Goldspell: Rare Earth Book One

Goldspell: Rare Earth Book One- Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Rhahkmant'e and Spells

After resting for the night in a beautiful room- about twice the size of his room in Ra'Yana with an elaborate bed and bath, confirming Emerald's description- Opren went to see Athena, the woman they had first met, to begin his new training. He started going left out of the- "inn" he called it, finding no better name even though it was much more elaborate than any inn he had seen- then, realizing he went the wrong way, spun and started right instead.  

Upon arrival to the area, he handed a guard a card Athena had given him, thus was permitted to enter the sparring grounds where she trained. 

"Welcome, Opren," Athena greeted him as he came near. She was taller than he remembered from the previous day and had strong, beautiful features he noticed now that her helmet was removed. He imagined her in a dress with hair down, finding her quite pretty, but thought armor actually suited her better. She exuded wisdom and inner strength and was obviously someone who could be feared if one were her enemy. Opren found her interesting for she didn't intimidate him personally, but he was sure she could seem quite intimidating during battle to most men and women alike, if simply because of the superiority she gave off. 

"Hello, Madam," Opren returned the greeting. 

"No need to address me formally unless we are in very honorable company, but thank you for the respect from the start," Athena replied. "We will begin working on spells today. What type of spell would you like to learn first: offensive, defensive, focus, healing, or communication and persuasion?" 

"Wow. You must have spoken with Emerald some more to choose to begin so quickly. I'm glad we can get started already," Opren commented with a smile. "What's a focus spell?" 

"Yes, I spoke with her. Although, I needn't have in order to start you immediately. I need to have you caught up with the other students and starting trainees as soon as we can manage before I can train you thoroughly. Levitation, improved hearing or concentration, magical camouflage and the like are focus spells. All spells require focus to cast, but these may take extra time and clarity," Athena answered. "Unfortunately, that will cause you to take longer to learn anything else at first so, since you seem like someone who doesn't want to wait to learn something, I suggest doing that type later." 

"Defensive, then," Opren decided. 

"That's a good choice for a beginning spell type," Athena said with a subtle smile. "Before we begin anything, I will explain how spells work. You, the caster, have stages and so do the spells you want to cast. The stage of the spell or magic that you use cannot exceed your personal stage as a caster. If you attempt to use a higher stage spell, you may die or, at the very least, expend an excessive amount of energy to use it, not to mention you will probably be unable to control it. If you grow as a caster, the spells you know may follow, but a specific Stage One fire spell, for example, will do nothing more. Only the Stage Two version you may automatically pick up through training will do anything else. That being said, most lower class spells take much less energy to use once whoever uses them becomes a better caster. 

"Depending on your mastery of which elements you use, your stage as a caster may increase by certain standards the old casters created in order to judge one's overall magical power and skill. An example of this is me. Since I can use multiple elements and types of magic masterfully, I am considered a Stage Four caster even though every spell I use, save for one, tends to be Stage Three and lower. 

"The highest stage caster you will meet on a regular basis is Stage Four, but the highest stage ever known is Stage Seven, which happens to include Runic magic and possibly things such as your orb. As far as most historians and mages know today, only Stage Six and below casters are living. Alright, now we can get to the actual experience part of the lesson for today.