Zerrious was a quick learner, unfortunately. Nyah and I didn't have the time together we had wanted, watching children and preparing for adventure taking up all of our time. We did have our moments of fun, forgoing sleep on several occasions to teach Nyah some of the. . . techniques from home.
No, I will not elaborate further.
I was packing a bag, filling each ring with rations while the rest hold clothing, soap, and shelter for the camping that would no doubt take place on more than one night, when I got the notice that Zerrious had mastered the last of the magic Names he had intended to earn in this city.
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Notice!
Zerrious has been Named by a master of his craft and been acknowledged as his equal.
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Notice!
Name gained: Sangrial (Diviner).
Name: Sangrial is the profession Name for the following skills:
Coal Reading
Bone Casting
Palm Reading
Fate Casting
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Notice!
Name: Sangrial is a profession Name and counts as a Name for every skill required to earn it plus one (5 total).
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"So we leave on the morrow," I said while studying the prompts.
"What nonsense you talkin' bout now?" Nyah was not as interested in the melodrama as I was.
"Zerrious earned all the Names here," I told her.
"Why don' you just say that? Ya don' got to be so cryptic." Aye that the love of my life provide such perfect opposition in an effort of balance. "Wipe that look off your face, you'll say somethin' dumb if ya don'." She knew me too well, even in such short a time together.
"You're right, my love. As always." I stood up and planted a kiss on her lips even as her hands were busy folding her laundry, as mine was already packed. I would assume Zerrious was packed as well, though he was a big boy, I trusted him to handle it himself.
I stole out of the room, wandering calmly down the stairs to say my goodbyes to the litany of children that had taken a rapid liking to me and my stories of a far off land. The children played as they always do, except for Stacy who was still off-putting to me as she sat and watched in a corner.
"Sigurd!" several of the kids yelled, running and colliding heavily with my knees. "Do you have another story?" asked one.
"Not this time I'm afraid. I actually came down to say goodbye."
"What!?" was the cry as pandemonium spread throughout the horde of youth.
"Tomorrow I will be leaving. I don't know when I will come back, but I will come back." My shouts didn't do much to calm the crowd. I felt a sudden and sharp pain in my leg, flinching back to see that Stacy had bit my leg with tear filled eyes.
"I only bite bad people, and people who leave are bad people," she sniffled.
Well that just wasn't fair. These kids were breaking my heart far more than I thought they would. The more I thought on it the more I broke into gentle tears myself. Some of these kids would move on to higher places before I returned, and most would undoubtedly forget me.
I dropped to a knee, reaching out and wrapping a hug around Stacy's shoulders, her tears falling on my shoulder even as mine fall on hers. Soon every child had joined in the massive group hug, sniffling and some wailing echoing into the entry hall.
After a long moment I heard the front door open and close. Looking up I saw Zerrious watching with a gentle smile on his face as he leaned on the doorjamb. "I assume you've heard the news?" he asked.
"He has," said Nyah, who I hadn't even noticed had joined the hug.
"I am prepared to follow you, to the end of the known world and beyond."
"I would hope so. We may very well need to before the end of our travels." That brought me up short. How hard could it possibly be to get the last three hundred something Names? He already had almost seven hundred, even at only just over twenty years old. It probably won't take anything too crazy.
"Well, I say it's time for dinner. Why don't we go have one last meal before bed?" I said, returning my attention to the children.
Dinner was a sort of roast beef approximation. I wasn't sure what animal it came from, and frankly I didn't want to know, but it tasted just like beef, only a bit sweeter. The more I said goodbye the less I wanted to leave, but there was a pull that seemed to tell me that I had to go. I couldn't explain it, but my journey did not end here.
After eating the kids were sent to bed, each and every one giving me a hug before retiring with tears in their eyes.
I led Nyah up to our room to spend one last night together, nearly dragging her up the stairs and through the doorway, planting a passionate kiss on her lips as I kicked the door closed.
"Sigurd." A hand was shaking me from slumber, providing a jarring and rhythmic pressure to the soft bliss surrounding me. "Sigurd!"
"Zerrious," I mumbled, moving an arm from around Nyah in order to roll and make sleepy eye contact with the chipper boy.
"Good, you're awake. Get dressed, I'm leaving soon."
"What kind of asshole. . ." I muttered before carefully extracting myself from the bed without waking Nyah and getting dressed. I pulled on the armor and a simple cloak to keep the morning chill at bay, grabbing my cane and funneling reality into it as had quickly become automatic. Before leaving I ran a hand through my hair which had grown long since I hadn't bothered to cut it since entering the city. I turned, planting a kiss on Nyah's forehead and embracing her once more. "I'll be back my love. I'll write at every city."
"I trust you love," she whispered, smiling and kissing me lightly. "Don' die, I'd never forgive myself for letting you leave."
"I promise, my life will be eternal if you so wish."
"Go, I'm sure the boy's waitin' for you," she said, grinning lightly with shallow tears pooling in her eyes.
"Sleep, love. One day when you wake I will be with you again, but for now I must leave for adventures unknown."
With those final words I stole from the room, walking down the stairs and meeting Zerrious at the doorway. He holds up a sandwich as I approach, waiting for me to take it without a word and take a bite as he pushes the door open. We stepped out together, closing the door behind us and walking towards the gate surrounding the barren lawn.
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I paused and looked back at the building filled with so much love. "I'll be back, just give me time," I muttered before taking a deep breath and turning away.
"I'll make sure of it," Zerrious said to the building in all seriousness. It never ceased to surprise me how much he could perceive without trying. I took the boy in a one armed hug for a moment as we made our way to the gate set into the wall surrounding the city. The gate wasn't a problem going in, and they didn't really seem worried about people entering or leaving, more so about crime and contraband. Those were never activities I wished to partake in, although I'm sure Zerrious knew something about it after working with thieves.
"Morning boys," I said to the sleepy guards keeping watch as we made our approach.
"Leaving so early? Travelers are crazy. Are you leaving with contraband?" said one guard without lifting his head from his arms resting on a railing.
"No, neither of us are," I answered for us.
The guard held up an orb in response and I breathed on it just as I did upon first entering the city. It glowed white, but the guard didn't even seem to look before waving us forward, back to the world outside of the secure walls that stand as much a cage for those inside as protection from those outside.
The thought brought me up short. When had I started to view this city as a prison? Could my restlessness truly be so bad that staying put for so long is its own hell? That didn't feel right, but it's the only thing that made any semblance of sense. The thought made me angry regardless, that the home of my love, my home, would be viewed so unfavorably by none other than myself.
A deep breath cleared all these things from my mind as I followed Zerrious blindly down the road. "Any plans?" I asked.
"Not particularly. I've earned most Names that can be earned in a simple society once you've taught me what you know. The best way to grow now is to wander about until we find someone with less conventional knowledge."
"It's times like this I miss the internet. Anything you want to know would be simply explained by some Indian guy with four subscribers seven years ago."
"Every time we speak I think I've got you all figured out until you say something like that and make me question everything. There is only one thing of you I have no doubt, and that is your unmistakable loyalty to those you care about."
"You say that as if I'm an anime character. Sadly, I cannot fight with the power of friendship as I would like," I told him.
"I'm sure if something like that exists we will find it and you can learn it. You will hold the supposed power of friendship as you call it," he laughed.
"I'd like to see that. For the lols." Zerrious smiled and shook his head, unable to make heads or tales of the modern slang. We traveled down the road, deciding not to stray too far from the path yet.
The road was surrounded by farmlands, the farmers living within the city walls and leaving to work the fields in the morning, most likely going out not far from the time of our departure. The rows of golden wheat and the pale green of corn growing along the path filled the air with a sort of freshness that undercut the strong scent of manure permeating the area. Walking to the beat of idle strumming on a guitar down the beaten dirt road took us quickly from view of the high walls.
"I don't know how long it will take to get to the next city, but I say we make this as productive as possible. Would you mind teaching me enchantment?" asked Zerrious just before we stopped for lunch, not much to hold us over but some jerky.
"I don't mind. Did you want to learn abjuration next? It does seem to have it's own. . . intricacies that don't seem to apply to the rest of the schools. It differs at least from enchantment," I told him, changing my grip on my cane which seemed to draw Zerrious' attention heavily towards it without his conscious thought.
"Yes, that was the plan," he responded, rolling his shoulders as if to prepare for a boxing match.
"We will pause here. It isn't easy to do this on the move without practice. I can do it, but it will be much more messy, the first of yours would explode with such instability," I said, laying the cane across my crossed legs. "Enchantment is a very powerful school of magic. The idea is to make a system of patterns that make something more than it can be on its own, not to change the thing itself as with. . . what do you call it? Transmutation? Regardless, you don't change what exists into what does not exist, but make what exists more efficient, more powerful. Enchantment magic is how you may use Mana to leap over buildings and lift mountains. The problem is, that the more powerful it is, the more short-lived. Putting strain on the areas effected put strain on the magical matrix, and the more Mana that runs through it the more it will burn out. It will always burn out in time." I said as a preamble.
"So you can't fail a task if you cast the right enchantment?" asked Zerrious.
"In theory. The matrix itself still holds a maximum, and yes, in the last moments the enchantment may provide a burst of power before burning out, but it will barely be more than the maximum at any given time."
"I see. So like any spell then."
"In a way. It uses ambient Mana, which may very well reduce your Mana regeneration while under its effects. The greatest part is that once it takes effect will remain so until the matrix burns out, and it is fairly cheap to place," I elaborated. "Allow me to demonstrate." I pushed Aether through my staff to convert it into Mana and then paused. "Allow me to try something," I said as I pushed the mana into a stable pattern that would -theoretically- increase Mana regeneration. The idea would be that the Mana filtered through the skin and pooled, some leaking out every once in a while on a normal occasion. In theory this would decrease the filtering properties of Zerrious and allow more Mana to push it's way through his skin.
The pattern was finished in a few seconds and I waited to see the results. I could feel that I made a new spell, but I didn't know what all it did until I got Zerrious' message.
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Notice!
Zerrious has been effected by spell: Permeable Flesh. Spell: Permeable Flesh causes heavy bleeding, increased Mana loss, increased infection rates, increased Mana regeneration, increased effectiveness of spells, and decreased resistance to spells. As the first person to be effected by this spell Zerrious has received a one time short run down of its effects.
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Holy shit this was a nasty spell. It looked like it didn't change anything as far as Mana regeneration goes, but increased effectiveness of spells was useful, but it had the double edged sword that made him more susceptible to spells, for better or for worse.
Blood was leaking from his skin, pushing out in time with his heartbeat, and I could feel the Mana in the area reacting in great waves, pushing into him and rushing from him rhythmically like the tide on a stormy day. A quick spell banished the enchantment, shattering the matrices and returning the pattern to vapors of potential.
"Zerrious! I'm so sorry, let me take care of this!" I shouted quickly, taking my cane in my hand and cleansing the blood from his skin to look for wounds that may have grown. Once clean he looked in good health, if very pale. I looked through my rings with my mind as I cast a spell to remove any disease that may have presented itself in his time of increased infection rates. I didn't find anything I knew would be packed with sugar, but there was some bread that I pulled out and gave him. "Eat to regain your strength. I'm so so sorry."
"That was uncomfortable. I can't blame you for trying something new, but I would ask that you do it to someone else next time," Zerrious groaned out.
"Don't talk, you lost a lot of blood. Just eat. That's it," I responded, breaking some bread and bringing it to his lips. After his color returned to his face I let him sit up, but I wouldn't let him stand. "Someone has to stop you from killing yourself, and I'm the only one here," I told him when he tried.
"I'm fine. You forget that I am much stronger than even you may believe, Sigurd."
"Strength has nothing to do with it. The human body can only take so much, even with magic," I sternly told him. "We'll stop here for today."
"No! We need to keep going!" he shouted, moving to stand again. I pushed him back down on his backside, keeping a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from trying again.
"We can keep learning here for the day. We still have work to do, remember?"
"Yes. . . I suppose so." The reluctance was heavy in his voice, but I was not giving him many options.
"Feel these patterns, try to memorize them," I said as I pulled a strength enhancing spell from the depths of my mind and muttering a short nonsensical incantation while weaving the spell through the cane. Zerrious closed his eyes, concentrating heavily on remembering the patterns. I would eventually help him mold the Mana himself, providing guidance as he tried, but it was easiest if he had a sort of familiarity with the spell to draw from.
I let the spell dissolve before asking him to try to replicate it. He let small tentacles of Mana flow from him, twisting into knots and patterns that were remarkably close to correct. His experience with the other schools of magic were showing through, but he wasn't quite aware of how to make a stable spell yet, most from other schools being designed to be unstable to produce a more violent, powerful, and immediate effect.
"Let your lines sway with the Mana in the air, don't hold on so tight. What makes an enchantment spell stable is it's ability to bend without breaking, give it the slack to do so," I said. "Not that much slack!"
Zerrious let go of the magic entirely, causing a violent explosion of Mana that knocked the wind out of both of us and pushed all the Aether from my body and directly back into the higher layer. This was interesting, shocking, and also far from my mind.
"Try again, but don't let go. Instead hold tight but feel the mana and let yourself flow. The Mana will naturally follow," I croaked out.
"Of course. Allow me a minute to recover, that drained me of all my Mana."
"Take your time, I suffered similar effects," I said, still lying on my back. I lifted my head a scant few inches to check up on Zerrious only to find that he too was lying on his back on the side of the road. I chuckled lightly before sitting up and waiting with crossed legs for Zerrious to be ready to try again.
Without sitting up I felt Zerrious reach tentative tendrils towards me, weaving them in the knots again for another try at the spell. His memory was imperfect as any and I had to teach him to unwind the spell and try again. In no time at all he had created a waving tapestry of Mana that he gently lay on my arms.
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Notice!
Zerrious has gained spell: Aura of Might.
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"Well done my boy!" I said, pushing myself lightly to my feet. "Now that you've learned one, the others will be easy!"