The Zorumond Rule

With the mini-tournament coming up soon, as the beginning of seventh month approached, Mortius wanted to do his best to know everything he could about spells and how to use them. On today’s timetable, he was pleased to see that he had Spellweaving for his first lesson. So far, in the past two months, his spell skills had heavily increased in proficiency, though that was mostly thanks to the research he’d been conducting by himself in his spare time so far. He’d never realised how powerful it felt to actually control magic, though he knew now that it was much different to the Gamble. It seemed the Inmirc and Ābrāci that created the grounds for the Gamble somehow allowed Ūndon power to be amplified, which explained why he was able to cast such highly powered spells last time. Outside of the Gamble, he could only just get the hang of one word spells. Basic Inmirc were easier for him now too. He’d overly practiced  Inmirc Aber, the rune for locking doors and other passageways, and creating the inmirc markings were much easier than he thought. The tough lessons he’d learned so far was attempting higher level spells than he should could have disastrous effects. Especially when he re-tried one of the ones from the Gamble before and ended up creating a giant void pit in the middle of the Social Hall. Mortius made his way to the classroom on the Fifth Floor and carried his Spells and Sigils: Volume 1 book under his arm. Getting inside, it was pale green, making him feel rather sickly. A pukey colour, and not one that he thought would allow him to focus. Around the classroom were various trinkets and items, each supposedly serving purpose. Mortius went over to one of them while everyone else was chatting or reading or writing pre-notes and looked down at the tablet where the information on the object was. It was gold in colour and had various inscriptions on the silver-grey plate and two hands on it like some kind of clock.

Steorrādōn - Supplement

‘The Steorrādōn is an essential tool, not only in Astrology but also in Spell Weaving, to augment celestial magic and time magic. The steorrādōn supplement has the power to ease the capability of casters in celestial prowess, dimensional shifting, reality-warping and all other relevant time spells. This supplement is powerful but volatile and not easy to use.’

“I sincerely hope you don’t plan on using that supplement, Sir Maleos. Not yet, anyway”, a light and bouncy voice said behind him. Mortius turned around to see his Spellweaving tutor, a short and stumpy man with cleanly groomed facial hair and completely black eyes with a purple background where the white should be. The light shined off his head as his pointed ears twitched, and his rosy cheeks bulged with his wide smile. Though his jagged teeth could be unnerving despite his size, the rest of his body language gave out nothing but friendliness. Dwer were well known for their hospitality and boisterous friendliness, and Scholar Biliar Cuig was no exception.

“Oh, definitely not, sir. Well… maybe. What’s dimension-shifting?”, Mortius asked as he looked back at the Steorrādōn. Cuig simply chuckled, giving Mortius a calmed and dismissive pat on his lower back, since he couldn’t reach much higher than that. 

“All in good time, my boy, all in good time. Find your seat, and we will get started.”

Mortius sat down at his small table and laid out his book, pen, and paper. He looked back at the row of supplements, particularly the Steorrādōn.

“Alright, class, if you want to settle down. Quick question before we begin, what is the name of the magic used by the Fīaldas?”, he roared in his usual tone that defied how he looked. Numeros hands went up and Mortius looked around at the class, somehow being brought back to his first time at the Institute and noting the many varieties of person in the room. After some time, he’d gotten used to peering through veils and being able to see everyone’s true faces, noting the different features of every race. Of course, there were Anglas and D�"monas in the classroom, as well as various students from every other race. Though some were more common than others, especially the Warlocks. Looking around, he lingered a little on a Merweard girl, her skin keeping a deep blue shade under her veil. Small spikes across her cheeks and neck protruded from the skin, followed with purple and blue lips with no nose to be seen. When Mortius allowed the veil to take over, her skin was similar to his, slightly tanned, though with a little blue hue and purposely placed purple lipstick. Across the rest of the classroom were a few Nedra, and some Ælfcynn. Mortus looked to his right to see an Ælf answer the question posed.

“It’s called Fidelis.”

“Correct! Now then, today we will be discussing the properties of magic. Namely, where does magic come from?” Sir Cuig asked, and a few hands went up.

“Yes, Sir Rodh?” he pointed out at one of the numerous Warlock students. Mortius was particularly interested in the true face of the Warlocks because, from what he saw, they looked like D�"monas but much less freaky. Seeing his true face, Mortius noted the red bags extending from the violet eyes and, what looked like, red cracks along the skin, as if he had a disease. The same red features could be seen at the corners of his mouth and extended down his neck. Mortius spent a lot of time thinking that he looked very much the same, but he always got weird looks from other students. The one time he asked Clive to describe Mortius’ true face, he simply shook his head and loudly changed the subject.

“Magic comes from the Old Gods”, he shouted.

“Ah, very good, but not quite.”, Sir Quigg said enthusiastically, dismissing some mutterings from the other class members, who clearly thought differently because of their religions.

“Magic comes from all of the gods. Be it the Old Gods, Adonai, Baphomet, Elier, or even Fyriel”, Scholar Cuig continued his lecture, glancing over to the side at the one and only Fīalde in the room who grinned proudly.

“You see, magic is lended to us by all of our gods, however, we channel magic ourselves. Everything in the world contains magic within it, even us. And everything in the world has the ability to manipulate magic in one way or another.” Another student eagerly shot their hand up.

“Even plants?”, she asked.

“Yes! Take, for instance, the Stryggald plant. It has the unique ability to manipulate reality in a small radius, bringing only the best of good fortunes to all who go near it. However, linger too long and its power will make you go mad!” There was a small chorus of “oohs” from the class, but Mortius listened intently.

“We as Ūndon are capable of focusing our magical ability more precisely than plants and beasts. Magic flows through our very skin and bones. When we wish to access it, the magic within us builds in our hearts, flowing through the arm like a channel. Then, we use the words of power, as they used to be called, to manipulate the magic into the form we require”, Cuig continued to explain. Everyone diligently took their notes as he continued his lesson and Mortius started gaining some more questions. Eventually, Mortius put his hand up for one of his burning questions.

“Sir Maleos?”

“Why do we need weapons to use magic if we can just use it ourselves?”

“Ah! An excellent question! Well you see, while magic is everywhere, it is the bond that holds all things together. So, by its very nature it is chaotic and unstable. Tens of thousands of years ago, during the time of the First Ancestors, they also used magic without weapons. They soon figured out this was far too dangerous and it caused many people to die from its use, so they needed conduits. Something to help them control it.” Cuig then reached over to the table and took up his tome, a tiny book that looked like it was covered in moss, and a small green jewel placed in the centre of the front cover.

“There are many materials in our world that hold their own concentrations, of magic. The First Ancestors figured out that when these materials were combined, their power increased and could be used as power banks. Items that could help the unstable magic flow more properly, like a form of storage and control”, he explained as he demonstrated for the class. Cuig muttered some words silently as the book opened up. Placing his hand on the pages, Mortius and the rest of the class felt a powerful wave of air ripple throughout the classroom and covered their eyes from the blinding light that shone out from the front of the class. Scholar Cuig lowered his hand and closed the book, chuckling as he put it down.

“So you see, magic cannot be safely and properly used without our weapons. Don’t be discouraged though, you can use magic without it, especially in an emergency, but be very wary if you do…” Cuig’s expression suddenly turned very serious as his eyes wandered over the entire class, before he let out a hearty chuckle and smiled again.

“Anyway, when you connect your magic to your weapon, it will act as a temporary container. It stores the magical power you have concentrated until the words are spoken which will express your spell and the magic will return to you, going down your arm as the channel and taking form in the material world. Complex, I know, but it’s much less complicated in practice. Speaking of which, would anyone like to demonstrate?” As expected, everyone simply looked between each other and stayed quiet, prompting Cuig to roll his eyes and shake his head.

“Sir Maleos. Come to the front, please.” Mortius closed his eyes, letting out a heavy sigh as he stood up and took his staff with him, standing before the class.

“How about you show off an example for everyone? Give us a nice and simple spell.” Mortius looked at the class, who were all staring at him expectantly, as if he were the Scholar for today. Looking to his side, he noticed the jewel on his staff begin to glow, as if excited to get used again. He concentrated, feeling the magic build inside him as the Scholar said, and placed his hand on the jewel. The electric feeling he felt the first time shot through his arm, connecting to the jewel as the four smaller ones separated and began rotating. Pulling his hand away, he felt the lines of magic connecting between the staff and his hand, which pushed backwards into his chest. The magic flew across his arm once more, creating a warm sensation in his palm as he spoke the word.

“Me’in”. In front of him, a rippling image began to form, clouded in shadows as it grew and tightened, creating a warped, shadowy clone of himself standing before the class. Everyone took in breaths, staring at the image until it suddenly dispersed in a cloud of black smoke.

“Loþcræft? I see someone has been doing some out of class reading. Very well done, Maleos.” Mortius looked down at the Scholar and couldn’t help breaking a proud smile at the praise. Going back, he took his seat and proudly smiled even more when his neighbour to the left leaned over and whispered, “that was very impressive”. 

“Well, that’s the class, everyone. I want you all to begin an essay for me about the three different kinds of spell casting. Remember that the library and study hall are the only places that you can use magic”, Cuig bellowed as everyone began to orderly file themselves out of the door. Checking all of his equipment was present, Mortius began to walk out of the classroom but then had an idea.

“Scholar Cuig?” he asked as he closed the door. The Dwer turned around, loosely holding his tome and grinned at Mortius.

“Ah, Sir Maleos. I hope you found your lesson diverting”, he said enthusiastically. Mortius nodded with a brief smile and tried to formulate his question in his head.

“How much do you know of Enoch’s Gamble, sir?”, Mortius asked. 

“Hm, about as much as you’d expect from a scholar. It’s simply a battle between two Ūndon that involves a bet of some sort. The two battle in all magical schools, and the winner wins whatever was placed at stake. Some people place innocent bets on mediocre things such as money or other material matter. Other Gambles have produced some very literal life-or-death situations”, he explained softly, cushioning the blow of explaining the concept of death by spell game to a student. Mortius raised his eyebrow at this. He already knew it wasn’t some innocent school ground horseplay, and the matches could bring many students to near-death at best but literal deathmatches were a whole new beast for Mortius to comprehend.

“I’m entering a tournament in a few days, and I need some help. I’ve never properly played the Gamble before… except…” he began, but Cuig stopped him.

“Yes, I was made aware of your riveting fight with Saminha. Brave of you, boy. Very brave indeed. Though your apparently successful use of Ābiscræft is… something else'', Cuig scratched his beard upon making this remark and eyed Mortius up and down. Mortius smirked slightly, unable to contain the smug feeling at the word spreading about his first duel.

“Do you have any advice for me? Or any methods I could use?” Mortius asked. Cuig scratched his tiny beard even more, musing to himself for a moment before a flash appeared in the purple of his eyes, and he suddenly had an idea.

“Are you familiar with the Zorumond Rule?” he asked as he waddled over to his bookshelf, pulling up a ladder and browsing the books.

“I don’t even know what Zorumond is…”, Mortius muttered, scanning the books on the shelf.

“Hum… I had it somewhere… bloody spellbooks… AH! Here we are!” he said enthusiastically, dusting off a copy of The Book of The Gamble and opening it up. Scanning through the pages, he quickly turned each, muttering to himself the contents and shaking his head.

“Aha, the Zorumond Rule! This happened during a legal dispute over land between two Warlocks in Calderbrad, a city in Cuích. They enacted the Gamble, the winner takes the land, the loser has their memory erased so that they cannot make any more claims. This rule came about during the duel when one of the Warlocks, Argrem Zorumond, attempted to cheat by activating two sigils at one time, using both attack and defence.” Mortius frowned a little at this, especially after what they went through in class.

“I thought you needed to follow the process to use magic though?”

“No, no, as I explained, magic can be used without a weapon. You see, there are three ways to use magic. Contained casting, raw casting, and proper casting. Proper casting involves the method we just discussed. Raw casting is, as said, magic without a weapon. Then there is contained casting, which was disallowed in the Gamble for fairness.” Mortius thought on this a little, wanting to ask but figuring he’d get no answers from the Scholar thanks to the homework he was set.

“The Zorumond Rule stated that a combatant in the Gamble may use contained casting in battles, allowing them to cast a spell and store another in their weapon to fire immediately after”, Cuig explained, victoriously closing the book with a gleeful smile. Mortius stood there static for a moment, expecting more.

“And? How does that help me?” he asked.

“Good grief, dear boy… You can’t expect to win the Gamble if you’re not sharp as a blade! Contained casting isn’t taught in the Institute for safety purposes. But… if you were to employ this in your tournament, you will likely succeed”, Cuig smirked.

“But… wouldn’t that disqualify me? Isn’t that unfair?”, Mortius asked.

“Oh, my dear boy… when has being Ūndon ever been about being fair? Besides, the Gamble claims to have rules, but these days they are more like guidelines”, Cuig replied with an even more sinister grin. Mortius chuckled and felt the spite swelling through him. To anyone else, this probably was cheating, but… who cares? All he was concerned with was winning and ensuring he put on one marvellous show for everyone, especially Saminha. Mortius nodded confidently at the Scholar and left to prepare for his duel.

Reviews

[soph1a]

Hey!
I’ve been reading your stories and just wanted to say—they’re amazing! I actually came up with a few fun art ideas while reading. I’d love to work with you and make something cool together. Totally open to whatever budget works for you!