I stopped and looked back at them, pretending to be surprised. All of them were silently staring at me. Deciding that the pause had dragged on for too long, I greeted them.

  “Honorable Vasa, honorable Munk, and you… honorable ones, to what do I owe the pleasure of such company?”

  “Aney, I am sorry, but we have received an order.”

  I saw how uncomfortable she was saying that. Munk was trying to look away altogether.

  “Where is Irgen now?” I pretended not to have heard her words.

  “With the healers… Aney! This is not about her right now!”

  “Why even bother with him!” one of the Gods of War shouted. “He is only of the lower rank!”

  “Silence, Krot!” Munk cut him off.

  I turned to Krot and looked at him carefully. A mid-rank, pretending to be some kind of god.

  “Are you too brave, or just too stupid?”

  “Kid, your tongue wags nonsense faster than your brain can work!”

  I struck him in the chest with my spear the moment he began his attack, and at the same time lunged at another God of War who was trying to help him. But I stopped the spear’s tip a mere millimeter from his eye. Everyone froze again, except the one with a hole instead of a right lung. He was wheezing horribly, spraying blood, and swallowing restoration pills.

  “If you open your filthy mouth again while I am speaking with honorable Vasa, I will tear it open down to your navel. Understood?”

  The Gods of War took a slight step back. Krot, still trying to recover, nodded to show that he understood.

  “What an idiot,” Munk said. “Aney destroyed an incarnation while being a Battle Ancestor — what did you think you could do to him? Together we would not manage more than stain him with our blood…”

  The expressions on their faces confirmed they all understood that.

  “I want to settle everything peacefully.” I truly did not want to kill any of them.

  Vasa shook her head from side to side.

  “That is not possible. We have an order, Aney.”

  “Who gave it? The First Prince? Or the Emperor?”

  “The Emperor himself. You caused too much devastation in the capital, Aney. No one will forgive you now, and no one will let you go.”

  Damn it. As if I could explain to them whose fault it really was. Although, I was certain they understood that themselves.

  “You are putting me in a very uncomfortable position, honorable Vasa. I do not want to kill you, but I will not let you kill me either. Does the Emperor know what I will do if the imperial court attacks me?”

  “Yes, I passed your warnings to him.”

  I scratched the back of my head with a disappointed look.

  “Warnings, honorable Vasa, not threats. Warnings. And still the Emperor, with one foot in the grave, gives you such an order. And the First Prince does not even try to stop you… Does it not seem to you that someone is using your hands to pull pots from the fire? The Church, perhaps? They still have four Cardinals in the Northern Empire — so where are those bastards?”

  Everyone went silent. Then one of them said:

  “The Church has nothing to do with this anymore, honorable Aney. This is a matter of the Northern Empire alone. There were far too many casualties in the capital because of you, honorable Aney.”

  “Because of me? Perhaps you should ask your god how his incarnation exploded so massively that it caused more than ten thousand deaths? Ahhh, but he is a god, you cannot accuse him of anything… Am I understanding you correctly, honorable ones?”

  I was starting to get angry, not even at them, but at this ridiculous situation itself.

  “Enough. Talking with you is a waste of time. So either you try to carry out this foolishness you call an imperial order, or I leave!”

  “Aney,” Munk addressed me, “I have an idea… What if we pretend we fought, and in the heavy battle, you crippled us and escaped? How does that sound? Everyone lives, and the order, so to speak, is fulfilled.”

  I knew Munk was cunning as hell, so I became interested.

  “I am listening, honorable Munk.”

  “You might not know this, since you only recently reached this level of power, but if a God of War loses, say, a limb, and it is not destroyed afterward, he can reattach it in a few days without any consequences. What do you think of that idea?”

  Holy hedgehogs, they really started discussing it among themselves. After agreeing, they began telling me their wishes one by one.

  “My left arm, please.”

  “Mine too.”

  “And mine.”

  “…”

  “That will not work!” I stopped them. “This is complete nonsense. How will you all return to the capital without left arms? Do you think anyone will believe you?”

  “That is true…”

  Some of the Gods of War started looking at their right arms. Idiots. If you want something done right — do it yourself.

  “Come closer, and I will tell you how it should be done.”

  Not expecting a trick from me, they gathered around.

  “So what do you propose to make it look believable?”

  “Listen carefully, here is what I have come up with…”

  I grinned and struck them with a blast of bloodlust, robbing them of the ability to move for a moment. That same second, I began to sink downward and slashed my spear in a wide arc around me, severing eight pairs of legs.

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “Damned bastard!”

  “Aney! I will rip your throat out, even if I have to do it toothless!”

  Vasa was shouting at me louder than anyone else. It seemed like they were more enraged by the feeling they experienced under the influence of my bloodlust than by the unexpected loss of limbs.

  “Ha-ha-ha! Sort it out yourselves, dear friends. Try not to mix up whose legs are whose! And please, do not deprive my trainer of her lovely little feet! Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

  Amid a storm of curses and threats, I dashed toward the Healers’ Guild in the capital. As I approached the guard post on the road, I put on a cloak and a belt that completely masked my aura. I showed the guards an old silver tag that Hek had once given me as a member of the Trade Guild.

  It raised no suspicion, and they let me through without delay. Even at dawn, it was immediately clear that the city was in mourning—perhaps because of the many white mourning ribbons everywhere: on rooftops, fences, even hanging from trees.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I walked the cobbled paths, scuffing them with my feet. Something like guilt began gnawing at me from within, constantly reminding me that I shared some responsibility for the tragedy. My rational side argued fairly: had the Incarnation killed me, the citizens certainly would not be hanging ribbons in mourning for me.

  So which is better? That one dies, or ten thousand? The rationalist in me whispered that the death of one is a tragedy, while the death of ten thousand is merely a statistic. My inner egoist went even further, saying there was no point in tormenting myself—after all, I survived, and they did not. During that battle with the Incarnation, I had accepted that I was going to die…

  In the end, I managed to convince myself that the blame lay fully with the Church and the Incarnation of the White Twin. Still, as I approached the Healers’ Guild, my mood was, let’s say, grim and burdened.

  I located Irgen’s aura and headed toward the two-story building where she was. At the door, I was stopped by a middle-aged healer.

  “Young man, who are you here to see?”

  “My friend is here,” I waved toward the staircase leading to the second floor, “a half-elf—I am here to see her.”

  “I am sorry, but it is too early for visits. Please return in a few hours!”

  What an old hag! I went through so much to get here, and now she wants to throw rules at me?

  “I am not a visitor. I came to take Irgen with me.”

  “I am sorry, but you cannot. The patient is not yet well!”

  Not well? What nonsense is she spouting? After that many sixth-class restoration pills, Irgen should have recovered within hours. And it had been nearly a week…

  “Old woman, do you take me for a fool? I personally shoved a dozen sixth-class recovery pills into her stomach! Even a corpse would have woken up after that! How can she possibly still be unwell?”

  I removed my hood and belt, letting the aura of a God of War spread slowly around me.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  The healer turned pale and collapsed to her knees.

  “Honorable God of War, forgive me—I misspoke! Your friend is perfectly fine physically! But… her mental state…”

  “Mental state, you say… Take me to her. Now!”

  “Yes, at once!”

  She jumped up and quickly led me up the stairs to the second floor, where we stopped before a heavy wooden door.

  “She is here, sir.”

  “Well, then open it—or are you suggesting I smash the door to splinters?”

  Irgen was sitting on the bed, wearing only a shirt, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. I entered, and the door slammed shut behind me. The girl looked at me. For a moment, rage flared in her eyes—then faded.

  “Why did you come?”

  What a cold reception…

  “I came for you. Let’s go. We do not have much time.”

  Her face twisted.

  “Get out, you filthy bastard! Is it still not enough for you?”

  “Irgen, I do not understand…”

  “Do not understand? And when you destroyed my magic circles one after another—did you not understand then?”

  “Irgen, I was trying to save—”

  “To save?!” She leapt from the bed and lunged at me. “You killed me! You bastard, you killed me seven times over! You turned me into trash! Saving, he says! You were saving yourself with your damn selfishness!”

  She struck me with all her strength, splitting her palms open on my chest. I caught her hands, trying to calm her—but it only made things worse.

  “Let me go, bastard! Take your filthy hands off me and get out—I cannot bear to see you!”

  She recoiled, and in the wide collar of her shirt I saw a thick scar running vertically across her chest, torn raw by fingernails. Damn it, what happened to her?

  “Irgen, please calm down and come with me.”

  “Screw you! I would rather die than see you again! You knew, you freak, what magic circles mean to a mage—you knew! And you still did this to me!”

  “Irgen, I did everything I could to save you—I could not let you die!”

  “You did it all for yourself, you monster! You never once thought of me! Get out! Leave my room and leave me alone!”

  No, words would not help here. She would not come with me… Take her by force? That would only make things worse. It seemed I simply needed to give her time to calm down. I turned and opened the door.

  “You know, not everything is lost. The mana in your blood… there should be no conflict in you anymore. Study it. Learn from it. Grow with it. And you will become so strong that no archmage on the continent will dare utter a word from under your heel.”

  I let my gaze linger on her back one last time and left, closing the door behind me. Damn, this was not what I had expected. And had I known what this would turn into in the future—I certainly would not have left like that.

  “Where is her storage ring?” I asked the healer.

  “In the storage chamber.”

  She led me to the first floor and retrieved the ring. In just a few minutes, I wrote a long letter for Irgen, rolled it into a scroll, and placed it inside the ring.

  “Listen closely, because I will say this only once…” I handed her the ring along with a pouch of gold. “Take the best care of her you can, and when she recovers, give her the ring with my letter. If you fail to do so, I will slaughter your entire family, your friends and loved ones, your pets… Hell, I will even wipe out the fleas hopping in your yard. Did I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, Honored God of War! I will do everything exactly as you commanded—I would not dare disobey you!”

  “Good… That’s good. And don’t forget to keep giving her the antidotes.”

  “Yes, Honored God of War, I am already aware of them.”

  “Here is the recipe, in case her stay at your facility lasts longer than expected.”

  I fastened my belt again and stepped outside into a cold drizzle carried by the wind. Filth! I pulled my hood lower and walked out of the capital toward the western road—there was nothing left here to keep me.

  My path took me through the ruined part of the city, where people were rummaging through the wreckage of their homes, trying to salvage whatever they could. Though I also could not rule out looters. Perhaps those weren’t the real homeowners digging through the rubble.

  I passed a deep crater partially filled with rainwater—the epicenter of that damn Incarnation’s explosion. I could not allow this to remain unpunished. They all must be destroyed—first the clergy, then the gods themselves. So that this never happens again… Filthy bastards.

  The rain grew heavier as I walked slowly toward the city gate.

  “Identification!” barked a soldier, clearly irritated by having to work in such weather.

  After examining my silver tag from the Trade Guild, he waved me through without delay, urging me not to hold up the line.

  The road beyond the gate was jammed with wagons, unable to move quickly due to the weather, so I walked slowly between the carts, my boots squelching in the muddy road.

  “Want a ride?”

  I turned toward the voice. A plump woman of indeterminable age sat on a wagon drawn by a liwzi that looked very much like mine. I shrugged and jumped up onto the seat beside her.

  “Strange… You’re brimming with pride, yet you wade through the mud like a common man. You’re not ordinary, are you? Care to tell me something interesting?”

  What nonsense was this? Could she see my level despite the belt? Was that even possible?

  “Hm, Auntie, you’ve a sharp tongue and even sharper eyes. But… in truth, every person is unique. What exactly did you mean by my pride?”

  “Ah-ha-ha, young and sharp!” she settled more comfortably on the seat. “Hundreds of carts on the road, and here you are, walking through the mud in your boots. Of course, some might not give a stranger a ride, some would want coin, but most wouldn’t say no. Yet you stubbornly kept walking, never even trying to ask. So what is that, if not pride?”

  “Maybe I just like walking.”

  She tapped my boots with her riding crop.

  “In those boots? Unless you could fly…”

  I shrugged.

  “I can.”

  “Ha-ha-ha, what a braggart! What are you, a mage? A Battle Ancestor? A real sky-walker, huh? You’ve made an old woman laugh. Tell the truth—did your family throw you out? Or did it not work out with a lover, and you left on your own? I know your kind—young ones, always going to extremes. So which story is yours?”

  “Well, since you ask so nicely, my case is simple. I got my ass kicked recently, so now I’m on my way for revenge.”

  “Wheeeew! Oh my heavens, they beat you up? Ah, youth—you can’t keep your emotions in check, always throwing punches at the slightest offense. One must live in peace, I tell you!”

  “I wouldn’t mind, but they don’t listen. They’ve threatened me, beaten me so many times already.”

  “And what did you do?”

  “Fought back, of course!”

  “Well done! If they’re stupid enough not to leave you alone, then give them a lesson they’ll remember for life!”

  We fell silent for a while, watching the broad blue back of the liwzi as it tried to overtake the wagon ahead—but with so much traffic, it was impossible.

  “What’s your name, son? I’m Aunt Palaha.”

  “People call me Aney…”

  “Aney… Oh, poor boy, cursed with that name… same as that bastard… I’d strangle him with my own hands, the scum!”

  Whoa, Auntie, what did I do to you? This is our first time meeting!

  “Can you believe it?!” Palaha got overly emotional. “To kill clergy for no reason, to destroy the temple of our Gods, and then to defy a God himself! And the earth still carries such monsters?! He should burn in hell with the demons! So many people—so many innocent lives he took, the murderer…”

  She shook her head and lashed the liwzi just for show. The poor creature turned one eye toward her and hissed, as if apologizing.

  “So you think he alone is to blame for everything? I heard it was the church that attacked him first, and then the White Twin’s Incarnation.”

  “What heresy are you speaking?! The Gods themselves declared him guilty!”

  “Can’t your Gods be wrong?”

  “Son, the Gods cannot be wrong—they are Gods! Ha-ha-ha, what nonsense!”

  “Strange… I always thought everyone had the right to self-defense—even if their enemy is a god.”

  We had traveled far from the capital. I removed my hood and belt, then rose several meters into the air.

  “Thanks for the ride, Palaha.”

  Her eyes went wide as saucers. She could not believe what was happening right before her.

  “Monster! People, it’s that monster Aney!” she shrieked across the road.

  The other wagons began to stop, and the drivers stepped out into the cold rain. A low murmur swept through the crowd. I watched the auras of hundreds of people, wavering between fear and hatred.

  “That monster! How dare he show himself?!”

  “Get lost…”

  “When will you finally die…”

  “Where are the Gods—why don’t they punish scum like you…”

  Even though I knew there would be no warm welcome after being declared an enemy of the Northern Empire, seeing it with my own eyes was unpleasant.

  For a moment, I wanted to crush them, silence their mouths. Not long ago, this very crowd had cheered wildly at the sight of me in the arena… Scum. They were nothing but trash—feeding on whatever filth their gods shoveled at them.

  Still, I suppose they weren’t truly to blame. The cursed White Twins—they were the real enemies, not these… worthless worms.

  The raindrops pleasantly cooled the skin on my head, calming my burning thoughts. I scowled with disgust and walked away, turning off the road.