The Runic Alchemist

Next, Damian wanted to go to Faerunia, so he had the Elf Queen make contact with their authority — she could send a short message about his arrival so it wouldn’t cause trouble. Tristan was still in Faerunia, so Damian used that guy as the target and opened a waygate some half an hour after the message of his incoming was sent.

For that brief time, Damian had a chat with the Queen of Eldoris and they discussed the potential projects they could work together on. Damian didn’t want to seem like he was stealing Vidalia, so he mentioned the offer he had made to the Spellmaster. Knowing his ability to replicate any spell and his past alchemical success, the Queen was more than ready to send Vidalia to the Sanctuary for the betterment of Eldoris.

Damian also mentioned opening an academy for the children, and that too was well received by the Queen, since kids right now had nowhere to go, and creating and managing an academy was no small task. If Damian did it — that would be quite beneficial for all of them.

Tristan was pacing back and forth in his room when Damian stepped out of the blue portal — the guy almost jumped towards him. It was clear to see the Faerunians were no friend of his.

“Damian, those guys want to know why you were coming. Why do you want to make my life so difficult?” the guy ranted.

“To get the peace treaty signed, why else?” Damian replied. “Your Queen said you can return back to Eldoris if the treaty is signed today.”

“Did she? Thank goodness. I do not want to stay a second longer with these fish people!”

“The Sea Snake can probably hear you, you know?” Damian replied.

“I am just joking, of course,” Tristan said, coughing a little.

Tristan led him to the main castle. It was his first time coming here. Damian could already sense the Sea Snake — and his daughter. There was nowhere he could sense Alex though. The courtroom he entered was enormous — with all the white, shiny marble stone and blue-gold designs laden atop it, creating golden and black sea snakes battling various giant sea creatures.

“Second Keeper, didn’t you think it wise enough to inform us of your intentions for coming here? Or do you merely find our rules too small for your mighty stature to obey?” the Sea Snake, seated atop the white, blue, and gold throne, asked aloud. He was not even offered a seat — standing before everyone like a criminal awaiting his judgment.

The courtroom was full of people. Clearly, the guy wanted to make a show out of it. Well, he would get what he wished for.

“I thought we all had agreed to sign the peace treaty, or are you looking for excuses to back out of it now?” Damian called the guy out straight, without any political jargon.

The faces of all gathered twisted — the anger radiating from the Fourth Ranker was almost tangible in the air.

“How dare you accuse our King standing right in our home!? Have you lost your mind?” the daughter of the Sea Snake bellowed, supported by the murmuring and shouting of all the Second Ranker knights and court officials.

“Your king is great and mighty and I can be treated as a common criminal? If you want respect, learn how to show respect!” Damian replied, glaring at the daughter-and-father combo.

The old, jacked, white-bearded man grabbed the trident resting beside the throne and channeled the dark blue aura in it to the very limit — with the immense, almost liquid aura trailing behind, the tail of the trident shot towards Damian with a speed that was beyond fast even for Transcendents.

Damian simply activated one of his emergency spells, creating a giant mana hand before him that swatted the trident to the side. With a loud crash, the trident shot through the white marble floor, going meters deep into the ground.

In the next second, Damian created over a dozen replica runic circles and activated all of them — over a dozen giant copies of Damian himself, made of golden mana with dark clothes wrapped around them, a sword resting on all of their waists.

The shiny white palace was destroyed to ruins as his dozen replicas grew meters above, breaking through the ceiling — looking down on the King of Faerunia.

Damian spoke in a booming loud voice, “Do you seriously want to do this? Forfeit your brother-in-law and all other Faerunians for your flimsy pride? Believe me, nothing would give me more satisfaction than removing your name from this land. Give me an excuse!”

Tristan beside him had stepped back, hiding behind Damian while preparing himself for the fight — but the fight never came. The Sea Snake merely gritted his teeth and looked away.

What the hell was wrong with this guy? Was he addicted to getting humiliated?

Damian canceled the runic spells for the replicas, still keeping many spells ready to be launched hovering around him though. The old man was mental and was capable of doing anything at any moment.

Faerunians had already left the Dawnstar land though — in exchange for their people held captive by him. The Fourth Ranker really thought he would bend before the guy. He was advocating peace; that did not mean he had to bear their disrespect. If Faerunians refused to sign the treaty, Damian would simply have to make some weapons and come charging in a few years — the Elves and the Emperor would be more than willing to remove the troublemakers and share the land.

Faerunia simply could not afford to say no to him. And they didn’t either.

The father and daughter swallowed their pride and signed the treaty — the mana contract was checked by their people for the longest time, but in the end, they objected to nothing. Damian placed the waygates where they showed him to — the treaty mentioned the waygates too. Damian took the IDs of many trees as part of the installation. Even if the Sea Snake wanted to stop the people from traveling to Sanctuary and back — which Damian doubted the guy would, with all the tax and money he could make out of it — but still, without a good valid reason, the Faerunians would not be able to stop the waygates.

Damian sent Tristan back to Eldoris through a waygate, and he, himself, opened a waygate connecting to the Emperor. He had sent a message prior through the Queen of Eldoris, so they were ready. His welcome here was the stark opposite from the one in Faerunia. The Emperor was situated in a very big, fancy palace that was made of polished stone — the same one Damian had visited before.

They were in the Dawnstar capital.

The Emperor wasn’t alone — there was a man in a dark red robe with black cloth wrapped around his neck, beneath which was a circular pendant shaped like a sun. The High Priest of the Sun Temple. Damian had received information on the guy. The Sun Temple was still hunting human cults that had even the slightest connection to the demons. Their methods of investigations.. were not always transparent.

The High Priest of the Sun Temple was a mundane human. Yet he commanded the largest group of knights and pathfinders that were loyal to the faith of the Sun God. The number of the Sun Temple’s followers was not something to look down on at all as a kingdom. But they had helped the Emperor solidify his power over the Kingdom of Dawnstar, so Damian understood the delicate relation the two leaders had.

“Lord Keeper, the man who ended the war,” the priest said with a polite smile.

Damian did not miss the sharp look the guy had taken towards his two horns before greeting him though.

“Priest,” Damian simply nodded, not giving the guy much attention.

After knowing the truth of all the gods present in this world — Damian did not have anything of worth to tell the zealous followers of such faith. Even before that, Damian did not care for the gods and their temples at all. To him, they just existed.

“We shall discuss the matter some other, more convenient time. As you can see, High Priest Cornilius, I have a guest to look after,” the Emperor said, getting up and extending his hand towards the Sun Priest.

The Priest smiled, looking at the Emperor. “Of course, the Emperor has enough things to look after without me troubling him.”

“You are no trouble at all. I will send word later. We will deal with the situation soon,” the Emperor replied.

Damian walked towards the nearest window, taking a look at the capital of Dawnstar as the Emperor bid farewell to his priest. When the man was gone and the room only held the two of them, the Emperor poured a glass of wine for himself and took a seat.

“I thought you would never come,” the Emperor said.

“There are treaties to be signed,” Damian replied.

The city of First Dawn was the same as Eldoris’ capital, with slight differences in style here and there. Damian could not help but notice the large red and gold temple that was situated in the middle of the very populated area. The main temple of the Sun God. He could sense many Second Ranker mana signatures from there.