Nadiel inspected the item that he had been presented. It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary magazine of armor-piercing shells for his rifle, but he knew better than to write off a gift from the mighty neko mage as something so simple. He looked closely for some clue that might explain what Aryeh had done to it, but to no avail. He did not want to ask aloud and make a fool of himself, but the way he gawked at the thing accomplished just that in no time. Soon enough Aryeh lost patience with him and snatched it from his hand. "I've added a tiny fragment of the Isolon crystal to each of the shells. Don't ask where I managed to collect a workable amount of material or how long it took to refine, but rest assured this is no toy." Nadiel didn't appear to have been made any more privy to the situation so Aryeh took the time to lecture him on the subject for his own betterment. "Both Negav and Nekomura are protected by the fields generated by the large, magic-infused crystal in the center of each. In principle they are not entirely dissimilar from magnetic fields and the bodies that generate them, only on a vastly larger scale. However, even a minuscule piece of the crystal can carry and amplify a substantial amount of magic, the only trick is to provide a spell for the crystal to hold." Nadiel understood this, but suffered from the dilemma that he had no talent as a mage whatsoever. The reason was legitimate; the use of magic remained forbidden in his home village for fear of upsetting the balance of power and attracting the attention of those who destroyed Ur-Sagol. In spite of this, Aryeh still appeared to be surprised to learn that Nadiel had only tenuous knowledge of even the most rudimentary principles of spellcasting. "So then, I suppose this means that your master did not yet reveal the secret of his lordship. Could this mean there are other candidates to inherit his title?" Nadiel rolled his eyes, "Of course there are others, the Nadiel family is one of many with ancestry connected to his own. In all likelihood he'll find someone more closely related to himself to become his replacement." Aryeh stared Nadiel in the eye, "You little fool, do you think it was a coincidence that he was so quick to bury you and that you have now come seeking me?" Nadiel had no answer "Come, lad, and I shall teach you what your master intended for you to learn, what I had taught him when his master wished it."
"Ages ago your ancestor, the first Ellis, was given a mighty distinction indeed. In a time of great need he was appointed to fight alongside the angels, borrow their power, and stand against the demons. When the Tenebris war ended he was to return this power to those who granted it to him, and that he did. As payment for his services, the angels bestowed upon him a blessing, one that would remain for his descendants, even to this day. It may only have a tiny fraction of the power that he had used to fight the demons, but resting in you is a holy seal, one that contains all of the magic you need. If you can be taught to release it you will be able to claim your birthright." Nadiel was quite skeptical of all of this, and above all he did not want to become dependent on an exotic energy source to win his battles for him, and get roped into sitting pretty for the rest of his life as the next Ellis as a consequence. It would seem that Aryeh needed to provide a demonstration of just how great his need really was. Aryeh led him to his home's dark basement, and with a snap of his fingers he caused several torches to spontaneously ignite and illuminate this surprisingly large chamber. Though the center was empty every inch of the walls were completely covered with racks of every sort of weapon and artifact. While Nadiel gazed in awe Aryeh continued to the far end of the room to lift a large two-handed sword from its mount. "Quite a collection, isn't it? But this one is my personal favorite. It feels like it was only yesterday that I won it from my cousin in the scorching claws tribe." Nadiel knew only rumors about this tribe, and unfortunately for him he seemed to have missed the one about their skill at applying fire based spells to their weapons. When Aryeh challenged him to a sparring match, he readily accepted, completely oblivious to how far outclassed he really was. All he saw was a cumbersome, unwieldy sword that would be no match for his speed. He drew his own equivalent of a sword and lunged forward at blinding velocity, bringing his bayonet to bear. But this would not do, he cut nothing but a ghostly image of Aryeh, and a blink of an eye later Aryeh's own blade materialized, spewing embers and gouts of flame, but it stopped short of Nadiel's back. Quite flabbergasted by this exchange, Nadiel had to ask how he had been outmaneuvered so easily. Aryeh let out quite a laugh, "You move very swiftly for a human, you even do credit to my race, but those legs can only move so fast. Light, however, can dance about much more quickly." Having been taught proper respect for the worth of magic on the battlefield, and now truly necessary it would be to him, Nadiel agreed to allow Aryeh to pry the potential from him.
This process would be anything but speedy. Months passed, and in time Nadiel was all but forgotten in the outside world. In the jungles his name had become quite the enigma; creatures of various species were enticed by stories of the bizarre little human, but none seemed to know where he had disappeared to. However, in his home village the closest thing to attention that he received was an occasional ghost story spread from one youth with an overactive imagination to another. But there was at least one individual who questioned the events that had been regarded as truth. On one dark evening she arranged to speak with her master. She knew all to well how preposterous her claims would have sounded, but she delivered her point of view earnestly. The response given to her was quite the surprise. "Your intuition serves you well, commander Hebron." Her jaw dropped as Lord Ellis continued. "In fact I imagine that he's doing quite nicely. By now he should be just about ready to put an end to his obnoxious escapade, and when he does he'll return here. It'll be quite a hard pill for him to swallow when he finally learns his little friend's true nature, but when he does he'll be more than ready to do what he was born to do."
A few days later Nadiel finally gained the control to allow the seal to be brought fourth from his body and applied to the shells that he had been given. Doing so had all but drained his life away, but now he had what he needed to continue where he had left off. Spending all of those long months in strict regimens in Aryeh's basement had been rough to him, but if anything the experience had made him stronger. Before taking his leave he had the excess hair that he had grown cut, and bade his fond farewells to his gracious hosts. Aryeh offered for him to take one of his daughters off of his hands in exchange for the shells and the training, but the last thing Nadiel needed was his own pack of kittens. Aryeh wished him well; he knew that he would inevitably use his hard earned weapons arbitrarily, but afterwards he would be all the wiser from it and then he would finally do the right thing. With his task complete, Aryeh could now relax for another few decades, until this cycle was to be repeated once more. Now that he was now clean, fed, and equipped, the time had come for Nadiel to make his fateful return to the wilderness.
The day was hot and humid, and only halfway to the giant tree Nadiel decided to stop momentarily to wipe the sweat from his brow, and to take a drink from a nearby stream. While he rested here Nadiel took the time to review his plan of action. He knew that Crisis would provide him valuable protection, but would also deliberately interfere in his search if she could discern that his goal had remained the same. Anna was more trustworthy, but wherever she was Crisis was nearby, which didn't solve the problem. In his time around the two of them Nadiel had heard mention of at least two other nagas whose territories were nearby. One to the northeast, and another who wandered about. Both were potential threats, but also were likely to carry precious information. Finding them before being found himself would be difficult; there seemed to be a set of eyes and ears behind every tree and under every stone. He could not risk being found prematurely, if his return was discovered, Ryoko would once again go into hiding and rally her kind to play dumb if asked about her. Most likely he would end up being babysat by Crisis once again, which to him was an entirely unappealing prospect. Nadiel bent over to take another sip from the stream but before his lips could make it to the water line he was stopped by the sound of movement. Damn it all, he thought to himself, his plan had been ruined before it had even began. His only hope to continue was to silence whoever it was who had discovered him just now. As the sound of footsteps grew nearer, he prepared to draw his rifle.
Subject: Ch. 7 -Inheritance 
Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:39 pm
