The Jade Mage: The Becoming: Volume 1

by Latoria, William D.

  To his further amazement, the newly unlocked page wasn’t a spell, exactly. To be sure it was magic, and like a spell, it required components, but it wasnt like his petrification spell at all. This was an enchantment! A spell that was used to make something more useful, or improve an attribute of a mundane item. Tartum couldn’t believe his luck! The page read like a recipe, and hungrily, Tartum read its requirements.

  Lightning bug lights, chicken blood, a metal of any type to contain the enchantment, sulfur, and green flame. There were further details and pictures about how to arrange the components, and where to place the item receiving the enchantment, it also showed the way to draw the glyphs required to conduct the enchantment and the gestures. The words of magic were right below the name of the spell.

  Light, his new spell caused the enchanted item to light up when a specific word was uttered. It also dimmed when another word was spoken, both chosen during the enchanting process. The material to be enchanted had to be a metal of any sort, and it seemed to Tartum that he wouldn’t have any trouble doing it. In fact, most of the compenents were already in the wagon that he and Isidor shared! Grabbing his staff and groggily standing up, Tartum retrieved his purse and gathered up his cloak. He headed out to the butcher’s stall, to buy himself a gallon of chicken’s blood.

  As Tartum was walking to the market, he started thinking about the various components he’d need to try out his new spell. The bugs, he could catch tonight, when the sun went down. The blood, he was on his way to get. The metal could be whatever he wanted it to be. The sulfur, he knew was on one of Isidor’s old bookshelves, in a wooden box marked “SULFUR” and the green flame. Tartum had no idea where he could obtain green flame. As he was thinking about how he could turn flame to different colors, he almost passed the butcher’s stall.

  After a short conversation and a puzzled look on the butcher’s face, Tartum walked away with a waterskin full of chicken’s blood. The butcher made a slight fuss, until Tartum laid down two gold coins. After that the questions stopped, and the chickens were bled. Walking back towards the wagon, Tartum decided to swing past Isidor’s show to see how it was going. Upon arriving, he saw him up to his same old tricks. He was currently juggling balls of flame, which Tartum had seen him do many times. Isidor’s ability with slight of hand and juggling was something Tartum had never cared to learn, and therefore, usually ignored Isidor when he practiced his act at home. The flames caught his attention today though, because he saw they were different colors! And one of the balls burned bright green! Tartum couldn’t believe it! Pushing his way through the crowd, Tartum managed to get to the back of the stage and waited for Isidor to take a break. After thirty minutes had passed, Isidor took a mighty bow, and his dancing girls took the stage, while Isidor went to the back to regain his strength. Even the small spells he was using took alot out of the man, when done in the quantity he was casting them.

  Quickly, Tartum approached him. “Isidor! I have to know something, how do you make the flame burn green in your juggling act?”

  Startled by seeing Tartum so unexpectedly at his show, Isidor stood up wearily. “Tartum, what are you doing here? Are you alright? Why are you here?” he asked confused.

  “I’m fine, I unlocked a new spell, Isidor! It’s a light spell, and I’m getting the components together to try it out! I need green flame in order to make it work. How did you make the green flame in your act?”

  Confused, but too tired from his show to think clearly, Isidor gave Tartum the answer, if only to make him leave. “Burn pinecones. It’s not magical at all. The sap in the pinecone causes the flame to burn green. There are some in the back of the wagon. Go home, and if you do attempt this spell don’t do it in the wagon. I don’t want my home burned to a cinder!” Isidor said, and then went off to his seclusion to regain his strength.

  Beaming with excitement, Tartum thanked Isidor, but if he heard him or not Tartum didn’t care. He had the answer he was looking for and was in too much of a rush. Racing back home, Tartum was able to quickly find the pine cones in the back of the wagon. After throwing everything he needed into a sack, he went outside and started a small fire. He would need light to see what he was doing. Waiting for night to fall was taking forever, and so Tartum used the time to calm himself down. He took many deep breaths and forced himself to focus. It was then that he realized, he had no idea what he was going to enchant. A piece of cutlery from the kitchen? One of Isidor’s metal props he had in the back of the wagon? A rusty nail that he had seen in the road back towards town? Tartum sat in contemplation for hours, trying to decide what he would attempt to enchant, in his effort to cast his newest spell. After some time, he decided to attempt his spell on one of the gold coins from his pouch. That way, he figured, if he failed, the worst that could happen would be the coin didn’t illuminate. No big loss there, or so he hoped.

  With the decision of what item he would enchant settled, Tartum studied the new spell intently. Now understanding more of what an enchantment required, Tartum began to realize this spell was going to be a bit more difficult than he first realized. The spell required precision and timing that Tartum wasn’t sure he possessed. “No!” Tartum forced the thought from his head. “This isn’t the time to start doubting myself.” Galvanizing his resolve, Tartum continued studying the spell. The item being enchanted had to be in the center of his enchantment area, encompassed by a circle of glyphs drawn with chicken blood. The components had to be placed around the object and encompassed in their own circle of glyphs. The individual circles were then connected together with another set of glyphs, all of which were written in chicken blood. Tartum was certainly glad he had gotten a lot of the blood. He had no idea it was going to take so much for such an enchantment. Tartum spent the rest of the afternoon, practicing writing the words of magic necessary for the spell, in the dirt with a stick. It didn’t take long for the lightning bugs to come out once night fell.

  Tartum didn’t know how many of the bugs he required for the spell, so he caught twelve, just to be certain. The spell instructions were surprisingly vague when it came to quantity, so Tartum had no other choice but to guess. He was fine with this. He was enjoying the experimentation, the fact that it was dangerous, and failure could mean death, never even crossed his mind. Taking his time,Tartum placed the coin on the ground, and drew the glyphs around it, the way the spell described. He placed the sulfur to the east of the coin, the lightning bugs to the north, and the pine cones to the west. He encircled them all with individual glyph circles, and then, with meticulous attention to detail, he conjoined the circles of glyphs together with another set of glyphs, exactly as the spell described. An hour passed, and he was just about finished, when he heard Isidor clear his throat.

  “Isidor! Isn’t it wonderful, my first enchantment! What do you think?” Tartum said. Finishing the last few words, he stepped back to allow Isidor full access to his work. Isidor looked it all over with a scholar’s eye. At one point he leaned over one of the glyphs and fixed a small mistake. Handing the chicken blood back to Tartum, he nodded.

  “Looks good...looks very good. It might just work. Give it a shot; let’s see if you can do it.” Isidor said. He was truly curious to see if Tartum would be able to make this enchantment work. Everything seemed correct as far as he could tell. It was a very simple spell, and the enchantment wouldn’t last much longer than a day, but it was a good practice enchantment. He hadn’t seen Tartum this excited since the day he had given him his staff. He hoped he would succeed and quietly said a prayer to any God that might be listening to make it so.

  Swelling with pride at his master’s approval, Tartum took a deep breath. This was his moment of truth. Once he began the spell, there was no stopping until the spell was complete. His excitement at the prospect of success was close to overwhelming him. He fought it and forced himself to calm down. Bending over the pine cones, he set them on fire with a word. The flames that leapt from them were green, exactly what he needed. Finally, he was rea
dy and opened himself further to the flow of magic. Standing to the south of his work, Tartum raised his staff over his head with one hand, and began the gesture with his second.

  “Yea-biegn ill-quith beyoontek-ilk. Boowaon tyeeyea newmuok!” The magic coursed through him and flared into the glyphs surrounding the sulfur. The writing collapsed into the sulfur, changing them into a vapor that hung in the air, glowing with magic. Seeing the spell beginning to work, Tartum’s focus almost slipped as another wave of excitement tried to wash over him. Holding the spell in place by sheer will alone, Tartum re-focused and began the second verse of the spell.

  “Yea-tolloth yit-quick lalautoniy!” This time the glyphs surrounding the pine cones collapsed, and the green flame went with it. The resulting smoke looked just like the smoke floating over the spot where the sulfur had been a moment ago.

  Working quickly before something had a chance to go wrong, Tartum recited the third and final part of the spell. “Yea-biegn-tolloth yit-quith Beyoon toniy. Vanoose!” The glyphs surrounding the bugs collapsed, and the bugs inside changed not into smoke, but into light. Tartum made the gesture required to make the floating light of the bugs move over the coin. “SHINE!” Tartum half screamed in excitement. The light flickered over the coin and then melted into it. The coin shone with a brilliance reserved only for the stars, and then went back to its normal pallor.

  Making the final gestures to bring the two puffs of smoke over the coin, Tartum screamed “DULL!” The two puffs of smoke combined into one and then melted into the coin. It appeared that as the coin soaked up the smoke, it became darker. As soon as Tartum thought he saw it, the vision was gone, and the coin looked normal again. With the spell complete, Tartum closed himself to the magic, and it flowed out of him leaving him feeling hollow and weak. He knew he needed to rest, but he had to know if his spell had been successful.

  Leaning heavily on his staff, Tartum walked slowly towards the coin. He noticed that the blood that had surrounded the coin was gone, and there was nothing more than singed earth where it had been. He wondered why he hadn’t seen that happen during the casting, but decided it didn’t matter. Picking up the coin, he examined it. There was nothing different about it what-so-ever. No special feeling, no interesting characteristics, or weight adjustment. It was no different than any other coin he had ever seen. Frowning, Tartum looked up at his Mentor. Isidor smiled knowingly at the look Tartum gave him.

  “Try it...”

  “Shine.” Tartum whispered. The coin immediately shone in a very weak light. Tears sprang up in Tartum’s eyes. He had accomplished his first enchantment spell, and on his first try! It didn’t matter that the light coming from his coin was pitiful, he had done it! He had manipulated reality and changed his universe, if only a tiny bit. The success, after years of failure, felt better than when he opened himself to the magic. He smiled happily at his master, who returned the smile with much enthusiasm.

  “Very well done, Tartum! Go get some rest, for tomorrow we celebrate! You’ve done incredibly well, my boy! I’m truly proud of you.” Isidor gushed. He knew he shouldn’t praise Tartum this much over such a small success. The enchantment really was a simple one, but he didn’t care, he loved the young man and was intensely proud of him. This one time he would allow it to show.

  Tears ran, unchecked, down Tartum’s face. Never had his friend ever lavished such praise on him. Even when he was a child and cast his first spell, he had simply patted him on the head and told him to do it again. This was unprecedented and made the success that much sweeter. Walking back to the wagon with his master, they retired to their beds. Tartum had been running on adrenaline after the enchantment had succeeded, and now that he was lying down he felt exhausted. His coin was still in his hand, as he lay amongst his bed of pillows, glowing its soft, dim light.

  Isidor was laying in his bed of pillows thinking about how far Tartum had come. His natural ability with magic was unprecedented. He fully expected his first attempt to fail. He had the words to a shield spell on his lips, when Tartum began. When he actually succeeded, he had been so impressed, he was afraid he would forget himself in the moment. When the coin lit up in Tartum’s hand, Isidor had been elated to his very core. He had never known anyone, in his entire life, he was more impressed with than this kid from this ratty little town, in the middle of nowhere. Over the years, Tartum had succeeded, even when Isidor expected nothing but failure. Each time he succeeded, Isidor would brush it off as a trifle and tell him to do it again. It pained him to belittle his achievements, but he needed his pupil humble and respectful. Now that Tartum was becoming an accomplished caster, and man, Isidor felt he could finally start letting him know he was doing well. Tomorrow’s celebration would be magnificent! Isidor would make up for his past discretions, no matter how unnecessary. Tomorrow, Isidor would show Tartum the greatest time of his life!

  His mind made up, Isidor rolled over to sleep, when the light coming from Tartum’s bed disturbed him.

  “Tartum, I know you’re happy with your new toy, but if you could extinguish it? I’m trying to sleep.” Isidor said, his old sarcasm and cynicism returning to his voice.

  Smiling sleepily to himself, Tartum muttered the word, “Dull” and the coin went out.

  CHAPTER 5

  Isidor woke up early the next morning and prepared a breakfast of eggs and bacon. He sliced thick sections of bread and smothered them in fresh butter. Tartum awoke to the scents of the food. His stomach was screaming at him to feed it, so Tartum rose from his bed. Looking around, Tartum found his coin and uttered the word that would make it light up.

  “Shine.” he spoke. The coin lit up, but the light was very weak. He could barely tell it was illuminated, until he cupped the coin in both hands and looked inside. Disappointed, Tartum went to question Isidor about it, and to get some of that mouth watering breakfast.

  Finding Isidor in the kitchen, Tartum greeted him with his question. “Morning, Isidor! I don’t understand. My coin is barely lighting up. Last night it wasn’t brilliant, but it was definitely brighter than this. What is wrong with it?” Finishing his question, Tartum handed his coin to his mentor.

  “Morning, Tartum.” Taking the coin, Isidor gave it coin a look. “Well, my boy, the enchantment you cast was a weaker one, and I don’t think you funneled enough magic into it to make it last long. To be honest, I’m surprised it’s lighting up at all right now.”

  Frowning, Tartum took his coin back and spoke the word, “Dull.” The coin went back to its normal sheen, and he placed it inside his coin pouch. The change in the brightness of the coin was negligible.

  “So what you’re saying is I need to funnel more magic into my enchantment in order for the spell to last longer. Is there any way to make the enchantment permanent?” Tartum asked.

  “The way to make an enchantment permanent is usually only possible if the enchantment itself says there’s a way. Does your spell book make mention of such?” Isidor asked.

  Opening his book, Tartum scanned the spell again. As he was afraid of, the spell made no mention of any way to make it permanent.

  “No, Isidor, the spell isn’t a permanent one. Is there no other way?” he asked.

  “Then no, my boy, your only other option is to try to channel as much magic as you safely can into the spell, next time. It will not only make the enchantment last longer, but it will make it work better. In this case it will make the light brighter. You can try it again tonight, if you like.” Isidor said, sliding a plate full of bacon, eggs, and bread towards him. “For today we celebrate your success!”

  ...

  The day was a good one. In fact, it was one of the better days of his life. Isidor spared no expense, and no extravagance was too exotic for him and his pupil. They went to the finest establishments in the small town of Zerous, ate the finest meats and pastries the market had to offer. They took in a show being played out by street performers, pretending to be a brave knight and a fearfully evil dragon. The act was immensely entertai
ning, and Tartum laughed harder than he had in years.

  As the sun was setting, Isidor took Tartum to his favorite brothel for a bit of expensive female entertainment. Isidor was a bit of a scoundrel and had a lusty appetite for the pleasures of the flesh. Tonight, he would share his vice with Tartum. As they walked into the red velvet rooms of the establishment, Tartum was greeted by two extremely well endowed women.

  “Well hello, lover!” they said sultrily, in unison. Clearly, these women had been doing this a while, but their open sexuality and their soft bodies pressed into his, made Tartum care very little about their pasts.

  Isidor was already known and well liked by most of the women at this particular brothel, and as such, had a small harem of women around him in moments, all of which were enthusicastically flirting with him.

  “Ale! Mead! Mama! I am celebrating with my young friend here! Drinks are on me, for us and all my pretty ladies here!” Isidor yelled to the fat lady, that clearly ran this business. “Mama” must have been her name, because Tartum heard everyone call her that, employee and customer alike.

  The drinks flowed, and the night burned on. Tartum found himself drinking ale off of one whore’s cleavage, one moment, and being serviced behind a curtain, the next. The ecstasy he felt was pure heaven. At one point, Isidor jumped up on the bar and began his juggling act, whirling six ale mugs around in various pattern. As drunk as he was, Isidor still had no problem keeping the mugs flying through the air, while occasionally whipping out one of his hands, to grab at one of his many girl’s ample cleavage. They screamed in delight, when Isidor’s hand found them, and returned the favor by running their hands up and down his legs in a suggestive manner. There was no decency in this place, and Tartum was loving it!