Far below them, Walibeld shifted, crouching low, before leaping up the entire rock cliff in one swift movement, landing lightly at the top, and extending his hand to help Leo up.

“Well done, both of you. I had intended to step in if either of you fell, but I’m actually more impressed with your quick thinking, Trenton. Split second decision making is critically important, and can save a life if you’re quick enough,” Walibeld said, gesturing to Leo with his head.

Panting heavily, body slick with sweat, Leo took Walibeld’s hand, letting Walibeld pull him to his feet.

“So…why did we do that ag-again?” Leo said, doubling over to try and catch his breath.

“The nuances are relatively important, and I worry I would tell it incorrectly even if I tried, so I’ll just give the brief overview. If you want more specifics, you’ll have to talk to Era about it when we reach the academy. I assume you’re familiar with presence and its mechanics?” Walibeld said, looking over at Leo.

“Uhhhh…Ule always said that it’s the physical manifestation of power, but I don’t really know what that means. You move it around, I guess, and it feels kind of like liquid. Uhhhh…it makes you stronger if you focus it in the right areas, and…that’s about it, I think,” Leo said, slowly listing things off on his fingers.

Walibeld began to mutter under his breath, shaking his head. “I told Ule to be more specific. It’s a really-whatever.”

“Wait, were you in contact with Ule?” Leo asked.

Walibeld shook his head. “Yes and no. Mostly no. Ule was talented, but had less field experience than I do. Every now and then he’d ask to consult me on a matter regarding your training, and I would answer. I told him he should take a couple months to thoroughly explain what presence is, but it sounds like he didn’t do that. Or if he did, he wasn’t thorough enough. Come, I’ll explain it as we move. I suppose I’ll also take the time to explain what I’ve in mind for training,” Walibeld said, starting to make his way through the dense tree covering on the top of the cliff.

This area was hilly with sudden bursts of elevation and small cliffs at every turn, but compared to the climb they just went through, it was practically child's play. As they walked, they trailed alongside the river creating the waterfall, the rushing hum of the flowing water creating a nice undertone to the conversation.

“Since we’ll need to be constantly on the move, it’ll be difficult to get any concentrated time to focus on training. If I see a fine spot as we move, I can allow us some hours stop to try it, but otherwise I’d like to keep us making headway,” Walibeld quickly vaulted over a ledge, not even the slightest inflection of strain in his voice as he continued speaking. “For the most part, we’ll be making camp earlier than we have in the past, and I’ll use the excess time to either do one on one sessions, or group sessions. Ideally, I’d focus on refining all of your fundamentals: presence control, casting, and combat; however, we haven't the luxury of time, so I’ll have to pick and choose what lessons I impart first. Any one of the three could technically see great results, but of them, I’m most hesitant to focus on presence. It’s by far the most complex. Most soldiers barely scratch the surface of what it’s capable of, even after years of vigorous training and practice. You two already know the basics of how to move and fortify with your presence, so I’ll consider that good enough for now. I think there’s someone who could teach you presence mastery better than I could, anyway,” Walibeld jumped off a small cliff, landing heavily on his feet and continued forward whilst Leo and Trenton scrambled to keep up. “I myself have rather poor presence control, at least compared to some others. Typically, someone born without magic like myself would completely forgo magic training, instead focusing only on presence and combat. However, I was very young when I started traveling the plains, much younger than you two were now, and I had no teacher. As such, I was unable to grasp the finer mechanics of presence until much later in life. On top of that, I unlocked my aspect when I was very young, before I was even an adult,” he stopped, looking over his shoulder, “an adult by human standards, I mean,” he continued on. “It’s incredibly rare to unlock your aspect before you’ve turned 18. Era and I actually put some time studying the phenomenon, but the most we found was that there seems to be some sort of blocker in the mind which prevents aspects from being unlocked before this point. Some people, however, are able to break past this limiter, forcing their aspect forward out of sheer willpower. These are the types that you’ll generally see unlock their aspect at the climax of a life or death moment,” he trailed off for a moment, seemingly lost in what he'd saying. The sleep deprivation still seemed to be getting to him. “Oh, right. Anyways. When you unlock your aspect before you’re an adult, a couple different things can happen. Firstly, you're far more likely to permanently alter or damage yourself. The young simply can't handle the sudden burst of power that aspect provides. Secondly, you’ll tend to sacrifice your ability to cast magic and control your presence. I’m uncertain as to why, I recall there being some specific explanation for it, but generally you alter something within your brain, which makes it easier to use aspect, but magic casting and presence control become much more difficult. Think of it like an exchange. In exchange for the immediate power required to save your life, you sacrifice the other pieces of your power. Over my many years, I’ve managed to regain my hold on my presence, but finer control still eludes me, the likes you would see one of the 5 kings use. Well, except for the Conqueror,” Walibeld finished, walking over to the river to refill his canteen.

“It’s hardly fair to compare yourself to the kings. It’s not like anyone can really stand up to them, anyway,” Trenton said, finally managing to catch up to Walibeld.

“Not so. There’s actually another classification, one just below the title of king, which some couple dozen people fall into–archmages–they’re called. It’s defined by being able to cast a certain level of spell and is a title officially certified by Era, but I won’t bother getting into that today.”

“Are you an archmage?” Leo asked, catching up to both of them.

“I am,” Walibeld responded curtly.

“How does that work? I thought you could only cast spells if you had magic?” Leo asked again, cocking his head to the side.

“Aspect and magic casting both qualify as spells,” Walibeld said, clearly growing more tired.

“Do you know many of the other archmages, since you seem to know everyone of importance already?” Trenton asked, the mocking comment lost on the delirious Walibeld.

“I know some of them, but not all,” Walibeld rubbed his temple, “I’ll list the ones I can remember, but I might miss some. I’m awfully weary, if you would believe it. Let’s see…wait, hold on. I believe I have a list of the ones I’ve met before,” Walibeld stopped for a moment, rifling around in his deep pocket. “Here it is. It’s a list of all the archmages I’ve personally met and their titles. I made it recently in response to a request from Era, so it’s in no particular order,” he handed the paper to Trenton and started to walk again.

Kvarik Willdon the Keeper

Peravus Firevain the Explosive

Arnis Dunestrider the Desert Guardian

Mally Inkish the Hero

Era Yilldon the Scholar

Verulius the Forsaken

Parifice Irving the Frozen

Lairick Parsis the Blood Reaver

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Rema the Mad Witch

“There are others, of course, but this is the list I keep close at hand. Technically, the five kings, their hands, the guardians, the chosen (some of them), as well as some others qualify for the title of archmage, but I’ve neglected them from this particular list as they have other titles more suited to them,” he paused for a moment, a mirthful smile appearing on his lips. “Actually, now that I think about it, by the current definition of archmage, the Conqueror isn’t one of them.”

“What? Are you kidding?” Trenton said, suddenly turning away from the document in his hands.

“To be an archmage, you need to be capable of a Zenith cast, the highest tier of spell. The Conqueror has no aspect. In fact, he's the only intelligent being in existence without presence, magic, or aspect,” Walibeld said, looking over his shoulder when he doesn’t get an immediate response. “Is that not common knowledge?” Walibeld tilted his head, looking up at the sky. “Right. I guess Zalis was the one who told me that. Well, in any case, it’s true as far as I’m aware. I’ve seen him fight once before, and it certainly was a spectacle.” Walibeld said.

“Without magic or aspect, all he would have is physical strength. But without presence, he shouldn’t have that either. That makes no sense,” Trenton said, handing the document back to Walibeld.

“You’re correct. I actually have no idea why he’s so strong. He's a rather…serious individual. Not the type to talk about himself much, or ever, really,” Walibeld said, pushing some low hanging branches out of his face, nearly snapping them clean off of the tree.”

Trenton and Leo walked in a stunned silence for several minutes, trying desperately to congest all the information they’d just been given. The Conqueror without presence, magic, or aspect? It was unheard of.

“How does he fight, then?” Leo said, pulling his head out of his hands.

“The best way I can describe it is that he was the manifestation of physical perfection. He is far and away the strongest man on the continent, physically, at least. So in essence, he kills things by hitting them really, unbelievably hard. It sounds absurd, until you see it in person. Then, it becomes a lot more terrifying. I’ll say he’s much more akin to a walking mountain than a man, if any of that helps clarify your question,” Walibeld said.

Trenton thought to say something, to ask some sort of question that would dispel the confusion plaguing him, but as he was formulating his thoughts, they pushed out past the last couple of trees, coming to another cliff like the one near Aria. It wasn't surprising given how much climbing they’d been doing over the last several days. Trenton hadn’t really thought about it at the time, but they were slowly gaining elevation as they went along. That, and the climb they just did was a really quick jump upwards.

The three of them walked to the edge of the cliff, savering the new scenery and the slowly setting sun, its fading twinkle a brilliant golden glow. Far beneath them, a dense covering of greens masked the ground, creating a visage of calm, peaceful terrain, except for the many towering spires of earth reaching up hundreds of feet, wreathed in various plants. Unlike the pillars around the destroyed Aria, these looked much more natural, having the same bouldering pattern as many of the cliffs around them. In fact, the only part of the scene before them that wasn’t natural, the first manmade structures in many miles, were the many bridges spanning the length of the valley, connecting the pillars together to form an easy traveling path. It was convenient, sure, and would give them a reprieve from the incessant climbing for the time they spent traversing the valley, but it didn’t make any sense. Even if someone was in this area before, it seemed unlikely that they’d see fit to create such grand structures just to pass through. The amount of energy it would take to even create one of these bridges left Trenton stunned just thinking about it. It’d be easier by far to just walk the floor.

“If you’d believe it, this area actually isn’t a natural formation. The spires and bridges were all the work of some geomancer a long time ago,” Walibeld said, his left hand resting on the pommel of his sword.

“Really? How can you tell?” Trenton asked, eyeing the massive pillars of irregular stone.

“Magical residuals. They’re faint, but I can feel them in the stone all around this area, kind of like a faint humming feeling. Although, you probably won’t be able to feel it. Whoever was responsible for this did it long before I was born at least, so any traces are practically gone by now,” he strainted himself, walking to the very edge of the cliff. “Come on, let’s keep moving. The bridges will make for some light travel until we reach the other side,” Walibeld started to move forward, but something felt off. Something was wrong.

“Wait,” Trenton said, holding out his hand to stop Walibeld. From the ground beneath him, he felt faint vibrations, like the tumbling of stones, except it was all around him. Geomancers have a particular sense known as geoesthesia, or the ability to feel the vibrations of movement’s through stone. Although anyone could feel this, geomancers experienced this sensation at a sensitivity hundreds or even thousands of times sharper than others, depending on the individual. Notably, Trenton’s geoesthesia was incredibly sharp, among the best in the world, Walibeld once said. In the past, Trenton was able to feel earthquakes or tremors several minutes before anyone else, giving others a heads up about impending danger. But, this was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. it was violent, angry, and absolutely everywhere, like an army of footsteps all overlapped on top of each other and spread throughout the entirety of the ground beneath them. “I feel something…but I don’t know what it is. It’s almost like…shovels? Maybe digging of some kind? But it feels like it’s everywhere. I can’t sense an end or a source.’

Walibeld’s eye widened. He grabbed the back of their heads, and pushed everyone low to the ground among the brush.

“Stay absolutely still. No movement. No talking,” he said, eye scanning the horizon for whatever worried him.

The shaking got stronger, and stronger, and stronger until Trenton couldn’t even tell which direction was up or down anymore. It felt as if the whole world was collapsing in on him, its many images blurring together like smoke. Across the valley, on a cliff some miles out, a massive mouth, the likes of which would put even mountains to shame, burst from the ground, its thousands of razor sharp teeth and two massive pincers destroying the crumbled earth as it plowed through the ground. It was an earthworm, an earthworm so unbelievably large that Trenton could not even fathom the scale of destruction it brought with it. Only as it continued tunneling towards them, its maw hanging eternally open, could Trenton begin to understand exactly what they were faced with. This beast wasn’t designed to just dig through the dirt. It was designed to eat it–to consume everything and anything in its way–which currently just so happened to be Trenton, Walibeld, and Leo.

The worm leapt out of the ground of the opposing cliff, its body sailing in a majestic arc, before landing on one of the earth spires, consuming it whole and sliding into the earth as if it were water. In fact, when the worm’s mouth made contact with the earth, the ground around it began to ripple and crack outwords, massive waves consisting of thousands of tons of stone assaulting outwards in every direction.

Destruction

The many pillars of stone and bridge supports, standing stalwart against the oncoming tidal wave of rubble and stone, crumble the moment they are hit, only adding to the chaos surrounding them. Were it not for Walibeld holding Leo and Trenton to the ground, they would have been thrown into the air the moment the creature struck the earth. What sort of calamity was this? How can something like this even exist? Below them, the forest quickly became a wasteland resembling horrible destruction done to Aria, not even slightly resembling the landmass it was moments prior. The pillars were gone, buried under crags bursting from the earth, the trees were strewn all about, intermixed randomly with segments of spiked earth, and the bridges were gone completely, it wasn’t even possible to tell where they were anymore, all in the span of just a few seconds. Trenton tried to watch what was happening, tried to perceive the horrible beast as it ripped through the world made of paper, but he couldn’t. The world was collapsing, and he couldn’t even see it.

The beast leapt just before the cliff they were on, undoubtedly having traveled the remaining couple miles underground, its colossal mouth looming before them as a pit of absolute annihilation–absolute death. It was coming right at them.

Unbeknownst to Trenton in this moment, Walibeld made a call, an executive decision he had no time to debate or consider. Anyone else in this position might have hesitated, panicked when faced with unyielding power, but Walibeld did not. He knew full well the dangers of inhibitions on the battlefield, particularly well versed with its greatest client. It was do or die. Walibeld calmly opened his left eye and spoke a word–a single word–one which made the very air around them reverberate with energy.

“Displace,” he said.

Neither Trenton nor Leo noticed this happening, the current threat before them fully consuming their attention, but in a moment, the same moment that the worm’s mouth blotted out the rest of the world around them–they were gone–as if they were never even there in the first place.