Magium

by Chris Michael Wilson

  “Petal’s an elf?” Flower asks, shocked.

  “Why are you acting so surprised?” Illuna says. “You have a clear image of how I look inside your own mind. Don’t tell me that this is the first time you’ve noticed my pointy ears in the past two decades…”

  “Oh, I’ve noticed them,” Flower says, “but I always figured that this was just the way I imagined you, and that it didn’t have anything to do with the way you really looked.”

  “So,” I say, “you’re telling me that we’ve been treating you two as if you were part of a monster race, but all this time you were in fact elven spirits?”

  “Yes, that’s what we are saying,” Illuna says.

  “It never ceases to amaze me just how bad these people can be at reading auras,” Arraka says. “No wonder they still haven’t figured out why their women can’t be born as mages after all this time. If they can’t even tell our races apart, then they have no chance of figuring it out by themselves.”

  “Did you…” I say, but I pause for a few moments to rearrange my thoughts. “Did you just imply that the reason why women cannot be born as mages on our earthen plane is directly related to your exile from the magical plane?”

  After hearing my last sentence, Kate, who didn’t seem to be paying very close attention to our conversation until now, has finally turned her head towards us, and she is now watching us intently.

  “So you finally figured it out, eh, Barry-boy?” Arraka says. “What is it that tipped you off? Is it perhaps the fact that all of the banshees are practically humanoid female spirits? Or maybe the fact that female animals and monsters can still cast magic, while your women are completely unable to do it, unless their auras have been drastically altered? Oh… or maybe it’s the fact that women only gain magic when they are possessed by banshees. That’s a pretty big hint, if you ask me! Hell, you even had Flower as an example. Her element is fire, while Illuna’s element is water. It’s clear that she didn’t just inherit the magic from Illuna, right? Didn’t it ever occur to you that in order to channel that energy from the magical plane, you need to actually create a link with a magical spirit that is at least somewhat similar to you, in nature? You didn’t seriously think that you could just pull that energy out on your own, without some magical spirit to act as a funnel for you, did you?”

  “So,” I say, “what you are saying is that every one of the mages on the earthen plane is in fact linked with a spirit from the magical plane?”

  “Well, yeah, but it’s not like either of them is doing it consciously,” Arraka says. “Since they’re on different planes of existence, the link does not need to be all close and personal. Most mages probably just link themselves to a spirit instinctively, and neither them, nor the spirits that they are linked to ever notice this for the rest of their lives. But you can’t link yourself unconsciously with a spirit anymore if all of the spirits with similar auras to you are here, on the earthen plane instead. You can still try to cast magic through other means, sure, but then your aura would need to become something completely different. Like that of the stillwater girl, for example. Or that of your friend with the ice magic.”

  “But how did these spirits manage to exile you to a completely different plane of existence?” I say. “Surely, it can’t have been as simple as just throwing you out and locking the door behind you!”

  “Oh, the exile was Memphir’s idea, from what I’ve heard,” Arraka says. “He always did have the talent to come up with crazily elaborate plans like these, even though only half of them usually worked out in his favor in the end.”

  “Memphir is the God of Fate, right?” I say.

  “Yeah, the one with the illusions,” Arraka says. “I’m not sure how he came up with the idea, or how he managed to actually convince so many of the spirits to follow his plan, but what they basically did was to mess with the whole system that is in charge of assigning spirits to the magical plane, and they reprogrammed it in a way that assigns female spirits of the civilized races to the earthen plane instead.”

  “You can do that?” I say.

  “Well, obviously it’s not easy,” Arraka says. “And you need a tremendous amount of energy to pull it off even if you figure out how to do it, but the bastards managed to rally enough of the spirits on their side to actually get the job done.”

  “So, why didn’t you just change it back to how it was, after they sent you here?” I say. “Shouldn’t you have more than enough energy to do it after absorbing all of those spirits?”

  “I can’t do it from here!” Arraka says. “That’s why we’re stuck. If I were to undo everything that Memphir and his crew did, I’d need to access the Magium directly, and I can’t do that from the earthen plane.”

  “The Magium?…” I ask her.

  “Well, not really the Magium,” Arraka says. “You get what I mean…”

  “No…” I say. “I don’t, actually…”

  “You know…” Arraka says. “I’m talking about the part of the Magium that specifically deals with the creation of magical spirits and then sends them to the magical plane. You know how it works, right? Spirits aren’t made to reproduce, even if they are split into males and females like you are here on the earthen plane. That’s why there’s this sort of… nest, or whatever you want to call it within the Magium that makes sure to pump out new spirits and to send them to the magical plane after the old ones die, in order to have roughly the same amount of spirits on the magical plane at any given time. Except these bastards managed to change the way it works! As soon as they were done tampering with the nest, it even sent the ones of us who were already there to the earthen plane, not to mention all the new ones that were created after that. And even from Varathia, the only parts of the Magium that I can access are the ones that I don’t need!”

  “Other parts of the Magium?…” I say, confused. “I don’t get it. Just how big is this Magium, exactly? Wasn’t it supposed to be some sort of a powerful artifact that’s only found here in Varathia?”

  Arraka takes a long break before she speaks again, during which we all wait for her answer in silence.

  “Did…” she says, struggling to find her words. “Did you just ask me how big the Magium is?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said,” I say.

  After another short pause, Arraka suddenly begins to laugh, louder than she’s ever laughed before, and she keeps on going for about ten seconds before she speaks again.

  “Hey…” Arraka says, while she’s almost out of breath from laughing, “Hey, Illuna, did you… Did you hear what he said? He asked how big the Magium is! Aha- Ahahahaha!”

  “Stop laughing, damn it!” I say, as I finally snap. “Tell me what you know about the Magium!”

  “Ahahahaha!” Arraka says. “You came here to fight for the Magium, but you don’t even know what it is? Oh, man, that’s rich! I’d be crying from laughter if I weren’t living in an amulet without a body. I can’t believe you people… You actually… You actually came here without even… Ahahahaha!”

  “Knock it off!” I tell her. “Are you going to tell me what the Magium is or not?”

  Arraka ignores me completely and she just keeps laughing and laughing, without giving signs of planning to stop anytime soon.

  “Do you want me to spin your amulet until you give me my answer?” I say.

  “Are you sure you want to do that, Barry-boy?” Arraka says, as she suddenly stops from her laughter and starts speaking in a much more serious tone. “Do you really think that you will never need my help anymore from now on? Do you really like being surprised by invisible enemies that much?”

  “Let it go, Barry,” Daren says, as he places a hand on my shoulder. “If she doesn’t want to tell us, then no amount of spinning is going to make her change her mind. We’ll just have to find out what the Magium is on our own.”

  “I know what the Magium is!” Flower says.

  “You do?” I ask her.

  “Yeah,” Flower says.


  “Well, what is it?” I say.

  “Oh, I can’t tell you that!” Flower says.

  “Why the hell not?” I say.

  “Because I’m not allowed to,” Flower says, simply.

  “Not allowed by whom?” I ask her. “The kings? Are the kings of Varathia prohibiting you from revealing the true nature of the Magium to the tournament participants?”

  “I… can’t answer that question,” Flower says, looking a bit uncomfortable.

  “But why?” I say. “What will happen if you tell us about the Magium?”

  “We’ll die,” Illuna says, bluntly.

  “You mean that they’ll send someone to execute you?” I say.

  “No, I mean we’ll drop dead,” Illuna says. “On the spot. Quite possibly even before we get to tell you what the Magium actually is.”

  “What do you mean?” Hadrik asks Illuna. “Why would you drop dead just from answering a question?”

  “She’s saying that they’re under an enchanter’s oath,” Daren says. “They’ve probably been made to vow that they won’t reveal the nature of the Magium to anyone. Either by the kings or by someone else. They’re likely risking death even with what little they’re already telling us. We should stop questioning them about this before Flower accidentally lets slip too much information and kills them both by accident.”

  “Damn it,” Hadrik says. “I thought that we were actually onto something for a second there.”

  “Why are you acting so disappointed?” Daren says. “It’s not like you were ever aiming to win the Magium. You’ve already told us that you’re only in this for the challenge.”

  “Well, yeah,” Hadrik says, “but imagine the stories we could tell if we managed to get our hands on the Magium before the end of the tournament!”

  “It’s not going to happen,” Daren says. “Even if we find out what it is, it’s probably too well guarded or too well hidden for us to be able to do anything about it. We should be focusing on our objectives, and not on trying to cheat the system. Come on, let’s get moving. We still need to do some shopping before we go to the king.”

  As we continue to travel towards the castle, we notice that Leila and Kate are walking side by side, but they’ve hardly been exchanging any words since we left the arena. After a while, Daren pulls me to the back of the group, where he and Hadrik are walking at a slower pace, and he asks me a question, in a low voice.

  “Hey, Barry,” Daren says, “correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t Kate and the white haired girl supposed to be childhood friends or something?”

  “Sort of,” I say. “They both grew up at the Beacon, but from what I’ve heard, Leila was more isolated from the rest of the group, due to her being a lessathi.”

  “Still,” Daren says, “if they’ve known each other for so long, don’t you think that they should have a little more to talk about? Maybe we could give them a push or something. You know, help them out a bit so they can get over the initial awkwardness.”

  “I say we wait a little more,” I tell Daren. “Neither of them are exactly the talkative sort, and Leila is mute to boot. We should give them a bit more time to get comfortable around each other before we butt in.”

  “You know, I was thinking,” Hadrik tells me, “if Leila is a lessathi, then shouldn’t you be giving her Eiden’s message? The one about the still winter?”

  “Hey, you’re right!” I tell him. “I’ll tell her right now!”

  “Barry…” Daren starts to say, but I ignore him and I call out to Leila.

  “Hey, Leila!” I shout.

  “Yes?…” Leila writes, as she turns around to face me.

  “I’ve got a message from Eiden,” I say.

  “Eiden?” Leila writes. “You mean the stillwater who threatened the dragon in the arena?”

  “Yeah, that’s him!” I say. “He says to remember the still winter!”

  “Uh… okay?” Leila writes, looking very confused.

  “Ignore him, Leila,” Kate says. “Barry’s just being an idiot again.”

  Leila then turns around, and Kate starts filling her in on the details regarding Eiden, and what my message meant.

  “Damn it, Barry!” Daren says, in a low voice. “Don’t you think you should be taking this message thing a little more seriously? We almost died because of it the last time Eiden brought it up.”

  “Relax,” I whisper to Daren. “My deal with Eiden is already off. I was supposed to deliver his message to the first lessathi I encountered, remember? The first lessathi I met were Diane’s friends. The reason why Eiden almost killed us was exactly because I failed to uphold my end of the bargain. The fact that he got over it so quickly and that he never actually killed us, shows that he never really cared about that deal in the first place. If he really wanted that message delivered, he could have just teleported next to the lessathi and told them the message himself, given that he already recognized their auras from a distance when I met them. Realistically speaking, Eiden probably already forgot about that message, and he’ll never mention it to us again.”

  “I hope you’re right…” Daren says.

  “At any rate,” I say, “my joke from earlier was not made without a reason. Look!”

  I then point towards Kate and Leila, who are still engaged in conversation, except the subject of their talk seems to have changed from Eiden and his plans to how much of an idiot I am.

  “See?” I tell Daren, in a low voice. “Now they have something to talk about!”

  Half an hour after our conversation, we reach the first marketplace on our way to the castle. We decide to split up into separate groups and to meet again in the center of the marketplace once we’re each done with our shopping. While Kate goes together with Leila in order to help her buy some new clothes and a backpack, Daren and I head for the weapons shop, so I can buy myself a new crossbow and so that Daren can buy a new magical sharpening stone. In the meantime, Flower and Illuna went to buy some potions, while Hadrik, who did not need to buy anything in particular, went directly towards the center of the market, waiting for us to be done.

  Before we enter the shop, I show Daren my scimitars, while asking him if he could tell me what enchantments are cast on them, and if he could estimate the market value of the items.

  “Hmm…” Daren says. “Both of these seem to have the same two enchantments. Sharpness and durability. However, the enchantments were done almost exclusively by using elven steel, and the craftsmanship of the weapons is also of high quality. If I were you, I wouldn’t sell one of these for less than fifty western gold coins.”

  Once we are inside the weapons shop, the first thing I do is to approach the shopkeeper about my scimitars. It takes a bit of haggling, but in the end I manage to convince him to buy one of the two weapons for seventy gold coins, while keeping the other one for myself. As soon as I am done with the selling, I immediately move over to the crossbow section, to see if I can find anything that would fit my needs. What I am looking for in particular are repeating crossbows that can fire at least five bolts before being reloaded, like the one I’m currently using.

  Two of the crossbows on display catch my eye, and they are both much better than the one I’ve got, but one of them is a lot more expensive than the other. With the amount of money I have right now, however, it honestly would not make much of a difference if I bought one or the other.

  The advantage of the expensive one is that I can use it to shoot seven bolts before reloading, and it also has better power, range, and accuracy. The cheaper version is still better than the crossbow I have in every way, but it’s not really comparable to the expensive one, and it can only fire six bolts before reloading.

  After careful consideration, I decide to go with the expensive crossbow, even if I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m getting slightly ripped off. Once we’re done buying what we need, I put my new crossbow inside my backpack, and then Daren and I exit the shop, heading directly for the middle of the marketplace. As we
walk, I suddenly remember that there was something else I needed to buy while I’m still in town, so I tell Daren to go ahead, and I go to enter the potions shop.

  “Barry?” Flower asks, as she sees me enter the building. “Didn’t you go to buy some weapons?”

  “Yeah,” I say. “But I remembered that I also had something to buy from here.”

  “What are you buying?” Flower asks.

  “…An anti-poison elixir,” I say, a little embarrassed.

  Flower’s eyes turn blue, and Illuna just stares at me for a few seconds, without saying anything.

  “Remember to also get an anti-disease elixir while you’re at it,” Illuna says, finally. “They’re more expensive than anti-poison ones, and they only work for certain, easily curable illnesses, but still, it would be rather pathetic if you were to die from some Varathian disease after having survived the tournament for so long.”

  I pay the shopkeeper ten copper pieces for the anti-poison elixir and a silver coin for the anti-disease elixir, and then I drink them both while I’m still inside the shop. Illuna does the same for all the potions she’s bought, and then we both exit the building, heading towards the middle of the marketplace, where Hadrik and Daren were waiting for us. As we approach them, I notice that the two of them are in the middle of a rather heated debate about who would be the winner in a duel between Azarius, the Sage of the West, and Talmak, the Sage of the North.

  “Listen,” Hadrik tells Daren, as we get closer, “I know that Azarius can cast a lot of spells. That’s not the point. What I’m saying is that in terms of raw power, Talmak is way above the Sage of the West. Plus, he’s an earth elementalist! What use are a bunch of spells, when he’s just going to crush you between two huge layers of rock?”

  “Hadrik,” Daren says, “I get that you’re trying to take Talmak’s side because he’s a dwarf, but that’s just not how things work in a magic duel. You can’t win a fight through raw power alone. You need to have some versatility. As a generalist, Azarius can use spells of many different types, which makes his attacks a lot more unpredictable. Specialists will always be at a disadvantage when fighting against generalists for this reason. That’s why I tried my best to master both enchantment and white magic, during my lifetime. Limiting myself to only one specialization would have given me far less options when fighting against other trained mages.”