The Runic Alchemist

“When it became a part of our lives, suddenly from Faerunia—now in control of Edgeheaven—came a new transcendent. One of their transcendent seeds had been diving in the dungeon for years and had finally received enlightenment. It stirred trouble in both the Empire and Eldoris. I advised them to let it go, but when Faerunia started slowly increasing their borders into Dawnstar land and into the region of Sanctuary-controlled territory, we retaliated.

This is where we are right now. It’s the forest on the border of Sanctuary-controlled land and the Eldoris border. In that direction, however, is the harbor city of Dawnstar called Blue Dawn. Faerunia controls it now.”

Vidalia finally finished and emptied her whole cup.

“So the battle against the Demons is still going?” Land-breaker asked.

“Occasionally,” Vidalia replied. “A part of our armies are permanently stationed there. The Demons are preparing for something, building something, and we are trying to interrupt while we too work together to build something that would give us an edge against them. The technology is shared between the three kingdoms—but it has not been as productive as we had hoped.

The tense situation between the three countries has made it even slower than before. The Demons have even started shifting their non-combatants from the island to the Empire’s land. We call the lost land the Kingdom of Malveria, currently ruled by seven transcendents. The King of Demons has returned back to his island.”

“Why hasn’t Sea Snake dealt with the Demon King yet?” Mindseer asked, and all eyes turned toward her.

Instead of Vidalia, Land-breaker answered, “Because no one has asked him to. It makes it easier for him to slowly devour region after region with his people and turn it into his own force. He always was a crafty bastard. Unless his people are in direct danger, he doesn’t care what happens to others. When they come asking, he will put a condition before them—that he should be the supreme ruler of all, and they all should kneel before him. The Elves know him better than anyone.”

“That’s what my mother said when we first started fighting against the Demons. It has indeed started to turn out as truth,” Vidalia confirmed.

Well.. Damian had to say, that was a lot for just one decade. The thing about Einar and Evrin was confusing, but the rest seemed normal enough. The Demons attacking was something he had already expected. The whole of Dawnstar getting swallowed by the Empire was also a predictable outcome.

His steel mana cubes that the four people had must have been analyzed and studied by many—it wouldn’t have lasted for years though. Vidalia might not know or might have left out that part. Faerunia, on the other hand, would leave no stone unturned while doing the reverse engineering. He heard no mention of mana generators—meaning, yet, no one had managed to recreate it. Damian had always put sections for resisting unknown mana from analyzing his runic tool spells inside.

Nothing he had heard was much problematic for him. With a few adjustments, it should be fine. Damian stood up, not asking any more questions. He looked around for a while—the dense forest, the soldiers digging ditches to bury bodies. After a minute, he said,

“I will go to this Sanctuary for a while. All of you decide where you want to go. You get one waygate each to any person you want to find.”

“What will you do now?” Kamisen asked.

“I don’t know. I need to see things for myself,” Damian replied. “I will go meet Einar first. I am not taking the sacrium bracelet I gave some of you. You can generate liquid mana as much as you want, but the mana cube is not something you can keep. Give me those back, and you are free to leave. Those who don’t find their people—you are all welcome to stay in the Sanctuary. I will be there for a while.”

Damian stepped away from the wooden structure he had created, walking slowly along the edge of the forest. Soon Lucian joined him. He looked to the side.

“You should go to your family,” he said.

“I will be back,” she said after a second. Damian just nodded.

A blue glow appeared, and she was gone. Her sword could fully open waygates, so he didn’t have to worry about her. A few minutes later, people joined beside him in his slow walk—Vidalia, Land-breaker, Mindseer, and Sam.

“You can end it all,” Vidalia said. “You know that, right? If a First Ranker you was able to kill a transcendent, a transcendent you can surely do things I can’t even imagine.”

“He can,” Mindseer agreed.

Damian looked at the Land-breaker.

He said, “You can’t punish the whole world. Fear will remain as long as you remain in the region. Interfering with their conflicts is meaningless. The matter with Demons is different. People don’t know the whole truth.”

Damian kind of agreed with the guy. Beating up everyone was not the answer—it would make it a whole lot easier, though. Damian didn’t care what others did, he just wanted to focus on building his own city. As long as humans were not dying in large numbers—civilians especially—soldiers he did not care for much, he didn’t want to interfere. But he wouldn’t totally accept neutrality like the Highswords either—if his words or presence for a second made a difference, there was no harm in doing the small things to keep things normal.

“We can do one better than that,” Sam said suddenly. “Conflicts are never-ending, but we can use overwhelming force to contain the method they use to resolve these conflicts. If we can make a difference and we have the power, it is a wrong thing to turn the other way and ignore everything going on around us.”

Damian smiled. The once young boy may have become a powerhouse, but his thoughts were still something that put a smile on his face. But then again, without hope for a better future—what was there to live for?

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