AEONS: THE GODS ARE DAMNED

Chapter 15

A Sivserian guard woke up early to pee; he stood at the tree line, whistling as he relieved himself; within the forest’s depth, he was being watched by a silent predator. As he turned back to resume his sleep, the predator held him from behind and dung its teeth into the poor man’s neck, draining the soldier of life.
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With stumbling and trembling legs, Chase ran through the woods, the howls of the wolves got nearer by the second, he tripped and fell.
“Argh, Damn it” he sat up against a nearby tree, he had a new bruise to add to list of injuries he already had; with all his straight he stood again and half stumbled half ran through the forest. By sunrise he collapsed just as he got few meters away from the tree line of the woods; some servants saw him and rushed to his aid as he passed out.
*
With a groan he managed to sit up; he was back in Itham’s huge lab or room, his wounds had disappeared and he felt relieved. He stood and Eldrin entered the room.
“You are still alive” Eldrin taunts
“I will get Ralnor for this”
Eldrin laughed, “You can try; how do you feel?”
“Fine, but I have not gotten over the fact that he made me wolf bait”
“You did fine; you came out of the woods alive and with only little bruises, well, aoart from the one Ralnor inflicted”
“So you came to see if doing alright?”
“No, I came to train you” He said and dropped a large book on the table.
“What is that?” Chase asked
“A grimoire, it is called et similiter de grimoire, the grimoire of enchantments”
“That sounds…rather cool”
He brings out a small round iron ball from his pocket and placed it on another table close to them, “You will train using this ball”
“and what am I supposed to do with it?” Chase quizzed
Eldrin opened the grimoire and showed him a spell, “a manipulating spell, you will control the ball with the spell”
He looked at the page and shook his head, “and how exactly am I supposed to cast a spell when I have never even…”
“…you will learn, but for now all you need is to influence that ball and make it roll”
“And how will I know it was my spell that made it roll?”
“I will know, just clear your mind, a warlock needs clarity of mind, then you concentrate on the object, say the spell and imagine what you want the ball to do”
“Is that all?”
“you just have to make your intent clear and it will happen”
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat; he stretched his hand towards the ball, “Conquestia commovus” he said in an awkward manner.
“Not like that, say it like you mean it, like you know what you want, like you can see it happening, so much that you believe it is happening”
"Ok," he stretched his right hand again, "Conquestia commovus"
"You have to put your intent as a pushing force for the spell"
"Conquestia commovus, Conquestia commovus, Conquestia commovus, I can't get it done"
"Try again this time believe you can"
"Why don't you try it" Chase said giving up.
Eldrin tilted his head, without even looking at the ball he said, "Conquestia commovus" and the ball rolled away.
"I don't need to see the target" Eldrin said
"You just had to see it in your mind" Chase thought out loud
"Yes, your mind that is your greatest power…now use it" he went to sit away from Chase to give him all the privacy he needs.
He concentrates, blew out a sigh and said, “Conquestia commovus”, the ball tilts away, “Conquestia commovus” he increased his voice, “Conquestia commovus” the ball shoots off the table and hits the wall sending cracks up towards the top.
“Oops!”
Eldrin smiled, “You did well, next time, don’t force it; just…tell it exactly what you want it to do” he waved a hand and the walls mended, the cracks disappeared and the ball returned to its original position. “Now you will try something else, you will it towards you”
“Ok”, Eldrin steps away again.
Chase clears his throat, “Conquestia commovus, Conquestia commovus” the ball rolled towards him and rolled off the table but instead of falling to the ground it just floated towards him, “Conquestia commovus, Conquestia commovus” the ball gets within its reach and he holds it; with a smile he lifts it to Eldrin, “I think I am getting better at this”
“You think?” Eldrin said and the ball flies out of Chase’s grip, heading towards Eldrin. He caught it and said, “Now let’s try something, hmm, offensive” he loops the ball towards Chase; before Chase could even react the metallic ball hits his head.
“Ow!” he picks it up, “Not cool”
“You will throw that back at me, and I will stop it, then I will throw it back at you, you will have to stop it”
“And if I can’t?”
“A few broken bones does not sound too bad” Eldrin joked
Chase threw the ball at Eldrin with a lot of force only for the ball to stop right in front of Eldrin’s face.
“My turn”, he shoots the ball back at Chase, but Chase shielded his face with his arms expecting the ball to hit him, but when it tarried he peeped through to see the ball right in front of his face.
“I didn’t do that” Chase said
“No, he didn’t” Hycis was standing at the door with her hand stretched, “Were you planning on killing him?” She asked facing Eldrin.
“No, I was training him”
“By throwing a metal ball at his face?” Hycis asked, and Eldrin shrugged
“He was doing fine” Eldrin defended
Hycis scoffed, “He was startled and scared, am sure he didn’t have time to think”
Eldrin rolled his eyes, “Just give us the ball, and play along” he said while shooing her off. She released her hold on the ball and said before leaving, “Your time almost up”
She closed the door.
Chase sighed in relief, "That was close”
“Try again” he took control of the ball and held it in his hands, “This time try not to shy away from the ball”, he looped the ball towards Chase but Chase failed to catch it without using his hands.
“Sorry” he looped it back at Eldrin
Eldrin catches it and said, “Don’t think too much about it”
“How? How won’t I think too much about the fact that you are throwing a ball that was capable of breaking and cracking an ancient castle wall?” Chase complained
“What if this was an arrow? This is the basics, concentrate on the spell in your mind and project your intent out like a shield, if the ball hits the shield and if the intent is strong enough, you will get it done” Chase sighed and gestured for Eldrin to throw it, “As you wish” with another loop, the ball soared towards Chase; Chase kept chanting the spell in his mind and constructed a mental shield to interrupt the ball’s path. He ball stops in midair.
“Yes!!! I did it” He shouted, Eldrin smiled.
“Yes, you did” the ball returns to Eldrin, “Now, you have to stop it at a faster pace” he throws the ball at Chase with amazing speed; the ball passes through the shield and hits Chase’s chest, sending him on his knees in pain.
“Argh! Damn!”
“Seems like your intent wasn’t strong enough to stop that one”
“I think I broke a rib” Chase whined as he crouched over in pain
“You didn’t, I would have heard it crack”
“Damn! Hell it hurts”
“I suppose it does”
Chase stands and loops the ball back to Eldrin, “Again”
Eldrin catches it and nods, round after round Eldrin shoots the ball at Chase, some the shield had enough power to stop, others… well, ended painfully.
By the 70 so time, Chase had gotten the hang of it and they switched to a more strenuous game.
Holding the ball up, “I think you did well, but can you do the same for an object with no specific direction” He leaves the ball and it shoots across the room ricocheting off the walls and the ground, even Eldrin had to duck to dodge the ball as it just kept flying around.
Crouching under the table he asked, “and how exactly am I supposed to catch something I can’t even predict its movement” the ball hits the table and ricochets off.
Eldrin sat with a shield protecting him from the maniac ball, “I don’t know, you will have to figure that out yourself”
“Seriously?” the ball breaks through a part of the table and ricochets off the fall, “Oh I be damned” he runs out of the safety of the table, his eyes could hardly follow the ball as it just kept shooting itself round the room. “This is suicide” he said to himself.