by Zac Atie
”Oh, not at all.” Veronica hissed, calming down. “I found the damned portal site. He said he’d send my identification and asked the council of rhenium to accompany me to confirm it!”
”What’s so bad about that?” Bastion asked.
”The Rhenium is the largest and most richest Magi settlement in the UK, and it’s in Canterbury. Bear in mind that the Blue and Red Magi war is practically exclusive to the UK, with the exception of some settlements trying to convert others to their side in France and the USA.” She ranted. “Rhenium is neutral, and brings the leaders of the blue and red settlements together for agreement. When they find the portal, they’ll ask Dante for help! You can’t simply ask the madman for help! We have to take his blood by force!”
”Why? Perhaps an alliance will stop the hatred between the two of you… I mean, it’s not good to live on in hatred of your neighbours.” Bastion said
”Never knew you were so lawful and good about people.” Veronica hissed “You don’t understand. The Blue Magi are savage bastards. When you meet one, you’ll understand.”
”I highly doubt they’re all like that…” Bastion said.
”Our mission is to ask for medical supplies and technology, and come back to earth to stay. We don’t want anything to do with the Cazrians, but the medical knowledge could help save lives here. A cure for cancer, and far worse.”
”You don’t think Dante will leave it at that?” Bastion asked.
”No. He’ll want more, and he won’t be satisfied.” Veronica said. “I don’t know what he’ll do… take over the portal site, convert humans to Mages? Who knows…”
”I don’t know enough about the Blue Magi to comment…” Bastion said. “But if you’re telling the truth, it sounds like they’re not to be trusted and will put us in danger…”
”They will. Trust me.” Veronica said, features of her face softening to an honest, serious look. “If Dante finds out about the portal site, he’ll... I don’t know. It won’t be good.” Bastion thought it was rather rich that Veronica would ask him to trust her, after reading the passage about the Arcana. He thought he should probably bring it up, but he ended up figuring that doing that wouldn’t be so smart, since she was the only person that he actually knew in the whole village. She then began to take off her clothes, saying that she was going to bed, and Bastion shut the door for her. “I suppose I should.. And... thanks for cleaning the house...” Veronica mumbled, though Bastion was out of reach to hear her.
Chapter Five – A test of lineage
Sebastian Slater
Bastion got up in the morning, though this time it was he who woke himself up as opposed to waking to the ranting of a raging Veronica. He didn’t really have any spare clothes, and it was likely that he’d have to borrow some archaic robes from the villagers, but he didn’t mind too much. He’d definitely be keeping his original clothes, which was his long coat and jeans, safe for when he leaves Korreal. He decided he would show gratitude for Veronica’s hospitality by making her Tea, and breakfast. He actually didn’t find too much in the kitchen in terms of appliances. There was no kettle, no microwave, no toaster… nothing. So how did this little village function, while they were living like the Amish? The answer was simple after actually thinking outside the box of reality that he had grown up in. Magic. He took out his medallion, feeling there was still magic in it, and boiled water in a glass bowl. He took out bread, and holding it upright, and heating it from both sides, using techniques that he learned at the assembly. It was easy when he thought about it, second nature, although he had very minimal control over it, as he ended up accidently burning himself a couple of times, or the bread caught fire or something. He ended up with a sloppy tea, and a couple of battered toast with butter, and decided he’d have that for himself and do his best for Veronica’s breakfast. Talia would be so furious, if she saw this, that she’d end up looking past the magic completely, and get angry at him for even making breakfast for Veronica! He ended up laying it out of the dining table, then knocking on the door several times before receiving the lazy and angry moans of Veronica. “Breakfast is served!” Bastion shouted, and he went to begin eating at the Table. As he sat, he heard Veronica open the door, coming out surprisingly faster than he had figured. She was probably hungry. “Why do you all wear those clothes, by the way?” Bastion asked, and she simply shrugged and began eating. “You don’t know? I mean, they seem different from the other Magi’s clothes.” Bastion asked.
”I didn’t come here until recently, honestly.” Veronica said.
”No? Why?” Bastion asked, but Veronica simply stayed quiet. “You can talk to me, you know? We’re friends, aren’t we?”
”Hmph, friends. My mother is dead, killed by Blue Magi. The reds took me to live with them since I was very young, though it was from somewhere… with… normal clothes.” Veronica said, as if it wasn’t a taboo subject.
“I'm sorry…” Bastion said “Shouldn’t of asked.”
”Varnis, my teacher, wants to see you. He’s the elder of the settlement, the leader. He doesn’t look all that old, no Magi does, but he is ancient.” Veronica said.
”What does he want to see me for?” Bastion asked.
”He wants to train you.” Veronica said “Take the offer, seems we’re not going to the portal for a LONG time…”
”I think I will.” Bastion said.
”Well, after breakfast, I’ll take you.” Veronica said. “…I never really have breakfast”
”Why?” Bastion asked
”Too much work…” Veronica said.
”Like cleaning up after yourself?” Bastion asked “Didn’t you clean up back at wherever you grew up?” The second he said that, he knew he was digging another hole for himself. “Never mind, sorry.”
Veronica took Bastion outside and toward the town square, where he received more nods and waves from people. They entered the square, which looked to be the main congregation in the village. It was filled with children, and stalls, and people just seemingly being happy. There was a bizarre looking boy that Bastion was fixated on, sitting on the fountain, playing the flute to laughing children, and a very large church, which seemed to be their destination as they approached the front of it. Veronica was leading him up the stairs. Normally, he would be in awe of the church, because he knew this wasn’t going to be a Christian church, but one of the Draconic Testament… however, he had seen something else that had taken a hold of him. He finally saw why he was fixated on the bizarre looking boy... It was because he wasn’t human. It looked like a human, though this creature had exceptionally long black hair, down to his waist like some sort of cartoon character, but this wasn’t the thing that tipped him off that he wasn’t human. It was his forehead. His forehead had something that looked like a metopic ridge, which was a symptom of Craniosypnostosis for babies, which ended up the swelling of their heads, but it was almost like the forehead of the teenager had developed and kept this ridge throughout his life. The ridge had grown three, small horns jutting out of the ridge on his head, and his ears were pointed at the end, though it was normal size.“What?” Veronica asked, as she noticed Bastion stopping, then she realized. “Oh. Aye, I had stared like that, too. Interesting story, that one.” Veronica said.
”What is the story?” Bastion asked
”He’s an Ispii, they look like us, but they have very different anatomy. His family had came back with the Magi to Earth, since they had been in some serious trouble with the Blackwatch Cartel, some black market in their home world which was spreading into Cazria.” Veronica said. “It was a debt, and it was huge, and hiding in Cazria was proving to be useless. When his great grandfather found out that all the mages were being rounded up and sent home with no say in the matter, he took his family and hid among them. I think they were the only Ispii to come back with us.”
”He looks like an elf…” Bastion said
”Yes, he does. His family, and his family alone, was the reason the Magi spread that myt
h.”
”Interesting… So he’s somewhat of a legend… though, this happened millennia’s ago, right?” Bastion asked
”We were sent back 3 thousand years ago, so yes. Ispii live for about a thousand years, twice as long as the average Magi.” Veronica said “But, don’t ask him about his origins. It’s a sad story.”
”Fair enough…” Bastion said, and he turned back toward the church.
They entered the chapel, looking very similar to a Christian chapel, only the glass stained windows were gone, leaving clear windows, and no adornments that resembled Christianity at all, but Bastion was sure as he could possibly be that this was once a Christian church. The only thing of any religious look to it at all, was the altar, which had a statue of a large sun with three different dragons jutting out from behind them. Veronica walked up and behind the altar, waited till Bastion stood beside her, then pulled the statue. It was like a cliché, but the altar then descended. Slowly, the elevator ended up leaving no light but the light above then, however, soon enough, there were some gems that gave light to the elevator that they passed. Bastion felt mana emanating from then, and concluded that they were part of the constructs that Veronica was talking about. “By the way, I was meaning to ask you… I read a book on Draconic Testament... Not that it bothers me too much, but it said that the Arcana…” Bastion said.
”Lets… not talk about the Arcana, or the pureblood.” Veronica said, “I left that part out, and I'm not supposed to have the Arcana.”
”Right, that sounds like a good idea. Though... you know what they say about it…” Bastion said, trying to confirm that Veronica knew what she had done. “Yes, so?” Veronica said “It doesn’t really matter.”
”Well, it doesn’t to me. I mean, it’s just some rule that I walked in on only yesterday, but...” Bastion said, a little disturbed. ”Varnis takes law and order seriously, so please don’t talk about the Arcana. I told him you saved me from a few hooded gangsters, and you ended up using magic in the process. He wants to see if you’re really Magi or not, although, it’s clear that you aren’t.” Veronica said.
”How do you know I'm not a Magi?” Bastion asked.
”No magi can last as long as you can without blood, at least without showing that it’s having some kind of effect on your body. Varnis said some Magi can hold it back, force it not to show, but I highly doubt you’re that good of an actor.” Veronica said.
”Fair enough.” Bastion replied, and as he said that, he ended up finding himself descending into a bright room. The ceilings were encrusted with the gems they had passed on the way down, and the whole cavern lit up in a warm, homely glow. He felt some sort of calming energy from the crystals. The sides of the cavern had many dug out houses, and they used ramps to get to different levels of the cavern. The houses had a crystal or two inside each, and the ramps had flat, cut crystals decorating the path. The whole cave looked as if it would be worth a fortune. As he began to see more of the area as the altar descended, he realized that this was the area that he had sensed on his way to the village, and most of the inhabitants of the village lived down here, instead of on the surface. He felt that he knew the reason the second he got down. There was a high amount of mana resources down here, not only from the gems, but from four pillars on four points of the altar that had mana emanating from them. There were several doors that led off into other areas of the caverns, too, where there were a few other Magi, and Bastion could sense spells being cast. This was likely their main training area. “This place is rather homey.” Bastion said to Veronica, and Veronica shrugged. “I don’t really like it. As you can see, most of the other Magi prefer the caverns.”
”Aren’t they scared of cave ins, or anything?” Bastion asked
”We are Magi. The rocks above and around this area are melded together with magic. It’s not going to cave in anytime soon.” Veronica said. “Close your eyes and see.” Bastion closed his eyes, and beyond the glows of the crystals in the ceiling, he saw small lines of energy between the rocks, practically gluing them together. ”So, what you’re saying is, if there’s any problem a Magi faces, they just resort to magic?” Bastion asked. Veronica nodded. “How comes I couldn’t see the rock fusion from above?”
”Most of your view was blocked. The fusion is not only there to keep the rocks reinforced,” Veronica said “but it also there to interfere with an attacker’s hollow sight, so he couldn’t see any fortifications and such.” Veronica said. Looking down, among all the people going about their everyday lives, there was one who stood out. A bald man, in a tank top and camo pants, he had a scar over his left eye, which looked lazy, probably damaged. He also had a bushy moustache, and he was approaching the area that the two were descending to. “That’s Varnis.” Veronica said “My teacher, and the elder of Korreal.”
The Altar stopped as it reached the ground, and Veronica and Bastion got off of it. Veronica stood before Varnis and introduced Bastion “This is the boy I was talking to you about, Sebastian Slater. He already knows who you are, master.” Veronica said, standing aside as Varnis closed his eyes, examining Sebastian. “Hmm…” Varnis said. “This boy is not a Magi, that is certain. I sense he is Human… though…” he paused, puzzled. Varnis talked the same way most of the villagers did, a really hard to pinpoint accent, but like all of the villagers on the surface, Varnis sounded young. “I can’t exactly tell what I'm sensing within this one.” Bastion felt a little uncomfortable, not actually wanting to know his origins, oddly enough. He knew that many would jump at the chance, but he was abandoned at a front door when he was a baby. He’d rather look to the future than be obsessive over the past, looking for reasons for everything that had happened. How would knowing who his abandoners are help him in any way? “I'm pretty sure I'm human.” Bastion said, smiling.
“I believe so.” Varnis said, smiling “But I'm puzzled as to why you’re so powerful. If a human was to be stronger in magic to everyone else, why are YOU stronger than most of the magi here?”
”I… Don’t believe I am…” Bastion said, scratching his head. “I don’t even know how to use magic properly, I’ve tried after fighting the… muggers.”
”Veronica said they were rapists.” Varnis said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
”It’s called a euphemism.” Veronica said “He shares the same blood as the humans, of course he’ll veil their true intentions.” If Veronica wasn’t making up the story, Bastion would most certainly object to the statement. Varnis ponders the situation he’s in. “How much do you know about us, and our origins?” Varnis asked.
“Veronica told me a lot, about the Cazrians and such.” Bastion said “You were taken to be used in a Civil War, then when you won you were dumped back in earth with no explanation”
”And you know about the Blue Magi?” Varnis asked
”Yes.” Bastion said
”Well… I think you could be very useful in our struggle. There has been minor skirmishes as of late, including that in the cities around where you are. Forgive me for my caution, but for all I knew, you could have been involved in that whole affair. The killings and whatnot.” Varnis said, stretching. “Well, I suppose we’ll get started then, though… one last test.”
”Sure. What is it?” Bastion said, a little excited to get starting on training magic.
”A one on one fight.” Varnis said, pointing toward the door where Bastion had sensed the Magi practicing spells.
”Uhm…” Bastion began.
”You fight off of instinct, so you should be fine… although that’s something we’ll break later on. But I must know if you have any dangerous bloodlines within you. I’ve never seen a Domini or a Cazrian, but they’re the only two other races that can use magic… at least, since 2000 years ago.” Varnis said “It’s the behaviour we’ll be looking at. If you’re a Cazrian, we’ll assume you’ve been sent by Sanctum, and kick you out. However, if you’re a Domini…” Varnis pauses “We’ll have to cage you here.”
”Y
ou’ll hold me prisoner?” Bastion asked, bothered by his statement
”Please understand, it’s within a Domini’s mindset to come running whenever violence has erupted… we simply can’t let you run around and hurt people…” Varnis says, and with a simple gesture, the Altar rises back up to the Chapel, blocking off any possible escape route for Bastion.
”Wait… If he was like that, I highly doubt he would have come to my rescue…” Veronica said, to which Varnis shrugged “Could be a Cazrian. And he did kill your attackers, so…”
”’Tis not fair.” Veronica said.
”‘Tis my call.” Varnis said, with authority, though Veronica didn’t seem to want to back down.
”It’s alright.” Bastion said, hand on Veronicas shoulder. Veronica moved from Bastion grasp, nodding her head. In truth, Bastion was a little disturbed by the situation. He didn’t know much about the Domini, but could they have been his parents? Or at least, does he share their bloodline? If he did, he didn’t see how he could possible get out of this. He began to regret his decision to come here.
Varnis opened a large door, where Magi were practicing spells. They were levitating rocks, shooting fireballs at other Magi’s shields, healing those who got injured during training… Though, in the middle, there was a stone platform. It was a sort of arena, though it wasn’t meant for spectators. Varnis stepped up on the platform, drawing a few looks from the wounded and those practicing by themselves, though the ones throwing and protecting with shields seemed to not dare let curiosity distract them from their work. “Alright, here’s the rules.” Varnis said “You can use magic and melee, you can’t use any foul blows or serious ailment effects, such as poisons… To win, you must knock me out of the ring, or make me submit. I only want to see what you can do, and see if your behaviour matches what we were talking about before.”
