Ascension Of The Elder

Well that was an image I think everyone could do without if I"m honest thought Kyle while he waved and led his steed through the gate following the guard captain who was taking them in.

The group were looking around the grounds, there were people moving around with various purposes but the most obvious group were a crowd of men who looked like they were holding a wrestling compet.i.tion.

As they walked past Kyle saw that the man who seemed to be dominating looked to be around 20 standing a good 6foot 3inches tall with a mane of s.h.a.ggy blonde hair. While some of the others seemed to be stronger or faster this guy just kept getting back up until his opponent gave up.

They had stopped to watch this match before the captain tried to hustle them on.

"Excuse me my Lord is waiting would you follow me please."

"Sorry I was distracted, that young man has a good willpower he"ll go far if he can maintain it."

Kyle thought this young man would be an excellent guard but unfortunately he was already tied to the black family. The captain looked back to the ring and smiled slightly before he carried onwards to the stable so they could store their steeds.

Once the steeds were in their stables they headed through a side entrance which took them to the main entrance which was guarded by two men holding great swords blade down with their hands crossed over the hilt.

It appeared that the delay at the entrance was to give them time to get things into place giving a sense of authority and grandeur. It didn"t really have any effect on Kyle however as he knew that these men didn"t have the correct armour for their size so it was pinching and chafing while they waited for the group to walk through. Kyle leaned towards one of the men and gave a little advice.

"You know if you use coconut b.u.t.ter it won"t rub as bad."

Leaving behind a red faced guard Kyle walked through the entrance with a big smile on his face. He liked this place it had a lot of life and energy to it. Walking through the entranceway Kyle and the rest were looking around taking in the surroundings.

The building looked much more elegant inside than it appeared from the outside. Multiple light sources were used to brighten what would be a very dark place grand carpets littered the floor with many large murals covered the bare walls.

With the high vaulted ceilings braced with dark hardwoods to the narrow high windows s.p.a.ced to far apart this was truly a home built for combat with only a veneer of civility hiding the sharp edges. The captain carried on walking through the hall occasionally pointing to one mural or another telling the group what they represented.

"This one is a picture of the lord"s grandfather when he battled in the high plain pa.s.s and that one is of the current lord"s battle with the crater gang who had been hara.s.sing the merchants."

Kyle merely nodded and thought this was a little over the top while he could hear Miranda and Clara whispering behind him while Bruno had been relegated to walking besides One.

"Why do you think they have so many pictures of old battles?" Miranda asked with her usual innocence.

"Maybe they want to remind themselves of what they did in the past; my dad says that as you get older your memory can start to fail." Clara responded with her knowledge gained from being a whole year older.

"I don"t know some of them are really old maybe they"re compensating for something?" Miranda thought this may be a good explanation for why there were also so many portraits in which the people presented didn"t look like real people.

"Maybe what do you think they"re compensating for? Do they need help or maybe a healer?" Clara was worried for the family as they didn"t treat them badly and they didn"t want them to have any problems. By now Kyle had tears in his eyes and a red face from trying to stop bursting out with laughter. Looking at the captain he could see he was shaking when suddenly there was a little *pfft* of suppressed laughter and he knew the captain wasn"t angry but like him was trying to stop laughing.

"Don"t worry girls these things come and go and I"m sure they"ll find something to help get over their issues." Kyle decided to head this off before they got to close to the main hall in case Leonard Black managed to hear what they were saying.

"Okay my Lord." Miranda and Clara responded together trusting that Kyle would be able to sort any issue.

On reaching the main hall they saw it opened into a large chamber flanked by large columns with a dark red carpet leading to a chair on a raised dais. The chair didn"t look unlike a throne with a large man sitting in it with his chin in his hand as he looks at these children entering.

Seeing the man Kyle could see if he stood he would tower over everyone present. He had a large bushy beard with warm brown eyes with slightly bushy eyebrows. His brown hair was semi short. He also had begun to develop a bit of a gut probably from living the good life a bit too much. While the mana within the body could heal and maintain strength it couldn"t prevent a paunch if you ate too many pies.

Kyle walked forward leaving the rest slightly behind, as he walked he seemed to cloak himself in n.o.bility. A sense of confidence and dignity formed around him making the others present look at him like he was a different person.

This was Kyle pulling how to act like a n.o.ble from the previous Kyle"s memory; he had been trained in oratory and in how to present yourself as a n.o.ble. This coupled with a little release of soul force meant that even if Kyle was in nothing but a pair of fluffy pink slippers people would still feel the need to defer to him.

Seeing this sudden change in Kyle Leonard raised his head from his hand and begun to pay attention to this new scion. The only time he felt a presence like this was when he met one of the old lords while he had been sent on a mission in the capital. These old lords were previous house heads who had gained too high a cultivation in their respective territories and were recalled to the capital to work as "guardians of the empire" but in truth this was done so no outer cities would ever be strong enough to resist the royal family.

Both the Powell and Black family had previous family heads residing in the capital including Leonard"s father and Kyle"s grandfathers maternal and paternal in this case.

"Greetings Lord Black it is a pleasure to meet you." Kyle greeted Leonard while giving a nod as greeting. Even if Leonard was a house head as the heir apparent to the Powell family Kyle wasn"t required to bow.

"Good afternoon would it be okay if I called you Kyle, you can call me Uncle Leonard if you"d like." As the Black and Powell families were allies Leonard didn"t want any distance to grow between them because of some silly need to use honorific"s so he hoped Kyle would accept this plus he didn"t want to have to always say young lord Powell as he would likely dislocate his jaw.

Leonard Black was a simple and honest man even if he had been force to learn about politics.

"That"s no problem Uncle Leonard; I will keep this simple I"m here because I have pa.s.sed my master level array certification. While I was there I saw your posting and was curious to see if I could help."

Leonard was shocked to find Kyle was at master level as an array master, while he had received information that Kyle had pa.s.sed a certification he had a.s.sumed it was as an apprentice or an adept. He didn"t think there would be any problem as the device was already non-functional so he waved to his butler who left to grab the tool.

"If I may ask what is the intended use of the device?" Kyle asked as if he knew how it was meant to work it would save him time trying to debug it.

"Well it is a healing tool, it is meant to be able to eradicate certain illnesses but while it worked when I first bought it, it has since ceased functioning and n.o.body has been able to find why."

As they had been speaking the butler had returned with a box made of dark hardwood. He pa.s.sed the box to Kyle before stepping back beside Leonard.

"Can I ask who this was being used on?" Kyle was curious as to why Leonard needed such a device.

"It"s fine in fact it is for my wife and daughter. My wife had taken our daughter with her out of the city to visit her mother in a nearby city. Something attacked them during the trip, the guards were killed while they protected them but they were still injured somehow and they have been gradually weakening. My wife is stronger so she has time but my daughter will fall if a sol*cough* solution isn"t found soon." As Leonard spoke his voice cracked showing his worry. This was probably the reason he had also put on weight as he had probably been comfort eating.

Kyle decided to focus on this tool as he hoped it would be able to help. Opening the box Kyle saw a round gem which looked as though it was an amethyst or similar. Over the gem various arrays had been carved and inlaid with gold. While this was a little ornate Kyle could see the arrays were of a similar type to the older ones he had seen in his mana crystal.

Kyle took out the gem and began to inspect it; he looked over the arrays inspecting both the glyphs and the control arrays. He could see some discrepancies on the control arrays so he wanted to check a few things.

"Uncle Leonard how were you instructed to use this tool?"

"Well the way I was told was to place it in the centre of the patient"s chest and drive my mana into it. This will make the arrays activate and heal the patient."

"Okay I can see the problem, can we visit one of the patients please."

Hearing Kyle had a solution Leonard didn"t even question it as he had been losing hope and was willing to try anything. The butler on hearing Kyle vanished somewhere but Kyle didn"t pick up anything malicious from him so he didn"t think he intended any mischief.

Leonard led them through a side door and began to hurry through the halls making Kyle and crowd have to run to keep up. In short order they reached a room filled with light brightening it. Inside the room were two beds on one a middle aged lady was sitting up reading while in the other a young girl of 4 or 5 years old was sleeping. On seeing Leonard bouncing into the room the woman looked at him with a gentle smile she hadn"t seen him with this kind of energy since they were attacked.

"h.e.l.lo dear why are you in such a hurry?"

"We may have a solution Kyle can you see what you can do."

Leonard indicated that Kyle should come forward, normally he would formally introduce them but he was currently riding high so all decorum was out of the window. Kyle just shook his head slightly before coming forward.

"Good afternoon, I need to show you the correct application of this tool but firstly I need to make a repair to it. I want you both to watch this so you can understand what has happened to you."

With this Kyle brought out the tool and pushed his mana into it causing the arrays to light up. He did this so it was easier for the couple to see.

"Well your problem it this array here, if you look at the control ring this glyph has been altered. Originally this tool should draw mana from a nearby mana crystal but by changing this glyph it instead draws mana from the patient slowly draining them. I also believe you have a slow acting poison in your body. Normally your mana would be able to resist such a poison but with this tool draining it your bodies are slowly becoming damaged."

On hearing what Kyle said Leonard became enraged but then fearful.

"What can we do is there no hope?"

"Don"t worry Uncle Leonard all I need to do is restore the glyph and the tool will function as intended. Even someone was using this tool to kill undetectably its true purpose is correct. Please watch."

Once Kyle said this he used his skills to return the glyph to its true form. Once the change was made the tool pulsed purple before settling. Kyle took it to Lady Black as he correctly believed no parent would want their child to be the first to try something untested.

Kyle gave the tool to her and she laid back and placed it on her chest. Nothing happened for a few seconds and Leonard was just about to say something when there was a flicker in the lights as the mana was drawn from them as the nearest free source.

As the lights dimmed the purple gem began to glow slowly a darkness could be seen within the gem which quickly disappeared before the gem glowed brightly. This light covered Lady Black before it died down.

Once the light had cleared a healthy a vibrant woman could be seen. The tool had done its job and she was cured. Leonard couldn"t hold it back anymore and burst into tears, he rushed to his wife hugging her and kissing her. He thought he would lose her and his daughter so the sudden relief was understandable.

The tool had fallen to the side during their affection so Kyle nipped in and grabbed it before walking over to their daughter and place the tool over her chest. As before it took a few seconds to start the process.

As it reached the point where her body was covered in the purple glow the door to the room burst open. The same young man they had seen wresting rushed in, he saw his father hugging his mother and feared the worst and when he saw Kyle standing over his sister he jumped to the conclusion that while his father was distracted this beast was trying to kill his sister. He didn"t even register that Kyle was still a child himself.

"You animal you want to hurt my sister!" Just as he was about to launch himself at Kyle the light died down and a weak voice could be heard.

"Brother is that you?" It was the daughter of the family, she had been unconscious for the last week so she was severely weakened but with her poisoning and injuries healed she would recover quickly.

Seeing his sister awake the young man rushed over and like his father burst into tears. It looked like this family was very emotional. Leonard had looked up when he heard his son but before he could do anything it was already over.

Kyle looked at the happy family and got a nice fuzzy feeling inside. It was always nice to help people. He saw that Leonard was trying to disengage himself from his wife but Kyle decided to stop him.

"Uncle Leonard spend time with your family, I"ll come back another day and we can talk."

"Of course Kyle and thank you."

Kyle led the group out and they returned to the stables but not before Miranda piped up.

"See I told you Kyle would help with their issue."

Taking their steeds they returned home for the day having done their good deed and making a connection with the Black family. As they entered the mansion they could see all the members rus.h.i.+ng around grabbing various armours and weapons. Anyone who could fight was tooling up, when they entered Ash who was directing the household rushed up to Kyle.

"Sir there has been a problem."

"Report what has happened."

"Sir the boy Chad and one of the children of the guards have been grabbed by a street gang."

On hearing this the air stilled and a cold and malevolent aura descended, everyone froze feeling like the eyes of an apex predator had appeared on them. Ash, Clara, Miranda, Bruno and One all moved away from Kyle who was exuding this pure and baleful aura.

"It seems like somebody is looking to burn!"