While it grows, the plant is green, sometimes a bit yellowish. When it's ripe, it will turn into the familiar dark brownish, sometimes almost black, color. There will be no waste, no part of the plant that is thrown away. The roots are the last thing that will get absorbed into the new Brick, sometimes forming a little knob at the bottom of the Brick. That's why the magical fields that hold a stack together do so with a distance of 10 centimeters from Brick to Brick. Bricks with larger root-knobs then that will get composted, though that is rare.
Harvesting a Brick is a simple as the new crew being flown in, boarding and flying away. I did so twice, and I recall both times as clear as if they had been yesterday.
Scripture:
There are two ways to do magic: Natural and with the help of runes. We wizards do natural magic, you can read all about that in the next diary where I'll detail my training at the academy. Runes help potential wizards, who have the gift but just not enough power to do magic too. Magic with crutches, as some have always called it. That is no derogatory term at all - I have seen such wizards with crutches do impressive magic, in fact my life was saved by those more than once. Also, I have seen potential wizards break their gift free by using runes regularly and become able wizards.
Now that we know the difference between natural and rune-based magic, let's look at who makes those runes. Again, it is the potential wizards. For some reason, being able to do natural magic makes scribing difficult, as natural wizards commonly do not need nearly as much focus and concentration as a scriptor.
Potential wizards who are able to scribe runes are commonly called "Scriptor". Amongst the Scriptors there is a subgroup of able wizards, called "Engineer", that are able to scribe self-powering runes, the ones you find in your tablet computers, cars, buses, communicators, stoves and everywhere else.
In a Brick there are no self-powered runes, only the common kind. We all are at least able wizards, after all. Scribing a Brick-seed takes weeks, as there are so many details that need to be right for the Brick to function properly afterwards. Once planted, the seed can no longer be changed.
Any and all runes are infused with a bit of power of the scriptor that scribed them. Over time, that power charge will dissipate if the rune is not used regularly, making it useless. If the rune is used regularly, a tiny bit of the energy the wizard focuses through the rune will kind of be filtered out and used to keep the rune going. How exactly that works I do not know. Scriptors can only make working runes when they scribe them by hand, pre-scribed runes cannot be infused by a normal scriptor. It is possible, however. It takes a LOT of energy, so at least 3, better 4 pips are needed before a wizard can even begin to try to re-infuse a rune.
I said before that it takes weeks to scribe all the runes needed for a Brick. That is because there are so many runes. In all the quarters, as well as the shared quarters, for example, there are runes that cause the cot to grow out of the wall, or a table with a chair, or conjure the cleaning fields of the shower. The monitor, of course, is a complex, multi-layered computing rune to allow it to function so diversely.
Add to that all the rest: The gravity runes alone are almost a week's work. The most, and most complicated, runes are of course in the bridge and extended bridge area. Another cluster of runes is in the mess hall, of course, the airlocks and the three engine rune types (sub-light, rail and jump). The tablet I am writing this on is an older one with a computing rune of 450 or 500 (I don't know these things so well - the important thing is that it works) layers, I have heard some kids brag about the new models having over 800 layers. Back in the day we made due with less than 300, but that won't interest you overmuch I guess.
-ADDENDUM FINISHED—
Where was I? Oh yes, the bad news. So, I sat.
"I need to give you a bit of back-story first. Shortly after the God Wars the five hundred most powerful wizards of their time came together for a Gathering. Officially, not much is known about that nor what happened there, only that five hundred wizards walked in and none walked out. No bodies were ever found, it was like they had evaporated. That may be not far from the truth."
Now he looked very serious at me. "This is information only Omni-Wizards are cleared and forced to know. Death is just the beginning." He leaned back.
I tried not to betray any emotions, much less my puzzlement, with my face. After a couple of seconds of studying me he leaned forward again. "Good. You can be trusted with the information I see. Why?" "Um, I may have had a good poker-face and whenever talk comes to death and what happened to the Gathering I need to not give away any hint that I might know something?" "Exactly. It is imperative that this remain secret for as long as needed. Wide spread panic will not help anyone." Now I frowned. "Panic, sir?"
He nodded. "When very powerful wizards 'die'" He included the air quotes there, "their magic, if concentrated enough, will not dissipate back to the Supreme Divine, but remain coherent and cohesive. Essentially, those wizards become beings of pure magic. How much of their humanity remains is unknown as contact to those spirits of magic has been scarce at the best of times, but it seems that some at least survives. Do you follow me so far?"
Now that was something. "Yes, sir, I think, sir." "Good enough. The five hundred wizards all died that day. All of them became such spirits. But before becoming spirits, they chose the 15 most powerful amongst themselves, all of whom had to have the gift of The Sight, to reach out across time and space and deliver a message. That message is hidden, only to be known by the recipient. But they added a prophecy to go with the message. Follow me so far?"
Supreme Divine, this was getting scary. "The Sight, sir?" "The Sight is bright blue, a color presently dormant. Seers, as those with The Sight are commonly called, can see down the river of time. How exactly that works, or how that river looks I do not know. You are touching your white uniform forearms. Yes, we are omni even though we do not know every color in existence. We have the potential for every such color, but without a mentor showing us it may not be possible for me or even you to ever unlock our full potential."
"I do not know what the message said, because I was not the recipient, but I do know the prophecy to go with it:"
"There will be a Full Wizard (that's what they called us omnis back then) whose power will outmatch all his peer's, who will start his adult life as one of the leaders of one of the Schools of Wizardry (what became commonly called the colors in the meantime). Which it is we cannot foresee, but it will emphasize his great skill. He will be tested three times: First, when dead weapons threaten to undo the colonies, he must find a way to counter the dead weapons. Second, when the black threatens to engulf all, he must learn to master the black. Third, when the half-living come to destroy all, he must stand and face them. The colonies will no longer be ready to face these tests alone. Only if he passes all three tests may the colonies survive. Only then will the long-lost brethren find live when they arrive two generations later. We can only give two more pieces of information: One, The price will be terrible. Two, be wary of the Deep."
The Supreme Admiral looked at me gravely. "The part where we must be wary of the Deep is the real reason the navy is this large. It is estimated that two dozen Bricks would do it, if they were used efficiently, and almost none of the barracks are really needed. With the Deep they almost certainly refer to outer space, by the way. The part with the terrible price has never been really explained - though its most likely interpretation points to a very large loss of life when the prophecy comes true." I agreed and tried to wrap my mind around some event that might cost hundreds of lives.
I looked at him. "How are you so sure that it's me, sir?" "You are the first in a long time to start out as an adept in any of the colors, son. You are, without any doubt, one of the leading Healing Wizards. The commodore you met at Classification Day brought you to my attention and I agree with his assessment. The prophecy is coming true in the near future. That's the real reason why you are not special promoted to lieutenant - I want you to be as
well trained as humanly possible when whatever is going to happen is going to happen." I was looking at the table by now. "Sit straight, Prime Cadet. Giving up is not an option." That last bit was in command tone and I felt myself reacting without conscious thought. "Aye, sir. I am scared, sir." "So am I. Our duty still needs to be done, so hiding is not an option. Stand proud, I assume that you will serve as a role model as much as you will as a fighter." "You mean the part where the colonies are no longer ready to face whatever is coming alone?" "Yes. For the moment, there is nothing more I can tell you. Learn all you can in the academy. Johnson, out." The screen was suddenly black. I slumped, shocked out of my skull. My rank insignia vibrated very slightly, making me jump a little. Frowning, I got up again and commanded the screen to go to mirror mode.
Shocked, I saw that my insignia no longer had a white rim, but a golden one and instead of one two little dots in the middle. "Screen, query: What does my rank insignia mean exactly?" A text replaced my wide eyed image.
"All ranks come in three flavors: second, first and prime. A second cadet will just be referred to as cadet, whereas a first cadet or prime cadet will be referred to as such, but those are very very rare. The only two persons to hold the rank of Prime Cadet are John-John Johnson, Omni-Wizard and Master Sensor at the time and Xandrian Stone, Omni-Wizard and Adept Healer. Generally, being first or even prime is an indication that a promotion is close. Also, if an emergency arises, a chain of command has to be formed quickly and there is no superior officer at hand the highest flavor will take command. The rank of cadet is the only one with changing insignia: It can have between zero and seven stars, to indicate how well the cadet is doing. For every two specialization ranks, commonly referred to as 'pips' which a cadet earns he will get one such star automatically. Another way for a cadet to earn more stars is by distinguishing themselves, for example by continually surpassing the expected performance scores or by going above and beyond the call of duty."
My original motivation to join the navy was to be part of a very large machine, with all the safety and security that granted. It began to look like I would not be afforded the luxury to just be one of the flock, but to be singled out as a powerful, outstanding individual. Also, given that prophecy, I'd be going far beyond the call of duty at some time in the future. I hoped that I was not the one mentioned in it, but an inner feeling told me otherwise and to get myself as ready as possible, as quick as possible. Almost as if that first test was just around the corner.
That thought frightened me to no small extent. I was eighteen, just out of boyhood. I'd never have formulated it this way back then, I saw myself as fully adult and far, far away from being a boy like every late teenager would. But the boy in me was still strong and wanted to be safe and cozy. Instead, I was likely going to have to take command and save the day some time. Lying down, I rolled myself into a fetal position and did what had always helped most after being faced with an unexpected situation (that thought made me snort a little, which I took as a good sign): I slept.
"Prime cadet, it is 11:55." This time, the soft voice of the first wake up-call woke me. Sleeping in the uniform proved to have been a bad idea, as it was wrinkled top to bottom, so I got out of it and refreshed both it and myself. 10 minutes later, I was standing at my door: Clean, wrinkle-free and afraid. Though not as terrified as I should have been. Somehow, my subconscious mind seemed to have accepted the inevitable and decided that being frozen in terror all the time would not help. Instead, I almost smiled a little bit. After all, my favorite time of the day was upon us: Eating!
End of book 1.
More adventures of Xandrian will come in the next shortbook, Xandrian Stone Book 2: The academy.
Thank you for reading this shortbook, dear reader. I hope that you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. More are coming!
May I humbly ask you to rate this book as you see fit, both to let me know if you liked it and to help make and keep it visible for others to find? That would be most nice, thank you. :-)
This is the reboot of the book. As I was writing the second book and thinking further, I found that I had made some pretty bad mistakes in the first book that were going to hinder the further development of the story. After careful deliberation, I decided to rewrite the book almost entirely, adding a lot of new stuff but also taking some out and changing other things so that the story can flow unhindered into the future.
Originally, I had promised that all those who owned a copy of that first edition could update for free, but the system of Amazon does not allow that. My mistake, I should have asked before opening my big mouth. To stay as true as I can to this promise however I release this book, whose size would justify a price of $1.99, for $0.99 - less is not possible.
I apologize for any inconvenience this learning experience of mine may have caused. This is my very first book, and I firmly believe that now is the time for the big mistakes - so that those will not happen in the future! :-)
Yours humbly,
Christian A. Breitenstein
Xandrian Stone Book 1: Beginning of a Legend Page 6
