High Artificer, Ch 13: Three Factions

As Sam walked out of his hall, Asperio was waiting for him.

The portal vanished behind him, leaving only an empty gateway that was filled with a dark Void and sparkled with stars, but if anyone tried to walk through, it would stop them. 

Even Asperio had no ability to cross it.

“You’re finally out!” The headmaster looked relieved. He gave the hall behind Sam a strange look and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’ve done to that door, but it’s stronger than any ward in the academy now. I couldn’t even dent it.”

“It’s not a door anymore,” Sam said with a slight smile. “It’s a dimensional wall.”

“A wall?” Asperio blinked at him. His hair was frizzed out wildly this morning even more than usual as he gave Sam a long look, staring at where his horns usually were.  

“Alright, I’ll leave that to your...umm, discretion, and not ask too much.”

“Do you want to see what it looks like now?” Sam asked. “It should be about time for that tour I promised everyone. You should come along.”

He looked around the area, sensing the slow movement of people. It looked like several were heading this way.

“Yes, I’d like to see what you’ve done to it and how much I have to explain to the board,” Asperio said with a frown, “but that’s not why I came to find you. There’s a different problem we need to deal with. Well, you mostly.”

“What is it now?” Sam asked. 

There were traces of aura in the area that said Asperio had been waiting here for over a day, which matched up with the messages he’d been sending.

“Your duel was perfectly fine,” Asperio said with a grim expression, “but it still offended some people, specifically the political faction behind Jasperi. That includes two of the strongest Winged Fury clans and some others who don’t like humans. They’ve started trying to single you out now, since they want to suppress you.”

He looked behind him.

“What’s more,” he added, “since you invited everyone here for a tour, they’ve gathered their forces and are heading this way. They should be here any minute now. I wasn’t sure if you would even come out in time, and now it seems like my warning is too late. I was going to suggest that you temporarily leave and let things blow over.”

“That won’t be happening,” Sam said calmly as he shook his head. He wasn’t going to leave the hall he’d just built, nor the responsibilities he’d accepted to look after his sister and Rolen.

If this faction didn’t like humans, they would probably try to cause trouble with the human students if he wasn’t around. He might as well let them try it on him. 

A sharp flare of silver light flowed through his eyes as he scanned the world and assessed the strength of those approaching. Then he flicked his hand and the ten golems he’d used before appeared, arranged along the front of the hall.

The two shield golems stood next to the entrance like guards, while the eagles were on the sides of the path leading up to it, forming a tunnel through which visitors would have to walk.

Another flick of his hand sent a rain of starlight falling on top of the hall. Where it touched, the stone turned as dark as the Void. Flecks of silver stars burned inside of it. When he finished, it looked much more mysterious than it had before.

He figured if someone was going to complain about the hall, he might as well make it easy for them. Plus, this felt more appropriate than the flat grey stone that had been there before.

“Tell me about this faction,” he said as he turned back to Asperio. “Have they targeted humans for a while?”

“Humans and everyone else who’s not part of the High Nine,” the headmaster muttered. There was an old anger in his voice, but he was distracted as he stared at the hall. 

“What did you do to the hall? I have to explain that to the board, you know?” He looked put out as he pointed a finger at it. Mixed with his lightning-struck hair, it was the very image of a mad alchemist.

“If they’re coming to cause trouble, I want to see how far they go,” Sam said, “and it’s prettier now. But the factions?”

Asperio frowned, but he didn’t ask again. If it had been anyone else, he might have, but Sam was an Astral Titan and his teacher, so he didn’t have any way to pressure him.

“There are three major factions among the High Nine,” Asperio said as he began to explain. “The names change, but it boils down to the Neutrals, the Elitists, and the Generous Factions. The Neutrals have the most power: that’s the Cer’Aleth, otherwise known as the crystal flame elementals, the Dragon Spirits, and the Archali. Guess which one these visitors are a part of?”

There was no need to answer the question.

“Tell me about all of them,” Sam said with a nod for Asperio to continue.

“All three of them are immensely powerful,” the headmaster explained, “but the Cer’Aleth are too distant from daily concerns. Their lives are long and they miss entire years, sometimes decades, of meetings. 

“The Dragon Spirits are too interested in personal combat ability to really engage in politics. They think everything can be settled with a duel and they have no time for long-term planning or politics games unless it’s focused on warfare.

“As for the Archali, those researchers are too curious about everything. They’d rather study the conflict than take sides.” Asperio shook his head. “Fortunately, with those three as the strongest group, it helps to balance things out.”

“What about the other two factions?” Sam asked.

“The Generous Faction is the Winter Sylphs, the Lifeweavers, and the Mountain Dwarves,” Asperio said. “They’re not as strong or numerous as the neutrals, but they’re bigger than the last group. They’re all fairly easy to deal with and they generally like other races. They’re also more interested in trade and culture. It’s really thanks to them that the academy exists at all.

“The Elitists are the ones who like to cause trouble,” he continued. “That’s the Winged Furies and the Wind Wraiths. The Furies have a racial tendency to anger...and they can be very brutal toward those they see as lesser than them. It’s almost irrational for them. They developed as a race that preys on weaker beings by drinking their blood for energy. They’ve never managed to overcome it. They usually get away with it too.”

Sam nodded, his mind turning toward the one Winged Fury he’d met among the reinforcements who had come to Aster Fall.

Tenal Whitewing. He was from one of the major families. 

He’d been extremely arrogant at first, but once Sam defeated him, he’d been very polite,  which meant Sam had never seen that side of him, but it wasn’t hard to fit Jasperi into the image. She’d been snarling at him since he arrived. 

Perhaps he should have flattened her earlier.

That was only eight races, but the High Nine was made up of those eight and the Astral Titans. The Titans were the first and their position was still there, even if it was empty.

It should have prevented people from forgetting about them, but to most it was only an oddity of history that the council was called the High Nine and there were eight races.

Many things change over millions of years.

“The Wind Wraiths are isolationists by nature,” Asperio continued. “They barely want to talk to the current High Nine, much less anyone else. They have no interest in extending a hand to the other races. 

“They’re sometimes the hardest to deal with of all of the High Nine, just due to never wanting to agree to anything. They’re part of the Elitist faction because they’re happy ignoring the presence of other races. The only upside is that they won’t come to bother you either. They’re the most annoying when it comes to votes on the council.”

“I see,” Sam said. “So it’s mostly the Winged Furies?”

“They’re the head of the faction,” Asperio agreed, “but some scattered other nobles and forces join them at times, if they think they can get an advantage from it. None of the races is perfectly  unified, so they find support here and there.

“There are a number of people among the High Nine races who, as individuals, don’t like humans very much,” he said. ”You should know that. They think that humans are everywhere, which creates a population problem, and more importantly they are offended by the flexibility humans have when it comes to class choices and abilities.

“That’s one of the Elitists’ most common complaints, that humans are stealing the abilities of other races and taking what doesn’t belong to them. They like to say humans only exist to offend their superiors.”

Asperio’s mouth was twisted as he said the words and he shook his head.

“They have no idea  how much we have to struggle just to get abilities that are half as decent as what they have from birth. Evolution is the great equalizer, but they would rather keep it for themselves.”

“Alright, that’s good enough for now,” Sam said as he looked across the oval to where a crowd was approaching. “It looks like they’ve arrived.”

He saw Jasperi among them, next to two other Winged Furies who were at the Fifth Evolution.

Her backers, it seemed. She was in a dark academy robe, but they were wearing white and silver clothing that was much more ornate, with intricate embroidery that matched the pattern of their wings. 

There were dozens of people and more were arriving behind them, but it seemed like they were here for the tour and not as support for her. Off on the edge of the crowd, he saw Harsen and Brolen. The smiths were shouting at their students to hurry up or they’d regret it.

Everyone had come on time.

Asperio’s information went a long way toward filling in some of the details of the Winged Furies and how they saw humans. It also explained some about Jasperi, but it didn’t excuse her. Her people obviously knew how to be polite. 

They just chose not to. 

He didn’t cut them any slack for that. Many races had to overcome their instincts in order to be part of the galaxy. That was how it worked.

If he were left to his own instincts, he would have already crushed some of the faculty for challenging him in the duels. He was only being polite here to help Altey.

But that didn’t mean he was going to let them have their way. 

He could hear their conversation as they came closer.

“With the cost it takes to build them, there’s no way he has more than those ten golems. He must have been showing off at the duel to put on a strong front. We can deal with them.”

“He’s only a crafter...how strong can his combat strength be? This won’t even be a problem. Just wait, we’ll get you free of that bet and teach the human a lesson. He doesn’t belong here and the sooner he learns that, the better for everyone.”

“Why are so many lesser races showing up all of a sudden? This academy used to have standards and the scholarships were only given to those who deserved it. We need to work on that this term. Maybe we can clear out the debris.”

“It’s difficult to get past the other factions, but we have our ways. Jasperi’s been a big part of that for years. We’ll fix this little snarl and then set things right. It shouldn’t take long. What’s he going to do, fight all of us?”

“He’s just one human crafter. A few golems doesn’t change that. You think he’s going to summon the wind and rain when the headmaster can’t? This academy belongs to the winged host, not to wingless prey.” 

Sam’s aura flared brighter as he heard them, spreading out across his hall and the oval. Space rippled as it became deeper, falling away into the Void, and the distance stretched out as it filled burning silver stars.

His eyes were covered by silver light as he studied those approaching, and tiny silver flames flowed across his skin, merging into the depths of the Void around him and back again.

Within a few moments, Jasperi and the rest of the crowd arrived. Jasperi was frowning as she looked toward him and the hall, but she wasn’t the one who spoke. 

Sam did.

“You have come to honor your bet?” he asked, his voice calm as he ignored everyone else but her. 

Jasperi winced and looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. 

“Professor Hastern, is it?” One of the well-dressed Winged Furies next to her stepped forward. He glanced at Asperio but then pointedly ignored him, looking only at Sam. 

“You must be new here, like most humans. Allow me to introduce myself. I am...”

“Silence,” Sam said as he raised his hand, cutting short whatever the man had been planning to say. 

The word held a wave of starlight that spread across the courtyard, bringing total silence to everything there. 

He rarely used the force of his charisma or the racial abilities that came with it, but this was one of those moments. This was the one he’d received at 50,000 Charisma, called Majesty of Starlight. 

The Winged Fury’s jaw froze in the middle of his word, the sound turning to nothing. Beside him, everyone else who was about to speak also froze. Farther on, the students who were arriving for the tour stood still.

Every head turned toward Sam, drawn by the power of that word, but not one of them spoke.  As they tried to figure out what had just happened, he studied the Winged Furies in front of him, particularly the two next to Jasperi. 

The one who’d spoken was Yuris Highwing, Blade of the Light Wind-Councilor of Winged Honor, Level 514. 

His classes were a combination of a winged melee class with an administrative subclass.

The one on Jasperi’s other side was Solecea Aetheri, Winged Mage of the Storm-Wind Wraith of the Storm Battalion, Level 532. 

She was more impressive than Yuris, since her subclass was based on a title she’d earned fighting with the Storm Battalion, one of the Winged Furies best known forces, but that was all.

“I already know you came to try and free Jasperi from her bet and to cause me trouble,” Sam said, his voice still full of power. 

“You will cease or you will suffer the consequences. This is the only warning I will give you. Cross me at your peril.”

He raised his hand, summoning a storm wind from the ground, and he gathered up everyone of the Winged Furies and their allies who had come with Jasperi, as well as her. Their bodies were frozen in his grip.

“All of you may go,” he said. “Jasperi, you may return when you are more comfortable with keeping your word. If you do not wish to uphold it, I leave that decision to you.”

Then he snapped his fingers. 

A wave of silver light flashed around them as he forcibly teleported them halfway across the world and dumped them into the sky above a distant plain.

When they were gone, the courtyard remained silent, but this time it was due to shock as everyone stared at him. Asperio’s eyes were especially wide.

“How in the nine fates of the world did you...” Asperio was the first to speak again as he stared at Sam. “That shouldn’t be possible unless you completely suppressed their auras. It’s incredibly hard to forcibly teleport someone, especially a group of Fourth and Fifth Evolution warriors. Even I couldn’t do that...maybe one of them.”

“They didn’t resist much,” Sam said, his voice returning to normal as he dusted his hands off. 

His domain was far more powerful than Asperio’s or most other Sixth Evolution beings, which allowed him to suppress them all, but he didn’t feel like explaining it.

“It seems like a good time for the tour,” he said as he nodded at the headmaster. “Let’s not keep everyone waiting.”

A wind flowed through the courtyard at his command, swirling past everyone and shaking the students out of their stupor.

“Come and see the new Hall of Artifice and Enchanting,” Sam said to them, his voice easily reaching the most distant students. 

“You only have a few days left to choose your classes. You may as well see what this one is all about. So, follow me. And don’t worry about the golems. They won’t hurt you.”

He patted Asperio on the shoulder as he turned around and headed toward the portal. As he approached, the dark stone of the wall turned a deeper black and the portal spiraled open, shining with a welcoming light.

Inside, the pillars of the walls and the work tables could just barely be seen. Only a fragment of the interior was visible from here.

“Well, go in and see!” Brolen was the first to speak up as he encouraged his students in the distance, followed by Harsen doing the same. 

“After a show like that, it’s not going to be boring!”

A slow murmur spread through the crowd as the students followed, walking through the tunnel of the astral golems and past the two guardians at the door.

Their voices turned to silence again as they walked inside and froze. They stared up at the stars stretching out through the endless Void.

“Welcome to my hall,” Sam said easily as he came in behind them. His voice carried everywhere, filling the hall even though the space was so vast it should have been impossible. 

“Let’s start with a description of what crafting really is.”

He pointed up at the stars above them. 

“From the Void, all elements begin. Chaos gives rise to everything and is still with us in the chaos winds. From them, the stars and the earth are born, and these in turn give form to other things.” 

His voice took on a familiar weight as it merged with the starlight and the vastness all around, but he kept it quieter, so it was a pleasant background to the students rather than something overwhelming.

“When you hold a material, know that it first came from this vastness. A piece of ore is not just metal and stone, but a fragment of the Void itself. Its laws resonate with that truth. Listen and let them guide you.”

Time flowed away as he walked among the students, showing them one view of the stars and materials after another. 

Silver flames and echoes turned to illusions in the air, which then turned real, and runes floated among examples of material as he showed them what could be wrought with fire and artifice.