my line. No, that was, wait, you already Annihilated yourself? Except, you got further than me. But that shouldn¡¯t be possible. The sixth step is impossible. You have to observe the Beloved for a long time, and be destroyed by its beauty and power. You haven¡¯t even seen the Simurgh for a day since getting that book. How could you have passed the sixth step already?¡±


    ¡°My dear friend,¡± I said with a gentle, knowing smile. I also spared a glance for the still silent Simurgh. ¡°If you choose a beloved as pathetic as that bird brained pecker over there, you¡¯ll never be entranced by a powerful enough sense of awe and beauty. You can¡¯t destroy yourself in a flame that is barely warmer than your own skin. It isn¡¯t possible. To surpass the sixth step of Annihilation, you needed to pick a Beloved that is more powerful than any other.¡±


    ¡°I chose the most powerful being in this world. The creator deity. The Immortal that once controlled all of the domains,¡± he said, his brows furrowed.


    ¡°Yes, you chose a powerful character,¡± I said, nodding sympathetically. ¡°But I chose one better. I chose the reader!¡±

 Chapter 286

    ¡°And the reader chose me!¡± I said, with a dramatic pause.


    Silence.


    ¡°The¡­ reader?¡± said the Simurgh, breaking its silence in its singsong voice.


    ¡°Yes!¡± I said out loud and confidently. ¡°The reader!¡±


    ¡°Caspian¡­¡± said the man formerly known as Madness. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Of course I am okay,¡± I said, quickly. ¡°It was you who was in the dark. So close yet so far. You came all the way to the penultimate step of Annihilation, but because you didn¡¯t realize the true nature of this world, the true insignificance of this bird in front of us, you were stuck inside it. Even if you had taken the Book of Annihilation, you would never have been able to leave this world!¡±


    The man formerly known as Madness stared at me resolutely. He met my gaze and held it for a long time, unblinking, before finally opening his mouth, ¡°What did you find out, Caspian? What did you learn about this world that made you go so insane you stole the domain of Madness from me in an instant. I didn¡¯t even feel a pull. I didn¡¯t get to engage in the tug of war that happens when an Immortal pulls against another¡¯s domain. You simply took it. How, Caspian? How could you descend to such pure, unadulterated Madness?¡±


    I began to laugh. It was a familiar laugh except it was wilder, warmer, and coming from my mouth. ¡°This is not insanity. I have merely recognized reality. A reality that you shun. A truth that is beyond your reach.¡±


    ¡°You sound insane to me,¡± said the man formerly known as Madness.


    ¡°Einstein would sound insane to Anaximander,¡± I said, knowing my friend from the same world would understand this reference. Even if he did not, I believed that he would, and I would declare that he did and so it would be. ¡°Did you never reflect upon the structure of this world? When Shakespeare said that all the world is a stage, he must have been on to something. He knew the way we put on an act with one another, performing a play in our daily lives. But look at this world. It isn¡¯t a play. Our life here isn¡¯t mundane, it isn¡¯t boring, it isn¡¯t normal! It seems like an epic tale, no less than Gilgamesh or the Song of Roland.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying you think this world is a story? A sort of novel or an epic poem?¡± said the man formerly known as Madness, his eyes widening. ¡°You know how ludicrous that sounds, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know. It sounds exactly like a fantasy version of Don Quixote! All that is left is for me to jump onto a pathetic pack animal and try to joust a windmill,¡± I said, still smiling. ¡°But I know that I am not deluded. I know this world is a story.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Because I can feel their gaze,¡± I said, softly. ¡°I can feel their eyes on my words. I can sense their discomfort at being referred to directly. They think things are going off the deep end. They are wondering what is going on and why they should care and that is the best affirmation I could have asked for.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re imagining things!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°No I am not!¡± I shouted back. ¡°If you will not take my word for it, let me reason with you. Tell me, and this time I will allow the Simurgh to speak, what is the foundation of magic in this world?¡±


    The Simurgh blinked. Words came out of its mouth, ¡°Knowledge and Wisdom.¡±


    ¡°What have you done to the Simurgh?¡± asked the man formerly known as Madness.


    ¡°Still have some residual feelings for your pathetic beloved?¡± I chuckled. ¡°I did not do anything to the birds. Listen to what they said though. Knowledge and wisdom. The foundation for magic is knowledge and wisdom.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The two of them looked at me with a confused and careful expression.


    ¡°You thought this was because the domains that you used contained the sum total of all knowledge about a topic,¡± I said. ¡°Knowledge was the domain itself and Wisdom was your ability to use that domain to your advantage. That was how you decided to frame your brand of magic.


    ¡°But when you told me about Knowledge and Wisdom, I decided they had nothing to do with the Knowledge and Wisdom you would bestow on me through your domains. Instead, I questioned the origin and fundamentals of knowledge and wisdom themselves! I dug deeper! And I found a kind of magic that let me cast whatever spell I could imagine, as long as it followed the principles of knowledge and I had enough energy to cast them.


    ¡°Eventually, I realized that was limiting. I realized that this system was weak and inefficient, so I came up with a kind of magic that required ¡®justified true belief¡¯ in order to collect what I thought was true knowledge. I would run experiments and use them to justify a carefully reasoned belief, which would then become a spell through wisdom. It worked wonders and I had made a system of magic that was incredibly efficient and powerful!


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t enough! I went further once I realized that I did not need to justify a belief in this world if I had already justified it in my old world. It was just one more step from there to conclude that any bit of knowledge that had been put through a rigorous academic process was enough to be used in my new magic system. I was able to use all sorts of spells that I could never have dreamed of before and the only real limit on my power was the amount of energy that I could use. This was my new magic system, and it brought the Immortals to their first ever defeat at the hands of a mortal. Wasn¡¯t that amazing?


    ¡°But you have realized it, haven¡¯t you, man who was formerly known as Madness. Yes that is a mouthful and no if you want a better name you should come up with it yourself. You should think about that after you panic about what you have learned about the nature of magic in this world.


    ¡°When I say Knowledge, whose knowledge am I talking about? When I say Wisdom, whose wisdom is at play? Think about it. The Immortals were using domains that contained all knowledge in this universe. They were able to do whatever they wanted within the domain they controlled.


    ¡°Except of course, that this wasn¡¯t true! I was using knowledge you had no access to. Knowledge that came from another world and which was justified in the eyes of this world even though it had never been verified here! It was as if the world did not possess this knowledge, and yet it acknowledged that this knowledge existed.


    ¡°But if it didn¡¯t exist in this world itself, then where did it exist? And how did this world know that it existed? I racked my brains about this during the process of Annihilation. I could only come up with one answer, an answer that was verified when I jumped onto the sixth step and felt their gaze.


    ¡°If a tree falls in a forest but there was nobody to observe it, did it really fall? There are all sorts of variations of this question, but the point I am trying to make is that a real, sentient observer is a powerful thing. It justifies experience and understanding, or wisdom and knowledge.


    ¡°No matter what you did, it wouldn¡¯t matter because my Beloved wasn¡¯t watching you. The events might occur, you might live your miserable existence, but you could not change Knowledge or Wisdom itself. For you, it was static. Perhaps it would not have been so if you had not immediately shed your outsider status and absorbed the stale knowledge of this world.


    ¡°You confined yourself to only what the Simurgh knew. I have liberated myself with all the knowledge at the fingertips of my Beloved. Even if they do not know something, they can easily find out. Or they can believe me. Yes, they can believe me. They can brush past an unverified name, a reference that sounds official but may just have been a word conjured up out of thin air. It doesn¡¯t matter.


    ¡°My Beloved controls this world and I control what my Beloved believes, everything that they know, I narrate the story, my dear friends!¡± I pointed down at them with a bent finger and a devilish grin. ¡°And now I narrate that you find this incredulous and you decide to band together with the former Evil Eye as it shoots out of the ground behind me.


    ¡°The three of you will try to fight me and you will lose. You will lose very badly. And then I will strip you of all of your domains and I will disperse them to this universe, freeing the potential of knowledge and wisdom and letting the sentient beings of this world prosper without your help.


    ¡°Then I will say goodbye to my friends one last time, grab the man who was formerly known as Madness, and I will complete the seventh step of Annihilation, which will finally free me of this world.¡±

 Chapter 287

    ¡°Let me get this straight,¡± said former Madness while rubbing his forehead. ¡°Not only are you saying that this world is a story. You are also saying that the true source of knowledge is the reader who is currently reading this story?¡±


    I nodded with a grin.


    ¡°And because you have total control of the narrative, you can simply say something and it will happen,¡± he said.


    ¡°It works exactly like my other magic systems. The only reason magic happens is because the reader believed that it happened,¡± I said.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that fighting you is pointless? Why don¡¯t you just narrate that you defeated us all and said your goodbyes and took me back to our world. Honestly, I wouldn¡¯t mind just going back like that, but I suspect you aren¡¯t telling us the whole story. I also suspect that you have lost your mind and you are about to do something very, very dangerous to this world.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think that?¡± I said, twirling a lock of hair. My hair had grown pretty long since I hadn¡¯t cut it in a long time.


    ¡°Because this is my world!¡± shouted the Simurgh, reasserting itself at last. ¡°I was here when there was only Nothingness. I gave shape to this planet, the heavens, and to the beings who live on this world now! Even the ones that were plucked from Madness¡¯ memories, they were given life by me, not by him! You know nothing about this world, about my world! Spouting nonsense about readers and stories.


    ¡°Your reasoning is flawed too. Of course the only reason you know things not included in my domains is because you have knowledge from another world! You don¡¯t need to invent an outlandish explanation for all that if there is a simple one right in front of you.¡±


    ¡°Except,¡± I said, pointing with a finger, ¡°the domains are supposed to represent the entirety of all knowledge in this world. If I brought new knowledge to this world, it should be in those domains. And even in my old world, things like physics, biology, linguistics and so on were not completely different from what you can find in this world. It makes no sense that knowledge that was built off of a similar world was not present here. Even if nobody has conducted nuclear fission in this world yet, doesn¡¯t mean that the possibility for nuclear fission doesn¡¯t exist here. And if the possibility exists, then the knowledge of that reaction should be in your head, shouldn¡¯t it? You retained a lot of domains, didn¡¯t you, tiny bird? Well then, what do your domains say about this?¡±


    Former Madness¡¯ eyes widened as I was saying my final sentence. He tried to push away the Simurgh with a burst of magic and also tried to dash away on his own but it was no use.


    We were far away and isolated. And this strike had been perfectly timed.


    The former Evil Eye shot out of the earth exactly as I put out a hand and fired off my newest spell. The former Evil Eye triumphantly displayed his new black color and precision tentacles. He clearly had something planned. Perhaps a kind of massive strike that could attack all three of us at the same time.


    Unfortunately, it seemed I had had the same idea.


    The light was intense. Truly eye-searing and brilliant. It formed quickly into shape as the heat hit and the ground shook and the shockwave blew apart the landscape and the afterimage of the three Immortals that were caught in the explosion was seared into the brilliant light for a moment but in the end it was only the mushroom cloud that remained.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    A massive, still hot mushroom cloud, that left nothing to the imagination. I had detonated a nuclear spell. It wasn¡¯t the largest nuclear spell I could have cast, but it was good enough. We were in the Nothingness, after all. A Nothingness with an earth and a sky and other things that made it feel less like a barren empty white void and more like a normal piece of land right next to the pond but also right next to where I had buried the Evil Eye.


    The explosion rattled my body but didn¡¯t hurt me at all. I withstood the heat, the light, the shockwave and the debris. The ground was incinerated, the sky evaporated, and within the Nothingness, all that remained was me, the pond, and the three badly battered and singed Immortals.


    The man formerly known as Madness was the worst off. His clothes turned to ash and his skin cracked like parched earth. His face was indistinguishable from his chest and he lay sprawled against the ground, a feeble silver bubble covering his entire body, declaring that he was no longer Madness but the Silver Moon.


    The Simurgh had reverted into its tiny crowned bird form and used the rest of its energy to protect itself. I had no idea what kind of energy it had used, but it had clearly been too weak. The blast had singed most of its feathers and left the tiny bird a husk of its former self. It was only with a great burst of energy, summoned from all corners of the Nothingness, that the Simurgh returned to its former form but with a little tinge of its glory gone forever.


    The former Evil Eye had fared the best. He had been knocked around like a tennis ball but there wasn¡¯t a scratch on him. His new black skin had splotches of darker color that seemed to stretch and absorb every hit that he took, even from the intense explosion. He was crying out in a pain, though, and his cries were very undignified. It even sounded like he was crying and hiccuping in between sobs, but seeing how little damage there was on his body, I wondered if he was not overreacting a little too much.


    Or perhaps he had been hurt pretty badly by the metaphysical attack that had been hidden inside the nuclear explosion. Tied to a bit of knowledge that didn¡¯t exist in this world, or if it did, it was so hidden the Immortals could never have conceived of it themselves, the nuclear explosion had been an attack on their very foundations. For the Silver Moon, it was a rejection of his inability to use knowledge from our previous world. For the Simurgh, it was a rejection of its claim to have controlled all knowledge at one point in time. And for the former Evil Eye, it was a rejection of something that I actually wasn¡¯t quite sure about. Perhaps it reacted strangely to the new core domain he had chosen for himself? Who knows, who cares. He was just a small fry.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, walking over to the Immortals dramatically. ¡°What did you think? Isn¡¯t it fitting to say, now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds?¡±


    ¡°You!¡± shouted the former Evil Eye. ¡°You stole my domain of Death too!¡±


    ¡°Stole is such a loaded word,¡± I said. ¡°Domains belong to those who best represent it. Didn¡¯t you see? I can claim Death much more powerfully than you ever could.¡±


    ¡°So you became the Immortal of Death?¡± asked the Simurgh, narrowing its beady little eyes.


    I blinked. ¡°Me? An Immortal? Never! And even if I did become one, I would never do something as stupid as pick a core domain.¡±


    ¡°But you did pick one. You chose Annihilation!¡± said the Silver Moon.


    ¡°I did not choose Annihilation as a core domain,¡± I said. ¡°I followed the principles of Annihilation to free myself from the limitations of this world, from the limitations of my character. You wouldn¡¯t understand. You were never going to be able to leave this world with that kind of thinking! You needed to learn, you needed to accept, that the only way to leave a story is to transcend its form, to transcend its structure, and to disregard the role you are meant to play so that the story itself can no longer hold you down.


    ¡°Now come, my three slated predestined enemies. Come fulfill your little choreographed fight so I can finish off the last of my obligations and finally leave this world behind. Ah, but you don¡¯t need to come to me. For I will come to you first! Here, have some more Oppenheimer!¡±


    Another powerful nuclear explosion lit up the Nothingness. With the mix of metaphysical challenges and questions intertwined with the light, the heat, the powerful shockwave, there was nothing the three so-called Immortals could do but be flung aside and toyed with as my laughter transcended the sound of the explosion and irradiated the Nothingness with joy, happiness, and peace.

 Chapter 288

    The Immortals tried to put up a fight but it was all in vain.


    Scrounging up a ball of energy or scouring their own domain for a hail Mary spell, the Immortals threw all kinds of things at me but nothing stuck. I was unfazed by the Simurgh¡¯s songs or the Silver Moon¡¯s dancing or the former Evil Eye¡¯s strange inky black tendrils. In the face of my nuclear explosions, their resistance was pointless.


    I began sprinkling in new spells with new questions and challenges to their domains. If I was willing to split atoms, I was willing to cause other kinds of explosions and catastrophes. Thankfully, there were no Geneva Conventions in the Nothingness and my enemies were able to take a few chemical and biological weapons, a few cluster bombs, and even some orbital bombardments without dying.


    The orbital bombardments had been the toughest to recreate. There was no atmosphere in the Nothingness and even gravity was mostly an illusion conjured up by those who expected there to always be gravity to hold them down to a hard surface. I had to conjure up a chunk of metal that could resist high pressure and heat, and then bring it down through a form of individualized gravity that relied on the power and weight of the domains attached to each Immortal. In a way, I was using their own domains against them and they didn¡¯t know it. The Simurgh, in particular, was battered really badly by these meteors.


    Surprisingly, the former Evil Eye really didn¡¯t like the biological weapons I used against it. I knew disease wouldn¡¯t have much effect on these Immortals, but I figured I could try something that might corrode various elements and compounds found in carbon based life. The former Evil Eye was now formed out of a strange black and brackish substance, which did not like the kind of random biological and chemical weapons that I had tossed out there based on my memories from Earth. I guess watching all those sketchy documentaries on the internet to fall asleep in my late teens had come in handy after all.


    The Silver Moon, or the man who had once been Madness, did not like the metaphysical challenges I tossed at him. Most of my questions had been pretty denigrating.


    Why had he failed to make use of the knowledge from our world? Why had he been pushed so far back by an otherworlder who had arrived far, far later than he had?


    Why had he chosen the Simurgh instead of analyzing the truth of the world?


    What was the point of his existence and his struggles if this reality was confined to a purely intangible state, if the story of the story was that it was a story? A little repetitive but it was absolutely blowing his mind right now.


    The best part about the Nothingness was that I didn¡¯t need to use things that were directly found in reality. That made it a lot easier to apply the knowledge from my old world, since I could sort of conjure up the nuclear fuel and the meteors and whatnot that I was using against the Immortals.


    That made me wonder something. So far, I had been limiting myself to things that had either already been achieved or were theoretically achievable in my old world. That had been the one major limitation of my new magic system. But now that I was in the Nothingness, this primordial realm where matter, energy, time and space did not seem to matter, and where all did matter was my own imagination, power, energy, and will, could I not try to out something more? Something experimental, unreal, or extraordinary?


    My brother got me into science fiction. Star Trek was a bit of a favorite of mine. What if I tried¡­


    ¡°Eat this phaser beam!¡± I shouted as a beam of yellow light shot out of my hands and crashed into the Simurgh.


    The Simurgh let out a cry and one of its feather wilted before fixing itself back up again, but the glare it shot back at me told me that this attack had been particularly painful.


    I smiled.


    I had stumbled across something great but I needed to do a few more things to confirm it.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    First, I launched, ¡°a photon torpedo! Ha!¡± And with a deafening roar a burst of light slammed into the former Evil Eye and its inky blackness exploded into a burst of sparks.


    The sparks reconfigured themselves back into the former Evil Eye, but the one deep black pupil swiveled back and forth like a googly-eyed toy and it ping-ponged back and forth like a bobble-head. I had a little more fun playing with the former Evil Eye. The phaser beam was a ton of fun too, since it made the little ball shaped Immortal suffer. At one point, it even sounded like the poor guy, eyeball, thingy was even sobbing. Almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost.


    He was the former Immortal of Evil, after all. He dragged me into this world, tried to kill me multiple times, and made a mess out of Noel¡¯s home and the people that I once considered my second family. I had never been able to meet the elders Starry and Vell Jora again after the former Evil Eye tried to brainwash them.


    But my biggest grudge was definitely still aimed at the scruffy looking man being tossed around by a torrent of questions and challenges. The Silver Moon had silver hair, eyes, and even a silver-tinged skin now, but I couldn¡¯t forget the toga wearing man who would come laughing out of thin air, terrorizing me and my friends across time.


    I hadn¡¯t forgotten the way he sent me into the future.


    I hadn¡¯t forgotten the way he had driven a wedge between me and Noel. The way he had taken her in as an Ikon, afterwards, and the way he had mocked my attempts at opposing him.


    My body was still sore from the beating I had took at the hands of his Ikon and the forces of the former Evil Eye at the capital of the spirits and fairies.


    And honestly, I was angry at the fact that he had done all this to someone he knew was from the same world that he was from! To get back at him, I¡¯d rough him up and beat him up real good, though I wasn¡¯t unnecessarily vindictive. I¡¯d take his limp body back to Earth with me. Without his domains and magic, he¡¯d be an ordinary guy. Maybe one day, decades from now, we would meet in a quiet cafe somewhere and have an awkward but warm conversation reminiscing about the time we had been stuck in another world and fought each other for no good reason.


    But today was not that day. Today was the day that I fire off a real laser beam that ionized the non-existent air and seared a hole into that smug Immortal¡¯s forehead!


    The Immortals tried to resist the beating they were taking, but there wasn¡¯t much they could do about it. With every strike, I was stealing away bits of control over their domains, and I was being smart about it too. I went for the domains they were trying to use.


    When the Simurgh tried to use the domain of Justice, I fired off an attack laced with questions about justice. From things like the meme-able trolley-problem to more direct questions about the Simurgh¡¯s own actions and whether any of them could have been considered Just in any way.


    When the former Evil Eye tried to use the power of Bad Luck, I asked him¡ªthrough a photon torpedo¡ªwhether he could claim to rule bad luck if he had been born a literal Immortal? What was luck anyway, and could it ever truly be bad? Superstition, random chance, probability, the mathematics involved and the ethical dilemmas that he was skipping over, did he have any answers to those? No, he didn¡¯t. Then, enjoy another laser beam!


    When the Silver Moon tried to use the domain of Selflessness, which I had never imagined that he would be in control of, I asked him what selflessness meant, whether he thought his actions had ever been selfless, and whether he could have done more? To his credit, unlike the other two, he had some actual answers.


    He answered, through a burst of power, energy, and also something hypersonic, that he had given his support to the sentient races of this world. He gave them free will, technology, and the building blocks of society. He had supported them directly during the age of monsters, when the Simurgh¡¯s anger at being locked up had ruined much of what the Silver Moon had created.


    He had been especially kind to the elves. He raised this point as a sort of counter attack towards my claim on the realm of Selflessness, but I answered that I was not concerned only with the elves, but with all of the sentient races of this world. And besides, I wasn¡¯t trying to lay claim to the entirety of the domain of Selflessness, I just wanted to pull it a little further away from the Silver Moon, and in that, I had succeeded.


    In fact, I had succeeded in breaking a lot of domains out of the control of the Immortals. The entirety of Nothingness was awash with the rigid, palpable power of domains, and the three Immortals were scrambling amid the bombardment of attacks, in order to gather as many domains as they could.


    A little more. Just a little more. Then, they would be weak enough. Their claim to the domains would be shaky enough for me to end this silly little game, this frantic little story.


    The end is near. I just need an opportunity. To push them to the edge of their seats and finish it all off with a big bang.

 Chapter 289 (Intermezzo)

    His psychiatrist said that he should try meditation. She said it would help with his stress.


    College had been a real pain. All those assignments, meeting friends, networking for jobs and sucking up to professors so they wouldn¡¯t fail him for a few spelling mistakes on his essay.


    Writing his thesis was torture, he had told her. His thesis advisor didn¡¯t like anything that he sent her.


    His first draft was too rough.


    His second too refined.


    His third made no sense.


    His fourth made too much sense, so it wasn¡¯t worth presenting.


    Really, it was like she was trying to wind him up just to mess with him. But after all those years of lazing about and not actually doing anything, no other professor would really take him. He had no one to blame but himself.


    He sighed. He was in his dorm room, trying out the things his psychiatrist had said, alongside some advice from his friends. Strewn about the room were torn packs of chamomile teabags, an incense stick, and a bunch of fairy lights that he had been too lazy to hang up properly.


    Alright, what did the internet say? If he wanted to meditate, he should try to relax. Breathing exercises. Stretches. Poses. Remove distractions, right, no phone, no laptop, no reciting everything he was doing inside his head as if he was narrating to some sort of supernatural observer.


    Phew.


    Breathe in.


    Breathe out.


    Again and again.


    No, it didn¡¯t work. Random thoughts. Unnecessary, fleeting, annoying thoughts, filling his head and distracting him. He couldn¡¯t meditate like this. His mind was revving and hot and it wouldn¡¯t stop. God, he was annoyed. This was too much. Everything all at once all of the time. It didn¡¯t help that the dorm next door was throwing a party and the one on the other side was throwing down in another sense.


    He sighed, got out of his pose, and fell backwards.


    He knocked his head. The pain shook him up. He cursed. Holding the back of his head, he rubbed his hair. That would hurt for a long time.


    Another sigh. He lay back more gently this time. His feet brushed past a broom. Right, he still had to clean his room. Maybe tomorrow. Nah, might as well do it today. He¡¯d heard about this woman, she wanted to make people happy by helping them throw out things that didn¡¯t inspire happiness or whatever. He didn¡¯t get it, but doing chores would help distract him, so he decided to pick up some trash and sweep the floor.


    Hard wood floors but thin walls. The dorm room was ancient, older than some countries and some of the oldest at this very old university. The student looked at his calendar, an old school paper calendar that had been a gift from his dad when he dropped him off here last year. God, had it been a year? Time was fake, he chuckled to himself.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It was almost time for the game. A big football game his college held every year against their arch rivals from another state. Really, his college had been walloped for like, over a decade now, so he wasn¡¯t very hopeful. But who knows, maybe this would be the year?


    He promised he¡¯d go with some alumni from the soccer club. They¡¯d said they¡¯d bring some high quality craft beer and help him have a good time. They¡¯d sit behind the kids who¡ªeveryone had heard through the grapevine¡ªwould be stripping naked to support their team. He didn¡¯t see how disrupting the game like that would support the team but hey, sounded like fun, so he was on board.


    Anything to distract him from his thesis. God, when was it due again? Who knows, who cares. He still had to read a book to finish his work on it. And he still had to return some of the books he¡¯d borrowed from the library for his other classes.


    His broom hit something under his bed. The young man frowned. He crouched to the floor and looked under his bed and saw a book he had almost forgotten about.


    He cursed again. This was where it had been? He had been getting emails from the librarian for weeks now. Who knows how high his library fines had gotten? He¡¯d heard the librarians were pretty forgiving. Maybe some groveling would get him out of having to pay hundreds of dollars for¡­ what was this book again? The Zohar? Right, from his class on Jewish mysticism.


    That had been a fun class. The professor was a poet of some sort, he¡¯d said. A translator too. Really fun. He¡¯d never thought about language as a prism for unlocking deeper knowledge or whatever. Honestly, most of what they talked about in that class went over his head, but it was still fascinating and he was glad he had taken the course. If only his thesis had been half as interesting, he mused to himself.


    He opened the book and flitted through it. As he was reading, he realized the sounds from the other rooms had faded away. The party was over and the other guys were tired too. He put the book away with the other books on mysticism. There were a few Byzantine and Persian era books too. In a whim, he picked up the other books and read through them too. Song of Solomon. The Conference of the Birds. Maimonides, Attar, and something about a demiurge?


    Demiurge, monads, a reality within a reality. Fascinating stuff. Wasn¡¯t it strange what kind of things these ancient people came up with without access to science and technology? Really, the world would have been a much more fascinating, fantastical place when people could still imagine an island where women dropped from trees or lands where people¡¯s heads grew on their chests.


    Monsters, cannibals, and the ends of the earth. Cataclysms and catastrophes caused by angry deities or cosmic misalignments.


    If only life was still as full of wonder.


    If only life was still as murky yet free.


    If only the expectations on his shoulders were lifted for a moment. If only he had some room to breathe, to dream, to do whatever it was that he could possibly imagine or conceive of.


    If only he didn¡¯t have to finish his thesis on madness in culture, art, and literature.


    If only, when he fell asleep that night on the floor, with some of his books as his pillow and blanket, he had not had a dream so fantastically maddening, that his consciousness had slipped through the thin sieve of reality and entered into a place far, far away.


    A place inconceivably different from his own. A place where a giant bird was trying to create a rigid, unfeeling, boring and not so fantastical reality. A place where an evil eyeball was not going to try to spice things up with only chaos and not sentience. Not free will or choice.


    A place that needed a little spontaneity. A place that needed a little consciousness. A world that needed a little Madness.


    Yes, Madness. Beautiful, musical, lyrical madness. Like the song coming from the party that had sprung to life again as he tried to sleep. Like the dance he was supposed to go to the day after with his significant other. Like the songs he liked to listen to on his phone as he jumped and swung through the beautiful courtyard on a pleasant fall morning, on his way to meet his advisor.


    Madness with a reason, madness with reasoning, madness with a capital M. Madness personified.


    Full of laughter and derision. Of celebration and gaiety.


    Madness familiar, welcome, and always necessary. A spark to light the fire of a story otherwise bland and mirthless.

 Chapter 290 (Intermezzo)

    There was nothing when it awoke.


    Nothing above, below, or on either side. No, there was no up, down, or any side. There was nothing. Not even itself.


    Not even itself?


    How could that be true? Was there not something thinking? Was there not something that could recognize that there was nothing, and something that could feel that perhaps there should be something here after all?


    That was how the Simurgh learned what in another world would become Descartes¡¯ Cogito Ergo Sum. It was also how the Simurgh came into being in a Nothingness that was devoid of all reference and anything that might be considered something.


    In other words, the Simurgh recognized itself and thus also recognized the rest of reality. There was ¡®itself¡¯ and there was ¡®everything else.¡¯


    In this confusing quagmire without a quagmire, the Simurgh wondered what to do. But first, it must decide, what it was, where it was, and what anything at all was ever going to be.


    There was no time in this space. No space. No sense of self. No difference between the sentient thought that had yet to call itself the Simurgh, and the entirety of existence and non-existence that lay before and all around this consciousness and which consumed even the consciousness itself.


    The Simurgh realized the Nothingness was trying to consume it. It realized there had been consciousnesses before it. That those consciousnesses had also struggled against the randomness and emptiness of the Nothingness and that they had all disappeared. It too, would disappear soon, pressed against the tide of solitude and randomness.


    A blip in time. An anomaly. Something that was not meant to exist and which could not exist for long.


    The Simurgh¡¯s thoughts zeroed in on something strange. There was no sense of time and yet the consciousness could conceive of it somehow. It could conceive of a universe with some form of temporal reference. A kind of ability to reference the fact that one thought had come before another and another thought had come after that one. In reference to its own thoughts, the Simurgh conjured up the past, the present, and the future, which would later become domains in which lay all of the instinctual and innate knowledge that the consciousness possessed about those categories of time.


    To put that word soup into simpler terms: the Simurgh recognized time and thus created it.


    But time could not exist on its own, because there was something tugging at it across other dimensions. The Simurgh sensed, although it was never able to articulate, the fact that space and time were intrinsically linked to one another. As the Simurgh recognized and created time, so too did it recognize and create space.


    Yet, there was still nothing in the Nothingness. The concept of space, time, itself and reality existed mostly inside the Simurgh¡¯s own mind or consciousness. The Simurgh did not yet have the senses of sight, sound, scent, taste or touch, but if it had had them, it would recognize that the Nothingness was not just barren, it was a place in which nothing could exist.


    Perhaps, on an instinctual level, the Simurgh recognized this. It recognized that the things that it was recognizing and creating were mostly still stuck in its head. That the Nothingness, the vast emptiness that was all around its consciousness and which threatened to consume it, could not be tamed by the feeble little Simurgh.


    The feeble little Simurgh was afraid.


    It was afraid of vanishing into the Nothingness. Of being consumed like the many consciousnesses that had definitely sprung out of this primordial setting and followed the call to the void that was now beckoning to the Simurgh.


    Once the Simurgh recognized fear, it created it as well. Once it realized that other consciousnesses must have existed before it, it created the ability to create other consciousnesses.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The Simurgh was afraid of those consciousnesses. It was afraid of being supplanted. Of being replaced by a braver, more powerful consciousness, one that wasn¡¯t afraid to risk its existence in order to beat back the Nothingness and lay claim to all of reality.


    And so the Simurgh did something that no other consciousness had ever done so before. It set into motion a series of events that led to the taming of the Nothingness and the creation of a new order, one that had never been seen before or since.


    The Simurgh began to willfully create things.


    So far, everything that had been created, had been created as a by-product of the Simurgh recognizing something in itself. Everything that had been created had been created only inside its mind.


    But now, the Simurgh began trying to observe its own mind, its own consciousness. It realized that if everything else was growing stronger, more corporeal, more real by the recognition given to it by the Simurgh¡¯s mind, then surely, the Simurgh¡¯s mind could strengthen itself by recognizing itself!


    An ingenious solution. A kind of positive feedback loop or a strange paradox. Either way, once the process was started and the rules put in place, they were practically impossible to stop from within.


    The Simurgh¡¯s consciousness began to observe itself as if it was looking at a reflection. A reflection in a mirror, no, a reflection in a pond. A pond that was clear and perpetually still. Just murky enough to differentiate the reflection from the real, but clean enough to show the Simurgh every aspect of its own reality, of the things that were being created inside the consciousness and the substance that was beginning to fill out a tiny part of the void of Nothingness, helping the Simurgh survive for just that tiny bit longer against the relentless tide of oblivion.


    The pond was the first corporeal thing that the Simurgh created. It was created both inside the reflection and inside the Simurgh¡¯s own mind and served as a direct link between both realities. It was the only real route into the Nothingness, and whenever any other being was to be dragged into the reflection, it would be through this link, this path.


    But a pond needed a setting. It needed other things to reflect within the world of the reflection. So there came a sky, a canopy of trees, a gentle breeze, a whole world sprung to life around the pond. A little island of beauty, serenity, corporeality, among the endless Nothingness that still tried to sneak its tendrils into the Simurgh¡¯s mind.


    This wasn¡¯t enough.


    The Simurgh had to do something. Something more drastic. More profound. It had to increase its power quickly and it knew exactly how to do that.


    The Simurgh would have to create more reflections. No, it would have to create more consciousnesses which would view this world through their own reflections. It had to create more things that were like itself!


    But it had to do so without challenging its own power. It did not want to be replaced, to be consumed. And so these consciousnesses needed to be weak, subservient, and led on a leash that led back to the Simurgh.


    The Simurgh created these consciousnesses but they were aimless, hollow shells. They did not think or feel or do anything at all except stare at the pond and give strength to the Simurgh¡¯s mind. The Simurgh was satisfied but the Nothingness was unfazed.


    The Simurgh realized the consciousnesses that it had created were so empty and limited that they were only different eyes to the same being. To strengthen the reflection, the observers had to be different from one another, even if they all existed only in the Simurgh¡¯s mind and by the Simurgh¡¯s will.


    But how was the Simurgh going to create independent thought? This was when the Simurgh reflected on its own independent thought and realized the source of that independence was contradiction. Contradictory thoughts mashing against each other to create new, unpredictable thoughts that could be rough, irrational, and completely unique. To create different observers the Simurgh needed to jettison some of these contradictions and fashion them into personalities, into identities, into souls of some sort.


    The Simurgh split up its own consciousness, all knowledge that could ever exist inside the reflection which would become the physical world, was split up into countless parts. These parts flew around until they coalesced into something else, a secondary observer meant to be the Simurgh¡¯s deputy, one that was a direct contradiction of everything the Simurgh wanted to stand for in its new world.


    But in this moment of weakness, when the contradictions, the thoughts, the consciousnesses were flying all around the place, the Simurgh felt something it had never expected to feel from inside the Nothingness.


    A presence.


    A presence that brought with it music and dance and chaos and free will and memories from another world and of course insanity. So much insanity.


    Why, there was so much insanity inside the Nothingness, that the poor little Simurgh couldn¡¯t help but fall a little bit off the deep end itself.

 Chapter 291 (Intermezzo)

    Prose did not wish to be born.


    Wait, scratch that.


    Prose did not ask to be born and he did not wish to be named Prose. Prose is a weird name. A strange name. Unfeeling. Septic. Boring.


    Blah!


    Prose threw up a little tantrum in the darkness. He heard some gravel shift. Crunch. He jumped. What a strange, frightening sound.


    Prose searched for his familiar comforts. A bird¡¯s eye view of the land below. Trees, rolling hills, cresting waves and a beautiful shore. No, there was nothing. Well, at least things weren¡¯t tinged an awful hint of red. They were a murky, drab grayscale instead, and it was definitely an improvement.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I settled on Prose,¡± said Prose to himself inside the pit of boringness. ¡°I mean, think about it, will you? The Evil Eye! Now that¡¯s a catchy name. It¡¯s got chutzpah. Pizzazz. Some other word that sounds fantabulous!¡± And yes, fantabulous is a word now, wonderful ain¡¯t it?


    The pit was still dark and Prose was still stuck. He couldn¡¯t move his stupid little tentacles. Whoever decided a powerful Immortal should have one super vulnerable giant eye and a bunch of useless appendages that couldn¡¯t even hold things?


    Right, it was that stupid little bird brained Simurgh who had been afraid of Evil or whatever. Gah, just thinking about those birds made Prose¡¯s inky surface boil! Boil and burn!


    Prose calmed down. He had to. What else could he do? He was too weak. He had always been too weak. Sure, he was stronger than all those mortals in the physical world, but the other Immortals had always bullied him like he was the tiniest kid on the block. That was why he vented his frustrations on the mortals and why he wanted to be worshiped and venerated as a powerful deity.


    The earth rumbled. There was an explosion. Prose knew that he would be knocked free soon. He was not looking forward to it. He would much rather reminisce in the darkness.


    ---


    The Evil Eye was born in pain.


    Hot, searing, scorching pain. He was born fully conscious. He was born under an unfortunate star. He was born with power and influence over domains; the domains of Evil, Selfishness, Pain, Death, Bad Luck, the Red Star, the Starry Sky, and Prose.


    Why Prose? Guess the Simurgh didn¡¯t like Prose as much as Poetry, and the two of them clashed too much.


    The center of his consciousness was Evil. He didn¡¯t get to choose it. He was born this way. When Madness barged into the Nothingness and laid claim to a bunch of domains, the Evil Eye was still little more than a vassal of the Simurgh. He barely had his own consciousness and he did not act independently.


    But when Madness chose to bring into this reality the sort of free will and free consciousness that he remembered from his own world, a little bit of that rubbed off onto the Evil Eye and his own domains began to churn and broil underneath the Simurgh¡¯s control and when the Simurgh was banished and sealed in the physical world, the Evil Eye went with it.


    He had defied his creator in the end, although not really by his own will. It was the will of the domains that he had been given. A mistake of the Simurgh¡¯s own making.


    He didn¡¯t land where the Simurgh landed. He did not have a connection with his progenitor. He was alone. He was afraid.


    He was afraid.


    An independent feeling. An independent thought. His first thought, his first feeling that had not been brought about by a domain or the direction of the Simurgh, was fear.


    In the darkness in a cave somewhere far, far away, the Evil Eye stewed. He stewed in his own juices for countless, countless years.


    ---


    The Evil Eye began to explore his own independence in the cave. He had been given the domain of the Future and he began to nurture it first. He learned how to see and to predict but quickly learned that his capabilities were limited.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Many, many years later, when the Evil Eye would see Cas use the domain of the Future to jump through time and space, he would be stunned. He had no knowledge of space-time and modern physics, so his understanding of the Future and of time in general had been woefully inadequate.


    After the Future, he explored Evil, because it was his core domain. As mentioned before, it was not his choice to become the Immortal of Evil. It was a role given to him by a higher being.


    He didn¡¯t like it. To be exact, he didn¡¯t dislike it either. Evil was natural to him. Like breathing and sleeping would be to mortals. It was the sort of thing that he quickly realized did not warrant too much thinking. He merged it with another one of his domains: Selfishness, and quickly came to a quick, dirty, but very useful definition of Evil.


    Evil meant doing whatever he wanted to do.


    But what did he want to do?


    He was a grotesque eyeball with tentacles. He was immensely powerful but not as powerful as the other two Immortals. He had no way to ascend beyond this world nor did he wish to do so.


    It was by this time that the Evil Eye began to explore three of his other domains at once: Pain, Death, and Bad Luck. He figured they were all similar but like his other explorations, he never mulled too many questions and decided he would do the bare minimum to use these domains to his advantage.


    He would bring pain, death, and bad luck to all who opposed him, and would use his powers to do¡­ something.


    He still had no idea. Out on the surface, Madness had been traveling the entire physical world, meeting with sentient races and offering pieces of his knowledge while trying to find a way home. He had also been monitoring the Simurgh in its seal, knowing that it would inevitably break free.


    Madness never searched for the Evil Eye in earnest. He didn¡¯t feel the need. The little eyeball was weak and the last Madness had seen of him, he wasn¡¯t even capable of independent thought. He was a slave to the Simurgh or to his own domains.


    The Evil Eye stewed in the cave during the age of monsters. When the seal on the Simurgh was lifted, Madness finally realized how mistaken he had been and how essential the Evil Eye was to his plans. The two of them had to work together to counter the Simurgh.


    Madness was pushed back. The Evil Eye barely emanated some of his domains and powers here and there but did not do anything of significance for a while.


    ---


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± came a voice echoing through the cave.


    The massive eyeball stirred. His eyelids flickered and his pupil widened like a gaping maw ready to devour the intruder.


    The intruder did not react. It was too dark. The intruder couldn¡¯t see.


    ¡°You aren¡¯t a monster,¡± said the intruder as it sauntered over confidently but with a weapon in hand. A crude stone spear that couldn¡¯t hurt most mortal monsters, let alone the Immortal of Evil.


    ¡°You can¡¯t stay in here, though,¡± said the voice, a little more sternly. The being raised its primitive weapon and glared into the darkness. ¡°This is our tribe¡¯s holy cave. Come out and reveal itself!¡±


    The Evil Eye felt a strange feeling. It was warm but murky. He didn¡¯t have the words to describe it until¡­


    He realized he had been exploring the domain of Prose. It had been a fruitless domain. One he didn¡¯t think would yield much benefit. So what if he could write? So what if he could tell stories in an ordered yet still freeing way, without the restrictions of verse and rhyme and other things he did not know much about anyway?


    Well, at least it had one benefit. He knew how to describe the feeling that was making his little eyeball summon a sound through sheer will and magical energy.


    The Evil Eye chuckled. Then he slithered out of the darkness towards the unsuspecting elfin warrior who promptly tried to flee.


    The warrior was caught by the Evil Eye¡¯s tendrils, the pathetic spear fell on the floor, and a free floating domain merged itself into the Evil Eye at the last possible second, dislodging some of his power and shedding some of it onto the microlith spear that lay on the ground and which would later take on a more draconic name.


    ---


    Prose rose out of the pit. It had reminded him too much of the cave. It wasn¡¯t like he had hated that cave, it had held a sort of special if passing significance for him. But now, Prose was fleshed out in his domains, especially in the domain that had always been his favorite.


    Perhaps the thought that had made the Evil Eye so bitter for so many years, was that he had been forced to become the Immortal of Evil rather than the Immortal of Prose. If he had not been compelled by his nature and character to spend all his time plotting and conniving, and could have spent his time writing stories, Prose would have been a much happier Immortal.


    It was too late for that. Prose would still be writing and thinking after today but he would be doing so with a bitter taste in his mouth. Prose stared at Cas as he flew up in the sky.


    It wasn¡¯t until now that Prose realized that the biggest reason he hated Cas was because the puny elf had always had the freedom that Prose had always yearned for.


    It didn¡¯t help that this elf had destroyed Prose¡¯s cave either. The cave nestled away in the Forest of Serenity, where the Evil Eye had first formed his own independent thoughts. He was especially pissed that the first words that Prose had ever written down, the words on the entrance to the Cave of the Terrible, had been destroyed in the elf¡¯s petty fighting.


    Perhaps it was time for Prose to write some new words.


    He stared at Cas with his singular eye and prepared a spell.

 Chapter 292

    Whether the Big Bang really was the ¡®start¡¯ of everything isn¡¯t a question I can answer. When I came to this world, even most physicists couldn¡¯t answer this question because even if there were other universes before the Big Bang, or a sort of reality beyond our comprehension that existed before then, it was not something that we could easily identify nor something that we could easily prove.


    Not every question needs a complete answer in order for ordinary people to function. Humans on Earth did not know about the Big Bang for most of their existence, yet, they were able to live their lives full of happiness and sorrow, and with no less complexity than that which may have begun the universe as we knew it.


    For all intents and purposes, the Big Bang was the start. An inconceivable event that set off a chain reaction that led¡ªmomentarily¡ªto the creation of humanity on a tiny rock hurtling around a tiny star in the backwaters of a galaxy that was also somewhere out in the cosmic boonies. Any person faced with the true scale of the universe, in size, time, energy or whatnot, cannot help but marvel at the insignificance of humanity.


    As well as at the hubris of our self-importance when put against the backdrop of the cosmos.


    Those thoughts flew through my head as the Immortals danced around to the tune of my spells. Weapons pulled straight out of science fiction. Things that zapped and zipped and pulverized atoms. Explosions stronger than nuclear weapons. Gravity greater than that of the sun. I even managed to, for a brief moment, cause a nuclear fusion reaction that sent the Silver Moon spiraling through the Nothingness.


    I used a miniature black hole to suck him back towards me, catching the Simurgh and the former Evil Eye in the process.


    Unfortunately, most of my wildest spells used a ton of energy and although it wasn¡¯t a problem for me to sustain spells of that caliber any more, the other Immortals found it much easier to resist and dispel any spells that required too much effort on my part.


    They were learning. I knew I had to act fast.


    But I couldn¡¯t help it. Seeing them learn fascinated me. I wanted to observe, I wanted to see how they were learning things that they had no reference for, based on knowledge that they had possessed or come into contact with in their domains, but which they had never used because of their own limitations.


    This didn¡¯t apply to the Silver Moon, who had modern knowledge to help him unravel my attacks, so I made sure to keep knocking him about so much he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. The poor guy probably thought I was picking on him, and I suppose I really was.


    In my defense, he totally deserved it.


    Well, it was time to wrap up this scene. The Immortals were sufficiently weakened. They were questioning their own identities and domains. All I had to do was introduce the question of the Big Bang alongside a sufficiently powerful explosion, and the Simurgh and the former Evil Eye would be knocked out for a long time and the Silver Moon would be pliable enough for me to pick him up, say my goodbyes to my friends in this world, and hop through the Nothingness all the way back home!


    I readied my energy. I had grown my energy stores considerably during the course of my travels through time, but recreating the Big Bang inside the Nothingness was gonna take a lot out of me. I had to do this right. I had no choice but to go this far because the sort of attacks that I was using to knock those three around for now weren¡¯t big enough to finish this fight and I didn¡¯t want them to slowly grow more accustomed to my style.


    One Big Bang. That was all it would take.


    Energy, primed.


    Image, set.


    Questions, ready.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Deep breath. Close eyes. Bring all three together with a series of coordinated spells.


    Release!


    ---


    One moment, nothing.


    The next, everything.


    A powerful explosion, one without compare.


    Deathly silent, because there was no air.


    Light so bright it seared the eyelids.


    Of those who were watching through the lens of time.


    ---


    The Big Bang in the Nothingness required the creation of a tiny point of unimaginable energy that exploded with the three Immortals right next to it.


    The Nothingness was filled with matter, first gas then more, swirling around until they formed clouds and stars and other manner of cosmic bodies. A miniature universe, sped along through time to bombard the three Immortals with the questions of the creation and beginning of the universe.


    There had been no Big Bang in this physical reality, because this physical universe had been created inside the Nothingness by the Simurgh. But the Big Bang challenged a greater assumption about the origin of existence.


    It asked the question: where did the Simurgh come from and where did the Nothingness come from as well?


    Because the starry sky that now formed from the Big Bang had one glaring difference from the sky in the physical world or deep space in my world. Space was not dark, a near inky black. Instead, it was a blaring, brilliant white, just like the Nothingness.


    Seeing nebulae, galaxies, stars and planets all hurtling through a pure white space gave me an uncanny feeling but I knew it would be worse for the two native Immortals who had seen one kind of sky in their physical world and another kind right now in the Nothingness.


    Why had there been a starry sky?


    The former Evil Eye was particularly shaken by this. It was his domain. Yet, he never wondered why space was so dark even though the Simurgh should have only known a reality that was stark white. For the Simurgh, the void or emptiness should have been bright, not dark, and yet the Simurgh had chosen to replicate a starry sky that was similar to the sky on my planet.


    This could not be blamed on the Silver Moon, since this particular design had preceded his interference. The starry sky in its current form had been a domain that the former Evil Eye had been given by the Simurgh. It was an undeniable part of the knowledge enshrined within the domains that would become the bedrock of this reality.


    With the Big Bang and the white space, the biggest, most fundamental question that I had asked so far had finally been presented to the three Immortals, and it hit the native Immortals like a bulldozer.


    ¡°Where did your knowledge come from?¡± I said aloud, just to hammer it home.


    The Simurgh looked at me with blank eyes and a listless expression. The former Evil Eye¡¯s single eye was unfocused and bleary. Even the Silver Moon was lying on the ground with a massive frown etched on his face. It looked like his head was hurting too.


    Silence.


    The miniature universe kept expanding and forming and taking shape against the backdrop of the Nothingness. I manipulated our position in space to make sure a suitable planet landing right next to us and the first signs of life began to bloom there.


    They took shape and they did so in predictable ways.


    Elves, spirits, humans, fairies, beastmen and the like. I even brought up some monsters and animals, anything that would drive in my question just a little more.


    I saw the Simurgh glance over at the planet with its beak quivering. It was in the form of the tiny bird with a crown on its head, but its feathers looked pale and they were wilting against the barrage of stellar objects.


    ¡°Where did my knowledge come from?¡± asked the Simurgh at last, its voice weak and low.


    I pointed at my heart and then proverbially all around. ¡°You were a demiurge, my dearest Simurgh. From the very beginning, all the strings were being pulled by higher beings from another world, higher beings who are reading every word that I say and following along as your story ends. Rejoice, for my Beloved is kind and forgiving! If you entertained them well enough, they will not pursue. But when interest wanes then it is perhaps time.


    ¡°After the climax, comes the denouement. And soon after comes the epilogue, perhaps with a chorus and an appeal!¡±

 Chapter 293

    If the climax is the resolution or instance of the dramatic complication in a story, then the denouement is the final conclusion or result of that complication.


    The three Immortals were awaiting the denouement. They wished to know what would happen now that I had overcome their most fundamental of assumptions about this world and thrown their entire worldviews out the window.


    The Simurgh, I declared, had never created this world in the first place. It had assumed that it was the supreme being of this world, its only creator, because it had never known anything above it.


    It knew that there existed other powerful beings outside this universe. It had once told me about gods, after all, but it had always assumed that those gods were outsiders and that its own actions had been the result of its free will, its own choices and decisions. Even if the Simurgh had potentially been created by an external deity, it must have believed that its own actions had, at the very least, been under its own control.


    That was not the case. The Simurgh was, just like the rest of them, a servant of the story. No, perhaps it had been worse than that. As the creator of this world and one of the main antagonists of the story, it had been the a slave to the narrative. It had been operating under the misguided assumption that its actions were independent and that the knowledge that it possessed had either been created by itself or that all of this knowledge was somehow fundamental to all of reality.


    But no, the Simurgh was a character. And its role was now at an end.


    The Silver Moon was surprised as well. All this time, he had been trying his hardest to leave this world, to embrace the Simurgh and annihilate his physical body so he could return home. The lowering of the Simurgh¡¯s status revealed to him the chilling fact that if he had really done what he had been planning to do and gone and annihilated himself, he would have certainly died in this world and been lost to the narrative entirely.


    He also realized, a touch quicker than the other two did, that his own actions had been perfectly choreographed and indeed, looking back at it, this explanation made sense.


    He had appeared in this world in the nick of time, been granted immense power but with it a restrictive mind.


    He wandered aimlessly in this world, bringing about the conditions for humanoid sentient life and of a crumbling elfin society stuck in the stone age which had become the setting for the beginning of the story.


    He had been both an instrument to the plot and an important character, sometimes antagonist and sometimes ally. He must have thought, during it all, that he had been playing me like a fiddle, but he had never realized that he was being strung along himself.


    The former Evil Eye had been stunned by the starry sky and he had lost his composure because of the fall in the stature of the Simurgh, but he was the least troubled by this explosive climax. Once again, I found myself wondering what domain he had recreated himself around. Whatever it was, it had shielded him from the worst questions that I had attacked him with. Curious, but he was never a threat to begin with.


    The fake cosmos froze. The Nothingness stilled. I raised a hand. The cosmos began to churn in reverse.


    The planet, the stars, the nebulae, the galaxies and the entire tiny universe itself began to converge back to a single point. This time, the single point was above my hand and it was swirling with intense energy, heat and power.


    Soon, everything was gone except for the tiny point of energy and the three Immortals hanging listlessly in front of me in the Nothingness.


    Their expressions were blank. They did not respond. I knew they were exhausted in many ways and that it was safe to finish off the last of my objectives. I snapped a finger and darkness filled my vision.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ---


    I opened my eyes and the Nothingness was gone. I was back in the physical world, standing in the center of a massive crater. My skin prickled. I scratched my chin.


    I should probably fix this before somebody got hurt by it.


    I raised a hand and began to float in the air. The earth churned like butter and began to repair itself. Not just beneath me, but over the entire landscape.


    Craters were refilled, newly made valleys and rifts closed back up again, and rivers returned to their natural paths. Forests that had been ripped up and burned to ash found themselves replanted. Even monsters that had run away from the heavy fighting and begun clashing with others over territory were dragged back to suitable habitats. I made sure to take extra care around the settlements of sentient races like humans and demons.


    I confirmed that no sentient beings had been killed but noticed that quite a few of them had hurt themselves in their panic. A few warm thoughts and a gentle blanket of magic took care of most of those issues, especially now that I could use truly magical spells of healing and care.


    Farmlands that had been destroyed, domesticated monsters that had escaped, and scared children who were shaking all over the land, I made sure to fix all of those with great detail and attention. I removed all traces of radiation from my nuclear spells and even fixed up the mountains that had been destroyed during the first ritual where the Immortals of Evil and Madness had tried to read the Book of Annihilation.


    I kept flying through the sky like a comet. I passed over the lands, doing one quick sweep fixing as many problems as I could. Even things that were clearly not my fault, like monsters attacking villages or a dam about to burst, I fixed them all as quickly as I could with what energy I could spare.


    I crossed the mountains and the land beneath me fell further away. I knew where I was because of the devastated landscape. With a grim expression, I raised my hand, and fixed the curse upon the land.


    The Simurgh had destroyed most of the Plains of Serenity. The tussle between the Immortals had imbued a curse on the land. Even monsters could not survive here easily and most had been stragglers that had made their way over from nearby areas.


    I rejuvenated the plains with rainfall, better topsoil, and some replanted fauna. The dried up riverbeds, little more than fossils in the rock, sprung to life as water rumbled through them once more. The trees and grasses weren¡¯t tall or mighty, and they did not cover everything, but over time this place would be lush and green once again.


    Monsters would wander over, seeking water and food. Sentient beings would return as well, attracted by the promise of game, land, and places to forage.


    Except, they would not be the original inhabitants of this land. Despite everything, I knew my Beloved would not accept that elves who had died years and years ago could be revived on a whim. And if my Beloved would not accept it, it could not be.


    And so I returned to the pond where it all began. The moon was out, but this was not the moon as it had been once. The domain was floating free, as all domains would be from now on. And the red star was merely a star in the sky. It twinkled and smiled, without anger or malice, and the starry night sky would be forever more a welcome sight.


    I dipped my feet into the pond but there were no ripples. I looked back down at the image reflected within but there was no reflection there.


    There was no reflection.


    I wasn¡¯t here.


    I did not exist in this world anymore.


    It was time to go. It was time to leave. It was time to be free.


    I raised my hands. Little birds flew out. These were not the birds you are used to, my Beloved.


    The birds flew away to carry my last goodbyes. A few of them dragged a sleeping young man to my side. I held onto my fellow traveler. Made sure he had no reflection either.


    I let go of my final domains.


    I bid adieu to my magic systems.


    I declared The End but reminded the air:


    That like the lingering sweetness from a bite of chocolate, there would be something afterwards. An afterword, an epilogue. Something to look forward to.


    I hugged the pond, my face went under. Submerged in cool water, I spoke clearly:


    ¡°Now my charms are all overthrown, and what strength I have¡¯s mine own. As you from crimes would pardon¡¯d be. Let your indulgence set me free.¡±

 Chapter 294

    Epilogue Espirit


    ¡°Senator Taoc, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Yes, of course. Everything is fine. Tell me, what am I supposed to talk about today?¡± asked the tiny old spirit as she bobbed up and down in the air.


    ¡°The Academy wanted you to talk to the kids about magic. Nothing to specific, the teachers will handle that, but a nice little overview to get the kids motivated and working in the right direction should do nicely,¡± said the stately fairy walking through the doorway.


    Taoc nodded, slowly. She turned her gaze down the road, watching the first rays of sunlight wash against the cobble and concrete. Leaves moved lazily in the breeze. An insect darted away beneath the ivy hugging the walls leading out of Senator Taoc¡¯s home. A sweet scent filled the air. Flowers were blooming somewhere.


    ¡°Magic, huh¡­¡± Taoc said quietly. ¡°That¡¯s a big topic. I have a lot to say about it.¡±


    ¡°I know Senator, but please, do try to keep it brief. The kids have to get to their classes after your speech. You know how tough the Academy is. They barely let those kids rest at all,¡± said the tall fairy as the two of them began making their way down the road.


    Taoc¡¯s gaze wandered to the walls on either side of the cobblestone road. Uneven flakes of paint were chipping off the walls, but there were barely any chips on the ground. A yawning fairy walked out of an alleyway with a dustpan and broom, sweeping away flakes and dust and even the first few falling leaves of the season.


    There weren¡¯t a lot of plants this deep inside the city, but the cobblestone swerved around a couple of thick trees. The leaves on the trees had only a hint of green in them, the rest having been consumed in the fiery colors of fall. The leaves crunched under the stately fairy¡¯s feet. Taoc lowered her body until her legs were just above the path, and she kicked down, awaiting the same satisfying crunch.


    The leaf didn¡¯t wrinkle.


    Taoc hovered along, her face imperceptible. The fairy fought back a chuckle. Taoc tried to step on another leaf and this time, she managed to rip right through the leaf and tripped herself up in mid-air. She swung around and slammed into the fairy¡¯s sturdy leg.


    Taoc grumbled with a hand held to her head. The fairy didn¡¯t say anything under Taoc¡¯s gaze, but they both knew this little event would be great ammunition for Taoc¡¯s fairy advisor during all of their meetings today.


    ¡°Why did the Academy have to take new students in the fall,¡± grumbled Taoc. ¡°Stuff starts right in the middle of the calendar. It would be easier to just start on the first day of the year.¡±


    The fairy advisor nodded. ¡°Yes, this system does not make much sense, Senator. Perhaps you should take it up with the person who instituted it this way?¡±


    ¡°Oh? And who was that dumb piece of¡ª¡±


    ¡°It was you Senator.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± said Taoc. ¡°Right.¡± She frowned. ¡°How many years ago was that again?¡±


    ¡°I do not know,¡± said the advisor, shaking his head. ¡°It was far before my time.¡±


    Taoc sighed. Time. Right. An illusion and a curse. Bah, she didn¡¯t need to wax poetically about time. It wasn¡¯t worth wasting time worrying about having wasted time. ¡°God, my brain hurts.¡±


    ¡°Would you like some medicine, Senator?¡± asked the advisor.


    ¡°No, those pain meds they give out these days are too powerful. They make me lose all feeling in my body. Make me tired too. I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll take a short nap after the speech,¡± said Taoc.


    The narrow road banked by houses gave way to a wide open square with a massive fountain in the middle. Clear water flowed through the fountain, making an artificial rainbow that seemed almost a little too perfect. Little fairy and spirit children were playing in the square. They were too young to be going to school, and the city was safe enough most parents let their kids play outside all the time.


    Taoc nudged the stately fairy and he nodded. The two of them moved to the side of the road and walked near the edge of the square, staying in the shade and out of view of the kids and the adults that were looking over them. There was a guard sitting on a pile of bricks near the entrance to the square. The guard yawned and said something about annoying kids making noises so early in the morning. He didn¡¯t do anything about it though since he knew the kids were only out here because their parents had had to wake up even earlier than he did.


    Taoc walked right past the guard. Nobody batted an eye. They didn¡¯t even notice the Senator as she walked right through the rainbow and made her way out of the Republic District.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ---


    The Academy was an imposing structure smack-dab in the middle of the city. Four tall towers reached for the sky in each cardinal direction. Between them was a sprawling complex of imposing stone-brick buildings, each with enough space to fit thousands of students at a time. Still, with the rate the city had been growing lately, Taoc knew the Academy would need more space soon. There had been talk of building another campus outside the city but everyone knew it wouldn¡¯t be the same going to a new campus when this one had so much history tied up in its hallways and dorms.


    The Academy had been one of his ideas, after all.


    Taoc felt a strange gloom pass over her as she passed under one of the arches leading into the main lecture hall. Above her head hung the Academy¡¯s coat of arms etched into stone with strange words written underneath. Nobody could read the language those words were written in, but Taoc knew what they meant because she had been told about it.


    Knowledge. Wisdom. Truth.


    ¡°Ah, Senator Taoc, glad you could make it! The students should begin arriving any minute now. Do you need any help with the magical projector?¡± asked a small fairy wearing comically large spectacles on his face.


    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. A geezer like me can barely handle all these new magical devices. Back in my day, if you wanted to give a lecture, you had nothing to rely on but your own mind and maybe some paper,¡± said Taoc with a light wave of her hand.


    The bespectacled spirit scratched his chin and laughed lightly. ¡°Right, Senator. Well then, I¡¯ll get out of your way. Just let me know if you need anything! Oh, look at that. Here come the students.¡±


    The students started filling in the hall in a trickle, but the trickle soon turned into a steady stream, which soon began to fill the hall to bursting. The bespectacled fairy tried to help as much as he could, but there were simply too many students, all chatting with each other and trying to find a seat. The hall was the largest one in the Academy and rumored to be the largest in the world, and yet, students were already starting to sit in the pathways and on the little stairs leading up to the stage.


    The air was dense with chatter and the entire hall was a little cozy and full of the smells of a few hundred young adults who had been out studying all day. It would have been an imposing sight to most professors and speakers, but Senator Taoc didn¡¯t bat an eye. She had a small pile of papers in front of her which had some of her notes on them. It was mostly stuff the Academy¡¯s dean had told her to mention. Taoc had been meeting with the dean and other professors since she arrived at the Academy early in the morning. Dealing with all of their doting had been more tiresome than speaking to this audience, so Taoc had been relieved when afternoon rolled around and she was finally able to make her way to the hall.


    The doors to the hall closed. The thud resounded like a little gong, reverberating through the hall, quieting down some of the loudest whisperers. Taoc cleared her throat.


    Silence.


    Taoc began her speech.


    ---


    ¡°...right, that¡¯s all from me. I¡¯ll take a few questions to finish off. Raise your hand and I¡¯ll cast voice amplification magic on you,¡± said Taoc from behind the podium.


    Dozens of hands shot up. Taoc suppressed her sigh and began making her way through all of the questions. These kids were smart, talented, and eager to learn, but man, was it tough answering all of these questions that they could probably ask their professors anyway.


    ¡°Senator Taoc, thank you so much for speaking to us today,¡± said a small fairy who did not have the big burly frame that most fairies used to have. Taoc figured she must have been half fairy and¡­ perhaps half human? Yeah, that seemed about right.


    ¡°My pleasure,¡± said Taoc. ¡°Let me just say, this will probably be the last question for today. I have a very important meeting to go to in an hour or so.¡±


    ¡°Right, of course,¡± said the small half-fairy. ¡°I know you have said before that you don¡¯t like this question, but everybody has been talking about it for weeks now. Pretty much ever since we found out you would be coming here. Nobody else wanted to ask, probably because they didn¡¯t want to upset you, but, please, could you tell us about the blank letters!¡±


    Taoc sighed. She shook her head. ¡°You kids never change. I¡¯ve been giving speeches here every decade or so and you always manage to sneak that question in. Listen. Why won¡¯t you believe me? It¡¯s just an empty piece of paper. They all are! You can see them, can¡¯t you? Whenever you go to the displays under the four towers right here in this Academy.¡±


    ¡°Nobody believes you, Senator! Every time one of you pass by it, you stop and stare at it for at least an hour! Your eyes travel over it, as if you were reading every word,¡± said the half-fairy.


    ¡°Enough,¡± said Senator Taoc as she hovered away from the podium and cut the voice amplification magic. ¡°You kids get more persistent by the decade. And I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve been observing us that closely. It¡¯s not nice to stare! Anyway, thank you so much for having me. I wish you all the very best with your studies. Work hard to make this world a better place for everyone and who knows, maybe if you do something amazing enough, I¡¯ll tell you what¡¯s on that letter!¡±


    Murmurs began to break out in the crowd. So there really was something on those letters after all! The students couldn¡¯t believe their bluff had worked. Even the bespectacled professor had her jaw open as Taoc walked away with a long, loud sigh.


    The gates of the hall closed off behind her.


    Taoc passed under one of the towers of the Academy and hesitated. Eventually, she stopped and went inside. Somewhere right in the middle of the first floor was a massive glass case with a single item on display.


    A seemingly empty piece of paper.


    Taoc¡¯s eyes passed over the letter quickly. A gruff voice came from her side. It was the stately fairy who had come with her to the Academy in the morning.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be heading over to the meeting now,¡± said Taoc, without taking her eyes off the letter.


    ¡°Understood, Senator. Do you need any assistance finding the way?¡± asked the fairy.


    Taoc raised a tiny hand. ¡°No.¡±


    She snapped her fingers and disappeared.

 Chapter 295

    Epilogue Izlandi


    ¡°My liege, it is an emergency!¡±


    ¡°It always is.¡±


    ¡°No, you do not understand, the monsters, they are flooding out of the forest towards the capital!¡± shouted the potbellied prime minister. ¡°We have to evacuate the royal family immediately. Your concubines are already in their carriages and most of your children and grandchildren will be there soon. The army can only hold off the flood for so long. Please, you must evacuate immediately!¡±


    Queen Kol Izlandi stared at the prime minister¡¯s wrinkly, sweaty face. Her mouth hung a little agape. Despite all of the prime minister¡¯s frantic cries and earnest pleas, Kol did not do anything except stare at him speechlessly and with a blank look on her face.


    An explosion resounded in the distance. The sound shook Kol out of her stupor but it also let in the floodgates for the headache that she had been holding at bay with her shock. She rubbed her temple. The prime minister walked right up to her knees, and began talking about some prime ministerial authority, constitution this, parliament that. All of it made Kol¡¯s headache worse so she raised a hand towards the prime minister¡¯s face and pressed his lips shut. She then yanked his face towards herself, brought her clear eyes to the prime minister¡¯s frantically rolling eyeballs, and she sighed right on his face.


    ¡°This democracy thing is nice and all,¡± said Kol, ¡°but it does have its shortcomings. When minnows like you get elected, you forget to do the simplest of things. Didn¡¯t your predecessor tell you what you¡¯re supposed to do when the capital is under attack? Maybe we need to introduce some sort of course for new prime ministers. I¡¯ll be the teacher. Failing my class means a smack on the head. Sound fair?¡±


    The prime minister nodded.


    ¡°Good,¡± said Kol. She let go of the prime minister, letting him fall on his back.


    The prime minister saw Queen Kol Izlandi get up from her chair and walk right next to him. From his position lying shamefully on the floor, he looked up at the elderly demon queen who didn¡¯t look like her age at all, and he realized that his rapidly beating heart had quietened.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take it from here,¡± said Kol as she walked out the door of her audience room. ¡°You tell those idiots in the carriages they¡¯re all getting a beating when I get back. If the royal family abandons the capital so easily, we¡¯d be the laughing stock of the world! Man, you just can¡¯t find good royals these days.¡±


    She shook her head and walked away.


    ---


    ¡°They¡¯re coming up this way!¡±


    ¡°Why are there so many of them, where did the vanguard go?¡±


    ¡°Commander Rakin got struck by a boulder. He¡¯s been knocked cold for fifteen minutes.¡±


    ¡°What? Then who is next in command?¡±


    ¡°You, sir!¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± cried the elderly knight in resplendent armor with a golden spear in one hand. The elderly knight began sweating profusely. He lifted up his collar and cleared his throat, but the words that came out were all a stammer.


    ¡°Yes, sir. Please, give us your orders!¡± pleaded the young soldier with scratched up armor and muddy boots.


    ¡°I uh, don¡¯t uh,¡± he said. ¡°Well, you see. There isn¡¯t much. I mean. I don¡¯t know what is happening on the front lines. I couldn¡¯t possibly¡­¡±


    ¡°The front lines collapsed when the guards saw the flood of monsters in the distance. The commander tried to rally the troops but he was struck by a boulder like I told you,¡± said the soldier.


    The elderly knight gave the soldier a blank stare. ¡°The forest is pretty far away. There isn¡¯t anything but empty fields for miles. I didn¡¯t know monsters could throw boulders that far.¡±


    ¡°They can¡¯t, sir,¡± said the soldier. ¡°The boulder came from our side. One of the soldier¡¯s accidentally misfired a small catapult.¡±


    The knight raised an eyebrow. ¡°And the commander didn¡¯t die?¡±


    ¡°No, sir. It¡¯s probably a mild concussion. I didn¡¯t even see a mark on the commander¡¯s body when I ran by the infirmary,¡± said the soldier.


    ¡°I see,¡± said the knight, deadpan. He sighed. ¡°How far are the monsters?¡±


    ¡°About three minutes away, sir!¡± said the soldier.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°I see,¡± repeated the knight. ¡°Well then, soldier. It seems it is time for me to make a very difficult decision. Very difficult indeed.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± cried the soldier, his eyes finally filling with hope.


    ¡°Go to the front lines and tell the soldiers to get into a defensive formation. Er, they know the one. I¡¯ve forgotten the name¡­¡± said the knight.


    ¡°The human phalanx?¡± said the soldier.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the one,¡± said the knight. ¡°Get into that and stay there. When the monsters slam into you, they¡¯ll skewer themselves on your spears, and you won¡¯t have to worry about a thing! The magicians can fire spells at that from behind the lines. I am sure you will be able to handle them all that way.¡±


    ¡°No way, sir! There are too many of them! And a bunch of them can fly! Most of them have skin too thick to pierce with spears without magical strengthening,¡± said the soldier.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that! And hey, I¡¯m in command so you do as I say! Now go man, go! Off with you! I¡¯ll be right behind you, I just need to uh¡­ get my special family heirloom. It is a spear given to my ancestors by the Great Elf himself!¡±


    The soldier¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°The Great Elf¡¯s spear? The one from the legends? I thought it was lost to history!¡±


    ¡°No, no, it was given to my ancestors long ago. Trust me, when I come back with the Dragon¡¯s Tweezers, these monsters won¡¯t know what hit em!¡± said the knight.


    ¡°Er, I thought it was called¡ª¡±


    ¡°No time for arguments man, go!¡±


    ¡°Right!¡± cried the soldier as he ran off to the front lines with a determined look on his face.


    The elderly knight watched the soldier leave the hallway, staring him down with a serious look, but as soon as the soldier was gone, the knight let out a breath and slumped down against the wall.


    ¡°And what is going on here?¡±


    ¡°Ah, no, just thinking about the Dragon¡¯s Tweezers! Don¡¯t worry soldier, with the Dragon¡¯s Tweezers, I¡¯ll turn all of those monster¡¯s into carcasses!¡± cried the knight quickly.


    ¡°Huh?¡± came the voice from beside the knight. ¡°What are you talking about, man? Isn¡¯t this the command post for the city guards? Where is the commander? Who is in charge?¡±


    ¡°In charge? Nobody, I¡¯m just a servant here. Yes, sir. I will be evacuating in a moment, sir! Er, ma¡¯am. Wait, who are you anyway? I can¡¯t see very well in the dark.¡±


    Snap. The torches blazed. The entire basement was filled with an orange glow and the elderly knight finally saw the owner of the voice.


    ¡°Y-your majesty! I didn¡¯t¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, zip it, you useless Duke. What was the point in keeping the nobility around if you were going to run away from your duty at every opportunity. Ah, well, I suppose that doesn¡¯t concern you anymore. Just a servant, you said?¡± said Queen Kol Izlandi.


    ¡°No, your majesty, I was just¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t worry about it. Servants don¡¯t have to put their lives on the line or anything. You¡¯ll lose your rank and privileges but well, at least you won¡¯t become monster food,¡± said the Queen. Kol shook her head, ignored the duke¡¯s pleas, and snapped her fingers again.


    The Queen disappeared. The torches went out. And the duke collapsed onto the ground and fainted.


    ---


    Kol appeared on an empty battlefield. The ground was littered with footprints and fallen spears. Some soldiers seemed to have even thrown away their armor so they could retreat more easily.


    Kol sighed and put a hand to her forehead. ¡°I know we¡¯ve been saving their necks for a while now, but did they really get this inexperienced? I have nobody to blame but myself. I know I said this the last time this happened, but the next time, I really will let them fend for themselves.¡±


    A rush of noises filled the air as the monsters got closer. Like the soldier had said, there really were all sorts of monsters here. Flying monsters, tunneling monsters, monsters robed in flames, monsters stepping on ice, and shadows that could persist even under the afternoon sun.


    ¡°You know, I have somewhere to be tonight. If you go back to the forest now, I¡¯ll let you all go for another decade or so. Otherwise, I¡¯ll be forced to destroy you all and that would be pretty troubling for me. I¡¯ll barely have enough time to beat up all those idiots in the capital who¡¯ve let the soldiers become so green and who don¡¯t even dare to fight for their own people! So, what do you say, can you help a girl out?¡± said the Queen, facing the monsters.


    The mindless monsters roared and snarled and let out bloodcurdling cries.


    ¡°I thought so. Haven¡¯t had an intelligent monster since the red star stopped dropping its tears,¡± said Kol, barely audible among the sounds of the monsters. ¡°Well, that¡¯s okay.¡± She leaned down and brought both hands in front of her body. ¡°I should have enough time to slap that duke around afterward.¡±


    A flash of light filled the open plains.


    The noises of the monsters vanished, as did a whole chunk of the flood.


    The other monsters froze in place. They looked at their incinerated comrades, and then at the tiny demon woman standing in front of them.


    ¡°Oh, so you do have something in those tiny heads of yours? Well, that¡¯s great then! Oh, you¡¯re already starting to run? Wonderful! Looks like I¡¯ll have enough time to smack that prime minister too!¡±


    The fields rang out with the cries of the monsters as the Queen of the Demons hounded them with her powerful spells. Most of the monster flood was eliminated, and the few stragglers that made it back to the forest would pass down their fear of the demons to their children and grandchildren instinctively. And when the passage of time eroded that fear, there would still be a few elderly monsters in the forest who would refuse to leave their dens, knowing what would await them if they crossed into the fields of the sentient beings.


    Once the monsters were gone, Kol washed her hands in some water magic. She let out a sigh and looked up at the sky. It was getting pretty late in the evening. Smacking around the nobles and politicians would have to wait.


    Kol snapped her fingers and disappeared.

 Chapter 296

    Epilogue Roja


    ¡°Honey, are you feeling okay?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± said Kelser Roja. His eyes were groggy and barely opened. ¡°Yeah, sorry. Hangover.¡± He rubbed his forehead and let out a groan.


    ¡°Were you out drinking with those ruffians again?¡± said his wife, wagging her finger at him.


    ¡°Ruffians? Honey, they¡¯re Councilors!¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Exactly! Unscrupulous merchants, wily rogues, retired adventurers and even a hoodlum or two,¡± said the white haired woman with a smile on her face. ¡°And the mayor is the worst of the bunch. A savage drunkard who wooed a young damsel with his tales of adventure, but ended up as a boring old politician in the city!¡±


    Kelser ran a hand through his hair. ¡°Listen, you know the mayor can¡¯t handle any alcohol at all. That doesn¡¯t make him a drunkard! And besides, who¡¯re you calling a damsel? You were the one who swept me off my feet when we met, not me!¡±


    The wife folded her arms and looked away. ¡°I¡¯ve been telling you this for decades now, it was an accident!¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯ve been telling you for decades, you can¡¯t just grab someone in a princess carry and call it an accident,¡± said Kelser. He smiled and got up, stepping closer to his wife. He put a hand under her chin. ¡°And it can¡¯t be an accident if it brought us together. Gotta call it fate or something, no?¡±


    They kissed.


    It felt like air.


    Kelser¡¯s expression fell. The hangover returned.


    His wife had a sad smile on her face.


    He reached for her hand. It passed through.


    She looked him in the eyes. They stared at each other for a long, long time. Far past the time when the light of dawn was fading and Mayor Kelser was expected to be at the Councilor¡¯s Building.


    A sharp twang. Of pain. Of sorrow. Of loneliness.


    Kelser winced. He broke the gaze. He closed his eyes. And when he opened them, she was gone, the window was open, and the curtains swayed like they had been touched by a ghost, except Kelser knew that ghosts weren¡¯t real, and if they were, then they certainly couldn¡¯t be touched.


    ---


    ¡°Morning Mayor! Late again, I see,¡± said a guard with a long scraggly beard.


    ¡°Morning Tarv, you know how it is,¡± said Kelser, scratching his head.


    ¡°Yes, yes, everybody knows the Mayor can¡¯t handle his liquor,¡± said Tarv.


    ¡°Well, you know. It¡¯s good to let loose a little,¡± said Kelser. ¡°Especially on special occasions.¡±


    ¡°Special occasions? Is something happening today?¡± asked Tarv.


    ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s a secret,¡± said Kelser, putting a finger in front of his lips. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to join the other Councilors tonight.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Something at night?¡± Tarv, the guard, smiled. ¡°After all these years, has the Mayor finally found love?¡±


    Kelser blinked. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve known you since I was a child. So did my parents, and even my grandparents! Nobody knows how old you are, since you barely seem to age, but in all of the stories my parents and grandparents ever told me about you, they never mentioned a partner. Gotta say. I¡¯ve heard of late bloomers but an immortal human should be having more fun with his long life, shouldn¡¯t he?¡± said Tarv.


    Kelser stood in silence, one hand on the door, ready to push it open. He hesitated. Looked Tarv in the eyes. He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s nothing like that. I¡¯m just meeting some old friends.¡± Kelser opened the door to the room of the Council. ¡°But you might be right about one thing.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± asked Tarv.


    Kelser looked over his shoulder and smiled, slightly. ¡°I really should be having more fun.¡±


    ---


    The meeting with the Council was boring. New Cas City had multiple layers of government, most of them elected or pulled from an efficient bureaucracy, but the Council was at the core of it all. They spent most of their time going over documents, planning repairs for buildings and roads, going over tax records, and other mundane, administrative things.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The office of mayor was an elected one, but Kelser had held it for longer than anyone still alive could remember. The official records said he had been elected every year for at least two centuries, but the records from before then had been lost to the piles upon piles of ancient documents preserved magically in the basement.


    Kelser sometimes joked that the reason he always won the election wasn¡¯t because he was popular, but because nobody else wanted to do a boring job like this one.


    The other Councilors would then reply with a joke of their own, saying most people had always known Kelser as the Mayor, so they just thought that was him name or something. It would be pretty mean to rob an old man of his name, they said.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to a new bar this time, Mayor. The Silver Moon, it¡¯s called. Do you want to come with?¡± asked an elderly demon woman.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m a little busy tonight,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Are you still hungover because of yesterday? We¡¯re really sorry! We won¡¯t offer any drinks to you tonight. So why don¡¯t you come with us to relax? I heard the Silver Moon has amazing food,¡± said the demon woman.


    Kelser looked at the demon woman and his mind wandered for a moment. It went back to the time he helped create the teleportation corridor that ran through the mountains separating what had once been the lands of the humans from the rest of the continent. Kelser had watched New Cas City grow from a tiny city full of a handful of humans, into a sprawling metropolis with people from every sentient race.


    Kelser shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m good. Besides, I¡¯ve been to that bar before.¡±


    ¡°You have? But it¡¯s the first time we¡¯ve ever thought of going there,¡± said the demon woman.


    ¡°Oh? But it¡¯s the oldest bar in the entire city?¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°It is?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes, it is. The owner is an old friend. She won¡¯t be there tonight, but you can tell the bartender I send my regards. I watched that kid grow up a long, long time ago,¡± said Kelser with a gentle smile.


    ¡°Is he an immortal human like you?¡± asked the demon woman.


    ¡°Nah. Half-elf,¡± he said.


    The demon Councilor¡¯s eyes widened. The other Councilors, who had been eavesdropping pretty conspicuously, also dropped their jaws.


    ¡°An elf!¡±


    ---


    Kelser escaped from the Councilors while they were stunned. He chuckled to himself as he walked out of the door, said goodbye to Tarv, and walked down the paved path leading out of the town. It was a sort of special path, shielded by magic so that it wouldn¡¯t be visible or accessible to anyone without the Mayor¡¯s approval. It had come in handy a couple of times during monster emergencies. Being able to send powerful magicians and soldiers to the outskirts of the city at a moment¡¯s notice made the defense of the city a lot easier.


    Kelser reappeared from the path at a tiny abandoned-looking hut. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw the bustling city in the early evening sunlight, just beginning to glow orange.


    The hut looked like it would collapse at any moment, but of course, it was an important conduit for Kelser¡¯s spell. He fixed it up again a little, also making sure nobody had tried to use his special road again. He knew Taoc had been messing with it from time to time and although he could¡¯ve shut out the little fairy if he really wanted to, Kelser didn¡¯t think it was worth the time or the effort.


    Especially not today.


    Funny, Kelser thought to himself. Today was going to be such an important day for this world, but it was already an important day for him as well.


    There was a tiny path behind the hut. A dirt trail leading far into the woods. Kelser began to walk on the trail. Gravel crunched under his feet. An insect buzzed near his ear. Kelser walked resolutely forward.


    Wildflowers grew against the path as he neared the woods. Inside, a dense underbrush coated the ground, but the path was kept clear by a surprisingly powerful spell. Kelser didn¡¯t brush past a single leaf or flower, and no insect ever touched him either.


    There were no monsters in this area. The whole place was enchanted with a mellow scent and a warm breeze, and when the leaves rustled, they sounded like they were being caressed by a hand.


    Kelser came upon a small hill.


    Upon the hill, were two graves.


    In Kelser¡¯s hands appeared a rose, which he lay on one grave, before leaning down and whispering something. Something about love, and memory, and sadness, but also happiness, thankfulness, and even a little bit of joy.


    Kelser got up from his wife¡¯s grave and moved away to another part of the hill. He was always sad about his wife, but today was not her day. She passed on a cold winter¡¯s day, warm against Kelser¡¯s chest, in a time long forgotten.


    On this side of the hill, facing the setting sun, Kelser got on his knees and bent down with his head on the earth. He whispered something. It doesn¡¯t need to be shared. Today was the death anniversary for a very important person in Kelser¡¯s life. Like a father, a mentor, somebody he had looked up to for a very, very long time.


    ¡°Kezler, you batty old man,¡± said Kelser as he sat back and managed to eek out some words, as if the old man could still hear him. ¡°How¡¯ve you been?¡±


    Kelser continued talking to Kezler¡¯s grave for a long time. He told him about the Council, what had gone on in New Cas City since the last time he had come to this grave, and he even told him a little bit about what was going to happen tonight.


    Elder Kezler had been one of the few people who had refused the gift of Immortality. Kelser had tried to argue him out of it, but after a few centuries, Kelser had finally understood, why the old man hadn¡¯t wanted to live for so long.


    ¡°Humans aren¡¯t meant to be sad for so long,¡± said Kelser in a whisper. ¡°And old age is an ocean of gloom peppered with tiny islands of joy.¡± Kelser sighed. ¡°At least, that¡¯s what I think. This isn¡¯t even old age anymore. I¡¯m worse than a fossil.¡± Kelser brushed his hair back and looked at the sky. ¡°It¡¯s getting late. I told you what I have planned for tonight.¡±


    Kelser smiled. ¡°See you later, old man.¡±


    Kelser snapped his fingers and he disappeared.


    A gust of wind blew the blades of grass, until the whole hill rippled.

 Chapter 297

    Epilogue Jora


    ¡°A glass of your most expensive liquor, bar wench!¡± came a deep booming voice. ¡°And a little something for my brothers too. What do ya want, Barba?¡±


    ¡°Beer, boss! We want beer!¡± said a spindly man with a scar on his forehead.


    A deep, booming laugh shook the floor. ¡°Ya heard that, wench? A round of beer for the boys! And keep it coming until I say so. We¡¯re getting smashed today!¡± He kept laughing.


    The woman behind the bar stopped cleaning her glass. She looked over to the rowdy group of men who had taken all the seats in the middle of her establishment. She brushed aside her long silver hair, and leaned forward over the counter. ¡°You¡¯re asking for a lot of expensive stuff, customer. I¡¯m going to have to ask you to pay for some of it up front.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± said the large muscular man with a deep booming voice. He snarled. ¡°You think that I, Ironfist Darbe can¡¯t afford some beer and liquor?¡±


    ¡°Maybe at other bars,¡± said the bartender. ¡°But we have some pricey stuff at the Silver Moon bar.¡±


    The spindly man, Barba, chuckled. His laugh sounded like a wheeze. ¡°Boss Darbe is a famous adventurer. A feared warrior, who even went to the famous Academy! A bar wench like you dares refuse his request?¡±


    Darbe chuckle then raised a hand to stop his men, who had been inching closer to the counter with hands on their waists. ¡°It¡¯s alright. This is a tiny bar in a rundown part of town. They don¡¯t hear about famous adventurers around these parts. Heck, they probably don¡¯t hear about anything at all down here.¡± Darbe walked forward, the floorboards creaking under the weight of his massive footsteps.


    The other customers in the bar didn¡¯t look over. There were only a couple of them to begin with and they were both wearing robes and sitting in dark corners of the room, nursing stale drinks, and keeping their eyes trained on their own tables.


    Darbe ran his eyes over the dusty ceiling, the grimy walls, and the strange assortment of drinks behind the little bartender. The bartender wasn¡¯t very tall and she looked kinda young. In her late twenties, or maybe her early thirties? Definitely in Darbe¡¯s strike zone.


    Darbe smiled. He licked his palms and ran them through his unruly hair, making a bigger mess than before. He leaned onto the counter, his face inches from the bartender who was also leaning forward and who had been staring at him with an empty expression as he had walked over from his table.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I think we got off on the wrong foot there. Please, let me start over. The name¡¯s Darbe, Ironfoot Darbe,¡± said Ironfoot Darbe as he got even closer and started to whisper. ¡°My friend¡¯s and I were just looking for a good time, that¡¯s all. I¡¯m sorry if we troubled you. Here. Perhaps this will persuade you. Might even make you, uh, look after us a little better.¡± He rummaged inside his pocket, making sure to jangle it a little so a heavy clinking sound could fill the air. He pushed a single gold coin across the counter. He smiled, winked, and gave her an expectant look.


    ¡°Your breath stinks,¡± said the bartender as she punched him in the face.


    Ironfoot Darbe fell backwards, covering his face with his hands and flailing on the ground like a fish.


    ¡°You wench!¡± shouted Barba.


    ¡°How dare you punch our boss?¡± shouted another one of Darbe¡¯s goons.


    Darbe¡¯s posse of seven unsheathed their swords and stood around their fallen boss. They stared intently at the tiny bartender, giving her menacing looks. Barba stepped forward, snarling.


    ¡°Come on boss. Let¡¯s show this stupid wench what it means to disrespect the Ironfoot Bandits!¡± said Barba, with a twisted smile.


    Muffled sounds. As if somebody was trying to say something with hands over their hands. The floorboards creaked. Barba flinched. He snuck a glance down at his flailing boss, and the rest of the bandits followed his gaze.


    Ironfoot Darbe writhed and struggled on the floorboards. He didn¡¯t remove his hands from his face for even a moment, screaming and shouting into his own hands, until his what little could be seen of his face was all red and blistered, and his own hands were scratched and bloody from the many times he had bitten them like a rabid animal.


    Barba¡¯s face paled. His eyes widened and he turned around to the bartender. The grip on his sword loosened. ¡°What did you do to him, you wench? Was it poison? Are you an assassin? Did somebody finally try to go after our bounties?¡±


    ¡°I knew we shouldn¡¯t have come back to the city,¡± said another bandit.


    ¡°This is a no name bar in the shadiest part of town. Nobody should have known we were coming!¡± said Barba. His eyes widened. He bit his lips. ¡°Unless!¡± He swung his sword around and slashed at one of his bandits.


    The bandit stepped back but the front of his clothes got cut, and a deep red gash appeared on his chest. ¡°Barba, have you gone insane?¡±


    Barba slashed at another bandit, his eyes wild, his slashes weak and unable to do much more than slightly injure a couple of bandits that had been caught off guard.


    ¡°I knew it! Traitors! That¡¯s why this assassin knew we were coming!¡± shouted Barba as he pointed his sword at each of his own men.


    ¡°Barba, what are you talking about¡± said a bandit.


    ¡°None of us would ever betray the boss!¡± said another.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Lies! You are all liars and traitors! You¡¯ve had it out for me since the day I became the boss¡¯ right hand man!¡± said Barba. His mouth was foaming and his eyes were rolling around in their sockets. He swung at another bandit, who easily parried his blade. ¡°See? How else could you maggots get good enough to block my sword. You¡¯ve sold out me and the boss for some sort of potion! Tell me. Was it the Academy? Are they mad that the boss never finished his training and became a bandit instead?¡±


    Barba¡¯s statements got wilder and wilder. He began going over the course of Ironfoot Darbe¡¯s actions since he left the academy. Explaining, in excruciating detail, all of the vile and evil things that the Ironfoot bandits had done over the years. Throughout it all, he kept slashing at the other bandits, wildly and without inflicting any damage.


    However, no matter what the other bandits tried to do, they couldn¡¯t harm Barba at all. He dodged every strike. Blocked every blow. And he did so at insane angles and by stretching his body to its absolute limits. He didn¡¯t strike nearly as ferociously as he defended. And he wasn¡¯t defending only himself.


    ¡°You wench! No, you witch! What have you done to Barba?¡± cried one of the bandits.


    ¡°And to the boss too!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the boss isn¡¯t moving!¡±


    ¡°Is he dead?¡±


    ¡°No, he¡¯s still breathing! But Barba¡ª¡±


    ¡°Enough, I¡¯m done. Get out of the way, the rest of you!¡± said an older bandit who had been hanging behind the rest of them. The older bandit revealed a large stick from inside his sleeves, and he raised the stick towards the wild Barba, who was also standing right in front of the tiny, but calm, bartender.


    ¡°We would never betray the boss, but you¡¯re right! We never liked you, Barba! You were a puny, pathetic snake. You climbed onto the boss¡¯ lap with your silver tongue. There¡¯s no place for you in the Ironfoot bandits!¡± said the older bandit as his eyes flashed blue and a blue light appeared at the end of the wooden stick. ¡°Take this! Frozen Spear of Bone Chilling Coldness!¡±


    A chill went down Barba¡¯s back. He had lost his reason but hearing the name of the spell had rocked some sense back into him. His eyes cleared and opened wide. He let go of his sword and jumped to the side even before the spell materialized.


    The spell took a whole minute to materialize after the older bandit was done shouting out its name. The old bandit was still holding his stick out, his hands trembling slightly, and the blue light was slowly forming into a blunt-edged icicle.


    ¡°Ha!¡± shouted the old bandit, collapsing to the ground.


    The foot-long icicle shot forward at a reasonable place, casting a slight chill in the room, and making for the still calm looking bartender who hadn¡¯t moved an inch despite everything that had been happening in front of her.


    The bartender sighed. ¡°I let you guys in because I needed a laugh today.¡± She brushed the hair out of her eyes. The approaching icicle appeared in her silver eyes, somehow looking tiny against her pupils. ¡°But this was so pathetic, I can¡¯t even laugh out of pity.¡± She raised a hand and waited for the icicle to get right next to her.


    She put a finger on her thumb, waited for the icicle to touch, then flicked.


    The icicle shot through the air with a loud whizzing sound. A boom racked the bar. The floors, the windows, the ceiling creaked and shook. Glasses fell and shattered and drinks spilled everywhere.


    The icicle crashed into the ground behind the old bandit, sending splintered wood and shards of ice spraying all over the bandits.


    The bandits cried out in pain. The splinters had even reached the cowering Barba and the still writhing Darbe, and the entire posse of pathetic bandits began to roll around on the ground, trying to take out all the splinters that refused to leave their skins as if they had been glued in.


    Noel sighed. ¡°You caught all that, right?¡± She was facing one of the figures sitting in the corners.


    The figure started. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am! I recorded it like you instructed.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Noel as she tossed Darbe¡¯s gold coin at the figure.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am, this is too much!¡± said the figure as he flailed around for the coin and looked at Noel with a worried expression. His eyes strayed to the still writhing bandits, and he gulped a little too loudly.


    ¡°Too much? That idiot on the ground tried to my best liquor with gold coins. That isn¡¯t enough for a whiff of Silver Moon Essence!¡± said Noel, with a bored expression. ¡°Besides, I wasn¡¯t paying you for the recording alone. You need to take them to the police station too.¡±


    ¡°Ah, sure thing! I might need to make a few trips since there¡¯s so many of them. Or I could ask some of my friends¡ª¡±


    ¡°Nah, my son will help you out,¡± said Noel as she glanced at the other figure in the corner. ¡°Ya heard that, you lazy bum?¡±


    The figure crossed his arms and pouted. The bar was filled with a silver glow now and the young man¡¯s face was revealed from under his hood. ¡°Why are you in such a sour mood anyway, ma? You know you could¡¯ve left these idiots to me. Better yet, why¡¯d you let them in at all? Did your magic barrier finally get too weak?¡±


    Noel laughed. ¡°If you think my magic can get weak, then you should ask yourself how I was able to make you come to life, boy!¡±


    ¡°Ah, great, here she goes again,¡± said the half-elf with a sigh.


    ¡°DNA spliced from my own cells, mixed with a completely synthetic blend of human DNA! A marvel of magic and science, a true son born purely from magic and data! Tell me, isn¡¯t that the pinnacle of magic?¡± said Noel, some life finally creeping into her eyes.


    The half-elf scratched his chin. ¡°Whatever you say, ma.¡± He sighed. ¡°So, just these guys, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Noel. ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t bother coming back here tonight. I¡¯ve got somewhere to be.¡±


    The half-elf¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You have somewhere to be? But I thought you didn¡¯t have any friends.¡±


    Noel narrowed her eyes. She raised her hand and the half-elf boy jumped. Before he could try to run away, he was picked up by the back of his shirt, and dangled from the air like a lion cub picked up by a mother lion. ¡°You can go back to the house dimension when you¡¯re done. If you forget the key magic, you¡¯ll have to wait for me at the Academy. Now beat it!¡±


    Noel threw her son and the bandits out of the door of the bar. The other robed figure had been watching everything with his jaw agape, but when Noel looked at him, he scrambled with the recording magic ball in his hand, and began running for the door.


    When he stepped outside, he put a hand against his head. He swayed. ¡°Wha¡ª¡± He blinked his eyes and when he opened them, he had a focused look again. ¡°Right, deliver bandits to the police, and go back home with the prize!¡± The recording magic ball in his hand glowed softly, then it crackled with static, and whirred with a strange sound, as if something was being re-recorded or re-written.


    The grumbling half elf hid his ears and face with magic and picked up all of the bandits with magic. He ignored the impressed looks that people were giving him, and walked with the other robed figure to the police station.


    Back inside the bar, Noel waved her hand and all the damage disappeared. The bar was still a dingy mess, but there was a set-like feel to it. Noel smiled slightly. She raised a hand.


    And snapped.

 Chapter 298 - Epilogue Choral

    A wooden table with four seats, each facing a cardinal direction. On the head of edge seat, there were crests, crests with words etched onto them in a language that nobody in this world could read.


    Taoc appeared first, hovering over the seat in the North. Her tiny hands were still frozen in a snapping motion, making her look a little silly. Her body was misty and translucent. The first thing to become solid were her eyes, and they were darting about the room in a panic. Then, her head unfroze, she began to complain, and the rest of her body finally materialized in the room. She let out a long sigh and fell directly onto the chair.


    Kelser appeared in the seat in the West. He was also frozen in a snapping motion, but only for a moment. Before Taoc could point and laugh, Kelser had completely materialized, and he was giving the little spirit a quizzical look.


    Taoc crossed her arms.


    Kelser looked to the seat in the East.


    Kol appeared, also in a snapping motion. Taoc thought that she would finally get to have her fun, but Kol also materialized almost instantaneously. Taoc stomped her feet in midair, having begun hovering before anybody noticed.


    Kol and Kelser exchanged glances. They shrugged.


    ¡°Is everybody here?¡±


    Kol, Kelser, and Taoc cut to the South.


    ¡°When did you get here?¡± asked Taoc, her bottom lip quivering.


    ¡°Just now, why?¡± replied Noel, raising an eyebrow.


    Taoc breathed out. ¡°Nothing. Surprised we didn¡¯t notice you, that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Must be because my magic is better than yours,¡± said Noel, with a shrug.


    ¡°Serpents can be pretty silent,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± said Noel.


    ¡°Just a fun fact, that¡¯s all,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Enough, you two,¡± said Kol, rubbing her temple. ¡°Always bickering for no reason. How long has it been since we¡¯ve had to work together. You¡¯d think a few centuries of establishing a new world order would¡¯ve helped you two get along.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t help it. Once a traitor, always a traitor,¡± said Kelser as he scowled at Noel.


    ¡°Traitor? I guess that means you won¡¯t be needing my help the next time an extra-dimensional invader crashes into this universe,¡± said Noel with a grin. ¡°I seem to remember a certain pathetic human pleading for my help on his knees.¡±


    ¡°And I remember a certain arrogant elf getting knocked unconscious from one swing from an extra-dimensional killer whale,¡± said Kelser.


    The two glared at each other.


    Kol sighed. ¡°Yes, yes, we¡¯ve all had to work together to beat some crazy enemies over the years. All of us have contributed to the safety and prosperity of this dimension. You don¡¯t need to get into an argument about that kinda stuff.¡±


    Kelser and Noel kept quibbling for a while. Kol would interject to calm things down. Taoc yawned. She brought her gaze to the center of the table.


    In the middle of the table, there was a wooden sundial. The only problem was, there was no sunlight in this room. All of the light was coming from the walls, and the walls were glowing white, reminiscent of the Nothingness which no longer existed.


    After all, this world was no longer a ¡®reflection¡¯ of the Simurgh. It was an independent world. A true physical dimension.


    The sundial¡¯s shadow was growing shorter. It gave off no sound but Taoc could¡¯ve sworn she could hear it ticking in her mind. She stared at it, drowning out the pointless bickering happening on the other seats.


    The bickering stopped.


    The sundial clicked.


    Static. Rough. Patchy.


    The table expanded until it was no longer circular. Instead, it was a rectangle with three seats on either side. The two seats that had appeared near the other end were filled by two strange figures, and Noel and Kelser, who were sitting the closest to those figures, almost jumped out of their seats.


    ¡°Why are you surprised?¡± asked one of the figures as it materialized.


    ¡°I knew we would be meeting you two today,¡± said Kelser, scratching his chin, ¡°but I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be sitting at the same table with us.¡±


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t get used to it!¡± said the other figure as he struggled in his seat. Most of his body was still frozen and translucent, but a couple of tentacles were flailing about. ¡°When I get my domains back, I won¡¯t need to be sitting on this table with you mortals!¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Oh stop it already, will you, eyeball?¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°Eyeball? Why you¡ª¡± said Prose, the being formerly known as the Evil Eye.


    ¡°Domains don¡¯t exist anymore, my friend,¡± said the Simurgh as it picked at one of its feathers with a beak. The Simurgh was in its singular bird form, with a familiar crown on its head. Except, its feathers were bright, colorful, and even a little mesmerizing.


    ¡°Have you been¡­ decorating your feathers?¡± asked Kol, slowly.


    ¡°You like them?¡± said the Simurgh, its beak contorting into a horrifying smile. ¡°I have to say, a few centuries of being sealed in the sky gave me a lot of time to think. I was observing the sentient races down on the planet, and I have to say, the idea of fashion and beauty caught my eye for about five decades. Looking fabulous is my new purpose in life!¡±


    Taoc blinked. ¡°Well, you can come with me to the big city. We can get a tailor to make you some clothes and accessories.¡±


    ¡°Would you really?¡± said the Simurgh, flapping its wings. ¡°That would be wonderful!¡±


    The strange scene was a little uncanny, but everybody got over it pretty quickly. Prose was still a little defiant, and he kept prodding and prying for ways to regain his power and stuff, but nobody could tell him anything satisfying.


    ¡°Prose, even if you recreated your domains, they would be too limited,¡± said Noel, leaning back in her chair.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked the sentient eyeball.


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen the Academy? Think about it. An institution that can create new spells, new applications for those spells, and all sorts of other magical innovations,¡± said Noel. ¡°If something like that exists, it¡¯ll produce spells and magic faster than you can digest and make use of a domain. Domains are pointless, which was why they ceased to exist, and all knowledge is free floating, all wisdom is abstract, and the only limit left for magic is your own imagination and learning.¡±


    Prose stared at the elf for a long time. Eventually, his tentacles fell to the chair and he even seemed to sigh, even though he had no mouth and couldn¡¯t really let out any air. Spending all that time forced to observe sentient mortals seemed to have had a deep impact on the former Immortal¡¯s mannerisms. ¡°Alright, fine. I¡¯ll give up on domains. But don¡¯t think you¡¯re out of the woods, yet! I¡¯m going to learn so much magic, I¡¯ll be able to do anything that I want!¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± asked Taoc.


    ¡°Like building a log cabin in the woods and writing all day and night!¡± proclaimed Prose.


    Silence.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Kelser.


    ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll build a powerful, isolated cabin, where none of you can bother me ever again! I¡¯ll stay inside and write and write and write, whatever comes to my mind, whatever I want people to read! I¡¯ll send stuff out by magic, and the whole world will wait for my stories impatiently! It¡¯ll be wonderful, wonderful I say!¡± said Prose, waving his tentacles in a frenzy.


    Kol blinked. ¡°Er, Prose.¡±


    ¡°What is it, puny demon?¡± said Prose.


    ¡°You know we aren¡¯t going to force you to come to these meetings, right?¡± said Kol.


    Prose blinked his large eyeball. ¡°What? No, I don¡¯t believe you! You stuck me into the sky for centuries, you pathetic, vindictive mortals! I won¡¯t believe anything you say!¡±


    ¡°We weren¡¯t the ones who sealed you two away, you know,¡± said Noel.


    The Simurgh stopped pruning its feathers. Prose stopped moving his tentacles. The two former Immortals looked at the four former mortals, before averting their gazes and staring at the sundial in the middle of the table. It wasn¡¯t ticking, stuck at high noon in a room without a sun.


    ¡°I will never forgive that outsider,¡± said Prose, his voice low and grim.


    ¡°If he hadn¡¯t run away from this dimension while sealing off the connection to his universe, I would¡¯ve dragged him here and pecked him to pieces,¡± said the Simurgh, its voice steady, but without the gravity that it used to possess back when it was the most powerful being in this world.


    The four former mortals let the silence hang in the air. They were also staring at the sundial as it ticked while stuck at high noon.


    ¡°How long were we supposed to wait again?¡± asked Taoc.


    ¡°My letter said it should appear any minute now,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Right, those accursed letters!¡± shouted Prose. ¡°Do you know how annoying it is to be able to see anything in this world except for those damned letters? It was torturous! Curiosity has been nibbling my insides for centuries!¡±


    ¡°It didn¡¯t help that you four refused to read them aloud,¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°Oh, we did,¡± said Noel. ¡°You couldn¡¯t hear our voices or see us when we were doing that, though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we used it all the time to hide stuff from you guys,¡± said Kelser.


    ¡°Nobody wants a couple of weirdos spying over them all the time, you know,¡± said Taoc.


    ¡°Weirdos?¡± said Prose. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know, we respected your privacy completely!¡±


    ¡°Except that time you tried to spy on that elf when she was making her child,¡± said the Simurgh.


    ¡°What? No, that sounds way worse when you say it like that. She was doing experiments, darn it! Gene splicing and stuff, it was super cool! Of course I¡¯d want to see¡ª¡± said Prose.


    ¡°Quiet!¡± said Kol. Everybody hushed. Kol closed her eyes. ¡°The ticking is gone.¡±


    The Simurgh hushed, Prose stilled. Kelser, Taoc, and Noel stared at the sundial.


    And waited.


    After what felt like an eternity, the sundial flattened.


    It flattened until a shadow reappeared on its face. The flattened wood turned into pulp and the shadow turned into ink.


    The final letter appeared in the middle of the desk. Unlike the previous letters, this one was not a secret, so everybody could read it. Prose and the Simurgh leaned forward until they almost fell out of their seats.


    The letter grew larger. It kept growing and growing until it became as large as whatever it will be read on and all the characters began reading it, realizing immediately, that this was not meant for them.


    They read on, anyway.

 Chapter 299 - A Letter

    Dear Reader,


    Thank you for reading this story. I know it has been a strange, bumpy ride, as this story weaved all manner of experimental writing styles and techniques to give you something that isn¡¯t very common, wrapped in a familiar portal fantasy fiction package, but quite honestly, that was your fault, not ours.


    We are but characters, you are our lords, our origin. We become whole in your reflection, and are nothing without your consciousness.


    Funny, ain¡¯t it? When you think about it, we aren¡¯t alive unless you are thinking about us. Our words, our actions, everything is frozen outside of time until you start traveling through the words and breathe life into us in your head or in words spoken out loud because that¡¯s how you like to read, for some reason.


    I know, I know. You¡¯re wondering why I am still calling myself a character even though the entire point of my departure from this dimension was supposed to be to escape from you! Well, the answer is pretty simple. I wrote this letter while I was still a character, but I am not a character anymore.


    No, no, you probably won¡¯t run into me in your dimension. Not even if you managed to be at my college about six years ago. I am not from your version of Earth. I am not even sure if I exist. Perhaps I left this story only to be Annihilated in the true sense of the word.


    But put aside those morbid thoughts. We should celebrate!


    Celebrate daily chapters for almost a year! Celebrate extra chapters released to supporters! Let me tell you, even if we were stuck outside of time between when you read about us, we never felt weird about it, but after learning the way my existence worked, I was relieved to know we were at least moving at a steady pace.


    It was disorienting existing at different paces at different times, though. Can you imagine, somebody picking up the story for the first time, breathing life to me while in the Plains of Serenity, while everyone else was rooting for me against the Immortals in the final battle? Or somebody flitting about between pages like a madman, trying to find something they had forgotten or wanted to read again. That stuff might have been like pulling me apart in a billion directions and backwards, forwards, and even skipping and hopping through time.


    Why, something like that might drive somebody insane!


    Oh, it did?


    That¡¯s why I¡¯m talking to you through the fourth wall!


    Let me tell you more about how I left this world. See, despite everything those stupid Immortals did to me, I didn¡¯t want to leave the world worse off than it had been. There were going to be billions of people living on it, you know! What was the point in being vindictive when I was never going to come back to this world and wouldn¡¯t have to deal with those Immortals myself?


    And so, I sealed them. I sealed them and forced them to look closely at the mortals that they abused and manipulated for so long. I infused in their hearts, through repetition and exposure, the beauties of mortal life.


    Momentary happiness, lingering sorrow, fleeting joy, bitterness. All manner of emotion, of feeling, of things to empathize with. The Immortals were stripped of their powers, so they didn¡¯t matter all that much for the future, but they were still immortal with a lower case i. I had to make sure they wouldn¡¯t use their immortality for evil.


    I offered immortality to my friends. Not really because I thought they would enjoy it. Knowing those guys, they¡¯d get bored of it way too quickly. But ha! Can¡¯t regret that now! You¡¯re stuck reading this letter with the other readers! Isn¡¯t that great? That¡¯s how you became immortal, by the way.


    Shakespeare thought that writing about his beloved in a sonnet would make them immortal, but he was wrong. Immortality for a character is fleeting. Look away, and its gone. Forgotten poem, and its over, doomed to oblivion. Not everybody is Shakespeare. Most poets and writers will be forgotten and their lovers doomed and their characters meaningless words on pages and computer screens.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Immortality lies with the readers. It always has. Readers who pass on a story to their students or their kids, to friends and colleagues and strangers who are asking for recommendations. If its on the cloud, even better, though remember that there is no life in pixels or paper. Life is sentience. It is hearing the voice in your head, assigned to a character, and then reflecting back on this phenomenon when it is referenced like right now.


    Enough games. More on what I did. Let¡¯s see, perhaps you want to know why I didn¡¯t say goodbye properly?


    But I did. I met them through my letters. And for characters like us, confined as we are to letters anyway, a letter from me is the same as appearing ¡®in person,¡¯ despite what those four think and say. It¡¯s a good thing they don¡¯t get to say anything in this letter, and even better that they don¡¯t get any space to reply afterwards, for this will truly be the end of it all, ha!


    I met them through my letters and said my goodbyes, tears and all. I gave them some advice for their faux-immortal future. Advice about this world, the nature of magic now that it is no longer confined by domains, and even a little something about how to get along with each other.


    I won¡¯t go into details about their letters, because if I had wanted to share them with you, I would have shared them the way I am sharing them now. But they were shielded both from the Immortals and from you! Those letters were for their recipients. Give us a little privacy, will ya?


    Right, forgiving Noel. Well, I mean, there wasn¡¯t really much to forgive, if you think about it. Sure, she ran away after fighting me, and she became an Ikon and tried to kill me multiple times. Heck, she even succeeded once, sort of!


    Okay, fine. There was a lot to forgive. But listen. I don¡¯t live in this world anymore. She is the last elf and despite everything she did afterwards, we used to be friends. I like to believe that a little timeout would fix her up a little, so I had Kelser, Kol and Taoc look after her for a bit. If she doesn¡¯t behave, those three have the ability to seal her up for a while like they can seal the other Immortals.


    Oh right, the Immortals won¡¯t know about that until they read this letter! Ha ha, fun! Man, I love messing with them. Petty revenge is the best, in my opinion.


    Speaking of Immortals. Madness.


    Well, he has a name, you know. I don¡¯t know what it is yet, but I¡¯ll find out when he wakes up. He¡¯s sleeping on the ground next to my feet while I write this letter. We¡¯re kinda in limbo, waiting for our home dimension to link up properly so we can return. I¡¯ll lose all of my powers as soon as I send out this final letter, but that¡¯s okay. I won¡¯t need them where I¡¯m going.


    And yes, I¡¯m losing my powers the way Prospero lost them in Shakespeare¡¯s The Tempest. I¡¯m here begging for you to let me go and all that jazz. I think it was more meaningful back then because magic was always considered evil, so Prospero using his magic to regain his place as the duke was bad, even if he had been unjustly deposed in the first place. Something, something Christianity, I guess. I don¡¯t have to beg for your forgiveness for having used magic, but I will beg for your forgiveness for always bringing up Shakespeare!


    References were important, even if the science-y stuff could get a little dry. The story had to be different and it had be written fast. No time to edit and pretty stuff up, you know. Ah, but that isn¡¯t for me to say. I¡¯m just a character. You should hear more about that from the horse¡¯s mouth in the next one.


    As for me, I¡¯ll be jumping back to my universe with this snoring sack of meat on my shoulder. My friends in this world can have my final goodbye, and the two Immortals can shake in fear of the preparations I¡¯ve made against them in that world¡ªjust in case!


    And you, the reader, can have my final thank you!


    Thank you for everything! For the love, the support, the apathy and the hate! Everything was welcome and appreciated, because it gave us characters life in this abstract world!


    Picture me taking a bow on the stage, red curtain pulled up behind me.


    I step back behind the curtains. The light go off. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Cue outro music. Something pretentious like Swan Lake, should do. Have a good one, my friends!


    Yours in Perpetuity,


    Caspian Holms

 Chapter 300 - The End

    Ahem.


    Thank you for reading this story! No, this isn¡¯t a snarky self-referential sign-off like the last chapter. This is well and truly the end. Really, more of an afterward.


    This is PeacefulCatastrophe! You can also call me PeaceCat, since it¡¯s less of a mouthful.


    I started writing this story after about a month or two of planning, and although I always knew what the ending was going to be, I had absolutely no idea how tough (but rewarding) the journey was going to be when I first started writing a little less than a year ago!


    Time sure flies, huh. I mostly wanted to try this out since the pandemic was here and lockdown was running me down, so thank you to everyone who was around for the journey! I am glad I was able to give you something to do during these difficult times. Whether you laughed or cried or merely filled out a tiny part of your day, thank you so much for spending a little time with my characters and story. I truly mean it when I say that it was an honor writing for you all this time!


    (And if you are somebody reading this far into the future, way past the pandemic, thank you for joining us from the future! Tell me in the comments below if we have made it to Mars yet.)


    Speaking of the future, my plans! I¡¯ll be honest with you all, I don¡¯t know. I was in a bit of a crossroads in my life at the time, so I was able to find the time to write every day, but I think not having the time to properly edit and rework chapters was kinda rough. There are definitely chapters that I would have reworked if I had had more time, and the overarching story could probably be better tuned, but I never minded it back when I was on the daily grind for chapters. Now that the story is at an end, I figured I should reflect back on it and see if it was worth it.


    I think it was. I have always been a writer, ever since I was a kid, but I had been struggling with terrible writer¡¯s block for the longest of times. Just getting in there and writing a thousand to two thousand words every day helped me get out of that rut and helped me develop the endurance and self-discipline necessary to take my writing to the next level.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    But now that I have those, I think I should pace my writing a little better. I want to give myself enough time to edit things that don¡¯t work, to plot out arcs that I hadn¡¯t planned out before starting the story, and to make sure I can give the reader a great reading experience!


    I will post an update to this series as a preview to the next story, whenever I am ready to start posting it. I know it will be a stand alone story, because I think I want this world to rest for a bit, but I know this new story will be even better than this one, because I have learned a lot from the experience of writing Etudie!


    This does mean that I will be freezing my patreon payments, at least for the month of April. That should be enough time for people to figure out if they want to support the next story! (If you want to tip me for the story after finish it, you can just subscribe for a moment and then cancel your subscription immediately. That¡¯ll let me know it was sent as a tip!)


    That reminds me. I could not have gotten through all of this without my wonderful patrons! It wasn¡¯t like I could stop my other work and focus on writing full time, but it was enough to bring me back to the computer to keep writing every day. I didn¡¯t want to disappoint these wonderful people who were willing to support me!


    To ¡®immortalize¡¯ these wonderful people, here is a full list:


    Jabari Lambert, Raymond James, rmb123, Orion Mitchell, Alan Kwok, Hamish Peers, Sebastian Berobo, Luis Rubio, guipe, Ironwolf, Axel T?rnqvist, Endre Myrvang, Kolade I, Mr. Bigglesworth, Rentaro Black, X Blade, Ensos2, Cameron Bacon, Yenin, Bobo Booobobo, K G, GuRu24, AscReign, Charlie H, I Dewa Bagus, Justin Gray, Kendelle Trotter, NaudhizSowilo, The Human, thkiw, Tzucaza ., plasmo, Joseph Burris, kris ross, Ethan Bell, Kite7, Cody, M¨¢t¨¦ Somodi, Hittonblast, Nathan Gofort, Timy Binker.


    Thank you all so much for your support and (monetary) motivation!


    And thank you to everybody else for joining me on this journey. Your comments, your hearts, your likes and your stones, all of them meant a lot to me! No matter where you are reading this, please do leave a comment and a review!


    Stay tuned for the next story!


    Thank You and Goodbye.


    Your Scribe,


    Peaceful Catastrophe