The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 1

by Latoria, William D.

  “The god’s response was immediate. They suddenly appeared amongst the congregation of demons. Yomin’s body exploded many times. Every bit of his body, every drop of his blood, and every scrap of his flesh was destroyed. There was no debris from his exploding form. The gods’ wrath was as fast as it was efficient. The gods spoke one word into the minds of the demons: BANISHMENT! Before another second could tick by, the entire demon race, man, woman, and child, were sent to what we now know as the eleven levels of hell. It is in that dimension they still live to this day. It is their eternal punishment for daring to slay a god. Our world was barren for eons after that. The Merfolk stayed in their self-imposed seclusion, if they still lived at all. The endangered dragon race was in deep hibernation, which lasted hundreds of years, and they only roused for the most base of needs. Time cleared up most signs that any of the original races had ever existed, let alone had built empires or fought epoch ending wars. As the millennia passed, the god’s anger diminished, and their boredom increased; they missed watching over mortal races and yearned for things to be as they were. It is said, a few of the gods decided to try their hands at creation, and after some trial and error, the first humanoid races appeared on the world. Elf, human, and dwarf were released on the planet, and the gods watched to see what they would do. The elves immediately took to the forests and jungles of the world. Quickly adapting and integrating themselves into nature. Dwarves didn’t seem to like the sun and sought out the shadows and caves of the world. With a little divine intervention, a large portion of the dwarven race found large cavernous homes inside the major mountain ranges, and they quickly adapted to subterranean living. Humans were the wildcard of the races. We didn’t seem to seek out any one environment. Humans settled everywhere and bred like mice. We conquered the lands we inhabited as opposed to integrating into it. We were also the shortest lived of the races. No one knows why for sure. After the new races were established for a few generations, the gods made their presence known and taught the races just like they had done with the original races before. This is how magic was introduced to us, and it is said that the gods implemented components to ensure that when the inevitable race wars occurred, they wouldn’t be nearly as devastating as the original race wars were. It was a form of control over the potency of magic that mortals could wield. This is the reason sulfur can become a fireball, or a sapphire becomes a shield. Magic had to have consequences and stipulations that weren’t around when the original races were in power. Having immense power without any cost caused the failure of the original races, as far as the Gods were concerned. That is the reason casters like us must carry so many components in order to be viable as magic users. It is also the reason too much magic can harm us and leaves us weakened when we release our connection with the source. The greater the power, the greater the danger, and the greater the cost.” Rashlarr finished.

  Tartum thought over the story and was amazed. He never would have thought that the history of his world would be so interesting. He imagined that the very spot he was sitting in could be the spot that Yomin killed Degrassie and caused the banishment of his race from the world. One thing bothered Tartum though.

  “Masters, if the gods joined us and taught us, hells even lived with us, where are they now?” he asked. Tartum had never met or heard of anyone that had met a god. Tartum would love to get a chance to meet and talk with one if he could! The thought of being taught magic from a god made Tartum’s mouth water.

  His thoughts must have been apparent, because Rashlarr sadly shook his head before he replied. “Sorry, Apprentice, the gods left our world long, long ago. No one has seen or heard from them in generations. We don’t believe that even the most ancient elf or dwarf alive today could remember the last time a god was seen on this world.”

  Tartum’s excitement drained out of him. He was very disappointed to hear this. Looking up, he posed another question to Rashlarr. “Where did they go?” he asked.

  Rashlarr simply shrugged. “No one knows. The history books have no record of it. One minute they were here, and the next they vanished, never to be heard from again. Some say they were all killed by something greater than themselves. Some say they just got bored with us and left us to our own devices. Some say they’re still here watching over us in secret. And others say they never existed at all, and the history books are just fancy stories meant to entertain children and simple people.”

  “What does Calimsha think?” Tartum asked.

  Rashlarr flinched as Tartum asked his question. There was a visible change in his demeanor and Tartum steeled himself for another encounter with Calimsha. In the back of his mind, he wished he had cast his dome spell before asking that question.

  The voice was still Rashlarr’s, but the words were all from Calimsha. “What do I think, half-breed? I think that if the gods were still around, creatures like you and I wouldn’t be allowed to exist...Yes...yes. They would have stopped us long ago...yes. A bit of advice, half-breed, free advice...yes...yes...if you meet a god...you kill it...yes...kill it, before it kills you. Yesssss...” Her final “yes” trailed off into a hiss that set Tartum’s teeth on edge. Tartum could not fathom how Rashlarr dealt with her, day after day. The thought sent a cold shiver down his spine.

  Rashlarr regained control over his body and looked up at Tartum. “I hate it when she does that...ugh! Come, Apprentice, let’s get back to your training.” With that, Tartum picked up a copper rod and set his mind to the task. Tartum hoped that Calimsha’s warning was nothing more than a sick joke. Something deep down inside told him she was speaking the truth. The thought was a grim one, and Tartum had numerous questions he wanted to ask. The thought of talking to Calimsha again was enough to quell his curiosity.

  Tartum prepared himself for his first lesson in casting lightning bolts and tried to not obsess over why Calimsha would want him to kill a god if he ever met one.

  CHAPTER 18

  Tartum was sitting in his room, reading over the spells he had learned over the past few months with Rashlarr. As he mastered the spells, he found their details perfectly perserved in his spellbook. There was his fireball, dome, and lightning bolt spells of course, and then there was the other spells he had been taught under the careful tutelege of his masters.

  There was a darkness spell that required a bit of ash and very little concentration. The spell made it so that an area was completely bathed in darkness for a short period of time. Usually, the duration was less than a minute and was heavily dependant on the amount of ash used when casting the spell. The trick of the spell was that it didn’t so much cause darkness to encompass the area effected, but that the magic infused ash created a barrier that light couldn’t penetrate. Very useful for denying archers line of sight to your position or granting you cover for an escape. Not to mention the ability to cause distractions like that could prove the difference between the success or failure of a mission.

  The next spell was an entanglement spell. It required a spider’s leg and followed the same principal as his fireball spell. Instead of the sulfur, Tartum had to infuse the spider’s leg with his magic, and when the leg was ready, he split his focus and the leg would shoot at his target. Upon impact, instead of exploding like the fireball, the leg burst into a thick, sticky web that encompassed the target and kept them bound until the command for release was given. A very usefull spell for kidnapping missions, or for subduing a target you needed out of the way, but for one reason or another you didn’t want to kill.

  The next spell he had learned was a close range offensive spell. Very useful in a combat situation as it required no gestures. Rashlarr had called the spell “Phantom’s Pulse” but Tartum simply called it the “Dragon’s Scream”. Using nothing more than a piece of candle wax, Tartum channeled his magic into it and spoke the words of power to send a magical wave of force at his opponent. The damage wasn’t severe, but the potential shock it would cause during a fight would give him a huge advantage when he needed it. Rashlarr also taught Tartum a
little trick for this spell. He showed Tartum how to put the candle wax on one of his teeth, inbetween the ridges of one of his molars. After channeling the magic into the wax, he spoke the words and the force wave could be targeted by exhaling and opening your mouth at your target. Tartum accomplished this by screaming, and the results had been extrememly effective. It was also the reason Tartum changed the name of the spell. He imagined it was as close to breathing fire, like a dragon, as he would ever get. Tartum wished he had known this spell back when he and Isidor had been sparring all those years ago. He doubted he would have taken as many beatings if he had known it. He also found this attack to be immensely fun. There were many times during fights he’d had that he had wanted to scream. This spell not only gave him that outlet, but it also gave him a reason to do it other than frustration. The biggest problem Tartum had with this spell was not swallowing the wax before he could finish the spell.

  The final new spell he had mastered was a counter spell. This spell was one Rashlarr told him Calimsha wanted him to learn. It didn’t require a spell component, and therefore, most casters would not only be unable to cast it, but they wouldn’t expect it either. Calimsha had explained that only a truly powerful or gifted of caster would able to cast the counter spell, because they had to force the magic to do their bidding. This, Tartum was learning, wasn’t something a typical caster was capable of doing. Just like when he was casting a spell, an enemy mage must make specific gestures and movements in order to successfully cast their spell. They must also speak the words of magic, precisely in order, for their spell to go off. The counter spell Tartum had been taught caused the magic flowing through the enemy caster to be buffeted by his own flowing magic. Basically, Tartum was channeling raw magic at the magic flowing through the enemy caster. He thought of it alot like throwing a large rock into a steadily flowing stream. The rock didn’t stop the flow, but the sudden chaos the splash caused threw the stream off course. In magic, such an unexpected “splash” could have catastrophic effects. The sudden, unexpected change would throw the enemy caster’s concentration off, making them falter during a gesture, or confusing them enough to make them mispronounce a word of power and therefore, not only cancelling the spell, but possibly burning them out or killing them in the process. There had been no one for Tartum to practice this spell on, since only he and Rashlarr were in the room, so he practiced on a target dummy Rashlarr had summoned from the floor. Calimsha, somehow, channeled magic into the dummy, and Tartum was able to practice in that fashion. He found it exciting to know that if he ever encountered a hostile caster, that he was going to be able to stop them from using magic. Having that kind of control over the powerful made him feel...superior. He found himself daydreaming about what his first real battle might be like.

  In the final days of his training, he didn’t learn new spells from Rashlarr, but new uses for spells he had already mastered. For example, Rashlarr taught him a new way to use his paralysis spell. Instead of throwing sand at his target, Rashlarr showed him how to set a trap using the spell component. Sand was easy to find, and cheap, so using alot of it was not difficult. He showed Tartum that by speading sand over an area, he could set a trap of sorts. The sand covering the target area could be as large or small as he required. The next step was making a trail of sand that lead from the target area to a secure hiding place, where he could wait for his target to step into his trap. Once they were standing in the sand, all Tartum had to do was touch the sand trail he had made and cast the spell. The magic would flow through the trail and paralyze the target as effectively as if he had thrown the sand on them like he had been originally taught. Rashlarr pointed out this was a great way to hunt for food as well. With a little preperation, he could easily hunt for food in the comfort of his own campsite.

  Rashlarr also showed him how the cloth mending spell could be used to fix drapes or provide cover where only scraps of cloth were to be found. This new use for his spell would be very useful during his missions where cover and stealth were paramount. The resourcefulness Rashlarr was teaching him with spells Tartum had thought were nothing more than useless “farmer’s magic” was having him rethink his assumptions. He was learning that, with a little imagination, even the simpliest of magic could be used to great effect.

  ...

  On what he thought would be his last day of training with Rashlarr, Tartum walked into the training room, expecting to be tested. What he saw, he wouldn’t have expected if he’d had a month to speculate. A wall had formed that cut the room in half. It was made of the same stone as the floor and reached all the way to the ceiling. Tartum could hear something clawing at it from the other side. Rashlarr was sitting with Vaund against the wall. They were discussing something but became quiet when they noticed Tartum walk into the room. Rashlarr smiled and stood to greet him.

  “Welcome, Jade Mage!” Rashlarr said. Tartum still wasn’t comfortable being called that in front of other people, and with Vaund in the room, he became very self-conscious. He was glad he didn’t have the dome spell up. “You’ve done well to master the spells I have taught you, and I take great pride in the speed at which you’ve progressed. As such, you will now get real world practice at using your magical abilities against real opponents.” As Rashlarr finished his speech, his voice took on a sinister undertone.

  Tartum was confused. Seeing Vaund in the room always meant that he was going to be in pain before the end of the day. He liked Vaund as a person but hated seeing him. He began to understand why Vaund always looked so sad. Everyone knew that if he was around, bad things were about to happen to them.

  Having no time to ponder over Vaund’s social problems, Tartum cleared his head and focused on his masters. “Real world training, master?” Tartum reverted to the singular title, in order to keep his end of the bargain of keeping Calimsha’s presence secret. The widening smile on Rashlarr’s face was the only acknowledgement he recieved that she noticed. It was enough to let him know he had made the correct choice.

  “Yes, you will be pitted against enemies that are going to do everything in their power to kill you. If you fail, well...you’ll probably die. Vaund is here to see to it that doesn’t happen...but with training like this there’s no guarantee. The threats you’re going to face are real, so you should treat it as such. There are no rules or expectations. Survive anyway you can. Magic, melee, subterfuge, I don’t care. Kill or subdue your opponents as quickly as you can. They are going to do the same.” Rashlarr warned. He handed Tartum a few bags full of the components he would need to cast his spells. Hastily, Tartum attached them to his belt and sleeves. He didn’t fully understand what was going on, but he knew he was in danger and therefore wasted no time in asking for explanations. He knew enough about how the guild trained to know that questions at the wrong time would get you killed.

  Reaching into his belt, Tartum pulled out a sapphire and began casting his dome spell. “Esotlie bon-bon-ytei.” The sapphire rose up as the wall began to come down. “Duun-fwalyte katai romo-wei.” The sapphire began to glow green, and somewhere outside his field of view Tartum heard Vaund gasp. “Tun-turu vet-jerwat lei!” he finished, and the green sapphire bubble engulfed him. Tartum’s skin took on the green sheen that had given him his nickname. The wall finished its descent into the floor, and Tartum got his first look at the enemy he would be facing.

  At first, Tartum thought it was a very large alligator. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the animal was not covered in scales but in quills, like on a porcupine. Its body was similar in shape to an alligator but far better muscled and with a shorter snout. The teeth inside its mouth were wicked, long, and glistening with saliva. Tartum had never seen anything like it in his life, and for a moment was mesmerized by it. Upon seeing Tartum, the creature didn’t share his fascination and bounded towards him. The sudden movement shocked Tartum out of his stupor, and frantically, he fumbled for a copper rod. Unaccustomed to casting while panicked, Tartum’s flailing hands dropped the rod before he could say th
e first word of his spell. The deranged porcupine-alligator thing had no misconceptions and threw itself at Tartum. More on instinct than anything deliberate, Tartum swung his staff in a desperate attempt to save his life. His staff struck true, and the animal was knocked away in midair. The beast was not without melee talent of its own, however, and used the momentum of its redirection to swing its tail at Tartum and land a telling blow off his thigh. The hit should have broken his leg, but the dome spell Tartum had gotten off just before the attack absorbed the damage and saved his life. Holding his staff defensively in front of him, Tartum quickly backed away from the beast and tried to get control of his racing mind. He was so scared he could barely breathe, let alone form a plan of attack. Every fiber of his being told him to flee, but a quick look around the room showed the door was gone, and that Rashlarr and Vaund were protected by some sort of magical barrier.