The Immortal Hero And The Nightmare Queen

by Gravitiaxis

Chapter Four: Age 16: Apprentice

There was a loud knock on the door. So loud that it actually startled you awake. You’ve come to recognize the banging that has been plaguing you for six years. You had mixed feelings about the banging; at first you hated it when other people would wake you up, but now it showed you that were no longer alone. Master Titus had been kind to you for these past six years. Teaching you a lot of things that didn’t even register within the books you used to read. Many of things he taught you were about magic and history.

You’ve grown to enjoy your life as an apprentice. It’s very eventful and challenging, and you’ve always liked a challenge.

The banging on the door increased in magnitude as you realized you failed to respond. “It’s open!” You yelled at the top of your lungs. The door opened up to show a tall young man with long flowing black hair. You recognized this man as Fenris. For the past six years you’ve adopted him as your brother. The two of you can easily be described as having a love-hate relationship with each other.

Fenris has become an uptight, by the book kind of guy, while in turn; you’ve become an eccentric, follow-my-own rules type of person. The two of you constantly butt heads due to your conflicting ideas, yet still maintain a bond as strong as brothers.

“Good morning sunshine.” He said causing you to groan. You didn’t move much since he walked into the room. You were promised a day off today, by Master Titus, so there was no reason for you to get up early. “Get up. It’s time for another session today.” He said opening up the blinds, allowing the harsh sunlight to shine into your eyes causing you to face away from the window. Your head was already killing you, due to Fenris’ excessive banging, but the blinding sunlight just made it worst.

“Today is my free day, so leave me alone.” You said shifting between annoyance and anger.

“That’s only half true.” Fenris said as his horn began to glow a light blue. You soon began to feel your covers being yanked right off of you, allowing the freshness of the air to overwhelm you, making you grit your teeth in anger.

“What do you mean?” You asked now facing him.

“While you do have a free day this week, it just so happens that it’s not today. It’s tomorrow.” He said watching as rage over took you.

“Your lying. He told me that it was today.”

“No, he said it’s the day after tomorrow. Maybe if you weren’t so drunk from partying with Linna at the tavern, you would have remembered.” He said with an annoying smirk on his face.

“Argh, don’t patronize me Fenris.” You groaned, trying to force yourself up from the bed. Now that you were standing it felt like your head was about split open. You hated having hangovers, which was totally natural, because who in their right minds actually enjoy waking up with their head feeling like it’s about to explode? You suspect Linnan does, due to how wasted she likes to get.

You made sure to make a mental note, to remind you to think twice when Linnan asks you to hang out with her. It almost always ends with the two your going overboard. You were just happy that you woke up in your bead this time.

“At least I know how to have fun.” You said shaking your head as you walked in the bathroom, trying as hard as you could not to pass out while getting dress.

“Your idea of fun, is acting like you were a deranged degenerate with no formal education.” He said walking around your room trying to find anything wrong with it. You kept your room fairly clean. You used it only when you were studying ancient texts and meditating. All the rest of your time was spent on having fun or doing odd jobs for the townspeople.

“Well…at the end of the day I still get laid more than you. So that has to amount to something, right? As in I’m better looking than you.” You said letting out a small chuckle before gripping you head in agony. It hurts to laugh.

“Yes, you take pride in having multiple sexual relations with whores and prostitutes, while I take the pleasure of living my life with only one woman.” He said thinking of his girlfriend Morgana. The two of them had been dating for four years, and from what you heard from Linnan, the two of them have yet to do anything but hug and kiss. From what you can tell, Fenris is trying to keep the relationship chaste until they get married.

Morgana loved your company, comparing you as a “court jester”, she just didn’t care too much for Linnan, calling her a “bad influence” to both Fenris and you. Her claims didn’t really amount to much, when you though about it. Linna was like a sister to you, perhaps even more if you dug a little deeper into your feelings. Of course not everything Linna did was good, but of course not all she did was bad either. You made sure to keep an eye on her though, lest she does something she’ll regret.

“Not all of my relationships are with whores and prostitutes.” You said trying to defend yourself.

“Oh yeah, and I forgot thieves.”

“When was the last time you seen me with a thief for a girlfriend?” You asked trying to recall if this had ever happened.

“Just last month. You were dating a girl named Helena and-”

“And Linna caught her trying to steal her coin purse from out of her room. Oh yeah I remember her.” You said letting out another laugh before holding your head in pain. “Whatever, happened to her?” You said trying to think.

“Linnan cursed her with leprosy.” Fenris deadpanned.

“Oh yeah…I remember now…took me a while uncurse her. Afterwards she never wanted to see me again…oh well, all wells that ends well. That’s what I always say.”

“When do you ever say that?” Fenris asked.

“That’s beside the point. How is Morgana doing lately? I haven’t heard much about her from you or her mother.” You said slipping on some clothes.

“Why would you be talking to her mother?” He asked curious to your last statement. You momentarily stopped what you were doing and looked at Fenris who looked like he was slowly becoming angered as he slowly began putting to pieces together.

“No reason. I do a few jobs for her every now and again.” You said giving Fenris a sincere smile. He looked at you strangely before nodding his head.

“I see… Morgana is doing fine. She’s recently been working at the temple, working as a priestess.” He said sounding proud of his girlfriend’s accomplishment.

“Oh…that…what’s the word I’m looking? Sucks! Yeah that’s it. That sucks.” You said clapping your hands together before shaking your head. “You know, she keeps trying to convert me into her stupid religion.”

“It’s not stupid. Seventy person of our nation follows this religion.”

“Whatever. So I had to slap her a few times so I could get my point across.” Fenris frowned up upon the mention that you hit his girlfriend. “Figuratively! Not literally!” You said holding your hand up to calm him down. “Or do I mean literally but not figuratively…hm…I can never tell the difference, but I’m pretty sure there was no slapping involved…I think.” You said letting out a small grin as you finished putting on your clothes. Fenris looked like he was going blow a fuse, which you found amusing, but slowly forced himself to calm down.

“I’m not going to let you get to me. Not today.” He said turning his back to you as he walked towards the door. “If I were you I’d hurry up and see the Master. The sooner you get today’s lesson over, the sooner you can go back to doing what you do best.” He said pointing towards your bed.

Fenris always seemed to know how to push your buttons, but no matter what anyone else may think, it’s all just harmless banter. At least…that’s what you hope.

Your room was on the top floor of your master’s mansion. You hated when you had a hangover and had to walk down these mass of stairs everyday, if you recall, you actually fell down them a few times. You were happy that no one was there to see it happen, or you would never be able to live it down.

As you walked through the dining room you were greeted by Linnan, who was talking with one of the nurses. She quickly spotted you and called your name. “Aetherrant! Come over here.” She said wearing that same unreadable smile that you’ve come to know and hate. You let out a small groan and looked towards the door which was not more than four feet away and then back at Lin, which felt like she was a mile away from where you stand.

You wanted to keep walking but you decided against. You do live with the girl. “What do you want?” You asked, putting on one of your own fake smiles. You walked up to Lin and nodded your head at the maid who bowed to you, before she walked away.

“How rude. I don’t want anything. It’s what you want.” She said dangling a small flask in your face which held a strange red liquid.

“And what is it that may I want?” You asked rubbing your temple as you headache began to intensify.

“That depends.” She’s toying with you. You don’t have time for this. You let out a small sigh and began to walk away but she called you out a gain. “Wait, don’t you want to hear what I want to say?”

“Well, since my back already turned, I guess not.” You said continuing to walk away.

“I bet having that headache must really suck. It would really help you if you had a potion that could…mend such an aliment.” She said shaking the flask.

You let out one more sigh, before turning back around and taking the flask away from her. You popped open the cork and was about to drink it until you’re conscious stopped you. “What did you do to it?” You said lowering the flask from your mouth.

“I didn’t do anything to it, now drink.” She said now throwing a sharp glare you.

This just made you even more suspicious. “Hell no. The one thing your’re not, is generous. There must be a catch.”

“Fine, it’s a new remedy that I made. It should help with headaches and migraines but I’m not she yet. I wanted to test it on someone. So I thought about you.” She said folding her arms, as she looked at the flask telling you to drink it.

“Is that why you took me out last night? To get me drunk so you could get me to be your test subject?”

“Hmm, yeah that seems about right.” She said nodding her head. “Just drink. I’m pretty sure the potion will work.”

“How sure?” You asked raising a eyebrow.

“About half and half.” She said tilting her hand back and forth.

“What!”

“I’m joking, it should have a sixty six chance of working.”

“Does my life mean nothing to you?” You deadpanned. “Give me one good reason why I should take this potion.”

“I not going to force you to drink it, but if you do drink it, imagine never having to wake up with a head splitting migraine. Plus we can make a lot of money if it actually does work.”

You shrugged your shoulders and drank the potion. You trusted Linna…to an extent, and you were pretty sure she would never try to poison you. “There are only a few minor side affects, though.” Scratch that.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“Don’t worry. Just tell me if you feel a slight change in body temperature, mild scratching, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, mild discomfort, darkened stool,” Okay that doesn’t seem too bad. “Darkened soul,” What? “Hallucinations, weight gain, diabetes, lycanthropy, trucanthropy, hemorrhoids, mild heart explosion, and a mild case of death.”

You’ve never been more scared in your entire live, than at this very moment. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I was just thinking about something.” You said trying to keep your cool.

“And what would that be?” She asked in a perfectly seeming tone of voice.

“What the hell does trucanthropy mean?”

It turns out that Lin was just bullshitting about the side effects and that none of that bullcrap she said was going to happen to you…in theory.

You made your way towards the training room which was held deep underneath the mansion. Technically you could call it a basement but it was too large to be called that. Titus dug it out so he could practice his magic in peace, and now uses it to teach you and the others magic.

As soon as you entered into the room you saw your master sitting at a desk. He appeared to have been reading a book. As you looked at him you noticed that he didn’t seem to know you were there. You tough about it for a quick second and tried to slowly walk back up stairs. “Aether…” He said closing his book and gently placing it back on the table.

“Uh, yes master?”

“You weren’t thinking about skipping out on today’s lesson were you?” He asked looking at you with a menacing glare.

You quickly nodded your head at his question. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.” You said giving him a small bow.

“Aether I need you to take your studies seriously. You are sixteen years old. In two more years you will be able to leave my care and venture out into the world on your own accord, but if you do not master your magic, I fear that the time spend on you will be wasted.” Titus said letting loud cough. You could see the wrinkles in his face, he’s getting older. When you first met Titus he didn’t look as old as he did now. It appeared that his real age was beginning to show…whatever his real age was. Taking care of three bratty teenagers does not do wonders on the body.

“Yes master.” You said holding your head down low.

“I sense great things from you Aether. Do not prove me wrong.” He said patting you o the shoulder. “Now, are ready for today’s lesson. I first need you to…hold on…” He said placing his finger on his forehead, looking as if he was trying to remember something. “What type of magic do you specialize in again?” He asked.

“What magic?”

“Yes, every mage specializes in some form of magic, even multiple ones. Linnan, is good at Alchemy and Illusion magic, but is best at healing magic. Fenris is good at Transmutation and Summoning, but is best as Conjuration. I’m a jack of all trades myself. I can use all types of magic, but I'm best at none. This makes me an excellent teacher and mage.” He said looking proud of this fact.

You tilted your head to side as you began to think. What were you good at?

Author's Note:

Here's your choices. You can only choose two types that you're good at and one that your the best at.

Alchemy: The creating of magical potions. Alchemists are the most versatile of wizards because their potions have the potential to duplicate the effects of most of the other disciples. Also, their potions can be used by anyone, allowing the magic to be stock piled and stored for extra use.The ability to brew powerful potions, that can increase ones abilities, such as the four senses, strength, speed, ect. It can also be used to make powerful poisons, capable of being untraceable and incurable. due to how skillful and lethal it is. Extremely good for those who want to earn a profit, and assassinate their enemies.

Conjuration: The ability to wield the elements as if you were the gods themselves. The conjuring of fireballs, ice bolts, shields, and other things. Being a Conjurer means you will be most adept at combat situations and will most likely become a famous battle-mage who will have no equal.

Divination: Diviners see into the future, past and to faraway places. Those born with this ability or gain it through training are highly sought-after individuals. They are able to sway entire battlefields with their supernatural knowledge. Some see mere seconds into the future, while others can see years.

Enchantment: The clouding of others minds. Enchanters are able to charm foes into friends, cause widespread fear with any single world, and force people to do as they wish. An enchanter can never be used to force someone to do anything that would violate the target's moral code (for example, attacking one's king), but those who are the most powerful can find a way around this with careful planing.

Illusion: The creation of things that don't really exist. Illusionist can make people see and hear anything they want them to. You can project an image that acts, thinks, and looks like you to do the talking while you, yourself were never in the room.

Summoning: Animals, demons, elementals, and other things. Summoners are never alone, as they can summon servants to work for them or powerful fiends to fight for them. Making contracts with such beings can prove to be either beneficial or undesirable depending on the being.

Transmutation: Changing one thing into another. A transmuter can turn an ordinary sword into a magical one, or a person's flesh into stone, the ground into mud, iron into steel, fire into water, wood into ash. The possibilities are almost limitless.

Healing: The mending of the physical body. A healer can cure injuries, poisoning, and diseases. The very best healers can take the most mortal of wounds and get right back up due to how quick and effective their magic is.

Necromancy: To raise people from the dead, in order to serve me. Necromancers can reanimate a body in order to create skeletons, zombies, ghouls, mummies, liches, and other powerful undead creatures. Dark magic at its darkest. Necromancers all have a bad name, but perhaps you can change that image.

There you go.

Comments

[MrManehattan]

Best at summoning; good at enchantment and necromancy

Always been a fan of summoning; to be able to conjure minions to do your bidding.

I Just think with a background in summoning that necromancy might come more naturally.

As for enchantment, the ability to sway others seems like a trait that could be useful when shit hits the proverbial fan after people find out he's a necromancer.

[bocaj518]

Best at Transmutation; good at Healing and Conjuration.

[ThatBlueScreenGuy]

Go with divination and conjuration.

[Shadow_Fire]

Good at alchemy and conjuration, best at necromancy

[Voltrasin]

Good at: Healing and Conjuring.
Best at: Enchantment.

[TooNAimi]

Good at summoning and necromancy, best at conjuration.

[killer007]

Best at necromancy
Good conjucration and summoning

[The Fateweaver]

Best at Conjuration and good at Necromancy.

[Mr Skeleton]

good at summoning
best at Necromancy

[Tison]

Good with enchantment
Best with conjuration

[Villainous Insanity]

-Good at Summoning and necromancy-

-Best at Divination-

Seeing into the future and summoning the dead and demons ?
Depends on the limits of the summoning and raising but in combination with Divination it sounds like he could summon armies prep ambushes using his thralls and sway the battlefield heavily by using summoned and raised strike forces.