Our wisest said that with time we would become strong again. That in order to stop the gifts, we would need to learn their strengths and their weaknesses. We watched and waited. And then we knew what we needed to do.

- Chapter 29, The Unwritten History of Neah-Reath

The sun was an inferno, burning in the centre of the sky. The ground was an ocean of wiry grass that cut her as she struggled onwards, one foot and then the other. Her legs moving through the grass was the only sound around her, as though all else was gone. Not even a breeze blew to move the grass, or to ease the burning heat. Looking ahead, she saw a rock, stretching along the horizon in front of her. Looking back, she saw another, as though she were in the middle of a bowl that stretched for miles in all directions. A jolt of fear surged through her as she thought she saw movement in the corner of her eye, but when she searched for it, she found nothing. Fear helped her overcome her weariness, moving faster through the grass.

Time moved, and with it so did she. The rock in front of her was bigger now, showing the truth of itself. Still the sun pummelled her with its heat and still her movements in the grass was the only sound. A shadow in the sky appeared and disappeared with a flicker, too fast for her to be certain it had existed at all. And still she journeyed on, hope filling her heart for a second as she thought that she might make it.

The sun was falling, moving to hide behind the cliff in front of her. She could see it in its full majesty now, a cliff a hundred yards high that spread out in both directions as far as she could see. She stared intensely across the full length of it, hoping beyond all hope that she had found it. On the edge of her vision, she saw the cleft that was the top of the trail out of the hell she was in. Onwards she went.

The sun was gone, but the heat remained, coming from the rocks and seeming to fill the air. That and the grass were her only companions as she walked throughout the night, moving ever closer to the cleft in the cliff. A sudden noise caused her to start, as a silhouette appeared in front of her. Dread filled her heart as it disappeared again. Then, the sound of an arrow flying towards her and pain as it pierced her chest. The sound of a second arrow filled her world, as the sight of an arrow head speeding towards her filled her vision.

Teah woke with a start and a shout, as she clutched at her chest and face, still feeling the pain of the arrows piercing her. Her shout woke Cornelius and he turned towards her, concern adding lines to the many that filled his face.

“Peace, child, you are safe. Calm now, calm.”

“I felt it hitting me, piercing me. I felt the it INSIDE of me!” Teah shouted, her panic overcoming her as her head reeled with the sensations.

“A dream, child. It was only a dream. You are safe now. Breathe.”

Teah felt her heart slow as she breathed in and out.

“Why did it feel so real? Dreams aren’t supposed to hurt!”

Cornelius looked at her, pity staining his eyes. “Another mystery to add to your growing list of impossible feats. Perhaps it has something to do with why you cannot remember anything. Maybe something traumatic happened and caused you to forget. Tell me, what did you dream?”

She paused, as the memory of the dream filled her.

“There was heat, and endless, cutting grass. I was surrounded by it, with cliffs behind me and in front of me.”

Cornelius stared at her intently. “The grass, was it thin and wide, like a sword blade? Green like a pine tree?”

“Ye, yes, it was. You know it?”

He seemed to disappear within his memories, his face flashing through a flood of emotions. Finally, Cornelius answered.

“That sounds very much like the Great Western Rift. A canyon a hundred miles wide and a thousand miles long. It is said that no one can cross it. I take it, from your sudden awakening, that you also did not?”

“N-no,” she stammered. “I almost did, but then I was killed. A silhouette and two arrows is all I saw.”

“Curious. There are no records of stories of any tribes living in the Rift. It is said to be uninhabitable.”

He stared off into the distance again then continued, “Well, a dream may not always be the best source of information. A collation of different memories, perhaps? Or maybe a dream is just a dream.”

“But it felt so real. I could feel the heat, the pain of the grass. I remember the silence all around and listening to the grass as I moved through it. Then the pain of the arrows. Surely it happened.”

“Well, the fact that you are here now, with no arrow holes, would argue against it. However, it definitely sounds like more than a dream. I think this is another one for the not useful now basket, so let us leave it for now. Come, I think I hear the sound of dawn approaching, so we may as well get on with the day. Food is always a good source of comfort, so breakfast first, I think.”

Teah listened and could indeed hear the sounds of the world awakening as she looked towards the door. Then she looked back at Cornelius, as she thought of something.

“How do you get your food, if you can’t walk?”

“Walk? What makes you think I cannot walk?” Cornelius questioned her.

“Your legs, they do not look like they could support a child, let alone you.”

“Ahh, child, I forget that you do not believe in magic. While my legs are wasted and withered, there are ways to control the flesh beyond that of mere muscles.”

With a wave of his hands, an almost invisible layer of air moved around his legs as he stood and took a small step.

“It is not particularly elegant, and certainly not fast, but it suffices. I rarely travel far, and the magic here is quite sufficient for my purposes,” he said, as he moved towards the table where food was stacked.

“Some of the villagers are kind enough to bring me supplies on a regular basis, in return for the small magics that keep a village going. Heat stones, refreshing the runes, that sort of thing. It’s enough to get by.”

Teah stared at his legs in fascination. Unless she concentrated, the layer of air was unnoticeable, making it appear that he walked unaided.

“What happened to your legs? Have you always been that way?”

“That is a long story, my child, and we have enough of those with you. Certainly, breakfast needs to come before any thing else. I will heat the water for the tea, if you could be good enough to prepare some bread and perhaps you could find the honey. It is one of those jars,” he said with a wave of his hand towards a shelf which held half a dozen clay jars.

The reminder of food caused her stomach to rumble and she hastened to the table. After finding a knife, a curious double-bladed item, she cut some thick slices of bread and then searched the shelf for the honey. Finding no labels, she resorted to opening the various jars until she found a rich, golden honey. Putting it all on a tray that she found on the table, she took it to the small table by the fireplace and put it down, just as Cornelius pulled a small kettle away from the fire and placed it onto the tray as well.

“Perfect, child! Well done! Now, if you could prepare the food, I will pour the tea and we can discuss what we can do to get you home.”

She blushed at the praise and then started spreading the honey onto the bread. As she finished, Cornelius passed her a small cup of what smelt like strong coffee, which she sipped with pleasure.

“What do you mean? Do you know where I am from? How?”

Cornelius gave a small chuckle at her excitement.

“No, nothing like that I am afraid. We will have to do things the hard way, it seems. But do not be without hope. There are always more sources of information in the world.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if magic brought you here, then magic should be able to find out where you came from. There are a range of spells for divining truths about people that could be useful. Hopefully, we will be able to find where you are from and then we can get you home again.”

Teah stared at him in excitement.

“You mean it will be that easy? A couple spells and I will be home?”

Cornelius sighed with what seemed to be regret.

“Unfortunately, I doubt it will be as easy as you are envisioning. As you can see from my surroundings,” he said as he waved at the room around them, “my magic is not what it was. I can no longer do the large spells, like teleportation that I used to do.

“However,” he continued quickly as he saw her face fall, “I can do enough to help you find out where you came from. Then, you can make your way there and find out who you are.”

Teah stared at him again.

“You said divining. That’s like telling the future, right?”

Cornelius stared at her then chuckled.

“For someone who doesn’t believe in magic, you are certainly well-versed in it. Yes, divining is sometimes used to tell the future, although if you ever get into magic, I would advise staying away from that particular bit of it. Telling the future is very hit and miss, and almost always ends badly for all involved.”

“You mean, what you see is what you get? There are many futures and whatever you see is what happens?”

Cornelius paused for a time, with a strange emotion on his face.

“Surely you are not a mage, are you? The idea of multiple futures has been discussed at length for some time, indeed with the idea that when you do look into the future, you determine what the future will be. But this is not an understanding that is spread around. It was deemed to be damaging for the reputation of magic, and since it could not be proven, it was decided not to share this idea further with the general population.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, what do you think would happen if people thought that magic users were causing things to happen just be looking at the future? Do you think they would accept all the random accidents and deaths that occur throughout their lives if they thought that it only happened because someone saw it happen? Do you think that your average villager can separate the cause and effect from the facts of seeing things?”

Teah stared at him as she realised what he was saying.

“They would blame magic for everything. Instead of an accident, it would be the mages fault for making it happen. Anger, hate, killing magic users.”

“Yes and no. They would definitely try to kill magic users. Some might even succeed. But what do you think happens when you threaten someone who can make fire with their mind?”

Teah swallowed harshly, as she understood what he meant.

“War. It would be an uprising.”

“Indeed. So, the King ruled long ago that anything that would cause magic to be seen as the enemy of the people would be, restricted, in its spread. Frankly, its not hard to do. Your average villager has so little in common with your average magic user that any meaningful conversations are limited anyway.”

“Why? You think they are beneath you?”

Cornelius stared at her with a hard expression.

“My dear, I do not think, I know, that they are. The things I have learnt, the things I have done, they could not understand if they spent their lives trying.”

“So why don’t you teach them? Share magic with them?”

“It is not quite that simple. Look at me child, and tell me how old you think I am.”

Teah looked at it, taking in everything. She saw his withered legs, his thin, tired body and his wrinkled, aged face.

“A hundred years.”

“A nice guess, but no. I am much closer to two hundred years, the first fifty of which I spent studying and leaning magic and the ideas behind it.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“It is magic, child. Anything is possible. But in this case, it is because of the magic. By taking in and using the magic, which is a lot of the what you are learning to do at first, the magic affects your body. It has a different impact on each person, but almost every magic user who doesn’t die from something unpleasant make it to over one hundred. Two hundred is rarer, and even the Elvish magic users rarely make it over three hundred, but when compared to the fifty or sixty that your lucky villager will get, it is an infinite amount of time. I do not look down on them, not as people, but their experience is so far removed from mine that it would be akin to an adult speaking with a child. But far worse.”

“Why?”

“I was not born a mage, my child. I had a family; parents, brothers, sisters. I lived in another village far from here. And do you know how many people in my family have died since then? All of them. Some from time, others illness, a few from more violent things, but they have all died. That is the truth of a magic user’s life. We outlive all who knew us, until all that we know is magic. That is how most of us die. Alone.”

Teah stared at him as sadness and regret warred over his face.

“So why do you do it?”

“Because, for all the pain, there comes joy. I have cast spells that have helped save cities, I have seen more of this land than whole villages have combined. I have LIVED my life, rather than waiting for it to end.”

Cornelius shrugged himself back into the present.

“But now, child, it is time for us to do your magic.”