Memories from Past Lives (2)

The so-called ancient magic is a system of ritual magic. It always requires a suitable sacrifice for the spirits whose aid one is requesting. The sacrifice for this particular spell is four different items, three of which are rare and precious in this world. After scouring the world for almost a decade, my master only had one complete set of these items.

I will be eternally grateful for his selflessness in choosing to use them on me rather than himself, even though he certainly wanted to try it on himself as well.

I was sitting cross-legged in an empty space on the floor. Since the room was quite large, it had enough empty space for the ritual despite the two beds.

My master placed a piece of red ore in front of me, to the south of me. It was the most common item among the four, called flame iron. It contained immense heat without letting any of it out, unless you used special methods. There were a few volcanoes around the world that were full of this stuff, so while it was kind of pricey, it wasn’t too rare.

Behind me, in the north direction, he placed a piece of ice that wouldn’t melt at room temperature. It was a piece of the Eternal Glacier to the north. It was a long way off from Tredland and difficult to excavate, so it was far rarer and more expensive than flame iron. That said, it was still available now and then.

The problem was with the last two items. To the east, he placed the tail feather of a Thunderbird, a more or less legendary creature that could control the weather and often surrounded itself in deadly storms. Fortunately, they didn’t approach human settlements often, but whenever they did, they were treated as natural disasters.

On average, only one carcass of this magnificent creature was obtained by humans every century – rarely by killing it, usually they just died of natural causes and some lucky adventurer happened upon the carcass while it was still fresh enough for scavenging.

This wasn’t just some ordinary feather: it contained potent magic, just like the two other items.

The last item was an ordinary-looking, somewhat egg-shaped grey stone. Appearances were deceiving, however, for this was a magic item created by a legendary mystic named Savarian over a hundred years ago. Savarian was known for his research on natural disasters and ways to survive them. He either developed, or more likely, found a spell to trap the energy of an earthquake into a stone. This stone was one of his legacies.

Four items that not only represented, but actually contained the essence of the most extreme forms of the four elements. Any of these items could power up a major ancient spell on their own – though only one of the corresponding element and ferocity. The sacrifice had to be suitable for the spell, after all.

The spell my master intended to cast isn’t an elemental spell, it is simply a spell that requires extremely powerful spirits. In this case, the type of the spirit doesn’t matter, only its power. My master’s knowledge was limited, he didn’t know how to call on sufficiently powerful spirits of other types, only elemental spirits.

The problem is that the spell needs the cooperation of at least two powerful spirits, and the only way to get elemental spirits to cooperate in harmony is to subordinate a weaker spirit to a more powerful spirit, or to have all elements represented with equal power, which is when they are, for some reason, able to work in harmony.

“This spell calls on very powerful spirits. It comes with some risks.”

My master honestly warned me, who, at the time, didn’t know much about all the details I just explained above.

“However, you don’t need to be nervous. I’ve already divined your fortune: today is your luckiest day in the whole year. I’ve also checked that there are no evil spirits nearby. I’ve told the inn staff not to let anyone disturb us tonight, and I will be watching over you every step of the way. Just brace yourself for the mental shock, don’t worry about anything else.”

I nodded calmly, although I couldn’t help swallowing nervously. I was excited and looking forward to this experience and all the new knowledge that I would obtain, but of course I was also somewhat scared.

My master started chanting a lengthy spell, calling for aid and giving instructions in the (mostly lost) language of the spirits. Before long, the four items of immense power around me started to… disappear. It looked as though they were devoured by dozens of tiny mouths.

At the same time, I could feel the magic concentrating around me. It was ferocious, but controlled. At some point, my master finished chanting, but the magical power just kept building up, ever mightier, until I was starting to feel pressured.

I was getting scared, and almost regretted my decision. I felt that if the spirits lost control of this magic, the whole town would be destroyed. In fact, the destruction would probably reach far beyond the boundaries of the town.

But there was no stopping now. I had to go through this, or else there might really be a gigantic explosion.

Once the four items had been completely devoured, I suddenly felt a bang in my mind. I almost lost consciousness from the impact, I was seeing stars. All the magic around me was moving now, it was all rushing towards my head. But I understood that it wasn’t going into my head. It was going into my soul.

I managed to steady my mind after the impact, but then I started to feel an internal pressure that steadily built up until I got a headache. And the headache got worse and worse, until I felt like crying. It felt as though my head would burst apart at any moment. It was a frightening feeling, as though my life hung on a balance, and I’m sure even an adult would have been scared.

Eventually, all the magical energy accumulated around me was finally used up. Before I could let out a sigh of relief, I felt something shatter in my mind. It was extremely painful, I once again almost fainted, but after that moment of utter agony, the pressure and the headache were suddenly all gone.

Then came the memories.