Chapter 01 : Nikolaï Orwood

Twenty-nine years after the War of the Betrayal the peace had settled in The Empire of The Fair One. Common people had returned to a more simple life, working the land, opening shop, hunting… In a word, living ! Instead of fighting their Lord’s political battles.

The time was peaceful, or at least as peaceful as it could be. The Bright Continent was ruled by humans since The War of Liberation but all needed to stay vigilant against the Arcanic beasts and the threat from the West.

Above commoners was rising another caste of people. Coming from the nobilities and the wealthiest, Arcanists were able to wield fantastic powers. They controlled the Ether and bent the elementiums to their will. For the common people, they were as much to be feared that idolized and they rarely mixed with them.

Most of the Arcanists were living and studying in Arcane Towers, spread across the Empire. They all answered to the Emperor but rivalries between Towers was known by everyone. The same rivalry existed inside the tower, the Arcanists were ambitious and greedy for power in all of its forms. Not all of the students of the Arcane became true Arcanist and most were doomed to stay Aspirants all of their lives.

***

In the south of the continent was a small duchy with few villages. The villages occupied a small part of it, close to the border with the neighbouring regions. They avoided living too close to the Tower established here and its “gardens”. The name of the duchy was almost forgotten, the Tower was the only things important in the area and slowly, only its name seemed to matter. Eventually, the region became defined by only one thing : The Tower of Dzurkül.

Villagers never approached the Tower but they had settled on the roads that led to it. Sometimes indicating the way to all kind of travellers and delivery wagons. The building itself was not hard to miss, it was tall as 100 men as the peoples like to say, so as long as you could go on top of a hill you could see it from afar.

This Tower was the living place of almost 300 peoples. Not all of them were students of the Arcane, 30 of them were commoner, working as servants. From the rest of them, only around 50 were true Arcanist, the others were Aspirants wishing to become what their family wanted when they had sent them here. Not all Tower were this big but Dzurkül was not an isolated occurrence. The Tower Master made it that way to have a lot of opening, even for weak family, as long as they could pay.

***

In the Tower of Dzurkül, in the basements reserved for bottom Aspirant was a young man who just had reached his twentiess. His name was Nikolaï Orwood and he was sitting in his room, looking at two pieces of papers on his desk.

Nikolaï had blond hair a bit too long to pretend he had a short haircut but not enough to be described as long. As a child, they had been lighter than that but as he grows they took a more chestnut hue. He had brown eyes that most would have described as common but Nikolaï had never been bereft of charm. Even with his now emaciated features some people still have a weakness for his cheekbones. He was of average height and didn’t really stand out with his half-worn clothes and his shy smile.

He reached for the first of the two papers and read it again. It was a letter from the Tower explaining that his upcoming competence test was scheduled in a month where he would have to show proof of his progress since the last one. The letter also talked about the possibility to postpone the test for 6 months if he paid 16 gold pound.

Nikolaï put the letter back on his desk and massaged his forehead. He already knew his progress was not enough and he started to wonder what possibilities he had. He stood up and opened the chest next to his desk, looking through his possession to see if he had enough to pay to postpone the test. He took out a purse with very few golds and silver coins in it but, as he had guessed, he didn’t have enough to pay.

For a second Nikolaï wondered if he could ask his family but the idea died as quickly as it was born. He was the last of his family, the 5th child, the 3rd son and his father would never invest more than the cost of his enrollment in Dzurkül and the few extras he was sending him yearly.

By selling most of the content of his chest, Nikolaï could cover the cost asked from him but it would be useless. He would end up with a 6-month delay but no more fund to finance his progress.

Nikolaï sighed and put back the two books he had in his hands inside the chest. The first was called First approach to Elementium absorption and talked about the basics of meditation. The second was Arcanist, The craftsman of Ether and it was a much more theoretical book. Nikolaï appreciated the vision of the author even if its philosophy was different from The Tower of Dzurkül.

Nikolaï went back to his desk and picked up the second piece of paper on his desk. It was smaller and looked less official, it was just an offer that he took from the board earlier. The offer was for a job proposed by an Arcanist of the 5th circle, or as they were more commonly called an Expert, and he was looking for volunteers for an experiment. Nikolaï didn’t like the idea of being a guinea pig but his options were limited. In the past, he already did the same kind of thing once, for the same Arcanist, and his Ether has been completely unbalanced afterwards. He had to spend half of the reward to fix it.

Nikolaï didn't’ want to do it but the reward for this time was 30 gold pounds. More than enough to pay for the postpone, heal from the possible small inconveniences and had spare change. Nikolaï struggled for a while but he already knew he was going to accept.

He had been here 3 years and was only an Aspirant of the 1st circle, where most of the people who arrived at the same time as him were gone or had formed their 2nd Rune of Ether and advance to Aspirant of the 2nd circle. It was not that Nikolaï was that much untalented but some of his growth needed more time than others.

The reason was his lack of affinity with a particular elementium. It was not rare or that special but he required differents methods than commons ones. Methods that an Aspirant like Nikolaï could not afford with his budget.

***

A few days later Nikolaï was leaning against the stone wall of the large Tower’s hall, next to one of the stairs on the opposite side of the main door. It was the last days of winter so at least it was nice to not have to wait in the draughts. Nikolaï was not the only one to wait at this rendez-vous. Seven other Aspirants, males and females, were waiting and they were probably as desperate as himself in front of their upcoming test.

Nikolaï didn’t especially know them, he had become more and more withdrawn as the time went from when he arrived at Dzurkül. He recognized some of the Aspirants from the faces he crossed at the library or the dining room but none of their names. Except maybe one, an Aspirant named Seth if he wasn’t wrong but he couldn’t remember his last name. He knew him because he once went on a mission with the guy, if he recalled correctly he used spells from The Incandescent Arcane so he had probably an affinity with the fire elementium.

Nikolaï was pulled out of his reflection by the arrival of a new person. The man was not less than 5 years older than Nikolaï, he had a fit frame and quality clothes which value his athletic body. On his chest, he had a badge, a testimony of his current advancement as an Arcane user. The badge was proof that he was an Arcanist of the 4th circle and the man they were waiting for. Usually, most people didn’t keep their badge constantly at the sight of everyone but the Arcanist didn’t seem to mind showing off in front of mere Aspirant.

“_ Good you are all here.” Said the Arcanist. “I am the Arcanist Julius and I’m the assistant of the Expert Orsana.”

Arcanist Julius looked at the 8 aspirants in front of him like if they were baby or idiot and after a second turned away. He made a sign to follow and led the group to the upper levels of the tower.

The group eventually arrived at its destination after a few stairs and corridors. Arcanist Julius stopped in front of a door and reached for a key in his pocket before opening it. On the other side was a room, two or three times the size of Nikolaï’s one. It looked like something between an office and a library. Few tables were filled with material, books and papers. Same for the shelves on the walls. One table at the other side of the room was less cramped and one man in his forty was looking over something with a younger woman from probably the same age as the Julius fellow.

The Aspirants entered the room and formed a tight crowd next to the door. No one just walks into a laboratory casually, especially the one from an Expert teaching in a Tower. For all of them knew, some pieces of equipment lazily put on those tables was worth much than their lives.

The two people occupying the room finally noticed them or more probably decided to not ignore them anymore. The older one, Arcanist of the 5th circle Orsana (Nikolaï recognized him), seemed to give some kind of instructions to the woman and she left by the door next to them without looking at the Aspirants. The Expert, on the other side, walked to them with a smile.

“_ Good evening to you all.”

The man had kept smiling but his eyes were cold. The Aspirants responded by saluting him the way etiquette required. Elbows against the torso, both hand in front of them, palms facing up and bending enough from the waist while keeping the back straight. They had to stay like this without losing balance until he addressed them again.

Arcanist Orsana took a few seconds, probably because he was the kind of person enjoying the view of people looking at his feet, thought Nikolaï.

“_ I’m the Expert Orsana, as you may know, and today a unique opportunity is given to you. My researches will create a new era for Arcanists, a new way of rising from Aspirant to Arcanist.”

He paused a moment, looking at the effect of his bold declaration but for Nikolaï it was more for a theatrical effect. Some Aspirants didn’t seem as disenchanted as Nikolaï and a spark of curiosity started to brighten in their eyes.

“_ It will be the end of the obsolete meditation method, forcing us to waste our time collecting scrap of elementium to make it ours. With the result of my researches, it’s the elementium that will come to us !”

For a moment, nothing else happened until Assistant Julius started clapping his hand, pushing the Aspirant to do the same. Nikolaï followed the movements not sure what to clap at. It went on for few minutes until Expert Orsana raised his hand to ask for quiet.

“_ Today you will be the first to witness the beginning of this Era and become its testimony. The power that is going to be given to you will push you to the limit of your current potential. With that, you will be able to achieve the Transe to form your 2nd Rune of Ether.”

“_ Is it true ?” Asked an Aspirant filled with hope.

The look on Expert Orsana and Arcanist Julius said very loud that nobody was supposed to talk during his speech. The Aspirants had all understand it the moment they entered the room but the speech had more effect on some than others. Three of them were sceptical in front of the miraculous claim but the rest of them seemed convinced by the fact that such an important man was the one who said them. From this group, one couldn’t contain his excitement and asked the question burning his brain.

Under Expert Orsana’s gaze, the Aspirant looked down.

“_ Do you think my Master will lie ? ” Asked the Arcanist Julius in a cold tone.

“_ Of course not, I didn’t want … I’m terribly sorry.” Panicked the Aspirant before bending in front of the Expert Orsana.

“_ Lower.” Order Arcanist Julius.

The Aspirant lowered his head and his posture. He wouldn’t have to be pushed much more to drop at his knees.

“_ Maybe you don’t deserve my Master magnanimity.”

“_ No need for such a harsh treatment.” Intervened Expert Orsana even if it had already happened. “You have a question, ask !” He added to the Aspirant who barely dared to look at him.

In his head, Nikolaï addressed a thought to the Aspirant : Don’t. It was not just because it could be received as defiance but also because Arcanists didn’t talk freely about their researches. They cultivated secret and snooping was a crime taken very seriously by the Arcanist community.

The Aspirant was panicking and his eyes were moving from left to right like it was searching for a way out.

“_ My apologies Expert Orsana, my words betrayed my surprise that such a wonderful opportunity will be an offer to the simple Aspirant of the 1st circle.” Said the Aspirant humbly.

Arcanist Julius smirked and Nikolaï thought that it was well done. The Aspirant probably didn’t know when to stay quiet but he knew how to save himself.

Expert Orsana nodded lightly, probably to signal that he accepted the apology.

“_ It is true that my process could be of better use on me but my power is already too high to benefit for the actual process and so are my assistants. When you build a tower you start with the basement, not the roof. Now come !”

The Aspirants didn’t dare to add something and just follow him.

***

Ten minutes later the 8 Aspirants were in another room. Sitting on chairs around some kind of machinery. Its bottom part was something like an altar with gems encrusted in it but the top part was more alien to a neophyte. It was attached to the ceiling, just above the altar and was made of long crystals and lenses from all sizes, shapes and colours.

Outside the circle, next to the door, was another altar where the Expert Orsana was with his Assistant Julius and the other woman witch was his second assistant, the Arcanist Amos. She was the one who gave them a potion to drink before sitting them in chairs.

“_ Hey, psst... Orwood, right ?” Said the one on the right side of Nikolaï.

It was Seth and Nikolaï nodded, surprised that the guy remembered him. He was looking at the Arcanists, checking that they didn’t pay attention to them.

“_ Do you think that it will work ?” Whispered Seth.

“_ I don’t know. They always promise the sky but I never heard about one of those experiences delivering.”

“_ My thought exactly.” Responded Seth with a cheeky smile. “As long as they deliver the money it will be a success in my book”.

Nikolaï chuckled a little as an agreement that he felt the same way. He was going to ask what Seth had planned to do with the money but the occasion was swept away by the Expert Orsana addressing to them.

“_ When the dusk comes, the machine will be powered.”

As he talked, the Arcanist Amos came to the altar with a box and from inside took out a crystal the size of a human child head and put it on the altar.

“_ The elementium will go to this Ether Crystal and magnetise your own Ether to absorb the exact portion of elementium you need …”

Nikolaï was only listening with one ear. The Ether Crystal was the thing hogging his attention, it was a very rare object, something defying some of the rules of the Arcane.

Arcanists were known to be able to manipulate two kinds of energy in order to cast spells and create the marvellous things they have done.

The first one was the elementium and it could be found everywhere naturally. In the air, the ground, the water, etc... It was taught to aspirants that 5 kinds of elementium existed and some places had it more than others. It was not hard to find where some of those rich areas were, because it was in places like those that Towers were built.

The second energy that Aspirants needed to master was the Ether. Ether was natural but only exist in living and conscious things. Contrary to elementium, Ether could not exist outside its natural container, it consumes itself and it was the basic principle of creating a spell. The exception being an Ether Crystal which somehow could contain Ether despise the fact that it was not living matter.

Nikolaï didn’t know himself why. The crystals had been studied by a lot of Arcanists but the rarity of the object made the information only available by much higher people than Aspirant like him.

Expert Orsana’s explanation ended while Nikolaï was still asking himself where the crystal came from.

Then a bell rang inside the tower. It was time for dusk and everything was in position.