They stayed until long into the night. Uundah even made an appearance eventually. The little O'jin sat and drank his fill with them until he was confident enough to mingle with the patrons. He returned to their table at some point with a lady in tow, finished another drink, then disappeared for some hours. By the time they stumbled back into the tower, Murphy was seeing double. Callus gave him a foul tasting concoction from a vial, and sent him off to bed.
It must have been well into the morning when he woke. He expected to be feeling rather sorry for himself, but found he felt just fine. A burp offered the memory of whatever the last thing he consumed was, and the rotten taste reminded him of the old man's promised cure.
"At least it works I suppose" he moaned, as he searched for some water.
Uundah was snoring loudly, laying atop a nearby pile of clothes. He tried to wake his little friend, but was aggressively waved away by a small hand.
"Guess I'll eat alone then" he said, slipping a tunic over his head. He checked the mirror to see that he still looked in a sorry state. His long black hair was messy and tangled into something that looked like a failed bird's nest. He had a black eye that he couldn't remember receiving, and his cheek was stained with either wine or blood, maybe even both.
"Maybe a wash first" he mumbled.
Uundah grunted in agreement, eyes still firmly closed.
Murphy pushed the little monster from its perch on his way to the shower.
~~
They met Callus in the main room as always. Callus was sat by the fireplace, whistling a tune while he brushed the silky blonde hair of a porcelain doll.
"How long have you been up?" Murphy asked, while he started on breakfast.
"I'm not sure when I last slept" Callus replied, staring off into space for a moment. "Anyway" he snapped. He stood suddenly and sent the doll flying across the room. "Your trip to Creeden has been moved forward."
"When do I go?" Murphy asked excitedly, forgetting all about the little O'jin waiting for bread.
"End of this week" the old man groaned. "So we have to get busy."
"Why the change? Only yesterday you said I had weeks."
"Oh, so you do listen sometimes" Callus muttered. "You'll be making a delivery for me, I was waiting for an address."
"I thought I was going to Creeden?" Murphy asked dumbly.
"You’re going near Creeden, it's the closest city" Callus said, waving his hand.
"I don't even know where Creeden is" Murphy mumbled, finally taking a moment to think about his trip.
"I know that" the old man snapped. "I have a map for you". He summoned a small glass ball into his hand. It was less than an inch across, and the colour was a deep brown. The aspects coming from it were mesmerising. He tossed the bead to Murphy.
"How does it work?" He asked in wonder.
"The same as any other tool you idiot. Just make it work."
He focused on it activating, and an orb of green light entered the room. It floated from the glass and fixed itself firmly in the air to the side of him.
"Follow that dot" the old man said. "Congratulations, you just learned what a map light is."
"That's amazing" Murphy replied, ignoring his master's sarcasm.
"You won't be leaving from here though" Callus interrupted his apprentices staring. "I know a place that'll get you much closer."
"Is it the Tavern? I like that place" he replied, dismissing the map light.
"It's a Tavern, just not the one you went to last night." He started to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway. "Meet me in my library when you're done eating, and bring your pouch" he said, before leaving the room.
Uundah and Murphy shared a look of excitement with each other, then proceeded to finish off the old man's stores of bacon.
He met his master in the grand library. He couldn’t help but gawk at the size of the place every time he saw it. The shelves towered above him, and wrapped around the room in a maze-like structure. They stretched so high into the ceiling that the tops were obscured by clouds. There were four giant stained-glass windows spaced evenly around the cylindrical walls. The windows lit every inch of the place. His master was standing by a table on a grand podium in the centre of the room. Above him was a gargantuan crystal chandelier, hanging from the misty clouds swirling at the ceiling. He had three tall stacks of books on the table, and flicked through another while he waited.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Found yourself some light reading there?" Murphy asked, his voice echoing through the stacks.
"Very funny, no, this is for you" Callus replied, not looking away from the book.
"I can't read all of this in a week" Murphy scoffed. "You’re madder than I thought old man."
"I know you can't gonban" he replied, snapping the book shut. "You will be reading this while you travel."
He looked the stacks over. "How long am I supposed to be gone?"
"That's the first good question you've asked today" Callus said, smirking. "I suspect it will take you a good year or two."
"I beg your pardon" Murphy scoffed.
"You’re not nipping down to the farmers for some milk, how long did you expect to be gone?"
"I don't know" he admitted. "Not that long though."
"It's a big world out there" Callus said, pushing the books towards his apprentice. "Given how slow you read, you might nearly be finished by the time you return."
Murphy gulped, and started filling his pouch with books. When he was done, there wasn’t much room for anything else. He counted himself lucky for the pouches weight trick, some of the tomes were hefty.
"So where am I leaving from then?"
Callus held his hand out towards the shelves. There was a whooshing sound, and a book flew across the room and landed firmly in his hand. He flicked through the pages and stopped on one of them. He handed it to Murphy. There was a sketch on one page, of a wooden building. On the other page was a small amount of information about the place.
The name of the Tavern was "The Giddy Griever" and it was supposedly under the protection of a warrior that went by "The Blood Rain of Salnidah-Edagran". There was other information that he didn’t entirely understand, but he surmised it probably had something to do with the building's place in the world. It listed a constellation called "Tane Fruuntah", and he knew at least that meant Tavern was in the constellation of the fruit. He knew that constellation since a bard pointed it out to him once in a story. The Fruit was on the other side of the hollows, it was the only way the bard could have shown him those particular stars.
"That's the other side of the world" he said in amazement. "How am I supposed to get there in a week?" His head was racing.
"The same way you got to the other side of the world yesterday" Callus said dismissively.
"Those magic doors took us that far?" He was trying to figure out the possibility of it all, but his tiny mind struggled against the concept.
"It's not as amazing as it sounds" the old man complained. "I only have a few of those doors, and I won't be making anymore."
"Why not? Seems to me they're pretty useful." Murphy scoffed.
"Because I can't" Callus said sadly. "The purge ruined all the fun."
Murphy was about to ask another question, but his master saw it coming. "The purge is when the mad God King took away all of our toys" the old man groaned. "Another lesson I've neglected, but I've given you a book on the topic, so perhaps make it one of your priorities."
Murphy gulped. Aside from just hearing one of the most ominous statements he had been exposed to in his young life, he was dreading his growing list of priorities. Being a wizard was supposed to be fun, but so far it just seemed like a lot of reading.
"Who is the God king?" He asked shyly.
"A menace, he rules over the dark elves of the underworld, and is hell bent on ending the rest of the world" the old man huffed.
He seemed legitimately angry, so Murphy decided not to press, and just nodded. He figured he would have to read the book for specifics. Better that than work the old man into a fit.
"You don't need to worry about that, not where you're going" he said with a dismissive wave. "Come along."
He led Murphy to a room beneath the podium. The light from the windows did a fine job illuminating the place, but there were also lanterns hanging with blue flame above the table inside. There were more shelves, but the books on them looked different to the others outside. These books beamed with a multitude of aspects, and their covers seemed to be made from furs and skins as well as leather. Callus pulled a furry book from amongst them, and opened it on the table. It was empty inside, but it still glowed faintly with some aspects he didn't recognise. He had a closer look, and noticed that the pages were also made from some kind of skin.
"That's dark" he said to his master.
"Don't be a baby, the thing I made this from would have eaten you for an appetiser."
"What does it do?" Murphy asked. "It has nothing in it."
"It's a grimoire, and it's empty, you pinhead". He summoned another book into his hand. It was similar to the empty grimoire, except for the edges of paper sticking out in every direction. He opened it on the table to show an elaborate rune set into the leathery page, along with a paper note pinned to it. "This is the best way for any kind of mage to carry their runes."
He looked the old man's grimoire over. The notes pinned to the page labelled the rune "Focus Natural III".
"What does the rune do?" He asked, poking the squishy page.
"It's a lensing thing for natural magics, it's not important right now" Callus said, waving his hand again. "What's important is that you see how it works". He pointed at a sectioned set of symbols on the rune. "These are trigger symbols, they're drawn with blood."
"I've never seen those before" he said, looking closer at the strange letters.
"I'm not surprised, you won't often find them outside of a grimoire". He closed it, and held it firmly in one hand. Making sure his apprentice was watching, he held out his free hand and made a gesture with his fingers. Murphy saw aspectral light shoot from the grimoire. It ran across Callus' arms and chest, and erupted into a spell. Green plasma bubbled in his hand for a moment, until he snapped it shut to dismiss the spell.
"That seems pretty, handy" Murphy joked, pointing at his master's hand.
Callus groaned, then pulled out his medallion. "You have a trigger rune on your medallion, show it to me."
He listened to his master, and pulled his shiny golden medallion from his pocket.
Callus pointed to one of the runes on it. "Activate that, then tap it against mine". He activated the same rune on his own medallion, so Murphy copied him. They tapped them together with a sharp clink. He waited, but nothing happened.
"That was exciting" he said, smirking at his master.
"It wasn’t supposed to be exciting, it was supposed to be informative" Callus responded.
Murphy’s eyes went wide. He heard his master's voice loud and clear, as if the man was standing even closer than he was, but he never saw his lips move.
"How did you do that?" He gasped.
"It's the rune" Callus replied with the voice in his mind. He held his hand in plain view to show that he was crossing his pointer and middle finger. "It's one of the more useful tricks of the medallion."
Murphy crossed his fingers, and looked at his master. He tried to think his words to him, but the old man just stared blankly.
"It's like using any magic" the old man offered helpfully. "Turn your thoughts into an intention, and push them through the rune."
Murphy did as his master said, and focused on his thoughts. "Still hungry, hello, focus Murphy dammit, still has food in his beard". He felt the thought leave through the rune, and heard it echo back to him in his own mind.
"Good gods boy" Callus said out loud. "You’re going to have to practise that". He vanished his grimoire, and handed the empty one to Murphy. "One of those books is on trigger symbols. If you're going to put runes in this grimoire, it would be prudent to include them."
Murphy put the grimoire away, and looked at his master curiously. "Why are you so willing to teach me this suddenly?"
Callus started to lead him out of the library. "It's seems that I can't stop you from fucking with Runecraft before you're ready. I can at least give you some tools to help keep your hands on."
"I know plenty. I've been doing runes since I was a child" he defended.
"Material enchantment" Callus scoffed. "The watercolour of Runecraft". He ushered the young man out through the door. "Get to reading, you don't have much time.”