Agent of The Clock Tower
Saint-Domingue, Cayes-Jacmel
Fort Quintus
October 19, 1798
As Alexander regains consciousness, the memories of the latest event rushes into his mind prompting his eyes to snap open while he attempts to find out where he is. Rather than being on the dusty road that leads towards Fort Quintus, Alexander finds himself on the cold hard floor of a dungeon cell. Pulling himself up from the floor, Alexander attempts to activate his magic circuits only to find that he cannot. With wide eyes the magus tries again only for nothing to happen once again. Taking a deep breath, Alexander calms himself down.
"It's alright Alexander, you may still be recovering from the Heretic God's manifestation." he says to himself with false hope. "Remember the basics." he tells himself as he closes his eyes and imagines a flame striking a mound of black powder before exploding.
Unlike the previous times, this time Alexander feels his magic circuits attempt to activate before they are struck by an unbearable amount of pain, forcing the magus to knees with a scream while his circuits return to a dormant phase. With his circuits returning to their dormant phase, the pain slowly recedes before disappearing all together.
Kneeling there on the floor of his cell, it doesn't take Alexander long to realise that his magic circuits have been sealed, making him wonder who could possibly be responsible. As far as he knows Quintus and his family are the only magi on this part of the island, as a matter of fact they are the reason why he is here in the first place. His reason for being on the island was to make sure that the Quintus family is adhering to the rules set by the Archibald family for their continued existence. He had just arrived on the island when the Heretic God had manifested. He doesn't remember much after that other than defending himself before making his way towards ground zero, the location of the deity's descent. He didn't make it far however, before the world was engulfed in golden flame that rendered everyone in the vicinity unconscious. And now he finds himself in a dungeon with his magic circuits sealed and his previous attire replaced with what can only be a slave's uniform.
Before Alexander can further contemplate his situation, the sound of footsteps clinking metal reaches his ears. Hopeful that it is someone that has come to free him, Alexander ignores the lingering pain coming from his circuits and pushes himself to his feet just as two people in knightly armor appear in front of his cell door.
"Has your master finally come to his senses and ordered you to release me?" asks Alexander as his eyes quickly glance at the swords sheathed on the hips of the knights, should the situation prove unfavorable for him his best chance would be to take the sword from one of the knights to defend himself. "Does he know that by imprisoning me here that he is acting against The Clock Tower?" he asks even as the knights ignore him and one of them unlocks the door with some form of magecraft that Alexander is unable to see properly.
"Step out." orders one of the knights as the door swings open. Obeying him, Alexander steps out of his cell while eyeing the sword at the knight's hip once again. "If you look at our swords one more time you will be meeting the King with two broken arms. I'm sure that he won't mind." says the other knight as he grabs him by the elbow and manhandles him towards the direction from where they originally came while the other one takes the lead.
Obeying his captors for now while thinking of ways to escape, Alexander follows one of the knights as he leads them out of the dungeon through a staircase that leads up into the open air. As his eyes finally acclimate themselves to the brightness of daytime, Alexander finds himself in front of a massive staircase connected to ziggurat that is five layers high with each layer being quite a few feet high. The structure itself seems to be inspired by the Chogha Zanbil ziggurat in terms of archeological design with each layer possibly being their own structure with their own purpose.
"Let's go." orders one of the knights as the group begins to make its way up the stairs.
The journey upwards is done in silence and takes a few minutes to reach the top most and smallest layer. Unlike the previous layers, the top layer is a single massive throne room. The throne room possesses no walls, and no decorations except for the white and gold throne that sits upon a raised dais with its back facing where the sun sets. Sitting on the throne with a tablet in hand and his head resting on a fist is a child no older than ten years old. He wears a gold and blue usekh collar that only covers the top of his pectorals, leaving the rest of his toned upper body open for all to see, a pair of loose royal blue pants that have slit below the knee showcasing legs, and golden sandals. On his arms he wears a pair of golden bands around his biceps, a pair of gold and blue vambraces on his forearms, and a pair of golden ankh earrings adorn his ears.
Stopping a few feet away from the raised dais, the knights kneel in front of the child while pulling Alexander down with them. The group remains in this position for a few minutes as Atem continues to read a report on the tablet before eventually looking down at the group kneeling at his feet with his divine violet and golden eyes.
"This is?" asks Atem
"According to Bjarte this man is a magus who is most likely working for The Clock Tower or one of the noble families within The Clock Tower." answers one of the knights.
"Oh, how interesting." says Atem as he puts the tablet down on the arm of his chair and leans forward in his seat. "Tell me little mage, why are you here?" he asks as Alexander looks up at Atem's face, causing him to frown. "Did I give you permission to look upon my visage?" questions Atem as a pressure descends upon the magus and forces Alexander's head back down while also making him shake in fear as he realises that he is in the presence of a Campione. "I currently have no good thoughts about your kind from The Clock Tower so you would do well to behave as befitting of your status." commands Atem.
"Yes my liege." answers Alexander with a quivering voice as he willfully lowers himself on both knees and bows as deep as he physically can. "I did not mean any disrespect. It was simply my ignorance of your identity that caused me to behave so poorly." says the magus.
"It seems that you do possess some manners." says Atem as he leans back on his throne and the pressure is lifted from the throne room. "Tell me magus, why are you here?"
"I am here on an assignment to make sure that the Quintus family is upholding their end of the bargain with the Archibald family."
"What exactly is this bargain?" asks Atem.
"In exchange for not wiping them out, the Quintus family will become vassals of the Archibalds and serve them." says Alexander. "No one outside of the heads of the families knows what, but at some point in the past the Quintus family committed an act that should have resulted in their death. However they were exiled instead and became vassals of Archibalds." adds the magus.
"I see." says Atem as he seems to be contemplating something. "Tell me about yourself. What skill do you possess as a magus?" asks Atem after a few moments of silence.
"My specialty mainly lies in elemental magic with reinforcement and familiar usage serving as my secondary skills." answers Alexander.
"Perfect." says Atem with a smile. "From henceforth you will serve as a teacher to all those with magical potential in my armed forces. Now is there anything else?" he asks.
"There is one more thing my liege, I would like permission to send news of your ascension to The Clock Tower." asks Alexander.
"Permission granted." answers Atem before he picks up the tablet from its resting place and continues reading it, the dismissal clearly felt by all those present.
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London, England
The Clock Tower
October 19, 1798
The Clock Tower, the first branch and main headquarters of the Mage's Association, an organisation that was founded some time near the end of the 5th century. It's original purpose was to advance humanity's knowledge of magic to the point of no longer needing to invoke the name of a deity to enact a particular action with a spell along with creating a group of magic users so powerful that humanity would no longer need to fear Heretic Gods or be cautious of Campiones. They were meant to become powerful enough to be able to kill any Campione or Heretic God.
Unfortunately for them however something of that nature simply isn't possible. Campiones, god-slayers, are beings who have managed to kill a Heretic God and as such are granted one of that god's authorities by Pandora herself. In addition to receiving one of the god's authorities, their bodies become stronger and tougher than is possible for a human even with the aid of magic, and they become resistant to almost all forms of magic not from a Heretic God unless it is applied internally. Meaning that unless a mage possesses as much power as a Heretic God or somehow applies the spell inside the Campione's body then they will not be able to harm the Campione, much less kill them.
It is for this reason that the majority of the magical community has come to the agreement to be absolutely obedient to anyone who becomes a Campione. Unless the Campione is somehow worse than the Heretic Gods the magical community would be willing to acquiesce to any wishes of the Campione.
Naturally there are also those in the magical community who not only loathe all Campione, but they would also love nothing more than to dissect them to see if their powers could be replicated or would love nothing more than to manipulate or kill them.
One such example is the Barthomeloi family, arguably the most powerful magical family in the world politically and magically. They are quite vain, arrogant, and self entitled. They are a family of rulers and lords that can be called embodiments of perfectionism and aristocracy. Their lineage is mysterious and old even for the standards of the other Association's magi, and it is uncertain when the name "Barthomeloi" was first written in the pages of history. They first appeared during the construction of the Clock Tower, and quickly became lords with their powerful brand of magic circles called Blue Blood Noble Magic Circuits.
Since then they have reigned at the peak of the Mage's Association for centuries, and sought perfection in each generation of their magi. The head of their family does not appear in public until he or she becomes perfected as a magus according to their standards. They are raised only inside the Barthomeloi manor, as having them appear outside while inexperienced appears to be an embarrassment for them. Such an action has resulted in many of their family heads serving as Vice Director of the Clock Tower along with Lord of the Department of Policies.
Currently within the office of the Vice Director of the Clock Tower one can find the Vice Director herself reading Alexander's report with a slight frown on her face. The report had arrived some time ago through one of the mystic codes that allows for instant communication and she has been thinking about what the ascension of a new Campione could mean for the world, and not just any Campione, but a former slave at that. She can already tell that the island is lost. Neither France nor Spain will be able to hold onto the island with a Campione getting involved, especially since France has been steadily losing ground for a few years now. Even before that slave's ascension it was evident that France would lose their side of the island by 1806 at the latest. With a Campione backing them the slaves will be running that island by 1800 at the latest, and that's if he decides to properly raise an army and plans to turn the island into a nation. If he decides to simply do it all by himself then the island will be his by the new year.
This puts her in somewhat of a bind as the last thing she wants is for this new Campione to build himself a powerbase and make it more difficult to kill him than it already is. That first Campione, Voban, is already showing signs of being a problem the more he grows restless in that castle of his and it's only a matter of time until he finally goes on some sort of rampage. Ever since her predecessor had died trying to kill Voban she had been biding her time and building up her power to kill him herself. Now however, she has another Campione that she has to worry about in addition to that beast. If only the two of them would do the world a favor and kill themselves.
As that thought crosses her mind a plan begins to form. Why not just have them kill one another? One of them is a simpleton akin to a beast while the other is a mere child. Manipulating them should be much easier than manipulating a cunning Lord of the Clock Tower who is politically savvy, and she does the latter on a daily basis. With a slight smile on her face that almost everyone would miss, Leilani Barthomeloi picks up her quill and begins to write a short and simple letter to Alexander.
A Letter From Vice Director Leilani Barthomeloi to Alexander Archisorte
Your report on the ascension of this new Campione has been quite informative. Here at The Clock Tower we were aware of the ascension of a new Campione, but it seems that something has been interfering with our scrying spells as well as any spell used to gain information on this new Campione. As such you are hereby given a new assignment, do whatever you must to become trusted by this Samael and report back to The Clock Tower your findings.
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AN: Here's the next chapter, we finally see the beginning of Atem ruling as well as a glimpse into the mindset of the current Vice Director of the Clock Tower, Leilani Barthomeloi, my oc. As usual tell me what you think and don't be afraid to tell me your theories and speculations. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that only one person reacted to Marik summoning Summoned Skull last chapter. With the amount of you asking me whether we would see Yu-Gi-Oh! monster I honestly expected a bigger reaction.
Per usual the next chapter is on my pat re on, pat re on .com / servant ambrosius (without the spaces). Follow me on instagram at servant_ambrosius. Also there's this awesome platform for lightnovels/manga/webcomics called VoyceMe check out the stories on there. It's new but it has great content and is growing quickly.