It was a lucky thing that the young Champions chambers were so very far away from the dungeons that afternoon. The guards on duty were pale and faint after listening to hours of horrified screaming. When Wulfric walked out, there was barely an inch of him not coated in blood. His fine clothing was caked in the thickened plasma to the point that no amount of washing could ever render them clean again.
In his left hand, he carried 3 heads, perfectly sound with barely a scratch on them. Each face slack and eyes unseeing, belying the fear, pain and horror they had just witnessed. The servants guiding him back to his rooms to be cleansed almost wept in horror and the guards who glanced into the room promptly turned and vomited in the nearest bucket.
Every square foot of the cell was coated in gore and entrails. Deep claw marks gouged not only the walls, but also the floor and ceiling. It appeared as if those spies had been trapped in a small room with a ferocious wild animal. Many would hear about this incident, but not a man, woman or child among them would envy the end the spies had met.
The knowledge that they were Demon spies lessened the blow, yet such a furious end still sent chills down the spines of everyone who would hear of this event for weeks after the fact.
Aedir sighed, a solemn expression on his face as he witnessed the carnage. Wulfric had made some very specific requests, some beyond even his abilities. Yet the least of them were doable and would not only reduce the chance of spies but hopefully appease the people riled by the Summoning Ritual's failure.
Taking a deep breath, he concentrated. Magic lit up his staff and flowed into the room, moving past the blood into every crevice of stone. All at once the blood disappeared, along with several inches of brick as a large portion of the room was teleported out in one single piece. It reappeared in the town's main square, along with 3 heads on pikes.
A sign beside it read:
At the order of your King Allaan.
Here stand the remains of those who stood against their country and sided with the Demons to disrupt the Summoning of our Champions.
May all who consider siding against their own people look upon their fate and reconsider.
Know that no mercy will be given to those who turn their back on their own people!
So many citizens who saw those remains, while initially happy that their king had taken swift action, found themselves heaving in a corner after closer inspection. By the end of the day, magic had to be employed just in order to keep the square clean.
That night man toasted the King for his brutal yet effective methods. And even those who did not began to keep an eye on their neighbours. A time of fear and suspicion was beginning, yet any who would attempt to spy for the Demons would find the process much harder, knowing many would single them out for a mere hint of suspicion in order to avoid those terrible circumstances ever again.
Many who would be spies surveyed the carnage and turned to leave. Either deciding that spying for demons was not worth it, or at the very least, not in this country.
....
Hours later Aaron finally turned the final page of the book gifted by Kiera. The rest of the day had mostly consisted of lunch, followed by a class on feeling magic energy in one's body that had everyone feeling excited. Yet even during class he had barely put the book down.
It described many things necessary for magic, the energy most certainly a main part needed as well as an understanding of how water behaved. Since the society did not have an in-depth scientific understanding, they supplemented this knowledge with magic circles. If one could memorize the circle and make their magic move in the same way, they would be able to use the spells without the necessary knowledge.
So, theoretically the mana control necessary to replicate the magic circles with just mana was pointless assuming they had basic knowledge of elements and how water interacted with the world. Or so Aaron assumed. It took him several hours of sitting there in his room, practicing to first push the mana down through his arms and out of his body. Then once he had that feeling mastered, he would attempt to make it form water, picturing H2O at first. Yet just knowing the make-up of the atoms did not really help.
Instead, he pictured the moisture in the air and attempted to force his mana to take on those properties. This continued for a while until finally he managed to make his mana become a small droplet of water.
Ding.
Water Magic unlocked.
Class: Water Mage unlocked.
Wait what? Aaron hurriedly checked his status.
Name: Aaron
Title- None
Class: Water Mage, >
Level: 1
HP: 22/22
MP: 5/6
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Endurance: 11
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 8
Perception: 8
Passive Skills:
???,
Language Comprehension- Level 10 (Inherited)
Sense Hostility- Level 1
Active Skills:
Inspect- Level 1
Magic:
Water Magic- Level 1
Selecting the arrow next to Water Mage, it dropped down with an explanation.
When selected, Water magic will be 20% stronger and resistances to Water and Water magic will increase 20% faster.
Clicking again, his class changed back to ???. Another click returned it to Water Mage. Seeing that he could obtain a class and change them round was amazing! But he decided to keep this information to himself. The others seemed keen to share all their personal information but that's a one-way ticket to getting your ass handed to you. A wise man keeps his cards to his chest after all.
Experimenting some more he noticed his control and abilities with water magic were twice as good with the class equipped as they were without it. After a while longer at it he got to the point he could create gloves made of water on his hands, rippling yet staying stuck to his hands as long as he commanded it to. Checking his status, he saw using that much energy had cost him one point of his mana.
Deciding to take a break he sent a quick message to Jarred in a room nearby.
Aarron: Oi, come check this out
Jarred: Check what?
Aaron: I'll show you hurry up
Jarred: Two secs
A knock sounded as Jarred arrived. Aaron opened the door quickly then pulled him in and shut it behind him.
"What's the rush?" Jarred laughed. They had all been given their own time before dinner and it was getting close to the time they were to be called for.
"Check this out" Aaron replied excitedly.
In the next moment, the water gloves covered his hands. Holding them up they began to form a sphere that wobbled and shook for a moment before holding still. It wasn't a perfect orb and its surface rippled constantly but that was still enough. Aaron felt his MP sink down another 2 points, before going to the window and launching it out.
Unfortunately, he didn't have enough practice to launch it out like a fireball so it more… dropped out the window. But again, the fact he'd got so far in a day was awesome.
"That was pretty sick" Jarred agreed, seeing why his friend was so excited.
"How did you figure that out so quick?"
"I got a book from Kiera" Aaron replied, "it basically explains the principles behind water magic. They use runes and magic circles because they don't have a good idea of how they work at an atomic or element level. But I feel like we can figure it out coming from earth. Your main elemental resonance is fire, right?"
"Right… so I just need to make molecules move fast to create a gas. And when that interacts with oxygen…" Jarred said catching on quickly.
"Yeah, and then just imagine what the fire is going to look like. That's another advantage we have an advantage here too since with all the movies and special effects we probably have broader imaginations and can picture magic better than anyone on this planet"
"That makes sense" Jarred laughed again.
He lifted one arm and began focusing hard. It took several minutes of practice before a few sparks started forming. Aaron attempted to create two more water balls, but only succeeding in making one, his mana running low.
"Oh shit!" Jarred cried out as a crimson glow lit up the room from above his hand. In it was a flame about the size of a child's fist sitting there.
"Doesn't that burn?" Aaron asked getting closer.
"Not really, it's like I can feel heat from it, but it doesn't hurt me if that makes sense"
Aaron stuck a finger out near it before pulling it away quickly.
"Yep, that's hot. It's probably just cause it's your magic. Like you can't hurt yourself kind of thing" Aaron said thinking out loud.
"That would be awesome"
Jarred concentrated and the ball grew bigger and brighter. However, a sudden knock on the door caused him to lose his control and drop it on the carpet
"Oh shit!"
"One second!"
Aaron threw the water ball he'd been balancing at the flame, quenching it completely. Giving Jarred a laugh they both walked to the door and opened it to admit the servant from before, Rosemary, coming to bid them to come out for dinner.
Smelling smoke, she glanced around the room to see a burn mark on the carpet, which upon closer inspection was also wet. She turned to look at the guilty looking pair of boys, an expectant look written on her face.
"Sorry, I… dropped a candle" Aaron said apologetically.
Rosemary sighed.
"Very well I will get this seen to. Please make your way to the dining hall down the stairs to the left"
They both immediately hastened out of the room.
....
"Perhaps we should attempt the Summoning again" Hallgrim said.
Cries erupted around the room as the gathered diplomats waved their fists in his direction. Allaan and Wulfric sat together, presiding over the meeting as every representative that had gathered from their respective countries, met in the much larger main council chamber.
The walls were a resplendent white marble with golden trimming and beautiful mahogany desks were placed before a large wooden stand resembling a courtroom, complete with a gavel that Allaan hammered down to silence the disruptive cries from every direction.
As the shouting and cat calls ceased, Allaan raised his head in Hallgrims direction.
"We cannot. First and most importantly, the Demons clearly have inside knowledge of our Summoning ritual. Without Aegan to stop them, there is every chance that the next time we attempt it, they will succeed with whatever their plans are."
"Secondly, we already have 19 summoned Champions. While not ideal candidates, we cannot murder them in cold blood in order to re-attempt the ritual"
"Thirdly, even were we of the mind to, two of the Champions are missing. As long as they remain out of our reach, we cannot risk attempting the ritual only to have it fail due to the pair still being alive"
Silence fell across the room. While most of them were not prepared to murder a bunch of kids, having them as Summoned Champions was not ideal either. A normal Summoning chose warriors. Fighters. And most importantly, mature adults. Now knowing that ANY possibility of summoning more Champions in the future was off the cards until this crisis was dealt with filled the assembled diplomats with fear.
"The second problem I could easily deal with for you" Hallgrim remarked with a careless tone. Killing them would not be something he would relish, yet it would also not be difficult if it was for his land and people. Sometimes weeds must be pruned to allow the grass to grow.
Withering looks were sent his way as he blatantly offered to murder all the Champions without batting an eye.
"But I see your point. One way or another, this batch of Champions will be all we have to defeat the Demon horde. The chances that we find the missing two now both alive and unharmed are slim to none. They are likely imprisoned where we will never find them to prevent another Summoning. We have no room for second chances or mistakes…"
Having the Viking diplomat talking sense was a feeling the others were not used to. So, they let their guard down momentarily before seizing up at his next words.
"As such I must insist, they should accompany me back to my homeland where they will be trained to become REAL warriors…"