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n“Yes, I know Commander Larah. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that is what we saw.” Oblong squeezed his head, trying to ignore a massive headache as he spoke aloud. He was currently sitting atop one of Royal Wizard Aymon’s floating spatial boats.

n“I didn’t- No, I don’t know why it was dancing, it just was. I didn’t recognize the langu- Yes Commander Larah.”

nAfter getting far enough away from that monstrous tiny dragon, Aymon had opted to summon one of his spatial vessels, helping them quickly retreat towards Yor City.

nThe last they heard of that dragon and the Vampires was the female Vampire’s agonized scream. Oblong had shaken his head then, feeling for her despite them being enemies. Her own arrogance had led to her death. At least they had managed to escape in time.

nWhite light was glowing out of his eyes as he spoke, a few mystical symbols floating in the air around him. He was currently using one of the most widely known Fate Magic spells, Fate Magic: Fate Connection.

nThe spell allowed two beings to temporarily connect to each other, hearing and seeing what the other person was seeing and hearing. It wasn’t a full connection, and either party could limit the effectiveness of it, but the spell was still extremely useful. It allowed for the transportation of information across thousands of miles.

nThe spell functioned oddly on the World Bridges, but worked perfectly fine on any normal planet.

n“Yes, Commander. Yes, yes.” He ducked his head by instinct, waving his hands. Larah was not someone you wanted to cross, and he had no intention of angering her.

n“We will await you in Yor City.” He sighed as the connection ended. Larah had alerted him, and most likely every Fate Wizard in the vicinity, trying to find out what was going on thanks to Graxital’s spell.

nHe’d lost a chance to make a solid impression on Lord Hadrion, something that was truly unfortunate. Still, he’d only been working with this team for a very brief time, having encountered the group of Black Lightning Wizards on Mesor.

nA Lord Class Titan, one that was studying magic, suspected of being a double agent for the Graal Alliance had been discovered on Mesor. Oblong hadn’t exactly been sure of the details, but he had witnessed the overwhelming might that Lord Hadrion held.

nThe man had singlehanded wiped more than a dozen mountains off the map with a single spell, and eventually obliterated the rogue Titan, a former member of the Sundering Department of the 108 Magic Departments. His potential as the Rising Star of the Black Lightning Department was massive.

nHe sighed again. What was done was done. He’d have another chance in the future.

nHe glanced over at the unconscious Graxital, bearing his teeth at the man in annoyance. He then turned to look at the various warriors, many of them injured. Some had taken out medical supplies they’d brought with them, while others had taken in healing pills or medicines.

nAs his eyes landed on the warriors sent from the Robel Family, noting that they seemed huddled together in depression, he abruptly remembered their other companion, the Wood Wizard William Robel.

nAfter the Wizard had been hit by one of the Vampire’s spells, he’d lost track of him. It seemed the man had fallen, unable to defend himself properly.

nWell, he thought, shrugging, they had made contact with the disturbance in Fate now, so it didn’t matter too much. While the reverberations he could detect with his Fate Magic were getting lesser and lesser, he should still be able to track down the beast just with himself.

nHe went back to musing about the future, trying to think of a new way to curry Lord Hadrion’s favor, the lost Wizard long forgotten.

n..

n“Who are you?!” Dorian spat out, his body tense. The odd, floating old man gave off a very faint, golden and white light, but didn’t emanate any dangerous aura, as far as he could tell.

n‘Ausra, what is this?’ He queried immediately, not waiting for the ghostly figure to respond.

n‘It appears to be a construct of Magic, a Soul, and a Soul Spell Matrix, formed after the death of a powerful Wizard. You are unable to absorb it. It appears to be minutes, perhaps hours, from dissipation, and is unable to harm you.’ Ausra’s response came instantly, drawing from the veritable encyclopedia of knowledge placed in his Soul Spell Matrix.

n“My name is Horhavil Candor, a former member of the Candor Clan of the Elector Empire.” The old man began, giving Dorian a nod.

n“Oh!” Dorian yelped out, recognizing the name. It was the same as the one from the ring he’d found. It should be the same unless the ghost was lying to him, but for it to appear here where the Wizard died… He was convinced it was the real deal.

nThe man looked at him quizzically.

n“Greetings, esteemed Wizard.” Dorian began, his voice respectful. Being polite cost him nothing, and while Ausra said this Wizard couldn’t hurt him, he decided to be more careful. He couldn’t afford to make more mistakes.

n“You know of me?” Horhavil asked, raising his eyebrows. The dragon’s reaction to hearing his name had been quite odd.

n“I found a ring of yours a short while ago, and have heard of your plight.” He spoke carefully, choosing his words.

nThe Wizard’s eyes lit up with pleasure.

n“Ah, you found one of the Saint Rings I made? Do you still have it with you?” The elderly man queried.

n“No.” Dorian responded, shaking his head. When he absorbed the energy left in it, it had fallen to pieces.

n“Mm, well, it is immaterial anyway.” The elderly Wizard shrugged, an odd looking action for such a ghostly being.

n“What can I do for you?” Dorian asked, studying the Horhavil. He seemed to hover around a foot off the ground, his feet floating above the dirt. A ball of golden light was visible through his transparent figure near his stomach, shining dimly.

n“I wanted to ask a small favor of you, young dragon.” The elderly man began, bowing his head.

n“I am not long for this world, unfortunately. Today will be the final day of my passing. I originally awoke upon feeling you unleash an Aura extremely similar to my own, believing it to be a Successor sent by my Clan. Alas, my mistake.” He continued, sighing,

n“Over there, under a pair of branches, lies a young Wizard that is mortally wounded. While our styles are not exactly matching, he is the only Wizard nearby. I have decided to make him my Successor, so that my style of magic, and the knowledge within it, may be passed on.” Horhavil paused, waving his ghostly hands off to the side.

nDorian looked, seeing a pile of branches unnaturally grown from the ground, growing with a pale light.

n“I’m sorry you were awoken early. However, that Wizard’s fate is his own. What favor would you ask of me?” He questioned, his voice calm. He didn’t mean to sound cruel, but he knew nothing about medicine and couldn’t help someone that was mortally wounded. In addition, he was certain the dying Wizard was one of those that had been with the group trying to capture him.

nHe had noticed one of the Wizards, the one that had seen his Red Salamander form, get hit and knocked away in the previous battle. He assumed it was him. There wasn’t much of a reason he would want to save someone that just tried to kill or capture him.

nHis eyes hardened at the thought. He couldn’t afford to be the nice guy from earth anymore. His heart wavered, however.

n“Dragons, such as yourself, have remarkably vibrant bloodlines. The spell that young Wizard is using is a decent healing spell, but one that lacks essence. If you were to give up a portion of your blood, spreading it upon the branches, the spell would increase in efficiency, enough to save his life. Your blood would replenish as normal, and you would remain unharmed.” Horhavil responded, and then continued,

n“I would not ask this of you for nothing. If you agree to help me save my Successor, I will give to you a large store of Magic Herbs I possess, one of the few treasures I hid away before my death. There are nearly 200 Magic Herbs in that Spatial Pouch, many of them quite powerful, that should be of great use to you, even with your odd style of growth.”

nMagic Herbs were a resource that powerful beasts relied upon to grow. The stronger a creature got, the harder it was to increase in strength.

nThis was especially so for beasts in the Master Class and Grandmaster Class. It went without saying that any amount of growth for incredibly rare Lord Class or King Class beasts was even harder.

nMagic Herbs spawned naturally throughout the world, one of the natural laws of this universe. Greater numbers of them could be found in locations that were left to the wild, though the exact reasons for this had yet to be fully understood.

nNot all Magic Herbs were made equal. Some contained enormous amounts of energy, some had energy aspected towards a certain element, some even had intelligence.

nFor a normal or even a genius dragon of Dorian’s current growth, this would be an extremely valuable reward, even if all the Magic Herbs were of the worst type.

nDorian, however, maintained a strict poker face, aided by the fact that he didn’t know how to properly display emotions on his current visage. The fact that he had grown from a baby drake to a young adult in just minutes had been seen through by the Wizard, unfortunately, but he didn’t seem to make any other comment on it.

n“Magic Herbs like that are useful, but if you are bestowing your knowledge of magic upon someone, why not do that for both of us? You can give you Magic Herbs to your Successor, I’ll take that as my reward.” Dorian’s eye flashed as he envisioned himself casting spells left and right.

nThe floating spirit shook his head,

n“Young Drake, if that was possible I would consider that option. Unfortunately, I am unable to fulfill it. To transfer my knowledge to another being requires me to sacrifice what is left of my essence, essentially killing me. It is not something I can do twice.” The man continued,

n“Further, your soul would most likely be unable to accept my inheritance. From what I can sense, you have never studied magic, and have yet to experience any baptism of the soul related to magic. My inheritance would simply flush off your soul, unable to take root.”

nDorian frowned when he heard this, not giving up,

n“My soul is unique, as far as souls and Soul Spell Matrixes go. How can you be certain?”

nHorhavil paused, and then stared at him closely.

n“While you were undergoing that odd growth session of yours underground, I took the time to communicate with the injured Wizard.” He said slowly, his eyes studying Dorian.

n“I was made aware that you are at the center of a great investigation, into a being that has disturbed Fate.” The old man stroked his long, trailing white beard. His eyes grew slightly unfocused as he looked at Dorian, and then seemed to look through him.

n“And now that I look at you closely… I can sense that your soul is indeed unique. Though my field of study was not closely related to Fate, after reaching near the peak of the Dao of Light, I came to possess a vision of the world that was expansive, letting me see through things. In addition, while I am in this form, the souls of other beings have become very clear to me.” He waved his hands at himself,

n“I am no Fate expert, but I can tell that Fate seems to be twisted around you. People and events will be drawn to you, for inexplicable reasons. Odd things may happen around you, and even chance itself may become twisted. This meeting between us is probably a result of that.” He shook his head here,

n“However, that does not mean your soul is a suitable one for my inheritance. While there are definitely unique aspects surrounding it, you still have yet to receive even the most basic baptism from the laws of the universe in regards to magic. Without that, it is impossible for my inheritance to take root.”

nDorian frowned.

n‘Ausra, can I learn magic?’ He asked a general question that he’d thought of before, but never actually asked.

n‘Yes, though the host’s current physical form and soul are somewhat unsuited for it. With the absorption of bloodlines of beings that are aspected or skilled in magic, understanding and implementing magic will become easier, though your soul will need to undergo baptism of the laws of this universe like any other Wizard.’ Ausra’s voice replied cooly in his head.

nHe frowned again. It seemed he could learn magic, but not as he was yet. He wasn’t willing to let this old mage know about his unique abilities, and it didn’t seem like he would have any chance right now to find a suitable form.

n“Do you have any magical artifacts or tools, or treasures that contain magical energy?” He asked, taking a different approach. He could only eat a single Magic Herb a day, so the growth he could gain from that, while significant, would take time.

nThe old man rubbed his chin, responding,

n“Much of what I used came purely from my own magic. I do have a few old treasures that contain magic energy, but nothing significant. Most Wizards do not heavily rely upon external objects, save for spells involving multiple casters.” The ghostly Wizard seemed to notice that Dorian was pulling back, and hurriedly offered,

n“While I don’t have any particular treasures, I do know the location of a huge store of treasure, on my home planet.” He gave Dorian a smile,

n“There are veritable mountains of treasures with magic energy in them there. Should you agree to help my Successor here, I will send over the specific information on where and what that location is, alongside the roughly 200 Magic Herbs I still have stored.”

nDorian’s eyes lit up in excitement, considering it carefully. All he needed to give up was some blood, and he’d receive a large reward immediately, as well as the potential for a large reward later. As long as he remained on guard and treated this carefully, he didn’t see any downsides.

nAs for that Wizard being his enemy… He was a Master Class Dragon now. He wasn’t afraid of him, and he was already planning on fleeing here as soon as he wrapped this up.

n“Alright. Give me the Magic Herbs first, and you have yourself a deal, old man!”

n..

nThousands of miles away, a ragged looking pair could be seen, boarding a large caravan. Hundreds of huge wagons, of all shapes and sizes could be seen, some made of odd metals, others made of wood.

nThese wagons were currently leaving through the main gate of a very large city in the Tandor Empire, one of the three large empires on the planet of Hasnorth, Yum City. The city was famed for its beautiful roofs and roads, created from many different types of colored clay.

n“Just keep it together, Gaia…” Brutus muttered, his voice filled with concern as he looked at his pale faced companion. Gaia lay resting inside one of these caravan’s private rooms, still unconscious. Her body looked peaceful, but haggard, with light fluttering behind her eyes.

nHe turned to look out a window towards the front of the caravan. Towards what was in front of it.

nA massive World Bridge, more than sixty miles wide, where huge grassy plains spread across a savanna teeming with life.

n“We’re almost off-world, Gaia.” He said, his eyes clouded.

n“Just one more week and we can get you help, and inform the Highlord.”

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