Chapter 11 : Arcanist of the 1st Circle

Nikolaï was in the library, surrounded by books about Ether Runes, sub-runes, Mystical Arcane, etc… His body was still suffering from the excess of water elementium in it but it was manageable. Nikolaï was letting time doing its work and meditate regularly in order to compensate for the effects and help his natural rejection.

But it was not just the water elementium, since two days Nikolaï had reached the maximum ether he could handle. There was an excess of energy coursing through him and it affected him. Physically there weren’t many effects, the poisoning was more responsible in that matter but his ability to cast was a bit off. He didn’t make him fail his spells but Nikolaï noticed that they were a bit unbalanced by the excess of power in him.

The excess was made to leave this body in a week but Nikolaï was maintaining it to meditation. If he continued like that for 2 or 3 months he could suffer from complication but Nikolaï didn’t intend to do so. He was confident that in a week he was going to form his new Ether Rune and pushed away his limits. He just needed to design the rune first.

That’s why Nikolaï was at the library. Designing an Ether Rune was extremely complicated when starting from scratch, it required expertise on the knowledge that Nikolaï barely knew and very few Arcanists were experts on the subject.

Fortunately, Nikolaï didn’t have to do it from anything, in the library, it was possible to consult First and Second Ether Rune designs. There were hundred of those models with explanations of how they were created and variations of them.

Nikolaï old rune hadn’t been listed and at that time Nikolaï successfully designed it by using part of other examples using each of his selected sub-runes. First Ether Runes were the easiest to create so it only took three days to make one which filled the criteria explained by the books he had consulted.

This time Nikolaï’s choice wasn’t recorded either but he hadn’t expected it. What he was trying to do was different from last time and a bit more tricky because the information was rarer.

“_ You seem to have gone back to your study.” Commented a familiar voice.

Nikolaï moved his attention from his notes to the person in front of him and froze for a moment. Standing here was Arcanist Julius, dominating him with his height and casting a shadow on the books spread on the table.

Nikolaï stood up but the sudden movement made him a bit unbalance as vertigo from the poisoning hit him. He held himself at the table for a second before saluting.

“_ Sorry Arcanist Julius I didn’t see you there.” Said Nikolaï as calmly as possible.

“_ You seem to recover, it’s good.” Commented Julius without much conviction.

His eyes went from Nikolaï to his books.

“_ Studying Ether, as I see. It’s not a simple subject.”

“_ I’m doing my best.” Answered Nikolaï, not knowing what to say.

Arcanist Julius sighed without trying really hard to hide it. He took one of the opened books and started to browse through it without taking care of which page it had been.

“_ Mystical Arcane… Are you trying to understand what happened to you ?”

The question made Nikolaï’s hair stuck on his skull. Did Julius know ?

“_ Just trying to piece a few things together.” Innocently said Nikolaï with a fake smile.

Arcanist Julius looked Nikolaï in the eyes and Nikolaï tried his best to not look away while keeping away any trace of defiance from his face. Julius gaze was not the one of someone looking for deception but the one of somebody affirming dominance. It was the kind of pressure that someone from his stature was used to “perform”, from the lack of a better word.

He closed the book in a lively movement and handed it to Nikolaï.

“_ I’m glad that you didn’t waste my Master generosity by giving up.” Said Arcanist Julius. “I hope you’ll rise to its merit.”

“_ Thanks…” Responded Nikolaï with difficulty as he felt like a stone was in his throat.

On this, Arcanist Julius turned away and walked out of the library letting Nikolaï to himself.

Nikolaï didn’t move yet. He was doing his best at repressing the torrent of emotions inside him. Meeting Arcanist Julius like that had thrown him off and before he could handle it Arcanist Julius word’s had made him believed that he knew about the Third Eye. The thought was terrifying, Expert Orsana and his assistants were the last persons Nikolaï would have wanted to know about his secret. After what they did to the other Aspirants he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that they were going to treat him with regards if they knew they could take something from him.

Nikolaï quieted his beating heart but his eyes were slightly moist. It was tears of rage that had raised to them. What Arcanist Julius had said about Expert Orsana so-called generosity made him sure that he didn’t know Nikolaï secret but made him sick.

Julius knew exactly what he was doing, he knew that his word would enrage Nikolaï. He did so as a demonstration of power. By treating Nikolaï as he owed something to his master he had insulted him, knowing that Nikolaï couldn’t say anything. Nikolaï was a nobody in Dzürkül and Arcanist Julius had him said it himself rather than having to do it.

“ That disgusting turd !” Thought Nikolaï.

The humiliation was benign but it still hurt and Nikolaï took a moment to ease his mood.

He looked at the table and hoped that Arcanist Julius was not going to understand that Nikolaï was ready to form his First Ether Rune. Nikolaï wondered also what Julius was doing here. Arcanists had access to their own library but it was not completely unusual to see one here, looking from something in the Aspirant library.

“ Are they watching me ?” Asked Nikolaï to himself.

He calmed his paranoia and remembered that Julius was holding a book under one of his arms. Nikolaï sat down, less agitated and look at his desk. He wondered if it was a good thing to continue his research on the open.

The progress he had made in the past weeks had filled him with the feeling of success. He had enjoyed it and almost forget that everything could be taken away if he was discovered. The most terrifying things about that were the fact that there was nothing he could do to prevent it. His only course of action was to stay low and hope that nobody was going to notice as he gathers and builds up his strength.

With a bit of chance, his physical state had worked in his favour. To Arcanist Julius, Nikolaï was probably still looking ill from the experience.

Anyway, Nikolaï was convinced that he was going to be more at ease in his room. He started to select the part he needed from the book. He could rent one or two but he didn’t need to take them all.

He used a copy desk and his body been a bit weak decided to use Spectral Hand. The ghostly hand had become easy to move around but even with that, he was surprised to see how agile it was when writing. By visualizing the written word it was not hard to have the hand copied it. Nikolaï still had to pay attention to the hand to make sure that it was on the page but figured out that with practice he could do it more naturally.

With a stack of notes, two books and a lighter purse, Nikolaï left the library. From the Mystical Arcane book, he had copied a chapter about Arcanists with special abilities. Mystical Arcane was a very cryptic arcane which largely studied the nature of ether and some of its hidden properties. Nikolaï Third Eye was obviously falling under this category but that didn’t mean it was easy to find answers.

Divination was also part of the Mystical Arcane and it was one of the most esoteric branches in every Arcane. Nobody knew exactly why but some people had an unpredictable gift to foreshadow events like storms, earthquakes or other catastrophes of the same kind.

Arcanist didn’t believe in divine ability but that this foreshadowing was the result of an interpretation of elementium variation in the environment by the gifted. They studied the subject and found a way to improve the gift by creating specifics sub-rune in the gifted Ether Rune, proving the link between arcane and divination.

Nikolaï didn’t have any gift of foreshadowing but he was now owning a very special gift, a Third Eye capable of revealing ether and elementiums to his sight. What he was trying to do in his new Ether Rune was to enhance this gift by using its Sigil in the design of his Rune.

What he had read about the foreshadowing had convinced him that it could work but the book didn’t contain examples of those special design sub-rune. Nikolaï had used other books to find what he was looking for.

The modern practice was to use only parts of a Sigil in a sub-rune to have his effect spread to an all-family of spells but in the past, it was not rare that people imprint a complete Sigil in their Rune. By fusing a complete one with the Ether Rune the Arcanist was becoming very familiar with the spell. Casting it would become second nature, his speed of execution faster than any normal Arcanist using the same spell and its stability improved.

This practice wasn’t used anymore at a low level because nobody saw the point of being so proficient with a low-level spell. Occasionally more advanced Arcanists were doing so but they used powerful spell, often defensive ones. Arcanists who specialised in combat could imprint the Sigil of a Barrier in their Ether Rune, allowing them to cast it in an instant and with less focus than normally needed.

Other research from Nikolaï was to look for Arcanists who tried to improve their physical senses with sub-runes. He knew that it didn’t really work but he was interested in the theory to see if it could be useful for what he was trying to do.

***

A day and a half later, Nikolaï had finished his design. The fact that he had to draw it himself the first time had help because he was not a complete beginner with the instructions and concepts. Also using a complete Sigil had been harder than he had thought first. The documentation was less important but the rules of bending it to the rest of the design were the same.

Nikolaï looked at the wide page that he used to copy his final draft. He was checking for the fourth time if he had followed every rule he knew.

The first sub-rune was the Sigil he had copied from his forehead and the other one was the flux sub-rune. It was one of the 3 support sub-rune and it was made to improve the stream of ether inside the Arcanist. With that and the fact that Nikolaï had a very stable Ether, he believed that his ether regeneration was going to widely improve. Not just that, but a better flow was going to make the best of his meditation session.

Nikolaï was confident in his choice but he had taken his time to do it. He had ruled out the reinforcement sub-rune early in the process. Sure improving his resistance was important, especially for someone like him, but it was a long term benefit. The third sub-rune, the growth sub-rune, had been more tempting to Nikolaï. When using it the Arcanist was going to gain a burst of ether in him, shorting a bit the path to the next limitation. It also improved the Arcanist hold on his Ether, making his boundaries more defined and increase its stability.

Nikolaï had hesitated to use the growth sub-rune. The quick rise of his ether was more than tempting but eventually, it felt like it was the only perks for the moment. Nikolaï believed that improving the effectiveness of his meditation would be more beneficial in the same period of time rather than getting a head start but keeping the same curve of progress.

Flux sub-rune had been his final choice because in his situation it had more improvement than the other one. Nikolaï wasn’t just looking at enhancing his ether reserve but also improving his casting and there was only one solution to that : practice ! With a better regeneration, Nikolaï would be able to practice more often and reduce the time between each training session.

Nikolaï finished his last check-up and decided to not wait any further. He cleaned up his desk and went to his bathroom to wash. He didn’t need to be clean to do what he was going to do but it was his way to prepare mentally. He took this time, stretching his muscles, relaxing his body and emptying his mind from any parasite thought.

***

Later, in the evening Nikolaï was seated in a meditation posture. He had eaten lightly and taken the end of the afternoon to sharpened his mind. He closed his eyes and started to wield his Ether. He didn’t try to shape it yet, just to have a grip on it. This time his Third Eye couldn’t help him but the progress it had allowed him to make on shaping his Ether was going to be useful.

Nikolaï could feel the excess of ether inside him and slowly tried to tame it. In his chest, he started to create a circular flow. The same way a Sigil was created in the circle of his hand he had to create a circle of ether to imprint the Ether Rune. He did it slowly, if he rushed thing he could damage his organs by exposing them to too much ether before they could build up their defences.

The process was going fine, Nikolaï could feel the circle becoming more and more round. It was a bit like tracing it into the water repeatedly until you create a courant strong enough that he didn’t need input to be.

Nikolaï pushed himself, adding more speed to the flow of ether, making the circle as perfect as possible. By focusing on the momentum he didn’t have to focus on the shape, the circle was the “perfect shape” and now that he had put his ether on track it was going to emulate it better than Nikolaï as long as he maintained the pressure.

Nikolaï lost the track of time even after he heard the Tower bell. He pushed reality away from his concern and only focus on his internal turmoil. When the circle finally rose to its peak, Nikolaï slowly opened his eyes.

In front of him, he had displayed the design of his future Rune. He knew it by heart but having a visual reminder could not hurt. Without breaking his focus he started visualizing the Rune like he was doing when casting a spell. He drew every detail in his mind and held it like it was a breath of air.

Preparations were over and Nikolaï started to shape the ether inside the circle as it was shown on the design. He started with the sub-runes and once they were done he created the connections between them. He grew them like they were roots making their way to each other.

When the last connections had been drawn the Rune reacted by contracting for a second. It was the effect of sealing and this “hiccup” into the stream of ether produced a vibration through Nikolaï’s body. The shape of the circle started to deteriorate, its energy was leaving its course, losing its momentum but the moment they were slow down the Ether Rune was absorbing the energy, strengthening his form.

Nikolaï was at the same time drained of his energy and rejuvenate by it. A humming was taking place in his skull, he tried to resist as long as he could but eventually, he passed out.