Interlude 1
Crystal Mountain
Crystal Mountain Academy had a long tradition of digging deep into the mountain upon which their academy sat, creating an extensive network of tunnels and underground facilities. The place was hard to navigate even for native adepts, and all but impossible to infiltrate by outsiders. Once upon a time this underground complex had been a true underground city, sheltering adepts from attacks by dragons and other powerful magical creatures, which used to assault adeptal strongholds quite often and viewed Crystal mountain Academy with particular ire and greed. However, dragons had become relatively rare in modern times, thanks to being hunted frequently by orcs, and so much of the academy was moved to the surface for more pleasant living and greater convenience. These days, the underground section of the academy was mostly used for special training facilities, as well as secure vaults holding the academy’s more sensitive resources.
In the deepest, most secluded meditation chamber, forbidden from use to anyone except the leader of the Crystal Mountain Academy, there was a man. He sat in the center of the chamber, his eyes closed, taking deep breaths at regular intervals. He was shirtless and barefooted, tall, bearded, and extremely muscular. Any outsider who saw him would likely assume he was one of Crystal Mountain’s warrior adepts, but he was in fact a mage. Crystal Mountain placed greater emphasis on physical fitness than other Great Academies, and their mages were known to be able to take a lot of punishment before being brought down, but even by their standards, this man was out of the ordinary.
The chamber was roughly spherical, and the walls were absolutely covered in multicolored crystals of all sorts. These crystals glowed faintly, and anyone paying close attention would notice the light strengthened and dimmed in a rhythmic manner, synchronized with the man’s breathing. As he inhaled, the crystals lit up. As he exhaled, they dimmed again.
Suddenly, the man’s large, bushy eyebrows twitched, and his breathing stopped. The crystals surrounding him flickered for a moment, and the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the chamber.
The heavy stone door isolating the chamber from the rest of the Crystal Mountain’s underground complex suddenly swung open with a loud, ear-piercing screech and another man rushed into the room. The man was also bearded and relatively fit, but dressed in luxurious finery and not nearly as young. He was in fact quite old, and the fact he was still this healthy and fit in his advanced years was quite impressive in its own way.
“Headmaster Hishur! Headmaster Hishur! You must hear this! We-“
“I told you I was not to be disturbed,” Hishur interrupted, his voice harsh and full of annoyance. His eyes remained closed, and his pose did not change. Other than the movement of his lips, his body remained as still as a stone statue.
Despite being reprimanded by the leader of the Crystal Mountain Academy, the old man seemed unconcerned.
“I’m sorry Headmaster, but this is too important,” the man told him. “We found another student with a crystal affinity.”
Hishur’s eyes immediately snapped open. For a brief moment, his irises glittered with a plethora of colors, appearing as miniature gems, but then the illusion faded and his eyes became dark brown and mundane. He leaned forward expectantly, eager to hear more.
“Truly?” Hishur asked.
“Would I joke about something like this?” the old man said. He walked up to Hishur and handed him a collection of papers, including test results, a background check, and a life-like drawing of the teenager in question. “Have a look.”
Hishur frowned internally at the fairly casual manner the old man was treating him. He had known Elder Tazitta for a long time, but they had never been friends, and Hishur couldn’t help but see it as another proof that his leadership of the Crystal Mountain Academy was somewhat of a farce.
“Just to be clear, this is the same Marcus who stole one of our heritage tablets, yes?” Hishur asked, unable to keep the anger out of his voice.
“He didn’t steal them, Hishur,” Tazitta said carefully. “We lent them to him as thanks for saving us from Thunder Hall’s siege.”
“It was extortion and you know it,” Hishur said. “Our leader had been killed in battle with Thunder Hall’s butchers, our supplies were utterly depleted, and Marcus had his army stationed in the very heart of our academy at the time. We both know that, had the circumstances not been so dire, the Elder Council would not even have considered his request.”
Tazitta looked like he wanted to argue the issue, but in the end he said nothing.
“The boy needs to be closely monitored at all times,” Hishur told Tazzita. “Even if it appears like he has no connections to Marcus, we must not take any chances.”
“Absolutely,” Tazitta said.
Hishur took a deep breath, consciously calming himself down. He was angry, but there was no point in taking it out on Tazzita. Blowing up at his advisors and subordinates over old mistakes wouldn’t do him any favors.
“I am impressed how calmly you’re taking this, old man,” Hishur told Tazitta. “This is quite concerning. The fact Marcus can detect crystal affinity in children means he has internalized a sizeable amount of crystal logos into his spirit. We need to recover that tablet from him as soon as possible, before he is able to ascend to the seventh rank and learn really powerful magic, such as Ebarti’s Crystal Spear.”
Tazitta smiled at Hishur, not bothered at being called an old man. “With all due respect Headmaster, that’s ridiculous. These spells you mention are fiendishly difficult to learn. Only three people in our history managed to do so, and they needed a crystal element affinity and knowledge of closely held secrets that are only passed down verbally from one elder to the next. Even if Marcus manages to reach rank seven in a decade or two, he doesn’t have an affinity for crystal magic. Or any other elemental affinity for that matter. He’s not learning anything except the bare basics of crystal magic.”
“If I remember correctly, the argument for giving him the tablet was that without a crystal affinity, it would be utterly useless to him,” Hishur pointed out. “We both know how that worked out for us. The sooner we get the tablet from him, the better.”
“I probably don’t need to remind you of this, Headmaster, but the academy isn’t exactly in the best shape right now. We can’t afford to get into open conflict with another Great Academy,” Tazitta said. “Gaius, the consul of Great Sea Academy has recently announced that he has advanced to the spirit unification stage, and you are still in spirit manifestation.”
Hishur knew of Gaius’s claim, but he wasn’t sure how much he believed it. Saying you’ve had a breakthrough was easy, but Gaius had never actually showed off his new rank on the battlefield nor made any demonstration. It could very well be that he was lying to put pressure on Great Sea’s enemies. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried that ploy. Although they were in much better position than Crystal Mountain, Great Sea wasn’t doing all that well recently either.
Even if Gaius was telling the truth, ranks weren’t everything. It was entirely possible for an adept of a lower rank to defeat one above them, depending on various factors. Gaius’s rapid advancement was strange, and Hishur suspected there was some kind of catch involved in it. Hishur, meanwhile, was unusually strong for a spirit manifestation adept... and that wasn’t just his pride talking. His skills were tested in countless battles against Thunder Hall’s own spirit adepts, and his victories over them were proof that he was better than most.
He’d be willing to try his luck against a spirit unification mage, if push came to shove.
“I’m close,” Hishur told Tazitta. “I can feel it. Soon, I will also advance to the Spirit Unification stage. Once I do, we’ll go pay Marcus King a visit.”