Realm of Monsters

Stryg looked over the black gate as Loh spoke with the stationed guards. People of all sorts stood in lines, waiting to leave or enter the great city. Some of the folk wore fancy clothes and rode on centaurs. Others wore tattered clothes with various patchwork and stood on their own two feet. 

The whole exchange reminded Stryg of when he first arrived in Hollow Shade. He had been so terrified, afraid he would be sold off in this unknown place. Now he was a mage novice, apprenticed to one of the most talented magi in all the Realm. How things had changed.

“Stryg, come on!” Loh waved him over.

The guards ushered others in line to the side to make room for the mage duo. Stryg’s lips curled, being a mage truly had its benefits. He gave one last look back at the city that had become his home. He would return soon enough, hopefully by then Plum would stop avoiding him and give them a chance to talk. He wasn’t sure what to say to her, but he missed her company more than he would like to admit.

“Come on lover boy, you’ll get to see Feli soon enough. We’re losing daylight, hurry up,” Loh called out.

Stryg frowned. He didn’t know what a lover boy was, but from Loh’s tone he knew he didn’t like it.

“Master?” Rhian tilted her head back.

“Let’s go,” Stryg sighed.

Rhian trotted over to Maximus and followed him into the black tunnel and through the gate. They emerged on the other side to the sight of a dirt road, tall green grass, and endless hills in the distance.

The open plains still unnerved Stryg to no end. How could people live in a place so open without any natural defences surrounding them?

Large crowds walked down the road, heading towards the city. Stryg even saw several clusters of wagons, each holding a flag. He supposed these were the trade caravans he had heard about. It was interesting how he knew what all these people meant now. When he had first arrived they had all just seemed strange and outworldly to him.

“Let us get off the main road for now. We don’t want a lot of people where we’re going,” Loh said. She tugged on the reins lightly, directing Maximus to the Southwest.

Stryg tried emulating her and tugged on Rhian’s reins, but he accidentally pulled too hard, yanking her neck backwards.

Stryg cleared his throat. “Uh, forward?”

Her head leaning back, she stared at him upside down, “Yeah, I got that.”

She straightened her back and cantered over to the armored Maximus, away from the crowds of folk surrounding the city gates.

Stryg looked up at Loh, “Where exactly are we going?”

“Away from people. The less people we see the better.”

“I thought you were going to show me more of Dusk Valley,” Stryg tilted his head.

“That’s right,” Loh nodded.

“I thought that meant taking me to some of the towns or villages nearby.”

“Oh, we’ll get to that soon enough, although I don’t think you’ll like them very much. Let’s just say goblins are treated worse there than they are in the city,” Loh pursed her lips.

“Ah, I see,” Stryg’s shoulders slumped.

Rhian could tell something was wrong, but she didn’t think it was the time to speak up. She wasn’t sure really what would set the two off, sometimes they would smile or laugh and then a second later they would be choking her. The master and apprentice were an enigma to her.

Loh stretched her arms, “Don’t worry about it Stryg, you are a mage, you’ll just have to remind the  common rabble of what that means. Besides, we aren’t going there just yet. First, we are off to find some root-bison.”

“What are those?” Stryg asked.

Loh chuckled, “I sometimes forget you grew up in Vulture Woods. Root-bison are an elemental species. They live in large herds across the Valley. They channel their innate life magic through their hooves into the ground as they roam the land. The bison are one of the main reasons the Valley’s grass is still green, despite the cold weather we get most year around.”

“Are we going to hunt them?” Stryg asked.

“One or two, perhaps. We’ll observe the herds if we can, I’ve always found practical experience better than books. You can learn quite a bit from the root-bison if you pay enough attention.”

“I will not fail you,” Stryg swore. He was done with failing.

“Speaking of learning and failing, it is time you learn how to cast orange magic properly,” Loh said.

“Seriously?” Stryg’s eyes were bright with excitement.

“Yeah, although I can only teach you so much while riding. You’ll get a chance to practice casting when we make camp for the evening.”

“Understood, master,” Stryg could not help but grin.

Loh looked at the horizon. “It’ll be some time before we get a chance to see a root-bison. For now, let’s start with the basics of orange. Like the other chromatics, orange mana bonds with two elemental mana, in its case, the fire and air element.”

Loh smirked, “You are already quite familiar with the combination of fire and orange mana, the flame spell form. While quite powerful in terms of damage output, flame spells have two major weaknesses. The first is that flame spells are very volatile and can easily be disrupted if you are not focused while casting.”

Stryg stared at his hand, he remembered when he first cast a flame spell. His hand was burned for weeks. It was only thanks to healing spells and his own regenerative capabilities that he was able to recover. 

Loh raised her hand’s index and middle fingers, “The second weakness is that flame magic requires enormous amounts of mana even for the smallest spells. And it’s not like you can use other color mana to fuel your orange spells.”

“In other words my magic is a lot more limited than I previously thought,” Stryg surmised.

“Something like that. A large aspect of being mage is knowing when and which spell to cast to accomplish your goal. For example, say a green mage wishes to kill an incoming enemy. Now, they could use the flora spell form to transform a small seed into a large thorny vine to wrap around their enemy and crush them.”

“Seems fairly simple,” Stryg said.

“Perhaps in terms of damage, then yes, it is a very simple way to kill an enemy. However, in execution it is anything but simple. The amount of mana and concentration it would take to create such a large vine is immense. The caster’s mind would be fatigued, their body exhausted, and their green mana reserves drained. All for the sake of killing one single enemy.”

Stryg cocked his head, “So, what would you suggest?”

Loh pulled out a coin from her pouch, “The green mage instead could have grabbed a few rocks from the ground, about the size of this coin. Then, using the stone spell form, shoot the rocks at a high speed at the enemy’s head, killing them instantly. Granted, shooting multiple rocks at such speeds requires much more focus and skill, and the amount of mana required to throw the rocks at those speeds is no small feat either. Nonetheless, it would still be far less mana than the vine method.”

Stryg narrowed his eyes, “Well, what if the green mage can only use one spell form?”

Loh smiled, “Good question. If the mage could only use flora spells, then they could create smaller vines from the ground, tripping and rooting the feet of their enemy. At which point they could attack them from afar, simply by throwing fist-sized rocks at them, no magic needed. If the mage could only use the stone spell form, then the previous method still applies. It’d be best to throw small rocks than one giant rock. Either way a rock through the skull would kill anyone, the only difference is that the smaller rock conserves more mana.”

Stryg stayed quiet for a while as he contemplated her words. The crowds of people disappeared in the distance. The sea of grass began to encircle them all around, soon even Hollow Shade disappeared in the horizon. 

Rhian felt a shiver run down her spine as she saw her home vanish. She really didn’t want to travel this far from the great city, from civilization, from safety.

Stryg turned to Loh, “What if someone has various spell forms at their disposal?”

Loh pointed her finger at him, “You mean a manifold mage, like us? You have a lot more options as a manifold mage.”

“So, I’ll have an easier time then,” Stryg smiled.

Loh shook her head, “You would think so, but no. It’s actually far more difficult for a manifold mage to properly use their powers. You have to be able to decide on the spot which color and spell form is most apt for your current predicament. In your case, you may have more leeway for mistakes since you have large reserves of mana in each of your colors, but being a manifold mage means you also have many more chances to make mistakes.”

“Perfect, being a manifold mage is just great,” Stryg groaned.

Loh laughed, “You have no idea.” Her face grew somber, “Especially in your case.”

“So you keep telling me.” Stryg sighed, But, you don’t tell me why.

Rhian glanced between both magi, trying to understand the change of mood, but she failed to pick up on any hidden cues. She looked over at Maximus, hoping he could shed some light, but the serious centaur simply stared on ahead without any particular concern of his companions.

She looked ahead and rolled her eyes, this would be a long trip indeed.

~~~

The centaurs kept walking until the sun began to dip over the horizon. Loh called for the group to stop once they reached the top of a hill. She ordered Maximus to dig a hole for a fire pit while Rhian gathered grass to burn. Stryg and Loh sat cross-legged next to each other, eyes closed in meditation. 

Rhian grumbled to herself, she wasn’t a workhorse. She wasn’t supposed to be walking about the Valley gathering grass. Not to mention this whole thing would be easier if she had a sickle, which had been conveniently forgotten. 

After setting up the bed rolls and another hole for relieving oneself, camp was declared complete. Rhian sat down on the soft grass and watched Maximus slowly, but methodically remove his armor plates. She was grateful she didn’t have to carry around such heavy equipment, her master was already heavy enough.

“How is your meditation going?” Loh asked with closed eyes.

“Honestly?” Stryg opened his eyes, “Better than ever before. It’s a lot easier to meditate without so much noise everywhere.”

Loh cracked an eye open, “I forgot, your ears are quite sensitive. It must be hard to meditate at home. How well do the rotundas at the academy help?”

“The meditation domes? It’s true they do a nice job of blocking out sound, but…”

“But?”

Stryg eye’s flitted over at Rhian’s chest, “Let’s just say they have other distractions.”

Loh stood up and dusted off her pants, “Well, enough meditating for now.”

Stryg rose to his feet, “You mean?”

“The sun’s light is almost completely gone,” Loh reached into one of the packs next to Maximus and pulled out a firelog. She threw the log over the piled grass in the pit the centaur had dug.

“I want you to light the fire, not with flint. I want you to use a flame spell,” Loh finished.

“Okay,” Stryg took a deep breath and crouched next to the pit.

Rhian watched with curiosity, would she get a chance to see actual magic? Even Maximus looked interested. 

Loh walked up behind Stryg,  “Remember what I’ve been telling you these past few hours. What is your goal?”

“To light the fire,” Stryg said.

“And what exactly do you need to achieve that?”

Stryg looked at his palm, “Only a small flame.”

“Good. I know you haven’t been able to practice much with flame magic, but now is your chance. You have to control the amount of mana flow within your body, you only need a small amount of orange mana.”

“Understood,” Stryg closed his eyes. 

He imagined what the spell would look like. The size of the flame, its heat, how it would flicker above his palm. He then thought of the drow professor Rime and his annoyingly stern face. Orange mana began to flood from his heart and into his veins. It was too much. Stryg’s brow furrowed, he needed to lessen the amount, else the spell would fail.

Stryg’s soft-pointed ears twitched. A soft rumbling echoed in the distance. “Do you hear that?”

“What? I don’t hear anything,” Loh arched an eyebrow.

“I can hear something, it’s like thunder. I’ve never heard anything like it,” Stryg tilted his head to the side.

Rhian and Maximus turned in the same direction.

“I can hear it too,” Rhian said.

“Same,” Maximus agreed.

After another few moments Loh smiled, “I hear it now.”

She looked over at the horizon, the last rays of the sun were gone, and the full moon was in bloom. It wasn’t much light, but coupled with her shadow spells, it would be enough.

Loh hopped on Maximus. “Stryg, are you up for some night hunting?” 

Stryg grinned.

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