Departure

As Rethys stepped out of the store, his pack full of his mentor's essential tools, he laid eyes on the soldier, or rather knight it seemed, that came to guide them to their transport. He first noticed that despite the knight's imposing physique and decent looks that he did not at all seem like a noble, as he didn't detect from him the aura of supposed holiness that purebred nobles tried their hardest to display.

He figured that it was probably a talented commoner mage in service to a noble house and assumed that the crest etched on his armor's breastplate belonged to their mutual employers for this expedition, the Zeritel family.

"Are you Sir Alren Fulgrith and his disciple Rethys?" The knight intoned.

"Yep, That's me. Alren Fulgrith of Fulgrith's Atelier at your service and this here is my boy Reth." Fulgrith answered the knight in his contagiously cheery voice while shaking his hand forcefully enough to jiggle the man in armor like a saltshaker.

"I've come to escort you to the carriage in the main street, if you would follow me, please." The knight said, still wobbly from the surprise of Fulgrith's rumbling handshake.

"Alright, let's get going then. I've been looking forward to this for a while now." Engaging the magical lock on the shop door and activating its defense mechanisms, Fulgrith turned around and began walking towards the main street.

"You'd completely forget about it if I don't keep reminding you Master Fulgrith." Rethys sighed, he wasn't joking either, as this used to happen before the eccentric mage took him in, multiple times too, supposedly.

"Nah, I wouldn't forget about it Reth, I'd disregard it in favor of more important breakthroughs! They're completely different things my boy."

"Are you sure you should be saying that in front of him." Rethys whispered, while gesturing towards the knight. Blatant disregard for agreements with nobility was no laughing matter.

"Nah, it's our habit and right as mages to prioritize our research above all else! Our friend here wouldn't take offense." And that seemed to be true. Looking sideways, Rethys saw that the knight was completely indifferent to their conversation.

Arriving at the main street, they were greeted with the sight of a rather large carriage, its two horses impatient and its driver standing to attention.

"We will meet with the rest of Lord Zeritel's caravan in Northwood outpost, this transport has been provided for your convenience Sir Fulgrith."

"A carriage just for the two of us?" Rethys said, eyeing the horse-drawn vehicle with suspicion.

"Lord Zeritel values Sir Fulgrith's expansive knowledge of magic ingredients and wishes you both to know that you are his honored guests for the duration of this expedition." The commoner knight intoned with measured voice, and Rethys' manifestations could detect no lies in it.

"Hehe, don't mind if I do. Let's go Reth!" Opening the carriage door with uncharacteristic carefulness, Fulgrith took his seat without hesitation, giving his apprentice no choice but to keep his suspicions to himself and follow his mentor inside.

"Hah, this feels more like a vacation than an expedition. I hate to leave my work so close to a breakthrough, but I do need a few days off" Chuckled the old mage while making himself very comfortable inside the spacious interior.

Rethys snorted at his mentor's shamelessness but didn't comment any further. The inside of the carriage was rather expansive, allowing the two to be seated very comfortably as they had not much luggage to speak of. They only carried one pack full of Fulgrith's most essential equipment and packed only minimal supplies, as all amenities were to be provided by their employer. Thinking of it that way it did feel like a vacation for both, the master having no worries but discussing magic and studying exotic ingredients, and the assistant not having to suffer his master's enthusiastic rampages.

Be that as it may, Rethys could not shake his suspicions towards the whole ordeal. He knew that that his mentor's knowledge was unparalleled when it came to his field of magic with niche applications, but he had to remain wary of nobles approaching his master. He considered it his duty as the more sensible of the two.

Taking a moment to look through the window of the carriage, he fixed the knight busy mounting his steed with a stare until he heard a word echo in his mind.

'Coward.' It spoke.

'Why that's very reassuring, I feel safer with him already.' Rethys sighed.

As the carriage took off, he threw a concerned look at his giant of a mentor and couldn't help but voice his worries.

"Are you sure about the noble who hired us? He's not one of our usual patrons."

"I understand your concern for me, and I appreciate it Reth. But really, it's no worry. I know a few of the other nobles coming with mister-"

"Lord." Rethys sternly corrected him.

"Yes, Lord Zeritel. As I was saying, some of the nobles accompanying him I know well, I'll be among friends Reth, and you needn't worry about me. Rather, you should concern yourself with paying attention to our discussions, I know a bright lad like you would pick up a thing or two." The master tried to reassure his disciple.

Rethys wasn't entirely convinced but he reluctantly nodded his head and turned to the window instead, seeing the city roll by.

It was late autumn now and the winter cold was beginning to set in the already cold, northern city of Aldeno. The city ruled by the titular Archduke Aldeno was quite prosperous despite belonging to the coldest region in the Voldren Kingdom. Being the northernmost of all major cities, it enjoyed close proximity to the magic rich northern wildlands beyond kingdom borders in return for having the least fertile soil.

As the carriage joined the main street leading out of the city through its northern gate, Rethys could see the city buildings growing simpler as he headed further out from its center. From buildings fashioned out of Earth magic to ones increasingly built the old-fashioned way.

No matter where though, city folk could be seen going about their day, their faces showing contentment with their lives and hope for the future. Taking his eyes off them with a complicated expression, he instead looked back at his mentor to find him dozing off, his large blue mantle looking more like a blanket than the symbol of power and prestige of a mage. From the very comfortable expression on his face, he was probably making up for the hours of sleep his assistant so unjustly forbade from him in the morning.

Looking again back at the window the young man decided to pass the time trying to sense the presence of people in the tall buildings they passed by using his element's manifestations.

Soon they crossed the city gate and were on the road to the northernmost point of civilization in the kingdom, and perhaps the whole continent of Inverra for that matter, Northwood outpost.

It was a small settlement not of farmers, but of mages, hunters and gatherers that use it as a forward base to explore and exploit the untamed and ether-rich wildlands where nature ruled supreme, with magic plants growing unchecked and magic beasts roaming free. That was the purpose of the expedition they were hired for, and that needed Alren Fulgrith's very rare expertise.

The ride from here was uninteresting to say the least. And as they rode through the same boring repetitive plains, Rethys could swear he saw the same hill a few times.

Eventually the view changed from autumn plains to woodlands thickening by the second as they continued ahead. This signaled their entrance into the uninhabitable wildlands, at least their fringes for now.

Despite that, Rethys could already feel the air around him growing thicker and more suffocating, nothing that could affect him but at the same time something he could notice. According to his mentor, this was due to the ether in the atmosphere becoming thicker, and it would continue getting thicker the farther one moved northwards into deeper wildlands.

A while after, they finally arrived at Northwood, situated in the middle of a clearing with its tall, reinforced stone walls built with magic and meant to protect the outpost from the dangerous wilderness.

As the carriage rode through the southern gate, Rethys was greeted with the same extremely busy spectacle he saw when he was last here. All sorts of people were moving to and fro between the many buildings in a chaotic but strangely controlled manner while others were busy loading and unloading carriages, moving boxes filled with all sorts of things, from normal everyday items to loads of large glowing stones that Rethys recognized as unrefined etherstones.

He could even see in the distance the activation of the large teleporter platform in the middle of the small outpost. Glowing magical symbols in between concentric circles hovered above the smoothly shaped stone below, as if embedded into the air itself. And as it shone with blinding purple light, Rethys could see a group of people appear on it, walking off as soon as the light faded.

"Tsk, such wasteful construction, if only the local nobles took these things as a challenge to oneself rather than a petty sword-measuring contest." Fulgrith sighed, he seems to have awoken at some point, presumably from the increasing ether disturbances all around Northwood.

"Yes Master Fulgrith, we get it, it's very inefficient and they should've hired you for the job instead." His disciple sighed in turn. "Does it even matter? They can always just expand the city walls outward if they ever need more space."

"Yes, but there's a limit Reth. Shallow as it is around here, we are still in wildlands, our presence here is merely tolerated, and nature might react violently if we overextend our welcome. That monstrosity of a teleporter goes against everything this outpost stands for just so that one noble could gloat over another." He shook his head

The carriage moved through the town, not minding the bustling activity of the town and heading straight to the meeting point of the expedition just outside of the northern gate. It wasn't long then until the carriage came to a halt.

As the duo got off the horse-drawn carriage, Rethys was hit with the full pressure of the ether, and with it a wave of nausea that forced him to his knees, coughing and gasping for air.

"Focus on your breathing Reth, breathe slowly now." Fulgrith said while channeling Life magic into his assistant.

Rethys could feel a stream of strength flow through his chest, breathing slowly and heavily, he managed to stop the coughing, and soon managed to regain some stability.

"This never happened... before." He said in a hoarse voice while trying his best not to fall into a coughing fit again.

"Must've been the carriage, you didn't get used to the ether density as you would've if we came on foot or horseback. Give it a second, you'll be fine." The old mage said while shaking his hands as if trying to remove the green-glowing ether of the Life element. "We'll join the rest ahead when you feel ready Reth."