Damnation: Dawn of The Apotheosis

TECHNIQUES AND SPELLS

Master Vauxall stuck out his index finger and a little flame appeared on it. He placed it down and scribbled on the rock surface, as if he was using a pen and ink. Instantly, the flame scorched the rock, writing Master Vauxall’s initials, as if the rock was made of paper.

“That was a spell?” Ashviel asked, slightly excited by the display.

“No, that was a technique. A technique requires continuous attention and focus to maintain, while a spell merely requires you to pass Rek through special paths in your circuit. Up until now, your magic paths were created by me, so to cast spells, you have to create yours. Winding Rek along these spell paths will create the spell. Apart from that, there is little difference between the two.”

Ashviel understood that while techniques are made superficially, spells requires an inward ability.

“Take,” Master Vauxall handed some scrolls to them, “the scrolls contain instructions on the basic fire, wind and force spells. Ashviel unbound one of the scrolls that described a fire spell called shooting star. Kael took another with teachings on ripping tempest, a wind spell, while the last contained instructions on basting force, a force spell.

“You should learn all three spells; they’ll come useful for you. As for shadow spells,” he said, “you are not yet skilled enough to cast them.”

Ashviel and Kael spent the next few weeks trying to form the spell paths, and maintaining a steady flow of current in them. It took nearly a month before any of them had success in casting the spells, and the level of their skill was nowhere compared to Master Vauxall’s display. At a point, Kael felt like giving up on the whole idea.

The master was patient enough, tirelessly teaching his students and giving numerous examples. Finally, his two students were beginning to grasp the system.

Ashviel shot a shooting star at Master Vauxall, who deflected it easily, allowing the fireball to crash into the stony walls.

“Do you want to kill me?” Master Vauxall asked jokingly.

“It was a mistake, but I did it right.”

“You sure did.”

The shooting star was just like a shooting star, quick and destructive. One moment there was just a palm raised up, the next a flash of light pierces through your chest.

The rapping tempest was made like a sword out of wind, violently tearing through the small boulder in its path as Kael wielded it.

The basting force was a large amount of force Rek shaped like a club, strong enough to send a man flying backwards, wreaking a few injuries to the victim.

Kael saw that while the basting force was not very lethal, the shooting star and the rapping tempest were dangerous spells that could well kill a man with a single strike. He smiled wryly as he shot the last rapping tempest his store of Rek allowed. ‘So this is what made the lordlings so proud of themselves,’ he thought to himself.

Master Vauxall seemed glad at their progress, while he kept saying that his method of creating their circuits was what sped up their development. Normally, fledglings spend close to a year or even more before being able to cast spells. Even after then, the number of spells they could make at once was limited as spells consumed a lot of Rek, unlike techniques. The problem was however mitigated in Ashviel and Kael, as their master had left a vast reserve of Rek for them, with an easy way of replenishing them.

“Your journey will have you fight formidable opponents; mages with powerful spells, mages with strong body-honing techniques. Do you think a single strike of your sword will be enough to kill them?” Master Vauxall once asked.

“Each of your strike should use your strength, skill, and precision. To achieve this, you constantly practice the techniques. Instead of using basting force directly on your opponents, transmute your blade with it,” he advised.

For the month that followed, the three mages were plunged in serious combat training, and it was obvious the master was training them for a more difficult challenge ahead.

“Swordfight is the fundamental of battling among mages, because magical attacks can be easily countered. You attain proficiency by using magic as you fight, but you should not depend entirely on it. You can perform an illusion, disorganize your opponent with spell, or land the finishing blows with magic.”

Magic was fully inculcated into their exercises and they used it judiciously. Wind Rek was most especially useful for a wide gamut of maneuvers: from increasing sword speed, or decreasing the opponent’s blade, to dodging quick attacks and attaining an upper position. Fire Rek also came in useful, though the two had to learn a considerable amount of control before Master Vauxall allowed them to use it freely.

“A spell without control,” he once said, “is like a sword in the hands of an infant; dangerous but easily evaded. Strong as your spells may be, an ordinary mage can redirect it, and if your control is poor enough, he can send it back at you. The control also helps you to be prudent in your use of Rek.”

One afternoon, the three took shade under a rock outgrowth. Master Vauxall produced two small bags from his living space. It seemed like ordinary silk bags to Ashviel, but Kael’s eyes went wide as he recognized the objects.

“A space pouch!” he cried.

“You’ve seen one before?” Master Vauxall asked.

“Yes, my father had one.” He turned to face a nonplussed Ashviel. “A space pouch is a like a miniature living space that you can carry around.”

“You mean you can fix things inside it?”

Master Vauxall nodded in affirmation. “But the capacity is much less compared to that of a living space. Go ahead, have them,” he said as he handed the pouches to them.

Ashviel examined it closely; it was small, just about two feet long. It had two short ropes around it for fastening around the waist. He dipped his hands inside but was disappointed as his hand reached the bottom of the pouch.

“You have to first initiate it by passing shadow Rek into it, providing it with a signature. As such, only you can access the contents of your space pouch. As long as you’re still alive, that is.” Master Vauxall said.

Ashviel proceeded to add his signature Rek to the pouch in his hands. Shadow Rek has never been his specialty, but his control with the form has energy had improved slightly over the months, at least to a point where he could summon a sliver of it in moments. As he claimed ownership of the object, he felt his hand dip into a void space.

Somehow, he could clearly view the items in the bag without looking in it; it is not that he could see anything other than an empty bag if he actually looks with his eyes. The space in the pouch now appeared wide and Ashviel could feel it was not empty, but filled with travel supplies. A set of clothes in a bag, some food items in another sack, and a small chest that lay at the corner. Using shadow Rek as a navigator, he proceeded to open the box. The contents of the chest shocked him so much that he temporarily his concentration.

Inside the box was a stash of gold coins, filled to the very brim. He withdrew his Rek from the pouch and faced the master, who received an equally inquisitive stare from Kael.

“What are we to do with this fortune?” he asked. Money may not be of problem to Master Vauxall, but the amount seemed more than enough for him. He was sure that the coins with him rivaled that of some of the rich merchants of Lilk.

“Money should come in useful for you in future,” replied Master Vauxall, “especially since I’ll soon leave you.”

The latter part of the statement shocked Kael more than the coins did, and he was immediately filled with fear.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I will not be with you all your life, so I’ll be leaving you at this moment. I have an old friend that I’d like you to meet. His name is Blue Beard; he runs a little academy somewhere away. Do you still have the maps I gave you at Balad’s place?”

“Yes,” they both replied as they remembered the bald merchant.

“Well, bring them.” They gave him the maps, and he made some markings on them, revealing some parts that were hitherto absent.

“Here,” he said, pointing at one of the new locations, “this is Blue Beard’s place. I’ll leave tonight, but you can join me there anytime you like. You may want to spend more time on Hogan, or perhaps you have other places of interest to visit.”

The two students vehemently protested against his decision, which they knew well enough to be final. He shook his head and explained that he had to leave for only a short while.

They escorted the master to the edge of the mountain. The time they had spent together was only a fraction of their lifetime, but they had both grown to love him dearly. When they got to the final spot, he turned back to look into two sets of cerulean and viridian eyes. He smiled with mirth, and gave them too fatherly pats on the shoulder, squeezing their shoulder blades a bit hard.

“See you later,” he said as he descended sharply from the edge of the mountain, leaving the two young mages in thoughts.