The Lightbearer's Gift

Garrett brought us into his small cottage as soon as we stepped in, a little girl who couldn't be more than 6 years old hopped down from a chair in front of the window. Her brown pigtails bounced as she ran over to meet us.

“Papa is that an elf. Oh, wow she’s so pretty, her hair's so white like it's glowing.” the girl said. She ran around me in circles, examining me as if I was the strangest thing she had ever seen.

Garrett with a smile said. “It's a boy elf Lori now introduce yourself properly, we're having guests for supper.”

Lori did a small curtsy and said, “My name is Lory Braton it is my honor to have you for dinner.”

She stumbled over her words a bit, but it was quite endearing to see the little girl play at gracious host. “My thanks for having us, Miss Lory, my name is Moon,” I said, giving her a bow.

Garrett said, “Good job, how about you and Moon finish setting the table? I want to talk to Sten for a bit.”

I guess Garette would have more questions about me. Sten gave me a nod; Lori hopped in excitement and grabbed my arm pulling me into another room. I glanced back for a moment as Sten and Garrett sat down on a small bench by the door, the two starting a quiet conversation.

She led me into a small kitchen. On the cookfire in their hearth there was a pot and from the smell there was some stew boiling. There was a table with 4 seats in one corner of the room which was half set with utensils.

“Moon are all elf’s pretty like you? Why are they so far from home? Are you going to stay long if we don't get many visitors?” The girl blurted out question after question. With a smile I said.

“All elves look similar to me, that's why it's so hard to tell the boys from the girls.” The girl completely forgot her other questions then said. “That's so weird. How can you tell your mama from your papa.” Other than the lack of obvious features I wasn’t so sure what the difference was, so I said. “Elves just learn to tell the differences. It’s hard for humans but if my friend Lilian visits maybe, you can figure it out.”

“Is she pretty too?” Lori asked.

“Yes, she is.” I answered.

“I hope I can get so pretty when I grow up, the village boys always make fun of me.” she said. With a frown on her face. Children can often be mean to each other for no reason.

“Well, I think you're plenty pretty and those boys are idiots.” she smiled at that.

Lori seemed to have a million questions about elves, but my lack of knowledge was a problem. I just made up a story about being raised by humans to appease her. Lori showed me where the various utensils were, and I set the table according to her instruction. It was odd that this little girl in the middle of the forest seemed to show more knowledge about etiquette than most of the peasants I have seen eating.

After about 10 minutes Sten and Garett returned and joined us at the table. Garret whet by the pot on the book fire and started ladling out a thick stew in each bowl. Sten and Garrett chatted for some time about his upcoming contract to help in the escort of the Baroness to the capitol.

“Are you going to work for Uncle Sten Moon,” Lori asked.

“Yes, in the next two months or so “I said.

“So, you’re Staying.” Lori asked excitedly. I imagine the girl must not have many sources of entertainment living in the forest.

“Aye I’m going to teach him magic.” Garrett Said.

Lori practically jumped out of her seat and asked. “Can I watch?”

“If you’re a good girl and don’t interrupt you can watch “Garett said.

“Yay.” Lori said as she started clapping her hands. Garett had a warm smile on his face as he stared at his daughter happily clapping. A small amount of sadness came across his face. After supper Garrett showed me my accommodations for the remainder of my stay. There were 3 bedrooms in the house. Garrett had the largest but in reality, it was barely larger than Dena’s. By the size of the bed, it is likely that his feet would hang off the end. Mine and loris were about half the size and the beds were even smaller. For the first time I was grateful for my small stature as the room was barely longer than I was tall. Lori had small wooden toys from dolls to horses thrown about the room.

“It’s small but you're not exactly large.” Garret said as I examined my room.

“It belonged to my daughter, but she lives near the capitol now, so no one’s been using it.” I laid my meager belongings down and went to shake his hand. “I know Sten called on a debt to get you to teach me but regardless. Thank you for doing this.”

With a small smile he said. “You're most welcome in truth I would have trained you regardless, but I would have limited it to healing.”

“Even that would have been useful,” I said.

“True enough there are not that many of us to go around but our agreement was to train you to the best of my ability, so I'll teach you all I know. It's fortunate we can skip most of that.”

Garett ushered Sten to the door and before he could leave Sten said, “I’ll see you in two months or so. Hopefully, Garett here isn’t going to slack on the training.”

Garrett scoffed at that then said. “If Moon is even half as intelligent as assume he is, success essentially guaranteed.”

Sten turned to leave, and Lori shouted. “By Uncle Sten.”

“Bye Lori you take care of those two now you hear.” Sten replied.

She puffed her chest out and said. “Of course, papa wouldn’t get anything done without me.” With one last nod to me, Sten returned back towards where we left the cart.

“Come Moon, let's have a real talk in my study. I want to know how much you actually need to learn.” Garret said. There was a door next to his room that we didn’t enter. Interestingly enough it was the largest. Both the left and right walls were lined with books. In the center near a window was his desk with all manner of books and papers cluttering it. A smaller table that must have been Lori’s had toys and paper covered in childish drawings.

We spent the rest of the day going into more detail on what I actually knew as we went through everything from Newtonian physics which he calls natural philosophy to thermodynamics and medicine. My knowledge of anything besides medicine and biology was not as thorough but there were very few questions, I didn’t have at least some understanding of. Where I drew a blank it was usually with anything that has to do with Ether and spellcraft. What I was able to glean were little more than guesses that were mostly incorrect.

After over three hours Garrett said. “Ok I think I have your measure now.” glancing at a sheet of paper covered in notes. “Etheric theory, Spell Structure, Sigildry, Herblore and an introduction on Standard medicant tools.” he said rubbing his chin.

“This could either take the two months that Sten guessed or two years you must fully dedicate yourself to learning.” Garrett said.

“I intend to by the way do you have any idea what could have caused my memory loss?” I said.

Garret Responded, “I’m sure you have summarized as much that it is not due to injury it’s too deliberate there is one thing I could try, hold still.”

He got up from his chair, his gaze became piercing, as he raised a hand. The gaze went away then he started casting a spell. Slowly sigils began to form and glow a soft white with the same pulse I was used to. The spell was cast. Nothing seemed to happen.

“As I expected that didn’t work, either the spell used to remove your memories is powerful enough to be both undetectable in the Ether and resistant to Curse dispelling or it isn’t even a curse but something else. There are more powerful and invasive methods of removing curses, but they lie in the capitol.” I was slightly disappointed but unsurprised. I imagine if Garrett believed that it would work, he would have already tried it.

Garrett gazed out of the window behind his desk the sun was almost completely behind the horizon at this point “Perhaps we should get some rest and start fresh in the morning.”

Before he could turn in for the night I went into my pouch and pulled out a Gelding. “For the remainder of my stay.” I would be using up space and eating their food so it would be imprudent for me to not contribute. The Gelding should be sufficient compensation for any resources I use in the next few months.

“Sten gave me Gelding gold for this but I assume you will want a properly stocked medicant kit so this should cover it.” Garett said.

“I have much to thank Sten for. “I said disliking how much he has offered me.

Garret laughed and said. “Ha, Sten’s a decent enough sort but don’t think too highly of his kindness. Once word gets around that he has an elven light mage in his company he’ll be able to dictate the price of almost any contract. Hells, I wouldn’t be surprised he can charge double what he charges now even counting how much a premium having a mage in a company causes. You don’t yet realize how valuable we are.”

I assumed that this was his angle, perhaps my lack of experience made me underestimate how valuable having me in his company would be. I said my goodnight to him and Lori and bedded down on the small bed. My anticipation for tomorrow’s lesson was building and it was difficult to fall asleep but eventually I did.

I woke up early in the morning just as the sun was starting to rise above the horizon. From the sound of movement and the high pitch voice coming from the kitchen It seems Lori and Garett were awake.

I headed into the kitchen which served as a dining area. I walked in and saw Garrett Stirring a pot above the cookfire and Lori setting 3 places at the table. “Good morning, Moon.” She said,

“Good morning, Lori, Garrett how do you do? “I said in greetings. He grunted, still hunched over the cookpot. Seems he wasn’t a morning person.

Lori ran over excitedly and dragged me towards the table where there were 3 bowls with loaves of bread. Lori took her seat. She was slightly too short for the table so there was some cloth rolled up under her that she sat on. Garett ladled out generous portions of stew in each bowl. It seemed today there was no meat to be had but the stew at least was salted. At some point I’m going to have to learn how to cook. Garrett seemed to return to life after he started eating.

“So, I figure today we go over Etheric theory, cover some sigils and since you have already touched the ether it should be relatively easy for you to learn to see it” he said polishing off the last of his stew with a piece of bread.

“See the ether?” I asked. This was something of which I have never heard.

“Hmmm yes it’s one of the most basic skills any mage has to learn.” As he said that his eyes took on that familiar laser focus. I immediately flashed to Sarah’s piercing gaze when she asked me to show her my abilities. That's what she must have been doing.

“What is that like?” I asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” he said. Then his expression got firm.

“Now Lori, I want you to practice your numbers today?” Lori seemed dejected then she said.

“But I wanted to see magic. You never show me.”

“Today is mostly study work for Moon so you’ll have to be patient.” Garret said. Lori nodded a frown still on her face.

“Come Moon, join me in my study. It's time for you to learn how to be a proper mage.”

In his study Garett grabbed a book off of one the shelves then placed it in my lap. The cover was “An introduction to Etheric theory and Sigildry.” I read out lows.

Garrett in a voice that seemed meant for lecturing said. “What is Ether? This is a concept that many archmagi have attempted to answer. The most commonly accepted answer is that Ether is all, and all is Ether.” That didn’t really explain anything, but he seemed primed to keep going.

“Ether is a field of energy that permeates all of creation. Every grain of sand, every drop of water, every creature from the smallest worm to the greatest of dragons have ether permeating their very existence.” Sten brought our hoot a chalkboard then erased a few scribbles and basic math that was probably Lori’s.

“There are 6 commonly accepted attenuations of Ether Light, Fire Air Water Earth and shadow.” As he said this drew out a symbol that represents each Attenuation. For light he drew the sun, for air he drew a swirling shape that reminded me of wind. Earth, he drew a crystal. For fire, a flame and for shadow a crescent moon, For water, a wave.

“What do you mean by affinity “I asked.

“When you gather the Ether, you use your body as a medium. Primal ether gets absorbed and transformed into these six attenuations. The proportion of each is directly correlated to the person’s affinity with light affinity. Almost 75% of the primal ether is transformed into light Ether around 15% to fire and air. Another 5% for water and earth and less than 1% for shadow. These differences become more pronounced the greater your affinity for light.”

“How does that affect spell casting?” I asked.

In response to this Sten cast the same light spell I saw Sara use. There was the same process: the blue sigils and symbols along with some math in a circular pattern. Then it shifted white, a pulse, then a floating light was created. “The first part of a spell is to create what we call a spell circuit made of primal ether. Then we begin to channel power into the circuit. This process is what affinity most affects. For a shadow mage if only 1% of the Ether being converted is light.

I finished his thought “Then channeling enough ether to cast even the simplest light spell would be exhausting.” Garett nodded.

“Indeed, furthermore affinity affects the stability of the spell circuit while channeling too little power and the spell will fail. The chill you feel when you push yourself is a warning that you have reached your limits. Constantly pushing yourself to your limit is how to gain stamina, push too far and you risk death.” He finished.

So, it was almost like a muscle. “Is there even a point in learning spells who’s attenuation is completely opposite of mine.” I asked.

“In most cases no, however there are some shadow spells that can aid you. There is one that paralyzes the body and another that numbs all feelings including pain.” I nodded along as I realized the potential for something like that in medicine.

“Regardless I don’t know any earth, water, or shadow spells. I know mostly light and a handful of fire, air, and primal spells all I will teach you in time.” my hands started to sweat in anticipation.

“Primal spells? like the lightning spell.” I asked, remembering the spell Sarah used to lighten the weight of our packs.

“Indeed. Technically we all share the same affinity for primal Ether” as the drew a six-pointed star in the center of the six representations of Ether.

“Shaping the ether into a spell circuit is one thing but channeling said primal ether into the same circuit without it entering your body is quite difficult. These spells are typically limited in their application; they are usually used to apply some kind of force to an object, the lightning spell is one of the most common, the chief use of primal ether is for conjuration spells” he said.

“Conjuration”? I asked.

“There are typically 3 forms of spells. Conjuration which uses primal ether to create a temporary physical construct containing a spell that light for one is a conjuration spell” he said pointing to the still floating light.

“Emission typically means projecting energy closely related to the attenuation.” As he said this, he cast a spell that emitted a cone of light. Instead of disappearing immediately the circuit remained, and he waved it around the room. I could hear Lori giggling as he shone it directly at her.

“Then there is enchantment that involves casting a spell onto a body or physical object. I’ll give you an example. Sit still and don’t fight the ether that floods your body” he said he walked over to me then created a two-foot-wide spell circuit in front of my face. He charged the spell and released it. The entire process took around ten seconds. As soon as he did foreign Ether began to flood my body. Immediately I began to fight it as I instinctively started to reject it. Remembering his words from earlier a relaxed ant let it flow into me.

Immediately any lingering lethargy from sleep immediately left me and my body felt filled with energy.

“Wow what was that? “I asked in amazement.

“A light magic spell called Invigorate. It essentially banishes any semblance of lethargy and energizes the body. Cast this on a warrior once a day and they can fight at full effectiveness for hours. Cast it on a mage and they can continue channeling well past their natural stamina. However repeated use without any proper rest in between will cause the body to crash, often falling into a coma.” he explained.

I clenched and unclenched my fist and it felt slightly strange to feel so energized.

“The effect will slowly fade throughout the day; overuse of this spell can create dependency so it must be used when necessary. The common adage is one use a day and two days of recovery” he explained.

“A circuit is composed of three parts first is the outer ring” he said casting the conical light spell again this time the process was slow 12 Sigils appeared within the outer ring.

“Next is defining and creating the structure of the spell effect whether it is a conjuration emission or enchantment. More complex spellings are a combination of these types. “A second ring appeared containing even more sigils.

“The final part of a spell is the underlying mathematics that the spell requires to function. A fire spell for example, requires some calculations on heat and heat transfer depending on the spell. In this case the only thing this defines is the angle of emission and regulation of the luminosity.”

As he said that more symbols appeared these were distinctly different as I could recognize numbers, I still however didn’t fully understand his symbology as yet.

“Then we connect the three rings to each other then finally the spell circuit is fully formed. We can now charge it with ether.” As he said this the blue floating spell circuit started to glow a soft white. It then got brighter until sparks began to leap off of it.

“This is called overcharging a circuit. This typically magnifies the spell effect; you can overcharge a spell from about 2 to 5 times the ether required before the circuit becomes unstable and explodes.” He replaced the light spell before. First It was just a bright light, now the entire room shone like the sun itself was in the palm of his hand, He cut off the spell a moment later.

“Conjuration and Enhancement spells typically just produce a more powerful effect; emission spells are sustained spells so they can be overcharged even after casting.

Depending on the spell it can drain you of all your stamina in seconds since the amount of energy needed to overcharge a spell is exponential not linear. This is also where amplifiers become useful since they can multiply the amount of ether you can output.” He said finishing his explanation of spell work.

With excitement I asked “When can I learn to cast my first spell”

“Before I walk you through your first spill you must memorize all 186 different Sigils along with their meaning both literal and abstract. Then you must learn our mathematical symbology as our spell work relies on it; this should be too hard for you. Once you have done this then we can try to get you to build a spell circuit.” As he said that he pointed to the book.

“That book contains all 186 runes along with their meaning. So, reading it will be your assignment for today and tomorrow. Before that however you should learn to see into the ether.” he said.

He intently faced me then said. “I want you to gather the ether into yourself like you did yesterday” I nodded then started following his instruction.

“Good now I want you to start dissipating it at the same rate as your gathering. The large concentration of ether in your chest acts like a magnet to the ether around it.” he said.

Usually, I would either project it or dissipate it entirely. It took a few tries before I could do it at the same time to maintain a stable amount of ether.

“Excellent, now I want you to reduce the amount of ether in your chest by about 80%”. I followed his instruction once more carefully balancing the change of the ether flowing into me and matching the dissipation rate.

“Now I want you to split that ether into two. Controlling the ether is as much a science as it is art. When doing this your intention must be clear and your will absolute. Never doubt yourself when controlling the ether, hesitation and fear will only lead to disaster.” I took his words to heart and after a quarter hour I separated them into two.

It was an incredibly arduous process maintaining both concentrations of ether and dissipating them at a rate, so they didn’t grow, or shrink was more difficult than I expected. Small fluctuations in my own will caused me to fail a few times but now I had two concentrations of ether in my chest.

“Good, good. Remember your will must be absolute. Now move both concentrations of ether to the connection of the optic nerve to the retina.”

I was actually starting to sweat from the effort as my entire body was clenched from how much concentration I had to put in. This took over 20 attempts and another hour passed. Garrett, being a dutiful teacher, simply gave me advice each time I failed. Eventually I managed to succeed.

The concentration of Ether couldn't be more than a centimeter across and centering it on my optic nerve required me to keep my eyes as still as possible. Now I know why they had such a piercing stare. In one moment, my vision was normal then in the next the world changed. It was such a dramatic shift that I immediately lost concentration and made an embarrassing yelp.

Garret and Lori laughed at the sound I made as it was a bit too high pitched for my taste. “That never fails to be funny,” Garett said with a smile.

“It’s a good lesson though it’s incredibly difficult to maintain it even the greatest of mages still have trouble with it. Now do it again” he ordered.

It took another few minutes to see into the ether again. It was still distracting how my vision instantly switched as I saw the Ether for the first time. It was strange, everything lost all color and texture, every object from Garrett to the shelves were made of a semitransparent blue smoke in a container. I watched as the ghostly representation of Garett began to cast a spell. From all around him the Ether rushed towards him and formed into a spell circuit. Then ether rushed into his body as if he was a vacuum and out of his palm. The Ether, a slightly different blue, began to fill the spell then there was a pulse almost like a shockwave within the ether emitted from the spell circuit. After he cast the spell there were strands of ether flowing into various parts of the spell. As he changed the flow the intensity of the light would change. Another strand controlled the shape of the cone of light.

“Why blue?” I asked for some reason. I assumed the different attenuations in the ether would have distinct colors. But as he cast different spells from within the ether it all just looked like different shades of blue.

“No one knows really. The best theory is that our minds simply aren’t built to view the ether and our brains instinctively convert the information into something we can understand. There was once a mage who was born blind, and he described the ether in terms of texture on his skin like wind, water, air, and silk sheets. How do you describe to a blind man what is blue? How do you describe someone who can’t feel heat and cold?” He explained.

“Does everyone see blue?” I asked.

“Yes, in the same way almost everyone sees the morning sky or the ocean as blue.”

I gazed into the Ether again examining various objects, eventually focusing on my hand.

“There are exceptions to every rule, however. There are some mages we call unique. They have unique attenuations. Agron the Defiler is what comes to mind to most mages he could see death within the Ether. Using this he can control the dead and draw on them to empower his shadow spells, He was recorded saying it was a dark purple almost black.”

“Is this Death Ether an attenuation or something else?” I asked.

“Something else more like a higher form of an attenuation. The emperor’s oldest daughter Princess Morianne is also a unique mage. She’s an air mage, when she first learned to see the Ether, she said she sees a soft beige color all around her in the air. Using this she can control lightning without spells. She simply wills lightning into existence. It goes without saying that she’s currently the most powerful air mage in the empire and it's arguable she is the most powerful in terms of destructive ability.” His eyes had a far-off look as if he was gazing into the past.

“She can decimate entire armies. There had been no less than two wars fought amongst the dukes for her hand in marriage. Before she was even born her hand was promised to one of the emperor’s closest allies’ eldest son. When she refused, he threatened war, which was the first time in two centuries the world saw the power of a unique mage.”

“Is she really so powerful as to defy her father, the emperor? “I asked.

“That’s the thing Moon, power is self-justifying, self-actualizing, why bend to the will of another when they lack the power to temper yours. It is fortunate she doesn’t care about the throne. I doubt her brothers would live long otherwise.” Garett said.

“Enough talk now you have Sigils to memorize that book will take the rest of the day and tomorrow to get through.” he said signaling that this was the end of the lecture. I left Garett and Lori in the study.

It was early in the evening, and I decided to take the book into my small room. I sat on the bed not yet able to bring myself to read as I glanced into the Ether. Everything was as I expected, however when looking at my hand within its ghostly representation in the ether I could see bright White Ether sourcing through me. The same light I saw within both Garrett and Lori. I wasn’t sure how safe it was to reveal this on the chance that I was a unique mage. For now, I will focus my studies and explore this in privacy.