2022-10-18 13:05:09Darkfire's Decision
Arran looked at Darkfire in shock. There were many things he had feared could happen in Hillfort, but Darkfire changing his mind about joining the Shadowflame Society was something he hadn't expected.
"You're staying here? In Hillfort?" he asked again.
Liane stood up. "I'll let the two of you talk in private," she said in a muted voice. She gave Darkfire a meaningful look, then left the room.
For some moments, neither Arran nor Darkfire spoke, Arran still processing the news and Darkfire seeming almost fearful to say the words.
Finally, Darkfire let out a deep breath. "I'm staying here," he confirmed. "At least for now."
"Because of her?"
"Because of her."
"You only just met her," Arran said. "And you spent years trying to be recruited."
"You're right," Darkfire replied, an unc
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"She's what?" Arran looked at Liane in confusion, unsure whether he heard her correctly."The Patriarch's granddaughter," Liane repeated. "She arrived in the city just this morning, to see my father. She's a novice, and if you join her, none of the others will dare touch you.""But why would the Patriarch's granddaughter want to recruit me?""She doesn't," Liane said. "She didn't intend to recruit anyone. But my father has known the Patriarch for a long time, and when I called in some of his favors, she couldn't refuse.""You called in your father's favors for me?" Arran looked at Liane, surprised that she would have gone that far to help him. Whatever there was between her and Darkfire, she only barely knew Arran."Consider it payment for a debt I owe you," Liane said. "I know you and Darkfire were going to travel together, and I got in the way of those plans."
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"…this is white witchflower. You can tell it apart from white dragonflower by looking at the edges of the leaves, which should be serrate rather than dentate. White witchflower is a powerful poison, while white dragonflower has potent healing properties. Now, if you look at the…"Arran suppressed a yawn, trying his best to feign interest.Snowcloud was usually cold and quiet, barely speaking at all for hours on end. Yet whenever they encountered plants and flowers she deemed interesting, she would launch into lengthy monologues on their medicinal properties and how to tell them apart.To Arran, all the plants still looked the same, and the main thing he had learned so far was that he had no interest in herbalism whatsoever.Between Snowcloud's silence and her enthusiastic lectures on the local vegetation, he thought he preferred the former. At least when she was silent, he didn't have t
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As they made their way to the capital of the Sixth Valley, Arran was surprised at how normal the Valley seemed.He had somehow expected the Sixth Valley to be like a much larger version of Windsong's monastery, filled with nothing but mages who were constantly in training. But instead, what he found were endless fields with crops and cattle, littered with small farms, and the occasional village or town.From what Arran had seen of the Valley so far, it might as well have been any random part of the Empire, with the only difference being the mountains he could see in the distance behind him.Yet even those vanished into the distance as they traveled further from the valley's edges, until finally, only the thinness of the air was left to remind Arran that they were still in the mountains.As they traveled, Snowcloud remained her quiet self. She seldom spoke, and when she did, it was about plants by the
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The man closely examined the mark on Arran's wrist, seeming to study every detail at length. Arran was already beginning to worry that something was wrong when the man finally nodded."From this day forth," the man said in a serious tone, "you will be unable to teach the True Path to those outside the Society, who haven't taken the Oath.""But I don't even know what the True Path is," Arran replied. "What if I talk about it unintentionally?""You don't need to worry about that," the man said, a practiced smile on his face. "The Oath will prevent you from discussing anything related to the True Path with outsiders, whether you intend to or not."Arran frowned. "What happens if I try to do it anyway?""You will find that you are unable to do so," the man replied. "Even Archmages are unable to break the Oath.""So that's it? I'm free to discuss other Society mat
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True to Snowcloud's word, she had them leave the castle at dawn.Stoneheart and Tuya saw them off as they departed, offering them wishes of good fortune on their travels, along with several small gifts.Tuya gave Arran fifty Essence Crystals, which she said was a token of gratitude for his help in disposing of the army. Arran accepted it gracefully, not bothering to point out that she'd taken twice as much for the armor he'd used. Tuya, he suspected, would have been able to easily handle the matter herself had she wanted to.Stoneheart, on the other hand, had little to offer but his gratitude. The tall novice had last his own void bag in battle months earlier, and it appeared that Elder Naran had confiscated all the belongings of the novices they'd defeated in battle.The giant Elder himself, finally, did not appear. From what Snowcloud said, he'd locked himself away weeks earlier, and it seemed that
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"You idiot!" Snowcloud looked at Arran with tear-filled eyes. "I thought you had died!"Arran didn't respond. She had repeated variations on the same words at least a dozen times in just the past half hour, and by now, he understood there was nothing he could say that would make a difference.When he returned to the castle, he had expected her to be angry, even furious. What he had not expected was for her to hug him while nearly crying her eyes out.In Arran's view, this was considerably worse than anything he'd been prepared for. Her anger, he could weather. But this, he had no idea how to handle. It was clear his absence had hurt her, and that she had spent the weeks he was gone in worry, fretting that he had died or been captured.He had apologized, of course, but it seemed an apology wasn't what she wanted. As for what she did want, Arran had no idea.Part of him blamed Ston
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"Our town is called Riverbend," the woman said, her voice anxious. "I am the mayor."Arran spent some moments in thought. While the village — it was far too small to be called a town — shared a name with his old hometown, the two places were thousands of miles apart, and other than being next to a river, they seemed to have little in common.Still, the name reminded him of the life he had left behind. Even if he did not regret his decision to become a mage, he wondered what things would have been like had he stayed in the real Riverbend. Calmer, probably, and certainly less bloody.Arran shook himself from his thoughts. He had more important matters to handle."What about them," he said, gesturing at the soldiers. "What are they doing here?"Before the woman could respond, one of the soldiers stepped forward, a stocky, middle-aged man with dark skin and several old scars on his face."You gonna kill us?" Although the man's expression was cautious, there was no fear in his eyes. It see
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Stoneheart braced himself for Arran's Battering Force attack, throwing up what seemed to be a shield of Wind Essence.Before the attack could hit him, however, it smashed into its actual target — the Shadowcloaked mage who was heading toward Stoneheart with a raised sword in his hands.The attack hit the mage squarely in the back, sending the man flying into Stoneheart's shield. Stoneheart staggering back from the force of the impact, while the mage crashed heavily to the ground.The force of the attack proved enough to break the mage's concentration, causing his Shadowcloak to fail. With a brief flicker of light in the air, the short, fat man suddenly became visible to the eye.Despite taking a direct hit that should have incapacitated him, the mage got to his feet immediately, and without even a second's hesitation, he turned to Arran and shot a stream of white, lightning-like fire from his hands. It hit Arran in the leg, burning straight through his armor and leaving a fist-sized h
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The mage's thunderous words immediately set the entire camp in motion, and within moments, Arran's Shadowsight told him that hundreds of soldiers were beginning to move into the woods, with many more following behind them.It was exactly what he had hoped would happen, and he could not help but feel excited at seeing his enemies fall into the trap so easily. While he had prepared for the possibility that they would see through the ruse — it was hardly subtle, after all — it looked like everything would go according to plan.His spirits rose further when he realized that his enemies' advance was chaotic, lacking any sort of organization. Rather than progressing in tight ranks, as he imagined a real army would, they moved forward in a disorderly mass.Their sloppy advance allowed Arran to continue attacking in much the same way as he had before, striking quickly and furiously, then disappearing into the woods again before they could respond.Several of the soldiers had the presence of m
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Arran put on the armor as quickly as he could, but it still took him more time than he would have liked. Between his coat, the helmet, the gauntlets, the gorget, the greaves, the cuisses, and all the other parts, suiting up was a slow affair, and that was hardly the only downside of wearing full armor.The quality of the armor was impressive, all the more so because Tuya had managed to find in just a few hours during the dead of night. All of it was enchanted, and it fit him better than he had any right to expect.Even so, wearing it made him slower and affected his balance, and when he put on the helmet, it immediately restricted his vision. To any other mage, the sacrifice would be far too large for a little added protection.But Arran wasn't like other mages. The control he had gained from the Tempering easily compensated for the bulk and weight of the armor, and in the dark of night, his Shadowsight would be far more useful than his eyes.When he finished suiting up, whatever part
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"I think we're getting close," Stoneheart said, looking at the six dead men on the ground in front of them.They had already spent the better part of two weeks in search of the army, and although they had come across several scouting parties, there was little sign of the main force.The region was hilly and densely forested, and the terrain made it far harder to find the army than they had anticipated. In such an environment, they could have easily passed within a mile of their enemies without ever noticing.Initially, they had thought they could simply capture a few scouts and wring information from those, but the scouts fought with an almost religious fervor, choosing death over capture. And when they finally caught one alive, the man bit off his tongue before they could make him speak.After that, they had stopped trying to capture their enemies alive.Still, even if the scouts they found would not talk, they knew they were getting closer. Just in the past two days, they had encoun
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"What did he say, exactly?" Snowcloud looked at Arran intently as she asked the question.They were sitting in her quarters, which Arran could not help but notice were far nicer than his own. While he had a single room with just a bed and a desk, Snowcloud had three full rooms to herself, including a bedroom, a small library, and the well-furnished sitting room they were currently using. Not that he was jealous, of course — although a bit more space would be nice.Arran quickly told Snowcloud about his meeting with Elder Naran and Stoneheart, and the offer Elder Naran had made them.When he finished speaking, Snowcloud frowned, seeming taken aback by the idea. "He wants the two of you to face an entire army together?""I assume he wants me to defeat the army, and Stoneheart to defeat their leader," Arran explained. "With the Blood magic, the soldiers' numbers won't make much of a difference to me.""But it's an entire army," Snowcloud objected. "With thousands of soldiers."Arran shoo
