Despite his unfair advantage Milo did not instantly learn the metamorphosis spell. Compared to the flame sword spell which only used one element the metamorphosis spell used both and over much wider area. He kept trying for hours to get the spell working and only gave up when his mental exhaustion ended in a blinding headache. He tried to pinpoint the problem to his eager teacher.

  “This spell feels like I’m trying to build a tower out of rocks but any time I make any progress upwards pieces of the foundation start melting away. I tried holding them in place, but the mental strain is…”

  “I understand, the metamorphosis spell is advanced even by my standards, only a handful of hybrids know how to cast it and few of those dare use it in battle.”

  “Why?”

  “Watch.”

  Seti cast the metamorphosis spell and then stretched out his hand, wisps of fire started coalescing in his palm but whatever spell he was casting was taking a long time to finish. It took his teacher a whole ten seconds to produce sphere of fire. Once the sphere was formed Seti dropped the metamorphosis spell and did the same thing again, this time the sphere of fire formed in barely two seconds.

  A theory was starting to form in his mind, and he gave it voice.

  “So, the metamorphosis spell is not only so advanced few can cast it, but those who can cast it are the wrong people. You are an elementalist which I assume means you fight primarily with spells, this spell would only handicap you in a true battle.”

  The sphere of fire in Seti’s hand vanished and he nodded.

  “You’ve struck the proverbial nail on the head my apprentice. The creator of the spell belonged to the order of warriors, his intent was for every warrior in the order to learn it. Unfortunately, the creator of this spell was something of a prodigy and very few warriors have learned it over the years. I rediscovered the spell many years ago and taught it to the most enlightened among my order to give them a fighting chance if they are ever facing an elemental weakness such as water or light.”

  Milo was nodding along but his headache wasn’t going away and he could barely absorb the information. He would’ve said as much but Lilith had described her people as martial and brutal which made him hesitant to admit weakness in front of one of their leaders. Fortunately for him Seti was perceptive enough to realise when he’d nearly lost his audience.

  “That is enough for today, one of my apprentices will lead you to the bedroom which has been set aside for your use, you will find food and drink waiting for you there. We’ve made much progress today and will continue our lessons tomorrow.”

  The words had barely left Seti’s mouth when a woman wearing robes nearly identical to Seti’s entered the room and bowed to him. Her pale red eyes shone with intelligence and the lines on her face and white streaks in her hair spoke of old age. Her voice was cold when she turned to face him.

  “Follow me, champion.”

  Milo followed the aged hybrid out of Seti’s library. She led him out a corridor and then down a spiral stairway. Every hybrid they encountered in this part of Lilith’s castle wore robes like Seti and his unknown guide. The awkward silence was killing him, so he decided to ask some polite question.

  “So, what’s your name?”

  She stopped and turned to face him.

  “I am Lizbeth, lord Seti’s second in command.”

  There seemed be an undertone of resentment in her voice which he couldn’t quite place, perhaps jealousy? He decided to prod her.

  “You don’t sound very happy to talk to me, Lilith told me you were a brutal people, but your master has treated me quite well so far.”

  “Seti has always been a generous man, he is often kind even to those who do not deserve it.”

  Her voice made it clear she thought he belonged in that latter category.

  “You barely know me, what could I possibly have done to make you resent me?”

  Lizbeth’s eyes narrowed.

  “You have taken what is not yours, my master should’ve been Lilith’s champion. He is by far the wisest and strongest of all her children, by taking his place you risk destroying everything.”

  Now things were starting to make sense.

  “I thought Nero was Lilith’s champion before I came along?”

  Lizbeth’s scoffed.

  “Nero held the title by default as the leader of the order of warriors. It has long been my masters plan to challenge him and claim the title once the contest drew near.”

  Milo shrugged.

  “I didn’t seek this out you know, Lilith came to my world and all but forced me to accept the position.”

  Lizbeth eyed him up and down, she did not look impressed by what she saw.

  “A child of barely 20 whose only talent is swinging sticks around.”

  Milo had never been good at taking insults, despite the ongoing headache he was able to draw his sword and cast the fire sword spell on it in a single motion. The blade rested against her neck, and he ignored the skin on her neck which was reddening from the heat.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “You think you’ve seen what I can do just because you watched me whip that talentless brute in the courtyard earlier?”

  Lizbeth never flinched either from the blade or the heat from the spell around it. She just replied in that same cold voice as if everything was perfectly normal.

  “I wouldn’t take it personally champion, I’ve never met a warrior I respected aside from Beldan. I’m not saying that your skill with a blade is unimpressive, I’m saying that an elementalist should be our leader. We can do things warriors cannot and the last thing we need in this coming war is for some brute with a blade to lead us to disaster.”

  Milo killed the spell and withdrew the blade.

  “I get it, but it’s too late, what’s done is done, I am Lilith’s champion for better or worse.”

  Lizbeth nodded.

  “Indeed.”

  With that final pronouncement she turned and continued guiding him down hallways until they reached a large bedroom. Inside Milo found both food and drink waiting for him as well as clothes. The only thing Milo didn’t find was a clock, and since there was no daylight in this dimension….

  “How will I know when to rise?”

  “I will fetch you when my master is ready for your next lesson.”

  After Lizbeth left Milo sat down on the dining table and eyed the food on display. As far as he could tell it looked like an assortment of fruits, vegetables and meat. Normally that would’ve done just fine for him, except nearly every food item on display was either black or grey. His eyes settled on what looked like a loaf of black bread and he tore off a chunk to taste. He’d expected it to taste bad, instead it tasted almost like the bread he was used to from Earth. As he ate he wondered where the wheat had come from, it seemed impossible that it might grow in the lightless hellscape Seti had shown him in the mirror during their lesson.

  In the end he sampled almost everything and found it to be mostly decent stuff. After he had eaten his fill, he walked over to the bed and immediately collapsed into an exhausted sleep.

  The sleep which followed was much deeper than normal and Lizbeth had to shake him to wake him. He opened her eyes to find her staring down at him with those cold pale red eyes.

  “My master is waiting for you in his library.”

  Once again Lizbeth guided him, and Milo felt mildly insulted that she thought he was too stupid to remember the way. Still, he remained silent until they came to the spiral stairway where a young woman with blood red eyes were waiting for them.

  The woman was leaning against the wall and was eyeing him rather than Lizbeth. His guide simply ignored her and walked past but Milo stopped. her athletic build was easily visible thanks to the tight black leather armour she wore. A hooded cape hung from her back as well as a bow and quiver, aside from that her only visible weapons were a pair of daggers that looked too long for throwing. She pushed off from the wall and blocked his way with a smile.

  “Greetings champion, my name is Ivy, I wanted to introduce myself.”

  Milo offered her a handshake which she finally accepted after a few seconds of awkward confusion. Apparently, handshakes were not one of the things the people of Lilith’s dimension had taken from Earth.

  “I’m Milo, I’m… Lilith’s champion.”

  Her smile widened.

  “Oh, I know, I watched you humiliate that stupid brute Nero in the courtyard yesterday. Thanks for the laugh.”

  Milo thought he recalled somebody laughing yesterday’s duel, apparently this Ivy was the culprit.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed the show, although it didn’t take much effort, Nero is strong, but his technique is amateurish. I guess that’s what happens when you’re so strong that you can win fights by sheer brute force.”

  Ivy nodded.

  “I agree but I’d be careful if you ever meet him again, Nero like Seti is a true son of Lilith. And while he is by far the least of her true children, he still has access to a bastardised form of true metamorphosis. He can’t hold the form for long, but you would be no match for him if he managed to catch you in an enclosed space like this.”

  “You think he’d try to murder me again?”

  “You cut off his arm and choked him out like a child…”

  Milo grimaced, he truly hadn’t intended to cripple Nero, yet somehow, he didn’t think the man would accept an apology.

  “So that’s it? You just came by to introduce yourself and warn me?”

  “Indeed, like Lilith said, you are our leader now, we all answer to you. I figured it was my responsibility as the second highest ranking member of the order of shadows to let you know you were in danger. That’s what we do you know, gather information so that our leaders can make informed decisions.”

  Milo looked pointedly at the bow peaking up above her shoulder.

  “You also assassinate people if I remember correctly.”

  Ivy laughed in a way that sounded entirely fake.

  “We do, and I suspect you will find all our skills of use once the war begins.”

  She looked like she was about to say something more but Lizbeth’s cold voice cut her off.

  “Enough of this, my master awaits above, cease your pathetic attempts to seduce the champion and be gone girl.”

  Ivy’s smile slipped and her eyes narrowed as she turned to face Lizbeth.

  “You dare interfere Lizbeth?”

  “We might occupy the same rank Ivy, but we are not equals, you are a child, and a clumsy one at that. If you think seducing the champion will further your goals that’s fine but you will do so when he is not busy. Now leave.”

  Ivy’s hand was on her daggers and Milo sensed that she was moments away from flying at his guide. He decided to run interference. He stepped between them and smiled at the young hybrid.

  “Thanks for the warning, I will bear it in mind, now if you will excuse me, I am late to my lesson.”

  The smile returned and she nodded.

  “Of course, champion, we will speak more later.”

  Milo didn’t doubt it, still Lizbeth’s words spoke a warning in his mind. This was not the first time a pretty woman had smiled at and tried to get on his good side. Back on Earth there had been a seemingly endless tide of pretty women who wanted to grab a piece of the most famous athlete on Earth. At the start of his career, he had even revelled in it, but over the years the shallowness of the encounters had sort of turned him off the entire thing. After all, they wanted Milo the famous athlete which was pretty much a fake persona he had constructed for public life.

  He followed Lizbeth and soon found himself in Seti’s library once more.

  The lesson began anew and mostly focused on gradually building the metamorphosis spell piece by piece. Seti refused to let him move on before he had completely mastered the leg section of the spell. By the time his mental exhaustion set a stop to the lesson he could consistently form the leg section of the spell all the way up to the knees. Seti seemed thrilled by the result and once again sent him off to sleep.

  The two of them fell into daily routine where Milo would keep working until he was exhausted. The effectiveness of Seti’s methods was proven when by the third day Milo managed to manifest about 60% of the spell.

  Occasionally between their lessons Milo would explore Lilith’s castle and he would nearly always run into Ivy while doing so. The young hybrid proved an excellent source of information and would share the history of Lilith’s realm as well as intelligence reports which were really just gossip in a non-war setting. He appreciated her company and he could feel her working up to something.

  On the sixth day Milo finally finished the metamorphosis spell. He could barely fight in it and was only able to hold it for 5 minutes, yet Seti proclaimed it one of his life’s greatest achievements as a teacher.

  Something else interesting happened on the sixth day after he went to bed. He woke with a start as he felt something brush him. He opened his eyes to find himself face to face with a completely naked Ivy. He bolted out of the bed with curse.

  “What are you doing?!”

  Ivy sat up in the bed and flashed him a confident grin.

  “I think that’s rather obvious.”

  Milo walked over to the pile of clothes Ivy had obviously on the floor and retrieved a shirt. He tossed it at her, and he could see true confusion on her face as she looked at it.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You’re very pretty and all but I barely know you.”

  What Milo really wanted to say was: “I know you’re trying to seduce me, and I don’t know why so I have no intention of letting it happen no matter how pleasant it might be.”

  Ivy pulled the shirt over her head with a sigh.

  “I told her this wasn’t going to work…”

  Milo narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Who is her?”

  “My mother of course.”

  “Who’s your mother?”

  Even as the question left his mouth his eyes settled on her deep blood red eyes. The type of eyes both Seti, Nero and he himself had. There was also something about her facial features which seemed vaguely familiar.

  “I can see that it’s dawning on you, yes I am one of Lilith’s true children.”

  It was so obvious now that he knew what to look for.

  “Why would she tell you to seduce me? It’s not like I’m going to run off once we get to the contest planet.”

  “Seti and Nero have long believed themselves to be my mother’s true champion. They couldn’t be more wrong, there is only one person in this realm who was ever even considered for the position.”

  “You?”

  “Indeed, since my birth Lilith has shaped me in her own image. Seti and Nero might know how to kill, but they don’t know anything about politics, and unless you are the most accomplished general in the history of this universe there is no way we are conquering an entire planet with just brute force.”

  Her words made sense, he’d actually been thinking similar thoughts himself. Still, something was off.

  “So why did Lilith choose me as champion?”

  Ivy’s smile turned feral.

  “Don’t you get it? Come on it’s so obvious!”

  A chill ran down his spine as the pieces clicked into place.

  “Why have one champion when you could have two…”

  Ivy jumped out of the bed and walked over to him. She placed her hand on his naked chest with a grin.

  “You are smart, together you and I can do anything.”

  He removed her hand gathered up the rest of her clothes and pushed them into her arms.

  “You didn’t need to seduce me, I would’ve accepted you as an advisor if you had just told me all this to begin with.”

  Ivy snorted and then shook her head.

  “That’s exactly what I told my mother, but Lilith is ancient and set in her ways. If you only knew how many times she has changed the history of Earth by seducing some king and whispering into his ear.”

  She made to go but Milo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

  “This place is cold and brutal, I truly have enjoyed our conversations together. I would be glad to have you as my advisor if you’re willing?”

  She looked thoughtful for a few moments before nodding and offering him her hand.

  “Deal.”