Opening his book, the shadow mage returned to his leisure. Warm sunlight streamed through the window providing plenty of reading light. Birds chirped, the sky was blue and the lake gleamed invitingly. Today the mage was not wearing his trench coat, instead opting for his baggy-pants and dress shirt in addition to a set of bunny slippers. His red eyes remained dull but active in the sunlight of the cabin as his light purple hair was illuminated by it.
The setting bespoke peace and relaxation. A cabin between the woods and small meadow which in turn lead to a sandbar before leading up to a wide blue lake. As far as the mage was concerned, at least for the moment, the world was at peace…
He began to feel tired, almost drifting lazily off to sleep. That was one of his few pleasures in life. Deep dreamless sleep. Previously he had been forced to work constantly, even while he slept. Bidden to a man he had hated with every fiber of his being. But that time was over now. Now he could sleep without labor. Now…he could rest.
*knock knock knock* The mages lounging had apparently been interrupted as someone rapped on the door. This was by no means a rare occurrence. He often had strange and unusual characters drop in at a moments notice. The key words to this being “moments notice”, implying that he had at least some indicator of when a person was going to arrive if only just before they did. Whoever this was not only knew where the mage made his home, but also could make his way to it without tripping the alarms strung throughout the valley.
Shaking himself alert again the mage placed his book to one side, being certain to mark the page, before proceeding to the door and unlocking it. Opening it the mage pulled back the door to reveal an extremely
old man. To clarify I must explain that this man was unbelievably old. He looked to be almost a century, maybe even a millennium old. Long thick grey hair cascaded from his scalp well past his shoulders. His face was a veritable mess of tangled grey hair, which appeared to have not been trimmed in decades. Bushy eyebrows, a full faced beard and long drawn lines cress-crossed his face, bespeaking the long and tiresome life he had led. Hunched over with one hand behind his back. His clothes were grey and raggedy, tattered at the edges with barely a proper stitch in the entire garment. His gnarled arthritic hand clutched an even more gnarled walking stick.
“
Supper is best served with silver spoon. A silent nymph dances beneath the sunset. Red wine is the lifeblood of those who forsake it.” The shadow mages eyes widened briefly at the old mans statement before returning to their normally calm-sleepy state. “
Alright… come in then” The old man nodded his head slightly, ducking around the mage and making his way to the armchair. The resident of the house instead made his way to the windowsill opposite the chair, sitting on the sundrenched cushions.
“
So then… I trust that this conversation is of the utmost importance if you’ve deemed to come here.” The ancient man nodded his assent. “
… Just out of curiosity, how long did it take them anyway?[i]” At this the old man chuckled before replying in a deep baritone belying his years. “Oh they figured it out already. Managed to head send me back there but the problem was I missed the way back here…had to take the long way back… and my it was a long, long journey.” The elder spoke with an odd accent, complimenting his baritone. Had one heard his voice without seeing the man, one might have guessed he was in his thirties.
“[i]I’ll keep that in mind then… Did you ever make the decision.” The old man chuckled again. “
Why yes I did. As a matter of fact I brought letters to that effect” From seemingly thin air the man produced two envelopes before sending them flying across the room, allowing the mage to catch them.
The mage examined the two envelopes for a while before tucking them back behind him. “
What do I need to know before I get started on my own trip then?” The old mans demeanor changed at this, seemingly sobering up immediately. “
Aye, there are a great many things… You’ll want to learn another element for one thing.
You’ll know the right one. Next you’ll need a lot more buffs and magical equipment. Publish a few books while you’re there. Royalties’l help make your way through. Don’t go in the patent business, it never ends well. Feel free to invent but don’t patent anything or you’ll regret it. Shortly after you arrive you’ll meet a man named Bono. Get yourself in his good graces and infiltrate your way into his organization. Eventually you’ll be strong enough to be overtake him. Just be wary because everyone else will be after the positions as well so don’t expect to hold it for more than a few years at a time. If you ever find yourself deposed, then head to the dune seas and make sure you aren’t followed. There’s an underground cave system fed in by a small river. The river will only appear for a few days each year so you must swim its course in three days time to reach safety. From there you should be clever enough to figure things out on your own. If you plan on heading north then bring one more bag of rice than you need. It’ll be heavy but well worth it.”
The old man continued on like this for some time. Cataloguing hundreds of actions, situations, counter measures and virtually everything the young mage would need for what would seem like years. After almost three hours of his instructions the old man had finally completed his directions. Although unable to keep track of all of them, Mortimer felt he had a good grasp on what would invariably become necessities for his survival.
The old man raised himself out of the chair slowly, hobbling on his cane once more.
“
So where are you going to now?” The old man turned back looking at the mage.
“
Now I will need to go wait. Patience you see…it’s all about patience.”
“
This’ll be the last time that we two meet then?”
“
For the foreseeable future yes, that is the case.”
“
…I don’t want to do this you know… Isn’t there another way?”
“
I once thought like that too you know” The old man replied. “
but I guess that goes without saying doesn’t it?” He grinned slightly at this. “
If given the choice now, I wouldn’t have given the experiences up for the world. Besides, everything’l be fine.”
“
You know you really are an adult now. You’re even using that cheesy lie of a line on me. ME. Your own flesh and blood.”
“
Hehe, sorry, getting a bit dotty in my latest years. But you’re right. It is going to be tough. And there will be a lot of things that aren’t going to be “fine”. But hey, I managed too make it through. And that means you will too.” The old man rubbed his nose with one finger before turning and leaving as quietly as he had come.
The mage could do nothing now. He sat back down. It was getting dark out. He knew that what the old man had said was true. And that he would have to face the challenges head on. He just hopped that he would know what he was doing when the time came.
OOC; Yes this is a complete single post thread.
