Nathan

Nathan walked through the streets of Deadre, conscious of who was standing beside him. Prince Keron Solerian, Marshal of the Empire and his father. A thing he had found in the month since they had 'met' was that he was a man of few words. Or he was too careful with what he said when they met. The former seemed more likely than the latter.

"Do you like anything you see?" his father asked.

"Well..." Nathan looked at the rows of stalls. The first sold watermelons. The second sold apples. The third sold mangoes. The sheer variety of produce available was exemplary, and somewhat impossible given the climate, but it was still produce.

Nathan wasn't really interested in food anymore, after spending a month in the Diery palace, other types of food just paled. Even the Emperor wanted food from the Diery palace. The Countess should participate in culinary competitions, the palace would win by a huge margin.

"How about I help you practice your powers?" his father asked, sounding eager. Nathan just stared at him. There were either two things that happened when he used his power on the Marshal of the Empire. The Marshal's defenses killed him, or the attack was useless.

"I can teach you the sword. I am something of an expert." his father offered. "Even if you don't know how to use mind magic, that isn't your only element. Poison can be scary when paired with a sword."

Nathan considered. The sword was foreign to him, but he should learn a weapon. Even if he somehow mastered the viruses, he would still need some form of physical defense.

"Ok..." he answered. "There is a practice ground near the-"

The space around suddenly twisted as he found himself thrown into the air, his stomach rolling around in his body as ifstruggling to escape. Nathan fell onto his knees, unable to keep his balance.

A wet thing entered his mouth as a warm feeling spread across his body. the dizzness subsided and he was able to open his eyes again.

"Wh-what was that?"he asked, coughing up a little blood as he looked up with hazy eyes. There didn't seem to be any enemies around, but they could already be dead. The Marshal of the Empire was with him after all.

"I- um, forgot that Fae didn't react very well to teleportation." his father said, sounding apologetic.

"Oh." Nathan replied, thinking back to his previous experiences being teleported. There weren't any. Vanessa had tried once, but had ended up teleporting a nearby stick instead. A stick that ended up in pieces.

"Why is that?" he asked, taking the opportunity to make conversation. "Why do the Fae teleport badly?"

"Oh, something about a Fae’s inherent biology just interferes with the teleportation spell. The Fae mages have a different way of teleportation that doesn't work for humans." his father said, but hsi attention was elsewhere.

Nathan followed his gaze as he got up. Purple and silver man flashed across the practice ground as Isa and Vanessa fought.

"The two of them are quite skilled aren't they?" he asked.

"Yes..." his father replied. "The brunette is she the one that came with you?"

"Yes." Nathan replied, suspicious about why he was asking.

"Is this the way she usually fights?" his father asked.

"Yes, she isn't good at teleporting. The last time she tried, she nearly killed me." Nathan replied.

"Hmm." his father replied, watching the fight intently. The fight itself was drawing to a close. The two of them had been fighting for a while, the Countess had told the two of them to practice since she was going to try to arrange trainers for them.

Isa's sword met Vanessa's space blade as the latter was thrown through the air and onto the wall by the sheer force of the clash.

"I win again."

Vanessa groaned as she stood up, her mana seeping back into her as she dusted herself off.

"So it would seem." she replied, turning towards him as she noticed his father staring at her with a contemplating expression on his face.

"I greet his majesty, Prince Keron." Vanessa greeted. Isa followed through with her greeting, but the Prince only had eyes for Vanessa.

"Have you had previous training, Viscountess?" he asked.

"The caravan gave me basic training in case I had to defend myself. But I was supposed to be a porter, so teaching me to fight wasn't on their agenda."

"What about the Countess? Has she arranged any trainers for you?" the Prince asked, his worried hurried as an eager expression appeared on his face.

"The Countess has expressed that she is searching for one." Isa interjected. "What is this about, your majesty? Is there something we can help you with?"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"On the contrary, it is your help that I need." the Prince said, a stone appearing in his hand. "Can you put your hand on this?"

Vanessa obeyed, glancing at Nathan, a question mark practically visible on her face. Nathan just shrugged in reply. What his father did confused him at the best of times. This wasn’t the best of times.

The stone began to glow, flashing pink to purple, then into a deep black, and then back to pink again. The flashes emerged across the stone, like lightning crackling across its surface. The Prince smiled, almost laughing as he looked at the stone.

"As expected, you have a talent for spacial combat, Viscountess. The Zerolian bastard didn't stand a chance." the Prince said.

"What do you mean, your majesty? I presume this has to do with my space affinity?" Vanessa asked.

"That is correct.” The Prince nodded, smiling happily, “This is something that is usually relevant at the Adept stage, but that is somewhat more relevant to Space mages.

Mana, you see, occurs in something of a spectrum. I say ‘something of’ because we have not been able to plot this spectrum despite trying for over ten thousand years. And any tries to do so just leave us more confused.

But mana does have 'neighbours' in this theoretical spectrum. And one's affinity is influenced by how close you are to the 'neighbours'. That can lead to a minor affinity in that neighbour, or just an influence in the magic you cast.

At the Adept stage, it is even possible to cast magic from these 'neighbours' if your own affinity lies close to the border of the spectrum." the Prince tried to explain.

"Thank you for the information, your majesty, but what does it have to do with us?" Vanessa asked.

"Well, you see, space mages have it a little different. Space magic seems to occupy an exceptionally large area in this spectrum, or perhaps we, the mages, occupy a smaller portion of the elemental in the spectrum, but either way, it is rare for a person to wield every aspect of the element.

Nerusia is on the pink side of the spectrum, this side has a better time making stable constructs like teleportation and portals. I am on the centre-black part of the spectrum, able to teleport, but my teleportations are not very stable.

On the other hand, you are on the black side of the spectrum. That is why you can't teleport, any tries will not succeed and might even have fatal consequences."

Vanessa seemed confused by the Prince's revelations, but the Prince just smiled. Perhaps he thought it was reassuring. Nathan could testify that it wasn't. The Prince just didn't have a reassuring kind of face.

"But it makes you very good at spacial combat. Rending space, ripping it to shreds, turning it around in weird and uncomfortable ways, that will come very naturally to you." the Prince replied, still smiling like he had discovered some kind treasure. The 'treasure' in question did not look pleased by his comments.

"So you're saying that I am only good at destroying things?" Vanessa asked.

"Well...your mana is." the Prince replied, sounding awkward. "I apolagize, I am just excited. The Solerian family rarely has black space mages, that is Zerolian family's speciality. In fact, we have been seeing space mages far less than them, our bloodline has diluted greatly over the years."

Nathan's years perked up.

"There are a lot of Space mages in the Zerolian line. How did that happen? I thought space mages were rare." Nathan asked.

"Oh, elements are hereditary to begin with, that is how noble families maintain their legacy. If two parents of the same element mate together, chances are their child will have the same element.

There is a possibility that the child will have an affinity from an older generation, but that is miniscule. The more generations this continues, the more unlikely it is that another element comes around. The original royal family that established the Empire was a Space lineage." the Prince replied, not sounding very excited to explain

The Countess entered the training ground, leaning against one of the pillars but not inturrepting, Steward Ven beside her.

"The elder brother had the Space and Light elements. The younger one had Space and Darkness. Darkness is different than Shadow, it is a ...darker element." the Prince's eyes shaded over, as if remembering something. Then he shook it off.

"But that is for later. The elder was at the peak of spacial artifacy. The younger one, as you would expect, was a master of attack. The elder brother went on to become the Emperor, but his bloodline did not value his elements. In time, Space became scarce among us.

But as shown by the current generation of Princes, even a single injection of a new Space element will lead to a huge increase in the possibility of Space elemented offspring. Five of seven Princes have the element since the Empress is off the Space element."

The Prince turned to Vanessa. "But I ramble again. What I want to say is, black space is powerful, and extremely hard to counter. There are few elements that can even interact with spacial disturbances."

The Prince nodded to the Countess. "The Druids could only stop Zerolian attacks through willing pure mana around, their elements were useless against black space magic."Then he turned to Nathan.

"Mind magic cannot counter it, a skilled mind mage could stop a black space mage from attacking, but if an attack launches, it must be dodged. And Space attacks are very, very fast."

Then he turned to Isa.

"The Sword can interact with Space magic, but it takes a skilled swordsman to match the speed," he said.

"If the Zerolian family values their bloodline and elements so much, then wouldn't they be trying to source Space mages as spouses? The element is rare outside the family, I cannot imagine they have an easy time doing it. Does Vanessa have anything to worry about in that regard?" the Countess asked.

"Perhaps. There are other families that have focussed on elements, and there are elements other than Space that would qualify for mating. But I would not be surprised if one of the branch heirs offered his hand in marriage. '' the Prince said.

"Perhaps even that Count you defeated. The brat has fallen out of favor with the Duke, and getting a black space mage as a wife would be just what he needs."

Vanessa chortled, as if she had swallowed something distasteful.

"Vanessa humiliated him in public, would he really propose to her even then?" Isa asked, her face stuck with a strange expression, as if deciding whether to laugh or vomit.

The Prince laughed. "Oh my dear, you still don't know the pain of noble marriages. Even my mother is the current Duke Zerolian's elder sister. Do you think a little defeat will matter in face of a ten thousand year old grudge?

I would bet that you receive a proposal by the end of this month. Heck, I would expect you to receive a few too, Viscountess Isa. The capital is quite amok with rumors of the heroes of Diery."

Nathan's head turned towards the Countess, who still hadn't left. If Isa and Vanessa were sure to get marriage offers, then so was the Countess. But that would probably be people of considerably more status.

Nathan wasn't sure he liked the idea of the Countess having many suitors. And he wasn't sure why.