Chapter 27 

Honor among the High Elves revolves around their perception of beauty. The longer the ear, the wiser the speaker. The lighter the hair color, the closer to divinity, or so their proverbs say. The brighter a natural hair color is, the more revered the individual as being a pure soul. Albino High Elves, once thought to be prophets from a long-lost master species, are now pop icons, cultural influencers, and holo-vid stars. Because of this aspect of respect revolving around hair color, dying hair is heretical among many High Elf houses. Even High Elf members of warrior scholar persuasion or royal military still only dye the tips of their hair to display mage class or caster type, their roots still untouched and “untainted.”

Day 166 Castestday

Two days after Rose had told me to hide the baggy and the small square of plastic was still at the forefront of my mind. I had hidden the pouch in a roll of socks at the back of my locker. I was trying to focus on my magic class at that moment, but my mind kept drifting back to the mystery substance that could possibly get me kicked from the academy. That distraction didn’t change until I got those strange results that day.

It didn’t help matters that all of my courses, save a select few on magic, were run by Thallos. I dreaded my courses with him because of how brutal they were. Thallos had taken to crossing mundane topics such as mathematics, history, or literature with brutal physical training. I’d like to see you mentally puzzle out the quadratic formula while trying to keep your head in a non-caved-in state. If Thallos was brutal as it was, I was truly terrified of what he would do if he caught me with an illegal substance.

At that moment on that day, I was in a reasonably safe magic course. Master Mystagogue Neckar was a nonentity in my courses after her outburst. The instructors to take up her role in my education were a pair of High Elves, twins, one male, the other female. Lucas and Patrisha Zenwel. The Zenwel twins were the height of Elven culture at the academy. Their platinum blond hair marked their station as two of the highest and most respected of the Elven nobility. The two looked so alike that I couldn’t tell which Mystagogue was which at times. Lucas’s fine Elven features were so narrow and soft that he could have been a woman. Meanwhile, Patrisha had so few feminine curves that she could have been mistaken for an Elven boy. Both of them wore the exact same haircut, shaved to near-stubble on the sides that reminded me of a thin layer of snow, and a long punk cut on top that was perfectly quaffed with gel to keep it standing and looking both fluffy and spikey.

They both dressed in white robes so pristine they seemed to glow. In fact, silver embroidery work and seams did give off a subtle shimmer that made the entire ensemble incandescent. Old-style theater masks covered half of their faces in silver detail work and white gems. Lucas’s mask was worn on the right side of his face, baring a comical grin. Patrisha’s mask was worn on the left side with a mournful frown. Both masks were mounted with a monocle over the one eye of said mask. Those masks were the only way I could tell the two apart.

The odd pair worked together flawlessly. Finishing each other’s sentences, handing off tools, and teaching props without a moment of hesitation or break in lesson flow. One of them was a Sorcerer, and the other was a Wizard, or so they claimed, but I couldn’t tell which was which. They each had both types of spell focus. A strange set of interlocked rings around a gemstone, known as a Catalyst Gryo Prysm for the Sorcerer, and staves, each topped with a gem and carved from tip to tip with formulas for the Wizard. The way they taught was mind-bendingly confusing. For the sake of simplicity, to convey how this first section of the class went, I shall label them. The man, Lucas, will be Snowflake A, and Patrisha Snowflake B.

The two circled me as I stood in the center of the very same library where the Gnomish master had lost her cool and went on a rant within. I stood tall, hands clasped behind my back as the twin instructors circled me, one pacing clockwise, the other cantered counterclockwise.

“Tell us, young one-” came Snowflake A, his tone reflecting that he thought I was going to fail this next quiz.

“-How is myst organized?” Snowflake B finished.

“The Elements.” I answered simply.

“Correct,” Snowflake B begrudgingly complimented. They seemed to think that because I was a Darkling and a commoner, I wouldn’t know how to reach four by counting on my fingers. I had decimated every question the pair had thrown at me for the past half hour. The vast majority of the questions had already been covered in the Mystechnology Basics class. The Mystagogues claimed it was gauging my skill to see where my weak points were. Personally, I thought they were looking for an excuse to claim I was too stupid to teach.

“What are the two-” Snowflake B verbally jabbed from my left.

“Organization types of Elements?” Snowflake A barbed from my right.

“The Core Four: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, the Hybrid Elements, and the Five Dualities. The Dualities of The Cycle, Being, Change, Choice, and Dichotomy. Do I need to break them down further?”

“We know that-” started Snowflake A.

“You have a firm grasp of the basics, but-” Snowflake B continued.

“Can you tell us how someone’s talent for an element is measured?” Snowflake A finished.

“Elemental control capacity is referred to as Affinity.” I answered blandly, only half paying attention. My thoughts were wandering back to the baggy in my locker.

“Good.” They said in tandem as they stopped in front of me, shoulders parallel. From how cleanly they worked together, I expected their faces to be blank of emotion, like automatons. Instead, Lucas flashed me a false grin that mirrored that worn by his mask, revealing nothing, while his sister closed in. “Tell us-” Lucas started from behind his sister.

“Have you had your Affinity levels tested yet?” Patrisha finished.

I shook my head in answer, trying to keep an eye on both of them without looking like a buck in the crosshairs. In the span of a breath, the woman snatched my right hand, slit the pad of my thumb with a small penknife that seemed to simply appear in her right hand, and pressed the bleeding appendage to a print scanning device she produced from a pocket or her robes.

“Ouch!” I hissed as I reflexively tried to yank my hand free, but the meager-framed Elven woman had a grip like an adamantine vice. I was only just starting to put up a struggle against her when a message popped into my HUD. In the center of my plain of vision was a blue-framed holo-window displaying a red bar notifying me that something was downloading. I stopped any attempt to struggle when the download was complete. A bar graph displaying Elemental Affinity levels took up my view, and I was both astounded and confused by what I read there.

Earth: 10

Air: 16

Water: 10

Fire: 26

Body: 14

Mind: 14

Life: 0

Death: 24

Fate: 0

Chaos: 08

Light: 0

Dark: 30

Arcane: 0

Eldritch: 24

“Interesting.” pondered Lucas

“Fascinating.” gushed Patrisha.

“What? What’s so fascinating?” I asked, even as I minimized the window to hover at the edge of my vision.

Lucas paced back and forth in front of me as he feverishly typed away on a holo-keyboard to fill some document. Meanwhile, his sister was back to circling me even as she made motions that made me think she was dealing with a canopy of windows blocking her view of the real world.

“Your scores are what’s fascinating,” Lucas explained, his focus almost solely on his new project.

“The chart is supposed to range from one to thirty.” Patrisha mumbled at me in her pacing. “The average score for practitioners as they are discovered is between six and fifteen.” She flicked me a chart of averages as she spoke.

“And there are very few affinities that score above twenty.” Lucas waved a finger as he wagged his tongue in lecture.

“You are an oddity in several regards.” Patrisha muttered as she cupped her mouth in one hand and rubbed her cheek with one finger in thought.

The original chart of my readings came back to the forefront of my focus. The readings for Fire, Death, Dark, and Eldritch are lit purple as Lucas continued on. “You have four elements scoring above that twenty, one of which is an extraordinary thirty.” Lucas continued.

“Yet, while most of your Umbral scores are excessively high in most areas, your Lumina scores are nonexistent with flat zeros across the board.” Patrisha followed up.

“Having low Lumina scores isn’t unheard of, but-”

“The reality of your scores is unprecedented.”

“Negative polarities are almost all shockingly high, while positive polarities are completely nonexistent. You should be dead, child.”

“Dead? Is it really that bad?” I nervously asked.

“Bad? No, no, no.” Lucas corrected. “It’s more of a curiosity than a negative. Normally, all casters have at least a minute affinity for the Lumina elements, even if it’s only a score of one. But You have no positive affinities. By this standard, with no Life affinity, that would normally mean that you have no access to Life Myst, meaning you should be dead. But unless you are a Blightling and hiding it, you are a puzzle indeed.”

“A perplexing quandary that has me flummoxed.” Patrisha accounted, her tone reflecting a deep brooding over the topic.

“Wait,” I said as I looked over the chart again. “Ok, so I understand that I have a zero affinity for the Lumina elements, Life, Fate, and the like. Meaning I can’t use them, correct?”

”More than just that. While you can’t use any positive polarity elements, the passive side effects are what have us curious. Having a zero affinity score for Life is only one perplexity. We honestly have no idea what it means for you to have zero scores in Light, Fate, and Arcane. With a zero Fate score, does that mean that any form of scrying spell won’t be able to find you? How do you fit into the Fate tapestry with a score like that?” Lucas said as he focused on his holo-screens. He seemed completely absorbed in this new puzzle.

Patrisha turned to look at me with a scrutinizing gaze. She seemed to look at me like a strange new creature or piece of Primordial technology and not like a sapient being. “With a Light score of zero, does that mean that you can’t be blessed or enhanced with the element?”

Lucas’s head popped up, his focus on his screens snapped by a sudden thought. He turned to his sister, completely ignoring me. “What about Arcane? What potential side effects could be caused by a zero score in that element?”

“I don’t even know where to begin studying that puzzle.” replied his sister as she turned away from me to pull up some other window or document on her therra.

I looked between the two in confusion. “I’ve never had any issues with magic in my life up to this point. Admittedly, I’ve never had anyone try to cast Light magic on me or Scry me, so I do not know what will happen. But most of my Umbral Element scores are elevated to an uncanny degree. Meaning I should be able to use them with little effort, correct?” I asked, hoping I understood the concept correctly.

The two stopped what they were doing at the exact same time to look at me.

“Not quite.” Patrisha started.

Lucas stepped forward, raising a hand, palm up, in a position of reverent inspection. “The higher the affinity,” He clenched his hand and pulled down as if drawing something down with significant force against just as substantial resistance. “The stronger your control over the element.”

Lucas stepped back as his sister took center stage to continue the explanation. She held up two fingers, one on each hand. “If two casters tried to control the same stone,” she bobbed the finger on the left, “the control would fall to the one with the higher stone affinity even if the other,” she bobbed the finger to the right. “Is at a higher Mage Circle.”

I rubbed my chin as I looked at the floor in thought. “Got it. So with my score of thirty in Dark would mean that no one could overpower my control over cursing?”

Patrisha looked at the ceiling and wobbled her head from side to side in a motion conveying the meaning ‘kinda’. “There is a way for someone to overpower your Dark control, but it would be very difficult. In order to take control of Dark element away from you, if the two of you were trying to take dominance over the same source, they would have to expend Vells by a factor multiplied by your difference in affinity.”

“If someone of an AS or Affinity Score of twenty-nine with the Dark element tried to wrestle control away from you, they would have to spend two Vells for every one you spent for control. And the lower the AS going against you, the more they would have to spend to take control over the same shadow as you.” Lucas continued.

“The shadow?” I asked in puzzlement. “I thought the Dark element was only used for hexes and curses.”

The twins both looked at me like I had just spat out an angry opossum at their feet. “Fragment’s grace, no.” Patrisha admonished.

“With a lower affinity for Light or Dark, one can normally only use them for minor blessings called endowments or minor curses known as hexes respectively, true,” Lucas spoke with a finger pointing up in some odd sign of his educating me on a common topic. “But with enough raw power or talent in Light or Dark, you could forge a weapon of pure light or shadow.”

“Or with a bit of Air Myst added to a spell body of Dark Myst, you could shadow step, or teleport from one shadow to another, that you know the location of, within range.” Patrisha explained. “The same can be done with Light and Air, except as the spell flash step.”

Now, that sounded like it could be really useful. I decided then and there that I was going to work on both of those Dark abilities. But first, I needed to learn how to draw upon my Mystwell.

“This all sounds really awesome,” I spoke up, “but the topic I was trying to get to is why my Chaos score is so poor.”

The two looked at each other before both turned back to me to give me a simultaneous shrug in the same manner. “You can’t have astounding talent in all elements.” Lucas stated.

“You’re always going to have those few elements that you have little talent with.” Patrisha pointed out. “For most other people, that score is taken out of the equation of affixing a classification to a mage. Normally, all that matters is which affinities are strongest. Score regardless. But in your case, you have four null stats, two averaged affinities, three slightly above average affinities, four bafflingly high affinities, and one weak affinity. Just because your type of Mage gives you access to all Umbra alignments doesn’t mean that you are going to have equal talent in all of them.”

“Regardless of the results, we can discuss them later. As of now, you are late for your next course.”

“Dreck!” I cursed. Without another word, I spun on the ball of my foot and sprinted from the room and out of Aegis Hall like the building was burning down. Thallos was going to have my hide for being late. That day, we were due to get me set up for the next level of training.

I met my uncle on the edge of the sapphire woods that ran the perimeter of the crater cave. He looked irked as he leaned with his back against the trunk of a massive tree, thoughtfully chewing on the stem of an electric blue oak leaf, his arms crossed over his black armor-clad chest. As he caught sight of me jogging up, he spat out his stem and pulled away from the tree.

“Three minutes late, boy.” He growled.

“Sorry, sir.” I huffed. “My new magic instructors kept me late after testing my affinity scores because of how odd they were.”

“Odd?” Thallos queried

In answer, I flicked him the file with my chart while I tried to catch my breath. I watched as he received the file, opened it, and read it over. He looked less than impressed by my scores. If I was being honest, he just looked in a foul mood, period. Was he in the mood because I was late?

Thallos made a motion with his hand, denoting that he had just tossed the file into his therra’s digital trash bin. “I’ll grant you that your ASs are odd but not strange enough for you to be held late.” His tone was cold as the grave, as hard as a granite mausoleum, and as final as that mausoleum’s door closing for the last time to be barred and locked.

“But the Mystagogues said that I should be dead with the scores I have.” I pointed out, my tone growing frantic.

“But you’re not dead now, are you.” he said as he turned his back to me to march deeper into the woods. “If you aren’t dead, then you have one goal: to pass the year’s end trials. To finish those trials, you need to surpass your limits. So, if you aren’t dead, you should be breaking your limits by training. Now follow.”

I skipped into a pace just fast enough to follow but not pass him.

“Um, uncle?” I timidly asked, my back slouched, shoulder bunched, and my head angled upwards to him.

“Yes?” His tone was just as cold as before and only slightly less uncaring.

“D-did something happen?”

“Many things happen every day. I need you to be more specific.” He marched on with his hands balled into fists, swinging at his sides.

“To make you angry. Did something happen to sour your mood?”

“I have been told to escalate your training even more than I initially planned.”

“I-isn’t that dangerous? I thought you and the Mysteriarch said that you would minimize the threat of the training. Why did she change her mind?”

“Kaydammin had nothing to do with this choice. This was an order given by my direct supervisor.”

The Mysteriarch wasn’t his direct supervisor? Then who did my uncle follow, if not her? And why would they want to escalate my training? So far, that year had been nothing but question after question. What breed of Darkling was I? How was I Myst-Blooded? Who was my mother? Who killed my father and why? What was the box taken from my home? Why was I chosen to become a Dark Hunter, and why keep it hidden from my friends and classmates? Who was the Fragment the hidden sect followed? How was I supposed to draw on my Mystwell? And now the big question was who was Thallos’s boss, and what did they want with me?

I spent the walk trying to think of a tactful way to ask who Thallos took orders from without either looking ignorant or being too nosey. We reached our destination before I could think of a workable way to ask my question. He had led me to the clearing the Nel, I and the others came to for lunch some Quenchendays. And we weren’t alone in the clearing. Opposite us, sitting under a tree, was a familiar mint-green-skinned Gnome dressed in trainee healer robes.

“Tessa? What are you doing here?” I asked in puzzlement.

“She’s here to help with your training. I wasn’t planning on calling on her for another few months, but as I’ve already said, plans changed.” Thallos explained as Tessa pulled herself to her feet and dusted off with heavy-handed patting.

“But doesn’t she have classes? Won’t she fail out of the academy?”

“She is receiving special training by taking part in your own training. Her only current classes are in healing.”

“Her only classes?” I cocked my head in questioning.

This time, it was Tessa who answered my question. She took a step closer, fidgeting with her hands. “Gnomes have the option of a different curriculum. I’m in the alternative course setting. I only take one type of class at a time to maintain focus on a topic and move on to the next class of my choice in case I begin losing interest. Currently, I’m only taking classes in healing.” She looked nervous, only making fleeting eye contact before looking either at her feet or somewhere to her right or left. As she spoke, her fidgeting only grew more agitated.

“Is something wrong, Tessa?” I asked in as sensitive a tone as I could manage as I took a half-step forward. I wasn’t even aware at the time that I partly held a hand out in an offer of support.

“No, no.” she muttered, her chin pressed to her chest. “I’m just nervous about the training and… other things.”

Before I could even ask about either the training or the ‘other things’ Thallos spoke in strong command. “Just get it out of the way, trainee. Tell him how old you are.”

What did her age have to do with anything? The Gnomish girl looked no older than a human thirteen-year-old, aside from her diminutive size and alien pigment colors. She even acted like a nervous teen, grinding the toe of her shoe against the bare soil beneath her. She made fleeting eye contact before looking away and asking me in a very soft voice, “I’ll only tell you if you promise not to treat me any different.”

I shrugged in answer. “I’m not sure what the big deal is about your age. I know Gnomes can live crazy, long lives, so long as they are kept engaged. So, are you around a thousand years old?”

She shook her head fervently in the negative.

I put all my weight onto one foot and cocked a hip as I stroked my chin in thought. “Well, is it in the opposite direction? I know that you Gnomes also mature differently from other species. Are you only three years old or something?”

“No.” Tessa murmured, even as she tried to conceal an amused smile behind her hand.

“Well then, I don’t see an issue. Getting upset about your age is like getting ticked off with an Elf because they mature slower than most species. Or getting angry with Ceangar for maturing faster than other species. There’s no point in judging you by your age when age is a bit of an ephemeral topic for your people.” I pointed out while literally pointing at her, palm up and fingers half curled.

“Just tell him, girl. There’s no need for drama.” Thallos interjected.

The girl gave a small squeak of shock in answer before rapidly blurting out, “I’m seventy!” As soon as the words left her mouth, she cringed as if expecting a strike to land against her.

I gave another shrug. “Cool, you are seventy, but in my book, you’re a teen just the same as me or any other student here at the academy.” I turned back to Thallos, “So why exactly do I need a healer for my study?”

He looked at me with a mildly amused smirk that still felt cold in my eyes. That was his only answer for a seemingly timeless moment. When he finally spoke, the smile fell like a porcelain mask shattering at his feet. “Before I give you an answer, I need you to swear not to tell anyone about this training.”

“Okay? You already have me hiding that I’m a Dark Hunter and what that is. What’s the difference?”

“You aren’t a Dark Hunter yet, boy.” Thallos’s words were sharp, pointed things, especially as he snapped the word ‘boy’. “But to answer your question, the vow to hide your position is to protect you from anyone learning how valuable you are should the word somehow get out. ’This vow’” he half spat, half hissed the words, like burning venom, “Is to protect your friends. What I am about to put you through is reserved solely for elites in my organization. Should anyone learn how I’m training you, solutions will be made… brief and to the point.”

I gave an audible gulp of fear as I picked up on his connotation. I definitely wanted Rose and the others’ breathing and whole.

“Do you swear?” He demanded, even as he loomed over me like some great cliff of ice and steel with eyes like frigid fire.

“Y-yes, sir.” I stammered out, feeling like the meekest mouse before the mighty cliff of a man.

Thallos spun away with a flourish of the black fur-lined cloak he wore. “Good. Now, ready yourself, boy. From here on out, we are escalating your training to advanced pain endurance,” I caught the sound of a blade leaving its sheath. “And working under pressure.”

I stared at my uncle in disbelief as he turned to face me and lunged, short sword held to impale me with a thrust. I moved to throw myself to the side, but Thallos was too fast. There was pressure against my chest, a feeling of skin parting, tissue splitting, and the snap of bone followed by a burst of pain. I tried to gasp, but one of my lungs refused to work. I looked down to find my uncle’s short sword skewering me up to the hilt. I coughed, the action sending a rippling flare of agony through my chest, even as a gout of blood passed my lips to dribble onto Thallos’s hand holding the murderous weapon. My legs went watery as he pulled the blade free with a gush of blood. I fell onto my side, curling in around the source of the agony as the world went hazy with static and started fading to black.

I heard in some far-off distance Thallos speaking to someone. “Now it’s time for your training, girl. Heal him quick before he dies. But be sure to leave a scar. For every wound I give him, I want a scar when you’re done.”