"I thought you'd be gone by morning."
Lian didn't look back as he heard the sound of Voniya's voice. His hands went through the motions of saddling Valkyrie, but his mind was on the events of earlier that morning.
Annia'Teitori. One of the Sidhe had come to heal him. One of the Sidhe had called him 'Gaia's Champion'. What the hell does that even mean? Everything seemed to be happening so fast, every answer only seemed to leave him with more questions. How was he supposed to be anyone's champion if no one ever told him anything of importance.
"Lian?"
A hand touched his shoulder and Lian reacted before he could stop himself.
Spinning with the speed of a natural fighter, he grabbed Voniya's wrist and pulled, turning her around so he held her arm behind her back, putting pressure on the joint of her shoulder.
The pale-blond Master Mage squealed in surprise and pain, but just as fast as Lian had reacted, he released her.
"Sorry. I was lost in thought." He admitted, not feeling particularly guilty after what Lybell had done the night before. Despite not being harmed by Voniya herself, Lian thought of her as the leader of this small band of oddities and as such, their actions were also her responsibility.
"How did you do that." Voniya growled, holding her shoulder as she glared at Lian. "You moved like a flash of light. How did you do that. And your arm-" She looked at his left arm, covered in off white bandages yet obviously still retaining it's normal range of motion. "I saw your arm last night, how can you even move it."
"You might want to try asking sometimes. The way I've been treated thus far leaves me less inclined to comply with any demand from you." Lian replied. It was airy and removed, his thoughts still on the encounter with the Fae creature. He wouldn't explain his healed arm to these people. He'd sooner have them all forget that it was injured in the first place.
Lian caught the way Voniya's face flashed with deep red rage, but she was quick to calm herself. When he saw that she was back in control, he turned again to finish his task. He was surprised to notice that Valkyrie hadn't even moved during the encounter, her keen eyes trained on Voniya as if assessing a threat.
"My apologies." Stiffly, Voniya took a step back to put space between them. Lian was tempted to snort, but he wouldn't push her any further. "You are a Fire Mage, yes? But no one has showed you how to use it to enhance your movements. So how did you move so fast when you haven't been instructed? And you'd have to be a water mage to accomplish the healing your arm would have required."
Lian stilled.
Uneasiness filled his muscles as his mind processed her words.
Fire Mage. He knew that Mage magic was split into four major elements and each Mage could only ever access one element in the span of their lives, but he'd never bothered to think about what his element was. Was he a Fire Mage? If so, what happened with that storm he'd brought? How had he bent it to his will. He was neither a Water or a Wind Mage but he'd done something only those two working together would be able to do.
"Fen?" Lian called, knowing the wolf was hunting in the small patch of woods behind the stables. He could feel Fen's presence in the back of his mind and instinctively he knew how far from him the wolf was. Fen would answer.
"Lian." Fen answered back in amusement.
Ignoring the emotion flowing in their bond, Lian asked the question he probably should have asked much earlier than just now.
"What is my affinity?"
There was stillness in their bond. An unusual quiet that instantly filled the young fighter with worry. "Fenrir?"
"Will you not answer my question?" Voniya cut into his thoughts with a small huff, her arms crossed over her chest and the sting of disrespect clear in her expression.
Lian turned to her with a frown. "I was raised in Kilden, a Warrior Guild village just southwest of Kyro itself. What do you think the boys in such a village are taught? I do not need magic to be a threat. My life was on a vastly different path before these powers were dropped on my shoulders."
Residual anger masked the quiver in his voice and Lian was glad for it.
Voniya didn't move, her penetrating eyes steadily on his face as she quietly mulled over his words.
"You are correct." She conceded. Her face relaxed into an expressionless mask. "We'll be setting off soon. You didn't come in for breakfast, so I will have Ashling bring something out for you."
The pale-blonde Master turned on her heel and began walking away from him. Half way to the stable doors, she paused.
"Lybell met your mother once." She softly intoned.
Lian felt himself bristle at the words.
She was trying to manipulate him. Use such shocking news as a way of easing the tension between him and the temperamental idiot. What angered him even more was the fact that such a tactic would have worked if he hadn't already heard as much the night before.
"If I were you, Master Voniya, I would never speak about my mother to me ever again. Unlike Lybell, I have a firm hold on my temper, but even I have my limits. I don't care how great a Mage you are, my retribution will be greater."
Lian didn't bother to turn and look at what reaction his words had caused, he didn't care. He was done with these four Mages. If they were a representation of the whole group, Lian was more certain now than ever, about his refusal to live as a Mage at all.
With Voniya gone, Lian focused once again on the internal bond with his Guardian.
"Answer the question Fenrir." He insisted.
"I cannot." Came his answer.
Lian allowed confusion to color the bond. "Why not?"
"Because you are not tethered to one affinity."
The uneasiness that had lived inside him intensified. A rock settled in his belly and his hands reached out to touch Valkyrie as the shock impaired his vision.
'Not tethered to one affinity' what did that mean? Did he not have an affinity at all? Then what part of the ley lines did he connect to? If not Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth what gave him power?
"I was hoping you'd take that better." Fenrir sounded chagrined.
"I don't understand, Fenrir. If I have no affinity, then where does my power come from? What lines am I connected to? A Mage draws power from their affinity, they control and conduct the affinity. How can I be a Mage if I-"
"I didn't say you have no affinity. I said you aren't tethered to merely one."
Good Gods, Lian just couldn't catch a break.
"Fenrir, I suggest you explain fast before I begin to panic."
The damn Guardian had the gall to snort in laughter at his words.
"Do you remember what the Fae called you last night?"
Lian did. "Tori called me 'Gaia's Champion'." He repeated, wincing at the words.
Amusement bleed into the bond between them.
"Well at first I was skeptical. I wasn't sure what the Fae meant. But I had time to mull it over after you fell asleep."
Lian groaned as he allowed more of his weight to lean against Valkyrie's side. The warhorse snorted before bumping his side with her head.
"Talk faster and stop stalling. I feel like I'm going to faint."
"You're a great warrior! Men such as you don't dare sully the name of-"
"Fenrir!"
"Okay, okay!"
Lian was going to be sick, he could feel his stomach turning at just the implication of everything. His life, his dreams, his choices, it seemed like everything he'd once called his had never actually been under his control. His future had been set before he'd even known he'd wanted to be a Warrior in the Guild's Guard unit. Was this always the way things would play out. His father, his mother, his home. Oh Gods.
"Lian, you must remain calm. The magic inside reacts to your emotions, you don't have any control over it yet. You can't show anymore of your magic. No one must know what you are."
"What am I, Fenrir? Why mustn't anyone know? How do you know?"
"The knowledge is in my head. I have always known what power I carry inside me, what I was a vessel for. When the Fae called you a 'Champion' I finally realized why I have always known. Gaia gifted you a power no one else can access. It is why I was chosen. No other Guardian would have been enough for the powers you will someday hold."
Lian closed his eyes as his mind began to race. He was no idiot, he was catching onto what Fenrir was saying faster than he could come to terms with it.
Lian had brought flames to life, had controlled winds and rain, brought lightning to heel.
"I am a conduit for all affinities."
At first Lian believed he'd only thought it to himself, so he was slightly surprised when Fenrir actually answered.
"You are the Champion. All that Gaia is, is accessible to you. You draw power from all life, not just some forms of it."
Head hanging low and eyes tightly closed, Lian tried to swallow despite his dry throat. This was too much. All of this, all that's happened, everything he was being told was just too much.
"I-I don't think I can do this."
Fear echoed inside their connection. Lian wasn't sure if it belonged to him or to his Guardian.
"Lian?" Fen called carefully.
Lian didn't answer.
A Warrior of the Guard, that is all Lian had ever wanted to be. He'd only ever dreamed of fighting by his father's side, protecting the Kingdom, protecting his mother. This was...all of this was unreal. Unbelievable and unwanted. He didn't want this!
Valkyrie whinnied in distress, her movements jarring Lian out of his own mind. He smelled fire.
Quickly turning his head he caught sight of the flames that now consumed the stray piles of hay in the stables.
Fear rang like a bell in his veins. So much dry hay would catch fire far to quickly. What had he done.
"Killian!"
Lian ignored his Guardian's cry. As fast as he could, he rushed to the flames, heedless of the danger. He could feel the heat, could sense the power of it as it used the hay to fuel itself and grow. Hungry, the flames were hungry, it was almost as if the element had a living emotion.
Without thought, Lian plunged his arm into the flames.
"Lian!"
He had to work fast, he knew that the flames would turn on him in seconds if he couldn't absorb its heat.
"What are you doing! Get away from there!"
He pictured it in his mind. The coil of power inside his body needed to connect with the power of the flames. Nature, always connected, always balanced. He knew instinctively what this would cost him, but he couldn't bring himself to care when he could feel the distress of the horses in the stables around him.
"Oh my god."
He pulled at the power of the flames. This element of nature was just another version of the power that thundered in his veins, that rolled under his skin and he was going to take it as his own. Suddenly an image of Fenrir consuming Lybell's fireball played out in his head. That's what Lian had to do, he had to open himself up and accept the flames.
"He-he absorbed it."
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