Alexander The Great Mage

"Thank you, my Lord." Flamewing whispered in a slightly emotional voice.

Magius patted the space next to him and beckoned Flamewing to sit next to him.

Flamewing hesitated, obviously thinking of how she could actually fit her large dragon form on such a tiny bench.

However, as she was thinking about this, she suddenly realized that she had become a human being, and that the bench was right in front of her.

She sat down next to Magius and continued to listen to him.

"He was a great hero. Firesong the Fire Dragon was a great bane of the Undead. He took down many of Zegaro\'s scions before falling in battle. You should be proud of him."

Flamewing nodded vigorously, obviously happy that Magius recognized her father\'s valor, merits and sacrifice.

"I swore that I would take good care of his family. So it brings us to this very important question. Tell me. What happened to you, Flamewing?" Magius asked.

The gentle and caring way in which Magius asked Flamewing left Alexander with no doubt that if Flamewing was in that situation because of him, Magius would probably obliterate him with a single thought, just to free Flamewing and to pay him back for the suffering she had been through. Apparently this Magius loved his dragons dearly.

"It is like this, my Lord…" Flamewing quickly narrated her story to Magius, leaving nothing unsaid.

After hearing her story, Magius sighed deeply.

"Zegaro\'s Scions and his defeated generals are on the move once more. They seek to revive him and resume their conquest of the universe."

A particularly powerful Scion of Zegaro has teamed up with a Scion of Perses, and they seek the power of the dragons to create their own dragon knights. By the time I caught wind of what they were trying to do and sent my warnings to all dragons, two dragons had already succumbed to their schemes." At this point, the sorrowful air around Magius thickened very considerably.

"They gave up their lives and fused with two Lich Kings to form two Dragon Death Knights. I had no idea you and your mom were in that situation as well. Thankfully I have not sensed your mother\'s death. So she is still alive."

At that, Flamewing burst into tears with great relief. She had been worrying day and night about her mother\'s safety. To finally get news that she was safe was like getting a drink of water after crawling in the parched desert for many long weeks.

Magius patted Flamewing once more to comfort her.

"I\'m fine now, thank you My Lord." Flamewing sniffed after a few moments.

Magius merely nodded as he finally sent his sharp gaze upon Alexander.

"Scion of Perses."

Alexander stared at Magius calmly. His initial shock over everything that had happened had given way to serenity.

"He\'s a good man, My Lord. He didn\'t seek out the Power of Perses, he-"

"I know. Don\'t worry about him, Flamewing." Magius smiled. Unions between dragon and man were extremely difficult, but they had happened before. Evidently he might see one more happening in a decade or two.

"You are a man of great destiny, Alexander. You got the Power of Perses, Flamewing\'s soul is latched on to yours and now you\'ve somehow absorbed a portion of my power. Ckck." Magius\'s eyes gleamed with great interest as he pondered his next step.

"I am what I am." Alexander said simply. "I did not ask for these things to happen to me. Well, at least not for the Power of Perses or for Flamewing\'s soul to be latched on to mine. I did seek to acquire your blessings to strengthen myself. I did not, however, plan on stealing it, as was what happened just now."

"Relax. I am not accusing you of anything. I know it was the cat\'s doing." Magius said wryly.

"What exactly happened there?" Alexander couldn\'t help but ask curiously.

"The cat simply strengthened the conduit between you and my powersource. Instead of shutting off immediately once Magos managed to gain a wisp of it as I have pre-set before, the conduit not only remained open, but was enlarged instead." Magius shook his head helplessly. "That cat is truly a blessed creature. Not even I totally understand it and how it does all these things."

Alexander nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, the question remains. What should I do with you?" Magius asked.

He watched the interplay of emotions on Alexander\'s face and grinned. Slight worry, ruthlessly suppressed. Calculation, consideration then confidence.

Although Alexander was a veteran King and General, and was more than proficient in masking his feelings, Magius still read him like an open book. He was, afterall, a God.

"It occurs to me, Lord Magius, that you are lacking a strong general." Alexander began.

"Oh, absolutely not. I have thousands of powerful generals spread across the universe, in charge of thousands of armies." Magius responded immediately. His smile was still plastered on his perfect face.

"Of course you do." Alexander quickly said. "What I meant to say was, you lack a general of near infinite potential, one that could lead ALL your armies to complete victory over whatever forces remain in the Zegaro and Perses camp."

Magius\'s smile grew wider.

"And here we have, by pure coincidence, or better yet, destiny, one who is blessed by Perses, without the evil that corrupts all the other recipients of his blessings." Alexander pointed to himself with nary a trace of arrogance or pride. "It seems to me that I would make a good addition to your forces. More than good. Game-changing, in fact."

Magius roared with laughter at Alexander\'s audacity. His full-throated laugh filled the entire space in Alexander\'s mind, causing his head to ring slightly.

"Oh you\'re good. You just received a huge boost of power from me, and now you\'re asking to be my second in command?"

"I have the Power of Perses, the God of War, within me." Alexander said very simply once more.

"Very good." Magius nodded approvingly. "Understanding yourself is an important factor in winning wars."

"Thank you My Lord." Alexander responded humbly.

"My current second in command is Draturo. He is a Veteran Dragon Knight. You do know what a Veteran Dragon Knight is, do you?"

Alexander shook his head. "No My Lord, I do not."

"It simply means he fought in the final war between the Gods. He\'s extremely old and is approaching the end of his life span. I have three candidates prepared to replace his position."

Alexander nodded, understanding Magius\'s intention.

"I will give you a chance to prove yourself to me. I will allow you to keep the power you got from me. In return, I want you to help Princess Anastasia gain the Throne of Symphonia. When that happens, I will make you one of the generals under my new second-in-command."

Alexander bowed. "I will not fail you, My… Wait, what? A mere general?"

"What? You wish to become my second in command just because you have the Power of Perses?" Magius laughed in a slightly mocking tone.

"The Power of Perses is a tool. The strength of a person is not found in the tools he wields, but in the skill and character of the person. You are still very much lacking in experience, skill and possibly character to be my second in command. Be thankful that I did not decide to simply kill you to get rid of a potential problem." Magius said harshly.

"Thank you, My Lord." Flamewing interjected smoothly. "I am sure Alexander is grateful for this opportunity." She glared at Alexander fiercely.

Magius nodded. He understood people like Alexander. They were alpha males, and would not accept being ordered to be under a person. They have to accept reality through their own personal experience.

"My army is based on meritocracy. Helping Princess Anastasia gain the Symphonian Throne makes you a general. Render more merits, and you may well be my second in command." Magius said.

"And that\'s enough for now." Magius said in a tone that brooked no insubordination.

Magius patted Flamewing\'s shoulder fondly. "Stay with him. With his new powers, he should have no problems retrieving your body and rescuing your mother from that group of people."

Flamewing nodded.

"Alright, it\'s time for me to leave."

With a blink from Magius, the space in Alexander\'s mind shattered and they came back to the real world.

"Cat, come with me. We have a lot of work to do." Magius said. He stood up from the sofa which immediately disappeared.

Fluff-fluff remained curled up on Aleyria\'s head, ignoring Magius completely.

"Come on, Cat. We could do with your help. Looking for those Scions of Zegaro and Perses is like looking for a needle in a hay farm." Magius tried again.

Fluff-fluff only swished her tail in response. Apparently she wasn\'t too happy with Magius for some reason.

Magius sighed regretfully. The cat would truly be a great boon to his efforts if she joined him. Well, at least he tried.

He looked at Alexander for a moment and patted himself mentally. I\'ll get this little boy to bring the cat with him when he joins me in the future. It was an excellent plan. I\'ll get a powerful general AND the lucky cat in one fell swoop.

He smiled at Aleyria and High Priest Magos whose mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"Take care of yourself Aleyria. Hey Magos, don\'t worry about today. And before I leave, let me give you my parting gift. There\'s an Orc Army near the Forest of Rin. You guys might want to deal with it soon." With that, he disappeared.