The Mage Of The Millennium Chapter 3: Council

The room was overtaken by the luminosity of a thousand suns. The intensity searing the cloth chair and the thin fabrics within the room. The water bubbled within the bowl forming a misty aurora which floated on top of the container. The metal frames within the room gave way to the red hue which engulfed it.

As the tilework on the walls began to disa.s.semble, two blue dots could be spotted from the center of the room.

Luminus slowly opened his eyes as the unbearable intensity began to cool off. The unnatural glow of light upon the river faded from its reflection.

He slowly pushed himself up onto his knees. He steadied his legs and attempted to stand upright, but they were still shaking. A moment later, he fell back onto his knees, his legs unable to handle the pressure.

He saw the singed wood and the little crevice the shape of his face. He quickly wiped off the ash and dropped a burnt piece of fabric he tore off from the table on top of it.

Luminus steadied himself once more and successfully stood up. He headed to the wooden compartment by the corner of the room and opened it to take out a fresh new robe. He threw the burnt robe into the compartment while he walked towards the door.

"It's time," Luminus spoke softly making sure no one was nearby. He began walking towards the council room as the last drop of water vanished from his eyes.

Pithar quietly walked down the corridors as he followed behind the two mages. His mind was flooded with various emotions as he struggled to comprehend his current situation. He kept thinking about the moment where he had shocked even Pyrus in the apt.i.tude test. The rules of the trial were extremely fair. Those who performed outstandingly well are ranked high and there is no outside influence that can tamper with it. Even when Pithar's brothers partic.i.p.ated in the trial, they received no special treatment despite being sons of the archmage.

After a short walk, they arrived. Pithar was instructed to take a seat in the chipped wooden chair inside the small room. They asked him to momentarily wait there until they were able to provide him with a valid reason for his dismissal from the list.

Pithar looked around the room and saw nothing much of importance. It was a very quaint room with little to please the eye. There was only a metal table along with two wooden chairs opposing each other. The metal had rusted long ago and both of the chairs were chipped at the edges. Pithar anxiously waited for the reasoning behind his situation as he dove into his thoughts.

"Why is this happening to me? I know I did extremely well. Even Aerin --- No, wait. She never did mention how she actually did on her apt.i.tude test. All I know is that she somehow got first. I was the one talking the whole time like an inconsiderate idiot."

He sat there thinking. He thought of how much he was acting like Pyroth today, an absolute piece of c.r.a.p. His regret for his actions today weighed down on him and he began to forget his current situation.

He remembered how Aerin would always cheer him on more than even he himself would, but he'd never returned that favor to her. He was mostly by her side for everything, but he couldn't remember times where he was actually cheering her on as she had. He would always sit there solemnly brooding about hi lack of magic.

After perhaps his mother, Aerin had been his greatest motivator to help him succeed. Through all the "training" he had attempted, she had always accompanied him and aided him with whatever he needed. He realized how much his best friend had done for him and how he'd taken her for granted all these years.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door creaked open. His jaw dropped open and tears welled in his eyes as he looked at the figure standing in the doorway.

Light emanated from Luminus's palms as he cast Lux Celere. The light beam had the ability to track any targets marked by Luminus beforehand. It was the most versatile scouting spell possible.

The beam of light traveled through the corridors reflecting off shiny surfaces as at an extremely fast speed until it hit it crashed into a crimson red robe.

Pyrus was instantly notified by the ray of light and began to set up the council room.

Moments after the golden door of the council room opened as a well-built man with golden locks walked in.

"I presume you're contemplated your next actions?" Pyrus inquired.

"You arrived pretty quickly. Are you sure you weren't being followed?" Luminus asked.

"Is this the right time for jokes? You already know that the only one that can sense this spell other than you is the grand council." Pyrus responded.

"I would not have called for the council unless I had made a decision regarding my son," Luminus answered as he sat down in his golden chair with a domineering aura.

"I've already contacted the other three, they'll be joining us soon," Pyrus responded as followed Luminus and took a seat on his exquisite chair made of the hide and scales of red salamanders.

The room became eerily silent as Pyrus and Luminus solemnly looked at each other without speaking a word. The air around them felt heavy as if it were being weighed down by the pressure of the skies.

Moments later, the door opened once again as a gorgeous blue-haired woman walked in with a silver haired beauty right behind her.

"Aqua, Aelia, it's nice to see you again. Neither of you cared to pay me a visit in the last month, did you? Our decades-long friendship means nothing to you I guess." Luminus smiled at them as he spoke. He knew that he couldn't spring upon such a serious topic onto them yet.

"You're telling us, that we didn't visit you, but I don't remember seeing you at our last retreat. Do you Aqua?" the silver-haired woman replied.

"He's too busy being the Archmage. How's he going to have time for his friends? We should have stopped him when started thinking about it. Maybe then he wouldn't have to live like a hermit in his chambers all day." Aqua added as she laughed.

"I can never win against you two can I?" Luminus sighed.

"Well, we do need something your esteemed prodigious self can't defeat us in." Aelia teased.

"I- You know what I already lost. I'll only embarra.s.s myself further if I attempt to continue. So how's your research been going Aqua? I heard you're working on a new type of magic?"

"It's going extremely well. I'm on the verge of a breakthrough and might have something to dazzle the whole kingdom soon. I call it mist magic. It'll be immensely helpful for us with the ongoing tensions with the Bandits of Dasos. Perhaps I'll have it ready by the next planned council meeting.

"I am almost at a breakthrough. It will probably be completed soon. You will be surprised when the research is complete, but I doubt that's why you called a council meeting." Aqua replied nonchalantly.

"Sit, sit." Luminus gestured toward the seat across from him. "Let's wait for our two remaining guests to arrive. I'll explain once everyone is here."

The door creaked opened once again as a brown haired man walked through the door. He quickly fashioned himself onto his chair made out of the bark of a King Treant.

"Welcome Teryon. Since everyone is now present, I'll quickly address why I called for the council meeting today since some of us are a bit too restless for this council to commence." Luminus said as he snuck in a quick look at Aqua.

"He-" Aelia tried to retort, but Luminus continued, "Let's not waste any more time then. During the apt.i.tude tests, we discovered one of the young mages using a new type of magic."

"New magic? What kind?" Aqua asked excitedly.

"I'd love to be as excited as you Aqua, but this time…" Luminus sighed. "This time it's nothing to be excited about. The magic that was discovered had an ability we've only seen in another style of magic before. Unfortunately, that magic is the one type of magic our great founder warned us against. The magic his brother used to reap the soul of their mother."

"You can't mean… Nec- Necromancy right?" Aelia stuttered out of shock.

"Yes. We have a necromancer amidst us. The greatest sin." Luminus replied in a melancholy tone.

"Who might it be Luminus?" Teryon asked.

"It's my son. It's Pithar." Luminus replied with a shaky voice as his eyes drooped low.

"No. I-It can't be. We-Weren't his m-mana channels de-destroyed at a young age? H-How could he possibly use magic?" Aelia questioned as she stuttered with her eyes wide open in disbelief.

Aqua stood up from her handcrafted pearl chair, walked behind Luminus and pulled him into a hug.

"Are you alright?" Aqua quietly whispered to him.

"It's fine Aqua. I'm fine." Luminus responded.

"Don't lie to yourself. Your eyes are oceans ready to burst at any moment." Aqua replied.

"I'll be fine. It'll difficult, but I'll be fine." Luminus a.s.sured.

"Pithar. Isn't that the little one that was more talented than you?" Teryon aksed.

"He was. But now he's been without magic for years now. I'm not sure at all how he's able to cast necromancy." Luminus lamented.

Luminus looked at Aqua and gestured her to return to her seat. She looked at him reluctantly but obliged.

Pyrus's head drooped low, unable to meet anyone's eyes.

"Raise your head Pyrus. We've already been over this. What happened was not your fault nor can you blame yourself for it. Do not stay stuck in the past." Luminus interjected

The old man's head raised slightly, but he continued to keep his sight on his shoes.

Luminus sighed as he returned his gaze back onto Teryon. "You've always told me when I was wrong, please…" Luminus took a breath, "Please tell me what I can do."

Teryon's face stiffened as daggers appeared in his eyes, "I know what you want to do, but you know what you have to do."

Luminus's face fell as he fought back the tears that attempted to invade his eyes. Aelia kept shifting her gaze between the two men with her face scrunched up.

"You're going to get wrinkles if you keep your face that way." Luminus turned towards her with a warm smile.

Aelia's face instantly returned to normal as she turned her head away towards Pyrus. It was now that she noticed that Pyrus's mouth was agape attempting to speak. He was unable to as an invisible force seemed to suppress his words with immense pressure.

Aqua finally broke the silence as she stared right at Luminus and asked for him to explain the significance of Teryon's words.

Luminus remained silent as his radiant aura grew dimmer and dimmer. "Do you remember the great tale of Merlin?"

Aqua nodded her head as Luminus continued, "Our great ancestor, Merlin was a phenomenal magician. He conquered everything and was the greatest mage to ever exist."

"We know this. Why are you repeating history we learned at half Pithar's age?" Aqua responded.

"But I doubt you know that there was one thing he failed to do even with his abilities." The council's eyebrows perked up.

"Protect his family."

*Author's Note*

Let me start off by saying how much I love you guys! I can't believe how loyal you guys are and make my heart melt that you're willing to read my story. I truly truly appreciate it.

The past few months I've been dealing with a lot of schools and personal issues that I had to fix, but I can finally say that I'm back. Weekly chapters from now on and I'll be able to get them out more consistently without issues. Over these months though I can say my writing has definitely improved. You'll notice it over future chapters.

Also if you guys want faster chapters, the best way is to join discord so you can chat with me. I also need an editor who can help me fix grammatical issues and stuff because I end up spending hours upon hours reviewing grammatical errors and word choice. If I have someone helping me with that, I will be able to increase the quality of the chapters and perhaps even release more per week.

There are also benefits for being the first few to discord as you can ask for something to be included in the story like a character, a place, basically anything and I'll try to put it in.

Discord:

https://discord.gg/45weeYd