Grand Magus, Rubick, places his seal on a paper. Despite his body having involuntary twitches, he steadily holds his quill and writes his signature like any normal person would do. After sanding his signature, he folds and puts the paper inside an envelop, puts a drop of wax on the envelop's flap to close it, and used his signet ring to put his seal again.
Rubick sets aside his ring, involuntarily tilts his oblong head sideways, then tilts to the other side. "Is that all?" he asks the head servant in his mellow and jovial voice, and the way he pronounces some of his words have a prolong sound.
"Yes, Master Rubick." replies the stoic and elderly servant after he takes the envelop and puts it in his breast pocket.
"Nothings else? No businesses need further investigation? No possessions need retrieving? No visitors, or shall I say, would-be assassins to dispatch?"
"N-no, nothing, Master Rubick." replies the servant, still uncomfortable that his Master always expects his visitors are assassins. "All matters are done."
Even when he's more than a hundred years old, Rubick's looks are like a man in his mid-thirties. He has smiling wrinkles around his hooded, emerald-colored eyes; raven head tied in a pony-tail with graying hair in his temples; fair skinned; a slightly beaked nose; a wide mouth with slightly upturned corners. And he smiles like a pleasant boy who triumphantly found the answer to his question.
"Good." Rubick stands up and takes his cape from his chair. "I'll leave the house to your care."
"You're leaving again?" asks the servant as he watches his Master wears his cape that almost covers the glowing, green gems adorning his robe. Next, his master wears his gloves, and takes his battle mask attached in a baclava.
"Yes. Staying here and attending to such trifle matters are not a challenge." Rubick replies as his baclava covers the side and upper oval head and his pointed ears, and his mask covers his face.
"Attempting to end your life is not a trifle matter, Master Rubick." chided the servant as he watches Rubick pulls out his ponytail from a hole of the baclava.
"Ah, true. Many magi continue their attempt." replies Rubick, his voice muffled like a gentle echo. Then he reaches for his staff with a glowing, floating, green liquid that keeps changing form at the tip, before he faces his trusted servant. "But I bested all of them." he sighs. "They prove not a challenge... All I wanted is to be tested."
After many years of servitude during Rubick's childhood years to adulthood, the servant fully understands his Master's quirks and wants. And he knows where his Master intends to go. "And you found this test in the Defense of the Ancients." it isn't a question but a statement.
"Yes. So many wonderful spells to utilize." Rubick said happily. "It would be nice to use skills from your allies then use it against your enemies. Alas, why does my ability could not do it? It's a phenomenon that also needs investigating."
'But you'll forget that phenomenon once you get distracted with something that captures your interest.' thought the servant. He knows that Rubick's Steal Spell ability is only applicable on enemies, and Rubick keeps on saying that he needs to discover why he can't steal spells from his allies. And if his theory is correct, spells can be stolen if Rubick deems anyone, even allies, an enemy.
Rubick then left his desk to stand in front of his servant. "Ah, dressed and ready to travel. Now then, I shall leave this house to your care. Farewell." then he turns away to walk out the double door.
"Master Rubick, shall I prepare a bag of supplies for your travel?" asks the stoic servant as he watches Rubick walking away.
Rubick stops and turns back to his servant. He chuckles. "How excited I am to travel, I forgot such necessities. Yes, do hurry pack up. And thank you for the reminder, dear Aldrin."
The head servant, Aldrin, gives a small smile before reverting to his stoic self. "I serve you, young Master, and your well-being is top priority." he said as he and his Master walk out the library together.
...
"Another week and I'll reach the Radiant forest." Rubick said to himself as he walks on a path created on a mountain side.
Rubick's been using scrolls of town teleportation to travel to nearest towns, making his progress faster. After reaching the last town, he has to go on foot. He could have hired a horse to hasten his travel to the Radiant forest, which will only takes four to five days, but Rubick opted to go on foot. "A magus never needs of a steed." he reasons, and majority of magi never use a mount.
Rubick met highway men and bandits who thought to easily rob him. Rubick would conjure a simple but powerful spell that bounces to nearest bandits, or throw an unlucky fellow down the cliff with his telekinesis. All falls to the Grand Magus' might, resulting to a flawless victory. Taking down the evil fellows lightens up Rubick's boredom before it quickly fades away.
Back to the present, Rubick continues his trek. No attempts to kill him and nothing that takes his interest gets him bored. He sighs. "I wonder what fascinating things I could see today."
After Rubick spoke his words, a loud thunderous sound echoes above. As the startled Rubick looks up, he sees a part of the blue and cloudy sky distorts to form a black vortex.
"Could it be Enigma? How marvelous! He can create a blackho - oh!" he stops when he sees two figures coming out the vortex, one wearing a dark cowl; the other is a big beast like a hell-hound of gray and ghastly flames, with horns on its head, and a very long tail like a whip.
"So I was wrong." Rubick said as he continues to watch the two falling figures. "How curious. Both are locked in a fight." he adds as the cowled figure ferociously throws black energy balls from his hands at the gray beast, trying to kill and push it away from him. The gray beast tries its best to defend itself, each hit from the black ball creates a hole on its body. Though the hole immediately closes, the gray beast's body is slowly getting smaller.
"If my calculation is correct, they'll land just a kilometer away from me. I better start moving. Oh ho ho! What a fascinating turn of event this is!"
Instead of using the mountain path, Rubick slowly and carefully slides down the edge. He dodges trees and stones, then steps on bedrocks like a stair as he keeps the two falling figures within his sight.
As what he calculated, he reaches the bottom of the mountain when the cowled figure used some sort of purple, magical shield to soften his fall to the earth, while the other gray and fiery beast plummets down and hits the rocks. The impact of both figures create a shower of shattered earth and stones.
Rubick goes behind a boulder to protect himself from the projectiles. When everything becomes silent, he peeks around the boulder to see the conditions of the two figures.
The one who casts black energy balls lies face-down, the cowl is removed to reveal raven-black hair with a small ponytail. The rise and fall of the back tells Rubick the figure is still alive.
'Hmm. How curious. Such remarkable essence. There's more behind the magic.' Rubick thought when he also felt the spell's essence used by the unconscious figure. Rubick then turns his attention on the gray beast as it slowly gets up and feels the essence around it.
"Hmm, curious. I cannot tell the components of the essence surrounding it. More of... Is 'barren' a correct word to describe it? Hm. Close enough. Further inspection is required -" Rubick stops his thoughts to see the gray beast is reduced to the size of a medium-sized dog and walks towards the unconscious figure, its six, blood-red eyes fixed with malicious intent.
The gray, fiery beast is nearing the unconscious figure when it spoke in a cold, harsh and ghastly voice.
"Your plan for change failed." the gray beast stands on its hind legs and raises its front legs. The front legs transform into sharp-like blades pointed at the unconscious figure. "Now, you DIE!"
And Rubick comes to the rescue. "Uh uh." Rubick taunts as he lifts the gray beast above the ground. "To strike down an unconscious opponent is a grave sin." then he drops the beast away from him and the unconscious figure with such force, splinters of earth scatters and stuns the beast. The drop also results for the beast to loose more of its gray flames, reducing its size.
"Interesting." comments Rubick as he witnesses in close up of what is happening to the beast. To add insult, he casts Fade Bolt, further reducing it's size. "By my observations, the more damage you receive, the more your form becomes smaller. Are you perchance getting weaker?"
The furious gray beast focuses on Rubick. Forming in its mouth is a gray, magical, fiery ball, which fascinates Rubick.
Rubick has foreseen the attack. He side-steps and avoids the magical ball's impact. The magical ball hits a boulder, shattering it into pieces.
"Ah." Rubick sounded amazed after seeing the damage done by the magical ball before facing the beast. He has to dodge when the beast comes charging at him, jaws ready to tear him apart. When Rubick feels he could use his telekinesis, he raises the charging beast from the ground again and drops it away from him.
"That last spell... Let me try that." Rubick jovially says to the stunned gray beast. He raises his right hand just within face height of the gray beast. He felt the traces of the spell and absorbs it, like taking a partly soul from the host. The essence is then mentally studied in milliseconds, and Rubick has learned his opponent's spell.
"Have a taste of your own medicine!" Rubick announces as he casts the gray beast's own spell. Rubick's green magical ball directly hits the stunned gray beast. The damage is too powerful, it reduces the beast into the size of a newborn pup.
Seeing itself reduced to a pitiful form, the gray beast knows it's going to die if the fighting continues. It turns tail to run away.
"Don't run. I need to study you!" Rubick calls out, not wanting to use his spell that may completely eradicate the gray beast.
A black energy ball flies past Rubick and hits the fleeing gray beast, which disappears upon impact. Rubick turns just in time to witness the tired caster fling another black energy ball. He never interferes when the blank-faced caster slowly walks to where the gray beast was. He also has a clear view that the caster is a boy.
Rubick thought the caster is done and only wants to see the gray beast is truly dead, but he was wrong when he heard a weak hiss coming from where the beast was. The caster forms two energy balls in his hands, the left is purple and the right is green, puts his hands together to combine the colored orbs to create a black energy ball. Then the caster dunks the ball at the beast. The gray beast's hiss fades away as its life is snuffed out by the powerful attack.
"A pity. It would be nice to study such a curious creature." said Rubick. "But you'll do since both of you came out from the same vortex."
It took the caster seconds to realize he's not alone. He turns slowly and gives Rubick a careful perusal of his profile. He's only a boy in his mid-teens, his height barely reaches Rubick's chin. The boy has an oval, fair-skinned face; short bangs parted in half and falling at the temples; an upturned nose, flat upper lip, pointy ears, and almond-shaped eyes of turquoise color.
He's dressed in an open, shiny, velvety robe with a cowl. The robe reaches above the ankles, long sleeves are wide at the wrists, with gold threads and brass buttons adorning it. It also sports a big collar that attaches to the cowl, a good use to prop up and cover the nose and mouth when fighting against a strong, cold wind. The boots are made of black leather that reaches at the shins, so are the gloves and belt, the simple buckle is made of brass. The pantaloons are colored beige with small, brass buttons stitched along the thighs. The simple, V-necked undershirt is a pale lavender with a necklace made of brass and an almond-shaped turquoise that matches his eyes.
What fascinates Rubick the most is the boy's facial expression: a genuine combination of vexation and confusion.
The confused boy spoke one word in his soft voice. "W-what?"
The twitching Rubick though, asks questions of his own. "Child, where do you come from? How did you create a vortex from the sky and came out of it? What sort of magic do you have? I have never seen such a thing before."
The boy just looks at Rubick with a confused expression. "H-huh? W-what are you... Talking about?"
Rubick unconsciously tilts his head sideways. "Hmm. Perhaps the impact of your fall boggled your memory. Yes, that must be why you seem perplexed of my questions."
"I fell from the sky?" asks the boy in surprise, and lost his stuttering.
"Yes. You and -" Rubick points at where the gray beast used to be, prompting the boy to look at it. "- that thing you killed. Another question. Why were you so intent on killing it?"
The boy faces Rubick, taken aback by the question. He scrunches his face to think really hard. The concentration results in giving him a headache.
"Uuurrgh... My heeeaad." said the boy while he cradles his forehead with his palm.
"Hmm. I should decline my questions for now." said an insensitive Rubick as he watches the boy recover.
"Mm. I think... I feel fine now." said the boy, though he wears an expression of unsure. "My answer for you question is... Frankly, I don't know why."
"You don't know why?"
"Yes. I feel that I need to finish it off... To wipe it out of existence... That's all I can say."
"Hm. Fine with me. Ah, where are my manners. Introductions first. I am Rubick, the Grand Magus. And your name is..."
"I am... I am..." the boy is horrified then looks at Rubick with worry. "... I don't know."
"You don't know? Hmm. Can you recall anything?"
The boy concentrates for more than a minute before shaking his sadly. "Nothing."
"Nothing? A flashback? How about a sense of purpose?"
"... Flashbacks, nothing. The sense of purpose? I think I do."
"Really? What is it? That would be a good step in recalling memories."
The boy slowly shakes his head. "I really don't know. It's just a sense of fulfilling a mission."
"A mission. Hmm, curious."
The boy looks at Rubick sadly. "What happened to me?"
"I think you developed amnesia."
"Amnesia?"
"A memory loss, it could be temporary or permanent. Do not be disheartened." Rubick adds as he sees the crest-fallen face of the boy. "I'll help you regain your memories. For now, you need to have a temporary name than called 'child' or 'boy'. I shall call you 'Erno'."
"Erno?"
"Erno. E-R-N-O. If you ask where I conjured it, it's my second name that I seldom use. We're wasting time. Come, shall we start walking?"
The boy, who is now called Erno, nods his head and walks alongside Rubick. "Where are we going, er?"
"Rubick. Grand Magus."
"Right. Where are we going, Rubick?"
"To the Radiant Ancient. Maybe it can help you."
"Ancient..."
"You sound amazed. Are you starting to recall anything?"
"... None."
Rubick tsks. "Too bad."
"Rubick, may I ask why you're willing to help me?" Erno asks suddenly. "I'm a stranger you just met, and without memory."
Rubick never minces words and bluntly answers. "You're a curious case, a mystery that needs investigating."
Erno looks at Rubick with incredulity and unnerved. "That... sounds not comforting."
Heh. My first attempt of creating a mystery story. I hope it is. Let it be a mystery! (fingers crossed)
I decided to post it right now than wait for tomorrow or next week.
Erno is taken from the inventor Erno Rubik.
Cover is inspired from Zarm's cover of his story 'To Test One's Mettle'.