Zaraline's Point of View
After Marius and Veran had disappeared from sight, Morganna wrapped a friendly arm around my shoulders.
"They'll be fine. They are strong men," she said. I looked over at her and smiled.
"I'm sure they will." I looked at her now. "So. You'll be teaching me how to use magic?"
"One of things I'll be teaching you, yes. You have heard of those blessed by the dragons and their order, yes?"
I nodded, recalling the many stories people in the north told about the Blessed Ones. They could take on the shape of a dragon, and were the wisest men and women known to mankind. Only, their numbers dwindled over the years, and none have been seen since the dragons went beyond the Weygate Mountains.
"You see, I, along with a handfull of other individuals are the last of the order," Morganna began as she started to lead me inside. "I am the current head of our order. Grindyr and I have been discussing for a while now that we might revive the order to its former glory in preparation for what is to come."
I stared at Morganna in awe as she led me up the tower. To be standing in the presence of a Blessed One was amazing. I figured I should have suspected she was one, though. She seems to have spent a good chunk of her life with Grindyr.
"According to the things Grindyr sees, you are to be the first one blessed since I was some decades ago, and will perhaps be the strongest Blessed One in centuries." She led me past the living room, and even further up the tower. "But such a gift doesn't come without a trial. Grindyr has tasked me with your preparation."
We came to the top of the tower. The ceiling of the room glittered with specks of violet particles that floating in the air. In the center of the room was a globe. I found Elleria easily. Only, I found that the Elleria I knew, the Weygate mountains, the Northerlands, and the region south of the Bloody Isthmus was barely a third of the continent.
The room had four hallways that stretched out... impossibly far. There was no way the top of the tower was actually this big. Morganna led me down one of the dimly lit halls. Paintings of unfamiliar individuals and various dragons decorated the space, along with some elegant tapestries.
The hallway led to a room with many, many bookshelves, lit by golden orbs that hung from the ceiling, casting their warm glow over the room.
"How is this even possible?"
"It's ah... Complex." Morganna furrowed her brow, perhaps trying to figure out how to explain it to someone who had no clue about this sort of stuff. "Essentially, each hall is a rip in the fabric of this dimension, revealing an entirely new place behind it."
I tried to wrap my head around that, but it was a struggle. "...How is that possible?"
"A lot of careful spellwork. An elven mage a part of the order did most of the heavy lifting, if I'm to be honest." She then stretched her arm out, motioning to the room. "Even so, this is all of my collection. A bit old, but I'm sure you will find it useful at some point."
Looking around, I couldn't even imagine how Morganna managed to amass all these books. The only library I'd ever seen that was comparable to this one, was the one in Phey. If I was truly meant to study magic, then I imagined I would be spending a good portion of my time here.
"Come, I'd like to show you some things I'd be teaching you." She led me back, and then down another hall, and took a left into a storage room. From one of the crates, she pulled forth a vial of sand and from another, a pair of spectacles. Morganna then led me back into the main room.
She laid out the items on the table beneath the globe. First, she picked up the spectacles, holding them out to me. I took them, noticing the intricate runes seared along their flat arms.
"These were enchanted to allow one to see what cannot be seen by our eyes alone. Enchanting is a more basic form of magic. Frowned upon for it's simplicity. Yet, a clever mage can go quite far with an arsenal of enchanted objects." As I listened to her, I ran my fingers across the runes, before moving to put them on. As they settled on the bridge of my nose, I could now see these blue planes of transparent light over the hallways around me. I looked up to see ribbons of cobalt light connected the dots with the particles floating over the ceiling. the lines created a detailed map of what I assumed was this region. It was amazing.
"Feel free to hang on to that pair, if you like." I took the spectacles off thereafter.
"Thank you," I said, turning my attention to her as she picked up the vial of sand, pulling free the cork. Setting the cork aside, she held the tips of her fingers together, holding them over the opening. She began to chant what I perceived as gibberish, and slowly began raising her hand.
Like a snake, the sand rose up. To my surprise, as the sand left the confines of the bottle, it formed together to a more compact shape, and became darker. She was turning it to obsidian. Before long, she had a small shaft of obsidian.
"A more careful display of transmutation. This sort of magic is where most of my expertise lies." Another swift motion of her hand coupled with an incantation turned the shaft back to sand, where it fell back into the battle. 836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYfnzSsbdX
"That's amazing."836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrbS0NLM09
"Indeed it is. But, before one can master magic, they must first perfect their own mind. Have you ever meditated before, Zaraline?"836Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0Xhr6ZppJ
