[A/N: First chapter of 2018! May this year be full of many updates, and a whole ton of lore. Cheers, everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter and, as always, comments, suggestions, and questions are always appreciated! Looks like I've got to write about some weddings soon

]
Chapter 11: Training Day
It had been a long night for Jed. She had spent all night in the Arvik palace, sorting out all the official papers for Bacchus’ upcoming coronation. A week had passed since the second gathering of Arvik, and what a week it had been. She’d been on meetings every day, some days having nearly back to back obligations, as well. And now, despite the fact that the sun was already creeping over the Spire, Jed was ready to crash onto her bed and call it quits. That is, until the explosions started.
At first, she thought it was just the pounding in her head. However, nothing could imitate the rattling of her windows. Despite her fatigue, she was instantly on her feet. “What the hell!” she shouted, grabbing her sword off the the nearby end table. Jed pulled a cloak around her shoulders, and ran out her door, nearly crashing into a happy-go-lucky Benged.
“Whoa!” the thief exclaimed. “What’s up, Jed? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
She chuckled. After all the years she’s spent as a Lokan, she wouldn’t have been surprised at stumbling across one. Another explosion went off somewhere near the Western Wall, and it snapped her back to reality. “Ben, what’s going on!”
He just kinda looked back at her with confused eyes. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, ‘what do you mean’? I mean the explosions! Is Auru under attack?”
“Oohhh, those!” he laughed.
“Yes those, you idiot!” Jed growled, ready to wipe the smirk off the man’s face.
Ben waved his hand and started to walk off. “Don’t worry about it, Jed.”
Jedoi yanked on one of the wings of the elytra strapped to the Master of the Skies’ back, pulling the two of them face-to-face. “What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On.” she asked, emphasizing every word. Ben’s eyes widened in fear, seeing another side of the Wolf Mother that he hadn’t seen quite often before.
He gulped, but nodded. “Follow me.”
Ben turned back towards the Spire, and waltzed down the steps that connected the Spire’s entrance roads to the road leading towards the Southern Gate. At the base of the steps, Ben placed up a hand to stop Jed, watching as groups of troops stormed past. Jed looked curiously at Ben. “Just wait, it gets better,” he shouted over more explosions.
They turned left, passing over a new set of docks that stretched out over the Aurulian Lake, past Ben’s house, under the mountain where Tee’s Tower was made, around the Aurulian sewer, and up towards the Aurulian Arena. “What’s all this?”
“New commercial infrastructure made by Iyo. He called it the Kalros Wharf, and said it could be useful for getting tradeships in and out of here.” Jed nodded, impressed that it had only taken Iyo a week to design and build this all within a week. Even with the team of architects at his disposal, it was still an impressive feat. Looking further over the Wharf, she noticed a fully fledged ship docked at it.
She pointed it out. “What’s up with the pirate ship?”
“Ah!” Ben exclaimed. “That is the almighty ‘Black Hand’. I always wanted to be a pirate, so Iyo had a trade galley designed for me. He said something along the lines of ‘good for trade, and battle ready in a pinch.’ Now I just need an eyepatch and a hook!”
Jed shook her head, a bit annoyed, but she couldn’t help but feel that Iyo and Ben were right: if Auru wanted to support a more global economy, they’d need the means of both trade and protection. Perhaps a pirate ship was exactly what they needed.
Once more, the explosions echoed through all of Auru, and forced Jed to look up towards the walls. She saw soldiers idly pacing back and forth between massive hunks of stone, steel, and wood. “What in the world…?”
Ben pulled his elytra closer around his shoulders, and pulled out a few rockets, before stepping onto the railing of the Wharf. “Need a lift?”
Jed shook her head and took out her Guardian’s Compass. She concentrated hard on the rotating needle, and found her environment shift around her. In an instance, the wooden dock changed into hard, stone brick as she found herself standing on the Aurulian wall. She heard the fizzling of a rocket, a the thief landed next to her. All along the wall, Jed noticed massive cannons and mounted ballistas peeking out over the fields surrounding Auru. Her vision focused to Dero, the new War Jarl, who was directing a large group of warriors how to fire the war machines.
“Dero...what is this?”
The War Jarl turned to see his High King, and bowed his head. “Iyo and Shadow helped me make designs for wall mounts. We wanted to run it past you first, but you haven’t been around all week…”
Jed, once again, shook her head in amazement. “No! I think it’s amazing! If we ever have another instance of the Battle of South Gate, we’ll be prepared for it. Keep it up, but please try to keep it down?”
Dero laughed. “Yes, your majesty.” He turned back to his troops. “Once more. Fire!”
The deafening blast was Jed’s cue to leave. She found Benged and, over the ringing in her ears, shouted, “where to next?”
He pointed down to the Alchemy Guild, and hopped off the wall, his leather wings catching the air beneath him. Jed once more grasped her compass, and before long, both of them had landed in front of the Alchemy Guild’s doors. Jed turned the handle, and went to push the door open, but she stopped a second. When had this been replaced? She thought, remembering back when Tee and Andy had smashed the handle to pieces, and broke into the guild to give Draekonfell potions. It seemed so long ago, and yet just like yesterday too. She could still remember Tee’s innocence, but alas the war, she noticed, had started to rip apart at that innocence. He had taken on so much responsibility since that day, mostly to take stuff off her own plate, and yet she had never even said thank you...Was it possible that he had coordinated all of this new stuff to happen around Auru? No...right?
A cough from behind her brought her back to the present. “Just gonna stand there all day?”
“No,” she said, turning the handle once more. “Sorry Ben.”
The pair stepped inside, and were greeted with the smell of cinnamon, apple, and chili peppers. After a coughing fit, they stepped through another set of doors to see several people running around in lab coats, mixing and matching random ingredients into the huge cauldrons and brewing stands set around the walls. Jed yelped a bit when an alchemist dropped a handful of nether stalk into a cauldron and it made a small popping sound, making the mixture flow over the walls of the cauldron onto the ground.
One of the alchemists looked up at her, and made a sweeping motion with her hands. “Shoo! Under Tee’s orders, we’re not allowed anyone not in proper safety gear in here! Go on, get out!”
Benged, getting the message, grabbed a shocked Jed by the wrists, and led her out of the guild. Jed’s jaw was basically on the floor, caught completely off guard. “What was that all about?”
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, everyone is in desperate need of potions for this war. Tee was trying to supply basically all the towns in the alliance by himself, and the other kings and lords realized he had been working straight for four days, without time to eat or rest. We were pretty sure the Artifact had brought him back at least once due to the lack of self care...so we all stepped in: we supplied him some members from our own guilds, that way he could take a short reprieve.”
Jed gasped. She knew her lover was committed, but damn...four days straight? She could only imagine…”Where is he, anyways?” she asked, turning back to the Thief.
“Honestly? I’m not sure, but he’s been quite some help around town. Come on, you’ve gotta see the rest of the stuff he’s orchestrated,” Ben stated, strutting towards the Architect’s Guild, in the Northern part of Auru.
Jed had to half-run just to catch up with him while his words sank in. “Wait, you mean Tee has organized all of this?”
Ben nodded. “Most of it, yeah. He met with all of the guild leaders early on in the week while you were in Garama with Mars and Macus. There, we all laid out some plans for what we could do around Auru, and get it some better infrastructure in time of war.”
“Ben, you realize that was the responsibility of a king...hell, even a High King?”
“And yet, Tee’s only a new Lord? Trust me, I know, and every other noble and guild leader recognizes it. Come on, we’re not nearly done yet, though.”
The two of them stopped in front of the Architect’s Guild, and were in awe of the rich architecture of the building. Here, the pinnacle of builders gathered and discussed various building tricks and tips for future construction around the town. Just beyond it was the Engineer’s Guild, some of the smartest people in Loka’s History: a conglomeration of the geniuses who dedicated their life to the weird, electrical ore known as Redstone. And when the two guilds worked together...what a spectacle it was. At that moment, they saw Iyo and Shadow step out of their respective guilds. “Iyo! Shadow!” Jed shouted towards them.
“Hey Jed,” Iyo called back. “Glad to see you back! Wish we could stop and chat for a bit, but Shadow and I are off to redesign Auru’s gates. They need a new gatehouse, especially if we’re to begin work on Mimiga.” He ran off without another word, Shad Knife and building materials in tow.
“Mimiga?” Jed questioned, turning back to Ben.
“Yeah, remember those underground town ruins we found quite awhile ago, called Mimiga?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“Well, the surface of Auru is getting quite cluttered as the population grows...we’ve got no more room around here, so Tee suggested we start renovating down there. It’d give us plenty of more room for storage and housing.”
“That’s a great idea! It’ll put our historians and builders to work for quite awhile!”
“I suppose…”
Jed turned back to Ben. “Where’s the ‘but’?”
“‘But’,” he started. “Tee wants you to break ground first.”
“What?” She queried. Why would he want her to start this project?
“He wants the renovation of Mimiga to be in your name: a new golden age of Auru.”
“H-he...what?” she started, tearing up.
“Come on, there’s a few more things you need to see.”
The High King and the Co-Leader of the Thief Guild walked towards the Mining Guild, where Commander Andy was out front, checking off things from a clipboard as minecarts rose from the Aurulian mines, rich with different types of ores.
“Andy!” Jed called out to the Mining Guild leader.
The man looked up, standing at attention, making a small stain on his forehead from where the quill, still ladened with ink, connected to his temple in his salute. “Your Majesty!”
“At ease, Commander.” Jed said, laughing. She still couldn’t believe she had absolute authority over people like this.
Andy brought his hand away from his forehead, and wiped away the ink with his sweaty t-shirt. “What brings you to this humble corner of Auru, Jedoi?”
“Checkin’ up on things. What are you guys doing here?”
“Well, Tee asked us to try and double our output. He said that, if something were to go wrong, he wants to make sure that the Town Generator is full of power shards, and we have a few in reserve, in case all else fails. Plus, the War Guild needs the materials for their weapons and armors, and the Enchanters in the mages guild need the lapis for enchanting stuff. I don’t really understand magic, but I’m more than happy to oblige.”
“Smart, but you guys have got to be overworking pretty hard…”
“You can say that again,” he lamented. “But honestly, I don’t mind. Tee has made our mining guild feel like we have a purpose, even if we can’t directly fight in the war!”
Ben piped in. “He’s been trying to promote moral in all the guilds. Activity is one thing, but you can’t have a stable city, win or lose the war, if your people aren’t with you.”
“How is he…”
“These ideas of his are near inhuman.” Ben finished up. He waved a hand to Andy, and walked off, towards the next guild. “Keep up the good work, man. I can assure you it’s doing us all some good.”
“Right, what he said!” Jed shouted, walking off with the thief once more. “Where to now?”
“Questing guild. Poor Elion has been over-burdened by all these new people. But hey, at least it’s getting us some interdimensional materials.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well like, there’s a constant need for Blaze Powder in the Alchemy Guild...so, that’s what the new people who have all the time in the world on their hands are doing. We were gonna ask the Mining Guild to do that kind of resource gathering, but we figured shard count and ore production was more important.”
“Right...no need to overly split our time and resources…”
They passed by the two inns for new recruits, and the Questing Guild. Sure enough, the line for the Questing Guild was out the door. Jed looked between the guild and Ben, then shook her head. “I’ll relieve Elion of her duty later, but I think she can handle it for a bit longer,” she said, smirking.
“Fair enough.”
They walked further South, behind Nollo’s, Dero’s, and Bambi’s houses, and stepping off the cobblestone path for a more worn out, grass walkway. This lead into a small workshop surrounded by trees.
“This lumbermill has been constantly working.”
“Really?” Jed exclaimed. “Why?”
“Well,” Ben started. “The architects need to get their wood materials somehow, right?”
“Aye, I suppose.”
“We also figured they’d be draining our supplies when they started on Mimiga.”
“That makes sense…”
Ben looked at Jed, and saw a worried look crawl across her face.
“What’s up, Jed?”
“We’ve taken a trip around all of Auru, basically, save for the Mages Guild, the Cultivating Guild, and the War Guild..”
“Yeah, and?”
“Where’s Tee?”
“I don’t know, probably sleeping? Like I said, he hadn’t slept for four days straight, maybe even more than that.”
Jed shook her head, and began to pace. “With explosions like that just outside his window? No, I don’t care how tired you are, but there’s no way you’ll be able to sleep...”
“Well, I’ve got nothing else for y-”
Jed noticed Ben stopped. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Well...nevermind, it probably doesn’t matter.”
“Ben, what is it?”
“Nothing! Don’t worry about it.”
Jed drew Wolf Rallier’s Blade and place it in between them. “Ben, where is my boyfriend?”
The Master of the Skies gulped. “He said something about feeling inadequate on the battlefield. My best guess is that he’s been spending his days either on the battlefield, or working himself to the bone at the war guild.”
“He’s going to burn himself out like that!”
“What do you mean?”
“His magic could kill him! It’s been speculated for quite some time, but every person has a set amount of magical energy: mana if you will; however, if you use it all up too quickly, and try to use magic afterwards, it starts using your own blood as fuel.”
“And, I’m assuming that’s detrimental to your health.”
“It’s lethal, Ben.”
“But wouldn’t the Artifact just bring him back?”
“I don’t know,” she started. “And I’d rather not find out.”
***
It was bad enough that he felt like he couldn’t breathe, or that his head was pounding, let alone that Tee could swear that the Man in Chains was leaning up against the War Guild near him. Tee no long had the energy to hold himself up straight enough to efficiently swing his sword against the stationary training target that stood before him. For the past few days, he’d been working endlessly to try and figure out how to be somewhat decent with a blade: Arcanus Oblivio wouldn’t just work on it’s own all the time, and being a tactician meant on the battlefield if he couldn’t execute his own orders.
He looked over to the Man in Chains. Were they even his own orders at this point? Sure, the thoughts that circulated Auru right now were truly ingenious! Defending the town with cannons and ballistas? Upping production on the farms and in the farms? Getting an excess of war supplies for the War Guild? All great ideas, but where were they truly coming from?
The Man cleared his throat, and forced Tee to look up at him. “What do you want?” Tee snarled.
“What’s with the hostility? I’m just here to help you.”
“Bullshit,” Tee spat. “You have a deeper motive than just ‘helping me’.”
“Well, obviously,” the Man said, straightening up and walking closer to Tee. “Because one day, you’ll release me from my chains, and all of Loka as you know it will be gone. The least I could do is make sure that you survive until that day.” He smiled, then pointed at the training dummy. “Now come on, you’re not even close to done. You’ve still got several hours of training before you can rest.”
“Rest, heh, I wish. With you floating around in my head, I can barely close my eyes.”
“Is that so? Well, I wish I could say I’m sorry, but you were the one who let me in.”
“I just want you to leave me alone…”
“No can do, Tee,” he laughed. “Now come on, let’s see what that Sunstone can truly do.”
Once more, the Man tapped on the training dummy, and Tee shook his head. Despite how much he might have despised the shadowy Man, he couldn’t help but feel that he was right. If Tee was to be of any use to Auru or Asmund as a whole, he’d have to push himself to his limits, and if that meant a magical burnout, then so be it.
Tee grabbed his Sunstone Staff, pointed it forward, towards the training dummy, and let out a strong incantation that spilt forth flames and fried the thing to bits. The flames forced themselves past the dummy, and incinerated most of the War Guilds’ training grounds. Tee kept up the constant stream of flames, until he heard a familiar female voice call out his name from behind him. In his concentration, he couldn’t place the voice to a name, that is, until the bearer of the voice knocked the air out of him, and his magic vanished in an instant. Tee fell to his knees, and began to lose consciousness.
“Welcome home, Jed…” was the last thing he muttered.
***
Jed and Ben turned the corner to the training grounds to see a brilliant display of fire. Jed watched in awe as blue and black flames danced wildly forward, snaking up the Aurulian Wall, the colors of the fire seemingly in a battle for dominance. She was getting sucked into the spectacle, under her eyes settled on the source of the flames, Tee Alduin, burning himself alive.
“Tee!” she shouted, running into the direct line of fire, and throwing her arms around him. His skin was boiling hot, and it scorched her arms, but she didn’t care. The force of impact shoved him forward, and his flames and magic faltered before he truly burnt himself out. He was slipping out of consciousness, but Jed held onto him.
Jed turned back towards Ben. “Quick! Get someone from the Alchemy Guild! Someone there’s got to know what to do!”
Ben shook his head. “Tee’s the only one who knows his way around brewing a potion!”
Damn it, she thought. What else can bring down his temperature? Ice maybe? A thought popped into her head, and once more she turned towards Benger. “Go into my house, and grab Iskaldolke from my wall. It’s a blade of enchanted ice, maybe that can help out.”
Ben nodded, and ran off. Jed looked back down to the young wizard, beginning to hear him mutted. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”
“Welcome home, Jed,” he said, smiling weakly.
“You’re going to get yourself killed doing stunts like that.”
“I’ve got no choice, Jed…”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Never mind. How was Bacchus?”
Jed laughed, and Ben returned with Iskaldolke. “Thanks, Ben,” she said, as she grasped her enchanted blade. It wasn’t often that she used Iskaldolke, but she knew that the magic inside of the blade made of Everfrost Ice was useful in very specific situations. She just hoped this was one of them.
She pointed the blade down towards Tee’s chest. He looked up at her, gave a slight nod, and slowly closed his eyes. She muttered a short spell, and the ice along the blade glimmered, freezing the air around it. After enough frost had built up, there was a shattering sound, and a stream of snow and ice shot towards Tee’s chest, encasing his body from head to toe. The flames of Tee’s cloak seemed to float around the ice, trying to make sure Tee didn’t get too cold to catch hypothermia. All in all, Jed saw the color slowly return to Tee’s skin, and his breathing seemed to return to normal. As the ice cleared, she placed a hand on his forehead: although his skin was a bit clammy, at least it wasn’t boiling hot anymore. She noticed he was softly snoring, and heartily laughed. She turned to Ben, and gave him her thanks.
“Tell Dero to stop shooting those damn cannons. It’s time for the two of us to get some rest. “
Ben nodded, and ran off. Jed placed a hand beneath Tee’s knees and his shoulder and carried him back towards the Spire. She debated going towards his Wizard Tower, but figured he could stay at her place for the time being. She wanted to make sure he actually got some rest, and didn’t run off again.
She struggled to get him upstairs into her bed, but when she finally did, she watched as he peacefully slept, his hands neatly folded on his chest. She lay beside him, and just rested her chin on her hand, and her elbow on the pillow. Listening to his light snoring slowly lulled her to sleep as well. She placed a kissed on his forehead, saying “get some good rest, Tee.” She put her head on his shoulder, and was out like a light.
***
For the first time in a long time, Tee slept soundly. He dreamt about sledding with Jedoi once again, and this time the Man in Chains wasn’t meddling in his affairs. He complained that the dream was too short, but he definitely felt well rested when he finally woke up.
Opening his eyes, he realized he wasn’t staring at his own roof. He was going to start panicking, but felt a soft weight on his shoulders. Looking over he noticed that Jed was sound asleep beside him. He smiled, and slowly moved her head onto a pillow, standing up. As he shifted his cloak, making his way out the door, Jed called out to him. “Tee, come back to bed. There’s no need to do anything today.”
“But Jed…”
“You’ve done more than enough for this week: hell, you’ve taken on the responsibilities of a King, and yet you’re only a Lord. That’s worthy enough for some rest.”
“Jed, I could never be a King…”
“And why’s that,” she asked, rolling over and looking at him.
“Well, I don’t own any land, I’ve got no money to my name, no army to call my own...what kind of King would I be?”
“Tee, those aren’t the only things that make a King.”
“Oh?”
“You have the respect of the people of Auru, and you have my trust. I want you to be my King.”
“Wait, what? Are you asking me to marry you?”
She laughed. “What? No! Tee, Auru is typically lead by four Kings.” Jed explained, sitting up. “Technically the positions are held by Shadow, Benged, Xovious, and Ajaxan...and although we haven’t seen Ajaxan in years, he was still able to keep the position since Xovious and the others help the other positions well enough. However, now that Xovious is gone, that’s two Kings that are gone, and those positions need to be filled. I think you should be the next in line for it!”
Tee shook his head, “Jed, I-” he started, a tear rolling down his cheek.
“Besides, do you think I’d honestly marry Ben?”
The two of them started laughing, realizing how absurd it had sounded.
Jed looked away as she asked the question that had been pulling at her heart. “Do you want to marry me?”
“Jed...I have nothing I could offer you...besides, wouldn’t you need to keep your options open incase of a political marriage? If push comes to shove that you had to marry Skuhoo to bring peace-”
Jed held up a hand. “Please, like I’d marry Skuhoo? Tee, I love you. Politics or not, the only one I’d marry is you.”
Tee felt the heat begin to spread to his cheeks, and realized an awkward silence had settled over the room. Jed spoke up once more, “Tee, would you want to marry me?”
“Jed...yes. Jedoi Talongon-Avalos, I love you, and we haven’t been together long, but I never want to leave your side. I want to be there with you, through the eons under the Artifact. If I could have that, I couldn’t be happier.”
“Was that a marriage proposal?” she smiled.
“Y-yes? Maybe?” Tee stuttered.
“Then I most graciously accept.” Jed said, as she rolled over, and made her way to her new fiancee.
She went to embrace him, when they suddenly heard a knock on the door. Jed frowned, but the two of them, hand in hand, went to open the door. There they were shocked to see an overly hyper Bacchus Markov, High King to-be of Arvik.
“Bacchus! How did you get in to Auru?”
“Never mind that,” he shouted, waving a hand. “Where’s Falksi?”
“Uhh, in the tavern, I think,” Tee said, laughing. “Where else would she be?”
Jed grabbed Bacchus’ arm before he could run off. “Why do you need her, Bacchus?”
“Well, I’ve come to propose! I figured if I’m going to be King of Arvik, I might as well need a queen.”
“Bacchus,” Jed asked, seriously. “We’ve gone over this once before. Are you drunk?”
“Nope! Completely sober!”
Jed and Tee glared at him. “Okay, maybe I’ve had one shot of vodka…” The two Aurulians still stared out him. “Okay, maybe two! But still, I’m serious about this, I want to marry her.”
Tee turned to Jed and laughed. “Ya know, if she says yes, that’d be two royal weddings at once.”
Bacchus looked at the pair confused. “Who else is getting married?” He then looked down and saw their intertwined hands. “Oh my Crypt! It’s you guys!” He ran in and hugged the pair. “Congratulations, my dudeski’s!”
Tee and Jed laughed, then hugged Bacchus back. “Go on, Bacchus. Go find your bride-to-be,” Jed said, urging him on.
“You have our blessing, Bacchus. To the royal family of the Markhov’s!”
“I could drink to that,” Bacchus shouted. “These weddings are gonna be awesome!” With that, the man scurried off.
“Do you think she’s going to say yes?” Jed asked.
“I mean, you just did. So maybe the love is truly in the air.” Tee answered.
Jed punched him in the arm, then embraced him. “I love you.”
“And I love you too. Now then...back to bed? I was having the best dream in the world.”
Jed heartily laughed. “I’ll race you there!”