The Accidental Archmage by Edmund Batara (read out loud books .TXT) 📕

meantime, let’s get some food in

you.”

Andreas walked to the door, opened it and hollered something. Then he came back and

moved the chair to a position beside the bed. Tyler thought that was a strange

statement about his name. Not the usual reply when meeting somebody.

“I will heal you a bit more while waiting for the food and water. Don’t be shocked about

what you will see and feel in the next few minutes. Just calm down and accept it as it

is. I know you have a lot of questions but we can deal with them later.”

Andreas placed his right fingertips on top of Tyler’s bandage.

“I am going to try to heal you again. I have been doing it while you were unconscious. I

do have to tell you that something in you resists direct healing. So, there’s a runic

inscription under the bandage. It greatly increases the healing properties of the

poultice. Usually, I could do it from a distance. But I have found that in your case, a

closer contact with the rune gives better and faster results. With that in mind, Helga

makes excellent healing poultices. We’re lucky she has good healer skills.”

Tyler became more surprised. “Runic inscription? Direct healing?”

“Yes,” Andreas patiently answered, “and yes, it is a form of what we called magic back on Earth. And please keep the questions, I have to heal you now.”

At that, Tyler kept his mouth shut and watched Andreas. Andreas had closed his eyes in

concentration, fingertips of both hands on top of the bandage.

“Eir…Heila…Tyler…” whispered Andreas.

Tyler could feel a warm sensation in the area of the wound. A hot pinprick affecting the

wound itself. The feeling continued constantly for about two minutes, with the healer’s

eyes closed all the time. Tyler could see the intense concentration on Andreas’ face.

The hot pinprick stopped when Andreas opened his eyes and withdrew his fingers.

Though the warm feeling remained, Tyler noted that the pain had decreased and the

wound felt smaller. He sensed that his weakened body also felt stronger and better.

“That was something else, Andreas. Thanks,” said Tyler.

“A lot of doctors will be out of work on Earth if I practiced back there,” replied Andreas

with a laugh, “may I ask what year did you come from?”

“It was 2016 when I left and found myself in this clusterfuck.”

“Clusterfuck? I am afraid the term escapes me.”

“Oh, it means a mess of circumstances totally scrambled beyond comprehension and

resolution. An American idiomatic expression. Not to be used in polite company.”

Andreas laughed again.

“That surely also applies to my situation when I first came here. Clusterfuck. The term

sounds and feels apt for people such as us.”

Andreas then looked at him, remembering something.

“But before I forget. Practical rule number one in this world, never give out your full

name. You notice I didn’t give you my middle name. Names here have power and will

give people control over you. As in magical control. As a result, people have their secret

actual names and a name for worldly use. My name here is Ivar Godfrid. Call me Ivar

from now on. And we better find you a name before you start giving it away.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Unfortunately, no. It’s not only the Norse. A lot of ancient cultures back on Earth

practice the same precautions. The belief that knowing a person’s real name grants a

degree of power is quite pervasive. Especially in what we call black magic practices.

Must have crossed over to the Middle Age perception in demonic summoning. You

know, that belief about knowing a demon’s real name grants one power over it. Though

only a fool or the truly desperate does that.”

“Don’t tell me demons also exist here?”

“Oh, some. Not that common anyway. Demons of pagan myth. Or beings not falling

under the usual perception of “good”.

That unsettled Tyler. He hurriedly changed the topic.

“What sort of name do you suggest?” he asked, “Your name sounds Norse.”

“Well, this part of the world is mostly Norse. Of course, with some significant

differences from what we know as the Norse back on Earth. Time does march on in its

confusing glory. The territory with Norse influence is called Skaney. The term is an Old

Norse term referring to Scandinavia. Literally means the southern tip of Sweden. My

guess is that the first arrivals came from that time era. Hence the name. More later

when we get to your geography lecture,” smiled Andreas, “so what will be your world

name? Any ideas?”

“I am not that familiar with Norse names, Ivar,” answered Tyler, “I guess I get to leave

that up to you for suggestions. Something easy to remember, please.”

“How about Thorfinn? Thorgeir? Thoralf? Those start with a “T”, like your real name.

You can’t use names of deities, Norse or otherwise. That would be……. bad.”

“Why? Aside from being obviously sacrilegious.”

“For one thing, deities here are real and they don’t take kindly to mortals adopting their

names. Unless you fancy a lightning bolt out of the blue. In the alternative, the

population worshipping the deity may likewise happily cut you to pieces for the

transgression. Unfortunately, they also have plenty of wonderfully inventive but painful

and lethal ways of punishing you if they’re in the mood.”

“Wait, I am guessing here that you are not talking about the “God” but deities or gods,

with a small “g”. They are real here?”

“Yes,” Ivar laughed, “The entire bunch, plus or minus a few. From Zeus to Odin to

other more esoteric pantheons.”

He spread his arms wide open in greeting.

“Welcome to Adar. Dumping ground of our non-monotheistic gods and beings, beasts, and creatures of all kinds. A repository of magical and related learning, a wondrous and

extremely dangerous world.”

“Adar?”

“That’s what this world is called. Sumerian in origin. It is said that they were the first

civilization in our recorded history to settle this world. Well, my guess would be that

explains why they got naming rights. But from what is recorded, they thought this

world was a part of Earth. Why they named this place Adar is beyond me. It’s the name

of a month in their calendar. Unfortunately, even if I were back on Earth, I wouldn’t be

able to get the true meaning of the word. Scholars of my time never