The Trials of Magnus : Chapter 12
By: J. Charles Ramirez
Tags: Epic, Novel, Fantasy, Litrpg, Serial Fiction

Chapter 12: What It Means To Be Eirskottir

“Magnus! Magnus come on! Dottie said we have to get to the courtyard!”

Magnus rubbed his tired eyes and looked at the girl with contempt. She had interrupted his wonderful sleep, and he could definitely use it. He had spent most of his night trying in vain to manipulate the water sitting inside the cup next to his bed. He hadn’t been successful.

“Let’s go!” the girl yelled, jumping on top of Magnus and shaking him. “You don’t want to make Gran angry again! You remember what happened the last time.”

“Ugh. Alright, alright! I’m up.”

Slowly, Magnus rose from his quaint, yet comfortable bed. The straw underneath his blankets were broken down from years of use, and served as quite a luxurious commodity for him now. The rest of his room, which was more of a closet, really, was decorated with a singular stone chair and a chest for his change of clothes. Nothing else could be found in Magnus’ room, he didn’t even have any personal belongings after so many years spent at the temple. Everything, from the books he learned from to the food he ate were all provided by Dottie and the temple staff that helped serve the orphans.

“Good. Come on, let’s get going!” the girl said as she darted out of the room and down the stone corridor.

“Wait for me Imryll!” Magnus yelled as he chased after the small girl. She was Magnus’ age but small, even compared to the Tuhlar that Magnus had met, though he hadn’t much experience with them. Her twin brother had already grown nearly into his adulthood and dwarved the girl now. Her hair was black, but Magnus could see the kiss of the forest in her hair when it shone, the long straight locks seeming to float around her, kept neatly behind her pointed ears which stretched to the back of her head.

She had become Magnus’ best friend at the temple, the only other people his age being humans who seemed happier to avoid Magnus or torment him when they had the chance. He figured it was mostly due to being Oth’tun, his animal-like appearance so drastically different from them. Tuhlar were close enough to humans that they never experienced much outward hate like the the beastfolk, as far as Magnus could tell, limited though his experience was.

“Imryll!” That girl is so fast! Magnus dashed through a tall hall with arches decorating the walkway out towards a large circular field of grass centered in the temple. As he passed through one of the final arches, a slight form leaped down on him from above. Magnus yelped in surprise and tripped, falling to the ground with Imryll proudly hanging on, pinning him down when he landed.

“Gotta pay more attention to your surroundings, Maggy!” She gingerly stepped off from Magnus’ back and helped lift him to his feet. “You can’t use magic like the rest of us so you gotta make sure you’re paying attention.”

“Should I really be concerned about my safety here at home?” Magnus protested.

“Those boys are always trying to hurt you Maggy, and if it’s this bad here, imagine what your life will be like once we finally leave this place. I can’t protect you forever.” Imryll said.

“Protect me?”

“Yeah. I’m honestly tired of punching Joranduin in the face every day when he tries something, or says something, or plots something, et cetera et cetera.” Imryll shook her head playfully, emoting her exhaustion.

“I can take care of myself, Imryll.” Magnus said, placing his hands on his hips in a huff.

“Until you can defeat me, no, you can’t.” Imryll said coldly.

Magnus was getting ready to protest again before he caught a sharp strike from a wooden rod in the back of the head. Imryll was already running into the courtyard when Magnus looked back up at her. He looked up sheepishly at the elderly woman who had rapped him across the skull.

“Hi, Dottie.” Magnus said sheepishly.

“You’re late, boy. Look there,” she pointed the rod towards the center of the field, where five others sat patiently, including Imryll who made it there in record time, “everyone else manages to be exactly where I ask them to be exactly when I ask them to be there.”

“But, you aren’t there yet, so how can I be late if we arrive together?”

Dottie smiled, her wrinkled mouth displaying a hint of appreciation for the briefest of moments before she hit Magnus over the head with the rod again.

“Whether I am there or not does not change the fact that I asked you to be there thirty minutes after breakfast had been served. You are late.”

“What about you? Are you late?” Magnus prodded, receiving another rapping as a reward.

“I was meant to be there in the courtyard forty minutes after breakfast had been served. I am actually early.” She laughed lightheartedly and walked towards the courtyard, beckoning Magnus to follow as she did. Magnus compiled, rubbing the top of his head the entire way there. As he arrived he found that Imryll was sat in between her brother, Iymbryl, and Aeson, a human boy. Unable to sit near his friend, Magnus decided to sit in solitude to avoid confrontation with Ellindur and Joranduin, who sat at either end of the row.

Dottie stood in the center of the courtyard and looked over her students. A few moments later, she began.

“Today will be unique for you all. We will have an extremely important and special lecture following dinner. Until that time, we will forgo the usual learning periods that we have done to this point. I will meet with you all one on one for some individual training that will help you for what’s to come tonight. Until that time, you are all to practice your basic combat drills until lunch, and after lunch you will commence with practicing with magic. I will come for you as I need you. Aeson, you’re up first. Come with me to my office.” Then, just as quickly as she had arrived, she was gone, Aeson in tow. She hadn’t left any time for them to ask questions, and all of them had some.

“What the heck was that?” Ellindur asked, looking over at the other three who sat next to him. “Why bring us all out here just for that?”

“You know the witch works in mysterious ways.” Joranduin responded. “So, combat drills…” Joranduin flashed a wicked smile at his friend, “let’s practice fighting as a group!”

“No need.” Iymbryl said. Magnus looked over at the Tuhlar boy. He looked nearly identical to his sister, despite being almost a foot taller. His features were just as feminine as hers, with hair nearly as long as she had. Despite his slender frame, Magnus knew it was hiding a ridiculously powerful physique. He seemed to be made almost entirely of lean muscle, although he seldom wore clothing that betrayed that fact.

Magnus watched as Iymbryl stood and his sister followed suit, not even a word passing between them as they both retrieved their weapons, him a wooden staff and her twin sickles, blunted as to not cause any serious damage, and began sparring with each other at the far side of the courtyard.

“Well, that’s a bust, I guess.” Joranduin said, feigning sorrow.

“Yeah, that’s just too bad.” Ellindur copied, then when they felt like Magnus was unaware, Joranduin dashed at Magnus and threw out a leaping kick. Magnus caught it with one hand, but Ellindur had run behind Magnus when he was distracted by Joranduin’s attack. Ellindur grabbed onto Magnus’ long tail and rolled on the ground, lifting Magnus up and crashing him down hard on his shoulders. Magnus coughed up a spurt of blood as his head cracked against the ground; the grass doing very little to cushion the fall.

Joranduin and Ellindur exchanged an excited high-five at the success of their attack and readied their combat stances as Magnus rose to his feet, shaking the confusion away. A moment later, the two launched another flurry of attacks.

Joranduin and Ellindur were close friends, and their teamwork was extremely coordinated, each taking turns throwing punches and kicks while the other targeted the weak points where Magnus’ defense faltered. Magnus was adept at blocking most of the attacks, but he was left with no chance to counter. Punch after punch, kick after kick landed and within a minute, Magnus’ body ached in severe pain. Magnus growled at his attackers and leapt backwards, attempting to either put some distance between them or give himself enough of a lapse that he could attack.

The moment he landed his attackers gave chase, and Magnus knew the only way to gain the advantage was to push forward. He ran at them, giving the briefest of pause to both Joranduin and Ellindur; an opportunity. Magnus exploited the momentary weakness and twisted as he jumped over Joranduin, landing facing his back and suddenly grappling him, hoisting him up in the air and driving him down towards the ground just as Ellindur had done to Magnus. As he returned to his standing position, he watched Ellindur launch a wide kick and he curled his body around it, corkscrewing again in the air as he connected a kick of his own to Ellindur’s temple. Both of them struggled to their feet as they looked at Magnus with anger.

“You dirty animal.” Joranduin spat in front of him, clearing the blood from his mouth. Then without a word, he took off at an inhuman speed and clobbered Magnus with a terrifying blow to the chest. Magnus was pushed back from the force of the attack and was caught from behind by Ellindur, who locked Magnus’ arms away from his body, leaving his core open for Joranduin to continue punching.

Magnus struggled as Joranduin landed several hits with the same intensity on him, and Magnus was getting desperate. He twisted his head to the side and leaned his shoulder into Ellindur so he could clamp down hard on Ellindur’s collar, using his powerful jaw to drive his fangs deep into the boy.

Ellindur howled in pain as he let go, Magnus grabbing him and tossing him over his shoulder towards Joranduin. Magnus continued attacking, slashing at Joranduin with his claws this time, leaving cuts up and down Joranduin’s arms. Even reinforced as the boy was, the pain wasn’t something he could ignore for long.

“You think you’re so clever, beast?” Joranduin continued swinging at Magnus, connecting more than Magnus could dodge, but the power behind them was slowly waning, the tell-tale sign of mana exhaustion. Magnus swiped a claw towards Joranduin’s chest and the boy jumped back.

“Try this on for size, then. Explode!” the boy screamed, a halo of magical power enveloping his hand as he grabbed a small object from his pocket. He squeezed a small trigger on the item and a mechanism struck flint on steel inside of it, sparks of flame leaping from the cylinder. The magical energy Joranduin was channeling caught the sparks and a roaring flamethrower erupted from the small firestarter, magnified by the force of mana feeding it as fuel. The light from the flame was blinding, and Magnus closed his eyes tight, unable to defend or escape.

When the impact didn’t come, Magnus peeked through his hands to see Imryll standing in front of him, the fire starkly absent. Just beyond her was her brother, one foot keeping Ellindur down while his staff was pointed menacingly at Joranduin’s throat.

“You aren’t allowed to use magic during combat drills.” Iymbryl said plainly.

“He deserved it! Look at what he did to me!” Joranduin yelled out, displaying the cuts on his arms as evidence. “Look at Ellindur! He’s going to need stitched now!” Iymbryl looked down at the other boy. Magnus could see a small trail of blood streaming from the wound he inflicted on him. Before Iymbryl could respond again, however, Dottie walked up behind Joranduin and cracked him over the head with her rod, hard. The boy nearly fell over as he spun around, a fist raised in retaliation. Magnus couldn’t see his expression, but he could tell Joranduin was contemplating still attacking. Dottie, like Magnus, couldn’t use magic.

“So you’re telling me the two of you, magically enhancing yourselves as you did, couldn’t take down one enemy who was not using magic?” she interrogated them.

“It’s not fair! He’s a monster! He used his claws and his teeth! Why can’t we use our magic in return?”

“Humans are not the only being in this world. You will often have to face things that are bigger than you, stronger than you, smarter than you even.” Dottie spoke condescendingly, looking down her nose at the boy. “If you don’t have the martial ability to take down someone like Magnus without magic reinforcement, especially when there are two of you, you’ll always be weak.”

“If it weren’t for these two, I would have won!” Joranduin contested.

“Magic is to be a compliment for your own abilities, not a crutch. If you cannot become a stronger fighter on your own merits, well, prepare for a lifetime of disappointment.”

Dottie looked at Ellindur, still nearly unconscious and bleeding faster now.

“Aeson, be a dear and heal these two up quick. It doesn’t have to be thorough, just stop the bleeding. They could do with a few days of discomfort.”

“Yes Madam.” Aeson responded quietly, as he always had. It had taken him about fifteen minutes, but Aeson managed to use healing magic on the both of them, closing up their wounds. Dottie watched the entire time, not saying a word.

“Splendid work. You two,” -she grabbed both Ellindur and Joranduin by their shirts- “come with me.”

* * *

The rest of the morning went by without Magnus seeing signs of Joranduin, Ellindur, or Dottie. Both Imryll and Magnus had questioned Aeson about what Dottie had in store for them, but he wouldn’t budge. “Sworn to secrecy.” was all he would say.

Instead, Magnus and Aeson lightly sparred for a while. Aeson never seemed to give it his full attention, and hated combat drills. Magnus was happy to go at his partner’s pace. Aeson and Dottie were the only two humans he had ever met that didn’t seem to hate him for being Oth’tun. Even back in the village before the incident that lost him his home and his mother, the only humans he had ever come across had been rude and prejudiced. He hadn’t been old enough to put it together when he was still with his mother, but he slowly came to understand it as he grew in the temple alongside the human children. Dottie had told him it was a cultural disease that the parents pass down to their children; hate for anything different than they, but Magnus didn’t want to accept that answer.

All he knew was every human he met had a chance to treat him kindly, but willfully chose not to. He had never hated his feline features; they had plenty of merit. His tail kept him balanced and agile, his claws were a deadly weapon, he knew he could see and hear better than anyone in the temple; he loved every part of him, even the reddish tones of his fur and his yellow eyes. Thoughts like these always seemed to creep back into his mind when he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings or interacting with someone else, and he always struggled to remind himself of the love he had for himself, despite the hate he always received.

Before they knew it, the bells in the center tower chimed the lunch hour and Magnus, Aeson, Iymbryl, and Imryll left the courtyard for the dining hall. Imryll fell into step next to Magnus, and they enjoyed each other’s company for the walk. They spoke of what they always did; the day’s events, wondering what was going to happen next, sharing stories of what little they remember of their home. The twins were from a place called Jaath Serin, the seat of power for the Tuhlar. It was nestled in the valley of an expansive mountain range on the western border of the Sea of Wilgate. It was where most of the Tuhlar lived, and where their government was located. According to Imryll, it was a massive forest city, linking trees and canopies with beautiful glass and metal bridges erupting from massive trunks that have been expanded and reinforced with steel. The most opulent building is an extremely ancient tree that dwarfs any tree around it, with it’s hollowed trunk providing the space for all of the necessary buildings and facilities.

Just as Magnus was enchanted and mesmerized by Imryll’s idyllic portrait of her home, she seemed just as interested in Magnus’ small village. He told her of the caves that his people inhabited; how the Oth’tun tried to maintain the natural aesthetic of their homes as faithfully as they could, just like the Tuhlar, though to a greater degree, and refused to do anything that would disrupt it. Their homes were lit by bioluminescent plants that glowed a bright white in dark spaces, the rough walls of the mountain caverns providing their structure and support. Most Oth’tun lived openly with other members of their families, and large groups inhabited the cavern rooms inside the mountains. Imryll looked on with fascination every time Magnus explained how each part of their biology was adapted to life in the mountains; their fur preventing lacerations by the sharp stone and its thermoregulating properties, their eyes allowing them to see in the dim light, even their tails providing balance over the varied terrain. Their small town was made almost entirely out of dried grass and wood, creating structures necessary for their survival inside the cave.

Magnus lived with his mother, her mother, and several other members of her family; their society was matriarchal and the males lived with their wive’s families. His father had died before Magnus was born from a mysterious illness which had swept through the population. Imryll pressed for more information, especially about what led to Magnus’ arrival at the temple, but he was afraid to tell her. The Tuhlar had caused the disaster, although not maliciously, and he didn’t want to upset her. She was really his only friend in the world.

Instead, they focused on their meal, talking quietly to themselves that they still hadn’t seen Joranduin or Ellindur return, and wondered if they were in trouble with Dottie. That line of discussion didn’t last long, however, as they spent most of the time eating voraciously, knowing the time they had to do so was dreadfully short. No sooner than it began did the lunch time end by another chiming of the central bell and they were up and moving towards a central chamber of the temple, readying for their magic training.

* * *

The chamber they entered was large; pillars supporting the circular room all around. There were several smaller rooms encircling the perimeter, each of those smaller chambers held a desk, some chairs, and many books. The vast majority of the chamber, however, was a lowered central platform devoid of furnishings, creating an arena-like zone. On the far half of the room opposite the entrance were a few rows of seats, where Magnus and Dottie sat to watch the others perform and practice.

As usual, Magnus walked to the seats where Dottie already was and sat next to her. She nodded wordlessly at him, and looked over to the central platform where she had set up five massive blocks in a line. Joranduin, Ellindur, Iymbryl, Imryll, and Aeson each stood, as usual, at the edge of the platform.

“You each have one block. Your job today is to break it.” Dottie spoke.

“How?” Ellindur asked, a tone of shock crossing his features.

“With magic, obviously.” Dottie said, waving a hand dismissively. “Get to it. You have four hours.”

“What about me, Dottie?” Magnus asked. Usually Dottie had Magnus practice awareness, searching for the slightest hint of mana in the air, in a person, anywhere it could be found. She said once he was able to become aware of the mana all around him, he would be able to learn how to manipulate it like the other students had. He practiced this for years, and has not yet been able to make it happen. All of the others had learned it almost immediately after being instructed by Dottie, and quickly moved on to actual mana application.

“Just watch for today, dear. You may learn something from how each of them will go about this.” Magnus sank in defeat. He yearned so strongly to be a part of it. To use magic as they did. Joranduin seemed to be growing at an alarming pace, being able to use an elemental magic so soon, Aeson was ridiculously good with healing magic, Imryll and Iymbryll had an amazing detection sense, using mana to find their prey, and Ellindur, while seemingly lagging behind the rest, always had a knack for mana reinforcement, making himself stronger many times over his limits.

Magnus watched as he was bade to do, concentrating on whatever seemed to stand out to him. Imryll and Iymbryll both just looked at their stones for a while, not moving, while Joranduin and Ellindur punched away at the massive blocks, obviously reinforcing themselves. They managed to chip away small chunks of the stones, but at the rate they were going, they wouldn’t break it before they broke themselves.

Aeson was a different beast entirely. Magnus looked at him just in time to watch him place a small pebble on top of the stone, and suddenly a green aura cast across the tiny object. Within moments, a leaf sprouted from what must have been a seed, and Aeson strained as he continued to channel life mana into it.

“Dottie, what’s he doing?”

“The most brilliant thing he could have done. Watch how he applies what normally would be a healing magic to that plant.”

Magnus continued to watch; the plant growing every moment. The others seemed to stop and regard him as well, his wondrous ability captivating them from their own duties. Soon, Magnus could see what Aeson was trying to do. Roots sank into the stone, growing and pushing, and before long, a large crack began to form down the sides of the block. As the plant continued its growth, widening and growing a tough trunk of bark, its roots continued at an exponential rate. Aeson continued funneling magic in, and a few minutes later, the roots split the stone completely in two, the fledgling tree falling to the ground with heavy force.

“Aeson, just magnificent, dear, utterly magnificent. Everyone, do you see what he did? He managed to use a healing magic to, well, cause destruction. You don’t always need brute force to complete your task. A smart, novel approach to a situation will bring forth better results with less effort. Aeson, can you explain your thinking for the rest of us?”

“Yes, Madam.” Aeson began, his quiet voice nonetheless carrying through the room, “I knew I didn’t have enough mana to force it to break on its own, but you don’t need a lot of mana to make a plant grow, you just need to know where it has to go, kinda like healing. I gave it to the plant, and sent it into its roots, the plant just did the rest.”

“Damn.” Ellindur said under his breath, quietly appreciative of the show.

“Splendid. A perfect way to tackle this problem. I hope you all are inspired to think outside of the box now.” Dottie smiled as she sat back down, pride in her student filling her up. Magnus continued his silence and watched.

The last of the stones broke quite quickly after Aeson blazed the trail for them. Iymbryl and Imryll did something quite unusual and teamed up to break theis. It was never expressly forbidden, and Dottie congratulated them, too, for their wisdom. They both walked slowly around the stones, one by one, and picked up two sharp chips from Aeson’s rubble. Then, they each held it up at opposite ends of the stone, driving it into the rock with mana enhanced power. The block was divided cleanly in two, the twins having used their powers of detection to locate faults in the rock where they could exploit its weakness.

When both of the stones were broken, Dottie had taken them away for their private meeting with her. Magnus figured they would go together, they always seemed to do everything together when it came to fighting and magic. Magnus found comfort in knowing despite that, Imryll seemed to enjoy being in his company whenever she didn’t have to work.

Joranduin managed to destroy his stone before Dottie had returned, chipping out a small relief in it, then funneling a full power fire blast inside the stone. It had combusted with some mineral on the inside and exploded outwards, launching debris in every direction. Ellindur continued pounding away at the stone, and hadn’t managed to finish before Dottie had wandered back into the chamber.

“Thirty minutes left, dear.” she reminded Ellindur. He persisted nonetheless, his mana reserves still not depleting from over three hours of effort. It was about fifteen more minutes before he broke completely through his stone.

“Good job. I did ask you to think outside of the box, but I didn’t say you couldn’t just punch it, huh?” Dottie walked over and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “You did wonderfully, that was a testament to the amount of mana you are able to store and use. Be proud.”

As the exercise came to a close, Dottie told them the time for their special lecture was soon, and led them all out of the room.

* * *

The intimate classroom was lit warmly by several braziers. They all sat in the six chairs that occupied the room, Dottie standing at the head.

“It is time you all learned of exactly why I have been training you for so long. Tonight is a most special night for all of you. I don’t teach you magic for fun or my own benefit. I do it for the gods.” She looked at each of them in turn before continuing, “I am a humble servant of all of the seven. My sworn duty in this life is to train the next generations of their champions. It is time you learned of the Eirskottir.”

Magnus listened quietly, but not attentively, as he knew the implications. He was not able to use magic, so he would not be Eirskottir. His mind glazed over as Dottie continued her speech, answering question after question, and congratulating them all on their accomplishments so far. Then something stuck out to him near the end of the lecture.

“The gods themselves will choose their champion, and they will give you power.”

Magnus looked up immediately, hope shining in his eyes once again. Imryll elbowed him in his side, seeing his expression and smiling gently at him.

“You are free to go. Rest, the ritual will begin at midnight.” As they all rose to leave, Dottie spoke up again, “Magnus, come with me to my office.”

Dottie’s study was quaint; books and vials littered everywhere, clothes and various other forms of dishelvement changed the stone chamber into something that felt more like a home. There was a large basin in the center of the room filled with water.

“Put your hand in the water.”

Magnus did as he was told, and placed his anxious hand in the water. It was cold, but besides that, there was nothing that spoke out to Magnus as being unusual. He held it there for a few seconds before looking up to Dottie in confusion.

“Hrmm, I was worried about that.” her face grimaced as she spoke, “this basin was given to me by Ialdin specifically to discover what kind of magic each person is predisposed to. I use this to try and make an informed guess as to who’s service each person will be going into.”

“What does it say about me, then?” Magnus pleaded.

“Nothing at all. It seems like you’ll never learn magic, and the gods can’t give it to you.”

“So I won’t be one of the Eirskottir, then.”

“No. I’m sorry child. You may stay here as long as you like, however. I’ll still give you a home.”

Magnus didn’t care. He withdrew his hand in anger and ran out, running until he was out of the temple and the stone structure was a faint dot in the distance. It was dark out, raining too, but it didn’t bother him much, he just continued to run, trying to escape his fears and pain. All he had ever wanted was to be able to cast magic like they could. Tears stung his eyes and he ended up in front of an abandoned tower, half of it completely gone. He walked inside and sat under a wooden ceiling, protecting himself from the elements.

“Why are you crying?”

Magnus shot up in surprise, staring directly at a faintly glowing form in front of him, its purple essence weak.

“Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you.” the form said.

“I believe you.” Magnus responded. He knew he shouldn’t, but there was something about this thing that was familiar, something that felt like a part of him. He couldn’t help but be drawn to it. “I am weak. That is why I’m crying.”

“You are not weak, Magnus.”

“How do you know my name?” Magnus asked, flinching back; his apprehension beginning to overcome him.

“I have watched over you for many years. You are not weak.”

“I can’t cast any magic! I’ll never be Eirskottir like Imryll. I’ll always just be,” -he motioned at himself- “this.”

“You will be my champion, Magnus.” The form said, before it enveloped Magnus completely, its violet shine molding over him and then situating itself in Magnus’ right hand. Suddenly, a symbol appeared on it; three hooked circles intertwined. A voice rang in Magnus’ head soon after.

“My name is Hesh, and I am one of the original gods of this land. Listen close, as I do not have strength left to speak after this. You are now and forever Eirskottir, and you will be the instrument of my vengeance.”