Interlude: A Message From Afar (Patreon)

“A beautiful night, isn’t it?” Mistress Prime's melodic voice interrupted the buzzing of the insects that Kalina focused on, as she waited.

How does she do that? How can she always sneak up on me? Kalina turned towards the voice and stood frozen for a moment. No noticeable effects as she teleports… I should practice more…

“It is indeed beautiful, Mistress. I was just enjoying the sounds.”

Mistress Prime was not wearing her robe, meaning that there was no hood to stop Mistress's voluminous hair from curling in all directions. The face of a mature woman greeted her, warm and caring. The only sharp feature that the face had were the ageless blue eyes that pierced straight through Kalina. Only this woman could make Kalina feel like a child, with a single glance.

For Kalina, even at her a hundred and eighty-seventh seasonal cycle of age, was truly just that—just a child, when compared to Mistress Prime, the last Disciple Grand-Master Tergaron personally trained before his abrupt disappearance so many centuries ago.

“Is the boy in there? Tercius was his name, yes?” Mistress Prime asked as she pointed at the house some twenty meters from where they stood.

Kalina nodded slowly, regaining control of her faculties. She took off her comfortable hood, letting her orange hair be free in the light breeze of the late winter night. "It is, Mistress. And yes, he is in there. The second story, that window there," Kalina pointed. "The alarm spell I set around the boy went off almost ten minutes ago. Just a minuscule irregularity in the Energy movement, barely a registrable trace, but it was there."

Mistress Prime nodded gently, her long, luminous curls flowing like water at the movement. Walking to the house with Mistress Prime started evoking memories of older and better times, in Kalina, when things were less complicated.

“How long has it been since we simply walked like this, you and I, Kalina?”

"Too long, Mistress, too long," Kalina said and truly meant it. Just a single short walk, if it could even be called that, besides the woman had left Kalina refreshed and at peace.

Tendrils of force left Mistress Prime unbarring the locked front door with ease, leaving no trace of entry.

“Whose house is this?” Mistress Prime asked without lowering her voice, but Kalina was not worried. Even if they shouted at the top of their lungs, no one would be able to hear a thing thanks to a spell she had on her almost constantly.

“The listing of weekend visits, for which the boy applied, listed an aunt by the name of Ana, Mistress,” Kalina said. “I have checked the registry of citizens and she is a new arrival to Chameos. She came from Lissea with the boy some two and a half months ago. Belior Larriour, an administrator of the Library of Lissea, was her guarantor for obtaining citizenship.”

“I see,” Mistress Prime said slowly as she snooped around the fireplace. “What did you learn about the boy?”

“His application sheet stated that he originates from Spheros. He listed no teacher in the mana arts, stating that he developed Mana Manipulation and Mana Sight on his own. A wild mage. I believe that Energy might have had an influence there if his statement is true,"

“Not necessarily, Kalina. Not every wild mage is an Energy manipulator and not every Energy manipulator is a wild mage, as you well know,” Mistress Prime said and went up the stairs. “Energy only increased his survival rate, and not by a lot. Anything else?”

Kalina lifted her robe and followed closely, step by step. "I made a brief visit to Mistress Ksana on her Isle, where I had to mention your name Mistress—" Kalina shuddered when she remembered the misty eyes of the aging fossil that was Mistress Ksana. The decrepit bag of bones and teeth was six decades younger than Mistress Prime, the records stated, so the difference in appearance between the two was startling to Kalina's eyes. She shuddered once more. "—She reluctantly agreed to use her resources and her Conclave to seek out information about the boy. His appearance is rather eye-catching so I hope her healers can find out more about him and his family if he has any,"

Mistress Prime frowned with visible distaste. “You didn’t make any promises in my name, did you?”

Kalina had to look away as she mumbled, “I may have said that you would pay her a visit…”

Mistress Prime shuddered as she opened the door of the room where the boy slept. “We never got along, she and I. Something about her just makes my skin crawl… and I don’t mean her appearance— well that’s interesting… why is he on the floor?”

Kalina closed the door behind her and looked at the boy that had made himself comfortable on a few blankets. "Maybe he prefers it… some groups in Zagea consider sleeping off the ground offensive to some deity. Some tribes of Isgea also practice such customs, but not for religious reasons. Maybe he is a member of one of those groups?"

“Perhaps,” Mistress Prime frowned. Kalina understood the reason behind that frown. The Empire had destroyed so many different cultures; integrating some to its uniform fold or outright wiping out others. Both groups she mentioned were on their last legs, ready to give in to the Empire. A waste of diversity…

Kalina kept quiet as Mistress Prime crouched near the boy. The examination took much longer than Kalina thought it would.

“This Energy… truly remarkable. It's… neutral. Completely and utterly neutral. How is this possible?” Mistress Prime stated her confusion rhetorically as her glowing eyes observed the boy. “His Well hasn’t even started developing… this Energy is blocking it... how is he storing it? Is it a skill of some kind? No… not a skill… Oh! What’s this?”

Kalina leaned in, observing what the Mistress found. Tendrils of Energy and mana poked and prodded at the boy’s lower stomach. “I know this signature…” Mistress Prime mumbled as she poked the boy with a finger.

Like a gigantic swarm of angry wasps, a geyser of darkness erupted in an upwards spray from the boy's hip area— and its apparent power left Kalina trembling in her robe. Instinct took over as a shield sprang around her and a spell came to her lips—

"—Calm yourself, Kalina. Ruul." Mistress Prime commanded, yet it took Kalina time to hear what was said. "Ruul, Kalina, be still. This is a message. It's time for you to meet someone,"

She caught her breath even before her heart slowed its erratic beating. It was a long time since she had been surprised in that way. The spell she almost cast— Kalina shook her head in dismay as the dark cloud morphed slowly into a rough figure of a man. She had inspected the boy so many times and she failed to find even a clue of a spell on him.

In a moment, a ripple ran through the shadowy figure and the head of the figure started gaining features. First came the hair, short and blonde. The piercing blue eyes, so similar to Mistress Prime's, followed. A nose, a mouth. A small stubble along the chin came after, as the dark shadow-skin paled in a matter of moments. Dark neck and shoulders, followed by arms came next and there the spell stopped— the rest of the figure remained like a dark cloud.

“Prime’era,” the unfamiliar male greeted, with a small incline of the head. The way he spoke...

“Perdin’nar,” Mistress Prime gave a similar incline and Kalina’s two-century-old mind almost couldn’t take in the sight.

Kalina gaped. Mistress Prime never inclined her head to anyone!