Entering the laboratory, Elam was enveloped by a disgusting smell. Swiftly covering his nose, he saw a man in a lab coat approach him. He had a strange see through mask on his mouth and nose. There were tubes connected to the mask that ran to his back where he was carrying a strange tube that looked to be made of the same material as the room.
"Sir, there's been a few issues with an experiment, if you're here to pick up something tell me your code, and I'll get it for you.", he spoke clearly even though his mouth was covered, which surprised Elam at first.
"No, I'm here to talk to the head professor."
"Oh, he's busy at the moment, would you mind showing me your clearance level?"
"Uh...", Elam knew he had a certain clearance level that had access to certain information, but he never really used it. He never bothered to attend one of the mandatory meetings or monthly reviews, so he had to remember what his level even was.
After scratching his head and thinking it through he found what his level was.
"Ah, I have a level 3 security clearance.", Elam was proud of himself, he remembered something he hadn't used in ages. The man however stood there with a confused look on his face, it was standard for the person to take out their identification to prove their claims.
"Sir? Don't you have your chip with you?"
"Ship? Why would I bring a boat with me?"
Both the man in the lab coat as Elam had an incredulous look on their faces. There was clearly some miscommunication, but neither wanted to bring it up. The man was wondering if their facility got breached, but then the receptionist would've already sounded the alarm.
"Sam? Do you still have the results of the #Z1685 experiment?", the head professor came to their rescue.
"I'll immediately go look for them sir, this man has just arrived and wanted to speak to you. Do you know him?"
"Yes, I'll take it from here.", and with that Sam left. The professor brought Elam to a room that didn't contain that horrible smell, relieving Elam's nose.
"What have you come here for now, Elam?"
"I have a bunch of herbs, but I don't know what they do.", Elam was straight to the point, not caring for any formalities.
"So? Bring them to the receptionist, he..."
"I need to know what they can do by the end of this day. I'm in a bit of a hurry.", his voice was a bit drowsy like always, but the professor could tell he was being serious. Grabbing the bag he spilled the contest across the table.
"I'm not an alchemist, so I can't give you the exact details for every plant here, if only someone followed the procedure."
The professor conjured a few spells, but they didn't touch the plants, so Elam couldn't really tell what he was doing. Opening his eyes only revealed that the plants contained magical properties, but his eyes couldn't see further than that, the light that the professor gave off was too blinding for Elam.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blind you. You should've told me that..."
"It's fine, continue your work.", the professor was stubborn, but not emotionless. He knew of Elam's past and mistake, making him sympathize with him.
Elam turned around and took a seat. With his pained eyes closed he couldn't help but reminiscence. He was responsible for bringing in saplings that could turn out to become heirs. With his training and powers he found plenty of students that were very promising. After months of behind the scenes work he thought he found the perfect sapling.
Things didn't work out the way he wanted to, during the inheritance procedure he had to watch as his most beloved student got tortured to death. Nothing they did to save him worked. Losing his precious student took a toll on Elam.
To make amends he volunteered his own body to experiment on. His sacrifice wasn't in vain since they were able to create a technique that could see through anything magical, but it came at a cost. Elam's eyes were in a permanent state of that technique. Every time he opened his eyes, he would see the world purely from a magical perspective.
If Magic Vision was used to simply pry into the magical world, the new technique was a hundred times better. Sadly, Elam's eyes were in a state beyond recovery. Only recently did his organization find a way to reverse it, but Elam wanted it to stay.
For him, it was a scar that wasn't meant to heal, a beacon of his mistakes that should haunt him for the eons to come. Even if he did eventually find a suitable heir, he felt that his past mistakes shouldn't be so easily forgotten.
The professor's clothes were basically magical equipment, blinding Elam if he dared to look. Luckily, Elam was strong enough that his willpower was enough to see the world around him.
The professor seemed to be finished as he put the herbs back into the bag and went to the nearby wall. Inside the wall was the same strange box that the receptionist had. He tapped on the strange board and not long after papers were being pushed out of a different box. Slowly the professor collected the pages as they came through.
The professor bundled them together before returning to Elam.
"Elam, I do have a question, I find it hard to believe you collected these low level herbs? Where did you get these?"
"Oh, the new heir got them from a competition."
"Ah, Lucas got them? I guess he's doing pretty well then, although I haven't heard of the results yet, guess I'll be informed at the next plenary meeting."
"Lucas?"
"What? Lucas? You know, the new heir's name? Wait, did you not read the report?"
"Never mind, what do these herbs do?"
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In Elam's cabin on the Sabertooth mountain Lucas was surrounded by dusty books. After realizing that most of his ideas weren't practical, and he couldn't go outside yet, he got a bit bored.
Scouring the cabin he found a bookshelf filled with books Elam probably never touched. The amount of dust was so immense he could see different layers. He was reminded of his time in the library back in the mansion, and felt it was time to clean this up as well.
After dusting most things away, he started to read the books. Some were about basic teaching around history or etiquette, something that Lucas didn't even bother to open. Others were more interesting, like the ones about monsters and their biology.
Most of them had some practical use, giving Lucas peace of mind. He couldn't classify his studies as proper research since most of the information was quite broad. It did provide him with new insights on how the world worked, which was something.
Not long after did Elam return from school. He had a bundle of papers in his hand, which wasn't that strange, the thing that was abnormal was the fact that the papers he held were perfectly white and formatted.
"I'm back, this is what I found, what you do with it is your choice.", Elam handed Lucas the papers before lying back in his couch.
"Have you been using my couch?"
"Uh..", Lucas was surprised by Elam's awareness. He even tried leaving it behind as he found it, but Elam still noticed it. Although he gave the remark, he turned once and went to dreamland.
'He must've been working hard to fall asleep so quickly.'
'Nah, he's just lazy.'
Looking over the papers he didn't understand something. All the words were perfectly placed next to each other, they all had the exact same form and when he focussed he could see that the words were made of extremely tiny squares. He just assumed it had to do something with mixing magic with ink.
His eyes didn't really focus on any paragraph or page, he just quickly flipped them a bit before laying them on the coffee, or rather, tea table. His eyes were a bit tired, and while it was very easy to fix, he would rather focus the work he left unfinished.
"Elam, would it be possible to do our training right now?"
Even though he had only just gone to sleep, he was wide awake seconds after Lucas asked him.
"I don't mind, we can do it outside if you don't mind laying in the cold snow."
"No, not an issue."
"Great, but before I do so, what's your name? I've gotten tired of referring to you as boy and student. People are always pushy when I don't give a name."
While Elam wasn't lying, the amount of people he had to talk to on a daily basis was so low that it wasn't the best excuse. In fact, the scenario he talked about only occurred once, but Elam wanted to see if Lucas trusted him as much as he trusted Lucas.
Lucas had a short debate inside his head before stretching out his hand to Elam to get him out of the couch.
"Lucas, my name is Lucas."
Both Elam and Lucas smiled happily, Elam's smile felt a lot more genuine than before.
"Great, let's get to it then shall we?", he grabbed Lucas's hand and got up. To Lucas, it felt like Elam was getting more energetic lately. He volunteered to research the herbs and was willing to oversee another training.
Leaving the warm secure space that was Elam's cabin, the cold snowstorm enveloped both of them. Lucas had mostly gotten used to it, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
Elam conjured a few spells to create an aura of heat to stay warm.
"So, you ready?"
Lucas chose a spot outside of Elam's bubble and laid down to spare himself the pain from the sudden pressure change. Like he expected the sudden change in pressure really was hurtful, yet after that exposure the pain faded away. He had been under this pressure for such a long time that it wasn't as hurtful.
His immobility was still very present, but the pain his body felt by pushing all his organs and bones to the ground dissipated.
Just as Lucas was about to focus on his Mental Sphere again, he suddenly got cold.
'Huh? I thought we weren't impacted by the cold anymore?'
'Since when do you think a blizzard is a mere breeze?'
'What?'
'Hahaha it seems you're focussed too much on the outside world, take a look in our body.'
Part of Lucas didn't fully grasp what was happening, after closer inspection he found traces of magic inside his body being suppressed by Elam's aura.
'At first we always consciously used magic to heat our body up, so much so that the core started to see it as a habit and has been doing it spontaneously. It doesn't use up too much energy, so you don't notice it, do you?'
'Dammit, we should've stayed in his bubble then.'
'No, this is perfect.'
'Why?'
'Already forgotten? We're going to finish our rune right? We'll need our strongest emotions and the cold can definitely help out.'
Agreeing with himself for once, Lucas tried his best to enter his meditative state again. The pressure was certainly hindering that process, the snow wasn't of any help either. It kept falling on him, but due to his body heat, some of it turned into extremely cold water. Besides, the pressure was also affecting the snow to form a blanket of ice on top of him. Elam made sure Lucas could still breath, but the cold really got to him.
After being buried in a tomb of compressed snow and ice, Lucas was finally able to reach his Mental Sphere. Once more, the blood moon had an overwhelming presence, it felt suffocating, more than the snow that kept building on top of him.
Looking at his own creation, Lucas was scared to continue. The mysterious unknown has always been horrifying, hence he always planned and researched as much as possible to not fall into this unknown.
With this one impulsive idea he started something he wasn't even sure if it would work. In the end he could've just created a bunch of scratches in his dome for no reason at all. Still, it wasn't as if he had the chance to stop now, the damage was done. It would be more cost-effective to finish the experiment. If things went awry, he still had a tiny bit of the salve to patch up some cracks.
Lucas started his work, he only needed a few more lines before the rune was finished. His heartbeat increased, and he felt his body producing adrenaline. He wasn't only mentally awaiting the creation, his whole body felt like it was trembling.
Touching the rune felt like touching an old wound that had just barely healed, since the salve only healed up the unintended broken parts. The runes already contained meaning the moment they were engraved, making the salve not healing them. The meaning just had to be completed.
The moment his finger connected the last two lines his entire dome started to heavily shake. Something in his mind had a breakthrough, Lucas wasn't pushed out of the dome, but he started to wish for it. All the images on the wall reflected the scenes when the Scarlet Moon first appeared, but now they felt alive. Out of the walls came the monsters he had been so scared of. He was back in his village as the young and naive boy he once was.
The people running from one end to another, the smoke and soot came back. The smell of burning blood and the horrific screaming of the people being eaten alive all felt like it was happening right in front of him. The only thing keeping Lucas in reality was the fact that none of the monsters attacked him. He was just a spectator to the absolute carnage around him.
The smell of iron and all the loud noises around him started to mix with the fire that slowly burned everything to the ground.
"Marie!"
He lost his cool when he saw his family being picked apart by the monsters. Especially Marie who was being eaten alive by the crow-like monsters. Seeing her scream while her eyeballs were being consumed and her stomach was wide open made Lucas furious.
He ran to her and punched the crows away, but this was all a memory, he couldn't change anything. The crows chewed on her guts while others grossly swallowed parts of her flesh. When Lucas thought it couldn't possibly get worse, he saw Marie exit the church. This time she was chased by a Steel Spider.
Without escape the monster's legs penetrated her chest and leg. Her lifeless body hung from the arachnids legs as it started to chew on her head.
Out of nowhere he could hear her scream as she was under a collapsed building this time. The building caught fire and was slowly burning Marie alive.
Lucas could only watch and see everyone be slaughtered again and again. The moment they died, they would run out of the dome's walls again to start the cat and mouse game with the monsters again.
In an endless scene of blood and fire, Lucas started to lose all reason. The angrier he got, the more influence he had on the memory. His anger and sadness turned into a blend of despair and rage. With this transition he started to kill all the monsters he found, since it was all a memory, his emotions made him overwrite it. With pure physical strength he imagined himself brutally slaughtering all the monsters instead. The battle was never ending.
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Elam was staying in his bubble of gentle warmth. The barrier blocked the snow and warmed up the inside. With a chair made of smooth stone, Elam tried to make himself comfortable, but even if the stone was smooth, it didn't help much. It was too hard for Elam's tastes.
'Ah, I need that blanket, should I go get it? But then I'll have to stand up...'
While he was contemplating his difficult dilemma, he made sure to keep an eye on Lucas. A mage isn't bound to the conventional needs of a human being, but air is still quite useful. He needed to make sure that his mouth had access to the outside, so he made an occasional wind carry the snow away from his mouth.
'He's growing faster than I had thought, at first he could barely breathe, now he can meditate in the middle of training?'
Elam let out a small laugh before inspecting Lucas again.
'I probably should've been honest with him in the beginning. To make the goal to move under pressure of a Rank above you is asking for the impossible. Especially since I don't bother to hold back.'
Elam was a late stage Rank 2 mage, his aura was powerful enough to hinder weaker Rank 2 mages, so tasking Lucas to move under such a pressure was simply rude or sadistic.
'As long as he is capable of understanding that fighting under pressure is impossible we've accomplished half of our goal. The only thing left is to hide his own presence in order to not fall under that pressure in the first place, and he'll never be captured. After all pressure is created through willpower, and that willpower first needs to find you before it can capture you.'
Elam thought it would still take quite some time before Lucas would've noticed the goal of the exercise, luckily Elam had plenty of patience. The only thing that nagged him was the fact that there might not have been enough time to complete it.
"Hmm?", Elam felt his own pressure being pushed aside. Hastily seeking the source he found it under a pile of compressed snow.
"What in the?", Elam couldn't see with his eyes, so the only thing he had was his own willpower, the moment it depleted he would be blind. Using his willpower he could see, or more accurately sense, a competing pressure in the storm.
His own willpower was being pushed aside by a bloody red aura that seemed to sprout tentacles to cover more ground and put more of the surroundings under its oppressive aura. The bloodlust and rage the aura dispersed felt suffocating, even he started to feel fear.
Elam felt like the entire area around Lucas was starting to turn into dark red colors, the pressure Lucas was emanating wasn't meant to come from a Rank 1 mage, that was impossible!
"Oh Lord, your True Heir has truly been born!", Elam started to laugh hysterically, his own Rank 2 pressure was being pushed away by someone below him. It wasn't enough to overwhelm him, but if Lucas was capable of that then he would break all magical laws. The cold sweat on Elam's back said enough about the powerful aura.
Elam watched as Lucas got up from the snow, his movements were slow but calculated, and that's when he noticed.
"Lucas! Do you hear me!?", the storm and the competing pressure were making the chaos around them even more chaotic. His words didn't reach Lucas, what Elam saw was a face filled with fury, rage and tears. Elam didn't know what was happening, but he knew for sure that the magic world was in for a storm. A smile couldn't leave his face.