(This boy exasperates me… However, I must admit that he intrigues me. An understanding and mastery of magic at this level at such an age is totally unrealistic. I have never heard of such a feat even coming from those "blessed by the elements" with purple eyes like his. Whatever for now, let's wake him up)
"…Ah! What the hell are you doing!" I gasped after being roused from my torpor by a large amount of cold water that Master Lucy had poured on me using the etheric tongue.
"I'm the one who should be telling you that. You could have killed an ill-prepared rookie mage with such magic." She retorted as I dried my clothes after wrapping myself in a prepared towel.
"Um… Sorry?"
"I don't want your apology, but your attention when I speak. When you used all your ether, the empty space that your body constituted was suddenly filled and consequently made a rejection causing you an algic sensory shock followed by your lamentable collapse."
"The ending was not necessary…You could have at least warned me sooner!"
"Hmm? It's common sense though, no one told you to do such a thing. I'm surprised you didn't already know that, at least this experience will serve as a lesson for you later. Since you won't be able to use the cerebral rune for the next few hours without collapsing again, I'll try to teach you the basics of etheric language. To start, try to eject a little ether from your body through the larynx while pronouncing the sound "itz" followed by "ou" then "rim". These "power" words, as they are called, are used to cast a rune in the air, invisible to the naked eye, whose functionality is to gather ether at a given point."
I immediately got down to the task given by Master Lucy. Having already learned to control the flow of ether from my body over the past few days, I had no problem speaking these words of power. I saw a circle of light slowly forming around me and then slowly disappearing.
"Not bad for a start, you just have to practice your pronunciation to keep this circle longer"
"Thank you Master Lucy for giving me your time. Mother is very busy and cannot take care of my learning every day, so I am sincerely grateful to you."
"I see you have also mastered flattery, it will come in handy later at the second royal academy but let's move on. Your mother told me that you were planning to go further north to escape the wave of ether and asked me to accompany you to continue your teaching. Know that the great person that I am accepts this proposal and even decides to make you my first official student. This means that you will participate in my experiments and expeditions when I deem you ready."
The excitement on my face betrayed me as Master Lucy's words reached me.
"Calm down kid, it's on the condition that you manage to follow my rigorous training. Otherwise, I also wanted to repeat what I said to your mother earlier. This morning I was able to detect several abominations in Greywitch Forest coming dangerously close to this town, so I burned a few of them. However, although my power is unquestionable, I could not kill them all without losing my life. Your mother and I have therefore decided to leave tomorrow morning in the direction of Aritlas with my personal dragon.
"Abominations are that powerful? However, I remember seeing mother destroy about forty of them when I was five months old."
"You remember your first few months?! I guess it would be useless to be surprised anymore. There are several types of abominations separated mainly between the winged and non-winged. The weakest are the ones we usually face at the start of an ether wave. They are called the 'altered' due to their recent transformations and cannot use magic. The next class consists of those who can use magic and are stronger and faster than the previous ones. They are called 'whispers' due to the frightening sounds they make when using magic. Finally, come the 'catastrophes', a name indicative of their destructive natures. So that you can imagine it, tell yourself that I could not face more than two without being instantly shredded."
"How awful! What is the kingdom waiting for to act before this plague reaches us all?!"
"This is a question that many ask, but few get an answer to. Personally, I think that the corruption and incompetence of the leaders of this kingdom will seal the fate of the inhabitants but do not repeat what I just said.
(Damn it! Countries in this region have time to get into war but not to stop the wave of ether from sweeping over all that is left of humanity.)
"Enough talk, now I have to go get my things ready. See you tomorrow at my dragon's enclosure."
(A dragon... I wonder if it looks like the same ones I imagine.)
After Master Lucy left our home, I went to the library as usual, then went to feed myself in the dining room where mum and dad were already installed, being served by Marie. I sat down in my usual place and was served without a word. All the remaining servants including Cooper and Marie were gathered in the large room from which one could feel the heavy atmosphere. Laore broke the silence first.
"We will leave tomorrow morning at dawn to reach the city of Aritlas, any questions or objections?"
Cooper stepped forward and then asked. "No objections of course but one question, what is going on? Were we not supposed to leave in less than two weeks?"
"With the ether wave approaching faster than expected, we must flee as quickly as possible to escape the miserable fate that will befall the people of Shernat who have no means of transport. But you must already know it since the whole town is talking about it and the count himself has already fled. Other questions?"
Cooper returned to his original place and no more words were exchanged during this meal.
…
…
…
A long and repetitive sound of explosion assailed me during my sleep and I had to open my eyes when my door was loudly opened by Marie who seemed to be distraught.
"Hmm? What's going on? It's not day yet."
"Young master! Hurry up! We are attacked by abominations! No time to change, we leave immediately!"
I was carried with an iron fist by Marie to the entrance of the house from where we could observe smoke in the distance as well as brief increases in brightness followed by impact noise. My mother, my father, and all the servants carrying certain boxes of papers joined us.
"Follow us" shouted my mother, who took the lead in the opposite direction of the sounds of explosions.
"We're almost at the paddock, don't give up!"
We finally arrived running in front of a large door where Master Lucy was visibly impatient.
"I was this close to leave without you all."
"Yes of course Lucy, as if you were going to abandon your precious pupil." said Laore satirically.
(Me? Precious?) I thought doubtfully.
"Tss, talk less and get on Gerald" replied Lucy, opening the door of the enclosure with a wave of her hand.
A green, gigantic and majestic animal came out. It was 20 meters long and had wings and a lizard tail. He looked exactly like I imagined a dragon except he had a horn on his forehead.
"What are you waiting for! Take that ladder and go up! They have already crossed the walls!"
Lucy took me in her arms and levitated me up to one of the many saddles installed on the dragon then said a few words of encouragement to him after everyone was settled. Eventually, he took off from the ground and gained height in such a way that it allowed me to observe the purple swarm of abominations in the distance. I also saw huge beasts of various shapes about twenty meters high with deformed faces looking at us.
"May the elements help us! Catastrophes! Some of them have already noticed us and are about to bombard us with spells! Laore prepares a protection spell with me!" Lucy exclaimed.
I stared at the giants without any reaction. I didn't realize it at the time, but I felt a visceral fear for the second time in my two lives. I was probably not used to death yet and was terrified of losing everything again.