25 Magus

The moment the boy crossed, the portal began to violently oscillate, his water like membrane began to shrink until it finally closed behind him.

The room was dark, lit by a few torches on the walls. Riou saw the same pedestal with the crystal counterpart and approached it to take the crystal. "This could be handy in the future." Thought the boy saving both crystals inside his money bag.

There was no one near him, nor could he sense anyone. There was only silence and a dark corridor to follow.

He soon reached another small room. It seemed to be a laboratory with many substances and rare metals on top of the tables. Parchments and old open books were scattered around and showing images of runes and magical circles.

On top of one of the tables, near many parchments with magical circles drawn on them, was a body… a dead man wearing a black robe… distorted in his limbs and chest as if his bones had been broken and tried to heal in the wrong form… he was surrounded by a white, almost translucent thin blue glowing form of chain or rope…

"This spell is still effective?" thought the boy recognizing his spell… and completely unaware of the extents of his power.

Riou approached it and dispelled it… "No need for it anymore now…" he thought…

Riou walked with caution through the dark… eventually he reached a large room, with an eerie darkness that felt unnatural to him. The room was squared, lit by torches far from the center on the side walls, but at the very center of the room he could see the back of a stone throne. As Riou walked around to see its front, he began to notice a figure who sat on it…

A dark mantle could be seen covering what he guessed to be the body of a person, as the shape was very similar. It was alive as Riou noticed it was following his movements with its head shrouded in darkness.

Riou kept walking until he reached the front of the throne. The boy was about 10 steps away from it and stopped to look at the eerie figure which was sitting there.

Suddenly the figure moved and began to stand up. – "At last my sacrifice arrived… you are older than what I requested, but it will suffice for now…" An eerie and deep voice resounded in the room.

An even darker shroud of black fog emanated from the figure and slowly advanced towards the boy who showed no sign of fear.

Suddenly the black fog encased the boy in a whirl… the figure seems pleased and opened its arms and inclined its head backwards… as to receive some kind of prize.

A few moments passed and nothing happened…

The figure recovered its normal position and dismissed the fog with a hand movement… standing in the middle of the fog was the boy, with the same calm expression he had as he arrived.

- "You are a mage…" said the dark figure calmly to the silent boy. – "It doesn't matter… you will die nonetheless…" The dark figure pointed his finger towards Riou.

A violet ray immediately came out rapidly drawing closer and hitting the boy.

- "Drain soul… death ray… what's next, necromancer? Raise dead?" Riou replied without concern…

The figure became unsettled… the fire on the torches flickered and burned intensely as the figure opened its arms.

The light covered the room showing for the first time an extremely pale, bald man with white, dead eyes.

- "I'm Callas the Undying, a mere necromancer can't compare to my power!" Replied the mage as he released his power into the room. Bringing his fist up to the level of his face, concentrating his mana in his hand, he formed a violet ball that covered his entire fist.

- "Die…" He said shooting the ball towards the boy who prepared to receive the impact.

A loud noise followed- a powerful explosion that launched Riou to the opposite direction… he ended up hitting the wall at his back. The whole area ended up covered in dust smoke.

Callas kept watching, unsure if the boy was dead… until he noticed movement.

Riou began to walk up once again leaving the smoke… - "That was unexpectedly strong… but not strong enough it seems" He said cleaning the dirt off his clothes.

The mage showed hints of discomfort on his face and body, he clearly was not expecting the boy to survive that.

He promptly conjured many more violet energy balls and as fast as they were forming he threw them at the boy without stopping. Each one of them exploded as fiercely as the first, creating a thick smoke screen because of the stones' destruction… after a few blasts the mage focused death energy in both hands… a bigger spell began to form. As soon as the boy emerged from the dust, Callas threw it at him.

The impact destroyed the walls and part of the ceiling, but luckily it was made of solid rock and did not collapse completely.

The mage watched expectantly and calmly for the dust to settle down once again.

To his surprise, the boy emerged unscathed once again.

- "I'm trying to figure you out… you are clearly dead, but your soul seems to still be attached to your decaying, moving body, somehow…" Riou paused looking at him before continuing - "Are all council members like you?" Asked the boy analyzing the strange mage.

- "In a certain way… some of them are…" Said the mage with his white eyes looking curiously at the boy in a very calm tone. – "I gained the knowledge on how to become immortal from them … and by serving them they will grant me the chance to ascent to even greater forms" – The mage's mana began to spread once again, it looked like a thick black smoke taking over the room. This time it seemed heavy and began spreading across the floor, covering it slowly.

- "So you know who they are?" asked Riou promptly and without any concern.

- "One of them… he was the one that taught me Argonian spells… but it was a long time ago…"

- "How do you contact them?" asked the boy trying to pry for information.

- "Foolish boy, you don't contact them… they contact you" Answered the mage calmly.

Riou squinted his eyes… The mage would not talk or did not know how to contact them, that was clear to the boy… So he changed the topic towards Allard matters. The black smoke had covered over half of the room by that time…

- "I know about the spies… I know Roderick is part of the council… I know about the letter that vanished"

The mage smiled faintly - "A letter?" Asked the mage intrigued. "You lured Maximilian… but before leaving, he left a letter in a room and it was taken by the knight's men" said the boy assertively.

Callas smiled cunningly – "So the Magus still was able to leave such a thing behind even when followed… and you are wrong if you think that fool of a knight is a member of the council… he is a pawn that doesn't even know the hand that controls him" He said as the smoke finished covering the whole floor.

- "A pity the great Magus of this age had to die so young…" The mage looked towards Riou – "You as well… you have shown great promise at such young age… but your lack of experience will be your demise… you gave me enough time to prepare…"

- "Ho… lack of experience you say?" Answered the boy smiling

The mage didn't bothered and continued – "You will fall into despair!" Said the mage beginning to chant in an incomprehensible language… Riou deduced it was argonian since it did not resemble the elf's tongue…

From the fog an eerie violet glow began to appear and ghostly hands began to reach out all over the room… from the center of the room, near the throne, a completely white woman began to emerge, as if floating in the air. It was a specter, a spirit of a dead woman with a deranged face and empty eye sockets. Its white hair floated as if it was inside a pool of water…

- "A banshee?" Riou asked as he brought his hands up to block his ears…

The ghost opened its mouth to huge extents, much bigger than a normal human mouth should open, a really disturbing view…

An indescribable scream followed… it was loud enough to shake every bone of the boy's body… it lasted for a moment and vanished together with the ghost and the black smoke…

Riou removed his hands from his ears… - "That was loud…" he complained.

The mage seemed unable to believe the situation, his spell that took years of research, that should bring instant death to whoever heard the banshee scream, completely failed. – "You should be dead!" he stated looking at the boy trying to understand how he had survived that.

- "Well… it's like your level is too low compared to mine, so your spell has no effect on me… also the banshee's scream can be negated by sheer fortitude, since it's an instant death spell on most games… and also the amount of mana you used on it was too low, so I knew it would not affect me" He shrugged towards the mage…

Callas mind was perplexed "How could he possible know the spell name and its effect? This is an Argonian spell of the highest rank, only few masters in Argos could possess such knowledge… and even then would not be able to survive it… and what did he mean by low? Hundreds of years of research to reach the amount of mana needed for this spell… it had to cover the whole floor, to call it low… absurd!"

- "Low? You dare call hundreds of years of research… low?" the mage said in an angered voice.

Riou shrugged once again before speaking,

- "Let me show you a similar spell… but this one only affects undead like yourself."

The mage smiled… - "You think death scares me? I'm a follower of the death god! He bestowed on me eternal life! Such nonsensical spell could never harm me" he said confidently.

Riou smiled wryly – "That's something I wanted to ask… your death god seems like a good guy you know… he allows undead to roam the place… gives eternal life to any fool who asks… where I come from, death let's no one escape its grasp, I say you guys have it easy around here… So I'd like to test this immortal status of yours…" he said mockingly.

Callas was furious to Riou's lack of respect, he who devoted his entire life towards the black god, to hear such words drove him off the edge.

- "Blasphemy!" Shouted the mage pulling something from inside his robe… it was a big black stone with a red rune engraved in its center as if the stone was created around the rune itself.

The mage smiled once again – "You are an excellent adversary I must admit, to know about the banshee and how to counter it… you sure must have had an excellent master. Your defensive capabilities are sure impressive." Said the mage showing the stone to Riou.

- "But that's all you are… a defensive mage, you do not possess the power to kill me… and for disrespecting the black god of Argos, I will show you the true power of death!" he then hold the black stone in his hand and began to chant. The black fog began to concentrate around the stone and entering it as if it was being sucked in.

Riou didn't wait any longer; it was time to end this fight. He wasn't sure if the mage had told him the whole truth, but he was confident that the mage said enough to continue his investigations…

Riou said slowly looking to the mage

- "Undeath to death…" as Riou finished the words, instantly his mana covered the floor of the room in a shiny, glowing light circle, having the mage on its center…

The moment the mage noticed how quickly the boy's mana covered the floor his eyes widened, for the first time in many years he felt fear and he was unable to say another word. "I underestimated this boy... took me minutes to accomplish with low quantity of mana what this boy has done in an instant with an absurd amount… it even formed a glowing light so strong and condensed it was… hundreds of years of research beaten in a moment by a mere boy…"

Soon after the circle was formed a white light emerged from the circle, engulfing everything inside it for a few moments and disappearing completely afterwards.

Callas body quickly decayed transforming itself into ashes even before hitting the ground, only his skeleton covered by his clothes remained.

Riou approached the skeleton and was about to take the stone from the floor… just before touching it he stopped… he remembered what happened with every crystal he touched… so not wanting to activate it, he wrapped it in a piece of the mage's cloth and put it inside his pouch.

- "I feel like as if I am playing as a high level inside a low level dungeon…" Riou said to himself looking at the result of his spell. "It's weird… it really feels like I'm inside a game collecting loot…" he thought looking around him… "Now… how to get out of here and get back to the city?"

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Riou found the exit to the cave on the mountain foot, it was dark and he could see the village lights not too far away. He decided to stay the night there and to begin his journey back to the capital in the next day.

It took a while but he found a tavern in the village with a spare room and a warm meal. The next morning he questioned the townspeople about how to return to the city and discovered a caravan that was headed to the capital.

It took him almost a week to return to the capital with the caravan speed. It consisted of a few cars full of supplies to sell in the capital stores. It would take longer to go with them, but still would be the most reliable way since there were no roads. Also he was not in a hurry to get back. So between sleeping beside a campfire and eating what they could gather he used every free time to think about what happened in the cave, the conversation with Callas and mainly what to say to Bhalrom and Ursula once he arrived.

------------------------------------------------- Riou's view at the capital

It was still morning when he arrived and he decided to go straight to the castle.

He recognized some of the guards at the entrance, who were surprised to see him alive, word was that the boy had disappeared mysteriously.

The castle was busier than he remembered, some nobles were visiting, something was happening. Riou searched for Bhalrom but was not able to find him and no men from the First Army could be seen.

Riou approached the guards near the throne room

- "Is Bhalrom with the king?" Riou asked.

- "The king is in closed audience" answered the guard abruptly, Riou noted the green colors on the guard's emblems.

Having time, he decided to search the castle to see if he could find someone he knew. After a while he went to the training room, it was possible that Eileen was there with Lilly.

As he approached the training hall he heard noise coming from inside, the door was open as usual to let the wind blow as it got really hot in there. As he stood in front of the door ready to enter he looked inside.

The blue rapier was still moving on the ground as if it was just dropped. It was beside a blond woman that had her back turned towards the entrance of the hall. She was dressed in training gear. In front of her was a man, long blond hair with a braid to the right side that was longer than his face, dressed in clothes similar to the nobles. His face could not be seen properly, as it was way too close to Eileen's face, who by the way wasn't moving.

It took a moment for him to realize that it was a kiss…

Riou thought that the man noticed him at the entrance and moved away, looking towards him… Eileen quickly turned around. She looked at Riou standing there, she was in a mix of emotions and her eyes were wide open, as if she just got busted, her mouth was slightly opened due to surprise and Riou could notice a wet gleaming around her mouth, as the man's saliva was still there, proof of the torrid kiss they shared.

His heart sank.

His mind went blank.

Riou moved his hand in an apologetic manner – "I didn't mean to interrupt…" he said awkwardly, quickly turning away and leaving the door.

Something stirred up inside him, a heavy sensation took over his chest and his mind was racing with many thoughts… and before he even noticed he was already on the very top of the side wall jumping down towards the city.

He used a wind spell to break his fall once he was close to the ground, landing in a remote part of the city without thinking.

Riou couldn't avoid the feeling of jealously, betrayal and anger boiling inside him… even if it was towards a man he didn't even know… He walked through the city streets with a deep anger, in the direction of the only place he knew he could stay. He couldn't help but to revive the scene in his mind over and over again while he walked.

After a while he noticed he was being a fool…

"That bothered me way too much… much more than it should have… there is nothing going on… I mean, I look like a 15 year old for fuck's sake… and she is beautiful beyond reason… it's not odd if she likes someone… She only said she didn't want a political marriage… perhaps that was the guy she was fighting for… and why am I acting like a 15 years old? Why did I run? Am I going through puberty once again? Is this a hormone thing? Fuck, all I can think about is how much I want to kill that bastard! Slaughter him, that son of a…" Riou sighed once again.

"Why didn't she tell me? I also didn't ask... Calm down… suck it up, you are not 15… she is an adult… and you are just a boy to her… she is a big girl, she can make her own decision. So suck it up, stop acting like a fool who saw his crush with someone else and is acting like a baby… she is gorgeous that's why you are jealous… it's a man thing… stop acting like a fool for fuck's sake!" he thought to himself as he sighed deeply, trying to get his mind out of that state. He tried to reason around his odd behavior, forcing himself to his usual mood.

Riou, by the time he calmed down, was already standing before the well-known tavern. He slapped his cheeks with both of his hands, took another deep breath to clear his mind and stepped inside the tavern.

Riou in his previous world was not a popular guy as he spent most of his time alone. But the very few occasions that he someone gave him some understanding about relationships, even if they didn't last very long, he was always dumped after a few months. Which unfortunately helped to incentive his secluded lifestyle, passing even more time in his room with his games.

------------------------------- Eileen's View

The news were not good for Eileen, as she did not see Riou return from the incursion she quickly approached Bhalrom inside the castle when she had the chance.

- "Bhalrom, where is Riou?" She asked promptly.

Bhalrom sighed – "That damn boy vanished princess…"

- "Vanished?" she asked puzzled

- "Yes, he went alone inside that cursed mine… we left no stone unturned, but we could not find him."

Eileen nodded – "I will go there with a search party as well…"she said a bit out of herself.

- "Princess… I assure you, he is not in that mine…our best bet to understand what happened is the prisoner…" Said Bhalrom trying to reassure the princess.

- "Inform me as soon as you discover any new information" Eileen said in a serious mood.

Couple of days passed and no new information had been uncovered. The prisoner denied vehemently any knowledge to any boy, as if his life depended of it.

Eileen spent her time with the rapier Riou left with her in the training hall waiting for more news or to the boys return. Still her heart was heavy due the uncertainty of what happened. The boy possible whereabouts constantly assaulted her mind, but in every scenario she came up of what have happened, she couldn't see the boy losing or even dying… she was convicted that he was a capable master swordsman… she knew, deep down, that he was alive. Nonetheless she was still worried to why he didn't show up yet…

A few days after the incursion the castle received visitors. The royal family received them in the throne room

- "Askjell! It's been a while since your last visit… look at you, a grown man now! I'm sorry if we can't receive you as you deserve but we are dealing with a dire situation at hand" Said the king to the blond man approaching the throne. He was tall, with long blond hair and a long braid of hair to his right side. He was wearing noble dark clothes with a wolf pelt on his back. They probably came from a very cold region, all men looked like nobles, and all dressed in a similar way, porting swords to their side and a round shield to their back.

- "King Elrik! Torwald sends his best wishes… And I'm sorry if I arrived at a bad time, but if you need me or my men just say the word, we will bring the enemy's head as a present for you!" Said the north man loudly and bowing slightly towards the king.

The king smiled – "You are the same boy I remember, don't worry about our problems, we are dealing with them… I take you came here for the same reason you came last time?" asked the king.

Askjell looked at Eileen's direction and smiled

- "Yes! I wish to challenge the princess Eileen once again through the rites of the north! I intend to make her my wife this time, if the king allows it!" said the man eloquently.

- "It is not my wish that matters Askjell… my daughter has to decide it" Said the king looking at Hanna and Eileen, waiting for her response.

Eileen for the first time in all this years wanted to deny a challenge… her mind was elsewhere, suddenly it was not so important anymore… but she couldn't because it would put aside all she has done so far.

She didn't say a word and looked to her father who sighed.

- "A week from now so you both can prepare and rest… until then, Askjell and his warriors will be guests in the castle" The king said in a monotone as if it was a protocol he must follow.

A couple more days passed, it was almost a week since the incursion, and Eileen was training in the training hall since very early that morning, when Askjell appeared unannounced.

- "So, this is where you hide Eileen" said the nord looking around – "This is not a bad training hall… I could help you to train if you want"

The princess stopped and remained quiet looking at him with a cold expression.

- "For the elements, you are even more gorgeous than I remembered." He said slowly approaching her. She showed no reaction or intent to reply.

- "Don't think it will go like the last time when we were kids… you had the advantage that time… but now, now I've learned a few new tricks…" he said, just a few steps away.

Eileen brought the rapier up pointed towards the approaching man's face who stopped immediately.

He walked around her looking at the hall followed by the rapier's edge… - "I heard a strange history… that the princess dueled with some noble of Allard in full armor, with a rapier and still won… an amazing feat since a rapier cannot break the armor… And curiously right after that she was challenged by a commoner… a young boy… which whom she played around with for a while until he finally gave up…" He stopped and looked at Eileen.

- "This is the intriguing part… I heard on the way here that a commoner boy was following you around, all the time, and you even took him to the city… but the Eileen I know would never allow such a thing. She hates the presence of men, even more the ones that challenged her. So I wondered if I would be able to meet such a person… but it seems it was just a rumor" said Askjell looking at her.

Eileen lowered her sword… and remained quiet, but her expression showed signs of discomfort.

- "All gossip it seems, don't worry with them, once our marriage is announced you will return with me to Thanes and leave this people behind" He said smilingly

The princess felt like being surrounded by a viper, every word it uttered seemed poisonous, his way of moving and talking were cold and calculated. Eileen felt the urge to fight back.

- "You will not win…" She replied coldly and sharply.

- "I'm not the kid you knew…" He said approaching her very closely. – "You will be mine" He said quickly lunging at her lips, touching them with his… reaching for her hand holding the rapier forcing her to let it go. The rapier fell down her side as she froze, completely unable to move taken by surprise her mind was in shock, her eyes were open looking to the walls as she didn't imagine such a thing would happen as Askjell searched for a response on her dead, closed lips.

It was brief and Askjell was forcing his hand, sensing she would not respond to his kiss and fearing an immediate retaliation once she recovered from the surprise, he stepped away. By that time he noticed someone at the door.

As Eileen began to recover from the shock she became furious with what happened, but before she could do anything she noticed Askjell expression looking seriously towards the door.

Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened a deep concern affected her heart that made her rage subside into a fearful state.

Even before turning around, she had a feeling of who was at the door…

And as she turned around her feelings became even more of a mess.

Furious with Askjell, overjoyed by Riou's return and above all fearful of what Riou might have seen.

She looked at the entrance…. She saw a boy with widened dark blue eyes, messy brown hair, looking at her with extreme surprise. He was standing still, just outside the door.

His hand waved… - "I didn't mean to interrupt…" he said apologetically.

Air escaped the princess lungs… "Riou!" She wanted to shout but the words didn't take form. Before she could do anything else the boy left.

"No, no, no…" Eileen thought as she rushed outside the fastest she could… but Riou was nowhere to be found. She kept looking desperately but her fear had become true, he was completely gone by the time she arrived at the door.

Eileen cleaned around her mouth with her sleeve with extreme disgust and rushed towards the castle

"There is only one place he could have gone…" she thought while she hurried.

Askjell who was left in the training room smiled wryly to himself as he took the rapier from the ground.

---------------------------------------- Therese's View

It was morning in the Drinking bear… Therese and Leona were inside waiting for Syldis when something caught her attention.

She quickly got up from her table as her eyes gleamed with vertical pupils, very similar to the ones shown in felines… she was on edge.

Noticing that Leona followed and keened her senses… a moment later she widened her eyes, she also had noticed something.

- "Do you sense it?" Said Therese…

Leona nodded – "What do you think this is?"

- "I don't know… but it is closing in…" She said looking around.

- "Any enemy followed us?" Asked Leone trying to feel the direction it was coming in.

- "No… this is something else entirely… whatever this thing is…" Said Therese unsure of the direction.

The two felt as if the enemy was just steps away from them, but still something was amiss, nothing could be see and there was no commotion from the streets… it was too calm for something so powerful raging about to not cause any disturbance.

As time passed the sensation grew even stronger every passing moment to their surprise.

- "Is it really coming here? I can't tell anymore… it feels as if it is everywhere…" Said Leona.

- "It's coming… and it's near… dangerously near…" Said Therese reaching for her sword and looking towards the entrance.

Suddenly the sensation vanished… completely as if it was never there. Therese's eyes became normal again as the threat vanished.

A moment later a boy in his 15 with dark blue eyes and messy brown hair came in from the front door looking around as if nothing was going on.

Leona looked at Therese with a puzzled expression.

Therese squinted her eyes at the boy that approached the counter near the kitchen… Her instincts screamed that the boy was dangerous… So she approached him as if a lion was stalking an unaware prey, about to pounce on it. Once she was near enough her sword came out of her sheath and it moved in the direction of the boy in a quick, violent movement.

The boy instinctively drew one of the fang swords from his back and was ready to defend himself parrying the incoming blow… that never happened.

A voice came from above them

- "What are you doing Therese?" Asked Syldis holding the sword with her bare hands as if it was nothing.

- "Do you know him?" Asked Therese without taking her eyes of the boy…

- "It's Riou… the boy I told you I was looking after.

Therese stepped back as Syldis released her sword, she sheathed it as Leona watched the interaction closely.

Therese approached Riou and raised her hand to touch him on his head. Riou noticed that her hand had very sharp nails that almost resembled claws.

The boy was fearful to what she intended and looked towards Syldis, she smiled and nodded, assuring Riou he had nothing to be wary of.

The moment she touched his head her eyes became feline once again, the vertical pupils with widened eyes looked directly at his. It lasted for a moment then Therese removed her hand…

- "I see…" she said to the boy before turning around and getting back to the table, followed by Leona.

-------------------------------------

Riou looked puzzled at Syldis – "What was that?" he asked unable to understand what was going on.

Syldis frowned – "That's Therese… I don't know why she did that... she is a hard one to read... but she was testing you for some reason" Syldis looked once again at Therese's direction.

- "And the hand on my head? And what were those eyes?" Riou was clearly surprised.

- "She is from the beast lands… a member of the Lion's clan, that's why her eyes are like that, it's because of her ancestry. And the touch is how they are… the beast men have a very developed instinct, so they used to say they can tell a lot about a person by just looking at them and a lot more if they touch them, something to do with their beliefs... but to me it's a customary thing you know? I think, since they are so reclusive, it's a way to express themselves to someone they want to meet, or even say they are sorry... they don't talk much"

Riou looked towards Therese's table and she was quietly there, as if nothing had happened. On the other hand the woman with her was looking directly at him with with serious eyes.

- "Who is the other one with her?" Asked Riou looking back to the woman.

- "That's Leona, she is from the wolf clan. She is Therese's apprentice since a young age... I will bring some meat, then we will join them on their table, I think they will like to hear about your swords." Syldis smiled - "Fear not Riou, if she really wanted you dead... you'd be dead."