"I've had a very rough week," Lina muttered. "I really don't need to put up with this."
Rastlin studied Lina carefully. "You carry a sword?"
"Yes," Lina replied. "Why?"
Rastlin replied, "The gods of this world, put down laws that said that mages can only use staves as weapons. Due to the actions of the great mage Magius, we were finally allowed to carry daggers. We are also forbidden to use armor. It is to keep a balance between those who use magic and those who don't"
Lina wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"This world is a lot different than our home world. By the way, renegade from the Towers of High Sorcery? What was that about?"
Rastlin and Fizban looked at each other
"The gods of magic put down laws on how magic is supposed to be used. We have to study a spell and can only cast it once. Then the information to cast the spell is gone from our memory. That is to protect those who don't use magic, from those who do."
"Yeah. Right," Lina muttered sarcastically. "You have to do it this way for your own good. I've heard that before and I tend to ignore it. Now the Towers."
Fizban stepped up and said, "Back in the Age of Dreams, the wizards of the time created seven magic stones. They had found seven spots on Krynn where the three moons of magic formed a perfect triangle in the sky during the year."
"Three moons? I only saw two. A red and a white."
"Luintari and Solinari respectively," Fizban replied. "The black moon, Nuintari, can only be seen by the stars it blocks."
"Ah. Okay."
"The wizards put stones in five of the locations. The dwarves of Thorbadin, prevented the construction of one near their lands, and took the stone. That stone was believed to be destroyed. The final stone was lost. Those stones took power and elements from the earth to create a foundation for the Towers of High Sorcery. The five Towers acted as strongholds to learn about magic. The Kingpriest of Istar, believing that the wizards were a threat, tried to capture the five Towers. The wizards destroyed two of the Towers by causing the magic in them to explode," Fizban said.
Lina grimaced. "I can imagine the devastation would be enough to level a city the size of Seyruun."
"Very much so. That terrified the Kingpriest, so he made a deal with the Wizard's Conclave. If they would retire to the Tower at Wayerth and leave the remaining two Towers, one in Istar and the other in Palanthas, he would leave them alone."
"Nothing like having a big explosive device inside your home city to force a compromise," Lina said with a grin.
Fizban chuckled at that. "At any rate. The Kingpriest took the Tower of Istar, but the Tower of Palanthas was barred by one of the Black Robe mages. He threw himself off the top of a minaret and said that no one would enter until the Master of Past and Present would come to claim the Tower as his own. The spell was complete when the mage's body landed on the spiked fence that surrounds the Tower."
"Religious nut. Great. A spell that had a blood sacrifice as a component," Lina said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
Lina thought, "Master of Past and Present? Time travel. Going into the past and changing it to form a better present. I qualify. Mipross."
"As to the Tower of Istar, it was believed to be destroyed then the flaming mountain crashed into Istar and sank it beneath the waves and rearranged the lands. We call what happened at Istar the Great Cataclysm."
"Meteor Plunge on a grand scale," Lina thought.
A curious expression came to Lina's face. "What is the point of the Towers? What do the mages do after they complete training?"
"The Towers are where the various mages go to learn more about magic. Wayerth acts as a bastion against the destruction of magic," Rastlin replied. "The study and protection of magic is their purpose."
"Have you completed your training?" Lina asked.
"Yes."
"Then what do you do with your magic?"
"I study to learn more about magic and how it works."
"Anything else?" Lina asked.
"No. Magic is its own reward," Rastlin said.
Lina buried her face in her hands, and muttered, "I don't believe this."
Lina unburied her face and stared at Rastlin. "What is the point? You study magic and study magic, but you don't do anything with it. Magic in my world isn't feared. We have colleges of magic in almost every major city. Until it was destroyed, Sairagg was the capital city of magic in the lands. Seyruun is the White Magic capital of the lands. We have cities dedicated to studying magic and making life better for everyone. There's a city in my world that specializes in creating golems. People come there to buy golem horses or toys or laborers. The Einbergs aren't wizards like most people think, but they are the best at creating enchanted golems."
"The Towers were built to weed out any that would be a danger to themselves or others," Rastlin said in a miffed tone, as he defended the Towers
Lina shook her head. "What do you have to show for it? A world that fears all mages and distrusts magic. We went in a different direction. We teach a person in just the basics of spellcasting, but then leave the person to do the research in casting of the more difficult spells up to them. The various libraries in each city hold books that have the spells written down, but usually the Chaos Words for the words are split across two or more books. The only exceptions are the Claire Bible, its manuscripts, and the Book of Time Sorcery, but getting to any of those is very difficult. The Towers were built to allow the growth of magical teaching, but it seemed to do the opposite. Just how do your Towers weed out people who would be a danger?"
Fizban scratched his head. "The Towers have something called a Test of High Sorcery. An aspiring mage takes the test, which involves three tasks that push the trainee to their limits. Each test is tailored to that specific mage."
"What happens if you fail the test?" Lina asked.
"Death," Fizban said simply.
Lina paled upon hearing that. "Stupid. Very stupid. Even Gourry is not that dumb."
Ignoring Lina, Fizban continued, "And even if the mage does make it through, they are changed by the experience. Some are mental, while others are physical. The head of the Red Robes, Justarius, has a permanent limp from his test."
"The gold skin, the weird eyes, and the shattered health is what you got stuck with," Lina stated flatly while staring at Rastlin.
"This is the price I paid for my magic," Rastlin replied.
Lina shook her head. "It shouldn't be that way. Schools aren't supposed to torture or murder their students. Once I find a way, Gourry and I are going to leave this stupid world behind and head home."
Glaring a bit, Rastlin asked, "What are you going to do with your magic?"
"After I'm done travelling and seeing the sights, I'm going to settle down in Zephillia and open up a magic shop to sell magic items: protective talismans, enchanted weapons, magic armor, and the like," Lina replied, as she walked backwards away from the two mages. "Maybe that's the difference. Our magic system was set up by merchants, your magic system was set up by priests."
Lina turned around and headed over to Gourry. Rsatlin stared at Lina's back, as she left.
"Different world, different ethics," Fizban said soothingly.
"Schools aren't supposed to torture or murder their students," Rastlin whispered. "Why do those words keep repeating themselves to me?"
Fizban did not answer.
_______________________________________________________________________
Sturm looked at Gourry; "Doesn't it bother you, the way she keeps insulting you?"
"Why? I know I'm an idiot," Gourry replied.
"Uhm," Sturm was at a loss for words, as were most of the other Companions.
Gilthanas sighed and thought, "Those two are very different from any human I have ever encountered or heard of. I'm going to have to tell father to be very cautious with them.
The gold haired elf made his departure speech and went to talk to the Speaker of the Sun before the group's audience. Soon the group was ushered inside. Lina and Gourry stood aside from the group and listened to the Speaker talk about how the Elves would graciously give a small amount of sanctuary to the prisoners that were freed, until the elves had left the area.
Lina muttered to Gourry, "Didn't know they were elves. At least this world's versions of elves."
"Graciously? More like a burden and that they are just doing this to show how superior they are," Gourry whispered back.
Lina and Gourry hid their laughter when the Speaker of the Sun was shocked by the amulet that Goldmoon was wearing and then the follow up berating by Fizban.
"What is Fizban?" Gourry asked. "I can sense something about him."
"An advantage the two of us have over this world, Gourry. We can sense opponents. And in Fizban's case, he's no more human than Mligasia is. He has the feel of being Ryuzoku, but this world is so stupidly different than ours."
The Speaker of the Sun turned his attention to Lina and Gourry.
"My son, Gilthanas, tells me, that the two of you claim to be from another world. Do you expect me to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe. Besides, your son saw the spells I used and the Sword of Light," Lina replied with a smile. "The only thing that I'm interested in right now, is finding a way back to our world."
"How did you wind up in this world?" The Speaker of the Sun asked.
Lina fidgeted a bit and hesitantly replied, "A side effect from the last battle we were in. It's not important."
The Speaker stared at Lina. "I have the feeling it is. However, I get the impression you're not going to tell me."
Lina just grinned.
The Speaker went on to explain about Pax Tharkas and the prisoners being kept there and what he wanted Tanis and his group to do.
"So, you're going to sacrifice humans in order to cover your cowardly escape," Lina said bluntly. "I'm going with them to help them out."
The Speaker of the Suns seethed at the words that Lina said, but instead asked a different question. "What are you? Are you a Red Robe or a Black Robe? You have red clothes, but have a black cape."
"I do not understand the question," Lina replied.
"White Robes are dedicated to the forces of good and light, Black Robes are dedicated to Evil, and Red Robes claim to stand between Good and Evil."
"This world's system of magic is even more screwed up than I thought. You force your wizards to act out roles instead of being themselves. As to your question, I don't care about how the students of Towers of Magical Stupidity divide themselves."
"You're a renegade."
"Doesn't apply to me. I never studied at the Towers, so I can't be a renegade from them. I learned my magic on my world," Lina replied cheerfully.
Lina turned and Gourry followed. Before leaving the audience chamber, Lina stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"Run and hide, but don't be surprised that if and when you finally come back, that your lands have been overrun by those who stayed and fought for their lives and their homes," Lina said.
The Speaker of the Suns was angry. "What can be done about the dragons? The good dragons have not returned and there are no famed dragonlances to help us fight. It is a losing battle."
"I don't believe in fighting losing battles. If there's a one- percent chance to win, going into battle with that kind of attitude cuts the chance down to zero. I always enter a fight to win, no matter the odds. Find out why the good dragons haven't returned and find the dragonlances."
Lina was about to say more, but threw her hands up in disgust and left the chamber. Gourry nodded to the others, before following Lina outside.
Rastlin bit his lower lip in thought. "Forced into roles? Are we really forced into roles?"
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(Posted Thu, 14 Jul 2005 00:23)
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