The Prime Wizard Revealed!

(Wilhelm Dragonsong)

The Vice Master and I cheerfully head back to the dojo with me happily holding my new sword and casually swinging it as we walk. Along the way the Vice Master informs me that now that I have finished the basic training I am now allowed ud to receive a room to sleep in at the dojo.

As well as 3 meals a day at an additional price of 50 gold a year, however since I have helped them to save money she will make sure I get a great discount and only have to pay 1 gold a year instead. I make a joke about the greatness of discount which she finds immensely funny as she is under the impression that I am poor.

We arrive at the dojo and the Vice Master suddenly pales and cuts off her laughter mid laugh.

Worried about the cause of her reaction I turn towards the dojo and see that the majority of the students are not inside training as expected but grouped in a crowd in front of the main entrance. Heading the crowd is a short middle aged man with a large halo of chaotically curly white hair, a long thin mustache and a short pointed beard. He is also loaded with sleek muscle and radiates power and authority. He is the master of the dojo the Vice Master’s father.

In front of him is a man of average height with an extremely arrogant and smug expression on his face. Hulking on either side of him are two body guards, who are tall enough to tower over even me. Their muscles are bulging through their tight clothing, and they each have a giant sized weapons on their backs the left a great sword the right a battle axe.

It is obvious from the fancy robes and pointy hat the man is wearing that he is a magic user.

What probably none of the others in my dojo know, is that his two body guards are magic swordsmen. The Master looks very angry, to the point where he is trembling with rage. Vice Master immediately runs over quickly leaving me too much more slowly in comparison follow after her and stand on the edge of the crowd not wanting to grab attention.

“Father! What’s going on?!” Vice Master shouts as she reaches her father’s side. The master spits at the ground and disgust before saying angrily

“This” insert gruesome bad word here “says that they are taking our dojo, and if we refuse they claim that they will “challenge the dojo and humiliate us”.

“What?!!” the Vice Master turns towards the arrogant guy with shock and confusion. “But this is a warrior’s dojo why would they…?” The magic user looks over the Vice Master with a lecherous gaze and says

“Young miss, you must realize that this dojo is in a prime spot, why wouldn’t we want to have it?” he proceeds laugh in a most annoying way. I must admit he is right about the location, it is on the side of the city closest to the monster kingdom but still deep within the borders enough to know you can sleep safely at night…and one of the larger markets is conveniently only a short walk away.

The biggest reason I chose this dojo to learn at was not because of these amenities, (thought they were influential) but because it came highly recommended by one of my more trustworthy subordinates. The idiot breaks into my train of thought by continuing his moronic speech.

“You must know, that ever since the great hero ended the war proving once and for all magic users superiority over warriors that dojos have become obsolete” grinning in a disguising way he finishes with “I intend to upgrade this city by removing one of the useless dojos by remolding it into a magic training hall and recruitment office.

I have been recently granted the grand title of ‘duke’ of Hingeburg and I need to train up some new subordinates and guards for my new home. As he is giving one last mocking laugh. The Vice Master moves as if to attack him, but is quickly stopped by her father. Both glare at him in anger, but while the Master continues to do nothing, his much younger and rasher daughter shakes off her father’s hold and boldly says.

“I will accept your challenge!” hearing this the man roars with laughter while the Master frowns in worry and turns to look around at the crowd. Suspecting he is looking for me I lift my hand and wave it slightly to draw attention to myself. Spying me he relaxes slightly relief he tilts his head towards his daughter and then towards me and gives a questioning look.

I look obviously at his daughter and then raise my eyebrow and shrug as I shake my head. He sighs even more deeply and nods at me in acceptance. I am glad he got the message, which was daughter is too determined to stop without making a scene and I will step in if things get ugly. Like his daughter but for far different reasons he likes me, though at my request, he has never directly trained me.

A few months ago when I gave the gold to the Vice Master, after I was kneeling gasping on the ground after twenty laps I had barely managed to do, I noticed the Vice Master, and the Master standing in front of me.

“See father he didn’t even give up…he is different from the others.” The Master looked at me with a blank expression but after a moment his eyes widened almost comically.

“Daughter go see to the other students I need to speak to this new fellow alone” not expecting this, his daughter is surprised but she obediently bows and then leaves. After helping a gasping I to my feet he drags me to his office and after making sure the door is closed he whispers in a shocked voice. He had obviously somehow figured out at least something of what I was.

“Who are you and why are you here?” I don’t give him the whole truth, specifically I left out my name but I did give most of the truth otherwise.

“When I was a boy, I had always wanted to be a warrior, however it was discovered early on that I had great natural talent in magic. So despite my protests I was forced to enter a magic school. Eventually I came to like magic almost as much as I had wanted to be a warrior and decided to put my dreams aside.

Then when I was almost at the end of my education and still considered a young man the war started” he looked a bit shocked at this knowledge as the war started over 50 years ago and I looked to be in my early 20s I nodded at him in acknowledge of the fact that I can be considered old for a human which is the race I am most like.

I continued with “Soon after I graduated and completed my required teaching” (both with honors because of my weapon donations to the war effort) “I joined the army…seeing all the warriors fight so bravely most without magic, and doing great things…I was greatly impressed” I was not lying there were many enemies that had immunity to magic and thus the average mage could do nothing against them (I being able in some circumstances) in these cases it was usually the warriors who saved the day while the magic users were helpless.

“The sight re-awakened my childhood dream and after I-after the war ended I decided I would like to become a warrior. I was primarily a mage, but I knew many spells that made me the equivalent of a magic swordsmen already…what I desired was not more unneeded power but skill…and thus I decided become a warrior the old fashioned way. I talked to a su- an acquaintance and they recommended your dojo.”

After asking me many questions, some of which I didn’t answer, at least directly, he easily promised to not reveal what I was to anyone and would ask his daughter personally teach me, and since I interested her anyway she would probably agree.

So now we are back to the present day, all of the students have already formed a ring around the challenger, his minions and the Vice Master. Secretly I preformed a spell which would obscure current events from casual view and hopefully protect whatever happened from becoming common knowledge. Unsurprisingly to me, for the first round the duke had his minions fight in his stead. To his shock the Vice Master was able to easily defeat them.

This was no great surprise, because the Vice Master was one of those rare few master level warriors that possessed Ki. Ki is a form of energy similar to magic that only those who have trained their body to its greatest state can use. What potentially could even things up was the fact that the magic swordsmen were able to use spells such as haste and attack blessing spells.

However, the Vice Master was much more skilled in her swordsmanship, and was able to bridge the gap caused by their spells with her use of Ki and much better technique. But after his initial shock at seeing his minions defeated the duke was surprisingly unphased.

“Ha not bad, when this dojo is mine you can stay behind as one of my disciples if you want” for a split second I could swear I could see that the Vice Master was tempted hit him, but after that split second passed she managed to control herself, but there was a sneer on her face as she mocked.

“I would never want to learn magic from a crappy a man as you” Her reply didn’t seem to bother the duke much, as he said

“Ha ha ha…oh well then you will just have to be on the streets, with the rest of your dojo. I formally challenge you to a duel. Please give me your name and rank, oh beautiful warrior?

“I have no reason to give my name to trash”

“I will give my name and rank anyway it is after all the 'polite' and 'traditional' thing to do. I am Marven Pahzel duke of Hingeburg. Grandmaster level wizard, at your service” he gave a bow, hearing the man’s rank Master shot a panicked look in my direction

I nodded in recognition and then moved a bit closer to the action, after readying myself. I had thought I knew all the Grandmaster level Wizards, however I was a lot more sketchy on the details of the Master level wizards and it was possible that during the last few years, while I had been stuck paper shuffling or helping the restoration and cleanup efforts that were going on after the war, that I had missed some promotion ceremonies. So there was a possibility that he managed to have a break through. I was able to sense his rank, which he made no attempt to hide his power, so I knew he wasn’t lying.

The battle soon started, he seemed to be a traditional type mage, and he stood there casually surrounded by a magic shield while he threw magic bolts of various sizes speeds and elements at the Vice Master. She was able to doge most of them and attack but she wasn’t strong enough to make it through his defense.

Then soon after that, he created a tracking bolt that was impossible to doge and got hit, she fell to the ground, paralyzed and shaking and before the Master started to yell at me for letting her get hurt. I quietly ran over and quickly healed her. After I turned to see the duke was crowing at his own prowess, I stood and walked until I was right in front of him…startled out of his self-praise he turned to look at me.

“What do you want?” I smiled at him

“You didn’t challenge the dojo with that match, you challenged the Vice Master personally thus, the dojo isn’t yours unless you challenge and defeat the Master himself or every student of the dojo that is of your level or higher correct?”

“What of it? I am obviously more than strong enough to defeat your master” he pointed arrogantly at the master “The dojo is as good as mine”. I smiled even wider

“Not quite yet I said, I Wilhelm Dragonsong, title: Prime Wizard, Hero level. Challenge you to a fight for the right to the dojo, if I defeat you, you must leave and never challenge this dojo or any other dojo again.” I had been planning to keep my name hidden but since I allowed Vice Master to be injured, I had broken the unspoken agreement I had with the Master and thus felt I should pay some form of penalty for it.

Besides with my obscuring spell up, no one other than those already here would learn of my identity, and I felt there would be a strong possibility of getting the others to promise to keep my identity to themselves. The duke’s mouth dropped for a moment then he laughed until tears were coming out his eyes.

“If you are going to pretend to be someone you are not then at least pick someone more believable…I mean the great hero of the war…the one who made wizardry an honorable and noble profession outside the elven lands, that Dragonsong? That guy is known to be over 108 years old why aren’t you an old man?” He laughed a bit more then said.

“Fine I will fight you whatever your name is…it shall be amusing to crush a bug that dares to besmirch the name of the Prime Wizard.” I pick up my sword from where I had dropped it on the ground after rushing to heal Vice Master and said.

“You can call me Will, if my full label intimidates you and you can think what you want, but Dragonsong is indeed my real surname”, I gave him a salute and took my recently learned sword stance. I wasn’t surprised that he thought I should be like an old man.

Most people only knew that I was mostly human and when they learned my age they made assumptions. When I first started schooling 100 years ago it was the fashion and tradition of the time that mages particularly wizards should be dressed in heavy full body covering robes and a concealing cloak with a hood. Then eventually things changed and with it fashion.

However I never bothered to buy any of the lighter head revealing wizard wear that was becoming more popular. I felt that since I already had so many clothes in that style , enough to last me for quite a while, and as I was used to wearing it and didn't care about fashion, why I should I bother switching to something new?

Thus most people did not know my true appearance, and those that did no weren’t the type to bother telling others. Plus the one feature that others could see in that get up was my hair…and while my long snow white hair was considered unnatural when I was a child it was completely expected and deceiving at 108 years old. Shaking off my random thoughts I prepared my mind for battled.

Most wizards fought, the same way the duke did, in what was called the traditional style. A traditional style user would remain in one place covered in magic shields, while they would attack the enemy with ranged and area affect spells. I of course could use the traditional style and I was somewhat good at it however my preferred style was one I helped design.

During the war in order to be able to defeat troublesome enemies, types of magical combat completely different form the traditional style were developed including my own.

During my early experiences in the war I asked myself a question…what is a mage’s greatest weakness? The answer is of course close combat. So I experimented in various ways to create spells that made close combat possible while still retaining the strengths that the mage classes are known for which is long range and area of effect spells.

What I came up with was basically turning yourself into a warrior when necessary without needing to have the body or the skills. First I would cast a spell that would temporarily turn my body into that of a high level warrior.

Then I would summon a warrior type spirit that I felt was absolutely trustworthy and loyal. I would allow it to possess my body, then I take control of my body. The result a wizard that could at any time of their choosing turn into another person with the skills and body of a warrior while still maintaining their abilities of a wizard. Basically the wizard would temporarily become a monster.

I of course shared my spells with the mage community but it never became very popular. This was of course unlike my contracted spirts who all considered themselves my dear friends and allowed me to make the decisions in battle despite possessing me. Other wizards contracted spirits had high disloyalty and disliked the ones they considered their enslavers, so they would as much as the contract allowed disobey as much as possible.

So other wizards unlike me couldn’t just cast two spells and be done. They also had to completely enslave their spirits first, and when they fought they had a lot less control of the decisions made because they had to order their spirits at the same time as they fought.

All of these actions required mental and magical energy…thus other wizards could only fight in this way after several minutes of preparation, for only a little longer than 5 minutes plus the time they took to prepare. This time was especially restricted because most of the ones willing to try my spells were not at my level and thus had a more limited magic pool.

I on the other hand could fight for hours, once after careful rationing of my magic power and letting my spirit do most of the work…I managed to fight for almost an entire day. My favorite and primary spirit was named Arn Berserker. He was a powerful spirit whose origin was different from most other spirits…a powerful mage had contracted him, but the contract was not for him but for his weaker beloved warrior brother he wanted the spirit to defend against mages by using its spiritual attacks.

Over time he and this brother became friends…and the brother would allow him to be possessed by the spirit…and play around in his body. Over time they began to assimilate with each other…the brother could perform the spirit attacks on his own and Arn learned the variety of the high level martial arts that the brother possessed.

Eventually the brother died and the spirit was left without a master. One of my unofficial sanctioned adventures I met him and we became friends…and when during my research into controlled possession I thought of him. The rest as they say was history.

I chantless casted both of the required spells almost at the same time…it is my ability to chantless cast that allowed me to become a grandmaster. And it was the spells I created such as the two I casted that let me reach hero level.

‘Arn’ I said when I felt the spirit possess me ‘let me try fighting without your skills in the beginning I want to see how far I have come in my training’.

‘Yes Will’ the spirit replied…I felt his controls grip slacken, so that right now he was just basically a passenger rather than the rider.

I proceeded to attack. To my surprise I managed to get a few good hits in with my sword before the duke got over his shock and retaliated. However once he recovered his spell casting got so quick that I realized that as expected I probably couldn’t easily defeat him with just my own power.

‘Arn’ I called. Immediately I felt my body moving on its own doing things that the current me was completely incapable of. Soon Marven was driven back and with just a few spells after this point his magic shields broke and he could be officially considered defeated.

“Mercy!” the shorter man cowered in front of me pathetically “Mercy! Please don’t kill me!” I wasn’t feeling very blood thirsty at the moment, however I felt he should be punished for hurting the Vice Master and for arrogantly and selfishly planning to take over a dojo.

So I cursed him with a spell that would limit his ability to cast magic to just the beginner level. I felt that I used enough energy for it to last a few years at least. (Though I didn’t tell him that) I hoped that his experiences from this point on under the curse would help him learn some humility.

After taking care of him I looked around and noticed that all the members of the dojo including the Master were staring at me stunned, some were fearful, and some looked at me in such an idolizing way that I felt uncomfortable.

Unlike the others the Vice Master merely looked like she was carefully considering something. After a few moments she seemed to come to a conclusion and before anyone else got over their shock she ran over to me. And to my utter surprise she performed a low bow kneeling on the floor. Then in a clear voice she said.

“This lowly one wishes to learn of this great one’s wisdom.”

***

Vocabulary:

Mage: a magic user in general

Magic Swordsmen: A person that uses both magic and a weapon, they do not need to be proficient in either and usually focus on one more than the other. Usually considered unskilled no matter what path they follow.

Wizard: One who uses spells and magic in order to attack, defend, heal or craft things.

Rank: Apprentice => intermediate =>expert=>master=>grandmaster=>hero=>God