Damnation: Dawn of The Apotheosis

MAGIC

Master Vauxall had just affirmed that he would teach Ashviel and Kael magic, and the two were already champing at the bit to get started.

“Deep, deep, deep in your core lies a torch, from which your magic originates,” he began in his usual lecturer tone.

“From the core emanates energetic magic particles, otherwise known as Rek. The Rek is channeled through your body across paths called magic circuits. Crude as you both are, you have your torches but you lack the paths to convey the Rek. Besides, the amount of Rek you have is so negligible it amounts to nothing.”

“You can forge your magic circuits through the circulation techniques, though that will take years or even decades, and you might not even succeed after decades of hard work. Alternatively, you can take daily doses of a special potion, and after some weeks or months, maybe even a year or two, you would be able to boast of a single path. Adding other paths to your circuit would then be completely up to your skill as a mage. That is the commonest method used by mages.”

Seeing Ashviel’s discomfited expression, Master Vauxall continued.

“You two would not have to go through that, because I have a crosscut,” he said and held Ashviel and Kael’s hands.

“By expertly passing my own Rek through your body, I can forge not just a path, but a whole magic circuit with numerous paths for your Rek. The process is –”.

As Master Vauxall spoke, Ashviel could feel a tremendous amount of energy surge through his body from the tips of his fingers to his very core. Somehow, he felt a strong and excruciating pain across the path taken by the foreign energy.

The pain rapidly intensified, and Ashviel felt his blood boiling and his veins being prickled by a thousand needles. Just as he was about to pass out, he felt his body being dragged through a portal to another dimension.

The new world he found himself in was a dark world of ruins. Though his pains had left him, he still felt a vast amount of heat steaming out of his body. He discovered that the source of heat was his surroundings, as every other thing around was searing with dark smoke. He looked around and found out he was all alone, but for a single figure that stood some paces away from him.

The figure was completely dark and with a single look, Ashviel confirmed it was nothing human, maybe a demon or some sort of magical creature. It had a ghostly appearance, almost indiscernible from the infernal surrounding. It drew nearer and crooked its large head as it bent over Ashviel, who found himself unable to stand.

“Finally, you have come to pay me a visit,” he heard the creature’s voice in his mind. The voice was so raspy and icy that Ashviel felt as if he was drowning in a sea of flames.

Before he could make any sense of everything, he felt a huge force slam his chest and found out he was back to his world, his hand still firmly clutched by Master Vauxall. A tingling feeling of warmth had replaced the pain he felt earlier, and the scorching heat from the other world was totally gone.

As he tried to question Master Vauxall, he suddenly felt an increasing heat and intense light around him and feared that he was being returned to the realm he had just left. In horror, he discovered that the source of heat was the boy sitting next to him.

Kael’s whole body seemed to be boiling as a stream of Rek ran visibly and violently through it. His limbs were contorted in an unnatural manner and for a moment there, Ashviel was alarmed as he felt that Kael might explode.

“Don’t worry, your friend will be fine,” Master Vauxall said to set his mind at ease.

Perhaps the sight appeared normal to the master, but to Ashviel, Kael’s form was far from fine.

Fraught with apprehension than enthusiasm, he asked, “What just happened?”

“You got sucked into the Damnation Plane. The creature you must have seen is your Valkyra, a mystical soul that lives in your torch.”

Understanding only a little of what was just said, he proceeded to ask a question that has been bothering him for quite long.

“What is the torch of damnation anyway?”

In the past, the mage had mentioned something about him bearing one. If he was being seriously hunted for having such powers, then he deserved to know what it meant, and this should be the best time to ask.

He was however disappointed at the reply, as Master Vauxall’s response only bore more questions.

“For now, the less you know, the better it is.” Master Vauxall answered in a tone that implied conclusiveness.

By the time the short discussion was over, Kael’s conditioned had ameliorated and he was watched over by a set of keen eyes.

“Congratulations, you both are now mages; at least you have acquired a circuit.” Master Vauxall said, bringing out bottles of wine as he spoke. His two students had gone for about a month without tasting so much as a little drop of wine, so they took pleasure in gulping down every drop of the wine.

The celebrations only lasted for as long as Master Vauxall wanted, and that as one may guess, was a short time.

“Since you are already somewhat versed in the circulation techniques, drawing the Rek from your core and channeling it to your fingers should be an easy task. Just add a little bit of willpower and you will be manipulating Rek to an extent.”

What Master Vauxall termed as an ‘easy task’ was in no way easy for the two dabblers, and they spent time trying to impose control over their Rek, before a master who kept pouring himself more wine.

Finally, after what must have been two hours, Ashviel had a little breakthrough.

He spoke with unrestrained keenness. “I have been able to move the Rek up to my fingertips.” With a duller face, he added, “but no more than that.”

“Oh, it appears I forgot to mention something,” replied Master Vauxall, whilst not appearing to have forgotten anything at all.

“Rek may reach up to your fingers, but without a portal, it cannot leave your body. Making a portal should be an even easier task.”

True to his words, this time the task was actually easy and Ashviel formed the portal in a canter. The next moment, he was staring at his own hands in disbelief as a small piece of lightning crackled stridently on it. He heard a similar crackling and turned to Kael, who had also attained a similar state.

“So noisy,” Kael said, struggling to cover his ears with one of his hands.

“I will agree to that,” said Master Vauxall, “so you had better learn to silence your pure Rek.”

“By the way, that was only a portal for pure Rek. There are several manifestations of Rek; shadow, fire, wind, and force are the major ones. To use the manifestations, you will create a portal for each. Then you force Rek into the portal to change its form. When Rek passes through the fire portal, it becomes fire Rek, ready to be discharged. The same goes for the other manifestations. After altering Rek through the portal, you simply push it out. Like this.”

Master Vauxall proceeded to demonstrate for the first time in a while. He raised his hand, sticking out his thumb and index fingers, and a stream of pure Rek formed between them.

“Pure Rek,” said he.

He snapped his fingers and everywhere suddenly went pitch black, as if it were midnight. He snapped them a second time, and the day became clear again.

“Shadow,” said he.

He flattened his palm, and a huge fireball sprung out of it, thrice as large as a man’s head.

“Fire,” said he.

He waved his hand, and a strong gust of wind blew off Kael’s shirt from his body.

“Wind,” said he.

Then he handed a feather to Kael and told him to strike the floor with it. To the amazement of both Ashviel and Kael, the feather crushed the hard rock, drilling a hole several inches long in it.

“Force,” said he in the end.

Then he cupped his palms, but instead of showing them anything, he shook his head. “Not yet,” he said.

The display had left Ashviel spellbound as he stared on in awe. The only time he had witnessed a magical display was during the bloody fight that claimed the lives of his fellow villagers.

Quickly, he set out to form the remaining portals, which took the better part of an hour. Kael formed his a while earlier and by the time Ashviel completed the last portal; Kael was already controlling a small tornado on his palms.

Ashviel discovered that forcing Rek through the wind and force portals was moderately difficult, while forcing it through the fire portal was the easiest. Kael on the other hand found the wind portal the easiest to pass through, while the force and wind portals were also moderately difficult.

The both of them were nonetheless in concord concerning shadow Rek. Forcing it through the portal was borderline impossible, and controlling the tiny sliver of Rek that managed to appear seemed downright unattainable.

Therefore, as Kael concentrated wind Rek on his hands, Ashviel formed a small fireball with fire Rek. It was small, only a little bigger than a candle flame, but it was more than enough to provide Ashviel with inspiration.

That night, as he stared at the flame formed in his hand, a dark smile crossed his lips. With this newly found power, he was going to enact vengeance on Capricorn Prime.