章 4: Great Mage Murdoc

[A week later]

"This sucks. Why in the netherworld are we stuck guarding this dude? What is there to even guard?!" Rick complained for the fifth time in as many minutes, his head in his hands.

Mord shrugged. "Beats me, man. I'm more worried about this morning's training. That was way harder than usual! Cap's really been picking things up!"

Rick scoffed. "That's rich coming from you of all people, Mord. I expected you to go to the Colosseo, instead of train with us peasants."

A young woman dressed in the same sentry armor chuckled. "Lay off, Rick, you old man. Nobody wants to hear your complaining."

Mord pointed at the girl, quickly stepping away from Rick. "Gwen's words, not mine."

Rick's face flushed red, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the table, stopping only when ominous creaking sounds came from the wood.

Gwen raised an eyebrow, staring directly into Rick's eyes. Her tanned complexion was full of angles, telling of her Adalian descent. Combined with the dark purple bags under her eyes from countless sleepless nights, she could at best be considered cute, but that was more than enough to make her one of the most beautiful women in Redvale.

The air stiffened as bright blue wisps of mana began seeping out of their bodies, curling around their limbs slowly. Gwen's aura seemed to be denser and sharper, like a sword.

Mord calmly watched the two, sipping on his favorite drink. Rick could only take so much.

The middle-aged sentry growled before saying, "Fine! If it weren't for your rank, I'd tear you a new one."

"That's what I thought, Rick." Gwen chuckled.

Suddenly, the door to the guardhouse burst open, revealing a middle-aged man, his worn combat suit being worn over comfortable robes.

"Where is the Sun Guard?!" He said, a grin plastered on his face as he quickly walked towards the sentries.

"Mage Murdoc! He's in here. We've been waiting for your visit! Honestly, I expected you to be here far sooner!" Gwen stood, reaching out to shake the mage's hand.

"Indeed, as soon as I got wind of the healer's reports, I planned on heading down, but I was a bit busy, unfortunately. The work of a court wizard is never done, young woman." The man said, his amber eyes fixed on the door, despite talking to Gwen and completely missing the handshake in the process.

Mage Murdoc was barely 1.5 meters (5ft) tall, with a slim and athletic build. Even at the age of 80, he only looked a day past 45, and his youthful movements only made it harder to comprehend his true age. His shoulder-length grey-streaked blonde hair hid his ears, making him look like a mad scientist.

As Murdoc passed Gwen and excitedly ordered Rick to unlock it for him, Gwen's happy face turned to sorrow as she gazed at her outstretched hand, heartbroken.

'Damn that crazy mage, is the so-called sun guard really so exciting that he'd leave me hanging like this?!' She thought about dropping her hand.

Suddenly, a hero emerged. His hand grasped hers firmly, bringing a smile to her face as she looked up at her savior. There he was in all his glory, Mord, with a small red stain on his lip as he smiled as best he could.

"Don't worry, Gwen, I've got you." He said, walking past her and into the room.

Gwen simply raised an eyebrow.

...

Mage Murdoc was astounded.

'I felt Annwn's world mana begin to move faintly, around the time the healers claim their spells stopped working on them. This case is unprecedented, and if not for my senses and vast experience, even I, the Great Mage Murdoc, would not have noticed! The movement is so faint yet vast, unlike any spell I've ever encountered!'

The mage swiftly moved to the warrior's bedside as Rick opened the door.

"First, I'll check his condition as requested by Lord Colm. Please give me some space to work." He said, looking up at the three sentries crowded around him with furrowed brows.

They nodded, stepping away from him but still curiously peeking over his shoulder. He sighed heavily and began to weave his spells.

After a moment, the sentries could feel the mana becoming denser around them, the spell manifesting as bright as a flame and as golden as the sun.

A string of incomprehensible gibberish poured from Murdoc's mouth, but the guards had seen these hand signs before.

[The Third Eye]

The golden-candle-sized flame floated between Murdoc's eyes, an identical one floated over his finger.

"Despite its feeble size, it's quite a lot of mana, and I usually reserved it for my most serious cases." He said, looking at Mord, who had a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face.

Murdoc shook his head, placing his spell into his palm and injecting it into the patient through his abdomen, searching for the anomaly he was sure existed.

The mage's spell disappeared into the warrior's body, never to be seen again. Even the mana between his eyes was sucked into the sun knight's body.

His eyes widened with shock at the loss of his spell, and excitement filled him. The amount of mana in the spell was absurd, and it had almost drained him of half his mana supply. And yet, it had disappeared just like that.

'Even with my senses, I couldn't tell before if this man was where the unknown spell originated, but now I'm sure. It's not even a spell, more like a mana whirlpool. With the amount of mana I put into the spell, I could watch as it went into his body, and he assimilated the energy to fuel him!'

He put his hand on his chin, the stubble prickling his skin.

'If this doesn't prove that he is the eye of the storm, I don't know what would. But what is it, exactly? All I can sense is the mana swirling, nothing more. Could it be that he is simply refilling his mana reserves, and it is so vast it creates a vortex?'

The mage suddenly became curious, pulling back the covers to reveal the man's body. He was no longer emaciated but still lacked his muscle mass.

'No, judging by what the healers said, his mana circuits are completely destroyed. Perhaps it's an artifact in his body?'

"What are you looking for?" Mord asked.

"Did the healers suddenly increase his nutrition?" He asked, trying not to raise any suspicion about his thoughts.

Rick and Mord shrugged, but Gwen answered: "No, why?"

"He has gained weight. Not much, but it would only be possible if they had given him more nutrition." He said, keeping his theories to himself.

'Freedom is priceless, if I were to share my half-baked conspiracies now, I'd only sound crazy!' He thought.

Gwen shrugged. "It's not much weight, I'll ask later. Learn anything? Colm is desperate for him to wake up."

The mage paused, his hand stroking his five-o'clock shadow.

"Nothing much, but he is healthy and unharmed, that is certain. Please, excuse me, I must return to my research." He then quickly left with his head down in contemplation.

"He definitely is not telling us something," Mord said, seemingly amused.

"It's not our place to guess his secrets, Mord." Rick glared at him.

Gwen retook her position outside the door, her arms folded.