Hanno Metilius, the guildmaster of Misery''s end just looked down at his desk with a look of pure disbelief. One of his best agents just told him that the paladins were in the city just a week after a vampire was killed and brought to the attention of the authorities. He could feel the walls closing around him, trapping him with no way out and he didn’t know what he could do but prepare to escape when the law inevitably came for him.


    “Thank you Auria, you may go now.” Hanno said without even looking up. Instead he gave his attention towards the finances of the guild wondering if he could get away with making several hundred gold coins vanish just in time for the authorities to come knocking.


    “Sir!? What are we going to do about it!? If they find the vampires and their cult then we are going to be discovered as their accomplice!” Auria knew that speaking to the guildmaster in such a way was normally enough cause to be thrown out but she needed to know that he had a plan, only his reaction showed otherwise and she had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t or couldn’t do anything about the situation.


    “Yes, I heard you the first time. You may leave now.” His voice was cold and stiff like the most terrible winter nights, Auria knew that she could do nothing and slowly stepped out of the office passing the rather confused looking Pyrosan guard wondering what happened.


    *********


    Arthur and his two protectors didn’t remain for long in the street after the paladins passed by. Arthur of course had a batch of potions to make for today and now that he had the ingredients he needed to get it done he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon if need be to get them all done. Time was money after all for a skilled alchemist like Arthur.


    “So how much do you get paid for each of your potions? You seem to make a lot of those and I doubt they are cheap.” Titia asked from inside the door as Arthur placed the box of ingredients by the table where his alchemy apparatuses were.


    “The guild will buy each of them for four copper pieces each. I am however hoping that I can increase that number sometime soon a bit higher with some better healing potions. I have several projects I am interested in continuing and I will need a steady supply of money, knowledge, and material to work on them.”


    “So what do you think you need to improve the quality of your potions?” Titia had a way of asking questions in a way that resembled that of a child. Perhaps it was the fact she was so skilled with illusion magic that factored towards her demeanor, the childish innocence that came with the ability to create images of all the beauty you could think of.


    I will likely need to look into properly learning restoration magic. I know a little bit about it, but not enough to heal any super serious injuries. Looks like I have another project to look into.” Arthur sighed as he imagined learning about enchanting, alchemy, geomancy, and restoration magic at the same time. If he was going to keep up with his plans he would need to drop at least one of the subjects for the time being.


    “Well don’t worry so much about it, you are pushing yourself a lot and it is no wonder that you are having problems learning everything that you want to. Most people wait until they are wizards before trying to learn so many things at once, the fact that you can even make any significant progress at all is a testament to just how talented you are.”


    Arthur looked up to Titia with a soft smile, it wasn’t very often that he received compliments like that, not since he lost Calavia anyways. ‘Perhaps I should keep her around as a friend. I wouldn’t mind meeting up with her every so often, or introduce her to Calavia once I befriend her again. All I need at that point is a big house to host holiday dinners at.’


    “Thank you Titia, I don’t think anyone has said anything like that in quite some time. But my previous point still stands, I will certainly need to look into learning restoration magic if I want to sell these potions for anything above four copper pieces. You wouldn’t happen to have any books on the subject that you would recommend, would you?”


    “Why don’t you just ask someone to teach you. Isn’t that what the guild is for, to teach other people about magic?” A rough voice came from outside the door. Both Arthur and Titia recognised it as the voice of Eric. He didn’t speak all that often, but when he did most people were a little put off by his voice.


    “Well yes that is true, however I would still need to pay them for their time and expertise on the subject. You can’t just expect people to work for free after all, they have things they need money for as well, and at the moment I am rather pressed for money.” Arthur replied after a short pause. Eric speaking was a bit of a surprise, I didn’t really know all that much about him or the way he thought. Both Arthur and Titia knew he was born in the empire close to the border with the kingdom and moved once he was an adult, but past that he had kept quiet.


    Just about everything about him was a mystery. They didn’t even know if he followed a certain religion or if he didn’t follow ant at all, whenever I would try and ask him about his personal life he would just brush my questions off and say something to the effect of “It doesn’t matter, I’m just here to keep you safe.” It was a little weird hearing him say anything more than what a simple hired thug would say.


    “Yeah, the guild can be weird at times. Sometimes they have introductory courses for most magic types to allow for those willing to learn, but they often get cancelled or something happens in management that prevents them from happening. That was actually how I managed to learn anything about illusion magic when I was in my twenties.” Titia said as she conjured up an image of a rainbow winged butterfly. “This was the first thing I figured out how to create past simple shapes.”You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    “Interesting, what all can illusion magic do?” Arthur asked, turning away from his table of alchemy. The idea of creating illusions like the one he could see Titia doing was rather interesting to him, the possibility of combining it with enchanting or rituals to create something more powerful.


    “Oh illusion magic is typically used to create false images like this one, basically I am just manipulating magic to look like there is a physical object or creature where there isn’t. The more complex things like invisibility you need to cover yourself with magic and shape it to look like everything around you.” Titia hesitated for a moment before she continued. “Then there is the mental aspect of illusion magic. You need to use illusion magic on the target''s brain to change their perception or reality or to change their memories. I of course don’t know how to do either of those two things.”


    Both Arthur and Eric could see that Titia was rather uncomfortable when talking about the far more dangerous aspect of her chosen field of magic. Arthur almost immediately believed her statement about not knowing how to manipulate someone’s mind or memories, but Eric was a bit more skeptical. He noticed she seemed far more uncomfortable about it despite the fact that she didn’t know much about it, almost like she had seen what it looked like.


    Of course Eric was a smart man and didn’t say anything despite his suspicions as so far Totia had been a good member of the city guard. In fact this wasn’t even the first time he had worked with her.


    Soon Arthur finished up with his potion making and left his living space to walk to the mages guild with his armed escort in tow. Speaking with Lydus Arthur sold most of the potions he had on hand for a decent amount of money before making a quick stop at the library for a few books on restoration magic. With the help of Titia he picked out three books that would cover the basics of learning restoration magic up to the apprentice level.


    Though he wanted to stay for a while and read the books he picked out, it was getting rather late and Arthur wanted to be home and in his bed by midnight, so the trio left the guild library just as quickly as they arrived and returned to Arthur’s home.


    When they arrived Arthur unlocked the door and both he and Titia stepped inside while Eric remained outside to keep an eye out for anyone in the building while Titia would stay to keep Arthur safe. Though before Arthur could retrieve the books from his bag he noticed something on his table with all his alchemy apparatuses that wasn’t there before. A piece of paper that looked almost like it was thrown inside through the window with how it was crumpled up.


    Opening the paper and flattening it Arthur saw that it was a note addressed to him.


    Mage Arthur of Dom Badaher


    I believe that a congratulation is in order with how you dealt with Mulier.


    Mulier was one of my children who has been blessed with my blood. While he never had much interest in magic he certainly had plenty for knives and blades of all sorts and my blood helped him with that, just imagine what my blood could do for someone as talented as you. In fact I think imagining would be a waste of your true potential, that is why I am inviting you to come and speak with me.


    I am certain you recall the place where you uncovered the first of the many hidden graveyards, if you would be so kind I would ask you to return there alone tonight. One of my other followers will be there waiting for you, she was the one delivering this letter.


    Arthur looked the letter up and down twice before he took a seat. He noticed that the wording was different this time around with Darius being far more respectful, but he was also in a way calmer than before. Regardless, Titia was looking at him with a worried look on her face without saying anything, Arthur wanting her to know handed her the letter and waited for her to finish reading it. When she was done she looked back up with her mouth open wide and for a moment she didn’t say anything.


    Her next move was to reach into her bag and pull out her guard issued limited communication orb and call Captain Dio. Just a few seconds later the captain picked up and asked for a status update.


    “We have a development ma’am, the vampires have reached out to Arthur and are requesting he meet with them.” For a moment there were no words spoken, the tension was so thick that Arthur imagined he could cut it with a knife.


    “And what does Arthur intend to do?” Captain Dio asked suddenly, surprising them both.


    “I wasn’t really sure ma’am, that was why Titia called you.” Arthur said quickly, he wanted to kill the damn vampires, but he also didn’t want to anger the captain or the city guard. The last time he snuck out was one of the most dangerous decisions he ever made.


    “If you are willing I would like you to accept this offer and lead us to their base of operations. Now this is just a request and you don’t need to do this if you do not want to, but it would be a god send for the investigation and Titia will be following right behind you in the event something happens to you.”


    Arthur looked at the image of the captain, the communication orb with a mixture of surprise and worry, he knew it was dangerous but now he was far stronger. While he wasn’t certain he could beat Darius on his own he knew that with Titia he was unlikely to die, and if Titia was following him then the paladins were likely also being given the same information and would be intervening if something very dangerous happens.


    With a deep breath Arthur gave his answer. “Alright captain, I will do it. I trust that you will be informing the paladins of the situation so they can intervene.”


    “I will be, now keep Eric guarding the front door or something so it looks like neither of them know you have left the building. You never know who all might be watching.”


    The conversation lasted another few minutes as the captain told Arthur how to remain calm and a few other important details to help maintain the illusion that he was alone. This like to keep his responses to a minimum and to keep his hood up to avoid showing his face, things that would help reduce the chance the vampires notice something was up.


    When they were done Titia ended the call and Arthur climbed out of the window using his geomancy to create a ladder, the young stone elf watched from inside away from the window. When he was on the street below Titia slipped a piece of paper under the door to Eric and followed Arthur while invisible.


    With his cloak covering himself Arthur made his way to the hidden graveyard at a moderate pace so that Titia could keep up.


    The first major detail that Arthur took notice of was that there was a minimal amount of people walking the streets, there was of course the occasional drunk and guard or paladin patrolling, but foot traffic was down to a minimum and all wagons or carriages were gone from the streets as well. It was an eerie feeling that reminded Arthur why he was doing what he was doing, stopping such evil so people could live without fear.