The Gods-War (Chapter 1-C)

The wizards had always held themselves apart from the rest of the people of Laerness. The forces of magic that they employed made it necessary. The magical arts had been around for as long as the races themselves but had only recently experienced a renaissance. With the discovery of magical properties in certain minerals and plants, the arts of magic had been amplified and the powers unleashed were difficult to control. The wizards had secluded themselves in the hope of containing any... accidents.1

Their stronghold was situated floating in mid-air above an impassable mountain range on a huge island far away from any civilization. The keep itself dwarfed any castle known to the races. It was virtually immune from attack by magic or conventional weapons, being shielded by a sphere of anti-magic that absorbed spells cast toward it. It's position above inhospitable ground made conventional attack obsolete. The wizards guarded their knowledge jealously and were loathe to teach just anyone.2

A series of tests was required for every student aspiring to learn under the old mages. It was to one of these tests that T’ey Trill, an elven student, went with head bowed in reflection. The tests were dangerous and not a few students had died painful deaths seeking the power of magic. Of those that did survive, more than half were ‘burned out’- a phrase that meant any magical abilities they might have had before the tests were lost forever. Some students held the idea that death would be more humane than being burned out. Still, they sought the power.3

For T’ey Trill, it was academic. He knew which robe he would wear when the tests were done. Most students never decided until they had grown into the use of magic and their own personality years later. These thoughts flitted through the calm mind of Trill as he walked down the corridor to the test awaiting him. The stone floors were worn from years of use but the walls and ceiling could have been freshly chiseled from the mountainside only the day before. The air was fresh and thin here in the floating keep and a breeze was almost always stirring. Being the beginning of spring, the wind had a slight chill to it that made the student glad that the sleeves of his plain brown robe were large enough to put his hands inside.4

At last, he came to a door with the runes of Protection and of Locking etched into it’s wooden surface. He raised his hand to knock but the door was yanked open before he could. He was left standing with his right fist in the air, staring into the bearded face of an ancient human wearing the Yellow Robe.5

“Come in, come in. Don’t just stand there like the medusa’s lover, we have things to do!” the old man said in a creaking, rapid patter of words that took Trill a moment to digest. It was always this way with humans. In such a hurry with their short life-spans and burning curiosity. Elves were much more patient, having centuries to live whereas humans only had decades. Trill was sure he was older than the human but bowed deferentially and followed the addled man into the chamber anyway.6

The familiar smell of spices and herbs and other components for the creation of spells filled his nostrils and set his mind even more at ease. He had been apprenticed at the young age of forty-three and had been exposed to the magical arts for most of his one hundred and twenty-seven years. Despite the amount of time he had spent around magic, he knew only the most basic of cantrips for spells. It was forbidden for a full mage to teach spells to another who had not taken the tests and so T’ey Trill had come.7

The old man shuffled parchment, scattered seeds, shattered a flask (of what could only be Stinkworm oil, by the smell) and generally destroyed the room and it’s contents. The young elf began to ask what the mage was searching for when the old man straightened with an ‘Aha!’ and held a small silver key aloft. The light from the oil lamps glistened and shimmered along it’s length as it spun slowly on the silver chain that held it. He turned and smiled a broad smile in Trill’s direction and, to the amazement and horror of the elf, dropped him a conspiratorial wink!8

‘I hope he doesn’t think I’ll be willing to assist in any of his experiments,’ Trill thought to himself. ‘I would have to be mad, first, and bound by chains too!’9

The elves had the opinion of humans that they were dangerous and reckless. They believed the short-lived races had no patience and always hurried to their deaths or tortures by way of curiosity. T’ey Trill had seen this first hand when his mentor had apprenticed a human under him. The poor fellow was on another plane of existence now, having found a scroll that he spoke the words to and promptly vanished. The scroll was destroyed in the process, as scrolls do after having been read, so Trill’s mentor could not determine the young man’s fate. He hadn’t been seen since.10

The old Yellow Robe turned and motioned for Trill to follow him as he walked to the back of the room. There, a blank portion of the wall began to glow as the wizard neared it with the key. T’ey Trill took a step backwards and bumped into the work table causing bottles and bowls to clatter and clink. He reached back to steady himself and his hand came back damp and reeking from the Stinkworm oil. His eyes began to water and his throat gagged reflexively as the full intensity of the smell assaulted his senses.11

“Come. It is time,” the old man said in a voice strangely unlike his own. It had deepened and clarified and the confusion was gone from his expression. T’ey Trill could see the glimmer of the young mage he had been in his eyes.12

“Master, is this the test? Have we begun?” Trill asked.13

“It is the test. Are you ready? There is no turning back beyond this portal.”14

“Yes, Master. I am ready,” Trill replied, not sure if he was or wasn’t.15

“Enter and be strong, elf. There is one piece of advice that we may give to those about to be tested and it is this- whatever you see or experience in there is only the making of your own mind.” With those words, he swung open the massive door of stone and stepped aside.16

T’ey Trill stepped forward and entered the portal.17