Chapter 475 - Before The Storm

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*9th of Rain's Hand (April), 4E 200*

Four days ago, ten ships departed from Stros M'kai heading northeast in the Abecean Sea. After days of fast sailing, the fleet from Stros M'kai arrived near Hew's Bane Peninsula.

Jon was painstakingly meditating in his cabin while maintaining a peaceful mind. His thoughts were affecting the Magicka around him forming a strange swirl of Arcane Energy entering his energy points and circulating through his energy channels. He felt like he was finally breaking through the Early Flame Dragon Heart stage to the Intermediate Flame Dragon Heart stage. Many months have passed for this to happen and the thing that moved him forward was taking a glimpse of the true powers of the Dragon Nafaalilargus.

[Cyrus' Book of Circles] didn't part him the past couple of days and also the [Ebony Blade] and a training sword. Whenever he takes an interest in a certain sword technique from the book, he copies it with the [Ebony Blade] until he grasps its rhyme then put on effort with the training sword to grind on it.

It wasn't the right way to practice from the Book of Circles as in that book, it was said that the practitioner must start by building his own forge and forging his own blade. Jon clearly wasn't that hell-bent on forging so he skipped to the Sword Swinging.

His training was very basic and didn't use big move so staying in the cabin or on the deck was sufficient. Actually, the book gave him a great insight on how to fight on the back of a ship so all the situations were win for him.

While he was meditating, he was expanding his "Maai", it is the range where his Aura attacks can reach the forte of the [Bloodskal] blade. Jon found a method on how to focus the energy of the sword to reach higher distances without using any visible aura. This training widened his perception by many folds allowing him to see outside the ship without opening his eyes.

Outside the ship, the biggest city in Hew's Bane, Abah's Landing, came into view with some big lines of smoke ascending to the sky. Kareem was giving orders to send a couple of boats in the bay leading to the city but as soon as they approached closer, the nearby fort opened fire at them. Luckily, Miranda was at a possible distance where she can intercept such projectiles with her arrows, the boats turned around and hurriedly returned to the ship.

Kareem tried to send as many messages as he could to the Governor of Hew's Bane but what he received by the end of the day was a message of threats and insults suspecting the whole fleet to be that of Necromancers denying all the possibility of Stros M'kai being able enough to rebel the Necromancers on their own.

"I don't think they need any saving." Kareem lamented the missed opportunity of an alliance.

"Unlike you, the ruler of that piece of land should have an annoying vizier affecting his every decision." Isha said.

"You mean Governor Samir? HA! He has a council of them. Unlike us the poor islanders of Stros M'kai, Hew's Bane is the wealthiest city in the south with their Council of Merchants and their Army of Mercenaries. If you want my honest opinion, I even envy the magnitude of the Thieves Guild in their city. Anyway, let's not worry about the wealthy people." Kareem said and ordered his fleet to keep sailing north.

Inside the ship, Jon seemed to have detected something before anyone else. He opened his eyes, stood up and put on his armor. He added some simple tweaks to the [Ebony Mail] lately to look more like a Mage's Armor. He added a robe tail to the plate as well as a hood. They mixed well with the appearance making him look more like a mage than a warrior. With his mask [Krilon] on and his staff [Pride] elongated to reach his height, Jon looked completely different save for his height that stood out.

He opened the door of his cabin and as he stepped out, something became stuck to his leg.

"Hey! Don't leave me."

"Sigh!"

He managed to ignore her for a day but she was as annoying as ever.

"What do you want, Beth?"

"I told you about the dream! Everyone else is paying attention except you." She said with an angry face.

"It is not important." He said and walked away with her clinging to his leg like a monkey.

"How can you of all people say that?" She demanded an answer, "You know that my visions are important. Even our enemies had me killed to prevent me from seeing things."

Jon ignored her and kept going until he reached the deck.

"I'll tell you why." Jon finally decided to speak. He carried her off from her nape like a kitten and placed her beside him.

"What I study and teach is Mysticism, the most obscure school of magic. I consider it to be the one and only school and every other school takes from it. It is the Origin of Spellcasting.

Mysticism deals with 6 Archetypes. 6 Aspects of pure wonder. Someone like you or my wife are natural-born mystics who can divine beyond the realm of possibilities but do you know how it works?" Jon asked.

Beth felt like being scolded but she answered.

"By the inborn power and the assistance of the higher spirits." She said.

"Wrong answer, if you were my student, I would have tied you from your feet and dipped you in the sea right now.

The six Archetypes of Mysticism are as follows. The outer energies known as [Magicka]; the inner energies known as [Soul]; the outer realms known as the [Space]; the inner realms known as [Time]; gaining information through Space which is called [Detection]; gaining information through Time which is called [Divination].

Magicka and Soul, Space and Time, Detection and Divination.

Magicka, Space and Detection are the material Archetypes. Soul, Time and Divination are the immaterial Archetypes.

When you divine, you use your Soul to gain information by looking through Time.

Seeing the Past is something that matters but seeing the future is something that doesn't matter. The Future is something that may happen and may not happen, you only predict… not see."

To what Jon said, Beth looked as if she was hit by something heavy on her head.

"You… you are saying that… my visions don't matter." She was speaking one the verge of tears.

Jon removed his mask showing a warm smile.

"No. If you were paying attention, you will understand that I said to look in the past, not the future. The Future gives you questions and makes you worry, the Past gives you answers and makes you content." He said as he patted her head.

She wasn't happy with what he said but his words just now weren't just something he came up with to look cool, these words carried the bitter experience of a man who thought he knows the future too well and got his expectations betrayed many times.

Nevertheless, he decided to play along.

"So, you saw three swords, a spear and a ship with red sails?" He asked.

"There was another thing about…" She was about to continue but he stopped her.

"Let's focus on the first part for now." Jon said. "The Spear is Isha's, that's what we know so far. The three swords and the ship with red sails should mean something."

"The [Ebony Blade] and the [Soul Sword] are two swords. Can there be a third?" She asked.

"Good thinking. Assuming that there is a third sword makes the picture come together. What else? The ship." He complimented her.

"It was like a ghost ship looming with death, its sails were red with blood." She said.

"A ghost ship… I wonder." Jon said and looked forward then covered his face with his mask.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"Look ahead." Jon pointed his staff forward.

Beth followed Jon's signal but she couldn't see anything except the sea in three directions and the mainland in one direction. As she was about to ask, the atmosphere turned chilly all of a sudden. Mist and fog started emerging blocking the view in all directions.

The crew of the ships started to get quiet and take note of anything that may lurk in the mist.

Kareem ran past Jon to the forefront of the ship and put his hand on the hilt of the [Soul Sword] to use its Holy Aura. His gaze pierced through the mist and all of a sudden, his face turned pale from shock.

"Battle stations! Protect the hull!" He shouted calling for the men and running back to protection.

"Master Krilon, there is…"

"I know."

Jon seemed comfortable with the situation.

"What shall we do?" Kareem asked.

"I'll secure the defenses of the ten ships then deal with the mist. Until then, you keep yourselves alive." Jon said while evoking a spell on his left and manipulating the Magicka with the staff.

"Fair enough."

Jon left Nefertiti with Beth and signaled his team to get to work. Miranda was on the crow's nest, Mirren was watching from the side and Isha was checking the water.

In the water, corpses started to appear, then wooden blanks that ships get built with. There was a wreckage nearby but it seemed to be dangerous to approach. Jon Teleported between the ten ships putting a Warding Rune on each one and activating it.

It was then when it happened.

*Kwaaa!* *Khaaa!"

The corpses in the water started moving in feral forms and moved to the ships by directing the wooden blanks they were floating on.

"Protect the ships!" Kareem shouting drawing his radiant sword.

The dead crawled up the hull and tried to overtake the defenders but as soon as they made contact with the ship, the started burning. Those who could withstand the defense of Jon's wards were repelled easily by the spears and the harpoons of the sailors.

Unlike how it looked like, it was not a hard fight at all. Jon made sure than nothing escape his perception as he kept the ships safe from any surprised that might happen. After a few minutes, the ships started to speed getting rid of all the ambush drowned zombies.

Jon returned to the flagship and Kareem approached him.

"Did you see what I saw?" Kareem asked.

"Yes. Now go to the front and raise your sword high, make sure to radiate a little bit." Jon said.

"Why?"

"The figureheads' place is in the front of the ship, it's common knowledge." Jon said with a smirk.

"Heh! Not funny."

Kareem decided to do as Jon said, he stood at the forefront and raised the [Soul Sword] up calling out its Aura to radiate.

"Perfect!"

Jon watched as Kareem started to be the center of attention. From the back, he started casting a large spell.

In sync with Kareem's action, Jon's spell took a few seconds to be evoked and cast as fast as he could. The spell was not easy and as it was done, it took some time to take effect. Kareem felt like an idiot for trusting Jon but in the next second, that wasn't the case at all.

From the sky above all the fog and mist, rays of golden light descended on the surface. It was as if Aetherius itself has corresponded to Kareem's action.

The spell's name was [Light of Aetherius] and it brought the sunshine back to the pale sky of the Soul Snare. The mist dissipated as snow to fire and what appeared beyond it was the wreckage ship carrying the flag of the Forebear Republic of Rihad.

Kareem's face stiffened. Now that he confirmed what he saw in the fog, he realized that the plan he agreed with Jon on faced a big problem. Rihad is the farthest city to Hegathe, the place where Zain should be. If Rihad has already fallen, then the situation is more dire than any would think.

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