ULTRAMagic Eon 1 - Chapter 5
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Flying up to The Singing Storm Tower was tempting, but Blood-Wraith had elected not to as it usually startled the stewards and guards. The lift station at the center of the city below the great, floating tower had been renovated in recent times, so the carriage rides up were a lot smoother. The golden, stone structure was originally built by Tiberius during the Epoch as a repository of knowledge for the three great mages, but it was now the castle of King Englehart Schindewolf. Truthfully Tiberius wished someone had informed him beforehand, but the Descendants were taking good care of everything, so it was not that big of a deal. In hindsight, Tiberius agreed that he made the tower too big. There were still many secrets to the tower, but being as tall as a skyscraper may have been a bit overkill.
Making his way through the ornate, decorated halls, Blood-Wraith found himself a little amazed at how calm things were. The usual guards and stewards were going about their business, especially on account of Valerie’s actions, but everything was in stark contrast to when the Descendants had returned from The Great Hunt three months prior. Those who could said hello to Blood-Wraith as he passed by. On his way to Englehart’s personal office, he encountered Prince Albrecht Schindewolf. The blonde-haired boy was originally created by Dunja though void magic while she was allied with Milosh Proch during The Eternal Order’s occupation of Shadowland, but the scheme in question never came to fruition. Albrecht went on to join King Sten’s efforts to reclaim the kingdom and was a great help in those ambitions.
“Hey, Blood!” Albrecht welcomed as he straightened out his frock coat. “What are you up to?”
“Hey, Albrecht. Are your parents here at the moment?”
“Yeah, follow me. Dad’s been doing a little reading and Mom’s been in and out.”
As they walked, Blood-Wraith thought of something that made him chuckle. “Hey, did you manage to get your hands on some mead at the last royal gathering?”
He also chuckled. “No, but I got really close. I was just about to make it out of the dining hall with a mug when General Thornfield caught me, told mom, and then drank it…”
Blood-Wraith could not help but laugh. “Close, but no cigar. You realize that it is possible to make non-alcoholic mead, right?”
Albrecht stopped and gave Blood-Wraith an incredulous look. “Really, Blood? I might as well drink milk at that point!” This made both of them laugh as they stopped right before Englehart’s office. “Anyways, I still can’t get over going from an adult to a kid just like that. Void magic is weird. I looked at that grimoire you found in the Dark Grand Desert and it cooks my noggin every single time.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. The stuff Aureolus taught me certainly isn’t easy. Sometimes I swear it’s more complicated than curse magic.”
“You should talk to Adriana when you get the chance, as I guess she knows some unique void magic.” Albrecht then knocked on the wooden doors. “Hey, Dad? Are you there?”
“Come on in,” they heard his voice call out.
Englehart’s office was a cozy sight to behold, with the walls lined with bookshelves filled to the brim and a series of windows on the far wall that gave a breathtaking view of the city. Past the coffee tables and couches in the center of the room was a grand desk with King Englehart sitting at it. He was a tall, muscular man at eight feet tall, with purple eyes, and a beard and mustache. His bulky, yet comfy crown sat atop his tamed, wild blonde hair. While appearing to be a proud king, there were signs here and there that he may have been a bit of a reluctant ruler.
“Ah, Blood, Albrecht, how are you boys doing on this fine day?” Englehart asked as he set his book down.
Albrecht took a seat on one of the couches, removed his boots, and rested his feet on the coffee table. “Hey, dad. Blood needs…” he started to say. “Actually, you haven’t told me what you need yet, Blood.”
“Sorry about that, Albrecht. Your majesty? Can I borrow Dunja for a bit?”
Englehart sighed with a chuckle as he had a good idea as to what was going on. “Dunja, could you come here?”
“One second, dear!” she called out from the side room. Dunja then walked over to the desk and set a series of albums on it. “Look what I found. We really need to take some family photos with Albrecht the first chance we get.”
“Very good indeed,” Englehart said as he sifted the albums around, starting to feel nostalgia poke at him. “Blood wishes to speak with you, honey.”
Blood-Wraith nodded. “Dunja, could you come with me to Castle Ter Avest with me, Drago, and Tiberius? Also Desislav may be tagging along.”
She put a hand on her hip and sighed as she leaned on the desk with her other hand. “Oh shoot, we’re doing that today, aren’t we? Well of course I’ll come along. Just let me tidy up my mess in the other room real quickly and grab a few things…”
“Thank you, Dunja.”
“And Albrecht?” Dunja said as she stopped at the entrance to the side room. “No trying to sneak some mead while I’m away.”
“Mom, please,” he complained, causing the others to chuckle.
“This will be quite the meeting, Blood,” Englehart pointed out. “Dunja and Valerie were friends prior to the Great Schism, so I imagine things should be relatively frictionless. Personally I’m hoping she returns to the fold, so-to-speak.”
Blood-Wraith sighed. “Honestly I have no idea what is going to happen. It’s definitely going to be interesting. I’m just hoping we can solve this today.”
“Well regardless of the outcome, just know that you have our full support no matter what, Blood.”
“Thank you, your majesty.”
“Albrecht, your feet better be off the table by the time I get back out there,” Dunja said from the side room.
“Sorry, mom,” he replied as he shifted them on to the couch. Blood-Wraith and Englhart quietly chuckled.
Once Dunja had everything all squared away, she was off with Blood-Wraith to Iron Fire station. The grand train station of The Iron City was busy as usual, with people boarding and getting off trains, accompanied by the sounds of whistles and locomotives rolling out of the station all around them. Tiberius, Dragoslava, and Desislav were standing at an empty platform, speaking to Mariya Radovich. She was a secretary who worked at the station, and was a good friend of Dragoslava’s sister, Kresimira.
“Hey, Mariya!” Blood-Wraith said as he walked up with Dunja. “What’s up?”
“Oh, Blood… Well, um, we have a slight issue with your trip.”
“It appears that a new line to Castle Ter Avest has popped up,” Tiberius stated. “But unfortunately no trains are available to us at the moment.”
“You can understand that we have a schedule to keep and new lines need to be investigated before we send any trains down them,” Mariya added.
Dunja looked around at the tracks. “So the Track Builder is out of the question then?”
“We would have scheduled that one had the new line not popped up. And of course it got booked for line repairs today.”
“Hey, maybe Valerie will come get us if we’re late,” Desislav suggested.
“That’d be nice,” Dragoslava agreed. “Blood, would you be against flying us there?”
He groaned a little as he thought about it. “I’d rather not, as I have no idea how Valerie would react… plus I don’t know if I could carry all of you.”
Tiberius nodded, commending his foresight. “A fair point indeed, Blood. Not to pry, but perhaps you have something else in your repertoire?”
Blood-Wraith gave it some further thought. Could he pull off what Tiberius was hinting at? “I haven’t really had a chance to use it yet… Mariya, let’s say I could produce a train right here and now. Could we use it to travel?”
Mariya was beyond confused, as that was one of the strangest things Blood-Wraith had ever said to her. “Wait, what? You can? But how…? Um, show me what you mean and we’ll go from there…”
Blood-Wraith took a breath, focused, and began glowing a bright purple, causing everyone to back away from him. Turning into pure energy, Blood-Wraith flew onto the tracks and in his place appeared a steam powered locomotive, resembling a 4-6-2 style train. Made of black and purple metal, it was quite the sight to witness. The whistle howled, indicating everything was ready to go.
“A TRAIN!?” Dragoslava exclaimed. “Blood can turn into a train?!”
“Oh my goodness…” Mariya remarked. “Um, sure, Blood. Just wait until we give the all clear.” She then made her way back to her office, unsure what to make of what she had just seen.
“Hold up!” Dragoslava said as she appeared to begin counting on her fingers. “Just who in the blue blazes gave you that fragment?”
Desislav also racked his brain. “It wasn’t the colossus, not you, definitely not Tusk or Deimos…”
“... not Leif, nor Kresimira… Corentin.”
“Corentin?”
“Yeah, it has to be his,” Dragoslava said as they all approached the cab. “Blood, you in there, buddy?”
“Of course I am,” a voice from two glowing eyes above the boiler said. “Let’s get going. Drago, Desislav, could you get me started up?”
Desislav looked around, seeing that the cab was quite spacious. “Well shoot, you could fit a whole group in here. Er, Blood? One problem: we’re not engineers.”
“No worries, I’ll take care of that stuff. Just feed me the coal back there.”
Dunja took a seat in the back of the cab, followed by Tiberius. “Well I’ve said this before, but I could never place the charge attack back in our duel,” she recalled. “That was until I saw Aureolus’ duel with Andelin where it all clicked.”
“Both lads are certainly full of surprises,” Tiberius complimented. “Eustorgio informed me of Blood’s training session within Darkness. Now, let’s get this show on the road, once we have clearance of course. We don’t want to be late, after all, haha.”
“Blood-Wraith gave a quick toot of his whistle in response. “Very funny, Tiberius…”
Once the all clear was given by the station officials, Dragoslava shoveled some coal into the boiler, leading to Blood-Wraith lurching forward. He was a little nervous, but the motions came naturally to him. Soon Violet Train was speeding along the tracks, thundering past trees and plains. Running low on water was not fun as he grew incredibly thirsty, on top of feeling like he was inside an oven. A quick stop at a watering tower fixed this and he felt fantastic. It was safe to say Blood-Wraith was only going to use this form when he absolutely needed to.
The tracks took the group well into The Roaring Mountains. It was windy as always, but Blood-Wraith could handle it. Normally the eerie mountain range creeped him out, but being a 100 ton train gave Blood-Wraith confidence and made him feel unstoppable. Castle Ter Avest was soon in sight, prompting Blood-Wraith to hasten his pace (which was foiled when Desislav began slowing him down). The castle itself was a gothic, concentric castle with heavy traces of romanesque architecture. Tiberius deduced that Valerie had taken influence from the castles of Feuerland from so long ago.
Upon coming to a stop at Valerie’s personal train station, Blood-Wraith felt himself begin to tremble. “GUYS, out, now!” Once his passengers were safely on the station platform, he reverted back to his human form in a burst of steam. “Let’s not do that again…” he said as he climbed up the platform with Dragoslava’s help. Blood-Wraith was a bit shaky and his hair was all messy.
“Well done regardless, Blood,” Tiberius replied. “That endurance is something to be admired.”
Before anything else could be said, Eloise came strolling up, accompanied by two ice cream golems. She was wearing a dress and blouse that complimented her ice cream body. “Howdy again, guys! Welcome to Castle Ter Avest!”
Tiberius chuckled, recalling the day prior. “It’s good to see you again, Eloise. I trust that Valerie is waiting for us?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yup! Follow me…” Eloise then noticed Blood-Wraith. “What the… is that you, Blood?”
“Yeah. This is my base form, Crimson Man…”
“OH MY GOSH, you’re so cute and dashing!” she took his hand, causing him to blush a little and the others to chuckle and giggle. “Oh, right, pleasure to finally meet you, Queen Dunja.”
“Likewise, Eloise. That’s a pretty dress you’re wearing.”
“Thank you! Mom made it for me.”
Dunja then looked around at the elegant, yet whimsical, dessert-themed decor as they went inside. She was feeling a great deal of nostalgia. “I see Valerie hasn’t changed much since I last saw her…”
“Probably not,” Eloise replied. “You know my mom, don’t fix it if ain’t broken.”
Dunja laughed. “Something Milosh and that foolish Lich would never understand. While we’re here, I’ll have to ask Valerie if she truly jinxed them, as that’s always been on my mind ever since that ungodly day…”
Next: Chapter 6
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Flying up to The Singing Storm Tower was tempting, but Blood-Wraith had elected not to as it usually startled the stewards and guards. The lift station at the center of the city below the great, floating tower had been renovated in recent times, so the carriage rides up were a lot smoother. The golden, stone structure was originally built by Tiberius during the Epoch as a repository of knowledge for the three great mages, but it was now the castle of King Englehart Schindewolf. Truthfully Tiberius wished someone had informed him beforehand, but the Descendants were taking good care of everything, so it was not that big of a deal. In hindsight, Tiberius agreed that he made the tower too big. There were still many secrets to the tower, but being as tall as a skyscraper may have been a bit overkill.
Making his way through the ornate, decorated halls, Blood-Wraith found himself a little amazed at how calm things were. The usual guards and stewards were going about their business, especially on account of Valerie’s actions, but everything was in stark contrast to when the Descendants had returned from The Great Hunt three months prior. Those who could said hello to Blood-Wraith as he passed by. On his way to Englehart’s personal office, he encountered Prince Albrecht Schindewolf. The blonde-haired boy was originally created by Dunja though void magic while she was allied with Milosh Proch during The Eternal Order’s occupation of Shadowland, but the scheme in question never came to fruition. Albrecht went on to join King Sten’s efforts to reclaim the kingdom and was a great help in those ambitions.
“Hey, Blood!” Albrecht welcomed as he straightened out his frock coat. “What are you up to?”
“Hey, Albrecht. Are your parents here at the moment?”
“Yeah, follow me. Dad’s been doing a little reading and Mom’s been in and out.”
As they walked, Blood-Wraith thought of something that made him chuckle. “Hey, did you manage to get your hands on some mead at the last royal gathering?”
He also chuckled. “No, but I got really close. I was just about to make it out of the dining hall with a mug when General Thornfield caught me, told mom, and then drank it…”
Blood-Wraith could not help but laugh. “Close, but no cigar. You realize that it is possible to make non-alcoholic mead, right?”
Albrecht stopped and gave Blood-Wraith an incredulous look. “Really, Blood? I might as well drink milk at that point!” This made both of them laugh as they stopped right before Englehart’s office. “Anyways, I still can’t get over going from an adult to a kid just like that. Void magic is weird. I looked at that grimoire you found in the Dark Grand Desert and it cooks my noggin every single time.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. The stuff Aureolus taught me certainly isn’t easy. Sometimes I swear it’s more complicated than curse magic.”
“You should talk to Adriana when you get the chance, as I guess she knows some unique void magic.” Albrecht then knocked on the wooden doors. “Hey, Dad? Are you there?”
“Come on in,” they heard his voice call out.
Englehart’s office was a cozy sight to behold, with the walls lined with bookshelves filled to the brim and a series of windows on the far wall that gave a breathtaking view of the city. Past the coffee tables and couches in the center of the room was a grand desk with King Englehart sitting at it. He was a tall, muscular man at eight feet tall, with purple eyes, and a beard and mustache. His bulky, yet comfy crown sat atop his tamed, wild blonde hair. While appearing to be a proud king, there were signs here and there that he may have been a bit of a reluctant ruler.
“Ah, Blood, Albrecht, how are you boys doing on this fine day?” Englehart asked as he set his book down.
Albrecht took a seat on one of the couches, removed his boots, and rested his feet on the coffee table. “Hey, dad. Blood needs…” he started to say. “Actually, you haven’t told me what you need yet, Blood.”
“Sorry about that, Albrecht. Your majesty? Can I borrow Dunja for a bit?”
Englehart sighed with a chuckle as he had a good idea as to what was going on. “Dunja, could you come here?”
“One second, dear!” she called out from the side room. Dunja then walked over to the desk and set a series of albums on it. “Look what I found. We really need to take some family photos with Albrecht the first chance we get.”
“Very good indeed,” Englehart said as he sifted the albums around, starting to feel nostalgia poke at him. “Blood wishes to speak with you, honey.”
Blood-Wraith nodded. “Dunja, could you come with me to Castle Ter Avest with me, Drago, and Tiberius? Also Desislav may be tagging along.”
She put a hand on her hip and sighed as she leaned on the desk with her other hand. “Oh shoot, we’re doing that today, aren’t we? Well of course I’ll come along. Just let me tidy up my mess in the other room real quickly and grab a few things…”
“Thank you, Dunja.”
“And Albrecht?” Dunja said as she stopped at the entrance to the side room. “No trying to sneak some mead while I’m away.”
“Mom, please,” he complained, causing the others to chuckle.
“This will be quite the meeting, Blood,” Englehart pointed out. “Dunja and Valerie were friends prior to the Great Schism, so I imagine things should be relatively frictionless. Personally I’m hoping she returns to the fold, so-to-speak.”
Blood-Wraith sighed. “Honestly I have no idea what is going to happen. It’s definitely going to be interesting. I’m just hoping we can solve this today.”
“Well regardless of the outcome, just know that you have our full support no matter what, Blood.”
“Thank you, your majesty.”
“Albrecht, your feet better be off the table by the time I get back out there,” Dunja said from the side room.
“Sorry, mom,” he replied as he shifted them on to the couch. Blood-Wraith and Englhart quietly chuckled.
Once Dunja had everything all squared away, she was off with Blood-Wraith to Iron Fire station. The grand train station of The Iron City was busy as usual, with people boarding and getting off trains, accompanied by the sounds of whistles and locomotives rolling out of the station all around them. Tiberius, Dragoslava, and Desislav were standing at an empty platform, speaking to Mariya Radovich. She was a secretary who worked at the station, and was a good friend of Dragoslava’s sister, Kresimira.
“Hey, Mariya!” Blood-Wraith said as he walked up with Dunja. “What’s up?”
“Oh, Blood… Well, um, we have a slight issue with your trip.”
“It appears that a new line to Castle Ter Avest has popped up,” Tiberius stated. “But unfortunately no trains are available to us at the moment.”
“You can understand that we have a schedule to keep and new lines need to be investigated before we send any trains down them,” Mariya added.
Dunja looked around at the tracks. “So the Track Builder is out of the question then?”
“We would have scheduled that one had the new line not popped up. And of course it got booked for line repairs today.”
“Hey, maybe Valerie will come get us if we’re late,” Desislav suggested.
“That’d be nice,” Dragoslava agreed. “Blood, would you be against flying us there?”
He groaned a little as he thought about it. “I’d rather not, as I have no idea how Valerie would react… plus I don’t know if I could carry all of you.”
Tiberius nodded, commending his foresight. “A fair point indeed, Blood. Not to pry, but perhaps you have something else in your repertoire?”
Blood-Wraith gave it some further thought. Could he pull off what Tiberius was hinting at? “I haven’t really had a chance to use it yet… Mariya, let’s say I could produce a train right here and now. Could we use it to travel?”
Mariya was beyond confused, as that was one of the strangest things Blood-Wraith had ever said to her. “Wait, what? You can? But how…? Um, show me what you mean and we’ll go from there…”
Blood-Wraith took a breath, focused, and began glowing a bright purple, causing everyone to back away from him. Turning into pure energy, Blood-Wraith flew onto the tracks and in his place appeared a steam powered locomotive, resembling a 4-6-2 style train. Made of black and purple metal, it was quite the sight to witness. The whistle howled, indicating everything was ready to go.
“A TRAIN!?” Dragoslava exclaimed. “Blood can turn into a train?!”
“Oh my goodness…” Mariya remarked. “Um, sure, Blood. Just wait until we give the all clear.” She then made her way back to her office, unsure what to make of what she had just seen.
“Hold up!” Dragoslava said as she appeared to begin counting on her fingers. “Just who in the blue blazes gave you that fragment?”
Desislav also racked his brain. “It wasn’t the colossus, not you, definitely not Tusk or Deimos…”
“... not Leif, nor Kresimira… Corentin.”
“Corentin?”
“Yeah, it has to be his,” Dragoslava said as they all approached the cab. “Blood, you in there, buddy?”
“Of course I am,” a voice from two glowing eyes above the boiler said. “Let’s get going. Drago, Desislav, could you get me started up?”
Desislav looked around, seeing that the cab was quite spacious. “Well shoot, you could fit a whole group in here. Er, Blood? One problem: we’re not engineers.”
“No worries, I’ll take care of that stuff. Just feed me the coal back there.”
Dunja took a seat in the back of the cab, followed by Tiberius. “Well I’ve said this before, but I could never place the charge attack back in our duel,” she recalled. “That was until I saw Aureolus’ duel with Andelin where it all clicked.”
“Both lads are certainly full of surprises,” Tiberius complimented. “Eustorgio informed me of Blood’s training session within Darkness. Now, let’s get this show on the road, once we have clearance of course. We don’t want to be late, after all, haha.”
“Blood-Wraith gave a quick toot of his whistle in response. “Very funny, Tiberius…”
Once the all clear was given by the station officials, Dragoslava shoveled some coal into the boiler, leading to Blood-Wraith lurching forward. He was a little nervous, but the motions came naturally to him. Soon Violet Train was speeding along the tracks, thundering past trees and plains. Running low on water was not fun as he grew incredibly thirsty, on top of feeling like he was inside an oven. A quick stop at a watering tower fixed this and he felt fantastic. It was safe to say Blood-Wraith was only going to use this form when he absolutely needed to.
The tracks took the group well into The Roaring Mountains. It was windy as always, but Blood-Wraith could handle it. Normally the eerie mountain range creeped him out, but being a 100 ton train gave Blood-Wraith confidence and made him feel unstoppable. Castle Ter Avest was soon in sight, prompting Blood-Wraith to hasten his pace (which was foiled when Desislav began slowing him down). The castle itself was a gothic, concentric castle with heavy traces of romanesque architecture. Tiberius deduced that Valerie had taken influence from the castles of Feuerland from so long ago.
Upon coming to a stop at Valerie’s personal train station, Blood-Wraith felt himself begin to tremble. “GUYS, out, now!” Once his passengers were safely on the station platform, he reverted back to his human form in a burst of steam. “Let’s not do that again…” he said as he climbed up the platform with Dragoslava’s help. Blood-Wraith was a bit shaky and his hair was all messy.
“Well done regardless, Blood,” Tiberius replied. “That endurance is something to be admired.”
Before anything else could be said, Eloise came strolling up, accompanied by two ice cream golems. She was wearing a dress and blouse that complimented her ice cream body. “Howdy again, guys! Welcome to Castle Ter Avest!”
Tiberius chuckled, recalling the day prior. “It’s good to see you again, Eloise. I trust that Valerie is waiting for us?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yup! Follow me…” Eloise then noticed Blood-Wraith. “What the… is that you, Blood?”
“Yeah. This is my base form, Crimson Man…”
“OH MY GOSH, you’re so cute and dashing!” she took his hand, causing him to blush a little and the others to chuckle and giggle. “Oh, right, pleasure to finally meet you, Queen Dunja.”
“Likewise, Eloise. That’s a pretty dress you’re wearing.”
“Thank you! Mom made it for me.”
Dunja then looked around at the elegant, yet whimsical, dessert-themed decor as they went inside. She was feeling a great deal of nostalgia. “I see Valerie hasn’t changed much since I last saw her…”
“Probably not,” Eloise replied. “You know my mom, don’t fix it if ain’t broken.”
Dunja laughed. “Something Milosh and that foolish Lich would never understand. While we’re here, I’ll have to ask Valerie if she truly jinxed them, as that’s always been on my mind ever since that ungodly day…”
Next: Chapter 6
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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