Cold sweat beaded his forehead as he heard the voice of the grand mage behind him.
"Move, and you get blasted to pieces. Got it?" Her tone was low and threatening.
Alaric slowly nodded.
"What is your name?" He felt the stave dig deeper into his flesh when she asked. Alaric stuttered: "A-alaric."
He could now feel her breathing on the nape of his neck, her hot breath tickling him. "Make no mistake, one wrong move and I will kill you. What is your purpose here?" Alaric's voice held steady, despite fear welling up in his heart. "I know you feel threatened, but-"
The stave in his back began to feel warm.
"Okay. Fine. I was out practising magic, and I happened to stumble upon your enclave. That's all. Seriously." Alaric's face had a mixed expression of fear and curiosity, his eyes wide with the slightest hint of fear.
The stave left his back and Alaric heaved a sigh of relief. Then, everything went dark.
Alaric woke up to his limbs bound and his eyes blindfolded, feeling the tough ropes dig fiercely into his flesh. Different from the grandmaster's voice, it was husky and more playful, like it had been that of a predator playing with its prey.
"I'm telling the truth! It's really what I was up to!" Alaric exclaimed, hoping his captors were kind to his plight. "I'm really just a person who was interested in the enclave that I saw in the middle of a forest." Her voice, smooth like butter and as dangerous as poison, seemed to seep into his ears like a cobra, reaching deep into the wells of his soul.
"Really? Are you being honest with me, boy?" Her gloved finger grazed his chin and tilted his face to meet her eyes. Alaric fell into an unconscious state, his hands that were resisting so strongly previously, drooped to the sides of his body and seemed to have no semblance of control over his body.
(POV Change)
"Hmm... interesting. Alaric might be useful. Aurelia might be grumpy these days, but I know she's killing for a talented mage these days," Elena couldn't help but giggle when she saw his sleeping face.
Then, an explosion of mana burst forth from his body, manifesting the shape of a star.
"This isn't though. What on Elysium is this?" Aurelia burst into the tent, followed by an entourage of mages, flustered.
Aurelia's face was stern and tense. "Tell me the situation."
"I... don't know either. I simply tried to coax the information out of him with a basic tier three hypnosis spell, but nothing of the sort that would do any irreversible damage to him. Then, this happened."
The star transformed into a humanoid figure, with angelic wings that spanned about 2 arms length on each side, with a halo adorning its head. "An archangel? Descending on Earth as an advent! This hasn't happened in centuries!"
An almost imperceptibly heavenly voice spoke. The undecipherable words of another realm that were uttered were gibberish to all but Aurelia. Upon finishing those words, the archangel bowed its head and vanished in a cloud of sparkles.
Mages spoke among themselves in speculation as to what the archangel had said.
Aurelia beckoned for everyone to leave the tent, except for Elena. "The fate of Elysium may be sealed," Elena's expression soured. "However, a powerful force of fate has been bestowed upon us to prevent this hegemony of evil, of chaos and of disorder."
"This world is not due a calamity yet, is what the archangel said. It was not an advent, where archangels had to carry out divine intervention to prevent the rise of the shadows centuries ago."
She turned her back to Alaric and Elena, her cloak swishing in the cold air. "We must make haste. A most ancient evil is brewing."
(POV Change back)
With a terrible migraine, Alaric awoke in a domain of pitch black, shadows and darkness clinging to him like pests. An imposing figure in the distance raised his fist, with it, he raised millions.
A creaky and hollow voice resounded in the nightmarish forest. "Are you ready?"
Alaric lunged forward from the bed, his rest perturbed and his hair matted with sweat. He panted deeply, like he did on the first nightmare he had. Alaric realized he was still in the camp of the enclave of the mages.
"Wake-y, wake-y, sleepy head~ you look really vulnerable when you're asleep, you know?" Alaric turned his head. She was taller than him, her long locks of brown hair running down her full chest, her white robes outfitted rather stylishly with various gold buttons and pins, a red cloak draped over her shoulders.
"Hmm, you seem a little shocked. Do you know who I am? I'm the big bad wolf who caught you in yesterday's... session. Guessing from your puzzled expression, I'm assuming no. Well, let me fill you in on some details. I'm Elena Shadowthorne. Nice to meet you." An outstretched hand met his gaze, to which he promptly shook.
"Now that introductions are over, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?" After a few minutes, Alaric was more or less informed of the situation he was in. Alaric remained silent for a bit, before asking.
"As we know, Elysium hasn't been... the most stable in centuries. And now, amidst the industrial shift and various conflicts, we have a powerful enemy arising from the depths of darkness?"
"Correction: extremely powerful enemy." Elena met his response with a grin. "However, my good friend, Aurelia feels that you are the key to this problem. So, fret not. I will be your personal mentor until you grasp the basics of wizardry."
"Thanks. I'm sure I'll catch on real fast to all this... hero fighting villain stuff." Alaric said as he trailed off. His heart beat especially fast when he realised that he was now going to be a mage. "Does that mean the grand mage accepted me as an apprentice?" His excitement was skyrocketing through the roof.
Elena nodded, then walked out of the tent. "We'll meet at the campfire at dawn. Make yourself useful until then. Clean, cook or just study a little. We'll begin your officiation later on."
Alaric could hardly believe his ears. He had finally been inducted into a real family of magus.