A/N
Bold is the Draconic language, translations are at bottom of page
'' are thoughts
Chapter 2: Walks, talks and experiments.
Xapferey awoke, feeling refreshed. As he looked through the bag, he realized it was a Bag of Holding, the largest size one could get, and found what the letter spoke of that would grant him magic. Another letter was wrapped around the two vials with the glowing green and blue liquids.
Hey Xapf, a word of advice, drink these on an empty stomach or you'll regret it. The green one will enhance your genetic code so it'll be easier to call forth your Draconic heritage. As you know, you can call it forwards to become a half-Dragon in time through the Dragon Disciple path; the second is a vial full of raw mana to build your magical core faster.
You'll become a spell/runecrafter I'm sure. I also included a book for you to get the basics and a strong grounding in runecrafting and magic, good luck.
X.A.S
'Well I don't have to meet Deedlit for another four hours…' Xapferey plugged his nose and gagged down the green liquid, then forced himself to choke down the blue vial before he collapsed in severe pain. It took an hour before Xapferey even felt remotely like going anywhere, and another five minutes to pull himself together enough to munch an apple and a small block of cheese to tide him over till lunch. 'Wow that hurt like a *****.' Xapferey swore to himself as he left his room at the Crystal Forest Inn.
Xapferey wound up being a few minutes early, as did Deed. She gave a small smile when she saw him. "Hello Xapferey."
"Hello Deedlit, how are you today?"
"I'm fine thank you." Xapferey walked with her and they made small talk as they browsed, Deedlit asked what Xapferey did before he came to Lodoss.
"I was training to be a healer for the mind, we did not have magic, and those who claimed to have it were charlatans and fakers. I am pretty sure this is not the same for Lodoss. But what we lacked in magic we made up for in technology and machines." Deedlit nodded in understanding, Xapferey was careful not to go too in depth, or for the fact he was from another plane of existence yet; and certainly not to mention he was aware of what was going on in Lodoss as of this moment; at least not yet.
The two continued around the market, and picked up food for a lunch in the park. Deedlit watched Xapferey covertly as they ate; something seemed off about him, something unnatural to the current world. Deedlit felt the spirit of air whisper that something about him was foreign to them, beyond human.
Deedlit then looked at the man himself, he was a tall broadly muscled young man with lustrous dark brown hair that fell neatly to his shoulders. His face was slightly rounded and boyish though his eyes were light and keen. Deedlit was wondering what was passing though his mind for the few moments she watched him covertly.
Xapferey was obviously well off considering he was dressed in a high quality black-laced tunic, leggings, boots, and cloak though the cloak had a tasteful and elegant gold trim with the designs of dragons flying near the base. As she noted before, the way he moved, the subtle grace of an obviously well trained fighter who had spend many years studying the craft.
Xapferey however noticed the slightly red tinge to Deedlit's face and smiled mentally, "So Deedlit, what do you want to do now?"
"There's a small forest not far from here, I was wondering if you would join me on a walk."
"Certainly." Xapfery joined the High Elf on the walk through the forest. "It's so much quieter here than back home. All the bustle and noise often drove me into the solitude of my home."
"Oh?"
"You have to understand Deedlit, our growth as a people is due to technology; magic in truth, and please don't take this as an insult before you hear my reasoning...magic tends to makes societies with access to it lazy." Deedlit looked at Xapferey in mild annoyance.
"How did you come by this reasoning?" She asked, deciding to hear him out.
"Think of it this way, would people seek to understand how to dam a river, with the materials required for it to be strong and endure for decades to come? This would require tremendous effort when a mage can just chant a spell and direct the flow of the river as they wished, much easier don't you agree?"
"If magic is so easy, then every village should have such a spellcaster… So why do they not have such casters?"
"Because though magic is mostly fictional from my perspective, I studied enough of the theories to make a decent case and what I see is this… Magic is hard to learn, be it if one learns at a college or if one is born with powers and it takes time; decades if not more, few if any reach such levels from human standpoints, you Elves have the advantage there."
"Fair point."
"Also consider the scarcity of those who can teach magic at advanced levels, these teachers would want to control the amount of students they receive. What do you think would happen if one of these students went rogue?"
"You certainly make a convincing case in that regard Xapferey, but what do you mean by lazy?"
"What I'm trying to say is that magic stagnates scientific progress, that's the point I'm trying to make. Personally the biggest problem I see is trying to maintain a balance, of magic and technology, if a balance could be made." Deedlit nodded thoughtfully.
"I see." There was an small silence before Xapferey changed the subject.
"So tell me, why is an Elf outside her homelands? I was under the assumption most Elves distrust and are even hostile to humans."
"Not all, a few outright are hostile to humans, me I was curious about humans, and I wished to learn more." Deedlit reached for an apple but Xapferey decided to test a theory, and with a slight twitch of his will the apple subtly avoided Deedlit's grasp. Deedlit frowned in confusion, certain she had grasped correctly, but it happened three more times before she caught on. "Oh you." Deedlit swatted at Xapferey playfully "so you have magic then? I did not hear you cast a spell."
"Yes, but the type of magic I was using there is called psionics, willpower, I just have to focus on my target." To demonstrate Xapferey levitated and caused an apple to do minor tricks in the air like a loop-de-loop, Deedlit nodded and snagged the apple to munch as well. "Oi." Xapferey protested to the smirking Elf who threw an apple that he caught easily. "But psionics alone are not the full extent of my new powers…"
Xapferey broke off and his eyes flicked covertly to the now very quietly rustling bushes, Deedlit's eyes widened at both what she heard and how sensitive Xapferey's hearing was before a group of goblins rushed out of the bushes. These Goblins were starving and desperate, having evaded patrols by the skin of their teeth at times so they charged the two.
Xapferey lifted his hand and tried to cast a spell. "Arcaniss xkhat nil'gnosi di bekilip." (1) As he chanted, he felt a rush of energy flow down his arm and out of his hand.
Said energy manifested as four glowing orbs of force in the form of a Magic Missile spell. The energy orbs shot from his palm and tossed back a couple goblins, so he decided to bring out some bigger guns, mindful of Deedlit's duel with a couple goblins. Xapferey gestured and two Scorching Rays blasted another pair of goblins, leaving their burnt corpses on the ground while another lunged from the bushes at Deedlit to try and stab her in the back after she finished her goblins. "DEEDLIT." Xapferey yelled and yanked his pistol out and double-tapped the goblin in the head.
Deedlit yelped at the furious cracks that assaulted her sensitive ears before a third crack echoed and the last goblin lay dead on the ground with a hole in its chest. Xapferey holstered his gun and raced to Deedlit "Are you alright?"
"Yes, what was that?"
"A weapon of my people."
"Why such a device?"
"I don't have an excuse for it really Deedlit, if we did not develop them, someone worse would have and used it against us." Deedlit grunted in response but sighed, grudgingly understanding Xapferey's reasons. He had just saved her life with said weapon. With permission, Xapferey walked Deedlit back to her inn, as he turned to leave Deedlit caught his wrist.
"Please do not think me mad at you, I would hope to see you tomorrow." Xapferey half turned and smiled at Deedlit.
"I look forwards to it." Xapferey said as he left for his inn and pulled out his book on magic, flipping to the parts on runecrafting. According to his book, runecrafting was one of the most versatile forms of magic, rather than relying on enchantments and specialized spells and skills, runecrafting required knowledge of one of the magical languages like Draconic, Celestial, or Abyssal and a malleable surface on which runes could be etched.
The book had multiple sections, all organized around enhancing items, or creating wards, but those took ridiculous amounts of time to create.
But one rune combination caught Xapferey's eye, it would enhance the protective value of armor, it could offer leather the durability and protection of extensive metal armor, without adversely affecting the material. Obviously many items had a limit to the amount of runic enhancements they could receive, though unlike regular enchanted items, runes could be changed around to have different effects. In other worlds, Runecrafters were rare and highly sought after due to their skills with magic, though Xapferey wondered if Wort, the great sage had any knowledge of runecrafting or others with the skill on Lodoss.
Xapferey also decided to speak with Myce, the gold Dragon ruling the kingdom of Moss and Bramd in the north. Even if the Dragons were unknowing of the craft, they would certainly wish to learn, for what self-respecting Dragon was ignorant of the Draconic language.
When it came to the runes on items, Xapferey would have to gain some more power before he could make the runes permanent. Though gaining that level of power would not happen for a few months at least. Xapferey continued to study and experiment with runecrafting for the day before he went to bed, exhausted from all the magic he had used.
*Pagebreak*
The next day Xapferey left for the woods early and alone for privacy. Once at an isolated clearing he began his martial art katas for an hour before switching to his sword katas. His blade whirled and spun expertly in his hands, the sword was perfect in his grip as if it had been an extension of his body.
After his katas, Xapferey went back into the town and purchased several sheets of metal, and using the book of magic he owned, he copied the Draconic symbols onto the sheet of metal, and with some guess work and experimentation he empowered the durability enhancing runes with magic, causing them to activate.
The novice runecrafter then flipped the metal sheets so that the runes were hidden from view and used his will to shuffle them as best he could randomly. Three sheets were runecrafted, the other three were not. He was trying to get as random an experiment as possible and without discerning which of the six plates were runecrafted; he arranged them in such a way that he could shoot them.
Afterwards he grabbed a quill and inkpot from his bag and began writing in an empty journal he found within. Xapferey chose to write in Draconic just to keep things uniform and prevent unauthorized readings of his journal
Entry 1, runecrafting experiment 1
June 8th 9:01 am.
Initial usages of magic have put me around the 10th level/circle of power, runes are permanent it seems at my power level… I could be wrong but I'm being optimistic. I leave this journal to provide a record that may outlive me, so others with similar abilities can replicate my results.
Materials: 6 sheets of iron of equal quality and thickness (3 runecrafted for durability increase), Glock 17 handgun using 9x19 millimeter (mm) parabellum bullets (non-armor piercing). H&K G11 using 4.73x25 mm caseless bullets.
Procedures: 3 sheets of iron were runecrafted using the durability rune to increase their resistance to penetration and damage. The sheets were then sufficiently randomized using psionics to shuffle the plates at a rate at which the caster lost track of which plate was which, and all plates are visually indistinguishable on the non-runecrafted side. This is to control any possible biases on which plates are shot and how they are shot (unknown if biases can affect magical plates but better safe in as fair a comparison as possible).
Tests consist of three rounds from each firearm; checks will be undertaken to test penetration levels and amount of fractures in the plates."
Xapferey began each test, while meticulously writing down the descriptions and sketching the damage on inserted pages with accompanying notes and diagrams. Then he outlined the results.
Results: The results matched initial hypothesis, runecrafted (Rc) iron plates resisted the bullet penetration by 60% on plate one, 75% on plate two and 80% of plate 3, quality of runic protection increased with practice, plate 3 successfully stopped the 4.73 bullet, whereas plate 2 stopped the 9mm bullet but the 4.73 penetrated…
"What in the name of the gods are you doing Xapferey?" Deedlit's voice demanded, "I heard those cracks of your weapon all the way from the city."
"I was doing tests of my magical runes, I wanted to practice before I applied them to something important like armor, and how better to test them than on a weapon that was generally consistent in its damage?" Deedlit sighed quietly and nodded her understanding.
"What did you discover then?"
"I need more work on my runes to get a proper consistent result."
"I thought your people did not have magic beyond charlatans, how do you explain your powers then?" Xapferey decided to fudge some details here and there.
"True enough, but it turns out I am what's called a spontaneous caster, I do not need to memorize my spells after using them, I was in essence born with my powers though they did not manifest till later."
"Oh… I see, so you are learning the full extent of your powers then?"
"Yes, but I feel they will grow in time as well, I have discovered that my runecrafting skills allow for many enhancements for armor, weapons and various other items."
"Such as?"
"Such as I could make your leather armor offer the same protection as plate mail with the right runes, it would remain leather but offer the protection equal to metal."
"Truly? Such a thing would have your skills sough for in all of Lodoss."
"I know, which is why I want to practice and build up a power base before trying such a thing, though I would be happy to offer my runecrafting abilities to you free of charge." Deedlit gave a surprised smile.
"And I would be most grateful for your generosity." Xapferey smiled at the blond Elf and the two spent the rest of the day discussing magic before parting for the night and agreeing to meet again, though Xapferey promised to include Deedlit as he ran his tests. Deedlit had requested such because she was curious about his magic and even slightly about those strange weapons of his.
*Pagebreak*
Over the course of the next week, Deedlit and Xapferey began experimenting with various runecrafting techniques as outlined in the book X.A.S gave him though he decided not to tell her his suspicions on who X.A.S was yet.
On the day marking the 18th day Xapferey had been on Lodoss, Deedlit asked him more about Canada.
"Canada is a peaceful land, we maintain an army like any other but it is far smaller than our ally in the south. One of my friends works for the military and I thought about it for a short time myself, but I decided not to."
"Do you have any other friends? A love perhaps."
"Yes I do have other friends, I am not courting anyone yet… I have yet to find the right woman." Deedlit smiled pleasantly.
"I'm sure you would have no problems with that."
"Thank you Deedlit," Xapferey said before returning to the original topic at her prompting. "So our society is one where we try to strive for equality of all, regardless of race or gender." Deedlit was surprised at this idea, it something she had not considered; but it made sense to her considering how Xapferey didn't treat her with suspicion or scorn because she was an Elf.
"It sounds like an interesting place to live, any forests? Elves?"
"I suppose there might be, deeply hidden from the rest of the world, but I doubt it. But what I meant by races in this case was different types of Humans… I know it's silly, but without races like Elves or Dwarves around, our people separate ourselves based on the parts of the world we originate from and the color of our skin." Deedlit raised her eyebrows at him at the thought.
"You humans are such a… competitive race." Xapferey rolled his eyes sympathetically.
"I know, I know. But like I said I don't discriminate based on those reasons alone. I try to judge the person within, not without. By logic alone, my people are Human regardless of where we are from or the color of our skin." Deedlit nodded in agreement, it was all she could do in the face of his reasoning.
Another week passed with them slowly growing closer and they began sparring together, Deedlit obviously had the advantage in speed and agility whereas Xapferey could overpower her and the spars could go both ways, though Xapferey was getting faster and stronger over time.
Deedlit began noticing little changes in Xapferey as time passed; the gold in his eyes became more prevalent though only because she had an eye for such subtle changes. When she approached him on the topic, he said it was deliberate and expected. His explanation was that just because magic was not common in Canada did not mean one of his ancestors did not have 'unusual' heritage or come from elsewhere.
A/N: Two is rewritten, bigger and hopefully better, almost twice the original size.
Translations
Draconic:
1) Mana become missiles of destruction
2) Mana become rays of fire (closest translation I could get)
