The next morning Cailin woke up later than usual, the events of the day before had kept his mind busy during the night. As he lay in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about the events of yesterday, he noticed that the sun had already risen quite a bit, he was late for class. Tired and curious as he was, he unfortunately had to lay those thoughts aside for the time being. It was wednesday, which meant that the first thing on his agenda was a class on managing elemental magic, and it had already started. So with a quick jolt he leapt out of bed, had breakfast and dashed out to the training grounds.

“Glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence, “master Cailin.”” A deep voice scoffed at him.

“Apologies, master, it won’t happen again.”

“Get in line and listen up!” Master Thoras commanded.

Cailin jerked his way through to the back where Aiden was standing.

Where've you been?" Inquired Aiden.

"I guess, i've just had a lot on my mind lately..." Cailin replied, while letting out a low sigh and scratching the back of his head.

Their short conversation was interruped by master Thoras, who started teaching the class.

“I believe you have all been here long enough to know how to preform a simple growth spell, so for your own sakes I hope you know what to do.”

He pointed at a bag of seeds lying on the ground. Cailin, Aiden and the others each took one and put it on the ground. After placing it on the ground, Cailin took a few steps back and began to clear his mind once again, trying to focus all his energy on the seed.

As he was fixing his mind on the seed and what it was to become, his mind jumped back to Tara, he couldn’t help but worry about what was going on with her, and what she meant by “Not asking too many questions”. He shook his head and fixed his eyes on the seed once again, clearing his mind. After a few seconds a wave of emerald green energy began flowing from his hand and enveloping the seed on the ground. It began sinking deep into the soil before him. The ground began to move and something started to become visible, more and more it grew out of the ground, it became bigger and bigger until it was towering above him. Chants could now be heard all over the courtyard and trees were now sprouting left and right.

When they had all seized, the master made his round, inspecting the work of the students one by one. Some had done better than others, and some had not even managed to cast the spell. To those were given a firm and harsh lecture on failure and the consequences thereof. He did not seem to utterly hate Cailin’s work altogether, which was a win in his eyes. And yet he couldn’t help but feel bad for the others, although he knew that the master was a hard man, and an even harder teacher, so seeing him appreciate what he had done made him feel very pleased with himself. He knew that even though master Thoras was hard on the students, he only did it so that they would improve, he knew he only wanted them to master their gifts, and for that, he had earned Cailin’s respect, not that it meant much to him.

At noon, right after lunch, Cailin headed to one of the classrooms. A few weeks earlier a new batch of initiates had started their first year of studies, in hopes of joining the ranks of the Tyrelian mages. One of Cailin’s duties as an alcolyte was to teach the students about Arcane history. Entering the classroom he was welcomed by an already full room of students.

“Good afternoon students.” He placed a few books on the table.

“Good afternoon sir.” The kids replied in unison.

“let’s pick up where we left off…”

As he was about to start reading from one of his many books, he noticed a student holding up his hand.

“Yes?” He raised his eyebrows in a smile.

“Excuse me sir, I know we went through it last week, but could you tell us the story of Angaron again? it’s my favourite story and I’d love to learn more about it.”

Nods and excited whispers were coming from the other students.

“Very well, this is not how we do it normally, but…” He raised his head and looked around the room. “But since you are all so interested, I guess we can go through it one more time. After all, i do not think it would bother the council if we stray from the curriculum a bit, especially when it’s concerning a matter of such importance regarding the history of our practice.”

Cailin took a step back and picked up another book.

“Now, can anyone tell me when it all started?”

Silence filled the room, as was usual in a classroom of initiates. Then the silence was broken by a shaky voice in the back of the classroom, “When he fell from the sky?”.

“yes indeed, it all started when the star fell from the sky.”

Cailin opened the book in his hands, snapped his fingers and out came a projection of a falling star crashing and disappearing into the pages of the book.

“some say it was the gods who sent him, perhaps as a gift, others say he himself is a god and that he wished to dwell here with the creatures he had created long ago. Whatever the true meaning behind the origins of the Star, we know one thing for sure. When he descended in the south, the world was changed forever. Imagine a time when the monsters at our doorsteps were nothing more than stories, where powerful mages were myths, and the Star’s Arcane, something beyond our wildest imagination.

This was the world of our ancestors.

It all started on a normal day much like this one. People were going about their business, when all of the sudden a loud roaring could be heard from the heavens, and the skies were illuminated with the colour of crimson, sapphire and emerald. Confusion took a hold of everyone, then, suddenly the ground began to shake, many believed it to be a punishment by the Gods, perhaps they were going to massacre us all. Then, as swiftly as it had started, it seized. little did the northerners know that a star had fallen from the skies in the south west. After a few days people were starting to notice changes in the world around them, and at times what seemed like veins of blueish sapphire would appear in the ground. Eventually some of the scholars and sages became curious as to what the origin of these changes were, so they decided to follow where the veins led them. The path led them down south and it was only then that they found out about the star. Some time later a handful of explorers returned to the north with news of the star.

Some stayed behind, seeking what hidden knowledge was confined within. It was those who stayed who first named the star Angaron, and they would later be known as the Children of Angaron.

Ever since then, the Star’s Arcane has been the cause of great rejoicing and advancement as well as the cause for sorrow and grief. And that, dear students, is where we come in. Can someone tell me the purpose behind our studying of the Arcane?"

This time a few hands sprang up at once.

“Yes, you there, in the middle” Cailin said, pointing at a boy who he recognised as the inquisitive student in the library from the other day.

“We are training to master the Arcane so that we may use it’s power to do good.” Announced the student.

“Precisely! it seems like you have no need of me in this classroom.” Cailin chuckled.

After telling the students the story of the star, he proceeded with the history lesson of the day.

When he had finished working, he headed back to his chambers.

As he was walking back he noticed two council members walking out of the gate.

Seeing council members in deep conversation was not something unusual, but what did seem unusual to him was the manner of which they were walking, as if they were trying to leave the temple grounds as fast as possible, jerking their heads left and right as they sped off, making sure no one was following them.

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This brought back the memories of the past day, of Eldric’s curious visit, of Tara’s actions in Thornguarde, and of her last comment before she left him outside in the cold, with so many unanswered questions. He massaged his temple, “is there something going on with the council?” He thought to himself. “ah, stop it, don’t meddle in their affairs! If they have places to be they have places to be… They must have something important to do.”

A hint of a smile broke his focus as his mind wandered of to the though of Tara again.

“Cut it out Cailin, you’re starting to sound more like Tara every day, it’s probably nothing. Urgent council business, that’s all.” He shook his head, put the thought behind him and retreated to his chambers.

Later that evening Cailin decided to go for a stroll in the cool winter air. At times he would go out alone into the forest after nightfall to clear his head and listen to the howls of wolves and the different sounds of nature that could only be heard under the night sky. This time was no different, he had had a lot on his mind over the past couple of days. Thoughts that plagued him, causing him to lose focus when he needed it the most.

“just walk it off.” He thought to himself as he headed into the forest.

He loved being there, surrounded by towering trees, trees that covered the heavens with leaves and surrounded you in a raiment of flowers. To him, it was here that he felt closest to the arcane. There was something beautiful about it, as if the forests of Tyrelia were a kingdom of their own, a kingdom that stretched wider than any other in the world, there was something so special and mysterious about it, and it gave him a sense of such awe and wonder. As he wandered leisurely about, the stars of the forest lit up the trees above, fireflies, hundreds of magnificent fireflies that scattered around the surface of the trees.

“Beautiful” He thought to himself as he sat with his back against a rock admiring the spectacle above him.

After a while he started to notice the howls coming closer as the night grew darker, so he decided it was time to head back home. He got up, shook off the grass on his coat and took off in the direction of the temple.

On the temple grounds nothing could be heard but the crackling of torches lighting up the different paths around the grounds, it was well past midnight after all. But as he passed the mess hall, he thought he could hear a faint sound coming from inside. Out of curiosity he opened the door and took a peak inside the dimly lit hall but saw nothing. He went inside to investigate further. “perhaps it was an animal that was rummaging for food. But then, it didn’t sound like an animal.”

He passed the tables, it seemed like the sound was coming from beyond the table of the masters, so he crossed the room, walking past the many tables, the sound becoming more and more clear.

“Is it a chant? what is it?”

He was stopped by the large cupboard that spanned the length of the entire northeastern wall of the mess hall.

“Dead end, surely the spoons and plates can’t be the source of the sound..” He examined the cupboard. As he was looking around he felt something just above his feed, a breeze. He looked down and noticed a flicker of light coming from a small crack in the base of the cupboard. He knelt down and ran his fingers across it, he could clearly hear something now.

He let out a low gasp, “Something is behind the wall! a hidden room perhaps…” He thought.

He scanned the room, making sure no one was watching him. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he followed the crack, opening the cupboard where it lead.

“Plates… just plates and cups… There has to be something here.”

He carefully moved the plates around, took away the cups, and ran his fingers across the back wall when he finally could feel something that seemed out of place. A chip was protruding from the corner, perhaps it was just a broken piece of wood. But he pressed it down and “click”, an entire section of the cupboard advanced towards him.

“A doorway!” Cailin thought.

He backed up a bit, thinking that whoever was behind the door had heard it being opened, and was probably on their way after him now. But nothing happened. The sound behind the door only became louder and clearer to him, multiple voices could now be heard coming from below, and Cailin was now sure that it was indeed a chant he had heard, it was however not in any tongue he had ever heard. Shaking, Cailin slowly opened up the heavy door just enough for him to inch through. Inside was a stairway descending to the right, along the walls of the mess hall. On the walls torches were leading the way downwards into what seemed like a path into the abyss. The stairway was barely visible, the torches seemed different, perhaps the people at the bottom had cast some sort of spell on them so as to not attract too much attention to the walls of the mess hall.

“But why?” Cailin thought. “What is going on here?”

As he slowly descended, he could make out different sounds from the bottom, moans as if someone was in pain. Worried, Cailin quickened his pace. He descended further and further and the moans were getting louder and louder. Finally he could see a flickering light, he had reached the bottom. He snuck over to the corner of the pathway, still hidden by the wall that separated the stairway from the cellar. He pressed his body against the wall and tilted his head around the corner just enough for him to see what was going on.

What he saw shocked him to his very core. Six cloaked figures were standing in a circle, in the middle a seventh stood, an old man, holding a book, preforming some kind of spell, and on the floor lay another figure, cloaked and obscured by a flow of reddish energy.

“Blood!” Cailin realised.

He had to use all of his strength to restrain himself from making a sound. He could do nothing, he was severely outnumbered and was only an alcolyte, he could see no possible scenario in which he overpowered these people. So he surveyed the room, tools that he had never seen before lay scattered everywhere, and on the floor and walls were markings. He realised now that he had walked in on some kind of ritual.

“But who are these people? and why are they doing this? and what do they want from that poor person?”

As he sat and observed the horrific things taking place, he noticed one of the figures raising his head and taking off his hood. Cailin’s eyes widened and his skin paled as he recognised the man before him.

“Eldric!”

From the figure on the ground and into the eyes and mouth of Eldric began flowing a white and red energy, wrapping around him and filling the room in the colour of crimson.

“What is he doing here? what’s going on?”

One of the figures stepped forward, breaking the circle, he walked up to the figure on the floor, held his right hand palms down above the persons head, and proceeded to cast an incantation in what seemed like the same unfamiliar language as the chant. From the person on the floor came once again a flow of white energy, flowing from them up into the hand and wrapping around the body of the figure above. With his left hand the man drew a knife from within his cloak and brought it down to the face of the victim. There was too much going on within the circle for Cailin to see who the person lying on the ground was, but he knew that the knife had met flesh, because when the man held it up high, he revealed a crimson blade with blood trickling down it’s edge and onto the now revealed face of the old man.

Cailin’s face froze and he fell on one knee “Chyros! two council members! what kind of ritual is this?”

Seeing that two council members were here, doing what he knew without a doubt was some sort of blood ritual, he began worrying who else was hiding underneath the cloaks in front of him.

When Chyros had backed into the circle again, the chanting continued, and in unison the cloaked figures took off their hoods, and Cailin’s fears were confirmed.

In the circle, surrounding the poor victim lying on the floor stood all seven council members, Eldric, Chyros, Alestor, Damon, Reez, Vendal, even Thoras was here. When they had pulled off their hoods the flow of energy began once again, this time enveloping every one of the council members.

Now trembling with fear, Cailin could think of nothing else than to get out of this place, so he pulled himself up, turned around and made his way up the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could, looking back repeatedly to make sure no one was following him. When he got up to the cupboard, he pushed the door closed, pulled out the pin in the cupboard and ran to his chambers, leaving the mess hall exactly the way it had been when he arrived.