Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2015 16:19:57 GMT -6
Prodigy
Alistar peeked around the corner, spotted a better position by a low, worn rock wall and dove. He turned his shoulder under him as he rolled, coming up in a crouch. He checked around the corner, they hadn't seen him. He motioned his two teammates over. The first, a girl of about fourteen years, performed her dive-roll perfectly, coming up next to Alistar. The second, though, a lanky boy of about the same age, overcompensated for his height and landed on his back with a grunt. Alistar, his strength enhanced by the augmentations on his bracers, grabbed the boy and dragged him behind cover in time to see a cloth training ball skip in the dirt inches from where he had been only seconds before.
“That was close,” Duncan said.
“It wouldn't have happened if you weren't such a lumbering oaf,” Tara informed him, as Alistar opened one of the pouches on his belt and removed several cloth balls around five centimeters in diameter.
He shot them a sharp look, they instantly quieted. Some of the other students would have continued talking and maybe even laughed at his serious expression, but not these two. They understood how much hinged on winning this training exercise. He motioned for them to prepare then looked around the corner and with one smooth motion threw a ball straight into the face of one of the three members of Blue Team. Two more. Then we can light the obelisk. Alistar snapped a signal. Tara set herself then launched into a sprint. Duncan stood, sent a ball at the Blues then dove left behind a wall running perpendicular to the the Blues. One. Two. Three. Alistar stood up and threw, pulling the Blues' attention from Duncan and Tara, then dodged the oncoming ball. He threw again and watched, his eyesight improved by an augmented circlet on his head, as Duncan appeared on the left and Tara, untouched, ducked behind a wall on the right. They had them. Alistar sprinted straight at the Blue base.
Tara and Duncan each took out one of the remaining Blues. Alistar dove over the last low wall then rolled coming to a stop at the base of a tall blue crystalline obelisk. He placed his hands on it and willed to light. Energy pulsed from his hands. It moved like a wave and quickly covered the entire structure in a bright white light which then faded to a dull blue glow.
Alistar turned to find Duncan removing the blue bandana from the right bicep of an unconscious Blue. He look at Alistar. “These are the last of them,” he said and handed the three bandanas to Alistar. Alistar tied them next to the seven others on his sash.
“Did we win?” Tara asked. She didn't have the power to augment more than her bracers.
Alistar looked to the west where the other obelisk would be. It stood red against the sky.
“Yes.” They had finally won. The dream ended.
Alistar sat up in bed. It had been a long time since he had thought of Duncan and Tara. Three years to be exact. They had been together for one year after that training exercise before power and skill had separated them. Duncan and Tara had not been able to graduate, but then, they had not expected to. For three years he had been a war mage, Bel'Alistar. And now he was to become apprentice to an Archmage. It had happened 3 months before. The previous Archmage had died and the new Archmage raised. And every Archmage needed an apprentice.
Alistar sat, legs crossed, with a group of other mages performing daily meditation. Why they did it he still did not understand. They had been told it promoted greater concentration and precision when working with magic, but he had never had a problem with that. Eyes still closed, he pulled a steel ring out of his pocket. Even with his eyes closed he could feel it was a simple thing with an engraving on the inner side. He concentrated, breathed in rhythm, and reached inside himself to the ocean of magic that only seemed to grow as time went on. He took a handful and, reciting the tradition spell silently, willed the spell into the ring. It resisted the spell but his superior will bound it to the ring. A bell sounded and he opened his eyes. He looked into his hand where the ring glowed. Four iridescent strings of light twisted around each other in an intricate braid. Four colors for four augmentations. Alistar felt a chill. He turned, and found a man in his early forties watching the ring.
Before Alistar could speak, the man mumbled and the ring flew out of Alistar's hand and into the man's waiting hand. “Nice piece of work you have here. Did you make it yourself?” he asked as he lifted the ring and examined it.
Alistar studied the man. His bright golden robes signified a high ranking warmage of the Griffin kingdom, probably an Elder or at the very least an Elder's aide. Obviously a powerful mage, that spell he had cast Alistar had only seen twice in his eighteen years and both times had been by Elder Bel'Dunn. Controlling gravity was something that required both great power and finesse and as with all magic it had rules. Large objects were the easiest to move without any backlash. The smaller the object the more concentration and skill it took. Elder Bel'Dunn had been considered a prodigy in his time and the smallest he could move is a chair. But to think this man could move a ring that was being held.
Who is this man? Alistar marveled. I had thought the Elder was the only on in Griffin that could use gravity. He opened his mouth to ask but the other mage cut him off.
“You are Bel'Alistar, correct?” the man asked as he studied the ring.
“Yes.”
The man looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Is that how you answer your superiors?”
Alistar was confused. His only superior's were his instructors and the Elder. Wait, that wasn't right. There was one more. Alistar glanced at the man's hands searching. And there it was. The seal of the Archmage of Griffin Kingdom. “Yo–your Excellency!” Alistar stammered and moved to one knee. He had heard of the new Archmage. His master, the former Archmage, had died and, as was the custom, his apprentice was immediately raised to the rank. That had happened less than six months ago.
“Oh, stand up. I'm not a king so don't bow.”
Alistar looked up at the Archmage but stayed where he was. “But Exce--”
The Archmage held up a hand. “If you are going to call me anything call me Archmage Arland. Do NOT call me Excellency or your Grace or any other honorific,” he said and dragged Alistar to his feet.
Alistar looked at him with wide eyes. He had always been told he would be punished if he didn't use honorifics where they were due but here was the Archmage telling him not to bother?
Archmage Arland held up the ring. “Are you the one who augmented this?” he asked.
Alistar started with surpise. He can see the augments? He relaxed. But of course. He is an Archmage. No one knew exactly how but everyone knew that all archmages had the ability to see magic that was not their own. “Yes, Archmage. I just finished it during meditations.”
Arland studied him. “And how long have you been working on this particular set of augmentations?”
“About three days.”
“Show me,” Arland said and pulled a similar ring out of a pocket in his sleeve and handed it to Alistar.
“Excuse me sir, but if I could have my ring back I would prefer to show on something of my own.
Arland nodded to himself as if he had expected as much and handed the ring over. “But tell me,” he said. “How are you going to show me on something that already has four augmentations?”
“I'm going to remove them first,” Alistar answered. Arland looked sharply at him but Alistar was too focused on the ring to notice. He reached inside himself and found it. In his mind it appeared to him as a transparent pair of scissors. He did not know if this was how everyone saw this particular piece of magic, what he did know is that it worked wonders. Taking the imaginary scissors he took them to the ring and cut all four of the string-like augmentations at once.
He thought he heard a gasp but ignored it. Taking the strings he had cut he pulled them back into himself and released them into his ocean. Suddenly he had an epiphany and one at a time formed the four spells, but instead of binding them to the ring one at a time, he braided them together. He wasn't sure if this would work but it felt right to him and since becoming a mage, he had found that doing what felt right to him usually was. He then took the braid and wrapped it around the ring. Once he brought the two ends together and, to his surprised, they formed together seamlessly. Then something completely unexpected happened.
The moment the ends melded the braid began sinking into the metal. Alistar opened his eyes and watched in awe as the last of the braid melted into the steel, and the ring began to come alive with color. Alistar heard a gasp behind the Archmage and for the first time he noticed that three Elders and several attendants stood behind the Archmage.
“Impossible,” an Elder in his late forties said with absolutely no conviction.
Elder Bel'Dunn looked at Alistar with astonishment and...fear?
Arland held out his hand and Alistar reluctantly placed the ring in the palm.
“Amazing,” Arland commented as he examined the ring. “To think one so young could successfully perform a melding. And with cold steel at that.” He handed the ring back to Alistar. “That is not why I am here though. You,” he said and pointed at Alistar, “are to report to Instructor An'Aithne. I have a task for you and your squad. She will brief you on it.”
Alistar stood at attention, fist to heart.
With that the Archmage turned around and passed through his entourage, leading them outside.
Alistar pulled out his communication crystal and called his team.
Alistar watched the low buildings through his looking glass.
“Use as little magic as possible.” Instructor An'Aithne had said.
“Why?” Drostan asked. He was lanky, twenty-two, and never knew when to shut up. “Not being able to use magic is gonna make it harder to see.”
“We believe the rebel base is equipped with magic trackers. If you do anything magical, they will know where you are.” The grave look on her face silenced him. Well sometimes he did know when. “We don't know what they are up to,” She continued. “But it is imperative that you find out and immediately retreat.”
Alistar grinned. “So, you want us to go in, snoop around, then get out. All without getting caught.”
An'Aithne nodded.
“Any backup?”
“None.”
Alistar's grin grew.
Drusilla, a girl Alistar's age, got a mischievous look. “This is going to be fun.”
Drostan's face echoed her's.
“So, do you have transport for us?” Alistar asked.
An'Aithne nodded then smiled with them.
Alistar watched from the hill. He focused his looking glass on a pair of sentries. An owl hooted and the sentries dropped, daggers gleamed in the night then disappeared. He had tried something new tonight. He had learned over the past few months about his inherent ability to cut magic. If he was able to cut it why not erase its presence? Back home no one had believed his parents when they said he was a prodigy. Even now no one could understand why he didn't even need to meditate to develop his concentration. But the Archmage, he on the other hand did not appear so surprised. Would he be surprised when he learned Alistar had learned to hide magic from the detectors and that even now Drusilla and Drostan were moving, hidden by capes of invisibility into the compound, unseen and unhindered. No. The man had seen how quickly Alistar learned. He would not be surprised. Alistar had always been sharp. All he had needed was a couple hours to think before he knew. He had a hard time believing it, but it was the only answer. Archmage Arland wanted to test Alistar. He wanted to test a prodigy. He wanted to test...
Alistar stood with head bowed, white-trimmed, golden robes draped over his shoulders. The crowd was silent.
“Bel'Alistar,” Archmage Arland said, his gold robes reflected the sun. “From this day forward you are hereby revoked of your title as warmage of the realm. From this day forward you are Alistar, apprentice to Arland, Archmage of the Griffin Kingdom.”
Alistar peeked around the corner, spotted a better position by a low, worn rock wall and dove. He turned his shoulder under him as he rolled, coming up in a crouch. He checked around the corner, they hadn't seen him. He motioned his two teammates over. The first, a girl of about fourteen years, performed her dive-roll perfectly, coming up next to Alistar. The second, though, a lanky boy of about the same age, overcompensated for his height and landed on his back with a grunt. Alistar, his strength enhanced by the augmentations on his bracers, grabbed the boy and dragged him behind cover in time to see a cloth training ball skip in the dirt inches from where he had been only seconds before.
“That was close,” Duncan said.
“It wouldn't have happened if you weren't such a lumbering oaf,” Tara informed him, as Alistar opened one of the pouches on his belt and removed several cloth balls around five centimeters in diameter.
He shot them a sharp look, they instantly quieted. Some of the other students would have continued talking and maybe even laughed at his serious expression, but not these two. They understood how much hinged on winning this training exercise. He motioned for them to prepare then looked around the corner and with one smooth motion threw a ball straight into the face of one of the three members of Blue Team. Two more. Then we can light the obelisk. Alistar snapped a signal. Tara set herself then launched into a sprint. Duncan stood, sent a ball at the Blues then dove left behind a wall running perpendicular to the the Blues. One. Two. Three. Alistar stood up and threw, pulling the Blues' attention from Duncan and Tara, then dodged the oncoming ball. He threw again and watched, his eyesight improved by an augmented circlet on his head, as Duncan appeared on the left and Tara, untouched, ducked behind a wall on the right. They had them. Alistar sprinted straight at the Blue base.
Tara and Duncan each took out one of the remaining Blues. Alistar dove over the last low wall then rolled coming to a stop at the base of a tall blue crystalline obelisk. He placed his hands on it and willed to light. Energy pulsed from his hands. It moved like a wave and quickly covered the entire structure in a bright white light which then faded to a dull blue glow.
Alistar turned to find Duncan removing the blue bandana from the right bicep of an unconscious Blue. He look at Alistar. “These are the last of them,” he said and handed the three bandanas to Alistar. Alistar tied them next to the seven others on his sash.
“Did we win?” Tara asked. She didn't have the power to augment more than her bracers.
Alistar looked to the west where the other obelisk would be. It stood red against the sky.
“Yes.” They had finally won. The dream ended.
Alistar sat up in bed. It had been a long time since he had thought of Duncan and Tara. Three years to be exact. They had been together for one year after that training exercise before power and skill had separated them. Duncan and Tara had not been able to graduate, but then, they had not expected to. For three years he had been a war mage, Bel'Alistar. And now he was to become apprentice to an Archmage. It had happened 3 months before. The previous Archmage had died and the new Archmage raised. And every Archmage needed an apprentice.
Alistar sat, legs crossed, with a group of other mages performing daily meditation. Why they did it he still did not understand. They had been told it promoted greater concentration and precision when working with magic, but he had never had a problem with that. Eyes still closed, he pulled a steel ring out of his pocket. Even with his eyes closed he could feel it was a simple thing with an engraving on the inner side. He concentrated, breathed in rhythm, and reached inside himself to the ocean of magic that only seemed to grow as time went on. He took a handful and, reciting the tradition spell silently, willed the spell into the ring. It resisted the spell but his superior will bound it to the ring. A bell sounded and he opened his eyes. He looked into his hand where the ring glowed. Four iridescent strings of light twisted around each other in an intricate braid. Four colors for four augmentations. Alistar felt a chill. He turned, and found a man in his early forties watching the ring.
Before Alistar could speak, the man mumbled and the ring flew out of Alistar's hand and into the man's waiting hand. “Nice piece of work you have here. Did you make it yourself?” he asked as he lifted the ring and examined it.
Alistar studied the man. His bright golden robes signified a high ranking warmage of the Griffin kingdom, probably an Elder or at the very least an Elder's aide. Obviously a powerful mage, that spell he had cast Alistar had only seen twice in his eighteen years and both times had been by Elder Bel'Dunn. Controlling gravity was something that required both great power and finesse and as with all magic it had rules. Large objects were the easiest to move without any backlash. The smaller the object the more concentration and skill it took. Elder Bel'Dunn had been considered a prodigy in his time and the smallest he could move is a chair. But to think this man could move a ring that was being held.
Who is this man? Alistar marveled. I had thought the Elder was the only on in Griffin that could use gravity. He opened his mouth to ask but the other mage cut him off.
“You are Bel'Alistar, correct?” the man asked as he studied the ring.
“Yes.”
The man looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Is that how you answer your superiors?”
Alistar was confused. His only superior's were his instructors and the Elder. Wait, that wasn't right. There was one more. Alistar glanced at the man's hands searching. And there it was. The seal of the Archmage of Griffin Kingdom. “Yo–your Excellency!” Alistar stammered and moved to one knee. He had heard of the new Archmage. His master, the former Archmage, had died and, as was the custom, his apprentice was immediately raised to the rank. That had happened less than six months ago.
“Oh, stand up. I'm not a king so don't bow.”
Alistar looked up at the Archmage but stayed where he was. “But Exce--”
The Archmage held up a hand. “If you are going to call me anything call me Archmage Arland. Do NOT call me Excellency or your Grace or any other honorific,” he said and dragged Alistar to his feet.
Alistar looked at him with wide eyes. He had always been told he would be punished if he didn't use honorifics where they were due but here was the Archmage telling him not to bother?
Archmage Arland held up the ring. “Are you the one who augmented this?” he asked.
Alistar started with surpise. He can see the augments? He relaxed. But of course. He is an Archmage. No one knew exactly how but everyone knew that all archmages had the ability to see magic that was not their own. “Yes, Archmage. I just finished it during meditations.”
Arland studied him. “And how long have you been working on this particular set of augmentations?”
“About three days.”
“Show me,” Arland said and pulled a similar ring out of a pocket in his sleeve and handed it to Alistar.
“Excuse me sir, but if I could have my ring back I would prefer to show on something of my own.
Arland nodded to himself as if he had expected as much and handed the ring over. “But tell me,” he said. “How are you going to show me on something that already has four augmentations?”
“I'm going to remove them first,” Alistar answered. Arland looked sharply at him but Alistar was too focused on the ring to notice. He reached inside himself and found it. In his mind it appeared to him as a transparent pair of scissors. He did not know if this was how everyone saw this particular piece of magic, what he did know is that it worked wonders. Taking the imaginary scissors he took them to the ring and cut all four of the string-like augmentations at once.
He thought he heard a gasp but ignored it. Taking the strings he had cut he pulled them back into himself and released them into his ocean. Suddenly he had an epiphany and one at a time formed the four spells, but instead of binding them to the ring one at a time, he braided them together. He wasn't sure if this would work but it felt right to him and since becoming a mage, he had found that doing what felt right to him usually was. He then took the braid and wrapped it around the ring. Once he brought the two ends together and, to his surprised, they formed together seamlessly. Then something completely unexpected happened.
The moment the ends melded the braid began sinking into the metal. Alistar opened his eyes and watched in awe as the last of the braid melted into the steel, and the ring began to come alive with color. Alistar heard a gasp behind the Archmage and for the first time he noticed that three Elders and several attendants stood behind the Archmage.
“Impossible,” an Elder in his late forties said with absolutely no conviction.
Elder Bel'Dunn looked at Alistar with astonishment and...fear?
Arland held out his hand and Alistar reluctantly placed the ring in the palm.
“Amazing,” Arland commented as he examined the ring. “To think one so young could successfully perform a melding. And with cold steel at that.” He handed the ring back to Alistar. “That is not why I am here though. You,” he said and pointed at Alistar, “are to report to Instructor An'Aithne. I have a task for you and your squad. She will brief you on it.”
Alistar stood at attention, fist to heart.
With that the Archmage turned around and passed through his entourage, leading them outside.
Alistar pulled out his communication crystal and called his team.
Alistar watched the low buildings through his looking glass.
“Use as little magic as possible.” Instructor An'Aithne had said.
“Why?” Drostan asked. He was lanky, twenty-two, and never knew when to shut up. “Not being able to use magic is gonna make it harder to see.”
“We believe the rebel base is equipped with magic trackers. If you do anything magical, they will know where you are.” The grave look on her face silenced him. Well sometimes he did know when. “We don't know what they are up to,” She continued. “But it is imperative that you find out and immediately retreat.”
Alistar grinned. “So, you want us to go in, snoop around, then get out. All without getting caught.”
An'Aithne nodded.
“Any backup?”
“None.”
Alistar's grin grew.
Drusilla, a girl Alistar's age, got a mischievous look. “This is going to be fun.”
Drostan's face echoed her's.
“So, do you have transport for us?” Alistar asked.
An'Aithne nodded then smiled with them.
Alistar watched from the hill. He focused his looking glass on a pair of sentries. An owl hooted and the sentries dropped, daggers gleamed in the night then disappeared. He had tried something new tonight. He had learned over the past few months about his inherent ability to cut magic. If he was able to cut it why not erase its presence? Back home no one had believed his parents when they said he was a prodigy. Even now no one could understand why he didn't even need to meditate to develop his concentration. But the Archmage, he on the other hand did not appear so surprised. Would he be surprised when he learned Alistar had learned to hide magic from the detectors and that even now Drusilla and Drostan were moving, hidden by capes of invisibility into the compound, unseen and unhindered. No. The man had seen how quickly Alistar learned. He would not be surprised. Alistar had always been sharp. All he had needed was a couple hours to think before he knew. He had a hard time believing it, but it was the only answer. Archmage Arland wanted to test Alistar. He wanted to test a prodigy. He wanted to test...
Alistar stood with head bowed, white-trimmed, golden robes draped over his shoulders. The crowd was silent.
“Bel'Alistar,” Archmage Arland said, his gold robes reflected the sun. “From this day forward you are hereby revoked of your title as warmage of the realm. From this day forward you are Alistar, apprentice to Arland, Archmage of the Griffin Kingdom.”