The lightbringer

It never stops

Bard Houben plays a few chords which come to form a small melody : 

" Magic is synonym to strength but equally to disruption, separation was inevitable, arms in brothers and brother in arms, pass the tale on, guess the riddle, or you may forever regret it, mastery of the runes, reaches other realms, aspiration to absolute power, effects are often bleak, strength is a result of balance and peace... ".

Houben plays a few notes to end the riddle and silence settles in... Adam and Steger-Lewis look at each other in interrogation but also deep in thought. Houben says " Okay, so as much as I believe you both to be very bright people, I doubt you'll be able to crack the riddle in a minute while I could not do it in over several years. I advise that we find a place to spend the night, each think about it on our own and tomorrow, we'll come together again and share our findings... if we have any. ", they both nod in agreement. 

They each go get their horse and travel towards a neighbouring village, they enter a smaller tavern and no one seems to be bothered by their presence. They pay for three rooms and head to their respective spaces. Adam had so many questions following that riddle but was, at the same time, intrigued by the forgotten mysterious song the bard mentioned earlier. Adam thinks hard and tries to see the connection between the words, a chronological order of the sentences or possibly pattern. He decides that thinking with a tired brain won't lead to anything and lets himself drift to sleep. 

All of a sudden he wakes up, it's around 6:30 am, he scratches the back of his head and directs his attention to the corridor. He hears distinct noises coming from the stairs. He dresses himself and slowly opens his door, he sees Steger-Lewis also woken up and dressed, bounty hunter instincts do not lie, something is up. The thunder bending acolyte signals Adam to follow him, they walk to the end of the corridor, go up the stairs and climb the ladder to end up on the tavern's roof. " How did you know this passage? ", " A good bounty hunter always does some exploring before resting, this rule has saved my life multiple times ". They both stay silent for a few seconds and suddenly hear, like several doors being bashed open. They can also hear a voice " Damnit, they're not here! Search the tavern, spread out. ". Adam feels like the voice is famliar but it's not possible or maybe he doesn't want to believe it ... The door Adam and Steger-Lewis used to access the roof just bust open and a woman appears. " Lucy Pope?! Please tell me I'm dreaming. ".

Lucy was an old classmate of Adam at the academy, who excelled at elemental magic as she bent fire like no other. They did a couple of missions together and sparred a few times, it was as if her energy knew no limits or at least that's what it felt like when Adam practiced with her. 

She was just standing there with her two leather shoulderpads and wearing a light outfit which restrains her movement the least possible. Her brown hair was flowing in the wind and the look on her face was one of determination. " Adam, kind of dissapointed it has to end like this but orders are orders. ", " Lucy, open your fucking eyes! I haven't checked on the council for a while because I have been busy here but I'm quite positive they are tearing each other to threads. ", " What do you mean? ", " The magical realms have lost their balance, what do you think Headmage Fife is thinking right now? Don't you think she is fucking pissed at Kardux's experiment initiative?! Her whole magical realm is out of balance and so many arcane mages died. ", " I don't believe a single word of that, the council is more united and stronger than ever! ", " Fucking hell Lucy! This also was the reason why I left, no one ever questions the big great council and I stopped living under the illusion that they're perfect. They messed up and deep down you know it too! ". She looks at Adam for a second, looks away, and yells " He's here! ". 

Adam sighs and says " You wanted this, just remember that. ", he turns to Steger-Lewis and says " Please let me handle this alone, I feel like it's best if them and the council do not know about your powers. " and he answers " Understood, we need to have a chat about that afterwards. ", Adam nods. Two mages arrive on the rooftop and come stand behind her, Adam does not know any of them. The mage to her right has short black hair and a beard, he wears a green shirt and his clothes are quite loose. He has a serious look on his face and his stance is robust as if no force in the world could knock him down, this makes Adam think he's an earth bender. The mage to her right has a blue robe with a pattern of white flowing lines sown on it, his face his hidden by his hood but he looks ready to fight. Adam is now facing Lucy and two other mages, a one versus three battle, this ought to be interesting... 

The magical realm is governed by the mages higher council in the future, each of the known energies has a headmage who is one mage that represents their magical realm. They are extremely powerful and bend their respective magical energies like no other, headmage Fife represents the arcane realm. A mysterious realm which holds without a doubt the most power of all magical energies but is also the hardest to master and to comprehend. Headmage Colder represents the life sylvestre realm, an energy that encompasses all living beings whether it's plants or animals. This magic can be used for battle but it's more being utilized to fertilize the fields and for communication with animals, to make sure that humans maintain a good relationship with all other living beings. Headmage Dewson represents the foundational energies realm, the one that never shifts. This magical realm has always been present and never gained or lost power, light and darkness are good powers when it comes to countering each other and countering anything energetically magical. The last magical realm, the elemental energies realm is represented by headmage Kardux. A once strong realm which has now gained more power then ever, so much that it has disturbed the natural order of things. Fire, air, water and earth which is shared with the life sylvestre energy are all part of the elemental energies and Kardux masters all of them extremely well. It was his initiative to uncover the new more powerful source of magic and for some reason which Adam ignores, the council agreed, knowing it posed a major threat to the magical realm spectrum. After that, Adam lost all faith in them and left. Now here he is, standing in front of three mages, alone ...