An Anti-Hero's Origin

Of Merchants and Mages

^^ Rune-Stones ^^

My Father was an expedient and stubborn man when he wanted to be, and so within five minutes I was standing in the gymnasium of the Hall across from the blonde mage, the enchanted marble floors as shiny and clean as they'd been when they were first enchanted with a Barrier Spell. As we stood there, staring at each other and sharing a silent sort of mutual discomfort with the situation, he was giving a lecture to the students, (all four hundred students, which he'd summoned out of their classes and sat down in the stands to watch, not just the ten whom I had been dealing with,) about the subject of War Magic, -the subclass of Destruction Magic that focused on Impacts and Shields,- being a curious and dangerous art, but not an All-Powerful one.

"Now, you've heard me lecture you for months now, since your Spring Term began, and I know many of you are Destruction Mages yourselves, but I also know there's a few Conjuration Mages amongst you, and your fellows like to pick on you because they believe Conjuration is the Weakest of all the Magical Affinities! Well, today you will all see that All Magic, no matter the affinity, is only as powerful as your Imagination!!! Lord Eric, Sir Gavin; Begin!" His voice boomed out over the gymnasium, and the barrier that protected the audience flickered into being before becoming invisible once more.

I sighed and shared a bow with the blonde mage, Sir Gavin, then simply dropped through a portal and appeared behind him, already winding up a solid kick at the back of his skull. There was no movement from him, but a nearly-invisible barrier blocked my kick before I even got within two feet of him; the vibration stung my foot much more than it should have, and I quickly teleported to the other side of the ring as he whirled around in surprise. "Great, a Barrier... I wonder if... well, it's probably not polite of me to simply wait you out, considering my Mana Sea far outstrips yours... this is a battle of Skill and Ingenuity, after all, not Reserves."

"I imagine that wouldn't be sporting, no..." He commented carefully, still looking at the spot behind him occasionally, trying to figure out how I'd gotten there and back again so quickly.

"Well then; I'll simply teleport you!" I grinned at my new idea and opened a portal under him, dropping him through two portals that were beginning to increase his speed at accelerated rates; the Barrier he was using pushed air away, meaning there was no resistance, meaning there was no terminal velocity... which meant he was quickly moving so fast that he had no choice but to curl up in his barrier and hope that it ended soon. If he opened the barrier to escape, he died from the impact with the air pressure, and if the portal halted, he'd slam into the ground and scatter into a million pieces, so he had no alternatives. (Or so I thought.)

Suddenly there was a surge of Mana, and he was gone, while his barrier dissolved and ignited violently as the air inside collided with the air outside, instantly destabilizing and crashing together; I leaned against the barrier and opened a portal in front of me to direct the roiling flame away from my body, and managed to avoid most of the damage entirely, though only just barely in time.

"Well... an interesting concept... I'll have Destruction Mages make Barriers and pair them up with Conjuration Mages to recreate that effect, and see if it can be fine-tuned... are you still alive, Sir Gavin?" I made a few notes in my research journal and then called out to the Master Destruction Mage.

"*Cough*... Quite... Ahem! Quite So, Lord Fontaine! That was... bracing! A good showing, indeed, and quite magnificent! I've never seen portals used in such a way!" The slightly-charred mage coughed into his fist as he sat up from his fetal position and began to dust himself off.

"Very Few have the Mana necessary, nor the calm-of-mind to make the calculations required in stressful situations. The fact that you survived that blast was also rather intriguing, to be honest! Did you manage another Barrier in time? Also, and more importantly, how did you escape that Loop? That was Conjuration Magic, was it not?" I frowned, trying to figure out how he'd managed it.