I ruminated over her little tale as I let my stomach settle. Rising, I gave the girl some clichéd words of encouragement, and as a group we walked back to our wagon. We gave the girl some privacy and the time to see to her bedtime preparations. We then made our own preparations for the night as well. Kidu, predictably, was soon asleep, his snores quickly filling up the space of the wagon. Annoyed, I took the first watch, waiting for Larynda to go to sleep. In between the animal snores, I thought I could hear the occasional sad sniffle before, finally exhausted, the girl found sleep.

Kidu's rasping snores began to grate, forcing me to leave the wagon, back into the cool of the night. The stars had come in their full regalia, but the miserly moon shone only with a fraction of her light. Looking across the camp, I could see the torches of sentries as they moved around the perimeter, stopping here and there as they guarded against whatever was out there on the plains. With nothing to do and time on my hands, I stepped out into the night. I walked around, taking care to stay within the ring of the guarding light.

A sentry passed me by, and even in the poor light, I could see he was well-equipped. He had a fine chain mail coat and stout kettle helm, with a flowing aventail running down the sides of his neck. A mean-looking curved blade, probably a scimitar, was at his hip. He nodded deferentially to me as he passed, the sounds of his armor a mild clank in the night - a picture of professionalism.

It was time to meditate and practice, to explore the inner halls of my potential. Sitting cross-legged on the grass, I began to review what knowledge I had been able to gather from the damaged book the traitorous Elwin had bestowed upon me. My mind pondered on the meaning of the arcane symbols, trying to find some of their meaning. I felt that they represented some sort of higher form of mathematics, but their true meaning eluded me. Larynda’s seals had been interesting, but again, without a teacher or frame of reference, I could not even begin to decipher them. Suffering from the lack of the basic fundamental principles of magical theory, I could only grind my teeth in annoyance.

Without any further recourse, until at least I got my hands on more instructional material, I had to make do with more practical application and practice. I let go of the energy that was waiting for my command, letting it loose in a torrent of black joy.

Entropic Aura burst from me, and the sibilant voices that accompanied it exulted in delight as the waves of malignant raw energy pulsed from me. With Mana to spare, I wondered what other spells I could unleash. There I found it, bounding to the forefront of my mind—the dark spell of Decay. Pointing a finger at a patch of ground, I drove the spell towards it. I could feel that there was resistance from the living grass at first. It was but a trifling thing, weak, like it was holding up an umbrella against my storm. Soon enough, Decay’s energy intertwined with the pulses of Entropic Aura, the black tentacles of rot combining with the waves of raw entropic energy caused the grass to wither and die. I knew then, on an instinctual level, that my Entropic Aura empowered my other spells. This sudden understanding caused the sibilant voices in my mind to jump with glee in affirmation.

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I needed to test another spell from my dark repertoire. No, I needed to stop thinking of my gifts in such a way. There were tools to be used, neither good nor evil. Not light and not dark. They were simply a source of my power.

However, my Mana had dropped considerably between the two spells, and I felt that it was time to replenish my reserves. With this mind, I returned to our wagon, opened the door and stepped in as quietly as I could. Metal armor is not conducive to stealth, but thankfully the pair within did not notice me.

Scanning the darkness, I heard, more than saw, the presence of Kidu, who had fallen into a deep sleep. The sounds of his slumber were like a blunt saw cutting at a stubborn tree. Once my eyes had adjusted to the gloom, I could see that the half-elf’s small chest was gently rising and falling, and she was sniffling miserably, even in her sleep. I cast Identify on the girl to determine if she had recovered from the rigors of the day.

Larynda - Chaos Mage [Human/Elf lvl.5]

Health: 32/32

Stamina: 14/22

Mana: 7/19

I theorized that the girl must have some sort of Mana Regeneration skill and Rest skill similar to my own, which would explain the fast recovery of her Mana. I would wait a little longer before my next experiment, as a way to gauge just how fast her Mana recuperated.