God Mage (5 page)

Just as he had done with the water, Bren let
himself feel the heat. The water had covered his whole body after
only a few seconds, making it hard to feel each drop, but the heat
was different. As he shifted his body away from one hot spot,
another would arise, ever changing the part of his body that grew
uncomfortable. And to add a bit of uncertainty to it, there seemed
to be odd moments when the fire would decide to flare up, and the
flames would lick at an unsuspecting part of his body, causing
immense pain for a brief instant.

It took longer for Bren to get used to the
heat, but once he did and was able to sit motionlessly and feel the
heat on his body, he began to relax. It was as his body relaxed
that he started to feel the pull of the fire. Unlike the water, it
was not a gentle, easy, feeling of calmness that tugged at his
awareness but something quite different. The fire was eager, angry,
and full of the desire to eat. It wanted more, and Bren could tell
that nothing could satisfy its hunger.

At first, Bren could feel his own hunger
echoing in his body. He had only had breakfast that morning, and
now it was way past time for the evening meal. Thanks to the cold,
he had forgotten about that hunger, but now it returned, and he
could feel the pain as his stomach tightened in need of food. Bren
fought against the desire to eat, but it was not an easy task.

After he was able to push away the hunger, he
felt anger. The anger moved through him and attacked every memory
that had caused him pain. His father had abandoned him, and his
mother had pushed him away, making him a prisoner in his own home.
As the thoughts assaulted him, Bren could feel the flames around
him grow hotter. He tried to calm down, reminding himself that his
father had not abandoned him but had been taken from him, but that
just redirected the anger to the Brotherhood.

Bren knew that he was losing himself to the
fire, but try as he might, he couldn’t break away from its pull. A
sharp pain rang though his head, and his eyes snapped open to see
the short man in front of him standing on the hot coals of the fire
without a hint of discomfort. “Control,” was all he said before
returning to his own place to sit.

Bren closed his eyes again and tried to take
control of his own emotions and the fire that burned within him. He
was starting to understand it was not just the elements trying to
take him over, but it was his own feelings and fears that were
doing it. The control that the man was talking about was not the
control over the elemental energies but his own energies.

Now that Bren
understood how the elements worked inside his own body, he found it
much easier to control them. He didn’t know why it had taken him so
long to understand. It should have been easy. People have their own
traits that govern how they act and perceive the world; those views
dictate what elements they have the best control over. It isn’t
because those elements are the most influential in their life or
the most present, rather that they are the elements that the person
could understand on a basic unconscious level.

It suddenly made sense to him, and then
again, it didn’t. Everyone felt anger and hunger in their life, but
not everyone could use fire magic. It was only those who felt a
keen understanding for it that could use it—people who enjoyed
confrontation. Not like the Vathari, who enjoyed a fight because it
was a show of skill and power, but people who enjoyed it because it
made them feel alive. Bren had met a few fire mages, and he had to
admit that they enjoyed picking fights and were seldom easy to
befriend.

The more he understood about how the elements
worked, the more he understood how odd he really was. The elements
were basically raw emotions that had been cultivated throughout a
person’s life, and once the person died, their spiritual or energy
center was split apart to become part of the eternal either. It
wasn’t just one person or creature’s feelings but that of countless
beings, and Bren could feel them all. Every human could feel fear,
hate, loss, anger, and love, but only a few could understand those
things so deeply that they could use their responding elements to
their full power—yet Bren could use them all. That knowledge scared
Bren far more than anything else he had ever learned. It meant that
he was more than human—he was something new.

Even though Bren seemed to grasp more of what
was being taught, it still didn’t make it any easier. Knowing that
he had to fight and tame his own emotions did not mean that he
could simply do it. By the time the sun rose the next morning, Bren
had been forced to fight against sleep while keeping his eyes
closed, lie under a pile of dirt for hours, and stand at the top of
a tree so he could feel the morning wind.

“What is next?” Bren asked after he climbed
down from the tree. His eyes heavy and his mind weary, Bren was
finding it hard to stand let alone think.

“Next we eat and then we shall sleep,” the
man said, pulling a large piece of bread from his pack. “It has
been a long night and many more of those shall follow. We must be
sure that you are in control. It only takes one time, and then you
will find yourself nothing but a tool for the elements and your own
emotions. That is not the way of a true warrior.”

The meal was simple but filling, and more
important than anything was the sleep. Bren didn’t care that there
was no soft bed to sleep upon, nor did he care that the ground was
littered with rocks that poked and prodded him. All that he cared
about was that he was being allowed to sleep. At that moment,
nothing seemed important other than closing his eyes and letting
the darkness take him away.

F
or more than seven
days, Bren was forced to do the most odd and dangerous things, and
each time, he found himself battling for control. It was getting
easier with each confrontation, yet he still found times when he
just wanted to let go.

“I believe I have taught you all that I can,”
his teacher said, giving him a slight bow, which Bren returned
bowing even lower. “The rest you must master on your own;
otherwise, it will hold no true meaning.”

Bren gave the first real smile since he had
left the Brotherhood’s camp. “I don’t know how to thank you
enough,” Bren said happily.

“You can thank me by taking good care of my
student,” the man replied with a saddened smile. “Hayao was not the
best of my pupils and showed very little skill in learning to
master his chi, so he was sent, like many others, to guard a local
lord, yet he was still one of mine. His shame is mine, and his
honor is mine, and I wish him the best.”

The look on the man’s face told far more than
his words. “He will become a part of my family. I promise he will
lack for nothing for as long as he lives.”

The man gave one final bow then disappeared
into the woods. Bren could have followed him, but it was obvious
their time together was over. The only thing Bern wished was that
he had learned the man’s name. It felt odd to be trained by someone
who would remain nameless for the rest of his life.

When Bren returned to the house, the sun had
just touched the far horizon, and everyone was gathered around for
the evening meal. “Bren,” Faye shouted as she hurdled from her seat
and wrapped him in a tight hug. “They told us you were training,
but we were all starting to get a bit worried when you didn’t
return the first night. If not for Hayao, I think Cass would have
marched into the elder’s building and demanded to be taken to
you.”

“Then it is a good thing that Hayao was
around, isn’t it,” Bren said laughing.

“I haven’t had a good meal in days, so why
don’t we all talk after we eat. I for one could use it,” Bren said
as he deeply inhaled the aroma of the food that had been brought
out for them.

The food was good, though after what he had
been fed for the past few days, anything would have been welcomed.
After the meal, Bren and the others headed for the baths then back
to their room.

As soon as he entered the room, Bren found
himself bombarded with questions about where he had been and what
he had been doing. For the most part, Bren kept his answers very
vague as he didn’t want the others to know how empty he had felt
before. He still didn’t feel the same as he had before the incident
with the Brotherhood, but he once again felt things other than
emptiness.

When Faye approached him for the first time,
Bren felt a warmth spread through his body as she lightly placed a
kiss on his lips. It was an odd sensation, and Bren found himself
suddenly embarrassed as he noticed that Cass was watching him
intently. Bren cleared his throat and looked around the room. “I
think it’s time we focus on the reason we came here.”

Bren pulled the large map from his pack and
unrolled it for everyone to see. “This map shows the location of
the doorway to the veil. Once we find it, we can move to the real
reason we left Torin.”

No one pressed Bren for more answers. He
could tell that a few of them wanted to know what was on his mind,
but they kept it to themselves, and for that Bren was grateful.
“Does anyone know how to read this writing?” Bren asked, pulling
everyone’s attention back to the map.

“It looks a little like our writing, but I
don’t understand any of the characters,” Hayao said, running his
fingers over the strange letters. “My father or one of the clan
elders might know something more about it.”

“Why did the Brotherhood have a map written
in your language?” Brenda asked, raising her eyebrows.

“I don’t think that it should be that
surprising,” Hayao replied with a slightly raised voice. “The map
itself is of Northern Kurt, so it would make sense that it was
written in our language. If you do not mind, my lord, I will take
it to my father and see what he thinks. There is still a
possibility that it is too old to even be read.”

“I don’t think we have much choice in the
matter,” Bren said with a deep sigh. “Right now it’s the only lead
we have.”

As soon as Hayao left, Cass pulled Bren to
the side. “How long do you think we will have to stay in this
village?” Cass asked keeping his voice low.

“Until we know where we are going,” Bren
replied. “Why?”

“Everyone here is polite, almost to the point
of exhaustion, but ever since we arrived, I have felt eyes on us,”
Cass said quietly. “They watch everything we do and even when I
sleep, I still can feel their eyes on me. I don’t know how much
longer I can keep this up. It is driving me out of my mind.”

“Is that all,” Bren said laughing. “You will
just have to put up with it for now. We need their help, and right
now, we are safe from the Brotherhood.”

“From what I heard, the Brotherhood shouldn’t
be much trouble for you,” Cass replied slyly.

“If I knew they were coming or where they
were, I don’t think they would be, but that doesn’t mean I could
keep all of you safe at the same time,” Bren words drifted off as
he spoke. “It is just too risky. Right now, we need to stay put
until we know what to do next, and there is no better place than
this village for that—at least, not for the time being.”

“I think I would rather be surrounded by a
bunch of the Brotherhood soldiers than have to spend another day in
this village,” Cass said irritability. “At least I know they just
want to kill us.”

Before Bren had a chance to say anything
else, Hayao returned followed by the older man that had greeted
them when they first arrived. Thanks to his new abilities, Bren
could tell that the man held no hostilities toward him nor any of
the others, but he still couldn’t make himself like him. Every time
he saw him, Bren still remembered the first meeting and how he had
treated them. He knew that it was more half-truth and a show of
disapproval to his son, but it had left a sour taste in Bren’s
mouth.

“Where did you come across this?” the man
asked, his voice deep and filled with concern.

“We relieved the Brotherhood of its
ownership,” Cass replied casually.

The man’s face took on a look of concern.
“The Brotherhood,” he said, looking at the rolled up map that he
held in his hand. “That is most distressing news. I didn’t like the
idea of you having possession of the map, but the Brotherhood
having a copy is even worse.”

“Why is that?” Bren asked his interest
piqued.

Hayao’s father unrolled the map and pointed
at a small dot with words scribbled that sat in the middle of a
village. “This is our village. As my son might have told you, its
location is supposed to be a secret, and we have gone through great
lengths in the past to keep it that way. It is not only our village
that is on the map, however. There are many such villages like ours
throughout Northern Kurt, and each one of them are present on the
map along with many other places that are only supposed to be known
to a select few. It is as if someone had taken the time to write
down all the secrets of our land and plot them out to be easily
found.”

“Then you can read what it says?” Bren asked
ignoring the man’s worries.

“Not all of it. It is actually the locations
I am familiar with more so than the words,” he replied looking
annoyed. “I don’t know why you have this map, but we cannot allow
you to keep it. There is just too high of a chance that another
might come to its possession, and that would cause far greater
damage than you could ever imagine.”

Cass took a step forward his hand half
drawing his sword from its sheath. “That is fine,” Bren said as he
stopped his friend with an outstretched arm. “I don’t need the map,
I only want the location of one place that it tells of. I need the
location to the veil.”

“As I said, I cannot read the map. It is
written in a dialect that hasn’t been used in more than ten
generations,” the man repeated heatedly.