Chapter 15 - Answers, Torture and a Tyrannical Likeness

The boys, deep in their conversation and playing with the heavy stones, only noticed that everyone else had stopped and was staring at them when the voice spoke from behind them.

“Well, I might have some answers for you.”

“Wha-?” Palinus started as he noticed Bruchts and Rufian looking behind him with slack expressions. He dropped the stone he was holding and quickly turned to see what they were looking at.

He recognised Censor Caelus from his white robes lined with colours; he came to the Gymnasium weekly to give droning lectures on the dangers of rifts and essentia. Up close he didn’t seem like such a caricature of an old citizen, and Palinus sensed a well of power within him.

“Come.” He directed and turned without waiting.

The boys followed Censor Caelus, walking behind him respectfully as they left the Gymnasium and walked towards the 7th Hill Temple.

“I have done this many times,” Caelus said, keeping his voice soft and forcing the boys to come closer to hear him. “You will have many questions, and unfortunately less time than we normally would. So I suggest you make the most of it.”

Bruchts and Rufian remained quiet, but Palinus was bursting with questions, and struggled to settle on what to ask.

“Is it our different classes that is making us sore in different spots?” He asked.

“Astute observation, boy. Yes, each class will direct the empowerment from the rift in different ways. If we had the time I would give you a full lesson.” The Censor waved his hands as he spoke and projected panels of light which let him make notes that hovered in the air around them as they walked and he spoke. “For brevity's sake the simplest way to describe the rift empowerment is that each class provides boosts relevant to its key strengths and purpose which are either physical in nature or the application of essentia. Traditionally we call the measurement of the rift empowerment statistics.

The Physical Statistics:

Strength - Enhances the delver's muscles, increasing speed, striking power, and lifting capacity.

Resistance - Fortifies the delver's body and mind, reducing damage taken from both physical and elemental attacks.

Vitality - Enriches the delver’s blood, allowing for greater damage absorption and health points within the rift, while also promoting better bodily function and reducing fatigue.

Mastery - Empowers the hand and the essentia flows of the delver, making their movement, attacks and ars faster and more efficient.

Mastery crosses over into the essentia statistics and can be found in classes with both a physical aspect and an essential aspect.

The Essential Statistics:

Area - Expands the radius of influence for an Ars.

Force - Determines the volume of essentia that flows through a calculii into the Ars, affecting its impact; for instance, a cone effect may be broader, or an attack targeting multiple foes might hit an additional target.

Power - Represents the intensity of the essentia used in an Ars.

So your body and essentia have retained some combination of these empowerments, which is why you feel sore in different ways."

“That makes sense, so I-” Palinus said, digesting the information.

“Wait, wait. We’re nearly there… and humour an old man, I like to guess.”

The temple was less busy now that the morning gathering was over. Censor Caelus took the steps two at a time, practically skipping up to the entrance and the boys jogged to follow, with shared raised eyebrows.

“This way boys,” he led them to an unremarkable door in the antechamber that he opened to reveal a narrow spiral staircase that went up to the roof and down into the ground.

“Wow, this goes really far down.” Rufian whispered as they travelled downwards into the earth.

“Maybe we are going down to the nexus?” Palinus postulated.

They were surprised when the censor laughed, he was further down in front and they wouldn’t have thought he would hear them.

“We are miles away from the Erulean Nexus, but you are partially right.” Caelus said as they reached the bottom of the stairs which opened up to a small room with three doors and a bench.

“This is the 7th Hill Sub-Nexus, also known as the Sanguine Gate.”

With a dramatic flourish he opened the door in front of them which opened to a natural cavern. Before they could look closer the boys were struck with a wave of force that felt like their insides were being squeezed up through their throat as their essentia surged in response to the light from the cavern.

The cavern was dominated by a massive beam of light that came into the cavern from somewhere above them. It had jagged edges and the various colours within it swirled and eddied to make it seem more liquid than light as it surged in an overwhelming torrent. Struggling to stay standing with the force emanating from the doorway, Palinus could feel the raging power of the essentia that the beam represented.

In the middle of the cavern the beam struck a gigantic red crystalline structure which glowed with the swirling force and re-directed it into a tight pink beam that shot off down a tunnel tiled with reflective panels off into the distance.

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The floor far below them was scarcely lit despite the bright lights of the essentia flows and he couldn’t make out the bottom of the cavern. Deep in the gloom he could see enormous something sprawled around underneath the red crystal. He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, but it looked like it was moving.

Censor Caelus was cackling as he stood by the door.

“Good, good job boy! Yes, excellent.” As he closed the door Palinus felt the pressure on his body and mind lessen and slowly fade.

He hadn’t noticed until the door closed fully that Bruchts and Rufian had passed out and lay where they fell on the floor.

“What was that?”

“I told you. The sub-nexus.” Caelus said distractedly, as he pulled out a piece of vellum and took some quick notes. He pulled out what looked like a long multi coloured nail and faster than Palinus could register the Censor had stabbed it into the teenager's arm.

“Ow,” Palinus said lamely, it didn’t really hurt as much as it was a response to the surprise.

Caelus pinched the nail where it had stopped in Palinus’s skin.

“Do not touch the wound.”

Before Palinus could respond he had taken the nail out with a tug and was looking at the lines of colour on the nail. He slapped Palinus’s hand as he unconsciously reached up to put pressure on the small hole in his arm that was leaking blood from the puncture.

With a rhythm that showed that he had done this many times the Censor wiped the nail clean and repeated the jab to the two boys still lying on the ground. As he checked the markings on the nail and added to his notes he kept looking up at the wall. Palinus turned to note a sand timer running on the wall behind them.

As he turned back he saw Cealus poking at the wound on Bruchts arm. It had already dried up and scabbed over. The Censor moved over to look at Rufian whose wound was not far behind the big blonde boy.

Caelus was tapping his stylus impatiently as he stared at Palinus’s arm. It made the boy feel uncomfortable, like he was a piece of meat at the market, and he struggled to not put his hand on the wound.

A few moments later Caelus made a note and Palinus realised that his puncture had finally scabbed. It had healed far faster than a normal body should have, but he felt inadequate comparing himself to his friends now stirring on the floor.

“Come in here, boy.” Caelus opened the door on the right and ushered Palinus into the tiny room.

Filling most of the room was a long copper tube connecting to the wall on the right side, surrounded by hundreds of lenses on long arms that would allow the lenses to be placed into the tube.

The tube pointed at two padded arms, shoulder width apart poking from the wall with a panel of tiles behind them. The Cesnor pointed him to the arms.

“Squat when I say go.” He said as he fiddled with the tube, setting several lenses into their respective slots in the tube.

As Palinus followed the instructions he placed himself under the arms in a squatting position as he prepared to lift the arms. They squatted under weights frequently in physical training so he knew exactly what to do as he got in position.

Ready to go, he could see along the barrel of the tube, it looked to be reflective inside and he could see several green lenses already in place.

“Hmm, the mother… pure red? HmmmMMMmm.” Caelus was muttering as he placed the lenses in the tube. “The question is… how much black from the father?”

As the Censor muttered he paid no attention to Palinus. He did not know who his father was, which was not abnormal for the child of a high ranking female citizen. It was however a revelation that someone other than his mother knew who his father was.

“GO!” The questioning train of thought was lost as Caelus ordered him to perform the squat. The arms weighed barely anything as he stood straight under them without effort.

As soon as he reached his full height Caelus pulled something on the tube and Palinus was instantly punched in the chest with a blast of green light. It felt like he had been scalded with boiling water and smacked with a sledgehammer at the same time and he screamed as he tried to drop the weight and step away from the blast.

Before he could, the light stopped and staggering away from the arms Palinus sat down on the floor. Rubbing his chest.

The Censor ignored him as he took a torch stone off the wall and a device that looked like a small copper tube. He moved to the tiles behind the weighted arms and was looking through the tube at the tiles behind. From his seat on the floor Palinus noted a clear green glow.

Satisfied with his reading Caelus made some notes and pulled a small lever next to the arms, it caused an audible thunk from behind the wall and the tiles instantly stopped glowing green as the lever returned by itself to the up position.

“Again.” Caelus impatiently gestured at Palinus to get up as he shuffled the lenses expertly around the device.

Rubbing at his chest, Palinus slowly stood to run the test again. As a child in Erulea was used to corporal punishment and he didn’t doubt that the Censor wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him more than the light would if he didn’t comply promptly.

“This one won’t hurt as much.” The Censor said reassuringly, sensing the reluctance.

Preparing to lift the arms, Palinus instantly noticed that they felt heavier. With trepidation he looked down the tube device and grimaced as he waited.

“Go.” The command came.

Palinus grunted as he lifted the arms resting on his shoulders, he pushed them up and stood at his full height. As soon as he reached the top of the movement he was punched again by a blast of light. This time the light was distinctly blue, and it hurt just as much as the first jolt.

“I lied.” Caelus laughed unsympathetically as he again prodded at the tiles that glowed a strong blue, testing them with the same handheld device. Grunting in satisfaction he made another note. “Good news. We don’t need to run those again, we just have one more test and I think you will find it much less uncomfortable. Again.”

Palinus shuddered as he rubbed his chest and considered objecting to another test.

“Hurry up boy. We still need to get through the other two and I have places to be.” Censor Caelus swatted Palinus with a bolt of white light he shot from his finger which hit him on the face, jolted him uncomfortably and gave him an odd coppery taste in his mouth.

Moving only quickly enough to avoid another bolt he prepared to face another blast of light. As he prepared to lift he noticed that the arms were truly heavy and Palinus sensed that he would struggle to lift them. Squatting low beneath them and preparing for the pain to follow he readied himself.

“Go!”

Heaving. With his teeth gritted, and his face going red. Palinus slowly pushed the arms up until he was standing. His whole body was shaking as he hit the top of the movement.

A blast of red light shot from the barrel in front of him. But, it didn’t hurt.

He almost sighed with relief as he dropped the arms and stepped away.

The tiles behind where he had stood had an outline of a body standing in front of them in a dull red and Caelus examined the hue closely this time. Shifting from side to side he considered the tiles. With an air of excitement he rushed out the door and came back with a stack of tiles of very similar red tones to compare the light. He held them up to the dully glowing tiles, comparing the colours closely through the device he carried. A few minutes later he jotted down his notes and turned with a smile to Palinus.

“You were offered the Red Mage class.” He grinned and waited expectantly for confirmation.

Palinus nodded. “You can tell that from those tiles?”

“Yes, and your stats...but I can also tell you aren’t a true red mage.” He paused for effect. “Your attunement is right on the border of two, quite portentous aspects.”

Caelus seemed extremely excited.

“You are either a variant blood mage… something like the Blood Pilum” He said, his voice pitching up with excitement.. “... or you are a smoke mage. Like the First Tyrant!”