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Chapter 3“All you need to do is let the magic flow through you and bend it to your purposes.” explained Illiquith. Then, seeing my confusion still, he added, “concentrate on the magic, not on the object. Just think about what you want it to do and it well do it.”I focused on the energy inside me, felt it expand outwards, and thought about making the fruit fly. After a moment of this, when I was just about to give up again, the fruit lifted off the table. It wobbled in midair a few seconds then flew violently towards the wall. The collision made the fruit, which was a pear, splatter across the wall and drip slowly to the ground. I looked at Illiquith, “Oops.” He laughed and smiled at me. He pulled an apple out of the basket and set it down in front of me. “Alright try it again, but this time, don’t use so much force. Make it fly slowly and gently.” He winked at me and I took a breath and tried it again. This time I got the fruit into the air and made it rise just a little, and then slowly, after what seemed like forever the fruit inched through the air. I had made fruit fly! We played around for awhile lifting heavier and heavier objects as he explained to me that the weight of the object actually does make a difference and that the heavier the object the more power it would take. “Could I even left up people?” I asked excitedly. “You can.” He replied with a smile. “You could even lift yourself if you wanted too.” My mouth fell open and an amazed look crossed my face. “I could fly?!” Illiquith chuckled and answered jokingly, “Why of course you can fly! How did you ever manage before?” And with that he rose to the air. I did something between laughing and giggling. It looked like fun, just flying about the room like that. I tried with all my strength to fly like he was. I even got about half a foot off the ground, but I couldn’t hold it and fell down sharply and twisted my ankle. My ankle was in pain and I was upset about not flying. As Illiquith healed my ankle, he assured me that I’d be able to do it soon. It was after all, my first day. He felt that I had made great progress and would soon be able to do all sorts of things. After making a few more things fly, then a few things at once, we put on a little air ballet. Then Illiquith went about making dinner. And I wondered around outside. The sun was already sinking and was putting on a colorful display through the tree tops. I sat watching it and wondered about how my life had changed. After dinner we sat around a cozy fire and Illiquith told me about the magi and the different kinds of magic. The magi have magic which falls into four groups, Air, Fire, Earth and water, and each of these groups are unique. I am an earth mage, which meant I draw magic from plants and animals. This explained why I never noticed it before as Renklan was mostly made of stone. Earth mages are generally adventurous and often ended up exploring lands such. They generally stay away from crowds of people, they keep to themselves. They are especially good at making things grow and talking with magical animals. Air mages are tricksters. Their magic came from moving wind, so they almost never have a shortage of power. They are joyful people whose magical illusions tended to make them fall into the careers of comedians. They can make illusions and control the weather better then any mage. They can even charm creatures. The water mages are the most holy and beautiful. Their magic comes from water, which gave them special healing abilities and speed. They are calm people, who generally become healers or members of the church. Fire mages have it tough. Their magic comes from fire and things dying, so they barley actually get to use it. They tend to be the strongest mages and generally become soldiers or labor workers (the higher end of labor that is, as the people born without magic do all the work). These mages tend to have violent personalities and are the easiest to become corrupted to the dark arts. Sinopha, a very holy city, formed of guilds, watches the fire guild very carefully. They are taught from birth about religion as an attempt to keep them from the darkness. This works very well, but there are few who do become evil. Those few, are often re-taught and end up converting back to the holy side. Those who do not switch back are often killed. These rules went for all mages but it seemed to happen more to the fire mages. And so I became Illiquith’s apprentice. And he taught me the fine art of my magic. After many years there was still plenty I did not know or understand. I led a simple life in the forest. Illiquith would teach me how do make things grow and I would spend hours in the garden admiring my creations. One time when I cried over my flowers being dead and ugly Illiquith explained to me. “You see Andrea, everything works in a circle. Life is a cycle. The cycle of magic goes like this. Magic grows in plants. We take the magic into us. We use the magic then the magic returns to the earth to grow in plants again. But magic is just a part of it. For the plants to grow they need more then just your magic. They need water and nutrients, which they take from the surrounding area. By making to many plants in one area using just magic the plants would drain everything from that area and there won’t be enough for all. If you want many plants to grow you must also bring them water and the other things necessary. These plants that you do grow well not have the same store of magic for you as ones that grew naturally. It takes time for magic to grow.” He always explained things to me. When I had grown older and more powerful he taught me how to hunt. This was not my favorite thing to do as I had just learned to speak with animals. (The unicorn who came by was particularly kind.) But Illiquith explained to me that I had been speaking with magic animals and the ones which I would kill were not. I would not hear them scream out in pain as the arrow pierced their bodies. He told me this skill would be useful when I grew up, I doubted that very much. I became very skilled with the bow, and after a bit I found that I didn’t even need to rely on magic to make the arrow fly straight. I discovered all sorts of things I could do with magic and many other things which I could do without magic at all. Illiquith taught me how to not use my magic if I didn’t need to. “Andrea there is something I must tell you” I looked at him. He didn’t look well, and his magic strength, which had been strong, was fading. I came over and sat in the chair beside him, in front of the fire. “There is someone who is looking for you, someone of great evil power. I can feel him searching the country side with his magic. I’ve been hiding your presence from him for awhile now, which I why I’ve had you get used to not using magic. But he’s getting closer and I can’t hold this spell for much longer. You must go. You must flee from this person before he finds you.” “Who is this person Illiquith? And where must I go?” “This person is of great darkness, why he seeks you I do not know. Go anywhere you can. Stay away from him, don’t let him catch you.” “But what about you?” “Once you leave I can put down the spell that’s been protecting you. I’ll be fine, but you, I’m afraid well be able to be found by this person. You must flee and stay before him always so that he will not catch you. Go to the ancient city of Sinopha They can help you there. They can teach you things which I cannot. Leave me, and one day you’ll be able to return if you wanted to.” “But can’t you let me help you with the spell? Surely we could maintain it together. We could wait until he passes us and be free of him.” I begged. “No. By you using your magic he’ll be able to detected you. You must get as far away from here as you can before you use your magic again. Remember what I told you.” I remembered what he told me. If I used my magic those around me could sense it. It was how he found me in the first place. But I didn’t want to leave. “I know you don’t want to go Andrea but you must. I can’t help you anymore here. Maybe when you leave you’ll be able to find your family in the city, you could have a life don’t you see you must leave.” I could see. But I still didn’t want to leave. I remembered why I left the world in the first place and still did not want to return to it yet. “You must do it Andrea. You must face the world again. I would have had you make this journey in a few years, but this follower has caused reason to hurry. Please go there.” “But how do I find this city of the magi? I can’t get there alone.” “There is one person in Renklan who can tell you the way go seek him out. He can tell you the way to get there.” Going to Renklan was not something I was looking forward to.
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