Alexei couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Alandria actually was from his perch up on the rooftops of the city. In the distance, atop the hills that looked over the cityscape, was the academy. The building was practically a castle, towering over everything else. There was a time that Alexei would have found such a thing impressive, now he just thought it was arrogance. Of course, the academy would be placed above the rest of everyone else. That was very them. Filled to the brim with their superiority. No, the real beauty could definitely be found in the city below, with its glittering riverways and winding streets. Chimney stacks with lazy smoke drifting up into the sky. The hustle and bustle of the people below, crossing rivers and pontoons to get from place to place. In a way, Alexei felt a little angry that they’d been kept so separate from it all. To go from his small farming village straight to the academy and have all of this kept from him? It wasn’t something Alexei c
Alexei clambered down from the rooftops with relief in his heart. It would be a while before the assassins of Delsi tried to attack him again. In that time he’d be able to prepare, and perhaps even figure out who had sent the assassin to attack him. The slave trader had implied that his name was already being bandied about in the seedy underbelly of the city. If anyone thought that they could get one over on the academy by taking him out then it was no wonder that assassins were suddenly showing up looking to put him under the water. Rivals of the Royal Defence Corps were frequent throughout the kingdom, far and near, and while they would never do anything to directly hinder the progress of the fight against the shades an outlier like Alexei would be easy pickings. He made the final leap down to the road and stuffed his hands into his pockets. A cursory glance over the surface of the river revealed nothing, the body of the assassin must have sunk deep down to the bottom where th
The area of the city that Lyla’s map directed Alexei seemed to be one that was much less travelled by the majority of the population. The buildings became more tightly packed together and the riverway that he and Neave were following began to smell progressively worse and worse. He’d heard rumours, back when he lived in the Academy, that there had been a part of the city that had been dedicated to beastkin. At the time it had seemed absurd. Why would they need a whole section of the city just for beastkin? It wasn’t like they weren’t people, even if there were elements of the beast about them. But that was a naive view clearly held by someone who had come from out in the countryside. While Alexei had known that beastkin tended to get the short end of the stick when it came to respect in society, he hadn’t quite known how bad it was. Not until he’d seen the slave traders' tent, anyway. He pulled Neave close as they walked through the shadowy side streets. While he didn’
Neave stood patiently while the older beastkin worked out her measurements. He had her stand in all manner of positions while he took a measuring tape to her arms, her legs and even her feet. When it was all done he let her stand by Alexei and began to gather a variety of materials from the shelves around his shop. He pulled down reams of fabrics and pieces of leather. The sort of things that Neave thought she would never be able to wear herself. “Don’t worry Neave,” Alexei said, noticing how uncomfortable she looked, “I promise all of this is okay. You don’t need to worry anymore.” She appreciated the kindness Alexei was showing her, but that didn’t make any of it any easier for her to believe. The lion beastkin worked fast with all the skill and expertise of a long-standing professional, backed up by his beastkin heritage. Instead of using scissors or guillotines to shape the materials he was working on Christopher used the claws that tipped his fingers to easily slice
There was still one thing that Alexei wanted to take care of before he and Neave called it a day. It was clear that his planned life as a water salesman out in the sticks of the kingdom had been dashed, or at the very least were on hold. If he was going to be engaging in dangerous activities, such as taking on slave traders and discovering who sent a pair of deadly assassins after him then he was going to need a bit more than a couple of exploding pots to see him and Neave through. They were going to need weapons, proper weapons, that would allow them to hold their own against some of the threats that came their way. They wouldn’t be able to rely on dumb luck and the element of surprise forever, after all. It had also gone past noon, and so Alexei was starting to get a little bit hungry. Neave likely was too, not that he expected the girl to admit it. From her malnourished appearance, he was willing to bet that she hadn’t exactly been leaving off three square meals a day whil
Alexei was back out in the city again. This time he had left Neave with Lyla. The girl hadn’t been too happy about being left behind, but after her experience with the woman in the tea shop, he didn’t want her to go through anything else that day. Not only that, he could tell she was getting tired, no matter what the defiant look on her face said. Besides, a black market weapon shop wasn’t the sort of place he wanted to take a child. Alexei’s plans had changed rapidly. He had started the day with a plan to become a water seller, using his abilities to sell water to places that were in drought or had poor irrigation. The attack by the assassins had made him start to rethink that. Being asked to take out the slavers in Alandria by Christopher had made rethinking it a certainty. But to fight against slavers and assassins and who knew what else he was going to need more than ceramic pots filled with explosive compounds and some fancy low-level enchantments. They were go
The graveyard had been warm, just like the rest of the city. The interior of the mausoleum was decidedly not warm at all. The air was cold and damp and seemed to cling to every inch of Alexei’s skin. He was nervous for a moment that the cloyingly cold humidity might cause his remaining explosive to misfire, but fortunately, the ceramic container was sealed well enough that no water was able to penetrate. As he found a flight of stairs that seemed to lead down into the depths of the Earth, lit only by sparsely located flickering torches, Alexei couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched. In fact, he was almost sure that he saw the skulls that lined the walls of the mausoleum turn very slightly to follow his movements as he began to make his way down the stairs. He swallowed thickly, his mouth dry, and decided to ignore the potentially necromantic goings on around him. He was entering a location called the black market, after all, he had to expect that there would be
Alexei wasn’t sure what his power had latched onto when he had touched the staff. Was it the living core? The concept of magic itself? Wood?Surely it wasn’t wood. What could you even combine with wood?“I know that look,” The old man said knowingly. It snapped Alexei out of his thoughts, “Sorry?” He said, “I zoned out there for a minute.” “That’s the look of a man who has found the foci for him, there’s no doubt about it,” The old man said, closing the case once more, “The only question is, does the man have the coin to pay for it.” Alexei rolled his eyes, the shopkeeper may have been old but it was clear that he still had the instincts of a businessman. “How much would you be willing to sell it for, then, I don’t see any prices,” Alexei said. His coin bag was about half way empty now, but he was sure that he had enough cash to pay for the staff. The old man sighed, patted the box, and said, “I’ll part with it for a single gold coin.” “I’m sorry, what?” Alexei all but choked
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