Several platoons of elite battlemages came looking for me. “Guys!” I yelled, “Don’t! Don’t do anything! You hear me? Nothin’! This will be resolved.” The battlemages and my circle had a stand-off, until my people dropped their hands in show of surrender.

I was at the Pendulums, with innocents around – albeit they were damn strong – but I wanted to risk nothing. My arms were bound with special manacles, the same for my legs and a mouthpiece to complete the magic-restraining set. They roughly lifted me up from the ground and escorted me out of the Pendulums’ mansion and winding yard.

Never thought I’d get arrested, this is a new feeling.

“Honestly, it’s a surprise it took this long. If I was in law enforcement, you’d be the most wanted for being a dumbass. So, what did you do?”

Brought Moken to request aid. Liana is hella strong, and angry.

Donna laughed, “You an idiot or something? Why didn’t you just ask me? Literally every person you’re good with is strong in their own right.”

Well, I was hoping to get them to agree to a truce for now. If I had Methelia’s word that they wouldn’t mount anymore attacks against the orcs, I could take my time and plan how we’d take Liana down.

“But now you’re arrested,” she said, suddenly appearing in the containment cell with me. She raised my arms up and slithered in between to sit on my lap, “so, what will you do?”

“Nothing. I’ll face the law like I should.”

“You poor, dumb thing. This isn’t the law. This is abuse of power. What do you think would happen if Gabrielle, Anjali, or Farron found out? You’ve got friends in high places, you know?”

I hugged her tighter, “But then I’d be abusing those connections. Won’t be much different from the Order, now would I?”

She turned around and stared me right in the eyes for a few seconds, then suddenly kissed me. “Eric, what are your dreams?”

What’s with that difficult question? Ugh… “Learn magic?”

“Why? Why do you learn magic? Eric, who are you?”

Shit, I hated how direct she was sometimes, but not as much as I hated those questions. The thought of them sent me into despair. Or rather, my lack of answer to them did. What was I to say to her? I want world peace? I want to be all powerful and respected? I didn’t have the drive for any of those grandiose dreams. Eric Archibald was just a normal kid who grew up having a better life than most his age. He had parents with good income, he didn’t have to work like his best friend, he didn’t have to steal to survive like his dad. He didn’t have some childhood trauma that made him want to change the world for the better, or burn it to ruins. He didn’t have goals with meaning past face-value, or past the feeling of accomplishment after learning a spell. He didn’t have to suffer through days and hours of fruitless practise just to join the Order of Mages like every other aspiring mage. By mere chance, he stumbled upon an Apostle of the witch, learned from her, and grew into one of the most powerful casters in Methelia. Who was Eric Archibald? What did he stand for? Why was he alive?

What, was my purpose?

I grew strong, but for what? Would stopping the war fill that hole? Would I be able to find myself if I could protect everyone I knew and live a safe and happy life? If I settled down with Dawn, had a child, started a family, would my life be fulfilled? How significant was my existence on the grand scale of things? If I was a god and I looked at this world, would Eric Archibald stand out or would he just look like any other being? Was thinking that I had to have some higher calling even the right way to look at it? How did others deal with this? What did they say to themselves when they knew with their entirety that they were destined to do something great but knew nothing of what that was?

What was their purpose?

Those were the questions I executed myself with every day of my life, and despite how great a significance I knew they had, they were shrugged off and my mask of happy-go-lucky was applied to conceal the insecurities of my permeable character.

I wasn’t sure when Donna left whilst those thoughts ravaged my mind, I’m not sure how much time passed. Man, I sighed, talk about depressin’. I wonder if people can visit me here. Maybe they’ll come tomor–

A jarring explosion blew me away from my mind and toward the sound. Other inmates woke up and face toward the strange explosions that got louder and louder, until the wall down the corridor also got busted open. The guardsmen were yelling out for reinforcements whilst quick footsteps encroached. The person busted the locks on a few of the cells and allowed the prisoners to escape. The person was clothed from head to toe, employing a mask with some fake hair to throw pursuers off.

Eventually, the nimble fellow busted my bars open as well, but he didn’t stop there, no. I was, kidnapped? He grabbed me and ran towards the place he blew up before. The battlemages stood no chance, this person knew what he was doing. He utilised thin tendrils of dense water, as if they were his own arms. They grabbed and flung the guards about, smashing them into walls and into each other. Any spells they cast were blocked by a rather familiar spell. Divergence. But he hardly used it, opting for the vine-like water to manoeuvre us out as well as defeat the guardsmen. The minute we hit the streets, an Invisibility spell that was unmistakably Flynn’s was used.

Dad? No, can’t be, way too small, I thought, looking at the person’s stature. We walked after Muffle was cast to reduce noise, and leisurely made our way into the dark alleys of the eastern district. We entered the sewers and walked until we reached the waterway separating the districts. We sat in the guise of the shadows, not even the moonlight touching us. Suddenly, I was encased in a sphere of water and a large amount of mana destroyed the magic-restraints on my arms, legs, and mouth.

The person then released the magic. I swept my soaked hair back to see properly, but before I could say anything, the person embraced me. Well, it isn’t a guy… I thought, after feeling her breasts against my chest. And after a couple seconds, she couldn’t hide her identity. “What the hell are you doing? Do you realise how dangerous that was? You could’ve died!”

“You’re welcome, babe,” she took my hand. From there it was a simple matter of going home, but in the middle of it I stopped her.

“Listen, Dawn, they’re gonna know it’s you who did that.”

“I thought about that, but ultimately they need evidence that it was me. You think they can win against my sister and Anjali without evidence? Heck, even if they had evidence, they might still let me off the hook because Anjali said to.”

She was so right, that I retracted my suggestion of her turning herself in. What was I thinking? But, then what about me? They can’t keep a minor imprisoned like that for long. To top it off, my hearing would’ve come rather quickly. Hmm, no matter how you look at it, that was a brash move. And where did she learn that level of Invisibility? Those water vine things too. Ugh, I smell Donna all over this.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, in a calmer than usual tone.

She turned to look at me and opened her lips but didn’t say anything. A couple more repeats of that, and she sighed defeatedly. “Sometimes, the truth isn’t always good to know.”

“It’s something you can’t tell me?”

“I, I can. It’s just, difficult. Remember I told you about my missing uncle? Well, turns out he was murdered. The Order of Mages had him killed, his own people,” her fists clenched but quickly released, “and he wasn’t the only one. Anyone who came close to finding their secret was hunted down and killed.”

She leaned against the wall, “My uncle had a journal, and at the end of his days, he wrote about a strange item, a crown called the Diadem of Lunacy. He said that on his mission, he discovered a map to the crown’s resting place, but he never returned home that day. His journal ended there. I learned from your father, Eric. That is how I could sneak into the deepest chambers of the Order of Mages, that’s how I found evidence of uncle Rog’s murder. They have a list of every mage they murdered, and I could put them away by providing that list to the authorities but…” she strayed, “That’s not my kind of justice.”

“Dawn,” I embraced the girl, “I’m so sorry. What will you do now? Will you quit the Order or wi…” I stopped, and thought, as if her words had only just hit my brain. “What is your kind of justice, then?”

“You figured it out already, huh?”

My face contorted at that question. “Dawn, did you, kill those two councilmen?” I interrogated but she only smiled.

“I’ve three more to go, including that piece of shit, Remi.” She held onto both of my hands, “Listen, Eric. They’re on guard after that, so I won’t be able to execute silent kills like before. It will get dirty, they will know who I am, if they haven’t figured it out already. I’ll become a criminal after this and, I don’t want you to get invol–ow!”

She jumped after I shocked her with a bit of electricity on my finger tip. “Yeah, listen, don’t even entertain that idea, young lady. I won’t have you just ki–”

“Eric! I don’t think you understand! There’s nothing you could say right now to convince me not to. I’m going to get my revenge whether you like it or not. So please, we have to break up. You don’t deserve to be anywhere near th–ow!”

“You didn’t let me finish, you crazy woman. I was gonna say I won’t have you do that by yourself. You’re my partner, I’m with you through thick and thin,” I touched my forehead against hers, “you’re not alone. But…”

“But?”

“I’d like to see that evidence you’re talking about. It would make going against them even easier. Now, does anyone else know?”

She shook her head, “Well, just Donna. I’ll tell the boys when, when I’m ready.”

“Okay, one question though,” I cleared my throat and crossed my fingers. Please don’t be them. “Your ‘hit list’, is Meagan and Keagan included?”

A side of her lip peaked up with a smirk, then the other side followed to form a devilish grin, “You really love your friends, huh? It’s fine, I’m not targeting them.”

Footsteps from above intruded into our ears. Higher-ups of the battlemages barked orders at their underlings in fear of failure to capture the escapees.

We quickly went our separate ways after deciding on a time and place to meet and plan our, ‘justice’. She went home like nothing ever happened, and I to the spirit world. Phoenix was happy to see me after being coddled by Gale everywhere he went. But, having a drink between men was apparently a good enough excuse to get her off his back, and so we did.

This is good, I thought, sipping the clear spirit. Half hour in, Phoenix swished the liquid in his cup, “So, what then? What happens after you kill them and reveal the truth? Will you two be heralded as heroes who uprooted the corrupt and stopped the war? Or will you be exiled – or worse, executed?”

“Executed? Nah, it’s kill or be killed, and I won’t allow either one of us to die. Exiled? Well, that’s not all that bad. Anyway, we could be criminals or heroes depending on how we go about it.”

“You know what, man?” he put his cup down onto a stone between us, “I’m coming with! Beats being shadowed by Miss Windy every day.”

“Pfft, all she gotta to do is appear at my location and she’ll find you, dumbass. But hey, you’re welcome along.”

We drank ourselves asleep that night. I turned and twisted on lush and cosy grass. My legs were over something warm and smooth, my hand loosely gripping onto something jiggly yet supple. I awoke in the water faction some way or the other, spooning Hydra’s godlike ass. So many questions ransacked my mind, but I didn’t feel like moving an inch. My eyes closed back down as I wiggled a little, getting into a comfy position, but then I remembered Dawn and my eyes shot open like a zombie. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! I turned my head upwards with vigour quite unlike me on early mornings, then breathed a sigh of relief. Still early.

“Alright, Hydra, better get up before I do something unforgivable to that big butt.”

She groaned a bit, “Guess I’m not getting up.”

I stuck my tongue out and licked the back of her ear, making her body jerk. With that opening, I stood up and took my clothes off. A water elemental soaked my body and cleansed it off its impurities; couldn’t meet my girlfriend if I was kickin’.

Soon enough, Phoenix and I were gone, appearing in the other world whilst under my Invisibility. I’d have opted for Voidwalk, but it’s not like I could’ve cast it on others.

At Pyro’s house was a cellar that led to an empty underground basement with a hidden door inside. She and Pyro built it as a fort to play back when they were kids apparently, or so she explained when we sneaked inside. There were diagrams and interconnecting arrows pointing to people and location alike. An entire wall was nothing but leads she followed, whether or not they were dead ends. “This isn’t the original,” she said, pulling forth a red journal, “it’s just what I copied. But this book has the name of every single mage or unlucky adventurer that came too close to uncovering what the Diadem of Lunacy was, its location, or even its purpose. I scribbled down the main points, so its not the exact same, but I’m willing to sneak back into the inner chambers of the Order with you to show you the actual thing,” she raised the other hand. “This, is uncle Rog’s notes. I suggest you read both of them.”

So, I followed her suggestion, spending a good hour going through her notes, asking questions, observing and putting all the information from her wall of leads into something that made sense to me. “Well? You ready? Just promise, don’t attack unless things go south. If they turn their hands on us, you have free reign to kill. I’d like to get as much missing information as I can before you start biting off their heads, okay?” I patted her head.

And so, we went to the Order’s meeting room later that morning. Getting them to meet was as easy as it was for Flynn to forge Elder’s signature. They all walked in, questioning each other about the reason for Elder’s summons and having some small talk here and there. Elder himself came in after everyone, concluding the entirety of the councilmen. I finally came out of Invisibility, reading a book at one of the shelves, “So,” I began, bringing their attention to me and closing the book audibly, “Elder, over thirty people dead because of the diadem. Must be the apple of your eye, eh?” He was more than ruffled but played it off after quickly reasserting his calm nature.

“You should be imprisoned!” he exclaimed.

“Pipe down, you dishonest prick! Breaking outta prison ain’t as bad as the shit you done did. Besides, I was broken out of prison, against my will, might I add. I couldn’t exactly fight back against another without spells, and I wouldn’t. But forget about me, the bigger question is, why kill all those people over this ‘Diadem of Lunacy’? In fact, what is the–

I was suddenly engulfed by a strange aquamarine plasma. My body grew numb and I eventually lost control over it, falling helplessly to the ground.

“Diadem of Lunacy? What does he speak of?” a councilman questioned Elder. He and his accomplices looked less than pleased about the information breach and began watching each other with suspicion.

“Speak, Elder!” Keagan’s voice boomed, knowing no fear, “First you decline an offer to stop the war, then you imprison a fellow councilman that you yourself appointed! And now that he’s back in front of us, you attack him when he accuses you of something! We are of no mind to blindly follow you, Elder!”

Meagan started out wanting to hush her justice-driven brother, but his confidence won out eventually. Elder was becoming angrier by the moment, “This is none of your concern! You shan’t speak of this ever again!”

Normally, Dispel couldn’t hope to remove whatever paralysing effect that spell he cast had, but at my mana’s power, managed to brush it off. “But it is their concern what their leader does. It is their concern who he murders. It is their concern when the head of the very organisation they represent had a hand to play in killing their queen!”

“Baseless accusations!” He went along with appearing innocent, uninvolved.

“Are they?” I asked, pulling out the red journal with Dawn’s notes. “Dear councilmen, and by ‘councilmen’ I mean the ones who aren’t involved with his bullshit. This contains the name of every individual those four scum have killed in the name of protecting what they prize as a magical item called the Diadem of Lunacy! This isn’t incriminating, as it’s merely a copy, but,” my eyes glued themselves to Elder, taking every bit of restraint I had to stop myself from turning this entire building into rubble, “we know where to find the original with your magical footprint, don’t we?”

By this point, he was standing up, looking as if he was carefully calculating his odds right now. He watched each of us in the eye, his hand giving a flinch every now and then, as if he was ready to attack. “Indeed, they were necessary sacrifices to protect the secret of the crown. It is truly regrettable you found out about us, young Archibald. You’ve not only given yourself a death wish, but you’ve given one to the last three ignorant councilmen here. Meagan, Aldis, I’m sorry to report, but your lives are now forfeit, please understand. That’s especially true for you, Keagan. You would have been a good addition to the new world, you as well, Archibald. But I fear it could never be so.”

Their hands buzzed with magical intensity, “Goodbye.”