Chương 5: The wizard

Ch 5: The wizard Felix had no idea if and how badly he'd fucked up by offending the 'elder'. But he supposed it didn't matter. These people were going to do whatever they'd do, and he'd have to figure out how to react. He felt almost like a little boy again, hiding behind his father as the magister arrived to run his tests.

"Look me in the eye, boy. Good. Just stay like that. Now look at the crystal and try not to blink. That's a good lad." The 'mana testing crystal' had glowed slightly with a dull, orange flame, almost too dim to be seen. The magister had shaken it and tried again, then again, until he made a 'hmph' sound and smiled in that fake way people sometimes did with kids.

"That's fine. Thank you, Marcus. I'm just going to go and talk to your father, OK?" Sure, he'd thought at the time. Just go tell that strange man in my house my life is over, because of course it is. What little life he'd actually had. But then his father had saved him, and taught him, and given him a new name and a new life. And he'd survived, though in the loneliness he sometimes he wondered why he bothered at all.

"I don't want to hear that kind of talk," his father had growled once when Marcus lost control and almost burned down their house.

"But why? Why even bother with all this? It's too hard. I can't sleep. I can't walk down the street without thinking I might get surprised and hurt people. I can't talk to the kids. Maybe the magister was right. I'm cursed. You should have let him take me." His father had knelt and slapped him hard. It was the first and last time he'd ever struck him, except in training, staring into his eyes. In the silence Marcus had held his face in shock.

"See that, boy? Did you lose control? You're in charge, not whatever's inside you. And it's not a curse it's a gift and your mother gave it to you. So that's the last time I'll listen to you talk about throwing it away. You're all that's left of her. And so for her and for me you'll live as long as you can, however you can. That's all I ask. Nothing else. Maybe if you have your life long enough, you'll even enjoy it now and then." The old man had been right, as usual. Felix had enjoyed it. Plenty of times.

He had learned there was pleasure to be found in life in your own mind, in filling your stomach, in breathing the salt air. Other times it was just working hard with his father, making the perfect horseshoe on his own and seeing the pride in the old man's eyes. Or in the dawn aboard his first ship, looking out at the rolling waves as they sparkled in the sun.

"Pretty, ain't it?" said the merchant captain who'd first taken him on.

"Yes," he'd agreed, unable to stop staring.

"There's men who see it, really see it, and there's men who don't," said the old sailor, who'd later become like an uncle.

"If you see it, you'll never leave her. Not for good. And you'll never forget her on land." He'd patted his shoulder and given him a cup of wine and told him he'd done a good job with the storage and even helping with the books. That day he'd sat and eaten with the men and they'd called him their 'little fox' because he was good with numbers. They even let him steer the ship. It had been a very good day. And he'd never forgotten what his father told him—of surviving as long as he could, however he could.

For the gift of life and yes even magic that his mother gave him. It had just become part of who he was. Never to quit. Never to surrender. As he sat in his chair waiting for another 'Wizard' to decide his fate, he counted and reached out for the magic of the world. It was drained here as ever on land as compared to the sea, but still he could draw from the wind, from the heat in the air. A 'lifestealer' again. He didn't know what this wizard would do, but he'd be ready.

The only rule he wouldn't break was to release the fire trapped deep inside, the thing he hadn't truly shown to the magister, or to anyone, spending all his life protecting the world from his 'trigger'. After counting to over fifty thousand in multiples of thirteen, he checked the fortress in his mind. One by one he ensured the gates were closed, the locks barred, the walls uncracked. When it was all secure he breathed and smiled, ready to die, but also ready to live, if he could.

Footsteps finally clomped up the stairs to the elder's house, and Felix turned to face this 'wizard' without fear. * The door opened, and the most beautiful woman Felix had ever seen stepped inside. Her long, black hair spilled from a kind of scarf, and her big, round, hazel eyes stared into Felix's like a spooked animal. She pulled the scarf over her brown skinned face, like Felix wasn't supposed to see. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He was totally surprised, and completely lost for words. For a long moment he and the girl just stared at one another until an obviously impatient, male voice barked from behind her. She blinked and stepped inside, moving away to clear the path as a man in his fifties marched up. This wasn't what Felix expected, either. The 'wizard' looked like a man who once liked to work with his hands but now liked to eat. He carried his gut a bit like a shield, waddling up until he put his hands on his hips and stared at Felix.

"So you're the foreigner who can't sail for shit, eh?" The loud voice suited the man perfectly. Felix couldn't help but think of a hundred different tough sailors, and smile.

"I did my best. I assume you're the wizard?"

"Do I look like a fucking wizard?" Felix looked the man up and down.

"Not in the slightest." The big man stared as if offended until a grin cracked his face. Then he laughed from his gut without any reserve, and Felix was absolutely sure he liked him.

"Hear that, girl? Your father would have coughed till he shit. Well. I am the fucking wizard. And the good news is I'm the best. The bad news is I'm the crankiest. So let's get on with it."

"Get on with what, exactly?" Felix asked, his concern growing.

"Didn't they tell you?" The big man rolled his eyes and muttered something in his own language.

"They said I'd be expelled," Felix confirmed.

"But I'm afraid I wasn't a very good guest. It's not her fault." The wizard shook his head and shrugged, but the beautiful girl looked at Felix over her scarf with maybe a little more interest. So that was something.

"Nevermind. So here's the problem. You've found an island you weren't supposed to find. Well done and all that. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people, and plenty of wonder beyond your wildest mainland dreams. Except now I have to dig into your simple little mind, and wipe out any memory of your good fortune. It's going to hurt, but there won't be any permanent damage. Any questions?" Felix was not a man unaccustomed to strange and terrible news. He decided quickly to accept these people believed most of that.

He didn't accept for a second they could actually do it, but he was happy to play along.

"And after you've... wiped my memories, you'll take me back to the coast?" The wizard smiled, and the girl looked surprised.

"We will indeed. You'll wake up and think you're right back to whatever shitty rock you crawled out from under. Are you ready?" Felix shrugged, ready for his performance. If all he had to do was look half drunk while they sailed him home, he was more than happy to oblige. The wizard gestured for the girl to come closer, as if he needed her help to do whatever exactly he intended to do. The girl's body was covered in the same fabric as her scarf, like a very modest silk dress but with more substance.

It covered her from neck to ankles. She held out her arm and exposed just a small sliver of brown skin on her forearm, and the wizard held it with one hand as he put the other on Felix's head.

"Just relax," he said, eyes glazing.

"I haven't failed this once in a hundred years." Felix blinked at the whole 'hundred years' thing but otherwise tried to relax, or at least look relaxed. There were some humanoids like dwarves or gnomes known to live up to a hundred fifty, even two hundred, but they certainly didn't look like humans. Mostly, Felix was looking up and hoping the girl would meet his eyes, or let down her scarf again so he could see her face. Then an icy wave slapped his head.

He jerked and almost pushed the man away but realized he must have used his magic to splash him with water. It wasn't pleasant, but it didn't hurt.

"Just relax," said the wizard again.

"It will feel colder and colder, but it won't harm you." Felix had seen plenty of elemental magic. Some of the coastal princes employed real casters on their warships, and even the occasional pirate crew had a hedge mage. His father said they could technically draw from the magic of the world like Felix, but very few were trained to do so. Instead they used their 'pool' to wield their magic, which for the elementalist types always affected the physical world.

None of it worked on a Lifestealer like Felix worth shit. Whatever magic struck him he just absorbed and turned into fuel for his own power, whether fire or ice or anything else you liked. The smart ones (if they knew what he was), blasted apart the wood at his feet or tossed rocks at his head. The ones who used it directly on him were in for disappointment, or a very rude awakening. So he sat still and let the wizard ply his trade, pretending to be numbed and stupefied.

The cold grew and grew, but still didn't hurt. Felix felt the magic entering his body, coming closer and closer to the eternal fire in his center. Even near his 'fortress', not truly getting inside, the ice melted and evaporated. It hissed and steamed. A bucket of water tossed into an inferno. Actually, it started to feel kind of good—like Felix was having a nice, cool bath. But he realized there was a bright light starting to grow from the man's hand and squinted against it.

Finally the girl cried out in what sounded like warning, or concern, but in her own language so Felix didn't understand. The light died. The big wizard stepped back with a groan, his face covered in sweat. His hand was trembling, and as he turned it and pulled away, Felix saw it was red and badly burned.

"Mak ish te amit, disha ese mak!" the wizard said in a hurried voice, looking at the girl with a face growing redder and less friendly by the moment.

"What's wrong?" Felix felt that concern coming back. Oh, and, shit, he was supposed to be mind wiped"That is, where am I? Uh. Who am I?" He swayed like he was drunk, then leaned back against his chair. The wizard and the girl exchanged a look. The big man's face went even more red, then he stormed from the room. Suddenly Felix was alone with the silk-clad girl, who pulled back her scarf and freed her head entirely, as if suddenly far less concerned.

"We know you weren't effected," she said.

"You should have told us you're gifted, stranger. It makes things…more complicated." He's touched, Felix heard the magister. He's cursed by everyone else. No one but his father had ever called it a 'gift'.

"Oh." His heart dropped as he felt his voyage home getting further and further away.

"Well. Whatever you need, I'm happy to do it. I'm not your enemy. I just want to go home." The girl smiled, but it was a sad thing.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"But no stranger can be allowed to spread knowledge of our lands. And since we cannot clear your memories now, you must stay on the island. Permanently."