He stopped reading for the light that came from the window and illuminated the pages vanished, obscuring the words in darkness. Outside the window, he saw the rain had paused, but it was far from over. Black clouds marched along the sky, sealing away any traces of the sun. Trees began to flail and unrestrained objects began to rattle as the wind grew and howled. Light, for fleeting moments, as the blackened sky was run through by bolts of lightning. The flashes of light out in the clouds were met by flickers from the library ceiling. Globes all along the walls lit up, bringing back light. He could read again, but, taking one look out the window, he was no longer interested. Suran gathered the books and returned them.

Out on the streets he was making a brisk return back to the house. There were still some items he wished to explore, magic namely, but there was always another day. He needed to meet with Mortimer to go over logistics, so he thought he could inquire about some of those topic instead of fumbling through books. A droplet splashed on his forehead, thunder rumbled in the distance. Suran, in no mood to get caught by the storm, sped his way through the city.

He reached the house, barely escaping the torrent. Inside, lights were already on and he heard clanking silverware down the hall. Suran walked into the kitchen. Natalya was whipping up a meal, humming along, while Iylia was eating a basic meal at the table. She seemed to be enjoying her bread. “How was your day?” He openly asked.

Natalya’s head swiveled around, “Oh! When did you get back?”

“Just now. From the library.”

“We did some shopping and came home a while ago,” She said, turning back to her sizzling pans. “I wanted to take Iylia out to eat, but the weather was getting bad. How about yours?”

“It was fine. There are still some things I need to check, though.” He hovered around the counter, watching Iylia from the corner of his eyes. She picked up her plate, hustled to the sink, and washed them spotless.

Natalya looked over and asked, “Done so soon? You just started eating!” Iylia just nodded her head. She finished cleaning in another moment and sped out of the kitchen like a passing breeze.

“Is there something wrong with her?”

“Don’t know,” Natalya answered. “Nothing seemed wrong all day. Maybe she just eats fast?”

Suran exhaled deeply, “Maybe that’s what it is.” He went over to the table in slouched in a chair. Maybe he was the only stressing over it. Het let go. “What are you cooking?”

“Nothing fancy today, just a chicken stew. Want some?”

He wasn’t hungry, yet he responded with, “I’ll take a little, if it isn’t too much trouble.” She finished cooking and brought over the pot. Rain began to pelt the roof and the room chilled. Suran filled a bowl partway with the stew and Natalya did the same, talking about her day. She and Iylia went out around town. Explored the stores, bought clothes, and stocked up on essentials. Their day was cut short by the weather, just like his. Soon, she was finished with her meal. Natalya cleaned up and left. Suran took in a spoonful from his bowl. The steaming stew warmed his core. He was left alone with only his thoughts and the thunder to keep him company

It wasn’t until morning that the weather cleared up. The dark clouds broke apart and sunshine beamed down. Again, Suran left early in the day to pay a visit to Mortimer. The road to the college was sparsely populated this early with a nice coolness in the air. He reached campus and made his way to the old man’s office. At the office door, he knocked and a lanky lad answered.

“Can I help you?” The blonde man asked.

“I’m here to speak with Mortimer.”

“Well… do you have an appointment?”

Mortimer yelled at the boy from the back, “Oh, just let him in Lewkis!” The boy sighed and stepped out of the way, letting Suran through. “What do you need?” Mortimer asked, looking a little grumpy in his chair.

“I wanted to go over some of the logistics for the trip and ask some magic related questions,” Suran answered.

The old man scratched his head and puckered his lips, “Do you have an appointment?”

“…No. Is that a problem?’

‘Well, what if I’m busy. Then what?”

“If you are, I’ll come back later.” Suran turned around to leave. There were other things he could spend his time on.

Mortimer stopped him, “No! Wait.”

“Yes?’ Suran said, facing the old man once more.

“I’m not busy,” Mortimer said, completely expressionless. “What do you need?”

Suran walked past Lewkis, who was standing around like a tower in a middle of a flat field, and sat in front of Mortimer’s desk. “We have about 10 gold – working on obtaining a little more – so we need to go over the trip details. Where exactly we are going, what path we will take, and how long the journey will be.”

“10 gold?” Mortimer said with a hint of surprise. He began rummaging underneath his desk and pulled out a massive, musty old map, “I didn’t think you would get that much that fast.” Pointing at a dingy gold star on the Northeast side of the map just above an island formation, he explained, “We are here. At Valcadia.” He slid his finger west to a mountain range that ran down the continent. “We want to go to here. The site is situated near a small Dwarven town called Thagonedrow.” He traced his finger back to Valcadia and mapped out the journey, “Going straight West would take us through steep mountains and vast wilderness, so best option would be to take the roads North and go all away around. From Valcadia to Alnwick then Alnwick to Havinshire.” Mortimer drew an ambiguous circle around the mountain range with his finger. “From Havinshire, we enter the neighboring country of Nosirion. We go past the city of Aguast and through the Dragon city of Kudrin and towards the mountain range, and we should be able to reach Thagonedrow from there.

Suran looked over the map and stroked his chin, retracing the path Mortimer laid out in his head. “For sure a winding path. What does the travel period look like?”

“Don’t know, maybe three weeks? A little more, a little less, depending on road conditions and travel speeds and whatnot.”

“I see. I will tell Natalya to budget for food as such. Is there anything else?”

Mortimer rolled his head around, thinking. “Nothing comes to mind,” he said after a moment, “But Lewkis, remember to get your things ready for the trip.”

Lewkis was jolted straight and exclaimed, “W-w-w-what? I’m going?!”

Suran looked at the toothpick man and back at Mortimer, “Is he coming?”

“Of course,” Mortimer, without a hint of shock, candidly said, “I am his mentor after all.”

“Hold up!” Lewkis strode his way over to the table, “But they might have already made budgets and everything! It’s not right to just throw me on them like that!” Lewkis’ eyes were wide and his voice was shivering with panic, yet, at the same time, he seemed all too familiar with this sort of fiasco. Lewkis looked over to Suran and mouthed ‘I’m so sorry” while Mortimer yawned away his complaints.

Suran cleared his throat and intervened, “We can budget for an additional person as is, but it may be tight. I’ve entered into the tournament at the arena to gather additional coin and scout the participants for a sellsword or two to join us on the expedition. With an additional member, it may be difficult to budget for a mercenary, but I will have to see. My only concern is how he will hold up on the journey.”

“The boy isn’t as useless as he looks,” Mortimer chuckled. “He is a Cleric in training, no easy task.”

“Let me explain,” Lewkis said with an exasperated face. “I’m not a cleric in training – yet. To enter Valeryia’s Cleric school, two rigorous exams must be passed. One is a magic mastery exam that tests the ins and outs of handling mana and magic knowledge. The other is a medical exam that goes over everything from anatomy to disease to herbalism to wound treatment – and I’ve already passed the medical exam!” His irritated face brightened up as he spoke of his accomplishment.

 “There you have it,” Mortimer exclaimed with a clap of his hands. “He can come along as a doctor, or something. Now, was there something else you needed? Something about magic?”

“Yes, I wanted a brief overview of magic, since I know nothing on the subject.”

Mortimer dryly laughed. “The study of mana, magic, has been around longer than people have been flapping their lips. Even a brief overview would be extensive – the college spends a year on this very subject. I’ll try to make it short.” Suran leaned forward and perked his ears. “First, magic is nothing more than the study and application of mana. Mana being a natural energy that flows through everything. The applications of mana are generally divided into five categories: Alteration, Alchemy, Enchanting, Entropic, and Arcane. Alteration magic is using mana to add to or modify a living object. Healing magic as well as curses both fall in this category. Enchanting is called the sister school to Alteration because it involves using mana to modify non-living objects, like weaponry. Both of these groups seek to modify the nature of the object at hand without changing the actual object. On the other side of the spectrum, is Alchemy. The goal of Alchemy is to change the very object itself. From structures to and armor to the very air, Alchemy has seen widespread uses outside of metallurgy as a defensive orientated skill set. Entropic magic is the most learned school, for, if the categories were languages, Entropic magic would be the language of war. Entropic magic gives shape to mana and brings forth something from nothing. Killing of men is best suited by Entropic, so it has become the most valued school. And people like being flashy and throwing fireballs. And Arcane is the other category, where we throw in stuff that just doesn’t really fit everywhere else.”

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“That seems like a reasonable overview,” Suran said, processing the information.

“It’s not,” Mortimer candidly replied. “You know just a little but more than nothing.”

Suran thought for a moment then asked, “So then, what is your area of expertise.”

“I deal with magical ancient artifacts, so Enchanting with some Arcane.”

“In that case, could you look at something for me?” He wasn’t sure if his sword was magical or ancient or even an artifact, but it was, as Ulric said, a strange and peculiar blade and Mortimer seemed like the type of man that ends up dealing with oddities at the end of the day.

Mortimer glanced at the clock. “No,” he said without hesitation, “I have scholarly stuff to do. Both of you will need to leave so I can get to work.”

“Wait, why me?!” Lewkis, who was standing silently, jumped into the conversation.

“Because I have scholarly stuff to do. Your lesson for today can be to go outside for once.”

Lewkis grumbled to himself, but he relented and left the room with Suran. “What did you want the old man to look at?” He asked as they worked their way out of the office building.

Suran tapped the hilt of his sword, “This.”

“Oh, a sword? So what’s so special about it?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.”

Lewkis’ face went red, “Oh, of course.”

“And what about you? How did you find yourself with Mortimer?”

“Everyone always asks that,” Lewkis said with a nervous laugh. “They always want to know why I work with some strange old guy, and the story isn’t as entertaining as they expect. He knew my father, and when it was time for me to find a mentor in magic after passing my medical exam, he offered to take me in. That’s all there is to it.” They stopped outside in the courtyard. His pale white skin finally showed itself in the beaming sunlight. “So, where are you heading?”

“To look at armor and equipment. You?”

“I’m going to go to the library. Don’t wanna fall behind in my studies – magic is a really hard subject after all. Oh, and before you go, your name is…”

 “It’s Suran. Suran Ibrahim.”

Lewkis put forward his hand, “And I’m Lewkis Escalafis. Pleasure to meet you!” Suran shook his hand – his grip was weak. They parted ways.

There was a list in his head of what he needed to do. With only a few days until the tournament, he was not sure if he could adequately address everything. Certainly not his swordsmanship. His current results inspired little confidence and even though he planned to train with Iylia again, he doubted much progress would be made in a short time span. So he decided to put his efforts toward something that would bring results. His destination was Ulfric’s forge. Armor is what he needed.

The forge and storefront was shuttered up, as it was before. He went up and knocked on the door. He heard the shuffling of feet on wooden floors, and the door cracked open a minute later.

“Knew you’d come back,” Ulfric said with a devilish grin. The door swung open and the giant man invited Suran in. “So, what’re ya needing?”

Suran walked through the story, looking at the wares. “Armor,” he said, going past the weaponry.

“For the arena?” Ulfric asked with a raised eyebrow. He continued, “I’ll see what I can fix ya with.” He hobbled past Suran, still using a crutch. “What type of armor are ya looking for? Something cheap and simple like anormite, or something else?”

“I’m not familiar with the different metals and their qualities. You will have to walk me through it.”

Ulfric clapped his hands and rubbed them. “All metals have their pros and cons, but they are not all created equal. We have leather armor here,” he said hobbling past a rack, “But I won’t let ya have something like leather. At the bottom of the barrel is anormite.” He stopped in front a group of orangish, bronze armor. “It’s cheap. It’s abundant. It’s easy to make. And it’s better than leather. Past anormite is iron and steel. Tougher, durable, but not good with magic, I hear.”

“Is that it?” Suran asked, anticipating more information.

Ulfric’s face soured, “Don’t say it like that. My forge deals up to steel usually because steel is the accepted ceiling for most soldiers and adventures. Time to time, I do get some fancy custom orders and I do need to get higher quality metal, but that takes time. More time than ya have.”

“I understand, but can you still tell me what other metals are there?”

“Fancyin’ metalwork are ya?” Ulfric joked, shaking the room with his laugh. “I’ll be glad to tell ya at any rate. Next up on the list is Orichalcum. You can identify it as a glance with its scaly green sheen. Stronger than steel, but not restrictive with mana flow. Trunganium alloy is next. A bitch to make, through and through, but its quality can’t be denied. Unfortunately. Seldom will ya see armors past Trunganium. The higher levels are a pain to find, intensive to forge, and drain on ya coin purse. I digress, you got Myhtril and Titanous after Trunganium. People dream for that sort of equipment. And after, well, is Kathian Crystal and Adamantium. Coming across anything made out of those two, let alone the ore, is unheard of. Almost not even worth mentioning, like the other lesser known metals and ores that fit in-between what I laid out. But it’s fun to talk about. Legends are made out of that stuff.”

“Quite a few categories,” Suran mused. “So, what would you recommend for me?”

“Well, what’s your budget? And don’t look at me like that – I’ll give you a fair price, you be sure of that.”

Suran scratched his head and crunched numbers. “Two gold? Two and a half at most?”

“For you and the girl? That won’t do.”

“No, just for myself.”

Ulfric let out a sigh, “Was gunna say. You best get something for the girl as well. Where you’re going, you might need every blade you can muster.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And if you aren’t comfortable with putting her out in front, just throw a bow or somethin’ on her and stick her in the back.” Ulfric seemed to be reading through Suran, which made him uncomfortable. “Alright well, I’ll make it simple for ya since you did me a great service the other day. A full iron set would normally go for a little over two gold, but I can give you a full steel set for 250 silver.” He leaned in close to Suran, “Just don’t tell my wife!” Ulfric reared his head back and laughed.”

“So that comes with everything? Helmet, chest plate, shield, and so on?”

“Well, everything but a shield. When you’re fully armored, ya don’t need a shield. It’s better to have a free hand to grapple with. You’d only take a shield if you were expecting something really dangerous like heavy duty magic or some very strong, penetrative weaponry.”

“Sounds good.” Suran reached for his pockets, but remembered he didn’t bring coins.

“Forgot your purse?” The observant Ulfric noted, chuckling. “Just come back with it and I’ll hand you over a set. I’m not open for business anyways so no rush.”

“Alright then,” Suran said with a nod of his head, “Thank you for the help.”

“Not a problem. Just make sure that before you this is all done and you leave for wherever it is you are going, that you get that girl some equipment. Would be a shame not to give something to someone who looks so capable.” Suran rubbed his neck. Ulfric didn’t know the half of it.

Suran left, saying his farewells. He would return with coin in hand as soon as possible. But, he wondered if he should bring the exact amount, 250 silver, or bring extra? Ulfric did have a point with Iylia. She was more capable than he was, at least. A bow might be a fitting solution, but Suran wasn’t sure. He would have to ask her sometime, maybe after the tournament. He still couldn’t shake a cold feeling in his stomach over this. He allowed himself to be strong-armed into taking a slave. It didn’t help that the whole ordeal felt strange the whole way through. The true intentions of Henry and Wylin Reginald still alluded him, if it was contrary to their story to begin with.

He could do nothing about it now. Was there even anything he could do? The sun still hung high in the sky; the day was young. He resolved that there was one thing he could do: train with Iylia. Suran took a deep breath and stepped forward.