The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 22 Nightmares

“Now the important about using and learning magic is a these basic things. Firstly, you must understand you are not the controller of magic you are its conduit. Everyone can use magic but for some it’s more difficult than others. Magic is created from the energy of this world and you control the very output. It’s nothing different to anything you see every day at the village but a bit more extreme.” Miles continued. Alice nodded in response, barely able to understand what Miles meant by conduit.

“So our first exercise is controlling mana or energy. This is the first step all young wizards and sorceresses take when learning magic” Miles said. A lick of green flame sprang to life around his finger that he had held up. Alice stared in amazement as the flame flickered with an odd colour intensity and went out instantly.

“Now you try. Remember, feel yourself as the centre of an open gate to the energy of the world. Feel the waves, feel the flow of movement and sync with it” Miles said. Alice nodded and tried to relax, keeping her ears open but her eyes close as she focused. The sound of Tane in the background started to disappear and all Alice could hear were the waves crashing against the boat, rocking it back and forth. Alice could feel a surge of something within her, and a warming around her chest. Miles looked on in fascination as the necklace he had given her long ago started to emit a glow, to the untrained eye it seemed that Alice wasn’t actually doing any magic. No wisps or magic was surrounding her person, but Miles could see ever so slightly the shard on Alice’s chest was absorbing the mana. Alice’s brow started to create beads of sweat from the effort and she started to breathe in heavily as she continued to concentrate. After a minute let out a breath at the effort, the glowing disappeared almost instantly and Miles’ mind was filled with intrigue but worry as well. “That was hard” Alice said taking a few breaths in.

“Indeed, unfortunately I could see your effort. It looks like you have no aptitude for it unfortunately” Miles replied. Alice looked at him with a glum face, disappointed with the response.

“I tell you what, I’ll give you a little hand and let me know what you think” Miles said, stretching out both hands to Alice. Alice took his hands in hers and they both closed their eyes. Alice could suddenly feel not quite the soft and warming energy she had before but a sudden rush and extremely hot tingling in her body as if her whole body was having goose bumps and they were trying to escape her skin. Alice opened her eyes and could see an orb hovering over the both of them. Miles opened his eyes as well, smiling at Alice who was transfixed by the glowing sphere casting light over the whole deck.

“Walk around, it’ll follow you” Miles said. Alice got up and backed away from the orb, slowly the orb begun to follow Alice, letting out a giggle Alice ran across the deck as the glowing orb followed her around.

“This is the Orb of Light spell; it’s a basic for all Braves. It follows the caster around for about thirty minutes before disappearing” Miles said while Alice was running around the ship being chased by the floating sphere. Alice stopped and the orb hovered at her shoulder, much like a well-trained bird or animal. Alice held the floating light in her hands as she walked back to Miles.

“It’s wonderful Miles” Alice said with a smile.

“It sure is, who knows what you can fully do with magic” Miles said with a smile.

“But what about Tane?” Alice asked.

“I’d rather not talk about it” Tane said, as he walked around the ship starting to light a couple lanterns to illuminate more of the ship.

“Tane is a bit special, he usually won’t talk about it unless he has to” Miles explained with a big grin.

“Miles” Tane whined eliciting a laugh from Alice and Miles.

“Guess it’s time to sleep” Miles said walking over to Alice and carrying her light, Miles placed a hand over the orb and extinguished the light. The sudden darkness allowed the stars and constellations to come out, with the three sleeping on their bed rolls as the night got darker.

for visiting.

Alice was within a blue void again, the shimmering glow above was beginning to feel familiar to Alice after seeing it again. The orb was hovering in front of Alice again, a crack along its smooth surface and a voice whispered to her “Alice find the pearl. Reclaim it and fix that which was broken” Alice reached for the sphere but as she reached out it started to disappear in the dark void. Suddenly flames surrounded her, the heat was of a roaring inferno as the land came up from beneath her feet. Alice watched in awe as above her giants clawed at the ground shaping the valleys and mountains around her. A tree bloomed in front of her, growing rapidly and into a full tree with leaves and branches stretching out. With a slow flame the tree was consumed in fire and rapidly consumed the fuel that was the tree. Burning down into a small ash pile water came in and washed away the ash and a small gleaming orb glinted from the pile. Walking over Alice could see it was much like the one before, however it was smooth and had no etches on its surface. Looking it over Alice felt a cold chill, darkness formed around her and blacked any light. Almost smothering Alice she let out a scream as the darkness clawed at her flesh and tried to pull her down through the earth and to whatever awaited her.

Miles was up instantly as heard Alice screaming next to him. Looking her over she was tossing and turning violently, clutching at her head and folding herself into ball. Miles rushed over and turned her over, but Alice was fast asleep now, placing a hand on her head he tried to place the cause of Alice’s terrors. Something was not right, at the edges of Alice’s mind Miles could feel something foreign. Running over to his backpack he rummaged through the sack and pulled out a piece of parchment with an ink etching on it. Running back to Alice he placed the parchment over her arm as she started to start moaning again while clutching her skull. Holding it down firmly Miles started to chant, the ink drawing started to glow brightly and started to smell like cooked flesh. Alice let out a small cry and fell quiet as Miles removed the paper from her arm. A tattoo with a number of intricate lines was burnt into Alice’s arm as she started to rest peacefully again. Tane turned to Miles having awoken from the ruckus and Miles looked back in confusion, Tane patrolled around the ship but couldn’t find anyone along the coastline they had anchored themselves near. Miles comforted Alice as she started to calm down resting in Miles’ arms and curling up against him, Miles held her close and focused on placing a ward around the ship waiting for something else to come after Alice. As the sun rose, Tane and Miles relaxed their watch, resting quite easily from the surprise during the night. As Miles continued to hold Alice close he felt his eyelids grow heavy and close as he went to rest.