Ivor’s Flame

 “Come on, hurry!” Samuel urged Madoc from the dormitory. “We can’t be late for this.” They had overslept and had to run to catch the first lessons in the course on practical applications of magic.

The classroom resembled a gym and all the students were already gathered inside. So was the lecturer, even though the bell announcing the start of the lectures hadn’t rung yet. The professor smirked as he saw their state. He was being surrounded by the students trying to ask him all sorts of questions.

“I was afraid you two weren’t showing up,” Arianwen said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Madoc said. He was twitching with excitement. “This is what I’ve been waiting for.” His grimace was so intense it threatened to split his face and some of the classmates shrunk back from him.

“Wait a minute,” Samuel said. “That professor. That’s Igor!”

“What?” Arianwen asked. They all looked at the lecturer.

“It’s Ivor,” Madoc said and gave Samuel a stern look. “We don’t really know him, we just ran into him a while back when we were making our way to Tanwyth.”

Ivor placed a large wooden box on a table in front of the gathered students.

“Let’s get right into it. Each of you can choose a single artefact for the use in these practical exercises. Pick whatever speaks to you. They are all more or less equal in power so don’t worry too much about it.”

All of them flocked to the box before Ivor even finished speaking. The wall of students was impenetrable and Samuel could only watch as the supply of rings, necklaces, studs, bracelets and other jewellery dwindled before his eyes. In the end he was only able to choose between an earring and a bracelet, so he opted for the later. After the students picked their artefacts, they were guided the desk, where Ivor was waiting to perform the blood seal. He drew just a little blood from each of them and instructed them to touch it to the artefact and focus on forming the seal. The sensation was familiar to Samuel. So it is really that easy. Just a drop of blood and any artefact can be bound to you. I’m pretty sure that you don’t even have to think about the seal. At least I didn’t back then.

The feeling of power sent a shiver through his body. Finally. The feeling almost brought him to tears. He hadn’t fully understood how much he longed for it. It’s not all there. The thought brought him back. While he did feel the connection to the amazing power he had wielded before, it was nowhere near the same level. So it really was an exceptional case. The amulet felt as if it was calling out to him. Soon.

“Imagine a small flame sprouting from you hand. At this point you don’t really have to think about the Nefara at all. They already did their part by imbuing these artefacts with magic,” Ivor instructed them and walked up and down the row of students, checking how each was faring. Many of them including Arianwen were struggling to produce a single spark. Yorath struggled for a moment, then managed a large flame that lit the room for just a moment before he almost collapsed from exhaustion.

Madoc took a couple of tries but in the end managed to produce a small unsteady flame. Samuel just flicked his fingers and a flame burst forth. It took more effort than he had anticipated. Still, the release of power fuelled his ecstatic mood and he had to force himself not to make the flame dance on the palm of his hand or condense it into a fireball and send it flying towards one of the targets in the gym. He looked around and saw Yorath staring at him, envy twisting his face. He began focusing again and forming the flame. I can’t show off too much otherwise I will give myself away.

“You!” Ivor said. “Now I remember. You were at the borderland with that other guy with one arm.” He then looked around in confusion. Finally his eyes fixed on Samuel’s hand. “So that’s how it is.” He looked up and down Samuel’s foreign features. “Well, I suppose if you got accepted here, it should be all right. Don’t cause any troubles here. Got it?”

“Yes sir,” Madoc and Samuel said in tandem. The exchange was fast and not loud but still whispers were already spreading through the class.

After most of the students managed to bring forth at least something resembling a fire, Ivor moved on to showing them how to form a fireball and throw it. Only then Samuel realised something. This time Ivor wasn’t wearing any gloves. One of his hands was a curious fusion of metal and wood. Thick strands of both materials were intertwined like a simulacrum muscle fibres. The hand moved with grace and a high degree of control as Ivor demonstrated the spell. Samuel followed his instruction but was somewhat distracted for the rest of the lesson, which wasn’t all that long as it only took a few tries before most of them were too tired to stand, let alone use magic.

Samuel noticed that despite the fact that the artefacts were using less of his energy to fuel the magical abilities, it was still proportionally more than what he needed for the same amount of power using the Cyrhil warlock’s ring. On the other hand, even when he attempted to pour more energy into the spell with his bracelet, the power of the spell didn’t increase in a noticeable way while still using more of his own energy. I’ll have to test this some more. It was obvious to him that holding back, as he had learnt in the wasteland was the key to effective use of magic.

As they were going to get lunch, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait,” Yorath said. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Samuel asked. He had a sinking feeling.

“You were able to form the flames with such ease and even fire off several fireballs. You didn’t look tired at all after that.”

“I could say the same about you,” Samuel replied. “You managed the same.” Arianwen was watching the exchange with interest.

“It’s not the same. I should be the one who is able to just do it easily.”

Samuel lifted an eyebrow at that. Yorath also seemed surprised that he had actually said that out loud.

“Anyway,” he continued and shook his head. “The professor also recognised you. Were you already learning magic before?”

“Look Yorath, calm down,” Samuel said. “First of all, I am tired. In fact if I wasn’t so hungry I would just fall into my bed and sleep for an entire day. Second, I never learnt magic before coming to the Academy. I was only ever able to try it out for a little.” This time Samuel was surprise by his own answer. He was prepared to lie and deny any involvement in magic but just couldn’t do it. Perhaps his lie to Madoc was taking a toll on him and he needed to confess at least a little. Madoc looked at him with a tired expression and remained quiet.

At the end of the next lesson Samuel stayed in the gym after the rest of the students had already left. “Professor Ivor,” he said.

Ivor was putting away the material they had used for the lesson by levitating it and sending it flying into the cupboards at the walls. “What is it?”

“I was wondering about your arm,” Samuel said.

Ivor scowled before noticing it was Samuel. “I see. Tough luck kid.” He rolled up his sleeve and showed the extent of his odd arm. Normal flesh only appeared halfway between the shoulder and the elbow. “This thing is what we call a prosthetic. It’s powered by magic and as such can only really be effectively used by advanced wizards and sorcerers for any extended period of time. You do show some promise in that regard. Wipe the grin boy, you’ll be nowhere near for years, maybe decades. Anyway the bigger problem is that it’s one of the most expensive things you can buy. We’re talking gold here.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Did you sign the contract to work for the Academy after your education?”

“Yes. Doesn’t everybody?”

“Not really, no. That’s not important right now. I don’t want to get your hopes up kid. I think you will find that being a wizard can compensate for a missing arm, so you should be thankful for what you have. Still, when you are employed by the Academy, it is not impossible for them to decide you need one of these to fulfil your job and be productive, depending on where they assign you.”

“Thank you sir,” Samuel said.

“Yeah. Just remember, don’t count on it. Just try to get better at using magic.” He then lifted his robes a little and revealed another construct of wood and metal. One of his legs was also prosthetic. “It’s a dangerous place out there as you’ve already found out. You were lucky to make it out of the wasteland alive. There are things there that will take more than just an arm.”