Prologue

As the modern day heir of the Seiker's line and reputation, a lot was always expected from him from both parents. This pressure has existed ever since Lorne could remember, and so far, he's held up in pretty much every single category - from his grades to his place in extracurricular activities, and socially, as well. To his parents, he was perfect, and quite a few of his peers looked up to him. 

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But above all of that, there was one person he looked up to the most, and that was his sister Mellie, who was older than him by four years. She always seemed to know leaps and bounds more than he did. In fact, he often believed that she was always a hundred steps ahead of him. Their parents hardly had their eye on her compared to him. It would be a long time before he discovered the truth. She never went on the trips that he and his father went on. But that never changed his image of her - she was the coolest person he knew.

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That all changed one day, though. One night, without any forseeable warning, Mellie disappeared from the house and never came back, leaving Lorne at 15 without an older sister. The event caused a stir for a couple of days, but after that, it seemed like his parents had just.. forgot about her. There was hardly a search conducted - his mother said that something probably happened and she died, given that she'd been messing around with some weird drugs in the past few years to try and enhance her magical ability. She'd hardly even managed a mana spark in her time home. Which was fairly normal. Mana was sparsely known of in this world at this time. Few unlocked more than a mana spark.

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That answer wasn't good enough for Lorne, though. He started digging around himself. -Asking friends, going through her old room. Anything for a lead. He needed to find Mellie - to bring her home. Unlike his parents, he wouldn't just shrug his shoulders and forget about his biggest role model as if she never existed in the first place. He searched for an entire year, until he finally found a lead. That lead's name was 'Amagla'.

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He was a shady character - something that Lorne had very little experience with. He had to buy out the information that the man had about Mellie, and even then, it was very little. But it was confirmed where she went. She went to another dimension entirely on an invitation - a forged invitation that had, as of then, been discontinued due to complaints about its authenticity. 

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But it was a lead. And Amagla provided more - at a hefty price. 

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As it turned out, the sketchy mage had been experimenting with the mechanics of teleportation that entire time, and the faulty letter trick had been completed for a much more reliable version that was practically a transportation pad set up to come and go from that world! It wasn't completely finished, though. Nevertheless, Lorne pledged that he'd be one of the first few to test it. And he was. 

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He packed his things that night and embarked to do the first 'devious' thing of his life without a word to his family, for fear that they would discourage it - it was just a quick trip, after all. He'd be back in a week, tops. 

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He was going to bring his sister back, no matter what.

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Chapter 1 - The Arrival

After getting roughed up by a Kre'nath that was still very much ill at ease from the event known as the Day of Gray Skies, which had happened a mere few weeks prior, he was sent to Ulreich. Mere minutes later, he stumbled across a half-elf girl by the name of Ophelia. Unbeknownst to him at the time, this particular girl was the first Alumni he'd meet during his time there, and she certainly wouldn't be the last. 

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Fortunately, Ophelia knew his sister personally. And in fact, she was able to lead him right to her! The reunion wasn't sweet, however. In fact, the sight of her brother threw the young woman into a rage that very nearly turned into a battle that could have costed him his life. She threw a high-ranked attack straight for him, which was only stopped by a spell from a mage that happened to be there at the time by the name of Claire. Afterward, she stormed away to leave him in shock.

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Dejected by the response to all of his labor, Lorne forfeited his goal and attempted to abandon the island to leave his sister and her newfound magical power in peace. He soon discovered, however, that this plan was impossible - Kre'nath had shut off all routes to other dimensions, leaving him essentially stuck at Ulreich University for the time being. Depressed to find this realization, Lorne moped outside for the rest of that day and the days after, and that was when he found Vajra.

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The bow called out to him in a great time of need and confusion, and although he was grasping at mere threads, the newfound bow gave him a purpose while he was there. He was an Alumni, chosen by a Relic Spirit himself. When Ophelia caught wind of this development, she was very visibly enjoyed, and on that very same day, he met a star-spattered teacher whom seemed to offer some guidance on the subject. Together, the trio scoured the island in a task to find.. something. And together, both Lorne and Ophelia's intermingled presence managed to erect an ancient tower that would soon come to be known simply as the 'Alumni Tower', standing proud upon one of the shores of the University. 

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He, Ophelia and Ambrose all entered and scaled the tower, both exploring and being taught by the teacher. It was during this expedition that they learned the 'Mana Graft' spell, and he got the chance to witness his new friend battle for and receive her Relic Gear. 

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After an eventful day, Lorne headed back to the dorm he had temporarily claimed as his own. At some time during the night, when he was fighting for sleep, that was when he decided that his situation was perhaps not so horrible after all. He was going to be stuck there for a while, after all. Why not make the most of it?

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Chapter 2 - A New Way Of Living

With that in mind, he did exactly that. Disregarding Mellie from his thoughts as much as he could, Lorne occupied his days with exploring and testing his newly found magic. It was during one of these days that he crossed paths with the second Alumni of his unavoidable magical career: That being a horribly cocky man by the name of Roran. Their friendship was doomed at the start - it began with the katana wielder decking him in the face with a water bottle. 

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Lorne ended up partaking in, and losing his first spar to Roran. Not only was he completely inexperienced at fighting during this point in time, but the fear of hurting an opponent even with a sparring suit left him aiming only at his feet: he didn't want to fight, or learn how to do so.

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And he didn't. The days that followed, Lorne occupied himself with everything but combat. At least, that was until he experienced his first class. During the original class of Show of Force, Mana Scouter and Mana Parry, Mellie caught sight of him for the first time since the incident where she had nearly run him through. Fearing for his life, she dragged him into the Practice Chamber and promptly made good on her promise to 'kill' him - via a spar, anyway. He couldn't bring himself to attack her once during the event, and was promptly beat into the ground. Thankfully, this at least seemed to release whatever misplaced anger she had for him. Afterward, realizing that she couldn't really control her brother, Mellie simply gave him two suggestions. Either he could go back home and return to his normal life - one that was cushy and practically already laid out for himself, or he could stay at Ulreich and shape up. It was reiterated very clearly that not only would she fail to associate with him until he made some effort to be useful there, but he was also a burden to everyone around him due to his ineptitude.

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Torn yet again by pressure, Lorne felt he had no choice but to choose the latter option. He began to train in earnest. Halloween passed, and soon after, Christmas did, too. Time flew by as he simply focused on keeping himself in fighting shape. It was a new way of life for him, and as such, it took him quite a long time to adjust. With time, he did. Eventually, he won his first spar against a Deception mage by the name of Valentine, and at that point, he knew that progress had inevitably been made. 

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Even just a little bit.

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Chapter 3 - Terror And A Tear

Peace rarely lasts forever, though. On the very same day that Roran decided that he was prepared to fight for his Relic Gear, an intruder was found to have taken up refuge within the Alumni Tower, and they, along with Ambrose, Ophelia, and an at the time unknown mage were attacked out of surprise. Luckily, the mage that had been brought along was able to restrain him before anyone was seriously hurt. In the end, it was discovered that this mage was a young warrior by the name of Nate, and the stow-away was a Kre'nathian fleeing from his home city for the desire to learn at Ulreich, which, at the time, was strictly forbidden. Through a bit of interrogation, the head Alumni Ophelia discovered that the man, Ishura, had killed an officer in self defense during his escape. She nearly turned him away for this fact alone, to which Ambrose corrected her with a fact that would come to haunt the group of Alumni for a long time - "We've all killed before."

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It was begrudgingly decided that Ishura could stay and train at the tower in secret. As everything calmed down, Ophelia called a meeting to discuss a newly pressing issue that affected them all. She'd discovered a break in the antimagical leylines that connected them all: A piece of their tree was slowly becoming overcome by corruption. While the gang had no idea what this would mean for them and all future Alumni, a single decision was agreed upon by all. They'd gather up who they could and set out to repair the break, which was located in Yehingsway.

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During a lengthy preparation period in which Ambrose secured a ship and everyone readied themselves, Lorne came to realize something. As this would be their first ever trip heading out into the real magical world, he was far to unfit to go. He was the only one in the trio of Alumni to have not proven himself worthy to his guardian yet. He was far too weak. 

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As Mellie had said to him many weeks before, he needed to man up or get out.

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With time having run out, Lorne decided on a whim that he'd fight Vajra to prove himself, even if it meant life or death. He could NOT be weak in Yehingsway. With Roran and Ophelia as his witnesses, he trudged to the sixth upper floor of the tower as if sentenced to execution, and finally, he met with his guardian. Vajra, the noble Stag-centaur who claimed the bow as his home.

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The fight that ensued was rough. He was not prepared, and in the end, he was very nearly ended by a stray arrow from his guardian that tore up his leg and reduced him to nothing but a scared, hunted animal. 

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But even when it looked bleak - even when the blood stained the simulated forest floor, and he could no longer think straight, he pulled through. He defeated Vajra with a flying bound, and received his gear with the rest of them. He'd made it.

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Thanks to X, hours later, the three alongside Ambrose and his small cult of followers would board a cargo ship bound to Yehingsway. Unfortunately, he was unable to find his older sister and say his goodbyes in time, so instead he wrote her a note that was left on top of the dresser in his room, with the idea that it would float around to her if he never did return so that he could at the very least explain what happened.

 

A suicide note to an older sister who may not even care.

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Chapter 4 - Coming Of Age Ceremony

It was during their time on the treacherous roads of Yehingsway that the trio of Alumni truly strengthened their bond. Camping under the neutral boughs of olive trees, staving off monsters and demons made of smoldering tar, and even finding room to joke and laugh with his very different comrades - these few days spent together would soon come to bear great significance in his memory - if not for the good of it, than most certainly of the bad.

 

Lorne, Roran, and Ophelia traveled across the foreign land with little more than the guidance of an otherworldly tug on their hearts to seek out the source of corruption that bled into their leylines, and the helpful word of Ambrose and a few native guards ordered to aid in the Prophet's journey. It was during this trek into the heart of the infection that the group stumbled across an encampment of heretics that would soon hold the name of death. Physically, mentally, and spiritually. As a man of Chronos, their leader could not stand to allow ANY disease to fester within his own land. One way or another, they were to dispatch these heretics before moving on. 

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And so, a reluctant Lorne marched straight into the pit of death. If not to do the killing himself, then to aid his allies that could snuff out these tainted lives. It went against everything that his father had taught him, the very code ingrained deep into his being to aim a weapon of death at another human being. But lo, the life the Seiker had lead was a slippery slope at this point. At first, all that he decided to do was aid in the dispatch - wound those heretics which came too close to his allies. Hell, the archer even opted to turn a blind eye to these heretics. But the fact of the matter remained. His arrows sunk into human flesh, people whose lives were snuffed out seconds later by more steeled blade. And, in the midst of the chaos, it only took one arrow. One arrow, accidentally set on the path to cleave a man's spine straight through with its own magical force. 

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Lorne took his first human life, and it was at that moment in time - that point, in the belly of the beast - that he had robbed himself of his own humanity. It mattered not what these people did, or whether or not the deaths strewn in this gully were justified. He was a murderer.

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All of them were.

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In the wake of the slaughter, one arrow may have been a trivial matter, but as the group evacuated the heretic's base and set fire to its remnants, Lorne left a little piece of himself down in there, and it was clear that he would never be the same after that day. There was no pride in killing.

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The rest of the journey passed in a numb blur. They reached the source of corruption and tore it straight from the heart of a tree. Somehow, they were even granted a new ally during the fierce battle that raged between them and the fiend, but the celebration was a grim one. They made it back to Ulreich, and Lorne was left alone with these awful facts of life. His curiosity - his desire to impress his older sister - his need to prove himself worth something - it had all made him a soldier in this fierce magical dimension. At the ripe age of 17, he was no longer a boy.

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Chapter 5 - A Cause For Recon

Story in progress.