Andrew Rowe - On the Shoulders of Titans

No question that it was the same color, though.

I still didn’t have the faintest idea what that meant. There was no level of attunement that corresponded to a silver glow. Even if I extrapolated through the colors of the rainbow beyond green and imagined hypothetical ranks above Emerald or Sapphire, silver wasn’t one of those colors. And this definitely wasn’t just a strange shade of blue; it looked like a haze of metal, complete with a lustrous reflection.

Do foreigners have different aura colors because their magic works differently? Maybe a copper-silver-gold scale or something?

…If that follows and he’s only silver, I’d hate to see how powerful gold would be.

While I was distracted with the epiphany that “Tyrant in Gold” could refer to an aura color, Marissa stepped forward.

“M’lord Keras, forgive me for botherin’ ya while yer meditating. Can ye spare a moment?”

Keras opened a single eye. “Well, if you’re being that polite, how can I refuse?” He closed his eyes again, cracked his neck, and then his sword was sheathed at his side.

With my attunement still active, I could see that a silvery aura lingered in the air where his blade had been, but just for a moment. The weapon itself was no longer emitting an aura now that it was sheathed; instead, I could see a faint blue aura around the scabbard.

Now that’s interesting.

Blue meant Sapphire. That was absurdly potent — we’d been told in class that Sapphire Mages were purely hypothetical — but at least it was something our system could properly identify.

And that was just the scabbard. Why did it need an aura like that? What did it do?

Keras reopened his eyes and stood, glancing to Marissa, to me, and back to Marissa. “What can I help you with?”

Marissa bowed deeply. “Please teach me how you fight.”

I raised a hand to rub behind my head. “Uh, me too, I guess?”

Keras folded his arms. “Why would you want me to teach you?”

That can’t be a serious question.

I frowned. “I can’t speak for Mara, but I’m going to go with ‘because you survived fighting a visage and an Emerald-level elemental is terrified of you.’”

He turned his head away from me, his jaw tightening.

That…wasn’t a good response.

Was he angry?

Maybe? But, if I was reading his eyes right, it looked more like shame.

Fortunately, Marissa jumped in before Keras had a chance to flatten me for my insolence or anything.

“Uh, m’lord, I was mostly thinking that you had a unique fightin’ style, with shaping your shroud into blades and such, ‘specially when you hit everything around you at once.”

He turned his head to her immediately. “What do you mean by that last part?”

“When ye were stuck in the stone, sir. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel when your shroud shifted. And it didn’t feel like burning — it felt like cutting, the same as when you cut through m’lord Hartigan’s shroud. Never seen anyone do something like that with their shroud before, m’lord. Not even our teachers can change their shroud into blades.”

Keras’ eyes narrowed. “No. I doubt anyone else could.” He sighed, looking away. “If that’s what you want to learn, I can’t teach you. You wouldn’t have the right type of…mana, for lack of a better way of putting it.”

“Beggin’ your pardon, m’lord. Maybe I couldn’t do precisely what you do, but…” She pressed her hands together in front of her, closing her eyes for a heartbeat, and then brought them back apart.

Her crimson shroud stretched out four inches in front of her hands, in blade-like points. “It isn’t much, m’lord, but…”

Keras closed the distance between them in a moment, striding forward with fervor. Marissa didn’t retreat.

If I’d been faster, I probably would have stepped between them in alarm, but Keras moved too quickly.

He reached upward — and brushed his hand against the blade-like shroud.

I saw silvery sparks when his fingers made contact.

“Remarkable. You managed this after only seeing me once?”

Marissa nodded. “It isn’t anything like your technique, sir. I know that. It’s just a standard shroud, shaped like—”

Keras tilted his head to the side, examining the shroud. “You’re not the first person I’ve seen who can produce a similar blade, but at Carnelian level? Having just seen something like it for the first time?” He paused for a moment, taking a step back and looking straight into her eyes. “It’s beautiful.”

Marissa blushed almost as bright red as her aura.

Keras was turning away a moment later, raising a hand to his lip in thought. He looked totally oblivious to the reaction he’d just triggered. “Yes, I believe I can teach you a bit. I will make no promises of anything specific. I am not much of a teacher.”

While he wasn’t focusing on me, I tried pushing on my own newly-formed Carnelian aura, trying to get it to move into a blade shape. Predictably, it didn’t respond in the slightest.

I’d only had a shroud at all for about a day, and I had no idea how to use it properly.

Marissa had been using a shroud since she’d earned her attunement — she was a Guardian, and shroud manipulation was their specialty. It made sense that she’d be able to pick up on a shroud-based technique more quickly than I could.

Still, I was a little disappointed. I always seemed to be one step behind.

More like five steps, if I compared myself to Derek or Tristan. Those comparisons were even less fair, but that didn’t stop my miserable brain from making them.

But just because I couldn’t learn the same thing that Marissa could as quickly didn’t mean that I had nothing to learn from Keras. “If you’re willing to consider me a student as well, Keras, I’d like to learn more about how your magic works.”

He turned his head toward me and blinked, seemingly just remembering that I was present.

“Oh, Corin. Hrm. I can tell you some theory, I suppose, but I don’t think you’d be able to cast anything. Same problem as I mentioned to Marissa — you don’t have the right types of mana. But if she can come up with a way to do something similar with her own mana, I suppose you might be able to apply some of my theory as well?” He shrugged. “I’ll give it a try. It’s worthwhile if it helps you protect yourself. I can’t be with you all the time.”

I found the implications of that a little demeaning, but I knew what he meant. “I’d appreciate anything you’d be willing to teach.”

Marissa was staring at Keras in wordless…admiration, maybe?…so I continued. “When do you think you might be able to start?”

“Let’s plan to discuss things a bit more tomorrow. Today’s sparring…left me in poor spirits. Talking to you both has helped a bit, but I need some time to myself to clear my mind. I’ll also need to think about what lessons might be useful to you. I’ll see if I can think of anything that would be applicable to both of you, but I may need to train you each separately, at least on some things.”

We both nodded. “Thanks, Keras. I appreciate the help.”

Marissa bowed again, still looking a little awkward. “Aye, uh, thanks…” And then she disappeared back into the house.

Keras frowned. “What a strange girl. Quite talented, but strange.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know if she’s the strange one, Keras.”

He looked at me and tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“When you walk up close to someone and tell them that they’re beautiful — or I suppose, that their sword-hand aura is beautiful ,” I rolled my eyes for emphasis, “They might take that as a bit…flirtatious?”