Alpha warlock academy, p.18
Alpha Warlock Academy, page 18
I glanced back over at the booth where my rivals were talking with their followers. The ladies got seated, but two of the dragon-kin men and two of the goblins suddenly got out of their booth, leaving Velkiir and Steag behind with their women.
Lackeys come to do their master’s bidding.
They sauntered confidently over to our table.
‘You’re Recruit Welles, aren’t you?’ One of the goblins said in a steady tone, his long ears twitching as his dark orb-like eyes focused upon me.
‘That’s me,’ I said, ‘What can I do for you guys? Autograph? Shitty insult? Or do you want to throw down an insult and then I can give you a sarcastic response?’
‘Nope,’ he continued, ‘we just wanted to say you kicked ass in the first challenge. It was impressive.’
‘Uhh…’ I said, a little taken aback. ‘Thanks.’
‘But don’t get comfortable,’ one of the dragon-kin men asserted. ‘It doesn’t really matter how far you get, because Velkiir and Steag are going to wipe the fucking floor with you.’
‘There it is,’ I said sarcastically, looking to Alaria, ‘I just knew that there was going to be a but there.’
‘I would say more of an ass than a but,’ she smiled, looking fearlessly between the dragon-kin and the goblins. ‘And four of them.’
I saw the other goblin look straight at Alaria and move to say something to her.
‘Don’t,’ I said commandingly, glaring at him. ‘Unless you want to experience a fistfight firsthand just like that idiot Ikkath. If you’ve got shit to say, say it to me.’
‘You think just because you bonded with some overpowered totem that you’ve got a chance?’ The other dragon-kin said, taking up the challenge. ‘I hear you’re not even from a magical world. Clearly it’s just a fluke, and it’s going to catch up with you eventually.’
‘Well, nothing like a little gatekeeping to make things unfair for everybody else,’ I said, entrenching my tone even deeper in sarcasm. ‘Listen, maybe I don’t have much of a chance against the better-trained recruits, but if I’m going to get beat, the least I can do is fuck your guys up badly in the process. Now, if you really don’t want to fuck off back to your booth, why don’t we go make a mess outside rather than in here? Just promise me one thing: fists, not magic, and let me take you all on one at a time. You can decide who goes first.’
The two dragon-kin and the two goblins glanced between each other.
I didn’t need the mysterious power within me for this.
This was all me.
I could see it on their faces; no restrained frowns or scornful glares, just micro-twitches escaping through their allegedly stoic features.
They shuffled away, keeping their gazes on me as they returned to their seats.
‘Want to get out of here?’ I said to Alaria.
We grabbed our coffees and slipped out the door onto the crowded street.
‘By the way,’ she said. ‘I just want you to know that I have never been more freaking hot for you than I am right now.’
‘Trouble has a tendency to find me like that.’
‘I see exactly what you mean.’
‘So where exactly is this rune scholar lead of yours?’
‘Ahh, my love,’ Alaria teased, ‘for that, I’ve got to introduce you to some adoring fans.’
Chapter 12
We took the teleporter back to the hub at the Academy and returned to campus a little way into mid-afternoon. A ten-minute walk took us into an area at the edge of campus where the buildings were almost completely overgrown with vegetation, layered with thick droves of plants and flowers in a whole spectrum of copious, vibrant colors.
‘What is this place?’ I asked.
‘The Natural Sector,’ Alaria replied. ‘And this is Thicket Tower.’
We turned a corner past a low building and came upon a large courtyard scattered with blossoming blue and orange flowers. At the center stood a ten-story tower so covered in vines and snaking mounds of leaves that it was impossible to tell if there was any brickwork at all beneath it.
Among the grass and the pools of shimmering blue water on the ground, dozens of dryads and nymphs moved among the grass beneath the trees, some reading, others lying on their backs staring up at the sky, some even lounging in the nearby pools.
The women outnumbered the men considerably. Even from a distance it was easy to make out their incredible physiques of the women as they skimped about with next-to-nothing covering their bodies.
‘Some entrants at the Academy are sometimes afforded the privilege of choosing their residence, but it’s never guaranteed,’ Alaria said as we headed through a doorless archway to the tower’s innards. ‘But a lot of the Natural beings get first choice of this place because they always need a home where they can link back to the natural world.’
‘Natural beings?’ I repeated. ‘Doesn’t that include everybody?’
‘Technically, but Natural beings is just the name for those with strong aether heritage related to the earthly elements, like dryads, nymphs and sirens. Most of their kind that live on campus call the Natural Sector home.’
The strangely-placed sound of rushing water hit me the moment we stepped into Thicket Tower. From the ceiling a channel of water poured, catching rocks on the way down and creating small streams that ran along the edges before continuing its journey down to a large patch of water nearby. It was neither a pond nor a lake; something in between, an indoor oasis surrounded by luscious vegetation of vibrant greens and blues that lined the walls all the way up until a series of old stone stairs began halfway up the tower, leading to the first floor.
‘Holy shit’ I muttered to myself. ‘This is amazing. But where does the water come from?’
‘You’re asking the wrong person,’ she winked. ‘But there is somebody who may know, a good friend of mine, and precisely the person who can point us in the right direction.’
‘It seems pretty quiet. Where is everybody?’
‘Most come back here to sleep. They get the best rest here. Not as good as a dryad’s original ark tree or a nymph’s den, but the closest that their kind can get off-world from their homes.’
Before I could ask how we were supposed to get up to the higher floors, a figure approached from behind us.
‘Pardon me,’ she said politely, sliding smoothly between us and crossing to just one patch of the mass of vines covering the walls around the waterfall.
The cloaked figure pulled down her hood and shook out a luscious main of jet-black hair before spinning around and slipping her cloak from her shoulders.
A green-skinned woman wearing nothing but a black bikini that clashed beautifully with her body swiftly wrapped up her cloak and pushed it into her satchel. Back on my home world she could have easily passed for a catalog swimsuit model.
She got an easy foothold on the vines and pulled herself into the air, clambering up several floors swiftly and gracefully in a matter of seconds. She arrived at the stone steps in no time and scurried up them out of sight.
‘I might give that a try next time,’ I smirked, tapping my totem inside its enclosure and crossing to the center of the entrance hall with Alaria. ‘Projecturo accessor.’
A column of purple Arcane magic appeared from the ground beneath us. We ascended several floors, as far as the column would move.
But it wasn’t far enough.
‘Or this time,’ Alaria grinned. ‘Time to adjust our strategy.’
Without warning she leaped from the construct to the viny walls.
‘Since when were beings with demonic heritage such good climbers?’
‘We’re not,’ she said. ‘But we do have an appetite for danger.’
‘I already figured that part,’ I smiled.
‘I’ll bet,’ she grinned. ‘Jump!’
I leaped from the column just as the Arcane magic failed. The column faded swiftly from sight, leaving droplets of Arcane magic floating steadily to the viny ground below.
I needed a flat surface on which to place a column, but there weren’t any around.
Climbing was our only way up.
In the past few days I had noticed a few changes in my body, namely the addition of some bulkier muscle on my lean figure.
The amount of strain I had put my body through during classes could have been responsible, but that wouldn’t have affected my body so quickly.
The other possibility was that this mysterious aspect of my aether heritage was awakening a hidden strength within me, fed by the power of the totem.
Either way, I felt surprisingly comfortable climbing.
I traced after Alaria, trying to keep my eyes on the route and off her immaculately sculpted behind wrapped up tight in her hotpants as it worked back and forth during our climb.
She reached the steps and offered me a hand up, and together we headed up to the first floor, which began almost 20 yards from the oasis below.
A common area filled with water and plants led into seven heavy wooden doors. Another set of stairs led further up to the higher floors.
‘Most Natural beings live in hives. That’s basically a community of a few beings.’
‘So these are all shared dorms?’
‘Yep.’
We headed up the next set of stairs. Alaria scanned the doors and knocked on one.
‘Who lives here?’
‘I met her on a taster course a few months back, she’s really cool.’
There was a little shuffling behind the door, then it swung open to reveal a pretty blue-skinned woman in her mid-twenties with a messy ponytail. She frowned between Alaria and I before breaking into a grin.
‘Alaria!’ She greeted Alaria with wide eyes before hugging her tightly. She glanced over at me, then pulled a double-take. ‘Oh…’ She breathed, her cheeks suddenly running a hint of lighter blue as she pressed a delicate hand to the top of her chest. ‘You’re him, aren’t you?’
‘If by him you mean the guy that everybody’s been watching like a hawk the past few days, then yep,’ I smiled, trying not to sound arrogant.
‘A pleasure,’ she said. ‘I’m Sadie… So, where are you from? I’ve never seen your kind.’
‘Everybody asks me that,’ I smiled. ‘Let’s just say it’s a long way from here.’
‘No doubt,’ she said slowly, looking me up and down. ‘Do you two want to come in? I just put some tea on, and I’ve got company.’
‘I suppose we could stay for a little while, right?’ Alaria shrugged at me.
I headed inside the spacious shared dorm. Just like the outer walls of Thicket Tower, the dorm’s walls and floor were covered in leaves and shrubbery.
Flowers and plants of all varieties scattered the walls as sunlight poured in through the open window into the room, making the light mist on the air glimmer.
‘Ladies, this is Alaria,’ Sadie said.
‘Lu-valar, Alaria,’ a trio of overlapping voices spoke nearby.
‘And this is Theo, the Alpha warlock that caused all that ruckus back at the arena during the first exam.’
Interested murmurs abounded among three figures I could vaguely make out through the mist. A little of the hazy moisture and mist in the room cleared, and I caught sight of the owners of those lyrical voices.
A trio of pretty, half-dressed women with intensely blue skin the same as Sadie’s resided in the corner among a cushioned patch of latticed vines.
‘Ohh…’ The blue-skinned women said in unison.
It wasn’t the kind of obsessive reaction that a lot of the watchers had given me, instead the sound of endless intrigue.
Nymphs, and really hot ones at that.
‘Come sit with us,’ one of them said. ‘We’ll take care of you, Alpha.’
Alaria had already said that she wanted to share me with other women.
I crossed to them and sank into the seat they offered me. They all immediately snuggled up to my sides, pressing their soft hands to me and running them gently over my body.
Now this is the life.
‘Can we get anything for you?’ The first asked.
‘A drink, some food… Or maybe something more pleasurable?’
‘He’s mine first,’ the third spoke. ‘You ladies will have to wait your turn.’
Alaria was my girlfriend now, but at the prospect of heading into a den of half-dressed nymphs she seemed only too eager.
I glanced over at Alaria where she sat nearby. My instincts told me that she would be jealous, but it seemed like she was actually enjoying the sight of me being tended to by these beautiful beings.
Sadie poured us all some tea. I took a sip of the sweet, hot drink and relaxed.
‘So what made you enter this temple of solitude?’ Sadie asked, drinking her tea and sitting back in her seat.
‘We need to talk to Kariah,’ Alaria said.
‘I didn’t expect that,’ Sadie replied. ‘There are dozens of Naturals that live in this tower alone, but none like her.’
‘Dozens here alone?’ I said.
‘The Academy is always desperate for Natural beings,’ Sadie said. ‘They always have been. Our kind have a particular affinity for alchemy and elementalism because, well…’ She gestured all around her and winked at me as she took a sip from her tea. ‘They need us. It’s the reason that they’re so content to give us towers like this in which to reside.’
‘There are others like this?’ I said.
‘Oh, yes,’ she replied as the nymphs continued to run their soft hands over me. ‘The Academy takes as many as they can. Natural beings are quite averse to systems and order that fall outside of their realms.’
‘But not Kariah,’ Alaria said.
‘Yep,’ Sadie smiled. ‘You come to a natural being hive looking for the only person who doesn’t have an affinity for our usual passive leanings.’
‘Do you know where she is?’
‘Kariah? Sure, she’s at the Rune Archive.’
‘On a Saturday?’ Alaria said. ‘Why?’
‘Hey, I was at the library just this morning,’ I smiled. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that.’
‘Because you’ve got an Alpha exam coming up. You need to prepare yourself.
‘What can I say?’ Sadie shrugged. ‘She loves her work.’
‘That’s good,’ Alaria nodded. ‘She can definitely help us.’
‘By the way,’ Sadie said, ‘when you meet her, don’t be too thrown off. She’s a little… Different to the rest of our kind.’
‘Different how?’
‘You’ll see,’ Sadie smiled, ‘She’s just… Different. But I know that she’d love to help you guys out. She’s really interested in all of that old stuff. I keep telling her that she needs a man in her life, but nope.’
I managed to drag myself away from the nymphs despite how good they felt, and Alaria and I returned outside.
‘What did Sadie mean by this Kariah person being different?’
‘I think I met her before sessions began,’ Alaria said, ‘in between drinking far too much, of course… By the way, following on from our conversation earlier, I suppose I should point out that every single one of those nymphs wishes to fuck you.’
‘Really?’ I smirked. ‘I hadn’t noticed.’
Alaria and I headed across campus to the Rune Sector. The buildings here were older than the rest, their stone aged by centuries like the turquoise shade of copper when exposed to the elements.
We found the Rune Archives and headed inside. Access to the archives here didn’t require me to present my totem, it didn’t even require a grilling from an overeager guard; we just walked straight in through a large stone archway and into the sprawl of shelves.
Three mezzanines were stacked overhead via a double-back staircase, growing darker and darker towards the top. Hundreds of thousands of tomes easily stacked these shelves.
‘Great,’ Alaria said. ‘She could be anywhere in here.’
‘You said that not many people have Runes as a Focus, right? It’s a Saturday, which means even fewer people are going to be in here. All we’ve got to do is find the first sign of life and that’ll probably be her… Let’s just hope we don’t run into any signs of death in the meantime, either.’
‘Wait, what?’
‘Sorry, just an expression – Necromancy Primaries tend to lurk about in places like this. The quieter and more secluded, the better.’
‘Right, I remember Vaeril telling me about them. I’m guessing they’re not the friendliest of types?’
‘I don’t want to group every one of them together, but they all tend to be a little peculiar. Their magic is very dangerous, too. They tread lines that a lot of people are scared to go anywhere near. You’ll rarely see them walking around campus.’
We scanned each floor of the enormous library, the pleasant smell of lavender hanging on the air from carefully-enclosed diffusers with the smallest flame possible in each. They were the only exception to the rule written on a hanging sign placed at the end of every single aisle.
Absolutely No Open Flames of Any Kind for Any Reason Whatsoever
-Madame Keluxia
‘Jeez,’ I muttered. ‘If Madame Keluxia herself had to put the warning up then it must be serious.’
‘In a place like this? There’s no way around it. An open flame next to one of these shelves and whoosh. Fire Primaries aren’t even allowed in here. Water magic can stop fire, but it doesn’t restore ink to the page of a thousand-year-old volume in a place like this.’
‘So why run the risk of the flames in the diffusers?’
‘The mixture they burn fills this place and keeps the books in good condition. Some of them are so old that if they were taken away from the fumes and into open air, they would literally crumble through your hands like sand.’
We scoured the aisles on the first and second floor, finding occasional scholars rifling through obscure old tomes, sleeping studiers and a sun-elf couple making out in a particularly quiet section.
The third floor was even quieter, but just when we thought that our luck had run out…
‘This place is a freaking maze,’ Alaria said. ‘And she’s the only shot we’ve got at translating that spell of yours. Where is she…?’
