Mage Of Shadows

"Well, that was crazy." He thought. His previous depression was gone, and he felt completely rejuvenated by the weird encounter he just had. "I probably would have gotten some sort of achievement if my system was still here."

Favian had left the infirmary the morning after, as a nurse had told him he was fine to go. The bandages she had removed from his torso revealed a discolouration on his chest, an after effect of the electrical shockwave he had been attacked with. The scar wasn"t too big, only covering a third of his right chest. It wouldn"t heal away completely unless he used some herbs to treat it, but he found no reason to try to remove it when it would cost him almost 50 contribution points.

After he had returned to his room, Favian received a call on his communication device. There were currently only three people that could contact him; Aria, Dunkel and the infirmary. The nurse at the infirmary strongly suggested to him to leave his contact details, as she had already taken care of his comatose self before he arrived at the academy, and now she"d had to take care of him again.

"h.e.l.lo?" Favian asked as he talked into the communications device which was hung on his neck.

"Favian! How are you doing? I heard you had injured yourself fighting at the colosseum." Aria asked with a hint of unease in her voice. "Oh and sorry that I couldn"t come and see you at the infirmary, I"ve been preoccupied with some… things."

Favian was somehow happy at the worried voice Aria was presenting, it made him feel like he meant something to somebody in this world. He wasn"t as alone as he initially thought.

"Ah master Aria, I"m fine no need to worry. I"ve just gotten out of the infirmary, and everything"s in order. Thanks for worrying." He replied as he moved towards his bed before lying down on it.

"Well Favian, I have some good news for you. Why don"t you come down to my office?" she asked, her voice much more energetic than before.

"But I want to relax for a bit, I just got back to my room." Favian wanted to say. Instead, he simply replied with "Sure thing master." After which he ended the call.

Favian threw some punches into the air in defiance before getting off his bed and making his way to Aria"s office. Favian now knew the geography of the academy like the back of his hand, at least all of the areas that allowed students to go to. Certain areas were off-limits and were said to house some very nasty things according to Dunkel. Favian was certain by now that Dunkel was just the reincarnation of a G.o.d of rumours since he could always bring up some random piece of information about anything in the academy.

"Oh, yea the chefs that make our food are apparently these Kelhagi gnomes, who eat their babies as a sacrifice to their G.o.d."

"Professor Gigla over there apparently always wears his hood up because he has a second mouth on his forehead."

These were only a small portion of the rumours he would talk about day in and day out. Favian already missed his friend, having not seen him for a day felt like too long. By now, the two were inseparable, and would hang out pretty much whenever they had free time. Sometimes, they would also meditate and spar with each other – Favian losing every single sparring session without even the chance to retaliate.

Favian soon reached Aria"s office. She was busy working with vials of unknown substances when Favian had entered. Her focused expression lightened once she noticed Favian had come, and with a clap of her hands, she motioned for him to come forward.

"Favian look at this." She brought to his attention the vial she had been working on before he came in. Inside was a blueish liquid, which looked extremely similar to seawater. However, as she moved the vial around, the contents of it seemed more like a gloppy solid, almost gelatinous.

"This is something I concocted to help you break through your current bottleneck. The nurse examined you as you were fainted, and brought to my attention that the energy particles which she tried to give you to absorb weren"t being absorbed." She looked at Favian and gave him a meaningful look.

"Don"t worry, the director already made sure that she won"t talk about your little secret."

"Secret?" Favian just stood in front of Aria with a confused look on his face, before slowly a realisation built up within him. Sweat was starting to profusely build upon his forehead, and his calm demeanour turned into that of a frightened chicken.

"Egast, the headmaster and I have all read the contents of the book you recovered when we were ambushed on our journey to the Culling"s Cliff. I already had my suspicions, but I needed somebody else to verify them for me, which was why I asked Egast to scan you." Her voice was sweet and soft as she spoke. She revealed a smile and continued, "I"ve spent a long time trying to perfect this potion for you, but it should help you with the creation of your second arcane core."

She then handed him the potion and asked him to drink it. It felt warm to the touch when Favian grabbed the vial, and the next moment it felt cold. The temperature warped every other second, sometimes being lukewarm or ice cold.

Favian gave a sceptical look before jugging down the liquid. The moment the slimy substance came into contact with his throat, he felt a burning sensation take him over. His throat felt like it would burst open because of the heat. The liquid tasted like rotten eggs if they had been mixed with expired milk. After a few moments, Favian could feel a cooling sensation taking over his torso, and the energy moved to the void where his second arcane core was under construction. An uncomfortable sensation washed over the area his second arcane core was housed within his body, close to his lungs.

Pressure erupted within the void, and a great amount of pain entered Favian"s mind. His body felt like it was shrivelling, his insides rumbled in defiance as they tried to protect themselves from the source of energy that was eating them up. His face contorted in pain, and he couldn"t help but scream. His muscle fibres and bones were fatiguing at a rapid pace, and seemed to be decomposing. A sizzling sound could even be heard from his body as it was going through a weird metamorphosis.

10 minutes filled with excruciating pain pa.s.sed. Favian panted hard as he tried to get in as much air into his weakened body, in fear that he would collapse without it. His body felt like a sh.e.l.l of itself, and it felt unusual to try to move it around; It felt like he was trying to pilot somebody else"s body. His muscles were visibly smaller than before.

"MMaster." he panted. "Why do I feel so weak?"

Aria looked at him with sympathy. "The potion I gave you was created by myself to help push you over the bottleneck you were experiencing. It may have taken years before you would have become a full-fledged mage had I not intervened."

She continued with sadness in her eyes, her voice quieter than before, "Now I have some good news and some bad news for you. You should have already felt it. Your body should feel a lot weaker than before, and that"s because your arcane core took your body"s vitality to fuel its creation. The substance I gave you acted as a catalyst."

Favian inspected his body thoroughly and found that what she said was true. His body felt very weak, and it also looked like the change was currently permanent, at least until he was able to train it back to its former level. Favian was now holding onto Aria"s desk with dear life, fatigue washing over him. He still mustered up the strength to ask, "What"s the good news then master?"

Aria started chuckling once she heard his question. She motioned for him to sit down on a chair near the desk. "Wouldn"t want you to faint, now would we? Boy, that was the good news."

Favian"s heart sunk, how could that be the good news he thought. He could feel a storm of a headache was about to hit him where it hurt.

"The bad news for you is that everything you"ve learnt up to this point has been purged from your mind. All the spells you know are now gone. If you don"t believe me, try chanting for a spell." Aria told Favian with a stern voice. "I would have told you before you drank it, but I wasn"t sure how you"d react to this news."