The Heir Of Ice And Dusk

Where I take the worst trip down memory lane ever

I asked my dreams to show me Advi's past again.

I could have asked for anything. I could have asked to see Edgar's future, or my own. I could have asked for Edgar's past, see what made him act cold and distant all the time. I could have asked to see my father, see what he had done.

However, I couldn't help but feel Advi and I were intertwined. He was so much like me. When I didn't ask for anything in peculiar, the dreams showed me a piece of his past. Now, I needed to know more.

Advi, in the dream, was talking to his teacher. It wasn't the same conversation they were having the other day --- Advi looked older. I felt his emotions, and I knew he had so much sorrow. He felt like I might have felt if I stopped giving a damn. We were different in that. I never gave up, no matter what happened. Advi had given up long ago.

"I know you disagree with my methods, Farheng." he said. It was the first time I heard the name of his master.

"I don't understand you, Advi. You should have told me."

I didn't get the meaning of what was going on, but Farheng had tears in his eyes.

"Of course you don't understand! You wouldn't have understood if I told you! Since my friends and I got lashings on our back for desacrating the magi's power, I wouldn't have told you a single thing of our creed had you asked!"

"Advi, I do not know why you're courting magic, even the dark part of it, the way you do, but you are like a son to me. I thought I was a father to you."

"You are! I guess. I never knew my father. I don't know how fathers are supposed to act."

I felt a weird feeling. Another thing we had in common, Advi and I were both orphans.

"When your brother started speaking of other worlds I thought he'd finally lost it," Fahreng said sadly. "Not that you would do something so foolish."

"Foolish?" Advi laughed scornfully. "It worked, didn't it? We passed to another realm. No one could deny it was real magic, the likes of which most magi have never seen."

The fire lit in the room cast ominous shadows on the terracotta walls. I couldn't help but shiver internally.

Besides, the effort to translate their ancient language into modern English was making my brain boil.

"And have you killed someone already?" Farheng asked.

Advi almost laughed, but the truth was he looked exasperated. "Me? I've never even thought of it. But yes, all the other rumors are true. I can become invisible, I can read minds... and I can cast curses."

"But I heard you want to give up white magic altogether. Is that true? I remember what you always used to say, that good and evil are the two cosmic forces. You can't have one without the other."

"From now on, I'll take my energy from the evil source of the universe," Advi confirmed. "Because I've heard it dulls your pain inside. But I wouldn't have given up white magic, if not because I won't live long enough to practise both."

I decided to go out of Advi's body to take a look at him, because he didn't sound that old. I found out that I really could exit his body, but the sensation almost made me puke. Either way, he looked like a man in his thirties. I tried reaching for his thoughts and found out his actual age was thirty four.

"You're young," Farheng said. "Don't talk nonsense. You told me you were afraid people who left the right path would pay the consequences."

"I did fear it, but I'm not talking nonsense! I've perfected it, I've got it down."