6 Chapter 006

He didn't plan on waiting for Alaina to return, he had too much shit to take care of.

Pivoting, he turned to head back to the room he'd woken up in, pondering the best sequences for his next course of actions.

Once in the room, he scanned the shelves for something, ignoring the emptiness that screamed out at him. Not too long ago, in his memory, they were filled with countless treasures.

Finding what he wanted, a small gem that seemed out of place in the opulent room, he plucked it from the shelf and walked over to plop into a chair.

As he fell into the chair, he also fell into the gem, the world growing a bright brilliant orange that overwhelmed his senses for a brief moment. Then, he was inside the gem, and could feel the warmth of it enveloping him.

"Hello again, Master. It's been some time since you visited. There are over ten thousand issues that require your attention, with the most pressing being referred to as urgent." A voice echoed through the void, as a blob of orange light materialized in front of the mage.

"Yeah, I kinda expected that. Anything that involves death of anyone except the core components, delete. Any message that involves theft, except an item from the inner sanctum, delete. Delete…" He rapidly fired off numerous things to be deleted from the issues, as he looked over the replica of the realm outside his tower.

There were small blue spheres of light to indicate the newest arrivals, moving around the tower slowly. "They much still be cleaning up." He mused, and then shifted his attention to the rest of the realm.

Towards the top, he saw a cloud with tiny tick marks. A measuring device. "Damn. Barely enough to set up the defenses." Poking the cloud, he nudged it a couple times before shaking his head and tapping on the boundaries of the realm.

Here, he could see that there was a solid line of blue energy, which gave him a moment's respite from concern.

"Alright, Kindle, give me the most pressing matters, from what's left of the issues." He settled back in his chair, both inside the gem and in the tower, trying to get comfortable despite the pressure he felt at in his forehead.

The entity inside the stone began ratting off a dozen or so issues, which boiled down to his trusted council and who he thought were friends, waited for two years before they began pillaging his belongings.

They started with the upper rooms, the training room and the treasuries. Over the course of ten years, they slowly took small, expensive things, then they gradually became so bold that they took the entire contents of a room that had been sat aside from Gunther's offspring, in a day.

This happened for twenty years, and suddenly stopped only to occur after another seventy years. And, again after another twenty year race to remove items from the realm, it ceased for eighty years.

The cycle continued three more times, until there was nothing left of worth to steal. From the looks of the issues, the most recent theft had happened two days before he woke up. They had been in his study, and removed all the clothes in the closet. And, after discovering they could only store away so much, the beloved orange robe he was currently wearing was cast aside, as trash.

Clenching his fists, he identified each of the names and recalled their faces. While he began his plans for vengeance, he noticed several small blue blobs of energy appear. One of them had a brown icon over the top of it, indicating this person had shared resonance with him. Earth resonance.

"Oh. Alaina's back. That was quick." Putting the thought of revenge away for the moment, he pulls his mind from the gem and tucks it away into a pocket as he stands. "Thanks Kindle." He patted the pocket, as he headed towards the foyer to greet the newest arrivals.

There were twenty people awaiting his arrival, panting and trying to regain their breath. Amused, Trimagus waited a few moment at the top of the stairs, giving them the time to collect themselves.

At least, that was the plan, before the girl began bellowing for him.

"Master Trimagus!" Her shout echoed down numerous halls echoing the summons. She waited moments before shouting again, and then again.

"Shut the fuck up, will you?" He called back, coming down the stairs with annoyance written all over his face. "I got it, you're back." He added and came closer to the group.

He looked over the solid, well built people that were mostly men with a couple children and a few women. He also realized the mixture of awe, fear and confusion that most of them must have felt. Raising his arms, he smiled and greeted them, motioning towards the group as a whole.

"Welcome to your new home. For now, you're all stuck here, except for important business. Once we've managed to get things up and running though, that'll change. Alaina here, should have told you the needs of the realm, so I'll leave it up to her to let you all know what you'll be doing." He gave a glance to the girl, who nodded firmly and raised a clenched fist.

"Heh. Right. If any of you have a concern, then you're welcome to bring it to me for the time being. In the future there will be someone for your concerns to be brought to, and resolved without always involving me."

They watched him, the awe giving way to more confusion.

"Oh. Right. My name is Trimagus, there are a whole lot of titles that I've been given, but the only one that means anything is the lord of this realm, and your new master." Then, a wink as he leaned in towards them. "Don't worry, I'm not going to be here too often, so as long as you do your work and don't cause problems, everything should be fine."

Returning to a more serious tone, he cleared his throat and stood up straight. "There will be no harming of another resident of this realm. We are all together in this realm, and should anything arise that would cause one to harm another, it shall be brought to me or the representative in place to make decisions regarding the staff and members of the realm."

"Each cause of harm with be given a trial, and the most painful punishment that befits the crime will be given, which is most often being exiled from the island..." He motioned towards the expansion of orange flames that surrounded the tower and island, indicating just what he meant by exile.

"There is no theft allowed. All your needs will be accommodated, and if there are any hobbies that you would like to persue, those can be reviewed and given allowances for depending on the activity."

"You are all to study the books and information given to you. It will be about your occupation, and a form of meditation and strengthening for your personal abilities. You will all be tested, and given a ranking, depending on your abilities. These will determine not only your sleeping arrangements, but your pay and your place in the hierarchy of the realm."

"Families, will of course be kept together, if they do desire. Children will live with their families, but their occupation will be to learn and play in an area set aside for them. A tutor will be available for them, in order to teach the next generation the skills needed to succeed in this realm."

"We are all one unit, a nation outside that of the world you just arrived from, and any form of bigotry or hatred towards another kind will not be permitted. You will soon begin to see the arrival of beings and creatures that you couldn't imagine working next to, or living with. However, as with you, the future of the realm will benefit from any and all creatures that have been given entry to the realm."

Twenty sets of eyes stared at him, before turning towards the girl that had led them there. Confusion gave way to fear, before finally setting on realization. They began muttering amongst themselves, whispering about how they had been trapped here, about how none of this had been told to them.

"I understand this is a lot to take in, and it's going to take a little bit of time to adjust to, so why don't you all get settled in. Take a bath, and get used to the tower and the island." He turned to look over the area behind him, and gave an impish smile. "If you can all talk the chef into seeing their way into the kitchen, we can even have a celebration to welcome everyone to their new home."

Turning, he nodded to Alaina. "Once you're done settling them in, come see me in my study. I want to go over a few things with you." Then, he disappeared down the hallway he'd come from, leaving the woman frowning faintly.

"Alright everyone, I know that was surprising, but let's go. You all swore allegiance, and I can guarantee you that you're never going to be cold again." She gave an intentionally nervous chuckle, and motioned people along.

Three hours later, she knocked on the study door, suddenly nervous. It had taken an hour to settle the nerves of the new arrivals, and then another to get their belongings in rooms before finally showing them around the tower and explaining where their jobs would be.

The chef, a thin woman with long red hair, was excited about working in the kitchen after realizing how much room was available to her. Trimagus had left a note to indicate he would visit in the future to show her all the functions of the kitchen, hinting that there were some rather fun things that could be done, if one truly loved cooking.

He'd also left instructions on how to remove food from a small storage shelf that apparently led to another realm. Alaina left the kitchen, with the woman cackling like a loon and pulling things out of the shelf that logically couldn't fit.

Alaina heard a muffled comment from the other side of the door, which she took as a welcoming sound, and opened the door. She gasped as she saw the mage with a bowl of boiling water in front of him, a cloth in one hand and soap in the other.

"Or, don't give me a minute." He chuckled, clearly not bothered by the intrusion. "Come on in. I'm almost done." He explained, looking back to the bowl.

After a moment's hesitation, she entered and closed the door behind her. "Sorry, I thought you said to come in…" She watched him as she grew closer, trying not to let her eyes trace the surprisingly well toned boy, with its dancing threads of hair trailing from just above his belly button to … She blushed, and looked back up to his face.

"Oh, no problem, just have to finish purifying my arms." As he spoke, he lathered the cloth with the soap and began to stroke the cloth along his arm. This activity was greeted with the sizzle of overheated metal being cooled. Trimagus winced a moment, but ignored it and continued.

She watched as the skin on his arm turned to ash and dropped into the bowl. The skin grew back immediately, but with a slightly healthier glow.

"We have to leave soon. I'd say two months, tops. There are a few people I have to kill, and some things to get back." He spoke in a calm voice, despite the obvious pain and subject of the conversation. "This would be a good time to gain some resonance, and practice your inner strength at the same time."

"I don… I mean I've never been off the island." She lamely offered, to which the man looked up and smiled fondly.

"Then, now's a great time to start. Until we leave, I want you to practice your magic. Earth. Read the book I gave you, re-read it. And keep re-reading it until you can recite the entire book, word by word. Then, you'll understand the meaning behind it."

She began to say something, but realized she didn't even know what to say, so instead she nodded her head and tucked a few dark tendrils behind her ear. "Yes, Master." She whispered, confused about everything that was happening so fast.

She turned to leave, but stopped at the door to turn to look at the man behind her. "Master…"

Without looking up, he grunted a response.

"When are you going to let my great-grand father live in the realm? He's been a faithful servant. He should be allowed to live here, too." She said, voice strengthening as she spoke.

He stopped all movement for a brief moment then looked up to her with a small smile and a tilt of his head. "You're petitioning for Gunther to be allowed access to this realm?" He asked, voice hinting at amusement.

She stopped to think a moment, confused by the way he worded it, and then nodded firmly. "I am." She agreed.

"Very well, speak to Gunther to let him know what you've done. And, let him know it will begin tomorrow at noon." He motioned for her to leave, and began humming as he went back to purifying himself.

She left, heading for the foyer once more. Even more confused.

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