Ruinous Return

B2 – Chapter 18

Sonash only took two hours of bow-teleportation travel for Lyn to reach. The lush, fertile farm region provided about half of the cereal crops for the kingdom of Khrelardia. Following the bracer mounted in her armor, she made her way across the lush fields and found an old, abandoned barn in a fallow stretch of land that had been abandoned, it seemed, due to fire that ripped through the region in the past year. Which means this dungeon moved recently. She stepped out of the building and raised her hand, "Ladatho aníra en-thalion / en-gwathren a galu / an rithia i aew an-uir / a tôgo na ai hero thalion gond / En garo na ered i garan." A jolt of black, shadow-imbued lightning bolted into the clear, bright skies and scattered against the magnetosphere with a thunderous report. She walked in and read the name of the dungeon.

This door marks the dungeon of Coilona and Coron, The Starseeker Twins. Threat within – combat and strategy. Reward – dungeon cores. Combat and strategy could mean a lot of possibilities, as Lyn knew from experience. Most likely, it would be a few fights, and then a battlefield overview where she would be responsible for managing a variety of units. She took a deep breath and incanted her go-to combat spell as she willed her armor and Cataclysm's blade to extend.

The purple film was familiar, and a sense of excitement coursed through her. It's been too long since I've beaten something. She approached the square pedestal and touched the top. The device sank into the floor, and the walls fell away as she found herself inside an enormous cavern. There were sounds of chittering all around and looking about she saw skittering shapes in the shadows. Tentacle-covered, crab-like creatures with a variety of spikes and claws on the tips of the appendages that whipped about. The creatures sent a chill down Lyn's spine, as she had never seen such a creature before.

They dashed in, skittering across the ground – crabs the size of golden retrievers, swarming towards her. She braced herself as the rushing horde came at her, and she began to swing in large, cleaving strikes. The mana-blade of blue lava carved through and caused the crabs to pop and explode as the liquid within superheated.

The cascading gunk from their meat let off a horrific, oily smell that made her gag, and she had to back away from them. Incanting a spell in her thoughts thanks to the Spellblade core, she switched the weapon's damage type from lava elementalism to a blade of hard, blue light that illuminated the space. The crabs backed away from the sudden surge of brightness, and Lyn jumped forward to carve away once more.

The edge of hardened luminosity sliced through the creatures with ease, and the oily, meaty interior sizzled as the light carved into them. Just as I thought. Shadow-imbued monsters. She had fought such creatures before; monsters who sometimes were heavily affiliated with an elementalism spell type.

The crabs were seemingly endless, and Lyn felt herself begin to tire as several crabs began to impact her armor with their spiked and clawed tentacles. They were mana charged, and she could feel the impact bruising her. But this also gave her a chance to use something she had yet to use. Another benefit of the Spellblade core. Reversal. She felt the impacts against her, over and over, and could feel the damage in her left forearm. It started as a dull pain, and slowly grew in intensity. Right before it started to impact her ability to fight, she swung in an arc and yelled out, "Teitha!"

The dull pain where she was impacted along her body was still present, but the accumulating pain in her left forearm vanished, and as she carved into the line of creatures, Cataclysm exploded with blue-white light as the blade extended dozens of meters, enabling her to cleave through hundreds of the creatures in one fell swoop. "Holy shit," she muttered as the remaining creatures began to shrink back into the darkness and the room's walls returned.

The lights above her shifted hue and the doorway leading to the next chamber opened. That reversal is deadly, she thought. If I intentionally accumulated damage against an opponent like James, an attack like that would catch them completely off guard. She walked down to the next room, confident, and placed her palm on the pedestal. It sank into the ground, and the walls fell away. This time, she was not standing in a cavern, but instead in a desert at night with the stars sparkling overhead.

In front of her she saw two young Elenthians, sitting in front of a broad metal board. She dismissed her various spells and socketed Cataclysm back into her armor, willing the helmet to recede. "Challenger," the twin sister said calmly. "Welcome to the challenge of strategy."

Lyn sat opposite the two and looked down at the board. It's a predecessor to Vhuzok. She looked up at them, "I am familiar with a newer version of this game."

The twin brother nodded, "Permission to delve your memories?"

Lyn nodded, and she felt the odd, probing touch of someone trying to enter her mind. She let her concentration lapse, instead of focusing on something exclusively which would normally block access. The board in front of her shifted, and she saw to her delight that it became the game she and Misty used to play. "Excellent. Let's begin," Lyn said as she picked up the dice.

"Alright! Everyone, hands on the wall," Misty instructed in Vharthos as the students joined her next to the largest, flat wall of the mage school. Only five students out of the one-hundred and fifteen had left to her pleasant surprise. The distribution of races was varied, with a slightly larger group of Ari and Vharthon than the other races.

The group channeled their mana into the inscription – which Misty could have done alone but would have completely drained herself – and the whole mage school shrank before their eyes until it was the size of a doll house. Misty walked up, channeled mana into a storage ring, and put the mage school inside of the storage space. "Right, now, everyone get on." Misty pointed to the large, inscribed, wooden platform she had prepared that morning. It had several benches, and the students each took their seats as Misty sat in the chair up front.

"And…begin!" she shouted. The mages – herself included – channeled their mana into the inscription. The platform hovered a few feet off the ground, and Misty willed the device to zoom forward. Flying high was out of the question, as the further one flew from the ground, the more mana every spell cost, but hovering like this was an easy way to travel as fast as a galloping horse. It would take them five days at this pace to make it to the hidden, Northern entrance to the Valley of the Volcano.

She felt a sense of anxiety and relief at the same time. Anxiety for her impending meeting with Lyn and the offering of her mage school as a place of higher learning – like a college for those who wanted to pursue magic. Relief, because she knew from her scrying that other heroes had traveled to the Valley, and she would be able to rekindle those relationships if she chose to. Her Lyn was gone. The Lyn that she loved in the past was inextricably intertwined with the Destroyer core, and the consciousnesses of the Destroyers of the past. She could not separate them.

And that, too, brought some relief. It had taken her plenty of time in her closet safe space, but she was…able to let go. Let go of the past. It was the next best thing to having confirmation of Lyn's death in that regard. She would grieve but would be able to move on. Maybe one day I'll find love again, she thought. But I would have to get that person to have an extremely powerful magic user so I could ensure they live forever just like me.

That was one fear she still held onto. The fear of being alone forever. Using a complex spell, she had ensured her body no longer decayed in any way, shape, or form. She did not need to eat or drink. If she avoided major bodily injury and disease, she would never die. An eternity of solitude was a bleak prospect.

She contemplated as they flew. She was not sure how Thomas made his clone, but she knew the verses he had cut into the skin and healed over to form the scarred script. She could replicate that spell with ease. The issue was making the clone itself. She would have to ask the man she disliked with a passion to tell her how he did it. But…it was a way to ensure whoever she did end up falling in love with would be able to persist as she would, even if they did not have a large supply of mana.

Travel was swift, and they passed above many merchants and traders who were coming and going throughout the kingdom of Trisk. She made a pit stop by the Baxter estate, but found the buildings boarded up, and a message painted on the wooden covers, indicating their move to the Valley of the Volcano. That provided her further reassurance of her decision to move the school.

The evenings passed quickly, and she did lessons around the campfire of a more general nature, to accommodate her various skill-level students that were all present. By the end of the week, she had arrived at a large fortress in front of where the tunnel that led into the Valley used to be. Speaking in Arinol, she called up to the gate and showed her badge. They allowed her in and escorted her with her students into the Valley interior. A few more hours, and she arrived in Lynhold.

She went right to the dread fortress, and her procession of students caused many whispers and mutterings amongst the populace. She stopped, stock-still, as she saw a Human she thought dead exiting the fortress. "Lawrence?" she asked in English.

The man looked up at her from a wooden board he was holding and grinned, "Misty, you're here!" He handed the board to a Duskari standing nearby and walked up, giving Misty a hug which she returned with equal enthusiasm. "It's been a while."

"You were eaten alive!"

"Yeah, I was," he said with a chuckle. "I'll tell you the story later. Did you want to talk to Lyn?"

Misty frowned, "No…not yet. What I want to do is have an open space set up so I can put down my mage school."

Lawrence blinked a few times, "I'm…sorry?"

Misty channeled mana into her inscribed item and opened the storage dimension, gesturing inside as Lawrence peered at it. "I shrank it down."

Lawrence nodded, "Well, you came to the right person. I'm the Seneschal now…basically the mayor that gets to oversee Lynhold." He grinned, "I've got just the space." He motioned for Misty to follow him, and they went past several sets of buildings and empty lots that had signs stating 'pending Destroyer spell' until they arrived next to an enormous, white-walled building. "This is Trisha's hospital and medical school. We can set you up right next to it." He went to several nearby citizens, asking them to help keep people out of the area.

Misty pulled the school out of the pocket dimension, placed it in the center of the space, and channeled mana into the inscription. It took much less to un-shrink the facility, and as she walked back to Lawrence and her waiting students, the school grew until the full building was present once more. "Alright, back to your quarters," she said in Triskol, waving for her students to take their luggage inside.

Lawrence sat on a small, wooden bench just along the main avenue in front of her mage school. "We have a lot to get caught up on. Trisha and Ben are insisting on weekly 'hero meals' where we all sit down and catch up. The next one is tonight."

Misty nodded, "Sure, I'd be happy to be part of it and see everyone again. Who all is here?"

"You, me, Brad, Trisha, Ben, and Thomas."

Her demeanor soured at the last name, but she nodded curtly. "Well, tell whoever you need to – Professor Misery is accepting new applicants to her mage school."

Lawrence clapped her on the back, "Will do. The 'hero meal' is at the Baxter house. At sunset. Ask around and you'll find it." He waved and headed back towards the center of town.

Misty sighed and went into her school, ensuring the inscriptions were intact, keeping herself occupied so she wouldn't have her thoughts linger on the upcoming meal with her old classmates.

The game progressed smoothly. Despite going up against two opponents, Lyn was quite skilled at this top-down strategy game, since it was so similar to the game she and Misty used to play all the time. It got a little dicey a few times, but she pulled out a victory, and the twin Elenthians bowed as the room returned to its normal configuration.

The next hallway was nondescript and led Lyn to a third chamber. Right. Re-buff. She incanted her internal spell once more and her body's muscle mass increased, along with the whole host of combat-proficiency changes. She pulled Cataclysm from the socket on the armor and pushed her mana into the blade as it ignited with lava. She set her hand on the pylon, and it sank into the ground.

The walls fell away, and she found herself suddenly underwater and choking on seawater. Channeling mana into her storage choker, she pulled out and shoved the underwater breathing inscribed device into her mouth and forced mana into it. She was able to expel the water from her lungs and breathe once more and looked around the crystal-clear water. It was as if she was floating in a vast ocean of starlight.

In front of her, slowly approaching, was a long, sinuous form that was naught but starlight and darkness. Some type of leviathan; a colossal beast with pitch-black hide and starlight studding along the exterior. The creature was easily the size of a train.

It dashed toward her. Raising her palm, she fueled a spell as her mana surged into her palm, "Felithan enethril / faeren thilár galin / ilreth a morthal / iantol ekrae enethil galin / nire larthin." The water in front of her, millions of gallons, immediately vaporized. The creature that was dashing towards her fell into the empty space, and she released the spell allowing the surrounding waters to collapse in with the full weight of their crushing might. It's amazing how powerful using physics with spells can be.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The creature imploded from the pressure upon it, and the walls returned as the door to the reward chamber opened. Piece of cake, she thought as she re-socketed her weapon and let her internal spells fade. She put the breathing bit back into the storage dimension and approached the altar.

There were two wooden boxes, and she lifted both, seeing the swirling cores within. Both looked like snow globes with pure starlight inside, but she felt a weird gust of energy, and both shifted. Looks like some of my old classmates followed the lightning. She took a deep breath and picked up the mana core that had shifted from dappled starlight into a furry sphere. Lifting it to her eye level, she heard the voice of Freddy Noro, the Beastmaster hero.

Holy fuck it's been so long.

"Hi, Freddy. Sorry it took so long to get to you. Ruling an empire takes time."

No kidding. I went for a little look through your memory. You've got a lot on your plate. Hey, you remember that army of squirrels I trained up?

That brought a smile to her face. Freddy had trained the squirrels of Kor's Hold – and as the heroes learned later, the rats and mice – to do his bidding. They 'found' all manner of coins and small valuables, brought them back to him, and helped him become one of the richest men in the land. "I do. They held a little funeral for you once you died."

Yeah…maybe not the smartest idea to flaunt how I made my money. You guys deposed and killed the king that executed me though, so thanks for that.

"My pleasure. Kristoph's dad was a massive dick."

The kid was too. But he's gone now. James took over, eh? What do you think of that?

"I'm…honestly, I don't care much. He will bend the knee and serve, or I'll strip him of his mana core and shove in a different one."

Fair. The dude loved making fun of my special ability. Oh, that reminds me; my core gives you the ability to talk to any animal and command them. If they're smart, they can reject your orders. Also, animalism as an external spell type, so you can change animals with magic.

"Do you plan on going back to Earth?"

Pfff. You kidding? I saw the stuff you did with Trisk. Right now, I've got a one in three shot of being reborn into your empire.

"How do you know its rebirth?"

I met Gina and her core out and about. She told me. It's kind of cool; we can fly around and talk to the other hero cores that are floating about.

"So, I guess I wish you the best."

Hey, I'm getting another chance in a world with magic. That's awesome. Alright, catch you on the flip side.

Lyn squeezed the core and felt the weird tingling of the fuzzy exterior of the mana core flow down her mana channel and into the Destroyer core. Like a pack leader bullying a lesser to fall in line, the Beastmaster core immediately submitted to the stronger Destroyer core. Lyn felt the rush of energy flare through her. One down, she thought as she turned to the next box. This next one swirled with elemental energy. Darius Challo, the Elementalist hero, spoke in her mind.

Damn, I died violently didn't I?

"Yeah…" Lyn replied as she saw in her memory the vivid recollection of the Elementalist being ripped in half by monsters.

Well, this Ghomar place is all manner of fucked up. I'm going to Earth.

"You do you, man. I do have a question."

Shoot.

"You were best friends with Kory. Can you tell me anything I could use to try and bring him onto my side?"

There was silence for several moments. He's going to go somewhere he feels safe but can still indulge in his violent tendencies. I mean, he almost killed a guy boxing for Christ's sake. Dude's a loose cannon. Mad respect for him.

Lyn sighed, "You're not giving me anything useful."

Maybe promise him sex, booze, drugs, and a way to indulge his violent side. No guy will turn down sex.

"And now I remember why we never hung out," Lyn replied as she recalled the several times Darius tried to hook up with her. She only given in once, and that one time was a mistake.

Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game.

"Anything you want to say before you move on?"

Nah. I'm good. Back to Earth I go. Good luck: you're gonna need it.

"Oh, right. What all does your core do?"

You get all the elementalism types and their sub-types. You can combine any of those together; like fire and water to get steam. And…this part was fucking awesome – thought only elementalism external spells. Not even thinking of verses. You want a torch, just think of that and boom, you have a floating flame.

"Alright. Thanks. Have a good life." Lyn squeezed his mana core and felt the blend of elemental energies surge through her as the core traveled down her mana channels before being fed into the Destroyer core. It tried to fight against her but was ultimately consumed. Again, the surge of energy coursed through her, and she placed her hands on the altar, returning to the abandoned farmhouse has the doorway vanished.

Walking outside she took a deep breath. That just leaves Gina, Julie, and Ashley for the free-roaming hero cores. Three more dungeons unless I get lucky with a double-dungeon core dungeon. She looked at the sun in the distance that had begun to set. Her Scout core was sated by the brief trip…but she was close to Kor's Hold. Let's give James a little visit, just like he did at Lynhold. She pulled Cataclysm from her hip-socket, transformed it to the bow form, and used both the Spellblade and Elementalist core in conjunction to coat her arrow with wind to increase the range. She let loose and teleported away.

The evening was just beginning as Dorian, a commander in Khrelardia's infantry regiments, sat down to a meeting with the other commanders.

King James walked in a few moments after every had sat, and he took his chair at the head of the table. Leaning forward, he tented his hands and rested his elbows on the table. "War is coming. Our scouts have confirmed the increase recruitment across Valagonia, and our last few spies have also reported out that stores of supplies are being stocked up."

One of the castellans who doubled as the commander of the city watch of Kor's Hold stood up, "We have plenty of grain from the harvest. It was a bountiful one. We'll have plenty to feed our people through the winter months and be well supplied for a campaign."

James nodded and gestured for the man to sit. "Thank you for that report." He turned to Dorian, "I trust that the levies are being notified?"

Dorian nodded and stood up, crossing his hands behind his back and standing at rest. "Yes. The dukes have been notified, and the notifications are being sent out to the peasant levies. If using last year's numbers, we have a little over seventy-thousand infantry units available. Equipping them is going to be difficult, but not impossible. I am working with our Steward to ensure the smithies are working during the winter on equipment." He sat down.

James looked at him with an appraising eye and nodded curtly, "Good. At first thaw, I want forces mustering across the Azure Divide." He looked over to the Admiral, and Dorian zoned out, staring out through the arch leading to the balcony and over the twinkling torches scattered around Kor's Hold.

He had been raised in the Free City of Bashinol but escaped his future as a deck swabbie by sneaking to Khrelardia aboard a vessel. He had worked his way up the city watch and through sheer chance had met James Marshal in the market district. The two struck up a conversation, and the Paragon hero had arranged for Dorian to do a lateral transfer into the military. He worked hard to get to his current position, commander of the peasant levies…but the hardship was worth the effort.

Something caught his eye. A streaking light of pale green through the night sky. He stood up, and the conversation at the table quieted. "What is that?" he asked quietly.

The others looked to the balcony as well, and James drew his weapon and took a ready stance, "Everyone, far side of the room! Now!"

The commanders hurried to do as instructed, and Dorian drew his light rapier as he took up a position behind and to the side of James. A gust of wind billowed through the archway as an arrow stuck into the stonework of the arch itself. "An assassination attempt?" he asked quietly as he gently put a hand on the Paragon's shoulder to nudge him out of the line of fire.

The Paragon shook off the hand, "No. They would not try a random shot into the coun-"

The arrow vanished, and there was a small burst of blue mana as a woman landed gracefully on the balcony, falling from where the arrow hand planted itself. A Duskari woman, with pale, white hair and piercing blue eyes. She had horns atop her head and was fully covered in black full plate armor. Instead of hands and feet, she had wicked, black claws with white tips. The Demonic Dragon, Dorian thought.

James growled, "You invade my city?!" he shouted in Khrelardian.

The woman replied in the same language, letting the large, black bow in her hand dip down to a relaxed carrying position. "You visited Lynhold, I'm simply returning the favor. Sorry I wasn't there to greet you; I was busy fortifying Trisk."

Dorian's jaw dropped. She's the one? James had told the various councilors about the changes to the border with Trisk, and Dorian had learned from a servant that overheard the conversations exactly how impressive the fortifications were. She did it all on her own? He quietly shuffled toward the exit, knowing that no one in that room stood a chance against her save for the Paragon.

James' face was turned up in a scowl, "You did that? How? What evils did you commit?"

"Come off it," The woman leaned on the archway and the bow shifted into the hilt of a blade that she put into a socket on the hip of the armor, blending perfectly so that no weapon was visible at all. "I'm not evil. If anything, you are evil." Her face turned to a scowl, and she held up her hand with three fingers extended, "Every hero has joined me save for you, Kory, and Cecily."

"What about Volio?" James asked. "I noticed he wasn't there with the heroes when I visited."

"Dead. He tried to thrall me, and I delivered justice."

James yelled, "How could you kill him! He was our friend!"

"He was my stalker," she replied confidently. "He deserved what he got for trying to rape me." She switched languages once more, and Dorian saw the Paragon's hero face go white at some revelation.

Well, she doesn't seem like she intends us harm now. Might as well try something reckless. Dorian sheathed his weapon. "Hi, we haven't met." The Paragon shot him a venomous glare, but Dorian ignored it. "I'm the commander of the infantry, Dorian Valthem. You are?"

The woman smiled lightly and dipped her head responding in Khrelardian, "Lyn Rivers, Empress of The Eternal Empire. The Destroyer."

James scowled but did nothing more, and Dorian felt emboldened by the seemingly kind response to his inquiry. "If I may ask, how do you know King Marshal?"

James shot him a withering glare, but then looked back to the Destroyer, muttering something to her in his world's unique language.

She laughed, and it was entrancing. She responded in Khrelardian and looked at Dorian. "We have fought before. Tell me, do you recall how many heroes were summoned?"

"Twenty," Dorian replied. The other commanders had backed to the edges of the room and drawn weapons, but Dorian paid them little heed as they slowly circled towards this Destroyer.

"Correct. And I'm sure you know all of them. Name and designation."

Dorian thought, and he could only recall nineteen. "I don't know the Scout hero's name." He looked at the woman with curiosity, "It's like I can picture a human with a spear…but everything else is a blur."

James shouted something in his world's language again, and the Destroyer looked at him and smirked before continuing her conversation with Dorian, "Ask your Paragon hero…who was the Scout hero? Why can you remember the names of every other hero, but not that single one?" She looked to the other commanders who froze in their movement as she looked around the room, "I'm sure all of you also picture a similar blur…ask yourselves why that is?" She looked to Dorian and smiled, "I hope you live a long life." She looked at James and spoke with him in the language of the heroes, before she turned and jumped off the balcony. A second later, an enormous, black dragon flew up and off to the North.

Dorian looked at the Paragon hero who was seething with anger and shaking with rage. "Why didn't you attack?" he asked the king.

James looked back at him, "If we had fought here, the collateral damage would have been extreme." He sheathed his blade, and Dorian felt he was hiding something else…but did not press. Another question rose to the front of his mind.

"Why can't I remember the Scout hero?" This question was echoed by the other commanders.

James looked around the room and his face became a grimace. He pointed at the balcony, "That Duskari woman is the Destroyer. She is evil. She consumed the Scout hero. Maybe when the Destroyer consumes a hero, any non-hero has all recollection removed." He sighed with frustration and sank into his chair, gesturing for the other commanders to take their seats as well. "It probably learned my world's language that way as well. We have business to continue."

Dorian took his seat, but he felt…off. You're not telling us the full story, he thought. And glancing around the room, he could tell he wasn't the only one who thought so.

The spell finally concluded, and Cecily opened her eyes. She drew in a shaky breath and snapped her fingers. One of her servants brought over a flask of water and she drank greedily from it. "Tell me," she said, glancing at the woman. "What do you recall about the prophesied ruler of Shereld?"

The woman curtsied, "Your grace, everyone has heard that story as a child! A woman, the Ruler hero from another world, named Valagonia would come to power and unite all Shereld under her new kingdom." She giggled lightly and put her hand to her mouth, "Forgive me, but I find it funny that you are asking. Since you're her after all. And you got rid of all those nasty non-Humans for us."

Perfect, Cecily thought. The spell worked. She was now fulfilling an implanted false prophecy wrought in the minds of every Human across Valagonia. They see me as their destined ruler and are all fully united in their hatred of non-Humans. She now had an eternal scapegoat she could use as a permanent 'out' group. "Fetch me the war council, I'll see them here in the throne room."

The servant nodded and ran off. Cecily waited, patiently, as her enormous mana reservoir slowly filled up. Her capacity was enormous, but the rate of replenishment could never be increased. Sadly, the Ruler core was one that refilled ponderously. It would be a full week to refill to full.

Her commanders slowly came in and stood in front of her. She sat upright and felt the soreness of her muscles from sitting still for so long. "We prepare for war. In the spring, we march on Khrelardia." She looked across the men and women who were all fanatical in their devotion to her before the spell. "We prepare. Levies, professional infantry, navy – get everything ready. And ensure for our enlistment efforts…we include that Khrelardia will have non-Humans to slay."

Kory pulled his head out of the water barrel and shook the liquid off like a dog. He looked around the camp he had set up with the recruits within Komorra's borders. There was an…odd press he felt against his temple, and he winced in pain as something tried to force its way into his head. Fucking mind magic! He pictured the wooden barrel, focusing intently on nothing but that solid object to the exclusivity of everything else.

The pressure ceased and he looked around, scanning the environment for the source of the spell. He saw nothing and walked over to some recruits. "Hey, did you all feel that?"

"Feel what, sir?" the young man replied.

She did it, Kory thought. Cecily finally pulled it off. He grinned and clapped the young man on the back, almost throwing him off his feet. "Nothing. Carry on." He walked to the edge of the encampment where in the Roman legion style they had dug trenches, piled dirt, and planted stakes. He stared across the Azure Divide. Come Spring…I get to go wild. He chuckled as he glanced North towards the Valley of the Volcano. The slight, red hue reflecting off the clouds above soured his mood of joviality at the coming slaughter. Eventually…I have to fight that again.

The Demonic Dragon. The one fight he ran from. The one thing that scared him here on Ghomar…well, not the one thing. He feared Cecily, as well. She was incredibly powerful. No need to worry, she could take on the Demonic Dragon on her own. Kory looked back over the camp as they began to head to sleep.

For now, there was work to be done. He wanted to turn these green recruits into the most vicious bastards possible. Mirror images of himself on the battlefield. His mercenaries had fled to God-knows where, and Fort Watch was no more – he knew that much from the reports. This was a new start, a fresh start. He could make an even more famous name for himself in the coming conflict.

And it all started here, with these fresh-faced recruits. No sleep for you lot tonight, he thought as he headed to the center of camp. Welcome to hell.