Aktun Rafal stood in front of Hilda. The red and black uniform of the mage hunter gave Aktun Rafal an imposing and strong aura. He looked at the two of us, his face shocked disgust as he looked at the two of us.
"I don't have time so you need to hurry up and get ready, today will be as unusual as my timing," Aktun Rafal said, "And get this pest out of my face."
"Yes, of course," Hilda jumped into action. She brought me outside where the caretaker of the orphanage was already waiting for Hilda. She took me from her and just nodded.
It was the first time that I saw the situation from an outside perspective, to be honest I am glad that I wasn't forced to watch. The orphanage that was actually always loud and filled with all kinds of noise was silent.
It was creepy. The old caretaker brought me into the dining room. Many of the orphans had gathered here. they either sat in silence or were talking in whispers.
No guards from Rafal were in sight. and I saw that a few of the older girls were terrified beyond masseur. I also saw that only a few of the caretakers were around much less than normally.
I had an Idea what was happening, but only after experiencing the silence and the suppressed rage inside the silent hall had I been sure. I am also sure that everyone reading this is aware of what is happening without me needing to clarify it.
One after another Rafal's men grouped up in the Hallway waiting for their master to reappear. Every guard had a satisfied smile on his face which turned into a stoic expression the second Hilda's door opened.
Aktun Rafal walked out of Hilda's room and left without a word his men followed behind him. I was relentless and rugged the caretaker to take me back to Hilda. At first she tried to calm me down before she had to relent to my persistence.
We found Hilda lying on her bed like always, crying and sobbing. I am still in awe about the fact that Hilda was still able to endure this without growing cold and appatic to her victims.
"Mama" I called out to her until she acknowledged my presence and hugged me tightly. The caretaker left in shame I assume. In her desperation Hilda even began to pray to a god asking for Rafal's timely demise. Unfortunately no God nor Devil listened.
Note: Don't teach your children to pray to god when they are in a pinch. Teach them to overcome their problems. No God will descend from the Sky just to save you. - Source The Might of Twilight.
It took Hilda 3 whole days to recover from this session. She refused to leave her room at all. She also neglected me these days, a clear indicator that she was seriously unwell.
While Rafal was gone his enemies struck. Being part time noble and part time mage hunter was bad for both businesses. After having smoked out some scum a vacuum of power had appeared. With the head gone, the ass started to think.
A rebellious faction appeared in the dark. Their goal was to take over Rafal's position as the boss of his crime empire. I do not think I have to elaborate on how epicly they failed. I will concentrate on the important part.
In their sweet ignorance they thought that Hilda was Rafal's plaything. It made sense and was the first thing that come to mind if someone were to try to investigate the situation any further.
It was by no means obvious that Aktun Rafal was even more diabolic than that.
They thought that by killing his 'whore' it would be so painful for him, that he had to resign from being the boss. After all he protected the orphanage like his crown jewels.
So on an unassuming day without any indication or forewarning Hilda collapsed and began convulsing on the floor. Fortunately we weren't alone in our room but in the dining hall.
After Hilda collapsed half the orphanage surged on the few square meters that surrounded us. Among these noises, the voices, and the emotions I fell into a state of panic.
Hilda had been poisoned, I was sure she was going to die. After a span of time, that I am unable to define, Lina and another woman entered the orphanage.
Lina instantly began to mumble incantations of Healing magic. Her eyes and her hands began to glow in a beautiful golden light. A look of concern and fear appeared on her face before she turned towards the woman that came with her.
"Master, please. I can not save her. My magic isn't powerful enough to cleanse the poison and the curse at the same time. You need to save her." her voice was shrill and filled with desperation.
The priestess frowned at the emotional outbreak of her young student in astonishment. For her it was more important that Lina had the skill to identify the presence of a poison and a curse at the same time.
The priestess began to chant in the old language of magic, the name of the language has been lost long ago. Maybe it is better that way.
The hands of the priestess began to glow white as she pressed her hand onto Hilda's heart. The light around her hand began to flicker as it darkened into gray before it condensed into a drop of sinister black liquid that the Priestess caught immediately in a crystal container that she summoned from her space ring.
After Lina checked up Hilda once again. After she found her cured from her alignments she walked up to me and cast a small healing spell on me.
"Don't worry Thorus, everything will be fine. Your mother will be fine in no time let her sleep and tomorrow she will wake up as if nothing ever happened." Lina tried to reassure me.
"Not quite…" the priestess said to Lina, "She will be alright but she will feel sick for some days. I cleansed the curse on her but I only got around 98% of the poison. Her body will need time to cleanse the remains."
Lina's healing spell took effect and suddenly everything was filled with strange lights. I felt like something was waking up inside of me. More accurately it felt like someone had poked a sleeping Monster that roared angrily, before turning around to continue sleeping.
My body was shaking. The world around me began to change. Lina was suddenly emitting a golden light that I had never seen before. The priestess was similar but her light was lighter more in the direction of white.
Hilda, who was sleeping peacefully in her bed after she was healed, was also surrounded by this strange light. Her's was multicolored and fluctuated between several colors. The most intense was green, which was also the only one that was stable, followed by red, blue and white, purple, black, Yellow, and gold. These colors were rushing all over Hilda's body as if they were searching their rightful place.
Confused, I looked down on myself, I found the same light but my light was golden on one side and black on the other, on the fringes were the golden and the black light met the color was fluctuating, changing color continuously.
After long years of studying I found out what the colors mean. If you have a light that means you have a magic affinity. The color represents the element. Generally Gold means Light. Black means Darkness. Red is Fire. Blue is Water. White is Ice. Green is Wind. Purple is Lightning. Yellow is Earth. At least this holds true for single element mages. People with special affinity or multiple affinities tend to defy this rule.
While I am at it, let me introduce the current ranking system for mages.
The magic affinities are ranked from minor over low level, mid level, high level to absolute. The highest known form of talent is a dominating affinity. This information wasn't common knowledge and only the most prestigious know about this kind of talent.
Mages are ranked from F-Class to A-Class, crowned by the S-Class Mages. Any F-Class Mage is roughly at the power of an D-Class Adventurer, just for comparison.
If you talk with the stupid and the conceited you will come across the term G-Class Mage. This is the insult Mages came up with for magicless people. Don't use this, it is insulting your own intelligence. Why would anyone call a magicless person a Mage.
The Average Mage reaches D-Class or C-Class at best. To become a B-Class mage you need a high level affinity or a mid level affinity with enormous potential and talent. If you want to be an A-Class Mage you need an absolute affinity. Exceptions are people with multiple affinities. Most of them reach B-Class, but some don't.