An itch on his nose woke Riku up. He lifted his arm to scratch it and was greeted with excruciating pain in his muscles and joints.

“Why am I on the ground, covered in blood? Last I remember, I was working on the third sword stance and improving my footwork,” Riku asked.

“You slipped into a meditative state and improved on the techniques inscribed all over this room and made them your own. Watch.”

Spikes shot out of the floor and walls at varying intervals. Riku yelped and attempted to curl into a ball. His body moved involuntarily. He rose to his feet and jumped, kicked, spun, and occasionally used his sword to block any spikes that came too close for comfort. The attacks stopped abruptly, Riku gazed around in shock at the cavern at the number of spikes scattered all around the room.

"Am I dreaming? There is no way I could have done this,” Riku asked.

“The stances you practiced the other day have become part of you. What you are experiencing is only the tip of the iceberg. Now sit up and meditate. Search your mind for the conduit and learn to harness it.”

Riku grunted and sat down. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused his mind. It didn’t work. He sat there for hours like an idiot. His facial expressions slowly varied from a serene smile to a more constipated look.

“This kid has no talent in magic at all. It seems that his earlier eruption was a fluke or an inherited defense mechanism. It might even be an inherited bloodline.” The voice pondered and said out loud, “Kid, imagine an astral plane where your mind and soul are separate entities. Use your soul to examine your mind and body as well as the environment around you. You will notice several dark red points at various locations throughout your body. These points are the conducts that you have been trying so desperately to discover. By examining the environment from an external perspective, you will sense a dense amount of red sparkly air, to be harnessed when you cast huge magics that your body is incapable of doing on your own. “

Riku’s face scrunched up as he attempted to dissociate his mind and soul from his body. He kept on failing; no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to happen.

Just as he was about to give up, he heard, “Boy, you have no talent in magic. If I were the staff, I would never have chosen you. You’re useless. You can’t even practice most basic things that amateur magicians can perform. Hell, even a five year old can do better than you. Unfortunately, I can’t go against the master’s wishes, so I have to let you walk out of here with the staff. Get up, you useless lump of meat.”

When Riku heard the voice’s mockery of his talent, his eyes narrowed in anger; he curled his hands into fists and tried not to lash out. He dug deep within himself and sensed a flood of energy rippling through his body. His soul separated itself and he discovered the dense red air around him. He pushed his astral self to its limits and soared around the cavern. He disturbed some bats and observed that they had a few dark red points under their wings. Intrigued, Riku headed back towards his body to ask the voice about what he had seen.

“What you discovered during your astral projection is the glue that governs all life. All living things have dark red points radiating throughout their bodies. As they grow older, the number of dark red points slowly decreases with the end result of death. However, for some people—mostly mages—as they age, the number of dark red points increase.”

“Oh.”

“Let me remind you on something. You have no talent in magic. Your best hope in accomplishing anything significant lies in your anger. Promise me to never give into your anger unless you have to. Strap the sword into this belt and hide the staff in this ring. I also hid some potions and money in it.”

“I can’t take this. I owe you too muc--“

“Rest up. In a few moments, you will be transported out of this cavern to a safe location in the forest.”

That was the last thing Riku heard before he was induced into a coma and sent away.

“I hope the boy survives the impending calamity. Times are changing and I sense evil beings awakening from their slumber. Who is manipulating all this…?”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Riku slumbered deep within the forest, Lord Mazark was conducting a ritual deep within the earth.

“Ale swa meh lera…” Mazark’s army of spellcasters kept reciting spells as Lord Mazark looked on from above.

When the chanting hit a high note, Mazark screamed, “In your name, Tyraas, I sacrifice these mortals to return thee to your original throne. In return, I hope to be blessed with power to destroy my enemies and promised a throne to sit on as you take over the world.”

A dark fire rose up from within the earth and swallowed everything in its path. It stopped when it reached Mazark’s feet. An eye opened and stared at him.

“HAHAHAHA! I FEEL IT! I feel the power running through my veins. Thank you, Tyraas. Thank you.”