33

Oliver was thrust into Angli’s mind as a memory from the ancient past appeared behind his eyes. He watched his former home coalesce around him, quickly followed by a figure in black robes and the form of Angli. They were walking around the courtyard as the man in black spoke to Angli about different wards. A pale spirit appeared next to Oliver as he glided automatically through the memory.

“Cast your spell and make it so you can see magic signatures.” The spirit Angli said.

Oliver imagined seeing all magic around him and almost immediately, the world changed into a plethora of color. Tons of shapes overlapped on the grounds. The sheer number of magical layers he could see all around him made him dizzy.

“Quickly, come stand with them and watch as he imparts the Master Ward,” Angli said.

“Master Ward?”

“No questions. Study him, feel the magic.”

Oliver did as he was commanded and stood right next to the two inhabitants of the memory. He watched as the man spoke long phrases, his magical presence expanded as he spoke, forming a solid white light, almost translucent in its brilliance. It expanded, pulsing outward with every new line of Incantation spoken. The man made a gesture with his hand and then pointed his finger to the sky.

A golden beam shot from his fingertip and soared straight up. It collided with his dome of energy and golden sparks rained down in every direction. They showered the whole dome, creating a momentarily tangible presence before fizzling away. When they were gone, the dome was bright white streaked with gold. It shimmered for only a moment before fading from existence.

Despite disappearing, even through the memory, Oliver could feel the pressure difference after the spell was cast. It felt like he was standing in a windless room. The atmosphere around him could not penetrate the bubble the man had just created. As Oliver marveled at the spell, a voice cut through his mind, dispelling the memory as it did.

“Got all that? Now it’s your turn.”

“What?” Asked Oliver with exasperation.

“You watched it. Now you do it.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Oliver warned her.

“You’ll do it. I believe in you.”

Oliver knew further talk was pointless. He screwed his mind up and auto cast Free Form. In his brain he imagined the bubble streaked with gold. He focused on it for a few seconds but no bubble coalesced. He stopped his spell and tried to complain but Angli quickly rebuffed him and told him to stop being a baby.

He tried again, this time imagining himself swelling a bubble around him, and for a moment he thought it was working, but as he poured more power into it, it simply popped with an audible snap. He cursed and wanted to ask Angli what he was doing wrong but before he could she offered the answer.

“You’re only imagining yourself copying the visual effect of what was done. You need to remember the aura and copy the flow and ebb of the different energies that are used to create the shield.”

Oliver thought about how the aura started out clear and became a translucent white. He imagined himself building that white shield slowly, gently, like blowing air onto smoldering coals. He didn’t want to pop the bubble again. Incredibly, he felt that he had already cast his spell before intending to, and a clear bubble was slowly growing around him.

He concentrated hard on building his bubble, slowly pumping energy of the protective sort into his creation. It slowly but surely became a thin white color. He wracked his brain while building his energy to remember exactly what the man had done next. If Angli was right, he didn’t need all the words or the hand gestures, he simply needed to perfect the aura and the accompanying flourish, and he could synthesize any magic he desired.

Oliver gathered power in his left hand while continuing to expand the bubble with his right hand. It was only about ten square yards. But Oliver could already feel the power it held. He finished gathering in his left hand and lifted his finger into the air. A gold beam shot into the low ceiling of his ward and sparks rained everywhere. He stared in wonder as the ward sparkled, crackled, shimmered….and went out.

“What happened?” Asked Angli.

“I don’t-” Oliver was only halfway through his response when his brain went fuzzy. The world hurled around him, and intense exhaustion set in as his body made the short journey from upright to face down in the dirt.

“Oliver!” Angli shouted, right before Oliver slipped into exhausted unconsciousness.

34

Oliver was alone. His mind was empty. He was on his own. Angli was nowhere to be seen. She seemed to have vanished. Oliver looked everywhere within himself for her. He knew she had to be somewhere. She was constantly in his thoughts. She couldn’t have disappeared. He searched the deepest recesses of his mind, perplexed as to where she could be. After searching his brain for some time, he came across a dark glow, deep within his mind. Thinking this must be the glow Angli gave off, he rushed towards it. He crashed through a mental wall that he had no idea the purpose of, only to find another right after it. The glow was brighter here, as if he had come slightly closer to the source.

He crashed through another wall and was stuck with a similar dilemma. He broke through at least a dozen walls and when he came to a halt, he found a large cage.

“Angli? He asked without thinking. But even as he said it he knew deep in his soul that he was wrong. His soul. That said it right there. Angli wasn’t tied to his mind. She was his spirit’s tether. He wouldn’t find her in his mind no matter how far he searched. And besides the point, the feeling he now felt, the cold dark glow which was emanating from the cage was something he could never have mistaken for Angli.

“Who… are… you?” Came a cold and deep voice. It dripped with scorn and derision.

“Who are you?” Oliver asked half defiant and half trepidatious.

“WHO?” Asked the voice again, and within the swirling dark glow came two sinister purple eyes.

“I am the owner of the mind you are in. Who are you?”

The voice didn’t answer immediately, it stirred within the swirling mass. Oliver got the impression of a great shaggy beast shuffling itself restlessly in an attempt to find comfort. He could not see anything clearly, but after a moment the two purple eyes appeared again. They came with the indication of a sneer within the mass of glowing black light.

“You? Owner? I was not aware that my home was owned.” The voice spoke slowly, with a deep basal tone only possible when the owner possessed unnatural qualities.

“This isn’t your home! You need to get out!” Oliver yelled. He knew nothing good would come of whatever this thing was. Furthermore, he knew it had to go.

“I can no more leave than you. Although I sense the task may not be so difficult for you, given the right nudge.” The eyes seemed to dissect him in a way that made him uncomfortable.

“What are you talking about?” Demanded Oliver, hoping he was wrong about the answer.

“Do not play with me boy. I can see the damage your soul has suffered. I can feel the tenuous grip you have on this body, on this mind, on this life. I cannot remove myself from this place, just as I did not choose to be here. But if you are not careful, you may find yourself vacated from the vessel. I wonder then what would happen to me, or to the other tagalong for that matter. I suppose I’ll have to keep you alive to be sure of my own, but you still smell like food to me.”

Oliver felt a chill as he caught a scrap of memory he seemed to have repressed until that moment. This thing has been inside of me this whole time, he thought.

“What are you?”

“I am a seed,” came the deep reply.

“What kind of seed?”

“A Rama Seed,” it replied.

“What is that?”

“You might know Rama as a type of Demon. I prefer not to think of myself as such, I only wish to have some fun and spread a little mischief. I have no petty squabble to take part in. I simply need your help to grow into fruition. After that, who knows what will happen?”

“And what if I don’t want a demon growing in me?”

“Oh, it’s too late for you to ask for another mind by far. I can’t simply be removed without immense damage to your brain.”

“How do you know all of this? How do you have so much knowledge about me? How did you get here?”

“It is in my nature. You are my host. You have been feeding my core with demonic energy.” The voice, now amused, answered his questions one at a time and in a simple tone.

“And you’re going to grow as part of my brain?”

“I am not a being of flesh. At least, not yet. Just as you stand before me in spirit form, what you see here is my own spirit. I shall remain as such until the moment when we fuse together to become one.”

“When we what?” Asked Oliver, alarmed.

“Oh, never mind that now. Your leash is calling you.” The eyes flashed purple before disappearing, along with the rest of his mind’s physical construct.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

35

“Oliver!”

Oliver sat up, color rushing back into his eyes as he took in his surroundings. He was sitting against a tree, the sun had risen what seemed like many hours ago, and the distress in Angli’s voice was enough to tell him he had been in a sorry state.

“Ugh. I’m okay. My head is killing me. I didn’t expect to be out all night.”

“Well, lucky for you, it wasn’t still dark when you woke up. When the sky began to darken again, I feared you would wake to a dark night, confused and unable to make sense of what was happening.”

“What do you mean by again?”

“Oliver I’ve been trying to wake you for more than a day. I thought you were in another coma.”

“I was asleep that long? I didn’t expect to be beaten so hard by a single spell. Why didn’t you just cast it?”

“It is the most advanced ward there is. True, ward magic is not the most complex branch, but any spell at Master tier would have been miraculous to copy so quickly. You just need practice. You had the aura perfect, you just put too much energy into your gesture.”

“I still don’t see why you can’t cast it,” Oliver said.

“Well... that’s because I never learned it. I remember the training like it was yesterday. I worked at it for months. All the other wards I was able to master easily. But the true Master Ward? It would never yield its secrets to me. So, you see, if you can learn it, you will already have surpassed me in one aspect.”

“I’ll keep trying,” Oliver said, honored by her faith in him.

“For now, let’s move. I cast Eternity on you, so your buffs would stay active. I’ve been hearing a rustling in the distance. It feels like it’s been circling widely around us. We should move now while the sun is up.”

“Okay,” Oliver fought his headache as he gained his feet. Angli’s spirit flared with magic, and all of his various enhancements under Free Form returned to him in an instant.. According to her, he would never have to recast the spells again, only rekindle them.

He took several wobbly steps before looking inside himself for the demon he had conversed with. He couldn’t see anything. He didn’t even know how he had found such a deep recess of his mind. He cast Free Form and imagined his head soothing itself. Immediately he felt the tension lessen and the burden from the glare of the sun eased. Only a slight shake of his hands resulted from the magic.

Oliver sat off at a brisk run, flying over ground with wild abandon, confident in his body and its ability not to fall. He had not run more than a mile when Angli announced that whatever she sensed was following him. It seemed to have been looking for his signature to follow. Now that his magic was active, it seemed to be sniffing him out.

Oliver continued running, unconcerned with the tickle of danger he could sense in the back of his mind. His mind was entirely focused on his escape. He knew he would need to extinguish his magic in order to lose his predator. He also knew he wasn’t about to do anything of the sort. His plan was simple. He just needed a place to execute it.

He ran for a few minutes, changing directions according to the flow of the terrain. He knew by instinct that the ideal ambush location would reveal itself before long. Sure enough, after only four or five miles, a rough clearing began to form ahead. At almost the same time, a magical signature passed within the ten-meter radius of his detection spell. Oliver turned his head as he ran to get a look at his pursuer. What he saw raised the hairs on his neck and sent a chill down his spine.

The creature following him was a bald, four-legged horror. It had leathery skin stretched tight over its lean form. It looked sickly and underfed despite its large frame, which at Oliver’s guess was around his shoulder’s height. Where eyes should have been was a flat formless area which simply gave the impression of a massive never-ending forehead. Below and slightly in the middle of this were two long thin slits. If Oliver didn’t have an analyze spell active, he wouldn’t have noticed them at all.

Below them was a stubby nose, fat but proportional. It had a wide mouth which seemed to stretch both widely around its face and deeply within its alien skull. Each leg extending from its spindly body sported three long talons, and Oliver had no doubt for what they would be used. Each front leg also seemed to have an appendage similar to a thumb opposite its talons, though how it could possibly be used in conjunction with those immense nails was beyond him.

Oliver took all of this in within the span of two or three seconds thanks to his Free Form Analyze, and even he was impressed with its effectiveness. All of the information he gleaned rushed into his mind and was dissected easily. He had no idea how far he would one day be able to stretch the limits of Free Form, but if Angli was correct, he hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface.

Oliver turned back around and began preparations for his ambush, knowing the bloodthirsty monster wouldn’t suspect a thing. He began tying a bunch of magical energy together as he wove a Free Form spell more complex than any he had previously done. It began to manifest around him, flowing out into the clearing and finding the boundaries of it.

Countless tendrils manifested from his chest and snaked in every direction, except behind him, as they filled the clearing with innumerable fine wires of magic. Oliver slowed to a halt in the center of the clearing where a fallen log lay rotting. He stopped right when he completed his casting, and just as the trailing beast entered the clearing, all of the multicolored tendrils of magic disappeared.

Oliver gasped slightly at the fatigue induced by his spell. He knelt on the log and grabbed his stomach. A squirming feeling akin to bad indigestion wormed through his stomach. His gut began to twist. His skin tightened around his bones. Oliver took several deep breaths and slowly the feeling eased. As this occurred, the creature caught up.

The beast lumbered into the clearing, which was only roughly fifteen meters in diameter. It didn’t leave a lot of distance between the two. But even as the beast took its very first steps within the clearing, it’s pace immediately slowed. It seemed to be losing speed as something thick and plentiful stuck to its body. With every step it took, more momentum was lost. It came to a full halt more than three steps away from the fallen log Oliver awaited it from.

It stopped moving, stopped struggling, and seemed to ease its whole body as it appeared to take a gigantic breath. When it did this, Oliver noticed its nose didn’t flare, but the slits over its eyeless forehead noticeably flexed open. As they did, it swung its head around, seeming to notice all of the invisible tendrils that had ensnared it. Instead of becoming infuriated, the beast turned its head at Oliver, clearly also sensing his magical signature.

It looked, or rather faced, directly at him, and he felt another sickening lurch in his stomach and a fresh wave of chills fly down his spine as it opened its wide mouth in a sinister smile which was reminiscent only of evil. Several rows of jagged teeth appeared as it curled its lips back further and further.

Then, slowly, delicately, a long thin tongue snaked out of the depths to lovingly lick its lips from one side to the other. It was as if it was saying “You smell good, and I’m going to enjoy eating your face.”

Almost as soon as it finished threatening him, Oliver watched it swing a taloned arm through the air. He wasn’t entirely surprised to hear the invisible strings attached to the monster rip and snap.

He was surprised however, when the creature continued flailing its arm around, seeming to draw all the cords into its swinging limb. Oliver was astounded to see each strand, even ones not reachable by the motions of the arm, become entangled within the grip of the creature. Then it stopped its flailing, seeming to hold a thick mane of rainbow hair.

It faced directly towards Oliver again and he could see that beneath the three talons were actually three fingers. The nails seemed at closer examination to be part of a different organ than the fingers, which closed perfectly with the thumb like appendage he had already noticed.

It held the strands tight and with one swift motion, sliced through each and every binding he had placed on it. Every strand in the clearing was intricately woven together, so having so many severed lowered the effectiveness of the trap considerably, but Oliver was not overly worried. He had been preparing in his brief respite.

The monster let out a huge shriek as it freed itself and leapt high into the air, intending to impale Oliver on its descent. Oliver stood stoically as the monster descended. One hand rested firmly on his hilt. As the beast thrust its terrible claws at him, Oliver drew his blade faster than the eye could see and intercepted the foe.

Its claws were no match for the blade tinged with golden light as it sliced cleanly through the arm of the beast and its fierce descent became a frenzied fall. It slammed hard into the ground just behind Oliver, who immediately pierced the tip of the blade deep into the side of the screaming creature, giving it no chance to defend as it struggled to find balance with one less limb. It died almost instantly as Oliver yanked free his blade.

36

“Thanks for the help,” Oliver said jokingly to Angli.

“I wanted to see how you handled yourself without interference. I was on the verge of shouting advice to you when you started weaving that spell. It was an ingenious move. How were you able to come up with it on the spot?”

“I came up with the spell before I came up with anything else. I had the thought that I should tie up the enemy long before I had even seen what it looked like. Then my instincts told me to search for a spot that I could swing my sword but nothing so large that I couldn’t easily stretch my magic all the way across it. I just had to be patient and exactly what I needed came to me. Then it was just execution. Still though, that thing freaked me out. I was barely able to draw enough energy to cut through its arm. I need to continue training with you as soon as I can to draw the full power of the sword.”

“Your prediction and execution abilities surprised me. I can see that your time spent with Unval has had a noticeable effect on you. And while you have limited skill with gathering power, you’re still a novice. You can’t be expected to advance any quicker. You were able to take on a Craver with no experience without taking damage. I could feel your fear, but you didn’t falter. You handled yourself well.”

“A Craver? Is that what this thing is called?”

“Yes. There are many types of Cravers. They are made when a species is driven mad by its hunger for magic. They become blind. They lose all sense of decency and crave only to consume more and more magical energy. This one looks fairly young. And judging by its frame, it was starving for you. That’s not a good sign.”

“Why not?”

“Because it can only mean one of two things. Either there isn’t enough ambient magic in the area to sustain even a small number of Cravers, or the number of them is so large that no amount of ambient magic could sustain them.”

“Somehow I doubt the first option,” Oliver said.

“So do I,” Angli agreed.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter either way. They will be coming for us in any case. The only question is how many. What’s the plan? Where should I be heading?”

“We have only sensed the one you killed in the surrounding area. There are many other problems to take care of, but you have certainly passed the test we have given.” Illari suddenly spoke from his mind.

“This was the monster you sent me to kill?”

“Yes. They are common, and it was the perfect foe to test your progress. Unval refuses to take it easy on anyone. It tends to discourage his pupils and it is often hard to gauge progress against one so implacable.”

“So, there was nothing else for me to do? Should I come back to the Holy Land?” Oliver asked.

“No. Our time is short. There is no time to return before you will be needed elsewhere. Continue to train with Angli in the Endless Expanse. You will have to progress through her tutelage until such a time as you can return. For now, you must travel back to the kingdom. Ro has begun sending out groups of Blessed through the countryside. It is unknown what his goal is, but what I have discovered is that these people have had their Blessing distorted in some way. I cannot discern more until you can observe one up close, but the corruption is causing a disturbance in the balance of the Mortal Plane of Light.” Illari explained.

“What?” Oliver asked.

“There is no time. Return through the mountains. The kingdom is in an uproar. I am sure you will meet one of these odd Blessed soon.”

Oliver didn’t respond but turned in the indicated direction. He felt distant somehow, like he was removed from reality slightly. He wondered why he felt so different but didn’t really make much effort to explore the change. He felt more steady, surer of himself. It was then that he noticed the dark energy swirling out of the Craver and up his blade into his arm. He felt the slightest tingle as the energy passed into his body. Angli seemed not to notice at all, so he didn’t mention it.

He almost let the incident pass from his mind uncontested until he remembered his dream. When he did, a sinister pair of glowing purple eyes flashed across his vision along with a deep and hollow laugh. As the eyes faded from his vision, he could see them glowing faintly brighter after the meal they had apparently just had. He was unsettled by the scene, but again Angli didn’t seem to notice.

“I guess I’ll just have to keep an eye on it myself.” He thought.

Oliver was growing tired of the endless mantra he was becoming locked in. Travel, rest, train in the Endless Expanse, Sleep, travel some more. His days could not even be considered strenuous, with Oliver’s advanced blessing, he hardly felt weary at all as long as he slept each night.

His stamina had skyrocketed with his Blessing, and he could now continue long beyond his previous limits. Still, his mind was taxed constantly, with spell theory, battle tactics, weaknesses, strengths, and any other topic Angli felt the need to discuss. Oliver began to long for his warm and cozy bed.