A Step Back

Walking out from the study Railia held onto his arm wearing a spare robe he had given her, clinging to him as if he might disappear should she let go. Salem noticed the odd glance his knights shared before Jennah stepped in front of him, "Master may I speak with you privately?" raising an eyebrow at the strange behavior she was showing he thought it could be something had happened.

"Of course, Annah would you please show Railia to the baths to get freshened up? Right, this way Jennah." moving back into the office. Jennah followed behind him, noticing the tattered clothes on the floor she smirked, seeing her master sit, she sat in his lap wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Master, me and a few of the other personal guard would like it if you wouldn't change any more knights, we want to train them ourselves. We feel special being so few of a race to be turned by you personally but if you continue doing it then it will cheapen our worth," she looked into his glowing green eyes and saw understanding and compassion.

Salem kissed her gently, holding her by the waist, breaking away from the sweet moment he looked back into her eyes, "I understand, though this was not a planned incident, our bloodlines demanded the merger. Look at your eyes and you will see something interesting," he smirked, picking her up he took her to a mirror on the wall.

Looking into it was her silver eyes glowing brightly, like stars far off in the void of the blackened sky, she gasped at the sight. Realizing something she looked back to her masters' eyes, she now noticed his emerald eyes were starting to blaze, "You only now noticed? Well that's alright, everyone in the clan will start changing soon the iris will glow and the sclera will turn black it will be a signature of our clan, separating us from any other clan."

Nodding her head slowly she kissed him and left to check on the new knight before the twins try and corrupt her.

Watching Jennah leave his office he admired the view of her back moving side too side, shaking his head he called for servants to clean the study while preparing orders for his soldiers to be on the lookout for any wildlife in the mines and tunnels.

He also needed to have his undead remade into wraiths, his upper undead captains needed to be turned as well though he was unsure of the difficulty for an upper undead, meaning it was possible that might accidentally destroy his captains.

Putting that thought aside, he tossed a small black tree onto the floor, small roots appeared and dragged it down and absorbed it into the main structure of the palace. After the obelisk had been fully absorbed he started to summon the skeletons to the palace and started to replace them with the wraiths.

He became more practiced with his spellwork as he repeatedly changed thousands of skeletons until the spell easily flowed from him, he had finally mastered this spell after thousands of attempts and he could transform hundreds at a time now.

He now had seven undead that stood before him, these were the undead captains he had conquered on the battlefield, he did not want to lose them but an attempt needed to be made so he would know if it was possible to change them now or if he needed to wait.

Picking one of the warriors he gave it his full concentration when he began using the ability and spell framework to remake this creature. All went well, until the at the last moment before it was complete he relaxed and the captain burst into bone dust. Salem watched as all his hard work for a new wraith had been destroyed by just a moment of carelessness.

It had not been as difficult as he had expected, but he would have to slowly change them one at a time one mistake is all it would take to waste these warriors. He began again on another warrior and failed when a drop of sweat landed in his eye breaking his concentration.

He shouted in frustration when the second wraith covered him in bone dust, taking a few minutes he drank some of his special tea to help him relax, he was able to change the third undead and so he continued with a break between each captain from then on.

He had two failures and five successes which he could count as acceptable losses, these captains had intelligence and could report to him in raspy voices making them capable of giving commands, unlike his standard troops who could only understand, obey and fight as ordered.

Looking up he saw the sun had set not long ago, the feast would be starting and he would need to announce the merger of the clans. He was not looking forward to changing so many adult male elves, he would need a drop of marrow to change ten adult males.

Females, on the other hand, would only need to place his seed inside them which he would leave that task to Railia to give them the blue pearl inside of them. He could have them swallow it and see if that would work instead of the method he had used on his own knights, but this would take time and he would need his knights to assist him in collecting both ingredients for the pills.

He quickly washed off in the baths, donning black and green robes, he went to look for Railia and the rest of the personal guards. He found them all in a practice room having a spar it seemed, going further in he noticed a crowd, in the center of the crowd, was the twins who had light wounds while their opponent was Railia who had a slightly worse wound.

Blood had gathered on their lips and a small puddle of it had been left on the ground, indicating it wasn't a friendly match, Jennah was at the side trying to get them to stand down though not very successfully.

Anger. They were family now, there was no reason to injure each other no matter what the argument was about. He unleashed his tails, and cracked one against the ground like a whip, at the loud crack in the air all the knights turned to see their master, anger on his face.

This had never happened, he was always happy and smiling with them, they stared down at their feet like naughty children caught red-handed. "What are you all doing?" no answer came from the crowd. "Jennah, would you care to enlighten me as to what is going on?" he spoke through gritted teeth, he was livid, his knights refused to answer his questions.

Jennah could feel her masters anger, bowing her head she refused to answer his call, the raw energy at his fingertips started to bend the world slightly around him. She had forgotten in her absence he was training in the arcane more than his martial studies. He was a being of magic and he could bend the world at his will, the more he learned and trained the more control he had.

He was still young, his emotions influenced his powers when they ran high, the room had grown cold, frost started gathering at his feet while his eyes began to blaze while the shadows gathered around him.

"Well since none of you have anything to say, it seems that you do not care that your master just asked you a question."

"Kneel."

The command was soft and gentle and it grabbed them all by the throat and choked them into submission. "You all have sworn an oath, I suppose half of you ventured away for half a year making it seem that we did nothing while you were away. While your sisters who stayed worked to gather troops and build a home for you to return to, they protected your kin and apprentices so I would hope that you could bond over such hard work and dedication to one another."

The knights glanced at each other, feeling warmth in their hearts for having such a family, and shame for letting this incident happen.

Walking through his kneeling knights he stepped past them entering the crowds center where even the Twins, Jennah, Annah, and Railia were kneeling. "You are all family, my family, and you can argue, you can even compete with each other but if you willingly hurt your family again, I will not be lenient in your punishment.

"As for you five, he said staring at the five girls who had sworn their lives to him, I am disappointed." The Twins had tears in their eyes, Annah's face was red, while Railia kneeled in shock. Jennah knelt at his feet, under the pressure he put on them they were no longer able to speak, she wished she had just answered such an easy question.

After he finished talking, he could feel his anger was still high so he used his teleport ability to flash away, leaving the girls alone on the practice ring. He appeared in the hall and swiftly made his way to his study, sitting in his chair he stared into the fire that was in the hearth, he picked up a small silver flask he had in his desk and drank the sweet liquor inside.

This magical brew was a recent creation that he had planned to sell to the humans, it was nearly addictive to them, for him, it refreshed and eased his mind like a cold wave rushing over the flames in his heart.

Sitting in his chair he felt the five arrive outside his study, he opened the doorway with his mind, he had made it impossible for anyone else to enter without his permission. "Railia there is the plan for this evening on the table, read it and prepare yourself.

"Master I want to-"

Salem glared at Jennah who was trying to speak, "You, of all people, refused to answer me. Do not think that just because I am new to the world that I enjoy being treated as a child, I am well aware my emotions get the best of me especially when it comes to all of you.

You showed me very little respect in front of all of your peers, and I'm unsure as to why you think it was acceptable to behave this way, I rely on you and the rest of my personal guard to protect and advise me in times of war, to lead my troops and protect our kin.

This matter will end, there is no excuse for fighting amongst each other, the punishment will be one thousand years of imprisonment or you can suffer banishment in a world that thinks elves should be beasts of burden and slaves, let the rest of your sisters know it. I will be down in an hour, I need to prepare the ingredients for the ceremony.

Annah I will need your help, the rest of you are dismissed.