5 Grand Mages

Encara weakly opened his eyes, his skin still wrinkly and loose, with a thirst and hunger clawing his insides. "You look like complete shit." Gwyneth said, standing at the end of his bed. He looked over to the table side, seeing a roasted chicken with a large bowl of rice, and a mug of mead. Encara staggered over, devouring the food, with no etiquette. "I met that boy of yours." She said taking a seat on his bed. "What did Jacara do this time?" He said annoyed with a full mouth.

"Not that little shit of yours. He just came back half dead, from doing the Grand Mage promotion test." She scoffed. "How'd he do?" Encara asked, waiting for her answer, before he ate. "He came back with A Draken heart, said he would get the other five later." Encara chuckled. "What'd you think of the new boy?" Encara asked, chugging down his drink. His skin started to become tighter, his muscles growing, and his hair starting shine silver. She removed her vambrace, showing her purple and yellow forearm. "The boy has some incredible strength and speed, first-class control of arcane energy." "But?" Encara asked, hesitant to hear her answer. "He's from Yamata. He's a simple idiot from the islands. Jux is not a place where simple idiots live long." "That's why you'll teach him to be difficult and smart." Encara said wolfing down the rest of the food.

"What do you see in the boy? His water affinity is not enough to warrant this amount of interest from you." Gwyneth asked, trying to read Encara's face. He reeled back in his chair, his body back to normal and looked to his dusty ceiling. "How long did it take you to kill your first Draken?" He asked, rocking back on his chair. "Three hours. It was a gorilla in the Whisper-woods that turned. Damn thing had scales harder than adamantine." She said. "And how did you kill it?" Encara asked looking at her. "I rammed my sword down its gullet, when it was roaring. We weren't gonna get through its scales, without a mage. Why are you asking this?" Encara smiled. "That boy broke the scales of a giant octopus Draken, with his bare hands, and killed it by himself too." Gwyneth reeled back shocked, trying to process the information. "His water affinity isn't all that special, especially since we don't know the gate symbol. However someone who can break through Draken scales, and cut down Kaioni trees, with his bare hands, without formal training." Encara said with a grin from ear to ear. "That's someone I want to see grow, and evolve."

Gwyneth clicked her vambrace back into place, and walked to the door. "I'll train the boy to be a knight, and not a mage. Am I understood?" She said over her shoulder. "Stay out of your way got it. No one here can help him anyway, and I don't expect him to open a gate, that was lost over 8000 years ago." Gwyneth said nothing and slammed the door shut behind her. The ink bottle on his table spilled out, forming a message. 'Council meeting.' He rolled his eyes letting out a loud annoyed groan, pulling his face down. Encara left the room adjusting his cloak, and made his way to the very top of the keep. He pushed the doors open with excessive might, and the two large wooden doors slammed open.

Urkse sat next to four other Grand Mages, around a wooden table, in the brightly lit tower. Cin, was an athletic man in his prime of 30, although his salt and peppered locks and beard said otherwise. He wore a crimson regal cloak over his fine silk clothing, and his black fierce eyes gave him a permanent scowl. Although Encara had been told Cin could smile, he'd never once seen it. Cin sat next to his sarang of 15 years, Aeris in the grey cloak. A demure woman, with long brown hair and emerald eyes, she was the definition of beauty. Encara took a seat next to the Urkse, and kicked his feet up on the table. "Took you long enough to wake up." Rai said. He was a young man, wearing a golden robe, which matched his long golden locks. "Rai, we talked about this." Soel chimed in. She wore an emerald cloak that did its best to cover her voluptuous body. Her long black hair weaved with flowers, draped over her cloak. "You're a Grand Mage, but you're still weakest one here. So do your best to bite your tongue, before you lose it." She said giving him a warm smile.

A shiver ran down Rai's spine, with Encara smirking at him. "Enough!" Cin raised his voice. "We have wasted enough time. The fissure spreading across the Tundra prison is getting worse, we need to find who is responsible, and deal with them." He said clenching his fists. "What do you have mind Cin?" Encara asked. "Enter into our draken states, and kill everyone within a radius of the prison?" Cin bit his tongue. "We have no leads." Encara said taking his feet off the table. "So we just wait, while the prison weakens!?" Cin exclaimed.

"Yes. The prison has held for over 8000 years. Vasha breaking out is not going to happen soon, but it is causing another problem, the big spike in draken transformations." Encara said. "This is true. The Maelstrom shot out a giant octopus that had been turned." Urkse said. "All the more reason we need to find the ones responsible." Aeris said. "Again, if you have any ideas on how to find them, I'm all ears." Encara said waiting for their response with a smug face. They were all silent. "No? Nothing?" "Encara, move on and tell us what you're thinking." Soel said, shaking her head. "We flip the defence of the Citadel." The five of them looked at Encara confused and concerned. "There are six of us searching the entirety of Jux, for an elusive group destroying the prison, and over 10,000 knights and mages, standing on a giant wall." "Are you suggesting, that we scatter the entire army of the Citadel, to go and find the culprits? While the six of us defend the entire Citadel?" Cin asked, the five of them prayed that Encara would not answer such a ridiculous question. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." The five of them let out a sigh, dropping their heads in defeat.

"Encara, each mage takes about seven to ten heartbeats to open the gate and use magic. That's a life time in combat." Soel said. "Then we pair them off. A knight to a mage, and have them compensate for each other's weaknesses." Encara said filled with conviction. "It is best for us to go and search..." Rai said. "We've been searching for the last 20 years, and the only we found is their stupid name. Drakenguard. What do you think 10,000 knights and mages could find?" He said clenching his fists. The Grand mages went silent. "We will need to assess their battle prowess, before pair them off." Aeris said. "You can't honestly be agreeing to this idea?" Cin exclaimed.

"He's right. We've got nothing to show for all our searching. Kal'nar, Ataraxus, Tuskdran, haven't dared to attack the Citadel, because of our army. They will not attack either, if they know all of us still reside here." She said sternly. "We can't just send the entire army out, on a goose chase. It will look like an act of aggression or expansion, and start another war." Cin said. "Cleaning and peacekeeping." Rai said. "We send word to the other kingdoms, that they've been tasked to the keep the peace, and kill any draken threat, nothing else." He continued. "It's not an act of aggression, and it will keep the Drakenguard on their toes. They wouldn't be able to move freely, without alerting one of us." Urkse said nodding along, stroking his beard. "The people are going to panic, if we send the entire army out." Cin said. Encara slapped the table, silencing the room, and startling everyone. "Fine." He growled. "Then we compromise. After two months we each pick the best mage we can see, and let the grand knights pick their best to match. That's twelve mages and knights, not enough to get Cin's knickers tangle." Cin let out an expaserated sigh, and pursed his lips. "And we trial run that small group. If it works well, we send out more. Does that work for you Cin?" Encara said his eyes wide, and brimming with frustration.

They all nodded, and relief washed over his face. "Thank you. Now I'm going to go take a nap." He said sliding his chair back, letting the wooden legs screech against the tiled floor. "Hopefully this is the most annoying part of my day." He said, turning his back to them. The wooden doors flung open, slamming against the walls. Jacara stood there glaring at Encara, huffing and puffing, his white cotton shirt stained with sweat. Encara reeled his head back, rolling his eyes. Jacara had his magenta cloak tied around his waist, by its sleeves hung over his burgundy cotton trousers. He marched towards Encara, with his scuffed leather boots tracking in dirt, wearing a scowl.

"Not even a visit Father? I almost died." He growled. "From what Gwyneth told me, you brought that upon yourself." He smugly corrected. The other Grand Mages all stood up, keeping their heads down. "You can stay and continue to talk Grand Mages, I'll be quick with my father." Jacara said scowling at Encara. The other Grand mages sat back down and bowed their heads down. "What do you want Jac? I'm very tired." Encara said annoyed, looking down at his son, with complete disinterest. "I want a seat at this table. I'm the strongest mage and everyone knows it. I deserve a spot on this table." He declared proudly, stomping his foot. Encara dropped his head and let out a sigh. "You didn't pass the test. You bring a draken heart, to each Grand Mage, gathered in one day. You're not strong enough. Now leave, and return to your training." Encara growled, restraining his anger.

As he started to walk away, Jacara reached behind his back, and Encara stopped. "If you reach for your deck, do not hesitate to attack! Son or not, I will fuse you to the Tundra Prison myself, if you turn on me. Do not test me!" Encara growled. Jacara looked over to Urkse shaking his head at him. He put his hands by his side clenching his fists, biting his tongue, and letting the anger inside him boil over. Encara rustled Jacara's short black hair, to his annoyance. "Just kidding!" He said with a big goofy smile. "I would never hurt you." He said pinching Jacara's cheek. "You can't even kill more than one Draken as a mage. You're nowhere near ready for a spot on this table. Now go and train, Master of None." Encara said walking away.

Jacara gnashed his teeth together, and clenched his fists till they were red, feeling the skin breaking under his nails. The title infuriated Jacara to his core, and he left in a huff. The other mages all sat in silence, nodding their heads with pursed lips. "That boy really needs to sleep with a woman." Rai bluntly stated, breaking the silence. They all nodded in agreement.