Knights Apocalyptica

Midnight.—I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he afterwards explained by saying that to a boyar the pride of his house and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said “we,” and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking.

-Bram Stoker, Dracula, (2nd Era, 1897)

"I can't believe you got into a drinking contest." Garin shook his head as he looked at Erec.

The two were near the tent bar, not all that far away, just around the corner and tucked into the closest alleyway. Seeing Erec’s sickness, Garin hadn’t dragged him far, as even this much movement was difficult. Which, of course, Erec was thankful for since sitting down felt infinitely better than rushing away. After some time, he was just barely feeling like himself again.

"I thought I could out-drink him. I don’t know why, but I did." Erec shook his head, still burning a little bit of fury. It was hard to completely dispel or control the Talent now that he had a whole load of alcohol coursing through his veins.

His difficulty doing so was a good discovery in itself. Too much intoxication would lead to him losing control. Given that much of his efforts around Fury had revolved around controlled use, or at least, finding the right times to lose control… It was good to know that a substance like that reduced his ability to be safe with his talent. Normally, Erec didn’t drink nearly enough to get to this state.

At least the drinking had gotten him two pieces of useful information.

"Garin," Erec groaned, his words still slurring even though Val had been hard at work trying to neutralize the alcohol in his blood. "What does being reliant on mysticism for better or worse mean? How's that a weakness?"

Garin looked at him. His eyes flashed brightly, and he shook his head.

Erec supposed that was as good a reason as any. And a good explanation to boot. Just as his defeating the stag had been a bad matchup on behalf of the monster that could control minds, because his talent shielded him.

If he were to face something that he couldn't touch with his soul or physical abilities, then that might be a bad matchup for him.

It was interesting to think about how tactical balance rounded one out and made them less susceptible to defeat.

Now he had the man's talent, and now he also had his supposed biggest weakness. All he had to do was piece together how it would lead to a victory… But thinking it through right now was impossible.

It wasn’t just going to be this guy… There had to be other worthy competition both inside the Kingdom and outside.

"Did you see anyone else we’ll fight?" Erec asked, still rubbing his face. He didn't think he'd be able to socialize after he sobered up. Although Val promised he could get rid of the alcohol, the dehydration and aftereffects of alcohol consumption would be present.

That all meant he was going to have a hell of a hangover in an hour when it all went away.

"No, I haven't had the time," Garin said, honestly. "I've started to get my feelers out, and I was doing what Dame Robin told me to, when I heard a curious little story about a Knight getting into a drinking competition with a Magi. Man, I didn't think it would be you who'd cause such a public disturbance, Erec. I thought, if anyone, I'd have to bail Colin out. He'd be much more prone to insulting someone and finding himself in trouble.”

Erec shook his head. "I'm sorry," he offered, not knowing what had gotten into him besides the competitive spirit.

Sure, he had gained knowledge, yes. But there were more competitors than just the one Dame Robin flagged. He got so affixed to the idea of a contest with the man that he felt impatient because they might still have to wait weeks before he could fight him in battle.

The tournament was divided into different parts, with minor games before the final Grand Melee, in which the brackets would allow him to face other competitors around his age.

Given that, it would be some time before he finally managed to face off against people in a direct one-to-one, which, more than anything, was what he was looking forward to. After all the pressure, concern, and anxiety over how the Red Priests were behaving and the future of the Kingdom in general, the contest was an outlet.

“Oh… Hello little guy.” Garin muttered as a rat ran up to him. Its little ears twitched as it raised its nose. Garin rubbed at his eyes and let out a quiet, “Ah… Shit.”

"What?" Erec muttered, unsure what about the mouse had provoked that.

"Well, it seems that you're not the only one causing a public disturbance. Can you walk?" Garin asked, looking around the alleyway. They'd been in here for a good hour, and Erec tried to reach his feet, and he could. He was stable, probably with some help from VAL.

“Yes," Erec confirmed.

"Okay, then. We don't have any more time to sit here. Let’s move.”

Garin scooped up the mouse and put him on his shoulder, opposite Munchy, who was now back with Garin. The massive squirrel chittered and got angry at the mouse, not happy to share Garin, but his owner pacified him with a quick pet on his head.

Garin rushed him forward, and Erec, still a little intoxicated, did his best to follow, but it seemed it wasn’t fast enough.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He followed his friend out of the alleyway and back into the crowds populating the streets of the village.

"Come on, we've got to hurry," Garin reiterated.

He followed the mouse, watching it twitch, and headed in the direction of wherever its nose pointed. Erec followed the best he could, zooming through the crowd in the festival village and doing his best to struggle through the vast number of people.

He apologized every now and then, bumping into a person who didn’t deserve it, but there was no helping it. Compared to Garin, who had some kind of natural instinct in crowds like this and swam through the current of people like a fish in a river… Erec was doing all he could just to not lose sight of him.

Eventually, he led Erec to the outskirts of the village, where, as they arrived, they saw two figures on top of a building.

There was a vast crackling of energy, and then a giant bolt of electricity snapped outward from the rooftop, scorching the ground and turning sand into glass as a purple glyph shattered with a vast quantity of magic crashed into the ground, leaving yet another strip of glass in the sand.

There was a loud ‘Oh’ from the nearby crowd, as these two had started to draw attention…

"So many people. So many people. Holy shit," Erec muttered, after seeing the vast expanse of energy blown across the wasteland.

But, even more shocking was that standing up on the roof of the squat concrete building was a Knight. Who wore the same type of Initiate Armor as Garin and Erec.

Colin.

His face was exposed, with a beaming smile as he surveyed his damage with golden glowing eyes.

"Yes," Colin said, his voice carrying as Garin and Erec closed in. "That's been the product of vast quantities of research. Being able to see the way that my magic flows through glyphs and the way that it takes to electricity has let me refine my glyph work down to only what is necessary. I found that there are a couple of different speeds I am able to form glyphs now, though I’m working on condensing even more power into a smaller glyph.”

The man beside him nodded, stroking at his silvered beard, and hummed to himself.

"It's impressive, especially considering you say that you've started your magical research just a few months ago. It is a wonder how such abilities can lead to one's understanding of mysticism. Behold this," he said, and twisted his hand.

A pink glyph appeared, a color that Erec wasn't all that familiar with. He'd seen the basic elements and their correlated colors… But pink was a bit odd. Certainly, nothing in his Basic Mysticism class covered.

There was a second that the landscape seemed to shift before them. The now scorched part of sand and dust suddenly erupted into bright green trees and grass.

"Plants?" Colin gasped. "You conjured life?"

"No, no, no. Nothing as complex as that. What you see here is a manifested illusion. It's a branch of Mysticism that draws from the other corresponding elements. One needs to have a firm understanding of all of the components in order to utilize this.” The man said.

There were even more mutters from the crowd as they didn't quite catch the fact that what they were looking at wasn't real. Which made sense since, to Erec, they certainly looked real. The trees swayed with the wind; The deep, vibrant green was out of place here, even among the surface.

Only the farms, the city, and parts of the Academy had this lush look.

"Colin!" Garin shouted. "What the hell are you doing?"

Colin snorted and looked over. "Ah, if it isn't my two colleagues. Neither of them has an appreciation for the mystical arts that we wield. Ignore them"

"You can't shoot off lightning in this village!" Garin cried.

Colin shook his head. "I wasn't shooting off lightning in the village. I was shooting off lightning into the wastes." He pointed to the wasteland directly outside the village. They had only moved to the outskirts before practicing their magic, so it was a pithy distinction at best, and they were still within the Kingdom walls.

"You know that's not enough," Garin said.

The man waved at them and then, with the snap of his fingers, another glyph, this one a dull brown color, raised stone steps to the top of their roof. The crowd parted, seeing that two Knights were coming to confront the scene, no doubt thinking that they were here to police their own, which, in a way, Erec supposed they were.

"Ah, so you two are friends of my young fellow mysticism enthusiast. Come, come, let us have a chat. I can promise you that he was up to no trouble that you should be concerned about," the man said, waving them up.

With a fleeting glance at Erec, Garin moved up the steps. Erec followed up, too, with a leery feeling in his stomach as he confronted the steps.

As they reached the top, Colin pointed back at the stairs. "There is no need for you to be here. Go, don't you have your missions to accomplish with Dame Robin? We're simply discussing the finer points of mysticism. This esteemed gentleman is Magi Raphael, and he works for the chairman of the Arch Magi. He’s been discussing some of his latest research with me. In return, I decided to show him some of mine."

Erec scrolled through his mind at that information, and then his memories settled on the bald man who had been the head of their discussions when they had reached the city. That was the Arch-Magi, a figure of quite some power in Vega. So this, then—he looked at the silver-haired guy who worked closely with the Chairman… Didn't that mean that he was pretty powerful?

"Goddess," Garin muttered, shaking his head. "Just because you're showing off and flexing your magical talent doesn't mean you can go blasting apart the wasteland so close by. What is Dame Robin going to think?"

"She told me to come here and talk to him, so I think she would be quite understanding that we were discussing magic. Clearly, she intends for me to learn."

The man looked between all of them and shook his head. "Maybe we did get carried away. I was so excited to see a young, promising talent that I couldn’t help but ask for a demonstration of his capabilities. If you would pardon me," he bowed low, "I would beg forgiveness of you, kind Knights, and let us off with the simple understanding that there will be no more magic.”

Colin snorted. "You don't need to apologize to these two. They don't carry any more rank, and their nobility is less than mine. We can continue our discussions."

Raphael raised a hand and shook his head. "There will be plenty of time for further talk. Today was just an acquaintance and a confirmation that you are worthwhile. I would be honored if you would attend some of my lectures during my time here. We have many young Magi who are learning, and I would like to welcome you to any classes I hold. It would be interesting to exchange ideas in the art of mysticism with the students here, both for my students and you."

Colin shook his head and said, "Of course I accept, but still you shouldn't have to apologize."

The man shook his head and then smiled. He then went down the steps he had carved out of solid stone, leading up to the building and leaving just the three Knights sitting up with a bunch of gawkers still below.

Garin sighed, looking at both of them. "I thought we could be fine splitting up. Now I've reconsidered that."

"Colin, you should apologize," Erec said, slurring his words.

Colin snorted, "Is the tin can drunk?"

Garin sighed and pulled them together. "Listen, both of you, we’ll take it easy now. I think we've done plenty enough, and it seems that you two have done what Dame Robin asked. I don't think she expects much more. Come, let us find somewhere peaceful. I'll bring some people, and we can have some conversations, but," he looked between them, "let's just rein it in for the rest of the evening."

Erec found himself agreeing, starting to feel sick inside after the aftereffects of the hangover began appearing. He would like nothing better than to take it easy for the rest of the evening.

Colin agreed, too, although he refused to apologize, and kept trying to argue that he had done nothing wrong…

Either way, the three of them got off the roof, led by Garin, to a more relaxed locale where they could spend the rest of their time in the village.