by Logan Jacobs
Chime.
I repeated my threatening request, and the enchanter took his money and left, but during this attempt my mixture looked exactly like the old man’s had, so I moved on to pouring it over the seams of my boots. When I was finished, I checked the stats, and they were exactly the same as they had been when the enchanter had performed the task.
I waited for him in the doorway to thank him, and by the time the enchanter showed back up, the sun had set. I gave him another gold piece out of generosity and then shook his hand.
“Give Kane my greetings,” the enchanter said as I turned to leave.
“Kane?” I asked.
“The court wizard?” The old man tilted his head to the side like I should know this. “I assumed he sent you. He’s always bossing me around.”
I nearly jumped with joy.
“Where can I find Kane?” I asked as my heart thumped heavily inside my chest.
“In the western tower of the castle,” the enchanter explained with a puzzled look.
Chime.
I made my request again, but this time I included Kane’s name, and I didn’t even have to pay for the use of the workshop. I’d make it up to the enchanter later, but I didn’t want the enchanter to be aware of my lack of knowledge about the court wizard.
I made the boots the same way as before, and they turned out with the same stats, so I left without waiting for the enchanter to return. I still had two more griffon feathers I could use to enchant another piece of gear, but I wanted to experiment with my updated footwear before I made any commitments.
Once I got Kane to teach me everything he knew about casting spells, then I’d return to the enchantry and spend more time digging into the skill, but until then I had work to do.
By this time tomorrow, I’d know some awesome magic, and I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Fourteen
I trotted down the street to the inn as the shadows of dusk lengthened, and I tiptoed as I entered the room just in case my two women were asleep. They blinked up at me from the bed where they laid curled up in the sheets, and I grinned as I shut the door behind me.
“You’re still awake,” I observed in a pleased tone.
“You weren’t gone that long,” Mahini replied with a shrug of her bare shoulder.
“It was less than an hour ago when we parted ways,” Elissa added with a confused tilt of her head.
I quickly stripped off my armor and clothes, and I hopped into bed with them. The girls giggled as I positioned myself between them, and then we all sighed happily as we settled into our favorite positions. Mahini and Elissa each laid their heads on my chest and threw their legs up over my hips, and we pulled the blankets up over our bodies and fell asleep.
I wanted to get a good night’s rest before I learned magic. Then I’d go confront Duke Bullard with all my recently learned skills in my arsenal.
I slept uneasily, probably because I was dreaming of some epic Gandalf-level magic, and I woke up before the first light of the sun hit the window. I crept out of bed and quickly dressed in my casual clothes, and I grabbed the wand I’d found in the burial sanctum and the staff the guardian of the lake had given me before I snuck out of the room. I didn’t want to wake up the sleeping beauties in my bed, and I knew I’d be back with a whole new set of skills before they were ready for breakfast.
I made a new save point before I left because I planned to reset back to this moment after I’d learned all I could from the court wizard, Kane. Then I tiptoed through the quiet inn and slipped out into the early morning air.
A few vendors were wandering the street laden with baskets and bags full of their products, but other than the slow crawl of the shopkeepers, the streets were deserted. I eyed the duke’s castle where it sat overlooking the town situated within the stone walls, and I quickly found the western tower. A light burned in the window from the room at the very top, so the wizard must be awake already.
I took this as a good sign and jogged down the street toward the tower.
I hoped there was an outside entrance so I didn’t have to alert the whole castle to my presence, but either way, I was going to see Kane.
It took me a while to navigate the streets once I left the central road, but I paid close attention to where I was going, and I kept the western tower within my sights. When I approached, I noticed two guardsmen standing to either side of a wooden door at the base of the spire.
“Good morning,” I greeted in a friendly tone. “I’m here to see Kane.”
“Do you have an audience with the court wizard?” the guard to my left asked as his hand drifted toward his sword.
“Of course.” I yawned and shrugged my shoulders. “Damn Kane is always sending me on errands at unholy hours.”
“So, you’re the new apprentice?” the guard to my right asked as he crossed his arms. “I heard you were a late sleeper.”
“Listen, I don’t want to get in trouble for keeping Kane waiting,” I said in a fake worried tone. “He’s already cranky enough as it is.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” the first guard scoffed. “Go on in, then.”
“Better hurry.” The second guard opened the wooden door and ushered me inside.
I grinned gratefully, dashed inside the door without a second glance, and was met with the base of a staircase that spiraled upward into the tower.
I guess it was a leg day as well as a magic day.
I trotted up the stairs at a brisk pace, and then an idea struck me. I wanted to experiment with my boots, but I didn’t know how to activate the fleetness attribute. I paused on the steps and shuffled my feet as I stared down at the footwear and urged them to make me go faster.
Nothing happened.
I growled with frustration and stomped my foot, and suddenly the boots began to glow a crimson red, and energy coursed up my legs.
“Oh, hell, yeahhh,” I laughed out loud and bounded up the steps at superhuman speed. Wind swept past my face, and the stones were a blur beneath my feet.
I was practically flying up the multiple stories of stairs.
It was fucking awesome, but I reminded myself to be careful not to wear down the durability too much.
I raced up the spiral staircase and skidded to a stop before another wooden door. This one had ornately carved iron fittings, and a torch burned in an alcove beside the entrance to the tower chamber. A window was situated across from the alcove, so I assumed this was the light I’d seen from the ground.
While I caught my breath, I raked my fingers through my windblown hair, and then I touched the top of my boots to check their stats.
Magical Item: Griffon Feather Boots
Weight : .01lbs
Durability : 99%
Magical Aspect : Fleetness
Weakness : -1% Durability with each use of fleetness
I grinned as I understood the weakness of the boots. They only had one hundred uses before they would need to be repaired. I still had two more griffon feathers if I wanted to update the same enchantment later, or I could keep my eyes out for a pair of better boots and upgrade instead of repair them.
Either way, I had the options of a god, so I was set.
I turned my attention back to the wooden door in front of me. There were no markers or indication that Kane was inside and awake, but given the guards’ reactions I assumed he was, so I took a deep breath and hammered my fist on the door.
“Who’s there?” a soft voice called from inside. Footsteps echoed from inside the room, and the iron creaked as the door opened. Then a small, gray bearded man in a hooded cloak blinked up at me. “Can I help you?”
I took a stab in the dark and hoped for the best. “I’m your new apprentice.”
Kane narrowed his eyes at me for a moment and then stepped away from the portal to usher me inside.
“You were supposed to be here yesterday,” the court wizard complained.
“My apologies,” I murmured as I stepped inside the tower chamber and looked around.
“I was delayed…”
It was a grand room, circular shaped, and lined with bookshelves. Some of the shelving held jars with odd looking specimens inside, and another shelf was full of wands. There was enough floor space to spar, but there were no windows between the lines of books. A fireplace with two cushioned arm chairs in front of it sat across the room from a big workbench, and various weapons and staves graced the walls in every available space not filled with books. The space was lit by several gas lamps located throughout the room, which gave it a shadowy, mystical ambiance.
“Well, I prefer punctuality,” Kane muttered as he moved to an armchair. A fire blazed in the stone fireplace, and the old man stretched out his hands toward the warmth. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Bash,” I said as I moved to occupy the empty chair beside him. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Kane.”
“You will call me Great Wizard,” Kane snapped. “Consider that lesson number one.”
I bit my tongue as a quippy, god-like comeback entered my mind, but I chose to silently nod instead. Better to be mysterious than to be an asshole on my first attempt at learning magic.
“Now, on to your duties,” Kane said as he rubbed his old hands together. “I like my tea to be extra hot--”
“Excuse me,” I interrupted, “but I’m not here to serve you tea. I’m here to learn magic, and the sooner we get started the better.”
“Why, I never…” Kane eyed me shrewdly, but then he pushed himself to stand from his chair. “You can leave now if that’s your attitude! I am better off alone than with some upstart who thinks he knows everything!”
“Wouldn’t you rather have an experienced apprentice than a servant?” I cocked my eyebrow as I crossed my arms, and I stayed seated. “I would be of more service actually learning spells than fetching you drinks.”
“I’m not wasting my time on you,” he muttered as he shuffled over to the workbench.
I’d been prepared for his hesitation, though, so I crossed the room and laid my magical items down upon his workbench.
“I’ll trade you one of these for a full day of lessons,” I offered in a firm voice.
While I was the god of time, I didn’t want to waste my time with his attitude, either.
Kane’s eyes shot wide open as he gazed at the staff and wand laid out before him. His fingers twitched like he longed to touch them, and he shot me a questioning look.
“Go ahead, inspect them all you like.” I grinned. I had him right where I wanted him. “I acquired them from a burial sanctum outside Lake Balerno. I broke an ancient curse and was rewarded with these items.”
“I’ve heard of Lake Balerno…” Kane’s hands leapt to the wand, and he raised it to his eye level to inspect it closely. “I’ve heard rumors of a lake guardian spirit who watches over the town.”
“The lake guardian gave me the staff as a reward for breaking the curse,” I explained, and the court wizard’s eyes shot to the wooden stick with the crystal lodged in the top of it.
He put down the wand and moved on to the staff, and his gray eyes showed his appreciation as he gazed at every inch of it. Kane analyzed the crystal closely and then set the staff back down on the workbench.
“Only one, you say?” he asked as he lifted his gaze to mine once more. “One item for a whole day’s lessons.”
“Seems fair.” I shrugged.
It wasn’t like he was going to keep either item, anyway. I was going to reset to before we ever met, and then his real apprentice would show up. I just hoped the real apprentice waited until I was done with the court wizard before making his arrival. It would be hard to explain why there were two of us, after all.
“Very well,” Kane said after a long moment of silence. “What would you like to learn?”
My mind raced over the possibilities as I considered everything I’d learned about magic in this world so far. I knew there were no healing spells, and the only other arcane things I’d seen were wands and staves. The goblin shamans had used an ice spell against me, and the inferno spell I’d used had been powerful enough to kill the lich lord.
I wondered if Kane could tell if the wand had already been used once or not, but I figured he would wait to experiment with it until after our lesson.
A less powerful fire spell would be a good place to start, since that was usually the first thing I learned in video games with magic, so I turned to Kane and cleared my throat.
“I’d like to learn a fire spell,” I informed him with a decisive nod.
“I only know one fire spell,” Kane said in an apologetic tone, “and it is not as powerful as an inferno, but it will do to start the blaze on a few logs. Comes in very handy in the winter.”
“Sounds good to me.” I grinned. “Where do I start?”
Kane moved over to the open space in the middle of the room and swept back his cloak to reveal silver robes tied at the waist with a black sash.
“Every spell starts with a power word,” the court wizard explained. “It’s derived from an ancient tongue no longer used by common people. It takes some practice to learn the correct pronunciations, but once you do, you’ll have unlimited power.”
“How many words do you know?” I asked in a curious tone. I wanted to see what the limits of what I could learn from him were.
“A few,” Kane replied vaguely.
Looked like I’d have to milk the spells out of him one by one. That was fine, since I had all the time in the world.
“Alright, so the fire spell?” I reminded the older man.
“Oh, yes, that’s right.” Kane chuckled to himself as he took a stance in the open space. “Plant your feet firmly, follow my motions, and then utter fur.”
I did as he said, but nothing happened except for the pain that shot through my temples and settled between my eyes in the form of a hot coal.
“Again,” Kane instructed, and I obeyed.
Once more, nothing fiery happened, and the pain in my skull intensified.
“It may take several hours before you are capable of creating a flame,” Kane told me in a reassuring tone. “Do not lose patience.”
“I can do this all day,” I quipped as sweat dappled across my forehead. “Am I saying it right?”
“You will feel when it is right,” Kane replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It is not for me to say.”
I frowned and took a deep breath. I could do this. I knew I could.
“Fur!” I exclaimed with all the energy I had in me, and searing pain shot from my head and radiated out my arms to every single fingertip. A tiny flame erupted on the palm of my hand, but it vanished after a second, and my vision grew dark.
I passed out and fell to the stone floor of the wizard’s tower, but with my last clear-headed thought, I reset back to my last save.
Chime.
I crept out of the inn, but this time, I activated the fleetness ability of my boots as soon as I was in the street. I knew how to get to the tower already, so I raced through the castle town at superhuman speeds, and I skidded to a halt in front of the two guards.
“I’m Kane’s new apprentice, and I’m already late!” I gasped out in an urgent voice. “Please, let me through!”
The guard to my right immediately opened the door and ushered me inside, and I stomped my foot again to reactivate my boots’ ability before I rushed up the stairs in a blur of motion. This time, I’d used my boots’ special ability two times, so I checked the stats to verify my hypothesis.
Durability : 98%
I was correct in my assumption that each stomp would lower the durability by one percent, but one hundred uses of super human speed was still really awesome.
Then I knocked on Kane’s door, and I repeated the dialogue tree that led to learning spells immediately. This time, though, I requested a different spell.
“I already know fur,” I informed him, “so I’d like to learn something new.”
“Show me your flame,” Kane insisted with narrowed gray eyes
. “I will judge your skill.”
I held up the palm of my hand, and I murmured the word of power. Pain shot through my arm to my fingertips, and the smallest flicker of a flame burst into existence.
“Hmm, a recently learned spell, I take it?” Kane asked as restrained amusement twinkled in his gray eyes.
Damn. I’d wanted to impress him with my magical abilities, but I guessed it would take more attempts than that.
Chime.
I ran through the sequence leading up to the spell lesson more times than I cared to count, and with each repeated attempt, my flame grew hotter and brighter. I reset to my save point over and over again until I felt like I’d mastered the first spell completely.
Chime.
I knocked on Kane’s door again, and I went through the dialogue tree for what seemed like the millionth time, but when the court wizard asked to see my fire spell, I was ready.
I took a deep breath and stood in the center of the room. Then I closed my eyes and remembered the painful sensation of the magic as it coursed through my body.
“Fur,” I said in a low voice, and heat radiated from my head and down to all of my limbs and ended at my fingertips. A flame burst into existence in the palm of my hand, and I resisted the urge to jump for joy. I concentrated on the flame, and the heat in my body intensified as the blaze grew hotter and brighter, but it wasn’t nearly as painful as my previous experience. Then I closed my fist, and the flame, as well as the hot feeling, vanished.
“Very good,” Kane observed as he scrutinized me for any abnormal affects. “It seems you do know how to conjure a flame. The next word of power I would be able to teach you is the spell for ice. Utter chs to create a powerful chill.”
I returned to my spell casting stance, but this time I pointed my hands toward the stone floor. I imagined a shard of ice bursting forth from my hands and striking the rocks, and then I took a deep breath.
“Chs,” I said in a firm clear tone, and shivers shot up my spine. My bones rattled with the cold that filled my body, but the floor remained unaffected.
