19

Letty looked ahead without giving away anything. His expression was blank, and his body language unreadable. I found him profoundly disturbing. I looked around at the group of thirty humans around us. Goliath, Savannah, Jax, and Ethan were only four of them.

The platform lifted as we approached the hollow mountain. The group was a little taken aback by the appearance of an actual building in the middle of what was otherwise a completely undeveloped area. The hollow mountain didn't affect the actual forest around it. The underground level didn't cause any harm to the grass that was growing on it or the trees around the clearing. I wondered what was going through their heads at the moment.

They probably didn't expect anything to be built up at all. I watched them look at the hollow mountain for structural weak points. The place didn't have much for security. I didn't plan on adding anything to secure the structure. I never wanted the hollow mountain to be a fortress.

The fortress I planned to build would be in the north. That, and I wanted to take the wall. Building it up properly would make it a proper border for the place. This was my territory after all or at least it would be soon. Letty brought us straight to the top of the hollow mountain to the upper columns.

Copper, and Bryce had inscribed multiple runes into the columns to keep the wind out. The only problem was that they did need to be recharged occasionally. Someone with the ability to use mana had to go by each of the columns to charge them one by one. Aurora was already at the top charging the pillars. The space around the columns was more than big enough for her to walk all the way around.

Both of us could walk side by side around the columns if we wanted to. I slapped my hand on the stone, and a table with some stone chairs came straight up out of the ground. There weren't any chairs for the guards. A hole opened up not for from the table that led down to the spiral staircase at the center of the hollow mountain.

"Feel free to take some pictures," I sat down in one of the chairs, "The hollow mountain isn't meant to be a stronghold so I really don't care if you know how to get in."

The blunt way I spoke threw them off.

"Jax," The earth great snapped, "Get away from that creature now."

"You're awfully confident for someone who stole a child simply because he could use mana," Any, and all humor in my posture vanished as if it had never been there in the first place, "Did your own grandchild fall short of your expectations?"

"I can speak to my grandchild however I wish," he released his mana in bulk.

It was almost as if he was trying to intimidate me. I released my own aura. Completely suppressing all the power he released without having to do anything.

"You are not related to Jax," I snarled, "A single blood test is more than enough to determine the truth. A blood test that you will refuse because it will reveal your deception. At the very least it will show that you don't have any truthfully talented relatives. My real question is where did you get him?" I pulled my aura in slowly, "I will not hear anymore on the subject. I'd rather not hear anything from you at all."

"From what I understand," Letty interrupted, "This was meant to be a peaceful occasion. We don't have much in the way of hospitality, but your guards can wait downstairs for the time being."

"The only reason we came here is because of that threat to come to us," Magnus snapped, "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Letty, sir," Letty remained completely unreadable, "I believe we already met."

His red eyes glowed faintly as a slow creepy smile split his face.

"I'm the dried up corpse that crawled out of the ground, and slaughtered half of the elves you allied yourself with," Letty chuckled, "This is just what I look like when I'm fully regenerated."

Magnus's expression darkened as he looked into Letty's eyes. Letty appeared to find this very amusing.

"That's enough Letty," I interrupted Letty's creep out session, "I would prefer it if you stopped."

Letty stepped back, and went unreadable again. The glow in his eyes faded quickly.

"That guy creeps me out," Jax mumbled.

I mentally nodded in agreement.

"Letty is right," I motioned for them to sit at the table, "This was supposed to be a discussion about a cease fire between our two forces, and a possible alliance."

Eliza, and Goliath both sat at the table. I was sitting at the head of the table Eliza, and Goliath were both to my left while Ethan stood behind me. Savannah, and Jax sat to my right. Aurora laid behind me as I sat at the head of the table. Her ability to take human form was nearly useless now that her body had grown so large.

I remembered how that felt. She would either gain the shapeshifting skill or she would lose the ability to take a human form entirely. Peaceful discussion. Focus on the peaceful discussion.

"Alliance?" Magnus pushed to the front of the crowd, "Why the fuck would we want to ally with a violent fucker like you?"

"Sekka," I glanced over to where he was standing alone, "Why don't you tell this idiot what your master planned to do with him after they were done with me?"

"You're asking a fucking elf what an elf would have done to me?" Magnus yelled as he stepped forward.

"Oh so you don't recognize your former student?" I smirked, "Sekka is a half elf. The offspring between an elf, and his human slave. You see Sekka can pass for human once his ears are trimmed down. You've been teaching him how to use fire for the last two years, and he was relaying that information back to the elves. Your temper has worked against you this whole time. Every angry outburst, and plan you've made is known by the elves."

Magnus's expression darkened, "You bastard."