Tale of Eldramir

It hadn’t taken too long to get to the headquarters of the Island Hoppers’ Guild. Roughly a day of sailing got them to their destination. As they pulled into the docks of the second largest city on Sanafalls, the crew disembarked as Scarlet went to the Guild to finalize their new deal and arrange for additional forces to be added to their own.

Ezekiel was told to stay with the ship, as he wouldn’t be needed for anything anytime soon. So he continued to train with Shine, having the Void Spirit continue to expend their mana in regular and consistent intervals. The constantly shining light from the communication artifacts was a bit annoying, but it was a necessary aspect of this training.

Much of the crew was curious about what he was doing, so he explained it as best he could, and there was a surprising amount of interest when they learned that it was a communication device. Some of them wondered how a sword was channeling mana to activate them, but Ezekiel just told them that it was thanks to his weird Void mana, and no one really questioned it.

Of course, this was only for the basic crew members, and not the actual Scholars, who made notes to speak with Scarlet about it later.

Ezekiel was likely to get a lecture later on, but he wasn’t too worried. He was doing as Carrian had told him to do, after all.

This state of things continued for a couple of hours, with Ezekiel talking about things, and Shine slowly channeling mana and letting it recover.

Eventually, Ezekiel realized that there was still more that he could be doing for himself, and so he requested Tommy allow him to do some sparring with the apprentice crewmates. He explained what Scarlet had told him about when it came to what he would be doing, and if there weren’t any chores for him to be focused on right now, he might as well put himself to work. Hopefully he’d learn a thing or two that would let him make a little bit of progress.

Shine was somewhat nervous, as this would be their first serious spar, outside the martial forms and stances that Ezekiel practiced with them. However, Ezekiel knew that it was time to get Shine some real training, and for himself to freshen up as well, as it had been months since his own sparring was taken seriously. He’d been spending most of his time researching and experimenting with Void magic, so he wanted to make sure he wasn’t losing his touch.

Looking at the eager faces of some of the crew, Tommy agreed, but required that Shine remain sheathed at all times during their sparring. Usually, the crew members that were sparring would be required to switch to practice blades, or mop handles, but in this situation it was better to use their reinforced sheaths on their actual swords. In part because of Shine’s need to be a part of this to help their soul grow stronger, and also because Ezekiel’s much stronger reinforcement of any other weapons would make fighting another person with wooden or weaker weapons much more dangerous for them.

Thus, it was set up for him and Shine to spar with an apprentice crew member. A man with a Glacial affinity who had been working on this ship for nearly a decade. He was almost twenty years senior to Ezekiel and was at the peak of Tier two. He was hoping to break through to Tier three within the next few years, after his next major shore leave and vacation from work.

It was decided that he would be Ezekiel’s sparring partner for this since Tommy believed that this would be a good test for Ezekiel, as the Glacial apprentice would be able to better control himself than some of the other crewmates. That, and the ship was meant for facing harsh waters. Not fires, lighting, or other destructive elements. Cavern mages were also a bad idea since they sank fairly easily when they ran out of mana to keep the stones that they had on hand from sinking.

“Shine. My impact in this spar will be minimal. Other than refilling your reserves, I won’t be channeling my mana through you. Everything that revolves around you, other than some movements, will depend on you.” Ezekiel mentally informed his Spirit as he took a readied stance.

“Okay...” Shine replied in a somewhat subdued voice.

The spar started out fairly simply. Ezekiel actually held back from using most of his own mana, to force himself to rely on Shine for most of the spar. Shine quickly found themself overwhelmed and frightened when their sparring partner attacked. While Shine was naturally tougher than other swords, they were still quite weak when it came to mana, being only the second Step of Tier one.

Ezekiel didn’t open the spar by doing any attacking. Instead, he requested the crewmate to attack him, under the excuse that he was trying to enhance his survivability since it would be hard for him to take a major offensive role in the upcoming battles. This was met with a round of approval by the crew, as it showed that Ezekiel was aware of his own capabilities.

The Glacial mage opened with a blade of ice which he used to swing down on Ezekiel with his full might. While it was more difficult, and less effective, for mages of other elements to enhance their physical abilities than it was for Void mages, this Glacial mage was proficient at using their elemental manipulation to reinforce the velocity of their attacks. Thus, the swing was much faster than Ezekiel was expecting.

Throwing up a quick block, Ezekiel winced as Shine cried out in pain. He hadn’t done anything to help Shine block that strike, just like he said he would. Shine, not accustomed to the flow of an actual battle like this, having mostly worked on different spells for Void magic, wasn’t able to channel their magic in time to reinforce themself against the attack. The result was a loud ringing chime and a slight grinding sound as the reinforced ice blade dragged across Shine’s sheathed surface. Small cracks started to appear on the sheath as Shine failed to properly reinforce it.

This was followed by Ezekiel back stepping until he was well outside of the other mage’s reach. He followed up by taking several steps to dodge the follow up attacks. His own mana usage was fairly minimal, but he needed to use a bit to move quickly enough to not be struck by the opposing mage’s blade. This became more difficult when the Glacial mage began changing the length and form of his weapon in the middle of his attacks.

One moment Ezekiel was dodging out of the way of a cutlass, the next he was swinging Shine up and across his chest to deflect the thrust of a spear. In another second, he had to leap towards his sparring partner, immediately after backing away, in order to avoid having Shine ripped from his hands as a jelly-like whip wrapped around them and pulled. All the while, Shine failed to properly channel their mana, and was beginning to cry from the stresses of the fight.

Ezekiel ended up having to use more mana to dodge instead of block in order to calm Shine down. This was somewhat difficult as there were just too many attacks that Shine was unprepared for. A part of him felt guilty for forcing Shine to go through with this training. He quite enjoyed Shine’s inquisitive and innocent nature when it came to mana and research. So, to hear them fearfully panicking in the back of his mind was heartbreaking. Yet, if Shine wanted to be able to further interact with the world, they would need to get stronger to do so and survive, so Ezekiel continued to push Shine to their limits.

After Ezekiel managed to calm them down, Shine started to do well, for the most part. They started to complain as they fought and panicked a few times when Ezekiel didn’t reply when they asked for help, but the stress forced them to grow. Especially when they accepted that Ezekiel wasn’t going to risk himself every time Shine did something wrong.

Eventually, Ezekiel and Shine were able to start pushing back, no longer dodging away and backpedaling. They still played on the defensive side, as this was not training to make them better at fighting their enemies, but to make them better at surviving them. Though they did manage to get a few good hits here and there when their sparring partner pushed too far too fast a few times.

However, by this point, the sheath was looking worse for wear. Shine was still failing to properly channel the correct amount of mana to properly reinforce it without wasting mana. There was even one instance where Ezekiel had to step in and forcefully use his own mana to essentially make Shine’s mana change where it was channeled, else the accumulated mana makes the sheath explode.

The spar continued for nearly half an hour, until Ezekiel ran out of mana. He could’ve gone on for longer if he was the one fully controlling his mana. But he had been feeding his mana to Shine, so that the Spirit could directly control their part of the battle for a longer period of time.

Of course, this was only the case where the amount of effort he put into the fight slowly escalated like it did in this spar. Had he been forced to go all out from the beginning, then it might’ve been more difficult. Of course, Ezekiel still had a few artifacts that he could rely on to get out of a bad situation. The boots Quentin had made him were securely strapped to his feet after all.

However, the back-and-forth nature of the spar was somewhat frustrating for Ezekiel, who knew they could fight better if he was the one leading. Apparently, the crewmember they were fighting also knew, or had expected, Ezekiel was better than he was showing. As the spar ended with the Glacial mage sending out a wave of icicles, something that Ezekiel had to use the last burst of mana he had to get out of the way. Even then, he still had to swing Shine in order to block a few of them. An action that destroyed the Shine’s sheath as they collapsed onto the ground.

“I thought this kid was supposed to be some kind of prodigy? I may not know much about Void mana, but even I could tell that there was some major wastage happening during that fight.” Ezekiel’s sparring partner called out to Tommy as he looked down on Ezekiel’s panting form. “Are we sure that this kid is going to survive?”

Tommy himself looked a bit confused. During their initial trip to Sanafalls nearly a year ago, he’d seen Ezekiel sparring with a few other crew members. Some of which are here right now. None of them had had an easy time sparring with Ezekiel. Even if it wasn’t being done seriously at the time. Yet this spar made Ezekiel look like he didn’t even know how to properly channel his mana into his weapon. Something that Tommy knew that he was quite proficient at.

“Ezekiel, what the hell was that?” Tommy asked.

Ezekiel took a moment to catch his breath before answering. He figured that an abridged answer with slightly omitted information would be best right now. He’d talk with Scarlet about things when she got back later on, but for now, he needed to answer Tommy and the crew’s questions.

“There was a breakthrough with my magic, but because of soul size stuff, there’s a bit of difficulty with how much mana I have access to. Carrian wanted me to include me on this job for experience, since stress and danger apparently help with the growth of a soul.” Ezekiel explained.

He knew he couldn’t tell anyone that it was Shine’s soul that needed to grow, so he made it seem like there was an issue with his own. He knew that, just from the fact that he had been alive for more than ten years, meant that his soul was strong enough to reach Tier two, which everyone knew he was not. But he figured that if souls can be damaged, then it would be possible that they might think that was what had happened to him. It really had happened when he had first broken through to Tier one after all.

Given the looks of concern and pity that he was getting from most of the crew, he knew that several of them had assumed that his soul had been damaged in some way. Such that he couldn’t get it fully healed from a Life, or Death, mage. Tommy still looked suspicious, but the mage he’d been fighting looked satisfied with the answer. As if it explained why Ezekiel was having difficulties in their spar.

“The Grand Scholar isn’t wrong. But usually, the best thing for stuff like this is to just wait. Time alone is enough for most souls to grow. So, it’s a bit weird that he wants you to get experience like this.” the apprentice Glacial mage said.

“He doesn’t want this back fall to impact my future growth, so he hopes that the current issue can be settled with this. Hopefully the stress from this mission will be enough to remove the immediate problems. Then things might start to settle down.” Ezekiel said in a nonchalant manner. If he was being entirely honest, rather than the partial honesty he was projecting, he’d love to keep going on missions like this for now. He dearly wanted Shine to catch up to him but knew that that was likely to take a while.

That said, Ezekiel knew that there wasn’t much to do now. Shine was mentally exhausted, and while he knew that this spar wasn’t going to solve their current problems with Shine having nearly too much mana to handle, he hoped that it might relieve some of the uncomfortable pressure Shine was feeling.

For now, Tommy instructed Ezekiel to hand over his broken sheath to one of the other apprentices. They’d get it fixed by one of the Life mages, who would grow a new one with the same dimensions. It would be ready in the morning, and since it was getting pretty late right now, Tommy figured that it would be a good time to get dinner properly prepared for when Scarlet came back.

After cleaning up the deck with a few of the apprentices, not including the senior apprentice who he’d sparred with, Ezekiel was sent to work in the relatively cramped kitchen. Something that frustrated him a little bit, but he knew better than to complain. These were the people he was somewhat entrusting his life to after all.

It was to the disappointment of the crew that Scarlet did not, in fact, return for dinner that night, and didn’t actually return until after they had breakfast the following morning. But, it seemed that, while not exactly pleasant, the meeting and arrangements she made with the Island Hoppers was successful. If the scowl on her face and the extra teams of Hunters following her and the Scholars she’s brought with her were any indication.

This wasn’t too good for Ezekiel, however, as Scarlet’s already sour mood was further brought down when she was informed of the results of the sparring match the previous night. She immediately handed several papers to Tommy before calling Ezekiel to meet her in her cabin once again.

Ezekiel, who was going through some sword forms with Shine, was somewhat nervous as he entered the belly of the ship to meet with the captain. He had hoped that they’d parted ways in a good manner yesterday, but it seemed like things were about to take a turn for the worse for him.

“You don’t think she’s going to punish us for making the Scholars question things, do you?” Shine asked with a bit of worry in their voices.

“I don’t know, but if we are, I’m sure it won’t be too bad.” Ezekiel said. This was also totally true, as he knew that there wasn’t really any way that Scarlet was actually able to punish Shine without harming them. Ezekiel, on the other hand, was more than punishable. But he expected it would mostly be through additional chores and other mundane tasks.

As he nervously entered the Scarlet’s cabin with a false projection of confidence, Ezekiel was surprised to see Scarlet sitting with her hand covering her face as she reclined in her chair. He had never seen a Scholar take on such a relaxed and placid appearance, as frustrated as she seemed to be.

Knowing that she had heard him come in, but not wanting to interrupt whatever thoughts were running through her mind, Ezekiel decided to stand in front of the desk and wait for her to address him. This might not have been the best idea, as he ended up standing there for several minutes waiting for Scarlet to speak up. Finally, after no words came from the Grand Scholar at all, even after nearly ten minutes had passed, Ezekiel spoke up.

“Um... you wanted to see me, Grand Scholar...” Ezekiel trailed off as Scarlet lifted her hands and semi-glared at him through half-lidded eyes. Ezekiel felt his nervousness spike once again and knew that something unexpected was going to be happening to him. Probably something that wasn’t even going to be an actual punishment, but an inconvenience, nonetheless.

“First of all, from now on, call me captain when we’re on my ship. Whilst I will always be proud to be a Grand Scholar, I am a ship’s captain first and foremost.” Scarlet said.

“Secondly, I managed to come to an agreement with the Island Hoppers regarding your presence on this mission. Since we are on a tight schedule, I needed to not only give them the money that Carrian had provided for an extra team, but also provide a few concessions that I’d rather not have.” Scarlet explained as she sat up and leaned forward onto her desk.

“Care to take a guess as to what those concessions might have been?” Scarlet inquired.

“... Something related to me?” Ezekiel assumed. If that was indeed the case, that meant that he had indirectly caused yet another problem for the Church. Especially Scarlet in particular. He only hoped that whatever she gave up wasn’t going to be too troublesome for them.

“Correct. Specifically, I’ve been asked to hand you over to the Island Hoppers to have you work on one of their ships, under the Guild leader that’ll be accompanying us on this mission. So, pack your things and meet me on the deck. It seems like you’ve been poached for the remainder of this mission.” Scarlet explained. “I’m ensured that they are all bound by contract to ensure your safety as best they can while having you participate in the fight, but you’ll be on their ship until the Hull Breaker’s hideout is destroyed.”

Ezekiel didn’t say anything, he just nodded his head, emotionlessly, before heading out of the captain’s quarters and going to his room to pack his things. He had expected that he’d have to do something for the Island Hoppers to make them agree to his inclusion in the mission, but to go and work for them directly was a bit unexpected. He didn’t even know how he’d be considered useful to them.

It didn’t take him long to pack his things, as he’d had no reason to unpack everything anyways. So, it was barely a few minutes later that Ezekiel had returned to the deck with most of his things. Scarlet was standing there, having just finished explaining things to Tommy, who was looking frustrated himself.

“Are you sure we can trust them with this?” Tommy asked his captain.

“Whilst an annoying request, I've made sure that the Guild leader who is coming with us is not the stupid bitch you’re thinking about. It’s Riker who is captaining that ship. So, we shouldn’t have to worry about any unexpected behaviors.” Scarlet said.

Tommy nodded in understanding and a bit of relief. He knew that he could trust Riker with this mission, even if he was going to be spending time watching over Ezekiel as well. Suddenly, an idea passed through Tommy’s head as he thought about Riker in particular.

“Do you think he’s hoping too... you know?” Tommy asked.

“He is. He told me so himself. But what can you expect from a man who loves his family as much as he does.” Scarlet confirmed.

Tommy nodded before giving Ezekiel a wave and heading in to the ship to make sure things were properly stowed before they set off. Scarlet called Ezekiel over and brought him off the ship, where they then headed to another portion of the dock, where a much smaller, but much sleeker looking, ship was moored.

On the sail and flag of the ship was an emblem depicting a ship hopping from one island to another. These items did not follow the same conventions as the Guild sashes when it came to the Guild’s rank. But Ezekiel figured that this had to do with the fact that it was more efficient to just use existing sails and add the emblem than to commission a custom sail for every ship they had.

“Ahoy there!” A voice called out from the top of the crow’s nest. “Is that you Scarlet?”

“Of course it is, Riker, no lower the plank, I have the boy with me, and we need to set off as soon as possible.” Scarlet called back.

Ezekiel was once again somewhat annoyed at being referred to as ‘the boy’ once again, but figured he’d need time to grow out of that unfortunate title. For now, he focused on the man in the crow’s nest. Gray hair and eyes were his primary features, and a winged snake was wrapped around his torso. The man, Riker, jumped off the crow’s nest, landing on the dock itself, rather than the ship, and addressed Scarlet and Ezekiel directly.

“No need for a plank, my dear. I can just take the young man up myself. Isn’t that right, Ezekiel.” Riker said. “Oh, by the way, this is Quay, my Spirit. He’s a bit of a prankster, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to have your back while we’re on this mission. I know you’ll be happy about it when we get into the heat of things in a few days.”

Ezekiel just nodded and quietly said hello. He was a bit weirded out by Riker’s incredibly friendly behavior but knew from Tommy’s words on Scarlet’s ship that he wanted something from Ezekiel, so he figured a bit of wariness was warranted.

“Alright then, Scarlet, we’ll head out as soon as we get on the ship, so best you make your way back to your own, lest we start to leave you behind.” Riker said. With those words done, he grabbed Ezekiel by the scruff of his neck and leapt into the air. A large gust of wind accompanied him as he flew up over a dozen feet before landing on the deck with barely a sound.

“Alright, you lot! Time to be off! Untie us from the docks and set sail! We’ll be getting a way out from port before we get into formation around the Scarlet Glacier!” Riker called out to the crew that were milling about on the deck. At his words they immediately went into motion to fulfill his orders.

“The Scarlet Glacier?” Ezekiel asked.

“Ah, you mean they never told you the name of Scarlet’s ship?” Riker replied.

Ezekiel just shook his head. He figured the ship likely had a name but hadn’t bothered looking into it when people hadn’t told him anything. The fact that it was also a Church ship meant that he didn’t think it was given an individual name. But he really didn’t know much about nautical culture, so that was a simple mistake to make.

“Oh, our ship’s named the Gust Lord, just so you’re aware.” Riker finished saying. “Anyway, you’ll be acting as a cabin boy for us. Cleaning the deck and learning the ropes. We’ll also keep you involved in any sparring and training to make sure that you’re up to snuff when it comes to a fight.”

Ezekiel nodded his head. He figured that Riker wasn’t going to bring up whatever it was he was waiting to ask Ezekiel about right away. He figured that he might try to breach the subject later that afternoon or evening if things didn’t progress in a couple hours.

Riker looked a little down as Ezekiel just accepted his words at face value, but quickly explained a few things to both Ezekiel and the rest of the crew. Most of the crew was indifferent towards Ezekiel, but some had a knowing look in their eyes when Riker mentioned that he was a Void mage. To Ezekiel, this meant that a lot of people were aware of whatever it was that Riker wasn’t talking about. So, Ezekiel decided that it wasn’t something that he needed to be concerned with.

The ship itself ran quite smoothly, so there wasn’t much for Ezekiel to do besides learn as much as he could. His primary focus right now was actually learning a little bit about navigation. There wasn’t much to focus on when it came to examples, since they were still well within eyesight of Sanafalls island, but it was an interesting topic, nonetheless. It also helped with getting their ship in line with the half-a-dozen or so other ones that were going together with them on this mission.

Ezekiel did wonder if all the Guilds in the Archipelago operated like this though, as it seemed to be quite relaxed when compared to the somewhat strict teams and procedures that were apparently much more common in the Empire. What’s more, if the Archipelago Guilds operated differently due to their environment and culture, did that mean that the Guilds in other areas of the world also operated differently? Or was this something that was unique to individual Guilds?

Ezekiel wondered about this for a while as he continued to fulfill several tasks through the day. Until finally, it was during dinner that Riker called Ezekiel to speak with him. They did not go to the captain’s cabin, but instead they headed to the stern of the ship.

“Are you finally going to tell me what everyone else seems to know about? Regarding why you wanted me on your ship so bad.” Ezekiel said in a blunt tone of voice.

Riker looked somewhat surprised. He had been told about Ezekiel the night before. From what he had been expecting, Ezekiel should’ve addressed things not long after getting on the ship, but he never did. This led Riker to think that Ezekiel was being overestimated, so his expectations of Ezekiel had fallen lower and lower throughout the day.

“Why didn’t you call me out on it earlier?” Riker said as he stroked Quay’s head as the winged snake wrapped around his neck.

“Because you expected it. So, I figured I’d wait until you addressed it, or later tonight when we weren’t all busy working.” Ezekiel explained.

Riker was once again shocked but didn’t let it distract him this time.

“Well, I guess I’ll just say it then. My daughter is a Void mage. I want to hire you to become her personal tutor for a year.” Riker stated. His voice was clear and to the point. None of the jovial nature from before could be found. He was utterly serious regarding this matter.

Ezekiel was not expecting that and wasn’t quite sure what to say. It was now his turn to stare at Riker in shock, as he went over the Guild leader’s words in his head. Not saying anything for a good long time.