Chương 20: The Primordials

Ari didn't manage to catch up to Lyra because the other girl was moving too quickly. The next class for the day was Intro to Magical Creatures with Professor Alaric Woden, and it was at a different building, a brick annex behind the greenhouse. They had to cut across the courtyard to get there, and while they did, Arielle called Lyra's name several times until Lyra finally yelled back, "I'm fine!" before she dashed away. Arielle stopped walking. She was fine? She hadn't seemed fine back in the classroom.

She had been crying. Or maybe Ari had misread the situation. Maybe she just had something in her eyes. But then why was she running? What was she in such a hurry for? Also, now that she thought about it, Celie sometimes lied about being fine. She would say she was fine, and Ari would believe her, only for her to admit a few minutes later that she was still angry. Was Lyra mad at her? Why? She hadn't even said anything to her this time. All she'd done was smile. How did that earn her ire?

Or was she generally upset for not getting the spell correctly? Ari could understand the feeling. She could help Lyra too, if Lyra would only slow down. There were still a few minutes left for the next class to start, and Ari had wanted to spend that time checking if the book Elric sent had arrived, but now she wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her roommate. Should she catch up to her and clarify what 'I'm fine' means? Or was it better to give her space?

Celie had wanted space sometimes, and during that time, Ari was not supposed to talk to her. Was that a similar scenario here? Or did Ari need to apologize? She worried her bottom lip and thought about what to do, as the other students streamed past her. But then a boy passing by told her, "If you don't get there on time, Woden is going to have you clean the greenhouse for a week." It didn't sound like a bad punishment, but perhaps it was worse than it sounded.

Either way, she didn't want to make the wrong impression on her first day. Ari was one of the last people to make it to the class. This classroom was a lot smaller than the one in the Luxarium, with a more traditional setup, including a blackboard. A low wall combined with a glass panel separated the room from the greenhouse, and plants decorated every corner, with a crawling vine accenting the brick walls.

The professor was a diminutive man, with black, silky hair braided hastily down his back and glasses that looked more like goggles and made his eyes huger than they were. Instead of a robe, he wore an apron and had his shirt pulled up to reveal an inked symbol on his forearm, similar to what Giovanni had had. His goggled-eyes zeroed in on Arielle as she arrived, and she felt like she was looking at two blue fish in a bowl.

"Ah," he greeted.

"You are the new young genius who has joined us."

"Yes," Ari said.

"Lovely. It's refreshing that you don't feign humility. Have a seat in the front for now." Ari typically liked seats in the middle of the room, because of the symmetry, but she didn't want to defy the professor on their first day. She took the seat closest to the door, waiting for everything to settle.

"Okay, class," Professor Woden said as he clapped.

"Last session, I asked you to pick your groups for the end-of-term project, and I approved them last night. Today, we're going to be picking our topics. So, let's get into the groups first. [Vivus]." With a wave of the hand, something utterly amazing happened. The legs of the desks and chairs around her began to bend and flex, stretching as though they were alive.

Then the furniture galloped like tiny little horses, arranging themselves in circles, while the students held on, some of them cursing and some of them giggling. Disappointingly, Ari's seat did not move. The magic that had been woven around the classroom hadn't reached her for whatever reason, but she barely noticed as she focused on the essences. Ari studied the glyphs, the vitae floating in a spiral around a vertical line, combined with calor-linked chains and Luxa double-bonded particles.

A Massa circle surrounded it to set the boundary. It was a fairly complicated-looking spell, but that only made Ari more excited to study it. She wondered what the equation was. She counted the essences and wondered if she could work the spell script backwards to figure it out. Most likely.

"Arielle?" Her head snapped over to the professor, who was staring at her as though waiting for an answer.

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I said you can join any group you want," he said.

"The groups are an even number, so whichever group you pick will just have to have one extra person."

"Oh." The seats had stopped moving now, and five groups had formed circles behind her. She glanced from group to group, wondering who to pick. Instinctively, she wanted to pick Lyra's group, but when she looked over there, Lyra looked away. She also gave her a subtle head shake, which likely meant that she didn't want to be chosen. If Ari was reading correctly, Lyra wanted to be left alone for now. Maybe Lyra didn't want to be her friend at all.

Maybe Ari should branch out and search for other people she might have an easier companionship with. However, none of the other groups looked appealing, mostly because she didn't know anything about them. One group contained the boy who had told her 'good luck', but it also had Faulkey, who was glaring at her quite fiercely. The rest of the students looked at her blankly, and she was paralyzed by indecision. This was a surprisingly hard choice.

"You can sit with us," said the boy who'd been unable to do the spell in their last class. Riorke. He didn't look any friendlier than the rest of the students, especially with his hair shorn close to his scalp and a frown on fierce, sharp features. He looked older than the rest, more soldier than boy, but he did wave her over, pushing his seat to the side, so that there was space.

"Come quickly. You're holding the class up." Arielle still hadn't quite made her decision, but she didn't want to be the reason that class couldn't continue. She gathered her things and was about to get up, but there was no need. Her desk came alive, too.

"Ee!" The sound squeaked out of her as her desk ran toward Riorke, to the amusement of her classmates. The experience wasn't as jostling as she'd expected, the rhythmic clip-clop sound vaguely enjoyable. She giggled at the ludicrousness of it. She was riding a small desk horse. She couldn't wait to tell Celie and Brom. They would likely find this funny too. As she settled in next to him, Riorke analyzed her with a dark gaze.

"I'm Riorke, by the way," he said.

"These other simpletons are Lacey, Cedric, Cuthbert, and Godfrey."

"Your name is Lacey?" she asked the dark-haired boy, the same one who had told her about Woden punishing latecomers. He was also the same one who'd been talking to Riorke in the last class.

"Last I checked, yes," he said.

"I thought that sort of name was reserved for women."

"My mother doesn't believe in reserving things for women, or men. All five of my sisters have manly names, and my brother and I have lady-like ones. My sisters donned armor and attended warrior classes with me, and I wore a dress and attended etiquette classes with them. At least until I was twelve, and learned to pick better hiding spots." Arielle digested that and searched for a relevant response.

"Your childhood sounds very unusual. In the schoolyard, you would have gotten mocked and bullied for wearing a dress."

"Oh, I was, but on the bright side, I have perfect posture now, and can waltz like you wouldn't believe."

"That's good. At least, something good came out of it."

"Aren't you a little small to be a Mossborne?" Riorke asked.

"Yes," Ari responded.

"My grandmother says that my mother must have bedded a swan on the day of my conception, and gave birth to a bird egg instead of a human. My father has a different theory. He thinks the Great and Merciful Sentinel had caught a cold and sneezed while placing my growth charm. However, I think they're both wrong, as swan-human sexual relations are so far impossible, and the Great and Merciful Sentinel does not catch colds." Did you know this text is from a different site?

Read the official version to support the creator. They stared blankly at her, and she believed she'd said something wrong again, but suddenly, Lacey chuckled.

"I think I'm going to like you a lot, Arielle," he said.

"You are?" She was surprised.

"Yes," he said thoughtfully.

"I think I might." She smiled. Wow. She'd made a friend. And she had no clue how she'd done it. She couldn't ask either because Professor Woden chose that moment to start talking.

"Alright, now that everyone's acquainted, we can move on to the next step. As you know, these five groups are going to be studying the Primordials. You know what that is, Arielle?" She nodded. They'd learned about it at the schoolyard, the five ancient beings that were credited as being the origin of the essences. The Calor Flamerider The Massa Stonechild. The Vitae Lifetree. The Luxa Truthsinger. The Vacu Unmaker.

The Great Balancer who was technically not a primordial, merely the first mythical mage who sacrificed himself to keep them in check. Of course, whether or not any of this was true was anyone's guess. Her mother thought the primordials existed, but her grandmother said the they were false gods created by humans to explain the existence of essences.

"Now," Woden continued.

"To successfully advance to the next quarter, each group must complete a presentation on one primordial, presenting the answers to the question, 'who and what are they at their core?'""But we already know who and what they are," Riorke responded.

"No," he said.

"I want you to look deeper. We have a well-stocked library on the top floor of the Luxarium, and I will also be allowing exeats and field trips when necessary for further study. We can visit the temples, sacred sites, or anywhere you think you can get the information from. But to pass the class, you need to tell me something about your chosen primordial that has never been known before."

"Oh that's not fair," someone said, and grumbling filled the air.

"How are we supposed to discover something no one else knows about Primordials?" A pale girl called out.

"We're just first years, not researchers." He smiled.

"You could ask them."

"The researchers?"

"Or the Primordials themselves." He laughed as the class groaned some more, then he turned back to the board.

"I'll give you students time to deliberate, after which, each group will select a primordial to study. Arielle, Riorke, your group will select first."

"Why?" one of the twins from Lyra's group said.

"Yeah, that's not fair," Faulkey argued.

"Why should her group pick first?"

"Because I said so," Woden answered.

"Now deliberate children. You have five minutes." He turned back to the board to continue his chalk diagram, and Riorke shook his head at Woden's back.

"He wants us to talk to the primordials," he muttered.

"Vacu-dominants, I swear."

"At least he gave us an advantage by letting us pick first," Cuthbert said.

"It's an obvious choice. Let's go for Flamestrideer."

"No," Lacey responded.

"Flamestrider is the most well-known primordial there is. Every infant in the continent has heard everything there is to know about him, and it will be impossible for us to find anything new to say."

"Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Not Stonechild," Godfrey said, "That will make my father happy, and I refuse to do that."

"The Lifetree," Cedric said.

"Do you know anything special about them, Arielle?" She thought about it and shook her head. She knew a lot of things about the Lifetree, because he was the primordial who presided over the forests and swamps. But she didn't think that anything she knew wasn't common knowledge. It was all things that could be looked up in any library.

"Not the Lifetree," Cuthbert said.

"If we have to go to temples, I'd rather not wade through swamps or wander into forests and risk being killed by primitive plant warriors. No offense, Arielle."

"None taken."

"There's only one clear answer," Riorke said, lacing his fingers together, command quietly leaking from his tone.

"The Unmaker."

"Him?" Lacey's brows knit together.

"Why?"

"Because we know the least about him, it will be easier to find more information."

"We know the least about him because all the information was lost in the war, and the famine, and all the other misfortunes that plagued the House of Vaelor. They were the first Vacu-dominant clan serving the Unmaker, and now they're all dead."

"It's because of the curse," Cedric said.

"And if we start looking into it, we might get cursed too."

"There's no curse," Riorke said.

"It's just superstition people made up to justify their distaste for the essence."

"If it's superstition, then explain how every single member of the only historic Vacu-dominant clan is dead. Explain how every fringe sect that claims Vacu-dominance ends up being criminal or unfortunate. Explain how all the Vacu-dominant students in our school either go mad or disappear."

"Telip's still around," Cuthbert pointed out.

"Yes, but he barely speaks to anyone and spends all his time in labs. He's probably going crazy, too. It's only a matter of time until he tries to murder all of us."

"Okay, enough." Riorke held up his hand.

"Vacu research is underfunded because there are not a lot of Vacu users in the world. That's why we haven't found out much about him yet. But if we have time and unlimited access to the information, I'm sure it'll be a lot easier to find something that the world doesn't already know about Vacu, than it is for just about any other element."

"Not to mention, we have a genius on our team," Lacey gestured with a thumb to Ari, and she nodded, which made him laugh again for some reason.

"Let's put it to a vote," Riorke said.

"Lacey and I vote Vacu."

"Hey, don't vote on my behalf. But yes, I do vote Vacu."

"Who else? Cuthbert?" He gave a long-suffering sigh.

"I guess."

"Arielle?" She didn't care one way or another. She just liked being included. She nodded too.

"Okay. We're doing it."

"You didn't even ask Godfrey and me," Cedric complained.

"I didn't need to. The majority decides. That's why it's a vote."

"Not all votes work by a simple majority."

"This one does."

"Who decided that?"

"The majority." As Riorke and Cedric bickered about that, Lacey put up a hand and said, "Professor Woden, we choose the Unmaker."

"The Unmaker it is," Woden responded, with his back still turned. Faulkey's group went next and chose Flamerider. Lyra's group chose the Lifetree. Once it was all divided, the groups decided their meeting times (for Ari's group, it was Tuesdays and Thursdays before dinner).

"So," Professor Woden continued.

"Now that's done, we'll continue from last week's discussion about semi-mortals." Ari listened to the rest of the lesson, which talked about semi-mortals as the creatures that were neither entirely mortal nor entirely immortal. Some ascendants like archmages, and legendary mages, were counted as semi-mortals as they tended to live for centuries. The oldest recorded legendary mage was nearly three thousand years old, and the oldest recorded archmage was eight hundred.

However, the debate was whether or not mythical mages counted as semi-mortal or immortal. The only mythical mage still left in existence was the High Ascendant (and arguably the Sentinel, although the latter was likely more of a godly figure than a mage at this point and no one knew for sure that he was ever human). The Sentinel had reportedly been alive since the beginning of time before the discovery of essences.

He'd appointed the High Ascendant to be in charge of divine judgment, restricting or removing cores, and also controlling the flow of mana across the entire world. The High Ascendant lived in the heavens, and though no one alive today had seen him, they assumed he was still there because things continued to flow smoothly. Some said that since the High Ascendant was technically still human, he could only be semi-mortal.

Others said that he'd transcended his mortal flesh and become a true immortal just like the Primordials. There was endless debate on this topic from philosophers and priests alike; however, for the class, they could think of them as both semi-mortal and immortal. Other immortal creatures included certain species of dragons (although those tended not to reproduce), phoenixes, gorgons, and some demons. Humans, and every other ascendant who wasn't an Archmage or above, were classed as mortal.

Though they lived longer than mundane humans and Masters could expect to live at least a hundred years, it was still below what was expected of an Archmage. After the class ended, the seats shifted back in place and Ari was once again fascinated by the magic surrounding them.

"They're called deskrunners," Riorke explained when he caught her staring.

"Fun to watch but it gets old very fast. And sometimes, even after the spell is done, the magic doesn't leave them entirely. One of them attacked a student last year and nearly stomped on his head. Not fun."

"Yeah," Ari whispered.

"Not fun." The next thing for the day was lunch but Ari skipped it, using that time to instead visit the raven room to pick up the package. Elric had indeed sent her a book titled "How to Charm Kings and Enchant the Court: Tale of the Jester." He'd attached a note in front that said, "This book isn't literally about charming kings and enchanting courts. Not about jesters either. The advice within will help you make friends." Ah. How nice. She went to her room and wrote to Elric, Thank you for the book.

When should I expect you for our build discussion? Elric didn't reply, so she spent the rest of the time reading her new book until her next class, which was Combat Casting. The duelling hall was vast and empty, with several circles drawn equidistant apart. Professor Graham was standing in front of the centermost circle with his arms crossed as he watched them.

"Welcome to another sanctioned torture session," he said with a grin.

"Take off your robes and start stretching. Riorke, you're up first against Liam." A sandy-haired boy paled a little and as Riorke took off his robe while saying, "It's okay. I'll go easy on you."

"I'd appreciate it," Liam (presumably) responded. In the end, it didn't seem to matter that Riorke had held back. They all stood some distance away and watched as he summarily defeated Liam in no more than a minute. Liam had attempted to cast three spells in that time, but none of them landed. Riorke was too quick. He weaved around the projectiles that Liam threw and planted his hand in his chest, shoving him out of the duel circle. That was enough to end the battle.

"Nice, Riorke. Minimal damage just how I like it," he said.

"Now remember, as first years, we're focusing more on defensive casting and non-lethal attacks. Next year we'll start working on making things hurt."

"Yes professor," the class chorused.

"Next. William–""Walter."

"–and Marina."

"Mary."

"Good. You remember your own names. Now let's go." This fight went on longer and involved a lot more casting. Walter had a Massa-Luxa lean, and he hurled small stones at her, with repeated [Flashblind] to confuse her. Marina was Calor-Massa and she deflected it with charged air that eventually forced Walter out of the ring himself.

"Good. Now for our next fight." Graham scanned the crowd and it zeroed in on Ari.

"Arielle. You're next."