Surprising Mage Norivak

Under the moonlit sky, long past the time of the witching hour. Far from the Mage Towers of Limerock...

"Jim, head to the left. Hurry and keep banging your sword and shield!"

"Toll! Halter and Bon are alone fixing the breach, cover them!"

Clod shouted out his commands in the darkness. He tumbled towards the silhouette of the nearby horse, his face covered in grime and dripping with perspiration. Feeling the saddle, he pulled out a torch.

"Clod!"

A shout in the surrounding darkness had him searching for the source. A horse galloped out of the night while the rider dismounted in haste. The fluid motion also proved the person had a wealth of experience in horsemanship.

"The south gate has been breached! Their coming!"

"Have Shine and the others light the torches, it will buy us time."

"What about you?"

"I'll hold them off here. Hopefully, the fire will slow them down."

Clod replied.

"No! I can't leave you alone. They'll trample you to death!"

"Go! We have to keep them away from the fences and gather in the center. I need you to ride like the wind."

Rose stared at the tired face in the moonlight while biting her lip. Walking towards Clod, she locked him in a tight embrace. She then sprang on her horse and swiftly disappeared. Rose had no idea since when she harbored feelings for this farmer but she knew that tonight meant the world to him.

"Don't let them escape!"

Her voice rang out in the darkness.

Clod allowed the warm feeling in his chest to dissipate while lighting the torch with a flint. Steeling his heart, he then limped towards the opening with a hammer.

Tonight was either do or die...

***

Limerock

"You need to meditate using this scripture chant along with the breathing method. It took me some time and practice but it does what it's supposed to. Most likely a quiet place is the best."

"How do we know it works?"

"When you meditate, try to visualize a dark sky completely black in your mind. When you're successful, your mind will suddenly pop and you will picture an open sky of pitch-black darkness over a misty ocean. I comprehended this after two full weeks of practice in my room mind you."

Chu said while lecturing his companions. After spending two weeks in the academy they returned to the villa. Currently, they sat on a hill in a circle before heading home.

"The chants can be done in silence but the breathing method would give you away, especially if noticed by someone in the academy. Practice it only if you're not sharing a room with outsiders and without a chance for interruptions."

"Do the Scribes and Apprentices use this method?"

"No, all I can say is that ours is actually unique compared to the one in the academy."

Chu answered. He couldn't say that the academy used the incense rooms to induce a hallucination. Although this method hastened the development, it also had its additive drawbacks. Speaking about this, however, would deliver an instant-kill to his poor soul.

"When you arrive at this stage, the next step deals with being able to hold the image for an extended period of time. The longer you hold the image the easier the second stage will become. Consider this first stage the foundation stage since by practicing holding the image it strengthens your mind and focus."

"What next?"

"When you can see and hold the image for over two hours then we will move on. Two months have passed in Autumn so you have two weeks. If you need time from the academy, I suggest you take it."

Two weeks later, at the same hill...

"Dammit Chu, I can't hold it for more than an hour. I don't have the amount of free time in the barracks like you guys."

"Next week I'll hint to Chief Slovac that I need extra help in the distillation invention. You can leave the guards and stay with me in my room. Everyone take out your Star Field Talismans..."

Chu considered this second stage as the most difficult one. The large expanse of darkness hanging over the misty ocean represented the rectangular slip filled with the starfield. An apprentice had to map the stars on the talisman to the blank slate in his mind. Chu compared this to having a black sheet of thick paper stuck over a rectangular board containing fine pinholes. This board was held in front of a lamp.

The objective lay in concentrating a portion of spirituality from the misty ocean into a needle and then piercing the heavens. If the needle landed on the correct spot, it would bore through the paper and allow the light from the lamp to shine through.

The larger the size of the star in the starfield, the larger the pinhole, thus increasing the probability to strike the target. After two weeks of understanding and failures, Chu managed to successfully have one star glimmering in his heavens. He also made a startling revelation. If the star in the starfield was too small, the needle couldn't pierce the darkness. Given the number of tiny stars in his starfield, he inferred this might prove correct.

"Forming the needle takes time and effort. It also drains your ocean under the darkness in your mind. Take your time and focus on one star in the star field and attack that spot first. Try this, it might make it easier."

He held Miki's talisman up and bent it in an arc.

"The sky is not like a rectangle but actually more like part of a sphere. This might help in narrowing the position for the first star. Try and choose a star close to another big one since it can act as a navigation point."

"Chu, what about me?"

Chu looked over to Lucy sitting beside him. Unlike the others, her talisman had a large golden circle in the center with no visible starfield. He had contemplated this for the past weeks until the very sky provided him with the solution. Removing the magnifying crystal from his sleeve, he then rested the talisman on his lap and passed the crystal over it. A faint starfield came into view with a few obscure large stars.

"Think of yours like a sky in the daylight. Even if the stars aren't visible, it doesn't mean their not present. Do you have a sun in your mind sky?"

"Only a silhouette, a black circle with a golden outer rim."

"Good, keep the crystal for now. You can use your sun to act as a guide. It should be easier to also locate your stars..."

Chu now understood why Mage Norivak held the opinion that a mage needed a well-defined starfield. He also realized the importance of trying to form larger stars. The patience, efforts, and frustrations of becoming a mage could drive one mad. Somehow he agreed with the concept of the pills and the hallucination incenses since they helped in diffusing the tension.

The road of meditation and building a starfield in the mind already required exhausting effort so what about spells?

A mage life didn't leave much time for enjoyment.

"You have two weeks to form your first star..."

He had previously inspected their talismans and found that they all had a few large stars. Sue, Amanda, and Dyna, unexpectedly possessed a hundred and more visible stars in their talismans. The rest of them fell below the hundred level mark, with Sakura leading them close to a hundred followed by Lucy and Miki. Ming and he currently fought for the last place.

Chu did not allow Sally and Bella to activate their talisman. Until one of them here arrived at the stage where they could release spiritual power into a talisman, he planned to keep this a secret. The less they knew the better. As for the two little girls, they didn't mind being excluded for the time being. Chu had a proven track record of making it up to them in the future.

"Keeping this talisman around in the academy can bring us serious trouble. When we light the stars in our minds, can we then discard it?"

"No, if you happen to succeed in lighting the stars, you need to secure it. I want it as a reference since we have to find a way to strengthen the faded stars. I doubt you can light your star field in a short time though because at most in a day, you can create and move two mana needles. Meditation will take years to build your mental ability."

Chu replied.

He knew very well the difficulties facing an apprentice, much less a mage. The time to create this so-called starfield might take over five years, even longer since they needed over a hundred to cast the simple light spell. Then, he also had to find a way to increase the brightness of their stars.

Somehow he felt as if delving into the world of magic reminded him of a person switching occupations...

During the next week in the academy, an apprentice visited him with a message from Mage Norivak. Chu left Ming in the room and followed the man into the large hall of the Inner Tower. The man made a courtesy bow and retreated while leaving Chu standing in the open hall. Mage Norivak occupied the large stone chair as he browsed through some scrolls.

"Slovac organized the next batch of apprentices and a few younger mages who require experience. We depart at the end of the week for Frost City. From there, I will carry them to one of the forts manned by the Tower at the foot of the mountains."

The old man said while rolling a scroll. He continued speaking as he opened another parchment.

"The north is a dangerous place but the Military headquarters exist near Frost City. If you want, I can find a nice villa for you there. The Tower does have a few residences inside the city for fatigued or injured mages."

Chu looked at the old man busy scanning the documents. For the few months he interacted with this Mage, Chu considered this man worthy of respect. Even after years of exposure to the effects of the incense, which caused these mages to slowly forget about worldly matters and live for the sole purpose of the Tower, Mage Norivak provided him a generous offer. Chu clasped his hand and made a deep bow.

"Mage Norivak truly showed this little one the meaning of a Mage. In time this one will visit the north and hope Elder will find time to guide him. Chu wishes Elder great success in the northern forts and hopes Elder doesn't overburden himself."

Mage Norivak finally glanced up from his lap filled with scrolls and letters. The two of them stared at each other before issuing a collective sigh.

"Elder, all Mages leave behind a legacy. You have already demonstrated yourself as the best on the battlefield. I offer this gift to Elder with the words I received from my dream."

When Chu closed the large doors behind him, Mage Norivak remained to stare at them for some time. The boy had chatted with him before gifting him an oval crystal with a couple of words.

Mage Norivak moved the crystal over a scroll, causing the words to literally jump out at him. Chu had gifted him a second crystal he polished since Lucy now used the original.

"The heavens always contain stars..."

Mage Norivak muttered. Chu told him this simple object appeared in his dream along with the words. Chu had decided to hand this over to, according to him, the most learned Elder he knew. The old man rose and walked over to the far open window and then placed his wrinkled hands on the wide sill. He stroked his long white beard while gazing at the sky in thought.

Suddenly a burst of enlightenment exploded in his mind, causing his frail figure to shake. Reaching into his sleeve with his trembling fingers, Mage Norivak removed the oval crystal and held it up to the sky. He then pulled out a talisman from his pouch hidden inside his robe. This talisman represented one of the apprentices carded to leave with him. Mage Norivak had around fifty of so such talismans in his pouch.

Placing it on the window ledge, he moved the crystal over it.

"Ahhhhh!"

When the old man collected himself, his heart couldn't stop racing. Given an increase in expenditure of pills and potions, the Tower could end up increasing its Mage capacity by tenfold... no, a hundredfold. Forget this discovery placing him down, as one of the most outstanding contributors of the century, in a few years the shortages of Mages would disappear.

Mage Norivak cast a grateful glance at the closed door while reaching for his staff for support. He placed a hand on his chest to help calm his nerves. The boy always concocted up a surprise.

"That little bastard nearly killed me..."

He muttered.

****