The First Archmage

(Gavin)

"Hello, Archmage Gavin," Sor, the Dekami Ruler before me, says. "I was expecting to learn a little more of the local language before communicating, though it seems there is one here who can speak ours."

"Indeed," I nod.

"I am not surprised by that, though," he tells me. "Considering the level of power within you, and the fact that you and your brother both posses our Bloodline."

Theirs? Not the fake Dekamis'? So I was right, then.

"It seems," he says. "That you have ancestry rooted in our people, Timeless One."

"So the true Dekami," I say. "Then come from another universe?"

"Indeed," he nods. "We are wanderers, and much like the other First Beings, many of us are capable of passing between universes."

"Would you like to go somewhere private?" I ask. "Or would you not care?"

"When the spell on our Tower here broke," he tells me. "We were able to sense it from the realm we were within, and I thought I should see the being who broke it in person. Judging by the power radiating out of you, and the properly-formed runes concealed in the air around you, in case we should turn hostile, I would assume that it was you?"

Perceptive. I should've expected them to detect the spells.

"It was, indeed," I answer. "May I ask why you and your people never broke the magics?"

"We don't often concern ourselves with mortals," he answers. "Often leaving an area when they begin moving in. We are often worshiped as gods, due to our more mortal appearances and our nigh-impossible powers. For the last several… eons, we have secluded ourselves, ever since leaving Eisnar. We have not interacted with mortals much. It seems that those who call themselves us managed to spread their influence and false runes everywhere."

"Indeed," I state. "Though with the aid of my twin and one of the greatest magicians of our age, I and my Order are deciphering the magics and sorting out the runes, crafting proper formulas and learning the five true languages.

"Why don't we go somewhere and sit down?" I ask. "And have a much smaller crowd observing us? If you would like to speak further, that is."

"Indeed," Sor nods, and I wave my hand, Teleporting us within my house.

With another wave of my hand, a pitcher of water and several glasses appear, and we sit down, pouring ourselves drinks.

"So," I say. "Will you be staying long, Majesty? Or simply visiting to see who would break such a powerful spell?"

"I simply wished to meet you," he says. "Would you mind telling me your story, Archmage?"

"Not at all," I nod, then begin to tell him everything, all the way back as far as I can remember.

I tell him about my fun childhood, my stern Chief, my marriage to the princess, gaining Access to the System, meeting the king for the second time and my harassment of the Council, the coup, the journey to Earth and back, the rough time I had after returning, and everything else that happened up until now.

The trio of Dekami listen intently as I speak, and when I finish, their king nods.

"And what of your son?" He asks. "You have never met him?"

"Indeed," I answer. "And I do not plan on ever meeting him. I have no emotional attachment to the child, though if I were to meet him, that might change. As it is, with my severance of my connection to Kar and my stepping down as Duke of Zelar, I no longer posses any connection to Jozan whatsoever. This allows me to focus fully on my goal of having a safe space for beings of all Species to live. Being able to spread magic without hindrance is merely a bonus."

"Very well," he nods. "My people cannot directly interfere with things, though I would like to make a request, Archmage. Would you allow one of my people to live among your Order? Not to train, but to chronicle the tales of you and your people, and their journeys. We consider ourselves the chroniclers of the various universes, and in a space between, we have a library to contain all of the lore we have acquired. It seems that the Order of the Violet Dragon may be interesting, and we would like to record it first-hand."

"You are welcome to," I answer. "However, the Order works on a series of exchanges and balances. All contribute to its growth, to the training, to the survival, and more. Though you built the Tower, that was eons ago, and we broke a spell on it from people who inhabited it after you, and not from you directly."

"Indeed," he nods, holding out his hand. Violet magics swirl in the air over the center of the table, weaving together to form a thick tome. "This tome contains every rune of the language named after my Species. Not most, not many – all. Every last one of them. Our gift, to the Order, in exchange for allowing us to have one reside here and chronicle your tales. The tome is impervious, and can never be destroyed, except by someone or something on the level of you or I, or even greater. Even then, it would take great effort.

"The tome," he says. "Contains not just the runes, but in-depth descriptions of how they can be used, their meanings and purposes, and more. It will likely assist your Order in developing new magics for ages to come."

"Then we have an agreement," I say.

"Nilae," he says in a calm voice. "Would you care to bring Hai to us?"

A moment later, another Dekami appears, this one with a Scholar Class. Standing beside him is a being akin to a Wolf Beastborn, even having black hair and tail, much like Michael, and golden eyes. His pupils are darker than black, almost as if absorbing light itself, and I realize after a moment that his hair and fur do, too.

According to his Status, he's a Void Mage – his Species, not his Class. He's also a Ruler, much like Sor. He's also very much naked, yet he possesses no genitals, oddly.

It doesn't take me much to put two and two together. If the Dekami are the Ancients, the Dirsoor the Rift Wolves, and the Kurew the Dragons, then the Void Mages are likely the Nikim. Manipulators of time and space, which would explain how they simply appeared without any warning or sense of magic for me.

"Gavin," Sor indicates the Dekami Scholar. "This is Hai, he will be our Chronicler living among your Order. The Void Mage is Nilae, a close friend of mine, though he isn't very social with new people. Nilae, say hi to our new friend."

"Hi," Nilae glances at me, then returns his gaze to Sor.

"I understand that," Sor tells him. "Thank you," the Dekami looks to me. "Thank you, Gavin, for the story. It's been a long time since I last heard a good one, and I am sure that we will have much to learn from you, and many more tales to hear from your Order in the future, even once your immense life has finally come to an end. Goodbye. Nilae?"

The Void Mage, the Dekami King, and the two Dekami warriors vanish, and I look at the Dekami Scholar.

"Hello," I say. "I am Gavin Jakran, Archmage, and founder of the Order of the Violet Dragon. Would you like me to construct an abode for you, or would you like to do it yourself?"

"The Rift Wolves would be much better for that," he answers. "Would you care to?"

"Tell me what you request, and I will do it. We have a large valley to place it in, so location isn't too picky, either."

He nods, then gives me his requirements. It isn't much, though he does wish to have at least a sizable library. We leave my home, and after a few minutes of looking around the valley, he decides on a spot near the main group of buildings. When I ask for the reasoning, he explains that it would be easier to obtain the stories if he is near the heart of the people, than if he is further away.

I smile and admit that it is a smart thing, but not common, then begin to weave together his home.

"You are as natural," he says. "At magic as any I have seen before."

"My immense bonuses and Stats," I say. "Likely assist me to this point."

"Indeed," he nods, then pauses. "Are you aware of the effect that Advancing your Species has on you?"

This sounds like something other than just my power and physical boosts.

"What effect?" I ask.

"The one on your mind," he answers, tapping his head.

"I was not aware there was one."

"There is," he nods. "Would you like me to tell you?"

"Go ahead."

"Have you ever noticed yourself," he says. "Feeling arrogant around those of lesser Species Tiers? More so than you would have before you first Advanced your Species Tier?"

I'm about to reject that, but then stop and think. I do definitely have a tendency to view lower Tiers as trash, especially when I get enraged, such as when Ryan was kidnapped. Is that an effect of the higher Species?

"Yes," I tell the Dekami. "Now that I think of it, I have noticed that it's a bit more… excessive. At least, than it was before I Advanced to the Second Tier. I didn't start viewing people as trash until then, but that was only ever when I got enraged. I do find myself a fair bit more confident in my abilities, but should that not be attributed to the fact that, well, there is actual power and skill within me? I have an extremely-fine control over each of my Resources and an intimate understanding of Runes."

He dips his head to me.

"Now that you are aware it happens," he tells me. "It should be easier for you to resist. Considering the immense power within you, I am sure your INT is quite high, which should afford you some assistance with this."

"Thanks," I say. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"I feel like it," he says. "But cannot remember at the moment."

"Let me know, if you do," I say, and he nods.

Then, I go off in search of Nies's son, who I forgot about when I saw the Dekami. I locate him chatting with my twin.

"You're not getting up to no good, are you?" I ask, and he gives me an innocent grin. I look at my brother. "Eli?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," he smiles at me. "Are those really the true Dekami?"

"Indeed," I answer. "They wanted to meet the one capable of removing the spell the false Dekami placed upon their Tower. The one who's stayed behind wishes to hear peoples' tales, and will record them down for the true Dekami to keep and store for eons to come. Long past the time even our legacies will be gone."

"So that's a real Dekami?" Nies's son asks.

"Yes."

"Imma go say 'hi'."

"No, you don't," I grab the back of his tunic. "You're not going to go and harass one of the most powerful Species in existence."

"I'm a god," he says. "The Dekami are beneath me. I just want to say 'hi'."

"Behave," I release him. "If he gets mad at us, I'll look for you. And spank your Divine ass."

"Yes, sir!" He salutes to me, then giggles and runs off.

"By the way," I hold out my hand, the tome the Dekami King gave me appearing. "The King of the Dekami granted me this tome. It contains every single rune within the language named for them, as well as their purposes and how they are used. The tome itself is virtually indestructible. We will need to guard it well, though copies should be made of it, first."

"Alright," he says. "I'll work with Tristan on that. I assume you already have a personal copy?"

"Indeed."

"Alright," he sends the tome into his spatial ring. "What will you do now?"

"Check on the Elf I was working with earlier," I answer. "Then investigate something that I realized while we were talking."

He nods, and I Teleport to Lyari, who's still practicing with the bow, attempting to acquire the magics. I give him a few more pointers, and he thanks me, then I Teleport into the room my apprentice is studying runes in.

"Hey, Gavin," he says. "I have a question."

"Okay," I say, and he asks me several questions regarding the formula he's looking at. I answer each of them. "Are you satisfied?"

"For now," he nods. "Using the right runes really helps. I got Magic Bolt up to Level 2 earlier."

"Good job," I say, and he beams. "I'm going to investigate something. Don't be alarmed if you feel a power surge around me."

"That's normal," he says, then returns to studying the runes.

I smile a little, then pull up the window. Of all the people here, he's probably the one most used to random bursts of power from me.

Subspecies Available:

Beastborn

Beastkin

Wyvern

Scaled Wyvern

Dekami

Void Mage

So I was correct. Sor saw me as a friend, and after our exchange, I suppose the System acknowledges it. With Nilae greeting me after Sor told him to greet their new friend, I suppose the System registered that as us being friends as well.

I pull up the information for Dekami.

+100 to All Attributes, Resources per Level, +500% to learning and Leveling Languages, Spells, +500% to acquiring Experience from All Sources.

Despite only affecting Attributes and Resources, and not everything else, that's still far more powerful than the Bloodline, which affects All Possible Stats, especially since this is only for Tier I for their Species. The boost to Languages and Spells isn't much, as it's overall and not per-Level, but still pretty damn good. Then the bonus to acquiring Experience…

That's actually pretty pointless for me, unless I plan on taking on another Class.

I pull up the information on Void Mage.

+100 to INT, PER, LIF, Resources, OFV, RRN per Level, +500% to learning, Leveling, and using all Skills relating to to temporal or spatial magics, +500% to acquiring Experience from All Sources.

That's a pretty damn good one, too. Looks like they receive less overall Stats, but the bonus to OFV and RRN can't be ignored as being inferior to the five Attributes lacking from the Dekami's bonus. And considering that their Skill Boost also affects using those Skills, that's definitely a strong boost, there, making up the last of what was missing.

What are the other three's bonuses for that?

"Archmage?" The Dekami Scholar enters the training room. "I remembered what it was."

"Yes?" I ask.

"If you have a maximum-Level Skill," he says. "It unlocks additional Subspecies slots and grants a bonus of twenty-five to All Possible Attributes."

In other words, I need to bring three more Skills to Level 10 of Tier X, and I can have all five of those Subspecies as mine.

That sounds nice.

"Thank you," I smile at him. "Do you know where I can locate the Kratus?"

"Much like Void Mages," he says. "You don't locate them, they locate you."

That's a challenge, if I ever heard one.