Merlin glared at me, so I let go of the staff. Unfortunately, doing so didn't make the rain stop. "Well, this is sorcery, right?" I asked. The clouds lit up as lightning started to form. So I grabbed the staff and did what any reasonable person would have done in my situation; I ran like my butt was on fire. I tripped over a chest and ended up rolling the rest of the way out of the room. Merlin leapt out just as the room lit brightly. The blocks rearranged themselves again úntil it was a wall once more and then the cracks resealed. I flicked my wand until the end started glowing again. Merlin was still glaring at me. "I didn't mean to do it." He turned and pranced up the steps. His tail was smoking.
Vactarus, Kisha, Merlin, and I sat the kitchen table in an awkward silence. When we had emerged from the secret room with my new staff, the ghostly hosts insisted we have dinner. Of course, Vactarus and Kisha neither ate, nor cooked, so they were sitting and watching us. The fact that the table was covered in dust and set with old dishes didn't seem to bother them. Merlin, who was precariously balanced on the chair, had hunted a rabbit to eat right in front of me. I was eating... an apple and broccoli. Somehow, I knew if I asked Merlin to share, he would tell me to hunt down my own rabbit because that was what a sorcerer would do. That, or conjure one. I looked at the sharp claws of the dark black rabbit carcass, shuddered, and ate my broccoli. I didn't want to touch one of them let alone eat one. The staff, which was propped up against the chair to my right, rattled slightly, as if to get my attention. I reached for it cautiously, and as soon as I touched it, energy shot through me and into the apple in my hand, which suddenly changed into the drumstick of some large bird. I really am a sorcerer! "Look!" I said, letting the staff go and waving the meat in front of Merlin's face.
He sniffed it and frowned deeply. "Tofu?" "What's tofu?" I asked. I didn't let his hesitation dampen my excitement. I finally conjured meat and all it took was getting a new magic tool. "Tofu is.. a very good source of protein. You did a good job," he said, sounding more hesitant than anything else. That confirmation ramped up my excitement another notch and I bit into the meat. It was hot and juicy, but as I chewed, it turned cold. I chewed a little more. And then chewed some more. "Is it supposed to be so...?" I trailed off, unable to come up with a word to adequately describe the elastic flavor or bland texture. "Yes, it is," Merlin assured me. "We should find out more about that Staff before anything dangerous happens." Having grown up with six older brothers, I was no stranger to danger. What can you tell me about this staff?" I asked Vactarus, picking it up to stucy closer. The wood was twisted, smooth, and dark with gold-painted sigils carved into it. They weren't anything I recognized from my family's grimoires, but they were definitely black-magic in nature. At the top of the staff was a large, crudely-cut, blood-red, clear stone. The ghost leered at it. "Oh, it has quite the story. I first came across it on a land that only had women. They got the idea to use it to conjure men to keep them warm and safe in the cold winter nights. I, of course, felt it was my duty to take one for the team, so to speak. I showed them all kinds of fun. In fact, half of them lost their--" "Please don't finish that sentence," I interrupted. Energy shot from the staff into Vactarus. Unlike my usual magic, which was sparkly, light, and bounced around freely, this was dark and twisted, like a thorny vine, and it went straight for its mark. To my shock, the magic struck the ghost and his mouth snapped shut. No matter how hard he tried to open it, his lips wouldn't part. "Wow. I have never been able to make him stop talking," Kisha said with awe. I set the staff down on the dusty table and wiped my hands on my pants. "Sorry, I didn't mean to---" Merlin made a sound of disapproval. "I mean... I'm not sorry because I'm a sorcerer and I have no sympathy." I picked up the staff carefully and aimed it at the magician.
Kisha and Merlin both ducked under the table, Merlin by diving gracefully and Kisha... by phasing right through the table. "Be able to talk again," I said. Nothing happened. Irepeated the command while waving the staff dramatically. Nothing happened again. Well, something happened. I shrieked and jumped out of my skin when I felt Kisha's ghostly hand gently caress the inside of my thigh. "Merlin, what do I do?!" I asked, forcefully stopping myself from crawling onto the table. Kisha patted my knee and backed off. "Sorry, handsome, I dropped my fork." "You weren't eating anything!" "I was planning on eating something, but Vac wanted to join us for dinner. " "Merlin!" I squeaked. The wolf sighed in my head. "Use your wand." Quickly following his advice, I set the staff down, pulled out my wand, and aimed it at Kisha. "On Vactarus,"" Merlin said. I grunted and aimed it at the magician. "You can talk," I said. A sunny yellow ball of energy popped out of the tip of my wand, bounced off the table, and hit Vactarus. His mouth opened easily. He snapped it shut, obviously afraid that I would curse him again. Merlin and Kisha returned to their chairs. I sat back down in my seat, picked up my tofu bird, and continued eating. It was foul. "So, about the staff," I prompted. Vactarus licked his lips nervously, which was an odd habit for a ghost. "The women gave it to me in exchange for my attention, but I sold it on the next world I came to, which only made sense; it was rubbish at the time. Then, about a year later and ten worlds away, I met a lovely young woman whose family owned a winery. We spent many days in lounging in---" "Get on with it," I said. "Oh, yes. Anyway, we married and some old lady gave it to me at the wedding, I knew it was the same staff because an itemn like that cannot be forgotten. It was different, though. There was power it that was not there when I first saw it. Someone had used it to do very powerful, very dark magic, and that left a stain in the wood and the crystal."
The crystal?" I asked, looking at the stone on the top. Although it was shaped like a crystal, I had only ever seen black ones used by sorcerers and white ones used by wizards. I had no idea they came in colors. "Yes, it is a crystal. Surprising, I know; it looks like a massive ruby. It was white when I first saw it, and it only had strands of red when I attained it at my wedding. Nevertheless, my beloved and I were not meant to be. Within a fortnight, she realized she could not tame my need for adventure and danger, so she asked me to leave. Unfortunately, the girl she caught me talking to- which was absolutely not my fault. I was seduced and had no idea her intention was to strip my--- "Get on with it" I said. "Oh, yes. I sold it again, since it was the only thing I had been able to grab. Then, about three years later, I saw it in the keep of a most malevolent wizard. The crystal was pure red at this point, and produced an essence as if it was self-aware.'" I glanced worriedly at the staff, half afraid it would randomly start blasting curses at us. "So you got it from him?" "Of course not. I ran away. I had far too much to live for to risk myself for something I neither wanted nor needed. It was about two years later that I found it while hunting for the well-guarded treasure of a dragon. This is the first time I have ever seen the blasted thing ever work for anyone." "Really? Maybe it likes me." I had never been liked by an inanimate object before. I took another bite of my meat and was certain the texture was actually getting slimier. "Tm confused," Vactarus said, flinching when I looked at him. "You said you were a sorcerer, yet you don't act like any sorcerer I know. Furthermore, why do you have blond hair?" "Tell him it was a disguise spell gone wrong," Merlin advised. I did, which seemed to placate the ghost. I wished I could speak in Merlin's mind like he could in mine. I also wished Kisha would stop batting her eyelashes at me. The staff rattled, but I ignored it. I was able to eat about half of the bird before I couldn't bring myself to stick another bite of the gelatinous meat in my mouth. Kisha then showed us to a couple of rooms. Along the way, I noticed an inconsistency with the mansion. Several of the paintings were clean of dust and others weren't. There were books and tea cups left out on tables, but nothing rotten. If I had to make a guess, I would say the place was set up to look abandoned.
My bed, though covered in dust, was easily five timnes the size of mine at home and infinitely softer than the cold dirt. The dark walls were crumbling and the grimy window was covered in cobwebs. The hardwood floor could have used a good sweeping... or scrubbing. I stepped around the large, dried puddle of blood. Dried blood didn't bother me; my mother used blood all the time in her potions. Other than the bed, the sparse furniture consisted of a small table beside the bed with two lit candles and a chest across from it. Surprisingly, the chest contained clean, yet stale clothes that fit me pretty well. When Kisha left Merlin and me alone without hesitation, I was relieved. I set my wand on the table and leaned my staff against the wall next to it. "Can you teach me to talk in your head like you can mine?" I asked. He sat. "You have the skill already, yet you do not know how to use it. I picked it up naturally because it was my only means of communication. You released me from the syrus, and in doing so, you bound us. What all that entails exactly, I do not yet know. All I know is that I am unable to use magic and I have much to teach you.'" "Do you always talk so formally?" Yes. Yes, I do." sat on the bed. "Can you show me a spell to make my hair black?" am rather surprised your mother never did it." "Sh's done it before, but it always changes back when I do magic." "I see. The reason for this is your magic itself. Magic here is not any more limited than it is on other worlds, yet magic users are. It is only reasonable, for magic users could easily destroy this world if not kept in check. In fact, one of the worlds I traveled to had a violent hate for all things supernatural. Their cities were quite fascinating in a technological standpoint, as they were moments away from technological singularity, which was the reason for my premature departure. Yet another world I traveled to was so technologically repressed that the residents of a small village tried to burn me when they saw my watch." "Um..." I agreed wisely. "But I digress. Your natural appearance is influenced by your magic because that is the nature of this world. This is so that when you encounter strangers, they have an idea what kind of person you are. On this world, untrustworthy people look untrustworthy. Therefore, only you can change your appearance and you can only do that by changing who you are. In the meantime, you can simulate such an appearance using illusionary magic." "But that means I need a magician." "Quite right. Unfortunately, I did not expect Vac to be dead when I thought of him. You will have to live with your blond hair for a while longer." To be perfectly honest, I didn't mind my hair color except that it was another reason for my brothers to tease me. "Tell me about the world you're from." "I have traveled to many worlds." "I know, but where were you born? What was it like growing up? Were your parents wizards? Were they proud of you?" He sighed and sat. I was born on an archaic world with too many superstitions and traditions. I never knew my father, but my mother had no hortage of tales to spin. I was told my power was noticeable from birth and my mother would never admit to bedding a man out of wedlock, so it was said that my father was a demon. You can imagine the rumors I had to suffer through. When I was nine, I discovered how to travel to different worlds. I bet that was scary." "t was rather confusing at first. It began with astral projection." "With what?" "I traveled to other worlds in my mind, which I learned by accident. Once I met some others with the same abilities, I practiced and studied the magic necessary to travel the worlds. One day, I told my mother that I would find a better place to live and come back for her. I traveled to so many worlds that they began to blend together. It was amazing and beautiful and lonely. I found a world I knew my mother would be happy on. It was frightfully boring, but then, so was my mother. I was too late, though. I returned to the home I was born in to find that it had been passed on to another family. She had died alone, still waiting for me to come back." "She didn't have any other children?" He shook his head. I never knew why for sure, but I believe she was hoping for my father to return. I spent many years after that traveling from world to world. When I was very lonely, I would settle down somewhere for a few years, but eventually something out there would call to me and I would take off again. I saw so many incredible things, so much history unfolding in front of my very eyes... yet there was no one to share it with. The majesty of the universe was not meant to keep secret." "Why didn't you take an apprentice or something?" "I did eventually. I took a number of them over my many years instead of having children. In the end, though, they would leave to experience their own adventures. Some of them fell in love, some of them broke down under the weight of what they saw, and some of them just moved on. I also became an adviser to non-wizards. Unfortunately, too often, people did not really believe in my magic." "How old are you?" "I never bothered to fiqure that out." I really didn't think I could hear any more that night. It never occurred to me that being stuck in wolf form was the least of the wizard's problems. "How did you end up cursed?I know you said that you loved the wrong woman and was blinded to your enemy, but how?" "That is a story for another night." I figured as much. How did you end up on this world? You didn't know what world this was until I said I was a sorcerer." "Yes, I was on a different world; one where I was quite the legend. If anything, I was more feared there than Magnus is here. How I came to be here, I have no idea. Someone must have stolen the syrus and brought it here. I am still unsure how you read the inscription." "I don't know. I just waved my wand and told the box to open. The inscription became readable, I read it, and the syrus opened. I'm pretty tired." "Then I will leave you for tonight. In the morning, you will begin prgcticing with your new staff." He turned and left. After shaking the blanket to rid it of the dust, I sat back down and studied my new staff. Energy tingled under my skin as it adapted to the power. It was almost as if the staff and my magic were getting to know each other. Worried that I was going to accidentally do magic, I set it back down and settled under the covers. A moment later, I turned... and squeaked. Then I fell out of bed with a pained grunt. "What are you doing?!" I asked Kisha, who was lying on the bed. I had never had a bed large enough to share with a girl, and I definitely didn't want a young ghost to be the first one I shared it with.
She smiled shyly. "I just wanted to make sure you are settled in and have everything you need." She twirled a lock of blond hair around her ndey finger. "I thought your wolf would never leave." "Actually, I think I forgot to ask him a question. I should go find him." I turned to the door, only for her to suddenly appear in front of it. Gods. "Or not. I n really tired and I think I should go to bed." Her smile fell and I felt bad. Norbad enough to invite her to stay, but still pretty bad. "Oh. Okay," she said. I guess I'l see you tomorrow." With that, she vanished.