Tale of Eldramir

It wasn’t long after Naeri left alongside Gerome, Garrad, and their bonded Spirits had left the Alkena manor that Warren, Evelyn, and their own Spirits pulled themselves together, packing up the nine remaining gold cards in Warren’s Void Pouch. It was time they grabbed their kids and headed home. Preparations would need to be made over the next three and a half weeks.

As they left the meeting room that they had completed their talks in, Warren and Evelyn were both politely greeted by a set of guards that had been awaiting them in the hall.

“Mister Luminance!” one of the guards said, “I have been ordered to ask if you would be willing to speak with Lord Allon regarding an important family matter. He requests your presence in his personal study as soon as you consider it convenient.”

Warren just sighed, and was about to tell the guard off, and let Allon know he’d be back in the morning, as he had his own family to worry about.

“Go.” Evelyn said, derailing Warren’s thoughts on the matter. “I’ll let your patrol team know that you’ll be unavailable for the rest of the evening. Allon and Sherra have had to deal with things today that have undoubtedly thrown their own business out of order. The least we can do is help them if their family is having issues.”

“Are you certain?” Warren stated. “I didn’t think I’d be going back to work today, but I was hoping to be there for you and the kids at least.”

“Nothing much should be happening tonight. I’ll take the kids home and start dinner.” Evelyn told him. “Go speak with Allon, and then come straight home. Alright?”

“Alright.” Warren agreed to his wife’s request. “But I’ll see you and the kids off first.”

The two then followed the guards to the training hall where Ezekiel and the rest of the kids were working on assignments from school. Whilst the rest of the Tier one kids would naturally recover their mana over time, a benefit of being Tier one and having opened their first Chakra, Ezekiel was tapped out until he could focus on his meditation. So, Ezekiel was helping his friends deal with their schoolwork.

“Hey kids. Everything going alright?” Warren asked as he and Evelyn entered the room. “You’re all looking tired. Get any good training in?”

“Ah! Mister and Missus Luminance!” Shari said as she stood up to greet Warren and Evelyn. “Yes, we got some good training. Mister Garrad allowed us to practice against him, so we got to see what we can really do without holding back. He also gave a few of us tips when it comes to our magic.”

Warren and Evelyn both looked slightly surprised. Usually, members of the Guilds only helped those amongst their own members, not some random kids they’d never met before.

“Although, I don’t think that I’ll need most of his advice.” Shari said with a pondering look on her face. “I don’t plan on going into battle after all.”

Most of Shari’s friends seemed to understand where Shari was coming from. They all knew she intended to take over her family’s business after all.

Warren and Evelyn, on the other hand, shared a look. Knowing the amount of trouble Allon once got into before he took over the reins for the Auction House. They hoped that Shari wouldn’t have to go through the troubles that Allon and Sherra had, but they couldn’t help but feel their hopes were in vain.

Their hopes for Ezekiel had long since been destroyed after all.

“Well, I wouldn’t just ignore it if I were you. The way I see it, even if you don’t plan on going into battle, there’s no reason you can’t apply what he told you to other aspects of life.” Evelyn gently told her as she approached to get her children. “Unfortunately, we need to be going now. I’m sorry.”

Shari and the other kids all looked a bit upset at that, but Ezekiel looked understanding, as did Peni and Stephen, who knew a bit more about what was likely happening due to their classes and knowledge of Guilds and Expeditions taught at the Academy.

“Now, now. There’s no reason Ezekiel can’t see you all tomorrow for some training. He might be physically tougher than you all, but even he needs his rest, and he’s had it harder than any of you today.” Evelyn said as she helped pull Ezekiel to his feet from the ground he was sitting on.

Taking this chance to really look him over, the kids finally noticed that Ezekiel seemed dead on his feet. He was slumped over, and his eyes were partially closed, but his face didn’t look flushed, and he was answering all their questions and explaining things clearly like usual, so they hadn’t noticed anything wrong with him.

They started apologizing for bothering him when he was so tired, but he waved them off before leaving the training room with his parents and sisters, barely noticing that his father was staying behind as they reached the doors to the manor. He only raised the point with his mother when they were a few feet away. But she just told him that Warren was being asked to help Allon with a family matter.

Leaving it at that, they continued on their way home. Neither Ezekiel nor his sisters noticed that Reya wasn’t on their mother’s shoulder, and that their path home seemed fairly devoid of any people. Almost like most were avoiding the family’s path as they made their way home.

Back at the Alkena manor, Warren was walking alongside a guard who was escorting him to Allon’s personal study further in the manor, well past the more public areas where the meeting areas and training room were.

This was an area where only trusted friends and business partners were welcomed. It wasn’t as deep into the manor as the security room, but it was still an area that most didn’t get to visit.

Stopping outside a room that was being watched over by several guards. One of which was Harry, one of the Tier two guard captains under the Alkena family’s personal employment. Warren stepped in front of it as one of the guards knocked on the door to let Allon know Warren was there.

“Come in.” Allon’s voice quietly drifted past the door to invite Warren in.

The guard that knocked opened the door to allow Allon to enter.

Allon looked up from where he sat at his desk, looking over some papers that Warren noticed seemed to be inventory lists of various supplies he recognized as being necessary for a successful expedition. Warren also noticed that the numbers were not especially high.

Alongside Allon was Sherra and her bonded Spirit, Fenris, who was curled up in a chair on the far side of the room. Sherra stood behind Allon and was watching him work as Warren entered the room.

“Please take a seat. There’s tea and cookies on the table there, so feel free to take some.” Allon said as he finished whatever he was working on and put down his pen. “Harry, please take the rest of the guards and go to the end of the hall for your watch. This meeting is going to be private. Thank you.”

Harry looked a bit put out, like he wanted to argue, but knew better than to fight with his bosses over matters of privacy, so he and the three other guards split up and went to the ends of the hallway to guard the corners and ensure that no one was sneaking around.

Warren poured himself a cup of tea before taking a seat in front of Warren’s desk. Theo took a seat in his lap and tried to relax as the humans in the room had their talk.

“... I’m sorry for the difficulties you had to experience today.” Warren started to say. “I never thought-”

“Warren!” Allon interrupted Warren before he could finish what he was saying. “I’ve dealt with the Guilds before, as well as nobles of a far more frustrating temperament.”

Allon paused to take a sip of his own tea that had been poured a while ago.

“So, trust me when I tell you that, whilst more than I’ve experienced before, this wasn’t entirely new to me.” Allon explained. “Besides, I knew that you and Evelyn would do your best to keep us safe, as would the Wandering Titans and the Roaring Ruins. Let alone the fact that a Grand Scholar from the Church was there to act as witness and overseer. Anyone who started anything would be in for a world of hurt if they tried to hurt me and mine. Especially since we were acting as intermediaries and hosts, so their business was not with us anyway.”

Warren looked somewhat relieved but remained a little bit worried.

“Even still, I know some toes were stepped on today. I can only hope that you and the Auction House won’t suffer too badly for this.” Warren voiced his concerns to the couple in front of him. “The Reaching Spires are certain to remember today, and if they don’t come after my family, then I’m worried they’ll go after yours. Especially during the trials next week.”

Fenris let out a small growl as Allon and Sherra frowned. They knew that Shari was intending to take part in the trials. Not to get a place within the Guilds, but to get a free chance to enter the Spirit Lands within the city, as it was the safest way to obtain the opportunity to bond with a Spirit without having to risk going into the wilds and bond with a Wild Spirit.

The ones in the Spirit Lands had regular interactions with the Scholars of the Church of Ten after all. So, they tended to be much more amiable when it came to interacting with humans.

“Even if they do something to sabotage her, it will simply act as a means to show her the truth of the world in a relatively controlled manner.” Allon stated, with a glare and a snarl of anger. “If she can see the dark side of the Guilds and the business world without having to suffer a direct attack from reavers and bandits trying to raid our supplies and deliveries, then all the better I say.”

Warren didn’t say anything, and neither did Sherra, although Warren could see that she was clenching her hand and jaw tightly. She didn’t like the possibility of her little girl being sabotaged just because some petty bitch from the Guilds couldn’t get off her high horse and understand that people weren’t slaves to be bent to the whims of those more powerful than themselves.

“Besides, our family had its own falling out with the Reaching Spires. The only reason they were permitted onto our property was because we couldn’t show favoritism to the other representatives, as Kameira is one of their peers after all.” Allon spoke quietly as he talked about the Reaching Spires Guild. Like he was only barely holding back his anger. “As it is, we will not be doing business with them any more from this day forth.”

Warren was slightly confused at Allons words. He knew the Reaching Spires were among the most difficult Guilds to work with in the City, but they still had business that had helped the Alkena Auction House in the past. To hear that they were ceasing all business entirely was something that would undoubtedly cause them to suffer for at least a little while.

“However, that’s not the main issue we have to deal with right now.” Allon said, moving past the previously mentioned problems. “There is one thing that is going to be happening to my family that will involve your family at least a little bit, as much as I don’t want it to. The other thing is a question that I have for you that I need and answer to, as much as I fear what you might say.”

Hearing what Allon said regarding his family and how there was a matter that might involve his own, Warren was slightly confused, especially as he saw Sherra’s face seemingly fall into despair as tears started welling up in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Warren asked.

Allon gave a comforting look towards Sherra before reaching back to hold her hand. She came forward and wrapped her arms around Allon’s shoulders before he turned back and answered.

“Sherra’s brother died two weeks ago. Apparently, his whole company was wiped out by a group of Cruor that had managed to sneak past the borders.” Allon explained. “There was only one survivor, and given who it is, I felt you needed to be made aware of it.”

“Aldor.” Warren stated with certainty. He didn’t know anyone else in the mercenary companies that the Alkena’s would sometimes hire for security when moving goods outside the city, so the only one he could think of was Aldor; Allon and Sherra’s son, who had also tried to kill Ezekiel five years ago.

“Indeed. What’s worse is that he hasn’t changed his views on Void Mages. If anything, this attack has increased his hatred, as the one who led these Cruor was a Corrupted Void Mage.” Allon went into further detail of the attack. “From what I understand, this Void Mage was also the only one who survived after a passing team from the Reaching Spires Guild nearly killed them all off.”

“I assume you’re telling me this because Aldor will be returning home soon. It won’t be pleasant, but I can let Ezekiel know he should avoid coming over for the foreseeable future.” Warren said with a frustrated tone.

“Absolutely not!” Sherra nearly screamed. “That little bastard will not be welcome in my home! He is not my son anymore!”

Warren was shocked at Sherra’s outburst, as was Theo who had opened his eyes to stare at Sherra. The miniature lion Spirit turned a questioning look towards Feris, who refused to meet his gaze as he jumped from the chair that he was sitting on to rub up against Sherra to try and comfort her.

Given that Sherra and Allon held their family as more important than their business, to see Sherra renounce her son was confusing. The whole purpose of sending him away was to smarten him up after all. Warren was almost afraid to ask what Aldor had done to gain such animosity.

“What did he do?” Warren asked anyway, feeling that he needed to know what had happened to have hurt his friends so badly.

Sherra started crying into Allon’s shoulders as he tensed up in anger before answering.

“We found out from one of our contacts in the Reaching Spire, who has since be expelled from that Guild for passing on this information, that rather than stand and fight with his uncle and fellow mercenaries, Aldor, upon seeing the Cruor coming for them, chose to attack his uncle, and ensure that they couldn’t get away from the Cruor, whilst he ran as fast and far as he could.” Allon explained. “As such, it can be said that Aldor was directly responsible for the death of his uncle, and an entire mercenary company under the Alkena family’s employ.”

Warren was shocked. Killing your own family was a crime punishable with death in the Willowbrush Empire. The fact that Aldor wasn’t already executed meant that there was something wrong happening in the city. Something far worse than he’d expected.

“Wait... You said it was the Reaching Spires that killed the Cruor, so I’m assuming Aldor ran into them when he was fleeing for his life. But it was also a now expelled Reaching Spires Guild member that told you this information.” Warren said as a thought crossed his mind. “Are the Reaching Spires trying to keep Aldor’s crimes a secret!?”

Theo was thrown off Warren's lap as he stood up in anger and frustration, slamming his fists down on Allon’s desk. Warren was shocked and dismayed at this possibility, as it meant that the Reaching Spires had truly become corrupt and were now assuming that they were above the Law entirely.

“How can they do this? Haven’t the Judiciary Councilors found out about this? Aldor should be locked up at the very least, if not executed already!” Warren exclaimed.

“Unfortunately, the Judiciary Council is split on the matter. Due to the fact that the Reaching Spires has officially recruited Aldor into their Guild, as he managed to reach the peak of Tier two and has bonded with a snake-based Flame Spirit.” Allon explained. “As such, it was framed that Aldor had found an opportunity to run and find help and should be rewarded for bringing the presence of the Cruor within our border to the attention of the Guilds and Church before they could spread too far. Thus, his crime is being countered by his supposed merit.”

Warren sat down again as Allon continued to speak. This was such a big problem that he didn’t even know where to begin with figuring out how to keep his family safe from the inevitable problems his family would be facing.

“As it is, we would not have known the truth if not for that expelled member of the Reaching Spires. Aldor actually met with us last week, pretending to show remorse at what had happened. It seems like the Reaching Spires were hoping to use him as a means of getting access to my family’s resources.” Allon explained. “Luckily, since we already knew, however, he wasn’t able to fool us. He has since been removed from our family registry, and all our guards and business partners know that he is considered to be an ‘Undesirable' by the Alkena Auction House. None of our services are open to him any longer.”

Allon paused to take a sip of his tea. Stopping when he realized how cold it was. Sherra, seeing this, sniffed a few times before waving her hand over the cup, reheating it, to which Allon smiled and gave her a kiss and thanked her.

“Shari hasn’t been informed just yet. I wanted to wait until she was speaking with Ezekiel again before we told her, but we are likely going to tell her tomorrow. She’ll probably miss school for the rest of the week leading to the trials, but she’s still ahead of her peers, so she should be fine.” Allon finished speaking.

Warren was quiet as he digested all the information he had just received. It was clear that he now had an entire Guild to watch out for. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to hold back his training any longer.

“I’m assuming that you’ve vetted the expelled Guild member?” Warren asked after some thought.

“Yes, but I did not give her a position as a guard within the family estate. She was offered a position on one of our boats as a permanent guardian, as she was fairly well suited for watery environments with her element and Spirit.” Allon explained. “As thankful as I was for her information, I just can’t trust anyone that comes from that Guild. Not anymore.”

“Good.” Warren stated in relief. “I’ll do what I can on my end to deal with this information. I’ll probably have to ask you for a few things, but they shouldn’t hinder you too much, and I’ll be paying you.”

“You don’t need to-”

“For this, yes, I do.” Warren cut Allon off before he could finish speaking.

Seeing that Warren was adamant about whatever he would be paying him for, Allon decided to drop the topic.

“Now, there were two things you mentioned. Aldor was one, but you said something about a question. What is it?” Warren asked with a curious look in his expression.

Sherra was also curious. She had been dreading the conversation regarding Aldor so much that she hadn’t even really noticed when her husband said he had a question for Warren.

“It has to do with what you said earlier today, when you were talking about Ezekiel.” Allon slowly seemed to be working himself up to ask the question he was dreading to hear the answer to. “Is it possible that at some point Aldor might’ve had his mind influenced by the Radiant magic that you mentioned?”

Warren immediately tensed up at Allon’s question, while Sherra froze, her entire body going cold as she looked at Allon in shock, before she looked at Warren in fear and hope.

Fear that her son had had his mind altered by some mad Mage who had basically enslaved him, but hopeful that her son might come back. If Aldor really had been brainwashed, then maybe it wasn’t his fault that he had attacked his uncle. Maybe there was someone else to blame than her son.

“... I don't think that matters at this point.” Warren said. “Even if his mind was altered, at this point, it’s been so many years that removing the alterations would be like removing most of his life from his mind.”

“How so?” Allon asked.

“... I need you to understand that I only know this magic exists. I can’t actually use it, it requires a Mage to be at Tier four at the least, and I would never want to use it either.” Warren told them as the atmosphere in the room grew heavy. “As you know, Radiant magic can create illusions. Some high Tier Radiant Mages can directly implant these illusions into a person’s mind. It’s harder to do if they have a Spirit, as their minds are connected to our own, but are intrinsically different, so a Spirit can provide a defense against this.”

Warren held Theo close to himself as he spoke. He didn’t like talking about this, as it brought up unpleasant memories from his past. Memories that only Evelyn was ever privy to.

“When these illusions are placed into a person’s mind, they greatly resemble memories, to the point that they are practically indistinguishable from the real thing.” Warren explained. “This means that, unless another Radiant Mage, or a properly trained Lightning, Life, Death, or Obscurity Mage knows what they’re looking for, it is impossible to determine that there’s anything wrong.”

Allon and Sherra both looked shocked and confused as Warren mentioned four other categories of Mages that could apparently affect minds. Seeing their shocked faces, Warren further explained.

“I’m not sure how they do it, I’ve just been told they can, and to watch out for those that try to get their magic too close to my head.” Warren told them. “Back to Aldor.”

Allon and Sherra refocused their attention at Warren as he continued.

“He would’ve had to have had his mind altered when he was still a child. Likely closer to Ezekiel and Shari’s current ages than when he first met Ezekiel at thirteen years old.” Warren said. “The fact that his memories were altered so early in life means that his personality and life experience has already developed beyond the original alterations, meaning that even if the alterations were removed, his personality wouldn’t change in the slightest from what it is right now.”

Allon and Sherra looked devastated. They were utterly dismayed at the fact that their son was entirely lost to them.

“Out of curiosity, was there ever a point in time when Aldor suddenly lost consciousness as a child? Perhaps not at the estate, but at a friend's house? He would’ve been unconscious for at least a day.” Warren asked Allon and Sherra, who took a few moments to think about it.

“Yes. There was one occasion. He was visiting a friend from school when he was nine, when we received notice from them that he had hit his head while playing, and that he had been healed by a Life mage but would need to sleep it off for at least a day, and that we wouldn’t need to worry since that was normal for this type of head wound.” Sherra said. “It was when you were visiting the ships after that storm caused us to lose some cargo. The deal with the Belfasts needed to be delayed for a month, remember?”

Allon had a look of realization on his face before a look of doubt crossed it.

“But that was a Life Mage. A Tier two Life Mage at that. He couldn’t have done anything to Aldor, if what Warren said about the Mage needing to be at Tier four is true.” Allon said.

“It is. Tier four denotes a qualitative change in a Mage’s magic, mostly in control. That’s why those below Tier four cannot fight them, even with ridiculous numbers.” Warren said. “But do you know for a fact that he hadn’t run into a Radiant Mage? Do you know for a fact that this family wasn’t composed of Cult of Light cultists?”

Allon and Sherra tried to think, Allon didn’t know much about this, as he hadn’t been directly involved, but Sherra grew horrified as she recalled one more detail from when she had been informed of what had happened.

“The family that Aldor was with at the time. The father of the household was a Radiant Mage. His eyes and hair were both gold in color, but I thought he was just a Tier three Mage.” Sherra said with horror on her face. “I didn’t think much of it at the time, as it didn’t seem important.”

“Do you know if that family is still in the city? This could be a lead to whoever is supporting the Cult of Light.” Warren said in a frantic voice.

Sherra shook her head in response.

“I’m sorry. The family cut off contact with us after this event. Apparently, the man had family in another city, and needed to leave for some reason or another. I’m not sure.” Sherra apologized. She wished she could tell Warren more, but there just wasn't anything else that she knew.

Allon turned and held her close to him. He knew that this was eating her up inside, so he started rubbing her back to try and help her relax. He hated seeing her so subdued like this. He desperately wanted his boisterous and passionate wife back.

“I’m sorry I brought up bad memories.” Warren said. “It’s likely too late now to find the monster that did this, but I’m sure there are other remnants somewhere in the city. You’ll be the first to know if I find any leads.”

Allon and Sherra both nodded in thanks.

“Before I leave, if there’s nothing else you need?” Warren inquired as Allon, and Sherra, shook their heads no. “I do have a request I need to make.”

Warren pulled open his Void Pouch, taking out every gold card he had. All nine thousand gold coins worth of them.

“I know the price is never fixed, but I need you to get me as many pure mana crystals as you possibly can.” Warren said as he pushed the money forward. “I think you know what it’s meant for.”

“I’m sure that I can find something.” Allon said, people and businesses that he could contact ran through his mind.

“Good. We have just over three weeks before my son leaves on his expedition. I think it would be in his best interests to have him be a proper Mage beforehand.” Warren said. “Agreed?”

“Agreed!” Allon and Sherra said in unison.