Life is simple in Frostspire, a sleepy little village perched by the sea, cradled in the lap of mountains tall and snow-clad. Yet a simple life is not without its problems. Fortunately, the folk of Frostspire have someone to turn to when in need; a...
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As with most things in life, learning magic did not go the way Alvar thought it would. He had not exactly expected it to be a smooth ride. But it turned out that it was neither that, nor was it an arduous climb up a mountain--but a very slow walk across a never ending plain.
For the first few weeks in the lessons, all he was told to do was to meditate.
“You need to focus your mind,” Lars said. “Calm the intrusive voices in your head so you can begin hearing the sounds of the world around you.”
“I do hear the sounds of the world around me,” said Alvar, as he sat upon the edge of a crest overlooking the forest, legs dangling off its edge. All around him, birds sang and insects buzzed. Wind whistled through rustling leaves and creaking branches. The waning winter chill foretold the coming of spring. Behind him on a rock, Lars sat and sketched birds in his journal. Scratch scratch.
“What if I tell you there's much more to hear than that?” he said, taking out a small blade to sharpen his charcoal pencil. “Magic, you see, is an energy that flows all around us. It's here in these woods, there by the sea, all over the world, and also in you and me. We're ever drowned in its vast ocean.”
Alvar moved his fingers through the air as though he'd just catch a fistful and be done with this tricky business.
Lars let out a soft laugh. “To learn magic is to learn to swim through that ocean. You may choose to harness the power of the waves, or simply give in and go with the flow,” he said.
Alvar sighed and looked hard at a rock by his side, focusing with all his might to set it into motion. After this much of sitting around and concentrating, surely he should have absorbed some of this sea of sorcery Lars so loved to talk about.
The rock seemed to shake just a little.
He got excited and was about to shout out to Lars when he saw a large beetle crawling by it, fluttering its wings which gave it the illusion of movement. His heart sank.
But Lars was the most enthusiastic of teachers, because he shuffled up to him happily. “That's a good start,” he said. Then he saw the beetle and he beamed, now happier.
