Creators Guild: A Wizard's Beginning (10 page)

             
"Over the next while you will be tested in all the disciplines of magic. You must show control or you will not be allowed to continue.  This could take days, some even takes months.  We know you can see the elemental power now we will see how you work with it.  You are prohibited to touch magic without constant supervision. Because you have only seen the elements and not controlled them we will show you how to pass the power to someone else that you may accomplish what we ask."

             
He was taken back to his room where he found a dinner tray waiting for him. He had not realized how late it was.  After concentrating on the interview with the council he could finally sit down and relax. He thought after he ate dinner he would try and find where Ty was. He desperately wanted somebody to talk to and help ease his mind a little and to help ease the homesickness he was feeling.  He asked the servant who had taken him back if he could take him to Ty after he ate.  Unfortunately it was later then he realized and Ty was already asleep.

             
He decided it was best to just get some sleep, "Tonight might be the last good night of sleep I get in a long time," he thought.

             
"I have found him master. He sleeps within the dome, now what are we to do?" asked the Legion’s spy.

             
"We will watch and wait, let the sovereigns’ teach him, and then we will take him. He will be the means of their own undoing."

             
"Ah, very well my Lord."

             
When he heard the last voice he saw a creature coming at him. It was burned and scared, and when it smiled it looked like it enjoyed the pain of the freshly opened wounds.  He jumped in his sleep, waking himself.

Chapter 6

Testing

                   nce again morning came all too quickly for him. His breakfast tray was already laid out for him with fresh water in the basin.  "I'm going to have to get up earlier to see who brings this in," he thought.  The smells coming from the tray were heavenly. There were fresh fruits, hot muffins with honey butter, and chilled juice.  He dressed and ate not knowing what time his first test would begin.  After last night he was not so nervous about his testing.

             
The first instructor that he met was Alrien lon Tikk, the water master.  When Roland walked into the small office, Alrien stood to greet him. He appeared to be a plump man, well fed and taken care of. At second glace he noticed that most of his weight was in muscle.  He was a friendly man; offering Roland a seat, which he took gratefully.  He found that if he was sitting he didn't feel as nervous.

             
"So young man, tell me when you saw water the last time what was it like?"

             
"Sir, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It appeared to be like a rope of light, but made of something I had never seen before."

             
"Exciting wasn’t it?  Let’s get started now, you must find your center. I will join you and together we will call upon the water element. When we have it, I will take it and pass it to you.  In order to pass this you must concentrate to separate yourself and see into the world.  You will then be required to fill this pitcher with water.  You will be able to see the element as you command it.  Are you ready?"

             
"Yes sir," he quickly found his center, entering into the magical abyss. Shortly after Alrien entered and walked over to him.

             
"
Aqma
," whispered Alrien.  Roland could see the element form; he was still amazed at what was happening.  Alrien reached out and held his hand over the light, slowly the blue mist that surrounded it was surrounding his hand.

             
"So that is how you connect with it, you don't grab it you let it take you," Roland said to himself.  Alrein touched his arm and motioned him to put his hand next to his own.  As he did he saw the element join itself to him, “This is amazing, it has no real substance, but I can feel it," he thought.

             
Slowly Alrein removed his hand from the mist and he could feel the power intensify once again.  After he had the slightest control, he concentrated on seeing what was around him.  While he held the power it was as though he was in his own world, everything around him was as bright as the noonday sun.

             
He finally saw the pitcher and took a step towards it, as he did his head spun and he lost control of the element. The separation was quick, and he barely felt anything, but in an instant everything was back to normal.

             
"You held on for a while there, I'm impressed. But you didn’t get the pitcher filled up, shall we try again?" said Alrien, now sitting in a chair.

             
They continued this exercise for most of the day, taking only a short rest to take lunch.  By the early evening Roland wasn’t sure he could do it. He was able to take a few more steps with each try but he would still get dizzy.  To beat all with every step he took, everything seemed to slide further away.

             
"Wizard Alrein, how do I get to the objects, they keep moving further away?" he asked now frustrated.

             
"That is all in your own perception my boy. You must find a way to bring the objects to you, remember that with magic not all things are as they seem.  The truth lies within you," he said.  "Now let's try this one more time, it is growing late and there is still much I must do today."

             
He had not thought of bringing the pitcher to himself. He just wanted to get to it so bad.  After failing so many times, he realized that inside he felt the doubt of not reaching it. That’s when it kept getting further away.  After he had control again, he focused not on reaching the pitcher but it reaching him.

             
With that thought everything flew at him at an incredible speed.  He flinched a little, but concentrated on keeping control of the power.  When everything was in focus again he thought of the pitcher being filled with water.  When he looked down he could see the first signs of precipitation on the inside.  He concentrated a little harder and soon it was full.  When he released the water element and saw what he had done, he was extremely excited.

             
"Wizard Alrien, I did it," he said, carrying the pitcher to him.

             
"Well done, remember what you have learned this day, you may now return to your room," he said turning and walking out of the room.

             
A servant came and took him back to his room where he laid down and fell asleep almost instantly.  He woke early the next morning before the servant brought in his breakfast.  He went over to a window and looked out over the island.  The sky was showing the first signs of morning.  It had been a long time since he had been up before dawn, so he sat and enjoyed the sunrise.

             
It wasn't long before there were people up and moving. The first were what he assumed to be the apprentices, they were all about his age, mostly boys.  They were all dressed the same in what looked like brown leather pants and white wool shirts. The girls were dressed in brown skirts with the same style of shirt.  They were hard at work preparing breakfast or working the grounds.  His breakfast arrived shortly and he requested a bath for that night, which the servant agreed to bring in.

             
He was called early that day by Ylien lon Wilern, fire master.  His study was not as elaborate as Alrein's had been; the only thing that stood out was the massive fireplace that seemed to take up most of the longest wall.

             
Ylien was an older man; at that time Roland had no idea that magic would slow aging. He looked like he was eighty cycles or so.  He had lost most of his hair, but appeared to have stayed in good health.  When he stood up he surprised Roland, he stood a good two spans taller than him.

             
"Good morning young man, I trust you have found your visit pleasant," he said with a slight drawl.

             
"Yes sir, I thank you."

             
"Very well, let's get started. As you were tested and hopefully learned yesterday to control water, today you will do so with fire.  Be warned it is a little harder, as people tend to shy away from this. But if you embrace it, it will be your friend.  Now please take a seat," he said pointing to a high back chair.

             
"The most important step in controlling fire is to extinguish it. Anybody can create it, but alas few can put it out.  What we do is absorb it into itself, essentially burning itself out.  Please find you center and I will join you, from there I will show you what to do."

             
After he was in his center he saw Ylien, who had already connected himself to the fire element. He walked over to him and extended his hand out for him to join with him.  Roland slowly joined himself and felt a little bit of the heat from the cord.

             
"Concentrate, on me not on the cord," demanded Ylien.  "Fire is probably the most dangerous of all elements; it can kill the one it is attached to along with anyone around them.  This is the hardest of elements to control; at times it is as if it has a will of its own.  Tell me do you feel the heat from this?"

             
"Yes, it seems to be getting hotter, the more I think about it."

             
"Then concentrate on me, that heat is what will consume the body. Now I want you to extinguish the flame.  With water you create, with flame it destroys.  We will start small; on the mantle is a candle."  As he was looking at it the wick started to burn with nothing around it.  He did not even see how Ylien had done it.  "I'm going to leave you with the control. Now concentrate on that candle and focus on making the flame smaller, until it is nonexistent."

             
He did as he was instructed; he could see the flame shrink. His only mistake was he got excited too quickly causing the flame to jump higher then he thought was possible making the candle melt away instantly.  He was frustrated with himself for that and cursed himself in his mind.

             
"You were showing great control, what do you think happened?" asked Ylien.

             
"I'm not sure, it was almost out, but then, well you saw what happened."

             
"You must learn to control your own emotions before you can ever hope to control an element.  Losing your concentration at the end is what caused that to happen. Now we will try it again, but this time you will do it by yourself."

             
Roland took a few moments to calm down. He was so angry with himself that he was afraid to be connected to fire, for fear of burning himself up.  After calming down, he concentrated on his center and found a focus point.  Ylien had replaced the candle on the mantle with at new one and started the flame going.  He slowly took hold of the fire cord and concentrated on making the flame smaller.

             
He experienced something new this time; he had been concentrating so hard on the flame that he thought he could see to the center of it.  There he saw the smallest of particles joining and separating, causing the candle to burn. He watched to see what was happening and found the combination that the particles were using. Slowly he began to separate the particles that would join, and joined those that would separate.  In his mind he could see the flame getting smaller and smaller until the last particle was disassembled.

             
When he came out of his trance, he looked at the candle. It had burned down more than halfway; he was surprised because he didn’t feel that much time had passed since he had started.  Ylien sat watching him from his chair, until he turned to face him.

             
"Very well done, you may have my blessing in training. I'm sure if you pass your other two tests I will see you again," he said smiling, "you do remind me of your mother, she was as determined as you are now. You may now return to your room until tomorrow," he said, standing up and starting to walk out of the office.

             
"Wizard Ylien, you knew my mother?"

             
"Yes son, I did, many of us here did.  I do miss her, I'm sorry to hear about her death."

             
As Ylien walked out the door a servant came to take him back to his room. This lesson had gone a lot quicker then yesterday which allowed him some time to look around.  Going back to his room he met Maglin in the hallway.

             
"Roland I hear the testing is going well," he said in passing.

             
"Wizard Maglin, do you think Ty and I can look around a little, there is nothing to do in the room?" he asked.

             
"I'll send someone to show you around the grounds in a little while; right now I have a meeting that I must go to. Please just go back to your room and wait."

             
They continued back to the living quarters. Now that it was light outside he got a chance to see everything in the building.  They came to one of the largest rooms that he had seen in the castle. Like most of the other large rooms it was circular, with a high domed ceiling.  The ceiling was painted, half to look like night and the other half as day.

             
The floor also depicted the same pattern but of flowers in bloom and grass growing in the light and snow and ice during the night.  Along the walls were four separate arched doorways, leading to separate wings of the building, above each was a stone carved from one of the four elements.

             
Walking out of the fire wing, directly in front of him was the water wing, the earth was to his right, and wind to his left.  He didn’t see the door to go outside until the servant opened it.  One thing that bothered him was not being able to find his own way out.  Back home in the woods he could find his way around at any time, but now he was in a strange place and not allowed to move around freely.  He kept wondering what these people were afraid of to keep him and Ty locked in their rooms.