Chapter 1

Written and Revised by EBelt

Edited by 788

It was a dark, miserable, rainy day in the city of Aster. it was the kind of day that made a person stay inside. And the kind of day where mysterious happenings take place.
Ferin quickly walked across the cobble stones of the street, avoiding the puddles of rain and ditches of mud. His eyes went from shadow to shadow wary of any eyes watching him. He hurried through the tangle of buildings with dilapidated houses. The city, being as old as it was, had been destroyed, rebuilt and reformed, only to have its older sections abandoned. These places made the perfect passages for those who prefer to walk unseen. Beggars, heretics, occultists, and criminals made such places their home.
Ferin, however, being very familiar with these alleys and backways made quick and efficient progress, avoiding the scum, until he found the destination he was looking for, a small shack beside a stone building. He shook off some of the rain and stepped inside.
The man inside greeted him. He was dressed in ragged clothes and had a crooked grin with shifty eyes. The inside of the shack was not in any better condition than the man. It had crowded bookshelves with worn and beat-up books. A wet and rotting floor with a leaky ceiling.
Ferin frowned as the man tried to exchange pleasantries, "Just give me what I came for."
“I hope you know how valuable this tome is.” The man pulled out a large dusty book from under the counter, “I went through a lot of trouble getting it.”
“But you got it. And that’s all that matters.” Ferin said, mirthlessly as he took the book.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“That is none of your business.” Ferin said, sliding a coin purse over to the bookseller.
While the man counted the money, Ferin primed his mind to see the immaterial as he said his incantation. In his sight, the world then appeared as a shadowy simulacrum as he trained his sight to perceive illusions or curses on the book. Such things would tend to appear shadowy and faded or glowing depending on the nature of the spell.
He held his concentration and opened the book, examined it and found that it was genuine. There was nothing else of note in an immediate sense but that was no guarantee for such a quick examination. As he released his focus the sight of the world returned as it had been but his eyes were sensitive.
“Thank you for your time.” He said, as he put the book in his bag and left.
Ferin rushed inside his home, an abandoned townhouse where he converted the rooms into a series of makeshift laboratories, libraries, storage and experimental spaces. He took off his outer coat and threw it onto the rack, not even checking to see if it stayed. He hurried to his study and pulled out a quill and a piece of paper, before carefully setting the tome on his desk.
After all those long years of searching, he had one. He had a Caster's tome in his possession. And he was not letting go of it. Ferin gave a simple disillusion spell. It would not help against more advanced spells, but given that the tome was old, Ferin was fairly certain it would work. Ferin primed his mind and entered the shadowy world, making sure he focused on the book, and didn't look past the shadows. He searched the book more thoroughly for any curses or harmful spells. All he saw was the glowing disillusion spell, and nothing else.
The world returned to normal as he pulled out of the shadowy world, and gingerly picked up the book. The cover was made of leather, but was worn down and had a split in the binding. Ferin grimaced, he hoped no pages were missing. That could ruin everything. He blew off some dust and studied the carvings on the leather. Some had faded and others had been scratched, but some still seemed in tact, but they weren't as detailed as he was sure they had been years ago.
He was about to open the tome, when a drop of water landed on his desk He look up and frowned. The roof was leaking again. He sighed and did a quick succession of spells, rearranging the room, making sure the desk wasn’t sitting on the rotting wood or near any other leaks, moving several buckets around, and adding "patch the roof” to his to-do list.
Even though the spells and rituals he had been researching for the past few years had had an increasingly noticeable qualitative effect that qualitative effect had yet to reach his study.
Ferin sat down again, and opened the book. It smelled musty and of rotting wood, but Ferin ignored the smell and studied the pages. They seemed to be in good condition, even though most were yellow and dog-eared. As he took out another piece of paper and started marking a few spells and writing notes his mind started to wander to all of the break throughs he could make with this one book.
Granted it was old and worn, but Ferin had found that some of the older magic tomes had a better grasp on the basics of magic than newer tomes. Most newer tomes said that magic did not affect the “real world.” However, the place he lived in was proof that was wrong.
While magic exists in the physical realm in an ambient sense, magic of the truly powerful variety comes from other worlds and tapping into that energy, that power brings remnants of that world into the physical world. The energy from smaller spells dissipates quickly, but more powerful spells and rituals had evidence of their effects lingering.
Which was one of the reasons, Ferin traveled to ancient sites where magic was more prevalent. However, he had learned that those places can be dangerous as they often have rules of their own which contradict those of the physical world.
After several hours of writing and reading, Ferin still had at least 200 more pages. He rubbed his eyes and sighed, this was going to take a lot longer than he wanted.
Since, it was going to take so long, he might as well take a little break. Ferin stood up and walked over to his bookshelf and started shifting through his various spell books, some written by himself others by his old master. He wasn't sure why he still had them. He pulled out his "Basic Illusion Spells" book to double check the spell he had used on the tome. Even though he was sure had had done it right There was a chance he had done it wrong, and that was why the rules had not appeared.
He frowned. He had said it to the word. Maybe a different one, he thought. He flipped through a few pages, before getting bored.
He considered going through his ritualist books, but did not see the point. Eventually, he picked up his Advanced Caster's book. It was one of his favorite Caster' books, mainly because he wasn't sure he agreed with everything written in it, but he found it fascinating how one man could be so self-reliant, yet so dependent on other people's opinions.
He opened it to the first page and read "To be a Caster one must put all trust upon oneself in order to achieve something great. To be a Caster one must put faith in no one in order to be free. And to be a Caster one must impose one's will upon the world in order to be remembered."
Ferin was about to read on, when there was a knock on his door. He frowned and closed the book. He opened the door and a large, grinning face greeted Ferin. A lanky young man stood outside with a long coat and a top hat.
"Dorian? What are you doing here?"
"Ferin, my fellow wizard. How are you today?" He asked, giving a large grin.
"I'm doing just fine. Don't you have ceremonies to attend?"
"Well, I took the day off. Besides you'll never guess what I found."
Ferin was about to respond, when the tome appeared in his mind. He did not have time to go exploring. "I'm sorry, my friend. I'm busy, perhaps another day."
"Oh, come on, Ferin. Don't be boring. I found this old castle a few days ago, and it's from the Magic Era. I know you love that period, so I thought we'd explore it together."
He paused. He desperately wanted to finish reading through the tome, but at the same time it had been quite awhile since he had gone looking through castle ruins, "I don't know."
Dorian frowned, "Oh, come on. Where's you sense of fun? For the last few years, all you do is hide in your house and never come out. You never even come to my parties. You always used to come to my parties, Ferin."
"I'm know. But I'm busy today."
"The last time you said that you disappeared and I didn't see you for a months. So, let's go now, and on the way you can tell me what you've been doing in that home of yours."
"I'm not sure about that." Ferin said, but took his coat off the rack.
Dorian smiled, "I'll weasel it out of you. Don't worry."
The rain had stopped by this time, and large puddles had formed on the roads. After a little while, Dorian gave a contented smile, "Ah, just like old times. Now, tell me, my friend. What have you been doing for the past half year."
"Nothing much." but sighed when he saw the look Dorian gave him, "Just practicing some spells."
Dorian raised an eyebrow, "Oh, have you found anything new?"
He shrugged, "Not really."
Dorian laughed, "Stop lying, Ferin. I know you too well. You've got something. I can see it in your eyes."
Ferin gave Dorian a look. There was no way Dorian could have figured that out, unless he had seen him running through the city. Dorian knew those back ways almost as well as Ferin did, "You saw me running through the alleys in the city, didn't you?"
He gave another laugh, "Ah, Ferin, sharp as ever I see. But yes, I did. Now, come on. You know I can keep a secret."
"Well, it's a good thing I can to."
"Stop being like this. You know you'll tell me eventually."
"Well, thank goodness 'eventually' is not 'now.'"
"Oh, fine be that way." Dorian said, turning down a path Ferin had never seen before.
"But, tell me, what have you been up to?" Ferin asked, glancing at Dorian.
He shrugged, "Oh, not much. But I have heard tale that someone is going to get a promotion."
"Are you that someone?" Ferin asked.
"No, it's not. But it's all right. As long as the old gods stay in their realm, I'm satisfied where I am." Dorian gave a nod, as if he was trying to convince himself that he really was satisfied.
"Dorian, don't do that to yourself. You know, you deserve a promotion. But please, why do you need to bring up the old gods?" Ferin gave Dorian a tired look.
"Why not? You know they exist."
"But that doesn't mean we need to talk about them. You know, they're just old beings. I'm sure if a few wizards banded together, they wouldn't be a problem."
Dorian gave a dry laugh, "Ferin, don't assume. And don't underestimate. You don't know what those old gods can do, besides they deserve to be respected if--"
"Yes, yes, the afterlife. Living in the perfect society ruled by those old beings. I know, I'm a wizard, too."
Dorian gave an exasperated sigh then pulled off the path and started walking through the wet grass.
"You know it exists, Ferin. You see it every time you visit the old gods realm."
Ferin gave a dry laugh this time, "Don't tell me you think that realm is the perfect society. It's a place of dangers and death. That is not a perfect society. And don't tell me that just by obeying the gods will cause it to come to fruition."
"That is not what I was going to say." Dorian said, as they climbed up a hill, "I was going to tell you that just because you don't believe in the old gods doesn't mean that the old gods can't do nothing. They can still create a perfect society. Just because you don't believe they can doesn't mean it can't happen."
Ferin rolled his eyes, as they approached the top of the hill and coming to a fallen castle.
Ferin stared at the ruins. Large blocks of stone were stacked tediously on top of one another. A large section of the castle was being eaten away by vines and trees, while another part had collapsed leaving a giant whole in the side of the structure. All around were small pebbles and pieces of rock. One part of the castle, however, seemed in tact. The western tower.
"I assume you found something in the western tower?" Ferin asked.
"Of course. There's a reason why I wanted you to come along. I need your expertise." Dorian hopped over some of the fallen rocks and started heading towards the tower. Ferin followed studying the land, trying to figure out what happened.
He didn't feel any magic or remnants of wizardry. He didn't see any rotted wood or old signs of fire. It was as if the castle was just abandoned.
"Keep up, Ferin. I haven't shown you the best part." Dorian called from the side of the tower.
Ferin hurried and looked up at his friend. He didn't feel like climbing towers today, but followed Dorian anyways. He hurried after Dorian sticking his fingers and toes into cracks between the rocks. The tower seemed to be well made, some of the rocks crumbled sightly, but were in overall good shape.
Ferin followed Dorian through the window and climbed inside. The western tower's room was round and in poor condition. The room was thrashed. Books were spilled over the floor and ink was dripping off an over turned desk. Dorian stood in the middle of the room looking confused.
What happened in here? Ferin thought, as he knelt to pick up a book. "Was this what you wanted to show me?"
Dorian gave a small huff, "Well, yes. But this isn't what it looked like when I found it. It was clean, somehow. It didn't look like this." He waved his arms as he gestured to the mess.
"How could a room be spotless, when it was last used in the Magic Era?" Ferin asked.
"I don't know. That's what I was going to ask you, but now it the whole rooms a mess." Dorian groaned and gestured to an empty wall on the opposite side, "And there was a huge shelf of magic items on this wall, but I don't even see them now."
"What do you think happened?" Ferin asked, looking at the book in his hands.
"I don't know. All I know is that I just lost a whole lot of magic items and an excellent place to practice my rituals."
"Well, I don't know how there could have been magic items. I don't feel any magic here." Ferin looked at Dorian. He was not joking, but it seemed so strange. A spotless room in a dilapidated castle.
"What? How can there be no magic? This castle was in the Magic Era." Dorian protested. "You must be losing your touch."
Ferin shook his head, "I don't think so, Dorian. I think, you have your dates wrong."
"Okay, okay, fine. Well, if that's true, then what's this?" Dorian asked, picking up a book and handing it to Ferin.
It did not look special. Just a simple book with no intricate carvings or designs or title etched onto the cover. It was green with its edges worn and slightly ripped.
"What do you mean?" Ferin asked, taking the book.
"It's a magic book, Ferin. Isn't it obvious?"
Ferin frowned at the book. He set the book in his other hand down and stared at the green one. He wiped off the dust and opened the book.
On the first page was a single sentence. I was robbed.