A Borderlander's calling

"Aaaahhh," Seth screamed aloud, as he thrashed awake. He clutched his bandaged chest on instinct, and his eyes searched the room desperately, searching for his foe. The room was alien, yet familiar. Light filtered in through the stained glass window and illuminated tiny specs that hung in the air of his towered, stone-walled room.

It had a large window, a broken wardrobe, a table with an old book and an inkwell, and a line of wooden swords arranged in the corner. It was the room he used to live in when he was training to be a Borderlander. It had been five years since he left for the border, but nothing had changed. It was oddly cleaner than he remembered.

He heaved a sigh of relief and fell back into his thin straw bed, delighted that the mad mage was nowhere in sight. Images of the struggle against the blood mage flashed before his mind's eyes, and goosebumps erupted from his pale skin. The fight was utterly humiliating. He was sure he was going to die, he resisted for as long as he could, but he felt his resolve slip at the very last minute before he blacked out.

He closed his eyes as tried to get up, expecting a sharp or intense pain, but he felt nothing. He sat up at the edge of his bed. He wore thin cotton trousers and his chest was heavily bandaged, slightly stained in blood. He closed his eyes and thought back to how he ended up in bandages.

Sweat gathered on his forehead and he felt his chest tightened as his mind wandered back to the battle. He struggled to move, held in place by paralyzing fear. He recalled the distorted face of the maniacal mage reaching out for him.

He convulsed and forcefully roused his mana, and broke free of the petrification. The memory-filled him with crippling dread and fear. His mana core felt heavily depleted, but he didn't worry, it was customary to lose some strength after receiving treatment with holy magic.

He took deep breaths and calmed himself. As much as he tried to keep his mind from thinking too deeply on the battle, he found himself in awe of his sister's skill and mana control. Just before he lost consciousness, he remembered catching his sister divert her light spell.

He hadn't seen his sister in action in five years, and all the while he was away, he wondered just how strong she'd gotten. The battle at the academy displayed her true mastery of mana and spellwork. It also inspired him, setting forth a benchmark, a goal, he could strive towards. He wondered how long he'd last in a spar.

"Five years of hard work definitely changes a person,' he sighed. With talent like that, he wondered why she was still under a blowhard like Baston. The man was wound up tighter than a pigeon ass. He knew his sister made a mistake when she chose to serve under him instead of any other intermediate mage. That waste of mana was always jealous of the Ryall house, long before it's fall. He suspected he might've inspired the emperor's judgment. Its little wonder he still refused to promote his sister despite her obvious talent. "After this battle, there is no denying her genius," he beamed.

He took off his bandages and marveled as he inspected his chest, ribs, and abdomen. "The mage that healed me must at least be at a master. Tessa must have paid for their service, I have to thank her when I go visit her."

His sister would most likely be at the Alpheus castle. The battle with the mages was cruel and tasking. 'She must be recovering over there.' He opened his wardrobe and saw his borderlander uniform. "Of course," he chuckled. Those damn knights, even though he's served his time, they chose to hold out on a proper knight uniform till the ceremony, even though he and his sister saved the city.

He wore his clothes and patted down the rough seams. He wished he had a mirror to fix his hair, but settled for just tucking behind his ear, and feigning ignorance when his sister eventually points it out to him. As he inspected himself one last time, he noticed that he was missing his interdimensional ring.

"That is odd. My ring is missing." He massaged his bare finger, " I will have to ask sister if she knows where the healers put them."

With a bright smile, he reached for the handle of his door, readying himself for a lengthy walk to Alpheus, when the door flung open. Six magic knights dressed in the customary blue and gold marched into his room.

They had pauldrons leading from their left shoulders and their weapons strapped to their belts. The oldest and tallest was a senior magic knight. The double gauntlets and the three white orbs emblazoned on his uniform affirmed his rank.

"Senior Knight," he gave a curt bow, "what brings you here?" He asked with a slight frown.

He hesitated a bit, his brows knit slightly, "I'm afraid, I come bearing bad news." He avoided Seth's eyes and briefly turned to his junior knights. They shared his concerned face.

"What is going on?" Seth asked.

His eyes heavy with concern, he sighed and finally looked Seth in his eyes, "It's your sister."

He explained that his sister was missing, most likely taken by one of the blood mages they fought earlier. According to the knight, they sent out rescue squads led by rangers for her, but most of them never returned. After losing about four squads, the Empire elected to stop.

"What, I saw her fight them," Seth protested, "She was not losing. She matched one and injured the other. There is no way my sister failed. She had her artifact."

"You mean this one?" The captain asked as he summoned a pendant out of his dimensional ring. The jewel was nested in cascading petals of gold. It was cracked and grey. Seth slowly reached out and cradled it. He looked at the captain, his eyes were flushed with tears.

"This is not possible. The heart of Malum will never stop shining unless the owner used up every last bit of mana in the jewel." He fell to his knees, "This has been in our family for decades. It was always worn by the heir of our house. I can't believe the light is gone." His voice trailed off at the last sentence.

"I'm sorry Seth, but the Empire simply doesn't have enough rangers to spare to search for her."

Desperate anger filled his teary eyes. He struggled to get the words out, "But…But. She is a talented magic knight. If the Empire doesn't use the rangers to search for their knights, what use are they?"

The knight's eyes narrowed, and his tone grew cold, "don't let grief push you to treason" he warned. "Between the war with Vulpar to the north, and culling the beasts and lesser beings in the borderlands, we simply don't have enough resources to send a full team to chase down a knight that may or may not be alive." He held Seth's left shoulder, "I am sorry child." The knight turned around, and the knights filed out of the room.

Seth's breath slowed down to a nearly rhythmic beastial gruff, his eyes watered with rage and he called out to the knight. "Sir Knight," he shakily got to his feet. "Aren't you curious about why blood mages invaded the academy, slaughtered an entire team of magic knights, capture their captain and spare a measly border lander?"

The senior knight raised a brow and turned around. "I am curious, but it's not up to me. I didn't lead the investigation. The only reason why I am here is because my knights were supposed to provide backup that night." He said, gesturing to his shamefaced junior knights. "When they arrived at the west wing of the academy, every borderlander, and knight, except you were dead. When we found you'd wet yourself. You were bleeding horribly, and you were as pale as a ghost. We were sure you were not going to make it, but suddenly you recovered. When I found out the junior knight missing was your sister, I had to come out and apologize."

Seth's mind traveled to his seven other teammates. Most of them, he knew from his service at the border, they were lovely people, wonderful soldiers. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks. Seth felt his anger well, he clenched his fist. "You did not answer my questions," he paused and then added, "Sir Knight."

The knight clenched his teeth. He typically didn't let insubordination go unpunished, but he pitied the fallen noble. 'There was nothing noble about beating down a man already broken.' He decided to stay his wrath and humor him.

"I admit, I am curious, as are most knights of Brightmont. We would all like to know why mages who never strayed far from the Dark Continent decided to visit the Royal Knight academy at night.

"But as I said, it was not up to me. Baston led the search. He never wanted to stop looking for her, but the order came from above, there was nothing he could have done." He sighed. "You might not know this but all anointed knights are subject to the will of the Deon and Emperor, only borderlanders like you can afford to bend the rules."

"What do you mean?" the anger faded from Seth's eyes. It quickly transformed into desperation. The knight's lips curled. He looked back to his junior knights and muttered something to them before closing the door. Their footsteps echoed as they traveled down the halls. The knight's voice lowered to a loud whisper.

"You are not a magic knight, not yet. You just completed your years of service to qualify, but you can always choose not to delay or deny knighthood."

Seth's eyes widened. "Is… is that even possible," he sputtered. The knight nodded knowingly. "Yes. It's not unheard of. I know knights who deferred knighthood for two full years to further sharpen their skills, grow their elemental conduits, and increase their mana capacity, before becoming junior knights. They rose through the ranks faster.

After submitting a former request to the Arch Deon and Alpheus, you can do whatever you please with your year of training. You can decide to, I don't know, start looking for your sister in the place where the rangers stopped."

His eyes lit up with hope. "Yes!" he was ecstatic, "I could do that." He paced around and wheels began to turn in his head. The knight smiled an honest warm smile, as he watched Seth mumble and randomly wave gestures.

He could find his sister if he searched harder than the rangers did. They probably gave up halfway or something. With the help of a competent team or a few mercenary rangers, he could find her. he slammed his fist hard against his wide stretched palm.

"How much extra time can I ask for," he asked, nervous that he might lose his chance to become a knight after working for so long. The great knight frowned, "for someone of your current 'status,' I estimate that you might up to six months, eight if you are lucky before you are forced to either accept knighthood for forfeit it completely."

Seth brows creased in thought. He was worried about potentially losing his knighthood, but his worry did not overshadow the nervous joy he felt for an opportunity to find and rescue his sister. For her, he would forgo being a knight altogether.

"I can wait months before I'm knighted. My sister, however, cannot. I must pursue her captor." He declared.

The knight nodded and tossed his dimensional ring at him. "They stopped chasing her Pursuer in Black Wershe Forest." His eyes grew worried once more, "One more thing before I go. The healer said that your elemental conduits have grown rather weak. Apparently, he couldn't sense it at all. He is convinced it will return shortly after you wake. I know you are anxious to save your sister, but don't rush things. You should recover before your journey or travel with companions who can protect you while you recover."

"What!" his core. He didn't understand how that could happen. His mind traveled back to the fight with the dying blood mage and the dark tendrils that stabbed into his core. His skin paled, turning nearly ash white, and he unconsciously reached for his sternum

The knight turned around and paused at the door, "make sure you have a ranger on your team and come with a strategy to face the mage. I don't want to see good knights die" he smiled.

"Wait, I never got your name, sir," Seth called out.

"My name is Mesok Memenok." The knight responded before he shut the door.