by Ian Rodgers
In his right hand was a smooth wooden stick that had a band of gold wrapped around the tip. It had a slight crook at the top that clutched a thumb sized opal stone. It was a wizard cane, the defacto symbol of a mage and the medium through which one might channel and cast their spells.
The other was thin as a rake, noticeable even through his billowing clothes. His skin was the pale color typically associated with a lack of sun, and his face looked as if he skipped more meals than ate. He had wispy scraps of a beard on his chin, and appeared to be a decade or so younger than the king. Though telling a person’s age with my “sight” was a series of trials. He did not have a staff, instead opting for a silver wand stuffed into a pocket on his robes.
Both of them radiated magic, their bodies aglow with their own mana and the sealed power of the various enchanted items on their person. The older one had more magical power, but his follower was not far behind.
King Tiberius approached the duo and gave them a short nod which they returned.
“I’m glad the Academy could dispatch you so quickly. I hope I do not need to explain how this situation had concerned us all.”
“Of course not, your majesty. You are an important figure, and an important patron. Any threat to you and your family is worth the expedience,” the oldest wizard spoke, his sentiments echoed by a bobbing head from his companion.
“Please, no need to stand too much on formality, Renos. That the Academy chose to send an old family friend and the most skilled shield-mage alive is a welcome surprise.” The wizard called Renos just nodded his head again at the praise.
“I suppose I should introduce the man beside me. This is Petrus Goyn, one of the best apprentices I’ve taught in a while. He is as skilled at barriers and wards as I am, and with training I hope to have him surpass me, and eventually succeed as the next head of the Magical Defense Department.”
“It is an honor to meet you, your majesty. I hope to live up to my mentor’s praise.” The young man called Petrus bowed low, and the king nodded in approval.
“A pleasure to meet you as well. Now, I believe we should get started.”
“Please, show us to the garden, and we’ll check the wards,” Renos said in agreement, and they moved on. Liliana and Julius tagged along from behind, chatting to each other about the two wizards.
“Here, the royal garden,” King Tiberius stated, leading the group into the sweet scented air of the walled region.
“Petrus, scan the area.”
“Yes, Sir Renos.” The young man hurried off into the gardens, waving his wand in slow, measured movements. I felt strands of magical power coiling and shifting into odd, complex shapes as he worked. That was how I perceived spells; as a tangled mess of luminous shapes interlocked and working in tandem to produce a result. I was most intrigued. I wanted to learn more!
“And these young ones behind us are your children, I presume?” Renos uttered without turning around. Ah, so he had magical senses as well. That was good to know.
“Yes!” Liliana declared proudly, before stepping forward and bowing her head to the elder wizard. Julius followed my owner’s actions, bowing and greeting the master mage.
“It is a pleasure to meet you!”
“A pleasure to meet you as well, Princess Liliana, and you too Prince Julius. And that critter in your arms?” Renos greeted before catching sight of me.
“This is Jelly! He’s my pet!” Liliana said, happy to show me off to someone. And, to my surprise, I did not see any hostility in the wizard’s gaze. Merely curiosity.
“It’s not often I see such a well behaved Ooze. You must have quite the talent in raising animals,” Renos praised, peering at me. I felt magic flicker behind his eyes as he examined me. A clear sign that a spell was being used on me. A type of magical analysis, most likely. I did not react. No matter how much my primal side was shouting at me to attack and then flee, I remained calm. His job right now was to protect the royal family, and if it helped Liliana I would put up with the scrutiny. For now.
“It looks healthy. And remarkably well trained,” Renos concluded, flashing Liliana a warm smile.
“How can you tell he’s both of those things?” She asked, a barely perceptible tilt to her head.
“For the first part, you can tell an Ooze’s state of health based on the sheen of their body. Judging by the shininess of your pet it is nice and happy. On the second point, Ooze are not exactly fond of people using magic around them. Even something as basic as a light-making spell, or Detect Magic. They tend to act violently towards those who do. A defense mechanism for their kind, since offensive spells are one of the few things that affect their gooey forms,” Renos explained, impressing Liliana and myself with his knowledge.
I had known that, but on an instinctive level. This might be connected to the information that popped into my head.
Baths and people were related in some way to what Liliana herself knew. Things she did not know, like this background on my own species, was bereft from my mind. Curious.
“Jelly had always been well behaved. He’s always calm and nice,” Liliana assured, and Reno nodded in response.
“Her pet was the reason we uncovered the Rose Worms in the first place,” King Tiberius interjected. “It vandalized a bush that was undergoing the mutation process, which alerted the gardeners that something may have been wrong with it. The rest is as you know.”
“I see.” Renos shot me another searching look, though without magic this time. “Yet more proof that your ‘Jelly’ is a loyal pet, Princess Liliana.”
Liliana nodded happily.
“You know, my student, Petrus, is fascinated by magical creatures. I think he’d like to meet Jelly sometime. He is a very interesting Ooze,” Renos continued, off-handedly and indirectly asking my owner her permission to study me. That did not go unnoticed by the king or me. It flew right over the children’s heads however and Liliana just looked thrilled to have someone else interested in me.
“Sir, your majesty, I think I found something.” The king and the elderly mage looked up sharply at Petrus’ call, and quickly walked over to where the younger wizard was standing. Curious, Liliana and Julius followed behind once more, and I am brought along for the ride. Not that I mind. I am just as intrigued by what we might learn.
Petrus was standing at the edge of the gardens, near to where I’d found the Rose Worm in the first place. He was near the wall that encircles the lush habitat, beneath the boughs of a gnarled old peach tree. The student glances over at us as we approach, and his gaze lingered on me for a moment before turning back to his teacher and the king.
“The wards have been worn thin here and here. It looks like the rains from a year ago washed away a portion of the foundation stones next to this tree. And then, a root from the tree jutted out and created a bridge of sorts. The root blocked the barrier from fully forming. There is a tiny gap where a Rose Worm could, and apparently did, wiggle through. Here, you see this?” Petrus pointed down at the soil, where a bulge could be seen. “That is displaced dirt where something the size of an adult Rose Worm tunneled through. All in all, a simple problem to fix, and one I’ve already remedied. I moved the root and reestablished the wards so this would not happen again.” King Tiberius looked relieved, as did the mentor. It was just a coincidence.
“Mister Goyn, Sir Renos said you liked magical creatures. This is Jelly, my pet Ooze!” Liliana spoke up once she had confirmed the mood was back to normal. The man blinked but turned a smile onto my owner as I was held out to him.
“An impressive looking specimen!” He praised, and I preened slightly. His words were sincere, and the two royal children escort him off to show me off. We moved away from the king and the older mage, and soon they were beyond my sensory range.
Now we finally came to the event that gave me my first taste of delicious potions.
Liliana and Julius led Petrus to a gazebo-like building that sat in the center of the gardens. It was a few feet from an artificial p
ond that doubled as a water source for the plants, and was surrounded on all sides by waist high flower bushes.
The gazebo was painted white and had enough room to fit a table and ten chairs; perfect in every way as a location for a fancy tea party. Right now there were only five chairs around a smaller table, and they were quickly occupied by three buttocks.
“What’s it like being a mage?” Julius asked, looking up starry eyed at Petrus.
“A lot of hard work, actually. It’s fun and rewarding, but you have to study to be able to perform spells properly,” Petrus admitted. The young prince grumbled about lessons and mean teachers.
“What do you do at the Academy, Mister Goyn? Do you go out on adventures?” Liliana asked next, and the mage leans back in his chair, trying to get comfortable.
“I’m a senior student up at the Royal Varian Mages Academy. That means I’m apprenticing directly under one of the various professors and mages there. Master Renos is my mentor and also the head of Magical Defenses. He and I specialize in wards, barriers, and magical methods of protection,” the novice wizard explained, seeing the uncomprehending faces of his listeners. “And I haven’t gotten to go on many adventures yet, though I do accompany Master Renos on his jobs often. Once I complete my studies underneath him I’ll likely register with the Adventurer’s Guild to get some real life experience in the field for a year or so.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Julius said with a longing expression. My owner nodded in agreement. I knew that the two long for freedom of sorts. They were cooped up in the castle almost 27/6. They took whatever escapes they could from their gilded cage. Stories about adventurers and heroes always enthralled them. I didn’t mind listening to them either, but I have to admit I disliked the stories with lots of monsters being vanquished. It could have been me in those situations, after all.
“So, you wanted me to meet your pet?” Petrus asked, shifting focus onto me. Liliana nodded and held me out to the mage, and he gingerly accepted.
“He’s rather heavy. Does he eat a lot?” He asked, weighing me with his hands. I huffed internally. No one likes to be called fat, good sir! And I’m not fat! I am pleasantly plump! At all times!
“Is that bad?” Liliana asked, her question to his question an admission of sorts.
“No, just don’t overfeed him. Oozes grow in size when they eat a lot, and it can be permanent. They often don’t stay this small for long.”
“How big will he get?” Julius inquired, and Petrus shrugged in reply.
“What sort of things do you know about Oozes, sir Petrus? The books I’ve found in the libraries are not exactly well informed on this subject,” Liliana asked as the mage examined me.
“That’s understandable. Unfortunately, Oozes are so well known there is rarely any research done on them. Only the more obscure subspecies and variants get any attention. As for what I know: an Ooze, also commonly referred to as a slime, is what is known as a monster. That means it is more magic than solid matter. They’re merely amorphous blobs of magical gel and goo, created when wild, ambient mana gathers and coagulates,” Petrus explained as he continued to poke and prod me.
“An Ooze is a fairly common monster. A single Ooze is an annoyance at most but they can also be considered dangerous for a few reasons. One of which is, ironically, their universality and rate of reproduction. In regions that have suffered cataclysmic magical damage slimes emerge constantly until the mana is used up. Next, their semi-solid nature allows them to resist most physical damage. Only extremely violent attacks and magical energy could harm us in any meaningful way.”
“And the third reason for their infamy is in their adaptability. They can live anywhere. From swamps to tundra to caverns below the surface of the world. They can mutate, changing form and function to fit into their new ecosystem. An Ooze from a swampy area would likely become darker colored and able to resist poisons. In colder regions they’d become immune to lower temperatures and even siphon heat from other living things.”
“Oozes have no eyes or mouth or features of any kind. They move around with what we assume is a form of echolocation, like a bat,” the senior student continued as the royal children listened closely.
“They are roughly spherical in shape. At the center of their body lies their core; a nucleus of sorts, made of the same material as the rest of the body, but harder. Not too hard, as it is able to bend and shape itself if need be, but clearly different. It is much darker in color, so it stands out amid the opaque material that comprises an Ooze. It contains what I tentatively would refer to as a brain, a stomach, and a few other organ-like features. Not exactly like that, though, as these “organs” are all one but also distinct. It ‘grows’ the sludge their body is composed of like a film that constantly overlaps its core, and absorbs the nutrients from whatever it eats via the digestive fluids inside the gel. In short the core is the most vital part of an Ooze. If the core were to be damaged for any reason it would heal slowly. But if it were broken or removed from the body for too long it would perish. Such a glaring weakness is yet another reason why slimes tend to be regarded so lowly as monsters.”
Petrus nodded to himself when he was done with me, lowering me to the table. I burbled in appreciation. As informative as his lecture had been I felt weird being handled by someone other than the princess for so long.
“He appears to be a normal Ooze. Greenish blue in coloration, no larger than two and a half feet in diameter and width, and weighing no more than twenty pounds,” the wizard supplied. I briefly worried that I’d grow too large for Liliana. Hopefully I’d stay fun-sized for a long time.
That’s big,” Julius said in child-like wonder, echoed by his sister.
“Hardly. Some Ooze sub-species can grow enormous. In fact, the largest Ooze type is the Lake Ooze. They can grow as large as their namesakes, which can be several hundred feet to actual miles,” Petrus taught, and I was impressed. This man knew a lot about my kind. The kids were too from the looks on their faces.
“Neato! Could Jelly get that big?” Julius asked eagerly, but Petrus shook his head.
“Unlikely. While it is possible for standard Ooze to change and mutate based on their habitat, they rarely become too large. Most Ooze are born as their type and never change.”
“What sort of new form could Jelly become?” My owner inquired, and he shrugged.
“No idea. But if he stays in this sort of environment,” at that Petrus waved his hand to indicate the lush greenery around him, “he could become a Green Ooze; an Ooze directly tied to plants and natural life. Or, more rarely, he might become a Healing Ooze.”
“What’s that?” Liliana asked. I notice a change in her as she registers the name. Was her power reacting to what Petrus had mentioned? Why, though?
“A Healing Ooze is a rare breed that only appears in places of potent light magic or after a regular Ooze has consumed a lot of recovery magic and items. Like a healing potion, for instance.” Petrus reached into his robes and removed a small glass vial filled to the brim with a pale red liquid.
“Healing Ooze are able to produce their own curatives, and are prized because the rare Elixir can be distilled from the essence of such a creature.”
As soon as he pulled out the potion, my senses became fixated on it. In the open, its magical signature drew my attention to it, and I could not look away. It was so tempting, so tantalizing! Without thinking, I lunge at the vial, knocking it from Petrus’ grasp. Orleen and her counterpart that watch over Julius gasp in shock at my sudden actions. Petrus gave a startled yelp and began to instinctively charge a spell of some sort while Liliana shouted at Petrus and I to stop. He did, reluctantly, and I landed hard on the hard stone floor of the gazebo. The potion bottle did too, and broke apart. I greedily lapped it all up, shards and all.
As I do so, a burst of flavor strikes me. Until now, I had not “tasted” what I ate. For the first time I understood why humans and other sapient creatures were so obsessed with that most heavenly
of senses. The liquid turned to strawberries in my “stomach” and I hummed loudly with pleasure.
“Well. It certainly seems like he had a favorite food now,” Petrus joked, visibly trying to calm down. Liliana let out a sigh of relief that I had not been hurt, and that I hadn’t been trying to hurt someone.
“Oh, Jelly! That was a bad thing to do! Very rude!” She scolded, and I shrunk in on myself. Partly due to my owner’s disappointment, but also because of a thrill of worry in my mind. I had acted, for the first time since I had gained this new outlook, solely on what my instincts and primal reasoning told me to do. And that frightened me. Could I attack somebody if my baser side took over again? And why had it done so now? Was I reacting to the odd movements in my owner’s magic, or was it entirely me? I did not know, and I wanted, no, I needed to find out.
“I’m so sorry for that, Sir Goyn! Please, let me reimburse you!” Liliana said hurriedly, fumbling at the pockets in her dress to pull out a coin purse, but the mage quickly stopped her.
“No, no, that was my fault! I should have remembered that Oozes are attracted to magical items they find intriguing or delicious,” he explained, waving off my owner’s attempt to pay for a replacement potion. “And at least this way you know about his tastes now, so you can prepare for this not happening in a worse setting.”
“Of course! Thank you for being so understanding, Sir Goyn!” Liliana said, changing his term of address while giving a short curtsy.
“Don’t mention it. Actually, it might be best for all of us to keep this incident between ourselves,” Petrus urged. Everyone agreed, though the staff hovering nearby did so reluctantly.
“Petrus! It’s time for us to prepare to leave!” Renos called out, approaching the group from beyond a hedge wall accompanied by King Tiberius.
“Of course, Master Renos. I bid you farewell, Princess Liliana. Prince Julius. Hopefully we can meet each other soon.” With that, the kind young mage left to rejoin his mentor, fading from my senses as Liliana continued to admonish me quietly. I wobbled in apology as I mentally vowed to resist my animalistic impulses at all cost. I owe my loving owner that much at the very least.