The Shadowmoon Sisters Part 4: The Final Exam

Part 4: The Final Exam
Azia and Eure continued to study under the tutelage of Archmage Stormsong for many years. Eventually, of course, the time they would spend under him would come to an end. Before the twins could properly graduate however, they had to complete one final exam. This exam would not count for the entirety of their grades obviously, that would be foolish. No, the point of this exam was in fact two fold. The first point was to display how much they had learned from their first test back in their home village. The second, was to see if they could be useful to the house of the Shen’dralar after graduation.

“So that is the basis of your final exam, are there any questions?” Zuramon asked.

Eure raised her hand. “You mention the purpose of the exam, but I do not think you mentioned what the exam would actually be.

“You are observant, I did not. Part of this test will be how quickly you can think on your feet.” Zuramon explained.

“Should be more interesting that way at least.” Azia commented.

“I want you both to prepare for this to the best of your ability. I have faith you two will not disappoint.”

Even if Zuramon said he had faith in both of them, to Azia it seemed as though he was just complimenting Eure. Ever since the night of the festival, Eure had just begun improving at a faster and faster rate, often seeking out private lessons from the Archmage. Azia had asked for these lessons too, but she took it more as an excuse to flirt with her teacher. She couldn’t help herself a lot of the time, finding enjoyment in matching wits with the archmage. It was true that she was not as book smart as her teacher or her sister, but she was still clever in her own way. One thing she often took pride in was her silver tongue. At any rate, while Eure constantly grew from her lessons, Azia only occasionally improved from her’s. At this point Azia couldn’t even go to Lady Lellith for lessons like when they were offered. For some reason, Lellith had disappeared from Eldre’thalas, in search of a book Azia couldn’t care less about. These factors made Azia much less sure of herself than she had been in the past. Of course, Azia would never admit this to anyone, and as such continually acts like she is always ahead of the situation. For this final exam she could only hope the fact she was better at thinking on her feet than Eure would lead her to success.

After class that day the twins had about a week to study all they had learned in preparation for their final exam. Eure took this opportunity to review not only the many tomes she had collected, but many of the notes she had made throughout her time in Eldre’thalas.

“I don’t know why you are bothering to reread everything.” Azia commented.

“Lord Stormsong suggested that we prepare, I am merely doing what I can in order to.” Eure explained.

“Yeah, I get that, but if we are supposed to improvise for this test what good would studying for it do?”

“To refresh my mind on information that might prove useful in the exam? Perhaps?” Eure seemed unsure of her own answer.

“Yeah, I’m not buying it. I think you are just trying to get over your nerves.” Azia smirked.

Eure sighed. “Am I that obvious?”

“I mean kinda? To be fair I have kinda known you your whole life, as well as my whole life. I might have picked up a few things.”

“I just… I just want to impress Lord Stormsong.” Eure admitted.

Azia stopped to think for a moment… Eure wanted to impress Zuramon? That seemed… different from her normal motivation… Eure normally just wanted to improve herself to learn, but now she actively wanted to impress someone? Azia did not know what to think about that. Her silence, however, worried Eure.

“I-Is that wrong? Eure blushed. Embarrassed that she shared possibly too much of her hopes with her sister.

“No… not wrong, I’m sure you’ll get to impress him, don’t worry.” Azia commented, walking over and putting her hand on the door to their room. “I’m going out for a bit and preparing in my own way.”

“Oh… okay, try not to stay out too long.” Eure said, worried and unsure of her sister’s actions.

After that night’s conversation, Azia realized something about Eure. Something that she might have been suspicious about before now, even teasing Eure about it in the past, but something she was more than sure of now. It was clear to Azia that her sister was developing some feelings for the archmage. Would that lead to anything? Azia had no idea, but she wasn’t about to compete with her sister for someone’s heart. At the same time, it was clear to Azia that Eure would never make the first move if anything were to happen between Eure and Zuramon. No, Eure would not only have to impress Zuramon, but astound him, leave him absolutely speechless. Azia spent her week preparing with this in mind. She would practice her fire magic, making the blast ranges for it larger and larger. She had a plan to use this final exam to help her sister. Consequences for herself be damned!

The day of the exam finally came. Zuramon instructed Azia and Eure to head to the gardens closest to the commons in west Eldre’thalas. When the sisters arrived for their test, it was not just Archmage Zuramon who was there to greet them, but also several members of the house of Shen’dralar, both archmages and magisters alike. After introducing this council to Azia and Eure, Zuramon began to explain the rules for the exam, as several servants brought out several miscellaneous items. Among said items appeared to be things like mana crystals, arcane dust, and three wooden targets, really a variety of tools.

“These rules should appear somewhat familiar to the both of you.” Zuramon explained. “Similar to your very first test you are to perform a display of your magical knowledge. You may use anything, whether it be something you brought with you. Do not be afraid to get creative.”

When Zuramon was finished with his explanation, Azia was sure of what she had to do. She stepped forward cracking her knuckles. “I got this one” Azia commented, looking at her sister. Eure raised an eyebrow, she knew it was odd for Azia to voluntarily go first, but she was not going to argue. Azia raised a single hand, gathering all her mana into it. This was the same spell she had used against the elemental years earlier, but… it was clearly stronger. As Azia continued to channel mana into her palm, the wind began to pick up. Azia’s spell began to draw in mana from the nearby mana crystals as well, and that “wind” was the whirling mana rushing into Azia’s palm. Once Azia built up all the mana she could, she released a huge raging fireball at the wooden targets. Not only did all three targets explode in roaring flames nearly instantly, but the flames began to spread throughout the gardens. Azia turned to her sister, walking up Eure.

“Alright sister, it’s all your’s.” Azia smirked and patted Eure on the back.

Eure, panicking ran close to the flames. Raising her own hands into the air, she began casting a spell of her own. Because of all the mana Azia put into the flame there was still a large amount of mana throughout the flame itself. Eure used this same mana to begin dispelling the flames. This spell was sort of a combination of the techniques she used years before on the corrupted mana crystal and the elemental but on a much larger scale. Like she did with the mana crystal, she began transforming the flames back into mana. It was true these flames were not powered by fel, but the concept was still the same. The next part was sealing the collection of mana away. Eure did not have the time to draw out runes like she normally would so instead she began absorbing the mana into herself, then using the mana she absorbed to purify more of the flames. When she was done, she fell to her knees breathing heavily as sparkles of arcane dust fell to the ground. It was quite the sight, like a bunch of twinkling stars falling to the ground. This was Azia’s plan all along to use her turn to make sure her sister would act on instinct rather than worry about the test. Once Eure’s turn concluded the council and Zuramon spoke with each other deciding how well Azia and Eure did on their final exam. They concluded that both Azia and Eure had passed the exam. However, Azia got the feeling she only graduated because they did not want to deal with her setting the gardens on fire. She got this impression when Eure was invited to join the house of Shen’dralar while she was not. No, the council determined that Azia’s time would be better spent as a guardian mage back in her home village of Darkmist. At least it would be easier to hide her grell back in her family gardens instead of the Warpwood quarter.

With their apprenticeship under Archmage Stormsong completed, the sisters decided to return to their childhood home of Darkmist to see their parents. Azia would have to stay there to fill in the role of guardian mage, but Eure would have to return to the city of Eldre’thalas to serve the house of the Shen’dralar. This would be the first time the sisters would really be apart for long periods of time. Realizing this they decided to try and enjoy the time they had visiting their parents, until one day a surprise visitor appeared at their manor. It was Archmage Zuramon himself. He requested to speak with Sylgorn and Mazurna alone. Not being one to question the archmage, Sylgorn and Mazurna welcomed the archmage inside and went to speak with him in a room away from the twins. Eure stayed in the family’s sitting room for her parents and former teacher to return. Azia, on the other hand, could not help but go listen in on the conversation. She waited to make sure she would not be caught, following a safe distance behind. Then Azia placed her ear up against the door of the room her parents led Zuramon to listen to what Zuramon had wanted.

“Do you have good news for us Lord Stormsong.” Sylgorn asked.

“I do, I wanted to express my interest in wedding one of your daughters. Eure to be specific.” Zuramon said bluntly.

Mazurna gasped, while Sylgorn merely smirked before responding. “That is wonderful! I was hoping you would find use in one of them.

“Yes,” Zuramon commented. “I just wanted to confirm that was still within your wishes before I proposed the question to Eure herself.”

“I am sure Eure will be honored, Lord Stormsong.” Mazurna bowed.

“Of course she will!” Sylgorn exclaimed.

“Should we return to your sitting room then? So that I may ask her?” Zuramon questioned.

“Of course, of course, Lord Stormsong.” Sylgorn commented before heading to the door. Upon hearing her father’s footsteps, Azia rushed back door stairs, hopefully before her parents could catch her listening in to the conversation. However, by the time she had reached the sitting room, Azia was out of breath, and a little sweaty.

“Are you alright Azia?” Eure questioned. “Where did you go?”

“I’m… fine… I went…don’t worry about it.” Azia sat back down, breathing heavily.

Upon Zuramon’s return with Sylgorn and Mazurna, he did not waste any time in walking over to Eure and getting down on one knee. Eure looked unsure of what he was doing, blinking in confusion. That confusion turned to disbelief when Zuramon asked her that life changing question.

“Lady Eure Shadowmoon, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Eure was not quick to answer, in truth she was rather surprised at the question. It took her awhile to even process the question. Once she had a moment to think she felt that she could answer the question, but before she could Zuramon asked

“Should I repeat the question?”

“N-no,” Eure said. “I was just in a bit of shock, I did not think … Well, I did not think you were serious, or rather I did not think I heard the question properly… or something. I am sorry to leave you in suspense. I would be honored to be your wife Lord Storm… oh, I suppose it would be acceptable for me to call you Zuramon now.

“That it would be Eure, that it would be.” Zuramon nodded.

Eure and Zuramon’s wedding was held relatively quickly. Eure had even asked Azia to be her maid of honor. Eure felt honored to be wed to Zuramon. It was, as expected, one of the happiest days of her life. Azia, however, had mixed feelings about everything that day. Not only did Azia used to have her own feelings for Zuramon, feelings she had pushed away when she decided to use her exam to help her sister, but she was still thinking about what she had heard her parents say the night Zuramon proposed. Did her parents really plan for one of them to marry Zuramon this whole time? Since before they even became his students? Azia didn’t know what to think about this. It seemed to her that maybe her parents just wanted to use one of them to increase their family’s standing within the houses of Eldre’thalas. Should she be angry about it? Maybe, but it seemed to work out for the best. Eure seemed happy to wed Zuramon, and because of that their family did become all the better for it. Azia had a lot to think about, more than a single day of thought could provide her. Regardless, Azia was sure she wasn’t going to tell Eure what she had heard. There was no way in fel that she was going to ruin her sister’s wedding. By the end of that day, Eure Shadowmoon became Eure Stormsong and she stayed in Eldre’thalas with her new husband Archmage Zuramon Stormsong. Sylgorn and Mazurna would move to the city of Eldre’thalas, taking some of their servants with them. In Eldre’thalas they enjoyed the higher standing of Eure. They also helped advise her in her new position in the house of the Shen’dralar. Azia, however, because of her assignment after graduation, stayed in Darkmist as a guardian mage. It was a much different experience for her, being at the manor without her family. At least she didn’t need to hide her grell from anyone anymore. He was sure happy to be in the house again. She still had a few servants at the manor about, a third of what she was used to. However, if any of the servants in the manor said anything about him, she could just threaten to fire them, either figuratively or literally. That made them stop questioning her right away.

Link to Part 5 : The Shadowmoon Sisters Part 5: Farewell [Finale]