Outside, the arena remained its cacophony of training, students panting with the exaggerated stress of those who’d worked themselves. But Vilan did not pant, and neither did Gyra. Vilan sat in the sand, knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them, and face bowed in hiding. Around him reia worked. Unrefined lumps of sand the size of an adult’s head hovered about him, four orbs—if they could be called such. And before the boy, hidden from his view, a staff trembled in the sand. Kilvic paused to watch all this, ignoring Gyra’s noted attention on him.
Ariadne stopped beside him, turned her attention to what had his, and sucked in a sharp breath. “Four links,” she gasped. Kilvic was not certain if she was impressed or underwhelmed.
Seven, Kilvic corrected mentally. Barely perceptible, two clusters of air hovered, struggling to maintain their new nature. Ariadne had not counted the boy’s link to the staff either,
Kilvic staggered backwards, his body held incline into a fall. His feet were the only things that kept him up. Counting away in multiple minute steps, they kept him up, kept him from the fall as he pushed away, increasing the distance. The deadman’s walk came easier to him now. Of all the moves they were taught, it came the easiest, the simplest. Perhaps it was his favorite now. Perhaps not. It definitely kept him away from the pain. After three breaths he staggered into position, returned into a defensive form.Naralayn had done much to remain his sparring partner, but ever since Stratin had proved more sufficient it had become harder for the young noble to choose him for a partner. Naralayn did not cease in his attempts though, until their instructor determined having Naralayn as a sparring partner was not good for the young noble’s development. So, today, Kilvic found Sharmin as his sparring partner. And Sharmin was an easier opponent to survive agains
Ariadne was staring.“He talks in your minds?” she said, again, in disgust. “How do you allow that.”“He’s strong,” Stratin offered mildly. “I couldn’t shake him.”Moss shrugged. “Me neither.”To Moss, she replied, “Any oaf with half a brain could see that. You have the will power of a dead fish, Moss.” She turned her attention to Kilvic. “And you?”“He had something to say.” Kilvic thought about it, then changed his answer. “I thought he had something to say. But he was also helping me spar.”Ariadne raised a brow. “How?”“Pointing out my weaknesses. Showing me where I should’ve capitalized.”“Moss could help you with that. Heck, Lacra would be more than happy if Gyra refuses.”“Gyra has offered,” Stratin pointed out.Ariadne turned to him. &
Wind magic has always been considered the easiest of them. Why? Because no place existed void of air. And air, unlike most other elements, is flexible, bendable to one’s will. Not much mental strength is required to manipulate it. It is, in theory, the best element to start a mage off with. But not the way Naesir made it seem.Kilvic jumped back with a speed that would have made a peregrine proud. A wind lance struck the sand covered ground where his feet had been a mere breath ago and dissipated almost immediately. He wondered at the verity of the training he was undergoing. His intention had been to learn the basics of wind magic from someone who was proving attuned to it by each growing day. He ducked and rolled almost immediately, his mind not given the time to contemplate the failure of his choice as another wind lance skewered the air where he should’ve been. Each wind lance was condensed enough to almost be mistaken for a true lance. Battle against a wind e
“Did we win?” Stratin broke the silence that enveloped the arena, voice panting. “Did we?”Kilvic spared him a solitary glance. Did it matter? There had been four of them against one of her. Though victory should be taken in whatever form it came, this was a victory he cared nothing for. If your life was truly at stake you would. Kilvic almost frowned at his own thought. It was right. Still…He sighed. “Yes, we won.”As if released from a spell, Stratin slumped to the ground in relief.Ahead of them Fyodan approached. Behind them, Moss lumbered along damaged bones no doubt mending themselves. The amount of reia required to create, and operate such an arena needed to be greatly vast. Here, unlike the arena used for the winter hall fest, death was not circumvented. But a vast room that could heal wounds on the scale of even broken bones in mere minutes was powerful… too powerful.&ld
Moss said nothing for a moment, and Kilvic continued to stare out at the arena, at their hall mates training. Lacra remained powerful, her attacks brutal. But Gyra remained standing, bracing against her charges, casting aside spells where he would, evading where he would. The boy was powerful for one his age.When Moss spoke he sounded more confused than irate. “It’s how you say these things with a straight face that’s creepy. I don’t know if you are angry, bored or worried. Which is it?”Kilvic thought about it briefly. It was a logical question. Why had he said it when he hadn’t needed to? Moss had given him a piece of advice, and he’d given one in return. Was it the reference to the magi that had spurred him to speak. Yes, the magi were what mages were called in the older times when they had engaged in combat from a distance. They were mages who had failed once their opponents engaged them in the melee, something very simila
Lumina finished the last ten of the two hundred and fifteen outworlders humans were capable of summoning from their worlds before returning her attention to her son. Considered, the other kingdoms referred to them as demons, but not the house of Elzcrid. It was a mistake they would never be caught dead making.Kilvic, her son, began two breath-spans after she had mentioned the last with no order to how he mentioned them. On a few occasions his lessons required he call them by order of their strengths, on other occasions he would be required to call them according to the terrains for which they are best suited. This was no such occasion. Having already mentioned all twelve kingdoms beyond the mountains and the names of the oceans and seas and forests and the outworlders that served as their guardians amongst other lessons of the likes of arithmetic, geography, even the basics of human and outworld medicine and anatomy, this was to be his last lesson of the day.The boy
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay one more day?”Kilvic shook his head. “I have to go today, grandmother,” he replied with a shy smile. “Any more delays and I’ll be late.”Jenis shot him a reprimanding look. “Grandmother?” “Grandma,” Kilvic corrected, his smile becoming a slight tease. All his life his grandmother had insisted he call her ‘grandma’ rather than ‘grandmother’. According to her, the names mattered because while one made her feel like a grandmother, the other made her feel like an old woman. And she hated feeling old. Also, one was a formality that was found choking noble families. And she would not be formal with her family.“If you must,” his grandmother agreed with reluctance after a short moment, then turned to peer into the house behind her. “What of your m
The docks were least busy during the early mornings when most traders were setting up. Compared to the chaos of the afternoons when ships were pulling in and people took it upon themselves to loiter about, it seemed less chaotic than it really was.“Your grandfather wants you to court a mage,” he said as they passed a stall where a man was calming a rattling cage of wild geese. It hadn’t been a question, but Telvine nodded.“Mages are paid a lot,” she said. “If I marry a mage, then I won’t have to become a peddler like my parents.”Kilvic nodded.Peddlers were merchants too. But while those that held the richer part of the trade were the one popularly known by the title, those who’d failed to make it big and barely made enough to take a few weeks off to rest where referred to as peddlers. Amongst the latter, the more popular ones were known to move from place to place.Kilvic gave a casual shrug
Moss said nothing for a moment, and Kilvic continued to stare out at the arena, at their hall mates training. Lacra remained powerful, her attacks brutal. But Gyra remained standing, bracing against her charges, casting aside spells where he would, evading where he would. The boy was powerful for one his age.When Moss spoke he sounded more confused than irate. “It’s how you say these things with a straight face that’s creepy. I don’t know if you are angry, bored or worried. Which is it?”Kilvic thought about it briefly. It was a logical question. Why had he said it when he hadn’t needed to? Moss had given him a piece of advice, and he’d given one in return. Was it the reference to the magi that had spurred him to speak. Yes, the magi were what mages were called in the older times when they had engaged in combat from a distance. They were mages who had failed once their opponents engaged them in the melee, something very simila
“Did we win?” Stratin broke the silence that enveloped the arena, voice panting. “Did we?”Kilvic spared him a solitary glance. Did it matter? There had been four of them against one of her. Though victory should be taken in whatever form it came, this was a victory he cared nothing for. If your life was truly at stake you would. Kilvic almost frowned at his own thought. It was right. Still…He sighed. “Yes, we won.”As if released from a spell, Stratin slumped to the ground in relief.Ahead of them Fyodan approached. Behind them, Moss lumbered along damaged bones no doubt mending themselves. The amount of reia required to create, and operate such an arena needed to be greatly vast. Here, unlike the arena used for the winter hall fest, death was not circumvented. But a vast room that could heal wounds on the scale of even broken bones in mere minutes was powerful… too powerful.&ld
Wind magic has always been considered the easiest of them. Why? Because no place existed void of air. And air, unlike most other elements, is flexible, bendable to one’s will. Not much mental strength is required to manipulate it. It is, in theory, the best element to start a mage off with. But not the way Naesir made it seem.Kilvic jumped back with a speed that would have made a peregrine proud. A wind lance struck the sand covered ground where his feet had been a mere breath ago and dissipated almost immediately. He wondered at the verity of the training he was undergoing. His intention had been to learn the basics of wind magic from someone who was proving attuned to it by each growing day. He ducked and rolled almost immediately, his mind not given the time to contemplate the failure of his choice as another wind lance skewered the air where he should’ve been. Each wind lance was condensed enough to almost be mistaken for a true lance. Battle against a wind e
Ariadne was staring.“He talks in your minds?” she said, again, in disgust. “How do you allow that.”“He’s strong,” Stratin offered mildly. “I couldn’t shake him.”Moss shrugged. “Me neither.”To Moss, she replied, “Any oaf with half a brain could see that. You have the will power of a dead fish, Moss.” She turned her attention to Kilvic. “And you?”“He had something to say.” Kilvic thought about it, then changed his answer. “I thought he had something to say. But he was also helping me spar.”Ariadne raised a brow. “How?”“Pointing out my weaknesses. Showing me where I should’ve capitalized.”“Moss could help you with that. Heck, Lacra would be more than happy if Gyra refuses.”“Gyra has offered,” Stratin pointed out.Ariadne turned to him. &
Kilvic staggered backwards, his body held incline into a fall. His feet were the only things that kept him up. Counting away in multiple minute steps, they kept him up, kept him from the fall as he pushed away, increasing the distance. The deadman’s walk came easier to him now. Of all the moves they were taught, it came the easiest, the simplest. Perhaps it was his favorite now. Perhaps not. It definitely kept him away from the pain. After three breaths he staggered into position, returned into a defensive form.Naralayn had done much to remain his sparring partner, but ever since Stratin had proved more sufficient it had become harder for the young noble to choose him for a partner. Naralayn did not cease in his attempts though, until their instructor determined having Naralayn as a sparring partner was not good for the young noble’s development. So, today, Kilvic found Sharmin as his sparring partner. And Sharmin was an easier opponent to survive agains
Outside, the arena remained its cacophony of training, students panting with the exaggerated stress of those who’d worked themselves. But Vilan did not pant, and neither did Gyra. Vilan sat in the sand, knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them, and face bowed in hiding. Around him reia worked. Unrefined lumps of sand the size of an adult’s head hovered about him, four orbs—if they could be called such. And before the boy, hidden from his view, a staff trembled in the sand. Kilvic paused to watch all this, ignoring Gyra’s noted attention on him.Ariadne stopped beside him, turned her attention to what had his, and sucked in a sharp breath. “Four links,” she gasped. Kilvic was not certain if she was impressed or underwhelmed.Seven, Kilvic corrected mentally. Barely perceptible, two clusters of air hovered, struggling to maintain their new nature. Ariadne had not counted the boy’s link to the staff either,
“How’d you do it?”Kilvic turned to Ariadne and did his best not to frown. Most of the expressions he’d trained most of his life were slowly becoming habits. He could school them, but there were occasions such as this when they surfaced of their own accord. He’d lost count of how many times she’d asked. She at least had the decency to ask it in subtlety. First she’d gone about it as if out of combat curiosity. Then she’d moved on to the curiosity of the defeated. She’d tried other methods too. Not anymore.“Do what, Ariadne?” he asked.“That last spell.”“It was a simple wind spell.”“I didn’t hear you cast.” Ariadne frowned. “No. You didn’t chant, did you?”Kilvic turned his attention away from his project. In his hand was a single staff, on the other was a knife. The winter hall fest consisted of a variety of challe
“Same as last year.” Lacra made a grunting sound like gravels scraping. She coughed, turned her head to the side, and spat out a blob of blood stained spittle. “Same as last fucking year.”She was seated on the sand. Her tattered clothes did not leave much for imaginations, but the necessary parts were covered and she cast the perfect look of a warrior from battle. Gyra and Kilvic stood in front of her. Around them the others were beginning to rise groggily. It had been roughly fifteen minutes since Lacra had surrendered and Kilvic noted her injuries were gone, completely healed. He turned his head to Fyodan where he stood, the first to come to his feet. Behind him the crack in the arena wall was also gone. Healing or reconstructive, he wondered. They did not have an arena like this in castle Grey. They did not have an arena that fixed itself… or those within it.Its effects were slow, but each of the students were comin
Everything happened quickly. The boys and girls roared into each other. It was not the skirmish of the non-mages. There was no physical clashing involved. This was a skirmish for those who trained to become great mages in the future. A few fists were thrown, but most of all, spells came flying, and the ambient reia was disturbed as if by the fury of a crashing wave.Trudi was all smiles as she sent spells flying, simple incantations after the other. Unlike the boys, the girls seemed to possess a chosen strategy. Some bought time for the spellcasters, dispensing physical oppression upon the boys. Lacra moved like a force to be reckoned with. Her steps were quick, carrying her across the arena in short bursts. She was everywhere she needed to be to support her team when they needed it. A fist here and there, forcing a boy or the other into defense where they’d been going for offense.Moss forced his way into the enemy, a battering ram in his form, arms crossed over