On our way to Old Castle, we had to stop a few times during a day’s travel for Adrasteia to catch her breath. To be able to hold her own in a physical fight against Mandy Sikorski and not know Division was pure recklessness. I wondered just how strong she’d become if Donna decided to teach her Division so she won’t be limited by physical stamina anymore; the prospect honestly amazed me.
Donna noticed my confusion the first time Adrasteia needed a break and told me that I shouldn’t mention Division. But she didn’t tell Fatima that.
“Dragon Mage Adrasteia,” Fatima addressed the spunky girl, “why don’t you separate stamina from mana?”
Donna rolled her eyes and Pyro became a bit interested by what Fatima said. “Hey, she’s your follower, right Voidchild? Put a muzzle on her mouth please.”
Too late. And, well, it’s not like the process of Division has your name on it. Despite my thoughts about her monopoly on the knowledge, I understood why she wanted Division to remain a thing of myth. Division was of paramount importance to my development as a mage. “Fatima,” I said a tad loudly, “that is forbidden knowledge outside the Apostles of the Crescent Moon.”
She perked up because of my tone. “I see,” she seemed a bit down. This woman genuinely loved teaching, “My apologies, Voidchild.”
I felt horrible, because Fatima made you feel like protecting her and spoiling her. It hurt me just being stern with her. Well, when it came to hierarchy, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say she was probably the most important person alive. Talking to her like that was an irrefutable abuse of my future-position.
Pyro and Adrasteia eyed me intently, but Pyro let it go. Adrasteia on the other hand, immediately glared at Donna, who was now her master.
Donna groaned in pain. “The technique of achieving Division is forbidden because the average mage does not have the mana pool to support one of the spells needed. Therefore, attempting it is dangerous. However, I am aware that many individuals in the Order of Magic have long since gone past that point, but frankly,” she palmed her face, “I still withhold the information because of two reasons: trust and control.”
“You don’t trust me, master?” Adrasteia questioned.
“Of course not. I’ve no reason to,” Donna spoke as if it was an obvious thing. “I agreed to be your master because your goal aligns with Eric and you have ample power and potential,” Donna explained. Adrasteia wasn’t happy, but she understood.
“And what’s this about control?” Pyro pressed her.
Donna exhaled, “Well, as a councilman of the Order, could you imagine if half the mages didn’t need stamina to cast spells? How are you going to regulate people who break the rules and commit crimes? Unlike the councilmen, other mages spend most of their time studying or training. Even if the entire council all achieved Division, you’ll all eventually be left in the dust by mages who train and study all the time. If criminals crop up within, it’ll be impossible for you to stop them.”
“Yeah,” Pyro rubbed his chin in thought, “I see your point. Then, if that’s the case, we can simply give the battlemages – an independent law enforcement entity – the ability to achieve Division.”
“Maybe, that could be a good idea,” Donna somewhat agreed, “but that’s something you’ll have to discuss with Farron. The battlemages are simply too few compared to the tens of thousands of people who pursue magic as their living. You’ll need big funding from somewhere to train battlemages.”
“I’ll bring this up with the council when we get back,” he concluded.
After that weird conversation, Adrasteia was ready to take the skies again.
Finally, we were near the ruins of the previous capital that Old Castle was in. The forests grew amongst the stone and concrete rubble after Armageddon. “A bit farther in and we will come across Old Castle’s guardsmen, all highly trained.”
We planned how we would enter, but Donna apparently already thought of a way. “It’s real simple, Eric fights them alone, and the rest of us will sneak in.”
Sometimes I wondered how someone like her became the queen of an entire country, the strongest Apostle, and an amazing magic author who nearly became immortal. Hell, she really did gain immortality in a way. After all, if I really do succeed Emily and become immortal, then so will she, Dawn, and Hydra. It was something to talk about.
I activated Life Perception to see exactly where the guards were, and man, it really was thousands of them. “Damn,” I cursed. “You guys ready?” I questioned. Of course, despite my devotion to just arcane and light magic, my clones didn’t have such a limit. I didn’t want anything to happen to Fatima, so I left a clone with her and Ebbo. The clone kept her in a void plane.
With that, I used arcane to mimic Hydrotendrils and began subduing the guards. It wasn’t the fastest solution, but at least I didn’t have to kill them; they were just doing their jobs after all. Dozens of men rushed to my position, and they were all treated the same. I had to look out because some of the lunatics would hurl their swords or spears at me.
Because of my habit of relying on void magic, it took every gram of strength in me to find an alternative in arcane magic instead. There were so many times I almost slammed them to the ground with Gravity Field, but I kept away from it and resorted to the arcane-made Hydrotendrils.
After what about 400 casts of it, I gained a spell called Bind. Pretty simple, pretty straightforward, just like Barrier. It physically restrained my target with rope-like, chain-like bindings. It would generally wrap around the body like a cocoon, but would leave the head open. It felt about the same level of restraining power as Freeze Trap, so it would be easy for a normal mage with Dispel to take care of. For this particular situation, it was very convenient.
Great, I’m progressing. I cast Bind about another 100 times, then focused on arcane manipulation again. With Levitate, I avoided the enemies who charged at me easily and thought about what type of spell I wanted to gain. What kind of spell is there that I’m missing?
“You need to train arcane and light, right? Use arcane to cast those new light spells you got,” Donna suggested.
My lover, my queen, my master, what would I do without you?
She rolled her eyes mentally. Her advice made a lot of sense. The last two light spells I learnt were Holy Edge and Holy Nova. The former was fatal as it would target a being’s life essence directly, so that was a no-go. But Holy Nova on the other hand acted as a weak Divergence and disoriented the senses of enemies that it hit, whilst simultaneously applying Renew to any ally that it hit.
Three men attacked, so I used the actual light spell and a sphere of golden light burst forth, doing exactly as I imagined. The men were pushed back a few metres and were unable to see, hear, or stand properly from anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute. Alright, let’s try it through arcane now. I glided towards more men; if I got too far, the guards behind me would not abandon their general location to pursue me.
On my first few dozen attempts, the best I could do would rotate. Sometimes the soldiers would be slightly blinded, other times their hearing went missing, most times I would get a simple knockdown effect instead of the 3-5 metres that they were supposed to travel.
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“Are you done having fun?” Donna asked by the time I’d gotten past most of the encirclement of guards. “We’re just about ready, so stop playing and come over.”
I nodded and used a combination of Bind and Hola Nova, not in that order. It certainly was a really good combo for harmless subjugation. I flew towards their location and entered the destroyed bridge that stood over the dried moot. Everything looked like death. The courtyard was badly damaged and naught but the souls of insects who knew not the decree passed by Rhilstorm’s ancestors to bar any living being from entering sought a home in this desecrated place.
Ebbo watched on in wonder, but remained very silent compared to everyone else. Pyro became interested in the place the more he saw it and had a sudden urge to explore. It felt like seeing the great castle rekindled a childish dream in him of owning a castle. Adrasteia laughed at him and began teasing him; after all, that would be impossible.
And so, it would be, if no one from another world stopped Pyro. If he chose to go on a rampage here, the inhabitants of Rhilstorm would be powerless to stop him. A world like this would benefit greatly from joining the coalition. If they would like the power to stand on their own, then it would be in their best interests to learn and train the techniques of other worlds because their standards were mighty low.
Just then, my clone who protected Fatima told me to activate Life Perception. I saw five little golden life essences in a chamber. To be honest, I had a pretty good idea about what was happening in Old Castle, which was exactly what we saw when we entered that chamber. Five people and a world-travel artefact. Rhilstorm was sabotaging their own damn self – big surprise.
Although this was of no shock to us otherworld beings, it rocked Ebbo greatly. I couldn’t imagine how he must’ve felt knowing Armageddon was caused by curious humans. Because of that event, humanity used magic and medicine to crossbreed and basically manufacture beastkin – which was a good thing. However, their treatment became deplorable once humanity noticed they were superior in almost every aspect and still as intelligent as regular humans. That hatred for beastkin, or rather, that fear, was what caused Ebbo so much suffering. His expressions constantly shifted from enraged to morose, and I’d never have thought of the latter if it weren’t for the unbecoming rivers gushing down his dark wrinkled face. I felt like if I gave him the chance and let him out of my void plane, he would kill all five of those people without giving them a chance to scream. Thankfully, Fatima comforted him.
Eventually, Donna urged me to get out there and do my job. I wanted more time to brainstorm the explanation to why a world-travelling artefact that connected Rhilstorm and whatever world the titans came from also made said titans appear in Methelia and Pargat. Were the artefacts always capable of forming links to more than two places or was there some other factor that I didn’t account for? I planned to find out, and I had to cheat my arcane and light magic restraints.
Sure, Mana Perception combined with the right questions was a very good way to acquire useful information, but one wouldn’t always know which questions to ask. Using Scour and setting the criteria like the artefact, Armageddon, beastkin, and Old Castle was much more efficient. But more importantly, it lowered the chance that I’d misunderstand the knowledge.
Before using mind spells on them, I simply exited the void with Ebbo; the others stayed there because there wasn’t exactly a lot of space in the little chamber. “Were you the ones responsible for the titans some days back?” I asked on Pyro’s behalf.
The robed fellas jumped; and why wouldn’t they? No one was allowed, physically and diplomatically, to pass the area where the guards watched over. They had to come to the realisation that Ebbo and I somehow got past those guards, and therefore, we were either stupidly strong, had connections in high places, or had a massive army outside that could combat the thousands of guards. Their faces were aghast as they combed the realms of possibility.
“Who, are you?” one asked.
“A concerned other-world citizen who just saw a titan appear in his city,” I remained vague whilst letting them know why I was here. “Now answer my question, were you the ones responsible for that?”
“O-of course not!” he blatantly lied. “We’re here at the king’s behest to, erm, retrieve old documentations.”
Ebbo, without flinching, decapitated the man. The strike was swift and sure. “I would suggest telling the truth,” he warned.
One of them drew a sword, which caused two others to follow in his footsteps. “We cannot do that, ole Ebbo,” the man said and removed his cowl.
“Commander of the Knight Corps, Bryson. I should’ve known,” Ebbo’s free fist clenched.
“Yes,” Commander Bryson nodded. “I respect a man like you, Ebbo Andran. You remained true to your code and loved your family ‘til the end. That is a strength I wish I had. Out of respect for your past achievements, resolve, character, and your impending death for trespassing here, I will tell you as much as they allowed me to know.”
“Speak,” Ebbo impatiently commanded.
Commander Bryson sighed, “Ebbo, this story is a long one, but I will make it short.” The man closed his eyes in front of us as he recalled the past, either a sigh of trust, or a foolish decision. “The jealous beastkin that reported you did so when an official for the king was in earshot. Ebbo, we were on your side, not the side of the law – we had too many near-death experiences to abandon a brother-in-arms because of some dumb law.”
“What are you saying, Bryson?” Ebbo urged him to get on with it.
“We killed the beastkin right there to shut him up. The official overheard and informed the king. Ebbo, the Knight Corps was given an ultimatum,” Bryson sighed, “you, or us. If we didn’t execute you and your family, then the king would have the Knight Corps disbanded, branded as traitors, and executed, and that fate extended to our families as well. It was either the knights, or you. Even if you were my best friend, Ebbo, I couldn’t just put you over so many innocent families and loyal knights – they didn’t deserve that.”
At that point, Ebbo looked at me. I nodded my head to approve what Commander Bryson said as truth.
“I never bothered to tell you this because I wouldn’t expect you to forgive us, but as I grow grey, and witnessed for myself the deaths of so many other brothers and sisters, of friends, of family, I understand that things like this are important to talk about. I apologise for withholding this information, old friend.”
Ebbo slumped down, probably running over a lot of decisions he’d made, and realising his anger towards the Knight Corps was unjustified. “But, I killed knights because of this…”
“Then atone by saving lives instead. Beg not for forgiveness – that can never be achieved in truth. You can’t right wrongs such as murder, but at least you can try to prevent further loss of life. That is what we’re doing here,” Commander Bryson pointed at the artefact, “this is how I atone – by learning how to stop Armageddon from happening again. And you understand, Ebbo,” he held his sword with both hands, “that you have compromised this mission.”
“Hmm,” Ebbo wiped his tears off, as well as his stupor, “so you will not stop at just my family.”
“I’m afraid not. It was a mistake to come here, old friend. You understand.” He was about to raise his sword, but my Bind put a stop to that.
“Don’t just act like I’m not here,” I complained. “That’s rude.”
“A sorcerer?!” Commander Bryson chuckled, then told his men to stand down. It seemed magic users were rather rare in Rhilstorm, and feared by all. “Maybe you know why that thing is acting strangely, sorcerer. Can you tell us?”
Donna came out, “A seal was placed on this, but it was breaking. I can feel the power leaking out of it.”
The men looked shocked. Yet another magic user manifested out of thin air – I couldn’t blame them. At this point, my clone in the void decided to ride the shock-factor out and bring everyone else back to the corporeal plane.
“Can the seal be repaired?” Pyro asked.
“Not by me,” I opted out.
“Me neither,” Donna said when Pyro’s eyes turned to her. “I can, but sealing artefacts this powerful is tricky. You’d best let Arcana do it.”
And so, Arcana did. She really was an amazing spirit lord. I pondered if I could become that powerful after I mastered arcane manipulation. “Well,” I got out of my mind, “that’s it, I guess. Mission accomplished.”
Donna shot me a weird look, “That’s it? You’re not going to lead a revolt? Dethrone the king? Make political reforms?” She got in closer and began whispering, “Don’t you want to know what beastkin feels like? Think of the cat ears, think of the fluffy bunny tail, think o–”
Could you stop thinking with your vagina for one second?
“No,” she huffed and folded her arms.
Hey, how much time do I have left? I asked, quickly changing the subject. I mentally noted Rhilstorm to be my last adventure. It was time to really get serious, and at a point like this, the arduously long and boring training montage would begin.
I could feel Dawn and Hydra squirm when they heard me ask that question; it was worded a bit morbidly, but I needed to condense my training and be as efficient as I could. Donna knew this. “You have just over a year until Apollyon appears.”
I see. Alright then, time to become a hermit. I decided to leave a clone behind to assist Pyro, and had him deal with the formalities of Methelia and Rhilstorm. The only thing on my mind at that point was my family and friends, so I spent some days with them.
After all, I wouldn’t see them for approximately one year.
It was rather selfish of me, but I gave August, Donna, Adrasteia, and Fatima those few days off, because from then on, there would be no time off. We were going to drown in training.
The first few months was a bit slow, but at the fourth month, we picked up the pace, and finally, at the sixth month, magic happened.