Far from the jail, a devilish warlock was prowling around the Ottoman encampment, setting up an ambush that would annihilate another wizard. Once all wizards had been wiped out, Klaus would go after the one that had escaped from his very hands in the last moment. Considering Klaus' immortal nature, there would come the day when they would surely meet again.

While Emperor Sallufar was sleeping, Klaus entered his tent. A whirlwind of black smoke followed the warlock. He passed his evil hands over the emperor's head and made him dream of his counselor's treason. During the nightmare, Osman was having a conversation with the King of Austria, and then he pointed his index finger towards Sallufar. Looking at the Ottoman ruler, the Mongol wizard walked in his direction, and then stabbed him on the back as soon as the emperor was distracted. As Sallufar felt Death taking his soul, he woke up terrified, with his eyes wide open.

There was no one inside the tent but him.

"That bastard is a traitor! Allah has just revealed his plot against me," he shouted with anger. "Guards! Bring me Osman! Now!"

As soon as Osman arrived, he asked, consumed by curiosity, "What's the matter, Your Highness?"

"You thought you could fool me, but God has revealed your treason."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Your Highness!" he couldn't quite understand why the king was so exasperated.

"Guards, arrest him now! I don't want to see that scoundrel in front of me another second. He must be executed tomorrow. I want his head ripped off! I knew I should not trust a wizard. There's a reason why the West inquisitors hunt your kind."

"Milord, please let me know what has happened, so that I can show you the truth."

"No more words, insolent traitor!"

And then Sallufar ordered the guards to take Osman.

As Klaus watched the guards take Osman away, the Doppelgänger arrived. He had just scouted many large European troops led by a Polish king arriving in Austria on an aiding mission. Once Klaus had been warned, he took immediate precautions.

"If the enemy army arrives, they might save the prisoner."

The creature narrowed its eyes waiting for new instructions. However, Klaus decided to solve the problem himself, so he went straight to Osman. When Klaus arrived, he threatened the chained wizard by saying, "I've come here to take your soul. There can be no wizards but me."

"Apparently, everyone decided to have me killed today. May I ask you what exactly you want from me, sir?"

"I am Klaus Rizonni, a Basnet warlock. I've come to take your vital force."

"I have never heard your name before. If it's money that you want, I can give you a great number of gold coins; you just have to take me out of here. As you can see, I am in no condition to bargain, but I'm perfectly able to assist you in other ways."

The Doppelgänger was near to Klaus', showing his sharp, pointed teeth avid for blood.

"Are you mocking me?" Klaus asked, and then turned to Fratello. He put his finger on his throat and then moved the index from side to side in a killing gesture. "Finish him off, Fratello!"

"Wait..." Osman said, absolutely scared as he realized that the threat was real.

"What else do you want? Do you want to bribe me, perhaps?"

Klaus shifted into Osman's shape and smiled smugly.

"There must be something that I can do for you. I can see that you are a warlock of great power. You can even shift into someone else's body perfectly," the wizard reasoned, awed by the way that Klaus had produced a perfect copy of him.

"That's how I managed to sleep with your wife last night."

The man recalled the two empty glasses of wine he had seen in his tent the night before. "You bastard, then it was you all along... She can't even be considered guilty, for she thought it was with me that she was making love all the time. I'll kill you, you..." Infuriated, the Mongol wizard tried to unchain himself by using some spell.

"Enough! Finish him off, Fratello!"

In the dark of the night, Fratello ripped the Muslim wizard's head off with a precise slash. Then, the head fell on the ground and rolled over the sand, lifeless. Its wide-open eyes fixated on Klaus. The warlock could feel Osman's rage as he raised his arms towards the skies to drain the magical energy that emanated from another annihilated wizard.

The enemy army was commencing the attack to the encampment. Klaus threw his cape over his body and the Doppelgänger's so that they became invisible.

"One more head to my collection. Gather all the gold and jewelry that you find, my friend. If we want to reach our goal, we must have resources to bribe the scum. We'll leave as soon as you have finished."

It was done. Klaus left the Turkish to perish under the Polish forces, for he didn't want them to dominate his lands. If the Turkish invaded that part of Europe, they would soon reach Italy.

Klaus and Fratello crossed the portal. They stepped out on the other side, and arrived at the castle. The Polish, aided by armies from all over the continent, won the battle. As the Turkish already ruled the east of the Mediterranean, the Europeans knew that there could be no security breaches that allowed their land to be invaded by the enemy.

***

Back home, Klaus had a glass of good wine brought by his servant. He was celebrating his deed, and, at the same time, thinking about his past.

His father, Giancarlo Rizonni, was the Grand Inquisitor. He was sent to capture the witch Bianca Capunni that lived in the city of Bologna. However, as soon as he laid eyes on Bianca having a bathe in a creek, he got absolutely mesmerized by her beauty. Giancarlo immediately ordered his soldiers to return. He told them he would take care of the situation himself.

On the next day, he introduced himself to Bianca as a foreigner. They both had a long conversation. They spoke of things that pleased them both. Bianca could not resist his wooing, and let herself be seduced by Giancarlo. In no time, they were madly in love.

"I must return to my land now. I promise to come back as soon as I can," Giancarlo said, one day.

"I'll be waiting for you, Giancarlo. I shall count the nights without you. I'll be thinking of you and wishing to have you by my side."

They kissed and then said goodbye.

A few days later, Giancarlo arrived home. He had traveled by horse, taking with him a lock of her blond hair as a proof of her love. He presented himself before his superior and showed the hair as evidence of the witch's annihilation.

However, his heart was aching to see her again. So Giancarlo decided to desert. He ran to the village where his beloved one lived. Once he was there, they built a family. He decided to marry Bianca, and a few years after she gave birth to a son that he came to love deeply. The baby was Klaus. As the boy grew up, he put his best efforts into learning how to be a blacksmith like his father.

Many years passed, until the day that someone spotted Giancarlo, and denounced him as a traitor. A detachment commanded by two inquisitors was sent to arrest him. The boy saw his father being captured as he was forging a sword, and then murdered. His mother was mercilessly thrown into a bonfire and burned alive. Before he was caught, Klaus ran away and hid inside a gutter full of the village's wastes. That was the only secure place the boy was able to find.

When the soldiers went away, the boy could not stand his own stench. He left the hole filthy, but alive. He went to a nearby creek to finally bathe himself. Then he went to his uncle, his mother's brother, to beg for shelter.

He was readily taken in by his relative, who looked after him from that moment on. First, he shaved Klaus' head in order to get rid of the remaining gutter stench. A few days later, his hair began to grow again.

From that day on, Klaus decided to dedicate himself to the occult science in order to be so powerful that no one would do to him the same that those bastards had done to his parents. He also became friends with witch hunters, as a part of his plan.

Sometime later, he joined the Basnet clan of mages and created a group of rebel warlocks known as the Absents, an anagram to cover the clan's title. As a transitory ally of the inquisitors, he assisted them on the capture of many wizards, witches, and sorcerers. Gradually, he conquered the trust of those that were also the target of his revenge. Thus, once Klaus had used the inquisitors to achieve his goal, he started to annihilate one by one mercilessly, the same way they had done with Lorenzo and all the others. Everything was going according to his plan, until the beginning of the 19th century, when the Inquisition ceased and Klaus' enemies were now all the mages in the world.

And then the anger in his heart grew even stronger.

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