Chapter 74- Servants (Part 1)

  Savage Land- Demonstration Cave- 4- Nov. – 2008 (08:50 am Local time)

  Lucian Aster, first disciple of Keacilius-

  The former soldier nodded as he realized that while he didn't feel different he was in fact different now. As he rubbed his slightly warm chest he asked. "Alright, what's next?"

  "I believe you mean to ask 'who's next'," Nath'aniel said to him, and yet when no one else said anything after a moment, the mage went on to expin. "The Servant Thesis works, so you should have all that you need from me. I assume that all of you have read it, right?"

  Again the sorcerers only looked around unwilling to say anything right away.

  Until the professor answered for them. “I think you will not be surprised to learn, that as of yet unsuccessful magic theories are not required readings at Kamar-Taj. And you will find that only Keacilius and I have read it to completion.”

  Lucian looked away from the mage in embarrassment, but nodded it to be true.

  Nath’aniel sighed, before muttering. “I guess I will have to walk you through the bonding process as well then.” The mage looked over towards his master and the professor before asking. “But in all seriousness who is next?”

  “Ortani," Keacilius admits. When his master saw the other man's surprised look, he added. "I need to discuss with my disciples who is getting theirs today as well. Unless the fourth is meant for the Elder here?”

  "No, another is set aside for her use," Nath'aniel admits.

  Lucian then gets off of the table. But before heading towards his clothes, he rubs the red bow-shaped tattoo. While he does he also nods his thanks towards the mage's disciple. She only nods back before looking over the few magic tools she has id out in front of her, seemingly testing their integrity before using them again.

  “And while I am willing to help your disciples learn the means, however, I feel that I must remind you both that this magic is heavily taxing, not just on the caster, but also on the environment. Multiple castings should be spread out over a fortnight going forward for the Order.” The mage reminded them as the former soldier dressed.

  Lucian hearing the warning paused in tightening his robes, wondering if he was skilled enough to do this. ‘No, for Luca I have to be.’ he thought.

  “Understood, we shall stagger our bindings. You have a room prepared?” His master asked.

  Nath'aniel nodded, before starting. "There is a back chamber that sits over the local Dragon Line, and while so does most of Azic’Anii, I have not been told which pace or structure will be donated for the Order’s use.”

  “It’s really too bad that so many of the Nexus’ are already cimed by other organizations.” The professor muttered.

  "We're not going to war with our former allies," Keacilius said ftly at the other man, making it clear that the topic was decided.

  “I knew Atntis was built over one.” The mage stated. The way he said it was almost as if he was asking what they knew of the others.

  “It is, and the other ocean point, the Pacific Nexus also has been cimed by the Atntean city of Lemuria," Lucian confirmed for the mage.

  “And then three are cimed by our former order, and a fourth is cimed by the Wakandas. That just leaves the damaged one in the Middle East, and the South African and South American ones open.” Ortani added.

  The former soldier noticed how Nath’aniel frowned when the professor mentioned that one of the Nexus was damaged, but neither the mage nor the sorcerers continued on that topic, as Nath’aniel cleared his throat and said. “Well then I guess instead of showing you three how to connect the parts, I will be escorting this young tribesman to the binding circle.”

  The rabbit-woman quickly walked back out of this side cave, and his master and the professor took that as a sign to do the same. Lucian moved to leave as well, but stopped when he saw the blonde woman whispering with the mage. He assumed that it was about her concerns for Nath'aniel's safety, and he thought to say something to dissuade such concerns, something like he would never do something so stupid as to risk his sister's return.

  But as the words began to form in his mind, he recalled that his sister's tin was still beside him, and the former soldier quickly moved to make sure that it and she were safe. Seeing the tin and the seals were fine, Lucian let out a sigh of joy.

  “You ready?” The mage asked.

  When the former soldier looked at him, he noticed that the spear-woman had also left the chamber. "Yeah," Lucian muttered, not really feeling ready, but also wanting to see his sister again. Then the two of them left the chamber, but instead of joining the others returning to the others they turn towards the darkness in the back of the cave.

  The former soldier followed more by sound than by sight, but after a moment he spotted a glowing light ahead of them. Shortly after seeing it, Nath'aniel began speaking. "Now remember, as with all Grandmaster level magic, Servant binding uses energies from multiple schools of magic… Weaving these, sometimes conflicting, energies need precision. So there is no harm in taking your time when casting."

  “How many and which schools are we talking about?” Lucian asked, feeling even more like he was outside of his depths.

  “Five… Abyssal, Lifeforce, Asgardian, Vanir, and Olympian. Unless you’re binding a non-sentient, then repce Vanir with Heliopolitan.” The mage answered with confidence.

  Confidence which he deserved the former soldier thought, as the man had already done this twice. “Abyssal and Lifeforce I get. With us changing and healing the person, but why the other three?” Lucian asked, wanting a clearer picture of what he was about to do. It was only then that he noticed the slight decline at which they were walking.

  Nath'aniel answered without hesitation. "Servants are mortals transformed into Heroic Spirits. This is why they can dematerialize and understand other spirits. As such we must infuse them with bravery, wisdom, and the will of heroes." He paused to dip his head to the side, as part of the cave was smaller than most of the tunnel.

  The former soldier, who was taller than the mage, was forced to crouch to get through the same section. Yet once through he could feel the increase of magic energy as they neared the y line that they were approaching. Knowing that they were close made him need a moment to catch his breath, once he did, Lucian pressed on after the mage who hadn’t needed to gather himself.

  He eventually entered a chamber that was illuminated by the already drawn-out spellwork glowing in a series of circles in the center of the chamber. "What do I do now?" He asked his throat suddenly dry.

  Nath'aniel shrugged before answering. "Pce your sister's container inside the center of the circles, leave, and well, I usually follow my gut as I weave the energy into the spell, but its shape is generally something like this." During his answer, he conjured a diagram of the shape and directions that the mystical energies needed to flow.

  The former soldier reached out with his core and tried to attract the required energies, he felt a pain instantly form in his temples as he pushed himself well past what he normally would do. Halfway to completion he intentionally released it, and took a few deep breaths, before trying again. Again he got halfway through it before stopping.

  Noticing the odd look the mage was giving him, Lucian apologizes. “Sorry… I am more… of a hands-on… kind of student." Once he was calm again, he pulled out his sister's tin and approached the center. After pcing her on the ground he asked. "Do I need to remove the seals?"

  "You shouldn't need to," Nath'aniel told him as he dismissed the illusion he created to show him how to cast the spell.

  Lucian nodded, before he took a deep breath, and then he started. Almost immediately the pain from before became like a combat knife digging into his skull. But like all of his injuries he used the trick that he learned as a soldier. The pain was someone else's pain; because he had a job to do. And like that, the pain lessened as it was pushed away. His hands moved as he called, pulled and weaved the mystic energy in a way that felt right to him.

  Then suddenly he felt it, the presence that was his sister, and as he reached for her the words seemed to spill from him. “A protector of the innocent and the young, you hunted those that would harm and prey on them. And making the shot that others called impossible, you saved a boat full of them. But now is no longer your time, now is time to serve your Master. Aim for me, shoot for me, fight for me, my Archer.”

  Lucian's body moved as if in a trance, his arms waving as he continued to control and feed more mystic energy into the now-forming entity. The pain once muffled was prominent again, and for some reason, he felt something wet, obviously not tears, but something wet trailing down his face and the side of his head.

  And just when he thought that he was about to fail, that the pain and pressure was about to be too much it just stopped. Lucian could feel something, someone, besides the painful headache that he had inflicted on himself, and just as he was about to ask the mage if he had failed she appeared.

  A swirl of caramel lights and sparkles materialized into his sister Lucia. She looked older than he remembered. His sister was wearing a torn and stained white sleeveless top, and the bck cargo pants she was wearing were filled with stuff in her pockets, but in the end, it was her, his sister.

  Her bck hair was in pig-tails that were just long enough to touch her back, her skin tanned from the sun, and her green eyes colder than he remembered. It honestly reminded him of some of the old-school soldiers in the Legion. The ones that have done and seen things, which made them know that they could never go back to a regur life. A sniper rifle in her left hand was pced in front of her butt to the ground before she saluted him. “Archer awaiting orders.”

  “Luca.” He called out to her. She blinked but didn’t react to her name. “It’s me, your brother, Lucian.” She did react to his name, Luca blinked and her posture rexed a little.

  “(Luc?)” She asked confused, her eyes closer to how he remembered, and her tone shifted away from the more common English for their native Italian.

  “(Yeah sis. It’s me.)” He confirmed in their native tongue.

  Then her eyes went cold again, and Luca switched back to English." Archer awaiting orders.”

  "Give her time," Nath'aniel said, reminding the siblings that they weren't alone.

  Luca's saluting hand dropped down to the small of her back, if she was kitted out near anything like he used to be, that would be where her knife would be stashed. The former soldier let his instincts take over and he rushed his kid sister. Then his hands were grabbing hers before he ordered. "No, he is a friend. Stand down."

  Luca was stronger than he imagined, it felt like he was fighting someone of his own strength and build instead of a skinny woman, but hearing his order worked as she rexed her stance and calmed down.

  Once he felt it was safe, he released her and asked. “Give her time for what?”

  “While the body is new, her memories are not. And she is reliving them as we speak. So just give her time to adjust.” The mage expined.

  “Right, she’s reliving her death. So who am I talking to now if not my sister?” Lucian asked worried.

  "Archer," Luca answered for herself, just like she would.

  Nath’aniel still answered though, saying. “The Servants are bound to serve. If the mortal soul won’t, then the Servant css will.”

  The former soldier nodded, kind of understanding but still very relieved to have something of his sister back, then he gestured with his head as he said. “Come on Archer, I got some teammates to introduce you to.”

  Savage Lands – Cave of Wonders- 2008- 11- 4 (Afternoon)

  Professor Laxman Ortani

  His hands clutched the ashes-filled wine bottle as he walked the long uneven tunnel. The professor actually felt hope for the first time when he id eyes on Lucian's sister when they and Nath'aniel returned. The mage had offered to come with and give pointers, but had already known the process from trying on others over the years.

  But like everyone else, those attempts failed; all because he didn't have a means of fine-tuning his control over the mystic energy. The mote of light that he had conjured to light the way stopped when it felt resistant, so he walked passed it and his eyes went wide when he saw the runes and lines of the binding circle.

  "Such precision, we will never manage to reach the same levels as the mages will we," Ortani muttered to himself.

  Then he walked to the edge of the circle studying and memorizing the characters and symbols, but then remembered he still had his phone on him, so he reached into his coat breast pocket and quickly snapped a couple of photos of the circle. He looked at them, scolding himself for buying such a cheap phone, but still, he had the general idea saved.

  Once the phone was put away he pced the wine bottle in the center of the circle, then he left and took a couple of breaths to calm himself before beginning. The spell came into form after a minute, and as he weaved and cast, the professor felt the stabilizer in his chest make its presence known, a heat in his chest when he cast too fast or too far.

  Still after an unknown amount of time, he felt it. The echo of his father's soul, and then the words came to him. "A pursuer of the sciences, your keen mind sought understanding in a chaotic world. Your actions although shrouded in secret brought order and blood. No longer will you kill for yourself or your secret masters, now you will kill for me, my Assassin!"

  As he shouted the st word, Ortani felt a weight off of his mind as the spell finished. Just as Lucian had warned him, the professor’s father started out in his spirit form. After a moment green and yellow sparkles appeared and took the form of an armored and armed man. The armored man’s hand was on his holstered pistol.

  Ortani wasn't a stranger to the armor or gear his father wore; he had seen the green metal and painted leather, enough times, as well as the yellow fabric. But instead of a skull with multiple tentacles, a red Assassin’s dagger was stitched into his chest and shoulders.

  “A member of Hydra father,” The professor stopped to chuckle before continuing to speak, “no wonder you qualified for the Assassin css.”

  “Father?” The moduted voice asked confused. “Laxman, is that you? You look old.”

  "I should, you've been dead for forty-three years," Ortani admitted.

  "That is your voice." The Servant muttered, before reaching for a pair of straps on his helmet before removing it. The sight of his father young and healthy again almost took the professor's breath away, but he controlled his body not to. "What did you do son?"

  Ortani smirked before he answered. “I proved you wrong. Magic is real, and I used it to bring you back from the dead.”

  “It’s not reliable.” His father argued.

  That made the professor’s smile widen. “Maybe not for you, but it is for others. It is for me.”

  Andrin Ortani looked at the facepte of his helmet, before looking him in the eye and asked. "What did this cost you?"

  “My teaching career at Oxford and twenty years of service to the Order of Masters.” The former professor admitted.

  “Who?” The newly minted Servant asked.

  “A militant group in the service of the Magi. If things go well, I will be the sub-head of the research and logistics branch.” The son expined to his father. Then he added. “However, you and I have a problem.”

  “What’s the problem?” His father asked. The man's look reminded Ortani of when the man would need to disappear for a couple of days.

  “The Magi and your former allies are at war. So you will need to lose those clothes.” The former professor pointed out.

  "Not a problem," Andrin muttered before his armor and gear turned back into motes of light. Ortani didn’t really want to see his father naked, but then again he didn’t want to have to expin to his new allies something he suspected. The motes of light seemed to flip, from green and yellow into motes of bck and grey, before they reattached to his father.

  The man was now dressed in a typical business suit and overcoat, in his father’s hands was a fedora hat instead of a helmet. “How did you do that?”

  "I have no idea, I just did it," Andrin admitted.

  “Something that we will have to look into once things settle.” The former professor said with another smile, imagining the things that they could learn from Servants and their abilities.