Book of Names (Casters of Syndrial 1)

by Rain Oxford

  “Are they all as tall as you there?”

  “Where I’m from, I’m of average height for a man, yes.”

  “For a man?”

  “The average height for women is shorter. I see that’s not the case here. Why do you stay here without water? Aren’t there forests and oceans elsewhere?”

  “No.”

  “Seriously? Nowhere? How far have you gone?”

  “Some of us have traveled city to city.”

  I thought about it and strained my brain to come up with everything I knew about geology. That was not my field of study, but I tried to know a little of everything as a writer. “You should have north and south poles, covered in ice. There should be greenery and water north and south.”

  “Do you see us settled around water?”

  “No, obviously not.”

  “There are small oases between the kingdoms. The kingdoms were built around larger ones.”

  “Then why aren’t you utilizing the small ones?”

  “Because we are the least dangerous creatures on this world.” She gazed out over the sand. “There are creatures out there that stay around the water and eat us when we get near. They can’t be beaten.”

  “Is that the reason for the wall?”

  She nodded. “People have traveled north and south and they were never heard from again. Either they died from starvation and dehydration or they were eaten. Syndrial once had plenty of water to drink and food to eat, but many thousands of years ago, an asteroid hit and devastated the world. The skies turned dark and the plants died.”

  “Nuclear winter,” I said.

  “People fled underground and lived there for generations. Some say it was the gods that saved us, some say the gods caused the asteroid to hit us.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Ancient buildings have been found with writing on the walls, scrolls have been dug up made of ancient wood-paper, and preserved furniture made of wood has been found.”

  “Where do the gods come from?”

  “What do you mean? They just exist, like we do.”

  “So you don’t believe they created people?”

  “Of course not.”

  I found that interesting. From what I gathered, sand people considered gods to be more powerful, but not superior beings.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, when people started waking, I excused myself and went in search of my brother. Not to my surprise, he wasn’t in our tent. I had to ask people to point me in his direction and when I did find him, he was surrounded by five kids—two girls in their tweens, one nine-ish boy, and two girls around five.

  “We don’t have any planets in the sky, only one moon, which is white and small,” Luca said dramatically, as if he was telling them a magical tale. The children were hanging on his every word. “And every night, the sky fills with dragons.”

  “Luca,” I warned.

  He gave me an innocent smile. “Well, it does in my head. Okay, they’re dream dragons. Anyway, there are eight other planets in our solar system.”

  “Seven,” I corrected him.

  “Damn it, Nathan. Give Pluto a break, would you?”

  I left him to confuse the children and found Malie in a tent, sharpening a spear. “I thought you’ve never hurt anyone.” I angled away from her slightly, as was my natural response to a woman. I didn’t want to unintentionally come off as threatening. All the same, I couldn’t relax in the presence of someone holding a spear.

  “I’ve never hurt a person. I’ve killed plenty of animals that wanted to kill me. Those walls are there for a reason, and it’s not to keep us out. Speaking of walls, that’s what I’m going to teach you.”

  “You’re going to teach me how to break a wall?”

  “No, I’m going to teach you how to build one. I imagine the priests haven’t taught you wards yet. Actually, what have they taught you?”

  “To levitate something and light a fire.”

  She frowned. “That’s it?”

  “I’ve only been here a few days. They said it takes years to learn to do magic.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It takes children years to learn to control it. Children naturally figure it out, so you should be able to cast some spells.”

  “Well, I don’t.” I didn’t want to get into my curse with her, a stranger.

  Finally, she shrugged. “Fine. I suppose if you grew up fighting it or not believing in it, it makes sense that you can’t control it. Do you at least have experience with meditation?”

  “Keeper has been teaching me to focus my mind for magic. Does that count?”

  She nodded. “It will have to. I don’t have time to teach you everything.”

  She said it as if I had asked her to teach me to walk. A number of sarcastic responses came to mind, but I kept them to myself. The main difference between a smartass and a dumbass is that a smartass knows when to shut his ass up.

  Instead, I relaxed my body. “You’re very kind to take time out of your busy schedule to teach me.”

  Her eyebrows arched, indicating that she was surprised at my change in demeanor. She pointed to the floor. “Sit.”

  Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I did. I didn’t mind her trying to assert her dominance over a stranger so much as the fact that it was the second time someone told me to sit like a dog since I became a steward of the gods. I was confident enough in my masculinity to let a woman order me around, but respect had to be earned.

  Malie circled me, holding up her spear. “Is your mind prepared?” she asked.

  “Aiming a pointed stick at me is not conducive to having a clear mind.”

  “Then you’ll die the first time anyone attacks you.” She lowered her spear. “I don’t like wasting my time.”

  “You’re not. I just don’t see how I can defend myself and clear my mind at the same time.”

  “There is a difference between quieting your mind to focus on magic and emptying your mind of all things. What is something you like to do?”

  “Write.”

  “When you do this, do you ever get so focused on it that someone can walk into the room and you don’t hear them?”

  “All the time.”

  “That is how magic must be.”

  “That makes more sense than not thinking of anything, but wouldn’t I still be just as dead if someone attacks?”

  “Do you stop breathing when you write? Does your heart stop beating?”

  “No, but that’s completely different than fighting.”

  “Not for us. Your body can be trained to fight while your mind uses magic. The priests believe in using magic alone and that makes them vulnerable.”

  “Okay, that’s really good to know, but it’s actually the Painter I have to fight, not the priests. I mean, the priests have already tried to kill me once, and one of them possibly more than once, whereas the Painter hasn’t done anything except bring me here, yet for some reason, I’m taking Isis’s word for it that he’s the enemy.”

  Malie aimed the spear at me and thrust it, stopping an inch from my throat before I had a chance to react. “Do you want to die?”

  “No.”

  “Then everyone who wants to kill you is your enemy.”

  “I see your point. Can you get it out of my face, please?” The first thing I’m going to do when I get home, after drinking ten gallons of coffee, is join a martial arts class. Actually, those two probably didn’t mix well.

  Malie did retract her spear a couple of feet. “How long do you think it takes to master magic?”

  “Well, from the priests, it looks like ten to fifteen years or so.”

  “You’re wrong. It takes a lifetime. You cannot master magic any more than you can master writing. It has no end, and if you stop practicing and learning, you lose the skill. You learn magic until you die, and possibly beyond that.”

  That wasn’t particularly encouraging.

  “Do you want to die?”

  “I already told
you I don’t.”

  “How much do you want to live?”

  “Um…?”

  “If you want to survive in a fight against the Painter, you must want to live more than he wants to kill you.”

  “Right. That’s good to hear; it doesn’t matter how much I suck as long as I have faith in myself.”

  “That is not what I said. Clear your mind of doubt and focus on your determination to live.”

  I thought carefully about it before saying, “I’m not sure how to do that.”

  “Why do you want to live?”

  “Because I don’t want to die.”

  “That’s not a reason. What is your purpose? What do you want to do with your life?”

  I had to think even harder about that. Eventually, I said, “I stand by what I said. I want to live because I don’t want to die. There are things I want to do in life, like be a famous author, play Dungeons and Dragons, crush escape rooms, and protect my brother. I want to make sure he and I have the opportunities our parents didn’t. I want us to travel and experience adventure… safely. I don’t really care what comes after death because all I know is what we can do while we’re alive. I can’t come back from death. Thus, I want to live because I don’t want to die.”

  After a moment, she nodded. “That is a good reason. Focus on your desire to live. Feel it. Imagine what it would feel like to face death and refuse to let it take you.”

  My magic hurt people I cared about and people that pissed me off. It never hurt me. I never faced death. Instead, I faced being alone.

  I imagined the Painter appearing at that moment and trying to kill me. I imagined he would open a black hole beneath me or conjure a thousand daggers that would rain down on me. Unfortunately, all I could think of was him going after Luca. Then I realized that I didn’t know any magic to protect him, just like I didn’t know how to protect our parents. The sand people and priests could teach me how to…

  If I lived long enough.

  I’m damn sure going to live. Luca needs me. I’ve been so concerned with losing my friends and parents, while Luca lost two sets of parents. The Painter and the gods were each trying to pit me against the other, neither caring if I died. Luca cared if I died, though, and he was more important than either of them to me. I wasn’t going to die over a stolen book.

  “Hold onto that feeling,” Malie said, as if she sensed what I was thinking. “Now imagine a protective wall in front of you. It’s invisible, but it’s as strong as your desire to live. Force that determination into a shield and say ‘ikem’ when you’re ready.”

  I closed my eyes to concentrate and felt a sharp pain burst from my shoulder. “What the fuck was that for?” I groused, cradling my shoulder. She had whacked me with her spear, but I wasn’t bleeding.

  “You don’t fight with your eyes closed. If you don’t want to lose your eyes, then use them.”

  “I was getting… never mind.” Watching her closely, I tried to get back my focus. It took longer, but when I did manage it, I imagined a shield of energy in front of me, which was created solely by my determination to live.

  I saw a sphere of red fire form in her hand an instant before she threw it at me. It hit me square in the chest with a strong enough force that it sent me flying backwards and knocked the breath from my lungs. As I remained crumpled up, trying to draw in a breath, she stood over me. “Not good enough. You don’t believe in your power.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but the pressure in my chest didn’t let up enough for me to make any sound beyond a harsh wheezing.

  “The gods don’t care about you. The Painter doesn’t care about you. The priests don’t care about you. We don’t care about you. No one is going to save you except you. You have the power. When you believe in it, you will react with magic instinctively.”

  “I know I have power. People are dead because of it.”

  “Magic does not kill people. If people died from your magic, it is because you---”

  “You shut your mouth,” Luca interrupted, his voice low. He was standing in the entrance of the tent, glaring at Malie with hellfire in his eyes. If he had any magic, she would be dead.

  “I am not---”

  “I’m not done!” Luca barked, interrupting her again. “How dare you accuse my brother of killing anyone?!”

  I had never in my life seen him so angry, and it was creepy.

  “Nathan is no killer. If you’re suggesting he is, then you and I have a problem.”

  She glanced at me for a moment, judging my response to Luca’s threat. I had enough time to wonder if the fact that we were from two different worlds affected her judgment before I recognized the resolve in her own eyes. I was already reacting when another ball of fire formed in her hand. The ball flew at Luca, but I had already focused my power on protecting him.

  “Ikem!” I hadn’t even realized I said it out loud until the fire struck an invisible force in front of him and dissolved harmlessly. It took all my effort not to shove Malie out of my way as I went to my brother. Furious beyond words, I grabbed him by the hood of his robe and pushed him out. He offered no resistance.

  “That’s what your power is meant for,” Malie said just before we were out of earshot.

  “Are we leaving?” Luca asked.

  “I’m not sure yet.” We returned to the tent we had slept in the night before. I wasn’t a violent person, but I wanted to be at that moment. Malie threatened Luca in order to prove a point, and she did prove it. I was elated that I could use magic to protect him and myself. At the same time, I wanted to tear Malie apart for attacking Luca like that. I wasn’t used to such anger. The worst part was that I still needed her to teach me more magic.

  “I’m starting to think coffee chills you out,” Luca said. Somehow, that cracked the bubble of anger I was stewing in.

  I laughed, though it sounded a little hysterical. “That’s right. I’ve been suppressing Mr. Hyde with coffee for years. Are you okay?”

  He smiled. “Not a scratch, thanks to you. It was my fault anyway for sticking my nose in your lesson.”

  “That wasn’t your fault.”

  “Well, you did learn something that would help us fight the Painter. I think you should learn that fireball trick, though.”

  “Why? Compared to the Painter’s powers, what’s a little colorful fire?”

  He rolled his eyes. “We both read Firestarter. Think about that and tell me fire isn’t the best weapon.”

  “Books are the best weapon.”

  He nodded. “Okay, I stand corrected. You should beat the Painter over the head with a book. Fire is the coolest weapon.”

  * * *

  An hour later, when someone brought us food and water, I was calm enough to see people again and not want to bite their faces off. At Luca’s insistence, I sought Malie out and found her in a different tent, sharpening another spear. “Attacking innocent people is not the way to gain my help,” I started.

  She continued sharpening and didn’t look at me. “I realized I might have crossed a line with you. It occurred to me after you left that your culture is different. I had a younger brother.”

  “Had?”

  “He was eaten right in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. My father was killed before I was born and my mother died when I was ten. I raised my baby brother. We’re all going to die out here. We’re born knowing that. We hold off death as long as we can and we do that with magic. My energy sphere was meant to make you let go of your fear, not push you into it. It would not have hurt him, but I realize now that you have only seen magic used for harm.”

  I forced myself to let go of my anger. Unfortunately, that left a disturbing realization; I had the capacity to become violent. There was a lot of darkness buried in me, and I didn’t want that to surface. “I’m glad I can put up a magic shield. Does it have any weaknesses?”

  “It is only as strong as you are. It can protect you against magic, not blades, and if you face someone stronger, it ca
n be cracked. However, don’t let that be your downfall. You are powerful, so what you really need is confidence and practice. With that, your shield can become unbreakable.”

  “I need to be able to attack as well. Are your fireballs good for anything besides looking pretty and knocking the breath out of people?”

  “It is not used as a weapon, because it’s not fire and won’t catch. It can, however, distract, blind, and disorient your opponent.”

  “If it’s not fire, what is it?”

  “It is a physical manifestation of your power. It usually looks like fire, but I’ve seen powerful people make lightning of it, and that’s when it gets dangerous. I have scared away many opponents by displaying my power this way,” she said, another ball forming in her hand.

  “I haven’t seen anyone at the temple doing it.”

  “And you won’t. We pass down all our knowledge of magic to our children, while the priests keep it to themselves.”

  “You’re only willing to teach me because I’m willing to help you get food, though.”

  “You are a caster of Syndrial and that makes us kin. Magic is meant to be shared.”

  “As is food, in my opinion. That actually brings up an important issue; I’m not human. I thought I was cursed, but I never thought I didn’t belong on Earth.”

  “Did anyone say you were born here?”

  “Isis did.”

  “Did she say your parents were both native? One of them had to be for you to speak the common language natively, but that doesn’t mean they both were. You could be half human. Although some people don’t like it, we have had visitors from other worlds. I have even seen a portal before. There are ruins out here with records of otherworld visitors.”

  “That is actually comforting. I don’t normally think of people mating with aliens as a possibility.”

  “We are all people, even if we come from different worlds.”

  “Luca is going to have a lot of research to do when we get back to the priests— if we get back to them. You guys don’t have two hearts, do you?”

  She shook her head, frowning as if I’d asked a ridiculous question.