Bloodfallen: Curse of The All Knowing

“The odds of him having the gift of divination are not exactly very high my dear. He likely just has a very high perception attribute or is very sensitive to auras.” The blood spawn chuckled as he played with his knives. “He can run all he wants, I don’t mind.”

“So what exactly is our plan?” Auria asked worried about his behavior.

“If he can sense where we are we will just stay around him to keep him up, and when it gets late and he is tired we will strike. Do you know how important sleep is?” Auria shook her head. “Well there were some experiments done in the empire with some prisoners about 30 or so years ago, what they did was keep several of their test subjects awake for an extended period of time with the promise that if they remain awake for a week they would be released. Only one lasted and he was a complete mess after all that, he wouldn't even recognize the faces of the researchers and when he attempted to get away from them he could barely move.” The blood spawn had a very large grin on his face as he recalled the information of the experiment as if he was there himself.

“So what you are saying is that we will exploit his natural ability to detect us to keep him awake and then strike when he is tired.”

“Yes, that is precisely my plan.”

**********

The moment Arthur entered the mages guild he let out a sigh of relief and slowed his pace to a walk. The feeling of being watched left and he continued his way to his aeromancy class in room seventeen. Like his pyromancy class there was a large assortment of students there already despite the fact that it was more than ten minutes before the class would even begin.

When the class did begin, an elven woman entered the room with the grace of a cat wearing light grey robes with a bit of black. “Welcome everyone to the basics of aeromancy, I am Faylen and I will be your instructor for this class.” Faylin presented a very different atmosphere compared to Eligius, she was far more calming and friendly than the tough pyromancer who took nothing from no one.

“We will be beginning the lesson with a basic demonstration of the practical uses of aeromancy and then I will allow all of you to give it a try yourself before I give an explanation on how to do it. Remember a good mage knows how to learn on their own without being spoon fed answers.”

Faylin with a wave of her hand created an air barrier like the one the instructor Arthur went against during the exam. “Does anyone here know how to use geomancy?” Ten hands went up. “Can any of you conjure earth?” Only three hands remained.

“You there, I want you to conjure a few simple darts of earth and try to hit me through my barrier.” Faylin pointed to a male dwarf sitting in the middle. The dwarf stood up and walked into the aisle where he conjured twelve small earth darts. “Go ahead.” The dwarf with a flick of his wrist launched the darts towards Faylin, instead of hurting her the darts were simply deflected off and harmlessly hit the front walls of the room.

A few of the students who were less experienced with magic, and likely of lower economic standing based on their clothes, were surprised by how easy their teacher blocked the attack. It wasn’t the most dangerous attack ever but for most it would have caused some serious harm to the target.

“Thank you, you may now return to your seat.” The dwarf nodded and returned to where he was sitting before. “That as you can see is one of the most basic practical applications of aeromancy. This on the other hand is something that will come with a bit more time and practice.” Faylin brought all her fingers togethers and slowly began moving them apart, while she did electricity began jumping between each pair until it became a one large stream. With a flick of her wrist Faylin made the stream of electricity dance around the room like a serpent for a full minute before she dissipated the electricity ending the spectacle.

Most of the class was surprised by the display of magical prowess, most did not even know that it was possible to conjure electricity with aeromancy. “Now that we have that out of the way it is time for you to try it out for yourself.” Most of the students were a bit worried by that statement as they had no idea where they should start.

“Don’t worry, I will give you a basic explanation after you try this out by yourself first. The biggest problem novices have is trying to control too much air at once, try limiting how much for your first attempts and go from there. You all have 15 minutes to try it out on your own starting now.”

About half of the class almost cried out in terror at those words, the other half had a basic idea as to what they needed to do from the class they took earlier in the day. Having what they needed to do even if it was for another evocation would greatly help those that attended. But the few who had succeeded with their first class of the day were by far the most confident in their ability to learn.

Arthur quickly cupped his hands together creating a small little spot where he could easily manipulate the mana through the air within. The process reminded him a lot of when he learned hydromancy except that it took him more than an hour to do then when he could easily expect to learn the minimum of aeromancy by the end of the fifteen minutes.

Not even a second passed when Arthur felt himself move the air between his hands in a small cyclone like current.

/- - - - - -\

+ Aeromancy Level 0 (New)

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Faylin clapped her hands signaling the end of the fifteen minutes she gave the class to try it out on their own. “That's 15 minutes now class, I see a few of you were able to do it but I still feel you should listen to the lesson as it can still help you improve.” Some of the students that failed to learn aeromancy groaned under their breath while others just sighed. The ones who either succeeded or felt they were on their way were far calmer and orderly.

“The biggest mistake most novices make is trying to control too much air at once, at the level most of you are at you shouldn’t be trying this on more than the amount of water you can fit in one hand. The second thing to keep in mind is that air is very chaotic and likes to move around a lot so you need to start with still air away from any natural winds.” Faylin went over more beginner tips for novice aeromancers that helped Arthur a bit in understanding how he could improve his control. The rest of the class was spent with more practice under Faylin’s watch as she gave tips on how they could do better. By the time the class ended Arthur felt he was on the right path to mastering aeromancy.

The first thing Arthur did when the class ended was leave for the magic object hall, he was a bit late for his meeting with Calavia but he thought she would understand. When he entered the hall he found Calavia sitting on a bench reading a book titled Shield Without Direction.

“Hey Calavia, what are you reading?” Arthur walked to his friend as he took a quick look at the book she was reading.

“Hey Arthur, I am reading Shield Without Direction. It is a book on some of the basic applications of alteration magic. Oh and by the way you are quite early.” She chuckled as she returned her book to her bag.

“Yeah I only got my class schedules today so I didn’t have time to tell you that I would be done so early.” ‘Thankfully she isn’t mad that I was late, she must have waited at least an hour by now.’

“Well that just means that tomorrow we will need to set our scheduled meeting back an hour from now on.” Calavia smiled as the two began walking around the facility. “So what classes did you take?”

“I took the basics of pyromancy and aeromancy, Eligius Sabinius and Faylin were my teachers for their respective subjects.”

“You have Sabinius as your pyromancy teacher? I had him a while ago when I first started several years ago, he respects only hard work and dedication, and I expect he told you all several times throughout the day.”

“He did tell us that, then he insulted everyone else by using some of the better students as examples.”

“Oh yes, that is definitely him, Faylin on the other hand I do not know as well. All I know was that she has been doing magic for a much shorter time than Sabinius and the rest of the old guard and yet she still managed to obtain the rank of wizard and was offered a teaching position.”

“From what I experienced in her class she is quite nice and takes her time to help those that need help instead of glaring and insulting them while talking like Sabinius did for the less gifted students.”

The two continued with their conversation as they moved through the guild and outside. They eventually ended up at the bench that Arthur had used several times in the past. “Has this bench always been here?” Calavia asked as she enjoyed the warm breeze that followed though the small clearing.

“I have only been in the city for a few days now so I can’t speak for any date before then, but since I have been here I don’t recall a day in which I haven't used this bench.”

“It must be a very nice place to sit then.”

“Oh it is, but the last time I was here I felt like someone was watching me very intensely.” Arthur looked around a bit to make sure there wasn’t anyone around to hear them lest they be the person that stalked him back to the guild.

“You felt someone watching you when you were sitting here?” Arthur nodded. “Have you told anyone about this yet?”

“No, not aside from you. Every time I get close to the guild the feeling disappears though. Is that not odd?”

“It is very odd. Where are you staying in the city at the moment?” Calavia was now looking around to see if she could spot anyone watching.

“In the The Free Parrot Bar up near the mercenaries guild and that empty plot of land.”

“Well in that case I think you should move into the dormitories provided by the guild.”