Decoy

It was getting close to evening, the brothers killed a deer and a couple of rabbits, built a fire and began to have dinner.

These two were the same age, so I thought they were fraternal twins, everything pointed to that.

I had changed my location and was now sitting on a tree branch. I was getting worse and worse by the minute, and conversations between voices were ringing in my head, similar to what I had heard at the Baroness's estate after meeting Sam.

Sometimes it seemed to me that the trio of adventurers were roasting not a deer, but a crow. Sometimes they looked at me, unnaturally twisting their necks and not blinking. It's all hallucinations, and it's a clear sign that Samuel is getting closer and closer.

I knew that I would not be able to fight him in this state, he would have a serious advantage if he began to control my insanity.

I need time to recover, and it would be better not just to escape, but also to slow down the enemy's advance.

The soul and the energy of the soul can be restored, as they consist of memories. Even if using soul magic requires sacrificing memories, as long as the brain remembers them, then everything is fine.

Problems arise when a person has lost his brain or moved to another body that did not have time to synchronize with the soul.

But I don't care about that right now, because the brain that I managed to create in this body is my own and never belonged to anyone else, so I could use this type of magic.

The energy of the soul, unlike ordinary magical energy, is very strong and viscous, so if I disconnect some of this energy from my own soul, I can create an artificial soul.

Depending on the skill of the mage, an artificial soul can behave strangely or naturally, up to the creation of its own core, which in fact can already be equated to the creation of a soul equal to an ordinary human.

However, this is just a theory, in fact I have never met such a soul. Now I just had a plan: I was going to create an artificial one and put it in a new body, then leave this forest, and leave the body here as bait.

At first glance, it may seem that this is an original body with an original soul. During this time, I will be able to arrive in Baldem and create even more decoys, after which I will be able to get lost in the big city.

I looked at the trio of adventurers again and then flew away from them. A tumor grew on my body, from which small and then large limbs began to sprout.

Very soon, a 40-year-old gentleman with gray temples and a mustache was born. He was wearing a white unbuttoned jacket, under which a black vest and a red shirt were hidden. His hands were hidden in black gloves, and his trousers were white. He held a bone-colored cane in his hands.

In fact, all these clothes are the skin of a newly created being with a piece of my soul. I looked at him with the help of spiritual vision and his soul was really burning brightly. However, a dark glow emanated from the soul, which was due to the influence of someone else's energy.

The creature was under my direct control and I had no intention of loosening it anytime soon.

My main body, still in the form of a raven, flew away towards Baldem. My second body began preparing for the upcoming trap.

***

"Do you feel his presence?" Seracin Santis shouted.

"Yes, he's close," I replied.

Father Bill really gave me a task and sent Seracin with me to supervise me. On his advice, I decided to assemble a small team of volunteers and soldiers, so in addition to Seracin, 6 more people followed me.

Three of them are Defenders of Flir, although there is nothing left to defend there. The first was named Maximilian, the second Gwanrom, and the third Veronica.

Seracin met Gwanrom when he used his magic to clear rubble and rescue people from the ruins of the city, and Seracin treated them.

When he invited Gwanrom to join the pursuit mission, Gwanrom agreed and called Maximilian and Veronica, who had lost a third member of their team due to the enemy.

The other three are soldiers who were sent with us with Father Bill's permission, although they themselves report to Count Velgri.

Each of us had a horse, which we rode towards Baldem. That's where my feeling pointed.

However, this feeling was not entirely accurate, as I was unable to take control of the boy completely. Therefore, I only feel that it is located somewhere in the vicinity of the city, but not its specific location.

The same goes for the second boy. If they were together not far from each other, then I would also only feel the neighborhood where they are, except that the energy would be stronger, which would increase the accuracy of my intuition.

But they are in different places, so in the future I will have to catch him.

Very soon we reached the forest near Baldem.

"He's here somewhere, my intuition is getting stronger," I said.

"Then let's go," Max replied menacingly, directing his horse towards the forest, waiting for my departure.

***

"Do you hear?" Dylan asked.

"Yes," I nodded.

We just heard the distant sound of hooves.

"Maybe we should get out of here," I asked Dylan.

"Why should we leave?" He was perplexed. "We have no enemies, besides, our great family originates from an Immortal Ancestor, so we have enough strength to fight on equal terms with a level 5 mage, even if we ourselves are at 3."

"Yes, maybe you're right," I admitted my brother's point again.

Very soon, the herd of horses got very close to us, and despite Dylan's words, I was still worried.

"Wow, what kind of people," the loud voice of the leader of the group suddenly rang out. "Nice to meet you, Young Lords of the House of Velgri."

Dylan and I stood up from our seats, putting the deer meat aside.

"Who are you and what do you all want?" asked Dylan.

"My name is Samuel, I'm just one of the knights of the Holy Order of Confectors," said the man on horseback. "My team and I are looking for one man, but he may turn out to be something else. Have you both noticed any oddities around Baldem, this forest, and yourself?"

I noticed three soldiers among Samuel's group. Their camouflage was green.

After Sam's speech ended, all three of them saluted my brother and me, and we returned the salute.

"Did you come from Flir?" I asked, guessing what was going on here.

"Exactly, Young Master," Sam nodded.

"We did not notice anything strange, we are very sorry that we could not help in your search," I replied.

Sam nodded, preparing for a new exploration of the forest, but a man came out of the bowl.

He was an elderly gentleman dressed in white and red, his hands were in black leather gloves, they held a bone cane.

"Are you looking for me?" A deep voice asked him.

Samuel glared at him at first, then nodded and smiled, "of course."

Along with this, a scythe of darkness appeared in his hands.

My brother watched the unfolding scene with a gleam of expectation in his eyes. He was interested in seeing the battle of the mages.

"Are you looking for me?"

"Are you looking for me?"

"Are you looking for me?"

Suddenly, gentlemen in white and red began to come out from everywhere, but each of them was smiling warmly.

The coachman, seething with stress, stood up, surveying his new surroundings, trying to stay as close to us as possible.

The horses, both ours and Sam's teams, began to get very worried, almost trying to escape.

The gentlemen continued to appear, asking the same question, which gave rise to an eerie cacophony of sounds in the forest.

Even the leader of the team tensed up a little, clutching the scythe in his hands harder.

Suddenly, skin-colored spikes burst out of the ground, which sought to pierce through the horses and the people sitting on them!

***

Sensing something was wrong, I abruptly jumped off my horse, taking flight with the help of wind magic. Keeping high, I slashed through the air with my scythe, creating ripples against the pile of decoys. I tried to find an original one among them.

My horse was pierced, which made it whinny plaintively. Seracin managed to create a bone protection on his horse on its belly, Veronica managed to jump, as did Maximilian. Only two soldiers died immediately.

The decoys took the impact of the spikes as a signal for an attack and began to rush towards us like an unstoppable horde.