Tale of Eldramir

After Ezekiel’s discovery, thoughts of utilizing the third meditation technique went out the window. Quentin instead decided that it was time to further study what exactly Ezekiel’s Void mana could now do to other types of mana.

Ultimately, the group spent the rest of the day having Ezekiel use different elemental meditation techniques in order to have him gather mana of different types, and then try different means to manipulate the movement of the different motes of mana.

There was only so much he could do, however, as there was still a limit to how much mana he could use up if he wasn’t trying to accumulate mana by forming motes of Void mana within himself. Given that he wasn’t given much time to meditate to refill his mana, this meant that there was a limit to how much he could continue acting as a test dummy.

Luckily, there were a number of relics and records that Quentin was willing to let him look over as part of his study time, and with some books on enchanting and Runes, Ezekiel found himself distracted for part of the afternoon as the Scholar and his helpers looked over the data they had recorded and started compiling hypotheses and notes regarding what they managed to find.

Ultimately, there wasn’t much they could do with the data right now, but hopefully they’d figure something out soon. Which basically meant that they were going to bring this information to the rest of the Church Scholars, and hopefully figure something out with a larger group of researchers.

With that in mind, Quentin sent a message to the more senior Scholars, who sent a message back stating that there would be a meeting the next day, and that Ezekiel could go home, and wouldn’t need to come back for at least a week.

Given that Ezekiel was only there for safety and healing in case something went wrong with his meditation and mana accumulation, this meant that he got to go home earlier than usual. Which sort of annoyed him, as he had hoped that he’d be able to do some more meditating to grow his mana pool.

The fact that he’d used up enough mana to put him down closer to fifty motes than the over sixty he’d had before was also frustrating. Luckily, now that he had a method of removing other types of mana from his body without expending his own, perhaps his accumulation would speed up. Maybe he’d be able to reach a hundred before the end of the month, as opposed to the end of the year like he thought he would.

Of course, that was only if he could find enough places with the appropriate amounts of mana to meditate properly. So home and in the work room at the Church. Luckily, he’d developed enough of his own techniques that he could use all forms of mana for his accumulation when forming Void mana.

That last thought made Ezekiel pause in his tracks. Was the fact that Void mana accumulation so much more complicated and dangerous to perform perhaps the world’s way of balancing things out?

Void mana could be formed by any two opposing types being used to cancel one another out. He didn’t know if Lightning mana could be used in this way as well, as he’d never gotten the chance to use it, but given that he had essentially four sources to draw on, eight individual types divided by two to give him the necessary opposing pairs.

If he were able to meditate and accumulate at the same pace as other Mages and Hunters, even the worst of visualization techniques would still allow four times the average mana accumulation than any other element. If Void Mages were actually able to cultivate like other mages, then this would lead to them absolutely dominating when it came to reaching the higher Tiers.

Not only that, but it could potentially lead to barren landscapes devoid of mana, or conflict between Mages of different elemental types, even more so than what currently exists, as Void Mages would become additional competition for other Mages when it comes to meditation.

Mages of s single type of mana only had competition when it came to their fellow mages of the same type, so only one eighth of the human race would compete with them for motes of the same mana. Void Mages would instantly double the number of Mages potentially vying for the same type of mana.

Now realizing just how big of a can of worms Ezekiel had opened, he decided that he would keep his newly found revelation to himself, as he knew that if certain people caught wind of it, the Cult of Light in particular, then there would be legitimate reasons for Mages, especially Hunters and others trying to breakthrough to higher Tiers, to have a negative view on Void Mages.

They would go from ‘wastes of space and potential enemies,’ to ‘competition and potential enemies,’ which was much more troublesome to deal with.

Moving on from those worrying thoughts, Ezekiel started whistling a tune as he restarted his walk back home. He was sent home early and told not to come back for at least a week, which meant downtime to spend with his family or around the city. He was certainly going to practice as best he could over the course of the week, but he figured that catching up with people while he could; wouldn’t hurt.

Maybe he’d go and spar with some of the Alkena family guards. The Cathedral wasn’t holding classes tomorrow, as it was a Church mandated day off for students. He’d only been to the Alken’s a half a dozen times over the past month. He knew Shari was probably upset with him, but he was doing groundbreaking work! He was sure she’d understand.

Ezekiel realized that he’d made a mistake, and Shari did not understand.

“Where the heck have you been!” Shari screamed as she stood in the middle of the corridor leading to the same training from five years ago.

Ezekiel had walked down this hallway numerous times over the years, so he was fairly familiar with it, but today he was more confused than anything else as he walked through the Manor. Usually, he was accompanied by one of the family guards as an escort. That hadn’t changed, as one of the guards, Liam, who he was familiar with, stood a few steps behind him near the corner to another hallway.

However, unlike the usually clear hallways with sconces and tasteful decorations lining the walls to show off both wealth and an eye for detail, the hallway was bland and barely lit as Ezekiel stood at the edge of the hallway with his sisters.

“... At the Cathedral...?” Ezekiel said in a confused tone of voice.

Wendy and Ellen just snickered from their places at his sides. Looking down at them, Ezekiel could tell that they knew something he didn’t, but before he could ask, Shari was on then before he had a chance to look back at her.

“That’s not what I meant! I know you were at the Cathedral, but it’s been nearly a week! Usually, you come over more often than that!” Shari stated as she got right in Ezekiel’s face. “I was expecting you to be over a couple of days ago! You promised you’d help me with the remodeling, remember!? Instead, I got stuck babysitting these two munchkins while you were off having fun learning magic from the Church.”

“Remodeling! What-” Ezekiel turned to his sisters as he stopped himself voicing his shock. He hadn’t made any promises, but he wouldn’t put it past his sisters to play a small prank on him. He’d been ignoring them just as much as he’d been ignoring Shari after all.

“You little brats. C’mere you little pests.” Ezekiel growled out as he reached to grab his sisters at the same time that Shari reached to grab him. He missed as Shari made him stumble, allowing the twins to dance out of his reach. “You can’t go making promises on someone’s behalf without even telling them about it!”

Shari, realizing that something was up, even as she hung from Ezekiel’s neck, also turned to look at the twins as they ran down the other hallway. Liam turned to follow them, in order to ensure that they didn’t get into any trouble. Ezekiel was a trustworthy guest, after all, and Shari was there to accompany him if need be.

“Wait... did the twins not tell you about the remodeling?” Shari asked as she looked at Ezekiel.

“The girls haven’t told me anything about their visits this past week. Though to be fair I haven’t spent much time with them. With their schooling most of what I do with them is helping them learn to read and do basic math. This must have been a prank they came up with. I’m sorry you got caught up in it. I didn’t think they’d do something like this.” Ezekiel said as he started walking down the hallway, Shari still clinging to his neck.

Deciding not to tell her off for it, Ezekiel just kept walking, spending a mote of mana to enhance his strength so he could keep going. The two ended up walking in a comfortable silence as they made their way through the manor, heading in the same direction as the twins.

“Turn here, the new training room is this way.” Shari said as she pointed down a corridor that he hadn’t been down before. “The old training room is being incorporated into the new private trading quarters.”

“Private trading quarters?” Ezekiel questioned as he turned down the correct hallway. “What happened to the old trading quarters? I wouldn’t have thought your family would need a new one.”

“Well, the old one was demolished after a fight broke out a couple of days ago.” Shari said quietly as she dug her face into Ezekiel’s shoulder.

“A fight! Who would start a fight here? You have the protection of the Guilds and the Church!” Ezekiel exclaimed as he stopped walking in shock. A thought crossed his mind as he pondered as to who would start a fight in the Alkena Auction house. “This isn’t because of me, is it? That relic from a month ago. The Guilds didn’t send someone to give a message, did they?”

Shari looked up in a panic. “No, no, no. It wasn’t anything to do with that relic. It was those annoying cultists. A couple of them came by with a writ from Count Harkem saying that they were here to acquire provisions and supplies for an expedition to the Ruins where that relic came from.”

Shari went on to explain as she hopped down from Ezekiel’s back. Dusting herself off and walking ahead as she did.

“My father agreed to their requests when it came to basic supplies, like rations and mundane tools. He even offered a discount for basic enchanted gear, as he saw no reason to upset the Count. But those crooks told my father that anything they wanted, at all, was free per the Count’s writ. Which isn’t true, as the Willowbrush Empire itself has laws stating that organizations with the proper rights to trade and sell Relics and enchanted tools and items are never required to give their wares away for free.”

Ezekiel was aware of this. He had studied the laws of both Harkem, and the greater Willowbrush Empire as a whole, in depth as he knew that there was little, he could do but follow the laws to the letter as best he could, so that he didn’t give some anti-Void Mage asshole an opening to go after him.

Not that it would help if someone set him up, or an official with a problem decided to take it out on him, but at least this would help a little, especially if he was going to be seeing other places in the Empire.

“When we explained that, they tried to take the stuff anyway, and demanded we give them whatever relics we had as compensation for questioning a ‘Royal Decree’. At that point father called the guards, but mother had to beat one of the cultists since he was a Tier three Mage. She won, of course, but several rooms were burned down in the process, and the area of the Auction House that they were fighting in had to be demolished, as it was falling apart.” Shari said with a ‘what can you do’ tone of voice.

Ezekiel was genuinely shocked at how nonchalant Shari was behaving, but he figured that as one of the richest people in the city, it wasn’t that much of a surprise that she didn’t care so much about a building being destroyed. If it was his own home, he would be livid, but he figured that if Shari wasn’t that worried, then he didn’t have much need to be worried either.

“Luckily the Guilds and Church are backing our family, else that stupid Count might’ve tried to be more forceful with us.” Shari said with a pout as she complained about Count Forret’s behavior and actions. “Although, it’s likely that we’ll need to give some gifts to make sure things continue smoothly. I think father said something about fully funding an expedition to the same Ruins that that Lightning Hunter from a month ago mentioned.”

That brought some concerns to the forefront of Ezekiel’s mind, but he knew there wouldn’t be much that he could do if he got involved as he wasn’t even a proper Mage yet. He figured the best thing for him to do would be to just keep practicing his meditations and enjoy his time with his friends and family.

“Well, I’m sorry your family is facing so many problems right now. I wish I could do something to help.” Ezekiel said as they approached their apparent destination. “But at least the problem has been dealt with for now, right?”

Shari just sighed in frustration but didn’t raise any other points as she opened the door to the new training room. Liam stood outside the door alongside another guard that Ezekiel recognized but didn’t know the name of. He and Shari received nods of acknowledgement as they entered the room.

Entering the room, Ezekiel took a look around and realized that this room was much bigger than the previous one. It looked like there was room for two sparring groups to train at the same time, unlike the previous room which could only do one pair at a time.

As it was, there were a number of people in the room, including the twins, who were off to the side sitting in a bleachers style sitting area as they watched the four other kids, all roughly the same age as Ezekiel and Shari, were split into two groups and sparring with each other.

Finally, alongside Wendy and Ellen, were two familiar faces in the form of Stephen and Peni, who had become sponsored Magic Academy students under the Alkena Auction Houses banner. Ever since the falling out with Aldor five years ago, Stephen and Peni had lost their apparent support, and been abandoned by Everett and Alys, leading to them no longer having the protection of a noble house.

Luckily, Evelyn, knowing what was likely to happen to these two should they no longer be associated with Aldor, asked Allon to support them as Peni and Stephen had shown concern and care for Ezekiel, even if it was mostly out of practicality.

Currently, Peni and Stephen were peak Tier two Mages, and had earned the right to enter the Spirit Lands to try and become Hunters. Given that they were sponsored by the Alkena’s this was a very good thing for them, as it meant that their future had numerous doors opened to them. It was good for the Alkena’s as well, since it meant that they’d be able to get a connection with whichever Guild or group that the two ended up joining.

“Ezekiel, Shari, over here!” Peni called out when she saw the two entering the training room. Ever since Allon had agreed to sponsor her and Stephen she had warmed up to Ezekiel much more than before. Ezekiel had even thought about letting her know about his training to get more help with healing, but his parents had told him to keep things secret for now, as the Cult of Light would target him if the knowledge that he was making these revolutionary discoveries was revealed.

Ezekiel knew it was for the best, but still found it frustrating that he couldn’t tell anyone. The only one in his age group that knew was Shari. Not even his sisters knew what he was doing at the Cathedral. They were under the impression that he had been accepted as a scribe. They had no idea that he was training his mana.

“Hello Peni, Stephen. It’s been a while. How has your time at the academy been?” Ezekiel asked as he and Shari approached the bleachers.

“It’s been good! Stephen and I have already locked in our spots at the top of our year level, and we’re looking forward to our graduation.” Peni said as she bumped Stephen in the side as she spoke.

Stephen didn’t say anything as he waved at Ezekiel and Peni when they sat down. His attention was focused on watching the others who were sparring down in the designated areas. Riley Newland, a female Flame Mage, Yennifrey Bravis, a female Obscure Mage, Drew Driftmark, a male Tempest Mage, and Horace Tresly, a male Cavern Mage. All were at the upper end of Tier one.

Ezekiel recognized them all as Shari’s classmates, having met them all before, either from tutoring them in their studies, or from prior sparring sessions. He was fairly familiar with all four of them and wasn’t too surprised to see them.

What did surprise him was the intensity of the sparring they were partaking in. All four were practically drenched in sweat, and it seemed like they were all on their last legs when it came to how much mana they had left.

“So, I know I’ve been out of the loop for a while, but what’s got them all so worked up?” Ezekiel asked as he voiced his observations.

Shari, Peni, and Stephen looked at him in confusion as he stared back at them, raising an eyebrow at the looks he was receiving. No one said anything for a moment before Stephen spoke up.

“Kid, I know you’re not a student at the Church, but even you should be aware of what’s going on right now. Don’t you have a job as a scribe?” Stephen asked as if he couldn’t understand how Ezekiel could be this out of the loop.

“Considering I’m fairly busy every moment that I’m there, I don’t really have many opportunities to get involved with the gossip and going ons. So, what’s happening?” Ezekiel explained, not giving away his cover regarding the training he was doing, nor truly explaining that he didn’t talk to anyone at the Cathedral if it wasn’t the team he was working with.

“Well, to put it simply, the Guilds are doing open recruitment starting next week. Prove yourself and you get probationary membership. It’s just porter work, maybe paper pushing, but for most people under Tier two it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and it’s only available to school students.” Stephen explained as he turned his attention back to the sparring.

“I thought only official Hunters could join the Guilds?” Ezekiel said.

“Usually that would be the case, but the Church and the Guilds have come to an agreement that in the next month or so the Spirit Lands will be open to any and all who wish to enter, so long as they are a part of a Guild represented group leader.” Peni stated in response to Ezekiel’s point. “It’s actually a shame for me and Stephen. Since the Guilds are forbidden from poaching Academy Students until after they graduate, they’ve had to resort to going after school students instead. Even then, anyone they want to bring along has to earn it. Like Shari here.”

“Yep. I’ve already gotten my spot and will be going towards the end of the month to see if I can bond with a Spirit. Those four are training for the official challenges coming next week to see if they can join.” Shari said as she gestured to the four down in the rings.

Ezekiel wasn’t surprised that Shari had already gotten a spot. She might have her father’s element, but her skill in combat was even greater than her mother’s, so it wasn’t surprising that she had already passed whatever tests were necessary.

“Hey! Maybe you should join the challenge! Everyone here knows that you can kick all our butts, even without any mana.” Shari exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement as she voiced her opinion.

Peni and Stephen looked slightly embarrassed at that, as they knew that they were able to beat Ezekiel in a spar, but that was only because they were two Tiers higher than him and could use large area spells that couldn’t be dodged within the confines of the training areas. If it wasn’t for that, Ezekiel’s naturally better physique and agility training from Theo and Reya usually meant that you couldn’t hit him.

Wendy and Ellen were also just as good at dodging and avoiding attacks, as proven when they sometimes sparred with the others. Just like their brother, they managed to tire out the other kids five years older than them just through their physical training. Although, unlike Ezekiel who could do it without breaking a sweat, the twins were usually exhausted when they tried to do this.

“Well, why don’t we kick their training up a notch and make things a little bit more interesting?” Ezekiel said as he jumped down from the bleachers.

Bringing his fingers up to his mouth, he let out a shrill whistle that brought all the attention of the four sparring mages towards him. He smiled as he walked over to the wall with the training weapons on it. Blunted swords and cushioned blunt objects lined this particular wall.

There were also some more esoteric weapons like sickle and chain, three-part staff, and a number of other bizarre pieces of weaponry. Taking up a basic staff and holding it in front of him, he grabbed a number of weapons and tossed them to their respective users.

Riley got a bastard sword and shield, Yennifrey got a sickle and chain, Drew got a morning star, and Horace got a war hammer. Each of them looked around in confusion as Shari laughed and grabbed a pair of weighted batons.

“Hey guys, mind if I join?” Ezekiel said as he approached the area between both of the sparring rings. “Looks like you’re all about empty when it comes to mana. So why don’t we move onto weapon training. I’ll even make it fair to you, free for all, no holds barred. Feel free to team up against me or to go against each other. Any goes, except for magic. Should make it fair since you’re all tired and I’m not.”

At first the four felt indignant at what Ezekiel was insinuating, and he basically said he wasn’t worried about fighting them all one on four. But after a moment to realize who was talking, they knew that the conditions were indeed fair.

Not only did Ezekiel have a naturally tougher and stronger body due to his Void Mage affinity, but he was also far better trained when it came to the martial arts than compared to their own magical arts. They had seen him go one on one with a Tier two guard of the Alkena’s and come out on top. They knew in their heads that he was only better than them since he didn’t have to split his attention between magic and martial arts like they did, but it still grated on them.

“You sure you wanna talk big like that?” Horace taunted as he picked up his hammer, swinging it around a few times to get used to the weight. “We might be tired, but it’ll still be four on one.”

Ezekiel ignored him for a moment as he did a few warmups. Horace wasn’t one of the more friendly members of this group, so he tried to avoid talking to him if he could. Twisting and rotating his limbs and torso, he finished with a few complex maneuvers with his staff before answering.

“Technically, it’s not really four on one. I wouldn’t be so insulting as to propose that, of all things. But if you want to suggest such a thing, I’m all for it.” He said, bringing up the fact that Horace was the one to think this would be a one on four spar, not him. “Besides, Shari is joining in as well, and I, personally, won’t be attacking anyone who is already engaged in conflict that is not with myself. I just figured that this might be a decent way to simulate an over run, party conflict, combat scenario. You guys know what that is, right?”

The four of them nodded their heads. Over run scenarios were when a Guild party found themselves up against unknown numbers that they couldn’t easily run away from. Such situations were usually very bad, as party members were sometimes known to betray their parties in order to escape. After all, why outrun the monsters, when you just have to outrun your party.

Party conflicts were much the same, only it was when two or more parties delving the same Ruins came into conflict with one another, and usually came to blows over Relics, crystals, or other valuables that one of the parties found whilst exploring.

The current scenario Ezekiel was suggesting was not too far off from actual situations that were known to occur with Guild parties. Shari and Ezekiel being fresh and not already tired was also something that was somewhat realistic, as some parties would wait and lie in ambush for already exhausted parties to pass them by.

“C’mon Zeke! Five versus one, I know you can do it!” Shari said as she joined the other four across from Ezekiel as she got into a ready position.

Ezekiel looked a bit nervous as Shari said this. He was being serious when he said it should be a free-for-all. Whilst he was confident that he could take on maybe three of them by himself, given how tired they seemed, taking on all four would be tricky, and the four plus a fresh Shari would be troublesome.

The four must’ve seen a hint of nervousness on his face and thinking back to all the times he’d wiped the floor with them, they couldn’t help but grin in anticipation as they took up guards around Shari, all facing Ezekiel.

“Sorry Zeke! Boss lady wants to fight you!” Riley said with a joyful expression. She was certainly looking forward to this.

“Yeah! Show us what you got! It’s been a while since we last sparred, and if this’ll help me with the Guilds then all the better!” Drew exclaimed. He didn’t really care about sparring with Ezekiel, but he knew that Ezekiel knew more about the Guilds and training than he did, what with both his parents being Hunters, so anything that would help him join a Guild one day was all the better in his opinion.

“... Sorry Ezekiel, but I think this might be more effective.” Yennifrey said with an apologetic tone. “Please don’t tell your mother.” Of course, her main concern was getting Evelyn mad at her. She had been starstruck by the Tier three Hunter since their first meeting three years ago. Ezekiel often couldn’t help but wonder how his mother could’ve gotten such a fan girl.

“Looks like you’re on your own this time Zeke! Wonder what you did to annoy Shari so much?” Horace said in a taunting tone of voice.

That made Ezekiel focus more on what was about to occur. Whilst nowhere near as horrible as Aldor was, Horace gave him similar vibes, just more restrained than Aldor’s. Given Horace’s attitude, and the looks Ezekiel sometimes caught him giving Shari, Ezekiel didn’t have a good opinion of Horace.

“Look, Horace, just because your feelings for Shari will never be returned doesn’t mean you should lash out at me for actually being her friend.” Ezekiel’s blunt rebuttal causes everyone to stare at Horace in shock as he blustered in denial. “Now shut up and fight.”

“How! Wha-what are you talking about?” Horace said as he tried to turn things around again. Looking away from Ezekiel to try and defend himself to his peers as they continued to stare at him.

Unfortunately, Ezekiel wouldn’t give him that chance.

“Three, two, one, GO!” he yelled as he charged across the ring.