Immortal gates

Chapter 6: Young Alexander

Formerly known as Australia, the empire of Neostralia was now the most peaceful and harmonious of the six.

The goddess Itana, ruler of this continent, had more love for humans than any other divinity. Her personality was the complete opposite of Endarion's, which explained, to some, why she and Endarion were a couple. They complemented each other in many ways. Where Endarion had strength, ambition and hot-headedness, Itana had grace, intelligence and temperance. She was the yin to his yang, the cool sea breeze to his scorched sand.

She had built her empire mainly for the people, unlike all of the other gods, who were more selfish in nature.

Two things were globally known about Neostralia: that it had the fairest laws and that it had the School of Mages.

Among mortals, there was no better source of knowledge, no better system of power, and no higher rank of reverence than those within the School of Mages. Only gods and demigods were considered more powerful than the highest graduates of this school.

Of course, such a prestigious institution needed a leader. From each generation there was one supreme mage selected, the one who proved to master all of the elements. Once selected, this individual, known as the Arch-mage, had the responsibility to guide the School for a decade or more, until the next generation's supreme graduate would prove able to undertake the role.

Morpheus was once Arch-mage.

Stories of his proficiency still stirred up fiery conversations throughout the lands. Some say that in his prime, while he was still head of the school, he was able to split mountains in half. Others spoke of his ability to conjure titans to do his bidding, or even to raise the dead from the afterlife.

When Morpheus disappeared, every mage in Neostralia felt the loss. He had invented more spells, constructed more magical items and defeated more adversaries than any other sorcerer in history. Most people half-expected him to somehow eventually rise up to god-level, but instead he simply disappeared one day.

He did not give any notice of his intention to depart; he did not confide into anyone, he did not even leave a note, and there were few beings powerful enough to kill or kidnap him. He simply vanished one day and nobody was the wiser. Nobody except the goddess Itana, who had secretly given him a very arduous, but very important task: to train Alexander.

"No! No! Stop!" Morpheus shouted, but it was too late. The flow had already passed the critical point and Alexander lost control.

A giant flash of light and heat followed, blasting out into the open field and incinerating nearly a hectare of grassland. The boy recoiled from the blast and was thrown to the ground in pain. His right hand, which was the one he used to aim the spell, had been severely burnt.

Morpheus quickly manifested a water spell to put out the land fire and then proceeded with a healing spell on the boy's hand.

"You fool! How many times do we have to go through this? Control the mana flow or it starts..."

"To amplify outward and control itself. I know, I know." Alexander replied, visibly irritated and at the same time relieved by the healing spell. "It's just that... whenever the flow aligns through the plexus, I feel this urge to push more mana through. I don't know why."

"Normally that urge wouldn't be a problem. Most mages do not have the capacity to channel dangerous levels of mana through the plexus, but you do, which is why you need to control it. It will kill you if you do not! Believe me; I have seen it happen."

Statistically speaking, the number one unnatural cause of death for mages was failed spells. The number two cause: mana depletion.

Many promising mages had died while attempting complex spells beyond their understanding or their mana. Some burned themselves to death; others tried to turn themselves into immortals and ended up as piles of minced meat. There were countless ways for spells to go wrong and many more fools who attempted to cast them without preparation. Alexander faced the same risks as all the other mages when it came to spellcasting, even more so due to his unusually abundant mana, as Morpheus came to witness repeatedly, which is why the boy needed special attention from an experienced spell caster.