Chapter 1: The Rubian War
"Starting with magical theory, depending on the tier your mana has evolved into, you might be heavily dependent on strykers. Through basic understanding of strykers they may provide a way to manipulate and extract the mana you use in specific ways when manifesting in detail."
"This is boring." A whisper voiced out.
Looking at the book and seeing a few water droplets landing on the page being read, Kyran looked up towards the sky and saw a storm approaching towards the forest nearby.
Upon stepping into the cover of a large tree, Kyran was met with the bodies of four forest goblins whose heads had been smashed in with a club-like weapon, their ears cut off which was thrown into a sack around his neck.
The rain soon to wash the blood away, and the flesh to feed the local animals.
Sitting on the top of a slightly wet rockwal underneath a large tree, he decided that it's about time to go back as the rain started to slightly pick up.
Kyran took the book he was reading, named "Theoretical Applications of Circuitry & Magic" and shoved it into a well fastened leather satchel which was firmly strewn over his right shoulder.
"I need to be heading back, before Ellen starts yelling." Kyran said to himself about the approaching storm, breaking out into a short jog leading towards the only gravel path in the area.
The once vibrant forest quickly was being enveloped by a darkening shadow lengthening with an impending storm approaching quickly.
While the rain quickly grew more ominous by the second, Kyran continued to head towards the only path heading in, or out of the forest and descended a small hill going past a few fence posts that were taken over by vegetation, and time that indicated this may have been someone's land far before the modern age.
"Why does it have to storm now–? Couldn't it just stay sunny for longer–?" Kyran exclaimed, disappointedly.
"Then I would be able to stay in the forest for much longer, — it's really the only place I can study properly without being yelled at..."
Although as of right now, he is at the absolute mercy of mother nature, and she is not looking to play with a measly second tier mage.
After making it past yet another noticeably decrepit fence, he realized that he almost made it home, back to his comfort.
Looking ahead the muddled and wet path, Kyran could see two guards positioned on duty through the now aggressive rainfall.
'Prince Kyran—-?" One of the soldiers said while looking down the path ahead of him squinting his eyes towards his direction.
"You know that you aren't supposed to be out of the castle without a guard. Let me assign one for you next time!" The guard said with a smile looking to be friendly with the approaching prince.
Looking at the young but virtuous guard he just rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry about it, this is a secret between both of you and me, — alright? Kyran said, making his way inside of the gate.
"Y-yes sir–!"
Hastily the gate was opened by the other guard looking at him with worry since he is absolutely soaked at this point while the wind is picking up.
Kyran was the third prince of a great kingdom called Alecia. It was a prosperous nation that had many economic prospects that it could call successful, although he couldn't care less about all that nonsense at his age.
Adept at magical applications and theory at the young age of sixteen, royal politics were not a strong suit— although compared to peers his age who are also adept at magic, he is a genius at theory.
"Prince Kyran!" someone yelled as an older maid yelled, approached him trying to wave him inside of a back door to the castle—leading him away from the heavy rain.
"What were you thinking... come over here and dry yourself off before you catch a cold!"
Ellen was a frail woman, she wore a small set of glasses since her old age caused her eyes to start deteriorating. She was well into her fifties, but has been working for the Vike family for years and continues to work for them as a lead caretaker. Even when offered retirement.
"It just started raining heavily out of nowhere, I had no time to make it back to the castle still dry..." He said while looking outside of the nearby window, rubbing his chin and laughing at the worried woman.
"Wait.."
"What about those two guards outside–? They are getting drenched out there, it must be freezing." Kyran said, sympathetically. "I want a tent brought out for them, can you let someone know–?"
"Yes, prince I'll get some people right on that, but you need to worry about yourself as well" Ellen said, prompting him to go up and change into something more, appropriate for dining as royalty.
"As you command." Kyran playfully said while giving a giving a bow.
"But make sure a tent is brought out there–!" He said to the maid who bowed back.
Ellen was the head maid for the royal family of Alecia, she had been hired to manage thoroughly, and act as a caretaker for the family, she was loved, nearly accepted as their own family.
Kyran started heading towards the main hallway of the castle, fastened with elegance and decor it was quite a sight to behold. It showed truly how rich their kingdom was, in both power, wealth, and love among their people.
Red carpets met his eyes, along with shields of honor strewn on the wall, and drapes made of the finest eastern silk.
Along the hall held some of the Vike family's most treasured items, such as extravagant swords and thick plate armor used by the prior heroes of old.
During the founding of the country of Alecia, they were used to instill order, and lead the people into a new age of innovation.
Both the swords, and armor had intricate carvings of magic circuits into them, ones that felt overly powerful even looking at him.
Exact markings filled with lurking mana of the heroes, ones that Kyran has always admired as a growing arcane specialist
Alecia is an extremely influential nation, providing exports for 40 percent of the continent's grain, and 60 percent of their magic prowess due to commission adoption by the royal family.
Although, it wasn't always a prosperous nation as they knew their fair share of war—quite recently in fact.
The Kingdom of Rubia which borders Alecia, attacked nearly twenty years ago. Specifically invaded and pillaged villages near the border, attempting to intimidate Alecia into retracting borderlines.
They attempted to make a message for the Alecian government. Rubian soldiers kidnapped, assaulted, and killed nearly every citizen who resided in those villages. Women, and children were not an exception, as most were found and liberated from illegal slave markets.
They also paraded their killed loved ones around, as if they were dolls to play with, laughing in reports.
Immediately, a full scale war broke out due to their brutality, and invasion. Rubia underestimated the magical prowess and strategies involving arcane that Alecia held and was trampled.
Alecian soldiers held no mercy towards any rubian soldier they found, due to the rumors of what rubian soldiers did to their fellow countrymen, they did not have the right to be spared.
They outpaced, outmatched, and outfought Rubia, until they were pushed back into the capital city of Fairen.
The only reason that Rubia was not absorbed into the kingdom of Alecia after the war, was because their citizens still wished to fight even once the war was over. So Alecia made a deal with Rubia.
"You may not have a military numbering more than seventy-five hundred. You must pay higher tariffs on any exports of wheat, and magic tools than most. You must pay reparations to Alecia, and directly to the victims of the villages you raided."
Pushing their country into a corner wasn't a good idea. Guerilla warfare exists in every civilization, and it's a lot easier to win a war or attrition—although Rubia wasn't free, they basically got off pretty easily.
Except for the fact that Alecia executed the entire royal family of Rubia afterwards, which allowed the citizens to install their own leader.
At a young age, Kyran's father, Arthur Vike, was trained to become an accomplished knight, and after proving himself to the prior king, was favored and prepared as the crown prince, until he eventually became king. It was quite an accomplishment and fighting in the war with the Kingdom of Rubia, a noble fighting for their own subjects.
To this day, they still pay those tax dividends for the mistakes of their last generation. Rubia still hasn't recovered from the war, and still holds resentment towards both the royal family for humiliating them on a global scale. Many Rubian citizens still despise Alecia due to this, their country only holds a fraction of the power they once held, and the "Golden Age" of Rubian rule was over.
"I wonder if these pieces of armor can still even be used, considering they're from the age of ambition and innovation, far before the war with Rubia." Kyran thought while gawking at the massive hall of swords and other weaponry.
"If they still worked, the war would have been over before it started, ancient magic is something even—kings fear."
After being sidetracked looking at the display cases, he made it to his room up the stairs at the far end of the hall, yet upon opening the door he was met with a musty smell, and inside of it was a massive amount of books, numbering in the hundreds.
Books stacked to the ceiling, and it looked like it may topple over at the slightest breath, having books about magical theory about many types of mana signatures stacked as tall as he was. Yet they were meticulously organized at the same time, being categorized by type, theory implications, and magical warfare texts.
"I've already been through so many of these books, and I only have a few left that I don't quite understand well." Kyran said to himself. "Specifically, ones about strykers..."
While Kyran was ranting to himself, he took out both the book from the wet satchel, and the four goblin ears and set them in their respective places inside of his disorganized, yet meticulously placed room.
The goblin ears were a great source of magic binds, which allow for installing magic into scrolls. Although the stronger the monster the better the spell, goblins allowed up to the second tier.
Pacing around and letting his mind roam about what he learned today, he finally started to change out of his soaked clothes and into dry ones, although extravagant they don't scream royalty to anyone.
Just a light plain shirt and some black lounging trousers that were well made, and are more comfortable. It is better wearing this rather than all the extravagant clothes that are always presented to him, he thought.
Once changed, a slight knock was held at the door and a soft voice spoke.
"Prince Kyran, you can come to the dining room now, the food is ready to be served.--"
"Tonight, if you please, you will be having roasted duck seasoned with herbs and many sides of your own choosing to include potatoes, and vegetables and lastly a —nice glass of red wine."
"Thanks Ellen, I'm on my way, it sounds great." Kyran said, putting away some of his belongings.
Leaving his room and heading downstairs into the dining room, he was met with a most wonderous smell of herbs, spices, and roasted meat, although he seemingly was the last one to show up for dinner.
His father, the king, was already situated at the table, along with his sister, his two brothers, and a four-year-old girl, who was the daughter of the eldest brother.
"Come and sit already Kyran, we are all starved–!" His sister, Julia, exclaimed angrily at Kyran because she wanted to start eating ages ago.
Julia had the build of her mother, which was smaller in build for sure, but she inherited the strikingly blonde hair that her father, the king had.
Kyran took almost solely after his mother, with having a small build, black hair, and being well versed with magical capabilities.
Both William and Dirian took after father the most, with almost no resemblance of their mother, having a quite stalky, and knightly attitude and build. William, although, was slightly more conceited than their brothers and sisters.
And of course there was little Amelia who was the daughter of Dirian. She was a loving one, but that might be because she's just so young.
Sitting down at the long table with father at the head, the feast was brought out to the family, and it was made for royalty, roasted boar met with fresh potatoes, and countless bottles of wine.
Although prosperous, and well versed in treating their subjects with respect, the Vike family loved their food.
They just all had differences in personality, especially with Julia and his two brothers, they were all wildly varying from one another academically, physically, and mentally. But are family nonetheless — and always help when they are needed to.
Kyran is like his sister regarding being empathetic, although less outgoing as she is. Although similar to his mother, nearly identical at times, he was pretty decent with a sword which came from his father.
Although, he was completely immersed with magic, practicing with all the free time that he had. Continuing to try to develop with the help of his esteemed instructor, Wylken, who was an older half dwarf, and also a — seventh tier grand scale mage.
"So... Kyran, how have your magic studies been going while Wylken has been gone?" Julia asked while scarfing down food.
"It's still rough, before I can start with third tier magic using a stryker, I need to get better universally with all types of second tier magic — although I am adept enough at enchantment magic specifically."
Seemingly clueless to what he is talking about, his sister looks back at Kyran with a mouthful of food and asks.
"What does that even mean...? I've heard of knight tier rankings, but magician tiers are different, aren't they?" Julia asked, smacking her mouth while chewing.
Amelia seemingly started copying Julia and started smacking her mouth while eating her food as well.
'Chew with your damn mouth closed, will you Julia?' Kyran thought but didn't say out loud.
"Well, sorta, tiers are defined by what caliber of circuit formation you can hold, comprehend, and cast as your mana allows. I am working on my third tier as of now, but I haven't made any progress into it yet, since I'm in the second tier." Kyran said, trying his best to set an example for Amelia while eating.
Looking at his brothers, they are still too immersed with the plethora of meat in front of them to pay attention to the ramblings of a magician while he is talking about theory and rankings.
"Wait... isn't Wylken a seventh-tier mage?" Julia asked shocked that such an old man is seemingly so powerful.
'Yes, but he is most definitely a seasoned seventh tier mage, as he pushes the boundaries of what magical circuits will allow as a whole."
Thinking of Wylken, even as an old man greatly outranks a young magician like Kyran in sheer power alone, thinking about how much of a monster he was at Kyran's age is terrifying.
"That old man is something else..." Father dimed into the conversation.
Both Kyran and Julia looked towards their father who was seemingly listening into their conversation as a form of evening entertainment.
"He was your mother's magical instructor when she was in Lyon academy, you know, they have known each other for quite some time." Father said, scratching his beard.
Kathrine Vike was the name of their mother, having studied at Lyon academy, and while being an accomplished adventurer in her younger days. She met father in the war with Rubia, and was married into the royal family as a baroness at the time.
"He certainly is the most impressive father, I've never seen an inferno spell as powerful as his, even within the royal magicians court–!" Kyran said proudly, as if the old man's accomplishments were his own.
"You can't even compare the two, Wylken is a monster and always has been from a young age." Father replied.
Continuing to eat his food, Kyran looked to go back upstairs to continue practicing his circuit flow on other types of magic, especially since he hasn't gained much progress in the last few weeks while Wylken has been gone.
Before that though was a well needed night of sleep, and once he finished eating, left directly back towards his room to pass back out, which he was sorely interrupted earlier from by Ellen knocking.
On his way up the luxurious staircase he was interrupted by a little tug on his trousers by Amelia, who greeted him with a yawn as she hugged his leg, seemingly taking the personable traits from her father, and loving traits from her grandmother.
Picking Amelia up and hugging her back, he told her to sleep well and warm while making sure she made her way back to Dirian.
Finally making it back to his room, he avidly knocked out on his massive bed, strolled full of scratch papers that tried to help him visualize his own magical circuit within his body earlier that day.
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AUTHORS NOTES.
Thank you so much if you made it here! I have been working on this story for upwards of five years now and I have nearly completed the first two volumes! I want to share this with others (kind of nervous about other people reading it) but I really enjoyed writing this. Yes, the story may start off a little slow, but I promise that it will be worth it, and if you don't trust me well wait and read it for yourself.
:D Thanks everyone, can't wait to upload chapter two.
