Meridias

by Ryan Hodgson

  “Now then!” Angurvadel said. “Let us begin the first lesson. Today I will not have you attempt to use magic. First, I would like us to study the elements that will make up the spells that you will be weaving. Please take a seat.” There were a few disgruntled murmurs but Elunduil didn’t blame Angurvadel for wanting to take things slowly. Even weak magic in the hands of those without complete control could be deadly to themselves and those around them. “Now then there are five main elements that make up the universe around you. We have fire, water, earth, air, and Aether. Now Aether is considered to be an imaginary element by some scholars because it is the element that makes up the heavens. Aether is massless and is said to give life. Everyone here has small traces of Aether in them that are too small to measure let alone detect except by a very skilled mage. Aether is also related to the imaginary element of void or nothingness.” Angurvadel paused to let his words sink in.

  “The elements of Light and Dark are also considered main elements however they are also related to a person’s spirituality. Everyone here has a spiritual orientation of either Light or Dark or else they are grey. In rare cases there can be a duality of the two elements working together in harmony or dissonance within a person.”

  Elunduil found the elder’s words intriguing. He’d heard of spirituality before but always associated it with religion, but the way the elder was explaining it made it sound like spirituality was something to do with what was inside a person. Perhaps like an awareness of some simple truth? Angurvadel’s next words caught Elunduil’s attention. “Imaginary elements are elements that we cannot see nor directly interact with but that we still know they are there through experiences. The elements of harmony and dissonance cannot be seen but I am certain all of you have seen these two elements at play in your lives. The main elements all have sub-elements that fall under them such as ice falling under water, and lightning falling under air. There are many more elements and we will explore them all in the coming days. Now then since you have all listened patiently we will practice some very basic magic. Everyone stand three feet away from the people around you and we’ll begin.”

  Everyone stood up excitedly and did as they were told. Angurvadel looked at everyone and then said, “The first thing that I must teach you how to do is to activate and deactivate the conduit that flows throughout your bodies. I want each of you to turn your thoughts inwards and find the power inside of you. Now reach out toward that energy and let it flow into your body. This will activate the magical conduit and allow you to use magic.” Elunduil followed the steps and waited patiently. He immediately sensed Cerra and Tim’s bodies flow with magical energy and looked around the room. He could tell the others were struggling and smiled to himself. He’d had to learn in the heat of the moment. These people were fortunate to not be in the life and death situation he had been in more than a month ago. “Elunduil have you done it yet?” Cerra asked quietly. Elunduil nodded and she frowned. She appeared confused. He cast a look at the elder and saw he had a similar expression on his face.

  After a few minutes everyone managed to ‘turn on the engine’ and appeared quite proud of their accomplishment. Angurvadel looked pleased and had them turn off and on the conduit several times before dismissing them. Elunduil waited with Tim and Cerra until everyone else left. The elder approached them. “Elunduil, my child your abilities have me at a loss,” he said. Elunduil’s brow rose in mild surprise. What did the elder mean? “Since I have not witnessed you use magic in person before I was not aware that you could not be sensed until your spells took form. I would very much like to test your elemental affinities and orientation.” Elunduil was surprised. His energy couldn’t be sensed until his spell took form in the world? No wonder Cerra had appeared confused earlier. “Is something wrong with him?” Cerra asked with concern in her voice. Angurvadel smiled gently. “No child he is fine. What Elunduil can do is not unheard of but it is extremely rare. I would like to confirm my suspicions first before I say more on the subject, however it will take me some time to prepare the test. Until then please come back so that I can teach you more.” Elunduil nodded and turned to leave but then he remembered something important. “Where’s Ark?" he asked. Angurvadel smiled.

  “I sent Ark to visit and learn from our cousins at Tellia Armon. Last I heard he was returning to Ellicia but it takes nearly a week to travel through the forest to get here and he left them but two days ago. I shall tell him you inquired after him. I’m sure he’ll want to know that you’." Elunduil smiled and nodded.

  The trio then left the room and Tim led them to where Galimere had taken the others. It was another large room like where they had come from. He noted that Maria was hanging out near Dave. He wondered how the elder used magic to store Dragon’s Tooth, the sword the he’d let him borrow when they’d sparred with real blades. He postulated various ways one could accomplish this while they waited for Tanis to finish sparring against Daniel. Surprisingly Tanis seemed to be holding his own against the quick and wild strikes that Daniel unleashed against him. Suddenly Tanis deflected his opponent’s sword to the side with a sweeping motion then struck Daniel across his chest. Daniel grimaced. “Darn you got me! I’ll win next time for sure!” He took up a battle stance but Galimere intervened.

  “I think that is enough practice for today. I’m sure you’re all tired from today’s efforts.” Daniel let his sword hand drop and went to his brother and Maria after putting away his sword. The trio left and Maria shot Elunduil a dark glance as she left the room. Elunduil sighed to himself. She really had it out for him. Sean went up to Tanis and gave him a hi-five. “Nice! I didn’t know you could fight like that!” he said. Tanis grinned.

  “Yeah, well I’ve had some experience before.” He looked about and noticed Elunduil and the others. “Hey did you guys see that?!” he called out to them. Elunduil nodded with a grin on his face. “Yeah we came in right at the end. Come on let’s go find Alicia and Stephanie.” Tanis and Sean agreed with a nod and they left the room and went outside. This time Cerra led the way and while they walked Tanis and Sean talked about their spars and what Galimere was teaching them about sword art. Soon enough they arrived at Cooper’s house. Unlike many of the other elves homes this one was plain and colored with earthen tones and the green hues of the forest.

  Cerra simply opened the door and walked inside. The others looked at each other dubiously and then followed her. The first thing that Elunduil noticed was that there were books just about everywhere. Every shelf was packed full and on Cooper’s table there were other manuscripts strewn about. Most of them looked decades old and Elunduil wondered what knowledge was contained within their pages. He saw Alicia listening intently to whatever the old elf was saying until he looked their way. “Ah! How time flies. We shall stop here for today. Please come back whenever you like, my door is always open,” he said. Alicia thanked Cooper and she and Stephanie joined the group. They said their farewells to Cooper and left his home. “So what is he teaching you?” Elunduil asked.

  “Well... right now he’s teaching me about the anatomy of small creatures. He says it helps to understand the structure of the creature you’re healing so that you can restore it to the way it should be. It’s a lot to memorize,” Alicia replied. Elunduil chuckled and they went back to the town hall where there were transports waiting to take them back to Ragnarok. They said goodbye to Cerra and boarded the transports. It was a silent trip across the plains and when they arrived at Ragnarok the group went to the tower of Tel’kedar to take the portal home. A knight had them give up their APL devices before they went through the portal and assured them that any device could pull up their data upon their return.

  When they returned to Earth Elunduil turned to Alicia and said, “You know we should probably exchange phone numbers so we can meet here more easily in the future.” Although his expression held no emotion he was a bundle of nerves on the inside. Alicia’s face turned red. “Yeah! It would make it easier to... meet up again.” Elunduil felt a
s if she was conveying a hidden message and felt himself turning red. They found a piece of paper and exchanged numbers whilst the others watched with various knowing looks. When Alicia and Stephanie left Sean whistled. “Wow that was pretty smooth for you Elunduil,” he said. Elunduil grunted and shrugged which caused the others to laugh. Elunduil and Sean then waited with Tanis and caught a ride home from his dad. When Elunduil got home he felt exhausted and simply sat on top of his bed staring at the ceiling until it was time to eat. He carefully took out the piece of paper that had Alicia’s number with a mixture of emotions running through him, and then went downstairs for dinner. He could only imagine what the coming days had in store for him.

  ***

  Joel watched with keen interest as the others sparred with wooden swords. He wanted desperately to swing one of those swords and at the same time wondered why this was part of military training. He mentioned it to the others and Revais said, “Ah, yes, it is curious isn’t it? We were only told that being able to wield a close quarters weapon effectively would be a valuable skill in this world. Ashblade hasn’t said much more than that. He claims the deserts are full of dangers but we’ve yet to see anything.” Joel realized then that Ashblade must’ve been to this world before if he had this knowledge.

  He turned his attention back to the fight. Watching James and Jerome clash blades honestly intimidated him a bit. They were really fast and each strike was carefully made. Revais commented on the techniques that the duelists were using to try and get past each other’s guard. Joel listened and watched carefully since he knew that he would have to spar. Jerome parried James blade and lunged at the opening he’d created. James side stepped and brought his weapon down on Jeromes exposed body with a loud “thwack.” Revais clapped. “See that there is what we call a good fight. James intentionally created that opening to trick Jerome. Anyway you’re up. Good luck.” Revais smacked Joel on the back and pushed him towards the dueling area.

  Joel grabbed his weapon and saw the weapons specialist, Bryce standing across from him. Joel gulped and held his weapon in front of him. He knew he was outclassed. Jerome ran up from the sidelines. “You don’t want to hold it so rigidly. Loosen up a bit here, and here,” he said while adjusting Joel’s stance. He gave Joel a smack and returned to the side. Joel faced his opponent and took a deep breath. He charged Bryce and swung with all his might. His strike was easily deflected and Bryce struck him across the chest with his sword. Joel grimaced at the pain. “Come on Joel! It’s just a little pain you’ve going to get used to it here,” Bryce said. Joel attacked again and each time he only got a couple of hits in before Bryce swiftly smacked his body with his sword. He got increasingly frustrated each time until he let out a roar of anger and attacked his opponent with all his rage. He somehow managed to recover from Bryce’s parry and countered with a parry of his own. He got in several more strikes before Bryce stepped in unexpectedly and stabbed Joel in the chest. Joel stumbled back and fell to his knees in exhaustion. “All right that’s enough for one day.” He looked up and saw Ashblade standing nearby. His expression was unreadable. Joel angrily got up and stomped back to the tent. “Well, what do you think of him?” Draxus asked Ashblade.

  “His rough around the edges, but I think we’ll be able to make him into a capable soldier with enough training,” he replied. Draxus nodded and headed back to camp. Ashblade smiled to himself. The kid had a lot of anger. He could use that anger to his advantage.

  ***

  Night descended on Ellicia and there was scarce an elf out save for those who preferred the quiet caress night. Though it was dark out if one was looking outside they would’ve noticed a figure in softly glowing silver armor coming out of the forest. The figure appeared to glide as it traveled through the town. It was moving fast, faster than any elf, and it was heading for the town hall. The figure only paused for a moment to open the doors and went inside. It moved swiftly through the main hall and through the corridors. It then entered the room where magic was practiced. Angurvadel was meditating in the middle of the room and appeared to not have noticed the silver person’s presence. He took a step forward. “Ah, so you’ve returned,” Angurvadel said. The figure stopped and the elder rose to his feet and turned around. “I did not expect you for at least a few more days, Ark.” The being known as Ark turned his head to the side and made a gesture with his right hand. “I don’t require rest and I’m faster than an elf. Jialynne also told me that the portals to Earth were being opened. Have they?” Ark’s eyes held an inquiring look in them.

  The elder could scarce believe the Ark standing before him now was the same one that he had met nearly a month and a half ago. His voice no longer held an electronic edge to it and his eyes held more emotion than before. “Yes, it is true. Mr. Elden has made all the arrangements and people from Earth are coming to Meridias. Elunduil was among them and he asked after you. I told him you would be returning soon.” Ark looked down.

  “How is he?” he asked. Angurvadel chuckled.

  “He is fine though now that I have seen him use magic myself I can see that he has a rare and unusual ability. I hope to confirm this observation by the end of the week. In the meantime I’m sure he and his friends will be returning frequently.” Ark nodded at the elder’s words.

  “Then I think that I will watch from afar for now. The elves of Tellia Armon taught me many things and I need time to reflect on them,” he said. “And your theory of my existence is almost certainly correct though it will take your kin some time to find the information you seek.” Angurvadel stroked his chin. “I see, well then I guess we can only wait though we cannot take too long. Elunduil will start to see symptoms of his weakened connection to Life soon.” Ark nodded in understanding and started walking out of the room. As he did so he heard the elder say, “Your voice is remarkably similar to Elunduil’s.” Ark felt a surge of satisfaction. He’d hoped that he had gotten the voice right. He’d had to fill in a lot of the missing data with what little he’d had of his ‘creator’s’ voice. After all he wouldn’t exist if Elunduil hadn’t used magic to try and save himself from the explosion of the weapon that had been atop Tel’kedar. He had only been a figment of Elunduil’s imagination until then.

  Ark felt obligated to protect him because Elunduil had shortened his lifespan when he’d brought Ark into the world. While not watching Elunduil he would use the knowledge the elves of Tellia Armon had taught him to try and find a way to heal Elunduil, and of course there was the other thing... The truth behind how Elunduil’s magic had brought Ark into the world. He would have to explain it to Elunduil eventually, but first he needed to use his abilities to help his creator. He made his way out of the building and vanished into the night.

  Chapter 6

  First Mission in Meridias

  Elunduil and his friends returned to Meridias every single day over the course of the next week. Elunduil called Alicia once at the beginning of the week so that they could set up a time to meet at the virtual reality center. He’d found himself unable to confess his feelings and hadn’t tried to since. Tanis and Sean would spend their time training with Galimere while Alicia learned from Cooper and started using healing magic on minor things. Sean came with them most of the time and with Tanis’ extra ticket they were able to get Elunduil’s brother, Felras into Meridias as well. Unsurprisingly Felras also showed magical potential when Angurvadel did the test on him and so he hung out with Elunduil, Tim, and Cerra while they learned about magic.

  Joel on the other hand was having a far less enjoyable time. It didn’t seem to matter what he did but he kept losing to the others and his mood got darker and darker. He started to pull away from the others but found that with all this training; getting up early in the morning and going out for a jog, doing drills, and learning the basics of gun maintenance as well as sparring was leaving him drained so his brooding was kept to a minimal.

  Back at Ellicia Angurvadel delved into greater detail about the four (technically five) main elements. “U
sing a magic of a particular element means understanding and aligning your consciousness with the element you’re using. With an earth elemental magic this would mean letting your mind align with the strength and fertility of the earth.” Angurvadel had then created a small magic rock and shot it at a nearby pot. The pot had then reassembled itself and they spent the time creating rocks and shooting them at the magic pots.

  All of Elunduil’s rocks had been about the size of a person’s head once Angurvadel had told him to stop restraining himself though he still held back a bit of his strength. He got some small satisfaction from the fact that Maria seemed to struggle with this exercise. Tim on the other hand conjured up several small rocks around the pot and made them crush the pot. The next couple of days were about the same. They practiced using air magic to knock over various objects with precision. On each pedestal Angurvadel had placed a small object that was surrounded by several larger ones and the goal was to knock over only the small object. The task had been hard because it seemed as if the small object was heavier than the rest and didn’t move as easily. Elunduil had eventually created a mini-tornado around the small object instead of just trying to blow air around the other objects. He’d succeeded in not only lifting the small object into the air but every other object got sucked into the vortex and though he hadn’t succeeded in the task he’d gotten the closest of everyone else that had been there.