huge, with over two hundred thousand students at various levels of learning. The university taught topics from history and law to life and physical sciences. Gideon had learned of the education ethic and realized that his first opinion of the societies on Illúmaril was wrong and that the people here were in a kind of second or third renaissance that included a semi-industrial period. They had skyships with motivator crystals that allowed safe flight through controlled levitation; they even possessed methods to move between worlds. He had seen demonstrations of weapons that could discharge energy of some kind, commonly used in the skyships as cannons and even as handheld lance devices. When he was hidden on Earth, among the things he studied was archaeology, and he had been fascinated with the cultures on Illúmaril when he first arrived. There were even several different races on Illúmaril that he was fascinated by, especially how they had integrated to a reasonable degree. Now, attending The Academy of Spellweaving Arts he learned to access a part of his heritage that was previously hidden.
The Academy of Spellweaving Arts was partially secluded, higher in the hills, yet still close enough to the rest of the university for interaction with the other sections. Tyl used an academic ranking system and, for the most part, those rankings were similar across Illúmaril. He had learned them the day he arrived at Tyl. There were three tiers; the first group was the lesser tier and was, in ascending order, apprentice, senior apprentice, and journeyman spellweaver; the middle tier included the adepts, the masters, and the high masters. In some schools the masters were called senior adepts and the high masters were also termed high adepts. The top tier had two rankings of archmasters and the grandmasters. These last two ranks were the most knowledgeable and powerful of those who could spellweave. Archmasters, depending on what spellweaving academy they came from, would have mastered at least four of the arcane areas of knowledge, and a grandmaster would have mastered at least eight separate areas.
The fields of mystical and arcane study were introduced to all the apprentices, and they continued to study each to gain a familiarity before deciding to concentrate their study. Grandmaster Nimmeral, who was the dean of the Academy of Spellweaving Arts, had mastered all the different areas of magical casting and spellweaving. Gideon had met Grandmaster Nimmeral several times and had even attended his lectures. Like all of the Tauri Order, he was extremely knowledgeable, an accomplished expert teacher, and was able to instill a desire to learn in his students.
After finishing his meal, Gideon left with a human and one of the insectlike Edrix classmates and headed to an alchemy and potions class, where he was doing quite well. Now the instructor was covering topics about unusual potions that were sometimes given to travelers from other worlds who visited. When Gideon began to learn about the elixir that had been made for him by Master Balminwe, it became clearer why Ragan did some things. Gideon had been given an elixir called Amnoxillin to help him after Tauri Ragan originally brought him to Illúmaril at the request of the White Council. Thinking back about the time he was given the elixir, with the knowledge he presently had, he was aware that, because he was traveling so much, he needed an immunity boost. If he had stayed put in one city, he would have been able to adapt and would likely not require the elixir but, since he was traveling great distances between provinces, the boost was necessary. Ragan and the White Council did not want him to become ill and, as a result, be more vulnerable.
Realizing that he would have a semester break coming up soon, Gideon wanted to ask for permission to go back to Earth to visit some people. He had been away for over a year and a half. He asked his adviser, Master Beryl. In turn, Beryl asked Lord Nimmeral, as Gideon was an unusual student. An appointment was arranged for Gideon to meet with Grandmaster Nimmeral to personally present his case for a short leave of absence. He had unfinished business and his continuing excuse and a letter indicating he was on a protracted archaeological dig in a foreign county would not hold up well for the holidays on Earth. He needed to get back to Earth for closure. He could at least generate some spellweaving effects to prove his point to his foster parents back on planet Earth; they deserved at least some kind of an explanation.
It was several days later and Gideon readied himself as he waited outside Lord Nimmeral’s offices. He had been here before for one of his entrance interviews. At the time, Nimmeral knew more about who he was descended from than Gideon did. Since then, Gideon Finelen Lith-Gilad had studied some of his sequestered ancestry. As one of few remaining descendants of the High King Lith-Gilad, he and a few others had been scattered and hidden on other worlds or dimensions for safety across the multiverse. He knew one other of his kinsmen who was also on Illúmaril. However, Captain Victor Ross was not quite as much a hero as others in his family line. It seemed that the undead gave him the willies. He had been brought to Illúmaril to assist for other morale-boosting reasons. The White Council had earlier hidden Victor Ross on Earth as well, and Gideon realized that, because of the time period Victor had lived, the late eighteen hundreds on Earth, he learned to be fearful of magic and magical entities, despite his having served in the navy.
One of Nimmeral’s many assistants came forward and greeted Gideon then took him into the grandmaster’s inner sanctum. Gideon recalled the rather huge office that was part library. He was shown a seat and waited only a few minutes, looking at some nearby spell books until Grandmaster Nimmeral arrived. In a side corridor there was a brief glow, and Nimmeral stepped out into the central office area. His foot long snowy white beard and hair were well groomed and as usual he wore resplendent academic robes. He had a mature yet ageless face and clear grey-blue eyes.
“Good day, senior apprentice Finelen. I see that you are well,” Nimmeral said with authority.
“Yes, I am well, Grandmaster Nimmeral. Have you reviewed my choice for leave during the semester break?” Gideon asked, as he stood up waiting for Nimmeral to sit.
“I have reviewed your request for leave and approve with some precautions for your safety, of course,” Nimmeral said. “Normally, I am not directly involved with leave, but as you are Arel Lith-Gilad’s present heir, I was tasked by the White Council to look after your safety while you are here.”
“Does that mean I will have company on my trip?” Gideon asked.
“Yes, you will have a few discrete observers; they will try not to interfere with your activities,” Nimmeral said. “They will be cloaked and will observe and will act only if something sinister comes for you.”
“That’s good to know, sir,” Gideon said.
“I think the Sword of Order will be safe where you have secured it, and it has ways of masking itself. Or you can place it officially in the custody of the Academy until you return,” Nimmeral said.
“Ah, yes, I was going to have it cloak itself, and I was going to place additional protective and warning wards around it in my room. There are only two keys to my room and the entire building is warded as well,” Gideon said. “As others, including Corthrondral Talmor and my many-times-removed-aunt, Lady Faiella, have all said to me in the past weeks. No one yet really knows who or even likely where I am. The Sword of Order will be safe here, and I don’t really want to take it with me on my return journey.”
“My advice then is that you quickly attend to friends and family matters as it is possible you could be tracked, although we have confirmed information that our ancient enemy has little information on you; nonetheless, you should remain vigilant and be cautious,” Nimmeral said.
“I will do my best, but I need to finish some projects and then I will return,” Gideon replied. “I realize I belong here now, and I would just jeopardize my previous friends and foster parents if I stayed back on Earth.”
Nimmeral stood and walked toward Gideon, placing his arm on his shoulder in a grandfatherly way. He then led him toward the exit, passing the rows of bookshelves of the rather ornate library and office suite and into the waiting area beyond.
“Good journey, Finelen, I hope you complete your tasks to your satisfaction,” Nimmeral said, as he moved back into his sanctum to start another meeting. Gideon bowed respectfully to the ancient, yet not elderly, grandmaster before Nimmeral reentered his sanctum. Gideon headed back to his apprentice quarters to finish his last class project, then to say a temporary farewell to classmates, and eventually finish preparations to obtain passage via a gateway