• Prologue (The Genesis of Erter the Mage)

    High up in the clouds, the sun is shining, and as you go closer to the ground, you would see forever over the world of Azerzia and, in its northwest, continent of Stegaln. To the north in Stegaln lie the low, ancient peaks of the Makray Mountains, and the old capitol city of the Kingdom of Stegol, Jasdu. In these mountains starts the Ilas River on their western slopes. Following the river from its headwaters, you travel south, passing through Jasdu, and continuing its southward movements and forming the border of the Wemil and Cartonin plains. The river Cartonin meets the Ilas north of the city of Juwde, but does not deviate from its course. As it travels farther south, you reach first the river Ackr and then the newest city and the capitol of Stegol, Rotae, along with Tilwidi plains. As the city leaves sight the river turns westward, then southwestward, to meet the Kevilm River. The Ilas has grown greatly along its course, and now turns back to the east and then to the south, widening and losing its depth, nearing the sea. Here is passes through the near empty plains of Revalay and Entia. Eventually it widens and slows more, leaving behind its silt, forming the Ilas Delta, on which the city of Kelpa is built. Somewhere in between the joining of the Kevilm and Ilas and the new capitol of Rotae, Erter Wehned struggles north along the banks of the Ilas, on the edge of the Entia plains.
    He brings only a satchel which holds some clothes and his only money, as he had left the cart he had driven to Erial with a family friend in the city of Kevilm, along with the small fortune he had made selling his father’s goods. His father is a wealthy merchant in the isolated southern city of Sorest. He himself viewed the occupation as important but never saw himself as being a merchant. He considered dropping of the money and goods as the best thing to do, as he felt he needed to leave his family behind him in order to complete his mission as a mage.
    This was in part due to a natural born sense of honor, but also had to do with the history his nation had had with mages. Many centuries prior, a mage king ruled the Kingdom of Stegol and fought to conquer the small nation of Nymela, situated on an island off the Stegalnian coast. Stegol had been the only nation left on mainland Stegaln for nearly a century at that point. The fighting was hard, but the mage king eventually won, renaming himself Zolzia, or Black Feather in the ancient tongue of Altabeshan. The Nymelans resisted Zolzia’s control, and Zolzia began pillaging the Nymelan cities and killing any whom supported the resistance. Zolzia grew paranoid as the attacks increased and began tearing down his own cities in Stegol, as he thought them to be filled with Nymelan supporters. He slipped fully into madness as he tapped dark magic in order to better defeat his enemies and at the same time, he raised a dark mage army to replace his normal soldiers. The people rose up against him in a revolt, led by the non-mage brother of the king, Maxius Rotae, Count of Sorest. Eventually Zolzia was overthrown and disappeared, and Maxius became the king of Stegol. He made peace with the Nymelans, allowing the Nymelan king to rule Nymela as a viceroy and servant to Rotae. He moved the capitol out of the ancient, and corrupt, city of Jasdu, and built a new city, named by the people for their new ruler, Rotae. Mages, because of their support of Zolzia, became viewed with suspicion, though they had been rising in importance in recent years.
    So Erter did not want to associate his family with him anymore, for their own good. He was much more concerned at this point though about his own safety. As a mage, he would not be accepted by society by and large and probably would receive large amounts of grief and maybe even be attacked. Some may wonder why Erter would choose to be a mage, given all the problems he would face. The answer to that is harder to find, and no one could know but Erter, and it is doubtful even he knew when he picked.
    Erter continued along the river, making little headway as the sand clogged his leather shoes and he sunk into the muddy banks. Normally he would have followed a road north to Belshin, but the major roads north were lined with bandits and highwaymen. He may have been a mage, but he wasn’t about to face hardened criminals if he could help it.
    The sun was starting to set, and Erter was worrying about getting to town before the sun was fully gone and the bandits no longer feared going to the highly patrolled waters of the Ilas. Massive barges passed Erter; carrying everything from Wemilian cattle and Makraian ore to Sorestian lumber and furs.
    “Hey there sonnie, you need a lift up sumwere?” Looking over Erter saw a captain of one of the smaller barges, speaking with a light Bekaln accent. Bekaln is Azerzia’s most powerful nation, situated in the southern deserts of Tioltar, which is a continent to the south across the ocean.
    “Sure, what would I owe you?”
    “I dunno whatchu got?”
    “Only a few gesas” Erter yelled back to the man, who was about 50 feet off shore still. Gesas are the silver-gold alloy coins used by the Stegolians for trade
    “No rouls?” Rouls are the pure gold coins worth double a Gesa and was used by the Bekalns. “Sorry sonnie, but gesas ain’t worth anything, ‘cept here.”
    “Alright” Erter yelled. “Greedy pig” muttered Erter, most definitely not in a good mood. Erter started moving again, the barge heading northward, probably carrying some sort of new weapon to the military in Rotae, since both nations have been allies for nearly two hundred years, after the Stegolians began visiting in Tioltar. After walking for another hour, the sun was barely above the horizon and Erter was hearing voices and bangs over the plains, probably bandits starting to move in on their victims. Climbing a hill, Erter saw, with a sigh of relief, a small walled village at the foot of the hill, a safe haven from the bandits. This relief was soon followed by fear, as an arrow when shooting past his head. Turning, Erter saw on the other side of the hill a pack of bandits, dressed in brown rags and carrying some nasty looking serrated foot-long knives, with one of them having a bow held in his hands as if he had just fired.
    “Oh joy…” Erter muttered, turning again and running full tilt down the hill. A roar came up from behind him as another went shooting an inch over his head as it vanished behind the hill. Reaching the outer wall for the village’s defense, Erter remembered something Notios had mentioned. Not only did the bandits come out as sunset, the people of Belshin closed their gates to keep them out at the same time.
    “Gerela forsaken captain” Erter muttered loudly, also thinking he needed to control his habit of talking to himself. He ran around the outer wall as fast as he could, trying to find some way inside.
    “Hello down there! What brings you outside the walls at this time of night?” Looking up Erter saw a man in Stegolian Royal Guard armor, though he clearly was not a regular at this point, based on the way in barely fit, standing in a tower in the wall.
    “Running…from bandits… need in…please!” Erter said in between breathes as he ran over to be underneath the tower.
    “Now, if I told all the times I heard that, I wouldn’t be able to finish before I died.” He commented, apparently unwilling to see that some people do actually get attacked by bandits on bandit-infested plains.
    “Just let me in!” Erter shouted at him, looking over his shoulders, as now the bandits were hiding on top of the hill, just out of view of the guard.
    “Rules are rules son. If you want into Belshin, you need to show up before sun down.” He said, now apparently bored as he started walking away from the window in the tower.
    “Don’t be a jerk, just let me in!” Erter yelled absolutely aggravated at the guard.
    “I’m just following the rules. You could be a bandit and steal things once you are inside and take over the town.”
    “And if I’m not a bandit?”
    “You should have shown up sooner,” answered the guard simply, closing the window and locking it shut.
    Erter was now in an absolute panic. Nothing he had would even come close to stopping a roving band of bloodthirsty bandits. Well more like gesa thirsty, but they sure weren’t afraid of killing people. His only hope was for someone inside to let him in.
    “LET! ME! IN!” Erter yelled banging against what he figured had to be the gate. The bandits, down seeing the guard was gone, silently started moving down the hill, bending low to keep as invisible as possible. Great, Erter thought. One day. One day on my own and I’m dead.
    “You really want in?” The guard apparently was back, sticking his head out the window as Erter was now directly below him.
    “YES!”
    “Can you prove you’re not a bandit?” the guard asked, some reason apparently getting to him. Erter quickly dug through his bag, pulling out a pendant he never thought he’d use again in his life as a mage.
    “This is all I have.” Erter said flashing the pendant, which bears his family crest on it.
    “Some nobility in your veins, huh son? Alright, you’re in.” he said, leaving the window, followed by a large grinding sound as the gate started opening. Erter turned around just in time to see the bandits retreating back over the hill as he entered the village.
    “Was it really necessary to leave me out there?” Erter asked the guard, as he came out of the tower.
    “No not really. You look nothing like a bandit. But no one ever shows up here, and I get rather bored.”
    “I’m glad I entertained you,” Erter said, making a mental note never to ask this guard for anything. Erter moved off, looking for the building Notios had mentioned. After about three hours of wandering in circles through the small town, Erter sat behind a building, unable to find the shop he was looking for. Figuring it was already very late, Erter headed for an inn he had passed three times in order to get some rest and look in the morning.
    He knew the inn was still opened based on the loud, badly played piano still echoing from inside. Pulling open the door, which promptly fell onto only one hinge, Erter walked inside. Erter probably should have left with the omen the door made, but he was tired and had no place to go. The inn part of the building he was now in was not a very big. The main focus was very much the bar, which had more chairs in it than the rest of the town had in its houses. Slowly walking to a man who appeared to have some authority behind the bar, Erter had to move around several unconscious patrons on the floor and slumped across chairs.
    “Excuse me, do you know where I should go to rent a room for the night?” Erter asked, rather loudly since the piano was still being played, by a different person since the first was now unconscious, but equally as poorly, if not worse. Turning, the man he asked appeared to be having a very bad day and seemed to have taken far too much Giant Growth Serum as a kid.
    “We don’t have any rooms kid”
    “Could you check?”
    “I’ve run this inn for 10 years. I know when or when not I have rooms. Especially for dumb kids.” Now, normally Erter would have gotten very mad but would have been incapable of doing anything. Reason would have also told him it was definitely not worth it. However, Erter did get very mad, was now a mage and was capable of doing quite a bit, and was very tired so reason was not on his mind.
    “Kakkiw Dans” Erter said, pulling out a small wooden rod with a small clear quartz crystal at the tip. The floor turned to wet, muddy sand, trapping the barman’s feet. Erter also felt the slight drain the magic made on him and the loss of weight from in his bag. That loss of weight was due to the loss of a few colored stones called gerains, which stored magical energies.
    The next thing Erter felt was the barman’s fist slamming into his shoulder. Erter flew back two feet hit a table and rolled over the side. Surprisingly, no one came over to stop the fight over even to watch. Apparently the piano wasn’t quite so bad when you are smashed out of your mind. And one bar fight is probably like another after the tenth one. Erter moved the table up to act as a shield as the barman started yelling his head off, wrenching to get out of the sand. As he struggled, he sank deeper, now down to about the middle of his shin. Erter stepped out from behind the table, standing out of reach of the fists.
    “You have a room I could stay in?”
    “Can you get me out of this mud?”
    “Do I get a room first?” Erter responded, not expecting the barman to keep his word once out of the mud.
    “Fine” he said, throwing a key to him.
    “Dir Post” Erter muttered, drying the sand followed by “Helos” which dug the guy out.
    Erter then made a run down the hall, entering his room quickly. Entering the room, he blocked the door with a bookcase, since he doubted if the people at the bar would like him to stay once he was asleep. He sat down in a chair and opened his satchel, pulling out a very small leather pouch. Opening the ties for it, he looked inside frowning.
    “Only a few gerains left…” he said, picking up some of the small stones inside, each one a shade of red, brown, blue, or a transparent white. He sighed and got up, looking out the window for a moment. He then went over to the bed and stretched out, absolutely dead tired. Not even bothering to change, he fell asleep.
    Many hours later, he awoke, and looked around him. Out the window, the sun was just starting to rise, which meant the bandits were just now going back to their camps. After lying there for several minutes, wishing for more sleep and not wanting to get up, he got up and changed. He then loaded his satchel up and put it on. He slowly moved the bookcase back to its original position and crept out of the bar, leaving payment on the bar. Stepping out into the town again, he found it mostly deserted, a few people getting up to open shop or head out into the fields surrounding the town. Looking around him, he found a quiet spot and pulled out a note he had memorized many days earlier so he had not cared to take it out last night. Reading through it, he found no new information in this note, though it was written by Notios. It had been Notios who first taught Erter he could use magic after picking Notios up on the trip to Erial as a hitchhiker. This is the same Notios that is the greatest mage in recent memory.
    Flipping it around in his hands, he noticed something odd. When he turned it away from the light, some letters disappeared. Moving the paper between his eyes and the sun, he looked through it and saw another message.
    If you are reading this, Erter, you are surely frustrated and annoyed in being unable to find the shop I told you to go to in Belshin. That is because it is not marked and no non-mage knows it is there. Sorry for not actually telling you, but if you got picked up by some bandits on the plains....
    The shop is in what looks like a deserted house on the riverfront. Once you step inside, take the wand you have and scrawl your name onto the wall with the mirror. That will open up the shop, so you can go inside. The shop is hidden from the general public for reasons you will probably understand. We aren’t a very well liked group here in Stegol.
    Best of luck,
    Notios of Kelpa
    That’s fairly helpful, Erter thought, moving towards the river front, since he knew which house to go to after wandering the village for hours the previous night. Moving up the path to the house, he walked carefully as not to trip over the many rocks and holes. He moved into the house, entering through where a door probably used to be. Moving down the main hall, he saw a worn bit of wall just beneath a mirror. Taking out his wand, he wrote out his name on the wall, Erter Wehned. Nothing visible seemed to happen for a moment, and Erter made a move to go back outside and read the secret message again. Suddenly, his name shined like a white fire from the spot where he had written it. The light grew and expanded, filling up an arch shaped area in the wall, though it did not cover the mirror, which simply moved off to a side. Words appeared on the mirror, which read:
    Welcome to the shop of Arisia, Mage of Belshin
    As the light died down in the arch, Erter looked through it into the area he figured had to be the shop. The house, which was very worn down with age seemed to be a very good cover for what was inside it. A well-lit hallway led down through, decorated with rugs from Reolm (the forest nation north of Bekaln) on the floors, with paintings by Almar De-Tarul in a few places. She must have really good business, Erter thought as he moved down the hallway.
    Suddenly, a bust at the far end of the hallway of some elderly man slid out into the center of the hallway, blocking it. The mouth opened, speaking with the voice of a woman.
    “State your name, purpose, who told you of this shop, and what your intentions are.” It said, very loudly, much more loudly then necessary.
    “Uh…” Erter responded, rather taken aback.
    “State your name, purpose, who told you of this shop, and what y…”
    “I get it, I get it” Erter said “Erter Wehned, trying to start out as a mage, Notios of Kelpa, and my intentions are a mystery to me.”
    “Eh… Good enough,” the bust said sliding back to its position, unblocking the hallway. Moving down the hallway and turning a corner, Erter walked out into a room filled with a great variety of strange and fairly familiar objects. On the far wall was a counter, behind which was a box and a door. On the wall with the door he had just passed through, were several staves, a rack with cloaks, and a shelf filled with books, all very old, or at least looked it. On the wall to Erter’s left were shelves, with the top shelves lined with jars and bottles of varying sizes filled with strange colored liquids and fogs. Also on those shelves, below the jars and bottles, were boxes with labels like ‘Cat tails’, ‘Dragonbreath’, and ‘Petrified Ants’. To the right were large crates, each labeled in a cryptic text, which Erter recognized to be Altabeshan, and Bekaln (both of which he could not read).
    With a rustle of beads and fabric, a very old woman with a large bend in her back and a cane, whom Erter guessed to be Arisia, walked in through the door behind the counter. Speaking with the same voice of the bust, Erter assumed she controlled it.
    “Most of the time people with mysterious intentions don’t get to come into my shop,” she said. “But with a connection to Notios, I thought I’d let it go.”
    “How do you know I wasn’t just lying about that?” Erter asked as he started to move farther into the room.
    “Combination of the spell Are tu Hutt and a hundred years of experience.” She said, shifting her weight to sit down on a hidden stool behind the counter, though her vertical height did not change. Erter walked farther into the room, moving over an examining the shelves on the left.
    “So Notios sent you to start out did he?” the woman asked, following Erter’s movements closely, though she still had a kindly demeanor. “From what I’ve heard, he hasn’t had an apprentice in a long time.”
    “I don’t know about that, but he sent me out to act independently of him now. So I’m not his apprentice either” Erter said, picking up a jar with a lightly glowing blue slime. “What is this?” he asked.
    “Gel of Reama-Gryphon’s Tears,” she said “and I think Notios may have made a big mistake this time.” She added, looking directly at Erter as she said it.
    “And why is that?” asked Erter fairly flustered.
    “No one, no matter how skilled, can be trained into an adequate mage in short enough a time as to not reach my ears,” she said.
    “I learned enough to manage,” he said, beginning to imagine a reason why the woman lived on her own in a hidden house other than she was a mage.
    “I suppose I’ll have to trust Notios’ judgment of this,” she said “though, if you are good enough to learn the basics that fast, you had better become the best that’s ever been.”
    “I don’t know about that, but I’ll see what I can do,” Erter commented.
    “Any-whoo, so what did Notios say you needed,” she asked, getting up from her stool and moving around the counter.
    “He said ‘the basics’,” Erter said, “and I was hoping you knew what that meant.”
    “Of course. Over one hundred years of running a shop, you know what people need,” she said, as Erter thought as to why she seemed enthralled to bring up how long she had been working. She slowly walked over to the wall with the customer entrance in it.
    “First, the necessities,” she muttered, mostly to herself but just loud enough for Erter to hear. She brought Erter over to a bowl filled with what looked like water. Taking Erter’s hand, he dipped the tips of the fingers into the water. It suddenly started glowing brightly, casting shadows behind the two of them. Arisia looked surprised for a moment but hid the expression quickly, going over to the counter and pulling out a cord. She then wrapped it around Erter’s waist, with Erter watching her as she did. He noticed the cord had 000 written on it. The ink of the zeros seemed to water down as the cord went around his waist, quickly becoming smudges, drying out soon after form the number 140.
    “Hmm, a little heavy,” she said, walking over and grabbing a staff of oak out of one of the boxes. Walking back over to the counter, she cut the staff down until it was about 3 inches shorter than him and left it sitting on top of the counter.
    “I already have a wand,” Erter noted, pulling out the stick with the quartz crystal at the tip as she left the staff leaning against the counter.
    “Wands are only useful when you are trying to get killed, or if you have negligible magical power,” she said, going over to a small box on the counter, picking up some gemstones. “And those usually go together,” she added.
    “It seems to work just fine when I do spells,” Erter said, looking over his wand.
    “A wand cannot focus magical energy to its greatest extent,” Arisia said simply, her back Erter as she picked up, looked at, and put down several different stones. “The ratio isn’t even close to the Breelan numbers, unless you have almost no magical ability.”
    Looking over at his wand, she added, “And quartz isn’t anywhere near your affinity in magic. I’m surprised your spells can do anything.”
    “What do you mean?” he asked, looking down at his wand questioningly. Sighing, Arisia looked at him.
    “Every mage can cast any type of spell. However, the soul of each mage is more attuned to certain types of magic-use, the mages affinity, whether that is dark, light, the various elements, or hybrid,” she explained. “The stone you use at the end of your staff acts as a purifier and amplifier of sorts. If the stone you use doesn’t match up with your affinity, and has a large purifying property, it will have back up and not allow magic through. Quartz doesn’t back up easily but it doesn’t amplify the spell at all, so they are very weak.”
    “So if I wanted a stone that worked well for me, what would I use?” Erter asked, now curious.
    “Probably emerald or peridot. Maybe a green opal,” she said, looking back into the box of stones. “But your affinity is very uncommon,” she added.
    “How uncommon?” Erter asked, curious about it.
    “That doesn’t matter,” she said, seeming to decide to be unhelpful. “What we need to decide is what stone you want. Emerald has a greater amplifying power, but if that particular stone is even slightly off your affinity, if gets backed up easily. Peridot is very unhelpful in amplifying power but is nearly impossible to back up if it’s off a little bit. An opal amplifies the greatest of any gem, and is impossible to back up.”
    “Well, an opal would be more helpful for me then,” Erter said, walking over to look at the stones in the stone box.
    “The problem is,” she said, looking over to him. “That unless your affinity matches perfectly with the opal, it won’t amplify at all.”
    “What should we try then?” Erter asked, now concerned about opals.
    “Emeralds first, as not to waste time on opals,” Arisia said, picking up six emeralds from the counter, ranging from a light green to the darkest of greens. “Pick up each stone, one at a time.” Erter did as he was told, picking up each one of the stones one at a time. They all felt the same, each like a cold, uncut stone. She however looked intently at each as he held, seeming to expect something to happen. However, nothing did, and she seemed rather disappointed.
    “Hmm…” she said, seeming to be slightly annoyed. “Peridot next.” She took each emerald and placed it into the bin, taking out four pieces of peridot, each a clearer and lighter color to the emeralds. Doing the same as before, he picked each up and held it as she watched expectantly. The result was the same this time too, each peridot doing nothing and feeling the same. Arisia picked up each of the pieces and dropped them into the bin, seeming to be very annoyed.
    “Not one of these stones is anywhere near your affinity,” she said looking into the box, annoyed. “And all the other stones will be even farther away.”
    “We still have opals to try,” Erter said looking at her.
    “The chance of an opal affinity is next to none,” she said, but she still picked up several green opals out of the bin. Handing the first one to him, he held the stone in his hand. Expecting it to feel similar to the stones already tried, Erter was surprised. It, on the level of normal senses, felt the same. The best comparison Erter could think of was how when you touch your own arm, you feel it with both your hand and your arm independently. It was the same feeling as he touched the stone. Erter loosened his grip slightly at the feeling and looked down at his hand. Arisia, who was still watching intently, smiled slightly.
    “Looks like you beat the odds,” she said simply, picking up the stone. Walking over back behind the counter again, she pulled out a grinding wheel. Working the stone down, she took only a short time to get it to what was apparently the right size. At that point, she left the room, heading back through the door behind the counter. Erter looked at her as she left, curious as to where she was going. She returned quickly, carrying a worn staff in one hand, made out of a gray wood, the top of which curled around a pale blue piece of turquoise. The wood of the staff was carved with age, deep furrows winding around it. Taking the opal and placing it at the top of the oak staff on the counter, Arisia took a step back and held up her staff.
    “Nevi Gohrt,” she said with force, tensing the arm she held the staff with, and looking at the place where wood met opal on the counter staff. Erter, also watching, saw as the oak at that point slowly began to change shape. It grew out in small tendrils, going up and wrapping around the stone in an organic sort of pattern. When the tendrils touched, they merged, only to separate almost instantly into opposite directions. After a few seconds, the opal was encased in the web of solid oak wood. Arisia loosed the muscles in her arm and the wood stopped growing, solidifying into its shape.
    Picking up the formed staff, she threw it lightly to Erter who caught it. Once again, he got the feeling of his hand touching another part of his body as he held it tightly with two hands horizontally in front of him. Letting go with his left hand, he swung it down so it was against his right side.
    “Now you’re starting to look like a mage,” Arisia said, smiling. She walked around the counter again and asked, “What color cloak do you want?”
    “Well, dark blue is my favorite color,” Erter answered. Nodding, Arisia walked to the rack with the cloaks and picked out one dark blue in color and threw it to Erter. Dropping his satchel and putting the cloak on partially, he noticed it to be about 6 inches too short. Before he could mention that though, Arisia again held out her staff.
    “Denetx,” she said, the cloak’s bottom edge growing down until it was the appropriate full length. Putting up the hood, the shadow cast by it covered his face. She picked up a small silver brooch that also held a green opal in it, almost identical to the one in his staff, and clasped the cloak together. Stepping back, she looked him up and down.
    “Now, where do you keep your gerains?” she asked, looking him over. Picking up his satchel, Erter picked up the small leather bag with the stones in it and threw it to her. Catching it, she shook her head.
    “There are so many things wrong with this bag…,” she said.
    “What? It carries the gerains I need,” Erter said, annoyed a little since almost everything he had done so far involving spells was wrong.
    “It is too small, and the material is animal skin. It absorbs too much of the energy as it is released,” she explained. “Do you know what even happens with gerains?”
    “They are the source of the magical energy used in spells,” Erter said confidently.
    “No, they aren’t. They are stones of a nature that they absorb large amounts of the ambient energies in the environment. They are also too unstable to maintain they’re structure if the magic is removed from it. The ambient energies they absorb are identical to the energies used to perform spells, but there is too little of it in anyone place to make use of.”
    “The different colors represent the particular magic energy stored within,” Erter said. “Blue is water essence, red fire, brown earth, and clear-white is air” Sighing, Arisia shook her head again.
    “Every gerain has energy from all the magic energies, hence the variances in shades and colors. The predominant energy’s color is the predominant color. Also, you missed three types of gerains, light, dark, and hybrid.”
    “I don’t have any of those,” Erter said quietly.
    “They are very rare since the elemental magics, the ones you have gerains for, are dominant almost always and the only time force magic is dominant is in areas where there is little of any form of magic so they can take over,” she said.
    “What do they look like?” Erter said.
    “Dark is black, Light is clear-yellow, and Hybrid is gray-green” she said simply.
    Opening the gerain pouch Erter tossed to her, she looked inside.
    “There are not a lot in here,” she said. Dumping out the satchel, several of the stones bounced around, with lots of dust falling onto the counter. “You had to have used a lot of gerains in order to get this dust.”
    “I suppose I do. I use spells for everything I know spells for,” Erter said.
    “Always a flaw of starting mages… It is best to do mundane tasks mundanely as to save your access to magic,” she said.
    “Alright,” Erter said, not really noting it. She looked at him for a second, then grabbed cloth pouch, and put his gerains in and filled it the rest of the way with two handfuls of various gerains. From what Erter saw, none of the ones she added were Force-type gerains. Tying the bag shut, she walked over and handed it to Erter. Following that, she walked over to the shelf with the ancient looking books and picked one up. Erter followed her over, looking at the names of the books. He had difficulty reading them since they were in old Stegolian, but he got the idea of what they were saying. Arisia flipped through the one she had in her hands, eventually putting it down. Picking up another and flipping through it, she put it back on the shelf as well. Erter sat and watched quietly for several minutes as she continued to flip through each book one by one.
    Eventually she apparently found the book she was looking for. It seemed newer than the others on the shelves and the language of the title was more modern, Basic Principles of Magic. She turned around and handed it to Erter.
    “That should be the last thing you need,” she said.
    “Thank you,” Erter said picking up his bag and putting the book inside. He then put it on over his shoulders but underneath his cloak.
    “Now as for payment…,” she said looking at him intently again.
    “Notios said that you should contact him and he would pay,” Erter said simply.
    “Hmm… alright. I will do that later. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?,” she asked.
    “Do not believe so,” Erter said, grabbing his staff. “Thanks again.” Nodding, she turned around, headed behind the counter, and back through the door. Erter left through the customer entrance and out the secret hallway. As he did so the arch closed back up and the mirror moved back into its place. The words on the mirror shown brightly and changed to ‘Have a nice day’, before they dimmed and disappeared into the glass.
    Heading out into the day, Erter walked through the northern town entrance, passing several hung-over bar patrons who were walking slowly along the same road out of town.
    Must be a well liked bar to attract people from other towns, Erter thought as he continued up the road.