Several people near one of the larger structures in the underground began to open one of the gates for them. Juna led the cart in and the gates closed behind them. Frederek continually walked ahead of their cart.
His place sat up on top of a rocky hill of sorts. It had a good look around the underground town that was eerily quiet.
A city beneath a city, built to accommodate a population size that did not exist. Plenty of areas looked only half done meaning at some point, the queen had given up on further expansion. That was probably for the best. Kiran didn’t think it made sense to keep devoting resources to something that wasn’t entirely needed. Maybe in another hundred years, they would need all of this space. Or maybe not. He doubted he’d make it another century so there was no way he would find out.
“You’ve got yourself a nice place here in this town,” Kiran said aloud.
“I’m almost living like a king. I’ve got myself a nice thing down here.”
“Topside too bright for you?”
Frederek laughed. “Too noisy. Too crowded. Down here, it’s peaceful—assuming you can tolerate the occasional thug. Most of them know better than to mess with me. I’ve cracked a few skulls in my time, so they’re smart enough to stay away.”
Near the front of his estate made out of black stone, Juna stopped driving the cart and several other people wearing normal clothing came over and began taking the goods off from the back. They hoisted it up in their arms usually with one person on one side and another on the opposite. In coordination they moved the crates off the cart and hauled it towards the sides of the estate likely to be led somewhere behind it.
Kiran hopped off the cart and stretched a bit. The blood rushed to his lower extremities and he felt relief not having to sit on that harsh cart seat any longer.
“You three did well getting this here.”
“It’s thanks to you that we even made it here,” Juna said.
“Yeah, well. I do what I can. I think I might have to go have a talk with whoever leads those thugs. I can’t be having my cargo getting stolen right around the corner from where I live and operate. But anyways, I don’t think I’ve seen either of you two before. Who’re you?”
“That’s Kiran,” Juna said. Kiran shook the big fellow’s hand and then he shook Lar’s hand.
“That’s a nice grip you have there,” he said towards his companion.
Lar kept grasping them and an evil smile revealed itself on her face. It appeared Frederek was impressed too since he too gripped even harder. Should I have tried to break his hand like the two of them are trying to do to each other? The more he thought about it, the more he thought against participating in such a thing.
Frederek pulled his hand away and smiled. “I like you already. Come with me. We’ll talk over a few things before you all have to go back.”
They went over the right side of the estate while people still hauled crates and barrels around to the back. As they entered the walled-off back portion of the estate, there was an open entrance leading down into a basement beneath his place. He took them down there where the sounds of crates being opened reached his ear.
“How are we looking?” Frederek asked towards the other coalition members.
“Looking good sir,” one man said. They began to pull out an assortment of unique weapons like daggers and swords which had been hidden by convenient compartments in the crates.
A look of relief ran across the big man’s face. “We’ve been needing this gear for a while. Took you all long enough to get it down here.”
“I would’ve gotten it to you sooner but you know how it is up there,” Juna said. “They like to take their time.”
“Regardless, I don’t want good work to go unearned.”
Kiran hadn’t expected for them to get paid, but a bag of jostling coins appeared as the man shoved it into Juna’s hands. “Um, you don’t have to pay us for this, you know.”
“Sure I don’t. But I want to show my appreciation. And maybe, this’ll get you to put in a good word to everybody that maybe they ought to deliver me more goods more often. Think you can do that?”
She blew air out of her mouth and made a serious gesture. “Of course. I’ll be sure to bring it up. I wouldn’t want you to be struggling more than necessary. Although, I can’t be making any promises.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be able to make such a promise. But I know you’ve at least got my back.” He gently punched her in the shoulder and had a good laugh. “Well I better not keep you three away too long. It’ll be dark by the time you return to the surface so you all better get going.”
“Be good Frederek. Don’t let the shadows down here kill ya or anything like that.”
“If shadows could kill, I would’ve been dead thirteen years ago.”
It was just a delivery mission but he felt good having accomplished it. They had been stopped by guards and been nearly assaulted. All in all, he could feel good for it going mostly as planned.
Juna whistled as they walked along the darkened side of the estate. There wasn’t much light that reached this area so it was like wading through a dark forest in the middle of the night. His eyes tried to adjust however granting him better sight of their surroundings.
She stopped whistling as she walked a few feet ahead of them. “Hoghdar will be pleased to hear our cargo made it to its destination. Oh and don’t let me forget once we get back to pay you two. We’ll split this bag of coin between ourselves.”
The thought of being paid was quite a nice thought. He had earned a little bit of money while working at The Drunken Pony, but all of it was gone. I should buy Della something nice. What would she like though? That is the question.
Lar looked at him funny. “What’s with the weird look?”
“Oh I don’t know. I just thought I might know what you’re thinking about.”
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“Is that so?”
“I’m not dumb. She’s all you ever think about besides food.”
“Who are you two talking about?” Juna asked as they neared their cart.
“It’s this lady he’s seeing.”
“Kiran has a lady? Oooooh, you have to tell me all about her!”
Oh great. Now our journey back just got a whole lot more fun.
After spending what must’ve been an hour informing Juna of Della, he was about ready to pass out. The cart made it back to the wooden platform and he was ready to plug his ears closed as both Juna and Lar toyed with him about the woman he was quite fond of.
“I think he’s had quite enough of us Lar.”
“I think you’re right.”
Kiran gripped his seat with both of his hands feeling his fingernails digging into the wood. “Enough now. You two have had your fun.”
The platform began to go up. The chains and gears motioned and his body ascended from the underground city that lay beneath Liall.
“Now that you two have quietened down,” he said as they crossed their arms and slouched back in their seats. “As I’ve been trying to ask for the last hour, I need some ideas of what I should get for her. You two are women. So what do women like to receive as a gift?”
“I mean,” Juna said and lifted a finger up into the air. “You could get her all kinds of things. What kind of things does she like?”
He was seriously trying to think about what she might like. She had mentioned once about really enjoying some candy from a merchant down the same street the inn was on. “She likes candy. Maybe I should get her that.”
“Everyone likes candy,” Lar said. “What you should get her is something more permanent.” That’s not a bad idea. But what exactly should that be?
“Any ideas then?”
“Not the faintest clue.” Well isn’t that convenient.
“If all else fails get her some candy,” Juna said. “But be thinking of something nice perhaps that she could wear or keep close to remember you by as Lar suggests.”
Hmm. I might have to go looking around and see what I can find. There’s a whole city full of merchants and shops out there. There must be something neat that I can find.
Sometime soon in the future, he would have to go searching, but for now at least, he finished off his day by returning to Juna’s place to rest up.
A couple of days later, he found himself at the coalition location this faction continued to primarily work out of. Inside one of the smaller rooms near the entrance, he entered and spotted Lorek eagerly awaiting him.
“Assuming you haven’t taken the necklace off, we can proceed with determining your arcane affinity.”
Kiran pulled off the necklace and handed it to him. “I made sure to wear it since I got it.”
“Very good. Now, let us go and see what the results are.”
They left this particular room for another room on the second floor. This one was rather empty of things on the inside. All it had upon the scratched and worn wooden floors was a circular table and a strange device standing a few feet away from it. On the device, Lorek attached the necklace to it.
He was somewhat intrigued by how he would uncover his so-called arcane affinity.
Upon the center of that table, a handful of a sand-like substance fell onto it from their open palm. Once enough found its way on the table, the sorcerer backed away and wiped their hand along their robe-like attire. “Now then. Let us begin.”
With an outstretched palm, they directed it towards the necklace being propped up by the strange device. Subtle energy moved within the jewel. It began to move around more rapidly and noticeably as Lorek muttered an incantation.
A bright light began to exude from the jewel and a low toned ear penetrating sound reverberated out.
The sand-like material on the circular platform began to move in a strange pattern. This is quite odd. The tone given off by the jewel caused the material to shift around and form a variety of patterns he hadn’t ever seen before. The tone didn’t stay the exact same. It went up and down until eventually, Lorek completed the incantation. It kept a moderately high tone causing the sand to stabilize in a star-shaped pattern.
“Depending on the pattern shown, it will illuminate us to your arcane affinity.”
“What does this pattern tell you?”
They stood beside the platform looking down over it. While star-shaped, it was not like the ordinary shape of a star. It had odd angles and strange non-random geometry.
Lorek nodded their head. “Your arcane affinity is towards projection-based magic.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“It is certainly not a bad thing. I should note that although you will benefit the most towards using projection-based magic, that doesn’t mean you cannot use magic outside of it. Although it will be much harder for you if you choose to do so. Take a healing spell for example. Those are usually the hardest to learn unless your arcane affinity is towards healing which yours is clearly not. Another way to think about this situation in regards to where to devote your efforts towards honing your magical abilities is to think of an arcane affinity like you would with specialization in other areas. It doesn’t make sense for someone who is specialized in wood making to also specialize in another craft such as blacksmithing. While they could try to specialize in both, it will result in them likely never truly mastering one or the other. And then add on to the wood maker having a natural talent towards that area while lacking it in the other.”
So I shouldn’t mess with magic outside of projection-based magic according to him. Easy enough I guess.
“And what all kinds of magic falls in line with projection magic specifically?”
“Many kinds in fact. The most popular spells revolve around projecting weapons and being able to utilize them physically. It’s also a convenient one for someone who is not only a sorcerer but also someone who knows how to fight with any melee weapon you can think of. And in a city like this where carrying a sword is illegal, unless of course you fall under some of the exemptions, being able to project a sword via magic is quite convenient.”
It certainly sounded convenient. If he could start projecting swords, he didn’t have to worry about being unarmed any longer.
Lorek ended the spell that affected the necklace. A quiet peaceful sound occupied the room. His brain had managed to mostly ignore the somewhat annoying sound but now that it was gone, he felt much better.
“Since we know now definitively what your arcane affinity is, we can begin focusing on that area primarily. Let us begin training tomorrow. I believe I am available when Asum is usually done with his training.”
Before leaving, he learned a few other details to help get him to understand the world of magic a little better. He imagined his past self knew all of this already, but that knowledge had been taken away from him like most of the rest. One of the details he learned from Lorek was that the official description for someone with a projection-based affinity like himself was otherwise regarded as a Projector.
Projection magic had a wide range of uses. He had been using it unknowingly during certain circumstances already such as when he cast a barrier around his body during one fight with one of the queen’s knights. Lar was also using projection magic since they regularly projected or summoned a fauchard to fight with on numerous occasions.
As far as what interested him, he certainly felt favorable towards this affinity. There were plenty of others apparently but he hadn’t gotten the chance to know of them all. Lorek had other things to get to, leaving Kiran to have to find out another time.
And as he suggested, just because he was more likely to get more out of focusing on projection magic than other forms of magic, that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn outside of it. Time would have to tell, whether he went beyond where his body naturally leaned towards.