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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Into the fields of Summer - 95. Fragments of Darkness 1
The first book I opened contained ancient knowledge on magic and spells. The book was written by three elves, T’avar, Ratha, and Asenwe.
References to various Egyptian Pharaohs allowed me to narrow down when it was written to the time of the Third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, some time between 2686 and 2613 BC. This coincided with the time when the House of Tarud became the monarchs of the elves after Queen Hasera of the House of Maktar died without an heir then her husband, Prince Tarud came to power.
I’ve read enough books and scrolls in this tower to realize that the information contained in this book is of a different school of thought in magic, the approach used in the spells were different from the ones I’ve encountered so far, even the state of mind and thoughts that you needed to have to be able to cast spells were different. The authors called it the “Tashik method” or “The Way of the Tashik” depends on how you translate it.
The Tashik method ran differently from what I’ve been taught and have learned so far. With modern elvish magic it’s about being in a state of mind that puts you in direct connection with the energy flow around you and while keeping in mind the end result you want. It was about controlling and bending the energy to your will to get the desired results.
However in the Tashik method it was about speaking with the energy flow using your soul. To use one’s soul to gain favor from the world’s energy... to gain enough favor that your wishes are then granted through the completion of your spell.
This new method was remarkably different with what I have been used to and it took me an hour of trial and error to conjure an energy shield around me using this method.
I wasn’t yet sure if I’d favor this style of magic as it is indeed not only more mentally taxing but more emotionally and spiritually draining as well, maybe that’s why this method has been replaced by newer schools of thought.
I decided to keep this method in mind for further practice, although taxing, I’d have to admit that it is an interesting approach to magic.
I then moved on to the second book, it contained information on the intricacies and complexity of a Magnus Spell. Some information I’ve already read before from other sources while some were more than enlightening and helpful, I’m sure Zenfar will have a fit if he knew about this! Hehe.
I skimmed through the second book and decided to give it a more thorough reading at a later date as I had three more books to skim through.
The third book was blank, and I found it rather odd. The front and back were both void of any writing and as I flipped through its pages,
I found its contents empty as well.
I was about to give up on the book and skip to the next one when I felt my chains tingle inside of me.
I felt a surge of energy welling inside as if to beckon me to read the blank book.
I scoured through my mind and was thoroughly confused as to how to read the said book. Then I thought of something, ‘what if I pump energy into book?’
I pulled a significant amount of energy and then slowly channeled it into the book. It took several seconds for me to sense a change but then the book grew cold and then warm and then it started to switch between cold and warm every few seconds as I funneled more and more of my energy into it.
After a minute or so, the book started to give off a black glow.
I started to flip pages and writings started to become visible.
I stopped my energy channeling and then the writings started to fade away. Damn! I had to keep on pumping energy into the book for me to read it!
A few more seconds of energy pumping and I’m sure I’ve already pumped a gold level elf’s worth of energy into it. ‘This is one hell of a demanding book! The knowledge inside should be worth all the magic I’ve spent on it.’ I thought.
The first words I read made me shiver with dread and shake with excitement at the same time.
Pajar Tu’e Yagardin or in Ancient Elvish, “The Nine Demon Generals”
‘Yes! Finally! Something about the demons’ I thought to myself.
The first few paragraphs read:
Demons are corruption of the soul in the flesh. The physical and spiritual manifestation of everything that is
wrong with the world.
Demons are as proficient in magic as elves, heal as fast as vampires , and are as strong as werewolves.
Their strength lies with their generals and their weakness lies in their few numbers.
Only a demon general can create a
new demon. A demon is only loyal to its creator and no one else.
Every newborn demon comes at a great cost to humanity, not only for the threat it poses to the weakest of the five races but also due to the fact that it requires the harvesting of human souls for one to come into this world.
There is no definite number as to how many demons a general can sire but there is no record of a general exceeding more than a thousand demon minions.
Fuck fuck fuck! I have to tell Patri and King Ethnar about this! I had to get to the palace now!
I gathered the other 4 books for me to continue reading them later but I had to get to Patri as soon as possible! I couldn’t teleport directly to Patri but I already had an idea on how to get there.
In a flash I found myself in my bedroom where I saw Victor quietly sleeping then almost a second later I willed myself to the palace.
I found myself outside Patri’s study and I scanned my handprint on the scanner. It went green and I started to open the door. I sighed in relief as I realized that my plan worked and not only that but I was also able to bring the books out of the tower.
Patri looked up from his desk and smiled as he saw me. “Chris! It’s good to see you again” then Patri’s smile turned into a sour expression as he saw the anxiety and agitation written all over my face.
Patri stood and quickly approached me. “What is is Chris?”
“Patri... I found something!”
“What do you mean?”
“About the demons... here look at this book”
Patri gave me a quizzical look and then took the book from me. He flipped several pages and then said “it’s empty”
“You have to channel energy into it”
“Ohh... how’d you realize that’s the case? I’ve heard of ancient texts being sealed in such a manner but never encountered one”
“I dunno... I just tried and then somehow it worked...”
“Okay... give me a moment to channel energy into this”
It took Patri more than twice the time it took me to unlock the book but at least he’s able to read it himself. I doubt anyone below Platinum would be able to do such a thing.
Patri started to flip one page after another and he wore a mixture of a serious and worried expression as he went through the pages.
“Chris...”
“Yes Patri?”
“This is groundbreaking!” Patri exclaimed. “We have to let the others know. Here hold onto this, I’ll call Zenfar, Sarad, Rehanmir, and father”
“King Ethnar is still in town?”
“No... he went back to Ashtelon already but I’m sure this will get him to come back to the capital”
“Patri did you read the portion where it mentioned about the harvesting of human souls... I think that confirms the findings of Kalron and his team on earth... thousands of humans have gone missing recently”
“Yes... I’ve read it. We don’t know how many human souls are needed for a single demon to be born but at least now we’re sure what the motive behind the disappearances is”
“Patri... I’m worried”
“And so am I... Chris, this is new knowledge, how new demons came into being has always been a mystery” Patri gave out a exasperated huff. “We have to act soon”
“I agree Patri”
“We have to know where the demon base of operation is”
“You’re right Patri. And now we’re certain that there’s at least one general behind this”
“Yes... you’re correct Chris, and existing records already tell us that generals are very powerful. In all his life, my father has only fought a single demon general and...”
“And what Patri?”
“He barely escaped with his life. Not all demon generals are of equal strength but my father seemed to have faced one of the stronger ones”
“But King Ethnar is powerful!”
I exclaimed. I found it hard to believe King Ethnar struggled against a demon even a demon general.
I mean King Ethnar is the strongest elf ever!
“Exactly Chris. We don’t know why the generals disappeared more than 600 years ago but if at least one has returned that’s already enough to cause worry” Patri then looked at his phone and said “Zenfar, Sarad, and Rehanmir will be here soon”
After thirty minutes the three elves joined Patri and myself. We discussed our discoveries from the book. Zenfar tried to channel his own magic into the book, just like Patri it took him more than a moment to remove the magical seal.
Zenfar’s eyes blew wide open as he read its contents.
“It seems like the humans are in graver danger than we are” Uncle Rehanmir noted.
“That seems to be the case” Patri agreed. “The barrier is protecting us from the negative energy build up... but the humans on the other side are out there for the taking”
“The werewolves and vampires aren’t far behind though”
I commented.
“What do you mean Chris?” My uncle asked.
“Werewolves and Vampires will also serve as fodder for Anami creation”
“What could the demons possibly hope to achieve?” Sarad asked.
“World domination...” came from a familiar voice as the door opened. It was King Ethnar.
“Father...” Patri said as he hugged King Ethnar who made it faster to the capital than what I expected.
“I came as soon as you called for me.” King Ethnar said. “I might have told the train driver to speed things up” he grinned.
For the next hour or so we talked about the contents of the book.
At least now we knew that there could only be a maximum of 9 demon generals.
“Rehanmir... make sure Jetan doubles down on the training of Akros” Patri said. “And Chris... keep us updated with developments from the VHC and WCC”
“Of course Patri. We’re just now waiting for the WCC to decide. I’m sure August will give me some feedback when I return”
“Good... “
“ZoHal I think we should also spend more resources on the strengthening of the barrier... if the demon build up continues back on earth we can have more leakages into the realm if the barrier is not strong enough” King Ethnar noted.
“Yes. I’ll have the High Circle work on that father”
“Patri... I think it would also be in our interest if we strengthen the pendants of all elves stationed on earth. When I returned to earth I could sense something was different in the air”
“Okay Chris... I’ll have Yalekin and Rehanmir work that out. As most elves work within a few miles of a portal save some agents in deep cover but we can have most of elves on earth have their enhanced protective pendants within a matter of days” Patri then spoke to Zenfar “Have your mages work on strengthening the pendants. All portals will be on high alert”
“Yes your highness” Zenfar noted.
I then asked a question that has popped into my head a few times before. “Uhm... have elves been always been this vulnerable to negative energy?”
Patri and King Ethnar exchanged looks while Uncle Rehanmir seemed to not know where to look while Sarad and Zenfar averted my gaze.
King Ethnar then spoke “Uhm Chris... to some extent yes.”
“What do you mean?”
“You already know that elves can be corrupted right? That’s why we wear pendants when we stay on earth for an extended period of time”
“Yes” I nodded, they’ve told me about this before but I felt that what I’ve been told so far is an incomplete picture of what the reality is.
“Well... centuries ago and I mean when the demons were still roaming the earth, it took prolonged exposure to demons or Anamis for an elf to start falling prey to corruption but...”
“But what?” I looked around as if waiting for someone to explain further.
Patri then continued. “Remember why we created the realm?”
“Yes. To protect the elves from corruption but it kind of does not make sense Patri... the demons were already long gone when the realm was created”
“You’re right about that but remember the prophecy about the extinction of the elves if we didn’t leave earth?”
“Yes... “
“That’s because even if the demons disappeared... ill intent and corruption continued to spread on earth... via the other races, wars, pestilence, famines, environmental destruction continued to plague the world and the negative energy kept on accumulating... for thousands of years. Through disasters and even through the times where demons freely roamed the land, the elves survived however the earth only accumulated more and more negative energy, nature itself couldn’t absorb it enough so... if we didn’t leave earth...” Patri’s voice trailed off.
“Those without a pendant or magical protection will die” King Ethnar finished Patri’s sentence then continued “A significant fraction of the elvish population actually even blame humans for our exile from Earth”
“Huh... why? What do you mean?”
I asked. “I mean how can humans be the cause of the elvish exodus?”
King Ethnar then continued to explain, he was calm and controlled yet I could feel that he was choosing his words carefully. “What humans lack in strength they make up for in numbers. Imagine all the negative energy billions of humans bring into the world, for thousands of years human civilizations waged wars on one another, killed and abused one another, but for the longest time the number of humans never reached a billion, let me be clear, the amount of misery and atrocities that occurred before the modern human age were deplorable to say the least, but all that misery and corruption was only contained amongst tens if not hundreds of millions of people, today however, there are almost 8 billion people on earth. The realm was created just time in time when the human population started to exponentially grow”
“What? You can’t be serious... “
I said just above a whisper. This was new information I found hard to digest.
“It’s just the way it is Chris. That’s one of the key weaknesses of us elves. Negative energy either kills us or drives us insane, and on rare instances turn an elf into a corrupted creature that is almost no different from that of a demon.” King Ethnar paused, I can sense that he wanted to say more but he stopped himself.
Zenfar then spoke and added.
“Elves are magical creatures it grants us some protection from acceptable levels of corrupted energy around us but it’s a different thing when it comes to concentrated darkness, we need magic to not just thrive but to also even just exist”
“Wow...” I muttered in realization how lucky the elves have been in being able to escape the corruptive energy back on earth. And it seemed they had only decades if not a century max to spare. If the elves were still on earth during the first and second world wars I doubt that they would have survived from all the malignant energy those events generated. The prophecy was right, if they didn’t leave earth, the elves would be extinct.
“Don’t worry about it young one” King Ethnar reassured me.
“Our main concern right now is the demon resurgence. Not only is the negative energy build up the only threat but imagine if demons start wreaking havoc ... if earth falls into chaos... all of the misery it will bring to the billions of people will add onto the darkness brought by the demons, if that happens we’re not certain the barrier between realms will be strong enough to protect us from such a surge in darkness”
“The current revitalization of the barrier does buy us some time but not by a lot” Uncle Rehanmir added.
—-
I returned to earth just before sunrise and snuck beneath the covers with my boyfriend.
“You’re awfully past your curfew...” Victor whispered into my ear as he hugged me from behind.
“Hmph...”
“Tired?”
“Yes...”
“Come here let’s get you some sleep”
I really didn’t need much sleep but it was nice to be able to sneak an hour’s worth of shut eye before Victor and I decided to start our day.
We were all complete at the breakfast table when Luca cleared his throat to get our attention.
Luca’s smile said it all. He beamed with pride, joy, and excitement for what he was about to say.
“I am pleased to announce that my son Victor Meyer is the newest Councilor of the VHC”
Silence as the people around the table took a second to digest the news.
August broke the ice and almost shouted. “About damn time!” Which earned laughter and giggles.
Congratulations were made and you could see in everyone’s faces that they were all happy for Victor.
After the initial round of hugging and shaking of hands, Luca called for our attention again. “I am also proud to announce that Patrick will be the new Governor of District 4”
Patrick immediately lost all the color on his face. As it only dawned on him that he was replacing Victor as Governor.
“You go big bro” Henry remarked as he patted Patrick’s back.
“Not so fast Henry...” Victor chimed in.
“What?”
“Uhm... as Councilor, I can’t be in direct control of Virginia anymore so...”
Henry’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“Welcome to the club!” Lucy said as he hugged his ‘younger brother’. “Look at you Henry now all grown up and now an OIC” Lucy teased.
“You’ve got to be kidding me...” Henry said as he rubbed his hands on his forehead.
“Oh boy... this will be exciting” August said as he went around the table to congratulate Patrick and Henry on their promotion.
Stefano and Hashim didn’t hold back in congratulating the three men. I’m really glad to see them be comfortable around us, they’ve come so far from their distant selves when we arrived 2 weeks ago.
I will miss Luca and these two, but hopefully I’ll be seeing more of them in the future.
After breakfast, August called for my attention and we excused ourselves in an empty study.
“So... any news on the WCC?”
I asked.
“Yes. To say that the meeting last night was rowdy would be an understatement.” August said.
“What do you mean?”
“Chris. We just announced to very powerful werewolves that the elves are back. Imagine how much of a surprise that is”
“Ahh... yes. I see that.”
“Being the only WCC Councilor to go the realm, all attention was on me last night” August explained further.
“And..?”
“Well... it took some convincing and with Lugi and Juan’s support in the WCC, the Crescent Council decided to agree to explore a three-way alliance with the elves and vampires”
“That’s good to hear August”
“I was very relieved when the vote was announced to be unanimous, you can’t blame some councilors for having reservations on this”
“I completely understand that”
“Anyway... we’ll be fine with sending 4 WCC representatives to the talks”
“That would include you right?”
I asked.
August gave me one his signature grins. “Of course I am going”
“Phew... that’s good to hear. Now tell me more about the other WCC Councilors that will attend.”
“Hmm... I’ll be joined by Luigi Bonafede and Juan Montero both are Co-equal heads of the WCC. They’ll be accompanied by Olaf Seehofer too”
“Should I know anything important about these three councilors?”
“Just that these three are key power players in the WCC”
“Anything else?”
“Hmm..” August shot me a knowing grin. “I believe you have the means to look into that”
“What do you mean?”
“Chris... don’t tell me that the elves haven’t been monitoring the activities of all the major power players in the world.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about August. The elves have limited capacity to extend influence outside the borders of the realm”
August shot me another smile. “Ahhh... spoken like a diplomat. Whatever you say Chris” August said as he patted my back then he left the room.
As soon as August closed the door. I sent a message to Kalron, Yal’s spymaster here on earth to give me all the information he has on all members of the VHC and WCC. I had some heavy reading to do. I better make sure that all the elf representatives will be briefed on who we were meeting as well. With that I had to find out from Luca who the VHC representatives will be.
It knocked on Luca’s study.
“Come in” I heard.
“Luca... do you have a moment?”
“Of course Chris. What is it?”
“Any updates on who the VHC representatives for the meeting will be? I’m also happy to inform you that the WCC is onboard with the initial talks”
“Ahhh... marvelous!” Luca said as he stood from behind his chair. “Reza for certain will be in attendance, most likely me too but we haven’t decided yet on who else”
“Ahh... I see”
“Give is your preferred date Chris and we’ll make it happen. I will also coordinate with August for security measures of this three-way summit”
“Thank you Luca. I’ll let King ZoHal know that the summit will be moving forward”
I excused myself from Luca and when I got back in the corridor, I immediately crossed back into the realm.
It was night time now in the realm but still early enough for people to be awake. I found Patri in his office and he was pleasantly surprised to see me again so soon.
“Ahh... to what do I owe multiple visits in a day?” He teased.
“Patri. Good evening. Just popped in to inform you that the WCC has confirmed their participation with the talks”
“Splendid.”
“Luca said to just give them the date and they’ll make it work. It seems like the vampires and werewolves will be responsible for the summit’s security”
“I’ll have to go over this with the Advisory Council. But as discussed earlier this should happen soon”
“Okay Patri...”
“See Christopher...” Patri gave me a teasing smile as he approached me. He then hugged me as he closed the gap between us. “See... you’re perfect for the job” he whispered.
I did not linger in the realm as I had some packing to do back in London. We’ll be flying out using Luca’s private jet at 3pm.
—-
I spent almost half an hour packing my stuff and it was certainly a struggle trying to fit everything back into my suitcase. Did I really have to do all that shopping? *sigh.
Reza and Konrad joined us for the farewell lunch. I was sad knowing that it would be at least several more days if not weeks before I see some of these people again. Looking around the table I could sense that everyone felt the same.
“A toast! To new friends and new beginnings” Reza said.
“Don’t worry Chris, I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of us” Luca smiled at me. Oh and I could have just melted there on my seat, god damn, did Victor’s sire really have to look like a an Armani model?
Reza and Konrad spent a good amount of time trying to get to know Yal more. They knew he was an important elf minister but they didn’t know how important Yal is to the realm. Little did they not that they’re talking to the best spymaster of them all!
I observed Yal smoothly evade questions that would have led to the disclosure of confidential information. Yep! I had to learn how to do that.
August spent time talking to Luca about the upcoming meeting while the rest of the group fell into their usual chatter.
Before Reza and Konrad left the estate. They both hugged Victor and congratulated him on his appointment. They even teased my boyfriend about the upcoming VHC banquet for him.
I hugged Luca, Hashim, and Stefano before we left and I could not help but be misty eyed at the thought of not seeing them for quite awhile.
At the 3pm, Luca’s Bombardier Global 7500 departed on time.
We were all glad to have Drew as our attendant again.
As we reached cruising altitude, Yal asked me. “Do you think you’ll need a private jet of your own?”
“Huh?”
“I mean I think you’ll be traveling a lot now that you’re ambassador...”
“No need to spend that amount of money Yal”
“Are you sure? Coz just give the word and we can buy you your very own”
Victor appeared to listening on our conversation and chimed in. “Hmm... look into it Chris but you can use the Gulfstream 550 that Luca gave me if you ever need to fly”
*groan “I don’t wanna appear like some spoiled brat” I complained.
“You aren’t Chris.” Yal said. “You’re a Prince of the Realm and an Ambassador to boot.”
I tried to change the topic by asking about Victor’s appointment.
“So when will this banquet be?” I asked.
“This coming weekend. It will be in New York. Remember you promised you’ll come with me” Victor replied.
“Yeah... I remember”
“Good! I’ll be happy to have you at my side”
As the rest of the group slept during the flight, I decided to access the files about the VHC and WCC Councilors that Kalron gave me.
And my my, August was right. The elves have certainly kept tabs on the affairs of the Councilors.
I found myself an encrypted file that contained information on each of the Councilors. Even Victor!
—-
Due to the timezone difference, we arrived at Richmond at 6pm after an 8 hour flight.
Cold air and snow immediately greeted us as we stepped out of the cozy jet.
“Damn it’s freezing” Leo said.
“You can say that again” Dad huffed. His breath becoming visible due to the cold air.
“Come on... the cars are already here” Henry said as he beckoned us to follow him to the private lounge.
“It’s good you’ll be staying here for the night” Lucy said to Patrick.
“Yeah, we’ll borrow sire’s private jet tomorrow. Raymond and I will take it for a spin to Atlanta” Patrick replied.
“Lucky you. Erica and me will be driving out tomorrow back to North Carolina” Lucy said.
“Aww guys. Leaving so soon?”
I pouted at them.
“Sorry Chris. Work awaits and there’s this new Governor in town and I heard that he’s a grumpy one” Lucy teased Patrick.
“What did you just say?” Patrick said with mock indignation.
“See? Thanks for proving my point” Lucy replied to a slightly miffed Patrick much to Erica and Raymond’s amusement.
“August. Why don’t you stay at our place?” Dad said to August.
“Uhm...” August gave my dad a quizzical look and then looked at Victor then back at dad. “Sure...”
“Great! Then you’ll be much closer to Leo” Dad smiled.
“Aww thanks man” August replied.
“You know August... you can stay at my place” Leo piped in.
“Aww babe... that would be nice but I think it would be better if we take it slow with your parents don’t you think?” August replied.
“Fine... though expect a dinner invitation from mom and dad, m’kay?”
“Sure thing hon” August said as he pulled in Leo for a hug then a light peck on the lips.
Oh my. There’s so cute together.
And did I just see August grope Leo’s ass? Fuuck. Total jack off material.
I was with Dad and Yal in the ride home. We had one of Victor’s agents as our driver. Victor was in a different car with Patrick as they discussed matters concerning District 4. However, Victor did agree to having dinner later with us at home when dad invited him.
We entered our quiet neighborhood and I looked at our house.
“Daad?...”
“Yes son? Dad replied with a shit eating grin as he turned to answer me from the front seat.
“What the hell happened to our house?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Dad said in a neutral tone.
Yal couldn’t help but smile with my exchange with dad.
“Is it just me or is our house considerably larger?” I said.
“Ohhh... you mean the renovations?” Dad replied.
“Renovations? You call that a renovation?! The house more than doubled in size!” I exclaimed.
The house’s facade remained, light yellow hued brick walls and a gray tile roof but the two story Georgian house that we had gained two 3-story wings on each side!
We got off the car and somehow the main house has even been moved back further from the street that now we had our own semi circular driveway of sorts.
“Dad?!”
“Uhm... surprise?!” Dad said with a smile.
“What happened?” I asked in an accusing manner.
“Your Patri happened that’s what.”
“So what happened to Mr and Mrs Flanagan and the Porter’s next door?”
“The Flanagans decided to retire in Florida, while the Porter’s well... they somehow found a cheap mansion of sorts in the next town over” Dad explained.
“How convenient...” I remarked.
“How did all of this construction happen in two weeks and over the holidays?” I then looked at Yal for an explanation.
Yal tried to avoid my gaze but I was not having any of it. “Yal...?”
“Fine. Maybe we used some magic.”
“What about the neighbors? Wouldn’t they have noticed it?”
Yal tried to avoid my gaze again.
But he relented. “We might have used a detractor spell so no one would pay attention to the construction”
“You can do that?!”
“Certainly”
“Come on son... let’s explore the refurbished house!” Dad said as he opened the front door.
As I entered the house I immediately smelled it. Taka Bread and Borfelian Roast! “Etalos ... Nomir!” I shouted as I found my two friends waiting for us. “When did you get here?”
I asked.
“Just last night your highness” Nomir said. Then I shot him ‘the look’ and he rectified himself and said “Just last night Chris”
“Oh wow. I’m so happy to have you both here!”
“We’re glad to be here” Etalos replied.
We spent an hour exploring the “renovated” house.
One of the 3-story wings had 4 bedrooms, including a new and larger room for me on the third floor. Well the entire third floor of that wing was my room! It’s very similar to the one I had back in the realm!
It housed a study and a gym too on the lower levels.
The main house did not change much but dad’s office and his study became larger and so did our dining room and kitchen. Fine it might have changed substantially as well. The 5 rooms that the main house once had was reduced to 3 including a larger master suite for dad.
The other wing had a large library, an office and study of some sorts for me and even a small ballroom.
For ‘social gatherings’ whatever that means.
Outside, the pool became considerably larger and I even noticed that the property behind our house that used to be shrubbery and trees was now our very own garden.
The entire property line was now demarcated by beautiful and ornate hedges. If it weren’t for the detractor Spell I think the house would have really stood out.
I already mentioned before that our neighborhood is upper middle class but this certainly is not upper middle class!
Etalos guided us towards a small cabin of some sort at the edge of the property and inside we found a stairway that lead to a large basement of some sorts.
“It’s your training area. It has magic shielding and also doubles down as a bunker” Etalos explained as he waved his hand to the large training room. It was about 12 feet underground and had a high ceiling, I think it’s easily 20 feet high, and it’s larger than a basketball court. Just like Victor’s it had a shower and changing area too!
“This is too much”
“It isn’t Chris” Yal interjected.
“You need all of this”
*groan.
Can someone please slap me the moment I become an arrogant douchebag.
“Maintaining this house will cost a lot of money” I noted.
“Don’t worry about it Chris. His Majesty has allocated a budget for that” Etalos said.
“Why don’t we invite everyone else for some late dinner in a few hours?” Dad suggested. I agreed with dad and the notion of dinner with everyone distracted me for the time being from all the shock.
—-
Before dinner, I organized a video conference call with Kalron.
Yal joined me in introducing Etalos and Nomir to the our ‘research liason’
We spent almost twenty minutes going over updates and other affairs and Kalron assured me that he’ll send a more detailed report by the end of the day.
“Kalron seemed nice” Etalos noted.
“Yeah he is. He’s very skilled with what he does too. We’ll be closely working with him from now on”
I replied.
—-
Dinner went exceptionally well.
Everyone raved about the new house and Etalos and Nomir’s Elven dishes were the star! God I missed Elven food.
“So you traded my place for an upgrade huh?” Victor teased August.
“I swear I didn’t have a clue.” August replied.
“I know. Just pulling your leg” Victor said to the hot werewolf.
I really had to give it to whoever was our contractor. All the stuff we had before were put back in their own place or moved to an even better location. I couldn’t even complain with how they transferred my stuff from my old room to the larger one even my clothes were perfectly arranged in my very own walk in closet. I bet Patri had one of the best movers, contractors, interior designers, and architects work on this.
—
I found myself alone in my large bedroom, and I started missing Victor already. I’ve grown so used to having him beside me.
I tried to distract myself by reading the fourth and fifth books that I brought with me from the tower last night.
The fourth book was bound in dark gray leather, it’s thicker than the rest of the books, I found myself struggling to find a comfortable position to read it but somehow I got it done.
The book discussed at length various elemental spells that I haven’t heard of and very powerful ones at that.
One of the spells that caught my eye was a spell on calling forth a large tornado. And by large I mean very large, too bad I haven’t gotten to my air magic training yet but I don’t think I’ll be needing to conjure an F-5 level tornado anytime soon. It’s just too destructive for my liking.
Another spell was about creating an ice and water dragon. Well, this I’m more familiar with but the book just took it to another level, it discussed the methodology of materializing and controlling a large serpentine dragon made of ice that’s more than a hundred feet long!
I read through several more pages about the large ice dragon spell at conjuring and materializing it seemed to require an 18-layer Magnus Spell!
The next spell I read about was regarding a radiant sun ball. Basically creating a fire ball so hot that it melts and burns through anything. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the spell needed was a 16-layer Magnus Spell.
One thing I’ve noticed about the spells on this book is that the spells are cast based on the Tashik Method or the ancient school of thought discussed in the first book I read last night. Damn so now I’m reading books about Magnus Spells that needed to be cast through ancient elvish magic? *Groan
I was about to read the fifth book when I was alerted by an incoming video call from Kalron.
“Yes Kalron?”
“Your Highness... Master Yalekin.
I have an update”
I found it weird that Yal and I were in separate feeds in the video call as we were basically in the same house but I let it go.
“What is it Kalron?” I asked.
“Our agents have found more information related to the human abductions”
“What did you find?” Yal said. In the screen I could see that he was slightly anxious like myself.
“We were able to hack into several functioning surveillance cameras in areas near where the homeless congregate across the country and...”
“And what?” I unintentionally cut him off, this was getting me nervous. “Sorry, please continue”
“And... we were able to see several individuals put the homeless to sleep and loaded them into vans... in some instances they assailants even used mini trucks. They loaded dozens of people at a time”
“Put them to sleep?” Yal asked.
“Yes sir... it appears they used some magic but the videos couldn’t really prove that”
“What else did you find?” I asked.
“Your Highness... we were able to track several of these trucks and vans into various locations around the country”
“Where?”
“There’s one in San Diego, another in Chicago and there’s one more just outside Houston. The locations appear to be in industrial or warehouse districts surrounding those cities”
“Keep your eyes on these locations Kalron” Yal commanded.
“Of course sir. Our agents are already working on it” Kalron reassured us. “There’s one more thing ... “
“I don’t like where this is headed Kalron” Yal commented.
“Yes sir. It regarding a complication”
“Complication?” I asked.
“It seems that FRUSI is now involved”
“The Federal Response Unit on Supernatural Incidents?” I asked. Victor and dad has mentioned to me that they sometimes worked with this secret organization under the Department of Homeland Security.
If I remembered correctly, FRUSI helped Victor and August in the cover up that followed regarding Gustav’s killing spree.
“Yes, Your Highness. We’ve hacked into their systems and discovered that they will be deploying their special forces to conduct a raid on the Chicago location”
“Just the Chicago location?”
“Yes... it appears that they haven’t discovered the San Diego and Houston bases yet” Kalron replied.
“Are they that stupid?” Yal said in a more exasperated tone. Yal now has one of his hands on his forehead, clearly massaging his temples to release some tension.
“Sir... it appears that all the locations are currently being used by low level vampire and human syndicates linked to drug and human trafficking. It seems that FRUSI is underestimating the risks involved”
“So are you saying that the demons could possibly be in cahoots with these syndicates?” I said.
“That appears to be the case Chris. I wouldn’t be surprised if the demons have promised these syndicates with either money or power or even downright used magic to manipulate them to do their bidding”
“What should we do Yal?”
“Let’s see how their operation goes. We’ll know if they fail or succeed before sunrise”
“Are you saying we use them as some sort of bait to test the strength of the enemy?”
“Yes you’re right Chris. It’s too late now to contact FRUSI to call off their attack. And contacting them now will let them now that we’re spying on them” Yal replied.
“I don’t like this Yal... but what other choice do we have?”
Yal and Kalron both kept silent and I knew Yal is right. Now it’s out of our hands if the FRUSI raid succeeds or not.
—-
I barely had enough sleep that night knowing that if the demons are behind this that the FRUSI operation
is certainly going to fail.
At around 5am I received another video call from Kalron. Yal joined us within seconds.
“What is it Kalron? Any news?” Yal said, I could hear that there was a certain edge on his voice.
“The FRUSI operation failed sir. All 14 agents were wiped out. The enemy was even able to destroy the two helicopters that FRUSI used for transport”
“The media will know about that if two helicopters blew up” I said.
“I’m sure they’ll be able to cover it up. I mean ... FRUSI will handle that. Expect some sort of news about an engine failure or something later” Yal explained.
“There’s another thing sir...” Kalron started. His facial expression told me he was about to give us more dire news.
“FRUSI is now operating at 20-30%”
“What?!” Yal exclaimed. “What happened?” Yal’s face grew more concerned by the minute.
“Its bases of operations in Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Detroit, and Miami were attacked last night. Two of the Three Undersecretaries have gone missing and one of its training facilities, the one in Maine has been completely destroyed”
“Those are attacks all over the country” I said. “How could they have pulled this off?”
“The Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, and FBI are in complete chaos right now.” Kalron added. “One other thing sir...”
“Yes Kalron?”
“All the bodies recovered in the locations are human. Even in the vampire hideout in Chicago, there is no trace of rogue vampire or werewolf activity”
“That doesn’t make any sense” Yal commented. He was now rubbing his chin as if to think things over.
“So the attackers on the FRUSI bases are human?”
“Yes Your Highness. But we were able to hack into the the surveillance feeds of several FRUSI offices, it appears that the attackers had unbelievable speed and strength and were very adept with guns and hand to hand combat.”
“If that’s the case how did they die together the FRUSI agents?”
I asked. If they were that strong and had a successful mission, why are they dead?
“They all just dropped dead after the operation sir...”
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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