As Altair left Element Theory, he kept going over what he had just learned. Having a deeper understanding of the Elements had proved to be quite useful, though Mr Ascarte hadn't touched on the properties of Nether, Ether, Divinity and Aether. According to him, the curriculum only covers those four types of Mana in the 2nd semester.
Altair had been most impressed by the Cosmic and Soul Affinities that the teacher had mentioned. The former impressed him because of how intense the rumours were, even though no one had actually confirmed whether the Affinity even existed in the first place. On that note, where did these rumours and understanding of Cosmic powers come from, if there was no examples of it...?
The Soul Affinity also caught Altair's attention by the sheer number of applications it possessed. It was also bizarrely unique too, since it could access the domain of other Elements. For example, Mr Astarte's explanation on Teleportation.
'Now, the various Skills of spatial movement do indeed use a Space Affinity. However, a Soul user can also use this Skill, though to a lesser extent. It is believed the user manages this by projecting their soul, rather than their matter, to a different point on Orvonia through some strange dimension. While Teleporting changes your position by moving laterally on the same plane, Soul movement allows the user to phase into an entirely different layer of reality and pop up elsewhere from there.'
'Soul can accomplish other feats in a similar way, such as Telekinesis and Telepathy. The former is done by gripping things with their soul rather than the powers of Space, while the latter is connecting your soul to someone else and transferring data through that. Oh yes, the "Invisibility" of the Soul Element is in fact just entering that dimension you use for Teleportation, and staying there instead of moving. A such, it is more of a "Stasis" Skill than Invisibility.'
Another fact that caught Altair's attention was the sheer number of Authorities held by the Almighty Primordial. "He" seemed to possess almost all Affinities in Orvonia except for a select few that were held by the Evil Gods at the time such as Darkness, Poison and Death.
'"He" held all the Primal Elements, and more than half of the Advanced and Ultimate Affinities too...No wonder "He" is called the Almighty Primordial. He was likely bordering omniscient and omnipotent, and "He" did indeed control the most primordial of Elements.'
Element Theory had been the last class for today, so Altair was free to return home or explore the campus. He was stuck between returning to the apartment he shared with his sister or going out of his own. Elizabeth had already excused herself after class ended, so he didn't ask her if they wanted to explore together. After a minute or two of indecision, he was broken out of his stupor by someone slinging their arm over his shoulder.
"Why the frown Altair? Having troubles with a lady friend? Perhaps you're sad or disappointed that Ms Tortaga isn't here to keep you company? That's not good my friend, you shouldn't become so emotionally dependant on a lady you just met a few hours ago!"
Alexander Legendry grinned at Altair as he invaded his personal space. His arm was casually slung over Altair's shoulder, like it owned it, and Alexander was far too close for comfort. While a few select people wouldn't mind such closeness with a dazzling lad like Alexander, Altair unfortunately didn't swing that way.
'Or do I? This body is still far off from puberty and sexual hormones, so I actually don't know my orientation...I'll just assume I'm heterosexual for now until I get proof of otherwise.'
Altair was shaken out of his thoughts for a second time by Alexander, who was grinning at him with a strange glint in his eyes. Seeing this, Altair sighed and put up his guard, though he felt is was a bit too late for that at this stage. "What do you want, Alexander?"
The boy stretched his grin wider at this semi-hostile tone in Altair's voice before shrugging his shoulders. "Oh not much, I just saw you standing here all mellow-like and thought you could use a friend to converse with. Say, I'm currently free myself and was thinking about shaking Sky Cross down for some juicy secrets. Wanna join in the fun?"
At Alexander's offer, Altair narrowed his eyes as he contemplated whether to take it or not. On one hand, this golden-eyed boy was clearly suspicious. If he wore a space suit, he would be called out and sent into the vacuum of space instantly. And he wouldn't even need for his suit to be red for it to happen.
On the other hand, continuously ignoring him would likely cause Alexander to take more drastic action at some point. Plus, Alexander was only suspicious. Altair's gut felt no threat to his life from his classmate, just a reminder to be wary. After a short pause complementary to his high Intelligence Stat and thought process, Altair nodded and removed Alexander's arm from around his shoulder. "Sure, two heads re better than one after all" he accepted.
Alexander beamed at him and began to stroll down the corridor. "In that case, let's head to the Academy park in the centre of the grounds. I believe it had the complete map of the campus and even some information on the outer city too. Should be a good start for our little journey."
And so the duo, formed mainly on the over-eager persistence of Alexander, set out to explore what would be their abode for the next few years at the very least. Yet while Altair was struggling to decipher the motive of his self-proclaimed "buddy", someone else was fighting as much harsher battle in a far-away place.
.............................
Lightning struck with a roaring fury, the calamitous streak of light illuminating the scorched and bloodied earth. What had once been a vibrant and plentiful mix of grasslands and a forest had been razed to the ground and the once fertile earth had been gouged and scoured. What destructive force had torn through the area, one could only guess. Yet one did not actually need to guess, since the culprits could still be seen, causing even more carnage by the second.
A second lightning strike revealed the collection of corpses that were scattered across the battlefield. Close to two dozen men and women lay in mangled piles, blood pooling around them, innards mushed, bones crushed and organs exposed. The damage dealt to the land has also been inflicted on these humans, though they had taken it far worse.
If you looked closely, you could differentiate between two groups: some of the corpses had an emblem of a turquoise-green swirl that rose like a tornado on a background of flames. The carriers of this symbol wore red armour and seemed more equipped for combat than the other group.
Said group wore blood-red robes can covered every inch of skin, and most were still wearing a hood that covered their faces even in death. These corpses had no armour, and all held the same golden dagger. On their chest was an upside-down pyramid with an eye that cried blood, which emitted an aura of death and rust even now.
A third bolt revealed two figures that were still alive, the only ones still alive, engaged in a brutal struggle. One was a figure that wore the same robes as the second group, their golden dagger flashing faster than the eye could follow as it sought to enter the flesh of its opponent, The other figure was a strikingly beautiful woman with long, flaming red hair and deep purple eyes.
With a flick of her wrist, the woman created a tornado of air and blasted the robed figure with it, blasting them back and into the ground. Yet despite knocking her enemy out of the sky, the woman only grit her teeth and gasped for breath.
'God fucking damnit' Raphaniel thought, as the smoke cleared and revealed her opponent standing almost perfectly unharmed. The blow had knocked of their hood at least, revealing a head of auburn hair and emotionless orange eyes. The man looked up at Raphaniel and frowned as he glanced over the pile of his dead subordinates.
"How did you find us?" he questioned. "I was sure that we had covered our tracks, and we took great care when gathering sacrifices for our Lord. Yet, you somehow followed out traces all the way out here. Did you seriously employ the service of an Oracle?"
The man did not change his expression or tone of voice once while he conversed with Raphaniel. Everything, from his pallid skin to his blank eyes, gave the impression that this man in front of her was already dead. And indeed he was.
"Albert Freydi. I, Raphaniel Eula Atrazark, charge you with murder, arson, kidnapping, human sacrifices and proselytising the faith of the God of Blood. With the power entrusted to me by his Imperial Majesty King Harold Augustus II and the God of Truth, I herby sentence you to death. Effective immediately."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Raphaniel released the spell she had secretly been forming. The air surrounding Albert rapidly condensed into clouds, forming chains that quickly bound themselves to all his limbs. After he was immobilised, Raphaniel pointed her palm at him and began to chant.
[ᛒᚱᛖᚦ ᛟᚠ ᚹᛁᚾᛞ, ᚺᛖᛖᛞ ᛗᛁ ᚲᚨᛚᛚ]
As the strange sounds left her mouth, Raphaniel closed her eyes to focus. She continued chanting several more voices in the same language as Albert looked up at her impassively, unbothered by the forming spell or constraints imposed on him.
[ᛚᛟᚱᛞ ᛟᚠ ᛏᚱᚢᚦ, ᛗᛖᛊᚢᚱᛖ ᚦᛁᛊ ᛗᛟᚱᛏᚨᛚ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛒᛖᛊᛏᛟᚹ ᛁᛟᚢᚱ ᛃᚢᛞᚷᛖᛗᛖᚾᛏ!]
In a radius of several hundred metres, all the air suddenly grew heavier. Anything still alive would struggle to breath, like the oxygen had just became ten times as heavy. And that wouldn't be far from what was happening right now. Raphaniel panted heavily as she looked down at Albert, sweat dripping from her forehead. Clearly, that spell had taken a lot out of her, but she was confidant that it would finish off the cultist below here.
Yet even as the air seemed to stretch like a spring, ready to unleash itself at him, Albert remained clam. From the depths of his eyes a sea of blood flowed and began to bubble. His skin rapidly turned paler that it was and then began to thin out. His cheekbones became visible and Albert transition from looking like a half-zombie to a half-skeleton instead. But despite his physical frailty, Albert's aura surged and blossomed to new heights.
Sensing this change, Raphaniel hurriedly swiped downwards, unleashing her spell straight at him. At the same time, the blood sea within Albert's eyes rose up and surged out of them, exploding into reality. As a thundering mass of compressed air hit him like a cannon, Albert exploded in a pool of blood. Yet once the blood made contact with the air cannon, it passed right through it. The air cannon struck the ground Albert had stood on instead, burrowing a brand new crater.
The blood quickly gathered and reformed into the figure of a gaunt and corpse-like man with orange auburn hair and eyes that glowed a menacing red. Within his mouth, four razor-sharp teeth glistened with saliva as he met Raphaniel's eyes. Opening his mouth, Albert rasped in a croaky voice.
"You have forced my hand, little girl."