welcome to Eldritch Academy
In a world of myths and mysteries, the pinnacle of the magical academies exists. Eldritch Academy offers education to all ages and species but specializes in the study and training of one's innate mystical capabilities, often called Eldritch Energies, Powers, or Unknowns, but more formally known as their Talent. However, tensions run high with the nations only holding a fragile peace as the Talents that rival the epitomes of technology change the balance of power.
With the more recent uprising of evil Shades and introduction of combat-oriented programs into Talent-focused schools, nations grow more aggressive towards one another. The demand for resources grows, and skirmishes at the border of Arka and Mistere become more frequent. Monsters run into the nations from the Wildes, terrorizing villages and cities. The need for trained or in-training Hunters and Guardians has never been more urgent.
Of Myths and Mysteries
eldritch academy The Tea Team
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updates
FEBRUARY 20, 2019
Community Update 2.5 is out! We would like to introduce you to Student Dorm Assistants, a newly organized staff list, and best of all, an updated Academy Guide!
DATE HERE
Community Update #2 is out! We bring you a Fame/Infamy system, an organized Event/PvP system, a new Academy Guide featuring new roles and colorgroups to replace our dorm colors, along with monsters, quests, teams, shards, and more!
Perihelion [Talent Training]
Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
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[redacted]
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"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
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Nov 23, 2018 20:48:59 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Nov 23, 2018 20:48:59 GMT -6
She sets up the summoning circle robotically: a four pointed star, four touchstones. Perfect down to every last detail. It is cloudy or raining or blindingly sunny. It does not matter. She had attempted this ritual year after year, and not once has he deigned to appear. Such is the power of an archangel.
But this time, she feels a rush of aether, euphoric yet wanting, and she knows she has succeeded.
She cannot see him, for her own greed had stolen the sight from her eyes, but she senses his presence. Faint tremors where his feet have met the ground. She feels rather than sees their gazes lock.
The silence stretches, minutes feeling like centuries. He tilts his head to the side; realizes that she is asking him, wordlessly, why he has chosen to appear.
Instead of an answer, she gets only the briefest of warnings before he flings himself at her, blades aimed for her throat.
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Nov 23, 2018 21:01:01 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Nov 23, 2018 21:01:01 GMT -6
His blade hits her shield, conjured not a moment too soon. She is given half a breath before he strikes again, swift as an adder and twice as clever; his blade gleams gold and her shield is strengthened crystal, and anyone accomplished in the field of combat would realize at a glance that his daggers are too weak and her shield too brittle. But they are perfect for each other, perfect for this dance that the fates have orchestrated for them, witness to no one but themselves and the heavens. Their weapons—his daggers to her magic—lock, separate.
The rhythm repeats until day blurs into night and she loses track of how many times the sunrise spills over the trees.
They stumble more than once—sometimes it is her clutching a bleeding shoulder, other times it is him struggling against her well-aimed thorns. They would have been an even match, had they both been mortal. But he is an archangel, immortal and perfect.
He has forgotten how to bleed.
It is on this note that she considers forfeiting. An angel cannot harm one who does not wish to fight, and she has a family to return to. Her guardian is gone, but she has a ward of her own, a child who she would protect at all costs, even if it meant living the rest of her life in darkness.
He senses her hesitation, knows what she will say before she finds the air to form words.
No, he says in her mind, his voice desperate. Just a little longer. Please.
Out of all the things she expected him to say, this was not one of them. She freezes, and his blade catches her torso. Pain shoots through her, ice-hot and burning cold all at once.
The look on his face is not one of manic glee, like she might have expected, but rather of horror.
She falls, and the sun spills over the horizon for the last time.
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Dec 8, 2018 16:50:00 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Dec 8, 2018 16:50:00 GMT -6
It is the warmth that wakes her. Pleasant gold, light in darkness. She rolls over, groaning into her feather-soft pillow. Too much to wish that she dreamed it all.
With a start, she realizes that this is not her bed or her pillow or her room.
She stills, expanding her awareness by however much she can muster. Warmth, sunlight, flits across her eyelids, and she senses the sounds and smells of the forest. Someone—it sounds like—humming?
Her sunset-pink eyes blink open, and she feels her way to the edge of the cot, unseeing; all at once, she feels a debilitating pain overcome her. It is only by sheer force of will that she remains upright, feeling the fresh bandages on her torso tighten from her movements.
The humming stops, she hears the sound of something dropping, and there is her angel, knelt at the side of the cot and sobbing openly into her borrowed nightgown as she, always the stoic one, hums into his night-dark hair.
Eventually, they disentangle themselves and he goes to check the stove, bringing back a bowl to feed her as she groans in protest.
“Where am I, anyway?” she says, and he takes this opportunity to shove a spoonful of soup into her mouth, the temperature perfect despite being fresh off the stove. Of course. And she has asked a stupid question, because as soon as the words leave her mouth, she knows she is at her guardian’s cottage, jasmine candles still burning from before she left.
She opens her mouth to ask what happened, but he beats her to it, and she feels rather than sees the weight of his gaze. “I begged Kaisinel to let me visit,” he says, “And he said that if you were strong enough to defeat me or stay alive until the end of solstice week, he would give me the rest of the year. I wasn’t going to do it, but—” he pauses now, his fist clenched in anger or grief— “but he sent me down anyway, he was controlling me, and I knew he just—” he stops.
“He just wanted me dead,” she finishes softly.
He turns away, and they finish the meal in silence.
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Dec 8, 2018 20:14:06 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Dec 8, 2018 20:14:06 GMT -6
“So what do you want to do, once our year is over,” she asks, her voice absent of the lilting tone of a question. She knows that whatever he says will be a blessing and a curse, a freedom and a sentence both.
It has been months since the solstice-week, and with his help, her wound is nothing more than an aether-cauterized scar.
“Before,” he says, brushing his fingertips against her eyelids, tucking a strand of now silver-white hair behind her ear, “You tried this—geas, you called it.”
“No,” she whispers, remembering how she threw herself against the gravestone, burning in her eyes. Watching her hair turn gray as her vision darkened from the edges. Calling her guardian’s name over and over until her voice burned raw and the forest stood silent.
She steps away. “I failed. I am not risking our lives on a gamble.”
“You failed because she didn’t want to come back, not because you weren’t powerful or skilled enough,” he argues, closing the gap once more.
At her silence, he shakes his head sadly. “I have no desire to return home. I want to stay here. Kaisinel...I never wanted to serve in his legion in the first place. Better I risk my life to stay here than return.”
“I cannot guarantee your happiness. I would not wish for my body to become your cage,” she says with an air of finality. “I’m going for a walk.”
She steps into the forest, and not even the sun-drenched trees can compose her mind to ease.
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Dec 21, 2018 22:38:11 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Dec 21, 2018 22:38:11 GMT -6
She offers him another ultimatum.
“Two castings.” Beat. “The first to tether your soul to mine, the second to free you.”
She pauses, tasting the words on her tongue before she speaks. “I would perform the first spell on the winter solstice, the second on the summer solstice. That’s...six, six months in my body until I can free you.” She meets his inhumanly gold eyes, waiting for his response.
The silence stretches on for what seems like millenia, and when he breaks it, the forest seems to sigh in relief.
“I have lived for a long time,” he begins. “Longer than any angel should. If you were to fail, I want you to know that—”
And she cracks her first thousand-watt smile in as many days, rests her hands on his shoulders, says, “Performing both spells in under a year is probably the most difficult tier of magic. Few even dare to try.” Her eyes sparkle in the sunlight.
“But I am very, very good.”
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Dec 21, 2018 23:24:26 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Dec 21, 2018 23:24:26 GMT -6
Two months, two moon cycles until the winter solstice.
Two months of morning tea, dancing in the kitchen, nighttime stories, soft love songs.
And then all too soon the air turns brittle and cold, the sun disappears ever so quickly, and she finds herself shivering in the knee-deep snow, warmed only by her angel’s flickering aura. He is nervous too, then.
He leads her to a clearing, far away from their cottage and any possibility of collateral damage, and she prepares the first spell. She draws countless runes in a perfect circle, feeling rather than seeing; when she draws the final one, she feels something click into place.
They are standing within her circle of runes now, shielded from the winter by her magic and his aether; clutching his hands tight in hers, she uses him as an anchor as she shapes the chaotic magic to her purpose. She feels the energy surround them, and—
Flood.
She feels her magic rush back in, heat and power and hundreds of sensations all at once; the pair, now joined, falls to their knees, spreading aether-fires full across the clearing. Snow turns to slush turns to steam as their joining battles back the winter; night turns to day, her sunset pink eyes burn gold, she opens them, and she can see—
So she bows her head and laughs and laughs and laughs, the sound starting as a low chuckle, blossoming into something bubbling and joyous, echoing across the aether-lit forest. She feels him laughing with her, softly in the back of her mind, and their magical fires hold back the winter for just long enough.
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Dec 25, 2018 22:19:01 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Dec 25, 2018 22:19:01 GMT -6
The next six months are a vivid dream.
She remembers rushing to the town library in the middle of the night, finding it closed; using the power from their joining to unlock the heavy oak doors. Reading for the first time in years in aether-lit darkness until she is chased out, beaming all the way.
She remembers flying (she has wings now; sometimes they are those of a raven, sometimes those of a swan, and sometimes they are an unrecognizable gunmetal-gray, but none of that matters; what matters is the exhilaration, the speed, the feeling of her acrophobia lessening with each flight, the sight of the neverending forest stretching out hundreds of meters below her.
She remembers the softer moments too; bringing his cooking and her baking to a red-curtained dormitory, seeing her for the first time, laughing and crying and showing more emotion than she has in years.
And every so often she finds herself wondering, What if we stayed like this forever; what if I could spend forever with sight and wings and beauty, but she always reminds herself of her promise and his freedom.
I would not wish for my body to become your cage, she had said.
So she refuses to back down from her uncertain future, whether it be one of darkness or pain or loneliness; it is the beginning of another solstice-week and she finds herself in the same clearing where it all began, the summer heat pressing down upon her like the weight of a thousand worlds.
For the final casting, she is both the source and the guide; she gathers her resolve, prepares again for overwhelming darkness. She draws the runes once again, inverses of her winter circle, impossibly perfect. Steps into the center, and—
Agony.
Dimly, she is aware of their souls separating, the energy nearly cleaving her body in two; she is once again made a plaything of her own will, and she prays to whatever gods she can name for it to stop—
But it is her angel who answers.
Thank you for everything, he says in her mind; she feels the brush of cool lips on her burning forehead, and the burden of creating a new body is lifted as his soul vanishes into the aether.
The pain suddenly vanishes without a trace, and she is left alone in the clearing.
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Esialeth Rose
Master Scholar
GRADE •
C+ (78)
VITALITY •
1
STRENGTH •
1
SPEED •
2
RESILIENCE •
5
STAMINA •
3
|
Terraform Aetherfall
|
Half witch half human
|
[redacted]
|
"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light."
|
Dec 26, 2018 16:00:13 GMT -6
Post by Esialeth Rose on Dec 26, 2018 16:00:13 GMT -6
She cannot feel surprised.
I may have actually anticipated this, she thinks, his eyes—her eyes—burning gold in the bathroom mirror, an angel's power still coursing through her veins.
He lived his life to the fullest, even with...she shakes her head. He lived his life to the fullest. In spite of everything.
She feels a pull in the aether, feels his wings—her wings, now—rush into existence; she knows that a part of him will stay with her forever, or until she chooses to walk the Long Road at last.
It’s time I did, too.
The sun rises.
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