Eldritch Guidance

“Unlike most of society's collective history, the founding of the university is based in fact and not myth. Before there was even the city of Graheel, there existed seven great archmages. Each had their own field of research and study. It was archmage Cain Mired that convinced the other six archmages to join forces to expand their research and pursue greater knowledge together. Thus, they built the university as a means to train their disciples and future generation in the arcane arts.

“They named the university ‘Graheel’, after the name of a famous giant known in legend to pursue lost knowledge. Over centuries, the university expanded and a city was built around the institution. In time, the city itself would be named after the university which it was built around.

“The seven archmages would pass through history, but in memory of them founding the university, seven colleges would be created in their honor. Each college would be named after an aspect of their personality and past, while embodying the values of each of the founders. Anybody attempting to become a student at Graheel mast be accepted into one of these Colleges. These colleges are known as: Gilded Sun, Lionheart, Shroom Pact, Silverwing, Grey Scale, Ember Gear, and Arcane Eye.”

—Writings of Archmage Setta on “The Founding of Graheel and it’s University”

A few days have passed since the incident with Jafar in the library.

It was the middle of the afternoon. Alan was currently standing in a large sparring ring. The ring was made of stone and was at least 7000 square meters (8400 yards) in size with giant glowing crystals on the edges. The crystals were generating a very faint field around the area that could just barely be seen with the naked eye, but clearly felt by those who could manipulate aether.

Alan had donned a thick set of padded training armor with a helmet. He was taking a defensive stance with a practice sword. Across from him was Cris, who wore a similar set of training gear and was also taking a similar stance to Alan. They were both prepared to spar against each other.

Sitting on the sideline was Jafar. He looked uninterested in what was going on in the ring, and instead was reading a book. Not paying attention to what was happening in front of him.

Cris: “Hey Jafar, do mind giving us a countdown.”

The Ember Gear student let out a long sigh, before pulling himself away from his book.

Jafar: “Fine. On the count of three. One two…THREE!” he yelled out.

As soon as Jafar yelled out, Cris dashed towards Alan at an impossible speed. He had reinforced his body with magic with the fire element, to allow him greater movement and strength beyond the limits of a human. However, Alan had also done the same, but with the wind element. Allowing him even faster movement than even Cris.

Cris swung his blade towards Alan. In one quick motion, Alan stepped to the side causing Cris to swing wide, missing him. Alan took this opportunity to make a counter attack while Cris was wide open. He thrust his sword at Cris, hitting his side and causing him to back away from Alan.

Cris: “Gah! That’s a good hit. I see your learning. Last time I did that, you flinched and I sent you flying,” he said, complementing Alan.

Alan: “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen again.”

Cris: “Well I guess I gotta pick up the pace then,” he said in a confident tone.

With a quick swing of his blade, fire ignited around it. There was now fire surrounding Cris's blade, both enhancing its destructive ability and range. He was also putting more aether into his body enhancement magic, creating a slightly reddish aura around him.

Cris: “Here I come! He declared.”

Cris then launched himself toward Alan, cracking the ground beneath his feet from the force he applied. He was now moving even faster again thanks to the additional aether he was using.

Alan: “Crap!” he yelled as Cris swung his sword towards him with an under slash.

Cris was much faster this time and Alan couldn’t dodge like before, so he opted to block it instead. This would prove to be a mistake for Alan.

Both their blades collided. Alan could feel the heat and weight of Cris' attack. It was heavy from all the aether he was concentrating in his sword. Alan had focused his own aether into his blade to better block the attack, but it wasn't enough. The force of Cris' strike was so hard that Alan couldn’t push it back. And like what Cris had said that happened before, he pushed Alan's sword back onto himself and sent him flying into the air. He was sent flying 30 meters (100 feet) into the air directly above Cris.

Cris had done this to Alan last time they sparred. He had flung Alan high up into the air, causing Alan to panic before flailing and falling to the ground painfully. But, this time he kept his cool and was prepared for this. He focused his aether and started chanting. He was reciting a spell that he had just learned recently.

Once he spoke the final verse of the spell, the air around him started to push on him from below and slow his fall. The wind also pushed his body upright and kept him from flailing around. He had just cast the spell of feather falling. It was a simple, but effective spell that slowed people's descent in the air. A useful spell for anybody that was using a flying tool, or falling from a great height.

Cris: “Ha! Learned some new tricks, did you? But, that spell also makes you a sitting duck while you're in the air.”

Cris raised his blade that was emanating fire and made a slashing motion. In doing so, streams of fire shot out of his blade towards Alan up in the air.

Alan: “Craap!” he yelled out again.

Before the fire could reach Alan, he stuck his hand to the side and created a gust of air, pushing his body in the opposite direction where he created the gust. By doing this, he managed to move his body mid-air enough this way to dodge Cris fire attack.

Cris: “Ha ha ha. You’re just full of surprises. I wonder how long you can do that.”

Cris then started to do a series of slashing motions, sending a barrage of fire attacks flying at Alan. Just like how he managed to dodge the first fire attack, he continued to produce wind to push him in different directions, all while slowly drifting back to the ground.

Dodging was tiring for Alan. He had to exhaust his aether to constantly produce wind to avoid Cris’s attacks. A few slashes of fire managed to hit Alan with a load boom, but a ward surrounding him managed to prevent any serious damage being done to him. He didn’t lose his concentration and kept dodging to the best of his ability, until he managed to safely land on the ground.

Now on the ground, Alan was exhausted from using all that aether to dodge those attacks, but it looked like Cris hadn't even broken a sweat. Alan Knew that if this dragged on, he would definitely lose. So, he opted to put everything he had left into this one last attack.

He grabbed his sword with both hands and firmly held it to his side. Alan then focused what aether he had left into his weapon. A violent miniature tornado started to form around the blade, it was similar to what Cris did with his blade with fire.

Cris: “Huh, so that’s how you want to do it.”

Cris then took a similar stance to Alan and focused even more of his aether into his blade as well. The fire around his sword started to burn with even greater intensity than before, tuning it into a minute inferno around his blade. Both of them stared at each other, and both could tell that this would be the end.

This time it was Alan's turn to act first. With all his strength, he swung his blade downwards towards Cris. A tornado of wind was sent flying from his blade. Chris then responded by doing the same, and a ball of fire was sent flying from his weapon. Both the wind and fire blast collided with each other in a spectacular display. For a brief moment their attacks looked evenly matched, but then Cris’s fire attack started to overtake Alan's attack. The fire consumed the twister of wind and continued forwards.

Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to dodge, Alan closed his eyes and took the attack.

Boom!!

There was a massive explosion and smoke and fire all around where Alan was standing. The sound of something that sounded like glass shattering could be heard the moment Cris’s attack impacted. Smoke completely obscured Alan. It took a few seconds, but the smoke eventually cleared to reveal Alan looking a bit ruffled up.

Alan then threw his sword to the ground and raised both his hands into the air with palms open.

Alan: “Ok. I yield. You broke my ward. You’re the winner of the match, again,” he said, disappointed in himself for losing to Chris once more.

Cris: “Don’t sound so disappointed. You did much better this time. You lasted a lot longer. Isn’t that right Jafar,” he said, while also yelling out to Jafar.

Hearing his name, Jafar's attention shifted from his book to Cris.

Jafar: “Hmm. What are you talking about?”

Cris: “I said Alans improved.”

Jafar: “I guess? I mean, I don't know. I wasn't paying that much attention.”

Cris: “Aw man. That’s harsh. Didn’t even bother to pay attention and root for poor Alan here,” he said as both Alan and Cris started to walk towards Jafar who was sitting outside the sparring ring.

Alan: “Cris, if you're trying to make me feel better, it’s not helping.”

Cris: “Who said anything about making you feel better? I'm just being honest. You really have improved.”

Alan: “Apparently not enough to beat you.”

Cris: “Well, you're gonna have to train a lot harder for that,” he said while chuckling.

Eventually all three of them had gathered around where Jafar was sitting.

Jafar: “I must say. I've seen it before, but I'm always amazed how monstrous you battle mages are,” he said while looking at the damage done to the sparring arena from Cris and Alan's fight.

Cris: “Wow. You're being extra harsh today, calling us monsters.”

Jafar: “Well, I don't know how else to explain it. To move like that and to take one of your fireballs while remaining intact is something normal people can’t do.”

Alan: “Hey, if I took Cris' fireball directly, I wouldn't come out unscathed.”

Jafar: “And yet you did. I saw you take one of his fireballs a little while ago.”

Cris: “Well that wasn't a direct hit.”

Jafar: “It looked pretty direct to me.”

Cris: “Oh, you don’t know. We have combat wards on us when we fight.”

A ward is a type of protective magic that acts like a miniature barrier around something. Anything that would take damage with a ward on it, the ward will take the damage instead. It’s one of the first and most essential types of magic that all combat mages learn to help in battle.

Alan: “Yeah, we also use enhancement magic to improve speed and strength. Did you actually think we could move and take hits like that naturally?”

Jafar: “I don’t know. I just thought that something about being a combat mage made you superhuman.”

Cris: “Wow. That’s crazy. You always came across as a pretty smart guy to me. I didn’t think you were so ignorant about this.”

Jafar: “Give me a break. I don’t know jack about combat magic. My focus is more technical stuff.”

Cris: “Anyways, wanna go for another round in ten?” he said, directing his question at Alan.

Alan: “Forget it. Sere is going to be here soon, and then we're all going to all go study together,” he said while shaking his head.

Cris: “Sigh. Fine. I guess I'll go do some more training alone.”

Alan: “Dude, are you a zombie? How can you not be tired from that fight and wanna train?”

Cris: “It’s that attitude that's gonna limit you, he said while crossing his arms and smiling at Alan.”

Alan: “No, I'm pretty sure my body is what’s limiting me, not my attitude.”

Cris: “Anyways, I'm gonna head out. Talk to ya later,” he said as he began to walk away.

Once Cris was out of sight, Alan took a seat beside Jafar and let out a tired sigh.

Jafar: “I guess Cris really is a prodigy.”

Alan: “I don’t know if it is that, or just a stupid amount of stamina.”

Jafar: Meh, basically the same thing.

Alan: “I guess. But, man. I don’t know what crazy training he’s been going through. His endurance has always been impressive, but it’s been out of control lately for the last couple of months.”

Jafar: “You should probably keep an eye on him.”

Alan: “Huh? Why?”

Jafar: “He might be pushing himself too hard. I remember hearing people comparing Cris to a bunch of famous war mages. That’s probably putting him under a lot of pressure.”

Alan: “Hm. You might be right. Maybe we can hang together and do something fun and talk about it a little. Hey, wanna do a guys night together,” he said, directing his question to Jafar.

Jafar: “Sure, but only after the exams though.”

Alan: “Obviously.”

For another ten minutes, Jafar continued to read his book while Alan just relaxed. Eventually Sere showed up. She looked like her usual self with her blue Silverwing uniform, but was carrying a black garbage bag with something in it.

Sere: “Hey guys. Sorry I'm a little late.”

Alan: “It's all cool. What’s in the bag?”

Sere: “Oh, just some clothing. By the way, Jafar. You have access to one of the labs, right?”

Jafar: “Um, yeah. Why?”

Sere: “That lab also has an incinerator in it?”

Jafar: “Are you trying to burn the clothing in that bag?”

Sere: “Yeah.”

Jafar: “Well, there is an incinerator in the lab I have access to. But, you do know it would have been easier to just throw it in the garbage.”

Sere: “Yeah, um,” she said, followed by a long sigh. “I’m going to stop beating around the bush. This clothing belongs to my friend, and she asked me to burn them for her. And before you ask why, it’s because it’s covered in blood.”

Alan: “Huh? What happened?”

Sere: “I guess someone died in front of her and it got blood all over her when it happened. At least, that’s what I was told.”

Alan: “Was it another strange accident? Was there anyone strange looking around when it happened?”

Sere: “Yeah, I thought about that too. I asked her if she saw anybody weathering a green shroom pact robe when it happened. She said she didn’t know.”

Jafar: “So, it was a strange accident?”

Sere: “Yeah, someone was doing some flying training on a broom and fell. Landing right in front of my friend Triss.”

Alan: “Wait, how do you fall to your death here? There is a bunch of protective magic in the training areas to prevent that kinda thing from happening.”

Sere: “I guess the person lost control of the broom and ended up flying outside the training area, beyond where that kind of protective magic could activate.”

Alan: “Who was it that died?”

Sere shook her head.

Sere: “I don’t know. This all just happened today and my friend Triss was kinda of out of it when I talked to her. Understandably so. A person did just die right in front of her. So, I didn't ask that many questions. I’m sure more details will come in the papers tomorrow.”

Alan: “So another strange death.”

Sere: “Yeah. I Think I’m coming around to your side, Alan. Something is going on. I've never heard of someone losing control of their broom and accidentally flying outside the training area. Like, how do you lose control of your broom that bad?”

Jafar: “Ok, let’s head to the lab,” he said as he got up and proceeded to head towards the Ember Gear labs.

Both Sere and Alan followed behind him. They tried talking to him, but Jafar ignored them and kept walking toward the lab. He had a serious, but focused look to his face.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

After fifteen minutes of walking, they arrived at one of the labs for Ember Gear students.

Inside it was illuminated by white lights with rows of tables and a bunch of complicated looking machinery on some of them. It was white and looked extremely sterile here. This would serve as a place for the young and upcoming to apply their scientific trade and prepare these students for the discoveries that they would one day make, but until then, the lab was vacant of any students or faculty.

Jafar looked around briefly before heading towards one of the empty tables. He reached under a table and pulled out various beakers and chemicals and sat everything neatly in front of him. He then took two different bottles of clear liquid and mixed them together in a small vial.

Sere: “Jafar what are you doing?”

Jafar: “Can you give me your friends' clothing,” he said, while ignoring Sere's query.

Sere: “Oh, um OK?” she said, as she handed him the bag with her friend's bloody clothing.

Sere expected that Jafar was going to throw the bag into the incinerator for her, but instead, he threw the bag onto the table and ripped it open.

Sere: “Hey! What are you doing!?!”

Jafar: “Just trust me, I'll explain in a little bit,” he said, while focusing on the science experiment he was conducting in front of him.

Jafar took the clothing out of the bag and laid it on the table. It was the blue and white uniform of the Silverwing College student, but much of the white parts of the clothing was now a dark red, saturated with blood. Jafar gave pause when he saw this. It was a lot of blood, and it was the blood of someone that just died today. Handling something like this gave him a weird feeling of guilt, like he was desecrating someone's body.

Sere: “Holy Light…That's… a lot of blood,” She said disconcertingly.

Alan: “How high did this person fall?” he said in disbelief of the amount of blood on the clothing.

Sere: “I…I don’t know.”

Alan: “It must have been high. Whoever fell must've turned into a pancake when they hit the ground for there to be that much blood.”

Sere: “Can we please. I really don’t need the mental image of what it looked like.”

With some trepidation, Jafar took a pair of scissors and cut a piece of the clothing that was still a little damp with blood. He then put the small piece of fabric into the vial with the chemicals before putting a stopper on it. Jafar shook the vial, mixing the contents well, before he walked over to a machine and placed the vial into it before turning on. The machine hummed and spun the vial around in a circle.

Jafar: “Ok, I should get a result in a few minutes,” he said to himself.

Alan: “Jafar, do you want to tell us what is going on?”

Jafar gave out a long sigh, before he turned and faced his friends.

Jafar: “I didn’t want to tell you this, but I overheard something related to Edwards' death.”

Alan: “Really? What did you hear? And what does this have to do with what you're doing?”

Jafar: “It was a conversation between professor Sorin Black and Pitter Patariki. It seemed that Patariki found a strange discrepancy about Edwards' body.”

Alan: “Before you say anymore, who is Sorin Black and Pitter Patariki?” he said while raising his hand, indicating for Jafar to explain before he continued.

Jafar: “Oh right. You probably never took any of their classes since you're in the Lionheart College. Well, Sorin Black is a senior Professor of the Gray Scale College. He teaches advanced arcane law and legal frameworks related to forbidden magic.”

Sere: “Yeah, and Professor Patariki is another senior professor of the Silverwing College. I took his classes before. He specializes in human anatomy and I think he is the head director of the morgue here at the university.”

Alan: “Wait, there’s a morgue in the university?”

Sere: “It is for research. People donate their bodies to the university for study.”

Jafar: “And Edwards' body was being stored there, but Patariki found something strange. He then tried talking to Sorin about it and I overheard their conversation.”

Alan: “OK…but what does this have to do with what you're doing?”

Jafar: “The conversation I overheard got me thinking. Sorin downplayed the discrepancy as a mistake the people in the morgue made, but I wondered if it was. I thought that—” Jafar's sentence was interrupted by a beeping from the machine he was just using.

Jafar then went over to the machine and pulled the vial out of it. The contents of the vial was a clear liquid with a piece of bloody fabric when he first put it into the machine, now the liquid in the vial was an inky black color. He held it up to light and looked at it in confused awe.

Jafar: “By the light. How’s that possible?”

Alan: “W-what? What is it?”

Jafar put the vial down and turned towards his friends.

Jafar: “The discrepancy that Patariki found was formaldehyde in Edward's blood. Sorin thought that someone in the morgue had accidentally put it in Edward's body while it was being stored. But, I just tested the blood off the clothing of Sere’s friend, and there’s formaldehyde in it as well.”

The revelation shocked Sere, but Alan just stood there confused.

Alan: “Ok. I know I've been asking a lot of questions, but what exactly is formaldehyde?”

Sere: “It’s a type of chemical they use to preserve bodies. It’s used all the time in the morgue.”

Alan: “And it was in this person's blood. How did it get there?”

Jafar: “I don’t know. The blood on Sere’s friends' clothing was from someone that died recently. So, there wouldn't be any time to take the body to the morgue and pump it full of formaldehyde.”

Alan: “So, you're saying this person and Edward were walking around with formaldehyde in their blood.”

Sere: “Alan, that’s not possible. Formaldehyde is incredibly poisonous. Even in small amounts it's deadly.”

Jafar: “At best they would be sick and bedridden if there was formaldehyde in them, but it would most likely just kill them.”

Alan: “If that’s true, then how? How is there formaldehyde in their blood and no one noticed?”

All three of them there stared at each other, unsure how to answer this new mystery they were facing.