"How far are we?"
"A week at max, 4 days minimum."
"Then we will be leaving."
Slowly, the Alliance leaders stood up and were about to leave when they heard Tirlis' voice asking, "I need about 100 infected specimens."
His words halted everyone in their tracks as they turned toward him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow, with the same question in their mind. Why was he asking them when he could easily secure such an amount? The collected army, standing outside the city, would've over 400 infected now.
"Intermediate realm?" Hidragges Alpoktu asked, he understood what Tirlis was asking for and with his words, everyone else as well. Now they knew, and the question changed. Why he needed so many of them?
Tirlis shook his head as he denied that, which made everyone's expression changed. It can't be? But he didn't let them voice it out as a vial floated from his hand, coming to rest in the center of the room. Everyone scanned it with their spiritual energy, then turned back to him. They recognized it; it was the same vial he had shown them earlier. So why was he showing them this again? What did it have to do with him requiring that much amount of advanced realm experts?
"That came from a novice-realm infected. And this…"
Another vial appeared next to the first one. Again, they scanned it. Besides containing more life force, there was nothing particularly special about it. So their previous confusion stayed the same.
"Bring him in." Tirlis said, not telling them anything. He wanted to show them the effect,
With his words, a masked figure brought an old man into the room and left him there before vanishing. The leaders watched in silence as the vial containing the intermediate-realm blood floated toward the old man.
"Drink." Tirlis said, his voice was not leaving any room for negotiation.
The old man trembled as he shakily took the vial, staring at the crimson liquid. His hands quivered as he glanced up, seeing every eye in the room locked onto him, making him shudder even more.
With a determined breath, he clenched the vial, opening it, and brought it to his lips. He downed it in one swift motion, his gulping voice audible to everyone present.
The contents were gone. All eyes were on the man, watching for any reaction—and at first, there was nothing. What were they looking for?
The leaders exchanged glances, turning to Tirlis, who remained calm, his gaze fixed on the old man. With no other options, they returned their focus to the man just as the change began, and this time they were in for a surprise.
The old man's eyes widened as he stared at his now steady hand, which never stopped shaking before. His body started regaining its vitality, almost as if time itself were reversing on it. Wrinkles vanished, his posture straightened, and his frailty seemed to melt away. He was on the way to gaining his youth back.
Everyone in the room had their eyes nailed on the old man's changing visage. Every one of them had seen their fair share of things and could say that nothing was there in the world that could shock them anymore, but today they were proven wrong. The leaders watched in stunned silence as the man's transformation completed. The elderly figure had morphed into someone who appeared to be no older than 30 or 35. The frail old man from moments ago was nowhere to be found.
"There is a unique effect l found in the bodies of the test specimen," Tirlis said. "They contain something that restores the body's ability to regenerate, allowing it to create new cells, divide them, and even restore telomeres, among other things. In short, it reverses aging. I'll send you a detailed report later of my findings."
His words left some feeling dizzy, while others had a serious look on their faces. Yet, they all understood the deeper meaning behind this. Someone unconsciously blurted out the phrase: "Fountain of youth."
"Something like that," Tirlis confirmed. He looked at the leaders and could tell the desire was flickering in their heart, even Hidragges—who had seen much in his lifetime—couldn't help but feel it budding in his heart, let alone the others.
Hidragges raised his hand, silencing the growing murmur, and asked, "How many are needed to gain the full effect?" There was no way one vial would be enough to fully regress a person to his prime.
"About 50% restored by the first vial, 30% by the second, 15% by the third, and then it decreases—10%, then 5%."
"So, five doses to reach full rejuvenation," Hidragges concluded. Tirlis nodded.
"The mages would benefit the most from this," Tirlis added.
A few raised eyebrows, confused by the statement. But as he explained, their eyes widened in astonishment, and some practically salivated at the potential and their mouths almost salivated from the greed.
Nenath licked her seductive lips. "The Academy will owe us big time."
Arjen, who had remained silent throughout the meeting, spoke up: "Make sure not a single infected leaves Iron'Heits."
"We'll secure them for you." He said to Tirlis and then vanished. Everyone nodded and followed. Tirlis got what he wanted, and he left as well.
"Prepare to breach."
And the forest caught fire. Soon, the world would burn.
.....
A day had passed since the water problem emerged, but that wasn't the only strange occurrence. The IronPeak mountain range—covering Iron'Heits—had its peak rise by another thousand feet, and some houses were mysteriously enclosed by rocks that jutted out of the ground.
Tension was high as people reported the strange happenings throughout the city. Collum and Mallory were busy compiling reports while Erik kept his eyes on the Alliance. He had noticed their army stirring to life when the water disappeared, but, unfortunately, there were no infected higher than the intermediate realm that he could control. Gremal, one of the higher-ups, resisted infection with his immense mental strength, using mana to cleanse his blood, though the corruption was still advancing slowly but surely.
Erik ignored him, focusing instead on the infected intermediate-realm soldiers, though they were barely holding themselves together. He also learned that if he asked them to explode, they would do so with no hesitation.
This left him a little shocked, but he wasn't going to let anything that benefited him go away. It was not like the alliance would let him go when they captured the city. So it was either him or them. He had too many things to do to choose them over him.
Anyway, through their eyes and ears, he learned many things, including the Alliance's plan to attack in the middle of the night using teleportation scrolls to position themselves around the city and infiltrate it from all sides.
Why not in the middle of the city? But none said anything because they didn't know, just that the higher-ups told them they could only teleport outside and not inside.
Erik had a theory about why, and though relieved to hear it, he was a little surprised that the Alliance was willing to use such precious resources just to infiltrate. Teleportation scrolls were incredibly expensive because of the rarity of the profession itself. A space-related scroll capable of teleporting an entire army was practically a treasure, reserved for only the most critical moments.
"I'm still missing something," Erik mused. He thought long and hard, but couldn't yet pinpoint what it was. While thinking and finding out about it was important, he still needed to act fast, because the alliance wouldn't give him much time. And the first thing being setting up traps. He found accurate information, blowing up some alliance soldiers along the way.
While everyone was busy with their respective duties, Valcroy was the only one completely at ease. He had secluded himself to focus solely on training. Even though he wanted to help Erik, he needed to at least reach the intermediate realm before he could start learning to use his mental strength and control soldiers from afar.
Technically, he could have begun mental training during the first stage, but Erik advised him to focus on perfecting his body first. Only when that was complete should he start working with his mental energy. It was enough at the moment to help him in tempering his body. Valcroy didn't know why but followed Erik's advice, concentrating on strengthening his body.
The process of destruction and regeneration was going smoothly, and the improvements were noticeable. Previously, his muscles deteriorated in microseconds, after which the curse would heal him. Now, his muscles withstood the corrosive energy for a few milliseconds before breaking down—a significant improvement, though not the time to celebrate, he still did.
The Iron'Heits soldiers had started moving around, doing what Erik told them to do, but according to the Alliance spies, there was nothing strange going on. Sometimes they behaved out of character, but most spent their time in garrisons, patrolling and gossiping about the tense atmosphere gripping the city. They complained about the water shortage and voiced opinions on how things should be handled. Other than their tense demeanors, nothing seemed out of the ordinary—at least, that's what the spies observed and reported.
The citizens of Iron'Heits were staying indoors more and more, only leaving when absolutely necessary. Some were relieved by the extra stone cover that had mysteriously appeared around their homes, while others were extremely wary of it.
Everything seemed calm, a peaceful facade masking the brewing storm. On the surface, the city prepared for the coming battle, but deep beneath the ground, something else was stirring.
If there had been a fourth-circle or higher circle mage present, they would have been shocked to sense the earth beneath Iron'Heits shifting, almost like a snake slithering away to reveal what had been hidden. But whatever it was, it remained obscured by a white, shell-like barrier that blocked any clear view of the mysterious object inside.
But this white shell was volatile as it started moving up, trying to tear the earth apart and come up. The barrier, although like a shell, felt extremely fragile, but that was just a hoax as it crushed whatever got in its way as it was coming it. It pulsed—sometimes blindingly bright, other times dim enough to reveal its contents.
It was filled with dense snake-like figures which seemed to squirm along the surface. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that those snake-like figures were runes, so densely packed that one couldn't differentiate one from the other. It felt like someone didn't have enough space to work with, so they crammed as much of them as possible in that space and in as close to each other as possible.
These glowing and dimming runes made the shell's outer layer seem fragile, but it crushed anything that got in its way as it crawled toward the surface, wanting to experience the shining warmth of the sun. The size of this entity was massive, easily large enough to cover Iron'Heits and stretch even into the IronPeaks. It was clear this was what the Alliance sought—and likely the cause of the strange incidents within the city.
The barrier continued its relentless ascent, and soon, it would pierce through the ground and emerge on the surface of Avaloria, all while the citizens of Iron'Heits remained blissfully unaware of the impending threat.
With danger looming above and below, Erik faced the challenge of a lifetime—one that could either break him or lead to an opportunity that would change everything.
The storm was about to sweep over Iron'Heits.