Cold crystal-light bounced off the faces of the four mages in the room as they looked back from the far end of the table. Each mage watched Seth with mildly curious eyes and remained perfectly still. It was though they were unmoving, dead, held in place by some lost magical art Seth didn't quite comprehend.
He felt all his vigor drained from him as the well-built man standing at the edge of the table across from him spoke, "You must be Seth," he said, "we have been expecting you. Take a seat," he gestured to the chair in front of Seth.
Seth tried his best to ignore the four sets of observant eyes that followed him as he pulled out a single chair and slowly settled in it. With his palm moist, he looked dead ahead, and locked eyes with the large man, "Since you were expecting me, I suppose you know why I am here?"
"We do," the man said with a mischievous smile, "but since you here, why don't you tell us," he gestured to the other mages in their seats. Two women sat on the right. One had golden-brown skin, white hair, and terrifying white eyes. The woman next to her had pitch-black hair, icy-blue eyes, and pale white skin, almost as white as Seth. The man sitting to the left was barely a man. No, he was a boy, scarcely older than Seth himself. He had unruly brown hair, a stubbly chin, and a barely defined brawny torso that rivaled the man Seth assumed was their leader.
Seth spoke softly, his voice almost a whisper, "I wanted to meet the team I will be traveling with."
The man settled into his chair and crossed his fingers. "Is that all you want, Seth? We thought maybe you wanted to discuss your reward or something along those lines."
Their steely eyes, and bemused smiles, shook him to his core, but still, he held his ground.
"You are right. I have come for something else. I believe my sister and I are entitled to some of the merit points that we could potentially gain from defeating the blood mage," he said, with the most assertive tone he could muster.
A long silence descended into upon the gathering, and each mage at the other side of the table looked at Seth with assertive but otherwise neutral faces. After about a minute, a smile formed at the outer edges of their lips, and it gave way to a deep mocking laugh.
Their laughs were diverse and disjointed. They cackled, snickered, and chuckled. Their outburst dashed what preconceptions he had about the steely-eyed mages. His face flushed with nervous confusion, he spoke,
"I- don't understand why you are laughing. After all, my sister and I did provide the information and opportunity, don't we deserve some reward."
Their laughs slowly quieted down, and the teary-eyed leader spoke, "We thank you for trusting Sera enough to bring this information to us, but you have to understand that you are a borderlander, Seth."
He looked past Seth, to Sera, "Sera," his voice startled her "you are familiar with the stages of magic mastery for both knights and mages, aren't you. Please explain it to everyone in the room."
"What does this pertain to the request I have made?" Seth asked, slightly irritated.
"You clearly have no idea who, or rather what you are asking us to face," he said with a tinge of anger in his voice. "You are but a borderlander. Your knowledge of a mage's path is lacking, so I will ask Sera to enlighten you again." He looked to Sera and gestured her to speak.
She was hesitant but spoke anyways when she felt her masters' judging eyes shift to her, "A mage's journey to mastery is a climb to ascension and immortality. Each step is a title, and each title can only be earned with patience, diligence, and by threading the path laid by those that came before.
There are nine titles a mage can acquire as in his or her journey of magic mastery. The first is neophyte, then apprentice, Lesser mage, Greater mage, Master mage, Grand mage, Supreme mage, and finally celestial mage. There are three challenges a mage must overcome each stage before they can receive their next title. Some of the challenges differ for each title, but certain tests remain universal across…"
"Enough," the man said, cutting in. "Tell him about the test required to advance to Greater mage."
"You need to master 3 tier four body or weapon magic spells, and three tier-four offensive spells. The final obstacle a Lesser mage must overcome to become a greater mage is to cast multiple tier one and two magic spells without uttering a word."
The leader nodded, "Thank you, Sera, and you stop standing by the door, pick a chair, and seat with us." His eyes turned to Seth, "We are lesser mages. Some of us, more powerful than others, but we are all lesser mages all the same. You are asking us to go against a man who has more mana than every person in this room combined."
He is ancient, powerful, and he has spells that most of us have only read about. From what Sera tells us of your fight, he is at least a Greater mage. Don't make light of our sacrifice. Some of us might not survive." Seth scanned the faces of the mages sitting at the table; they didn't seem as imposing or austere. In fact, he could spot a hint of worry or rather fear, on their still, expressionless faces. He began to worry.
"If he could multi-cast…" the leader shuddered. "You will be nothing but a hindrance during our battle with the mage, do you understand? You and Sera are to search the surrounding areas for your sister and signal us when you find her so that we can know it's alright to kill the mage."
Though The blood mage is powerful and dangerous, Battle with him is not the only reason we refuse you a share of the potential rewards. We have to buy the services of a powerful healer. Someone who can pull us from battle and help us continue when we inevitably get fatally wounded. Healing pellets aren't going to be enough."
Seth's eyes widened in realization. It made more sense now. Life mages, or healing mages, were rare and precious. Only a few mages could ever awaken a life magic conduit. The Empire only has a few thousands even, and most of them are stationed in Brightmont, close to the Emperor.
Hiring a Life mage who was ready to risk their life by fighting an immortal would be undoubtedly cosstly, but not so expensive that they couldn't spare his him and his sister enough points to buy a fort or castle—something they could depend on and leave for the future generations of Ryalls.
"I understand why you would need to allocate more merit points to a life mage, but I find it strange that you cannot afford my sister and me a single unit of credit."
The man softly chuckled, "You are a bit sharper than Sera gives you credit for. Very well, if you must know, the real reason we aren't giving you a single credit is because of this decree by the EmperorEmperor." The man pulled a scroll from his robe and slid it across the table. It skidded past the three other members sitting on the table, and it stopped in front of Seth. "That is supposed to go to every Tavern and guild tomorrow by noon."
Seth picked up the scroll, peeled off the seal, and read its contents. His eyes were wide with shock. "It's…" his voice trailed off. The scroll contained word for word, private information that the Senior knight gave him.
"You see our dilemma. We kept this from you at the behest of Sera. She pleaded with us to save your sister and keep this from you. We were willing to agree to that, but we couldn't see eye to eye on the amount of credit, she wanted us to promise you.
We are already at a disadvantage because we need to find your sister before we can finish off the mage, but now we have to compete with dozens of teams from the top guilds and guildless mercenaries too."
Seth's eyes dulled, "I understand. I didn't think the Empire would abandon my sister like this."
"It's only natural. They assumed she was dead, and are more interested in the mage and what secrets they can unearth from its body and core."
Overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude, Seth stood up from his chair and lowered his head to a deep bow, "Thank you. You didn't have to help my sister or me. I thank you for choosing to anyways."
The leader smiled and nodded, "I'm glad you don't see us as the enemy anymore. Now that you fully understand why we can't give you any credit, we can get down to business." Seth sat back down, and he explained everything he knew about the mage to them a second time. He told them about the battle, the blood wolf, prison, and shield.
"That is going to be difficult to deal with. I assumed when Sera told us about it, it was a simple manipulation spell without autonomy. But from what you tell us, I can only assume the beast is semi-autonomous. You and Sera might have to fight it off while you look for your sister," the scary leader said.
The scary leader, whose real name was Germo, was a lot less intimidating than he initially appeared. Most of the team were, baring Ren and Raylee, of course.
"We could have one of the other team kill it off for us," the bulky round youth spoke. His voice was hoarse and gruff. It starkly contrasted his portly exterior.
Ren shook her head, "Won't work. The other team won't sit idly by while shorty and grey, over there," she pointed at Seth, "slip past them. They would be better off facing the beast alone and ending it before some other team shows up, kill the beast, then those two." Her voice was smooth and collected.
"I failed when I faced the blood beast last time, and back then, I was at full strength. I don't think we would fare well against it now while I am still recovering," Seth said with a dejected sigh.
Germo spoke up, "Sera tells me, your strength became monstrous after you received a family heirloom of some sort?"
"I wouldn't say monstrous," Seth answered with a modest smile and shot a questioning look at Sera. "But, yes, my strength has greatly improved. What of it?"
Germo lips curled to a mischievous smile, and he asked, "What do you know about the bow Seth."
"It is powerful, fast, and heavier bows require a great deal of strength to draw. It's the weapon of choice for rangers," Seth answered with very little thought.
Germo nodded, "Right, you are." Germo got up from his chair, took a few steps backward, and summoned his bow. "But you forgot one very important detail about the bow." His bow was a recurve with heavily glyphed limbs and two mana cores sticking out of them. In one swift move, he summoned an arrow, nocked it, drew it, and shot it into the wall behind Seth and Sera.
Seth heard a deafening crack, as stone and dust scattered in every direction, pattering the light crystals, table, and chairs. Seth barely saw the man draw his bow, much less the fire the arrow. Blood dripped from his cheek, and he stared at Germo with eyes slightly filled with terror and disbelief. The arrow was fired with just a silver of wind, and it managed to cut him as it passed between them.
"In the hands of a skilled archer, they can be just as deadly as any sword or spear," the man grinned. "I hear you purchased a bow and some firebomb with old Linburn. I can assure you things will be different this time around!"
Germo went into detail about how heavy bows flew fast and hard enough to deal deadly damage to the unknowing mage or magical beast. When an arrow has been spelled, it could be just as deadly as a tier two spell, if aimed correctly. His plan was to attach a firebomb to an arrow and have Seth fire it at the head of the beast. Hacking it down after the beast was dazed shouldn't prove too difficult.
Raylee, who hadn't spoken all night, thought the plan was crazy. "It's too simple to work Germo," she said with her icy voice. Everybody else, including Brick, thought it was a fantastic idea,
If Seth only managed to draw, aim, and shoot fast enough to catch the beast unaware, of course. Germo promised to revisit the fundamentals of Archery as they traveled. He also promised to show him a few advanced tricks. But still, Raylee doubted they'd succeed.
Germo, Raylee, Ren, and Brick formed strategies on how to deal with the abilities and spells Seth described to them, and they all collectively decided to set off at the crack of dawn before the royal decree made it to every major guild by noon. They offered Seth a room in the upper floor of the Tavern, which was actually their living quarters, and asked him to be ready before dawn.
Seth left the meeting room less apprehensive and more welcoming to the new teammates he'd just acquired. Their approach to combat was refreshingly ruthless, and he hoped they'd kill Tolkien. But some part of him feared that he was sending the Red Hornet, and every other mercenary in the lower ring to their deaths.