"Try the incantation again, my young pupil, and this time
concentrate." Cedric was standing imposingly over me, peering over my
shoulder at the scroll I was reading from, as I struggled to master the
arcane words dancing before my eyes. This was my first actual spell, not a
simple bit of prestidigitation as were the few cantrips I had been allowed
to learn thus far, this was actual magic, and in the mind of a fourteen-
year-old boy, that was no small feat.
"Incanctos Magus Projectus." I intoned, and as I uttered the final syllable, a magical bolt of white-hot energy shot from my fingertip and sped towards the rock I had gestured to earlier. I jumped into the air and pumped my fist emphatically as I shouted in joy at the first successful spell I had ever cast.
"Congratulations young Devonin," said Cedric with an uncharacteristic grin, one that usually meant I was in for a verbal stabbing. "After eight years of drudgery, doing menial tasks, and sorting spell components you actually managed to cast the simplest of the simple spells, one that every mage knows and has long since discarded as useless, how very great for you." This was becoming a usual tactic for Master Cedric, making the greatest of my feats seem small and trivial so that I would work even harder to live up to my potential, in later years I came to think him for it, but as I told him at the time….
"But it was my first spell Master Cedric, the least you could do would be allow me my moment of pleasure." I was beginning to turn a light shade of red at this point, a sign that I was actually beginning to get upset. Master Cedric seemed to forget that the day he took me on as his apprentice, he told me that there was no way that I would be able to cast my first spell until I was fifteen, even sixteen. I had exceeded his expectation by two full years, and he refused to let me stop and appreciate the moment. But, as usual, my anger died away quickly, as it often did during the trials and tribulations of my early apprenticeship, and I stood back and observed my success with the cool detachment my master expected and required.
"Good, young Devonin, you finally understand that as exciting as the successful completion of a spell may be, there is always infinitely more to aspire to. Many professions cannot claim the same, many is the blacksmith or farmer that has learned all that he may of his chosen line of work, but not even the great Elminster himself knows everything there is to know about the Art. Now I must return to my studies, feel free to cast the spell a few more times, it is easy to memorize so the scrolls take no appreciable effort on my part. Join me in the study when you are through. And with that, Cedric left me to practice my first spell.
"Incanctos Magus Projectus." I intoned, and as I uttered the final syllable, a magical bolt of white-hot energy shot from my fingertip and sped towards the rock I had gestured to earlier. I jumped into the air and pumped my fist emphatically as I shouted in joy at the first successful spell I had ever cast.
"Congratulations young Devonin," said Cedric with an uncharacteristic grin, one that usually meant I was in for a verbal stabbing. "After eight years of drudgery, doing menial tasks, and sorting spell components you actually managed to cast the simplest of the simple spells, one that every mage knows and has long since discarded as useless, how very great for you." This was becoming a usual tactic for Master Cedric, making the greatest of my feats seem small and trivial so that I would work even harder to live up to my potential, in later years I came to think him for it, but as I told him at the time….
"But it was my first spell Master Cedric, the least you could do would be allow me my moment of pleasure." I was beginning to turn a light shade of red at this point, a sign that I was actually beginning to get upset. Master Cedric seemed to forget that the day he took me on as his apprentice, he told me that there was no way that I would be able to cast my first spell until I was fifteen, even sixteen. I had exceeded his expectation by two full years, and he refused to let me stop and appreciate the moment. But, as usual, my anger died away quickly, as it often did during the trials and tribulations of my early apprenticeship, and I stood back and observed my success with the cool detachment my master expected and required.
"Good, young Devonin, you finally understand that as exciting as the successful completion of a spell may be, there is always infinitely more to aspire to. Many professions cannot claim the same, many is the blacksmith or farmer that has learned all that he may of his chosen line of work, but not even the great Elminster himself knows everything there is to know about the Art. Now I must return to my studies, feel free to cast the spell a few more times, it is easy to memorize so the scrolls take no appreciable effort on my part. Join me in the study when you are through. And with that, Cedric left me to practice my first spell.