The First Mage

I made my way to the eastern gate in my new, practical clothes, a bag hanging from my shoulder. There weren’t too many people around yet, but that would change soon, once the bell rang and informed the town that it was three o’clock, which was the typical time when most peoples’ workdays would end. When that happened, I would be lying in wait already, however, for when the workers returned to Alarna shortly after.

Lilana and I kept making conversation on our way, and it became more and more obvious that she was very interested in the scripts.

‘Can you read the ritual platform scripture sigils as well?’

“Yup. Scripts aren’t always straightforward, even if you can read them, but I do understand what’s written on the platforms.”

‘Amazing!’ she marveled. ‘What does it say? Is it a message from the gods?’

“You’d probably be disappointed if I told you what it says.”

I felt somewhat bad for the people of this world, with most of them trying to write scripts when they were children, but none of them ever getting anywhere with that, due to a lack of research material. Oryn for example certainly wasn’t unintelligent, even if he was unbelievably careless. He had apparently managed to make some progress after seeing the scripts on Tomar’s and Riala’s arms, which was a decent accomplishment. Though he was presumably already reaching the next dead end. He must’ve compared our scripts to the water source script, filled in the holes, and figured out enough to change the force to a degree, because that’s the main part that was different between the scripts that he had available. However, at best he would make more progress in how to spray the water. Without actually understanding the sigils, he would most likely never figure out anything more complex, like the ritual or my water ball script.

Lilana actually didn’t think that scripts were even something technical, that you would research, understand, and then use. She believed that it was some kind of message to or from the gods, or something like a prayer.

‘How could learning more about the gods and their work ever be disappointing? Please tell me what it says!’

“Well, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the gods. It’s just instructions, which are then executed. It’s like writing out a plan. Start here, go there, pick something up, etc, and someone will then carry out the plan.”

‘You mean... you’re giving instructions to the gods!? And they listen!?’

Wouldn’t that be a funny thought... A literal god goes about his day when suddenly a bell rings and they go “Ugh... Yes? Oh, more water? Alright, here you go. Have a nice day!”

“No, no. It’s not the gods that execute the scripts, it’s... the world. Kind of. It’s a function that’s built into the core of existence.”

I think... Actually, why do I think that? I’m awfully certain about it, even though it’s technically possible that the gods have a hand in executing the scripts.

‘Oh, so when the gods created the world, they made this possible?’

“Yea, something like that.”

‘And what kind of instructions does the ritual platform script have?’

“It’s actually not nearly as complicated as it might look. Essentially, it just extracts a matching Calling from the white stone, shows the sign, and then adds the memories and abilities to the person’s mind and body.”

Since knowing what the platform did was obvious enough from looking at it doing its job, there wouldn’t be any problem with telling her more about it.

‘Surely that can’t be true. How can the Callings come from the white stones? The gods choose it for you!’

I wonder whether she’ll believe me if I tell her that everything she thinks she knows is incorrect.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but they don’t. Actually, as far as I know, they aren’t involved in the entire process at all. It actually depends on the person what Calling they will get.”

‘Hm... that’s still the gods’ work though, isn’t it? They make you the way you are.’

“I have a question, do you think the gods would get mad if you meddled with that process? If you tried to affect which Calling someone will get, even though they set you up to get a specific one?”

‘Well, of course! We can’t ever go against the wishes and plans of the gods!’

“In that case, I think your theory is wrong. I have experimented with a ritual platform in the past, and I managed to give specific Callings to people that were entirely different from the ones they were supposed to get.”

‘I believe that you might’ve thought that, but if you tried to go against their plans, the ritual would not have worked.’

Religious people... I thought with a sigh. Although, two gods did appear to stop me from giving someone Riala’s Calling. If I told Lilana that, it would be confirmation for her. Statistically, however, it was highly unlikely that the other eight Callings had been the exact ones the gods had wanted these kids to have, especially since, based on our tests, most of them went completely against the Callings they were supposed to get.

Between everything that had happened, I had almost forgotten about Riala’s unusual sign. Since the gods had stopped the ritual, it was presumably not the Mad Calling, because those had simply happened in the past. It also wasn’t any established Calling, however, since the gods had never appeared before to stop a ritual. By all appearances, it seemed to be a previously unknown Calling, that the gods didn’t want anyone to get. Maybe because it’s dangerous in some way? I thought. Eventually, we might find out.

I was also curious whether they were monitoring the entire world or just the ritual platforms. Depending on how much mana the full ritual script required, it might be possible for us to create our own ritual platform, and if they didn’t monitor that one, we would be free to do whatever we wanted. Though I figured we shouldn’t attempt that until we were sure they wouldn’t be able to just kick me out again, or do even worse things to us.

Leaning against a wall of the house that was closest to the eastern gate, we waited for the workers to return. It took longer than expected, but eventually I could hear the guards’ shouts and the gate opened.

Since the plan had worked so well last time, I tried the same strategy again, and disabled the first wagon with a thin stream of water as it entered the town, to distract the guards and workers. However, unlike last time, the guards didn’t scramble to fix the wagon and gather the materials. Instead, one of them shouted “Ready!” and all of them readied their spears and looked around.

I quickly hid behind the corner of the building. “Huh. I guess they changed their protocol,” I said. Though, thinking about it, it made sense for the guards to protect, while the workers did the work. Maybe they had just been surprised last time.

Glancing around the corner, it did not seem like they were looking for me, but if I were to jump out and run towards the gate now, that would be pretty suspicious. Instead, I decided to casually walk out of the building’s shadow and headed in their direction.

‘Uh, Miles? What are we doing?’

“All good, don’t worry,” I whispered.

“How does this keep happening!?” I heard one of the workers say. They were doing their best to unload the cargo, so they would be able to get the broken wagon off the road, to make way for the next one, so they would be able to close the gate. Two guards fixated me when I approached, but they didn’t say anything.

“Hi, do you need help?” I asked.

“That won’t be necessary, please move along,” one guard said and motioned for me to leave.

“Damn it, Bren! If you’re going to just stand there, at least let other people help!” a female worker said in displeasure to the guard, before turning towards me, waving me over. “It would be great if you could lend us a hand!”

“I have my orders, Fae! Nobody is allowed to approach the open gate!”

“Oh, shut it!” the young woman Fae said and walked over to me. She then took me by the hand and pulled me along, in the direction of the wagon. “What’s more important, that nobody is approaching the gate or closing it? The faster we get this done, the faster the town is safe again, isn’t it?”

The guard looked exasperated, but to my surprise, he seemed to accept her rebuttal. While she was right, logically speaking, I hadn’t expected the guards to actually go along with it after initially telling me off.

“I’m Fae, nice to meet you,” she said with a smile, looking back at me.

“You too. I’m Lilly.”

‘Was that really necessary!? You could’ve come up with another name!’

Sure, I could have, but this was easier, I thought. I gotta ask her why she hates that nickname so much sometime.

As I was helping them unload logs from the wagon, I kept glancing at the other one as well. Just like last time, there was one guard on either side of it, so going through one of them shouldn’t be an issue.

True to my word, I helped them until almost everything was unloaded and they were able to drag the wagon out of the way. Fae and I stood on the side of the street, as the second wagon slowly started moving again.

“Thanks for your help,” she said.

“Well, I had my reasons,” I responded while I was watching the guards escort the wagon inside. I looked at the confused expression on Fae’s face and said “Bye,” before I sprinted in the direction of the gate.

“Lilly, what are you doing!?” I heard her say from behind me.

The shocked guard I was running towards immediately readied his spear and shouted “Stop!” but the water blast I fired from just a few meters away gave him a good push, and I sidestepped him, as he landed on the ground. I briefly looked at his face, wondering if it had been the same guard as last time, though I hadn’t actually gotten a good look at him back then.

With nothing else blocking my way, I passed the gate and entered the Wildlands once again. Moment of truth, I thought. Back then, Tomar and Riala hadn’t made it very far until a god appeared. If this happened again, and they knew who I was, that would potentially be a problem. I didn’t know how much the gods talked among each other, but the one that had tried to stop us from leaving town apparently hadn’t been the same as the two who stopped us from performing the ritual. Based on their conversation, one of them had at least heard about the incident, however.

I kept sprinting without slowing down and I planned to keep going even if she did appear again. Luckily, she didn’t. I made it past the point where we had seen her last time, and nothing happened. Instead, I saw four guards give chase as I glanced behind me. I pushed them over with two more well placed water blasts and kept going. Even though Fighters would be much faster than a random teenager, I was able to keep them at bay pretty well, as long as I was able to go full speed. Unfortunately, they didn’t give up easily. We were halfway to the forest, when one of them stayed on the ground after another blast. By the looks of it, he might’ve sprained his ankle or something. Guards and soldiers wouldn’t usually go out in groups smaller than four, so all of them stopped and went back to Alarna, propping up their injured comrade.

“We did it!” I said with a laugh, slowing down slightly.

‘I kind of hoped we would see a god... I heard that Shae appeared last time someone tried to leave town,’ Lilana said, disappointed.

So her name was Shae, I thought.

Miraculously, Lilana hadn’t made the connection between me and the “criminals” yet, which I assumed she wouldn’t be happy to learn about. Though all of her reactions also told me that the general public probably didn’t know what exactly we were able to do yet, which was probably good for us. If the authorities had announced that we were dangerous criminals, who were able to shoot holes into people using water, that wouldn’t be good for our campaign.

“I’ve seen three gods in the past month alone. If you stay with us for a little while, there is a decent chance you will see one I guess,” I said with a chuckle.

‘Three!? I can’t wait!’

In a few minutes, I would arrive at the familiar forest east of Alarna once again, and from there, it wouldn’t take very long to reach our old campsite. If Tomar and the others were there, I would see them again very soon