"Horseback riding at night"

"Taming him took longer than I expected. It's the first time I've seen a human fight so much against the Geas. Undoubtedly he is an interesting man," said the elven priestess, looking at me fixedly and licking her grinning lips, "Maybe I'll try him tonight."

"I-I do not think the Shalafi Ainu will approve that, Tarnorie," the human wizard said in a reproachful voice.

"Do not put words in my father's mouth, apprentice Beledur. Your place is that of the servants. Do not pretend to know your teacher better than me. "

Interesting. So even though the wizard Beledur had the orb and gave us the orders through him, the one who really commanded in the group was the elven priestess, Tarnorie. And apparently, the magician I wanted to meet was his father, who in turn was the Shalafi of Beledur.

The word shalafi had a deep meaning for all elves. It was a sacred and unbreakable bond between two people.

The Shalafi was the dominant magician, the implacable master and lord of his apprentices, but he was also the teacher who unreservedly offered all his wisdom and knowledge. If the disciple of a Shalafi managed to survive his apprenticeship, he had an indisputable right to claim his master's inheritance.

Each Shalafi could only have three apprentices throughout his life and one apprentice could only have two Shalafi. But more often, there was only one apprentice and one Shalafi. Silver Ray had been my shalafi, my master, my teacher. She had taught me many things but I had not learned everything she had to give.

Because she had died hastily.

Silver Ray had died thirty years ago, on the day of my ninth birthday, along with the rest of my friends and family. Killed by soldiers under the orders of a cruel king who believed in the false prophecy of a corrupt bishop. The prophecy of the appearance of Ardsheall. An unstoppable calamity. An immortal monster.

The king eventually had died a long time ago before the vengeful claws of the monster that lives inside me but the corrupt bishop managed to escape before I could complete my revenge. He had already achieved his sinister goal. Although he was no longer human.

The death of victims and victimizers was the prelude to the sacrifice of their souls to feed a spell. A forbidden spell that needed huge amounts of dead mana.

The invocation of the Ardsheall.

The false prophecy of the corrupt bishop was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He wanted to become the immortal monster. But he did not count on my presence.

Fate is a curious thing. It tries hard to get balance between all things. Each action deserves a reaction.

Only a monster can stop another monster. Only an Ardsheall can stop another Ardsheall.

The bishop and I were now two sides of the same coin.

But that bastard priest had been hiding from me and all trails had been lost. So while I was waiting for a new clue, I was roaming the continent like a wandering nightmare.

And now, this wandering nightmare had temporarily joined a motley crew of adventurers serving a mysterious magician.

The master transmitted his orders through the magical orb of the human wizard and an amulet that hung from the delicate neck of the elven priestess. I knew it because I saw that magical objects shine at that moment and heard the orders spoken in elven language.

This time the two said the same thing.

"To the East. Let´s go!"

We all ran to our horses and rode on them.

Silent. But with fury.

After an infernal five-hour ride at night along the commercial route to the east and then an hour more in the moonlight on an internal path through a forest, we finally made a stop.

The ranger and the kender went to collect edible plants and mushrooms, and hunt some piece that would provide us with fresh meat for the meal. The barbarian was in charge of getting water.

Instead, my task was to stay with the priestess the magician to protect them from any possible attack and meanwhile, catch up with the objective of the group. I made a campfire to warm our tired bodies and already sitting on a log around the fire, my new "bosses" began to explain to me the mission that we had ahead.