Malkin and two other Mages extended their glowing green hands over Felssi as they tried to heal her injuries. She screamed nonsense as she struggled against four Death elves who held her down with heavy chains.

  “Malkin! Stop disobeying orders and release me! I refuse to let the Damaran campaign end with my humiliation! I would rather you kill me where I stand than to let me live the rest of my life knowing that a half-ear did this to me!” Felssi said, headbutting the Death Elf holding her left arm down and rising to her feet.

  “Never! I would never harm you, Master Felssi. Revenge shall be yours, but I must turn a deaf ear to your request. You will die if we leave you in this state any longer,” Malkin said, creating a red shield below Felssi’s feet and rotating it to make Felssi fall back down. “I will gladly throw away our campaign here and suffer the consequences, be it demotion or death, for your survival.”

  “That can be arranged,” Felssi said as she pulsed red Mana around her arms, breaking many of the chains binding her.

  “Malkin!”

  The Death Elves looked to the scratchy voice. Halkiss ran towards them in a haggard state with his hand over his heart. His crazed eyes startled Malkin, but he quickly remembered his anger towards him.

  “Halkiss, you coward! I am surprised you are willing to show your face after turning your tail and fleeing during the heat of battle!”

  “And I would do it again, but that is of no importance right now!” Halkiss said before pointing to the white tower in the distance. “That tower of war is a Mana Bomb! This place was a death trap from the beginning!”

  “What?” Felssi said in shock as she snapped her head to the white tower. She growled as she narrowed her eyes at the tower of war. “So this was Kaleen’s trump card…”

  Halkiss knocked away the Death elves surrounding Felssi and jumped on top of her himself, locking her in a bear hug.

  “There’s no time to escape. I need every Elf to pile on top of us. Malkin, envelop the entire group with your strongest shields. Maybe we can all survive if it holds. Hurry!”

  Malkin grabbed onto Felssi as well before enveloping the entire group of Death elves in a dome of red Mana.

  “For Master Felssi and the glory of Yis!” shouted the Death Elves in unison as they all began to jump pile on top of Felssi, Halkiss, and Malkin.

  Malkin made the Mana dome smaller before creating four more layers around the first dome.

  The white tower glowed a deep blue, with a halo of the same color appearing above it. The cool, misty night lit up blue as the entirety of Damaran flooded with ambient light.

  A white ball of Mana quickly shot out of the white tower before the entire city of Damaran erupted with a crushing boom that incinerated every building, tree, and ancient structure.

  The explosion only lasted a few moments, yet the proud elven city of Damaran was no more. Only a flat field of ashes with burning embers and black smoke.

  Malkin’s shields no longer stood, as a pile of ashes replaced them. The ashes blew away to reveal Felssi, Halkiss, and Malkin huddled together under a small dome of red Mana.

  Felssi dismissed the small dome of Mana and then looked down at the ashes that were the remains of her squadron. Halkiss and Malkin coughed heavily as the ashes blew around them.

  “Master Felssi, are you unharmed?” Malkin said, going into another fit of coughing.

  Felssi ignored Malkin’s question as her hands shook and scooped up the ashes. She rose to her feet once more with shaky legs, all while shaking her head at the ashes blowing from her hands.

  “What beautiful soldiers. They understood their worth and sacrificed their own lives for someone greater than them. Malkin, ensure that you drown their families in gifts and praise.”

  “Of course. I will make the arrangements. However, I suggest we leave Damaran immediately, not only for our health, but also because our enemies might return at any moment.”

  “I doubt those lower-elves will return here. We still have some forces stationed on the outskirts of Damaran who likely survived this disaster. They will be helpful when Arekia's crown attempts to reclaim Damaran in a few days. Ultimately, I count our campaign here in Damaran a failure. I do not care about this ashen plot of land. My reputation will take a massive blow in the Dark Country because of that half-ear Scout wielding the weapon of the Staff Hero. That sorry excuse of a Death Emperor has some explaining to do. I was not expecting to face the Staff Hero tonight.”

  “The Staff Hero?” Malkin said as he tried to support Felssi by holding her up by the arms.

  “I will explain later since time is of the essence. I must make it home before Halkiss, who is already gone. He will spin this disaster to his political favor if he makes it home first.” Felssi said, pointing to the area where Halkiss was sitting, which was now completely vacant.

  “Again, with this foolishness! I cannot believe such a scoundrel shares the same blood as Master Felssi!” Malkin said with a growl.

  “Enough, Halkiss has always been the center of his own world. I will deal with him later, but let us leave the Misty Alps first. I loathe this place with a passion.”

  Felssi and Malkin walked through the ashes of Damaran as the break of dawn finally peeked over the hills, signalling the end of the conflict and fully illuminating the destruction of Damaran.

  ***

  Deep inside a forgotten mining cave, the survivors of Damaran and the Hossa Mercenary Band stopped their march as the mine shook with tremors. The Damaran citizens gasped with fear as the hanging lights above them flickered and the ground trembled below them.

  “Remain calm, my people. This mine has been reinforced with Mysteria. It will not fall so easily,” Hiddel said in a loud voice to calm his people.

  The tremors stopped, leading them to continue their march through the dry and dimly lit mine.

  No one said it out loud, but everyone understood that Damaran was likely leveled to ashes.

  Izick walked alongside the other Scouts. Mill was busy healing the injured on some carts ahead, so he stuck with the Scouts toward the rear. He eventually found himself beside Hobbs, who returned to his duty of carrying Bersi, who was still unconscious, on his back.

  "This is the first time I've ever seen her this quiet."

  "Haha, that makes the two of us."

  The rest of the Scouts ignored Izick due to the awkwardness of him knowing that they all abandoned him when he sent the signal. They chose their own safety instead of risking their lives for a single Scout.

  Hobbs glanced at the sleeping Bersi.

  "Izick, I don't believe Bersi's hatred of you is personal. She just wants someone to blame for Vezzel's death. That man saved her from a life of destruction, so she is likely dealing with her grief by taking her regrets out on you."

  Izick almost retorted, but the discomfort in his neck shifted his next words back to his top priority.

  "I couldn't care less about her motives, just like any other Scout here. We're all here to do a job and get paid. I played by your rules and finished the job you and Adell set for me. I want this collar removed."

  Izick felt the collar loosen around his neck before falling to the rocky ground of the mine. Adell snatched the collar off the ground and stuffed it into her pocket.

  "You fulfilled the conditions we set for you. It was a nasty deal, but I enjoyed working with you. I'll ask my questions later once we're on the other side of this," Adell said, nodding to Izick and returning to the other Scouts.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "You're free now, Izick. There are no complaints from me, but Barson and Scotts are another story. I doubt they will be willing to let you go just yet before answering a few questions," Hobbs said, adjusting Bersi on his back. Izick internally groaned at this new complication. Avoiding Barson and Scotts was now his top priority if he wished to escape with Mill.

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  Izick left Hobbs behind and apologized as he squeezed past Damaran citizens to get to the front of Damaran's Elves. He figured Kaleen was there, and he still needed to talk to her. She only arrived here via teleportation minutes before the tremors.

  He spotted the two children he shared his bread with earlier. They smiled and waved to him and he returned the same gesture before continuing to push towards the front to find Kaleen.

  Kaleen noticed Izick coming closer, so she ordered her soldiers to move to the side to give Izick a path forward.

  Izick walked up to Kaleen’s side with his head hung low.

  “I'm so sorry. Labon died right in front of me, and I was powerless to stop Felssi from taking his life. My plans didn't work as well as I imagined, which led to many deaths.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for, young hero. We are the ones who should be apologizing and thanking you for what you did for us,” Kaleen said with a smile as she placed an armored hand on Izick's shoulder. “You went above and beyond what we asked of you, facing off against Felssi at the risk of losing your own life for our people. I cannot thank you enough.”

  Kaleen pulled out a medal and then peered at it for a few seconds.

  “I will personally present this medal to Labon’s family. He was a soldier in every sense of the word and took his duty seriously. I will miss him greatly, but the blood of his death is not on your hands but mine,” Kaleen said with a somber expression before putting the medal away.

  “I truly did not expect Felssi to find our citizens, which forced Labon to make his sacrifice for my folly and caused you to face death yourself. I will now live the rest of my life carrying this burden of my prideful failure.”

  “Kaleen… ”

  “This is the nature of leadership. A leader must carry the burdens and hopes of those they lead and must take ownership of each soaring success and bone-crushing failure. You will understand this burden as well when you take on leadership yourself.”

  “I'm not ready for anything like that,” Izick said as he lowered his shoulders.

  “That is why you must train yourself and take this one step at a time. If you don't mind me asking, do you have some sort of teacher? I fear there is much you need to learn for your own survival.”

  Izick perked back up and instantly pointed to Mill, who was distracted by some of the injured soldiers and was healing them with her glowing green hands while being pulled on a cart.

  “That Healer over there is my current teacher. I would be completely lost right now without her. I wouldn't have survived today without her instruction and help.”

  Kaleen looked at Mill with confusion.

  “That is a Healer?”

  “Yes, and one of the best I've ever seen.”

  “But her Mana is…” Kaleen said as she brought her hand to her chin while in deep thought. “Well, that is good for you since I believe you can learn from a Mage like her. However, there are some specific Skills that you might want to learn from a traditional Mage.”

  "Yeah, my teacher even admitted to this fact as well."

  Kaleen pulled out a blue gemstone shaped like a heart and a strip of rough, fading paper with strange markings written on it.

  “This paper is a Sigil Strip and is the main form of communication amongst Elves. Your Humin Long Books are based on this technology we invented. You may contact me through this Sigil Strip if you ever need my assistance."

  "Thank you, I've never actually seen one of these in person before, but I will definitely contact you again. Our conversation earlier was very helpful to me," Izick said, receiving the strip of paper and the blue gemstone from Kaleen. His eyes stayed on the strange, blue gemstone.

  “Is this for communication as well?” Izick said as he held up the gemstone towards the dim lights of the mine.

  “It's a bargaining chip, or more accurately, a peace offering.”

  “I don't understand.”

  “I recommend you seek out the remaining Summoned Heroes for knowledge of the Blessing since that is an area I am unfamiliar with. Humins keep that level of Mysteria close to their chest.” Kaleen paused for a moment until the only sound was the many reverberating steps of those in the mine.

  "However, I personally don't know where the Heroes are or how to bargain with them. They might even want to kill you if they find out who you worked for in the past. So I believe the best option for you is to seek out the Grand Mage of Arekia, Yaria. She is a particular person who is moody and eccentric, but lead off with gifts, and you might be able to convince her to help you. I believe you will need a unique solution to your problems, and she could be the one to show you the path forward. I know this since I have met her before and can vouch for the obscene amount of knowledge and expertise she possesses."

  Yaria, a name Izick heard a few times in the past but more now than ever after Alister forced the Blessing onto him. Foster Braun mentioned this Mage and now Kaleen. Izick held up the gemstone to Kaleen.

  "So this gem is the key to getting her to help me? You mentioned this was a ‘peace offering’ to Yaria. Did you do something to anger her?”

  “Not directly, but Yaria is angry with the entire world if that makes sense. I was one of her teachers in Elven Mysteria, but her knowledge of Mysteria likely surpasses mine by now. She devours knowledge with a voracious appetite that is quite frightening. I will also send you a tome to offer to Yaria, but this Sapphire Heart will act as proof to her that I sent you, though she may turn you away, blast you out of existence, or simply ignore you, despite your best efforts.”

  “She sounds kind of dangerous.”

  “She is, but her dynamic knowledge of Mysteria would greatly improve your chances of surviving this situation you have found yourself in. I believe this dance with death is now imperative for your survival.”

  Izick stared down at the rocky ground below him before nodding his head.

  “I understand. Thank you for these items. I will definitely seek out Yaria when the chance arrives, but I need to be somewhere first.”

  “Of course. It will take some time to find Yaria anyway, since she is a private person and even I am uncertain of her exact location. We will be in contact, young hero. Stay strong for yourself, and the good of Arekia,” Kaleen said before tapping Izick on the shoulder. She nodded and then took out a roll of black cloth.

  "Ah, and take this with you. This is elven warding cloth. This should replace the warding cloth you have been using. Our elven warding cloths are very effective. So long."

  Kaleen pushed forward to converse with Hiddel, who was busy talking with a group of older Elves about a subject.

  These new warding cloths seemed to be of good quality, which wasn't a high bar since he was currently using a bed sheet he ripped from a ruined house in Damaran to cover the Honor Rod after Foster Braun's warding cloth burned up.

  Mill came up to Izick and sighed deeply, hunching over and letting her shoulders drop in exhaustion.

  “I'm glad I came up here. Those soldiers back there were trying to act tough in front of Kaleen and hide their injuries. I'm glad I healed them in time, but things would've been way quicker with my staff.”

  “Thanks for saving me earlier against Felssi. I would've been dead twice over if you and Giselle weren't there. But I do have a question,” Izick said as he tapped the top of his head.

  “During my fight with Felssi, I randomly felt this soothing feeling of relief come over me from the top of my head down to the rest of my body. Do you know what that was?”

  Mill scratched her cheek and laughed awkwardly.

  “Uh, I secretly placed a Mysteria Skill called Mana Tag on you before you left to Scout Damaran.”

  Izick’s mind snapped back to when Mill annoyingly ruffled his hair after they first met Hobbs. Did she place this Tag on him when she did this?

  “What? Why would you do that?”

  “Because you keep returning a battered mess after every major scouting mission I've seen you in. Hobbs mentioned how dangerous this mission was, so I did it on the spur of the moment,” Izick thought over his last few scouting missions, and Mill was right. From the Bands of Iron to the Death Emperor's castle, he came out alive each time, but just barely. Though he still didn't like the idea of a Mysteria Skill being used on him without his permission.

  “I was able to pinpoint your exact location with the Mana Tag and even remotely channeled Healing Mana to you when I got within range, but I should have told you. Sorry. I didn't want you to feel unstoppable or disrespect you by saying I expected you to get hurt, but using a flashy Skill like that on you could have given away your location while scouting.” Mill said, rubbing the back of her neck.

  “Oh, I'm not mad at you or anything. A little annoyed, but definitely not angry. I'm glad you cared about me enough to even go that far. I really appreciate it. Though I am frustrated that I didn't notice it until it was activated. What if an enemy tried something like that and used a Mystria Skill on me without me knowing?”

  “That's to be expected. You can't sense it too well externally since Mana Tags merge with your internal Mana, and you need a lot of training to even sense it internally. Training, I plan on hammering into you after we get out of this dry mine.”

  “Ugh, more books by Mueller?”

  “Of course, along with extensive Mana Shaping. We haven't done much training since we first started traveling with this caravan, but that will soon change.”

  Izick groaned as Mill mockingly giggled at Izick's incoming workload. He had his work cut out for him, but he felt like he could stand the fire now that he knew he didn't have to face his problems alone.

  The survivors of Damaran and the Hossa Mercenary Band stepped out of the mines and watched the sun begin to rise.

  He shielded his eyes from the sun rising in the distance like everyone else around him. He was closer to getting back home to Cylvia, but he also felt closer to finding himself outside of the titles of "Staff Hero", "Scout", or "NPC".

  Kaleen was right. He had to find a way to write his own story. A story that wasn't defined by Alister or anyone else.

  Mill handed Izick volume four of Regalos de Estra, causing him to sigh deeply.

  "The sun is out now. Time to start reading."

  A small grin came over his face despite not wanting to read a single word from Mueller's books. More trouble would definitely find him, but he was now reassured that he no longer had to face his problems alone.

  END OF VOLUME 1

  We've reached the end of Volume 1 of The Abandoned System. Thank you for joining Izick and Mill on their journey so far.

  Brief Hiatus Notice: I'll be taking a break from posting due to a family emergency and relocating to a new area. I know breaks have a reputation in the web serial world, so let me be clear:

  This is NOT:

  Writer's block

  Loss of interest

  Uncertainty about the story's direction

  This IS:

  Real life circumstances that require my immediate attention

  The story is planned and outlined from beginning to end. I'm committed to finishing The Abandoned System and making this journey worth your time.

  Volume 2 starts Wednesday, February 18th, 2026 with Chapter 36.

  Thank you for reading my story every week, and I appreciate each of you. You took time out of your day each Tuesday and Wednesday to read TAS. I don't take that for granted, and I'll do my best to not disappoint you.

  See you February 18th.

  — Ohm