As he took the first steps out of the cave he felt the sun

  kissing his skin and the chilly wind gushing onto his torso. The

  feeling of sun rays had never felt so sweet and serene. He had

  spent quite a few years inside of this underground society and

  was greatly missing the wonders of nature. He saw great snowy

  mountains, trees and wildlife. He witnessed ice spirits and snow

  beasts protecting their territories. The sun was gleaming in gold.

  Alduin was struck by nostalgia and just gazed upon the beauty

  of the world for a few minutes. As he took one last long breath

  he opened his mouth and addressed his companion.

  ‘So... Any idea on where we go from here?’

  ‘Yes but I am not gonna help you. Take this map and figure

  it out by yourself.’

  ‘Can you at least mark our current location on the map so I

  can get a grasp on things?’

  Lul rolled her eyes, unsheathed her dagger and stabbed the map

  as a way to mark their location. She seemed very violent and

  vulgar. He never liked people like her and realized their trip to-

  gether would be nowhere near pleasant. He admired her muscle

  structure though. She looked like a great warrior despite wear-

  ing nothing but a few black colored leather straps that covered

  her breasts, dark-brown battle skirt and brown sandals. ‘Just

  don’t get hit’ as one legendary warrior used to say.

  ‘Alright... So I think we should head this way. Right past

  this tree there,’ Alduin pointed in the direction of a small herb

  tree with leaves the color of bright pink.

  His uncle taught him that the leaves of this tree were able to

  cure a person from the venom of a very specific water-snake

  that was local to the region. Extremely specific but also very

  helpful if you ever go fishing in a frozen lake since these bastards

  were incredibly common and incredibly deadly. Lul nodded and

  suddenly pierced her hand with the dagger she was holding. As

  a pool of blood started forming around her she started making

  signs that were unknown to Alduin. He was confused.

  ‘What in Munesa are you doing?!’

  ‘Patience, annoying child.’

  When she reached the last sign the blood rose from the ground

  and formed the shape of a horse. The horse’s eyes were shining

  in the color of the void. Alduin was utterly trapped in awe.

  ‘I heard from Gozo that you’ve already witnessed the cre-

  ation of blood minions. This spell is a bit different but works the

  same way. You can conjure up a mount whenever you wish. Its

  speed varies with the accuracy of the signs you make with your

  fingers.’

  ‘Yes but why the fuck did you injure yourself to cast it?’

  ‘Much easier to get a source of blood this way.’

  ‘That is seriously messed up.’

  ‘I didn’t ask for your opinion. You should use this method

  too. It is very useful,’ she rolled her eyes.

  Alduin shrugged.

  ‘I called my mount Vale. I was told that you are quite the

  expert when it comes to mimicking hand signs. Copy me.’

  ‘I will try.’

  His experience and dedication to training paid off as he was

  now able to control his sword via his mind alone. Vaurcarya

  quickly pierced his right hand and then immediately returned

  to its resting place floating behind his back vertically. When the

  blood splattered on the ground he began forming the signs he

  saw Lul making. The blood around him rose to form a rather

  odd creature. It seemed like a result of intercourse between a

  mule and a bunny-donkey hybrid and found it terribly difficult

  to stand properly.

  ‘Nice one, Lodus! What a fucking abomination! Now try to

  mount it! I have to see if it can hold your weight!’ She started

  laughing.

  He was confused but decided to give it a try. He approached

  the mount. When he jumped on its back the creature instantly fell down to the ground and returned to its basic form – that

  of pure liquid blood. Lul laughed even harder and encouraged

  him to summon a new mount. Her eyes were glowing and her

  amusement of Alduin’s failure was visible. This time he was able

  to summon a more healthy-looking horse. It was quite small

  though.

  ‘This is better... I was hoping you’d fail again but eh, never-

  mind. Let’s go, we should have left already.’

  He hesitated but nodded in agreement. Despite its size the

  horse was able to hold his weight and walk.

  ‘Do you have a name for it?’

  ‘Not yet. I want to be able to make a proper mount first

  before I give it a name.’

  She nodded in agreement. The mount gazed at him as though

  it understood his words and was offended by them and then de-

  cided to stop in place shortly after. He kicked its abdomen and

  instructed Lul to follow him. The horses began galloping, head-

  ing to his personal comprehension of the cave’s whereabouts.

  The ice spirits had detected them and decided to give chase. He

  noticed their presence and threw knives at their heads. Surpris-

  ingly, the knives just shifted through the spirits’ bodies.

  ‘What just happened?’ Alduin asked.

  ‘Some spirits have the capability to alter their bodies, deacti-

  vating the physical runes of their Olons, thus leaving only spirit

  runes. This makes their bodies unable to be hit by anything that

  lacks spirit-activated Olons. Try again but with your sword this

  time.’

  ‘Why? It wouldn’t make a difference.’

  ‘Fucking hell just trust me when I tell you something!’

  ‘Fine!’ He sighed childishly.

  He made Vaurcarya fly out into the air and cut them all in half.

  The spirits faded away and allowed them to resume their jour-

  ney.

  ‘Does this mean that my sword has its Olons spirit-activated?’

  ‘God-activated to be precise, which means it has all of the

  possible runes. You will soon begin to understand the way it

  functions.’

  ‘Huh.’

  ‘I wonder if you’d be able to fly properly if you tried. Flight

  is very complicated and most people tend to lose their balance

  and crash. Maybe I’ll see you break your skull. Ooh, that sounds

  like fun, doesn’t it?’ She laughed.

  ‘Later,’ he rolled his eyes

  She looked disappointed. His horse was very slow and made

  him wonder on the actual advantage of riding it instead of just

  running.

  ‘Is there a way to make my mount faster after it’s already

  summoned?’ He asked.

  ‘Yes and no. You could cast a spell that either reduces the

  weight of the horse or one that increases its aerodynamics. You

  could also try a spell that makes the horse bigger which increases

  the distance between each one of its steps.’

  ‘Huh. Let me try something... Let’s see here... Nye, sentleil-sis. Tubiri ulat-sis.’

  Alduin instructed the horse to resume its gallop and noticed a

  drastic change in its pace.

  ‘Much better.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘I decreased the horse’s weight. This is okay for now.’

  Alduin pulled out the map from his pocket and stopped the

  horse’s advancement.

  ‘Alright, so... We are here,’ he pointed on the map, ‘And we

  need to get here,’ he pointed on the map, ‘I think we should go

  through this short forest route and then head for the mountain

  because it would make our trip. My parents always told me that

  this route is very dangerous but now it should be fine.’

  ‘I go wherever you go so you don’t have to notify me every

  fucking time you make a decision, child.’

  He chose to ignore her taunts. They took a left turn and entered

  the forest. He smelled something unfamiliar but didn’t give it

  any attention. As they went deeper in the trees grew taller and

  taller and the route grew thinner and thinner. Abruptly, they

  heard a tree-branch crack and out of nowhere appeared a band

  of around fifteen highwaymen. It was an ambush, his parents

  were right.

  ‘Bandits, my favorite snack! It is such a shame that I am

  not allowed to kill them myself, they look so weak and soft!’ Lul

  shouted.

  ‘What are you babbling about, woman? Give us your coin in

  exchange for your safety! This is our territory so you must pay

  the toll, as all do!’ One of the men shouted.

  Alduin was startled and hesitated before responding. He was

  never attacked by humans before. At last, he was done thinking

  of an appropriate response and addressed them.

  ‘No. You do not own this route. Leave us alone.’

  ‘Are you deaf, boy?! Our leader’s decision is final and you

  can’t disrespect him this way, ey?! One more unnecessary arro-

  gant remark and we will take much more than just your coin!’

  A man wearing leather armor shouted from the far-left side of

  the thugs’ battle-ready formation.

  ‘I don’t want to hurt you... Just look at me, look at the color

  of my eyes, I am warning you... Please,’ he sulked.

  ‘You offend me, arseling! Go on, boys. I have grown tired of

  this chatter,’ the leader instructed his men to attack the pair in

  groups of three.

  ‘This is madness, stop your men before it will be too late!

  I don’t want to hurt humans for no good reason!’ Alduin re-

  sponded angrily with a disappointed face.

  It seemed the men didn’t give his warning much thought and

  began marching toward the pair. A group of three bandits stood

  behind and took out their bows, aiming directly at their heads.

  Immediately six arrows were launched at Alduin. He let out a

  sigh as he realized that he had no choice. They did not listen to

  reason. He decided to try one last time and just let the arrows

  pierce him, hinting that he was not to be messed with. The

  highwaymen were in utter shock as they witnessed their enemy

  not even trying to avoid the attack. One arrow hit Alduin in the

  forehead while the other two pierced both of his shoulders.

  ‘Lost your desire to fight so quickly, arseling?’

  He was still standing, causing their jaws to drop.

  ‘Not really. This will be my final warning. If arrows do no

  damage to me then surely the rest wouldn’t do anything as well.

  Listen to reason, leave me be!’

  ‘Yes, all because you’re a fucking Sharpie! Men, do not be

  afraid! We have killed many Elves before. Keep fighting, they

  look rich!’ The leader laughed and responded.

  Lul chuckled wildly and Alduin let out a sigh even longer and

  heavier than the last.

  ‘See? I told you humans are stupid. Stop trying to reason

  with them, they aren’t worth your time. You are a child of Vaonie

  now, for fuck’s sake! Enjoy the prey you have been granted!

  Feast!’ Lul shouted excitedly.

  ‘Fine,’ he responded and sighed heavily.

  The groups of men regained their morale and continued their

  attack. From the left came a group wielding battle axes in both

  hands. Another group wielded scimitars with both hands. An-

  other group was running back into the forest with their daggers,

  probably to unleash a surprise attack from behind. The last

  group ran toward Alduin with a shield and spear.

  ‘Your pack seems very organized but they lack something

  very important,’ Alduin addressed the leader and made Vaur-

  carya float on front of him.

  ‘And that is? We have an army veteran in front of us boys!

  Let’s listen to his interesting words of advice! Fucking arrogant

  bastard,’ the leader responded and grinded his teeth.

  ‘Common sense!’ Alduin shouted and immediately made

  Vaurcarya hit the entire group in one horizontal strike, killing

  every single bandit in sight except for the leader and the three

  archers.

  ‘What the hell just happened? Men! Rise! Why are you not

  listening to me?! Archers, shoot him quickly! This is bad... This

  is bad...’ He panicked.

  A volley of arrows were launched at Alduin but he stood his

  ground and just made his sword cut them all in half. His eyes

  shined in red as he noticed the pools of blood surrounding him.

  He was unexpectedly hungry for mortal meat. He licked his lips

  and started walking slowly towards what was left of them. A

  menacing look on his face. The leader started screaming orders

  at the archers and was absolutely terrified. He hid behind the

  last remaining warriors of his group and waited for the battle

  to finish. Alduin was startled by this, he didn’t know that such

  people existed.

  ‘Only a coward hides behind his men! A leader protects his

  men! You lack Lodus!’ He yelled and then looked to the sky,

  ‘Father, I know you support my decision.’

  He walked slowly toward the archers, cutting down each and

  every arrow that stood in his way; when he was close enough

  he let out a roar and jumped onto them with his mouth opened

  widely. He launched his teeth into the neck of one of them

  and drained him completely. Then he immediately jumped to

  the next victim while the leader was screaming to his gods for

  forgiveness. Having finished with his last victim Alduin licked

  his lips and cleaned his face with a napkin he had in his pocket.

  Lul was laughing and grinning in the back.

  ‘I... I enjoyed it. Why did I enjoy it?! What the fuck have I

  become?! I never wanted this!’ He fell to his knees and stared

  at the sky in mental anguish, ‘Lul, is this what you people feel

  when you go raiding?’

  ‘Yes, finally you got the gist of it! I must say, seeing you fight

  is just way more entertaining than I thought it would be! You

  let out the beast. I like that!’ Lul responded and got down on her

  knees.

  She started licking the pools of blood from the ground with

  her long devilish tongue. Her breaths were heavy, making Al-

  duin shiver from discomfort. Licking the blood made her body

  twitch in a very sexual way. She began caressing her breasts and

  moaned in pleasure. He nearly vomited seeing that. He turned

  his head back toward the leader who was now shivering and

  kneeling on all fours, asking for forgiveness.

  ‘Why would I spare a person like you? Look at you! You have

  no self-respect, so why should I respect you?!’ Alduin was mad

  at the gall of that man.

  ‘Spare me and I swear to you that you would never hear of

  me again! I beg of you, please! Give me a chance!’ The leader

  said while crying.

  ‘No, you have no honor. My name is Alduin Lodus Fa?li and

  I am a god. Because of your cowardly act of hiding behind your

  followers I sentence you to death. You will not be spared. If you

  wish to die swiftly, stand up and lower your head in a bow.’

  ‘Fine,’ he rose up and lowered his head in agreement while

  hiding a smirk.

  The leader waited for an opportunity. The moment Alduin got

  close enough he took a dagger out of his pocket and stabbed

  him right in the heart.

  ‘Your morals are what makes you weak! Now you will die

  and I will take all that you have! And you, sexy little maniac, are

  next in line! But you I won’t just kill... I have something special

  for you...’ He shouted, laughed and pointed at Lul.

  She replied to him with a smile that revealed her white and sharp

  teeth. Alduin started laughing and couldn’t control his laughter

  for more than three minutes. When he was done he took out

  the dagger from his heart and stared at the bandit’s face.

  ‘I haven’t laughed like this in ages, thank you. Unfortunately

  for you, you just lost your only chance,’ Alduin rejoiced and began

  moving his fingers to form signs.

  He decided to give spell-crafting a whirl and create his own

  blood spell. Very risky for a mortal, but not for him obviously.

  The blood rose from the nearby pools and engulfed the body

  of the bandit while twirling around. Then, the liquid fell on

  the ground forming a circle from which spears made of blood

  pierced his body from all directions. The bandit screamed from

  pain. He started breathing heavily and his eyes were twitching

  in agony.

  ‘I name this spell ‘Blood Impalement’. This will be my sig-

  nature move. Are you impressed, Lul?’

  ‘Impressed? No. Entertained? Yes! I loved the way his body

  was shaking. The fright in his eyes... Good job. Let’s carry on!’

  They went on horseback and continued their journey. Finally,

  they reached the great mountain. The atmosphere between

  them felt a bit more friendly.

  ‘Do you know the name of this mountain, Lul?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘My ancestors named it ‘Vel Joog Madaran Ke Zaffai’, ‘The

  Great Mountain of Deceit’ in Elvish. It was named this way

  because despite looking like a great place for a fort, it is very

  treacherous as earthquakes in its vicinity are common and it is

  filled to the brim with powerful hostile spirits. I am quite sure

  that my great, great grandfather died there in a great collapse.’

  ‘Sounds like fun. Let’s climb it!’

  ‘Why climb it if we can fly directly to the peak?’

  ‘Finally I can see you hurt yourself!’ She laughed, ‘I’m not a

  great sorceress so I’ll just climb. See you there.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Lul launched herself onto the mountain’s wall and pierced the

  rocks with her claws, climbing up in a velocity Alduin had never

  witnessed before. He responded to her haste by forming the

  signs of self-controlling telekinesis and attempted flight. Unfortunately it was very inaccurate and he kept getting either

  launched into things or falling down entirely. He refused to give

  up. After one and a half hours his eyes found Lul in the horizon,

  still climbing very swiftly. She was close to the peak.

  ‘I can’t allow you to lose to her! Come on, Alduin! Control it,

  you’ve mastered harder things before,’ he said to himself.

  He tried again and again and again. Each time the duration

  of controlled flight improved but not enough. The sight of Lul

  gaining up on him gave him motivation to try harder. After one

  additional hour, when Lul was already very close to the peak,

  he got the hang of it and decided to just launch himself up. He

  crashed on his back but was able to beat her to the destination!

  ‘You cheated! That was not flight! You merely threw yourself

  here!’ Lul complained angrily.

  ‘Flight is just throwing oneself in a specific direction at a

  controlled velocity, no? Besides, I never said that this would be

  a competition to begin with,’ he sighed arrogantly.

  She scoffed.

  ‘Anyways... See that black shadowy thing on the right? Near

  that other mountain? I am certain that it is our destination,

  follow me.’

  Alduin decided to try his trick once again and launched himself

  straight down the mountain, crashing on his stomach this time.

  Lul followed him from behind, jumping from cliffs. When she

  reached him they summoned their mounts and proceeded on

  horseback. Alduin led. They came across quite a few Dorynies,

  ice spirits, bears, sabre cats and ice trolls but much to his sur-

  prise Alduin was not frightened at all. He was sure that his past

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  experience with them would at least make him twitch or recoil

  but he kept his cool and defeated them all using telekinesis on

  Vaurcarya. They reached the cave after not more than three days

  of constant bloodshed which had both amused and irritated

  him. He told Lul to get off her mount and hide with him in the

  bushes nearby in order to come up with a strategy. The cave was

  guarded by six sorcerers.

  ‘Since I liked your performance from before I’ll let you in a

  little piece of information! I heard that these priests are very

  strong and knowledgeable about many fields in sorcery. Ad-

  vanced sealing magic was definitely included in their training.’

  ‘So... I could get sealed away or paralyzed by them if I don’t

  tread carefully?’

  ‘Do you have a plan?’ She asked.

  ‘I am thinking of one. Hmm... It is nearly nighttime so I

  could try to take advantage of that in blood magic as the blood

  would be almost unnoticeable in the darkness.’

  ‘Experienced sorcerers use light spells when it’s dark. Have

  you never fought humans before? Your ideas are pathetic.’

  ‘Hmm... Maybe stealth archery?’

  ‘Again, experienced sorcerers would think of such a strategy

  and protect themselves against it with skin toughening spells

  like Oakflesh or Stoneskin. Think harder.’

  ‘I remember that Vaonie mentioned this tattoo I have on

  my hand, said it had some special significance. Do you have any

  idea what it does? It might be important.’

  ‘No clue. Try it out, you have nothing to lose. Except for

  your existence of course,’ she laughed.

  ‘Very funny. Hmm... Maybe in order to activate it I need to

  think of it as another limb and focus on trying to move it. I will

  get closer to them and try it out.’

  Alduin started crouching and sneaked closer to the group of

  sorcerers that were protecting the entrance to the cave. He was

  afraid that one of them would notice his presence so he held

  his breath. When he was close enough he swiftly stood up, neu-

  tralized the guard and took him into the bushes while covering

  his mouth tightly. He took out some rope from his pocket and

  tied up the guard’s hands, legs and mouth so he wouldn’t be

  able to alert his allies. He lifted his hand and aimed his fingers

  at the guard as though he was trying to cast a finger-activated

  attack spell. This led to no effect and irritated him. Then he

  tried to make the palm of his hand face the body of the guard, thinking that the tattoo itself would do something once directed

  at someone. Again, this led to nothing. Finally, he tried to aim

  his hand at the guard as though he was casting that fireball spell

  his uncle had taught him many years ago.

  He focused hard on the tattoo. Suddenly, it started glowing

  in the color of black. He had never seen something glow in

  such a color before, as darkness had no brightness to begin

  with, so how could it glow? Such sight could only be described

  as seeing a black hole, darker than night itself and looked like

  the complete absence of light rather than a glow. After a few

  seconds of focusing on the mark the guard’s eyes and mouth

  opened vastly as though he was choking, his eyes grew darker

  and darker. Eventually his head dropped.

  ‘Hmm... So the mark is able to take the life of people. Or

  maybe it simply neutralizes them... Interesting... I need to

  learn how to control it, it’s too slow currently.’

  Alduin’s discovery of this power astonished and delighted him.

  He decided to do the same to the remaining four guards. When

  he figured he’d gotten the hang of it he took the next target

  stealthily without abducting them, just by using the mark hiding

  amidst the bushes. This caused the guard to scream in agony

  and alerted the remaining two sorcerers. Alduin realized he had

  made a mistake and decided to come out of the bushes to face

  his opponents head-on.

  ‘Who are you? Where is Richard?! Come to think of it, where

  are Luce and Lee?! Tell me or I swear your death will be extra

  painful!’ One of the guards shouted.

  ‘They’re dead and my name is none of your business. Let’s

  get this over with.’

  The guards shouted in anger and prepared their battle spells and

  potions for an attack. Immediately they began shooting ice and

  fire balls at him, making it a good opportunity to put his dodg-

  ing training to the test. He dodged all of them and then used

  Vaurcarya to try and chop their heads off. The sorcerers were

  probably skilled in melee combat as well because they ducked under it confidently. He took it as a challenge and smirked.

  ‘Interesting, let’s try that again.’

  He spilled his own blood to form a shield around him and at-

  tacked each guard at a time with the mark of Vaonie. The sor-

  cerer started choking and lost his consciousness as the light

  in his eyes quickly diminished. Alduin smiled as the sorcerer’s

  friend screamed in despair from losing a close friend. Conse-

  qutently, the remaining foe decided to use all of his force to

  conjure up three spirit trolls and unleash a rain of fire on him.

  Little did he know that Alduin’s sword can slash down spirits as

  well and they were all defeated swiftly while Alduin was sprint-

  ing toward him. He made Vaurcarya cut off his right arm and

  regrew it immediately. Then he used both hands to form the

  signs required for the Blood Impalement spell. The fluid im-

  mediately engulfed the remaining sorcerer in a circle and then

  pierced his body.He was screaming in both panic and serious

  pain. The battle was over.

  ‘I’m so powerful now... I wonder what uncle would have

  said about this...’ He frowned.

  Lul enjoyed the show. She decided to approach one of the bodies

  and stomped its head so hard it exploded. She started laughing

  like a maniac and then proceeded to go on all fours and lick the

  blood from the ground, again with her bizarre moans.

  ‘I can literally taste their fear!’ She said.

  ‘Let’s proceed, Lul.’

  ‘Let me finish!’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Excuse me?!’

  ‘We have a mission, let’s go.’

  ‘No! I want to say!’

  ‘Lul!’ His glowed in strong crimson-red.

  ‘Fine! Fine! Fucking asshole.’

  They went further into the cave with Alduin leading the way.

  Suddenly his head hit something and he flew about four meters

  back. He quickly stood up and observed the situation.

  ‘Is there some kind of a magical barrier in play here?’ He

  asked.

  ‘Seems like it... Why are you so surprised?’ She responded.

  ‘Well... The guards in the beginning weren’t that much of

  a fight... I wasn’t expecting to face such an advanced defense

  system...’

  She scoffed in disappointment.

  ‘Alright, alright... Can you at least teach me how to break

  spells like these or are you just going to keep being an utter piece

  of Dorynie shit?’

  ‘Only time will tell. Okay, no,’ she laughed.

  ‘Fine,’ he sighed.

  Alduin rocked his mind for an answer. There were no traces of

  on-going spell seals around the entrance. This one must be a

  regular barrier rather than a trigger-activated one. Suddenly, he

  recalled his visit in Vaonie’s dimension and their introduction of

  the Ut-Obliryne u Tyronah. He recalled Vaonie saying the flames

  are special. He decided to try it out but had no clue how to

  actually summon them.

  ‘Ut-Obliryne u Tyronah!’ Alduin shouted thinking it would

  work.

  He was wrong and nothing came out. Nothing except for Lul’s

  laughter of course... Trying to play around with the words had

  no effect as well. He grew angry at his master’s irritating deci-

  sion to not tutor him about it.

  ‘Why must you people be so frustratingly annoying?! Why

  couldn’t Vaonie just teach me how to use this power instead of

  forcing me to figure it out by myself? And why do you Vaemiraiits keep explaining my abilities in such cryptic ways that make

  no fucking sense?!’

  ‘Well, because it is way more entertaining seeing you suffer.

  Grow some balls and stop complaining, you will and must figure

  this out by yourself if you want us to respect you!’

  ‘What if I fail?’

  ‘Vaonie has no place for pathetic losers. You would probably

  be replaced.’

  ‘This Vaonie sounds like a complete asshole if you ask me.’

  Alduin suddenly felt an immense pain in his limbs and fell onto

  the ground. He stopped breathing entirely. His eyes slowly shut

  down and his skin turned even paler than before.

  ‘I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SPEAK ABOUT ME THIS

  WAY!’ A familiar voice appeared out of nowhere, shouting.

  ‘You’ve angered them, you fool! Beg for mercy or you will

  probably die in a few seconds! Hurry!’ Lul screamed.

  Alduin growled as he had lost his ability to utter words.

  ‘In your mind, you simpleton!’ Lul yelled.

  Alduin had a bit less than fifty seconds left before losing his life...

  ‘Please, please, please! I am sorry. I beg you, I do not want

  to die yet!’ He said in his head.

  It didn’t work. Twenty-three seconds remained.

  ‘Please!!! I swear that I will never do that again!’

  Again, to no avail. He had ten seconds remaining.

  ‘What if I promise to personally take out one Sarathiin?

  Would that be enough to make up for it?’

  He suddenly regained his ability to breathe and caught bit of air

  in his empty lungs.

  ‘I am listening...’ Vaonie responded.

  ‘I do not know how to yet, but I promise you that it will be

  done. I pledge my right to live to this challenge.’

  ‘As you wish. You are forgiven and are allowed to keep on.’

  ‘Thank you, my lord.’

  Lul seemed to enjoy the situation and grinned at Alduin who

  found it hard to stand back up.

  ‘You really have no control over your mouth, huh?’

  ‘Shut up, Lul.’

  ‘Don’t anger me.’

  ‘Vaonie told me about their control over my body but I had

  no idea that it would be this easy for me to die...’

  ‘It is how it is. Have you figured out how to break the barrier

  yet?’

  ‘I think so... I think I have to transform in order to use

  Vaonie’s flames.’

  ‘Into what?’

  ‘I think that my body has multiple forms, with different

  abilities and such.’

  ‘How do you transform?’

  ‘No clue but maybe it has something to do with this tattoo.’

  He stared at it for a few minutes and then came up with a dan-

  gerous yet fascinating approach to the issue.

  ‘I have an idea but it might be very very dangerous...’

  ‘I don’t really care if you live or die so just do what you wish.’

  He held his hand up with the back of it facing forward and then

  activated it. The symbol transported itself from the back to the

  front of his hand. He was trying to use it on himself! While

  it seemed like it did nothing at first, he started feeling like his

  body was going up in flames. He was screaming from the top

  of his lungs, alerting probably any sorcerer in the cave. He fell

  to the ground, screaming and patting his body with the aim of

  ‘extinguishing’ the flames that were scorching his skin. Lul was

  laughing from the sidelines as usual. After about thirteen min-

  utes of constant shrieking he suddenly stopped and stood back

  up. His skin had the color of darkness like he was completely

  burnt though no trace of fire could be found. His breathing was

  heavy and slow and his armor disappeared completely, he was

  fully naked. His eyes were black too.

  ‘This is awesome!!! I can see Vaonie’s symbol in your pupils,

  what is that?!’ Lul was visibly intrigued.

  Alduin growled and gazed at Lul while opening his mouth ever

  so slightly. His teeth had also changed alongside his body, all

  of them were fangs instead of just a few. He kept roaring like a

  beast while staring at her. When he focused his pupils on her

  the symbols of Vaonie glowed in white causing Lul to scream in

  agony.

  ‘What are you doing to me?!’ She shouted.

  Lul’s entire body was covered by monochromatic black flames

  and her limbs looked like burnt coal. She fell on her back and

  was having seizures, her body twirling and jumping around like

  it was glitching. He was growling and looking around, causing

  everything in his sight to burn into smithereens without any re-

  morse or visible conscience. The sorcerers had finally caught up

  with them and reached the barrier to face the intruders head-on.

  It was clear that Their tactic was strength in numbers. Approxi-

  mately thirty sorcerers were standing in front of them from the

  other side of it, facing Alduin and his screaming companion.

  They went in their battle formations and began chanting. The

  noise they were making had annoyed him so he turned his head

  toward them. The same effect occurred again and they joined

  Lul in her screams. Eventually, all of them had fallen to the

  ground, screeching until their bodies turned into nothing but

  their skeletons, and then ash, and then absolutely nothing. They

  disappeared completely into thin air. The barrier began burning

  along and disappeared too. Lul had already lost both hands and

  legs but unfortunately for her the flames wanted more.

  Suddenly, probably out of fatigue, Alduin lost his conscious-

  ness and his skin started healing itself, getting back its elvish

  skin color. The marks he had on eyes started fading out and with

  them the flames that had engulfed every single living and/or

  inanimate object surrounding him. Lul looked at him, shouting

  but also frightened. Her pupils were dilated.

  ‘What, the fuck, have you done to me?! Look at me! I have

  no legs! I have no hands! I am a fucking cripple now! Wake the

  fuck up! How do I even heal such wounds?!’

  Alduin, still naked, reopened his eyes and got back on his feet,

  wondering what had happened.

  ‘What? Lul, where is the rest of your body? Where is the

  barrier? What happened?’

  Having been forcefully undressed by the flames, he could see

  her face for the very first time. She had a large scar spread horizontally on her nose.

  ‘You don’t remember, you prick?! Are you fucking kidding

  me?!’

  ‘I don’t.’

  ‘You just started screaming and turned all black. Then every-

  thing you were looking at started burning! Your flames didn’t

  just burn me, they have completely evaporated parts of me! Fix

  it!’

  ‘I-I don’t know how to... I don’t know how to fix you... I

  don’t know if it is even possible...’

  ‘Are you saying that I have to stay like this forever?! No one

  will ever respect me again! I was a great warrior! What have you

  done to me, you worthless excuse of a god?!’

  ‘I don’t know! I didn’t mean for it to be this way! I don’t

  remember anything, not even that I instructed the effect to end.

  Meaning that this form probably has some kind of a time limit...’

  ‘What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!’ Lul started sob-

  bing, very unfitting of her character.

  He thought hard and then made Vaurcarya cut off his arms and

  legs to tiny pieces causing a few gallons of blood to splatter.

  Then, he made the blood fly into her wounds, taking the shape

  of arms and legs. He had replaced her limbs with blood-magic

  prosthetics.

  ‘This should be enough for now until we get back home. I am

  sure Lysander knows of someone who can make you regenerate

  them.’ Alduin said, ‘Serves her right...’ He thought and wanted

  to smile.

  Lul jumped to her feet and gave him a punch directly to the face,

  blasting him into the cave wall that was behind him.

  ‘Okay, this is fine for now. Let’s keep on going. I am tired of

  this mission already.’

  ‘I see amulets and rings on the ground there. Whose are

  they?’

  ‘At some point, while I was BURNING ALIVE, a few dozen

  sorcerers faced us and directed their magic toward you. They were burned out of existence as well.’

  ‘Does this mean that we are done here?’

  ‘We need to make sure.’

  ‘Fine.’

  They started running in the halls (no one was there to yell ‘No

  running in the halls!’ at them) of this base until they reached a

  large throne room. A rather peculiar man was sitting on it but

  was unresponsive to their arrival.

  ‘Uhm... Why isn’t he doing anything? He does see us, right?’

  ‘I think he’s dead. I can’t smell his fear,’ she rolled her eyes

  Alduin approached the man. There was no response even when

  he was only a foot away. He noticed the man had his eyes open

  but also looked completely unconscious.

  ‘It looks like he is dead but I have no idea why.’

  ‘I am as confused as you are.’

  ‘Maybe the flames burn out not only the spells but also the

  their origin?’

  ‘Are you saying you’ve made his brain disappear?’

  ‘Possibly.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Shut up.’

  ‘Alright, we’re done here. Let’s head home.’

  She nodded. They went out of the cave, summoned their mounts

  and went back to the clan’s main base. Alduin’s horse seemed

  to have changed since its last appearance. It improved both in

  size and agility. The foes along the way didn’t pose too much

  trouble and were slashed easily by Vaurcarya. They reached the

  base after only two and a half days. Lul got off her mount.

  ‘Cent u Din Oniya Sal-tu!’ She said.

  The main magical barrier opened.

  ‘What did you say to make it go away?’

  ‘The name of my home, ‘Castle of The Silver Blood’.’

  ‘Let’s get in.’

  They stepped into the cave system and the barrier closed itself

  shut. Since Lul was familiar with every single shortcut in the

  cave system they managed to reach Lysander’s throne room in

  no more than three hours. He opened the massive doors via

  telekinesis and walked inside, forgetting he was still naked. The

  female servants were staring at him, seduced by the battle scars

  that were covering his body.

  ‘Lodus, you are back! How has your trip been?!’ Lysander

  shouted in excitement, ‘And why are you naked?!’ He raised his

  right eyebrow in confusion.

  ‘It was utter shit!’ Lul appeared from the back of Alduin into

  Lysander’s sight and launched her dagger on the table.

  ‘What? What the fuck happened to you?! Where are your

  hands? Your legs too...’

  ‘Your so-called chosen one has taken them from me!’

  ‘Can’t you grow them back?’

  ‘No. For some reason I can’t!’

  ‘I see,’ Lysander sighed and then pointed at one of the robed

  Vaermiraiits sitting at the dining table.

  The figure was dressed like a sorcerer. His robes were the color

  of bluish dark purple and he had a very long gray beard.

  ‘Slod, please help her. Both her spirit and power are crucial

  to my army.’

  ‘Yes, lord. I will take care of it,’ Slod responded and bowed.

  ‘Lodus, why did you do it? Is this treason? And what of the

  base I sent you off to, has it been taken care of? Report!’

  ‘I didn’t mean to. While it was technically my doing I had

  no active part in it. In order to break open a barrier seal I had

  to use one of my new powers. It rendered me in a state of feral

  rage. The divine flames of Vaonie scorched everything in the

  cave, including Lul.’

  ‘I see, these flames sound rather interesting. I’d love to see

  them in action some time. And why are you naked?’

  ‘The flames burnt my body too, along with my clothes.’

  ‘I see. I will gather up a force to reoccupy the cave. You’ve

  helped us well, Lodus. You are dismissed.’

  ‘Okay,’ Alduin responded, smiling ever so slightly.

  He levitated back to his room and jumped childishly onto his

  bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

  ----------

  Author's note - I hope to get reviews and feedback