Chapter 7: And it keeps getting better….
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Neln stood before the destroyed carawan blocking the road. Behind him were ten or so other mages standing without a word. Neln's eyes were closed as he used his air magic to search for something.

After a few moments his eyes snapped open and he looked to his left.

Found it. He went to the south.”

As Neln said this he waved his hand. Immediately the wreckages from the caravan started floating to the side of the street. Right now there wasn't even a hint of his normally laid back personality. Everyone who would see him would see a stern and serious man who knows exactly what he is doing and who is not tolerating any defiance. It was the image of someone who was a long time in charge not due to social standing, but through sheer ability.

Now they shouldn't block the street. Behind them a carriage was slowly drawing near. The mages made way in order to let it pass. Neln looked inside when it passed him. He locked his eyes with Solana who was sitting inside the carriage and nodded slightly. Before waiting for her response he turned around to the other old mages and waved his hand again. Immediately they were enveloped by a translucent shine. Without waiting for any orders all of them ran into the direction Rild was chased by the wolves. Although they seemed only to be walking their speed was beyond what a normal human's eye could perceive. They needed only a few minutes in order to reach Rild's final destination when the wolves were leading him.

Neln frowned, when he saw the wall.

Well that is certainly interesting. I've been through the entire forest in order to search for other possible magic crystal veins, but this here is something I haven't seen before.” thought Neln. The old mage followed Rild's track to the crack in the wall.

Stay here” Neln said to the other mages behind him as he slithered into the crack. Where Rild needed to squeeze himself through using his entire strength Neln was like a gust of wind flowing through the crack.

Once Neln reached the other side he immediately noticed the skewered temple.

One of these temples? If only if I had some time to research it.”

It looked like Neln had already seen a temple like this and could recognize it. The gray mage immediately went towards it following the track. Inside the temples he sighed as he looked over the rubble. Closely following Rild's path Neln made his way through the destroyed temple. Unlike Rild who needed to find different paths in order to progress further Neln could just jump over different obstacles, like they were not even there. Reaching the altar in the back of the temple took him only a few moments.

His presence is the strongest here but it also ends here.” thought the old mage. He waved his hand and the rubble in front of him was blown away giving way to the even surface of the floor under it. Neln took out a brush and an ink pot from his robe. The ink pot was not filled with ink, but with magic essence. Neln needed only a few moments in order to draw an extremely complex magic circle on the floor. He was one of the very few people in this world, who could draw a magic circle like this in such a speed. Most mages needed days in order to do something like this and they needed a lot more magic essence in order to do it.

Neln immediately stepped inside the circle and started to feed it his magic energy. Once he did so a phantom image of Rild, only visible for Neln, appeared near the altar. The image took a sword and tested its edge.

This thing is beyond any saving measures. Even if it was some sort of artifact it is useless now. Although I'm no weapon expert I think this thing is completely unsalvageable. But I don't think the damned wolves will let me leave without this thing.” said the image.

Wolves? What wolves?” thought Neln as he watched. By now the image reached the tree and started to pull on the branch. The second the branch broke the image disappeared. Neln starred wordlessly at the tree.

So you are the one hiding his aura. What are you?”, Neln asked the dead tree not really expecting an answer. ”Well my Memory of the Air spell can only show me this much and his track is covered by this weird tree.” Neln started to move back. Since he did not need to follow Rild's track anymore he needed only a moment in order to get back to the other mages. Before saying anything else the closed his eyes once again. This time he searched for smells. As a pure air mage who opened the fifth gate of magic he could analyze even the faintest particles in the air. He noticed the smell of a wolf heading north but he didn't notice any smell of blood in the air.

The trail ends here. He is not dead, but I can no longer track him. We return and... We will do as he ordered.” said Neln in a strict voice. He waved his hand again and once again the old mages were enveloped in Neln's air magic. They started moving back to the compound in a fast speed.

Hopefully Solana will meet up with Rild in Sandaras” thought Neln.

Rild needed one and a half weeks in order to get out of the forest. The young mage did not know how long he was walking around in circles, but he was sure, that he did. By now the young mage looked more like a robber, than a mage. His robe had multiple holes in it, his hair was messy and his skin had multiple bruises and cuts. On his hip was the rusted sword. It was not in a sheath but was just dangling on a rope Rild was using as a belt since he lost his real one somewhere in the forest. In his hands was the staff which still had some leaves on it.

The young mage was walking on a road which was heading westward when he heard a horse drawn cart behind him. Rild looked behind and saw a young man sitting in driver seat. Behind him in the open carriage were a few boxes. Rild thought it was a villager from one of the nearby villages riding into town to sell and buy some things. The young mage wanted to ask if he could ride with him for a while, when he noticed what the young man driving the cart was wearing. It was a priest robe. Immediately Rild once again faced the road and walked along ignoring the carriage behind him. After a while the cart was next to him.

Hello friend. Jump on, since we have the same destination.” Rild heard the voice of the young priest.

Nope I'm good.” answered Rild and continued his way.

Don't be like this! Isn't it better to ride comfortably than walk?”

Nope I'm good.” repeated Rild and increased his pace. He was sure as hell the priest will let him ride now and once they reached town, he will demand some unreasonable sum of money for the ride.

Really? It is still quite a long way till the Kingdom of Sulios, you know?”

Rild stopped immediately and looked at the priest. How did he know where he was headed?

After looking at the face of the young priest Rild's own face turned sour.

Aren't you one of the assholes who killed me?” asked Rild as he recognized the priest. Rild remembered that his name should be Tyler.

We meet again exalted guardian of the goddess.” said Tyler as he bowed down his head before Rild.

Rild looked at the priest with a sour look. He already figured out, that Solana has contacted the others and wanted them to assemble in Sulios in order to annoy him. Cursing about his misfortune of meeting the priest of the group here Rild just turned around and started walking again. Tylor just sighed and started riding next to him.

Are you really not gonna ride with me, just because of what happened? It was not our fault you died. If it were not us, it would be someone different. Also you yourself let us kill you. Right now you are behaving like a child.” said Tyler in a calm voice.

Don't care about my death. I just refuse to ride with a priest. You guys are like a rotting infection in today's society. I may be weak and useless right now, but I still have enough self respect not to associate myself with any of you.”

Tyler frowned as he heard this. He knew that nowadays most people had not a good impression towards priests. Although he found Rild's absolute hatred towards priests and the church a bit extreme he could understand it in some way.

And yet the way to Sulios is pretty long. Are you really willing to walk all the way there when you can ride with me? You know that I will ride the entire time next to you, right?”

Rild shot Tyler a venomous glare but after some thinking he still went to the back of the carriage and climbed into it.

Before Tyler could start a conversation he noticed that Rild has already sunk into meditation. Tyler was impressed. He did not know if he was impressed by Rild's diligence in training or his absolute refusal to talk to him, but he was impressed.

Well, I'll ask him about my blocked gates of light a bit later.” thought Tyler as he steered the cart.

The two of them traveled for a few days without speaking much and reached the Kingdom of Sulios after a while. The capital city of Sandaras was still quite a way off, but Rild was happy with the progress for once. The only words between the two young man were, when they changed the driver. Tyler drove most of the time, but he grew tired from time to time and since Rild refused to stop even for a moment they just took turns in steering the cart. Fortunately for them Tyler had a lot of food stocked up in the cart so they did not need to take long ways in order to go to cities and buy more.

Rild was not very happy to be in the presence of the a priest and he made it clear in every possible way, but he was a bit more tolerant, after he found out, that Tyler left the church after the truth about the worldmage came out. After a few day passed the number of carriages and people around them increased significantly and most of them were travelling in the direction the two of them were headed. Some of the people wanted to hitch a ride and while Tyler was willing to give one, Rild refused it vehemently claiming that it was not their problem. When Tyler wanted to argue that he gave Rild a ride, Rild countered with the reasoning, that Tyler wanted to travel with him one way or the other so Rild WAS his problem. After a while Tyler had to give up.

When they travelled west a city wall came in sight in front of then.

We need to enter the city in front of us.” he said after pointing at the gates.

Rild looked at the city in front of him and asked in an annoyed voice.

Why? Can't we just go to Sandaras?”

Tyler shook his head.

There is a very big River we need to cross. Since it is so big, the bridges are only built at the river's most narrow places. The nearest bridge is inside the town. It is a pretty big town, since it is on a major trade route.” he explained.

Rild sighed and did not say anything anymore. He just sat in the back and waited for the inspection at the gate.

When it was finally their turn Rild grabbed a few coins from his backpack and threw them to Tyler. By Rild's estimation it was enough to pay the toll. Tyler catched the coins and looked at them before sighing and throwing them back to Rild.

It's not enough. I'll pay it.”

As Tyler paid the gatekeeper Rild heard one of the guards at the gate say something like

Of course the damned priest has enough to pay the toll... All the years they have swindled the people”.

Rild could not help but smile a bit when he heard that. After they passed into the town, Rild climbed from the back and sat next to Tyler.
“Why wasn't what I gave you enough? It should have been.”

Tyler looked surprised at the young mage beside him since it was the first time Rild himself initiated a conversation.

They do not want even more refugees from the east. The eaters are destroying a lot of homes and the people try to get away from them as far as they can. The kingdom of Sulios is beyond its capabilities, so they are raising the tolls and taxes in order to make it less inviting.”

Rild nodded as he heard the explanation. He was surprised, that there are so little consequences of the eater invasion in this part of the world. By now he would expect revolts or even a civil war. When he asked Tyler about it the young priest smiled as he said

It's because of the mage families. On the surface the Kingdom of Sulios is an independent nation, but everybody knows, that the entire west is controlled by the three mage families. Sulios is only as independent as the mage families allow it to be. With the most powerful mages of the worlds at their back, do you really think, there would be any large scale insurgencies?” Although this explanation satisfied Rild, he still was expecting to see a lot more soldiers marching through the countryside. He knew the eater invasion would require more and more soldiers to combat. He started asking Tyler a few more questions about the state of the world until they reached an inn. They decided to stay for a day in order to replenish their supplies before setting off again. They still had quite a lot, but one could not be to sure.

Rild decided to buy himself more Soul Nectar so he went with Tyler to the market. Unfortunately for the two of them they did not find even a bottle. Rild was a bit confused about this.

Didn't you say it was a city on a trade route? Why isn't there even a bottle of it?”

Tyler shrugged his shoulders as he answered.

Probably it's something really rare. Don't forget, that many things you had access to as a world mage, are essentially non existent in the rest of the world.”

Hmm... but one bottle? Wait... I forgot it's called Soul Ripper by the rest of the world.”

Tyler immediately froze, when he heard this. Why would Rild need this? Wasn't he a mage himself?

You won't find it on the market. Don't forget this is a territory controlled by the mage families. For them this thing is pure poison, so it's a forbidden good. No trader will sell it in the open.”

Rild stood there for a moment thinking about what Tyler said. Once again in his head he cursed at the church for destroying knowledge just because it was not to their liking. It was not proven, that the church destroyed this particular knowledge, but Rild cursed them anyway. The young mage's brain started think of a solution. He needed desperately a bottle of Soul Nectar. His two souls are nearly healed up after being cut and needed to be cut again. Since he would need to heal four souls at the same time when they're cut again, it would take quite some time. This time would be reduced with Soul Nectar significantly.

Seeing Rild thinking so hard Tyler had the hunch, that it was pretty important so after some hesitation he said.

There might be a way to buy it.”

Rild looked up at Tyler and raised his brow in confusion? Didn't he just say, nobody sold it?

Well nobody will sell it in the open, but on a black market it will probably be available.”

But how are we going to find the black market?”

Leave that to me. We priest have a pretty bad reputation right now so the shady folk will trust me easier. Go back to the inn. I will come later to get you.”

"Wait, you mean to say you believed the shady folk did not trust you before? Really?"

With these words from Rild Tyler disappeared in the crowd leaving a confused Rild behind.

But.... I don't remember the way back to the inn...”

It was night, when Rild and Tyler walked down a backstreet. Tyler successfully managed to find the location of the black market. Before long the two young man reached the stalls.

Rild did not notice that a few individuals were eyeing them the second they got there.

After some searching Rild managed to buy two overpriced bottles of Soul Nectar. Rild did not care much for the money. All of it was “borrowed” from the old mages.

The two young men left the black market in a hurry. When the two of them wanted to leave the backstreet their way was blocked by two hooded men. Rild and Tyler instantly understood what was going on. This situation was not good for them. Both of them were mages, who needed some time to chant a spell and draw a magic circle. Just when Tyler wanted to start negotiating he heard Rild cry out.

When Tyler looked at him, he noticed, that Rild had a knife in his back just below his heart. It turned out, while the two robbers in the front distracted the two young men, from behind a third one attacked them. Just as Tyler started to panic Rild did something unexpected. Normally when a mage is wounded like this, he will be useless in combat. The pain would prevent him from concentrating and chanting and drawing spells. Normally they would go down, but Rild did something unexpected. Instead of falling down Rild turned around and swung his Staff like a madman. The robber in the back did not expect this to happen and the staff hit him right in the head. The robber sank to the floor as he lost his consciousness. But that was not enought for Rild. The young mage started to use his staff to smash the head of the robber again and again. The two robbers blocking their exit were dumbfounded for a moment. In front of them a mage with a bloody back was pummeling their friend and a priest was just standing there watching it all. The two of them started screaming and run towards Rild and Tyler in order to help their friend.

Rild noticed this and turned around. He prepared his staff to block the first assailant, when he saw a sword pierce the robber in the back through the heart. Rild thought, that the guards of the city heard the commotion and came to help, so he used the range of his staff to keep the robber atacking him at bay. The one attacking him has still not noticed, that his friend behind him already sunk to the ground. He was far to enraged as he tried to stab Rild with his knife.

What is happening? This is a goddessdamned mage! He should have gone down, when he was stabbed. WHY WAS HE STILL STANDING? Suddenly the robber felt a horrible pain. He started immediately screaming his lungs out, as he looked down on his body. A shiny swordblade went directly through him. His screams ended shortly and he fell to the ground.

As he fell, behind him a figure in a red cape came into vision.

That was close. Hello Tyler, greetings your holiness!”

Tyler finally woke up from his stupor and looked and the man, who saved them.

Reston? You are truly a sight for sore eyes.” he said as he recognized the face in the red hood. He was not the only one who recognized the man.

Great. First I get stabbed, and then the fanatic shows up. It just keeps getting better” said Rild with a sour face as he looked at the knight. Tyler could not believe what he heard just now.
“Really? You are seriously going to complain about being saved, just because he once was a knight of the church? There is a limit to everything! Even to your ridicilous hatred towards the church!” exploded Tyler. He had to suffer through Rild's grumbling about him being a priest and the church for the last days and had enough.

My hatred for the church is as deep as their corruption. Limitless!” replied Rild as he starred back at Tyler.

Just as Tyler once again wanted to say something, Rild's gaze became unfocused and he fell face forward down. Tyler was stunned for a moment, before he noticed that Rild still had the knife in his back. Rild could still hear the knight shouting something before his world faded to black.

When Rild came back to his senses he was in their inn room. He was lying with his back exposed upwards as Tyler was drawing a circle and chanting a spell. Rild needed only one look to realize that it is a healing spell. As soon as Tyler finished the spell, a water ball appeared on his hand. The young priest noticed that Rild has woken up and warned him.

I'm still not very good at water magic. So this will hurt quite a bit.”

Rild did not react. Because of the bloodloss the had not a lot of strenght.

Tyler gnashed his teeth and pressed the ball of water onto the wound. To his surprise Rild did not even flinch when he did so. Tyler recovered from his surprise and started controlling the spell.

Rild was lying down in the cart as they left the city. Reston and Tyler wanted to let Rild rest for a few days in town, but the person in quesion vehemtly denied any rest so they started travelling again.

So let me get this straight. You were an idiot the whole time who believed everything he did in the name of the church was noble and good and then found out that it was not so. Have you like I don't know... tried to use your brain? There is a reason the goddess gave it to us? Holy hell, like even remotely looking at what you were doing would let you see the truth.”

Tyler who was steering the cart wanted to retort to Rild, but Reston was a bit quicker.
“Indeed. I seriously was that stupid. I truly believed I was doing the work of the goddess and followed any orders without question.”

And now you want to follow every single one of my orders without questions?”

Reston nodded in response. Rild was looking at him like he was an idiot.

Are you not seeing that... Nevermind. A fanatic once is a fanatic for life. Fine. You probably will be acceptable cannonfodder.”

Reston once again nodded.

You're fine with that? You will be fine with it, if I send you into a meaningless death.”

We have to pay for out sin of killing you and plunging the world into chaos. If I have to die in order to attone, then so be it!” Reston answered resolutly.

Rild looked at Reston and closed his eyes. He had no idea how he should treat the former knight of the church. Rild was sure, that Tyler was still a priest at heart and only helped him, because of selfinterest, but Reston on the other hand had no selfinterest. Rild did not know if he should despise him or not.

He decided to think about it later. Since his body was wounded at the moment he could as well start to collect more magic essence, but before he could close his eyes in order to meditate he heard Tyler voice.

Rild I would like to ask you something.”

Rild just waited for the priest to continue to speak.

Is there a way for me to open my gates of light? I used an artifact which allows me...”

Rild closed his eyes as he answered interrupting Tyler.

Not at the moment. But soon. I will help you with that. Maybe then you will be usefull for once”

Tyler's heart made a jump, when he heard the response.

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