After 7 weeks of travelling overland, the Forest Glen Healers Guild Grandmaster finally made it to Decharte City, the capital of the Kingdom. He had had to travel incognito rather than in his normal grandiose style, and he wasn’t happy about it. He made his was directly to the Healers Guild. There he produced his Grandmaster badge and demanded to meet with the Guild Master.

  Grandmaster Yuri was led to the Guild Master’s office. “The Guild Master is not here but would be returning within the hour. Please make yourself comfortable. Is there anything I can get you?” the assistant said.

  “If I have to wait, please bring me a glass of wine. I haven’t had any decent wine in a long time.”, Yuri replied. A few minutes later, the assistant returned with a decanter of wine and two wine glasses. He set both down on the table next to the Yuri, then left.

  Yuri poured himself a glass of the red wine and sipped. “Hmm, very good” he said to no one and took a deeper drink. He quickly finished the first glass and poured himself another. “Very good indeed”, he said to himself. It had been too long since he had good wine. Stupid useless assassins. If they’d only did their job, none of this would have been necessary. He would still be in Forest Glen with his mistresses and power. Now, he is basically reduced to a beggar.

  He took his time with the second glass. “No reason to hurry and get inebriated before the Guild Master shows up. I wonder how long he is going to make me wait. I bet he will take the full hour.”, he thought glumly. The Guild Master was all about power and the perception of power. Yuri knew all about that, having been doing the same thing in Forest Glen. He would wait outside the office sometimes just to make the petitioner squirm. It brought him a perverse joy knowing someone was waiting on him.

  True to his prediction, the Guild Master, Grandmaster Pilus took almost the entire hour to show. When he came into the office, he acknowledged Yuri with a curt nod of his head but didn’t say anything. He made his way over and sat down behind his desk, not even making an effort to shake hands. “What brings you here, Yuri? Didn’t I banish you to Forest Glen? I haven’t forgotten what you did, and I don’t have the time to deal with you and your schemes.”, Pilus said with malice in his voice.

  Yuri thought for a moment before replying. “There is trouble in Forest Glen. A young man has appeared. He was able to cast healing magic and saved the Earl Donnert’s life. This young man’s abilities represent a danger to our guild. I tried to have him put down, using a local noble but failed. The Earl saw through my attempts and was going to sanction the guild, so I made another move to remove the young noble who acted on our behalf. The assassin was caught after poisoning the man. Unfortunately, the noble’s father, Viscount Corville caught the assassin, and I was forced to flee. I have been on the road in dirty little caravans for the past seven weeks. I couldn’t use the teleportation stations for fear the Earl had put a bounty on me.”

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  “Yes, the bounty on you arrived in the capital within two days of your abandoning your guild chapter. A letter was sent from the Earl, stating that because of your complicity, the local chapter has been placed under his control. He is going through all our books and correspondence looking for ‘corruption’ and such. It quite ingenious, actually. He gets to keep our healers working, so he doesn’t stir up the population, and has full unfettered access to everything. When he is done with his investigation, he may allow the chapter to reopen under heavy scrutiny, or he may disband it entirely. Either way, that cash cow is now useless to us, and our reputation has taken a hit throughout the kingdom. You and your schemes are responsible for this, and you will have to pay.”, Pilus spoke as he stared directly into Yuri’s eyes.

  Yuri tried to interrupt but found himself unable to speak. He also found that he couldn’t raise his arms. If fact, the only thing he could move is his eyes.

  “Lord Archon is not happy with your inability to kill the healer Trevor of House Tierra. In my eyes, the only decision I have to make is whether to turn your body over to the Earl or dispose of you myself.” Pilus said while pulling out an evil looking knife from his desk drawer.

  *--------------------*

  Zeddicus appeared on Heaven’s Path. This was the location where Zemoculus and Arigulius fought. You couldn’t tell because everything was gray and faded, but he knew this was the location.

  Zeddicus looked around. He couldn’t make out much more than the gray haze all around him. If Trevor had physically manifested, then he would have suffered soul damage. Only half ascended and ascended beings could be physically present on Heaven’s Path without suffering soul damage. There should be some residual trace of the corruption. He searched going back and forth, back and forth. This was his only chance of finding Trevor. If he didn’t, he could never go back home. Finally, he found the barest hint of corruption. But it was enough.

  It was true. Trevor did physically manifest. Because of that, Arigulius would have to find an essence rich planet to stop the corruption. Zeddicus peered into the distant. Which planet could support human, was essence rich, and close? The best candidate wasn’t the closest one. The closest one was barely in the stone age. No, better candidates were further away. Zeddicus scanned all around him, going out further and further each cycle. He finally narrowed it down to two planets, Tellus Nova and Veridia. Both were excellent candidates for recovering from soul corruption. Tellus Nova was slightly closer, so he would go there first.

  Zeddicus appeared on the highest mountain on Tellus Nova. It was as if he had always been there. He sat cross legged, closed eyes and started scanning the planet. Three days later, Zeddicus smiled broadly, showing his jagged stained teeth.

  “Found him.”