Chapter 20

Chapter 20

An unknown location in Aroster

Vella

“So young miss, why is it that you have come to find me?” The question rumbled in Vella’s head for a few moments. Only a few mere days had passed since Vella had left her farm, but the events of those days made it seem as though ages had passed. Vella knew the simple version of her answer, but in all truth, she wasn’t truly sure why she had been sent to find him or how he could actually help the situation. She wasn’t sure what to ask him or what he knew, after all, Kraevos was supposed to be hundreds of years old, this couldn’t really be him, could it?

“Umm… I honestly am not quite sure… I was sent here to find you, but no one bothered to tell me what you were supposed to do.” Vella trailed off slightly, “So either they didn’t want me to know or they didn’t trust me.” This was the first time that these thoughts had started to creep into Vella’s mind. Maybe she was just a chess piece on a player’s board. “Dracyr… I mean the queen, she said you knew a lot about the kingdoms and the magic and stuff. She sent us to find you so that you could fix a problem going on.”

Kraevos wily grin wrinkled down into a frown and his brow furrowed seriously. “That is most unfortunate. I was truly hoping that you had come to find me for good reasons. It has been so long since anyone so interesting has sought me out.”

“Why am I interesting?” Vella asked curiously.

“It is of no consequence now,” Kraevos said as he waved his hand and a door shimmered into existence. “If you’re just an agent of Dracyr’s I am afraid that you will have to go. Our discussion is done, what a pity.” He stood up and motioned to the door, but Vella refused to move. “Miss if you will not leave kindly I will simply remove you myself.” He waved his hand again and the chair Vella was seated in began to float.

Vella jumped out of the chair and approached Kraevos defiantly. “I’m not sure who you think I am, but I'm not an agent of anyone!” She pushed a finger at Kraevos chest. Where she should have touched cloth she felt nothing a wisp of smoke had formed where Kraevos was. The smoke began to spread throughout the room, and small crackles of electricity began to surge across barely missing Vella.

Kraevos' voice continued though Vella could not tell from where. “Then if you do not belong to the wise queen, who is it that you do belong to miss?”

Vella drew her short sword and swung it at the smoke, meeting a jolt of electricity as she went. Her body shook for a moment as she tried to gather herself to speak, realizing how foolish it was for her to pick a fight with such a strong sorcerer. “I don’t belong to anyone but myself!” she said angrily. “I just want to tell you what’s gone on, what you do with that information is yours to choose.”

The smoke began to rush back to a singular point in front of Vella, forming Kraevos's body. With a silver shimmer, he reformed. “Well then, I apologize for misjudging you so. If you are what you say you are, then I have no quarrel with you.” His catlike smile crossed back onto his face, “Then I do have to ask, what exactly is a dragon breeder such as yourself doing getting tangled up with Dracyr the wise?” he asked with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Well, that’s a bit of a long story, sir.”

Kraevos snapped his fingers and the small wooden chair at the table transformed into luxuriously padded lounge chairs and the table was suddenly covered in food. “By my estimation miss we have nothing but time, after all, you and I have far more to learn from each other. I am all ears, please weave me your tale.”

Vella sat down, grabbed a piece of bread, and scarfed it down, as much as she was already full from eating at the market, she couldn’t resist the smell and sight of all of the food. After all, she had lived alone for several years now and cooking was not one of her better skills. “Ok then, it all started when a dragon, a wyvern to be specific, showed up back at my farm. Now I’m just a simple wyrm breeder, nothing fancy, just beasts of burden. So a wyvern is a pretty big deal. I knew this had to belong to someone so I looked it over and it had some armor that I thought belonged to Draeton. I figured if I brought the wyvern to the people I know in presidia they might be able to help me return it. It turns out the dragon belonged to a knight and I got caught up in this whole big thing with the two queens, Dracyr and Emeria. As far as we’ve heard Emeria is planning something big and bad and Dracyr and probably all of Draeton are in a heap of danger. I was actually in the royal throne room and Emeria just appeared out of nowhere and she threatened war on our whole kingdom!”

“So the ling between the thrones still works, Precia would be proud,” Kraevos muttered.

“What did you say?” Vella asked.

“Sorry, lost in old memories,” Kraevos said collecting himself. He rubbed his chin for a moment, taking in what Vella had said. “I do feel as though I am missing one piece of the puzzle though, why exactly would Emeria attack Dracyr? An unprovoked war on her part would lead to all the other kingdoms turning against her and even she is not mad enough to assume she could win.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot one detail,” Vella replied. “So I learned this part when Emeria showed up. It turns out Dracyr sent an assassin to try and kill Emeria.” Vella realized that she had just said too much, but she was swept up in telling her story and couldn’t help herself. “Please don’t tell anyone that I told you that part,” she said putting her hand across her face. “Not that you owe me that kind of loyalty or anything.”

“It is safe with me miss,” Kraevos replied. “Though I am not a fan of the kingdoms I am also not one who actively seeks to bring about their downfall. Far too much blood would be shed in such a situation.”

Vella let out a heavy sigh, “thanks.”

“Though this does only bring up more questions. Why exactly would Dracyr send the assassin in the first place? The same consequences of unprovoked war would apply to Draeton as they would to Sacrotia.”

“Well,” Vella began, “I guess it was because Dracyr was told Emeria had some sort of super scary weapon or something like that.”

“What kind of weapon?” Kraevos asked taking a far more serious tone than he had previously had.

“I honestly don’t know the answer to that.” Vella thought about the incident in the throne room, trying to recollect what Emeria and Dracyr had said in case there were any clues. “Neither of them said it directly, but whatever it is, it was something that had Dracyr really scared.”

Kraevos put his hands together and sat silently for a moment, pondering the possibilities. “Well then,” he said breaking his silence, “if it is enough to scare the wise queen and make her send someone after me it must be a terrifying might indeed. She knows how little love I have for the kingdoms, Draeton specifically at this point.” Kraevos stood up and slapped his palms down onto the table. The food disappeared and across the table, a large map was shown filling its entirety. Every city and town was outlined and named, many of which Vella didn’t recognize. There were several glowing words hovering around in the various locations. Vella looked closely and saw that they were names, some she knew and others she didn’t. Vella saw Dracyr’s name glowing in a bright yellow where Presidia was marked on the map. In a deep red Emeria’s name glowed with the name Moren glowing in green next to it. Vella became confused as she saw the names were marked inside the mountain keep of Chirock. Glowingly faintly next to them in a slate gray was the name Graclose.

A look of concern crossed Kraevos's face, “Now I understand Dracyr’s concern.” Kraevos motioned his hands apart and the map grew closer to Chirock. All three of the names were next to one another in a small clump still. “I fear this is a most ominous sign. She already had taken Moren from his people, if she now has control over Graclose then we are all in quite grave trouble.” Kraevos looked up and locked eyes with Vella. “I know this is not what you want to hear miss, but I am not going to help you. Though I do not actively seek the downfall of the kingdoms I also will not help clean up the messes they make.”

“Why!” Vella blurted out angrily. “You’re the only person who might know how to get rid of Emeria, why wouldn’t you help us? Think of how many lives will be lost if this turns into an all-out war?” Vella stood up, not trying to control her emotions in the least. “How many people need to die for you to help!?”

“Too many have already died thanks to my meddling. I swore long ago that I was done getting involved in the affairs of the kingdoms. I have done enough damage to this land, I won’t do anymore.” A look of sadness came across Kraevos’ face as he finished speaking.

“That’s wyrm’s dung and you know it,” Vella said pointing angrily at Kraevos. “It doesn’t matter what you did in the past, if you can help now you should!”

“I’m sorry young miss, but you do not understand. This whole mess with the kingdoms is my fault in the first place.” Kraevos sat down in his chair, looking despondent and lost.

“Then clean it up! If this is your fault then that’s even more reason to help. You’re not past redemption, there is always a chance to be better. You have all this power and you would do nothing with it. If I had even a tiny portion of your magic I would be trying to stop this myself!”

“You really have a lot of fire in your belly miss, quite the large amount of conviction for a farm girl,” Kraevos said with a faint smile crossing his lips. “You remind me of someone I used to know.

“Then I bet that person would have called you out to help too!” Vella replied losing her patience more and more.

“Oh, she did, of that you can be sure,” Kraevos said as he began to rummage through his pockets. “She pestered me long and hard until I did something the first time. She was a pain in my hide.” He pulled out a small silver necklace with a charm on it and rubbed it in his palm. “There isn’t a day that I don’t miss her though.”

Vella’s anger started to come down as she realized that a rational approach was going to do her far more good than her yelling. “Then look in your heart and do what she would have wanted. If you cared so much about this person then you should listen to them, whether they are here or not.”

Vella sat back down with a smug look on her face as Kraevos began to chuckle. “Trying to manipulate my emotions then miss? A bold strategy.”

Vella smirked at Kraevos, “Well, I think it’s working.” Kraevos let out a hearty laugh. “So, since you have so smartly decided to help us, what exactly is it that you can do?”

Kraevos continued to laugh for a few moments. “You are as stubborn as a mud wyrm miss.” Vella nodded victoriously, knowing she had bested him. “Well, what I can do to help is by no means simple and it requires a bit of a trip too. We will have to gather a few things before I can help.”

“Fine with me,” Vella said taking a deep breath and imagining what might be ahead. “besides, this is the first time I’ve really been off the farm like this, going to Presidia to sell wyrms doesn’t count. Kraevos couldn’t help but find Vella’s thirst for adventure endearing, it brought him back to times long past and memories he fondly wished would return. Vella was genuine in a way that very few had been with Kraevos in hundreds of years.

“Well, the first thing I need is the full story. I know you told me what you know, but I believe there is more to it than you realize.” Kraevos stood up and walked over to Vella. “Please stand miss, this may make you feel a little uncomfortable, but it will help us better understand the situation.” Vella stood up and before she could ask anything Kraevos placed a hand on her forehead. A crackle of silver lightning flashed from his hand and across her head. She saw her whole life flash before his eyes at unimaginable speed. Every important moment and every insignificant second reappeared. Vella began to weep as the sad moments passed and couldn’t control her smile at the fond ones. In the blink of an eye, it all stopped and she felt her blood rush. Her stomach churned violently and she began to vomit on the floor as Kraevos jumped out of the way.

“Well,” Kraevos said, “Sorry about that. Though I do warn others before I perform that, it still tends to lead to the same conclusion.” Vella looked up at him as she wiped the vomit from her mouth. Kraevos waved his hand and a large glass of water appeared on the table. “That should help settle your stomach and clear the taste from your mouth.” Vella grabbed the glass and began to drink it quickly, trying to regain her composure. “Apologies for not explaining what I was about to do. I find that I get the clearest view when people don’t know I’m about to view their memories. One tends to try and guard secrets and other such things when told ahead of time.”

As Vella finished the glass she replied, “You saw all of that?” Kraevos nodded. A small mop appeared next to him and began to methodically clean the vomit from the floor before disappearing. “Why did you want to see my memories? I already told you what happened.”

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“Well, this was one last chance for me to check and make sure you were just in your reasoning and then to inspect and see if there were any details you didn’t know you had.” Vella tilted her head in a confused manner and shrugged. “Let me explain better. People do not realize how much information they are constantly taking in. With all of our senses, we are learning so much each second that we do not understand. There is only such a small amount that we deem important enough to remember. If you know what to focus on though you can learn a great deal.” Kraevos sat back down and let the map return to its normal state, showing the entire continent. “For example, you have no idea how many problems I have solved simply by recollecting utilizing smell. It’s a truly wondrous sense of how it links to memory. You just have to learn how to unlock the different parts of your mind with magic as I have and then a squishy little brain can become something truly amazing.”

“You are a truly strange old man,” Vella mumbled.

“Indeed I am, or I should say of course I am, after all, it’s hard to be normal when you have lived for as long as I have. I have to do what I can to keep life interesting or it ceases having a point. It is the strangeness, the oddity of life that makes it brilliant. After all, this one choice I made to see your memories has opened up so many possibilities. Without it I wouldn’t know to help you unlock what you can do.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vella was starting to worry that he was going to make her vomit again.

Kraevos snapped his fingers and the table and chairs disappeared, dropping Vella to the floor. “Oop, sorry I am a little excited. Please stand up so I can show you.”

Vella stood cautiously, “What exactly are you going to do and what is it going to do to me?”

Kraevos smiled a wickedly giddy grin, “What it’s going to do to you, I don’t know really. As for what I’m going to do, I am going to do this!” Kraevos made several signs quickly with his hands and brilliant colors flashed across each fingertip. He made one last motion before the colors began to blend together into a thin line that swirled toward Vella. Vella tensed as the line touched her forehead. For a moment she felt nothing, then everything around her went a brilliant white as other colors began to blur along the outside of her vision. Vella felt untethered from her body, as though she had left it and gone far away. She saw flashes of other places and things past that made no sense before a brilliant red color filled her vision. She could feel her body again, her pulse racing faster and faster, the beat of her heart filling her ears. Each beat sent a wave of energy across the room pushing Kraevos further and further back until he was pressed against the wall as it began to crack behind him.

Then all at once, it stopped. Vella dropped to the ground and for a moment there was silence. Vella took a deep breath and tried to regain herself. Her pulse was still racing, but it felt odd. She could feel it in a way she never had before as though she felt every little drop of blood in her body as it pulsed through her. After another few moments, the ringing in her ears stopped and she saw Kraevos in a heap against the wall. She stood up uneasily and walked over to him. “I don’t know what happened, are you ok?”

Kraevos bellowed out a laugh as he picked himself up off the floor. “No one has hit me that hard since I was mortal. You are a truly exceptional find, Miss Vella.” He brushed the dust off his clothes and with a wave of his hand the wall began to fix itself. “Though one burst of power says something it does not tell us much. I need you to truly bring out the power. Untamed magic like that is dangerous.”

“What do you mean by that? I didn’t do anything, you did. That was whatever you did to me,” Vella replied with concern.

“On the contrary miss, that was all you. I merely acted as the key, the flood came from you entirely.” Vella stared at him blankly, unable to wrap her head around it. “Let me put it this way If you have a bottle of something bubbly and it is corked correctly and you put it in the sun what happens? The heat and pressure build up until the cork is launched out and the pressure releases.”

“So what does that have to do with me, I’m not a bottle,” Vella replied.

“Ah but you are miss, we all are. We are all magic vessels. Whether we acknowledge it or not we all contain magic in us. Some more than others. The problem is many do not know how to unlock it. You have always had this magical ability, you just didn’t know how to unlock it. Generations of people have unintentionally been the cork to their own magical power, you among them. I simply acted as that heat and pressure to make it so the magic could flow.” Kraevos grinned from ear to ear as he finished. Vella couldn’t help but laugh as she noticed that one of Kraevos pristine white teeth had been knocked out of his mouth by the blast. She began to giggle. “What, does this not make sense to you, did I say something wrong?”

“No, no, I think I get it,” Vella replied. “You might want to check your teeth though.” Kraevos put a hand to his mouth and felt where the tooth had been knocked out. Blood was running from the empty socket in his mouth where the tooth had resided

“Well, now I have to say I truly am impressed.” He snapped his fingers and looked around the room. “There it is!” He scrambled to the floor and picked up the tooth that had formerly been in his mouth. “Not only did you knock me back, but you hit hard enough to get through my protective wards and knock a tooth completely from my mouth, that is no small feat.” He paused for a moment and a blue magic began to hum around the tooth. Kraevos began to glow the same blue color and before Vella could comprehend what was going on he began to go in reverse, his words came out backward and his body moved in opposition to the actions he had just taken. After a few moments, he flung himself back to the wall and the tooth flew back into his mouth as though it had never left. The blue glow stopped and Kraevos stood for a moment before he checked his mouth, poking a finger in to check the tooth. “That’s better,” he proclaimed. “I do hate to use temporal magic, has a way of going wrong, but I figured a few seconds back that took couldn’t do anything too bad.” Almost as if it were waiting for his proclamation his robe began to catch fire. “I spoke to soon,” he said as he conjured a glass of water from the air to douse the flames. “Now where was I?” he said with a grin. “Ahh yes, your magic, that untapped potential within you, we need to see how well you can control it, we must test you!”

As much as Vella was taking this seriously, she couldn’t help but be giddy. She had dreamt her whole life of being able to use magic, the idea that she’d had it all along was astonishing to her. She never thought that anything like this would ever come true for her. “Alright, so how exactly are you going to test me? Doesn’t that blast prove anything? Do you need me to try and do that again?”

“No, no, no,” Kraevos said putting his hands up defensively. “I would prefer to keep the rest of my teeth in my head thank you miss. Temporal magic takes a lot out of me even if it’s only a small rewind. We will need to do this a little differently.” He kneeled down and put his palms on the floor as he uttered “Signum magis.” A large silver circle with all sorts of runes and markings appeared on the floor in front of Vella. It had an inner and outer ring and they were spinning in opposite directions. Vella couldn’t make out what the symbols read, but she felt as though she had seen some of them before. “Step into the middle of the circles please miss.” Kraevos pointed and Vella happily obliged. “Now here is the hard part, I need you to concentrate and I really mean concentrate hard. Close your eyes and create a vision. You need to pull from deep inside, find an emotion, a moment that you know, one that has left an impact on your very soul, and pull that moment to the front of your mind. It can be a happy memory or a sad one, for this test it doesn’t matter, though be weary, emotions and magic do have a way of tangling one another and warping outcomes. We just need something that is a truly powerful moment in your life.”

Vella began to follow Kraevos’ instructions. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to focus on a moment that was strong in her mind. Though Kraevos had said the emotion didn’t matter here she tried to think of one that was positive, she didn’t want her first bit of magic to be influenced by negative emotions. The problem was, there hadn’t been much good in Vella’s life that she could remember strongly. Many of her happy memories with her parents were blurry and old and even then many of her fond memories were about reading, not something she had done to create a stronger emotional connection. She had the sad memories of her parents’ passing, but she dared not dwell on those. She took a deep breath and tried to relax her body, to let her mind freely wander back to find something positive. At last, she began to feel something stronger, the wind in her hair, the rush of excitement that she felt from her heart the first time she rode Aegis into the sky. That first flight had been the greatest mix of sensations she had ever felt, she focused on the swirl of nerves and happiness she felt. She could feel that same weightlessness as she dived, the pull of gravity as they rose, she saw the brilliant view across the sky in her mind as clear as the moment it happened. She felt the pull of the reins in her hand, the flex of her muscles as she steered the wyvern from side to side, darting across the clouds. Her body began to pulse with energy and she felt that same weightlessness again as her body began to lift itself off of the ground. Her skin prickled with electricity as the magic focused around her and began to form a vibrant aura.

“Please open your eyes miss, you need to see what is going on,” Kraevos called reassuringly to her. Vella opened her eyes and she could see the wind whipping about, circling her like a small cyclone. Her pulse was pounding as she saw a deep red glow emanating from her. The red light filled the room, casting everything in a crimson hue. “Take a good look miss, this magic is yours and yours alone,” he said as he removed his palms from the ground. The silver circle dissipated and the air began to swirl faster around Vella. With each beat of her heart, the red light surged getting stronger and faster. Kraevos stood and with a serious look on his face began to direct Vella. “Control it, Miss Vella. Your breath, your heart, your energy all of this is your magic, control them and you control the magic around you. Find that same emotion that brought this about and take control of it. Show me that you direct that power within you.”

Vella clenched her fists and began to feel the energy around her, trying to shape it, to will it to her command. The glowing aura began to tense and shudder, pulling back closer to her form. As her heart began to slow from its frenzied pace so too did the winds around her. The glowing formed a thin veil around Vella and she held her hand up to her face, marveling at the energy around her. Her feet touched the ground as tears began to stream from her eyes. “This is incredible,” she managed to mumble out before Kraevos embraced her in a bear hug.

“Indeed it is Miss Vella, yes it is!” He released the hug and Vella could see that Kraevos was holding back his own tears. “I forgot how beautiful a magical awakening was.” He snapped his fingers and the table and chairs reappeared in the room. He motioned for Vella to sit down. That was truly splendid, if you can manage to keep that level of control I won’t have any need to bind your magical powers for your safety. You do need to be wary though as magic is a most fickle thing, it does have a mind all its own. Magic is a living thing, it may not be as physically apparent as we are, but it is alive. You show the proper respect and treat magic correctly and it will be your greatest ally. If you have the audacity to mistreat it, to enslave it and that will ultimately lead to your downfall as the magic itself spurns you.” Kraevos's voice took a more grim tone as he continued. “The problem is, magic is blind ambition, it hungers for power, for energy, it does not discern good or bad the way we do. The benevolent and the merciless have both been great magic wielders and have been equally attuned to it. It is our job to help balance the scales and make sure that magic is used for good rather than evil. I trust Miss Vella that you would use it in a manner that is good and just. For that and the control you have shown, I trust you and will help to teach you to harness the power inside you as we continue this quest of yours.”

“Thank you so much,” Vella said with a giant grin crossing her face. “I couldn’t ask for a better teacher and I am so glad that you’re committed to helping us.”

“Well let us just say that you convinced me by becoming intriguing enough to be worth the time. After all, I have nothing if not time.” Kraevos waved his hand in the air and a small book came flying to his palm. “We do have some matters of magic to discuss before we leave though.” He opened the book on the table and images began to hover in the air above showing different magical things. “As you know magic is indeed by nature wild and for a long time it truly was wild and free. This was all before we were able to apply some control over it. Only fools would dare to think of magic as a simple source of energy. It has unique properties for all that use it. As such it is different for each and every person that uses it, though there are some common links. By now you have no doubt noticed that there are different colors of magic and that they have some commonality?” Vella nodded, she had been wondering about it but hadn’t gotten the chance to sort out the colors yet. “ Well, the color does tell you a good bit about the kind of magic that is being used, the kind of energy it draws from, and some things about the user. The vibrancy of the color and how the energy flows can also hint at how powerful the enchantment or magic user is.”

“Ok, that makes sense,” Vella said. She put her hand close in front of her face to look at the glow still emanating from her. "Then what exactly does this tell you? I know it is red, but I don’t know how bright it’s supposed to be or anything like that.”

“Well, the color tells you the first piece, it is red, crimson to be more exact. That is the magical color of life, of blood. It is the magic that courses through the veins of those in tune with life itself, those who feel the pulse of magic in the truest most animal sense.” Kraevos motioned for Vella’s hand and she reached across the table. He stared at how the magic hummed across her skin, at the vibrancy of the color and at its ebb and flow.

As he examined Vella a thought crossed her mind. “Why does Emeria have the same color of magic as me? Does that mean there’s something wrong with my magic?”

“So you noticed that little detail.” Kraevos let Vella have her hand back as he continued, “As I said, magic does not discern good or bad. As such there are those like Emeria who have immense magical power but it is twisted and warped. She is a truly tragic case of generations who have twisted this life energy into something perverse and wrong. She is just the most pure product of this problem that I have seen. She is filled with the magic of life and of blood, but in a dark, caustic way that leeches it from others. She is a balance to you. Your magic is strong with the strength of life, of the flowing growth of our world. Hers is that which consumes. In her own way, Emeria is one who was never given the choice to honor magic correctly, instead, she is the consequence of what her family has done. She is a price we all pay for my mistake.”

“What do you mean by that Kraevos?” Vella asked.

“That is a question for another time Miss when you are ready. There is much to my story that the tomes do not have correct or have hidden.” His voice trailed off and Vella assumed it was best to move on. “Besides,” Kraevos resumed, “I do believe it is about time that we meet up with your companions and head off.”

Vella had become so absorbed in her conversation with Kraevos that Sani and Aren had completely slipped her mind. She was supposed to have found Kraevos and contacted them. She should have met up with them by now, knowing how overprotective Aren was he might have broken half the town looking for Vella by now. “Wyrm’s dung, we have to go find them before they start more trouble. They must be looking for me by now.”

“Well yes, of course they are Miss Vella,” Kraevos said with a wry smirk. “Greenbraid, or Sani as you call her is quite clever. She and the oaf have found this place. Not that finding it is enough to actually get in, they must be welcomed. Though I do suppose I could simply make a door and let them in.”

With a wave of his hand, a large door appeared behind Kraevos. With an immense crash, both Sani and Aren barged through the door. Kraevos’ form shimmered and they went straight through him, smashing into the table and sending parts flying across the room. As the dust cleared they were in a heap on top of the broken table at Vella’s feet. “Hey guys, looking for me?” Vella said with a sarcastic smirk.

Sani hopped up and began to dust herself off. Aren on the other hand stood up and grabbed Vella in a crushing hug. “You’re ok, I was so darned worried,” he blurted out. “Now where in the name of the gods are we and who took you here and where are they so I can beat them to a pulp.”

“Kraevos form flickered back and he replied from behind Aren. “That would be me, good sir. I brought Miss Vella here after observing her today. By all means you may try, but I do doubt that you could beat me to a pulp even in your best form.” Aren turned and took a swing that passed through Kraevos and ended up punching the wall wildly.

“Argh,” Aren let out a wild grunt as he rubbed his fist having left a dent in the wall.

Vella put a hand on Aren’s shoulder. “Calm down big guy, you don’t want to hit him anyways. This is the man we were looking for. This is Kraevos.”

Aren grumbled something rude and Sani’s mouth fell open as they stared at Kraevos. He simply replied by snapping his fingers and reforming the table that had just been broken. “It appears Miss Vella has taken my introduction, but yes, I am indeed Kraevos. I am still rather alive and well despite the reports of my demise and such. I have taken such care to make it seem as though I am gone, so please, don’t go dispelling too many of those,” he said with a laugh. “Now please, take a seat, we have a few things to go over.”