Warlock

“Sir. How long will this take?”
“Just about as long as our valiant little warrior realizes his victim doesn't bleed.”
“As you say. And then what?”
“This one was chosen by none other than Eaglecrest. He has proven to be an honorable man, who was simply misguided by the sect of the crests.”
“He fought quite valiantly.”
“And effectively too. Unfortunately, his knowledge of magic is severely lacking considering he was sent to duel an executive of the warlocks. The council of crests make my blood boil.”
“He is the impersonation of knightlihood, don’t you think so, sir?”
“Quite. Can you believe they seriously sent a recruit with only one year’s worth of training, and the outdated knowledge of spells requiring components, to a duel to the death? He is formidable, especially for his knowledge, but that is negligent. At some point the council will run out of bright eyed ‘heroes’.”
“Yes. I understand you wish to converse with him properly? I shall prepare a feast for the meeting.”
“Thank you. Any moment now, he will understand he fought a mere simulacrum with stunted magical abilities, it would be foolish to walk into the ambush the council of crests has so kindly set up for us. I will personally teleport him here as soon as he realizes the error of the duel, and is branded a traitor to the crests of course. Just like the last ones.”
“Of course. May you save him yet, master Ebiron.”

Jin

Victory was mine. The kingdom of crests has been protected just as foretold. I knelt down to one knee, saying a prayer for my fallen foe’s soul. After the prayer I stood up, simultaneously removing my swords from his chest and shoulder. The remains of his body crumbled to dust. I was certain that I had killed him, how could this be? He couldn’t have cast any spells. Then again, come to think of it, the lightning rune magic didn’t seem to use any reagents. Not to mention the shadowy teleportation that didn’t even contain a rune as far as I could tell. Something seemed horribly off. My mind ran through all possible options. I wasn’t able to identify any of the signs of magic, no scents, sounds, visual or auditory triggers existed. But that meant that my enemy had to be dead, so why did he crumble to nothingness? Even if Ebiron was a warlock, at his core he still was an elf, he’d have to leave remains. I further noticed there weren’t any bloodstains anywhere in our combat area. Intrigued, I decided to investigate the scene further. The remaining trap runes were all drained of their magic with the death of Ebiron. I ventured further into the forest in order to look for his spellcasting reagents. Maybe those could help me understand the mystery a bit.

Suddenly an arrow struck a tree next to me. Raising my swords, I turned around. “Who is there?”
“What do you think you’re doing”, an archer stepped out from behind a tree, “Why are you advancing toward the land of warlocks.”
“I’m trying to gather information from my battle. Now answer my question, who are you?”
“You’re quick-witted, I’ll give you that. Not many would find an excuse so quickly. You already know everything you need to though.”
“One last time, who are you?”
“An enforcer. Now be a good hero and come back to the kingdom of crests. That is the best life you could possibly get, count yourself lucky.”
An enforcer? I had heard tales of them when I was still a farmhand. Word of the mouth stated that enforcers were a shadowy elite group taking commands directly from the council of crests. They are exclusively sent to hunt down traitors to the council.
“What are you warning me for?”, I inquired. A second arrow from another person wedged itself to into the bark of a tree just above me.
“You are testing your luck, little hero.”
“I’m sorry, but I genuinely do not understand. I’ve done this battle in accordance to the council’s wishes, fulfilling the prophecy in the process. Why would I betray the kingdom now?”
The enforcer grunted a laugh.
“Describe your battle to me.” He knocked an arrow.
I recounted the battle down to the last detail.
He loosened his arrow toward my head. I barely sliced it in twain. Three more shots accelerated toward me. I managed to dodge two of them and parried the third.
“Why are you attacking me?”
Even though I didn’t understand what was going on, these enforcers were still people of the kingdom of crests. I wouldn’t harm them, I’m supposed to protect them. That being said, I wouldn’t let them simply kill me without reason.
“You wish to spread lies even though you have the title of hero?”, an archer called out to me, followed by another barrage.
“I haven’t told a single lie though!”
“Magic that doesn’t use reagents? Ridiculous.”
I heard an ever so slight rustling behind me and instinctively dodged low. An arrow shot past the spot my head was occupying just a second ago. More sounds indicated I was surrounded. I sprinted deeper into the forest, hoping to get a more advantageous position. No matter how I evaded, I didn’t manage to get into a safe position.

Just as the first arrow I knew I couldn’t dodge zipped through the air, a rift of shadow tore into space in its trajectory. From it, an all too familiar person stepped out.
“Isn’t that the target the little hero was sent to eliminate? I knew he was a traitor all along!”, one of the archers shouted.
“Oh please”, Ebiron muttered. A dome of darkness enveloped him and me.
Uncertain what to do, I raised my guard.
“Ebiron? So I didn’t defeat you after all. As to be expected from a warlock.”
“I’m terribly sorry about this Jin Eaglecrest.”
My helmet was all but launched from my head. The shadows seemed to collapse into themselves. In a last heroic stand, I tensed my muscles, forcing both of my blades to surge toward the warlock. If I was to die here, I might as well try to protect the kingdom. Clearly their doubt of me being a traitor was rooted in some kind of truth if Ebiron survived.

Darkness overtook all of my senses briefly.

The last thing the enforcers managed to see were writhing shadows, violently clawing at themselves. The hero had disappeared, leaving only a severely dented and cracked helmet behind.

I regained my senses in an unfamiliar location, head spinning out of control. My swords hung in the air uselessly to either side of Ebiron.
“The nausea will decrease soon. Enter the citadel once it does. I will have my protégé escort you from that point onward. You are not in hostile territory currently, so refrain from starting any combat. My protégé would be more than enough to handle you if you try to step out of line.”
I was too disoriented by everything going on to even think straight. What mattered to me was that I drew breath still, so I haven’t failed my destiny just yet.