Nethermost Realm: Prisoner of Arlunn

Chapter 15

Please note: I am updating this draft of The Prisoner of Arlunn. The most important change is that the main character's name has been changed from Philip to Rian.

15

Arryk left Rian after introducing him to the other students. Rian went back to his apartment and took a shower. He found some fresh clothes that fit him in the closet and got dressed. Then he met Emmara back in the Arena for his first lesson in casting magic.

Many of the students that he'd met earlier were still there. They watched him closely.

"Rian," Emmara said. "You've had a chance to meet your peers?"

"Yes," he said, a little glumly, since he was hardly their peer. The only thing he'd done was to kill Molan and he didn't use magic to do it. He had begin to feel very awkward about his inability to do magic.

It didn't help now that the others all gathered around to watch Emmara teach him spellcasting. The College had rules that all spellcasting had to take place in the Arena, especially for learning new spells. Advanced students could do known spells in the classrooms with teacher supervision.

Emmara handed Rian an amulet with three small stones embedded in silver, one was dark black, like obsidian, one looked like a sapphire, one was a clear smooth crystal, like topaz. "This will help you focus your energy."

He took it and put it on. He'd noticed that most of the other students had a similar amulet with various stones.

Now the others watched solemnly. Most of them had been doing magic since they were young. He must seem like such a novice to them.

She set down a polished white stone on the ground, about the size of his fist. "The most basic spell to begin with is one to create light. You can cast a light spell on many objects, but a stone is one of the easiest. Watch." She held up her hand over the stone and spoke the words, "toli drinat." A light began to glow in the center of the stone, about the strength of a small lantern flame. She smiled. "You try."

He glanced around the room, at the others who watched wordlessly. No pressure. He took a breath and held up his hand. "Toli drinat," he said. Nothing happened.

"Toli drinat," she repeated, putting the accent on the first syllables. She made him say it over and over several times to get the pronunciation right. "Now, calm your mind and reach down into the pool of calmness inside your mind. Draw the magical energy out to the surface of the pool. Gather it, then say the words."

What pool of calmness?

Frowning, Rian closed his eyes and imagined a big calm pool and tried to draw the energy from it. He wasn't sure he was doing it right. "Toli drinat," he said. He felt nothing. He opened his eyes. Nothing had happened.

She smiled. "It's all right. It's new to you. We'll practice until you get it."

He nodded. Had they expected him to do it the first time? Again he tried to imagine a deep pool of calm energy in his mind and draw from it. "Toli drinat," he said again without results.

Over and over again he tried. Slowly, the other students lost interest and moved off, continuing their own practices. This helped Rian to relax but that didn't help his spellcasting. No matter what he did, he could not get any glimmer of light in the stone. Emmara tried describing the process in other words or helping him visualize the magic energy in different ways.