Elric sat in a tent with his dear mentor, legs crossed. Across him drinking tea would be the person who has taken a shine for him, teaching him knowledge none would easily part with without recompense; a sickly man in a loose robe made out of coarse leather, ruddy brown as the earth beneath the tent. Elric's mentor staring at him impassively behind his raggedy and loose robes, his two dull grey orbs staring into his brown ones.
The atmosphere visibly tenses, Elric could feel the tension in his body build like an anvil weighing down on him. He could easily sense the gravitas within his gaze and presence. Sitting quietly in mute awe and slight reverence. Soon he speaks as Elric sat rigid.
A grandfatherly smile graced his face as he spoke.
"Elric, my boy.. today will be our final lesson. Alas, all good things has to come to an end. I have enjoyed teaching you. You have a bright mind and an even more cunning intellect."
His tone turns graver as he spoke, soon sporting a hateful scowl as he proceeds. The sheer vitriol and spite in his voice caused Elric to curl his toes inwards with a grimace, it was an open secret that both Elric and his mentor held Canonism in contempt and disbelief. His feelings on it clearly much stronger however judging by the look on his face.
"The empire think.. that the more they lock us down and isolate us.. it strips us of our power. That we are a dying breed."
"They're dead ******* wrong."
"We are just real selective on who we choose to call our brother, so the question is.. will you be ready?"
"You like to read right? I've got a good collection left just for you. I've just finished <The Human Animal>, it'll be in the rucksack."
The book in question, Elric saw being tossed into a rucksack behind him. It was almost uncanny, landing inside perfectly, almost as if it was guided by an invisible force. Looking underneath his robes, Elric noticed a strange symbol on his wrist. He did not know what it was, it might be the sun's trickery or his imagination but it pulsed with a tint of red as his mentor did so.
"Heed my words boy, a warriors deadliest weapon is his mind."
"If our fates align, we shall meet in very different circumstances. Keep your wits about you my boy.. and trust no one. My pilgrimage continues."
Elric's mentor soon left as he continued sitting in stunned silence. As Elric regained awareness, he came to a stark realization, jaw agape. The tent now empty, a far cry from how it looked even before his lesson today. All that's left was a bulky rucksack left infront of him. The contours of books clearly showing, almost as if bursting from the seams.
Making his way back to the orphanage, Elric decided to keep these books near and dear to him, for it was the only memoir left of his old friend and mentor.
He never knew this meeting would soon inadvertently change his life for the years to come.
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