Olivia’s room was on the ground floor, having been given a guest room pending her results. I left Anwher to guide her, as they both seemed a little eager to be alone. My room was on the fifth floor, per my rank.
The room had an eternity spring, and an inscribed spell that would allow even a Common to change the temperature to their liking. After days of traveling, I soaked in the bath after conducting my usual trap check. Despite the length of the soak, I still arrived a little early for lunch in the main area.
Olivia and Anwher had arrived before me, and were deep in conversation. I grabbed some food off the line, before sitting across from them. “The place has changed much since I was here last.”
“The new King,” Anwher turned to me to explain, “Placed an Expert from each Tower in his personal guard. Even for him it wasn’t cheap, and the Archmage in charge of each Tower used the sums as they saw fit. Our Archmage thought to update the decorations.”
“Ten Experts to guard the King?” I shook my head, “I wonder what he is afraid of happening.”
“Charon would be my guess.” Anwher looked around, “But between you and me, I don’t think even the Archmages would be able to stop him if he really wanted to kill the King.”
“I’m glad you place so much faith in our abilities, Expert Anwher. Especially mine.”
At the sound of the voice, Anwher jumped out of his seat and bowed low. “Apologies, Archmage. I was…”
The Archmage cut him off, “Voicing your concerns with how powerful Charon is rumored to be.” Here he sighed, “To be honest, it would be difficult for us to stop him if he so wished to kill the King. There is nothing in this world more dangerous than a man with the drive and willingness to do anything to accomplish his goal. Isn’t that right, Apprentice of Charon?”
I stood slowly, “Archmage Talkide. I wasn’t aware of your promotion, congratulations.”
Anwher’s mouth dropped open as he realized why my name was so familiar.
“Thank you. I see you have come here to be Tested for Advancement.”
“It has been awhile since my last Test. I also found a Potential, and would like to see her tested as well.” I waved to Olivia who stood and bowed, but didn’t speak.
“There has been a drop in Potentials brought to the Tower, I’m glad to see that you here.” The Archmage nodded to Olivia before turning to me again. “I’ll be Testing you, as will eleven others.”
“Then I am assured that all decisions regarding my rank are fair if you are involved, Archmage.” I bowed again.
“Flattery has long since lost its appeal.”
“It is only flattery if it is not the truth.” I smiled, “Or if I hope to gain favor by saying it.”
“Hmm.” Archmage Talkide smiled, “Charon taught you to speak well, and soon I will see how well he taught you to manipulate the ether.”
“I hope to live up to your expectations.”
“Hm.” The Archmage bowed, “I shall see you soon.”
The three of us bowed, and I turned to Anwher, “I’d ask you to keep my name to yourself for the time being.”
His face showed the struggle of his decision, “Fine.”
Olivia sat back down, nervously picking at her food. I joined her, eating heartily at the food. Mages never paid for anything while in the Tower, as everything was provided by the Lord of the City. In return for the accomodations, the Mages helped the citizens of the City at minimal cost. Some Mages went out on their own to the outlying villages and towns to provide services.
“I’m one of the Examiners for Olivia.” Anwher sat down and began to eat. “I got the notification just before lunch.”
“I’m guessing you aren’t part of the Healing faction?” I laid down my utensils. “My guess would be Wards and Creation based on your work here.”
“Yup.” He grinned, “I’ve written some doozies, but it’s hard to find enough power. I guess I’m more Spell Theory than Creation.”
“Interesting.” I grabbed the plate of food in front of Olivia as well as my own. I left Anwher and Olivia alone to eat, knowing that as long as she stuck with him, she would get to the testing grounds on time. It took me some time, but I tracked down the Archmage and asked him for a small favor.
After the favor was granted, I went back to my room and laid down to nap. A couple hours passed, before a knock on my door woke me up. I waved at the door, and it opened to show me Olivia.
“So?” I lifted my head up from the pillow.
She grinned, “Trainee, of the middle level.”
“Hm.” I laid back down, “And your discipline?”
“Undetermined.” There was a note of nervousness in her voice.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“It means you have some more time to decide where you want to focus your study of the ether.” I swung my legs over the bed and stood up, “Get some rest, we’ll see your family tomorrow.”
“How did your test go?”
I stopped beside her, “I haven’t taken it yet, I asked to have it delayed until your test was finished.” My hand rested on her shoulder, “You did well. Now rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Leaving Olivia stunned, I made my way down to the basement. There were several large rooms for testing, meant to contain any wayward spells that would otherwise wreck the Tower. On the other side of the cavern, I found another set of stairs leading to a much larger testing area with heavier wards all around it.
The Archmage, and a dozen Experts were all waiting for me. They stood, and I bowed in their direction, “Thank you for the opportunity.”
One of the Experts, a woman in her fifth decade, spoke, “Charon was never so polite during the Tests. He thought they were beneath him, and scorned having to take part.”
Tension filled the air at the mention of Charon. I glanced at all the Experts, not a single one less than twice my age. “Maybe he believed the tests should be more challenging to prevent those undeserving from advancing.”
“You dare-” The woman was cut off as the Archmage raised his hand.
“There is only one way to find the truth, and that is to test it.” He looked at me, “Do you wish to proceed?”
I nodded, “I do, but I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask for a higher-level of testing.”
“You wish to test as a Master?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmmm.” The Archmage looked at the Examiners. “Your circumstances are already far removed from the normal conditions.”
I nodded, accepting the statement. Very few Mages ever excelled in more than one or two Disciplines, and I was to be tested in all the major Disciplines. Every Novice and Trainee learned the basics, but only the Archmage and Battlemage were at least Expert in the major ones. Charon, in order to earn his title as Battlemage, was tested by all the Archmages at the time in every Discipline before the actual fighting.
“If you insist,” The Archmage sighed, “You must first pass the Expert tests, and then with my power assisting you must pass the Master-level tests. No breaks.”
“Accepted.” I took a deep breath, “I’m ready when the rest of you are.”
Chapter 12
The first test was Illusion, given by the overzealous Expert that had been the first to speak. She asked me to create a double of myself. I made a couple small motions with my hands, and like I was staring into a mirror, there was a complete image of myself that began to walk around the cavern. I didn’t need the motions, but taking the tests without a break was going to be difficult if I didn’t budget my reserves correctly.
Each test kept a steady drain on me, and by the last test, where I demonstrated my ability to Manipulate Matter by creating diamonds, I was sweating a little. The Archmage nodded at my accomplishment, asking if I wished to continue.
I licked my dry lips and nodded. The Illusion Expert came forward first, having rested in between my tasks. She told me to create an illusion so real, that no one would realize it was fake.
&nbs
p; The other Examiners looked a little shocked at the level that was being asked of me, but I complied without question. The air began to grow a little colder as the torches burned low, and soon everyone was seeing their breath. I hadn’t moved my hands, but when I did, I took advantage of the group flinch to complete the illusion I had been building in my head.
We were all standing in a snow field, while a blizzard blew by. The Examiners tried to draw up on the ether to heat themselves, but as there was no life in this frozen wasteland, they had only their reserves that were blocked by the strength of the illusion.
“Enough.” The Archmage, the only one strong enough to resist, nodded to me and I dropped the illusion. “Pass.” He looked to the Examiner, who agreed without speaking.
The next Examiner came up, and each task was almost as outrageous in the demands. I barely finished the last one, and had dregs in my reserves. Each one of the Examiners looked at me with new respect, but the Archmage stepped forward.
“You have one final test, Gantz.” He stood a few feet in front of me. “Put yourself into ethershock, and pull yourself out.”
I panted, drained of all but the last dregs in my reserves. The wards around the cavern kept the individuals who were testing from drawing anything except their own ether and the ambient as a way to prevent cheating in the tests with outside help. “Fine.”
I knew that the Archmage wouldn’t ask me to perform an impossible task, and so I pushed the last of my ether into the surrounding area. The Examiners stumbled at the force, but I was too busy falling down to take pride in the amount of force even my dregs could summon. No longer could I feel anything except the inner workings of my body, and even that was a horror to see as each part began to shut down in order to preserve my heart and brain. My body frantically scrounged for any drops of ether, something to delay death. It seemed to take hours, even though I knew on some level that it was only seconds.
Slowly I began to think back, to when Charon was training me to be more than just a Mage….
“Get up, boy!”
I dodged the kick, trying for a wild slash to hit my tormentor.
“Good. Never stop looking for an opening, even when facing death.” Charon rested his “sword” on his shoulder. I knew from past experience that it was a false stance designed to lure in opponents. My collarbone still stung after having been broken last week. Working with a Mage meant injuries healed much faster, and the cost of pain.
My body moved in a circle, with Charon at its center. He always kept me in the corner of his eye. Again experience taught me that if I took too long, he would initiate the attack and I would again be layered in bruises. I continued to cycle, keeping my breathing even as the ether flowed through me. After learning the skill of cycling, I could now at least see the beginnings of the attacks that my teacher would launch at me and guess at a proper defense.
While cycling didn’t use up my meager amount of ether, it did place a burden on my body when I used it to react and move faster than I thought was previously possible. I began to breathe harder, no longer letting my reserves flow through my body. Instead I pushed the ether through its loops, forcing it to bolster my nerves and give me a fighting chance.
I leapt, launching a series of attacks that Charon blocked or dodged with consummate ease only a veteran of countless battles would be able to do. My muscles began to tear, but I gritted my teeth and pushed them farther. I had seen addicts before, so dependent on the drug that they had been stabbed half a dozen times and still continued to attack the guards until enough blood left their body. I both heard and felt the snap as something in me broke, and a white light filled my vision.
Immediately after the light, darkness began to set in. Before it could consume me completely, a wall was built that held it back. Slowly but surely, the wall advanced and pushed back the darkness until I was sitting up next to the pool with Charon sitting on a rock nearby.
“Welcome to the land of the living.” He hopped off the rock, and grabbed a potion from his bag. “Drink this, it’ll help get your wits straight.”
I caught the potion and without checking, chugged it down. The fire hit my throat and stomach at the same time, making me cough and splutter. “What the Gods is that?”
“Cheap liquor. Made from wheat.” He got back on his rock, “So what happened?”
“I pushed my cycling, and pushed my body.” I looked down at myself, suddenly wondering how I was able to move without pain. “I could feel my body tearing itself apart, until something snapped and I could no longer feel anything but the darkness consuming me.”
“And?”
“And then there was a wall, that pushed back the darkness.” I looked at him, “Was that you, Master?”
“No.” Charon sighed, “I shouldn’t be telling you this until you are ready to be a Master Mage, but you have touched on something that is why every trainer keeps their student from going into ethershock.”
I shook my head, “I don’t understand, Master. I wasn’t drawing from the ambient ether, and I wasn’t taking any out of my body to do spells. How did I go into ethershock?”
The flick on my forehead, despite the fact the Charon hadn’t moved, shut me up.
“You said it yourself, you were pushing the ether through your body. Why don’t you cycle in your sleep?”
“I wouldn’t be able to control it, and that could ruin my rhythm.”
“True for you, but still wrong. Cycling elevates you to a level beyond human, but to do that you need the fuel to feed the fire. By pushing the ether, you burned more than your body could handle, and so it shut down your connection to the ether in order to preserve itself.” He held up a hand to keep me from asking any questions. “While your body was busy dying, the ether has a mind of its own. You see, the ether wants to be manipulated. It needs to be moved around by mages in order to… freshen itself. Like a stagnant pond that becomes contaminated. When your body pushed the ether out, it began to look for you in order to take up residence. It found you in time, and healed you while fighting off death.”
“Master, you speak like the ether has a mind of its own.” I scanned the environment to see the ether lazily flowing around.
“Doesn’t it?” Charon cocked his head, eyebrow raised. He shrugged, “As far as you are concerned, if you ever go into ethershock, pray. A Healer can hopefully keep you alive long enough for the ether to find you and make its home in you again. If there isn’t one… try to make a wish just before the ether leaves your body completely. Make it a good wish.”
The ether came flooding back into me, much like water filling a hole. I sat up to see the Examiners all sitting at a table, eating and talking amongst themselves.
Before I could move, the Archmage rose, “Congratulations Master Gantz.”
The rest of the Examiners stood, and while not all of them were happy to be passed by someone who had only been an Adept the day before, they echoed the Archmage’s words. I bowed to them in recognition of their thanks. My body was completely refreshed, but I knew that the feeling was only temporary. Soon I would need to go to my room and sleep in order to recover.
Archmage Talkide smiled, “If the rest of you could please give us a moment.”
The dismissal apparent, the rest of the Examiners left. I went over to the table and began to eat, “So I’m a Master now?”
“There’s a ceremony, presentation to the King, and then the declaration of your Discipline as well as your Oath. After that you’ll be an official Master Mage.” He sat, wine goblet in hand. “The youngest Master in the history of the Towers.”
I shook my head, “There have been others.”
“Of a single Discipline, or maybe of two.” He took a drink, “But there has never been someone who passed the tests in a single go, for the major Disciplines.”
“Flattery has long since lost its appeal,” I grinned to show I meant my words as a jest.
Archmage Talkide grinned back, “It isn’t flattery if it is the truth.”
My mouth began to work on a piece of the smoked pork, and the Archmage took it as a sign to continue.
“When would you like to set everything up? Normally we would ask the King, but something tells me he would be willing to clear a space in his schedule for you. Also it is a two week ride to the Capital City, which gives him time to prepare.”
“I’m not going before the King.” I paused in my meal. “I’m not taking the Oath.”
The air began to grow cold, literally. In seconds there was frost on the table and all the dishes. “Tread carefully, Gantz.”
The Crimson Road Page 6