He sat in a trance, spreading his mind out all around him looking for something. And not just in this world – he was pushing beyond the outer limits of magical theory – searching other spaces, the world of dreams the sub world or anything else he could push his consciousness to. He had been doing this for years now and never found anything. He felt like a parched blind man in a desert, scrambling all around looking water – but no idea of where it was.

However things would change today, he was getting tired worn down with the mental exhaustion and he was just about to quite when it happened. His mind touched another’s. he felt surprise and shock that mirrored his own, then a burst of information and mental energy. It was too much too quickly, still not over the surprise of actually achieving it, the blast snapped his mind awake in the real world. Heart pounding and blood rushing in his ears he couldn’t believe it. He always knew there had to be more out there – there had to be others.. it was why he searched but he never truly believed he would make contact. Mind racing at the thought, ideas crashing around in his head and the joy of actually achieving it… He tried over and over to settle into a trance and reach out again – but it was no use, he was too exited and mentally active, he couldn’t focus his mind enough.

It took over a week before he could settle his mind to try again. And even then his thoughts would quickly spiral out of control and force him awake, so he could make no real attempts at it. After a few more days he was able to make a better go at things. Then after a few more weeks with nothing, Norman was beginning to lose hope, thinking that he had missed his one chance. After being turned down by the Aspire guild he was looking for something else … anything else to make his mark on history – he would be remembered!.

He was starting to feel hopeless, but he had worked on his composure and mental state – trained his mind better, so he would not let it get to him as he tried again, day after day.

Eventually it happened again, a light brush against something, he focused on it but he kept control of his emotions – shutting it down as excitement started to build. From the mind he had got in contact with he could feel their emotions too, a mix of curiosity … and… joy ..happiness … hope.. something like that. The mind pushed through a few emotions lightly, not intense enough to brake the connection. It felt like a greeting or introduction.

After a few more weeks of semi-regular contact, Norman began to understand and communicate with the other mind, it tried hard to keep things light and friendly basic communications.. but Norman also felt the undercurrent of the being he was communication with and he could pick up the uncertainty .. it was more than just caution … they were afraid .. he felt a deep fear from them.

As time went by they were able to communicate more and more – they knew more about magic than he could have imagined and they were freely sharing concepts, flows and usages. Magic that could let him live forever. He learnt to drain life energy from others and he knew the whole time that those sharing all this freely with him were still on a fundamental level terrified of him. Norman wanted to help he began to trust those he was communicating with and each time he made a successful connection he became more invested in them. He later found out that the even though they were afraid of him – they were desperate, their world was dying, they would all die, the whole civilisation would be gone in a few centuries.

He felt more of a connection to these being than he ever had with anyone else. He had to help them, He would do whatever it took.