The First War Mage: City in the Sky

When I eventually opened my eyes again I found myself still resting against Tulip's shoulder, a gentle shudder of embarrassment and slight resentment at the fact that I had fallen asleep like that. I let out a slow sigh as the grogginess of sleep left me rather quickly, with my eyes moving around the room that was barely even illuminated by the scattered cinders that couldn't even be called embers of the torch outside of our cell.

I slowly removed myself from Tulip, letting an uncomfortable shake run across my body once I had space between myself and her. There was a tray of food at the entrance of the cell, honestly it was surprisingly good food for the situation we were currently in.

It consisted of a few pieces of dried meat, some bread, and water. Nothing fancy, but compared to the slop that I was used to eating from the prison it may as well have been an incredible meal. Though I left it be to just sit there until Tulip was awake.

I could still feel that strange, tingling feeling in my arms from the magic I had conducted for all of a few moments. It was like it was still there, still running through my veins, just waiting for a solemn moment to be let free and run wild. Like it was waiting for just a mental push to be let free.

I was tempted to try letting it free, I so desperately wanted to practice it but I was left to jump in place, feeling like my heart was about to jump out of my throat as a metallic pang slammed against the heavy bars blocking our cell in.

"Now just what are you doing up this early, little runt?" Markus, the older of the two slavers I had seen, and had captured as spoke with a sadistic tone to his voice. A vile smile filled with black, rotting teeth filled his mouth as he stuck his head between the bars, clearly trying to scare me.

I didn't even give him the pleasure of conversation. I had dealt with these kinds of people countless times in the prison, talking to them just made the outcome worse. They would use any words I tried to say to defend myself to belittle me further, while growing ever more infuriated by silence.

"What? Devil steal your words?" He sneered out further. His strange tone of voice was something that caught my interest, like Arcadian was a secondary language for him. His words slurred together in a way that just didn't feel right.

"Come on! Talk!" Markus slammed his fist into the bars so hard that the bar he hit began to shake. The rattling noise shuck me to my core as I watched him pull his fist back without even a single blemish to his skin that wasn't already there. While as he pulled his hand back there was a notable dent in the metal bars.

"Worthless runts..." Markus continued his spree of anger as he turned away with an aggressive scoff. "Damned idiot what was he even thinking kidnapping the heir of the throne..." He continued with his angered tone as he walked down the hall again.

"Idiotic 'deal'... What was he thinking..." Markus continued to talk as he walked away, though his further words became to hushed to understand fully.

I let out a sigh feeling myself relax some as Markus walked away. Leaving the dented bars behind, my eyes shifted back towards Tulip. This was some kind of deal? I kept those words in mind as I shifted around, I was surprised Tulip hadn't awakened from the crash of Markus' fist against the bars. But, she was still asleep, and rather peacefully at that.

With little else to do I just fell to silence, grabbing the plate of food I slowly dragged myself back over to the spot on the wall where Tulip was. Ever so gently I reached over, gently shaking her on the shoulder to try and stir her. I was rather surprised when just a touch had her fluttering her eyes open.

"Is he gone now?" Tulip asked in a hushed voice, her eyes moved around quickly before shifting forwards with a slow breath.

"Why'd you pretend to be asleep?" I asked slowly, now thoroughly confused as it just seemed rather, odd for Tulip to do such a thing.

"To try and get him to say something... And if this was a plan... Or a 'Deal' as he said, then this is way worse than I thought at first." Tulip continued with a low tone. She looked at the platter of food, scrunching her nose a little but relented when I offered her portion to her.

"May not look, or taste good... But it's edible." I spoke when Tulip gave a break in her mumbling. I knew the concern was visible in my eyes, but I didn't much know where the concern truly lay.

"I don't like what any of this means... if someone had a plan to kidnap me, then there is some kind of plot here. But I don't know who would try something like this... None of the other nations are at odds with us right now... The noble families are all in line." Tulip continued to ramble on while I just left her to hold her portion of the food while I grabbed mine.

"If we don't have information, what's the point in theorizing? For all we know it could just be some low end gamble for money... or to pay for some prisoners freedom." I tried to push some logic from my perspective into Tulip's thoughts, which seemed to give her pause for a moment before she looked at the food before her again.

"I guess you're right..." Tulip let out another sigh. She gently grabbed the single utensil given and began to work away at her food. I did much the same, allowing the silence to fester between the two of us for long minutes before we were done eating.

"Why don't we try and practice more with my magic?..." I offered as Tulip began to look dazed. "There's that weak point in the bars over there... Maybe I can do something to exploit it?" I gestured to the very clearly dented section from where Markus had slammed his fist into it.

"Yea- Lets do that." Tulip seemed a bit peppier just at the thought of working with magic, even if it wasn't her own. "Alright... Let's start from the beginning, do you still feel that, I guess 'feeling' from finding your attunement?"

"Yea- I don't really know how to describe it. But I think if I focus on it, I can bring it back out. Just, not very controlled." I offered the best explanation I could to Tulip, while she just nodded gently.

"Alright, that's good." Tulip spoke quickly before gesturing her arms into a specific motion. Her fingers were curled in slightly before she crossed her legs under herself, like she was meditating. "Everyone's position is a bit different, and it will take you a while to find an ideal one. But one of the main ways a mage practices moving their mana is by meditating like this." Tulip spoke in a low tone to avoid being overheard by anyone who may pass by.

"What does this even do for me?" I asked slowly as I crossed my legs in a similar fashion. It took me a few moments to find a spot to put my arms that felt natural and comfortable, I tried the way Tulip showed first but it felt extraordinarily uncomfortable when I did. However once I found a comfortable enough position Tulip continued to answer my question.

"All it's really doing is letting you focus on your mana more easily. Think of it like this; trying to use magic is like learning how to run. Right now you can barely even crawl, so this is like the position you need to take your first steps. Once you know your mana more innately, you'll be able to use magic without even thinking about meditating. Though I lot of mages prefer to meditate when practicing new things, for familiarity and less factors." I was left intrigued by Tulip's words, though she didn't give me much time to think before she continued to talk.

"Focus inwards like you were yesterday. Focus on your mana, the paths it runs through your body. Don't let it out, but try and guide it from one hand to the other through the trails." Tulip explained as she watched me.

My eyes closed so that I could focus further and I quickly learnt why sitting like this helped. I could see all of the veins individually as I focused inwards, all of the marks and strands that the mana could run through. It still was blurry, like I was looking through a clouded lens, but I could see it vaguely. It was such a strange sight, to be looking at my own body from an outside view. I knew it was just an image, or a rough idea of it in my mind. But it was so very clear that the veins my mana ran through, were the real things.

"How do I move it?" I found myself asking as I focused harder and harder on the mana, it didn't react to anything. Any focused thought, any focused attempt. It just sat there, glowing a gentle blue hue.

"Think of it like a muscle you've never used before. You have to train it, teach yourself how to control it until it's second nature." Tulip offered the answer but I still felt just as lost.

Every beat of my heart sounded like a drum while I focused, every attempt to move the invisible strands of mana felt like I was trying to lift a mountain. The effort was solely in my mind, but it didn't mean it took any less effort. Honestly I could safely say it was easier to swing a pickax twice my size than this was. I kept furrowing my brows in anger at my inability to get even the slightest motion, I kept pushing time and time again with all that I could think of but nothing.

And then, suddenly I saw a motion. Barely anything, so little that I couldn't entirely register it. But then centimeter by centimeter, the tiny blob of mana I had focused on began to move.

Unable to contain my excitement I let my focus drop entirely, my eyes flickering open with a wide smile. But I felt cold dread crawl across my back as I heard a voice other than Tulip's start speaking.

"Now now, what do you little rats think you are doing?" I turned my head, seeing the blonde head of Andrew glaring in at us. Though he was clearly now a little more cautious. I could only assume it was because he knew exactly what was happening. "To think that you taught her how to cycle her mana in such a short amount of time. A true prodigy indeed, little Tulip." His tone went from calculated to cold and cruel. His green eyes had a sheen to them like a snake, I was almost certain if he smiled I would see fangs with venom dripping from them.

I couldn't bring myself to talk, Tulip was frozen in place. Bile was rising in my throat, only growing worse as Andrew pulled something from his back. A short, crossbow. Taking aim slowly, he began to point the end towards me, leaving my eyes to grow wide.

"I can't risk a leak like this. And you really were just a little bonus for us, a shame we won't be cashing in on it." My mind began to race, began to try and find a path, anything, anyone, anywhere. How could I get out of something like this? "In the end I guess it was pretty stupid to not just put one of those collars on you."

But my mind came up blank. Panic began to rise as Andrew's finger moved towards the trigger, slowly pulling it down. I felt the terror rise to an all time high as my body wouldn't listen to me, I couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't think. I tried so desperately to move, to scream, to just run, but I couldn't.

And then there was a crash.

A massive BOOM echoed across the halls, as if something had exploded not too far away. Andrew's aim was thrown off from the noise, but not so much that he completely missed. The arrow aimed squarely between my eyes whistled through the air, slamming into my left arm.

I let out a terrible scream of pain as I felt my own blood beginning to warm my cold skin on my left arm. I felt the arrow punch clean through my arm, through the bone, and into the wall. I was at least lucky, despite the massive wound, it manage to miss the vein in my arm.

Though I couldn't register that, not through the horrible pain I felt wreaking havoc across my body. I couldn't even move, my arm pinned firmly against the wall while tears blinded my eyes.

Why?

Why did this happen?

Why did this world do everything it could to hurt me?

To kill me?

Thoughts raced through my mind, so fast, so incoherent I couldn't think. I couldn't focus, I didn't even feel the arms shaking me, trying to get me to stir from the panicked pain I was in. I was hysterical, I knew my mind wasn't my own anymore. But slowly my ears stopped ringing and I could hear, though it was only because Tulip smacked me across the head.

"KIRIN GET UP!" she screamed so loud I thought my eardrum might burst, but I could understand why her panic was so elevated now. I heard fighting, clashing, screaming. What was happening? "Hold still- I'll deal with this!"

Tulip didn't give me a moment to argue before she snapped the piece of the bolt still inside of my arm off. I let out another scream of pain as she slid my arm out, barely even able to pay attention as she tore part of her over shirt off to turn into a makeshift bandage and sling that she put around my arm with impressive speed.

"Kirin I need you to focus." Tulip spoke once she was done. Pulling my gaze to meet hers. "I don't know what's happening but I don't want to find out and risk us getting in the cross fire." Tulip continued, desperation, and dread, they rang in her voice clear as day.

"I-... I can't..." I sobbed out weakly. So much pain, every beat of my heart felt like agony. I felt the burning, white hot pain flaring in my arm. I was so desperate for it to go away I was incoherent. "I can't do this... I can't use my magic!"

"Don't think so little of yourself!" Tulip screamed out again, another massive explosion left the entire room shaking. What was happening? What was going on that explosions were wreaking havoc inside the building? Weren't there civilian nearby? "Please, Kirin."

Could I do this? My arm was shot, I could barely even push my legs under myself to stand. The dizzying pain nearly sending me to the ground. Steadying my eyes, I tried slowly, step by step, to walk forwards. Each step felt like I was trying to walk through mud chest high. Like I was fighting a tide running against me, but that was nothing compared to trying to focus on my mana.

I couldn't even begin to register or describe how I did it. But as my right arm pulled back, I felt a surge of strength, a static shock flared across my hand so powerful it was audible like a screeching buzz of a million insects at once. I felt a shock run through my body as my hand slowly moved forwards, like the world was moving in slow motion. I knew Tulip wasn't far behind me, I knew she was desperate. I knew I was desperate, but why did it have to be this way? I couldn't say, I just felt like I was nothing more than a means to an end.

And then there was a flash as my hand hit the bar.