Chapter 70: A Night’s Talk

The aurora had shifted from green to a pale, bruised violet by the time Arthur’s breath settled into something steadier. Long, sinuous bands threaded the sky, sometimes thinning into hairlike filaments that trembled and snapped back into broader, ribboned waves.

Close to the ground the colors refracted and softened. Snow and rock caught the violet in different ways, some surfaces reflected a metallic sheen while others drank the light and returned only a muted wash. The overall effect was of a sky that was both distant and intimate; a breathing presence whose mood shifted in deliberate gestures while Arthur, small beneath it, matched his breath to its tempo.

He stood with his forearms on the top rail at the far edge of the ring, watching the sky above; the cold up here was a different animal than Ashford’s cold, it felt like a presence that required him to rearrange himself around it.

Aldric stopped beside him and remained silent for a moment. He looked up at the sky with the same expression a man uses when checking the weather; familiar, mildly appreciative, but not particularly impressed.

“It does that most nights here in the north,” he said. “You stop noticing it after the first winter, then one night you look up, and notice again.”

“For some reason, the silence here feels comforting,” Arthur said.

Aldric’s breath rose in a slow column. “In the Capital they call it peaceful, but people who have lived in it long enough, call it something else.”

They stood that way for a while as the aurora pulled its curtain of light sideways across the black.

Aldric tilted his chin toward the training ring. “She was down there until two hours ago.”

Arthur had already deduced as much from the disturbed ground at the ring’s center. “Her footwork?”

“Same pattern for three years.” A pause. “She no longer practices to sharpen her edge, only to keep it from rusting. She is a Lunalar after all.”

Arthur’s lips curved upward slightly at the man’s statement.

Like father like daughter…

Aldric’s gaze shifted briefly to his hands, as if measuring something invisible. “I see you are still a tier one mage,” he said mildly. There was no disdain in his tone; only observation.

“Well… that’s because I only awakened recently,’ Arthur replied

“Still, you need to take your training seriously if you are hoping to get a chance of attending the academy.”

Arthur thought for a moment, then said, “I heard aunt Sylvia mention it when she introduced me to Lady Thalienne, but I still do not know anything else about it.”

“The Academy gathers awakened individuals from every race. Most graduate in their third year, when they break into the fourth tier. It also happens to be where alliances form.” Aldric explained.

“And what are the requirements to join the Academy?” Arthur asked, his voice tinged with a hint of curiosity.

Aldric smiled in response, “Pretty straightforward, you just need to be an awakened third circle and get a formal invitation.”

“And how can you get an invitation?”

“Well… that is the tricky part. Only members of the round table, royalty, and dukes are able to recommend individuals.”

Members of the round table?

“Who are those members?”

“You are quite the curious fellow. The round table is formed by the headmaster that represents the Sages of the six continents, each representing a race,” Aldric replied

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Sages… Does that mean there is a higher tier than an Archmage?

“Show me something now,” Aldric said, his tone lightly teasing. “Even a basic spell.”