First, we got our hands-on the news. Remember the World Beyond The Window project we posted about earlier? Turned out that I could attend the Pasar Komik Bandung event personally, and managed to take a look on 'World Beyond The Window' comic strip: (don't mind this picture below though, it's fetched directly from Facebook and haven't gotten its fault-on-title fixed yet)
More or less everything is still mysterious at this moment, as the promotional book (booklet?) itself only consists of three rapid chapters : Smile, Brake, and Ruin. Aside from [SPOILER] three different characters centering at one single girl albeit their motive differences [/SPOILER], more or less nothing much is safe to conclude at the moment.
On the other side, we would also like to fulfill our vim to entertain dear you - our beloved readers - with a short story which has been sitting at a dark corner on my hard disk for days, waiting for itself to be posted. Without further ado, here's the technical details to the story itself:
- Title : Mage Story
- Event : Genshiken Story Meet-Up #6
- Author : Ferry
...frankly speaking, in fact this is an untitled story - we unanimously referred to this story as the 'Mage Story' as it was submitted under the file name 'Mage Story.docx' back then. In short, it's a story about young archmages trying to reign supreme - with some stating it has some relevancy with the 'current political situation'. Whether it's true or not, it's up to you to decide how this enthralling fairytale went!
At this moment we'd also like to announce that there is still one more day left on the Pasar Komik Bandung event, and we'll also be standing by there tomorrow. We greatly expect your presence there, but for now - indulge yourself with this story! I'm signing out (:
----------------------------
The
corridor toward the Great Hall is lit up by two rows of lanterns, each
containing a sphere of light, brought to life by magic. The corridor itself
isn’t very spacious, only wide enough for about 5 people standing shoulder to
shoulder and as tall as a two adult men. Beyond the corridor lies the hall
where the Mage’s Association held their yearly meetings and rituals, as is the
case now.
It
is the time where a soon-to-be archmage to present themselves to the assembly,
obtaining their blessing and approval as one of the few people standing at the
highest point in the world of magic. Such coronation happens every twenty-odd
years, and compared to the association’s thousand-years-worth history, this is
nothing new.
And
even then, the archmage coronation this year is still considered special. The
reason of this ‘special’ label lies within the archmage candidate himself.
He
was only twenty-three years old.
“I
still think it’s too early for me, Master Aethnes.” The young man says as his
steps slowly lost its pace.
“And
why is that, my pupil? You certainly have proven yourself back there at
Nophantes.” An old, sage-like man named Aethnes Firres, who is walking beside
the young man, asks. Without delay, Aethnes take the young man’s upper right
arm and signals him to keep walking down the corridor.
“Ah,
that was… that was not much. I mean, I’m sure you can disperse the rain in less
time and you certainly won’t have any trouble with the tornado. Meanwhile I
still let the storm to wreck six buildings and causes 32 casualties…” the young
man stammered.
“And
yet it was your quick response that doesn’t let the storm to cause further
damage,” The master cuts his pupil short. “Stop selling yourself short. To
succeed controlling the weather and averting disaster from a whole village, at
the age of mere twenty-three? I believe that’s an accomplishment fit for a
great archmage-would-be.” Aethnes proudly smiles at his pupil. The young man
can’t help but to smile back at that.
“Not
to mention, you also saved several people and wizards to were trapped by the
tornado. Those wizards are the ones who vouched for you to become an archmage,
and the association has no reason to deny such request after they hear it was
you. You did make a name for yourself during our travels,” Aethnes continued.
“Isn’t that so, Young Hero Ardes Embert?”
Ardes
smirked at that nickname. A nickname given by the mage community for him, a
prodigal mage who helps people around the land in need. Ardes still feel that
the nickname is rather insulting toward his master’s role, as it make it seems
like he was the only one who travels and help those in need. While actually, it
was Aethnes who did most of the work of helping people. The so-called ‘Young
Hero’ only did the dirty work of defeating and capturing the rouge mages who
were abusing their magic to torment and tyrannize people. Yep, only that, and
nothing more…
“I
believe the one and only time I deserve to be called that is when I finally
manage to drive the Nophantes Storm away. The rest were your work, Master.” The
young man answers.
“Hahahahaha…”
The old man’s laugh bellows throughout the corridor. “I’m still amazed at how a
mage of your caliber – at such a young age, even – can be this humble. We
magicians are an arrogant bunch, you know.”
“’There’s
an exception for everything.’”
“Now,
don’t you try to turn back my own quote to me…”Aethnes chuckles. Ardes soon
followed.
As
the laugh subsides, Aethnes once again start the conversation.
“Well,
whatever you say, you can’t back down now. The Association doesn’t accept any
‘no’s, even from archmages. Or archmage-soon-to-be, in your case. So,shall we
review what you’re going to do in the hall?”
“I’ve
memorized it down to every step.”
“No
harm in doing another review, right?”
Ardes
knows his master well enough to know that he won’t stop bugging till his
concerns are gone, so with a fake sigh he reaches into his robe, and pulled out
a rolled-up parchment, made from a curious mix of papyrus and leather. He
opened the parchment, and at the center of it was an ornate circle made from
blue ink. The circle is multi-ringed, with letter and magic symbols filling
each ring layer.
“Using
the summoning runes on this parchment, I am going to invoke a catastrophe-ring
spell: summoning a hurricane within the hall. I will summon it, control its
movement, size, and ferocity, and then disperse it back to calm air. That’s the
gist of it.” Ardes recounts.
“…Well,
I guess that’s complete enough for a review.” Aethnes replies. “Just remember,
you are going to prove yourself to be worthy, Ardes. Don’t hold back in fear of
hurting the audience. Show them that you CAN control the hurricane completely.”
“When
you say that, once again I wonder why the coronation must be done through a
dangerous method like summoning a natural disaster indoors.” Ardes asks
sarcastically.
“I
guess we magicians like to live dangerously,” The old man jokingly replied.
The
two men stop in front of an oak wood gate, ornamented with dragon carvings and
golden handle. Beyond the gate, they can
here the murmurs of the crowd.
“Well, here we
are. I’ll be watching from the archmages’ seat with the other four,” Aethnes
says as he pats Ardes on his right shoulder. “Show them that you are worthy, my
pupil. I look forward for the time that we’ll work together… as equals,
archmage to archmage.”
“I won’t disappoint you, master.” Ardes nods confidently. And with
that, the two of them open the wooden gate, toward thehall of coronation…
It was a stormy night. Even though the Nophantes Storm
was quelled, somehow heavy rain still pours down upon the land. The rain was
heavy enough that some people fears that the capital was going to be flooded –
a baseless assumption, according to the magicians. Even if the city was really
flooded, a coordinated magic from about 2 mages would be able to roll the flood
into a colossal ball of water, which then will be flung far from the capital.
Fortunately, no such flood happened. However, the rain
was enough to force people stay indoors for the whole night. Yet, within the
dark alleys of Ferrema District, a hooded person was walking in a rushed pace,
a small spark from his wand lighting the path he walks through. His face was
obscured by the rain and the shade of his hood, allowing no feature of his face
to be seen even when you’re directly staring at him.
The hooded man walked and walked, turning left and
right in a bizarre pattern until he stopped in the middle of a small, one-man
wide alley sandwiched between a stone tower and a wall. He turned upon a wooden
door, reinforced with black iron bars and locked with a keyhole-less lock. A
simple incantation and a sound -*click*- came from the lock, and with the cue
the hooded man pushed open the door and walked in.
Ten steps, and 2 candles lit up at his left and right.
The candles continue to light up, forming a path within the impenetrable
darkness. At the end of the path is a round, wooden table, where four other
hooded men sat.
“You’re late.” A grovelly voice scolded the hooded man
as he reaches the table.
“Blame the rain,” he replied.
“So much for saving Nophantes, eh? The storm still
hits us in the capital,” Another voice spoke up. “What do you say for your
pupil’s doing, Aethnes?”
The mysterious hooded man opens up his hood, and
revealed the face underneath: an old man with white hair reaching to his back.
His beard, neatly trimmed, hung to the base of his neck. “I say… he did a good
job of saving that little village.” Aethnes answered.
“HAH! Good job, you say!?!?” The first, grovelly voice
raised his voice. “You say he did a good job by saving a village which is to be
punished for missing the harvest schedule? How much loss do you think the
kingdom suffered because those lazy farmers decided to use that newfangled
‘technologic’ tools instead of old-fashioned hand farming, and because of their
malfunction the harvest was late by a month?!? How many gold did we have to pay
to those neighboring countries because we can’t fulfill the selling contract,
huh?!”
“I say he did a great job at SAVING the village. It
being punished by us, the Council of Archmages, has no relation to it.” Aethnes
answered with a flat tone.
“Why…. You… “ The first voice expressed his anger.
“Enough of that. There shall be no fighting between
us.”A fourth voice, which sound so eerie and ancient, suddenly spoke. Hearing
the voice, Aethnes and the first voice quickly went silent.
“Valvoga.Aethnes.” The fourth voice continues.
“Yes, Grandmaster.”Valvoga Sieglus, the man whom the
grovelly voice belongs to, answered together with Aethnes.
“You should know, that we gather here… not to discuss
the village Nophantes. No, we gather here to discuss the one… the Young Hero…
Ardes Embert.”
Silently, Aethnes swallowed when he heard his pupil’s
name.
“As you all aware, the Nophantes wizards who were
saved by this… Hero… recommends to the high council for making this…upstart
young mage to become an archmage. A glance to his many, various deeds for this
land in the past 10 years has swayed the high council to his favor, and hastily
they agreed to make him an archmage.”
“Those simple minded fools!”Valvoga shouted, as if
he’s letting something off his chest.
“Of course, from the four of us in the Council of
Archmages, none agreed for his coronation. Pray tell, how do you think that a
mere twenty-three year old is equal to us? Such is insulting to the magic we
studied for all these years.”
“But, Grandmaster,” Aethnes cut
the ancient voice. “His grasp of magic, potential, and thirst for knowledge is
equal to-“
“THERE IS NOTHING EQUAL!”
Valvoga slammed the table. “ARE YOU SAYING THAT A TEENAGER CAN KEEP UP WITH ME,
THE MASTER OF FIRE FOR 30 YEARS AND COUNTING? ARE YOU SAYING THAT’S THE EXTENT
OF MY MAGIC PROWESS?!?”
“That striked a nerve, eh?” The
third voice, who was silent for sometime, spoke up. Valvoga turns and glares
toward the third voice. However, he ignored it. “But, true. It’s very insulting
to say such things, Aethnes. Is this pupil of yours so great that you have to
sing him praises?”
“…That was never my intention,
Eneas.”
The third voice, Eneas Arphim
chuckles. “Then I guess we all agree that this ‘Young Hero’ are not fit to be
one of us archmages.”
“That’s also not-!”
“Silence.” The ancient voice
spoke again.
“Aethnes.” The speaker of the
ancient voice, the Grandmaster, turns to face the old master. “You should know
that this pupil of yours, were he to become an archmage, is a threat to this
secret council. His idealism and curiosity will, without a doubt, clash with
our goal to preserve the rule of magic within the land by any means necessary.”
“How can you be so sure-“
“I hear he took interest to
those ‘tec-no-nogy’ tools when he encounters them in Nophantes.” Eneas smirks.
“Even though such heretic things go against the rule of magic… Maybe he thought
he can combine the two into something greater. Ha! He hasn’t realized that
magic is the supreme force in this world.”
Aethnes went silent. He can’t
find any rebuttal to Eneas’ slander.
“And such was the evidence,
Aethnes.” The Grandmaster continued. “This pupil of yours are too naïve, too
curious. He won’t accept our reason for the superiority of magic. He won’t
accept our way of governing this land from the shadows. He is not yet ready to
speak in the same mind as us, not yet fit to be an archmage.”
“But he’s good enough to be a
hunting wizard, I guess.” Eneas said. “Cleaning up after those mages we let to
go rouge needs some skills, after all. And that way, he’ll still see us as good
and the rouge mages as evil; with hardly any chance to realize that we played
the rouges as a measure to control people. He’ll be the best hound in our
history!” he ends his opinion with a malicious grin.
“…” Aethnes was still silent.
“The decision is final.
Ardes Embert is NOT to be an archmage.” The Grandmaster concludes. “And we, four
members of the Council have decided that Aethnes Firres is to carry out the
Council decision within a week, by any means necessary. Thus is the meeting of
the Council today. Dismissed.”
And with that word, all the lit
candles were suddenly blown by a strong wind. Aethnes was alone in the
darkness.
“…”
“Oh, Aethnes?”Suddenly, Eneas’
voice rung through the darkness. “I have one more fact to motivate you.”
“…what are you saying?”
“I believe the Association
assigns archmages to a province within the land. There are 5 provinces and 5
archmages… and yet here comes the sixth archmage. Heh… I just hope you don’t
get retired, seeing your popularity is eclipsed by your pupil…”
“….!!!” Aethnes’ eyes widened.
Along
the way, Ardes was silent as a stone. It came as no surprise, as he botched the
hurricane summoning. It almost went out of control and would destroy the Grand
Hall with everything inside it, if not for Aethnes’ quick action to subdue the
wild wind. The Association senior members were furious, but an appeal from his
master manages to soothe them and spare Ardes’ life. In return, he is to serve
as a mage hunter for life with no chance to improve his standings.
“I’m…
sorry it turns out like this, Ardes.” Aethnes speaks to the young man. “I’m the
one who pushed you to become an archmage, yet it ends in a public humiliation…
really, I’d never thought it’ll end up like this.”
“…Don’t
worry, Master.” As they reached Aethnes’ tower, Ardes finally replies.
“I
believe life as a mage hunter isn’t that bad. Now excuse me, I’ll… get some
sleep. It was a tiring day.” With that, Ardes climb the stairs toward his room.
Aethnes’
eyes follows his pupil until he disappears from his sight. Words can’t express
how regretful he is right now to destroy his own pupil’s life with his own
hands. After all, it was he who sabotaged Ardes’ summoning. Using ink with the
same color as the parchment, he drew some additional symbols upon it to allow
him to influence the hurricane, and drove it out of Ardes’ control.Then, using
the same method, he’ll bring the hurricane under control, and save the whole
assembly. Fulfill the Council of Archmages’ orders while saving his own
popularity…
Remembering
his malicious plan, Aethnes throw himself into his work chair. Such deed left
him drained, both physically and mentally. Tomorrow he’ll have to help Ardes to
adjust to the life as a mage hunter… butnow, he doesn’t want to think about
anything.
Especially
not the possibility that someone will know his ‘crime’, this malicious deed
toward Ardes.
…
Nobody
will know, right?
“But, Grandmaster,” Aethnes cut the ancient voice.
“There’s nothing wrong with a new perspective, isn’t there?”
“Heeheehee. Nothing wrong, you say,” the third voice,
who was silent for some time, suddenly spoke. “Of course, there’s nothing wrong
with idealism. But really, Aethnes, remember the reason why this Council were
made in the first place.”
“…To lead this land to prosperity, and to preserve the
ways of magic…”
“…by all means. Do not forget the last part, Aethnes.”
The third voice chuckled. “And THAT explicitly say that we do… unsavory things
to accomplish that goal. Such disobedience toward the magicians’ guidance, and that so-called ‘progress’, like the
Nophantes ‘ tek-no-gy’ case, isn’t needed, and must be disciplined.”
“And what does have to do with Ardes?”
“Heh, don’t play the fool Aethnes. That pupil of yours
still thinks that it’s a mage’s duty to help people. He won’t be able to take
in the fact that we, magicians, are superior, and those ‘helps’ we give are our
way to guide the lesser beings.
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