《Soul Search》Chapter 8: Mistakes
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“The headmaster of the Academy,” Angelus repeated, his eyes wide with awe. “Do you mean Lucille Duncan, the Dragon Gate?” When the doctor nodded his head, Angelus almost jumped with excitement. The headmaster was one of the most famous adventurers in the kingdom. He was said to have tons of stories about his adventures, like how thanks to his class, he was able to block the breath weapon of dragons. His class was another legends class, like Donavin’s, meaning it was granted to him by a minor god. But unlike the god of crafting and runes, whose class focused on crafting items, the headmaster was ment to protect those around him. His class was ‘God Guardian, and using it, he was able to gain his title of Dragon Gate.
Any accomplishment that involved dragons was always great. The first time he blocked a dragon’s breath, he did so to protect his party from a hatchling frost dragon. When the hatchling was finished attacking, it had thought that not only did it kill the party but left nothing behind after its attack. When really, its breath had just covered them in snow and was too lazy to check for them. He did that when he was a level 34, a level where almost no one had a chance against a dragon of any kind, hatchling or not. He didn’t do it once but twice. The second time he protected a village from a lava dragon’s breath. If the legend was true, he had to hold the dragon's breath back for one whole minute before the beast finished, giving his party enough time to launch an attack that made the dragon fly away. Angelus thought about that story often when he would take breaks from training or work. And now, the Dragon Gate was here and willing to meet him.
In his excitement, he ran to join the doctor, but Claudia stopped him. Like a mother to her kitten, she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back. Angelus turned around and made to ask what was the problem, but she interrupted him.
“Why does he want to see Angelus?” She demanded, The look in her eyes saying that she won't let go until she had an answer. Angelus groaned internally, he knew that the conversation they had wasn’t over, not by a long shot. But the legendary Dragon Gate wanted to talk to him, an orphan from what most people would think was in the middle of nowhere. Still, he stood beside her and waited for the doctor to answer.
The doctor, for his part, seemed to become more confident the more he spoke. With his back straight and taking a deep breath, he answered.
“I wasn’t able to get very much information out of him Ma’am, but I know that it has to do with the champ-” a glare from Claudia cut him off. “Mr. Myrefall’s place in the academy.”
“Of course, he would,” Claudia growled. “He barely woke up a few hours ago and already wants to see him. Lucille never was one to wait and heal before running off, so why would he expect that of others? That idiot” Both Angelus’s and the doctor’s eyes widened at those words. While Angelus can’t say that he’s never heard her speak like that to anyone, he can say that he’s never heard anyone speak like that about Lucille Duncan. Every time he would hear tales about him, people would talk about him like he was one of the champions.
“But he’s not one.” While his achievements and titles were great, they were nothing compared to the previous champions. While the headmaster had a class that would make it possible to face dragons with a party. The champion classes would make it possible to face a dragon alone. Zepher had an ability that would clear an area as wide as a mountain of air, including the air that was inside the body. He used that ability to fight an inferno dragon to a standstill. Explaining that the fire that the dragon made while inside the body didn’t need air, but to continue to burn outside, it would still need air to burn. It was a brilliant idea that people still talk about when they talk about their favorite champions.
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Angelus wanted to keep thinking about the other champions and all the abilities that they had, trying to think about what he could get. But he was pulled out of his thoughts, literally. Claudia grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up to his feet. Turning back to the doctor, Angelus feared that she would tell him to leave and then try to make a break for it.
“Do you plan on having Angelus meet Duncan in hospital clothing?” She asked, surprising him. With how she was no more than five minutes ago, he thought she was going to blow up at the man. While Claudia wasn’t one to show strong emotions besides joy, when she did, calming her down was like trying to put a forest fire out with a bucket. He had experienced it a few times, but there was one time that really stuck out to him. There was a time when he and Donavin had the guts to try and steal a pair of boots from a shop in town. It didn’t take long for Olivia to find out, less than a day, and get Claudia involved. The moment she was told, She blew up. Yelling at them and telling them how they could think that was a good idea, they would chop off both of their hands for even thinking of this. After the yelling, she dragged both of them kicking and screaming back to the shop and made them return the boots with tears in their eyes. After that, it took almost a week of apologizing for her to smile at them again. And that was only after Olivia explained to them the real reason she was mad. She felt angry not at them, but at herself. She had felt that they had stolen because she wasn’t able to provide enough for them that they had felt the need to steal something in order to have it. Even after understanding and apologizing for making her feel that way, it still to her some time for her to forgive them. So with that experience, he almost expected her to tell the doctor to let the headmaster come here himself.
“I guess even she doesn’t want to get on the headmaster's bad side.” He thought.
“O-Of course, ma’am.” The doctor said, looking over at Angelus and taking his state in. He looked over himself and was glad that Claudia pointed it out to him. He never noticed that he was only wearing a medical gown and underwear. While they were comfortable, that didn’t exactly make them good for first impressions. Especially not with how skinny his legs looked with the gown on.
After ten minutes of waiting for the doctor to come back with a new set of clothes and another twenty to put the clothes on, the three made their way through the academy. They would have been out sooner, but he had tried to clean up as best he could while in a hospital room. But there was only so much that he could do. The clothes he was given was the Academy uniform, it was a plain, long-sleeved button up jacket that had white strips on the end of the sleeve, and a silver chain attached to both sides of the collar. On his right peck there was the letters ‘CA’ stitched on, the initials for the academy. The pants were the same color as his shirt, and hugged his legs a bit to tight for his liking but good enough. And finally, for his feet, he was given a pair of brown dress shoes in a style he’s never seen before and wasn’t used to, wearing boots and sandals most of his life. But besides the pants being tight, he could say without a doubt that this uniform was the best set of clothes he’s ever worn. His hair on the other hand was a lost cause. It had grown while he was unconscious and no matter what he did to it, it just wouldn’t work with him. He would have tried harder, but with the doctors insisting that they went and Claudia telling him to hurry up, they left the room.
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It was a quiet walk down the hall with Claudia almost avoiding Angelus’s gaze with how focused she was on what was ahead. Angelus tried to talk to her about the academy while they walked, but they were all straightforward and to the point. He tried to ask the doctor, but as it turned out, he was just hired last week to help the academy with the incoming students, he was a normal man who studied to be a doctor in the capital. And while it was impressive, that wasn’t what he was trying to hear. They walked for five minutes passing other students that wore matching uniforms. He caught a few conversations, some talking about how difficult its going to be this year, or how they’d need a new weapon because the last time they went out a beast broke it. It was all interesting, to hear about what struggles he might have to face when he starts attending school. But there wasn’t a lot of conversations as there were not many students that hung around the medical wing of the academy. So with nothing to do but follow, he brought up his status. Wondering if the feeling of opening it would ever go away. The feeling of power coursing through his body and the potential that he had, and it only got stronger as he brought up his skill page up.
Soul Siphon: You have become the champion of death, chosen being of Uwrath’s will. With that title, you have turned into a being that is not powered through magic alone. Any being that is killed by you will be absorbed by Spiritus and be transported instantly to Uwraths domain. You now level up with the souls that are sent to Uwrath.
Blood Mend: Blood is the liquid of life, and for you, it is the liquid that will keep you alive. As long as you’re alive, your blood will mend any injury that causes you to bleed. Any blood that you lose will be recovered at an increased rate.
Blood Dart: Sacrifice your blood and throw it at your enemy, piercing them. The moment the dart pierces its target, the dart will turn back to normal blood. The number of darts allowed to be thrown will be limited by intelligence (1 dart per 5 intelligence).
Cost: 15 MP per dart.
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Scythe Surge: Surge forward with your scythe and harvest the life of your enemy. Distance and speed of surge depend on agility.
Cost: 50 MP
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Soul Shield: Bring your soul out of your body and protect you from magical harm. You will still feel the physical force of the attack, but magical attacks will be reduced. Any physical attack will harm you like normal. This skill will also affect any armor that you wear.
Cost: 75 MP
Cooldown: 20 minutes
Duration: 5 minutes
Reading through the entire skill list, he wondered if the feeling of excitement that was in his gut would ever go away. He still couldn’t believe it, he got a class, and not only that, but he got one of the rarest classes that is known to man, a champion’s class from the god of death, Uwrath. Turning down to another hall, He saw that there was a staircase at the end of it. Angelus wanted to walk faster, to tell the other two to hurry up and run, but he knew better than to rush Claudia. If she wanted to see someone, she would walk faster.
So for fifteen minutes, they walked through the entire building until they reached the first floor and walked out the open pair of heavy wooden doors, waiting outside was a welcome sight.
“There you both are,” Annie called at the bottom of the steps. Outside was Oliva and the rest of the group who left to get Angelus food. Though the whole group was outside, Most of the group stood next to Olivia. The twins were gathered next to another doctor, this one a woman. She was Blonde and looked to maybe be in her mid-twenties. She wore the exact same robes as the doctor, But she seemed to have added some of her own designs, as there were animals and creature designs running through all of the fabric. She must have been great with kids as she had all of their undivided attention with a smile. All of the kids were looking at what she had in her hand's pane of glass. Angelus saw all that, but his eyes were set on Olivia, specifically on what she was holding out to him.
“Come to papa,” Angelus said, reaching out and taking the bowl that was in her hands. He barely even acknowledged everyone before inhaling the entire bowl of whatever was in it. It tasted so good to him like the gods blessed the bowl in front of him as an apology for knocking him out cold for an entire week and starving him.
“Goodness Angelus, show some manners.” he heard Oliva say, and tried to do as she said, but he was too hungry. It was a good thing she didn’t bring her trusty spoon on this trip, because if he pulled this at home, he would be getting a spoonful of whop ass. Before he even knew it he had cleaned the bowl and licked the bottom. Looking up, he saw that everyone had different faces. Donavin, Claudia, and Olivia were looking at him with shock. Annie looked at him like he was a wild animal feeding on a carcass. And the kids and doctors looked at him with awe, or at least that is what Angelus thought because he was distracted by the growling that came from his stomach. “Do you guys have any more.” he breathed, trying not to choke on the leftovers that were still in his mouth.
“That…was an entire bowl of fil-meal.” The male doctor said slowly. Angelus cocked his head to the side.
“Yeah. And?” He looked at the bowl and couldn’t see what their problem was. In fact, he was the one that should be having a problem. He had just been out of a week-long sleep with no food and they come out here and bring him a small bowl of this fil-meal. If he didn’t know better, he’d think that this was one of Lily’s jokes, but Lily couldn’t hold a straight face long enough to see the joke, and seeing her still shocked face
“Angelus.” Claudia started, the shock still on her face. “Fil-meal is a magical oat that is enchanted to be more filling than regular oats. The kingdom provides it to soldiers who set out on long marches that can last up to months.”
“Okay?” He gestured for them to keep going, still not seeing what the problem was. “Was I not supposed to eat this”
“You were supposed to eat it but not that much.” The male doctor said, suddenly panicked and running up to Angelus. When he reached him, he griped his jaw in one hand and lifted two fingers in the other. “Are you okay? Do you feel bloated in any way?”
“No, I can’t say I do.” He replied, raising an eyebrow to the doctor rubbing and feeling his gut. The doctor would have probably put his ear to it if angelus didn’t push his head back. He didn’t understand why people were making a big deal. He would have asked, but he saw Annie and Olivia walking up, giving the doctor a weird look.
“Here,” she said, holding out a water skin that matched the size of his head. It was the second-best thing he saw all day. “Olivia thought you might be thirsty, so she asked for lots of water.”
“Thanks for that Olivia.” He reached for the water skin, but the doctor slapped it out of Annie’s hand.
“Ow!” She yelped, bringing her hand to her chest and rubbing it.
“He can’t have any water!” The doctor shouted, his face and voice full of panic. Donavin’s and Angelus’s eyes went wide. Claudia and Olivia were right next to them and saw the doctor slap her hand. One thing that was well known in Cyris was that you don’t mess with the Myrefall kids near either of them. Not because they would get violent and attack whoever said a rude thing to their kids, not always anyway, but because they would expose you and never forget it. Both would always expose any who messed with the kids, yelling and shouting at whoever messed with them loud enough that half the town would stop talking when they tell one man to shut up. Not to mention that Claudia was the town doctor, and when someone messed with the kids, she always found out who it was and should they ever need help, she became a lot more… physical when examining them. If it wasn’t known that there were visitors in the academy, the whole school was about to get the message.
Donavin’s eyes moved between the two, taking a step back when he saw both of their faces. Angelus didn’t move back, however. He stepped towards Annie, wanting to make sure that she was okay. But he couldn’t do that with the damn doctor in the way. So to move him out of the way, Angelus grabbed onto the man's shoulder and pulled him away with more force than was necessary. He couldn’t help it, he was mad at the doctor, he hurt Annie right in front of him. No one got to do that to her besides him and Donavin. Angelus knew he was stronger now thanks to his class, but he had no idea just how strong he got, so when Angelus saw the doctor fly from being pulled back. He, along with everyone else around them, looked at the doctor that Angelus had just tossed behind him. There was a sickening crack when the man had landed and Angelus didn’t want to turn around, but he did so he could see what he did. From where he started to where he was, he had gone a little less than ten feet. It shocked Angelus, doctor was a couple inches taller than him and had a bit of a gut hanging off of him, so he definitely wasn’t light. But when Angelus pulled on him, he felt like he was pulling on a thin blanket.
The doctor groaned, rolling on his back and showing Angelus exactly what he had done. The mans arm was at a weird angle, obviously broke. He ran to the doctor and , the fear in his eyes hurt to look at. He wanted to apologies but the words just couldn’t leave him. He was still too shocked, and ashamed to do anything. It was Claudia who snapped him out of his thoughts, moving past him and towards the doctor. She moved fast, like she always did when there was an emergency. But unlike before, where she was usually just a blur, he could actually see her moving. It was strange , because watching her, he always assumed that she used to run like everyone else, but no, it looks like she was flying through the air, could it have been an ability that he didn’t know about?
Claudia worked fast, like always, so when everyone ran up to the pair, she had already properly set the broken bone in place and had used more powerful version of her heal for the bone. It had taken her two seconds of effort to do two months of healing, once again reminding Angelus just how amazing adventurers could be.
“Thank you.” The doctor mumbled, still in a daze from all that happened. Claudia didn’t answer right away, examining the arm that was just broken.
“You’re welcome.” Claudia nodded, letting the arm down and helping the doctor to his feet. After making sure the doctor could stand and didn’t have any lingering pain, she whirled on him. “What in the seven gods names was that Angelus.” she shouted. Angelus flinched at her tone, once again shocked into silence, that didn’t stop her from talking over his silence. “Didn’t I tell you that you should somehow get a class, you can’t treat people the same as you did before.” She turned around, slapping Angelus in the face with her brown hair, and pointed at Donavin. “You! Get over here!” she pointed next to Angelus.
“What! Why me?” Donavin asked, confused at the sudden anger that was pointed in his direction “That was all Angelus, i didn’t do anything.”
“Now!” She growled, and suddenly, all the fight went out of Donavin and he accepted that this was happening no matter what. “So did I not tell you both that things were going to be different should you ever get a class?” she asked, she already knew the answer but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want one
“Yes.” they both said in unison. This happened in the months leading up to the ceremony, she had explained to them that the difference between and adventurer and a normal human were too great. That they couldn’t do many of the things they did the same now that they had classes. How they wouldn’t be able to play with the kids the same, or be as physical with them if they wanted practice. Or how they had to start to be better with not picking fights and walking away, when they needed to be. At the time, Angelus had thought the lesson unnecessary because Claudia had alway played with them when they were just children. She would wrestle them, tickle them, toss them high in the air, and they never got hurt. But now that Angelus had proved why he needed to be more careful. He toss a man over his shoulder and broke his arm with out even trying. Claudia opened her mouth to try and say more, but a loud, booming voice with a accent interrupted her before she could get another word out.
“Come on now Claudia, I thing that’s enough.” Claudia turned around and was about to tell whoever interrupted her to mind their business, that was until she saw who it. After that, she quickly lost her temper and let out a long heavy sigh that said she needed a drink. “Wha? Not even a hello to your old friend?”
“Yes yes.” she sighed again, quickly dusting her robes off and faced the large man before them. “Hello, Lucille, I hope you’ve been well.”
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