The Mage's Jump

by Marvelous Cheshire

Interlude: The festival

THE MAGES JUMP
BY GENOSABER
INTERLUDE: THE FESTIVAL

A soft yawn caught my attention, and I turned to find Twilight sitting up on the bed. “Good morning Miss Sparkle,” I said in a pleasant tone.

“Good morn-” her voice trailed off as she got a look at my clothes. Normally, I wear either jeans or black fatigues, today, I wore a pair of midnight blue dress pants, and my boots replaced with a pair of black dress shoes. Instead of my robe or a plain t-shirt, I wore a white dress shirt, with a waistcoat and tie the same color as the pants. My hair, normally simply combed back to look decent in public, had been carefully straightened out and a bit of styling gel had been used, giving it a light sheen. After a few minutes, she realised she was staring and quickly looked away, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. I chuckled a bit, but I couldn’t help but admit she looked rather cute.

“Arcana got out of the shower a few minutes before you woke up, you can go ahead and wash up, I’ll go start breakfast.” She nodded and made for the bathroom as quickly as she could on three legs, her blush never leaving her face.

I entered the kitchen and found Arcana sitting patiently at the table, her normal robe replaced with a elegant red dress Cecilia made for her last month. I quickly set about making a light breakfast while making idle chat with my sister. Twilight came in just as I finished breakfast, her face back to its original color. Twilight and arcana exchanged greetings before we lapsed into silence, content with focusing on our breakfast. After a few minutes, I decided to speak up.

“Louis sent me a message this morning, he said he got in contact with Dawn, she’ll be able to make something for Miss Sparkle to use her injured leg for the day.” Arcana groaned at the mention of Dawn.

“Do we have to go see her?”

“Yes, she might be able to help Twilight walk around during the festival without problems.”

“Um, who’s Dawn?” Twilight asked.

“A member of the Lunar circle and an old friend of mine,” I said while taking our empty plates and putting them in the sink.

“Lunar Circle?”

“Werewolves,” Arcana said with a frown, still uncomfortable about seeing Dawn again.

Twilight's eyes widened at this, and I decided to speak up. “Yes, but they’re friendly, the Lunar Circle has worked with the Order for over ten years now. And even before that they have been on friendly terms with other species for nearly a century ” Twilight relaxed a bit and I pulled out a map of the city showing where everything was set for the festival.

“Any ideas on where we should go first?” I showed the map to Twilight and Arcana, who immediately pointed to a spot.

“How about the bards, its been awhile since we’ve heard them.” I nodded and looked at Twilight.

“I guess that's a good place to start, but what is the festival all about?” she asked.

“The Autumn Winds festival celebrates the peace treaty the northern continent of Cardia made with the eastern continent of Elfheim, opening trade with the two lands and bringing new wealth to both.” I paused for a moment before continuing. "A this year also marks the anniversary of the defeat of Chaos, hence why they're summoning Bahamut today."

“You mentioned three kinds of elves, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, high elf, forest elf, and dark elf. High elves, are the social nobility of the three, they many progress in art and are masters of ‘spiritual magic,’ which allows them to channel the power of their ancestors, great for defense spells and healing. Forest elves are a more equal race, they live in small villages built in or near forests and are known for their music, their magic is druidic, they can communicate with plants and animals, and some can even control them at times. Dark elves are a bit more violent than the others, they’re mostly a warrior race, live in colonies set in caves, or in the slums of larger cities. Their magic expertise is-”

“Blood magic,” Arcana said darkly.

I shot her a glare. “Yes, blood magic, it’s one of the few darker magics still legal, but frowned upon by many, mostly due to its negative effect of people, only dark elves can use it without suffering from it.”

Twilight looked both intrigued and scared by the idea of blood magic. Arcana didn’t say a word as she stood up and walked out to her room. I cursed under my breath and followed her.

“Arcana wait.” She stopped and looked at me a few tears forming.

“Why did you have to bring it up Trace?” she whispered, I put my arm around her and pulled her into hug.

“I’m sorry if it upset you, I only meant to give her information.”

“I know.” She moved back wiped her tears away. “I be back in a minute, then we can go.” I nodded and she went to her room. I walked back to the kitchen and found Twilight looking at me with concern.

“Is she okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry about, blood magic is just a sore subject for her... and pretty much any other white magic user,” I said with a shrug.

A minute later, Arcana came back out and joined us at the door, she looked at me and nodded, assuring me she was fine. We headed out and made for the festival grounds, Twilight on my back as usual, and we continued talking about our plan. About half way to the grounds, a familiar voice called my name.

“Trace!”

I turned to find a man with brown hair, bards clothes, and a elven guitar on his back. Reeve “Riversong” Jackson, former resident of Earth, pulled here by a Chaos Seed three years ago, he has since become a famous bard, bringing music from his world to us. As soon as I looked at him, he ran full tilt to us, a huge grin plastered on his face.

“Reeve!” I exclaimed. The bard stopped a few feet from us and stuck his hand out in, but froze when he saw who was on my back.

“Who’s this?” he asked is an odd tone.

“Reeve, this is Miss Twilight Sparkle. Twilight this is Reeve, he came here like you did about three years ago, and decided to stay.”

“Hello,” Twilight said hesitantly.

“Greetings Miss Sparkle, as Trace said, my name is Reeve, but please call me Riversong, it’s my bard name.” He replied before looking back at me. “I assume you’ll be at the bard area later?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we were planning on heading there after we met up with Louis.”

“I saw him over by the inn, he was standing with some chick wearing a fur cloak.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you and your band later.” He nodded and ran off.

We reached the inn after a few minutes. Louis was standing out front next to a woman with black hair wearing a grey fur cloak. When they saw us, they waved and met us halfway.

“Trace, Arcana, Miss Sparkle,” Louis said as he looked at each of us. The woman kept a neutral expression until she saw Twilight.

“You were telling the truth wizard,” she said in a rough voice.

“Of course, why would I lie to you?” he questioned in a bemused tone.

“Telling me the being was ‘purple unicorn pony’ I thought you had sampled some locoweed from the forest,” she said in a deadpan tone. I chuckled as Louis rubbed the back of his head

“I suppose it does sound rather odd.” he admitted before turning back to me, “Trace, would you mind putting Miss Sparkle down so Dawn can work?”

I set Twilight down and stepped out of the way of the werewolf, mostly because I had been bit by Dawn before and this time I didn’t have any wolfsbane on me. Dawn crouched in front of Twilight, taking out a length of circular white stones tied together with a string. She wrapped them around Twilight's foreleg, tying the ends together. Once she was finished one of the stones began to slowly turn yellow.

“The moonstones will absorb any pain you get from walking, try it.” Twilight did, and found she could walk normal again. “The stone will last till the end of the festival, once the last stone breaks, you’ll have to keep of that hoof again. We are even now, wizard, have a good day.” She got up and walked off without waiting for a goodbye.

“Well, that solves one problem, let’s head to the festival,” Louis said while walking ahead of us to the grounds, we ran to catch up to him, Twilight appeared overjoyed to have the use of her hoof back. We got to the grounds to find some of the stands and event still setting up, and we sat down at a set of tables as we waited.

“Hey Trace?” Twilight asked, Drawing my attention.

“Yeah?”

“How did the elves become separated?” her question surprised me a bit, I guess she learned about it the books she got from the library, but most basic text didn’t cover the full details.

“The high and Forest elves have been separate for as long as we know, considering most old text was lost during the first uprising of Chaos five hundred years ago, but from what we know, the Dark elves were first created about the same time. They were high elves that became tainted by Chaos, and mutated, they became more savage, their nails hardened into claws, their fangs grew longer, and their skin turned dark grey. They went to war with the high elves for a hundred years, destroying the high elves in combat thanks to their ability to shrug off pain with ease. Only with the help of the White Circle's most skilled healers were they able to break Chaos’ influence on them and restore their sanity. recently, Dark have been trying to improve the living conditions of their race, but progress has been slow, and the violent nature of the Dark doesn’t help much.”

“What do you mean by ‘ability to shrug off pain’?” Twilight asked.

“Exactly what it sounds like, dark elves have the ability to release a chemical in their bodies that allow them to withstand pain by making themselves numb. I can do it too, but its not as effective and it messes with my magic, makes me miss a lot,” I said as I looked around us. Most of the stand had finished setting up and I could see Reeve and a several elves of each race on stage getting ready, Reeve pulling out his guitar, a gold crescent moon shaped design, most likely a high elf model. “Well, looks like everything’s just about set up, shall we take a look at what they have to offer?” My companions all nodded in response, and well made for the nearest stand.

The first row a stands are all food, featuring dishes by all three elves. The first one is a forest elf serving kebabs of various exotic vegetables coated with herbs and a sauce that my nose picked up and made my mouth water. Twilight and I went to that booth first while Louis was dragged to a different stand by Arcana. I bought two kebabs and handed one to Twilight , who held it with her magic. I took a bite of the food and-

-'By Shiva’s tits I have never had anything that tasted so good'. My mind went blank as I ate the rest of the kebob. I turned to Twilight to find her in the same state. I brought my attention to the elf, who was smirking at us.

“Mam, how much would it take to purchase seed to grow these ingredients and a copy of your recipe?”

“Two hundred fifty gil and not a coin less,” She said without missing a beat. I grabbed my pouch and shelled out the needed amount, she took the money and handed me set of seed packets and a stack of papers. I thanked her and helped Twilight, who was still in the process of comprehending what she just ate, to the next stand.

The next one was manned by a dark elves and featured several kinds of rare meats. I already learned Twilight was fine with me eating meat after watching Arcana Inhale a plate of chicken last night, so I took a piece of what was apparently Zolom meat, cooked it slightly using magic (dark elves prefer their meat between raw and mostly rare, I like mine medium rare at least) and threw it in my mouth, chewing slowly before swallowing and looked at the man, a smile forming on my face.

“I’ve never had Zolom meat before but I can say that tastes pretty good, though I would assume Zolom is rather hard to get considering they’re giant snakes.” The old man chuckled at my comment.

“Aye, they can be a bit troublesome, caught this one when is was still thirty feet, got me good though.” He said as he moved his tunic to show me the scar on his shoulder.

I thanked the man and lead Twilight to the last stand. I recognized the food my the smell, and found a young high elf woman serving various desserts and sweets. I smiled at the woman. “Good day madam.”

“And to you to mage, what can I get for you and your friend today,” she responded with a smile.

“I will have the blueberry tart, and what would you recommend for my companion?”

“Well, the mulberry cheesecake is a new recipe I wanted to try out, and it seems to be popular.” I looked at Twilight, who nodded in response. the woman smiled and gave us out order. we sat down at a nearby table and were quickly joined by Louis, who had a mug of ale in one hand and a kebab in the other, and Arcana, who was lugging a plate of twelve dragon nachos.

“Arcana, have you learned nothing from last year, I don’t want you getting sick from eating those again.” She rolled her eyes before pulling a vial of violet liquid from her sleeve.

“I’ve got it covered brother, I had Louis make a potion to prevent nausea.” Louis nodded in agreement, I just sighed and shook my head before going back to my desert.

“What did you call me you filthy brute?” a snobbish voice behind me exclaimed, making snap my head back to find the source.

“I said, ‘yer a prissy lil’ weakling, just like your ale.” a red haired dwarf shouted, drawing my attention to the scene. The aforementioned dwarf was glaring up at a blonde haired high elf, who was glaring right back at him.

“Twilight.” I said, showing her the scene, “you are about the see one of the oldest arguments in history take place.”

“At least my ale doesn’t make people sick to their stomachs, like your whiskey,” the elf countered.

“Only because they can’t handle it, it’s a real man’s drink, not this wimpy little juice yer selling.” This pissed the elf off, you never insult their wine. The elf screamed a battle cry and swung at the dwarf, landing a blow to the jaw, the dwarf grunted before body slamming the elf. the fight quickly dissolved into a mess of punches and I turned back to Louis.

“Twenty gil says the dwarf wins.”

He shook his head. “That elf’s wiry but fierce, my money’s on him.” we both took out a handful of money and placed it on the table before turning back to the fight.

“OW! I give, I give," the elf cried out after a few minutes. The dwarf let him go and I grabbed the small pile of coin on the table.

“What was that about?” Twilight asked, we all just shrugged.

“For centuries, Eeves and dwarves have been at each others throats about who has the better alcohol, personally, I prefer Elf wine to Whiskey , don’t care for bitter drinks.” Louis grunted in agreement and downed the rest of his ale.

I was about to speak up when the band started playing. I turned to see Reeve with his guitar at the microphone

I found myself tapping along to the music. As he finished I strode over to the stage a smirked.

“Mind if I join it?” It had been a while since I sang anything, but I did enjoy it nonetheless.

He laughed and hand a hand out to help me up. “I would be honored to have the archmage sing on stage with my band,” he said smugly, I rolled my eyes and climbed onto the stage, takinng my place next to him at the front.

Reeve turned to me. "I see your voice hasn't lost it's touch."

"I like to sing from time to time while working, helps me focus," I said, before glanced back at the band. "May I choose the next song." Reeve nodded and I leaned in to whisper it. As soon as I did so, the bard grinned and shouted something to his band in the bardic tongue. Immediately, they began playing the song I had chosen.

Reeve gave a low chuckle. "I know another song you might enjoy." He began strumming his guitar, producing an all to familiar tune.

"Was wondering when you'd play that," I said as the band joined in.

"You know what's next?" He said

I gave him a light glare. "I suppose this is to balance out the two songs I enjoy?"

"Of course!" He said as he began playing

“One more?” I asked him

He nodded with his usual oversized grin and grabbed the mic. “And now, here's something a bit more peaceful.”

As I jumped off the stage and made my way back to our table, I saw that Arcana had pulled Louis into dancing with her, and that Twilight was staring again. She quickly noticed and looked away.

“What’d you think?” I asked her.

“It was... amazing,” she answered quietly with a smile.

“Thank you, not many people know I sing, and the few that do don’t go spreading it around, so to know that my singing is liked by others is a great thing.”

“Yes, quite good, for an educated savage.” a voice spat behind me. I turned to the offending asshole with intent to kick his teeth in. Behind me stands a high elf man about twenty five years old, a silver rapier on his belt.

"Ba chóir duit a bheith cúramach de na magadh tú. (You should be cautious of those you mock.)"

“Ah, so you can speak a superior tongue.” Why has this guy not had his ass kicked? I could see people glaring at him, including the three elves from the stands.

“Look I’m in a good mood so I’ll be polite,” I cleared my throat before continuing, “Piss off you piece of fucking shit before I beat your face in.”

“How dare you, do you have any idea who I am?” I grunted. “I am Ral, son of merchant king Gallion.” Well, that would certainly explain his attitude, nothing good come from that stuck up piece of trash.

'Judging by the tone, that's only an abbreviation of his name, probably doesn't think a "half-blood" is worthy of knowing it.' I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned to find Fei holding a rapier, black leather handle with a silver hilt and blade. I grinned and took the sword, she vanished back to... wherever the hell she was.

“Okay Ral,” I poured as much venom as I could into his name, and caught a peek at the Drow smirking. “I challange to a duel, winner gets... one thousand gil.”

“Like you have..” He trailed off as Fei appeared again with a piece of paper, I took it a glanced over it before passing it on to Ral. “What’s this?”

“My balance, I currently have one million, three hundred fifty thousand Gil in the bank.”

he tried and failed to hide his surprise. “Alright then, let's head to the dueling grounds.”

A few minutes later I’m standing in an enclosed area about twenty feet in diameter, most of the people from the grounds had moved the the seats around the little area after Isaac came and told never to piss off so he and the other summoners could set up the summoning circle. Fei, or rather “Fiona” had appeared and started taking bets, and from want i could see, they were in my favor.

“Last chance to back out,” I teased.

“Shut up and get ready,” he growled as as he got into position, copied his stance in a more relaxed manner, just to mock him further.

Louis stepped between us and raised a hand. After three seconds, he swung his hand down and jumped back to avoided our blades. The pompous twit was clearly agitated, his attacks were sloppy and his blocks were weak, but I decided to humor him for a bit, keeping my own movements on par with his.

After about fifteen minutes, his anger had reach its peak and his movement was completely ruined. I change my pattern and begin striking at him with an onslaught of blows. He tried to keep up his defense, an upward slash knocks his sword from his hand, as well as drawn a small cut across his cheek.

“The duel goes to Trace!” Louis exclaimed causing the crowd to shout in joy.

Ral screamed in rage as he felt the blood on his cheek. “How dare you, filthy half-”

“Still your tongue!”

Ral looked over to my sister, giving him a glare that could cut diamond. “Shut your mouth child, didn’t your-” was all he got before I shouted “Aero” and shredded his clothes.

“My name is Trace Reinhart, grandson of High Priestess Sera Reinhart, and archmage of the Black Circle, you will show sister and I respect!” I turned away from him and walked back toward the grounds, my companions following close behind me.

We spent the next few hours enjoying the various performers, from various elves putting on different shows displayiing each race's abilities, too a groups of black mages using their magic to entertain the crowd. Eventually it was announced the circle was ready, and everone began heading towards the area.

“It okay if Louis and I go find a place to watch the summoning?” Arcana asked. I nodded and waved goodbye to them as I lead Twilight to a small hill with a tree on it, it provided a decent view of the circle without being too close to the ritual and having my eardrums destroyed by the dragon kings roar. I sat with my back against the tree and motioned for Twilight to join me. As soon as she did, the last stone broke and fell apart, sending a small jolt of pain through her leg. She flinched at the shock, and I instinctively wrapped my arm around her to distract her from the pain. She blushed a bit, but leaned into my embrace all the same. After a few minutes I spotted three figures in green robes walk into place on the circle and begin the summon. The sky darkened as the summoners began chanting in a old language. Twilight watched as the circle started glowing, and after a few minutes I could hear Isacc’s voice.

“We call upon thee hallowed father

Hear our call

Raise up and break the heavens

arise dragon king, awaken, BAHAMUT!”

The circle suddenly exploded into a pillar of light, and a deafening roar flowed through the air. when the light faded, the sky was cleared, and a giant black dragon was hovering above the crowd. As he opened his mouth, I clapped my hands over my ears to block the sound.

“MORTALS, IT IS A PLEASURE TO BE HERE ON THIS DAY.” The dragon roared. making everyone flinch. “THIS DAY MARKS THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THE LIGHT WARRIORS WOKE ME FROM MY SLUMBER, AND I GRANTED THEM THE POWER NEEDED TO DEFEAT CHAOS. WITH THAT IN MIND LET THE FINALE, BEGIN!” as he said that, he let loose another roar before soaring into the sky and exploding into a flash of light, soon a meteor shower began and everyone, including Twilight was enthralled by the show.

After about an hour the meteors begin to fade and the people began lighting fireworks, filling the sky with an array of colors. I looked down at Twilight, who was beginning to fall asleep, and a smile began to form on my face.

“The sun has set, the colors faded.
Traces of color and stars are shaded.
The trees stand great against
The darkened sky,
The birds are settled;
Only the owl will fly
The blanket of deep, rich ebony
Is profound-
To see it takes no sight;
To hear it takes no sound.
Only the color against
The darkness is white –
Those are dots of stars,
Simple but bright.
It has no name, it bears no title.
It’s simple but overwhelming,
Active but idle,
Shadows dance
Against the solace of the moon-
Twilight ends and the sun comes so soon.
Beauty soars and shimmers in the night
Soundlessly, wordlessly,
Breathtaking internal sight.
If you ever look up when the moon is tall,
If you listen closely, you will hear its call.”

“That was beautiful,” Twilight said with a yawn.

“It was a poem my mother use to read me when I a child, nights like this always make me remember it.” Twilight yawned again and nodded, laying her head on my chest. I continue watching the fireworks as I ran a hand through her mane, taking comfort in her company. after maybe twenty minutes, the fireworks ended. I looked down to find Twilight asleep, I smiled and carefully moved her onto my back. After getting her safely onto my back, I made my way back to my house.

Along the way, Louis caught up to me, he was carrying Arcana on his back in the same manner as I had Twilight. We both chuckled at our situation and continued walking in silence.

When we reach my house, I used a bit of magic to remove the locking spells on the door before pushing it open. I went into my room and put Twilight in the bed before helping Louis get the sleeping rock that is my sister i to her own bed. After we finished with our task I gesture for him to join me in the den.

“I take it Arcana had a good time?”

“Yes, she seems to have enjoyed herself,” Louis replied while trying not to meet my eyes.

“Louis relax, I made deal with Arcana, she finds a guy she likes, if I don’t hate him, I stay out of the way. I had a feeling you two would get together sooner or later.” I said as I got a bottle of plum wine and two glasses from one of the end tables. I gave Louis a glass filled it with wine, ding the same to my own.

“I could say the same about you and Miss Sparkle.” I choked a bit on my wine while I tried to shoot him a glare. “Trace, I’ve seen the way you look and act around each other, you are clearly infatuated with her, and she feels the same way about you. You’ve always been sensitive to emotions, you know I’m telling the truth.” I wanted to deny it, but he was right, I had been feeling like that toward Miss Sparkle since I woke up next to her in bed, and I had been sensing some kind of similar feeling from her.

“You're right, but it doesn’t make a difference, Twilight will be going back to her world in a few days, and I’ll return to being alone.”

“You could go with her.”

I shook my head. “No, I couldn’t I...” I stopped as he raised a hand.

“Trace, I’m presenting the option, think it over, don’t use your sister as an excuse, she can take care of her self.”

I hung my head and sighed. “Fine, I’ll think about it.” I handed him the bottle, “here I’m gonna hit the hay.”

“Night,” He said as he took the wine and headed for the door. “I'll see you tomorrow Trace.” I nodded and closed the door, reactivating the locks before walking to the bedroom, changing into pajamas, and getting into the bed. I wrapped my arms around Twilight and closed my eyes, allowing my mind to drift off into sleep.

Author's Note:

Happy st. Patrick's day everyone

I started writing this around midnight last night and finish minutes before I posted it, so please excuse any minor sloppyness.

Arcana's reason for disliking Dawn stems from an embarrassing incident three years ago.

UPDATE: Took me a while to get around to it (no excuses, was just lazy), but I finally got around to removing the lyrics as a safety precaution with Fimfiction's new rules regarding copyrighted lyrics. (I will be doing this to the other two chapters as well.)

Comments

[Marvelous Cheshire]

extra notes-

Here is were I found the poem.