After getting washed up, Alexei and Neave both spent the afternoon reading by the fireplace. The room that they had been given had access to many things, including a summoning stand that allowed them free reign over the library of the Mage Temple. He’d learnt his lesson about testing anything with magic after the whole sandwich exploding incident, but that didn’t mean that Alexei didn’t want to know a bit more about what he was getting himself into. So, when choosing his book, he’d decided to go with something related to his problem. A bestiary, noting down different creatures and monsters across the ages. The one he had, in particular, was about creatures that were most active before the last major war between nations and he had the yellowed pages turned to that of the Nilbog. Unfortunately, the Nilbog pages didn’t really tell him much more than he already knew. Well, other than the secret to defeating the beast, that was.It was a Goblin class creature that was first born of t
Alexei woke with a start. The smell of rust and smoke assaulted his senses, dragging him out of his slumber and back into reality. His eyes opened with a snap, what he saw was exactly what he had expected. It was exactly what he had seen the last time this had happened. The walls were painted red with blood, and once again at the foot of his bead was the dripping red decapitated head of Neave. The body parts were littered around the room as well, just like the first time, scattered like the forgotten toys of a child. The prickle on the back of his neck flared up as the Nilbog made its presence known. “Doing the same trick twice,” Alexei said offhandedly as he pulled himself out of his bed, “I have to say, not very impressive.” “The initiate knows!” The Nilbog’s voice echoed, just as high-pitched and nasally as it had been before, but this time Alexei was sure he could detect just the smallest bit of fear in the creature’s voice. “Indeed! The initiate knows, as does his mage fr
Alexei woke with a start, and for a moment he was ready to lash out at anything that got close, thinking he was still locked in deadly combat with the Nilbog. But as his senses returned to him, he realised that wasn’t the case at all. There was no smell of rust and smoke. No blood coating the walls of the room. No decapitated head of Neave. In fact, Neave was sitting right next to him, his clammy hand wrapped in her tiny comparatively cool ones. “Ah, you’re awake at last,” Risa said from a chair on the other side of his bed. “What…” Alexei tried to talk, but the raspy croaks that came from his throat made it impossible for him to get more than a word out. “Neave, remember what we talked about? Give him water, but only a little bit at a time so it doesn’t overwhelm his throat,” Risa said to Neave. The small foxgirl nodded with a smile and poured Alexei a small glass of water from a jug that sat on a table next to the head of his bed. She brought the liquid up to his
The Alexei that went into the shower and the Alexei that came out of the shower again felt like two completely different people. The water had washed away all of the grime and it felt as if he were completely rejuvenated. Now that he was out, and he felt well rested and well cleaned, it was time to experiment. “Those clothes at the foot of my bed,” Alexei asked, noting the package that had been placed there for the first time, “Is this the outfit that I asked Christopher to make for me?” “Yup, he brought them by shortly after you were knocked out,” Risa replied, “He said to give you his best and that you should come around for a drink sometime now that you’re Nilbog free.” Alexei nodded, picked up the parchment parcel, and retreated to the bathroom once more. He’d almost forgotten that he’d asked the old lion beastkin to update his look before all the nastiness with the Nilbog got started, and now the clothes were ready. The only instruction that Alexei had given Christopher wa
The training rooms of the Mage Temple were, as Alexei was beginning to believe was the case with all rooms, extended to contain more space than their exterior dimensions might suggest. The effect in this space was in fact similar to the effect that he had seen in the Black Market’s fighting ring. An array of tiered seating wrapped around a divot in the ground. As the depth of that divot increased the walls seemed to split outward, allowing more and more space to be taken up by the actual battle space on the floor below. There were two platforms, one on either side of the space, that jutted out from the rest of the upper level that were clearly designed to lower two fighters down to the fighting space. “Take a seat, Neave and I will head down and spar so you can see what she’s already capable of,” Risa said. “Spar? Are you sure?” Alexei said as worry laced his tone. In his mind Neave was still just a young girl, the idea of her fighting against an adult was a worry to him, even i
With a quick wave of her hand, Neave dismissed the thick blade that she had summoned into being in a shower of light motes. Alexei was on the edge of his seat, eager to see what kind of magery his ward would rely on next. He had thought that the sword would have been her strongest form of attack, considering her boosted speed and strength, but it seemed as if the girl had something else up her sleeve. A runic circle blossomed into life on the ground below her feet as Neave weaved an intricate series of hand gestures. The ground began to quake and rumble, and for a moment, Alexei believed that this girl definitely could have destroyed a private garden if she so wished. Seemingly out of nowhere a massive green vine sprung from the ground and leapt toward Risa. The thing was about as wide as Neave was tall, and moved at least twice as fast as she had. Risa’s eyes widened in shock, she had clearly been expecting something like this, but obviously, the sheer size, power and speed of
Since Risa was already buffed up from her fight with Neave the first step Alexei took was to cast his own speed and agility enchantments. He also expected the woman opposite him to engage him in the exact same way that she had engaged Neave, with a volley of magery missiles from afar. He wasn’t disappointed by his assumptions. Risa launched a volley of magery missiles at him that numbered twice as many as she had sent at Neave, and were moving at least twice as fast. Alexei couldn’t help the cocky smirk that came over his face as he gripped his staff in both his hands and burst into movement. He was faster than Neave was, but surprisingly not by much. Her beastkin heritage had helped her a lot in that department. Either way, he was fast enough. As the magery missiles came in he batted each one away with a flick of his staff. Unlike Neave’s wild sword swings, each parry he made with the ends of his foci were precise and thought out. He made short jabs, one side after the other,
Risa moved so quickly that the air around her burst into flames. Lightning streaked behind her as if her own energy were having trouble keeping up with her impossible velocity. Alexei didn’t have a chance to react. One moment she was on the other side of the fighting arena, the next she was in his face faster than he could comprehend. She didn’t even have to attack him directly. The sheer force of the mage moving from one side of the arena sent him flying through the air until he cratered into the wall behind him. Alexei gasped in pain and tumbled to the ground. His breath came in short pants and it felt as if he’d been hit by a dragonhorse-pulled cart. “Well,” He coughed, “I guess I did ask for it.” Somehow, though, he managed to find the energy to stagger up to his feet. He was sure a rib, and maybe his left leg, had been broken by the impact with the wall, but he wasn’t quite ready to give up yet. He had one trick left to use, and he was definitely going to use it. He dr
After his last encounter with the Proto Lord Alexei had never wanted to hear the hoarse croaking laughter of the creature ever again. Now that he had the hairs on the back of his neck and his arms were all standing to attention and every fiber of his being was telling him to flee, run as far away as he could, and never look back. But he couldn’t do any of that. He had a mission to complete, people to save, and a kingdom to protect. “Show yourself, Proto Lord!” Alexei called out, his staff held defensively in preparation to ward off any attacks, “I’m not the man you faced before, I’ll take you out myself this time.” “So you say,” The Proto Lord wheezed from somewhere in the dark, “And yet you still bring so many users of the Power Divine to fight alongside you. So many snacks for me to feast upon.”That was the final straw for Alexei. With a pulse of arcane power, Alexei slammed his staff down onto the ground. A sphere of light erupted out from where he stood, a magery spell desi
Nerves had seeped into the hearts of the men that Alexei and Harold had chosen to take with them into the underground sanctum of the Proto Lord the moment they took their first steps into the tunnel system that the creature had made its home. They all looked to be strong and full of heart, but Alexei could sense it. The fear was electric and it was all he could do not to get caught up in the worry himself. Instead, he drew his staff and allowed it to shift forms into that of a magery wand, perfect to be used in enclosed situations and easier to maneuver with so many bodies around. With a flex of his will, Alexei summoned a ball of light at the tip of the wand and sent it out ahead of the group. It illuminated the dank depths of the tunnel that they were slowly descending into. Once upon a time, Alexei could have imagined the tunnel being used for mining and most likely to serve as a lower down access port to the well that he had originally sensed the malaise of the Proto Lord seep
As Alexei explained what the Proto Lord was to Harold and the other members of the Royal Defence Corps he could tell that their willingness to fight such a creature was waning further and further. Alexei could understand. After being told to go to the front line and expecting to die in combat defending the kingdom the shades had all disappeared. That had given them all a second chance at living. Being told that they instead had to fight a being that was well on its way to becoming the next Demon Lord? Something that, just like the shades, could kill you and then perhaps use you to fight the rest of your friends? That wasn’t something that a lot of people were keen on. Harold, though, was a brave man and always had been. “Very well,” He said as Alexei came to the end of his explanation, “If that is the case then this so-called Proto Lord must fall before the Proto part of the wretched thing's name becomes Demon instead.“I will not order anyone to join myself or Alexei in this f
Alexei placed his hand onto the Warp Gate and sent a pulse of magery through the system. He’d never actually had to operate one of the things before, but thanks to his more innate relationship with magery it was a bit like opening a book and simply reading from the pages. He placed his palm onto the stone and it fed information directly to him and allowed him to open a temporary link between the gate he was standing next to and the gate that was back in Alandria. It opened with a sputter at first and then, as Alexei made the link between the gates more solid, it blazed into life with a swirling blue glow. “You really are full of surprises now, aren’t you,” Harold said with a shake of his head, he couldn’t believe how different his friend had become compared to the last time he had seen the man. “Just a bit of advanced magery,” Alexei shrugged, “What did you expect me to do when I got kicked out of the Academy, go become a merchant somewhere?”“That probably would have been the sm
Alexei worked his way through the woods until he was able to catch up with the soldiers of the Royal Defence Corps. These were all men and women who had gone through the training at the Academy and come out the other end, each of them with a Power Divine powerful enough for the previous Demon Lord to want to absorb it. Perfect for fighting against a Proto Lord who hadn’t fully come into the powers that Eldreth was offering them. At first, Alexei wasn’t sure who he should approach, but then he noticed someone who looked just a little bit familiar. Without any doubts, Alexei was sure the man he saw walking in the centre of the column was none other than his old friend from the Academy, Harold. “Harold!” He exclaimed, “Is that you?” The column of marching soldiers froze instantly, like a rabbit caught in the path of an oncoming dragonhorse, before turning on Alexei with their powers at the ready. It took only a moment for Harold to realise who had called out to him. “A… Alexei?!
“Okay, wish me luck you two,” Alexei said, he was standing in front of a Warp Gate, one that Risa had told him led to a town that was very close to the front. Neave wrapped her arms around him as best she could and he returned it by holding her close. “You better come back safely, yeah?” Risa said, she held his gaze with a stern look. “Hey, if the Shades are running wild then you have my promise that I’ll be jumping right back into that Warp Gate,” Alexei said, “This is a recon mission, nothing more nothing less. Promise.”She gave him a critical eye, “You know, every time you’ve ever said that you’re just going to look at something or do a bit of recon you’ve come super close to dying.” “Yeah, but those times I had no idea what I was going into, this time it’s either going to be one of two things, and only one of those two things could actually be dangerous. Pretty good odds if you ask me,” Alexei said with a grin, though he could tell he was only annoying Risa with his banter.
Waking up in the morning Alexei realised that, despite everything that was going on, he actually felt pretty good. Not only was the threat of the Demon Lord technically dealt with, he’d also met with the Administrar and had basically engineered a situation where the man would no longer be able to send people after him. All things said and done, that was two of his major problems dealt with already, even if he did still plan to get his revenge on the Administrar in one way or another. The man couldn’t be allowed to continue in his post, not after he had sacrificed so many Initiates to the Shade Front for no good reason. When everything had concluded and everyone was safe, Alexei intended to go to the Royal Household and speak to the Emperor, perhaps he would listen to reason, if Alexei could get an audience with the man of course. Alexei pulled himself out of bed, wrapped a towel around his waist, and walked off to the shower room. He shivered as the cold water streamed onto his
“So, let me get this straight,” Lyla said, “You’re going all the way to the front to maybe take on a massive Shade Army that you have no hope of actually fighting against just in case they’ve gone wild now that the Demon Lord is actually properly dead.” It was a pretty succinct way of explaining the situation, but Alexei was glad that Lyla had grasped the broad strokes of what was going on. “Yeah, pretty much,” Alexei shrugged, “Though I have a feeling that it’s not going to be nearly as bad as you’ve just made it sound. In fact, I think it’s going to be a wasted trip, but a necessary one just in case.” “A wasted trip?” Lyla asked. “Well, after first meeting the Demon Lord and being given a sliver of his powers I’ve always been able to sort of… you know, sense them,” Alexei said, “Just as a kind of dark fuzz off to the eastern border. Can’t feel that anymore.” “What, as in they’re just gone?” “That’s what it feels like, yeah,” Alexei said, “It feels like the Demon Lord had one l
While Alexei had made it seem as if he were going to be running off to the front lines as fast as he could, there was one thing that he needed to take care of before he left Alandria again. He was sure that if he left the city without at least swinging by The Trout’s Gills at least once then Lyla would have probably ripped his head off with her inhuman beastkin strength. Once again Alexei was struck by a distinct sense of de ja vu. The day had receded into night, with the final glimmers of the twilight sun just about peaking over the very top of the mountain. It was dark, and the streets of Alandria had drawn to a near-empty silence. The only thing that guided his way was the lamplight from the many torches that hung off of the sides of various buildings. The water lapped at the underside of boats and barges alike, and he knew that somewhere deep down under the water there was the body of the very first assassin that he had dealt with, now likely stripped of flesh to the bone by