Paul’s POV

With the blacksmith firmly in hand, construction of the keep began with haste. Paul watched the sight for a moment as goblins led skeletons and zombies in digging efforts. Several of the goblins had gained a lot of skill controlling the undead with their time spend patrolling and building the wall. Both Howard, the master builder, and Rikkard recommended the digging of a ditch about 100 feet from the wall. Undead were working on that as well.

“Master.” Grag’s voice called from behind.

‘Ah, yes, training.’ Paul thought.

He turned to see Grag looking up at him. The small goblin was shaking like a leaf. Paul wanted to think it was excitement, but knew better, the goblin was afraid of him. It was a good sign for maintaining loyalty, but he wandered what it would look like for his training.

Paul had learned wizardry at the Wizard’s Tower in Angla’s capital city, Angla… He didn’t have much in the realm of materials to teach Grag from. Back in the Tower, they had parchment and ink to scribe their own spells before practicing in person. They also had books. Plenty of books.

Gravewell, on the other hand, was deeply lacking in resources. Paul had brought with him plenty of books, Alaric’s entire library, but they were mostly books of lore and necromancy. Books that dealt in death magic and the magic of vampires.

The only spellbooks Paul had were Alaric’s which dealt in death and air tethers and runes, and his own spellbook. Luckily for Grag, Paul had a fire tether and knew several fire runes. Most of his extra parchment and ink was going to the builders to construct the keep and wall, so Grag would have to make due drawing in the dirt.

“Hello Grag.” Paul said. “We will start your lessons right away. According to Krelgr you are quite lucky, goblins don’t usually manifest magic.” Paul turned to Grag. “This is where you thank me for my time.”

“Thank you?” Grag asked.

“Yes.”

“What’s thank you?”

“Thank you is where your appreciative of something being done for you.” Paul responded.

“What appreciative?”

“What is wrong with your race?” Paul asked with some irritation. “Its when I do something nice, like train you in magic, and not kill you. You say, thank you.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Very good.” Paul walked to a clear place outside his hut and handed Grag a straight stick he had grabbed earlier. “Now draw the rune you saw to cast your spell.”

“The what?” Grag asked.

“Runes are like words you use to cast spells.” Paul said calmly. He had a lot of similar questions when he first started learning magic. Using his own stick he drew the symbol for light. “This is a rune. You don’t have to fear using magic from just drawing them. They require mana from a tether to activate.”

Slowly and with a shaky hand, Grag drew his rune. Paul watched with interest. Grag drew the ignite rune. It was a rune Paul already had. He had a faint hope, Grag had gained a rune he didn’t know, but there was no such luck.

“Very good.” Paul called on fire mana.

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Slowly he traced the ignite rune in the air, pushing fire mana into it, then let loose on a target he set up. The target lit up easily.

“By pulling on your tethers and storing the acquired mana in your core, you can trace runes to cast spells.” Paul traced the ignite rune again and nothing happened.

“But I didn’t trace the rune in the air like that before using it.” Grag said. “The spell just happened.”

“If you can hold the exact image if the runes you are using in your mind, you can cast the spell that way.” Paul said. “But if you are thinking of the wrong rune, or hold the image wrong, the spell could cause psychic backlash and the mana will burn you. If you trace the spell wrong in the air, it just doesn’t work.” Paul started running his hand through his beard. “It can be faster and doesn’t let your enemies know what you are casting his hold the image in your mind, but it is more dangerous.

“Plus, this was your first casting. A new rune appears in your mind when you use a tether for the first time. It’s rare now, but there used to be a time when almost every wizard had a new rune and traded what they know to others for those they didn’t know. Now there are schools, like in Angla, that teach wizards so the kingdom can have a mass of magical firepower.

“Apprentices are rare these days. At least in the civilized lands. I hope one day there will be a school here in Gravewell.”

“Thank you, Master.” Grag said.

“And there you go, learning already!” Paul laughed.

“To start we will train by pulling mana from your fire tether.” Paul said. “Once you can pull a little mana, we will have you ignite things.”

Paul sat cross-legged *on the ground by the spell dummy. Eagerly, Grag sat down as well. Paul stretched out his hands for Grag to take. After a moment of hesitation, Grag grabbed Paul’s hands.

“Good,” Paul said. “Now, listen carefully. To pull mana from your tether, you need focus. Close your eyes.”

Grag obeyed, his face scrunching in concentration. Paul felt the faintest ripple of magic, a fragile thread, like a spark struggling to catch.

“Think of fire,” Paul instructed, his voice steady. “Not just flames, but what fire is. Heat, light, hunger. Imagine it flowing into you, filling your core.”

Grag’s breathing quickened. A faint warmth flickered against Paul’s palms, and a small, orange glow shimmered in the air between them.

Paul allowed himself a rare smile. “Good. That’s the start. Keep pulling, slowly, or you’ll burn yourself out. Burning out is a painful experience.” Paul smiled again, “You are likely to burn out several times while training.”

Grag opened his eyes and gasped at the glow floating between them. It sputtered out in a slow uneventful fit. “I’ve never seen anything like this from you, Master.”

“Just like casting runes from your mind, you can learn to hide the other tell-tell signs of casting.” Paul said. “Now if you’ll notice, the mana you called should be leaking out of you, reconnecting with the ether.

“By using your tether, you strengthen that tether and can pull more mana from the source. To be able to hold more mana, you need to try and trap the mana in your core, strengthening it.”

“Can I ever gain more tethers, like you?” Grag asked.

“There are ways.” Paul said. “They say exposer to tether related things, like fire, can grant you access to a tether, or just magic in general. Like you, but if that was always the case, why doesn’t everyone have the air tether? Others like the death tether can be gained by gaining undeath. Celestia or infernal tethers can be gained from sufficient worship of the gods.

“You are a curious case. I was born with the fire, air, and earth tethers. I gained the death tether when I became a vampire. The wizards in the tower impressed and as far as I know, no one gained tethers they never had access to. They did test people, who used a tether to see if they had others they didn’t know about, but I was never privy to that information.”

“I could have access to other tethers?” Grag asked.

“Most certainly.” Paul said. “If I knew how to test for all the elements I would. I might even start testing the population as a whole, but I don’t know how. I guess, meditation tests could be done, but I don’t know who would test for water or life. That is besides the point. For now, I will work with you. We shall see what you can do before I test all of the goblins in Gravewell and beyond.

“You will meditate. If you suffer a burnout, it won’t kill you. Once you have built up reserves and strengthened your core, I will teach you more runes and how to use them effectively.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Very well.”

With that, Paul left Grag to meditate. It would take several weeks of strengthening his core before he can cast several spells, or cast spells while drawing mana. Paul would check in on Grag’s progress periodically. If he showed promise, maybe he would do as Grag suggested and test more of the goblins in the village.

Paul looked at the building site for the keep. Maybe it was time to check on the master builder.