“Huh?” Marissa looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. Whatever answer she had been expecting, it wasn’t remotely close to what I had said. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I’ve said.” I responded looking at the artificial violet sky. That dome had certainly polluted our beautiful skyline. “If we are going to set a goal, better get big ones, no?”
Ten years ago we were attacked out of nowhere by the dragonborn of the Houtz Imperium, and as soon as the attack began, it ended with the erection of this magical megastructure. Commonly known as, the violet sky.
“Yes… I mean, no!” She faced some sort of inner moral dilemma. “Why would you want to take down our line of defense?”
“Because it isn’t one.” I told her. “It’s a display of the High’s Arcanist ego. Oh, how mighty is he, separating a whole nation, a whole race, from the entire world. The true pinnacle of isolationism!” I raised one hand to the dome and kept the other behind my back.
“Wait… You aren’t doing it because of the dragons?”
Did Marissa think I was one of those nutjobs that wanted revenge against the flying reptiles? I swayed my head to negate her claim.
“Then why?” She hadn’t figured out yet the solution.
“Well, there are a lot of reasons,” I spoke. “Setting a dream of doing something rather impossible is one, maybe end this draconid and self-imposed siege upon the city is another, and plenty more excuses come to my mind. But my main reason, what motivates me, is that the High Arcanist has gained my hate.”
“When did that happen?” Even if Marissa’s words sounded lost, I could see the hint of intelligence in her eyes. She was analyzing me in detail. A small show demonstrating she wasn’t the little girl from those years ago.
I sighed. “Haven’t you been listening to me? That thing in the sky isn’t a defense against the Imperium, it's propaganda, a way to say ‘who has it bigger’ from the High Arcanist. If he really wanted, with our legions and his might alone, this war could end.”
This ploy was something that the ellari had seemed to obviate. They thought the High Arcanist was the holiest of wardens, but to me, something smelled quite foul at play. I was not certain if it was because of my soul’s knowledge, the memories of my previous incarnation, but when I saw the face of the strongest mage on that hologram years ago, I knew that wasn’t the face of someone you could rely on.
Yes, I know. It was stupid being guided by a hunch, especially one of uncharted origins. Yet I was led to believe my words. The High Arcanist had displayed impossible power with astonishing ease, if someone who created an unbreakable barrier across a whole island in a matter of minutes wasn’t capable of defeating a bunch of dragons, then something was wrong with this world.
“So… you are saying that the High Arcanist is toying with us.” Marissa came to that conclusion somehow.
“Not like that, but more or less.” I sighed. “His actions make no sense whatsoever. Why build a needlessly big barrier, when you could use that power to eradicate the enemies’ offensive?”
“There must be a plan behind it.” She made a good point.
“Oh, Marissa. I don’t deny that. I am sure there’s a solid intention behind his actions.” Though I couldn’t explain them or understand the reason. “But I assure you those intentions aren’t beneficial to the city.”
******
Edrie suddenly talked about conspiracy theories about our government that was related to an event that had occurred a decade ago. The Wyrm's Landing was important and recent in the minds of the people, I wouldn’t deny that, but why bring it now? And especially today? Shouldn’t today be a day of celebration now that we graduated from school?
His words seemed fueled by paranoia rather than anything else, yet they contained some truth. Maybe the dome wasn’t protecting us? I looked at the violet sky that had become the norm these last years.
“How are you going to do it then?” I asked him. Edrie never spoke out from passion alone. He always backed up his affirmations with countless foundations. “The taking the dome down plan.”
“It’s not a plan, but a goal.” Edrie rolled his eyes as if I had said the biggest stupidity of the day, though that was reserved for him. “And I already stated it was unrealistic. A man can dream, Marissa. I’m mostly certain that a pair of adolescents aren’t able to overthrow the government.”
“Why bring it up then?” He had become a dense fog, impossible to see through, undecipherable, these last years.
“Challenge drives us forward.” The serious glimmer in his lavender eyes struck me true. “Always has been, Marissa. Since childhood, we were one-upping ourselves to be better than the other. This time, we aren’t rivals, but teammates. And our nemesis isn’t an equal, but the greatest mage in the world. Doesn’t that excite you?”
I skipped a heartbeat as I felt my blood pumping faster and faster. He was right, we thrived in competition, and his words bolstered my ambition. And our challenger was the mightiest of all. His melancholic face, looking at the tainted ceiling and then moving towards me, showed everything I needed to be persuaded.
“And now…” Edrie raised his arm, pointing with the index finger, “En Garde!”
“Wait what!” I had no time to react before he spellcasted an Arcane Bolt towards me.
He was being serious. Spellcasting a sixth-star offensive spell out of nowhere wasn’t colloquially considered a greeting of peace, but a welcoming of battle.
I spellcasted a simple Air Wall while I readied stronger offensive spells. Amidst my Cyclone Blade conjuration, Edrie dispelled my Air Wall without giving me a moment. The spell vanished as soon as I had spellcasted it.
It wasn’t the doing of Mana Vacuum or Mana Void, its improved sixth-tier version, but pure mana weaving. Honoring its arcanist background, Edrie had untied the framework composing the Air Wall, therefore dispelling the spell.
He was only able to do so at such speeds against up to two-star spells not so long ago. If he managed to replicate it with three-star spells, then I would only be able to use four or beyond spells.
My movement was greatly improved with a swift spellcast of Tailwind, followed up by Acceleration. Currently, my speed was more than his aim would allow to hit me.
His response? A devilish smile.
He prepared three Arcane Bolts on top of him, ready to shoot at the first chance. To discourage long-range poking, he added a Prismatic Barrier to defend against projectiles. And to overall debilitate me, Edrie summoned the looming threat of Mana Void. Whilst I was in that area, I would be playing in his own terrain, and suffer an incredible disadvantage.
Range attacks? Impossible. They would be either blocked by the Prismatic Barrier or absorbed by the Mana Void. Close combat? Risky, yet I had no choice. The barrier wouldn’t protect him against melee attacks, but the mana-deprived zone would half the power of my movement-enhancing spells at best. My better physique, compared to him, could grant me the upper hand, but I needed to be fast.
“Aren’t you coming?” Edrie taunted me. Ha, as if I would fall for that.
“I’m just thinking what’s the best way to humiliate you.” I countered back.
“Oh?” He rose his frows in doubt. “Cocky, aren’t you? I can always use soul magic.”
“Pleasedont.” I responded instantly.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
He just snorted at my response.
I had no way to defend myself against his soul magic, and he knew it. And even if I did, he was powerful enough that it would be useless. If he decided to use the invasive type of magic, this couldn’t be considered a duel. This wasn’t a fair match from the start. Shivers were sent down my spine as I recalled every time he had assaulted my soul.
It was not a pleasurable feeling.
As my unpleasant memories distracted me for a fraction of a second, Edrie seized the chance and launched himself forward. Although his speed was radically slower than mine, the same couldn’t be said of his Arcane Bolts. I dodged the first one with my enhanced swiftness and avoided the second one by a hair’s width as it almost impacted my arm.
Yet the third shot, I had no opportunity to dodge. It impacted me right in the chest, and it was strong enough to break my makeshift air defenses, tumbling me down to the ground.
I sighed feeling my back rest on the soil. The arcanist took his time coming, his slow steps defined by the winner’s ego. Upon reaching me though, he didn’t crack a laugh but offered me a hand as his expression was plastered with adrenaline.
“Do you think we are ready for the next step?” Edrie’s smugness was overfilled with confidence but with dread seriousness.
“I’ll follow you to the depths of the underworld.” I responded in a half-serious, half-joking manner as to recreate the vows from the ancient knights of yore.
“You better not.” My words changed his visage to a melancholic one. “I fear you wouldn’t like it there.”
At that moment, those words felt like the most objective and knowledgeable statement I had heard in my entire life.
******
“So...” Marissa began as she dusted the dirt off her clothes. “What are we going to do now?”
“Now? Like right now, or now in near future now?” I asked her to clarify her question.
“The latter.” She answered. “Though I would appreciate a glimpse of the former.”
“In the near future, we are going to do nothing.” I fixed my clothes up as they moved a lot during my mad dash.
“Nothing?” She tilted her head to the right.
Really Marissa? You are the ellari-born one here, and you didn’t even know your own traditions?
“The gap year, Marissa. The gap year.” I reiterated.
“Oh!” A sudden realization struck her and she facepalmed herself. “The gap year!”
“Yes, Marissa.” I sighed by reflex. I should really work on that. Two decades in this world and I still hadn’t fixed my tic.
The ellari work-year schedule followed the calendar, therefore beginning in Frost and ending in Decay. The problem with that format is that between those two seasons there were only two weeks of holidays or twenty days. Meaning that the slow bureaucracy couldn’t keep up with sudden changes as advancing to higher education.
At a moment of epiphany, the ellari decided that every time you needed to do something along those lines you would take a gap year. To be honest, it did make a lot of sense considering the ellari lifespan. One year for us was like three months for an adult human or less than the length of the season following that train of thought.
Though young students greatly appreciated this vacation, Marissa and I didn’t really need it. We were so far beyond the standards of our age that it would be better to jump on to higher education now. But that didn’t mean I would throw the gifted time to waste.
“And what about now now?” Marissa asked.
“Hmm… What about the library?” I suggested.
“Really, Edrie? Really?” She sounded deeply offended.
“What?” I had no idea why Marissa reacted as she did.
“We have just finished school and you want to go to the library?” Her voice contained traces of sarcasm and indignation.
“I can see why you are mad.” I pointed at her multiple times in quick succession. Ellari didn’t find these kinds of gestures offensive thankfully. “So, what do you want to do then?”
“Emm…” I can see she hadn’t thought of anything.
“All bark and no bite.” I joked.
“Mmm!” She pouted aggressively. “Gimme a second.”
Marissa closed her eyes and massaged her temples with her thumbs in a way to think harder. I waited for her in a state of pseudo-spiritual meditation. I had become so used to messing that my soul that with a blink of an eye I could relax my soul and flow mana into it. It wasn’t much in terms of mana gains but considering how fast it was, plus it could be done anywhere, and it was pretty much undetectable (unlike common meditation as the mana flowed across the physical body and plane), every iota accumulated on a pile after a given certain time.
“I got it!” Marissa announced excitedly. “Follow me, Edrie!”
Knowing her, she wouldn’t respond to me if I asked her what we are going to do. So, I just followed her in silence.
After we crossed the bridge to the Lan’el district, towards the sea, I got a bit suspicious. We usually didn’t go to other districts, only to Shal’mar to go to the Open Archives of Ferilyn. And even then, the library was close to the Thal’mer border, we really hadn’t explored the neighboring district that much over the years.
“What are we going to do, then?” I asked the girl that was jumping happily across the boardwalks of the public sector of the now militaristic district.
“Wait, wait. You’ll see it now~” Marissa’s melodious voice only raised more suspicion.
Lan’el boardwalks were an interesting place as it was like a boulevard but entirely at the water, levitating a few inches on top of the sea. Whether it was by magic or clever architecture, I didn’t know. A road made of wood floated on the water as the minimal waves of the sea swayed the ground below us.
Ferilyn loved its extravagant appearance and wanted to show it every time it could. For Shal’mar the library, for Lan’el the sea boardwalks, for Thal’mer… one could argue between the park or the bazaar. I knew that a park as big as Thal’mer’s didn’t exist anywhere else on Ferilyn, but it had a more common and low-key aura than the glamorous and overdecorated ellari aesthetics.
And according to my History classes, technically the keystone of the district was the park. The bazaar just kind of popped up out of nowhere a century and a half ago, a few years after the previous High Arcanist came into power, and far before my parents were even born.
Such occurrences were commonplace over the long ellari history. The elven civilization was static much of the time, without any real progress. But every once in a while, after a big event happened, the engine of change rumbled, and changes came plenty for a few decades. We were currently living in one of those times of change.
“We are here~” Marissa stated with a spin on the spot. She was really excited, huh.
Then I noticed where we were. A man rested on a chair as he guarded thin and long boats. Gondolas. A flashback assaulted me, but this time there wasn’t the pain I normally get from my soul memories. I had yet to work on how to debilitate their potency so as to not get another nosebleed from a truckload of forgotten knowledge.
Perhaps the lightness of this remembrance assault was because they were memories of a time I was already dead. I was recalling memories of my previous incarnation, but myself.
Weird how this world, or more concretely the ellari people, shared so much in common with my patron, the Lady of the River of the Damned. The overabundance of pillows, the gondolas, maybe the souls. While it wasn’t that many things, in reality, that didn’t mean it stopped being odd.
“What do you think?” Her voice was elevated but the man ignored her, resting in his chair.
“I mean, alright?” Having a trip on a gondola seemed like a good idea like any other. “Do you have the money to pay for the gondolier?”
Marissa suddenly shrunk and made a step backward. “Emm…”
“Really, Marissa?” Did she expect that I would pay for it? With a sigh, I referred to the man. “Greetings, sir. What are the tariffs of the boat ride?”
Without looking at me or opening his eyes, the man pointed at a board containing all the prices. While renting a gondola was practically free in terms of money, only a pair of pink manites, one had to sell one of their kidneys in order to pay for the driver.
I gave Marissa a mean look and rented only the boat, handing the gondolier two crystals of condensed mana. I had a bit of money in my person, but only enough to maybe buy a meal at a restaurant, but still far enough to pay for a bunch of rides.
I stepped on the gondola that the man had pointed for us, without looking, of course, this was the most deadbeat ellari I had met by far, and I was surprised that the boat didn’t sway around much, if not at all. I had expected even to fall down into the sea, but I was just exaggerating.
Marissa looked at me from the pier, and I sighed. “Come on, mademoiselle. Join me on this ride.” That phrase came oddly fluidly from my mouth.
“Of course.” Marissa grabbed the hand I had offered with the grace of a noblewoman and stepped on the wooden boat. She was as baffled as I when the boat stayed practically still.
As she had the same reaction as me, I suspected I wasn’t hallucinating the surprising stability of the ship. It was most likely enchanted to function as it did.
The role of driver fell onto me, obviously. I want to say that driving a gondola wasn’t as easy as rowing other types of boats. The rowing stick was far longer than I was tall (and taking into account the height of the average ellari, it was considerable), and I had to move it to the other side of the vehicle to go forward instead of spinning in circles.
Maybe I was doing it wrong. I was no rowing expert, but after five minutes I had only moved around ten meters from the coast.
“A little help?” I asked Marissa who was laying at the other extreme of the gondola upon a pile of pillows, unbeknownst to her, perfectly replicating the posture of the Lady of the River.
“Oh, can’t you do anything without me?” She taunted from the other side.
“Reminder that I am the one who paid for the ride,” I told her.
She sighed. “I guess I should lend my help.”
Without moving from the spot, Marissa conjured a tailwind of unstructured wind magic that propelled the wind forward. From being basically stationary, now we moved at a pace of an old man walking. It wasn’t a huge improvement, though. This speed was better anyways, more suited for the moment and relaxing.
I left the oar at the side of the boat as I looked at Marissa. She looked at me back, a scope of blush at her visage, but our gazes were displaced to the glowing ceiling before us. The enormous spherical barrier loomed before us. Its height was hundreds of meters, and the radius at tens of kilometers.
“Do you think it would be more beautiful without the dome?” Marissa asked as her despise for the High Arcanist’s construct grew. Though more than a question it was an affirmation.
“Mostly likely,” I responded. “Though it has its charm, I suppose.”
“A bit monotonous, isn’t it?” She added with a wry smile.
“More reasons to recover the ever-changing sky then.” I responded to her twisted visage with a sweet smile.
“I guess you are right.” Her eyes were squinted as the rocking of the gondola relaxed her.