"Horen, I was told that you've awakened your Rahichna. Why didn't you tell me first? I had to hear it from one of your maids."
"I apologize, father. It's just that you were in the palace at that time. The maid must've been quite excited to inform you about it."
Right then, Horen cast a glare at the maid who was standing by the door. The maid, of course, flinched and bowed her head. Horen simply sighed and let the issue pass. He then lowered his utensils to focus on the conversation with his father, Duke Brahm Gertrude.
"It's a thing for celebration, Horen. Tell me, what do you want as a gift?"
"A gift? I don't need one, father." At that point, an idea came into Horen's mind, "Father, how about a mentor from the Obelisk? They're the best in instructing everything with regards to magic."
The Duke put down the fork and knife, wiping the corners of his mouth with a cloth a second after. He straightened his posture further as he contemplated his son's request.
Despite his position as the prime minister, it would be difficult for him to warrant the cooperation of the sorcerers of the Obelisk. All the more that it was for a personal reason.
The Obelisk -- the name of the tower and also the organization -- had a monopoly on the most skillful sorcerers within the Etheros Empire. The current Emperor gave them the liberty to be independent of the Empire's chains.
Although, the Obelisk had to be fully cooperative with the Empire during warfares in return for the land and tax-exemption granted to them by the Emperor.
Not once in the history of the Empire did a sorcerer from the Obelisk heeded the requests of the royals, much less the nobles. There were some who even attempted to buy the services of the sorcerers. Withal, they were all for naught.
As long as the Empire wasn't on the verge of being infiltrated, the sorcerers of the Obelisk would not have any business outside of their abode.
Now, what does it take to be a sorcerer?
The answer would reveal the consequences of the thousand-years war that happened in this world nearly a million years ago.
The thousand-years war was a conflict that arose from the disagreements among deities. Instead of a meaningful discussion, the deities opted to settle their differences through an altercation with their physical bodies. The war went on for one thousand years without a victor emerging.
In the end, all of the deities lost their physical bodies concurrently. And soon after, they returned to their dimensions.
However, they left this world in its worst condition.
They had destroyed the budding ecosystem, making the world appear as if it was a gigantic volcano in a perpetual state of eruption. Due to the incessant flow of lava, the oceans were depleted of water and became lava reservoirs.
Perhaps the most perturbing was the coal black sky. Because of the greenhouse gases emitted by the volcanoes, no amount of light could pass through the atmosphere.
The world that was once prospering with life had become precarious, even to itself.
Although, it wasn't for long that the world was forced to accommodate such chaos.
Orbs -- each glowing with all the colours that the eye could discern -- revealed themselves. Still, the orbs themselves were hardly visible. Only their illuminations could be observed. All along, they were floating around, gathering enough energy to completely materialize.
What was the identity of these orbs?
They were the lingering life essence of the deities who fought in the thousand-years war. The orbs served as the foundation of all magical abilities, the so-called Manna.
The Manna abandoned by the deities were responsible for hastening the recovery of this world. Ecosystems were restored within the span of a miraculous one thousand years -- the same amount of time that the deities were at war with each other. Together with the growth of nature, the Manna orbs were able to strengthen and propagate.
As evolution made its way into the cycle of life, a few inhabitants of this world developed a mechanism in their bodies to utilize the Manna thriving abundantly in the surroundings. They're the ones who were qualified to be called 'Sorcerers'.
Absorbing Manna in their bodies and manipulating them to their benefit, that's what sorcerers mainly do. There were a myriad of things that one could do by manipulating Manna -- strengthening one's physique and other inanimate objects, conjuring the elements of nature in their hands, repairing nonliving things.
In a general sense, sorcerers could command Manna to accomplish simple and straightforward tasks. With ample training, a sorcerer could increase their assimilation with Manna, giving them the liberty to perform a wider range of abilities.
For that matter, what did awakening one's Rahichna pertain to?
Rahichna was the term for specialized magical abilities. It could be determined from birth if an individual was gifted with a Rahichna or not. It's just a matter of abiding for its awakening from that point on.
As opposed to plainly manipulating Manna, a Rahichna would allow an individual to have control over one field of an advanced ability -- something that's impossible for normal sorcerers. For instance, materializing a weapon out of thin air, instant teleportation, and summoning mythical creatures.
A Rahichna sorcerer could develop a whole new set of abilities that were related to the main nature of their magical ability.
For the most part, an individual would only be given one nature of magical ability to work on. It's even rarer to happen upon a sorcerer who was bestowed with two Rahichnas.
At present, the world had a population of nearly six billion.
Less than five million had the ability to absorb and manipulate Manna.
Approximately 40,000 were sorcerers blessed with Rahichnas.
7206 of them were affiliated with the Obelisk.
With all that being said, by virtue of acquiring a Rahichna for himself, Horen was considered as a valuable asset for the Empire. That in itself was the deciding factor why Duke Gertrude easily gave him the seat of his heir apparent.
As for the former Duchess and the Duke, they were both normal sorcerers. Nonetheless, they had strengthened themselves to a point that they had no need for a Rahichna.
Horen's request to have a sorcerer from the Obelisk mentor him was something that Duke Gertrude wished to fulfil. But that was more difficult than any mission he had been given.
Seeing his father's struggle, Horen got a hold of his utensils once more and resumed his meal. He wasn't planning on revoking his request, thus he left his father be.
In the intervening time, the women of the family were having a talk among themselves. Trivial topics were brought up left and right. In a way, that kind of talk was better than the relevant news in the aristocratic society.
'The servants who are not present in the dining hall should be celebrating in the hall downstairs. I should be able to hear them from the window. But why can't I hear a sound coming from them.' Troy, who kept his reticence, thought as he partake of his meal.
Troy wasn't really that bothered by the silence of the servants. Withal, the thing of worry to him was the handful of peculiar incidents that arose that day.
'Should I ask someone to check on them? It's just to satisfy my conscience.'
Thereafter, he lowered his knife and called for one of the guards. The guard quickly approached Troy and bowed his head.
"Visit the banquet hall and report to me about what's happening there."
"As you wish, Young M--"
Before the guard could even finish speaking, the door to the dining hall burst open.
It then revealed a maid whose uniform was soaked with blood.