The Tale of Tecwyn, Ch2 - Survival
The second chapter of my novel.
Last we saw Tecwyn, he fell from a cliff, badly wounded. How will his story unfold?
...Or so he thought.
The impact when hitting the river was painful, but the cold water shocked his mind awake.
His body was wracked with pain, but his instincts to survive kicked in, giving him the energy to swim back up to the surface.
Caught in the rapids of the river, he could not move much, and there were no shores to climb out in this canyon. All he could do is see where this would take him, but in his current state, he would not be able to stay afloat for long.
He looked around but there was nothing else to hold on to and he started to panic. 'All because of this bracelet' Tecwyn thought to himself. 'If it weren't for this, I wouldn't be in this mess'.
Still, regardless of the problems it gave him, it had also been the reason he set out on this journey.
Focusing himself, he thought what he could do. Magic might take too long to cast, but he still had charges left in his artefact. 'One fire, and one ice. I won't have enough to evaporate the water, so fire will be useless. However, ice would be useful...' An idea formed in his head. Gathering his strength, he concentrated on creating an platform of ice behind him with his bracelet, so he could climb up on it.
He got on, still channelling his magic to turn the ice into a makeshift boat, keeping the water out. 'In this weather, the ice should hold long enough' He thought to himself as he laid down, his wounds and fatigue catching up with him. All he could do now is hope this river took him to a place where he could recover.
The river carried the ice swiftly, but there likely wouldn't be any place to get off soon. To pass the time and manage his pain, Tecwyn resorted to meditation. He learned to do so during his studies, as a method to increase focus and shut out all irrelevant outside influences.
The cold and discomfort faded away as his mind refocused on the events that led him to leave home, the reason he set out on his journey. He focused on this part specifically because he hoped it would reinforce his will to see this through.
While the bracelet was part of the origin, the true motivation started about ten months ago, back at the archive of Kriun. As part of teaching the students responsibility (as well to save money on cleaning costs), they were assigned chores to keep the academy in pristine state.
That fateful day, it had been the responsibility of Tecwyn and two of his fellow students to clean the old archive, where older tomes and outdated spell books were kept.
Most students knew to keep away from these spells, though that was through experience rather than precaution. For them, it had not been any different. Between cleaning, the three were looking through the tomes, eager to learn new techniques or anything that could increase their skills or enhance their prestige.
Grabbing one of the tomes, Sileo, another student, heard a click, unlocking the entrance to the forbidden part of the archive. It had always been a challenge between students to find and enter this part without being caught by the wards or traps within. A test of courage so to speak. Of course, only about half of the students managed to find it, let alone enter it. Tecwyn had been here multiple times without even finding it, so having this chance piqued his curiosity. "Wow, I cannot believe you found it" Gladys said to Sileo, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Should we go in there?" "I think that would be a good idea, who knows if we will have another chance" Tecwyn added, smiling wide. "I...actually am not so sure" Sileo said meekly, barely louder than a whisper. "We could get in serious trouble if we are caught" Gladys and Tecwyn both looked at him, disappointed in their cowardly companion. "Seriously you two, what if the teachers find out, I don't want to be punished" Sileo was visibly quivering at this thought. Which was partially understandable, those that got caught did get severely punished, like rations being cut and an increase in chores for starters, but this was not a deterrent for both Tecwyn and Gladys. "Still, if it's that well protected, there is bound to be something good in there" Tecwyn mused aloud. "It might be worth checking it out regardless" "Definitely, and don't forget, simply entering will give us respect among our peers. 'Those that seek knowledge should not be barred by obstacles' right? Our academy's creed!"
Sileo whimpered, his tail curling around him as he became unsure of his next actions. He looked at the others, before quietly saying "As....as long as we use protective charms...we should be fine" Hearing this, Gladys cheered, excited at the prospect of entering where they shouldn't be. The forbidden archives were too tempting to leave behind.
For Tecwyn, it was more the prospect of new skills to learn. In this academy skill was valued above all, and he wanted to prove himself to the others, excelling in magic, since he wasn't skilled in anything else. It might have been a wrong reason to trespass, but even surrounded with peers, he felt lonely, never making a connection with the others, due to an inherent rivalry system in place at the academy.
As they started preparing their protective charms, the room started to glow with the energy they radiated. They each used their own form of enchantments, based on their own skills. For Tecwyn himself, this was reciting the spell in the old draconic language, slowly moving his claws around and drawing symbols in the air. As he finished the incantation, the symbols merged together and bathed him in a warm glow. Gladys seemed to be using a scroll for this purpose, which she seemingly had prepared beforehand. Maybe she had expected to find the hidden archive or just wanted to have it just in case.
Finally Sileo was softly singing to himself, creating waves of energy around him that manifested in glyphs across his body. It had always been interesting to see the different methods of spellcasting, though the effects were virtually the same.
All three of them became focused, standing before the entrance to the forbidden archive. Gladys took out a small pouch from under her vest, filled with dust. "Never hurts to have a method of detecting magical residue" she said as she winked to the others and sprinkled it around the doorway. A tiny spark glimmered in the area she had spread the dust, and they made sure to give it as wide a berth as they could.
Gladys headed in first, repeating the process as the two male dragons followed close behind her as they manoeuvred their way around magical traps. "Good thing you had the dust ready for this, Gladys"
"Well, that's not exactly an accident. I like to carry this around just in case. It pays to be prepared. That and I also talked to those that entered here before so I would be prepared." Tecwyn was surprised by this, Gladys never seemed to put so much thought in her studies, but they never talked outside of class, so there was much he did not know.
Still this was a boon to them, they might even get through this without getting caught. No sooner had he thought this, or he heard a loud thump behind him. He looked back and saw Sileo had tripped and fallen against a bookcase, but luckily nothing seemed to be wrong. His fellow student seemed to be all right, but he went to help him up regardless. As he did this, his leg suddenly felt heavy and cold. He had stepped into a trap, which encased his leg in ice. "That doesn't look good Tecwyn" Sileo weakly said, his claw pressed against his head where he hit himself while falling. "Good thing you had a protective charm, otherwise you would have likely been fully encased." He concentrated and started to sing, channelling a small flame to melt the ice, fearful of setting off another trap. Gladys on the other hand was ignoring them and made her way to the other end of the archive, and eagerly grabbed a random tome from the shelf.
Before long, the two hear annoyed sighs from their reading companion, followed by a series of sounds, each angrier than the one before. Gladys was now walking between the bookcases, grabbing different tomes, opening them and scanning the contents, before repeating the process all over, looking more frustrated with each tome she read. "All these worthless wastes of paper are empty!" she almost yelled in anger, now tossing the read tomes to the ground. "Not a letter on any of the pages. Did they think this is some kind of joke?"
"That can't be right...there should be something in there, I mean, what is the point otherwise?" Sileo broke through the ice and worry crept up his face again. "Do you two think this was a trap after all? Just to see who misbehaves?"
"Well, whether it's a trap or a joke, I am definitely not laughing either way. Here, look it over." To punctuate it, she threw one of the tomes over to Sileo, who barely managed to catch it but lost his balance. Tecwyn quickly grabbed him, preventing him from falling, but Sileo dropped the book due to the sudden stop, which fell in the direction of a larger patch of residue.
Time seemed to slow down as they saw the tome fall, another trap likely to be activated. There was not enough time to do anything, no spell to be cast and reaching out would be too late. Tecwyn just closed his eyes and waited for the sound of the book hitting the ground. Before that came, he heard Sileo gasp rather loudly, and moments later, the thud, which was rather soft and distant.
He opened his eyes slowly, and saw the book was missing. "It...Just fell through the floor..." said Sileo as he lowed himself to the floor, sitting and not wanting to move. Hearing the ruckus, Gladys joined the two "What is going on here?" she asked, but they ignored her, focused on the strange spot. Magical residue was still visible around it, so whatever enchantment it had was active. "Maybe a form of teleportation?" Tecwyn mused as he stepped closer to it.
Nervously, he stretched his arm towards it, reaching out to touch it. The silence was palpable, not a sound came from the others as they simply stared, holding their breath. Tecwyn expected to feel the cool touch of the floor, or the energetic crackling of magic. Instead, he felt nothing, as he saw his claw go through the floor instead. Surprised, he blinked and pulled back. He went towards it again, but this time, he kneeled down and brought his face towards the the mysterious floor. There seemed to be an invisible hole under this part of the floor, and Tecwyns head passed through it into complete darkness. On a hunch he recited the password for the magical lamps spread throughout the academy, and sure enough, the lights started to flicker, slowly revealing a short hallway with a corner at the end. Below the hole was just a short drop, easy enough to jump into without problems. Having scouted the immediate area in the hole, Tecwyn motioned for the others to follow him as he moved himself to the edge, placing his feet in the hole. To be safe, he curled his wings around him as he pushed himself off the edge and jumped into it.
He landed safely and was quickly followed by Gladys and then hesitantly by Sileo, both intrigued by this new path. "I don't think any traps should be here, this place is too randomly hidden. Call it a hunch" Gladys said after looking around. She continued "Think about it, its hidden in a random part of a floor, in a chamber full of traps making everyone already nervous for any form of magic in the room. The chamber itself is also hidden and has empty tomes in it. My guess is that they expect people to give up after finding out, and the only ones entering are students anyway." "But what would warrant all these defences and mind games? Do you think we found the true forbidden archive?" "Seems like it yes, though by the state of this hallway, I'd say it should be renamed the forgotten archive. Look at all the dust and cobwebs."
Tecwyn thought Gladys had a good point as he walked through the hall. The lights seemed to be older models and this area was in disrepair. Turning the corner, they came into a larger room filled with tomes, scrolls and artefacts. Looking at this, they knew they were in the true forbidden archive, though they had expected it to be in a better state. Everything was just clumped into piles, strewn around the room and in no particular pile. More importantly, there seemed to be a distinct lack of magic in the room. Tecwyn noticed that as he approached one of the piles and inspected the items in it. The artefacts were uncharged and the books were of the old kind, without magic inscribed in the pages.
Still, the three of them split up and looked around, hoping to find something to take with them. As long as it stayed in the academy, it wasn't stealing to most of the students.
They all knew it was wrong of course, but this was one of the ways to get an edge without actively sabotaging others, something most students felt was too far.
Most of the artefacts were in states of disrepair and thus useless to the three mages. Too many questions would be asked if they tried to get this repaired.
The texts were not useless however. Sifting through the tomes, they mostly seemed to be in the old languages or dialects and some were even in the dead languages. While Tecwyn didn't understand any of it, he could study this in his own time. Still, he could not know what was in them, so he skimmed over the content, picking out tomes where drawings and instructions were in, and stacked them aside on a pile. His eye then fell on one of the grimoires. It wasn't the most remarkable book, although it had some interesting runes and designs on the cover. What made it stand out was that it was sealed by a force almost too small to notice. Still, he could not get it open, making him wonder what was hidden inside of it.
They did not have much room to take things with them, so Tecwyn finally decided on a scroll detailing a ritual, as well as the closed book, hiding them under his clothes, just in case. He couldn't make out what the others took with them, but he planned on talking to them later, see if they were willing to share information amongst each other.
Having each gotten something from the archive, they headed back down the corridor, staring up at the hole above. There wasn't a conventional method of getting out, but that formed no problem for skilled mages as themselves. Tecwyn signalled that he would take care of this as he started to recite the words. Summoning ice was not difficult by itself, but shaping it proved hard when casting. Normally, it would cover an area designated by the mage, but he needed it above ground level. To manage this, he needed to intersperse the phrases for levitation at the right moments, but he managed to get the platforms of ice where he wanted to, creating a staircase to bring them close enough to climb out. Sileo went first, eager to get out of this room and back to their original task, while Tecwyn and Gladys were not in the same hurry.
Before long, they exited the trapped room, but a surprise was waiting for them in the archive. "Look what we got here, trespassers in the forbidden archive?" It was one of the teachers of the academy, standing in the archive with his arms crossed and an angry frown on his face. "I heard one of the alarms of the room go off, only to find students slacking off and poking their snouts where they shouldn't. You will be in big trouble later." Gladys countered with her angry retort "Why put all those traps there if it's just to protect a bunch of empty books?"
"So you made it to the other side hmm? Well, in that case I can admit we just put those there to see which of our students actually show self-restraint and which go against our orders." "Just a test..." Sileo muttered softly. Tecwyn stayed silent during this exchange as he tried to look guilty. The three of them discovered more than what they let on, but they needed to act as if they had failed the 'test' in order to keep the things they took with them. Luckily, the teacher only noted down their names to report them to the head of disciplinary actions and then left them alone to finish their original task of cleaning.
Finishing the task in silence, they each went their own way and Tecwyn headed to his dorm room. The scroll was written in a language called Ar'teo, the whispers of earth as it roughly translated. He recognised the runes from class, but still needed to study this old language. Still, the original tribe that made these intrigued him, being a shamanistic and nomadic group that revered the very earth. The magic they created was mostly based around tending to soil and enriching plants, but still a nice find he was eager to study. The book on the other hand stayed closed. In the light of his room, he could make out some runes that seemed to be a mixture of multiple languages, but oddly sorted as well. 'Maybe these are a hint to open it' He thought to himself, but after the excitement of the day, he could not make any sense of it.
The repercussions from trespassing were lighter than he expected, just some more chores, being grounded for some weeks and a few extra classes detailing the importance of listening to your superiors. Aside from that, they got off rather lightly, proving that it was a test after all. Being grounded helped studying, so it was not all too bad for him. The scroll turned out to be useless, the ritual drawn on it was in fact just a diagram how to plant seeds properly, likely mixed in with some more valuable scrolls.
The book on the other hand did not share its secrets so easily. The runes on the cover each matched various languages, but there wasn't one that shared all the same runes in it. Months passed while Tecwyn spent all his free time deciphering this puzzle, but every time he thought he got closer, the results just did not make sense.
It was a frustrating task to be sure, but this only convinced Tecwyn more that the contents were valuable.
Until finally, four months after he found the book, he decided to try something else. Since the normal method of translation did not work, there must have been another cypher behind it. Making a list of all possible languages used for the various runes, he cross checked for any similarities between them and found a set of languages being used in the same era. On a hunch, he translated each rune with the languages in that set. The resulting words did not create a password or coherent sentences, but there was something about the words that made him feel like he was on the right track..
He was convinced he had the translations right, but still was at a loss what to do with them, so he studied the runes more closely, hoping to find a clue to the correct order.
Using a magnifying glass, he examined the cover of the book. The leather it was bound in showed signs of age, though it was clear that it was older than it looked, preserved with the skills of a very gifted craftsman. The runes on it were engraved on it, but otherwise unremarkable. He adjusted the light to shine from multiple angles, hoping there was something he simply overlooked, until finally, he did find something. One of the runes had a slightly different coloured part in it, barely noticeable. With a pincer, he poked it only to see it flake off. It likely had been added in with paint but faded and flaked over the course of time.
This was the clue Tecwyn had been waiting for. He could not use it in its current state, but he got an idea how he could get the most out of this clue. One wing of the academy was dedicated to the maintenance, repair and restoration of old tomes or broken objects. They had devised a spell allowing one to see how an object used to look, by analysing the components. The remains of paint on it might react with this spell, giving another hint hopefully. It wasn't hard per se to get hold of the spell in question, but he had to trade in a lot of favours for those. He had come this far with trying to uncover the secrets of the grimoire, so a few more sacrifices were accepted. He did needed to wait a few days to gather the required reagents and make sure that there wasn't anyone else around. It likely wouldn't cause any problems if someone saw him, but he wanted to play it safe regardless.
Finally, the day came for the spell, as he made sure that everything was in order. He had used chalk to inscribe runes and other magical symbols on the ground in a big circle, as detailed by the copy he obtained, placing various reagents on their places in the drawing. He placed the book in the centre, lighted the candles at the edge of the circle and dimmed the other lights, reciting the words for the activation of the ritual. As soon as the final word left his mouth, the chalk started to sizzle and the reagents burned up, their essence coming together and creating a swirling mass of magic floating in the middle of the room. Within it, shapes became gradually clearer, until the tome became clear inside of it, or rather, a vision of how it used to look. The runes were brightly coloured in this version, and he noticed a pattern in it. Cross-referencing it with his notes, it looked like the runes spelled out instructions of elements and shapes to cast.
He could almost cheer from excitement, he knew he was getting close and started to cast the first spell, a simple fire ball but as a cube.
As this cube connected to the book, it started to glow with energy, humming slightly as the runes started to glow. Excited, he went on to the next, but as that hit the book, the spell just fizzled and the humming stopped.
He immediately tried again, and again, and again. But all attempts failed. He tried multiple methods, different orders, but nothing worked. Frustrated he headed to bed, changing into his nightclothes, still grumbling at yet another puzzle.
It was at that point he saw his bracelet. He had forgotten about it since he did not have many chances to use it, but this allowed him to cast three spells at once. Having tried and exhausted all other methods, he decided to just give it a go, carefully preparing the right elements and focusing the shapes in his mind.
He breathed in, tension flowing through him as he let out all energy at once, hitting the book with the three charges.
To his surprise, this actually worked and the book started glowing intensely.
With a flash, it transformed in another book altogether, magical energy flowing from it as it floated above the ground. He touched it and felt a connection to the book as it opened up, seemingly having a mind of its own. The pages were blank but rapidly filled before his eyes. Descriptions of spells and theorems were laid bare before Tecwyn as he flipped through the pages. This book was a treasure trove of information to the mage, and he felt so happy that his hard work had paid off, when one particular page caught his interest. There was nothing magic related on this page, simply a drawing of a forest. The page next to it had a small description of the area drawn, the dark forests of Pelnos, just across the mountain range. It would have been a strange but nice image to be included in this grimoire, if it hadn't been for the final sentence: "Prove that you are a worthy successor, and my greatest treasure will be yours"
'Could this be a treasure map of sorts?' Tecwyn wondered about this, but there was no way to find it out. After all, he could not leave the academy while studying, and it was not likely he could convince someone to take him along on a journey without explaining where he got the book.
Still, it was nice to dream, but for now, he took a well-deserved rest.
The next months, he spent looking through the grimoire, seeing how it worked and which spells were contained within. While no new spell was found inside it, he did find out it shared a peculiar connection with him, noting down everything he had learned so far, making it a useful tool to remember things he knew or as a quick reference for spells or rituals. It also seemed to follow him around and was able to be quickly summoned to his hands without much of a thought. There was still much to discover about this, but for now, this information satisfied Tecwyn as he resumed his regular studies, vastly aided by this book. He of course kept it hidden from others, although he did want to show it to both Gladys and Sileo, but he kept missing them, as they did the same as he had done, locking themselves in their rooms to study. Regardless, the book was useful since one of its functions seemed to be to immediately open to the subjects he focused on, which made studying easier.
At this point, he was a happy dragon, being able to hold on to such a wonderful book and improving his studies. Still, the treasure spoken of in the book still was in the back of his mind, as he often looked at the drawing, wondering how it would look like, or even how the outside world would be. It always ended with him being disappointed in not being able to leave however. Little had he known then that he would get a chance later when the alarms went off.
Tecwyn woke up from his meditation. It had all been decided in the spur of the moment, but he had been confident that he could handle anything that headed his way, but the way he felt at this moment, he regretted letting his excitement get the best of him. Even though he did not have many friends back at the academy, he still had some contact with the teachers and the headmaster. The headmaster in particular had been like a parent to him, always being there with advice when he needed it. At this point, he felt more lonely than he had ever felt before. He felt like he was alone in the world, especially after the betrayal of someone he had trusted. He had been naïve and paid the price for it.
As he looked up to the sky, he saw the sun was starting to set. He had been drifting most of the day, but luckily was still alive. Still, for how long would he be able to keep this up he wondered. If no help would be found, he would surely perish. His wound still hurt a lot, draining energy from him as panic started to set in. At this point, he felt like crying, like he wanted to just run back home and be safe in the world he had known before. He wanted to...but he could not find the energy for it, passing out from the pain in a restless sleep.