Dominator's Magic

"Who are you waiting for, Kelly?" Two students were talking with her as Uri left the building and she turned and smiled, "Who is that? Oh, that's one of the new life students."

"Uri is his name, and he is my boyfriend," She grabbed his arm and smiled. Uri didn't react to her sudden boast but the two other students looked at her then at him then back at her, "What's wrong?"

"You are dating a first year?"

"What is wrong with that? Uri is a great guy," Kelly smiled and then began walking with her arm still around Uri's, "Nothing wrong with that."

"I mean, he is a first year student," The second student added, "And you are."

"A third year, I am aware, but if you had a guy like Uri show up, you wouldn't just be like, 'ew, 2 years of age'," Her tone shifted from being boastful to being rather cold, "How are you doing? What did you talk about with my dad?" The two other students looked at each other and shrugged before walking off.

"Nothing much, nothing really important or interesting in the end."

"Oh, alright," She let go of his arm, "Anything planned for this evening?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah what?" Kelly moved in front of him and looked at him, "What are you doing and can I join?"

"No, you can't join, um," He looked around, "I can't really tell you this here, or anywhere, so just, don't worry, I am working on something."

"Oooh, a secret? That sounds interesting, are you sure I can't join?" He put his hands on her arms, "Uri?"

"I am very sure that you shouldn't join me, yes, sorry if it seems cold but I shouldn't tell you what it is," She looked worried, "I will tell you once the time comes, but trust me, it isn't some sort of self harm or anything of that sort."

"Alright, Uri, that is fine," She smiled, "Even if we are together, we don't need to share everything all the time, you let me know if you need me alright?" He nodded, "Let's go have dinner."

"That sounds good to me," He smiled back and they walked towards the main dinner hall.

Uri looked at his door before turning back to his invisible pile of books, "Here goes nothing," He opened the wrapped cloak and the book was still there. It wasn't a dream at least. The young mage's fingers slowly made their way to the edge of the book before beginning to open it, what would he find within the book? Was it really the source of knowledge that would become a curse? It wasn't something that seemed to have any direct magical effects, simple writing in a dark ink on plain white pages. Uri almost felt let down by the book that his droplet guide had called 'the forbidden knowledge', maybe reading it would lead him to such knowledge?

The minutes turned into hours as he sat at his desk and read the pages of the book, his mind devouring the new knowledge as the sun had completely set and the moon was making its way up across the sky. With each flip of the page, he wanted more, he needed more, he had to read every word that was written in the book. The magic that was described in the text was so outlandish, the power to use the caster's soul and forge weapons out of thin air as if pulled from another reality or the possibility to create shields and armors from the soul. The text continued, talking about the powers that the Dominator's magic could provide, from strength to speed to agility without mentioning an increased ability to take punishment from attacks. It was the strongest form of combat magic the old world could provide, stated the book, nothing could rival it. The stronger the caster's will, the stronger the magic they could use, "Only three spells, weird," Uri said to himself as he continued reading about the magic, how could something be the strongest magic with only three spells? All of the branches of new magic had over 20 spells and were not described as the most powerful magic while 3 simple spells was the strongest someone could get. The text must've been a hundred or so pages and it seemed there was still something else about the magic, "Oh, I see..." The Dominator's magic was the cause of the magic reformation. The fourth and final spell of the Dominator's arsenal was a spell named 'Dominator's Finale' a spell that would destroy the caster's body while reshaping all of magic and all of reality around it. Over a hundred years ago, the spell had been used to reshape the magical world and recreate both magic and the planes. The text outlined that using such a spell could only lead to the end of the person wielding such power, a fitting result for the caster's grand finale. Uri wanted to continue reading but the idea that he had stumbled upon the strongest magic in the planar system and that if he made a mistake he could throw the whole system into chaos and reshape magic in some new, random way as the last wielder of that power did. He decided that finishing the text then putting it away was what he should do, getting some sleep could only help. The young mage's mind was a true storm, images of death from his dream to the imagination of breaking the fragile magical balance of the planar system to hurting everyone around him flooded his head. The idea of hurting Kelly stung badly as it appeared in his mind, "This is dangerous..." It wasn't hard to understand why this text had belonged to what the voice had called 'the forbidden knowledge' no one in their right mind would allow this type of document to fall into the hands of someone who had ill intentions, it would simply be too dangerous and lead to the end of the world as they knew it or could threaten that ending. Uri's fingers continued to flip through the text, his eyes devoured the pages and the words that covered them. It was written in a very old fashioned way and some of the sentences seemed to be the work of delirium. Could this magic drive a person insane? How could they have known so much about the magic if the final spell would reshape the world? The young mage's mind had been filled with a new set of spells, spells that would easily break him or break the world around him or both if he wasn't careful. He was starting to really understand why his guide had discouraged him to look at the other texts. Knowledge was really power and too much knowledge would probably be more power than Uri would be ready to handle.

He arrived near the end of the old text but he was getting more and more scared to turn the pages. After the slow beginning with a simple explanation of the magic, it began to describe the atrocities that could consume someone from the inside out and render that person insane. The text that had begun to fill Uri's mind was a dangerous source of power and being careful was the only thing he could think of to protect himself from the unintended outcomes. The book's violent and gruesome descriptions of the abuse of the power and the decimation of entire planes, it was too much for the young mage as he closed the book and felt as if he was going to lose his dinner, "Why was I chosen for this?" He gagged as the images that were described in the book appeared in his mind once more.

The book's final sentence lingered in his mind, "This is my memory as the essence of dominance," Uri read in a whisper before a chill ran up his back and he felt something in the room, almost as if there was a crushing presence in his bedroom. He turned and looked around the room from his desk and saw nothing, his door was still closed as it was earlier that night, "Must just be me."

"You have read my book," A voice spoke to him, similar to the bodiless guide he had encountered before but this time the voice was deeper, "Now you carry the burden."

"Who is talking to me?" The young mage asked in a slightly worried but still whispering tone.

"The essence of dominance," The voice replied in an unchanged tone of voice, "The last bearer of my knowledge did not manage it quite so well and used the final spell."

"What?"

"I have much to teach you, young mage, what is your name?"

"Uri, Uri Geld."

"Then, young mage Uri, you are the bearer of my power," The voice explained in a semi ominous manner, "We shall have to practice in order to polish your raw knowledge and grant you a better chance at outlasting your predecessor."

"What do you mean?" Uri asked in a slightly panicked voice, "So that I don't die?"

"Precisely, Uri, so that you do not extinguish your own magical and physical presence on this plane of existence," Somehow death sounded much worse said in that way and with that booming, ominous voice in his mind. The young man stood from his desk and walked towards his bed, "Rest and tomorrow we will begin to give my knowledge a permanent host."

"Host?"

"Yes, you are the host of my magic now," Uri sat on his bed before lying down, "Once you have mastered my magic, I will cease to need to teach you," Uri lay on top of his bedsheets and fell asleep quickly.