Southern-Realm Saga - Origins of the Prodigy

Chapter 2 - The Prodigal Son

During the many days the two of us spent on the boat the mysterious figure said no more than two sentences to me. I was so bored that I came up with a game. The object of the game was to try to get him to say something to me. It didn't matter what he said, as long as he said something to me. Soon, days turned into weeks and our food supplies ran low. To compensate for our lack of resources, we fashioned a fishing rod from a stick and the piece of rope around the magical figure's waist, which acted as a belt for his cloak. For several hours I struggled to catch anything; I began wondering if there were any fish in the sea whatsoever.

Hungry, I looked over at my quiet colleague and said, "You are a magical being with the ability to shoot stuff from your hands and magically win card games! Could you help me catch a fish?" Motioning with his hand for my rod, he tied his juiciest bait to the line, attached a rock to act as a leader, grasped the rod tight, cast the line as far out as he could, and waited patiently. "What the heck is that?" I asked rhetorically, "I have seen you use magic to do amazing stuff. Couldn't you instantaneously get a fish if you wanted to?"

Looking over he responded, "Sometimes magic is not enough Isaac. Sometimes all we can do is wait and be still." Perplexed that the total stranger knew my name, I began parading him with more questions. Like an eager child I had an overwhelming desire to know what was going on, but he did not answer me. The next week on the boat was just as boring; we finished up the rest of our rations and yes, we did eventually catch several fish along with a few birds that landed on our craft.

To keep ourselves hydrated we drank beer and caught whatever rain water we could in a small pale. We had made it safe thus far on our voyage, but our rations were out. Additionally, our bait was gone so we couldn't catch any more fish and there was no sign of any rain. By now I was losing my mind; it would be another week before we reached land and I knew that if we did not get food soon we would not be able to make it. Looking over at the dark figure, he began looking awfully appetizing, and I admit I had thoughts of killing him in his sleep and eating him before he could get to me. The realization that he could overtake me with his magical abilities was the only thing that kept me from driving my knife into his heart.

Looking over once more at the cloaked figure, I saw him with his face bowed murmuring what seemed like gibberish. After what seemed like an hour, when he finally looked up, I asked him politely, "What were you doing?"

"I was talking to Abati – creator of heaven and earth," he responded.

"Abati?" I thought to myself. I had heard of many different spiritual beings who roamed about the earth causing havoc on nature and mankind. I had also heard of and seen many powerful wizards such as the mysterious figure across from me. However, I had never heard of this Abati he was referring to. Curious, I asked a follow-up question, "What were you talking to Abati about?"

"I asked him to send us food," he replied bluntly.

"That's odd," I thought. Why would anyone ask an invisible person for things like the person was a good friend or a father. In my experience, it was usually common practice to offer spirits sacrifices to even hope for their protection. While I was curious about Abati, what I learned about the cloaked figure was that it was usually best practice not to ask too many follow-up questions when talking with him.

Personally, I did not expect anything to happen. By that point, I fell asleep expecting to die. Waking up, I found several hours had passed by and there was still no food. Looking over the edge of the boat to see if there was any land, as I commonly did throughout the day, I saw a curved fin fly through the water. "What, what is that?!" I exclaimed as I pointed out to it with my finger. The cloaked figure quickly got up, cut his hand with his knife, and plunged it into the water. As he shook it around, the water surrounding his hand turned red.