Hikari shifted in her seat, half bored out of her skull. The last couple of weeks had been hell. Curse Polca for signing her up for this! That bitch of a mage should have warned her, or something. Every waking moment was packed with lessons and drills. Practical magic involved practicing spells until her mana pool ran dry, and her channels ached. Then it would move right into physical drills until her muscles felt like jelly.
When she wasn’t drilling, she was stuck in classes with a quiz at the end of the day. If she failed, Claudia would give her private lessons. The mere thought of those sent a shudder down her spine and reminded her of the many sleepless nights that followed with private lessons. Hikari was fully aware that she still had more than a month of this waiting ahead of her. She gripped her pen rather tightly; she definitely had words for Polca over this. Now what kind of hell could she damn the half-elf into?
At the moment, she was stuck in class. Claudia wasn’t teaching at the moment; it was some other professor with a voice that droned. A computer would have made a more interesting teacher.
“Alright class, turn to page 1701, Chapter 117, Planar Theory. We will get into how that relates to our previous topic on another date. Now the planes. We live in the Mortal plane, part of the Materium. That brings me to discuss the types of planes. There are two major distinctions in planes, and two minor distinctions. Most of the studied planes are all part of the Materium; in other words, they are Material Planes. One of the two major distinctions of plane type, the other kind are the immaterial. In Chapter One Seventeen, we shall focus on the planes of the immaterium.
“Like the Material Planes, the planes of the Immaterial can be divided into both major and minor planes. One of the most well-known of the Immaterial planes is the Spirit World, which is far more studied than the other most famous plane of the Immaterial, the Abyss. Other known planes are the Nether, which is a reflection of the Material Plane of Hell. Then there is Paradisia, which as you might guess, is a reflection of Celestia, another material plane. That brings me to a major rule of Planar theory: the immaterial reflects the Material; most planes of the immaterial are a reflection of the corresponding Material plane. The only known exception to this rule is the Abyss. If there is a material plane connected to the Abyss, it remains undiscovered.”
Hikari let out a sigh. Several girls had glowing crystals by their seats. In this world, one didn’t raise their hand when they had a question. Instead, they channeled mana into a crystal that sat on the tip of a rod attached to their desk. When fed mana, the crystal would glow, allowing the teacher to know. Not that it seemed to do any good. The professor kept droning on in her dull voice; she’d moved from one topic to the next so abruptly Hikari wasn’t sure how to integrate it into her notes. How exactly did Planar Theory relate to defensive wards? She had no fucking clue, and was just as lost as everyone else in this damn class. Her eyes wandered to the Professor’s desk. There were no clocks in this world, everything was done in relation to the sun. They measured its movement in the sky in terms of handspans.
One thing she very much wanted to introduce were clocks, not that she had any background in mechanical movement. Maybe magic would have an answer for her?
A sudden splash of icy cold water struck her face. Hikari sputtered and blinked as the water dripped down on her clothes, yet strangely not one drop touched her books or notes.
“Pay attention, young lady! I won’t have daydreaming in my class.”
Blinking again, she responded, “Yes ma’am!” Yet she couldn’t help wondering: When would this hell end?
Already the teacher was droning again and she rushed to take more notes. “The immaterial only reflects the material. The planes of the immaterial are not subject to the physical laws. They are without form and substance. Magic, pure and simple, is all that rules the immaterial. They may feel and look real when you project yourself into the plane, but that is merely an illusion. A tree in the spirit world isn’t like one in the real world. It may look, feel and even taste like one. But if you break a branch off the tree, the branch shall dissolve into the ether as if it never was. It is similar with the spirits who inhabit the plane. They may look like people, but they do not breathe or eat. What appears as flesh, blood and bone is actually consolidated essence. If wounded, their essence begins to dissolve into the ether much like that broken branch. “Now why don’t we get into the nature of the immaterial, and what are spirits? Along with how that connects to the material planes...”
This was going to be a long lesson wasn’t it? Thought Hikari as she worked a spell to draw the water from her clothes.
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Arlie leaned against the rail. It had been an uneventful voyage so far, and she would rather it stay that way. Water sprayed against the hull of the Iron Maid. The sun burned above, warming her skin. A gentle breeze blew through her hair, carrying with it the scent of the sea. No land was in sight, only the deep blue of the ocean, the waters gently shifting. Ahead of them a large fish leapt out of the waters. Its scales shimmering in the afternoon light, its fins spread wide to catch the air. Magic rippled off it as it arced high into the air, its maw spread wide. A bird squawked, wings beating fast but it was too late. The flying creature was swallowed and the fish vanished into the water.
Off to her left, another bird of the same type, dived into the water, vanishing beneath the waves for a moment only to reemerge seconds later with a plump fish clutched in its beak. There was a strange beauty in the sight of nature at work. If she extended her senses, she could peer below the waves where fish competed with each other for food. Larger fish would eat the smaller ones. While the little ones moved in groups. Some filtered the sands far below, others nibbled on the forest that grew from the sea floor. Others even hunted the birds that flew overhead, who in turn hunted the waters for food.
Footsteps echoed on the deck timbers behind her. “Ah, here you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
She turned to the source of the voice, to see Horon standing there, holding her sword. “You could have dropped it off at my cabin. It’s not like I’d need it.”
“Perhaps, but I wanted to chat as well.” He handed it over. “The onboard smithy is pretty good. The local master let me use some of it while maintaining your blade.”
She took her sword, Skylord’s Wrath from him and hung it on her belt. “No doubt he had some things to say about my blade.”
“Sure did, he said it was a real honor to see such a rare blade. Told me it was priceless.”
She nodded. It was definitely that, her mind recalled what Aunt Ria told her about this sword, “It’s been passed from mother to daughter within our line for generations. Supposedly it was a gift to our family by the king of the gods. Forged by the god of the forge, and enchanted to channel lightning magic. It’s definitely a good focus for Lightning magic, but I can’t say I’ve had much use for a sword.”
Horon opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.
A shout from the observer’s nest was followed by several alarms and more shouts. “Black flags! Off the port stern! Closing fast!”
The klaxons rang immediately after that shout. Someone shouted over a wind speaker, “All hands to their stations! Batten down the hatches!”
“Furl the sails! Bring mana engines to full!” A pause, “Noncombatants to your cabins!”
Arlie ignored that while the crew was rushing to their stations. Horon joined the rush, and she focused on the port stern. Peering out over the sea to notice a large vessel closing. It was hard to say how big, but it was already large and growing larger with every passing moment. Nearby crewmen and women were preparing the ballistae. Marines rushing to man the smaller bolt throwers on the rails. She imagined similar scenes were taking place below decks as the hull-mounted Enchanted Ballistae on the two decks below were being loaded, and their armored port holes opened so that the weapons could be used in a broadside.
Behind her one of the Mystic Ballistae began to turn, the armored shield shifting with it. No surprise there, with the call for battlestations. A marine drew close, she was dressed in leather armor reinforced with light weight scales and enchanted not just with warding spells but also several additional ones for weight reduction, ease of movement, and a couple more. In her hands, she held a rather rare weapon, well rare outside of the navy. It was an enchanted crossbow with a repeating mechanism and a six bolt magazine.
The woman spoke, her tone stern, “Sorry Princess but we can’t have you on the deck. Come with me.”
That was her only warning before she was forcibly escorted off the deck. Arlie did notice the crew arming the bolt throwers. A bolt would be locked into place, then mana channeled into the runes. Operation for the larger caliber ones below decks would be much the same. Wide bowed Ballistae weren’t used very much on naval ships, instead they used rune powered enchanted ballistae which were easier to mount on ships. The most common form involved using lightning runes to take advantage of the typical construction for a modern enchanted bolt. When those runes discharge upon the release being pulled, the bolt will accelerate propelled by the secondary properties of the lightning element. The same ones that would pull two metals together, in other words, magnetism.
The marine pulled her through the doorway into the aft castle and then up the stairs to the bridge. Sailors and soldiers were quite busy when they came through the rear door of the bridge. Arlie took in the helm at the front of the bridge with a large wheel, a mystic display and several other controls which allowed a single helmsman a great deal of control over the speed and heading of the ship. There was also a comm stone that was linked to key areas of the ship like the engine room. More mystic displays covered the walls, giving them a full 360 degree view of everything around the ship. Armored viewports behind the displays could be opened if the magical viewers were broken, ensuring they won’t lose awareness.
“Captain, I’ve brought one errant princess, as requested.”
The captain turned and pointed to a seat, “Sit there and don’t go wandering off.”
Arlie blinked, “...Um, yes, ma’am.”
As she sat down, the ship with the black flags began to signal. Arlie was no expert but she’d read a few things about communication at sea. When vessels are fairly close, wind runes were often used to enhance voices so they could effectively shout across the sea at each other. Something similar was done aboard ship so that the crew could communicate more efficiently. However those wind runes were only effective up to a certain range of about three hundred meters, beyond that? They did squat, any voice would be lost to the wind. That left ships with signalling, which involved colored flags, the angle and color of the flags denoted meaning, there was an entire language around it, but Arlie couldn’t read it if her life depended on it. She’d never studied it.
A crewman whose name she’d never caught turned from the display. “They are demanding that we heave to and prepare to be boarded.”
Captain Fae scoffed, “Really? Under whose authority?”
“Sealord Ocari.”
Arlie spoke up, “Who’s that?”
Fae gave a quick order and replied, “She’s a wanted pirate. Sealord Ocari is believed to hail from the Isles of Beryl. The Beryl Queendom has officially declared her a rogue, but we have reason to believe she’s actually a sanctioned pirate. Her ship, the Black Princess, is too well armed and maintained for a mere rogue and she exclusively attacks merchant vessels from the Kingdom of Kamisoli. A bit unusual that she’d try to attack the Iron Maid though. We are better armed than her usual prey.”
“I see,” replied Arlie.
Fae turned to the battle, just as a report came in, “Target acquired, ma’am!”
A grin showed on her face, “Excellent, time to give them our answer. Fire!!!”
The Mystic Ballistae, glowing with magical energy, unleashed a stream of elemental fire and lightning. The entwined magic lanced out across the space between them. Four beams of magical energy slammed into the sea, bracketing the Black Princess. Water exploded in steam and mist, rocking the pirate vessel but doing no damage.
The Black Princess changed her angle of approach a second later. Her five pairs of Mystic Balistae glowed with energy before they unleashed in turn. Arlie felt the ship rock, the wards flaring, while she spent a moment taking in the Black Princess, now that she was closer. The other ship was a frigate as well. Slightly longer than the Iron Maid, but sleeker with a narrower, flatter hull. She had five pairs of Mystic ballistae, but only a single bolt thrower deck compared to the Iron Maid’s two. Arlie wasn’t sure which ship would hold the advantage in a fight; she didn’t know enough about the two ships to say for sure.