Xavier could not do much to teach the salamanders to use fire magic; after all, he himself could not use it. However, he could teach them to use shadow magic. He recalled his time at the Liev Tower when Master Delfin insisted that it would be easier for dual magicians to master other elements if they first learned shadow magic.
'Shadow magic is very docile and compatible with almost everything. It is the easiest to learn but, unfortunately, also the least useful.' Xavier explained to Temma and Uruk. Then he turned around. 'I'm sorry, Moger, I can't help you. You'll have to learn by yourself.'
Despite their attempts, the salamanders could only use their "dragon breath." They had not succeeded in developing any other use for fire magic. Not even the most basic fireball. Xavier didn't know how to instruct them. He had no idea how to use that skill.
'The greatest shortcoming of shadow magic is keeping it active. For some reason, it consumes a lot of energy. We'll start with illusion magic; if you want to walk among men, you'll have to use it in case they discover you. I will also teach you the skills of transformation and manipulation of shadows.
The salamanders learned to use illusion magic quickly. The curious thing was that they could hold on to illusions for several hours; the more they practiced, the more they could keep them.
'Amazing' said Xavier, surprised at such progress in such a short time.
Uruk and Temma created an illusion that changed the color of their skin; now they looked like copies of Xavier, but without hair. Not only that, they were also able to use their fire magic while keeping the illusion active, although their power was a bit lower.
"I imagined they had a huge reserve of energy, but this is ridiculous." He thought. Xavier admired the innate talent of his allies.
"I will go back to the village for a while. We need to know what's going on outside the jungle.′ For weeks, there were no mercenary incursions into the jungle; that was not normal.
Xavier returned to Fuera de Mola; his house was intact, and no one had tried to steal his things again, which was good. Apparently, the mercenary group learned the lesson. Xavier wrapped himself in a cloak and traveled to Mola. He sat down and drank something at the taverns as he listened to the rumors.
"Well, it really is easy to go unnoticed when you're not coughing every fifteen minutes." The improvement of his miasma disease was already a great benefit. At the moment, his association with the salamanders was very fruitful. A conversation caught his attention.
'I will not enter Morr jungle.' A man sitting a few tables away said.
Xavier couldn't see him clearly, but it didn't matter. In fact, it was better to listen without looking, so as not to draw attention.
'Are you afraid of monsters?' asked another of the members of the table.
'Monsters? I don't care about monsters; I would actually prefer to find one; the parts of those things are sold for a fortune. Nah! The problem is the warlock who lives there.
"Warlock?" Xavier thought.
'Oh! Do you mean the rumor of that magician who lives in Fuera de Mola and steals from the bodies he finds in the jungle?'
'Bodies he finds? Nobody's that lucky. That guy is a warlock, and he's killing the mercenaries and stealing their stuff. I don't know what the Duero Citadel lord is waiting for to send a group of knights to kill that maniac.'
Xavier didn't listen to the rest of the conversation and left the bar. He returned to Fuera de Mola, but he did not enter his house and remained hidden among the bushes at the outermost end of the jungle until Moger came to get him, as they had agreed.
'And that is the situation. If somebody's spreading the rumor that I'm a warlock, they'll send someone from the regulators and the Farpas guard to find out what's going on.' Xavier told the salamanders what had happened.
He knew very well how this would end. He still remembered the way in which the masters of Liev's Tower murdered his former roomate, Aleum de Taeria, and how they almost killed him too. Xavier would never forget it; after all, Aleum was his false identity when he was a mercenary in Orphen's kingdom.
'What are we going to do?' asked Temma.
By now, both Temma and Uruk looked like copies of Xavier. Except for the fact that one had hair of a light black color, almost gray, and the other of an intense red, it would be difficult to differentiate them from him when he was younger. Their eyes were light brown, almost yellow. Both were able to maintain the illusion for several days.
'We have to get ahead of them. This world is simple: power and money. If you have those two things, you can do whatever you want; you become untouchable. We don't have much money yet, but you guys have all the power we might need. Now you can pass as a human without any problems. It's time to enter the human world, and it's better if we kick the door in.'
The salamanders agreed with Xavier's plan. Moger could not participate for the moment; he had to remain hidden given his appearance, although Xavier had a plan for that too. However, before executing their plan, they had to tighten up some loose ends.
'Do you really want to do this?' asked Temma.
'I would prefer not to do it, but there is no other choice. It is necessary for our facade to make sense and have no contradictions,' Xavier replied with a cold look.
'And your brother?'
'He's not my brother anymore. Your brothers do not sell you; they do not betray you. Your family does not betray you,' replied Xavier.
'What shall we do with him anyway?' asked Uruk.
'I will handle it,' replied Xavier, leaving the cave.
The salamanders followed behind him. The four got out of the jungle of Morr. Avoiding the usual paths and checkpoints, they slowly and discreetly entered the forest that formed the natural border between the kingdom of Veldat and the dynasty. It took them a week to get to Battey, the village in the town of Humol where Xavier was born and raised. All four waited for nightfall. After midnight, while everyone was asleep, they went into action.
'Remember, do not use magic; we do not want to attract the regulators, and do not leave survivors, none,' Xavier warned.
The skinny and mangy dogs of the village barked at first, but when the salamanders came near enough, the animal's survival instinct came into action, and they ran out scared.
The naked salamanders applied illusion magic to their bodies, turning them into an even more inhuman version of Moger. They even included elements of some of the monsters in Morr's jungle. Uruk changed his hands to the clamps of a scorpion and changed the color of his skin to an intense black. Temma decided to change his skin, making it furry and of a brown color similar to giant spiders. Moger couldn't do anything about his image, but he didn't need to. His natural appearance was enough to terrorize humans. Xavier was covered in clothes from top to bottom. While the salamanders took care of the inhabitants, he headed to his former home.
The massacre began. The weak buildings did not represent a major obstacle to the salamanders. They went through walls and doors with ease. The population of the village was small; only twenty people were left. The wars against the Kingdom of Veldat and then forced recruitment had decimated the population.
The salamanders had no compassion for humans. Women, children, and old people were massacred indiscriminately. The screams of some of them awakened the neighbors. Some tried to escape when they saw what was happening. But the salamanders were too fast and strong.
'So at last you have come,' said Orly to the hooded man who had entered his house as he lit the oil lamp.
Xavier was surprised; even though he was covered from top to bottom, his brother was able to identify him. He had tried stealthily to enter the house, but his brother had prepared a home-made alarm system with ropes and pans.
'You want the house in the end, don't you? I imagined this would happen sooner or later,' Orly asked.
'It is not about the house; it is something a lot more important,' replied Xavier.
'I understand. You know, it doesn't have to end like this. I mean, we're brothers; I can help you, and we can work together on whatever you're planning. I know about the rumors that are spreading through Mola. You're a Warlock.' Orly said, sitting at the table. He had kept an eye on his brother since his last visit years ago.
'I'm not a warlock. They're framing me again.'
'I believe you, I believe you,' said Orly. 'Let me help you.'
'Do you really think I would trust you?' asked Xavier.
'No,' replied Orly, pulling a crossbow from under the table and shooting at Xavier. He had been waiting for the day when his brother would come to take revenge. Xavier was sick, and he was a shadow magician. He would soon need money and come to claim the house; it was the only valuable thing in the family.
Xavier did not trust his brother; his experience as a mercenary had taught him to be alert. That's why he didn't approach Orly after he was discovered, not knowing what trap he had laid for him. Now that he knew, he threw himself at him. Orly let the crossbow fall and pulled out a short sword. It was the basic weapon of the soldiers recruited by the dynasty.
Orly's sword and Xavier's daggers collided. With a sick leg and the mediocre training he received from the dynasty, Orly was not a rival for a trained and experienced mercenary like Xavier, who used his left leg to sweep his brother's left leg. Orly lost balance, and as he fell, Xavier's knee crashed into his face. Orly dropped his sword. Xavier picked it up.
'Wait, I'm your brother. You're going to kill your brother.' Orly yelled as he tried to stop the bleeding from his nose.
Xavier stabbed Orly's leg with the short sword, and the metal pierced through the leg, nailing him to the ground. Orly screamed to the top of his lungs in pain.
"The cornered and wounded animal is the most dangerous." Xavier thought, and without approaching his brother, he took the oil lamp and lifted it up until the flame began to burn the roof of straw and wood.
'What are you doing?' cried Orly, confused. He thought his brother was coming to claim the house, but now he was burning it. It made no sense.
The fire on the roof began to spread. Xavier threw the oil lamp at his brother. The oil spread all over him. Orly managed to quench the flame before it set him on fire. When he lifted up his sight, Xavier was already out of the house. The roof began to burn with intensity. Even with the sword embedded in his leg, Orly managed to get up and walk towards the door; he didn't want to die in a fire. As he crossed the door threshold, Xavier's dagger stabbed him in the chest. Xavier pulled the dagger out. Orly fell backwards, blood coming out of his chest; the dagger passed through his heart. In a few seconds, Orly was dead. Xavier dragged the body out of the burning house.
'Why don't you let him burn?' said Uruk while biting and chewing someone's leg.
'Maybe somebody will come to investigate; if they find the remains of the body and discover that he was killed by a weapon and not monsters, it will be a problem.' Xavier said.
'Then what are you going to do with him?' asked Uruk.
'Take him into the woods; deep inside, they won't bother to look for it. The wolves and other animals will take care of the rest,' Xavier replied.
'Can I eat it?'
'Do whatever you want,' replied Xavier, indifferent as he walked away.
Uruk dropped the leg he was chewing, picked up Orly's body with one hand, and took it into the nearby forest, biting it several times on the way.
The salamanders had successfully killed the whole village. Xavier doubted that anyone else, except for Ferol, his missing brother, could say anything about his past and that of his family.
A few weeks later, in Farpas, the citadel lord and one of his friends talked about the situation in the villages.
'Tamalor, you look at least ten years older'
'My dear Habdlan, I don't think you are one to say such a thing,' replied Tamalor.
They both sighed at the same time. They had more gray hair than before, eyebags, and wrinkled faces that indicated fatigue.
'If I had known it, I would not have accepted the leadership of the family; all this stress is going to kill me.' Habdlan complained.
'I understand you. I don't know what I'm going to do with all this. Three villages have been attacked by monsters in the last two months. But we don't have the military numbers to deal with all cases. The situation in the village of Humol is a tragedy, but I do not have the staff. The number of miasma nucleus has doubled since the Dragon Wars. You'll have to take care of it by yourself.'
'I have appointed a brother of Efrir of Exel as lord of those lands; it is his duty to control the people. However, if we do not resolve the matter of the lifeless swamp, it will happen again,' Habdlan commented.
'Okay, I will order the formation of a subjugation squadron, but only with mercenaries. I don't have knights. Maybe you can count on a couple of mages at best. It's a tough mission; the swamp is dangerous, but we'll give them a good reward. Mercenaries risk almost everything if you pay them enough,' Tamalor conceded.
The massacre of the village of Battey was attributed to an attack by monsters trying to escape from a miasma nucleus formed in the vicinity of the lifeless swamp, which was the natural border with the southern kingdom.