Visitor

His eyes opened; the lady was already sitting down on the seat with two cups of a herb mixture for Sorin. Just in case, he lowered his magic to the bare minimum and scanned around using his senses. Some slight murmurs, however, were catching in his ear before he cut the magic communication.

Taking a couple of steps forward, he looked around the cottage once again. It was a bizarre sight. It looked like every commoner cottage from the outside, but inside every space that could be filled had a plant next to it. It was very exotic.

“I apologise if I made you wait.” Sorin bowed gently; the mannerism from his mage days was used well in these situations. He then took the seat across from her.

I must be her first visitor in a while. This place, despite all the life, seems pretty lonely. I must assume that her partner has died due to old age; I won't push that way anyway.

He cleared his throat. “I do have plenty of questions I want to ask; I will be honest. So I hope you don't mind answering anything. You are the only person I can ask after all.”

“History has been lost here for nearly two decades. I don't mind seeing the youth take on my knowledge to spread it back publicly.” She then takes out a crumbled note from her pocket. A piece of paper describing the magic communication. “This is a pretty creative Idea; many mages have been trying to find people who have had these. There is chaos within the ranks.”

“We have more planned, well, just a taste of what is to come.” Sorin bit his lip; the idea of the final goal that Ino wants always daunted him ever since that moment.

The lady then put her cup down. “I would like to introduce myself. You could call me Gora Haivor. It's a pleasure to meet an esteemed hero who will bring us out of these dark times. I want to help with anything so we can skip the small talk since I know you must be busy.”

This makes things easier; I wouldn't want to head straight to the serious talk- that's not proper etiquette after all, but seeing her want to do this is nice.

“Thank you, Ms Haivor—”

“Gora is fine; I don't want this to be a daunting formal talk.” She sipped her herbal mixture before looking over at Sorin with a small smile; it was refreshing.

Sorin nodded. “Wulmar, I heard that name in Farmouth, A neutral village near the ocean which connects to the north if swam through, but there is not a single class or record that I have heard of him from here.”

Gora scoffed at the question. “That's right, they removed that man from history. He was the last ruler of United Acluraria, you could say. Until things split to the west and east. ”

“I assume he was against the west entirely then?”

“Ho ho ho, He was not just against it but despised it. I remember his speech; he wasn't even a mage, believe it, but his words were full of magic. He managed to keep things together for fifty years with his close aide named Arabel.”

I never heard of Arabel before. I suppose she was just his aide.

She continued, “Arabel took over Wulmar’s position, but the division between mage and commoner was growing worse every day; she wasn't a mage either, so she was as useful as not being there at all.”

Sorin listened intently. Before asking a question back, “ The mages betrayed the entire place, believing they were superior due to their innate ability?”

“Exactly right. It is funny how even the old and wise fall victim to the thirst of power and greed. They were nothing but fools, but through time, mages felt like their skills were being disbanded with the advances of seals. Like anyone could master magic.”

Seals? That's exactly the topic I'm lucky to land on, but to see that they were a commoner tool. I suppose Chikaru is obsessed with them, and she possesses no magic either, so perhaps.

Sorin then sipped his cup of herbs; it was a soft taste that melted into his tongue. It was a bit sweet, but the aftertaste left a lingering touch of water. “This is good.”

“Decades of training, young hero.” The emphasis on young was apparent in what she was trying to say, but Sorin continued.

“I have someone that works with me, not that crazy woman but a reclusive seal fanatic. She wanted me to get the history behind seals, if possible.”

The lady put her hand under her chin as her eyes wandered around, trying to remember the past. It took a couple of moments, but some details returned. “The grand speech when Wulmar took control. He promised all of us to be equal; that was when he introduced the seals that she's obsessed with, but they needed magic and still do. But seals were supposed to become magicless, drawing in the magic from the atmosphere instead of a mage.”

“That's when the mages were frightened they were becoming useless and began to scheme.”

She smiled towards Sorin. “Correct, you learn fast for such a young one; most kids these days don't ever have that thirst for knowing, it seems. Seals were quickly cut off in the west, and in the east they are still used widely with the select mages who stayed back, hence the weapons made.”

Sorin instantly remembered back to Capolot.

That weapon used pure light that wouldn't be magic since it had no element, but if I can assume one thing, it would all make sense. The chief of Farmouth found the way to finish off Wulmar's task, and that weapon gathered surrounding magic and the elemental spells used Capolot as a source. I wonder if he only had fire. The fight was intense but ended too fast to see his limits. I suppose I just managed to outskill him.

“Seems you come to quite a realisation,” She muttered as she sipped another time.

Sorin then took a deep breath, stabilising himself back, remembering another thing he wanted to ask about: “Wulmar’s vision. What was that?” The question was direct; it had no meaning to be brushed around.

Gora just smiled in solemn remembrance, like remembering something in the past that brought her pain and happiness. “It was for everyone in the continent of Acluraria to be equal.”