Right in front of Xavier, one of the fallen young magicians had turned into a zombie. This was a problem. The zombies were not very fast, but they were very persistent and very strong, and once they were close to you and captured your smell, they followed you to the end of the world. The worst part was that skeletons tended to follow them.
Xavier ran away; he had to get away from that zombie as soon as possible. Without knowing it, he was doing the same thing the shadow magician who ran in front of him had done. He met the zombie, followed by a horde of skeletons, and ran away. Seeing that the skeletons continued to chase him and that they were as fast as he was, he began to scream to try to attract help.
Xavier had to get away from the zombie before an army of followers joined him. He began to change direction, and before he knew it, he was lost. He had no idea how to get out of the miasma. A new cry resounded on the hill, right in the direction in which Xavier was heading at that moment. He approached cautiously, bowing as he advanced slowly, hiding behind any piece of wall he found. A few meters ahead of him, a couple of golems were crushing the body of another shadow mage. But that wasn't the important thing; near the golems, there was an area where the miasma was denser and from where it seemed to expand.
"The way to the core," he thought.
He could not see it, but the density of the miasma and the way it expanded indicated that it was not very far in that direction. He approached as close as he could without warning the golems. How to detect the miasma nucleus was a common explanation in academies and volunteer registration offices. There was no doubt about it; the core was close by, maybe just a few meters away. He threw his marker at the area from where the miasma extended and turned around, running in the opposite direction. Now that he had marked where the core was, he had to get out of there as soon as possible. The golems were slow, but when they noticed Xavier, who was already moving away, they started throwing rocks. A stone bigger than his head passed a few inches from his right arm.
"Close," he thought as he ran as fast as he could.
The dense miasma made it difficult to see; he almost crashed into the zombie that followed him. The zombie stretched out his arms. Xavier lowered his body a little and managed to pass underneath the zombie arm, feeling his hair rubbing against it. He continued running, only to stop a few seconds later.
'Damn it,' he exclaimed.
An army of skeletons came straight toward him. He had no idea where they came from. Xavier changed his direction and resumed his race. The skeletons were very close to him, perceived his movements, and followed after him.
"Skeletons are easy to handle with the leech stone, but that zombie will catch with me if I stop," he calculated.
A rock hit his right side, and he fell to the ground. "Gólems," he thought as he looked in the direction from which the stone was thrown.
There were no golems, but instead he saw the old, sick shadow mage, who ran away. The skeletons approached Xavier. The pain of his ribs prevented him from breathing, and the exercise of his escape demanded air. It was torture; it reminded him of his captivity at Liev's Tower. Ironically, that helped; compared to that, this was easy. The leech stone kept his magic energy almost at zero; he only had to manage not to move. Gradually, he succeeded in calming down and taking small, superficial breaths. He wanted to breathe deeper, but between the pain and the skeletons, trying to do it was suicide. Gradually, the discomfort passed away, and he recovered a bit. His breathing was becoming regular but still superficial.
A few meters away, the old shadow magician observed until a coughing attack made him reveal his position. Not hearing Xavier's screams, he thought he had managed to escape from the skeletons, but on his return, he found all of them there, slowly spreading. The race before had accelerated his breathing, and he could not contain the cough. As he moved and lost control of his magic supresion, some of the skeletons noticed and followed him. The others followed them, and soon there was a legion of skeletons running after him.
"You deserve it," thought Xavier, still resting on the floor.
Now, with the skeletons moving away, he could breathe more freely. However, his breathing still could not be very deep; it was too painful. He was thinking about how his mobility would be affected by not being able to breathe properly when he remembered something: "the zombie."
A few seconds later, the zombi appeared from the miasma, walking in his direction. Xavier got up and started walking as fast as he could. As soon as his breathing increased, the pain in his ribs became unbearable.
A new scream interrupted the silence of Mount Anim. Xavier couldn't stop; he had to get out of the miasma before the skeletons joined the zombi. If that happened, there would be no way he could escape. Unfortunately, he didn't know exactly where he was; he had been lost for quite some time.
'I think there are only two shadow magicians left. Was that the third or the fourth cry?' Xavier heard somebody's voice and turned toward her.
'It's the fourth one already; there are only two left. I don't think...'
Xavier's appearance interrupted the conversation. The mercenaries and knights approached him.
'What happened?' asked the sergeant Louis.
'The marker is set,' replied Xavier, after recovering some breath.
'Well done; rest now. We will take care of the rest,' the sergeant assured Xavier.
Brosma had a crystal similar to the marker in his hand but larger, almost the size of his palm. It had several cracks, and the rock inside was elongated like a needle. He inserted another gem into one of the cracks in the glass, and the elongated gem began to move, pointing in the direction of the marker Xavier had left behind. The magicians and the knights followed him inside the miasma. Minutes later, several explosions and slight earthquakes were heard. Fifteen minutes later, the miasma weakened, and the troops of the subjugation squadron returned. They were accompanied by the last surviving shadow mage. He had approached the site of the explosions and came out beside the attack team.
'Good work, mage Aleum,' said Brosma without paying any more attention to him.
A member of the squadron with medical knowledge had examined him. Fortunately, he had no broken ribs, but the pain would last for a few days. He offered him a few herbs with sedative and painkiller effects, but Xavier rejected them. The old shadow mage recent betrayal made him want to stay alert. It was already night when the mission was assumed to be completed. The miasma had dissipated, and only the remnants of the city that once occupied the hill known as Mount Anim remained in sight. They recovered and burned the bodies of the fallen magicians. The skeletons and golems disintegrated without the miasma.
Xavier had trouble sleeping because of the pain in his ribs and the doubt that someone else would try to kill him. He remained alert throughout the return journey. He had developed a reasonable degree of paranoia. Someone in the squad could be allied with the magicians or the knights; they could kill him and get the reward for finding the nucleus. It had been a mission with a lot of losses. Only two shadow magicians survived, and some mercenaries died as they entered to destroy the nucleus. The monsters and undead did not feel fatigue or pain, had no fear or doubts, attacked without thinking, and some novice mercenaries acted recklessly and found their end. There were plenty of golems and skeletons inside the miasma area; Xavier was lucky to survive this time again.
'Good job, boy. If you are going to be around the area and you want to join a mercenary group, go to "The Blind Man Tabern" and ask for me; they will tell you where to find me,' said Melna after receiving the mission reward in Palm Citadel. They talked for a bit on the return trip.
Xavier got a juicy reward. Five silver coins for participating in the mission and going into the miasma, five for finding the core, and four for the dangerousness of the mission. He returned to Tener and, from there, traveled to Leno, the village where he had rented a small house made out of wood, mud, and straw for fifteen copper coins a month. It was expensive for such a poor house, but they would not give a better offer to a stranger. Xavier put some of the things he had bought on the way back in place and went to bed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep. The door and the only window were closed, and he had placed a system of ropes tied to an iron pot so that, in case they were opened, the pot would fall. It was his makeshift alarm. Xavier managed to sleep in peace for the first time in weeks.
It took him a few weeks to recover. The rumors had spread among the poorest in the village. It was known that Xavier was a dual magician, and some women believed that a weak fire magician still had some chance of having a son who would be a fire wizard. The rumor that he had earned some money on the mission made him even more appetizing. Several women from the village tried to come near him in a seductive way, but this only managed to irritate him, and, after some unpleasant experiences, the women abandoned their approaches. Soon, rumors about his sexual preferences spread. He returned to Palm after recovering. "The Blind Man Tabern" was not difficult to find.
'I'm looking for Melna, of the Tide mercenary guild. He told me to ask here if I wanted to contact him,' said Xavier to the barman, taking a drink of the beer he had ordered.
'Who is looking for him?' asked the barman.
'Aleum, shadow magician.'
The barman called for a skinny boy, about eight years old. 'Go get Melna and tell him a shadow magician is looking for him' The boy ran out of the tavern, and half an hour later, Melna came in by the door.
'Aleum, it is a pleasure to see you again,' said Melna, holding his hand out.
'Is the offer to join your mercenary group still open?'
'Of course, it will be a pleasure to have you with us. Actually, it's a good time. We'll start a long-term mission in a few days, and we'd like another member. Do you want to join?'
'Of course, what is the job about?'
'We will escort a large caravan of merchants to the Orphen Kingdom. Come to our headquarters, and I'll introduce you to the rest of the team.'
On the way, Xavier learned that in the last few months, a great famine had affected the Poem dynasty. A plague of locusts affected the crops. Xavier didn't know, but the locusts, along with the fire he caused two years ago, had turned Humol into a disaster zone. Hunger and misery had reached an intolerable level. The merchants from Orphen had made a good deal. The Dynasty and the Kingdom of Veldat hated each other; they would not trade among them. However, Veldat traded with Orphen, and their merchants sold those goods to the dynasty at an exaggerated price. Large caravans of merchants departed from Veldat every week, and that was good business for the mercenaries.
'This is our little house,' said Melna, pointing to a stone house.
The place was nothing amazing, a middle-sized stone house with a wooden sign hanging at the entrance that outlined the function of the building.
«Tide Mercenary Guild».
At the entrance, a young girl was sitting behind a counter with papers, forms to request services, etc.
'This is Julia, our secretary. She handles job requests for the guild. Julia, this is Aleum, a possible new member,' Melna introduced.
'Hi,' said the girl.
'Hi,' replied Xavier.
'Let's go up,' said Melna, pointing to the stairs at the end of the hall.
They went up to the second floor. There were several small rooms, and in the middle was a common area. Melna knocked at each of the doors, after which all members of the group left their rooms. Their eyes focused on Xavier.
'This is Aleum, an independent mercenary and a dual magician: shadows and fire.'
Everyone's eyes shone at the presentation.
'It is only traces of fire magic, not useful in battle; do not fill yourself with illusions,' Melna clarified, cooling the excitement.
'Aleum intends to join our group. He knows a little bit about everything and is good at surviving.'
Everybody evaluated Xavier with their gaze. There was nothing special about him; his body was strong, but nothing exaggerated. Melna continued with the presentations.
'This is Lina, our interrogation expert.'
Xavier knew that this was the kind way to say torturer; she was the equivalent of Emil in this group. She was a white woman over thirty years old, with a robust and strong body and short black hair. His face was not very pleasant, and she had a scar on her right cheek.
'Dorom, our resident knight.' He was a black man about forty years old, tall, and strong. He was even bigger than Gando, and he seemed stronger than he was. His face was dull and serious.
'Juan, our doctor and poison specialist.'
Juan was a man of low stature and thin, bald, with a thick nose and a dense moustache.
'Behind you is Lelin.' He is responsible for espionage, surveillance, and the acquisition of certain targets.
It was a kind way to say thief and assasin. Lelin was a medium-sized man with a thin build, a beard of a couple of days, and short hair. He moved gracefully and in silence.
Although mercenary guilds preferred not to do illegal or dubious work, sometimes they had no other profitable options. Some members of the guilds did jobs on their own, but if they were captured engaging in any illegal activity, they would be dismissed from the team, and the guild would "deliver" any information they had about the criminal to the local guards or knights. After all, official guilds were legit institutions established within society and had to maintain a certain prestige.
'This is our small group. If you want to join us, we could use another man on escort missions in the coming weeks, but we'll test you first. I hope you don't mind'. Melna warned.
'it's okay. What do I have to do?' asked Xavier.
'Lelin and Dorom will test you.'
The group left the building. They went to a clear patch of land in the citadel; it was used as an "arena" to entertain people from time to time or, as now, to do admission tests or any other physical event. There was no one there at the time, except for a few children who were playing around and approached, vigilant and curious, when they saw the group.
Dorom went into the arena first. Xavier was standing in front of him. He did not wait for Melna's start signal and went on the attack. Dorom had his sword in his hand and was preparing to counter-strike when he began to feel the heat. Ever since they entered the arena, Xavier had been using his little fire magic to heat a small spot on his opponent's clothes. It was no bigger than a tobacco burn, but it was enough to attract the attention of his opponent. Dorom did not know how much fire magic Xavier could use and chose to be cautious. The distraction gave the advantage to Xavier, who stopped his dagger a few centimeters away from Dorom's neck.
'Is your win, boy, It is a good trick.' Dorom gave him the victory.
Although barely, Xavier's daily training paid off.
'Well, not bad,' said Juan.
'Now we shall see what he intends to do with Lelin; the same trick won't work twice,' said Melna.
And he was right. The fight with Lelin was over quick; Xavier had no more magic to use; his magic energy had already been depleted; he could not do more than that from the distance with his little magic affinity for fire. His opponent, on the other hand, was faster and more skilled. Although Xavier had been instructed by Vralia's gang, they had never put much seriousness into his training. After all, he and Pip were nothing more than expendable pawns. His unexpected victory over Dorom lost its luster due to his powerlessness against Lelin.
'What do you say, Lelin?' asked Melna.
'He has some potential; he will never be an exceptional talent, but he has good eyes and is inventive; he knows what to look for and take advantage of opportunities. A survivor; he could be useful to us. I don't know to what extent he could improve the use of his fire magic. But, apparently, after using it against Dorom, he couldn't do much more. Creating a remote fire is a good way to distract the enemy without revealing your position. It is better than throwing a burning arrow; it has its usefulness.'
'Then it is decided. Aleum, welcome to the Tide mercenary guild,' said Melna in the end.
Xavier left Tener, the villa where he lived, and moved to the guild base in Palm. He made several escort missions with the mercenaries, and in a few months he had gained the confidence that they were able to provide, but they were people who lived in a world of betrayal and opportunism. After all, although they were a little more decent, the line between mercenaries and criminals was very thin.