Ambergreen was an interesting little village I mused as I sat opposite a burly hunter helping him to skin a Tulpa Deer, a local species of deer with no horns but far greater musculature and weirder hooves than the deer from my home town. I had volunteered to help with certain things around the community in return for being fed and housed within the cabin reserved for guests of the village. If I chose to stay for over a month then I would be expected to aid in building my own cabin, but there was no chance I would ever stay that long.

“Done this a lot at your home,” the hunter, Jan his name was, said as we worked in concert to remove the skin and guts from the body. Jan was a burly man in his twenties and had lived in the Tulpa Forest his whole life, venturing out only to Emberhearth. He had been responsible for finding me tasks in which I could help and I had often made inquiries about the creatures of the forest which he had been all to glad to answer.

“I’ve done it a few times,” I admitted as I made a few precise cuts allowing the last of the skin to come off. “We were mainly a farming town but there were more than a few hunters and they taught me skinning.”

“I can’t believe that the village you came from has even less news than we get,” Jan said shaking his head as he extracted the innards from the deer laying it out upon a flat stone. “We hadn’t had any travellers past here for ages. We were so excited to get news. At least that story about the Spectre was pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I was,” I said chuckling as he shot me a bemused look. I had been asked multiple times for any news stories but my village was even more remote then theirs and I hadn’t been able to tell them how the latest goblin war was going or what edicts had the kingdoms passed or what the Monster King was doing or if a dragon had appeared. Thankfully today I wasn’t asked anything of the sort as a reprieve came in the form of a travelling merchant who alleviated the village’s curiosity about the outside world.

“Marvin,” a lanky girl with long black hair a few years older than him said as she ran towards him holding up an empty bucket. I just smiled and did my duty casting a simple Create Water spell and filling up the whole thing with well-practiced ease.

“Thanks,” the girl said. “Have you thought about staying here? You make the water gathering a lot easier.” The village was relatively close to a river but any attempt to build closer to the water source would be limited by the terrain seasonal floods that affected this part of the forest. I suppose not everyone had a fountain in the middle of their village that supplied unlimited water as long as somebody had the magical ability to use it.

“I’m afraid I won’t be here for much longer,” I said as I turned back to finish up with the skinning. Already the process had advanced far in the short time that I took to produce water. Whatever else I could say about Jan; the man knew how to hunt and prepare meat.

“You’re taking Lindon’s offer then,” the man said as he continued to expertly divide the meat. “Didn’t think you would,” he continued. “You didn’t seem so friendly with him.”

“He’s interested in money and I’m interested in magic,” I said shrugging as we finished up and started packing away the catch of the hunt. The meat would be taken to the communal kitchen where a lot of it would likely be cooked tonight. “We don’t have too many things to speak about. Besides he’s only been here a day and he’s spent that time selling to the few members of this local town.”

“But what a town it has been,” a familiar voice spoke out smoothly and like a demon whose name was invoked Lindon stepped into sight. The blonde haired androgynous man dressed in a inexpensive yet smart waistcoat was everything that I wasn’t. “They have a great eye for taste and what a fine selection of goods I’ve rarely seen in a town this small. Honestly Marv if I hadn’t got an unmissable appointment in the town next over I would love to stay here an extra week; but you know how it is. Coin waits for no man.”

“Is that your family crest,” I said, having heard the repeated saying more than a few times from this man. Jan silently offered to carry the packed catch to the kitchen and I acquiesced taking a single pebble from the ground as I stood up.

“Haha,” he chuckled before abruptly cutting himself off. “No, afraid I don’t have a family crest just yet; but there’s a solution for that.”

“Is it earning more money,” I replied having quickly got the measure on this guy. I slowly started walking to the room that I shared with this guy, slightly tired from my busy day and eager to dig further into Tegram’s spell book.

“Yes, yes indeed,” he said rubbing his chin with one hand while his other hand held a walking stick, much nicer than mine, that he gestured wildly with. “If you want a family title or the like then you either need to be a great warrior, schmooze up to somebody important or just buy it outright. Guess which one I’m going for Mr. Future Wizard.”

“You really only know how to play one note,” I said uninterested as I continued towards the room that I shared with the self-proclaimed great merchant.

“And how many cycles a day have you been practicing those so-called Prestidigitations Mr. Future Wizard,” Lindon said as he matched my speed. “You’re still doing it now,” he gestured towards my hand above which a single pebble hovered moving to and fro slightly. Despite automatically conceding the point; I wouldn’t practicing though. Practicing these Prestidigitations felt like for the first time in my life I wasn’t cutting against the grain. Each and every one of them, and there were a bunch, were simple distinct effects that put a strain so minor on me that I could practice for cycles without growing tired. With a simple set of gestures and a whispered word I started to slowly heat up and cool down the rock, splitting my focus into two and immediately felt the strain increase by a sizable amount.

“Good keep working those magical muscles,” Lindon said. “We’ll need that if you are going to protect me on my way to my Summerwind.” Summerwind was the name of the last village they had to pass through before exiting the Tulpa Forest. “You’ll love it at Summerwind,” he said as he took two quick steps ahead sliding open the door to our shared room before taking off his hat and holding the door open theatrically.

“What happens at Summerwind,” I asked as I took a seat on one of the room’s stools, still focusing on my Prestidigitations. “Is it bigger than Ambergreen?”

“Oh much bigger,” Lindon said hooking a stool with his walking stick and then dragging it over to her. “It’s the main road leading from Ankswerh so naturally it would have a bit more foot traffic. Whereas with Ambergreen you and I both know there’s not much of consequence in that direction.”

“True enough,” I admitted easily. “So where do you come from then considering you came the exact route as me.”

“I’m not going to just go ahead and tell you the source behind my goods Marv,” he said with a smile upon his face. “Unless you want to go into business with me. An upfront investment of five gold is all I require for thirty percent of the company Future Name To Be Decided.”

“I’ll talk to you again when I have some money,” I said semi-dismissively. “There is one thing that I would like to ask you though.”

“I’m all ears,” Lindon said. “Go ahead. What can I sell to you?”

“Do you happen to know where I can acquire Magite crystal,” I said. My words received an immediate frown from the normally bubbly merchant before they sighed.

“Looking for a backup are you,” he said. “Well I hate to disappoint but there’s no way that I can get one of them. I’m not even sure about the price or availability. They’ve become worryingly scarce on the market for the last couple decades, or so I hear,” he said scratching his cheek. “You know from merchants older than my esteemed self. Some man more paranoid than myself might think that something is up and they are trying to keep it a secret.”

“Interesting,” I said. ‘Frustrating,’ I thought. “Very few people know where Magite comes from. Maybe they are planning an expansion and they need the extra Magite for that.”

“That is possible,” Lindon replied with his widest grin so far. “Maybe humans are on the cusp of major victory against the goblins and they are already just planning out where they want to build another castle. Honestly I believe it’s more likely they traded the goblins the Magite for land.”

“Goblins don’t use Magite,” I informed him. Magite was solidly a human only substance and the one requirement that humans needed to perform their magic. Goblins and monsters for the most part were able to cast their brand of cruder magic without it.

“I know,” Lindon said. “They’re having a meat feast tonight to see us off tomorrow. Are you going to come or just stay back at your room spinning stones?”

“I suppose I can spare a night,” I said. I had already camped at this place for ten days just working and practicing my Prestidigitations. I walked to the window looking out of the room before looking outside at a large stump about twenty paces away. I enunciated my words clearly and at the same time made well-practiced arcane gestures, slowly and steadily going through the full unabridged instructions for the spell. After about five seconds I made one last gesture forming the specific set of circumstances required to cast the spell Hydraulic Push and a jet of water burst forth from my fingers streaming towards my target… and missed.

“That poor grass,” Lindon said in mock horror. “What did it do to offend you so?”

“It wouldn’t stop talking,” I said to him and he mimed a zipping motion before falling silent. I repeated the process once more carrying out the procedures exactly as I did beforehand but focusing particularly on the aim of the spell and this time… it also missed.

On the third time I gouged a portion of bark out of the stump leaving minor cracks bursting out from the miniature crater. While I had no idea how strong that would be on people the fact remained that I had learnt my first tier one spell today. It may be slower than a crossbow, less accurate than a crossbow, lower range than a crossbow and probably do less damage than a crossbow…I’m really psyching myself out here aren’t I.

“That’s wonderful,” Lindon said. “Now Mr. Newly Graduated Wizard are you going to go out and eat.”

“There are far more requirements than learning a tier one spell to being qualified as a wizard,” I stated but my reluctance was washed over by Lindon’s enthusiasm. I could already feel the strain that came with intensive use of magic; a kind of numbness of the extremities and slowness of thought. I needed to relax and regain myself; maybe I would even sleep for six cycles tonight. “Please wake me up when the party starts,” I said as I slipped into the hard bed for the first time in a long feeling truly tired. I barely managed to spot the smile and affirmative gesture from Lindon before my eyes closed and I drifted into sleep.

xxx

I burst out of slumber breathlessly trying to regain any semblance of composure. My body felt unnaturally vigorous and my mind felt as if I was just bursting with drive after resting for a week. The remnants of my dream were vague as they always had been but the ever-present sunlight saturated my nightly visions whether the location was my old house, my meadow, in a dark forest or even in this current village. I took a few breaths calming myself and schooling my runaway thoughts before putting on a face that was identical to the one I always wore. Feeling despondent I sighed and stood up but just as I was about to continue practicing my magic I heard a knock on the door an instant before the door was swung wide open.

“Rise and shine sleeping Future Wizard,” Lindon said before he saw me and stopped. “Ah you’re already awake. I was going to tell you that the party is starting soon; they’ve got some instruments and there will be dancing later. I’m sure you don’t want to miss that.”

“It doesn’t really interest me but I’ve got energy to burn so I might as well,” I said stretching out my muscles.

“That’s the spirit,” Lindon said strolling to a spot besides me. “Hey would you mind carrying some things for me? This village has some of the nicest furs I have ever seen and it would be a shame if I couldn’t carry them to where they will be truly be appreciated. I’ll pay half a silver per pelt carried.”

“Deal,” I said. I knew he was probably ripping me off but I wasn’t experienced or greedy enough to push it further. The two of us left our shared residence and headed towards the communal cooking area from where the mouth-watering taste of cooking deer wafted.

“I heard Lila’s making a delicious spicy mince,” Lindon said making conversation. “I tried a pinch of the spice they’re making here. It’s honestly wonderful. I’m going to see if there’s a market for it in Ankswerh, see if I can sell it off.”

“Lila is..?” I said trying to remember the name and link it to a face.

“The girl you were talking to just this afternoon,” Lindon said sighing in faux exasperation. “Honestly never go into a service industry if you can’t remember a few names.”

“I haven’t intended to go into the service industry,” I said. “I intend to attend the Elasarin College of Magic.”

“And then what?” Lindon asked. “Elasarin trains mages mainly war mages or governing mages, if the students have managed to kiss enough ass. Going to go fighting the goblins or whoever our dear empire sets its rheumy eyes on next.”

“That’s quite a lot of anti-imperial sentiment,” I said not really caring.

“Haha, my friend,” Lindon said. “You will never find a person who loves the Empire more than I. Why the amount of fat to be skimmed off is truly unmatched among our neighbours.”

I chose to fall silent at that point. Politics was not my strong point and never would be. I knew that I lived in the Ettram Kingdom which was part of the Stellar Empire and had been for the last six hundred years. Silence seemed to take over from that point but I didn’t really care. I was used to long periods of silence anyway. Honestly all I wanted to do was go into the woods and use my spell over and over again feeling the intoxicating rush of magic and the satisfaction of the achievement. I followed the merchant silently as he stopped to greet everybody, drawing them in with compliments and small talk in the manner that a bard would play an instrument.

I was sat down at a table next to Lindon as co-guests of honour and a large plate of deer meat was placed in front of me topped with some of the local spices that Lindon raved about. It honestly smelt really good, the kind of food I seldom got to eat at home, and I took very little time to dig in. A few meat skewers also found their way into my plate and I even got a good taste of the spicy mince made by that girl called Lila who wanted to chat with me and did so for a lot of the evening. Thankfully Lindon was a lifesaver in that the vast majority of the attention was on him and he maintained it, easily becoming the centre of conversation in a way that I couldn’t; didn’t really want to.

It took me until nearly the fifth night cycle but I finally managed to slip away and head for bed.

xxx

“Wow, I think I can still feel that party going in my brain,” my soon to be travelling companion said as he picked up the remains of his luggage with the speed of somebody four times his age. “What I wouldn’t do for a cup of my mother’s home made tea right now. That always helped with the hangovers growing up.”

“You must have had an interesting childhood,” I replied. “Grow up on a wine farm?”

“Among other places,” he answered deflecting the question. “Ready to go?”

“Even if I wasn’t I would have to go anyway,” I said as I stood by the open door looking at the thin rain that fell from the grey clouds through gaps in the canopy. Overnight a think mist had formed restricting vision past a certain distance. The rain had started soon after I had gone to sleep and persisted until now; but never in great quantities. I suppose that if I was still at home I would find the light rain rather peaceable to watch and listen to the brewing storm.

However the fact that there definitely was a storm developing was the problem. While the rain as it stood was ultimately inconsequential for travelling purposes; heralded the arrival of a real problem. The rainy season was about to start and on our path we had to cross over two bridges in our next three days of travel to reach Summerwind. If the river burst its banks then we may be stuck here for an unbearably long time.

“Then there’s no time to stand around,” Lindon said increasing his speed to that of somebody only twice his current age, with a bad back. “Come on let’s go,” he said as he finally got all of his goods onto his pack.

“I was waiting for you,” I said as I stepped outside and into the drizzle. Luckily my backpack was waterproof but I still felt wetness in places that my cloak didn’t cover and I wondered whether I should have perhaps got an umbrella; maybe one that doubled as a walking stick. I’ll have to look and see if anything like that exists. I heard the sound of boots behind me tramping through the mud but I didn’t look around, instead choosing to remain silent and listen to Lindon wave goodbye to everybody in this town. I still felt plenty of energy in my body from my really good nap yesterday and I used that energy to maintain a good pace.

Surprisingly Lindon; despite his claims of a headache didn’t hold me back and the two of us trudged through the forest; transformed by the power of seasonal weather into a mire of shin deep puddles and freezing weather. We had travelled for nearly five cycles before the mist increased in thickness until I could barely see anything except for the trail and the first layer of trees to either side. Feeling the coldness of the vapour encroaching I switched from practicing my Prestidigitation to trying once more to use Shape Water on the mist but little progress was to be had, no matter how much I practiced the control necessary.

“Storms gotten pretty bad,” Lindon said practically shouting despite being within arm’s reach. “Should we head back and try it again later.” Trapped within my own thoughts I had lost sight of how truly terrible the rain had gotten. No longer a light drizzle, there was now a perpetual rain that stopped just short of being called a downpour. Gusts of wind blew intermittently throwing some of the fallen wind back in my face and I was now soaked besides a few parts of my body. A bolt of lightning struck somewhere in the distance and I waited for a good while before a rumble of thunder answered it showing that we’d by no means hit the worst.

Despite his words he seemed reluctant to turn around, that merchant mind that seemed to serve him well no doubt telling him that to do so would incur a loss. Truthfully I was also leaning away from that option. Ambergreen seemed like a perfectly nice town and I suppose I could spend the rainy season just practicing my spells; but I didn’t want to. I left my small little village to get away from that rural life and to become a powerful wizard. If I were to just go to another little village then I would be missing half the point.

“It’s already five cycles back,” I said trying to convince myself just as much as my travelling partner. “We might as well continue.Is your tent waterproof?”

“Yeah,” Lindon replied. “Do you need to borrow mine?”

“No I should be fine,” I said only to stumble as the squall threw another unreasonably harsh breeze towards me. “We’re should be coming up to the first bridge soon,” Maybe we can hunker down after that?”

“I’m down with that,” Lindon yelled. “It should take two more cycles in this weather? Bleeeegh.” His words were cut off by the storm as he got a mouthful and after a few moments of spluttering he just gestured for me to hurry up and move. I was happy to oblige, turning around and stepping down on the muddy path, glad that I had a good pair of boots to prevent me from slipping over after every step.

Our determination was set and we walked forward with resolve; but it felt like the storm was equally determined to stop us. Soon enough the rain graduated to downpour and the winds increased until gales forced us to take one step back for every two walked forward. My Dancing Lights fought constantly against the encroachment of the mist and it was only thanks to my efforts into that spell that we could still see the path.

“How much longer do you think it is,” Lindon said chattering through clenched teeth. Wisps of vapour were visible in his breath and he was constantly trying to warm himself up from the freezing temperatures that proved the better of our winter clothes.

“About a cycle ago,” I said estimating the time. Even at the best conditions it would be hard to calculate the passage of time in this jungle. Now that the world was filled with darkness and mist it was left up to my guessing skills.

“A cycle ago I could have been relaxing in my tent,” Lindon said in a somewhat wistful voice. Get out of these cold, wet clothes and into my warm blankets.”

“If those blankets aren’t also wet,” I said the voice of reason in these circumstances. The bags we used were supposed to be waterproof but only to within reason. This storm may be a little unreasonable.

“Do you know any spells to dry off things?” Lindon asked causing me to think.

“There was a Prestidigitation to warm,” I said. “Maybe it could dry things. If not I can look and see if there’s a different Prestidgitation for that.”

“Perfect,” Lindon said. “We’ll camp together tonight then.” His words were said at the same time as a lightning bolt tore through the skies above carving through the mist and momentarily alleviating the darkness revealing a wooden bridge about fifty paces away about standing firm above a rampant river. Half a second later a boom of thunder announced that the storm was overhead, but that right now was now an afterthought in our collective minds.

“Across the bridge quickly,” Lindon said urging me on unnecessarily. I had already started scurrying towards the bridge as soon as I had seen it, the merchant right behind me. As we approached the bridge the wind grew harsher and stronger and we had to fight for every step. The short distance felt like an eternity. I was so tired that when I finally stepped foot on the bridge I nearly slipped and it was only Lindon grabbing me that prevented me from falling over. I turned back to thank him but he was desperately trying to keep his own balance and so I did the sensible thing and grabbed the handrail trying to drag myself across the bridge before something terrible happened making it half way with another exertion of effort.

Then the winds stopped and for a moment the downpour abated. I didn’t move forward though as instincts that I had never felt before in my left started screaming at me. Fight and flight failed me and I turned my head upwards towards the sky, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Lindon had done the same. There were no trees around the bridge and if it wasn’t for the mist and darkness we would be able to see a clear sky. As it were the sky was a dark grey haze that showed nothing. And then the largest bolt of lightning I had ever seen illuminated the sky and we saw the shadow.

I instinctively knew what creature that was as soon as the outline appeared, but my mind refused to acknowledge it. Stories paled compared to the real thing as a wingspan larger than my whole village flapped and then the world was thrown into chaos. I desperately grabbed onto the rail straining my muscles against the winds as I saw miniature tornados start to form all around the forest, tearing trees apart and turning them into shrapnel. Lindon grabbed onto the rail as well and I turned towards him, watching his look of panic that was surely mimicked on my face. I struggled to find the words to say to reassure him and then a deafening crack took both of our minds off of the winds.

The waters unnoticed due to the imminent danger from the skies were surging and roiling beneath us and I felt my heart jolt as one of the pillars under the bridge cracked causing the bridge to lurch to the side throwing me off balance and onto my knees. I grit my teeth and tried to clamber to my feet only to stop as I saw a tornado slowly start to approach that side of the bridge. I hesitated and a second pillar on the bridge broke causing the whole bridge to tip to the side.

I lost grip entirely and fell into the water barely catching onto the rail before I could be swept away entirely. Lindon also barely managed it fumbling before he managed to hook the rail with his cane and somehow prevent being swept away. I had barely managed to keep my head above water before the rail broke and I found myself swept downstream, my merchant companion following right behind me.