Elementalism is a form of Arcane Magic that focuses on the use of environmental mana and mutating personal mana until it has the traits of a particular element. Elementalists slowly turn into a creature of their chosen element as they grow in power. A few manage to control two elements though never diametrically opposed ones.
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Lysan
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The man who granted us hospitality lies asleep, it's past dawn and the rays of the sun are falling on him but he just keeps sleeping. I guess he doesn’t want to return to the hell his world has turned into. I spoke with my sister last night after the spell to let him understand us wore off. Something doesn’t add up, he said it was a weapon he used to kill the green skins, but he is clearly a mage.
He has strange ideas about magic. Foci and chants are just aids, no that can’t be right. They allow us to access the power of the divines. The Aether cannot be accessed without the required aids. That is a rule for its use. Well, my teacher once showed me a silent cast but explained that the chant was just in her mind rather than said aloud. Is that what he meant? Kythia is excited to try his idea for reversed blood magic and stayed up all night trying to get it to work. If he didn’t heal himself in front of me without a focus, chant or even a somatic component I wouldn’t even think about his theories, they are far beyond anything that I’ve studied but I also never did get to finish my studies. . .
My sister is still asleep, she needs her rest. Warriors have a greater need of rest after a fight. Lord Adrian rolls over in his sleep and I hear bones popping. The woman who set out our strange bedding yesterday walks over and says something, she is perhaps the only human girl I have ever seen that is shorter than an elf of an equivalent age. I don’t understand their language but seeing my confused look she motions something about eating and then points to my sister and Kythia. Is she offering food?
She starts to walk towards that place Lord Adrian cooked that weird meal yesterday. I get up to follow, her lord promised hospitality, she will not harm us. My guess was correct; the woman brought me to the place where her lord prepared a meal last night. She motions me to cook some of the meat in that frost room. It doesn’t seem as cold as it was yesterday, does it need recharged with mana? The glass balls that gave light yesterday are dim, was their enchantment suppressed or did it run out? Would it be rude if I check their enchantment?
I wish I had more mana so I could talk with these people. Lord Adrian seems nice, I wonder why he offered hospitality and then cooked it himself for women he just met? Is he desperate for a wife? Or are the traditions of this land different? Their clothes and buildings certainly are.
Lord Adrian’s servant and I finish cooking this strange meal. Its tasty I admit but why do they spend so much on spices for two such meals in a row? Kythia seems delighted with this strange meat inside of bread food. An effect from her magic or heritage? No, the other three humans seem to enjoy the food as well.
Also, why did his servant bring me to help cook? Does she think I am my sister’s servant? So many questions, even more when I see the servant giving one of the meals to the male servant. Lord Adrian treats his followers so well, how come he only seems to have these two?
“Are you done thinking of why I like meat?” Kythia asks.
“How did you know?”
“You are always thinking too much, act more like your sister Talia. She doesn’t worry so much of why somethings just are.”
“No, my sister’s overthinking has saved us quite a bit in the past" sister interjects.
Thanks sister, I worry if I think too much. Maybe that is what Kythia means? “What do you think we should do sister?”
“Lord Adrian seems very kind to his followers. He cried most of the night when one of them died. The offer yesterday is worth considering, even though food and a place to sleep seems little, it is better than those nobles from Althaen offered.”
Kythia nods, “he also shared a great piece of lore with us. He already thinks us as part of his house or he never would have told us about alternate ways to heal.”
“You stayed up all night over that, did you get it to work?”
“I think so, I got mana to turn into something that let me close some cuts. It wasn’t very efficient but it does work.”
I sit there surprised, that crazy idea on reverse blood magic worked! But he said that it was just a theory of his, if Kythia got it working overnight then shouldn’t Lord Adrian also know how to do it? Unless he isn’t a mage? No, he has to be one I saw the fire and how he healed himself; he is a mage. He clearly understands arcane theory so why did he say he doesn’t know how to do it himself?
“Any idea how he could know these things without being able to cast them himself sister?” Talia asks breaking my thoughts.
“The only way I can think of is if he doesn’t use mana for whatever type of magic he wields.”
“You mean like monks, and their qi?” asks Kythia.
“Maybe, but even that has mana in it. He is a mage that is not limited by having to use mana. He has to be using something. The mana of this land seemed really weak when we arrived maybe his sect learned to cope without it?”
“That is just silly, mages are mages because they have mana inside of them.”
“What about those that gain the blessing of their element. One of the other students of my master does not need to use mana to control fire. It could be like that.”
“Then he is blessed by lightning and what life? That’s silly I’ve never heard of anyone managing to get multiple blessings. It’s just magic with an alternative power source. Or maybe he really just never learned the basics of blood magic.”
Talia interrupts the two of us, “regardless of what Lord Adrian uses to power his spells should we follow him? The last of our family died on the battlefront or were guards who died last night. We need to attach ourselves to a house or some other noble will take us slaves. I think Lord Adrian will treat us well.”
I hesitate for a moment, we don’t know enough about this lord. Kythia nods agreeing with my sister. I slowly nod as well agreeing to follow their decision, I hope that we will be treated well.
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Bryan
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Abagail wakes me up, and then passes me a burger that one of the elf? girls was holding. Adrian was right they aren’t our enemies. I turn to look for him, he is sleeping still. I guess running to kill those orc monsters was tiring, or maybe it has to do with the magic he hid for years?
Seriously though, fire manipulation and teleporting objects? He also suddenly stopped having a broken arm while he was cooking, yet he could not do anything while Tomas was dying. Just how does his magic work?
I set my partially eaten burger down, and grab a water from the pile of drinks we made yesterday. Adrian really tore himself up last night after Tomas’s dead, I cried too but we don’t have time to really mourn. I’m surprised Adrian didn’t start digging a hole for Tomas last night, like he did when he found his dog dead.
My eyes are watering, dammit I have to hold myself together. Adrian killed more of the monsters out of our group; he did all that could be done I should have been closer to Tomas, not have sent him alone to guard those stairs.
“Are you ok?” Abagail asks.
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“No, my friend is dead and the world has gone to shit.”
“I know, but we can cry when we are safe.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to pretend everything is ok.”
“Bryan, I had a weird dream before a nightmare yesterday.”
“So, did I some grey blob no idea what I was doing there before it faded away after a few minutes. What was yours?”
“The same, was I seeing things when Adrian got a gun out of nowhere?”
“No, I think the fire doing strange things was him too.”
“None of this is possible, this can’t be real. Is Adrian a wizard or something like Tomas thought, or have we both gone crazy?”
“I don’t know, he said one of the elf looking girls cast a spell yesterday and I’ve seen him do a few weird things recently. He did say that he wasn’t a wizard though. All we can do is ask him after he wakes up.”
“He deserves his sleep, but it doesn’t look like he is enjoying it.”
I sigh and nod my head in agreement. This morning sucks, I guess I should get rid of the corpses before they spread disease to us. But maybe that doesn’t matter anymore, Adrian healed his own broken arm so what is a disease to him?
Still, even if I did know the limits to Adrian’s magic I can’t leave everything up to him. I have to do all that I can to make sure not to drag down the group. I stand up and brush off the few breadcrumbs from the burger as I say, “I’m going to work on cleaning up the bodies. I think we may be staying here for another day or two and . . .”
“they’ll start stinking soon.”
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Adrian
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The damn nightmare dream finally breaks, and I bolt to sitting upright. I look at the clock. 10:12 there is no way I should have slept that long, dammit something definitely was wrong with that dream. Or did I pass out from the drugs from that nurse? I hope this is real, I don’t want to wake up to that nightmare of a life.
The corpses are gone, someone must have dragged them outside. My stomach growls, I feel famished, I pick up the burger next to me and see Tomas’s dead body a few feet away. Damn, not even this possibly drug induced dream is pleasant. No, this is real the other is the dream. Or is it? No, can’t follow that train of thought, bad, dangerous how can I return here if it was real. Should my mind even be this messed up from that dream?
I feel tears come to my eyes as I eat the cold burger. At least here my friends still care about me, another reason why this is the real reality. The other has to be fake, the choice between the two is easy. I’m not going back there. This world is better.
I finish my burger with a sigh, I hope that the weird Grey Dream crap worked again. It taught me to heal, so this elven language should be real to. Or is the Grey Dream what those girls were talking about when they said the tainted grow faster? As in the get stronger faster? Should I ask them about it? No, if it is connected to the tainted they try to kill me afterwards. But how can I explain it otherwise?
I look around the store for a while looking for a shovel; there are none. Lets hope someone’s garage has one. I pick up Tomas’s body, he was always short but he seems a bit shorter now. Lighter too, blood loss or did I get stronger? He still isn’t an easy load but I can move quickly enough while holding him.
As I walk out the front door, I notice the trio of women pulling the corpses of humans and elves? out of the remnants of the battle yesterday. Bryan is working on the goblin and orc bodies though I think he will receive help soon.
“Adrian, you finally up” Bryan says as I approach him.
“I’m looking for a shovel, any idea where one is?”
“The hardware store down the street will have one.”
“Thanks, I’ll be back.”
I walk down the street to the hardware store. Its front windows are broken and most of the shelves are on the floor, I guess something like what happened to us happened here last night. I grab a pointed shovel, too many rocks for a flat head to be useful. Time to honor my friend the only way I can now, a deep hole so nobody will disturb his rest.
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Kythia
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The elf sisters asked me to help them clean up the dead, I guess I’ll help. I don’t think that Adrian guy is really a lord. While the buildings around here are grand, far greater than anything I have ever seen before they are no castles. Maybe I am wrong and he is, I don’t really care, he smells strong. If the servants are really servants, they are better treated than any servant I have ever seen. I think that his words of my friend just died were literal, the dead guy was his friend not a servant. I’m not going to correct the sisters, I want to follow him.
He clearly will fight for the life of his friends or charges, strong and kind to his allies. That’s all I want from a leader, Talia is like that but she is not a leader, just like I cannot lead. Us women have our own authority but the men are right we get too emotional, gods know I’ve lost myself in both rage and empathy more than once.
I would still like to rule though, but I would get the three of us killed if any one of us died. Talia know she would too. She doesn’t even want to lead; the elves were very strict about ones chosen role and she chose to be a warrior. Lysan is smart but hesitates too much when it’s time to make a decision.
Adrian walks out carrying the corpse of his dead friend. He speaks a bit with the male servant who is watching the other work. I think the servant gave Adrian directions and he walks toward another of the buildings. I watch him enter the building and come out with a shovel, I think its shape is weird. I’m sure that he is too far for the sisters to see what he is doing. It’s easy to guess though, dispose of the body, if it takes a long time it was burial, if there is smoke a fire, or if it's fast he diched it.
“Want to take bets on what he is doing with his friend?”
The two sisters give me a weird look, damn I wanted an easy favor. We are almost done with gathering our dead, just remove the equipment that can aid the living and burn the remains to keep the dead from rising. The sisters start stripping the armor of the dead women, there were only four and so they finish all the two women quickly.
Lysan ends up stripping the equipment off of one of the men before her sister. She turns red embarrassed as she removes the unbroken armor over his waist. I smirk, should I tease her?
“Don’t get excited by the dead girl.”
She turns a much darker shade of red, and her sister starts to laugh. I grin looking right at her, she sees my grin and realizes I was messing with her. Innocent girl, I hope that Adrian actually will be able to keep us safe, the nobles that are too scared to claim me would ruin her. We finish taking what armor is still usable from the dead, and retrieved their weapons. Now to burn the dead.
“I’ll start the fire, you can start with the green skins. They don’t deserve it but I’ll not let disease from their corpses get us.”
The two sisters nod and go to aid the male human in piling up the tainted dead. I stand up near the pile of corpses, chanting the words to invoke fire and spread my fingers the thumbs touching. Fire bursts out of my hands in a short wave, I feel my mana drop a bit as it flows; the bodies are now burning they will be little more than ash in a few minutes.
The male servant stared for a bit at the fire coming out of my hands. I dismiss my spell, I don’t need to hold it any longer. Most of the corpses of the green skins are now stacked up, I turn to see Adrian digging a hole, I guess he really cared for his friend.
We finish stacking the dead in a pile, I light this pile aflame as well. The male human stares at me again and I bare my teeth at him. He seems decent but he is too weak for me.
The female servant comes out to us with some food and water, I liked the sweet cold bubbly water from last night more. Is there any more of it? I wish I could ask for some. I’m sure Lysan will cast her translation spell again, I’ll ask for it then.
The male accepts his rations and begins to walk in the direction he gave Adrian earlier. The female follows.
“I think we should show support to our host.” The two sisters nod and we follow behind the two who left.
Adrian looks up at the five of us but continues to dig, the corpse of his friend in the shade of a nearby building. The female finished eating first, and then walked over to the corpse. I think she is cleaning it up. When the male finished eating he walked over to Adrian and was passed the shovel.
I sit and enjoy the meal in silence with the sisters. This is clearly some form of mourning, who was this friend to deserve such treatment after death? The sun slowly moves across the sky, the hole is already deep enough to hold the corpse. The hole is already ten hands wide and four deep, is that not enough?
Both Adrian and the male are sitting, drinking water. I walk over to the shovel and pick it up, before I manage to start Adrian walked over to be and put his hand over where I am gripping the shovel and shakes his head. He takes the shovel from me and begins to dig, even though he just stopped.
I step back and go sit next to the sisters. I mutter, mostly to myself “why can the male help you dig but I cannot? Am I not worthy?”
“A man deserves to be buried by his friends and family. Bryan and me are the only ones he has here; we have to dig the hole.”
I stop stunned. Adrian answered my question. I look at the sisters, they have blank stares. They are surprised. I thought that Adrian did not know the elvish tongue, I usually speak it as the sisters despise the only other language they know. How did he learn it so fast? Nobody taught him, I don’t think that he duplicated Lysan’s spell. I felt no mana, no ripple, how does he now know our tongue?
The male, Bryan I guess is also surprised, and confused? He clearly doesn’t know what Adrian said so it wasn’t a translations spell.
“I thought you didn’t know our language” says Lysan.
Adrian doesn’t respond, I guess they are not to speak in this funeral like service? I sit down and wait, after a short while the male swaps with Adrian. A man deserves to be buried by his friends and family, that doesn’t seem specific. Does everyone here receive such great honors upon death?
We sit the sun now halfway to dusk, the woman left and brought back more of those meat-inside-of-bread. Its tasty but why are we being served the same thing multiple times in a row. Are they trying to get rid of these rations? They surly cannot be traveled with.
The hole is now 10 hands deep when the two stop taking turns digging, the only two sentences spoken were why I am not to dig. I don’t think that the sisters will care anymore if Adrian isn’t a lord. Any man that will go so far to honor his friend deserves to be a lord.
Adrian and the other male carry their friend to the hole and place him in it, the female brings another of the odd shovels and gives it to the other male. The rest of us watch as the two put the dirt over the body of their dead friend. I see some sort of blackness in the dirt falling from Adrian’s shovel, I don’t know what he is doing, but that won’t animate the dead so it must be some ward against it.