Aeternitas by M Mixson (web based ebook reader txt) 📕

‘Am I your only…partner?’

‘No, there were others. They die though, typically after having an extremely long lifespan they do die.’

‘How much longer?’

Isia looked uncomfortable. ‘One lived for over two hundred years.’

‘Will that happen to me?’

‘Only if you want it to. There is much that can be done with magic, it does not grant immortality but it can grant longevity.’

‘I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.’

‘Magic is a grey area, Eian. There is truly evil and truly good and there must be a balance. That’s what the Sources and their users were supposed to be doing. We were supposed to be creating a balance in the world. Now we can start again.’

‘Start again?’

‘You. You are going to be our future!’

'Now,' Isia whispered to him, 'hold the thought in your mind, form it, shape it. Then you can release it. As you get better it'll take less and less time. Right now, you're too unskilled to try anything else.'

"Thanks," Eian told her wryly. "So what am I trying?"

Isia smiled, 'We're going to make an altar.'

Eian's eyebrows rose as he stood in front of her and he wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that.

'You'll have to work with the earth, so go on, sit down.'

The young man glanced around the area pointedly. They were standing in a woods that seemed to stretch on forever and the large trees blocked out much of the sunlight, and the little that filtered through was green-yellow in color. It was almost ethereal in nature and it made Eian slightly uncomfortable to be standing in a place that seemed to sacred.

"It seems too sacred to work in though!" he protested.

Isia glanced down at him, 'So you noticed. But that's okay. I got permission from the tree spirits to work here. When you work in an area that is sacred power is easier to draw on and use.'

Eian nodded, "Fine then. You said I was going to be working with the earth, what exactly did you mean?"

'Sit down first,' Isia said, 'then I'll explain everything to you.'

Eian sat on the ground crossing his legs. He looked up at Isia as she hovered over him.

'Good,' she smiled and placed her hands on his head, 'Now begin to breath, slow, even, deep breaths. Feel the air around you, feel the power that flows.'

Eian's brow crinkled as he focused on his breathing.

'You're focusing too hard, relax, don't think, let yourself just feel.'

"How can I do both?" he muttered to himself.

'You'll have to learn,' Isia told him severely. 'Now, try again. We can practice until you can feel the power flowing through you.'

Eian took another deep breath, then another, and another, and his body began to relax, began to become weightless as his mind and spirit began to connect more easily with each other, and then, There.

There. There. There. He could feel the power in the air flowing around him. It was bright and fresh and strong. He swallowed as Isia took her hands away.

'Form a picture of an altar in your mind, any will do. Tell me once you have done this.'

The young man quickly began to form an image, one he'd seen in a book about an old altar. "Okay," he told Isia, "I've got the picture in my mind."

'Now begin to channel it down into the earth. You want stone, so call upon the stone in the earth.'

Eian let his glance focus downwards as he called upon the white stone that was natural to this region. And before his eyes it began to rise up from the ground.

'Do you still have the picture in your mind?' Eian nodded. 'Then start building.'

As quickly as it had begun, it was just as quickly over.

Isia sighed. 'Well done. This is only the beginning of what you're able to do. Soon you'll be able to do more. In the future the magic will instinctually react to what you want it to do. At that point it'll be very easy to cast magic and use spells. The truth of it is magic should be natural. The Users who use magic for things that are not natural very quickly find themselves struggling to use it. The magic and the Sources are inherently ingrained in the world. Thus, air, water, fire, earth, light and darkness. These six elements are those that you can use. Make the wind blow, turn water into ice, create fire, shape the earth, and create light and dark.'

Eian swallowed a bit nervously.

'Don't look at me like that. It takes at least three years to become a master in magic.' She told him. 'It won't happen all at once.'

"That's not what I'm worried about - is it, is it possible to go evil through using magic?"

Isia turned towards him and nodded. 'Yes. I won't lie to you. It is possible, very, very possible to go 'evil' as you put it through magic. I'd like to say it is uncommon but it really isn't. There's more to it than simply 'going evil' but it takes time to explain and I don't want you worrying about it right at this moment.'

"Will I go evil?"

Isia leveled her sharp gaze at him. 'Unlikely. You are pure right now. Pure of heart, mind, spirit and body. It is not necessary to be pure in all those things but it does help at times.' She placed her hands on his head. 'When you get to a certain point in using magic you want to use it for everything you do. That is misuse of power. What you can do without magic, you should do without. Magic was always supposed to be used to protect people.'

Eian grinned, "I like that. Using magic to protect people."

'You would,' Isia grinned back. 'Now, let's say we continue, hmm?'

Eian nodded to her and planted his hands firmly on the ground again to soak up the earth. "So what am I going to be doing now?"

'Nothing with the earth, this time I want you to use the air. Make the wind blow.'

Eian caught his tongue between his teeth and focused on the element. Slowly a breeze ruffled the otherwise quiet forest.

Isia gave him a little clap, 'Again, well done.'

"It's getting easier even though it's only the second time."

'As it should. The magic is starting to get to know you and respond to you as such. We've done air and earth. It's a little risky to use fire, but see if you can grow a small fire in your palm, you know, like a flame, a candle's flame.'

Carefully Eian began to search for the elements in the air, and soon found that fire was very different. It was volatile and didn't want to work with him. He'd never thought they'd have personalities, but they did. These elements existed free-floating where ever he went...sighing he grappled with his mind and made it focus while he quietly contained the fire in the sphere of his mind and channeled it to his palm where it grew into a steady flame.

This time Isia's mouth fell open.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

'I wasn't...expecting you to actually do it!'

"Wasn't expecting - you mean you knew that I'd probably fail?"

'I wanted to show you that not all elements were willing to work with you. Fire is by the far the most stubborn. But once you learn and acknowledge them and prove your strength they become willing to work with you. Anyways you did much better than I thought you would.'

"Thanks, I guess," Eian muttered and let the flame slowly gutter out in his palm.

'Now try water,' Isia commanded.

Eian opened his mind to the elements as he searched for water. When he found it he called out, asking it to come to him. And it did. Then in front of him a small pool of water developed from nothing. He grinned as he dipped his fingers in it. The water was cool and refreshing as he licked it off his fingers.

'It's pure, which is why it tastes the way it does.'

"Hmmm," Eian didn't respond as he looked for light. "I'm going to look for light and dark now."

'Don't!' Isia commanded. 'Light and dark are completely different from the other four elements. Until you can well and truly control the main four we won't do anything with light and dark. If you are unprepared it can end in utter disaster.'

Eian bowed his head. "Why're they so much harder?"

'They're much more volatile, and they're not the elements as we think of them. It's difficult to explain. But using them is dangerous, they're like the line that divides good from evil. Use them even very briefly the wrong way they can turn you mad, make you evil or do all of the above. One mistake could cost you your life.'

Eian's hand gripped his shirt. "Sorry."

'No need to be sorry. Just understand that at this point I don't want you to use magic without my permission. It can kill you. Any of it can kill you.'

Eian clasped his hands together and looked up. "So, what now?" he asked.

Isia looked down at him with her gentle smile and Eian thought again how beautiful and kind she was. Her eyes narrowed. 'Now we do it all again. We practice until you can't stand, until you need sleep, food and water. We won't stop until you've completed your training. We won't stop until you become as powerful as you can be. You truly are our future.'

He blinked. "Why do you say that? I'm your future. I don't understand."

'Again, that's something better left till later. I don't want to scare you.'

"Is there a prophecy about me?"

Isia looked like he'd slapped her in the face. 'Yes. Well, sort of. The Princess, we work for the Princess and the Empress at times, well, she told me recently that a young man became an Oracle. That he'd seen something to do with you. She wasn't sure what, but he didn't tell her before he left.'

"How long ago was this?"

She shrugged. 'We don't count years the way you do. It could have been three or ten. I'm not sure which though.'

Eian frowned. "Well, until then we're going to need a way to buy food and shelter. I can paint our way to a living."

Isia watched as the young man walked out of the forest. He was going to be a most powerful magic user someday.