Alexei came too slowly and with a colossal headache.He hadn’t felt this badly since he’d been forced to take on the Nilbog in his dreams. It was as if every part of his brain had been shut down all at once and only now were the various bits and pieces coming back to life again. Then he remembered his final conscious moments and realised that was pretty much exactly what had happened. He’d been absolutely and completely thoroughly trounced by the person he’d been fighting in practically a single hit. That had never happened to him before. In previous fights, he’d always been the one that had pulled off the clever tricks and traps that lured enemies in and then took them out of a fight instantly. For once the opposite had happened to him, and he had to admit that it wasn’t an experience that he’d enjoyed. The assassin he’d been fighting had lured him in perfectly. He’d used a big hefty weapon that couldn’t be maneuvered quickly or delicately and had drawn Alexei into a close-ran
After dinner had been served and eaten in the grand main hall of the Assassin’s Guild castle, the High Matrix had once again taken Alexei away from his two companions and deep down into the bowels of the castle itself. She had taken him to a room that he thought looked to be a lot like the rooms the Mage Temple had used to check whether Neave had any potential in magery.It was a space that was clearly suited for one person, not two, and so the fact that both he and the High Matrix were standing in it made things quite cramped. It was a dark and cylindrical room with only a dim torch sticking off from above the door frame. Intricate writings lined the walls and all led down to a slight dip in the floor where a knee pillow had been placed. “You haven’t explained what exactly I’m doing here,” Alexei said. “To put it simply, Alexei, while you have the potential to be a great warrior you simply are not one yet,” The High Matrix said, “You rely on trickery and subterfuge to win all of
Alexei’s mind followed the trickle of power down its path toward his staff and his mind blossomed with potential. It was like discovering a part of himself that he’d never even known was there, lurking in the background, now thrust out into the fore to be observed in all of its resplendent beauty. It was enough to almost take his breath away, but no, his breathing stayed strong and steady, for that was the link and tether binding him to his weapon. The potential of the thing stretched forward into the future and into the past, and far beyond even both of those. He saw weapons that made no sense at all. Handles with blades of light humming from the tip. Handheld things that launched gouts of plasma across a room. Large sticks that could send out powerful explosive blasts that would eviscerate anyone in the immediate vicinity. His weapon wasn’t just a staff, it wasn’t just a foci, it was a rumbling orb of energy and potential buried away at the heart of the wood grains ready and w
Alexei’s training at the hands of the Assassin’s Guild continued for weeks that stretched into months. Every day he became a little bit faster and a little bit better at allowing his weapon to make key decisions at key moments. He found that his weapon was a lot more adaptable than most others, pulling from a wider range of forms. The High Matrix said to him one afternoon in the depths of winter, on a day when the sun barely crested over the horizon, that most people’s weapons eventually found three or four forms that they liked better than any other and then stuck to them. She called them the weapon’s bread and butter transformations. Alexei’s weapon took longer than most to settle into them, but eventually, it did. A light blade that could slash through seemingly any substance that was put before it depending on how high the dial was turned. A projectile thrower, that Alexei had discovered was called a gun, which could fit in one hand and spit out bullets at an incredible rate
Alexei touched down as if he had jumped from the curb at the side of the road and not off the side of a mountain face. His bracelets that had allowed the gravity manipulation morphed into a single staff, which he held ready to be attacked at any moment. An attack didn’t come. Whoever had perpetrated the colossal crime against Estie clearly hadn’t seen him launch himself into the situation, which was good, that meant he was still undetected and surprise was on his side. He allowed his weapon to morph back into his body and yanked up the hood that the Assassin’s Guild had given him. It was one of their specially enchanted hoods, the ones that wouldn’t let you see the face underneath them no matter how intently you looked at the person and no matter what angle you were looking at them from. He still wasn’t quite sure how they did it, but that was a thought for another time. The part of the city he had touched down in was relatively untouched by the destruction. There were a few bi
The front of Alexei's shield rocketed across the street toward his target. He had no idea what the boys powerset would be. He had no idea what level of training the boy had. All he knew was that the boy had to go down hard and fast, and a surprise attack was the best way to go about that. Of all the things he had been expecting, what happened next wasn't among them.The boy stood stock still as a writhing pillar of ants clambered onto of one another to stand strong a few feet in front of him.The shield ploughed into the stack and discharged its energy blast. It fried every insect in a one foot radius, but it wasnt enough to reach the boy.Instead his shield retracted back into place, the front panel covered in a smear of insect blood and still twitching body parts. "You control insects?" Alexei retorted, he couldn't help himself. "It's rich to talk about weaklings when your own Power Divine is so pathetic."The boy smirked, "You've no idea what an insect controller has the poten
The blast of telekinetic power slammed into the boy at full strength, and the effects were devastatingly destructive. One moment the boy was standing there with a shocked and terrified look on his face, the next a mist of red was all that remained. The boy had been completely and totally obliterated, disintegrated by the telekinetic forces into a fine mist of blood where nothing else remained. The blast of power continued onward for a few more meters before finally fizling out into nothing. “You would sacrifice your own teammate so callously?” Alexei called out, “That’s not the sort of behaviour that we were taught in the academy and you know it.” The woman smirked, “Yeah, well maybe that’s why so many of the Royal Defence Corps end up dead.”Alexei shook his head, he knew that wasn’t the case, he knew that it was because the Administrar was betraying each and every one of them, but somehow he didn’t think that the woman in front of him would care. She was too far gone for that.
If a mountain could be said to have a heart, Alexei was sure that was where the High Matrix was taking him. They’d gone down corridor after corridor, staircase after staircase, until the carved walls of the castle gave way to what was essentially just a cavern tunnel. And yet still they walked, their path only lit by the flickering blue flame of the High Matrix’s weapon as she forced it to shift over and over. “We don’t usually come down here,” The High Matrix remarked, “Usually there is no reason. As you have long since found out, the Assassin’s Guild is not usually a group for taking prisoners… however, in the event that someone did need to be contained for whatever reason, we have built an ultimate prison deep under our castle.” As the High Matrix had been speaking Alexei had noticed that the temperature had been steadily increasing. The High Matrix allowed her weapon to sink back under her skin, and Alexei prepared himself to be awash in darkness, but after a moment for his e
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