Cards of Fate Bk. 01 Ch. 04

I appreciate the positive reaction the story has received so far. As I said in the beginning, this is a complex world I will be revealing and as such it may have a slower start than most stories. I'm trying to balance the world building and character development, while also giving glimpses of the past ten years throughout. Again, I appreciate all the positive feedback so far and can't thank everyone enough.

Chapter 4- The Ghost Blade and The Elementalist

True to their word, Mark and Jean showed up the next morning with a brand-new passport, driver's license, birth certificate, and social security card for Jacob. Jacob wasn't convinced that he needed all of that, but these were professionals who wanted to ensure his new identity was iron clad. The rest of the week was spent preparing the three new members for their relocation to Denerith. Becca's Unconscious Shield turned out to be more powerful than they original believed. Even with all the enhancements Grave's Tether had, Jacob had to exert a more than expected amount of force to penetrate it. They were lucky Megan had regained a good portion of her mana because Becca received a nasty wound to her shoulder during that test.

Even though they were only at the knowledge level, Becca and Megan took to their weapons quickly. Jimmy made the off-hand comment that he wouldn't be surprised if they progressed to the skilled level in short order.

"Hold on," Becca said dropping her mace to her side. "We can move between levels?"

Jacob called everyone over to him and started to explain how the levels worked.

"What you see on your Cards right now is just the beginning," he said as they all sat down on the lawn around him. "When we were first pulled over to Denerith, Jimmy and I were nowhere near as powerful as we are now. For example, my original card gave me bladed weapon expertise. Grave's Tether is counted as both a bladed weapon and an exotic weapon. The more I used it and trained in it, the better I got with it. Having an expertise level is nothing to sneeze at. But I was able to improve with it so much I also became a kusarigama master. That also brought my exotic weapon skill up to proficient.

"Jimmy was given unarmed expertise when he got there. He's now an unarmed master from improving his skills. He had an intuitive ranking in staff and spear at first, meaning he basically knew how to hold it correctly, but nothing about using it. But staffs pair well with unarmed, and many unarmed fighters develop a knack for it. Through training and using his staff in battles, he has been able to build up to staff expertise, and spear is closely related to staff, he was able to get that up to proficiency. It took a lot of work on his side, but he was able to develop those skills on his own."

"So if I wanted to say, become a sword master, all I need to do is train at it?" Becca asked.

"Yes, and no," Jacob answered. "The amount of training and dedication it takes to go from an unlearned skill to even the skilled level is enormous. Because I forgo most of the other bladed weapons and concentrated on the kusarigama, it I was able to reach master level. Remember, I was already at expertise level with it because of my blade weapon rank, so a lot of the climb had already happened. Jimmy had a rougher time with the staff and spear, starting from the intuitive position. But he had a leg up because the staff is a common weapon that many unarmed fighters use. As contradictory as it sounds, the staff is also considered an unarmed weapon. There are a few weapons that fall in that category. Some staffs, knuckle dusters (think of things like brass knuckles), and punch daggers, are some. If he had instead decided he wanted to train up on ranged weapons, he would have been lucky to make it to skilled level by now, if he even could.

"It also would have been detrimental for him to try to train up in ranged weapons because he would need to have used time and energy he could've been applying towards his other skills. Let's put it another way. With how fast you are picking up the blunt weapon, you could be at the skilled rank in a couple years, maybe sooner. If you were to start on the sword, it could take over twenty years for you to reach the skilled rank, if you even make it that far. And all that time you spent trying to learn the sword, is time you could have been dedicating to blunt weapons and maybe have reached a proficient level. Get what I'm saying?"

They all nodded, but Jacob could see they still weren't catching on to the real issue.

"But all that is not the big thing you need to be thinking about," he continued. "For all three of you, your weapon skills are secondary. They're not what you should really be concentrating on. None of you are going to be front line fighters. Becca, let's take you for example. The more you concentrate on blunt weapons, the less you can dedicate to your enhancements and hexes. That's where your real strength is. The Cards build upon what you emphasize. Sure, you could become a great mace fighter, but you won't have a lot of abilities to make use of it. However, if you concentrate on building up your buffs and hexes, you could develop all sorts of new abilities tied to it.

"Take your Warrior's Boon, for example, there are other boons out there. There's the Mage's Boon, that gives all sorts of buffs that are beneficial to mages. Same for thieves, defenders, even healers and other classes. That's not to say that you'll get all of those, or any, but every class has an unimaginable number of abilities it can bestow.

"You can also improve those abilities you already have. Take Maggie's Camouflage ability. Right now, she needs to stay still, or the effect vanishes. If she develops it more, she may be able to move while invisible. Or attack, pick locks, or a whole bunch of other things. Her lock pick level can increase as well. The more she uses it, trains it, the better it becomes. She could get to the point where even magical locks are not a problem for her."

"So it's better for us to focus on what we have right now, and see what develops from it?" Megan asked.

"Yep," Jacob confirmed. "But don't ignore things you already know, either. I'm sure Becca's Strategic Oversight skill is based on her business experience. Megan's Detect Weakness is probably as strong as it is due to her previous knowledge of anatomy. You can even gain new skills based on knowledge you had before you drew your Card. We can show you how a new skill could appear without being assigned by the Card right now. Maggie, pull out your Card."

Even though Maggie had done it numerous times since she had received her Card, watching it appear in her hand still provided her with wonder. Once she had the Card in her hand, Jacob asked her to look at the rune and tell him if any new inherent skills had appeared. When she told him there were still only the four she had previously listed, he smiled.

"Jimmy tells me that you have a history of martial arts, specifically Krav Maga," he postulated cryptically, to which she affirmed. "And you haven't done any sparring or practicing since you got the Card?"

Again, she confirmed the fact.

"Ok, then go do a quick sparring match with Jimmy. Just a couple minutes should work."

Jimmy smiled at her as she stood up.

"I'm not going to go easy on you this time," he taunted her, only to be met with smile from Maggie that seemed to say, "Bring it on."

Jimmy suddenly attacked her. Two facts quickly became apparent to Maggie. First, she was faster, her techniques were much more precise, and she was fighting better than she ever had. The second fact was that these improvements didn't amount to shit against Jimmy. He had indeed been holding back during their sparring sessions the past year and she didn't even qualify as a rank amateur compared to his skill. Any pride she had in how well she was fighting was quickly extinguished as Jimmy wiped the floor with her. After her fourth time landing on her back, Jacob called a halt to the match. Thoroughly chagrined, Maggie sat back down next to the others.

"Now, look at your rune again," Jacob instructed. "Do you have any new inherent skills?"

Maggie pulled her Card again and was amazed to see that she did indeed have a new skill.

"It's telling me I have unarmed knowledge. What the hell? How did I get suddenly get a new fighting style at the knowledge level?"

Jimmy laughed good naturedly at her. She elbowed him.

"You didn't," Jacob said. "Because you had trained in it before, the Card assessed your skill level and assigned it to you. The only reason it didn't show up before is that you hadn't used it since you got your Card. That's the strange thing about the Cards. You don't forget or lose skills you may have had before you were assigned a class. The Card just doesn't assign the skill until you use it. In Megan's case, Detect Weakness is a common skill for those with healer classes, as well as some fighting classes. But due to your background and training in medicine and anatomy, it was probably assigned at a much higher level. If you had been given a different class that didn't usually include that skill, you probably would have been assigned it eventually if you ever made use of your previous knowledge.

"That's why it is so important to make sure you are developing your skills and abilities wisely. When we return to Denerith and you start adventuring or going out on missions, you will probably see a lot of new inherent skills appear that are completely unrelated to your class. Skills based on your knowledge or skills you developed here on Earth. Some of those skills can really enhance your class outside of what is the norm. However, they can also weaken your class. You always need to be aware of how you want to develop and improve your skills and your abilities. You may be tempted to start concentrating on a new inherent skill, but will it really help your class? Will the effort you devote to the new skill take away from the effort you can give to developing skills that would be a larger benefit to your class?

"Maggie having the unarmed skill is beneficial to her class. Given that the class emphasizes stealth and infiltration, sometimes your stealth weapons may not be the best choice. You may be in a situation where you only want to incapacitate or knock out an opponent. Unarmed is much more appropriate for that type of situation than using a dagger. So, developing unarmed would be a wise choice. On the other hand, let's pretend that you had been a big participant in Renaissance Fairs. During your time there you learned and got pretty good using a halberd or other polearm. If you did a little demonstration with a halberd, the Card would recognize that as a skill you had. But would devoting the time and effort into developing that skill really help you advance in the Reynard class? A polearm is not really conducive to a stealthy class. Developing that skill, at the cost of developing other skills that benefit your class would weaken your overall class. See what I'm saying?"

"Developing your class requires a lot more thinking and planning than we thought, doesn't it?" Becca asked, already knowing the answer.

"More than you can even imagine," Jimmy confirmed. "There were so many inherent skills I wanted to develop, all based on my experiences I had back here on Earth. Some even seemed like a good idea when I first saw them. But Loriel beat it into our heads right from the start that we needed to think about everything we did. What was the benefit? What was the cost?"

Becca, Maggie and Megan sat contemplating what they had just learned. It was easy to see how if you got distracted in developing your class, you could easily become a jack of all trades, but a master of none. In the world Jacob and Jimmy were describing, that was a recipe for a quick and painful death. But if you could stay focused, the possibilities were endless.

"That's enough for today," Jacob said suddenly. "We're leaving for Ireland in two days, and we need to get prepared. Class is over."

With that, he got up and went inside.

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The Ghost Blade

Fiona Garrety stood stretching her back behind the bar of Paddy's Pub, a favorite of the locals located just off Camdem Street in Dublin. She poured a few more pints for her regulars, and then returned to cleaning the dirty glasses. It had been a relatively quiet night at Paddy's. Only two fights, and all the participants had already bought each other rounds and were singing with their arms over each other's shoulders. Paddy's wasn't the fanciest pub in the area, nor the most well-known by any stretch of the imagination, but it was well loved by the locals, and she knew most of the customers by name. They were a lively bunch, but all good, hardworking people.

She caught the eye of Fergus O'Malley, a tall, lanky chap about three years older than her still young twenty-five years. She knew the look in his eyes. He was already counting the hours to closing, hoping to take a trip back to her tiny flat. Sighing, she smiled back at him. She was going to need to end things with Fergus. He was a good lay, she couldn't deny that, but he was starting to get attached. That was something she wasn't going to let happen. She loved a good shagging, and Fergus was more than able to provide it. But while she loved sex, emotional commitment was not something she desired. It would be better this way. Fergus deserved to find a good lass that would be able to give him what he wanted. That lass just wasn't her.

Her thoughts were brought back to the bar as Mary called out to her.

"Oy, what ya' dreaming about, Fi?" the kind lady called out to her as she stepped behind the bar and poured a few shots of Jamesons.

Mary Doyle was one of two people on the entire planet that Fi allowed to have any sort of emotional connection to her. Mary and her husband Paddy, the namesake of the pub she was presently standing in. Fiona had not had a pleasant childhood. She'd been born into Dublin's lower class, and towards the bottom of it. A stereotypical "scanger", she ran with the wrong friends, did her share of petty crime, and had no relationship with her parents. At eighteen she left them behind her and never looked back. She was convinced they never even knew she was gone. She spent a month or two crashing at some friends houses, but their homelife was just as bad as the one she left. Then she wandered into Paddy's.

Mary recognized the state Fiona was in immediately. She and Paddy, quickly hired her to start helping out around the pub. Within a year, she was behind the bar and loved by the customers. She was very outgoing, gave shit to the rowdy customers just as well as she took it, and had an ability to deescalate situations before they got out of control, a very beneficial skill to have in a working-class pub. She was a hard worker too. Even in the busiest times, she'd have a smart-ass comment and smile for whoever she was serving. But as well-loved as she was to the regulars, she was still an enigma.

Don't let anyone get close, and no one can hurt you. That was her mantra. It was the universal law by which she lived. Aside from Mary and Paddy, she was able to keep that distance. But Mary and Paddy were the exception. For them, she would move the Earth. She stayed here, working in this pub, for them. Unfortunately, they wanted something different for her.

"Just thinkin', Mary," Fiona answered.

Mary looked over and saw Fergus. Smiling, she turned back to Fiona.

"I know what ya' thinking," she said to the young woman. "But he wouldn't be a bad choice to settle down with. He's gonna move up in the factory soon, just wait. Ya' need to think about ya' future. Ya' don' wanna grow old servin' drinks to these wankers."

Fiona shot her a glare.

"I'm happy here," she argued. "I got you and Paddy. That's enough, innit?"

"Fuck no, it's not," Paddy said as he overheard the conversation. "You're too good to be stuck on this side a' Dublin. There's a whole world out there for ya'. Chase ya' dreams."

"Ain't got no dreams, you big eejit. I'm livin' the dream right here," Fiona retorted.

"Bullshite," Mary interjected. "We know the truth. When we took ya' to America a few years back, I could see it in ya' eyes. Ya' want to travel the world. Ya' not gonna do that rotting away in this shitehole."

"Hey, this shithole keeps a roof over ya' head, ya' chancer," Paddy said with mock indignity. "But she's right. Ya' need to see what's out there."

Fiona was glad when Fergus called for another round. Rolling her eyes at the two, she brought over the drinks. She didn't want to admit it, but they were right. She did want to see the world. She wanted to experience everything that was out there. But that wasn't in the cards for her. She had almost nothing in savings. She could barely pay the rent on her flat. Paddy and Mary paid her what they could, but she didn't work there for the money. She worked there for them. For the security they provided. The ugly truth was she felt safe and was too scared to take the chance out on her own.

She kept thinking about what they said, though. It was a nice dream, but it was only a dream. She was content to work at the pub, maybe someday take it over when Paddy decided he'd had enough. Traveling the world was not something someone like her got to do. Trying to forget the conversation, she dove back into work. When she looked at the clock next, she was about to call out last call and then five Americans walked in.

"Sorry, we're closing soon," she told them.

"We just want a quick drink," the tall American said, as they all took seats around a table.

Fiona, who had always been good with faces, recognized two of them. Wasn't too hard; Paddy's wasn't exactly a tourist attraction, and they rarely got visiting foreigners as customers. The two Americans had been in the pub about six months ago and had visited every night for about a week. They must've liked the drinks, she thought to herself. She took their orders and ran back to the bar.

"Last call, ya' louts!" she screamed out to a chorus of jeers and boos. "Shut ya' gobholes, or you're not even gonna get a last call."

She poured the round for the Yanks and brought them over to the table. She noticed they were all staring at her, and she was getting a different feeling from each of them. The man she remembered from a few months ago kept smiling at her and seemed harmless. Not so with the other brooding man with dark hair and goatee. She'd worked in the pub long enough to know when someone was dangerous. And he was dangerous. Not threatening by any means, but she knew if one of the drunks at the other tables tried to start something with him, he would definitely finish it. The women were a strange mix as well. The shorter brown-haired one seemed the most nervous for some reason. The woman Fiona recognized seemed very friendly, and Fiona felt relaxed around her immediately. The last woman, however, made her catch her breath.

Holy shite! That's Rebecca Baxter, she thought to herself. What the hell would one of the richest women in the world be doing in a pissant pub in South Dublin? Looking back at the first man, and noticing the resemblance to Ms. Baxter, Fiona immediately figured out he was her brother, Jimmy. Even over in Ireland, the disappearance and reappearance of Jimmy Baxter had made the news. Fiona realized she was staring at them and made to go back to the bar, when the friendly woman stopped her.

"Your name is Fiona, correct?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes," she instantly responded, trying to figure out how they knew her name.

"When you get a minute, may we talk to you?"

Fiona just nodded and went back to the bar in confusion.

"Mary, can you start the closing for me?" she whispered in a daze.

Mary, sensing something was up, agreed. Before Fiona could walk away, Mary grabbed her arm.

"What going on?" she asked Fiona.

"Fuck if I know," Fiona responded. "That's fuckin' Rebecca Baxter over there. Ya' know, the richest woman in the world. For some reason they wanna talk to me."

"Then get your arse over there," Mary said, pushing the young woman from behind the bar.

Mary started shooing the other customers out, much to their displeasure. No one put up much of an argument, though. They knew Mary well enough to know what an argument would get them. Mary put the closed sign up and went into the back to keep Paddy away. Fiona grabbed a bottle of Jameson and some glasses and went back to the table. Even if they didn't want any, she thought she would need a shot or two. Little did she know how right she was.

"Fiona, my name's Maggie Simms," the kind woman introduced herself. "This is Dr. Megan Brooks, Rebecca Baxter and her brother Jimmy, and Jacob Marley."

"Pleased ta meet ya'," Fiona stammered.

"We'd like to talk to you about an opportunity," the brooding man called Jacob began. "It's going to sound crazy, and you'll have a hard believing what we're going to say, but all I ask is that you hear us out."

Fiona was on guard. You didn't last long as a bartender at a pub in Dublin by falling for wild stories. Still, she nodded.

"There's no way you will believe anything we say without proof, so, if you're willing, we'd like to provide that proof before we even begin," Jacob continued. "Can you roll up your right sleeve?"

Fiona was about to get up and kick them out right then. Somehow they knew. They knew something about her that very few did. There was a reason she always wore a long sleeve shirt whenever she was out of her flat. Twelve cigarette burn scars on the inside of her right forearm, thanks to the bastard she was unlucky enough to be born to. Twelve scars that were a continual reminder to the hell of her childhood. She was seconds away from calling Paddy and Mary out to help her first kick their American asses, and then throw those same asses out the door. But then Maggie placed her hand on Fiona's.

"I know it's a big ask, and we're sorry to ask this of you, but trust me, it'll be a good thing."

For whatever reason, Fiona believed her. Why? She didn't have a fucking clue. But she did. Questioning herself the entire time, she rolled up her sleeve and bared her most painful secret to these five strangers. None of them reacted to the scars. No attempts at placating expressions of sorrow, no disgust at the scars, rather just a look of confirmation of something they already knew. The nervous one who was introduced as Dr. Brooks stared at them the longest.

"May I?" Dr. Brooks asked.

Fiona shrugged. She had been to many doctors over the years, but aside from some very expensive plastic surgery, there was nothing that could be done to remove them. Still the woman was a doctor, so she let her look.

Megan held her hand over Fiona's forearm. She didn't touch Fiona, but there seemed to be a slight glow on the table. Fiona started to feel a strange tingling feeling on her arm. No, not on her arm, but on twelve circular spots on her arm. The same spots that the scars were at. When Megan pulled her arm back, Fiona feared her heart had stopped. The scars were gone. Not just gone, but it was as if they had never been there. She knew exactly where each scar should have been. She had stared at them enough over the years. But there was no evidence that the skin had ever been damaged. Even the best plastic surgery in the world left marks that showed work had been done. What Fiona was looking at was not possible.

"How... How'd ya' do that?" was all she could voice.

"Your world is about to change forever," Maggie said with a smile.

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Fiona sat at the table listening to the craziest, most outlandish, most unbelievable story she had ever heard. Jacob told her who he really was and all about Denerith. The five of them shocked her again when the strange birthmarks on their wrists glowed and large tarot cards appeared in their hands; she heard about things like classes, abilities, inherent skills; and all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures on a different world. Her mind was at war with her eyes and ears. What they said was not possible, but what she saw with their glowing wrists, not to mention her own arm missing scars that had been with her most of her life, made it hard to argue. Somewhere around the middle of the conversation, she had called out to Paddy and Mary that she would lock up and would explain everything to them tomorrow. She was now wondering how she could explain any of this.

"What's all this gotta do with me?" was all she could ask.

"You've been identified as someone who can receive a class," Jacob stated. His wrist began to glow again, and a stack of cards appeared in his hand. "If you choose to select a Card, it will tell us what your class is and activate it. Then, if you agree, in about two and half months, you would be able to join us in our return to Denerith. We need your help there. But understand, you will be giving up everything you have here on Earth. There's very little chance you will ever return. We're not going to force you to come with us, but if you do, you'll experience things no other earthlings ever have. Do you want to know what your class is?"

"I'd have until it's time ta go back ta make my decision?" Fiona asked, trying to buy time for her mind to catch up with everything she was learning.

"Yes," Jacob confirmed. "But we would want you to return to the States with us well before that time frame so we can give you training. When the time comes for you to decide, you will either go back with us, or we will pay you handsomely for your time and allow you to go wherever you please. Once you chose a Card, though, you will have those abilities for the rest of your life. Even if you choose not to join us, you will still keep everything you gained."

Fiona realized this was her chance. If she wanted to escape her present life, this was the opportunity to do it. She would never get an offer like this again. Even if she decided it wasn't for her, to gain abilities like Megan had just shown would only help her escape another way. Gaining a class became a simple decision for her.

"I'll see what my class is and then decide later, if that's fine?"

"Perfectly fine," Jacob said as he started laying out the Blank Cards on the table in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Maggie was trying to prepare her for what she was going to experience as her class was awakening, but Fiona was too fascinated by the Cards Jacob was placing to pay attention. How were they so white? Why was the center Card so much brighter? Why couldn't she stop her hand from reaching for the Card? The last thing she had a conscious awareness of was Maggie warning her it would hurt, and Jacob loudly saying to wait as he quickly waved his hand over the card. He had barely finished before she grabbed it.

She picked up the middle Card and her body shattered. How could anything hurt as bad as her wrist did then? Why did it feel her brain was actually melting and flowing out of her ears? What was this warm feeling she felt flowing through her body, increasing in heat exponentially? How was she not already dead from the pain and sensory overload? Before she could even consider any of those questions, everything stopped. The pain was gone. No after-effect was felt in her wrist at all. Her mind snapped back to reality, but it felt as if there was so much more knowledge enclosed within her than there had been just a second before. Then she started breathing again.

"Jaysus, Mary and Joseph! 'At was intense!" she exclaimed.

Then she looked at the Card in her hand. It was no longer white. In its place was an image of blazing sun, completely eclipsed by a dark moon. In the foreground was a silhouette of a cloaked figure holding two very detailed, and very deadly looking, daggers crossed in front of their chest. The rune at the top, perfectly readable to her for some reason, simply said "The Ghost Blade".

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"Oh, now it's getting interesting," Jimmy said with a smile. "Runa's going to love her."

"Who's Runa?" Maggie asked.

"Runa's a story for another time," Jacob cut in. "Right now, we need to go over Fiona's class."

Fiona tore her gaze from the Card and looked at her wrist. Like the others, there was now a birthmark in the shape a rune that she easily read as "The Ghost Blade". She had no idea what a Ghost Blade was, but she knew she was different than she had been just seconds before.

"A Ghost Blade is a hybrid class," Jacob said as if that would explain everything to Fiona. "Like Maggie, it's a combination of fighter and stealth. Unlike Maggie, who has much more leaning to the stealth and infiltration aspects, yours is very fighting focused. The Ghost Blade is a front-line fighter. You'll be one of our major damage dealers.

"Becca, cast mana flow so she can start building it up. Fiona, go ahead and turn your Card over."

She became so enthralled with the slowly swirling mists on the back, she didn't even notice the five glowing runes on the top until Jacob asked her to read the first rune. The rune was one all the others were familiar with, Backstab. Like Maggie's, this ability gave large damage bonuses when she attacked an opponent from behind.

"Makes me a dirty fighter, huh?" Fiona asked, not completely disliking the idea.

"Trust me, in a battle where the outcome is life or death, there's no such thing as a dirty fighter," Jacob said. "Read the other four."

Fiona went through the other four runes. The next one was called Shadow Hop, and it had a low cost. This ability allowed her to instantly travel from one shadow to another that is in her sightline. Smokescreen creates an instant smoke cloud that allows her to disappear and move to a new vantage point. It had a medium cost. With the Sneak Attack ability, if she was able to get behind an opponent without them being aware of her, she could close the distance between her and the opponent at incredible speed. The further she is from the opponent, the more momentum she would build, increasing the damage of the strike. It had a low cost, and she immediately recognized how this could be used with Backstab to deal enormous damage. Come to think it, all these abilities seemed to synchronize well with each other. The final ability drove home how the abilities were supposed to play off each other, though.

"This last one is called 'Death Strike'," she told the group. "Says that if I activate it while doing a Backstab or Sneak Attack, it greatly increases the chance I'll kill the opponent instantly. Says it's got a 'very high cost'. 'At's fuckin' scary, innit?"

"That it is," Jacob consented. "The thing with that ability, though, is its extremely high mana cost. It's not something you can use over and over. Once you use it, most of your mana's going to be gone. But in the right situation, it can be a game changer."

"What's mana?" Fiona asked.

"Mana is what powers all the abilities we have," Jacob explained. 'You've probably been noticing a warm sensation in your body since you activated your class. That's your mana pool filling. It feels stronger right now because Becca has activated her mana flow. It speeds up your mana absorption. Mana is everywhere. Earth has a much lower ambient mana than Denerith, so our powers are not as strong, and it takes a lot longer to refill our pools. But when you read about 'cost' in your abilities, it's referring to how much mana it costs to use that ability. As you grow stronger in your class, you'll be able to store more mana, and the costs for using the abilities may even decrease. I say 'may' because the abilities themselves can become stronger and therefor cost more.

"Before we have you try out an ability or two, why don't we see what your inherent skills are?"

"Ah here, leave it out! Ya' mean there's more?"

"More than you can imagine. Turn your Card back over and concentrate on the rune."

Even though she had five abilities listed on the back of her card, only three inherent skills came to her when she concentrated on the rune; dual weapon expertise, short blade expertise, and thrown weapon proficiency. It seemed obvious enough to her. She wasn't sure what the difference was between proficiency and expertise was, but once Jacob explained it to her, she realized that if she had a couple knives handy, she'd be a lot safer walking around Dublin. Thinking back to her abilities, though, she asked Jacob about combining them.

"That's the beauty of your class," Jacob said. "All your abilities play off each other. Consider this situation. We're up against a particularly strong foe. While the rest of us are fighting it head on, you start using your abilities. You start by throwing down a smokescreen, which confuses him. Then you do a shadow hop to some shadow behind him. Now he's lost you and doesn't know where you are. You do a sneak attack to build up momentum and deliver a backstab. If you time it right, you activate death blow and all those abilities have played off each other to where even if you don't kill him outright, you'll have wounded him so bad that he won't put up much of a fight for the rest of us. It's a powerful class."

It did sound powerful. Much more powerful than anything she believed she was capable of. Still, she had questions.

"But how do I use these abilities?"

"That's where I come in," Jacob smiled. "Let's try two right now. Jimmy, has she absorbed enough for smokescreen and shadow hop?"

Fiona watched Jimmy lean in towards her and sniff the air around her. She gave him a questioning look, wondering what he was doing, but it wasn't any stranger than some of the things other customers had done over the years. At least he didn't grab her ass.

"She should have enough for one go at it, as long as she stays in Becca's range," Jimmy confirmed.

"Ok then," Jacob said. "We're only going to try this once, we don't want you to faint due to mana depletion."

"That's the truth," Megan said. "Happened to me, and trust me, it has a hell of a hangover effect."

Jacob just smiled at Megan, then returned to giving Fiona instructions.

"Smokescreen and shadow hop are technically magical abilities. Forget all the stuff you see in the movies. There're no complex hand movements or chanting of weird spells. Most magical abilities are used by thought. For some mages, they may use their hands to guide the magic, but you're not going to be forming runes in the air or anything like that.

"What I want you to do is to stand up and take a step back from the table. When you're ready, picture a cloud of smoke blasting into existence around you. Then just will it to happen. It'll feel weird the first couple times you do it. As soon as the smoke envelopes your body, will yourself to be over in that corner where there's all the shadows."

"Whatcha' mean, will myself?" she asked.

"Tell yourself that you're no longer standing here. You're over there."

Fiona gave him a doubtful look. Even though it sounded like she was the brunt of the world's worst practical joke, she stood up. She stepped back and pictured a smoke cloud forming all around her. She told herself the smoke was real, and then it was. With a soft "poof" she was suddenly surrounded by a deep smoke. For some reason she could see clearly through it, but had no doubt that everyone else had lost her in the smoke. Not thinking about what she was doing, she told herself she was across the room in the shadows. She didn't feel herself move, but did experience an instance of vertigo. But when she took in her surroundings, she was in fact across the room, hiding in the shadow. She saw the smoke start to dissipate, and the others looked over at where they knew she would be.

"Well, I'm a Dutchman!" Fiona said in surprise, as she walked back over to the table smiling. "Whatta I 'ave to do?"

The group smiled at her, and the fourth new member of the Band had been recruited.

--------------------

The Elementalist

Dr. Owain Pryce finished packing the final box in his office at Wrexham University. Looking around one last time, he walked out and Amy, his assistant for the last three years, locked the door behind him.

"I'm going to miss you, Dr. Pryce," she said sincerely.

"I'll miss you too, Amy. But this is for the best. I knew what I was doing when I published that paper. I knew I was risking my reputation. Didn't think they'd fire me over it, though."

"It's not fair. Just because they don't agree with you, doesn't mean you shouldn't be given a chance to prove your theory."

Owain smiled sadly at her.

"There's the rub, Amy. There's no way to prove it."

With that he left the building and went to his Skoda Fabia. He threw the box in the boot and climbed into the car. He had been so proud when he bought the Fabia. Sensible and understated, but still a great car. Exactly what an up-and-coming professor would drive. Sad to think he'd probably have to sell it. He took one last look at the university, then began the commute back to Mold, Wales.

He chose to live in Mold due to its vibrant market scene, excellent food, and more active culture than the small villages around the university. It was about a thirty-minute commute from the university, but it was a very scenic drive and he had enjoyed making the trip twice a day for the last three years. Today, however, he wasn't paying attention to the landscape. These next thirty minutes would be dedicated to beating himself up for throwing his life away.

Owain had been an aspiring researcher in the earth sciences. Recruited straight out of school to teach at Wrexham, there were a lot of expectations for what his research may discover. It was a good early start to his career. Then he had the brilliantly stupid idea to chase after a hypothesis that even he knew was going to be ridiculed. For whatever reason, he believed science was missing something. His area was definitely not physics, but he had read many articles and texts on the idea of string theory. He loved the idea of a single theory that could unite everything. He just didn't agree that it would be found in physics. He believed there was a tangible force that existed which united everything. Gravity, time, matter, anti-matter, they all worked together. Light was able to travel by both photons and waves. Everything was connected. But why and how had not been answered.

Why did all laws of physics break down at the quantum level? Why does a complex series of chemicals coming together create life? Why can't we set up a lab and combine all those chemicals together and create life ourselves? What was so special about two simple elements, hydrogen and oxygen? Why did all life as we know it depend on those two atoms combining in a specific way to create water? Why does the Earth operate on such an unbelievably interconnected series of matter transferences and keep running? Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Animals convert oxygen into carbon dioxide. Light is converted by photosynthesis. All living things grow older and eventually die, becoming the nourishment for future life. Modern science had explained how all this works in great detail. But it still hadn't answered why it was even possible for this to occur.

Religion tries to play it off by a belief in a higher power. An omnipotent old man with a long white beard. Science had tried to categorize it more distinctly. To Owain, though, the answer was simple. There is a tangible force that connects everything and drives it all. Not matter, not energy, not gravity, not even time or space, but an overriding force that controls all of it. And in his pursuit to find this force, he destroyed his career. Realizing the university was not happy with his progress on making a name for himself, and in turn, gaining renown for the university itself, Owain decided to put his hypothesis out there to see if others could help solve the question.

It was not well received.

He admitted to himself that he could have been more tactful in his approach. Calling out the leading physicists, chemist, biologists, and other scientists, calling them stagnated in their thinking, and boldly proclaiming those who don't start looking at the universe from a broader perspective were dooming science to return to the ages of alchemist and bloodletters; it was probably not the best decision he ever made. He had hoped he could urge his fellow scientist to move beyond the constraints the different fields of science had erected. He was wrong.

Even if he was correct in his theory, he was in the same position as all the major religions of the world. His hypothesis had to rely solely on faith. Not something science looked favorably on. There was no way to measure this unknown force. If it truly existed on such a higher level than laws such as gravity and time, there was no way to observe it. If there is no way to observe it, measure it, or even quantify the effects of it, there was no way to prove it even existed. If he was correct, it operated so far beyond our understanding, that all we saw were the effects, which were already being explained by physics, chemistry and biology.

So he sat in his car, driving along A541, trying to avoid thinking about what he was going to do with his life now. Finding another university position was out for the foreseeable future. His reputation was tanked, and no respectable university is going to hire him. Maybe he could find a small secondary school here in Wales, or even cross over to Britain. It would be a big blow to his ego, but if he was being honest with himself, he didn't have much of an ego left. He had some savings, and that could hold him for a while, but not long. Why did he have to write such a controversial paper?

He was still putting himself through the grinder of self-pity when he approached the small house he owned on the outskirts of town. He was surprised to see a van parked outside his house. He was even more surprised to see the six individuals standing there, obviously waiting for him to arrive. He parked his car and wondered what new hell he was in for now.

"Dr. Pryce, my name's Maggie Simms. Can we talk with you privately, please?"

----------------------

Owain didn't know what to think about the story he just heard. Actually, he did know what to think about it. It was a bunch of codswallop. But they seemed so serious about it as well. Another planet, filled with magic and creatures straight out of a Tolkien novel, unbelievable powers bestowed by mysterious Cards; all bullshit. He was a man of science. He couldn't deny what they showed him would rank among the best magic tricks being performed by stage magicians in the world, but that's all they were, tricks. Right? But he had one of the richest women in the world, two men who had disappeared for a decade, a medical doctor, and a what seemed to be a young bartender from Dublin sitting in his kitchen proclaiming everything they said was true. The part he had the most trouble with was that the young lady named Maggie exuded such a strong aura of trust, he just wanted to believe her. Then the one named Jacob convinced him.

"I read your paper," the dark man said casually. "You were right. There is a stronger force tying everything together. But you're falling into the same trap all those that condemned your work did. You're trying to force your theory into modern science."

Now Owain was intrigued.

"Can you explain what you mean?"

"Simple," Jacob smiled. "Every modern scientific discovery would have been thought of as magic if it explained to people back in the Middle Ages, right?"

Owain nodded.

"We have convinced ourselves that science is everything. Everything that happens can be explained scientifically given enough time and data. But the other side of that coin is that magic doesn't exist. Traveling through outer space was considered magic, until we did it. Then it was science. By our narrow pursuit of science, we discounted magic. But what if magic and science were interconnected?

"On Denerith there are some scientific discoveries. Take alchemy. It is a very scientific process. But the effects of alchemy on Denerith have not discounted the magic either. You were looking for that one unifying force that controls all the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, and all other scientific fields. The problem you didn't see with your theory is the idea of control. There isn't a unifying force that is controlling everything, there's only a unifying force that connects everything. Mana."

Owain sat back in his chair. What Jacob was saying made sense. He had fallen into the same trap as all his colleagues. Gravity, time, chemical reactions, they all had the same thing in common. They controlled what happened. But Jacob's description of mana was not about control, it was about existence. It connected everything, flowed through everything, and provided the bond to allow the unexplainable to happen.

"If what you are saying is true, and mana is the 'lifeforce', for lack of a better word, for existence, then we've done our planet an unforgiveable disservice," Owain postulated.

"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked him.

"You said there seemed to be a lot less ambient mana on Earth compared to this Denerith," Owain began. Seeing both Jacob and Jimmy nod, he continued. "Then it stands to reason that our lack of the use of magic has stunted the collection of mana. If mana is truly the connecting force of the universe, it won't want to be stagnant. Nature abhors a vacuum. By the same token, it's not going to build up for no use. You said the ambient mana is less, not absent. It will concentrate more where it is being used more. I would theorize that just having the two of you back on Earth has already created an environment where the mana on Earth is increasing. It may only be by an infinitesimal amount, but it happens.

"Jesus, what am I even saying? Why am I even considering what you're telling me is true?"

"Because you want to believe it," Maggie said kindly. "And you can believe it. All you have to do is draw a Card and you can finally have acknowledgement of what you've always known to be true."

"And then what?" Owain asked. "Even if I have the proof, no one will accept it."

"And why do you care about the opinions of closed-minded fools?" Jacob asked bluntly. "What we are offering is not vindication against those who doubted you. We're offering a chance to use your knowledge to help others. Denerith needs us. You can be a part of that."

Owain was struck by his words. Jacob was right, even if he could have phrased it a little gentler. No one on Earth would ever know that Owain's theory was correct. There would be no Nobel Prize for him. But that didn't matter. He never got into science for the accolades. He did it to quench his thirst for knowledge and understanding. And now he had an unprecedented opportunity to quench that thirst.

"I'll draw the Card."

----------------------------

Owain watched as Jacob began laying out the eight Cards in an hourglass figure. He listened carefully to them describe how one Card would "call out" to him and smiled wondering if he was the victim of subliminal suggestion when one of the Cards seemed to be brighter than the rest. He heard them explain the pain and "information dump" that accompanied activating his class.

He was still unprepared when he picked up the Card.

Even though the pain in his wrist was unbearable, it was the fear his mind was breaking that caused true panic. He remembered times in his past when he has that single moment of insight, an epiphany where everything made sense, those rare occasions where a formula or equation clicked into place and complete understanding occurred. Those times were like passing thoughts compared to what was happening in his brain at that moment. Knowledge of eternity was opened up is a nanosecond. The human brain was not equipped to receive such understanding at that rate. All the learning he had spent years dedicating his life to was like a thimble of water in the ocean of what he was trying to process in that instant. Then it was over.

His eyes were drawn to the Card which was no longer white. Set against a background of the universe was a single circle. The best analogy he could make for the circle was the yin-yang symbol. But instead of two tear drops overtaking each other, there were four. Each teardrop was extremely detailed, depicting a different element. On the bottom was what could only be described as earth. Soil, rock, sand, it was all building up and taking over the next element to the right, water. The water teardrop seemed to encompass all the liquid of an ocean, building up and overtaking the fire element at the top. Flames that almost seemed to generate heat grew out of from the water to encompass the last element on the left side of the circle, air. Blowing winds, lightning, and clouds completed the circle by devouring the earth on the bottom. In all, the circle showed the balance of nature. Each element keeping the other in check. Earth overcame water, water extinguished fire, fire consumed air, and air eroded earth. It was beautiful in its symmetry, and while Owain was surprised that he was able to read the rune at the top, he was not surprised by what it said.

The Elementalist.

-------------------

"Hot damn!" Jimmy exclaimed. "We got another mage!"

"Not just a mage," Jacob said with a smile, "an Elementalist."

Owain, like the rest of the group was confused.

"Instead of talking in riddles, can one of you explain the Card?" Becca asked.

"Magic users come in all different types," Jacob stated. "Healer's like Megan, enhancer's like you, even though you both fall in the support category. There are a ton of magic users who fall more in the 'true mage' realm. Some deal with altering properties, others deal with light and darkness, and a whole host of other types. The most common, however, are those that deal with elements. Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Usually, an elemental mage is attuned to one of those elements, on occasion they may be attuned to two. Xygos, our main mage, is a Sculptor, which is just the rune name for his class, earth mage. He's a little different than other mages who specialize in earth magic. He also can do a tiny bit of water magic as well. That comes from his Sculptor class. But all his real power is in earth magic.

"The Elementalist, however, is special. They are attuned to all four elements. You can imagine how unusual it is to draw that. Owain, turn over you Card and let's see what your abilities are. Becca, it goes without saying, we're going to need your mana flow for this one."

Owain turned his Card over and tried to ignore the flowing pattern on the back and concentrate on the four runes glowing at the top. He read off the first two runes as Basic Spellcasting of All Elements, and Intermediate Spellcasting of All Elements, with a low cost at the basic level and a medium cost at the intermediate. He looked up to Jacob who was smiling.

"To get a better grasp of what all that means," Jacob volunteered, "let's compare it to weapon levels. Like weapons skill levels, magic has its own levels. Five to be precise. In order, they are basic, intermediate, advanced, master, and mythic. Let's just take the Fire Element for demonstration purposes. At the basic level, you could shoot out a fire based magical ball that would hit a target for a specific amount of damage. At intermediate, you might be able to turn your hand into a flame-thrower, shooting out a stream of fire at multiple targets. Reaching the advanced level, you might fire off a much larger fireball that would explode in the middle of a group causing everyone damage and lighting them all on fire. If you make it to master level, you can destroy armies. It wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibilities to call down fire from the heavens, igniting everything on the battlefield.

"The mythic level is like the incorporated level with weapons. No one is really sure it exists. All the reports of the mythic levels are of mages who lived so long ago we don't know if they are just legends. But to continue our example of Fire, a mage who could control fire at the mythic level could reportedly ignite an entire kingdom into a blazing inferno in an instant. Think of it as someone who could drop fifty high yield nuclear weapons instantly with just a thought. But as I said, no one really knows if the mythic level is possible."

"I'm confused," Megan interrupted. "Why is Owain starting out with just basic and inermediate? Someone like Maggie and Fiona started with weapon skills much closer to the top of the scale."

"Magic is much different than weapons," Jimmy said, not clearing anything up for those who were new to this. "Consider a few factors. Even at the basic and intermediate levels, their spells have the ability to cause huge amounts of damage to possibly large groups of opponents. You also have to consider that most of the people who get their Cards from the circles start out with just the basic level, and one or maybe two abilities, not to mention mages are usually limited to one element. Owain is not only starting out with intermediate spells, something that can take years for many other mages to achieve, he also has access to those level spells from all four elements. Trust me, he is going to be considered a high-level mage from the moment he goes to Denerith.

"But the real kicker is the next rune he has."

Owain looked back at his Card. "It says Spell Synergy. The ability to combine effects from different elements. Medium to high costs. I know what the words mean but have no idea what the statement means."

"It means you can combine spells from the different elemental groups to exponentially increase the effects," Jacob said. "Let's give another example. Say you're able to cause a roaring fire, then you add a tornado from the air element. Now you have a tornado made of fire going across a battlefield, setting everything on fire, picking people up, lighting them on fire, and throwing them all over the place. That's spell synergy.

"Like I told Fiona a couple days ago, spells are not what most think they are. It's not memorizing a series of words or hand gestures. It's imagining the effect you are wanting to produce, then, if you have the level of casting ability and the mana to accomplish it, you'd will it into existence. If you can imagine it, you can do it. As long as you have the level and mana. The fire tornado I mentioned earlier is most definitely beyond your capabilities at this time, but you could maybe do it on a much smaller scale.

"Let's put all this on hold and go through the rest of your abilities and skills, then we'll try out a few things."

Owain read off the last ability he had listed. It was Elemental Enchant with a variable cost.

"That ability is going to make the dwarf twins happy," Jacob said. "There are two ways to enchant items. The first is to imbue the item while it's being created or reforged. Take Becca's mace. While Duncan was forging it, a mage could have imbued different enchantments into it. When we get back, Duncan can also take the mace and make alterations to it. While he's doing that, a mage could start imbuing enchantments into it. Almost any mage can pass enchantments from their class while an item is being created. Both Duncan and Angus have some minor enchantments they can imbue an item with while they are creating it by themselves, but they rely on mages more.

"The other way an item can be enchanted is through a mage with the enchant ability. You can take items that have already been created and directly enchant them without having to reforge or modify the item. These enchantments usually are of a higher level and quality, and because you can enchant with all four elements, the number and types of enchantments are much greater. You could take Becca's mace and put an air enchantment on it so that when she hits someone with it, it does lightning damage and chains out to strike other opponents as well."

"Oh, do that, please," Becca said eagerly.

"I'd wait until we get back to Denerith," Jacob said, bursting her bubble. "The enchantment will be much more powerful there, and we want to give Owain a chance to learn more about what he can do with the elements. Besides, you should know better than anyone, don't jump on the first option you're presented with. Maybe you would prefer to have the strike ignite your opponent with fire damage, or bestow ice damage which may freeze them. How about petrifying your opponent when it hits? With the synergy ability, he could possibly do enchantments that combine effect from different elements. The possibilities are endless."

Becca quieted down then. She started to think about the different possibilities she could use to enchant her mace. Jacob just shook his head at her and turned back to Owain.

"Let's see what inherent skills you have. Turn your Card over and concentrate on the rune."

The first skill Owain understood based on the previous conversation, staff knowledge. The others he needed help with.

"Expanded Mana Pool," he said to the group. "As class increases, mana pool grows at percentage rather than set amount."

"Damn, that would be nice," Jimmy whistled.

"Explain," Maggie said getting tired of Jimmy's comments without any reference.

"Let's say we all start with a mana pool of 100 points. That's not how it works, but to keep it simple let's say it is. Whenever our class advances, most of us will have our mana pool increase by a set amount. Let's say 20 points. Each time we advance, we increase our mana pool by 20 points. So, after we advance five times, we have effectively doubled the size of our mana pool. Five increases of 20 points, our mana pool has grown to 200 points. Like I said, that's a very simplified way to look at it, but it works for this example. Everyone with me so far?"

Everyone nodded.

"Owain's skill makes it so that his mana pool grows by a percentage, not a set value. Let's stay with this example and say every time he advances, his mana pool grows by 20%. The first time he advances, he will get a 20% increase, or 20 points just like everyone else. But the next time he advances he gets 20% of the 120 points he had. That means when Maggie advances her second time, she still only gets 20 points, but Owain will get 24 points. You can see how this keeps getting better for Owain. By the time he has advanced five times, unlike the rest of us who would only be at 200 points, Owain will be close to 250 points. Keep going with this example, by the time everyone has advanced ten times, Owain will be at over 600 points, and we will only be at 300. Each advancement for him is going to give an even larger increase to his mana pool. When he advances for the eleventh time, he'd get an increase of 20% of 600. That's 120 points added to his pool. That's more than everyone started at. And we're all still getting a measly 20 points each time."

Jacob took over at that point.

"Now there is a caveat to this. Just because his pool size increases doesn't mean that his rate of regenerating mana increases. Someday he could have such a large mana capacity it becomes almost impossible to fill it completely. But without a doubt, the higher your capacity to store mana, the better off you are. You could get to the point where you don't have to worry about spell or ability costs. You'll have such a large reservoir of mana that you can continually shoot off high or very high-cost spells. It may take a while to recover from it, but unlike the rest of us, eventually you're going to get to the point where you'll never have to worry about running out of mana."

"I want that. Death Strike with every hit," Fiona mumbled.

"All of us would like that," Jacob laughed. "What are the other skills?"

Owain told them the next skill was mid-level Magic Resistance/Absorption, which allowed him to resist magical attacks and absorb some of the mana from the spell used against him. Given his expanded mana pool, that could be handy. The final skill was Scholar. It gave him the ability to gain new knowledge quickly.

"That seems very vague," he said to Jacob.

"It is," Jacob agreed. "It can mean a lot of different things. Say we find some old scrolls that speak of a forgotten way to use fire magic. You may be able to understand how to utilize that much easier than another fire mage. Or say you're in a fight and see an opponent use a skill you've never seen before, you may be able to understand how that skill or ability was used and develop your own way to incorporate into your class. It won't work for everything you see, but it will allow you to develop new skills and abilities easier. It will obviously be easier to learn new skills and abilities that are pertinent to your class, but you may be able to learn some outside of it. Watch Maggie and Jimmy spar enough, and you might find yourself developing the unarmed skill. Scholar is more of a wildcard skill. You never know when it will kick in, but it could open a lot of new doors. You may even gain the ability to learn new schools of magic, like healing or light magic."

"This is a bit overwhelming," Owain stated. "I'm still not sure I believe any of it, but tell me about this warm sensation I'm feeling all through my body."

"That's you collecting and regenerating your mana. You've never had a pool before and now it's starting to fill. Becca cast one of her abilities called mana flow. It accelerates mana absorption and regeneration among allies that are close to her. It sounds like you've been building some up, so let's step outside and test a few of your spells. It should help you believe this is happening too."

Everyone rose from the table and went into his backyard. Owain felt foolish standing there thinking he was about to cast a magic spell. He wasn't Harry Potter. He had to laugh quietly as he remembered those movies.

"I keep expecting some big, bearded bloke to come up to me and say, 'You're a wizard, Harry!'"

Everyone had a chuckle at that.

"All right," Jacob said, bringing everyone back to the topic at hand, "remember when I said that what you could do with your magic depended on what level you were at and how much mana you had?"

Owain nodded to him.

"Let's demonstrate both principles. Start by holding your hand out and imagining a small ball of fire floating right above your palm. When you can picture it in your mind, will it into being."

Owain had his doubts, but did what Jacob instructed. After a second or two, everyone gasped as they saw a small flame start in his hand. After another second, there was a sphere of flame floating above his palm. Like all fire, it did not keep a steady shape. Tiny flames licked out around the ball, but it kept the general shape and size of a tennis ball.

"See that rock over there?" Jacob asked. "Will the ball to fly towards it and explode. If it helps you can try to throw the ball there."

Owain gave a little flick of his wrist, and the fireball flew from his hand and struck the rock. It wasn't a big explosion by any means, but it left a scorch mark on rock.

"Jaysus, that's not something to fool around with," he cried out. He quickly looked around to make sure he hadn't alerted his neighbors. He wasn't sure how he would explain being able to throw fireballs around.

"That would be a basic level spell," Jacob explained. "Let's demonstrate what happens when you try something above your level. Let's go with earth this time. Look to the middle of your yard. Imagine a giant pillar of rock shooting up from it. I'm talking something five meters high and two meters in diameter."

Owain followed his instructions again. He imagined exactly what Jacob described. His body "felt" the ground around him. Top layer of soil, then some various rocks and minerals. Going deeper he felt the larger rock layers, all the way down to the bedrock. Picturing all those elements coming together to raise a pillar out of the ground was easy to do. He could see it clearly in his mind. But when he tried to "will" it into existence, nothing happened. Every time he tried to will the pillar to appear, it was like something was blocking him. The more he tried, the more he felt the mana well up within him. But unlike with the fireball, the mana was not able to leave his body. It was as if as soon as he tried to release it, a wall sprung up inside him and blocked the mana from leaving. When he stopped trying, he turned to Jacob and explained what he was feeling.

"That's because you were trying to do something beyond your means. Your body wasn't going to let you waste your mana, but you still had some control over how you built it up. For you to be able to 'feel' your mana building, you must have a very strong sense of mana awareness. That can help you. It can let you know quickly what you can and can't do, and keep you from wasting time in battle trying to perform feats that are beyond you.

"So, now you're going to try to do something similar but within your means. Try to raise some earth again, but this time picture a stone spike that is only about two feet high and maybe six inches in diameter."

Owain did just that, and almost instantly a spike shot up from the ground. It happened so fast, he wasn't even sure he had done the 'will it to happen' part yet. Everyone walked over to the spike. It was a solid piece of stone with a very sharp point.

"That'd fuck ya' up if ya' was standing o'er it," Fiona said, stating what they were all thinking.

"That's a very common spell earth mages use in battle," Jimmy said. "Sometimes they'll impale a strong opponent on the spike. Can kill a weaker foe pretty quick. We went against a particularly nasty earth mage once that littered the ground between us with thousands of little spikes. Not enough to impale someone, but try running across a field that is covered in sharp, stone spikes that are only a couple inches high. Even tough armor or boots can be shredded by that."

"How'd you get by it?" Maggie asked.

Jimmy laughed and looked at Jacob, who seemed embarrassed. "You tell 'em."

Jacob did not look like he wanted to tell them, but then sighed and explained how they got around it.

"Grokol, that son of a bitch, picked me up and threw me across the field. Berlain was more elegant. Being a fairy he was able to pick up Melaine and fly her across. As soon as we dispatched of the mage, the spikes disappeared, and the rest of the Band came in and cleaned up the rest. I didn't talk to Grokol for three days after that."

Everyone laughed and Jacob blushed even more than he was before. Owain, however, was quiet. This was actually happening. He had been right all along. There was a unifying force. He just never dreamed it was tied to magic. He needed to learn more about this. He needed to understand. Looking at the rest of the group, he acknowledged the only decision he could make.

"When do we leave?" he asked.