White Lightining

Episode 4: "Dead men care not for gold or Trinkets."

The ink was magical it hurt pretty good as it crawled under Jophiel's skin, but the sting from the magical tattoo was nothing compared to the sting of the matron mothers whipping wands. Andrenelle had the tip of this magic wand pressed against Jophiel's collar bone. The ink looked like black thread weaving its self into shape under Jophiel's flesh. Every few minutes the boy would let out a quiet wimper when the ink would dig into a new point and cause a pinch of pain. Trying to take his mind off the pain Jophiel attempted to get lost in thought but the only thing that was beating against his skull was the fact that he had just killed a man. Weather it was in self defense or not, the first mate was right, he wasn't innocent anymore.

He tried to think of other things than the blood he had just spilled. Is mind wandered and fell upon the sensations he was feeling during the ordeal. He was sure the magic of captains Rhodes' sword healed him, what he didn't understand was how it actually worked. Maybe just weilding the blade healed you, maybe it was darker than that, maybe it was because he used it to kill is why it healed him. Then their was the final thing that was bugging him, how was it he so easily took the sword from Captain Rhodes' hip. This was no easy feat Jophiel was sure, the Captain was a seasoned warrior still in his prime, and the boy and never been formally trained and hadn't been in anything more than a fist fight. When he reached for it, it felt like the sword was just drawn to Jophiels hand. He had never experienced anything like it, it felt like pure power, electricity even flowing through his body. Without thinking about it the blade jumped into his hand. Jophiel had very little exposure to magic, he had seen very little of it and in the one day of being around this elf wizard had had seen more uses for it than he could have imagined. One of the aforementioned things is the tattoo that was currently weaving its way under his flesh. What happened with the captains sword on the deck had to be magic, but he wasn't a wizard... was he?

"Um, quartermaster?" Jophiel said nervously. He didn't know if talking would interfere with what the elf was doing.

"You may call me Andrenelle." Assured "Only call me by that title when you know you are in trouble." Andrenelle finished wearing a half smile.

"Okay, Andrenelle... Do you think I'm a wizard?" The elf let out a hearty laugh.

"No you are not my boy. Being a wizard requires training, a lot of training and a few other things." Andrenelle said through his laughter.

"So there is no way that I have magic?" Jophiel asked after flinching from the pain of his tattoo.

"I didn't say that. You are most definitely a mage boy, you have mana practically flowing from your pores." Andrenelle said off handedly. Jophiel's eyes widened with disbelief.

"Did you just say I was a..."

"Yes boy your a mage. You are one of the gifted." Andrenelle sounded like he was speaking to a toddler. "Did you think you were able to take the captain's sword like that without magical help? How do you explain your eyes and hair? Magic flows through your very veins boy." Andrenelle looked up at Jophiel eyebrow cocked.

"So what your saying is I will become a wizard because I have magic?" Jophiel asked excitedly.

"It doesn't necessarily work like that kid."

"Will you teach me?" Jophiel asked so intent that he wasn't thinking about the pain from the tattoo.

"Before I can teach you anything you must first understand how magic works in mages."Andrenelle started, and Jophiel gave the elf his undivided attention.

"There are two types of people who use magic. Ones who have 'the talent' and ones who have 'the gift'. Now even those who are not born with magic in their blood can become mages. This takes study, practice, massive amounts of intelligence, patience and the talent to memorize and retain it all. Then their are mages like you that are born with 'the gift' and magic freely flows through you like water over stones in a stream. This can be considered both a gift and a curse because if you are gifted with magic, you might end up wielding it unintentionally and do terrible things to yourself, and possibly others. Those who go on to master the arcane arts using the talent are called wizards those who do it using the gift are called sorcerers."