The sound of bickering echoed through the tent stuffed full of hot air spewed out by the ‘illustrious’ former members of the city. If it sounded like I placed doubt upon the word illustrious it was because I had spent the last half cycle listening to the complaints, worries and general unhelpfulness. The tent was nearly full to bursting with around eighty people gathered around the edges of the reasonably large construct. In the middle a man wearing shiny silver plate armour stood surrounded by generals, advisors and other merchants; including that woman Myrrha who stood to his right.

I stood apart next to Cronceet and his apprentice June who looked haggard. This was apparently her first taste of real battle and from what little I had gleaned she hadn’t acquitted herself with exceptionalism. Cronceet apparently had no strong association with the Lord but he was easily important enough to be allowed into their secret meeting. He had given his report on the findings and then stepped back and allowed them to discuss the situation.

“There have never been monsters of this strength seen before Lord Aardhilt,” one of the people in the tent I had barely taken notice of before said. He had quite the mercantile look and his next words confirmed it. “I have taken the occasional caravan through those woods and never ran into anything more than wolves or the occasional bear.”

“That’s because the woods were owned before, you tub of lard,” Myrrha said disrespectfully causing the admittedly portly man to splutter. “The Tulpa Forest has been watched over by a monster called the Lacquered Floravore; a monster that feeds off great portions of the bountiful trees and easily killed off all monsters that could prove to be competition. The monster seldom came into contact with humans and most instances of contact ended with both parties disengaging. Unfortunately our scouts have recently found its corpse.” She shook her head causing gold sigils on her white facemask to sprout into existence before they faded. “It looks like the dragon finished it off in one attack?”

“That’s…” the hefty merchant stated as he visibly shook. He took a step backwards as for a moment the wizard seemed to loom over the man until…

“That’s enough Myrrha,” Lord Aardhilt said. He was a middle aged man with salt-pepper hair and he wore a hard expression and only the faintest of stubble that betrayed the fact that he was in a refugee camp and not in his castle. “This is not the time to fight amongst ourselves. We can expect no help from the capital at the moment and until somebody is sitting on that throne then we can’t expect an official response.”

“What about appealing to Spectrum directly,” a bulky man with more than a few medals said. He was one of the people that I had lumped in with the generals at the beginning and I hadn’t had my assumptions overturned yet.

“Unlikely,” Cronceet suddenly spoke up causing every eye in the tent to turn towards him. “I would like to take this time to remind everybody that this is a dragon. Not a monster, or a horde of goblins, or even some abomination cooked up by the Calamity Mage. There is only one member of Spectrum that has the possibility of chasing off the dragon and she is the very definition of Acedia.”

“Wasn’t she your student,” Myrrha suddenly piped up receiving a glare from the other wizard.

“I taught that prodigy briefly,” Cronceet said. “So trust me when I say that she will use any excuse necessary to not do extra work and hang the consequences for anybody else.”

“We’ll have to do without Blue then,” Myrrha said. “What’s your plan bossman?” The words that she was using were incredibly casual when referring to the lord of a city. Either the two of them were really close or Myrrha was just that powerful enough that she could get away with doing something like that.

“What about asking for help from the Empire,” the same general said relentlessly as he twirled his handlebar moustache and I resolved to remember his name if he kept asking relevant questions.

“No chance,” Lord Aardhilt said immediately. “The Empire wouldn’t want to pick a fight with a dragon for a kingdom that might not even be a member in the future. Qwart or Indrax won’t help either,” he said as if forestalling any further questions. “They wouldn’t do anything to help a member state of the Empire.”

“So the lukewarm plunge into hell,” another one of the people that I had labelled as generals spoke up. “They will all watch Ettram go up in flames until a winner stands over the bodies.”

“Hardly that dramatic, Irons,” Cronceet spoke up. “Once again I would like to emphasise that this is actually a dragon. The entire Steppes of Indrax might at most have one or two people capable of actually putting up a fight and the Powers of Qwart are subtle and tend to take more than can be paid. Those bastards will happily laugh at our corpses.”

“So what do you recommend,” Aardhilt said turning towards the wizard. That was unexpectedly impressive. While Cronceet held himself apart from the general court of Answerh his word seemed to be respected enough that even the lord was willing to ask politely. Was this the power and respect earned by a wizard? Or was it only Cronceet and Myrrha that earned this distinction?

“Forget the dragon,” Cronceet said shrugging immediately earning a burst of reproach from the room at large. “Nothing we do can drive it off. Focus on this new monster that is no doubt going to turn the villages throughout the Tulpa Forest into plant food, if it hasn’t done so already. Splitting our attention will just guarantee that both tasks fail.”

“I’ve always had success splitting my attention,” Myrrha said in a voice that radiated smugness receiving a glare from Cronceet in return.

“We can’t,” Aardhilt said but no explanation was offered further, but Cronceet seemed to get the message.

“I see,” Cronceet said and an understanding seemed to pass between the lord and the wizard. “Come on then,” he said grabbing my shoulder as he simultaneously grabbed the shoulder of his apprentice and he brought us straight out of the tent.

“What do you think they are going to do?” June asked her voice barely above a whisper.

“Whatever they chose I can all but guarantee it will fail,” Cronceet said. “Don’t concern yourself with them. Focus on your own development before you start affecting the world around you.”

“You mentioned that you wanted me to practice with June,” I stated wondering how this practice was going to go down. I only knew one offensive spell and Cronceet had stated that June was at a much higher level in her education than myself. If I was going to beat her then I would have to attack quickly and not allow her to use any of those powerful spells that she no doubt knew.

“Easy,” Cronceet said tightening his grip somewhat. “We’re not going to have a full on wizard duel.” He turned towards his apprentice. “I’m going to teach him the Rays and then we will meet up at the Circle. Use this time to get mentally ready.” He released his apprentice and she nodded before she scampered off.

“Rays?” I asked hopeful that I would gain a new cantrip.

“Piecemeal spell,” Cronceet said, as if that would mean anything to me. “What I mean is that Rays is a portion of a spell that is incomplete; it is more of a framework that can be applied to other spells than a separate spell by itself. Like when you combine Create Water and Shape Water to create a Hydraulic Push; Rays is useless on its own but becomes useful when combined with other spell constructs to create tier one or greater spells.”

“Spell constructs?” I asked trying out the new term.

“By all the gods’ human and goblin,” Cronceet said sounding more exasperated than frustrated. “Do you not know what a spell construct is?”

“An imaginary structure that you build in your brain to manipulate the Element,” I said throwing in the new terms to my current knowledge gained from Tegram’s books and my own attempts at learning spells. I immediately knew I said something wrong as I felt Cronceets hands tighten over my shoulder until it begun to hurt and I hurried to try and fix my poor explanation. “Like building up unused muscles you do this more and more until your brain becomes linked with your Will and the idea becomes a spell.”

“You are a prodigiously talented idiot,” Cronceet said before he let slip what sounded like a chuckle from his lips. “At Dynston we first teach students the process of creating a two-dimensional model and gestures that have been used. We end up teaching them more and more additions to the model before cutting down on the gestures until they are able to cast their first spell with minimum words and gestures. We’ve found that the best way is to trick them, but that won’t work here you genius moron.”

We were at his tent at this point and he quickly dragged me inside ignoring the watchful looks of the dozens of people milling around. He pointed to a stool wordlessly before he went off to rummage around in a chest in the corner of the room.

“Lost a lot of stuff back in the city,” he said. “No matter I can remember most of it.”

“How do you develop the standard models,” I asked. “Wouldn’t there be sufficient difference in each apprentice’s brains so as to render the stock models insufficient.”

“You don’t talk like a farm boy,” Cronceet said as he pulled out what looked to be a mix of a diagram and words that were simpler than those in the books of Elder Tegram’s pages.

“I’ve read the dictionary back to front,” I admitted. “I got a copy of the ninth Solarin edition for my seventh birthday.” There had been many days when I sat in my room paging through the dog-eared book browsing until I found a word that struck my fancy which I would then resolve to use in conversation the following days.

“Yes, people’s brains are all a bit different,” Cronceet said. “People have different ways of absorbing information and different ways of approaching a solution. Thankfully we’re all still the same species and we have got this down to a fine art. Memorise the diagram, read the words and practice the gestures. If there are any differences or discomforts that you feel and we will alter the diagram until it fits you correctly. It should be like reading off a page and enacting a spell from a book. You are not trying to physically mould your brain until you can cast spells like moving your limbs.”

“Alright,” I said nodding firmly, keeping the secret thrill of being taught by an actual magic professor from spilling over onto my face. Elder Tegram had only recently started showing me his own spells recently and even then most of my learning growing up was by experimenting with the fountain. Apparently I had been using a different method and so I eagerly sat there as he corrected my every gesture, every word and even my mental image using a spell that detected my thoughts and that I might have thought was invasive if the whole situation wasn’t so cool.

xxx

“Are you ready?” Cronceet said. This was about almost two cycles later as I stood opposite June in the Circle which was paradoxically square. A sandy clearing encircled by a rope about fifty paces in diameter; this place was just a short walk out of the complex of the camp and any prying eyes giving both of us the ability to concentrate.

“I am,” I said nodding as I stared down June. I crouched down bending my knees to lower my profile. The new partial cantrip was fresh inside my mind but it felt somewhat different; less secure and slower.

“I’m ready,” June said looking at me as she lifted her hands in a position on in which they could be shaped into a gesture in a moment. Determination covered her face but I got the feeling that her determination was a result of her preparations rather than an intrinsic confidence.

“Alright then you go on three,” Cronceet said. “Only the spell Ray can be used, no physical contact and first one to get hit loses.”

I nodded, the rules were restricting but they would restrict her more than myself. I took a moment just imagining the process of converting Will to Element that was briefly described as I heard the countdown. 3...2…1.

I instantly leapt to the side just as a duo of silver beams flashed past me from the fingers of my opponent and I curled up my hand into gestures as I started doing the same only to swerve to the left as another shiny ray appeared in the spot I was just standing. Growling in irritation I reached into that framework before yanking chunks of my will violently and throwing it into the matrix. A ray of light materialised before it broke apart into useless burst of light, but that motion caused my opponent to flinch.

Alright the matrix is weaker when I don’t engrave it into my brain and instead remember it. It feels like the difference between a sculpture and a picture of a sculpture. The picture has less dimensions but it’s quicker to create, uses less ‘stuff’ and…and…

I smiled at that point as I finally got what I was doing wrong. Paintings only ever had one perspective and the same thing went with a spell matrix. I had learnt the spell matrix but the slightest clumsy modification would throw it out and render it invalid. I had too many gestures and the slightest break in the sequence would cause the spell matrix to fail. I hit the ground a moment before four rays came towards me. Were there two separate ways of casting spells? Does Cronceet also engrave spells into his brain or does he just use standard spell templates?

My thoughts distracted me enough that it was with some surprise that I felt a burst of pressure on my shoulder as the ray struck a glancing blow. Instantly the rays stopped and I allowed myself to stop moving at the same time. Sitting down in the cold sand I turned towards my recent teacher taking in his somewhat expectant expression.

“I can’t convert Will to Element easily or precisely enough,” I said without him needing to explain the situation. “I also don’t understand the Spell Matrix enough that I can use it under pressure.”

“And you were distracted,” Cronceet said seriously. “June what did you do wrong?”

“I couldn’t hit him until he was distracted,” June said somewhat shamefacedly. “I didn’t lead my target and I didn’t curve my attacks to hit him.”

“And how are you going to improve,” the older wizard said. “No don’t answer me,” he raised his hand to forestall any questions. “Show me,” he said. “Have another round. This time I will permit you to use any of the spells that you’ve learnt. Don’t make any killing shots and I will see how you do.”

“Got it,” I said at the same time that June stated her own affirmation. “I reflexively started to cast Hydraulic Push before I stopped and started to cast Create Water instead. I had long engraved this spell and it was effortless to create buckets worth of water and allow it to fall to the ground around me.

The differences were immediate as I felt the muscle that I had thought of as my magic flex as the water appeared and I almost instinctively cast Shape Water at the same time causing the falling water to catch in the air and hold up. No spell matrix just a mental image backed up by brain muscles that were well used. My opponent used spell matrixes as weapons but I was a spell matrix and that was the difference. I barely listened as the count went down instead focusing on shaping the water and the motion of my opponent.

This time I didn’t go on the defensive. As soon as my opponent started her first gesture I snapped out a single command.

“Hydraulic Push,” I stated imperiously as three beams of water exploded out from in front of me with force that was wholly new to me; a minor gesture controlling them to curve in at slightly different angles. I didn’t need to create more than one Spell Formation when I was the Spell Formation. My opponent immediately abandoned her spell and I watched carefully as her gestures changed sharply to another spell. That moment when she changed forced her to drop her previous spell formation so. I immediately made another follow up gesture firing another two jets.

The first jets impacted a translucent shield that sprung up in front of her causing a massive spray of water to go everywhere. She dropped it a moment later only for the remaining two blasts of water to impact her torso. No on second thought it looked like they were blocked a bit before they hit her. I turned towards Cronceet before I felt a massive headache hit me followed by a wave of exhaustion so great that it physically hurt me. I dropped to the ground on my knees before I tried to stagger upright.

Suddenly I felt the pain in my body abruptly cease, giving me a moment of pure relaxation before the fatigue doubled and I found myself falling forward until I stopped; hovering a foot off the ground. With sluggish thoughts I watched the ground move until my world gently faded to black.