The Corpse laughed for one last time as the glyph on its back began to shine brighter. General Arthur leapt forward. A piece of paper disintegrated in his hand as a dome of silver energy surrounded us. When the glyph on the corpse shined bright as the sun, there was a high-pitched screech followed by a sudden explosion. A moment later, all the other corpses that were still moving also released that same screech.

The dome created by General Arthur was covered in cracks as it struggled to protect us from the explosions. When the dust cleared, all that remained of the corpses were deep craters littering the ground.

“Can your undead do that?” General Arthur asked, pointing towards the dozens of craters.

I scowled at him for a moment. “That is hardly the most important thing for us to be focusing on right now.”

“So, is that a no?”

I let out a frustrated sigh as I tussled my hair. “No, I cannot do that. Not with my current level of strength. Are you happy now?”

General Arthur just smiled as the dome of silver light vanished, but his smile quickly disappeared as he spoke his next words. “Be honest. How much trouble are we in?”

“Irene Corvus… you know her as Irene Ultio. I do not think I need to tell you how much influence she holds in the Novus Empire. She is the last surviving member of the Corvus Dynasty and a traitor to the human race. Now that she knows I am back, we will not be able to rest easy. She will not allow me to move freely. I would not be surprised if she sends someone to capture me and kill any allies I have made... and my family... If that fails, she might even tell King Sebastion I am alive. If she does… he will probably kill me again.”

“Irene… I’ve met her a few times. She is a consultant for the king. Always actin’ like she is the one rulin’ the kingdom, not him. Why King Sebastion puts up with her is something I will never understand.”

I shrugged in reply. “Sebastion is a stubborn blockhead, but he is not an idiot. He probably knows she is trying to manipulate him for her own gain. He just does not care. He was always confident that his own power could solve anything through direct force. Subterfuge is not his specialty. I have no doubt he plans to kill Irene her the moment he gets whatever it is he needs from her.”

General Arthur nodded, then paused. He grinned as he knelt down in front of me. Patting me on the head, General Arthur earned another scowl from me that he completely ignored. “You know, Irene saw you here with me. Rather than sending a team to capture you, she will probably have military command issue an order for me to do it myself.”

I crossed my arms as I glared at the smiling general. “That leaves the question, where do your loyalties lie?”

General Arthur laughed as he stood up. “I am loyal to the church and the Fourth Division above all else. They will be the ones to decide what I should do. If they want me to continue my work with the Novus Kingdom, I might have to become your enemy.”

It was my turn to laugh, causing General Arthur to look at me in surprise. “The Fourth Division will never let you attack me,” I said, shaking my head, “Even if they had not been crippled in the final battle against the Archdemon, they would never be willing to pick a fight with the Thirteenth Division. Even if I am as weak as a newborn and look like a child, do not forget who I am. The threat that the five calamities represent is not something that can be ignored. Do you really think the Fourth Division will risk our wrath for some little kingdom in this backwater place? You might as well face it, general. So long as you are in this realm, you serve me.”

General Arthur stood up, clearing his throat. His smile was gone now, he looked somewhat pale, and he was not willing to look me in the eye as he spoke, “I had best prepare for whatever Irene has planned. I will place guards to watch your family’s wagon.”

I nodded with a grin as General Arther walked away with hurried steps. The grin vanished the moment he disappeared. I turned to look into the distant mist. The ever-changing faces stared back at me. I could not help but feel like I was being watched.

“Corvus… I will wipe this name from the annals of history once and for all. Prepare well Irene, because I am coming for you. No matter how much you think you know, no matter what scheme you come up with, no matter how much you struggle, you will still die.”

I returned to our wagon, images of all the ways I would make Irene suffer flashed through my mind. They were dark thoughts, full of the rage I felt for her father. I had killed him too quickly. I should have made him suffer everything he had done to me. I did not care that Irene was not the one that tortured me. The whole family was guilty of crimes far worse than anything I was even willing to imagine. Compared to them, I was a saint.

As I approached the wagon, I saw my dad standing at the back of the wagon. His hand was resting on the hilt of his blade while his eyes scanned the surroundings intently.

“Wren, is everything ok? I heard the sound of fighting and explosions.” He asked.

I nodded, quickly summarizing what happened. “In the end, Orias escaped with the body and Irene has learned I am alive. It was a complete failure on every level.”

My dad grimaced and he collapsed against the back of the wagon. He held his head in his hands, speaking softly, “I always knew that Aurielle would bring us enemies, but I had always hoped we could keep your identity a secret. That after the war with Envy, we could return home and live a peaceful life as a family. It was a naive dream, I know, but I have spent almost all my life serving the Novus Kingdom.

Now, it is only a matter of time before the king learns about you. With enemies in the royal court, we can never return home. I will have to fight the men I once called friends. In a single instant, everything I have ever worked for is gone.”

I lowered my head, staring at the rocks on the ground. I did not want to see my dad like this. My words were barely a whisper as I spoke, “You can always leave. They only want me. You, Mom, and Charly can still return to that life if you disown me. I would not blame you.”

“Never!” my dad shouted, jumping to his feet, “I will never abandon my child, no matter what the world throws at me. I do not want you to ever talk about that again. We are a family. For better or worse, we are in this together.”

I smiled brightly as I leapt up and hugged my dad. “Thank you…” I felt tears well up in my eyes as he hugged me back. It was only after a long time that I was willing to let him go.

My dad ruffled my hair with a big smile. “If there is going to be more enemies in the future, we had better prepare. It looks like the army has decided to set up camp here for the night, and your mom and Donte are both asleep right now. General Arthur’s use of the rune that pushes back the mist has given me a lot of ideas on new ways to use glyphs. Would you like to join me while I practice?”

I nodded, and my dad quietly grabbed his supplies from the wagon, careful not to wake those sleeping inside. He laid out his paper and started drawing. It was not long before he started talking out loud, explaining what he was trying to do.

“General Arthur basically combined two completely unrelated glyphs when he created the barrier to keep out the mist. In theory, it sounds easy, but in practice, it is incredibly difficult. Normally, trying to do something like that is like planting an apple seed next to a potato and expecting to get apple-flavored potatoes. It just does not work. Instead, the general basically cut open the potato and put apples inside of it before sowing it back up. It is crude, but it works wonders.”

I grimaced at my dad. “Can’t you come up with a better analogy? That sounds disgusting.”

My dad rolled his eyes. “The key point is that I think I can do something similar with my bracer. Normally I can only create solid ice with a limited shape, but if I layer another rune on top of it…” he paused as he slapped a piece of paper covered in runes onto his wrist. he smiled like a child with a new toy. The red rune lit up at the same time as his bracer, overlapping with the blue light. That light was stable for less than a second before the red light started fluctuating wildly. My dad quickly threw the piece of paper away, just in time as the piece of paper caught fire before disintegrating.

My dad looked embarrassed as he glanced at me. “That was just the first try. The next one will be better.”

“Right… you might want to use a protection glyph on yourself before you try again.”

“I don’t need a protection glyph. I know what I am doing.” My dad grumbled right before he started glowing with a silver light. He then used one on me as well… “Just in case…”

My dad spent the next hour trying to get himself killed in creative ways. He was encased in ice, caught fire, and blown up more than once. It was the most interesting ‘research’ I had ever seen.

During the interludes, while he was drawing a new improved glyph, I decided to run an experiment of my own. It was something I was honestly scared to try after what happened to the Demon, but I needed to know what that golden flame was.

I first focused on the power in my right eye, carefully drawing it out. I was the least familiar with this power. Getting it to do what I wanted took a while, but after some trial and error of my own, and accidentally terrifying a nearby soldier into hysterics, I was able to create a stable blue flame. The blue flame was no bigger than a grain of rice and make it float gently above the finger on my right hand.

I let out a sigh of relief when I finally got it to work and felt a slight headache from the effort of creating it. I would not be able to do something like this more than twice at most.

I then created a small green flame, the same size as the other one, on my left hand’s finger. Taking a deep breath, I slowly started moving my two fingers closer together while holding them as far from my body as I could. I winced in preparation as the two flames came close enough to touch.

There was a single moment of beauty as the two flames started to twist around each other, and a bright golden light emerged.

…

..

.

I woke up in a deep crater, covered in rock and dirt. Every single muscle in my body hurt. The silver protection my dad had placed on me was so faint it was impossible to see if you were not looking for it.

“Wren! Are you ok?” my dad shouted in a panic as he scrambled into the crater.

“What…

what happened?” I asked, trying to shake away the fuzziness in my head.

“You exploded into a massive ball of fire!” my dad shouted as he grabbed my shoulders. “What did you do?”

“I… was the fire gold-colored?”

My dad nodded as he carefully helped me to my feet. My head spun. I felt a wave of nausea crash through my body as I was moved. I collapsed back to the ground and threw up all the contents in my stomach, heaving even after nothing was left.

My dad held my hair back until my stomach finally settled. He rubbed my back and said a few things I could not remember.

My vision spun and began to dim as I collapsed into the dirt. As the world of dreams took me, only a single thought was on my mind.

Never again!