The weather at the Academy on this day is dark. Though it is yet early morning, there are clouds rolling through the sky, with the sound of distant thunder rolling through the skies. The weather wasn't pleasant by any stretch of the word, but it was not to be improved by the mages today. It was determined beforehand that the nearby port city needed this ordinary rain that would come through. While this did cause some grumbling, it was accepted, simply because it was an annoyance, and nothing more.
However, deep inside the Great Halls, there was more stormy proceedings going onward with a master of each element present. In fact, things reflected the weather quite well in the private chambers in the Great Halls. Within the lit hall, Niklas, the prominent Earthshaper actually looked quite unhappy. His growling nature was particularly directed at the flowing shadows across the table. Darnell, in usual fashion, did not seem fazed by the unexpected fury coming from Niklas.
"....Your idiocy truly must know no bounds for you to so recklessly do that, Darnell." Niklas rumbled, not bothering to hide his displeasure. "Dealing with a kingdom outside of our vision is risky enough, but actively trading information with them? And not just simply thing like our elements, but actual student information? Your explanation had better be more than legendary, Darnell. Though you move through the shadows, there is a limit to what we will tolerate even from you."
There was a general murmur of agreement with the representative of each element, since there was only one of each at the table, the others running about the Academy to handle official business of keeping everything in order. All the gazes in the room had shifted now to Darnell, who appeared to stand to address everyone.
"Council, I realize that the information I have shared is not necessarily welcome, and I know you also realize that I would not have shared it without good reason." Darnell began, the voice as usual lacking anything in particular but stating what was happening. "I assure you all that the trade made was necessary, and I did so with the best intentions and plans in mind..."
Darnell seemed to shift the darkness around himself, and it went onto the table, as the darkness crept back, a unique crossbow sat in its place. It was obviously heavily modified, with multiple attachments of unique design. It was at this that Marcus, the Pyromancer, stood to confront Darnell.
"This is all fine and good, but it is not justification for what you said to have done. Trading information from the Academy...for this? I stopped using crossbows when I learned to throw fire, so I would not value this worth much." Marcus said, his more Knightly tone coming in to his voice.
"My good Marcus, you misunderstand. We have here much more than just a crossbow. In a few days, we will be visited by Prime Minister of Kerbones. He will be delivering us other high tech tools, such as this one. Just to make sure you understand the gravity of this. We are being trusted with technology that only they possess. Given free access to what we are given, to look it over and understand what it is that they have. And all I had to do was give them student profiles to look through." Darnell stated, seeing some of the shock coming from some of the members of the table.
There was some general muttering, and everyone looked to Niklas, who seemed as always determined to follow through.
"Then the deal is done, and he will come here...By airship, I presume. In a few days. Is there anything else to this that we should know, Darnell?" Niklas rumbled, knowing that the Prime Minister would be there soon, whether he liked it or not.
".....Just one thing. A few other Masters might know of this, but also in trade the Prime minister wished to have some students go with him. Of course, they would be under my supervision the entire time they would be in his company, so there would be no issue." Darnell stated factually, as if he were just listing numbers.
".....Since this deal is done, I guess we have no choice but to prepare for their arrival. Darnell, I will swear to you in front of the others that if anything falls through on this deal, I will crush your skull for needlessly exposing and endangering us all, and the lives of who knows how many students."
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Should have just stayed in my goddamned bed this morning, gods burn me.
Seth was breathing quite heavily as he looked over his opponent. Just half an hour ago he awoke from his disturbing dreams with a start, and got to walking. Only this day he thought he was being watched by Pyromancer Felicia, which he really did not want to meet with her first thing today. So, he did his best to escape her going to the water temples.
That was just a stupid idea, now wasn't it Seth?
Ten minutes ago, a Weaver Hydromancer demanded that he leave 'their turf', or face the consequences. Obviously, Seth had not given a damn, and the Hydromancer challenged Seth to a duel, thinking that her water skill superior to Seth's fire. Again, that was ten minutes ago, and Seth was still standing, with the flames still leaping around himself.
The girl looked exhausted, as she had expected a much easier fight with someone of fire, and had not expected his resilience and creativity that you would think to put him in Weaver status. As she warily launched yet another wave of water, Seth again met it with a constant wall of flame.
This time, the Hydromancer thought she had Seth, suddenly changing parts of the wave to ice to launch at Seth past his fiery waves. Thinking quickly, Seth leaped to the side, and was suddenly charging the hydromancer. Somewhat taken aback by the energy still being shown after the fight, she wrapped an ice cocoon around herself to shield from the coming flames.
Seth was done with this battle though, and as she went defensive Seth knew what to do. He got as close as he could sprint getting away from the water still being directed by the hydro, and let her have a face of full on flames. The wall of ice held at first, only to quickly fade away and blast the woman backwards, sending her rolling on the ground. With the waters no longer chasing and showing a threat, Seth spun, throwing one more fireball at the woman as she attempted to push herself up to see the fire coming towards her....
....only to be stopped by being encompassed in ice from outside the dueling area. The fireball fell to the ground and shattered, and the hydromancer seemed to do that same, no longer attempting to push herself up.
"That is enough Seth. We do not kill in duels, and you have proven yourself the better opponent. But if you don't mind, could you please venture away from the Hydromancer training area?" The hydromancer master Angelina said, stepping forward.
Seth let the flames spin around him a moment longer, as the heat made it so he was not so aware of the strikes he had taken during the fight, but then abruptly put them out as the Master approached him.
"Very well, Miss Dufonte. I will take my leave, as I would rather not have to duel every student awake this morning. Take-" A wave of water enveloped Seth, and while he felt it patch up some of the cuts and beatings he had taken, it felt terribly unnatural to be healed by waters anyways. As the water shifted away, Seth visibly shook himself off.
Gods damn me. That felt unnatural. Seth pulled himself back together, and looked again at the Master.
"Take care." Seth finished, and with that walked somewhat quickly away from the watery haven. He made his way to the large Mess Hall, to hopefully get a good breakfast and forget about last night's nightmares, and his morning experiences.
Going to be one of those days, I can already tell.
However, deep inside the Great Halls, there was more stormy proceedings going onward with a master of each element present. In fact, things reflected the weather quite well in the private chambers in the Great Halls. Within the lit hall, Niklas, the prominent Earthshaper actually looked quite unhappy. His growling nature was particularly directed at the flowing shadows across the table. Darnell, in usual fashion, did not seem fazed by the unexpected fury coming from Niklas.
"....Your idiocy truly must know no bounds for you to so recklessly do that, Darnell." Niklas rumbled, not bothering to hide his displeasure. "Dealing with a kingdom outside of our vision is risky enough, but actively trading information with them? And not just simply thing like our elements, but actual student information? Your explanation had better be more than legendary, Darnell. Though you move through the shadows, there is a limit to what we will tolerate even from you."
There was a general murmur of agreement with the representative of each element, since there was only one of each at the table, the others running about the Academy to handle official business of keeping everything in order. All the gazes in the room had shifted now to Darnell, who appeared to stand to address everyone.
"Council, I realize that the information I have shared is not necessarily welcome, and I know you also realize that I would not have shared it without good reason." Darnell began, the voice as usual lacking anything in particular but stating what was happening. "I assure you all that the trade made was necessary, and I did so with the best intentions and plans in mind..."
Darnell seemed to shift the darkness around himself, and it went onto the table, as the darkness crept back, a unique crossbow sat in its place. It was obviously heavily modified, with multiple attachments of unique design. It was at this that Marcus, the Pyromancer, stood to confront Darnell.
"This is all fine and good, but it is not justification for what you said to have done. Trading information from the Academy...for this? I stopped using crossbows when I learned to throw fire, so I would not value this worth much." Marcus said, his more Knightly tone coming in to his voice.
"My good Marcus, you misunderstand. We have here much more than just a crossbow. In a few days, we will be visited by Prime Minister of Kerbones. He will be delivering us other high tech tools, such as this one. Just to make sure you understand the gravity of this. We are being trusted with technology that only they possess. Given free access to what we are given, to look it over and understand what it is that they have. And all I had to do was give them student profiles to look through." Darnell stated, seeing some of the shock coming from some of the members of the table.
There was some general muttering, and everyone looked to Niklas, who seemed as always determined to follow through.
"Then the deal is done, and he will come here...By airship, I presume. In a few days. Is there anything else to this that we should know, Darnell?" Niklas rumbled, knowing that the Prime Minister would be there soon, whether he liked it or not.
".....Just one thing. A few other Masters might know of this, but also in trade the Prime minister wished to have some students go with him. Of course, they would be under my supervision the entire time they would be in his company, so there would be no issue." Darnell stated factually, as if he were just listing numbers.
".....Since this deal is done, I guess we have no choice but to prepare for their arrival. Darnell, I will swear to you in front of the others that if anything falls through on this deal, I will crush your skull for needlessly exposing and endangering us all, and the lives of who knows how many students."
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Should have just stayed in my goddamned bed this morning, gods burn me.
Seth was breathing quite heavily as he looked over his opponent. Just half an hour ago he awoke from his disturbing dreams with a start, and got to walking. Only this day he thought he was being watched by Pyromancer Felicia, which he really did not want to meet with her first thing today. So, he did his best to escape her going to the water temples.
That was just a stupid idea, now wasn't it Seth?
Ten minutes ago, a Weaver Hydromancer demanded that he leave 'their turf', or face the consequences. Obviously, Seth had not given a damn, and the Hydromancer challenged Seth to a duel, thinking that her water skill superior to Seth's fire. Again, that was ten minutes ago, and Seth was still standing, with the flames still leaping around himself.
The girl looked exhausted, as she had expected a much easier fight with someone of fire, and had not expected his resilience and creativity that you would think to put him in Weaver status. As she warily launched yet another wave of water, Seth again met it with a constant wall of flame.
This time, the Hydromancer thought she had Seth, suddenly changing parts of the wave to ice to launch at Seth past his fiery waves. Thinking quickly, Seth leaped to the side, and was suddenly charging the hydromancer. Somewhat taken aback by the energy still being shown after the fight, she wrapped an ice cocoon around herself to shield from the coming flames.
Seth was done with this battle though, and as she went defensive Seth knew what to do. He got as close as he could sprint getting away from the water still being directed by the hydro, and let her have a face of full on flames. The wall of ice held at first, only to quickly fade away and blast the woman backwards, sending her rolling on the ground. With the waters no longer chasing and showing a threat, Seth spun, throwing one more fireball at the woman as she attempted to push herself up to see the fire coming towards her....
....only to be stopped by being encompassed in ice from outside the dueling area. The fireball fell to the ground and shattered, and the hydromancer seemed to do that same, no longer attempting to push herself up.
"That is enough Seth. We do not kill in duels, and you have proven yourself the better opponent. But if you don't mind, could you please venture away from the Hydromancer training area?" The hydromancer master Angelina said, stepping forward.
Seth let the flames spin around him a moment longer, as the heat made it so he was not so aware of the strikes he had taken during the fight, but then abruptly put them out as the Master approached him.
"Very well, Miss Dufonte. I will take my leave, as I would rather not have to duel every student awake this morning. Take-" A wave of water enveloped Seth, and while he felt it patch up some of the cuts and beatings he had taken, it felt terribly unnatural to be healed by waters anyways. As the water shifted away, Seth visibly shook himself off.
Gods damn me. That felt unnatural. Seth pulled himself back together, and looked again at the Master.
"Take care." Seth finished, and with that walked somewhat quickly away from the watery haven. He made his way to the large Mess Hall, to hopefully get a good breakfast and forget about last night's nightmares, and his morning experiences.
Going to be one of those days, I can already tell.
