Primal Wizardry - A Magic School Progression Fantasy

[A picture of a wizard putting a worm on a fishing hook using magic.]

C is for Caster, a general term, from men who cast magic to those who fish with a worm.

-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic

—

Kole went back to his room that night after their fruitless search to prepare for his morning session with Lonin. He didn’t know what to expect, but he wanted to be ready in case the opportunity for a mentorship arose.

So, he spent the night sorting through what Theral had given him. If pressed, he would say his plan was to learn the version of Mind Spike he had, and then search for Shatter and Radiant Bolt, hopefully picking up an actually usable Light cantrip to go with it. He also wanted to find a usable Sound cantrip, but he expected to do that in his free time before the end of the semester.

“Ha,” he laughed at himself, thinking he would have any free time not already devoted to the pursuit of casting three spells in a day.

Kole had exercised restraint and only stayed up to the reasonable hour of midnight, so it was with only a modicum of exhaustion that Kole stood outside Lonin’s office before the appointed hour with a full belly from a breakfast he actually paid for.

He’d reasoned a rumbling belly wouldn’t do when talking to the head of the wizard college, and money wasn’t as tight as it had once been thanks to the weird timeline of the dungeon.

Thoughts of altered timelines brought his mind back to his parents, trapped in a pocket realm, possibly outside of time.

Does time move at all for them? He wondered. Could I be older than them when we are reunited? Or will they be ancient and gone by the time I reach them?

It was with these distracted thoughts that Lonin found him outside his door. Kole had been early for once, it seemed.

“Good morning Kole,” Professor Lonin greeted Kole jovially.

Kole went to greet him in return but stifled a yawn.

“Ah, not a morning person I see,” Lonin said with a chuckle. “Often a shared trait amongst the brilliant.”

“And the obsessed,” Kole said after his yawn, finding himself put at ease by the Grand Master Wizard’s tone.

“Well yes, but there’s a lot of overlap between the two groups.”

Lonin opened the door and gestured for Kole to enter.

Inside, Lonin directed Kole to a pair of couches on the side, not the desk they’d spoken at before.

Once they were settled, Lonin began.

“So, I bet you are wondering why I have agreed to tutor you in this class. Am I on the mark?”

Kole nodded in agreement.

“Well, for the purposes of transparency,” Lonin began. “I have not changed my mind. I won’t offer a mentorship to a student pursuing the the adventuring program.”

Kole deflated in on himself, his burgeoning hope dying once more.

“But, my offer still stands, and I hope this hour each week will convince you to change your mind and drop this adventuring nonsense.”

He paused, dropping some of the levity.

“We thought you and your friends dead. But, there was this strange man at the dungeon door when all the staff gathered to try to recover you. When pressed, he said he was Mage Tallen and Professor Shalia’s acquaintance, and he had a vested interest in helping recover you lot. Professor Donglefore was familiar and he quickly proved himself invaluable to the effort—but then he disappeared.”

“We were wondering where he went,” Kole said, absentmindedly in his internal wallowing.

“Ah, so he spoke the truth,” Lonin said, jumping on the confirmation. “Well, he spoke highly of you and mentioned he was helping you a bit with some of the more traditional methods of wizardry. Is he your mentor?”

Kole shook his head, and then couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“He said he would be, but he couldn’t guarantee his continued presence.”

“Hmmm,” Lonin said, considering. “He seems either prescient or flaky.”

“I think a bit of both,” Kole said.

“Indeed. Wel, I heard of your progress from both Professor Underbrook and this Mage Tallen, and I’m impressed. I hope to use this time to convince you of the value of my field, but the purpose of this time is to ensure you don’t fail this semester. You have made remarkable progress, and I think that with just a bit of help, you will pass this semester. But, next semester it will be upon you to find a proper mentor, or you won’t be accepted into the program, no matter your class scores. And as I said before, my offer still stands—even if you refuse until the last moment. So long as you pass your classes that is—the important ones at least. I respect Tigereye greatly, but you could fail his classes. I don’t mind.”

Kole warred internally. He was still crushed that Lonin hadn’t changed his mind, but he was willing to help. It was like being given a life raft that took you from one vanishing hill in the Flood to a slightly taller one.

Lonin watched Kole patiently, and when the struggle seemed to subside, he asked, “Have you any questions?”

In answer, Kole took out his spellbook and plopped it into the coffee table between them.

“Loads.”

Kole used every minute of the allotted hour. Lonin asked Kole a few questions about spellcraft theory before judging his knowledge on the topic well beyond the topics covered in the course, assuring him that he would have no issue on the final exam. Then Kole returned the favor by reviewing his plans for Magic Missile and Shield.

At first, Professor Lonin acted as if Kole had handed him a used rag from the privy when looking at the combat-oriented spell, but quickly he picked up on the depth of Kole’s work and grew engrossed in the technical details of the spells—if not their applications. He had little to correct, Kole’s meticulous progress was largely free of errors, but he did have suggestions that would speed up Kole’s efforts. He provided Kole with the intent of a few spell components Kole had yet to track down, each one saving him hours of work.

Lonin even asked Kole about his progress with pathing Thunderwave.

“You really want to know about that sir?” Kole asked in surprise.

The modern methods of pathing spells were far more methodical and formulaic than the traditional. It was as if modern wizards were like well-prepared explorers from a faraway land, equipped with maps and rune-powered bearing devices, while the traditional wizards were more like natives of the land, exploring the next region over, using their experience to navigate any obstacle they might encounter.

Traditional pathing was more art than science, but even artists had a tool suite, and that was the aspect Lonin wanted to hear about. So, Kole explained his process, and the professor listened intently, examining the collection of spell components Kole used as references while pathing.

“This spellbook is remarkable,” Lonin said, when their conversation came to a close. “Wherever did you get it?”

Kole froze. The professor wasn’t asking in any way that felt avaricious or scheming, but the topic was one Tallen had hammered home to avoid.

But, despite the professor's insistence that Kole’s life’s ambition was a folly—something Kole was just barely able to overlook—he liked him. He trusted him. Short of murdering Kole to take, it, the professor couldn’t take the spellbook, and even if he had some doubts about the professor, there was no way he judged him that incorrectly.

“It’s an ensouled artifact,” Kole admitted, going out on a limb. “I found it tucked away in the library.”

The professor's eyes grew wide, and he looked at the book with new reverence.

“Ah, that explains it. I was wondering how you could have afforded such a thing.”

“That's it?” Kole asked. “You just take my word for it?”

The professor laughed.

“Of course, this is a magical academy,” he said. “This kind of thing is known to happen from time to time. Students and faculty have a history of stumbling on ensouled artifacts they are capable of Bonding. We aren’t sure where they all come from though.”

“You don’t?”

The professor shook his head.

“Occasionally one is discovered with a traceable identity, but when this happens their last recorded location is often unknown.”

Kole pressed him on the topic a while longer, but the topic really was a mystery and he had no more answer.

“So, if you could forgive my impertinence, what can it do?”

Kole, eager to show off, showed him.

Afterward, Lonin chuckled.

“If I didn’t know you found this after the entrance exam, I would have thought you used it to get such an outstanding score.”

Noticing the look of worry Kole gained, he quickly added, “But, that would have been permissible. Ensouled artifacts are a part of you, it would be as wrong to restrict their use as it would a primal’s abilities. Speaking of, what exactly does your primal nature contribute to your spell repertoire.”

While Kole had been in a sharing mood, this was where he drew the line. Illusion magic was less powerful the more people knew to look for it. He wasn’t going to let the secret slip beyond his circle of friends.

“Like I said, forgive my impertinence. No need to answer. Your secrets are your own and I’ll admit you shared more than you needed to today.”

And with that, the hour they had together was up, and Kole was shown to the door, mind a whirl with what he’d learned.

He had a lot of work to do—after the day's search at least.