Calian was comfortably seated in the greenhouse, his back resting on a planter box, a few leaves were tickling his shoulders, a small floating fire he’d conjured was dimly lighting the area. Outside some wind was rustling the leaves and clouds were piling up, obscuring the moonlight but Calian didn’t notice, too absorbed by the black sphere in his hands.
The Gate of Knowledge was still as inert as it’d ever been, still deeply black with no sheen, still some rainbow stripes moving and swirling slowly on the surface of the sphere. Calian had promised himself he’d wait until tomorrow, but the excitement was too much, he was like a kid before Christmas, drooling at the shiny new toys waiting behind the eye-catching wrappings.
Calian took a deep breath, he was excited, he knew some sort of challenge was awaiting him since Koshan had clearly mentioned the knowledge he’d bring back completely depended on him. The mage held the sphere tightly and sent his mana inside of it. Calian had never really held a magical artifact, but he guessed it didn’t differ much from the magical tools he was used too, you send your mana in, the object activates, something happens after. As his mana flooded the swirling lines of color accelerated and started rotating faster around the sphere. The more mana he pumped the more the faster the lines became. As they accelerated they only left behind afterimages, and eventually were akin to full circles criss-crossing the black sphere.
Calian was unsure what to do, it was the first time he met an object that required so much mana, it was guzzling his reserves like they were nothing, if it continued like this he’d be completely dried up in a few seconds. But suddenly, a few moments before Calian had emptied his mana reserves the lines changes on the sphere. The lines haphazardly distributed across the artifact began to move, they crossed with a geometrical meaning. The sphere was divided in equal eights, like an orange cut in half three time along each axis. Startled, Calian let go of the sphere which didn’t fall, instead of tumbling to the floor the black artefact floated and continued to open slowly, revealing in the center a pure white hole, similar to the hole in space made when calling Koshan. But the white hole wasn’t violent and raging like what happened when Koshan descended. This hole was placid, inspiring calm and peace to Calian.
As the mage was recovering from the startle of the opening sphere, the artifact finished its metamorphosis, settling in its final form : eight part of the black sphere floating peacefully around the white hole at the center. Calian, still wary of the relic sent atendril of mana to probe the white hole, and as the mana touched the tear in reality, the Gate, our mage felt a strong pull on his spirit and blacked out for a second.
///
When Calian came back to his sense he realized he was standing in a large field of verdant grass extending to the horizon. The earth was slightly damp, a bit springy, perfect for healthy plants to grow. Short grass interspersed with small flowers of all size and colors was growing healthily all over the place. There were some dandelions, poppies, violets, sisyrinchiums… There was a light breeze making the flowers sway and flowing through Calian’s hair, the smell of wet soil after the rain was permeating the place.
A feminine voice sounded from behind Calian, making him freeze, “Your inner paradise is a beautiful space, I like it here.”
Startled, the mage turned around and took a step back to identify who was here. A woman closely resembling his mother, Aedwinn, but with a few more wrinkles and a different eye color was siting calmly on an armchair. “And the face you gave me, your grandmother, I like it.”
Stunned, Calian struggled the words out, “W-Who are you ? My grandma died !”
The women got up and dusted her clothes. She had baggy trousers made of tanned hide, and a thick knitted sweater on which were hanging a pair of glasses. “I’m sorry for startling you, you seem a bit lost and afraid, didn’t Koshan explain how the Gate works ?”
Calian just shook his head, a spell ready at his fingers and his eyes stuck on the impostor.
The woman shook her head, a light smile of annoyance on her face, “I’m sorry he didn’t explain. You’re in the plane of knowledge, and I am the consciousness governing it. We’re in your mental paradise, an imaginary place in which your mind feels at peace. I take the form of the thing you associate with knowledge the most. The fact I took the shape of your grandma is a great honor to her memory.” Calian’s grandma paused for a breath of time, studying his reaction, before continuing, “You can call me by the name of Oara, I’ve had many titles across the ages, but I believe Oara is the one that your people had given me.”
Oara gestured and a tree sprouted and grew in the shape of a chair for Calian to sit on. Still anxious and twitchy, Calian nearly threw a fireball at the tree but held back at the last moment, realizing he wasn’t in danger. Seeing Oara sit on her rocking chair he hesitated but finally settled for imitating her and sitting on the tree-chair.
Once he was seated and relaxed a bit Oara continued, “You may relax if you wish, for I am your guide in this realm, not your enemy. Do you wish for me to answer the questions hustling in your mind ? I see you are still quite confused.”
Once again Calian nodded, while asking himself if Oara was capable of reading his mind, and reviewing the techniques he knew against psychics.
“Technically yes, I am reading your mind, since your body isn’t here, only your spirit. But rest assured that I do not know of the thoughts that inhabit your spirit, you simply have an expressive face.”
Oara gave a gentle smile and continued, “I see you wonder how to get the knowledge you seek so much, I’d like you to tell me what you expect based on what Koshan told you.”
Calian was still taking it all in, the artefact, the strange place he was in, Oara. His day had already been intense, and he was pushing it now, it was a lot of stress for one day, he should’ve been more reasonable and waited for the next day. But too late, the deed was done, he needed do deal with it now. He calmed a bit and refocused on Oara, “I, uhh, Koshan told me he’d give me a way to obtain knowledge but that it’d depend entirely on me if I could find it and retrieve it. I didn’t really get the opportunity to ask more questions, I was already happy to have found a way to go back home so I didn’t dwell much on the meaning of what he said. That’s it, it’s all I know really. What I deduced later was that there would probably be trials or some guardians I’d have to defeat. But I’m not so sure now,” he declare while waving a hand to design everything around them.
Oara nodded her head with an approving gaze, “Well you figured quite a bit already… You’re right, there will be trials and guardians, not to test you, knowledge doesn’t care who obtains it, but as a payment to me. Each thing has a price, each answer needs to be bought from me. But as you’ve seen you can’t exactly bring your material body here, because no material possessions are allowed, and no physical item can buy knowledge from me. The trials and guardians you said you’d need to defeat are the price to pay. I feed on your efforts, your will, your dedication and drive while you struggle to obtain the answers.”
Oara paused and her serious expression became caring once again, “But the trials are also a boon to you, Calian, they may allow you to understand yourself better, or prepare you to understand better the knowledge you’re set on obtaining. Lastly, sometimes the trials will be the answer, sometimes only by knowing yourself can you know the answer.”
Calian nodded, he’d expected so much, he was getting more and more comfortable in this place and was almost eager to test the said trials. He got up and decided to walk a bit in the beautiful scenery, “I understand, thank you for your explanations, Oara. But I’m curious, How do I get my answer, or even before that, how do I ask my question ?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Oara had followed his example, walking alongside Calian and taking in the beautiful scenery. She took a long look at Calian before answering with a half-smile, “Didn’t I say I’d be your guide in this place ? Of course I know where to find your answers. Now what question has brought you here Calian, what knowledge do you thirst for ?”
Calian took a moment before answering, considering his options, he didn’t need the planetary teleport for now, he knew the requirements and that was still to far away for him. Calian wanted to do some science stuff with Earth’s technology and magic and he could use any money he’d come across. Calian had planned to sell magical items to make some money. His potions were a hit for now, but earth didn’t have any magical plants, and his potions were limited if only using mage-made magical plants. No, he’d have to quickly turn to other things like enchanted items.
To enchant things he’d need a few books. Enchanting books up to accomplished level, the level expected from a mage exiting the academy, it’d be sufficient for what he’d planned on earth. At the same time, he could use some runes to make the Clearing the place he truly wanted. That was it, he was asking for rune and enchanting knowledge of an accomplished level.
Calian’s gaze sharpened, “I’d like to get knowledge regarding enchanting and runes of the accomplished level. It was books available at the academy’s library and they had a solid catalogue of enchants and runes I could use.”
Oara simply smiled and waved her hand. Behind her, a simple stone hut rose from nothing, it wasn’t big, Calian would say Melody’s living room was larger. The stone hut had a simple wooden door with a handle and no lock, no windows and a tiled roof. Oara gestured for Calian to go in, “The answer you seek is in here, but be careful, the trial is too. While you cannot die here because everything takes place in your spirit, I encourage you not to push your limits, the aftereffects aren’t easy to deal with.”
Calian eyed the door for a moment, he put his hand on the handle and turned to Oara, “Thank you for your guidance, I’ll try my best.”
The room was dark, Calian could make out a wooden floor in the darkness and no furniture except a torch held straight by a pot at the center of the room. When Calian had gone a few steps in the door shut behind him leaving him in a deafening silence in the dimly lit room. When he looked back the door had disappeared and a plain wall was greeting him. A bit spooked he grabbed the torch and searched the pot, but nothing was inside. Calian continued advancing until he met a wall, he decided he’d walk alongside it until he met something else. After a quick lap around the room, four right turns, Calian had to admit that the room was empty.
A bit perplexed Calian decided to make his way back to the center of the room and crouched down for a moment. Since there was nothing on the walls, he’d try to inspect the floor. After having looked again and again in the obscurity for a defect in the wooden floor he had to admit that the room was truly empty. Calian remembered his academy checklist in case of strange dungeon room, ‘when in an empty room attempt to locate anything out of the ordinary with mundane sense, if mundane sense return nothing, proceed with a magical sweep’. Calian stood up and tested the local magic by casting an orb of light to complement the weak torch. The light shone brightly revealing the room in its entirety. The wooden floor was old and used but without any visible defects he could pull on to reveal a hidden object. The walls were immaculate too, a dirty white with some places darker than some other, but overall except being a creepy empty room there was nothing more to it. Calian resorted to cast a magical scan to dispel illusions and reveal hidden things. The spell hit the whole room and beyond, shining a dim golden light over the spaces it passed. When the detection spell washed over the ceiling a trapdoor opened and three logs of wood and a parchment bit fell on the floor in the center of the room.
Calian crouched and read the paper, ‘Magical fires consumes it all, protect yourself for the required time’. As he lowered the paper to ponder on its meaning, the base of every wall lit with orange flames that danced and leeched slowly on the floor. The flames were progressing slowly eating at the floor inch by inch. Calian estimated he had about three minutes to find a way to escape the flames or protect himself before he got burned.
Calian took a good look at the logs on the floor and connected the dots slowly in his mind. He had requested for knowledge on enchantments and runes, obviously he’d be tested on that. He knew a rune to create a ward against fire, but it required mana crystals. So he could inscribe the runes on the logs and power the ward with his mana, but would he have enough to resist the fire for long enough ?
Calian shrugged, he’d see if he had enough mana in due time, for now he needed to carve the ward, the flames were still slowly coming his way. Calian took the three logs and started carving them with his trusted mana blade. Once he had a correct shape, a sort of hexagonal shield he proceeded to carve the two other logs. With his inert anchors carved he’d done the most time-consuming task, the inscription of the run on the anchor was generally much faster, the mage needing only to cast a modified spell.
Calian cast a mix of the shield and repulse spells with the intent of fire behind it to make a fire repulsive ward as anticipated. The three rune anchors now enchanted Calian placed them at equal distance of him and sent a bit of mana to activate the anchors. The ward came to life and an illusory transparent bubble deployed and protected Calian and the area around him.
The mage had been fast, with about thirty seconds to spare before the flames reached him. During his spare time Calian calculated how much he’d be able to hold on with his current mana reserves. Depending on the flames intensity he could hold up to fifteen minutes but probably less. He hoped the room would only test if he could resist the flames and not how long, but the paper was quite precise on the fact he needed to hold on for a certain amount of time.
The flames were now upon him and Calian had started feeding mana to the ward, the flames were a bit hotter than anticipated but not too much, Calian would be able to power the ward for about twelve minutes. Time passed slowly and Calian was slowly draining his mana reserves and watching the flames anxiously.
Calian had emptied his mana reserves by about half when he knew something wasn’t right. Well, he felt like it from the beginning, but he was sure of it now. He was probably not going to be able to hold for the required time. Panicked he started reviewing everything he knew about the trial and trying to come up with a solution. The flames were eating at his shield and he was running out of mana. He needed to come up with something.
What did he miss ? Oara, the room, a trial, magical flames, required time, three wooden logs, a fire ward, the piece of paper… What did Calian miss ? Why did he feel so wrong, like he’d missed something obvious. Dispirited, Calian replayed the all the interactions since he’d arrived in the grass field.
He’d arrived in front of Oara, she had explained where they were and what she was. They had discussed how to obtain knowledge, and then Calian had requested knowledge about runes and… Enchanting ! Of course, why had Calian thought that each discipline would need a separate trial ? The three logs had biased him to think it was only the rune trial, but really it was both.
Calian dived to one of the logs and started enchanting it. Runes and enchantment were two extremely similar fields and yet so different. A rune was basically a spell frozen and held by an object, it was always active in one way or another, some parts of the spell could be amplified or diminished, some logic could even be added, but the spell was cast once by the mage and anchored by the object. Enchantments, on the other hand, were matrixes capable of autonomously casting a spell. It relieved the mage of the concentration needed to cast the spell. A sword with runes of fire would always be aflame until the mana supply ran out and the rune deactivated. But a sword enchanted to be set ablaze would only be ablaze when the mage sent mana to the matrix to cast the spell.
Now, what it meant for Calian was that by combining runes and enchantment he could achieve an autonomous ward. Since the flames were magical, they could be used as a trigger or fuel for the enchantment. Calian was enchanting each log with a heat absorbing enchantment and linked the enchantment to the rune. The enchant would absorb the heat and wasted mana of the flames and convert it into energy for the rune to use. While the efficiency wasn’t perfect because Calian was wiring stuff on the fly with standard form and no customization the rune-enchant duo wouldn’t be self-powered, a tiny loss would be made, but that still left Calian with more than an hour of breathing room before he needed to help sustain the ward with his mana.
Once Calian had enchanted each log he took a step back, stood at the center of the ward and sat cross-legged, waiting for either the completion of the trial or his contraption to run out of mana. He was feeling far better and his gut feeling that something was wrong had disappeared.
Calian had almost dozed off from boredom, when suddenly the flames were snuffed and the room morphed, the bare off-white walls changed to paneled walls with large empty bookshelves lining every side of the room. The only place no bookshelves were present was at the center of the room where a nice, ornamented reading table was surrounded by padded armchairs.
A rustling sound drew Calian’s attention, Oara was coming in from an oak door behind which the earlier prairie was stretching out. She was carrying a pile of books and smiling, “I’m glad to see you’ve figured out how to resist the flames long enough.”