Dust fell from the arched ceiling, sizzling as it landed on the Mage Light, the singular source of light in the small underground bunker. Even reinforced by a Demigod, the small room shook.

  The metal shelves bolted to the wall and stacked with food and water, enough to last a dozen people a month, rattled.

  Evelyn had no idea how deep underground they were, only that it wasn’t enough to block out the sounds of battle, at least, not the explosions. She had thought she was an experienced fighter, having fought many battles, but now? Hearing what she heard? She knew she was but a child in the face of such power.

  Evelyn stared at the Mage Light, her knees clenched close to her chest. Without any sunlight or device, it was impossible for Evelyn to tell how long she had been in this bunker.

  An hour? Six? Maybe it had only been a few minutes? Or maybe the sun had already set and risen again, and she had been too stressed to tell?

  Eventually, Evelyn looked up at the only other person in the room. But perhaps person was too generous? The figure sitting across from her, casually reading from a book despite the low light, seemed wrong.

  The figure was feminine, but her hair was the color of ash while her skin was darker than ink. It was not natural.

  The figure, sensing the stare, looked up from its book.

  “Yes?” It tilted its head in curiosity.

  Evelyn couldn’t tell if it was genuine or imitated.

  “What are you?” Evelyn asked after several moments of wondering how to best ask and eventually deciding on the blunt approach.

  Instead of being offended, the figure sat up, crossing its legs and setting the book down.

  “I am a Death Knight. Or, at least that’s what we call ourselves.”

  “Ourselves?”

  “Yes. There are twelve of us. Your brother resurrected us from the dead and we have served him since. Of course, as you should well know from your classes in the academy, it is impossible for any Magic, even Holy or Death, to truly resurrect a person.

  This is no exception.

  In truth, our Souls are gone, moved onto…wherever souls go, I guess. However, your brother was able to instead acquire a copy of our memories, even the memories we had thought to have forgotten. This created a pseudo-soul, which he implanted back into our bodies.

  The result is what you see before you, but things are slightly different, to this day, we are still finding things that were not quite as we remember them being. Just last week,”

  Evelyn quickly interrupted, already knowing that the woman across from her finds this subject interesting and could talk about it for hours.

  “Why did Alaster lie to me? Why pretend to be someone different? Why did he lie to me about how our parents died?”

  Catherine hesitated, her mouth open mid-sentence.

  Sighing, she closed her mouth, “Before we get to that, it is best if I explain somethings first. I won’t say everything, as it is not my place. That is truly a question best suited for my Master, but seeing as how he is busy at the moment, I will try to explain.”

  “At least I know he is still alive, for now.”

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  “How do you mean?” Catherine asked.

  “You are still here. If he dies, you would vanish.”

  “False. We Death Knights operate very differently from the typical Minion. Upon our Master’s death, we would be severely weakened, but would still be able to function and operate completely independently.

  Now, before I get on another tangent, let me begin.

  What do you remember of your Tenth birthday?”

  Evelyn shrugged, “Not much. I remember the party, or at least that there was one. I remember Alaster being asked out on a date. I also remember the present he gave me,” Evelyn fished the crude necklace out of her small Ring of Holding. The string had long since frayed and was yellowed with use. She had worn it until she feared it would break.

  “But I don’t remember anything else.”

  Catherine nodded sadly, “That would be for the best. You were too young, or perhaps you didn’t see it at all. But Alaster did, and it was seared into his brain.”

  Evelyn hugged herself even tighter, “I saw the image.”

  “That image did not do it any justice. I am able to pear into my Master’s memories, at least those he allows me to. I see how he saw it, as well as how it really went, if I focus and short through it. Very tricky stuff. But I saw what happened as if I was there that very night.”

  Catherine took a deep breath, “In life, I was a soldier, one of the strongest. I was sent on missions to eliminate the enemy champions countless times. I have seen all types of bloodshed and violence. But it still stunned me to see what happened that night.

  To this day, years later, my Master refuses to speak of it in any detail. The very few times he has spoken of it, he merely breezes past, saying how his parents were killed, but that is it.

  You lived these last eight years in blissful ignorance. You laughed, you joke, you went to school, you played with friends.

  My master did not have that opportunity.

  Since that night, he has devoted himself to finding you once more. He has fought countless battles, bled a lake, and spilled oceans more. He changed the very fate of Kingdoms, and even died, just to find you.

  In all that time, the only thing that drove him was killing the people responsible, laughing as he bathed in their blood, and someday holding you close once more.

  But the day he finally saw you, that all evaporated. He couldn’t kill the people responsible, because you treated him like a father. My Master couldn’t even return even an ounce of the misery he had felt by killing his son, because you loved his son!

  It made things much more complicated.

  No longer could he just walk in, razing Zolis to the ground, killing anyone that got in his way and staking the Duke’s head on a pike as the river turned red. Consequences be damned. Instead, he had to disguise himself, pretending to play nice with the very man who murdered his parents.

  But then the Demigods put their sight on you simply because of your Constitution. They deemed it too powerful. Capable of changing the dynamic of the Continent by itself.

  So, instead of making himself an enemy of the Lissurian Kingdom, he had to make himself and enemy of the protectors of the entire world! Then, to make it all so much worse, he learned that the Demons were on their way to invade our world, so he had to hasten his plans, skipping entire steps.

  And now, he is battling Demigods, beings of such power that even Masters fear them.

  All for you.

  He planned years ahead, going through unimaginable agony, just to find and protect you.”

  “You are smart. What are his chances?” Evelyn asked, looking up at the still occasionally shaking ceiling.

  Catherine sighed heavily, as if all energy had left her, “If he had been able to prepare all his steps? I would estimate an eighty three percent chance to emerge victorious. And a Ninety two percent chance to escape if defeat was clear. Now? After having been rushed?

  I don’t know. But they aren’t high.”

  Evelyn allowed that to settle. She had just gotten her brother back after so long, and now she was likely to lose him again?

  “What about the Demon Invasion? When is that happening?”

  “There are only a few people who know it is coming. And none know when. Not even the Gods.”

  “If Alaster survives this, he will have to go out and fight against the Demons, won’t he?”

  “Him and everyone else. The Demons are coming to eradicate all of Humanity and its Races. And they are prepared enough to repel the Gods themselves.

  But you need to understand something about your Brother right now, before anything else happens.” Catherine waited until she was sure she had all of Evelyn’s attention.

  “In his pursuit to become strong enough to come for you, he also became strong enough to be a critical figure in the entire Continent. He had a Demigod’s attention even when he was just an Adept.

  His connection to the Independent Alliance was not a lie. He is very close to them and would likely even consider them to be his home. Yet he would give that up for you. But if he is confident that you would be safe, he would run off to fight and protect.”

  Evelyn smiled to himself, “He has always been that way. Protect what is close to him, forget everything else.”

  Catherine leaned closer, attempting to lighten the mood, “So who was this date you were talking about?”

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