As Viran walked through the lonely walls once more bits of dust began to stick to and coalesce onto his already ripped clothing. Another day had gone by as he searched through the now desolate library once more. The library itself was large and light shone through the windows lining the walls, highlighting the dust particles still stuck in the air. His feet repeatedly skipped over the large number of tables and bookcases broken on the floor.
When his Father ordered a search of his residence days earlier, they had left it all in a mess. Before the residence wasn’t cleaned too thoroughly but now it was simply not being taken cared of at all. As the days went by Viran’s determination to search through the carcass that was his library dimmed. For the first few days he had searched the rest of the residence in order to find anything, whether it be just basic scraps of paper, yet nothing came to fruition. In the entire residence they didn’t leave anything that could be considered a weapon, or even a book for that matter.
In his daily struggle, his mind would wander time and time again to the voice that had reached out to him inexplicably at that moment. At the time it seemed no one had actually heard of the voice except him, and Viran was beginning to feel as though he was going insane. He had been searching endlessly in the entire estate, and the endless loneliness he felt was almost suffocating.
In truth his current situation wasn’t much different from the time before Gregory had entered the Household, yet now he felt much more alone than he ever had in his short life.
Viran stretched out his short legs repeatedly and began to do short jumps and down as he let his arms hang helplessly by his side next to him. With a final breath Viran began to charge forward in a heavy manner before jumping up high and landing directly onto a bookcase laying on the ground. As his feet broke through the brittle wood dust and splinters shot through the air in an excited manner. Dust clang into his eyes and nostrils, and splinters lodged themselves into his clothing poking him.
A wet and scratchy cough rang out of him as he tried to rub the dust out of his eyes repeatedly. He had accounted for the splinters that would shoot out by wearing multiple layers of ruined clothing he found laying around, but the dust was a different story.
Moments later the dust is dislodged from his eyes and he looks down to see a large hole in the bookcase. A small smile grows on the immature face, clearly showing the joy he received from breaking the bookcase. Patting down his clothes once more he walks to the other end of the library and repeats the same action on another bookcase. The bookcase broke just as easily as the last in front of Viran and an immature laughter exited out in a roar from the young boy.
Seeing that he had already broken a hole in most of the bookcases that were lying on the floor, a frown grows on Viran’s face. In truth he had no clear goal in breaking these bookcases, he only did so because he simply felt an almost primal joy from it. In the few days of staying alone in the residence, he had only opened the book Sir Leonard had given to him once since then.
Viran still needed time to accustom himself to what had just happened to him, and to assuage himself. His house arrest was set to end in weeks from now, and getting rid of the negative feelings now was what he felt was best. He had searched and searched for some kind of sword to swing but that failed. After he searched and searched for some kind of adventure book to engross himself in, but that also ended in a failure.
“...I don’t think I can do this.” Viran spoke to himself.
Viran was unsure of himself, in many ways. Viran repeatedly mulled over those words from before, the words calling for him to take action. He needed to take action in order to…
“See a new world. Huh.” Spoke Viran absentmindedly.
Viran sat down at a table he set up in the library and began to rub the cover of the book Sir Leonard had gifted him. Viran was not sure about how powerful Sir Leonard was, or how high his standing was. But Viran was sure it was definitely not to be taken lightly, he had made his own magic theory book after all. This realization was breathtaking for Viran, in more ways than one.
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Viran had felt some excitement inside. He wasn’t sure how or why, but he truly felt excitement over Sir Leonard being an author. Viran had always felt that Sir Leonard was a strange individual. On their first meeting Sir Leonard feigned being asleep then seconds later spoke passionately about books, only to then argue heavily with Sir Renault over trivial matters. Realizing now that Sir Leonard may truly be a gifted individual underneath all of those quirks made Viran even forgive Sir Leonard over the awful croaks he has every time he speaks. Viran understood now that Sir Leonard must have a high standing outside the estate. He likely only came to the estate to act as a "tutor" for the easy money that came with it.
'Wait. If Father didn't want me to learn anything about magic or swordsmanship… Why would he even hire tutors, that's just a waste of money.' Viran suddenly thought.
The more he thought about it the less it made sense. Viran wasn’t sure how much money it would take to get someone like Sir Leonard and Sir Renault to teach him but it was definitely not a shallow amount. So what was the point of hiring tutors in name only for him?
Viran’s fingers began to swipe through each page, barely skimming through. In truth, Viran was also afraid of Sir Leonard’s help. Seeing how Sir Renault ended up, someone of higher standing like Sir Leonard would have more of a responsibility to listen to Viran’s Father.
Viran knew that were it to become known that Sir Leonard explicitly helped him, the penalty wouldn’t just end with his title being taken away and a fine.
In Sir Renault’s case, stripping him of his Title was far too heavy of a punishment. But the severity of Sir Renault’s punishment was exactly a warning towards anyone else. Even if you’re a land owning Knight you were not safe from fierce repercussions if you were to betray Lord Idicium’s expectations. The punishment could only get higher for someone of Sir Leonard’s known prestige and standing, losing his Noble Title may be the least of his worries.
Coming to this conclusion, Viran felt pangs of pain whenever he touched the book. He deeply wished to dispose of it, but he held back. He wanted to be stronger, in order to see a new world for himself. One unshackled by his Father’s influence of Gregory’s malice. Viran wanted to leave, meet new people, and learn new things. Viran wanted to be selfish and use the knowledge stored inside of the book, he knew he needed to be selfish if he truly wanted to change his world. But if Viran blatantly shows off a new prowess in magic and swordsmanship, Sir Leonard would be the most suspect.
“Can’t be helped…” Viran thought.
After days of mulling over the matter Viran finally steeled his will and began to read the book. Viran was unsure why Sir Leonard would help him despite the obvious risks associated with it, but he knew that Sir Leonard understood exactly what would happen were he found out.
As Viran sat down on the old and weathered chair, he picks up the book in front of him. A deep smell of ink wafted from the pages of the book to Viran as he began to fully engross himself into reading. A familiar warm sensation emanated from the fresh pages, urging Viran to focus further upon the words. Urging him to engross himself further.
Minutes turn to hours and night finally reaches Viran. While he was engrossed in the book, occasionally taking his eyes off to watch the outside sky for a moment, Viran was suddenly dragged out of concentration by a bright light emanating from the crystal besides Viran. The crystal was a simple yet expensive magic item that only glowed up brightly. Viran reaches his hands out to rub the exterior of the crystal. The crystal itself was mined from the Dragonspine Mountains to the West and was filled heavily with mana. On the top and bottom of the egg shaped crystals were two metals molded together with runes engraved within the metal. The runes elicited the spell that was used to make the crystal glow, the crystal itself was the mana, and the metal was what connected the both together.
What truly made an item like this coveted was not the materials however. For most the mana crystal and metal would be very expensive items, but the real cost laid within the runes themselves. Runic Masters were a type of magic user that were considerably coveted by any Noble in the Empire due to the scarcity of them. Most of the runes and knowledge concerning them were lost through the numerous disasters that plagued the humans for centuries. Through the scarcity of knowledge the practice became very well protected and gatekept, not even the Emperor was allowed to know the many spells and knowledge that was protected by the people of that profession. Becoming a Runic Masters would guarantee a life of wealth for those proficient, many Nobles and Merchants alike would throw gold just to even be able to talk to a runic master.
The runes themselves were unreadable by Viran, but a distinct warm feeling could be felt from the runes themselves. The runes were neat and tidy and written in a manner that was awe inspiring for the young boy.
As Viran left to go grab his dinner from the guards outside, a grand light flicker rang out within the now empty library. At the same time the many bookcases that were on the floor were destroyed almost at once throwing shards of wood around the entire room. As silence fell once more, a purple light emanated from the book that Viran had only held just moments ago. The purple light lingered for a long time, before disappearing completely with only a faint trace of mana being felt.
As Viran walked in with a tray filled to the brim with food his foot is caught by the numerous pieces of wood laying around the room now tripping him. As the foot fell onto the ground Viran’s face crumbled into a fit before being molded into one of bewilderment as he gazed upon the even more destroyed room. His voice squeaked as he gazed upon the room.
“Huh?”