"What do you mean the blood of the old king? I don't understand," please enlighten me.
He looked around the room. "This might not be the perfect place for demonstration. He tapped his stuff on the floor and a portal appeared inside my room, on the other side of the portal was the Veil Grotto. "Come, young one. Let me show you something." He urged. When we were inside the Grotto, he tapped his stuff on the ground again and the portal closed.
"Blood magic," Menelaus began, his voice echoing slightly in the cavern, "is the rarest and most potent form of magic, a power that comes from the combination of the four major elements. While most mages can summon only the basic forms—fire, water, earth, and air—those who possess the gift of blood magic can combine these basic forms into advance form of magic that commands the laws of nature itself." Menelaus continued, "This type of magic is called Blood Magic because the few gifted with it have a very high concentration of magicules in their blood. This makes their blood highly potent and irresistible to nightcrawlers and other night creatures, the smell of a single drop of blood can make them go crazy and berserk. Night creatures who cannot control their instincts are easier to kill. This is why they were drawn to you, Erik. They can smell your blood from a mile."
What Menelaus said stirred memories of the Fishing Village and my encounter with the shapeshifters. They had hungered for my blood, their eyes glowing with desire that I hadn't fully understood until now.
"We mages are not of a single race; we are mutants of different races, that is why we're the most distinct among the other four great races. At birth, we possessed the right mutated genes to command the elements which others do not have. But those who inherit the blood of the old king are more than just mutants—they are Archmages. Blood magic is the pinnacle of evolution among our kind. You and I, Erik, are Archmages. We are the only ones in the kingdom as far as I know."
Menelaus raised his staff, and the air around us shimmered. "Allow me to demonstrate," he said, with a sweeping motion, he drew symbols in the air with his staff. "For example," he continued, "combining fire and earth creates lava." As he spoke, a stream of molten lava flowed from the tip of his staff, the heat radiating off in ir. The ground sizzled where the lava touched it, and I could feel its intensity even from a distance.
"Wind and water," Menelaus went on, "can be combined to create ice." He swirled his staff, and the air around us grew cold. A gust of wind spiraled around a stream of water, and in an instant, crystalline shards of ice formed, glinting in the dim light of the Grotto.
"Fire and water," he said, his voice rising, "can summon lightning." He pointed his staff towards the ceiling, and a bolt of lightning shot out, illuminating the entire cave.
I was in awe at the sheer power and control Menelaus exhibited. "How did you know I have the blood of the old king?" I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper. "How do you know I'm an Archmage?"
Menelaus looked at me, "Oh, young Erik Lionheart. There is much you still do not know about your lineage. The blood of Old King Roynar flows through your veins, just as it does in mine, that is what you need to know for now. Patience Erik. Patience."
He paused, his gaze distant as if recalling ancient memories. "Old King Roynar was the most powerful Archmage of his time. His mastery of Blood Magic was unparalleled. His strength was legendary that even the Dark King himself considers him an equal. He could command the elements in ways no other could, combining them into forms of magic that seemed almost godlike."
Menelaus lowered his staff, the light from it fading away. "Roynar's reign was a golden age for our kind. But with great power came great enemies. Roynar fought valiantly, during the battle of the races but with Gatekeeper Tarik's demise, even his immense power is not enough to stop the Dark King's advance.
The city was in an imminent risk of being destroyed. In his final act before died, the old king did the most despicable thing a mage can do, he used a forbidden form of magic; the slave magic, which is second to none in evilness and vileness to necromancer magic.
Where Necromancers enslave the dead, the former makes a puppet out of the living. Its effect can only be dispelled upon the death of the caster or the victim. The old king's Blood magic enslaved the giants, men, women, children who have sided with the night king. Nobody knows how he did it, or what combination of elements were needed for the spell to work but desperate times called for desperate measures.
The old king became the manifestation of evil itself in order to fight evil. And so, the barrier magic reinforced wall that we know today was built in exchange of Roynar's life and humanity and the several giants who have died building the wall so we can sleep soundly at night. Ganduana becomes the last hold the dark king has not conquered, and its city prospered. Sometimes one must become evil to fight of a greater evil. As king, he alone shouldered that burden, the five great races could be well spite at him but without his sacrifice there's no city of Eldoria that stands today.