Light Of Freedom

CHAPTER 6: TROUBLED PASTS

Magic is the bedrock of the world of Tempora and is present in every living being be they plant or animal. Only mages however can harness this magic and use it to their advantage.

The magic system in Tempora allows the users to use an array of magic archetypes with the main ones being fire magic, water magic, wind magic, earth magic, and nature magic. These five types of magic and be intricately combined to create several other things. These intricacies are very important and thus incantations are required to achieve them.

For example, a mage can conjure a piece of glass by combining fire and earth magic and saying an incantation. A mage can conjure mead by combining water, wind and nature magic to the right proportions. This involves a lot of magic control and a mage must have gone through some rigorous magic training to be able to easily achieve this.

THERE ARE TWO FORMS OF MAGIC:

- Combat magic

- Non-combat magic

Combat magic is the use of magic to fight and defend oneself. It's a mixture of wit and power. It usually doesn't require any incantations and only channeling. Mages adept at this are usually soldiers, warriors, mercenaries, etc.

Non-combat magic is magic that is adapted for solving everyday problems such as healing the sick and injured, controlling work equipments, conjuring everyday materials, etc. It involves the intricate combination of any of the 5 magic archetypes using incantations to produce a desired result.

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It had been two days since the duo of Smith and Kyra began their trek through the unfamiliar Slarap woods and due to Smith's injuries, they hadn't covered much ground. Anytime Kyra started to complain, Smith would readily remind her that it was her that put him in his current condition. The strain of having to travel with a dislocated shoulder and broken rib would tell on anyone, even a trained soldier like Smith.

"What prompted you to join the Imperium Guard?" Kyra asked as they walked down a winding path covered with dead twigs and decaying leaves. "Well, I just woke up one morning and found myself as a Guard" replied Smith sarcastically as he wasn't in the mood to chat. "You must really have an affinity for murdering the innocent", Kyra retorted. Smith fell silent and walked laboriously yet tried to keep ahead of her, twigs cracking beneath his steps. They walked on for a few hours with Kyra helping to support him a couple of times when he stumbled. Soon they got to a clearing where they decided to set up camp.

As they were done setting up camp the duo sat across each other from the fire. "I was young and naive....", Smith said as Kyra looked in his direction and focused her attention on him. "My family is a noble one albeit lesser but noble nevertheless...". "I always looked up to the soldiers and knights of the Imperium as they embodied strength, honor and justice...".

"My father however was not party to my becoming a soldier...", "I thought he was weak and lazy, without honour...", "A mere merchant, unlike uncle Chaz who was a soldier in the Imperium Guard and always told me stories of his expeditions with his war brothers". "As a boy I wanted that life of violence and glory". Kyra listening intently retorts "....so you did want to kill a lot of people ", "Evil people who threatened Seppora." Smith said as he tossed a twig into the flame with his other still functional arm to keep it alive. The flame brightened up and the twig crackled as it burned up in the campfire under slightly moonless night.

"The day I left to join the Guard my father was hurt and I didn't look back even when I heard my mother's sobs while my father comforted her as I rode away to lay my life down for my realm...", Sarsson paused and stared into the distance. "I never went home again since then because I couldn't stand to break my parents' hearts twice...". "I considered my unit my new family and my name was the only piece of my true origins that remained with me...".

"I thought my father to be a cowardly useless old man for most of my life, but my father I later discovered wasn't even initially a merchant...", "He was a former Guard who was discharged for health reasons, he was even a captain and would have become a knight had he not been struck with an incurable illness...", "...but again I didn't remember my father being sickly or frail". He paused and turned to look at the girl who had been silent this whole time to know if she was still awake. She was and she was listening intently too.

She then asked "Did anyone ever tell you what sickness befell your father?", "No, I never thought to ask and I haven't seen him in years too..." Smith replied. "I am not even sure he's alive and I doubt he would care about me or love me enough to want to see me again after I abandoned him". "There is no going back for me over the ties with my family", "I wanted to make it up to them by becoming a Knight but here I am now, a deserter...", "...and if given the chance I would still leave the Guard again 50 times over."

"I will never ever fight for a government that doesn't fight for it's people, never again, instead I would fight for the people against the inconsequential government..." said Smith with a tint in his eye. Kyra in admiration thought to herself "I don't know how you want to do that but I hope you succeed...". They both looked into the darkness for a bit and then Smith still in a conversational mood asked "So what are you looking for in Tartum?". Kyra hesitated a bit as she remembered Balo Fer, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth she replied "An evil man that took everything from me and he must pay in blood". "And how do you want to find this man?..." asked Smith rather curious as well as amused. He continued, "You do know there are tens of thousands of people in Tartum right and it would take you forever to find one asshole...".

"He is a Guard..." she said as she yawned and dozed off propped up on a root of the great oak which they were uncamped under. "I guess that means first watch is mine..." muttered Smith to himself as he grabbed his sword and laid it across his thigh thinking back to his family he hadn't seen in about a decade...