Even though I am here for a day already, I am still not used to these peopl— agmenagias using magic. To be honest, they are not just using them, but they were relying too much on magic. I decided to go with Verus to collect some fruits outside just to kill my boredom.
"Aren't you all bored with the same routine?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Verus asked me back.
"I thought Illia was a princess of a kingdom. This doesn't looked like a kingdom though. Yes, it is a palace, but this is it? After summarizing what happened yesterday, it looks like you're just serving her all day and night." I commented based on what I observed. "Where are the people? Where is the King or the Queen?" I asked.
He sighed while commanding the soil to pick the fruits for him, "This is not the kingdom of Harpia Auresia." Verus said while making a bowl out of solid soil. A good replacement for a basket, indeed.
"Then what is the purpose of this palace? Why are we even here residing in the heart of the forest? Well," I looked above while putting my index finger on my chin, "You did told me last time we talked that you didn't built the palace." I exclaimed.
"It is a long story to tell. It'll take me a long time to tell everything." He said.
"I've been asking a lot of questions, that means I don't mind whether it'll take you five days to tell me everything." I said.
"Okay. Fine, this is the mountain of Viridisum. We were hiding here for around twenty years already." He said.
I was surprised with what he said, "Wait, what?! Twenty years?!" I asked with a surprised look on my face.
"Yes." He answered.
"How old are you? I thought you're around nineteen or twenty years old. You looked younger than me!" I exclaimed.
"Huh? I am living for about a hundred year already." He replied.
My jaw dropped from his statement. A hundred years?! He's like a great grandfather with that age, then!
"There might be some kind of time difference between Ingeum and Orbisomn." I said while nodding relentlessly.
"Why? How old are you?" He asked.
"I'm just twenty two years old." I said.
He chuckled, "Illia already lived for around a hundred and fifty years already." He said.
I suddenly looked at him with my 'what-the-hell' look. This world always give me surprises. I sighed, "Alright then, just continue with what you're saying." I said.
"Again, this is the mountain of Viridisum. We were hiding here for," Verus hold his chin, "Estimation of twenty one years already, because It's been twenty one years when Illia's father; the King died." He explained.
"Died? Why?" I asked.
"Before I go there, I think I have to tell you the history of Orbisomn first." He suggested.
"If that'll enlighten me a bit, then I guess it's alright." I replied.
"Orbisomn is a world with magic. Contrast to your world Ingeum. Maybe you noticed that all of us rely on magic powers." Verus said.
"Yes, I do. Even soldiers relied too much on magic. Armies and soldiers in my world doesn't just rely on technologies, they need to nurture their physical abilities as well." I rolled my eyes.
"Because that's what we are. Agmenagias doesn't revolved around physical strength, we revolved based on our Orbos." Verus explained.
"Orbos? What is that?" I asked.
"Orbos is like a container inside our body. Once it's broken, we'll be dead. Every magic particles that we breath will be restored inside our orbos, and we'll use magic based on the capabilities of our skills on using enchantments and orbos." He stopped walking and put the bowl in the ground. He motioned me to sit and rest for a while.
"How would someone know if they can use their containers well, or not?" I removed the dirt on the ground before sitting.
"We're nurturing our magic in our academia until there're certain promotion where we could showcase our ability. The council and the kingdom of Harpia Auresia will be the one to condone us whether we're capable of rising from our current ranks or not." He explained, and I nodded.
"Orbisomn was created by magic. All of the places as well as the resources. In our academia, they taught us that magic is alive. Magic created the agmenagias. Let's say in your world's perspective we are the humans or people of Orbisomn, but we are called agmenagia. Magic gave some of its fragment for us to live. That is the Orbos. That is why we are also called the agmenagia; fagments of magic." He explained.
I found it too complicated to understand.
"We have four eleme—"
I interrupted him from talking, "Wait a minute. Pause for a while." I said while putting my hands in front of his face.
"I want to briefly understand it." I searched for a branch then write something on the ground, "This is Orbisomn," I drew a circle, "Then you are called agmenagias, right?" I asked.
"Yes." He nodded.
"The resources in this world is created by magic, and not nature?" I asked.
"Nature?" Verus looked at me confused.
"Nature. Like natural occurences. For example the sunlight. It came from nature." I explained.
"I don't know what you're talking about. The light from daylight came from the magic powers of the Algorian." He said to me, but I didn't understand some of what he said.
"I get it. You do not have nature or natural occurences. Agmenagias' only explanation to everything is "magic". Magic created them, magic is everywhere. Magic, magic. Everything is magic, that's why they rely on magic." I nodded while talking to myself, but Verus heard me. He raised an eyebrow because I'm talking to myself.
"Don't mind me." I looked away, "Continue what you're saying." I said.
"These are the common things that they taught us in the academia. The four elements, Algor, Tusuiem, Nevrea, and Erocile." He started drawing stuff in the ground, "Algor was given to the agmenagias who can transform; transformation magic. Tusuiem was given to the agmenagias who lived in a city under the ocean, Nevrea was given to the agmenagias who lived on the islands floating in the sky, and Erocile was given to us, we are the protector of the nature." He drew circles to represent each element.
"These four elements have different roles, but we were united because of one kingdom. The Kingdom of Harpia Auresia, capital of all elemental magic." He said.
I listened to his explanation. 'What the hell he's talking about?' I thought to myself, "What is this algor, chew chew, shem shem?" I asked while saying random words, because I couldn't follow his language.
"Oh, you can't understand them." He picked up the soil from the ground, "This is Erocile. This is my magic." He said.
"That's soil. Then you said elements, right? That means earth in our language." I said.
"Earth? I see." Verus nodded.
"Can you repeat their description? I mean, the four elements." I asked trying to grasp the explanation.
"Agmenagias who have algor element has the transformation magic. Tusuiem, living under the ocean. Nevrea, living above the sky. Erocile, protector of the mountain." He summarized.
"That's a pretty obvious description, huh." I laughed a bit, "That means, the one living under the ocean is the water, above the sky is air, protector of mountain is earth, but why does the fire have transformation magic?" I asked him, but he's probably confused with my words.
It's hard asking him this way. "This conversation is too hard to keep! I can still feel the language barrier." I ruined my hair.
"Are you crazy?" Verus suddenly tapped my shoulder.
"No, I am not... yet. Just continue with your story before I lose my sanity." I said.
"As I mentioned, those are the four elements of magic. Agmenagias cannot procreate with other elemental magic. It is some kind of taboo." He said.
"So, for example I am a fire user. I can only love a co-fire user?" I asked.
"Yes." He nodded.
"Why?" I asked.
"It was written on the ancient history of Orbisomn. The first agmenagias of this world didn't knew that innate magic will collide in a mother's body when two different element user tried to procreate. The collision would cause an agmenagia mother to die. That's why each representative from four elements decided to make it as a taboo. After so many incident happened that lot of agmenagias died, the four elements decided to live separately on each of their mainland." Verus explained.
"So you mean to say, they created their own country?" I asked.
"Yes. By the support of each other, they created their own countries and lived separately to avoid the taboo. They created the kingdom of Harpia Auresia as the central elemental kingdom to unite them as one even if they have their own lands and home." He explained.
"So, that's the history of Harpia Auresia." I commented.
"Yes. Each representative of four elements are the one who'll elect the council members. The council members are the one who can make verdict on a certain action and decide." He said.
"If there are representatives of four elements for some kind of decision, what is the role of the King and Queen, then?" I asked.
"To rule, and be the cause of fairness. They were the one who have the authority to punish those agmenagias who will oppose their decision. They were also the one who distribute every goods that each element gave to them." He get two fruits in his bowl and gave one to me, "In this era, the element of nevrea rules the kingdom." He added.
"Element of Air?" I chuckled a bit.
"Why are you laughing?" He asked.
"Oh. To be honest, if I will tell this story in my world, no one would definitely believe me. First of all, magic doesn't exist in my world. Second, we have a lot of fantasy story where four elements are the usual magic." I thought about Avatar, Encantadia and other fantasy stories with the four element as their main magic, "Sometimes, those who rule were also air or wind user. It is like I was teleported in a video game. Like a vrmmo." I laughed again.
"I don't understand what you're talking about, but the four elements are not the only magic here in Orbisomn. " He looked like he didn't catch the things that I've said.
I laughed a bit. "I'm just saying this is too fictional to believe. Anyways, you continue now with your story." I said and took a bite of the peach fruit that he gave to me.
"Alright. Again, this is the era where element of air rules. Every 500 years, the element who'll rule the kingdom will change." He continued his history lesson again.
"Oh, so it's a form of fairness as well." I commented and Verus nodded.
"Illia should be the last princess to rule the Kingdom of Harpia Auresia to complete the 500 years in the era of nevrea, but unexpected things happened between their family." He said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I am younger compared to Illia, but we went in the same academia when this happened. She had her friends, Licht and Miu. The three of them are the top notch of the Academia. Miu is a user of tusuiem, Illia is a user of nevrea, and Licht is a user of algor." He explained.
I think I needed to memorize the four elements.
"Licht?" I asked. His name sounds familiar. I felt some kind of nostalgia when Verus mentioned his name.
"Yes. Licht was her very best friend." He replied.
"What happened to them?" I asked.
"Miu and Licht are the outstanding student of tusuiem and algor, that's why they were elected to be the next council members. Soon after the examination, there was a time where Licht wielded nevrea magic as well." He explained.
"Air magic?— I mean, nevrea? Is that possible? I thought he's a fire— algor user?" I asked.
"Yes. The council investigated his family background, and they found out that his parents make the taboo." He said.
"They loved and procreate even if it is dangerous?" I asked.
"His mother died. Usually the offspring would normally came out dead as well, but Licht came out alive. Those people who were born with two magic elements are called erstseifi." He answered.
"Erstseifi?" I asked.
"Survivor children." He replied.
"What was that and what happened after that?" I asked.
"Erstseifi based on books are threat to the agmenagias who could only wield one magic." Verus explained.
—TBC