Alexei didn’t know how to feel when he awoke. His leg was fixed up, he knew that much. The pain was gone and his thoughts weren’t all strange and foggy anymore. He looked down at the hole in his trousers where the wood had impacted and it was as if nothing had happened, except for a very faint wispy darkness that was only visible if you looked really hard. But to achieve all of that he’d had to make a deal with someone that he didn’t even want to talk to, let alone work with on anything. Alexei sighed. It was worth it in the long run, that was what he was telling himself, even if he didn’t necessarily believe it. The problem with the Demon Lord’s power was that it was addictive. Ever since his Power Divine had first absorbed the Darkonium back in the depths of the Demon Lord’s tomb he had sort of felt its effects on him, bubbling below the surface. Sure, his Power Divine had told him that it was something that had been purged from his system, but if that were the case he was su
“Is Garrick okay?” Alexei asked, shocked by the anger that had been apparent on the Gnome’s face. He hadn’t even thought that creatures like gnomes could get angry, he’d always been jolly in the past. “How much do you actually know about Garrick, Alexei?” Risa asked, “Or gnomes in general, I guess. Going by all the times I’ve asked you about knowing something other than fighting Shades in the past I’m going to guess not much, right?” Alexei nodded, Garrick was the first gnome he’d ever met and he knew pretty much nothing about their kind thanks to the limited education that he received from the Academy. “Oh Alexei,” Lyla sighed, “Garrick is almost a millennium old, he was alive during the Demon Lord’s reign.” It was as if a shard of ice had been pushed straight down Alexei’s spine as everything became just that little bit clearer. “I’m going to guess that it wasn’t particularly easy for him back then,” Alexei said with a sigh. “That’d be putting it lightly,” Lyla said, “The Dem
Alexei paced back and forth across his room at the Trout’s Gills. He couldn’t figure out how to find the second of the two assassins that were after him. He didn’t even know what they looked like. Without that information, there was no way he could set up a tricksy plan as he had done for the first of the two assassins. The fact he’d even survived that encounter was mostly down to luck, and he didn’t really want to rely on sheer luck once again, even if he had gotten stronger thanks to the interference of the Demon Lord. But it was quickly looking like luck was all he had, and if that was the case, the only thing he could really do was stack the deck in his favour. First and foremost, he didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but considering he’d already used the best out-of-the-way location… and had blown it up… he wasn’t entirely sure how to go about things. Then it clicked. The Black Market. In the underground black market, there had been a fighting arena where two fighters could
Alexei’s new threat sense was working in overdrive, and even with that extra demonic power working in his favour, he was finding it impossible to throw any attacks back at the assassin. The assassin attacked from the left with a small knife in his hand. Alexei wasn’t taking the weapon’s size as a signifier of how much damage it could do, though. He jinked to the right and parried upward with his staff. His dodge was able to set him clear of the assassin’s attack, but the assassin was still fast enough to dodge out of his counterstrike. Alexei followed up with a torrent of empowered water, it pushed his system to the max of its output, but it was enough to land a glancing blow that spun the assassin away hard enough that he bounced off of a tree. Alexei was hoping that the attack he’d landed would deal some actual damage, but the assassin managed to flip in mid-air and land on his feet like a cat. He was dripping wet, but he hadn’t taken any damage. Fortunately, dealing with th
“I’m still not happy with you bringing him here,” Grand Mage Kryte said. He and Alexei were both standing outside the closed door of the cell that held the assassin he had managed to capture. The poison tooth had been removed from the man’s mouth, it had been child's play for the mages of the Mage Temple to locate which tooth it had been before taking it out. He was bound by two links of heavy metal chain, which had been reinforced by the strongest mages at the Academy. There was no way the man was going to escape, whether by breaking free of his bonds or breaking free of his life. That meant, finally, Alexei could talk to one of the assassins and not have to worry about getting a blade through the skull while those talks were going on. “Yeah, I know,” Alexei said, “But what you have had me done? I need answers, Grand Mage, and I couldn’t exactly hold the bastard myself.” The grand mage sighed, “I know, just make sure that none of this ends up blowing back on us. A war between
Alexei didn’t know how he could tell, but he knew the strange Shade in front of him was… watching him somehow. Considering the creature didn’t have any eyes he wasn’t sure how that was possible. He also wasn’t sure what the shade even was. Alexei had seen shades get formed, he’d seen shades do what shades do, all thanks to the memories that he had been allowed to view by the Demon Lord’s tapestries. The shade in front of him didn’t look like any shade that he’d seen before. The shades the Demon Lord had made were an inky blackness the whole way through, from their core right out to their edge they were clearly a blight on the skin of the world. Wrongness incarnate. Alexei’s shade wasn’t like that. It still had the wrong, dark, core. But its outer edge was a blinding white light, dazzling in its radiance. “The Demon Lord’s power is corrupting me… but, am I corrupting it back?” Alexei muttered to himself. It didn’t matter either way. Whether it was a true shade or some halfway
Waking up the next day Alexei felt like a new man. It was as if the weight of the world had been completely lifted from his shoulders. Yes, there was still a crap ton of stuff that he needed to get done, and the threats that were facing him weren’t exactly gone forever. But he had breathing room for the first time in an age, and that felt great. He stretched and shivered slightly as several little cracks rippled down his spine before finally opening his eyes. He couldn’t help the smile that came across his face as he spotted Neave, curled up in one of the chairs by the fire, pouring over a book that was no doubt filled with all kinds of magery secrets. He hadn’t really expected her to take to magery as readily as she had, but he was glad of it. It was nice for her to have something to do while he was off risking his life in perilous situations, and eventually, she’d be strong enough to lend a hand from time to time if the situation called for it. He had no doubt that she likely
The five of them sat around the round table that Christopher would usually use for making adjustments to clothes in the back of his shop. The old lion tailor had been glad to see Alexei, almost as if he knew what was coming when the man arrived with his party of Neave, Risa and Lyla in tow. “So then, I’ve gathered you all here today for a simple reason,” Alexei said, “With the immediate threat of the assassins gone, it’s about time I lived up to a promise. A promise I made to Christopher to take down the slave tent in the market and free the beastkin who have been trapped there.” Lyra’s eyes widened in shock, while Risa steepled her fingers and rested her chin on the tips. Christopher and Neave both merely smiled. While Neave hadn’t been around for their conversation on the matter, she’d always had a sneaking suspicion that Alexei might one day return to the slave tent, either to liberate some more of the slaves who lived there or simply to burn it all to the ground. “I knew I co