Side Story: The Prophet of Light

“Meri, may I have a word with you?”

Meri Lon looked up from his studies to be greeted by the face of a beautiful elven woman. “Ah, Granya. To what do I owe this visit?”

“Must we speak so formally? We are the oldest ones in the castle here, are we not?” Granya looked at Meri Lon with a sympathetic expression. She was dressed in a nightgown that barely covered her figure, but Meri Long had still seemed more interested in his studies.

“I suppose we may drop the formalities. What brings you here?”

“I was just wondering if you had heard the news. My daughter has become an adventurer. According to the tests by the adventurers’ guild, she has the highest capacity for magic ever recorded.”

“I see. It’s about time someone surpassed this old man.” Meri gave a chuckle. “Well, it’s good for her to get out and try new things. Tell me, which skill tree did she eat the fruit of?”

“Well, that’s the other part of the news. It turns out that she chose healing magic. She really is trying to follow in my footsteps it seems.”

“No wonder. They do call you the Blessed Saint after all. I’m sure that she wants to live up to your reputation.”

“Yes, but I’m worried. She hasn’t had any medical training and she is squeamish around blood. Plus, she hasn’t really practiced her magic that much. I taught her how to use healing water, but that isn’t the most usable skill while in battle.”

“You are worrying too much. She’s over seventy years old, she’s not a child anymore. Even if you elves live longer lives than us humans, you can’t ignore the fact that she has already lived longer than most humans, even if I am an exception.”

“I suppose. I do forget how short lived humans are compared to myself. I should probably blame you for that though, you’re what, 240 now?.”

“239. And the spirits may have granted me a long life span, but it can always be taken away from me should I be killed.”

“Killed? Who could kill you?”

“The Demons.”

“The Demons? While they do have innate abilities to use elemental magic without contracting spirits, could they really be any match for you? You’ve been able to summon spirits before, and have been granted their blessing. What could they possibly hope to accomplish challenging you? You’re Meri Lon, the strongest Royal Magician the kingdom of Brodiaea has ever seen.”

Meri shook his head. “It is not their strength alone that worries me, but what they have been plotting. The Demon King is usually known for taking several wives, typically a daughter from each of the duke’s families. However, the Demon King has just declared his first wife was to be a commoner. What is more, she’s from a neighboring kingdom.”

“So what? Don’t demons usually marry humans and then turn them into demons after their child is born? The dukes are all human anyways.”

“That’s what’s troubling. The woman he is marrying is an elf.”

“A demon marrying an elf!? Now that is troubling. When was the last time an elven demon appeared?”

“That’s what I have been researching. The only elf in the recorded history to marry into the Demon Kingdom was the first husband of the ninth Demon King. Their daughter was the tenth Demon King, the one who conquered half the world.”

“That is even more troubling. Have you informed his majesty of this yet?”

“No, not yet. I have still much research to do before I make my move. For all we know, the dukes may rebel at her being outside the families. It could be come time before they conceive a child as well. Women take longer to fertilize demon eggs after all.” Meri Lon shook his head. “The one who stopped that war was the hero they summoned from another world. But the ritual to summon the hero has been lost to time. All we know is that it was Dimension Magic.”

“Dimension Magic? How useful that would be.” Granya shook her head. “Still, how worried are you that you are looking for lost schools of magic. It’s been 1000 years since the 15th Demon King destroyed all of the dimensional magicians. It might as well be a myth.”

“Myths were meant to be proven. It seems every year a new prophet comes along with some new god or technique. I heard rumors of a new one just yesterday; it was some kind of light magic I think. Perhaps, someone will come along with a way to open the portal to another world. Then, we could have a chance against whatever the demons are planning.” Meri stood up from his book and stretched. “Well, I won’t get anywhere by looking through the books we already have. Perhaps I should put in an order at the guild. Maybe there will be a surviving book in ruins somewhere.”

“Yes, perhaps.” Granya walked over to Meri, putting out the candle he had been using to read. “I can nudge my daughter in that direction. It could even help her garner favor with the king. Who knows, with that level of aptitude she might be your successor some day. I had a reading when she was born, and all the priests said that she would bring about great change in the world.”

“She very well could be. I wonder what she could be up to right now?”

“Probably sleeping. As much of a prodigy as she seems at times, she still has a lazy side to her.”

“Yes, of course, She is your daughter after all.” Meri gave a laugh.

Granya just smiled at him. “You know, if you didn’t have such a long beard, I might have found that charming.”

Meri Lon thought about his life differently after that statement.

“Curly! A quest from Meri Lon! We have to take it!” A Young elven girl jumped up and down while pointing at a paper tacked to the board in the adventurers’ guild.

“That’s like, your mom’s friend, right?” The beastkin girl accompanying the elf seemed dubious about the job request; her round, fluffy ears seemed to wiggle slightly. “How exactly are we going to track down a book about dimension magic? Weren’t those destroyed like, hundreds of years ago?”

“We can do it! You forget that I’m the greatest magician on record, remember?”

“Pfft. That’s what they said, but you only know two spells. Plus, is this really something the two of us should do alone? We should join up with some other adventurers if we want to try this one out.”
“But we said our first quest was going to be just the two of us together! And think of the timing! The day after we get our guild certifications and eat skill tree fruits, my mother’s friend just happens to put a quest up?”

“True. And it’s just finding a book, not necessarily meaning we will have to fight anything.”

“Right! Come on, Curly! This quest was meant for us! We can go find the book, then come back here and get ranked up easy peasy! And then we can get more fruits from the skill trees! Maybe I’ll even obtain mid-tier magic soon!”

“Is mid-tier magic really what ‘the greatest magician on record’ should be aiming for? Shouldn’t you be aiming for high-tier magic? Or even higher than that? This Mary guy is looking for magic that doesn’t even exist anymore. That’s some ambition.”

“Oh? You want ambition, do you?” The elf smirked. “Tell you what, I will find that book! And I will even learn the magic in it! And! Uh… I’ll… I’ll become the Royal Magician! And then I can promote you to work in the castle!”

“Pfft. Silly Ceatha. Why would I want to live in the castle with all those pixies everywhere. Plus, this kingdom is ruled by humans. Wouldn’t they get upset by a ferretkin and an elf being in the castle?”

“Huh? But my mom’s in the castle now and she’s an elf.”

“Yes, but she’s the Blessed Saint who brought the previous king back to life after an assassination, and raised a platoon of soldiers back from the dead after the last war. No one would ever say anything about her. You, on the other hand, might just be seen as leeching off her lineage.”

“You’re the only one who would ever think that. You’re all the time complaining about nobles. I’m surprised you haven’t been tried for treason already.”

“Well, thankfully there are some protection laws in place for beastkin since we are endangered. But, as few of us as there are, we don’t really have a voice in the government.”

“And I can change that if I can become a Royal Magician! I could make you prime minister! Or maybe an emissary? I never paid much attention to politics so I’m not really sure what’s better..”

“A beastkin as the prime minister? Yeah, I could get behind that. Although, even if they accepted me as a beastkin, they would probably look down upon a scout becoming the prime minister”

“Well, we will cross that bridge when we get there. For now, let’s accept this quest before another party does!” Ceatha reached up and ripped the paper off the board detailing Meri Lon’s quest before running up to the counter excitedly.

Curly shook her head slowly and smiled at the cheerful elf. “What am I gonna do with her…”

It had been about a week since the two had left in search of the book on dimensional magic. Thanks to Ceatha’s charm and Curly’s scouting abilities, they were able to find their way to some ruins that could potentially have what they were looking for.

“The Rainbow Temple…” Ceatha stared up at the tower stretching before them in the distance. It was in seven sections, each being about 10 feet high and painted a different color of the rainbow. Or, at least, it had used to be. It was now starting to fade, paint flaking off in many places. The two women stared at each other and nodded before heading towards the tower. Very few had explored the Rainbow Temple or even remembered the gods it was dedicated to. It was still considered sacred, so few robbers had ever tried to steal from it. Monsters tended to stay away as well, so it was a relatively safe area. This threw up many warning flags for Curly, but Ceatha insisted that it would be fine.

“Fine, but I will be casting my illusion magic on us.” Curly struck a pose. “Oh god of shadows, let your disciples walk freely upon this earth. Shadow Walk!” A thin shadow spread over the two of them, making them slightly harder to see. “Right, let’s go.”

Ceatha had admired the magic that Curly had gained from the fruit of the skill tree. This was nowhere near the magical abilities that she or her mother possessed, but having magic cast on her made her really feel like an adventurer. She was sure that going to the Temple of Rainbows was the right thing at that moment, and the two of them marched inside.

It was then that they were separated.

The two entered the temple with Curly in the lead. However, the first door Curly walked through after entering had been trapped. A door shut between the two girls. Ceatha began furiously pounding on the door that had slammed shut in front of her.

“You’re kidding me! We couldn’t even get past the first room?”

Ceatha began to cry as she clawed at the door. She couldn’t hear what was happening on the other side, but she feared the worst of her companion. Finally, she resolved herself to go find help. But as she turned to leave the temple a figure stood in her way.

It was a cloaked figure whose robe shown of light. Yet even though the figure was illuminated, the room around them was still dark. Ceatha backed away from the figure and pressed her back against the door.

“W-who are you?” She asked meekly.

“You will do nicely” the robes figure spoke in a soft voice that seemed neither male nor female. It seemed to walk on air towards the trembling elf before reaching into its robes and pulling out a sword.

“Master using this, and you shall be worthy to receive the power of light.” With those words, the cloaked figure disappeared.

Ceatha looked down at the item she had been given: the Holy Sword Claidheamh Mòr, and she knew that her life had been changed forever.