Quartz-like eyes peeked into the dark corridor. The moontorches were extinguished this late at night in this wing. Night elves weren’t expected to come here. Cilantra clutched the leather-wrapped package close to her chest as she slowly stepped into the hallway. The boards underneath her foot creaked and she stopped to look around. There should be no-one here. No, that was wrong. Other things roamed these darkened halls they said. Human students that stalked the night were said to suddenly vanish in the shadows. Others only heard faint screams. The day later they were found in their bed. Fast asleep. Believing everything that happened the night before was just a horrible nightmare.

Cilantra wasn’t in the mood for nightmares. Though she had no idea how she got talked into this by Lakhmu. She smelled the air for a second just to be sure. Nothing. Good. Carefully she stalked through the hallway. She passed corner after corner. Moonlight illuminated some of them. As she approached the cobwebbed underground cellars see gave a small prayer of praise to the goddess of the moon who clearly had blessed her with some stealthy moves before going in. Oddly enough the cellars felt safer than the first floor above. One door here stood out due to its sheer lack of webs. Slowly she opened it as she entered it on the tips of her toes. Not that it mattered, as the old hinges gave off a horrible creak.

“Did you get it?” Asked a voice in the dark. Cilantra knew it was Lakhmu.

“Yes, yes. I’ve got it.” She said as she opened up the wraps. The pitch-black room suddenly lit up as if the sun fell through the ceiling. The light, however, came from a crystal that Cilantra was holding. “Is this strong enough?”

“It should be.” Lakhmu, his olive skin and dark hair now visible, said as he carefully picked it up. “Did the headmaster or Auriëlle catch you?” He asked.

Cilantra shook her head. “I was in and out. The headmaster was no-where to be seen, and I knew Auriëlle was still talking to Duxus.” The nelf student said. “They won’t know until tomorrow. Are you sure this will work?”

“Absolutely.” Lakhmu said full of confidence as he started to put some golden rings around the crystalline structure and then carefully lowered into a cage. “I’m going to be the first to defeat her.”

The other two, a human girl with paint on her skin and a small goblin looked on with fear in their eyes as they both handed Lakhmu some brass disks. “I think you’re going to lose.” Said the painted girl. “She’s been here for thirty years. Nobody won. She’s too strong.”

“That’s because nobody has fought her the way I will.” Lakhmu said as he attached the disk and then finally lowered the whole cylindrical cage into a sort of large, closed lantern. The second the cage was properly secure the light of the crystal within dimmed. Long shadows were cast upon the walls by the four students.
[center]~[/center]
The young human mage marched through the hallowed halls of the Omniversity. Before him, the sea of students parted in front of him. He looked ready for war. Dressed in robes bound by leather. His belt carried a variety of stone runes, glass globes containing some liquid, and wooden, carved totems. In his hand he carried something covered by a piece of cloth. Wherever he passed, the tension was growing. Lakhmu didn’t see it but his march was spread through the purple-eyes their web. Rumor spread faster than he could walk. Before he stepped even foot in the gardens everyone knew what he was doing. Everyone, including the headmaster. Who waited for him just outside.

Lakhmu stopped in front of him. He looked defiant but didn’t say a thing.

The headmaster, for his turn, did not look very afraid. Instead he looked worried. “Are you sure?” He asked in that familiar, tranquil voice of his. “The lessons here might be painful from time to time but what you are setting for to do… it will hurt. Are you sure you are ready?”

The boy didn’t say anything. He didn’t move. He simply stared down the strange, alien-looking but friendly headmaster. He would defeat her and return home worthy of his parents’ name. If he didn’t, how else could he prove he had grown over the years?

Sad eyes watched him for a second longer before the headmaster stepped aside and allowed him to walk into the main section of the gardens. “She’s already waiting for you at the arena. May the gods watch over you.” He said. Lakhmu and his retinue marched on. Followed by a throng of interest children. The headmaster kept looking at the boy as he walked away. When the children were gone he finally added: “Because magic will not.”

They said she was over sixty now almost. That she had been at the Omniversity for thirty years. They said she was a princess of a faraway land that was cursed by the sun herself. They said she fought wars in faraway lands in the west. Lands only the fishy Akuans talked about. The rumors were endless about her. Lakhmu had no idea what was true except for two things. She was the strongest mage on the island. Maybe in Mydia. Nobody – not in the last thirty years – has bested her. The second fact was something he realized again when he saw her sitting in the sands of the arena: she could see no light. 

Floating stepstones allowed people to sit in tree canopies woven into benches. Statues holding bowls surrounded the sands. Each contained a pristine, fist-sized pearl. Lakhmu stopped before he stepped through the magical barrier that protected everyone on the outside from the magical onslaught that could be released from inside.

The students all around were cheering and shouting but not necessarily for him. The crowd becomes a mass his father used to say. Warriors learn how to fight. Wizards learn the art of magic. Merchants the art of bartering. Leaders must learn how to sway and steer that mass. Right now that mass was untouched. Some rooted for him. Others rooted for Auriëlle who sat cross-legged in the sand in front of him. The vast majority were hollering for a spectacle and nothing else.

Standing now, in front of the barrier, Lakhmu felt something very dangerous: doubt. Auriëlle sat with her eyes closed. That didn’t mean anything. Everyone on the island knew she was blind. She could be seeing him right now or truly have pulled back her senses to meditate. There was no way of knowing.

“You can do this!” Cillantra said from behind him. “You said you could for months! Now get in there and prove it!”

The battle barely lasted a minute.

One could precisely see where the barrier ended. Pristine, green grass fell away into a deep, horrific crater. Fire-blackened stone jutted out everywhere within the circle. The ground itself was cracked and sundered. Lakhmu laid on the ground. Exhausted, defeated. Auriëlle was standing over him, holding the lantern he had made. The horns that curled from between her hair slowly vanished again, together with her shadowy and demonic appearance. The golden metal rapidly lost its hot, red glow. The fight had been fierce but from the onset it was clear that Lakhmu’s secret weapon wasn’t enough. Without giving him the dignity of her gaze Auriëlle walked out of the broken land with the lantern. Ice broke itself free from the huge spikes that stuck out of the earth. In the air they formed beautiful icy songbirds that followed the sorceress. Singing their soft, sweet, serene songs.
[center]~[/center]
The Solar Crystal Lantern was put inside one of Auriëlle’s many storage closets in her office. To many, it would look like a terrible and bleak place. Buried deep within the Omniversity with not even a window to look out from. There weren’t even candles, though several stones were imbued to give off warmth whenever someone entered the room. Inside countless of closets with closed doors lined the walls. No cupboards or glass cases. Nothing here was put on display. Which only fed the rumors of what was all stored there. What lurked behind the copper locks in Auriëlle’s office? There was one bookshelf, but it was not filled with fragile paper but stone tablets.

“You could’ve gone easy on him.” She heard from behind her, though she had sensed the Headmaster approach her office long before.

“I’ve never gone easy on anyone. Neither have you on me.” She said over her shoulder before she walked to some cobwebbed corner and opened the closet down there with her magic. From it she took the old wooden bracer she hadn’t worn in thirty years. With a finger, she traced through the blackened grooves dug into it while saying: “The world won’t go easy on him either. Give it time, in a few years he’ll realize how important a lesson it was.”

For a second a dreadful silence fell upon the room. There was rarely silence between the Headmaster and Auriëlle. There was always something to be shared with pride or shouted in anger between them. There was not a subject too uncomfortable between the two. Until now, apparently. The strange, unique, fish-like creature that was the Headmaster took a step forward. “Thirty years ago you arrived here. You’ve grown since, in more ways than I thought. In magic… there is nothing left for me to teach you.”

Auriëlle surprised, turned around to face him. It was an old habit that just would die. She knew, for some years now, that the time of her return to Toraan was coming. Yet somehow she still felt surprised.

The Headmaster continued: “But before you go, I have promised the Three-As-One to show the Omniversity. In all of its glory. For that task I could not imagine a better guide than my oldest pupil.”

[hider=Summary]
A nelf is sneaking out something out of a room at the Omniversity. She manages to reach the cellars where her friend managed to put together some sort of metal device. Lekhmu, a human with olive skin, places the crystal the nelf girl by the name of Cillantra stole into the device creating a sort of magical lantern. The next day he sets out to defeat Auriëlle. Who became a near-mythic figure within the Omniversity for her power. He challenges her.

The battle is over in about a minute. Lekhmu is utterly defeated while Auriëlle takes the lantern from him and takes it to her office. Her office is a rather drab place filled with sealed closets. She and the headmaster have a short conversation on how she could’ve gone easy on Lekhmu. Then the Headmaster reveals it’s time for her to return, but asks her before she goes to give the Three-As-One a tour of the Omniversity.[/hider]

[hider=Prestige]
[b]Post Length:[/b] 9.5K Characters
+4 Prestige >> Auriëlle
[/hider]