Vizjerei, the old fashioned hero Diablo/MHA

[Magikuser]

Chapter 1:
Quirky Accident1

"Whoa! The freaking thing is gone!" Bakugo exclaimed as the desk, metal legs and all, vanished entirely.

The pile of books, stationeries and notebooks inside of the desk fell to the ground with it's support gone.

"But where are they going?" Midoriya asked. "You're not making them vanish completely. You can't. It's already been proven that quirks still don't break the laws of conservation of mass. Can't create or destroy energy or matter. So is it a warp ability, or…"
As his train of thought went down its usual rabbit hole he continued his normal habit of getting quieter and quieter until his mumbling filled the room.

This mumbling stopped when Tsubasa smacked him on the back of his head with one of his wings.

"Geez, nerd." Bakugo groused with his usual disgusted face. "Why does it matter what new kids quirk actually does, doesn't make it less cool."

"Hey! You kids! Don't do that!" The teacher yelled from across the room, finally looking up from her lunch at the clattering of school supplies. "That's school property!"
She groaned and came over to check on them.

"Please tell me your quirk is that you can make objects invisible or something, I don't want to have to fill out another incident report about property damage today." She complained, but when she got over to them it was abundantly clear that the desk was, indeed, gone. "Okay. Okay! I'm going to leave you kids alone for a few minutes, I have to go grab a new desk for you. Just… don't disappear anything important while I'm gone, okay?"

Midoriya was still recoiling from the emotional roller coaster from thinking that, for once, the teacher was going to stop the bullying for his benefit, to disappointment at the greater concern for the well being of a desk, to fear at the thought of being left completely alone. Without adult supervision. In a room full of other ten year old children with quirks and not having one himself. It was never a good recipe.
As soon as the door clicked Bakugo and his gang turned right on him with their usual glee.

"Let's have new kid try it out on you." Bakugo said.
Midoriya knew Kaa-chan well enough to know that he was joking, in his cruel and intimidating way. Because he thought it was funny to see "Deku" wet himself. Something most classmates seemed to relate to.

But when everyone jumped on the suggestion without a shred of irony or hesitance things got scarier than even Bakugo could have planned.

"Yeah! You heard him. We know it's not actually destroying anything. Sending it somewhere else. He's the one who wants to know where it goes. Easy way to find out." Tsubasa said."And besides. She said not to vanish anything important."
"Quirkless over here doesn't qualify." Another student added.
Midoriya saw the panic he felt mirrored on Bakugo's face
Then somebody, Midoriya couldn't tell for certain whom, pushed him from behind towards new kid.
"Wait… you can't be..." Bakugo said.

And in that moment of panic, with the new kid putting his hands up in a protective motion and Midoriya screaming, so much happened at once that he would never be able to really tell what had happened.

Bakugo had exploded, literally, at both Midoriya and the new kid to try and stop this catastrophe from happening. But happen it did and, presumably in his own panic, new kid must have vanished Midoriya.
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Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. No light or color in his eyes, no whooshing of wind in his ears, no hot or cold on his skin. He was moving through absolute nothingness. A void as infinite as space itself, but infinitely more empty.

And yet somehow he knew, he was moving. Being pulled, no, yanked violently towards something he didn't know and wouldn't like. The sensation of falling forward, dragged by the scruff unwillingly, was all his mind and body knew.
And then, splash.

The abject lack of sensation was all too suddenly replaced with an overabundance of sensation.
Too much light in his eyes, too much cold in his wet clothes and WAY too much stench in his nose.
He had landed in a pool of thick, rancid water with who-knows-what clumped together in congealed mould of organic matter seeping into every loose article of clothing.
It was actually dark out, early evening beneath a blue sky with the first stars starting to peak through the dusk. But the contrast with the complete blackness he had just come from made it seem as bright as the pearly gates themselves.
"Ack! Guh!" He gasped and chokes as he tried to spit out whatever amount of the foulness he had swallowed and, worse, had shoot up his nose.

The best solution he came up with was to literally blow his nose into his hand and that finally did the trick. Unfortunately his first instinct after that was to try and catch his breath with a deep breath of not-so-fresh air, and proceeded to choke again.
Okay. Slow, shallow breaths. In through the mouth, out through the nose. Try to ignore the smell and taste of this place. And get the heck out of the water!

His mental reconditioning and self-hyping had him wading through the hip deep mire towards what he hoped was a nearby patch of dirt and not one of the many floating islands of debris and trash.

And he did mean a LOT of trash. And recyclables. Piles upon piles of black trash bags mixed with clear plastic recycling bags mixed with molded through stacks of broken down cardboard. There was also a very familiar school desk.
"Wow, was that kid was just using his quirk to get out of chores?" Midoriya thought aloud rhetorically.
Then, something moved in the piles of trash.
Midoriya caught a flash of bright red, flapping wings and took a step back thinking Tsubasa was disappeared with him and didn't like the idea of a confrontation with the much larger boy at that moment. But then he caught full side of the person and sighed in relief.

He definitely had a similar quirk to Tsubasa, what with the two large red wings, but the rest of his body was also mutated. Hoofed feet came out of digitigrade legs. Legs that, like the body they were connected to, was covered in red, matted fur. His face and arms hadn't been spared by his quirk either. Two curling horns above blazing yellow eyes above camel lips. Rather sharp claws too.

Some people really didn't get lucky with the draw when they got their quirks.

"H...Hey!" Midoriya called out to the kid, or very short adult, with a tentative wave.

Their head shot up and looked him directly in the eyes. They made a disturbing gurgling sound that started off quiet at first before getting louder and turned into a blood-curdling screech.
It charged at him. It's hesitance born of confusion at being so casually approached waned off and violence took its place.
Midoriya's mind went a mile per minute to figure out what was going on.

Man or woman with debilitating quirk mutating them into a form resembling a demon. Probably a severe social outcast as a result. Digging through trash in a mire. Yeah, mental illness to the point of being feral was something he probably should have expected.
Oh right, claws.
Forcibly shutting his brain off Deku acted. The only thing near him, and fortunately within arms reach, was the school desk that had arrived in this dump moments before he had. A weapon was a weapon after all and beggars can't be choosers.
Lifting the desk by two legs, Midoriya held it aloft like a shield and the creature bared down upon him all the same. It's sharp claws tore through the cheap plywood of his elementary school desk like copy paper. The battering of claws against his pitiful barrier soon left him backing away from the clearly unwell person boasted two metal rods with a bit of splintered plywood.

Well, when life gives you cudgels…
The creature, for this person had clearly descended into being something less than human, lunged at him again and this time Midoriya gritted his teeth and planted his feet.
With his back to the deep, rancid water he knew this was now a truly life or death situation. He would not be pushed back any further.

Side-stepping with more agility than he though himself capable of, Midoriya batted away the two clawed hands, only for the forearms of said arms to snap like twigs from the parry. The creature screamed. Midoriya screamed. They were both justifiably freaking out now.
But instead of coming to their senses and fleeing from humidor like any animal or sane human being would, thus further solidifying his belief that this person was well and truly gone from some mental illness or substance abuse, they lunged at him again!

He would later marvel at the casualness and complete lack of fanfare with which he struck the creature on the head. He bonked it. That's really the best way to describe it. He struck the deranged person on the head once and layed them out flat.
For a moment he was too afraid to do anything but hold his makeshift weapons towards the creature in case they got back up. But they didn't. They merely twitched for a moments. And then stopped moving entirely. Eyes open and lifeless.
It was dead.

"My god…" Midoriya gasped, barely above a whisper. "I just killed a man."



--------------------------------------

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.
Prices:
$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for Adult material or for original fiction/nonfiction, meaning anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 2:
A Rude Awakening

Izuku didn't know how long it took him to regain his breathing or stop the waterworks, but he was well and truly exhausted by the time he had it was getting dark and fast.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Then another. And another. It didn't make him feel better enough to get over the dead man next to him but he had to take act all the same. He was wet, covered in filth, in a place that no person should spend the night sleeping in. He had to get a move on. But first, he needed to collect anything useful.
He put his two makeshift clubs, see also, "steel desk Legs" into his beltline and began scavenging as the little red winged man had been doing before.
Izuku did his best to avoid the stagnant pools of water and filth, but failed almost as terribly as he did trying to avoid the swarms of flies and mosquitos. This was mostly due to the solid ground not being solid at all, but instead being clumps of grass or other plant detritus forming what looked like ground. Fortunately, he never got more than wet ankles from it. He tore open trash bag after trash bag with one word on his mind.
Fire.
It was already getting chilly and with the insect swarms harassing him he wouldn't get any rest without it, and even less safety. Dry paper was easy to come by, as was an old cloth grocery back to collect and carry it all with. He even found some dryer lent and some broken chair legs, wooden ones obviously. Metal or plastic ones wouldn't do him much good. As the sun was nearly ready to set he dug through his eighth trash bag and found a miracle.
"Yes! Nail polish remover!" Izuku whooped as if a helicopter was descending to airlift him out of there.
There was barely a thimbleful of the green liquid left in the bottle, but opening and taking a quick sniff told him it would do for an accelerant. Now all he needed was a method of ignition. And wouldn't you know it? He found a broken grill lighter. He checked it and it was clearly out of butane, but that was fine. He snapped off the end like a twig and got quick access to the flint, which still produced a spark when he clicked the button.
Now to just get out of this swamp.
There were plenty of small, wooded areas around him but they were all so sparse with vegetation that they didn't look to provide much shelter. He spotted one patch of woods, maybe ten trees in total, that was absolutely covered in shrubbery a half kilometer north and knew where he'd be sleeping for the night. Hoping against hope that it wouldn't be swampy there too he began the short trek, and after a few moments he was well and truly on dry ground.
Maybe the bogs were as small and interspersed as the trees and boulders? The latter two did appear in clumps together, but he didn't encounter any more of the former on his trek to his desired shelter. He was upon the edge of the small meadow when he remembered his murder victim and blanched. He had left him there to rot in a dump. Literally. What kind of villain does that?
He was already well on his way to hyperventilating again when a simple thought came to him.
It's not like he could have carried or dragged him away anyways. He'd have to find help to retrieve his body for his family. Which he swore he would have to do.
His to do list now consisted of starting a fire, sleeping through the night, finding civilization, getting to a police station and reporting what happened, make amends with the family. Solid plan.
It was now well and truly night, so he stumbled through the brush hoping to find a clear area within the trees, and was lucky enough not only to find one, but to discover an abandoned campsite. Long burned-out logs that had been overtaken by past moisture and plant life sat at the center of the small clearing. There was even a bed of sand where somebody had dug up the earth and sifted it into a soft place to put their sleeping bag. That meant civilization couldn't be too far away, he'd have to hunt for a deer trail or proper hiking trail in the morning. For now, he needed to work on that fire.
He scrounged blindly in the dark around the bushes around him, feeling for loose twigs or branches for dryness. He lucked out yet again that evening when he found a fallen branch longer than he was. He could pretty much just make a small fire and slowly slide the branch in throughout the night, burning off the tip like a cigarette. In fact, that's exactly what he would do.
Making use of what others had already built he bunched up the loose paper and dryer lent on top of the small coals and mountain of ash. He then VERY carefully placed the dryer lent to the mouth of the bottle of nail polish removal and let as little as possible seep into the clothlike material. He wanted to save as much as he could in case he needed to start a fire again. Then, feeling the wet spot with his thumb, he put the lighter flint to it and clicked the button.
The lint caught on his first try and with but a little blowing it spread to all of the paper and soon after that the twigs as well. From there he simply put the broken chair leg he had found into it and waited for them to really start burning. When he finally had a sizable fire within the ring of rocks and ash he had enough light with which to see and scrounge further.
The point of the fire wasn't necessarily heat, although it did that too, but his main purpose for wanting it was to keep the insect away. Light and heat wouldn't do that, smoke would. So he found the wettest, greenest leaves he could find and added them to the flame. It dimmed significantly when he did so but that was alright because he didn't want it too bright. He didn't know what other kind of crazies were out here. But he got his wish, he had smoke now. A little more than he bargained for.
He coughed and sputtered and teared up for a third time that day, although by now he was too emotionally and physically exhausted to actually cry. He might have also been dehydrated, but that too would have to wait until morning.
When the smoke cleared a bit he organized his piles of paper, twigs, wet leaves and the large branch for ease of use he disrobed to let his soiled clothes dry by the fire. After that he crawled, pitifully, to the patch of sand. As he crawled into his bed of sand he felt a strange burning sensation crawling through his skin. His last thought before bed was that he would probably wake up with a bad skin reaction to the disgusting water he had waded through, but that would have to wait because he barely managed to finish that thought before sleep overtook him in this strange new place.

Izuku Midoriya woke up to a loud crack from the fire and the moving of shadows dancing in the night. A very large shadow, standing over his fire and tending to the branch.
He gasped, louder than he probably should have, and scrambled away from it... and away from his two metal clubs and only means of self defense against the full-grown adult who was now looking at him.
She stood up at her full height showing herself to be tall for a woman, but then she backed away from the fire and, in turn, him. This game him more space and clamed him down somewhat, and gave him a good look at her. And wow, did she look like a proper hero or what?! Her suit had a lime and dark green color scheme with gold trim and even golder jewelry. Jewelry he suspected were support items based on how they were composed of matching cuffs on both wrists, ankles, neck and even her waistline with a strange tri-pronged headset that wrapped around her skull. The odd thing about her outfit was the classic underboob, a design heroines hadn't been using for decades but this lady was trying to bring back like the up and coming Bubble Girl. The design of her top showed off every tones abdominal of her stomach. For some reason Midoriya always just attributed well-toned abdominals with heroes and hard work, and villainy with laziness.
He suspected her abilities were either psychic or elemental in nature, maybe both. He'd guess electricity.
"I am Isendra of the Zann Esu clan. May I rest in the warmth of your fire young one?" She asked by way of an introduction.
Izuku nodded vigorously, absolutely ecstatic at the prospect of meeting a hero he'd somehow never even heard of before.
"You smell atrocious young one, as do your clothes. I would consider them a loss." Isendra of whatever clan said as a conversation starter as she advanced on her large pack, which she had left propped on a tree.
"Oh, um, yeah. I sort of appeared in a bog filled with trash." Izuku told her.
She rummaged through her pack as he talked, pulling out a couple waterskins and a leather pouch that looked like a leather feed bag. She stopped when he finished his explanation and looked at him.
"What do you mean by appeared?" She asked before standing back up and moving over to his pitiful fire, but not before tossing him a waterskin.
"Oh, um... One of my classmates had a warp ability of some kind he was playing with on furniture and he sort of, accidentally, used it on me. Thank you." He explained the embarrassing story before picking up the waterskin.
She paused in her mission of putting cured meats and potatoes onto metal skewers to raise an eyebrow at him.
"You are a student? And one of your classmates can warp people long distances? That requires a lot of power and skill. What school is this?" She demanded.
"Aldera junior high." Izuku said. "And skill not so much, we are all way too young to have any control of our quirks. We aren't allowed to go to hero academies until we're eighteen."
She stared at him some more.
"I have never heard of this school, and many of the words you use are bizarre to me." Isendra admitted before sitting down cross-legged and giving him her full attention. "Tell me about your nation, these quirks you mentioned and these schools and academies."
She was looking so attentively at him, like a student before a teacher, that his usual nervous tendencies returned with a vengeance. Let the muttering commence.
"Oh, well, I don't know what you call them here but quirks are supernatural abilities people are born with. Some people have emitter types, mutant types, transformation types, strength types and in my classmates case warp type. Hero academies are for training people with powerful quirks to use them for societies benefit against criminals, I'm sure you have those here too..."
She watched him attentively, stone-faced, as he explained all of this.
"And these quirks, how many do people have?" She asked.
"Oh, everybody just gets the one." He said. "Do people have multiple ones here?"
"No young one. We do not have these quirks at all." She said. "I find the concept very interesting. What is yours?"
He turtled up and tried to make himself as small as possible at that question.
"I don't have one." He said, honestly.
Then he registered her words. Were there still any countries that didn't have quirks appearing? Last he heard even isolated tribes like the Sentinelese have been developing quirks, and somehow this turned out to be the catalyst for them making contact with Indian society and becoming civilized. So where in the world was he.
"So, not everybody in your country has these quirks?" She summarized. "And they grant people a single ability, but a potent form of that ability."
"Not always. Izuku told her. Some peoples are weak. My mother can only move small things with her telekinesis." Izuku said.
"So, your mother has one of these? What of your father?" Isendra asked
"He can breath fire." Izuku said.
Isendra hummed as the smell of the now cooked food filled their meadow.
"So having parents with these abilities does not guarantee you will have one? Are you quite certain you don't?" She asked.
"Positive." Izuku said confidently. "Everyone has their quirks express themselves in childhood, by the age of five. Nobody has been such a late bloomer as to reveal it after ten."
"You seem rather dejected by this loss." She said.
"Well of course!" He said in frustration. "Who doesn't want the ability to move things with their mind or decimate evildoers with flames of their mouth? I had so wish to have one of my parents abilities, or an odd fusion of them like most people do."
She shook her head pitifully.
"No. There is more than that. Tell me." She insisted.
He made himself small again but muttered his answer obediently.
"I want to be a hero. Like all might I want people to fear the evil and hurt no more when I am there." He said. "But I don't know how I can become that without a quirk."
Isendra removed the skewers of meat and potatoes from the fire and handed him one. Izuku hesitated, confused as to when she had gotten so close as to be able to hand him anything, but he took it all the same. Remembering the waterskin in his other hand he took a gulp and dug into the food.
"You tell an interesting story. One most people would not believe and one I advise against sharing ever again." Isendra said. "I only believe you because you are such a painfully honest and sweet child and are clearly not insane. And your being out here is explained by your tale."
Izuku stopped chewing on the tough meat and blinked dumbly at the woman. He decided to keep his manners and finish chewing and swallowing before responding.
"What's so interesting or hard to believe about it?" He asked. "Similar warp accidents happen all the time. When I get to a police station I can call home and the school and confirm it if you want."
"I do not know what a police station is or what you mean by calling, which are yet more pieces of evidence that you are telling the truth." She explained. "Plus, I saw this garbage patch you mentioned. I have seen the objects from your homeland, objects unlike any from any land I know of, and I know of them all. I also have confirmed, multiple times, that they had been warped through the gap between worlds. You are not on the planet you know anymore young one. And pray nobody beyond me learns of this."
Izuku stared at her.
She stared back.
"I don't believe you." Izuku said simply before taking another bite of the meal she had provided him.
She laughed, a genuine mirthful laugh.
"And what reasons do you have to doubt me?" She asked.
"Well, besides the strange way you talk, I was already attacked by gibbering lunatic who clearly had a quirk. So far you're the second person I've met and I'm working from the assumption that you yourself may be insane." Izuku told her a bit bluntly. "Even after you said you're sure I'm not. Plus multiple worlds theory is barely even a hypothesis. The realm of fantasy."
She didn't get angry at his matter-of-factness or rudeness, merely smiled more deeply. It had reached her eyes now.
"Well, young one. You will find that your manner of speech is the strange one here. And in time you will come to accept what I said. Or maybe you won't. That is up to you.," Isendra said. "Having found you out here I feel a responsibility to escort you back to the encampment. There you can get new clothes and food. Especially with this."
She picked up one of the table legs and held it up to the light in admiration.
The only reason Izuku didn't panic at the sight of his "weapon" in her hands was because he was all but certain that even with both of them he had no chance of surviving if she decided to get violent. So he was working under the acceptance that his life was in this crazy ladies hands.
"This is quite possibly the highest quality steel I have ever seen in my life." Isendra told him. "I think Charsi may pay a high price for it, and then you can afford clean clothes, basic camping and survival gear and meals for some time. From there, your fate will be yours to decide with or without me."
Izuku nodded with every crazy word she said. He could safely ignore the woman's claims that the cheap steel legs from the desk were at all valuable and the existence of this Charsi person. No point in asking about these delusions. But something she said did warrant curiosity.
"And why do you feel responsible for helping me?" He asked.
She looked at him and gave him a much warmer and kinder smile that the amused one before.
"Because, young one. I want to be a great hero too."

Izuku didn't know when or how, but he'd managed to fall back asleep after his conversation with the crazy - but nide, he mentally added - lady. Somehow despite doubting her sanity he felt supremely safe with her watching over him. Did that make him crazy too? He would be justified in thinking the entire evening and night were a fever dream, but he woke up in that meadow all the same and Isendra was still there watching over him.
He also still stank and was covered in bug bites despite both of their efforts to keep the meadow smoky. Of course, most of the itching, red marks could have come from the swarm of insects he'd waded through the day before.
"Your trousers, boots and socks are all ruined." She told him. "But you cannot be walking around the Blood Moors in your undergarments and bare feet, so you will have to suffer wearing them today and get new clothes this evening. Followed by a bath... in liquor and tomatoes juice. If we can find any."
He couldn't disagree with either of her suggestions, aside from the unpleasant day of walking ahead of him.
"I think I can loan you socks at least." Isendra said. "Hopefully that will assuage some of your discomfort. Breakfast is bread. Get dressed and get ready to go."
She left the clearing to give him some privacy, already laden with her pack. He found that she had folded his pants on top of his shoes and even laid out her own clean socks on top for him. He sniffed his shoed and gagged. Yeah, that was gross. As were the bottom halves of his jeans. He noticed that above the knee heigh of the jeans he hadn't really ruined the jeans and he could get away with turning them into knee-length shorts.
He picked up one of the knife she had seemingly forgotten next to where she had used it to cut the meat for the skewers last night, and used it to slice off the offending cloth. With that done he donned his new pair of shorts and socks. Then came the repulsive part. The shoes. He closed his eyes and held his breath as he put each one on. They were thankfully dry but he still shuddered at wearing the things he had just smelled.
With those tied he put on his belt, fastened his makeshift clubs into it, sheathed the knife and walked out of the meadow towards whatever craziness the day may hold.

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.
Prices:
$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for smut/fetish material or for original fiction/nonfiction, meaning anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.​

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 3:
A Wild World​

---

Izuku Midoriya exited the small patch of woods carrying the sheathed knife in front of him like a business card. seeing Isendra keeping watch over the horizon he approached her and offered it back to her, catching her attention with the motion.
"Oh no, you can keep it. You will need a means to defend yourself beyond a steel rod." She told him. "And a knife has many uses besides, all of which you shall learn in time."
He shrugged at her increasingly strange statements and pocketed the knife before standing up straight and looking at her expectantly. He was ready for the day of waking ahead of him. But instead of walking away from him and motioning for him to follow she stared at him confusedly.
"I did not see it in the dark last night nor in the shaded woods earlier, but there is a highly skilled painting of a man on your shirt." She stated.
Izuku looked down at himself and saw she was right, but was made confused by her being confused by it.
"Yeah?" He said slowly. "Its a photo print of All Might."
She hummed thoughtfully.
"And is it common where you're from to have photo prints of All Might on your fronts?" She asked.
"Oh yeah! He's the best!" Izuku gushed. "The number one hero! I want to be just like him, putting victims of villains and natural disasters at ease with a smile and a laugh and!"
She recoiled at his sudden enthusiasm but didn't seem displeased by it.
"I see. A hero? He certainly looks the part; He is quite handsome. I especially like the look of intensity around his eys." Isendra said. "Does he have one of those quirks you mentioned? Is that what it does? Put people at ease?"
Izuku shook his head vigorously.
"Nobody knows what his quirk is. But he's super strong, super fast and super tough. He can leap across entire cities in a split second and punch holes through mountains. He's never once lost a fight!" Izuku went on.
As he did so her mood seemed to brighten considerably, as did her good humor. Of course she liked all might too, just from hearing about him. Who couldn't?
"Our world could use a hero like that, would it be too much to ask for him to suffer the journey to our world too?" Isendra asked. "Or would the fates think it too kind to us to hand over a hero capable of solving all of our woes in a day?"
Izuku didn't have any idea how to answer that. Between still not believing her theory of him being a trans dimensional traveler to not knowing how bad wherever he was might be, he couldn't really comment on it all. But everybody deserved a hero like All Might.
"I'm just some kid who went missing due to a warp ability. I'm sure somebody will investigate my disappearance, but if they do and send somebody to this same spot I doubt it'll be all might. He tends to have more important things to be on about."
Isendra nodded in understanding and looked back to where the trash patch in thought.
She then put on her biggest smile and put her fists on either hip in an amateurish attempt at All Might imitation. It honestly wasn't bad, but she didn't have the face to pull off a smile that wide. Izuku, naturally, broke down in laughter at her attempt.
"Shouldn't we be going?" Izuku asked between snorts and giggles.
"Yes. We should. But first, you should turn your shirt inside out. People here are not accustomed to seeing photo prints." She instructed.
She spared him any more silliness and turned away from him. Together they began their walk to whatever place he would temporarily call home. but weirdly she took him back to the bog where all the trash sat in stagnant pools.
"We should look for anymore steel like the rods you are carrying. I was not joking when I said they would fetch a high price." Isendra instructed. "But first, where is this crazed man you said you killed?"
Izuku had completely forgotten about that until she reminded him. His mind must have been trying to forget as a coping mechanism. He hung his head low and guided Isendra to the spot where he had left the corpse and there it still lay, already decomposing in the hot, humid air.
For what must have been the eighth time in the same number of hours since they'd met, Izuku had confused Isendra. She glanced between the dead, red man and back at him several times. Lost for words.
"Child, this is a fallen. They come from the burning hells. They are not people and you are not a murderer." She said flatly.
Izuku stared at her. She stared back, still with the flat expression.
Not people? How could she even say that?! Those who can justify murder with a belief that their victims aren't even human are dangerous indeed, and in the early days of quirks there were many quirkless who did exactly that. Serial killers that targeted those with quirks for being mutants, or demons or just plain dangerous. They were obviously correct on two accounts there.
Could this kind, considerate and good-humored woman be a villain? She seemed to catch onto his distress and sitrust and distracted his mind with a question.
"Are there people where you're from who look like this?" She asked, indicating the corpse.
"Well, not exactly like this. But one of my classmates had wings just like his, and people have quirks that make them look like all manner of beasts." Izuku explained. "It's not beyond the realm of possibility for a quirk to make somebody look exactly like this man."
She nodded with another hum.
"I see you cannot get the idea out of your mind that he is a person, very well. I shall give him a funeral pyre as you scavenge. But know that in time you will come to see the new reality you are in, I hope you are able to accept it before it becomes too much to bear." Isendra said before turning to the corpse.
She then held her hands out at about a foot widths apart and hurled a great ball of fire at the dead man, incinerating it to ash in a matter of moments.
"You have a quirk?!" He demanded at the sight. "Why were you pretending not to understand all this time?"
"We really need to work on your manners." Isendra said sternly. "And on your ability to keep a respectful tone to your elders. No, I do not have a quirk. I am a sorceress. That was magic, not whatever abilities you have come to know. It is gained through studious practice and training, not accident of birth."
She then held her hand out in similar manner to before and flash froze the now charred skeleton and half the bog beyond into solid ice.
Izuku was silent after that. He had seen people capable of doing either of the things she just did, and honestly putting the feats to shame, but both at once? He could scarcely imagine somebody with a quirk capable of commanding both fire AND ice. Such a person would be ridiculously powerful even at a young age. This woman was powerful. Very powerful. And he doubted that was the most she could do with either fire or ice.
"You told me quirks are specialized, that they can only do one thing, yes?" Isendra clarified, clearly on a similar train of thought.
"Well, some can seem to do more than one thing if the thing it does can be adapted to multiple purposes." Izuku said honestly. "But you have made your point. I need to think."
"Think as you collect anything valuable. You will need to support yourself soon. And we really must be going." Isendra ordered.
Izuku did as ordered and poured out all of the trash from the already torn open bags. He lucked out with an old kitchen knife set and naturally grabbed the other two desk legs. Isendra had said how much the steel could be worth, after all. Aside from that there wasn't much in the trash. A few broken electronics ,but those were worthless everywhere.
When he returned to her she put his finds in her bag and together they began their walk away from the trash bog, hopefully for good.
And what a long walk it turned out to be. The Blood Moors were immense, and barely changing. Rock formations, bogs and small wooded areas were all that broke the monotony of the landscape. Although, occasionally they would pass a burnt down shack or cabin, but after Izuku spotted the scorched remains of human skeletons in one he stopped rubber necking at them.
Isendra hadn't been kidding when she said this country needed a hero like all might. Those people certainly had.
The only other thing interesting during the first half of their journey was what looked like a human with a porcupine and reptilian quirk. It had screeched and charged at them, claws bared.
Isendra erased it from existence with a bolt of lightning from between her hands. It had been so fast and loud that all Izuku could register was his need to hit the dirt, which he did. This seemed to impress Isendra.
"Good instincts. You may survive yet." She had told him.
Fire, ice AND lightning? He was starting to believe her claims. Not just that these creatures weren't actually people, but that she was a full-blown sorceress. It took a great deal of self control not to start asking her all manner of questions on what many other spells she could do. It seemed impertinent.
Not long after that they came across another ruined shack, this one thankfully not broken down. There, they had a small lunch of cured meats and stale bread before resting in comfortable silence. Izuku took this time to stretch, earning some odd glances from Isendra as he tried to contort his body in the ways he was taught.
They were back to their hike shortly and didn't speak for the remainder of the day.
That was, until they saw two giant gorilla's duking it out next to a wooded area in their path. Gorilla was the closest term he could use to describe them, but they looked more like the American superhero Bogfoot-Woman... if she'd made a children with a silverback gorilla.
Much like the porcupine-lizard-man from before they could be explained as being people with quirks, but the bestial roars, grunts and moans as they pummeled each-other into pulps dissuaded him of that notion. It was a short time before one actually killed the other, outright ripping its arm off from the socket. If that hadn't killed the other one it certainly put it into shock.
The victor didn't wait to check, already eating the stolen limp from where the flesh was torn.
"Are there people who look like that where you're from?" She asked pointedly.
"Well yeah." Izuku said, a little freaked out by the bestial noises. "But those aren't people."
She nodded.
"No. They are not." She confirmed.
The crowning moment of Izuku's disillusion with the idea that was still somehow on planet earth came near evening when the spotted an entire group of the red skinned people fighting one of those gargantuan beasts. Each as inhuman as the beast itself, though one carried a staff and was hurling balls of fire similar to what Isendra had earlier that day. They took a more circuitous route around some large rocky outcroppings to avoid the violence, and once they were clear Isendra continued her assault on his ideals.
"Are there entire platoons of people with the exact same quirk where you're from?" She asked.
"Well, some families do that." He said. "People with very similar quirks, like say both having the same animal quirk, will get married and start families. But that's not what those are."
Even he heard the doubt in his own voice. After those two beasts it now seemed completely plausible for those people to be wild beasts too.
He looked her dead in the eye before asking his next question.
"Actual demons from hell?" He asked.
"Actual demons from hell." She nodded.
Demons still seemed like a bit of a stretch for him to believe, but he was now at least open to the idea.
It was nearly sundown when they reached what Izuku hoped was their destination. A wide river with a stone bridge stretching across it, leading to a wooden fort of sorts. Its entire outer wall was nothing but spiked, wooden palisades. Women with bows stood guard at the entrance and every corner of the complex. Scratch that, beautiful and shockingly in-shape women stood guard at the entrance and every corner.
The bows were certainly strange, and he was now wondering what technological level the people of this world - assuming he believed that yet - were capable of. Were they Medeival?
Isendra stopped him and took her pack off. She dug inside it for a few moments and promptly retrieved a bar of soap. She haded it to him and he accepted it gratefully, as if being gifted the elixir of life by the gods themselves.
"Go. Wash yourself in the river. I will return shortly with clothes and new shoes for you, along with a hot meal. I will be taking your old shoes with me." She instructed.
Izuku gladly took the bar of soap and did away with his shoes. Even though he thought it was weird to be bathing in a river, he assumed she was going to go explain things to whoever was in charge of this fort. Hopefully they had actual bathtubs and running water, but he was starting to suspect he really wasn't in Kanses anymore and a hot shower was out of the question.
Fortunately, with it being such a warm day, he suspected the cold water wouldn't be too bad.
She took his shoes with a notable look of disgust as he disrobed into his boxers and approached the river.
"And again, I cannot stress enough." Isendra stopped him before he took the plunge, catching his full attention. "You must NOT tell anybody of your origins. If anybody asks, your caravan was eradicated but fallen and you managed to kill one as you got away. That I found you last night and brought you here. Do you understand?"
Izuku nodded hesitantly. If this was her camp then it was likely that everyone else was as crazed as her, even now he couldn't completely believe her story himself.
The cold water was a shock to his system, but he was more than willing to suffer it after the day of hiking while sweating trash water. He dunked himself into the water completely and repeatedly, then came the soap. He must have lathered and rinsed four whole times before he was done, not getting out of the water until he was well and truly shivering. Even then, he wasn't finished.
Sitting on the bed of the river he lathered, scrubbed and rinsed his feet and calves more times than he had the rest of his body. His toes were numb by the time he was satisfied and laying on the grass for the last of the sunlight to dry him off and warm him up.
He was almost dozing off by the time the sun was over the horizon and lighting the sky those pretty reds and oranges when Isendra returned. She actually startled him by dropping a pair of red boots and a bag just like hers beside his head.
"They are not much, and certainly are not armor. But they are yours." She told him as she sat on the railing of the stone bridge. "Kashya has also agreed to let you stay with them and will put you to work tomorrow. You are to sleep in the stables for tonight and tomorrow you will be interrogated given a tent. I told them your story, the one I made up. Stick to it."
Izuku nodded as he rifled through his bag full of clean clothes. He wasted no time in donning one of the four pairs of pants and a matching shirt. The wool socks felt like heaven over his numb toes, and the red boots fit snugly.
"Wait, you mean those stables?" Izuku asked, pointing to the thatched roof building that stood outside of the encampment.
"Indeed." Isendra said.
"Is that safe?" He asked.
"So long as we rotate and keep watch, yes." Isendra told him. "And seeing as I kept watch over you all last night, I think you should take first watch. Wake me if anything dangerous comes to harass us. Or at midnight, whichever comes first."

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron or FF profile. UserID: 10036896
Prices:
$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for smut/fetish material or
$25 per page(250-300 words) for original fiction/nonfiction or anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check his profile.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 4:
The First of Many Terrors
​

---

Izuku's first two months in Sanctuary went by faster than any previous two in his life. This was mostly because he barely had even a single moment of downtime during it all outside of sleeping, bathing and meals.
His first week was spent under the specific tutelage of Captain Kashya, an intense red-haired woman. She insisted that any child who passes through the sisterhood's care must know how to use a knife and a bow. Izuku's insistence that he was, in fact, not a girl did nothing to deter her. And so she drilled him on basic archery. From dawn till dusk if he wasn't practicing his aim on straw targets he was cleaning and repairing the bows of every rogue in the encampment or drilling strikes with the knife Isendra had gifted him.
"You will make yourself useful or you shall not eat." She had said sternly and repeatedly. "I don't expect you to be physically capable of defending yourself anytime soon, but by Philios you will be mentally able to do so. Until then you will find uses for yourself outside of combat."
Izuku both wanted to make himself useful and wanted to eat, so he was rather pleased with this turn of events. But he got the distinct impression that Kashya was deeply depressed and anxious. Life in the encampment wasn't keeping her as busy as her usual duties would. The boredom and anticipation of being cooped up in the Rogue Encampment instead of their recently invaded Keep must have been killing her, why else would she both train a boy like him in basic archery and knife fighting?
When somebody finally told him the story of how the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye lost their home he realized depressed and anxious were not sufficient words to describe how she must be feeling and warmed up even more to her strict and arguably harsh treatment of him. He realized she was trying to do to herself what they all were successfully doing to him, keeping too busy to think or feel. And boy did they keep him busy.
Kashya had pawned him off onto the Caravan leader, Warriv, who tried to teach him the subtle art of wagon repair and wheel making. After his twenty fifth catastrophic, and possibly expensive, failure in that he pawned Izuku off onto the blacksmith Charsi.
She was one muscular but had an absolutely adorable voice that juxtaposed her scarred and soot-covered appearance at all. She worked him hard, at his insistence, but was sweet about it. And from that day on every bone in his body hurt from the labor, which made him happy.
From then on, splitting wood for arrows and cutting feathers for fletching made up most of his mornings, while making charcoal in a closed burner and cleaning out the forge and smithing equipment made up his evenings.
The weirdest part of living in the rogue encampment was the communal baths in the river. Everyone bathed every day on a cycle. Night watch folk bathed in the mornings while everyone else kept guard, day workers bathed in the evening while the night watch guarded them. Nobody seemed nonplussed by this and not even the normally lecherous, or at least perverted-humour blessed, Gheed acted inappropriately during said baths. Possibly because the water was so cold, possibly because they were all kept so exhausted from their long days of work, or possibly because washing time was considered sacred even to him.
Izuku earned a reputation as an unusually shy boy due to his tendency to bathe a bit further down the river from anybody else while avoiding the conversation and neither wanting to be looked at nor wanting to see the many nude women around him. For some reason they thought he was odd for this and after a while the priestess Akara invited him into her tent.
"Was anything done to you prior to you arriving at this caravan I should know about?" Akara asked him pointedly.
"Um... What?" Izuku asked, not understanding her meaning.
She stared at him in consideration, before taking a deep breath to speak again.
"The sisterhood targets a certain type of young woman for recruiting. Those whom, as girls as young as you or younger, were forced into doing things that only grown women should do and in a loving marriage. Worse are those who were harmed by other women, whose twistedness is far worse than the men who prey upon young girls and make use of sharp implements or worse to harm children." Akara explained. "Has anything like that happened to you?"
Izuku stared at her with the blankest expression he could manage.
"Ma'am, if you're asking me if I was ever sold into prostitution or raped, the answer is no." He told her flatly. "Nor have I ever been sodomized with a knife."
The shock on her face from an eleven-year-old even knowing several of those words, let alone using them, would have been hilarious if the situation wasn't so serious.
"And I'm confused as to why you might think I had been?" Izuku prompted.
Akara shook herself calm before answering.
"Your behavior while bathing inspired many of the inhabitants of the camp to come to me with this concern. They recognized your distaste for the nakedness of others and uncomfortableness with your own body as behavior they themselves showed for a long time. One of my duties as a spiritual leader is to talk members of our order through these traumas and heal from them. As such, I am the one such concerns are always brought to." Akara explained.
"Oh. Well, everyone where I come from is cagey about nudity. The only people who should see you like that are your spouse and maybe children or siblings, but only while they're very young." Izuku explained. "Communal bathing hasn't been acceptable in a long while. At least not with both sexes."
Akara had accepted this and dismissed him, letting him go with a polite request not to share any of his revelations about the Sisterhood and its' members with anybody else, which was a promise Izuku was more than willing to make.
About a month into his stay there his body had adapted to the work and he no longer went to sleep nor woke up aching. This turned out to be a disaster for him, as it meant his mind was now allowed to wander and he once against started feeling that burning sensation he had on that first night in the meadow. He hadn't felt it the following night when he had walked an entire day through the Blood Moors with Akara, his feet, legs and back were all too sore. But now that he wasn't distracted from it by the aches and pains of labor? It was back with a vengeance.
From that day forward he pleaded almost weekly for additional tasks to do around camp. He went from splitting wood for arrow shafts to chopping wood with an ax. The soreness to new muscle groups from doing that kept his mind off of the burning under his skin and thoughts of home. Carrying larger and larger loads across camp helped when that stopped.
All the while during his stay he kept up with a morning routine of archery and knife drills, which earned him a few appreciative nods or looks from the rogues, including from captain Kashya. He didn't know why; it was just another chore like any other. It was honestly one of the easiest and most automatic of them, aside from bathing and eating.
It was near the end of his second month there that his peaceful life came to an end.
Izuku had been eating lunch at the time. It was some kind of mystery meat that he suspected belonged to one of the felled guerrilla creatures as it didn't taste like what he expected lizard-porcupine meat to taste like. Whatever it was, it was tough and gamey, but good.
"Let them in! Quickly!" He heard Kashya yell to the guards at the gate, who quickly opened it.
Everyone around him stopped what they were doing and moved towards the noise to see what was happening. Izuku finished off the last of his lunch before doing the same. He knew this could either be something great, like a good catch from the last hunt, or something really bad. It turned out to be something really bad.
A quartet of scouts, bloodied and bruised with three dead being dragged behind them, were rushed to Akara's outdoor facilities for treatment. They talked the whole while.
"What happened?" Kashya demanded as she tried to bat away the small crowd forming around the injured.
"A cave." The head scout of her group said. "Filled with undead abominations and fallen, more than I've ever seen since the Keep fell. Worst of all, its only a few kilometers to the east, barely beyond the line of sight from atop the gate. I don't know how we missed it before!"
And so began the chatter.
"Is that where all the zombies and fallen are coming from?" Said one person.
"That or they may be amazing there for an attack on our encampment." Said another.
But Izuku paid no mind to the rank speculation. His focus was on Isendra, who was standing off just outside of the small crowd deep in thought, with an expression he recognized. An expression he had seen on heroes faces before jumping into action. The face of a hero planning their course of action. And now he was sure he had the same look on his face.

---

Izuku snuck out of the Rogue encampment through a gap in the fencing barely big enough for him just after dark that night. He hid beside a tree just to the east and waited. He didn't have to wait long, as the moon was barely risen when he heard the familiar footsteps go past him.
"Take me with you." Izuku demanded as soon as she walked past.
Her startled scream of shock and following tumble to the ground almost made him burst out in laughter himself. He hoped they were far enough away from the encampment not to make every nightwatchwoman knock an arrow and turn their bows in their direction.
"If I could cast magic as quickly as the sisters can fire an arrow you would be dead, young Midoriya." Isendra said as she picked herself up with a hand on her chest.
Slower to cast than it is to shoot an arrow. File that away for later.
"Now, why do you wish to go to the Den of Evil with me?" Isendra asked.
Den of Evil? Kind of a tacky name, but if that's what the encampment had decided on then so be it.
"Every hero needs a sidekick, and if I am to be a hero someday I need to follow in the footsteps of another. You're the one I got." Izuku explained. "And I owe you all the help I can give, after all you've done for me. Ditto for the encampment."
"And how do you suppose you will be able to help me in a cave full of demons and undead?" Isendra asked.
"Pack mule." Izuku said simply.
"Pack mule?" Isendra asked.
"Pack mule." Izuku confirmed. "Give me your pack, you focus on fighting without being weighed down by the bulky thing. Let me worry about collecting any treasures we find as I watch your back."
Isendra removed her large pack and handed it to him, surprising Izuku with how light and nearly empty it was.
"Very well. Hurry along, I wish to be done by morning." Isendra told him.
"Really, that's it?" Izuku asked, suspicious.
"You will need to become strong and hardened, and you will need to do so quickly. Your months working for the encampment and blacksmith in particular has already given you most of the physical benefits they ever will, or at least until you begin growing into manhood, and now you must at least witness battle." Isendra said. "But I have conditions.
"Name them!" Izuku said excitedly, unable to stop his giddy shaking and All-Mightish grin.
She listed off her demands one by one, raising a finger with each.
"One: You stay behind me, fist clenching my belt. Checking corners and warning me of oncoming danger from my back." She instructed.
Izuku nodded.
"Two: You do what I say, when I say, no matter how terrible the order. If I instruct you to leave me behind and flee the cave, you do so. If I tell you to kill me and then yourself, you do so. You do not question me. You do not disobey. Are we clear?" she asked.
That one was tougher for him. A couple months ago he could scarcely imagine such scenarios, but now he could and he didn't like it, but he nodded all the same.
"Third: You collect anything useful you see. Scavenge the dead as I slay them. Weapons, armor, jewelry, everything. Can you do that? Or do your sensibilities still prevent you." She asked.
Izuku shrugged. Again, looting the corpses of the killed would have given him pause, but these really weren't people. Whatever they would find there needed to be killed, and the people in the encampment needed supplies. Izuku and Isendra needed supplies too.
"I accept your terms and conditions." Izuku told her cheekily, knowing she wouldn't understand the reference.
She nodded at him once and turned to continue her trek east. Izuku followed her.
"By the way, how did you sneak out?" Izuku asked.
"I didn't. I walked out through the front gate. That was always allowed."

---

The moon was high in the sky by the time they reached the cave entrance. Izuku could see how the scouts managed to miss it. It was a tiny rock outcropping huddled in a large expanse of white boulders and felled trees. If he hadn't been looking for it, he might have missed it himself.
Painted with crude depictions of a demon skull and a green, horned beasts spitting a great ball of lightning at would-be heroes.
He spotted a corpse just outside of the cave, near the mouth, as if of a man killed as he tried to flee from the horrors within. Izuku looked up at Isendra questioningly. She nodded at the skeletal remains and Izuku bore down on it with thieving hands. He found not so much as a crumb among the tattered clothes and rusted through chain mail. All he'd achieved in the exercise was proving to Isendra that he was capable and willing to pat down the dead for belongings.
"Come, quietly. Remember my terms." Isendra whispered as she creeped past him into the cave.
Izuku reached out to grasp her by the belt as she had instructed earlier and together, they entered the hole in the earth.
The cave was all teeth. Stalactites and stalagmites as far as the eye could see, which wasn't far in this darkness, even with the glow of Isendra's staff and the magic gems in the jewelry she wore. Isendra walked tentatively forward, hunched over in respect to the low ceiling. They didn't have to get far before encountering the first of many creatures calling the cave home, and if Izuku had thought the fallen capable of higher thought he would have deemed it intelligent to plant to of the gargantuan beasts to guard the entrance.
As he had seen her do months before, she clapped her hands together and sprayed the two gorilla-creatures with a whirlwind of ice, coating them in a thick layer of mist. They struggled against their new, cold armor and tried their hardest to advance towards Izuku and Isendra, but the latter kept her hands near each other the whole time and followed up her icy gale with two bolts of blame that shattered the two beasts like fine glass.
It was as the last of their frozen solid pieces fell to the stone floor he heard it. The cave came alive with the sound of scurrying feet and claws on stone, from every direction their panicked and enraged sounds echoed.
"We must move more quickly now." Isendra told him.
She advanced further without waiting for a reply and he followed closely. They ducked beneath a layer of low hanging stalactites and the cave opened into a massive chamber filled with fallen. At least several dozen of the red imps welcomed their arrival with snarls and gnashing of teeth. These ones were armed with clubs, short swords and bucklers.
His ranking of their intelligence just increased from monkey to neanderthal.
"Grasp me by the waist, make certain to make as much skin on skin contact with me as you can." Isendra instructed.
Izuku blushed at the phrasing but did as he was told. Wrapping both arms around her midriff and pressing his cheek against her bare back. He felt every hair on his body stand on end as a tingling sensation filled the air, and the room was filled with lightning. Small arcs washed over him harmlessly and onto the ground where they grew into wide rings nearly as large as he was. They passed along the ground and bared down on the fallen far less harmlessly than they had him.
He both heard and smelled them being fried alive like raw meat in the microwave. Both the popping sounds of the liquids in their body, and their screams. Neither disturbed him all that much. They didn't suffer long, sadly, and fell to the ground dead in a parade of thumps.
Izuku let go of the woman as soon as he felt it was safe to do so, uncomfortable with such intimate contact.
Before he could even survey the scene around them properly he saw a deep red light envelop one of the dead bodies only for it to rise again. Right, they had mentioned undead things here hadn't they?
"Shaman!" Isendra called out.
She ran forward looking for whatever this shaman was and Izuku ran after her. When they both spotted it Izuku found the name shaman very appropriate. It was another fallen with a Wooden staff decorated with bones. It certainly looked like a shaman to him. And apparently Izuku looked like a more important target than Isendra to it as it threw a fireball of its own at him.
"Get down!" Isendra commanded and Izuku obeyed.
He dived out of the way, keeping enough situational awareness to keep his eyes on Isendra and the shaman. She amazed him with her prowess yet again when she reached out, with her bare hand, and caught the firebolt. It exploded in her hand and consumed her entire arm just past her elbow. He could see the flesh beneath vaporizing from the heat leaving a black husk where her arm and hand had been before and cried out in empathetic pain.
She somehow ignored this pain entirely and returned fire, literally, with another firebolt of her own that did to the shaman what the shaman had done to her arm. She repeated this action with the recently resurrected but now slower and dumber, fallen and felt himself breath a sigh of relief when the battle ended.
Izuku stared at her in mounting horror as she took deep, calming breaths against the pain she must have been in.
"Open my pack, and pass me a red vial from the side pocket on your left." She ordered, eyes closed in concentration.
Izuku scrambled to fulfill her order, taking the pack off and rummaging through the two large side cavities of it. The first one he opened held blue vials, so those couldn't be it. Thankfully the process of elimination left him with one cavity to search and inside of there he found what he was looking for. He removed the cork and handed it to the woman.
"Thank you young one. Now, go pick the bodies clean." She instructed before pouring the red liquid on her ruined arm and hand.
She then drank the remaining contents of the bottle, and its magic was plain for him to see. He saw the muscles, tendons and fat of her ruined limb rehydrate and return to the natural red and white it was supposed to. Skin knitted itself over the new flesh soon after that but it was a slow process.
"Young Midoriya?" Isendra prompted. "I believe I gave you an order?"
With that, she brought him back to reality and reminded him of his duties. He got to work.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.
Prices:
$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for smut/fetish material or for original fiction/nonfiction, meaning anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 5:
Corpsefire
​

---

​

Izuku stopped staring long enough to wade through the electrocuted bodies and sift through the belongings of the dead.

Most of the swords and shields were word out by rust and general lack of care. The same was true of the leather armor they were, not that he particularly wanted to wear the clothes of these sulfuric-smelling creatures. He did find one such fallen with a complete set of leather clothes a few sizes too large for him who seemed to have actually taken pride in his things. It still smelled like rotten eggs, but the leather cap, gloves and shirt were remarkably well maintained. That or they were only recently pillaged from the Fallen's victims.

Noting the milder odor of rotten eggs coming from them, Izuku assumed the latter.

Aside from that all Izuku found amongst the dead that was of value came from their coin purses.

"Why do they carry money?" He asked as he pilfered through the gold coins.
"Greed and the love of precious metals and gems is a sin, and they love all sins. They need not eat to survive or fornicate to reproduce, yet they devour and rape all the same. Such is that nature of demons." Isendra had told him.

Izuku, despite his experience in regretting such statements from the woman, doubted that explanation. Maybe it was merely his sensibilities preventing him from truly regarding these beings as gibbering beasts, but the love of money seemed to indicate at least some form of sentience, as if the use of weapons alone didn't do that. More that merely being a bird-like obsession with all things shiny or expression of abstract evil in their being, were they capable of bartering and trading, at least with one another? If he could find some kind of ring of invisibility - preferably sans the ancient dark lord soul and volcano - he would love nothing more than to sneak into a fallen hideout like this and watch their behavior like a zoologist watching apes.

"Let us continue on our way. And be more cautious." Isendra commanded.

Izuku hurried to stuff all of his finds into the large sack and rushed back to her side.

He returned to his position of holding her by her belt as they continued deeper into the cave. The rest of their adventure was not worthy of the word. Isendra seemingly waved the little red demons out of existence one by one with those majestic fireballs of hers, only switching to ice when another gargantuan beast reared its ugly head or the wide area lightning spell when they entered a room with just a few too many of the bastards. It almost seemed like a regular nine to five for her, almost boring. Routine and tedium.

The first time they came across an honest to god zombie stalking towards them Izuku nearly panicked, even forgetting to keep hold of Isendra's belt and temporarily falling behind her as she advanced on it in return. It too was obliterated into pieces by a firebolt, and she seemed to be oblivious to his disappearance from her senses until he caught back up. When he did she turned to stare at him questioningly, but he merely shook his head and motioned towards a steep step they had walked over just a moment before.

His insinuated excuse that he had merely tripped satisfied her and they continued on their way. He didn't bother trying to search that first zombie for anything of value, her obliterating it made such a search rather pointless.

Nothing else in the cave gave her any difficulty whatsoever, and Izuku knew then that her taking him along was charity and that his service as a pack mule was barely even a time saver for her.

Strangely enough, the shambling zombies had better cared-for equipment than the fallen. This was mostly because their short swords and daggers were still strapped to their beltline and unmolested. They clearly lacked what little sentience the fallen had that was required to wield a weapon. Even when they were obliterated by a firebolt their weapons and coin purses were still usually in tact, and when they weren't Isendra would wait patiently and down another one of those red vials or else the ones with blue liquid while he did his job in scrounging up the gold coins, one by one.

He was starting to feel like a petty pickpocket with all the leather bags of coins he was collecting. The worst was when he picked up a severed hand of one of the shambling corpses with a rather nice ring on it. Isendra "oohed" over it and he knew it was too valuable to leave behind, so he bit his tongue and pried it off. This was all exactly what he signed up for, so he didn't complain.

"I think we've been here before." Izuku commented when he saw a particularly penis-shaped stalagmite he recognized from before.

Most people would probably just describe it as mushroom shaped and call it a day. But nope, that was definitely a penis. It even had that little indent at the middle and everything.

"You are correct, and yet this place is not yet cleansed. We must have missed a side chamber or else a fallen cowering in a nook we hadn't quite spotted." Isendra noted as the wall behind her shifted to a blue glow. "We may yet have to scour every cranny. It will be slow work, and very time consuming. But we must not let a single one..."

"GET DOWN!" Izuku yelled as a glowing blue creature phased through the wall behind her.

She ducked just in time to avoid her head being taken off by two clawed hands of yet another zombie, btu a very different one to what they had seen before.
Isendra rolled away from the assailant to his side and assumed her attack position. The firebolt flew from her hands almost before they came together and this time, unliked all the other times she had thrown one, it erupted into a maelstrom around the glowing blue zombie. Said maelstrom of flames then parted like the read sea as the fiery undead ripped the spell apart with his bare hands and continued advancing on them.

"Get back Izuku!" Isendra ordered.

He obeyed, backing away to exactly the kind of nook they had discussed a fallen hiding in just moments earlier.

The blue zombie, which he was almost willing to call radioactive in appearance, focused its entire attention on Isendra as she backed away from it. Er slow backwards walk, as they had both done with previous zombies in that damned cave, almost got her killed as this one was a bit faster than the ones they had encountered so far. It was still exceptionally slow, being a tortious to the snails that were the other undead, but the speed difference was enough to catch Isendra flat-footed as she stumbled backwards away from the creature.
When it swiped with two flaming hands, flames that Izuku could tell it was producing as opposed to suffering from, she had already fallen out of its range and did yet another roll away.

The gale of ice she threw back at the fiery abomination was the largest he had seen from her to date, and coated not only it but every stalactite above in solid ice. As was her style she followed the gale with yet another firebolt, this one aimed at the ceiling. The hail of ice-covered blades of stone pelted the fiery corpse like rain of giant arrows and yet Isendra stilled backed away further as if expecting the onslaught to be insufficient. She was correct.

As it had with the cave wall before it simply phased through the mound of stone and ice it found itself in, though it had clearly been injured by Isendra's quick thinking based on the thick, puss-filled wounds from its shoulders and abdomen. Isendra tried for another firebolt and this time it worked, exploding against the creatures chest like it had with the many other zombies and cauterized its wounds. Not that it could bleed to death, of course.

After the fireball hit the being one again erupted in flames of its' own and Izuku realized what its quirk, erm, magical ability was. Elemental adaptation of some kind along with some kind of spectral ability. Powerful, but easily exploited and Isendra was smart enough to do exactly that, alternating between a weak fireball and ice gale as soon as the undead changed.

Then it just completely nuked their preconceptions by lunging at her with both claws while arcing lightning off of its body.

Okay, so it's elemental adaptation was random? Or else controlled, but being undead Izuku doubted it could consciously decide what element it attacked with, else it wouldn't have banged its head against the first and ice wall for so long and allowed Isendra to wipe the floor with it for so long.
The lunge itself missed, but the long arcs of lightning got her and sent her to the ground twitching as her body was racked with the seizure-like effects of being electrocuted. She didn't even scream as she fell, but he knew all the same that she was still conscious and alive.
Izuku felt panic rise up in his chest as the electric blue zombie bared down on the now disabled Isendra, and that panic drove him to drop the pack and dump its contents onto the ground. He pushed aside the newly acquired sabers and daggers, opting instead for the bow Kashya had trained him with and the pitifully small arrows he had spent so many hours practicing with.

She had said they were meek and only useful for practice. She had said that they, and by extension he, would not be strong enough to kill. But he notched arrow and aimed all the same. He focused on what Kashya had taught him. He took a deep breath and slowly released it, waiting for his body to steady and be still by the exhale before releasing.

His shot landed right at the base of the zombie's skull, or top of its' neck if you prefer, and pierced right through it leaving nothing but the fletching visible to Izuku. The blow stopped the shambling corpse ion its track and for a single second Izuku thought he might have taken it down as it swayed in place.

Then it turned around and looked directly at him, foregoing the usual human movement of searching for him with its eyes.

Oh...

Oh, shit!

Izuku only then realized that he was crouched in a nook, in a cave, at a back wall with no exit save for the one behind the undead abomination now bearing down on him. He was as good as dead. So he did what any cornered animal would do. He lashed out.

The small quiver he had brought with him was quickly emptied into the glowing monstrosities neck, each arrow lodging in the jugular or Adam's apple. All ten of his arrows jutted out from his throat almost comically, and yet it continued its' slow advance towards him. Izuku couldn't fathom how its brain was still sending commands to the rest of its body when its spine was clearly severed from the base of its skull, and yet his brain still tried to fathom it all the same thus losing him precious seconds he didn't have.

Throwing the bow aside he picked up one of the short swords he'd recently acquired at held it at length pathetically. He had no training with the weapon, and the best he expected to do was swing it like the wood-chopping axe he had become adept at, for what little good that would do. And yet, he set his mind to do exactly that.

"AAAAAAHH!" He screamed in what he hoped was an intimidating war cry and charged.

Fire erupted from behind the creature as a firebolt struck it square in the back, bringing it to its knees. Izuku charged on anyways and brough the short sword upon its neck with all the force his newly hardened body could muster and removed it from the creature's shoulders, the near dozen arrows already having severed most of the bone and connective tissue keeping it there.

Izuku knew the creature had died from the fireball, both in the back of his mind and in the forefront, and yet the triumphant whoop escaping his throat as the foe slumped to its side and ceased movement felt deserved all the same.
The adrenalin rushing through his body was making him shake like a hypothermia victim and no amount of deep breathing could stop it. It was so wholly different of a physical and emotional reaction to the fallen he had killed months go that it scared him, and yet that fear didn't alleviate the raw energetic excitement flowing through him. He could run a marathon and kickbox a bear in that very moment and not even feel winded from it.

"It's okay Izuku. Take as long as you need." He heard Isendra say from near him, but he didn't look at her.

He instead focused on his breathing and lowered himself to the ground. On his hands and knees he tried to regain control of his body and mind. breath in. Breath out. do it again. And again. He didn't know how long he stayed like that but when he was finally calmed he looked up to see Isendra examining an entire bandolier of potion vials she had taken off of the fallen undead, opening and sniffing them like perfumes.

So she'd already had enough time to strip the glowing one of valuables without him. Some pack mule he turned out to be.

"I think I'm fine." He told her as he stood up on shaky legs.

"No, you are not. But you will be in time. Either way, you did an excellent job this evening." Isendra said consolingly as she put the bandolier down. "This place is cleansed. Let us patch ourselves up, pack our misbegotten prizes and be on our way. Pass me a mana and healing potion, would you?"

Izuku let out another deep breath and turned to the pile of crap he had poured onto the ground minutes earlier. Thankfully he had been somewhat organized in his looting and kept the potion vials in the side pockets while throwing everything else in the main cavity so he hadn't trashed any of them on the ground in his earlier panic. Digging into said side cavities he found one of both red and blue vials and walked them over to her.

"Thank you. Take all of this back to the pack and get everything back in. Maybe drink a little mana potion as well." She instructed. "Coming down from a fight or flight can leave anybody exhausted, and mana potions serve as a good stamina boost. Or so married couples have told me."

Izuku suspected that last bit was a joke, but it went right over his head and he knew it was in poor manners to ruin a joke by asking for an explanation, so he let it go. Either way he took the bandolier and shuffled back over to the pack. Stuffing all of the blades, leather clothing and bags of coins took much less time than he expected and a few minutes later he rested against the bag with one of the blue vials in hand. As soon as he did so he all of a sudden felt like he had gone through with that marathon run and fist fight with a bear and the exhaustion hit him all at once.

Isendra was laying against a rock wall with her eyes closed doing some controlled breathing exercise or another.

If this was how he was feeling after that one fight he could only imagine how she felt after bulldozing the entire cave of demons and zombies by herself. And they still had a few hours walking to get back to the encampment before they could sleep. It would be sleep well earned.

Removing the cork from the small blue bottle he pinched his nose before taking a long sip from it. He was surprised to find it didn't taste awful. He wouldn't call it pleasant either, just strange. It almost tasted like the blue Crocoade electrolyte drink if it were watered down and had the tingly sensation of mint. He liked it.

The full body burning sensation that followed, on the other hand, he did not like. The same burning sensation he had felt since that first night in the meadow returned with a vengeance and his bones were suddenly made of molten lead surround by red hoy coals for flesh.

He screamed and thrashed and the stone ground as the burning sensation overtook all sensation and thought from he body. He both heard and felt Isendra's conern and closeness but couldn't make sense of her words or touch before blackness overtook him.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.
Prices:
$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for smut/fetish material or for original fiction/nonfiction, meaning anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 6:
Apprenticeships
​

---

Izuku awoke to glorious rays of morning light piercing the toothy ceiling like blades and illuminated the cave around him. Isendra was there watching over him and noticed his reawakening.

"You had a poor reaction to the mana potion." She told him helpfully.

Izuku remembered the poor reaction clearly enough that he merely nodded in agreement. Who ever heard of an energy drink that knocks you unconscious?

"So much for saving you time." Izuku moaned as he sat up.

The burning pain wasn't as severe as it had been the evening before, and it certainly wasn't all consuming like it had been after drinking the blue vial.

"I would argue that it was mostly my fault. It is a lesson learned for the future, to assume your origins make nothing a normal affair." Isendra said. "Besides, I left your work for you. I believe you have some pillaging to do."

Izuku looked and, sure enough, his pack sat where he had left it and the bodies remained unpilfered. He got to work on the formerly glowing undead.

He found another gold ring on the corpse, which he added to the large sack of gold in his pack. It was starting to get heavy so he hoped they didn't find any gold ingots there too. More interestingly was the hilt of a sword extruding from his trapezoid like somebody had buried a sword into him at the spot. Turns out, somebody had and with a mighty heave he retrieved the sword from the body.

The very tip of the short sword had broken off on some bone or other and he looked to Isendra to see if she wanted him to keep it. It was rather clean and well-maintained otherwise. It even seemed to glow just a little bit.

"Let me have a look at that." She instructed, reaching out a hand.

Izuku handed her the short sword and she examined it carefully. Her eyes focused on the edge of the blade and broken tip in particular, as if she were deciphering the faint glow around the object itself. She eventually sighed in disappointment.

"It is ensorcelled." She told him. "Enchanted to repair itself over time. It's a good find, but not life changing. We shall sell it to Gheed."

She handed it back to him and he put it in the bag, after wrapping it in the leather shirt they had found, of course.
"Don't forget the wands." She told him.

"Wands?" Izuku asked.

She pointed out two sticks embedded into the undead's stomach. Izuku removed them to find the sticks were thicker at one end and tapered to a point. Crude handles were carved into the larger sides. So these were ensorcelled too? And like the sword looked to have been put there deliberately, almost surgically, instead of in self-defense from the zombie's victims.

"Why are there items inside of the undead?" Izuku asked.

"Because that is part of the process of creating an undead for the lazy or untalented." She told him. "A dead body is a thing, not a person. A cheap way to enchant an object is to implant it with another enchanted object. So, necromancers who are not strong enough to raise the dead by their own power will embed enchanted items into corpses to fuel the reanimation spell. As we saw here, it can sometimes have unexpected effects."

"So, the sticks are magic as well?" He asked.

"Yes. I am sure Akara can tell us in what way they are magical when we return. Are you certain you can carry all of this back?" She asked, concernedly.

"I am the pack mule. It is my job, so I have to be able to do so." Izuku said with a shrug.

It turned out not to be too much for him. The last few months of continuous hard labor had paid off, and the several hour trip back to the Rogue Encampment was a breeze. They made the trip in comfortable silence, enjoying the morning sun and a cool breeze that chose to come through the moors.

The wooden walls had just appeared above the horizon when Isendra finally broke the comfortable silence.

"You are very sensitive to magic." She said without prompting.

"I am?" He asked.

"Indeed. You passed out from drinking a mana potion." She told him, before elaborating at his confused look. "A mana potion restores a person's mana, the fuel by which spells are powered. The only reason it would make you pass out is if it caused an overflow of mana within you. Tell me, what did you feel?"

"Burning." Izuku said honestly. "It was like the burning sensation I've been feeling since the first night."

Isendra raised an eyebrow at him.

"You have felt magic in your body since first arriving in the Blood moor?" She asked. "Yet more proof that your fanciful tale is true. If magic does not exist where you come from, it would make sense for you to be sensitive to it. Like somebody raised in the Frozen Seas, never knowing anything but cold being warped to the Dry Steppes in the middle of summer."
Izuku translated the names of the new places as "Antarctica" and "Sahara" respectively.

"Tell me, what do you believe you should be paid for your work with me over the evening." She asked. "And do not worry about your passing out. As I said, it was my fault."

Izuku had to really think on that one. In terms of actual work he had done he felt like he deserved more money than less, but in terms of what value he actually brought to the mission he realized he deserved very little. If anything, he had slowed her down but saved her the discomfort of searching the bodies and carrying the spoils back.

"Five percent?" Izuku concluded after putting what felt like the right amount of time into considering the question.

"You have good business sense and a fair evaluation of your worth." Isendra told him. "You will receive your five percent and, because I am generous, the leather armor will be yours. I realize it's just a bit too large for you, but you will be growing by quite a bit over the next few years. By the time you have the funds to get proper armor you may even be too big for the set."

Izuku nodded gratefully, but internally did not like the idea of wearing said armor. It smelled of the Fallen, like rotten eggs, and he was squeamish about wearing the clothes of a dead man, even if he didn't know who it was that the fallen had killed for it. Like many other of his squeamish tendencies, he would have to get over it.

"They've returned unharmed!" An archer at the bridge yelled to the crowd already gathered at the other side.

Obviously, they had spotted them coming ahead of time.

"Out of my way." They heard Kashya's voice cut through the small crowd.

The crowd parted at her words and she marched through and over the bridge to confront Isendra.

"Well?" Kashya demanded.

"The Den of Evil has been purged completely." Isendra confirmed with a bow. "And young Midoriya is now a warrior in the making."

Kashya made an ugly face.

"I don't care if you risk your own life, but by what right did you have to risk his life?" Kashya demanded, pointing to Izuku. "He is just a boy!"

"What right? I would say the right of his life debt to me. His life is mine to do with what I please." Isendra said almost heartlessly. "And he shall be a man very soon."

Um, how soon was very soon? He hadn't thought to ask but a society of people in a medieval or maybe even pre-roman standard of civilization might have a frighteningly low age of consent. Were they expecting him to marry and provide for one of the rogue ladies in the camp at twelve years old? The youngest of them was over twice his age!

"She didn't actually force me to go with her, she's just being confrontational." Izuku finally opted to step in with a bored voice. "Probably because she just did a great service to your community and instead of thanking her you try to confront her about not refusing me when I bulldozed my way into her mission and demanded she take me along."

He had to wonder at the emotional maturity of the people on this world, seeing as he felt suddenly empathetic with his bored middle school teacher when the students were being particularly rowdy.

Kashya and Isendra, both turned slightly red in the face at his dressing down, opened their mouths to attack him verbally instead of each other, and were promptly silenced by uproarious laughter. Izuku recognized the booming voice as Warriv's and turned in time to see him stumbling towards them.

"The stones on the young lad! Just completely calling out your posturing like that. I need to play cards with you sometime kid." Warriv managed to get out between two long fits of laughter. "Come on kid, you need a bath, a meal and a rest. I'll get the metal tub so we can make it nice and hot for ya."

Warriv pushed past Kashya and clasped Izuku by the shoulders to drag him inside the Encampment. Leaving Isendra and Kashya to glare at each other.

That morning Izuku discovered that the encampment did, in fact, have the means to provide a hot bath. He was practically boiled alive in the metal tub Warriv retrieved from one of the wagons at the perimeter. He simply placed it on top of a few logs next to the river before filling it up bucket by bucket, then merely lit the logs. Low tech though it may have been, the experience was divine after months of washing in the ice-cold river.

He was allowed a quick nap after that and when he woke up he was confronted by Gheed mid-piss.

"The council of angry women will see you now, kid." The merchant told him, pointing in the general direction of the fire pit.

Izuku finished up then made the short trip to where he suspected this mysterious council would be waiting for him. Sure enough, sitting around the unlit fire pit were Isenda, Kashya and Akara.

"We have drafted a contract of apprenticeship." Isendra told him. "That you are to be my apprentice. That in exchange for your services as my pack mule, along with all other duties I will expect from you as a companion on dangerous missions, I will train you as best I can."

Kashya held out said contract for him to see it and he motioned for her to hand it to him. She did so and he read it. It turned out to be exactly what he expected. This was a contract of indentured servitude, exactly the form of apprenticeship everybody from masons to surgeons took up in the past. It flat out said he was to serve her in any way she ordered him for the next six years. He was not entitled to any pay, though this was Isendra so he knew she was generous anyways, but he was entitled to any and all training she could provide.

His father had warned him about job contracts with the "any additional tasks as required", that if you do contract work you clearly specify your duties and upon being asked for more you charged more. But Izuku wasn't in Twenty First century Japan anymore. Hell, he was pretty sure outright slavery was both legal and well-regarded on this new planet, so he was pretty sure this was a great deal for his current situation.

"I would like an additional clause." Izuku said, looking pointedly at Isendra. "That the contract lasts for six years, or until you find a way to get me back home safely. Whichever comes first."

Isendra gave him a smiling look of understanding and nodded in complete agreement.

"I can amend the contract to match this change." She informed him. "But you do understand the terms of the contract? You belong to her and serve her. In exchange she teaches you everything, though she can outsource your teaching to others as needed. You protect each-other with your lives."

"Yup. I caught onto all of that, and it's more than fair. Because Isendra is more than fair and I trust her." He said with a shrug.

Isendra didn't show any reaction to his words other than by sitting up straighter. She wasn't the type to smirk, but Izuku could tell she wanted to then.

"Are there any other changes either of you want me to make? I will not rewrite it again." Akara demanded of the two.
They both shook their heads and Akara disappeared back to her tent.

"We shall sign it tomorrow, today I teach you the fine arts of bartering and cleaning the smell of Fallen out of clothes." Isendra told him before walking away and motioning for him to follow.

Together they walked back to his tent where he had left the pack of spoils. He donned it and followed her to Gheed's little shop. He looked like he had been expecting them. He had a large tarp laid out with areas marked for weapons, precious metals and gems, armor and magic.

Isendra and Izuku dumped the contents of the pack onto the ground and together they tossed everything from the evening before into their respective piles. As they did so, Gheed took notes on a pad, muttering to himself the whole while. When they finally had it all roughly organized they waited patiently as the merchant did whatever math he needed doing. Izuku caught him muttering about subtracting the cost of cleaning it all and transporting them but the rest of his mutterings had to do with him contemplating what sounded like the names of cities. He clearly knew the best markets to sell each type of item for the most profit, and had a good mind for the cost of transporting his goods to each locale.

"For the whole lot, I'll give you nine hundred gold coins." Gheed declared when his math was finished.

"You have yourself a deal." Isendra agreed instantly.

This was bartering? Izuku had expected a crash course in haggling. This was just pawning off your trash.
Gheed handed Issendra nine entire coin purses, leading Izuku to believe he kept them organized in differently sized sacks. Isendra handed him one of them.

"Take out twenty five and keep the remainder." Isendra instructed him.

Izuku did the mental arithmetic in his head and he realized instantly that this didn't add up.

"But five percent of nine hundred is forty five, not seventy five." He told her.

"True, but you are forgetting the six hundred gold coins you collected last night." She told him. "And seventy five is five percent of fifteen hundred."

He redid his math and found out she was correct. He counted out the twenty five like she had instructed and handed them back to her.

"Now, I believe the young man would like to purchase some charcoal oil." Isendra told Gheed.

"I would?" Izuku asked.

"You would." Isendra confirmed.

"And what scented oil would you like it in?" Gheed asked. "I have lavender, mint, sage and rosemary."

Izuku shrugged.

"Um. Mint, I guess." He said.

It turned out charcoal was great for removing the smell of sulfur from fabric and leather. And so after paying Gheed four gold coins for a pint of a charcoal paste made with mint oil he spent the rest of his afternoon scrubbing it into his newfound leather armor with a horsehair brush.

By the time he finished Isendra had come to collect him for dinner, which as always was being eaten communally at the fire pit in the center of the encampment.

"Do I wash it off now?" Izuku asked Isendra as he sat down beside her with a turkey drumstick and plate of rice.

"Not for another week." Isendra told him. "For now, leave it in the sun which will help to disinfect it further. When you finally wash it off in seven days it will smell divine."

Izuku mentally translated this into meaning "You won't be seeing any danger for another week at the earliest." and "You will be having a lot of work and training here in the encampment." Both meanings were expected, but still disappointing.

"Your training begins first thing in the morning, as soon as we sign the contract." She told him. "Akara offered her assistance in training you as thanks for our work cleansing the Den. When I am off on patrols or doing work without you, you are to respect her as you would me and learn from her as you would me."

Izuku nodded as he chewed on his meat and this new information.

"Soooo. Report to Akara's tent first thing in the morning?" He concluded.

"First thing in the morning." Isendra confirmed.

---

"Sign the contract and we can begin." Akara said by way of greeting as soon as Izuku stepped on her patch of land.
Izuku blinked and looked around. Finding no sign of his master he looked back to Akara but took the contract in his hands without complaint.

"Where is Isendra?" he asked as he skimmed the document for any changes.

Finding everything the same except for the added sentence he requested he signed at the bottom.

"She was sent scouting just before dawn. Something too dangerous for you to join in just yet. So, your instruction is left to me for today." Akra told him. "She believes you will be a prodigy of magic like her, and has told me you have a hypersensitivity to Mana. I am eager to see if she is correct."

Isendra was a prodigy of magic? She did seem young compared to the other adults in the encampment, but he'd never been rude enough to ask her age.

"So, what will we be doing today?" Izuku asked.

"Today, we will be learning the absolute basics. The art of meditation and feeling the mana within your body." Akara told him. "And that starts with you learning how to breath."

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.
Prices:
$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for smut/fetish material or for original fiction/nonfiction, meaning anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 7:

Meditations and Scouting​

---

Izuku breathed in deeply through his nose and slowly out of his mouth. Seven, seven and seven. Inhale for seven seconds, hold for seven seconds, exhale for seven seconds. Repeat.

It was the first and most basic of the breathing exercises that Akara had taught him, and he had done nothing but practice it for four days. Okay, that wasn't true. He also still spent his early mornings practicing with the bow and knife, and he offered a helping hand with absolutely anybody in the encampment. He still worked on making arrows, fletching and all, and had even been upgraded to knapping arrowheads out of river stone. It was an even more cathartic art than making the shafts and fletching, if such a thing were possible.

But studying underneath Akara? That wasn't cathartic at all. Holed up in her dark, smoky tent with the smell of all manner of incense, Izuku couldn't even begin to identify, but several of which he suspected wouldn't be legal back home.

"I have never seen somebody become so stressed by breathing techniques." Akara commented from her cauldron. "The whole point of that one is to make you calm and relaxed, how is it doing the opposite?"

Izuku grumbled something about expecting magic training to be more magical, and thankfully Akara found the complaint funny.

"Isendra warned me you had an intense reaction to the mana potion she gave you, so I expected you to struggle." Akara admitted, standing up to walk over to him. "But after four days the amusement of watching you be afraid of your own magic has faded. It is time you grew out of it."

Izuku cowered underneath her glare as she stood over him and crossed her arms.

"You described to both of us a burning sensation. What kind of burning is it? Is it like the burning of a rash, of spicy food or fire?" She asked.

"Actual fire." Izuku told her. "Moving through my body like a liquid."

"It is peculiar but everybody's relationship with magic is unique. OR at least as unique as unique can be. We are graduating from breathing and moving onto focusing on the mana within your body before directing it." Akara said. "You already have an advantage by being able to feel your magic so acutely, so you must become either inured to the discomfort of it or in some way adapt to it until it is no longer unpleasant."

She turned around and walked over to a chest in the corner. It was one of several littering her tent and the smallest. It was also the oldest in appearance. Akara dug around inside it and eventually retrieved a stick, er, wand. Right. Wands are real. She retrieved a wand with a crystal at the end of it.

"This was my first, failed, attempt at creating a wand of identification." Akara told him. "It cannot identify magic at all, merely detect it. If I hold it against a magical object it will glow blue, and that's about all it's useful for."

Izuku nodded to show he was following her.

"However, it can also detect magic inside a person's body if they are actively using it. The crystal I chose was of poor quality, hence why it cannot help with any detailed identification, but this had the surprising benefit of making it significantly more durable. High quality crystals used for identification magic will break upon being used, they are that delicate."

Izuku retrieved his notebook from beside him and wrote that down. Identification crystals will break when used. Good to know.

"So, what? Are you going to have me hold it against different parts of my body and try to make it glow?" Izuku asked.

Akara blinked at him.

"That is exactly what I am going to have you do. I just want you to focus on bringing that burning sensation up to your skin where the crystal is touching. Focus on the feeling of the stone and your mana. Once it lights, move to a different body part. We will be starting with your fingertips, then the different segments of your fingers, palms and move inward from there." Akara instructed.

She handed him the wand and Izuku took it, holding the tip to his index finger. Then he breathed. Seven seconds inhaling, seven seconds holding, seven seconds exhaling. Deciding he was sufficiently calmed he rubbed the smooth stone with his index finger to try and focus on the exact spot he felt it on his skin. From there it was a simple matter to split his focus on the now ever-present burning sensation of magic beneath the skin's surface and slowly pulled it to the surface.

He opened his eyes to find the stone was unchanged. Hm.

"Oh, you're going to be here for a while." Akara told him as he frowned at his finger.

She turned out to be right in that claim. He spent the rest of that morning trying his hardest to make the crystal light up without an ounce of progress. It was well into the afternoon, after being forced by Akara to take a lunch break, that it finally happened.

"Misses Akara! Look!" Izuku called out to the woman.

She looked up from the book she was still reading and she did a double take when she spotted the soft glow of the crystal against the tip of his index finger.

"That took you five hours." Akara informed him in an almost disappointed tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Izuku apologized. "I'll try harder to not take so long."

The deadpan look she gave him, with her mouth slightly ajar, almost looked offended. The angry look she followed it up with when he switched to his thumb and immediately made the crystal like could have vaporized tungsten, but for the life of him he couldn't understand what he'd done to anger her.

By nightfall he could make the crystal in the wand light up with the tip of each finger and every single segment as well, but strangely enough not the knuckles which she told him to skip for now anyways.

The next day he focused on his palms and arms. The former only took a few minutes to be able to do relatively easily, but each arm took the better part of an hour. The inner wrists, where he could feel his pulse, were the easiest to channel mana through to light the crystal. But the elbows? Both were a nightmare until he held it to the funny bone tendon beneath the elbow. But when he switched arms it wasn't any easier or faster the second time.

A week of training with Akara passed without any sign of his real master, or was it mistress? He would have to clear up what to call her when she got back from her scouting mission. But in the week of her absence, he had managed to make the wand light up from nearly anywhere on his face, chest, legs and even every individual toe. Any actual bony parts of his body were nearly impossible to focus mana through, as if the magic was made by his flesh or blood in particular. Or maybe it was water based? Were lakes, rivers and the ocean more magical than dirt and stone? These were questions he decided to save for Isendra as Akara's scowl grew angrier by the day and she refused to tell him what he was doing to enrage her.

"Aside from the bony parts of me, what are the hardest places to channel mana?" Izuku asked.

"Your scalp and your back." Akara said in a monotone.

"Oh. Should I do that next?" Izuku asked.

"Do as you please, child. You're ahead of schedule." Akara said.

"I am? How far ahead of schedule?" Izuku asked.

Akara stared at him blankly before turning around, taking a seat and picking up a book before promptly ignoring his existence. This was fast becoming the norm.

And so, for the next two days he practiced with his back and scalp. He would occasionally try again with the bone of his elbows, knuckles and the like but never made any progress.

He spent hours sitting cross-legged in front of Akara's human-body sized and shaped mirror trying to make the crystal glow again while holding it against his head or the back of his shoulders. The latter made for an uncomfortable position to hold for hours at a time, but the former was nearly as impossible to pull off as the aforementioned bony regions of his body. Serious, why were those regions so hard to channel mana through? Was it because they had no nerves in them?

---

"It's time for you to learn your first spell." Akara began their tenth day together by saying.

"My first spell?!" Izuku said excitedly.

"Your first spell." Akara confirmed. "The first spell any person ought to learn, though usually do not do so until several years into their training. So to answer your question from a few days ago, you are three years ahead of schedule."

Whoa. That seemed like a lot!

"Is that mostly because I already know reading, writing and arithmetic?" Izuku asked.

"That makes up about ninety percent of the reason for your abridged training, yes." Akara told him. "I would have continued your academic training in at least mathematics, but Isendra told me you already know geometry and something called Algebra?"

"Well. Not all of algebra. But some of it, yeah"

It was weird that the people of this world don't even have that, let alone trigonometry, calculus or higher mathematical fields. It was a huge wake up call for him to learn he was now officially one of the greatest mathematicians on the planet. This wasn't saying much when everybody was blown away by his mere ability to write his own name. Was victory by default still a victory? It didn't feel like a victory.

"The light spell will require you to master the fundamental steps to casting most spells." Akara continued. "You bring the mana out of your body, usually into an area between your hands for control, and then turn that mana to a purpose you intend. In this case making light from it. You need only be able to make your mana glow on your skin then the next step is to first bring the mana out and control it from outside of your body."

Fascinating. Was it a coincidence that the first spell was a clear parable to the first quirk? Surely not. But more interesting was her description of how spells were cast. Mana was just fuel for spells, it didn't conjure or create fire or lightning or ice. Fire needs air, heat and fuel. Mana must be able to easily transfer into heat or light electric or kinetic energy. What about biochemical energy? Could people metabolize mana and live off of their own life force for extended periods of time?

"We really need to do something about your mumbling problem." Akara eventually interrupted his thoughts. "But you're on the right track. Magical theorists since the dawn of time have been trying to come up with a unifying theory for the nature and function of mana. So far there is no consensus, let alone proof. Which I used to find rather terrifying to learn, as using such a great power without knowing anything about it is something all magicians are taught to never do."

That was good advice. Izuku would make certain to follow it, just as soon as he finished learning how to completely break it by wielding this arcane power to reduce a few thousand demons to piles of ash.

"No, you have pretty thoroughly mastered moving mana around your body. Now all I want you to do is make your skin glow where the mana touches it. Then we can move on." Akara instructed.

She proceeded to walk around the inside of her tent extinguishing her candles to make the room as dark as possible, save for one candle next to her reading chair. She then drew a curtain around herself to dim the light from the candle coming towards him but he could still see her from where he sat through the humanoid mirror to his left. Likewise, she could see him.

She returned to her usual habit of reading her book and ignoring his existence and Izuku returned to his usual habit of trying to teach himself what she had just promised to teach him. And so, he began channeling mana into his skin.

---

Isendra trudged back into the encampment late that evening. Her week and a half away had been thoroughly unproductive, but it was a necessary unproductivity.

The monastery and east gate required watching. Everyone needed constant visual confirmation of Andarial's whereabouts. Surprise! She's still there. In the monastery. Protecting the east gate and perverting the holy land to increasingly twisted and hellish mockeries. But she did her duty, and for an entire week she remained hidden near the monastery, watching and documenting all she saw.

She was so very eager to hand in the journal she had filled out and get a good night's sleep. Maybe she could even convince Warriv to loan her his tub for a hot bath? Surely, she had earned it.

She crossed the stone bridge looking longingly at the cold water and track of towels but stopped when she saw the bandaged figure at the other side of the bridge. For a moment she thought a survivor of a fallen ambush had been brought in and bandaged up, and his sad state made him look like he was mourning. But she recognized that mess of untamable hair beneath the burns.

"Young one?" Isendra asked.

The figure looked up at her greeting and sure enough the constantly worried and over-analyzing eyes of Izuku Midoriya met her own.

"What happened to you?!" Isendra demanded.

"Oh, um. I happened to me." Izuku told her cryptically. "And I happened to Akara's tent too."

"What did you do? You were just supposed to be learning the basics of meditation and maybe start towards channeling mana. Why do you look like you were doused in lamp oil and lit on fire?" Isendra demanded of her pupil.

"Oh. Well I did those things. Learned the breathing techniques, a little bit of meditation and all of the mana channeling stuff. Still can't do it on my scalp or bony parts, but Miss Akara decided I was ready to learn the light spell." Izuku explained.

Isendra stared at him. She had only been gone for a week and a half. There was no way in all of the heavens and hells he mastered channeling mana, a skill that takes most half a decade to master, in that time. Let alone advance towards learning any spells.

"I was trying to make my skin glow, but instead lit myself on fire." Izuku finished. "Along with Akara, Akara's books, Akara's tent, and a lot of her potions which turned rather explosive. I am in temporary exile from the village until you return."

Isendra stared at him some more.

"But I DID eventually figure out how to make my skin glow. See!" Izuku claimed, lifting his arm up.

A bright blue light erupted from his unbandaged hand

"That is not light you are producing. You are merely channeling enough mana through your skin to become visible and provide light." Isendra told the boy.

"Oh. That explains why it's so exhausting, I guess." He said before cutting off the flow of mana.

She returned to staring at the boy slack jawed, absolutely baffled how a child could be this much of a prodigy and this much of a moron. Then she imagined Akara spending a week and a half trying to teach such a prodigy in the manner sorcerer's are traditionally trained. She scowled in empathy and ducked into her coin purse.

"Come along. I need to go pay restitution to Akara. It looks like I'll have to be solely responsible for your training in the future." Isendra told him

---

Two days later saw Isendra taking Izuku out on his first scouting mission. They were to relieve the team of rogues guarding the ancient burial grounds. It was considered the safest place for a first scouting mission.

"She hates me." Izuku told her.

"She does not hate you!" Isendra consoled the now fully-healed boy. "She envies you. So do I, for that matter."

"She said if you ever try to pawn me off on her again she'll kill herself and then us both, which I think she meant because it is not longer beyond my imagination for a sorcerer to use magic to kill and reanimate themselves as a deadlier threat than in mortal life." Izuku countered.

Isendra decided not to comment on the existence of such magics. Nor her anger at Akara for insinuating the existence of such magics to her young pupil. Sorcerer's weren't supposed to learn about that kind of thing until they were much more experienced and disciplined. Then again, with all of the demons and undead running around it was difficult to keep the existence of such foul magics secret from anybody these days.

"Izuku, you have been blessed with a shortcut through your magical education that makes even my lightning-fast ascension through the ranks seem slow." Isendra explained to the boy. "Being able to essentially skip the longest and hardest step of becoming a wielder of arcane power is quite possibly the most unfair boon I have ever heard of. And I worry that this privilege will spoil you and prevent you from advancing at some higher level of magic."

Izuku lowered his head in, of all things, shame at her backhanded praise. She was trying to avoid stroking his ego too much, not make him feel bad. This child was impossible to read, let alone predict even in regards to basic social interaction.

"But, even if you turn out to be completely incompetent in all other aspects of becoming a sorcerer, you will still become a great one all the same. For no other reason than your ability to feel and harness mana with the same ease with which you breathe." Isendra said more nicely.

Izuku nodded along, his face scrunched in consternation. It was a look he wore often.

"Wait, you were a prodigy too?" Izuku asked.

"Indeed. And much like you I suffered for it. Being at the top means everyone below you will hate you." Isendra explained. "And I worry about your future because I myself suffered from plateaus and walls I could not overcome because I did not struggle early on in my training. I did not gain the ability to work hard and overcome challenges, so that when I finally found something challenging in my arcane studies it nearly destroyed me. In fact, I have yet to choose a specialization while my peers are all wielding higher magics in their chosen fields."

Izuku looked up at her.

"Specializations?" He asked.

"Most sorcerers specialize in a single type of magic. Necromancy, healing magics, scrying, or lightning." She explained. "Everybody must choose a specialization or risk becoming a jack of all trades like me using all manner of magic at a weak level, while specialists use one or two types of magic with much more power than I can manage. You, like many, seem to have been blessed with having your specialization chosen for you."

"Fire?" Izuku clarified.

"Indeed. To accidentally ignite yourself and all Akara owns may mean you have an affinity for fire. Many people with strong affinities have similar, though usually not as pronounced, accidents. You may turn out to be a fire mage above all else. You should still learn to use other spells, at least at a low level, for too much specialization becomes an exploitable vulnerability. But if you do turn out to be a fire specialist that will free me of one option of specialization to focus on another one." Isendra explained.

"Ohhh, you could specialize in ice then we could be like an Endeavor and Rei power duo!" The boy said excitedly.

"Endeavor?" Isendra asked. "Rei?"

"Second greatest hero ever. He is the embodiment of fire and nearly as powerful as All Might." Izuku told her. "He married a woman from the Himura family, an entire family of very powerful ice wielders. There's a legend that Endeavor accidentally hospitalized his first love when he kissed her, leaving a burn in the shape of his lips on her cheek. But it's just a legend, but the legend says he sought out Rei specifically because he could touch her without burning her, and she could touch him without causing frostbite."

Isendra's smile grew as the young man rambled, and she listened without interrupting. With them walking in the wide open moors with nobody nearby to hear she was happy to have him tell her all about his world.

"That is an adorable love story." Isendra admitted. "Is there a similar legend about this Rei? Did she turn her first fiancé into an ice stalagmite?"

Izuku laughed.

"Probably. This was all before I was born. I only know about it because I saw the Mini-Series on it."

"Mini-Series?" She asked.

"Oh. Um. Pictures that move and talk to tell stories. We call them motion pictures. There was one made about them going out and being heroes together, fire and ice, like everybody thought they would. But that never panned out. They started a family and lived a quiet life. She decided on homemaking, not hero work beside him."

Isendra suspected that whatever Izuku was trying to describe was far different from what she held in her mind. Remembering the boy's shirt and the obscenely handsome man, she suspected these motion pictures must have looked and moved just as realistically as that image. Not for the first time she wondered if she could convince the boy to give or sell the shirt to her so she could ogle it in her down time.

She would have asked him then and there had they not reached the edge of the burial grounds and the fire pit where the rogue guard was stationed. Or, more accurately, where the rogue guards were supposed to be stationed.

The fire pit was unlit and wet, and looked to have been so for a while. No journal nor weapons, no personal belongings had been left. The entire place had either been abandoned or ransacked and the tracks covered. Isendra suspected the latter.

"Wasn't this place supposed to be guarded." Izuku asked worriedly.

"Arm yourself young one. We have fighting to do." Isendra said by way of answer.

"And rescuing?" Izuku asked hopefully. "Right?"

Isendra smiled down on him and his blatantly optimistic, arguably naive, question. She decided to let herself feel that same optimism. Why else have such a young and bright student if you do not allow yourself the emotional blessings of having a child around?

"And rescuing. Yes."

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 8:

Blood Raven
​

---

Isendra crouched low as she squat-walked through the underbrush surrounding the burial grounds and Izuku crouched even lower as he followed her. He felt ridiculous waddling along by rotating his entire body with each step, and it was killer on his thighs, but if it kept them both alive and safe, he would suffer through it. He did make a mental not to work on training his legs more though.

Isendra held up a fist for him to stop and he did so. Peaking past her he saw why. A couple meters ahead of them, on the other side of a trench, was a red-haired woman flat on her stomach looking over the edge into the burial grounds.

"Flavie!" Isendra hissed to get her attention.

Get her attention she did, as the woman nearly jumped out of her skin as she spun around with her dagger drawn. The full body deflation when she recognized them and relaxed looked more emotionally taxing than the near heart attack Isendra had given her. After taking a deep breath and putting away her dagger she
made a shushing motion, followed by a "get down" motioned, followed by a "Come here" motion.

She was a rather erudite sign linguist.

Isendra went into a belly crawl and Izuku followed suit. He imagined it would have been a very uncomfortable journey had they not found the leather armor in that cave a couple weeks back. But as it was his stomach and arms didn't suffer from the many sharp twigs and hard stones as he crawled over them.

They came up to either side of Flavie and looked over the edge of their cover. Izuku felt bile at the sight which greeted him.

A tree of hanging women stood at the center of a graveyard. Each was strung up by their hands instead of the necks, so for all he knew they could still be alive. But they were certainly suffering if they were. Prowling around their still forms was a monster.

This monster appeared to be yet another woman, but she was much taller than the rogues she overlooked, and she wore a bird's skull for a helmet. The rest of her armor sported bony spikes that he suspected were coming out of her. More disturbing still was red vining mass covering her body that looked almost like higanbana flowers to Izuku, but which he suspected was congealed, tendriling blood. He didn't want to understand what kind of magic this was, but by the looks of the shambling, rotten corpses parading around
the graveyard and mausoleums, it wasn't difficult to guess.

"Is that? No, it can't be." Isendra gasped at the sight of the giantess before clenching her teeth in obvious rage. "Damn you Andarial."

Flavie motioned for them to retreat, and they did so, slowly crawling backwards on their stomachs which was an entirely new way of getting around to Izuku. When they got back over the hump behind them, they changed back to walking low to put some distance between themselves and the burial ground. Upon reaching a crop of trees they got right to strategizing.

"We stand zero chance of defeating Blood Raven, even in her undead form." Isendra said outright.

"And yet we must try." Flavie said. "The trip to camp and back would be nearly a week, and by then the prisoners on the tree will be dead and the monster wearing my sister's flesh will have an entire army of undead. We three stand a better chance of defeating her now than the entire camp has against her and the potential army she is rising."

Isendra nodded in consideration at her airtight argument, but it was very much an unhappy nod.

"Wait, those ladies on the tree are alive?" Izuku asked." Are you certain?"

"Positive. Their flesh needs to be tenderized before killing and turning them. The evils would have much more use of undead with the skills of our sisterhood than mindless, shambling corpses." Flavie explained.
Izuku looked to Isendra.

"By tenderize she is referring to a process of torturing a victim's flesh before killing them and reanimating them. Muscles remember, and by damaging the most-used muscles of a warrior you make certain that when they are made undead those muscles remember the combat skills from life." Isendra lectured. "So that when they turned undead, they will be just as skilled of archers as they were in life, instead of cannon fodder like the usual zombie."

That was horrible. That horrifying.

"The problem is I don't know if we have a right to get involved in this." Isendra says. "Our standing with Kashya is bad enough, to deny her the chance to put her best friend to rest will just cause more friction between us. But I suppose it must be done."

"Do you really believe saving six of our sister's lives, putting dozens of our fallen ancestors back to their eternal rest and freeing our greatest hero and Kashya's closest friend from her demonic enslavement will do anything other than endear you to us all?" Flavie countered. "If we succeed here, to any degree, then you will have completely earned her respect and the complete allegiance of the rogue sisterhood."

Isendra stood up a little straighter at Flavie's words and Izuku did the same.

"Will it even get you all to forgive me for nearly burning the entire place down?" Izuku asked.

"No!" Flavie hissed. "Never!"

When her mock venom died down to be replaced by a smirk Izuku realized she was joking, even at a time like this. If she could show sch bravery and levity then surely, he could too.

And so, he clenched his fist, raised it to chest level and grinned as wide as he could. All Might smiled in the face of danger. All Might made those he did evil feel weak and those who do good feel strong with his smile, and he would do the same.

"Let's go! We have to save those nice ladies. They don't have to suffer anymore, because we are here!"

They both nodded and got to work planning. Now that they had decided on what to do, they had to figure out how to do it.

"Izuku isn't ready to fight enemies like this yet, so his priority should be to sneak around and get to the prisoners." Flavie said.

"He is small, nimble and brave. I have full faith in my apprentice' ability to reach them unseen and free them. It will be our job to battle Blood Raven and draw the zombies towards us." Isendra agreed. "If the six of them join the battle we may have a chance."

"We already have several advantages that add up to a great chance of victory that you seem to be discounting." Flavie consoled. "In addition to the possible backup of six of our best, we have the element of surprise and the knowledge that Blood Raven is still a new undead, and thus weakened from as strong as she was in life. We are not battling the heroine who helped defeat diablo and free Tristram of his horrors."

Diablo? Tristram? Heroine? He'd have to ask for lectures on history from Isendra in the future. During their long walk through the wilderness.

"Then it is settled. you and I shall make battle with Blood Raven while Izuku frees your sisters. Then with the sister's aid we either defeat Blood Raven or flee to come back with reinforcements." Isendra decided with a nod.

Flavie reached into her belt and pulled out a hatchet which she then handed to Izuku.

"But I don't have any training with it." He complained.

"You will not be using it to defend yourself." Flavia informed him. "I have faith that you are just as capable of chopping rope as you are wood. Your job is to remain unseen, sneak past the undead, which should be an easy enough task, and free those ladies hanging from the tree."

Okay, that made more sense.

"You are more than capable of outrunning zombies." Isendra told him. "Even if you are seen, advance on anyways. Just do not get surrounded. You will be leaving us in a few moments and circling all the way around to the other side of the burial grounds. We will count to one hundred. When the count is finished, you will know based on the sound of battle."

Izuku nodded with every word as he fastened the hatchet to his own belt. It was such a simple plan, a simple course of action. Somehow, that simplicity made it feel all the more likely to succeed. It played to all of their strengths.

"I think you should actually go with him, at least part of the way." Flavie suggested. "You go to the right corner of the south side while I go to the left, we can cover each other and provide more points of distraction."

"That is good. Yes, that decreases the amount of trouble Izuku has to deal with and splits the enemy forces further." Isendra agreed. "If we stay together then Blood Raven only has one target, split up she has two. Should one of us fall we still have a chance. Should both of us fall Izuku will be in the clear to free the six and get them out. Two lives for six is a fair deal."

Geez that was morbid, what happened to the levity in the face of fear?

"Shall I go now?" Izuku asked.

"Yes." The two women said as one.

Isendra and Izuku took off to the right, moving carefully but quickly. With purpose. It was only a few dozen meters alter that they were due to split up. But before he continued on his own Isendra grasped him by the shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"Be safe, not brave. Keep to the tombstones and underbrush. Most importantly, think things through before acting and should worst come to worst leave us behind and flee back to camp as fast as your little legs can take you." Isendra ordered. "If all else should fail you must survive tonight and get back to the encampment. It is vital that they know and send everything they have if we do not succeed."

Then, she ushered him away.

From there his feet took him. He ran at a crouch, keeping his spine curved and head down and staying close to the trench and the bushes growing from the swales on the outside. He wasn't even out of breath by the time he turned left onto the north side, nor was he out of time when he reached the center of said north side.
As he had when they found Flavie, he crawled along the ditch on his stomach until he reached the far swale and peeked over.

Everything was the same as the first time, but now with the anticipation of knowing what happens next. He cursed himself for not keeping count in his head, so he had no idea how much time he had left of the one hundred seconds. But when they ended, he got a very clear signal that it had.

Isendra had clearly been training since the fight in the cave, for the firebolt that collided with the undead Blood Raven exploded on her back with much more force and a much louder whoosh sound than the ones he had seen before. He was genuinely surprised it didn't sprawl the demoness out on her butt. But it did get the attention of Blood Raven and every shambling zombie in the graveyard.

"Join my army of the dead!'' Blood Raven's voice, as loud as Isendra's firebolt but as calm and steady as if she had spoken it from two feet away.

As one the undead turned and like a colony of ants filed towards his master beside theirs.

Izuku nearly leapt over the swale to charge for the tree before remembering Isendra's words. Thinking things through, he realized there could easily be other zombies lying in wait. Either because they were deaf and didn't know a battle had begun, or because they had been programmed to never leave their post no matter what happened around them. And so, he remained hidden, crawling on hands and knees to the nearest tombstone.

He looked over it and checked both ways as if expecting a freight truck to Isekai him again but spotted no lookouts or guards in the next leg of his journey so he sprinted to a gap between two mausoleums up ahead of him. As he did so he paid attention to the battle south of him.

For an undead abomination this Raven sure ran fast. She was already nearly upon Isendra when Flavie finally joined the fray and put an arrow between her shoulder blades to go with the nice third degree burns Isendra had gifted her.

Checking the way in front of him and finding it clear he made a beeline for a gravestone absolutely covered in thorny branches. His kept his arms around his head to let his leather armor protect him from the thorns. They did their job and when he was safely inside of them, he felt every hair on his head stand on end as bright white and blue light filled the horizon.

Peeking over this new headstone he saw waves of lightning arcing from Blood Raven to the handful of zombies that had been closest to the southeast end. the former slowed from the arcing electricity flowing through her body, the latter fell in piles of ashen bone.

Izuku couldn't stop the fist pump he made at the sight of the battle going well but did manage to choke the hoorah threatening to come out of his throat.

By now Flavie had gotten the attention of Blood Raven's army and it split up to pursue both Isendra and Flavie, leaving the prisoners completely unguarded. The plan couldn't have been going more perfectly, but he didn't let it get to his head.

Looking both ways one last time he untangled himself from the branches and sprinted to the last tombstone between him and the concrete separating the tree from the graves.

Right beside him was a pile of bows and full quivers, along with daggers, potions and the other personal effects of the rogues hanging from the tree. What torture it must have been, to see the means by which they could defend themselves so close at hand, yet so far. His opinion of demons descended further with each new cruelty he witnessed from their hands.

Ignoring the gear for now, he glanced past it to get a good look at the survivors, he could see they were doing their best to stand on their toes to relieve the stress from the ropes around their wrists. The one nearest him was trying to take advantage of the commotion by fighting against her bindings, and though she was red in the face from the exertion she made no progress. The woman next to her, on the other hand, was bleeding from countless wounds and seemed to be unconscious, if not dead.

Before daring to sprint the last of the way forward Izuku looked behind him to make sure nothing was going to blindside them from the north. Finding the way back and the way forward clear he thanked whatever gods Isendra worshipped and took off.

He withdrew both his dagger and his axe before sprinting towards the nearest struggling rogue.

She hardened her face and straightened at the sight of him running at her with weapons drawn but that war face dissolved into a smile of pure relief when she recognized him, and tears flooded her eyes. He ran right past her, dropping his dagger at her feet in a manner that guaranteed she saw it. From there he climbed up that tree so fast you'd think he had a monkey quirk. Shimmying up the branch she was on, he righted himself into a seated position, his thighs clenching the branch as tightly as his glutes could manage, and he swung his hatchet with both hands.

That one strike severed the knot and dropped her to the ground, where she fell into a crouch and snatched up his dagger in a single motion.

"You go clockwise!" He yell-whispered as he reached out with his left hand to the next branch.

He didn't watch to see her move along but did hear the sound of his blade tearing at the bindings of her most injured sister. He focused all of his attention on hacking at the knot on the next branch. Doing it one handed while steadying himself with the other meant it took him a few swings, but soon enough he had freed the second rogue and she fell too the ground.

"Get your weapons!" He yell-whispered at this one.

She didn't nod nor acknowledge him, merely sprinting towards the pile of gear that had been stripped from them.

He shimmied back down his branch to cross over to the next one but by the time he got there the first woman he had freed was already slicing the bindings on her wrist and he opted to climb back down and ready himself for a fight. The last one he'd freed returned by the time his feet met the ground and she was handing out bows and quivers to the still standing rogues.

"Young Midoriya, help Alexis if you have any healing salves or bandages." The first rogue he'd freed ordered as she slung her quiver over her shoulder and notched a bow. "Maria, guard them while we provide aid to Isendra and Flavie."

---

The woman who had retrieved the bows, Maria, walked with Izuku to where the most severely injured of the rogues had been left on the ground in a recovery position. Upon reaching her he dropped his pack and began rummaging around while Maria notched an arrow and turned her back to him in order to strike down any would-be attacker.

The symphony of bowstrings snapping and arrows whistling through the air told him that the army of undead would soon be greatly diminished, and with it Isendra and Flavie's workload. The unexpected success was making his heart pound faster in excitement than horror ever had.

Izuku took deep breaths to steady himself as he dug up his waterskin, bandages and two of the red potions he had been given by Isendra. Then thinking on it he also grabbed one of the blues.

Turning Alexis over on her back he surveyed the wounds. They were not fresh, but they were also not fatal or even bleeding deeply. Each cut had been deliberately made to avoid any veins or arteries, and certainly didn't touch any of the major ones. He checked her inner thighs, neck, armpits and shoulders meticulously and found they they were unharmed.

The cuts she did have were all shallow, but they were numerous. Criss-crossing her calves, thighs, biceps, traps, pectorals and even her face.

Tenderize indeed.

Akara had warned him about the dangers of using healing potions on old, unclean wounds. The risk of infection for new wounds was nearly nonexistent, but ones that had been open for hours exposed to the air, dust, dirt and other elements? Closing those with a potion was tantamount to killing the victim outright because you wouldn't be able to clean the wound later. And if he forced any down her throat to replenish her lost blood, he risked them all bleeding again which would make working on them harder.

His mind went right to the nail polish remover he had scavenged from the swamp months ago, but this was unhelpful as he had used it all to start a fire that first night. He didn't have anything else with disinfecting properties and he cursed himself for not taking up Gheed and Warriv's repeated offers of drink. They had all found it odd that he wouldn't touch beer or wine, let alone the vodka and brandy the two men somehow managed to smuggle in. He made a mental note to buy an entire wineskin of Vodka next time he saw Gheed.

Hell, he ought to buy honey while he was at it for the same reason.

He scoured his brain for anything at all he could use to clean the wounds before pouring the potion over them, but the only thing he could come up with was...

"Fire!" He gasped to himself.

He looked down at his hands and without putting a single additional thought into it he took action. His fingers erupted in the blue glow of mana and he wrapped them around Alexis' ruined calves. Careful not to actually touch her wounds, he placed his thumbs and fingers at the edges of her wounds as evenly as he could. It took all of his concentration and willpower, but he commanded the dancing mana to glide over and cover every millimeter of the deep cut on and once he achieved full saturation, he ignited it with a thought.

Even unconscious she gasped as he seared her flesh closed, he merely gritted his teeth and did his best to muffle his own scream as his fingertips suffered the same fate as her muscles and tendons. The smell of burning human was not a pleasant one but he was too single-mindedly focused on his mana to care.

When the wound was fully burned to what would be considered a third degree he reached for the closest vial of red potion and, realizing he really ought to have opened them before ruining his fingers, bit the cork off and poured a small amount into his free palm before dipping the fingers of his other into the pooling red liquid. He repeated the process with his other hand before finally pouring the liquid on Alexis' cauterized wound.

Akara's first rule of providing medical aid was to make sure you yourself are safe and in good condition before tending to others. It reminded him of airplane emergency procedures.

With that done Izuku uncorked the other two vials, even though the first was still two thirds full. He just wanted to be prepared before he ruined his fingers again. By the time he finished properly setting up his work area this time, the calf wound was completely shut, but the scar left behind was deep and ugly. He hoped she would forgive him in time.

He mentally registered the approach of something big, glowing and red from the opposite end of the graveyard to Isendra's World War One re-enactment. He also registered Maria calling out for help dealing with it and her sisters coming around to encircle him from behind.

Izuku dared to turn around and look past the circle of archers to see what was approaching from the north.

Skeletons. A horde of skeletons, each armed to the teeth and led by a glowing crimson pile of bones with a mace larger than Izuku.

They were all fast moving, at least in comparison to the zombies, but his half-circle of archers remedied that with a barrage of what could only be described as ice arrows. Each impacted center mass in their sternums.

They didn't seem to hurt the piles of calcium walking towards them, what with them having no flesh to pierce. It did, however, slow them down. A thick covering of ice sprouted from where the arrows struck, freezing their joints shut and stopping them in their tracks. The small army still advanced, fighting against the cracking ice covering them as they moved.

Leaving the fighting to the adults as they turned the battlefield into a casual shooting range he turned back to Alexis and got back to work.

This time he turned his head to bite down on the collar of his leather shirt as he burned his fingertips and cauterized Alexis' wound. He repeated his earlier action of pouring the red potion into a pool in his palm to soak his fingers in before applying it to Alexis' calf. And so he worked, painfully, meticulously. His work an all-consuming inferno in his mind as his fingers went completely numb from the repeated burning and healing.

He fixed up both thigh muscles as the screaming of the rogue sisters, moaning of shambling undead, and screeching of flaming arrows filled his ears. The exhaustion, mental and physical, of using so much magic so deliberately was wearing him down. Supposing he was running out of mana he reached for the blue vial and dared to risk a sip despite his last experience with the stuff.

As soon as the blue, minty liquid touched his tongue relief and strength returned to him, along with the now familiar burning sensation of mana coursing through his body, though now it was less painful and more soothing.

With that done the healing he could do for Alexis was finished and he poured some of both potions down her throat. His hope was that with her legs healed she could escape the graveyard by her own power and heal the wounds of her upper body later. Preferably with access to a disinfectant that didn't require him to melt off his fingernails.

For a split second he worried that taking the blue and red potions back-to-back could have unintended side effects, but that worry vanished as the wounds on her face and upper body began to bleed. This would normally be a bad thing, but they weren't bleeding because they had been reopened. They were bleeding because she had more blood in her body now. The correct amount of blood.

When her eyes snapped open Izuku wasted no time.

"Alexis! We have to move now. I have healed your legs and I need you to use them." He instructed.

She was visibly delirious and clearly hadn't understood a word he had said. He knew his efforts had been wasted and there was no chance of her getting out of there by her own power.

He felt the excess mana caused by the potion swelling up painfully within him and knew he was close to suffering the same "mana attack" he had when he'd drunken it in that cave with Isendra, so he resolved to spend it as quickly as possible. He turned around to see the horde of skeletons were mere meters away, nearly upon the rogue sisters protecting him. The effects of the ice arrows had diminished in the moments since they were struck, but the white sheet of ice still covered every bone. That suited his plans perfectly.

He sprinted forward to join their semicircle and let go. He let all of his mana flow forward out of his body, and it seeped into every stone, nook, cranny and abdominal cavity in the ten meters in front of him. From there, he simply flipped a switch in his mind, as if striking a match, and all was fire.

Pop physics quiz. What do you get when you supercool hundred-year-old bones then rapidly heat them?

The entire lower halves of every single skeleton shattered. From the Tibia to the femur to the pelvis, and when the upper bodies fell to the ground they too were consumed by the unrelenting flames. All save the crimson glowing one who, though bereft of legs, crawled forward with hands and elbows. When he was all but a meter away and ready to bear down on him all five of his lady companions stepped forward and kneeled down to hold their notched arrows inches from his face.

All at once they let loose and Izuku heard the shattering of bone indicating his skull was no more. He couldn't actually see it, what with five full-grown women occupying one square meter of space between him and the now headless enemy. But his imagination filled in the blanks.

Not even a second passed by before he felt the full-body exhaustion of his entire mana store being depleted all at once and felt himself falling. When his entire vision filled with white light, he feared that his life had come to an end and squeezed his eyes shut. When the sound of crackling lightning filled his ears along with it, he realized he was still alive. Oddly, the pain of electrocution failed to materialize, so he dared to open his eyes.

Beautiful, arcing lightning flowed across the entire graveyard, outright vaporizing every single remaining zombie but failing to so much as singe a single plant, tombstone or person. The arcing lightning, pure white instead of the white and blue Isendra could cast, filled him with a sense of relief, like the moment before sleep took you after a day of hard work.

"Ooooooohhh." Blood Raven's soft, beautiful voice filled his ears yet again, filled with that same relief he felt.

Her thankful moan was followed by one last gasp of air and the lightning subsided, leaving them in a silent graveyard with the smoldering remains of the undead army.

The all stood there as even the insects and wind went silent. And then, all at once, they cheered, whooped and wept in joy at the end of the battle and disbelief at all of their survival. Izuku did all three and did so
louder than anybody else.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by Magikuser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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[Magikuser]

Chapter 9:​

Bridging the Gaps​

---

Izuku rested against the tree beside the newly bandaged and cleaned Alexis while her sisters scoured the battlefield under the moonlight.

He was exhausted, but unharmed. In fact, by some miracle, not a single person was injured during the great battle. The entire thing was an overwhelming victory, and he did his best not to let it lift his mood too much. It was still a somber occasion, for these ladies to have to dredge through the remains of their predecessors and their ravaged holy place.

"Disinfectant." Isendra said as she returned from her scouting of the perimeter. "What a stupid oversight on my part. I am so sorry Izuku."

"Oh, um... Think nothing of it? I made do." He said.

"Yes. Made do." She said suspiciously. "Let me see your hands again."

It wasn't a request, it was an order, and he had signed a contract to obey those from her. So, he stretched his arms and fingers out for her to examine under the torchlight. All of his fingers, to the first knuckle, were nothing more than scar tissue. Even his nails had fallen off from his experiment in creating a cauterization spell.

"Burn wounds leave nastier scars than cuts or stab wounds." Isendra explained. "To repeatedly sear your own flesh and heal it over and over again? It will be a miracle if you ever regain sensitivity in your fingertips. If you had any ambitions of playing the guitar or sewing, you can throw those dreams away. I suspect your fingernails will grow back though."

Izuku accepted the small blessing for what it was. A consolation prize for his stupidity and thoughtlessness.

"It was a good plan. You were following the spirit of my instructions and focused your efforts on saving them and getting them out if need be. You did excellently for your skill level." Isendra consoled him.

"But it was pointless." Izuku groused. "I gave myself, and more importantly gave Alexis, permanent and unnecessary scars."

"I don't mind." Alexis said sleepily, stirring from her rest on the ground. "Battle scars add charm and character to a lady of the Sightless Eye. And you did still save us with that wall of fire."

"Wall of fire?!" Isendra demanded.

"Oh, um. Yeah, I just flooded the entire graveyard in front of me with mana and lit it on fire." He explained. "It worked really well because the five sisters froze them all with those nifty ice arrows."

She stared at him.

"I am not surprised to hear that you had the power to do that after you nearly overdosed on mana potion again, but I am surprised you had the technical skill to accomplish such a feat. We will discuss this later. for now, I think the others are finished." Isendra told him.

Izuku turned to look and sure enough Maria, Flavie and the other four rogues had come back from yet another round of searching the dead. Each carried armfuls of armor, daggers, swords and other armaments of the undead. Here and there were coin purses of any smaller trinkets they may have found. Which considering this was a burial ground, probably included a lot of heirlooms buried with the dead.

They carefully placed the latest items in a pile near the tree, with Flavie being more careful than the rest. She carefully placed a folded chain mail shirt on the ground and then place a bow next to it. After that was what he now recognized as a wand and a large, tattered book.

"We can't figure out who is even who of the undead." Flavie explained. "Without access to the monastery and the burial records we can't identify who is who based on their belonging. And their bodies were so damaged by the purge spell tied to Raven's death that we can't even rebury them, let alone in the correct graves."

She wiped a tear from her eye and sniffed a bit but kept her jaw firm.

"I think the best we can do for them is collect their ashes and dust into sacks and send them off down the river." Flavie said.

"I think that is a lovely idea." Maria said kindly as she came up behind Flavie and rubbed her back. "We will prepare the encampment for the funerary services when we get back."

"What of their belongings?" Asked another rogue, Lemmie, if Izuku remembered correctly.

"That is a much easier issue to resolve." Flavie said, turning to Izuku and Isendra. "That you two did the most to put them back to their eternal rest despite having the least at stake for doing so means I think you should have their offerings. That which was buried with them and rose with them. All of these valuables, tools, weapons and armor are yours to do with what you wish."

Isendra stood up in a gesture similar to that of standing at attention.

"Isendra, I suspect Blood Raven's chain mail may fit you with some modifications, and besides Akara I can think of nobody more able to make use of her grimoire." Flavie said as she picked up the two items in question and handed it to his master.

She took them with a slight bow.

"And Izuku, her bow is too large for you but I suspect you will grow into it in time. It was with this bow that she fought the forces of Diablo himself and helped to take him down." Flavie explained as she picked up said bow and approached him with it.

Izuku backed away at the gesture.

"I um. I don't know if I can accept that." He said.

Quick as a flash Isendra placed her newly acquired chain mail and grimoire on the ground and roughly grabbed Izuku by his shoulder to drag him away.

"Excuse us for a moment." She said to the sisters.

She pulled him away just out of earshot before looking him sternly in the eyes.

"You are insulting them, and you are embarrassing me." Isendra insisted, her teeth gritted in clear anger with him. "Take it. You will apologize and accept any gifts they have to give."

Izuku turned his eyes downwards in deference.

"Yes, mistress." He said, feeling awkward for using the word.

When she nodded in satisfaction and made no stink about the form of address they returned to the tree. Thinking fast he came up with an excuse.

"Apologies. I meant to say, it might be better off in more skilled and deserving hands like yours, as I didn't help battle Raven. But it is yours to decide, so I shall endeavor to earn it in time." Izuku explained with a bow.

Flavie made an 'oh' face of realization at his thinking. she gave Isendra a slightly condescending look as if to imply she had overreacted to his perceived slight. All in all, his bullshit went right under her radar.

"You think too strategically at times, young Midoriya. You are such a man." Flavie chastised. "Sometimes you need to think more emotionally, as tradition and etiquette do not fall by the wayside in war. You have much training and growing to do before you can effectively use this bow, but I have seen your studiousness and hard work in all other things. I know you will train hard with it."

She handed him the bow again and this time he took it. After praise like that, how could he not?

"The rest you may sort through at your leisure seeing as you are to remain here. Are you two okay on your own while the rest of us return to the encampment?" Flavie asked.

"He and I are still fresh, and we were sent to relieve you anyways. All of you need to get back and rest properly. The burial ground must be protected, and I have duties as a teacher that I have obviously neglected. Duties that I prefer to do in private."

They all accepted this and readied to leave. It didn't take the seven of them much time as they were already packed and ready to go.

Together they all walked to the edge of the burial ground and the copse of oaks where the watch usually camped. The seven rogues watched patiently as Izuku and Isendra set up their camp. When that was done, they began their long trek home.

"Bye Izuku." Alexis said with a meek wave as she limped by.

He waved back but stopped when he noticed Isendra looking at the still injured rogue with a look of angry suspicion.

They watched and waited for the group of rogues to vanish into the night before they began to talk.

"We have at least a week until we are relieved, and I intend to spend that week correcting the holes in your training that reared up." Isendra said. "Over the next week I will be teaching you the basic firebolt spell and try to worm out of you the cultural differences that you keep stumbling over. I expect this to be difficult as I have no way of knowing what is different about your society in comparison to mine, unless you can point out things in our society that are utterly unacceptable in yours? But the problem there is that we have no way of knowing if your society has tendencies that are utterly unacceptable here until you stumble across them."

Izuku nodded to her words. It was all a very reasonable process.

"Should we start by my pointing out what is unacceptable to mine that I've noticed?" Izuku offered.

"That seems most logical. Seeing as you are too worn out to practice magic from the battle or even to do your pack mule duties at the moment." Isendra invited.

Izuku nodded.

"I don't have trouble with the things that aren't currently acceptable but used to be in my world, like slavery and indentured servitude. Those I was unsurprised by." Izuku began.

"Slavery and indentured servitude are nonexistent in your world?" Isendra asked, curious.

"Well. It exists but it's very illegal almost everywhere. It is one of the worst evils to us. No, all work is reimbursed financially with a proper wage. No matter what." Izuku explained.

"Even apprenticeships?" Isendra asked. "Journeyman tradesmen are paid in full?"

"Better than most people, actually, yeah." Izuku said. "But most learning is done through schools instead of apprenticeships. Some schools the student pays for or takes out debt for, others are subsidized by benefactors, like companies that employed skilled workers. Izuku explained.

Isendra pulled out her own journal and began writing down what he had just said.

"What do you have trouble with then?" Isendra probed.

"It was the things that were unacceptable even when my world had a similar society to yours that still trip me up. Stealing from the dead has never been acceptable. Even in hard times." Izuku explained.

"Then perchance you should list off the things your world finds most reprehensible and I can explain how they are dealt with here?" Isendra suggested.

"Cannibalism?" Izuku asked.

"Death penalty." Isendra said simply.

"Gayness?" He asked.

"There is not much to be gay about in these dark times, but is it such a terrible thing in your world?" Isendra asked.

Izuku was reminded that words and their meanings changed over time, and she didn't know what he meant by gay.

"Homophilia?" He clarified.

"Some societies still prey on boys your age as catamites, yes, but you need not worry about such a fate befalling you." Isendra consoled. "You need not be violated by older men to learn in my order."

Ah. They carried on a Greek tradition here then.

"Rape?" Izuku asked.

"Very illegal." Isendra informed him. "Usually, the two participants will be forced into marriage, especially if they conceive, or the cad will be forced to pay reparations for seducing the maiden. Rarely is a man executed for being a rake, but it does happen. Especially should he be the paramour of a married woman."

Izuku didn't understand how any of what she just said applied to rape, until he remembered that words change meaning over time.

That's right, rape used to just mean 'premarital sex'. Every now and then a story out of India or the middle east would reach Japan about a poor young girl being forced to marry her rapist. Usually leading to some superficial outrage. When the reality turned out to be that a young man was forced to marry the village mattress he had slept with or else be executed, such outrage vanished. Such men usually opted for a horrible marriage over death by mob.

He didn't know rape also used to be applied to adultery. Sure, they learned during their study of the western Scarlet Letter that the paramours of adulteresses were regularly executed while said adulteresses were just publicly shamed, but it was never referred to as rape.

"I think your world is more similar to the history of mine than it is different." Izuku concluded. "I wish I could just assume the following were unacceptable, but I have to ask. Bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia?"

"Each warrants a long and painful execution." Isendra summarized. "Though surely taking from the dead isn't as abhorrent to your people as those things?"

Izuku conceded her point with a shrug.

"We shall figure this all out in time, my apprentice." Isendra consoled. "I believe the best policy is for you to simply watch and observe how people here behave and remain silent. Do as I do or say, and you shall be fine. For now, get some sleep. I will keep first watch."

---

The next morning saw Izuku cleaning up the burial grounds with a broom and dustpan. Flavie hadn't been kidding when she said the army of undead had all been reduced to ash and dust. She left out the bone meal part.

He felt the epitome of sacrilegious for treating the dead like mere dirt to be placed into rubbish bags, but dump them into burlap sacks he did and as the hours waned on the bags became fuller and more numerous. All the while he made a point to keep Isendra's sleeping form in clear view, occasionally doing a lap around the grounds to see any approaching threats on the horizon.

It was bizarre for the place to be so quiet and unmolested after such a fierce battle. It really was just the two of them there.

It was nearly noon when he decided to take a break. He retrieved some bread, cured meat and cheese from their rations and approached Isendra's sleeping form, gently prodding her awake.

"Hm?" She said as she stirred in a panic, before calming down at the sight of him. "Oh. Is it time for me to start the day Izuku?"

"Yes, Mistress." He said, handing her half of the days rations.

"Thank you." She said, sitting up in her sleeping bag and crawling out of it.

They had dug up a patch of dirt under the tree for her to sleep under, that way she could sleep shaded from the sun. The added bonus of being in his eyeshot at all times while not being on top of somebody's grave were added bonuses.

"Tell me of this firewall you performed last night?" Isendra invited as she ate.

Izuku paused in his eating to answer.

"Well, I took some of the mana potion when I was starting to feel exhausted. But felt the potions effects overwhelming him and sought to release it all at once." He explained. "What I did was force all of my mana out at once along the ground and then, you know, ignited it."

Isendra nodded with his words.

"It sounds like your hyper-sensitivity to mana potions is more severe than we thought." She said, "We need to figure out how little you can safely consume, and we will do so during your training starting today."

"Is this an advantage?" Izuku asked. "Being sensitive to mana potions like that?"

"Financially? Yes. You can buy one mana potion, split it into eight or more vials and water them down. You will save a fortune. But I know that's not where your mind has wandered to." Isendra warned. "You are not the first person to be hyper-sensitive to mana potions, nor are you the first to imagine overcharging your mana in order to perform spells far beyond your ability is a good idea. Learn from the mistakes of the people who tried; it isn't. If you repeatedly do so it can and will kill you, or worse, permanently disable you and your magic so that the pain of mana surge will be permanent."

Ouch. Yeah, he didn't want that.

"But then why am I not experiencing any pain from it now? I feel fine. Better than usual actually." Izuku told her.

"That's because you are an eleven-year-old child. As such you can bounce back from anything. I could hurl you off a cliff and you would walk it off. Take my word for it, the day will come when you wake up with inexplicable body pains, where your ankle or back hurt for no reason. And that will be the day you realize you have reached adulthood." Isendra explained.

Izuku smiled politely at the obvious joke, even if he didn't quite get it.

It made sense though. Him recovering from overusing a substance better than an adult seemed obvious, actually. Children had higher metabolisms, thus they healed faster, and had more flexible bones. Not to mention less developed nerves thus felt less pain, or so his dentist had explained to his mother at her concerns over the lack of anesthesia during his last cavity filling. That didn't mean he experienced less damage from overusing mana potions, just that he felt it less acutely and recovered from it more quickly.

"Are you ready to learn the firebolt spell?" Isendra asked as she finished off her breakfast.

Boy was he!

"You will need gloves." Isendra said.

Fortunately, there were several pairs in the pile of dead people's things just a meter away. He went over to the slightly organized pile and grabbed a pair of leather gloves.

"Put on two pairs." She instructed.

He put a second pair on over the first.

"And a helmet." She added.

He grabbed a metal helmet.

"Now, as you did with the wall of fire last night, extend the mana out of your body into a separate mass." She told him. "In the form of a sphere between your hands."

Izuku did so, and it came to him easily. It barely took him a minute before he succeeded. The ball of dim, blue light between his hands was barely visible in the bright sunlight, but it was there.

"Now light it on fire." She told him.

That part took less than a thought, and suddenly a ball of flame was hovering in the air between his hands.

"I did it!" Izuku yelled excitedly.

Isendra crushed that excitement along with his flame by reaching out with one hand and closing it into a fist, snuffing out the fire.

"You created a ball of fire. With that the most you could do is a weak flamethrower spell, useless against most enemies as pain will not slow down an undead nor a fallen." She said, "The firebolt is much more than that. It is concentrated, and it explodes with great heat and force upon impact with whatever you throw it at."

"Oh!" Izuku said. "So, I need to add a lot more mana, condense it and only ignite the outside of it? That way when it impacts all of the mana crushed inside will explode out at once?"

Isendra stared at him slack jawed.

"Yes. That is exactly right." She said suspiciously. "I'm starting to understand why my teachers hated me for being so much quicker to learn than them."

This was turning into his time with Akara all over again.

"Shall I try it?" Izuku asked.

"Now is as good a time as ever." She said, backing away from him.

He repeated the process again from earlier, this time pumping all of the mana he could through his arms into a point in the air between his hands. The ball of light he created this time was much brighter than before, like a star brought down to earth. Then, he ignited it.

---

When Izuku regained consciousness it was brought about by water being poured onto his face.

"Owe! What happened?" He asked Isendra.

"Same thing that happens to every sorcerer trying to cast the firebolt for the first time." She said. "It blew up in your face. No burns or lasting damage, just some soot. And I expect you will develop some bruises from that impressive explosion you caused."

So that's why she had backed away.

"For most people they don't actually send themselves flying two whole meters, but I think we have already established not to expect anything normal from you." Isendra said dryly. "Are you feeling any mana fatigue from that?"

Izuku stood up shakily, paying attention to his body as he did so. The same sensation of heavy exhaustion in his body that he had felt while cauterizing Alexis' wounds had returned during his nap.

He nodded.

"Drink a mouthful of this." She instructed, handing him a potion bottle.

It was too clear and light of a blue to be a regular mana potion, so he assumed she had just watered one down to be safe for him to drink. When he drank the mouthful as instructed he confirmed the same minty taste of a mana potion but milder.

"Wait a few moments, and when you stop feeling the increase in your mana drink another mouthful." She told him.

He did as she said, and they wound up repeating the process two more times before he felt like his mana was where it was when he woke up. She took a note of this in her journal, probably calculating how much mana potion that equated to.

"Now, I need you to try the firebolt again, this time using far less mana." She told him. "It will explode in your face. As will the third one and the thirtieth one. When you're able to maintain a firebolt between your hands for an entire minute we will move onto hurling it. And then work on your casting speed. And only then will you focus on power."

Izuku nodded. It was a logical process of development in his mind. Master casting the spell first, then doing so quickly enough to be of use at all in a battle, then improve it.

And so, the days passed.

His mornings were spent cleaning up the piles of human remains and his afternoons were spent knocking himself flat on his butt over and over again while Isendra studied Blood Raven's journal and organized their misbegotten goods. Each day ended with him scrubbing his face clean of the thick layer of soot he had earned. Along with the satisfaction that he had increased the time he could hold the spell by another ten seconds.

By the third day he had completely cleaned up the dead bodies and moved onto weeding the graves. Isendra had given him an odd look for his extra self-imposed labor when she had woken up and seen the results. She made no comment to encourage or dissuade him, so he kept at it.

It was on the fifth day that Isendra finally gave him further instructions.

"Now throw it." She said.

He tried to, but when he moved his hands to push it away it simply exploded.

"With your mana, young one." She corrected with a chuckle.

Ah. That made more sense. Sadly, it was easier said than done. It was another three days of attempts before he managed to send the firebolt flying instead of exploding in his face. By then the graveyard was free of weeds and he had even started on cleaning the tombstones themselves, though he had no hope of straightening them without a few heavy lifters there to help.

"You need to be able to hurl it more than two meters. I have seen you fire a bow. I know you can aim." She scolded.

Oh right. He had neglected his bow and knife practice these last six days. He would remedy that tomorrow, for now he needed to master the firebolt. He was so close it was maddening.

"I'd say you've pretty much learned the spell. You just need more practice." Isendra told him, clearly seeing his frustration. "In this at least your sensitivity to mana potions is a boon. One bottle is enough to keep your mana stores full for days. You can squeeze in far more practice than most apprentices. Believe me, you are making extraordinarily good time."

Izuku recognized her words as an invitation to take a break. He relented, putting his arms down and taking a deep breath.

"Come, sit with me. Let me show you what I have been learning." She ushered him towards her.

He came to her and sat on the ground just behind her.

"Moreina, in life, had picked up a few very useful spells. Including powerful healing spells, which I am not attuned to nor is my equipment. But more interesting is this." She said, opening to a page he couldn't make heads or tails of. "You cannot read runes, but this page and its diagrams depict a warp spell. A useful one that I have been learning while you practiced the firebolt."

---

Gheed was spending his evening doing what he did most evenings. Sitting on the edge of his cart smoking his pipe to wind down from the day.

Trading between the different encampments was long, slow work and the wagon from the east encampment brought with it tobacco and tea leaves, which most people thought he was crazy for combining.

"Any good drink come in today?" Warriv asked as he approached.

"Sadly, no." Gheed said. "But the bread is oddly plentiful. Hopefully the hunting party brings back some good meat this time."

"Anything but blood hawk meat is all I pray for." Warriv sighed in wanting.

One second the two men were being jovial, the next they were cowering beneath his wagon as a great, white gate opened up right next to them.

Peeking out from their hiding place, bereft of weapons, they saw a small figure walk through it carrying a burlap sack nearly as large as he was.

"Oh hey Warriv. Gheed. What are you doing down there?" Izuku asked politely.

"Um. Hiding from potential hordes of fallen flooding through a portal that just opened up next to us?" Warriv offered.

"Huh. Well that isn't going to happen, only nice people can get through this gate." Izuku told them. "Well I need to get these bags of bonemeal, ash and dust to Kashya. If you could help me with that, Warriv. Then I need to come sell you a lot of neat stuff, Gheed."

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:​

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room for fanfiction.

$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 10:

Positively Shocking​

---

"Aaaand I think that's the last of it." Izuku said as he placed the last of the misbegotten loot onto Gheed's cart.

The man now had a veritable armory of bows, daggers and passable leather armors. Gheed found the handful of wands particularly interesting, especially the twisted black one.

"Did Isendra mention what it was attuned to?" He asked, holding said black wand.

"Oh, um. Necromancy." Izuku said.

"And obviously so, but it always pays to make certain by the advice of an expert." He said in the air of a wise man imparting wisdom. "Is it your intention to outright sell all of this to me or do you have a shopping list to exchange for first before making up the difference?"

Izuku answered by pulling the literal shopping list from his breast pocket.

"She wants me to buy a metal helm, hard leather armor, hard leather gloves and a hard leather belt." Izuku listed off. "For me. Just a metal helm and hard leather belt and gloves for her."

"Most of that you should probably get new from Charsi." Gheed told him. "The smallest hard leather shirt she'll have will go down to your knees and look more like a tunic. And you'll have to cut a lot more notches into the belt. Pants will need modification too. You'll have to take all of it and the helm to Charsi for modification. You should probably focus on just buying supplies from me, kid."

"Oh! In that case all of the usual potions and supplies. Plus, I need some vodka and honey-soaked bandages. Resupply of our rations, extra burlap sacks. Like I said, the usual." Izuku listed off, thinking.

Gheed went around his wagon throwing all of the items Izuku mentioned into a sack while ticking off the items off his own list. Izuku suspected he was also keeping a tally of the cost exchange of the items he was selling with what Izuku just brought him. While he did that Izuku checked his coin purse to see if there was anything small he'd forgotten. Finding a couple gold rings and a chipped ruby he placed those on the cart as well, but stopped before dropping the ruby.

He could feel it. Magic inside of the stone. It was hot fiery, more so than magic naturally felt, like a little ember of the fire of life.

"And that should do it for you. Oh! Jewelry? For me?" Gheed interrupted Izuku's examination of the stone. "Let me do a little adjustment to my numbers then and I'll get you your gold."

Gheed snatched up the rings and ruby and disappeared into his tent where he no doubt kept a rather sturdy safe. He returned moments later with two sacks of coins and plopped them down.

Izuku picked them up and marveled at how light they were. They almost weighed nothing.

"I believe that brings you up to three thousand gold coins. Word to the wise, when every mission could be your last it is better to spend money on things that can save your life instead of hoarding gold." The self-interested gypsy said shamelessly.

Izuku ignored the latter part of what Gheed said and focused on the burning question at hand.

"Why do they weigh so little? This has got to be fifty kilos of gold here." he said.

"Secret enchantment of the money changers." Gheed told him. "From what little the rest of us can tell it only works on gold, copper and silver. Makes it weigh absolutely nothing. Also works on aluminum strangely enough, but only the really rich can get their hands on that stuff. We all wish they'd share the secret, that way enchanted jewelry could also be weightless. But since the weightless enchantments are unknown, there's no way to know how it'll interact with mana storage or poison protection enchantments or what have you."

That was a shame. And yet Izuku already had an theory how the enchantment worked anyways. All of those things he mentioned were strongly conductive and potentially magnetic. So was the planet. So maybe they enchanted coins to be repelled by the planet's magnetic field so perfectly as to weigh nothing at all? He'd have to remember to ask Isendra or Akara about that idea later.

"Could I get a journal off of you too?" Izuku asked. "I need to start writing more things down."

"Yes, Izuku. You do." Isendra said from behind him.

Izuku turned around to see the woman, now garbed in a skin tight chain mail beneath her usual clothing, walking towards him from the center of the encampment. It looked... good on her. Really good. Was chainmail supposed to be as attractive as the usual skin tight suits of heroes? because now he wanted a set.

"And a quarter of that is yours, for your help in the raid, work in the burial ground and trading with Gheed. Count it out later, for now I need you to follow me."

Izuku snatched up the bag of coins, and the brand new journal Gheed had somehow placed beside them in the few seconds he was looking away, and donned the sack of gear. He then hurried after Isendra's trail.

"Thanks to the portal we were relieved early." Isendra told him. "Kashya seems to think we earned it. She, Warriv and Akara request our presence at Akara's tent."

Izuku resisted the urge to correct her with a glib "Don't you mean Akara's NEW tent?" as he was certain it would earn him a glare at best, or a well-deserved smack at worst.

It was a short walk to Akara's new, larger tent and they entered the abode to greet the circle of wise leaders. All three of them were there, seated on cushions at the center of the room and obscured incense-smoke. There was somebody else there too, a woman, wrapped in bloodied bandages and laying down on a bed behind the three.

"Welcome Isendra, Izuku. Please. Come in." Akara instructed, motioning to the free cushions.

They did so, with Izuku waiting for his mistress to sit first before doing hte same.

"You have both earned my respect." Kashya started the meeting out. "Blood Raven was once my closest friend. Thanks to you not only was she and the rest of our sisters of the past returned to their eternal rest, but you saved the lives of six of my bravest. Possibly seven. As such all of them are now at your service whenever they can be spared."

Isendra bowed graciously and Izuku followed her example.

"You will need it for the mission we have for you now." Warriv added, cutting straight to the point. "Deckard Cain is alive, and you are to rescue him and bring him here."

"Impossible!" Isendra gasped. "Tristram fell months ago, how could he have survived there this entire time?"

Izuku was hearing a lot of new words today, so he opened his journal and began writing them down.

"I came across several survivors of the raid on Tristram after Diablo's defeat." Warriv said. "Each was certain that Cain had been captured alive and imprisoned. I determined then that he was surely dead, but it is clear now that I was mistaken."

"Indeed." Said Kashya. "I sent a scouting party out to perform reconnaissance on the destroyed city, and they witnessed Cain imprisoned, raised up in a cage to be given a full view of the devastation of his homeland. We need him."

Isendra nodded, a look of deep consternation on her face.

"We are dealing with forces we do not understand, and we cannot afford to blunder along any further." Akara jumped in. "Of the Horadrim left alive, none are more studied or wise than Deckard Cain. And above swordsmen, sorcerer's and archers, what we need is information and the wisdom to guide it. We. Need. Deckard Cain. With his brilliant mind as our sword we can slice through the fiendish forces assailing us."

Warriv scoffed.

"What little of it remains." The caravan leader said dismissively. "From what the survivors told me he had already been driven half mad even then, when he was first captured. I shudder to think about the state of his psyche after several months in the care of fallen shamans."

Izuku had seen healing magic and potions used so vociferously as to be ubiquitous. Was there no healing magic for the damaged mind? He wrote that question down in his new journal. Followed by whether or not gems could be filled with magic and his idea on the weightlessness enchantment.

"Even madness-addled, his brain would be an invaluable asset." Isendra countered, hand on her chin in thought. "But it would take us nearly a month to reach Tristram by foot, and by then he surely would be lost."

"That is why you will not be going by foot." Kashya told them.

"But how would we get there?" Isendra asked.

"Through the Cairn stones." Akara told them, and Izuku wrote that down as well. "There is a magical portal there that will take you directly to Tristram, but the way to access it has been lost for some time."

Which is why I sent another team to recover said way." Kashya took over. "The tree of Inifuss to the north, a repository for arcane knowledge by wielders of magic long lost. The last survivor of the team I sent returned yesterday, her sisters all fallen to the protections it held."

She turned around to the prone figure on the bed, whose breathing was inconsistent and strained even though she was clearly asleep.

"Freya may yet die from her wounds, but her bravery bore fruit." Kashya told them, lifting a scroll made of tree bark for them all to see. "This contains the knowledge you will need, but it is gibberish to all but our brilliant Akara."

Akara bowed her head at the compliment just as Isendra had before.

"It will take me all evening to finish the translations, as such you two will leave first thing in the morning." Akra told them. "I am certain that you have the skill to open the portal with this information, Isendra. And should you lack the power, I am equally certain that young Midoriya can make up the difference."

Izuku blushed at the praise and implied sourness. Yeah, she was definitely still upset about the whole blowing up her tent thing.

"This timing is especially fortuitous." Kashya told them. "As we all wish to be alone for the sending off of our lost sisters down the river. Make your preparations and rest well until then. You may take any of the seven from your mission to the burial grounds, save for Alexis who I have put on leave to recover from her ordeal there."

Warriv scoffed again.

"Ironic, considering she was the most outspoken about wanting to join the two of them." He said teasingly.

Kashya glared at him but did not comment.

"I understand you now know the Town Portal spell?" Akara said. "Seeing as that is the case I would like you to have the handful of town portal scrolls I have made. In case Izuku or Cain must escape without you. Now, go prepare for your trip and rest well. In the morning we will have our river funeral the moment you leave."

"I am also preparing my caravan to give you some privacy for the day." Warriv said sympathetically. "So, we shall accompany you two for a leg of your journey before turning back around. A good hike will do all of us some good, I think."

Isendra bowed graciously once again and stood up to leave. Izuku imitated her actions and followed her out through the front flap.

"We must hurry. Charsi will have her work cut out for her preparing your new armor by morning, and we will have to pay her extra for the effort." Isendra told him. "Get good sleep, for tomorrow we have a long hike and longer battle."

---

The next morning saw the duo setting out from the rogue encampment and a piece of magical bark capable of acting as a key to a portal powered by standing stones. He had been prepared mentally for a strange life as a hero, but the life he was living was stranger by far.

His new armor fit snugly, especially his helmet which he suspected Charsi had taken extra care in fashioning for him. That or his work in helping her for the past few months made her more familiar with his dimensions than Isendra's.

The army of merchants and dispossessed refugees following in their wake was the most normal thing about the situation.

"In a just world we would all be partying in celebration right now." Gheed lamented. "Our victorious heroes return from a battle they won by an overwhelming margin, and we send them right back out with solemn proceedings in place of exultations."

"Please do not fill my apprentice's head with unrealistic expectations." Isendra scolded the man before looking pointedly in Izuku's eyes. "Casualty-free victories like what we had at the burial grounds are a rarity. Dare I say, miracle. A blessing we should be eternally grateful for. But as you no doubt realized from the fate of the team sent to retrieve the bark of Inifuss, you should not expect such victories in the future. Or dare to hope for them."

As a matter of fact, that exact epiphany had plagued Izuku the night before after seeing the bandaged Freya in Akara's tent. He still intended to dare to hope, but he would keep such willful naivety to himself.

"Bastion of optimism and positive reinforcement, that one." Warriv remarked snidely.

Isendra turned her frigid glare on Warriv.

"Unironically? I am significantly more optimistic than I let on. But I have duties as his mistress to temper it." She said before motioning for Izuku to follow her.

She led him to the side of the caravan and out of earshot but doing so in a way as to remain parallel to them so as to remain on track.

"Just because we have company does not mean we can neglect your training. Now, I have seen you writing diligently into your notebook. Am I right to assume you have been saving your incessant questions for more appropriate situations in which to ask them?" She asked, and when Izuku nodded she went on. "Well now is that situation. Ask away."

Izuku withdrew his journal and started at the top.

"Can gems be imbued with magic of a specific element?" He asked.

"Ah! felt the fire magic within the ruby you found, did you?" She asked rhetorically. "Yes indeed. They can serve as a great store of power. Metals are excellent for imbuing with a spell to be powered by a user, and sometimes are sufficient to power them, and gems can often be filled with enough of said power for those without sufficient magical power. Or those who run out of their own mana."

Izuku wrote that down.

"I thought scrolls were the things imbued with spells?" Izuku asked.

"They can be, but with special ink made from the dust of gems. Where they get the dust from, I do not know." Isendra answered.

"Probably shavings from the process of cutting gems into shape." Izuku said offhandedly as he wrote these words down too.

Isendra sighed but nodded in agreement.

"Is there healing magic and potions for repairing damaged minds as with damaged bodies?" He asked.

"Ouch." Isendra said with a hiss. "That is a touchy subject. Mind magics are more verboten than even necromancy, which is somewhat tolerable because most mage's of healing are technically also a necromancers. The need to understand the body and its processes necessitates the study thereof. The evil one can do with mind magics is orders of magnitude greater than nearly any other. I leave it to your imagination how that is so. As with healing magic in order to become skilled enough to heal a mind or soul with magic necessitates and implies the ability and practice of harming the mind with magic. The mere rumor that you have such abilities will lead to shunning at best, constant attempts on your life at worst."

Izuku wrote that down in big, bold letters. Poor Cain. Anybody actually capable of helping him would die before actually helping him.

"Now. It is time for you to branch out into other magics besides fire spells." Isendra told him. "Now get out your waterskin."

Izuku put his journal away and did as she instructed.

"Now, with fire under your belt, ice magic should come easy." She began.

"Makes sense. Cold is just the absence of heat. So what, you want me to remove the heat from my waterskin to freeze it?" Izuku asked.

Isendra sighed again, this time massaging the bridge of her nose.

"I am being punished." She bemoaned, staring up to the sky. "The gods are punishing me for being such a nightmare to my own masters by saddling me with a prodigy of my own. If they were here now."

She turned a hateful glare down to him as they continued to walk.

"I do so hope this suffering is paid forward to you when you someday suffer an apprentice of your own. Fate willing, I will be there to watch and laugh at your misery." She laid a curse on him with a hint of smirk.

Izuku blushed at the venomous compliment to his intelligence he recognized her words as.

"Sooo..." Izuku pressed.

"Freeze the waterskin by drawing the heat away from it with your mana. It helps to first fill it with raw mana that you have not imbued with an element." She clarified.

Izuku did that. Or at least tried. Despite her insistence that it should be easy for him it did not come as easily as the firebolt spell, which he supposed was a good thing based on how much more dangerous an out-of-control ice spell might be. The firebolt he had held in the air away from him, the waterskin was in his hands. If he overdid it, he would probably wind up freezing his hands solid and wind up losing a few fingers to frostbite.

He'd already done enough damage to his fingers, thank you very much.

He spent the remainder of his morning trying to freeze said waterskin, but only managed to cool it. It made for a nice, cold drink when they finally took a break. He was partly pleased to discover the small shards of ice that came with the first gulp. Or at least after his panic from nearly swallowing them, he was.

"Alright, we're going to head on back." Warriv told them. "By the time we return Kashya should be finished with their funeral. You three sure you'll be fine by yourselves? We didn't encounter any trouble on our trip so far, but that's mostly because the small packs of fallen or foul creatures won't attack large groups."

Yeah, strength in numbers is a good shield to have, and he was sad to be losing it. But he was concerned by Warriv's sudden inability to count.

"Three of us?" Izuku asked.

"Isendra, you and myself." Flavie answered.

Izuku had somehow missed the strangeness of her presence until that very moment.

"Wait, you would miss out on the funeral to be with us?" Izuku asked.

"I sent off Raven when I dealt her the finishing blow in the burial ground. I am content." Flavie said solemnly. "But I am the strongest of my sisters that Kashya has put at your aid, and so I thought it best that I join you in this mission. It is important enough for me to sacrifice the chance to comfort my loved ones in their sorrow."

Izuku felt touched by her words, but suspected they meant more than he could guess.

The rest of the caravan turned around and proceeded back down the path from whence they came, leaving Izuku with Isendra and Flavie to continue their journey, which they did post haste.

The last leg of their journey was short, the fields of standing stones coming upon them before he could make any further progress on his water freezing practice.

"Fallen." Flavie said in a whisper before crouching down.

Izuku and Isendra followed suit, skulking towards the stones as quickly as their crouched stances would allow. Izuku couldn't spot any sign of the fallen, not even a speck of red, but he didn't dare doubt Flavie's vision or judgment. He respected her too much.

When he finally spotted them he realized his mistake was assuming all fallen were red. These ones were turquoise blue and were camped out right in the middle of the circle of stones that served as their obvious target. Or at least, Izuku assumed these were the Cairn stones in question based on all the runes carved into them.

"That middle one could be a problem." Isendra said, pointing to the fallen in question.

Izuku followed her finger to spot a shaman, just like the ones they had faced in the cave. Squinting he could see the problem, as vicious sparks of electricity jetted between his horns as if they were Tesla coils. They definitely didn't want to get into close quarters combat with a demon of lightning.

"Overwhelming force from afar?" Flavie suggested, notching an arrow.

Isendra nodded.

"Izuku, it is time for you to put that firebolt of yours to good use. With the three of us focusing all fire on the shaman from afar we can hopefully take it down from afar. Then, its friends will be easy pickings." She instructed before correcting herself. "Well, easier pickings."

Izuku nodded, bringing his hands together to begin casting the spell in question.

It still took him half a minute to cast the damn thing, but he had gotten better at putting more into it. Without tooting his own horn, he suspected he could match Isendra's power with the spell. If he ever got to the point of being able to cast them like a machine gun, as Isendra could, he'd be a force to be reckoned with.

"You give the mark, Izuku." Isendra. "And that mark will be landing a firebolt on his big, ugly head."

Izuku nodded but put the rest of his focus into controlling his breathing and molding the spell. He put as much mana into it as he dared to risk, seeing as now would be the worst time possible to have one blow up in his face. When it reached its full power, he stood up from behind the boulder they were crouched behind and took aim at the unsuspecting demon.

His firebolt flew true and exploded on the creature's forehead in a burst of flame and smoke to outstrip all other bursts of flame and smoke he'd managed to create thus far. For a split second he stared in awe at the storm of fire and lightning that erupted around the creature, the bolts of which filled the entire area of the cairn stones with far greater range than they had expected of the shaman. Remembering himself, he began another firebolt just as the creature flew out of the flames towards them screeching at the top of its lungs.

Isendra and Flavie pelted it with piercing projectiles of ice as it bore down towards them. With each strike the lightning erupting from its body increased in number and intensity, while it's charging speed slowed in equal measure. The pack of similarly blue fallen charging beside their leader, on the other hand, kept a steady pace and paid no heed to the lightning that seemed to pass right through them.

By the time he readied his second fireball, the normal fallen were nearly upon them but he remained focused on the task at hand. He took aim and fired his second bolt at the shaman's center mass, missing by a foot and glowing off his shoulder and half his chest in a glorious display of frozen flesh and bone. The rest of his body fell to the ground with a dying gurgle.

Isendra and Flavie changed targets to the other fallen. Isendra with her an icy gale which brought the two closest to them down to snails pace, and Flavie with a fire arrow to the heart of the frozen one on the right. Before she could shoot another one on the left, Isendra erased it with a firebolt of her own.

The four remaining fallen then did something Izuku never expected one to do. They fled. They turned right around and ran away screaming.

He never would have expected them to be capable of self-preservation instincts, let alone acting on them. His estimation of their intelligence went up one entire point, bringing it up to exactly one. More surprisingly still, Isendra and Flavie let them, or more accurately, turned their attention to the seemingly dead shaman with their firebolt-fire arrow combo.

If it wasn't dead before, it sure was now.

"That was... anticlimactic." Izuku complained.

Flavie turned around and with an open hand smacked Izuku on the side of his head.

"Don't. Jinx our mission before it even really begins!" She snarled.

Izuku held a hand to where she'd hit him and blinked the surprise away.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, sorry." He said dazedly.

Isendra walked ahead to the Cairn stones, stepping over the dead fallen as she did so. Flavie did the same, but Izuku stayed behind. Feeling sufficiently humbled by the slap he remembered his job as a pack mule and searched the dead fallen for anything of value. A couple coin purses, and good quality leather belts and boots was all he found on the two normal fallen, but the shaman had two entire mana potions in addition to his coin purse.

It was when he picked up his staff that he realized he found something special.

"Whoa!" He gasped as he felt the magic within it.

The short staff reminded him almost of the ruby he had sold to Gheed the night before, but instead of feeling fire within it he felt fire within himself when he touched it. Like it was begging him to burn the world around him to ash. Looking closely, he saw there was a name written on it.

Bane Ash. Seemed fitting.

"What did you find there, Young Midoriya?" Isendra called.

He looked up to see her consulting the scroll Akara had translated in front of the nearest Cairn stone.

"Um. A staff. It feels like it wants me to use fire." He said, knowing the words sounded stupid.

"Then it is fire attuned. Seeing as all you can use is fire, it sounds like a good match. We will have to get it properly identified when we return." Isendra told him. "For now it should be a decent weapon for you, and a better walking stick."

It was exactly his height, yeah.

He walked to where Isendra was making shapes of blue mana on the stone with her finger, testing the stick's walking capabilities.

"Why did the lightning not hurt the other fallen?" He asked.

"Because they were his allies." Isendra answered without looking up from her task. "Magic is about intent, if you were to cast a firebolt at an enemy directly behind me with the intent to do me no harm, it would pass right through me."

Well that sounded like something she should have taught him before! It could come in handy.

"Is that why the lightning at the burial ground passed through all of us and only hurt the undead?" Izuku asked. "Was Blood Raven... helping us?"

"Indeed," Said Flavie. "In that last moment she was herself again, and it was beautiful. But don't go testing out your fireball on either of us until you have a bit more experience under your belt."

Izuku didn't need telling twice on that matter.

From there, he and Flavie watched silently as Isendra moved from stone to stone, drawing on them with her finger. She did this five times before achieving the result they had hoped for as a large portal like the one that had taken from the graveyard back to the encampment. Only this one was blood red. He didn't like that it was blood red, but he wouldn't complain.

"Steel your resolve. I suspect we will have a battle on our hands the moment we walk through." Isendra instructed him. "The moment you arrive, prepare a firebolt, and stay close."

Izuku nodded, and lined up behind the two women. Checking his surroundings to make sure none of the fleeing fallen were trying to sneak up behind them as he watched them filed through.

Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the portal.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by Magikuser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room for fanfiction.

$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 11:

Deckard Cain​

---

They arrive at Tristram beside a river to their left and pile after pile of rubble and ash on their right.

It was so overcast that the world appeared as night despite the orb of the sun being just noticeable in the sky overhead, but save for its halo in the clouds no light reached the earth. Despite that, he could see every shattered lamp post, crumbling foundations to homes and other structures and piles of ash to the horizon.

The crimson beacon of a portal they just walked through and could surely be seen for miles as it provided most of the light with which he could see, though he could recognize the glow of red and orange flames in the distance. Likely bonfires of those who had ravaged this land.

Any chance of this turning out to be a stealth mission was long gone thanks to said portal.

"They surely know we are here, prepare for immediate battle." Flavie ordered.

Izuku placed his hands together and began channeling mana in preparation of a firebolt as they advanced forward along the river. He had actually been tempted to start the spell before passing through the portal, but decided having it blow up upon his arrival would be a poor start to the battle ahead.

It was an entire ten seconds before they passed a house that belched forth a horde of skeletons. Each carried a saber and steel buckler. It wasn't even enough time for him to prepare a firebolt before the action started, just as they had predicted.

And so he watched helplessly as Flavie and Isendra took them down one-by one, both somehow knowing which target the other wanted to focus on and hurling their one two combo of ice and fire. Isendra threw ice bolts and firebolts while Flavie shot ice arrows and fire arrows. Alternating between elements so as to capitalize on the devastating effect of superheating frozen enemies.

By the time Izuku finished preparing his firebolt a lone zombie shambled into the fray and he let loose the orb of magic directly at its chest, erasing the undead from existence and thoroughly as if Isendra had cast it.

Refusing to let himself relax or take pride in the achievement, he began readying another firebolt as another, larger horde of buckler-brandishing skeletons and disoriented zombies closed in on them from all sides. This time a few of the turquoise fallen pushed through the throngs of undead too.

"Izuku! Prepare a fire wall!" Isendra ordered.

Oh were they considering it an actual spell now? Okay then. Izuku switched gears and reabsorbed the mana in his spell as Isendra let loose the largest blizzard from her hands he had seen her perform yet.

She and Flavie backed away towards him as the swarm of enemies closed in on them and Izuku moved forward. Placing both palms flat on the ground at the edge of the area of earth covered in frost. Pushing his mana outward he discovered he barely had to add any mana, as Isendra had already soaked the ten square meters with her own. He merely had to add enough to ignite it, which was still a significant amount for him, and the entirety of the enemy forces went up in flames.

Every bone on the skeletons shattered and the flesh of the feted flesh of the zombies melted before his eyes.

The three or so fallen closest to them, on the other hand, advanced onward towards them at a snail's pace as they fought against the layer of ice covering their bodies. Their speed increased as the flames lapped at them and removed said ice.

Insendra and Flavie took out the last couple of fallen as Izuku retreated to recover from the immense exertion. Reaching into the side pockets of his pack he retrieved a flask of his watered-down mana potion and downed a few gulps as he tried to catch his breath.

The fire died just as quickly as the trio of surviving fallen and Isendra gave herself a moment's respite to drink from her own bottle of mana potion before motioning to continue.

"We can search the bodies and abodes later, right now our sole focus is finding Cane." She instructed between heavy breaths. "Assuming he is alive."

"Help!" A man's voice hollered from beyond the burning building to their right.

The trio looked between each other. That sure had been fast.

They marched onward, past the flaming wreckage and into what must have been the town square. There, in the center, was a raised cage with a filth-covered man of significant age wearing nothing but tattered robes.

As soon as they entered the wide open area three entities to the north spotted them and began charging. At first Izuku mistook them for minotaurs, but as they drew nearer he realized they more resembled feral satyrs with wicked looking axes.

"Save Cane! Use your scroll to get him back to Tristram!" Isendra ordered.

Izuku nodded as the two women charged forward to meet the satyrs head on. He made a beeline straight to the pole holding up Deckard's cage

A single, hefty kick at the latched lever for the chain which held up his cage was enough to bring it crashing down, with Cain still in it. The old man grunted in pain at the sudden force of his stop but didn't seem harmed.

Izuku rushed to him, only to discover the cage had broken so thoroughly from the fall that he was simply able to walk out of it, though he did so weakly.

"Are you able to walk, mister Cain?" Izuku asked.

The old man waved off his concerns and held out a hand.

Now that he was up close Izuku couldn't help the horror at the physical state he was in. The man was skin and bones, pale beyond belief and the pinkish red color of healthy skin was absent. He also smelled of his own waste and months of unwashed sweat. The smell was overpowering.

"The scroll, quickly!" He demanded.

Izuku handed him the scroll and the man whipped it open like a roll of carpet. It obliterated itself in a flash of white light and a familiar blue portal appeared beside him.

"Thank you, young one. For coming to my aid. Return safely to wherever this portal takes me, with your companions in tow. We have much work to do." He said with a sad, weary expression.

He then limped through the portal and it faded behind him into nothing.

Izuku turned around to charge into the fray with Isendra and Flavie only to see that it was over and the two women were walking towards him.

"Mission accomplished, mistress." Izuku said with a full body sigh.

"No time to relax. We are not returning just yet." Isendra told him.

He straightened back up and re-tensed for more fighting.

"What are your orders?" He asked.

"Let us cleanse this place of evil. Let us tear down what little of the structures remain and put this city to rest once and for all." Isendra declared.

No sooner did the words escape her lips than did the sound of feet trampling earth echo from every corner of the ruined city. The screeching of fallen followed soon after.

Izuku placed his sack on the ground, unzipping the compartment of mana potions, and held his newly acquired staff with both hands. The desire to burn welled up in his being through his hands, up his arms and into his chest and he channeled as much mana as he dared into the staff.

He backed up towards where Isendra and Flavie stood back-to-back, and together the three covered every entrance to the town square as it filled with hordes of the blue, screeching demons.

They let loose everything they had. Or at least he did, paying no mind to the actions of his companions and trusting in them fully to cover him as he did for them.

Izuku flung a firebolt through the tip of his staff as easily as swinging it and it flew true to the shaman leading a horde from the south. It took his head off and continued through him into the chest of a fallen behind him, exploding with such force as to send the three around it diving to the ground.

The drain on his mana was instant, but not such that it tired him, so he followed it up with a one, two, swing that unleashed a pair of firebolts the the left and right most fallen charging forth. It achieved the crowd control he had been aiming for. Killing two fallen was a good start, sending eight backwards and to the ground was better, especially as it opened up the number of others behind them to a pair of firebolts all their own.

He was mowing them down like the trash they were and after the horrors he had personally witnessed the aftermath too it felt good to inflict a fraction of the pain they so enjoyed causing others back unto them.

By now he was beginning to feel the drain on his mana and the staff grew heavy in his arms. He took the small moment of respite as the fallen picked themselves off the ground to retrieve a mana potion from his sack and down as much as he could tolerate, before readying for another onslaught. The bastards mobilized quickly though, and the next fireball he flung exploded close enough for him to feel the heat and air pressure from the explosion. If they got any closer he would risk injuring himself and his ladies with the next firebolt.

"Prepare for nova!" Isendra called out from behind him.

Izuku recognized nova as that large wave of lightning she had used to clear out the cave what felt like forever ago.

"I'll follow it up with a fire wall!" He called back.

When neither voiced an objection he prepared the spell. As he had before, he placed the palms of both hands on the ground, setting the staff aside for now. He didn't have to wait long as a single, hair-raising wave of electricity passed through him harmlessly and towards the fallen not three meters away from him.

For the fallen, it was not so harmless. It stunned them in place like Parkinson's-inflicted marionettes. As did the second wave, and third which followed it. By now the electric current passing through them was visibly cooking their flesh from the inside.

Isendra must have run out of juice, pun intended, after the third nova spell so Izuku pushed every last ounce of his newly refilled mana pools into the fading spell and, like flicking a switch, ignited it.

Every inch of the town square was engulfed by his flames. As they rose Izuku focused his mind entirely on the idea of not harming Isendra and Flavie, hoping such intentions would be sufficient to spare them the searing heat and rising winds from his co-opted spell.

He couldn't see the effects of his efforts on the fallen, as the heat, wind and brightness of the flames forced him to clamp his eyes shut. But he did hear their screams for the short moment they lasted. He kept his concentration up even after he was sure they'd died out. Partly just to be safe, but mostly to retain control of the flames until they faded on their own. When they eventually did he felt himself collapse to the ground from the effort.

He was still fully conscious and felt no sign of it slipping, but every muscle felt tight and worn out.

That sure had been something.

He had the presence of mind to hear the releasing of a bow and several firebolts behind hin fired in his dazed state, but most of his focus was on the still open bottle of mana potion next to him. It took some teeth gritting but he managed to force his arms and hands to reach out and grasp the bottle. Bringing it shakily to his lips he drank as deeply as he could, draining it completely.

Silence reigned supreme in the burned ruins of Tristrams town square during the minute or so it took for the potion to work its magic. When he picked himself up from the ground it was to see Isendra and Flavie appraising him, and positively so by the looks on their faces.

"That is one hell of an apprentice you've gotten yourself, Isendra." Flavie said.

"Don't I know it." Isendra sighed with a bemused shake of her head.

Despite everything, he blushed at the praise. But the moment passed and he surveyed the damage.

Aside from the black, charred mounds of what had once been fallen, there was a large mass on the northside of the square. A single figure that had been caught in the lightning and flame but was not destroyed by it.

"What is that?" He asked.

"A very well made zombie." Isendra told him. "One made properly, and from a powerful man."

Right. The tenderizing that Raven had tried to do to Alexis, Mary and the others at the burial ground. On closer look it seemed to be a single man, a large one with no shortage of muscle or fat. To think he had survived all of that magic and needed a few arrows and additional firebolts to take down.

"Stay here, we will go search the dead and ruins this time." Flavie said. "You have earned a rest. Although we will leave the courtyard to you."

---

The trio returned triumphant through a manually cast portal by Isendra a few hours later as it was nearing night time.

They had opted to load the over fifty pairs of swords, bucklers and other weapons onto a barely functional cart they found in the ruins of Tristram instead of trying to bag and organize it all. The jewelry, potions, scrolls, gold and wands they found were threatening to burst from his overfilled pack. Isendra had packed any of the more interesting items into her own sack for later examination.

He was almost as amazed that he could fit the bag through the portal as with the cart, but both arrived at the encampment whole.

There, Kashya was waiting for them.

"Our hope for winning this war is now stronger than it has ever been." She said, "Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

"Is the old man okay?" Izuku asked.

She smiled kindly at him. A first.

"Akara is tending to him. Giving him a well-needed bath and proper meal as we speak." Kashya told him. "He will then be put to bed and treated." She informed them. "It will be a hard recovery, both from malnutrition and the adverse effects of cannibalism."

"Cannibalism?" Izuku asked.

Where had that come from?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his mistress looking at him sadly.

"What do you think they fed him to keep him alive there?" Isendra asked. "I'll tell you, it wasn't the long rotted cows we saw."

Izuku felt his stomach churn at yet another horrible revelation. All he could do was clench his teeth and fists, before excusing himself for an evening bath and bed.

---

A week later saw Izuku practicing his two mastered spells on a set of targets just outside of the encampment.

Each sported an assortment of holes where his spears of ice had embedded into them, but then again, so did the ground surrounding the targets. Several of said spears were still there.

Fire bolt. Ice bolt. Fire wall. His repertoire grew daily. He guessed flamethrower and drink chill could be added to the list if he was feeling generous to himself.

He took a break from wasting mana to sit on his rock and eat a bit of hard bread, looking over to the encampment to see if anything was amiss.

All seemed well. The freshly washed leather and padded armors from Tristram were hanging out to dry again beside the usual linen.

Ever since they'd returned with a mountain of gear, Charsi was hard at work repairing the many shields, swords and even a few sets of chain mail they had recovered. Meanwhile, Warriv's crew was working on the leather and padded armors. They were hard at work every morning cleaning and re-cleaning them to make them at all wearable, soaking them in perfumed charcoal and ash overnight to help the process of removing the stink further. They were close to ready for the basic tailoring to repair for rips and tears.

The only strange thing about the scene was Isendra, clad in the loose, white dress she always wore on washing days, approaching him.

Isendra comes to get him.

"Cain is awake and he wishes to see us." She informed him once he was within earshot.

He nodded, put his food things away, and joined her in the walk back to camp.

The mood had completely shifted since their return from Tristram. Their success in rescuing such a valuable sage, and the new armory they were in the process of building, felt like it changed the dynamics of the war completely.

Most difficult to adjust to was the change Izuku and Isendra's standing within said camp. Everyone smiled at them now. Everyone showed a similar respect to him as to Isendra. This came with the downside that they were less likely to ask him for help with the more menial tasks around camp, but he refused to stand aside and avoid pulling his own weight.

He did worry that people were getting annoyed with him badgering them for tasks to do, but there was never a shortage of such when he asked for them.

They arrived at Akara's tent to see her standing patiently outside for them.

"He is still weak, speak gently. And as respectfully as in the presence of god, young Midoriya." She said,

Addendum: Everyone aside from Akara treated him with respect. Geez, you burn a woman's home down and she never wants to let it go.

They entered the tent and Izuku couldn't stop the smile from erupting on his face at Cain's visibly improved health. He was still dangerously thin, sure, but pink had returned to his filth-free cheeks and his combed hair added some humanity back to his appearance.

"I wanted to personally thank you again for risking so much to save me." He began. "And even though your motivations weren't entirely selfless, the spirit of said motives were. As such my services are at your disposal should you ever need them. I have long made a living from charging for my ability to identify the magical properties of items without the need of an ancili, and now I shall do so for you at any time."

Isendra stood up even straighter at this pronouncement and Izuku knew this must be an even bigger boon than he could have guessed. He chose not to write that question down at the moment.

"I insist on you resting for one more day before doing anything that laborious." Akara interrupted. "Tomorrow you may begin providing them such services."

"Hmm. In the meantime I do hope somebody will begin filling me in on what I missed during my months of captivity." He said. "Or am I not strong enough for that, young lady?"

It took Izuku a moment to realize he was speaking to Akara due to the use of "young lady" for describing her, and he had to bite his lips to hide his amusement.

"I will tell you everything today, so long as you remain in bed." Akara said patiently. "After all, tomorrow we need you to begin helping us plan and coordinate."

The two were dismissed after that and they exited to walk back out to the gate. Nobody interrupted them.

"How goes your ice bolt practice?" Isendra asked.

"Well," he said. "It's tougher to aim and propel that firebolts or arrows because of their weight, but I've got good timing on it and I hit more targets than I miss."

"Good. Then we shall move onto finishing the trifecta. It is time for you to learn the charged bolt, the most dangerous of the lowest tier of elemental magics." Isendra said.

Finally! Lightning really did seem like the most powerful of the magics, and the most fun seeing as he had some knowledge of electricity, and even that small amount outstripped the rest of the worlds.

They returned to his rock and Isendra put out a hand as if asking for a high five.

"Place your hand a few inches from mine." She instructed.

Izuku did so and was immediately zapped, as if by static shock, but strong enough to almost make his hand numb.

"Now you know what lightning feels like. Focus on that feeling and try to recreate it." She said, keeping her hand in place. "And shock me back."

Izuku did so.

"Owe! Damnit Izuku!" Isendra cried out as she backed away from him. "First try?! Really?!"

Izuku struggled to keep a straight face, but somehow pulled it off. Maybe it had been a smidgen of retaliatory anger at the unexpected shock she had given him, but when he had raised his hand back to hers the magic obeyed and bridged the gap between them in a vindictive arc of electricity with such ease it astounded him as much as her.

"I was expecting that to take all day." She groused. "That just isn't natural. Well the next step is to go practice on a steel sword in the ground, but I didn't come prepared with one."

That made sense. A grounded piece of metal to absorb the shocks safely.

"Am I just supposed to incrementally increase the amount of space between myself and the sword?" he asked.

She rubbed her eyes, fighting the obvious headache he always seemed to cause her when he seemed to know the training regimen before she shared it.

"That is correct." She sighed. "Come on. Let's go get you a sword.

---

"Hmmm." Deckard Cain hummed as he looked over the myriad of things they had placed on the table for him to examine. "The two rings are enchanted with magical protections. One for elemental resistance ot fire, and one for poison."

"To slow the progress of poison or reduce the chance of becoming infected in the first place?" Isendra asked.

"The latter." He said.

Isendra picked up the poison one and dawned it on her index finger, handing the one for fire to Izuku which barely fit on his thumb.

"This staff is far more interesting." He said. "It too provides elemental resistance to fire, much more extremely than the ring. With the two together you can almost walk through fire unharmed. But in addition to that it specifically amplifies power the fire bolt spell and aids the wielder in casting it more quickly. But wait, there's more. It can siphon overspent mana back to the user, if they overcharge the spell, and its biggest boon is an enchantment that amplifies a spells strength when targeting the undead. and has an added reservoir of mana"

Isnedra whistled.

"How did they fit so many enchantments onto a staff?" She asked. "It must have been made by a very skilled enchanter."

"Indeed," Said Cain. "But not quite a master enchanter. The enchantments are static. They do not grow or adapt to the user, as masterfully enchanted items will. All the same, it is an excellent choice in weaponry to your pyromaniac apprentice."

He handed Bane Ash back to Izuku and he marveled at it with a new perspective. It really did seem like providence that he would find such a weapon just before arriving at Tristram. He was sure he wouldn't have done half as well against those hordes without it and they would have had to flee through a rushed portal instead of being victorious.

"Oh! And this little ring here has what I call a laxative enchantment." He said, picking up a small silver one. "It loosens the mana pathways and allows the user to form spells more quickly, thus casting them more quickly."

Izuku chuckled at the humor and Isendra nodded for him to take it. It made sense for him to wear it with his much slower casting speed than her. This one fit on his index well enough.

"Now, I do believe Kashya and Warriv have called a meeting for the whole encampment. We have much to discuss." Cain said before standing up and walking towards the central bonfire.

Isendra and Izuku followed him.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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[Magikuser]

Chapter 12:​

Incense and Iron​

---

Izuku was dreaming. As always, he dreamed of the comforts of home. Of cities with buildings of glass and steel reaching to the sky. Of hopeful and noble youth with visions of their future heroism with an optimistic glee filling their naive heads. A world with merciful heroes who fought not only to protect the innocent, but to restore the innocence to those who had lost it and fallen into villainy.

When he woke up it was to return to a world lacking all of that. The comforts of technology, like soft clothes and delicious food, was replaced by rags to wear and far too much meat. The hopeful and optimistic youth were replaced by quiet and despondent elders all around the camp. And those kind merciful heroes were replaced by strong, brutal warriors fighting against enemies incapable of mercy and undeserving of it in return.

Oh, how he missed the sanitary streets of Japan's cities, even as he became used to living among farm animals, including the horrifically smelling billy goats and chickens. And oh, how he missed the baked goods and hot drinks of vending machines. Instead, he was eating a plate of fish, cheese and eggs with enough protein to turn Stephan Hawking into Arnold Schwarzenegger overnight. And yet, he was as grateful for the meal as if it were mana from heaven.

With his belly full he started his day of helping out around the encampment.

He did his usual rounds of making arrows, working on the fence posts and loading Warriv's outgoing carriages or unloading the incoming ones. A quarter of a year doing this manual labor and eating little other than meat had turned his body into stone. Part of him thought he had way too much muscle mass for a twelve-year-old, as he was certain his birthday had passed during his stay but had no idea when. But a larger part of him liked the way he looked.

When there was nothing left to do for the day, he returned to the practice Isendra had assigned him. Electrocuting a sword in the ground with a five foot distance and inching further away as much as he could. By sundown he managed it from six whole feet away. It felt like slow progress, but Isendra corrected that notion.

"You are advancing far faster than I did." She said. "Then again, I did not have the advantage of your sensitivity to mana potions and had to wait much longer between practice sessions. In terms of actual practice time? I think we may be tied."

That actually did reassure him. He had so much catching-up to do that it was nice to know he was doing so quickly.

He went to bed expecting to dream of hot coffee and sweet donuts, but before the dreams could even begin, he was shaken awake. His confusion grew when there was nobody in his tent shaking him, and yet the shaking continued. It wasn't until the screaming started that his sleep-addled brain caught up to what was going on.

He flung the covers off of himself and ran through the open flap, eschewing armor in favor of remaining in his pajamas. Ash Bane was still propped against the side of his tent, and he snatched it up. His feet took him straight to the north side of camp where the telltale glow of fire lit up the night.

Kashya stood surrounded by twenty of her best archers, each firing the occasional arrows into the flaming hole in the north wall and he joined their defensive line.

Alexis filled him in.

"Some maniac strapped bottles of explosive potions to some feral carvers and had them sneak up to our defenses!" She explained. "Isendra and Flavie exited through the main entrance to try and take out any others that might be coming in from the east or west to take down the other walls with the same tactic."

The earth-shattering kaboom from the east told them that they had indeed planned to repeat the tactic with the other walls, and that Flavie or Isendra had stopped one. A similar kaboom soon followed from the west. The night was suddenly brighter from the new fires outside of the camp.

"Do not put out the fire." Kashya instructed from the center of the group. "It will slow their advance into the encampment, and with them forced into such a small gap we can take them out faster than they can advance."

It also cut off their vision of whatever enemies may be beyond the flames, and no sooner did he think this than one of the blue devils managed to charge through towards them into a hail of arrows.

"Preserve your arrows! Wait until you see them before shooting, and only at ones directly in front of you!" Kashya commanded. "And leave any large groupings to Izuku!"

He was already preparing a firebolt at the tip of Ash Bane as she said this, but it went uncast for several minutes as seldom few of the blue fallen made it through the gap and each was quickly mowed down by the archers. But soon the fire blocking their view cleared enough for them to see beyond the wall to the force they were up against.

"That's a lot of zombies." Izuku couldn't stop himself from saying aloud.

He wasn't the only one in the group to take a step back at the sight, just the only one to voice his fear aloud. But he and all of the archers stepped forward again and gritted their teeth.

"Izuku, you handle throwing fireballs into the throngs of undead. Leave any fallen or other threats to us." Kashya ordered.

Izuku obliged, hurling the patient firebolt forward and through the hole in the wall into a grouping of eight zombies just beyond. They exploded into a mist of bone and leathery flesh, down to their fingertips. But the many undead beyond shambled forward, unimpressed by the display of power. They lacked the ability to feel fear.

They entered the routine of battle. Izuku blew apart any groupings of zombies beyond the wall before they could approach, and the many fine women of the Rogues turned any fallen to pass through into pincushions, including one brave shaman that that kindly put out the fire for them with an icy gale before charging in and being fired upon by every single archer present.

The only time they changed up this routine was when an occasional skeleton, far faster than the zombies, charged through and Izuku rewarded it with an ice bolt to center mass.

The night dragged on like this, as the army of undead and demonic forces continued to come in from the north. It was to be a war of attrition, but not a very effective one. Izuku only needed to resort to a mana potion once during the slow combat. His natural mana recovery held him through for most of it. The fighting was so slow that he was even able to split his attention to the sounds of devastation and flashes of lightning to the east where Isendra was off fighting by herself. It sounded like she was handling things just fine, and no additional kabooms from suicide bomber carvers ever filled the night. It was nearly sunrise when the fighting finally stopped. By the dim light of dawn, they could see that the forces they were up against had dwindled to nearly nothing and Kashya sent out a handful of her own to pick off the remaining undead.

"The rest of you, spread out around the camp. Do a head count and estimate the damage." Kashya ordered. "Izuku, come with me."

They all abandoned the north wall to scour the camp while Kashya took Izuku to Akara's tent. There, they found the priestess and Cane standing over a fully prepared but barely used table of medical supplies. Less than a dozen rogues and caravanners sat around it, each was already bandaged from their burns and other injuries and some were even resting peacefully. They were all clearly the victims of the first blast that leveled the north wall.

"Report?" Kashya said to Akara.

"The only injured we received were at the very beginning of the attack." Akara said. "No enemies reached us during the entire night. If Cane was the target, they failed utterly."

"Any dead?' Kashya asked.

"One." Warriv said as he approached. "One of mine. Eric, the former stable hand. He was caught in the first explosion. Now he is with his departed horses we were forced to butcher and eat so long ago."

"Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, pardon the pun, but this was a rather pathetic attack." Deckard Cain observed.

"Not in terms of effort and manpower by the enemy." Kashya corrected. "They either severely underestimated us or severely overestimated their own prowess. What is Andarial playing at?"

Just then Mary and her squad of archers approached and saluted Kashya.

"Report." Kashya ordered.

"Just one other dead. No enemies got into the encampment save for the north entrance where we killed them. Nobody is missing. We are still taking inventory of any valuable possessions or artifacts, but everything seems to be accounted for." Mary explained. "We are also testing our food stores, the river and the well for poison."

"And what of the damage to the walls and other protections?" Kashya asked.

"Extensive. It will take at least three days to repair." Mary said. "The cleanup of the enemy bodies will take several more."

Kashya nodded.

"Then for the next week all hands we can spare are to focus on repairing our defenses and disposing of the bodies." She ordered.

None of this made sense. This demoness was ancient, powerful and cunning. If she had wanted to destroy them with this attack, she could have done far better. Hell, most of the zombies, skeletons and even fallen had been unarmed. Or poorly armed, but seldom armored. That didn't make sense either, as he had personally been in skirmishes with random rogue fallen and skeletons who were better equipped than that.

They must be missing something. If the goal wasn't to destroy the encampment, or to kidnap Cane, or to steal anything from them, then what was the goal? Intimidation? No. There was nothing intimidating about that battle. To tire them out for the real attack? Maybe, but with the sun rising they would be able to see such an attack coming for kilometers.

Was it to get some kind of reaction out of them? No, there was no urgency to go kicking any doors in or go on the offensive. The only obvious course of action for them was to rebuild, clean up and get back to doing what they'd been doing before. This would take them an entire week of labor. A week in which they would not be able to devote forces to other tasks, like reconnaissance and attacks on her forces. An entire week free of their watchful gaze and skilled counteroffensive.

"She is stalling us!" Izuku explained. "Andarial sent the attack to stall us. To destroy our infrastructure and tire us out so we can't interrupt whatever she is preparing for or currently doing!"

"So we gathered from your mumbling." Cane said in a deadpan. "You really need to do something about that habit."

Only then did he realize everybody had been staring at him in his moment of deep thought.

He couldn't help it. He blushed.

"Your reasoning is sound, and I believe you are correct." Cane said. "She is either currently attacking another settlement or preparing something big and needs the extra week uninterrupted. That is the only logical explanation for these events."

"I agree." Said Akara.

"As do I." Said Warriv. "But where does that leave us? What is our course of action?"

Kashya was staring off into the distance, deep in thought. When she finally spoke they hung onto every word.

"At risk of being rash." She qualified. "We should go on the offensive now. Attack her stronghold directly since she least expects it and least wants it. But we are all exhausted and we have already lost an entire night of time she was trying to stall for."

"Most of mine are fresh. You can send some of your best ahead." Warriv said, nodding pointedly to Izuku. "In one of my wagons. They can rest along the journey and be scouts for the battle to come. In the meantime, have your forces sleep for the day and prepare for the march."

Kashya considered this suggested slowly, but eventually nodded.

"But we are not enough, not by ourselves. We need more reinforcements." She thought aloud before pointing at Warriv. "You. Go south to the other encampment and tell word of our plan. If you leave now, you should arrive in time for them to send their forces at the same time mine leave."

Warriv nodded and marched off towards his people.

"Where is Gheed?" Kashya demanded.

"Right here, milady." Gheed said in an oddly serious and respectful tone from him.

"Head to the north encampment. Convince them to do the same. If all three of our forces combine for a triple pincer attack on the citadel, we can win." Kashya ordered.

Gheed looked hesitant.

"And how am I supposed to convince them? With my winning charms?" He asked in a sarcastic but illuminating moment of self-awareness.

"I will be sending you both with signed letters. Beyond that? Do whatever it takes." She ordered. "If you succeed then we shall reward you with an entire third of the treasury of the citadel. Which is also yours to convince them to join if need be. Loath as you are to spend money."

Gheed stood straighter at the promise of reward, but deflated slightly at the joke she tagged at the end. Still, he marched away to his small crew of traders.

"Izuku, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you who I am sending as the scouts." Kashya said.

Izuku sighed.

"I'll go tell my mistress." He said.

"Get Flavie to go with you while you're at it." Kashya ordered. "You three seem to work well together."

Cane interrupted him before he went on his way.

"Also, nice shirt. If you can find me the sorcerer who magicked it, I would like to meet them." The ancient man said with a frighteningly knowing smile.

Only then did Izuku realize he was wearing his shirt with the photo of All-Might. The one Isendra had warned him to keep hidden. To think, he had succeeded in doing so for all this time.

"I would very much like to meet the man depicted." Mary added.

"He is very handsome." Said Alexis. "Is he your father? You will have to tell me of him when this is all over."

"Please tell me he is a widower?" Another rogue, Delphi he thought, added teasingly.

Izuku was blushing again as he fled the group.

He made a beeline back to his tent to change before continuing to the south exit.

Walking through the gate he saw that Isendra was already there, along with other gathered rogues. They all formed a loose circle around something on the bridge covered in a blanket. Something human shaped. Several were openly weeping.

---

They held a funeral pyre for Flavie that very morning. They didn't have time to mourn or prepare a proper sending off for their friend and ally. They didn't say much either, for what could they say to honor the woman who gave her life defending them all?

Izuku and Isendra made to leave as soon as the cremation was done. They took up the back of a wagon heading east driven by one of Warriv's men, a gentleman named Mark. With a couple backpacks and all of the worldly possessions they had. Kashya was screaming her orders to the camp as they headed out.

"Pack up everything! Then get some sleep, we head out first thing tomorrow morning!"

Soon they were on the bumpy road towards a fight.

They set up two bedrolls in the back of the wagon and did their best to sleep through the ride. Izuku, being Japanese, had generations of ancestors who mastered the art of sleeping on trains and buses. Naturally, he napped right through the bumpy ride and was bright eyed and ready for the day when Mark woke them up.

"This is as far as I can take you." He said. "The wagon can't go through woodlands, let alone do so unseen. You both have your orders and I have mine."

They got up, packed their bedrolls and exited the wagon to find it was almost night and they were on the edge of the Dark Woods.

"Be safe." Mark blessed them before turning his oxen-dragged wagon around and heading back to the encampment. Or, more likely, someplace further away and far safer.

They had a quick evening breakfast and began their long trek through the dark in silence.

The night was made even darker by the unexpected overcast, but they trudged on without so much as a basic light spell. This was a clandestine mission, they needed to remain unseen and unheard and so they slinked on.

The clouds eventually parted to let down moonlight for them to see by and Izuku discovered the Dark Woods were beautiful and full of life. Sure, he heard the scurrying of rodents and hooting of owls for the entire trek so far, but it was much lovelier to actually see them. It was a great contrast to the lifeless wetlands of the blood marshes.

Around midnight they sat down in a clearing for a rest and lunch. A cool breeze blew through the woods as they did so. It was pleasant, but the smell of moisture it brought was foreboding.

"Please don't rain." Izuku whispered.

"It is not going to rain." Isendra assured him. "It is going to storm. We need to find proper shelter. Our tents will not do."

Izuku blanched at her weather forecast but didn't doubt her.

They scarfed down the last of their food and continued their journey east. Isendra seemed sure they would be able to find shelter, and Izuku assumed she knew of some abandoned buildings near the citadel or other. Failing that, hopefully they could find a cave, but the odds of either being empty of horrors was next to zero.

They found a small creak running eastward and followed it. Soon, the wind picked up and a single bolt of lightning streaked across the sky

"Wait." Isendra ordered, holding up a hand for him to stop.

He heard it too. The creaking of a tree swaying in the sudden breeze. That creaking turned into a crashing noise as something large and dark tumbled from above and into the water. Two similar crashes followed suit from behind them. Izuku couldn't see what they were in the pitch black of night, but he could smell what they were.

Gargantuan beasts. Likely a male and his two females. And they were all sopping wet.

"To me." Isendra ordered.

Izuku felt out for her and, grasping her hand, prepared to do the same thing she probably was.

Two wet enemies surrounding them on either side? That left them with either lightning or ice to take them out. Seeing as he was still mastering basic lightning magic, he went with an ice bolt to the one in front of them and put as much as he could into it in order to slow the beast down. When Isendra lit up the world with her circles of nova lightning he could see that he succeeded in freezing the beast in place, with ice growing up his legs like crystals from the water below. He could also see that it wasn't the run of the meal variety.

It looked more like a Tolkien tree person than a gargantuan beast. He was completely green with branches either outright growing from his body or placed there decoratively.

he was far enough away to safely toss a firebolt at without damaging them, so he did so. When it exploded against his face he went vaulted backwards, leaving his frozen feet behind where they remained in the river. his own weight and the force of Izuku's spell brought him down, and he screamed. Isendra pulled at his hand, and they climbed up the bank of the river as the two females rushed to their mate's aid, straight through where the two sorcerers had been standing a moment early.

Now that they were all nicely grouped and sopping wet, the mistress and apprentice bombarded them with ice spells. Isendra with a long, drawn-out blizzard spell and Izuku with a pair of ice bolts. Then, they cast duel firebolts that shattered the three frozen creatures into pieces.

The forest returned to being dark and silent after that. until another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and with it's corresponding thunder the wind began to howl as well.

The storm was here.

"If we are lucky we can find their lair." Isendra reasoned.

They ran back across the creek towards where the trio had come from and, sure enough, not ten meters further they found a den, dug out of the earth and decorated with the bones of their prey. But it was raised, it was dry and it would protect them through the storm. In fact, it didn't even smell particularly bad. Just a little musky, like dog or bear hair. The beasts were surprisingly clean animals, spending their days grooming and they avoided relieving themselves in their own dens.

Every inch of the floor was covered in pelts, from wolves, bears, deer and cows. He wouldn't go so far as to call them leather, as they weren't properly tanned, but instead likely licked clean. In all honesty? With some incense the place would be perfectly livable. Fortunately, he had some from Akara.

"Our lightning and ice spells should be easily confused for lightning from the storm if anybody even saw it." Isendra told him.

Funnily enough, his mind had wandered directly to that same concern as he put down his pack and dug through it for the bottle of incense oil. Finding it, he took a rag and began wiping it around the walls of the den.

"What of the firebolts?" He asked.

"When lightning strikes dry foliage, what usually results?" She asked rhetorically. "But it was probably unwise to resort to fire. We shall wait and see. If an army comes to our doorstep, we will know."

Izuku nodded.

"I'll take first watch." He offered. "Seeing as you didn't sleep as well during our wagon ride.

His mistress nodded gratefully and put down her bedroll over the furs and he was certain she passed out as soon as she lay down.

The sound and smell of rain started outside, skipping past the usual drizzle in favor of a full downpour. It would make both their and Kashya's journey eastward more difficult from stomping through the mud. That was assuming it stopped by morning. If not, then the journey would be even more difficult, but part of him hoped it continued for the next two days.

The extra difficulty of the trek would be more than made up for by the cover it would provide them in hiding their approach to the citadel.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room for fanfiction.

$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 13:

Descending Tower of Blood​

---

The storm had not subsided when Izuku awoke the next morning, but it had died down. The rain and sleet were minimal, but the overcast clouds and wind were turned up to eleven. They could easily hike through it without being heard, nor would they hear anybody else. If they kept to the foliage and trees they could remain completely undetected up to their goal.

"I have already packed the rings and amulets you found. I did my best to alter the chain mail to fit you, and the throwing daggers are in your pack." Isendra told him. "And those potions you didn't recognize are called strangling potions. If you throw or break one, it releases a plume of poisonous gas. You will want to be careful with them, but I'm entrusting them to you all the same. As a means of escape."

During the first watch Izuku had searched the den and that was all he found. He didn't feel any great magic from the rings or amulets, but they would take the things to Cane all the same. Who knew? They could be powerful after all.

He removed his hard leather armor and put the chainmail on underneath it before re-donning his clothes. They weren't nearly as form-fitting as Isendra's, but he would grow into them. Or, more likely, he'd find better armor long before that.

"We shall eat as we walk, come along." Isendra ordered.

Izuku donned his pack, snatched up the bread, cheese and cured meat that passed for a sandwich and followed her out.

The howling wind tore at their skin as they advanced eastward, and the rare drop of rain felt like sewing needles made of ice piercing their skin. They marched on all the same.

He did his best to eat his breakfast as they walked, but the wind fought to steal it from him every step of the way. Between that and his constant weariness, checking every which way for Fallen, undead or worse, it did not make for a pleasant meal. By the time he finished it, the rain and sleet were beginning to pick back up and the clouds were darkening once more. Still, they trailed forward until mid-morning when the storm returned in full force.

There they were, in the middle of a storm, soaked to their toes and without any sign of shelter in sight. They began running forward through the dark trees and underbrush, with him holding onto Isendra's belt to help her keep a pace that he could follow. They came across no best or fallen as they ran, uncaring of the noise they were making for even they could not hear it over the wind and thunder.

Soon, Isendra stopped and looked back to make sure she had his attention. When their eyes met she motioned northward. He followed her pointing with his gaze but saw nothing. When she withdrew her staff he followed her example and they creeped forward. When they broke through the next line of trees he saw what she must have noticed from her taller vantage point, a roof of rough stone above the next line of trees. They creeped towards those ones as well and peered beyond it.

A single stone building, perfectly square but crumbling, stood steadfastly against the storm. A clearing of unkempt grass and leafy detritus surrounded it, but no sign of watchmen or life of any kind. It even lacked a door, and from the outside the place looked like it ought to be condemned. Isendra nodded for them to charge forward. Fire bolt at the ready, Izuku did so and together they sprinted through the last of the rain they would suffer for that day.

He let the spell die on his lips when they entered a room barren of life or anything else really. The ability to hear his own footsteps as they fled away from the open doorway was like being a deaf man given a hearing aid. It was a relief beyond words.

Isendra put down her pack and, with a wave of her hand over it, drew all the water from the leather and cloth container. She then did the same thing to her body, as if wringing out her clothes with mana.

"Um." Izuku said questioningly.

She looked at him and took pity, performing the same quasi-spell on him.

"I don't know why water spells never occurred to me." He said dejectedly.

"Because they have no combative use, outside of being a precursor to ice spells." Isendra told him "But little spells like those can do wonders for comfort, morale and utility."

He nodded at the wisdom.

By now their eyes had adjusted to the dark abode, as had their other senses.

Izuku immediately felt something wrong about the place, and his eyes focused on the ladder leading into a gap in the floor. Presumably, to a cellar, but his senses warned of something far worse. Much like the feeling of magic, but thicker, heavier, like tree sap that reeked of rotten meat.

"You feel it too, Izuku?" His mistress asked.

He nodded gravely.

"A twisted miasma, a living madness. There is evil in this tower." She said, "Or more accurately, beneath it. And seeing as we cannot leave, let us cleanse it."

Izuku nodded again and let her take point. She approached the ladder and cast a simple light spell from her hand, peering down. She motioned that the way was clear and climbed down the rickety structure. Izuku feared it would snap under her weight, not that she had a significant amount of it, but because he heard several of the rungs crack when she stepped on them.

She held her arms out for him to throw her something and looking around he realized their packs were still where they had left them. It would not do to leave those behind. He tossed hers down first, then his. Figuring he weighed significantly less than her, he climbed down after her instead of opting to jump into her arms as well and it held.

The room they entered was almost identical to the one above, save for the loose bones strewn about and several puddles of fresh blood. It looked like they weren't the only ones to try and shelter there from the storm. Most notably of all, was a broken down wall where it looked as if a giant mole had burrowed into it and down into the earth below.

This time, he took point. He crawled forward with bended knees and peered beyond, only to discover somebody had buried the French catacombs beneath the small building. Barely wrapped skeletons filled crevices in the wall and well-maintained torches lined the walls at seemingly random points. Oh yah, this place was definitely occupied.

He walked through the hole in the wall and Isendra followed him through. Before they could even catch their bearings they were pounced upon by two crimson goats. Scratch that, they were goat men, and they were completely covered in blood. They looked more intimidating than they actually were. The first fell to an ice bolt through the heart, the second Isendra merely bashed on the neck with her staff, creating a satisfying crack of breaking vertebrae.

They glanced at each other and both shrugged, before continuing on their way.

As they went deeper they came upon a wide open hallway of pillars and torches. It held multiple exits, one on each wall, and from each of them swarmed in horrors Izuku had not seen before. More of those bloody goat men, a strange birdlike creature made of ethereal mist and ectoplasmic bone and gray fallen. Most startling of all were tall, blue women with horns dressed in the garb of Kashya's rogues.

Isendra and Izuku turned the entire hall into a Christmas light show. Pulsing waves of lightning and repeating fireballs scorched every inch of the walls, ceiling and floor until nothing remained of their enemies but splattered and cooked bodies.

"So. What are the blue rogue mimics all about?" Izuku asked.

"They are corrupted rogues. Their souls poisoned by darkness in life and bodies transformed into what you saw in death. You witnessed part of the process for creating one in the burial grounds." Isendra explained.

Izuku felt his stomach churn.

That was what they were trying to turn sweet Alexis and haughty Mary into? That was abominable, not least of all because the real women themselves were far superior warriors than this trash. Smarter, wiser, kinder, and more skilled in every way. Even if you were evil, the efficacy of these undead hordes was so minimal that he had to wonder why they bothered.

His wondering didn't last long, for he knew the reason. Psychological warfare. What they lacked in combat ability they made up for by inspiring terror and disgust and despair in the loved ones of those taken.

And descend they did. Into a second level, then a third. Along the way they faced no challenge, not even by the pitiful standards of the first level of this death trap. It was on the fourth level that this finally changed. There they were confronted by a wall of corrupted archers that unleashed their arsenal on them. They retreated back through the doorway they came from, and the arrows bounced harmlessly against the stone walls.

They heard the entire line of archers march a single step forward and a few took potshots through the doorway from the far left and right sides, hoping to get them at an angle.

"We need to draw them nearer, so that we can get them all in a few spells." Isendra whispered over to him.

They heard the entire phalanx march another step forward. These ones probably hadn't caught onto them being sorcerers, or else they would have preferred to stay back and hole up. They were in for a big surprise.

Izuku and Isendra took turns peeking out and throwing loose rubble at the dumb undead. Each time they did so more arrows flew through the gap and they barely avoided having their faces turned into pin cushions. It was working, as each time they fired they took a step forward and upon peaking one last time he realized they were close enough for a nova.

"Okay, I'm going to coat you in ice armor. I need you to flee back but be seen so they can all fire on you, then I'll vault out there and get them with a nova. I'll need you to come in after me." Isendra explained quickly.

Izuku accepted his role as target practice with a nod and with a wave of her hand Isendra coated him in a thick layer of ice. His entire body now felt comfortably cool with the thick two-inch layer of solidified water covering everything except his face and joints. It did feel a little cumbersome though. Isendra repeated the spell on herself and nodded for Izuku to begin.

He covered his head with both hands and ran backwards away from the door, but listed towards the line of sight of the door so all of the archers beyond could see him. His first indication that they did was the ten or so arrows pelting him in the back, each feeling like the strike of a hammer even through the three layers of armor he wore. His second indication was the eleventh through twentieth arrows either whizzing past him or landing true themselves.

When the telltale flash and clap of lighting filled the hallway from behind him, he turned around, gritted his teeth and charged through, letting loose fire bolt after firebolt at the neatly organized line of archers. The larger, yellow one in the middle took three all to himself, but by the end of his barrage they were all reduced to bonemeal, and he was reduced to a crumpled heap on the ground.

"Owwwwww." He groaned as he took off his hard leather coat and lifted the chain mail beneath it.

As he expected, Isendra came to him to look at the damage.

"That is already bruising. Let me get you a healing potion." Isendra consoled.

"Mana too, please." He asked nicely.

Rapid firing fire bolts could really take it out of you.

Isendra handed him said mana potion and he drank it while she rubbed a handful of healing potion onto his upper and lower back.

It took a few moments of deep breathing and tentative stretching before he was confident enough to stand up. He refastened his chainmail and made to do the same with the hard leather armor, but got a good look at it first. Several of the arrows had gotten through the ice and pierced the leather. If it weren't for the recently discovered chainmail he would have been a goner. hell, if they had been equipped with proper bows and well-maintained arrows instead of the rusted and worn out crap he would have been a goner. Isendra must have taken all of this into account, or else she never would have suggested such a stupid maneuver.

He re-donned his leather armor before picking up his pack and Bane Ash.

"I am ready to go on, mistress." He said apologetically.

The fourth level was filled with more of those ghostly aspirations, each like a misshapen bird made of ghostly bones. Eerie-looking, but not particularly tough.

"They are ghosts, Izuku. Wraiths." Isendra said. "Driven mad, consumed with hatred for the living

Izuku took this in stride. After all, he'd dealt with sorcerers, zombies and demons. Why should ghosts be a surprise? Even if they didn't resemble what he imagined tainted ghosts would look like.

And thus, they descended to the fifth floor beneath the ground. The air felt different here. It was warmer, more humid. It smelled like clean steel and bathroom tile.

"I think this is it." He said.

"I agree. Step carefully." She commanded.

They creeped through the empty halls like thieves in the night, as they went deeper the humidity grew until their vision was filled with thin, but noticeable steam. Following it they came to be inside of a great hall of sorts, with walls covered in scones of fire. For the most part, it looked like normal, if large and tiled, great dining hall devoid of all furnishings. In fact, the only thing worthy of note was a large tub in the middle of the room.

Jacuzzi was a better word for it, one filled with thick, red, boiling blood.

He wasn't expecting a beautiful, butt-naked woman to slowly rise out of it like an AV actress, but he was unsurprised by the fact that she almost looked to be made completely out of blood herself, even her eyes.

"Ah, guests. Care to join me for a blood bath?" The thing said to them.

Izuku hurled a firebolt at her and it exploded against her face. He half-expected her to splatter like a water balloon full of blood, but instead it exploded against her with seemingly no harm, only for her to then catch fire.

She was cackling as the flames consumed her, and Izuku realized they were almost certainly her own flames.

Okay then. Fire not good. Fire not friend.

He switched gears in favor of hurling ice bolts at her while Isendra hurled chain lightning at her.

Neither slowed her down to a notable degree as she charged towards them and so they split to either side so as not to cluster. This turned out to be an extraordinarily good decision as a split second later a wall of fire erupted where they had just been standing. A real one, the kind that made his attempts at the spell seem like that first attempt at a firebolt in comparison to the real thing.

With her attention split between them she chose to focus on the obviously stronger of the two and bore down on Isendra.

Izuku took the open invitation to shoot her in the back, but shooting her in the back repeatedly. He aimed directly for the spine and the third ice bold pierced it right above the base, where it met the pelvis. What would have left most people incapable of using their legs did nothing to slow her down. Not even the usual slowing effect of ice spells seemed to slow her arrogant walk towards Isendra. The flames enveloping and emanating from her erased all ice almost before it hit her.

He was now on the other side of the boiling pool of blood with their battle taking place beyond it. The steam was finally letting down somewhat, probably from all of the ice spells flying around, but he noticed the rage with which the pool boiled also seemed to have dampened since the fight began. This gave him an idea.

It was only a hunch, but his ice bolts weren't doing as much as he would have hoped, and it was surely worth a shot.

He rolled up his sleeves and coated his hands in the magical aura of ice before dunking them into the pool of crimson liquid. Then, he pulled on it, on all of the heat within and forced it to rise. White hot steam poured upwards in thick plumes, screeching like a whistle as the cracking sound of ice crystals forming came from below. A few moments later the entire pool was frozen solid.

He heard the blood-bather's scream. It sounded like his hunch was correct, her power and resilience did come from the blood. But he could not see the result of his work through the steam which now filled the entire grand hall and was so thick he could barely make out the tip of his staff in front of him.

Then, all of the steam rushed away from him as if being sucked into a typhoon and he saw it coalesce and freeze around the form of a woman, yellowed and rotten and screaming at the top of her lungs. Without her power source her true form was revealed. Isendra was standing behind her, casting a modified blizzard spell to take advantage of all the moisture in the air as fuel and force it into the dried-up old corpse they had been fighting. She screamed and screamed but her voice did nothing to slow the freezing of her entire body. When her screaming ended, she was a solid block of ice and mummified flesh.

Isendra raised her staff and, like a batter at the plate, swung at the other woman's head, shattering it into pieces.

"Hit her again!" Izuku yelled.

She obliged, swinging at the legs and snapping them apart. With the support of those limbs gone the rest of her body fell to the floor and broke apart like pottery thrown to the ground.

"Crazy Bitch." Isendra snarled before spitting on the remains.

She walked to where Izuku stood over the frozen pool of blood.

"Good instincts, my apprentice." She complimented.

Izuku bowed appreciatively but knew not to let the compliment get to his head.

Isendra walked past him to the far door. She kept her staff raised as she advanced through it, prepared for more fighting. Izuku made sure to be prepared for a fight as well as he followed her in.

What they entered could only be described as a treasure room.

The walls were covered in well-maintained weapons and armor, art pieces and several impaled corpses that were currently on fire. The centerpiece of the room was a large treasure chest that may as well have had a "Take me" sign written above it.

Their first order of business was to put out the burning corpses. They did so with a weak ice spell that probably didn't have a name and which Izuku was easily able to imitate after seeing Isendra perform it once. Each of the women was unrecognizable. but though their faces, clothes and bodies were charred black he strongly suspected they were rogues. They laid them down in more peaceful positions out of respect and intended to share this information with Kashya when they next saw her.

With that done they finally took to examining the horde.

Isendra made a beeline for the staff on the back wall, one decorated in vines and leaves like English ivy. She hovered her hand just over it and caressed the air an inch away. He could tell she was feeling the magic within to try her best at identifying it or identify as much as she could without Cane there.

Izuku went straight for the chest and opened it without hesitation. He was honestly surprised to find it full of treasure, like a real-life pirate's chest. Loose rubies and charms covered the bottom, separated by nearly a dozen coin purses, each so full to the brim of coins they looked like they might tear if lifted. At the very center, cleared of all other treasure, were two perfect trapeziums of stone with markings on them.

Isendra whistled appreciatively from behind him, somehow having snuck up on him while he looked through the chest.

"Now those, my young apprentice, are real treasures." She told him.

"What are they?" He asked.

"Rune stones. TAL, and ETH." She failed to explain. "I suppose it is time I taught you about them."

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by Magikuser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room for fanfiction.

$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 14:

Storming the Monastery​

---

The next morning found them waking up in the uppermost level of the blood countess' former castle. In the small, perfectly square room just under the surface level they had entered through.

The storm outside had died down to a slightly windy overcast as they slept. It was still perfect weather for the assault, as with careful movement they could remain unseen, unheard, and unsmelt in their approach. Then it would merely be a matter of scouting and waiting for Kashya's forces to catch up. They once again prepared breakfast and ate it while walking.

The hours of hiking in such cool, but not cold, weather was oddly relaxing and pleasant, despite the battle yet to come. Izuku felt sad to be rid of the simple pleasure of the trip when they neared the Monastery enough to see its highest tower peeking over the leaves. That sadness was overpowered by his surprise at seeing the literal army of gypsies, caravanners and rogues crouched like a creeping mass of foliage in the forests surrounding the monastery.

"How in the world did everybody get here before us?" Izuku asked Isendra in a whisper.

"They know the land better and are more accustomed to the terrain. That, and they must have hiked all the way through the storm." She told him.

"How is that possible? It forced us to take shelter." He countered.

"And they were behind us by at least half a day's hike. The storm could have been much more manageable for them for the whole of the trip. It did die sometime during our time in that shack." Isendra offered.

It did make sense, but it still riled him that they failed to arrive in time to do any kind of scouting as ordered. They eventually came upon a small meadow where the leaders of the army stood in a circle. Akara, Kashya, Charsi, Warriv and Cain he recognized. The absolute wall of muscle forming a woman and her three rogue guards he did not. He guessed was from one of the other two camps in the Blood Moors. The third leader he didn't spot at first because he was so small and was standing near the edge of the meadow. He dressed similarly to Warriv, but looked older and meaner than Cain.

Izuku opted to stay far away from these strangers for now.

"Ah! Our scouts have returned." Kashya said jokingly. "What do you have to report?"

"That the blood countess was resurrected and has been using the catacombs beneath her ruined castle as a torture den and bath house for some months now." Isendra said. "And that she is gone for good now. Hence why we were held up."

The tank of a woman laughed uproariously at her explanation.

"You weren't joking when you said they were over-achievers, were you?" The diminutive and ancient caravanner chucked as he approached the circle.

They hadn't even been introduced yet, yet Izuku and Isendra had already managed to impress them. Good start.

"We have been resting and waiting for you two to arrive before beginning the assault." Akara told them. "Now that you are here, we have no more excuses to waste time. Introductions can wait for later, when you need not fear having to remember the names of people who may yet die in the coming hour. Kashya, if you would take the floor."

That was a rather depressing way of putting things, but Izuku couldn't disagree with the sentiment.

"The demon queen Andariel perverts our hallowed halls, defiling our monastery. We have tolerated this incursion long enough!" Kashya began. "But none know the stakes greater than Deckard Cain, and none have seen her evil personally moreso than him. I leave him to explain to you all the stakes."

Deckard Cain stepped forward.

"Andariel and the lesser evils once overthrew the primevils, Diablo, Mephisto and Baal." Cain explained. "They were banished into our world, and we have suffered their presence ever since. That Andariel is here could only mean that all of hell is united once more. Today's fight will be the first step in purging these nightmares from our lands, and also a taste of sweet, partial revenge against the demoness that not only has personally caused us all of this anguish these last months, but all of the horrors brought about by the primevils in our world for these eons due to her banishing them here."

Izuku's ears perked up at the mention of Baal. That name sounded familiar. Wasn't he a Mesopotamian god of child sacrifice? Or was he thinking of the Canaanites?

"If we are not victorious here, then your holy grounds shall become a permanent outpost of hell's forces, and the way east shall be lost forever. As may the war with Diablo." Cain finished.

Cain's speech did not elicit much cheer or courage in those gathered, so Kashya once again spoke.

"But we have the advantage." She told them. "This is our home. We know it better than they do, and we have the element of surprise, not to mention superior skill. This battle is winnable, and it must be won, so we shall take our home back!"

Those gathered didn't cheer out loud, but they did hold up fists and showed expressions that told of their hunger for victory.

"Our battle strategy is simple. Our archers, of which we have many, shall pretend to be the whole of the invading force and take out theirs. While this goes on, we will have an insertion team sneak around and inside. This team shall then split in two. One to unbar the gates, the other to hunt down and deliver retribution on Andariel in person." Kashya explained. "Then all of our main forces shall charge in. With most of Andariel's forces distracted by ours, it will leave the second strike team free to focus on killing the demon queen."

"Our pitchforks are sharpened, and our wills are ready." The diminutive caravanner said. "I have every trader, farmer, stable hand and more from all of the blood moors ready and frothing at the mouth for vengeance. Open those doors and we shall flood in like the great flood of the gods."

Oh. They had great flood myths too? Of course they did.

"Go now and tell everybody to prepare. That the battle begins not in hours, but in minutes." The mountain of muscle ordered.

All save Kashya, Cain and Akara scattered to do exactly that, but those two ushered Isendra and Izuku for a more private meeting.

"Destroy her! Andariel must not be allowed to serve Diablo." The old sorceress commanded. "While we thirst to personally exact revenge against the one who has desecrated all we hold dear, you two are the ones who must take her down. And once she is killed the magic she has wrought will be undone, and the magics which binds many horrors to this realm will be severed."

"Indeed," Said Cain. "From what I understand you two have been the vanguard in the fight against evil for some time now. Success after success has come in no small part from your hands."

Kashya nodded along with every word.

"What's more, ancient lore tells that while she was spawned by the burning hells, Andariel is not particularly fond of fire." Deckard said with a knowing look at Izuku. "And this little pyromaniac shall be her undoing, wield your apprentice well Isendra."

Oh, was he her personal molotov cocktail at this point? Meh, sounded about right. Fire good. Fire friend. Got it.

Charsi approached them leading a small crew of men and women literally armed with pitchforks, woodcutting axes and sledge hammers. For her part, the rogue blacksmith carried a solid metal war axe nearly as tall as she was and, Izuku suspected, heavier than he was.

"I shall be leading my archers." Kashya said. "Akara and Charsi will be leading this insertion team, which you will join until you breach the walls. Then you are to split up."

"Understood, ma'am." Isendra said.

---

Their platoon of some twenty five inexperienced soldiers crouch-walked with surprisingly silent steps as they snuck along the underbrush. Charsi and Akara took the lead, with Isendra and Izuku directly behind them.

At the slow rate they traveled it was an hour before they circled around the forest to reach the southeast side of the citadel.

There they crouched low and waited, watching the dozens of fallen, corrupted rogues and shamans patrol the rafters and parapets above the citadel. But they did not have to wait long. The evening sun to the west was blotted out by a rain of flaming arrows.

The first onslaught did not kill very many of the patrols, but it did get all of their attention, and it did light many of the roofs afire. Better to burn the entire place down and rebuild it later than risk failure.

The alarm was instantly raised. Bells from every corner of the fortress rang feverishly to alert all those inside, and thus alerted more abominable warriors flooded out to provide aid. Skeletal archers and mages outnumbered the fallen and corrupted rogues ten to one, but shambled stupidly along with little intimidation value.

Kashya hadn't been boasting when she said they outmatched the enemy in terms of skill, for the hundreds of rogues to the east went from raining arrows, to showing off their marksmanship. Every arrow hit true, whether enchanted with ice, fire or let loose without enchantment to speak of. Sure, the enemy's archers and sorcerers outnumbered theirs, but theirs outclassed them by leagues and bounds.

The bodies of skeletons, corrupted rogues, fallen and more all fell from their lofty sniping points like discarded mannequins. But more and more came to take their place.

"Let us go now." Akara ordered, charging forward but keeping low.

She huffed running, let alone running with such a large and overfilled backpack, and yet she persisted along in a low crouch as the rest of them followed.

They reached the wall without being noticed, between two outer towers. There, she dropped the bag and retreated behind one of the other towers, motioning for the rest of them to do the same. Izuku had a hunch about what the bag contained based on the clinking of glass he had heard coming from it all morning.

"Hey, what's good for the goose is good for the goatfucks!" Said Charsi next to him. "We should thank them later for giving me the idea. Izuku, if you would be so kind."

Izuku sent his best firebolt through Ash Bane towards the pack of volatile potions and took cover with the others in place of watching the fruits of their labor.

The boom it made put the explosion from the assault on their encampment to shame, as did the crashing of stone and metal to the ground. As soon as the noise of heavy stone on earth subsided they charged forth towards the new opening.

Several bloodied, dust-covered and thoroughly dazed creatures crawl out. They were composed of nearly a half-dozen fallen sisters, somehow wielding savers and wooden shields instead of bow and arrow, and what looked like man sized dogs crossed with lizards. One of the latter took a pitchfork through the neck which Izuku followed up with an ice bolt between the eyes. The remainder of the explosion-concussed foes fell with similar ease, and with them out of the way their thirty-strong insertion force finally entered the monastery walls.

"We have our orders, you have yours." Charsi told them. "Go through the barracks and past my forge into the chapel, from there you can descend into the deeper levels and waste that unholy bitch! We will unbar the doors."

Izuku and Isendra nodded and went on their way.

They charged through a room made entirely out of wood that had taken nicely to the fire arrows in the mere minutes of fighting it had to spread. The roof caved in behind them as they exited through the opposite door. From there they crossed a surprisingly well-maintained and gorgeous courtyard with an even more beautiful water fountain in the middle. Within it, the forms of four rogue women, armed and ready for battle, sprayed jets of fresh water from their arrow tips.

Crossing the courtyard, they entered a dining area bereft of enemies, but full of the blood and bones of the cannibalized victims of the enemies that had once been here but were now sufficiently distracted by the army at their front door.

The only resistance they encountered along the way were more goatmen, but these ones were pitch black and wielded scythes. Useful tip, scythes don't make for good weapons. They're grass cutting implements, and they don't protect you from ice bolts to the heart.

When they finally entered an armory with a great forge in the middle. There a blue demon who barely fit in the room labored over the forge, hammering at his latest creations. Even crouched low, his horns scraped the ceiling, and yet he labored with a hammer over the forge to craft weapons all the same.

They just let loose on the thing, and as their ice, lightning and fire spells peppered him he tried to turn on and fight them, but his unenviable position of being squeezed into the room like an overstuffed knapsack made it impossible for him to defend himself. He actually cried and pleaded as they struck him down, likely more in shame than pain.

They look about the room and the many freshly forged weapons thereupon.

"This is what she was stalling us for." Izuku concluded. "She was working overtime to mass produce these superior weapons and armor in order to have her armies sweep across the blood moors as a plague of locusts."

"I think you are correct." Said Isendra. "And we have already stopped this plan of theirs. These weapons are far superior to anything our allies have, and anything Charsi has been able to forge without her Malus. Speaking of."

There, in the demon's scorched hand, was a rune-covered hammer of a blacksmith. Charsi's lost companion.

"I know our mission is to make a beeline for Andariel, but should we fail, we cannot afford to leave this behind in enemy hands. If we get this back to Charsi they will have a far greater chance of having a successful second siege." Izuku reasoned.

Isendra nodded with his line of reasoning.

"Quickly. Run back and get it to her or another of our leaders, then hurry back. I will go ahead, but not far. Clear the way a bit. Scout things out." Isendra ordered.

Izuku obeyed, lifting the hefty hammer with some difficulty he charged back the way he came. He reached the courtyard to find Cain sitting on the edge of the water fountain and recuperating.

"What has happened?! Where is your mistress?" He demanded in alarm.

Izuku understood his concern, but put him at ease.

"Relax, she just sent me back to give one of you this. No time to explain, but this has to leave the monastery, preferably with Charsi, in case we fail." Izuku told the ancient man.

Warriv took the hammer with an expression of surprise.

"Good thinking young one, the Horadric Malus is too important to leave in their hands. I will get it to her. Now Go!" He ordered.

Izuku obeyed his elder and sprinted back through the barracks.

Beyond the forge many dead brown fallen and scattered ectoplasmic bones of wraiths formed an easy trail to follow. With it guiding him, he reached the chapel and entered to see Isendra doing battle with a glowing green skeleton garbed in priest's apparel. With memories of the seemingly radioactive skeleton from the den and burial grounds Izuku jumped in to aid his mistress.

He ran past the ornate sarcophagi in the chapel and dead goat men littered between them to take a position behind the glowing skeleton priest, who had yet to notice him. Isendra nodded to him and together they performed the tried and true ice and fire combo. Her icy gale froze him top to bottom and Izuku's firebolt reduced him to toothpicks. The battle was likely only that short because Isendra had already softened the thing up, but he still felt proud of the efficacy of their tactics.

They then scoured the walls of the room for any doors that might lead downward, only to find such a spiral staircase in a wide-open doorway near the entrance. Keeping their fast pace, they descend four shockingly empty levels of catacombs. They only encountered a smattering of pitch black fallen, as the bulk of combat ready abominations were on the surface. They all died pitifully at their hands. But it was not empty of other horrors.

Living flames wafted up through cracks in the floor. Pools of bubbling blood, too much to belong to Andariel's victims, did the same. Most strangely of all were bony spines, or possibly tail bones, vining through the passageways like roots of a tree. He did his best not to look at the crucified and defiled corpses of rogue sisters that served as the only source of light in places.

"This place is touched by hell itself." Isendra told him. "Here, the two realms meet and if we are not careful, we could become stranded in damnation, in both flesh and soul."

Izuku steeled himself in understanding her explanation.

On the fourth level they found an enormous square room that took up half of the floor. A crater took up most of the room, emanating from the center. It was filled with naked corpses and blood. On the far side of the room stood an ornate pair of doors, and Izuku knew the real fight lay beyond it.

They walked around either side of the crater to grasp the handle of a door apiece, and then they lurched it open. Beyond it they finally saw her.

The queen of demons sat upon a throne at the end of a hallway filled with pillars, each sporting demonic protrusions of bone like thorns on a rose.

She was disgusting, and comical.

Her digitigrade legs didn't bother him. Neither did the many spines jutting out from her at strange places, nor her vicious, dripping fangs or hooved feet. Even the quartet of giant scorpion tails jutting out of her spine like extra limbs didn't bother him much. But the bull nose rings hanging from her dinner-plate sized and inflamed nipples? That made him snort him in mockery of her appearance. The vibrant orange clown hair didn't help either.

This Andariel seemed to be in the "I hate my dad" stage of her punk rock career. He'd seen j-pop covers with scarier covers than this supposed demon queen.

Needless to say, Izuku was less than intimidated.

"Fire." Isendra ordered.

Izuku managed to cast a firebolt between his snickers at Andariel's bizarre appearance and Isendra cast one at the same time. The two orbs of arcane fire smacked her on her face. She was so big that even across the fifty-meter gap she was easy to hit.

Andariel laughed as she walked through the flame.

"You will die, maggots! She snarled.

Izuku doubted that very much. If you wanted to intimidate somebody, maybe comb your hair and wear actual armor instead of a loincloth.

Isendra kept up the firebolts as Andariel charged forth and Izuku went for his bastardized fire wall. Andariel stumbled along the flames, her attempted illusion of being immune to flame faltering as the onslaught began to seer her hairy, goatlike legs.

She resorted to crawling at them, using her two hooved feet, both arms and all for scorpion tails like spider legs. This increased her pitiful speed only marginally. As they backed away into the room they came from Izuku took the time to pop open the mana potion he was carrying in his spare hand and opted to just place it into his mouth and hold it here in his teeth. He got the impression he would be using a lot of mana before this was over.

Now they were both pelting the demoness with firebolts, aiming for the limbs in the hope that they could be severed, or else simply splintered by the blasts.

She was nearly upon the doorway when she finally attacked. Or at least Izuku thought she did, it was difficult to tell what happened then.

Plumes of green smoke erupted from her and enveloped them. The reaction was immediate. A furious rash erupted on his hands, and he felt an intense burning sensation from it all along his body, and especially his face. Then came the lightheadedness and the foul stench of it. Despite the noxious cloud of poison gas ripping his body he didn't let up his onslaught, in fact, he changed tactics.

Tilting his head back so he could continuously drink the watered-down mana potion, Izuku took hold of his bastardized fire wall spell and stoked it into a full blown inferno. The flames rose all the way to the ceiling of the great hall and far exceeded the feats of the countess the night before. Still, Andariel charged through, though she was screaming in pain now.

When she was nearly upon them Izuku and Isendra backed away to either side of the great double doors and Isendra cast her blizzard spell on the ground, making it nice and slick. When Andariel finally reached them, it was to slip comically, like a clown on a banana peel, into the crater of blood and corpses.

Izuku and Isendra, both reminded of their battle with the countess, reached out with their mana and drained the pool of every last bit of warmth, freezing it solid with Andariel in it. Andariel broke mostly free with her powerful limbs in an instant and swiped at them with the scorpion tail arms. They both ducked and rolled out of the way and responded with yet another pair of firebolts, which Izuku also followed up by flinging the empty mana potion bottle at her forehead where it shattered.

And he'd thought her earlier scream at being immolated was loud. The noise she made at two eyefuls of shattered glass could rupture eardrums. That had not been his intention, but he was pleased by the result.

From there the battle was more of a mercy killing, but they had none of it to spare. They pelted the blinded and charred demoness with firebolt after firebolt. Dodging the blind swipes of her stingers, claws and belched bile was child's play at this point. The thick plumes of noxious smoke she filled the room with, on the other hand, were unavoidable and they opted to simply accept them as a workplace hazard. And thus, they battered and beat her down with magical flames from every angle as she wailed and gnashed her death in rage at her own pitifulness.

Then, all at once, she exploded into a pillar fire straight out of exodus.

The pillar rose and drilled into the ceiling. Higher and higher it went and with it came the wails of every fallen, undead or worse in the monastery. As with Blood Raven's death, the magic of Andariel's unholy works was undone with her destruction. Just as Akara had predicted.

He looked to Isendra with a smile on his face and blanched at the sight of her.

Thick, black boils had erupted on her face and the smooth skin beneath her form-fitting chain mail. They were bursting and out from the wounds poured congealed, blackened blood. He looked down at his own hands and sure enough, he looked like a victim of the black death himself. Then he remembered he had been breathing in the stuff for almost a minute now.

No sooner did that thought strike him did his body react, vomiting his breakfast from the morning and the potions he had quaffed since then.

During the adrenalin of battle, he had been able to ignore the effects of the poison on his vision and head, but now the light-headedness and darkness were closing in and they conspired to bring him down to the ground. To the ground he went. The last thing before unconsciousness overtook him was the prone body of his mistress across the crater, and Akara bringing an entourage of their friends and allies through the doors behind her.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 15:
Party like it's 999
​

---

Akara had all of the helpers she could ever want, running to and from like headless chickens as they tried their best to bring her the ingredients and objects she requested. They were almost doing more harm than good, as they were not trained to know and recognize these things, but at least she had Cain there to provide proper aid and instruction.

"We have no records of the nature of Andariel's poisons." Cain confided in her at last as he returned from his research. "Only records of people dying from it and the techniques that failed to save them or relieve their symptoms."

That was good. That meant they at least had information on what not to do. It was better than going in completely blind as they tried to save the two dying sorcerers laying before them.

"Cooling them down has slowed their fading." Akara told him. "But my antidotes have done little."

Indeed, the two were nearly frozen solid from her underpowered frost spells, a technique used to slow bleeding and heart rates and keep people sedated during surgeries. The oddly comfortable and inviting unconsciousness of a near death by hypothermia.

"Have you tried garbing them with enchanted objects to protect against and slow the effects of poison?" Cain asked.

"I would like to, but I cannot leave their side and the others I sent to scour the treasury for such objects have yet to return." Akara admitted.

Just then, said searchers returned. Her heart fell when she saw the mountain of necklaces, circlets, rings and anklets they labored under. It seemed that, lacking the ability to determine what objects had anti-poison enchantments, the group opted to merely collect all things magical and carry them back to let them sort.

And sort they did. Akara could identify the exact magical properties of any object, but she could at least tell the difference between one that felt of fire and one that felt of poison magic. The difference between one that protected from such or applied such? Not so much. And so, the pair quickly developed a routine where she would separate the pile of jewelry into two, one for poison related objects and for non-poison related objects. Then, Cain would closely examine the ones she found and toss away whichever ones would surely do more harm than good.

They wasted no further time in decorating the pair of heroes in so much jewelry that if they were awake they could not feasibly stand up from their weight. By the end of it each had two or three rings on each finger, one for each phalanx where possible, and so many necklaces that she worried they might choke.

"Awww. Izuku looks like a little pimp." Mary commented at the overly jeweled young man. To much jeering.

"And Isendra looks like what I imagine Gheed's wife would look like." Kashya added to even more jeer.

Gheed snorted.

"Almost! She is nowhere near big-boned enough and lacks the ever-present scowl or overly fluffy cat she adores so. But she does have my woman's taste in extravagance." Gheed added.

The jeering stopped as the good humor was replaced by confusion at Gheed's tacit revelation that he did, in fact, have a wife.

Akara had been so busy tending to her duties that she hadn't properly registered the crowd of well-wishers that filled the barracks behind her, likely all the way out to the front door of the citadel. Now that she had, she blew her lid.

"Out! All of you, out!" She hollered. "I'm doing important healing work here, and it's stressful enough without all of you breathing down my neck and making light of the situation!"

Most scampered off, grumbling something about tasks they had been putting off around the ruined citadel, but the important individuals stayed.

"Is there absolutely anything more you can do?" Warriv asked.

"Or anything you want from us?" Kashya asked.

"Maybe, but it's a last resort option." Akara said.

"How last resort?" Warriv asked.

"Best case scenario? upwards of twelve more people will be bedridden in agony for days in a similar state to them. Worst case scenario? if it doesn't work all twelve would die, along with these two." Akara clarified.

Kashya did not hesitate.

"Gather for me every single person who owes these two their lives, above and beyond everybody else. Those most willing to give their own to save Isendra and Izuku from their Pyrrhic victory." She ordered.

Both of her usual guards bowed and left them to do exactly that. When they returned, they brought along many more volunteers than were needed.

---

When Izuku awoke, it was to the feeling of his entire body was made of lead. Every muscle fiber, tendon sinew, bone and bit of cartilage felt heavy. Most especially his head. The closest thing he could compare it to would be the feeling of an extreme case of the flu, where you can't even lift your head, but minus the sinus pressure.

He sat up upright and realized he was on a cot in the barracks of the citadel for the Sisterhood of the Sightless eye. It was a great deal cleaner and more well-lit than when he and Isendra had stormed through it. The lack of blood and viscera on the floor and wall was a marked improvement, as was the company.

To his right, on a cot identical to his own, lay Isendra, sound asleep and covered in garish jewelry. On his left was Alexis, in a similar state of health and dress. looking down on himself he noted that he too was covered in enchanted trinkets. Reaching out with his mana he felt the nature of poison imbued into its magic, but the precise details of what they had to do with poison was a mystery to his senses, if obvious to his mind.

Returning his attention to the room at large, he counted fourteen beds filled with resting figures, also all covered in jewelry. Had they all somehow been poisoned by Andariel?

"Of course you're the first to awake, you death defiant little man you." Akara's voice greeted him.

He turned to see the wizened woman come out from behind a screen where he could see the edges of an alchemical workstation and desk covered in tomes.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Bad. I don't think any elaboration beyond that would be necessary." Izuku said, intentionally cheeky from the grogginess of what he now realized were the after effects of his poisoning.

"Andariel? The citadel? Everyone else?" Izuku asked.

"Dead, conquered and still being cleaned before the rebuilding can begin, and the losses were less than we dared to hope. It was an overwhelming victory. You did well, young Midoriya." Akara said with the most genuine smile he had ever seen her wear.

Izuku nodded, too sick to blush or be bashful as he normally would upon being complimented. He turned his attention back to the other people in the cots.

"What about all of them?" He asked.

"They were subjected to a wound sharing ritual." Akara said.

Izuku looked at her questioningly.

"It is a magical ritual used for splitting a wound evenly between a small group of people with a bond, so that a life-threatening stab wound would become little more than a nick for each of them, thus easily recoverable. Likewise, the insurmountable poisons of Andariel could be slept off when shared between them. Everyone lying unconscious around you volunteered for this, with each knowing that success was not guaranteed and could have killed them all." She elaborated.

Izuku had the frame of mind to feel touched by the gesture and took a closer look at the figures on each bed. He counted Alexis, Mary and all the other rogues he had helped to rescue from Blood Raven and that tree of torture. Others he recognized only by the shapes they made under their blankets and color of their hair. Warriv, Charsi, Kashya, Cain and even Gheed had taken up cots around them. Gheed may have been the most surprising at first glance, but all of them baffled Izuku.

Why take such a risk, putting the lives of the leaders on the line when any foot soldier would do. Why run the risk of leaving all of the factions in the Blood moors leaderless? He knew the answer, sentiment, but that didn't make it less stupid.

"I know what you are thinking, and I partially agreed. But powerful bonds of friendship and loyalty give the ritual, and most magic, far more potency and chance of success." Akara consoled him. "To get the reward, you must take risks. And they opted to risk it all, because you deserve it. Now get some more rest. I am sure the others will awaken shortly."

---

By the next day everybody was awake and fully recovered from the ordeal. The sickness of Andariel's poisons were cured and the entire citadel was spotless.

Then the partying began. A week-long feast full of dancing, drinking and singing. Even Izuku muscled up the courage to join Gheed and Warriv in their attack on the meadery, which the forces of Andariel had completely left alone. Not fans of fun, those demons and undead.

Charsi was the last to recover, and she made a beeline to Izuku where she crushed him in a hug that made him smile to his cheeks at her softness and his tipsiness.

"Thank you for saving my hammer Izuku!" She squealed. "You were just supposed to kill Andariel, but you went and did that too. Come see me when the party ends."

The party did not end. It lasted an entire week. A week of waking up feeling worse than he had while sick with Andariel's poison. Only for the drinking and eating to begin again.

Those few of the Sisterhood who didn't take in the celebrations cleansed the forests surrounding the citadel of all beasts during this time. The celebrators then picked said beasts clean down to the bone to fulfill the needs of the feast. Gargantuan beasts? Gone. Those weird porcupine lizards? Gone. The fish? Those they made a concerted effort not to hunt to extinction, but a few still wound up on their plates all the same.

Izuku actually still made himself useful during the mornings. He learned how to butcher these beasts, along with the rare deer and fish, as well as how to tan the hides with eggs and brains. He was even shown how to make minor repairs to clothes as the now moth-eaten and nearly ruined things of the sisterhood were being carted out of the bowels of the cleaned citadel.

But in the evenings? He drank and sang and danced with the much taller and much prettier rogues until he felt sufficiently tired and artificially happy to go to bed.

It was around the fifth morning of the binge that Izuku decided to stop with the drinking. That morning he woke up, fully clothed, but being cuddled by an equally fully clothed Alexis who seemed to think he was a teddy bear. He pried himself free from her embrace and blanched at her drowsy whining at the loss of his warmth.

"No. Stay my little hero. Stay forever..." she moaned before falling back asleep.

Izuku crept away to the courtyard with the water fountain and rested there for the day. He made a point of only drinking water and eating some leafy greens that were brought back. Wild spinach, berries and nuts foraged from the overgrown undergrowth that the fallen had ignored in the last year. By now the ruined stone, plaster and shingles had been removed and many of the caravan workers had begun making new ones. The latter by cutting down the overgrown woods nearby and the former by breaking down the stone of the ruined parts of the citadel and mixing it into new concrete or mortar.

Clearly he had not been the first to become tired of the partying, but he knew he wasn't up for doing any real work that day. He took to wandering the area surrounding the citadel, where large mass graves for bodies of their enemies had been dug and covered, forming small hills of dirt that were then planted with herbs and small fruiting plants, tomato especially.

He walked and thought about nothing. Enjoying the slightly more peaceful world and downtime that he knew would be short lived.

That day seemed to have a magic all its own, as everybody else packed up the party and all collectively decided to put the drink and food down. It was time to get back to work. It wasn't until that night that Izuku realized he hadn't seen Isendra during the entirety of the partying, and suspected she was off doing her own private celebrations where he couldn't see. She probably had a lover somewhere she didn't want him knowing about, keeping appearances and all that.

He would have respected her no less for knowing for certain who she was off with, but he understood her want to keep her apprentice in the dark about such personal things. She had always been a private person.

---

Isendra still hadn't reappeared by the next day, so Izuku took to the recently refurbished library where he picked up quill and ink to get started on a project he'd had in mind for some months. He copied a map of the moors, marking the location of the citadel and a compass on the corner. He also added crude sketches of fallen and a few other threats in the Blood moors.

His work was interrupted when Warriv approached him.

"My crew leaves next week for Lut Gholein." Warriv told him the next day. "You are welcome to join my caravan for free."

Izuku nodded.

"I will tell my mistress." He informed the caravan leader.

When Warriv left, Izuku went down the aisles in search of a book about Lut Gholein. He found a reference to it in a glossary of the world and a short description. a shining Jewel of the desert. Trading port in Aranoch and the midpoint between the Western Kingdoms and Kehjistan beyond the Twin Seas in the East. Good to know.

He went down to the stables where the caravanners had set up their little wood working shop for making repairs around the citadel.

"Excuse me. Any chance I could make a small sign post?" He asked.

And so, for the rest of that day, one of the fine young men under Warriv taught him some basic woodworking skills. By the end, he had a simple rod of wood with a spiked bottom, and a flat sign on top. He then used a paint brush to glue his makeshift map to it and another layer of glue as a protective coating. He was pleased with the end result.

When he finally returned to the mess hall it was to find Isendra in her white dress, the one she wore to relax on cleaning days, eating alone. Her mood seemed much improved since the huff she was in when they woke up after their battle. In fact, he'd never seen her so at peace.

"Good evening mistress." Izuku greeted her dutifully.

"Good evening apprentice. I hear you have been busy." Isendra said.

"Yes ma'am. Warriv said to tell you that his caravan is going to the desert's Gem in a week's time, and that we are both welcome to join him free of charge." Izuku told her.

"Free of charge you say? As opposed to the more accurate description that he will be paying us in food and comfortable travel in exchange for our protecting him through the journey. Either way, I accept. Tell him so if you see him before I do." She ordered. "Now, what have you been working on when you weren't refusing the matrimonial designs of young Alexis?"

Matrimonial designs?

"She never asked me to marry her." Izuku told her.

"No. But she did ask me, and I refused. That you still have a mother and father out there who are the ones she needs to ask, and that the answer was certainly no until you finished your apprenticeship under me." Isendra told him.

Izuku looked around to make sure there were no minders, and finding that there was nobody nearby this late at night he leaned in to whisper to his mistress.

"Our age difference would constitute a crime in my country." He told her. "I am still considered a child, and her behavior would be considered criminal."

Isendra dropped her spoon into her bowl of porridge as she gaped at Izuku.

"Twenty two and twelve are not a significant age gap." She reasoned.

"No, but our people are considered children unable to consent and take part in certain adult activities until sixteen." Izuku explained. "If you're seventeen and persue a twelve year old it is criminal, one of the worst crimes, rape."

Isendra breathed deeply and stared off into the void as she absorbed this information.

'My goodness. That must be torture to young girls. The highest requirement I have heard of is thirteen, and even that seems cruel to young girls in my opinion." She said.

"Why young girls and not young boys?" Izuku asked.

Isendra gave him a pitying look.

"Oh Izuku. If you could peer into the pit of filth that is the mind of a thirteen-year-old girl, you might be put off from us forever. We are ready for that kind of thing earlier than you childish boys. And the men we like are older." She told him. "For men are like a fine wine, they really only get better with age. Up to a point. Us women? We are best and most passionate when we are young. So not allowing us to express that and pursue the men we want but restricting us to little boys until sixteen? That is just oppressive. Pure repression of women's sexuality."

the complete juxtaposition of this way of thinking to what people in his society feel about "backwards" societies where marriage and a preposterously young age threw Izuku through a loop. Maybe the humans of this world really were a separate species altogether? There was no way this was so with human females of his world.

"I think their reasoning is that even at sixteen young men and women are too idiotic to make wise choices about life partners and the consequences of taking part in such activities." Izuku explained. "But that's the oldest we can still keep a lid on them before they explode."

Isendra considered this.

"You know, your people might be onto something there! With the prodigious use of enchanted chastity belts we might be able to achieve something similar here. But just to be clear, premarital sex between 'children' under the age of sixteen is rampant as is out of wedlock pregnancy thereby, is it not?" She asked.

"Oh yeah! Definitely. More So in countries where the age is eighteen." Izuku said.

"Okay, now you're having one on me. Was there something else you wanted to tell me besides the fact that your country would string up sweet Alexis for daring to fall hopelessly in love with you?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am. I know that the next leg of our journey will take us far from the moors, and I want to leave a sign for any of my people in case they send somebody here the same way I was sent here." He explained.

"What kind of sign?" Isendra asked.

"A literal sign. With a map leading them here to the citadel and information on the threats they will face here. What I need to know is where exactly on the map the place of my arrival is and if we can make the trip there and back before Warriv leaves." Izuku told her.

"We? What do you mean we? We will not be returning to that bog. You will." Isendra ordered.

"By myself?" He asked.

"Indeed. You are more than strong enough, and based on what you just told me, your society infantilizes the young to the point of indefinite childhood. It goes a great deal towards explaining the immaturity I have seen in you since day one. I suspect eight-year-olds in our society are more prepared for the trials of adulthood than your sixteen-year-olds. Since you have arrived here you have been treated as a near adult, as a boy your age should be. From now on you shall be treated as a full adult. It is my duty to prepare you for manhood, and you have catching up to do." Isendra explained. "Your first task towards this goal is to borrow a horse from Warriv, he will not refuse you, and make the trip there and back by yourself. To be alone with your thoughts for extended periods of time is a thing you must master. You leave in the morning. Bring me this sign you built before then so I can mark it."

---

The next morning Izuku did exactly as she instructed. He loaded five days worth of supplies onto one of Warriv's horses and set off with his makeshift signpost.

"You come back alive and well in five days, or else I will ensnare every Necromancer of Rathma I can to bring your soul back here just so I can remind you of your promised word." Isendra ordered.

Izuku bowed and went on his way southwest.

It was a slow and quiet ride, especially at first. The forests near or around the citadel and countess' former tower had been cleared of all servants of darkness. but beyond that, sparse beasts and fallen scurried about. He avoided conflict with them, if only because he didn't want to lose important time fighting such lowly creatures.

For an entire day and night, he traveled the woodland until reaching the eastern end of the moors. He almost didn't need the map after that, as the boggier parts of the southeast end of the countryside was as distinct as the day he had arrived. He slept fitfully each night, with every noise bringing him to wakefulness and once he was there, he made a point of checking the perimeter and long country beyond, but nothing tried to sneak up upon him in his sleep.

And so on the morning of the third day he arrived at the trash heap, much smaller and more rotted through than he recalled, as if no new trash had been added since he arrived. In fact, it was so. There was no new trash on the heaps. All of the plastic bags and filth within them were now mulch, with only glass, metal and plastic surviving but even they had grime, moss and lichen growing on them.

He didn't know what to make of this, so he retrieved his sign and a post stamper loaned to him for the mission and got to work pummeling the spike of the wooden pole into the ground. It took a good minute of labor, but soon it stood upright and proudly facing the spot of swamp he had crawled out of many months ago.

He turned around and reached out with his mana to see if he could feel any sign of the power that had brought him there, expecting to feel magic akin to the warp scrolls, but he found no such magical residue. laughing to himself as if a warp quirk would feel at all like warp magic.

He took a deep breath, as the air still smelled similar to the foul stench of a dumpster as it had before, and made ready to leave, but stopped when something in the water caught his eye. It was only for a moment, but he could have sworn he saw something blink at him. Like the glint of a single eye, he looked more closely and then it happened again, but it wasn't a living creature. It was the unmistakable glint of an LED light. Had some electronics made the trip and kept a charge?

He removed his clothes and stomped into the water to retrieve it, and what he lifted out of it was a large sealed bag. In it was a stack of envelopes and a small chip with a blinking LED light. He turned it around to see the front of the topmost letter.

It was addressed to him.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room for fanfiction.

$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 16:

Reminders of Home​

---

Izuku ripped open the sealed bags and sorted through the envelopes.

Each was addressed to him and signed by a different person, with his mother's signature on the top one. Kachan and both of his parents had written, as had Tsukune Hyoudou, the boy who warped him to this world in the first place. Along with, of course, his parents. He didn't recognize the names of the other letters, though the one signed by a chief Tsuragamae seemed obvious of the reason for his letter.

He opened his mother's first.

Izuku.

I know you are alive, but I know not where. Some of us think Tsukune's warp ability is an annihilation ability, but I hold out hope. Even though the last time we sent a gps tracker through it lost all signal we sent one with this package hoping it finds you well. Hopefully this one leads us to you.

Your father is working extra hours to save up the money to hire a proper hero agency to help find you, and I took on two part time jobs to do the same. We are going to get you home

Love, your mother.

Izuku sincerely doubted the GPS tracker would work across galaxies or even universes, but he was happier than words could describe to learn they were actually looking for him. The first tracker they must have sent was destroyed by the elements, but he looked at the one in the bag and decided it was paramount that it be destroyed. He knew he needed to avoid information of such advanced technology getting into the hands of these primitive peoples at all costs, especially the forces of Burning Hells. They almost assuredly wouldn't even be able to recognize it as technology, let alone reverse engineer it and learn the principles behind it, but the incredible unlikeliness of the latter happening wasn't quite zero, and such a thing would be apocalyptic.

He held the chip between his thumb and index finger and fried it with as much lightning as he could force through it. Every circuit was ruined by the assault and the plastic began to melt. He put it on the ground and melted it further with controlled fire.

He opened the letter from Chief Tsuragamae next.

Dear Izuku Midoriya.

Hoping against hope that you have survived your trip and are able to receive this, I am writing to you to tell you how our investigation into the incident leading to your disappearance is going. Know that it has been ruled an accident, despite this punishment for those involved has been harsh.

Young Bakugo and Hyoudou in particular have been placed into the juvenile villain prevention program and all of the children involved in the incident are in mandatory therapy. Hyoudou in particular is being trained and tested rigorously to determine the nature of his power. We are fairly certain it is a warp ability, or else I would not have bothered writing to you. We are hopeful that this accident may be reversed by simply helping Alex develop his powers so he might pull you back to our side.

Remain steadfast! We are doing all that we can

Yours sincerely, Chief Tsuragame.

Accident?

Accident?! Between the teacher's willful negligence of the bullying to the sociopathic behavior of his peers, they labeled it an accident? This was all incredibly fishy, and he suspected that the other children ganged up to pin the blame on Kachan and Tsukune for the entire thing to absolve themselves of the blame.

His hands shook so hard by the time he finished reading the chief's letter that he actually ripped it, and then, as his rage overcame him his hands erupted in fire. The other letters burned all the way through where he held them in his hands.

He dropped the stack as quickly as he could and smothered them out, but the damage was already done. The remaining envelopes and letters inside were now fragments and impossible to read. He went through them, trying to piece together what the partial sentences said, and he was able to get the gist of it. They were all false apologies from the other students or their parents.

One actually said "I'm sorry I couldn't stop Bakugo and Tsukune in time." Confirming his suspicion that the other students had banded together to lie and pin the blame on the innocent parties. Who would you believe, the aggressive Bakugo and child whose quirk was responsible or the rest of the class?

He took the cleanest surviving fragment of an envelope and retrieved his quill and ink before scrawling a message for anybody who might eventually get the bright idea to have Tsukune's ability used on them. They surely could have used Endeavor these last few months. It would have made short work of Andarial and her forces. It would have taken him an entire day to clear out the moors and the citadel and they'd all have caught up with the dark wanderer months ago.

He pinned the note to his wooden sign using a dagger and then applied a fine coating of glue for added protection.

He cleaned up behind him, burning all evidence of the letters until not but ash remained. He had been careless about clues to his origins for the last time. He finished his work there by hiding his sign from the back by a bush, that way only somebody coming from inside the bog would be able to see it. It was vague enough that even if it was found, nobody would draw any conclusions about his origins. It just seemed like a sign pointing to the citadel and warning about the dangers of the moors.

With his work done he turned around and began the long trek back to the citadel.

---

He made good time on the return trip, despite stopping early the first day to get some extra rest at the campsite that was mere hours from where he had left the signpost. He mostly did this because the saddle sores from riding on a horse for the first time and for so long was getting to him. He resorted to riding sidesaddle for the return trip, which was awkward in the extreme, but it didn't make his pelvis feel like it'd been carved with a serrated knife.

He switched back to riding the horse properly when the citadel finally came into view and rode the last distance to the new stable that the carpenters had finished while he was away. He returned the horse to the stable hand and made for the entrance.

"Kashya and Isendra have requested you at the chapel." A guarding rogue told him.

Izuku nodded and meandered through the citadel by the path he remembered to the ornate courtyard and from there through the barracks and smithy. He noted with concern that Charsi was not manning the still lit furnace and wondered for her whereabouts. It was upon entering the chapel that he got his answer.

"Happy birthday!"

Surprise birthday parties came as even bigger surprises when it wasn't even your birthday. He was sure if he could sit down and count the days since his arrival he could figure out when it passed, but he was sure it passed. He regained his sensibility in time to feign pleasant surprise instead of consternated confusion, though he did share a look with Isendra. He hoped it portrayed his desire to discuss cover stories like this in the future.

It was a small gathering. It included pretty much everybody who had nearly sacrificed themselves to save him and Isendra from that poison and the rogues rescued from Blood Raven.

"Wait, that can't be today, is it?" he asked. "What is today anyways?"

"I kept track." Isendra told him. "You have been too busy training, studying and fighting. Now, open mine first."

She handed him a wrapped book of some kind, and he opened it to find a leatherbound journal. Prying the covers apart he discovered the pages were not blank, but instead had empty and filled diagrams, likely for spell formulae in a format he hadn't learned yet. There were also what looked like star charts and a lunar calendar, among other references he was probably expected to fill in himself and memorize.

"You will be learning about runes and alchemy soon, and this is a proper journal for such things. I spent all week making it. With help." Isendra told him.

"I love it!" Izuku said. "It will be the perfect companion to my chicken scratch book of questions."

And so the gifts came from everybody.

Cain gave him a companion to his journal in the form of a book strap with locks on it.

"A sorcerer must keep his secrets safe. For magic is not meant to become common knowledge." He said wisely.

Izuku wasn't so sure of that. He came from a world where "magic" was pretty much available to everyone. If everybody on sanctuary learned magic could they develop a society like his? Or would it more resemble the dark age of villains? Neither could be worse than the state it was in now.

His budding book collection grew from there. Kashya provided him a book on hunting techniques, Charsi gave him a book on butchery and Gheed gave him a book on clothing repair. Each passed on a piece of wisdom

"Lest you forget the skills you learned under my sisterhood, or the applications thereof." Kashya told him.

"Properly prepared meat is not only the most important sustenance for a man, but the only food he needs. And when prepared properly it is a greater booster of morale than any drink or other vice." Charsi said, patting her stomach.

"Poorly fitted or maintained clothes and especially shoes will defeat a great hero more ruthlessly than any demon, let alone mortals like us. Take proper care of your equipment, all of it." Gheed told him.

He accepted each gratefully, and showed a great deal of restraint in not digging into their worn pages then and there.

Speaking of boots. Warriv provided him with a new pair of those.

"I second what Gheed said, but with extra emphasis on poorly fitted or maintained shoes. Take care of your feet, they're the only thing that can carry you on most journeys and they complain loudly when not cared for." Warriv said.

Akara came next and handed him a box full of vials too small to be potions.

"Perfumes." Akara said. "Both in oil and alcohol spray varieties. When one cannot wash themselves properly, it is the next best thing to cover their offensive odors."

Izuku thanked her confusedly. Nobody had ever complained about his body odor before, as he had made sure to bathe with everyone else and had even done so in the river yesterday while out in the wild. Maybe it was intended to serve him as he hit puberty and started to smell like a teenage boy?

Then came the entire group of rogue sisters. Mary, Alexis and the others. Together, they carried a set of green clothing. A cloak, a jumper, a pair of gloves and trousers. Each looked positively toasty with thick, green fur.

"We found a dead gargantuan beast frozen solid in a stream and assumed it was your work, so we made some clothing out of it. You probably won't need it in the jewel of the desert most days, but some nights can drop below freezing, especially with winter coming. Be careful out there." Mary explained.

The rest of that day was spent drinking and eating. It was an oddly quiet celebration, but Izuku suspected that was because they understood his appreciation of quiet, not to mention the three new books they left him to enjoy while meandering and chatting among themselves. When evening finally approached they all went their separate ways, with Isendra escorting Izuku to her personal quarters.

She had a bunk bed from the barracks brought in, likely for his benefit so he could rest with her that night.

"We have an early start tomorrow. Sleep well and be ready to have one of the last baths you may have for some time. The desert is not known for providing enough extra water to bathe with."

"Oh! So that's what Akara meant by her gift. I thought she was rudely suggesting I needed a bath." Izuku said.

Isendra laughed.

"No. But we will sorely miss them soon. I am just as fond of bathing as you are." She said. "Now, I do apologize for the unexpected party. The real reason I sent you on your task alone was to wear you out and make you miss everyone, that way the party would feel that much nicer. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and a week without cooked food and drink makes them taste all the better. I see it worked, based on the genuine smiling you did today."

Izuku felt his face darken.

"Have my smiles not seemed genuine lately?" He asked rhetorically.

"They have not. And that saddens all of us. You are growing older and seeing too much for one so young. Your heart is hardening and it is not a wholly good change." Isendra explained. "You are learning anger. You are learning hatred for evil. These are good things to have, but don't let them drag you or us down, okay?"

Izuku swallowed hard, but nodded.

"Good. Now go to sleep." She commanded.

She crawled into the bottom bunk and closed the blinds to hide the last light of the evening sunset. He climbed up to the top bunk and rolled himself up in as many layers as he dared. The combination of his weariness from his six-day trip, satiation from the delicious meal Charsi had prepared and the lightness in his head from Gheed's mead all conspired to put him to sleep, and he rested soundly that night.

---

"Well, that ought to be enough food to last us all three months." Gheed said in satisfaction as he tossed the last barrel of dried fruit into the back of the last wagon. "You won't be eating fancy, but you'll be fed."

"Thank you, Gheed. I am sure it will taste delicious. All the more for being the product of your hitherto mythical philanthropy." Isendra said with a mocking smirk.

"Oho! Still with a vicious tongue. I know I am not the most likable or polite of company, but I want you both to know I am glad to have met and done business with you." Gheed said with a hand on his chest. "And I hope you know the way I operated, meanness and all, was my own way of working hard to keep everything in motion and everyone alive. You two were good with magic, I am good with... well, goods. And I did my best."

"And I expect you will continue doing your best, now that you have an official capacity as the sole trader of the Sisters of the Sightless eye." Kashya butted in, carrying a blanket.

"Of course, ma'am. How else will I fund my sudden interest in philanthropy towards refugees?" Gheed said with his own mocking smirk before slinking away.

They all watched him leave with bemused sighs, before turning back to one-another.

"We can never thank you enough for all you've done here. You are both heroes in the making and I hope you call on us in future battles if you need us. In the meantime, I think the last thing I can do to help is to gift you these." Kashya said, handing Isendra the blanket.

She unfurled the blanket, and inside found another piece of green cloth. Scratch that, they were hide of some sort.

"These are enchanted demonhide items from our treasury. The sash I give to Izuku. It helps to regenerate wounds, and I think we can expect his tendency to get injured will continue. The gloves have the same effect, but would not fit the boy, so I gift them to you, Isendra." Kashya explained.

Her insinuation that she would have rather just given Izuku two gifts and left Isendra with nothing was clearly a joke. Or, at least, he hoped it was. He recalled how antagonistic she and his mistress had been in the beginning. How untrustful she was.

"We shall seldom take them off." Isendra promised.

"Ew, no. Please, take better care of them than that. The stench of you two wearing them at all times while traveling east might never be removed. Now, be on your way." Kashya ordered them around one last time.

She bowed to them and left back inside after Gheed. Cain exited the citadel after her, carrying a large pack with him.

"Are you coming with us mister Cain?" Izuku asked in surprise.

"But of course! The sisterhood has things well under had here, and my use as a repository of knowledge in combating the prime evils is needed out east." Cain explained. "That, and I still owe you two my life and have a strong feeling that you are both tied intimately to the fate of this world. I will follow you into the burning hells, and were you to ask, so would many of those we are leaving behind."

Izuku held out his arms to offer to take Cain's pack and the elder obliged, handing Izuku his burden to be added to their wagon where Izuku soon put it. After that, Deckard climbed into the front seat to wait for the caravan's departure.

"Three entire months of free shelter and food in exchange for our protection of them." Isendra said wistfully. "It is quite an enviable job we have been offered. I will be taking the day shifts, and you the night. Seeing as you were gifted the warm clothing necessary to be about on such freezing nights in the desert."

Izuku nodded at her command.

"During the daytime, when you are not sleeping, you will be studying runes in particular. At night you shall focus on quarterstaff fighting, in so much as you can while remaining vigilant of your surroundings. I am sure you will not be alone on your watch. With the hundred other vagabonds joining us you will have plenty of time. During times we are both awake we shall focus on your spellcasting. You are a hair away from being able to cast nova, and from there, I expect you to flourish." Isendra explained the immediate future to him. "Today, I suggest you sit with Cain and be lectured into unconsciousness that way you may be awake by evening when we make camp. I will patrol the perimeter on horse."

She then left him there, likely in search of Warriv for her patrol horse, and Izuku followed her instruction by joining Cain on the front seats.

"I have been trying to imitate the magic of your shirt." Cain began. "Imprinting images as they appear to one's mind isn't unheard of, but I've never met somebody able to do it as perfectly as whoever made your shirt. I deduced it required great knowledge of the mind and how it interacts with the light of the world. Few sorcerers have such magics and knowledge, fewer still are willing to admit to it. I am one of them."

Izuku looked at Cain, trying to parse his meaning. Something about it sounded familiar. Cain noticed that he wasn't catching onto his doublespeak so he leaned in to whisper a more direct message.

"I was told about the concern you showed regarding the health of my mind and the inevitable lecture you received on one of the most dangerous and forbidden forms of magic." Cain whispered.

Izuku made an "Oh!" face at the explanation and nodded in understanding.

"Well, even though I did not have anybody else on hand to provide such aid to me, I am a believer in... ah, self-healing we shall say and I have been working diligently on aiding myself. It is a secret I thought important to share with you, and expect you will keep." He explained.

He gave Izuku a pointed look and held a finger to his lips. Izuku mimicked the motion and nodded in agreement.

"Now, like I said, I have been trying to imitate the magic done to create that shirt you wear when you sleep. I had some success, and I even had a volunteer when I told others I was trying to create something for you. Here you are." He said before handing him a square of leathery parchment tied with a bow.

Izuku didn't know what he was expecting to find when he opened it, but he certainly didn't expect to see a playboy centerfold of a woman.

It was a nearly photo-perfect depiction of Alexis in a flirtatious pose. She covered herself with what looked like a white, ornate tablecloth that barley covered her chest and groin, not that he hadn't seen it before with all the communal bathing. The partially covered pose was somehow more sexual than her naked body. She had all of her scars from her torture by Blood Raven prominently displayed.

There was a love letter written beside it.

I bear these scars you give me, and every time I see them I am filled with joy.

Joy at the young man who risked his life to save mine.

The pain inflicted on me was worth every scream that seared my throat, for through them I came to know your touch.

Come back to me, my little hero, when you are older and taller but hopefully no more hardened or less sweet of a boy.

Come back to me, and bring with you your own wounds inflicted by evil, so that I may caress them with hot fingers as you did mine.

Izuku tied the centerfold and love letter back up and hid it in his pack beside his All Might shirt. He remained positively silent for the remainder of the preparation for their departure. The last hour of waiting for everyone to be settled dragged on, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the caravan began to move.

He dared to look back at the cathedral entrance to see and hear a throng of farewells and well wishers, among them Alexis.

Lut Gholein could not come soon enough.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room for fanfiction.

$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 17:

I Spy… Sand

---

Izuku sat at the head of their wagon with Isendra sitting next to him.

Both were sitting back and relaxing with their eyes closed as the vicious sun beamed down on them with all of its hate. They didn't mind though, for they were completely covered in ice. He recently mastered an ice armor spell and hated that he hadn't learned it before beginning this arduous journey through the desert.

The three months he suffered being subjected to the angry sunlight had left him, and most everyone else, deeply tanned. He didn't have a mirror handy, but he suspected that he looked like a male Ganguro at this point. Was there male equivalent to Ganguros? There had to be. Either way, if there was, he certainly looked like one. Isendra, on the other hand, looked almost unchanged by her months of tanning. Partially because she tended to sleep in the wagon during the day and keep guard at night, but mostly because she was fully capable of casting an ice armor on herself every time she was exposed to so much as the morning or evening sun, let alone the scorching sunlight of the afternoon.

He also wished he had learned it earlier for another reason.

See, the water used for the ice armor had to come from somewhere in the first place. And that somewhere was the air around them. In the desert, that wasn't much, which compounded the difficulty Izuku had in learning the spell but made it damn useful for collecting water. For the last couple weeks, since he'd finally gotten the spell down, half of his job as day watch was collecting the meltwater from his ice armor to help restock the water supply.

He had tried to insist that such water only be used for washing purposes, but the people of Sanctuary were far less grossed out by the prospect of drinking water that had literally melted off of his sweaty body than he was.

"Hey! Izuku!" A man called out to him from somewhere on the right.

Izuku opened his eyes, breaking his meditation, to see who was approaching. It was Tony, a wheel maker in Warriv's employ. He carried with him a full wineskin.

"Can you freeze this for me?" He asked as he got close enough to speak regularly,

Izuku nodded and took the leathery sack. With barely more than a thought he froze the water in the wineskin, but only the small amount of it touching the container itself, leaving most of the water liquid but nicely cooled for his drinking pleasure.

"Here you go Tony!" Izuku said cheerfully.

"Thanks kid, you guys about ready for lunch? I can bring over a couple portions." Tony offered.

"Nah! We usually skip lunch. Dinner and breakfast only, so we can eat together. What, with our different sleep schedules." Izuku explained.

Tony accepted his logic and took off, leaving Izuku to his meditation. And so, he returned to his usual afternoon routine. Practicing ice magic while trying to meditate, with the intermediate interruption by caravanners, who also served to sharpen his magical skills. Isendra had convinced Warriv to instruct all people to go to Izuku to cool or freeze anything. This was for the obvious purpose of improving his ice magic skills, which is what he was assigned to work on during the day, with the lightning skill tree to be his area of focus during the evenings before going to sleep and mornings before starting his duties as a guard.

Still, it was gross that people here thought it was acceptable to drink the water which melted off of him and Isendra. He wondered if there was something perverted about it? Some seemed strangely eager to drink the water that melted off of his mistress, and that bothered him.

"You have progressed greatly." Isendra complimented suddenly.

Izuku broke out of his meditation to look at her. She kept her eyes closed.

"You have tempered all of your spells to the point that you no longer overcharge them. Before this trip, you had the bad habit of forcing your spells to work by putting everything you had into them. In doing so you wasted at least four times as much mana as was required. These last few months have served to help you overcome that deficiency. Now, you use as much mana as the spell requires. In time you will learn how to make such spells even more powerful, with the correspondingly appropriate amount of mana." Isendra explained.

Right. She had explained the purpose of his training thus far before, and yet he felt all the more surprised for having achieved the end goal. It had been such slow progress. Practicing and practicing spells he already knew so as to perfect them. Train that muscle memory, or mana memory, to the point that each spell was cast perfectly. She had introduced a few new spells along the way, like the ice armor and nova, to practice as well. But she hadn't waited on him to master his control of simpler spells beforehand. But it was her role to come up with the training regimen. How she chose to balance having him practice earlier spells versus learning new ones was a role he trusted her with.

"You now can cast a true firebolt, and in fact most of your fire spells are vastly improved. The only thing you can do with them from here is make them more powerful in time, a process that has no end. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of the creatures we will encounter here in the desert are adapted to resist extreme heat, and fire magic in particular." Isendra continued her lecture. "So your focus in training and battle will continue to be developing your ice and lightning magic."

Izuku nodded to every word. This was as close to a graduation ceremony as she would ever give him, after all, but that was the spirit of the lecture. To tell him he had advanced further.

The caravan peaked over another hill of sand and craggy rocks and they saw it. At long last, after three months subsisting on preserved and pickled foods, the occasional aquifer oasis, and Isendra's sweat water, the white towers of Lut Gohlein were now in sight. Her white towers just barely peaked over the distant sand dunes in the horizon. It looked close enough to reach by night, but long enough to leave them exhausted by their arrival.

"Halt!" Warriv's voice carried back to them from the front of the caravan. "Take a meal and wash break."

There was a smattering of discontented mutterings around the caravan, a few came from Izuku himself, but they stopped all the same. It was a decidedly odd time to take an hour break. With the destination in sight he felt a second wind and excitement to finish the journey, why waste time breaking?

Tony returned to Isendra and Izuku's wagon with a hint of the answer.

"Warriv has requested you." He said.

Izuku and Isendra shared a look. Yup. Trouble was definitely abound.

They canceled their ice armor, dismounted their wagon, and made their way to the front of the caravan. There, they saw Warriv talking in hushed tones with a pair of scouts. There were always a good four to six of them walking several kilometers ahead and to the sides. This kept a good warning system in place for oncoming dangers, which were usually environmental and easily course-corrected for. If they brought news that required the two Sorcerer's to actually do work for a change, then there was surely a fight ahead.

"Isendra, Izuku. We have need of your services." Warriv said with an inviting wave. "Our scouts have returned with news of an ambush in the making."

Of course. Close enough to the city to make travelers drop their guard, far enough that any help at the city couldn't see said ambush, let alone do anything to prevent or retaliate against it. Gotta hate the smarter thugs of the world. They're smart and hard working enough to be as annoying as possible, but not enough to get a real job and improve the world by contributing.

The scout, who wore tan colored clothes so as to blend in with the desert environment as much as they could without modern camouflage, stepped forward. Izuku made a note to introduce proper camo and ghillie suits as he talked.

"A small tribe of Lacuni are lying in wait on either side of the road ten kilometers ahead. We spotted their encampment in the shade of some rocky outcroppings they dug out of." The scout explained. "And I didn't get a good look at it, but I also spotted some kind of chitinous creature. I fear it may be a scarab demon."

Isendra nodded along with every word. At least she understood all of this.

"Point us in the right direction and we'll take care of it." Isendra said.

The scout pointed down the path they were going along anyways, and so Izuku and Isendra began their walk.

---

"Lacuni?" Izuku asked as soon as they were out of earshot to the caravan. "Scarab demon?"

"Cat people and big, bug demons that like to hurl lightning. It is one of the few creatures out here that you can unleash fire upon with some success." She explained. "Keep to the shadows of the dunes as we approach."

He crouched down at her command and did as she ordered. And so, the two of them sneaked their way along the curves of the shifting sand for the next hour. The sun was only now beginning to descend, giving them little shade, so they opted to renew their ice armor for comfort and protection in case they were ambushed despite expecting it.

They both spotted the black outcropping of rock at the same time and crouched low, crawling the last of the way to the final dune where they peeked over to survey the enemy forces.

Yup. Those were cat people alright. Nowhere near as cute as he was expecting, they looked more like the misbegotten half breeds of doctor Moreua. Their torsos and arms were longer than human and cat portions alike, but they were almost naked of fur save for their blood-red manes, tufts at the tip of their tails and, strangely, on their forearms. He took it back, they looked like Blanka if he'd an accident at a chocolate factory. Why was their skin blue?!

He honestly shouldn't have been that bothered by their appearance, plenty of mutant type quirks were stranger, but he was expecting something evolutionarily sensible here. Oh, and the females had four tits. Of course they did.

"What are you thinking of Izuku?" Isendra asked.

He realized she probably thought he had such a consternated expression because he was thinking up a strategy, and not overthinking their odd appearance. So he improvised.

"Are they more akin to lions than cats? With the tufts on their tail and manes? And I'm seeing a lot more females than males."

"Possibly. Would that give us an advantage?" She asked.

"Not necessarily, so much as tell us how they may fight. The males would obviously be stronger, but fight as an individual, but the females would be more aggressive and work more cooperatively." He explained. "If they are akin to lions."

"You are overthinking things." She admonished.

Izuku made a show of bowing his head, as if it wasn't his intention to make her think he was just overanalyzing instead of being an idiot.

"I think it's time you showed off your ice nova." She said. "Stun them all in one swoop. I know you've practiced the spell as well as you could in the caravan, but I want to see what you can do with it full powered."

Izuku nodded, then went back to raking the small tribe with his eyes.

"But where is the scarab demon?" He asked.

"It is right there." She said, pointing to the rock outcropping. "How could you miss it?"

She was right. The creature's chiton was a much darker shade of black than the rocks it huddled against for camouflage, but its cleanliness and reflective sheen gave it away. Not to mention all of the spiky bits.

"So what? Just jump down there to the middle of the fray and ice nova them in place?" He clarified.

"That's the idea. Need me to toss you?" She offered.

He accepted her offer and was bodily thrown by a gust of wind down into the encampment. He built up all of the mana he could in a dome around him as he fell and saw that every single Lacuna spotted him as soon as he crested the hill, but could not gather their weapons, let alone notch an arrow to fire at him, before he hit the ground. When he did he unleashed a violent gale of frigid air that then exploded into spikes of cutting ice erupting from the ground about him in all directions. Most of the Lacuni were outright impaled by the spikes, all were coated in a thick coating of ice that froze them in place.

He watched as Isendra sprinted down the hill and unleashed a similar storm to his, this one of electricity. The familiar lightning nova cooked the Lacuni from the inside and shattered their ice prison, and parts of their body, as most fell dead to the might of the two sorcerers.

Only two remained. A rather large male, and the now awakened and enraged scarab demon. The former was badly frostbitten and electrical burns, the latter was only now slowly rising, having been rudely awakened by the frost nova and likely energized by the lightning nova by the look of the sparks of electricity arcing between his many spikes.

Izuku threw his best firebolt directly at the scarab demon's still partially frozen face while Isendra opted to show off her own frost nova, which washed harmlessly over him. His firebolt shattered the hard carapace around the creature's head and sent it stumbling backwards, only to be fully frozen in place by Isendra's ice nova. He threw a second firebolt to finish the job of vaporizing the demon's head while Isendra did the same to their feline friend.

God, but did that one two combo of ice followed by fire never get old.

Izuku sighed. He was barely winded from that.

"Amazing what a difference three months of focused, uninterrupted practice will do, isn't it?" Isendra asked.

He shrugged.

"I was still expecting a fight to be... well, a fight."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you about to complain that things are getting too easy? Because I promise you, they will not remain so. Careful planning and skillful execution of said plans makes all encounters far easier and less injury prone, but rarely do plans survive first encounter so flawlessly." She warned.

"I mean. You all keep saying that, and yet our plans keep working out." He said, sounding more confident than he meant to.

"And yet we still have brushed against death all the same, even when we got lucky at every turn in our battle with Andariel. Don't worry, there will be more threats to keep you humble." She promised.

He believed her.

---

When they finally reached the gates of Lut Gohlein the exhaustion of three months journeying in the sun showed on all of their faces. Each of them sagged into themselves, mouths agape and eyes lidded. They looked like undead abominations themselves.

The guards waved most everyone in without much to do about it, but stopped Izuku and Isendra.

They looked his mistress up and down appreciatively, but not in a way that made Izuku worry they wished to defile her. It was more the appreciation a man would give a vehicle, or a well-maintained gun.

"You two are warriors and sorcerers, yes?" Asked the guard.

"We are. I am Isendra, and this is my student Izuku." Isendra explained.

They nodded sternly.

"Then you should go see Lord Jerhyn in... three days' time at the second bell." The left guard said after consulting a calendar. "The morning meal will be provided by him."

Izuku looked to Isendra.

"There is always work that needs doing. It's nice to have a new job as soon as you arrive at a place. Three days ought to be long enough to settle in." She said.

They thanked the guards and walked into the city. And boy was it bustling. They had to swim through human beings that were so distracted by their hubbub of swapping coins and products that nobody so much as looked at him. Their distracted and animated state made Izuku think of how vulnerable they were, to attack or theft. This reminded him of the existence of pickpockets, a foreign concept to Japan in the twenty second century, and he clutched his coin purse closer and deeper in his clothes.

He quickly learned the real terror of the city as he got a good look at the stalls, or more specifically, their prices. Things in Lut Gohlein were expensive, with a capital E. meals were advertised for one hundred gold on the cheap end, and the inns, of which there were many, held a similar price for single rooms.

"This city is a major port for trade." Isendra told him. "Money and goods change hands so quickly here. It is the end road of the supply line for many necessities, from seafood to precious gems. And the price of everything here reflects these realities. Many come here to make their fortune and leave after working hard for some time, but it is just as easy to lose said fortune trying to survive."

Izuku nodded.

"It's like with mining towns. It's not the gold miner who makes the money, but the pickaxe salesman." Izuku recited.

"Oooh! That's good. Did you just come up with that?" Isendra asked.

"Nope. Age old wisdom of my people." Izuku admitted.

They rounded a corner and caught their first sight of the sea glimmering in the horizon. He could smell the salty sea before, but now the fresh air of it was overwhelming. The desire to rush out and take a dunk in the water almost overcame him. Not least of all for his want of the first proper bath in three months and hatred of the heat, a hatred he was certain would grow in the coming months out here.

"Here." Isendra ordered as they approached an Inn.

The sign above said inn read Desert Rain. The sign read two hundred and fifty gold per day, with an extra ten for bath. It was mid-range in price compared to the other inns they saw, but it was the first to mention available baths at all. It won by default.

They walked inside and straight to the counter where a man, presumably the owner or employee thereof, stood organizing cards and chips and other gambling paraphernalia. He was missing an eye and half of his left hand. He looked like he lived an interesting life, to say the least.

"What's your pleasure?" The man said in a deceptively polite tone.

"We would like a room for the night please." Isendra asked.

The man looked between them but did not betray any thoughts or presumptions on their relationship. Instead, he merely nodded and produced a key.

"That will be two hundred and fifty gold per night. An additional ten each if you want access to the baths." He told them.

Isendra handed him two hundred and seventy coins, which he took.

"If you want any food, head on over to Atma's public house. It used to be a pleasure house, but all of the fine ladies of the evening have fled to the castle for extra safety for now. But it's still serving food and drink. Which we don't here. I specialize in shelter and baths." The man explained. "Also, the name is Elzix. Ask for me if you need me, but I'm rarely hard to find. Just make sure to sign your names in and out on the ledger."

Or recognize, Izuku added mentally. Or spot from kilometers away, really.

"Quick meal, then bath, then bed?" Isendra asked.

"Sounds great." Said Izuku.

They both signed the ledger then went upstairs to put their things away, after first checking the room and its amenities. It only had one bed, but it was large enough for both of them with even more space than they were used to, accustomed to sleeping side by side in sleeping bags in the back of a wagon. It was downright luxurious. They locked the place up and went on their way. Atma's former whorehouse really was just a tavern. They got two plates of fresh fish and bread, both still steaming and smelling a thousand times better than anything they'd eaten recently.

Fresh food beat dried and preserved food any day.

They found a small table with two stools near the back and dug in. The ability to speak momentarily left them as they stuffed their faces. They barely managed to meek out a "thank you" when the barman came around with two ales.

While the food was delicious, it wasn't enough to make Izuku lose his sense of his surroundings or the people therein. And on the other side of the room were two individuals who felt like blazing infernos to his magical senses. It was subdued, as if they were trying to hide it, but for somebody whom magic was almost a painful entity, he could practically see it coming from them. They looked like a couple, but an odd looking one. If they were trying to remain inconspicuous then wearing a wolf pelt on their head or having hair almost as long as she was tall might be some things worth changing.

They weren't bothering anybody, let alone taking an interest in them, so he mentally noted them as potential people of interest and filed the information away for later.

The food and drink were soon gone, and since they'd eaten and drunk it down so quickly, they were prematurely full even though his spirit craved for more. He leaned back and sighed at the pleasure of being full for once.

"Alright! Bath time." Isendra declared.

---

They reentered their room to find it in the same state they had left it, though now the two of them were clean and damp. They were so relaxed they might pass out before the sun finally set.

"We need to get you new clothes. You've had a bit of a growth spurt during our trip." Isendra commented.

Indeed. Half of his forearms and shins were now sticking out past his sleeves. He tried to imagine how nice it would have felt to have brand new, clean clothes to change into fresh out of the bathtub and suspected he might have died from a pleasure overdose.

"First thing in the morning we will do all of our overdue shopping. For now, we must discuss the future of your tutelage." She said as she sat down on her side of the bed.

She patted the spot of linen next to her and he took his seat.

"Due to our taking separate shifts during our travels, I focused on training you in such a way that you could practice without my direct supervision. This was only possible because you pick up new spells so fast and are diligent in practicing them without supervision. But because of our conflicting schedules I was not able to train you in the more academic topics you need to know." Isendra lectured. "History, politics, geography, runes and the like. It is time to get started on fixing that."

Izuku withdrew his notebook, pen and inkwell and got to writing.

"I have especially been interested in teaching you about my clan's history and about runes, but we never had the privacy needed to discuss it. Now. You should know that my clan follows the will of Lady Esu, and I hope to one day be called her daughter. You must never call yourself such, either publicly or especially to other members of my clan. We only permit female members into the order. Many if not all would kill you for claiming membership, thinking you a thief of valor."

Wow. There seemed to be a lot of female only warrior castes around these parts. Badass ones, too. He wrote that down, leaving the question as to what to call himself for later. Was she even allowed to take him on as a student at all? Him being male, and all that. Maybe with the world on the brink of annihilation she bent the rules in favor of having a useful apprentice? He needed not ask that; he knew the answer.

"Now, to begin your study of runes, I must also emphasize the importance of secrecy. Our possession of even the runes we have will draw unwanted attention from other mages who might be overwhelmed by avarice." She warned. "Runes are individually very powerful, but some synergize to create more powerful effects like the ones we found earlier. Individual mages will work for decades to create such runes and will generally create between one and three within their lifetime. So, you understand their scarcity and why they're so sought after."

Izuku wrote this all down.

He pondered the prospect of learning how they're made and introducing a bit of industrial style production line methods. Odds were, as with most things in this world, everyone was a master of their own art and did every part of their craft from beginning to end. Every chair and table was of excellent quality, but similarly expensive and time consuming to create. It was almost certain that this process, which took decades and mastery of magic, could be dropped down to a year or two with enough novices trained in the smaller aspects of the job.

He then frowned as he realized every mage on the planet would bay for his blood if he deflated the value of their most precious heirlooms to nothing. In fact, odds were other mages had invented faster methods for making runes but kept it a secret to their deathbeds. Much like skills with mind magics.

Izuku looked up and nodded that he was ready for her to continue.

"We found some very sought after runes when we battled the countess. Together, they can form the word "Stealth" which can be used to increase speed, both physical movements and amplify your casting speed, as well as heighten reflexes and stamina." She explained. "My new staff is the legendary Leaf Staff, a fire mage's dream weapon, uses such a rune. In fact, your staff was probably made in an attempt to recreate it without runes."

He wasn't so hot on the idea of being considered a fire mage. His natural affinity for it had been dampened with his experience actually using other magics, and he suspected his original excellence with it was more a matter of circumstance than talent. It was all he had, and when you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

"I will teach you all about runes and similar foci during our time here. You should know that orbs are the primary foci for the elemental magics of my own Sann Esu clan." She said, indicating the orb at the tip of her staff. "Many are imbued with amplifiers for specific spells, others help for broader ranges of spells and these ones tend to be even more powerful. Wands are the primary Foci of a different type of magic user. You will learn all about these and more in the coming months. But for now, I think it may be time for us to sleep."

He looked out the one window to see the sun was beginning to fall beneath the horizon, and he was truly exhausted. And the bed was so unbelievably soft.

He crawled into his half of the bed and passed out. He had no idea he was so tired.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by MagikUser. You can hire
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[Magikuser]

Chapter 18:
A Rest Well Earnt​

---

They slept in the next morning, for the first time in what felt like an eternity for Izuku. It was nearly noon when they finally got up, and only then because it was getting too hot to stay in bed any longer.

"If I get much more relaxed I might actually transmogrify into one of those cat people." Izuku told her. "Or just a regular old house cat. Or just turn to jelly where I stand."

"Lacuni." Isendra corrected. "And we shall find out soon if your boast comes true, as today and tomorrow shall also consist of relaxation and comforts that we have earned."

Izuku liked the sound of that. And also disliked it. It was a strange feeling, a reward for his hard work sounding like a punishment due to it now taking him out of his comfort zone, which consisted entirely of hard work and dedication. Something about a day dedicated to rest and relaxation terrified him. His body and spirit were primed for a day of hyper-vigilance and training, and maybe even a fight. But with tall walls surrounding him and well-trained soldiers guarding said walls, such energy felt wasted.

Antsy. Antsy was the word to describe this feeling.

"Breakfast." Isendra said simply, as she changed from her sleepwear to her normal clothes and exited the room.

It must be nice to have a permanent set of clothes, instead of having to grow out of them constantly. He never knew how good things were in japan, where clothes were cheap and readily available and practically disposable. Out here, they were manually and meticulously created. From the shearing of the animals, to the creation of textiles, to the measurements and tailoring. All done to the exact specifications of the recipient. The clothes were superior, sure, but they were expensive too. Like everything else.

He finished getting redressed himself and followed her out only to find her waiting there. Her constant consideration to his cultural reticence to reveal his body to the opposite was a level of consideration on her part that he always forgot she showed, only to be reminded of the extra effort on her part on moments like this. He bowed slightly in appreciation.

Together they exited the hotel and reentered the busy streets of Lut Golemn and the cool ocean breeze which drove away the heat. It was oddly colder outside than inside. It made sense in a world without air conditioning.

How was there no magic air conditioning? There had to be a market for sorcerers who did nothing but that. After all, partially freezing water supplies was plenty desired during their travels.

They continued down the street along the same path from the night before, down to Atma's public house. He still had no clue who Atma was, and assumed she was with the other ladies of the evening that once stayed here but now remained in the palace.

They collected their food from the serving table, which amounted to a whole lot of rice and fish. Though both seemed to have a healthy dose of either lemon or orange juice. It seemed the people around these parts were familiar with scurvy and its remedy. He was impressed.

They wound their way to the same table from the day before and took a seat.

"So, what would you say is on the itinerary for the day?" Isendra asked.

Izuku swallowed his first mouthful before answering.

"Get new clothes, scout the area and its inhabitants, study runes." He summarized.

"New clothes and haircuts for both of us." Isendra corrected. "And you need a shave. The beginnings of scruff you have won't impress anybody, and we want to look our best for the palace."

Izuku blinked at her in confusion, then reached up to touch his face. He didn't feel any scuff, certainly nothing like the rough hairs he'd felt on his father's face or mother's legs on days when they weren't required to shave. Maybe you had to shave first to get the sandpaper feel? But his father was only ever able to grow a mustache, and Japanese men were rarely able to grow a full beard.

Maybe he had some Ainu on his mother's side? That, or he was finally developing a quirk and he was a mutant type. Wolf man, incoming!

But yeah, there was some soft peach fuzz all along his cheeks. It wasn't exactly thick, but it did have coverage. He wanted a mirror to see its color, but such things were rare and expensive treasures in ancient Japan, so they were surely the same here. Good thing he was going to a palace in two days.

"That means we will have to go to a luxury bathhouse, one with barbers and hairdressers. So eat up, we are having a girly day out." She said. "Shopping, trying on clothes and getting haircuts."

She downed her breakfast quickly and rushed him to do the same. He imagined that having girly days with an apprentice was something women of her order looked forward to, and that having a male apprentice wasn't going to stop her from enjoying such a rite of passage. And so, he followed her dejectedly like any red blooded man forced to go Shopping with an enthusiastic woman.

They walked in an entirely new direction, towards the palace which towered over all the buildings. They passed a bathhouse, one much nicer than the small one at the Desert Rain, towards an even more luxurious one. One that had men and women working inside. Or more accurately, sitting inside and waiting to work.

They walked inside and several jumped up, the boredom on their faces replaced by eagerness to work. The smiles they wore were clearly well-practiced, but genuine all the same. It was the difference between a service worker at a small, family owned place versus a large, chain corporation. They still had their souls.

""Welcome." Said a reception attendant. "Would you like a self-service area or traditional full service?"

"We would like two full-services please." Isendra said. "Hairdressing, shaves and massages." She replied. "We have a meeting with lord Jerhyn in two days."

The receptionist made an "oh!" face and motioned them back towards two screened off areas. Izuku was given a male worker while Isendra a female one. He had to wonder what kind of shaving she needed doing, as her legs seemed perpetually smooth. Hell, all of her seemed perpetually smooth, but he wouldn't pry. She likely just misspoke.

The small closed off area he was led to had a reclining chair, a bathing pool, and a lot of cutting implements. Scissors and straight edge razors chief among them. There were also pumice stones and smooth rocks he recognized as being for massages.

"Is this your first shave?" The man tending him asked.

"Yes sir." Izuku said.

"Well then, we should get you a mirror so you can watch me do it, in case you decide to be the one man who doesn't work in the industry to shave themselves." He said.

Izuku had to admit, there was an overabundance of men with full beards on Sanctuary. The only clean shaven men he'd seen was Gheed, and with him he suspected because he couldn't grow one in the first place.

The worker provided him with a large, square hand mirror and Izuku flinched at the reflection in it.

He wasn't far off when he thought he might look like a ganguro. The sun had started to bleach his hair, and the green sheen on it was now bright enough to readily seen in his dark hair even in the shade. And his skin was tanned and cracked. Widow's feet were beginning to form around his eyes from the constant squinting in the sunlight. That part he actually kind of liked.

"Do you feel lucky punk?" He said to himself in the mirror, before snorting.

"What?" Asked the man tending him.

"Something a guy with eyes like this once said. I didn't used to have the crows feet." Izuku said.

The beard, on the other hand, really was just peach fuzz, but it was a dark enough color to be noticeable. It definitely had to go.

"Well, I'm going to give you a haircut first, and then shave, then wash and massage you. You can hold the mirror for all of it if you like. I'm guessing you want it cropped short so it doesn't get sweat on your forehead and neck all the time?" The barber asked.

"Yes please." Izuku said. "Whatever you think is appropriate. I am not picky."

And so, for the next five minutes, Izuku watched in his reflection as the male attendant took scissors to his shoulder length hair. At first he just took off huge chunks willy nilly, then became more precise. Izuku recognized the haircut he was going for as a crop top, like what those jarhead guys from America had, but a little longer and messier, but that's just because even short his hair was too thick and soft to make into a perfectly flat top.

"I love it." Said Izuku. "It matches my scruff."

The attendant chuckled and retrieved a basket from the side.

"I am going to lather your face with a cream. It is made from milk, honey, soap and vodka, so it may sting your eyes or nose at first." He warned.

And indeed, he poured a creamy substance into a bowl and, with a lathering brush, whisked the liquid into what looked like whipped cream. He could already smell all of the ingredients he mentioned. Then he applied it evenly on Izukus face.

The barber opened a straight razor and examined it carefully. He turned it this way and that to examine it in the right light. Izuku hoped he was searching for blood, skin and other contaminants from past customers. He further hoped he cleaned them between customers regardless. He nodded to himself in satisfaction and turned the blade on Izuku.

"So, I need you to hold still and pay attention." He said. "You shave by pulling the blade down THIS way, not THIS way."

He demonstrated dragging the blade down by the flat side in the air, then did the same side to side like cutting a rope. Izuku nodded in the affirmative.

When the blade finally touched his skin Izuku tensed up and remained still for the rest of the demonstration. But then someone in the back began playing music on the flute and he relaxed.

---

"Oooh, I'm having trouble walking." Izuku admitted as they exited the bathhouse.

He had nearly fallen asleep after the nice man undressed him and laid him in the bath, only to then pour the steaming hot water onto him while he was in it. He might have actually passed out once he began to massage him with those smooth rocks, only to jolt awake again when he went to war with his feet using pumice stones.

He hadn't realized his toe nails had become so gnarly until the man went to war with those too.

"If you were a bit older, I would make a joke at your phrasing, but I'll let it slide this time." Isendra said teasingly. "But I do hope you never get into the habit of going to those kinds of bath houses."

Izuku didn't know what she meant by that. He also did not want to know.

"Time for some new clothes." She said.

They turned away from the main street, where food and spice stalls reigned supreme, and down into the most colorful alley Izuku had ever seen. Thick linens zigzagged across tent poles and window sills all along it. Each was a deep red, blue, yellow, green, orange and, most rarely of all, purple. The stalls out here weren't so much stalls, as open spaces with clothing racks.

And so, they shopped.

Isendra took center stage as she danced, literally and figuratively, between the racks. She took a liking to the baggy white pants that reminded Izuku of that animated movie with the genie. They were short enough to leave half her shins revealed and baggy enough to try on over her regular clothes. This was probably why she picked them, so she could use them as a reference for more form fitting clothes in a similar size.

In fact, that's exactly what she did next. Showing the pair of baggy white, and obviously comfortable, clothes, to another, more expensive, vendor to reference for fitting her with higher end formal clothes, which amounted to a shimmering yellow dress. He assumed she chose yellow so she could wear it outside during the day too. She also grabbed a pair of head coverings. One white to match the first set of clothes, one red to compliment the dress.

"That should just about do it. Just need a couple pairs of sandals and then we can get clothes for you." she said.

She then put Izuku in a gown she called a thawb. He had seen many men walking around in them, but they really were just linen gowns. It amounted to an oversized, white shirt. She also got him a baby blue one, both with matching pants that came down to his calves, just like hers. There was also a black set that looked like it belonged to a western priests and came with matching pants that Isendra was eyeing.

"I need this one tailored for my apprentice." Isendra said to the vendor, who nodded and advanced on Izuku.

"What are these?" He asked.

"They are called thobes or sometimes referred to as thawbs." Said the ancient man who was measuring him. "They will keep you nice and cool in the hot weather, and can be layered easily for unexpected cold snaps… And you can wear your armor underneath it too, so don't worry."

Hmm. The man must have noticed the chainmail under his shirt. Which also was a tighter fit.

Isendra paid the man and got his word to come back for the purchase the next day. Then they went around looking at hats.

"That way you don't have to squint so much." Isendra said.

But every hat she chose was too ornate for him, and the price tags made him blanch. Then he finally spotted it. It was a straw hat made into a perfect cone with a semicircle of linen flaps stitched around the rim.

"That one!" Izuku said, pointing to it.

Isendra looked at it and tilted her head questioningly at it. Then she tilted her head the other way. She settled for taking it off the rack and plopping it down on his head. It fit well enough.

"Huh. That does oddly suit you. We'll take it." She decided.

Then they picked up four pairs of sandals. The sandal maker or cordwainer there kept a good stock in most sizes. He was close to Isendra's foot size, maybe one or two less than hers. It was great to let his feet breathe.

All throughout the shopping trip Izuku was feeling… something. Every sight, smell and chit chat during their shopping felt like he was in a mall again. God he missed malls. He missed a lot of things. He could really go for a burger, like a really shitty one from golden arches. A milkshake too. That would hit the spot.

"All that's left is to get our equipment adjusted and repaired." Isendra said. "Let's go put our things away, get changed, and go find ourselves a blade and Armorsmith."

---

They found the premier Smith of Lut Gholein. As with the sisterhood, it was a she, and this one was wow. Wow was the word to describe her.

She looked like a buxom pirate with a mane of fiery red hair. She wore a similar pair of pants to what Isendra had bought, but brown, along with leather boots and a white blouse that she just let hang open. The cleavage was tantalizing enough, but he imagined you could practically see through the shirt if it were dry, but with her working outside in the heat of the sun and the forge it was drenched in sweat, making it completely transparent.

So yeah. Wow.

"Excuse me, we were told we could find a Fara here." Isendra greeted.

"I am she." Said the redheaded Smith. Izuku just couldn't get over the hair. "What can I do for you?"

On closer inspection he realized she was older than he thought at first, her face having taken as much damage by the sun as Izuku's had, times a hundred. She kind of reminded him of those guys who surfed all their lives and got that sun worn face. Old young people.

"We just need our equipment repaired and, in his case, adjusted." Isendra said. "Chainmail and hard leather mostly."

Fara nodded and went over to an empty workbench outside of her workshop. It didn't seem polite to call it a shack, as it was quite nice, but shack was the only word he had for it.

"Lay it all out and let me have a look. I'll write you an estimate. Do you have the boy's measurements?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am. We just had him measured. Here you go." She said, handing Fara the receipt from the tailor for her to copy down.

Izuku placed all of the equipment, which they had changed out of and into their new clothes, onto the workbench.

He then saw it. A strange crucifix. It was stitched into the cloth hanging in her shack, but it was unmistakable, if a little ornate. It almost looked like a hammer, but he had seen crucifixes with a circle around the top before. Christians weren't exactly common in Japan, but they were famously charitable and kind people. More So than buddhists, on account of their hard work ethic and the greater wealth they derived from working as valuable members of society. not to mention They had more to give.

This was the first sign of interpolation from his world that he'd seen since leaving the moors!

"You're a woman of faith?" Izuku asked, pointing to it.

Fara looked back to where he pointed then smiled.

"I was." She said. "I am a former paladin of Zakarum."

Zakarum? Was that the name of a christian sect he hadn't heard of?

"What's a Paladin of Zakarum?" He asked before slamming a hand over his own mouth.

He realized the idiocy and lunacy of the question and potential insult therein just as it exited his lips.

Fara stared blankly at him, then turned back to study their equipment as if pretending not to have heard him. Isendra was also looking off into space as if she hadn't heard his faux pass. He kept his hand over his mouth all the same.

When Fara finally handed Isendra the estimate, she winced but nodded. Izuku suspected the woman had added a bit to the price because of his rude question.

As they walked away they passed Deckard, who waved happily to Izuku. He returned the wave, but with much less aplomb than he usually would. Cain seemed to notice his dour mood and raised an eyebrow, but he shook his head.

"I will leave you here to think on what just happened during the negotiation of services." Isendra said. "You have gotten so good at not slipping up lately, and you were one second late on catching yourself that time. So, your punishment is to sit out here and think. Meet me for lunch when you have finished doing that."

She left him there, likely because Cane was in eyeshot, and he found a piece of wall rubble to sit on. He noticed that Cain watched him patiently as he did so.

He pulled out his regular notebook and wrote down Zakaram. Next to it he drew the special crucifix to the best of his ability, along with the word Christian surrounded by question marks. Below that he started listing off other major religions from his world. If any other people from his world came to this one, religious practices or symbols would be one of the most likely things to linger.

The idea that other people from his world, either recently or far in the past, may have come to sanctuary never occurred to him until now. If he could make the trip, surely others could? Hell, the people here were human. Was there some panspermia going on? How long did the history of this world go back? Would he find references to ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia? Hell, based on the cultural style he was tempted to believe a lost crusade or ancient Jihadic army may have all been transported here at some point. Possibly both at the same time. It would explain a lot that or he was looking too deep with things that are similar but are coincidental.

He wrote these questions and ideas down, then sighed.

Thinking didn't help. It never helped anymore. In fact, the happiness he'd eked out these last few months came from his business, of keeping his mind empty through work and training. All day he'd been in a weird kind of cheeriness he couldn't place, and now that he was alone it was gone.

It wasn't that his stupidity a minute ago had ruined his good mood. It was that it made him realize what the good mood was.

Nostalgia. He was feeling nostalgia for Japan. For a world where just going shopping and getting a haircut and trying on clothes was a normal day. No giant demonesses, no hordes of undead. No hot redheads taking part in solo wet t-shirt contests in public. Plenty of cat people though. That seemed to be common across worlds.

He sighed and got up, making to leave.

He looked to see Cain still looking at him. He tilted his head and made motions with his eyes, as if asking Izuku if he wanted to talk about it.

He refused the offer with a shake of his own head and began his walk back towards Atma's place. He let himself get lost in the crowd, trying to think about nothing. It was working, but only because the loud chatter of the crowd drowned out his thoughts like white noise.

"Hold the sniveling thief still! And get me something to chop the ax onto!" Izuku heard somebody yell.

That snapped him out of his malaise.

He looked to see a guard and a vendor at a bread stand wrestling a small, filthy child towards a barrel by the wrist. He watched in fascination as the boy, dressed in rags and barefoot, struggled to escape while the guard struggled to retrieve his ax.

Then he remembered he wasn't in Japan anymore, where thieves are usually punished with community service. Here, he realized the punishment might involve an ax and be a bit excessive.

"Whoa! Wait!" Izuku hollered as he ran forward with his hands out.

The trio actually stopped at his peace gesture. They looked him up and down, and the kid took special interest in his brand new clothes.

"Are you interfering with my duties?" Asked the guard.

"No sir, I would never. I'm just here to offer to pay for whatever the kid stole." Izuku said as he withdrew his coin purse and flashed some gold. "Right? If I buy it, then there's no harm done."

They all looked at him like he was insane, save for the merchant.

"I would prefer money to a dismembered hand, damaged barrel, and bloody clothes." He reasoned.

The two did not let go of the boy, who hadn't screamed or talked during all of this. His jaw was still firmly clenched as if in anticipation of pain. Tough guy.

"That's all well and good, but what the hell business is it of yours? He Kin or something?" The guard asked.

"No, it's just… Where I come from petty theft is usually punished with making the thief work for the victim for a day, or jail them for a week. We don't cut people's hands off. Seems a bit excessive. I'm willing to pay a few gold coins to NOT see that today." Izuku said. "And I want some bread myself. I get to have lunch, and not want to throw up my lunch. Win both benefit."

The merchant gave him a proper belly laugh at that one, while the guard shrugged at his reasoning and seemed to accept his logic. They released the boy, who stood in place, bread still clutched in his hand.

Izuku walked over to the vendor and offered him twenty gold pieces for two rolls based on the sign next to the bread rolls, which he accepted with a happy nod and then shooed them all away.

The guard turned around and walked towards the guard house. Izuku and the thief walked to the edge of the food stalls.

"Why?" The boy said so quietly it was almost a whisper.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Izuku asked. "I said I wanted some bread. Now give me my bread!"

He put out a hand and the boy actually gaped at him, but gratitude won the day and he obliged. When he handed the roll over, Izuku tore off a small piece of the crust and ate it, before making a face spitting it out.

"Uck! This is awful! Here! You have it. You look like you need it more than me." He said, handing the role back to the kid with a smile.

The boys' expression finally turned from suspicious and angry to mirthful at his antics and grateful at his kindness. Now that he could finally eat his misbegotten goods, he did so happily, and Izuku realized exactly how bad of a shape the kid was in. He could count his ribs, and the dirt and grime seemed to be caked on. Which was odd, considering the ocean was a short walk away.

"Do you, um. Need help?" Izuku asked.

The boy gave him a look.

"I mean. Like a job, maybe?" He offered.

The boy shrugged and motioned down at his small frame. Izuku got the message. He wasn't exactly up to the task of working on any of the ships around here.

"Well, let's see. I guess I could hire you to…" He had to actually pause and think about it. "Wash my clothes? Yeah! My mistress and I get into fights all the time. We would need the services of a Porter. In fact, I think tomorrow is a cleaning day. If you clean our clothes every few days, I'll pay you for saving me the work."
The child didn't respond. He just stared at Izuku. It was a strange stare, and the suspicion had definitely come back.

Then, he turned around and ran away.

Izuku watched as he disappeared around the corner. Then he shrugged and walked away. Best not to keep his mistress waiting.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by Magikuser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 19:

Realizations of Home​

---

Izuku made his way back to Atma's public house in an even heavier funk than before.

Something about seeing a little boy almost get permanently disfigured and disabled over a loaf of bread was just day ruining, over and above being trapped in a demon-infested world. He imagined anybody from Japan would feel as dejected by the experience as him, though he thought he'd handled witnesses the attempted ritual sacrifice and torture of six women and similar horrors fairly well.

He turned around to look back in the direction he came, to the town square where Cain had been standing around, either in deep thought or waiting for the random conversation with a stranger that was sure to come by his mere presence. The man had motioned to come talk to him, and he had hinted very strongly at having skills with magics for healing minds. Maybe he should take him up on that offer?

He'd go about his day and see if he felt any better by bed, or else by morning. Hell, a good lunch might cure his malaise.

And so, he arrived at Atma's to find Isendra sitting patiently, hands folded in front of her, at her own little table at the back.

He grabbed two plates of food and brought them over to her.

"Did you have a chance to clear your thoughts?" She asked as she unfurled herself and began eating.

"Yes." He said.

"And are you feeling better?" She asked further.

"No." He answered, again, honestly.

She looked at him blankly, matching his own expression, before motioning for him to eat.

The first bite didn't make him feel any better. The second bite actively made him feel worse. The food here was so bland. It always had been, but hunger from working so hard every day made even the worst food taste like mana from heaven. He had somehow forgotten how accustomed he was to salt and sugar, to choosing cut meats and juicy fruit bred and grown from the best stock and soil. The vegetables were crisp instead of flaccid, the breads were fluffy instead of hard, the dairy was safe to drink instead of making him not crying out for forgiveness of the old Gods, even the American Porcelain God every time he had some.

And that was just the quality of the food stuffs, not the cultural differences therein. He wanted proper rice balls filled with bean paste. He wanted ramen and sashimi. He wanted some good old Korean barbecue and sushi. And what he wouldn't give for some ice cream and chocolate, or a cup of proper tea.

He felt somebody, Isendra probably, shaking him, but he couldn't quite make her out. His vision was so blurry. She was shaking him a little too hard though, because he felt his entire body vibrating with it. Why was he so sweaty and why was he breathing so hard? Then he felt it, a tight pain in his chest.

His last thoughts before fading into blackness was that somebody must have poisoned his food.

---

He awoke to Isendra's beautiful face and four powerful hands lifting him up.

The absolute mountains of men that were getting him up to his feet looked like demigods of ancient mythology to him, but that was probably his delirium. He recognized one as the man wearing an animal pelt from the day before. The other was a dark, Arabic man wearing ornate crimson robes.

"Hey kid. That looked a lot like a panic attack." Said the mountain man.

"Indeed. Had a few myself during my apprenticeship. Big exam coming up?" Said the Arabic man. "No shame in it. At least you aren't resorting to self harm or excessive drinking like my failed peers in youth."

Izuku blinked at the new arrivals as he pieced together what they just said. Then he remembered his collapse and felt himself curl in on himself, hoping to become invisible to the world."

"Hey now, didn't my friend just say it's nothing to be ashamed of?" Said the mountain before putting a hand out. "I am Wyald Stromm, a druid of Scosglen. You reek of elemental magic, and that's reason enough for me to like you."

Izuku shook the offered hand, trying not to smile at the name nor the antics of the man next to him, who just made air quotes with his hands while mouthing the word "friend". Wild storm? Really? The name suited him, the utter power of his personality was wiping away all of Izuku's emotions like a hurricane.

"And I, I am Drognan of the Vizjerei clan, Mage Lord of Lut Gholein." Said the man in beautiful robes, bowing slightly to him.

Izuku tried to return the bow, then remembered where he was. He looked around to discover that the loud food kitchen was filled with people. And yet none of them were staring at him. They were staring at the two women behind them having a heated debate just off to the side of them. Well, it wasn't so much arguing as one screaming at the other.

"Where do you get off apprenticing a weak, useless boy when even I know it is verboten amongst your Clan!" The woman, some silver-blonde wrapped in far too tight leather, screamed at his mistress. "And you think to actually push him knowing how men can't handle the pressure!"

The entire scene resembled, in Izuku's mind, a mastiff staring down a yapping chihuahua. With his mistress being the mastiff, obviously, and a very patient one at that. She said nothing, just stared dispassionately and let the woman yell. He'd never seen her look so cold, save maybe when they killed the countess.

"Why you Zann Esu deign to pretend that you are a proper sisterhood, when you take on male apprentices, is a sham that you ought to just give up! Why not just put a king on a throne and become his playthings at this point!" The woman said more bitingly, before turning heel and leaving.

She picked up a trident from the floor as she left, one that had been plunged into the polished wood.

The rest of the food house returned to chattering amongst themselves, as if to pretend they hadn't just thoroughly enjoyed the show.

"I do believe our deer Cassia just demonstrated exactly why Zann Esu regularly takes on male apprentices before taking on female ones." Drognan said to Stromm, his mirth clear in his voice.

Izuku wheeled on the dark man.

"Wait, you mean this is common? I thought our relationship was an aberration." Izuku said.

Both men burst out with laughter.

"I doubt there has ever been a Zann Esu who took a female apprentice before an "unofficial" male one." Said Drognan. "They like to get the practice of teaching down with the ease of a male student before the horror of a female one. I'm at the point where if I meet an unaffiliated sorcerer I just assume he was trained by an Esu. It's a safe assumption."

"Yup. As you can imagine, an all female clan, raising females, with magic thrown in and you have a powder kegg that resembles what you just witness, but all the time." Said Strom. "Sorceresses just aren't equipped to raising sorceresses. If they were smart they'd do an exchange program with the Vizjerei to teach each-others young."

"Don't put that evil on us!" Said Drognan. "We quite like the peace of raising only male successors, thank you very much. They want an all female caste? Let them suffer the price for it."

Isendra had stood to the side staring them down during this entire conversation while they all pretended not to notice.

"Are you both quite finished?" She asked coldly.

"No." They said in unison.

"Well, you'll have to save the rest of your needling for another day. My "unofficial" apprentice and I must be on our way. Come, Izuku." She ordered.

"Yes mistress." Izuku said obediently before he staggered after her.

He waved kindly to the two men that had worked so hard to cheer him up after his collapse, which while an obvious attempt and motivation, was still appreciated.

They walked in silence back to Elzix's place in silence, and when they arrived in their shared room Isendra packed what few of her things she had out.

"I need my own room, for your safety." She explained. "That filth has ruined my equilibrium, and if my own magic gets out of control I will need my own space so as not to put you at risk from my errant magic. You are alone for the next day or so. Do as you please, so long as you do not bring shame upon me."

And without any further explanation, she left. He now had the room all to himself.

He did not sleep well that night. He woke up constantly with dreams of his mother and her lovely dinners. Each time he came to in tears, and he realized that his panic attack from earlier was not merely missing the excesses and privileges of having lived in twenty second century Japan, but the loved ones attached to memories of food and comfort.

Izuku wanted his mother.

---

The next morning saw a much groggier and thoroughly depressed Izuku bathing in Elzix's private baths. The hot water made him feel marginally better, and certainly got his brain working again.

He grasped the idea that had come to him yesterday as less of an option and more of a necessity, and made his way back to the town square, forgoing breakfast entirely.

Cain was sat on a rock underneath a fig tree near the beach, as if waiting patiently for somebody to arrive. Izuku went to him.

"Master Cain, I require your teaching." Izuku said to the quietly meditating man.

He did not open his eyes.

"So I have foreseen, even before your affliction at the food house. Though it took longer for the need to manifest than I expected." He said. "You need not specify in what discipline you require guidance, I know it."

Izuku bowed, even if the man could not see him.

"As such your tutelage will be abnormal, just as mine was. I shall teach you the mystic lore of our world and the Horadrim. Each story or history I tell will have hidden meaning and guidance in the magics that you are trying to learn. It will take a lot of consideration on your part to glean the real meaning." He explained. "The more direct teaching will be by learning other skills and disciplines that crossover in unexpected ways."

Ah. Teaching mind magic through parable, like the trials and rituals of the Egyptian book of the dead or similar esoteric spiritual teachings. He understood the necessity of such vagueness in his teaching. Especially due to the subject matter.

Cain then opened his eyes and looked all about him to make certain they were alone, before making eye contact with Izuku.

"Let us not mince words on what this means. The mind arts require utter faith, confidence and trust between two individuals. There shall be no secrets between us. What this also means is that will be my "Official" apprentice, to Isendra's unofficial." He declared. "You are clanless now, for you can never be of the Zann Esu due to chance of birth, but you can become Horadrim."

Izuku knew he must have looked like a fish out of water. There was so much there that left him stunned, from the man's seeming omnipotence of the conversations and going ons of other people, to the seriousness of his demand to actually induct Izuku into his clan. It was a lot to take in from one breath of conversation.

"But. I already have a mistress. A man cannot serve two masters." Izuku paraphrased a quote he couldn't quite remember the origins of.

Cain actually laughed at him.

"Isendra is not your mistress, and while I will take part in your charade for both of your benefit you are to knock it off with me." Cain said. "Isendra, is your mother in all but blood, and you her desperately desired son. That is clear to see for anybody with eyes to see, and the people of this world are not as blind as you seem to think."

Izuku felt himself pale at his choice of words, and the one he chose to emphasize.

"Oh yes. I know what you are. No secrets, remember?" Cain said. "Which you are terrible at keeping anyways. The signs were all too easy to see especially for those who remember the Old Tales.

For the first time, Izuku felt genuine fear towards the man around him, and felt the first signs of the same panic attack he had the day before.

"Relax, you need not fear me revealing your secret, least of all because you know a more damaging one about me." Cain consoled. "Though I know you will never tell anybody about the forbidden arts I have mastered, and that you shall too in time. This is called leverage, you should court such leverage in the future. It is very useful. But before we can begin I will require your oath of secrecy and an induction into my order. You will be protected by the same oath."

Okay, that actually did work to calm Izuku down, but it was a bit much.

"This secrecy, it extends to Isendra, doesn't it?" Izuku asked.

"Indeed. To her you will say that I merely teach you lore, history and philosophy, for I enjoy speaking of these things so. This will be a lie, but you will lie to her about your induction as a Horadrim." Cain explained. "Let me be clear. Mine will be a true apprenticeship. I am not your father, nor grandfather nor friend. I am your Master. Period. And you are not to practice my teachings without my supervision nor continue your habit of experimenting with magic in the heat of battle, or at least not the magic I will be teaching you. In case Isendra failed to properly impart the danger of such magic, let me be even clearer. It is the most forbidden form of magic for a reason. Many reasons. It is easy to make irreversible mistakes that utterly destroy your mind, and is never to be used on another person."

Izuku nodded gravely at the explanation, and knew from his own world the danger of quirks to do with telepathy, or empathy, or other esp types. Rare as they may be.

"I do not expect you to make your oath now. It will require consideration. But I also recognize your need. As such, I will teach a few things today for free." Cain offered. "I will specifically teach you three things today. It is a good number to start with."

Izuku bowed deeply in gratitude.

"Sit. Learn." Cain ordered.

Izuku did so, sitting cross-legged in front of the man that would soon be his true master.

"The first thing to know about the mind, is that it reflects the body, and vice versa. You are what you think, but you also are what you do. So, my first lesson is this." He said seriously, before giving him the most grandfatherly smile he had ever seen. "Smile."

Izuku did so, but a bit unwillingly, as he couldn't stop his own smile from appearing while he laughed at the sudden change from seriousness and the unexpectedness of his command.

"Good start. Smiling and laughing, even when not genuine, can cure fear, sadness and, most unbelievably of all, physical illness." Cain explained. "Smile when you are afraid, smile when you are sad, smile when you are alone facing the totality of the forces of hell, and make them shudder."

This was starting to sound like what he imagined a lecture from All Might to sound like. And it was Awesome. He continued smiling as Cain continued his lesson.

Cain raised a finger.

"This does not only apply to smiling. All that you do with your body, your mind and emotions will reflect. If you clasp your hands into a tight fist as if out of anger, your mood will reflect that. If you haunch over yourself as if shy or humiliated, your confidence will shatter as if it were genuine. Remember this always. That is the first lesson." Cain finished.

He continued.

"You seem to have a handle on that one, so onto the second lesson, and this one you may have to write down." Cain said.

He waited for Izuku to withdraw his notebook before continuing.

"I need you to memorize three little numbers. Four, seven and eight." Cain said as Izuku wrote them down. "This is the first and most important breathing technique for meditation. You inhale for four seconds, hold your breath for seven, then exhale for eight. This will bring calm to your mind and relaxation to your body. When the next thoughts of your home that is lost to you feel overwhelming, do this technique. When you are ready we shall practice." Cain instructed. "Take a few deep breaths first."

Izuku put his journal away and did as instructed. Sitting up straighter in a more comfortable position before taking a few deep breaths.

"Breath in. One. Two. Three. Four. Hold it. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six Seven. Now Exhale. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Now do it again. One…"

And so they repeated the breathing exercise. Five times. Then ten. Soon Izuku felt himself sinking into the ground as if in quicksand, or a waterbed, and knew if somebody were to lift him up by the middle he would sag like a cat being picked up.

"How do you feel?" Cain asked.

"Good." Izuku asked, eyes still closed.

"Well, snap out of it. I need you to be your usual boisterous self for this next lesson." Cain said.

Izuku opened his eyes and tried to stand up, stumbling as he did so in his overly-relaxed state. He eventually shook himself free from the hypnotized state he was in, and that's what he recognized it as, before focusing on Cain.

"For this next one, it will be the first unorthodox skill that you may not see the immediate benefit of, but I will need to trust in my methods." Cain warned before pulling a small box out of his pocket. "For your third lesson, I will teach you how to cheat at cards."

He opened the box to reveal a deck of fifty two cards, with four coats just like from his world. He made a mental note of yet another similarity and possible cross-pollination between their worlds before returning to the moment.

"Have you ever heard of a memory castle?" Cain asked.

"No sir." Said Izuku.

"Sir?" Cain asked almost angrily.

"No master." Izuku corrected.

"That is better. A memory castle is a technique developed for card counting. A way to cheat during a card game. The technique allows for the easy memorization of many things at a time. It improves memory, focus, spatial reasoning skills and organizes one's mind. It can also lend to profitable gambling, which as your elder I must emphasize that you avoid, but like with drink and women I know you will fail to abide such advice in time." Cain explained.

Izuku nodded respectfully but kept his internal disagreement to himself.

"It is a very simple concept. You are to recreate a place in your mind, a place familiar to you. With rooms and furniture and people if possible. A place that, were you stricken blind, you could walk through unaided by a walking stick nor even by putting your hands out to feel your way. Do you have such a place? A childhood home perhaps?" Cain explained.

Izuku nodded. He was already remembering his home in Musutafu, the apartment complex with four identical buildings, magnificent jungle gym, main office and pool. He was already standing in his dining room with his mother digging the crunchy bit of the rice out of the bottom of the steam cooker.

"Does it have to be large?" Izuku asked.

"No. In fact, to start, the smaller, the better. Though, if in time you can expand it, all the better." Cain told him.

Well, with the apartment buildings being identical, he had hundreds of new apartments he could fill with his mind eventually.

"The most important thing is for the place to be vivid in your mind, and be a place of safety and comfort. A place that, under torture, you can escape to like a mental fortress and protect yourself from any corruption." Cain explained.

Izuku nodded. It checked all of the marks.

"You can open your eyes now." Cain instructed.

Izuku obeyed and looked to see that Cain had laid out all of the most important cards. Both jokers, all of the aces, jacks, queens and kings.

"The castle works through association. These are the important cards to make associations with." He said. "In your mind castle, you will represent each one with an important person or thing. For example."

He lifted the king of clubs.

"For the king of clubs, I imagine my father at the head of our dining table, with the queen of clubs, his queen, my mother sitting to his right. I myself am the Jack of clubs sitting to his left." Cain explained. "For the aces, I usually have family heirlooms or irreplaceable objects in my own possession. You only need four. And for the two jokers I usually have enemies or rivals."

Izuku already had him and his parents as the family of hearts and the one family photo of them all as the ace of hearts. He put Drognan and Strom as the jokers, because of how silly they were. For the other queens he put Isendra, Akara and Kashya. For kings he had Warriv and Cain, but didn't dare put Gheed as the final one. He needed to come up with somebody else.

Then his thoughts turned to Alexis. Didn't she deserve a place? He gave her the ace of diamonds to Kashya's queen.

"I see you have already finished most of your associations?" Cain welcomed him back to reality.

"Yes master." Izuku said.

"Do you know how to play solitaire?" He asked next.

"Yes master." Izuku said again.

"Good. I am gifting you these cards. You are to play solitaire before bed each night. You are to practice having those associations in your mind as you play. Have all of these associations in the same room, such as the dining room, to represent those still in the deck. Then create a story when two or more are played. For example, when the king and queen of clubs are in play I imagine my parents going outside to dance in them moonlight away from the party. When Jack is played with them I imagine the three of us, with me as a younger child, sleeping together in their bed after I had a bad dream. So on and so forth." Cain explained. "Once you can do this, you will have mastered the basics of the mind castle. I have more to teach, but not before we swear our oaths. Go, practice all of these three lessons, and make your decision."

Izuku took the deck of cards graciously and, noting the time and seeing how it wasn't even nearing noon yet, bowed and excused himself.

Now in a far improved mood, he wandered the streets of Lut Goleihm applying what he just learned. He smiled all the while he walked, and practiced the breathing technique as he did so. This forced him to walk at a slower place or risk not breathing enough, but made his walk all the more enjoyable.

---

His wandering eventually found him walking past Elzix's and the small, dirty figure standing out front with his arms crossed made him smack himself in embarrassment. Right. He somehow completely forgot about that.

"You said today." The quiet, but now angry, boy whispered accusingly at him.

"I know, I'm sorry. I had an errand to run, but I'm here now! And look, I'll make it up to you. In addition to paying you to clean my clothes, I'll pay for your bath and I'll get you some food.

Deal?" he asked.

He looked at him with a now familiar look of suspicion but eventually nodded. He didn't uncross his arms though.

"Okay, I'll go buy a bath for you from Elzix, he'll take you to the bathing rooms, when I get back with the food I'll give you the clothes to wash, okay?" Izuku clarified. "I think he has an area out back to wash clothes at."

He nodded and followed Izuku inside.

Elzix was in his usual place behind the counter, and looked up to see them approaching with a raised eye.

"Hello sir. This is my new employee, I hired him to do our laundry. I promised to buy him a bath first. Is that allowed?" He asked.

He didn't miss the scandalized look that the boy gave him, nor the even higher eyebrow that Elzix raised at his introduction, but neither were forthcoming with their reasoning.

"It is." Said Elzix. "Same price as ever. Does HE have a name?"

The emphasis on the word "he" was the first clue. When his new employee spoke up it confirmed the hint.

"My name is Myr. Please take me to the women's washroom." Myr said.

She glared at Izuku as Elzix led her away and Izuku just stood there with a smile of confidence he didn't quite feel, but allowed himself to show anyways.

Right then. Onto Atma's!

---

Or not.

He arrived to find a woman sitting outside of the public house crying her eyes out.

She wore an ornate purple and Grey dress, marking her as somebody important. He finally let his smile wane as he watched her wallow in misery. She noticed him.

"Oh. I'm sorry." She said, wiping her face. "You don't need to be seeing someone like me wallow in misery. Did you need some food from my house?"

Izuku put two and two together and realized she must be Atma, owner of the whore/food house. She did kind of look like what he imagined and wealthy merchant lady to look like. The pessimist in him wanted to assume she was merely mourning the loss of her business with all of her workers hiding in the palace, but he was better than that.

"You know, I've had people helping me through my problems since yesterday afternoon, and I think I owe it to the world to pay it forward. Want to tell me what's wrong? I have a bad habit of trying to solve people's problems." Izuku offered.

She laughed at the offer, though not at all in a way as to be doubtful or mean.

"I am a widow, is all. My son and husband were taken from me recently. I thought I was well enough to get back to work, but as you can see, I'm still a mess." She told him.

"Oh. I lost my mother a few months back. Almost a year. What took them?" Izuku said with as much empathy as he could.

"You must have just gotten into town." She said knowingly. "Last month an undead Horadric mage wandered into the city and wreaked havoc. Among his victims were my husband and son."

Izuku blinked. That would explain all of the guards. The coincidence of him being all but inducted into the Horadric order just as said order got its own Blood Raven, a comparison he was certain was more than skin deep, seemed too fateful.

"Oh! I know a member of the Horadrim who I imagine would very much like to resolve that." Izuku told her.

"Well, he's welcome to get permission from Lord Jeryhn to go in the sewers after it and put it out of all of our misery." She told him. "But I would suggest bringing some muscle along. Yes, Radament the Undead is still in the city and we are all terrified. There's no leaving, because the threats out there are worse."

Izuku nodded. Sounded like the Blood Moors all over again. They were clearly on the right track to finding the dark wanderer. The same evil they'd been fighting so far followed him wherever he went. It was nice to at least have a target to focus on, even if they couldn't find it.

"I have put a significant bounty on his head, with additional funds from others who lost people to him. I left the details on a poster inside. You can look over it while eating." Atma told him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need to stop embarrassing myself in public. I need to go lay down."

Izuku offered her a hand to help her stand up and she took it, before walking around the building to where he presumed a back entrance sat.

Izuku got two bowls of food, paying extra for the bowls themselves under condition to be refunded when he returned the bowls, then walked back to Elzix's place.

He arrived to find Myr waiting for him. Now that she was properly washed, she actually looked like a girl now. If you squinted and looked REALLY hard. Okay, no, not really. Not to him, anyways.

"Here you go. Food, as promised." Izuku said.

They both ate in silence, save for the noise that the girl with no table manners made while eating. She sure could down it. Were they sure she was a girl?

They were soon finished and Izuku excused himself, going upstairs. He grabbed his dirty clothes, which was most of them, and put them into an empty burlap sack he kept for the occasion. He then went over to the next room over where Isendra was holed up and knocked on her door.

"What is it, Izuku?" She called out.

"I'm doing the laundry." He said.

"One moment." She said.

Lo and behold, a moment later she emerged with her own burlap sack of dirty clothes.

"Come speak with me when it's all finished." She told him.

"Yes, mistress." He said.

She closed the door on him and he left.

When he got back downstairs he handed Myr the two bags of clothes.

"When you're finished, you should be able to find me in room seventeen. Then I'll pay you… wait, we didn;t agree on pay. Um." He said.

He had to think on that. What was a fair wage for an hour or two of work? Especially with the inflated prices out here where meals cost ten gold minimum.

"is fifty gold pieces fair?" He asked, turning to Elzix questioningly.

He made a motion upward with his thumb as if to say "keep going"

"A hundred gold pieces?" He said next.

Elzix nodded to that.

"A hundred gold pieces it is." He declared. "Every three days, more if I have to go on a trip or need a rush job. Sound good?"

Myr didn't answer, but took the two bags from him and walked to the back door all the same.

He shrugged, taking it for a yes. Seeing the two bowls still on the table where he had left them, he scooped them up and walked back to Atma's to return them. Getting his refund, he figured he had a couple hours of down time before he had to return, and he decided it was time to practice what he'd learned.

He found a table at the back and practiced playing solitaire.

---

"Cassia has been bothering me all day." Isendra told him. "She has been especially dismissive of you, and I would advise you to avoid her at all costs."

Izuku guessed that just avoiding the woman or telling her off was something she wasn't allowed to do for some social reason. That or she was just too prideful and felt the need to show off her superiority to the woman.

"Now, I want to talk to you about the next leg of your journey." She said. "You are nearing the point of learning higher magics, and the way you think about magic will have to change completely. Up until now you have based your spells off of natural laws, this is good. But the higher tiers pay little heed to natural law. When you begin learning spells such as the meteor, or blizzard, or lightning you will understand this."

Izuku nodded, he thought he understood.

"True high magic pays no heed to natural law at all. Such as hydra, frozen orb. But before we get into any of these you will need to be accustomed to the spiritual and symbolic nature of fire and lightning and ice, and more. So from now on you must meditate on these things. What does fire symbolize to different people? From the cook to the blacksmith, to the arsonist or scribe working by candlelight. I need you to think deeply on these things, long and hard, before you can even begin trying to cast such magics." She continued.

He nodded, waiting for her to go on.

"That is all. Go no. Journal and meditate on fire specifically from now on." She ordered.

Izuku bowed and exited her room, walking across the hall to number seventeen.

There he found his dry clothes neatly folded. Myr had taken her time in washing them, but they dried in no time from the hot desert sun. They smelled divine, as linen tended to do when dried in the sun, even without proper detergent to perfume it.

He put the last of them away and sat on the middle of his bed.

He began practicing the four, seven, eight breathing technique and thought of fire. At first he imagined in his mind a furnace, being filled with air by a bellow in rhythm with his breath. As it went on he relaxed deeper and deeper. Then, he found himself sitting in front of the small fireplace back home.

Snow covered the railing outside through the patio windows and the heat from the single log that fit in the fireplace became the sum totality of his world.

Then, the power went out.

"Oh no." His mother said from the couch beside him where she was curled up, sharing a blanket with him. "I'll get the candles."

She sighed in annoyance at having to get from under the warm blanket and breathed out and "ooooh" at the cold that greeted her outside of it.

He watched, smiling, as his mother dug the candles and matchbook out of the dresser underneath the television, and placed them around the living room. She lit each one as she placed them. When she finished, she rushed back over to the couch, slid underneath the blanket and held him close to her for warmth.

They stayed like that for the rest of the dream. Basking in the light and warmth of fire, and the comfort of one another.

He was awoken by a scream.

He registered two things. One, had fallen asleep while meditating. Two, it was unreasonably cold. Even for the desert at night in the winter and the windows wide open. He then recognized the scream as Isnedra's and rushed out of his room towards hers.

He found it covered in ice, almost to the point of being sealed shut. He placed a hand on it and willed the element of fire to destroy the ice blocking his path. It worked, and the door opened at his touch.

Then, he felt rough hands grasp him from behind and push him through. He readied a firebolt to hurl at his attacker only to see Elzix closing the door behind him, and turning that now familiar raised-eyebrow expression on Izuku. Izuku canceled the firebolt.

"Wow." Elzix said. "Your apprentice sure can lose control of a spell, can't he?"

Izuku looked around to find the whole of Isendra's room covered in a thick layer of ice. To the point stalagmites and stalactites were still growing from the ceiling and floor.

Isendra was huddled in her bed, breathing hard and with hands on her face to hide her shame. She nodded at the lie Elzix had just provided her.

"To be clear, I felt a powerful wave of mana and came upstairs to find Isendra comforting her apprentice who just lost control of an ice spell he was practicing. Is this correct Izuku?" Elzix asked pointedly.

"Yes sir." Izuku said, agreeing to the alibi.

"Good. Because an apprentice who can't control his magic can be forgiven. A master who can't? Will not be ignored as the threat to herself and others is too great." Elzix explained. "Also that trident carrying bitch is banned for bothering my patrons. Let her know if she comes harassing you again."

He turned around and opened the door to leave, but had one last thing to say to them.

"Get rid of this ice and expect a hefty fine for damages in the morning. Izuku, sleep with your mistress for the rest of the night…" He paused at the unintended and looked like he was going to correct himself, before shrugging. "Eh, fuck it, shag her too, I don't care."

He then left them.

It was a long night of comforting her after that.

---

This story was ghostwritten by NonsensicalRants as commissioned by Magikuser. You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories as well, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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$25 per 500 words for original fiction, or anything else that is not fanfiction, as well as for smut/fetish material.

Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 20:

Meeting Lord Jerhyn​

---

Izuku was woken by Isendra knocking on his door.

He at first struggled to remember leaving her room the night before, but assumed he must have fallen asleep first. Had she carried him back to his own room? Cane wasn't kidding, theirs really was a deep relationship

"Are you ready to go see Lord Jerhyn? We had best not be late for such a gracious invitation." His mistress' voice came in through the door.

"Yes mistress." Izuku called out.

He got dressed quickly and opened the door to let her in. Isendra took one look at him and nodded.

"Good. You have the sense about you to wear the new, nice clothes to a meeting with a lord and fellow warriors. But take your staff along as well. It is a symbol of your status as a warrior mage."

Izuku retrieved Ash Bane, who had gone little used save as a walking stick for some months now, and followed Isendra out. Both made sure to lock their rooms behind them before exiting Elzix' place.

It was early in the morning, and yet the streets were alive with activity all the same. The first catches were being brought in by the fishermen while other stalls were being set up by yawning women and the elderly. He thought he spotted Myr down a side alley, but it could have simply been another street rat sneaking about.

The palace was a long walk, but an easy one. On account of it was the largest thing on the skyline. IT was impossible to miss. When the pair arrived it was to be greeted at the entrance by two imposing men. Both wore similar red sashes around their necks and identical armor, reminiscent of mongolian armor to Izuku but studded with steel. The only difference he could tell between them was that one wore a christmas hat and leather gloves while the other carried a spear in his bare hands.

"Isendra and Izuku?" The man with the spear asked.

"Yes, we are here on instruction from the gate guards." Isendra said, bowing.

Izuku mirrored her bow.

"My name is Kaelan. I am the head of the palace guard and I am to escort guests to where you may break your fast." The man with the spear introduced. "This is Greiz, captain of the local mercenaries, whom you can expect to be working with in time. For now, if you would kindly follow me."

They did so, marching through the reinforced front doors down a long hallway of guards and similarly reinforced doors, if less grand ones. Soon they turned down a much nicer hallway, this one with a wall of stone on one side, and beautiful white arches on the other. Vining plants grew down and up said arches and beyond them was a lavish garden where many tables had been set out, each covered in platters of food.

Instead of chairs, each table had about them many cushioned seats, most of which were already occupied by some of the most imposing men and women Izuku had ever seen. He recognized Strom and Drognan, along with that platinum blonde-haired woman that wouldn't leave his mistress alone.

"Please. Find a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the food provided. My lord will be with you all when you are all properly fed and watered." Kaelan instructed.

They did as he said, making sure to avoid the amazonian and any scene she might cause if Isendra and he sat too close, and getting comfortable in their cushions.

The height of luxury in these parts seemed to be measured in freshness, as there were few things that could be considered dishes. Instead, fresh, ripe and strangely beautiful fruits and vegetables made up most of the food with some baklava and soups. In fact, the soups made up all of the meats and spices, with beans and lentils making up as much of them as meat.

He noticed that the only thing to drink was water, tea and Turkish coffee. He didn't mind this, but he caught a few of the others around eyeing the preferred beverages with disdain.

It was six in the morning, people. The sun hadn't even fully risen over the ocean yet. Did they really need to be plied with mead and wine this early? Or perhaps they just expected such from these kinds of functions?

Izuku noticed nobody reached for any food, seeing as there were no dishes or utensils he assumed they must all have been waiting to be served. He further noted a few last stragglers trickling in, led by Kaelan, to fill the remaining seats. Among them was Cane himself, who looked at him knowingly before finding a seat a few tables over in a position that they could look at each other. It seemed he and Isendra had been among the last to arrive.

A bell rang when the last person sat, and new doors opened from which a host of servants came through. They were male and female, but the former could be mistaken for the latter because they were so effeminate. He decided to simply assume they were eunuchs and leave it at that.

Musicians followed with them, taking up a roost on a stone platform on the north of the garden, where they began to play as the servants served.

They brought with them trays of cups, plates, bowls, eating utensils and serving utensils like ladles. The servants then walked around, providing each person with all of these, save for the serving utensils, before then going around and putting food in people's plates and bowls, and filling their cups, before standing aside to wait for further requests from the guests.

The uncomfortable quiet ceased, replaced with metal on glass, poor table manners and much discussion. Izuku went to war with some of the lentil soup and berries. The blueberries were especially juicy, and having real beef in a stew was divine compared to all of the dry meats and fish he'd become accustomed to.

"So, young one." Said a thin man who was more scar than skin or muscle. "What great, heroic exploits have you embarked on to warrant your presence here?"

A burly, and oddly hairy, woman next to him smacked his shoulder.

"I wanted to let him breathe and relax a little before we pounced on him with questions!" She chastised him, before turning on Izuku. "I'm sorry dear, but you are the youngest person in the room and everyone is going to be naturally curious."

Izuku was more taken aback by the viking with an x-chromosome having the personality of a coddling grandmother than the initial question. He looked around and, sure enough, the next youngest person was a older teenage girl wearing a loincloth and not much else on the other side of the room.

Ignoring all of this, he thought on the question. What exploits were his proudest achievements so far? A scarred but unbearably kind rogue wearing nothing but a white, see-through gown came to his mind unbidden.

"I once saved six sisters of the Sightless Eye from being tortured to death and turned into undead, demonic thralls." He said. "That's probably the most heroic thing I've ever done. Followed by rescuing a wise man from a months-long imprisonment by demons."

Isendra face-plamed but he could see she was clearly smirking beneath her hands. She was terrible at hiding that, although, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what he'd said wrong. He wasn't lying! Why did the people in earshot look confused?

"That's… very commendable work, young man." Said the viking woman a little too sweetly.

He didn't appreciate the condescending tone of that one.

"He is being modest." Isendra said in an angry, but level tone. "His greatest achievement, along with mine, was defeating Andarial, the Maiden of Anguish, in two-on-one combat. Banishing her from this realm and freeing the Blood Moors from the evil that has gripped it for a year now. It was nearly at the expense of his life."

A few looked impressed by her boast, most within earshot looked unconvinced by the claim. One man, the largest there when counting large in terms other than muscle, outright scoffed. He looked a lot like the monkey from that animated movie with the genie in the way he dressed.

"If a child could manage to kill her, then I'm sure some of us could have done it in half the time." The man slurred, half drunk from wherever he'd been before. "And probably without getting injured."

The man stared at Izuku seriously after this grave insult, then continued.

"Still. I can't completely disparage you. You must be skilled indeed to have survived against one of the vaunted "Lesser Evils", as if there was anything lesser about their wretchedness. When most die against minor demons. You're on track to deserving a place among the company here, if you don't already." Said the drunkard. "But until I see you in action and am wowed, I'm going to assume the pretty lady did most of the heavy lifting."

The man made of scars scoffed at the end of the drunkard's speech.

"Don't mind Geglash, he always starts with venom then turns to honey. He is trying to fight against a bad case of permanent pessimism." He explained. "He is an acquired taste, but a much better one than he used to be, I assure you."

"Even so," said a man across the table. "It must have taken you great bravery for you to fight, where most warriors would flee, and greater skill to survive. I say I believe you, and can't wait to see what you can do. But I have to ask, why did you boast about these other exploits instead of that one?"

Izuku shrugged.

"I'm not as proud of that one. It was just another fight, eradicating filth like any other. They asked me what my most heroic exploits were, not my greatest battles. And I always felt it far more heroic to save people from death or horrible suffering, and to put to rest souls in torment, than to kill an enemy." He explained, without even having to think on it.

Isendra once again face palmed, this time with a clearly proud smile on her face while a few of the warriors around him looked ashamed. The scar man lifted his hands to his face, looking almost wistful, as he examined himself. It was not difficult to imagine how Izuku's words might have affected him, nor how he got so many scars.

He noticed somebody across from him on another table looking intently at him, and glanced up to see Cane nodded in approval. Did the man have superhuman hearing or something?

There was another chime.

Izuku looked around to see a few of the warriors about him suddenly develop even more atrocious table manners, were such a thing possible. He looked to a nearby servant, a veiled woman who barely looked old enough to be considered a woman.

She leaned down and whispered to him.

"That was to indicate that breakfast shall end in five minutes. So have your fill." She said. "Is there something you want more of?"

Izuku looked over to the platter of baklava, which he hadn't had any of yet.

"Say no more, young master." She said with mirth in her voice.

He didn't care if people thought him childish for eating sweets. And boy, did he eat them. He'd never had baklava before, but it was like eating a solid chunk of the flaky bits of a croissant. If said chunk of flaky bits were soaked in honey and syrup and had some nuts ground up and thrown in there.

He ate them until he was nearly sick, knowing that while he had missed good, red meat and vegetables, he wouldn't get much more sweets in the foreseeable future. If ever. They were arguably better than the stuff he could get in Japan, unlike everything else. He supposed that could be boiled down to fruits and vegetables not losing quality from being mass produced, but sweets did. Between the manufacturing process and preservatives.

Had he ever had any real, homemade sweets? Definitely not with chocolates, those were never made from scratch on valentines day but were just made of store-bought chocolate that girls melted down and poured into molds. Same for baked goods. Mass-produced flour, sugar and the like. The intricacies of handmade flout, sweetening from less than perfect sugar or salt.

He worried he might be spoiled on properly made food here in Sanctuary.

A final chime rang and the servants came around to take away their dishes. Izuku handed his to the nice lady who served him baklava. He tried to thank her again, but his mouth was too dry. Thankfully the servants left the water and tea on the tables, along with their cups.

Why was all of the tea mint?

The servants vanished back through the doors they came through and the musicians followed them.

"All rise for Lord Jerhyn, Sultan of Lut Gohlein." Kaelan announced.

They all did so, standing at attention with eyes downcast out of respect. Izuku did his best to mirror those around him.

The man who walked in was nothing like he expected. He was far less gaudy than he imagined the sultan of such a place to be. His clothes were clean and well-fitted, sure. He wore a sultan's fez and carried himself with dignity, but aside from that there was nothing overly kingly about him. He did not wear excessive jewelry, for one, save for the golden hilt of his sword and a spot of it on his crown. He supposed the purple die of part of his clothes was a showing of great wealth too.

The most striking thing about him, to Izuku's mind, was that he didn't look… soft. From afar he could tell the man had calluses on his hands from hard work, that his skin had been weather by sin, wind and sand. This man knew what real work was, and Izuku couldn't help imagining him helping down by the docks when workers were needed, fighting threats to his city beside his guard, and doing his best to remain a part of his people.

This is a man who could work a day in the fields. This was a man who could fight.

"I would like to first give you all a warm, if late, welcome to Lut Gohlein." Lord Jerhyns said. "I'm sure you have all deduced that I did not bring you here to share good news. So you will find it unsurprising to learn that a dire threat now faces Lut Gholein and the Empire."

He paused for dramatic effect. The response he got was silence interspersed with a few bored sniffles and a single cough from somewhere behind Izuku. Jerhyn continued.

"An oasis town nearby has fallen to corruption, and begun the process of demonification. It must be purged." He explained.

That time he did get a reaction. Mostly solemn sighs, like those of a hard worker in a really dirty and difficult job being told they need to pull triple shifts for a month. Or maybe a young man being told he had to put down his dog?

"My scouts have reported the extent of the corruption, and the Vizjerei Mage-Lord Drognan agrees with my strategists." Jerhyn finished.

Wait. Mage-Lord? That sounded like a high, potentially highest, title for a mage. And Drognan had still taken the time to go around in order to help a stranger, let alone a child, feel better? He had to wonder about that.

But the role of demon eradication was as unexpected to Izuku as a pest exterminator being called in to squash some roaches.

"It is an unfortunate necessity, but we must scorch the earth and salt it. You are all hereby drafted into my service, a right I have never before made use of, but one I have as Sultan. But know that I do not place this role on you lightly. I do not enjoy the prospect of what I am asking you to do, many of the unturned survivors deserve none of what we are to visit upon them, and yet you must kill them to the last woman and child. Leave no survivors." Jerhyn declared.

Izuku gaped and readied to respond when he felt Isendra clasp him, painfully, by the wrist. He looked up to see a solemn, defeated look on her face as she shook her head. Hers matched the faces of everyone else gathered and he knew all of them were hurting, they just weren't naive enough to be angry too.

"Preparations have been made for a three week campaign. One to travel in each direction and one for combat. We will be leaving at sunset." Jerhyn sad. "Just know that you will be compensated. I pledge my support to any and all that come to the aid of Lut Gholein, as such, whether it be wealth, passage or honor, all are due to you."

---

Izuku felt just as defeated as everybody else had looked by the time they returned to the inn and walked into his original room to pack up. They canceled the remainder of their stay and planned to sleep for the rest of the day for the journey ahead.

"Izuku really, it is a necessary and solemn duty." Isendra said from the doorway.

He turned around to see her closing it behind her.

"It is a sad fact of life that when one delves into evil magics, it doesn't just effect the caster. It can poison the surrounding are and people as well." She explained. "It's not uncommon, but it's not talked about in polite company for good reason. Because the only course of action is to cauterize the wound entirely."

"Even the innocent people who haven't been corrupted?" Izuku asked.

"We cannot know for certain who is or who isn't. People have taken mercy on those they thought were clean and almost always proved wrong in the past, and the infection spread a second or third time." She explained. "They can fake it really well. It's difficult in the extreme to tell the demonic from the clean, to the point you can effectively assume all are."

"Why don't they choose to simply kill the confirmed infected and quarantine the uninfected?" He pleaded.

She shook her head.

"It's not about choice. It's about ability. I know you come from a place of seemingly infinite wealth and manpower. This is not that place. We cannot afford, financially, to contain the seemingly safe for the rest of their lives. Let alone guarantee that we have the physical and magical might to do so." She explained.

He understood it. He didn't like it, but he understood it. If vaccines didn't exist and quarantine couldn't be guaranteed for a virulent disease with insane fatality rate, there is only one alternative. Kill all of the infected and those who came in contact with them, then burn it all.

"Can we refuse?" He asked.

"No." She said. "A sultan, king or any other ruler has every power to enlist any person within their lands. We agreed to such by entering, trading with, living and accepting his own hospitality in said land. The only way to get out of taking part in this would be to go on the run as outlaws, which would be certain death for us."

Izuku looked at that claim suspiciously.

"No place would give us sanctuary. All cities, towns, caravans and ships will know of us. But they would in all likelihood sent the Viz-Jaq'taar after us." She warned. "They are colloquially called the mage slayers. Assassins specializing in dealing with people exactly like you and I. They would also likely send the Khral-Harzhek order after us as well, as us defecting would lead people to suspect that we have been corrupted. This is all assuming we make it past the gate without being executed."

Every day the gaps in Izuku's understanding of this world seemed to grow. All this time he had been assuming that most of Sanctuary and its people were like those of the Blood Moors. Weak, small in number, disorganized and incapable of dealing with these threats.

He should have known better just from the strength of character and skill of the Sisters of the Sightless eye how incorrect that was. They had only been in such dire straits because they had been blindsided and overwhelmed. Other people were surely just as strong, if not far stronger, but also better organized and well-funded.

His threat assessment of the people on this planet just increased by an order of magnitude. And if these demons are as big of a threat to all of the rest of Sanctuary as they were to the Blood Moors, then he ought to heighten his estimation of them just as much.

"How powerful can sorcerers become?" He eventually asked.

"There truly is no limit." Isendra answered. "But it is common for them to be an order of magnitude more powerful than me. I am brilliant, but young. There are other brilliant people out there. And many of them have lived thrice as much life as me. You've seen the snowball effect of your improvement just in this last year. Imagine what you could be in fifty years. Such men and women are out there."

Izuku sighed. Yeah, that was about what he suspected.

"We really need to get me caught up on geography, religion and politics." Izuku said. "All I knew of Sanctuary was the Blood Moors. And they gave me the wrong impression. I need to know who I may fight wars with or beside. I never considered until now that my war wasn't just with hell. Other wars, between men, are ones I may have to fight as well."

She nodded.

"Get some rest. We leave this afternoon to buy extra rations and head out. After one last bath, of course."

---

Isendra and Izuku advanced to the front gate just as the sun was setting.

They were once again among the last to arrive, as the entire street leading up to the front gate was full of the warriors they saw earlier, though now they were dressed for war and packed for it as well. The two sorcerers had brought enough rations to feed themselves for four weeks, and he was sure they had all done the same.

Some even had horses. Drognan was one of them, and he rode over to them as they approached before they got in earshot of others.

"Are you feeling well, young Midoriya." The Mage-Lord asked.

"I'm fine. What happened during lunch didn't happen because of the horrors I fought, and won't come again during war." He explained. "It comes during peace."

The serious man gave him an expression that Izuku almost mistook for pity, but after a moment recognized as understanding.

"That is usually how it is, isn't it? Don't go developing the empty sight. And when we come back, alive, I will introduce you to people I know who can help you cope with that." Drognan told him.

He then turned around and trotted to the front of the army. Izuku and Isendra followed.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 21:

To burn the infection away​

---

Izuku was long since accustomed to the hot sun of the desert and biting winds. Riding a camel as he did so, however, was new and uncomfortable.

They were much smellier creatures than the horse and oxen, but with those he had ridden on the wagon they carried along not on their backs. There was that horse he rode back to the pond which birthed him into this world, but again, he'd had a saddle for that. And the horse didn't smell so bad. Or rock back and forth so much.

Camels suck.

His frozen armor spell was losing its battle against the afternoon sun and so he recast it again. A few meters ahead of him he saw Strom cast a similar spell on himself. Similar but different. Instead of a thin layer of ice, a swirling barrier of excited air swirled around him. Izuku suspected the idea was for the air to wick head off of him instead of outright protecting him from the sun.

"What is that spell?" Izuku asked.

Strom turned around curiously, and smiled.

"It is called cyclone armor. It not only keeps a man cool but protects from and even absorbs elemental assaults on my person, both magical and natural. Fire, wind and ice need not bite me."

A cool breeze swept over them, kicking up a fine sheet of sand that danced over them. They all leaned back on their camels to enjoy the fine relief it brought.

"It is actually much better for hiking up snow capped mountains, and is what my clan mainly uses it for." Strom added. "I didn't get to enjoy that breeze because the armor protected me from it, like it would the frigid winds and snow. It also keeps good visibility from snow and sand."

That did sound useful. Of course, Izuku perked up on one word in particular.

"Can you tell me about your clan's history?" Izuku asked. "Whatever you're comfortable sharing with an outsider, I mean."

"I assume that, with the world being as it is right now, your education into culture, history and languages has been put on hold in favor of combat training?" Strom asked, turning to Isendra.

"You would assume correct. And I'm less happy about it than you are." Isendra told him.

He nodded.

"Well, it's on trips like these that it's best to teach such things. Even though you seem to be using these hours to practice finer control of your spells I will regale you all the same! But don't slack on your deliberately underpowered ice armor practice. That's good training." Strom told him.

Strom hummed a bit before continuing.

"Well the first thing you should know about my clan's history, is that I was banished from said clan specifically for discovering it's lost history. A dark spot in its past. And as I am banished, I am willing to share all of it! I am suffering the price, I may as well enjoy the fruits of my punishment. Strom explained. "My druid clan are kin to the children of Bul Kathos, that much is well known, but we were formed not by that ancient in particular but instead a rival, Esu, who seduced us into elemental magic.

Isendra perked up at this explanation.

"She only taught us the beginnings of elemental magic. We later branched out away from the first druids after being banished by followers of Bul Kathos and their way of physical purity. I was banished prematurely, before learning much of my clan's magic. I only know two animal summoning spells and luckily had hidden my knowledge of the Elemental magics, but that was enough to spare my life and convince my teacher to merely banish me never to return, instead of leaving me to the beasts." Strom finished. "For that mercy, I will always be thankful. But for their rejection of truth and their own inheritance, I shall always hate them."

They were all silent after he finished describing the internal emotional typhoon that was his existence. He was a shockingly open and expressive man.

Isendra was the first to break this silence.

"Are you certain your clan was formed by Esu?" She asked.

"Indeed," Said Strom. "Our writings show that she called herself such. She was a firstborn, a rival to Bul-Kathos."

There was a lot of terminology that still went over Izuku's head here, and he made a point of writing the many new questions in his head down. Isendra continued to stare at Strom, as if staring at an alien artifact.

"That's strange, she never mentioned starting another clan of elemental magic users." Isendra said.

This time Strom ogled at her.

"Wait, are you saying… Esu is alive? That you've met her?" Strom asked.

"Oh yes." Said Isendra. "She visits my clan's main fortress all the time. Should the world become more peaceful again I would be overjoyed to introduce you."

Cassia rudely interjected with her usual demeaning snort.

"As if one of the Firstborn would be interested in meeting a failure who was banished from his clan." Cassia said. "If what you say is true, then why would the creator of your clan want anything to do with such a pathetic man?"

Izuku felt the bite of Cassia's words on Strom's behalf, but he merely smiled and raised an eyebrow at the woman. Most shockingly the smile was a genuine one, and it reached his eyes. When he spoke, it shone through into his voice as well.

"Funny. You demanded so very much of this pathetic man the other night." Strom said.

The otherwise beautiful blonde twisted her face into an ugly expression and turned the reigns on her horse to gallop away for another group.

Izuku felt further retribution was in order.

"So THAT'S what all that demonic screeching was about." Izuku said, deliberately ignoring the Isendra's look of horror and raised her hand commanding him to stop. "I thought Andarial had come back and picked up the hobby of skinning cats alive while singing opera."

Cassia heard every word, and the scandalized glare she threw back at him warmed him like a cup of hot cocoa and a snowy day. She kicked her horse into a full trot to get away from Stroms uproarious laughter. Izuku looked to Isendra to find her face was beat red as she bit into her own knuckle trying to hold back her laughter, and had to stop breathing altogether to accomplish the feat.

"You. Really. Shouldn't have said that." She warned him in an unusually high pitched voice, brought about by her suffocating herself.

"She's right." Said Strom. "And as a bit of further advice, you also shouldn't kiss and tell. I normally never would, but I am deeply ashamed of myself for having kissed that one."

---

It was nighttime when they arrived at an overlook glaring down upon the small town they were sent to destroy. Even from afar, they could hear the screaming and the crying.

Every single person, from hired rogue, to trained soldier and masterful mage wore expressions of stone that betrayed nothing of their inner turmoil.

"The place is walled on most sides." Said Isendra. "I can create a grant barrier of ice on the sides where it is not. It will trap them all inside, leaving one or two entrances for you all to flood in and the infected to flood out into our swords and arrows."

Grognan nodded.

"Then your little pyromaniac and I can reign fireballs from outside to destroy as much cover as possible, what little will remain shall not avail them for long." The red-garbed mage added.

How did Izuku manage to have a reputation as a pyromancer even out here? Was he more famous than he realized.

Thinking on it, he realized he had traveled with the caravan for three months. More than enough time for word of the twelve year old who killed Andarial to travel far and wide. He probably had Gheed to thank for that.

"When that barrage ends, us sorcerers can run in to join the fray." Drognan continued.

"I would hold off on that." Said Isendra. "Once you finish the barrage of fireballs, I should be finished preparing a meteor to strike the city. The more devastation we cause from afar, the less…"

She took a deep, shuddering breath,

"The less we have to suffer witnessing up close." She finished, unable to meet anybody's eyes.

Not that anybody else was trying to meet hers.

"You can cast a meteor strike?" Cassia asked, her usual antagonism replaced with what might have been confused for respect.

"With a few minutes of preparation, yes." Isendra said.

"Then you will all have your hands busy." Said Strom. "While you do that, I can send a molten boulder spell to destroy any buildings you miss and block an extra avenue of escape, saving you the effort of an ice wall. But I will need a vanguard to guard my flank."

"And you shall have one in me and any of these mercenaries who would join me." Cassia said, looking about at the nearly one hundred mercenaries within earshot.

The best stepped forward to crowd around her as a rallying point.

"Once all of that is over though, and Vanguard makes it inside, Izuku, Lady Isendra and Drognan should join us inside." Said Geglesh. "Seal the way behind you to prevent any escape."

"And leave some archers and swordsmen interspersed at a distance to catch any that might." Said Izuku. "Any self-admitted cowards ready to volunteer for that task?"

He actually got some chuckles for his joke, and with the mood sufficiently lightened several did raise their hands. Some of the younger, or especially old, volunteered to be at the very back to pick off stragglers.

"Go now. Form an evenly dispersed circle around the city from afar. Far enough to see any approaching." Geiz ordered his men.

These men left and did as instructed.

Those remaining looked between each other, as if waiting for somebody to have an additional stratagem or word of wisdom, or encouragement or even a justification for the distasteful task they had been assigned. None came.

---

"Okay. So. Bombarding a small city with fireballs..." Drognan tried to begin with his instruction as if he was preparing to give a lecture on earth science.

He then breathed out in frustration and leaned back into the rocky alcove they had found for themselves. He seemed defeated despite the battle not having even begun yet. The signal was the erection of ice walls. Thankfully said signals hadn't started yet.

While the rest of the forces sent to eliminate this plague had either circled evenly around the small city or else prepared themselves for storming it, the two of them had crept around the cliffs overlooking it in order to find a good vantage point. There were plenty to be found, as two sides of the city were built against the rocky faces of cliffs as natural buttresses. These cliffs gave the pair of elemental mages a perfect vantage point, looking down upon the buildings with sadness and disdain.

"Okay!" Drognan started over, his voice now more forlorn and angry. "You are going to want to aim for the buildings closest to us first, then focus outwards towards where Isendra is positioned on the far corner. That way, when she called her meteor strike, she eliminated the most people possible. That way we have fewer to take care of face to face."

Izuku understood and nodded in agreement.

White light erupted upwards from the multitude of city gates along the two walls. Even taller walls of ice covered the few exits and entrances to the city.

The pair began their bombardment.

---

Isendra stood there, panting and sweating, trying to remain conscious after dropping a meteor on the front of the city. The extra word of rebuilding the ice walls to cover the new gaps in the stone walls of the city took even more out of her.

She hadn't even gone into the fray and yet she had already drunken through her supply of mana potions. Her over-eagerness to be done with this distasteful assignment was causing mistakes.

"Mistress!" She heard her apprentice call out.

She turned to see Izuku running southward along the wall, past the breach she had created and promptly covered up. He was similarly out of breath and exhausted as she was. She had seen the hailstorm of fireballs, and had taken great pride in knowing which was her apprentices and which was the elder caster. The size difference made it obvious. Not that she would ever say size was everything. But Izuku's were bigger and surprisingly more powerful.

"Follow me! Stay close. Treat them like any other undead or demon, for that is what they all are!" She lied to her boy, knowing that he recognized her words as such.

She didn't give him time to respond or even think on her question. She charged through the gap she deliberately left in the ice while and felt him follow from behind her. The mercenaries closed in behind them to shoot or cut down anything that may escape.

The city was alive with fire and shambling horrors. Men, women and children twisted by the dark powers into a mockery of their former selves.

Limbs and fingers were stretched far too long, to the point of tendons snapping and muscle tearing, and the wounds of the skin similarly ripping still bled as they crawled on all fours to attack anything, including one another. One saw them as soon as they entered, and bared its teeth. The misshapen jaw had stretch such that each was so far placed from each other as to leave black gums separated by molars that had been filed down into fangs.

Madness filled their eyes and corruption grew on their skin like vining plants or mold with the occasional horn or tuft of fur sprouted.

It screeched and charged at them on all fours, aiming to bite and claw at them. They vaporized it into dusted charcoal with a pair of fireballs.

The screech and fireballs got the attention of the surrounding corrupted and they swarmed. They did not do so quickly or efficiently, as few of them could move at a respectable pace due to their mutilated forms. Some were lengthened, some were twisted into something resembling a human rope, others were made to be backwards. These last ones had to crawl on their backs with their hands and legs turned in the wrong direction while their shoulder blades and pelvises jutted forward on their torsos.

She and her apprentice mowed them down with novas and ice blasts and so much fire, as if to burn away the horrific sights before them.

The pair advanced into the underground areas of the city to find it had once been a beautiful oasis, with the underground being tunneled and tiled into bath houses and eateries. It outright put Jerhyn's palace to shame, even with the walls painted, as they now were, with blood and gore and ash.

There were far more of the corrupted down below. Whether they had taken shelter down her to deliberately hid away from the spell onslaught or if they had merely been down here coincidentally to begin with, she did not know. Nor did she care, merely returning to her slaughter of the people now reduced to less than animals.

They did not scream in pain as they died, only ever screeching in aggression or moaning pitifully as they shambled about. There was still a great deal of screaming and weeping, and it took her far too long to realize it was hers.

She did so upon breaking into an empty bath room the size and shape of a play theater that had been barricaded from the inside and stopped herself. With no enemy in sight for the first time in what must have been an hour she collected herself, if for no other reason than for her apprentice's sake so as not to see her in such a state any longer.

She turned around to console him and felt all of the blood in her body run cold.

"Izuku?" She called out.

There was no response.

She rushed back into the thin, ornately windowed hallway and scanned every inch of the piles of dead, unmutated, and rotting people. There was no sign of her apprentice.

"Izuku!" She yelled, now in a panic.

She was answered not from the direction she came, but behind her in the pooling water of the bath theater. A large crash into the water as if a piece of the ceiling caved in.

She turned around to see that something large had indeed fallen from the ceiling, but it was a fleshy, rotting thing the size of an elephant. Pieces of it were still connected to the ceiling, like lengths of intestines.

The mass rose and revealed itself to be women; Many of them, each clearly pregnant before the corruption, and now molded together like an army of clay figurines smashed together and tossed aside. The black growths of corruption filled the valleys where their flesh combined and from it many horns, larger than most she had seen so far, erupted from painful-looking sores.

Isendra readied her staff as the many mouths of the creature all screamed in unison and the mass of limbs charged.

---

Izuku sprinted back up to the surface from the subway-like bath houses beneath the city. It was not by the entrance to the underground that he and Isendra had gone down together, but it was the only one he could find after getting separated.

He reached the surface not to fresh air, but to the smell of burnt katsu.

It seemed many more of the corrupted and demonically twisted people had shambled back up to the surface. This explained why the path he had taken back up was so empty of the beastly people, but now he was faced with a wall of them.

"Ice them!" He heard a loud, booming voice from above and behind him.

Izuku hurled an ice nova forward, which he commanded to only push forward and not behind him. Geglesh the boulder came tumbling over the railing to the underground passage with sword in one hand, wineskin in the other, and he used both to shatter the frozen abominations like fine china.

"We need to get you somewhere with cover!" Gaglesh ordered.

They ran, not away from the enemies, for there was no direction they could go without running onto such. No, they ran towards the burned but still standing ruins of stone homes and shops seeking a hold out from the onslaught. They found one, more western in style than middle-eastern, but still standing and not on fire. With these traits, it won by default.

Gaglesh kicked the door down, and in doing so also shattered the bookcase that had been barricading it.

"Ice wall, kid!" Gaglesh ordered.

Izuku caught his meaning and filled the doorway with a thick wall of ice, large enough to keep the corrupted out for hours. The other windows were still boarded up but he didn't take any chances, covering each and every possible entrance in ice thick enough to stop a bullet.

These creatures were weak, only deadly due to the many pointed bits on them. He hadn't encountered any mutated into a form able to wield magic, or retain their strength, or worse, increase in strength. But he couldn't rule it out.

He turned to Gaglesh to see him taking a long drink from his wineskin. The look on his face did not indicate that it was pleasant going down.

"The upstairs?" Izuku asked.

He nodded but held out a hand to stop Izuku from going up there. He stopped his wineskin and took point, climbing the stairs with his sword drawn. Izuku followed closely behind.

They arrived on the second floor to find the windows and patio door similarly barricaded, but Gaglesh took no liberties. He slowly walked in, as if to advance on the wardrobe and check it for an enemy, but he stopped three steps in.

Izuku stared in confusion when the man lowered his weapon and stood up straight. From behind he almost looked defeated, and when he turned around to stare at Izuku he looked even moreso. Like a man who had accepted his own death.

Izuku let his confusion show on his face until he saw movement on the floor, and promptly registered that there was no floor.

The inhabitants of that abode, whoever they had been, looked to have been melted into a slush of human meat, forming a mossy carpet on most of the floor. Thick tendrils, like rope of muscle, covered every bit of the floor like banyan tree roots. They were lined with sharp demonic horns and human teeth.

"Kid. Get going." Gaglesh ordered solemnly.

He lazily tossed his wineskin to Izuku who caught it.

As soon as it landed in his hands the ropes of meat and bone came to life, springing like a Venus fly trap. They wrapped around him quickly, coiling and cutting and suffocating. Gaglesh screamed in agony as the sound of his flesh being torn apart and bones snapping filled the room. Whatever he tried to yell was incomprehensible over his death wails.

In a moment of shocking clarity, Izuku knew exactly what to do. Later he would marvel at his own instincts, but he followed them to the letter. He dropped the wineskin to the ground and pointed Ash Bane directly at Gagleshe's pained face.

There was a pause, as they looked at one another, and all pain left the drunkard's expression as he stared directly into Izuku's soul.

Then he nodded, and Izuku cast the most merciful fireball he'd ever use.

It exploded upon the man and the trap containing him, and as Izuku intended he didn't have time to feel pain as he was reduced to burned splinters instantly. He didn't even make a sound as he and the creature which felled him died.

The blast also had the unfortunate effect of knocking Izuku off of his feet with so much force that he slammed into the wall at the top of the stairs, though he was fortunate enough to not go tumbling down those too. The hit to the head he took was enough to make his vision go blurry.

When he picked himself back up he stumbled, his center of balance ruined.

The blast had also blown out the windows, along with the patio door which had been close enough to the blast to be similarly destroyed.

He stumbled towards the patio, casually burned away the last of Gaglesh's remains along with the human meat trap which killed him. He didn't see the point in half-assing his crematorial mercy killing.

He reached the railing at the end of the patio and stared out at the sea of human bodies twisted by demonic forces. He felt no more pity, or anger, or sadness or even horror. He felt, instead, a profound boredom like one would feel while cleaning a toilet, or a grease trap.

Remembering the rescue of Deckard Cain, he raised his hands and flooded the street beneath him with his own mana. Then, with a thought, he ignited it along with all of the corrupted people it enveloped.

It wasn't the powerful flames of his fireball or firebolt, but the weak flames of his old bastardized fire wall. It would not be enough to be instantly fatal, but they didn't seem to complain about the otherwise slow and agonizing death he met upon them.

"I must cauterize the wound." Izuku absently mumbled to himself in a voice that sounded foreign to him. "Burn the infection away."

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 22:

Dealing with the aftermath

---

"You have a concussion." Isendra said.

Her voice sounded like a mix of annoyance and concern as she continue to hold a small flame near his face. She kept a hand between his eyes as she moved said flame to either side of his face, probably to identify how is eyes dilated.

"But I drank a potion." Izuku said.

"Potions cannot heal every injury. They are excellent for repairing damage to the skin, muscles and even tendons, but the mind and spirit require time and care." Isendra explained. "Just as healing potions aren't a cure all for poisons and maladies of the mind."

He supposed that made sense, but he wasn't in the mood to be thinking about things.

All he wanted to do was sleep, or maybe die. He, along with the rest of the "heavy hitters" were sitting around a campsite just within view of the city they had burned down. The foot soldiers and mercenaries were now cleaning up after them, marching into the smoldering ruins with sword, bow and spear to double check that everything was, in fact, dead. They were then supposed to go in with mauls and the like to return the place to the desert sands.

The small camp of warriors was quiet now, save for the hum of Isendra icing the back of his head with a weak, but precise, cold spell. The slow way to heal wasn't all that slow when magic was involved.

Everyone else was visibly drained, dirtied and bloodied. Each was slumped in on themselves, or in Cassia's case, slumped against Strom. He made no objection to the public show of intimacy.

Isendra finished her work on his skull and laid down beside him with her eyes closed. He noted her deliberate breathing and supposed he ought to be practicing such meditation techniques himself, but couldn't find it in him.

Geglash's sacrifice was just too fresh in his mind. It wasn't even the gruesomeness of it that got to him, or even that he had been the one to end him. It was how peaceful, content and resigned he was in dying, even in such an undignified way. Somehow, in accepting it, he made it dignified and died on his own terms. Izuku felt like he should be proud in playing a part in making that dignity possible, and while he didn't feel such pride, he also didn't feel shame or culpability. This was all so very confusing.

"Hey kid." A gruff voice approached from behind.

Greiz, returning from his command of his men, sat next to him with a sigh. Izuku noted Isendra opened a single eye to watch their interaction.

"I usually don't recruit those as young as you to work for me, except in a support capacity. Is this your first time dealing with an event like this?" The mercenary leader asked.

Izuku nodded solemnly.

Greiz hummed, and didn't seem to have anything else to offer. He looked about the camp at the other faces to see how everybody else was coping, and then nodded respectfully at Izuku. It appeared he was coping no better or worse than everyone else.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Greiz asked.

He indicated the worn wine skin Izuku had laying beside him.

"Geglesh threw it to me before he died." Izuku told him.

Every head in the camp turned to him.

"He is dead? I had been hoping he was merely missing and has yet to show up." Said the scarred man.

"Yes. I was the one to deliver him that mercy." Izuku confessed. "He was already going, and he told me without words to end it. So I did."

He choked up a bit at the end there and the faces around him either hardened or softened in empathy and understanding at his words. Strom nodded at him. Isendra sat up straight next to him.

"He threw this at me before he was caught as if it was the greatest treasure in the world." Izuku added.

"To him, it was." Said Griez. "I can tell you that from my years of knowing and occasionally working with the man. May I?"

He indicated that he wanted to take the wine skin and Izuku motioned for him to do so.

Greiz took the wine skin, unstopped it, and raised it to his mouth. The moan he made was not one of pleasure.

"By all that is holy! That tastes like somebody left curdled milk inside of a moldy burial urn, remains and all, in the sun for a month and then poured beer into it!" Greiz exclaimed about the taste. "Aden you have to try this!"

He passed the wineskin to the scarred man, Aden, Izuku now knew. He too took a swig.

"Oh geez! That tastes like puss from a frog demon, slathered it on some moldy bread, and soaked it in ale." Said Aden. "Quetz, you have to try this!"

He passed it to the feral looking woman and she didn't even hesitate. She still made the face, that same face as Greiz and Aden, and added her own description.

"Oh damn! That tastes like… I got nothing. Here, Cassia, you have a go at it." Quetz said.

She passed it to the light-haired woman who, for the first time since Izuku had met her, was smiling in mirth. She drank of it.

"Oh! By Philios' seed! That tastes… exactly like what I expected a kiss from Geglash would taste like." Cassia said.

"You seem to have put much thought into the prospect of kissing Geglash." Strom said in mock jealousy. "Were he alive, I would fear for whatever it is we are sharing. Pass it here."

Everybody laughed at Cassia's expense, including Cassia, as she handed her man the drink.

And so went their ritual. Each person took a drink of the unholy concoction that the drunkard had resorted to in order to continue his malediction. Something so strong as to kill a normal man, but to get a man with Galgesh's impressive liver to survive. Each description was more absurd than the last, and somehow equally appropriate.

Izuku understood it as a means of farewell to the man. The description wasn't of the drink, but as a substitute of a speech in remembrance of the man it represented. It was by far the strangest means of remembrance and mourning Izuku had ever seen, and yet, in the small time he had known the man, he felt it was appropriate.

It finally came back around to Isendra and Izuku.

She drank it first.

"Hm." She said, smacking her lips. "Perhaps it's easier to go down at the bottom, but I think you all exaggerate."

She took another drink of it and smacked her lips in appreciation.

"Yes. You are all just weak. Izuku, what do you make of this?" She said, offering him the wineskin.

At long last, he drank of it, and felt every but of his esophagus, lungs and nose burn as if he had inhaled lit aflame. He choked and coughed it up. This was nothing like the mead that the wonderful ladies of the sightless eye had plied him with months back. He hated this new drink, but did his best to come up with a description.

"In the name of all the gods, this tastes like sour kraut sieved through a dirty sock worn by its owner for a month straight then tried to ferment it with vinegar. What IS this?!" He declared.

There was a smidgen of confusion, and a shocked expression from one of the random mercenaries under Greiz at the first part of his declaration, but by the end of his declaration he had a good crowd of laughing heroes. From Isendra, who had looked concerned at the start of his declaration only to fall in with the cheers and jeers at the end to Cassia, who had done the same.

Greiz and Aden reached out to pat him on the back and shoulder while others, especially and most importantly to Izuku, Strom, winked or nodded at him in approval. Sometime during all of this each person had retrieved their belongings and articles of food or drink and were holding them out in their hands, as if in anticipation.

Greiz, noticing Izuku's ignorance as to what came next, took charge, took charge and raised a bottle of mead to the sky.

"To Geglash! The least of us, and the most of us!" He declared.

They all cheered, Izuku loudest of all, and then they drank and ate whatever they had. Izuku gagged on the hero of the day's drink as he did so but he did his best to hide it. The drink was even worse on the second tasting than the first.

He choked and coughed up what little he dared swallow in favor of spitting back onto the ground, and Isendra snatched it away from him. When she then drank from it and didn't make the same face of disgust as every other person in the camp but, instead, one of appreciation, he realized she hadn't been bluffing. She actually seemed to enjoy the drink.

What a monster his mistress was!

It didn't take much of that to make her as sleepy as he was from even less of the stuff. He hoped whatever recipe produced such a concoction would never be rediscovered.

A few minutes later the high cheer and good mood as a cover for mourning began to fade, and so did their energy.

Izuku and Isendra were some of the first to lay down in preparation for bed, but others followed soon after. Many of them actually collapsed and fell asleep before them, but Izuku wasn't treating it as a competition. It was more like a gauge as to if his reaction and feelings to the previous hours of his life were normal. But all throughout the night they had proven to be so, and they continued as such as they fell into blissful sleep.

This made him feel better than any hand holding, hugging or comforting words ever could. And when he fell asleep he suffered no nightmares, but instead silent, empty sleep. In which he embraced darkness.

---

The next morning had them all preparing to leave, but there was still work to be done.

The city they had reduced to ash was still visible to any passersby, and the risk of discovery or, worse, any missed corrupted was too great. As such, those with great magical power were sent forth. That meant Isendra, Izuku, Drognan and Strom.

Izuku watched and followed the example of those older and wiser than him, which was everybody; by a seemingly insurmountable margin. Isendra and Drognan made space for Strom to walk forth at the now illuminated city ruins.

The wild man stepped forth, surveyed the now burned and half buried walls, foundations and other ruine structures, and got to work. He rubbed his hands together then raised his hands over himself, and as they rose the earth shook.

An earthquake overtook the land, and what little remained of the city came tumbling down along with the stone cliffs which enclosed them like a turtle shell. The earthquake shattered those cliffs and opened great fissures within the remains of the city. Those fissures then swallowed up what little remained.

Izuku recognized the sinkholes as the great baths beneath the city and their foundation shattering to create pockets of air in need of filling by sand and stone and ash. They filled quickly, thirsty for the last remains of this tragedy and they left in their wake large, empty sinkholes of sand and rock that were easily spotty even from afar.

When his work was done, Strom backed away and stumbled, only for Cassia to catch him with a tenderness would never have thought possible for her. She carried him away, with his mountainous frame pressed against her smaller, but leaner and similarly strong, body. Both nodded to Izuku as they passed until the midday light.

"Shovels!" Greiz's voice called out over the harsh wind and rustling sand.

His men, a hundred or more in total, rushed forth with shovels in hand. Faster than any tractor operator, they filled the new sinkholes with sand from the surrounding dunes. They utilized said shovels, along with burlap sacks, which they used to transport sand. By the end of the hour they looked out upon a flat wasteland of dirt and loose stones.

"And now, to glass it." Greiz said, motioning to the trio or sorcerers left waiting.

Izuku, Isendra and Drognan stepped forth. Together, they raised a firestorm upon the inconspicuous plot of sand and rock. Each focused individually on raising the heat and containing it to melt the sand in as uniform of a manner as possible. They maintained their concentration for what felt like an eternity, and when they all finally let loose – Izuku waited for signs from his elders to do so – it was to reveal a nice, flat slab of molten glass.

They stood there in appreciation of the crimson plane they had created, and they waited for it to cool down into a wavy, blueish dance floor of hard silicone.

"Is our work here done?" Cassia asked the question on all of their minds.

"For most of us." Said Greiz. "I will leave men behind, swift ones, to watch. Ones who are capable of either eliminating the unlikely survivor or else fleeing to us with news of such in an emergency. The rest of us may return to Lut Golein."

The collective sigh which escaped their collective lips could have caused a sandstorm. And so, they set off.

They had already packed up before the sun rose fully, and so the only preparation they had was to put one foot in front of the other and begin their journey, or else saddle up.

Izuku was exhausted from the exertion of glassing the city's remains, but not so exhausted as to sleep peacefully through the trip back. Not because he didn't want to, but because he was relegated to his camel for said trip.

In place of sleeping he amused himself by watching the interactions of his colleagues. From his own mistress drooling into her horse's mane as she slept through the day's trip to Cassia leading the camel which carried Strom's unconscious body, and her strangely affectionate expression as she did so. He even made himself busy casting weak versions of the ice armor spell on all of the aforementioned so as to distract himself from the smell of his stead.

Camels stink. They stink a lot.

---

The rest of their trip, aside from being uncomfortable for Izuku in particular, was uneventful and short on conversation.

They did not encounter a single undead, corrupted, giant insect or cat person during their travels. Save for the harsh sun and winds, including a light sandstorm halfway through their trip, all was peaceful. After a week and change of this Lut Gholein and the sea beyond came into view.

He felt all of the tiredness of the nearly three week campaign wash over him as they approached the city gates that late evening.

Khaleen and his city guard were standing there waiting for them all.

"You are to report directly to the palace." Khaleen told them. "Lord Jeryhn will debrief you before giving you leave."

Izuku's exhaustion doubled with the man's order but he didn't complain, nor did anybody else. And so they marched through the gates. They drew quite a crowd of onlookers and among them was the easily spotted Myr, who was still cleaner than when he had first met her.

She took one look at the state of him and his mistress and blanched, but meandered through the crowd to talk to them all the same.

"I will have work for you tonight. I have to go meet with lord Jeryhn first." He told her.

She nodded and scampered off in the direction of Elzix' inn.

Izuku and his company rode the remainder of the way to the palace where they dismounted and handed the horses and camels back to the stablemen. Then it was a short walk inside to the gardens where they had all enjoyed a breakfast feast what felt like a lifetime ago. There, Jerhyn stood in front of his throne waiting patiently.

"Greiz. You may report your mission to cleanse Dev'hamam when ready." Jerhyn ordered.

"Yes sire." Greiz said with a bow. "We led a successful assault and left no known survivors. There was not a single wall or foundation stone left standing. We burned it all down, buried it and scorched the earth into glass. We would have gone so far as to salt it as well, save for the scarcity of the stuff."

Somebody tried to chuckle at the bit of humor at the end, but it sounded hollow.

"I see. And how was this achieved?" Jerhyn asked.

"Dev'hamam was first enclosed by ice walls, compliments of the sorceress Isendra. Then it was bombarded with fireballs from her apprentice, Izuku, and our own mage Lord Drognan. Isendra added a flourish of her own with a meteor spell. We then stormed the city on foot and eliminated what remained, and there was much remaining in the great baths beneath. We then retreated and sent others in to double check that all were dead. We then rested for the evening as Dev'hamam burned overnight and, in the morning, got to work with pickaxe, hammer and shovel to bury what remained. This was aided by the mighty Strom who, by the use of his fissure spell, shattered any and all underground passageways burying them in further sand. Isendra, mage Lord Drognan and Izuku finished the work by scorching the earth into glass." Greiz explained fully.

Jerhyn nodded solemnly throughout the explanation and, once it was finished, sat on his ill-used throne. He leaned back and placed his hands before him in deep thought.

"Would you recommend anybody for distinction in their work?" Jerhyn asked.

"Yes, sire." Said Greiz. "Geglash died in the act of saving the life of young Izuku, who then repaid by delivering him a swift death in favor of letting him suffer an undignified one. I would recommend both for any honors you can provide. But there were none among us who acted dishonorably, failed in their duties nor shirked them."

Lord Jerhyn appraised Izuku at Greiz's recommendation. Under normal circumstances he would have wilted underneath the gaze of somebody so high-born and powerful, but he just didn't care anymore.

"That was all much for one so young to suffer through, and to do so in such an honorable fashion is worthy of honoring. However, the events which transpired these last few weeks must remain secret at all cost, and I will be swearing you all to it. We will be going so far as to erase all mentions of the city of Dev'hamam from records and texts. It never existed." Jerhyn declared. "This means we cannot posthumously honor Geglesh for his sacrifice as it was, so we shall instead honor him for a fictitious one. Likewise I cannot honor the young man, save for the niceties I have the power to provide. Izuku Midoriya? You need not want for food nor drink nor work while you remain within my walls. Come to me for any of them, and you shall have all your stomach, mouth and back can handle."

Izuku bowed his head in gratitude, but he couldn't make his face show it.

"I would offer you all proper payment for the job well done, but as I said before, secrecy is paramount. As such I will instead be offering extra payment for all future work any of you perform for my city. Well above the going rates. I would also offer you a proper dinner tonight, but by the look of you none of you are well-rested nor cleaned up enough to enjoy such a dinner. As such, I shall dismiss you all with orders to relax and exemption from all duties for at least a week, should you choose to take advantage of such." Jerhyn finished.

They all bowed that time and filed out of the gardens and palace doors beyond.

The sun had nearly completely set during their debrief, and they trudged back to Elzix's inn with little light save for the last streaks of red on the highest of clouds.

When they entered Elzix leapt up at the sight of them and handed them towels.

"Here are the keys to your rooms. You can pay me in the morning." The man said. "Go. Enjoy your baths. You three may use my private washroom. It is smaller, but cleaner."

"Three?" Isendra asked.

Myr, who had walked up to them during all of this, stood straighter at his mistress' question. Isendra looked at the street rat suspiciously.

"Izuku, who is this young boy?" She asked.

He snorted Myr's expense that time, especially with the face she made at being mistaken for a boy that time.

"This is a thief I rescued from a merchant's axe a couple days before we left on our mission." Izuku told her. "Also mistaking her for a boy, I hired her to do our laundry and shopping, paying her in gold, food and baths."

Isendra nodded.

"Would you be so kind as to wash our things tonight after washing my apprentice?" She asked Myr.

Myr bowed and followed them to the private wash room. There they all disrobed and Izuku saw the full proof that Myr was, in fact, a girl.

The young girl stoked the fires beneath the bath as Izuku and Isendra got in. They were so drained that the mere act of washing themselves was sluggish work, so he couldn't even object when Myr joined them in the water and began scrubbing him. Isendra enjoyed extra service herself.

When they were all properly cleaned Izuku and Isendra changed into their bed things, which were the cleanest clothes they had left, and allowed Myr to drag away their packs of remaining clothes. She joined them on the walk upstairs where Izuku and Isendra parted into their separate rooms.

Izuku decided to halt in the doorway and address Myr.

"Tell Elzix I'll be paying for an extra room for you to sleep in this evening. And you will have a bonus in the morning, when we will need you to wash our bed things as well." He said tiredly. "Actually..."

He reached into his coin purse and counted the coins to hand to Myr. Her shocked expression at what must have been the most amount of money she'd ever seen in her life then bloomed into a smile. A smile of broken and missing teeth, but a smile all the same.

"Thank you Sir. Good night." Myr said before bowing and retreating down the stairs.

Izuku finally entered his room and crawled into bed, where he fell instantly to sleep. It was the best sleep he'd had in some time, as the sheets felt like heaven as they did not smell of musty animals nor bump around like one.

 

[Magikuser]

Strom Wyald is what is known the the world outside of Scosglen as a Druid other than the magical teachings of his people and its history, he does not talk much of home.

It is commonly thought that Fiacla-Géar was the father of their ways.

He is talented and self taught from scrolls in Elemental magics but has little skill in animal summoning and less said about his skill in shapeshifting the better.

Strom was Exiled officially from his lands due to his lack of skill in Animal Summoning and Shape Shifting as his masters did not know of his secret studies in elemental magics. due to the lack of mystical knowledge he was allowed to leave alive.

The unofficial reason is that he found a scroll with the hidden history of his people that linked his people to Esu one of the Firstborn and Rival of Bul-Kathos who taught his people the Elemental magics which led to their banishment from the Barbarian tribes.

 

[Magikuser]

Isendra is what is known the the world of Sanctuary as a Sorceress.

Isendra is a member of the female dominated Zann Esu Clan. Athletic, affable, and self-assured, Sorceresses hardly seem like scholarly bibliophiles hidden away from civilization. They possess many of the same skills as the male members of the Mage Clans particularly like the Vizjerei, but excel at the use of elemental magic.

The Zann Esu clan has a relatively neutral relationship with the Vizjerei clan, due to their hate for the servants of the "Burning Hells" and their love for elemental magics.

Isendra was born in the year 1246. She was noted to be peerless in her magical ability, though had limited actual experience.

She meets young Izuku in the year 1264 when she is 18 winters old.

She hopes to one day be recognized as a metaphorical daughter of her lady Esu

 

[Magikuser]

Cassia is what is known the the world of Sanctuary as a Amazon but to her people she is an Askari warrior

Due to her experiences as a nomad, Cassia is fiercely independent, and is able to weather severe hardship and travel.

In the wider world she has made a name for herself as a renowned mercenary. some would say her martial abilities are more than merely human. Her attitude and strong beliefs keeps most at a distance.

Strom and Cassia met on their last escort job for a caravan company.

She meets young Izuku late in the year 1265 when she is 23 springs old.

She despises shopping.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 23
It Takes a Village
​

---

Three days of quiet contemplation had passed for Izuku since his return to Lut Gholein. In that time all he could bring himself to do was sleep, contemplate and sometimes eat. He considered making the trip to the palace for some of the fresher food, but he lacked the energy and motivation to do so.

Myr came through for him, bringing him meals and getting him down to the baths. But something about that fourth day of Jerhyn-mandated vacation made Izuku realize he needed to get out of bed and leave his room. It was probably the overcast and light drizzle as a respite from the constant heat, that or he was just tired of being tired.

He exited his room and knocked on Isendra's door.

"What is it, Izuku?" he heard his mistress call out.

"I am getting ready to leave, I wanted to see you before going." He said through the door.

"Then come in." She ordered.

He did so, closing the door behind him. His mistress did not look like herself. She was unkempt and visibly unwell, with bags underneath her eyes and hair messier than he'd ever seen. She did at least appear to be eating and bathing, if not sleeping.

"You bounce back from everything so quickly, but it takes me more time." She told him tiredly. "I need a while longer to find my balance again. Until then I do not believe I can provide you the usual guidance and training, but you have proven more than capable of teaching yourself. Go into my bag and retrieve Morena's journal."

Izuku blanked on the name. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"Blood Raven." Isendra elaborated.

Ah. Her. He did recall her book and, opening Isendra's pack, he recognized it readily enough.

He picked the worn tome up gently and returned his focus to Isendra.

"I want you to learn and practice the spell "holy bolt". Which relies on the presence of inner light and a great deal of mana to cast. Both of which you have in excess." She instructed. "Once you are finished with that, the town portal spell will be invaluable to you. We have not had the chance to use it recently, as our missions have been long ones, but in future tasks I am positive we will need to return quickly. Especially with such scrolls being in such short supply."

Izuku recalled how the spell had gotten Cain himself back to the rogue encampment in a pinch, and provided them with quick travel back to the place of safety at the end of missions before.

"And if I learn both?" He asked.

"I am sure that I will be well by the time you finish this work, but if I am not, then I also advise learning the mana shield spell. It should be within your capabilities with little risk of harming yourself and others as you learn on your own." Isendra said.

Ah. So that was why she had picked out this spell selection for him. It made sense, without her there to supervise him it was difficult for him to cause untold elemental destruction with these, like he would if he tried to teach himself that meteor spell.

"Good day, mistress." Izuku bid her goodbye as he exited. "Please, get some sleep."
He returned to his room and donned his formal clothes. He did this partly because he was planning to go to the palace and wanted to look his best, but mostly because it was the warmest thing he owned. He could actively hear the wind from the sea through the shuddered windows.

As usual, Myr was downstairs playing some game with Elzix involving dice and cards. She spotted him coming and stood up.

"Good Morning Myr, I only need my sleepwear washed. I've worn nothing else for three days. If you could harass Isendra into giving you hers as well, that will be all I need from you." He said.

She bowed dutifully before walking away. Maybe it was the improvement in her demeanor, but Izuku couldn't help noticing that she was wearing new clothes. Little improvements to life sure did pile up fast, didn't they?

---

Breakfast at Atma's public house was wonderful.

He loaded up on greens and beef and got to work on them, smiling respectfully at the teasing from Quetz. "It is rare to find such love of vegetables and roots in one so young." She had teased him, while trying to pile on her plate as well.

He ate those too, but the vegetables were the real thing he'd been dying to sink his teeth into.

Upon exiting the restaurant he found the weather had changed only slightly. It was still completely overcast, and the light drizzle was unchanged, but the wind had died down. It was honestly wonderful weather. Calling the occasional, flee-sized droplet a drizzle was overstating it. People meandered about doing their daily business the same as ever, if not in greater numbers to enjoy the rare chilliness and humidity.

It occurred to him Cain may be among them, and the wise man may be of help with both of these spells he was practicing as they weren't elemental. If not, he could certainly be of help in other ways. He hadn't been practicing the mental magics as of late.

He found Cain where Cain always was. Near the town square in sight of the docks. He was leaning against his staff and staring peacefully out at the churning sea. He didn't notice Izuku until he was upon him.

"Ah. How may I be of service, young Midoriya?" He asked.

"Isendra instructed me to study and learn some spells on my own, and I was wondering if you had experience with them." Izuku asked. "They are holy bolt and town portal."

"Ah. Excellent choices of spells for the self-learner. Safe, and eminently useful. Let us go down to the beach and discuss them. See how far you can come along in learning them by day's end." Cain said in challenge.

They walked down and along the pier until they reached an area of soft sand with a large boulder for the man to sit on.

"Holy bolt is a wholly unique spell, normally known only to paladins of Zakarum and of a similar order in Westmarch. It is unique in that it can be used offensively against foulspawn, and to heal others. At the same time." Cain informed him. "I cannot cast a true holy bolt, but a simpler version is within many mage's means. It is formed from pure righteousness, and is baneful to undead and demon alike. You are not short on righteousness, though your obvious, and understandable, zeal of undead and demon could poison it. You will need to learn to parse these feelings to cast the spell efficiently."

With that short preamble out of the way, he demonstrated the spell.

A small star, as if plucked from the night sky, appeared between his palms, and he flung it forward like a firebolt. The golf-ball sized projectile flew over the waters of the sea, slowly fading into much smaller versions of itself that broke away, only to then vanish entirely.

"It has two components. The first is a feeling of righteousness over evil, without hate or contentment poisoning it and your inner light." Cain said.

Izuku blinked.

Izuku immediately recognized this lesson for what it was. A lesson in the mind arts disguised as a lesson on casting this particular spell. He withdrew his notebook and wrote it down so as to meditate on it later.

"Okay. Righteousness over evil. " Izuku said to himself as a chant.

He focused mana into his palms with these ideas in mind, watching as it coalesced. But it did nothing after that.

"Remember the breathing technique I taught you." Cain advised.

Izuku stopped, practiced said breathing technique three times, and tried again. And again. And again. But no star appeared between his hands.

"Who is casting magic inside the city walls?" A familiar voice called out from behind them. "Ah, I should have guessed."

Mage-Lord Drognan actually sounded disappointed.

"It is an approved spell." Said Cain. "He is trying to learn the holy bolt, and later the Town Portal spells."

"Ah. Excellent choices for self-study. Safe and useful." Drognan said dryly.

"I imagine you would struggle with the former, though it is a good primer for a mage trying to learn higher elemental magic." Drognan added.

Huh. Izuku hadn't thought of that. But he did recall how Isendra had instructed him to meditate on the more abstract natures of elements for higher spells, and how he was being instructed to do exactly that with the holy bolt. This made sense to him.

"Would you both be willing to share with me some of your insights on the town portal spell?" Izuku asked. "I am supposed to be studying from this journal, but it seems so vague and abstract."

Drognan took the journal of Blood Raven and raised his eyebrows at Izuku, before handing it back.

"It is both better and worse than my own in many ways. But instead of commenting on it, I should tell you that you must beware of your trust in other mages, even us." Drognan warned. "Many would kill for both the clan and individual spells of others. Many have tried to kill Cain here for his, not least of all because, despite having had so much time to do so, he has yet to take on an apprentice, yet at the ripe old age of Eighteen Isendra had."

She was Eighteen when they met!? Isendra? Surely not.

Cain scoffed.

"Do you not see me training my apprentice right now?" The Horadrim sage asked with a hint of jest.

Drognan laughed darkly

"I have seen his apprenticeship contract, and the name Deckard Cain is nowhere on it." Drognan said, almost angrily. "And now I am haunted by the wonderful future that could have been if this delightful young man had been set on the path to becoming Horadrim, and my day is ruined."

Izuku was beginning to suspect that Drognan did not particularly like Cain. Or at least didn't trust him. The latter was understandable, as Cain had just demonstrated how to lie to somebody by telling the truth.

It was a skill Izuku couldn't see himself mastering, as he was a terrible liar… or, could he?

"No apprentice has only one master. Today, both of us are his. If you are receptive to the prospect." Cain invited.

Drognan seemed to chew on that for a moment, before looking out to see.

"It is getting late, and cold. Let's go to the fire and teach Izuku in the ways of history and philosophy. These are the areas he is lacking most, I think." Drognan suggested.

The wind had begun to pick back up, and the cold was getting to Izuku. He and Cain both stood up and followed the Mage-Lord back towards the town square.

"The most famous Horadric mage in history was Tal Rasha who was once a powerful Vizjerei mage. He was both well meaning and accomplished, but he was the height of arrogance and that arrogance was his downfall." Drognan said. "The only one close to as famous is our own Cain here, for being the last of his kind." "For when Ba'al was captured he had shattered the soulstone meant to contain him, Tal Rasha offered to use a shard and himself as the vessel to keep Ba'al contained." Drognan informed Izuku

Cain withstood this cattiness with a stoicism that was outright inspirational. It was, thankfully, a short walk to the bonfire in the town square and Izuku had withdrawn his own personal journal in search of a question to lighten the tensions.

"What are the limitations of potions?" He asked. "Like mana and health potions in particular.

"Ah. Well if you have met Lysander, he can create lesser health potions that can restore heal many combat injuries." Said Drognan. "But they, and most healing magics, are most effective at repairing most any physical injury."

"And the brain is the most difficult of all." Said Cain. "As you found out with your concussion. They are also, understandably, not able to restore dismembered limbs, though they can aid in their reattachment."

"Assuming you can find a surgeon able to reattach them correctly." Said Drognan.
That sounding like a very big assumption.

"They are also useless against magical maladies, and most poisons. Though they can outlast the effects of poisons, or else heal their damage. If you drink enough, you can use them to outlast the poison in many cases." Finished Cain.

Izuku wrote this all down beneath his question brought about by the concussion.

"Are there potions able to do those things?" Izuku asked.

"Certainly." Said Cain. "Alchemists devise new potions all the time, some which have outstanding effects. I have seen one restore a woman's womb after it was cut out by a vile witch for some ritual or other. Never learned it's creator or of duplicates."

"Alchemists guard their recipes zealously, or even the fact that they have such miraculous recipes." Drognan added, giving Izuku a pointed look. "As all mages, and mages in training, should do as well."

The evening dragged along after that, with most of their discussion being about the history of the city which bored Izuku to tears. It wasn't until nighttime approached that Drognan got up to leave. He checked to make sure nobody was listening before leaning in to whisper only loud enough for Izuku and Cain to hear.

"The events you saw during our mission are far less common than you likely fear, but they are not unheard of. Pray you may never have to suffer such horrors again." He said, before standing back up. "Elzix gained his sanctuary in Lut Gohlein through identical services, so he may be somebody to talk to about these things if you need any more people to lean on in these trying times."

Cain smiled mischievously.

"You mean the gossip about Elzix having something on you or Lord Jerhyn are wholly fictional? I never thought I'd see the day where gossip from the uninitiated and ignorant could be wrong." Cain said jokingly.

Drognan laughed at that, and this time his laughter even seemed sincere. He waved a friendly goodbye and left.

Izuku looked to Cain expectantly, who looked back at him questioningly. He had his usual serene, patient expression on his face.

"You aren't going to ask me?" Izuku asked.

"You will come to your decision in your own time. And I will continue to teach you what I feel comfortable teaching you until then. I am in no rush, despite having less life left in me than you do, so why should I rush you?" Cain asked.

Izuku smiled despite himself at the kindness and understanding.

"If we had had a peaceful month up until now I might have expected an answer by now, even if it were a refusal. But so much has happened to you, all of it unfair and confusing in the extreme. And in some cases, in need of far more consideration and care." Cain continued. "I will expect an answer eventually, even my patience is not infinite, but know that there will be no consequences to you if you refuse."

Izuku nodded then, thinking better of his manners, bowed graciously.

"Excuse me, Cain, I must go see my mistress." Izuku said by way of goodbye.

---

The first thing Izuku saw upon returning to Elzix' was a beaten and bruised Myr. A black rage that boiled up in him was hot and ugly, and she saw it on his face as he approached.

The look of fear on her own face was enough to make him let go of said rage, along with all of the questions which flooded his mind at her condition. The split lip, black eye and cut on her cheek all made her look more like a young girl than she ever had before. Something about the vulnerability in her expression.

"Hold still." He ordered her.

She obeyed, despite her body language indicating that she was a split second away from bolting. Skittish and afraid, she remained still as he raised his hands to her face and channeled mana through them.

Righteousness? That came easy here. The utter uprightness of whoever did this to somebody so weak and hardworking as Myr, let alone a lady or, in this case, girl. The righteousness required no effort at all. Despite what Cain said as he channeled the spell.

Cain's warning proved hollow, because the spell worked. He created a new star between his hands, and held it to Myr's face.

The skin healed first, as it was the easiest. The muscle and fat beneath came after that. By then the star faded like the seventh sister, but ghosts of the wounds remained. Little divots in her skin, almost like dimples that were not quite scars, remained.

When it was all done, and the light had faded, Myr finally listened to her legs and ran away. She really could be skittish, couldn't she? She even forgot to thank him. Not that he minded.
She didn't actually go far, just around the corner to the showers. He could see her peeking out at him.

"Next time you see her, tell her I paid for her to have a room." Izuku loudly told Elzix. "And dinner, for her and us. If she would kindly bring them up."

Elzix nodded with a look of approval as he took Izuku's gold.

"I want you to know." Said Elzix, quietly. "And I'm not alone in this opinion, but with every further moment I am in your present I increasingly respect you as a man, not a boy. I'll send her up when she calms down."

Izuku nodded in thanks, then turned heel and walked up to his room.
There he waited and contemplated. He had cast a spell which made no sense. There was no rhyme or reason to it.

There was no stitching of skin involved in that spell, yet it had stitch skin. There was no fusing of muscle fibers or even understanding of the muscles and fatty tissues of the face, and yet it had fused them. Despite the connection to these subjective, esoteric feelings and perspectives he had to delve into in order to cast said spell, he had no understanding of it. And that scared him.

Fire he understood, at least as he had wielded it thus far. The oxidative process of fuel being burned thus producing heat and light. Ice he understood. Lack of heat and energy, the slowed motion and expansion of water. This was how he had used it thus far. It was clear now that the way he had done magic so far was wholly removed from the true nature of magic, and that it's true nature was far beyond his ability to understand. Possibly now, and forever.

What an unbelievable journey lay ahead of him. It was so exciting. And even more terrifying.

He could add a new thing to the list of things he missed from home. The simplicity of his place in the world, not only as a quirkless loser, but as a human being in a world that was mostly understood. A world of heroes and villains, science and technology, and civilized people. People who now regarded women as equal, especially with quirks existing, and where being enraged by violence against women was highly encouraged.

He missed his home so much. He wanted more than anything to be home where he could give his everything to those he loved there. He wanted to give his mother a hug. He wanted to give back to the society that had given him all of his hopes and dreams and studiously obtained knowledge. He wanted to, by the standards of Isendra and Cain, become the richest, most powerful man in the world. The one who helped protect most amount of people.

He craved the warmth of his mother, the innocence of childhood, when he was still blind to evil and to his own potential. He began to descend back into his memory castle, focusing on Isendra's instructions to contemplate the nature of things, and once again delved into true fire, but the day's events overtook it.

He sat straight up, breathing intentionally as Cain had taught him, and looked at his hands. He dived deeply into all he was feeling. Righteousness. Desire to give of himself. Candles lit, on a snowy day, to drive away the cold and darkness.

A spark erupted in his lands. White flames, cool to the touch and so small as to barely light a which. Righteousness upon evil. Kindness to the downtrodden. Self-sacrifice and charity to all. The warmth of a mother's embrace and compassion towards loved ones and strangers alike. They all flared into whatever this spell was, it began to grow into a flame like that of his mother's candle.

"Izuku?" A timid voice called out.

He clasped his hand into a fist and the flame was gone.
"Yes, Myr?" He asked as all of his feelings and focus fled from him to be replaced by confusion and disorientation.

"I brought you dinner." She said, peeking shyly around the door.

"Oh. Thank you. Please, bring it in." He invited her.

She did so, coming into his room and closing the door behind her. She was wearing a dress, or perhaps it was a nightgown? Either way, it looked wrong on her, and not just because it was clearly originally far too large for her and cut down to her size without the skill of a proper tailor. It hung off of her so loosely as to make him even more concerned over her thinness than he usually was.

"Um. You can leave it on the desk. Do you have my clean bed things?" He asked, trying and failing to hide his confusion at her appearance.

"Yes. I left it on your nightstand.

He turned to see that she had, in fact, left them there earlier.

"Okay. Thank you. That will be all." Izuku told her.

She tilted her head to the side questioningly.

"Are you sure?" She asked, shivering.

"Um.. yeah?" He said, no longer fighting his confusion. "Please go?"

She turned around and left. This time she did not close the door behind her.

Not understanding what just happened he got up, closed it himself, ate his dinner in quiet confusion and went to bed.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 24:

Actions have consequences​

---

Izuku woke up feeling much more refreshed.

He got out of bed and changed out of his All Might shirt, which fit him less and less with every day, into his dress clothes.

Before heading out he gave his pajamas a worried look. It would be wise to destroy the last proof of his otherworldly origins. With him growing out of his old clothes he had fewer excuses to keep them. But he feared that, when the day comes where he decides to burn it away, that his last ties to earth and Japan would be gone.

With every passing day this new world felt more real than his old one, and his old life felt more and more like a dream. A fiction he hallucinated.

He left his room, and with great effort completely ignored the door to his mistress' own room. She wished to be left alone, and so he would abide, and that required him to not even look at her door or else suffer worrying.

He descended to the main lobby of Elzix' place to the strangest sight.

Elzix was teaching Myr how to sweep and mop. And she was wearing yet another dress.

"Oh, hey Izuku. Meet my new daughter, Myr. She'll be working around here from now on." Elzix said as soon as Izuku walked by. "Showing her the many cleaning duties I get up to. We now offer laundering, all proceeds of which go to her."

Izuku nodded. It was an unexpected, but beautiful development. Myr remained focussed on the sweeping as if she didn't hear their conversation. Still curiosity was getting to him.

"Is there paperwork and fees you have to do to adopt here?"

"Oh yeah. I'm technically still waiting on Lord Jerhyn or Drognan to get back to me, but I have already begun the process." Elzix said. "Thank you for bringing us together."

"And the clothes?" Izuku asked.

"A young lady should dress like a young lady." Said Elzix. "But they're my wife's. My widow's. I had to cut her clothes up to fit the girl, but I'm keeping the cutoffs to reattach them as she grows into the outfits. It makes for good learning, no reason not to add tailoring and clothing repair to my list of skills. Or hers."

Yeah, you might want to hire a professional for that one Elzix.

"But I think I'll avoid modifying any more clothes in the near future. Leave most of my wife's things un-butchured until Myr grows into them."

Smart man. At least he was wise enough to recognize his own faults. Myr was still focusing on her task.

Izuku then excused himself and left, making a beeline towards the public house.

The good food he'd had yesterday hadn't reached his depressed mind to give him the pep in his step, but he hoped it would today. The friendly greetings and respectful nods of the Greiz's mercenary guards and workers as they entered by themselves was enough to lift him up, seeing the breakfast hall full again was just the cherry on top.

He found a free seat near the back and requested more vegetables and other breakfast items in addition to the standard meats

Before he could take his first bite two people joined him, and they were exactly who he was expecting to hear from today, though not this soon. Without so much as a "by your leave" Drognan and Fara took their seats and filled their plates and ate in silence.

Izuku didn't voice his confusion, but he also didn't try to keep it off of his face. He ate his meal with the new, quiet company until Drognan eventually decided his torture was over.

"How did you feel after casting the spell last night?" Drognan asked.

It took Izuku a moment to realize he meant the holy bolt and not whatever that flicker of white flame was, then paused to think on it. How had casting the spell made him feel.

"I didn't really feel anything of the spell." Izuku admitted. "A little angry I guess? But it was a steady, smooth anger. And it wasn't from the spell, but fuel for the spell."

"What was it that made you need to cast the spell in the first place?" Asked Fara.

"My hired servant." Izuku answered. I returned to Elzix to find her injured. Beaten. I wasn't skilled enough to heal all of her injuries in one go. So I had to cast it a few times."

Far frowned during his explanation.

"It is hazardous to cast such holy spells on underlings, especially ones of the opposite sex. Holy spells require your inner light as a qualifying component, and pull upon light magic for purification. This can have seldom spoken of consequences to those that are healed." Fara warned him. "Such magics can inspire feelings of safety, like a warm blanket on a cold night, the security of a kind parent or protection of a city guardsman."

Izuku found the term "warm blanket" particularly concerning because of its connection to his fire meditations. He had to wonder at how universal these abstract principles of magic were among people.

"When cast on others, this can create emotional confusion in them. It can create a mistaken sense of worship, obsession or even submission. All paladins, crusaders and members of the priestly orders are warned, repeatedly, to be aware of the potential misuse of holy magic by this means." Fara continued. "Many holy men found themselves the subject of unintentional cults by the villages they healed, who came to worship them. Some have done so intentionally, and all holy warriors, the militant ones and peaceful ones, are trained to identify such monsters. Do not become one, or I will end you."

Izuku had lost his appetite and pushed his plate away after she uttered the word "obsession" and by the end of her speech he was already feeling sick with worry for Myr and her off-putting behavior. The death threat at the end was wholly unnecessary. His own internal morals were enough to consider the side effects abhorrent.

"I think the death threat may have been unnecessary." Said Drognan. "Though I have to admit, I had hoped Cain would have broached this topic instead of leaving Fara and myself to teach you this aspect of Holy magic. I have to wonder what he is playing at to deliberately circumvent warning you of this potential misuse."

Izuku didn't have to wonder at all. It made perfect sense for Cain to deliberately leave details like that out.

He was trying to entice Izuku to become an apprentice of the Horadrim. Specifically in the mental and spiritual arts. Maybe he would even force the issue

But he may yet have to deal with Myr and the damage he might have done to her.

"You primarily practice elemental magic. Light or Holy magic is purely conceptual and works on different rules." Drognan interrupted his train of thought. "Higher elemental magics incorporate similar rules, but they are not the same."

"We have piled the young man with a sufficient amount of warning. I believe we should give him time to chew on all of this information.Said Drognan "Among other things he is dealing with."

Izuku shared a glance with Drognan. Yeah, they were both still recovering even if they were doing better than before.

"I'll have more questions about Holy magic later. But thank you both. I needed to hear all of that." Izuku excused himself.

Breathing rapidly he desired to get away. Exiting the public house he took a stroll, with no intention of stopping. He walked to the pier. He walked to the city walls then outside and around to the main city gates, where he was let back in. He walked through the shopping district. The only place he didn't walk to was Elzix's place, wanting to leave the trouble waiting there for later, possibly never.

He walked in a daze. In fact, he didn't think about anything, save maybe the soreness of his feet from walking so much after four days of being sedentary.

He eventually turned the corner to his normal choice of dining place, and seeing that it was finally getting dark, he returned to Atma's public house. As he did so he noticed Strom and Cassia, arm in arm, coming down the street from the opposite direction.

Crazy how people makeup so fast?

Ignoring them, he approached the front door and was immediately drawn to the notice board beside it.

The town bounty board. There were many listing many many monster people selling some rare items or minor jobs. One Monster bounty caught his eye; this might be what he needed to let loose all of these uncontrollable and indecipherable feelings of late. Or just a fight in general.

Only this one was inside of the city, and its content seemed to be pointedly designed for him in particular.

Radament the Limb Thieving Mummy

Location: The ancient, abandoned sewers beneath Lut Gholein

Wanted for: The slaying of Atma's son and husband, and many city guardsmen.

The bounty was listed in two parts. One by Atma, one by Jerhyn himself. Which made sense, as it sounded dangerous.

Izuku heard a low whistle from behind him, and turned around to see Strong and Cassia, still arm in arm, had snuck up on him.

"That is a sizable bounty." Strom said. "But it's a job I wouldn't recommend anybody take alone, not even one as formidable as you, young Midoriya."

"Would you accept our company on this mission? It is clear in the look you gave it that you are determined to take it on." Cassia said, much more kindly than he had ever heard her speak before.

Izuku nodded in acceptance without hesitation. Going off alone was something he had sworn to Isendra that he wouldn't do. A three man team with these two, both of whom he respected and one of whom he particularly liked, was far superior numerically to his usual two man group with his mistress. Even she would admit that.

"It just seems like something important, a potential danger to the town and the only thing close enough for me to let my frustrations out." Izuku confided in them.

Cassia barked out in laughter.

"On the latter, young man, we are agreed. The night time brawls aren't doing it for me." Cassia told him. "The sailors don't have it in them to hit a lady as hard as I desire. What part of my appearance makes them think I'm some prissy noble, I'll never know."

This time Izuku snorted at her self-deprecating humor. Not to mention Strom's raised, suggestive eyebrow when she used the word "brawl", as if to suggest he knew a different way she'd been relieving stress.

"First thing in the morning?" Izuku offered.

"Ehhh, let's wait until the second bell." Strom told him. "I know most people don't like to do much fighting on a full stomach, but I need a proper breakfast first, and I need it to settle."

Izuku could not fathom eating before a battle, or even the night before in anticipation of such. In fact, all desire for Atma's cooking had already vanished.

"Dear, you know we are going into a sewer, yes?" Cassia warned Strom.

"Which I am positive will smell like freshly washed and aired linen in comparison to the swamps of my homeland. It shall not make me regret breakfast." Strom boasted.

Somehow, Izuku believed him.

"Shall we split the reward three ways?" Izuku offered.

"Four." Said Cassia. "Your mistress is entitled to one half of all income you bring in, don't you know."

That gave Izuku pause. He went over the words of his contract with Isendra and knew no such clause existed.

"There was no such clause in my apprenticeship contract." Izuku corrected.

"Contracts do not usually restate the law of the land, nor can they contradict them. All apprenticeships, regardless of contractual wording, are beholden to certain regulations. They cannot have clauses that go against them and prospective apprentices are expected to know them." Cassia told him, more patiently than she normally would have.

Izuku understood exactly what she meant. That made sense. In the modern world no contract, no matter how well written, understood or agreed to, superseded the law. Couldn't write a contract agreeing to being a slave, or agreeing to be murdered. Or agreeing to work a job that didn't follow safety regulations.

"Alright. Four ways between the three of us, plus Isendra." Izuku said.

They shook on it and parted ways.

It was dark out and Izuku's legs were killing him. He wanted to be well and truly recovered by the next day so he went straight back to Elzix's.

He made it up to his room without incident and changed into his pajamas. He was out for the night as soon as he wrapped himself in the covers.

---

He must have been more exhausted physically and mentally than he thought, because when he woke up the next day it was to discover he was not alone in bed.

Myr had sneaked in sometime during the night and crawled in beside him. She was thankfully clothed in that far too large nightgown, but the infringement on his privacy and boundaries was still unwelcome in the extreme.

Thankfully she wasn't wrapped around him like Alexis had been, so he was able to crawl out of the covers without disturbing her pretty easily. She remained asleep as he changed into his proper armor, both sets, and even as he exited the room, closing the door behind him.

The awkwardness of telling her off was something he really wanted somebody else to do. So he penned a quick note to Isendra.

Dear Mistress.

I casted the holy bolt spell several times to heal Myr and now she seems not only obsessed with me but is really crossing boundaries that I worry about. She sneaked into my room and my bed while I was asleep.

Please help?

After sliding the note under his mistress' door he headed out.

It was a short walk to the palace where he asked a pair of guards where the entrance to the sewers were. It was probably something he should have asked the night before, but only the first bell had rung so far so he ought to have time to make it there before the second one went.

Once he was informed to head down to the pier and down to the stone causeway beneath the pier, he walked the long distance to sea and spotted the entrance readily enough by who was gathered around it.

Strom and Cassia had beaten him there, and were conversing with a quartet of Greiz's men. Izuku recognized one of them as having been in his group of riders on the trip to… the place they weren't allowed to talk about.

"But we do have permission." Said Strom. "Lord Jeryhn himself said we get priority for any work we want, that includes bounties."

"That's what the last pair said, and they still haven't come back." Said the mercenary.

"Last pair?" Cassia asked.

"A skinny, scarred man and the burliest woman I've ever met in my life." Said the mercenary.

"Quetz and Aden have already gone inside?" Izuku asked.

They all looked up to him as he announced his arrival.

"If they haven't come back that's even more reason for us to go in. They are strong and valuable to the defense of Lut Gholein." Cassie told them. "When did they go in?"

"Last night." Said the guard.

"Then they are likely in trouble. Let us in immediately." Said Strom. "Or face Lord Jerhyn, Drognan and Your Mercenary captains' wroth."

The guards wisely stepped aside and pulled the locks on the door, which held the bars blocking it in place. It swung open and the smell was immediate.

Strom didn't so much as flinch at it. Everybody else did.

"We will be locking the entrance behind you and let this be on your head." The guard warned them.

They all nodded in understanding and marched forth into the darkness and filth. The darkness grew as the door slammed shut behind them and the bars were put back in place.

All was black. Izuku raised his hands and cast a simple light spell, foregoing fire out of fear of methane or other flammable gasses.

"Stick close together. Midoriya, you stay between us, your light leading our way." Cassie ordered. "I will stay near the front, where I can keep dangers at bay with my trident while you elementalists throw your fire and lightning from back there."

Izuku didn't know who put her in charge, but he assented to her battle plan.

"Please do not use fire down here. It is more likely to kill us." Izuku told them.

Cassia and Strom both raised eyebrows at him, but refrained from asking him what he meant. They seemed to trust him enough to accept his judgment and abide by it.

Into the sewers they walked, long out of view by grime and slime from sea water and the filth. The long tunnel was broken up by many a turn, with jagged hallway after jagged hallway. The only decoration on the walls being human filth and ocean life.

The passage eventually opened up into a large, circular antechamber.

Human skeletons littered the ground, each charred like overdone barbecue ribs. Holes in the wall like those of a morgue pockmarked the walls.

"You bury your dead in your sewer?" Izuku asked, disgusted by

"No. The sewers just happen to connect with the ancient catacombs of the Vizjerei." Said Cassia. "The sewers make up the top layer and runoff does not flow into the ancient burial areas, but instead through the outer walls to a compost area, where they produce mint."

"Why mint?" Strom asked.

"The Vizjerei discovered that it purifies human waste, preventing dysentery." Cassie told them. "And turned the waste into potable soil quickly. They are very thirsty plants."

Izuku mentally translated that to "mint kills E. Coli" and moved on.

"How many layers deep are the catacombs?" Izuku asked.

"Three from what I was able to gather." Said Cassia.

"With this being the first?" Strom clarified.

"Indeed. Two more to go." Said Cassia.

"Then let us find the stairs." Said Strom.

The stairs were not difficult to find. They were just at the end of the opposite hallway, which was much shorter and cleaner for it was raised in comparison to the chamber they just left which itself was raised above the sewage tunnels.

Breathing dry air would have been novel were it not for the scent of rotten bone and ash that wafted up the stairs to them. It was a marked improvement over the sewage and sealife, but not by much.

"Wait." Strom said suddenly. "Get back."

Izuku didn't see or hear anything, but a moment later he sure did feel it.

There was a rumbling from below. A cave in? No. An explosion.

"Behind me!" Izuku ordered.

He reached out just as the stairwell filled with red light and he filled the entrance to the stairs with a single, solid wall of ice, as thick as he could manage. It did not turn out to be thick enough, as it did shatter from the force of the blast and knock them all on their backs, but the heat and force wasn't enough to harm them. Save maybe their eardrums.

The steam from the vaporized ice wasn't so hot as to scald them and the water from what melted cleaned their feet and the hallways floor. The trio splashed around as they stood back up, reaching out for one another to steady themselves and each other.

"What in the world could that have been?" Cassia asked as the thick steam vanished and the warm glow beyond the stairwell faded.

Izuku had an inkling, but didn't share it. Instead he took point and was the first to descend the stairs, an ice blast on the tip of his staff as he did so.

As was par for the course for delving into the deep places of the Sanctuary, they were immediately confronted by undead of several sorts. Said undead were burned to a crisp by the fiery explosion that just ripped through these tunnels, but they lumbered towards Izuku and his companions all the same.

Izuku couldn't quite tell what they were, so bad was their burning, but he delivered ice bolts to their center mass all the same. They went down easy, mostly because they were already slowed down from being melted in place and damaged to the point of being brittle. But supercooling something that had already been super-heated had similar destructive effects to the reverse and so they fell before him.

Strom and Cassia cleaned up behind him, stomping on or spearing any of the half destroyed, but still wriggling, skeletons and other things he didn't recognize in their current state.

They finally examined their surroundings and found themselves in a similar tunnel to the ones above. A few meters in front of them it forked into three directions.

"I think we should go this way." Strom said, indicating the leftward passage.

"Why?" Asked cassia.

"The burn marks are more severe on the ceiling and walls of this tunnel. So the explosion likely originated down there." Strom explained.

Izuku compared the hallways and confirmed Strom's observation. The blast had come from that direction, and he was certain said blast must have been by Quetz or Aden. And that if they had survived it, it wouldn't be for long.

"You lead. We'll follow." Said Cassia to Strom.

He did not lead them far, for in less than a minute they entered another chamber like the one upstairs. Like that one it was filled to the brim with the charred and shattered remains of undead. Along with two charred but alive human beings.

"Oh, thank every god there is." Said Quetz coughing as they entered.

Izuku, Strom and Cassia rushed towards their collapsed forms. Upon reaching them they all cringed at the damage to their bodies. They were as charred as their enemies where their skin had not been protected by their armor. Armor that now melted to their skin.

"We need help." groaned Aden.

Izuku nodded. And indeed, the charred and cracked skin of their burns were already peeling off of their hands and forearms.

It was a miracle that they were still alive at all.

"Free advice, don't use any fire based magics or enchantments. There are fumes down here that will catch and explode. Hence our current predicament." Aden added before passing out.

Strom and Cassia looked at Izuku approvingly, his reasoning for making the same warning earlier now clear as day to them.

"I can aid them." Said Izuku. "I recently learned how to cast the holy bolt spell. It can heal people just as well as it can destroy undead. But there is a risk."

"If you're about to give us the usual spiel about them getting all doe-eyed over you after hitting them with holy magic, save it." Said Strom. "They will deal with the consequences, if they survive."

Izuku approached them and began to cast it all the same.

This time he circumvented righteous fury in favor of trying to reinterpret righteousness in a way more suited to these two. He not only cared for these two people, but respected them. And so, he focused on their righteous actions. How they had answered Lord Jerhyn's call to wipe out the infection, how they had lent wisdom and friendship to him in the aftermath of such, and most importantly, how they deserved to continue on and how much they were needed.

It was a far more successful holy bolt than the night before, though he didn't have x-ray vision with which to see any internal damage being undone in Aden's skull and neck. The size and brightness was such that it had to have been a more proper casting. And so, he then cast it again and again and once more for good measure.

This took him well over ten minutes, as he had to ground himself emotionally and envelop himself in the concepts of the spell each time, but the work was well worth it. The scabrous coating of charcoal on his skin in places peeled off completely and the rigid, pained expression became more relaxed.

Strom and Cassia stood guard at either side of Izuku's patients, but none of the defeated that lay around so much as twitched and no new foes entered their chamber.

Feeling sufficiently secure, he repeated the entire process on Quetz, who he had put off for looking less battered than her smaller, male companion. She was a rather sturdy woman, so he doubted hitting that wall did much to her, but he was just as thorough in his castings as with Aden. Four whole castings, these ones slightly faster than his earlier ones.

"I'm still not comfortable moving them." Warned Strom. "But we need to get them back to town for Drognan or Fara to work on them."

Izuku considered their options. Even if they had a stretcher handy, carrying them out the way they came would take too long and risk further injuries for the pair.

"Time to try out the town portal spell." Izuku declared.

"You can cast the town portal spell?!" Cassia demanded. "Those Scrolls have been so rare these last months that I worried I'd wear my legs to stubs from all the walking to and fro by the end of this seige."

"It is a very intensive spell and very new to me." Izuku warned. "But Isendra and I did the prep work of tying it to the town square."

"That's true for most casters. Don't compare yourself to Drognan. He's a freak of nature to portal people back from a two week's distance." Strom consoled him. "Now, let's see that pretty blue portal of yours.

Izuku obliged.

He walked a few paces until he neared the center of the chamber and put his hands out.

Feelings of home, of the safety of protective walls and guards standing over, of food available and beds made. He filled his heart with these things and pushed his hands and mana out.

He saw the bright blue light even through his eyelids, and knew he'd succeeded even before opening his eyes.

"Alright. I'm getting Aden first." Said Strom.

Cassia took a defensive stance next to the portal. Izuku didn't bother telling her that no enemy could go into the portal or come out of it, for it was keyed to Izuku and those who were friendly to him.

Strom managed to lift the thin man with ease and did so without twisting or moving any limbs or joints. Carrying him in that sitting position the two walked through the portal and Izuku followed.

---

It was like walking through an open door that you could not see the other side to. There was no change in pressure, or feeling of movement, or of being crushed through a wormhole. Just continuity from one place to another. The only jarring thing about the experience was the sudden change in brightness and temperature as they appeared on the warm, sunny ground of Lut Gholein.

They were just outside of the busy town square. Drognan was there, looking at them as they appeared. He probably felt the portal as soon as it was cast and came running.

"Fara can take him. She and I can help him from there." Drognan said after a quick glance at Aden. "What of Quetz?"

"I'll be bringing her through next." Said Strom and the three of them made their way into the town square proper.

People got out of their way as they went and Fara saw them coming. She swept an arm over her table of goods, sending everything to the ground.

"He needs to stay in this position until you determine he does not have a spine injury. The same will be true for Quetz." Strom told her.

She nodded and slid the table to the stone wall beside her cabin.

"What precautions have you already taken?" Fara asked, looking pointedly at Izuku.

"They have likely consumed and poured healing potions on themselves, and I cast four holy bolts on him." Izuku explained. "A similar amount is true for Quetz."

She nodded and then frowned at the mention of the spell used but began examining Aden.

He didn't have time to stay and watch, or to learn, because Strom tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for them to go back. They did, returning less than a minute later with who seemed to be incoherent as they brought her back to town.

When they returned to Fara's place it was to find Lysander had set up two cots and was examining Aden, who was resting on one of them. Good, his back and spine were fine then.

"We should be fine here." Said Drognan. "Based on what Aden managed to inform us, Radamant has been softened up for you. I am confident that you three can finish the job. Go do so now."

Izuku and Strom bowed and hurried back to the portal, neither comfortable leaving Cassia by herself. They arrived to find her unharmed and unbothered. Izuku willed the portal to close.

"That spell took out more from me than I thought it would." Izuku said.

"That you can even cast it is impressive. But we should leave the praise to your mistress for when you see her next. For now, shall we end this evil?" Cassia invited.

They all agreed and turned away from the hall they entered the chamber through, considering the only other hall connecting to it. Izuku wished they could have asked Aden and Quetz for directions before leaving them, but they should be able to manage just fine all the same.

---

This story was Cowritten/Beta'd by NonsensicalRants You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

Prices:

$25 per 1000 words, with some wiggle room.
$25 per 500 words for Adult material or for original fiction/nonfiction, meaning anything that is not fanfiction.
Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 25:

A deluge of undeath​

---

Cassia took point, her spear directed at any potential threats in the darkness enveloping them. Strom and Izuku kept close to her, at the ready to annihilate anything that might threaten her.

It wasn't long before they encountered one of those things. Mummies, which he should have expected to see in the underground burial chambers of an ancient desert tribe, came as a bit of a surprise to him. Five of the ancient undead meandered around the chamber they entered, but none took notice of them. They just wandered about, leaking dust and sand from their creaking joints as they moved.

"Izuku, if you would be so kind." Cassia invited as she backed away.

Izuku stepped forward and slung five, well-aimed, ice bolts at their legs, thoroughly kneecapping them. With the support of their lower bodies gone their frail bodies crashed to the ground and shattered like pottery. A plume of dust and a green vapor erupted from those shattered remains and they all stepped back, covering their mouths.

"So do you reckon the Vizjerei booby trapped their dead before burial, or Radamant did so after reanimating them?" Strom asked.

It was a good question. Honestly? It could be either. Maybe both? If Radamant, the resurrected Horodric mage, was willing to violate his dead brothers now what's to say he and others of his kind wouldn't have done so in life?

"Anyways, those ones need to be fought at a distance." Strom said the obvious as the poisonous plumes faded away like cooling steam.

They continued on, with Izuku remaining at the rear with ice spells at the ready. As they wandered through the maze of passages they dodged sewage seeping down from the ceiling, rat nests the size of elephants and a whole lot of reanimated skeletons.

Each was crimson like dried blood, and Izuku nearly had a heart attack when the first one launched a flaming arrow much like the sister rogues could hurl. Fortunately, no gas explosion resulted and the trio cut them down quickly, but after that Izuku kept the ice nova and ice wall spells at the ready.

"Actually, are you guys okay with me casting ice armor on you?" Izuku asked. "In case there's another explosion and I can't get an ice wall up in time?"

"That is a splendid idea. Please, do." Said Cassia as Strom nodded vigorously.

He raked his hands over their bodies, meticulously coating them in a thick layer of ice and being careful to leave their joints unaffected. It added a few minutes to their mission but if it saved their lives it would be worth every second. He finally did the same to himself and they continued on.

They came upon a large staircase similar to the one that brought them down from the sewers and knew it would lead to the third and final floor of this place. Radamant would be there. Unfortunately, said staircase was barricaded with rubble leaving nothing but the ceiling visible.

"Aden and Quetz must have sealed the way behind them to keep the upper levels and Lut Gholein safe until another team could go down." Cassia said.

Brave they may not have been for fleeing their battle with Radamant when things got too dangerous, but dumb or lazy they certainly were not. Their recognizing their own inability to finish the job not only saved their own lives, but may very well have already saved many more and certainly made their jobs easier.

"What do you think? Can we get away with blasting it all open?" Strom asked.

Izuku considered it.

"Well, I could preemptively surround us in an ice wall and then we can try to firebolt and fissure it all into nothing. But if there is an explosion it might still injure or kill us, or worse, cause a cave in and trap us." Izuku reasoned.

Strom sighed.

"Yeah. I didn't think it would be worth the risk either, but I wanted a second opinion. Alright. Time to put these arms of mine to good use. You two keep me safe." Strom said.

He went to the blockade and put those arms of his to good use. He dragged the solid boulders, pieces of shattered columns and coffins around like a child moving furniture in a living room. He struggled, he grunted, and he even broke a sweat despite the inherent chill the ice armor Izuku had given him but he got it done all the same.

He finally revealed the staircase down to find the ceiling had been deliberately caved in, so as to form a solid mass of stone and brick. Even Strom wasn't dragging that around. So instead of trying, he drew what looked to Izuku like Mjolnir itself, so grand was the hammer, and he got to work smashing the last barrier blocking the stairwell.

One strike turned to two strikes turned to ten. All the while he worked, Cassia stared at him appreciatively, even fanning herself off flirtatiously as if the man could see her. Was there a point to flirting if the person you're flirting with can't see or hear you doing it to them? Was there some enjoyment in one-sided flirting for the flirter? People are weird.

The stone finally gave way to the might of Strom's obviously enchanted hammer cracking it in twain. He lifted it for a final strike, only for the stone to shift, and shift towards him. He backed away quickly in order to avoid being crushed by the tonnes of stone, only to then raise his weapon again as a flood of the crimson red skeletons from before spewed forth from the now clear stairwell.

Izuku lunged towards Strom and released an ice nova, taking extra precaution not to harm or slow down his retreating ally. The skeletons, each of whom seemed to be carrying duel firebolts in their hands, were frozen in place and their fire spells extinguished as Strom scrambled to the side of one of the boulders he had dragged away earlier.

Cassia had run forward to be next to him and together they laid waste to the dozen or so skeletons that had been frozen in place. They tore through the enemies like fragile icicles with both hammer and trident, but dozens more replaced them. And so the horde bashed against them like waves upon a cliff.

Izuku began his drinking game. Cast a few ice nova, take a swig of the watered down mana potion, and repeat. He should have had a shot glass ready. It was so routine, but the horde seemed endless. The stairway was soon blocked again, this time by the pile of bone meal and splinters that remained of their enemies, yet more pushed through. Like moles pushing up dirt, they exploded forth again.

They had laid to waste at least a few hundred by now, if not more, and it was clear to Izuku that Radament wasn't the one to defeat Aden and Greiz, it was the numbers. But Izuku, Strom and Cassia had an advantage that those two had not. Aside from being a three man team, they had the entirety of the enemy forces funneled into a stairwell to annihilate, instead of fighting them in chunks while running around the maze of sewers and catacombs. Three vs hundreds, like the three hundred Spartans versus the thousands of Persians under Xerxes.

Remembering how the western world's Thermopylae had ended, he took the chance to reinforce the barrier with an ice wall along with the side passage ways. This would prevent anything from sneaking around through passages unknown and pincer attacking them.

The battle of attrition had slogged along with each minute feeling like an hour, and they had to retreat not for their own safety, but just to let the enemy have enough space to filter in through the mound of defeated enemies. By the end, their backs were to wall further back and they were left panting and exhausted, but uninjured.

"I grow more Impressed with Aden and Quetz the deeper we go." Strom said between panting breaths.

Izuku and Cassia nodded in complete agreement.

They waded through the mountain of the dead forcibly put back to rest and swam through the powdered remains clogging up the stairwell into the deepest layer of the catacomb sewers. From there, they met no resistance other than some more mummies wandering aimlessly.

Aden and Quetz had kicked the hornets nest, as it were, and drawn all of the enemies they would have faced to the stairwell. Now all that was left was to find Radamant, but all they found was dead ends, living spheres of ooze and rats nests, with the occasional mummy to put out of its misery.

Then he saw something, something quick and very much alive, out of the corner of his eye.

"Wait!" Izuku called out to his companions.

They stopped and looked at him, following his line of sight around a corner in the opposite direction to where they were headed.

"What?" Said Strom.

"Something is there." Izuku said.

And he advanced towards it, under low hanging columns that they wouldn't have made much notice of, but which he saw a new passage. He was able to enter by only lowering his head, but Strom and Cassia had to crawl through.

He recast his light spell to find the small room empty, save for a dead body beside a passage entrance opposite the columns.

Cassia and Strom advanced on the corpse to examine it while Izuku looked suspiciously around the room. He reached out with his mana, in the same way he had used in the past to repurpose other peoples spells to fuel his own, and was left confused.

He couldn't feel any magic in the area, per se, but where he thought he had seen somebody out of the corner of his eye he felt something. Not the mana of a spell being cast recently but the whisper of it, a strange absence as if a spell MIGHT have been cast recently, which was such a strange and new phenomena to him.

"Strom, Cassia." Izuku said.

"Yes?" They said at once.

"Is it possible to cast a spell in such a way as to not release mana, that way it can't be detected afterwards?" He asked.

Their heads both snapped up in fright at his words.

"There are those who specialize in assassinating mages and they learn to do exactly that." Said Strom.

"It takes decades of practice to do so, but yes. Mage assassins specialize in doing exactly that." Cassia said. "If you are feeling what I think you're feeling, my condolences to your mistress for having such a talented apprentice, but also we should tread carefully if not outright retreat. If a Mage Hunter is down here then they may be hunting Radamant as well. Or worse, us, and we would lose such a battle."

"I think that we are still alive should be evidence enough that we are not the target." Strom said.

Were these guys really that deadly?

"Well. Maybe that guy was their target?" Izuku asked.

"No. This corpse is over a week old." Said Cassia. "And if you are feeling even a hint of a masked spell, then we would have missed the caster by moments, minutes at most. Do you still feel it now?"

Izuku reached out again and, sure enough, the feeling was gone.

"No." He said.

"Then we should advance on to find Radamant. We have scoured the rest of this maze, knowing our luck, you were just short enough to spot or feel this area and it leads right to him." Strom said.

Knowing their luck, he was probably right. The dead body was also a good sign, as terrible as that was to say.

The tunnel converged into a tight crawlspace that let out into a torture chamber. Bodies of men, and men alone, were strewn about on stretchers where they had been hacked to pieces and skinned. The location of their missing limbs and body parts was self-evident, as they all formed a single mass in a vaguely humanoid shape.

Radamant the Fallen had fashioned for himself a new Frankenstein's monster of a body from the still living body parts of his victims, and it was falling apart. He groaned and weeped with every step and tears fell from his eyes constantly.

He had yet to notice them enter and he was desperately trying to sew the muscles of his thigh, or somebody's thigh, back together with shaking, mummified hands.

There were other undead in the room, already defeated and destroyed possibly by the fallen mages' own hands. Radamant was alone. Radamant was broken. Radamant was pitiful. They took pity on him.

Already wounded and spiritually defeated by his abysmal state of undeath, the fireball which engulfed him elicited more screaming and crying, while Strom's Maul and Cassia's trident broke him as easily as any other mummies. He was finished with moments, as Izuku froze him solid while the other two rained blows down on him. Cassia shattered his skull with her spear, and Strom shattered his torso. It was done.

They just stood there after that, staring at the monster, the pathetic monster.

"Was he the victim of… something?" Izuku asked.

"Yes." Strom and Cassia said at once.

"What?" Izuku asked.

"That's what we need to find out." Said Cassia. "But that weeping was not over physical pain. I've seen men cry like that, but only from disgust and horror at things they were made to do. I would stake my reputation in saying he was not willingly committing these acts, or entirely in control of his actions."

Izuku nodded, and glanced around the room. Then he sighed.

There were so many bodies, and surely one of them was Atma's husband, and another her son. He did not look forward to collecting the bodies and bringing them home.

"Open a town portal, we are leaving." Said Strom. "We have done our job, others will come and recover the dead and valuables. Let us go."

Izuku was confused at the strange order, as he wasn't above such work and had done it before, but he obeyed.

He withdrew Blood Raven's grimoire and found the page for the town portal spell. He passed his fingers over the runes as if they were braille, and focused on the emotions and sensations which fueled the transportation magic. It took just as long as the last time, but the blueish-white oval appeared.

Strom and Cassia walked through and Izuku stepped forward to do the same, only to wheel around.

There was nobody there… but there was. He was certain of it. The feeling of curious eyes drilling into the back of his head was unmistakable.

He recalled Cassia and Strom's warning of Mage hunters and backed away through the portal as quickly as he could. He closed it behind him, not wanting the potential – and possibly fictional – enemy from following him through. Only afterwards did he remember that only those who are friendly to the caster can pass through a town portal.

Strom and Cassia were cleaning themselves off in a basin set aside with a sign specifically designated for washing fish guts and blood off before going back in town. It seemed like the right thing to use after battling through sewers and catacombs of undead, so he joined them.

He was tempted to share the feeling he'd had before coming through the portal, but he knew it was more paranoia and was stupid of him to wait behind at all. They were already aware of the mage capable of hiding their magic, whoever it was.

"We shall go to the palace and debrief with Jerhyn first, and leave informing others to him." Said Strom as they finished up.

Izuku nodded and they were off. They received a few looks as even after that short wash they looked like they were fresh from battle, but nobody stared at or interrupted them.

They reached the palace and the guards, clearly recognizing them, rushed them through. They were led to the gardens and Jerhyn was waiting there, with Aden and Quetz sitting on cushioned chairs and being tended to by Fara and Drognan.

They all acknowledged the three newcomers as they entered, though Aden and Quetz remained seated. Jerhyn motioned for them to speak.

"Radamant the Fallen is no more." Said Strom.

The entire room breathed a sigh of relief.

"We left the bodies and all the treasures there." Strom added.

"That is fine. You have all done enough. I will send a cleanup crew to recover the dead and eliminate anything you may have missed." Jerhyn said. "Any treasure they find is to be split between you five, in accordance with your negotiations with one another. I trust you all to fairly divvy it all amongst yourselves."

They bowed in gratitude to his confidence.

"Do you have any pertinent details you would like to share?" Asked Drognan.

For some reason, Cassia and Strom turned to him to answer that one. Okay.

"Radamant was broken. Spiritually, I mean. He wept in horror at his own actions and seemed to be trying to rebuild himself using the pieces of his victims, but was failing." Izuku explained. "I think, and my companions agree, that Radamant was not in control of his actions nor willfully malicious."

"Hmm. Then we must ask ourselves, who was?" Said Drognan. "The mystery of the horrors facing the world grow evermore. As does our need for Cain's wisdom and guidance, which he seems so reticent to share."

"With respect, sir, based on the destruction these horrors have wrought, his reticence may be more for our safety than to satisfy his stubbornness." Izuku said out of turn.

Drognan raised his eyebrows at Izuku, clearly shocked that he'd lip off to an elder at all, let alone risk doing so in such a setting. He still nodded, slowly then quickly, at his reasoning.

"Perhaps you are correct. Yes. The knowledge he has which could help us combat this evil can also be used to recreate or reinforce this evil." Drognan reasoned. "We have to trust in him to instruct us, if not reveal everything to us."

"That is an inordinate amount of trust to ask from anybody, and even with his reputation and status I struggle to place such in him." Said Jerhyn. "But for now, we will abide. For now, you are all welcome to remain here to bathe and eat."

Everybody bowed, but Cassia and Strom refused.

"Izuku, stay here and take up his offer. We have an errand to run." Strom told him.

Izuku shrugged. He had been planning to do so anyways, if for no other reason than to avoid any chance of meeting Myr in the bath. And so, he let the nearby harem girl lead him underground to the royal baths, before promptly shooing her away, annoyed at her giggling and insistence on aiding him.

---

Cassia entered Elzix's inn with Strom close behind her, and like the last time she entered the owner descended upon her with the rage of a mother hen.

"What did I say last time you were here?" Elzix demanded.

She raised her hands in a calming motion.

"I am here on peaceful business with Isendra, with concern for her apprentice that she needs to hear. Strom will keep me in line, although this once I think I may not need it." Cassia consoled.

Elzix glared between the two of them. Then he glared at them some more.

"If I hear so much as a raised voice, you're out." He relented.

Cassia bowed and thanked him.

She and Strom walked across the entrance hall and dining room to the thin hallway that connected to the baths on the right and a cramped staircase on the left. Ascending the latter they had to contort themselves to dodge a small shape rushing past them.

It looked to be a small girl, or possibly a cross-dressing boy, in a far too large dress. She had the distinct shape of a hand print emblazoned on her cheek. Cherry red, like it had been planted there recently.

They ignored this smidgeon of drama and entered the upstairs hallway to find one of the bedroom doors opened. Walking back inside was the object of their ire.

"Isendra." Cassia said.

The bedraggled and night-gowned woman turned to look at who called her and her expression became instantly dour and bored.

Cassia once again raised her hands in peace.

"We have news of your apprentice that we need to discuss." Cassia said. "Strom will do most of the talking."

Isendra sighed but motioned for them to enter her room. They did so, making sure to stand away from her bed and clothing, as well as the rugs, so as not to stink up her living quarters with their smell of filth and battle.

Isendra closed the door behind them and entered, before sniffing and going to open the windows. Cassia did not take offense.

"What has he done to impress everybody now?" Isendra asked.

They both snorted at the borderline hubris of her statement, but Cassia recognized that such hubris was valid. Damned, if that boy wasn't scary.

"A lot, actually, but we came here with concerns." Strom said.

"That he is more at peace in war than when at peace?" Isendra said. "And I'm assuming you took him down to fight Radamant and that said Horodric mummy is gone?"

Wow. Correct on both accounts.

"You are aware of this issue?" Cassia asked.

"I am." Said Isendra.

"And what are you doing about it?" Cassia pressed.

"Everything I can. So far the only thing that works is to feed his mind, or else numb it with work." Isendra told them. "The only time he is happy is when he is learning a new thing, or else tinkering with knowledge. Tearing it apart and putting it back together. I give him as much of it as possible and it keeps him preoccupied. Manual labor also puts him at ease, or else regular martial training."

"Do you have enough of any of those things to keep him occupied for long?" Strom asked.

"Not by myself. But between Cain taking him aside for history, geography, politics and religious study and the wide open world of jobs he can work, especially in a port city with ships in need of sailors, I hope to keep him preoccupied until he naturally matures and heals spiritually from time." Isendra explained.

Ah. She was hoping to let time heal all wounds, and to keep him numb while it does the job. That did seem like a viable strategy, possibly the only one available especially as it ties him to the locale.

If times were different she would demand she end the apprenticeship and leave the boy to an adoptive family, or revamp his apprenticeship to a more academic one. But the needs of the world were such that any warrior, let alone mage, had to be put to the horrible task of fighting these horrors. When said mage was as obviously a prodigy as Izuku Midoriya it would be inexcusable to excuse him from these duties, no matter how much he clearly needed such exemptions.

"It sounds like you need help in this." Said Strom. "I can certainly handle the labor angle. If he ever gets even the slightest bit mopey, send him to me, I'll have him out to do hard work and be beside him for it."

Cassia nodded with stroms words.

"I can help him with any and all weapons training too, save those Strom is more suited to wield. Until such time as our paths split, this is a noble thing to keep us occupied as well." Cassia offered.

"You make it sound like such a task is more healing for us than it is for him." Isendra accused.

"It could be. Children can do that to even the most traumatized warrior." Said Strom. "In fact… I can think of a few people who deserve to be roped in on this. Both as punishment, and as reward."

Isendra raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I would be delighted to hear such suggestions… Just as soon as you both get a bath and change of clothes." Isendra agreed.

---

This story was Cowritten/Beta'd by NonsensicalRants You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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Prices subject to change in the future. Check with him.

 

[Magikuser]

Chapter 26:


The calm​

---

Izuku arrived at the palace bright and early the next morning where he was led to a back room. There, Aden, Quetz, Drognan, Strom, Cassia and Jerhyn were waiting for him beside a table laden with a whole lot of stuff.

Stuff was the best word to describe the assortment of objects there, because as usual, the pillaging of chaos-infested places yielded a restocked armory of everything. Weapons, armor, jewelry, lots of potions, lots of arrows, and much more.

"I do appreciate how everybody always arrives earlier than the appointed time for these things." Jerhyn said. "For once, you aren't the earliest of the early. But now that you are here, we can negotiate the wholesale of your conquest."

Izuku bowed and approached the table.

"I suggest we each pick one or two things suited to us, and sell off the entirety of the remainder, especially the potions, to Lord Jerhyn for the city's use." Strom suggested.

"And split the gold he offers evenly between ourselves?" Asked Aden.

"Correct." Said Strom. "If everybody here is content with such an arrangement?"

Everybody readily agreed and the five of them – Strom, Cassia, Izuku, Aden and Quetz – pillaged their loot.

"Of the coinage we found below, we already set it aside in five sacks, evenly distributed. You can find them on the end table by the door on your way out." Drognan advised.

That made the pillaging easier on them. Izuku went straight for the books, but they all turned out to be journals and ledgers. From these journals and ledgers he could piece together where all of this stuff came from, aside from the burial offerings deep beneath the earth.

Radament and his forces had been pillaging caravans for a while, and most of the supplies down below had belonged to them. It would be all but impossible to sift through and discover what belonged to who and find their rightful owners. This was assuming the rightful owners were still alive.

"What of the bodies of Radament's victims?" Izuku asked, suddenly reminded of them by these journals.

"Whichever ones could be identified were dressed for their funerals or cremations, which are already underway with their remaining loved ones in attendance." Said Drognan. "Those that were unidentifiable due to damage or decomposition are being disposed of in a mass grave beyond the city limits, where a monument shall be erected after the burial is complete after a ceremony for those who have missing loved ones that weren't found."

Yeah, they probably had as many bodies as missing people, and were relatively sure the ones being mourned are among them, even if they can't figure out which.

He continued digging through the books and scrolls, glancing at the contents to see if anything was useful. He wrapped his fingers around a double papyrus scroll and knew he had something important.

There was magic in it, faint but noticeable. But what really got his attention was how familiar the magic felt. It reminded him of… well, it felt similar to the way Cain's magic felt.

He unfurled it slightly to find a written language he couldn't even begin to comprehend. He was able to identify it as a cuneiform language, which meant it was all the more impossible to decipher, but it looked nothing like Egyptian or Chinese.

"Izuku!" He heard Cassia call from a few tables over.

He walked over to find her holding what looked like plate mail held together by sturdy leather straps. It was too small for Cassia, and looked to have been made for a smaller person. But when Cassia held it out in front of him it was shockingly close to his size, if a smidgen too large.

"Oh yeah, you're going to want that kid." Aden called over from the next table over. "That there is a mage's plate. It's great for enchanting and one of the few things light enough for mages to be wearing."

"I do not appreciate the insinuation that I am not capable of wearing heavier armor." Drognan said from where he was standing and watching.

"Are you?" Izuku asked, genuinely curious.

"No. Certainly not into battle. But I still don't appreciate the insinuation, true or false." Drognan said without a hint of humor.

Izuku smiled at the joke all the same, dry though it was. He accepted the armor, trying it on to discover it was only a little loose around him, especially around the chest where its previous owner may have needed a great deal of extra room. It was surprisingly light for something offering so much protection, and with the extra room he might be able to get away with padding the inside with more armor, or potions.

"I will be taking that. And this scroll too." Izuku declared.

A few moments later he was escorted out with his share of the gold, a new set of armor and a mystery scroll he couldn't wait to take to Cain.

---

He did not get the chance to take it to Cain. Not that night, nor the next morning, nor the next week, because as soon as he returned to Elzix's inn he was beset by people.

No sooner had he put his armor away than was Strom there dragging him off to the docks. Apparently Isendra had volunteered him to work any jobs that came across Jerhyn's desk, which turned out to be a lot of work.

That day it was unloading incoming ships. The next few days after that it was re-digging the swales around the city. That job had the added benefit of learning what swales were. They were just ditches with hills on one side, to provide shade and buried water for plants and trees to grow. It was a fantastic system that helped keep the soil in place and prevented sandstorms. Or at least reducing the damage they could do.

Thankfully, he wasn't out there doing these things alone. Strom and Quets, along with Greiz's men, helped. Stroms' fissure spell, which he could cast at a weak enough level to re-dig the trenches without leveling them all, had the side effect of splitting the trenches completely. In doing so he revealed the stored up water beneath, creating small rocky canons with streams of fresh water. It was unintentional, but well recieved. After a few of these he decided to stop and just use body strength like Quets and the mercenaries were.

Izuku guessed that this wasn't what Greiz's men had in mind for the duties they would have as mercenaries for hire. They probably imagined more pillaging and war, not so much hard labor. But they didn't complain, being well-suited to the work if not outright accustomed to it.

Izuku, for his part, used a combination of ice spells and shoveling. Using ice magic he was able to freeze the underground water, which then expanded, pushing up the dirt that needed digging up. Then, they all simply shoveled it up, only for others to come by later to bag it. Only after they did so did Izuku realize the soil they had dug up was lush and fertile, unlike the usual dirt of the desert. Moreso than merely having better moisture would allow.

They finished the section of the swale system assigned to them by the end of the fourth day, when Drognan relieved them.

"Alright. We just have to draw out the clean water then we can redirect the sewage to this new swale area and let the old one rest." Drognan declared.

"Sewage?" Izuku asked.

"Yes. We dump sewage into swales, then cover it in ash and or sand, plant some mint or other herbs, and let time purify it. Turn it into rich soil to trade with our more agriculturally-minded neighbors." Drognan explained.

Oh! That made sense. With the sandy soil the water just seeps down until it reaches the bedrock, which wasn't so deep itself, while the waste itself is sanitized by the sun's heat and radiation, not to mention herbal growths.

Izuku went back to Elzix and after bathing, alone thank you, he went to bed and slept perfectly for the fourth night in a row.

The next several days were for water harvesting, taking the old clean water from the little canyons that Strom had dug up and transporting them to the yakhchals – tall, round buildings with wind catchers on their roofs which served as refrigerators. Each was positioned along the city walls, on the inside of the city, with a small opening to the outer wall that water could be poured, but could also be plugged up from the inside.

Izuku turned out to be invaluable for this work as he was able to freeze the water into stalagmites that could be carried, while everybody else had to scoop or dump it into enormous wineskins that he suspected were made from entire skinned elephants, or something else that would be obscenely large.

He drank more mana potions in that two day period than the entirety of his adventure thus far. Freezing enough water to supply an entire city with drink took a lot of energy.

The week of hard work came to an end and Izuku felt well and truly cured of his malaise and anger that had been eating at him for weeks now.

He sighed as he crawled into bed, thankful for the friends and elders who had kept him company and kept him working all week. Thanks to them, he was in a much better place mentally than just a week ago.

He sat straight up in bed in realization.

"Wait a minute."

---

He found Cain in his usual place near the docks, standing lonesomely seemingly waiting for anybody to come bother him. Izuku decided to bother him.

"Master Cain." Izuku interrupted the humming man.

He looked up curiously at him.

"I am ready." Izuku said.

Cain nodded and motioned for them to walk together. He followed his mentor and together they walked along the pier, around the mingling dock workers who were up as bright and early as them.

"I hope you are in a better state of mind so as to understand what you are agreeing to." Cain said as they walked.

"I am. Thanks to everyone doing their best to help me do so. Which was the deciding factor." Izuku said.

"I do not understand. Would you please elaborate?" Cain asked.

"Everyone, from Strom to Drognan and possibly Isendra and Lord Jerhyn, has been plying me with work. Keeping me busy and exhausted." Izuku explained.

Cain nodded in understanding, and made a face to show such.

"They have conspired to take your mind off of your own suffering. A mind at work cannot dwell on the demons that haunt it, and exhaustion makes for excellent, dreamless, sleep." Cain summarized.

"Yes sir." Izuku said.

"And you feel embarrassed, if not outright ashamed, for needing the help and believe it is a sign that you must now learn what I have to teach you?" Cain summarized again.

"Yes sir." Izuku confirmed.

"Then you should know, there is no turning back. Once you become my apprentice, it is forever. Your devotion to the Horadric order is for life. Even after I die." Cain explained. "And it must be kept entirely secret. Not just because being of the Horodrim will put you in danger, but so would any hint of what I am teaching you. If anybody finds out, even though it is for good, we will both be hunted down like animals."

"I understand, sir." Izuku said.

By now they had reached the city wall and were allowed to pass through the gate. From there, they continued to walk around the city, now with no prying eyes.

"I have the contract here. Cain explained. "Yours with Isendra will be void, and yet you will continue to honor it so as to keep up appearances."

That did not sit well with Izuku. He did not want to break his contract with Isendra, he wanted to be her apprentice first and foremost. But as always, his curiosity needed sating.

"Why would your contract nullify hers?" He asked. "Is it just because the other came first?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Cain said. "There are several things that determine the power of a contract, especially when one competes with another. First and foremost is the power of the people forging it. I mean no disrespect to Isendra, but I am significantly more experienced and powerful than her. Especially as she was when she took you as her protege."

Izuku could only nod at his boast.

"Second is the contract itself. It's intention, it's honesty, how well written it is and the power of the language in it." Cain continued. "Simply put, your contract with Isendra is a lie."

Izuku couldn't stop the look of revulsion at Cain's words. He must have looked as angry as he felt because Cain raised both hands to calm him.

"We have already discussed this. When I said your relationship with her is not that of master and apprentice, I meant it in every way. You are not her apprentice, because you will never be a member of her clan as an apprenticeship would entail." Cain explained. "Due to the circumstances of your birth, you cannot join an all-female clan, and there is much she will avoid teaching you due to her oaths. In other words, she broke her contract with you before you even signed it. The intention behind the contract was not to take you as an apprentice, but seemingly to protect you as a child. The spirit and letter of the contract are both broken. Mine are in tact. Mine wins, even in secret."

Izuku had to think on that.

The vagaries of abstract magics were already confusing enough when dealing with elemental and holy magic, but now law and language and politics? It was a bit beyond him, but it did make sense. Words have meanings, and those meanings have power. Some words and oaths and poetry are far greater than others.

And of course, it didn't escape him the coincidence of the word "spell" being a reference to correctly creating words and magic alike.

There was something there, the relationship between language and magic and politics, that he would need to understand in time.

"May I see the contract?" Izuku asked.

Cain handed it to him, a small scroll. One page at most, and the wording made a great deal of sense.

I, Deckard Cain, hereby take on Izuku Midoriya the unaffiliated mage as my apprentice to the Horadric Order.

I do this with the understanding that he is already falsely apprenticed to an order that has rejected his future membership, and that said apprenticeship is a farce. That I will not cheat him out of all training, knowledge and brotherhood owed to him as a member of the Horadric order, and teach him all that I know in the course of his apprenticeship. Said apprenticeship will end either upon my death, he is deemed worthy of the title and can defend it, or he dies.

I sign this under my own free will, of sound mind, without duress.

Signed,

Deckard Cain​

Izuku understood exactly how he was wielding the power of words here. He was using the fact that the other contract had these flaws to give this new one power over it. The terms of this contract were based on the terms, stated or inherent, of the other one to defeat it.

There was more to the contract.

I, Izuku Midoriya, hereby take Deckard Cain as my master.

I do this with the promise to keep all knowledge, teaching, facts and nature of our apprenticeship a secret from all people except my master until such time as I am given the title of master myself. I furthermore understand that in agreeing to this apprenticeship, my former apprenticeship to Clan Isu is null and void.

I swear to follow all instructions in my teaching under Deckard Cain, to honor and respect him, and to work my hardest to master his teachings.

I sign this under my own free will, of sound mind, without duress.

Signed,​

There was an empty space for him to put his name. He hesitated before in doing so.

The contract glowed brightly as if to signify the sealing of their agreement, and Cain quickly stashed the contract away in his robes.

Izuku had already come to terms that his place in the world, in the end, would not be in Clan Isu. That this apprenticeship would not interrupt his apprenticeship with Isendra was a big selling point. It was kind of like signing a second marriage contract without losing your first spouse. He really was being given an incredible deal here.

"And that seals it." Said Cain.

"Seals what?" Izuku asked.

"Your contract with myself." Cain explained. "This contract is enchanted to compel you to not talk, or else cause you to expose our agreement. If you try to sign a different contract after this one, or try to break it, you will experience a pressure compelling you otherwise."

Oh boy. what else was slipped in?

"So I literally cannot share our secret even if I want to?" Izuku said.

"You can, but it will be difficult. You will feel pressure upon your mind to not do so, but can resist it. And if you succeed there will be painful results. Both from the magic of the contract, and should of people find out what I am teaching you. But I already warned you of that." Cain went on.

They returned to their walk around the city as the sun finally rose.

"I thought contracts needed witnesses?" Izuku asked.

"To be recognized legally? Yes. By magic and the two of us? No." Cain said. "Just as any agreement between two people without a witness cannot be proven in court, but good men will obey the terms of a promise, or suffer spiritual, social, financial and sometimes violent consequences."

"Oh." Izuku said.

That would defeat the purpose of their secrecy if they went to the palace and had Lord Jerhyn and Drognan there to witness it, wouldn't it?

"Oh!" Izuku said again, reaching into his shirt for a scroll of his own.

He handed it to his new master, and Cain's eyes lit up.

"Where did you get this?" He asked.

"Radament." Izuku said.

"Ah. Of course. I suppose Drognan recognized it as Horadric and tasked you with delivering it to me?" Cain asked as he unfurled it.

"No sir. He completely missed it. But I felt the magic inside of it and it reminded me of… well, of you. So I thought you might have created it." Izuku said.

Cain looked at him and blinked.

"I suddenly worry for my own well-being and am starting to feel the regret Isendra mentioned having about taking you on." Cain said, half-jokingly. "You sensed magic in a positively ancient scroll and recognized it as being horadric based on it feeling similar to me?"
"Um. Yes, master." Izuku said.

"Continue calling me sir, not master. Not even in private." Cain ordered as he finally started to examine the scroll.

Izuku nodded as they stopped just a stone's throw away from the front gate. He watched as Cain read the script, which looked seemingly no more difficult to the old man than reading anything else. Which was still difficult, with the ravages of time on his eyesight, but Izuku could see the man's lips moving along with the words he read. He even whispered a few aloud.

He then looked to Izuku with an expression of concern.

"I must go and translate this immediately. It will take me some time. In the morning I will need you to deliver my notes to Lord Jerhyn and Drognan." Cain ordered.

---

Izuku spent the rest of that day helping to dig a new ditch to connect the sewage system to the fresh swales, but when the following morning arrived he made a beeline to Cain's home, a small hovel owned by the Horadric order and maintained by the city.

A visibly exhausted Deckard handed him a fresh roll of parchment and rushed him away.

"Quickly. If you tell them it is an emergency from me they will readily agree to a private meeting." Cain ordered.

Izuku ran as fast as he could to the palace, and gave the guards a fright by his mere demeanor. Apparently seeing him in a rush or panic was enough to make other people panic. He would need to be mindful of the fact that people respected him now, and expected calm and collected behavior despite his age.

He was led to the dining area where many were having breakfast. Lord Jerhyn and Drognan were among them, with the former on his throne. Both stood up straight at the sight of him and his state.

"Lord Jerhyn, sir. Mage Lord Drognan." Izuku greeted them with a deep bow. "Cain has sent me here and told me to request a private audience."

If he hadn't earned the attention of everybody in the room before that, he certainly had it now.

"And a private audience you shall have." Jerhyn said with a curt nod.

He ushered Drognan and Izuku behind his throne, past a pair of curtains and an open doorway hidden thereby. Two guards stood over another doorway beyond that, but let them in.

They entered a war room, with a table set out like a board game detailing maps with pieces on it.

As soon as the doors were sealed shut he was once again the center of attention.

"What is this emergency?" Drognan asked.

Seeing as the mage lord was closer to him, Izuku handed the man the rolled parchment.

Drognan unfurled it to reveal it was actually two pieces of parchment. One significantly smaller than the other. This one Drognan read.

"Dear Lord Jerhyn and Mage Lord Drognan. Yesterday morning Izuku Midoriya brought to my attention an ancient Horadric scroll he won from Radamant the Fallen. He had expressed a wish to deliver it to me a week earlier but was unable to do so until now. Because of this, we have lost precious time, as the scroll details the methods for releasing the sealed Primevil… BAAL!" Drognan outright screamed the last word.

Drognan turned on Izuku.

"Why is he not here to tell us himself!" He demanded.

"Sir. Deckard Cain informed me yesterday morning that it would take him sometime to translate it and this may be what he has translated so far. I went to him this morning to see how far he had got but as instructed he told me to run here. He certainly appeared as a man who had stayed awake for far too long." Izuku explained. "And I am a far faster runner than him."

His explanation did calm the man down, and he returned to the letter.

"We now know the enemies plan." Drognan read. "It is their intention to rebuild an ancient Horadric staff, with which they can unseal him. It is in two pieces and requires a third object to rebuild, and as you will find, this scroll details the locations of each. Locations the enemy may know of and have a head start on."

Both men had to sit down as Drognan finished reading it.

They took a moment to collect themselves, but collect themselves they did.

"Your orders, my lord?"Drognan asked.

"Go, both of you." Jerhyn said. "Find everyone. Bring them here."

---

This story was Cowritten/Beta'd by NonsensicalRants You can hire NonsensicalRants to write your stories, all you have to do is provide him with a rough outline and contact him on his patron.

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[Magikuser]

Chapter 27:

Easy Victories​

---

The next morning Izuku dawned his chain mail and his newly minted mage plate armor over it. He completed his outfit by draping a cloak around himself to reduce the heat of the sun on metal. Once it started to warm up he'd try out the true frozen armor spell that he'd practiced well into the night.

He was yawning in punishment for the extra self-study, but as they would be riding horses well into the afternoon he figured he could get away with a nap along the way. He was well accustomed to sleeping while riding animals at this point.

He went over the new supplies in his pack that his mistress had sent him off to buy, especially the antidote potions, scroll of town portal scrolls, and other potions. Finding it all secure he donned his sack and exited his room. Isendra's door was open and he entered to find her and Myr undressing the bed.

"We should be gone for a week, but possibly more, so you have plenty of time to deep clean all of my things. I apologize for the state of it all, I have been shut in this whole time." Isendra said to the young girl, who now wore clothes far more form fitting than those of Elzix' widow.

"Yes ma'am." Myr meeped.

Isendra noticed him and smiled, before donning her own pack and joining him in the hallway, leaving Myr behind to fold and collect the linen.

They exited Elzix' inn and walked briskly through the still dark streets of Lut Gholein. They had opted to start before even the earliest shops opened just to not be bothered by people or stared at. Or worse, get another tag along.

They arrive at the stables near the front gate to the city to find Cassia and Strom, awake and as pack-laden as Izuku and Isendra, waiting for them.

"Good morning Strom. Good morning Cassia." Izuku greeted.

"Good morning young Midoriya." They both greeted him with smiles.

Cassia's smile didn't survive when she turned her gaze to Isendra, but Izuku thought it didn't turn into outright animosity either. He hoped it wasn't just his imagination.

"The contract did not stipulate if you would be providing horses or camels for us." Cassia said.

"And as such, I think we can all rent our own without much difficulty." Strom interjected, giving Cassia a look.

Izuku made it a point of having Isendra at the back, with him in front of her, Strom in front of him and Cassia at the front. There was no discussion on the matter, they all just organized in that marching order as they exited the city. Perhaps they all wished for this to be as painless of a trip as possible? Both consciously and unconsciously.

It wasn't until the sun rose, washing away their tiredness, that Cassia broke that peace.

"I just realized I have no idea where we are going. Perhaps Isendra should be leading us, as she holds the map?" She suggested.

They completely reversed their marching order and proceeded southwest.

"Our first target is the Halls of the Dead. An old burial ground beneath the remains of an ancient Vizjerei city." Isendra announced.

"What is our goal here?" Asked Strom.

"An object called the Horadric Cube. Cain says it is an object of alchemical and transmutational purposes, which is vague enough to tell us nothing but specific enough to tell us exactly how dangerous it could be." Isendra explained. "It should be in the third sub level of the halls of the dead."

"It's always three, isn't it?" Said Cassia. "Three levels of subterranean horrors."

Meh. It wasn't always, but Izuku agreed that it was most commonly three. He retrieved his notebook and added.

The noon sun came and went, as they burned through two wineskins and frozen armors apiece, refreshing the former with the melting from the latter. When evening finally came and it's cool breeze drove the heat away.

"This is it." Isendra declared.

They had arrived upon what couldn't even be described as ruins. Stone walls, like abandoned shepherds walls of the Scottish highlands, littered the dunes. A few rose slightly higher than the rest, and all were made of what must have once been perfectly smooth blocks.

"So, do we know exactly where the entrance is?" Strom asked. "Or what it looks like.

"A pile of blocks with a single obelisk on the left side of the entrance." Isendra read off from the scroll Cane had gifted her.

They found it readily enough. It was the tallest thing left standing and had a stairway leading into the dark depths of the earth. It was hard to miss.

"That the entrance is unbarred seems sign enough to me that dark forces have already made it home." Said Cassia.

"Then let us go clear it out." Said Isendra.

They descended the stairs as one. What proceeded could only be described as mass matricide, assuming that was the correct word for killing mummies, which Izuku was fairly sure it was. Hundreds of the bandaged undead, laid to waste in mere minutes as their quartet charged through.

Izuku didn't want to complain, but this was by far the easiest spelunking expedition he'd ever been on. Maybe it was because there were four equally formidable warriors and/or sorcerers plunging as one, or perhaps it was because the hallways were just wide enough for them to march through a single unit, shoulder to shoulder. Or shoulder to hip, in Izuku's case.

The only hiccup in their march was the occasional Frankenstein-esque monster similar in appearance to Radamant, but lacking in all his sentience, strength, remorse and aptitude. These ones did nothing, absolutely nothing, but put back together the bundles of dust and bone Izuku and his companions had just shattered only to send them off and be shattered again. Izuku had to give it to them, they could take far more fireballs than the one and done zombies. But it wasn't significantly more in his opinion and so these foes served as little more than road bumps.

Besides that? The only thing that mildly slowed them down was waiting for the plumes of green, noxious gas that the mummies released upon their destruction to dissipate. Most of the time they didn't even have to do that as they annihilated them with ice and lightning before getting close enough to have to wait.

This chore continued down two more flights of stairs and two more levels of burial grounds, which were so reminiscent of the ones beneath Lut Gholein that he would have made the connection even if he hadn't known they were both Vizjerei in origin.

They reached what could only be the final chamber doors. The grandness of the doors was a giveaway.

Strom kicked it down with a single stomp of his boot to reveal a large, square room with four aflame pillars and an absolute horde of undead. The horde consisted entirely of skeletons, zombies and more of those Radamant wannabes. They all slowly turned to look at the intruders and Izuku noted an odd one out in the crowd.

One of those cat people, a lady one decked in armor and completely blue. Like,it was covered in blue paint.

It screeched and the clusterfuck began.

Izuku, without needing telling, charged forth and baseball rolled to the side as his three companions clashed head-on with the army of bones and wrappings. He was small and lithe enough to pass partly unnoticed, entirely unmolested by the slow, shambling undead and so it was on him to take out the problematic enemies. The ones that could raise the ones that Strom, Isendra and Cassia fell.

One, two, three fireballs later and the first quasi-Radamant was down for the count and Izuku was on the run again.

He peeked onto the fight to see that Strom had gotten separated from the others and was clashing with the blue cat woman. If you could call him repeatedly stomping her helmeted head into the floor clashing.

Four, five six fireballs and the second quasi-Radamant fell making the endless horde, finite.

Somehow, he had still remained unnoticed by the mindless hordes of undead, so he took off his pack, took a drink of his watered-down mana potion, and unleashed an ice nova into the fray. It still took a decent amount of concentration to keep the spell from effecting the three he wanted to spare, but he managed just fine.

The remaining undead were shattered by boots, lightning bolts and spears within moments after that. He didn't see the cat woman get killed, but felt safe in assuming they finished her.

"Anybody injured?" Izuku asked.

"Meh. A few scratches, might bruise a bit later." Cassia said.

Strom lightly kicked one of the downed enemies.

"I'm surprised none of these mummies released any…"

All at once every downed mummy exploded in a plume of green miasma and they all choked on it.

"You son of a bitch!" Cassia cursed Strom between coughs.

"I have antidotes in my pack! It's already open, let me just grab..." Izuku tried to say before he too was cut off by his coughing.

"Maybe we should all get out of the room full of poison gas?!" Isendra suggested.

They all got out of the room full of poison gas. Several antidote potions later, as most of them threw up the first one as their bodies tried to get rid of the foreign ailment, and they were all right as rain. If still a little green in the face.

The miasma inside the final chamber dissipated as they caught their breath and they all stumbled back in wearily.

They found the Horadric cube readily enough. It was in the exact center of the chamber and was a cube. Go figure. A beautifully ornate, metal cube with a metal ring latch on one face.

Isendra lifted it, pulled on the ring to open it, and revealed its innards.

"A box of holding?" Izuku said.

They all looked at him.

"You know, the boxes that are bigger on the inside than they should be?" He said.

They all looked back inside and tilted their heads.

"Was it the box itself we wanted or the contents it was supposed to contain? Don't tell me there were items in here and now we have to go find them?"

"No, Cane said we needed the box to put the other two items into." Isendra said. "Not that it should contain anything."

They had their prize, and so they left. The walk back up through the halls of the dead was quiet as exhaustion finally took its hold on them. It had only been an hour long endeavor, but after an entire day trip through the heat and the steady exertion of said battle without breaks, they were beat. And when they reached the surface they saw that the moon was now rising and the cold chill of night made them shiver.

"Fire and camp here?" Strom asked. "At least here we know all the enemies are dead. Or double dead."

They all readily agreed and hunted down a nice alcove between two ancient walls to make camp. Strom and Izuku went back into the hall of the dead to hunt down a few spears or other polearms from their fallen enemies and brought them back up to serve as firewood.

"What about the loot within the hall of the dead?" Cassia asked.

"We can do that in the morning." Said Strom. "For now, let us eat and rest."

---

After a meal of rations, a full night sleep, and a morning meal of rations they combed through the halls of the dead. They collected the many fine jewels, gold coins, and other offerings to the dead within. Izuku got the impression that the place may have already been pillaged once or twice and the would-be thieves had been added to the ranks guarding the halls.

When they finished and re-emerged the sun was just beginning to rise.

"Where to now, mistress." Izuku asked.

"The Far oasis." Isendra told them. "The shaft of the staff is hidden with a deliberately buried and "lost" temple."

And so, their journey continued. Far oasis was aptly named. It took another day and night of travel to reach it. Nowhere near as long as it took to reach… that place that no longer exists and never did according to Lut Gholein records.

But when they arrived, it was to find more ruins, and a lot of oasis. Pongs with throngs of ferns and palm trees about them littered the desertscape. Many of them were shaded by large, rock outcroppings and all were near more abandoned buildings. These ones were unlike the ones around the halls of the dead in that, while still little more than walls, they always came in groups of at least three and were brick and mortar, not giant sandstone. Some even still had the remains of wooden roofs and tattered tarps.

"Be at the ready. Swarms of flesh eating itchies have always been a problem near freshwater." Cassie warned.

"Is that why this place was abandoned?" Izuku asked.

"No." They all said at once.

"That would be the sand maggots and scarab demons." Isendra said.

Scarab demons he was familiar with. Sand maggots were a new monstrosity, and he was imagining the giant worms of dune wriggling beneath his feet as they passed into the ruined oasis city.

The swarms of flesh eating itchies turned to be anticlimactic, they were merely swarms of green mosquitoes. Definitely not something he wanted to be eaten alive by, but for two elemental sorcerers were easily dealt with. The swarms were burned away by fire and made the whole oasis smell like a bug zapper on a summer evening.

It was the sand maggots that threw Izuku through a loop. It came crawling out of one of the more preserved hovels and its size was such that it couldn't have possibly fit inside of the building were it not for its soft, squishy body. Sharp, vicious chitin made up its pincers and legs

It did not like fire. In fact, it was so vulnerable to such that a mere fire bolt from Isendra boiled the great deal of liquid inside of its body where it struck and it exploded from the impact. It was a little more visceral than what Izuku was prepared for.

"That isn't a maggot. That is clearly a termite. Who looks at these and calls them maggots?" Izuku complained.

Strom looked between Izuku and the giant termite, before shrugging.

"Well, they don't actually eat wood. They eat rotting meat. Hence, maggots." He said.

"Do they develop into fly's like maggots?" Izuku asked.

"No." Said Isendra, now smirking at his discomfort.

"Do they organize into colonies like termites?" He went on.

"Yes." Said Cassia.

"Then they're termites!" Izuku exclaimed.

They weren't even disagreeing with him. They just seemed bemused at how much he cared about the incorrect classification. He vented his frustration by writing in his journal that he needed to ask Cane about what organization was in charge about taxonomic classifications. This was assuming that there was such an organization.

---

"Why is it that every single stroke of good luck which we encounter is perfectly balanced by an exactly equal stroke of bad luck?" Cassia observed.

"How do you figure?" Strom asked.

"Well, we find the buried temple already excavated, saving us the hours – potentially days – of work trying to find it and similar length of time excavating it." Cassia pointed out.

"Which is counterbalanced by the fact that the reason it's excavated is because it's become home to a giant termite mound." Izuku finished her sentiment.

And indeed, they found the place indicated by Cane's map and instead of solid, compacted earth there was a hole. A slimy, noxious goo encrusted hole that looked more like the unspeakable parts of said termite's anatomy than a temple entrance. But it was in the right location, and foundation stones of some kind were strewn about the mounds of excavated dirt surrounding the entrance.

"You used fire on that other one, does that mean that the rule about creatures in these deserts being resistant to fire doesn't apply to these sand maggots?" Izuku asked.

"Oh yes. You and I will be taking point, apprentice." Isendra said.

In the end they did not, in fact, take point, but were instead shelled in by Cassia and Strom who made up their front and rear guard. The logic being that Izuku and Isendra can cast spells through them and both could keep any enemies at bay while they cast said spells. This logic proved partially true, as Cassia's extended reach with her trident made her the perfect person to take the lead as they delved into the tunnels.

She often spotted the oncoming "maggots'' before Izuku and Isendra even heard them, and with the narrow tunnels that they could barely fit through single-file, she was the most capable of keeping them at bay long enough for the sorcerers to reduce them to exploding piles of goo. The flaw in this plan was self evident, as Cassia became repeatedly covered in said exploding piles of goo, making her resorting to downing antidote potions like they were wine. This formation broke entirely the first time they became lost, and it was only the first of many. There was no rhyme or reason to the tunnels, as they were what amounted to an ant colony but of giant termites. They occasionally found a room or hallways of the original temple fairly intact and incorporated into said colony, but they provided little guide outside of place markers so they knew they'd been there before.

By the end, Cassia and Strom relented, allowing Izuku and Isendra to take the front and create a magical flamethrower spell between them that just continuously scorched the fifty meters of tunnels in front of them. Now they both saw and heard every maggot before they got close enough to spit that green, acidic bile. Which Izuku was pretty sure was something termites did to weaken wood, not something maggots did. They'd yet to fall victims to inset vomit, they wouldn't start now.

This also made navigating far easier. They knew they'd reached a place they'd been before by virtue of the fact everything was a black, charred warzone. Then it was a matter of backtracking or re-tracking to an offshoot tunnel they hadn't been down yet. By implementing this tactic they must have cauterized the entire nest before they found it. The queen's chamber.

He didn't know what else to call the bloated, tick-shaped creature ten times the size of the other "maggots" other than a queen. He was fairly certain termites had queens, not maggots, and the room full of eggs and caretakers all about her were further proof. It was all very flammable, and once they lit it on fire they just stood back and watched it all burn.

The queen screamed and chittered in pain as she slowly died, but it didn't hold the same horror to Izuku as with horribly mutated people. Or any, really.

They waited for the flames and thick smoke to fade away before proceeding, doing their best to cover their mouths so as to not inhale too much of the burned insect flesh. It smelled oddly similar to burnt hair and rubber.

The queen's chamber, despite all of the biological matter covering the ground and walls, was clearly a Horadric tomb of some kind. At the back they found a sealed coffin, which Strom kicked open like he had the Horadric door the day before.

Inside was a staff that looked to be made of a single, long, fossilized rattlesnake with spines of similarly long rattle snakes wrapped around it in a triple helix formation. At the top of the staff, where the three spines and the rattle of the snake's tail met, was a large orb of amber held in place equidistant from each as if by magic.

"That is the staff of kings. It is what we are here for. Cane's writings say we need to put it into the cube along with another object called the amulet of the viper." Isendra told them.

Izuku picked up the staff, which was almost as long as Isendra was tall, and looked at his mistress. "Can we store it in the cube?" He asked.

Deciding she, too, wanted to find out, she dug the cube out of her back and opened it. She inserted the staff into the box and it fell into it like a lamb into Merry Poppins bag.

"Oh. I've always heard about such an enchantment, but I've never seen it before." Said Strom. "That should make carrying it out of here easier."

And indeed, she merely closed the box and put it back into her pack.

They made ready to leave but Izuku stopped them all as soon as they re-entered the tunnel. A shiver, a lack of something that should be there. It was a familiar feeling.

"What is it?" Asked Isendra.

"I just felt it again." Izuku told them, looking to Strom and Cassia. "The masked magic."

"Masked magic?" Isendra asked.

But both Strom and Cassia understood his meaning.

"When we confronted Radamant, Izuku felt a strange lack of magic. Like a spell that was cast and then covered up. His description matched what an adept at sensing magic describes the work of a Vizjerei assassin covering up a spell they cast." Said Cassia.

The look of fear on Isendra's face told Izuku that she understood the exact seriousness of the situation.

"So somebody was just standing there, a meter behind us at most, as we laid waste to this entire room." Said Izuku.

"Or worse, they had been following close behind us the entire time." Said Strom. "Likely waiting for one or most of us to be downed so they could finish us off, or get the person they're actually targeting. They got no such chance today and must be confident enough to take all four of us."

Isendra visibly shivered at the explanation, but continued on

After that they began their long journey back up to the surface on full alert, ready for a sneak attack at any moment. The trip should have been more difficult with all of the tunnels being scorched black, but their feet remembered the way and they reached the surface in record time.

Night had long since descended so they once again set camp. They and all of their things smelled disgusting, so they bathed in one of the oases as a group and washed all of their things. Each remained on high alert as they did so, and even as they dried everything.

They took watch in shifts of two that night. Cassia and Strom first, Izuku and Isendra second. Then the strangest thing happened.

"Nothing to report Strom, you can go back to sleep." Izkuku said when the man woke up early.

He yawned as he approached.

"I dunno. I feel pretty awake." He said. "Are you sure it hasn't been six hours yet?" He asked.

Izuku and Isendra shared a glance. They hadn't bothered to set up the hourglass like the first watch usually did, as the sun usually did the job of waking the first shift up. They checked the firewood and how much they had used. It did seem like they'd burned through six hours or so of log, but they would be well into the morning if they did that.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I woke up after three hours feeling ready to attack the day. If either of you feel like getting some extra shut-eye I can keep watch now." Strom offered.

Neither of them did, so they opted for a three man watch. This time they did setup the hourglass just to measure the time. Two hours later they knew something was wrong, because then Cassia woke up refreshed and joined them.

"How is it not morning yet?" She asked. "I never wake up this refreshed with less than eight hours."

She was right. It had been night for well over two shifts now. If they were right, that would make it.

"Fourteen whole hours of darkness." Izuku summarized. "It has been night for fourteen hours."

They all looked up at the sky in search of the sun. It was cloudless and the stars were all out and bright, but no moon or sun lit the sky.

"Either we were in there for half a year, or the sun is out." Said Isendra.

"What makes you say either of those?" Asked Cassia.

"Because those stars are only visible near the summer solstice, they are blocked from our view by the sun's glare for the rest of the year." She concluded.

---

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