Catalyst(24)

“Your mother sounds like a very good person,” Stradus said.

“She is. She's well liked in town.”

“I am curious though, Hellsfire. What happened to your father? I didn’t see him the night you were born.”

“He died in the Burning Sands before I was born. Mother told me he died a hero, protecting everyone, but she wouldn't tell me any more than that. She’d always get teary eyed and couldn't go on. This is the only thing I have to remember him by.” I pulled out my dagger and handed it to him.

“‘I will be with you always.’ This is a fine dagger, Hellsfire.” Stradus made some thrusting moves. “Sharp and strong, and the hilt is well crafted. Where did your father get it?”

“The Burning Sands.”

“You should always cherish it.” Stradus handed the dagger back and I secured it on my belt. “You have a fine family, my boy. You would do well to remember that.”

“I will.”

“I suppose we should get back to the tour,” Stradus said. “This library is where you will train your mind. These books have a lot, and I mean a lot of information. They contain spells, incantations, summonings, prophecies, and histories—among other things. Of course, many of these books aren't written in the language we’re now speaking. Hence, you’ll have to learn the most common language amongst us magical folk. It’s called Caleea. It’s the one on your dagger, as a matter of fact. It’s an ancient and mostly forgotten language, but you will learn it nevertheless. Now, let me take you to the practice room.”

The practice room was the most plain and boring out of all the rooms. All that was in it were some candles, rocks, and wooden sticks. But the room had an eerie sense about it that bothered me. All the other rooms had some sort of life and sound in them, but this room had the feeling of being a noiseless void. It didn’t seem to belong to this world.

“I guess you could say this would be the most important room,” the wizard said. “You’ll be practicing your magic in here. Don't get me wrong, all the other rooms are important, but here is where you’ll hone your skills and abilities.” He stepped a few feet away from me and turned to face me. He cleared his throat. “Let me see what you can do.”

I hesitated. “What do you mean?”

“I need to see where you stand with your power. Do what you can with your gift.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry about what you think you can or cannot do.”

I shrugged. There wasn’t much I could do. “All right.” I showed him my ability to make fire and maintain it with my mind, and my ability to heat up my hands to varying degrees.

I started to let go of the magic when he said, “Don't stop. Tell me, do you know how you’re doing it?”

I stared at him. I never talked while using my magic. Magic. It still felt funny to say that.

“I know it's hard, Hellsfire, but try not to focus too hard on the magic. It'll be like walking and talking once you get used to it. Please tell me if you know how you're doing it.”

I nodded, struggling not to feel like the weight of the magic was crushing me. “I kind of do. It's like I'm touching some kind of inner fire and I'm able to pull it out. It gets easier when I become angry or stressed, but I also learned to focus and use it to a certain extent.” I released my magic and started panting. Talking and performing magic was something I wasn’t used to.

“I see. Hmmm, I wanted to save this until later, but we might as well get to it. We haven’t much time.” Stradus sat cross-legged on the floor. He patted the ground for me to join him. “I guess I should start from the beginning and explain to you how magic works. You know of the four gods, correct?”

I smiled. “Of course. Who doesn't? With the exception of those who are like my mother and believe in only one god.”

“I didn't know your mother believed in just one god.” He stroked his long, white beard. “I'm going to tell you some of what you already know, but please bear with me, because it ties in with magic.

“Each god represents one of the four elements of nature. You have one for air or wind, one for water, one for earth or land, and one for fire.” As he talked, the globe on his staff changed colors to suit each god. I marveled at it, but I didn’t think he noticed he was doing it.

“What you probably don't know is there are actually six gods.”

He stopped, letting the information sink into my head. Six gods? How could there be six gods? To think that my own mother and most of the people in Sedah worshipped one of the six gods and chose to ignore the other five. It made no sense as to why anyone would not acknowledge the other gods, but then again I thought there were only four gods.