Jolthic entered the Grand Hall of the mage's guild, wonder filling his eyes, as his dream of becoming a mage was finally coming true. There was so much to take in. The fellow mages walking by in robes or different types of light armor. The banners and decorations covering the walls and ceilings. This place was truly a sight to behold. He was to report to his newly appointed Master, one of the best in the whole land.
As Jolthic strolled down the halls to his master's chambers, he looked back on his upbringing. Orphaned at a young age as his parents were killed by bandits, he was raised in the local orphanage with other children. This would have been a palatable environment for him to age, but his magical aptitude caused him to be socially exiled by his peers. Only with his drive and determination, was he able to overcome his struggles and be placed here at the ripe age of 18. He continued passed some other students his age and he eventually arrived at his destination. He gently knocked on the wooden door, waiting for it to swing open.
The door swung open, and inside sat a man, brown hair pulled back in a bun, light stubble gracing his face, and warm, brown eyes. He looked up from the papers he was looking over and toward Jolthic. "Jolthic, I presume?" He asked.
"Y-yes sir!" Jolthic stepped in, assuming the man caused the door to open with a telekinesis spell. Not even lifting his hand, let alone a finger. Jolthic knew he was in the presence of powerful mage. The young apprentice had bright blue eyes and dark brown hair that just barely touched his shoulders. He had on some simple initiate robes, whatever he was given when he learned of his new home.
The mage smiled. He stood form his seat and strode forward to the young man. His robes were simple in design, and yet held an importance in their appearance that spoke to the man's senior position. He held out his hand, waiting for his new apprentice to shake it. "Eridan Varness, at your service."
Jolthic stared down at his hand, still full of amazement and stupor until he snapped back to reality. "I uh... It's a pleasure to meet you sir." The apprentice shook his hand, his own not much smaller than his superior's. "I'm Jolthic. Jolthic Graydl. But sir, I believe I am at your service. This opportunity alone is enough payment for being in your service." The young man bowed.
Eridan looked amused at Jolthic's behavior. "Oh come on now, none of that. We'll be working together for quite some time, so I want you to be comfortable with my presence, not see me as someone for you to bow down to."
"Yes sir." Jolthic quickly straightened up and eased himself into a chair opposite of the older mage. "There's so many things I can ask you, but I'm sure you'd prefer me learning through experience. What shall we do now as a duo?" Jolthic just smiled and looked at the man with his baby blues.
Eridan laughed. "That's what I like to hear! Eagerness! Well, there are some ruins to the northeast of this building, in a canyon. We're going to be making a trip there, collecting artifacts, taking tracings, that sort of thing."
"Sounds good to me!" The pair left with their packs and other essentials for the trip as they made their way to the ruins. "Is there anything I should be aware or cautious of in this place? I don't want to hinder our progress or have one of us injured."
"There's not much we know about these ruins, unfortunately. The mages who reported it didn't get to see much before they had to return here with what they had from their own exhibition. They said it might be some temple to an ancient god, but that's all we have to go on."
"Fair enough. Just want to take advantage of any information I can absorb." Jolthic followed his magical partner through some forest until they came upon some eroded columns and buildings. "I assume these are the ruins?"
"Yep. Time to get going." Eridan led the way into the ruins. Walls of ancient text surrounded them, with murals etched among them. Artifacts lay upon pedestals upon shrined sitting beneath holes in the ceiling, allowing light to stream down upon the shrines.
"Wow... This is amazing... I heard how they built these places to last but this is just beyond that." The young apprentice fawned over the interesting ruins but soon realized he was lagging behind the head mage so he quickly jogged back to his side.
"Ruins of past civilizations are always so fascniating. No two are the same! Now, we should start making tracings of the carvings, and collect some of these artifacts." Eridan approached one of the shrines, carefully analyzing one of the statuettes. "Hmm... If I had to guess, I would say that this is dedicated to some sort of... Patron deity to fertility."
"Yes sir." Jolthic immediately grabbed his sketch book from his pack and began to trace the markings that Eridan had pointed out to him. He was listening to his teacher, but also was adamant about making his sketches as accurate as possible. "A fertility deity you say? Why here?"
"Who can say. Perhaps they believed this location had some significance to their deity. Perhaps they thought they were closer to their deity here. Perhaps they were persecuted, and a cave in the middle of nowhere was the safest place to practice their beliefs. Maybe we can discern this from the writings on the walls."
"Sorry, I shouldn't be so analytical. I'll continue my sketchings." Jolthic jotted down more drawings, and as he sat there on a large rock, he began to feel odd. Not like someone was watching or something was haunting him but he felt, off somehow. "Sir, do you feel... Different? Like something is affecting us?"
Eridan thought for a moment. "I... I think so..." Eridan shook his head. "Never mind that, though. We have more important things to worry about. And it's good to be analytical, you know. The more questions you ask, the more you learn." Eridan picked up one of the statuettes, tracing its shape. He brought it to Jolthic. "Look at this. I think this is made of gold. Certainly has the weight of it. I can't tell if this is a statue of a man or a woman; the figure looks so androgynous. But look at the belly on it." Eridan ran his fingers over the large belly on the statuette. "Yes, I would definitely say it's related to a... a... fertility... a fertile..." Eridan stumbled backwards before catching himself. "Gah... What was I saying?"
The young mage simply nodded with a smile at his master's encouragement. Jolthic leaned towards the statuette of the gravid figure when Eridan brought it over to him. Soon after he started talking about it, Jolthic watched his partner lose his balance and almost fall. Jolthic reached out to help but Eridan quickly recovered. "Are you alright? Did something happen?"
"I'm just feeling a little light-headed right now. It's nothing to worry about. I'm fine, I'm fine, I assure you." Eridan gave Jolthic a reassuring pat on the back. "It's just a little stifling in here is all, I'm sure. Not exactly much in the way of fresh air in a cave."