To Fly the Soaring Tides

At the front of a large room carved into the stone of Breeze Haven there was a podium, and Cira stood before it. Behind her was a large board for writing, and ahead lay rows of desks stretching from one side of the room to the other, with only an aisle in the center. Loose scrolls sat on book cases and there were portraits of rare beasts adoring the walls.

Growing up, the sorcerer had always felt lonely sitting in the sizable lecture hall with only her father, and thought it was unnecessary for it to take up so much space. It boasted seats enough for twenty students, so at this point in her life Cira figured the room saw more use long before her time.

Currently seven seats were taken, only four of which were technically students. Everybody had freshened up and Cira scrounged something up for the prisoners to get out of their uniforms. Kate in a old blue dress and the smuggler wearing some of Gazen’s pajamas. While they had no effects, he didn’t realize the prestige of wearing the pajamas of such a legendary man. They both looked wildly uncomfortable still.

As Cira looked through a few papers on her podium, Kate got impatient, “Are you going to tell us what’s going on, or what?” After a good bath, her hair had taken on a rich auburn color.

“Of course, sorry for the delay.” She straightened up the papers and looked over her students, “Let’s start with a show of hands. Who here has seen a spirit before? A ghost?”

Lomp raised his hand looking displeased. He was the only one.

“That’s it?” Cira asked. Everyone else just looked around and shrugged, “That’s alright… Not a big deal, necessarily. Can anyone tell me what they are?”

Nanri seemed nervous to raise her hand for some reason and seeing nobody was eager to join in, Lomp decided to help out, putting on his best haughty sorcerer impression, “Life which lingers long after death…” and he continued to give a surprisingly comprehensive explanation for the room.

“Thank you, Lomp… I guess. Did everybody get that?” Nobody looked too confused, “So, ghosts exist only in the aethereal form. Aetherium is the material it becomes once the spirit’s form is forced to manifest physically. This is what we need. Tonight, you will learn how to hunt ghosts and harvest this ingredient from them. Any questions before we get started?”

Everybody started talking at once, until Cira shouted to raise their hands. She called on Lomp first because she could almost trust it to be a good question, “You said forcing them to manifest… but earlier you said exorcise them. Are you trying to make us destroy the spirits?” He looked pretty upset.

“Of course not. Once the process is over the soul will pass on naturally,” this was all true, “however, they experience a few moments of absolute torment. I’m not too happy about it… but there’s no other way to get aetherium. And without aetherium, there’s no cure.”

“But… torturing the lost souls of the ancients? I… I don’t know if I can do that.” Lomp shook his head with a troubled expression.

“I don’t see a problem.” Chip said, with his arms crossed and a serious look, “If somebody told me my daughter’s great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren were gonna die and the only way to save them was to grind me up and turn me into a potion, I’d say do it. I like to think my ancestors would feel the same. And they get to pass on too—how long have they waited for that?”

“Hey!” The smuggler yelled, “You idiots are arguing about the wrong thing!”

As Cira zeroed in, her passive gaze froze the man. She waited a few seconds, “Proceed.”

“Oh, um… Okay. Aren’t ghosts supposed to be really dangerous? The hell are we supposed to do against them? They kill whole crews of miners. I’ve heard the stories!”

Cira brought a hand to her chin and thought for a moment, “Lomp, can you speak to the veracity of these rumors.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it. I swear I told you about that right before the GHOST ALMOST KILLED US.”

She shook her head, “I don’t think you mentioned that specifically, but that’s no matter. Look at this, I made it while you were all washing up.”

A dark gray cloak appeared in thin air. Aside from a few magic circles imprinted on the collar and across the torso, it looked rather lackluster. “Why don’t you come on up, Smuggler? You’ll be my model for this demonstration since I only have one of everything so far.”

She had him slip the cloak on and spin around for the class, “Now, force some mana into it. Just a little is fine.”

He did as instructed, and small glyphs lit up on his collar and around the chest, then all around his waist and arms. There was a faint glow surrounding him.

“What does all this do…?” He twisted around trying to look at everything.

“When active, it will repel any spirits up to… probably a night wraith, and you will be constantly protected from corporeal possession. Now, I think I saw some more hands earlier?” The number of hands did not decrease, “Okay… Kate.”

“Are you sending us to our deaths?” She glared.

“That’s a no. Glasses.”

“Oh,” the man stammered, pushing up his glasses, “The name’s Montgomery, by the way. Earth Vein has forbidden entry to that area. I can trust this all means you’ve cleared our entry with them, right?”

Cira’s face scrunched up, “People are dying. A sorcerer asks for neither permission nor forgiveness. Nanri.”

“Ooh, I’m up! How do we find them?” Cira smiled at her honest excitement. She was certain the witch would be scared so it was a pleasant surprise.

“An excellent question, although it’s more for these four…” The next item to appear from her ring was a hat with the same gray. It was more like a cap with black band wrapped around where the brim would be. She had the smuggler put it on. “Not only will it protect your mind and provide light, but if you imbue it with mana, you can follow the aethereal traces spirits leave behind. They usually last half a day or so.”

“Whoa,” the hat lit up as he charged it, “I think I see it… Wait, why in here?” He followed the trail around the room to a desk, “Why does it stop at that shiny jar?”

“Ignore that for now. We’ll get there. Let’s see, um, Rosalie, you had a question?”

“I did…” She looked down nervously for a moment, “Can you guarantee my Chip’s safety? And… if he does this for you can our daughter really be cured? He can’t use magic like you, how is he supposed to use these artifacts?”

She couldn’t stop from crying, so Cira tried her best to assuage any concerns, “Of course, there will be no problem. And I’ll be there for the first go to walk everyone through it. The artifacts take a small amount of mana and luckily everyone here has at least average. They’ll stop hunting before they run out. As for the recipe, it came straight from my Dad so it will definitely work. No one should really take it until after I work out the flood situation and get the water cleaned up, and the food’s infected too, so that should be avoided. With a few caveats, yes, your daughter can be cured.”

Everybody except the ones that came from the clinic with her exploded in a ruckus, “What do you mean the food’s infected?!”

“It was the food this whole time?!”

Dammit, Cira thought, “Ultimately the water, but yes, the food too. Don’t worry about that now, let’s move on. Pants of the Untainted!” A pair of Lighter gray cloth pants appeared, and she urged her assistant to put them on, “Like the rest of the set, they have blessed silver woven into them. They do the same as the cloak. Next up we have—”

“Are you just going to dress us up and throw us in a cave?” Kate literally spat. Cira caught it with magic.

“Push your luck and the next one’s returning to your face,” The difficult young woman shrunk back as she watched the loogy vaporize in a wisp of light. “I was trying to save it for last, but fine. If you have a preferred weapon, we can talk, but Mr. Smuggler here gets the Exorcism Spear.”

A shiny spear appeared, and she handed it over. He turned it over in his hands, “Kind of a boring name, isn’t it?”

“I don’t have all day to come up with cool names for everything. Stab a ghost with this and he’ll turn into Aetherium. What more do you want from me?”

“Wow…” He held it up, then flipped it into the air to test its weight, letting it clatter on the stone floor. He picked it up nervously and was at a loss when he met Cira’s disapproving gaze.

She sighed, “Even though it’s blessed silver I have taken measures to ensure its durability, but do try to treat them well.” She gestured to her other students.

Glasses raised his hand, “Are these all relics from the church?”

“What? No. I just made them. What do you mean?”

He looked confused, “But blessed silver can only be produced be a deacon of the church. Did you steal it? You couldn’t possibly have made it.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Glasses. I blessed the silver. It’s not difficult. I don’t even know what church you’re talking about. Try to stick to the topic. Now we have the Hallowed Boots!” Some gray leather boots appeared, “These aren’t that exciting, but they’ll keep your shadow safe.”

“Is… is my shadow in danger?” The smuggler took his own boots off to lace up his new pair.

“Indeed.” Cira nodded, “If your will weakens, a powerful spirit can steal your shadow, strengthening their aethereal form. These spirits are aptly named a shade. Your soul will deteriorate over time, though maybe the medicine we’re making could help with that, but it’s best not to waste. You better keep the boots on either way.”

He gulped, “Will do…” lacing them up extra tight.

“Now, are you ready for your first attempt?” Cira grabbed the jar off the desk. It was ceramic. More of an urn, really.

“Hang on, you mean you have a ghost in there?!” The smuggler backed away.

“Come on now, you’re perfectly safe here.” Cira urged him to come closer.

The man wasn’t excited about it, “Well… if you say so.”

Most of her students clamored restlessly, and the thief looked scared. Lomp stood up, “Hey, so you trapped a spirit just to torture it in front of us for this demonstration?!”

“It’s totally ethical, this is the spirit of a genocidal demon my father defeated long ago. Found it downstairs.” She opened the lid and black smoke poured out, before wisping into the air.

An agonized face appeared in the spaces between the darkness, “FINALLY I AM FREEEEEE!”

All non-sorcerers backed away. Cira had to push him along or it could get out of hand, “Hurry up, smuggler! If you take too long, he’ll reincarnate using your flesh as sustenance. Stab him!” She also pushed him with telekinesis.

“Ahhh!! Why me?!” He craned his head back trying to get away but couldn’t, approaching the increasingly ominous black cloud which had started to plume into a vaguely humanlike shape, “Hah!!!!”

He closed his eyes and stabbed blindly, tagging it multiple times across the chest and legs.

“GIYAAHHHHHHHH!” The specter’s form started falling apart and each point the spear touched shined bright gold. It started breaking up from each wound and dissolved into motes of light that drifted away. “DAMMMMN YOU, CHILD OF GAZEN! I WILL RETURN FOR YOUUUUUUU!”

The face burned bright red before it lost its shape and disappeared, leaving the room silent, save for the smuggler’s heavy breathing.

“Well,” Cira said, “I don’t know how I feel about that, but it’s tomorrow’s problem. The point I’m trying to make, is that the creature you just saw is known as a grudge wraith.”

She looked around the room and had everybody’s rapt attention. They were still shaking. “One of the strongest forms, and a few steps above night wraith. See how effortlessly the smuggler defeated it? He didn’t even use mana.”

Hiding a pained look, Chip raised his hand, “I don’t think most of us know what any of that means.”

Even Nanri breathed a sigh of relief at not having to ask. Cira looked at her, “What, they don’t teach you about ghosts in your witch academy? It seems like it would be a witch thing.”

“It’s not allowed at the one I went to.” Nanri pouted.

“And what was the one we ran into down there?” Lomp asked, and suddenly everyone had a mixed expression of interest and foreboding.

“Wraith classifications aren’t really important. My point this whole time has been that you won’t see any wraiths—they would have eaten all the other spirits by now and moved onto people. But you can defend against one anyway. What we saw in the Last Step was probably just a stray spirit left undisturbed for a thousand years and kept alive by regret. The hat will protect you against him and his friends.”

Lomp sighed and shook his head, “I still really don’t know about this… We’re not crazy like you, Cira. What the hell even was that thing just now?”

Everyone was in agreement. Kate even spoke up, “Yeah, there’s no way I’m fighting anything like that.”

“Ugh, it was an example! You guys will be way more prepared than you need to be! According to the notes, Yl’Gad bore a grudge for thousands of years and toppled kingdoms. This degenerate just killed him with his eyes closed!”

“Hey!” The smuggler protested, “I’m not a degenerate! It didn’t really sound like I killed him though.”

“My point stands,” Cira disagreed, “You’ll see exactly what I mean when we get down there. Now can we move on? Look at all this aetherium on the floor.”

There was light blue dust scattered on the stone. She whooshed it together with wind magic and collected it in a jar before continuing, “I’ll prepare you all bags and little scoops or something later, but we should hurry. I was really hoping to see if some of you could manage to learn a spell or two before the night is through.”

“You’re gonna teach us magic?”

“Maybe…” She squinted her eyes at him, “First, let’s head to the forge. I’d like to get everybody geared up before we move onto training.”

Before they left the room Kate stood up and delivered a wound straight to Cira’s heart, “You’re not a very good teacher.”