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69.23% Tales of Tomorrow / Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Chapter 44

The invasion had brought chaos down upon Hoelbrak and its inhabitants like a tidal wave, sweeping through the streets and left obvious damages behind in its wake.

As the ones mainly responsible for the protection of Hoelbrak the guardians, especially the new recruits, were ordered to look after gaps in their newly fortified defences and repair what could be a risk to their security.

Walking in small groups through the streets of Hoelbrak, Veli and his group repaired small damages to the infrastructure here and there while the biggest damages were being looked after by the engineers.

Even though his hands were busy with repairing the various fortifications Veli's mind was clearly elsewhere, as were the minds of his fellow recruits. And who could blame them, really? A couple days ago they had been, for the first time, witness to the true terror of the ancient dragon Jormag and his armies, rousing many children from the state of adoration and dreaming about heroics they had been in after hearing stories from Isolde regularly.

When he thought back to that night Veli was gripped once again by the sensation that had controlled his every fibber and frozen him to the spot. Each night when Veli closed his eyes and hoped for the soothing embrace of his dreams that malicious and all consuming voice would echo in his ears once again, causing the boy to soon afterwards wake up covered in sweat and unable to fall asleep for some time. The rings under his eyes were definite proof of his nightmares…

Veli had sometimes wondered when he thought back to that night why his friend Alvar seemed to be so clear headed when he himself was literally frozen to the spot like a statue made of ice, thanks to Jormag and his presence alone! In the end Veli had come to the conclusion that Alvar must be a little bit more resistant to Jormag's influence due to his dreams and the lessons he had received from Isolde. He wished that was the case as he had seen first hand how hard Alvar trained with the old Havroune, or at least the aftermath of their sessions.

Smacking another nail into the already mostly repaired wall before him with the hammer in his hand Veli's mind left the musings about his best friend alone and took another avenue, namely Gerdi.

He hadn't seen her at the feast, which wasn't much of a surprise as the girl had always spent the evening of the day of the dead in the company of her family and never joined the two friends at the feast.

It gladdened him to know that she did not have to witness the horrors of Jormag's presence that night. And yet he wondered, not for the first time, what happened to her as her demeanour had slightly changed since that night.

She had become less cheerful and more 'rigid' you could say, as Veli lacked another word to best describe her behaviour. After throwing another glance at his friend that was working a few meters away from him at another part of the damaged wall, Veli returned his attention back to his own work while quenching the worry that had started to gnaw at his core. Maybe the events of that night had made him more paranoid than he knew…

'Spirits, I really need a good night's sleep! Maybe I should ask one of the healers for some dreamless sleep pills? Sounds like a damn good idea…' Veli thought to himself after which he yawned tiredly and began to hammer away at the next part of the wall that needed repairs. After all they still had a long way to go until they could return to their usual training regime.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Since that fateful night Gerdi had changed and not just when speaking about her emotions, she knew that much. After she had seen Veli with that bitch in his arms something inside her had snapped and that coupled with the voice of her new master had been enough to topple any resistance she may have had otherwise.

After she had willingly given herself to Jormag's magic, who she now knew had been the one to whisper into the back of her mind, the agonizing feelings inside her heart had dulled significantly until she only faintly perceived their presence, something she was incredibly thankful to her master for.

The downside of that was though that her other feelings had dulled as well. All besides the ones that burnt like a flame in the night. Anger and rage! But she had reached a point were she didn't really care any longer. In her subconscious mind she knew that she was being exceptionally unreasonable and stupid but soon after her subconscious mind had begun its protests it had been silenced by the light blue magic of her master, frozen and put to sleep until she would enter the mists when her time had come.

The next day after she had joined Jormag she had received a message from her future teacher the ancient dragon had spoken about and in the following night Gerdi had snuck out of her home, her sleeping relatives no longer playing any role in her mind, and ventured behind the damaged gates of Hoelbrak into the night of the slowly cooling wilderness.

In the shadow of one of the trees she had met a woman, and to her surprise after a few minutes of waiting they were joined by three other children from Hoelbrak, that had snuck out of the city just like she had.

The woman had directly come to the point and told them what she would teach them. To Gerdi's delight the woman would introduce the four children to the subtle arts of infiltration. After Jormag had viewed their memories they all had chosen wrongly when it came to their professions and Jormag wanted to bring out the best and most efficient qualities in the children.

Gerdi truly could not have asked for more. After Jormag had helped to dull the pain in her chest her love for Veli had dimmed and she was finally able to see that she had been a fool to pick the guardians as her profession for nothing more than love and the faint hope of being near Veli. Her true purpose and fate had always lied with the subtle arts of infiltration and subterfuge.

Thus, under the harsh but thorough tutelage of the woman Gerdi finally learned what she was meant to be all along. The dagger in the night to fulfill whatever her master would order her to do. Whatever that may be…


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
bobbarker12 bobbarker12

Hope you enjoyed the chapter^^

On another notice I changed a little part of chapter 38 when it comes to Gerdi's perspective and her motivations to suit my story better further down the line, but not by much.

next chapter

Chapter 45: Chapter 45

The following weeks after the night of the invasion had been hell for Alvar but he didn't care much as his motivation to survive and be able to do something, anything really, pushed him beyond his limits again and again, each time stronger then the last time.

Thus, it came as no surprise when Alvar's abilities skyrocketed. Apart from his martial skills Alvar had been clearly shown that it would not do to let his knowledge of tactics and strategies lack behind and so he threw himself into those studies with more gusto than before, no matter how dull and boring it was.

Besides his studies under Sjorn Alvar had continued his tutelage under Isolde, though that aspect of his training had only grown slowly, which had not come as much of a surprise to Alvar as he knew that the mental arts could not be rushed after Isolde had told him about the dangers of not taking your time when growing your mental defences.

What came as a surprise to him one day though was when Isolde informed him that she had had a talk with Sjorn about his advancing studies and recommended Alvar to begin his training in mana manipulation under Sjorn. Alvar hadn't stopped bouncing in his boots for the rest of the evening…

What Alvar didn't know however was that Isolde's recommendation didn't come out of the blue as she made it out to be. Without most of the Norn's knowledge the leaders of the Norn had had a discussion with the patron spirits, along with all the leading experts of the various professions, and in conclusion come to the decision that their time in Hoelbrak had come to an end, at least until they managed to drive back the forces of Jormag.

The recent attack had shown them all just how vulnerable they still were and that Jormag's influence seems to be growing for some reason that none of them knew the reason for, not even the spirits themselves.

Thus, the fate of the Norn had been irrevocably changed and to prepare the future of their people to the best of their abilities they had decided to advance the training of their best and most promising students as fast as possible, even if that meant risking their health in the process, no matter how reluctant their teachers were to do so.

While the students would undergo the accelerated training the leaders of the Norn began to plan the logistics for their people's relocation. The patron spirits meanwhile had made the decision to seek shelter in the domains of the various god's of Tyria: Grenth, Dwayna, Melandru, Balthasar, Lyssa, and Kormir, which they could do without problems since the ones overseeing the realms, namely the gods, had gone missing when the ancient dragons rose from the depth of Tyria.

The various teachers had asked for some time to prepare their students though in order to guarantee their success and were granted permission to wait a little bit longer until they would start with the accelerated training and said period of waiting had come to an end, finally.

Thus, we arrive at the unusual scene of Alvar simply sitting on the sandy training grounds while his teacher Sjorn was walking up and down right before him, the expression of the man telling a whole story on how reluctant he was to start his pupil on the accelerated program but had his orders and he knew that their time in Hoelbrak was running out and nobody could tell what the future would hold in stock for their people.

With a frown on his face Sjorn began his lecture while Alvar was hanging on his teacher's every word, having waited a long time for this moment.

"Mana manipulation. I am sure Isolde has told you a few things about the subject already but none the less we will be going through the subject step by step as mana manipulation is the most dangerous for the warriors out of all the professions available to us.

Despite what you may think and your swift advancement in your training I can tell you right away without a single doubt in my mind: you are not ready to learn about the mana manipulation as a warrior!" Sjorn spoke with a stern voice causing Alvar to frown slightly.

"Then why am I learning about it already? If it is so dangerous for me than I should wait before delving into the subject!" Alvar responded which earned him a slight grimace from Sjorn that told Alvar the man knew that he was right in his assessment, bringing up the question in Alvar's mind why he was still learning about it then? Something about the whole thing was reeking to the high heavens and Alvar didn't like it one bit to be left in the dark like that.

"Why am I learning about this, Sjorn? There is more to this than you are telling me, right?" Alvar asked once again causing Sjorn to sigh in frustration.

"You are too smart for your own good, Alvar. Yes, there is more to it than meets the eye but no matter how much I want to tell you more, I simply can't as I have my orders, and telling you would cause more harm than good…" Sjorn replied to which Alvar rolled his eyes a little in exasperation.

'Adults and their patronising way of telling you to stop asking questions. I can't wait to grow up…' Alvar thought to himself while his thoughts seemed to be reflected rather apparent on his face as Sjorn couldn't help himself but grin in Alvar's direction.

"None the less, wether I can or can't tell you doesn't change the fact that we are delving into a topic that is very lethal and could cause a lot of harm to those around you if you are not careful! Now, let us begin!" Sjorn said with a stern voice to which Alvar nodded in reply, intent to master the subject to the highest possible point and hopefully avoid harming those around him on accident.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
bobbarker12 bobbarker12

Hope you enjoyed it^^

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