the tower

Sarabi returned quickly, on its back laid a dead deer and within its coiled tail plenty of firewood sat. she dropped it next to him and he quickly started a fire while she skinned the deer skillfully with her razor-sharp tail and claws. soon after the smell of roasted venison wafted within the air.' hey Sarabi what should we do with the corpse?' he asked. ' Well, we need some teeth and a claw to confirm its death, but the rest could be thrown into your storage. maybe we could get an armor smith to make some armor out of it or some nice leather boots, whatever you desire cub' she said. he only shook his head in amusement over the fact she wants to turn a dragon into leather boots.

he got up and checked his armor, seeing no damage he was glad, his body could be fixed up, but the armor required a master smith to work around the enchantments. 'Are you entering?' she asked, he only put on his helmet and summoned his halberd, although he wouldn't be able to use it to its full potential a long hallway and a halberd tip was a deadly combo. he marched up to the door and to no surprise it was locked but a bit of "persuasion" and it opened into a million pieces. the inside resembled a stone hall with a pillar at its center which had bars embedded into it allowing it to be climbed leading to a higher floor. around the hall where all manner of crates holding dried meats and vegetables, whoever was living here planned to do so for a very long time.

he climbed up the ladder swiftly, the second floor held what he could only describe as body parts floating in something behind glass. he heard shuffling above him and quickly jumped up to the top floor, dodging a candle stick which headed for his head. he looked towards his assailant only to see a scared old man garbed in lucaria robes. " So, a mage was the reason for those waves of magic" he whispered. taking a closer look at their surroundings he realized that there were more vats on this floor except two of them actually held bodies. a male and female body, almost identical if it were not for the different assets. both had silver like skin, their eyes deep blue in color, teens in physique actually. he turned to the old man and placed the halberd on his neck.

"Explain or die" was all that was needed to make the old man piss himself. "y-yes o-of cour- course you'd w- want to know, you see this is m-my life's work, artificial life not tied to the Erd tree" he said becoming more and more passionate as he described it. "Life blessed by the silver rays from our moon, the first generation was made in Raya lucaria alongside a team, we were found unfortunately and banished which brought many flaws to the second generation" the old man said almost ignoring him as he turned around to marvel at the two completed beings.

"i alone have found a way to rid the first generation of its flaws all while boosting their capabilities even further, these two are but the beginning of the third generation, within their minds I have made it possible for them to wield sorceries without a catalyst, the girl has an unmatched talent in archery and thanks to a spell I stole from Loretta she is a force to be reckoned with" he said almost as if admiring his toys.

" The boy is a demon with dual weaponry, his personal spell allows him to create two magical arms below his own and wield them as if the originals, oh yes I can already see him cutting down my enemies with ease" he almost gushed. "Hoh they aren't the last, soon enough ill create more and more, bit by bit ill make my own personal army, AND THEN RAYA LUCARIA FALLS FOR THEIR IGNORANCE HA I CA-" suddenly his world was flipped upside down and he lost his voice. Leonel watched his face contort one last final time from confusion to happy lunacy " I would never let you endanger regular scholars and the people of liurnia for your wild ambitions, may the moon take you fiend" he said.

he then turned to the two finished... whatever they are and struck with his halberd breaking the glass and letting crystal infused water rush out. the two slumped onto the floor but slowly got up. the moment they laid eyes upon him they immediately kneeled. "Master, albinauric one and two are ready for you to command" they said in perfect unison. he stood there, gob smacked, "oh uh well, find clothes?" he asked in utter confusion. the stood up and simply jumped down the hatch. he followed them to see them open a single crate and begin donning clothing then armor. the girl chose leather and chainmail armor with a chain hood and the boy chose leather and plate armor from the bottom of the crate.

they then turned to him and stood eerily still," um go find weapons for yourselves and think of a personal name you wish to be called by" he said. they bowed slightly and went towards another crate, the girl picked up a recurve bow, and a quiver filled with barbed arrows and the boy picked up two swords in their sheath then put them on his back before getting two more and putting them on his waist. they turned to him and kneeled "we are ready for combat master; we have chosen our names" they said in unison. "I wish to be called silver" the boy said. "I wish to be called Dew" the girl said. "Silver dew huh? alright then let's leave this place" Leonel said as he was followed out by the twins.

outside Sarabi laid upon a large piece of glint stone left over from the fight' who are they cub?' she asked. "They are silver and dew, albinaurics created by some crazy mage who was the reason as to why there was so much magic being used here, he was creating life itself" he explained. "This is Sarabi, she is my companion and sister, treat her with respect you two, we need a horse huh?" he said now realizing that not all of them could ride Sarabi. " Hop atop Sarabi and hold onto her flames, it's weird I know but just do it, Sarabi I will run next to you, let's go to the rosewater village and buy two horses for them" he said remembering the map correctly.

the twins spoke only when spoken to even when he told them to speak freely around him, he chalked it up to them being just "born" in a sense although when a group of bandits stupidly tried to stop them the two tore through them with little difficulty, the mad mage was right on that at least. rosewater village was basically a small stopping point in-between limgrave port to the north which was created by the golden order to bypass liurnia by ships and strong iron fort. the place wasn't large, but they did have a stable which they sold horses in, a quick transaction later and the two had brand new healthy and young horses to ride alongside Sarabi. they made a quick pit stop at the smoldering village only to see looters and bandits prowling the area.

" Kill all bandits and looters, save anyone you can find still alive" was all Leonel said before brandishing his halberd and rushing forward. every swing of his deadly pole arm took a life, a kick usually broke several ribs sending them inwards puncturing their lungs making sure they suffered plenty while they slowly drowned in their own blood. he cut a bloody swathe through them until he found her. tied up to a pole, her stomach gutted as blood pooled below her. he fell to his knees in disbelief ' cub she is alive quickly use your spirit healing' Sarabi said as she could hear a faint heartbeat coming from the woman. Leonel quickly rushed to her and began to do just that, but by bit he scooped up her innards to help with the healing process.

her soul although hurt and in pain still wished to fight on and he was more than happy to oblige. the twins stood behind him protectively as they watched him work. bit by bit life returned to her eyes removing the heavy feeling in his stomach. the wound in her stomach closed but he knew it was far from over. he summoned venison and fresh water from his storage and got Sarabi to teach the twins how to cook it while he worked. sweat was practically pooling below him, but he kept going. half an hour later he felt the final drop of blood return to her body, he quickly cut her down and laid her beside the fire then sat down. "any survivors?" he asked.

"Four of the villagers made it master, they had repaired an old cart and tied a horse to it while we protected them" silver said while dew nodded in affirmation to his story. "Good, this is Lina, one of the surviving villagers from the dragon onslaught, she suffered plenty, and I couldn't let her die on that pole, although she very likely wished to" he said as he watched the older woman squirm in his bedroll, likely fighting through a nightmare." we'll rest here for tonight, tomorrow we'll go to fort strong iron and leave behind what was requested for my mission then head to storm hill city" he said as he summoned a cople of rough leathers for them to sleep on before he leaned against Sarabi and got some shut eye.

the next day came quick, Leonel awoke feeling a hand caressing his face. he looked up to see Lina staring down at him lovingly which left him quite confused yet something within him said this was normal. "Good morning honey, thank you for saving mommy yesterday my little knight in shining armor "she said with the sweetest voice only a loving mother could muster. feeling or not that completely left him confused, he got off of her much to her disappointment and turned to Sarabi in utter bewilderment. ' there's a reason spirit healing isn't as popular as golden incantations cub, i told you to do it so you may save her like you wanted to but healing another being with your soul leaves behind shards of your own essentially tying you together in a much deeper bond than blood' she explained.

' She in technicality is your soul mother due to the age of her soul being greater than your own, spirit tuners are rare not because it's hard to become one but because they were exterminated long ago due to the power this very ability can hold over another soul' she said. 'So... I have a mother now?' he asked still rather confused. 'yes she is now your mother by soul standards, not your biological mother although her body will gradually change to fit that thanks to your soul shards left within her, don't worry your soul is perfectly fine its just that some small bits now reside in another' she explained.

he turned back to... his mother? strangely he didn't feel anything wrong with that word. she sent him a radiant smile, something she very likely hasn't done since that day. he chose to ignore it and process it later. the twins where already atop their horses waiting for his command, he helped his mo... Lina up atop Sarabi and jumped up as well and they were off. Lina gave her hometown one last look as she felt sadness grip her heart, but her arms wrapped around the boy before her, her baby boy.

the trip to fort strong iron was a quick one and thankfully a calm one Leonel dismounted Sarabi and went alone towards the fort. boarding the raft alongside some guards bringing in supplies they quickly arrived at the shores of fort strong iron. there the mountain of a man commander Gus awaited them. " hahaha good job kid, me and the boys watched the fight from the observatory, you gave that dragon a hell of a fight, that armor you have is quite the work of art to come out of a dragon attack unscathed like that, tell me is your master Ansel the sky render by any chance?" Gus asked with a bit of excitement in his voice.

"Uh yes he is, how did you know?" Leonel asked in confusion. "hahaha your glint stone style is much like his, most of the other knights wield it like a rigid weapon using it in simple moves but you wield the stone as if it was fluid which is something your master pioneered, he gave us quite the fight during the second war" he said as if remembering the old days. " anyways the gold is already in your account, we watched the fight so no need to give us a souvenir, you've helped fort strong iron greatly and i wish to anoint you a baron of limgrave, i wish to give you the lakeside village which was hit by a dragon and ill even have my boys clean it up and get some stone masons and builders to make it greater than before how does that sound kid?" he asked.

"Will that stop me from becoming a knight of liurnia?" Leonel asked as that was his first priority. Gus only laughed uproariously. "No not at all kid, even your master is the duke of the free city star fall in caelid, owning a town and its surrounding lands isn't a sin boy" he said. " Then I accept, thank you for this opportunity" he said. "Haha don't mention it boy, the village was all but ignored by nobility which is why a juvenile dragon struck it and left it burning for a month awaiting a mercenary to deal with it, I commander Gus Loux anoint Leonel as a baron of limgrave with the lakeside village and its surrounding lands as territory, should he wish to create a militant force then let it be his own not tied to any kingdom" Gus proclaimed, a soldier next to him wrote it all down.

" And there you go kid, I'll send one of my boys to storm hill city with the deeds of the land, the reconstruction will take some time but if you'd like I can send the director of the project your way and you can grease his hands to speed it up" he offered. " yes that would be perfect, thank you greatly commander" Leonel said. " your welcome boy now get out of my fort, my boys saw your battle and they are eager to train I thank you for that as well" he said as he slapped his shoulder and walked towards the elevator. " a baron huh? wonder what master would say if he was here, probably something along the lines of "don't get cocky kid you still suck" or something, Hehe old coot" he spoke to himself as he boarded the raft headed back to the shore.