Legacy of the Dark Sage

"The Ancient Magic is magic that composed this world," Stella started.

"Without any of these magic, the world will not be able to function properly."

A frown immediately crossed Kyran's face. He said, "Are you telling me that the world is not functioning properly now that draconic magic is no longer here?"

"Good question," Stella said with a smile. "Don't worry, while there are no Regis members today who can use draconic magic, it doesn't mean it's gone."

Kyran noticed how Stella said 'Regis' and not mages. He wanted to ask more questions about it but stopped and let Stella continue with her narration first.

"Go on."

With a small nod of acknowledgement, Stella continued. "As I said earlier, there are four ancient magic; Void, Time, Soul and Draconic. These four are very powerful that only selected humans could wield. To be precise, only those who had a certain body constitution present in a human could wield it."

Stella's expression turned solemn. "These body constitutions are only present to four old families. The Ashton, Tower, Winfrey, and last the Regis."

"Wait. What?"

"Why? Your family has been around for such a long time-."

"No. Not that. What I meant is, you... You're not going to tell me that your family is... Tower?"

Stella paused and raised both her brows, "Didn't I tell you? I did say it when I made an oath."

"Well, those guys kept on calling you Lord of the Tower, and I just thought it's because you lived in this.. tower, or that because you're the 'Lord' of the Tower of Conclave."

Stella chuckled, "I guess it is confusing. But yes, I am from the Tower Family. Sometimes, a female Tower will be born with the right affinity with Time Magic."

"So all Time mages are female."

"Correct. Just as how all Draconic mages are all males."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. It is just how it is," Stella replied with a slight shrug.

Kyran sighed, he was not convinced of her answer, but he could not possibly insist on it if she didn't know.

'I'll figure it out eventually,' he decided.

"I'm surprised. I thought you'd be more interested in the fact that there were only four families who could have ancient magic."

"You did say 'not anyone can use it' earlier. And there's also your statement, 'no Regis can use draconic magic today'."

"You really have a good memory," Stella praised.

"Please don't patronize me. You just said those things a while ago. If I don't remember them, then that would be a problem."

Stella chuckled. "You're right."

"Go ahead. Sorry for interrupting."

"Not at all," Stella replied. "As I was saying. Although I said these families could birth someone who could wield ancient magic, it is still rare. An example of this is the Ashton Family. In its long family history, only one was able to use their ancient magic. And you already know that person; he was your predecessor."

"Ashton?" Kyran frowned slightly. He was about to say that he did not remember being related to an Ashton but suddenly thought of his mother.

His mother was not a Regis but part of the Ada Clan, and they might be the ones related to the Ashton Family.

"Yes. The first Void Master was from the Ashton Family. However, the Ashtons were killed after the era of Chaos Reign."

"But not all."

"Yes. Not all. Some may have survived, and after a long time, finally, here you are. Then there's one special case, the Regis Family. Because one needs to have a bond Dragon to use draconic magic, only one Regis was able to use it."

Kyran nodded and said, "The Regis ancestor. Grandfather told me."

"Oh. Did you know about that? I did not expect Uncle Aron would tell you that."

'Uncle?' Kyran could not help but feel a little awkward hearing someone else call his grandfather 'uncle'.

"Does he have a reason not to tell me?"

"Not really," Stella replied with a shake of her head. "Do you have any particular question you want to ask?"

"You answered most, and I'll leave the rest for next time," Kyran answered and looked at the book in his hand.

A thought came to him, and he turned the book to the page where he saw the drawn runes of the four ancient magic.

Just as earlier, he could only recognize the rune for Void, which puzzled him a bit.

"How come I can recognize the Void rune, but I can't read the rest of the book?" He wondered out loud.

"I'm not sure myself but, when I read that book, I can read it because I could see the runic language of time magic. I recognize that it is the runic language of time and just used my magic sense to understand them fully."

"So you are aware of the runic language of time magic. That's why you can master your magic to this extent. If I learned the void's runic language using this book, will I be able to master my magic faster?" Kyran asked and looked at Stella.

Stella smiled mysteriously and shook her head, "I didn't master time magic by learning its runic language. Nolan probably told you how mages needed to learn it and use calculations to form arrays, right?"

"Yes. Then how are you able to use your magic well?"

"We have ancient magic, Kyran. Don't try to do what normal mages would do in learning your magic."

"What do you mean?"

"I understand now why Nolan skipped teaching you how to use magic sense. He probably planned to teach you differently. To answer your question, ancient magic is powerful in every sense of the word. A mage's level does not bind it. We do not need arrays to control and restrain it. It is pure magic."

"Nolan did say something similar," Kyran said as he remembered his 'first lesson' with him.

"As expected. Another thing you need to know about ancient magic is it will grow more powerful every time you use it. And most of all, the more it is passed down from one user to another, the level it reached with each user will be accumulated and passed down to the next."

"Let me check if I understand what you meant. Are you saying that since my predecessor, the Void Master, was able to reach a higher level of mastery with void magic, then my default magic level is at the same level he was at?"

Stella grinned, "Yes. That's correct."

Kyran let out a soft groan and started rubbing his temples with one hand while propping his elbow on the table.

'Isn't the hurdle too high?' He thought in concern.

"What's wrong?" Stella asked after seeing Kyran's expression. "Why are you not happy? As long as you learn more on how to use your magic, you'll be able to compete with almost any level of mages."

"I can't even control it properly. If my magic is already that high, then how long do you think it would take me to do so?" Kyran replied.

"Well, that's..." Stella fell silent.

She was a little disappointed with his reaction.

Kyran looked at the books about magic piled on the side of the table.

He was tempted to start learning more about magic, but it was not his priority at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Kyran straightened his back and reached for the book about the Ylfaen Empire's history.

Yes. He should focus on learning about all the factions within the empire first. Since his magic was already too powerful, he could only wait for Nolan's guidance on what he should learn first.

Stella let out a soft sigh as she watched Kyran started to read. It seemed their conversation ended. And in her opinion, it ended too abruptly and in a not so good tone.

She understood his concern about his magic, but she also knew he was capable of learning fast. It would only be a matter of time- which she could provide- before he could master the use of void.

'I guess he'd be happier to know about it if he isn't feeling the pressure about saving his clan at the moment,' Stella thought and pondered how to help him better.

After a few minutes, Kyran seemed to have forgotten Stella's presence as he turned the book's pages. He would also take notes from time to time and write on the map he laid on the table.

"I'll bring you something to eat," Stella finally said.

The suggestion was not random. She actually remembered they had not eaten any breakfast.

Kyran was even worse since he had not eaten for a few days. Though the potion he had taken nourishes his body, eating a real meal was different.

"Hm. Thanks," Kyran replied without looking at her nor stopping from what he was doing.

Stella could not help but pursed her lips, but she did not say anything and stood up. She glanced at Kyran one last time before finally going down the stairs.