Damnation: Dawn of The Apotheosis

MOUNT HOGAN

Weeks have passed since Ashviel’s outstanding victory against Kael and to his pleasure, each day saw his skill improving tremendously. His movements were no longer as sluggish as they used to be as he spent hours refining them each day.

One evening after their usual training session, they retired to Master Vauxall’s apartment in the hotel.

“What do you think about Hogan Village?” he posed the question to his two students.

Ashviel knew no other village aside from his own Village of Tvinn, and two other neighboring ones; Krewa and Strekhill – so he kept mute at his Master’s question. Kael on the other hand had heard of the village. The Mount Hogan, which stood in the far end of the village, was known for its great height.

“Well,” said Master Vauxall, “we’ll be spending some months there.”

Kael faced brightened. “That’d be great. If you’d permit us, we’d love to check out the famous Mount Hogan,” he said, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.

“Where else in Hogan would I want to go?” Master Vauxall said, as if the thought of visiting the village for any other purpose made him sick.

Kael stood up immediately to speak with unrestrained excitement but Master Vauxall’s words cut him short. “Rejoice. We leave by dawn.” With a frown he added, “I do not want to be hindered by some sycophants on my way out.” Ashviel understood that he meant the men who hailed him as he walked through the hotel. ‘Why would he do that? The mage could solve that easily by changing his appearance,’ he thought.

‘What is so fascinating about the mountain anyway?’ he went further in his thoughts. He decided not to pester Kael, who would have wished he did.

By dawn the next day, Kael had packed his belongings in a small bundle and stood ready to leave the luxury of the Grand Hotel. Not that he had much to pack anyway. Just three of his old clothes, a score of the new ones he purchased earlier, and his Zeroszen blade.

Ashviel did the same with his few possessions and both young men awaited Master Vauxall’s knock, which did not take too long to come.

“I see you are both prepared. Very good,” he said as entered the room. He held two wine glasses and was in his Master Vauxall’s form.

“You should at least want to have that,” he said after giving them the glasses. “After all, you will not be having much of it for the next few months.”

Both gulped down the wine hurriedly, vaguely understanding Master Vauxall’s statement.

Thereafter, an enigmatic Master Vauxall led an ecstatic Kael and a wondering Ashviel out of the hotel. When they got to the main road, the master stopped a horse-drawn carriage. Instead of getting in, he dropped a bag of coins at the driver’s lap, who gasped in disbelief at the bag’s content. He grabbed some of the coins; perhaps to be sure there were real and not an illusion. Roused by his sudden fortune, he quickly left the horses’ reins to Master Vauxall and scurried away, clutching the bag tightly to his chest.

Ashviel understood that his Master had just bought the whole wagon for far more than its actual worth. Even Kael wondered just how trivial gold was to the mage.

Master Vauxall ordered Kael and Ashviel to ride the cart while he sat in the comfort of the carriage, reading a scroll and taking sips from a cup of tea he produced from his living space. Occasionally, he steps out of the cart to give directions to his young drivers.

Ashviel, who had always been a master horseman, was delighted by the idea of not having to walk as they used to do. He had learnt the art from his father, who used to keep a stable back at Tvinn.

The journey out of Lilk was uneventful; they encountered only a few people on their path as they moved from the paved roads to ordinary grounds. They stopped at an inn, but spent only an hour and soon continued the journey. The only occasional words were from Master Vauxall.

“What ineffable twaddle!” he kept exclaiming as he read scroll after scroll and charred the papers.

By afternoon, the trio got to Hogan Village. Master Vauxall insisted that there be no rests, so they trod their weary ways to the mountain, after leaving the overpriced carriage at the hands of one of the local farmers.

When they got to the mountain, Ashviel discovered that it was far greater than he had imagined it to be. It was several kilometers high, poking its head into the clouds high above. He glanced at Kael, who was grinning with glee as he beheld the great mountain.

“I reckon we should put up our tents,” he said to Master Vauxall, who gave a knowing smile before answering.

“You will have more than enough time to erect the tent on the mountain.”

Ashviel was immediately jolted by the man’s reply. Even after seeing the man’s magic, he still could not believe that he would climb such a huge mountain, let alone expect them to do the same. Perhaps he had misheard the Master, he thought.

“You don’t mean we’ll climb the mountain, do you?” he asked sheepishly, hoping that the mage had some secret backdoor to get on top of the mountain.

“You will, not I” came the plain reply. With this, Master Vauxall stood on top of the smaller rocks.

“Join me at the top when you are ready,” he said.

He stood still for some seconds then propelled himself upward in an incredibly mighty leap that produced wide airstreams and sent him upwards, soaring across the sky and landing on the mountain moments later.

The wash produced by Master Vauxall had swept Ashviel and Kael several paces back. Standing up, Ashviel quickly climbed one of the smaller rocks and looked up to see an image of Master Vauxall in the offing as he landed on the mountain. He looked at the rock Master Vauxall stood upon earlier and discovered it had disintegrated completely into very fine powder.

“Incredible,” exclaimed Kael as he got up, dusting his face and clothes.

The two stared on in silence and disbelief. Ashviel finally spoke to break the silence.

“So, what are we going to down?”

“We climb,” Kael plainly replied, before adding, “Unless you have a better idea.”

Ashviel shook his head. “No, this is insane. I am not in for insane stunts or mountain scaling.”

“We don’t have a choice. It’s probably part of some training exercise.” Kael stated.

Ashviel raised one eyebrow. "I don't want to sound negative," he began, sounding negative, "but how are we to—"

“Are you coming or not?”

Ashviel excogitated for some time before steeling his resolve.

“Whatever, we should get some rest before we devise a plan to carry out the hurdle.”

At this, Kael inspected the area for a place to pass the night. He soon found a derelict cave by the side of the mountain. Barrels of water were stowed away at one corner, and various clothes and food materials littered the shingly floor.

“We are not even the first to camp here,” Kael said.

“Perhaps the villagers fancied mountain-scaling after all,” Ashviel said in deep thoughts.

They cleared the room and made a bed of hay and straw from the materials around.

Whatever plans they had for climbing the mountain would have to wait until the next day.