The Asshai's Bloodmage

 Natasha and the Order's apprentices arrived as quickly as they could to the first floor of the Tower of Distortion. She was the only one in the Order who had the soul-type spell called "Soul Glimpse". It was this same spell that allowed her to see all the details of her master's final fight; White Shadow...

Now, she had been called here to use this same spell on Rafael's clone to try to locate his whereabouts, but when she arrived, everyone's gaze was serious, and no one was channeling "Strengthen Soul" into their body anymore...

"What happened?" Natasha asked in a serious tone...

Laura sighed and said, "Ten minutes ago, the clone's soul fragment was gone..."

"Did you check his proof of life with Zaya?"

"She said he's still active, but the glow is very weak..."

"We have to send someone to track his last position! We should also go to Stygai and see if he managed to contact Zhang..." Natasha said.

"We can't, the one giving the orders now is Omar, Zaya has already sent him a message… We are awaiting your instructions…"

"Tsk!" Natasha made a sound of contempt and sat next to everyone, observing the desert that shouldn't exist inside the mysterious Central Tower of Asshai… Thirty minutes later, the despicable black messenger arrived and Jhon read Omar's orders.

{We must continue the Order leader's projects. Natasha will join Laura and Yuri's group, replacing Rafael's clone. Liza, Vitarys, and Zaya will continue to manage the Order in Asshai, and I will continue the project of the new scientific base and mining in the Shadowlands. But without Vulcan, the underground tunnel project will take dozens of years to complete… When you finish conquering the Distortion Dungeon, I will permit you to search for the leader's whereabouts.}

"We have no time to waste, activate the portal to the next floor!" Natasha screamed as her shadow expanded, and from it, a figure emerged… It was a beautiful female angel with black and white eyes, hair, and wings. She wore beautiful golden armor…

All the apprentices gazed in awe at the beautiful creature, which exuded a contrasting power between light and shadow. Even the other Sages who were seeing their angel for the first time were amazed… Soon, the portal was activated, and the entire group disappeared in a flash of light, appearing on an icy plain, where only white snow could be seen in all directions…

Far away, hairy mutants with a human appearance could be seen in an ice cave holding primitive spears, and from the ground, several Golems and ice trolls began to emerge, targeting the Order group that was invading their territory.

Soon, Natasha's female Angel created a sword made of light, and flew towards them, cutting everything in its path as if it were weeds... Finishing off the Golems and the Trolls, the angel pointed a hand in the direction of the mutants and launched a beam of light that exploded the entire cave, burying them without them being able to make a single movement...

Everyone was frightened by the Angel's power, but they quickly started to go in different directions. Their goal on this new floor was to once again search for a portal that would take them to the next floor of this mysterious tower. But it was obvious that in the middle of so much snow, it would be much more difficult to find him with their few numbers...

***

 Omar woke up early. Next to him, a snake-like woman was still sleeping soundly. Omar covered her with affection and got out of bed, carefully so as not to wake her. After getting dressed and having breakfast with Arthur, he went to the balcony of his new home.

In the distance, a gigantic lake could be seen. Known as Deep Lake, it was the largest and deepest lake in the Shadowlands and also the place where Omar established the current castle where he was. Carved directly into the top of a mountain, and made of the same material as the Towers of Asshai. A translucent purple shield kept the castle hidden and protected from threats.

At the foot of the mountain, protected and hidden by another barrier, miners entered and left a mine, carrying minerals that were then taken to a small fort made of black stones. It was there that his group had been working for over 3 years on the ambitious construction that Rafael had planned. But without Vulcan, the project was moving at a very slow pace…

It was only recently that Omar had an innovative idea. Using his current research into blood magic from the animals of the Shadowlands, he created a group of rodents capable of digging and expanding the tunnel at speeds greater than before. They were not as efficient as Vulcan, but they should still meet Rafael's previous deadline with only a 1/3 delay.

As the rodents worked, the apprentices of the order who had the spell "Earth Manipulation" were reinforcing the tunnel and strengthening its foundations. It was exhausting work for them, but they all had Artifacts that helped them cast this spell several times a day…

Once Omar had observed the daily details of the mine and tunnel operations and confirmed that everything was going well, he headed to his laboratory, which had a young Wyvern chained up and several other creatures from the Shadowlands and the Deep Lake. Along with all the data from Vulcan that Rafael had provided, their research to create their dragon was developing at a good pace. But it would still take a few decades for them to make consistent progress…

Omar continued walking through the laboratory and arrived at a closed room, which required several rituals just to enter. Inside, 3 ice dragon eggs were under the effects of several rituals. This had been the Order of the Sages' most recent spoils. They had managed to hunt and kill an ice dragon that they found in the surroundings of the Deep Lake.

Just as Omar was about to begin another day of research on the dragon eggs, something happened. A strange Voodoo doll emerged from the shadows and then spat out a scroll that was larger than its own body. The doll then disappeared into the shadows as if it had never been there.

Omar quickly opened the scroll to see who the message was from, and when he saw Rafael's name on it, he finally sighed in relief, knowing that even after 3 years of disappearance, his friend was still alive and well. But his next words placed an even greater burden on Omar…

****

Special thanks to the Patreons:

Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!

Magic Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, Niteo akuma, and 704Corleon!

Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley and Avacus!