Desert Wizard: The Youth Awakening the Ancient Magic

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Visitor

That night, Karim did neither sleep well nor relax. The moment he opened his eyes, sunlight had already illuminated Vasya’s face through the window. “I will be departing with the sorceress Safia from the village today,” he thought. His heart swirled with emotions. There was anxiety about the unknown journey ahead, alongside excitement and curiosity about his bizarre abilities.

He got up and made an effort to just arrange his clothes, which consisted of a few pieces of worn but tidy coarse cloth garments. Recovering from deep thought, he decided to go and see Elder Hassan first before heading out. He sauntered out of the room.

Others in the village had already started their day. A number of villagers combed the oasis with buckets in hand to fetch water while some began shouldering their farm implements, ready to head towards the fields. All along, as was the case every day, people showered him with warm greetings. He noticed that every single hello held greater importance than usual and sensed a powerful shift deep within him as he felt the weight of knowing he was saying goodbye to everything familiar.

Karim arrived at Elder Hassan’s house. As usual, Hassan was sitting by the door in the morning sun, playing with an old walking stick. He had a gentle smile on his face while leering at Karim who was coming his way and he motioned for Karim to come closer.

“Child, you do not seem well. Did you not sleep well last night?” Hassan asked, clearly worried.

Karim squatted next to Hassan. He was silent for quite a while, but ultimately decided to share everything that transpired last night, including Visaf’s visit, and his decision to follow her to the village and learn magic in a desperate attempt to avoid what seemed like an impending catastrophe.

Hassan observed Karim intently during the duration of the story without saying a word. It was as if he was pondering wondrous things while watching the dancing sand on the horizon. After some time, he shifted his gaze and affectionately stroked Karim’s shoulder, “My boy, the moment I laid my eyes on you when you came to this village, I knew that you were destined for greatness. If it is your fate that has come to grant you this purpose, then do not shy away from it. Remember that no matter where you go, this village is your true home and we are here praying for your success.”

Looking at such a loving and kind face, such as that of Hassan, Karim gave him moist eyes. Trying to hold back the tears, he added, “Elder, I will do my very best to learn magic and defend everyone. But you have to take care of yourself for me.”

After saying goodbye to Hassan, he went on to meet a few other villagers to take their leave. He received a lot of concerned and surprised reactions from those who were already aware of the news. However, along with that, there was a lot of encouragement which positively motivated him. One by one, his friends came forth and gathered around him.

While some decided to wait to hear wonderful stories of the outside world from him, others shoved their beloved little trinkets into his palms, claiming it would be best to keep them as souvenirs during his travels.

While Karim was midway through his quite reluctant farewells with the villagers, Safia showed up. She was still robed in white and she was almost glowing in the sunlight. She was standing to the side waiting for Karim to complete his farewell and approach her.

When Safia came to be, Karim lifted his gaze, took a long deep breath, looking around at the village he had called home all the years he spent here, then walked towards her with confidence.

‘Shall we get going, child?’ she gently asked.

Karim gave a determined, ‘I am ready,’ immediately making him and Safia walk towards the road heading out of the village alongside the desert. The village slowly receded into the distance before disappearing completely into the never-ending sand.

Karim was filled with longing as he looked back one last time. Safia must have felt what he was feeling because she said, “Try not to be too gloomy, child. When you come back after perfecting your skills, you will be in a better position to defend this place. Now let us discuss the ‘Soul of the Sand’ magic that you have inherited.”

Safia most definitely had Karim’s attention because she spoke of “Soul of Sand.” Karim glanced Safia’s way in expectation of her elaborating. Safia carefully started to say, “The ‘Soul of the Sand’ is an ancient and powerful magic. It has a special relationship with this desert. As the story goes, ages ago, the desert went through a massive calamitous event. There was a great sorcerer with the ‘Soul of Sand’ magic. He used this powerful magic to rescue the entire desert and ever since, the magic has been saved in the desert. With time, less and less people knew about it and even fewer could use it.”

Karim paid close attention while he visualised the powerful imagery of the great sorcerer rescuing the desert using the ‘Soul of the Sand’ magic.

“Safia, please continue,” Azzam had a strange mix of excitement and dread. “What do you mean it can control and shape sand? Isn’t it a powerful spell? Bend magic sounds like intergalactic levels of skill?”

“I was just getting to that,” Safia grinned. “The ‘soul of the sand’ magic allows you to communicate with the essence of the desert, granting you unlimited strength while you stand in it. But…and there is always a but, its raw strength draws some unkind attention from ill-minded folk. The worst of them is called the shadow eye.”

“Why does that name sound even worse than the people you just described?” Karim asked, concerned.

Safia grew grave. “Because they are a vile group who sits deep beneath all the sand. They want nothing more than all magic for themselves, and their goals of world domination will lead them to ruling the endless world of Mongolia. Their eyes have been set on you, my desert prodigy, for a while now. The moment they deem you an heir to the powerful magic of the soul of the sand, things will get ugly and dangerous. So, time is scarce.”

These words forced Karim into a sense of urgency. The journey he had to endure was clearly tougher than he had predicted.

As they went deeper into the desert, the surrounding landscape became progressively more barren. The sun maintained a high altitude, frying the desert and making it scorching hot. The sand below their feet was burning hot enough to melt the soles off their shoes. Karim's sweat was evaporating as quickly as it emerged, rolling down his cheeks and instantly disappearing.

Safia glanced at Karim, noticing his slight signs of exhaustion. "Child, magic is not only power, but a way to blend with nature. Try to feel the living force of this desert and let it ease the excess stress on your physique."

Karim attempted to follow Safia's instructions, closing his eyes to visualise the environment around him. To begin, all he experienced was heat and dryness. After some time, however, he began grasping onto the faint traces of a force residing beyond. Desert heat. It was authoritative, enduring, and quite soothing. Trying to guide that power deep into his being was miraculous. His once-exhausted body began to feel rejuvenated, as if being exposed to new life, while the discomfort caused by the intense heat simmered down considerably.

"You adapt rather quickly, good child," Safia told him with glee. “This is the ‘magic of the sand’s spirit’ and its connection to the desert. If you channel it, the desert will transform into a powerful ally."

Safia had been quiet for some time, walking in her own world when she spotted a featureless area. “This is good. This will be your initiation training ground.”

Both rush and freeze enveloped Karim as a sense of joy invaded his mind. The moment he knew he was about to start his journey of learning spells and processes he would have considered unfathomably incredible ways.

She guided the staff holding the gems towards the earth and with a wave of a staff she had with her, she directed calm light radiating from their tip towards the ground. The level plains of the earth seemed to smooth as the lucid sand within began to calm, collected and transform towards itself into a cylindrical shape reaching greater than the height of an ordinary person.

“Karim, make sure that you pay attention closely,” Safia instructed. “Commanding sand is the easiest form of 'Soul of the Sand' magic. You need to focus and visualise yourself being one with the sand, then you will give the sand orders using only your thoughts."

With just her command, Safia was able to transform the sand pillar into a sand tiger. The ferocious sand tiger looked as if it would come to life at any second.

While watching the demonstration, Karim's eyes seemed to grow larger and larger with each passing moment. When she stopped controlling it, the sand tiger reverted back into a pillar of sand, which then dispersed into granules.

“Okay, child, now it’s your turn. I want you to attempt moving these sands,” said Safia, now looking towards Karim with a more friendly demeanour.

Breathing deeply, crouching down, and resting his palm upon the warm grains, Karim was determined to mould the sand. He pictured commanding the sand in his mind and reached out for the grains in front of him. To his dismay, the sand remained motionless. Doubt started creeping into Karim's mind and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

“Don’t worry, child. Relax and feel it with your heart,” Safia said gently, reminding him.

Karim self-calmed while adjusting his breath. He noted, slowly the grains of sand in his hand seemed to respond, as if to a heartbeat. His joy knew no bounds. Imagining the sand forming an eagle as he did the day before, he concentrated.

Sure enough, with all the concentration he could gather, the sand began to collect. Ground sand was lifting, shifting, and moving in a circular motion, eventually forming a small prototype of a sand eagle. Its structure was still a little rough but the basic shape had already formed.

“Very good, Karim!” Safia exclaimed, her excitement bubbling over. “Push yourself to make it even more defined.”

Safia’s arm movements enchanted Karim, which in turn motivated him to control the form of the sand perfectly. The sand eagle began to take a properly defined shape, clearer feathers, bigger eagle-like wings. At last, the sand eagle flapped its wings, ascending, then circling gracefully before finally landing and transforming into a pile of sand.

“Great, child! Karim, feel free to take a resizing,” Safia smiled, and continued, “you’re the fastest learner of the magic ‘Soul of the Sand’ I've taught.”

Karim got up and smiled. He was feeling much more confident in his magical abilities and was now looking forward to the next practical session.

“Why so serious?” The expression on Safia’s face was unusual.

“Something unusual seems to be coming closer. The gaze is that of someone looking from a distance.”

"Sensory magic must have tagged someone. They may have ill intentions,” Safia added, taking immediate action.

"Spy alert! There is some unusual magic coming. This might access the 'Shadow Eye' system, and I'm picking it up from thirty."

Karim could feel the tightening in his heart while all the confidence he had gathered mentally was fleeting, now replaced with fear. He shifted his gaze towards Safia's side, in expectation of instructions.

“Settle down, child. We have to divert them by moving eastward toward that valley,” Safia's low voice instructed as she, herself, started to rush eastward.

Karim, meanwhile, realised they were also in need of moving quicker.

“Whatever is hunting us, walking back and looking off, needs to pick up speed,” Greg said bluntly, and to his surprise, Safia chuckled.

“Fuji magic withdrawal syndrome decided to wear me like the rest of the world today. Legend has it that anything wearing it runs into a calamity.” Suffern blushed, her cheeks giving off dangerous signs of volcanic eruption.

Above anything else, it was possible the child would choose an ultimatum where stark reality met stark untruth and would seek compromise in all worlds and make everything real as opposed to make-belief.

Greg brushed off the unknown headache fast approaching as the two entered the desert, unsure of completing their mission.