The Deathbringers

Once in the room, I looked around a little: there were two bunk beds placed in the corners of the main room, a medium-sized table with a black sofa stood in the middle of the room, a separate room for a toilet and shower, as well as a kitchen-hallway. It was already getting dark outside, but the only source of illumination, a small chandelier with 5 candles in the center of the hall, did not cope well with its duties and gave only the necessary minimum of light. The chandelier in the inspector's office was better.

"Hello," I said, "I joined your team by order of Her Holiness Sister Isabella to learn the magic craft."

"What?" a man under two meters tall looked at me with a surprised look, who still could not find a place in the room and was constantly pacing back and forth. "Magic craft? Who says that?" He smiled warmly, but because of the poor lighting, shadows played on his face, which made the smile look more manic than it should be.

Man himself looked a little sloppy: an unshaven and slightly stupid expression on his face, which, apparently, was natural; a relaxed look in his blue eyes spoke of a frivolous attitude to everything that was happening; his hair, like the stubble, was completely white, although I would not call him an albino.

His style of dress was as casual as his appearance: red boots, dirty black smeared trousers and a rumpled, untucked linen shirt.

"Anyway, make yourself comfortable, we'll try to teach you everything we know ourselves," it seemed to me more and more that he was the leader, because he completely took the initiative in the conversation.

"What about his participation in the mission?" Vector asked a reasonable question. "I wouldn't want some squishy guy to die and then be blamed for us."

Mission? Most likely, if I can die on it, then they definitely won't take me, because according to my legend, I got my abilities recently and I don't even know how to control them.

"I don't care, cannon fodder never hurts," he looked at Vector, and then at me with some unnatural look from his big eyes, "you don't mind, do you, boy?"

"Yakov," I replied with tension in my voice, "my name is Yakov."

"Ha-ha-ha, I was joking, don't worry so much!" he laughed. "By the way my name is Skell."

"You have a shitty sense of humor, buddy," Vector said with some amusement in his voice. Apparently, he was laughing himself.

"So!" Skell stopped laughing and clapped his hands, sitting down at the table. "Before deciding whether to take Yakov with us or not, we must first complete our plan. Where is Gwan? And the Roses?" When I heard the last words, I tensed up a little. Do you need two teams at once to complete this operation? It looks like the mission could really be dangerous. I'd better not get into trouble for now.

"Gwan decided to pray in the church, and these... Well, you know what they're doing there," Vector said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"To be honest, I envy Maximilian," Skell leaned back on the sofa with a sigh. "I also want to relax."

"Well, walk around the city, there's a lot of trash on the street, you'll like someone," Vector said.

"No, I wouldn't want to get some kind of sore," Skell replied without even a single laugh. "And anyway, I'm a fan of pure love."

"Did I mention that you have a shitty sense of humor, buddy?" Vector grinned.

"Come on, I'm totally serious," smiled Skell.

Vector just chuckled at that. And I... well, I was even having a little fun, so I smiled.

"Let's wait a little longer, and then I'll go get the Red Roses," Vector said.

"Okay, Yakov, let's start with the basics of magic then," Skell looked at me with his relaxed gaze. "What do you even know about it?"

"Magic is grace sent by the Gods," I said, admiring the pious believers.

"Yes, it is true, because it was the Gods who gave birth to our world and endowed it with magic, but magic is not something abstract," Skell said, holding up his finger. "These are microparticles invisible to the human eye, which the Awakened can control," said Skell. "What else do you know?"

"That's all," I replied, "Mother Isabella said to find out everything from you."

"Okay, let's start with the basics, have a seat," Skell replied, giving me his place on the couch.

"There are 4 types of magic: elemental, meta-elemental, non-elemental, and ritual."

"With elemental magic, I think everything is clear: fire, wind, water and earth. But very often metals and magenergy are included in this category of magic. Magenergy is what is obtained after the absorption of magparticles. In general, this is the magic that we are talking about now, from which you can create anything in the future. In any case, every mage should learn all the elemental magic at least at a basic level – to learn a couple of spells.

I nodded, even though I already knew all this.

"Meta-elemental magic is advanced elemental magic. In many ways, this is a combination of the elements to get something different. Let's say you can create lava with the help of earth and fire magic. But in order to become a lava mage, you don't have to be an expert in earth and fire magic."

Yes, it is true. Even flesh magic is essentially meta-elemental, but I don't need to be an expert in the elements to do it.

"Non-elemental magic is the most difficult and extraordinary type of magic, as it usually concentrates on exerting a direct influence on the soul, mind and body of a person. Every living being has its own natural defense against magical influence, otherwise we simply would not have survived in this world, but mages can improve their defense passively as they develop, as well as influence it on their own, so non-elemental magic is used mainly as combat support for a mage or not used at all. This type includes mind magic and soul magic."

"Ritual magic is also a support magic and is divided into ritual elemental, meta-elemental and non-elemental. All three species are fixated on rituals and symbolism, for example, to connect with another person through his blood. However, there is an exception to the rule. The magic of light and darkness can be used without rituals and they are considered combat."

Exactly the same rules worked in my world, but after the gradual disappearance of magic, everything became different. The study of ritual and non-elemental magic lost all meaning, since rituals of appealing to powerful entities and demigods were no longer useful; non-elemental magic could no longer break through natural defenses.

Given the strong similarities between our worlds, I have a theory that both of our worlds were created by the same gods. This could explain the proximity of our worlds in almost everything, but some details still elude me.

"And what kind of magic do you have?" I asked out of pure interest.

"I have meta-elemental magic: bones. It is also worth noting that the closer the magical path you own to another, the easier it will be to master it. Therefore, I also possess flesh and blood magic, although not at such a good level."

"What about the paths themselves? How does a person choose the main direction for himself? Is this some kind of dictate of fate or the will of the mage himself?" I asked to clarify the rules of this world.

"A person decides for himself which path to choose at the beginning of his path, and in the future it will be easier for him to start studying a path close in direction, rather than something completely new. However, learning other paths will become more difficult as you progress in mastering the other path. The better your mastery of, say, the bones, the more your soul transforms. It's starting to take on the color of your path."

"So a person won't be able to learn absolutely all the magical paths?" the exact same rule applied in my world, which only strengthened my faith in that theory.

"Exactly, but even so, it can take decades, if not a lifetime, to study one path, you know?" he asked.

And I understood this very well, because I myself was a product of such a situation.

"That's why many mages are looking for a way to become immortal in order to continue studying magic, and that's why the Church personally issues a training permit to control everything."

Some kind of Church monopoly on magic. What does the government think about this? And who rules the country at all? Maybe there is a theocracy in the country, headed by the leader of the church? Then it would explain everything.

"Boring..." mumbled Vector, "I'll go get the Roses already."

Skell said that we would be waiting for someone named Gwan, and when I asked who it was, he replied that this was another member of their team, and his full name was Gwanrom.

After a while, Vector entered the room with the words that the Roses would be coming soon. After him came Gwanrom, who, like Vector, was wearing a cloak, but unlike Vector, this one was taller and reached the level of a Skell or even slightly higher.

And only then did the Roses come in, consisting of one guy and two girls.

The guy was young, he looked 20 years old. He had flowing blond hair, blue eyes, and androgynous facial features. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and grey trousers with brown berets. He had a scabbard with a one-handed sword slung over his shoulder, secured with a belt.

As for the girls, one of them was middle-aged with bat ears in place of the usual ones, and the second with bronze skin looked young and wore a slave collar.

The one with unusual ears was wearing women's shirts with an expanded area in front of the cuffs and a narrowed waist, as well as leggings, but she also wore a green raincoat with a button on the neck, which hid something behind her back. The bulging silhouette looked like a medium-sized bow.

Her hair was blond, like the leader of their group, Maximilian, and her face was somehow looked annoyed: narrowed red eyes, a small nose and a mouth expression that spoke of constant dissatisfaction. The skin was quite light and almost pale.

The bronze-skinned girl came in a white T-shirt with leather straps attached to it with pockets on them, which contained knives, small snacks and something else that was not for my naked eye. Her pants, it is worth noting, did not so much notice the figure, as they helped to store even more stuff with the help of various pockets.

Despite all this martial equipment, she looked like a child, perhaps even younger than this body: baby chubby cheeks, a small nose, an uncertain smile and curly hair, which added to her more childish temperament. Her eyes were black and she constantly tried to look away if someone started looking directly into them. Is she shy? Or was she taught not to look into the eyes by the owner?

I involuntarily turned my gaze first to her collar, and then to Maximilian. He doesn't look like a man who could enslave another.

"Is everyone here? Can we start?" Skell asked a small crowd of adventurers, to which he received an approving hum.

"Recently, a Liberation Army base was discovered by Baron intelligence in the woodlands of Greenforrest," Skell said.

Greenforrest is one of the four districts of the city, located in the southern and part of the eastern regions of the city. In many ways, these lands are not even touched. For example, the village of lumberjacks and the road leading to this city – Flir – is also part of this area, but practically no one lives there. Greenforrest is also called the woodlands in which I appeared.

The Liberation Army is an underground organization of runaway slaves who are eager to free their brothers and kill slave owners. Perhaps there is some more information on them, but either the soul of the lumberjack did not know anything else, or I did not catch up, which is also very possible.

"The Baroness's administration, and therefore the Baroness herself, want us to sort this out," Skell continued. "These people can be very dangerous, after all, when they were active, among them were professional slaves who received military training during the colonial wars. They trained those they freed, so almost all runaway slaves can use magic. That's why we need two teams."

I glanced at the slave girl. She was looking at the floor, her hand clutching Max's. The other girl noticed my gaze and slowly blocked her her friend from my gaze.

"So the Baroness gave us a mission," Max nodded, "but what about the reward?"

"500 thousand crowns to each team, barony medals and the status of honorary citizens," replied Skell.

At the mention of the honorable citizens, I noticed that the slave came forward a little and the other girl was no longer blocking her.

"Not bad, what about the plan?" Max asked, not letting go of Bronzeskin's palm.

"It's simple, we'll attack at night. We will be given one spy from intelligence who will guide us through the forest, and then we will give battle to the enemies."

After that, Skell looked at me.

"By the way, you're not going, Yakov," Skell smiled at me.