The Arcane Tides

After their arrival, settling in was relatively easy. He'd lived like this for over a decade in his past life so he already knew the steps to take to get things rolling at his masters house. The new addition of his family home was what took some getting used to. His mother and father, initially hesitant to just uproot their life to the city, eventually caved once Lirael paid the bounty for the apprentice she'd been searching for- it only took a few minutes of magic craft and explanation for her to give in and accept that Kael knew much more than he was letting on about magic- he'd helped her solve the problem of her whisper messages almost as soon as he'd arrived. Something they hadn't completed until nearly the end of his time there.

That meant, for the time being, they could study new magic. Something they dabbled in but was never the focus.

His parents, following that payment, sold their mill and home in Ashwood, bidding friends and family goodbye as they moved their life to the city. Kael, having gone along with them after they stayed at Liraels place for a few days, hugged his friends and swore the oath of children- to be friends until death. Kael forgave Andre as soon as he saw them again. He knew Andre didn't mean to tell, it had slipped out when talking to his cousins and they had blabbed to their parents, calling him a liar. Now that he was able to come clean, he demonstrated magic in front of Andre, his parents and his cousins, shutting them up for good.

"Be good to Andre from now on." He'd said, locking eyes with the burly teenaged relatives. "He's one of two best friends of Kaelan the mage...almost like his brother. Something happens to him....I might blame you...even if you weren't the cause." The cousins gulped as he snuffed out a fireball he'd been holding, his whisper reaching their ears only. Andre grinned at seeing the two boys turn tail and run, leaving him to hug Kaelan.

"You'll visit us, won't you?"

Andre said softly. Kael grinned.

"Probably not..." Andre leaned back as Kael rolled his eyes. "You'll be too busy visiting me, my friend. I intend to have both you and Youichi in the city, as often as I possibly can."

Andre laughed and looked at his mother who tussled her boys hair. Kael went over to Youichi, who's eyes were a little red. Giving her a big hug, he whispered to her-

"Take care of him, would you?"

She knew whom he meant, and nodded into his neck. He let her go and she wiped her eyes, Kael waving as he turned to jog back over to his parents and Lirael who were waiting in one of the Archmages personal carts, with its decorations and deep blue paneling. As he hopped in, he looked at the other three and grinned.

"I'm ready. Lets go."

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Four Years Later

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Kael fell, letting out a grunt as his ass hit the dirt for the third time that day.

"You need to shift your weight from one side to the other during a Parry, otherwise your momentum will loose your sword from your grip." William said, reaching down to offer him a hand. Kael took it, allowing the older man to help pull him to his feet. Reaching down, he retrieved the tempered wooden sword, hefting it back into his grasp and blinking away the sweat from his brow. He'd been out here training with the Sword God all day, the afternoon sun beating down on his back. He kept his eyes fixed on Will, ignoring the sounds of the city and the sky, wanting to make sure all his focus was on the man in front of him.

Kaelan stood tall now, nearly as tall as his peak from before he was sent back. Barely a head shorter than William himself, he had just breached six feet in height and his body was much, much better shaped than before, dressed in a loose fitting whorl shirt and breeches. Now, though not quite as muscle packed as his father or Will, he was filled with corded layers of the stuff for a young teen and was bound into a lean and lethal body shaped and honed as a weapon. Not long after they had come back and his family were set up in their home, Kael revealed the secret to the sound and wind magic that had been eluding Lirael for so long.

"It's vibration."

Lirael had scowled.

"I know what sound is. When transporting it through the air, their aren't cords to vibrate. The sound just dissipates when it hinds the wind container." Kael grinned.

"That's because you have yet to see what air is- what we know of as air is just a mixture of invisible gasses." Lirael just stared, clearly annoyed. Kael sighed and moved over to a piece of paper, explaining as he drew.

"For example...when we breathe out in cold weather, clouds of condensation leave our lips. Air is unable to hold water vapor at dew point, causing the gas to turn to liquid form thus creating a cloud of condensation. Clouds in the sky are similar in look but not in makeup. We know this through scientific discoveries but because we don't yet have a deep understanding of the air we breathe and its mixture, we can't really feel the air layers and so we're unable to control them. But lets say we could see them- we could see the very molecules that make up the air around us."

He began to draw two bubbles that were linked with two larger circles surrounding them.

"If we could feel these microscopic things, we could see what truly happens when sound is made. The source of the sound vibrates, which causes these molecules to bump into other molecules which bumps into even more and so on. All we would need to do is feel the pattern of the vibrations and the shifting molecules, catch them in the air and force them to perpetually bump into one another in the same pattern and they'll continue to propagate the sound until they run out of energy. We'd continue fueling them until they reach their destination or...include in the spell an ability for the message to pull in fragments of Aether from the world around it as it travels...thus ensuring the message will have limitless energy until its is opened and the sound is released."

At first, Lirael was skeptical, but the more she listened and watched, the more her scowl faded into a small smirking grin. By the end, she was leaned over the table with him and asking questions- could it be infused into objects? How do they see or feel these molecules? Whats to keep others from opening the message and discovering its contents? Kael answered each question in its turn, making sure to take the time to explain them all.

"Of course it can, just like any other spell. See you write the runes like so-"

"Well first, you'd need to shrink your Aetheric output to the smallest detection scale then begin speaking into the circle of energy generated over your palm like so-"

"The message I sent was without security since nobody knows about these messages, but securing them can be done through the voice of the receiver, biometic unlock or an injection of Aetheric energy at the point of-"

It went on like that for days. A genius among geniuses, Lirael was sending messages within two days. In his future past, it had taken him almost three months to do the same. It made him more than a little envious of her capacity to accept and learn. He can still remember her exclamation after she did it- "FUCK YES! SUCK IT, YOU OLD PRICKS!" He'd laughed, of course. Who Lirael was when she was out and about and who she was behind closed doors was a world of difference. Here, she was crass and boisterous. She truly let herself shine.

At the age of twelve, he'd begun sword training, learning the craft of the blade from William in every moment he could spare. His previous death informed him that he'd not dedicated nearly enough effort into close combat, and though Will had taught him a little it was always with half of Kaels heart. Now fourteen, the master had been training him for two years- sun up, to magic theory and practice, then back to the sword until sun down. He wanted to be more than just a mage this time. This time, he wanted the sword and the spell to be on equal footing.

"Kael, could you come here for a moment?"

Liraels voice came out through the window, putting pause to the re-clash. Kael stood straight and pointed the sword at Will.

"To be continued."

Will laughed and leaned against the fence, folding his arms.

"I look forward to it, kid." was his reply. Kael hung the practice sword, glancing at his hands as he did so. Calloused and thick, much different than the boy before. Learning swordplay was an entirely different beast from learning magic- he'd started the groundwork for it, as said previously but he'd never got here, to the enhanced stage. For the last year, Will had had told him his technique was nearly flawless, it just needed micro-adjustments here and there so that it was time to step it up a notch. He wasn't even aware there was more beyond learning to fight but after seeing Will in action he realized how blind to the rest of the world he had been. Enhancement meant using Aether to infuse his muscles with energy and oxygen, as though he were having an adrenaline rush.

Except with Aether, it multiplied the affect several times over.

This of course led to mistakes, such as shifting his weight improperly and not gripping his sword fully. It was hard to detail for someone else who had never experienced it- being able to move so fast the ground cracked or even exploded under your feet. Having such strength you could punch through stone or bend steel. While invigorating, it meant your perception and ability to react to things had to play catch up. It also meant that you may even have to use Aether to enhance your eyes or mind, which could be dangerous in and of itself.

"Yes, Master?"

He stepped into the home, the simplest place among the Noble quarter. Of course, it sat on a larger plot of land and even had some trees and a few horses. The size of the city of Ashervon was impossible to scale. It seemed like a country in and of itself. If you began sprinting as fast as possible, it would take you close to eight hours. The entire outer wall of the city looped for almost fifty square miles, and nearly half a million people lived within its walls at the southern tip of the Auburn Vale. It was one of three cities, and the only one that had Dragons riding overhead. They were one of the few beings of the wild that worked with humans, and most of them could change their form to humans so the alliance with them seemed only right.

Lirael had her back toward him and was sitting in what she called her "thinking chair", where she smoked off a pipe and admired the view of the castle banners out the front window. As he walked around the chair, she kept her eyes on him almost giddy, yet barely contained. She took another puff as he put his hands on his hips, cocking a brow as though to say "well, I'm here" but staying silent. Sometimes she did this- she liked to mess with you to see how long you'd stare back or take it in. Lirael finally gestured with her pipe at him as she tossed something onto the table.

"Time to explain how you know what you know."

Kael looked down at the table, his figure reflected in the shimmer off the darkened gemstone set atop it. The Dragonstone. He blinked, then glanced back up at Lirael who was smirking knowingly and slowly sinking back into the chair. He'd been careful to avoid them seeing it, having taken it off his finger whenever he was around them or studying with them and mostly using it at night, apologizing to Malakar repeatedly for leaving him in the dark. It was just too dangerous for them to see it. Still he sighed.

"Well..it's-"

"A dragonstone." She finished his sentence and he nodded, sighing a little again. She continued. "A black dragon, to be precise. An ancient one, likely one that lost his mind. My question is…did you take it from him, or did you use it?" Kael stared back silently as she chuckled.

"Well…I think we both know the answer to that one. A boy genius from the future…that's just answers all questions that have rung silent, save one."

Her eyes glowed through the dark.

"Why did you come back?"