Lone Gold, Daring Purple ✓ | Sorcerers, framed, runaway

22: A golden guinea pig for Archs

The next day, Cypur spent much of his time visiting Wescherlie mostly to assure himself that what he saw the night before was really a dream. Daero would be out most of the day and said he would return by noon, so Cypur chatted nonsense with Wescherlie or caught up with sleep.

After lunch, to let Wescherlie rest, he went out to the lake to enjoy the good weather. He couldn't remember the last time he sat and enjoyed the sun, the autumn season, and peaceful thoughts. Alone but not lonely. He stretched his legs out on the bank, letting his cape fan out behind him. The water glimmered, reflecting the afternoon light.

You forget where you are here.

Birds twittered, the sun warmed his skin, and it was like the perfect day. But a dark cloud hovered in his mind, shading his light. It wasn't a negative spiral. Reality was that he was still a wanted criminal, so even if they did end up getting to Zarkentauf and finding out about both their parents, he would still have to deal with clearing his name.

Ugh, life sucks. He lay back on the bank and closed his eyes to the bright sun, not ready to face that part of the world yet. If he could, he would stay here forever. An escape from reality.

A tap on his arm startled him awake. He opened his eyes with a yawn, wondering when he slipped off to sleep. Daero was peering over him, but soon disappeared from view. Clouds tinted with pinks and oranges sat in the still azure sky. After a few moments, a stone skipped four times across the lake.

"Done with your errands?" Cypur sat up and stretched. Sleep still hung behind his eyelids, threatening to pull him under again.

"For the most part," came Daero's reply after a short pause. Cypur turned to find him coming over to sit with him. "But ready to teach. What do you know about Archs?"

Archs were the highest rank a Sorcerer could get. Many were the founders of a lot of the values and aesthetic ethics Sorcerers followed today. At the grand auditorium at Academy, every Arch that existed, current or former, had their photograph or painting up in the back rafters. You could see them staring at you if you stood at the podium down on the stage.

"Many are considered great teachers. I do know they had a hand or paw in creating the portals." Cypur searched his brain for other information. "Two retired. One is considered the first Sorcerer to ever exist on Elgana. Out of the eight, only three married. For some stupid reason, they're all males."

Daero chuckled. "Human patriarchy invades." He picked up a rock and floated it in the air. "Did you know they asked me to join?"

"I bet they did." Cypur didn't know how strong Daero was, but he could tell the Kathula Sorcerer could easily rank Professor.

"But I refused. I don't like cliques or falsehoods."

"What are you getting at?" Cypur frowned. "Don't tell me they had a hand or paw in Fauds."

"They do. They hide the truth of what a Faud is for, what it means to be a Sorcerer, because they don't want to admit their mistakes. During times of turmoil, even Sorcerers made a mistake."

The history Cypur knew was clean. Sorcerers might have been involved in some wars, but they stayed out of it. They were bystanders most of the time and the other races were the ones causing problems. Sorcerers spent more time reforming their society, coming up with values and aesthetic ethics which they would loyally follow. They didn't go about killing citizens in war. War for no good reason was seen as going against aesthetic ethics and most wars were for no good reason.

"And barbaric," Cypur added, "we're taught Sorcerer history doesn't have barbaric things."

Daero let the stone fall to the ground. "Would you believe Sorcerer society fell once? Nearly destroyed. It was when none of the illegal magick was illegal. It was when possessive insanity ran wild. Sorcerers killing each other for want of power because their power was controlling them. Fauds were a way to separate that power into chunks for better control. Or you could say, put some magick aside, turn it into a creature, and help Sorcerers balance energy."