"That would be me," a young man in a white cloak stepped up, "Jonah.” The other wizards parted way for the one in charge. It seemed that the young man truly was the one in charge on this area of the city.

It seemed like this ‘sky city’ had an advanced police force- unlike the ‘elves’.

"And who might you be?"Jonah replied.

"Narice..."

"Tala..."

"Nick," Nick held up his hand as a quick wave.

"I apologize on behalf of the city, but anyone who triggers the barrier’s alarm must be taken into the seven warlock's. We are in a time of war right now. Without the right incantation, a passport of sorts, you are assumed to be intruders."

"Even guardians?" Nick replied.

"Oh! Guardian?!" Jonah replied.

Nick held up his hand, "It was done hastily but i am an authorized guardian."

"Hm- i truly am sorry- but i still must take you to the Seven Seats... a guardian here..." Jonah replied. 

Narice felt comfortable with this one and gave a silent nod.

Jonah took the lead- designating four other wizards to follow behind while the others were told to go back to their posts. 

Narice looked around to see an impossible sight. Below them, clouds, above them, a shining sun and a magical barrier. The city was solid. Quite a lot of activity- and he couldn’t see an end in sight. It seemed quite futuristic in its design. Like a tourist hotspot, except that tourists were imprisoned instead of treated nicely.

It actually seemed kind of like a paradise as he looked around. Floating cars, escalators, baloons, skyways- shiny buildings- even palm trees and ridiculous magic fountains- as well as a very clean appearance and futuristic technology. The streets were littered with wizards going about. The sun could be easily seen as there were no clouds to block. the only clouds were under their feet and they were able to hold up wizards in different places.

Compared to human technology - it actually seemed more advanced in some regards.

He and the rest of the group was quickly escorted. It seemed there was some knowledge of the rights of ‘guardians’ and the consequence of holding them unlawfully kept them from recieving too poor of treament.

The jewel itself indicated that they should be treated respectfully- but it was yet to be seen whether it would hold up to the Seven Seats. It wasn't exactly a passport as they hadn't been released yet, instead being guided to the judges.

Narice looked around he noticed what looked like a couple races here. What seemed like humans, goblins and orcs, were being treated as slaves- carrying around wizard's things or even carrying the wizards themselves- in special cart. Additionally - he noticed others working on the buildings. Narice wondered if that’s what happened if you came here unawares.

“What’s up with all the slave labor?” Nick asked the group.

“Don’t ask insolent-” one of the wizards spoke jabbing Nick.

Jonah cut the wizard off immediately, “Quiet! Do not treat a ‘guardian’ with disrespect.”

He then continued, “One thing that is respected here is ‘power’…” Jonah answered, “Long ago, we claimed the rights to certain species as rulers in a gamble of power…”

Jonah kept directing them through the city. Narice watched the scenery- noticing the difference in heirarchy in more detail now- Despite appearances, Narice suddenly wondered whether its governement was more primitive and less ideal.

"Almost everything here can be determined by power. Even if you come here without a permit you can earn the right to stay after proving your strength in a duel. It would work the same between wizards. but wizards aren’t foolish enough to challenge each other generally… unless it involves a matter of pride.” He drifted off.

Narice noticed that some wizards actually seemed to be underneath others.

“What about if you don’t want to ‘duel’?”"

“You have the opt out if you want depending on the circumstances- however duels are the general consensus for determining any form of disagreements. In coming here alone, you agree to these circumstances- noone here came here without intent- we do not meddle in human or other species' affairs."

“So might makes right?" Tala spoke- actually intrigued.

“Basically… with restrictions. The rules are quite detailed…and it has to follow a code of ethics determined by the ‘seven’ of old. The old ‘code’ would only be changed if a wizard was able to conquer the ‘seven’.”

“What happens if a wizard broke the law,” Narice hoped this society was a little better than dictatorial.

“They’d get judged by the seven great wizards- unless they wish to challenge the law itself, then they have the right to challenge one of the ‘seven’. Eventually when i get strong enough… but otherwise, they could be stripped of their rights, lose everything they own, put in human world… or given up to the ‘warlords’.

“How does one determine that good prevails in this society?”

This led to a philosophical turn.

“What is good? When it comes to ‘good’, the ‘great laws’ set by the ‘seven of old’ are first. After that, the will of the wizards succeeds all. All wizards take pride in promoting the will of wizards and those who have the most power have the right to enforce that. If you don’t like it… you would have to overrule it through conquering the seven- but isn’t that every society? Wizards just accept it easier so as not to get involved in petty wars,”

Narice wasn’t quite sure he liked this, but supposedly the ‘wizards’ in this city were the good ones from the ‘great war’- even if there was a slave trade and a gambling 'dueling system'. He wondered if it were a good place to live... probably for those with the power- like any other place.

----------------------------------------

Eventually they were taken to the big building in the center of the sky city- which Jonah called Arelias.

From here most of the wizards surrounding them stood outside or left.

Jonah escorted them to the ‘center’.

“‘The Gate’- it nullifies all magical powers upon entering…” he said as they entered past a ‘gate’ into the main opening.

“I’m one of the future ‘guardians’ – a trainee… If you were wondering… I’m responsible for the little stuff like this,” the young wizard said.

Narice looked at 'Tala’ and ‘Nick’ as they went through the gate. They looked surprised and paused before they were pushed forward by the wizards outside.

Narice felt a strange feeling as he passed through ‘the gate’, like he was being suppressed- but how could he be when he didn’t have any magic? Although… this wouldn’t be the first time he’d been told to have magic.

Narice followed the others.

—

“Take a look at this…” one of the council wizards looked at the readings of one of the incoming humanoids of the gate’.

“It seems that ‘Ancient’ has a pretty powerful aura… it may not be possible to fully nullify his powers whatever they may be…”

“How strong are his powers after the nullification?”

“Well, with all seven of us, it can almost nullify it… so quite powerful…”

“You mean the nullification field can’t suppress his powers?”

“Not when it’s on an aura field like it is,” one wizard spoke.

“Hm… who’s the weakest on the board?”

“The human ‘guardian’…”

“Very well…we’ll rule this as a ‘one-for-all’ ruling, and challenge the human,” the lead wizard spoke.

“Right…” the other spoke.

—

Narice followed behind the others as they were all brought to the ‘grand chamber’. They went inside of the room.

“Do you guys feel anything strange?”

“Well…” the elf said.

Nick spoke, “I think they drained our powers… my ‘jewel’ doesn’t seem to be working.”

Narice looked at the ‘finder’, “it seems that all our magic is being nullified… somehow i can read a little bit on the finder and i feel a little with the sword.”

Tala looked at Narice, “that seems unusual considering we’re in a nullification field.”

“Please enter inside…” the wizard spoke.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

They did. A large circle surrounded them- above them a group of seven wizards surrounded them. The one in the center spoke for all of them.

“You all are on trial for entering ‘sky city’ without a proper license.”

“i didn’t know any better…” Narice spoke.

“Is this rigged?” Tala said.

“The ‘guardian’ should have informed you the proper protocol. While ‘guardians’ have amnesty, you two are supposed to go through proper authority before entering.”

Nick spoke up this time, “I was not a fully trained ‘guardian’… and was not informed of this protocol.”

“Can’t we challenge someone for our rights?”

“Under normal circumstances… yes… however, with the threat of ‘Ka’atra’ we can’t let people walk around doing whatever they want without a trial.

We’d like to offer you a proposition. In turn for your ‘jewel’ we’ll grant you all amnesty and let you leave within the next three days.”

“Do we have an alternative?”

“Your ‘guardian’ can challenge our ‘wizard’ for rights for both of you… seeing as Ka’atra would never have the humility to let another challenge for him…”

Narice spoke, “If we win- then we get your jewel- seeing as we didn’t know any of this.”

“Hm…” the wizard spoke. “A jewel for a jewel… servitude for rights… a proper ruling.”

“Let us do the vow…”

A binding spell linked between the wizard and the three. Narice felt the knowledge that for some reason he ‘must fulfill the spell’.

“Somehow, it seems that these ‘wizards’ get the better chance at this deal…” Tala said.

Nick looked at Tala, “No faith? I got this.”

Tala looked at Nick and then Narice.

“They get countered by ‘elf’ magic- and they sense that you have powerful magic…they’re doing this to give themselves the advantage and take our jewel…”

Narice looked at Nick, he felt that it was best for him to let Nick give it a go, “Ok, Nick- you can do it!”

“Cool!” Nick spoke with a sense of energy that Narice was getting used to. Now that Nick wasn't stressed over the kingdom as much - it allowed him the opportunity be a youth.

---

Nick stood up in an arena connected to the Council room.

Equipped to him was the water jewel and a few items that Tala gave him. Tala seemed upset that he couldn't fight for himself so wanted to prepare Nick with everything on his person.

"Give them a good thrashing for us," Tala spoke before Nick went up into an elevator in a moderately sized arena.

Johna guided Narice and Tala It seems that there were a few people in the stands- but only those involved in the decision.

A broadcast came from an announcer in the middle.

“The challenger is 'human guardian' Nicholas- holding the water jewel."

The defender is a tier 3 wizard- standard level opponent for a 'guardian'. If you can’t beat our wizard- you have no right to be in our society… or even a ‘guardian’,” the announcer spoke.

It seemed that they took dueling seriously in this society- as determined by the tier ranking system- the arena- the detailed recording of matches to ensure fairness.

Even though their government seemed archaic and crappy Narice was grateful that they were fair with the battle so far.

Narice watched as Nick held onto the sword and a few magical objects that he could use as well as the ‘water’ jewel.

“I’ll do what I can.”

The ‘wizard’ came up. He had on a black and blue robe with a red sash. It seemed to have some sort of magical defense equipped on its wand’.

“The rules of the duel… you may use any objects currently in your possession… you are limited to your own powers and nothing else. Whoever is first to force the other to ‘give up’ is the winner. ‘Giving up’ is determined by either surrender or death…”

Death…?

Narice watched onward a bit more worried for Nick - Sure- hed been able to get a little more fat on his bones from their trek in the woods and finding food from the wild, but he was still scrawney. 

Nick and the wizard circled around each other.

“3”

“2”

“1…”

‘Begin!”

The wizard began throwing spells. Narice watched as Nick did the best he could just to block them with the sword which somehow seemed to ground it. A spell hit him in the shoulder paralyzing it. Nick was pretty badly injured, it seemed like there wasn’t a way he could win now. The wizard pointed at him again while Nick changed hands with the sword grounding it and then threw it at the wizard.

Nick threw down one of the elf’s ‘smoke bombs’- which seemed to make the field into a haze.

Narice watched as the wizard couldn’t see to cast things out of his wand and started to chant something while holding an orb instead.

However, Nick ran up to him in the smoke and hit him with a fist. It began to be a brawl where Nick backed up and began to hold up his hand at the wizard. All of the sudden the wizard seemed to be picked up. Narice wasn’t sure how. The wizard seemed to be struggling in the air and grabbed for his wand again pointing it at Nick.

Nick ran up to him and kicked away the wand and picked up the sword.

“I surrender…” came from the wizard.

Nick fell to the ground and a group of wizards ran to the room casting enchants on him.

“Don’t worry… they’re just healing spells…” Johna spoke.

After explaining what was going on he continued, “The paralysis/poison spell that hit him was a strong one-he has some strong willpower and intuition to be able to stop it.”

Narice looked at Nick with more respect than before.

“That was a good fight…” Johna said thoughtfully, “that human… is very resourceful. I wouldn’t mind helping you all. You seem to have a unique knack for power. Plus if you’re going to capture ‘Ka’atra’ I feel obligated support you.

Narice could only say what he saw, which was that Nick somehow turned it around somehow.

Narice walked inside where he was told ‘Nick’ was after the duel to find Nick on a medical bed.

“Well how did I do?” Nick said.

Tala walked in… “You’re a dangerous human,” he said, “You impressed the wizards.”

“You’re all free to go for now. You can pick up your items at the front gate in an hour,” the wizard said.

—

“Wait,” Tala spoke characteristically aggressive, “what about what you owe us?”

Narice in conjunction, “Right, “you owe us a jewel right?”

“We’ll discuss that with you. You’ve earned it. However, we can’t just let you have it without discussing the proper regulation in protecting it. When we’re done we’ll call you back.”

Narice bowed to the wizard.

“There’s no need to bow,” Tala said- a fierce anger emanated outwards towards the wizards. Narice was interested to see Tala so passionate about this- but he realized that it was coming from his strong sense of justice. He seemed to have a dislike for the wizard life.

Tala responded, “There’s a history to wizards they’ll probably not acknowledge. Wizards were initially human- given magic by begging for the help of ‘elves’. This land is an abomination to the path they promised to take.”

Narice thought this news surprising: however, nothing he’d be able to change as of now, “We need their help to stop Ka’atra.”

Tala sighed, stated his disdain, “i Understand- I do not enjoy it here…but i will tolerate it for the mission to stop K'atra.

“Alrighty then,” Narice said and walked to the gate where the supposed meeting was to take place.

----------------------------------------

A wizard rushed toward a sealed room and shut the door. He scanned the area- making sure that no magic spells could relate what was spoken inside of it.

“My lord.” a wizard looked at the shadow of an image as it appeared before him in a chamber. The chamber was a means of interacting between two locations- howbeit

“What do you have for us?” A younger man’s voice and silhouette appeared in front of the wizard. He had a commanding presence as he spoke.

“You must get your master… we have something important to discuss with him…”

“Narice has appeared…”

—

Narice was able to get a better site of the lobby now that he had time to wait. He watched an interesting character pass by, someone of a nature that took on a ghostly appearance, solely a hooded figure in a black poncho-esque shape.

As it looked at him, the scary appearance took on a more curious nature with the tilt of its ‘head’. Perhaps it was a mask or something so the character couldn’t be assumed.

The figure redirected its attention in front of itself as it was escorted into the dueling chambers.

“This way, Vega…” Narice heard the cautious tone from a wizard as he watched the figure with the black robe, staff and hunched appearance move ahead.

—

“Next in line,” “Vega.”

Whispers were heard amongst the elite wizards. The same hooded figure walked up with a staff in hand.

“Someone challenged the head wizard…” one wizard spoke to another in the backgrounds.

“Who is it?” another wizard replied.

“Vega…”

“I’ve heard of Vega… Isn’t he the famous ‘wanderer’?” yet another joined in the conversation about the new arrival.

“What’s the request he gave?”

“Only the sacrificial orb…”

“There’s no point in that item… it’s strictly a rarity item isn’t it…?”

“They’re a collector…”

“I guess we’ll see what happens from here, what are they offering?”

“A wish token…”

“Oh a great value, Vega must be pretty confident.”

Narice watched the crowd of Magicians rush to the arena.

Narice followed suit.

–

The merchants seemed to pass around things as the crowd watched on the match. Despite the short notice, it seemed that a moderate amount of the arena’s seats were full, as if this form of entertainment were the standard form of entertainment in Aurelia.

–

“You challenge our head wizard, ‘Vega’,”

“As requested, we have put a sphere. No magic can penetrate in or out of the arena to ensure a fair battle.”

The head wizard walked in. A bold figure stood a good nine feet high in the Colosseum. But not only that. An aura of magical prowess matching his stark figure also surrounded him as he entered.

Vega in comparison had a similar aura however his stature was more five-foot three.

Vega could only be determined as a dark cloak. Even the location of the face was shrouded in a dark covering.

There was nothing in particular that masked it, but the face was somehow not human.

He held up his wand while the head wizard began prepping his spells around himself- both countering and trapping spells that would be highly difficult to work around at his caliber.

As the head wizard, it was no small force to be reckoned with- all elaborately developed into the massive bulwark of spells that made a seemingly impenetrable fortress.

In fact, one lone spell had killed a high level wizard with overwhelming force of its actions.

Vega however seemed unaffected by the display of wand movements. He lifted up his wand and circled it around itself in a ready motion.

“Begin!” the commentator spoke.

The head wizard began his offensive- an elaborate display of actions began to move spells into an overall force of nature.

A turbulent rupture quaked, the shrouding of visibility, the illusions of grandeur and shrinking,

“You may have underestimated your offense- I have yet to meet an equal in knowledge of the art of magic.”

“If you had no equal…” Vega replied with an action as it swiftly gathered a hurricane around itself and the arena suddenly began to become a tundra.

The head wizard replied and spoke, “the powers of ice. You’re an ‘Ancient’!”

The head wizard began prepping a counter to the ice with a fire spell to hasten himself and maintain body temperature.

“I see you’re familiar with ice… although I think you may have underestimated my powers a bit…”

Vega moved forward with its hurricane of force that pushed its force into the arena edge and an array of the forces the wizard had cast seemed to crack in place and turn into dust.

The wizard motioned his strongest spells into a being.

“You’re too late, Vega…” as a giant serpent-like being came forward from his aura and circled itself around Vega, “I began this unspoken spell long before the rest, it’s tied to my core as the catalyst, as it reaches you you’ll be drained of all magic until your life-force vanishes. It only takes seconds to drain its victims and I have too many counters in place… surrender now…”

Vega seemed to be in straits as the hurricane of force that was surrounding her seemed to be eaten away. It seemed that it ‘ate’ magic.

The snake had fattened itself upon the hurricane as it reached Vega’s person.

“There’s nothing else but to surrender now!” the snake seemed stronger now, as if having engorged itself seemed to put its pressure onto Vega.

“You’re a-”

Before the wizard could finish speaking… he was silenced with a finger- Vega’s hand was close to the wizard’s mouth in a motion of silence.

To him and the audience, Vega suddenly appeared to teleport.

“I appreciate your concern…”

“Did you just haste yourself? That wasn’t teleportation…” he whispered with a quiet breath.

“No… Nothing so elementary.”

“But that would mean you froze time itself…-”

Vega put its finger to the wizard’s lip and the wizard suddenly became lifeless and statuesque.

“Ah… you’re quick. Perhaps I underestimated you just a little,” Vega mused aloud, “but I’ll just make you forget that bit of information.”

Vega placed a hand around the lifeless body’s aura- something around its person changed.

The crowd itself was in a hush. Its strongest wizard had been beaten by a cloaked stranger.

The commentator looked on through the fog to find it dissipate. Vega stood at the edge of the dome with hands behind its back looking through towards the commentator- the wizard frozen in the center.

“Vega has won…” the commentator spoke as the wizards spoke in hushed tones.

–

“Your wizard will be okay. He isn’t weak. You’re just no match for the likes of me…” Vega reassured one of the wizards as he took the object from the trading post.

Vega looked into the yellow and orange circling hues of the ‘orb’ and carefully tucked it into its cloak.

Ignoring the whispers of the wizards it moved into the city.

Now… where did that boy run off to?