Morning came too soon for Gerald. He had stay up late last night cultivating. He’d been determined to keep at it longer than everyone else. In the end he’d given up and let Hamal win. He wished he had listened to Azura. This wasn’t a race. Now he was paying for it. He yawned stumbling to the cooking pot. Hamal was being kicked by his mother.
“Get up you worthless rat! We’ve got a lot to do. Oh don’t you give me that look! It was your own damn fault for staying up late.”
The rat-kin slowly got to his feet stumbling toward Gerald who had mercy on him giving him his bowl. He went back for his own. The pair sat together sipping broth.
“My head hurts,” Hamal admitted.
“Mine too,” Gerald grunted.
“You guys okay!” Came a cheerful boom followed by a loud clap of hands. Both of them jumped slightly spilling some of the broth on their clothes. Azura stood behind them laughing. They just glared at her.
“I told you not to overdo it,” Azura crowed in a musical voice. She was enjoying this far too much in Gerald’s opinion. She passed by the pair heading to the food pot. Azura waved cheerful hello’s to the kin as she fetched her own breakfast ignoring his scowl.
“She’s evil…” Hamal grumbled. Gerald nodded. He was sure his headache had just intensified.
The pair had 15 minutes to eat before everyone finished the last minute packing.
“Okay everyone, listen up!” Azura called. “It’s time for the next lesson. Fortunately we will practice this one as we go.”
Gerald having finished his breakfast gathered his meager belongings joining the others. Everyone else was already packed.
“We have around 40 miles to reach the edge of the mana forest. We’ll have to go around the city without being seen so the extra distance is for safety.”
Groans sounded all around them, Gerald’s included. With everyone here and the goods that was two days of travel, maybe one if they pushed it.
“We will do it in 3 hours!” Azura called brightly.
Gerald just stared at her. That vile fiend! That wasn’t even possible.
“Oh don’t give me that look. It won’t work on me,” Azura said.
“That’s because you used it too often,” Coralline said to the laughter of the kin.
“Exactly,” Azura agreed. “Now if you recall yesterday I told you about the one mana related technique you were allowed to use. You will all invert your mana pools. This will flood your body with the improved mana you spent yesterday cultivating. The better you did the strong you will be. Even if you didn’t make a lot of progress yesterday the run shouldn’t be that challenging. If we had time I would make you run without it, but speed is more important. Besides, this will let you get a feeling for your enhanced bodies.”
“What if we can’t do it?” A mole-kin asked looking worried.
“I’ll help if you get stuck. So everyone seek out your mana pools then listen to my voice.”
Gerald closed his eyes as his mind dove into his body. Soon he was at his pool. There he immediately saw his gains from yesterday. A thick cloud of mana was settled low in his pool followed by a much thinner cloud resting atop it.
“Anyone having trouble?” Came Azura voice. Gerald shook his head not losing focus.
“Great!” Azura said. “Now the first thing you will do is mix the thinner mana with your thicker cultivated mana. This will weaken it, but it is necessary. This way you can fold the entire pool again next time you cultivate. Now to do this the easiest way is to stir the mana. Imagine spinning it with a big spoon. It will resist you. Without your constant attention it will come to a stop. This is a good thing at this stage. Mana must be settled to be able to use it. Mana in motion is useless. Ki is the exact opposite. So now everyone, SPIN!”
Gerald took hold of his mana stirring it like a pot. It was difficult at first but once it started moving it quickly mixed together. He frowned. His nice thick mana was now noticeably thinner.
“Okay, after that is done stop it. The quicker you stop it the sooner you can use it.”
Gerald reached out to his mana mentally dragging the flow around him. It was like walking upstream for a brief moment before it came to a stop. This was considerably easier than the previous spin. Done, he waited for the next set of instructions.
“Hang on a few need help,” Azura called out and a minute later her voice came again. “Okay I think everyone is all set. Now grab the middle of you mana pool. Then turn it inside out like you would a hat.”
Gerald frown but followed the instructions. He mentally grabbed the center of his pool and pulled. His pool inverted. It was a weird sensation, like his navel suddenly changing so that it stuck out of him rather than in. That feeling soon passed. It was replaced with power! Strength he never thought possible flooded his muscles. He felt like he could lift a mountain. His eyes opened as he looked around. The others all had amazed expressions on their faces whether it was a rat, rabbit, or other kin type.
“Great! Now… RUN!” Azura called. She took off and the kin followed. Gerald ran. He had always been slow. When he had raced the others he was always last. His steps had felt awkward and ungainly. Not anymore. He felt like a deer prancing at high speed or horse with unlimited stamina. He laughed as the distance shrank beneath him. Azura gave up the lead to let Fatania take over as she circled around the group looking for any who were struggling. None were.
“Pick up the pace!” Azura shouted up front. Gerald now began to sweat a bit as their speed increased to that of a fast horse.
“You doing okay?” Azura asked. Gerald turned. She was running next to him without effort. Indeed she acted like they were taking a slow walk.
“Fine,” Gerald said panting a little.
“I can slow us down if you’re having trouble.”
Gerald glanced back. He was the last one in the procession. He grimaced.
“No, I can do it.”
“I’m sorry about your pa,” Azura said after a few moments. “He was more of a father to me than my own ever was.”
Gerald swallowed fighting back tears.
“I still can’t believe he and Toren are gone,” Gerald said at last. He was glad of the exercise. It was a great distraction.
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“Yeah…” Azura said her previous cheerfulness draining away. The pair continued on for a minute before Azura spoke again.
“I’ll give you the power to get revenge. I promise,” Azura said darkly.
Gerald looked at her. She wasn’t playful now. She was ominous, deadly. He had no doubt she would do exactly that. Somehow, that hurt almost as much as losing those he cared about.
“No,” Gerald said.
“Huh?”
“Pa wouldn’t want me to waste my life getting revenge. He was never big on that. I think he would want to me live my life the way I want.”
Gerald watched some of the darkness drain away from his friend.
“Sure,” Azura said softly.
“But,” Gerald continued before Azura could run off. “Any good smith knows that forging steel sometimes ain’t enough. Sometimes, you have poke someone with it as well. I won’t become a cultivator for revenge. I’ll become one to protect those I care about.”
This time it was Azura who was studying him. She sniffled a bit. After a quick dab at her eyes she responded.
“I can give you that.”
“Good,” Gerald panted. He wasn’t used to running and talking.
“However you must do something for me,” Azura said.
Gerald gave her a confused look.
“Run faster!” Azura yelled before bolting off. It was only then that Gerald noticed that he had lagged farther behind.
“Damn…” Gerald muttered as he ran faster.
Brianna Runedane awoke to find the city in chaos. The council had decided to enslave all the kin. Why the fuck did they do that?! Of course such a decision was only shared among the magical elite. A lesser house such as hers wasn’t informed or involved in the decision. Was fighting the mist going so badly that they had to take such extreme measure? Perhaps. It wasn’t her place to question such high ranking mages.
It would have been nice to be aware of what was coming. Now they her family was scrambling. The council had commanded that slave runes be branded into each kin to keep them complacent. Runes were her family’s specialty. So her their entire family had been dragged off at first light to just outside of town. There foreign mages and even elves were on duty watching the kin. Brianna blinked. There had to be over a thousand mages here. There were lots of kin here obviously, but they were contained in a large depression in the earth. Why were there so many mages here? None of this made any sense. Sure small groups of kin were going to be allowed out at a time for the branding, but this… Such security was overblown. The dirty look the mages around her gave the kin made her wonder if something didn’t go according to plan.
Brianna left the question to the back of her mind as she prepared her station. Not far away her family did likewise. Her father had been contracted to prepare irons with the correct runes a few weeks ago. He had thought some criminals were being forced into labor parties. Not this. This was crazy. Someone at the top really made a mess of things. How were the four of them supposed to brand all these kin? It would take days! No one who came up with this plan had thought through the logistics of using slave runes. They probably knew little of rune-craft at all.
The art of crafting runes involved creating a rune with a magically infused metal. Normally the rune would be carved into the desired object then molten metal would be added. Once cooled, the rune would be powered up by connecting it to a power source, usually the ambient mana. It was considerably trickier to apply a rune to living flesh. Here a special branding tool would be used. It would sear the flesh at the same time injecting small amounts of the infused metal into the burn site forming the rune. It would be agonizing but she had spells to help with that. It wasn’t uncommon to use such runs on cattle or other domestic animals. Of course the complexity of the rune increased with the function. She felt sorry for the kin. These runes quite large. Her father had designed them with several functions. When he’d showed her in the morning it took several minutes to understand it all. The rune would be a combination of a locator, pain receptor, and security system. The locator rune was simple and common enough. Her father had to custom design the pain rune as that was uncommon. The pain rune had two parts. First part was, as the name implied, was to induce pain. The second part of the rune linked with a foreign mana signature to active the pain. So a mage could bind the rune to their mana and then active the pain rune whenever they wanted. From any distance as well. It felt cruel to Brianna but the kin were savages after all. With this they would all be safer. Who knows what the kin would do now that they were enslaved. She couldn’t even blame them.
The last part of the rune prevented removal. If it was forcibly removed it would quickly siphon all the mana from the kin killing them over a few hours. Such an act would have no effect on a mage who can control their mana, but for a null it was perfect.
Her station now ready, the first of the kin was brought before her. He looked like a wolf or dog-kin who had a slight limp. The mage escorting him gave him a shove forward.
“Get on the table, face down,” Brianna commanded. The kin hesitated eying the table dubiously.
“PAINED TOUCH,” The escorting mage said as he touched the kin. The kin screamed falling to the ground. Startled, Brianna took a step back. That seemed rather excessive. The mage appeared to disagree, his face livid. He kin convulsed on the ground for several moment before going still gasping.
“You were commanded to get on the table you animal,” The mage sneered. The kin complied as the mage left to get another. Next to the table another one of the foreign mages smirked as he watched the kin.
Brianna swallowed nervously. These guys weren’t fucking around. Gathering her tools Brianna grabbed some shaving tools and started clearing a spot on the kin’s upper right shoulder.
“I’ve never studied rune craft,” the mage next to her station said. “Will this take long?” Brianna looked at him. He was somewhat handsome with short cut green hair and a thin goatee. His eyes were hard like he was upset at something.
“Well I first have to prepare the site. Then cast a numbing spell. Once that is done I have to get the brand from the brazier. The brand has a special spot for the magical metal to be poured in. After the rune has cooled it has to be initialed powered up. After that the kin’s own mana will sustain it,” Brianna explained as she shaved a small patch.
She reached out to cast numb touch on the kin when the mage stopped her.
“Allow me,” He said. “PARALYZE.”
Brianna frowned. “He’ll still feel the pain.”
“Good,” The mage said.
“What!?” Brianna said. “There is no need for this…” She left her question open.
“I’m Grandor,” The mage said. “And it is completely necessary. The kin have to be shown they can’t resist us.”
“I think they understand that already,” Brianna glared as she gestured out to the captive kin.
“Ha!” Grandor shouted in a humorless laugh. “Tell that to the Auzre Magebane.”
“The what?”
“Oh you haven’t heard yet? The story will spread soon enough. The damn kin kept shouting it all last night. I’ll tell you what I know, but you should keep working, we have a lot to do.”
Brianna’s frown didn’t change but she relented going to the brazier.
“PROTECTION HEAT.” She grabbed the brand with her bare hand without the slightest sign of discomfort. She then filled a small chamber with a specially prepared metal solution.
“Sorry,” Brianna said as she pressed the brazier down on the exposed skin.
The kin didn’t make a sound. She was sure he would have, but the spell prevented any such activity.
“CONTROL METAL,” Brianna chanted guiding the molten metal into the flesh. Thirty seconds later she lifted the brand taking some charred skin with it.
“COOL SURFACE.”
“HEALING TOUCH.”
Brianna finished casting then laid her hand on the rune. She let her mana gently flow into the first part of the rune creating a vacuum which sucked in the kin’s mana. Even with their dormant mana pools the rune could still draw power. It was now self-sustaining.
“That was interesting,” Grandor said. “Doesn’t seem that difficult.”
“It’s not,” Brianna agreed. “It’s more about having the right spells for the task. Also knowing how to prepare the magical metal.”
The first mage returned with a new kin as Grandor released the paralyze spell. The kin on the table let out a sobbing cough as he was roughly pulled away to stand in a new line. There several of the foreign mages and elves began looking them over like goods on a shelf.
Brianna started preparing the next kin’s shoulder as she hopped on the table without complaint.
“So tell me about the Azure Magebane.”
Grandor scowled at the name. “Shortly after we finished rounding up the nulls. The camp was attacked. I wasn’t there myself but I lost a friend during the raid. I also heard that a hundred mages died.”
Brianna gasped. “So who is the Azure Magebane? A group of rogue mages who tried to steal slaves?”
“SHE IS OUR SAVIOR. THE MAGEBANE WILL FREE US FROM…”
“PARALYZE!” Grandor shouted and the kin stop speaking.
Brianna looked to Grandor who grimaced. “It’s not a group but a single kin. Some type of monster from the way the others told it. She made a deal with an evil entity to gain the power to kill mages.”
Brianna had a terrible suspicion. “How do you know she made a deal?”
“What else could it be?” Grandor shrugged.
“What did this kin look like?”
“A half cat-kin with blue hair.”
Brianna walked to the brazier and almost fell on it. It was her. It had to be. The kin she met in the forest. The one she owned a mana debt too. She shuddered. In a daze Brianna finished branding the next kin. Soon another was before her. She ignored Grandor’s questions when possible. She gave just enough answers to not be suspicious. All the while her mind raced. Gods of above, what was she going to do when the Azura Magebane came for her?