Withering Ambition

Scrolls of Power

Yea, lemme just come up with a whole ass magic system for a Skyblock fanfic that I write in my free time. Great idea.

It had been a few weeks since Necron had begun coming to see Kaeman, and tonight was no different from the rest. Kaeman watched the distant edge of the barrier as Necron came into view, casting the spell that would allow him to pass. Kaeman smiled slightly. It was evident how much he had improved since he had first started coming here.

According to Necron, it had taken him almost 15 minutes to cast the spell the first time he came, but now, Kaeman watched as he executed it flawlessly in mere seconds. Necron walked briskly through the barrier, and waved his hand above his head to signal his arrival to Kaeman. 

He carried with him paper, sheets and sheets of paper. Kaeman was overjoyed at the sight, paper was what would get him out of here.

"I see that you have brought what I need, young Necron. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me." Kaeman floated to the edge of the cage, he could not pass any further. Necron handed the papers to him through the bars, and Kaeman began to inspect them. "Yes, these will do fine. I will begin at once."

Kaeman conjured a dark quill and began writing on sheets of paper. Necron watched in awe as more and more of these quills appeared and began writing. There were so many, he thought. How could Kaeman focus on all of them at once?

Just minutes later, Necron sat before Kaeman's cage, bewildered at the scrolls in front of him, but he could recognize some of the symbols from the spell he had used to get into the barrier.

"These, Necron, are scrolls. The original pages of the Necronomicon. The language of the Dragons. How every spell is written. They are immensely powerful, and their uses have no bounds. Learning these scrolls and what each of them do will aid you greatly in your journey to becoming a Dark Mage."

9 scrolls sat before Necron, each of them emanating power.

"The simplest of these," Kaeman continued, "are those of the elements. Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water. These four scrolls are the only ones that the Mage Academy uses. But they are only capable of harnessing surface level magic, elementary levels of power."

It was easy to tell which was which, Necron thought. The Scroll of Fire was written in broad, brash strokes, with harsh curves and angles. The Scroll of Water was calm, written in strokes that flowed and melded together with soft and round curves. The Scroll of Air was written in brief, curved strokes which seemed to have a soft pattern to them. The Scroll of Earth was written in short, jagged strokes which reminded Necron of an earthquake.

"Of course, it would be... inefficient to use the entirety of a scroll every time you want to invoke its power. Therefore, they are split into sections that allow you to harness different aspects of each scroll without writing it in its entirety. For example, the Scroll of Fire has sections devoted to each of the aspects of a fire. Light, heat, smoke, and combustion. I won't bore you with the subsections of each scroll at the moment, but you will learn them all in time."

Necron traced his finger over each of the symbols in the Scroll of Earth, enamored with their complexity. His eyes sparkled with excitement, this was everything that he needed. He finally understood. No more struggling to understand the magic the Academy taught him, this made sense. These scrolls resonated with him.

"Of course, those are the simplest of the scrolls. The next step up on the level of complexity are the seasonal scrolls. They harness the essence of each season. From Autumn, Decay. From Spring, Growth. From Summer, Life. And from Winter, Death. These four scrolls allow for much more complex spells, and a myriad of combinations and synergies."

Kaeman clearly knew everything there was to know about these scrolls, and Necron felt as if he would never master even the basics.

"Kaeman... how long did it take you to learn all of this? Who taught you?"

Kaeman shook his head slowly. "I studied straight from the dragon's heart, the source of the scrolls. But as you can see by my condition, such magic was not ever meant to be harnessed by humans. Those 8 scrolls that I have talked about so far, will not take too much of a toll on your body. But the 9th and final scroll, was what caused me to become what I am today. A withered husk of a man."

Necron turned to face the final scroll, and he could feel that it was the most powerful among them. It glowed a faint red, and was warm to the touch. 

"That, Necron, is the Scroll of Power. Too powerful for even me to use without consequence. But its promise of power is alluring. You can feel it, can't you?"

Kaeman paused to let Necron think before continuing.

"Now, Necron, I will write you a spell to perform that will free me from this cage, and these barriers. It will be tough, it will be complex, but I have faith that you can complete it. And then, we can build a new life together. One where we can be who we are truly meant to be."

Kaeman smiled and held out an ethereal projection of a hand, gesturing for a handshake.

"What do you say, Necron? Would you like to accompany me on my journey?"

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Thank you so much to Raharakhte, AKA AlphaOmega, one of my great moderators in the discord server and an active reader and voter on this series! Remember, I will be dedicating each chapter to a member from the discord, or an active reader/voter.