I stepped out into another side corridor, the ceremony was over now that the glass orb had broken and the bishop had told everyone it would be resumed when another was sent from the capital.
My former classmates parted like water as I walked through, still smelling the charged air that reeked of ozone. I saw Thomas just staring at me, no more taunts. Just a closed mouth and a weary stare.
Lira hadn't created another wind glyph, she clutched her hands like they had been bitten and her eyes, which were usually sharp and calculative, now were stuck wide.
"You unraveled it." she whispered.
I didn't answer.
Cael waited at the end of the hall. She must have rushed down from her academy's balcony in order to beat me here. She didn't speak, just smiled in the way a psycho would give a corpse before burying it.
I walked past her and pushed open another set of oak doors, finding myself in the east side of the cathedral square. The crowd was a sea. Thousands trying to make their way out , shoving and yelling. Recruiters rushed after the talented that had managed to complete their ceremony yet none approached or even looked at me. The first refusal sinking in.
Then–
CRACK
A violet-white bolt speared from behind, crashing just ahead of me, demanding my attention.
Cael.
I turned and saw her, arcs of lightning jumping around her like serpents.
"The loser wants to play god? Let's see how long the void keeps you breathing."
She leapt, the ground around her feet left scorched as it flung into the air. Cael landed beside me with her rapier drawn, lightning coiled around the blade as it flashed towards my head.
The crowd screamed and scattered, now trying to find any way of exiting the cathedral grounds while the knights and mages watched on in interest.
I felt my hand grow heavy as I encased it in earth magic. A glove of hardened earth appeared as my own lightning snapped around it. Manifesting as thick black-veined golden bolts.
I moved.
My hand flashed and grabbed Cael's rapier, pushing it aside as my lightning crashed with hers. Resulting in a loud snap that echoed across the grounds. Cael's eyes went wide and I saw light flash around her feet as her backstep brought her ten feet back.
"We're both freshly attuned. Raw power but no finesse but I have more to work with." I spat.
I lowered myself and felt the air in front of me thin, like it was begging me to dash and counter but I felt a hand grab my arm–warm, human. Mom. Her blue eyes looked into mine with a sense of urgency I had never seen from her.
"Kardin–"
Her voice cracked.
"--we have to go. Now."
Her eyes flicked to the side and I looked behind her to see 3 knights in gold trimmed black plate armor pushing through the remainder of the crowd.
Aurum Sovereign. These weren't recruiter aids that were meant to wait for my answer, they were enforcers.
I looked back at my mom and nodded. She looked at Cael who seemed confused at the turn of events and angry at the interruption, and pushed her hand. My hair whipped as a rush of wind sped across the gap and slammed into Cael who put her rapier in front of her like she could block it. Only to have it push her all the way into the glistening basalt of the cathedral walls with a thud.
I watched as Cael dropped to the ground, her lightning fading as the air was pushed from her lungs and she gasped to breathe. I felt a sharp tug on my arm and turned to my mom running towards the exit opposite the now closing in knights then rushed to follow.
I could tell from the way the air seemed to part for her that my mother had a high wind affinity. What she seemed to be doing naturally I was having to command. Struggling to keep up with her speed even as I tried to copy not only removing the air resistance but putting a slight push at my back.
"This way, hurry." She turned slightly to check on me and continued weaving through the streets. I had lived in Bythos city my entire life and I was already getting lost in the chaos. The roads were packed with carriages and any spare room had citizens making their way home.
Eventually she led me into an alley and quickly unlocked a grate, revealing a dark pit with only the first dozen or so rungs of the ladder visible and motioned down. "Use fire magic if you can't use light yet. Just keep it low."
I looked at her and decided to save the obvious questions of why my unassuming mother not only suddenly was a strong mage but had a key to a mysterious grate until we had time to rest.
I immediately swung my legs onto the ladder and climbed down. Sparking a small flame I made it float around my feet. Once I was down far enough I heard the grate slide into place and I looked up to see my mom on the ladder above me relocking it.
I focused on just getting down and after maybe a minute of descending I brightened the flame to see what looked like an old wine cellar, but I could see a lot of rubble blocking what seemed to be a staircase.
"We are under one of the manors in the central district of Bythos. It went through renovations decades ago and they blocked off this wine cellar. Your father heard about it and made this street entrance. It looks like any other storm drain, and it partly is"
I looked back to the ladder and noticed another grate below it. 'That must lead back to the city's run off system.' I thought and looked back to my mom with a questioning gaze. My mother hadn't talked much about dad. He passed away when I was too young to remember him and she always had a pained expression on her face when I brought him up, so I stopped.
"Your father was the same as you. Tenth rank in both mana and aura with void resonance…" I watched my mother get choked up at whatever memory was replaying in her head "...they burned him for it. Violet Trelin? She watched."
Her teary blue eyes stared at mine as my body went cold, a lump forming in my throat.
"If you accept her offer, they own you. Refuse and they'll hunt you to the ends of the world."
She walked up to me and grabbed my hand and turned it up. Placing a small black ring in my palm.
"Your father had been worried ever since I got pregnant. Scared you would inherit his talents. He called in every favor he had and became active on a stage he always tried to avoid to make this ring. He was a void touched paragon spellblade that wasn't registered. To the kingdom and the Aurum Sovereign that translated to a walking cataclysm without a leash that was already grown. The Iron Dominion wanted him dead just in case the kingdom did bring him under control. The Arcane Enclave wanted to dissect him and learn about the void. Tenth ranks aren't new. Neither are dual attributes."
She sighed and walked to an old chair, looking at it like it was an old friend before sitting down.
"Void resonance is rare, but not unheard of. Violet has it like you saw but it's a low rank. From what your father gathered void resonance could only gather if you had a tenth rank attunement as only with that condition could it possibly be kept fed enough to manifest. You have both attunements at tenth rank, along with every affinity pushing the limits. Not even your father had that level…and I know as much as he would be scared for you to join his same world, he would be so proud of you, Kardin."