Dreaming
Alrion was dreaming. The realisation was sudden, but also confusing. He was in the same room that he had discovered that day. His grandfather’s desk prominently sitting in the middle.
Is the Pool of Knowledge trying to tell me something else?
Alrion saw a wizard looking out the window. He started to approach, and the wizard turned to face him.
“Dad?” Alrion said, not sure if he believed it.
“Hello, Alrion. How are you doing?” Vincent smiled. Alrion had to suppress the urge to run up and hug his father.
“Oh, I get it. You’re not really there, you are a manifestation of my mind trying to help me realise some crucial knowledge from the Pool.” Alrion sighed.
“I take offence to that, I made considerable effort to get here.” Vincent shook his head and chuckled.
“What do you mean? You died. Unless…”
“No, I’m pretty sure I really died. But I did arrange to have a conversation with you, so I’m glad we are here talking.”
“That doesn’t seem possible. Say something that nobody else would know?”
“Let’s see here. Your mother knows I’m the mysterious wizard that’s been following you around all this time. Does that work?” Vincent smiled. Alrion felt himself grinning. He couldn’t help it.
“So, it is you!” Alrion ran over and hugged his father. It did feel like him too. The pain at losing him suddenly arced up and Alrion had to fight back tears.
“I’m so sorry, Alrion, to be so secretive and then disappear from your life. It all worked out, didn’t it?”
“Yes, we did it. The Blight is back to what it was, and the world is cured. Many people have awoken, although there are also many who didn’t survive the transition back.” Alrion tried not to think about those.
“Good, good. I’m glad it wasn’t in vain. Who is running the academy now?”
“Ashra. Falric came back to help initiate him but won’t stay long.”
“Hah!” Vincent laughed. “I suggested to Ashra that he should do that. Glad to hear he’s there.”
“I suggested it too, I guess great minds do think alike.”
“I think we just don’t want to be responsible for a group of wizards.” Vincent grinned.
“I think you’re right.” Alrion sighed. “How does this work? How long are you here?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I think it’s a one-off short-term type arrangement. To be honest, it was very much luck on my side. I wasn’t sure it was going to work.”
“What did you do?”
“Remember when we were in the thick of it? Saving the world? Well, I grafted a piece of my soul onto you while we were linked. And here we are.” Vincent shrugged.
“You didn’t know what would happen?”
“Not at all, but I had suspicions. It was all a bit desperate really, but it worked. So I’ll claim it. Anyway, I want to hear what you’re doing now. Did you follow my instructions?”
“Yes, I found this place.” Alrion gestured at the room they were standing in. “And I found Granthion’s spellbook.”
“Amazing! Hopefully, you’ll get more out of it than I did.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, since I never advanced my study of Soul Power, a lot of it was unavailable to me until recently. And I didn’t exactly have time to sit down with it. But you do.”
“Yes, I have nothing but time at the moment.”
“It’s good, enjoy it for the rest of us.” Vincent paused, then his eyes brightened. “You know, Alrion, this is the part where I’m supposed to wish you a long and prosperous life and tell you to follow your heart and discover your true path.” Vincent watched Alrion, gauging his reaction.
“That would be a nice thing to say. But instead?”
“Instead, I’m going to ask a tiny favour.” Vincent walked over to the desk and opened up Granthion’s spellbook. “It’s not even a favour, it’s just a recommendation. When you do have time to look at the spellbook, I suggest this one. It looks quite interesting.” Vincent tapped the page and stood back. Alrion walked over and carefully leant over, looking at the page.
Resurrection Spell
“You know, I think I could find time to look at something like that.” Alrion looked up, but his father was gone. Nowhere to be seen.
“You have impeccable timing.” Alrion laughed to himself. But his father was right. The spell did look quite interesting. And he needed a new challenge. As the dream started to fade, Alrion smiled and started planning his next move.
Did you enjoy the book?
Thank you for joining me on this epic adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading the series as much as I enjoyed writing it. There were definitely some tough patches to work through, but it was an amazing experience and I’m really happy with how it came together to fulfil my original vision of the story.
I’d be delighted if you could please leave a review on amazon to let me and other readers know how you found the final volume in the series.
Want more from The Hidden Wizard?
I am working on a shorter story set after the events of the series called The Forbidden Spell. It will be available exclusively to my reader community / newsletter subscribers. If you’re interested in reading it or other stories in the world of The Hidden Wizard, I’ve put together a page on my site collating what else there is to read.
About the Author
Vaughan W. Smith is a fiction writer from Sydney, Australia, who explores big life questions through story. His favourite genres are Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction and Thrillers.
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For Hugo
Copyright © 2018 by Vaughan W. Smith
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN: 978-0-6481931-2-8
Soul of Light (The Hidden Wizard Book 4) Page 41