Name: Flester
Magic: Light
Rank: I
Mastery: [2/5]
Element: Flame
Element Mastery: [5/5]
Class: Orange
Special Element: None
Bound: Flame Divine Symbol
Soulforge: Not yet unlocked
Titles:
Lightborn
Flamebringer
Flamebearer
Flester nodded as he read his essence runes. His mastery of light magic was in the second stage of the first rank, that was bad-even for his age but one thing which was good was his flames.
His flame mastery had already reached the fifth stage. Orange class was first, followed by red, blue and finally pure white.
And he had already mastered the first stage.
His expression darkened when he looked at the bound rune. That rune was unique only to him, and maybe a few other individuals in this world he could count with his hands.
The Flame Divine Symbol was the reason for his Flamebearer title.
If someone were to find out, he had that symbol, the entire world would hunt him, kill him and snatch the symbol away.
The Flame Divine Symbol hanged from his neck like a necklace, covered by his oversized hoodie, it was a miracle no one had spotted it yet, it seemed the symbol used to have some sort of power that prevented others from seeing or feeling it.
Ever since he unlocked his magic though, everyone could see it. He somehow knew that fact, and so bought oversized clothes to cover it.
He sighed, the next town was near-around forty kilometres from Frosthold, he had already traversed at most five kilometres, he had started this journey this afternoon and now it was already late evening and on the brink of darkness.
He had to find shelter, and eat and if possible even sleep, and if he could not find any safe shelter-he had to continue traversing the forest in the darkness, and keep moving and fight whatever came. Hopefully the gods would show mercy.
On foot, the journey to the town would take at least five days, and that was the best case scenario.
Flester shrugged and began walking again, every town had a magic tower, so that adventurers and anyone who had magic would not get lost. Staying in Frosthold, he knew the feeling of its tower. He could still sense the faint pull of Frosthold's tower—but he ignored it, focusing instead on the distant, unfamiliar signal of the next town.
That night, he found a warm cave and reluctantly entered it. Finding nothing suspicious or dangerous, he ate his last remaining food he had brought with him from Frosthold, and now all he had to eat were the meat of the Stonecrawler.
Flester hesitated for a moment, if something were to attack him while he was sleeping then it would be a problem and he would mostly die.
That's why most travelled in pairs of three or more, taking turns for scouting for dangers while others slept.
Well but, this was Flester we are talking about-a loner and a creepy looking loner at that. No one would even trust him enough to sleep in his presence.
Flester had forgotten about this part of the journey, how would he stay safe sleeping alone? With no protection or certainty.
'Should I....'
His eyes darkened, and then he dismissed the thought, he was still near Frosthold, so there were very few shades who had escaped the soldiers of the city mages, but still there was one problem.
He knew why exactly why those shades were able to hide from the mages, they were specialised in stealth, that would be a good thing normally, but the fact was that fighting these stealth shades were only good in a direct confrontation.
The problem was that this was not a direct confrontation. If any shade were to attack him in his sleep, he would not even notice them.
Well at least he would die peacefully....
But sadly, dying so soon was not his plan, he still had to find himself.
He contemplated for a while and stared at his Essence runes, and focused on the Soulforge runes.
[Soulforge: Not yet unlocked][Evolve your Flame class to unlock your first Soulforge.]
[Element: Flame]
The flames acknowledge you.
They answer your will with ease, growing stronger and more stable under your control. Their heat no longer harms you as it once did, and even unbound fire bends, if only slightly, to your command.
At its peak, your flame—takes form at your will.
Your mastery has reached its limit. Further growth requires evolution.
Class: Orange
Your flames are ready to evolve.
Flester thought for a while, to unlock his Soulforge, he had to evolve his class-and evolving it near the city would inevitably bring attention, and he did not want attention right now.
Flester never had evolved neither his flame or light magic ever, and according to that others say, it makes one vulnerable during the period of their evolution.
Flester did not have a couple or even a single person defending him during that evolution, and so-that was not an option.
This was the reason he wanted to reach the next town soon, so that he could evolve. The next town was near to Frosthold providing shelter but also far enough for him to evolve without the attention of the Frost noble clan.
That was why he left this afternoon, normally even graduates who left their town or city would stay for at least two days, and so having a head start and reaching the next town days before them could let him evolve his flames in peace.
Who knew if any of the graduates would see his evolution and inform it to the noble clan. That won't be a problem but Flester did not know if the noble clan liked him or not, and if they decided to watch him, there might be a chance the Flame Divine Symbol to be discovered sentencing his doom.
He had to now decide between a few moments of vulnerability or sleep with a small chance of waking up to fight any shade or die at the hands of an undetected shade or... Abandon the hope of sleeping and continue travelling through the night.
Normally that won't be a problem since a day or two of not sleeping won't catch up with mages but after that, he had to sleep and he did not know where the next shelter would be-and there was a possibility there was no shelter too.
He did not have a noble family or a rich family to back him up and provide him a map of details of the terrain-heck, he did not even have a family, and he was maybe the poorest in the city.
'How unpleasant.' He thought grimly.
'How come I did not think of this, uh what a mess.'
In the end he decided against sleeping or evolving, and decided to instead travel through the nights. What was the worst thing that could happen anyway?
He crawled out of the cave, and soon the young flamebearer was sprinting in the dark embrace of the forest, the night was especially dark today. Well this was the first time he had ventured into the forest outside the Frosthold so he did not put too much thought on it.
Soon, he inevitably faced another shade.
This one was oddly not a stealth type but instead was a completely normal lesser beast.
Shivering a bit as he felt the cold air of the icy domain caress his skin, he prepared himself to fight this shade. It had to be manageable since the powerful shades were also hunted and killed by Frosthold decades ago, and even now go on occasional hunts.
'There's still a chance this fight can be very well my last.'
He studied the unnaturally frightening looking shade in front of him, the shade did not move as if wanting him to actually study it more.
The creature stood at the same height as Flester, its body lean and tightly drawn over sharp bones. Its skin was rough and dark, marked with faint cracks that glowed dimly from within. Its limbs were slightly uneven, one arm ending in clawed fingers that dragged lightly against the ground. Its face was narrow and wrong, with a stretched mouth of blackened teeth and dull, flickering eyes that held no life. It didn't try to hide—it simply stood there, watching him.
'How terribly ugly.' He thought with a scowl.
The shade looked like a walking corpse, utterly scarred and terribly ugly but unmistakeably it was indeed a walking corpse.
Just as he finished studying the shade, it lunged in his direction...its speed was simply unnatural and superbly fast, too fast even.
If it was not for the flames reinforcing and enhancing the durability of his body, he would have been seriously damaged by the shade's blow to his gut.
Nevertheless though, the blow still knocked the air out of him.
He let out a quiet, almost undetectable cry, it was his first time getting hit by a shade so directly and he already hated the feeling.
'Damn this wretched existence.'
The corpse looking shade was right in front of him aiming a bite at his thighs. This time however, Flester was ready and instead of biting the thigh of a not so tasty young boy the shades mouth was met by nothing.
At the last moment Flester sent magic into his legs and jumped high enough to dodge the deadly attack. The beast was now right below Flester facing the ground, it was too late to understand and well received a painful kick to the top of its head.
The creature's skull cracked faintly under the force of his kick, its body jerking forward before collapsing onto its hands.
Flester landed a step away, sliding slightly on the frost-covered ground. He didn't pause.
Flames surged along his arm, gathering quickly—too quickly to remain stable. He forced them forward anyway.
A burst of fire shot toward the creature's back.
"How was that, you bastard."
The shade wailed as it was burnt by his flames. For a moment, the flames clung to it, spreading across its cracked skin—but then they dimmed. The glow beneath its flesh flickered, and finally disappeared.
'Tough bastard.'
It lunged again as it turned back to him...Its lifeless eyes showing a sense of anger in them.
His flames flared instinctively, wrapping around him, and the strike came at the next moment. The sharp claws grazed his shoulder as he ducked, the creature's claws slashed both his clothes and skin as a few drops of blood spilled on the snow grass.
His flames seemed to become angrier than usual as they went on a frenzy sending the beast back as they wrapped around the beast burning the lesser shade. Another tortured wail rang out of its mouth.
Once again, he couldn't keep the flames active for long without draining his reserves. The flames entered Flester's body again enhancing his physical might.
Sadly though, the shade was not dead instead it was only angrier this time. With a grimace, he jumped back right when the shade launched at him, and then unexpectedly Flester stopped and dashed towards the half-burnt shade.
This was not an enemy he could beat in physical might, and it seemed to recover from his normal attacks, he had a few tricks up his sleeves but sadly they would take a lot of magic reserve.
So, he stepped in—punched—then caught its claws mid-swing, and gave the beast the most wicked and dark grin he could muster, and just as its teeth came down to bite his neck, he moved and angled the shade's mouth to his already bleeding shoulder.
He let out a startled scream, still holding the beast's arms and smirked.
Flester waited for another second as the shade hungrily sucked his blood, and finally when he felt a surge he grinned...and suddenly the shade was enveloped in flames and this time the flames were coming from within the beast, from the drops of blood he devoured from Flester.
Letting go of the shade's arms, he manifested a tangible flame knife and slit the shade's neck and jumped back.
The young boy clutched at his bleeding shoulder as he watched with dark satisfaction as the shade was burnt and burnt and burnt, and finally the flames dimmed a while after the shade died.
'Free toasted meat.' Flester grinned.