A young mage apprentice is taken on a test adventure in a cave to obtain a rare ore that will enable his trainer to teach him new abilities in the art of Gemkith. The ore is not the only thing in the cave though, and what will they come across when they come out on the other side of the cave?
Ephraim: A Test of Aptitude ®
The air is cold and wet in a pitch black cave where the lack of sight heightens the sense of hearing. The cave is all but silent, save an intermittent splash from drops of water falling from the ceiling into pools of water on the floor. The shuffle of footsteps echoes through the once-silent cavern as a light begins to glimmer in the entrance. A man with short grey hair and a beard is holding a glowing gem above his head to lead a young man. The older man is wearing long yellow robes and brown sandals, both with extravagant white trimmings. The younger man has shiny, brown hair that reaches the bend in his back. It is tied low, just a few inches from the bottom. He wears simple brown sandals and his long purple robes are outlined in navy blue. The leader suddenly stops and puts his arm out to stop his apprentice. He shines the light around the room and nods his head.
“This is it, Ephraim. The point where you take the lead.” The light from the gem extinguishes and the leader grabs Ephraim’s arm. He places the stone in the apprentice’s hand and closes it around the smooth, hard surface. “Extracting the essence of Opal will make it a source of light. Remember your lessons, focus on its essence and draw it out.” Ephraim clutches the gem tightly and closes his eyes to concentrate. His training has taught him to search the stone for its essence. His conscience goes deep into the center of the gem as he searches for the source of its energy.
“Found it.” He whispers.
“Good, now draw it out. Remember not to force it out, rather tempt it into leaving the stone.” Slowly a light begins to glimmer through the cracks in Ephraim’s fingers. “There it is. Now give it a little push.” The mentor says. Ephraim concentrates a little harder and the light begins to shine bright. Ephraim opens his hand and the bright light shines on his delighted expression. “Now give it some direction and push it a little more.” The teacher explains. Ephraim holds the gem above his head, the light splits behind them, and the sides draw in front of them into a cone-shaped directional light. “Your progress is exceptional, Ephraim. Let us continue.” As the two continue toward their destination, Ephraim grows more concerned about the task ahead.
“Teacher, tell me again about these imps I will be fighting.”
“You are a graduate, Ephraim. You don’t have to address me as your teacher any longer. Call me by my name please.” His request is acknowledged by a nod of Ephraim’s head. “As to your request, the imps are cave-dwelling creatures that command different forces of nature. The two you will be facing will be lightning imps. They are nimble creatures, and their ability to fly makes them a hard target. Wide-arc range spells will work best against them.” The two duck into a narrow passage in the cave. “While battling these creatures, you must remember to keep focused on your task. If you feel you are losing the fight, look for an escape first, and look for a route that allows you to grab your objective second.”
A drop of water falls onto Ephraim’s cheek as they are walking through the tunnel. As he wipes the water from his face, he notices another light ahead through an opening at the end of the tunnel. “Put your Opal away. We want to have the element of surprise on our side.” His teacher explains. “We should be able to see from here forward.” They squat near the end of the tunnel and Ephraim pulls up his nice robes to keep them from sitting on the dirty cavern floor.
“Tea,” Ephraim stops himself from using his mentors title, “Roald, I don’t understand why we wear our best garments on a quest into a cavern.”
“Your attire speaks directly of you. If you were to dress in rags and ran across enemies, they would think you were an easy target. We wear our best apparel to give the impression that we can afford the best gems, which detours most people.”
“Then why don’t we show off our collection of gems on jewelry like the other clans?”
“Relate it to a card game, Ephraim. It’s good to show your opponent how large your hand is by the back of your cards, but you never show your hand or give an expression to let them truly know what you are carrying. This puts the betting odds in your favor, and leaves your opponent intimidated.” Roald explains. “Now we need to focus on your quest. If you are going to retrieve the Moonstone that the imps are guarding, you will need the utmost focus.” Ephraim nods and looks around the corner of the tunnel wall.
The room is a large open space with a healthy amount of sunlight shining in through an opening in the elevated ceiling. He searches the room for signs of life for a moment before noticing something glimmering in the light. “I found the Moonstone, but I don’t see the imps.”
“Do you have a Spinel?” The teacher replies. Ephraim digs through his satchel and finds the small, peach-colored stone.
“I do. What does it do again?”
“Use it, find out.”
Ephraim closes his eyes and begins searching for the gem’s essence. After a few moments he opens his eyes to a whole new sight. The walls seem to blur and his sight is the only one of his senses that doesn’t fade. Ephraim is startled when he looks at Roald and notices a glowing aura around his teacher. “The life-detecting gem. A true treasure for hunting Gemkith. Take a second to look around the room and see if you notice the imps now.”
The dreamy haze is almost dizzying as it causes the walls to wave slightly while he looks around the room. Suddenly he notices two similar auras floating on the other side of a cavern wall. The loud thump in his ears is almost deafening as his heart begins to race. “Roald, I have only studied battle magic. I don’t know if I,”
“The highest importance of spell casting is confidence.” Roald interrupts. “In the heat of battle you don’t have time to doubt or think about your next action. You have to react to the situation as it arises.” The guide pulls a light purple stone from his pouch as he steps into the room. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” He says as he begins to fade away. “I won’t let you die. Now get out there and retrieve that stone.” He vanishes leaving only the sound of his footsteps.
“I wish I had enough skill to use Alexandrite.” Ephraim grunts. “It would make this a lot easier.”
“In time, my young apprentice. You need to be able to use the Magestones before moving into Wizardstones. Now which spell are you going to attack with?” The question causes Ephraim to think as he puts his Spinel away.
“Wind has a high arc attack spell.”
“But we are in a cavern where wind is scarce. What is the most abundant resource in here?” Roald asks. Ephraim’s train of thought is disturbed as he hears the sound of his guide’s foot tapping. “Look under your feet, dear boy.” Roald says. Ephraim’s eyes widen as he looks down.
“Earth.” He finds a Peridot in his pouch, clinches it with his eyes closed for a moment, and begins walking into the room.
“Hold one moment.” Roald’s command causes Ephraim to slide to a halt. “You have your offensive stone, but what will you block their attacks with? You need to be able to put up a barrier as well, so grab an Amethyst in your other hand.”
Ephraim grabs an Amethyst from his pouch, pauses to take a breath, and starts making his way toward the winged creatures. He sprints behind the wall that the imps are behind to gather himself one last time. He takes a deep breath and looks down at the Peridot in his hand. “Confidence.” He whispers. One of the imps begins sniffing as if it knows that someone else is there. Ephraim realizes that he is about to lose the edge of surprise so he looks around the room quickly and notices a loose stalagmite is sitting a few feet away from him. He clinches the Peridot and as he begins to use its essence, a green light begins shining through his fist and his eyes. The large rock lifts off of the ground and he spins around the wall toward the imps. The green light trails the swing of his arm as the rock smashes one of the imps into the wall. The other imp whips its wings downward, launching it into the air.
“Screeeeee!” It shouts as it throws a ball of lightning at Ephraim. The sphere of electricity gets within inches of his face, and he lifts his other arm to block the attack with a force field. While the block stops the spark from hitting him, the force from the blast launches him across the room into another wall in the cavern.
“Ugh!” His grunt of pain echoes loudly in the chamber. He shakes his head and looks up to see the monster approaching quickly. With a quick jump he is out of the line of the attack and he uses the manifestation essence of the Amethyst to make a ghostly image of himself where he once stood. The trick is successful and the imp runs straight through the ghost and into the wall. Ephraim swings his arm with the Peridot to break off a stalactite above the imp and brings it crashing down. Dust from the smashing rocks sprays out and soon after the imp comes flying out at him. Ephraim doesn’t have time to react and the imp sinks its sharp teeth into the top of his shoulder. A deafening wail pierces his ears, to be recognized seconds later as his own voice. He throws his hand with the Peridot up and brings a large chunk of rock from the floor smashing into the creature. Just as it is about to smash into the ceiling, the imp flies out from behind it.
“You are blindly swinging, Ephraim.” Roald’s voice surprises his apprentice. “Remember to stay on defense and wait for the right moment to attack.” Ephraim steps out of the way as the beast swoops past him. As the imp circles around for another attack, the mage lights up his Amethyst to create a dozen ghostly copies of himself. He and his images scatter in different directions causing the imp to pause. It takes a moment to look around, lets out a furious scream, and curls up into a ball. Bolts of electricity swirl around the creature like fingers reaching into the cavern before concentrating into the beast. Suddenly the imp throws his body open and a large surge of electrical energy bursts into the room. All of the ghostly images evaporate and Ephraim is thrown to the ground. The imp has to land to gather its energy for the next attack which leaves time for Ephraim to stand and gather his wits.
“I’ve had enough of this!” Ephraim shouts. A green light emanates from his eyes and the jewel in his hand again. Suddenly rock from different places in his vicinity gathers around him before forming on him like armor. The imp sees its impending danger and is back in the air again with a flap of its wings. Its energy hasn’t recovered enough for a lightning attack so it begins flying toward the mage for a physical assault. Ephraim waits for the creature to get close before throwing all of his strength into a jumping uppercut. The shot lands on the imp, and sends it flying into a stalactite on the cavern ceiling.
Ephraim lands and lets the essence of the Peridot fade causing the stone armor to fall off of him. “Superb!” His instructor exclaims as he becomes visible again. “Let’s take this Moonstone to be cut into a usable gem.” Ephraim puts the Amethyst into his pouch and as he opens his hand to look at the Peridot, it turns into dust and falls through his fingers. “It appears that you got all of the essence from that gem. You were fortunate that it ran out after the fight.” Roald throws his arm around his pupil, and holds a Peridot in an open hand toward the Moonstone. The gem breaks out of the rock wall and flies into his hand as they make their way back out of the cave.
As they walk back out of the cave, the sun’s light blinds them. Ephraim holds his hand over his eyes as they walk back out into the open field in front of the cave. When the two get back onto the road, Roald talks to his student. “We will travel to Limone. There is a lapidarist there that will give us the best cut to get the most essence out of this Moonstone.”
“Wouldn’t we get more out of the stone if we didn’t cut it? Doesn’t cutting the stone make it lose some of its essence?”
“Think of the gem’s essence as its soul, for lack of a better word. If you cut off your finger, do you lose a part of your soul? The essence is the gem’s being. That’s why when you used up the essence from the Peridot, it crumbled into dust.” Roald explains. “You must have forgotten this from class.”
“I learn better from experience. I can be taught something from a book, but until I see it in the outside world, it doesn’t become real to me.”
“Well then, we need to keep you in these training quests as much as we can.” Roald looks down the road as he finishes his sentence. There is a horse-drawn carriage making its way down the road in their direction. “Ephraim step off of the road quickly.” The teacher pushes his student and the two begin following the road alongside it.
“What’s wrong Roald?” Ephraim inquires.
“That is a caravan from the Hannikel Tribe.” Roald notices Ephraim’s vacant stare and rolls his eyes. “Another detail you missed in class. They are the gypsy tribe from the south. Since they are wanderers, constantly blowing from one location to the next, they favor wind stones, which can be a hard magic to combat. They are crafty charmers and like to use stones that control your emotions. If they can get a handle on your emotions, they can get you to trust them. If you trust them, they can rob you blind and be gone before the enchantment wears off.”
“How do you fight control over your emotions?” Ephraim asks.
“There is no stone magic that can block those abilities; it is all in the power of your will. The best way to keep from falling under their spell is to not look into their eyes. It’s a lot harder for their magic to work on someone who isn’t giving them their full attention. As they get closer, you will need to keep your hand on your pouch so they can’t snatch it away. Now keep quiet, they are almost upon us.”
As the cart gets closer, Ephraim has to fight the urge to look at them. The squeak of the wagon wheel taunts him and the allure of the legendary beauty of the gypsies makes it hard to continue to look away. His curiosity gets the better of him and he glances up to see a beautiful young woman riding on the cart. Her fine garments set her apart from her raggedly dressed companions. Her loose fitting apparel and thin sashes drift behind her majestically in the wind while the two men with her wear rags on their heads and clothes fitting to a bandit.
Ephraim can’t make himself look away as her magnetism gets more and more strong. She looks over to him and their eyes meet. His peripheral vision begins to blur and he soon finds that he can only focus on her gaze. Time seems to slow as the caravan rolls by, but the eye contact is eventually broken as Roald’s lowered head passes through their line of sight. Ephraim shakes his head, which causes Roald to look up at him. The guide realizes by the head shake that Ephraim just came out of a spell, and looks down to his pupil’s hip.
“You didn’t keep your hand on your pouch you fool!” They quickly look back to see a gypsy hopping back into the travelling cart carrying Ephraim’s stone pouch. “She used a concentration spell to keep you in a trance, while her lackey grabbed your gems.” Roald breaks off into a sprint with Ephraim close behind. “You have some field experience with Peridot, so use this.” He says as he tosses a stone to his apprentice while in stride.
“They’re coming. Yah!” The wagon driver shouts as he whips the reins of the horse after noticing the two magisters advancing toward them. Ephraim stops and throws his arm up with the Peridot. A large mass of earth rises in front of the nomads causing their horses to stop abruptly.
“We can’t get away. We’ll have to kill them!” The gypsy that charmed Ephraim yells. The nomads jump out of the cart and begin rushing toward the two mages.
“Here they come, Ephraim! They keep their gems in anklets, so watch their feet!” Roald shouts. As the young female rushes toward Ephraim, a light trails behind the gems in her anklet. A yellow light twirls behind her looking almost like a mist as she leaps into the air. With a twist of her body she spins a kick around and a blade of wind blasts into Ephraim. His hair whips in front of him as he is thrown back into some bushes in the nearby wilderness.
The gypsy turns to see Roald preparing an attack, and begins rushing toward him. The mage swings his arm in a semi-circle over his head releasing stones in an arc around him. One of the gems, a White Moonstone, begins radiating. The mage’s time-slowing spell causes the gypsies to run so slowly that it seems as if they aren’t moving, and the stones seem to practically float over his head. Roald looks at the approaching nomad and grins slightly. A rainbow of colors begins to shine from his eyes as the gems over his head begin to glow. He closes his hand and a flame engulfs it as he breaks into a dash. Colorful mists trail behind him as he runs past the first gypsy and toward his other sloth-like targets.
He moves swiftly as the Quartz nullifies the wear age has left on his body and gives him super-human physical qualities. A fiery punch causes the first male nomad to go flying into his wagon. The carriage explodes in a ball of flame causing pieces to go flying in all directions. He catches one of the wheels as it floats by, and with a quick spin, launches it toward the drifter that snatched Ephraim’s gems. The teacher uses his Citrine to give the wheel a windy boost to maximize his damage. As the wheel crashes into the thief, he flies backward and releases Ephraim’s pouch. Roald holds his hand out and uses his Apatite to telekinetically carry the bag back to him.
He turns back to where his stones are floating in place and glances back to the female gypsy as he walks by. Standing beneath the gems he makes a quick swing of his arm and retrieves all of the stones he released earlier. He places all of them but a Peridot back in his pouch as he looks back to the gypsy. With a flick of his wrist he raises a pillar of earth inches in front of her face. He slowly raises his arm in the air and snaps causing time to return to normal. The gypsy plows into the pillar and falls onto her back with a grunt. She sits up quickly has a stunned look as she stares at the mage. Before she has time to speak or react he makes the earth beneath her encase her hands and feet.
Ephraim pops out of the bushes with stones in hand and ready for action. As he begins to look around the green lights emitting from his eyes begins to dissipate. Roald smiles back at his pupil as he drops his stones into his pouch. The student shakes his head in disbelief.
“How? All I heard was an explosion!”
“That is why we have three semesters of lessons on Moonstone. Time Magic can be a powerful weapon.” The teacher explains.
“So I can do that with this Moonstone?”
“First of all, it’s only White Moonstone that has time essence. Secondly, it’s expensive and you would not use it properly so you’ll get a stone when you are more trained with it.” Roald begins walking down the road. “Come, before we are met with more trouble.” As pair begins traveling back down the road toward the city, smoke from the smoldering cart pours into the colorful dusk sky. The trapped gypsy spits on the ground as she waits for the trapping spell to wear off.
“Don’t think this is over mage.” She mutters under her breath. “You’ll see me again.”
“This is it, Ephraim. The point where you take the lead.” The light from the gem extinguishes and the leader grabs Ephraim’s arm. He places the stone in the apprentice’s hand and closes it around the smooth, hard surface. “Extracting the essence of Opal will make it a source of light. Remember your lessons, focus on its essence and draw it out.” Ephraim clutches the gem tightly and closes his eyes to concentrate. His training has taught him to search the stone for its essence. His conscience goes deep into the center of the gem as he searches for the source of its energy.
“Found it.” He whispers.
“Good, now draw it out. Remember not to force it out, rather tempt it into leaving the stone.” Slowly a light begins to glimmer through the cracks in Ephraim’s fingers. “There it is. Now give it a little push.” The mentor says. Ephraim concentrates a little harder and the light begins to shine bright. Ephraim opens his hand and the bright light shines on his delighted expression. “Now give it some direction and push it a little more.” The teacher explains. Ephraim holds the gem above his head, the light splits behind them, and the sides draw in front of them into a cone-shaped directional light. “Your progress is exceptional, Ephraim. Let us continue.” As the two continue toward their destination, Ephraim grows more concerned about the task ahead.
“Teacher, tell me again about these imps I will be fighting.”
“You are a graduate, Ephraim. You don’t have to address me as your teacher any longer. Call me by my name please.” His request is acknowledged by a nod of Ephraim’s head. “As to your request, the imps are cave-dwelling creatures that command different forces of nature. The two you will be facing will be lightning imps. They are nimble creatures, and their ability to fly makes them a hard target. Wide-arc range spells will work best against them.” The two duck into a narrow passage in the cave. “While battling these creatures, you must remember to keep focused on your task. If you feel you are losing the fight, look for an escape first, and look for a route that allows you to grab your objective second.”
A drop of water falls onto Ephraim’s cheek as they are walking through the tunnel. As he wipes the water from his face, he notices another light ahead through an opening at the end of the tunnel. “Put your Opal away. We want to have the element of surprise on our side.” His teacher explains. “We should be able to see from here forward.” They squat near the end of the tunnel and Ephraim pulls up his nice robes to keep them from sitting on the dirty cavern floor.
“Tea,” Ephraim stops himself from using his mentors title, “Roald, I don’t understand why we wear our best garments on a quest into a cavern.”
“Your attire speaks directly of you. If you were to dress in rags and ran across enemies, they would think you were an easy target. We wear our best apparel to give the impression that we can afford the best gems, which detours most people.”
“Then why don’t we show off our collection of gems on jewelry like the other clans?”
“Relate it to a card game, Ephraim. It’s good to show your opponent how large your hand is by the back of your cards, but you never show your hand or give an expression to let them truly know what you are carrying. This puts the betting odds in your favor, and leaves your opponent intimidated.” Roald explains. “Now we need to focus on your quest. If you are going to retrieve the Moonstone that the imps are guarding, you will need the utmost focus.” Ephraim nods and looks around the corner of the tunnel wall.
The room is a large open space with a healthy amount of sunlight shining in through an opening in the elevated ceiling. He searches the room for signs of life for a moment before noticing something glimmering in the light. “I found the Moonstone, but I don’t see the imps.”
“Do you have a Spinel?” The teacher replies. Ephraim digs through his satchel and finds the small, peach-colored stone.
“I do. What does it do again?”
“Use it, find out.”
Ephraim closes his eyes and begins searching for the gem’s essence. After a few moments he opens his eyes to a whole new sight. The walls seem to blur and his sight is the only one of his senses that doesn’t fade. Ephraim is startled when he looks at Roald and notices a glowing aura around his teacher. “The life-detecting gem. A true treasure for hunting Gemkith. Take a second to look around the room and see if you notice the imps now.”
The dreamy haze is almost dizzying as it causes the walls to wave slightly while he looks around the room. Suddenly he notices two similar auras floating on the other side of a cavern wall. The loud thump in his ears is almost deafening as his heart begins to race. “Roald, I have only studied battle magic. I don’t know if I,”
“The highest importance of spell casting is confidence.” Roald interrupts. “In the heat of battle you don’t have time to doubt or think about your next action. You have to react to the situation as it arises.” The guide pulls a light purple stone from his pouch as he steps into the room. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” He says as he begins to fade away. “I won’t let you die. Now get out there and retrieve that stone.” He vanishes leaving only the sound of his footsteps.
“I wish I had enough skill to use Alexandrite.” Ephraim grunts. “It would make this a lot easier.”
“In time, my young apprentice. You need to be able to use the Magestones before moving into Wizardstones. Now which spell are you going to attack with?” The question causes Ephraim to think as he puts his Spinel away.
“Wind has a high arc attack spell.”
“But we are in a cavern where wind is scarce. What is the most abundant resource in here?” Roald asks. Ephraim’s train of thought is disturbed as he hears the sound of his guide’s foot tapping. “Look under your feet, dear boy.” Roald says. Ephraim’s eyes widen as he looks down.
“Earth.” He finds a Peridot in his pouch, clinches it with his eyes closed for a moment, and begins walking into the room.
“Hold one moment.” Roald’s command causes Ephraim to slide to a halt. “You have your offensive stone, but what will you block their attacks with? You need to be able to put up a barrier as well, so grab an Amethyst in your other hand.”
Ephraim grabs an Amethyst from his pouch, pauses to take a breath, and starts making his way toward the winged creatures. He sprints behind the wall that the imps are behind to gather himself one last time. He takes a deep breath and looks down at the Peridot in his hand. “Confidence.” He whispers. One of the imps begins sniffing as if it knows that someone else is there. Ephraim realizes that he is about to lose the edge of surprise so he looks around the room quickly and notices a loose stalagmite is sitting a few feet away from him. He clinches the Peridot and as he begins to use its essence, a green light begins shining through his fist and his eyes. The large rock lifts off of the ground and he spins around the wall toward the imps. The green light trails the swing of his arm as the rock smashes one of the imps into the wall. The other imp whips its wings downward, launching it into the air.
“Screeeeee!” It shouts as it throws a ball of lightning at Ephraim. The sphere of electricity gets within inches of his face, and he lifts his other arm to block the attack with a force field. While the block stops the spark from hitting him, the force from the blast launches him across the room into another wall in the cavern.
“Ugh!” His grunt of pain echoes loudly in the chamber. He shakes his head and looks up to see the monster approaching quickly. With a quick jump he is out of the line of the attack and he uses the manifestation essence of the Amethyst to make a ghostly image of himself where he once stood. The trick is successful and the imp runs straight through the ghost and into the wall. Ephraim swings his arm with the Peridot to break off a stalactite above the imp and brings it crashing down. Dust from the smashing rocks sprays out and soon after the imp comes flying out at him. Ephraim doesn’t have time to react and the imp sinks its sharp teeth into the top of his shoulder. A deafening wail pierces his ears, to be recognized seconds later as his own voice. He throws his hand with the Peridot up and brings a large chunk of rock from the floor smashing into the creature. Just as it is about to smash into the ceiling, the imp flies out from behind it.
“You are blindly swinging, Ephraim.” Roald’s voice surprises his apprentice. “Remember to stay on defense and wait for the right moment to attack.” Ephraim steps out of the way as the beast swoops past him. As the imp circles around for another attack, the mage lights up his Amethyst to create a dozen ghostly copies of himself. He and his images scatter in different directions causing the imp to pause. It takes a moment to look around, lets out a furious scream, and curls up into a ball. Bolts of electricity swirl around the creature like fingers reaching into the cavern before concentrating into the beast. Suddenly the imp throws his body open and a large surge of electrical energy bursts into the room. All of the ghostly images evaporate and Ephraim is thrown to the ground. The imp has to land to gather its energy for the next attack which leaves time for Ephraim to stand and gather his wits.
“I’ve had enough of this!” Ephraim shouts. A green light emanates from his eyes and the jewel in his hand again. Suddenly rock from different places in his vicinity gathers around him before forming on him like armor. The imp sees its impending danger and is back in the air again with a flap of its wings. Its energy hasn’t recovered enough for a lightning attack so it begins flying toward the mage for a physical assault. Ephraim waits for the creature to get close before throwing all of his strength into a jumping uppercut. The shot lands on the imp, and sends it flying into a stalactite on the cavern ceiling.
Ephraim lands and lets the essence of the Peridot fade causing the stone armor to fall off of him. “Superb!” His instructor exclaims as he becomes visible again. “Let’s take this Moonstone to be cut into a usable gem.” Ephraim puts the Amethyst into his pouch and as he opens his hand to look at the Peridot, it turns into dust and falls through his fingers. “It appears that you got all of the essence from that gem. You were fortunate that it ran out after the fight.” Roald throws his arm around his pupil, and holds a Peridot in an open hand toward the Moonstone. The gem breaks out of the rock wall and flies into his hand as they make their way back out of the cave.
As they walk back out of the cave, the sun’s light blinds them. Ephraim holds his hand over his eyes as they walk back out into the open field in front of the cave. When the two get back onto the road, Roald talks to his student. “We will travel to Limone. There is a lapidarist there that will give us the best cut to get the most essence out of this Moonstone.”
“Wouldn’t we get more out of the stone if we didn’t cut it? Doesn’t cutting the stone make it lose some of its essence?”
“Think of the gem’s essence as its soul, for lack of a better word. If you cut off your finger, do you lose a part of your soul? The essence is the gem’s being. That’s why when you used up the essence from the Peridot, it crumbled into dust.” Roald explains. “You must have forgotten this from class.”
“I learn better from experience. I can be taught something from a book, but until I see it in the outside world, it doesn’t become real to me.”
“Well then, we need to keep you in these training quests as much as we can.” Roald looks down the road as he finishes his sentence. There is a horse-drawn carriage making its way down the road in their direction. “Ephraim step off of the road quickly.” The teacher pushes his student and the two begin following the road alongside it.
“What’s wrong Roald?” Ephraim inquires.
“That is a caravan from the Hannikel Tribe.” Roald notices Ephraim’s vacant stare and rolls his eyes. “Another detail you missed in class. They are the gypsy tribe from the south. Since they are wanderers, constantly blowing from one location to the next, they favor wind stones, which can be a hard magic to combat. They are crafty charmers and like to use stones that control your emotions. If they can get a handle on your emotions, they can get you to trust them. If you trust them, they can rob you blind and be gone before the enchantment wears off.”
“How do you fight control over your emotions?” Ephraim asks.
“There is no stone magic that can block those abilities; it is all in the power of your will. The best way to keep from falling under their spell is to not look into their eyes. It’s a lot harder for their magic to work on someone who isn’t giving them their full attention. As they get closer, you will need to keep your hand on your pouch so they can’t snatch it away. Now keep quiet, they are almost upon us.”
As the cart gets closer, Ephraim has to fight the urge to look at them. The squeak of the wagon wheel taunts him and the allure of the legendary beauty of the gypsies makes it hard to continue to look away. His curiosity gets the better of him and he glances up to see a beautiful young woman riding on the cart. Her fine garments set her apart from her raggedly dressed companions. Her loose fitting apparel and thin sashes drift behind her majestically in the wind while the two men with her wear rags on their heads and clothes fitting to a bandit.
Ephraim can’t make himself look away as her magnetism gets more and more strong. She looks over to him and their eyes meet. His peripheral vision begins to blur and he soon finds that he can only focus on her gaze. Time seems to slow as the caravan rolls by, but the eye contact is eventually broken as Roald’s lowered head passes through their line of sight. Ephraim shakes his head, which causes Roald to look up at him. The guide realizes by the head shake that Ephraim just came out of a spell, and looks down to his pupil’s hip.
“You didn’t keep your hand on your pouch you fool!” They quickly look back to see a gypsy hopping back into the travelling cart carrying Ephraim’s stone pouch. “She used a concentration spell to keep you in a trance, while her lackey grabbed your gems.” Roald breaks off into a sprint with Ephraim close behind. “You have some field experience with Peridot, so use this.” He says as he tosses a stone to his apprentice while in stride.
“They’re coming. Yah!” The wagon driver shouts as he whips the reins of the horse after noticing the two magisters advancing toward them. Ephraim stops and throws his arm up with the Peridot. A large mass of earth rises in front of the nomads causing their horses to stop abruptly.
“We can’t get away. We’ll have to kill them!” The gypsy that charmed Ephraim yells. The nomads jump out of the cart and begin rushing toward the two mages.
“Here they come, Ephraim! They keep their gems in anklets, so watch their feet!” Roald shouts. As the young female rushes toward Ephraim, a light trails behind the gems in her anklet. A yellow light twirls behind her looking almost like a mist as she leaps into the air. With a twist of her body she spins a kick around and a blade of wind blasts into Ephraim. His hair whips in front of him as he is thrown back into some bushes in the nearby wilderness.
The gypsy turns to see Roald preparing an attack, and begins rushing toward him. The mage swings his arm in a semi-circle over his head releasing stones in an arc around him. One of the gems, a White Moonstone, begins radiating. The mage’s time-slowing spell causes the gypsies to run so slowly that it seems as if they aren’t moving, and the stones seem to practically float over his head. Roald looks at the approaching nomad and grins slightly. A rainbow of colors begins to shine from his eyes as the gems over his head begin to glow. He closes his hand and a flame engulfs it as he breaks into a dash. Colorful mists trail behind him as he runs past the first gypsy and toward his other sloth-like targets.
He moves swiftly as the Quartz nullifies the wear age has left on his body and gives him super-human physical qualities. A fiery punch causes the first male nomad to go flying into his wagon. The carriage explodes in a ball of flame causing pieces to go flying in all directions. He catches one of the wheels as it floats by, and with a quick spin, launches it toward the drifter that snatched Ephraim’s gems. The teacher uses his Citrine to give the wheel a windy boost to maximize his damage. As the wheel crashes into the thief, he flies backward and releases Ephraim’s pouch. Roald holds his hand out and uses his Apatite to telekinetically carry the bag back to him.
He turns back to where his stones are floating in place and glances back to the female gypsy as he walks by. Standing beneath the gems he makes a quick swing of his arm and retrieves all of the stones he released earlier. He places all of them but a Peridot back in his pouch as he looks back to the gypsy. With a flick of his wrist he raises a pillar of earth inches in front of her face. He slowly raises his arm in the air and snaps causing time to return to normal. The gypsy plows into the pillar and falls onto her back with a grunt. She sits up quickly has a stunned look as she stares at the mage. Before she has time to speak or react he makes the earth beneath her encase her hands and feet.
Ephraim pops out of the bushes with stones in hand and ready for action. As he begins to look around the green lights emitting from his eyes begins to dissipate. Roald smiles back at his pupil as he drops his stones into his pouch. The student shakes his head in disbelief.
“How? All I heard was an explosion!”
“That is why we have three semesters of lessons on Moonstone. Time Magic can be a powerful weapon.” The teacher explains.
“So I can do that with this Moonstone?”
“First of all, it’s only White Moonstone that has time essence. Secondly, it’s expensive and you would not use it properly so you’ll get a stone when you are more trained with it.” Roald begins walking down the road. “Come, before we are met with more trouble.” As pair begins traveling back down the road toward the city, smoke from the smoldering cart pours into the colorful dusk sky. The trapped gypsy spits on the ground as she waits for the trapping spell to wear off.
“Don’t think this is over mage.” She mutters under her breath. “You’ll see me again.”