The young man checked the kettle and was pleased to see that there was still water steaming inside. Picking over the contents of a shelf, he selected a small cup and set it on the table. Using a heavy leather glove he swung the kettle out from over the fire and gingerly poured hot water into his cup. After setting the kettle back on its hook, he carefully measured and dropped a pinch of tea leaves into the water. Soon the aroma of steeping tea drifted up from the cup, and he smiled. Stirring the tea absently, he pondered the dream he had that night. He had been taught that dreams -specifically the ones that he remembers- have meaning and the ones that stick out in his mind the most are meant to deliver a message.
He had dreamed that night that he was standing over a great precipice, and in front of him laid a large expanse of land. From this place he could see every kingdom in the world, even the ones he had only barely heard of and even some he did not know existed. Over each city was a great cloudy shadow that stretched over the entirety of it. It gathered over the center of each city with dark tendrils of blackened cloud that reached down into the cities, and from those cities Endrance could hear the sobbing of many and the cries of terror of the people below him.
He had felt great sadness for these people, so oppressed and tormented by darkness, but from up on the cliff, he could do nothing but watch. Casting his eyes about, he looked for any city that was not being tormented by the shadow cast over them. He could find none. He turned his eyes away, hoping to shield himself from the creeping sense of fear. He turned away from the scene before him only to discover that he was standing on the side of a grand mountain. A great city had been carved out of the side of it. This city was large, and its buildings crafted of strong stone. The city itself was also cast in the shadow of darkness above it, but the darkness had not reached into the city, and he could hear no suffering from its people.
He looked, and saw that there was a bright light coming from the city, bright enough to hold the darkness at bay. As he looked on he saw the light flare brighter, and the darkness above the city scattered. The light flared across the expanse, and looking back Endrance saw the light had also banished the darkness from the other cities as well, and he could hear the cheering of all the people of the earth. Endrance looked back at the light to see what it was, and through the brightness he could barely make out the shape of a man. He could not get any closer, for that was when he suddenly he woke up.
His tea had finished steeping; he swiftly scooped out the leaves with a spoon and took a sip. Finding the drink to his satisfaction, he tried to figure out what the dream meant. Was it because of his magic? Could it be a vision of the future? He thought about it, but could come up with no answers.
Perturbed, he finished his tea and set the cup back on the shelf. He would have to ask Kaelob about this one.
He stepped outside to find his father hammering in the last post for what would be his new fence. Endrance waited patiently for his father to finish as he soaked up the warmth of the sunslight. His father worked bare chested, and sweat dripped from hard muscle and tanned skin. Endrance looked at his own hands and wondered what kind of woman his mother had been that he had ended up so very slight compared to his father.
Years prior, Endrance had asked his father about his mother, but had been told that he unfortunately didn’t know a whole lot. Joseph only had seen her rarely, and she had died sometime shortly after giving birth to him. It was an embarrassing subject for his father, and Endrance tried to leave it alone. No one liked to be reminded that they have an illegitimate child, though in communities with no social stratum it meant much less than in a kingdom’s courts.
Endrance waited for Joseph to finish tapping on the post before he approached. His father smiled as he walked up and immediately embraced him. His father smelled of hay and sweat and hard work. “Good morning my son!” he exclaimed. “I let you sleep in; I hope that’s alright, since I heard you got your new title! A fully recognized wizard!”
Endrance nodded slightly. “I don’t know about fully recognized, father. But I am now accepted as a practitioner. I would have to build a name for myself in order to be recognized.”
“Still, it is amazing that you have passed High Magus Kaelob’s training so quickly!” he said. “He has never seen someone complete training and still be in their teenage years.”
Endrance shrugged. “I didn’t know he had that many students before. How did you know?” he asked.
His response was assuring. “I have visited and talked to him about you several times before, my son.” He smiled. “And he was quite famous a few decades ago. People still remember him in some places.”
The young man nodded, stretching in the suns light. “Okay. He said he wanted to see me after I had recovered from my tests.” An involuntary shiver ran through him, thinking of the cold.
Joseph smiled at him, “Well, you better get on your way. I think I remember him saying something about having something to tell you.” He waved and watched his son as he set off to visit his master’s keep, a smile on his face as he couldn’t help but feel excited for him.
Endrance set off, moving at his leisure. He no longer had to rush to lessons, or hurry to keep up with the Master’s long strides. He had accomplished something dozens wash out of, and did so with more power and knowledge than would be needed to gain his title, not to mention at the age of fifteen. He felt incredible right then, almost like he could fly.
The path to the keep was a narrow one, and only had a path due to Endrance’s constant use of the trail for the last several years. Surrounding the path was a fair amount of green grass, with the occasional weed and shrub dotting its landscape. The path meandered from the edge of town up to the keep. This area was far too rocky to farm properly, so for years the villagers had left this stretch of land alone. The path widened as it approached the keep’s entry, until it was nearly wide enough for a pair of men to walk abreast of each other and not bump elbows as they did so.
The path terminated at the stone entryways that lead to the keep drawbridge. It was one of the oldest parts of the keep, and the wood of the drawbridge was old and weathered. Endrance never even considered walking over it barefoot, as the wood was splintered in several places, and it creaked threateningly whenever someone tread its length. The iron chains that would have withdrawn it had long since rusted into oblivion, and Endrance was certain that in a few more years, Kaelob would have to either repair the drawbridge or figure out an alternate means of entering his abode.
Endrance carefully made his way across, coming up to the relatively small courtyard inside the keep. It was barren, empty of anything that wasn’t necessary for keeping the building upright. All over the courtyard were scorch and blast marks from numerous years of practicing magic. The walls had divots all over its surface, and black scarring revealed it was the scene of a great battle.
Kaelob was known throughout the magic using community as being one of the cleverest magicians in Ironsoul, using magic in ways that were unique and unexpected. This was from as much his training as apprentice to the Archmagus, as was his ingenuity. He could take a spell that wasn’t effective as a battle spell, and he could still manage to defeat his enemies. He had spent countless hours teaching Endrance to be flexible and to use magic at its fullest capacity. Many of the blast and scorch marks on the keep wall were not from things like fireballs or magical attacks.
Kaelob met him halfway across the short courtyard. His hands outspread in greeting. He embraced Endrance briefly, and was grinning quite wildly as he released him. “Well Kaelob,” Endrance started, “I hear you have something to tell me?” Endrance followed Kaelob as the two of them walked into the keep proper and sat down in a room Kaelob had converted into a lounge.
Heavy rugs covered the stone floors, and the chairs and couches were imported from some of the most prestigious craftsmen in Ironsoul. Many warm tapestries adorned the walls, and even the torch sconces were of great quality. Where his master skimped on the exterior, he spared no
expense on quality living chambers. The armchairs were skillfully upholstered and thickly cushioned, their subtle patterned cloth blending excellently with the theme of the rest of his décor. Even the shelves had been carefully hand carved with the same style of design.
“Yes!” Kaelob sat unceremoniously into his chair, waving a hand at the other. A faint tingle washed across Endrance’s face, a sensation much like a faint draft of air across one’s arm. The other armchair slid out, taking a position where the young mage could easily sit in it. “Please, sit!” he exclaimed.
Endrance plopped down into his seat as well, adjusting his shirt as the thick cloth seat back pulled the shirt up his back. Kaelob flicked his wrist again while Endrance was getting comfortable, and a nearby overloaded table slid jerkily up to the side of them. Endrance looked up just in time to catch the teacup nearest to him before it toppled into his lap.
“Well, you sure had me going there, m’boy!” Kaelob started, holding his teacup and stirring the tea with a small spoon. “I thought you were going to fail the final test there.”
Endrance frowned into his teacup as he took a sip. “What do you mean? I made it the designated time.” He asked.
Kaelob shrugged. “That’s not the real test. The real test is to put you under real, extreme duress.”
“Huh…” Endrance responded skeptically.
“Let me clarify.” Kaelob continued. “The test is to see if you have the will to handle your magic safely, intelligently, and effectively in a situation where you are under massive stress. Only then would we be able to tell if you are skilled and trained enough to be able to make it on your own. Someone who is only capable of casting magic in a lab or library just doesn’t have what it takes yet.”
He took a sip of tea before continuing. “Additionally, you showed me what you’ve learned in this near decade of education and training.” He held up one finger. “You’ve learned enough about combat to survive a while.” He held up another. “You have acceptable enough control over your magical energy not to empty the well before the fight is over. You have no idea how many apprentices try to throw everything they have in the opening gambit and fail because they had nothing left to get them through the rest.” He held up a third. “You also know how to improvise, and use your environment to help you. This is not something necessary to learn right away, but you have a good start.” He held up a fourth finger. “Lastly, you showed me you are determined not to give up. This is in some cases the most important thing you can have. Even in the face of an opponent who could squash you like a bug any time he pleased, you still struggled and tried to solve problems, not crack heads.”
He finished the last of his tea. “Try to think of almost any engagement, whether it is a battle or a ballroom, as a problem that you can solve, if you are smart, clever enough, and prepared. To this end, I have a gift for you, to celebrate your success.”
He went to set the teacup on the table but found no room except on top of the box he was trying to reach for. He struggled to try to find a place to set the cup, and after a moment just sighed and let go of the cup in the air as if he had set it on a shelf. It stayed. He pulled the box into his lap and gently nudged the cup onto the table.
It was of polished wood two feet long, a foot wide, and six inches deep. He lifted the lid to the box to reveal two objects. One was a black leather bound book, with gold inlay and a runic sigil in the bottom right corner. The book took up most of the space inside the box, but to the side was a silver bracer that looked crafted specifically to fit him. It was made of highly polished silver, deeply etched with arcane script along the edges of the outer arm plate and along the bands that cross the inner arm.
On the face of the bracer was set a square yellow-orange gem, beautifully cut, and ringed by three concentric rows of miniscule arcane script. The gem gleamed in the torch lit room, almost as if it had its own radiance. Endrance gaped at the two of them as Kaelob pulled the book out and handed it to him.
Upon closer inspection, he was able to tell the book had over a hundred blank pages, all high quality parchment paper, and each page had a silver rune in the bottom left corner. He recognized the rune to be the one for which he was named, ‘Endurance’. The surface of his palms tingled faintly as he gently stroked the pages. Yes, they were empowered. The pages, or the cover for that matter, were probably as hard to destroy as if they were made of steel.
“This first gift is from me. It is a masterfully crafted blank spell book.” He declared. “The pages have been enchanted to resist wear and tear, as well as time.” He chuckled. “Damn near fireproof too, I should add. Some of my best work I must say. That book is for you to record any spells you wish to keep as reference.” He held up a hand. “Though I know you have memorized many spell forms and internalized many of those, you may wish to copy them down into your book, just in case. It’s never a bad thing to remember the basics.”
He held up the bracer to show it to him. “This second gift is special.” He held it out to Endrance but didn’t let go when Endrance took hold of it. “When I was trained by Archmagus Valeria, she gave me an item of great power as well. She told me it was an item her master possessed before he died. I find it only fitting to give you an item of hers, in the spirit of tradition. This item was one of the few things she left behind, and its mate is missing. But make no mistake; it is powerful of its own accord.” He shrugged, letting go of the bracer. “Besides, it was the only thing I could find that would fit you.”
“Uh… thanks.” Endrance responded, realizing exactly how light the bracer felt. He expected it to weigh a few pounds, but it seemed only a few ounces. The gem in the center grabbed his attention, and he found it hard to look away from its glimmering depths. “Hmm… what is this?” He asked. “I have no idea what kind of gem this is.”
“That is a rare form of crystallized magic called Crystalphage. It is a beautiful stone, and has several properties that make it invaluable to any magic user, from Apprentice to Archmagus.” He waggled his eyebrows at the boy. “The first and most prominent thing about it is that a skilled mage can push the energy in their aura into the Crystalphage, and it will retain it, giving them an extended reserve of power they can draw from.”
“That is… that’s incredibly useful.” Endrance commented. “How much can it store?”
Kaelob shrugged. “That thing? You couldn’t put much into it. No more than a simple rote spell.”
Endrance sighed. “That doesn’t seem very efficient.”
“On the contrary.” Kaelob replied. “It’s already almost full. It was full when I received it from Valeria, and she had instructed me not to touch it until I gave it to my next apprentice.”
“So it has a lot?” He asked.
“Potentially.” Kaelob responded, nodding his head. “Though most Crystalphage requires the mage to get to know that particular gem's properties before you can draw from its power. It may take several weeks of study before you will be able to use it fully. I’m sure there are other things it can do, but you will have to figure it out for yourself.”
Endrance held the bracer. It felt slightly cool in his hands, and his senses didn’t simply tingle or notice the presence of magic in it, they buzzed like a nest of bees that had been kicked up. There was power in the bracer, and he would probably find its presence nagging on his senses until he got it figured out.
Kaelob dropped the box back on the table. A loud crunch made him wince. “Ah yes. Teacup.” He admitted. Gently picking up the box and peeking under. “I’ll just… take care of that later.”
Endrance set the bracer on the book he was holding in his lap and smiled broadly. “Thank you master, I have never owned anything so amazing in my life!”
“Of course!” Kaelob replied. “You’re only fourteen, aren’t you? Besides, you will find that you could accumulate quite a large collection of impressive things as you pass the years. Many of them you might make yourself, should you feel the inclination.”
“I have b
een thinking about the possibilities.” Endrance admitted
“Oh yes!” Kaelob exclaimed. “I recently received a message from an old friend of mine up north. It looks like I may have a task for you, should you think you are ready to leave for your first act as a mage.”
“A task?” Endrance asked. “Do you mean like a single quest, or a long term task?”
Kaelob smiled, tapping the armchair he was sitting in. “Long term!” he exclaimed. “It would only be long term for people who can’t make plans hundreds of years in advance!” he seemed excited. “I think you would find this one a relatively brief challenge.”
The spry old man hopped up out of his chair, his robes fluttering around him as he stepped over to a bookshelf, scratching his chin as he looked around for a particular tome. “Let’s see… Balkesh, Balrog, Balator… Aha!” he plucked a rather thin gray leather bound book from his shelf and set it on Endrance’s lap as he passed, plunking himself back into his armchair. “There it is! My personal notes on the place you would be working for!”
Endrance looked over the book’s cover. It looked gray and scarred. It even was pebbled like a lizard’s hide. “What is this made of?” He asked, running a hand over the cover.
Kaelob chuckled, waving his hand as if to say ‘of course’ “Why that’s hydra hide!”
“Ah.” Endrance replied. “Already this seems ominous.”
“Nonsense!” Kaelob responded. “The likeliness of another hydra of that size getting through the walls is…” He glanced at the boy. “Ahem. Don’t worry about hydra, m’boy, that’s not your job in the slightest.”
“Uh-huh.” He said, opening the book. Inside was Kaelob’s familiar handwriting. He included sketches of things he found and details of the Kingdom of Balator. “What is this city?” the young man asked, “I’ve never heard of Balator before.”
Kaelob shrugged. “I am not surprised you haven’t heard of it. It is the capitol of the barbarian kingdoms to the north.”
Spellscribed: Provenance Page 3