A once fearsome floating fortress, the pride of the Imperial military, lay in shattered ruins. The once impenetrable battlements crumbled and broken along with the twisted and warped metal of the once devastating siege guns and artillery cannons. The tattered remains of an imperial flag fluttered on a bent pole, the last hold out of a broken and corrupt system.
A single figure walked among these ruins, her long silver hair billowing in the winds of the wasteland that surrounded the ruin fortress. Her golden eyes glanced around the crumbling landscape for threats or even the slightest sign of that which she searched for.
She paused for a moment touched a gouge mark in one of the shattered walls with a long, delicate, dark skinned finger. She knew the weapon that had caused this damage, though it had been made prior to the fortress' fall. A physical reminder of her heart's desire.
Her attire would have been both strange and alluring to an observer; fit more for a dancer then a fighter. Golden bracers adorned her wrists while armbands of the same material clung to her biceps. Her bust was covered in a strapless red brazier top with gold-plated metal placed in such a way to both accentuate her small chest and provide protection from physical blows.
Her hips where shrouded by a pair of hot pants that walked the line between hot pants and underwear scandalously, held in place by a red sash to which a sheathed sword hung. Her legs where bare save for a semi-transparent set of leggings tucked into her red boots. On her forehead rested a golden tiara with the centrepiece depicting a circle in which a triangle with smaller circle at each point. Around the main circle was a border of floral leaves and a set of wings.
The sword also stood out. It had a white hilt while the hilt, pummel and guard where silver and depicted a dragon, it's tail forming the guard while the wings splayed out behind it on either side of the thin blade. A red ribbon lined with gold and runic markings was tied to the pommel, though it was clearly a later addition.
Although she appeared scantily clad she was as well armoured as a knight in full plate thanks to an enchantment on her clothes.
As the saying went; 'Leave a wizard to brood in a tower long enough...'
Soon enough she stepped out of the ruins and into cratered and torn remains of a field in which the final battle of the way had taken place. The place in which a rag-tag group of strangers turned comrades had faced both the Emperor and his benefactor in a fierce battle.
Little remained to testify of that great clash save for the devastated landscape... and two burial mounds.
One was a carefully crafted angled rectangle with a red cloth lodged between several of the stones. The other was a more haphazard pile covering an actual body, thrust into this mound was a pair of swords with straight, thin blades. Like the woman's sword they had silver pommels, guards and hilts, only these swords had black grips and depicted eagles in the same pose as the dragon on her sword.
The woman gazed at both graves for a moment before walking towards the grave with the swords. She glanced at the grave with the cloth and sighed, "I know he isn't dead... and even if he was." She placed her right hand over her heart, "I... I must find him... my Bondmate."
She clenched her fist in determination, "I swear it to you, I will find your brother..." She started blushing even as she shouted, "And have many many eggs with him!"
Jolt sneezed and muttered, "I'm suddenly terrified of the future..."
"Please stop moving so I can do my job..." Doctor Sauveterre scolded as her hands glowed with the light of healing water magic. The parts she had already healed looked mostly normal, if fresher then the dark skin around them while the unhealed injuries, namely the massive lines of burned fleshed where still red raw with exposed flesh underneath.
If not for the amazing fortitude of Taro biology the injuries would surely have been worse. The second-degree burns would certainly have been third or even forth degree to a normal human, if not fatal.
Jolt had been herded back into the medical wing along with Kirche, Tabitha and Colbert shortly after Louise's... outburst... about losing her magic. Now his wounds where being tended to by an exasperated Sauveterre while Kirche and Tabitha watched quietly from some chairs, Louise gibbered away inconsolably on a nearby bed and Colbert spoke quietly with an old man and a green haired woman.
After a few moments of relative quiet the old man approached the displaced young man and introduced himself with a smile, "It is a pleasure to meet you young man, I am Osmond, headmaster of this academy. If you are willing I have a few questions for you?"
"It is a pleasure to meet you Archmage Osmond." Jolt replied with an inclination of his head, "I am Joltarabaros Kazaous Kul'duraan, Fylkir of Triplexia." He smiled and add, "I lose nothing by answering you questions, feel free to ask them."
Osmond blinked, "My, such formality!" He laughed and let a grin cross his face, "Relax, this isn't an interrogation. We simply wish to understand recent events." The old man clarified, "Now I suppose with should start with the most immediate matter at hand... what exactly happened in the courtyard?"
The Fylkir nodded and started, "I can only speculate as to why Louise was in the condition she was but I can definitely say this, her Mana Core was Tainted and reacting to my presence. I have a pretty good idea why it didn't earlier and only did in the courtyard, but until Louise can confirm it I'm only working on a guess."
"What exactly do you mean by Tainted?" The green haired woman in glasses asked.
"Her Mana Core, just like the Cores of every magic user I've met in this world, carried the Taint of an Outsider's touch." Jolt explained, bringing surprised expressions to all those listening, "In the case of you all the purity of your Souls is keeping the Taint in check. For Louise there was a second Taint that matched the purity of her Soul."
He glanced over at Louise and added, "When I forced that Taint out of Louise, along with her Mana Core, it used her subconscious, all her fears, desires, dreams and nightmares to take a physical form."
Kirche looked puzzled for a moment, "So that was Louise's ideal form?"
"No." Jolt clarified, "It was a twisted shadow of her ideal self."
"What exactly is an Outsider?" Colbert interrupted.
"A creature of near god-like power. Their powers are always of unnatural origin and Taint anything they touch. Usually when they stumble upon a new world they are mistaken for actual gods and openly worshipped, regardless of if they are good, evil or anything in between." Jolt dictated, "Judging by how the Taint is present in every single Mana Core I've encountered so far I'd say humans original obtained magic through a deal with an Outsider. I also believe Louise inherited her Taint as well, as if she had forged a contract she would have been considerably more powerful... and I would not have been able to be summoned."
"You sound awfully familiar with these 'Outsiders' as you call them." the green haired woman noted.
Jolt nodded, "Very much so... The Taro where created by Triplexia specifically to fight and kill Outsiders." He smirked, "I did exactly that shortly before Louise summoned me."
"So those wounds where...?" Sauveterre started.
"Yes, fresh from that battle."
The medic slapped him hard on the left cheek, "YOU FOOL! You could have been killed!"
Jolt took the slap without even flinching, "That was exactly what I had been hoping for." He looked away from the staring eyes, "I was... in a bad place at that time."
The shuffling of robes drew Jolt's attention. As he looked up he came face to face with Tabitha who was now just inches from him, her blue eyes locked on his red. A single word passed her lips, "Why?"
"DON'T ASK THAT!" Someone screamed, but it wasn't Jolt. All eyes turned in surprise towards Louise who had grit teeth and trembling with barely restrained tears playing at their edges. She whimpered, "Ask him anything... but don't ask him that."
"Louise?" Jolt asked quietly, his gaze turning puzzled.
"I saw it... in a vision just now..." Louise whimpered, "That hill of swords..." Jolt's back straightened in shock, a fact not lost on the older people in the room, "I also... I heard your thoughts... I know what you where feeling as..."
Slowly she rose off her bed and wobbled over to Jolt's side before she collapsed on him and openly started to cry. Jolt gently placed his arms around Louise as he considered her words before speaking up, "That confirms one hypothesis at least..." He glanced at the academy staff and explained, "Triplexia can grant her devoted, and those she wishes to convert, visions of the past to teach and guide them."
"But..." He added, "Sometimes they are too much for the student... but the lessons are always valuable and must be learned..."
He looked back at Louise, "So..." He tapped her on the forehead causing a Triplex Magic Circle to appear on it, "They cannot be erased or locked away..." The circle faded and Louise's crying ebbed away, "But the harshest part, the emotions, can be held back until the student can handle the full brunt."
There was a pause as everyone stared at Jolt.
"Did..." Colbert gawked, "Did you just cast a spell without a focus or an incantation?"
"You mean you can't?" Jolt gawked right back.
Osmond shook his head, "No, all mages need a wand or staff or some other foci to wield their magic."
"So only I, and another should she agree, can use magic by intent alone?" Jolt asked.
"Yes, it would seem so." Osmond replied as he stroked his beard, "And who might this 'another' be?"
Jolt pulled out the medallion he had recovered after the battle in the courtyard and placed it around Louise's neck. Memories from the visions came to the forefront of the pinkette's thoughts and the implications of what Jolt had just done hit her.
"ME?!" Louise bleeted before her vision shifted and faded. Jolt caught her before she could fall and gently laid her out on the bed.
Longueville furrowed her brow, "What just happened? Surely it wasn't that much of a shock to her?"
The young man chuckled, "Oh, that wasn't shock." He looked back at everyone else in the room and elaborated, "She's just meeting with Triplexia herself."
"Huh." Sauveterre suddenly grunted. At Jolt's questioning gaze she explained, "I just noticed that you don't have nipples." Immediately all eyes where on the young man's exposed chest where there were, indeed, no nipples.
"Oh right." Jolt blinked, "Humans have those..."
Louise opened her eyes to find herself standing in an extremely fertile field, vibrantly green grass all around with a lush bounty of flowers of every colour imaginable and even a few that aren't. Trees grew tall and strong off to her left with some the largest and tastiest looking fruits to have ever graced her young gaze.
Wherever she was Louise knew it to be some kind of paradise, the sort offered to describe the afterlife.
"Sadly no, this is but a dream scape." A wonderfully gentle and loving voice, with a hint of flirtatiousness, said from behind her.
Slowly Louise turned her gaze from the field and had them widen at the vision of pure beauty that they encountered. Her mouth fell open and her knees gave out beneath her as words failed her.
"Greeting child, I am Triplexia. I would ever so like to offer you my blessing... and my magic."
Author's Note:
Response to Panzer-12;
The thing with describing heavily scarred characters is the problem of how much detail to go into; Do you keep it brief and keep the story flowing and just let the reader come up with their own description? Or do you describe every single scar, one by one, taking up half a page just on scars?
Obviously I chose to be brief. Mostly out of wanting to maintain flow.
As hinted at in this chapter Jolt's magic is tied directly to his religion, specifically to his Goddess Triplexia. So long as he, and any converts he attracts, remain faithful to Triplexia they can wield her magic. I intend to go into further detail into how it works in later chapters so be patient... I'm not about to go spoiling my own plot points.
Indeed, Jolt's swords do incorporate revolvers into them. What you described (I think) is precisely why he made them that way; a level of unpredictability and adaptability in combat to overcome any foe. The only limitation he has right now is the fact he only has six rounds in each weapon and hasn't found what he needs to make more.