Rise of the Archmage Alister

Carriage rides and train rides had spoiled Alister to the reality of walking by foot.

It wasn’t that he minded the hike. They stuck to the side of the road, they still had knights and servants with them, and there was still the servant carriage that people traded off riding. But he kept getting out of breath after even just an hour of walking. He wasn’t even out of shape! He’d trained and exercised and not neglected his body, as much as he could with everything going on of course, but he was still so far behind his cousins and Wisteria.

Literally. He kept falling behind and having to hurry and catch up.

Blas smiled at his son apologetically, “You can ride in the carriage again, Alister. It’s ok. You don’t need to push yourself.”

Alister huffed. It wasn’t even the end of the first day and he had already been placed in the carriage by his Aunt Marabell four times. She looked back at him again, ready to do so again if he fought it. He shook his head, “I get it, I know. Just… frustrating. I’ve been exercising more, and even with the injuries I got before, I should be fine now. But I keep getting out of breath.”

“Sounds like ya just gotta exercise more! It’s good for you!” Marabell offered with a grin.

Blas sighed, “Of course that’s your response. Ah… No, Alister, you’re not doing anything wrong. In fact you’re far healthier than you used to be. Before you turned two, we didn’t even know if you’d survive, you were so sickly and frail. Before you turned five you were still so sick all the time and often we feared you’d not make it through another year. The year you unlocked your core, we decided to have you participate in that, in part in the hopes it would make you a little heartier and healthier. I suppose it worked to a degree… But no. You’ve always been a very poorly child, Alister. You’re much smaller than other kids your age, you struggled to maintain weight, you could never run as much as other kids. We didn’t really talk to you about it other than just a simple ‘you’re sick’ or something of the sort because you didn’t care at that time outside of knowing why you had to see the doctor so much. And then now, since unlocking your core, and then unlocking your system… you’ve been so much more well that I suppose we didn’t want to think about it anymore. If as though acknowledging the improvement would make it go away.”

“Not to mention the fact that you are a hellion and a pain in the ass and that’s distracting enough!” Marabell interjected, laughing, “Blas it’s fine! You said it yourself he’s doing better nowadays. The kid’s a little weak on his feet and a little skinny. It’s fine.”

“I know. And I’m thankful for that. But he was complaining about the frustration and so he deserved an explanation all the same,” he continued, “The doctors have more recently informed us that, yes, you’re doing much better. You are behind, physically, from your peers, but given that you more than make up for that in your mental maturity thanks to the full recall, well, the doctors said not to worry too much about it yet. They say you’ll likely be a bit stunted in growth, a little weaker than your peers, and that puberty may hit you a little later than it would have otherwise but not outside the normal range just… towards the later half of the normal range.”

Alister was quiet as he processed all that, not upset but still frustrated at his situation. He didn’t want to be weak, and didn’t want to be the stereotype of a frail mage. He had so many weapons tucked away that were far too heavy for his weak limbs to carry, and one day wanted to wield them again. “I see,” he muttered, still panting for breath between phrases, “I understand that I was born weak. Perhaps lucky to be born at all… but I still do not wish to remain weak. I want to exercise more to at least be able to withstand things like this without an adrenaline rush pushing me along. Even just a little more physical strength will be enough for now. Not being able to walk for long distances is infuriating.”

Wisteria was silently listening to the group of them, with little to add. She felt a bit outside her comfort zone with everyone talking about his health. Her own health had never been an issue, she was born quite well, so she didn’t really feel like she had anything to say that wouldn’t come off patronizing. So she chose mostly silence for the next hour or two.

After multiple days and switching in and out of the carriage, including even one time where Marabell gave the horses a “break” and pulled the carriage herself for a few hours, they reached Bernoth. The rest of the walk there was painfully boring, as though the one instance of the eldritch bird was simply to mock them. Harriet complained aloud of being bored multiple times along the way, which usually got someone else telling her not to wish for more trouble.

Bernoth itself was bustling and on edge, the reports having already gotten there ahead of them that the attack had occurred. On the way there had been multiple people who had stopped and offered help, but Blas always refused and instead told them to deliver the news of the danger. Accepting their aid could have been dangerous in itself and he also didn’t want to risk being indebted. Even if they were going more slowly, they weren’t in an emergency. Thanks to those few bringing forth the news, however, the local lord of Bernoth immediately made time for a meeting with Lord Blas to sort out what they should do about the increase in Eldritch beasts.

While Alister’s father was busy doing that, everyone else was relaxing at the inn. His Aunt Marabell had made food, and shoved a plate in front of him that was piled high with meat, potatoes, and greens that was about three times as much as he’d normally have at once.

He stared at the, admittedly tasty looking and smelling plate of food, and then looked up to her, “I… I don’t think I can finish all of this. This is way too much.”

“You wanna get stronger! Ya need more meat in your diet!” She argued, grinning with a forkful of steak in her hand, “I can help make sure you get exercise and feel less weak n’ stuff. I did that with my girls!”

Olana looked Alister dead in the eyes, “I’ll get your will notarized.”

Harriet snerked and nudged her sister with her elbow, “Don’t be meannn. I’m sure he’ll do fine!”

Wisteria coughed at that one, covering her mouth with a napkin, “Olana!”

“Yeah sure… I’m sure he’ll feel great after he pukes from effort a few times,” she muttered, “Mom’s training sucks…”

“It sucks in the ‘it’s good’ way, not in the ‘it’s bad’ way,” Harriet defended, “It works great!”

“Once you survive it.”

“You’re so dramatic!”

Marabell shook her head, “Girls quiet down and eat up. I won’t kill your cousin. I can be gentle when I wanna be! He’ll be fine.”

“I get the feeling you aren’t going to take no for an answer,” Alister sighed, still staring at his plate trying to figure out where to start, “I’ll do my best… I really do think exercise would be a good idea… but really, please be aware that I’m not in great shape. I don’t believe you when you say you can be gentle.”

“I could join too,” Wisteria offered softly between bites, again feeling awkward that the topic had changed to health.

Olana couldn’t help herself, she chimed in again, “Oh, yeah, mom definitely is lying when she says she’s gonna be gentle.”

That earned her a light bop on the head from her mom, and she huffed, “Brat. I can, I didn’t say I would. I just won’t kill him or anything. Now stop scaring him!”

“Lady Marabell, I would be honored to join in on your exercise with Alister,” Wisteria said, louder this time, taking the conversation at least slightly off of Alister. Marabell’s grinning enthusiasm made it clear she’d love to have more victims for her training.

Alister sighed again. He picked up a knife from the table and began cutting his steak into more manageable chunks. All the walking for multiple days left him too tired to argue or banter about it any more. He just didn’t want to. If his aunt wanted to help him, so be it. He appreciated the effort and would just deal with the regret later when he had more energy to complain about it.