Making no effort to conceal his speed Barden barreled through Mainstreet, his horses’ hooves clopping against the cobblestone.

We went further faster than I had anticipated, bringing us over the hills and into the plains in minutes.

All of the familiar setting seemed so unfamiliar now. The green windsong grass appeared a muted grey under the night sky, little blades getting the occasional moonlight shed upon them.

The trees in the distance, the only designated meeting place for teenagers to meet, appeared darker and more mysterious than ever.

Finally, my home. The ceramic shingles glinted, paired with the yellow light from one of our front windows. I could see the outline of someone in the kitchen hunched over whatever new concoction they were creating.

Mom.

“This is your residence?” Barden asked, slowing the horse for a moment.

“Yes.”

“Good good. Let’s get on with it then.”

Sliding off I hurried to the door, almost tripping over the many jars laid out front. Mother had clearly been busy.

Opening the door, I was greeted by the glow of a single lantern on the kitchen counter, illuminating a face worn with worry.

“Oh Hurley! They told me that you hadn’t come back. And nobody doesn’t ever not come back. And it’d never happened before. And Trevor was already offering discounted coffins. A-and and.” I wrapped her in a hug on hand awkwardly holding the Grimoire.

“Oh, my sweet boy.” She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and began shaking with sobs. “I just... don’t you ever…”

“I’m home momma. I’m completely fine. Even better, look!” I said holding up the Grimoire.

“You’ve done it? Is that truly a Grimoire?”

“Yes momma it truly is a Grimoire.”

“Hurley you’ve done it! You’ve done it you’ve done it you’ve done it!” She paused and her eyes seemed to look away into space. “You’ve done it… Does this mean you’re going to leave soon?”

“I can’t just let this thing gather dust now, can I?”

She let out a laugh, brushing a tear away.

“Well how long until you leave?”

“That’s the thing… I have to go now.”

“Now?”

“Saying it again doesn’t change it momma. I only came to let you know that I’m okay.”

She took in a shaky breath, running a hand through auburn locks.

“I don’t want this Hurley… I’ve known that if you did get a grimoire this would happen. But I didn’t think you would actually get one!”

“Hey, this what I’ve always dreamt of right? Adventuring out as a mage? Casting incredible spells to fight or help others?”

“I know, you have been squawking about that since you knew what magic was.”

“Hurley! Hurry it up in there. We’ve only got so long.” Barden’s voice perfectly interrupted our sincere moment.

“Who’s that?”

“The mage who organized the whole process of the acceptance.”

“What?”

“Mom I’m not just leaving because I want to get an early start. I can’t explain everything because in total honesty I’m not sure what’s going on myself. But I’ve got to go.”

“O-okay. Just let me grab a few things.”

With that she grabbed the lantern and hobbled through the back door jars clinking as she rummaged around.

Coming back swiftly, she now carried a leather sack in her hands.

“Momma that’s your shop sack. I can’t take it or how else will you carry your product to town?”

“I can throw something together for shop. It is not important. Here, look inside.”

She passed the bag to me with the top open so I could see several bottles inside.

“Fastfoot, staminaslate, and strengthener. There are so many… How long will it take you to make more?”

“Don’t worry. I already set these aside so you could have a good start to your journey. Though I hoped I wouldn’t have to give you them…”

I set the bag down and wrapped her in one more tight embrace.

“Thank you…”

“Go! Before I start sobbing uncontrollably.” She said, tears now streaming down her face.

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

With that I reluctantly pulled myself away and got back out the door, leaving the warmth of home behind.

Barden awaited me, hand tapping one of the reigns.

“Said your farewells?”

I gave him a quick nod.

“Great, let’s be off now.”

With that we were swiftly off, starting the beginning of what I could only imagine to be a trepidatious journey.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

As we approached the path between the mountains, wind whipping past my face, I looked back to see my home disappearing. A lamp now hung outside, a figure standing beside it.

A few memories flashed through my mind in the same moment. My mothers face smiling down at me as I tried to help with picking herbs, too short to reach them. Going to the first day of school where my teacher had fresh cookies. Swimming in the ocean as I gathered coral for various potions. Memories that wouldn’t fade as my view of home did, memories that would replay in my mind as I left the familiar comforts.

*********

The mountains loomed on either side of us, cutting off what meager moonlight had previously guided our path. Now, we were guided by a crackling ball of Barden’s magic. It cast a blue hue onto the steep mountain sides around us, floating a few feet ahead.

Barden had called it a “basic spell I was sure to learn about soon”. I had tried to use my Identify skill, but nothing had shown. I assumed it was just a pure concentration of his magic. Which led me to then wonder, for the next half hour, if it was more or less effective to use a lighting spell or just pure magic. Most likely less effective.

Now we rode on in silence. The only sound being the horse’s trotting steps.

Clop. Click. Clop. Click.

At first, I decided it would be manageable to sit in the silence. But then, I also figured I deserved some answers.

“Barden?”

“Hm?”

“Where are we going?”

“Forward.”

I’m no dolt. Of course we’re going forward.

“Barden, where are we going?”

“We are journeying to a close friend of mine. Erned Hart, the Silver Sword.”

Not sure how to reply, I went back to silence.

Erned Hart, the Silver Sword. Wonder how he got that title.

From what I understood, a title was given to someone for their actions or decisions. I wasn’t sure how or why that unfolded, but decided I’d like a title as well.

“Barden, what is your title?”

Receiving no response, I began to stress that my question could’ve been offensive.

Did I just commit a mage taboo?

“Been a long time since someone has asked me that question… My title is Barden, Blue Crystal Magus.”

“Can I ask how you got the title?”

Another beat of silence.

“It was fifteen years ago. I’d followed a quest deep into a cave system. Then I was still an average crystal mage trying to increase my levels. After hours of following little glowing lichencrystal I entered a large room. It was. Beautiful. Crystals of all colors lined the walls and ceiling, pulsing with mana like a beating heart. But no such power is left unattended. In the middle was a Blue Crystal Hilphin. Do you know what that- It looks like if a squirrel increased its size tenfold and grew crystals all over its body. The beast had most likely wandered into the caves decades before me, feeding off of the potent crystals. It was… not eager to part with any of the crystals. So, we fought. A great battle yes… a very great battle.”

“Then afterwards you received the title?”

“I had a hidden quest that activated upon the Hilphins death. So yes, I received the title afterwards.”

“What does a title do for you?”

“Each person’s title is unique and attuned to them. No one else will have a blue crystal magus title. That’s not to say there won’t be other blue crystal mages, but they won’t have the same spells or benefits the title provides to me. My title provides greater control of the mana within natural blue crystals.”

“Thank you, Barden.”

“For what? I’ve only provided you with basic knowledge any educated child should know. Hmph.”

Though his words were cold, there seemed to be something softer about his inflection.

“Do you plan to stop soon?”

“Don’t trust these mountains… There’s reason for their black peaks.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means I’ve got reason enough to believe-”

Barden suddenly raised his left hand to the sky. The orb previously hovering in front of us shot above us. Its glow illuminated the mountains walls to show just how diminutive we were. An eerie silence blanketed the valley as we both stared up at the pulsating orb. Our path that previously had seemed comfortable enough, now felt narrow and claustrophobic.

Finally, the orb reached the zenith of its height, illuminating the jagged peaks far above us. I waited in tandem with Barden as we both watched the orb hover, glowing like a second moon.

Tired of craning my neck up I looked back down and tilted it left and right, getting a good pop out of it. Realizing my back also felt sore I turned in my seat.

Getting a good view of the valley walls behind us, I noticed something yellow in the distance, barely illuminated in the wash of Barden’s blue light.

Straining my eyes the yellow flicks appeared to shift, left and then right.

What in the…

Before my eyes eight more dots of yellow appeared. Then, all at once, they blinked.

“Barden behind us!”

The mage was quick to whip his head around, throwing his arm forward to illuminate behind us.

It’s the size of a house. Was the first thought that came to my mind. What it was, was a mystery.

Legs thicker than tree trunks, eyes that resembled flies, a torse that looked like a horse, antennae that were bulbous protrusions, and mandibles that extended tens of feet in front of it.

Upon realizing it had been found out, the beast let out a howling screech before rushing towards us. Distance closing quickly, Barden opened his grimoire and began flipping through the pages.

“Prismatic Barrier!” Barden accompanied this with his fingers splayed outwards and raised up.

the beast the ground rumbled before dark blue crystal erupted from beneath, shooting twenty feet into the air. The sides of the mountains rumbled as well, producing their own layers of dark crystal, coming together to form a thick crystalline wall.

The beast let out another echoing screech before opening its mandibles. A torrent of flame flooded out, slamming into the wall. The fire licked at the edges of the wall, acting like splashes of water.

“The spell is powerful, but the beast is stronger. Time to go!”

Turning back, Barden let out a “Hyah!” before whipping the reigns.

The horse, startled at the change of pace, whinnied before galloping forward.

Behind I saw the beast slam into the wall, using its mandibles as a rudimentary battering ram. A crack appeared in the wall before the beast switched back to flames, reds oranges and yellows splaying out across the wall. The beast raised its head and once more slammed it’s mandibles down cracking the wall in its entirety.

“Barrrden! It’s broken the wall!”

His response came as he took one hand away from the reigns, power glowing around it. Shouting something that was lost in the shrieking of the monster he yanked his hand towards himself and did the same in the other direction. Crystals erupted from each side behind us, creating spikes the monster would be forced to go over or weave through.

“Don’t you love it!” Barden yelled over the creatures shrieking.

“What could there be to love about this!”

“Adventure!”

Eccentric mage to madman mage.

Throwing one more glance back I saw the monster had stopped in front of the crystals, attempting to bite through the first of many.

“I think you stopped it!”

“Of course I did! Why else would I have the title of Blue Crystal Magus!”

I wasn’t sure how that made sense, but recognized he had just saved both our lives.

Barden kept up the neck-break speed as we flew between the two mountains. We soon exited the small path and entered into a great expanse of forest.

I’d never seen so many trees in one area. Their trunks stretched far above us, thick with age. Canopies of branches reached out to touch each other, creating an intermingling web of branches.

The trail didn’t end so much as it became much more unkempt. Roots and fallen branches covered the dirt path and made it difficult for Barden to navigate over them.

After riding through the dense forest for what I assumed to be an hour Barden found a place to rest.

One of the trees, more ancient than the others, had a large overarching root system. It curved out in a cave-ish sort of way, creating a sense of coziness.

The guiding orb of light hovered above the space, radiating with just enough energy to look around.

Barden grabbed one of the packs from the back of his horse and pulled out two roughly woven mats. Rolling them out for each of us he then uncoupled a canteen hung round the side of his horse.

Grabbing two cups, he poured a dark liquid into each.

Passing me one, he raised his own in a silent cheer, downing it in a second. I raised mine as well before taking a sip. Pops of flavor fizzled within my mouth.

Cider? No… definitely stronger.

I set my cup down, dizzy from our rushed journey. A lot had transpired in the past day.

“Barden, I know why the mountains are called BlackBurn.”

“Me too boy, me too.”

Laying my head down the last thing I saw was Barden raising some sort of crystal wall out of the ground, further enclosing us in a cove.

Although I ached to ask a question my tongue felt thick and I had lost all energy in my limbs.

Not cider at all.