The Ordeal
Part One: Orkos
The young boy sat down on his bed, the house emptied of all but his small dog, who was roaming somewhere in the house. He was sixteen, with brown hair that was slightly curly, built well and with hazel eyes. Aidan looked at the book in his hand thoughtfully, considering its contents. It looked brand new, with a glossy finish over the brown cover, which read, "So You Want to Be a Wizard?" It had been on the clearance rack and looked interesting enough at the large bookstore he had been at. Yet, he could not shake the feeling that this book held purpose, and had a greater depth and meaning to it than he would ever understand.
And so he bought it. Now that his parents were out shopping, running errands and whatever else it was they did, Aidan opened the book with nothing else to do on the sunny, warm summer's day. Aidan flipped the book open. Amidst warning of wizards, the affects and effects it had on animals, eyes, trees, and so forth, he read the Wizard's Oath, which the manual had opened to nearly instantly.
It seemed to jump open to the page, with earnestness, as though it was alive. Surprised, Aidan shook the feelings away. He looked over the words, in plain block text, in the middle of the page. Nothing special about the page indicted it was, in fact, something special. With the top spelling "Wizard's Oath" in larger letters, he read.
In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; nor will I change any creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will ever put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is fit to do so – looking always toward the Heart of Time, where all sundered times are one and all our myriad worlds lie whole, in that from which they proceeded…
As he read, his excitement built. Ever since he was young, he had wanted to be part of magic. The books he read, the movies he watched, all had the flair and excitement that somewhere, at one time or another, there were great battles being fought with magic and might. His parents simply called it an over excessive imagination, and maybe they were right. Nonetheless, his dreams never faltered in the face of their opposition, as he would one day hope to be a wizard. And this seemed legit. Who would want to write a book on being a wizard if it's not real? And to add to Aidan's thought that this could be real, the book was very large.
And, and then… nothing. Aidan searched for something, anything to be different. The birds still chirped, the sun still shined, and he felt no different. He waited, slowly, waiting to see a change. Yet a feeling, a gut feeling in his stomach, in his soul, that told him something was different. But he couldn't tell, as far as anything, that anything had changed. His excitement quickly turned to dismay as he began to look back on what he had just done, thinking it real, and hoping for something beyond the life which he now lead.
Doubt quickly poured into his mind. For as long as he could recall, magic was real, waiting to be discovered somewhere. Why not a bookstore? This book, which seemingly caught his hand, that contained, as far as he could tell, great power, was going to hopefully change him into his dream. Idiot. Aidan thought, laughing at himself in embarrassment. I should have known, this was too easy.
After a sigh, he resigned himself to simply turning to the first part of the now normal book, with simply an imaginative author. Preface, it read, and hungrily he began to read. It may not be real, but it was still a book. An original, interesting one at that.
WIZARDS Populate the Universe, to slow the entropy, or death, that the Lone One wove into the fabric of the universe (for more information on the topic of entropy and the lone one, please refer to 'creation and entropy').
Wizardry is something not to be taken lightly. Wizardry is offered to one by the powers that be, the creators of the universe (more information can be found on the powers: roles in creation, life, and wizardry).
Please turn the page for characteristics found in many potential wizards. Please note, however, one does not necessarily need to meet most of the requirements or characteristics to possess the skills of wizardry. In fact, some of the greatest, most famous of these were people who possessed very few of the characteristics found here. It is simply a broad generalization of a common theme found in the universal population of the wizarding community.
He turned the page, inquiring what the characteristics were, what his criteria was. As he read, a smile soon grew on his face. Good reader… that was first, and among many other criteria, reading seemed to be most important. To him, at least it was. After reading, on the other side of the page, it was a warning to all potential wizards. A warning of the dangers wizardry possessed, how you could die. Of an ordeal, of random interspatial fluctuations, and of a hundred different ways that one could become injured, hurt or killed. Some of these were actually rather humorous.
One could go missing, for instance, from a quantum terraspatial bubble in which, during a teleportation spell, one appears inside the core of a star rather than at the desired location. Or, if the Powers that Be demand repayment from a massive spell or mistake, it usually ended in the death of oneself. Well… perhaps not all these are so funny, he thought turning the page warily. His smile which he had worn was slowly fading.
If this is real… and that oath is binding… why didn't I read any of this before? I always jump the gun and do stupid things! And, with a nervous slowness Aidan turned the page and found it titled, 'What Wizards Do: Benefits'. Even if this isn't real, it is still giving me the creeps. The author takes it seriously enough…
Here, he read, and was caught absolutely off guard as to what he found. Have a conversation with a star, a cup of tea with a tree; listen to the rocks, travel galaxies, planets, worlds. All this was available to a wizard, things he had never imagined, things and ideas which, to him, blew his mind. He was not familiar with this kind of wizardry. He turned the page.
In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; nor will I change any creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will ever put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is fit to do so – looking always toward the Heart of Time, where all sundered times are one and all our myriad worlds lie whole, in that from which they proceeded…
He read it a second time with growing excitement and enthusiasm that this, this was real. And by taking this Oath, he would make a difference. When he finished reading it aloud for the second time, a strange silence fell, and yet nothing happened when finished. And even if nothing happened, he was content. After reading through the preface, he felt the Oath carried a meaning behind it that he previously hadn't understood. This time, he wanted it to be real. He felt it was real, and not just from some author's overactive imagination in writing a large book on wizardry. There was something more to it, something more…
Loudly, startling Aidan as he sat on his neatly made bed while pouting slightly with the fact that all was the same yet again, his parents walked inside carrying with them the smell of the local Chinese restaurant's food that wafted up the steps into his room. "Aidan, dinner!" came his mother's voice with the clinking of silverware being laid out. "Coming!" Aidan called back, realizing that he had forgotten to eat lunch and feeling his stomach grumble noisily. He set the book down neatly on his dresser, which sat next to his bed, and stood, stretched, and walked downstairs to eat the delicious meal which awaited him.
Later, after the dishes had been finished and the Sun had set, Aidan stumbled up to his room, his hair wet from the shower he had just taken, and put his pajamas on. He got into his bed, picked up his new book and hungrily, like a child starved of food, began to read from where he left off. He made no notice on the fact that the small book had expanded in size. This… is really cool. Even if… even if it not real, he thought.
Slowly, as he read and the hours fled by, he drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep. The book lay on top of his chest, oscillating up and down with the heaves of breathing. Of life. The book seemed to shake with excitement, and Aidan fell into the darkness of sleep, not knowing how different his life truly was now.
