The marriage peace treaty

Chapter 17 On the Road (Part 5)

When they arrived the 2 of them started to ask around if there was someone who could help the starling but as it turned out there was no one with the knowledge about how to help him. this village only has one vet and he only knows how to work with mammals like cats, dogs, horses, and sheep. There has never been a need for someone who can cure bords as this village has no birds as livestock as all their eggs and poultry are from wild birds as there are a lot of birds living here during summer and fall. So he had no way to help them. But he did stop the blood and bandage it more professionally and made a medical herb mixture that is a painkiller and it works for all animals except Lammas and alpacas. Both these animals can only be found on the other side of this continent and few have seen them in person. If it were not for a far kingdom called Darbut offering 7 Lammas and 15 alpacas as a gift to the king of Dyrk 40 years ago no one around here would ever have seen one in person except for travelers. Now the previous king and the current king of Dyrk are breeding them and the previous king made a law saying that only those of royal descent can own one. Now instead of horses the king of Dyrk rides a Lamma while his children and concubines ride Alpacas. 

Knowing there is nothing else they can do they can only try to keep him alive until Ivan can take care of him. So Lucius decided to buy the 2 horses they were interested in and after 30 minutes they set off again and it did not take long for them to reach the border between Avilen and and the Harsh lands. Although there is no barrier separating the border like a wall or a magical barrier there instead there are 500 watchtowers 15 meters apart and 100 soldiers in each of them guarding the border against demonic beasts from entering the queendom and killing civilians. But there exists 1 more tower but it is not one of Avilen's towers but an independent organization that doesn't belong to any country and is considered a natural party. This is one of the 13 mage towers of the Arcaneex. The Arcaneex is an organization of mages who have abandoned their citizenship and are dedicated to magic. The 13 towers are spread through the continent and To them, the only thing that matters is to study magic and to use it. So they united into one group and built 13 towards where they can train in peace each dedicated to one of the 13 schools of magic. Enchanting, Divination, Transmutation, Illusion, Elementalist ( Fire, Water, ice, air, lightning, and earth), Summoning, Shamanism, and Alchemy. The one here is the tower of Enchanting also called the Purple spire after the building's purple color. 

The Enchanting Tower is those responsible for inventing magic tools and barriers. They also make runes which are magic embedded in a gemstone. Runes can be used for 3 things, someone without magical talent can use it, and depending on the rune, they can do different things from exploding mountains to using it as a light source. The second thing runes are used for is to make magic weapons such as a sword that can use fire magic and the last use is to strengthen barriers and arrays.

Divination magic is most well known for fortune telling but holy and healing magic are also considered in this category. Then you have Transmutation which is basically using ingredients to make items and objects. For example, if you have all the ingredients that exist in rose quartz you can use Transmutation magic to make a real rose quartz with Transmutation magic. Illusion is just magic that can create illusions but black magic and necromancy have been put together in this tower as this magic is too niche for them to have their own tower. The reason is that most countries have forbidden black magic and necromancy and as such not many join The Arcaneex even if the illusion tower welcomes them.

Next is the 6 Elementalist towers all corresponding with their element Fire, Water, ice, air, lightning, and earth. Elementalists basically use magic that has to do with the elements. This is the most common form of magic and as such they decided to split it into 6 towers each specializing in one of the 6 elements. Summoning magic is when you summon an animal or a spirit to help you in battle or with specific tasks. If a summoner managed to make a familiar then they have the same powers and ability as their familiar. They can also speak with animals and spirits. They can not do other magic except if they summon a spirit then they can use the magic that the spirit has. For example, if you summon a nature spirit you can control plants. Shamanism is a form of magic that many dont recognize as its own kind of magic school, basically, it is a kind of magic that needs rituals to work and it is not always successful. They do things like summoning rain or blessing a land to have a plentiful harvest. They can even do curses but that is not very common and is considered taboo. This type of magic is very hard to study as it is very obscure coupled with not having a 100% success rate which is the reason few consider it real magic. Even so, there are still many who practice it enough for it to still have their own tower as there are many tribes and villages who still practice Shamanism although there are many that want to demolish this tower but that has not come yet. Lastly, you have alchemy and what they do is make magical potions, like mana potions, healing potions, and plant growth potions among many.

In evry mage tower, you have an archmage who leads them. The archmage is decided by the person in the tower who has the most talent in magic and is powerful enough to rival a kingdom on their own. Under the archmage, you have the magic elders. They are basically the council that helps the archmage to lead, they are the oldest and wisest among all the mages. Under them are the wizards and under them are the sorcerers. Then you have the mages and lastly the apprentices. 

In order to enter the Harsh lands they must first go through the mage tower and meet with one of the magic elders. The reason why they need to go through them is because they are a natural party and dose won't mess with anything. It is also because they have a magic seal that they need to use to fully claim ownership owner the Harsh lands, with it the deal can never be broken unless the offending party dares to risk their life for it. Once they have used the seal on the contract the Harsh lands can truly be considered theirs. Once they are there they are greeted by 3 wizards. They tell them that they have been expecting them and they also say that only Lucius and Maryden are allowed to enter and the rest must wait outside the tower. The soldiers are of course upset by this but Lucius orders them to calm down and stay outside just like requested. After all, he would be a fool to make an enemy of them purple spire mages. And considering that they are about to live in the harsh lands it would not be weird if they someday needed the assistance of the mages here as enchanting is very useful to not only soldiers but to commenters as well. The question is not if they will need their help but when. So it would be beneficial to him to be on their good side. 

He as an elemental wizard himself knows the might of the Arcaneex mage towers even though he never joined them himself he has been invited into both the fire mage tower Infall and the ice tower Zyrdex on more than one occasion. they even said that he has the potential to become an archmage one day. But he refused as that would mean abandoning his family and home country, he may not like the royal family of Dyrk but he loves his motherland dearly. However, now that doesn't matter anymore as he is no longer a citizen of Dyrk but he doesn't regret anything, this decision is for his home country and family so he won't regret it. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't feel homesick. He started to miss Dyrk before he even left as he knew that he may never return there one day. But if he survives he may be able to visit someday.

They could not enter the tower right away as the wizards needed to dispel the tower before they as outsiders could enter. In fact, the purple color of the tower is not because of the brick used to build it but the color of the magic used to defend the tower from both outside attacks and dangerous magic that should go out of control inside the tower. Normally a normal person can not see magical energy but the magic put on here is so concentrated that even a color blind man can see it. It took about 10 minutes for them to finally be able to walk inside. And once they are they discover that this place has no decorative interior inside at all. Not even one painting or a vase can be seen. Just long brick corridors that feel cold and lifeless even the purple color of the magic energy can not help it. All they can see are doors leading into rooms and stairs leading to higher and lower levels. The 3 wizards lead them to the 5th-floor room 102. Once they entered all they could see were 2 red sofas and a table in between them. They were told to sitt down and wait for the third magic elder Hansen to come. They agreed and sat down.