As expected, my vassals and I were allowed to camp out on our own within a few days of our demonstration, under the condition that my vassals spend two days per week at the estate for their lessons and that I return one day a week for 'visitation' purposes.
We set out at once after receiving the news from my father; along with a slew of equipment and tools that were given to me by Gerolt and Ebbet, tucked away in my shadow pocket for safe storage.
After literally days of travel, we came upon a clearing near the northern coast that granted unrestricted views of the mainland beyond the sea and we immediately got to work erecting a foothold for ourselves.
I started by harvesting a single great blackwood tree while Jonet cleared a 100-meter by 100-meter area of snow, followed by Jaimess erecting a waist-high wall with earth manipulation. With beams pillars and planks carved with void magic, we then embedded the posts into the half wall and filled in the remaining walls and roof with wooden slats that were sealed with the pine-like tar of the tree.
With that done, I made cutouts for the doors on each face of the building and a few large windows to go along with them, then worked on the door while the viewing holes were filled with ice by Jonet. I went for a simple, yet functional design for our entryway. A slab of wood with pegs extending from the top and bottom on one side. Pegs that were then set in the hollowed-out threshold to create a rudimentary hinge.
With the base of the structure finished, we turned to the interior and I had Jaimess make a stone hearth in the center that was vented by a slab of wood pivoted open on the roof, then he helped the rest of us compact the floor around it into a flat surface using earth manipulation and a crude level made from a plank and a shot of water. After we erected walls in each corner of the structure to form our living arrangements and I taught them how to create a rocket stove to heat their rooms with. Then we parted ways in a sense to furnish our own living arrangements.
Each was modestly space and fashioned according to our tastes. Mine had the door near the left corner of the wall and contained a desk along the same facade facing the door. It was nothing more than a surface of blackwood that I'd constructed to eat and write on in peace along with some shelving space behind it and a mat of leaves and a leather pad to make the spot on which I'd mediate; positioned comfortably close to the rocket stove in the far right corner.
After bedding down for the night, we got to work the next day establishing outhouses and a place to store food.
As for the former, we attached modules to each of our rooms in which to do our business. Though it regrettably required me to periodically empty them out with my void magic; until we could acquire some lime at least. The latter was done through four stone boxes that were attached to the empty corner of our abode in the same way as our outhouses; essentially designating the area as the kitchen. The boxes were about waist-deep and contained shelves on either side that were lined with strips of leather and made accessible from the in and outside by only an absurd amount of strength or earth manipulation. And I made it a point to my vassals that use one for meat, one for fish and to keep the fruit and vegetables separate as well; and that they pull as much air as possible from the container before they closed them to keep the food preserved for as long as possible.
After two days of travel and two days of construction, we spent the next five days doing nothing but hunting, training, and lounging about in our peaceful home away from home until we were recalled to the estate.
And like that, the days weeks, and months passed. During that time, we made steady improvements to both our residence and to ourselves.
Through our exploratory trips through the forest and sea, we found many ruins and wreck sites that we greedily plundered for scrap metal and sometimes glass bottles that were used to complete our kitchen entirely. In addition to that, the clearing just south of our compound had been transformed into a proper training ground within only a few weeks, complete with a half-walled building filled with benches for us to conduct strength and weight training and a bordered and roofed track that encircled our territory.
After six months of us moving here and five after I'd given my three vassals tome's for their affinities, they had begun to show tremendous signs of growth and, more importantly, passion. Made evident by the sounds of booming thunder and cracking ice that constantly filled the air and the strange paper creatures seemed to perpetually flock around our compound.
With that, our training continued in earnest for a year until shortly after my tenth birthday. At which time my vassals had completed their formal educations and found themselves with as much free time as I had.
Our training only increased after that. For nearly the entirety of the day and night, we'd fight, drill and practice our developing spells until we nearly collapsed from fatigue. Breaking only to eat, shit and sleep.
Or meditate, in my case.
Nothing notable happened in the four months since then. Until one day, I felt a long-familiar sensation looming from the estate as we returned for our visit. A feeling that could only be attributed to one other person that I knew of.
"There he is." Grandpa Lich turned as I entered into the formal wing. Then waved off my vassals behind me who had all dropped to a knee. "At ease, you three." He sighed, then paused to give me a lookover. "You look good, Amun." He finally grunted, glancing at my locks that were resting gently atop my shoulders. "Strong and capable. And your vassals too." He nodded behind me.
"Thank you, Grandfather." I bowed to him.
"Aye." He waved the matter aside. "More importantly, I hear you've been struck with a bit of wanderlust. That you've been living rough out in the woods for over three years now and that you wish above anything else, to travel."
"That is true." I slowly nodded, eying him with a curious gaze. "Are you here to take me to the mainland?"
"And for what reason should I?" He laughed oh so boisterously.
"I'm dying to see your prestigious boarding school." I grinned at him. "And," I added. "It'll be the perfect opportunity to scout out a few more vassals."
"Hmmm," Grandfather grumbled to himself as he stroked his long beard. "A few more vassals, eh? Very well." He finally grunted, then turned further back into the service wing to yell at my father, standing less than a meter away from him. "Emeric! I'm taking the boy!"
"I'm right here, granddad." Father sighed. "And very well. I planned to make my yearly trip to Odissi soon. It'll be a good opportunity to introduce Amun to the nobles. So, don't mind if I accompany you there."
"You heard him." Grandpa Lich spat at me as he turned back to face me. "Pack your things. We're leaving in an hour."
I watched as my vassals bowed and trotted off towards their quarters to retrieve the few things they still kept at the estate. Leaving me with my literal forefathers and immediately bringing to mind the missing link between us.
"I've been wondering." I slowly broke the silence. "Where's my grandfather? Who is my grandfather?"
"My father's name is Azrael Cole." Father sighed heavily; wearily. "Perhaps you'll meet him one day."
'A.C.' I suddenly remembered from the tome I'd read so long ago. Then asked. "Where is he?"
"In the Under." Grandpa Lich coldly spat. "He's dead. And even if he could be turned undead, we don't resurrect family. We pass down knowledge instead."
"I see." I nodded as I tried to piece the words together. Then bowed towards my father. "I didn't mean to open up old wounds."
"Don't fret, Amun," Father reassured me by placing his hands on my shoulders. "It's my fault for not explaining sooner."
I bowed again before excusing myself to my room to lounge about and take in the environment one last time. As I had no idea when I'd be returning to Deap Ridge. My nursery was much the same as it'd been when I was younger, complete with the playroom and small library and the adjacent room. Having been so traveled, I usually wasn't one to become so sentimental over something like a location. But I felt a deep connection to this space, the place that I was first birthed in this world.
I was unsure if it was because of my vivid memory of my birth or from some type of magic I was unfamiliar with, but a part of me didn't want to leave this place behind.
Regardless, I had to once the hour had passed. At which time I returned to the service wing to see my vassals with their few bags that I promptly stuffed into my Shadow Pocket before we sat down for dinner service and gathered around to say our temporary goodies before getting on the trail leading out of the dead zone.
My grandfather abruptly halted after leaving the necrotic perimeter and focused on his shadow below him. Which greatly expanded and acted as a gate to allow a massive spider to rise beneath him and splay its legs across the snow, lying it flat.
"Get on," Grandpa grunted from his perch behind the spider's head. "And whatever you do." He grinned, hiding his mouth behind his hand as if he were whispering. "Don't tell Eved I have this." He cackled just as loud as he'd spoken.
I put aside the obvious question and instead focused on the makeup of this arachnid while I climbed aboard. Its flesh was undoubtedly made of darkness like the Doppelgangers, yet its carapace retained the same hardness that I was sure it had in its original form. More than that, the thing practically leaked necrotic energy, emitting plumes of the ashen black energy as it moved about; though it seemed to do nothing to my vassals at all.
Regardless, the spider greatly enhanced our travel speed and in less than an hour, we were passing by our campsite.
"Move to the back and hold on." Grandpa Lich shouted behind him as the spider continued at full speed towards the cliff.
Without pause, the undead spider continued its sprint towards the ledge and leaped out across the open waters. Still making my way to the thorax, I saw a braid of fine silk stretching out from the spider's ass to make contact at the ledge over ten meters away.
A sense of vertigo washed over me as our lateral momentum was changed vertical from the pull of gravity, and I felt myself entering freefall for a second before I found purchase on the spider's carapace and soon after, we slammed into the vertical face of the cliff with nearly enough force to buck me off. And the spider continued towards the docks at the shore without a change in pace.
Unlike the southern side of Deap Ridge, the waters on the northern coast were frozen. Lining the sheer cliff with a white sheet that extended for only a few hundred meters, creating a buffer from the crashing waters ahead to allow for quays and docks to be emplaced.
It was around one of these piers that a large vessel was docked. Around 100 meters in length; or close to it, the vessel appeared like a cross between a yacht and a battleship. Painted a gray-black color and stenciled with the insignia of the Cole house of the port and starboard side.
After settling on the deck, the undead spider reassimilated into my Grandfather's shadow, who was already approaching the Captain to tell him of our destination while my vassals and I went to get settled below deck.
We hadn't even made it there by the time a gentle hum rang throughout the ship and the ice began cracking beneath the hull.
Marking the beginning of what would turn out to be an uneventful voyage, filled with on-deck training that lasted until sunrise. At which time, my Grandpa, my father, and I all practically ran below deck to escape the annoying vibrance of the sun cresting over Deap Ridge far behind us.
Meanwhile, my vassals continued their training or reading long after the sun had risen high into the sky. Leaving me to sulk about below deck and write or stare out the window in solitude until the sunset.
I was surprised, however, shocked that I'd gone on a ten-year streak of avoiding sunlight. Even though the blackwood trees stood as tall as castle keeps, the estate itself was positioned on the southwestern end of the Ridge; directly facing the sun. From that acknowledgment came curiosity, however; and from that curiosity, I was impulsed to do as all children did, and touched the proverbial hot iron.
While it wasn't as devastating as my mother presumed, it was certainly close. It felt like my exposed skin was held too close to a blazing fire, burning and drying and frying my flesh on the spot. The light was so intense that my eyes watered and my head throbbed, forming blurred spots of light and shadow in my vision like someone with bad eyes. All mixed with feelings of dehydration and heat exhaustion.
Below deck, however, it didn't take long for me to grow bored of watching the water pass, and out of boredom or curiosity, I accessed the map function of my Eternal Eye for the first time.
Within a fraction of a second, every piece of cartography or topography I'd ever laid my eyes on was compiled and laid out in a scaled-down digital version that surrounded me.
Deap Ridge, the island of royals, sat off the southwestern coast of the mainland and appeared much like a banana with the curve pointing downward. The mainland itself was a roughly circular landmass lined with coves, bays, and peninsulas on every bit of coast; the largest of which is a fat landmass that sat on the northwestern end with a lake in the middle, making it appear as the eye of a turtle head while the second-largest peninsula resembled the form of its tail, pointing towards Epethia to the southeast.
Based on what I'd read, the entirety of the mainland was split along the middle between the two empires, Deapou on the right; and her shadow, Odissi, on the left. Straddling the borders on the southern coast were the twin capitals, Thamestown and Odissi. A large speck of land and light on the horizon that appeared like a massive sprinkled cupcake embedded into the very ground.
By nightfall, the Captain announced that we were scheduled to reach the dock within the hour and everyone gathered on different parts of the deck soon after. My father, alone at the bow with a drink and cigar in each hand. My vassals in the flybridge, admiring the sights they were either seeing for the first time or hadn't seen in years. And my grandfather, relaxing near the stern in a peaceful solitude that I had every intention of ruining.
"Are you going to teach me of death magic?" I asked after planting myself in the seat just across from him.
"Ah. There it is." He pointed at me without removing his gaze from the nearly empty sky. "I'm surprised it's taken you this long to ask."
"I can ask about more if you want." I chuckled. "About the academy. The Marulean Guild Association. New Dawn."
"What was once known as the Marulean Military." He explained, still not removing his gaze from above. "Is a sovereign entity that existed long before the empires of both Epethia and Deapou were even a concept. Today they are known as the Marulean Guild Association, and they are the last remnants of the Phaegrathean and Ulaian kingdoms. Today, they take no part in political intrigue and are solely responsible for three things: maintaining security in Phaegrath. Establishing guilds. And overseeing the assessment for the academy. Though they themselves hold no real influence at the academy."
"How?"
"Like the Guild Association, the Academy is a sovereign entity." He explained. "The Association oversees the transit to the academy. They allow the strongest of Maruleans to transfer to the academy in the hopes that some of them will later return to aid the cause in Phaegrath. But few ever do."
"Because they choose to say in Nonus?" I concluded.
"Mhm," Grandfather grunted. "I've never explored much of it, so I can't say much. I can only say that the academy is highly secretive and that they have courses for both combative and non-combative roles."
"Such as?"
"The Artificer school, for instance." He grinned slyly. "Where students learn to make enchantments. Which, as you know, our entire society as we know it depends on."
'It seems the staff isn't incompetent then, that's good.' I nodded to myself. 'I have to get into that class.'
"So, what else can you tell me?" I then asked.
"That you will go through three years at the academy." He huffed. "During your second year, you'll become knowledgeable of something you have called a class; particularly the Sorcerer Class, then you'll choose a few more classes and study those during your second and third year until you graduate.
"A fourth year is available to students who meet one of two conditions." He continued. "The first is open to those who wish to join any guild or military. They will go through a fourth year with that organization as an intern, akin to boot camp. The second is open to the top five students of your class. It is the Guild Master Candidacy Course. And upon completion, will grant graduates the Guild Master Class and a few benefits and items that'll greatly facilitate the creation of a new guild. As well as granting an instant promotion to Master Wizard; or Sorcerer in your case."
'Now that is interesting.' I internally grinned. 'It seems I just got another goal to aim for.'
"Lastly, is the New Dawn." Grandfather sighed, ripping my ambitious thoughts from under me and turning my eyes to his cold, intense gaze. "Though that is their old name. Now, they are the Polaris Empire. And like us, they are a family of light sorcerers, far greater in number than we. While they now occupy the largest territory within Nonus and are far away from Maru, they were and forever will be our direct opposition. Their history is extensively tied with ours, Amun. Always remain wary of them."