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Chapter 2
by dracone
How Do Things Play Out?
It All Begins Anew
Nilhord was treated as more of a passing curiosity than a person, a Drake-kin like him was usually an odd sight to see, mostly because of how they were one of the many non-human races that most of the so-called civilized races had a low opinion of. That opinion came mostly from their recorded origins than any actual reputation. But here, at the Arcanum Institute, those sorts of things were a bit rarer than in the outside world.
Nilhord got here on what seemed like a whim of the headmistress, a fox beastkin that had been part of the “Hero’s party” several centuries ago, she was in such fine health that rumor had it elves were jealous of her unique longevity, the indomitable Kana, her moniker of the “Fox Sage” was well-earned, and the fact she had a sexy figure that didn’t look a day over thirty was a source of much of the envy lobbied at her. Nilhord had just barely found a Wizard’s old spellbook while he was still just a child with no prospective future running around in the streets, then a few months after he found the book and practiced what he was able to reason out were some of the simpler spells, representatives of the school came and told him he was selected to take part in the curriculum of the Arcanum Institute, he jumped at the opportunity for an actual formal education.
That was way back when he was around twelve years of age, now he was almost 19 years of age and finally going to graduate. His focus of magical study was the more ancient arts, in particular, Tattoo magic, also called “Ink Arts” and “Mark Magic” in passing by those in the know of it being a magical discipline. Tattoo magic was one of the oldest formal magics there was, dating back to tribal times when actual documentation was yet to be invented, and only a few practices of the craft had survived to the modern era. Only three such practices were publicly known, the most well-known being the “Hero Ritual” and that was known more for how it took several high-ranking mages and Clerics to perform more than anything else. When the “Hero Ritual” was completed, a member of the nation whose mages and priests/priestesses had performed the ritual would be “branded” with the “Mark of the Hero” and be fated to fight the Dark Lord when his or her forces made themselves known.
Thanks to his studies, Nilhord knew the mark actually appeared on multiple parts of the body, the Right Arm (what most people were aware of), the Left Leg (Never acknowledged by the populous), Chest (Sometimes acknowledged but not as much as the arm), Back (no recorded case of being acknowledged by most people beyond those in the know of the ritual), and Butt (No records of being confirmed beyond two of the more thorough records, likely no one even wants to acknowledge a sign of the hero being in such a place). Nilhord was quite surprised when he found an old tome that described how to perform the ceremony in detail, due to the complexities wasn’t any wonder the ritual took as many people as it did.
Nilhord had just finished writing out his dissertation, in triplicate, and was making his way out of the library, after making sure all his resources were in their proper place for future visitors to the library, when he quite literally bumped into an attractively figured dark elf woman and almost lost a grip on his parchment and nearly spilled it all over the floor before offering up a hurried apology and rushed from the area. Little did he know, this was the beginning of a tremendous change in his life that would have a greater impact on more people than most people would anticipate.
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Alethia gave an annoyed grunt as an emerald-colored drake-kin with forest green eyes and blue horns in barely passable robes bumped into her and scurried aways with a rushed apology. She knew who he was, they had shared a few classes in the past, and the only reason she was here was because of the command of her house’s matriarch. Alethia didn’t want to be here, she was only here because of the plans of her house’s matriarch. The matriarch of Alethia’s house, her grandmother, had plans for their dark elf house that involved the grounds of the magic institute.
The drake-kin was of little concern to Alethia, he was one of the headmistress’s charity cases. Alethia made sure to remind the demon-kin what his place was, if he was competent as a mage there was the chance they might make use of him. She always made monthly reports to the matriarch concerning what she managed to learn about the establishment. Little did she know, what she reported and what was received by who she reported to were very different from one another, and she wouldn’t learn the truth until it was far too late for her to do anything about it, and by that time she wouldn’t really care thanks to some changes in her life when that time came. But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves.
The library was a massive archive, in its own right, and there were some artifacts the matriarch wanted Alethia to report in on. Currently, a chalice or grail was the subject of interest Alethia was being sent to investigate on.
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Kana observed everything from her chambers, the headmistress’s/headmaster’s chambers, she had taken on an instructor’s position after the last Dark Lord’s defeat, a little over 500 hundred years ago, and 200 years ago had gained the position of headmistress from the prior headmaster, Wilhaert, when he felt he could no longer keep up with the demands of the position. The chambers had some magical defenses that kept unwanted forces at bay, but by the end of her first decade in the role, Kana had put in so many powerful self-sustaining wards that she could effectively monitor and manipulate all magical communications and observations to her own specifications.
Little did anyone know she was preparing for the arrival of the next figure in the cycle, how could they when she had been part of the heroic party that took out the last Dark Lord? He made the same mistake all his predecessors did, he took things too far too fast after all those years of careful planning. She was going to be the newest one in the cycle didn’t go off the rails, that was the mission given to her by the governing priestesses of her home, and a big part of that mission was removing the most recent Dark Lord from the equation since their continued existence meant the next one down the line wouldn’t emerge.
To minimize her impact on the development of the next “Dark Lord,” Kana was only told the next one in the cycle would bear the power of Tattoo Magic. Tattoo Magic was practically a lost art, with the only surviving parts of the practice being rituals that were ironically used to suppress the more “primal” races by humans, elves, and gnomes. “Cultured” beastkin, like herself, were a rare sight in any of their lands, Kana joining the party that took down the last Dark Lord was a calculated risk to ensure her mission has a higher chance of success. As a mage, in particular, a Wizard, Kana was able to secure a necessary place that allowed her access to information outside what her people would normally be able to access, as long as she was seen as part of the heroic group that ended a terrible crisis. Any attempts to divine into the chambers after Kana became the headmistress would prove to be to her advantage.
Per usual, when she was in private, Kana was in a bathrobe that showed off her sexy figure, she would prefer to go nude but this worked better for meeting unplanned visitors to her chambers. She witnessed the moment Nilhord and Althana had an unintentional interaction, she also knew her special magical detection system had registered an unfamiliar burst of magic during the short moment of contact. A careful scan of the magic surrounding both of them told her that some sort of additional magic was on Althana and was barely noticeable to any system or individual beyond her setup and was slowly growing.
Kana decided to monitor the dark elf a bit more closely, she needed to confirm if this was what she had waited and prepared for, that could take days or weeks for confirmation, confirmation on one meant confirmation on the other. Kana could think of a few ways to accelerate confirmation, but she wanted to be sure she wasn’t tipping her hand to the wrong person, doing so could prove far more problematic than needed. She needed confirmation, this was around the time the next one would emerge. Assuming one of the nations performed the ritual for marking someone as the hero in the foreseeable future, if she didn’t have confirmation as to who the new Dark Lord was before then, she would be in an annoying position.
One of the changes Kana had made was high-ranking students, and senior faculty, had their rooms contained in enchanted crystals, various accomplishments meant the “rooms” would be more like chambers in some cases. Nilhord and Althana both had rooms that were more like multi-room chambers, Nilhord’s was considerably larger. All the crystals for the rooms were kept in a special chamber and only those with the proper authorizations could access the rooms within the crystals. But this was a privilege afforded to accomplished individuals and thos of interest to Kana herself, of which Nilhord and Althana were both among, for considerably different reasons.
What Happens Next?
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Mystic Marks
Rise of the New Dark Master
It seems that in almost every era, a figure known as the Dark Lord or Demon King, or some other intimidating title rises to power, only for someone with the title of Hero to rise up and best them and end their reign of terror; but nobody seems to care about the circumstance around their rise to power, just the circumstance that happen during and after their rise to power. In a World of Magic and Mystery, there exist magical disciplines that are no longer in practice, one such art is Tattoo Magic. Tattoo Magic, also known as "Ink Arts" and "Mark Magic" is a lost discipline with only a few practices of the art surviving to the modern era; the ritual to mark the hero is one such surviving practice. A secret follower of the traditions around the rise of the "Dark Master" as most "civilized" peoples have come to call them has been told the next Dark Master in the cycle will wield the power of the lost art of Tattoo Magic.
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- Naked, Nude, Tattoo, Crotch Tattoo, Pubic Tattoo, Elf, Dark Elf, Dragon Man, Anthropomorphic, Anthro, Fox Girl, Big Breasts, Huge Breasts, Bathrobe, Magic, Furry, Cat Girl, Sex, Small Breasts, Big Penis, Unusual Penis, Titty Fuck, Paizuri, Ass Expansion, Breast Expansion, Transformation, Wolf Girl
Updated on Jul 27, 2023
by dracone
Created on Feb 28, 2022
by dracone
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