《The Legend of the Phoenix Archmage: The Edenian War》
Chapter 0: Genesis
Eons ago, at the dawn of time, the mightiest of all beings, known to us as the Titans, waged war against one another, spurned on by a force that existed long before the universe took shape, as it saw the Darkness of Chaos and the Light of Order as nothing more than pollutants to itself.
This force was known as the Void, the Realm of Corruption, and exacting its will was the Titan of Aether, who had infiltrated the chaotic Titans to fuel the flames of hatred between them and the acolytes of the Light. Ultimately, the primordial beings grew tired of fighting and started to catch on to the ploys of the Void, causing them to end the war and exile the creature that kept spreading discord among them to whence it came.
This greatest of wars took a great toll on the rulers of existence, thus they decided to bequeath their authority over all of creation to the most trusted among the Seraphim, the children of the Titans, who henceforth became known as the 24 Gods of Creation, with 12 among them inheriting the aspects of Chaos, and the other 12 the aspects of Order.
However, before laying to rest eternally, the Titans decided to merge the Light of Order with the Darkness of Chaos as to remind their children of the mindless losses suffered during the Primordial War. The union of the fundamental forces ultimately gave birth to the last of the Titans, Gemini, and the force which now permeated all of creation, Mana.
Mana was as boundless as Chaos itself, making it flow akin to a treacherous torrent, ripping apart all that tried to force their way against its flow while keeping those already within it safe from outside influences. Nonetheless, due to the influence of Order, one was able to wield it and use it to bend reality to one''s will, a process known as Magic. It was this power that allowed the Gods not only to protect the realm that was given to them, but also to create new things on their own, just as their creators had before them.
Therefore, soon after their creators had left to rest, the Gods decided to honour their progenitors by crafting beings in their image and teaching them just like they were taught themselves, so they may one day follow in the foot-steps of the Gods and be given the universe if the were to one day decide to follow the Titans into eternal rest. These seven mortal races are known as the Divine Tribes, and each of them not only received the semblance of one of the Titans, but also the strengths associated with the one they were moulded after.
By the chaotic Gods, the Orcs where shaped after Venja, the Incarnation of Darkness, and the fiercest warrior of the chaotic Titans, but also the most protective and kind towards her siblings.
The Incarnation of Energy, Solnir, was the template for the creation of the Demons, who received his wit as well as his curiosity.
The Forsaken were moulded after Rohuk, the Incarnation of Change. Their true name and the traits they inherited from Rohuk were wiped from history, and only the fact they existed remains. It is said that they had brought the wrath of their creators upon them, but how and why will most likely remain a mystery. Mortals believe they were imprisoned in Rohuk''s realm, the ethereal plane referred to only as the Eternal Dream.
The lawful Gods created the Elves, which were born in the image of Theia, the Incarnation of Light. She was known for her fairness and unmatched beauty, as well as her benevolence and sense of justice.
The Dwarves were fashioned after Aria, the Incarnation of Balance. She was the most enthusiastic of all Titans, as well as the most creative. It is said that she took a liking to Rohuk and his works, though she found their short-lived nature to be disheartening. Her attempts at immortalizing his creations are believed to be the origin of art itself.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
From the blood of Arasil, the Incarnation of Nature, who managed to split the light of Order into what is known as the 7 Elements of Nature, mighty beasts emerged and spread throughout the realm, the ancestors of animals and plants as we know them. The Gods granted the most intelligent among them the privilege to rise above all others, thus the Beastkin-Tribes were born.
And lastly, Humans, which closely resembled Scion, the Incarnation of Knowledge, in both appearance and their pursuit of insight into the secrets of reality. Though believed to be the weakest of them all at first, their ability to adapt and persevere even through the harshest of times soon earned them respect among the other races.
As the gods thought nothing they ever created could come close to the ruler of Chaos, Kosmos, and the ruler of Order, Rea, and to appease those among the seraphim who were not chosen as the direct successors of the Titans, they decided to create beings with the sole purpose of serving the celestials who ruled over the universe, the Sentinels, who also received the mission to commune with mortals in the name of their leaders and provide them with guidance. Sentinels, however, are not counted among the Heavenly Tribes, as their close relation to divinity classifies them as lesser celestials.
The Heavenly Tribes received the worlds that had formed at the outskirts of the universe so they may forge their destinies and create stories for the gods to tell their creators upon their return from their slumber, but also to serve as roadblocks for the beings of the Void to prevent them from spreading their corruption throughout the realm.
"...thus concludes the ''Genesis of Creation'', the story of how we all came to be. Does that answer your questions, young ones?", the old priest ended the sermon and closed his book, which contained the copies of the ancient texts the acolytes of the Ardent Path had collected over millennia. He had just been on his way back to the small church at the outskirts of the village he called his home after getting some produce from the market, before being interrupted by two inquisitive children, who were curious about the Titans.
"But why does the Ardent Path only worship the lawful Gods? What about the chaotic ones?", the taller one of the two, a boy no older than 11 years with brown, unkempt hair, asks.
"Yeah, and what about the seraphim? My mother said that they are considered the siblings of the gods, so why do people call them demigods instead?", the other, just about a hands-width shorter than the first one with black, smooth hair inquired.
"I would love to tell you these things in detail, but I am afraid that there are urgent matters I have to attend to. However, if you are that curious about the gods, the monasteries of the Ardent Path welcome all future acolytes with open arms. Until then: May the Light of Order guide you on the Ardent Path.", the old man answered with a friendly smile, before turning his back on them and continuing his walk back home.
"Whatever, wanna come to my house today, Sean? Dad managed to catch that large boar that attacked the village elder, so we got enough food to feed at least five families.", the younger one asked.
"I can''t, Corvo, I have to help my parents pack some stuff today since we''ll be leaving at the end of the week.", Sean answered solemnly.
"Oh yeah, your dad got moved to Caelum, didn''t he? Don''t worry, you''re going to the academy there, won''t you? My parents said that they have saved up enough money for me to go there too, so we will meet there again in a year! Until then we can still stay in contact with letters, and we still got until the end of the week, right?", Corvo exclaimed with a grin.
"Yeah, you''re right.", Sean replied, now visibly more cheerful. "Race ya to the fountain, last one there is a rotten egg!", he yelled while starting to run.
"Hey, not fair!", Corvo laughed, and both raced towards the centre of the village, in blissful ignorance of what fate held for them.
Chapter 00: The Flying City of Magic
On the human continent of Corus, the three greatest powers, which are referred to as the Three Thrones of Humanity, struggled against one another for the title of humanities ruler.
To save mankind from its inevitable demise at its own hands, the Three Thrones of Humanity came together to negotiate a temporary peace treaty. As magic was the deciding factor in any war, they decided upon creating an organisation that would unite the magical knowledge of humanities greatest nations within it, for if the worst was to come, but their magical knowledge still surpassed that of any other race, no amount of casualties would put humanity at a disadvantage against them. Hence the Arcane Union was born.
The Three Thrones knew that each of them would still withhold crucial information regarding their most well-kept secrets, but they also believed that the thirst for magical knowledge inherent in all who studied the magical arts was beyond any loyalty one held for one''s nation, making leaks more than likely and thus forcing a balance between the Three Thrones.
The Arcane Union proved to be more valuable than its founders had imagined, as throughout the years they would make one incredible discovery after the other. One of the greatest changes the Union brought with it, was a uniform system to categorize all forms of magic, which would later be adopted by the rest of the world. It replaced the previous system, the Magical Trinity, which merely divided spells into Red Magic, which included offensive spells, White Magic, which consisted mainly of supporting spells, and Blue Magic, which described all other forms of magic, and instead sorted them according to their attributes into one of the Seven Schools of Magic:
Arcana, which manipulate Mana directly.
Elemental Magic, which makes use of the seven fundamental elements of nature: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, Darkness, and the Neutral Element.
Transfiguration, which influences organic life.
Synergy, which influences lifeless objects.
Conjuration, which influences energy.
Reality Magic, which manipulates Mana to bend the laws of physics.
And lastly, Ethereal Magic, a form of magic which borrows from the primordial forces and can only be used in the form of miracles provided by a deity.
This fundamental change of how magic was looked at lead to another, less significant categorization, where spells where ranked according to their complexity and the efficiency of their incantation on a scale from 0 to 9, the Magical-Tier-Scale.
The lowest, 0th-Tier was referred to as Null Magic, as it described the simplest form of magic, which neither required any preparations nor a high amount of skill when it came to the use of magic.
Spells up to the 3rd-Tier, Lesser Magic, was considered to be easy to understand for even the least gifted, and the 5th-Tier, Greater Magic, the highest one was able to reach without dedicating one''s life to arduous studies and magical training.
The most powerful spell a mortal was able to cast was believed to have been of the 9th-Tier, which was known as Supreme Magic, though those capable of casting such grand magic are rare enough to warrant questioning their existence.
These new systems caused many scholars to restructure their methods of research, which allowed for multiple breakthroughs never thought to be possible, such as the discovery of a way to manufacture spell-scrolls, a magically infused medium imbued with the instructions of a spell, which only needed the right amount of energy supplied to it to be cast, an item thought to only be found in Abyssal Rifts up to this point. Even an item that could measure one''s magical aptitude, the Ordo Siderum, became a dream made reality.
Despite all these breakthroughs, a similar organisation within the Independent Nations of the south known as the Scholar''s Alliance, which was said to have been the inspiration for the Arcane Union, and both refused to acknowledge the changes made by them as well as any discoveries made from them for hundreds of years, as they likened the scholars of the Union to dogs chained to the leaders of the Three Thrones. Nevertheless, the leaders of the Scholar''s Alliance would later be forced by the majority of their members to accept their defeat despite years of formal protest due to the obvious benefits the new systems and discoveries brought with them.
Though the criticism offered by the Scholar''s Alliance may have seemed petty and disingenuous at first glance, there was undeniable truth to their words, as politics did indeed play a major part in decisions made by the higher-ups of the Union. The Three Thrones placed spies into leading positions within their board of leaders to make sure that the organisation prioritized research which catered to the specific needs of their founding nations, while cutting off funding from all other projects not conforming to their direct guidelines. As the scholar''s of the Union greatly disliked having their creative freedom restricted to such a degree, they secretly started to amass wealth through various means such as fulfilling contracts made with nations which were not part of the Three Thrones and funding covert expeditions into the ruins of civilizations from the Dark Ages.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
One of these expeditions was led by a mercenary by the name of Phineas Finis, an expert in spelunking who often received tasks involving the exploration of newly discovered caves and ravines. After years of working for the Union, Finis felt that he was growing too old for this kind of work, thus agreeing to one last expedition into the Vitreus mountain-range, which served as natural border between Domitor and the nearest nation part of the Northern Alliance, Yhose, not knowing that it would be the discovery which would forever cement his name in the history books of humanity.
Upon entering the cave, the entrance of which had been unearthed after an avalanche, he could not believe his eyes. The walls around him were inscribed with all kinds of runes, some of which even completely unknown to the scholars from the Arcane Union in his party. They followed the runes ever deeper into the chasm, until they reached a spacious room, in the middle of which a massive white crystal had been placed on a pedestal. Seeing as the scholars of the Arcane Union could not make out what it was used for, Finis decided to take matters in his own hands and activated it.
The crystal turned out to be a relic, an item of immense power created by a celestial being, and, as soon as it sprung to live, the earth beneath them began to quake, as 7 mountains started to rip themselves from the earth, including the one they found themselves in. While in the air, the mountains began to flip upside-down, thus creating 7 enormous flying islands, which now soared higher and higher into the air, until they reached a height of approximately 4 miles above sea-level.
Finis decided to name this relic Edenia, a word which he believed to have heard one of the scholars read out loud as he tried to pronounce the runes carved into the walls, and gifted it to the Arcane Union. The sudden appearance of flying islands in the sky above Domitor and Yhose distracted the Three Thrones, as they neither knew how they came to be nor what to do with them. The Arcane Union seized this window of indecisiveness and used their secretly amassed funds to build a city atop the islands, which they declared their new headquarters. In accordance with Finis'' wishes, they decided to name it the Flying City of Magic, Edenia. Subsequently, the scholars rebranded their organisation into the Magician''s Guild, and declared their independence from their founding nations.
The Three Thrones did not look favourable upon this new revelation, with the king of Domitor being the most furious about it. However, seeing as the Magician''s Guild consisted of humanities strongest spellcasters, the Northern Alliance and Merdelum decided against antagonizing the Magician''s Guild and reluctantly acknowledged their decision without further consequences. Domitor, however, saw this move as betrayal of the highest order, and readied a battalion of anti-air units, comprised of Wyvern-Riders and magi who pledged their loyalty to the kingdom, to attack the flying city before it could be moved out of reach.
Despite sending an almost absurd amount of troops towards the city, Domitor stood no chance against the full might of the Magician''s Guild. Even so, the scholars of Edenia knew that Domitor would not relent until all 7 islands were completely erased from the sky, hence making some form of retaliation necessary to emphasise just how outmatched the kingdom was. The guild did not have to think about such measures for long, as an opportunity presented itself soon after.
Upon exploring the islands, a vault was found within one of them, containing what was believed to have been a weapon lost during the Dark Ages, but later turned out to be another relic left behind by divinity. This mistake was made due to the fact that the weapon, which received the name Nihilus, unlike the crystal that served as Edenia''s heart, was not made of an unfamiliar material, but rather of normal, unalloyed Mythril, which, though it was considered to be rather valuable to mortals, was believed to be far beneath anything that would be used by celestials. Therefore the current guild-master at the time, Melchior Rifton, decided to test Nihilus'' power on Domitor, and commanded it to be aimed at a military base in the area which connected the peninsula of Nirion with the rest of the continent, as it was deemed far away enough from other cities and villages to minimize civilian casualties.
Upon activation, the weapon started to draw the raw Mana from its surroundings and channeled it into a beam so powerful that it completely vaporized the area it had struck. The damage the weapon had dealt was beyond anything the scholars of Edenia had believed to even be possible, as it had created a chasm of such size, that, after it had filled with seawater, Nirion had now been turned from peninsula into a fully from the main-land disconnected island. No one knew the exact number of lives lost that day, but historians would later estimate them to be at least 250.000, most of which had been civilians.
Fearing that this devastating event could be replicated, the Magician''s Guild dismantled Nihilus and destroyed both its parts and all documentation containing instructions of how it was used shortly after. Guilt ridden by the destruction he had caused, guild-master Rifton resigned from his position after he saw the grief and despair his decisions had caused, and left Edenia, never to be heard of again. Despite knowledge of the weapon having been destroyed shortly after it was used for the first time having spread rather quickly, the event struck fear into the minds of the people all across the world, forcing the nations who learned of it into a state of peace as no one dared to incite Edenia''s wrath.
Centuries have now passed since Edenia''s retaliation against Domitor, and the peace was upheld without a single incident. Many people from all over the world now traveled to Edenia to learn and research magic. However, though they were not the only ones capable of casting magic, only humans where allowed to join the Magician''s Guild, as despite them having abolished most rules their founding nations had placed upon them, they still strongly held the believe that their sole purpose must remain the advancement of the human race.
An Age of Prosperity had washed over Corus but, as with most ages, this one too was fleeting, as the fate of Edenia, and with it humanity as a whole, would soon be turned on its head, all set in motion by the actions of a single archmage.
Chapter 1: The Apprentice
As Edenia wanted to prevent spies from Domitor or other organisations from entering the city, multiple different security measures were put into place, both magical and physical. A combination of both was the official attire all scholars on Edenia were forced to wear: robes in specific colours which were manufactured by the Magician''s Guild and imbued with special enchantments which would make them not only easily recognisable as official clothing of the guild but also nearly unforgeable. Those who tried to forge them regardless and were caught doing so would not live to tell the tale.
The 7 Schools of Magic each were assigned a certain colour, with the exception of Ethereal Magic, as followers of all religions refused to cooperate with the Magician''s Guild out of fear that they would lose the miracles given to them by the gods for sharing their secrets with heathens. Visitors and magi which were yet to receive an official rank by the guild were given brown robes, while officials of the guild, such as law-enforcement and lecturers were given black robes. While lecturers had to display their school of magic in form of a coloured armband, law-enforcement was given black robes which had the symbol of magic, the Star of Gemini, stitched onto their backs in white thread.
One''s rank within the guild was determined by a committee consisting of scholar''s who were already recognised as having contributed more to magical research than most others and thus have received the highest rank one could achieve within the guild, that of an Archmage. The committee was led by Edenia''s guild-master, who himself was required to be an archmage to receive this position.
The committee decided upon the rank of scholars in accordance with two criteria: their contributions to magical research and their magical aptitude, as measured by the Ordo Siderum, a magic-item crafted from two components: a certain metal-alloy, the composition of which was only known to those who were tasked with building and maintaining the tool, and a pitch-black crystal-ball, which was placed on top of it. Upon channeling one''s arcanum into the device, dots of pure light resembling stars in the night-sky would appear within the dark crystal. The number of stars that would light up depended on the quality of the arcanum it was supplied with, which was considered the clearest indicator of a spellcaster''s might. The highest number of stars that have ever been witnessed to appear within the crystal-ball were 9, and there has not ever been a single recorded incident of no stars appearing without either the device having been damaged somehow or the one using it being born with a spirit and therefore not possessing any arcanum to begin with.
To have at least 6 stars show up while using the Ordo Siderum was considered the minimum requirement before one was even able to apply for the rank of an archmage. Archmagi not part of the committee were granted more freedoms than lower ranked magi and were thus allowed to wear their own robes as long as they visibly showed the star of Gemini in some way, and they were given an additional title, a nickname of sorts, which was decided upon by their peers to prove that one has been accepted among their ranks. However, as spellcasters tended to have a most unusual sense of humour and a downright abysmal naming sense, these nicknames could turn out to be most unflattering for the ones who received them.
Malakai Nefas was one such unlucky archmage. The Infernal Archmage, is what they had come up with, as he was unmatched in his prowess of fire-elemental magic within the Magician''s Guild, but also generally known to be impatient and quick to anger. And angry he got, if one was unfortunate enough to call him by his nickname when he was in earshot. Nefas thought of his new ''title'' to be not quite as witty or amusing as his colleagues when they came up with it, and tended to vent his anger about it by setting those who used it on fire. Not to kill them, of course, just to give them a good scare...and a burn-scar to remember it by. Though no matter how much he resented it, there was nothing to be done about it, as his actions only further cemented it into the minds of others as the right choice for a moniker. His tendency to overwork apprentices and drop them as soon as they were no longer capable of following his instructions did not help his case either.
So how was it, that the spellcaster regarded as devoid of kindness was now standing before a child he had just saved from being murdered by a group of bandits? Was he just trying to vent some anger on what was considered the scum of humanity, and saving the child had merely been an afterthought? Or was there perhaps a spark of compassion for fellow humans hidden in the dark obsidian he regarded to be his heart, compelling him to help those in need if they are right in front of him? Whenever he was asked, he would just call it a whim of his, though he himself was not sure if that answer was truthful.
No matter his true intentions, he now saw himself confronted with a problem. Nefas was not one to leave any business unfinished, and since he had decided to save the child in front of him, the spellcaster now saw himself responsible for its life.
The child, a boy about 7 years of age, with hazel coloured hair and clothed in the simple fabrics of commoners, looked at the old man in front of him with his tear-filled, purple-coloured eyes. Despite his entire body quivering before the elderly spellcaster in his black robe covered in golden symbols with bright red ornamental hems, which had just killed 10 bandits in the blink of an eye and turned them to ash, the boy raised his hands and aimed them at Nefas, intending to defend himself.
An orange-coloured, glowing spell-circle formed before them in mid-air, as the boy shakily recited the ancient words taught to him by his father, and the 2nd-Tier spell now hurtled towards the archmage. A flick of his hand was all it took to parry the small projectile, but nevertheless, Nefas was impressed by this display, as children were seldom able to learn magic before having become 10 years old, let alone spells of the 2nd-Tier. As the boy started to lose consciousness from exhausting his arcanum to cast the spell, the old man quickly caught him before he landed face-first in the dirt and decided to take the child with him back to Edenia.
The boy awakened in a rather large bed, and, upon realising that he neither recognized the bed itself nor the room it was standing in, started to panic. Before he could do anything else, however, his gaze was drawn to the old man sitting in a chair next to him, who had made his presence known by clearing his throat. He had short, dark-brown hair with silver streaks running through them, and a short, well-trimmed beard. His face showed a few wrinkles, and the orange, almost fire-like eyes under his bushy eyebrows seemed to pierce the boy''s heart like a red-hot iron.
The man was wearing the very same black robe that was decorated in all kinds of runes he was wearing when he met him, and he held a long wooden pipe, the head of which had been carved into the shape of a dragon, making it look like the smoke came out of the dragon''s mouth, in his right hand, from which he drew some smoke, which he then exhaled in the form of rings.
The boy tried to get out of bed, but his body was still nauseous from having exhausted all his energy with a spell, so he only managed to sit up at the edge of the bed, next to the smoking mage.
"Calm down, child! No ill shall befall you in my home. The bandits who attacked you have fallen by my hand and I have brought you out of harm''s way.", the old man said with the deep voice of a man that had lived for decades.
Instead of calming him, the mage''s words caused the memories of the attack to resurface in the mind of the child.
"W-Where am I? Where are my parents?", he asked, his voice shaking with fear.
"As I said, this is my home. Regarding your parents, they were among those who fell at the hands of the criminals I rescued you from.", he responded bluntly, as he intended to neither sugar-coat the truth nor lie to the boy.
It took a few seconds for the boy to process the information he had just received, but shortly after, fragments of memories returned to him, making him relive them in his mind as if he was a spectator. His parents telling him that they saved up some money, so they would be able spend a weekend in Merdelum''s capital, and that they were even able to afford to drive there by stagecoach. His joy to finally see the world outside of their small town, and the anticipation at what would await him once they arrived. The sudden shock as one of the wheels of the coach broke off, and the shouts from outside as they were surrounded by bandits. His parents telling him to hide inside the carriage until they called out to him, and then...
The realization hit him like a horse running at him full speed. His father''s stern, but loving gaze, the feeling of his mother''s warm embrace, the laughter they shared with one another, all gone, forever. He imagined his parents, broken and lifeless on the floor, and started to scream. As his scream of terror turned into cries and tears of grief, the mage beside him, instead of trying to console the child, continued to smoke his pipe and waited, his expression slowly growing tense as he started to tap his right foot in annoyance before he finally had enough.
Malakai Nefas rose from his seat and emptied his pipe into a glass ashtray on a small, wooden night-stand situated next to the bed, laid down the pipe next to it and snarled at the boy.
"Enough already!"
The sudden movement and raised voice of Nefas startled the boy to a point where he stopped crying immediately.
"What is your name?", the man asked while fixating the child with a mildly irked expression.
"A-Andr¨¦-.", he responded, still overwhelmed by the situation.
"The name of your family?"
"...erm...T-Te-n...", the boy stammered, but was soon interrupted by the impatient archmage.
"To be frank, it matters not right now. Well, Andr¨¦, despite not even being old enough to be left alone for more than a day, you have arrived at the crossroads of destiny already. I will grant you one of two choices, as it was by my will that you were spared of whatever fate those low lives had in mind for you, thus becoming responsible for what will happen to you from now on. Keep in mind, your decision is final, so prepare yourself to follow through with it.", the archmage warned him, causing Andr¨¦ to grow ever tenser.
"The first: I will return you to a relative, or, if you either do not remember having any or turn out to be the last of your name, to an orphanage in or near your hometown in Merdelum. The second: As you seem to be attuned to fire-elemental magic, which just so happens to be my expertise, I will grant you full scholarship under my tutelage. However, my teachings are harsh and many a student who came to me for guidance had their will crushed by them. Do not fool yourself into thinking that I will take pity on you and lessen your workload because of your circumstances, but as long as you follow my orders, I will make sure that your expenses and accommodation are taken care of, and your talent will not go to waste. The choice is yours to make, I await your answer by tomorrow at noon."
And with his last word he walked towards the door on the other side of the room and left.
All the new information he was just fed combined with the memories of the robbery now flooded the mind of Andr¨¦, making him more nauseous than before. He needed some fresh air. With shaking, unsteady legs that reminded of a new-born deer''s first attempts at walking, he walked towards a nearby window, and opened it. While steadying himself with his arms resting on the windowsill, he took a few deep breaths and examined his surroundings.
The room he was in was on the second floor of brick house which was situated near the border of what looked like a big city. To his left, there were a few houses next to and across the building he was in, all of which were placed along a large, busy street which ended in a platform-like square. Beyond the square, there seemed to be a cliff, and, to his shock, not too far beyond the cliff, there was what appeared to be a mountain floating upside down. To his right, he could observe a sea of buildings, all of them made from the very same bricks as the house he was in, though no two of them looked the same, as their sizes, roofs, and colour differed in varying degrees from one another. The street continued on past all the buildings until it reached what looked like the centre of the city, a large town square with an enormous, almost needle-like white tower in the middle, surrounded by a few smaller spires. Andr¨¦ had heard stories from his parents of this city, as his father had told him that he had lived there for some time: The City of Magic, Edenia.
The boy turned around and examined the chamber in which he found himself. It contained two expensive looking bookshelves full of heavy tomes standing at the wall to the right of the chair in which the mage had waited for him to wake up. To his right, next to the window, there was a round, wooden table, the legs of which had been designed to look like an unlit campfire. On the table he found a porcelain plate with all kinds of fruits on them, next to a crystalline jug of water and a drinking glass which looked like it had been carved from a diamond. He decided to eat and drink while thinking about the words of the mage. He only ever knew his parents, and they told him that his grandparents had died years ago. Should he take up the archmage''s offer to study under him?
After finishing his meal, he decided to go back to bed and sleep, as maybe all of this had just been a bad dream, and he would awaken in the carriage the next morning in Caelum, surrounded by his parents. With the exhaustion of all that had happened to him catching up to him again, the boy drifted into a, despite all that happened, completely dreamless sleep, as the water he was provided with had been mixed with medicine that calmed the mind.
Andr¨¦ awoke the next day, bathed in cold sweat, seemingly at dawn. The boy looked around, and, upon realising that he was still in the home of the mage that had saved him, realised that what he hoped to be just a vivid nightmare was indeed cruel reality. Andr¨¦ could no longer cry, as he no longer felt any sadness, only vast emptiness. He stared at his empty hands while trying to order his thoughts, until he was greeted by a knock, and, as he did not give an answer, by the man behind the door, as he had decided to just enter the room.
"Good morning. I see the medicine did its work and you have calmed down. Have you been able to make a decision?", the old man asked expectantly, before sitting down in the same chair he had sat down the day before.
Andr¨¦ looked up from his hand, and, after having made sure that it was what he wanted, gave his answer. He was going to trust the man who had saved him and become his apprentice.
Several years had passed after the incident in which Andr¨¦ Tenning lost both of his parents, years of learning and rigid training under the tutelage of Malakai Nefas. As he had promised, Nefas'' teachings had been unbelievably arduous. Any mistake of the apprentice was met with physical punishment, and even if he managed to follow his master''s instructions to perfection, he did not receive any praise, as it was expected of him. Nevertheless, no matter how strict the archmage''s guidance became, he never came to hate his master, as all the work thrown his way distracted him from his childhood trauma.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Ultimately, a few weeks after having turned 18, the day came on which he was given his final task, which would conclude his apprenticeship and turn him into a fully-fledged member of the Magician''s Guild. He was to go on an expedition into the Grattiel mountain-range, where an entrance to an Abyssal Rift, or, as they are more commonly known as, a Divine Dungeon, had been uncovered by a wandering bard, who saw himself under-qualified for a task such as clearing a dungeon on his own, thus relying on the Magician''s Guild for such work. Andr¨¦ was not expected to clear the dungeon by himself either, but to merely scout it out as far as he deemed safe, to get a feel of what type of dungeon they were dealing with.
Without delay, he made his way towards the village of Anvalier, which was located at the foot of Grattiel near the border of Yhose and asked for information about the dungeon. The villagers, from which he tried to gather information, seemed to behave weirdly once he came into contact with them. Their speech seemed as if they were reading their every word off from a piece of paper as they spoke, and when he asked how or when the dungeon had been found, none of them could give him a clear answer.
Though he grew suspicious of what he was told, he still decided to follow the instructions he was given, and made his way up the mountains, towards the location the entrance was supposed to be. After an hour, he found the cave which was described to him, and decided to check his equipment before entering the dungeon. He had prepared himself for anything which could have waited for him inside of the dungeon, even going as far as preparing his most powerful fire elemental spell, the 6th-Tier spell , in the form of a spell-scroll to be cast instantaneously after being supplied with enough arcanum, which would allow him to escape immediately at the first sign of danger. With one last check of the potions, which he had affixed to his body over his grey apprentice-robes with leather belts for quick access, and his dark-brown, wooden staff with a ruby embedded into its tip which he had received from his master, he entered the dungeon.
To his surprise, the dungeon had been devoid of anything, except for its core, which he found after a brief walk through a long corridor in an otherwise completely empty room, a most untypical layout for such a structure. Dungeons were believed to have been created by the gods to test mortals and bestow them with rewards for completing their trials. These rewards entailed all kinds of treasures, from ordinary gold coins and gemstones to masterfully crafted pieces of equipment and even relics crafted by the gods themselves.
To find a dungeon which did not contain anything except for the dungeon-core itself was an event so rare that it was considered a myth. Despite all of this, Andr¨¦ found himself in such an abnormality, as he managed to find the core immediately after walking through a rather long, featureless corridor, which had been illuminated by torches. He looked at the crystalline, glowing orb of crimson colour, which bathed the entire room in an eery blood-red glow as it floated in the middle of the large room and decided to slowly approach it. Andr¨¦ was told that dungeon cores were always of an azure colour, so the thing floating in front of him could have been some kind of trap set in place to kill unwary intruders.
Once it was within his reach, he decided to lightly tap the orb with his staff, before quickly jumping back to the room''s entrance. Andr¨¦ waited, never letting the orb out of his sight, and listened. Minutes passed, but he did not dare to move.
After a while, he did the same thing again, though he smacked the core with all his might this time. Upon colliding with his staff, the orb started to crack, causing the young apprentice-mage to dive towards the corridor connecting the room to the cave''s entrance. He observed as more and more cracks started to form, until finally, the orb burst, and a metallic object could be heard dropping to the floor as the torches, which had lit up the dungeon until now, went dark. Andr¨¦ quickly cast the 1st-Tier spell on his staff, turning it into a miniature lighthouse, and examined the newly relit room.
Nothing had changed, with the sole exception being a small, black, metal figurine, which depicted a flying Wyvern, a lizard-like creature, the front-legs of which had evolved into strong, leathery wings. Wyvern were considered the most commonly found of the 7 sub-species of the true-dragon family of beasts, with the others being Mantas, which were able to soar like fish through the skies and oceans due to their unique kite-like appearance, Drakes, which though flightless were known as the physically strongest of all dragons, Kirins, dragons who take the shape of certain beasts and were often confused with them, Wyrms, which are likened to enormous snakes with legs, Leviathans, which were feared as one of the great horrors of the oceans, and Tyrants, the most powerful of them all.
''Heh, looks like this graduation exam is going to be easier than I thought'', he thought to himself with a grim chuckle and slowly approached the statue, just in case there was a trap placed for those who destroyed the orb.
As, again, nothing changed, a long, drawn-out sigh escaped Andr¨¦, as he prepared an identification spell to determine the metal-figurine''s origin. To his surprise, however, the spell did nothing. He recast the spell several times, just in case, but something seemed to block his attempts at appraising the metal figurine. Nefas had told him, that there were only two reasons for such a thing to happen. The first option, which was most likely, was that this item absorbed all kinds of magic that came into contact with it, or at least disrupted the wavelengths of the spell somehow. This could indicate a curse, making it imperative not to touch it directly. The second one, which was highly unlikely but still in the realm of possibilities, was, that this was a divine item, or even a relic of the gods, as normal identification magic was incapable of appraising a magical item of such power.
Hoping for the second option while not disregarding the first one, Andr¨¦ decided to carefully pick up the figurine with a cloth and carry it back to Edenia with this makeshift bag, where it could be appraised with more powerful magic.
Surprisingly, his way back to Edenia was just as uneventful as the rest of his journey, which gave him enough time to think up a story that would push him into a more favourable light than just saying that he found the core of the dungeon completely unguarded. He returned to the house he had called home for the last few years and retold his made-up story to his master, in which he had valiantly fought against a yellow-scaled drake, a flightless dragon of the air-element which possessed incredibly high agility, but was vulnerable to fire-magic, and just barely made it towards the dungeon core, destroying it and killing the drake in the process.
Nefas had his suspicions about this obviously lying apprentice of his but chose to not let any of that show on his face, especially after the small dragon statue had been revealed to him. The old man could not believe his eyes as he tried to appraise the item, as he too was unable to reveal any information about it. His doubts about his apprentice''s story disappeared, as this could only mean that this item was of at least divine quality, and at best could turn out to be a relic. For the first time in decades, the face of the old man formed a genuine smile, and he happily congratulated his apprentice on his find, deeply disturbing Andr¨¦ in the process, who had never seen a positive change in his master''s emotions before.
Together with Nefas, the apprentice mage now made his way towards the great needle like building in the centre of the city, the Ivory Tower, which served as the head office of the Magician''s Guild, to report his findings and register the figurine. There he would receive the official scholar-title, the robes of an elemental mage, and a reward for discovering a powerful item and donating it to the guild. Andr¨¦ began to daydream during their walk, thinking about better his life was going to become in the near future and how he would spend the money that he would receive. This, however, caused him to not pay attention to what was right in front of him, resulting in his collision with a Thaumaturge, a spellcaster attuned to Reality-Magic, the profession of whom was indicated by the dirty and slightly torn yellow robe he wore. Unfortunately, this caused Andr¨¦ to drop the cloth containing the small statue.
Time seemed to slow down around Andr¨¦, as he watched the statue, the object which could become the ticket to achieving his goal of changing his life for the better, leaving his sleeve and gradually approaching the ground. His mind began to race, as he did not know what a sudden impact with solid ground would do to the magic item. Through his studies he had found out that there were incredibly fragile magic-items, which even broke because of the raw Mana flowing around them having slightly changed in concentration. This meant that he could not use a spell to keep it from hitting the floor. Therefore, despite his prior concerns about making direct contact with the metal figurine, he decided to lunge towards it and catch it with his hands, a mistake which would cost him greatly.
Upon making contact with the figurine by catching it, the statue began to dissolve and seep through Andr¨¦''s fingers like a waterfall of silver liquid. The metal-like substance now started to flow throughout the streets and quickly spread through the entire city within seconds. To the horror of those who observed the event, they recognized the patterns formed by this liquid to be magic runes, symbols required to form spell circles. Before anyone could attempt to disturb the circle, the liquid started to glow, and a blinding light engulfed all of Edenia. Once their eyes had recovered from flash, a dreadful, beastly scream rang throughout the city. Above Radix, the main island of Edenia, an enormous, black-scaled wyvern was now floating through the air, surrounded by dozens of smaller, crimson-scaled ones.
A dragon''s scale colour was determined by the element they were born with, as dragons were categorized as beasts and therefore always born with spirits. The element of dragons also determined their behaviour, with those born with one of the 4 Core-Elements Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, which are known as chromatic dragons, usually being more feral and generally weaker than those born with other elements, which were known as metallic dragons. Among these metallic dragons, the black-scaled ones, who were born with the neutral element, were considered both the most intelligent and the most powerful, as they received abilities unique to their sub-species in exchange for the elemental-breath attack dragons were known for. In the case of wyverns, their breath-attack was replaced by a powerful beam of pure energy, an attack the black-scaled wyvern over Edenia was now all too eager to demonstrate.
With another blood-curdling scream, a large ball of pure energy formed within the dragon''s mouth, and a beam of concentrated energy was fired at Edenia''s smallest island, Flos, cutting it in two and causing it to drop out of the sky. The attack caused Andr¨¦ and Nefas to recover from their shell-shocked state, and the archmage immediately started to shout out commands to all who surrounded him.
"Those who know magic above the 5th-Tier, attack the crimson wyverns and protect the city, the archmagi are going to focus on the black scaled one, all others need to either attack from the outer platforms or evacuate, as they will not be of help within the city due to the barrier! Make haste! One metallic dragon is bad enough, this many might be more than we can handle without proper preparations! Andr¨¦, I know you probably spent your arcanum in the dungeon already, so take this teleportation scroll with , and this arcane crystal. Go to the 3rd Academy and teleport as many people out of Edenia as you can!"
Before Andr¨¦ could object, his teacher had cast the 3rd-Tier support-spell on himself, which increased one''s speed and pushed it to its limit without damaging the caster''s body. Despite all spells below the 5th-Tier being disrupted by the barriers of Edenia to prevent accidents as well as communications with the outside-world, one was still able to cast such weak magic if one supplied one''s spells with an enormous amount of arcanum, thus artificially increasing their tier and therefore bypassing the barrier.
Now magically accelerated, Nefas quickly made his way towards the centre of Radix. All other magi, who had recognised the yelling mage to be the Infernal Archmage, sprang into action as well. Andr¨¦ could see a few magi fire spells into the direction of the approaching crimson wyvern, others ran towards the platform at the end of the street, as they were built outside of Edenia''s barriers, making it possible for them to get off the flying city with the help of weaker spells.
Andr¨¦ felt bad about having lied to his teacher, leading to him believing that he would not be of help in this fight, but he knew that saving the apprentice mages inside of the academy was more important than recklessly going into battle, leading to him casting the spell on himself as well, and running deeper into the city where the academy was located.
Edenia was not prepared for great-scale invasions appearing in the middle of Radix, as each of the 6 islands surrounding the main island was supposed to prevent such a thing from happening, together with the anti-magic barrier on Radix itself, which was powered by the giant crystal in its core, as the amount of energy it produced far exceeded the amount needed to keep the islands afloat. Therefore, the alleys of Radix were not planned with easily escaping from it in emergency situations in mind. The 3rd Magical Academy of Edenia, which mainly focused on teaching the basics of magic to new apprentices, was the furthest away of any of the 6 outer platforms on Radix, which meant that it was the hardest to evacuate from.
Upon Andr¨¦''s arrival minutes after he had started his sprint, he saw the teachers and senior-apprentice magi of the academy fighting a crimson wyvern, which had already managed to kill a few of them. The crimson colour of its scales stemmed from the element of darkness, which was able to raise the dead and turn them into undead monsters, making crimson dragons especially troublesome enemies. The fallen magi, which he recognised to be teachers of the academy, had become zombies under the wyvern''s control, which, despite not being able to cast spells anymore, had their physical abilities increased due to their transformation. Though as magi generally neglected physical training, this boost in strength was not as significant as if it had been someone with a fighter-background. Even so, the zombies were still enough to distract the remaining magi and make it harder for them to get rid of the wyvern, which seemed amused by the situation and thus decided to watch its prey struggle instead of going in for the kill.
Quickly assessing the situation before him, Andr¨¦ immediately activated the spell-scroll, which he had still carried with himself, and aimed it at the wyvern. A complicated orange spell-circle appeared below the mage, indicating a successful use of the scroll, and a wall of fire suddenly rose from the ground were his enemies stood. The wall of fire grew ever larger, until suddenly, it collapsed in on itself, revealing all that was left of the dragon and its undead servants which had been hit by the full force of the spell: piles of ash.
Andr¨¦ felt the familiar nausea and skull-splitting headache of having cast a powerful spell, but he did not have the time to rest. He told the survivors of the attack to gather around him, as he would use the teleportation spell to evacuate them. As they gathered around him, he chose a small village in Merdelum, as the target for the teleportation spell, as Edenia''s current location in the sky would make it close enough to make it possible for him to return to the city and continue the fight together with the other magi. After the teachers made sure that everyone still among the living had gathered, Andr¨¦ activated the spell-scroll, which burst into green flames, and multiple massive, green glowing spell-circles began to form below the group. Reality started to shift around them, and, after mere moments, they were surrounded by the small stone-houses of farmers which were located in between a large forest and the seemingly endless planes of the ¨¦clat dukedom in Merdelum, the small village of Flekling, Andr¨¦''s birthplace.
The casting of two high-tier spells in short succession took quite the toll on Andr¨¦''s mind and body, despite the downside of the second spell having been compensated by the arcane crystal, making it hard to stay on his feet. Despite this, he had prepared for such a thing to happen back when he planned his journey to the dungeon, thus having bought a set of potions which would recover his arcanum immediately after being drunk. The magi he had saved started to thank him and ask what was going on within the city, but Andr¨¦ paid no attention to their chatter and just downed all of his potions as fast as he could. The effect was immediate, and his headache started to dissipate. However, as he looked towards Edenia and prepared the 5th-Tier small-distance teleportation spell known as