Alexander The Great Mage

Alexander stared at the single blue fruit growing among the cluster of green fruits. In the darkness, he had not noticed it. But upon closer inspection, it was clear that it was a different type of fruit.

"Water Goddess?" Alexander whispered to Dubaza.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Dubaza whispered back.

"Amazing." Flamewing said softly. "I've heard of it, but never really seen one before."

They had no idea why they were whispering. But it felt right to do so, before such a world-shaking fruit.

A Verdant Magic Fruit was rare, and would cause MANY people to go crazy over it. But it was not a MUST have fruit. Many people already had strong affinities with Verdant Magic, and they couldn't care less about a Verdant Magic Fruit. Others simply had no interest in Verdant Magic. So although rare and incomparably precious, it was still merely a Natural Treasure.

It was not the Universe Treasure that was the little blue fruit, glamorously but aptly named 'Water Goddess."

Just a small bite.

Instant maximum affinity with Water Magic.

From Zero to Hero.

Alexander gulped. Next to him, Dubaza did the same.

"How many…" Alexander began.

"Three, Your Majesty." Dubaza answered immediately.

"Three portions?" Alexander asked in confirmation.

"Three." Dubaza confirmed.

Alexander closed his eyes. Gauging the distance between him and Aleyria.

He shook his head. It was too far. And multiple jumps would drain a significant amount of his energy. And he couldn't risk that. They were on the mainland now, and they would be up against countless powerful mages.

He considered asking Fluff-fluff for help. But he decided against it. It somehow felt wrong to take more advantage of Fluff-fluff. It was already a foregone conclusion that their encounter with the fruits was because of Fluff-fluff. He couldn't ask her for more.

Plus, he had a feeling that Aleyria wasn't the right person to consume the fruits. In fact, not even he would be the best choice in this matter.

He pondered upon the principles of success which had brought him to the top when he was back on earth. It was never only about him. His success had been largely due to the successes of the men around him, their strength, their loyalty, their dedication and their absolute ferocity in battle.

Hephaestion. Parmenion. Perdiccos. Cleitus. Ptolemy.

All of them were great men who broke army after army under his lead.

He needed such men in his life now. He had Aleyria, and he had Dubaza. But two was definitely not enough. He needed more.

"I think allowing the younger generation to consume the Water Goddess would be a better idea." Alexander finally said.

"I completely agree, Your Majesty. I am assuming that you're referring to yourself, the Princess and one other person?"

"No, not the Princess, and definitely not me." Alexander chuckled.

"No? Then…"

"The three girls would be perfect." Alexander said.

"Great idea." Flamewing agreed.

"Hmmmm." Dubaza pondered on the idea as Alexander's image in his mind took on a much more noble form.

The Great Golden Falcon.

A unique species which lived together as a herd. The strongest falcons would hunt for the herd, while the other adults would protect and train up their young. They were extremely protective and territorial. The Great Golden Falcon was one of the few great species that were strong and hardy enough to dominate the Great Marshlands of the Main Continent, an area teeming with wildlife and ruled by a few species with an ironfist. The Great Golden Falcons, The Blood Wolves and the supremely powerful but solitary Demon Apes.

But The Great Golden Falcons were at the top of the food chain simply because they were so united, even more so than the Wolves.

"That is an excellent idea, Your Majesty." Dubaza said.

"You should take one Verdant Magic Fruit. I'll store the other three ripe ones and the Water Goddess in a time prison to ensure that they remain fresh." Alexander instructed.

"You should take the-" Dubaza began, but he shut his mouth and quietly reached out for the Verdant Magic Fruit for himself when he saw Alexander make vines appear out of thin air. Only mages with near-maximum affinity with Verdant Magic could make vines appear out of pure magic energy. It was something that only Isabella alone in his team was capable of doing.

Alexander grinned. "Eat it. I'll need you at your peak condition when the fight begins."

Dubaza nodded and promptly ate the Verdant Magic Fruit in a few large bites.

Alexander let him digest and absorb the efficacy of the fruit and busied himself with storing the other three Verdant Magic Fruits and the Water Goddess in a time prison. He had never made a time prison before, but somehow he knew that he was capable of doing it.

Bzzzzzhhhhhh. A spatial prison formed. Alexander gingerly placed a Verdant Magic Fruit into it. Upon seeing it get suspended in mid air completely unmoving, Alexander nodded in satisfaction.

He quickly placed the other fruits in it as well. After that, Alexander took a deep breath and froze time on the spatial prison.

After freezing it, he stared at it for a few seconds as he tried to sense the vitality of the fruit. Nothing. Perfect. It's completely stuck in time.

He stored the fruits and leapt down the tree. He hesitated for a moment. Would there be more good luck coming his way? Or would it be ok for him to sleep? He looked at Dubaza who was already back up on another tree, watching the surroundings intently.

Let's just sleep. He decided. With Fluff-fluff around, luck would end up chasing after him anyway.

He laid down and closed his eyes.

WeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEE-BOOM!

His eyes shot open. What now??

"Your Majesty, there is a capsule of some sort which crashed a few miles north of our position!" Dubaza shouted.

Capsule?

"Let's go check it out." Alexander ordered.

The two of them moved quickly among the trees, reaching the area of the crash within a minute.

A silvery capsule the size of an adult human lay smoking in a small crater created by the impact of its crash. A portion of the capsule was transparent, and through it, Alexander could see a person lying within it.

"It looks like a lifeboat that we use to escape a sinking ship." Dubaza commented carefully.

"Escape pod." Flamewing said immediately. "A survivor from a battle in space."

"Hmmm." Alexander agreed. He glanced up warily. If this was an escape boat of some sort, then whoever it was escaping from might be on its way down to capture it.

Alexander pointed at the capsule and teleported it to him. He grabbed it with his left hand and turned around.

"Let's go!" He said to Dubaza. Dubaza nodded. Alexander grabbed Dubaza's shoulder and poof! They disappeared.

A few seconds later, a roaring sound could be heard from the sky.

Three other capsules arrived. They floated to a stop in midair a few meters above the ground as the transparent section that covered the capsule suddenly pulled back to the left and right, allowing the people within the capsule to step out.

Three strangely dressed men leapt down from their capsules and stared at the crater that was made by the first capsule.

"No tracks around it." One of them said grimly.

"Someone powerful grabbed it." Another one said.

"More powerful than us." The third one said softly. "M-3, return to make the report. M-2 and I will search the surroundings."

"Understood." Said the first man. He leapt back up to his capsule, entered it and flew off with startling speed.

M-1 nodded at M-2, and they began moving at the same time. M-1 moved towards the crater while M-2 began to search the surroundings.

"Footprints." M-2 called out. "Leading in, but not out. They probably came here on foot, teleported the capsule to them, and teleported out."

M-1 nodded. He had expected as much. "They could be anywhere by now."

"What should we do now?" M-2 asked.

"The Prince will either decide to abandon the hunt or send in more people to ensure its success. It would probably be the latter. Let us begin the search. You take the north, and swing to the west, then south. I will take the south, and swing east, then north. Check in every hour, on the hour."

"Understood."

With that, the two separated and began their search for Alexander.

*-*-*-*-*

"The Prince?' Dubaza frowned. Alexander had created a space crack and teleported them into it to spy out the girl's pursuers. "Which Prince is so powerful as to command such unique forces?"

"Symphonians" Flamewing said with certainty. "Only Symphonian Princes have the wealth to command a foray into such an obscure corner of the Universe such as Arcanus 26."

"Why would a Symphonian Prince chase after a little girl with such tenacity?" Alexander asked.

"Only one reason." Flamewing grinned. "The battle for the Throne."

"If that's the case, then wouldn't this little girl be a very important person in the battle for the Throne? A Princess, even?" Alexander said with a surge of excitement.

"Open the hatch, let me see the girl's face." Flamewing ordered.