“Son, do you understand what you’re asking of us? Of Methelia?” Farron posed, watching me closely.

“I am asking permission to invade Ulanos, destabilise their current regime and defang their military might,” I answered, totally serious.

Carl Rawlings chuckled a little, and so followed his men. The king’s advisors joined in on the laughter soon after. It made the atmosphere a lot lighter and more breathable, but did nothing for mine and August’s ambitions.

“Your decorum please, gentlemen,” the king simmered them down. “Son, this is no mere squabble. Don’t you think you’re in over your head here?”

“No.”

“We don’t have the resources to allow that, I’m afraid.”

“You don’t ne…” I stopped my sentence and sighed. “Alright,” I muttered to myself and stood up to grab everyone’s focus. I took a couple of deep breaths before beginning my usual persuasive talk. “Ulanos’ capital, Nuan, is at least thrice times the size of Methelia. There are other grand cities like it in Ulanos and innumerable smaller ones that match Methelia’s size. Their population is in the billions. We are laughably outnumbered, my king.

“What I suggest we do is ally with other nations that we believe are next on Ulanos’ hitlist and beef up our defences. But even then, a war of attrition will do us no good. You cannot hope to outlast Ulanos’ onslaught if a mere ship or two of their soldiers forced the likes of those present here to gather. Send us to Ulanos to destroy them from within. We need only a few months.”

The king thought of it strongly, but couldn’t see himself giving that order so carelessly. “What does everyone else think of this?” he asked, and it incurred some interesting responses.

Most, if not all, agreed that an alliance with other at-risk countries was the way to go. However, sending me and August to Ulanos was shot down incredibly fast. How infuriating it was! Of course, I knew that a big reason they didn’t allow it was because they knew not the height of power August and I commanded, but I couldn’t blame them. If we were to form an alliance, the other countries might not approve of two teenage boys poking the hornet’s nest. Their fear won out in the end.

“I see.” I took a few steps back and gave a small bow to the king and queen, then one in the general direction of the table. “Please excuse me then,” I left my chair. The spirit lords kept close behind me. August however, kept his position.

“How disrespectful can you be, boy?” Carl antagonised. I rolled my eyes mentally before looking back at him. “You are in the presence of our His Majesty! You cannot merely dismiss yourself! How powerful do you and your little friend think you are?”

A couple things swept through my mind, but I simply continued walking away. Answering him right now wasn’t something I felt like doing.

“Eric Archibald!” Donna’s voice raised. “Answer his question!”

I turned around once more, “Yes, my queen.”

Aquan’s head of battlemages had my attention this time. “Sir,” I remained as polite as could be, “it is hard to quantify my power. But, to put it simply, in this room full of the strongest individuals willing to defend Methelia, I could murder everyone at the drop of a hat.”

“August now,” Donna instigated in my mind.

“And the only one capable of standing on equal ground with me – even capable of killing me – is that young man, August King. That, sir, is how powerful I know we are.” Turning at the king and queen, I asked nicely for permission to leave and it was granted by a nod of the king.

“Well then,” August stood, “I suppose my business is concluded here as well.”

The spirit lords went back to their world except Hydra. The thought that boldly walking hand-in-hand with me was possible because of clothes finally made her appreciate the concept.

“Why did you let it go?” August interrogated. “You could’ve convinced them.”

“No matter,” I said. “They’re the adults. Let’s just trust that they know what they’re doing and use whatever time we have to train. You’re at ninety-six quint usage and three-quarter way through enchanting, right?”

“Yeah,” he stretched and leaned against the courtyard wall. “What about you?”

“Halfway through alchemy. Transmutation is still as slow as ever. There are some spells I want to learn. One of which you’ll learn as well.”

I had a clone scour Elder’s little study at the Order for the fear-inducing spell he once used on his councilmen. In the meantime, we concentrated on the pillars of creation. He did his quint training as an activity when he got bored of enchanting all day. I continued reading the Dragon Tongue codex. My lightning mastery was near perfect. Fire was great. Wind and earth were okay. But I lacked severely in water-based spells.

In the coming weeks, we were able to have funerals for August’s father and Dawn. They both had a great turnout. Teaching an entire order how to summon and contract spirits and being a reliable blacksmith allowed them to make a lot of acquaintances. That day, we took a rest of practise in favour of reflection.

Why the hell didn’t she come back? I asked myself, slowly gliding home after Dawn’s burial. That question repeated itself more than I’d like to admit. Manoeuvring about the streets calmed my mind a little, albeit it gave me even more room to brood. Man, I missed her like crazy with every passing day.

The noon sun was a bit masked by intermittent clouds, as was my guard by distracting thoughts. I felt a couple itches in my back, and it was quite familiar. But before I could even remember why, I was impaled through the shoulder by an Ice Javelin, something that could kill if aimed even a smidgen lower. My body propelled and I slammed upside-down into a wall, falling over from gravity’s hold a second or two later. Again, before I could make sense of what was going on, a net entrapped me, its looseness not at all compromising its ability to capture. The translucent green mist-like magic that ran through it was no doubt plasma. Just being in contact with it was an issue.

My embarrassing position had my ass sticking out and blocking full sight of the two hooded figures encroaching me. When they got too close, I cast Dispel and Timedial promptly after. I connected them with Web of God then kept them in place with Arc Lightning. The tables had just turned. With an exhale, I quickly let them go, not without activating Magnet though. The violet bubble of void energy swirled around me whilst I cast Renew on my wound. After a couple earth, plasma, and lightning spells slipped right through me, they stopped casting.

“Apostles, right?” I questioned. There were a couple spells I’d never seen before that they employed. The more aggressive one gritted his teeth in anger, nothing but his greyed beard showing.

The other, a middle-aged woman removed her cowl and placed an arm in front of her brethren, gently asking him to calm down. “Your master, was she the seeker of immortality?”

I gave her a bemused gander and in return, she did the same thing, but on a much more minute scale. “You know of the Apostles, do you not?”

I nodded slowly, cautiously, if that made sense.

“There are only two I know of that had the ability to cast spells of the void. Child, who is your master?”

I scoffed, turned my back and glided away. Smoke appeared in front of me and the man suddenly formed. Hmm? That spell… Looking behind me, he wasn’t there anymore. That wasn’t an illusion, he truly teleported. That’s right! He’s the masked assassin.

“What an impudent arse. You must have a death wish to turn yo–”

A Hand of God struck down onto his head and laid him out.

“What have you done?!” the woman screamed out and I could feel her mana flaring.

With Timedial now on, I was able to easily predict anything and cast before she did. Besides, now was the perfect time to test Mind Break. Remember that spell Elder used to scare people? I learnt it in the past couple weeks, but of course real-world application was another thing.

I covered the distance between the woman and myself quickly, then cast Mind Break. Her arms dangled loosely, and she slumped down, her entire body quivering in terror. The part of her robe by her knees got darker; she wet herself. “He attacked me once and lived. Trying it a second time was foolhardy. As for you…”

“P-p-please, don’t, k-kill me!” she managed to beg before passing out.

Two Apostles, one dead and one unconscious. Well, that certainly didn’t look good to the battlemages who came running over to the scene. However, with some witnesses’ statements, I was off the hook for murder as it was in self-defence. I looked at my hand absent-mindedly and wondered when was it that killing another person became nothing to me.

Is this okay? Can I really be angry at Dawn’s murderer when I myself am one? Is there, I contemplated, a difference between us? That dilemma bothered me greatly, but eventually I shrugged it off. Don’t get me wrong, I was still swirling in anger, or whatever you would call that hybrid of rage and tranquillity that left me baffled at what the hell the first mana-strengthening trial did to my mind.

Later that evening, Donna and I questioned the bound mage and learned that the majority of Apostles were highly suspicious of me, even more so now that their master never returned. She sure did give me a lot of perks without me actually becoming an Apostle, and they were mostly things other Apostles didn’t get. And with that, the truth was bound to come out. Yeah, the actual goddess of life met with me, and we talked about certain things that I couldn’t imagine telling Donna. Sure, Donna could see my thoughts. But after having someone peer at the inner workings of your very mind twenty-four seven, you kind of learn how to empty it.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from her in a long damn time,” Donna thought in retrospect, and fell suspicious as well. Yeah, the witch was a rather seclusive person, but not to her Apostles. Her beautiful but currently daunting eyes rested upon mine, “Why did they come to you about it? Eric, what did you do?”

Man, from Dawn’s death to this, uh, whatever this is going to be. I growled softly and removed my stifling bowtie. “Come with me,” I extended my hand, and as hers touched onto mine, she dissipated into golden orbs of light.

“Come straight with me,” she said when she materialised in the spirit world. The endless pier that led out into the depths of the water faction soothed us with the sounds of the gently crashing waves. I sat down and hung my feet over the water, inviting her to do the same.

“There’s a few things you should know; a few things you should’ve known the minute I learned them but…”

“But?”

“I, um,” my fingers traced nervously along the edges of my jawline, “didn’t kn…” I sighed, “I still don’t know how to tell you.” I held her hand and looked her right in the eyes, deciding to get the most important thing out of the way.

“Donna, the ‘witch’, Emily Crescent, has passed away.”

“Eric?” she smiled at me, which I found disturbing. “Please don’t fuck with me.”

I shook my head and looked downward piteously. Just after she lost Dawn, she was learning about Emily’s death. “There are more things to discuss, but, we could do it another time,” I squeezed her hand tighter, “I’d understand if you need some time alone.”

“So,” she squeezed back, “you’re not,” a tear fell out from the edges of an eye, “kidding…”

“I’m, afraid not.”

She released my hand and instead gripped onto my torso. Her nails dug into my back and her tears soaked onto my shirt. The asphyxiating whimper she gave under her breath was suffocating. Was there really nothing I could do? Well, I was a mage, of course there was. Eden not only repaired the body, but the mind as well. But how inhumane would I be to take away the ability to grieve from someone?

I just had to be there for her. After having a spell for nearly every situation, not having one that fixed these types of issues was agitating. However, fixing problems wasn’t always the best answer. Sometimes, it wasn’t even an answer to begin with. Being there to ensure what was left of the situation was resolved, making sure closure comes and real healing – as slow and cruel as it seemed – happened, was the real and only answer.

After some time in silence, she was ready. “What happened? Tell me everything.”

“Well, turns out, you looking for immortality really was a bigger issue than Emily first let on.”

“Hmm?”

“Your search for immortality would’ve landed you onto an even greater power, something humans aren’t supposed to make contact with. It gives unfathomable strength, but cannot be controlled, so it corrupts and eventually destroys everything around it.” I sighed at this part, “Donna, the one who had you killed wasn’t some politician, it wasn’t Elder either or anyone from the Order. Yes, they were involved in it, but weren’t the driving force. They were just made out to be. The real person who wanted you dead was Emily herself.”

“What?! Eric, you better be serious about this!”

“I am. Donna, you gotta realise, you’re Donna. You’re an Apostle, the favourite out of them all in Emily’s eyes. You’re damn strong. Do you think some low-life mage could kill you? Sven killed you, on Emily’s order. As for the reason, well. According to Emily herself, the power you would’ve discovered would have eventually devoured your soul, as it uses the soul and body itself as a catalyst for power. If your soul gets consumed, you become unable to enter the afterlife, which is seen as a fate worse than any kind of death.”

“That’s, what she said?” my little mind ghost asked with a weak smile, then suddenly stood up and looked at the stars.

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it.”

“So, how did she die?”

“Uh, she just did? That actually kind of leads me into one of the other two things I have to tell you.”

“There’s more?! Hydra’s ass! How’d you keep this from me?”

“Hey, I had to learn to protect my absolutely off-limit thoughts sometime,” I shrugged and chuckled. “So, she actually carried me to see someone. I met the person in charge of her.”

Donna raised an eyebrow. “She was literally the most powerful creature to ever live. That person would have to be…”

I nodded, “A deity. A literal goddess. The actual goddess that created life. And I know this wasn’t a lie because compared to goddess Zanthia’s mere presence, Emily at her most powerful is nothing but an ant under a boot. Just an analogy, but you know what I mean. She’s the real thing.”

Some silence passed as Donna waited. “Well?” she spurred, “What happened? Did the goddess talk to you?”

“Uh, well, yeah. That’s brings me to the third and final thing I was supposed to tell you.”

She scoffed, “At this point, nothing can surprise me. You met a deity!”

“And I kneeled like a bitch,” I confessed to which she let out some faint laughter. “But let’s not talk about it. Anyway, you know how Emily’s purpose was to keep the balance in this world? Well, seeing that she’s,” I paused, “retired; she brought me to meet her employer, basically.”

“Wait, are you saying…”

“Yeah.”

“S-so? Did you say yes?! Are you the new witch?!” her eyes opened wide in anticipation.

“No, I told the goddess I needed some time to make a decision like that. Hell, that’s like hiring a toddler to build Endathal by himself.”

She didn’t respond. Her aloof eyes glowered at the ocean’s moonlit reflections for a while now. No doubt her mind was elsewhere. “You can go back,” she turned just her head, not even completely facing me, “I need some time.”

I sighed mentally, giving her a hug before I returned to Aquan.