All Chapters of The Mage's Burden: Chapter 1
- Chapter 8
8 chapters
Chapter One: Evading Capture
Greg could feel the heat in his feet through the leather boots he had on. The shifting sands of the desert didn't make for the easiest surface to march on. Many of the guards around him were already seasoned veterans of the desert. They were already used to the heat, the hard march, and all the other challenges this hostile environment had to offer. Mixed in with them, however, were a decent number of recruits who seemed to be having a hell of a time even as they moved through the burning sands.Greg could easily pick out which of the guards around them were still green simply by how deep in the sand their feet sank when they moved. With the veterans, their steps only left shallow indentations in the ground as they moved. The greenhorns, however, sunk to their ankles, sometimes even deeper, with every step that they took. Greg could only wince at the thought of how much sand some of them had probably gotten into their footwear. With the constant march of the caravan they were guarding
Chapter Two: Evading capture 2
All around them, the sand erupted and his second reason for keeping his abilities hidden emerged. Desert bandits. Greg suspected that they had to have some affinity with the earth element as the figures dressed in ninja-like outfits jumped out of the sand like dolphins jumping out of water. Instead of black, however, their robes were a dirty yellow color that matched the color of the sand almost perfectly. There were about three hundred of them, spread out along the path that the caravan would take. Compared to the almost a thousand people who made up the caravan, one would be tempted to think that the bandits were at a disadvantage. However, only about a quarter of those in the caravan were actual guards, meaning that the bandits had about a fifty-man advantage. Worse yet, their opening salvo had taken about thirty to forty guards off the board further cementing their advantage. Due to the secrecy that was necessary around the new awakening method his teacher had discovered, they we
Chapter Three: Earth voice
Greg didn't have eyes on the back of his head, but with the ground under his feet whispering to him whenever someone got within a certain distance of him, he might as well have. Wasting no time, Greg immediately jumped to the side to evade whatever attack, if any, that came his way. With a quick pivot, Greg used the momentum of his turning body to swing at the bandit who had thought to get him from behind. His gladius, however, fell short as his assailant had already jumped backward after his failed attack. Given his quick reaction, Greg could tell he wasn't dealing with an amateur. Even the simple way the man held his dual daggers left him with the feeling of a viper baring its fangs, ready to strike.Rather than just look at his opponent's eyes, Greg did his best to take in everything about him. From his posture, which foot he had toward, the angle at which he held the daggers in his hands, and so on. Greg even looked to see if the man was injured in some way that he could exploit.
Chapter Four: Morpheus
At the last second, however, Greg sharply shifted the ground under his attacker leaving him at an almost forty-five-degree angle before gravity picked things from there. It spoke to the experience of the man that rather than lay there stunned, the first thing he did was immediately begin to roll away. Greg, however, had no plans of letting him get away. With three quick steps forward, Greg leaned down ready to run the man through. However, Greg was treated to the painful lesson that he wasn't the only one with hidden cards as a geyser of sand shot from the ground directly into his face! It wasn't just his eyes that were caught in the attack. Dust and sand particles forced their way up his nose clogging up his airways. Worse still, Greg had been inhaling at the time meaning that a painful amount of sand had been sucked into his lungs. It was a mercy that his mouth hadn't been open at the time, otherwise, he would have had a mouth full of sand as well.Greg reflexively turned away both
Chapter Five: Morpheus 2
When Morpheus gave his answer, Greg's eyes had bugged out almost ready to turn down the offer on his teacher's behalf. Still, he'd suppressed the impulse and delivered Morpheus's answer. "I'll have to scrub any evidence you were ever in this town not just in the minds of the townspeople, but also in the temporal sense as well. Even one who can scry into the past will be unable to find any traces of you. All that will need about five hundred cycles of her life," Morpheus had proposed.Greg had expected his teacher to balk at the answer. Even outrage at the answer would have been understandable. But other than a slightly displeased twist of her lips, the healer didn't show that much of a reaction to the declaration. Unable to help himself, Greg asked. "How are you okay with that?""I don't think you understand the kind of threat we face Roka. If my former alliance finds me, I won't be alive a cycle from now," she replied in a grave tone. The look in her eyes quietly reinforced the fact
Chapter Six: Broken Family
"What's up old man?" Lothar couldn't help but stiffen up a bit at the sound of Roka's voice. He, however, forced himself to relax once more, consciously pushing down the fear that gripped him any time he was in the young man's presence. As the boy took a seat across the table from him on the deck of the airship, Lothar only spared him a glance before turning his gaze back to his task. Watching the boy's family. This was the first time they had ever left their little village in the remote regions of Eldaria. Whenever Roka himself was indisposed, either due to training or having to rest, Lothar was to stay close by and protect them from any kind of trouble. The first few days of travel, the women had been tense and withdrawn, barely leaving Lothar's side when Roka wasn't there. The more they traveled, however, the more they lost themselves to the wonder and beauty of their realm. They had come across many sights and marvels in the course of their travels. From the plains of Mindra to
Chapter Seven: Broken Family 2
To whatever entity it was that Roka was attached to, he'd just be a bigger ant, easily crushed with a single finger. By all that was sane in the world, Roka was just a first-tier mage, and yet, he had enough power residing within him to help a seventh-tier mage back to the peak of her power. If he repeated this anywhere else in the magic world, he'd either be thought mad or killed for looking down on seventh-tier mages. And yet he'd seen it with his own eyes. Any thoughts of going back on his word and breaking the contract had gone out of the window the moment he felt that power. Lothar had thought that going up against the Draknar alliance would be suicidal. With this new revelation, however, Lothar liked his chances against the alliance far more than whoever it was that Roka had channeled. "Roka," Lothar replied to the taunt by Roka with a slight bow of the head. This was the fitting gesture of respect that a lower-tier mage showed one of a higher tier. Lothar was perfectly aware
Chapter Eight: Broken Family 3
Lothar had remained quiet for a while after this as his mind went back over the information he'd gone to great lengths to gather, back when he still wondered why his father hated him so. "From what I'm told, great grandfather had never been more angry with mother than when he found out. She was punished harshly by the family. Great-grandfather also generously compensated Aran for the humiliation he had suffered. Generous as the compensation was, however, Aran was heartbroken. Whatever else his faults, he really did love my mother, and this act of betrayal was like a dagger to the heart. Had she been from a less prominent family, I suspect that my mother would have been divorced if not outright killed," Lothar spoke matter-of-factly. "She, however, was a daughter of the Jareth family and great grandfather wouldn't allow the two to part ways. After all, the family name would be tarnished if what had happened got out, and he would never allow that." "He was stuck! He couldn't do anythi