High Magic (Chapter 1)

Have a story, then you come here.

Moderators: The Heralds, The Loremasters

Post Reply
Message
Author
Tahl
Posts: 569
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 5:07 pm
Location: Caledor (Scotland)

High Magic (Chapter 1)

#1 Post by Tahl »

Just the first installment of a story thats been in my head for ages and now that I'm drunk and it's 6am does it seem like a good idea to get it on paper. Tell me what you think, no research has gone into it whatsoever., so some of my devices may be against HE canon, but still:


Outside the day dwindled into dusk, many floors below the apprentices would be finishing their studies about to start the evening chores. Therion sat by the window long since lost in the ancient tome, his cloak had settled hours ago and even now dust had begun to gather in the folds. As the sun set his confidence grew. Thus far his theory had not been disproved, after years of research he had could not find even the smallest reference saying he would fail. Inversely he had also not found anyone to have tried it before, and that in itself was concerning. A thousand mages for a thousand years and not one of them had thought of it and tried it? Surely one must have and his failure of success would have been documented. This could lead to only one of two options: no one had ever thought of it or they had and their results had been destroyed from history. Destroyed because it was a success or because they were a failure? It's infuriating to think you know the answer but cannot find out without taking the risk yourself. Especially considering what is at stake.

A small tap at the door woke him from the book, like a statue he turned slowly, focusing his attention on the door, it unlocked and swung open. Mage Pelendir stood in the doorway his usual boyish grin on his face with his hands clasped around a fine bottle of wine. Making his usual comments about Therions lack of a social life he flopped down into a chair by the fire. Having no real choice Therion rose, walking towards the chair he sat down and retuned the smile.

“What a week, what a week!” Pelendir, opened with, as he began to recite all of his students achievements throughout the week. As per usual Therion nodded, smiled, laughed and commented when the situation dictated. Once many years ago he had counted Pelendir among his close friends. Now like the sun it had simply become another way in which to mark the passage of time.

“Oh I bumped into Teclis at the start of the week, he's looking more gaunt than usual. I think they're asking for too much from him even if he is unusually gifted. He was asking after you.”

This brought Therions attention back to the conversation. Trying his best not to betray any sign of emotion on the outside yet on the inside his emotions raged. Did Teclis know? How could he possibly know? If he did know then did he approve, or was it simply a chance meeting?

“He's not decided to give me his position the?” he settled on the slight jest knowing he couldn't have pulled off any other reply.

“No, just a passing comment about how you never seem to be teaching any more” Pelendir replied not noticing how much weight his words carried.

Yet another thing I life to infuriate Therion, did Teclis know and say this as a coded message to tell him? Or was this yet another coincidence? Either way he would not have to resume the lessons he had given up teaching six months ago. As an Archmage he was under no obligation to teach, this being the role of mere mages. Although he had evolved past that a decade ago like most new Archmages he had continued mostly out of habit, though this too had fallen as his own studies deepened. It seemed however his lessons would resume, one did not simply ignore the High Loremaster and Therion especially couldn't afford the piercing gaze from those blue eyes to fall upon him.

And so it was that the next day he found himself walking into a teaching room. Halir a young mage from a Caledorian family was teaching an advanced class of older students some combat magic. As he entered the room the lesson stopped in reverence to his title, Halir looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.



“I thought that the class could benefit from my input” he said to the room, instantly the students eyes shone with excitement. Archmages were written about in great fables, idolised in Halirs eyes anger festered. He had been ousted and his pride hurt. Overruled he now had no chance but to stand aside and help out. “ We were learning how a little energy can redirect a much larger force and it can be more effective than simply shielding where a mage requires to use energy equal or greater than that being thrown at him” he explained. Behind him the wall had all the usual sketches outlining the theory, the students fingers covered in the usual inks.

“Perhaps a practical demonstration would help? Halir please attack me and I will deflect the energy. The bigger the better”

Halirs mouth twitched in the smallest amusement, Therion would have laughed if he could have got away with mocking Halir further. Why were Caledorians so stereotypical? He recognised the energy that Halir was gathering and it's nature. Though he wasn't familiar with the exact spell or the words and gestures Halir was using to an Archmage it didn't matter, incantations and directions were all simply manipulations of the winds of magic, once you could read the winds all else became meaningless. Halir was finishing his spell, he had concentrated a large force in front of him that would most likely manifest itself into flames.

The rest of the class backed away into the corners as they too began to realise just how much energy their teachers were planning to use. Halir finished his spell, throwing both hands out in front of him he unleashed his energy. The temperature in the room sharply rose as the fire shot forward towards Therion, at the front the face of a dragon began to form, its mouth opening wide as if to swallow an engulf the Archmage. Therion spared his last moment in doubt, he had to test his theory but did he really have to do it this way? No this had been the only way, he knew had he shielded or prepared any other fall back he would have chickened out and not taken this final step. The whole point of goading Halir was so that he would do this.

When the fake nose of the flames reached him Therion lazily swung his left hand, like a cat playing with a ball. The effect for those with mage sight was much greater, the Dragon was not deflected with a force smaller than it. Rather it was hit side on by a force much greater than it, the flames themselves were in turn engulfed by Therions magic the faux dragon crashed into the right wall with no more energy than a paper ball.

The class stood awestruck.

Halirs eyes flashed for a second in hatred and then calmly stood back panting slightly waiting for Therion to resume control. Therion gathering himself turned to the class “ I'm sorry it was not a very good example and it was my fault, I misjudged the strength of Halirs attack, as you can see even the best of us make mistakes. I will now leave you in Halirs excellent hands to resume the theory” He turned and left the room. He had lied to them.

He hadn't misjudged the strength of the attack, rather he had misjudged his own strength. High magic flows from the winds, it's tangible and a skilled user can record amounts. Therion hadn't used high magic, he had instead tested a personal theory. Magic was everywhere, all around them. Yet it never flowed through them unless the wizard specifically let it. Why? The answer to Therion had seemed simple: because each person stopped it with a force equal to or greater than the wild magic magic. Books had stated that some beasts actually had magic resistance against spells. But with what did they resist? What force did a beast conjure up that was greater than a high elf battle spell? It then had hit him, their souls. High elf religion always spoke against selling your soul to chaos? Why what use would the evil gods have for it? Unless, the soul was just a mass of energy itself. It would explain magical resistance, the beasts simply had a more powerful soul.

High magic never uses any force except from the winds, yet to deflect the flame-dragon Therion had chosen not to pull power from the winds but from within. That monstrous strength had answered his call. Had he discovered a way in which to surpass or augment High Magic? What effect did this have on him, was his soul infinite? It seemed that one answer had raised even more questions. Answers he had to find.

As he walked slowly towards his chambers in the tower something drew his attention. At the base and centre of Hoeth was an elevator with a glass floor and stone counterweights that would be used by the Pheonix King during official visits. Therion could barely see the entrance, his vision was blurred and whenever he looked at it directly as if trying to pierce the murky veil his head pounded with pain. The lift had obviously been warded as most of Hoeth was, wards upon wards. Together the uncountable spells gave the tower an uncanny ability to emulate a person. Mages often refered to the tower as such, claiming it 'knew' . In actuality they had just fallen foul of a single enchantment.

Therion wasn't surprised at the power of it, this was after all the personal lift of the monarch. The strongest wards would have to have been used to stop tampering. What did surprise him, is that despite his level and the fact he had looked upon the lift a great many times before, it was that he had triggered the defence. Had the spell gone awry or was it he that had changed since dabbling in soul-magic. Was this the tower warning him?

He retreated to his chamber, head pounding in order to try and work it out. As he made his way to the room he did realise one thing. The energy he had used to stop Halirs attack, although massive in terms of High magic, was only the smallest ounce of what he seemed to have inside him. With such amounts of raw power and his own extensive knowledge in magic what else could he accomplish?
Winner of the 'Best member' award Incumbent
[img]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/wraith-lord/misc/Animebanner.gif?t=1285150718[/img]
Post Reply