Blood Master

17. Temple of time

As he says the words, the magical light shinning in the floor extends outwards. As it reaches the stone pillars, light fill each and every corner of this deserted place. Every spot the light reaches, it leaves in a completely different state. Gone are the vines and plants resulted from a lack of maintenance. In its place, stand pure and glowing pillars, strong as ever. A matching ceiling is constructed out of nowhere, with tiny lines of magic flowing through it. Once it's reformation is completed, there is no sign of the old place I first walked into. Fire pillars alight in every wall, illuminating the otherwise dark room.

And at the middle, where Cyrus still stands (with an amused smile at my astonishment), bursts of magic erupt surrounding the circle. They are all a kind of blue, lighter than the sky, but still not white.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Cyrus says, while motioning for me to enter the circle.

I do as he says, lightly taking two steps inside the circle. The moment I am there, the bluish light that had flowed all throughout the temple, changes. From where I stand, red begins to seep into the floor, overpowering the pure light, and turning every corner of the place a bloody red that makes everything look a lot more menacing. In some parts, the blue fights and wins, others are in a constant battle for dominance, but the red in this place is mortally present. The magic bursts begin to turn red, one by one, until there is only one pure blue magic ball.

When Cyrus turns to me, the grim smile he wears stops me, before I begin to ponder what this all means. And then he starts talking, walking around the circle at his slow pace, pausing at the right moment to look at me and frown, sometimes smile, sometimes nothing at all.

"A long time ago, this Temple was the center of the magical world. The world you know right now, it is nothing like it was. Thradil wasn't even born yet. Neither was Caerda. All there was, were some minuscule kingdoms, with their equally as minuscule kings. But magic, magic was at its most powerful. You may hear this in history class, if you attend, but this was the era we called "The Rapture".

In The Rapture, mages from all over the continent started realising that there was more to magic than petty spells and simple uses. Witches didn't even exist yet, because magic wasn't as relevant yet. But then, a group of mages started experimenting. Trying to see how far magic could go, and were exhilarated to find out that there is no limit to magic, nothing but the limits the bearer themselves put.

I'm sure you've figured out by now, but magic takes its toll on the human body, like it is trapped inside a cage of flesh. Since they couldn't help the fact that their bodies were human, they settled with the next best thing, which was strengthening their bodies. Training themselves so that their body could withstand as much magic as possible. Soon, the simple group of mages became a legion of warriors, with body and magic as strong as their own resolve. And then that legion became a complete army. They decided that they needed to have their own place. A kingdom for mages and mages alone.

So they did. With their magic, they took what they wanted, a complete island that used to belong to a kingdom no one even remembers. The other kingdoms began to fear the mages, because they had proved that magic could go even further than anyone believed. This is the time the first witch appeared, though I'm afraid that'll be a story for next time.

The mages built this temple, as they built many others around their powerful kingdom. All the others have either fallen down or been ravaged by time and men alike. This is the only one that stands because of its founder: Time. As you know, magic is separated. We have magic, but we can only use one type of it. Me, I am limited to the realm of the mind, as you are to blood. The mages of The Rapture knew that as well, so they started congregating with their own kind. It was then that the land was divided in seven substantial pieces. Each of them dominated by the mages they belonged to, while all of them answered to a council integrated by a mage of each land. In truth, it was a rather ingenious system.