After about an hour the elderly man looked up from his work and studied Mercer for a moment.
"Well, I believe it is time to begin with what you wanted to ask about." He closed the book he was writing in and stood up. Mercer looked up at him, putting his journal away, waiting expectantly. "I am Tumuo, this here is my study and home." He went around the desk and sat in a chair across from Mercer. "Let us start with why you came here." He looked to Mercer waiting for a reply.
"Um... I came because Mother Ara said you could tell me about the vision I saw." Mercer was not quite sure how to begin.
"Well you'll have to give me more than that, I'd rather not hunt it down myself." Tumuo cracked a small smile at what he said.
"The flower in the clearing showed a vision of black and gold, as well as the comet." As soon as Mercer mentioned that Tumuo shot up and stepped close, staring intently. For a second his eyes turned a shade of gold and flames seemed to flicker there, before settling back to their normal blue. He whipped around and went to a shelf looking for a book.
"That, young one, is most mysterious. Only a few times are children like you born, and normally they are killed when they get discovered, or they are used by wicked men. You were lucky finding that flower... or rather, you should probably thank me for dropping it." He turned and winked, "Either way this will be good..." He finally grabbed a book of the shelf and turned it over in his hands, "Ah! Here it is. This is a book about the Eldar, an ancient race who created the Goddesses." He opened it up and flipped through to a page containing information on one specifically. "Here we are, the ancient one Thlu Luimetosaolu, well at least, that's his title. No one knows his name for sure. In Valan his title is The Eclipse he held the power of both life and death, and often created champions that we call magicians." He closed the book and sighed.
"But what does that have to do with me, am I a magician?" Mercer was excited, he shifted in his seat a little.
"Yes. The goddesses create their own Magicians, that is what your mother was. The Eldar often created a bloodline though, I believe your mother is one such blood line, and from what you saw, your father must have been another." He opened the book to another page that showed an image of a man and female with words scribble around it. "This page talks about bloodlines and how there are really only two, one that follows the male heir, and one that follows the female heir. The male bloodline was always magic related, the female was always the deadliest warrior of their time. Often times they hid for centuries before coming out in an heir again."
"So do I get to learn how to use my power?" Mercer was looking at the image in the book trying to decipher the unknown language.
Tumuo laughed, "Excited are you, well I will teach you how to begin." He stood up again and went towards the archway, beckoning Mercer to follow. Through the archway was a long path leading to a door at the end, from one of the many archways in the side of the tunnel the mountain nymph ducked her head out of sight.
"Who is that mountain Nymph? I've seen her outside before." Mercer looked towards where she had disappeared.
"That is Mirnia. She is a mountain Nymph scout who I found injured long ago, after I saved her she decided to stay with me." He went over to the archway. "Mirnia was always interested in you, but I could never understand why. I guess it's because you are not quite like the Valanheir who live here. Mirnia, this is Mercer" (Valanheir are the species that live in Eyrien, it is their name for themselves similar to how we call ourselves Humans) Mirnia was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.
"Gr.. Greetings..." She spoke beautifully, but was very nervous.
"She is very shy but has always been a great help to an old man such as myself." He turned for the door at the end of the tunnel and continued walking. Mercer looked at Mirnia for a moment longer then moved to follow Tumuo. At the door Tumuo moved his arms starting with one pointed up and one pointed down, rotating them clockwise until their positions swapped, the brought his hands together, rotated counter clockwise ninety degrees and pulled them apart. In between his hands was a golden orb. "This, Mercer, is a spell core, it is how you create truly powerful spells, though few know how to create one." He then began drawing symbols similar to those on the statue and then compressed the orb into a marble.
"Musalumo" Tumuo spoke and the spell core shattered creating a glow around the door, until it creaked open. Inside was a large domed room, empty but for a stone pillar at the center. It was a meter high with a hand open flat at the top. right beneath the hand was an opening with a spell core floating inside.
"Place your hand on the pedestal and say 'Temu' it will then give you the foundation of all magic." Mercer walked forwards and placed his hand on the pedestal, he looked back briefly before speaking the word.
"Temu" Immediately his vision darkened and he saw runes and heard sounds one by one in quick succession, for an hour they went non-stop, and when it finished he slumped to the ground to recover.
"I apologize if that was uncomfortable, but I don't have another method to impart the language and foundation to you. You will need to study the runes you saw to understand their meaning. In there was also the basis of Runic Cores, or magic circles, and Spell Cores, or magic spheres. You will not use a Spell Core until you have thoroughly learned how to use the Runic Core." He turned back and stepped out of the door, "When you are ready I have a few more things to tell you, meet me in my study."
A few minutes later Mercer got up and went to the study, Tumuo was waiting there. "Good, it is time for you to leave now. You will not return until you have no where else to go. In that time you will head first to a cave to the north, above it is the symbol of the goddesses." He showed an image of three circles each with 3 lines curving up over the top symbolizing wings. "There your sister will receive a blessing, and you will be sent out, then you will both come here. Do not tell your sister anything that you have learned down here, until after that day." His tone was deadly serious, and almost devoid of emotion.
"very well, I will not tell her. How will I know when that day comes though." Mercer had moved to the door and was looking back at Tumuo.
"You will know it, I can not tell you more." with that he turned back to his study and sat down.
Mercer left and found the statue moved aside, the cat was sitting at the top cleaning it's paw. When he passed it went down and the door shut. Looking again at the plaque he recognized the language now, it was the runes the pedestal had imparted to him. It read 'He who reins', he wondered what it could mean while he made his way out.