Merlin Etherium
Merlin Etherium was one of the founders of the Great Academy of Human Magic and one of the creators of conjuration magic. He is known as the father of human arcane magic as well as the concept of a Conjurer or bard.
He will always be part of the group that allowed humanity its salvation from a life under the yoke of the elves. A hero feared for his power, both by allies and enemies, shrouded in mystery, and whose origin is more linked to the elves than one might expect.
Merlin was one of the many orphans who emerged after the Human Insurrection at the beginning of the War of a Thousand Years. The Elves annihilated the resistance, not without receiving a great blow. As a preventive measure against another uprising, they gave shelter to the surviving orphans who were young enough not to pose a threat and divided them into three projects aimed at the study of the human race. These were: the Etherium Academy, the Mejorav Project, and the Khalom Ideary. Evidently, Merlin was one of the orphans who ended up in the Etherium Academy, where they experimented with the limits of human capability.
Within the organization, there were four individuals in charge, three of whom have been omitted from human history due to the atrocities committed against the orphans, among them Shimon Etherium. The fourth person in charge was the teacher of Merlin and Galago, among many other orphans, Dara Irime, who took them in as elven students, although she occasionally experimented on them to understand what it was that love they were capable of feeling.
In the following excerpt written by Lucian Escribano, the type of relationship they had during their time at the Academy is clearly illustrated.
Extract from "Chronicles of Merlin Eterium, the Standard-bearer of Humanity," by Luciano Escribano
Merlin had been transferred at the age of 6, and shortly after he turned fourteen, Dara Irime gathered all the students to tell them she had one last spell to show them. She arranged for them to meet in the forest outside the village, with provisions for a campout lasting several weeks. This was not unusual, but the fact that it was before dawn seemed strange to everyone. When they arrived, she was already waiting for them, this time with all the velapidus she had. Normally, they chose a small group to carry some of the luggage, never the whole pack. Once everyone was present, Dara told them to levitate the luggage and mount the raptors to practice maintaining concentration. And after doing so, they set off.
When dawn broke over the treetops, they stopped in a clearing. All the students put on their backpacks, as their teacher had ordered, and then it was the turn of the pack, which, with a gesture from her, dispersed back where they had come from. Galago Etherium mentions in his memoirs that he remembers all the children smiling nervously at that moment, as if expecting an adventure; however, he feared something bad was going to happen. The sun had already risen over the younger treetops when the group found themselves in another clearing. Following their teacher’s instructions, they surrounded her in a circle, and she proceeded to hand each of her students a book, pointing out their strengths and where they should improve. She gave Galago Etherium a book on astrology titled The Secret of the Constellations and said to him, "Pay attention to this spell, big man, maybe then you’ll stop looking at the stars so much." The last person she gave a book to was Merlin, who looked at her scared, since there were two books, two diaries, one of Dara’s sister and the other of Merlin’s younger sister. "I hope you don’t lose your sister in your war," said his teacher, confirming what that diary told Merlin, that she was alive.
The students, now frightened and upset, began to ask what was happening, but their teacher silenced them with a shout, and warned them not to leave their positions no matter what they saw, as the spell required it. She had drawn circles of ether around her students. She went on to order them to pay attention, as the spell she was about to use was forbidden to be taught to humans. With a snap from Dara, the sun went out, and the stars shone more intensely, like on moonless nights. Then she performed the spell and as she did, a constellation was forged in the sky: the stars linked together, drawing a figure in the sky. According to Galago Etherium, it was the constellation of Simha the goddess of love. The more sensitive students began to feel disturbances of ether in the distance, as if several people were casting spells far away. The constellation finished forming at the same time Dara finished her conjuration, then one last connection formed between the strongest star of the constellation and her, illuminating the ground with a soft white light. Each of the circles in which the students stood began to glow with various colors, as if all the stars in the sky had donated a part of their color to create multicolored stars at their feet. All except for Dara’s. "Carry the name Eterium with pride," she told them smiling. Without giving them time to understand what was happening, Dara Irime cast what is believed to be her last spell, Stellar Pathfinder, a rapid transport spell that was the main reason for the superiority of the elves over other races. There was an intense flash and then the students found themselves alone in a sphere of light. In a few minutes, they appeared outside a cave, in a much cooler and more humid climate than where they had been. They had crossed half of Etherios in very little time. A few months later, they found a human village that informed them of the massacre of Mejorav, of the hybrids between elves and humans, and how they had escaped. To ensure that something similar would not happen again, the elves executed most of the orphans from the Etherium Academy and the Khalom Ideary. Among those executed was an elf whose name was erased from The Memory. Over the years it was confirmed that this elf was Dara Irime.
To understand arcane magic, a touch of creativity is needed. And no, I do not mean merely being able to visualize oneself, to create something that does not exist, but also to break down the concept of the spell itself into one's own phrases, rhymes that urge oneself to create that which is impossible. We all start from the same ideal spell, but making it your own and unique is what makes a Conjurer... authentic.
He will always be part of the group that allowed humanity its salvation from a life under the yoke of the elves. A hero feared for his power, both by allies and enemies, shrouded in mystery, and whose origin is more linked to the elves than one might expect.
Personal History
Merlin was one of the many orphans who emerged after the Human Insurrection at the beginning of the War of a Thousand Years. The Elves annihilated the resistance, not without receiving a great blow. As a preventive measure against another uprising, they gave shelter to the surviving orphans who were young enough not to pose a threat and divided them into three projects aimed at the study of the human race. These were: the Etherium Academy, the Mejorav Project, and the Khalom Ideary. Evidently, Merlin was one of the orphans who ended up in the Etherium Academy, where they experimented with the limits of human capability.
Within the organization, there were four individuals in charge, three of whom have been omitted from human history due to the atrocities committed against the orphans, among them Shimon Etherium. The fourth person in charge was the teacher of Merlin and Galago, among many other orphans, Dara Irime, who took them in as elven students, although she occasionally experimented on them to understand what it was that love they were capable of feeling.
In the following excerpt written by Lucian Escribano, the type of relationship they had during their time at the Academy is clearly illustrated.
Extract from "Chronicles of Merlin Eterium, the Standard-bearer of Humanity," by Luciano Escribano
(...) I was perplexed. Without any hint of doubt, she decapitated that velapidus we had spent so much time with, the very second it threatened us with its gaze. The raptor fell to the ground, spewing blood while its heart still beat. Its beautiful golden and white feathers, which we had spent so much time cleaning and caressing, both us and her, turned pink, then red... and finally dark crimson.
Several of the children screamed, and the other velapidus, seeing their matriarch fall, quickly bowed, reaffirming their submission to the true matriarch. Without realizing it, I found myself on my knees, tearing up. "How was she able to act without hesitation?" Dara, with hurried strides but never losing her elegant posture, hastened to stand before me. She crouched down and extended her hand. Instantly, I felt the ether around me, enveloping and caressing me, as if patting my body quickly but carefully. I raised my gaze to meet hers, and she furrowed her brow.
— You’re not hurt... — she sighed in that way we knew was a sigh of relief, but that to any human would have sounded like a snap of annoyance. — why are you crying?
— Ah... — I opened my mouth without thinking of what to say. I knew she had protected me. Once a velapidus, especially a matriarch, defies its master, it will never be loyal again... But still, she didn’t even give it time to finish contemplating that idea. — I... — Before I could finish the word, she stood up, impatient. She was frustrated by not understanding what we felt.
— If I hadn’t killed it, the idea would have spread to the others. You are children, who knows what they would have done if I had let my guard down for a second. — She hastened to say. Maybe she was incapable of sympathizing with us, but after so many years, she had begun to understand our incomprehensible, at least to elves, sensitivity.
— But... even so... — I noticed her growing impatience as I tried to collect my thoughts and convey whatever it was I was thinking at that moment, unable to lift my eyes from her now blood-stained white boots. — Velapidus take days to rebel once they become defiant... None have attacked before three days... There could have...
— Too risky — She cut off my attempt to justify some mercy for that creature we had come to love as part of our class. — The examples we have are based on elves, and I assure you none of them were children. I couldn’t take the risk. — She explained with a certain weariness, as if she knew I already knew the answer. Like explaining to a child why they are doing something, knowing it is foolish.
I furrowed my brow, feeling powerless — Understood... — I responded, feeling defeated. I looked up again; I never liked to lose, so back then, my way of maintaining my pride was to look my opponent in the eyes after admitting defeat. She knew this since I only ever lost to her.
Seeing her gaze, unchanged by what had happened, even satisfied that I understood, a treacherous thought invaded my mind. "What if... What if I thought of rebelling? Would she... Would she kill me just as easily?" Suddenly, a fear invaded my soul. "Elves are not capable of love," then something worse than fear overwhelmed me... "What if... after killing me, her expression remained the same as it is now?" An overwhelming pain tried to escape my eyes, and I held it back in the worst way possible, letting out a sob while my eyes welled up with tears. Maybe she could never love me, but that never stopped me from loving her.
She furrowed her brow for a second, and as if she had perceived my thought, all the features of her face softened. She immediately turned her back to me and looked at the dead raptor on the ground.
— That's all for today — she said in a quieter voice than usual. — Go bathe in the river, so you dirty the bathwater.
"Yes, ma’am," the rest of the children said. The situation had made me forget about them. Some were sobbing while others tried to console them, despite their red eyes from crying. I got up carefully and left in silence. She didn’t move. I had seen that expression on her face and heard that tone in the past when she spoke of her sister, whom she lost in the war against the dragons. "Of course... that doesn’t mean they can’t feel pain".
While we washed in the river, I thought about what it meant to feel pain without love, it was unimaginable to me. I always thought elves were stronger because they couldn’t feel love. If I hadn’t loved my parents... my siblings... maybe I wouldn’t spend half my nights crying. I thought elves didn’t cry. But to think that one could feel the pain of losing a brother, without the memory of the love felt for him... A warm pain ran through my body. I curled up and drowned my tears in the river.
That was the first time I felt proud to be human. And the first time I pitied an elf. Although my dear Írime would be the first and the last.
Several of the children screamed, and the other velapidus, seeing their matriarch fall, quickly bowed, reaffirming their submission to the true matriarch. Without realizing it, I found myself on my knees, tearing up. "How was she able to act without hesitation?" Dara, with hurried strides but never losing her elegant posture, hastened to stand before me. She crouched down and extended her hand. Instantly, I felt the ether around me, enveloping and caressing me, as if patting my body quickly but carefully. I raised my gaze to meet hers, and she furrowed her brow.
— You’re not hurt... — she sighed in that way we knew was a sigh of relief, but that to any human would have sounded like a snap of annoyance. — why are you crying?
— Ah... — I opened my mouth without thinking of what to say. I knew she had protected me. Once a velapidus, especially a matriarch, defies its master, it will never be loyal again... But still, she didn’t even give it time to finish contemplating that idea. — I... — Before I could finish the word, she stood up, impatient. She was frustrated by not understanding what we felt.
— If I hadn’t killed it, the idea would have spread to the others. You are children, who knows what they would have done if I had let my guard down for a second. — She hastened to say. Maybe she was incapable of sympathizing with us, but after so many years, she had begun to understand our incomprehensible, at least to elves, sensitivity.
— But... even so... — I noticed her growing impatience as I tried to collect my thoughts and convey whatever it was I was thinking at that moment, unable to lift my eyes from her now blood-stained white boots. — Velapidus take days to rebel once they become defiant... None have attacked before three days... There could have...
— Too risky — She cut off my attempt to justify some mercy for that creature we had come to love as part of our class. — The examples we have are based on elves, and I assure you none of them were children. I couldn’t take the risk. — She explained with a certain weariness, as if she knew I already knew the answer. Like explaining to a child why they are doing something, knowing it is foolish.
I furrowed my brow, feeling powerless — Understood... — I responded, feeling defeated. I looked up again; I never liked to lose, so back then, my way of maintaining my pride was to look my opponent in the eyes after admitting defeat. She knew this since I only ever lost to her.
Seeing her gaze, unchanged by what had happened, even satisfied that I understood, a treacherous thought invaded my mind. "What if... What if I thought of rebelling? Would she... Would she kill me just as easily?" Suddenly, a fear invaded my soul. "Elves are not capable of love," then something worse than fear overwhelmed me... "What if... after killing me, her expression remained the same as it is now?" An overwhelming pain tried to escape my eyes, and I held it back in the worst way possible, letting out a sob while my eyes welled up with tears. Maybe she could never love me, but that never stopped me from loving her.
She furrowed her brow for a second, and as if she had perceived my thought, all the features of her face softened. She immediately turned her back to me and looked at the dead raptor on the ground.
— That's all for today — she said in a quieter voice than usual. — Go bathe in the river, so you dirty the bathwater.
"Yes, ma’am," the rest of the children said. The situation had made me forget about them. Some were sobbing while others tried to console them, despite their red eyes from crying. I got up carefully and left in silence. She didn’t move. I had seen that expression on her face and heard that tone in the past when she spoke of her sister, whom she lost in the war against the dragons. "Of course... that doesn’t mean they can’t feel pain".
While we washed in the river, I thought about what it meant to feel pain without love, it was unimaginable to me. I always thought elves were stronger because they couldn’t feel love. If I hadn’t loved my parents... my siblings... maybe I wouldn’t spend half my nights crying. I thought elves didn’t cry. But to think that one could feel the pain of losing a brother, without the memory of the love felt for him... A warm pain ran through my body. I curled up and drowned my tears in the river.
That was the first time I felt proud to be human. And the first time I pitied an elf. Although my dear Írime would be the first and the last.
Dara’s Last Class
Merlin had been transferred at the age of 6, and shortly after he turned fourteen, Dara Irime gathered all the students to tell them she had one last spell to show them. She arranged for them to meet in the forest outside the village, with provisions for a campout lasting several weeks. This was not unusual, but the fact that it was before dawn seemed strange to everyone. When they arrived, she was already waiting for them, this time with all the velapidus she had. Normally, they chose a small group to carry some of the luggage, never the whole pack. Once everyone was present, Dara told them to levitate the luggage and mount the raptors to practice maintaining concentration. And after doing so, they set off.
When dawn broke over the treetops, they stopped in a clearing. All the students put on their backpacks, as their teacher had ordered, and then it was the turn of the pack, which, with a gesture from her, dispersed back where they had come from. Galago Etherium mentions in his memoirs that he remembers all the children smiling nervously at that moment, as if expecting an adventure; however, he feared something bad was going to happen. The sun had already risen over the younger treetops when the group found themselves in another clearing. Following their teacher’s instructions, they surrounded her in a circle, and she proceeded to hand each of her students a book, pointing out their strengths and where they should improve. She gave Galago Etherium a book on astrology titled The Secret of the Constellations and said to him, "Pay attention to this spell, big man, maybe then you’ll stop looking at the stars so much." The last person she gave a book to was Merlin, who looked at her scared, since there were two books, two diaries, one of Dara’s sister and the other of Merlin’s younger sister. "I hope you don’t lose your sister in your war," said his teacher, confirming what that diary told Merlin, that she was alive.
The students, now frightened and upset, began to ask what was happening, but their teacher silenced them with a shout, and warned them not to leave their positions no matter what they saw, as the spell required it. She had drawn circles of ether around her students. She went on to order them to pay attention, as the spell she was about to use was forbidden to be taught to humans. With a snap from Dara, the sun went out, and the stars shone more intensely, like on moonless nights. Then she performed the spell and as she did, a constellation was forged in the sky: the stars linked together, drawing a figure in the sky. According to Galago Etherium, it was the constellation of Simha the goddess of love. The more sensitive students began to feel disturbances of ether in the distance, as if several people were casting spells far away. The constellation finished forming at the same time Dara finished her conjuration, then one last connection formed between the strongest star of the constellation and her, illuminating the ground with a soft white light. Each of the circles in which the students stood began to glow with various colors, as if all the stars in the sky had donated a part of their color to create multicolored stars at their feet. All except for Dara’s. "Carry the name Eterium with pride," she told them smiling. Without giving them time to understand what was happening, Dara Irime cast what is believed to be her last spell, Stellar Pathfinder, a rapid transport spell that was the main reason for the superiority of the elves over other races. There was an intense flash and then the students found themselves alone in a sphere of light. In a few minutes, they appeared outside a cave, in a much cooler and more humid climate than where they had been. They had crossed half of Etherios in very little time. A few months later, they found a human village that informed them of the massacre of Mejorav, of the hybrids between elves and humans, and how they had escaped. To ensure that something similar would not happen again, the elves executed most of the orphans from the Etherium Academy and the Khalom Ideary. Among those executed was an elf whose name was erased from The Memory. Over the years it was confirmed that this elf was Dara Irime.
I don’t know if she ever understood love, but that day I understood that she feared for our future and that losing us would bring her pain. If there was one thing I later appreciated about that incident, it was that I learned two things that day: that the elves would not stop even before children, and that they were capable of feeling fear. And fear... I would make sure they felt as long as I lived.
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