The Sceptre of Samnos

The University Part 5

     The next day, the entire fifth year assembled again in the Grand Assembly Hall, from which they were directed to study cubicles for their first spellcasting test. There were three hundred of the small study cubicles, each one ten feet square, with plain stone walls, one table and one chair. They were designed to be places where an apprentice could go to be alone and study without fear of being interrupted. Now, however, over the course of the day, every fifth year student would be sharing one with a high level teaching wizard, so that he could demonstrate the casting of a spell without any distractions or outside influences interfering with it.

     Thomas was in cubicle 116 with Master Elmias Pastin, the head of extra-planar studies and one of the most powerful wizards in the valley. He wasn't merely a teacher, although he took classes as often as he could. He was a research wizard who spent most of his time in other dimensions, other planes of existence, exploring and studying what he found there. The last time Thomas had seen him had been five months before, when he'd taken his class on a school outing to a plane of elemental air, a place so fascinating that he was determined to go back there one day, under his own power. University gossip had it that Elmias spent nearly half his life travelling in other planes, and that his rooms were full of souvenirs brought back from dozens of other universes.

     He spent a few moments glancing up and down some notes, and then said "I believe you're going to cast a Reveal spell for me. Is that right?"

     "Y-yes sir," said Thomas. Elmias glanced up sternly at his stammer, and Thomas felt a cold hand grab his insides and twist them. He tried to calm down, but the butterflies in his stomach paid him no attention, and carried on trying to escape. This is ridiculous, he told himself. I've cast this spell dozens of times, perfectly each time! There's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to do it now. Nevertheless, he knew that it was different now, for the simple reason that he was being tested.

     Elmias reached a hand into a pocket of his robes and brought out seven gold rings, each with a different gemstone. A diamond, a ruby, an emerald, a sapphire, an opal, a jet and a polished bead of ivory. He said "None of these rings is magical. However, one of them has been given a magical charge that will make it react to your spell as though it were magical. I want you to tell me which one it is." He placed them on the table. "In your own good time."

     Thomas looked at the rings. The words of the spell came easily to his mind. He had carefully memorised them that morning. As always, the words had changed since the last time he'd cast it. The very ink on the pages of his spellbook had moved, rearranging itself into new words and phrases. No-one knew how, or why, it did this, but it meant that the spell had to be memorized all over again every time he wanted to cast it. Speaking the words as they'd been the day before would, at best, have no effect, and at worst they would cause the spell to misfire in a dangerous and unpredictable way.

     Thomas had gone over the new words again just before Elmias’s arrival, to make sure they were correct, but he was terrified that he would stammer again as he said them, spoiling the spell and failing the test. Elmias looked at him impatiently. Thomas swallowed, rubbed his hands, and decided to go for it. After all, he told himself, even if I do fail, I've already accomplished much more than I thought possible when I first came. I've read my way virtually all through the library, or at least those parts we're allowed into, and I never really thought I could actually become a wizard.

     Having resigned himself to failure, he felt much better. He was cool, calm and collected. He reached a hand out over the rings, spread his fingers, said the magic words and one of the rings, the sapphire one, began to glow with a soft blue light as the aura placed on it was made visible. He looked up, and saw Elmias smiling at him. "Well done," he said. "I'll see you again tomorrow."