The Velrahn Empire was founded millenia ago when the first mages harnessed the elemental planes to cast fury upon their oppressors. From slaves; the 5 great families rose together and conquered kingdom after kingdom until metal and stone became water under their boots. Now centuries later the 5 families have become 3 dukedomes and the royal family that led them to victory. One of those great families, our great family, has fallen from grace.
"I know." Alexander interjects his mother for the thousandth time, "I've heard this repeatedly since I was 4, by every tutor and especially from Father. Please Mother. I'm in the middle of something."
Violet Vi Terande, his mother, sorrowfully looks into his eyes. It's been eight years since his disgrace at the capital mage ceremony. He has grown into a fine young man sharing her silver hair and his fathers dark brown eyes. He has excelled in all manner of study and even swordsmanship but without magic he is nothing in the eyes of nobility. Her grey eyes tremble and water, and tears stream down her beautiful face.
"Mother please, i'm sorry. I know the expectations of the house. I promise I will uphold them. This is how I do that." Alexander gently touches his mothers shoulder keeping a light distance. He is dressed in a run down suit and a white alchemist's coat, one that was passed down by his father but his tone body can barely squeeze into. And although they may be poor his mother easily graces each room in her subdued dress. Their clothes might not be garnished with jewels or pleats but they make up for it with beauty.
"You know I have always believed in you." Violet stutters through her sobs, "Your magic.. it- it is something. You are not cursed. You are my strong man now and you will overcome this." She pats his head and continues on about the history of the Terandes. How they fought with sword and then magic, bending water, wind and earth to create storms in the great war. How they steadily lost power with each generation and finally now forced to till fields and create business through their ancestral knowledge. The house of Vi Terande, Baron Wine suited for Kings. Alexander could only scoff as the thought passed his mind. Even with all they made, the gold went to his people and books.
Books that furthered his experiments. Not all magic research has been in the aquisition of mastery of mage circles. From Novice to Arcane Mage, each circle denotes your mastery of your element. Alexander however chose to spend his time studying alchemy, using magical principles to bend natural phenomena and materials. Through that Alexander discovered something. Several somethings.
One an experiment he is running right now.
A quartz crystal and it's interior shape allows for the flow of magic to naturally express itself. Using those properties he has used his family as batteries for certain experiments. His mother being one. She has light mastery over water magic as a second circle Adept Mage. She can bend water with minimal effort and knows several spells. Although she dropped out of the Academy due to finances she was remarkably talented. That was why she was hear talking his head off.
"Alright, Mother. Please expell mana into this crystal." Alexander places the crystal into a metal aparatus with long metal strings and tubes attatched to a flask two feet away. Although their are plenty of devices that use other crystals as direct expression. This would show that quartz can express further from itself.
"What exactly is this for?" Violet questions the experiment. One Alexander failed to fully explain.
He gets excited for a moment and quickly explains. "If I am right this tubing and wire's i've created should act as a conduit for magic to flow to another place. A way to express magic without needing a circle. So if you could?" He gestures to the crystal.
Violet simply expells raw water mana into the crystal and watch as the quartz begins to glow. After several minutes of Alexander jotting down notes, two droplets come out of the wiring and fill less than a centimeter of the flask.
"Success! Thank you mother." He quickly hugs her and kisses her on her forehead. "You were a great help."
Violet gets flustered from the sudden affection, "I guess this must be really good.. I-I'll talk to you later son." She quickly leaves. Alexander was never one to show affection.
Alexander grabs the crystal and begins to poor his raw mana into the crystal. It glows at almost a 32ndth of the light of his mothers. His circleless magic is barely enough for alchemy and not for real magic, but with his wide knowledge base and time has given him exactly what he needs. Alexander never gave up. Those looks of dissapointment became fuel, especially from the emperor and empress. They shared his eyes and call it arrogance but he wasn't going to stay in a place for them to look down on him.
The crystal doesn't have enough energy and neither do I. It will take me a few hours to rest and charge it regularly. Then. Then I can figure out what this magic truly is. If only I had the polished crystals that the royal family has. Than I wouldn't have needed to find this so painstackingly.
After a few hours, the crystal began to glow more and more violet, until the edges of the crystal seem to bend in his vision. He places the crystal on the aparatus, with engraved runes and formulas draw into the metal- A common alchemical technique.
He took out his notepad to watch as the magic poured out from the crystal. Each second and minute he marked down the reception of his magic and the raw mana pouring through wiring and tubes. When the mana hit the flask, the same bending affect hit the edges of the flask... and then nothing.
"What happened?" Alexander looks at the machine. The crystal is empty. The wires aren't damaged and nothing is in the flask. No visible changes. Sure water would be expressed and if it was fire it would be visible and even light and darkness he could see something. He tested wind with his Father and put a scale to measure any changes in weight.
He reaches for the flask and it clicks. His hand or the flask bends around. The space around it seems to bend the light. As he reaches for it the clear flask seems to dissapear as his hand passes through it. It's edges are visible but at the same time doesn't exist.
"What is this? The basis of natural phenomena is breaking." Alexander smiles. He grabs his head and runs his fingers through his silver hair. A chuckle escapes his lips. Then a demented broken laugh.
"Disgraced! Hahah Disgraced they said. This is why you don't listen to ingrates. Morons. Absolute dunce rocks. If I listened to them. Hahaha." Alexander begins to talk to himself and curses out not only the royal family but every noble that took away business deals and marriage proposals. Every noble that looked down on his family.
They will see. Just a month from the Academy and my research has brought fruit. Eight years i've sat with this slight. Soon they will not only know my name but power.