Ethria- the Pioneer

by Aaron Holloway

  “I’m guessing that marks noon then?” I asked Ailsa, who nodded, now fully awake and kicking her feet out happily as she rode on my shoulder. “Best go find Tol’geth then,” I said as I set out in a random direction.

  ---

  Finding Tol’geth had proven an impossible task. As soon as I found an elf that had seen him, and I finally got to where the elf had described, he was gone on some other errand. After the seventh time this happened, I decided to try for less swift prey.

  Lisander was much easier to find after I asked the elf I had been talking to where the Magic Library was. I was pointed in the right direction, and given a warning that I wouldn’t be allowed in the gates without a pass. I thanked the kindly elf man who was visibly old, an oddity for the race, and left him to his gardening, headed in the direction he sent me in.

  I found the lift and the young elven man who operated it. It was one of the trio of elvish singers who had sung the lyrics with me the night before. When I described where I wanted to go he winced. “I can not take you there without a pass from Lisander herself good wizard.” My countenance fell, as I tried to think of who else I might find and where. We really should have set a rallying point and departure time, I thought annoyed at myself for not thinking of it the night before.

  “But, I can call her and ask if she could grant you a pass.” The young elf said, holding up a small stone very similar to the one the sheriff's secretary had used in Cutters Hollow.

  “Well, why didn’t you just say that in the first place instead of giving me an ulcer.” I jibed, smiling wryly to take the sting out of my words. “Please do. I need to speak with a member of the council and she is the only one I know where to find at the moment.”

  After a few buzzing noises came from the small stone, Lisanders voice came through clearly. Man their walkie-talkies are much better than the human-made ones.

  After a few words back and forth, the young elf elevator conductor hit a button and we began to climb. “Thank you,” I said and the elf nodded smiling. “What you did for us yesterday, the addition to our lore of such a…” The elf's words trailed off as if he was looking for the right word.

  “Soulful?” I suggested, mashing four words in elven together to get the right meaning. It wasn’t a real elven word but it seemed to fit, as it contained the words for soul, repentance/grief, mortality, and a word that meant the feeling of fullness.

  He smiled more fully and nodded. “Aye, Soulful. You humans, the few of you who have mastered our language, come up with some of the most interesting uses for it. But this one? This one fits well.” The wind slowly picked up as we went higher and higher until we began to slowly sway back and forth in the breeze. I looked at the young elf and raised my eyebrows.

  “Do not worry, there are spells that will keep us for swaying too much. You are not in any danger, friend Rayid.”

  I nodded my thanks for his reassurance. “A few guard rails might help matters…” I muttered under my breath as I watched the top of the tree grow closer with every heartbeat. Just before we got to the landing we were heading to, we slowed down to a relatively safe speed. As we came level with the platform I found Lisander waiting for me, arms folded in front of her, eyebrows raised. “Hello Lisander” I said stepping from the lift. I found hard sturdy wood underfoot and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

  Lisander grinned slightly at my antics before speaking. “Hello wizard, how can I help you?” I took her arm in mine, partially out of politeness, partially out of a sense of chivalric duty to make sure she didn’t fall off the platform as she was in a dress, and partially out of terror that I might fall off the platform.

  “Well,” I began as we walked off the platform and inside. “When I woke up this morning I realized that last night we had not set a time or place for us to meet up for our trek tomorrow. That is today. I was wondering, what the plan was for when we are to leave today.” When I finished, and we had reached the main door into the tree, she turned around to face me.

  She was obviously fighting back laughter over something I didn’t understand. I thought back to everything I had said and… dang it… “When we met last night, it was today.” I said realizing my mistake. We had met well past midnight, as the loud thumping on the ground meant an hour tell sunrise. She nodded and let out a slight laugh before patting my shoulder.

  “It is alright Wizard Rayid, mortal minds tend to get addled for a few days after our festivities. The fact that you have recovered your faculties fully with just one night's rest, is impressive. You can take the rest of the day off if you wish, or if you like you can tour my library.” I nodded enthusiastically, and Lisander began to walk again as I followed close behind. “I rarely get to give tours to outsiders, particularly to wizards and their Faie guides. It's rather exciting for me if I’m being honest.” Lisander said, her voice going up slightly at the thought of it all.

  “You know, I could take offense at that term.”

  “Which one?” She asked more curious than concerned.

  “Wizard. It seems patronizing.”

  We came to a door on the left of the small hallway, and she pushed it open with a touch of two fingers, and a little bit of classy mana manipulation. “Ah, but wizards are beings of extraordinary lore, not just among my people but in the history of all of Ethria. Particularly human wizards from distant lands no one has heard of, showing up with strange abilities no one understands.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she spoke. She turned and walked through the doorway she had just opened, and I followed closely behind.

  The room beyond was actually a balcony of sorts, this time with a guard rail, that overlooked what most people from Earth might call a warehouse of books. It was lite only partially, but what I saw was large enough to hold most city libraries with room to spare. Hundreds of shelves four or five stories tall, that went on for hundreds of feet before a person would find a path between them. Probably the most impressive part was that once you got higher than two stories, there was a small wooden walkway connected by ladders, and bridges connecting the stacks of books. “This is what you consider a small library?” I asked baffled.

  “Well, small by elven standards. You should see the Magical Library in Varidian proper, they hollowed out three mountains for the thing. I am not sure what humans might consider large, but I hope that it is sufficiently impressive.” There was obvious mischief in her voice as she walked up to a small knob of wood that protruded from the guard rail. When she touched it a light blue screen appeared hovering above the knob of tortured looking wood. “This is the libraries interface. It lists every book, on every shelf, and you can sort them by nearly ten different categories. Size, age, general topic, etcetera.” I whistled, and it echoed off the shelves below.

  “This is... “ I paused looking for the right comparison. “This is at least the size of the Library of Alexandria before its burning. Possibly a little bigger depending on how accurate my estimation for how far hat darkness spreads and how many floors this behemoth contains.” I said in awe.

  “I am happy you are pleased.” She said as she typed in the title of a few different books, selected them, and then pressed a button on the bottom of the screen labeled “summon.” A gentle light emanated from a table I had not noticed beside the door we came through. Something like twelve books appeared there, most about the same size as the primer I had borrowed from Telli on the road here. A couple of them were thicker with finer covers and more heavily stylized writing. “These, are for you.”

  “Uh, what?” I’m pretty sure I had on a dumb look on my face too because I saw a flash of annoyance and amusement cross her face at the same time. It was the look I had gotten from more than one woman on a date, the look that asked “Are you stupid or something? Did you hear what I just said?” But in a moment it was gone, the elven mask of propriety and grace back in its proper place. “Uh, I mean, those are for, me?” I asked pointing a finger at myself.

  Lisander let out an exasperated sigh, before nodding,
grabbing one of the books and handing it to me for my inspection. It was a copy of the earlier magical primer I had borrowed from Telli. “These are all introductory or intermediate books on magical lore that we have multiple copies, and that I could reproduce by memory If I wanted too. There are also a couple I have already copied using one of the libraries special abilities that should prove useful in…” She paused as if looking for the right word. “... accelerating, your education.”

  She walked over to the small table and put a hand on top of the stack. “They are a gift to help you on your journey.” Lisander hesitated a moment “From a friend.” She put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from rifling through and reading the covers of the other books still on the table, and smiled.

  I realized again how beautiful she was, and how much we had both enjoyed each other's company. I laughed at the absurdity of us just standing there, her arm on my shoulder, and pulled her into a short hug, one she returned after realizing what I was doing.

  When we separated, she brushed a phantom lock of hair back behind her ear and cleared her throat. “Yes, well. You are welcome.” She cleared non-existent wrinkles from her dress, more out of nervousness I thought, then need.

  “These will be a great help, I am sure. But…” paused for a moment trying to find the right way to word my request. “Are you sure there is no way that I could read them all here? And save the books for another person who might be better served long term?” I asked.

  “Long term? What do you mean?” She asked confusion written on her face. “Even if you return to your people, the magic you learn here on Tor’sel, will still be useable anywhere else on Ethria. You could be the first real teacher of true magical arts to your people.” Lisander said, her excitement growing slightly. I realized then just how thoughtful the gift she had given me was. It wasn’t just intended for me, but my entire non-existent island nation of barely magical Jedi.

  I, on the other hand, had been thinking about how my knowledge of magic would be wasted when I finally returned home. “Yes, of course,” I said, accepting her explanation. “It's hard for me to envision my home with such magic as you all have here in Lo’sar.” I lied, covering my mistake.

  “True, but imagine the kind of things your people could create mixing magic and their hard-earned knowledge of the physical universe! The wonders of magic and technology that your people will one day produce with the knowledge that you can bring them? They will rival that of the steam constructs of the dwarves, or the skyships of the Glass Islands. Why they might even rival that of Varidian itself!” Lisanders excitement peaked, then her expression fell.

  “What's wrong?” I asked concerned.

  “Well, historically speaking, Wizards like you Rayid, they don’t have long lives.” She winced as if the words were painful for her to say. “Even by notoriously short human life spans, statistically, you are not likely to live a year past when you finish gathering the heroes you will help to raise.”

  I gave Lisander a quizzical look “Heroes? Me? I know that Terr’a’min said something about Wizards raising heroes to fight great threats, or accomplish great deeds, but that’s not really what I'm here for.”

  Lisander took on an equally questioning expression. “Then, what are you here for? Surely whatever patron or patrons summoned you here to Tor’sel have a great deed they need accomplished.”

  “Well, yes,” I said hesitantly. “But, it's more of a ‘me’ thing. As in, I need to solve it. And building Winters Quarters like all of you on the council agreed to help me do, is a major part of it. It's the first step in a plan that I am going to be there for every step of the way.” I said, adjusting my jerkin nervously.

  Lisander smiled, either willing to indulge me, or actually reassured I’m not sure which, but she seemed to be in a better mood. “One second, I have another gift for you.” She walked over to the knob again, and after the screen appeared, and she hit a few of the buttons there, another leather-bound and new looking book appeared on top of the pile. “Go ahead, open it.” She told me, and I did as instructed.

  The front was just a simple leather jacket, inside were clean and crisp white paper pages like books back on Earth. So far, most of the books I had read here on Ethria had been leather-bound and burned onto either wood planks or rough parchment. Even the best scrolls I head read where simple parchment that was rough to the touch. Parchment and vellum degraded quickly, that's why so little of the ancient worlds written works exist back on Earth. Paper though, well-crafted paper can last a long time if properly preserved.

  “Its a journal, for you to write in and save your exploits for your people. It's magically enchanted so that if you die it will return either here, or to wherever you call home. Whichever is closer.” Lisander said as she walked back to me.

  “Oh wow, meathead that is awesome! Do you know what this is?” Ailsa asked as she hovered above the empty pages as I flipped through them.

  “Seeing as I didn’t receive an item notification when I picked it up, no. I don’t.” I said a little irritated with my friend's interruption into the conversation.

  “Everything Lisander just said is true, but it can also integrate into your HUD and character sheet!” She explained this all in elvish, but the acronym for Heads Up Display she just said as a single word, and it elicited a confused look from Lisander.

  “HUD means Heads Up Display in my native language,” I said it first in English and then again in Elvish. “It's one of the few pieces of magic my people have that is common. It's a combat mechanic that is tied into our Characteristics screens.” Lisanders eyes went a little wider with interest but I honestly didn’t have time to sit around and talk about this stuff all day. I had other things I needed to do, despite how pleasant I found her company.

  “So what you're saying is that it will act like a quest journal?” I asked Ailsa, she nodded and I as I closed the leather-bound journal I saw my name burn itself into the leather on the front of the book, and I got the following prompt.

  “You have received a Magical Journal. This journal is an augment to your characteristic screens. The magic of the screens will automatically write the journal entries in log format for you as events transpire. Alternatively, you can write the journal by hand, something some people find rather soothing, and relaxing. If you choose to do this, you will receive +2 to your emotional stability checks every day you write at least one entry, for a 24 hour period. Integrate? Yes / No”

  “This is also a wonderful gift Lisander.” I told her and gave her another short hug. When we pulled away I said “I would love to write in this by hand, by I fear I won't have the time with how much work needs to be done. Will you be heartbroken if I integrate it into my characteristic screens?”

  She smiled, “You human wizards are all very thoughtful, and all seem to think that every other being on the face of Ethria are all highly impractical. Of course you should integrate it, it's why I gave it to you in the first place. If I wanted you to have one to write by hand, I would have made a much better gift then this generic thing.”

  I grinned at her as I mentally and physically hit the Yes button. A small auto log appeared on the bottom of my HUD. I minimized it with a thought, and a flashing journal icon appeared in a drop-down menu to the side of my vision. I’ll explore that later, I thought. “Thank you again.” I began to walk towards the book stack when I remembered something we had talked about the day before.

  “Say, you don’t happen to have any books or information on the murder you talked to me about on our trek here do you? I would like to do a little snooping when I have the time.” Lisander smiled, pulled open a personal screen, pressed a button, and a small book appeared in her hand.

  “Its a copy of all of my notes so far.” She said adding it to the pile next to us. “Feel free to take a look around. I was worried that the murder might have affected my Library, as it's about to level up soon. But, with the songs sung at the base of the tree this morning? I don’t think that will be a proble
m anymore. So feel free to take your time. Many people treat historical quests as games or hobbies, I have to admit they can be a lot of fun.” With that she dismissed us.

  A few minutes later, after I packed everything up, both Ailsa and I said our goodbyes to Lisander and left her to watch over her warehouse of knowledge.

  ----

  As the elevator took us down much more slowly and steadily then it had taken us up, I sat with my bounty of books. Ailsa sat on my shoulder kicking her feet out contentedly as I examined the titles. There were eleven new books, aside from the primer. Books on necromancy, pyromancy, biomancy, metallurgy, scroll writing, and magical device theory among others. As I read each title and handed them to Ailsa she cheerfully put the books into her tiny pocket storage space, her earlier grouchiness banished.

  When we got to the bottom of the tower Ailsa shot off into the air on a mission to find us a place I could study. After a few minutes of exploring, she came back and told me that she had found a small cottage that the elves typically reserved for guests, and the caretaker of the place had said I was free to use it until tomorrow.

  It was small, only a single main room, with a tiny magically enchanted bathroom off to one side. It had a table, which is where I had Ailsa deposit the books, a bed with only a thin blanket and no pillow, and a tiny writing desk barely large enough to fit a book, a small ink well, and several feathers in a tiny drawer.

  There was a clock right above the bed, it was a sand clock, and it automatically turned itself over at every hour. When Ailsa caught me looking up every few minutes she grew annoyed. “You know that you have a built-in clock in your character sheet right?” She showed me where.

  Once I had seen the small cottage, I looked at the clock on the top of my character sheet and realized it had been nearly two hours. So I left to visit Shil’a’kin’s smithy, where I found that she had fitted my walking stick with metal bands at the top and bottom, with what looked like a small seed that appeared through the metal at the top of the staff. The shaft was smooth, the metal was covering the four runes I had cut into the wood completely. When an exhausted but smiling Shil’a’kin handed it to me I received a prompt.