"I have ordered for your summoning because of an imminent threat to the Way."
A forced quietude overcame my body, any attempted movements rendered null as the inhabitants of the room laid completely still and the previous life the guardsmen had been giving to the atmosphere vanished.
The air clinging to my throat whisked away the moisture, eliciting an instinctual gulp from me.
"Sorry, perhaps I should explain the ways of this world, first."
The king put his hand forth; his palm faced towards the ceiling. My skin began to tingle as the same warmth I'd felt when Corien healed me surged throughout the room.
At the same time, seven orbs shot out from the king's hand, some translucent and clear, others bright.
Without warning, my hair began to sway in the air despite being relatively short, the source of the storm the now revolving orbs that began to form their own after-images, too fast to track by the naked eye.
The back of my hand covered my face, my eyes half-closed. Stepping back to make sense of what was happening, I look on as the orbs raised into the air and slammed into one, turning into a bright purple ball of pure energy.
It was then that light shot out from the top of the ball as it formed into a crystallized myriad of tiny prisms, the fractals forming one cohesive projection.
Words flung onto the center of the screen, reading 'The Seven Arts of the Ways.'
"In this world, we channel what we call the Way. In essence, the Way allows us to perform Arcana, which are expressions of the Aether."
A controlled 'huh' escaped the mouths of all five of us summoned, my companions having mixed expressions as evidenced with raised eyebrows and squinted faces.
"Sorry, I'm not very good at this type of thing. I'll start from the top."
Additional words shot out to replace 'The Seven Arts of the Way' on the projection, instead saying 'Kido, Kodo, Ryudo, Kaido, Seido, Kaizen, and Nendo'.
To save your time, I'll skip forward and talk a little bit about my understanding of what the king explained.
Basically, there are seven categories describing the way in which Way can be channeled to produce arcana, or in other words, the seven arts of the Way. In this world, arcana is kind of like magic or skills in video games like shooting out fireballs. Aether is the most basic unit of energy for Arcanic arts, similar to mana in video games.
Weirdly, even though magic is named 'arcana' in this world, practitioners of the arcane are still referred to as 'mages'.
I don't know, maybe I'll ask about that later, but the king didn't stop there. He went on to explain all the seven arts of the Way.
Kido stands for 'vital', which would be arts that deal with life-energy such as healing.
Kodo stands for 'force', which is useful for self-enhancement and projections of 'power', whatever that means.
Ryudo stands for 'flow', which is essentially the elemental arts of this world. This is said to be the most common Way, which almost all inhabitants of this world can use.
Kaido stands for 'boundary', which is called upon for barrier techniques and spatial seals, which is as the name implies.
Seido stands for 'soul', which is used for sprit interactions, summoning, and things of that nature.
Kaizen stands for 'change', utilized for transmutation arcana and adaptive magic, although I'm curious as to what the latter entails.
And finally, Nendo stands for 'creation', which is as the king puts it, the most uncommon Way. Wielders of it are said to be able to channel a portion of the gods' creation abilities, even making new substances.
A lot of information for sure, but that wasn't the end of it.
The king also made mention of how the Way began to fall apart, the gods' creation made unstable and unreliable.
Arcana became harder and harder to weave--the previous insights the people of this world had dissipating along with it.
It was then that this country's greatest mages came together to form a protective Aether barrier, protecting itself from the overbearing force degrading the relationship that people and the Way have formed.
The putrid smell of burnt flesh creeps upon my nostrils as my head convulses, a surge of electricity pulsing out of my head through my scalp. A throb coordinates with my heartbeat, the sensation of a hammer slamming its end on my head replaying second by second.
"Ahhhhh, information overload!"
I grab my head with both hands, my knees plummeting to the ground.
The other four stood unyielding, their previously neutral expressions now ones of hardened resolve.
"Alright, and what does that have to do with us," one inquired, their pointer finger going from pointing to the king back to pointing to themselves as they spoke.
"Yeah, I fail to see how you wish for us to deal with this," another remarked, their arms crossed, and their face twisted into one of genuine perplexion.
"I mean, what exactly could a motley gang like us do to deal with a world-wide problem," a third person commented, their hands thrown up in the air.
The king propped himself up and out of his chair as he stepped forward, the clacking of his gold boots ringing out with such strength that the rampaging inquiries ceased their assail.
He stuck his right arm out perpendicular to his torso, his thumb jetting out, palms open while his fingers repeatedly curled and uncurled.
One of the guards stepped forward from their position, an outreaching tall roll of paper in their hands.
The king quickly grabbed the papers, tapping the guard on the shoulder and dismissing him.
There the king stood, mere feet from the five of us summoned.
Even from a distance, I had to tilt my head upwards a little bit to meet him eye-to-eye, his shoulders nearly twice as broad as mine.
A couple of us took an involuntary step back, Kaia in specific balling her fists while I felt a chill crisp tickle my skin, her aura resemblant of the typical hearth I'd felt when I stood in front of my fireplace on a cold night's gloom.
Clank!
The king was now resting on his left knee, the other holding the arm grasping bundle of paper.
"Please, heroes, prophesies speak of you being the only beings capable of aiding the gods in this dire time."