In the shroud of darkness, Julian lay in bed with his eyes wide open, wrought with unrest; these days, he couldn't sleep on a normal schedule and had few hours of actual downtime. The memories set on repeat on the brutal death of Erika seemed so unreal. How could she be dead after one fight? Julian at least expected to be dealing with forces of evil far above his skill, but so far, he'd faced small-time shrimps. Was it luck? Thoughts of the demon's deaths played over in his head in perfect loops before he could settle his mind and accept the consequences so he could sleep. At long last, he fell asleep, holding on to the book of magic left in his possession by Fiodora; while he slept it opened up on top of his chest where he'd been clutching it and its pages began to flip through until they stopped at a particular chapter titled "Half-breed".
In the morning, a frigid breeze came from the balcony, airing out any warmth the canopy had accumulated from the sun. Julian woke up, with his eyes, reddened by fatigue, opened, and sought to find solace in the shapes on the ceiling; he ran his fingertips up his body to stretch his arms out and noticed the book had opened while he'd been sleeping. "That's odd...I didn't know there was a breeze in here, though it is pretty damn cold." He muttered while gathering the blankets to his bed and wrapping himself inside them while putting the book over on the nightstand. Noticing, with a brief gaze, the title of the chapter; reading it afterward out loud to outline the subject "Half-breed", he read to himself with mild curiosity. Though that mild curiosity grew with every passing moment until he finally decided to sit up on his bed. It read: a person whose parents are of different races, especially the offspring of a human and a being of faerie ancestry.
The description went on to mention two weaknesses that those stuck with two types of blood had; the first was shorter life-spans than faerie folk, and the second was an inherent weakness to magical affinity. Now he understood why Fiodora had given him the book; he'd have to study harder than any full breed for him to gain the same power. The page did mention one particular strength most of the half-breeds had which was the ability to blend into the human world without detection from anything, including other faeries. At the very bottom of the page, there seemed to be a note scribbled as well and it read: There seems to be a second strength that we had previously thought could not occur with half-breeds, they possess stronger genetics for better wings, meaning they can surpass the full-blooded faeries when it came to magical prowess, with enough practice and dedication.
Julian closed the book, he understood now why he stood free, spared from the destruction so many fae had witnessed; it was his cursed wings that fit the description of "stronger". He stretched out and yawned, going through the motions of the morning routine he usually followed. Teeth brushing, then shower; after that, he was ready to eat breakfast and continue studying the book. Fiodora had breakfast on the table, and she seemed more cheerful that morning, and why wouldn't she? Julian appeared more confident in himself; her boy was growing up. She sighed. Fiodora carried a heavy burden, and it showed with the crow's feet at the corners of her emerald green eyes; years of dedicating herself to the protection of Julian had taken its toll. Despite all that, her face was spritely, lively, and very much youthful; she was a full-blooded faerie after all. "So, have you done any reading today, lad? I keep telling you, that's the only way you'll get stronger. For now, there are other ways, but we don't have enough time as it is, since we're staying to defend the city." Julian nodded while eating a plate of chilaquiles; cut-up pieces of tortilla, drenched in a delicious spicy red salsa, or sometimes green salsa, they were cheesy, and each time he took a bite, the cheese felt creamy and rich on his palate. "Yeah, though I've only read one chapter, I'll study some spells after breakfast. The guards should be back from their recruiting. With any luck, they'll have recruited enough faeries to fight for our cause." Fiodora shook her head, but was proud of how Julian had evolved and adapted to his situation with such a smooth transition; even so, she wondered just how smooth it was in reality.
After breakfast, Julian retired to his room and opened up the book once more; he searched the index to find a list of spells and incantations to go along with them. The kind of magic that did not necessitate ingredients or sacrificial blood was the only magic he was exposed to, by decree of Fiodora. She had quoted that "other magics are too dangerous for you to learn right now" and handed him the simplistic book. Though to her credit, the book did seem more advanced than he previously thought, it had a spell that prevented petrification. Another one of the spells gave him agility and speed, and another could enhance his fortitude tenfold, which seemed likely to come in handy. The only catch for most of these spells was the fact that he had to sacrifice one of his feathers to cast them, but he wondered what effect his special feathers would have on the spell's power. He pondered the very idea for a while in his room before being interrupted by a knock at the door. Julian stepped out of his room and opened the sliding glass door to find a guard nearly passed out on the edge of the balcony. Taking his hand, he pulled the guard closer and over the ledge, safe within the small outer space. "What's going on?" Julian asked the guard. "Sir, we were attacked by the northern tribes. Luckily, we all made it out of there in one piece, but there are more coming." He stood up and saluted now, out of respect for Julian, who carried the last remnant of blood from the defeated Bloodmane tribe. "However, we were successful in recruiting fifty people from across the immediate lands who were willing to fight under your name. They await your orders outside."
Right outside, flying in the air at attention, the recruits stood in place looking towards their fearless leader. Julian freaked out a bit, reminded him of an old Chinese video game he'd played before, where one could order a force to move out and attack. He chuckled to himself and shook his head. "What the fuck am I doing." With his conscience made up, having come to grips with the reality of the situation, he approached the edge of the balcony and saluted them. "At ease, people. In approximately one week, we will be in the presence of a small army of five hundred demons, give or take." He was not lying, but he did not know what number or percentage of demons were being deployed; to these fae, five hundred might as well have been a thousand. "Do not worry, I have a plan, but we must first recruit more faeries to go toe to toe with these foes, we must scare them into joining our ranks, no matter how different they are. We are all half-breeds, we recruit half-breeds, and that includes demons too, well the ones who are half-breeds. Now, prepare to mobilize to attack the northern tribes. We will recruit them if it's the last thing we do." The guards did not seem to have much confidence in their new leader, but they did like how much spunk he had, so they agreed, despite knowing they were likely to be killed in the skirmish to follow.
The chief of guards was still on the balcony, and he looked over to Julian with doubt in his gaze; Julian sensed that much and turned to him. "Don't worry, I have a plan. How many northerners are there roughly, chief?" The chief shook his head. "I didn't get a good look at their numbers, but they certainly were up there in the hundreds, sir." Julian nodded and walked off. "You're dismissed, chief, assemble your guardsmen in the morning on my decree." Nodding, the chief took off, leaving his pride behind and looking ahead with regret for his fellow guardsmen. "Man...Morale is really low, if I don't do something, I might lose my small militia, then..." The thought weighed heavily on his mind, though he did seem to look at his guardsmen as tools rather than lives, perhaps it was time to change his outlook. There was no going back to normal life in the human world; this was his world now, especially if he succeeded. If he won here, then he'd have enough power to go back to his human lifestyle without having to worry about life-or-death situations.
Julian was no fool; he had been working on a way to give his guardsmen the upper hand over every creature they encountered, and so far, he was on the right path. "Fiodora, say that I wanted to imbue my feather's properties in a weapon for myself, could I do that without fear of having my feathers grow no longer?" Fiodora shook her head. "Your feathers grow constantly, they shed daily. I suppose if you wanted, you could imbue a weapon, but it'd work as a double-edged sword; the same poison could hurt you if you're thinking about imbuing the swords of the guardsmen." Fiodora was clever, and the very question had reassured her that his military prowess was eccentric. Julian took all afternoon reading on ways to imbue weaponry without having to harm the user, he found something. The spell he needed required only one feather to be sacrificed, and could work on several objects at a time; it was a spell that gave the user and whoever he targeted to have brief immunity to poisons. Whether the immunity extended to his person was something he'd have to figure out on the go.
Morning came fast, and dawn approached while Julian stood outside on the balcony, waiting for his small militia to show up. The flutter of wings was loud, but they had all made their way to his canopy. The small militia was made up of approximately sixty guards, men and women alike. "I have good news for you, loyal guards, I have found a way to make you stronger." The guards all looked at each other but didn't seem too convinced. Julian ordered his chief of guards to bring him a live creature, and he did so at the order, bringing Julian a live chicken so he could experiment on. Julian plucked a feather from his wings and stabbed it into the chicken, squeezing the quill so the poison spewed inside the live chicken. Upon release, it throttled and thrashed about, before falling on its side, its guts tearing open from the acidity of the wound. Nothing remained of the carcass, except for bones with holes bored into them. "I can imbue your weapons with these feathers' properties." The guards looked excited but were still hesitant; they were no fools and understood that it was a double-edged sword. If they touched the blade, their flesh would follow the same fate as the chicken. "However, I have also found a spell to counter the poison for a few hours. Enough time to finish our skirmish and force the northern tribes to join us. Today we will claim another settlement. It will be no small feat, but with bravery, your bravery, we shall be victorious." The guard's morale seemed to bolster as he spoke; they cheered and looked at him as a true leader. Julian grinned and took to the skies, expanding his wings, showing the whole settlement just who he was while everyone exclaimed their acceptance in shouts of passion. "It's time to move out, men. Today, victory is reserved for us."