Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic

by R. S. Merritt

  He finally got out of the shower and dried off with the ridiculously large towel that had been left out for him. It was softer than any towel he’d ever used before. Once dried he rummaged around in the cabinet and found some deodorant and some toothpaste and a new toothbrush which he put to good use. Then he walked over and grabbed the clothes that had been laid out for him. The underwear looked pretty normal but other than the t-shirt, boxers, and a pair of thick wool socks there was nothing but a purple robe dress thing. He pulled on everything then slid the purple robe over his body. It felt nice and comfortable and he could move well in it but there was no way he wanted any actual people to see him wearing it.

  Feeling like he was wearing a purple dress and that he looked a little bit like Barney he walked out into the main room to ask Omasa if there was a better way to be wearing this thing. Sitting on the couch in an animated discussion with Omasa was a familiar face.

  “Why are you wearing a dress?” The young woman on the couch asked him. Then she busted up laughing at the mortified expression that had appeared on Chris’s face. Her laughter seemed to clear some of the tension out of the room. Chris was busy looking down at the purple robe and trying to figure out if he put it on right. Glenda walked in to see what all the commotion was.

  “Miss Penny?” She asked. Chris took a second look and realized it was indeed the guidance counselor who had come to see him at school after he had the incident with the bus driver. He became even more flustered as one of the billowy arms of the robe got stuck on his back in a loop somehow and the more he pulled on it the higher up his leg the robe went. Omasa finally took sympathy on him and came over to help him get the robe all squared away. It turned out there was a drawstring around the waist and another around the shoulders so you could control how billowy the robe got. There were also multiple hidden pockets.

  Once Chris was finally dressed correctly he took a seat on the couch next to Glenda and across from Miss Penny and Sir Omasa. Looking around the room a startled Chris noticed an older man in a funky robe sitting in the high-backed chair across from him. The man had sat so silently the entire time that Chris had mistaken the brightly colored robe as some sort of blanket thrown across the chair. Now that he was finally noticed the man cleared his throat, rose from the chair and bowed deeply in front of Chris.

  “Your highness, it is an honor to see you again, I am known as Wessel. Not to be confused with weasel although it does seem to amuse a certain sort of person to call me that.”

  Although wise and fierce looking with pierced ears and a tattoo running up his neck the eccentrically garbed wizard gave off a friendly vibe. This was a dangerous man but a loyal one. A great enemy but an even greater friend. The comment about the weasel had amused Chris since he’d thought that as soon as the man had said his name. He had actually made a quick mental note that was a good way to remember his name. He asked the man what sort of person would call him weasel instead of Wessel.

  “The suicidal type, sire.” It was stated as a fact and Chris quickly decided he’d come up with another way to remember the man’s name.

  “Don’t worry about him. He seems a lot scarier than he is. We understand you’ve had a very long day. We know you have a lot of questions and I understand you have both experienced a great loss today.” Miss Penny paused to let her statements sink in. “We couldn’t stop the attack at the lighthouse but here you should be safe. We have protections in place here that should hold for a long while if we are discovered. I believe you may have noticed some of them already sire. The swirling lights and eddies of power that flow through the grounds. Those are the physical manifestations of our protection spells we have woven and charmed into this property.”

  “I’m sorry. What is all this and who are all of you and what have you done with my husband?” Glenda spoke up for the first time. She had been rocked back on her heels by the events of the day but she was coming back into herself now. Despite how she may look she was the furthest thing from timid when it came to standing up for her Chuck or Chris. She loved them both with a wild passionate fierceness that came across when she needed it to. This was one of those times.

  Frivolity fled the room as solemnity descended like a spider web of grief drifting slowly to the ground. All of them were entangled by the love of this woman for her fallen mate. Miss Penny stood up and went across the room to hug Glenda. Glenda stood and accepted the hug and then demanded in a firm voice to know what was going on or she was going to take Chris and leave immediately. It may have seemed an empty threat but she stated it with all the force of her conviction and none in the room doubted she would try to pull it off.

  Miss Penny pulled back from her embrace. “Very well then. I believe it is time for you both to hear a fairy tale. This one just happens to be true. As a matter of fact, it is the fairy tale that a lot of the other fairy tales are based on. In addition to his other duties Wessel serves as the royal historian which is one of the reasons we asked him to join us here tonight. Let’s all grab some refreshments and settle in and then we will see what you think when he’s done.”

  Chapter 6: Once Upon a Time

  “This will need to be an abbreviated version as I fear we have a good bit to get accomplished in a small amount of time. I don’t share Penelope’s optimism about this place standing for long with the forces that are going to be arriving here soon to hunt you down sire. With that said I would like to give you and Glenda the basics so that you’ll have some idea of what is going on and a better idea of what actions are needed.” Wessel looked at Chris and Glenda and when they both had signified they understood so far and wished for him to proceed he did so.

  “To begin with there are many inhabited worlds other than Earth. These worlds are loosely grouped into universes or dimensions. The laws of physics in one dimension do not necessarily dictate the rules in another dimension but all of the rules from one dimension are transferrable to a greater or lesser degree to another dimension. To simplify that, some dimensions have what would seem to be magic while others rely more heavily on science. On the planets that rely heavily on science, magic is not generally practiced because it is not accepted to work. However, magic will work if a person who understands it and is born to it seeks to practice it on one of those worlds. It will work because the person who wields will know that it works.”

  “The magical worlds tend to be less technically advanced than the science based worlds. No matter the goals of the wielders of great sorcerous powers there tends to be inequality when a small percentage of the people possess the majority of the power. This tends to create feudalistic societies where the lower classes depend on their liege lords for their protection and their livelihood. Technological societies like Earth end up a lot more equal. Pretty much anyone can pick up a gun and now he has power over the others around him. It takes years and years to master swordsmanship but a gun can be learned in a matter of minutes and does not require any special skills or training for basic usage.”

  “This is all important to explain that Xandia was a feudal society. There were several classes of people who lived there and it had evolved to the point where the whole world was under the loose governance of a handful of royalty. This was all around three thousand Earth years ago. Chris, your ancestors were all of royal blood. The royal blood piece is important as there is more to magic than just belief. There are also genetic traits that make it easier for one to unlock the focus needed to perform magic. The term magic in this case encompassing a very wide variety of tasks one can cause to be done through the power of one’s mind and the harnessing of certain elements and forces.”

  “The royal families bred for power. When a commoner of exceptional prowess rose to the top of the magical ranks a royal would typically court that person and win their affection. Not every time but enough that over thousands of years the royal family became synonymous with the family with the greatest magical potential. It was in those last thousand years that some of these royals began looking outwards f
rom our world at other worlds. They used their powers to focus great distances and the greatest of them eventually stumbled across something which felt like a magnet to them. The feeling was very weak but at certain points they could feel that if they did certain things they would be able to travel unimaginable distances and emerge in other worlds.”

  “A great royal by the name of Tutankhamun was one of the first to get it to work. He ended up in Egypt where he used his powers to get himself proclaimed a god and he lived the life of a terrible and powerful king there. No one on Xandia knew this. They just knew he had been talking about being able to travel the universe and then he had disappeared. It was only figured out millennia later when our forefathers studied history and realized that was where he had ended up at.”

  “Knowing it could be done was the catalyst that drove other royals and high-level nobles to experiment more and more often with dimensional travel and build up trade to strange and wondrous worlds. It was determined that one end of the conduit for these portals required magic while the other end required precise mathematical calculations to enable the magic to be employed correctly to make the journey. There were many failures and many great successes and Xandia flourished for a few hundred years as a mecca for dimensional travel and trade.”

  “Then came the dark ones. There are an infinite number of worlds and an infinite number of realities in the universes. Many are bright beacons of hope that flourish with peace and prosperity and want nothing but good as they try and move everyone forward. Then there are those that want to see that light diminished. There are realities ruled by dark beings that seek to conquer and possess all of the universes. A portal was built to a world from Xandia where one of these dark realities existed. The dark wizards on the other side had taken control of the portal and used it to send their army to Xandia.”

  “Xandia was not prepared. The royals and nobles had heard rumors and guessed at the existence of dark forces and mysterious hordes but they had downplayed the danger of connecting to one of those worlds. Flush with the riches and power gained from the exploration of the other worlds they had foolishly thought they could continue expanding and exploring without any serious risk. The planet they had connected to had been barren and devoid of life other than the hordes of demons and monsters that made up the dark one’s forces. They had linked up to the royals will and expanded the portal to allow hundreds of thousands of the monsters to come into Xandia unimpeded.”

  “From there they quickly attacked and pillaged their way across all of Xandia. No matter how many of them the Xandians repelled more always came. Finally, there was only the castle left where most of the royals had retreated with their escorts and what people they could help escape. In the highest tower of that castle was an observatory where the king went with his strongest wizards to try and open a portal so that the people could escape the hordes. It took a week of tireless searching while the horde beat at their walls until finally they felt the pull and were able to stand up a link to the planet known as Earth.”

  “With the link formed the king and his highest knights and wizards went to the wall. They fought as berserkers while the kings people went through the portal. They kept the monsters at bay until at the very last a giant demon jumped on the wall and lashed out at the king with a trident that crackled with energy. The walls broke around them as the king fought the monster. The horde poured in through the crumbling walls and soon the battle was over. The demons sent a battle group of humans from a conquered and twisted world through the portal to chase down and destroy the ones who had escaped. They did not want this new dimension to be warned of the horde. They knew that a prepared dimension was one that may be able to repel them and slow their spread through the dimensions.”

  “The Mayans had moved to murder and enslave the Xandians when they arrived and the thing that ended up saving them, ironically enough, was the arrival of the horde warriors behind them. The fleeing Xandians had escaped into the woods and scattered to the winds after working out a schedule of meetings to attempt to stay in touch. Many of them had ended up staying with the Mayans until the arrival of the Spaniards then slowly making their way into Europe. Some had gone deeper into South America and never been heard from again. Others had gone into North America and settled into a life of being one with nature. Many of them had become assimilated into the native American tribes that spread over North America.”

  “A core group of about a two hundred had traveled into North America and built a ship which they had sailed to Europe. Another hundred had gone to the other coast and ended up in Asia. Vietnam to be specific from which they had spread out and assimilated into multiple Asian countries. There was no easy way to tell if a person had Xandian blood in them since not all Xandians could perform magic. There were tests to determine magical prowess which would reveal that a person was more than likely from Xandia. The only blood lines which had been documented and followed closely were the royals.”

  “The royals had become accustomed over the centuries to being treated somewhat like pedigreed horses or dogs as far as breeding and romance went. They all understood that to maintain their positions and keep moving Xandia forward they needed to make sure to keep their magic strong. Xandia was neither a matriarchy nor a patriarchy. This meant that at any given time they may have either a king or queen who was the absolute ruler. Magical prowess did not depend on sex either. Both men and women could turn out equally powerful. Knights were a special class of nobility that had magical potential but focused on the martial arts instead. Knights were typically men but there was no rule saying they had to be and there had been many famous women knights over the centuries.”

  “The horde had not been able to open another major portal to this world since the one opened with the Mayans as far as was known. They had opened smaller ones here and there throughout history and managed to get assassins and demons through who had hunted the royals. It was generally assumed at some point that a scientist would come into being who would have the skills to open a larger portal that would spell the end of life on this planet. The horde would come through and rape and pillage the land. They would enslave the people and this beautiful planet would become yet another dark jewel in their crown.”

  “Chris is the last known royal. He is the last of the line that all the Xandians would be willing to stand behind. He’s needed to unify everyone and keep up the fight and prepare for the day when a portal was opened. His first responsibility is to stay alive. Following that he needed to go through the ritual training he needed to harness his powers and learn to lead and defend himself. He was king in name now but would not fully come into power until the day he passed his trials. Until then a council made up of wizards and witches and knights would make most of the decisions. This council would become his council on the day he passed the third trial and it was his desire to keep them on in their positions.”

  “Your highness. There will be tests. The training is grueling. You’ll go through it with others your age but your status as a royal will probably just make it harder on you. Everyone is going to want to be better than you. Everyone is going to try to be your friend. You’ll need to see through all that. You’ll need to learn to harness whatever powers turn out to be your greatest strengths. This legacy is laid at your feet by virtue of your blood. It is your choice to enter into this oath or not though. You must have faith in yourself and your beliefs and be prepared to go through these trials. Once you start there is no honorable way to turn back. Do ye accept?”

  “What happened to the king and queen? My mother and father?” Chris asked.

  “They were killed by agents of the horde. Even with their great powers and under constant protection the horde assassins found ways to break through. This is no easy life laid out before you. A king’s job is to be a servant to his people. You’re not going to be spending a lot of time sitting on a golden throne while people hand feed strawberries to you if that’s the image you have in your head.” Wessel smiled down at the bo
y. His outward appearance was still warm but inside he was wracked with sorrow for this boy. To have lost his father on this day then to find out he had lost his biological mother and father as well. Then to have all of this laid on him and to be thrown into the training and the trials without even having ever heard of them before. Time was short though. There was no telling when the horde would decide to focus on their little pile of dirt in this universe. Chris was the last hope to unify the scattered Xandians. Otherwise, the work of his parents would all fall apart.

  “What will happen with Glenda?” Chris asked.

  “Don’t you worry about me.” Glenda said from her position on the couch. She hadn’t followed parts of the complicated story Wessel had just gone through but she had gotten the gist of it. She had always known that Chris was special. This was validation of that. “You make the right choice though son. Whatever you choose I’ll support you.”

  Miss Penny jumped into the conversation. “Glenda, Chris will be away for the trials and the training so you wouldn’t get to see him very much. We would set you up somewhere safe and make sure you got the opportunity to see him as his schedule allowed. You would be an honored guest at any Xandian household.”

  “How would you keep her safe?” Chris asked. “You guys were supposed to be keeping me safe too.”