Ultimate Mage

by Simon Archer

  “Hey, Nadeine, do you still have my phone?” I asked, turning to her.

  “You mean your small communication device?” Nadeine asked, her expression wary. “That will not work here.”

  “I know, I know,” I said hurriedly, trying to get her to understand. “But the camera might.”

  “I do not understand this word,” Nadeine said simply.

  “Phones have cameras,” I explained. “It’s a thing that takes a picture.”

  “You mean a painting?” she asked, confused now.

  “Sort of,” I said, realizing I hadn’t seen any photographs since I’d been in the kingdom. “But a bit different. Do you still have it? Let me show you.” Nadeine reached into one of her many pockets and pulled out the phone she had made me give her after I called my mom. I opened it, and sure enough, there was no service in this other-dimensional world. Who’d have guessed? I opened the camera app and snapped a picture of Nadeine. She blinked at the camera’s clicking sound.

  “What did you just do to me?” she asked, eyeing my phone with great unease.

  “I took a picture of you,” I said. “See?” I held out the phone to her and showed her the picture of herself, in which she was blinking. She jumped at the sight of it.

  “What is this?” she asked. At first, she looked scared, but then she pressed her face up close to the phone with great interest. The other kingdom elves were watching with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

  “It’s a picture,” I said. “See? It’s you.” I pointed at the picture on the phone screen again and then turned it into selfie mode and took a picture of myself. “See?” I pointed at the new picture.

  “You can capture any image?” Nadeine asked, her eyes wide in awe.

  “Pretty much,” I said. “At least I hope so. I was wondering if maybe we could try to take some pictures of the spells since they’re so cool.”

  “You are going to do this as you play your cello?” Nadeine asked, furrowing her brows together.

  “No,” I laughed. “I need both hands for that. But one of you could do it.”

  I looked around at the kingdom elves, but none of them jumped at the opportunity, and they each continued to eye my phone with skepticism. I realized that human technology was just as foreign to them as magic was to me.

  “It’s totally safe,” I assured them. “It won’t hurt you or anything.”

  “And it will not reveal our world to your people?” Nadeine asked, revealing her worst concern. Realization dawned on me, and I rushed to assuage her worries.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head vigorously. “I don’t have any service here like you said. There would be no way for me to share the images with anyone on Earth. And even if I did, everyone would think they were photoshopped, anyway.”

  “Photo-shop-ed?” Nadeine asked, pronouncing each syllable slowly. “What does this mean?”

  “It doesn’t really matter,” I said, shaking my head and regretting bringing up another new technology. “It just means like making a fake photo. Making it seem like something is real when it’s actually not.”

  “Ah,” Nadeine said, nodding curtly. “I believe I understand. So even if you were to attempt to reveal us to your world, they would not believe you.”

  “Not a chance,” I grinned, thinking of what would happen if I even tried to convince my friends back home that any of this was real. “They’d think I was crazy.”

  “You do not possess much credibility in your world,” Nadeine said matter-of-factly.

  “Not really,” I said. “But that’s part of why this place is so much better.” The kingdom elves seemed to like that sentiment, and they stopped eyeing my phone with distaste.

  “Very well,” Nadeine said. “I will attempt to use this technology for you, Leo.”

  “Awesome, thanks,” I said, holding up the phone to her again, this time in camera mode. “Just click this button a few times every time I cast a new spell, okay?” I said.

  “Alright,” she said, taking the phone from me awkwardly. She snapped a picture of me and jumped a bit at the image’s appearance. “Did I do it correctly?” I looked over at the blurry photo of me.

  “Sort of,” I said. “Just try to hold your hands still to make sure it’s not blurry. Like this.” I walked around behind her and held her hands steady, showing her what the image was supposed to look like before she took it.

  “Ah, I believe I understand now,” she said when she saw the finished product, a very not-blurry photo of the mage’s circle I had been using that day. “I am ready.”

  “Awesome,” I said again, rushing over to the mage’s circle and preparing myself to play some more. I closed my eyes and held out my hands until my cello appeared in my hands, then sat down in the air once more, placed my bow to my string, and began to play. The golden sword reappeared, and then the mace, and then the collection of daggers, and then a machete, a knife, and a curved sword kind of like a pirate’s. I was more exhausted than I’d ever been before when I finished, but also more exhilarated than I’d ever been. Magic was awesome. I hopped up, watched my cello disappear again, and rushed back over to Nadeine.

  “Did you get it?” I asked.

  “I believe so,” she said, holding out my phone to me. I took it and looked through all of the pictures she had taken. They were perfect. I had been worried that the camera wouldn’t be able to capture the magic, but it did. I now had pictures of all of my offensive combat spells, as well as my new magical cello, and I couldn’t be happier.

  “These are perfect,” I told Nadeine, and she looked relieved that I liked them. “Thanks for taking them.”

  “You are welcome,” she said, smiling slightly.

  “Your magic is a thrill to watch, Leo Hayden,” Bernsten said.

  “You liked it better when it wasn’t you in there with me, huh?” I grinned.

  “Indeed,” Bernsten said, nodding with his eyes wide. “It is much better this way.”

  “Oh Leo Hayden, your magic is positively exemplary,” Anil said, and I could have sworn he looked like he’d been crying with joy.

  “Thanks, Anil. As much as I’m loving all these compliments guys, I’m getting pretty hungry,” I said, rubbing my stomach again. It made a very noticeable grumbling noise, and everyone laughed.

  We all headed back to the dining hall for dinner. I couldn’t believe how late it was; time had passed really quickly while we were practicing. Siara and Anil joined us for our meal, which consisted of a surprisingly tasty dish of cooked spinach and tofu in a spicy seasoning, lemon-flavored pasta shaped like wide, flat rectangles, and bread with butter. I was so hungry, I ate three helpings of each, along with several more glasses of water.

  “Will we practice again tomorrow?” I asked Anil and Siara between large bites of pasta.

  “No, Leo Hayden, we think you are ready to continue with your quest,” Anil said, beaming at me. “But if you wish to practice again, we will not say no, of course.”

  “You have progressed exceptionally well in these few short days, Leo,” Siara added. “We think your valuable time would be of best use continuing your journey to the forest. You may, and should, continue to practice as you travel.”

  “Alright, that sounds good,” I said, nodding. “Will I be able to practice when we’re in the forest?”

  “Yes, I do not see why not,” Nadeine said. “Though we ought to be careful in selecting a place to do so so as not to alert any potential enemies to our presence.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” I said. “How long until we get to the forest?”

  “It will be several days more journey,” Marinka said. “But I believe we have one more stop to make before we enter the forest.”

  “Indeed,” Nadeine said. “A message arrived this morning from Dalibor. We will be staying with some friends of his on the outskirts of the kingdom. He believes they have some important information concerning Viktor.”

  “Oh, that’s good then,” I said, surprised.

&nb
sp; “Yes,” Marinka said. “As we travel through the edge of the kingdom, we will be following some of his movements shortly before he was exiled. But as I suggested earlier, perhaps we should wait until tomorrow to discuss such things, and spend this evening celebrating your achievements, Leo.”

  She smiled at me warmly and touched my arm again. I put my hand over hers and returned her smile. Her bright green eyes locked with my blue ones. Then her eyes darted down to my sleeve, and she seemed to notice something.

  “Leo,” she said, continuing to stare. “Your robes have been altered.”

  “Huh?” I asked, following her gaze.

  “Indeed, Leo Hayden,” Bernsten said, and he was staring now as well. “Marinka is correct. Stand up and let us see you.”

  I did so, and as I spread my robes and looked at them closely, I realized that my friends were right. Where my robes were once made of plain, yet elegant royal blue fabric with golden trim, now they were also covered in a shadowy, curly design that moved as the fabric moved.

  “Cool,” I said, staring at the design’s movement as I shook the fabric up and down.

  “Ah, Leo Hayden,” Anil cried. “You have already achieved the status of a master mage! This is so exciting.”

  “Huh?” I asked again. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you have mastered or are easily capable of mastery of all of the beginning and intermediate spells,” Siara explained, and she spoke faster than usual due to her excitement, which matched Anil’s. “Your robes respond accordingly when you achieve a new rank. Very few magi reach this status, Leo. You should be very proud of yourself. I know we are.” She smiled warmly at me.

  “So… there’s no more spells for me to learn?” I asked, a little disappointed. I never wanted to stop learning new music.

  “Oh, no,” Siara said hastily, raising her hands to indicate that I was incorrect. “There are many advanced spells left for you to learn. It is just that, as I said, very few magi ever reach a place where they are able to learn them.”

  “Cool, so there are a lot of those?” I asked. Then, turning to Nadeine, “Do we have any with us?”

  “I believe Dalibor had the servants pack one or two,” Nadeine said. “But no more.”

  “We will give you some,” Anil said, piping in again. “We have the largest library of spells in all of Eviorah.”

  “Awesome,” I said. “Can we grab some after dinner?”

  “Of course,” Siara said. “We would be happy to provide you with as many scrolls as you are able to carry. And to answer your question, Leo, yes, there are many advanced spells. And should you achieve mastery at the advanced level, you will be able to create your own spells.”

  “Really?” I asked, my eyes growing wide. I’d composed some of my own musical pieces before, but they hadn’t gained much traction at Juilliard. To be able to create my own music here, and to use it to make spells and help people, would be amazing.

  “Indeed,” Siara said, smiling at me. “And I have no doubt that you will reach that level of mastery, Leo, based on the skills and propensity for magic that I have seen in you already. But be warned, only nine magi in our kingdom’s entire history have ever achieved such a rank. That is in a time period of hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of years. It will likely take some time for you to reach this point. You will have to continue to practice regularly and seriously.”

  “I will,” I said, giving her a short, determined nod. “And thank you so much for all of your help and training, both of you.” I looked between Siara and Anil now. “It’s been amazing, really. I appreciate it.”

  “Oh, thank you, Leo Hayden,” Anil said, clasping his hands together. “Thank you for giving us the chance to witness your great power.”

  “And for giving us the chance to perhaps wield it ourselves, one day,” Siara said, a wistful expression crossing her face.

  “I will do everything I can to give you your magic back,” I said, looking around the table at all my new friends. “I promise.”

  After we finished eating, Anil and Siara led us to one of the libraries.

  “This is the library where we keep most of our advanced spells,” Anil said as we walked into the room. Much like the other libraries I’d been in, it was filled wall to wall with shelves covered in the same bubble-like substance that had protected Bernsten in our training battles, holding thousands of scrolls. The ground also had several golden circles for magi to practice their magic. The one difference from the other libraries was the walls, which held portraits of magi with flowing robes bearing the same kind of pattern mine now did. The patterns on the robes in the portraits, unlike mine, were outlined in gold.

  “Why are their robes different?” I asked, turning to Siara. “Are they at the higher level you were talking about earlier?”

  “Indeed. These are the nine ultimate magi,” Siara said, nodding and gesturing around at the portraits. “When you reach that rank, your robes will adjust accordingly. Before we lost our magic, we had not had a mage reach that rank in a hundred thousand years, Leo. I look forward to your future success with much anticipation, as does the entire realm.”

  “Wow,” I said, gazing up at the portraits. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Back home, I was just a bartender, and not even a very good one. Here, I was on track to become one of the most powerful magi to ever live. A lot had changed in the past couple of weeks.

  Siara walked over to one of the shelves and started pulling down scrolls through the bubble. I came up next to her and reached through as well. The bubble was a strange, gel-like substance that left my hand feeling wet, but it was still dry. It was kind of cool.

  “How many spells do you think we can fit?” I asked Nadeine.

  “Do you feel comfortable leaving behind the ones you have already learned?” she asked me.

  “Hmm,” I said, thinking. “I think so. Yeah, I can remember the spells if I have to.”

  “You are certain?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I said, thinking back to our practice that day. It hadn’t been difficult to remember them, especially once I got going. I would be more comfortable continuing to carry them, but if that meant not learning any new spells that could help us, it wasn’t worth it.

  “Could we not carry them all, Sister?” Bernsten asked, listening in on our conversation.

  “We must leave room in our packs for gathering food and water in the forest, and carrying perishable items with us from the edge of the kingdom,” Marinka said, joining us by the shelf.

  “This is correct,” Nadeine said. “We also wish to pack as light as possible. We do not know what we will face in the forest. We do not want to be left in a position where we must leave a campsite quickly and are unable to gather all of our supplies.”

  “Nor do we wish for spell scrolls to fall into Viktor’s hands,” Bernsten said, nodding. “There is no telling what he could do with such information.”

  “Indeed,” Nadeine said. “I had not thought of that.” We stood in awkward silence for a few moments, thinking about our enemy the journey ahead. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore and broke the silence.

  “I could take pictures of the spells,” I said. Then, when greeted with blank expressions from my companions, “Like with my phone. Like we did with the spells in practice. That way, we can do more.”

  “Indeed,” Nadeine said, realization dawning over her. “This is a good idea, Leo, though we should still carry as many spells as we are able just in case something were to happen to this device of yours.”

  “Sure, that makes sense,” I said. “So, what kinds of spells should we bring?”

  “Good question, Leo Hayden. You will, of course, wish for many more combat spells, both offensive and defensive,” Anil said, and as he spoke, Siara began moving across the shelves and pulling down more scrolls, piling them up in her arms. “You will also, I imagine, wish to learn spells for creating shelter, locating and purifying water, hunting and gathering, and cooking the f
ood you acquire. Which also means you will be in need of a fire-starting spell.”

  “You guys don’t know how to do that on your own without magic?” I asked, turning to the rest of my team.

  “Of course we do, Leo,” Nadeine said, bemused. “We have learned such skills as part of our military training. But it would be helpful if you could do so as well. It is much easier to complete these tasks with magic than to do so manually.”

  “Gotcha,” I said. “I’ll learn as many spells as I can then.” The pile of scrolls in Siara’s arms was growing large and looked like it may be about to topple, so I rushed over to her and took a stack for myself.

  “Thank you, Leo,” Siara said, looking relieved. She continued to traverse through the shelves and grab more scrolls, and now she was tossing them to Anil as he struggled to keep up with her.

  “Are these all advanced spells?” I asked as I continued to follow her, bending down to pick up a scroll for a slightly panicked Anil.

  “Oh no, but many of them are,” she said, continuing to weave through the shelves with surprising speed and grace. “Especially the combat spells; these are all advanced. Some of the other ones are not, but your focus thus far has understandably been on combat spells. As you travel to the forest over the next several days, I would suggest you focus on learning the spells to help your companions with survival tasks in the forest. Then, you should move on to the advanced combat spells.”

  “Okay, that makes sense,” I said. “Can you show me which ones are which when you’re finished?”

  “Of course,” she said. Then, turning to her fellow scholar, “Anil, I believe I can take it from here. Please help Leo sort through the scrolls.” Anil looked relieved.

  “Of course, yes,” he squeaked. “Over here with me, Leo Hayden.” I sat down across from him at a reading table by a large window at the outer edge of the library. Nadeine, Bernsten, and Marinka, having been left behind when I started following Siara and Anil, found us and seated themselves around the table as well. Anil began unfurling the scrolls and sorting through them into two piles: one for advanced combat spells, and one for the survival skills spells.