Azhure: The beginning was hard to write.
Beohar
Year 480
Year 1418 in Manegia
It was an eerily quiet day. All Owen could hear was the sob of a young woman falling on her knees while a middle-aged man stood by watching the undertakers lowering the casket where Crom was laid to rest. The gentle breeze blowing dry leaves along the eternally dark horizon only served to worsen this somber atmosphere.
It very much reminded him of his grandmother’s funeral.
“…Let it be known that Crom was a fine man. A young warrior who bravely fought for his empire and home, for his beloved lady and family,” the priest iterated Crom’s eulogy as the undertakers sealed off his grave. “And may his soul rest beyond the Mist of No Return.”
WHIIR WHIIR
They stood quietly for the rest of the time. This went on long after the priest and undertakers took their leave. It was a sordid affair in this cemetery for the people who could afford it. Owen and William were supposed to bring Crom home alive, but instead, they only brought his funeral.
“T-Tell my father… a-and Lei… t-to keep fighting for peace between… o-our races…”
But however it may be, there was still one last thing the two young Court Wizards needed to tell before moving on to fulfill Crom’s wish in the way they could. For the most part, Owen and William haven’t been met with a severe tongue-lashing of grief from Lei, Crom’s girlfriend, or Norman, his father, probably because they were ultimately still kids so they’re trying not to be too hard on them.
Even so, the two Court Wizards prepared themselves for what may come next after they passed on Crom’s last words.
“Crom wanted us to tell you to keep fighting for peace between humans and Half-Beosts,” William spoke what Crom said to them word for word before contemplating what to add. “…He hopes to end the war faster by joining it so that your people could sooner start having talks than fighting because that’s the best way he can do it.”
“…I see,” Norman, Crom’s father and Bell Branch manager, nodded slowly in a very subdued voice with Lei turning her head towards the two Court Wizards silently and still in tears. “And what will you do now?”
“Ending the war,” William responded before turning his back with Owen following suit. “In the best way we can.”
With not much time left, the two Court Wizards left the graveyard for one final thing. In doing so, they left behind two grieving people with radically different ideas to what they were told with far-reaching consequences in the future.
Manegia
Year 1418
“Can he do it?” Zekie wondered as the operators tapped away monitoring the situation. “Will said he can, but…”
“Scarily so,” Amelia quipped, her hands tucked in her pockets. “Sure, he’ll be out of commission for a couple of days, but he’ll get back up.*
“What makes you so sure?” the Lightning Guardian asked skeptically, given how sure the scientist was in her answer.
“You know how powerful Maneg Users were?” Amelia answered with another question with a straight face Zekie knew she wasn’t joking around.
“I have read the records,” Zekie replied while crossing his arms. “And I know that after the Mother Souls were damaged, the Maneg Souls they produced only gave us a fraction of their strength. Only life and death Mother Souls were comparably better than the rest.”
“And do you know why the Mother Souls started living inside of you Guardians?” Amelia then asked. “Aside from getting damaged further.”
“To recover their strength,” Zekie answered with an annoyed look. He wasn’t stupid thank you very much. “I know each generation of Court Wizards is growing more powerful than the previous, but do you think we have recovered to that extent?”
“Dunno, we always hold back, after all,” Amelia shrugged nonchalantly. “Meanwhile, my Maneg Soul is a crappy dud,” she said darkly. “I blame my brother for this.”
“I see…” Zekie winced at such self-deprecation.
“But I do believe the rate of recovery is somewhere between linear and exponential,” the Light Court Wizard continued. “It’s definitely snowballing considering Hanz got a version of [Maneg User’s Aura] going on in case Crea’s not with him.”
“That’s true,” the Lightning Guardian rubbed his chin. “The [Lightning Strike] you and I developed was something a lot of my predecessors tried to make, but only my Maneg Soul is able to comprehend it.”
“That just shows how restrictive algorithmic Orders are,” Amelia mused. “Despite the best solution we have after our Maneg Soul could barely process vaguer Orders, it’s still lacking. Not to mention the mental gymnastics we have to go through just to make an Order.”
“Right,” Zekie nodded, watching the screen where Owen and company were getting into position. “But what does it have to do with Owen?”
“It’s his Order, [Deep Freeze], he made based on his dad’s Order that showed how much we’ve come so far,” Amelia smiled as she watched the holographic monitor with him.
Beohar
Year 480
Year 1418 in Manegia
RATA-RATA-RATA-RATA-RATA-RATA
A red-streaked helicopter flew higher and higher over the mountain range. How Hanz managed to make an entire helicopter into a Cherished Armament was beyond Owen and he wasn’t going to question it anytime soon. Looking through the window, he could already see the destination.
GLUBUK CRACKLE BLAST
As the helicopter hovered near, Owen could already feel the heat coming from the mouth of the volcano which would have felt more intense if not for his Maneg Soul. Already he could see magma spewing violently and the volcano erupting at any moment.
“Alright, kid,” the red-haired soldier said, both of his hands on the controller. “You better get ready, ’cause that thing’s going to blow.”
“You can do it,” Crea, in the seat beside Hanz, encouraged.
“Just like we planned, Owen,” William, sitting across Owen, stated firmly, confident in the plan.
“Right,” Owen nodded as he grabbed onto the railing, stood up carefully, and went to the opened door.
“[Ice Layer] is just putting the target in a straightjacket, [Deep Freeze] is the real deal,” Amelia stated the comparison. “It’s the kind of freezing that Ice Wizards tries to achieve, the complete stopping of your target through sheer cold seen in movies.”
CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE
Owen cringed his eyes as hot air blasted his face. Almost immediately, the volcano began its eruption, spewing forth magma and ashes. Despite the apparent environment, Owen felt full control of his emotions. With no time to waste, the Ice Court Wizard began his Order that would decide the fate of Beohar.
I order you, attach to the entire volcano and its lava…
“Right, I recall it involves spraying cold air, for the lack of a better term, on the poor sap until they’re frozen, right?” Zekie asked.
“Correct,” Amelia nodded. “And what Owen does is better where instead of slowly freezing the target from the outside, [Deep Freeze] commands the ice maneg to suck out heat from the inside and outside in a much faster time.
…ensure all ice maneg are spread throughout the target and don’t hold back…
Concentrating his Order, Owen made damn sure his Maneg Soul wasn’t being cheap on his reserves either. Any less and it could lead to disaster, so he made all the stops.
“So how do you think he did it?” Zekie asked. “It couldn’t just be the Mother Soul getting better at recreating the original Maneg Souls.”
“You’d be right, the Maneg Soul’s factory setting isn’t what makes the Court Wizard entirely,” Amelia agreed. “They are also shaped by their deep emotions and desires.”
And now, for the crux of his Order. Despite being a rather simple step, it was only his Maneg Soul the first to pull it off.
…lower the temperature of the target until its eruption stops and natural ice visibly covers the volcano…
“…I was not expecting such a sentimental answer from you, Amelia,” Zekie blinked.
“You know how I classified Vague Orders,” Amelia deadpanned.
“Right, you did group them that way,” Zekie admitted. “And what do you think [Deep Freeze] would fall into if we use those metrics?”
“Wish-fear,” Amelia quipped. “No doubt about it.”
…ensure no motion within the volcano remains, thus is my Order…
“A double category?” Zekie looked at the scientist for answers.
“Yep,” Amelia said. “That’s because [Deep Freeze] is rooted in his fear of seeing people getting screwed over and his wish for it to stop.”
…[Deep Freeze]. Urgh!
With the final step of his Order given, Owen staggered as he felt a surge of ice maneg escaping his soul. It rushed to the erupting volcano, covering every part of it in and out as its Court Wizard dictated in an effort to beat the break-off timer. Once it was in position, it started.
CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~
“I talked with Master Catherine about it,” Amelia continued. “Owen’s got a little problem with the bleeding heart of his.”
“How is that a problem?” Zekie blinked confusingly.
“As she described it, when the average person sees something bad happening to another guy they can’t do anything about it, they’d give their sympathies and move on,” Amelia explained. “But when Owen sees it, he’d brood on it more than he needs to. That’s what’s going on in his mind a lot of the time.”
“I see, that does explain his constant mood on the surface,” Zekie said in understanding. “And I guess that’s unhealthy for him.”
“Yeah,” Amelia nodded. “Catherine says she was going to talk to him about it. But, well…”
“…Right.”
In pure defiance of the fundamental laws of physics, the magma and ashes in the middle of spewing out of the Vulgis volcano became still like a frozen fountain, becoming a snapshot in time. It didn’t stop there as the ice maneg continued to remove all traces of heat until the ice began to form.
CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~ CREME~
“Evidently, after seeing so many tragedies, he’d want them to stop,” Amelia explained. “[Deep Freeze] is the closest manifestation of that as an Ice Mage.”
“In other words, he wants to ‘freeze’ time from moving forward bringing more suffering to be seen,” Zekie concluded. “Even though he intends to keep going forward finding Joshua.”
“Such is the nature of Court Wizards and maneg. One part science, one part psychology, and always exceeding our expectations,” Amelia remarked with a shrug. “We are the rule breakers, after all. And that makes it exciting.”
A volcano of ice. That was what was left of mount Vulgis. What was supposed to herald the end of Beohar in a sea of fire and ashes became frozen to a halt. It was a bizarre sight to behold; the volcanic mountain covered in ice and snow along with the lava it spewed held in place.
“Hah… Hah…!” Owen huffed, clenching his chest as he unceremoniously plopped back into his seat. His vision was getting blurry as the backlash from expending so much maneg on short notice took effect.
“Up! Up! Up!” Hanz jerked the controller, bringing the helicopter higher.
CRACKLE CRACKLE
“Everyone, brace for impact!” Crea exclaimed as she willed her loyal maneg to form [Shield] surrounding the vehicle.
There was one issue that Amelia pointed out when William proposed this plan. Namely, the rapid decrease of the volcano’s temperature meant all that heat energy had to go somewhere. In the end, they concluded that in regards to the next phase of the plan and given how far the mountain was from civilization, along with some number crunching, they did one thing.
Nothing.
KABO-OM
With the ensuing shockwave flattening everything in its path, Beohar was never the same again.
Manegia
Year 1418
“…I know you would be exhausted, Owen, but I have a feeling your additional trip to the infirmary was not because you used too much maneg. So, what happened?” Alice wondered, looking at Owen sinking into the other sofa being completely kaput.
“…The others threw some big Orders… when revealing us to the world…” Owen huffed, staring at the ceiling the entire time. “They accidentally created Maneg Beasts… because of that.”
“Oh…” Alice muttered. “I guess that makes a more convincing announcement?”
“In more ways than one,” Owen let out. The display of what was essentially colored Beosts was sure to imprint a long-lasting impression on the locals on top of the loudspeaker making sure every corner of Beohar knew Court Wizards were real.
“…Anyway, I should also get this out of the way,” Alice changed the subject, getting up from the other sofa and going over to Owen. “Owen Willows Ruze, with your feat of freezing the Vulgis volcano, I, the Guardian of the Mother Soul of Ice, hereby instate you the rank of Grand Wizard,” she then said as she pulled out an ice-blue card and gave it to Owen.
“…” Owen wordlessly received his new ID. “Thanks…”
KETINK KETINK KETINK
Immediately after Owen touched the metal card, a sharp glow emanated from Alice’s soul. A light blue orb shot out from Alice and both of them knew it wasn’t a new Maneg Soul. The orb floated to Owen, hovering right above him and then shining in a bright spectacle.
SHIING
As the orb disappeared, Owen and Alice looked at each other and understood what it meant. Owen knew this because he was very much told about it before while Alice had seen the same thing happening with her mother a couple of times before.
The requirement for the final rank was for the Court Wizard to be able to take on their Guardian with the Mother Soul being the judge for that.
As Guardians were generally capable of controlling their Mother Souls to a good extent such as being able to hold off releasing a new Maneg Soul for a while, as much as the opposite applied the Mother Soul couldn’t simply turn itself off should their Guardian go rogue hence the need to make sure its Court Wizard could do the job.
But given that Alice wasn’t like the others and couldn’t control her Mother Soul, who already wanted her dead, what it wanted to imply by recognizing Owen as a Duke right off the bat was very clear to both of them.
“…Eh, we do get a new print every year,” was all Owen could say if it was any consolation.
Azhure: So, what do you all think of this part? Is it good? Are there any problems with it? Any reviews or feedback is appreciated as long as they’re not plain insults meant to blow off your stress.
Voice: Don’t do that to people! Not even on the internet!
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