by Tao Wong
“Caleb,” I said, nodding in greeting to the Mage. “You’re back.”
“Yes. I leave for a few days, and I find you half-dead upon my return,” Caleb said, his voice cold. “Are you attempting to break your own promise? Are you this dead set on ensuring none of us gains the ring?”
“Dead set…” Lily giggled.
“It wasn’t like that,” I protested, ignoring the jinn. “Though, while you’re here, what happened to the idiot trio?”
“The idiot trio, as you called them, have been dealt with. The council has spoken with them, and steps have been taken to ensure they will not be able to repeat their actions. Though, I believe they will not attempt another summoning,” Caleb said.
“And Ozzie’s mother?” I asked, recalling the boy’s impetus.
“Dying from a disease. I forget which one,” Caleb answered.
“And you guys are going to help her?” I asked, my eyes narrowing, and Caleb snorted.
“Again, we are not a charitable organization. As it stands, he is lucky we let him live. Summoning a demon, even a low-level one, is a dangerous act.”
I growled, shutting my mouth. Still, talking of charitable organizations, I made a note to talk to Alexa about it.
“You know, this entire incident was interesting,” Caleb said as he walked toward me, his eyes slightly unfocused as he read my aura. “You risked your life and Alexa’s for a group of strangers.”
“That’s… well…” What heroes did. But I couldn’t say that out loud. I’d have died of embarrassment.
“Yes, moronic in the extreme. Self-sacrificial. And yet, you gave not a single thought to your friend.”
“Alexa? She was about to go ahead and try anyway,” I said.
“And still the jinn is not mentioned. One would almost think she was not in danger of being lost for all eternity by your death,” Caleb said. I kept my face neutral as he said that, though I found myself shooting a glance at the aforementioned jinn. She continued to focus on her gaming at least.
“Well, she let me,” I said finally.
“Still. Interesting, isn’t it?” Caleb smiled at me tightly. “I expect you back at class tomorrow.” After that last pronouncement, the mage walked out of the room, leaving the pair of us staring at each other in silence.
In the end, I flopped back down onto my bed with a light groan.
***
Alexa returned later that evening, looking worse for wear. The normally energetic blonde looked depressed, her energy shattered by the demands of her bosses. Still, she gave me a smile when she noticed me up and about, puttering around the kitchen making a lasagna.
“Any lasting damage?” Alexa asked as she came to stand beside me.
“None,” I told her. “Just one second.” I added the lasagna to the preheated oven and set the timer before looking at the initiate. “Thank you. For backing me up.”
“Thank you for letting me act,” Alexa said. “I know it wasn’t an easy choice.”
“Actually wasn’t that hard,” I admitted after a moment. I looked at the blonde, smiling slightly. “I couldn’t exactly let a demon run loose. Who would?”
“You’d be surprised,” Alexa said with a grimace. I almost asked if her people would have preferred it but restrained myself. Some things were best left alone. “You know, I wondered why God would let such a powerful object fall into untrained, untested hands. Now, perhaps I know why.”
“Uhhh… thanks?” I said, looking away. “So… garlic bread?”
Alexa stared at me for a moment before she let the topic go and walked over to the breadbox. “Yeah, I’ll get it ready.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, watching my partner, my friend, help work on dinner.
Later that evening, I lay on the floor, staring at my ceiling as sleep eluded me. I’d gotten into magic because it was cool, because it had been a lifelong dream to cast spells and be a mage. The reality was every bit as cool as I’d thought it would be, but slinging spells, creating wards, and killing monsters was just the tip of the iceberg. The supernatural world was both more complex than I could ever have imagined and more mundane.
Humans would be humans. Self-interest, greed, and jealousy ruled. We might’ve had powers beyond the normal, but everyone was still intent on doing what was best for themselves and their groups. Well. Most everyone.
I’d done quests because it was the best way to make money and level up. But I never really thought about why I’d bothered, why I’d done it. Hell, I’d even started acting like Caleb, laughing and deriding the idiot trio because they couldn’t really wield magic like I did. But, in the end, for all their own desires, they’d stepped up and helped thrust the demon back into hell.
That was the thing, power for the sake of power was vanity. The best times I’d had were when my quests actually had a purpose, when I was helping others.
Maybe, just maybe, it was time for me to start thinking less like a gamer and more like a person.
Book 2
A Squire’s Wish
Chapter 1
“This would be a lot easier if I was allowed to use magic.” I exhaled audibly and twisted my shoulders, my arms throbbing. Still, at least we were finally inside our new duplex. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, hardwood floors, and a living room meant I was paying much more than I wanted. But, considering Alexa had insisted on the larger space, and she was paying half, I’d compromised. I had to admit, looking around the relatively modern, open-plan space, it looked nice. Even if all the belongings I had from my bachelor suite barely filled our new home.
“Oh please, this is barely a workout,” Alexa said as she impatiently tapped her foot. The Nordic blonde was more Wonder Woman than model and had more muscles in her arms than I did, so it was no surprise she was barely out of breath.
“Mage,” I said and pointed to myself as I struggled to catch my breath. Though perhaps I could do with a little more actual exercise.
“The enforcers in the Mage Council are as well known for their physical prowess as they are for their magical abilities,” Alexa said. I grunted, refusing to acknowledge her point, even while being intrigued by the idea of buff magic users. I guessed real-world magicians were more like anime heroes than Raistlin. In either case, the initiate was more likely to know than I did. The Templars had been the church’s sharp edge against the supernatural world for hundreds of years. They’d been occasional allies and enemies of the Mage Council throughout the years. Me? I’d barely entered the supernatural world six months ago. I still had a lot to catch up on.
“Fine. So I might be slacking off on the entire exercise bit,” I muttered as I bent my knees to grab the edge of the couch once again.
“Slacking off implies you ever started,” Lily said behind me, her arms full with a cardboard box helpfully labeled “books.” The olive-skinned, slim and shapely jinn sauntered toward us from the front door where we’d deposited our initial run with a sway of her hips. “Where do you want these?”
“What are they?” I grunted out as we maneuvered the couch to catch the sunlight and to face where we’d decided the TV would go.
“Reference material.”
“Huh?” I said as I squatted and set my end of the couch on the floor.
“Your role-playing books.” The jinn held the heavy box of books with one hand as she scratched her nose, obviously not bothered with things like weight. No surprise there. Her “body” wasn’t really real, just a magical construct, which begged the question why I was doing the heavy lifting, but that would open up a whole different can of worms regarding Lily’s increasing agoraphobia.
“Right. We’ll keep those in the living room,” I said and pointed to the corner we’d designated for the bookcases. For a moment, I felt amazed as the reality of my situation hit me once again. Not the shacking up with two stunning, supermodel-level, good-looking women but the fact that I was a mage—a mage wielding magic through a wish granted by a jinn who based
my entire leveling progression off a homebrew mixture of role-playing game books, single-player video games, and massive multiplayer online games. It was how my old RPG books became reference material.
“Stop delaying. We’ve only got the moving van till five,” Alexa said, urging me out the front door.
“You sure I can’t do this with magic?”
“After you left the dent in the doorway of our old apartment?” Alexa said derisively. “We can’t afford to pay to fix another mistake.”
“Fine.” I grumbled as we reached the moving van and went for the bed stand. Alexa was not wrong. We still needed to find the money for mattresses and bed frames for both girls. Or technically, for me since I’d given my bed to Alexa. “Let’s get this over with.”
***
Hours later, the three of us were seated in our new living room, evening sunlight streaming in from the blinds as we preyed on four large pizzas. I shook my head, amazed once again at the sheer volume of food both women managed to put away. Admittedly, today I was putting on a good showing. Not that it was a competition.
“So, Caleb gave you today off? Alexa asked.
“Yes. After I threatened to continue using ‘What Does the Fox Say?’ as my training tune for Gong,” I said with a grin. Since Lily basically downloaded spells into my brain at each level increase, my understanding of actual magical theory was, shall we say, erratic. It didn’t help that much of the magic theory she downloaded came from millennia of magical knowledge—knowledge gained as the assistant or tool of world-class magicians. While I might have more powerful spells than my more traditionally trained counterparts, mine were also more esoteric and not as easily pliable with modern magical theory. To fix my magical shortcomings, Caleb, the master mage sent to deal with me from the Mage Council, had set up a training program. One aspect of which was teaching me to understand and manipulate the components of the spells I had in my brain.
In the case of Gong, the spell manipulated sound waves via magic. Like most spells, Gong, for all its outward simplicity, was significantly more complex internally than its final manifestation. To channel the spell, I had to control the amount of mana input, where the mana went to adjust volume and pitch, as well as dictate the location the noise would appear. All this was controlled by strings of arcane glyphs and, in some cases, actual mathematical formulas. Combined, they were known as spell formulas. Right now, my training involved learning to repeatedly cast the spell with specific target notes. I had to play a song with my spell.
Technically, I was doing this in the least mana efficient manner possible. There were actual spells that allowed its user to continually channel the spell, formulating the song in one continual cast. The problem was the spell formula for such a song was significantly more complex than the simple spell Lily had downloaded into my mind. It was kind of like the difference between playing “Chopsticks” and Mozart. When I’d asked, Caleb had displayed the simplest musical spell formula he knew for me to read just to shut me up. The formula itself was intriguing, a mixture of—
“Earth to Henry,” Lily said, waving a hand in front of my eyes.
“Sorry,” I said, pushing her hand away. “Was just thinking of a spell.”
“Of course you were,” Lily said with a snort. “Maybe you should be thinking about a quest instead. If you haven’t forgotten, you’re broke.”
“We’re broke,” I said pointedly. “I still don’t get why you need a room of your own. You have your ring.”
“Which I’ve lived in for hundreds of years,” Lily said, glaring at me. “You try going back to your cell. Even if the door’s open—”
“Ah, right,” I said and scratched my head. Sometimes I forgot Lily was basically a slave to the ring since she never actually lived in it anymore. While she had twisted my first wish to give her a way to stay out of the ring itself, past users hadn’t been as careless or generous. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Lily said with a wave of her hand.
“I do not understand, however, why you cannot form your own furnishings,” Alexa asked Lily.
“If you recall, I’m bound by the rules of the ring. I can’t really affect the outside world in a meaningful manner with my magic without a wish,” Lily said with a little bite. I guess some insults, like the Templars trying to kill me and steal my ring via Alexa, were not so easily forgiven.
“Wait. With your magic?” I said. “I thought you couldn’t do it period.”
“Well…” Lily paused, looking embarrassed. “It’s a bit complicated.”
“Complicated… like you-don’t-want-to-get-a-job complicated?” I said threateningly. While I’d been scrambling to earn an income by completing requests and other small jobs in the magical community, Lily had stayed home playing computer games… and begging me to get a console.
“Well, I’m not exactly legal, am I?” Lily asked. “I don’t have any proof of identification. You wouldn’t want me to be deported or thrown into jail, would you?”
“That…” I paused to consider as I looked at Lily. Well, yes. She was a Middle Eastern woman in the country. Technically illegally. Then again, she was a jinn who could literally disappear with a thought, which would make for a really interesting police report. But… “Thousand hells.”
“Right,” Lily said with a smile when she won her point. “That’s why it’s better I stay back home. Also, the more games I play, the better the patches I can provide.”
Once again, I noted how she also avoided mentioning her growing reluctance to even visit the outside world. I considered bringing it up and once again shied away from the topic. Tackling sensitive emotional issues headlong was not something my traditional Chinese household had readied me for.
“Please don’t.” Alexa interrupted my thoughts with her words. “Your last patch had him sitting at the beach picking up rocks for an hour, muttering about leveling up his ‘analyze’ skill.”
“Hey, it’s a staple cheat skill,” Lily said.
“Not the way you implemented it,” I said. It was only after I had spent some time talking to Lily that I realized the only way to upgrade the analyze skill while staring at rocks would have been to read books on geology first, then spend the time actually perusing the rocks. And then repeating the task over and over again.
“Everyone’s a critic,” Lily said and crossed her arms to glare at us.
“As the lab rat, yes I am,” I said. “Let’s just focus on magic, okay?”
“Speaking of that, what are your… stats?” Alexa said, almost too casually. Really, the knight initiate sucked at casual. It just wasn’t something they taught at knight school. It didn’t help that I knew she was asking because the Templars, like most of the other major powers in the know, were waiting for me to hit level one hundred. Once I did, the ring could finally come off my fingers without it being lost forever.
Still, she was my closest ally. And I had no reason not to show her since Caleb received almost daily updates.
Class: Mage
Level 21 (19% Experience)
Known Spells: Light Sphere, Force Spear, Force Shield, Force Fingers, Alter Temperature, Gong, Gust, Heal, Healing Ward, Link, Track, Fix, Ward, Glamour, Illusion, Summon, Iceball, Fireball
Magical Skillset
Mana Flow: 4/10
Mana to Energy Conversion: 3/10
Spell Container: 3/10
Spatial Location: 3/10
Spatial Movement: 3/10
Energy Manipulation: 4/10
Biological Manipulation: 3/10
Matter Manipulation: 1/10
Summoning: 1/10
Duration: 4/10
“You gained two levels,” Alexa said in approval. “But only learned one new spell?”
“Blame Caleb,” I said, disgruntled. “He convinced Lily I needed to spend more time understanding my current repertoire. He wants her to stop giving me spells entirely.”
“That,” Alexa said and then fell s
ilent, compressing her lips together tightly on the sentence she had been about to utter.
“Sucks. I know.” I sighed. Truth be told, I somewhat agreed with Caleb’s reasoning. I’d gained so many spells, I often did not use most of them. For quite a few, I had synchronicity of less than 50 percent when I cast them, never mind linking them together. No, for a while, I needed to work on my fundamentals. If I could increase my basic magical skill set to five, I’d be considered an actual novice mage by the Council, someone who at least was worth some basic respect. Of course, the fact this was a logarithmic progression meant that once I got there, the next steps were going to be incrementally harder.
“So. Quests,” Lily said leadingly, pushing forth a sheaf of papers. I groaned, staring at the quests—work orders, really—but picked them up. We needed the money.
Chapter 2
The first time I ever saw a four-hundred-pound orc charge down a football field in spiked shoulder pads and a helmet, it was an impressive and bed-wetting sight. The second time, I might’ve frozen in fear, wondering if I’d written my will. By the third quarter, it was routine.
“And why did we have to be here now?” I muttered, shifting on the too-hard seat. Who willingly spent their evenings unpaid, sitting on hard, metal benches—which were open to the elements—and screaming their head off at the sight of one team pummeling the other? At least when I was gaming, I did it in a temperature-controlled room with cheap, store-bought snacks on hand. “The contract’s for after the game is done.”
“Are you not enjoying the sight of martial excellence?” Alexa asked as the lines reset. On one side, a full team of orcs stood with control of the ball, each of them fully dressed and padded. On the other, a smaller—literally—team of dwarves stood across the field, ready to defend their turf.