Interlude

We’ll have to begin our preparations sooner than I ever wished. I thought that we could milk another decade out of Vealand in the very lest, but my body is breaking down quicker than ever before. It’s a shame too. I really do enjoy the mountains of Fiell. It’s a refreshing break from the drab coastal capital Vealand once had. I hate the coast. I hate the reminder of who I used to be before we became…before we became we.

How long ago was that? I’m beginning to lose track of time. After so many lives, time ceases to carry the same weight it once had.

But, why, now do I feel like my time is growing shorter with each passing year? I know the need for a new host is something that will never change. But why do I feel trapped? Why am I less me?

Who am I? Who was I before all of this? Evrain wondered.

*****

Carsian was filled with wonder when he read the acceptance letter. Had he, the son of inconsequential fishmongers, really been invited to study the Memory Magics at the Royal Academy of Ke’Ale? How had they even learned of his magic? Even he hadn’t known of his ability. He’d make sure that would be one of the first things he figured out at the Academy.

Carsian would become a great Memory Mage.

No, he wouldn’t settle for greatness. He had seen too many settle for pure existence. Seen too many settle with just being good at what they did. He had seen life pass by on trawlers. He had seen whole lives ebb and flow with the tides.

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No, Carsian wouldn’t be like those all too content to have something so insignificant as the whims of fish dictate the life they lived. Carsian would strive for more than just being good at what he did. He wouldn’t settle for something so meager as greatness either.

He would be the best mage to have ever walked the earth.

Carsian would change the world. He would cast his nets and trawl the unseen depths of magic. He wouldn’t just be a great mage like so many others had been before him. He would make magic into his image. He would force it to his will.

*****

“Those doddering old fools. Why do they content themselves with so little!? Memory Magic has limitless potential, but they stubbornly refuse to dive into its depths! They’re like boats, content to float on the surface, but once a storm comes, they sink.

So be it! If they refuse to dive into magic, then they shall sink! And damn them to the depths! They deserve it! Cowardice should never be rewarded. Cowardice is death, and will be the death of Magic. No, I will breath new life into magic.” Carsian thought. He had been at the Academy for three years now.

They had taken him when he was a young, fresh-faced fifteen year old. At eighteen, the resolve he had shown upon his entrance hadn’t dimmed one drop.

It had deepened. It’s depth was limitless like the ocean.

His resolve had been tempered though.

The cowardice of his teachers had tempered Carsian’s ambitions.

Where, when he had first come to the Academy, he’d been excited to share his ambitions with anyone who listened, their constant fear and lack of drive had wore him down.

Cowards, the whole lot of them. Carsian wanted nothing to do with cowards.

They were only as useful to him as the deepness of their understanding of magic. Yes, they may be weak of heart, but one can learn from even the most fearful. Carsian would be a fool to think otherwise.

Carsian was no fool. He was no coward. No weakling.

“Nor will you ever have to be if you listen to me,” a strange voice said.