4th Jul 2012, 01:52 PM
|
#85
|
|
Ghost sdoj
|
I finally got my pictures uploaded with no more power outages/internet outages!
I'm putting my entry in spoiler tags as well, to be kind to those with slow internet connections. That seems like a good idea, and I rather wish that I had thought of it myself.
Kylara looked up from her reading. A lovely sunset was streaming through the windows of the library, spilling golden lignt on the pages of the book that she was reading. Unfortunately the library had closed two hours ago. Apparently they had forgotten that there was someone in here who reads encyclopedias for fun, and so had assumed that if nobody was at the work desks, nobody was in the reference room. She was locked in for the night. Again. She sighed and went back to reading while she still had light. Darkness (and hunger) would be here soon enough.
When night finally fell, she put her encyclopedia back on the shelf. She doubted that anyone at the orphanage would be worried about her; they knew that she had gone to the library, and this was hardly the first time that she had ended up being locked in. Last week they hadn't even bothered sending someone to get her out until it was time for school. She supposed that they had decided that if she ended up missing three meals in a row often enough she might pay more attention to closing time. She relaxed in one of the reading chairs and thought about what she had learned today. None of the children in the orphage were ever officially taught any magic, but she had managed to piece together enough knowledge to manage simple spells. As the energy required to do something with magic is equal to the energy needed to do it by natural means, and the energy required to walk to the dining hall, grab some food,and walk back to the library was well within her means, (other than the minor detail of a locked door in the way) she thought she should be able to conjure a plate of food with no real trouble, and possibly a sleeping bag while she was at it.
After an hour or two of deep concentration she decided that she had figured out how to channel the spell and was ready to make the attempt. She cast her newly improvised spell, and was soon rewarded with a plate of food and a sleeping bag. She ate her dinner, sent the dirty plate back home, and crawled into her sleeping bag for the night.
As she slept, she dreamed of a handsome, golden haired man in wizardly robes. He was fighting three opponants who had targets on their shields, and as he hit a shield he would break it with a flash of magic. The one whose shield was broken would quickly grab another one and return to the combat. They carried sticks, which they were trying to hit the man with. Finally the last shield was broken, and one of the men said "Unscathed as ever, My Lord. Congratulations once again." As they bowed to one another, the wizard looked straight at her. "Who is this child?" he asked.
She immediately woke up, only to find that she was not alone in the room. An ominous figure was standing beside her head. He was shrouded in deep shadow, but he possessed a ruby on a chain which glowed and pulsed as if it were his beating heart. He gave her an unfriendly glare. "I ask again, child. Who are you, and who is your master?"
"Umm....I have no master" she said timidly.
"Don't lie to me, Child!" he thundered. "You are far too young to be a master magician. You are obviously a very talented apprentice, but it takes full psychic maturity to channel master level spells. Now WHO IS YOUR MASTER?"
She cringed. "I didn't say I was a master magician. I said I have no master. I have no training at all other that what I pieced together from the books I've been reading."
He studied her. "You cast a class 3 conjuration, with no training?! Where did you find the spell?"
She blushed. "I...sort of..." Her voice dropped to a whisper "MadeItUp" .
"You made it up? On the spot?"
"No, it wasn't on the spot. It took me a couple of hours to figure out how the spell would work." She gave him an apologetic smile.
He shook his head. "I doubt your story. You have until sunrise to invent a spell which will allow me to handle physical objects. If you cannot cast such a spell, I will haunt your dreams and destroy you."
"I don't suppose you would settle for a simple 'I'm sorry I got locked in the library?'" A tear rolled down her cheek as she saw the look on his face. "Does it have to be permanent?"
He shook his head "Merely effective."
She concentrated for a while. "Is it safe for me to touch you?" she asked hopefully. When he nodded, she muttered "Please don't take this the wrong way," and gave him a friendly hug. "Ok, I think I can figure out a spell that might work, but I dont think I'm strong enough to cast it.
"Explain your procedure." he said in a scholarly tone of voice.
"Well, the third principle of magic says that all matter, natural energy, and magic are merely forms of xylos. The second says that Only God can create or destroy xylos, the best that any of the rest of us can do is transport or transform it. But all xylos can be transformed. And the 5th says that xylos seeks balance, so when useful xylos is put into a system, unusable xylos is removed, and when unusable xylos is added, usable xylos is removed. So you are xylos as much as I am, and your xylos is just as capable as mine of interacting with other forms of that xylos if it is given enough transformational force. " She looked down at the floor. "But I don't know where to get that much energy without drawing from sunlight. I might be able to manage half a second or so from the light reflecting from the quarter moon, but I don't think that would be long enough for you to call it effective."
"How many principles of magic are there?" he asked curiously.
"Ten?" she said hesitantly.
He laughed. "Three. The one you were calling the third is actually the first; the one that you were calling the fifth is actually the second; and I have no idea if you have even discovered the third at all " He hovered over a chair. "But your theory, as odd as it sounds, holds promise. Cast your spell. If it works for even a fraction of a second, I will notice."
She cast her spell, and a second later the wizard was momentarily seated solidly in the chair. He stepped out of the chair and walked over to her. "Before you can be trained, I want to send you to school so that I do not inadvertantly discover that your knowledge of advanced techniques is masking a woeful ignorance of the fundamentals."
She blinked. "I didn't ask you for training. I'm an orphan. "
"It is far too dangerous to leave you untrained. And now that I have found someone with whom I could work I would be a fool to allow you to simply leave, especially when it appears that someone is searching for the Crown of the Master." He gazed gently at her. "You said you were an orphan. Would you like that to change?"
She nodded and he led her into the main room. A blade flashed silver as it bit into her hand. "Then I declare to Heaven above, to Hell below, and to all that dwells between that this child is my daughter now and forevermore." The blade then was used to draw some of his ectoplasm which mingled with her blood. "Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. You are the child of Lord Alfric Starhome."
Two weeks later she stood at the entrance of the most prestigious magical academy in the world. "Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds" the examiner was saying to her. "I have no doubt that you think you have talent, but not enough for a scholarship, and not enough to be considered for admission. Now let the next person in line come in for an interview."
Deep within her she heard her new father's voice. "Leave this one to me, Child." She blacked out, and when she came to, the examiner was pale and shaking. "Welcome to your new school, miss. Classes start in three days."
She wondered what she had gotten herself into. The idea that he could use her body any time he wanted to was a little worrisome.
Word count 1456
CC: Cmar's ear sliders, Sim Transformer, euphoria skin, Legend Isle Lyonesse world.
Plot point: Makeover
Excerpt: Bless your soul; you've got your head in the clouds.
|
|
|
|
|
|