Chapter 5 - Witnessing Enchantment

"Oh, you finished them, Aedan?" Germod turned and looked emotionlessly at his cousin, as the corpse of the wolf dropped dead on the ground.

"What the f**k is going," shouted in frustration after he stabilized his mentals, "what was that dagger, why was that wolf floating in mid-air, what was that dust colour light, what are we doing here, I need a god damn answer!"

"Ok, I will tell you," the icy cold face was replaced by the familiar smile Germod always brought with him. He kneeled and replied while skinning the Viscount and the Baron skins, "remember that I told you not all things I do were legal right?"

"Yes?"

"Well, this thing that we just did was technically illegal," Germod replied calmly, although Aedan certainly did not have a calm reaction to that statement.

"What do you meant by it was illegal?"

"There are three different ways to perform an enchantment," Germod explained, "the most common one is spell-binding, where the casters will either carve in a spell or hovers a spell over the object you want to enchant. It is easy, cheap, and every mage can do it. The second method is by inlaying gems with unique elemental strength, such as ruby for fire and sapphire for water and ice."

"My way, however," Germod smiled proudly as he looked up toward the cloudy sky, "is the most powerful enchantment method in the entire continent: the Necro-enchantment."

He looked at Aedan once more, as he was surely confused, and smiled peacefully, "there are many downsides to all of the other forms of enchantments. For one, the standard spell-binding isn't permanent as the spell will wear off after hours and at most, days. While the Gem Inlay is only limited for elemental modifications, instead of self-enhancement for the user and such."

"This method, however," Germod approached Aedan and took the mace from him, and stepped back a few steps. Held on to the dagger and the map in both hands, and closed his eyes, and started chatting.

As the spell chant began, Aedan suddenly felt an intense ambience appeared out of nowhere, as for some strange force had conquered his body and made him kneel in front of Germod, who stood peacefully and unaffected by this unknown force.

Then, the two weapons, the dagger and the mace rose from his palm and began to spiral slowly and smoothly in the air. The chatting was slow and quiet, unlike ay spell, Aedan had heard before in his life, as compared to other spells he had heard from mages, this chant was very peaceful and relaxing to the ear.

Slowly from the tip of the blade flowed out the same stream of dust shaded light, but this time it seemed much more smooth and tranquil as if the blade had calmed it down and tamed it. With a silent gasp, Aedan saw the light spun around the spiralling edge of the dagger and entered the handle of the blade, illuminating the entire Pernach in the same glow.

And then, the ritual had ended, and the two weapons dropped back in Germod's hands.

"This is now a wolf soul enchanted mace," Germod said with satisfaction as he ran his fingers gently through the metal surface of the mace, "do you want to try and use it?"

"Sure," Aedan replied, wiping off the sweat on his forehead; he almost fainted from the enormous energy that radiated from his cousin while the ritual happened. It wasn't threatening nor suffocating; it was more grand and majestic than anything else.

As Germod handed over the mace, Aedan immediately felt a rush of energy entered into him from the handle of the weapon. It was a cold and vicious flow, but it was very clearly tamed.

"With the wolf enchantment, it makes the user faster and stronger, and making the weapon more efficient than ones enchanted with a lesser soul," Germod explained, "as those are characteristics of a Viscount Desert Wolf."

Aedan nodded as the weapon does feel considerably lighter than it was that morning, but so is everything else on his body. It seemed as the mace had given him additional strength like Germod described, although it the idea of a soul living within the weapon is very cruel to him.

Germod saw Aedan's awkward look and chuckled, "don't worry about the soul. The dagger removes part of the soul during the ritual so that it would not have any intelligence after enchanted onto the weapon," Germod said with a jocular tone. However, his cousin noticed a flash of murderous expression flashed in his eyes, "it had to be said, I am one of the few that do this."

"What do you mean?" Aedan was surprised to see his cousin being angered by something, even if it was only a fraction of a second.

"Most of the individuals that do soul enchantment, which isn't many, do not bother to remove the intelligence from the soul used," Germod sneered, "they essentially trapped a living soul within a weapon ... and the soul will stay within for eternity."

Eternity. Aedan shivered, what would it be like to have consciousness, but being sealed within a lifeless item, having no control over the actions of their "body."

"What would it be like to be trapped inside a weapon for eternity," Aedan asked.

"No one knows," Germod shook his head and forced out a laugh, "weapons cannot communicate as we humans can, so how would we know," Germod pinched between his eyes and yarned, "anyhow, let us get going then, I need to get some rest after that."

"One more questions," Aedan quickly added, "why is this illegal again?"

"Because it is considered to be necromancy," Germod sighed, "it isn't, but I can see how some people think it is."

...

Aedan and Germod took some time to sorted skinned meat and skin and even the bones of the wolves together into a little mountain of flesh to bring it back in town. The meat of a Viscount and Baron beast is decently expensive as they were often used with middle to upper-tier medicines and potions, and the bones were excellent materials for weapons and armour for they often maintain some magical powers to them.

After putting the meat and flesh together, Germod wiped his hand off with a silk towel he brought with him and took out a small sapphire inlaid ring from his breast pocket.

"Is that a storage ring?" Aedan just kept on getting surprised every time his cousin does something.

"Yeah, I got it from a friend."

Aedan was justified on being so shocked, after all, storage rings were rare even with the nobility as they are portable dimensions that take excellent craftsmanship, materials, and dimensional magic powers to make. A storage ring can sometimes take a lifetime to craft for the forgers and mages that create them, as such they are usually significantly valued by the sellers, so to get one of those little things, it doesn't just cost money, it also takes a lot of luck.

With some mana transferred over to the ring, a beam of faint blue light shined upon the item, as they instantly disappeared and supposedly moved into the ring.

"You know what, I am gonna go back now, this is too much for me," Aedan laughed awkwardly, as he is too tired from always getting surprised by the strange things that his cousin does, and anything that had happened so far in Tangille. He had only been in Tangille for three days, and had been beat up by the guards, came in contact with an A'nie, having that strange nightmare of the battlefield, now seeing this "illegal" ritual being performed, it is a bit too much for the lad. Although he doesn't complain all that much, after all, this is what he wanted from his cousin, which is mystery and excitement. That is what Aedan strive for in life, although as long as he doesn't die or get hurt from those "excitements," since he was a coward when it comes to death.

...

When the two returned from the desert back to the city wall, the gate's closing hours had long passed, as the clock struck twelve. Germod walked up to a smaller spell sealed entrance for guards and knocked on it three times, to signal the sentinel to come out and get them in, which was why he was so surprised when he was met with the blade of a familiar face.

"Why were you outside the city at this hour?" a female sentinel directing her arming sword at germod, ice in her veins; a female elf only around the age of seventeen, with long silvery hair and that pair of unforgettable icy cold blue eyes.

Aedan certain remembers those eyes, "you were the guard from that day!"

The girl glanced at Aedan and quickly looked back at the human in front of him, "I will ask again, why were you outside the city at this hour?"

Germod stared at the girl in the eyes, who didn't care to stare back, and pressed her sword on the skin of the human.

Finally, Germod sighed, "I am an enchanter, miss sentinel, we were performing Soul Enchantment out there for a client."

Aedan looked at Germod like he never met him before. From experience he had gathered these few days with Germod, Aedan fully understood that his cousin is a shady character, and always wears a fake facade on him at all time. But he literally just told Germod half an hour back that Soul Enchantment was illegal, so why is he just straight up explaining the guard that he was doing it? Not to mention that he was saying that to this elf in front of him, she literally almost killed Aedan, at least in his mind she almost did.

"I see," surprising to Aedan, the guard grinned slightly, "you did the right thing to tell me the truth."

Even Germod was somewhat caught off guard by the sentinel's reaction. He was telling the truth not because he wanted to, but because he can tell the girl was not only a skilled mage and fighter but the sword she held was also enchanted, although not by a soul. "You don't care about me doing soul enchantment?"

"As long as you removed part of it," the guard smiled grew wider. Although she has a cold and ill-temper, Aedan had to admit that she was a rare beauty, with great features, "I can feel that there isn't any mad spirit around you, so you must have removed its intelligence and emotions."

Very quickly, her smile fainted, "however, I still have two problems with you two."

"What are those?" Germod asked.

"First, even though I won't go after you for using necromancy, you two did go out of the city wall after time. I will have to fine you two each for twenty coins for that."

"I will pay for his," Germod immediately said, knowing that his little cousin does not have that much money on him.

"No," the guard smiled at Aedan wickedly, "if this young man right here does not have the money, then he will have to make up for this another way."

"Wha?" Aedan chuckled wryly at himself, "what did I do to you to get this?"

The girl ignored his whining, "I haven't thought of a good punishment yet, I will come to your place to tell you the punishment tomorrow."

She paused for a short moment and continued, "my second issue with the two of you, especially you," she turned the blade of her sword and slapped lightly on Germod's neck, "you two forgot my name huh."

"You never told me your name!" Aedan exclaimed with innocence.

"Well, you got a mouth, why don't you ask me?" the girl stared blindly at the human.

What is this girl? Germod wonder while watching the exchange between the two, as the blade was still slapping against his neck, why is she so hot in a second and so cold in the next? He shook his head, and smiled, "I do remember your name, miss Prothero, I simply thought that calling you by sentinel would be more honourable."

The girl nodded slightly and returned her sword into the sheath, "fine, I am done with you two here. Go back to your house now, or other sentinels might get suspicious of two humans outside this late."

"Yes, miss Prothero," Aedan replied, still felt injust by the mistreatment.

"Call me Aneira."

"Huh?"

Before Aedan could say anything, the sentinel Aneira disappeared into the streets of Tangille.