"Brother, I think we should leave!" Ash's voice had a slight hint of panic. Not because the situation was so dire that it was life threatening, but that it was an unexpected turn of events, and their plans just became useless.

Henry didn't take his eyes off the fire giant as it turned its body and lifted its leg to take a step towards him. He swallowed hard. He looked over his shoulder, towards the cloud of dust in the opposite direction.

The kidnappers galloping towards them on horseback would reach them first. He pulled his lips into a tight line and decided.

He brought his fingers to his lips and blew out a long, loud whistle. Further away, their two horses who had trotted off to wait until it was time to leave, lifted their heads. Their ears twitched and soon both horses were running towards him.

"Ash! Let's go!" Henry raised his arm to get his brother's attention. The parents are here to pick up their kid and we don't need to be part of it!" His horse reached him, and he grabbed on to the saddle, pulling himself up in a swift motion.

"What about the horde?" Ash asked as he reached his horse and almost swung himself on to the saddle. "They must've seen the fire giants by now. They're stupider than I thought if they want to try to fight them for the baby."

Henry looked around and frowned. They didn't have a place to hide behind or run into to avoid confronting the kidnappers. He gripped the reins.

With his and Ash's powers, taking the lives of the kidnappers rushing towards them would be an easy matter, but while they disapproved of stealing a baby fire giant to the point of stealing it back to return to its parents, he couldn't just go around killing anyone he wanted.

He had restraint. He had to as ruler.

But at the same time, he didn't want them to just return empty handed and chase him and Ash in retaliation.

"I think the parents deserve a chance to vent their anger," Henry said, glancing back towards the lumbering figures that were approaching. Each step they took sent a slight tremble beneath them.

"I think that's fair."

Henry took a deep breath. "What are the chances those mages can do serious damage to those fire giants?"

"I don't think their magic is strong enough, let alone skilled enough, to battle two fire giants. All the ice they can throw at them won't be enough and they'll exhaust themselves before they manage to freeze a foot of one of those," Ash replied.

Henry nodded. "Good. Let them face the consequences of their actions." He tugged his horse to one side, away from the giants, and kicked his sides. The horse let out a snort and kicked up his legs. Henry leaned forward as the horse picked up speed until he was at a gallop.

Not half a horse behind him, Ash was keeping up at his right.

"How do you want to do this?" Ash shouted over the sound of the horses' feet pounding against the hard ground.

"Remember how you wanted to funnel them into a trap?" Henry yelled back; his eyes fixed on the horizon.

"Yeah!"

"Good! Take the right. I'll take the left. Make sure they get sent directly to the fire giants!"

"Whoo!" Ash let out a shout of excitement as he kicked the side of his horse and pulled the reins, immediately splitting from his brother.

Henry leaned to the left to go in the other direction in order to flank their opponents. The cloud of dust kicked up by the horses approaching seemed to get larger. At last count, there should've been a little over fifty people, as long as they were all accounted for.

"Is that more than fifty?" he asked aloud and waited for an answer from one of the spirits.

"About seventy." Simir's voice echoed in his head.

"Where did they get more people?" That was something Simir couldn't answer, but at least now he had a better idea.

The people on horseback were coming in a large group. There was no fixed formation or straight front line to break, just a horde that Ash called it earlier.

The horde seemed to notice the two of them galloping to either side, and the group began to spread out, becoming wider.

Henry narrowed his eyes. "Naali! Ice wall!"

"Here I come!" An adorable voice shouted, and he felt a chill sweep past him.

"Funnel them towards the giants!"

"Okay!"

Crackling could be heard both behind and in front of him, ice seemed to rise from the ground like massive, glistening shards of glass. He wasn't worried about the abnormally large heat. As long as Naali controlled the ice with her energy, it wouldn't melt so easily, at least not without a source of extreme heat, like the fire giants.

The wall of ice spread out, going out into a straight line, but at a slight angle to ensure that no matter how fast the horde was coming, it would still be trapped inside the barricade.

Naali's ice wall seemed to signal to Ashe to create his own barrier.

From the corner of his eye, Henry saw dozens of glowing objects flying through the air from Ash's raised hand. It was as if he had a small stack of papers in his palm being released into the wind as he rode.

The slips didn't flutter in the breeze like normal paper would. The glowing pieces cut through the air like small knives, embedding themselves into the ground. As soon as they hit, energy was released and a crack in the hard ground appeared. One slip's crack connected with another, but it didn't stop growing.

Ash jumped across a divide half the length of his horse to get to the outer side.

Like lightning through the sky, the jagged, sharp lines of the cracks cut through the earth. Ash galloped far to one side as soil seemed to fall into a sinkhole, making the crack substantially wide to the point that a normal horse could not easily jump the gap.

Both the ice wall and the sprawling gap passed the approaching horde before either brother could. Naali's ice wall could be seen starting to curve, making a sharp right in order to close off the horde's exit.

Shouting was heard from behind the ice wall that was as high as the giant's thigh. The ice of an ice spirit was also so clear, Henry was able to make eye contact with riders on the other side of the wall as he passed, as if looking through a window.

"Did we get all of them?" Henry asked as he passed what looked to be the tail end of the horde.

"We did!" Naali's cheerful voice replied. There was only one way out now, and that was the unbarricaded area in front of the pit where the baby fire giant was.

"Good job, Naali!" Henry could feel the chill of the ice against his skin as he followed along its perimeter, following it as it curved around the back.

Naali's ice wall sealed off the back, preventing the horde from turning around. It met with Ash's massive crack in the ground, where the ice wall filled in and then thinned out until it stopped. Henry followed the ice wall all the way there.

Ash was waiting for him a bit further away. He had come to a stop, but was facing the back of the horde, halfway between them and the fire giants. The group of seventy or so riders seemed to be struggling to regain order after being corralled.

"There are a few more mages," Ash said. He shook his head. "It shouldn't be enough to make a fire giant fall."

"If they were smart, they'd try to attack the barrier."

Ash let out a small laugh and smirked. "They can try. I put up a magic barrier on my side and as soon as they hit Naali's wall, she can repair it instantly."

Henry's brows rose as he saw a glowing ball of light come from the edge of the horde and slam into the base of an invisible barrier before it could reach the inside of the gap. Henry nodded, satisfied. "Good job, Ash."

His brother just smiled, appearing to enjoy the sight of several people in purple trying to test the invisible magic barrier at different locations, only to find that the magic was absorbed.

Magic couldn't get through, but sound could. People seemed to point the mages to the ice wall, and the attacks returned. Unlike Ash's barrier, Naali's ice wall would crack and chip, only to immediately heal.

The mages began concentrating their magic in once place, but the speed of repair was so instantaneous, it almost seemed as if the ice was absorbing energy in a small, shallow hole.

"Aren't they just wasting their energy?" Henry asked.

"We know it, but they don't," Ash said. He turned his head a bit. "Looks like of the giants has reached the pit."

"Do they know that the baby is inside?"

Ash nodded. "I retracted my energy from the symbols I wrote when I ran. The ice layer melted, so the baby should be awake by now and releasing its scent."

Elemental giants had no discernible features that distinguish male from female. Not that it mattered, as elemental giants reproduced by ripping off a portion of themselves and then combining it with their partners, then offering a piece of their elemental energy until a new life was created.

In general, they couldn't tell them apart except by size or any outstanding identifier, like a misshapen body part or unconventional markings. The two fire giants looked almost identical, a body made of lava rock boulders with flames coming from joints and what appeared to be magma moving inside them. The dark red gemstone eyes were in deep wells. The larger of the two was the first to have spotted them.

It was the one that reached the pit first, too.

A low, gravelly sound came from it as all of its attention went into the pit. The other fire giant replied in a similar voice.

The earth shook beneath them as the first giant bent down on one knee. Their movements were slow, but fluid. The massive creature leaned forward and reached into the pit with its hands.

Smoldering orange lava seemed to come from between the 'joints' of its hand and drip into the pit.

Henry drew his head back. "What is it doing?"

"I think it's picking up its kid."

It wasn't just them who had turned their attention to the fire giants. The horde seemed to go quieter as they watched.

Henry narrowed his eyes. Perhaps they weren't watching out of curiosity like Ash, but watching for a moment to attack. The mages had stopped trying to escape from the barrier and their purple clad figures could be seen weaving through the group to get to the front, closest to the pit.

The smaller of the two giants had reached its partner, but moved around it to get between it and the humans.

It raised its arms and from the stubby stone fingers, lava began to come out.

Shouting came from the group of humans and a moment later, ice and water were flying through the air, heading towards the fire giant closest to them. As soon as they hit the stone body, water evaporated into steam and ice melted before it evaporated.

Another yell was given. They couldn't make out the words from where they were, but it must've been an order to attack as the mages retreated, and another row of people rushed forward. They carried large tubes with them and tilted them up.

"Sunanian hand cannons," Ash said with a frown.

Loud booms were heard as the men setting off the hand cannons covered their ears. Projectiles flew high into the air and slammed into the chest of the fire giant. A cloud of dust appeared on impact and then pieces of stone came down. The fire giant let out a loud, rumbling groan, but raised its arm to cover its chest before taking a step forward.

It raised its other arm and threw it down, sending globs of glowing lava down into the horde.

Both Ash and Henry grimaced and let out hisses as a few of those human torso sized globs landed in the horde. People and horses scattered, screams were heard, and a few mages tried to use magic to shield people.

One person in purple created a massive ice shield to cover a group of people and shouted for them to flee as more lava came down. He barely managed to turn when lava hit his ice shield. Immediately, the lava began to bubble as the ice turned into water and then steam. The lava spread over the shield, but in the area where it had landed, it made it through.

The shield came tumbling down and on to the mage and two other people who weren't fast enough.

Ice shields were abandoned.

Another row of hand cannons with what Henry assumed where tempered metal projectiles were set up further away. They were lit, and booms spread across the area. This time, the projectiles seemed to aim for the fire giant's head.

"Fire giants start out as their head," Ash said with a frown. "If they remove its head, its body is useless. It will need to regrow its body."

"Is there no way to kill a fire giant?" Henry asked.

"Remove the head and then put out its life crystal," Ash said. "It should be a crystal-like core in its head."

"Like its eyes?"

"No, it's created in a way that pearls are created, only with the fire energy of an elemental," Ash said. "They're rare and are prized in magic usage, but even the Magic Tower abides by laws prohibiting the hunting of elementals for their life crystals. At least, that's what their official stance is."

Henry frowned and looked back at the battle happening in front of them. "Then, their plan is to decapitate it and when its body is useless, attack the other and get the baby?"

Ash narrowed his eyes. "I didn't think they'd be so cruel.

"They don't have an endless supply of hand cannons, and their mages can't do much," Henry said. He tilted his head. "And they've lost a quarter of their people from the lava attacks."

"It looks like they got the baby, too," Ash said.

Behind the fire giant that was faced with another round of cannon fire, a bundle of dark rocks with glowing melting rock visible between them was pulled out from the pit and in the hands of the first fire giant. It had a head and just a handful of large rocks that made up its body, but its big, glistening red eyes were fixed on the parent giant, and it seemed to be reaching for it.

Henry chuckled. "It's kind of cute."

"I'll tell Miss Arelias you've got baby fever." Henry smacked the back of his head. "I'm just kidding-"

Screaming cut off Ash's voice.

The fire giant had a large dent that had been chipped away on the left side of his face. They couldn't say it had an expression, but they could feel its anger in the air.

The humans were desperately trying to prepare a new round of cannon fire, but their numbers had dwindled. It was at this point that the fire giant tilted its head back and opened its mouth.

Flames shout out from between two stones. Henry squinted and almost turned his head away. It wasn't just fire. It was fire and molten rock. Unlike the slow-moving lava that had to be thrown, the fire and molten rock were shot out of the fire giant's mouth as if an eruption had happened.

The fire and molten rock reached further, and faster, sending the people scattering to all sides to avoid the deadly rain. Several people were caught, but the hand cannons that were abandoned during the scatter were ignited. Projectiles flew in all directions.

For a moment, Henry almost felt pity for them.

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"If they stay any longer, they'll all be killed...." His voice trailed off as he turned to look at Ash. Ash's eyes were blank and cold, but staring out into the group of kidnappers that remained. Henry furrowed his brows and tried to follow his gaze, but nothing stood out. "Something wrong?"

"He killed them." Ash's voice was tight and laced with disbelief. Henry cocked his head and looked at his brother and then back at the chaos.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Magi-demae." An unexpected look of pain crossed Ash's face. "It's forbidden...it's forbidden...why are they using it?" For a moment, Ash began to almost chant his disbelief.

"Who's using it?" Henry pressed.

Ash swallowed hard and pointed. "The Ashtari Minister."

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Magi-Demae was spoken about in numerous Traceras Clan books warning of its danger. For mages, magic was energy, but it was also a piece of their soul, an innate part of their being and bloodline. It was why an entire clan like the Traceras, had so many prominent mages, and everyone born of Traceras blood had some sort of magic ability.

Their bloodline magic was so strong, magi-demae was a real threat.

Magi-demae was the attainment of magic to strengthen one's own by stealing the magic of another mage through their blood. It wasn't just a drop and then a magic spell to make another mage powerful. It was an intimate, guttural physical contact.

As a mage lost their life, the magi-demae user would drain their magic through their blood. The preferred method? Letting a mage bleed out as the magic vampire drained as much magic energy in their blood as possible.

The exact amount that was taken was not documented well. Some records said only a small portion while others said that it also depended on how strong the dying mage was. However, another mage had to die in order for the process to succeed.

It was forbidden and most mages didn't dare. It was said that if one stole the blood magic from another in this method, a piece of that dead mage's soul resided in the receiver and drove them mad. Indeed, there were numerous cases in the Traceras books that recorded real instances.

But that wouldn't stop anyone.

That was why magi-demae user were also killed as soon as they were discovered. If a mage was witnessed using magi-demae, then that mage would be hunted down. If another mage was targeted by one, then they were given the right to exterminate the threat.

"Master once said that I had to be careful of them," Ash said, shuddering. "That if I see one who has no reservations about taking a life, then the threat of madness won't deter them."

His master had a distant, heartbroken look when she said this. She was the last of her clan and the deaths of her father and a few other relatives had always been suspicious.

Henry seemed to finally notice the Ashtari minister grabbing the slashed neck of a mage who had been burned badly by stray molten rock. As their broken leg lay blistering, the mage's head was tilted back, his mouth agape as a dark stained hand wrapped around their neck, further coating itself with blood.

"What does it do?" Henry was quiet.

"A receiving mage uses magi-demae to take the blood magic energy of a dying mage in order to increase their power," Ash said. "That's the third mage he killed, and he had already drained the energy of the one who was crushed under that ice shield."

Henry took in a sharp breath. "Then, he's a mage...." His voice trailed off. "Minister Heisarar."

Ash didn't look at him but tilted his head in his direction. "You know him?"

"The Heisarar Clan became the foremost magic clan in Ashtar after Traceras' lines ended. As such, the Old Bastard's father gave them a noble title in exchange for a blood loyalty pact. The youngest son of that patriarch was said to be the most talented mage in the imperial court and was appointed a minister. I remember him." Disgust and anger dripped in Henry's voice. "He once told me he isn't surprised I was unable to use magic having the mother that I had."

Anger filled Ash. His teeth ground together, and he shook on his saddle mount. "That's a lot of talk for someone using stolen magic."

People were dying all around the minister. Even a few of his guards had fallen while the others were forming a protective wall around him, but the minister kept his grip on the mage until the mage went limp, and he couldn't hold him up any longer.

"Then we should go."

"We can't go." Ash was firm. He didn't take his eyes off the Ashtari minister as the old man stumbled back and seemed almost drunk as he swayed back and forth.

"Do you think the minister is strong enough to kill a fire giant?" Henry sounded incredulous. "You didn't even sense his magic earlier!"

"He sealed it," Ash shook his head. "He's strong." He narrowed his eyes and tugged on the horse's reins. "But not stronger than me."

"Ash!" Henry rushed after him. "What are you doing!"

"Magi-demae is a threat not just to mages, but to the entire world! It's an unnatural amount of magic, and yes, I know that's saying something coming from me," Ash shouted as he galloped back. "But I have restraint! Do you think a man who'd kill others to take their magic will use this stolen magic for good? Brother, people like him targeted the Traceras Clan!"

It was no longer about the fire giants.

It wasn't simply revenge either.

The minister was a real threat and if he returned to Ashtar, successful in his mission or not, he would become a powerful enemy for Henry, for him, and anyone else who allied themselves with them.

"Can you manage this?" Henry shouted.

"Yes! But I need to focus on him so I can attack."

"We can attack together."

"No, I need you to cover me!" Ash said. "Killing him won't release the blood magic of the dead mages. Brother, I have to free them back into the cycle to return to their split souls!"

Henry's voice grew desperate and confused. "We're talking about souls now?"

"Being a mage is complicated! Anyway, just get the fire giants to leave and cover for me. I need to make a magic array. Keep distance from us or you'll get caught in the magic battle."

"All right, I'll make sure you're covered."

A moment later, Ash felt Simir's familiar heat past him, then saw a massive, fiery bird flapping its wings as it flew up to meet the gaze of the fire giant. Simir in his firebird glory reminded Ash of a flaming peacock, only all his feathers were made of fire. He was orange at the tips, but around his breast, the fire was white.

The fire giant, as well as the survivors below were momentarily captivated by the fire spirit. Ash didn't know what Simir was saying or doing, but the fire giants let out low, rumbling noises and began to leave.

Ash wasn't completely surprised. Simir was a top tier fire spirit. Perhaps his sheer power alone scared the fire giants away.

"Don't let it go!" A gravelly man's voice shouted in Ashtari and Ash pulled back on the reins. He was just across the divide, but the horses wouldn't make it over.

Ash flicked his wrist as he dismounted, and a small slip fell into his hands. He threw it forward and it embedded itself in the ground in front of him. The earth began to shake, and a narrow land bridge formed from where Ash had thrown the slip. It jutted forward, connecting with the other side, and Ash walked across without hesitation.

He released another set of slips, landing in a large circle around the Minister. He narrowed his eyes and flooded the slips with his magic. A powerful blast cleared the surrounding area, sending bodies that were in the circle out of it.

Except for the Ministers.

The guards that had been at his side where suddenly thrown out by an unknown force. They landed outside the circle, rolling to a stop before getting up. Their eyes landed on Ash before they shot to their feet and reached for their swords.

Henry stepped between the two guards and Ash.

"I'm your opponent," he said in a low voice as he reached into his back and pulled out a sword. "Don't worry about them, Ash! I've got it!"

"Make sure to stay out of the barrier," Ash said as he walked over one of his slips. In the center of the ring, the Minister had shaken himself out of his stupor of watching his guards ejected outside. He stared at Ash with intensity and frowned.

"You've made a terrible mistake boy," he said in accented Iverian Common.

"You adjusted quite fast after you killed and drained them," Ash replied in kind as he stared into the Minister's eyes. "You've used magi-demae often, haven't you, Minister Heisarar?"

Minister Heisarar's eyes widened just a bit before they narrowed into suspicious slips. "Who are you?" His dark eyes looked Ash up and down. "Unseal yourself!"

"I am unsealed," Ash said, his voice almost lazy as he circled the minister. A sly smile crept on his lips. "It's just that you're too weak to sense me."

A flash of anger flickered through Minister Heisarar's face. He seemed to be waiting for Ash to make the first move, but Ash simply walked around him, never taking his eyes off the Minister. Perhaps it was his lack of attack that made the Minister relax.

"A mage of your caliber has yet to cross my path." The man's face smiled a smile that made Ash's skin crawl. "It's my lucky day."

He threw a hand forward and a small, palm sized round disc shot out. It went directly for Ash's neck, but Ash stepped aside. "So, that's what you were throwing at them before they died."

The Minister smiled with sadistic pleasure. "I didn't just throw it." He drew his arm back.

Ash stepped to the side once more, narrowly avoiding the disc. "You have bad aim." Minister Heisarar scowled as he caught the small disc. Without a word, he threw it forward again. Ash moved to the side just before it reached him. He threw his arms out, taunting Minister Heisarar with a wide smile. "You can do better than that. Come on! Come and get me!"

He spun in a circle just as the disc flew back to Minister Heisarar.

"Stay still!"

"No," Ash said as he began to move erratically around the minister. "That's stupid."

Growling, Minister Heisarar threw out another disc. Now there were two that he had thrown, catch, and re-throw.

Ash moved around him, sometimes rushing forward, sometimes, rushing back. He snaked around in front of the minister like a lunatic, occasionally raising his arms or pounding his chest, 'urging' the minister to try again when he missed.

The constant movement provoked Minister Heisarar before he stopped throwing the discs. He glared at Ash and looked around and then rushed to where several bodies had rolled and pulled a sword from the scabbard of a fallen guard. He turned around, moving it down so he could grip it with two hands before raising it to attack.

He let out a loud gasp when he saw Ash rushing towards him with a hand and a half gripped.

As soon he had turned to the guard, Ash had rushed forward, pulling out the sword from his bag faster than it took for Minister Heisarar to take his sword. The distance between them was closed in less than two breaths.

Minister Heisarar could only make an awkward cut up to try to stop Ash from cutting him in half. Ash watched the man clench his jaw, but still cut up, his eyes locked with Ash's.

Ash felt a slight heat against the back of his hand, but by the time it happened, he'd already hit his target.

He swept past Minister Heisarar and quickly stepped to the side, making sure to realign himself with the man. His sword rose in a defensive position as he readied himself for retaliation.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the deep wound along the front and side of the Minister's torso. His thin, pale linen clothes were soaked with blood while dark stains dotted the ground to one side. A particularly large dark spot still had a small mound of blood that had yet to be absorbed by the ground directly beside the Minister.

Ash glanced at the back of his hand. The skin had broken, but it was no deeper than a cat scratch. Blood welled up and a long streak of red went down his hand. Enough blood gathered that it dropped.

Minister Heisarar let out a loud yell as the pain finally registered. He nearly dropped the sword as one arm flew down to cover the wound.

All sorts of Ashtari profanity was thrown at Ash as the old man rushed forward.

Ash stood in place and released his energy.

Beneath them, starting at his feet, lines drawn on the surface began to appear. Large magic characters appeared as lines stretched, and circles were interconnected with them. The Minister choked back a cry and looked down.

He leaned forward, but his feet couldn't get off the ground.

"What is this?" he growled as he looked at Ash with a crazed expression of a rabid animal caught in a trap. "Why can't I move?!"

Ash lowered his sword. He lifted the flap of his preservation space and dropped the sword in. The entire time he'd been circling the mage, he'd been creating magic circles and dragging his feet to write characters in the ground, waiting for a chance to attach and spill enemy blood on the array.

It was necessary to reverse the process that stole magic with blood.

He kept his eyes on the Minister, but shouted. "Brother! I'll wake up in time for the Exhibition! Just make sure we both make it there on time, all right?"

"Ash!" He saw Henry rushing forward, ignoring his words about staying away now that the last of his opponents had fallen. Ash smiled to himself a bit.

"Brother always comes...." he said in a soft voice.

Henry's body collided with an invisible barrier around the outer ring of the glowing array beneath Ash's feet. Henry looked up and down, then at Ash with shock. "Ash!" He raised his fist and pounded against the barrier. "Ash!"

"Don't use the spirits or else they'll break the array!" Ash warned.

Henry seemed to freeze. His eyes were fixed on Ash. His chest rose and fell with uneven breaths as he lowered the fist that had been pounding on the wall.

Ash refocused all his attention on the Minister.

"The amount of dark smoke coming out of you is unbelievable," Ash said with a shake of his head. He could see not only the death energy, but the shrouded energy of foreign magic. His eyes narrowed. "How many lives have you taken....?"

The air began to move around them, spinning faster and faster, until their hair flew in all directions and dirt flew up and got into Minister Heisarar's face. He let out a yell, but couldn't move his arms.

The small pool of blood that had come from Minister Heisarar's wound began to glow. It was right on some of the glowing text. Suddenly, it moved. The blood seemed to come together and rise from the ground. A long tendril of dark liquid moved like a snake raising its head to find its target.

It shot towards Minister Heisarar and went right for the bloody wound on his side. Minister Heisarar's body was pushed to the side by the force, as if a lance had just gone through him. The man screamed in pain as his muscles twitched. His eyes were wide, filled with terror as the blood tendril connected the dying mage to the array.

As the array drained the Minister's blood magic, the dark smoke didn't just hover around the Minister, but it seeped out.

Figures began to manifest from the dark smoke the further they got from the Minister. The haze around their bodies were bathed in the glow of the array, slowly turning them from dark, shadowy figures, to vestiges of real men and women.

Many were dressed in Ashtari clothes, but there were some foreign dressed ones. Their ages varied. Some were young, some were old. None of them looked feeble or weak, as if they'd all be in their prime.

Ash held his breath.

He'd only read about this as a theory in his books, but he was sure these were the pieces of mage souls that had been stolen.

His eyes crinkled as he shook his head. The smoke didn't seem to stop. "There are so many...." He frowned. Some of their clothes were from different time periods. Not a few years, but a few centuries worth of differences. His eyes turned back to Minister Heisarar, who had seemed to lose all color as his face became shallow. It was impossible for him to have killed all these people in his lifetime.

Ash couldn't ask the Minister, who was drowning in his own torture. He turned his attention to the first of the figures that appeared.

"Where did you come from?" he asked in a loud voice over the wind.

The figure cocked his head and looked at him, confused, and then shook his head and opened his mouth to speak. However, there was no voice. The figure didn't seem to notice this and kept talking.

"I can't hear you," Ash said. The figure continued to look confused. Ash tried to ask another and another, but the result was all the same. Whenever they spoke, there was no sound.

Ash shook his head and retreated with some frustration. It was then that he noticed that many of the figures were looking down at the array. A few had even knelt down to touch it.

One of the figures pointed to it and then to Ash. He nodded.

"Yes, I made it. It's a trap array within a purging array. The outer ring is a barrier to prevent distraction," Ash replied. He didn't know why, but he spoke in Ashtari. Perhaps it was because they came from an Ashtari minister. The figures looked at each other before giving Ash various gestures of approval. "Unfortunately, I hadn't read anything in the Traceras Clan books on returning fragmented magic souls, so I'll try the Lunapsar way. It's the best I can do for you."

"You...Ashtari!" The Minister wheezed as his back was arched, and he leaned back as if trying to avoid the blood that pierced him. He looked at Ash with wide, dark eyes filled with accusation.

Ash narrowed his eyes. "I heard Minister Heisarar's clan is known as a magic family. It seems that your reputation isn't as well deserved as we were led to believe."

The terror in the Minister's eyes filled with shock. "Alive...."

The corner of Ash's lips curled up as his eyes squinted. "You recognize me."

The Minister's chest seemed to as his eyes moved to look towards Henry. The barrier was transparent. Henry was completely visible. "Prince...."

"That's right," Ash said in a low voice. "I bet you never thought you'd die at the hands of a Traceras pupil."

The Minister's eyes reddened. "Four...." It seemed Minister Heisarar now understood who he was dealing with.

"My name is Ashan, Fourth Prince of Ashtar," Ash said in a low voice as he took a step forward. He couldn't help the cold, spiteful glare in his eyes. "And my master is Saphira Traceras."

A gurgling scream escaped the Minister's mouth as blood spilled from his mouth. His face twisted with agony as dark smoke continued to pour out.

For a moment, Ash couldn't believe how many mage's souls had been taken to increase this man's power. There was so much death energy in him, Ash didn't know how he hadn't lost his mind.

As the Minister tensed and trembled in pain, Ash stepped back to look at the remnants of mages souls to ensure that they were being cleansed after release by the wind. A few of them looked at him curiously, appearing excited. The thought crossed his mind.

"Are any of you Traceras?"

Of those around him, half of them jumped and lifted their arms, eager for acknowledgement. Ash felt pressure on the bridge of his nose as his eyes reddened. They were not blood related, but he had a deep affiliation to them as a pupil.

One figure pointed over Ash's shoulder.

Ash turned and watched a figure of the man float towards where Henry was crying out, still trying to reach him. The howl of the wind in his ears drowned out Henry's shouting. The figure couldn't leave the barrier circle, but seemed to examine Henry.

"That's my brother," Ash said. "His name is...." He drew his head back as the figure turned around. Ash saw his face for the first time. He'd seen that face in a painting in his master's familial altar. Though unlike his current state of being as a figure made of nearly transparent mist, the painting had him as a handsome middle-aged man with long, thick golden hair and pale blue eyes. He was the last known Master Mage of the Traceras Clan. Ash's heart sank as his eyes turned red. He swallowed hard and tried to compose himself. "His name is Hedrajan Traceras Heidar."

The figure seemed to tense. He turned back to Henry with an even more intense gaze. His hand, which was even more transparent than his head, reached over Henry's face on his side of the barrier.

"Right now, he goes by Henry," Ash said with a sad smile. "He's your grandson." He raised his hand to wipe his eyes.

"Ash! Ash, are you all right?" Henry's muffled, frantic shouting could barely be heard.

The figure seemed to try to burn Henry's image into his memory.

A movement caught the corner of Ash's eye. He refocused on the Minister. The sword had long dropped from his hand, but now, he had fallen to his knees. The dark smoke coming from him was almost gone.

A few more whisps floated into the air, and the man leaned to one side and fell with a dull thud. Forcibly removing the magic he'd consumed would kill him, and Ash knew that when he approached.

The Minister's eyes were rolled back, and his mouth was still agape in a silent scream as the remnants of mages he'd stolen from were torn from him as violently as when he'd taken them.

Most of the array was still glowing even though the man was dead, but the innermost ring, over which the mass of spilled blood had fallen, had gone dim.

Ash took a deep breath. The souls were out; now he had to return them.

He moved to the central ring that remained glowing. Closing his eyes, he moved his arms into position and curled his fingers back. He raised his leg and took an exaggerated step to the side.

When Lunapsar danced in a group, it was festive.

When Lunapsar danced alone, it was religious. His mother never let him forget that he was the descendant of the bearers of the moon goddess, so he should know the dances associated with her.

More than one of them had to do with death.

He turned, raising his arms slowly in smooth, even motions as he balanced himself on one bended leg. The howling of the wind seed to go quiet as the steady sound of his heart thumped in his ears. He could feel every muscle and tendon moving with every minor shift. The familiar tingling of spiritual energy collected in the pit of his stomach and spread.

The dance was a prayer to Lunaya where the movements were the words. Spiritual energy could be drawn from within a Lunapsar and released with the prayer as a form of offering. Ash never verified it, but he believed that innate spiritual energy that lay dormant when not in use was what kept Lunapsar from aging as fast as normal humans.

Around him, the figures began to fade as the threads of spiritual energy wrapped around the remnants of their souls. Despite knowing this would happen, relief still filled him.

Ash remained focused on the dance, feeling a coolness around him as his physical prayer to reunite the split souls was answered. He slowly made his way around the central ring twice. His movements were slow and calculated.

As he began the third round, there was only one figure left.

The figure of his brother's grandfather remained hovering in front of Henry with a gentle, but proud smile on his face.

"Master Traceras, it is time for you to go," Ash said as he performed the prayer dance without a break.

The figure turned to look at him. He lifted his hand and wrote something in the air. Because of Ash's strict ceremonial dance training, he didn't react physically, but his heart did skip a beat.

"Yes, Grandfather. I will take care of them," Ash said. His back was to the figure. "After all, one's my brother, and the other is my master."

The glowing characters and circles beneath him faded, triggering all the other remaining arrays to go dark. The wind became still and the barrier that kept Henry out disappeared.

Ash lowered his hands and relaxed his posture. He began to sway in place.

The amount of magic he used was large and the array had been feeding off of him the entire time. The prayer dance also required energy; spiritual energy that he didn't have nearly as much of as magic energy. In addition, he had been forced to accept the thanks of the souls he released. His body was both empty and heavy.

A dull ringing sounded in his ears.

His head spun.

His body felt like stone sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Ash's eyes rolled back. His legs gave way beneath him as he felt his body falling back to the muffled sound of Henry's voice yelling his name.

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