70 The Memories of a Soul (1/2)

Aurora stared at the enchanted gateway in front of her. She rubbed her re-growing eyebrows as she planned her next course of action, her nearly bald head covered in black silk like the rest of her body. Healing even by Ent sacrifice only went so far.

She knew her hair would grow back, and she was never one to care too much about appearances. But the simple thought of some mage doing this to her brought about an amount of anger uncommon in the Abyssal Elves.

The fact that said mage could also have the power of the Void gave fear with that anger but she pushed it away. Were it not for the sacrificial barrier created by the Cultist, she had little doubt she would have succeeded. To her, the fact her target was an unreasonable existence only mattered to the point where he was an interesting specimen to study if she had time.

While it was pointless for Void Lords, Abyssal Elves were no different from most Elves, in that they often had talents for Mana. Figuring out how to use magic as a Void Lord would almost be as large of a power increase as the bounty for him.

His use of [Appraisal] and the dangerous magic blade set her back as well. But those issues only slightly added his ability to use magic and the Void.

Their Overseer of the Void had offered a reward for the death of the one that stole from it. A gift that would lift even the weakest of the Void Lords to prominence. And Aurora was determined to collect it.

She had even killed off several Void Lords who were a part of her team after the target had been found.

And even the result of her near-death experience would not stray her from her goal. She sensed now the touch of Void she placed on the thief. Unable to fathom why the Cultist hadn't removed all Soul traces after a week, she merely assumed their alliance was temporary and counted her good luck.

But either way, she would be prepared for a trap. Hence her use of an enchanted gateway to empower her Void-Traveling abilities. As the enchanted path charged with power, she thought over the magic used by her future opponent.

She had only seen such Arcane Magic used by the elementals, who held one of the seven planes of the Abyss. Which made him all the more baffling. Compared to anything else the Void and Arcane Magic were quite contrary.

And yet, they seemed to have trained whoever this man was in their skills and he then somehow learned to use the Void as well. The Void Lords' advantages over magic relied on most magic's inability to counter the powers of the Void in any real way. But with his grasp of the Arcane he tore apart her called Void Orbs as if they were paper.

Were Aurora one to care for her race, she'd be far more worried at the implications of this. But as of now, she only sought to end him and collect the reward.

The gateway rumbled with power as a darkness blacker than the night sky appeared within its arches.

She could feel the massive distance to her target, but simply assumed him to be hiding at the edge of one of the planes. The laws of space were always distorted in such places and so she logically assumed that was the cause of it seeming so far away.

And with a single step, the elf ventured forth, using her powers of the Void still attached to her target's Soul as a beacon.

But with a ragged cry, she found herself colliding against a barrier, and only a last second act with much of her power before reaching unconsciousness had allowed her to survive.

She slammed into the ground of a world she never intended to land on. That she never knew existed.

The snow cushioned her fall but not her mind.

The unconscious abyssal elf shivered in the cold surrounding her. For the moment, blissfully unaware at just how far she traveled. In the distance a massive tree loomed untouched by the falling chill unlike the mountain-side town a distance away from it.

Shortly after his first success with [Absolute Rebirth], Rainer woke up to a knock on the door. Waking up Kara with a kiss on the forehead, he went to answer the interruption. She quickly remembered why he would wake up in such a manner and covered herself and Luna. No reason to show her slight blush at the reminder of that embarrassing memory.

”Furtak?” Rainer asked confused. The older Goblin seemed slightly bothered by something.

”I believe your apprentice is dealing with some nightmares. I was out in the hall and noticed, but sensing no one else in the room, I figured it best someone of my kind not to be the one to wake her,” Rainer had warned the older Goblin to be careful around his apprentice, even if she seemed to show no outward fear or malice toward him. Furtak also knew beforehand that Rainer had raided a nearby mine, but couldn't care less about the Goblins inside.

And so, Rainer agreed. For all Lilia seemed to be okay with the older Goblin, being woken up by one after a nightmare would not be the best.

”See you in the morning,” Rainer said to Kara and Luna, shutting the door behind him.

”So, what were you doing out here anyways?”

The slightly awkward shifting by the older Goblin answered that question.

”You know the Prince fully expects you to help them with their Ruler's Trial, right?”

The Goblin merely shrugged.

”I do not mind. Until their most recent Queen, the Trial of theirs was practically casualty free. And other than that blade of yours there isn't much that can kill me. It is a small price to pay for someone who genuinely enjoys my company.”

”Among other things,” Rainer added with a smirk.

Amer as well seemed to be enjoying the Fae's focus on Mana and Magical power rather than appearances as well. The Devil changed his plans for leaving the Fae Realm right away and instead opted to stay under the guise of learning the required languages of the world. Having a Mana Pool of nearly 700 made the old Devil an eligible bachelor.

Rainer decided not to bring up Yulia nearly killing Furtak. After all, that was just a huge mismatch of powers. In reality, most of those touched by magic had a pseudo immortality limited only by their Mana pools and a rare few weaknesses. Such as a massive tornado and a vacuum made by a Wind-Touched Fae Queen who's intelligent enough to create a Fae Homunculus. Or an [Arcane Blade] that cut through Divine roots like they belonged to an ordinary tree.

”Have your fun then, I won't tell your wives,” Rainer joked.

”Actually, they are only my apprentices now,” Furtak added, quite embarrassed at how easily he agreed to Laneth's niece's demands of monogamy. It was only a matter of telling them, though he doubted the far younger goblins would mind since he'd still be teaching them magic.

In truth, Furktak's relationship with his wives was like a King's Harem rather than anything romantic. The main difference being they were also all his apprentices as well and none were forced to be there. Their lives wouldn't change much.

The [Archon] entered his apprentice's room soon after, expression turning serious.

Rainer sat at the edge of the bed as he opted for a solution other than waking up his poorly sleeping apprentice.

Letting out a long breath, Rainer encased the room in an almost invisible violet. [Arcane Presence] had always interested him since he first witnessed Yarik using a Mana-based version. The sheer emotion it elicited in its targets proved impressive, as if bringing humans back to the time when they purely existed under the rule of animal instincts. Fear being the primary emotion.

It was a leveraging of one's resource pool rather than a use of it. All it required was focus to use, the power drain was all but non-existent. A focus easily achieved given Rainer's now [Harbinger] improved Intelligence and Affinity as well.

And far different this time, he wrapped the weight of his Arcane not to pressure but to uplift. The auburn-haired Lilia moved a bit from the wash of magic but settled down completely. Whatever had been plaguing her sleep as well, seemed to simply vanish.

After all, he doubted her nightmares were scarier than an [Archon].

It left behind a sleeping girl who showed none of the signs of the experience she went through.

He knew doing something like this was a temporary solution. But he wasn't a psychologist, even if he likely knew more than almost anyone about psychology in this world due to his modern education. If one ignored any possible racial differences.

The best idea he could come up with was getting her started on magic as soon as he could and to listen if she ever wished to speak about what happened.

He imagined it was hard to be afraid of mine-dwelling Goblins when you could tear apart their Souls with a few words. Given her Talent, he wondered if she could manage to learn [Devil's Soul Language] before any of the runic variety.

He glanced around the room and saw several stacks of books containing Fae stories. After a small explanation from Kara and a thorough examination with [Arcane Sight], Rainer let Lilia use the skill orb. The intelligent girl had managed to use that knowledge to learn reading in just a day. And, having little else to do, enjoyed the wide selection of Fae leisure reading.

For the orb the sacrifice required, of levels higher than he could gain with [Archon], along with the rarity of the items themselves had Rainer sideline the study of them.

Now with her ability to read the [Fae Language], Rainer was left to start teaching Magic. Not that he knew it himself, but he could easily write in the [Fae Language] with Luna's translation skill shared with him.

He had already decided to opt out of her being a test case for Affinity unlocking. Leaving her only to learn [Faraan Runic Language] without a direct teacher. Fairy Dust would handle the mana part. in Rainer's view, the earlier one without a Mana Affinity got started on [Mana Manipulation] the better.

He decided to wait till he left the Fae Realm to give her the dust. No reason to bring up unneeded questions.

As he thought over ideas for how to enchant a book similar to the ones in his Trial, he went back to his own study of the language.

Compared to using Mana for the first time, Rainer had learned the language he only knew as Runes quite quickly. The first step was relatively easy, one needed to memorize a simple spell formula and what every rune in that formula did. As well as the relation of the runes to each other.

No different than learning a normal language, but such a thing would not let you see the magic behind the runes no matter how much you stared.

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The second was having a Mage not only repeatedly cast a spell with the runes you learned, but to understand which parts of the physical spell the runes pertained to. To witness and comprehend them in use.

The final and partially optional stage was casting that spell step by step through an expenditure of Mana till success. A step that accompanied one's teacher manipulating the Mana within in their students to assist this. In truth, Rainer was clueless as to the last step and it was time consuming enough that he couldn't really ask anyone else, which partly influenced his choice to test learning from solely a book with Lilia.

After all, it was this last step that saw Mage Guilds considering those without a Mana Affinity to not be worth the effort of teaching. He mused too, that this particular step might actually be far less effective on someone without an affinity for Mana.

Rainer's thoughts flashed to witnessing his Grandfather cast [Arcane Bolt] for the very first time.

He recalled his grandfather as a tall man with grey hair and beard to match. It was hard not to view him as a stereotypical wizard. Yet at the same time, thinking of the memory it was disappointing as well. From his grandfather's finger, a small burst of Arcane shot forward and hit a paper target burning the center.

Rainer laughed for a moment, recalling his own surprise at how much stronger his [Arcane Bolt] became upon entering this world before he suddenly felt a surge in his soul. Souls were naturally improved as one's Mana or Aura grew. And added on was Rainer's attempts at learning Theodore's Soul strengthening skill, considerable growth was made.

Gripping his head, Rainer grimaced in pain as more memories flashed by. His first viewing of his grandfather's [Arcane Bolt] flashed and changed to another scene entirely. Overlaying his teacher's gray-bearded form was now a clean-cut middle-aged man.

No longer were they in a small room, but instead a wide-open basement. And no more was it but a simple paper target, but a large golem-like figure. The [Arcane Bolt] launched from a hand, and became a bolt of pure destruction as it exploded the golem effortlessly.

Rainer's soul surged further as more and more memories were altered, or rather returned to original form. His grandfather was not a simple wizard of two spells, but akin to an Archmage. A younger Rainer could only watch in amazement as he tore apart the stone golems in the basement with numerous spells of Arcane and a magic Rainer did not recognize immediately.

The memories flashed by quicker and quicker skipping to an end point as Rainer become lost in the memory right before they were altered.

A teenage Rainer lay semi-conscious on a hospital bed as his family stood at the end of it. Pain surged through his body as he woke up, remembering how he ended up here. A botched kidnapping.

”You can't just do this without his permission, it's not right!” Rainer recognized a 12-year-old Sarah Nvos yelling at his now 30-year-old looking grandfather.

”Do you think it's so simple?!” Fredrick Nvos responded before calming down, ”He's not like us. It doesn't matter how talented he is if he fails at the most important point. Look! Sense him. This is the result of years of training.”

Sarah glanced over as the 16-year-old Rainer shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep. She focused for several seconds and did what was considered quite rude by mage-kind of Earth.

”But…how…”

”I've been hiding it. Remember how far ahead you were of your peers learning Runes in only 3 years?”

She nodded.

”He did it in a month and a half. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter he was the only one of my line to ever wield the Arcane as I do. It took me years to get his Mana to where it is now, and even then, I had to use outside resources.”

”But still…it should be his choice.”

Rainer's mom, red haired and green eyed unlike the similarly colored brother and sister spoke out.

”We wish it was that simple honey. But you know what they'll do once they find out about him. The Council already knows and they are constantly pressuring grandfather.”

”But-”

”He will be safer this way. I will use the fact that his Magical strength is sealed as a temporary sacrifice. Not only will he be protected by the deal I made with the Council, but with his strength in the Arcane the seal will make him all but immortal so long as I pour in the needed power.”

”It should be his choice. We've never been in danger even though we carry your blood. Why should it matter!”

”His choice to what? I cannot protect him every hour of the day. Fear of me keeps you safe because you are not worth it. Even at risk of death to pick apart a true Arcanist, to leave him no more than living organs tied to a table to study will be worth my wrath. His life would be a living hell and there is nothing we can do without the Council's help. It may take him longer than he has to live to be strong enough to defend himself. We were lucky today. We could have lost him to a fate worse than death. I will not take that chance once more.”