A Warlock's Ascent

Dave didn't know what had happened, but Grump grim voice made him understand that something major must have happened. "Well, what happned?"

Instead of replying to him, Grump grabbed his chin and turned it towards the camp to show him what was up. "Look there," he said while pointing towards the camp.

Hamel had started a fire, there was a large black color cauldron levitating in the air above the fire, not only that, there were these big barrels lying not too far away from him, the barrels were very familiar, as they were the larger version of the ones that he took out of the trunk.

He didn't understand what the old man was talking about, from what he could see, the only peculiar thing about all of this was the barrels and the flying cauldron. His confusion was evident from his facial expression. Seeing this Grump sighed and then continued. "Those barrels, they were the items that we were transporting. They were the reason that we were sticking on schedule."

"So?" he couldn't understand what the old man was talking about. But it was then he understood what the old man was implying "Wait were we not supposed to open them?"

"No." Hearing this, he turned his head sideway, he was now more confused.

The old man then continued. "These barrels, all of them are full of crafting ingredients for potion making. Hamel Gomez is rich, but he is not that rich to acquire all these ingredients, in such a high volume."

"I dont understand what are you trying to say. Do you mean that he stole those materials from someone?"

The old man snapped his fingers and yelled "Precisely!"

It is then he understood what the old man was trying to say. "Whom did he steal it from? Are they dangerous?"

"From what I could guess, he stole those things from Ravenshade City's Stash."

"Ravenshade City's Stash? What is that?"

The old man looked very annoyed, as he didn't know the most basic things about this world, but still, he replied calmly. "The city saves up a considerable amount of potion material, in case of disaster strikes. The potion material helps them to make many emergency potions like antidotes, healing potions, bone regeneration, etc."

After hearing his words, he started calculating the number of barrels that he had seen so far, and if they all could increase their size like those ones, then they are in deep shit. "So you are trying to say that Hamel not only stole from Ravenshade, but he also stole everything from that city's stash, at a time like this?"

The old man nodded. "Its looks like it. Those small barrels have a special magic performed on them, which shrinks them. But the mana circuit on those barrels is only viable for a few hours, that is why he needed you."

"Me? Why?"

"Your pocket space, time moves slowly in your Earthian's pocket space. That is why needed you. That is why Grego wanted to follow the schedule so diligently, that fucker must have known about this… Davvy we are fucked."

"Walk me through what kind of consequence are we talking about here?"

"Well, we just helped the best and only alchemist in Ravenshade to sneak out of there. Also, we stole the city's supplies, which they desperately needed to function, right now. So we are fucked, Carlin would send her dogs to hunt us down, as soon as she could afford to."

"What are the chances that she would know it was us?"

"Well, I vanished from the city, the same day Hamel ran away. So it wouldn't take a genius to put two and two together."

He couldn't help but smile. "Wait, then you are fucked. No one knows about me. I will be alright."

"If I go down, I will take you down with me. We are partners after all." His reply makes his smile turn into a frown. "No, we are not. You said that I dont work with you, I work for you. There is  a difference."

Grump made a look like he wanted to kill him right there, and bury him 6 feet down. While he smiled looking at the annoyed face of the old man. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SMILING? I JUST TOLD YOU THAT OUR DEATH WARRANTS HAVE BEEN SIGNED OFF." Old man yelled.

Hearing his words, he started to wonder why he was smiling, after all, Grump did give him a very grave news."I dont know why I am smiling. Maybe I am going insane or something… Also for your information, I am more fucked than you."

"How?"

It is then he told him about the tale of his encounter with Angela and all the Earthians under her, he told him what he did to her, the magic that ruined her face, and she is looking for him to enact revenge on him.

Hearing his story, Grump stood there, glued to the place with an expressionless face, it made it hard for him to understand what the old man was thinking. Before he could ask him for advice, the old man put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head slowly.

"It was nice knowing you Davvy. I will miss you." This did piss him off

"I am not dead yet." It is then the old man put a finger on his lips.

"You might not be ready to accept the truth. But you are indeed very much dead my friend. Just accept the truth and live the rest of your life in peace."

"Grump, quit joking around. I really want to know what I can do to get out of this situation."

Finally, his expressionless face changed. "I dont know! Well, even if you can escape Carlin's henchmen, there is no way to deal with Angela. She had abandoned her post, so there is nothing bounding her, slowing her down. She will stop at nothing to get your hands on you. Unless…"

A ray of hope got ignited in his heat, hearing 'unless' from the old man's mouth. "Unless what?"

"No nothing."

"What? Tell me."

"No, it's nothing."

"Come on tell me."

"It is a very absurd idea."

"What? Just tell me."

Grump sighed. "Fine… You might not know, but there are 3 great cities in Midgard, they have that title because all three of them have their own private dungeons in them. These dungeons provide these cities with skills and materials that make them more powerful than the rest of the cities."

"I know that, still, what is your point?"

"The other three cities are called great cities in name. But common folk refer to these cities as Mistress cities."

"Mistress Cities?"

"Yeah. They have earned this title, because, like a mistress, these cities are like use and throw material for great cities. If their great cities wanted, they can make them prosper, by allowing them entry to their dungeon. Or they might barre their entry and drown them"

"I get it, so in a way, they are at the mercy of great cities?"

"Yes, because of this particular reason, many wars have been waged in the past between mistress cities and great cities. But for a hundred, two hundred years, no wars have taken place. And the only reason behind this is that Great cities figure out a way to take control of mistress city without much effort. Can you guess how?"

He thought for a moment, and soon the answer came to him. "They would make their own man or woman sit on the throne of mistress city."

"DING DING… You are correct. Angela is the puppet of Carlin. Most people suspect about their relationship, but most of the high-ranking adventurers know about this."

"So any of this would help me?"

"Think about it, if Cloudhold falls, then which city would be completely cut off from the rest of the world?"

"Ravenshade."

"Correct. If Carlin knows about the situation of Cloudhold, she would take action, and if she knows the reality of the situation, Carlin would come after her,"

"So all I need is to find a way to make Carlin come after Angela."

"That is correct." He couldn't help but smile, he finally found a solution to one of the major problems in his life.

It is then their attention was attracted by a big flame of light. They turned towards camp and saw, Hamel, making a giant pillar out of the fire of the bonfire, the pillar was so high that it rose higher than even the trees around them. He couldn't understand what he was trying to do, but it was then he realized that the monsters around them would be able to see that  pillar of light.

Grump realized the same thing, and ran towards the foolish old man. "You stupid mother fucker, you would kill us all."

Hamel didn't listen to Grump's ranting, instead, he just focused on controlling the pillar of fire. If they weren't stuck in the middle of Cloudhold, then seeing the old man would have been a very mesmerizing scene.

By moving his hands he was able to control the flow and power of the pillar, with a swish of his hand, he was able to lower the size of the pillar, and with another swish, he made it rise up high in the air.

The other most mesmerizing thing about the whole process was the whole flame itself, as time passed by them, the flame started changing its color, slowly it started turning purple and soon the whole pillar had changed its color.

As soon the flames completely changed their color, Hamel quickly dispersed the flame, only to reveal a very hot red color black cauldron that was floating in the air, it was the epicenter of the pillar.

With a swish of his hand, Hamel made the cauldron land on the ground, with the help of heavy quality oven mitts, he opened the cauldron and scooped out some liquid that had filled the thing. After cooling the liquid down, he slowly made his grandson drink the whole bowl…