The Hidden World

“I haven’t asked for your name yet,” Yuki said as she followed the man out of the shrine. “What are you called?”

“I like your phrasing,” the man replied, not skipping a step. “I am called Brother Jericho. I run operations here.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Brother Jericho.”

He said nothing in return and continued navigating the underground caves. They returned to the central cavern where he took another route that led them down a small incline. Gradually, Yuki began to hear sounds echoing in the cave, bouncing off of the rock walls. The further they went, the louder the echoes became.

At the end of the tunnel was another cavern. There were around twenty people from what Yuki could see crowded inside that were conversing with each other in hushed tones. Many of them wore cloaks that obscured their faces, making it almost impossible to see details with the dim lighting the area. 

When Brother Jericho stepped in, the conversation ceased and a path was cleared out to let them into the center of the room. Yuki followed the Brother, Akira sticking closely to her. The other two that were with them melded with the crowd.

“Brothers and sisters,” Jericho said, “I’m glad to see that you have made it here. I know that this was rather abrupt and that you might have been pulled out of something very important. For that, I apologise, but this gathering is of utmost importance.

“Yesterday, you were all informed about the passing of our leader and the Archmage of Earth, Sophie. For now, she is no longer with us. This gathering is meant to address the vacancy in leadership her passing has created. As you know, she had not designated a successor while she was here before her disappearance. I’m sure many of you are concerned about this and about who will fill her seat. However, I am pleased to announce that the archmage has not left us with nothing.”

Murmurs spread throughout the room at Jericho’s words.

“During her time gone, she was not sitting around lazily,” he said. “She was searching. Searching for that person who can take on her responsibilities. I’m sure that she would have come back personally to announce her successor had she been given the chance to. But now, it will be my responsibility to do that.”

He turned towards Yuki and gestured toward her with his arms. Yuki straightened up her posture a bit more and stepped closer to Jericho.

“This is Sophie’s successor,” he said. “I’m sure you can all see the mark that signifies this. I’ll let her introduce herself.”

He gave Yuki a nod before stepping back to give her the spotlight.

“Hello,” Yuki greeted, not missing a beat, “my name is Yuki. It is a pleasure to meet all of you today. I’m sure most of you do not recognize me. I am not a member of the Dragons of Gaea. Because of this, I’m sure that many of you have doubts and questions. I’m here today to try and ease some of those doubts and answer some of those questions.”

“On that topic,” Jericho said, “Does anyone have any inquiries that they want answered right now?”

Yuki waited patiently as the crowd whispered with each other. She knew that the questions would be coming. There was no way none of them were at least curious.

“If I may,” a female voice spoke up from the crowd. “I have to ask the lady how she met the archmage.”

“I met her in a forest where she was living a solitary life,” Yuki replied. “We conversed and she tested me before deciding to take me under her wing.”

“Do you know how she passed?” a man asked.

“I am not certain on that,” Yuki said with a shake of her head. “After a while, we parted ways. During that time, she passed and now here I am.”

“Where do you hail from?” another person asked.

“I am not from anywhere you might know,” Yuki replied.”But my origin isn’t very important compared to my ability.”

“If you don’t mind me saying,” a person said, “you don’t quite look like an earth dragon.”

“I know,” Yuki nodded. “That will become clear later on, so hold on to that thought. Is there anything else?”

There was silence in response. Yuki waited a bit longer to see if anyone would come up with anything before turning to Brother Jericho.

“If no one has anything else to say, then let’s begin with easing your doubts,” he said. “I know many of you here are quite powerful. Some of you were even taught by the archmage. So now you are wondering why it wasn’t you who was chosen. That’s why Yuki here will be accepting any challenges by those of you who are confident in your abilities. 

“The rules are simple. You can only use earth magic and physical combat is prohibited. We are a fellowship of mages, remember. Not fighters.”

‘They don’t practice that?’ Yuki thought. That was surprising. She knew that Sophie was adept at physical combat. But it made sense as Sophie never tried to teach her how to fight with weapons and fists. ‘I always thought that she was just focused on teaching me magic because of my situation.’

“Are there any problems with the rules laid out?” Brother Jericho asked, directing his question to Yuki.

“None,” Yuki replied with a shake of her head.

‘Akira, I’ll try and go solo for this. If I need your help, then I’ll tell you,’ she said.

[Alright. Have fun.]

“If you have no problems with this arrangement, then let me ask all of you,” Jericho said. He looked at the crowd around them. “Which one of you will be stepping up? If none of you come out, then by default, that means you approve of this lady and she will be the next archmage.”

Silence. The hooded figures shuffled around, some of them turning to each other as they waited to see who would be the one to step forward. Yuki waited as well, her eyes being drawn toward one person in particular who was staring straight at her. She met the person’s gaze and they stared at each other for a moment.

Then the person pushed their way forward, sliding the hood off of his head. He had hazel eyes and dark brown hair that was cut short. The cloak he wore hid his physique from Yuki.

“I will,” he said, his voice full of confidence. 

“Brother Garret. I’ve heard good things about you,” Jericho said. “Please, stand there. Everyone else, stand back a bit. I will be erecting a barrier for the match. Yuki, can you stand opposite of him?”

“Of course,” she said, going to where he pointed at. “Count us off.”

“I will. Are both of you ready?” Jericho asked. 

“I am,” Garret replied.

“Yes,” Yuki said.

“Then you have ten seconds to gather information before you engage,” Jericho said. “Starting now.”

Yuki activated her eyes, changing them to her dragon ones with a blink. The room brightened considerably as she looked over her opponent. He had only one attribute from what Yuki could see. His mana capacity was quite high, judging from his brightness.

‘But can he control it well,’ she thought.

The man stared back, his pupils becoming slits. Then he frowned as if he had noticed something odd. Yuki smiled at him, knowing that he just saw her affinities. 

‘Don’t worry. I’ll only use earth. I promise.’

“Begin,” Jericho said.

They moved at the same time, Garret sweeping his leg back as he summoned stones from the ground while Yuki only snapped her fingers. With a punch, Garret shot the stones at Yuki at a blinding speed, almost too fast for the naked eye to see. 

Yuki could see them though. She made a slashing motion with her arm and the rocks stopped midair. Garret frowned as he pushed harder and harder, trying to force the stones forward, but they stayed in place.

“What is this?” he muttered.

“You won’t get far if you do not look,” Yuki said with a smile. “It’s rather simple.”

She curled her fingers before closing her fist, the stones becoming pulverized into dust as she did. Then, with a wave of her other hand, she gathered the dust.

“Come.”

Garret complied, flinging more stones toward her. The dust Yuki gathered fanned out on her command and created a net that caught the stones midair. Stone after stone was caught before Garret realised that none were ever going to get through. 

He began to change tactics, summoning pillars from the ground to surround Yuki, runes engraved into them. Yuki broke them before they even had a chance to become set. She recognized what he was going to do. Sophie had taught her the same trick. 

‘You won’t be sealing me,’ she thought. ‘Though, he is quite good. His speed is impressive.’

“A good try,” she said out loud. “Let me show you something that Sophie taught me. Maybe you can recognize it.”

Sweeping her arms, Yuki took the stones that Garret had conveniently made for her and began pressing them together to form a humanoid shape. Garret tried to take advantage of Yuki’s focus, summoning more pillars which Yuki promptly broke without breaking her attention for a second. 

The stones melded together like balls of clay as Yuki shaped them carefully. Then she crafted a stone ball where she engraved runes into that she pushed into the stone doll she made. 

“Rise,” she commanded, mana reverberating in her voice.

The stone golem responded, standing up on its own as the core in its chest began to glow. It stood at attention waiting for Yuki’s command. The entire process took her five seconds.

“Attack him,” Yuki said. 

The golem obeyed, marching toward Garret with heavy steps. If Yuki couldn’t fight physically, she would just get others to do it for her.

But before the golem can begin to battle, Jericho interrupted, chaining the golem up with stone shackles. 

“I think we’ve seen enough,” Jericho said. He looked at Yuki, respect in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. “You truly are the student of the archmage. Would you mind telling your golem to stand down?”

“Of course,” Yuki replied. She waved her hand and the golem collapsed to the ground. “Are you satisfied?”

“I am. And I think everyone here saw the same thing as I did, right?” he asked, turning to the crowd. “Surely you did Brother Garret.”

“Yes. That was the archmage’s specialty, wasn’t it. Golems,” Garret said. He had a disgruntled look on his face. “As much as it pains me, I do believe that she was trained by the archmage.”

“Exactly. I’ve witnessed the archmage do the same thing this lady has done so many times. I can say without a doubt that they looked almost identical. She taught you well.”

“She did,” Yuki smiled.

“Does anyone have something they want to say?” Jericho said.

There was no reply, only shakes of the head. 

“Then I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we recognize you as the next in line for the seat of Archmage of the Earth,” he said to Yuki. He bowed to her, the others in the crowd doing the same. “We look forward to your leadership, Archmage.”