THE BEGINNING AFTER THE END

Chapter 3

"You saw the skeletons in the cave?" she asked when he had finished.

"Yup."

"Those were dragon hunters after Drousin's gold. They used magic to kill Drousin's son in the attack. It sounds like he called a death shaman to try a resurrection spell on his son, hence the husk. Instead of getting his son, he must've gotten you. It's strange, I've never heard of a man's soul entering a dragon's body."

"A resurrection spell?" He shook his head. "So I did die."

He didn't want to think how his mother would react when they found his body. He would have found the idea of a resurrection spell preposterous an hour ago. However, he let it go without comment since he currently inhabited the body of a dragon.

"You fell asleep in a house full of poisonous gas." The wood elf said. "I'm pretty sure you died. And since it was natural causes -- and not magic -- even if a death shaman brought you back, your body couldn't keep you alive."

"We don't have death shamans where I come from." Ethan commented. "In fact, we don't have magic at all."

Alana laughed and shook her head as if he'd just made a funny joke. "Yes, and I'm sure you don't have air either."

"No really; I'm serious." Ethan said. "Where I come from, magic is only found in stories. There is no magic."

Alana stopped and gave him an odd look. "But life can't exist without magic; well, mana."

"Why not?" he asked.

She started walking again. They had almost reached a narrow path into the forest. The minute Alana stepped into the forest she started running her hands over the bark of trees and through the leaves of shrubs. She visibly relaxed once she was inside the forest. The path wasn't wide enough for them to walk next to each other, so Ethan fell in step behind her.

"Life is sustained by mana." She said. "Without it, everything withers and dies. All living beings -- from the smallest insect to the largest animal -- instinctively draw mana from the Ether to survive."

"Okay, so what's the Ether?"

"It's the source of all magical energy. Simply by living, plants and animals draw mana from the Ether. They always draw slightly more than they need though, and leave the excess floating around. Magic users can collect this excess energy -- called 'mana' -- and store it within their bodies. They can then call upon it to power spells and enchantments."

"So, it's just lying around for anyone to collect?" he asked.

"Sort of; that's the gist anyway."

"I suppose that makes sense."

They walked in silence for a little while, though it was a companionable silence. She seemed to know this forest very well and would occasionally brush her hand across some leaf or other. He didn't exactly tower over her, but his height allowed him to see over the top of her head.

"So, what do you do?" He asked after they had walked in silence for a while.

"I grow trees for mages who want an enchanted staff." Alana said.

"Really?" He asked. "Is that hard?"

"Only if you want a truly exceptional staff." She replied. "You'll see in a bit."

A few minutes' walk later, the path opened into a small clearing. In the center was what looked like a small cottage made from living trees. These had evidently been deliberately planted in a circle and had grown together to form a round, domed house. They all bent and leaned inward so that they formed a roof. After meeting together, the trunks had then grown upwards to form a large leafy canopy.

All around the cottage in neat little rows were trees in various stages of development. All of them had a few things in common though. They were perfectly straight, none looked wider than two inches, and none of them had branches except in the canopy, which looked impressive on all of them. With two quick cuts, the taller ones would make perfect staves up to 6 feet long.

Ethan let out a low whistle. "Nice."

"Thank you, I'm pretty proud of it myself." Alana said and then led him inside the house.

The interior of the house smelled like earth, but not in a bad way. The rest of the inside reminded Ethan of his own apartment. It was spartan, with only a table, a couple of chairs and a shelf with food on it over on one wall. A half-dozen staves lying flat on another shelf clearly made for that purpose. In another area an impressive-looking short bow and a quiver full of arrows leaned handily against the wall. There was a sunken fire pit in the center and a small bed nearby.

Alana made some dinner and they talked. It turned out she was one of the best staff makers in the land and her family had been doing it for generations, which meant hundreds of years because they were elves. She asked Ethan about his home and he explained as best he could. She clearly didn't understand all of it, but she was very interested anyway.

He found himself enjoying her company immensely.

"So, you have carts with wings like a bird that can hold hundreds of people and still fly?" She was rubbing the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed and then shook her head. "But why use wings? Why not enchant the cart to reduce the weight, like on an airship?"

"We don't have magic, remember." Ethan replied. "And can you really enchant things to make them lighter?"

"Of course." Alana said. "It's often one of the first things that dragons do."

"Dragons can enchant things?" Ethan asked.

If they could, and he was a dragon...

Alana laughed. "Of course. Dragons are the undisputed masters of enchanting in this world, Ethan. No other creature can match their skill in enchanting. You didn't know that?"

"No." He shook his head.

Alana c****d her head to one side. "Really?"

"No magic in my world remember." Ethan said. "Just assume I know nothing about magic at all."

"Okay, I'll start at the beginning then. There are two kinds of magic: active and passive. Active magic is used in spells and these are usually cast in combat or for healing. Passive magic is called enchanting and improves the properties of something, usually something you wear or carry."

"For example." Alana stood up and indicated her green dress. "This dress is enchanted to be self-healing and self-cleaning. If you cut it, it repairs itself, it will clean itself too."

"Wow, that's pretty cool." He said.

Alana smiled and nodded. "Yes. Passive magic can also help the wearer physically, by increasing strength or enhancing the senses -- things like that. They can even be used to cause harm, like those paralysis cuffs that were slapped on me earlier." She glanced in the direction of Drousin's cave and set her jaw, then turned back to him with a more pleasant expression.

"I'm with you so far." Ethan said. "Why are dragons masters of enchanting though?"

"Because you can't enchant something that is alive; only a dragon can do that." Alana answered. "Remember I said that all life draws mana from the Ether? That flow of mana through a living being makes it impossible to get an enchantment to stick. It's like trying to build a house in a raging river; you can't even get a foundation laid. That's why you enchant wood after it has been cut, because then it's not alive and will take the enchantment."

"Okay, so what makes dragons different?" he asked.

"Dragons don't draw mana directly from the Ether like most living things." She said. "Instead, when they're around gold they make it resonate and--"

"Alana!" A slightly squeaky voice shouted from outside.

It was the old man from earlier.

The wood elf moved.

She darted across the room like a panther and grabbed her bow before whipping around toward the door. Ethan got up and peeked out into the darkening sky. The white-haired man from Drousin's cave was outside sitting on a horse. He was flanked by two others wearing long dark robes. Something about them made the scales on Ethan's neck stand up.

"What do you want, Hermair?" Alana appeared right beside Ethan at the door, but didn't leave the house. She had an arrow nocked onto the bowstring, but it was pointing at the ground.

She was ready, but not threatening

"I want that abomination." Called the white-haired man, pointing at Ethan.

"What did I do?" Ethan asked.

"I've consulted with Lord Delmar." Hermair said in his squeaky voice. "He has decreed that the soul of a man inside a dragon's body is an abomination that must be cleansed from this land."

Alana shook her head. "This man-- er, dragon saved my life. I won't let you have him without a fight."

"You're making a big mistake." Hermair said, though the fact that he had pulled his horse back until he was shielded by the two robed riders made the effect comical rather than threatening.

"Why does this lord want me dead so badly?" Ethan called back.

"You are an abomination." Hermair replied as if it was obvious and no further information was needed.

"Yes, but why am I an abomination?"

"Because Lord Delmar said you are." Hermair answered.

"Forget it." Alana said quietly so only Ethan could hear. "Lord Delmar has a fanatically loyal cult-following who practically worship him. In their minds, his word might as well come directly from God."