Aelbrecht, the Taciturn

Inside Harold’s office I see a person standing in front of a window. He is looking outside, where it is still raining. In his right hand he holds a staff with at the top a crystal that glows a light green color, though joined with the gloom of the rainclouds outside it feels like an eerie sickly green. The staff of course implies he is a mage but the armor he wears is plate mail, which is far too heavy for any normal mage. The robes that adorn his armor are worn and tattered, making it look old.

When Harold closes the door behind us, the man turns around and I feel like I am seeing something from out of a nightmare. The skin on his face is all dry, leathery and sunken in. His lips are gone, leaving all his teeth bare. His nose is simply not there anymore, just a hole into his skull. He also has no eyes. Just 2 empty sockets, each of which having a purple light resting inside. This guy is not alive, he has been dead for a very long time. Yet, he still moves.

“Darx, allow me to introduce you to Aelbrecht, guild master of the Dark Dragon guild.” Harold tells me.

No way. This is my mom’s old guild master? Kiara’s current guild master? I mean, I knew he was an undead mage, but I had never imagined he would look like this. I must honestly admit that I am rather scared now.

Aelbrecht’s mouth opens and he says, “Come closer, Darx.”

His voice sounds like it was created by magic. No wonder, as he has no vocal cords. There is no other way for him to have a voice.

He already looks quite imposing with his armor, scary with his glowing eyes and the worst thing about him is that I can’t read him. Kiara is already difficult to comprehend, but she at least has her lips which show either a smile or a pout. Aelbrecht has neither lips nor eyebrows and the tone of his voice tells me nothing either. Still, I walk forward until I stand face to face with this legendary mage.

I see Aelbrecht stare at my eyes. He remains silent as he studies me.

“Well, Darx. Show him your adventurer card." Harold suggests.

"Uh, yeah." I say as I search in my pockets.

Once I've got my card I hold it out to Aelbrecht. He reaches out with his bony hand and takes it from me. Aelbrecht then stares at it without saying anything.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Harold asks after a while.

“I have." The lich says slowly. "But it was a very long time ago. From a time before I came to Riledo. These kinds of adventurer cards are incredibly rare. Much more rare than S ranks. Darx may well be the first human in over a hundred years to have a card like this.”

"But what does it mean?" Harold asks.

"The cards that you know are static. They stay the way they are and do not change, aside from a rare rank upgrade." The lich continues his explanation. "This card is dynamic. You have the ability to choose your own skills."

Choose? Wait ... is that how I got [Water Magic] and [Dual Strike]? I chose to have them?

“It also says C rank now but yesterday it had D rank.” I awkwardly tell Aelbrecht.

"I'm not surprised. As a dynamic card, your rank up was not a fluke. Adventurer cards like these are prone to rank ups. As long as you work hard enough, you will continue going up in rank."

Aelbrecht then hands my card back to me. He hasn’t explained to me how or why, but at least now I know what to expect. Rank B is now confirmed to be possibility for me, as well as more skills. I can even choose them myself. Finally, I understand enough of my card that I can write my mom about my results. I can now also write her that I met her old guild master.

“Thank you, sir.” I tell the lich. “It means a great deal to me … knowing what it does.”

After that all three of us are silent. Aelbrecht is just sitting there, Harold is rubbing his chin while deep in thought and I have no idea what to say.

“Uhm, mister Aelbrecht, sir?” I ask.

“Yes Darx?” Aelbrecht replies.

“My mother didn't tell me much about my father, Azriel. He was a member of your Dark Dragons, right?”

“Azriel was a member of my guild, true.” Aelbrecht says. "A good friend of mine too. His **** saddened me greatly."

“Well, I was wondering. What kind of person was he?"

"Smart." Aelbrecht says. "Creative too. He often used his mastery in earth magic to create beautiful sculptures. Several of them are still present in the guild. If you like, you can come over and see them. After your time in the castle of course."

I never knew my dad was a sculptor. I wonder if he ever sculpted my mother.

"But Azriel's most magnificent feature would be his [Rune Master] skill." Aelbrecht then says.

"Rune master?" I ask confused.

"A rare skill." Harold interjects. "Runes can be considered a magical alphabet. Every rune represents a spell. Everybody can write them, but only people with the [Rune Master] skill can charge runes with magical energy and also activate them so the spell they represent is cast. A very powerful skill too because you don't need to have to corresponding element to use the rune."

Runes? Alphabet? corresponding? What?

"Wait. I'm not following." I tell Harold, hoping he would slow down.

"Let's say I were to carve 8 runes on this table. One for each of the basic magic elements." Harold explains. "Since i do not have [Rune Master] skill, I can't do anything with them. But if your father was here, he'd be able to charge every one of them. Not just the earth rune whose spells he can cast himself, but also all the others."

"Wow. I guess my old man was a powerful mage then."

"Not necessarily." Harold continues. "Runes masters usually can only keep 10 runes active at a time."

"Azriel could do 15." Aelbrecht interjects. "He also had runes, belonging to elements that were not on his adventurer card, tattooed on his body. That way he could quickly re-charge and cast them."

Damn. The more I hear about my dad, the more I wish I could have met him.

"Thank you, sir." I say to Aelbrecht, and prepare to leave.

“One moment.” Aelbrecht says.

Harold and I look at him.

“Darx. Since I have told you about Azriel, can you tell me about Ilene?” The Dark Dragon guild master says. “I'd like to know how she's been doing."

He is concerned about a former charge of his? I thought guild masters were focused on their current members. That once you leave a guild you cut your ties.

“She is fine. She is the highest ranked adventurer in our village, so a lot of people respect her. She also keeps us safe from monsters every day. She hasn’t bothered to find a new lover after my father’s ****, though.” I tell him. “She does get a bit more attention than normal, recently. I mean, she gave Kase some training and then he became an S rank. Now there are people who think training under her will make them S ranks as well so, they’ve been trying to convince her to take them on as her new students, even though they aren’t ready.”

“People are always in search of hope.” Aelbrecht tells me. “There is no shame in that. You should try your best to hope and improve your life as well. Just try not to diminish the lives of others while you improve yours.”

“Yes, sir. I will.” I say.

I then offer Aelbrecht a greeting similar as was done to the queen when we met her. After that, I leave Harold’s office and head back to the library.

Everybody is still reading books. Different books in most cases. Ryul’s book had more pages, so he is still on his first. Unfortunately, I can’t continue my studies for long because noon comes around.

This time, lunch was a bit different. Dante, the red-haired mentor from one of the other 2 groups decided to spend his on our table.

“Why not?” He says when we ask him why he is with us instead of his own team. “I’m supposed to assess all of you, not just one group. If I am to do this properly, I will need to know what kind of progress you made. Where you started and where you ended up.”

Well, if he puts it like that, I guess it makes sense.

“Besides, how could you expect me to stay away when you have so many lovely ladies here?” Dante continues. “Especially this exotic beauty here.”

Dante then reaches for Miranda’s wrist, lifts he hand and gives it a kiss.

Miranda starts to laugh and says, “Exotic? Me?”

“Look around.” Dante says. “Do you notice how many other dark-skinned beauties are around?”

Dante is of course being rhetorical. Miranda is the only girl here with dark skin. Even the other groups don’t have anyone like her.

“Well, where I’m from, it is light skinned men with red hair that are a rarity.” Miranda replies.

Dante smiles at Miranda and tells her, “In that case, I can be just as exotic to you as you are to me.”

Eventually, lunch time passes and Kiara collects us for more training. But shall it be more time in the library or can we train outside again?