Mage's Path 1 Read online

  The voice vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and Jack reeled for a moment before catching his balance and steadying himself. Aetherborn. He didn’t know what that meant, but he liked the sound of it. It sounded right. Whatever that voice had been, it gave him the confidence that he had done the right thing.

  The sense of powerful presence that had filled the chamber for a moment was gone, and Jack felt sure that whatever had spoken to him would not speak again. The blue runes in the walls had dimmed.

  Well, it had told him to go forth and harness his power. Perhaps he would need a mentor of some kind to learn magic properly, but could he not have a go by himself?

  As an experiment, he reached out his right hand and flexed his mana pool. His hand was empty—his spear was still leaning against the wall where he had placed it—and as he focused on his hand, he was rewarded with a sensation of warmth in his right palm.

  He withdrew the focus, feeling mana flow back into his pool.

  Excitement coursed through him, and his heart beat faster.

  Something had happened when he’d focused.

  Carefully, he tried it again. Mana flowed from his mana pool up the pathway that led from his center to his hand as he concentrated.

  Again, that sensation of warmth flowed to his palm and gathered there. It was as if he was holding his hand in a sunbeam—heat was focused right in the center of his palm.

  Jack dared himself to push a little further.

  He focused harder, and to his amazement and delight, he was rewarded with a glow of light in the center of his hand.

  He kept control of his excitement, breathing in and out slowly and steadily like a runner catching his breath after a sprint.

  As he concentrated, the magic swelled within him, and light suddenly shone out brightly from his hand. It was a clear, soft, white light, not like the light from a flame. He had never seen light like that before.

  It was beautiful. It shone steadily out from his hand, accompanied by a sensation of pleasant heat.

  “Magic,” he breathed.

  “That’s right,” a voice said behind him. “Magic. Pretty impressive, but you’re going to need a bit of tuition if you want to take that further.”

  Chapter 2

  The speaker stood in the center of the cave. He was robed from head to toe in black, and he had a deep hood that cast a shadow over his whole face. Jack could see nothing of his features except for the glint of a smile.

  Jack pushed his torch higher in the air, trying to cast light on the figure, but the mysterious stranger had a shadow around him that could not be banished by the flame. The torchlight lit up the ground around the stranger, but it did not reach the black cloak. The mysterious newcomer remained shrouded in shadow.

  “Who are you?” Jack demanded, pleased to find that his voice was firm and steady, despite the fright the stranger had given him. “What do you want of me? Are you from the guild?”

  “Who am I?” the stranger mused, sounding as if he found something funny in the question. “I am what you have been seeking, young one. I am the answer to your desires.”

  “You know nothing about me,” Jack said harshly. He felt annoyed by the stranger’s calm amusement. “What do you know of what I seek, or what I want?”

  The figure laughed softly. “Oh, come,” he said, “anyone with ears in the town of Oakwood could discover what young Jack sought. Last I checked, my ears are working just fine. You are looking for a mage to train you, are you not? You are looking for an apprenticeship, and an entry into the guild, but you have been rejected.”

  Jack took a breath to speak, but the figure lifted two black-gloved hands and began to count off the points on his fingers as he listed everything he knew about Jack. “You are an orphan seeking a career as an adventurer. You have ambitions to learn magic, but nobody will train you because you are a low-born nobody. Your mana pool was deemed insufficient by the guildsman you spoke to and so you’ve been training by yourself in the woods for months now—an impressive effort.”

  He leaned forward as if particularly eager, and Jack caught a glint that might have been eyes from within the hood. “And for some reason, you found this dungeon and she granted you her dungeon core. And you, all unknowing, absorbed it!”

  The figure stepped forward suddenly, and Jack took a step back without intending to. The figure laughed again, more merrily this time, and then reached up and pushed back the deep hood. As he did, the shadow that shrouded him receded, and the blue light from the walls of the cave fell full on his face.

  He was the strangest man Jack had ever seen. His skin was the deep, cherry red of the coals in a smith’s forge, but the red was broken by thick lines of deepest black that were scored across the skin like war paint. The red parts of the skin shone in the light of Jack’s torch, gleaming in a way that reminded Jack of the smooth surface of smoke-cured river salmon, but the black strips were blacker than ink, eating the light.

  He had two small horns of yellow bone that curved from his brow, but they were short, only as long as a joint of Jack’s thumb.

  But it was his eyes that were the strangest. They were deep yellow, with dark slits for pupils that were elongated like the eyes of a cat. The man blinked, and before his outer lids closed, Jack caught a glimpse of white inner eyelids that slid horizontally across the eye, like the lids of a hawk.

  He had a curved nose and a strong chin, and his teeth gleamed unsettlingly white in the light of the cave, now that the magical shadow had lifted from him.

  “My name is Lachlan Woe,” he said. “And I’m the closest thing to a mage of the guild that you’re going to get. So point that spear somewhere else and let’s talk. I’m keen to get to know you better.”

  Lachlan Woe grinned, and the effect was startling with his cat’s eyes and his bright teeth.

  But for all the man’s strange appearance and eerie look, Jack found himself smiling back at Lachlan. He lowered his spear then shifted it into his left hand. Then he stepped forward and put out his hand.

  “Jack,” he said, introducing himself.

  Lachlan glanced down at Jack’s extended hand for a moment, then looked up and met his eyes.

  “I know,” he said with a grin, then gripped Jack’s hand firmly for a moment.

  They faced each other. Jack felt strangely at ease in this strange man’s presence. “Lachlan Woe,” he said, after the silence had held for a minute. “That’s a strange name.”

  “Well,” Lachlan said without hesitating, “I’m a strange man. But not as strange as you.”

  “Me? What do you mean? What’s strange about me?”

  Lachlan wagged a finger at him. “What’s strange about you? You just absorbed a dungeon core and didn’t die! And the dungeon presented you with the core in the first place. And you found this lost dungeon untrained and without spells. It seemed like the dungeon even awoke just to give you her core! That’s enough to make you strange in my opinion. How do you explain it?”

  Jack laughed. “I, uh, I guess I can’t explain it. I was passing and I felt strongly drawn toward it. When I spotted the opening through the bushes, I made my way in. As for being given the core, I was just lucky, I suppose.”

  He found that he was reluctant to mention the strange voice and the name it had called him: Aetherborn.

  He wanted to know a little more about Lachlan Woe before he entrusted that knowledge to him.

  The mage gave Jack a knowing look.

  “No, no, that won’t do at all,” Lachlan said. He shook his head and scratched his chin. “There’s more to it than luck, that’s for certain. There’s some secret here, and perhaps you just don’t know it yet. It’s often the way with those destined for great things.”

  “Destined…?” Jack thought the words were a strange echo of the mysterious voice that had spoken in his head after he’d absorbed the core.

  Lachlan shook his head. “You don’t have any idea how strange what you just did was, do you?”

  “Ab
sorbed some kind of dungeon core, I guess, but is that really so unusual?”

  “Unusual… I’d say that’s something of an understatement.” Lachlan glanced over his shoulder toward the entrance to the dungeon. “But listen, how about we continue this discussion somewhere more comfortable?”

  Jack frowned at Lachlan. “That depends. What do you want from me?”

  “As I said, I want you to be my apprentice, Jack,” Lachlan said. “I’m a mage, and I’m affiliated with the guild, though I’m not a full member. I can’t be, because of my… heritage. But I’m a mage, and I’m willing to take you on if you’re willing to be taught.”

  Jack thought about it for a moment.

  Lachlan Woe was not what he’d come to expect of guild mages, though he didn’t really have a great deal to go on. He’d imagined that mages would be heroic and noble, with bright clothes and bright magic.

  But this sardonic, strange-looking man in front of him seemed, strangely enough, to be almost more magical and genuine than any of the ideas about mages that Jack had held in his mind in the past.

  There was no trace of a lie in his voice or his manner. He wanted Jack to be a mage, to be his apprentice. It was the thing Jack had dreamed about for a long time now.

  He had done it! And now that he had a fully-functioning mana pool and internal magical pathways, he would need someone to mentor him.

  Jack made his decision.

  He would take the first step on the journey he had always dreamed about.

  “Well, Jack?” Lachlan Woe said softly. “Will you agree to this? Will you come with me and learn magic?”

  Jack smiled and nodded. “I will,” he said.

  Lachlan seemed delighted. He grinned broadly, and his eyes widened. The effect was a little unsettling since his teeth were so brightly gleaming and his eyes were so strange, but Jack found himself smiling back. The mage clapped his hands together.

  “I’m pleased! If you’d refused, I’d probably have had to kill you, and that would have been a pity!” Lachlan saw the horrified look on Jack’s face. “I’m only joking, Jack! Don’t worry! I’d perhaps just have to cast a spell on you to make you forget you’d ever seen me here. Or maybe killed you. Anyway, none of that matters now, because you’re my apprentice. Come along with me!”

  Jack thought that the strange man seemed keen to move away from the uncomfortable topic of killing, and he was pleased to play along. Whether this mage was completely joking or not, the idea of fighting him was not appealing. The mage seemed powerful and capable, and Jack guessed that he would offer some serious resistance. A fight with a mage was the last thing Jack wanted to get into just now.

  With a last glance back into the cave with its strange magical blue lighting, Jack followed Lachlan Woe back out into the dimness of the woods.

  Night had fallen, and the woods were very dark, with only a bit of light from the moon filtering down through the tree canopy. Lachlan sniffed the air and looked about himself.

  “Let’s not waste time,” he said. “We’ve a mile or two to walk, and it’s slow going through a forest at night. Also, I’d like to get away from this spot before anyone else decides to show an interest in this dungeon. It’s certainly going to attract attention, and I’d rather not be here when explorers come along to check it out. Also, I think it would be best if it were not known that I’d taken an apprentice—not yet, anyway.”

  “Why is that?” Jack asked.

  “Well,” Lachlan said as they started off through the trees, “a couple of reasons. For a start, not everyone in the world is friendly with the mages’ guild. The less that’s known about who’s in the guild and who’s not, the better. Also, not everyone in the guild is friendly to me. Like I said, I’m not a full guild member, but I have most of the privileges of one, and there are some mages in the guild who don’t like that. They would be interested to know I’d taken an apprentice. On principle, I’d like to be the one who is in control of when people find that out. There are other reasons, too. Don’t forget that you’ve absorbed a dungeon core, and that’s an immensely powerful thing to have happened. I want us to take our time and explore that power carefully, so you can reach your full potential. Others might not be so keen on the idea.”

  They had walked a good way into the trees now, and the mouth of the dungeon and the purple leaves of the trees around it were out of sight. The trees around them were less affected by the magical influence of the dungeon here, and though there was still a purplish tinge to the leaves, they were of a more normal size, and the purple light was less intense.

  The moon was rising fast, shining a pale white light down through the leaves and turning the shadows all to inky black.

  “In fact,” Lachlan said, stopping and turning to face Jack, “let that be my first lesson to you, as master to apprentice. The lesson of discretion, of secrecy. Be aware, Jack. The more power you gain, the greater the responsibility you hold, and the greater your significance in the world becomes. Not everyone will be happy about that. And there is something unusual about you. You absorbed the dungeon core, and I’ve never heard of that outside of legends. That means you’re special, and it makes sense for you to be careful of yourself—and careful who you share knowledge with.”

  Jack nodded. “I understand,” he said, simply. “I will do as you say.”

  Lachlan looked at him consideringly for a moment, then smiled. “Good. Good! Spoken like a true prodigy. Now then, let’s get moving. We've still got a good way to go before we get home.”

  Jack did as Lachlan asked, stepping out briskly alongside the mage. Lachlan looked at him approvingly. “You’re clearly a young man who knows how to listen to instructions.”

  “It’s true,” Jack said with a shrug. “My stepfather always taught me to listen to those with more experience than I. We lived well enough in my village, but it can be a harsh environment. The mountains are not abundant in resources, and the weather can come in fast and can be deadly. In a situation like that, the ability of a team to follow orders and act fast can be the difference between life and death.”

  “That’s a good lesson to learn young,” Lachlan mused. “Mage apprentices are usually drawn from the aristocracy—the sons and daughters of dukes and noblemen. They are often full of pride and have high opinions of themselves, and they have difficulty submitting to authority. That’s one reason I’ve not taken on an apprentice for so long. I could never find one who fitted with my… character.”

  There seemed little Jack could say to that, so he said nothing. He followed the strange mage through the dimness of the woods. The moon was approaching the full and it sent a bright white light down, dappling through the broad leaves of the oak trees.

  Jack’s footsteps were quiet in the deep moss of the forest floor, and Lachlan’s footsteps were almost entirely silent. Jack sniffed the air then breathed deeply. The silent forest was full of a wonderful rich, green smell, and he smiled as he walked, feeling very happy about the recent turn of his fortunes.

  “So,” Lachlan said, after they’d walked in companionable silence for a while, “when I came to the cave, you were experimenting with a bit of magic.”

  “That’s right,” Jack agreed. “I’d found that by focusing on my mana pool and moving some mana along the pathways to my hands, I could generate a light in the palm of my hand.”

  Lachlan asked about the mana pool. Though Lachlan tried to keep his voice casual, Jack could tell that there was restrained excitement there. He suspected that the awareness of a mana pool and mana pathways was unusual in someone as young as he was.

  As simply and as clearly as he could, he explained how he had cultivated his mana pool through a meditation exercise that he had learned from the mage in Oakwood Town. Then he explained how when he’d absorbed the dungeon core, he’d felt the mana pool become clear and hard-edged, where it had been cloudy and fuzzy before.

  “Fascinating,” Lachlan said, before confirming Jack’s suspicions. “I won’t hide from you that th
is is very unusual. Normally it takes many years of sustained and guided training to build a mana pool as you have, and the process of clarification happens slowly through continued meditation and practice. There’s a mystery here that we don’t have the answer to, but you are definitely a special case when it comes to magical ability.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” Jack said, feeling a bit unsure about that.

  “Show me this magic while we walk,” Lachlan said abruptly.

  “Uh, okay,” Jack answered. “I’ll try.”

  He shifted his spear over to his left hand to leave his right hand empty. Then, focusing his attention on his mana pool, he let awareness of it expand throughout his mind. He could feel it as he did. Mana was there in the pool, but it was also able to travel throughout his body if he willed it. Putting more effort in, he drew his focus to a point and then felt his way along the mana pathway from his pool to his right hand.

  “Jack,” Lachlan’s soft voice interrupted Jack’s concentration, and he snapped back to awareness of his surroundings. He had stopped, and they were standing among the trees.

  Jack blinked. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

  “You stopped walking. Did you mean to do that?”

  Jack thought about it for a moment. “No, actually, I didn’t. I wasn’t even aware that I had stopped walking. Weird!”

  Lachlan nodded. “Come on,” he said, jerking his head in the direction they’d been walking before they stopped. “Let’s work on that first.”

  They started walking again.

  “To be a mage,” Lachlan explained, “you will have to learn to keep your awareness split between tasks. The magical awareness of your pool, your pathways, and the magic you’re using can all be very distracting from the outside world, but to function as a magic user, you have to be able to do all these things simultaneously. In battle, for example, a mage cannot give up awareness of the world around him every time he wants to cast a new spell. And there are many other magics, subtler ones like the ones that allow a mage to influence the thoughts and feelings of others. A mage using that kind of magic needs to be able to keep up a conversation, eat, walk, even dance or play at dice or cards while using the magic. Let’s start by getting you to split your awareness between the world around you and the magic inside you. Don’t worry, we’ll start simple. I’m sure you’ll be able to do it.”