Departure[Job]

Job Details:

Swirling gusts blew through the plains as heavy weather began to roll in from the north. Deep rumbles announced the maelstroms advent as thick grey clouds stretched across the sky to dim the sun’s light. Thankfully, the rainfall was still distant allowing Zion to enjoy his morning breakfast on the rooftop of the Koval Tower. The white haired magicians was seated at a small table just outside the wooden house that was built atop the roof. He sipped at a cup of tea as his eyes scanned the horizion with eagerness in his gaze. The construction he planned for the estate was complete for now. A sense of pride and accomplishment filled Zion as he took in the sight of morning activities across the estate. From his tower he could see the manager, Jericho, moving about the compound giving instruction and guidance to the former tribemembers that had chosen to volunteer for the work to create a place for magicians and non-magicians as to come together as friends in peace.

They had come from a culture where currency wasn’t of value so initially they had been content to work for Zion simply for the guaranteed roof over their heads and food provided. Once Jericho arrived on the scene he insisted that such an arrangement was too much like slavery or servitude. The new manager didn’t revoke the benefits provided to the staff but under his care they were paid appropriately for their work. Though Zion didn’t personally have the funds to employ all of the staff members, Jericho was content to pay out of his own pockets as he didn’t say anything for now. Seeing the old man working so hard for him, Zion smiled to himself and made a mental promise to one day amass enough wealth to cover the wagers himself and pay Jericho back for his genuine support behind the outpost.

Finishing off a last few crumbs off his plate, Zion stood from the table and returned inside leaving behind his excitement for how the estate might develop in the future. There was a far more enticing excitement boiling inside the young doll’s veins as he gathered up his magic tools and prepared to set out on a journey. Ever since Zion became a 2nd Kodor and gained access to Merlin’s Library he had lost a lot of time towards magical studies as the estate had preoccupied most of his attention. But Zion was quickly beginning to realize that it was dangerous for him to practice learning new magic types inside the academy. The power of “resonance” Zion had with the rukh had the potential to become something “great” some day. But for now it was inconvenient considering that revealing it to any other magician would immediately  expose that there was something unnatural about Zion’s body. If Zion wanted to continue his pursuit of the mysteries of magic he would need to do them elsewhere for now.

A map of the world pinned to the wall took Zion’s focus as his fingertip landed on Magnostadt before snaking across the world to the young magician’s destination...Heliohapt! Through books Zion learned that Heliohapt was close to the place where civilization began and that it had survived a calamity of mysterious origin. The enigmatic account recorded by the author made the doll curious so he decided that today was the day he would entrust the estate with Jericho before setting off to continue his magical studies while traveling.

Zion hefted a new staff Noir had gifted him and admired the craftsmanship as he activated his flying carpet and used it to descend the tower quickly. An elegant rifle was slung across the magician’s back and stood out as a rather strange device. One would be able to tell at a glance that he was an accomplished magician in possession of a powerful dungeon tool. The naive and boyish countenance was a bit more firm and responsible looking than just a few months prior causing Zion to have a presence more matching to his appearance of young man. As he strode up to Jericho confidently and informed him that he would be leaving to travel for the next several months. The old man didn’t seem to be surprised and acted as though he expected this was going to happen soon.

Preparations completed and affairs secured, Zion was just about to leave when suddenly a figure in red shot through the sky like a red comet. A loud boom announced the arrival of the storm as thunder rumbled and drops of rain began to fall. The red streak of light landed in front of Zion and blocked his way. ”I didn’t expect you to actually be capable of convincing the old man...Now that you found the last piece to make your project work, you wouldn’t happen to be thinking of leaving now would you?” At first Zion was happy to see the masked man as he forgot about going to visit Casvallion to say good bye and thank you. But the joy on the young magician’s face faded when he took note of the red clothed magician’s stern tone.

”...If I want to keep studying magic, I need to leave Magnostadt. It’s too dangerous for me to practice magic in the academy.”

After gulping down his fear and summoning some courage, Zion starred Casvallion down and gave his reasoning in a firm voice.  Casvallion didn’t seem moved but he sighed and shook his head. ”You don’t understand. It might be risky here, but I can protect you if something happens or your “secret admirers” make a move. I can’t come with you if you leave, my duties are here, but I refuse to watch you go to your death.” The crossed arms of the masked magician made it clear through body language that he had no intentions of budging on this. Zion frowned and hesitated for a moment. Casvallion’s words were true after all. They didn’t even know the identity of Zion’s enemies or if they would still target him after stealing his father’s research. At the moment they could no longer justify acting against Zion inside the city. However it was a different matter if they sent someone after him once he left.

”I understand that it might be even more dangerous if I leave...but it’s a different kind of danger. One you’ve prepared me well to handle.”

Even if it was foolish, Zion could see the rukh around him quiver in excitement as he thought about how this journey was his fate. Hesitation gave way to determination but Zion never would expected Casvallion’s reasion. ”SHUT UP!” The man’s white gloved hands clenched into fists as his hand swiped the air as if to swipe Zion’s argument aside. ”You don’t understand anything about the world beyond here...I didn’t try to dissuade you from your project here because I never believed you would make it into a success. But with Jericho here that changes things. You should stop and dismantle this outpost and forget about travelling to the Goi nations. They will only try to exploit you and this place you built will only become a target. Mikael would never forgive me if I let you paint a target on yourself and then run off to become a tool of serpents!” The anger and pain in Casvallion’s voice startled Zion and made him deflate the instant Mikael’s name was brought up.

Never before had Zion see his mentor shout like this. The noble posture and expression he held earlier when interacting with Jericho that made Zion seem worthy of an estate masters title crumbled. The deer in the headlights look of a scared boy showed the true identity behind Zion. The doll felt his heart beat harder and he felt tears begin to swell up in his eyes as he found himself unable to form a retort to Casvallion’s words. Seeing how heavily Zion was impacted by his outburst, Casvallion calmed down and became notably warmer in his words. ”You aren’t trying to do anything bad or wrong….but the world isn’t always fair enough to allow us to do what might be right or good.” Casvallion stepped forward and placed his hand on Zion’s shoulder to comfort him. Seeing the way the white haired doll hung his head and stood there in silence Casvallion took it as acceptance and simply gave the boy his time.

Zion could sympathize with Casvallion’s concerns, after all he shared them as doubts within himself that he had struggled with in the past few months. Not even a real “person” what right did Zion have to defy the injustices of accepted society and culture? How could he forgive himself if Goi hating magicians brought a calamity down upon the estate? Would Mikael be satisfied if Zion ran off unprepared only to be killed on the road to be robbed and forgotten? But there was another terror that Casvallion had no way of understanding. The fear of having his “inhumanity” exposed was far greater for Zion than facing mortal danger while traveling the world. He built walls and befriended magicians who shared his dream to protect the outpost. Even if it wasn’t enough, Zion was still doing his best to accomplish his goals according to his own belief of fate.

”You are right….about everything….But, even so!”

The tears that had been building scattered as Zion jerked his head up and stared at Casvallion with a look full of determination once again. ”If something happens to the outpost then that will be my responsibility to bare later.” The masked man dropped his jaw in shock and took a few steps back as he felt a familiar feeling. Zion continued to make his case adamantly showing that he too would not budge an inch on the matter. ”I know that I am still weak, so I don’t expect this journey to be easy. But I know that if I don’t go on it and stay here then I won’t become someone “great” like father told me to be. Besides, if my enemies in the academy come after me that is also an opportunity! If I can capture someone who knows something and get them to talk then I can figure out who is behind it all.” Turning a trap into a trap so haphazardly wasn’t convincing plan, Zion thought of it on the spot after all. But he said it looking dead serious as he looked to Casvallion hoping he would relent.

”Ahahahaa!”

The tension fell away as Casvallion suddenly began to laugh. The first time he met Zion something similar had happened. The masked magician approached the boy with a mind full of assumptions and doubts in his abilities. It is Zion’s spirit and humanity that moves Casvallions heart and every time the doll was met with a challenge he overcame it beyond Casvallion’s expectations. In fact, as he thought back to those nights when training Zion for the Kodor exam it had always been the same then too. ”Sorry, sorry, I just realized something, that’s all. You win, kid. I won’t stand in your way, but only once you’re able to break my borg in a spar.” The unexpected turn around in attitude stunned Zion but he quickly recovered and his eyes lit up as Casvallion listed his conditions.

Back when Casvallion was training Zion the doll had always made it a personal goal for himself to shatter the elder magician’s borg. Sadly, he never could successfully pull it off. Since then, Zion had only trained on his own for three months meaning that as long as there were fruits to his efforts then this was a condition Zion had the potential to clear! ”Excellent! Teacher, would you mind if we began now?” Feeling excited and confident, Zion held his staff at the ready and challenged his mentor on the spot. Casvallion smirked and seemed to have expected Zion would ask as much as he had already jumped backwards using flight magic to gently land 30m away from the estate walls. Zion followed and by the time his mentor said, ”Let’s get started then!” Casvallion’s wand was already flicked cause Crafter’s Web to spread out.

The first time this magic had been used it surprised Zion, but this time he was ready as the masked man summoned a Golem Forest to emerge around the doll. Zion swept his gaze left and right taking in the four sand giants being manifested from the earth around him. The surrounded Zion on all sides and would harass him with the goal of keeping him away from Casvallion. This was the man’s signature spell and it caused Zion no shortage of headache in the past. But now he had a method to complicate things for the sand giants. Tapping the Nature’s Scepter to the earth Zion released magoi into the ground causing the nearby grass to grow and mutate into thick jungle trees. The earth that was made loose from Casvalllion’s spell was bound up by the propagation of roots beneath the earth as thick trunks rose to spread out green canopies. The sand giants were too big to easily maneuver in the mini-jungle Zion created around himself.

From outside the newly created mess of trees and sand giants Casvallion scoffed at how devilishly good Zion’s luck must be. He didn’t know where his student obtained such a staff but he could tell from how much plant life it could produce so quickly that it was a powerful high grade magic tool on top of being a staff. Compared to the ominous rifle on Zion’s back it wasn’t too far off from being equal in value. While Casvallion was surprised he wasn’t baffled and used another flick of his wand causing all four of his sand giants to collapse followed by another flick that caused the collective sand to gather together. A Golem Lord condensed among the mini jungle and  used its powerful body to forcibly part the trees. The creaking of wood sounded the the crashing of felled trees sounded as the golem lord tore apart Zion’s cover but by the time it was finished the white haired magician was nowhere to be found. Seeing this Casvallion frowned and began looking around alert for any movements but it was already too late.

While the golem lord was forming Zion applied a Sight Bend Cloak to himself and used Flight to subtly sneak out of the jungle and around to Casvallion’s backside during the comotion. By the time the masked magician began looking for the doll Zion was leveling his wand at the magician’s open back. ”Bullet...” The tip of Nature’s Scepter tapped the air and a compressed bullet of air smashed against Casvallion’s borg at point blank range. Golden light formed a shield of magoi which nullified the burst of air at the cost of being littered with cracks. Bit by bit, the borg shattered and fell away to pieces as Casvallion turned around in surprise to see the invisibility peeling away from Zion’s body. ”You’ve already mastered light magic to such a level!?” Casvallion exclaimed. Forget about losing so easily, he was completely blown away by Zion’s growth. This spell was already a whole level more complex than the light magic spell Zion learned under Casvallion’s care.

Beaming with joy now that he had completed Casvallion’s test, Zion met his mentor’s bewilderment with a pleasant smile, ”I learned this spell myself after seeing you use it once. It took a lot of practice during my free time but I knew it would be worth it.” The doll spoke matter of factly and was obviously feeling rather proud of himself. Casvallion didn’t like the smugness Zion displayed but he was truly happy for him to have learned an invisibility spell. ”Amazing, simply amazing...if I had known you were capable of spells at that level I wouldn’t have been so concerned. Don’t let this go to your head though! You have only just begun to enter the realm of advanced applications of single magic types. But there are magicians out there who can combine various types of magic all at once. You were able to use a trick to win easily just now, but there are some enemies with overwhelming strength and tricks won’t work as well on them.” The masked magician praised Zion and warned him in the same breath.

Now that he had his mentors blessings, Zion could finally set out on his adventure!

WC: 2475/1000
Magoi: 170/260

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