Irreparable Differences

"Oi!" calls Benji, a lone stable hand, "Who forgot to tie up the horses in the right place!?" Benji looks out over the rest of the crown prince's camp and sees all the soldiers ignoring him. Then, his gaze goes back to the horses that were supposed to be tied to their trees near the watering hole they camped next to.

As Benji grabs the reigns of the horses, he grumbles to himself, "These stupid cavalry soldiers think they're the best thing in this camp, yet they can't even do what they're supposed to. Do they think 30 stable hands in this entire camp is enough to take care of over a hundred horses? Bah!"

While Benji begrudgingly starts tying up the horses, one of the stallions grows agitated, followed by the rest of herd. They neigh and skitter about on the ground with fear in their voices. Benji strokes one of their snouts, "Hey boy. What's wrong?"

Unfortunately, the horses all see something Benji himself missed – a snake on the ground.

Once the snake raises its head above the grass, all the horses go mad and bolt in the other direction, running amok through camp…

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Haalfrin is eating some quick dinner while he's stretching out his limbs repeatedly – as per the doctor's instruction. Suddenly, he hears a loud commotion throughout the camp. He's about to get up and check it out, when one of the guards says to Haalfrin, "Doctor says you stay inside; it's just some horses that got out."

As Haalfrin walks stiffly back to his cot, he feels a thick black mist engulf the camp. He feels a chill on his exposed skin as some of the mist seeps into his tent from under the tent walls. A small, hunchbacked figure materializes.

The newcomer solidifies completely, and the deformed-looking man looks around the room, then directly at Haalfrin. "You the mortal Das and Freyya got on about?"

"Hurgen, I assume?" Haalfrin mutters softly so that the guards outside wouldn't hear and interrupt his conversation.

Hunchbacked Hurgen coughs and says, "Yeah, that's me. I'm just surprised a mortal world actually knows my name; most worlds don't worship the death gods at all, and if they do worship someone, it's usually the Death King or Das."

"Anyway," Haalfrin asks, "did you just drop in to say hi… Wait… more importantly, who died?"

Hurgen points behind his back. "Oh, some horses got loose and stomped a few soldiers to death. I'm the reaper of accidental deaths, so… Yeah. The job was quick at least."

The short man shakes his head and bends down. "Here. Freyya didn't want to wait, so she asked me to give this to you." He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a shiny object, and presents it to Haalfirn.

"What is it?" Haalfrin asks as he takes the clear diamond from Jenri. The stone is faintly glowing blue, and it had some flickering runes written on its surface.

"Dunno. Don't care," Hurgen replies as he slowly turns around to finish his job, "She just said it was important. She paid me pretty well, so that's all that matters. Bye-bye."

"Wait!" Haalfrin calls out, "Can I ask you a question?"

Hurgen pauses, then turns around. "What is it?"

Truth be told, Hurgen never would've bothered about this mortal had he not known 2 of his colleagues are concerned about the boy.

"Can you tell me how to control my Death Aura?" Haalfrin asks. "It always leaks out seemingly randomly.

"Oh," Hurgen says, "That's easy. Death Aura is a spiritual power. Physical existences are moved with Force, and spiritual entities are moved with Will. Your Aura slips out because you're feeling close to death and anticipating it. It basically comes out when you Will Death upon things. If it slips out randomly, then just control your feelings more."

Once Hurgen leaves, Haalfrin stares up at the ceiling and wonders, "Why didn't Freyya tell me that the first time?"

Unless...

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Once Hurgen leaves, Haalfrin studies the blue stone with a confused look on his face. He obviously can't read the runes on it, and he also hasn't been trained in magic enough to even guess what the enchantment is.

As Haalfrin is fiddling with it, he pushes his mana through the stone, and the enchantments light up on their own. A short message appears in his mind, and Freyya's voice speaks into his mind, "Mortal, I know you've not been trained, so I'll just attach some knowledge in this message to let you know how to use the enchantment."

Immediately after Freyya's message fizzles out, Haalfrin feels some information pour into his mind – not unlike what happened when she gave him that body reinforcement spell… though the experience this time isn't nearly as overwhelming – not as much information, you see.

After getting the necessary knowledge, Haalfrin activates the glyphs on the "Recording enchantment," as he learned it was called.

Once Haalfrin turns on the spell on the diamond, he feels hazy images pile into his mind…

…And he sees Kanus sitting down in a cushiony chair talking to one of his aides.

"What about that mage, Haalfrin?" the assistant asks. "Is there really a reason to care so much about a single-second gate mage? You've got dozens of mages like this, and even if he's super talented, he'll just be shipped off to the Threshold if he gets his 3rd Gate and forced to join the war there; his talents will be of no use to you!"

Kanus just leans back in his chair and sips on his wine absentmindedly, "First off, he's going to be a key witness in taking down my brother in the trial… once we reach the place, that is."

The aide puts up a finger and points out, "You COULD just have Tallus assassinated, you know."

"Yeah," Kanus replies, "I COULD… but there are certainly some members of the court who oppose me… With Tallus being the only other option and CONTROLLABLE, they certainly want him around. Taking down Tallus lawfully would serve our cause much better, and we can also use that as leverage against the dissidents in court."

Watching this recording, Haalfrin nods and mutters, "He's a politician through and through.... not that I mind, though. It's better for a strong and cunning person to be on the throne after all than a weak prissy."

Alas, the recording doesn't wait for Haalfrin; it continues with Kanus speaking, "Another thing… As per the treaty with the Empire, the Archmage is the only mage allowed in the kingdom above a 3rd Gate… The archmage himself is getting on in years, and he doesn't have an apprentice…"

The aide shakes his head, "You're wanting to present Haalfrin – a man you've won over, to be the archmage's apprentice? What makes you think the archmage would accept the Kareen barbarian?"

Kanus gives a small chuckle, "I heard rumors that the archmage was looking for Haalfrin – something to do with his vision… It was only rumors until I confirmed it with the boy himself. Haalfrin certainly has some business with the gods; Haalfrin is also a rare mage with powers in his Names; there's no way the archmage would turn Haalfrin down."

Kanus then sits back up and refills his wine glass. "Still, that boy's a little crazy. He has no attachments in this world, and he just wants to die; a man with no desires can't be controlled. He'd serve me far better as a passive tie to the archmage. It'll serve my cause much better."

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Once the vision ends, Haalfrin lays there on his cot with a blank expression on his face. There's an angry itch in his heart… but the fury mostly goes away when Haalfrin thinks, 'Well, can't expect anything else from a prince, right?'

After all, Haalfrin's only condition for Kanus was for him to be sent on dangerous missions - not be donated to the very archmage who's trying to give him a safe, cushy job.

Haalfrin then looks up at the ceiling, 'Well, it's too bad we couldn't have a common interest, at least…'