Chapter 020

The Mage of the Woods

Rune had heard talks and whispers of the man named Jacob Andrew, and somehow he still fell victim to astonishment. The Arbor Mage’s aura was enough to make him forsake his wits.

He stood in front of his cabin, one arm raised in front of him, as his cinnamon-colored hair was toyed with by the forest breeze. He looked to be a bit taller than the average gentleman, or maybe Rune himself was just too small. Green-tinted eyes blinded by hatred targeted his unwanted intruder. A mere glance from the mage was enough for Rune to regret ever heeding Max’s crazy advice. Though, he couldn’t necessarily just leave. Especially after the lengths he’d taken getting here.

Rune breathed in and out, in a feeble attempt to tame his electrified nerves. What was there to be afraid of, he thought. Jacob was an incredible magic user but, at one point, he’d worked with the military. He wouldn’t try to harm someone who had no intention of fighting back, would he? This line of reasoning Rune adopted granted him enough courage to, ever so slowly, rise to his feet, raising both his arms in the air. “I’m humbled to be in your presence, Colonel Andrew,” Rune started, albeit hesitantly. “My name is Rune, and I came here to...” Poor Rune never was able to complete his introduction, not if Jacob had his way about it. Before the rest of his words could depart his tongue, the mage launched his arm at him. Responding to his commands, two massive tree roots crashed out of the earth, scattering bits of dirt and grass across the forestry basin.

Rune, against his will, extinguished a yelp before jumping away from the pair of earthen anacondas. Unfortunately, they were persistent. Wherever he went, they weren’t too far behind. They honed in on his location like missiles lusting after the scent of heat. It quickly became obvious that he wouldn't be able to outrun them forever, he was only a human child whilst they were serpents puppeteered by a mage and enhanced by the properties of magic. What chance did he have? Cocking his eyes backward, his vision focused on Jacob who had yet to leave his position.

“Please, I’m not your enemy! I only want to speak with you!” Rune leaped over a log and veered to his right, the aggressive roots hot on his trail.

“I’m not interested in anything you have to say. Do yourself a favor, boy! Leave this place before you make me even angrier.”

“I can’t!” Rune shouted in refusal.

He circled the forested arena with reinforced speed, hopping from one place to the next like an anxious frog attempting to escape the clutches of its reptilian adversaries. Mere inches from piercing the rear of his calf, one of the roots penetrated the ground behind him, a shockwave of wind and dirt propelling him forward. Rune was unwillingly flung towards a nearby tree. Lacking the opportunity to alter his trajectory, he accepted his situation for what it was. Tightening his leg muscles, the boy bolted full speed ahead, jumped into the air, and in one well-executed and swift motion, used the tree as a springboard. His feet slammed onto the bark and, inhaling gusts through his nose, Rune jetted off the towering seedling like a ricocheting bullet and landed back onto the ground in a crouched position.

The verdant spells weren’t so graceful. They chose not to avoid the tree as much as they favored merely demolishing it. The unforgiving roots purged it from existence, severing it in two with the upper half flying into the air and its lower portion collapsing into the trees behind it. What remained was only a disheartened and pathetic stump. Rune shivered at the thought of what would have happened if they got ahold of him. However, he was now presented with an opportunity. He turned to Jacob by the cottage. With the branches extended someplace else, it meant he was completely defenseless. Rune had no intention of attacking the man though, if he wouldn’t listen to reason, then perhaps he’d be more interested if a famous and powerful mage such as himself bested in a duel, and by a novice, no less.

Rune bolted at him without stopping to dwell on the thought any longer. “Jacob Andrew! I’m not leaving until you train me to become a proper mage!”

“Train you?” he replied. “Is this meant to be a joke? Why in the world would I do that?”

“If I don’t learn how to use my magic, I won’t be accepted into the Military Academy!”

“I fail to reason how that is any concern of mine.” The pages of the bronze-colored tome floating beside him flipped. Channeling his magical energy, Rune watched as his opponent pointed a hand at him. Sprouting out of the earth was a titan-sized branch of wood taking on the shape of a closed fist. The giant, creaking appendage rocketed from its creator and straight for the rookie fire mage, manifesting a whistling noise amidst its speedy voyage. “I cut my ties with the military and any that seek to join its ranks! Why should I help in the creation of another of their monsters?” Jacob grunted. “Besides, I detect not a trace of potential in you. Training someone like you is hardly worth the effort.”

For a split second, Rune’s perception of time froze. Discounting the wood elemental spell hurtling at him, he couldn’t deflect Jacob’s harsh criticisms out of his head. Was he correct? Did he truly not have any potential of being a mage? No, Rune answered. He’s wrong! I’ll show him my potential! And my resolve!

All at once, Rune stopped his rapid charge and quickly got to work forging a magic circle. With the tip of his finger, he crafted the orange, flickering emblem that shattered into pieces not even ten seconds after its conception. Inflating his guts, Rune planted his feet into the grass, rejecting the idea of retreat. He stood his ground, even as the roaring spell was mere inches from colliding with his face. Thrusting a hand, Rune roared at the top of his lungs the only spell he could cast in full confidence. The name “Anguish Mordeo!” echoed inside the forest as a burning sun sparked to life underneath the shimmering, yellow moon. Howling out the palm of his bandaged right arm was a stream of intense, concentrated fire, the likes of which scorched the temperature of their surroundings.

The inferno consumed the branch types spell almost in an instant. Within the restless flames, every trace of it incinerated into charred pieces of bark flocking to the vast expanse of nothingness. The force of the blast was so explosive the young mage couldn’t maintain his stance. Like a ragdoll, he was flung backward and fell onto his rear. And as he did, the fire he had summoned vanished, dying like a tiny ember in the middle of a ravaging rainstorm.

“Fire magic, aye?” he heard the mage comment.

Staring at the night sky, Rune coughed, “It’s my gift. As you can see, I’ve got a ways to go before I fully master it...”

“And you came to me hoping I’d alleviate you of your burdens?”

“No...” Rune denied, sitting upward. “What I require from you is your guidance,” he begged, getting on his hands and knees. Resting his noggin into the grass, he continued, “Please, teach me how to control it. That’s all I ask of you. Leave it to me to handle the rest.”

“Your flames,” he replied. “I recognize them. They’re similar in nature to Kazimir’s. Almost as effective too.”

“What use is power if I don’t know how to harness it?”

“Yes, indeed. Presently, magic is no friend of yours. And I can see it's taken a toll.”

“Rejection nearly killed me,” Rune muttered, clenching his bandaged fist. “I can’t let it happen again.”

“So, you seek a master, do you?” Rune peeked up at the mage deep in thought, stroking the tiny goatee sprouting out the bottom of his chin. “Tell me, boy. Are you knowledgeable about the reason I resigned from the military? It was because I couldn’t tolerate the company. They who misuse the art of magic. They who care not for the security of our great Esteras. I couldn’t bear to be in their presence any longer. Nor do I find myself necessarily interested in taking on an apprentice.” Jacob switched his back to Rune and started for his decapitated homestead. Snapping his fingers, the cottage slowly started repairing itself. The craterous hole created by the magic tree root was reconstructed, the walls rematerialized, and the destroyed porch scuttled its way to normalcy, each floorboard rolling and sliding into place. In time, the cottage appeared just how it did upon Rune’s arrival. Though, the shattered glass windows left a fraction to be desired. “Answer me this, Rune Ransford. Why should I subject myself to training you?”

Rune removed his scalp off the ground and met the intrigued mage's gaze. “Why should you train me?” he repeated, silently pondering the question to himself. He had to be convincing. If he didn’t Jacob would undeniably reject him and his endeavor would have truly been for nothing. Gathering his thoughts, Rune spoke, “Look, I wish I could tell you I’ll be the best student you’ll ever teach. I wish I could say it’ll all be worth it in the end. But, that’d be disingenuous on my part. Truth be told, I’ve not a clue what the future has in store for me,” he admitted, rising from the floor. “Still, if you give me just one chance, I promise to do whatever it takes. You can break me, mold me, bend me, and curse me however you see fit. As long as you can help turn my magic into a functioning tool, I’ll bear it all.”

Jacob smirked. “Will you now?”

“You said I had next to zero potential, yeah? Well, give me the chance to prove you wrong.”

The mage’s glowing tome dropped into his hands. “Jeez, did you rehearse that or something?”

“Nah, just wanted to show you how serious I am.”

“You ain’t normal, kid. I’ll give you that. And I do sense a bit of your old man in ya, for better or for worse. Putting aside any false integrities, I was anticipating your arrival.”

“You were?”

“Not under these circumstances, but yes. When I heard of your...incident, I’d planned to seek you out. Lori was a good friend of mine. She was a nice woman deserving a better fate. You’ve my sincerest apologies.”

Rune was shocked. Where was this coming from? Jacob acted like a total delinquent mere minutes ago. Now he was bestowing sympathy. Not seeking to diminish the mage's alien disposition, Rune said, “They weren’t killed as the official reports say. My family was murdered.”

“Oh?” Jacob responded, his voice drenched in mild astonishment.

“I’m trying to figure out who was responsible.”

“And you think enlisting into the military is your best option, aye? Now I get it.”

“My family, they were some of the only people who accepted me for who I am,” the boy muttered, clenching his fists. “Whoever is responsible for...I have to do this. They cannot be allowed to walk free. Not after what they’ve done.”

“And when the time comes for you to meet this murderer, what shall you do?”

“Easy, make use of the skills I’m hoping to learn under your watch.”

“I never agreed to train you.”

“Will you?”

Jacob recoiled, and then stared up at the glistening stars. “Ryas, is this the path you long for me to take?” Slapping a hand over his forehead, the veteran mage expelled from his lungs an exhausted, defeated sigh. “I hope you're a man of your word, Young Ransford. My training regime won’t exactly be a cakewalk, I have you know.”

“So, does this mean...”

“Indeed,” Jacob stuttered in confirmation. “I’ll train you to be a mage. Follow my guidance, and you’ll get into the Military Academy without any issues...probably.”

“YES!!!” Rune shouted, thrusting his arms into the air. “Thank you! You won’t regret this.”

“...A part of me already has,” Jacob deflated.

“So, what shall we do first, Master?”

“You can start by dropping the whole “Master” schtick. I’m not that old yet.”

“Uh...whatever you say...sir?”

“Argh, just call me Andy. It’s what your father did, at least.”

“Alright...Andy.”

“You should get some rest. Your training begins as soon as the sun rises,” Jacob said, stepping onto his newly repaired patio. “By the way, you owe me new windows.”

“S...Seriously?!”

Just like Jacob had said, no sooner than the sun rays first graced the Earth did Rune’s nine months of hell begin in proper. There wasn’t much time for them to waste seeing as how the Military Academy Entrance Exams were quickly approaching. As such, Jacob said that they would skip the basics and focus directly on what he referred to as “The Three Fundamental Components of a Mage”, whatever that meant. But considering how desperate he was, Rune didn’t have it in him to ask questions or form any doubts. He followed his orders to a T and without any resistance.

His first of his many tasks involved him sitting cross-kneed in the middle of a meadow. This was apparently the first of Jacob’s aforementioned components, The Value of Peace. “It is ever important for a mage to maintain a constant level of tranquility. Internal discord leads to magic highs, or even worse, magic rejections,” Jacob instructed, sitting on a tree stump clouded by the shadows of a nearby tree. In his hand he flipped the pages of a journal, tracing his forefinger over the text as an attentive vision scanned its contents vividly. “Erase your emotions, they serve to hinder your performance. Quell any troubling thoughts or concerns your mind might be housing. They won’t come to help you in the heat of battle.”

“Right...”

Suddenly, Rune felt the striking pain of a tree branch smacking him above his skull. Miraculously, he maintained his position, regardless of trauma pulsating on his scalp. “And no talking, any kind of distraction is an unwelcome one. As a mage, you must learn to disregard anything and everything, no matter how dire the situation. Magic requires the most concentration out of any art form. Always remember that.”

Rune nodded his head in response.

“Good, now let’s see. Eight more hours should do it,” Jacob said, standing up and walking off into the forest. “I’ll be back later to check on you. Whatever happens, boy, don’t move from that spot. I’ll know if you do. Nature loves to gossip.”

If he was being honest, Rune was partially frustrated. He felt like this was a waste of time. What exactly was he doing anyway? Sitting around trying to make himself feel calm? Would that really come to benefit him during the exams? Creaking open his right eyelid, he caught wind of Jacob’s backside as the man shrunk into the distance before completely being enveloped by the woods surrounding the meadows. What he had to constantly remind himself is that, despite his resignation, Jacob was, in fact, a skillful magic-user. At one point, the combat mage more than likely had to do what he himself was doing right this very moment. Nobody was born a master, after all. Shutting his eyelids and concentrating on his breathing patterns, Rune committed to the bizarre form of training. Even if it felt tedious.

And he would continue to do so, sitting in that same meadow, for the next four and a half weeks. He was so familiar with his environment Rune recognized each and every plant in the grassy lake. He knew what trees were watching him, recognized the herd of deer and flock of wild turkeys which came to visit him once every few days, and became quite fond of the various songs sung by the gentle winds. Perhaps he hadn’t realized it yet, but he was not only falling more in tune with himself, but nature as well. Magic, as Jacob constantly emphasized, was the manipulation of two elements, oneself and the world around them. If a mage failed at properly communicating with nature they would never be able to fully comprehend the gift Ryas had given them.

Rune assumed his unorthodox master saw that he’d learned this lesson as, during the middle of the day as the clouds started infesting the blue sky and the songbirds indulged in their daily harmonic gatherings, he felt someone flick him on his forehead. Opening his eyes, he found Jacob smiling down at him. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”

Rune smiled. “Not at all.”

“Quickly, boy, draw a magic circle, show me your Solis spell. I want you to see something.” Shrugging his shoulders, Rune obeyed his instructions and summoned the tiny spark of fire inside the palm of his hands. Its heat kissed his exposed skin. “Notice anything different about it?”

“Uh...it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to?”

“We are one with essence, it flows through our veins. Only by finding peace within ourselves does our body better adapt to the presence of essence. That is what I was trying to teach you. If you couldn’t recognize it, then I would have canceled your apprenticeship on the spot. Luckily, it didn’t have to come to that, ” Jacob informed. “In these past weeks, you’ve learned what it is to nourish the harmony within you. A most vital lesson indeed. It's a step many mages nowadays completely gloss over, deeming it to be irrelevant. It explains the obscene amount of imbecilic magic users infesting the military’s ranks. Might I digress, it’s clear to me you’ve fulfilled the necessary requirements.”

“So...are we..."

“We’re moving onto the next portion of your training," Jacob confirmed with a sigh.

“Yes!” Rune shouted, springing off the ground.

“Don’t get too excited. You merely crawled your way to the starting line. The real challenge has yet to come.”

Rune cracked a nervous smile. “...Real challenge?”

“That’s what I said. Try not to die on me, alright? That would prove to be troubling.”

“Die?!”

Next on their agenda, there was the Value of Flow.

There wasn't much to go by based on its title alone, though, Rune would soon come to find out just how tenuous a trial it was. His new task involved him performing a marathon around the entirety of Grandwind. A forest that is well over forty square miles, mind you. His cruel master had forced him to run until he couldn’t run anymore. Hopping over toppled logs, navigating through barriers of thorny tendrils, avoiding the saliva-cloaked fangs of a pack of horned jaguars. The many obstacles the forest possessed all contributed to depleting his deterring preserves of stamina. His lungs and stomach were on fire and his heart bolstered the threat of exploding. And when Rune finally finished the course, he was given only an hour's rest before being instructed to run the entire circuit again.

In one day, he was required to finish the course five times, at the very least. Of course, he held an advantage over an ordinary human. Essence fueled magic, yes. This mystical energy force birthed it into existence, allowing mages to manifest spells of every design. However, it also had another use. When a magic-user spreads their essence to different portions of their bodies, they could inadvertently use the energy to enhance certain qualities of themselves. For instance, concerning Rune, during his sprinting race, he directed the essence to the muscles in his legs. Infusing them with power not only to increase his speed, but also nullify the effects of fatigue. When he entered the domain of the forest’s natural predators, he would minimize his essence signature. Some creatures hunt by detecting other organisms’ magical energy. By limiting its output, Rune was able to sneak past any beast without being noticed. A most fortuitous skill to have when one was training in the wilderness.

“Feel each magic particle as they travel through you, Rune.” The apprentice glanced upward at his master, hopping from branch to branch in the forest’s canopy above his head. “If you can understand your essence and how to influence its "flow", then learning spells should prove to be not a challenge for you!”

“Yes, sir!” Rune barked, leaping over a cluster of thorn bushes blocking his paths.

For this trial, he wasn’t allowed to use his spells to help him, even when he was in a pinch. He would only be able to rely on the magical energy residing within him. Not to stroke his own ego, but Rune thought very highly of his new abilities. He’d always been a relatively fast learner. Surely Jacob’s lessons were difficult, there was no denying that. However, as the days bled past and spring migrated to summer, it was starting to look like his goal of enlisting into the military wouldn’t remain fantasy for much longer. The stronger he became, the closer that reality magnetized to his grasp. But regardless of the progress he was making, there was yet one more obstacle standing in the way of his dream. A final trial to test his aptitude as a potential combat mage of the Esteran military.

The Value of Intent.