Their return journey to the Federation would be far faster than the way North. Before the Beacons had sounded, Irwyn had fancied some visits. Retracing their steps, seeing how the consequences of events played out, take a revenge or two - maybe even explore the lands the Fae had made them skip over.

  None of that was feasible anymore. Or at least not responsible. He was interested in returning to the Republic again to see how it was dealing with the aftermath of that undead attack, and perhaps paying a visit to a certain firefighter who had shown kindness to strangers, but Elizabeth insisted that they should not delay any more than necessary.

  At first, Irwyn had found that surprising, given they had already basically deserted the War by leaving, but he found the answer quickly. For all Elizabeth grumbled about the customs and traditions of the Duchy of Black, she still clung onto some of them. Such was the nature of culture and environment. Ideals, feelings, and logic mixed into a sense of duty. She still wanted to fight the Rot. Merely, they could not have made any difference before their departure. Perhaps even being more obstacle than help with the protection they had needed.

  That was no longer the case.

  It was almost unbelievable, the power they had claimed within the Trial. Progress amplified by both tailored challenges and dilation. The plethora of skills claimed, then the dragon slain and claimed. All that before the greatest prize of them all.

  The fragment of Lumen had been mostly spent, just a last faint glimmer still remaining - almost like a memento. It had reforged him in ways Irwyn still did not fully understand. Though it had shared in its relative omniscience, the raw information was simply incomprehensible in the aftermath, comparable to concurrently reading a thousand books in two dozen languages he did not speak. Therefore, he had to rely on experimentation. The first effects he had noticed were that his already inhuman affinities had risen further, and to a noticeable degree - Starfire most of all. But he had yet to do any real testing.

  The fragment of Ignis, on the other hand, remained dormant. It had served as a barrier between Void and Light, yet no attempts Irwyn had made managed to properly stir it from that idle purpose. It had taken all of his efforts just to barely coax it to enter his body. Which had to be done by him, because Elizabeth had suffered severe burns by literally just thinking about approaching. Not that anything particular had happened once he had absorbed it.

  Once beneath his skin, the fragment had promptly vanished from perception. The only way Irwyn had found to make it reveal itself at all was to focus very hard on the Name ever-present in the corner of his mind. But the fact that it was hiding and could be taken in at all made Irwyn believe that it was by design. Any ‘usual’ participant that somehow made it to fragments would not have Irwyn’s immunity, so perhaps it would have attached itself to them once they were leaving instead, serving as a failsafe of sorts.

  Irwyn had no illusions about just how valuable their bodies would be in the Rot’s hands after that transformation. Elizabeth’s was even more immediately potent than his, since it had been focused on direct power rather than possibly slaying an Aspect in the far future. Since the Trial had been meant for a world that was already losing the War, leaving such things to chance seemed too foolish. Perhaps the last fragment would turn into a saving grace… or more likely a tool of utter destruction should Irwyn ever perish in battle.

  Or at least he suspected that was what the final fragment had been twisted to do, purely as an educated guess. Since he could make it stir, perhaps there would come a day when it could be turned into more bricks for the foundation that his task undoubtedly required. He hardly had a plan as to how in the world he would slay an Aspect - even one already dead - but claiming more power and insight seemed like a good enough direction for the moment.

  Using Ignis’ fragment was clearly a long way away. After all, Irwyn had made no progress despite no longer being in Conception. STARFIRE surged through his Soul…! Technically. To host a Domain only required to create a perfect vessel for it to inhabit, then letting it settle in. And what could possibly be better than flesh reforged by the very Aspects? Unlike the labor of the first carving before Conception, Irwyn had literally not even realized he had made the leap into Domains at first.

  A big part of that was the ‘egg’ that still surrounded his Soul. He and Elizabeth found themselves in a similar situation there - as she had uncovered one of her own during the reforging. Intricate beyond belief, yes, but also made in a way that would allow them to be latched onto literal newborns without causing any harm. It had let them both maintain a facsimile of mortality while being none the wiser, but the ‘trade-off’ for that was finally becoming apparent.

  Properly tapping into the Domain would crack the shell, causing it to completely unravel. That is what his very first attempts at using this power had shown. Irwyn was certain he could handle whatever reckoning that brought, but Elizabeth convinced him to not do so yet. The reason for that was twofold.

  Firstly, training. Domains were technically fixed in power from the moment they inhabited someone, yet there were massive differences in how well one could wield them. Most new Domain mages apparently also went through a period of several months when their new power was ‘settling down’ and at an increased risk of dispersing. Thankfully, both of them had somehow avoided that side effect, so they could immediately jump into real practice.

  And while Irwyn and Elizabeth were both making incredible progress compared to any mortal expectations, they were still clumsy when compared to someone with centuries of experience. By being forced to train with the Domain under the restriction of not cracking the shell, they would be far weaker in actual battle, but the strain would likely allow them to improve significantly faster. There was some risk that there might be complications with unleashing their true might in battle, but for now they decided to bear it.

  Because the other reason was that they could use the restriction as a way of deception. The shells holding back their Domains also cut off the sheer presence of one. Which was quite something as Domains were notoriously difficult to hide. And even then, it would be far easier to make someone appear like a mortal without any magic than the peak of Conception - like they seemed to be to anyone observant of such things. An almost unheard of disguise, even, at least as far as Elizabeth knew.

  Therefore, anyone potentially dangerous who saw them would indeed assume that they were merely near the peak of Conception. They would already raise alarms with their age by wielding so much power, but an actual Domain would have made that far worse. And more importantly, it would deceive the Rot. Which was suddenly far more relevant since they were returning to the War. It was basically a lifeline. A really good chance to cheat death if the undead ever ambushed them with Raveners. After all, Domain mages were a true limited resource for both sides of the conflict. And as the Dragon had shown, beating even an inexperienced one from the peak of Conception was borderline impossible. Therefore, they would have quite the nasty surprise for whoever the Rot sent their way then.

  “Done,” Waylan finally announced.

  The sneak had spent almost an hour filling enchanted containers with the blood from the divine graveyard. Apparently, he had been coming along every few months to snack. Desir had predicted that they would eventually end up leaving, therefore, they had tested extensively with methods of long-term storage. Resulting in strange white orange jugs.

  It took a lot of effort from both Desir and Alice to make them, apparently. And the magic would decay to Finity within a few months if they didn’t maintain it. But it worked, and perhaps a more permanent solution could be commissioned from dedicated enchanters back in the Federation. Though he was certainly curious about Desir seemingly wielding Fate. That was an element Irwyn had never seen him cast. Not to mention his suspiciously fast progress through Conception, surpassing even post-ambrosia Alice. The shapeshifter had promised a full explanation once they could expect a few uninterrupted hours of flight.

  “Finally!” Alice exclaimed. Her first Concept had apparently made her hyperaware of, well, Time. Which in turn was making her impatient, as she felt as though idle seconds passed far slower to her mind. She was slowly getting used to that side effect, but it would take a while longer yet.

  Not that the whole group had not been going around gossiping while Waylan and Desir had carefully drawn the ichor. Irwyn wondered what kind of state Alice was going to be in by the time they made it all the way back to the Federation, likely through non-stop flight. Either way, he was already lifting them up into the air and accelerating. He would need some adjustment to see what everyone could handle, but the Trial had shown Irwyn just how slow his old platforms used to be.

  “Seven days, ten minutes, and 15 seconds. Finally,” Alice groaned as soon as she saw the Barrier mountains, still well over the horizon for everyone else. Though it was not hard to guess what she meant from context and past conversations.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “We still need to find an actual entry point,” Irwyn reminded. “Ideally, one that doesn’t spit us out in the Duchy of Yellow. Even during the War, there is still somewhat fresh bad blood between Blackburg and Brightbeak.”

  “We just need to find the City of Terraces again,” Elizabeth shrugged. “Any of those city-states in the desert should have someone who knows at least the vague direction.”

  “We have yet to see any,” Desir responded. “Even for making a beeline, we have a decent line of sight from this elevation. Maybe we could be too far east or west for any of these cities.”

  “Bring us higher,” Alice suggested, and Irwyn complied. Not that they had been low in the air before.

  It took them two more frustrating hours to actually locate one of those desert cities. The one they eventually stumbled upon was on the smaller side. Full of white towers, possibly made of literal ivory, and quite sprawling with low density of structures, though Irwyn didn’t care overmuch. The low walls were made of similar materials, and the group flying in seemed to give everyone alarm, even if the locals were quite slow with actually raising one.

  Elizabeth took over the flight for Desir and herself, then approached while Irwyn hovered in the background, being vaguely threatening. He passed the time by using his All is seen spell to try and spot whatever god they worshiped. Something he definitely wouldn’t have dared try without a Domain to fall back upon if needed.

  All he found was that the faith seemed to gather into a singular spot, which then projected it into the distance. Irwyn could not yet spot the belief of each individual citizen, but it became visible when enough was gathering. The thickest concentration seemed to be in the tallest tower, where Irwyn noted who seemed to be the local Chosen. They then concentrated and passed on that power in what was undoubtedly a much more lossless method than throwing individual streams across the whole desert.

  Despite his anticipation to the contrary, there ended up being no trouble. Desir simply managed to smooth-talk directions out of a visibly nervous guard. Then they were off again. Apparently, they had wound up quite far to the west, which meant two more hours to correct that, even with the rapid flight. The City of Terraces looked significantly more damaged than Irwyn remembered from a distance, though they didn’t actually visit, so the thought didn’t linger. Soon enough, they were at the mountain tunnel.

  The strange wagon they had merely moved off the tracks on their way out seemed to have remained in the same place they had left it. Lifting it up to the skyscraping platform above with magic was easy enough, though. Within minutes, they were all packed in. They didn’t start going down the slope with an explosive boost like the first time, but Irwyn more than compensated for that by pushing the cart with his magic throughout. While the mountain still tried to drain mana and disrupt his constructs, the effect felt basically negligible. They honestly might have been through faster without the cart.

  By that point, conversations were already growing a bit… exhausted. For all their group had a good enough palate for idle chatter, spending a full week doing nothing but flying far above anything remotely interesting had worn most topics thin. For a good chunk of the trip, they had taken many breaks to just practice magic in silence. It would get better once they had something new to talk about, but that only made Irwyn want to hurry them along further. Then, as soon as they were finally approaching the other side of the mountain, Irwyn frowned, sniffed once, and gave a warning: “Rot.”

  “Everyone, ready for battle,” Elizabeth’s reaction was instant. Waylan was already gone by then, and only Alice had a noticeable change in expression at the command. “I don’t feel any magical traps up ahead, so the mountain is not about to fall down on our heads.”

  “Likely infiltrators then,” Desir nodded. “Replaced someone out here on assignment, ready to backstab any poor fool returning. Unlucky timing, but at least it’s us and not a group that would actually be threatened. I doubt the two of you will have any trouble; there is absolutely no chance a Ravener would be dispatched to this middle of nowhere.”

  “Will the undead immediately know we have returned then?” Irwyn frowned. “And presumably how quickly we have grown? I always got the impression they acted much like a single mind, so this could instantly paint targets on our backs. Before we can even reach Abonisle. Worst case, there actually could be a Ravener near enough to intercept us.”

  “Even the link between the undead is affected by Finity. Out here, they will be disconnected… at least from a constant stream of thoughts. Depending on how powerful they are, sending a message to the whole will likely still be feasible. Or just telling them after rising from their philactery, Liches are more likely than not. But then, we could just intercept that. Right, Desir?”

  “I can try,” the shapeshifter nodded. “Never done that, but if I am ready and they are not, I should have a good shot. Especially if they die quickly and the Soul gets damaged.”

  “Burn them as soon as the situation is assessed, then. I will be backup.” Elizabeth decided. “Irwyn and I will clamp down on our Concepts and try to hide how many we actually hold, though it will depend on enemy perception whether we can succeed. Now, let’s play ignorant. We are almost there, and they could have exceptional hearing.”

  Before they even exited the tunnel, Irwyn was pushing his senses for any trace of magic he could find. Or presences for that matter. Of which he felt exactly one, unmoving somewhere ahead and to the side. He did not look directly that way - his gaze was piercing but not subtle - yet he could tell that whatever he perceived possessed several Concepts.

  Feigning ignorance, their group unpacked themselves out of the slightly overfull wagon, stepping out into the magical snow. Looking around, there still was no apparent magic, just the intensifying stench. Which was getting worse as the only ‘person’ around approached. The guise of an unassuming man in the Duchy’s military uniform. Elizabeth immediately started commanding it, as if the creature was her subordinate, demanding updates about the War.

  Irwyn, meanwhile, kept looking. No magical traps. No other apparent reinforcements. No matter how hard he looked. The infiltrator before them was powerful with those Concepts, as many as eight or nine from an up close examination, but it seemed strangely… arrogant for it to have made no preparations. And the Undead were many things, but not arrogant. The creature could not have possibly known the strength of anyone coming back - hence why it was unwittingly powerless against their group - so why were there no traps? Irwyn had to be missing something.

  His musings were interrupted when the creature finally began to channel some magic. It was in the middle of a sentence, which hardly bothered Irwyn who hadn’t been paying the conversation any mind. Not hesitating, a tidal wave of Starfire was released against the infiltrator, who was significantly slower in gathering its response. A pathetic, almost fumbled barrier, which it had to have scraped together in the last moment came into being over its stolen skin.

  Irwyn used almost exclusively his Concepts in the attack, which were already quite powerful. With his improved body and affinities, he could instantly empower them to the limit of saturation. That might have already been enough to obliterate the infiltrator. But then he also added the slightest fraction of his Domain’s power. Weak enough that it would be nigh impossible to notice, but it empowered the his spell at least three-fold in any way he cared to.

  Undead were supposedly better than the living at wielding Concepts - something about the purity of their willpower. Irwyn’s victory was still instant and complete without needing to even identify the nature of his foe’s power. Then, before the undead could gather any more mana, it became less than ash and slag. Even the Soul was incinerated. There was only one last pulse of magic as it was perishing, which aimed away rather than towards their group. It must have been something precast to be so fast to activate. Either way, Desir intercepted it.

  “Got it!” The shapeshifter announced with a grin. “I think Irwyn managed to scorch the spell a bit. And the reverse ambush definitely helped, otherwise intercepting that message would have been much harder.”

  “Can anyone sense anything else?” Elizabeth demanded, still ready to burst into motion at an instant, mana coursing like rivers just beneath her skin. Likely, she had noticed the same strangeness of the situation. The undead were not arrogant nor careless like that, so what were they missing?

  But as several minutes of vigilance passed and the Rotten smell rapidly faded, they eventually mostly relaxed. Maybe the infiltrator had just arrived and therefore had failed to set up any snares yet? Or it had been conserving resources, unwilling to let any fade to Finity while it expected most people to return at a far later date. A week was not that long of a time considering the distances they had covered. It still felt off, but there seemed to be nothing else they could learn about why.

  “Let’s just return to Abonisle and report in. I don’t trust a word that creature said, so real updates will be good. We also need to make sure there will be no complications with Desir’s addition.”

  “We should also send a wagon through the mountain,” Desir pointed out. “Normally, it would be up to whoever was assigned here to make sure each side had at least one, I think. Otherwise, anyone else returning through here will have a long walk ahead of them.”

  “Done,” Alice said as she made the wagon disappear, then theatrically dusted off her hands.

  “You could have just done that on the other end?” Irwyn raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, you didn’t ask, so…” she started, then stopped when they heard an impact overhead. Looking up, Irwyn had a majestic view of that same wagon mid-plummet after it had clearly hit the mountain wall. Well, he only marveled for a second before it came to him to semi-gently catch it.

  “You missed?” Waylan couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Irwyn had no idea when the sneak had even reappeared.

  “How?” Alice seemed the most baffled of them all.

  “I vaguely recall reading that these capsules are enchanted against teleportation to some extent,” Elizabeth said with a sudden smile. “Just something that steals distance the longer the spell’s range is. To prevent easy kidnapping. You probably burned the failsafe out and triggered an alarm somewhere.”

  “That is just stupid, what?” Alice stared. “Anyone who could pull that off and get the wagon far enough could have just as easily taken the people individually.”

  “Maybe it’s actually meant to prevent theft,” Desir theorized instead. “You know, these are probably pretty expensive. Not the kind of thing that just falls off a cliff at random.”

  “I will remember this,” Alice vowed through her embarrassment. Meanwhile, Irwyn quickly went on to lift the wagon up their side’s tower and pushed it into the downward tunnel. Gravity would bring it to the other side.

  “Ready to go?” Irwyn chose to rescue the Time mage from the continued mocking when he returned, getting everyone focused on their journey again.

  It was blizzarding, as tended to be the case North of Abonisle. The magical snowflakes falling, settling, then disappearing to Finity in an endless cycle. Not that they would have a hard time with directions - Alice could probably point out the way towards any random spot she had ever been to. Soon enough, they were in flight, finishing the last stretch of their return.

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