Abelard Stormbreaker was the great grandson of an arch storm mage. As the generations passed, the Stormbreaker family found that they were beginning to lose touch with their family magic. Even though his great grandfather had been a level 5 mage, Abelard was only a level 3 storm mage after decades of practice and techniques to try and increase his level. This was all after he had been born as a level 1 mage. His father and grandfather had both only ever attained level 2 mage-hood, so Abelard could claim that his family luck was turning around, that was until his wife gave birth.
All three of his kids were born as level 0 mages; and after 37 years, his oldest had finally broken through to level 1, allowing him to finally wield some storm magic. In his old age Abelard became depressed and would sit in a chair outside, staring at the heavens, especially when it was storming. After his great grandfather had passed away, his grandfather had moved his family out to the Adenville district, settling them down in a small secluded village, in hopes that being surrounded by nature they could reawaken their magic.
His family had been unable to regain their lost reputation, but to the villagers they became a great blessing. With his control over weather, Abelard was able to help the villagers increase their yield of crops as he made sure ample water and sunlight was provided to the fields. Everyday he would go out and make sure that the skies over the fields would be clear for the sunshine, than at noon he would make it rain for a few hours so that there was enough water that the crops wouldn't dry up.
That wasn't the only thing he did for the villagers. Thanks to his family's knowledge, passed down from when his great grandfather lived in the capital, he taught the villager children both magic and academics for a few hours each day. His most prized pupil was a little girl named Stephanie. She was the hardest working when it came to the assignments he gave them, and she was also the most perseverant when it came to magic. When she had been born she was a level 0 mage, but after 8 years she was nearing her break through into a level 2 mage and was very adept at weather magic, making her a prime candidate of becoming his personal disciple and learning to become a storm mage.
Stephanie had had a very rough life growing up. Her father was a drunkard who, after knocking up her mother, left the village for Adenville and never came back. Her mother died from a disease when she was three years old, forcing her to fend for herself in the woods. Abelard found her in the woods when he had gone out to gather herbs to brew a weak curing potion for coughs and fever. He brought her home with him and let her live with his family, not taking much notice in her until he caught her digging through his spell books at the age of four. He tested her for her aptitude in magic, discovering that she had the affinity for it. So began her eight years of training, causing a grandfatherly and granddaughterly bond to appear between the two mages as the master trained his apprentice.
After two years of training, Stephanie broke through into the level 1 stage, causing the entire village to hold a celebration as they grew excited at the prospect of seeing a rising a star and possibly an arch mage come from their village. Today wasn't very different from six years ago. The village was in a festive mood because today was the day that Stephanie was going to break through to a level 2 mage, according to Abelard.
While the village bustled with activity, people rushing around setting up decorations and preparing for the party tonight, Abelard was in his house, teaching the group of children about finances. Stephanie was exempt from classes today so that she could focus on practicing her magic, and at the age of twelve, she was one of the youngest mages in the history of the world to reach level 2 in such a short time after being born a level 0 mage with aptitude.
As the sun rose and fell, Stephanie worked diligently to deepen her understanding of magic and increase the quantity of mana she could use, effectively increasing her rating in magic, allowing her to become a level 2 mage and cast the magic at that level. Finally she felt her mana pool grow both larger and denser, meaning she had broken through to being a level 2 storm mage.
Rushing from the backyard and into Abelard's classroom, Stephanie jumped excitedly around the room. "I did it! I did it old man! I broke through thanks to your teachings!" Stephanie yelled cheerfully as the other children in the class began getting excited and congratulating her. Abelard smiled as he patted her head before teasingly frowning and pointing his finger at her, "Just because you broke through doesn't mean that you can come and disrupt my class and distract the students. Remember you still have to pass the test to be acknowledged as a level two mage." He turned around to the shelf behind him, reaching up and then pulling down a crystal ball before setting it down on his desk.
He waved his hand towards it as he looked at Stephanie, "Come now child, put yourself to the test." Stephanie walked up as nervousness appeared on her face. Placing both hands on the crystal ball, she closed her eyes, focusing on her mana and willing it to flow into the ball. The crystal ball glowed a bright shade of blue as lighting flashed across it's inside.
Abelard's eyes crinkled as his bushy grey beard rose along with his cheeks into him showing a toothy grin as he began laughing merrily. He clapped his hands together before looking outside and seeing the sun at about the 4 o'clock position. "Okay, okay. You can all go home now." He said with a chuckle as he looked at the students. Turning to Stephanie, "Come with me, my apprentice. There are somethings I want to take care of before we go and celebrate with the rest of the village." He turned and walked out the door, heading for his study on the second floor.
"What is it master?" Stephanie ran to catch up, noticing how her master was moving in a somewhat frantic state. As they entered his study, Abelard slammed the door shut, locking it before going to his desk.
"As I've told you many times, I am only a level 3 storm mage and will never be able to get past the boundary of level 4. However, through many years of study and practice I was able to use a level 4 spell called WIND SCRY. This spell allows storm mages to gain premonitions of the future as far as a couple days in advance." Abelard looked up as he dug through his desk drawers.
"So that's how you knew I would break through today." Stephanie tilted her head as she contemplated what her master meant by telling her this. "Something bad's about to happen, isn't it?"
"Yes child. Two days ago I received a negative premonition and so I believe what ever is to happen will happen either today or tomorrow. That's why I want to tell you this before it's too late." Abelard stopped searching through his drawers as he pulled out a golden ring laid with a red ruby in it. "This ring was crafted by a Dwarven space mage. It has an entire building unit inside of it. A large storage room, a forgery room, living quarters, a kitchen, a library, and a large garden. I've put all of my families gained knowledge in here, I apologize as I didn't have the time to organize it. I have also put a recommendation letter for Daurarth, the greatest institution for all magic, in the ring. I myself graduated from there and many of the greatest arch mages and wizards in humanity, come from that school. I want you to go there and finish your training. Many of the students are nobles or from the wealthiest families in the human kingdoms so you may also find a benefactor that is willing to hire you after you graduate. Normally students would begin at the age of ten but I wanted to make sure I passed all my knowledge to you before sending you off." Handing the ring to her, Abelard smiled as he rustled her hair.
"Thank you master. I promise I won't let you down. Maybe after my graduation we can have a duel to see who is the better storm mage." Stephanie beamed with joy, forgetting that the reason why she was receiving this gift now was because something bad was drawing near.
"Maybe so." Abelard smiled back at her before reaching into his desk again. "I have another thing for you as well. From this point onward, you will legally be my granddaughter." He pulled out a certificate, and as Stephanie looked over it her eyes began to tear as she realized it was a certificate of adoption by the Stormbreaker family.
"T-thank you old man." She cried tears of happiness as she ran forward, pulling Abelard into a tight hug as he patted her head gently.
"I want you to promise me that after you graduate, you never come back to the Yechen Empire permanently. I want you to go live in one of the other kingdoms, maybe Siol or the Holy Empire." Stephanie looked up as Abelard spoke to her.
"But then I can't come and see you!" Stephanie's eyes began to tear up again as she thought about not ever being able to see the old man ever again.
"I'm afraid that not even I have control of my destiny. I want you to promise me that what ever happens to me, you will live a happy life and get stronger. And most importantly you will never stay in the Yechen Empire as one of it's citizens." Abelard became semi stern as he spoke to her, not wanting to tell her that fate could be a cruel thing. Stephanie nodded as she tucked her head back down, hugging Abelard for a little while longer before letting go.
Abelard walked to the window and looked out at the setting sun as it dipped the sky a fiery red. "I guess it's time to go down and celebrate." He laughed as he turned around looking at Stephanie with a smile on his old wrinkly face.
As the two left Abelard's home, heading towards the village square, Abelard looked to the woods that laid to the North, feeling that sense of foreboding he got when he scried earlier in the day.
At the village center, the people had set up many long tables, and were just finishing putting up the last of the decorations as the two arrived. After all the food was done being prepared, they began serving it out to everyone. Friends and family gathered together, celebrating and having a good time and one by one they would come up and congratulate Stephanie, who was sitting at the head table with the village elders and respected folk.
As the party went late into the night, the people moved the tables out of the way to allow for room so they could build a bonfire and dance to music that the local bard was playing. As the moon rose, reaching it's zenith, Abelard, who had gone to relieve himself, heard the ferocious howls of many big beasts coming from the northern woods.
Back at the party, the music stopped and the people became silent as fear rose in their hearts. Mothers grabbed their children as the men grabbed any object that could be used as a weapon. They looked north to where the continuous howls came from, and then they began to see them. The red and yellow glowing eyes that stood taller than a man. The heavy footsteps that indicated the creatures were not just large, but massive in all aspects.
As the 30 creatures left the cover of the forest and became visible under the moonlight, Abelard let out a gasp. "It's Feniri! Everyone run as fast as you can to the next village! Get out of here!" Abelard than ran forth towards the Feniri pack as chaos broke out among the villagers. Alongside him ran his two sons and his three oldest grandsons as they began casting spells towards the Feniri.
The town blacksmith rushed to his store before banging open the door calling out, "I have weapons here! Take them and fight, we need to buy time for the women and children!" Many of the older men of the village rushed forward grabbing swords, knives, axes and bows with arrows, running back to aid the storm mages in the battle against the Feniri.
Seeing the village men grab weapons to fight, Abelard yelled out to them, using OUTCRY to be heard by them all. "Attack the eyes and mouth, the Feniri's fur is impervious to any physical attacks! You need to hit their soft spots!"
With a strong gust of wind Abelard pushed the Feniri back, buying more time for the villagers. As Stephanie ran up to join in the fight, she felt the wind pick up stopping her in her tracks before sending her flying backwards. In the wind she could hear the whispers of the old man. "Keep your promise. Live, get out of here and make a name for yourself. Go now my apprentice!"
With tears in her eyes, Stephanie turned and fled south with the women and children, looking back to see many of the men being slaughtered while the mages were fighting a losing battle.
As Abelard saw more and more around him fall, his blood boiled with rage. As his blood boiled so too did the sky. With a loud crack of thunder, the sky over the village darkened as clouds swiftly appeared, lightning flickering amongst them.
Rain began pouring down in torrents as the wind began to howl and whip, slapping both man and beast. The wind became so strong that the buildings began falling apart as pieces flew off, slowly ascending as they began spinning around a single point in the sky. A point that was quickly descending to touch the ground.
Abelard had used the level 3 spell THUNDERSTORM to summon an intense storm, however because of his intense emotions the thunderstorm had turned into the level 4 spell TWISTER, causing a tornado to form. As the buildings were torn apart, they smashed into both Feniri and human alike, utterly crushing the humans while only breaking Feniri bones.
Everyone except for the storm mages and the Feniri began being pulled towards the tornado as it's intensity increased, causing unrepairable damage to the area while bring harm to all the life forms. The Feniri began howling together causing the tornado, and the storm in general, to lose its intensity. As the winds died down, the survivors could hear the howls and as the Terror enchant took effect they dropped to their knees, breaking out into cold sweat or pissing themselves in fright.
Abelard looked around as the Feniri came up killing everyone slowly and painfully. Out of the thirty wolves that had attacked, twenty-eight of them were still alive while twenty-three out of that number were injured with broken limbs, cracked ribs, or a smashed face. Even though he was unable to kill more of them, Abelard was please with his work, knowing that now the Feniri wouldn't chase after those that fled since they themselves needed to heal and recover from this fight.
After killing everyone else, the Feniri Alpha walked up to Abelard. Hate was evident in it's eyes as it's snake tail curled forward, biting and poisoning Abelard. As extreme pain flared up from the wound, and began spreading throughout his body, Abelard laughed and smiled at the wolf. "Someone will kill you. It may not be tomorrow or the next, let alone this year, but someone will kill you, you bastard." He spat into the wolf's face as he bit down sharply on his tongue. As his consciousness faded, he thought about his granddaughter, about where she would go in life and what she could accomplish. [I'm sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you in your achievements little one.] Abelard fell over as his last breath left his body.
The Feniri Alpha huffed before turning and returning to the woods. The others began dragging what intact corpses they could find; back to their den where they would eat and heal before continuing their hunt.