Behrmuth Bristom

Chapter 4

Geha'zi finally woke up from his nightmares, and was pleased to find Somon waiting at his door. He quickly got changed and then headed down to the seamstress to collect his new robes. He got his new robes, thanking the seamstress and then went back to his room to put them on. He slipped it on, and immediately was in love. They were soft like velvet, and were a dark brown color. They would sway slightly when he walked, and billow when he ran. He raced around the hallways, until finally Somon said they needed to get to class.
They made their way down to Master of Swords classroom, and arrived at large gym-like room. The ceiling was high, and there was quite a bit of area within the room. A few small wooden desks sat in the corner of the area, so Somon and Geha'zi went to have a seat. He sat down and soon realized that what he thought were just decorations on the side of all the deals were actually swords. A few minutes later the Master strode into the room. He walked over and picked up a fact looking sword from his desk.
"So I believe you are my only student in this class, which means you are essentially getting a private tutor course all year long. Now in this class you will learn to fight, make swords, and use them. It is also very key that you do well in other classes, because you will also need to enchant the blade, or make it unbreakable. Today we are going to learn how to test the strength and heat resistance of a metal. So let's get started," Swords said. "To test the metals you will need a thermometer which I believe you received in a different class, and you will need an iron pick. You will need a source of heat, and so your obsilique can either do it or if he has enough trust in you then he can let you do it. So have your obsilique draw a rune for heat on a rock and then heat each of the metals to the temperature on your parchment and record the required areas. Now get to work."
Geha'zi watched carefully as Somon traced a heat rune on the rock. After he set it down the rock slowed white hot where the rune was. Carefully Geha'zi touched the small chunk of metal in front of him to the rock. Once it turned orange he pulled it off and placed the base of his thermometer to the metal. Nothing, happened and so he tried to blow on the top but ended up dropping the metal onto the floor. He picked it up and hurumphed as he placed it back on the hot rock, and waited for it to heat up again. This time he blew on the thermometer, and then placed it on the metal's surface. He recorded the temperature and then produced to tap it gently with the pick, until a small notch became visible on the surface. He recorded that and then presumed to do the same to rest of the metal.
After collecting his information, he had to write why he thought that the block of iron was stronger than all the others. He thought it was because it took more heat for it to change color, so it was more solid than the rest. He turned that in and then he got a head start on the homework, which was to test a few more metals, match them up with what type of metal they were, and determine which one is the strongest. He only finished testing one metal by the time he was dismissed to his next class. He and Somon left, making sure they had all the materials they needed for homework. Then they headed towards enchantment class, which Geha'zi was very excited about. The door to the room was a simple, but sturdy, and seemed to give off a strange radiation, which bent light slightly. Geha'zi walked up to the door and went to push his hand to it. Somon giggled to himself, but Geha'zi heard him.
"What are you laughing about Somon? Tell me!" Geha'zi demanded.
"Nothing just go ahead and try to open the door," Somon responded, looking at the floor.
Geha'zi turned around and pressed his hand to the door and immediately a shudder went through his whole body. He pushed, but the door wouldn't budge. Then through the small tingling sensation that prickled his fingers where that contacted the door, he heard whispers. They were in a strange language he didn't at first understand, but their meanings became clear in his head. He heard them taunting him, trying to distract him from the door, but he firmly forced himself to push them aside, and that the door open. His eyes flashed open as he fell through the door, as it soared open. He turned to look back, and he saw traces of faint shimmers vanish from the place the door had just stood closed. Somon stood there, mouth gaping open. His face paled even more when he saw Master of Enchantments rushing down the hallway.
"How did he get in here Somon?" Enchantment asked. "Did he use magic, tell me."
"I don't know sir, one second the door was closed, the enchantments keeping it in place, the next moment the doors were open, the enchantments retreating the same way they do when you enter the room," Somon replied quickly.
"Well that's awful strange, must be some powerful wizard indeed, Master of Arcanes had said something about a new student who had great potential. I suppose though we should get on with it, now that it is in our past. So we have five more students coming and then we will get under way. Take a seat anywhere you would like," the Master said, walking into the room.
Somon helped Geha'zi up, and when he turned he realized for the first time that every decoration in the room seemed to warp the light a little. He headed up to the front of the room, and sat down at a desk. Sitting on top was a thick tome, the cover portrayed a rune, which Geha'zi recognized as the rune of magic. He flipped the book open, letting the words inside wash over him like a flood. The words were all so smooth, and seemed like they could just roll right off the tongue, and were written next to their translation, and the effect they had. He felt Somon hit him on the shoulder, and he turned to give him a nasty face when he noticed the small ball of warped light hovering just above his book.
"Be careful not to think about the spells too much otherwise they will start to work, even though you aren't saying them aloud. See the thing is spells are easy to conjure when you don't say them out loud, but they also are weaker. So do be careful when looking in your book. In fact the last student just arrived so let's just pay attention," Somon whispered to him.
"Welcome to enchantment class, in here we will learn different spells and their uses. For the most part we won't be using actual magic until the exams with the exception of a few simple ones that can be important during daily life. So now let's go over rules," Enchantments began. "Repeat after me: I will not use magic unless asked to or in an emergency situations, with the exceptions of ones we practice regularly in class. I will not use any magic to harm anyone in anyway, unless it is an emergency situation. I will not deface any Tower property or harm nature with magic, ever! I will make sure to speak up if a spell will drain my energy, and could harm me. And finally I will not use magic to cheat on any sort of school related activity. Okay now that we have that out of the way let me introduce you to the world of enchantments.
"This for example," he said lifting up a small fine pottery pot. "Is enchanted to be unbreakable, or self fixable."
He tossed the pot into the air, and chuckled as some of the students cringed in their seats when it shattered all over the floor. Some people started to complain, when they saw what was happening. The shards of clay began to piece back together, and then end up as a fully completed pot, with not a single scratch on it.
"Now that is a more complex enchantment and we won't be trying anything that sophisticated for a little while. We are going to start out with some more basic spells. This is one of the first spells you will learn," the Master said raising his hand.
He whispered a few words, and a bright light sparked to life a few inches above the palm of his hand, and floated, staying perfectly in line wherever he moved his hand. He squeezed his hand shut, and the light vanished.
"Now open to your first page and read the section about the glowing spell, this first one will be just how to make an existing object glow, and next class we will learn how to make a ball of light, with no existing anchor. Now practice pronunciation with your obsilique and don't put too much thought into it. Get to work."
Geha'zi opened his book, and read the quick summary on the enchantment. Then he looked at the actual word to say, and closed his eyes trying not to think too hard about it. Then looking at the word one more time, he opened his mouth and tried to speak the word. Then all the sudden it was like his mind was a scrambled mess and random syllables and sounds jumped form his tongue. He closed his mouth, looking embarrassed and then looked at the word a few more times. He opened his mouth one more time and gave it another try. Again just like the first time, instead of flowing smoothly the way it had in his mind it came out in short bursts of syllables. Somon looked at him encouragingly, and he tries over and over again, but every time he spoke the word just scrambled on his tongue.
"Okay class is almost over, I want all of you to practice saying this until you can pronounce it properly. That's your homework, have a good rest of your day," the Master said, lifting his hands in dismissal.
"Why was it so hard for me to say the spell, it flowed so easily in my head when I thought about it, but it turned to mash when I tried to speak," Geha'zi said as he gathered his things. "I just don't understand, maybe I'm just overthinking it. Oh well, it looks as though we have a lot of work to do tonight."
"Don't worry you'll get it you just have to not think about anything else. It has to just be you and the spell, otherwise the other things in your mind will cloud out the spell. Anyway let's get going, we have naming next, everyone's favorite class," Somon said.
They walked through the hallways, it seemed like forever before they reached the naming classroom, which was bare expect for a few desks and a large stack of parchment. They walked in and sat down. The Master of Naming was already sitting on his stool at the front of the room. He gave a half smile to the boys as they walked in, but other than that he remained virtually motionless. About ten students trickled in after them, and then Naming got up, and closed the door.
"Now in this class we will study the great art of naming, I don't imagine many of you will enjoy the countless hours spent prying at something, just to understand its name, but let me assure you once you know somethings name you can command it to do anything you wish it to. Furthermore, if I catch you commanding objects to destroy things, then I will personally find out your Memory's name and strip it of all naming knowledge. Now for this class all you will need is yourself, parchment and a pen. I do have extra parchment but those will only be for tests and other class activities, not for common use," the Master stated. "Okay well let me first tell you how to discover something's name. There are three levels of difficulty, and going from easiest to hardest they are as follows: living, but not intelligent, no living, and living and intelligent. Now living and not intelligent would be classified as any animal that is not human or wizard. Non living is obviously anything that does not have life. And living and intelligent means human or wizard. The first thing you ,it's know is that everything has a name, and with that name it can be completely and utterly controlled. To find one's name one must first understand what it is that they are naming, the second step is to mentally picture that creature or object as being a book, and somewhere in that book is a name that is what controls it. Now if the creature is the book, you are the tool that can pick through the words with a fine eye and pick out the name you are looking for. Now we aren't going to practice this in class, but for homework tonight I want you to find a pet that you want to be bonded to and then discover its name. Right now, and for the remainder of class I want you to write in depth about how you name a creature. Time starts now."
Geha'zi pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen and began to write. He described how important he thought it is to make a mental connection with the creature, and how to process the "book" thoroughly, and effectively. When he was finished he had filled the entire front side of parchment, and he handed it to Naming. The Master got out of his seat and crossed the hall, and returned carrying a small rodent. He told Geha'zi to name it and so he sat back down and carried the small animal with him. He focused on the fact that he was trying to find the name of a small fuzzy rodent and then closed his eyes. He pictured the animal sitting in his mind, and then he slowly transformed it into a book, which had many nonsensical words scrawled on its pages. Then he pictured a glowing ball going through the book and gathering words that held power. He was left with four words in front of him. In his mind he said each of the words, and felt to see how much the creature in his hand moved after he had said each one. Just as he was about to give up after he said the last word, he felt the creature go rigid in his fingers.
"Petsau," Geha'zi said opening his eyes. "Relax, and go to sleep."
As soon as the command was given the small animal curled in his hand and was asleep. Naming came over to him and congratulated him, and then told him to release his grip on the creature. Geha'zi spoke its name once more, and told it to be free. The small animal, and it jumped up from his hand and scrambled to the door, trying to escape, and it ran under the door and out to freedom.
"Okay class as you have just seen we have had our first naming, and we should all congratulate Geha'zi for his achievement. Now remember for homework I expect you to come back with a pet next class so be prepared. Now have a nice day," Master of Naming said, and then he sat back down on his stool.

~~~

After lunch they headed back to Geha'zi's room, and decided to wait until tomorrow to work on homework. Instead they went outside and played a few rounds of find the wizard, and soon grew bored of that, when Geha'zi got a great idea. Somon kept asking what it was, but Geha'zi wouldn't answer, until finally he said two words.
"Petsau come!"
Within a few minutes the small animal came running out of the forest, and scrambled up Geha'zi's arm,"Now my great game is instead of find the wizard we are going to play find the animal. One of us tells it where to go and the other one has to find it without using its name. Sound like fun?"
Somon nodded in agreement and they spent the rest of their afternoon hiding the creature and then trying to find it. Then finally it was dinner time and so they retreated inside and ate a large meal, and then went to bed, ready for his day of homework.