Fifteen - Gold

As you can see, I made a few large changes to the blog.  I made the header myself on Microsoft Word and switched the main text font to something a little more "normal".  I hope you like the changes.  Anyway, without further adieu, the second part of my new serial, Fifteen.

            Amelia merely stared at the staff-man.  “How?”

            “A spell, child,” he replied.  “A relative of yours, Editha Mage, conjured me.  As she has passed, I am bound to you now.”

            “Did she give you a name?”

            The man frowned.  “My conjurer called me Master Wood, if she called me anything at all.  She was quite a sarcastic lady.”

            Amelia smiled.  “Don’t I need a staff,” she said, and then paused.  “In the usual form, I mean. In order to use the Strength?”

            “Staves are about as useful as river stones.  No, you do not need one.  Words from that book shall suffice.”  He pointed toward the desk in the opposite corner.

            Amelia strode over to the right side of the room, noting on the way that her mother had closed the door and departed.  She placed a finger under the cover of the tome and heaved it over, revealing the first page.  A wheel of triangles, the symbol of the Strength, occupied each corner with the words “Book of Strength” written in an elegant hand in the center.

            “Turn to page seventy-three to begin your first lesson.”

            Amelia flipped through the spell-book, subsequent flips revealing symbols and words in many unique hands.  The most faded script was enthralled by a swirly sketch of smoke.  It was the page she was searching for.

            “Read it aloud, child.”

            “One of the most basic uses of the Strength is the production of fire.  A mage’s affinity with fire is first shown by the Revelation ceremony on their fifteenth birthday.  The Strength-fueled sparks both reveal the ability to wield the Strength and distinguish the several groups of mages.”

            Master Wood cut in, “what color was the first spark of your Revelation?”

            After thinking for a moment, Amelia replied, “gold.”

            Her teacher’s eyes sprung wide.  “The rarest and most powerful,” he muttered.  “Continue.”

            “Red mages are the strongest with fire and the shedding of blood.  The blue are wise and water-bound.  Purple is the most balanced group.  Green mages are one with nature and tranquility.  The gold…”  She trailed.

            “Finish the sentence, child.”

            She nodded fervently and cleared her throat before continuing.  “Come only once every three centuries, destined to die preserving the Strength.”