"Here we are." Windsom said as we teleported into a campground, I looked around, there were a lot of tents set up in some forest. "This one is yours." He stepped towards one in front of us, and opened the flap, and we walked inside.
"What is all this?" I asked, slightly confused.
"It is your first mission." Windsom said, and then continued. "A friend of yours will come by shortly to give you the details." I stepped further into the tent, inside was a bed and a chair, that was all, it was pretty plain.
"Alright, thanks Windsom." I faced him, and he was just staring at me. "What friend is it?"
"You'll see soon enough." He answered, and then backed away from me. "I'll be taking my leave now; I expect to hear of your victory." My victory? Was I about to fight in a battle? "Oh, and Arthur approved of the mission, he said he trusted you enough to leave you alone."
"Bye." I waved to the Asura as he left the tent and teleported away. "What a bitch." I said out loud and made my way to bed and sat down. I could feel the real me close by, he left for Blackbend when he knew of my return.
Now, what the hell was I doing here, what's the point? I activated "Blood Oath" and sensed for the people around me, my eyes widened, it was an old friend, not that old, but it is going to be nice to see him.
There were about three hundred soldiers around me, they probably didn't know I was here, and I am sure they will be surprised when they find out. The person I sensed that I knew was coming towards my tent, I was a clone, so I couldn't start a mission, and it was getting late.
The real me will show up in about ten minutes, then I'll either get destroyed or sent somewhere else. The tent flap opened, and a voice rang out. "If it isn't Lance Virion, tch, haaha, what's good Veer?" Callias walked into the tent, and I smiled.
"It's been a long time since I saw you." We walked up to each other and hugged.
"How have you been?" He asked me as we separated, he seemed to be a little more mature than last time I saw him.
"I've been good, but I'm sure you knew that." He nodded his head, knowing what I've been up to already. "So, where have you been?" I sat back down on the bed, and looked up at him.
"Well, I've been in Blackbend for quite some time, but before that, I fought alongside the border of Elenoir in the beginning, but our division was split apart." Callias was not a character in the novel, so I didn't know where he was throughout his journey during the war, I didn't even know if he survived the dungeon raids without me.
"Oh, that's nice." I responded. "You should know something; I am not the real me." He stared at me in confusion, so I continued to speak, trying to explain myself a little better. "I am a clone, the real me will be here in about a minute or two."
"Why do you have a clone here?" Callias asked a reasonable question, but I couldn't answer that. He didn't need to know I hated the asuras to some extent, not all of them, but some, well, most.
"For my reasons." I answered him with a smirk. "I'm assuming you know my mission then, what I was brought here to do. I was hoping to hunt down Alacryan camps, but I guess I won't be doing that."
"I think you'll be surprised then." He replied but continued to speak. "Our mission, wait, should I wait to tell the real you?" I looked at the entrance to my tent.
"No need, I am here." A replica, no, the real me walked in.
---
"Jeez, this is so weird." Callias said, looking at me as I stepped further into the tent.
My clone stood up, and I turned to him. "I'm sending you to Elshire, you know what to do." I told him, the clone had my thoughts, so he knew what I wanted from him already. "Go."
"On it." The clone made its way out of the tent and left the camp.
"Where were we?" I asked Callias, sitting down where my clone was just at.
"I was explaining, man this is weird, that our mission is for you to lead us to Alacryan camps underground, and we will be taking them out." My eyes widened, this was exactly what I wanted to do, Arthur had to of told Elder Virion, and did this as a surprise or something. "But I should warn you, I was instructed that there are rules in place."
"Instructed by who?"
"Commander Virion." He put on a serious face. "If the force you find is under five hundred, you are allowed to do as you wish, anything more, and we need to send word to the council." I nodded, I could work with that, it was fair. "You are the leader of the force, I was put here to be the captain, so thanks for getting me promoted."
We laughed together. "Haha." and then I spoke. "That works for me, I'll follow those rules." I could sense the three hundred soldiers here, but not who were mages, and who weren't. "What is our force looking like?"
"We have thirty mages, and the rest are regular soldiers." Those numbers aren't awful, I was surprised we got that many, I was expecting ten mages at best, but this is a serious mission. "I know six of them are earth elementals, they are going to be the demolition team to get underground if we have to, and the rest of the mages, I don't know that much about."
"Okay, we should figure that out first before we got anywhere." I needed to know the powers of the people around me, so I could come up with the best plan possible. "I would also like to meet this demolition team at some point, I'm sure most of them are dwarves, I need to know if I can trust them."
"Why? you have something against dwarves?" Oh, I forgot, Callias doesn't know of Darv's betrayal.
"No, never mind, I just want to meet them, they are going to be key in almost every battle probably." They are the only ones who can dig underground and get us into the camp if we needed. "If you are the captain, you and I should walk the camp, and meet the other mages, so that we can make a list of their abilities."
"I agree." Callias nodded his head. "You are more mature than before, I am too, but I can see it more in you, the boy who showed up that first day before the dungeon raids is no longer there."
I stood up, consuming the mana in the atmosphere, I needed to build my mana back up after creating that white core clone. "That's what happens when you are losing your mind." I waved my hands. "I wouldn't say I am more mature though, it's just that I am thinking this through."
"That's what being more mature means, bud." Callias laughed. "Haha." Then he continued to speak. "I forgot to ask, how's your sanity? You still going crazy, or did they fix that?" Callias knew of my Beast Will, Elder Virion ordered him to keep a watch on me while I was in the dungeon.
"I am still going crazy." I shrugged. "But I am trying to control it, which I am to some extent. I'm still the boy who laughs while killing, depending on the victim."
Callias just stared at me, but he finally responded. "I am sorry, I thought maybe they would have found a cure already, I'm surprised they haven't."
"Tch." I made a noise, thinking about Lord Indrath, and the fact the man literally didn't give me a cure because I didn't want to kill Tessia if we lost the war. Did I make the wrong choice there? Could I have lied to him? "Yeah, me too." I simply stated.
"How old are you again? Ten? Eleven?" He asked.
"Eleven?" I said questioningly.
"I was just wondering." He answered, I think Callias was around twenty seven, or twenty eight, but I didn't know. "You know, your victory against the three Retainers is talked about all throughout the continent, man, you barely defeated one before in the dungeon, how were you able to defeat three?"
We were just standing in the middle of my tent, talking, which was nice. "I had two other Lances with me, one being my brother, and the other, Lance Aya, but I fought two at once, and killed them both, my brother killed the other."
"You are unbelievable." He responded with a smile. "I wonder what that battle looked like, I bet I couldn't even track your movements." Callias wasn't that weak, he probably could, but he wouldn't be able to dodge any of the attacks thrown.
"Should we get going?" I asked Callias, wanting to meet the soldiers present.
"I'll lead the way." Callias said, exiting the tent, I followed behind him, and out into the campground. "We'll go to the west side first; I think I know where the mages are over there."
"Okay." I responded, not caring where we started, he knew the place better than me.
We started to walk in that direction, and as we did, the people I passed either bowed, or their eyes widened at the sight of me. It was a nice feeling, being liked and respected by fellow soldiers fighting in the war.
"General Virion is here!" A soldier cried out, and people started to clap. I smiled and nodded as we passed through the small crowd of people. "The Devil himself!" We turned the corner of one tent, and Callias stopped walking.
"In here." He said, and then shouted. "Melody!"
"What do you need?" The tent opened, and an elf appeared, she had silver hair like Tessia, but she was a lot older, and she had a skinny frame that made her look attractive. "Oh my, General Virion, it is an honor." She bowed before me, and then lifted her head.
"Veer, this is Melody Tremaine." Callias told me and I reached a hand out towards her.
"It's nice to meet you, Melody." She took my hand and shook it.
"Likewise." Melody responded. "Is there something you need?"
"We want to meet all the mages present in camp before we head out, so I am starting with you, since I knew you were here." Callias grinned at her, and she ignored him, and spoke to me.
"I am a conjurer mastering in the element of wind, and I am at light orange." Melody said very nicely, light orange isn't awful, I can work with that. "Like I said, it is an honor to be fighting alongside the Lance of Death."
"I am happy to hear that." I told her, not caring that she called me the Lance of Death, at this point, it was more of a complement. "Callias, was Lance of Death your doing?" I needed to know, but I doubted it was him, he wasn't smart enough for that name.
"Nope." He responded quickly. "But I love it."
"I do too." Melody agreed with Callias. "I can bring you to Cassandra, my sister."
Callias looked at her confused. "Wait, you have a sister here?" She nodded her head. "When did this happen? We hung out yesterday, and not once did you mention that."
"I don't just have a sister; she is a twin sister." She turned to the tent next to hers and shouted. "Cassandra, come here!" I heard someone in the tent move around, and then she stepped out into the open, she literally looked the same as Melody, I could barely pick the two apart, luckily, I knew what their blood felt like.
"General!" She bowed to me quickly. "Melody, why didn't you tell me?!" Cassandra shouted at Melody.
"Don't sleep all day, and you would have known!" Melody shot back at her. "Tell him your powers, and your core strength."
"I am a water conjurer, and I am at mid orange." She was weaker than Melody, but not by a lot. "It is nice to meet you, Lance Virion." I nodded my head to her, showing my thanks for her cooperation.
Melody spoke up. "I am thankful I got picked to join the Blood Legion, sir, and I just want to say, I could care less about your age, I don't think anyone does." I didn't care if people hated listening to me as an eleven year old, I would make them, what interested me was that she called us the Blood Legion.
"What's the Blood Legion?" I asked immediately.
"It's the name Commander Virion granted this force." Callias answered.
Wow, I controlled a force called the Blood Legion, that's pretty cool.