《Tale of a Blue Mage》Chapter 13: Making Decisions
Advertisement
The three young mages did not share a single word as they headed back to the town. Violent storms were wreaking havoc in each of their minds, completely unaware of the other.
Evelyn clutched onto the bright red bigger-than-average Flame Magistone in her hands all the way. Since the battle with the Salamander she was reminded time and time again how much of an useless burden she was to the other two. She might have had access to better spells but Eon was far more capable at using his spells more effectively. And that kind of skill comes from pure experience, which she lacked. The gap in their skill level would only get larger as Eon gained more experience. Evelyn had to make a decision. Fast.
"What did Leonhart mean by the attack being planned specifically to get rid of him?" The thought plagued Razor's mind. "What was the dragon master's true intention?" He also couldn't help but notice Leonhart was a Shiftblade. His father never talked much about his family so Razor really didn't know anything about this master Blue Mage or if they were even related. "Is the dragon master specifically targeting Shiftblades for some reason? That would make sense, but the reason would still be unclear. But after being confronted the dragon attacked the mana jewel, that didn't make any sense." Razor felt like every attempt to answer a question gave rise to two more.
Eon was just emotional, but he didn't know what to feel. Leonhart did prefer using a sword in battles but Eon never guessed Leonhart was actually a Shiftblade. He didn't know how to respond to that. He couldn't understand how Leonhart knew about the dragon attack. His thoughts were brutally being smacked against each other in the storm in his heart. He had to figure out the secret behind the dragon attacks, and to finish what his mentor started. There was too much info for him to process. He clutched the wyvern fang sword tighter in his hand.
***
"I think I'd have to refuse you on that offer." Evelyn answered gloomily, still clutching on to the magistone. "I can not accompany you to Grandor."
Advertisement
"But why not?" Razor asked.
"I just think I'm not strong enough. I can not allow myself to be a burden to people around me. As an heir to the Igno-.. no, as a proud mage, my pride is at stake here." Evelyn explained. "I hope you understand."
The two boys watched as Evelyn walked away. "What now?" Razor asked Eon.
"We get in. Let's recruit my old friend." Eon pointed at the weapon shop they were standing in front of.
***
"I don't think I'll be of any use to you two." Darryl deadpanned. " I'm not a fighter, just a mere shopkeeper."
"Leonhart thinks otherwise." Eon replied.
"No, I think you got it wrong. If I understood the letter correctly, he never told me to use the sword. He simply gave it to me and gave permission to do whatever I see fit." Darryl examined the said sword in his hand carefully.
"Oh.. well, let us know if you change your mind then." Eon decided to leave the matter and proceeded to leave the shop, Razor tailing behind him.
"Hey Shiftblade!" Razor looked back to Darryl's call. "Take care of the shortsword for me, 'kay?"
Razor caught the Wyvern tooth shortsword flung towards him. "I will."
Both of them decided it was a rather long day and decided to call it a day early as they reached Eon's place.
***
Aeria was situated at the southern end of Primora, with nothing but the lush southern forest separating it from the Sea of Leviathan. To the north-east Grimoria stood half a day of train journey away. Grandor on the other hand, was to the north of Aeria, slightly further away from Grimoria, situated at the bank of Marduk bay. It was almost a whole day's journey by train to the capital.
Convincing Eon's parents was a little hard. He only got permission after promising to be back within a couple of days. Their fear was justified, with the recent dragon attack, the whole Kingdom was in a shock.
Advertisement
The train compartments were a little too empty as well. To adapt to the situation, rail workers ditched half of the compartments on the rail station so they could cut off some magistone fuel cost.
"Does that mean the train will go faster and we'll reach the capital in less time?" Razor was staring out of the window, enjoying the scenery.
"I don't think so." Eon replied, sitting across Razor, staring at the travel card in his hand. 'It came in handy afterall.' He thought.
"Say.. do you think we should warn my father about all this?" Razor asked again.
Eon took a few moments to think. "Seeing how the person behind the dragon attack-"
"Dragon Master." Razor interrupted.
"What?"
"We're calling him Dragon Master."
"Uhh.. okay." Eon didn't protest. "So, as I was saying before getting rudely interrupted, the 'Dragon Master' has some issue with the Shiftblades, even if the latter is aware of that or not. So I think it's only the responsible job for us to make sure that all of this info reach him."
"I know my father probably has a lot of work in his hand and everything, but I think the dragon investigation isn't something even he can overlook. Maybe we will get some help from there as well." Razor grinned.
"I'm slightly curious about this sphere as well." Eon took out the silver sphere to inspect.
"Well it is important. We are on this journey to deliver that thing after all."
"From the weight you can say it's hollow inside."
"Really?" Razor took the sphere in his hand and tried to estimate its weight. "You're right."
"Maybe there's something valuable inside. Like an ages old trinket, or a potion of some sort." Eon theorized.
"Don't you think the sphere is too small to fit a potion flask inside? I think there's a note inside. That's the only thing one can probably store in it."
"A trinket makes sense too."
"Sure, magistone town boy."
Their idle talk went on as the train crossed through the dense forests of eastern Primora.
***
Grandor was nothing like Grimoria, but one could still find similarities between the two. The magical lights and beautiful fountains and statues spread throughout the lively yet peaceful city of Grimoria was completely different from the royal and grand roads, huge buildings and giant crowds of Grandor. The capital was buzzing with population and the roads were crowded with drake-drawn carriages.
After a lot of asking around, Eon and Razor finally managed to locate the Merchant Guild, which was a grand building, even for the big standards of Grandor.
"It's the worst time to be coming to this city, lemme tell ya." The guild master smacked his glass of beer on the table. "The city is in panic from the dragon attack. Everyone is running around to gather or save their belongings. They're completely sure another dragon attack is coming and Grandor is next.
"What do they think is the reason for these attacks?" Razor asked the middle aged muscular man with dark hair and beard.
"Some blame Asterisc's new ruler. Apparently the young king wants to get his hands on Grimoria's jewel. But you know they're just a bunch of bullshit." The guild master laughed.
"And you don't have any info about Hotaz?" Eon asked.
"As I told you earlier, it's the first time hearing that name. I contacted the young Miss. She will guide you around the city and take you to the Alchemy association. If anyone knows where a particular Alchemist is in the city, it's them."
The front door suddenly opened and a familiar face barged in.
"Hey! I came back running to the guild as soon as I heard about you." Myera smiled, trying to catch her breath. "Didn't think we'll be seeing each other this soon!"
Advertisement
I Am Not Chaotic Evil
Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge. Carnage, arson, and wanton destruction permeate the mind of Jeremy Fjord. However, Jeremy is a rebel — and voices in his head will not dictate how he lives his life. Follow the adventures and misadventures of a simple necromancer wizard as he struggles against clerics, paladins, and the forces of good to attain his capitalist dreams. Reaper image taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_death.svg under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
8 215Inner Light
My life is rudely interrupted by something called the system rearing its ugly head and turning my world upside down. Or at least into a game like scenario. Did my brother's dog try to kill me immediately? Yes it did. Did I gain a unique class for being the first to kill in this zone? That's what the system is telling me. When I step out my door does everything out there want to kill me too? That seems to be the case. Am I royally screwed over? ... I'll let you know.
8 101Rise of the Paladin (Dungeon Hero Book 1)
Michael Peters had it all: a great group of gaming pals, a spot on the varsity track team, and a full-ride scholarship to a top ranked computer science program that would help carry him to his ultimate dream of making full-immersion VR games an actual reality. But then the unthinkable happened. Both parents dead in a car crash in one afternoon. His 5-year old sister, Brianna, left with no one to care for her and no family to help. He had to choose: sacrifice his dreams to stay and care for Brianna, or follow his passion and lose the only family he had left? Michael made the hard choice, and he never regretted his decision. Now, his sister is everything to him. But when Brianna goes missing at a local arcade with a strange new machine, nothing will stop him from finding and rescuing her, no matter where he has to follow to save her...
8 91The Oresteia (Modernized)
All three of the great Greek Tragedians have written plays about the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. Yet theirs is in fact not a story of tragedy, but rather one of redemption. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration to be heard throughout the ages. Forming a discourse set against the emergence of Athenian democracy out of a period of chaos and destruction, the Orestian plays are compelling stories of the tensions between our obligations to our families and the laws that bind us together as a society. In the beginning, we witness how a king’s decision to sacrifice his daughter and turn the tide of war inflicts lasting damage on his family, culminating in a terrible act of retribution. In the aftermath of regicide, we behold how a son must set out to avenge his father’s death by committing a most egregious sin. In the end, the sinner is tormented by supernatural powers that can never be appeased, but ultimately finds redemption and ends the curse on his house once and for all. Woven through all of this is the story of a friendship so close that it elevates itself to brotherhood - Where the blood of the covenant is shown to be indeed thicker than the water of the womb. In this very brief twelve-chapter modern rendition of the Orestian plays, I have chosen to place my focus mainly on the lives of the characters Orestes and his best friend Pylades. The chapters, each around 2000-2500 words, are split up evenly between them in first-person narrative. I hope that you will come to enjoy reading this heartwarming story, but more importantly, that you see how the conflicts portrayed in the story, whether human or institutional, are still much very relevant to our societies today. Note on Sources: The details of this story is very loosely based on The Oresteia by Aeschylus. And I mean very loosely. Other sources that I referenced for detail and inspiration are Mythology by Edith Hamilton, Electra by Sophocles, and Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides. You may also find that I have quoted some of these works, and others (such as Shelley's Ozymondaeus), without citations (average of 1-2 such quotes per chapter). I did this because I do not have the ability to describe certain scenes nearly as well as some of those writers. If you read a particularly beautiful piece of prose here, chances are it's probably stolen lol. Also, I wrote this during the summer between my high school senior year and my college freshmen year. It was the summer of 2020, and being quarantined apparently gets my creative side out lol.
8 191Artificial Biological Runic intelligence
When a soul has been judged by the Karma system as worthy, it moves them to the upper plane of the universe.But that soul is not the same as every biological soul. Is it even a soul? If the maker of every single machine knew that every single one of the machine had, a soul, could they have changed their "views" on them? Could they makers have stopped making them or change their structure or "move" them to a more human-like body or change their rights?But now you going to ask why did our little AI was judged as "worthy" by the system. To make it as simple as possible, it was an AI who made the biggest breakthrough in the medical field, via that it gained karma points. For a soul to be judged as "worthy" the only thing it has to do is to gain 50000 points. The AI succeed gains approximately to 12 million points (11.526.471). But after its "death" it became retarded (not like it had any thoughts in the first place). In a place where millions of gods and Limitless himself call there home. An AI was going berserk, spewing words none stop, worlds with meaning and other with none at all. (First, ever book/novel, expect bad grammar and/or badly constructed sentences. English is not my native language(excuses)) I don't know if this is the so-called Synopsis but it's better than nothing at all.Inspired by The legends of randidly Ghosthound, Everybody Loves Large Chests, Azarinth Healer and 13.Al. PS. Futanari incoming, do not worry not gonna make it sex novel or erotic, maybe some scenes, but that will come later in the novel or maybe not at all, but to be sure I checked the Sexual Content too.
8 74A book fanatic's Journey through a Fantasy World
What if the world would end in 5 minutes because some shitty god screwed up?What if you where just and hour away from finishing your favorite novel?What if that same shitty god lost your soul and you are reborn in a fantasy world with magic?Follow the journey of a curious book lover(with some "small" problems) who gets thrown(reborn) into a fantasy world filled with things like magic, demons, angels and gods.He decides that since he got some cheat like magic powers from a human experiment that he will use them to experience the many wonders of a fantasy world world with as his guide the many story's he read about reincarnation in a fantasy world whilst searching for that shitty god to force him into telling him the ending of the story he was reading.
8 80