Jayne finished off the rest of the examination as best she could. It was nowhere near her best work but she wasn’t too worried about her grades in time mana. She stood up with the rest of the students, left her work on the desk, and joined the line exiting the room.
All the students of the Academy of Vandarra wore plain white robes with the green insignia of the empire emblazoned on their backs. The older students were given more unique robes based on their class upgrade’s affinity if they had one.
Some of the more religious students had different colored sleeves in respect to one of the gods. blue for Quotz, black for Uton, yellow for Canmis, green for Earae, and gold for Dhinir. Those who followed Dhoerin never wore a specifically colored sleeve so most who were a follower of another god were assumed to follow Dhoerin.
Jayne had gotten into the habit of keeping track of the different sleeves whenever she was bored and waiting in line to leave was one of those times. For the most part, people who came to the academy wore blue but the next most common color she saw was gold. She often wondered why gold was so common. Of course, Quotz’ followers would come to the academy but why so many of Dhinir’s? They taught very little direct combat magic in the academy, most wannabe war mages simply entered the fifth tower to learn from Dhinir’s war mages directly.
Did Dhinir just simply have more powerful followers?
Finally, Jayne reached the door and broke away from the crowd of students standing in the corridor outside. The sun had set during the examination leaving the corridors a little dark and gloomy for her tastes but regular mana lamps and light from the moon shining through the large glass windows shed enough light for her to brave the halls alone.
The Academy of Vandarra was an ancient place. It was said to have been occupied for thousands of years by hundreds of arch-mages. There were even legends of there being an arch-mage over level two hundred that had once been the academy’s headmaster.
Jayne couldn’t help but think about those ancient legends as she walked through the halls towards her room. The corridors were all directed with the most ridiculously expensive finery. Golden plaques, mosaics of diamonds and ruby, all of them etched with elaborate texts. It was all a bit much for Jayne but judging by the regular anti-theft runes spread across the academy it wasn’t for some people.
Back home Jayne and her family had lived very well thanks to Darian’s hard work and incredible luck but they had never indulged themselves like the people here did. What was worse was that all the stupid finery was covering the true history of the place. Beneath the new coats of paint and fancy mosaics were ancient stonework and runes.
Living with her father had given Jayne an appreciation for the different types of stones. For the most part, her family had traded in uncommon rarity stones and few choice rare gems. That only made seeing all the stonework covered in the academy worse.
Basalian {Mineral} {Epic}
Jayne’s Identify didn’t give her a description of the stone but her study back home allowed her to use it on stones she had already learned about. Seeing an epic rarity stone covered up by gold would have made her father cringe himself into an early grave.
After several minutes of walking through the academy’s halls and up several flights of stairs Jayne finally reached the stretch of hallway to her room. Her father paid a lot of money so that she could have the best room possible so that she could concentrate on her studies.
But after doing all those stairs she would have been happy with one of the shared dorms. Just as she reached the door the corridor’s lights winked out but the fright faded, “It’s nine o’clock of course they turned off now. Like they always do.”
Jayne chuckled to herself, those men had really gotten to her but she knew she was just being foolish. She looked down to open her door but when she went to turn the handle the door opened slightly at her touch. What? Had she forgotten to close it-
The door flung open and a huge hand snapped around her neck before she even had a chance to scream and ripped her into the room, completely taking her off her feet. The grip around her throat completely cut off her airways and she felt her face darkening. Dangling from the ground Jayne struggled for air as she tried to focus her eyes on her attacker.
[???????| Marauder 76 | Human]
Jayne’s eyes widened but instead of struggling she tried activating her best skill, Frost Touch. The skin of the man’s arm shimmered slightly but he simply squeezed harder around her neck and chuckled.
“Hah! Nice try, little mage,” The man’s scar made the cleft in his nose gape when he spoke, “Hurry up and chain her. Can’t have her dying just yet.”
Through tear-filled eyes, Jayne spotted the other two men from before.
[???????| Swordsman 65 | Human]
[???????| Hunter 71 | Human]
The hunter smirked, “Why Dhinir wants this welp, I’ll never understand,” He snatched one of her hands behind her back and clicked something around it before wrenching back the other and doing the same. The instant the second wrist was locked in place she felt suddenly weak and a notification flashed in front of her eyes.
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Warning: Your mana has been sealed.
The scarred man threw her to the ground, and with her hands bound behind her back Jayne could only fall to the ground in a heap as she gasped for breath. Still bleary-eyed she glanced around her room to find it had been torn apart. The bed had been flipped onto its side, her desk and books were strewn all over the place and each of her drawers and cupboards were open with their contents pulled out onto the ground.
“Why are you doing this? What do you want?!” Jayne gasped, her voice barely above a whisper as her throat burned from the man’s hand.
The three men ignored her and the scarred man turned to the hunter, “ We do as The Lord demands, now we leave. Squire Forran take the girl. Hunter, to ensure that blue-bitch Gera does not interfere. ”
The two men nodded, “Yes, Inquisitor.”
The swordsman stepped over and grabbed Jayne by the hair as he moved toward the door. Jayne, still struggling for breath, groaned as she was dragged off her feet by the hair. She tried using Ice Touch again but the notification kept appearing and sharp pain lanced through her mind.
Warning: Your mana has been sealed.
Warning: Your mana has been sealed.
Now in the hallway, she cried out making the squire pull her painfully forward, “Shut up, girl. No one is coming for you.”
“No, no, no, what is happening?!” Where was everyone? Why was no one helping her? The three men dragged her through the corridors of the academy and even as she cried and struggled, no one stepped in. Academy guards and lecturers passed the scene by barely sparing her a glance. Why? Because these were Empire soldiers.
As they passed through the gardens before the academy gates Jayne gave up futile struggle. It was pointless. She was too weak and now she couldn’t even use her best skill. Even though she had stopped struggling it didn’t stop the squire from dragging her now bare feet across the cobblestone path as they reached the gate.
The gates opened, without any of them speaking up and they simply walked through.
“Oh, an Inquisitor! It is an honor to see you at work sir.”
The voice startled Jayne for some reason but the three men stopped and she managed to stagger to her feet and clear her eyes enough to see a tall man with plain features and dark brown hair in the same green-red imperial plate mail. Her heart fell even further when she saw him wearing the very same Insignia of Dhinir.
[??????? | Fighter 54 | Human]
The scarred man glared at the newcomer,” Simply another wretch aligned with the cultists, Soldier. Ensure we are not followed by any of the Quotz worshiping filth.”
The man saluted nonchalantly,” Of course Inquisitor, I will report any who attempt to follow you.”
The squire once again ripped Jayne off her feet and continued out the gate. The man’s grip was like a vise around and all she could was hold onto his arm to save her scalp and lessen the pain.
As they went to round a corner and enter the city proper Jayne looked up at the man who had opened the gate for her captors.
He was watching them drag her away with a strange smirk, his brown eyes locked onto hers, and just before she lost sight of the man he winked.
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Part 3: Withstand the Winds of Desolation 0/1
You have found your path to survival now you must sustain it.
Warning: Do not leave the platform or allow it to be destroyed.
.
Escape the place between: 0/1
Time Limit: 70 days
Kal staggered slightly as his foot fell into one of the now many gouges in the black metal platform. He had been running on almost zero stamina for days and only the constant added efficiency of his movement allowed him to remain standing at all.
His perpetual growth of will tendrils continued but still at a crawl compared to when he had started but every additional tendril helped combat the accelerating storm. The storm continued to grow larger as it approached and the closer it got the more additional threads and lances aligned with his position.
Kal was pretty sure it wasn’t actually targeting him, its movements were just part of its natural behavior, it was wind after all. His Eyes of the Slayer allowed him to see the flow of the Winds of Desolation in between explosions of white light and soon the flow waves of destruction would be upon him.
They were not simple individual threads that lashed towards him, no they were rippling sheets of woven darkness that surged across the void. Kal didn’t know if he could even effect the woven destruction but soon he would have to face it.
His will was key so every moment he could spare he hardened the tendrils of will over his body and continued their expansion. Dozens of will tendrils battered threads away in a constant rush of explosions and soon dozens more would join them.
If his mind could take the strain.
----------------------------------------
Prophet Hurius sneered as he looked over the Lesta Family Manor. A small stone wall surrounded the manor’s courtyard completely lacking any kind of decoration. Quite dull in Hurius’ eyes but of course, the filth-turned-noble had come from slums so likely had no notion of good taste. But he did notice the subtle shimmer of a barrier array above the wall to prevent higher-level people from simply bypassing the gate.
The manor itself was visible from the outside and was likewise quite bare for a noble’s abode. The manor’s gate was manned by four guards of quite honestly pathetic levels.
[Jadan Kaland | Fighter 32 | Human]
[Galan Jalek | Fighter 28 | Human]
[Ulas Ken | Archer 34 | Human]
[Katrina Foan | Seeker 45 | Human]
They were low leveled but he was surprised to see a seeker amongst a lesser noble’s guard. The seeker class was well sought after amongst nobles in Vandarra for their great investigation-based skills. Seeing one as a lowly guard was not common, “Strange…”
Flanked by the survivors of his camp Hurius approached the gate and stared down the guards while one of his subordinates stepped forward, “We are here under the orders of the great lord Dhinir and The Emperor Kaiset to apprehend Darian, and Lillian Lesta for their crimes against mankind and consorting with demons from beyond the firmament! Get out of our way and we will spare you from their fate.”