MageLife (11 page)

Just that tiny revelation had given me a grasp on my expanded senses. I could use them the same as my old ones. I could ignore them too. The ability to ignore things has to be one of the most useful traits of being human. The fear of my senses had receded slightly, although I was still dreading more visions. I got up. I was seeing the glimmers of enchantment everywhere, the play of the magical energies infused through all things. It was simultaneously the most beautiful and the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. The lack of any mortal element there shows how truly insignificant we are. A slight effort of will enabled me to function on my normal level. The addition sense was still there but easily ignored, I just had to get used to the constant effort it took.

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, I walked over to my large window looking at my town, for one of the first times I felt connected to this town, invested. I had lived here for years as a child, for all my life if you counted my time in the academy, which I didn't really. The academy could have been in the middle of nowhere for all I had known. My recent struggles on behalf of the people of West Haven had given me a new appreciation of the work we mages did, at least in the new age.

My smile died on my lips, at the recollection of the vision. The execution. The sight of the people had struck me almost as much as the actual execution. Seeing them so downtrodden and defeated. That many knacks could have fought of the mages easily if they had worked together. Power levels are fairly nonsensical the variations are minimal between knack and mage. It's in versatility and knowledge that we can overpower them. The thought of fighting back had just not occurred to them. How much ingrained conditioning that would take boggled my mind.

My practising with my expanded senses had taken me a lot longer than I had originally thought. The sun was slowly setting. I cleared my mind and focused on the beauty of a thing I took for granted on a daily basis.

The sun slowly sunk turning the sky into a tapestry of reds and oranges touches of blue could still be seen. My intense focus on absorbing the moment let my senses slip slightly.

The sun was wreathed in magical energies, streamers ebbed and flowed across the sky. Faint glimmers blues and yellows could be seen floating slowly, quick moving darts of greens in all shades flashed past. Flocks of birds.

Maybe this ability wasn't so much a curse as a gift. Clearly a double edged sword but being able to see the added beauty of that moment is something I would treasure for years to come.

I stood watching the last flickers of sunlight fade. Satisfaction and hope for the future warring with the despair and grief for the past, much like the light and dark of the sun setting.

My own mind was settled for now at least, so much for my day off. A chuckle escapes my lips as a thought crossed my mind.

Boredom isn't the enemy anymore.

Chapter 12

A night without nightmares was a relief. I had some dreams, vague visions, but nothing like yesterday. I counted that as a success. A quick wash and a rummage in the laundry hamper produced, a decidedly more alert and prepared mage. I bound up my hair with the same charm as usual as I was doing so my stomach grumbled. I grinned, I had forgotten to eat in all the excitement of yesterday. A quick look out the window told me it was just after dawn, plenty of time before I had to be at work.

I took my time, enjoying the early morning air. I had timed it just right to see the street cleaners with their staves, fulfilling their duties, I relaxed my control on my othersense. The street came alive with light. The residual traces of the people that used them. Faint swirls and eddies in the air above. The cleaner’s staves shone. The complex weave was a delicate tracery of tiny strands and nodes, so tightly woven that I could spend days studying it. The enchantment was also aesthetically very striking. It evoked a feeling of cleanliness. The great many active threads were weaving themselves along the streets, pushing the dirt on a wave ahead of them. I tore my eyes away and pushed my other sense back down to normal levels. Breakfast called me, the scents of frying bacon and sausages carried well in this quiet early morning air.

The cafe I had gone to with Sophia was just opening, the very same waitress was working, taking the first few orders of the day. My feet took me inside without consulting my brain, drawn by the smell of such deliciousness.

“Take a seat please, I’ll be over in a moment to take your order.” the waitress said, her brown eye tired. She must have been here early.

“Thank you” I said with a smile.

She returned the smile wearily.

This time I chose a small table near the kitchen door. It was almost empty in here. Seating myself in the comfortable chair, I glanced over the menu. The faintly glowing words, tempted me to use my sight again, but I resisted. My stomach had already made up its mind before the rest of me could.

“What will you have sir?” the waitress asked as her shadow fell over me.

“Could I have the bacon, sausages and eggs please and a tea too?” I asked.

“Of course you can, we have a wide selection of teas. Do you have a preference?” she queried

“Not really” I answered, choices of teas were beyond me this early in the morning.

“Okay then, your breakfast won't be long and I’ll be over with your tea. I’ll pick something, if you don't like it we can always try something else.” she sauntered off with what could optimistically be called a spring, but more realistically a lurch would describe it better.

Within moments she was back with a small ceramic pot and a cup. Steam was curling from the spout, the delightful no-nonsense scent of black tea was wafting gently from it.

“Here you go. This one is my favourite a strong tea infused with a vigour charm. It’s grown in enchanted soil. It stays fresh for a long time as well as tasting great.” her voice nearly vibrating with eagerness.

“It smells wonderful, thank you.” I said. I breathed deeply of the invigorating fragrance. It smelt perfect.

She rushed off to the kitchen. I guessed to fetch my breakfast.

While I waited I reached out to pour a cup of the tea. My left hand grasped the smooth handle of the pot. It was surprisingly cool as I poured the tea steam rose in gentle eddies from the cup.

The waitress was just coming out of the kitchen carrying a large plate.

“Here you go, I’ll be back in a moment to take your payment.” she said as she placed my order in front of me.

My stomach chose this time to demand food, I agreed. I picked up the utensils in front of me and attacked the bacon, lightly crisped, it was perfect. I lost myself momentarily, in the act of eating. Obviously I wasn't paying attention, my new and fairly annoying sight chose that instant to manifest.

My food glowed. My tea unsurprisingly had glimmers of what felt like the vigour charm, but my food glowing was a slight shock. I knew the meat would likely be kept in a chill-charmed room. This glow seemed to be something else. The glimmers had a depth that I would never have guessed while it was faint it was pervasive. It was safe, maybe I just hadn't been able to truly see the world until now.

The glowing food tasted exactly the same as before. What the glow was must have been the essence of bacon.

That thought made me attempt to laugh. Laughing with bacon in your mouth is not a good plan. I started choking.

The waitress had heard me and was rushing over. She smacked me on the back, hard. The offending bacon flew out of my throat. Sweet air flowed in. I gasped out my thanks.

She nodded, an indecisive look passed over her face before she said “That will be two knacks please”

I held out my credit shard, a tiny touch of magic transferred the money to the business’ account. Their payment device was behind the counter. The touch just said how much and to where it went. Nearly dying ignobly on bacon would have put a lesser man off his breakfast but I am made of sterner stuff. I thought while ignoring my shaking hands.

I wrapped my hands around the warmth of my teacup, few gentle sips. The warmth coated my tongue bringing with it the earthy, faintly nutty taste of the tea, a strong after taste of nutmeg lingered in my mouth. It left me with the greatest feeling of being in the woods in the autumn, the crunch of the leaves, the scents in the air. My shaking vanished. I could feel the vigour seeping into me from the tea. This was good tea.

I put down my cup and resumed eating, splitting my focus between eating, drinking the wonderful tea and keeping my sight under control reduced my enjoyment slightly. I finished quickly. I stood up feeling strong and ready to face the day, bacon incident not being counted. A nod to the waitress who had once again saved me, this time from bacon instead of the curious probing questions of a child, then I walked slowly through the door.

“Good morning Tristan” Jase greeted me as I walked into Rysan’s office.

“Morning Jase, do we have any news on the seniors?” I asked. Taking a look around while we spoke. Jase was sat at Rysan’s desk, Orb hovering around him. A mess of shard littered the desk, Orb was extending faint threads to them, uploading and downloading was my guess.

“Actually we have. The conclave is ended. Rysan should be on his way back soon.” Jase said, a smirk creased his lips, merriment glittered in his eyes.

“Well at least it’s over, any idea on what it was about?” I asked, ignoring his amusement.

“No, seniors only. I'm sure we'll find out what we need to know when he's back.” Jase said his smirk fading slightly.

I didn't ask about the haunted look that had appeared on his face, some things I just didn't need to know, one of them is his past.

“Orb tells me you have developed reading. You can handle it?” Jase asked. Concern tinged his voice.

“Apart from the visions and a couple of control hiccups, I'm doing alright with it, I think.” I answered hesitantly.

“Good I will inform the wizards, they will plan your training accordingly.” Jase waved his left hand in a sweeping gesture. “Do you know when you are back at the stone guild?”

“No, Lyphia was vague. Did you know about the guild master?” I asked

“Yes, we used to work together, he's actually one of the reasons I got assigned here. You know about the project, don't you?” Jase said.

“No I don't” I answered.

“I won't go into to the details but the general idea is, to promote magic. To show its use in everyday life. The wizards don't want to just rule, they want to usher in an era where there is no needless suffering. No hunger. No disease. It’s idealistic but it could be possible. The project takes place here and in Greenlaw. Think of here as a trial run. The few other areas are far less developed due to the wave’s damage," Jase briefly explained. His doubts were plain in his tone but so was his hope. He wanted it to work.

“That is ambitious," I hedged.

“Yes it is, but its early days yet. The mages have only recently gotten established. The foundry was a setback. It never worked as well as some of the other trial designs. We have so few talented enchanters so we couldn't spare them to work there, but look how far we have come in the last few years.” Jase’s movements had gotten more pronounced as he spoke, his excitement was infectious. He had stood up and walked closer, almost pacing as he tried to convey the majesty of the project.

“Yeah we have come far. You brought up the foundry, do we have any leads on what happened?” I asked forcefully, I had heard nothing more about the explosion, the silence was bothering me.

“A few, nothing substantial yet. Don't you worry, my boy, we will get to the bottom of it.” Jase said sympathetically, his hand came to rest lightly on my shoulder giving me a gentle squeeze before letting go.

“Thank you Jase. I need to know that so many didn't die for nothing. I failed to save them but I will not let them have died for nothing.” my eyes welled up as I spoke my fists clenched the pain of failure burned through me. The cost of it, still staggers me. I brought up a fist to dash the tears from my eyes.

Jase was clearly uncomfortable with my outburst, he cleared his throat and turned away briefly. Giving me a moment to collect myself.

“Jase, what am I doing today?” I asked my voice slightly choked up still.

Jase turned back his smile creeping back slowly. “You have advanced enchanting today. You may remember I fast tracked your training, enchantment, battle effects, crafting. As you develop, you may get more say over the direction of your training. I would give you some alchemy but you never showed any aptitude for it.” Jase’s smile was huge by this point.

I groaned, Jase would never let me live down my early failures, it was one of the few that could be looked back on with amusement though at least by others. I had been green for a month.

“I have no idea how you messed up that badly,” he stuttered out between laughs. “A simple cloth dye. You were gr -gre- green,” he finally gave in to the laughter, tears streamed down his face as he hooted.

I gritted my teeth and waited as patiently as I could. It was a few moments till Jase could finish explaining my day’s duties to me.

“Your training will be with enchanter Fion for your enchanting. Your stone guild placement should assist with enchanting and your crafting.” Jase informed me, his face still wet and red from his little fit of amusement at my expense.

“I have never heard of this enchanter before," I stated.

“He's just come to Westhaven, he's old and doesn't enjoy having students. He designed most of the systems we use today. I told him about you and your abilities with golems. He's curious but I couldn’t get more out of him. Don't annoy him. He's an unpleasant person to deal with," Jase stopped briefly to look at me sternly.

I looked him straight in the eye and nodded seriously, I wanted him to know I had taken his warning.

“He's brilliant, focus on what he says and does. Please bear in mind that he's rather odd like most of the older mages.”

I smiled, remembering the guild master.