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. ------------------------------------------------ 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...
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Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 7: AT LAST TARTUM!!!
It had been four days and the duo of Kyra and Smith had yet to encounter another traveler, not even Guards or lumberjacks, and certainly not bandits. Their food and water supply was more or less exhausted because they were two now, Kyra being the extra mouth to feed. If it were only Sarsson, he would have managed his supplies till he got to Tartum but now they had to find at least a water source. The gentle forest breeze blew on the duo as it carried the scents of fresh and decayed leaves rolled together in one and the smell reminded them of the circle of life. They had eaten the last of Smith's dried beef the night before and the Smith came to the realization that Kyra hadn't packed any supplies, not even a dagger to kill game with. How did this foolish girl want to undertake a journey of almost a week with just the clothes on her back? In fact he was going to ask her. "So now that we've exhausted my food and water what are we going to live on for the remaining half of the way?" S
Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 8: THE VENGEFUL MAGE
Tartum was a very nuanced town. One of the few places in Seppora where it seemed like the rich and poor ate from the same table. The townspeople were always a bustling bunch and even under curfew the nightlights of most homes were still on and singing could be heard from the rambunctious bunches that spent their days wages swallowing kegs of frothy mead and cheap diluted wine in taverns. The curfew was as a result of the consular order from the Imperium and the bounty placed on Smith's head. While Kyra and Smith had been making their slow crossing through the Slarap woods, the Imperium had issued a desertion order for him to be caught dead or alive. Neither Smith nor Kyra had been aware of this order although Smith knew in the back of his head that it would come. He was in Tartum now receiving treatment as he thought about his next course of action whether to go into hiding or go underground. Meanwhile… After paying for the inn she decided to go downstairs to the Golden Inn's taver
Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 9: ELIYA THE SLEUTH
THE CASTLE OF THE 7 SEATS, ELWYRM… The 7 Houses of the Imperium sat in fellowship on the roundtable. The roundtable was in the center of the great hall of the palace where the meeting of the Imperium held. It was surrounded by seven golden stools which was said to have been cast from the melted throne of the last king. The council sat regularly to discuss matters of state as well as political matters. On the roundtable around which sat 7 nobles from the 7 Great Houses of the Imperium, there was a giant map of the realm of Seppora carved into the solid mahogany wood and painted showing the different towns, cities, lakes, rivers, forests and mountain ranges of Seppora. The 7 house of the Imperium are: the Castors, a family of warriors headed by Lord Bjorn Castor, The Lyrons, artisans and craftsmen headed by Lord Eric Lyron; The Freyons, an elven family who intermingled with humans and settled and lived among the people of Seppora and fought alongside some noble families during the Gr
Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 10: THE MERCHANT OF DEATH
In a tavern in the crowded port city of Zolem, Eastern Seppora, an elf sits on the counter requesting for more booze. Half-alive due to drunkenness and reeking of the stench of alcohol and maybe if one sniffed deeper, pain and sorrow. Yes this was one sorrowful elf as he had done the unimaginable. This elf who's name was Ilkrig from Nordur in the north of Seppora was a broken man and he came to this tavern every single day to drink himself to oblivion. "Oi, ye piece o' shit…" said the barkeeper in the seaside Zolem accent, "…you haven't missed a day in me tavern in over a year, yeh?". "One of these days, ye'll drink the whole of Zolem's booze stash dry and I'll have no more to give to other of me customers". "…Oi shut up and pour me another cup bozo" replied Ilkrig in drunken stupor.Ilkrig is, or maybe you can say "was" a death-merchant. The death-mercahants are a small force of specially trained assassins who nobles used to settle scores once and for all. They helped start and end f
Light Of Freedom PROLOGUE: THE PLOT
In the guards mess captain Smith Sarsson bangs his hands on the table severally to call the attention of his men, slightly tipsy but still coherent and in control of his actions. He climbs on to a table in the great hall and speaks to his men numbering 250 in a deep baritone voice "Today, we put an end to a terrorist group that had been tormenting our realm after months of tracking and recon, we destroyed another cog in the wheel of our beloved Seppora". He raises the head of Deos, the leader of the Black Cats, a group of rebels that had held the town of Prium Minor for months. "This is the head of a man who felt that those at the head of running our realm didn't deserve to keep their heads and now he's lost his instead", the hall bursts into laughter. "This should serve as a warning to any man, woman or beast that threatens the peace of our realm that we, the Imperium Guard will feast on the night your head will be separated from your body and your head will be a showpiece to deter
Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 1: HE WHO PROTECTS THE WEAK
On the night he deserted, Sarsson decided he was going to go first to Lerdia and warn their lord and his people about the incoming chaos. He mounts his personal steed and rode towards the south of the realm where Lerdia was located. After riding for a couple of hours he finally got to the village. He was confronted by the men who stood sentry at the walls which were mostly made of wood. "State your business!!!" they yelled at him. He unmounts walks to the walls and replies "I want to see Aldo Belfour", "Our Lord isn't expecting any guests, especially not at this hour". "It's important, you have to let me see him, it's for your own good" Sarsson says. "Identify yourself and give us the message so we may relay it to him" replies the guard. "My name is Smith Sarsson, the sword of the Imperium". Smith hears a crossbow get loaded and he quickly raises his hands in surrender. "I am here to help you and your villagers, please grant me an audience with Belfour". "Have you been sent to harras
Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 2: THE BLOODY MAIDEN
Two days after the assembly, the Imperium Guard were upon Lerdia, led by Ursa Equitos, an Imperium knight who was given veto power to thrash the rebellion in Lerdia and whom Sarsson had some steamy history with. As the 250-strong Imperium Guard unit marched into the village they walked straight into the traps the villagers had laid out. The trap was a shallow dug hole with several containers of oil and tar buried under them which could be ignited by a flame. As the soldiers reached the village square they found an 80-man-strong militia and at their head was the Sarsson, the Scourge of the Imperium. "You bastards have bitten the hand that fed you and decided to commit treason against the Imperium which is so benevolent and good to scum like you..." Ursa yells at the top of her voice, "...and for this treason, you will all die!!!". "You have it all wrong Ursa, these people are not treasonous for not wanting to give up their means of livelihood..." Sarsson said. "If it isn't the dese
Light Of Freedom CHAPTER 3: THE MOODY MAGE
Meanwhile............. Kyra stood on a rock at the edge of the dense Slarap woods south of the capital of Seppora, Elwyrm. Who was she and how did she get here? Well, it all began 10 years ago.... ------------------------------------------------ "Your great power will bring you great suffering, but you will also do great things", these words kept ringing in Kyra's. She had been told those words by her dying mother. She didn't want to do anything aside from having her parents with her again and being back home with them working on the farms. Kyra was originally from the realm of Garnia across the sea to the north of Seppora an also predominantly human realm with arable land and resources. Seppora's Imperium had rallied it's force in a bid to annex Garnia because they felt that the human realms should be under one central rule. This sparked a conflict and Garnia was invaded and forced to be vassal to Seppora due to the war reaching a tipping point and forcing the king of Garnia to
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