Chapter 2: Routine
Three days ago, half a continent away from the fallen domain of Yvtar, in the Archduchy and city of Aldeno of the Voldren Kingdom, tucked away between seldom crossed streets was Fulgrith's Atelier, a magic workshop dealing in obscure magic ingredients whose scarcity was only rivaled by their difficulty of use and unusual effects.
In a room on the first floor of the building, a young man laid in bed, fast asleep. Next to him on an end table was a metal disc covered in softly glowing symbols that chimed softly and repeatedly, imitating the sound of a bell. After a few minutes of ringing the sleeping young man shuffled and then rose, rubbing his eyes tiredly and lightly tapping the magical tool to silence it.
He got up, opened his curtains to let in the dim light of early day and walked to his washroom where he washed the drowsiness from his face. Looking into the mirror, Rethys lingered on his reflection.
He was seventeen years old, of average height and of regular appearance, brown eyes and jet-black hair adorning an average looking face. He would not be called handsome, but neither would he be considered unattractive. His ordinary appearance fit right in with the rest of the unimpressive city dwelling commoners, with their monotonous lives followed by unremembered deaths.
He wondered if he too would live and die in this same city, repeating the same day for decades until his own insignificant end, he shuddered to imagine it. Before he could begin wallowing in bleak and depressing thoughts, however, he steeled himself, finishing his morning routine, eating a simple breakfast from the common room and heading down.
Entering the door to the shop on the ground floor, he began doing his rounds, turning on magical tools and checking the shelves. There wasn't much to do here really, the shop had few customers that weren't long time patrons and even those only ever came for small measures of the exotic materials sourced by the shop owner. If that wasn't enough, the shop wouldn't open today and for a few more days, with Rethys and his master being hired as assistants on an expedition. Finishing his rounds in the shop, he stepped through a door in the back to the workshop where his real work took place.
After carefully navigating through the labyrinth that is the workshop, with materials, tools and notes strewn all over the place, Rethys at long last found the light switch. Tapping it lightly to activate it illuminated the expansive studio and laid bare the sheer disorder caused by his employer's genius.
"Another one of his bouts of inspiration, I'm sure." The youth sighed gravely, seeing it was up to him to clean after his master's folly.
Not that he was forced to, in fact the old man insisted many times that he not bothered. But ever since a few months ago, when a few strategically misplaced rune graphs and materials violently reacted, Rethys insisted. And looking at the small glowing stone bead by his foot, his thoroughness was once again proven necessary.
Carefully picking up the glowing green marble, Rethys raised it into the air where it began emitting a strange vaporlike substance that began to wander around the room seemingly with a mind of its own. That substance was Ether, the mystical and mysterious source of all magic that permeated all things, living or not, and that smooth spherical stone that contained it was an etherstone that almost blew up the whole workshop.
Stowing away the dangerous item in a special container, he moved to at least somewhat organize the mess that his mentor had created.
As he finished tidying the place to the best of his ability, he approached the main worktable where his master and employer, Fulgrith, snored away, unconcerned with all around him.
Looking at his mentor's sleeping visage after cleaning up his mess, Rethys sighed tiredly. Back when he was still a street orphan, when he was told he was getting taken in by a mage, and a crafter at that, he expected more. Today, not only did his diagnosed magical talent still not bloom, but he also basically became his mentor's glorified nanny.
He wouldn't complain about his circumstances, a roof over his head and a bed to sleep after his life on the streets were a true blessing, and his knowledge of magic was always growing, however slowly, thanks to the old man's magical knowledge and books, and his forthcoming if somewhat eccentric mentorship, yet he wouldn't deny that he expected more of this arrangement.
'I shouldn't be so impatient.' He repeated his mentor's words. 'The ether will call upon me when I'm ready.'
Looking at the bright side, he reminded himself that his manifestations were growing sharper with time.
These manifestations of his element expressed themselves as a vague ability to sense living things and sometimes tell when they were lying. While the former implied an attunement with the element of Life, the latter, faint as it was, firmly confirmed his primary element as that of the Mind. A valuable element too, though supposedly mandatory to learn for every mage due to its sheer scope of abilities, a natural affinity with it was seen as very promising.
If he awoke it soon that was. And at his age of seventeen now, things were beginning to drag on, and he knew it.
There was one thing however that he hadn't shared with the magic appraisers who tested his affinity. An aspect he knew would brand him more as a lunatic than a magically gifted kid, and he knew that even as a street urchin, making a note not to mention it to anyone.
Looking at his mentor's sleeping form for long enough he could make out a word forming in his mind. He could almost see it, but not quite. He could swear he heard it but there was no sound uttered from anywhere. He simply felt it in the back of his mind, and very vividly.
'Failure.' His manifestation intoned in a non-existent but very audible voice.
This strange manifestation would sometimes give out cryptic messages if he stared long enough at someone. And though Rethys used to instinctively trust this ability of his and believe it to be a sign of his great talent, his increasing inability to understand what exactly it meant or did, if it did anything, only deepened his frustration with himself. He did not even know what "Failure" meant in relation to his master, whom he spent upwards of four years with now. He guessed it was related to his falling out with his family, but never looked to confirm his hypothesis.
That was enough introspection for one day, he finally figured, it was time for his greatest hurdle and most important duty in this establishment.
"Master Fulgrith. Master Fulgrith wake up." He repeated softly as he shook the middle-aged man by his shoulder, to no avail.
His mentor must have stayed awake deep into the night, engrossed in his research, trying to find the breakthrough that he time and time again reminded Rethys was "right around the corner". Despite his apprentice's chastising however, Fulgrith continues to bound many corners looking for his elusive breakthrough, and a game of cat and mouse would ensue between apprentice and master.
"Get up old man it's already morning!" Having fulfilled his quota of patience for the day, Rethys started actually trying to wake him up. "And why was there a charged etherstone on the floor? You almost blew up the lab again... again!"
"I'm awake... just... give me...few more minutes." The middle-aged mage groggily said before shifting his posture. He didn't seem intent on waking up any time soon, but Rethys had his methods.
"Hmm... This paper has an awful lot of notes on it, it'd be a shame if I were to burn it."
"No Reth! Not my findings on Life ether purity!" Fulgrith grunted while straining to look at which paper his disciple was holding. "I need them for my next breakthrough!"
Rethys ignored the usual pleading and instead reached for a nearby burner from among his master's tools.
"Alright, alright I'm up!" Knowing that his apprentice's threats were not at all empty, the old mage rose, his huge body swaying from drowsiness and threatening to crush a table or three if he tripped.
'Still can't believe he's in his fifties.' Looking at his mentor, Rethys was once again dumbfounded by the physique he possessed
Alren Fulgrith was a man in his early fifties that appeared much younger. He was stern looking with shaggy gray hair and beard. Despite his age however he was anything but feeble, standing at over 2 meters tall and with a terrifying build that would put most knights to shame. His craggy exterior, however, belied an interior soft towards the younger generations and concerned almost only with magical research, along with a one-track mind that got him absorbed in his work.
He was the textbook gentle giant found in children's tales, if the giant was so obsessed with research, he'd pull consecutive all-nighters without breaking a sweat.
"Remember to wash up, you'd scare a troll dead with that look and smell. The Order's coming to pick us up in about two hours. And don't forget Miss Siildra's request." Rethys reminded him.
"Yep. Is our stuff ready?" Fulgrith asked.
"I've already packed everything yesterday; we'll be ready to go as soon as you look presentable." Rethys nodded.
"Great! Good lad Reth!" Fulgrith said, patting Rethys with a bit too much force before staggering out of the workshop to go to his quarters on the second floor, leaving his disciple to finish sorting the hazardous environment that was the workshop.
In half an hour the old mage was back in the workshop, and both started working on assembling a commission for a noblewoman involving some rare materials that needed to be processed then stored in very particular conditions.
The extremely complex process seemed a waste of effort to Rethys, especially for such a small amount of goods, but he wouldn't argue with nobles and their peculiar needs. This meticulousness was after all the only reason they dealt with his mentor to begin with.
Finishing the process, Fulgrith closed the small, slightly-ornate chest with a click, followed by the soft humming of nullstones activating and isolating its contents from the rest of the world.
As that was their only true order of business for the day, they now only had to wait for Lady Siildra to send for her package, and later for the Mage Order's carriage to take them to the expedition. They spent the time stowing away the more sensitive materials in the workshop into more suitable storage in anticipation of their departure.
It didn't take long after for Lady Siildra's apprentice to arrive for her order. Already carrying too much stuff for one single person and needing help to exit the store without dropping something. Rethys shot him an understanding look and nod, feeling empathetic with his peer's plight, only to receive a derisive glare in return. It was as if the apprentice had just stepped on manure instead of receiving an acknowledging nod.
'Oh... a noble.' Rethys thought, his expression growing colder.
Though the eccentric Miss Siildra was pleasant company, she seemed to be an exception among the nobility that often treated commoners as inferiors and commoner mages with hardly concealed contempt. His master often spoke about how higher nobles didn't display such temperaments, instead appreciating all mages, but he doubted his gentle mentor's words.
Wrapping up that affair, the two spent some more time tidying things up before hearing loud knocking, rather than the sound of the bell on the shop counter. This was not a customer.
"Looks like our ride is here Reth!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone