The True Mage Never Stops Learning

[FreeMasonGamer 12]

 

 

A young man, a “boy” as the old man sitting before him would say, approaches the old man’s crooked figure.  The old man’s eyes are closed and his breath seems laborious, though collected and calm.  The boy eyes him warily, for he dare not have the same events occur again, the ones that had unfolded mere seconds ago.  His hands sting with the burns of latter magic, magic of both his own and another.

 

“Master?”  The boy says, guardedly approaching the old man.

 

The old man’s eyes flicker open, a pale cloudy blue color that could not make out the features of the boy that approached him, though he knew…

 

“Are you here to kidnap me?” The old man croaked, his voice quiet and horse.

 

“No, I am Atticus Sintel and I am your apprentice.”

 

The old man nods slowly, spending several moments moistening his lips, “Then you have no reason to be here.”

 

“Our lessons are over then?”

 

“Our lessons?” The old man cackles, “Boy, the true mage never stops learning.”  The words seemed dry, and thoughtless as they hung in the air between them, though the boy took them to heart.

 

The old man beckoned the boy forward, his cloudy eyes unfocused and looking heavenward.  As the boy steps forward he regards the island around them, a ruined cluster of pillars and overgrown greenery, built to stimulate memories of ages past.  A wide lake in the distance carries fall winds, an empty and chilling reminder of the days to come.

 

“In the coming days you will embark… mmm….” The old man pauses, pondering the correct words, “and there will be many that follow, but there will be only one who knows.”

 

The old man holds out his liver spotted palm, his digits gnarled and bone like, “Your hand.” The old man says.

 

The boy mimics the elder, curious-

 

The old man snatches the boy’s hand and presses it against his chest, a staggering heart beat felt beneath the folds of his ancient robes.  The boy had been training with the elder for years now, yet this seemed to be the first time he had gazed upon the old man’s face.  Tired lines cut through the man’s features like canyons and dark spots cover his forehead and balding scalp where wisps of white hair, the color of clouds, reside.  For the first time, it seemed, the old man looked truly old.  For certain he had always looked decrepit, and feeble, but it lacked the energy of a dying man.

 

The old man’s grip tightens, far stronger than should be possible for his figure, and the boy feels a stab of cindering energy run down his arm, collecting in his palm.  He is painfully reminded of the events that had occurred earlier, the burns still smoldering.  For beneath the boy’s palm the old man’s robes begin to burn just above his chest.

 

The old man’s cloudy eyes fill with pain as he meets the boy’s gaze, yet the boy does nothing, perhaps he knows there is nothing to be done, he simply says “Ambros” tragically.

 

“I see a glass tree.” the old man says, urgently this time, “It has been far too long.”

 

The old man pauses briefly, searching the boy’s face,

 

The boy meets the old man's gaze, burning tears running down his cheeks.

 

“I feel old.” The old man finally says.

 

A final jolt of seething energy fills the boy’s body.

 

The old man’s eyes widen suddenly, and for a brief moment they become as clear as crystal… and then they dim.  There is no heartbeat, only the pulsing of the wind sweeping in the final smells of spring and as Ambros’s frame grows limp and his hand falls away from the boy’s…

 

the old man quietly burps and is silent.

[Luxury 1085]

An elegantly garbed High elven woman frequents the Lyceum in memoriam of the Wizard. 

 

“Within the mind and heart may he always be found.”

[Mabah 156]

Aereis sits in his tower wondering on more of the void. "The void strengthens the soul..."

[FreeMasonGamer 12]

((As requested this evening, I'd like to point that the body of Ambros was destroyed due to the circumstances of his passing and therefore cannot be found.))

[Elad™ 560]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.