Spoiler:
When I first stepped through the gates of Ken-Ark I came to realize that studying magic wasn’t perhaps the worst choice in my life. Saying I’m a magician would be inaccurate; I’m a thaumologist myself though more on that matter later, my name is Fallon Osborne by the way.
For those of you who grew under the rock for the past century Ken-Ark is the biggest magic academy on the continent, probably the only one as well unless there are some buried under the ground in one of those legendary giant caverns that lead into the abyss, either way nobody is coming to study in THAT place so it doesn’t matter if there are other academies down there. It is the temple of knowledge, built for studying knowledge and worshipping it.
I didn’t quite expect Ken-Ark to be as big as it was. When I went up the mountain road towards the academy I went past a small village, Varus Gate, a typical unremarkable Lumian village that didn’t seem to get many visitors. After a short break at Varus Gate I went on with my journey, the road seemed deserted and not a single soul could be found on it. How big was my surprise when behind one of the mountain curves Ken-Ark has appeared; the first thing that I noticed was a giant tower with a hawk statue built into the mountain slope , the whole academy was built around it. It was made out of many high and thin towers reaching for the sky with their blue tiled roofs, circling the main tower. They were linked with countless bridges and walkways, alcoves and terraces, all suspended in the air high above the ground. Another big tower stood apart from the rest on the other side of the academy, watching over the abyss below it. It was a whole city in its own right. Below it I could also see many small houses and a final outer wall surrounding them all, that was Arkhold.
The road led me to a gatehouse built into the mountain-side. A few bored Lumian guards stood at the entrance, staring blankly at the road where I stood.
“Pardon me warrior, why is this road so deserted for such a big place?” I asked.
“Ahh there’s a much better road further down the mountain that leads to Arkhold, as well as the big airship port, see that tower over there?” he pointed at the big lone tower at the edge of the city.
I quickly came to realize that the “guide” that showed me the way to Varus Gate was an idiot, and such a bastard above all, his “guidance” cost me almost half an airship’s ticket . I knew he was an idiot regardless because I didn’t even have money for a quarter of a ship’s ticket, I told him that the exchange rate for Odelian coins was bigger and left him with half a dozen of silver coins, I guess stupidity works both ways. I am a proud Odelian by heart and mind by the way, have I told you this already?
And so finally I’ve reached Ken-Ark. The road I took connected to the main one that led to the gate. Countless people walked towards (or out of) the gate, most of them wore colorful and elegant robes, decorated with colorful and complex ornaments. What really stood out in their outfit was the hat – it was as high as the wearer’s head, though the front of the hat was significantly lower than the back, making the flat, triangle-shaped top lean forwards. It was colored and ornate to fit the robe of the wearer.
I entered the crowd and headed for the gate. The large main gate was closed with two giant metal doors, decorated just as fancily as the robes of the people in the crowd. Two smaller gates in the side of the wall were open though. The crowd split into two streams, those who wore robes all went to the right gate while what was left of the crowd went towards the left one. I assumed the right side was probably the entrance for the academy mages and turned towards the left gate. At the gate stood three mages, each wearing blue ornate robes and hats, one of them with a pointy nose and really small glasses stood near the entrance and repeatedly said one word with a commanding voice: “Documents”, “Documents”.
“I said DOCUMENTS …” he looked at me with a judgmental look.
“ah yes yes just a second”, I dived into my bag and quickly took out an invitation.
The mage opened it and after verifying its contents he gave it back to me, “You may enter, DOCUMENTS !”.
I entered the gateway and went down the corridor until it met up with the main gate and the crowds that came through it. The gateway corridor led to a set of wide stairs. I walked up the stairs until I was out in the sunlight again, before me stood Ken-Ark in all its glory.
It is hard to understand how big the towers in Ken-Ark are until you see them from up-close. From the lower streets where I stood it was impossible to see the peaks of the towers, they seemed to go upwards forever. As it turned out not all towers stood on the same levels, some of them began much higher on one of the higher platforms. There were four of them overall though from the bottom platform I could only see the edge of the first one. They stood on each other like the layers of a wedding cake with the eagle tower at the center. As for the walls of those towers and platforms, well … you know already, ornaments EVERYWHERE. It was also pleasant to see that the streets were filled with greenery and gardens.
My observation of the city was rudely (and suddenly) interrupted by a sharp crumbling noise, followed by small pieces of rubble that began to fall around me. I looked up into the sky to discover a giant chuck of a tower quickly falling towards me. Shocked by this new development I couldn’t even step aside. The section crushed in a terrifying bang scattering rubble all over the plaza. The dust settled down and in front of me stood a man with a bald had, excluding the small patches of messy hair he had around the sides. The man just stood there, probably as surprised as I was, holding what seemed like a broken bottleneck. I couldn’t even think about asking him how on earth he survived that fall (A little mystery I didn’t solve to this day), I just stood there in front of him and he stood in front of me, sort of an awkward situation.
The man, understanding the whole awkwardness of staring into another man for one whole minute, decided to break the awkward silence, “Pitts, Koldin Pitts, alchemist, at your service” he said with a small bow.
“Osborne Fallon, likewise” I said with a forced smile.
“May I invite you for some tea at 6 o’clock this evening?”
“Sure why not?” (I wondered why not indeed …).
“Then please come to my apartment at west-4-15, you won’t miss it” he said after giving a quick look at what was left of his “apartment” and walked away, as if nothing happened. If I weren’t stunned at that moment I would have probably declined, considering the… earlier events.
That event was probably why when I first stepped through the gates of Ken-Ark I came to realize that studying magic wasn’t the worst choice of my life, studying it in Ken-Ark took that title. It was like an omen sent from the skies straight down on my unsuspecting self, “Fallon, you are highly advised by all the gods in heaven to turn back on your tracks”, and I knew it … and I didn’t listen to it, I wonder what implications could THAT bring me ...
For those of you who grew under the rock for the past century Ken-Ark is the biggest magic academy on the continent, probably the only one as well unless there are some buried under the ground in one of those legendary giant caverns that lead into the abyss, either way nobody is coming to study in THAT place so it doesn’t matter if there are other academies down there. It is the temple of knowledge, built for studying knowledge and worshipping it.
I didn’t quite expect Ken-Ark to be as big as it was. When I went up the mountain road towards the academy I went past a small village, Varus Gate, a typical unremarkable Lumian village that didn’t seem to get many visitors. After a short break at Varus Gate I went on with my journey, the road seemed deserted and not a single soul could be found on it. How big was my surprise when behind one of the mountain curves Ken-Ark has appeared; the first thing that I noticed was a giant tower with a hawk statue built into the mountain slope , the whole academy was built around it. It was made out of many high and thin towers reaching for the sky with their blue tiled roofs, circling the main tower. They were linked with countless bridges and walkways, alcoves and terraces, all suspended in the air high above the ground. Another big tower stood apart from the rest on the other side of the academy, watching over the abyss below it. It was a whole city in its own right. Below it I could also see many small houses and a final outer wall surrounding them all, that was Arkhold.
The road led me to a gatehouse built into the mountain-side. A few bored Lumian guards stood at the entrance, staring blankly at the road where I stood.
“Pardon me warrior, why is this road so deserted for such a big place?” I asked.
“Ahh there’s a much better road further down the mountain that leads to Arkhold, as well as the big airship port, see that tower over there?” he pointed at the big lone tower at the edge of the city.
I quickly came to realize that the “guide” that showed me the way to Varus Gate was an idiot, and such a bastard above all, his “guidance” cost me almost half an airship’s ticket . I knew he was an idiot regardless because I didn’t even have money for a quarter of a ship’s ticket, I told him that the exchange rate for Odelian coins was bigger and left him with half a dozen of silver coins, I guess stupidity works both ways. I am a proud Odelian by heart and mind by the way, have I told you this already?
And so finally I’ve reached Ken-Ark. The road I took connected to the main one that led to the gate. Countless people walked towards (or out of) the gate, most of them wore colorful and elegant robes, decorated with colorful and complex ornaments. What really stood out in their outfit was the hat – it was as high as the wearer’s head, though the front of the hat was significantly lower than the back, making the flat, triangle-shaped top lean forwards. It was colored and ornate to fit the robe of the wearer.
I entered the crowd and headed for the gate. The large main gate was closed with two giant metal doors, decorated just as fancily as the robes of the people in the crowd. Two smaller gates in the side of the wall were open though. The crowd split into two streams, those who wore robes all went to the right gate while what was left of the crowd went towards the left one. I assumed the right side was probably the entrance for the academy mages and turned towards the left gate. At the gate stood three mages, each wearing blue ornate robes and hats, one of them with a pointy nose and really small glasses stood near the entrance and repeatedly said one word with a commanding voice: “Documents”, “Documents”.
“I said DOCUMENTS …” he looked at me with a judgmental look.
“ah yes yes just a second”, I dived into my bag and quickly took out an invitation.
The mage opened it and after verifying its contents he gave it back to me, “You may enter, DOCUMENTS !”.
I entered the gateway and went down the corridor until it met up with the main gate and the crowds that came through it. The gateway corridor led to a set of wide stairs. I walked up the stairs until I was out in the sunlight again, before me stood Ken-Ark in all its glory.
It is hard to understand how big the towers in Ken-Ark are until you see them from up-close. From the lower streets where I stood it was impossible to see the peaks of the towers, they seemed to go upwards forever. As it turned out not all towers stood on the same levels, some of them began much higher on one of the higher platforms. There were four of them overall though from the bottom platform I could only see the edge of the first one. They stood on each other like the layers of a wedding cake with the eagle tower at the center. As for the walls of those towers and platforms, well … you know already, ornaments EVERYWHERE. It was also pleasant to see that the streets were filled with greenery and gardens.
My observation of the city was rudely (and suddenly) interrupted by a sharp crumbling noise, followed by small pieces of rubble that began to fall around me. I looked up into the sky to discover a giant chuck of a tower quickly falling towards me. Shocked by this new development I couldn’t even step aside. The section crushed in a terrifying bang scattering rubble all over the plaza. The dust settled down and in front of me stood a man with a bald had, excluding the small patches of messy hair he had around the sides. The man just stood there, probably as surprised as I was, holding what seemed like a broken bottleneck. I couldn’t even think about asking him how on earth he survived that fall (A little mystery I didn’t solve to this day), I just stood there in front of him and he stood in front of me, sort of an awkward situation.
The man, understanding the whole awkwardness of staring into another man for one whole minute, decided to break the awkward silence, “Pitts, Koldin Pitts, alchemist, at your service” he said with a small bow.
“Osborne Fallon, likewise” I said with a forced smile.
“May I invite you for some tea at 6 o’clock this evening?”
“Sure why not?” (I wondered why not indeed …).
“Then please come to my apartment at west-4-15, you won’t miss it” he said after giving a quick look at what was left of his “apartment” and walked away, as if nothing happened. If I weren’t stunned at that moment I would have probably declined, considering the… earlier events.
That event was probably why when I first stepped through the gates of Ken-Ark I came to realize that studying magic wasn’t the worst choice of my life, studying it in Ken-Ark took that title. It was like an omen sent from the skies straight down on my unsuspecting self, “Fallon, you are highly advised by all the gods in heaven to turn back on your tracks”, and I knew it … and I didn’t listen to it, I wonder what implications could THAT bring me ...
). As for the content itself it seems like you have no probs with it right ?