Chapter 6

"Goodnight."

That was it.

I stood outside his door for a few moments, perhaps expecting some nightmarish monster to burst through the door with Geralt's hands wrapped around its neck.

Geralt was over a hundred years old and his mind held a treasure trove of knowledge that I itched to get my hands on.

My progress in sorcery had stagnated for several years and I was desperate to learn. A Witcher's signs were the perfect starting point for my independent studies.

In the 8 years that passed since my birth I had never stopped mediating. I had developed such a closeness with the elements that my body had begun to show signs of magical transformation.

With a thought I could manifest raging flames and mighty gales. I was no less lethal many of the terrifying monsters Geralt had slain.

I had experimented with the souls of several servants, those who had nearly gotten away with unforgivable crimes, and concluded that my soul was roughly 100 times more dense. For the purposes of further research I had then asked father to let me accompany him on business to the nearby city of Glomir. This city was developing at a rapid rate and father was keen to establish a few shops there.

His face had lit up when I posed the question. I was disgustingly aware that him and mother were trying for a second child, but for the moment I was the sole heir to the Knight estate and businesses.

I enjoyed spending time with him and it was a monthly routine for us to explore a nearby city. It was rather obvious that he was taking this opportunity to familiarize me with the world of business. Like everything I did, I immediately displayed immense talent in economics.

Father had teared up with pride when he saw me correct a discrepancy of several thousand coins in a herbalist's.

But none of this was related to my research.

Living in the city of Glomir, was a mage! He kept to himself and only surfaced when he required bizarre materials for his experiments.

Fortunately as the only son of a merchant who's reach spanned several countries, I was in possession of many such materials. These materials would ordinarily remain carefully hidden away in my father's stores but at the request of his favorite child he was happy to part with a few of them.

I had used these materials, many of which were magical in nature, to obtain an audience with the mage.

"Tell me boy, what do you seek? I know of your father, he is a good and wealthy man but he has little business with someone like me."

The mage's appearance was no doubt crafted by magic and he appeared before me as a middle aged man with black skin and piercing purple eyes. He went by the name of Xavier The Bold, ironic when you considered his reserved lifestyle. His research seemed to concern the formation of rare metals and was quite frankly rather dull.

Nonetheless he was a mage.

I put on my best impression of a young and innocent child, "I found these in my father's study Sir mage. I'll give them to you if you show me your magic!"

The mage's eyes bulged when he saw the precious materials so casually produced from a child's pockets.

"You have yourself a deal boy!" He exclaimed and quickly swept the materials up in a breeze of colorful wind.

The mage's body flickered and reappeared several paces away. He beckoned me to follow, "Come with me boy, I must uphold my end of the bargain."

I followed him to an entirely white room that's ceiling and walls seemed to exist an infinite distance away.

Had I been an ordinary mortal I might've believed that the room truly did go on forever. Unfortunately for Xavier my sensitivity to the elements was far too great to be tricked by a simple illusion.

"Ready yourself boy." He intoned seriously.

I would've found it far cooler if the mage had initiated a discussion on the basic principles of magic but I was interested to see what he planned to do.

"I call this...call of the earth!" He shouted and dramatically swung his hands down while stomping with his left foot.

The ground started to tremble. Then, suddenly, the earth split apart. A gargantuan hand formed from rocks and glittering metals clawed its way out. The hand was taller than a house and radiated power and strength.

Spit flew from the mage's lips as he roared, "Descend!"

The hand swung downwards, the shockwaves produced from the movement alone blowing me backwards.

When it landed time seemed to freeze.

The earth transformed into pulsating 10 foot tall waves that wreaked destruction in all directions. It's momentum was unstoppable.

If not for the mage's spell that lifted me high into the air I would've been crushed in an instant.

"What do you think boy?" The mage panted.

"That was amazing! Thank you Sir mage, thank you!" I shouted with as much excitement as I could muster.

Waving his hand the mage transported me to the door. He was only capable of doing this as I chose not to resist his spell.

His detached voice sounded lazily in my ears, "If you come across anything like that again boy feel free to return and I will perform another demonstration."

"Yes sir mage!" I exclaimed, confusing my father who stood waiting outside our carriage.

After we had travelled some distance away and were beyond the reaches of the city my father asked, "Well, is he truly as powerful as they say?"

I looked at my father and said blankly, "When have you ever believed the word of peasants and bards?"

Father looked sheepish.

Sighing I continued, "He is not useless but I think it best if he stays in that house of his lest he embarrass himself."

Xavier The Bold was not entirely bad at magic. He did indeed have some affinity with the earth element and his home and laboratory were well fortified with magical defenses. But...

"Bloody illusions!"

Father was shocked by my outburst and asked concernedly, "Is everything ok Albert? That Xavier didn't do anything out of bounds did he? You can tell daddy, I'll have my men burn him at the stake!"

Father and mother knew of my magical abilities, albeit not the full extent. Hiding my powers would have been arduous and unnecessary, especially when I knew I could trust them to keep my secret safe. They were two of the kindest people I had ever met and I felt beyond fortunate to have them as my parents.

"No father he was fine. I would've burned him to a crisp myself if he tried anything. He was simply a little disappointing."

Although his spell had been nothing more than a slight manifestation of the earth element wrapped in layers of illusions he had still provided valuable data.

While he weaved his illusions I had been busy inspecting the mage's soul. Comparing it to a normal humans I discovered that it's density was almost unchanged. However the volume of the mage's soul was nearly 10 times that of a non-magical person!

Walls alone could not obstruct my perception and I happily took a look at Geralt's soul.

Interesting.

Unlike a typical soul which was white in color Geralt's soul was dyed slightly gold. What this meant I had no idea.

"Oh shit." I cursed.

I'd been caught. By a god-damned piece of metal!

My consciousness sprung into action. I couldn't let Geralt learn of my magic, not like this anyways!

So I went for the simplest solution possible.

I directly allowed my willpower to change reality.

This ability was unstable and difficult to control. It was equally as good at making messes as it was at solving them.

Fortunately this time it worked and Geralt's wolf head medallion lay still on his chest.

"Goodnight Geralt." I whispered and hurriedly returned to my room before I did something I couldn't fix.