The Mage's Path (The Age of Legend Book 1)

by Lionel Vicknair

  Rizzo walked over to look at the contraption, wondering what it was for. Garen pulled out two small metal balls from his cloak and placed each inside both ends of one of the rods. The rods teetered a bit at first, but eventually, the balls on each end balanced out, making it once again level with the ground.

  "I'm going to start you off with something fairly simple that will help with your hand speed and accuracy,” said Garen. "I want you to move both balls from one rod to the other. You must be quick though because once one ball is removed, the rods start to tip over. You will have less than two seconds before they tip over far enough that the ball falls out. There is only one rule, and that is you are only allowed to use one hand. I'll show you how to do it once, so you understand." Garen put one arm behind his back and held his other hand in the air. Faster than Rizzo's eyes could register, Garen swapped the two balls from one rod to the other. He was so quick that they barely moved as the weight shifted.

  "Now you try,” said Garen. He stepped aside as Rizzo walked closer.

  Rizzo stood next to the rods feeling confident, thinking it looked easy enough. He followed what Garen did and put one hand behind his back while positioning the other hand above the ball. Rizzo swooped his hand down and snatched the ball, hitting the rod in the process and launching the ball on the other end of the rod so that it flew through the air and smacked him on the side of the head. Muffled laughter could be heard from behind. Clearly failing his first attempt, he looked to see trying to hide his laughter and shaking his head.

  "You will have to be a lot more precise with your movements, or you will knock them over every time,” said Garen. "The trick is too not touch the rod at all, and just grab the ball with your fingertips." He picked up the ball that fell and grabbed the one from Rizzo, then positioned them back on the rods. "Try again."

  Rizzo mentally prepared himself, determined to not fail this time. With one hand behind his back and the other over the ball, he swooped down to grab it, this time more carefully. He didn’t hit the rod, but he was too slow, causing the other ball to fall out. Frustrated and determined, Rizzo set it up again himself.

  "Looks like this may take longer than I thought,” said Garen, but he sounded as if he expected this. "In the meantime, I have some errands to take care of. I'll be back in a few hours though." Garen walked to the door and opened it. "By the way, this will be locked, so don’t try to leave." With that Garen walked out, a click sounding as he locked the door from the other side.

  Left by himself, Rizzo set his mind to the device. He attempted it repeatedly, but no matter how often he tried, he was not quick enough. This reminded him too much of Vosh trying to train him to be a thief. Some skills he would just never have.

  Giving up was not an option though, so he kept going. A few hours later the door clicked, and Garen walked in carrying a plate of food. Rizzo was disappointed in himself, feeling that he was failing already.

  "Looks like you still haven't gotten the hang of it yet,” said Garen as he noticed one ball rolling on the ground. "Don't worry though, like I said, it will take some time. Here, take a break and have something to eat." Garen handed the plate to Rizzo, who took it and ate greedily.

  "Is there some kind of trick to doing this?" asked Rizzo while trying to chew.

  "Not really. But no one gets it on their first try.” Replied Garen. “I imagine it will be a week or so until you start making some improvements." Rizzo’s heart sank a little, having not expected to be trapped in here for so long.

  "Has Vosh tried to do it?" asked Rizzo, knowing he could probably do it with ease.

  "Again, Vosh’s training is entirely different." Garen sounded like he wanted to avoid the subject. "Well, you still have a few hours left in the day, so I'll let you get back to it."

  Garen stood up and walked towards the door as Rizzo was in the middle of taking a large bite. Rizzo tried to ask another question between the mouthful of food, but Garen was already out the door, locking him in the room again. With no other choice, he renewed his determination and went back to the device.

  Hours passed with Rizzo still having no success. He simply was not fast enough. The door clicked again from someone unlocking it. The person who entered had their hood pulled up and face covered with the mask of the guild cloak, but the person was too small to be Garen.

  "So, you are the little prodigy student." It was a woman’s voice that spoke, soft and sweet. “You are definitely not what I expected.” Rizzo was not sure how to take that. It didn’t sound like she was trying to be offensive.

  “If you’re looking for the prodigy, you found the wrong one,” said Rizzo, assuming she was looking for Vosh. “Vince is training a friend of mine. He’s the one you want.”

  “Oh, I know about Vosh, and I’m not interested in him,” said the woman. “I’m interested in the boy that Garen would risk his reputation for.” He didn’t know that Garen speaking up for him to join the guild was such a big deal. She turned and walked out of the room and towards the stairs, not waiting to see if he came along.

  “There’s nothing special about me,” said Rizzo as he moved to follow her. “Trust me, Vosh is the one with the real talent.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he is a capable man, but he’s no different than anyone else in the guild,” she said as she continued down the stairs. “You on the other hand are an oddity. Garen is a smart man, and if he chose you, there’s a reason. You wouldn’t happen to know what that reason is, would you?”

  “No clue,” said Rizzo honestly. “The only thing they have seen me do is steal a coin pouch.”

  “So, you are the one who stole from Eddy,” said the girl with excitement. “I knew Vince and Garen had something to do with that. I can’t wait to see how that plays out.”

  “Who’s Eddy?” asked Rizzo.

  “Maybe one day you will see,” replied the girl. She remained silent for a bit after that, not speaking again until they made it to his room. She opened the door and gestured for him to go inside. "You should sleep now. Garen will be back in the morning to continue your training.”

  “Where’s Vosh at?” asked Rizzo as he looked over his shoulder and saw Vosh’s door still open.

  “I hear he was given his own private quarters to stay in,” said the woman, sounding amused. “Most likely to keep the two of you separated. It’s not often that we bring in two recruits at the same time. And I can’t remember ever bringing in two recruits that knew each other. That’s enough questions for today, though.” Rizzo wanted to ask more, but she closed the door, leaving him no choice but to retire for the night.

  The next few days played out very similarly. He felt as if no improvement was being made, even though he had spent countless hours with the stupid training device.

  One day, a breakthrough was made when he accidentally hit the rod too hard when trying to grab the ball, but not hard enough to knock the other ball out of the opposite side. He realized that if he pushed the rod down a little before removing the ball, it gave him an extra split second. And that was all he needed.

  Rizzo tried again with the new idea. It still took a few attempts, but eventually, he was successful one time that made him jump with joy. Garen still wasn't expected to be back for some time, so he kept practicing until he was consistent.

  A few hours later when Garen returned, Rizzo was already standing next to the rods, set up and prepared. "Ok, let's see it,” said Garen. Rizzo was grinning, proud that it didn’t take him as long as Garen said it would have.

  He carefully grabbed the ball on the rod and pressed on it, lowering it a few inches. Then he moved his hand as fast as he could, moving the first ball to the other rod and then barely managing to grab the second ball in time to move it as well.

  "Well you proved one thing,” said Garen, causing Rizzo to light up with excitement. "You really are a little shit." Rizzo instantly deflated, wondering what he did wrong. "I had a feeling you would try to find a loophole, so I picked an exercise that I didn't think would have on
e."

  "So, I didn't pass?" asked Rizzo, confused on whether he did good or bad.

  "Seeing as your ability to find ways around things was the reason I recruited you, I guess you passed,” said Garen. "You really are a pain in the ass though. I see training you will be more difficult than I thought. But don’t worry, we have plenty more exercises that you have to complete before you can move on.” Garen walked back over to the wall and grabbed another device. Rizzo sighed as he realized that he wouldn’t be finishing his training for some time.

  For the next two months, Rizzo spent every day in the same training room. The only other place he was allowed was his bedroom when it was the end of the day. Eventually he completed each task, all except this last one. Some he still had to complete by cheating the system, but there were a few he could manage on skill alone.

  After the first few weeks, Rizzo showed some large improvements in his speed, and as he improved, each exercise became easier. He hoped that one day soon he could show Vosh how far he had come. The two still hadn’t seen each other since first being brought into the guild. Every time he asked Garen about Vosh, the subject was blatantly diverted.

  “Finally! That’s the last one,” said Rizzo. He looked at Garen expectantly. “Now that I’m done with my training I can become a full member and be allowed to do what I want, right?”

  “Who said you were done with your training?” said Garen. “You’ve made some minor improvements here and there, but you’re still not ready yet.” Rizzo got angry, thinking he was ready to move on, but Garen thought differently.

  “What else is there to do?” asked Rizzo. He felt defeated, having thought he was at the finish line.

  “I still can’t let you out of the city until I’m sure you can be trusted to not get caught,” said Garen. “But, I might have a way that we can both be satisfied, for now at least. Let me show you the room that our guild members use for training.”

  Rizzo was still angry, and the last thing he wanted was to be taken to another training room after he just spent the last two months in this one. He reluctantly followed Garen out of the room and further up the spiral staircase.

  They went up one flight of stairs to another floor that looked identical to the lower two. A long hallway with a few doors on the side and one very large door at the end. Garen led Rizzo to the door at the end of the hallway, then looked back with a boyish grin. In all the weeks that they had been training together, Rizzo had never seen him this excited before.

  “Keep in mind that what I’m about to show you is not supposed to be for recruits.” Garen was clearly trying to build up whatever was behind the door. He unlocked it and motioned for Rizzo to walk inside, who’s breath was instantly taken away as he looked around.

  Saying it was massive was an understatement. It was an enormous hallway that went to the left and right, with a ceiling that was thirty above his head. To the right of Rizzo appeared to be the starting point for an obstacle course.

  After a short distance, the ground was raised about halfway to the ceiling, making a large block that looked like you were supposed to climb up. He could see the ceiling behind the block had bars attached to it that was most likely used to climb across. The rest of the hallway was unable to be seen from where he was standing.

  To the left was you could see a maze of pillars that forced you to run in a zig-zag pattern to get through. More obstacles could be seen past the pillars, all looked challenging.

  “Rizzo, my boy, this here is the guilds greatest accomplishment,” said Garen proudly. “I was a new recruit myself when we started building this. Which might be one of the reasons I’m so attached to it.”

  “This is incredible!” said Rizzo, still mesmerized by the time and work that had to go into creating something on such a large scale. Especially since this was all underground.

  “The guild has its perks if you invest the time to learn what it takes to be a member,” said Garen. “This room will help you be prepared for whatever the streets of Sartram can throw at you.”

  Rizzo was happy that Garen was allowing him to see this room before he was a full member, but he was starting to wonder if he would ever be ready in Garen’s eyes. It had already been quite some time since he first arrived at the guild.

  “I really do appreciate you showing me this,” said Rizzo. “And I realize you don’t want me outside until you think I can be trusted. But we both know that I am never going to be as good as your other guild members. And you’ve already told me the reason you chose me was because I have a different skill set, so why not let me do something that will put those talents to use?” Garen scratched his head as he considered Rizzo’s words.

  “I’ll tell you what,” said Garen. “Give me some time to think of something, and in the meantime, why don’t you run the course. It’s a lot harder than it looks by the way.”

  “That’s as much as I can ask for,” said Rizzo, happy with his small victory. Garen nodded his head and turned to walk out the door, then locked it behind himself.

  After he left, Rizzo turned to look at the course some more. He decided to walk to the block and climb up it to get a better view. Once he made it to the top, he saw that Garen wasn’t joking about the difficulty of the course. The hallway stretched hundreds of feet ahead of him with multiple obstacles to cross, all looking to take a lot of strength and stamina to pass.

  "Amazing, isn't it?" said a female’s voice from behind Rizzo. Rizzo turned around to see a girl with her face covered by the mask of the Thieves Guild cloak, standing behind him on top of the block. Even with her face hidden, Rizzo recognized the voice as the girl who had escorted him to his room the other day. He would have normally been surprised to have someone sneak up on him like that, but he was starting to grow used to it.

  "It really is," said Rizzo. "This must have taken years to build."

  "I hear it took almost nine," replied the girl. A few seconds of silence passed before she spoke again. "Garen must really have taken a liking to you. No recruit has ever been allowed in here before."

  “I'm not too sure about that,” said Rizzo, remembering how Garen kept saying he's a lot slower than anyone he had ever trained. He never said it in a mean or condescending way though. He always said it as if it was obvious and common knowledge that Rizzo wasn’t fast. "Garen would probably take back his decision for me to join the guild if he could."

  "I disagree," she replied. "I’ve seen recruits fail before and be put back out on the streets. If Garen regretted his decision, then you would have been kicked out like the rest.”

  "I hope you are right,” said Rizzo. There was another explanation. He may not want to admit he was wrong to let him into the guild. He was trying his best to prove himself to Garen, but it was seeming to be pointless. "You wouldn't happen to have any helpful advice or tips for me, would you?"

  "Always put the guild first and you will have nothing to worry about,” said the girl. "If you're looking for some extra training though, I could show you how to run this course."

  "Umm sure,” said Rizzo, looking out over the room and thinking it looked self-explanatory. But he didn't want to be rude by turning down her offer.

  She sensed how he felt and grinned under her hood as she walked in front of him to the edge of the block. "Just follow what I do, and try to keep up. Are you ready?" She looked back at Rizzo and he nodded his head, showing he was. She crouched down, getting ready to take off. Then, quicker than Rizzo had ever seen someone move, she jumped and grabbed ahold of the bars on the ceiling and climbed across to the next obstacle.

  Rizzo sprinted across the block and jumped through the air, barely managing to grab one of the bars and hold on. He followed her across but hesitated on the last bar. About a dozen long wooden poles rose out of the ground below him, forming a long line. The poles got shorter the further down the line you got, like stairs.

  The girl was already almost finished with them, having run across them like stepping stones without even slowing her pace
. Nervous, Rizzo looked down, seeing it wasn't a short distance to the ground if he fell off.

  He mustered up some courage and swung himself to the first pole, landing on it but not able to catch his balance and falling off. The next pole was not far off and he grabbed ahold of it, slowing his fall but not stopping it. He hit the ground hard and it knocked the wind out of him. After he caught his breath he stood up, shaken but unharmed. The girl was now on the ground, leaning against the pole at the end, shaking her head.

  "Not as easy as it looks, huh?" she asked, sounding amused with how Rizzo was struggling. She didn't wait for an answer. "If you try to stop when you jump on the poles, you are going to fall off. You have to push off with enough force to carry you over to the next one." Rizzo nodded his head, humbled and having a new respect for the people who trained in this room. "Are you able to continue?"

  "I'm fine,” said Rizzo. "Only my pride was hurt. I will definitely be going at a slower pace though." She laughed and then turned around to continue.

  They ran together through the rest and the girl gave him pointers along the way. After they finished the course, Rizzo practically collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. Giggling could be heard from behind the girl’s mask.

  "Give it some time and it will get easier,” said the girl. “You just have to get your body used to the effort."

  "Glad you found that entertaining,” said Rizzo between breaths. The door beside them opened and Garen walked in, eyes going straight to the girl.

  "I thought I might find you here,” said Garen to the girl. “I see you took Rizzo through the course. I hope you didn’t run him too hard."

  "I would never do that," she replied in a teasing voice. “Did you need me for something?"