As Alexei came to he couldn’t help but feel at least a little bit annoyed. He’d only just removed the Nilbog from the presence of his dreams, and now it seemed that the Demon Lord could simply step into them whenever he wanted to. However, there was also something to be happy about in that revelation. The Demon Lord certainly seemed unable to affect him in any meaningful way while they had been in the dreamscape. The evil ruler could pull his spirit to him and push it away again, but as for actual consequences for being brash and consequences for escaping him, well, there had been none. Overall Alexei considered that to be a win. There was something more concerning than the Demon Lord’s presence in his night, anyway, and that was the presence of the dark entity that the Demon Lord’s tapestries had been so fearful of. Alexei hadn’t necessarily believed that such a thing existed, but after hearing its voice for himself there was no denying it. The thing had so much more spiritual
Alexei’s life had fallen into a predictable routine. He woke up in the morning, aching and tired from the day before, and was always slightly disappointed to find that Neave had woken up before him to begin her own day. He would go and shower, and then make his way down to the hall for breakfast. This was usually where he would find Neave tucking into what was still her favourite food, eel kebabs. They would eat their breakfast together and discuss the coming day, in the strange silent way that Neave communicated her thoughts and feelings. After that, he and Neave would go their separate ways again, though they would both end up doing similar things. Learning magery. Neave was with a group of other children who had the gift of high level magery. It wasn’t a large group, and from what Alexei had been told she was one of the most adept in the class. She took to magery like a duck took to water, seemingly understanding it on an instinctual level in a way that the other kids in her
Alexei landed hard on the ground and rolled in the dirt of the sparring arena. He used his momentum to flip himself back onto his feet, but Risa was on him in an instant, with her lightning-based magery flashing around her in arcs of power. She gave him no quarter, lashing out with melee attacks and ranged arcs both at the same time. The attacks forced him to keep on the move, ducking and weaving and swinging with his staff to deflect as many as he could. This was how most of the fights between them had gone since they had returned from the desert two weeks ago. But Alexei had improved a lot over that period of time, and now he was able to hold his own much better. As a punch came in from the right and an arc of electricity came in from the left Alexei stepped toward his attacker and swiftly jabbed upward with his staff, followed by a blast of empowered air that sent Risa careening through the air. He followed his attack up with a trio of empowered water blasts to block off Risa
“So you want to take the fight to the Assassins of Delsi,” Grand Mage Kryte said, it was a statement more than a question. Alexei and Risa had gone to speak to the man and he had silently ushered them into his private offices so that the other members of the Grand Mage council couldn’t overhear their conversation. That had made Alexei curious. “That’s my plan,” Alexei said with a nod, “Though I have to ask, why did you bring us in here? Are you worried about spies?” The grand mage sighed deeply, “Your case is a very complicated one, Alexei. One that threatens war to break out at any moment, just because we are giving you safe harbour here.” Alexei knew this, it was the whole reason Risa wasn’t allowed to help take the Assassins down, and the whole reason he hadn’t gone out there to take out the Assassins himself. “And that means people may be willing to do things that they may not have done before to put an end to the tensions,” Alexei said, “I’m quite aware of the psychology.”
It had been a long time since Alexei had walked the streets of Alandria, and nothing much had changed about the city at night. In the day it was a hustling and bustling area where goods were sold and people enjoyed their time together, but as the moon rose and the sun fell it became a much darker feeling place altogether. The night was almost identical to the one that he had left the Academy on. The water of the lake lapped gently at the underside of the pontoons that made up the city and the boats that were tied to their moorings. Moonlight glinted on the still surface, serving as the only illumination in the darkened streets. If it had been a cloudy night there would have been no light at all. Back then he had only heard rumours of people who had met a murky end on a dark and cloudy night at the bottom of the lake, but he himself had cast someone to the depths, and there was no doubt that their body was down there even now, bloated and trapped as the eels feasted on his distend
Three Weeks Ago - Lyla poured another flagon of homebrew ale, their most popular drink and all made in house, for one of her locals. “Here yah go Sil, enjoy,” She said with a smile on her face before going back to slowly towelling off cups that she had washed in the sink. Things had been quiet ever since Alexei had left the Trout’s Gills to go off and join the Mage Temple, but if she was completely honest, quiet was how she enjoyed things. Quiet meant that her punters could come in for a pint after a hard day's graft on the waterways and wet their lips on her ale, which meant more coin for her. She did have to admit, though, that she missed the bloke. He brought an air of excitement and change about him, when Alexei was around the air fizzed with the promise of adventure. She sighed and set the glass that she was working on down. It wasn’t that Lyla didn’t like working in and owning the Trout’s Gills, she did. It was one of the best choices she’d ever made and the fact that s
“So you’re saying one of the assassins ended up here?” Alexei asked, “Just eating stew and asking about me?” Lyla nodded, “I think so, anyway.” Alexei wasn’t happy about it, but at the very least it made sense. The first duo of assassins had almost definitely been in contact with the Administrar and had no doubt told the man that they had tracked him down to the Trout’s Gills. After that the Administrar had no doubt told the new pair that piece of information. What it meant was that the Trout’s Gills wasn’t really the safe haven that he had previously considered it to be, though really he didn’t have anywhere better to go. It wasn’t like he was going to go running to the lion beastkin Christopher for safe harbour, that wouldn’t fly, he was an old man with a business to protect. “You better not be thinking of leaving us and going off on your own,” Lyla said, almost as if she had been reading his mind. “It’d be safer for the both of you,” Alexei said, “You’ve done so much for me
A layer of mist hung above the waters of the boatyards in the crisp morning air. Summer had truly ended in the city of Alandria, and now that the heat was receding and the clouds had rolled in, the city had become a much quieter place. While it was a capital, and to a degree was always busy, Alandria thrived in the summer moreso than any other time of year. People from across the kingdom, and some from beyond, came to visit the cities waterways. There was a reason it was called the jewel of the kingdom, after all. The added level of quietness was perfect for Alexei, he didn’t want anyone else getting caught up in the fight that was inevitably going to unfold. The boatyards sat on the opposite side of the lake that the Mage Temple was located, closer to the mouths of the rivers that fed it. It allowed the workers of the boatyard to both store boats at their pontoons and build new ones at their work yards. The work yards were what Alexei was most interested in. There were stacks