"A day seventeen years in the making, huh?"
A shiver of excitement moved up Theo's spine as he looked down from the window of the archmage's office.
Located all the way at the top of the mage's tower's main spire, it gave him a perfect view and quite the unique angle at all the festivities happening in the town below.
The streets were bustling with people and filled with all sorts of lights, from candles lighting up the houses in the less prosperous areas of the settlement, through lampions lining up the streets all the way to the grand chandeliers taken directly from the archmage's tower to decorate the town's main road.
Today was a big day, after all. A dignitary from a formerly undiscovered continent was about to visit the town and was likely stay the night!
If one were to give credit to the rumors that spread even faster than the man's caravan could march, what this emissary brought with him was an entirely new look into the frigid and unchanging world of magic. And in the town build around the central mage tower of the empire?
By all means, it was a historic event. Which is why, Cornelius - the Empire's crowned Archmage - was down on the street, standing atop the stage with a fully-fledged orchestra behind his back, ready to receive the important guest.
"Just a little longer," Theo's expression sank a little as his eyes locked in on the distant figure.
Theo moved his hand up, gently pressing it against his solar plexus as five rings on his fingers - each adorned with a differently colored crystal - reflected the dim light of the candle's dancing flame.
"Just a little longer," he whispered again, his expression relaxing as the sparks of excitement in his eyes gave in to the rising sparks of anger.
For seventeen years he endured the bullying of a monster that he himself created. Today, though, it would all be over.
'Breathe, man.'
Theo's hand pressed low against his chest, as if to mark with pain the one part of his body that caused him so much grief.
Theo's mana-gate was impossibly narrow.
A truth that he knew since he was fifteen. A truth that forced him to decide between accepting his limits or...
Or rebelling against his own destiny.
Giving one's own fate a middle finger never came cheap, easy, or smoothly.
Which is why, Theo had to cheat.
It was because of his stolen contributions that Cornelius rose to prominence. It was because of Theo's silent schemes that the former archmage, a true powerhouse of a combat mage, ended up replaced by the young, rising star in the field of magic theorems - Cornelius himself.
The same Cornelius that 'just so happened' to stumble upon Theo's research results whenever he needed a political boost, or happily spearheaded Theo's mana-lanes project only to then take most of the credit and nearly all of the rewards for it.
All of it, strictly according to Theo's plan.
With his disability? He could never get the funding for the project of infrastructure that connected all the mage's towers in the empire - the mana-lanes. Neither would he get a shot at ever getting anywhere near the archmage's authority, especially not with an actual competent person holding it.
And finally, being the misrerable piece of shit that he was, Theo could never steal it from a competent archmage.
Cornelius, on the other hand?
Theo's look sharpened up.
Deep down below, the orchestra started to play, several rows of drummers beating out the rhythm while the town's gates swung open, welcoming the front guards of the foreign dignitary.
And then, as all the instruments of the orchestra joined in for the overture and the cheers of the crowd reached their maximum, the dignitary's carriage passed through the gates.
For a single moment, Theo locked his eyes on the vehicle and then the man sitting on the seat of honor. And for just one instant, Theo's face tensed up.
Then, his body all relaxed as a wave of giddy exhilaration filled his soul, his heart pumping adrenaline into his veins in preparation for what was to come.
"Welcome!"
Even up in the archmage's office, Theo could hear Cornelius's voice. He watched as the man raised his hands high, eager to be the first to officially welcome the emissary into the empire. And, on the side-note, once the dust of the celebration settled, be the first to peer into the secrets of the unknown magic that the man brought with him.
Incompetent or not, once he became the beacon of the new magic, his name would be forever engraved side-by-side with the likes of Heron the Great and the emperors themselves!
'Oh, how sweet it feels to deprive you of it, right as you think you are at your peak!'
Theo's eyes flared up… And so did the yellow crystal in the ring he wore on his pinky.
The crystal cracked, and from within, yellow chains shot out. Unbothered by something as trifling as laws of physics, those chains cut straight through the space itself, wrapping themselves around Cornelius's elbows and knees, only to yank the man backwards before he could utter another word.
Just like that, the archmage vanished from the center of the welcome stage mid-sentence, dragged by Theo's chains through the broken space.
With a thump, the middle-aged man landed straight back into his office.
And to give credit where it is due, his ability to respond right away was nothing to scoff at. Even when suddenly kidnapped with his guard at its lowest, within a second he already stood up, mana gushing out of his mana-gate and forming glyphs in the air.
But for how fast the archmage was, Theo was faster. Contrary to the fake archmage, he came prepared. And he had seventeen years to perfect every tiniest detail of his preparation, leaving absolutely nothing to chance.
"You…!"
Two more of Theo's crystals broke, releasing the glyphs long since stored and charged within.
The first, brown crystal placed upon Cornelius a restriction that robbed him of his ability to use mana up to the sixth realm - exactly the realm he was at.
By all means, Theo could prepare an even heavier binding spell… But what would be the use of it?
Being the fake and a fraud, Cornelius never managed to break beyond the sixth realm of magic!
The other spell, one born out of the white-colored crystal, was much simpler. All it did was gag the man, stopping whatever drivel that he wanted to spout from ever leaving his mouth, leaving Theo free to gloat all he wanted.
Which is exactly why he remained perfectly silent, ready to proceed to the next step of the process.
Cornelius's eyes lit up as he realized he couldn't even curse the man he bullied and stole from for years. In his head, Theo had to be just an insignificant, naive worm, shackled by his disability and thus forced to be satisfied with whatever scraps he threw at him after stealing his credits and achievements.
And after getting the feel of Theo's binding spell, the archmage's gagged mouth twisted into a wicked smile.
'Sure, you took me off guard, kid, but…' his face appeared to be saying as an intense shine started to glow around his wrist.
For how much of a failure and fraud he was, Cornelius was still an archmage. The mere act of rubbing shoulders on the daily with the actual geniuses of the empire allowed him to somewhat compensate for his own faults. At the very least, though, he knew perfectly well how to use the one power Theo, his disability or not, could never hope to counter.
The power of the archmage's authority, giving him full and unrestrained access to all the mana flowing through the empire-spanning mana-lanes.
Or so he thought.
"Thanks," Theo finally spoke, the fourth of his rings breaking apart as a thick, red light shot out from his wrist and overlapped with the shine on Cornelius's hand. The chain of red light connected the two men for a second only to then shatter and vanish, as if it was never there to begin with.
Theo then raised his left hand, dropping a fragmentation grenade he kept ready while showcasing how the fifth ring of his cracked into pieces, manifesting a small portal a single step behind his back.
"Consider this my resignation."
Then, the grenade slipped out of his hand, its spoon ejecting before it could even hit the floor while Theo stepped back, falling through the portal the second before it dispersed into the thin air.