Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

Priya sighed. She knew this was coming, and she was going to end up caught in the crossfire. The problem was that she was part of Wolfe's Pentacle, and when Reiko had been made Coven Leader, it had stripped her from her bond, which had created the vacancy that Priya had filled.

She wasn't willing to give up that connection. Not to Wolfe, and not to the Witches she now considered her Sisters. The bond was so close now that they could feel each other's strongest emotions, and even talk to each other through the bond with a bit of effort.

Losing that connection to the other nine Witches would be too much, and she wasn't willing to do it.

"I will agree to be Coven Leader in name, but not through the Coven Bond. The Leader of the Coven is stripped of all their other bonds, and I won't give those up. The Pentacle that links me to my chosen sisters is too valuable to me to be discarded for a position of power.

So, I will hold the position in trust until a new Rank Three Sylvan Witch can be raised to replace me as the formal Coven Leader." She agreed.

The Council gasped in shock at being turned down like that. They had never considered that Priya would give up the honour of being the Leader, or the power that came with it. But the way that she spoke sounded as if she had a way to raise more Rank Three Witches.

"And you think that it will be possible to raise a suitable successor to those standards?" The Coven Leader asked carefully.

Priya nodded. "I don't just think it, I know it. Among the children in Forest Grove are a pair of Myrrh Coven girls, kids who had been living in the Frozen Wastes for a few years among the locals with their exiled mothers. We have cleansed them of the Bloodline Curse, and awakened them early. One is already at Rank Two, despite not even being eighteen yet, and the other is well on her way.

We can do that again, and within the next few years, we should have a new leader from the younger generation ready to step up and take charge."

The looks on the Council members' faces were a mixture of horror and hope that showed Priya that they had just realized the implications of what they had been told. Soon a new generation would surpass them. A generation without decades of careful grooming and indoctrination to make sure they followed the old ways. 

If there was a teenage Rank Three Coven Leader in only a few words, what sort of changes would they make to the Coven? Where would their loyalties lie, especially after they were assisted in their growth by the Forest Grove Witches, or even raised among demihuman magic users?

They had been grooming their successors, but they were all in their forties already, and it didn't sound like Priya was intending on having one of them take over.

"Could it be one of our current successors? They have a lot of training and years of experience." One of the Councillors asked.

Priya shook her head. "As we age, the damage from the Bloodline Curse becomes permanent. Those who will grow to their potential most quickly will be those that are awakened before their eighteenth birthday. If you want one of your own to take over, it would be best to pick one that has been groomed to run her family and is currently in her early to mid-teens.

The process will work best for them, and I understand very well how much the Families value loyalty. That's why I am hesitant to take over. I have the power to, but how well respected will I be within the Priya Family after leaving the army this spring to take up the task of building a new village in the Frozen Wastes?"

One of the Council Members snickered at that. She was the current head of the Priya Family, and while it was true that at first, the Lieutenant had been viewed as a disappointment for retiring from the army, that feeling didn't last long.

"With all the reports you sent back, the power you amassed, and the help that you are offering the city now, it has been difficult to stay mad at you. Though you might have given up an esteemed career path in the military, you didn't do poorly for yourself, and we have never viewed you as a traitor to the Coven." The Councillor informed her.

Priya focused on the Guardian in her bracelet.

[Can you cleanse the Bloodline Curse?] She asked.

[I am a magical construct, not a Magi or even a proper Demon. That is beyond my abilities. But I know a spell that should purge the corruption from the Nerve Gas from their system. It's not the same method that the Noxus Patriarch uses, but it will allow them to recover. I also have a copy of the spell to break a Familiar Bond for a dead Familiar. It is Unholy Magic, so those who lost Familiars can summon a new one.] The Guardian replied.

[Thank you. I will need your help in just a few minutes.]

"If you would like to bring the younger generations here to us, along with a large number of witches who have been damaged by the nerve gas, I think that I can help prove my sincerity." She informed the Council Members.

"You have the cure for the Nerve Gas?" The Coven Leader asked hopefully.

"My new Familiar can cast a spell that will help reverse the damage. He also knows a spell that will sever the link between a Witch and a Familiar that has died, so the witches who came here from the villages and lost everything can have a chance to recover back to their original powers.

If we have an agreement, I will work on getting someone here who can cleanse the Bloodline Curse from the younger generation, but it would best if I brought them back with me to Forest Grove, where the mana is many times more dense." Priya replied.

The old women smirked as they realized they could stand to gain a lot from whatever had been done to the Forest.

"I don't suppose that is also a spell that could be cast here? We've still got millions of witches in the city, some strong, most weak, but higher mana density would be a blessing for the entire Coven if we are attacked again."