Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 1] Ch. 5 The Scholars

Vladimir

Oh spirits... what have I done?

I watched as the students were led off the field. I reached down and picked up the dungeon core and used a quick spell to remove all traces of the magic circle by turning the dirt and growing fresh grass in it's place.

When that was done I pushed my emotions down. The woman I loved... I had just done something truly terrible to her. I had screwed up big time I should have- it's to late for that.

What is done is done. We both have to bare the consequences of our actions.

*

My task was no simple one. After I got written statements from the children involved I learned that I had one very important task. I had to prove the findings of the book in question. I had to prove the technique she used was safe beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I had to not only make this kid a Magus, I had to become an expert in this new field of study. Meanwhile, Dova will be incarcerated until she is deemed 'no longer a threat'. That won't be easy because of her disposition for being flighty and rash. She also broke the number one taboo as a Magus Professor, as one who was sworn to die for her students, she had endangered them.

I looked at the insignia designed by Zorlo Bluecoast, the first Magus Professor, it was a tall rectangle. Inside the rectangle was emblazoned "In this school 10/6". Its meaning was potent, a grim reminder and heavy declaration of war. Of the original 16 members of the Magus Archana Zorlo was number 16. The Magus Archana were originally seen as a bunch of upstart Mages with no credibility. In that age Mages were weapons bred for war. They were so valuable, many with high affinity for magic were kidnapped or enslaved since childhood.

One day the child of one of the magus was kidnapped in this common fashion by a giant empire bent on conquest. The world prepared for their defeat and many planned to go down fighting. However the rogue self-proclaimed Magus demanded the return of their child. The Emperor spat in their face and the Magus Archana declared their first war.

The Magus easily freed their child. But the Magus had declared war and needed to send a message. The world watched in utter horror as the Magus brought their wrath upon the Empire. And the Empire was humbled... to the last man, woman, child, and steed. The empire wasn't destroyed, it was utterly erased. Their fortresses were leveled, their villages were deserted, the populations of their grand cities were massacred and there wasn't a soul, man, beast, or insect left to avenge the Empire anywhere on the world. The Magus sent a message to the entire world to ensure the safety of the children, and they paid with 10 lives of the Magus to do it.

Ten noble Magus were martyred, and the Six remaining were left to hold up the values those ten gave their lives for. "In this school" declared that they would give anything for the students of the school and the "10/6" drew a line. They swore that they were ready to stand on both sides of the line, as one who gave their life or as one who holds up the values of the fallen.

It reminds me of the Phantom Prince. A man who was willing to fall on his blade to make a point. The Magus would not only take back their charge, they would erase the offending nation even if it cost them all their lives.

The magus were scholars not weapons.

A weapon was a mindless tool that mattered only in the thrall of battle. But a scholar was even scarier, a scholar was an intelligent person of quality, and a scholar knew how to write and rewrite history. If a nation didn't need to exist, they erased it. Just like the Nameless Empire that once caused the world to quake and had been completely erased from the annals of history. Only a few outside the Magus knew of its existence anymore, but the message had been passed down over the generations and never forgotten.

And now Dova had wronged those scholars.

Her destiny frightened me. I couldn't leave it as it was. The scariest part was that the very person who declared the erasure of the Nameless Empire was still alive and a Magus Professor at this school. A Scholar in the purest form of the Magus Archana. That was why I had to do it. That's why I had to become the Inquisitor for Dovesong otherwise I may have never seen her again.

Nelfa had a lick of sense to her and was charismatic enough.

But SHE... she had too much sense and a smile that disarmed you just enough to get at your secrets.

I was not just fighting for Dovesong's existence but for my own. I don't know what I'd do if I'm the reason she disappeared.

I buried myself in that book. I named the new theory as a whole. The book was simply a linear gathering of theories which presented a new perspective on magic. It didn't claim to be anything else. It wasn't trying to revolutionize anything, it was akin to a teenager's "come look at what I think" paper. But the merit and theoretic solidity was staggering. Who would do this kind of research only for the sake of the knowledge itself? A scholar, that's who. Without any agenda he couldn't push these theories to the forefront of our society.

That was something I had to do. Just like the Library, I had to do the only thing I was good for, I had to perfect someone else's magic to make it accessible to everyone. Forgive me ancestors, forgive me child, and forgive me everyone, I am a scholar and I must quickly rewrite history to save my friend's life. The Spiritual Eight will die, and I will be the one to kill 'The Cube' of false ideas.

But I couldn't just stop there, no. something new must be born. No, something must be reclaimed. THAT term has been dead for almost a thousand years. Only the elves still remembered the term but even fewer remember what set them apart from the traditional mages. I was going to reclaim that term. This style of thinking centered around the idea that magic wasn't elementally based, but a source for manipulating miraculous power. Someone who uses magic in a different way required a new designation.

And if I Reclaim THAT term then SHE will have to take notice.

Yes, this is what I must do. I must become a thief and a murderer. But I must do it to save the life of the one I love.

I will become the first Sorcerer in a Millenia and I will change history forever.

Can I do it? Maybe... but only if I eek out every second of my short life. To discard that which is most precious to me, to save that which is most precious to me.

I'm First Sorcerer Vladimir Turner of the Magus Archana.

There is more than one way to give your life for a cause.

** ** **

A/N 

Ahoy, 

Short note for those wondering about Sebas's appearance. His first official POV will be in Ch. 10 but his POV's won't reveal too much about his disguise. He won't be taking center stage until much later but once you've figured out who he is and what he's been doing you'll realize he's been everywhere and influenced nearly everything whether directly or indirectly. Like I said earlier, this first chunk of the story is more of a secondhand viewing of the MC rather than a direct POV. It is simply the way I chose to write this part of the story. He will be the primary center point of the story and have the primary POV for the majority of this installment, just not yet. 

I hope you enjoy the suspense and/or WRITHE IN THE ULTIMATE SUFFERING OF ANTICIPATION... whichever comes first.

And if you haven't seen it yet, I've updated Foxtails 1 with it's official cover art. That means an artist actually drew the characters for the cover, so that's the real Jules, Sebas, and Nerinin if you are looking for any point of reference.  

Finally, I hope the winds of fortune ever fill your sails. 

-The Captain.