I know I'm a week late, but school has been killing me. X_X
The pillar of light that erupted from the Tristan Royal Academy could be seen for miles across the country. Some people looked at it as a sign of the Founder's blessing on Tristan. Others whispered that it was a signal of impending judgement on the corrupt nobility.
Fouquet, who had been momentarily blinded by the event, blinked repeatedly as her eyes slowly recovered. "What in Halkegenia was that?" she muttered.
The pillar lasted only a second or two. When it died down, Aang's body was revealed to be floating in the air over Louise. The monk's eyes and arrow tattoos were alight with white energy. Rocks spun in twin orbits around his body as he hovered in a sphere of turbulent wind. While Fouquet couldn't Aang's eyes behind the light that shone from them, she could feel the fury radiating from his tense expression. She also realized that Aang was hovering when the golem's hand had once been, and her golem's arm was now ended at the elbow.
It was at this moment that Fouquet knew, she messed up.
Aang wordlessly flew towards the golem. Fouquet tried to intercept him with the remains of the golem's broken arm, but a single punch from the boy shattered the limb to rubble. The golem reacted by trying to swing its other arm, but Aang caught the attack with one hand. His fingers sunk into the hardened clay as easily as if it was fresh mud. Almost casually, he ripped the golem's arm off and threw the limb to the other end of the courtyard.
"Earth Spike!" Fouquet chanted as she pointed her wand at the ground. A sharp rupture of the earth rose towards Aang, who landed on it with his bare feet, crushing the sharp point into a small platform.
Fouquet clucked her tongue. With Aang's elevation, very few of her spells would be useful. And given that he somehow had the ability to casually crush her best spells with his bare hands and feet, she didn't like her odds one bit.
It was time for a tactical retreat. Fouquet quickly reformed one of the golem's arms and had her construct swing at Aang. The boy once again reached out his hand to catch the attack, but this time, instead of attempting to crush him, Fouquet transmuted the arm to surround him and obscure his vision. Fouquet then made a bridge of earth across her golem's back so she could jump to the academy's outer wall.
Not even a second after she jumped did the prison around Aang explode as he flew in pursuit of her. The golem hadn't had time to repair its limbs completely, but it still tried to swat Aang. In response, Aang slammed his open palms against the golem's half-formed arm, shattering the entire limb once again. The rocks orbiting around Aang shot forward peppered the golem's legs, causing it to stumble, before a massive blade of wind cleaved the golem's torso in two.
Fouquet stared in horror at the remains of her golem. What this kid was doing should have been impossible. He wasn't using Halkegenian magic, and she was pretty sure he wasn't using Elf magic either. He was a complete anomaly, and way out of her league. She forced herself to her feet and started to run across the wall, determined to reach the other side and escape to safety. However, just as she reached the edge of the wall, she found herself with cold feet. She was frozen solid in mid-step, and a glance at her feet quickly showed her why.
"Ice magic?!" she exclaimed as she struggled in vain against the ice that reached almost to her knees. "How is he using this much magic without even a chant or wand?"
Growing desperate, she pointed her wand at the stone under her feet. "Transmute!" Unfortunately for her, the reinforcement magic on the walls rendered all of her attempts for naught. Muttering a curse under her breath, Fouquet glanced back at Aang. Her heart began to race as the boy started floating towards her. "N-no! Stay away!"
Aang's face was ominously devoid of emotion as he continued slowly advancing.
Fouquet pointed her wand at him and cast, "Gust!" It was a futile effort. The dot class wind spell dissipated against Aang's personal barrier to no effect. Fouquet hadn't expected it to work, but she couldn't help but try something. With the walls being made of untransmutable rock, basic spells of other elements were all she had to work with.
"Gust!" she cast again. "Fireball! Water Spout!"
Just like her first attempt, the elements failed to pierce the barrier surrounding Aang. In response, Aang flicked his hand, and a strong wind sucked the wand from Fouquet's grip and sent it tumbling into the courtyard below.
The thief tried to remain calm. After all, Aang was supposed to be a pacifist. He wouldn't seriously hurt her, right? "I surrender," she said, holding her hands up. "I'm disarmed, I won't resist. Just let me out of this ice and I'll turn myself in." Sure, she was lying about that last part, but she could only hope he was naïve to believe her.
Instead of responding, Aang continued to float closer. His feet dangled inches from the ground as he reached out a hand towards her.
Something deep within Fouquet's soul made her tremble. The outstretched hand wasn't an offer of help.
It was judgement.
"No…" Fouquet whispered as Aang came closer.
"No…" she repeated, pailing as Aang stopped in front of her.
"No!" she screamed in open panic as the hand came towards her forehead.
And then it all went black.
Aang blinked as the world gradually came back into focus.
"Did I just go into the Avatar State?" he asked himself. "That's weird. I shouldn't be able to do that anymore." It also felt different from the previous times he had entered that state. When he was younger, he had lost himself in the Avatar State completely, being unable to think and only acting on instinct. Later, he had learned to control the Avatar State properly, so he could draw on the power and experience of his prior reincarnations without losing himself in the process. However, this time he felt like he had been having a very lucid dream. He had been consciously aware of his actions, but he hadn't felt like he was in proper control of his own body.
It was then that Aang noticed that he had a hand outstretch towards the passed-out woman in front of him. Her body was slumped over unnaturally due to the awkward position of her frozen legs. "I should probably get her out of there."
Aang melted the ice, making sure to pull all the moisture out of Fouquet's clothes as well, before hurling the orb of water into the forest outside the Academy. He then picked up the woman in his arms—straining under the weight—and jumped down to where Louise was.
"Aang!" Louise cried as she saw him land, unharmed and victorious.
Aang smiled back as he gently placed Fouquet on the grass. "I caught the thief!" he declared triumphantly.
"I don't care about the stupid thief!" Louise shouted as she grabbed him by the ear. "What in Brimir's name was that?!"
"Ow!" Aang realized that he hadn't prepared an explanation for the Avatar State. "Uh…" Aang wracked his brain for an easily believable answer, but drew a complete blank. The pain from Louise's pinching didn't help matters either. "Can we talk about it later?" he suggested.
"No, we're not talking about this later!" Louise's grip on his ear became tighter, threatening to rip it from his head. She pointedly ignored his painful protests as she shouted, "You were glowing! And floating! And what kind of magic was that?"
Thankfully, it was at that time that Colbert and some other teachers flew over to the scene. Louise reluctantly released Aang's ear, but gave him a look that promised that they would be continuing their conversation alter.
"What happened?" Colbert asked the two as he touched down on the ground. "And who is that?" He pointed at the unconscious cloaked figure Aang was standing over.
"This is the person who broke into the Academy and was trying to get into that tower over there," Aang replied, pointing at the Void Tower. "She said her name is Fouquet, and apparently she's supposed to be famous."
All of the teachers' faces paled. "Fouquet is a thief who has terrorized Halkegenia for years," Colbert explained for Aang's benefit. "No treasure was ever truly safe, as his—or rather, her—Transmutation magic was extremely powerful for a Triangle class mage. Even the most secure vaults were easily broken into, and every heist was marked by Fouquet's calling card. Few people have ever seen Fouquet in person, and most of them were been soundly defeated by Fouquet's signature Clay Golem."
Given the rubble lying around the courtyard, it was clear that golem had been soundly obliterated. It should have been impossible for a child to succeed where several talented adult mages had failed, but Colbert was quickly disregarding any preconceived notions about what Aang could or could not do.
The professor paused to wipe a bead of sweat from his head. "While I believe you should have left this for the teachers to handle, I must congratulate you on a job well done," he said. "Still, never do this again. This is a place of learning, we don't expect students to go challenging people who should be dealt with by the faculty."
"We understand," Louise said neutrally, giving Aang a level stare. "I'd imagine most students aren't strong enough to fight mages on par with our teachers."
Colbert did not seem to pick up on Louise's implications as he nodded in agreement. "Now, let us see the identity of Halkegenia's famous thief!" He threw off the thief's hood and gasped. "Miss Longueville!"
"Who?" Aang asked.
"Osmond's secretary since the start of this year," Louise answered. Her brow furred in contemplation. "That would mean she accepted the position with the intention of breaking into the Vault."
"I-I… can't believe she would do such a thing," Colbert stammered.
"The proof is pretty clear," said one of the other professors, a thin female water mage. "The remains of this golem match the description of Fouquet's, and there's no other reason why she would fight a student and her…" The professor's words trailed off as she tried to find the best term to describe Aang.
"Friend?" Aang offered.
"…Yes, let's go with that. Miss Valliere and her friend."
Colbert sighed, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "We'll bring Fouquet—if that is her true name—to Osmond and let him decide what to do with her. Miss Valliere, Mister Aang, thank you again for your assistance."
"Just doing my job," Aang replied. Seeing the confused expression on Colbert's face, Aang had to remind himself that he wasn't the Avatar tasked with bringing peace to the world. He explained, "I like helping people," to cover his tracks.
"We were merely doing our duties as concerned citizens," Louise said, far more formally.
While the teachers handled the securing and transporting of Fouquet and clearing the damage from the fight, Louise dragged Aang back to their room. Instead of scolding him, as Aang expected, she took her wand and practically slapped it into his hand.
"Cast Fireball," she ordered.
The command caught Aang off guard as he stared dumbly at the stick in his hand. "…what?"
"Use my wand, and cast the dot-class spell, Fireball," Louise said with exaggerated slowness and diction.
Aang smiled nervously as his fingers rolled over the wand. "I'm not really sure about this."
"Why is that?" Louise asked, a dark glint in her eye. "You had no problem using your staff to perform higher class magic. In fact, I believe you managed to shatter an entire golem's arm without using a wand or chant at all." The polite smile on Louise's face radiated an ominous aura. "So, tell me: what is the problem with casting a small, simple spell with my wand?"
Aang knew that he didn't have a justifiable excuse for it. And if he was being honest, he didn't really have a reason to lie. He held the wand out to Louise. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but my bending isn't exactly magic," he admitted. "There's nothing I can do with your wand."
Louise's expression did not change as she stared at Aang expectantly.
"Um… sorry for keeping that a secret and it won't happen again?"
Louise continued staring, the polite smile plastered on her face.
"Are you mad?"
"Obviously, I'm furious," said Louise in a tone that was both perfectly level and chillingly cold at the same time. "But I also gave you a command, and I expect you to follow it. Cast Fireball."
"But I can't," Aang protested. "I can make a ball of fire," he made one in his empty hand for demonstration, "but I can't use magic like your classmates and teachers do."
"Cast. Fireball."
Seeing that Louise wasn't going to give up, Aang relented. Holding the wand in one hand like he had seen Fouquet use hers, he chanted, "Fireball."
As Aang expected, nothing happened.
Despite the failure, Louise only looked contemplative. "A mage casts spells by channeling their Willpower into a focus, which allows them to properly harness their magic," Louise lectured. "Without sufficient willpower, a spell cannot be created or maintained. Without a focus, a mage's willpower cannot properly be channeled into a spell. Chants are used in tandem with a focus to help a mage hold a mental picture of the spell they are casting, increasing the chance of a spell's success." Louise's pink eyes bored into Aang's grey ones. "That is how magic works. Every mage knows this. So tell me, how do you use magic?"
Aang sighed. He moved to sit on the side of the bed. "You might want to sit down for this," he advised.
Surprisingly, Louise did take his suggestion, and waited on him expectantly.
Aang took a deep breath before starting his explanation. "First of all, where I come from, people can only use one element. I know I'm an exception," he intercepted Louise as she opened her mouth. "Generally, though, anyone who can bend an element only has access to one. Water, Earth, Fire, or Air. Aside from very specific exceptions, bending elements is hereditary, much like having magic is here."
Seeing Louise nod in understanding, Aang continued, "Bending uses Chi, the natural energy in our bodies, as a source of fuel. It's not too different from how you use willpower to fuel your magic. But while mages need a focus, benders use the different parts of their body to channel their internal energy."
"But you used a staff for your magic earlier," Louise pointed out.
"I can use my glider as an extension of my body, but there's no chi that flows through it. Does that make sense?"
"No," Louise stated bluntly. "Magic is magic. You can't channel willpower through your body. If that was possible, we would have done it already."
"But I've done it. Multiple times." Aang twirled his finger, summoning a light breeze that blew on Louise's face and fanned out her long, pink hair. "See? I'm doing it right now."
Despite the evidence before her, Louise still looked conflicted. "But the Founder didn't set up magic to work this way. In the six thousand years of Halkegenia's history, no one has done magic in the way you described." The argument sounded weak even to her own ears. She had learned that the Founder's magic and the church's teachings were absolute, but the person comfortably sitting next to her was physical proof of the contrary.
"I'm using bending, not magic," Aang corrected. "And it's been passed down in my people for about ten thousand years."
Louise stiffened. "Ten thousand years?" she echoed.
"Yup. All the way back when Avatar Wan merged with the Spirit Raava, and the lion-turtles allowed the people who lived on them to fully become benders."
"…what?"
"Long story. To make it short, people were given the elements and learned how to use them from creatures or the forces of nature. Wan was an Avatar, like me. More specifically, he was the first Avatar."
"So you're his descendant?"
Aang was about to deny it, but then paused. He may not have been Wan's biological descendant, since the first Avatar had no children in his lifetime, but reincarnation did count for something. "More of a spiritual descendent, but yeah, I am," he responded.
"I see," Louise said mutedly. "I suppose that makes you a very important person then?"
"Well… not anymore," Aang admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "There's a new Avatar who took my place already. My time in public is over, thank the spirits. I'm just an ordinary person right now."
"Of course." Louise's voice did not show any signs of relief. On the contrary, she was stiffer than ever. "That is all the questions I have. If you'll excuse me, I need some time to think."
"Oh, sure," said Aang as he got off the bed. "I'll just leave you to that." He slid out of the room and closed the door. Only when he was down the hall did he let out a sigh of relief.
Aang didn't like keeping secrets from Louise. He hoped that one day he could tell her about everything that had happened in his life. However, given how shell-shocked she had been by what little he shared, he did not think that now was a good time to reveal how old he was or how different his world was compared to hers.
At least she was taking the news well.
"He's a what?" Professor Colbert asked incredulously.
"An Avatar, or former one, at least. A legendary prodigy that is a descendant of his country's Founder. If he was native to Halkegenia, that would make him—"
"Royalty," Osmond interrupted as he stroked his beard. "I thank you for bringing this to our attention. This certainly makes things interesting."
"Interesting?" Colbert echoed. "The boy Louise summoned is tantamount to royalty, one of the most powerful mages of all time, and suffering the loss of everyone he knew and cared about, and you think this is interesting?"
"Don't make me sound so callous," Osmond said gruffly. "This is a situation we've never had before. There are too many parts to call this mess good or bad, so interesting the safest word I can think of."
"This is most certainly bad," Colbert insisted. "The boy's condition aside, he comes from a continent where magic itself is different. If what he says is true, then his magic is older than ours. Not to mention, he's probably the strongest mage in his country. With how important he is, I doubt they would let him go that easily."
"Assuming they know where he is at all," Osmond pointed out. "As far as we know, everyone who would be looking for him is rather dead or assumes him to be dead. I know the topic is morbid but bear with me. Given how it took Miss Valliere's spell for the boy to arrive here, I doubt any of his countrymen would also find themselves in Halkegenia, let alone Tristan."
Louise politely cleared her throat. "Pardon my interruption," she said with proper decorum. "While I'm pleased that we should be able to avoid an international incident, what should I do about the royal child living in my room?"
The two men stared at Louise, who quickly recovered from her outburst and schooled her expression into one of patient neutrality.
"That's right, we never did assign a room to him," Osmond said contemplatively.
Colbert looked at the two in surprise. "This is only coming up now? I thought you had arranged a separate room when you first learned he was a mage."
Louise flushed and stammered, "W-well there was a lot of th-things on my mind, and, you see, I wasn't really—"
"Oh, that's right," Osmond exclaimed, slapping his forehead dramatically. "You did send in the paperwork for that. I must have lost it somewhere. No matter, I'll write it up myself and get him a room today."
"I did? You will?" Louise caught the wink Osmond gave her a wink as he tilted his head towards Colbert. "I mean, yes, thank you, Headmaster Osmond. If you'll excuse me." Louise practically fled the room, not looking Professor Colbert in the eye.
"That was strange," the bespectacled man commented.
"The girl has a lot on her mind, let her be," said Osmond dismissively. "Besides, we have a lot we have to deal with."
"A Gandalfr who's a foreign royal mage prodigy with magic that was not gifted by the Founder," Colbert said with a sigh. "The more we learn about him, the more dangerous he appears. And yet, he's such an innocent child. I can't see him harming a fly. I hear he's even a vegetarian."
"Peaceful, he is. But according to Miss Longueville—ahem—Fouquet, he is a talented fighter," said Osmond. "She confessed to everything easily enough. Infiltrating the academy, attempting to steal from the Void Tower, breaking our hearts, attacking our students—"
"Wait, what was that last part?"
"She attacked our students."
"No, no. Before that."
"She attempted to steal from the Void Tower."
"No, not that either." Colbert shook his head. "Never mind, please continue."
Osmond cleared his throat. "She didn't even bother lying, but when asked about the details of her fight with Mister Aang, she became largely incoherent. She threw around words like 'monster' and 'inhuman' and 'terrifying', but we haven't been able to get the specifics."
"That sounds like the response of someone who's been traumatized," said Colbert knowingly. "But that doesn't add up. She's uninjured; I checked the report."
"Yes," Osmond agreed. "Aang managed to destroy Fouquet's signature golem, capture her, and strike fear into her heart without injuring her once. That speaks to an incredible amount of skill and power. If this is his strength as a child, then imagine what he could become in the next few years."
Both men were visibly sweating. To be able to defeat an accomplished triangle class mage while on the cusp of adolescence was no small feat. If Aang continued to grow and learned to make full use of his magic and those runes…
"We need to do our best to keep him in Tristan," Osmond said decisively. "Not just for our sake, but for his as well. Mad King Joseph would use him as a weapon of war, the same goes for the Germanian Emperor. Albion is a mess, and who knows what's going on in Romania!"
"We must protect him at all costs," Colbert agreed. "I just pray our best will be enough."
When I first drafted the chapter there was supposed to be a big fight scene between Aang protecting Louise and Fouquet trying to subdue them and break into the tower. Then I realized that the fight was silly because there's no way Fouquet can hold up to Aang in an actual slugfest, so I shifted the focus back to the comedic misunderstandings.
We'll get back to the Avatar State and interactions of magic systems later. I do have explanations for everything that's happened so far, but the characters are unlikely to find the answers immediately. Keep in mind that everyone in this story is an unreliable narrator. (Feel free to make your guess as to what's actually going on).
I think that's all the announcements I have this time. Thanks to my demanding classes, I'm not doing any special events this month. If you want to support me financially, I have a Ko-Fi under the name "RainEStar". But even something as a review can lift my spirits (I could use all the encouragement I can get). Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!