A Deepening Knowledge (A Life of Magic)

by Matthew Mitchell

  * * *

  "I said focus!" Victor bellowed again.

  I stood there and stared at him. He floated above me, literally making circles around me while commanding me to fly. My morning had started out with breakfast and then the challenges started. First Victor challenged me in simple ways. Making a shield of pure air, creating a shield with no air inside, creating a small wind, things like this. A few times it took me some time to figure it out, yet this last one had me stumped. Victor had simply commanded me to fly, to float, to get my feet off the ground. I had failed so far. I did not even know where to start. To make matters even worse I had an audience. All my travel companions, Stain, Conium, Raven, Breezy, Mei-Lin, and Gavin sat and watched me fail.

  "Perhaps we need to change your focus." Victor landed next to me. "Let's try something different."

  He led me over to the edge of the cliff. We looked over and I could see that there were clouds below us. The bottom was so far away that I was unable to discern details.

  "I think your mind is getting in the way of your magic. This happens to all mages on some level. We think too much about what we are doing, how we are going to do it, sometimes even more silly things."

  He turned and pointed to Raven. "Please come here young woman." Raven approached, if hesitantly. Victor put his hands on Raven's shoulders and moved her to stand right in front of me. "Now, I want you to look deep into this young, beautiful woman's eyes."

  I looked closely and realized she was blushing. Her eyes were deep pools of emotion that I felt myself falling into the longer I looked.

  Victor stated, "Now, think of how you feel about her. Your thoughts, emotions, all of that snarled mess that you hold inside."

  I felt myself blushing now. I felt so many things for Raven. My thoughts were tangled into massive knots. Raven must have seen some of this because she grinned shyly.

  Victor calmly said, "Now. Save her." And with that he threw Raven off the cliff. She cried out and reached for me as she went flying past.

  I lunged for her yet she was already beyond my reach. Without thinking I jumped off the cliff after her, only thinking that I would save her somehow. As the cliff raced by I panicked, how was I going to save not only Raven but myself.

  Suddenly Raven flew away from the cliff and slowed down. As I plunged past her I saw that she was still scared, yet hanging in mid-air. Obviously being held there by magic, most likely Victor's. Now I just had to save myself. Realizing that this was all part of Victor's test and way of making me focus I also realized that the ground was quickly approaching, which would make all my other thoughts a moot point. I thought about what Victor had said, that air magic was about focus. Trying to hold the wind and understanding that it was not about control of the air but control of myself. I focused my magic and tried to think of how I could control myself and stop falling, using air magic. I realized I was thinking about it all wrong and tried another method. Suddenly I could feel that the air around me was dragging more on me, I was slowing down. I looked down just before I hit. Striking the bottom I bounced. Some magic formed a cushion at the bottom of the cliff. It was not my magic that caused me to slow down, it was Victor's. Speaking of which I could see him approaching, like a mighty bird of prey.

  "I thought that would kick you into overdrive." He landed beside me and looked at me closely. "Well, I am not sure what to do with you. Except that until you can fly you stay down here."

  Looking around I saw that I was in a deep bowl. There did not look to be any real way to climb out. I looked back at Victor and felt real anger. My expression must have shown it.

  "My job is not to make you happy. Nor is it to be gentle. My job, as I understand it, is to make sure you can do air magic and do it well." He smiled a cold smile at me, "If that means playing mean and tossing people off cliffs then so be it." He took off and looked down at me. "There is a small stream that flows into this bowl, no food will be given to you until you can fly back to the compound on your own. Perhaps that will motivate you, young men do love to eat." He zoomed up the cliff and out of sight. Raven was no longer hanging in mid-air, she had floated upwards slowly. At least she was safe.

  I looked around and sighed. It looked like my day was going to be no fun. I walked around a little and looked at my little prison. Some basic plants, the small stream, and rocks. That was it. I heard a noise and looked around. One of the rocks now sported a purple tiger. "Breezy, what are you doing here?"

  She looked at me and smiled, "That is not the question you should be asking."

  I thought a moment and looked around, "How did you get down here?"

  Smiling she stated, "Now that is the right question!" Hopping up she walked around a little and took a deep drink. "I flew."

  Looking at her my mouth dropped, "You can fly?"

  "No reason why I can not. I am an air mage after all." She hopped up on the rock and hopped higher, into the air and just hung there. She curled up, like she was laying on the rock still. "You could also if you would focus correctly."

  Great, now I was being mocked by a cat.

  Seeing my face Breezy smiled, "Oh I am not making fun of you. Or even light of your situation. I simply am pointing out that what you are trying to do is not that complicated, if you would just focus on flying."

  Sighing loudly, "How do I fly? I have no wings!"

  Breezy laughed deeply, "Neither do I, yet here I am. Floating on air."

  I sat down and thought. "I keep trying to think of how to fly, yet the only things I have seen fly are winged creatures."

  She looked around and smiled, "You are not winged. So that is not how you can fly. Figure out something else." She started to circle the small bowl. Simply moving while appearing to be at rest.

  "So what else can fly." I asked her.

  Laughing she buzzed near my head. "Me, silly boy."

  "But how?" I cried out. I was getting quite frustrated.

  "Why, by lifting yourself with air." She flew around the bowl some more while I pondered that idea.

  I looked down and considered what she said. Air normally would not support anything, yet I had done amazing things with earth and water. Why not with air? How would I lift myself with air? I walked through the possibilities I could make myself lighter, yet that would not be using air. I could create a large wind to lift me, yet that was not what Breezy was doing. How could I replicate the same idea as what she was doing? She really looked like she was sitting on a flat surface. Perhaps she was changing the air to support her? I looked around and spied a few rocks nearby. Picking one up I focused on the air, trying to harden it in a small place. I tossed the rock out and onto the hardened air. It bounced slightly and slid off. Smiling I gently set the next rock on the shelf of air.

  "That is the start of it." Breezy was behind me and her breath on my neck startled me. The rock plummeted to the earth. "Oh, that would be bad if you were the rock." She smiled and flew upwards just a bit. "Just ignore me. I will stay back so you can figure it out."

  I smiled and nodded, "I think I finally figured it out. I have to change the air so that it will support me, not make myself do something."

  "Correct young mage!" She did a loop. "Now, try it on yourself."

  I focused and formed a pad of air, hopefully firm enough to hold me. It was now or nothing. I stepped up on the air pad. It gave slightly, seeming to be squishy. "I think it is working."

  "A little more power, if it is too soft you could fall off the air." Breezy landed lightly beside me. "Now, shall we see if you can fly?" She leaped upwards and flew away.

  I grinned and poured more magic into the pad of air. It hardened under me. I focused and started rising. Soon Breezy came into view.

  "Catch me if you can little man!" She raced upwards faster.

  I pushed harder and quickly was racing upwards fast enough that the wind was whipping past me with a whistle. The cliff edge was quickly approaching. I flew past it at a very fast speed. Everyone was still there, talking it seemed. Raven
was talking to Stain. I could tell she was upset, yet Stain was being gentle with her.

  I must have called out or made some form of noise because everyone was suddenly looking up at me as I flew even higher. I looked around and realized I was high enough to see all the compound. Some buildings were obviously destroyed or fallen in, while others were newly restored. A mix of old and new pieces.

  "You are now flying." Breezy stated as she flew next to me. "This is the hardest thing for a new air mage to learn. It takes complete reliance on your own abilities to keep you safe." She did some complex flips and loops. "Now, shall we go down and find out what is next?" She suddenly dropped from the sky and straight at the group of our friends.

  I smiled and did the same. I let the disc of air vanish and started dropping downwards at a great speed. I smiled as I picked up speed. Forming a small disc of air I slowed down until I was almost to the ground. I hung just off the ground for a moment and then dropped the last bit. The ground was unstable, so I stumbled a little. Which meant I was off balance when Raven jumped into my arms. We tumbled to the ground.

  "I was so scared that you were going to die." She whispered into my ear. Her hug was fierce. I could feel the tears flowing down her face.

  I hugged her back and smiled, "I was scared I was going to die too, but I was more afraid something was going to happen to you. That is why I jumped after you."

  "Ahem." Stain's voice cut through. "I think that might be enough testing for now." He reached down and pulled both of us to our feet.

  Victor walked up. "Well, I am done with my testing anyway."

  I looked at Victor, "What was the point of that last test?"

  Victor smiled, "Why to see how you would respond. I have given that test to most of my students and very few were willing to throw themselves after a friend or loved one. Most try to catch them using magic. I now have a much better idea of who you are and what kind of person you are."

  "What do you know now?" Raven was still upset.

  Victor looked at her and smiled. "One thing I know is he has a good heart, one full of courage. He also is a little thick in the head at times. He is a quick learner." He looked closer at Raven. "I think that is enough for now."

  I looked around and realized that it was getting about time for lunch. "I am famished. Fear and nearly dieing must make you hungry." Putting my arm through Raven's I started heading towards the main hall, where the food was to be served at each meal. Raven leaned against my arm as we walked. I could hear the others following behind, talking and enjoying each others company.

  "What would you have done if Victor had not stopped my fall?" Raven whispered.

  I stopped and looked at her. "I would have at least saved you somehow. A shield at the least. One for me also."

  She nodded. "Do not leave me alone. I have been alone too much in my life."

  We entered the main hall and found places to sit. Food was being brought to each table and we all sat down to eat. The other air mages discussed how Victor had tossed them and others off that same cliff. One admitted that there were spells enchanted into the cliff and the bowl to keep everyone safe. Nobody had ever been hurt while being tested there. Lunch wrapped quickly.

  "Everyone has things to do. Conium, Raven, Ott, you three go work on some of your skills. I have to take counsel with Victor, Mei-Lin, and Gavin." Stain stood up and followed the rest out of the room.

  Conium looked at us, "Shall we make a fun poison to use on Victor?"

  Raven and I looked at each other and laughed. This afternoon might be fun after all.

  * * *

  While we spent the afternoon working on poisons and herbs we did not make any for Victor. As we worked Conium showed us how we could add different ingredients to change minor things like color, smell, even taste without making large changes to the effects of the concoction

  "This is something that has to be done with some medicines. Otherwise the flavor makes it hard to take. It works especially well with children and those who cannot tolerate strong flavors." Conium was sniffing her latest concoction "This one, without any additional flavors would cause most people to gag and maybe even vomit." She held it out to us. "With the addition of just a small amount of herbs it becomes palatable, if not tasty."

  We smelled the concoction The smell reminded me of fall nights, the smell of the wind. Crisp leaves and maybe smoky fires. Raven took a sniff and sneezed.

  "I think it smells like harvest time." Raven stated, handing it back to Conium.

  Conium smiled, "Now, smell the original medicine." Handing a larger pan to me she smiled.

  I took a deep breath and the smell of burnt flesh, decayed leaves, and the sharp scent of oily smoke flooded into my nose. I thrust the pan towards Conium and tried to breath fresh air.

  Raven watched me and hesitantly took a much shallower smell of the pan. She also disliked the smell. Her nose squinched up. "That is a big difference in smell."

  Conium grinned and nodded. "You would be surprised in how easy it is to change the flavor of things. Some are harder, most are fairly easy." Her grin took on a much nastier look, "Which is one thing you need to know if you are working with poisons."

  Raven and I looked at each other and frowned.

  I turned to Conium, "I really do not want to poison anyone."

  Conium nodded, "I do not want you to poison anyone either. It is an unpleasant task that is usually defined as being needed by those in power. However there have been occasions where I think poison is the answer to a difficult problem."

  I sat and thought about this for a while while we worked. Where would poison be the proper answer? Why not just a direct confrontation? After struggling with it for a while I finally turned to Conium. "What makes it acceptable to poison someone?"

  She sighed and set down what she was working on, a small puff of blue gas coming from the vial. "I have had to struggle through that question myself. Sometimes there are those who must be removed from a situation without it being obvious that you were the one doing the removal. Now that does not mean that you have to kill someone. You can also simply cause someone as minor a problem as an upset stomach. A minor illness can be as powerful a game changer as someone dying. More so in some cases. Also not all poisons cause harm. Some are embarrassing, irritating, or annoying. I once was required to make a potion that would cause a person to sneeze every few minutes. No harm done to the woman, yet it kept her from causing problems at a meeting since she was busy trying not to sneeze loudly."

  I laughed and smiled, "Okay. So I guess I can understand that use of poisons."

  Conium picked up her vial and smelled it, "Now there are times you need someone to die without anyone suspecting that you were involved or even that the person was killed. An illness could just as easily been from a poison." She took a drink of the vial. She hiccuped and a blue puff came from her mouth. "Minty. Too much sky mint that time." She tossed the vial in the fire. It burned blue and silver.

  Raven sat there watching Conium. "I was poisoned once. It was unpleasant, but even worse was knowing that the person who poisoned me did it to gain a position. I was sick for days and could no longer work. I lost my position and the one who poisoned me stepped into my position. Once I was well I could not get my position back." She had tears in her eyes. "What really hurt worse was the fact that it was someone who I thought cared for me."

  Conium walked around and hugged Raven. "That is a bad use of any poison. Which is why I only teach to those who I feel deserve to learn. The ability to use poisons in the right manner is rare. I believe that both you and Ott will never use poisons unless it is a last resort." She looked at me and smiled sadly, "Unfortunately I foresee that both of you will be put in a situation that using poisons is the only thing that will save you or others."

  We all stood there for a moment taking in this dreadful idea. Conium shook herself, "But I do not think that will be happening today. Now Victor asked me to make a handful of potions, there are some sick here. These po
tions are hard, above Master Herbalist making." She pulled out two pieces of paper and handed one to each of us. "Let's see what you two can do!"

  After a few more hours of working through the potions we finally arrived at a decent concoction that did not make the patient sick to take the cure. Conium called our efforts a success and put away all the herbal equipment.

  "Time for some fun." She pulled out a few pieces of paper and handed them to us. "This is a mages game. Yet it can be played by non-mages if they can throw objects accurately" She handed a pouch of small daggers to Raven.

  I looked down at the paper and realized it was a spell. Some form of orb was involved.

  Conium cast the spell and a colored orb appeared above her hand. "The object of the game is to have as many of the orbs your color. My color is red." With that the orb split into ten orbs, all colored red. She looked at me and smiled. "Why not cast the spell and let's see how you do. I suggest green for you." She looked at Raven. "Each of those daggers has a minor spell enchanted into their blades. When they encounter one of the orbs the orb will change color. These are enchanted to change to purple." She smiled. "We start with twenty orbs. Let's see who can get all the orbs to change to their color first."

  I cast the spell and the orbs lifted above our heads.

  "For a mage to change the color of the orb they have to shoot a burst of air magic at each orb." She demonstrated this by sending a burst of magic at one of my orbs. It flashed and changed to red. "You give it a go."

  I smiled and focused on one of her red orbs. I shot a small blast of air magic at the orb. It flashed and changed to green.

  "Now, I will cast a series of Raven also." A set of purple orbs appeared in the air. "Now we play." A burst of magic sent all the orbs flying around the room. They bounced off of the walls, ceilings, and floors.

  Suddenly a knife whipped past my head and struck an orb. A red one flashed to purple. "This is going to be fun!" Raven exclaimed as she threw more knives outwards. Each striking an orb. Within moments half of the orbs were purple.