***
«What the hell happened here?!» shouted Jason Moiser as he arrived at the Arcer manor.
He quickly jumped off his horse and moved towards the guard post. There were two guards covered in blood from head to toe. One was pierced with a blade through the heart, and the other through the artery in the neck.
Jason could hardly calm himself, he quickly examined the bodies, and then hurried inside the walls, past the gate. There he was greeted by an extraordinary silence, the only sound that could be distinguished was the rustling of the wind, shaking the trees and grass.
Arriving at the entrance to the mansion itself, Jason was stupefied ... Everything around was destroyed, the courtyard was covered with an ice crust, frostbitten corpses were everywhere, scattered randomly, and in parts.
The young man's green eyes flashed with light for a moment and then frowned...
«Nothing alive...» Jason said. No animals, not even insects...
However, something did not fit with his words, because a lone bird was flying in the sky, imposingly observing a place filled only with destruction ... True, it really cannot be called alive ...
***
«Master, the target is in position,» Teryl said to Orion, leader of the Black Falcon Squad, standing beside him. I'm waiting for instructions.
The young man thought for a moment and then said:
«Just watch, try not to draw attention, and fly away...»
At a fairly solid distance from the estate of the extinct Arcer clan, a group of knights gathered. They kept a close eye on what would happen after their massacre.
«The target is inspecting the wreckage,» said Teryl, foreman of the Black Falcon Squad, recounting his observations. It looks like he's looking for something.
— Evidence, but no matter how much he searches, he will not be able to find anything ... — Orion chuckled contentedly.
«But, for what reason did Jason Moiser appear at the residence of the Arcer clan?» asked Duncan, another foreman of the group.
«He's a muddy type,» said Charles, the last foreman of those who stayed with the squad leader to complete a special assignment. «Be it otherwise, the master would not have gathered us together just to look at him from a distance ...
— I agree, but why did we kill all the animals and poison the insects? Duncan asked.
— Maybe it's paranoia, apparently the master is very afraid of something ... — suggested Orion. «Perhaps because of what we found...»
«Target headed towards the ruined dungeon,» Teryl interrupted.
«Damn, that freak is involved, too,» Charles said. — Apparently not in vain we so meticulously covered up the traces...
— How does he react? Orion asked, leaning closer to Teril.
«Ha ha, that son of a bitch seems to be pissed off,» he replied, a satisfied smirk on his face. — He is yelling something, waving his arms ... And that's all, he calmed down, he is heading towards the exit ...
«So the task is done,» Orion nodded approvingly. — Did you make a note?
«You offend, of course you did ...» Teryl snorted, directing the Vigilant Observer towards the group.
***
At this time, Aaron was heading towards the mountains of Uldar. After the massacre of the Arcer clan, he retreated with half the knights. Orion took three foremen on an important mission, and the remaining members of the special forces squad went after their master, but bypassing, they also had their own task.
Sitting in the carriage, Aaron, closing his eyes, thought, many different thoughts were spinning in his head. First of all, he thought about one person whom he wanted to get on his side.
Now that the most critical issues have been resolved, and nothing threatens the clan, there is just an opportunity to concentrate closely on preparing for the upcoming war of the great clans. And this same person, if you get his favor, will be a very strong help before future events.
This man's name is Aurelius Vis, or rather he calls himself that. In a past life, Aaron found out about him when the war of the Weiss and Vis clans had already passed, then his grandfather, brother, died, and no one knows where his sister disappeared ...
Aurelius Vis is a unique person, it was thanks to his efforts that the war of the great clans began in the year 961. Formerly called Aurelius Moiser, he was officially a mage and also a hidden demigod of life.
Since childhood, he harbored a grudge against the Moiser clan, and the Vis clan. Some because they did bad things to his mother, brothers, and sisters, and others because they let it happen.
However, the conspirator was well aware that he would never defeat his enemies with personal strength, the demigods of life are extremely tenacious, but at the same time they are, in fact, the weakest of the demigods in combat terms. Therefore, Aurelius first wiped out all the demigods of the Moiser clan, creating a special disease through the abilities of his divine spark...
He spent almost forty years on this, the man acted slowly, slowly tightening the noose over his father's clan ... Gradually, the conspirator also built up allies, created loyal subordinates, pulling those out of trouble, healing, and literally brainwashing, making them absolutely loyal minions.
Over the long years of his slow revenge, Aurelius has turned into a kind of spider who has entwined many, too many people with his web of intrigue ...
However, this was still not enough for revenge on the great Vis clan, it became especially clear to him when one of his plots failed. After removing the three demigod brothers from the Moiser clan, Aurelius decided to try his luck with a member of the Vis clan.
Gunrad Vis was a demigod of lightning, at that time he was only fifty years old, that is, he was at the very peak of his power ... Aurelius understood that you couldn't bring down such a guy with some kind of illness, it will be helped by its vast resources and knowledge accumulated over more than a thousand years of its existence.
Therefore, the conspirator prepared a trap. He gathered a huge number of knights and even magicians, loyal subordinates, fanatically devoted, ready to give their lives for him ... However, on that day, all this was destroyed by the enormous personal power of Gunrad Vis, who single-handedly destroyed all the supporters of the conspirator.
Aurelius himself nearly died, only able to survive because of the carelessness of his enemy. Gunrad just left him to die, he was unaware that his enemy was a demigod of life...
The Moiser clan and the Vis clan posthumously condemned Aurelius, accusing him of many crimes, and safely forgot ... However, the conspirator, even having lost all his subordinates, did not give up, but rethought his actions, understood his place in the food chain.
In Aaron's past life, Aurelius Whis appeared after the war of the great clans and the destruction of the Whis clan, and proved to the Council of the Great Clans that he was the only surviving descendant of the Whis clan. He was allowed to revive the clan, the territories were reduced, but Aurelius was able to become the head of a great clan...
«What to do now...» Aaron sighed, opening his eyes.
Ronnie, did you say something?