Dragon Gods Reign

[High order territory]

Seeing that her brother had joined the fight, Alicia let her spells fade out and stopped casting additional ones. With Jennia and Allaire taking care of the couple of foot soldiers still remaining, she instead turned around and walked towards Alorick's students.

When they saw her approaching they immediately tensed up and lifted their staffs and swords defensively before them. And despite knowing that they were hopelessly outclassed, they were ready to fight to the last.

“Who are you?” One of them shouted nervously.

“Relax, we don't mean you any harm. I'm Alicia, maybe some of you still remember me?”

At her words some members of the group lowered their weapons noticeably, studying her face in scrutiny. After a second or two, their expressions changed to surprise one after another, with slight smiles of relief on their lips.

Seeing this, the other members of the group were somewhat at a loss on how to react. Looking around between them, they hesitantly lowered their weapons.

“Miss Alicia, you shouldn't be here.” A man said.

“Gaston, right?” Alicia asked and the man nodded, “Good. Then tell me, why shouldn't I be here if I want to?”

Bewildered by the completely carefree tone with which Alicia answered him, Gaston needed a second before he answered.

“Ever since master's stunt during your escape they are monitoring us, the high order teams are probably already on their way as we speak.” He said worriedly.

“As if they still have any troops to spare, not to mention ones that could trouble me. Or you for that matter, now that I am here.” Alicia said dismissively.

Her words were followed by a series of scoffs from the surrounding mages that overheard her words. Of those, one decided to insert herself into the conversation.

Walking over to them with an angry frown on her face, the elven woman threw Alicia a poisonous glare before coming to a stand slightly before Gaston. And while he was visibly annoyed by this, he kept calm and let her do as she pleased.

“With all due respect, didn’t Master Alorick teach you better than to be this arrogant? Or do you think that being an otherworldler places you above such lessons?” She asked with a condescending tone.

Alicia already opened her mouth to respond when the woman stopped her. Keeping silent with a roll of her eyes, Alicia let her continue to speak.

“Not just that, but even if you were to defeat one of their troops, you would just do the monsters and undead a favor. Do you honestly think he will support that once he learns of it?” The elven woman berated her.

“Firstly, no, it isn't arrogance and it has nothing to do with me being an otherworldler. I simply know my own capabilities and those of my enemies. Secondly, maybe, until we ask him only he knows. But what I do know is, that the high order's troops had hunted me for months without mercy, something I am willing to repay them. The seats will fall and I'll leave the rest only one chance, dealing with the consequences can still be done later.” Alicia answered her.

Hearing the slight growl in her voice, the woman looked as if she was insulted. Just as she was about to retort to Alicia’s words, Gaston intervened, recognizing that the latter was getting increasingly annoyed by her.

“Tarea, that's enough.” He said.

“Bu-” She started but was quickly interrupted.

“No buts, now get back and help the others, I'll talk with her.” Gaston said.

Turning away with a dissatisfied grumble, Tarea nonetheless kept quiet as she stormed back to the rest of the group.

Seeing a large part of the remaining group first looking worried when they saw Tarea's expression before glaring at her, Alicia looked at Gaston with some pity. In response he just shrugged, having been aware of the possible consequences of sending her back.

“I apologize for her behavior, though I must agree with what she wanted to say. Whether or not you can defeat them doesn't matter, the longer you stay with us the higher is the likelihood of the seats retaliating against our fellow disciples still in the capital.” He said, seemingly not bothered by the notion.

Gaston's words took Alicia by surprise, having not considered the possibility. During the seconds she hesitated as she didn't know how best to proceed with this new knowledge, Darganth walked over to them.

“When I noticed you I originally wanted to ask if you could bring me to Alorick, but I failed to consider them so just forget it.” Alicia said.

“Already giving up?” Darganth asked somewhat surprised.

“Well, I won't purposefully risk innocents, my master's students at that, for personal reasons. Wherever he is, I'm confident that he is fine and that I'll find another way to find him.” Alicia said.

Seeing Darganth's reaction that said 'If you want', she looked at him with furrowed brows.

“You have a way, don’t you?” She asked after a few seconds.

“Yup.”

With those words, Alicia felt a spell taking hold of both her and Gaston, with neither having even a chance to even react to it.

As soon as it did, she saw the other disciples slowing down to a crawl. Quickly realizing that Darganth had sped up time for the three of them drastically, she looked towards Gaston to see him reaching the same conclusion but with far less favorable implications.

“Who is he?” He asked Alicia with a shaking voice.

“My brother.”

“You say that as if it explains why I just met a mage of nearly equal power to master without ever having heard of him?” Gaston said somewhat hysterically.

Looking towards Darganth questioningly, Alicia wordlessly discussed with him whether they should tell him the truth or not. With him shrugging, she thought for a few seconds before deciding to do it.

Taking a deep breath, Alicia manifested the illusionary reflection of her true form behind her. A moment later Darganth followed her example, though by then Gaston was already staring at them with shocked eyes.

Leaving him to it for a few seconds, Darganth was just about to shake him out of it when Gaston started to laugh.

“This time they have kicked a sleeping dragon, quite literally even. I'm sorry for doubting you, mister…?” He said, phrasing the last part as a question.

“Just Darganth. Surnames may be a symbol of power and of nobility among humanoid mortals, but powerhouses and stronger species don't bother with them in favor for titles. And in my case, it doesn't matter, so just stick with that.” Darganth answered.

“As you say. Still, I must disappoint you as, despite your effort in convincing me to give you my master's location, I can't because I don't know where he is. None of us do, he only gave us a one time teleportation scroll, something I am not willing to part with for my own safety.” Gaston said regretfully.

Slightly surprised by this, Darganth nonetheless wasn't bothered and nodded in understanding.

“I understand, and I just need to take a look at it. Finding out where a teleportation spell leads isn't easy but doable.” He said.

Furrowing his brows in disbelief, Gaston was just about to speak out his doubts when the seriousness in Darganth's gaze brought him to stop. Thinking for a second, he sighed in resignation before pulling a rolled-up scroll out of one of the pouches on his hips and giving it to Darganth.

Taking it and unfurling it, Darganth's first reaction was to stare at it in surprise.

Drawn on the scroll before him was a magic circle filled with complicated symbols and letters, surrounded by nine layers of rings around it, each also filled with strange languages and even more symbols.

“Didn't you say that Alorick was an advanced third rank?” Darganth asked a moment later.

“At least I always thought, he never told me which order he reached. Why?” Alicia answered.

Turning the side with the spell circle inscribed on it to Alicia, he let her see for herself. And after looking at it for a second or two, she realized what he meant and her eyes widened in astonishment.

“That-?” She asked, not entirely believing her eyes.

“Nine outer segments, if he wrote this then that would mean he is a peak third rank. Otherwise, he likely knows one such mage, there is nearly no other possibility. The scrolls are too fresh for them to be all that old, not to mention the probability of finding this many of the same spells.”

Nodding, Alicia stared at the scroll in thought. But no matter how often she went over it in her mind, she also reached the same conclusion as Darganth despite it seeming impossible to her. Outer segments were a fixed metric, with early first rank mages having one and with it increasing by one on each new rank or order. Though one can artificially reduce the number, and thus also the efficiency of the spell, it was impossible to increase them beyond one's current rank and order.

And the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Alorick had been able to block two seats, peak third rank bloodline sorcerers, for long enough that she could escape. Doing it while being at the same step was already unheard of, at least unless the person possesses the bloodline of or is a member of a similarly powerful species.

Slowly realizing that the signs for it were always there and that she just didn't connect them, Alicia dealt with her own doubts just in time to realize that Gaston had an even stronger internal crisis.

“If that is true, what else did they lie about?” He muttered.

“Everything alright?” She asked despite knowing the answer.

“No. They told us that it was impossible for anyone but bloodline users to reach the peak of third rank, but whether it was master or not, someone clearly did.” He answered with despair in his tone.

With no idea on how to react to this, Alicia looked helplessly at Darganth who nodded in response after thinking about it for a second.

“Want to come with us, maybe your master can offer you some clarity as to what of the high orders teachings you can belief?” Darganth offered.

His words made Gaston slowly calm down and he took a few seconds to think about the offer.

“No, I can't. Master entrusted me with watching over his students and I'll do that for as long as it is needed. But now I know that the high order is far more treacherous than I thought, so I'll be even more vigilant. For now, my own problems can wait, but for after this your idea sounds good.”

Shrugging in response, Darganth gave him the scroll back. Taking it, Gaston nodded as goodbye before walking back to his group.

“You won't convince him, I know his kind. Duty comes first, even before their own lives.” Darganth said when he saw Alicia's worried gaze on Gaston's back.

“But wouldn't closure help him?”

“Yes, but not now. People like him can be easy to deal with, but not when trying to convince them to be flexible. He'll protect the others as well as he can, probably even better than before now that he knows that the high order isn't to be trusted, no one can convince him of something else. But that will help him fill the void these new-found doubts created, so as long as he has this purpose he won't break due to them.” Darganth said.

Nodding despite still being worried for him, Alicia waited a few more seconds before following Darganth back to Jennia and Allaire.