Table Of ContentThis book contains eight stories. The two extra come from the mage 1.2 novella
and the promo story that is outside the main canon.
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MAGE 1: T A D
HE CCIDENTAL RAGON
NEW TO THE JOB
Sinth was not happy. He was not happy and things were not going well. He
had been out of his apprenticeship for only ten days and here he was in a
situation like this.
He was a mage - a frost mage to be specific. Like most mages he had done his
five years of training with a master mage and then was let out in the world to
hopefully not screw things up too much.
Sinth understood his place in the world well. 'Protect and Serve'. It was a nice
motto. He looked down at his feet. The ice was spreading. How am I supposed to
deal with this?
Already the bandits he had been trying to convince to give up on their wicked
ways were well off in the distance. They had saw him coming and dropped their
loot. They probably had experience with mages before.
The woman he saved lay on the ground. She was covered in ice and turning
blue. He struggled a bit. His feet were stuck in a foot of ice.
"Help!" he yelled.
This had to be the most embarrassing moment of his life. Caught by his own
spell. He looked at the ice. There has to be something I can do.
He focused his mind and thought back to his master's teachings. Hundreds of
lessons learned through hard experience flashed through his mind. He had been a
lazy student.
"If you ever get in a bad situation, do not cast this spell," he remembered his
master saying.
He pulled out his spell book as the block of ice that was forming slowly
reached his chest. It was cold.
I had to choose frost, he thought. He could have been a fire mage.
He shook his head and pulled the small amulet he kept under his robes out.
This was not a good idea, but he was out of ideas.
"Wraith of demons, wicked world, let him forth into this abode," he intoned as
he concentrated on the name he had looked up in his spell book.
A hexogen gateway formed in the sky above him. It was massive. That's big,
he thought in wonder. The one his master had formed was much smaller. He
looked back at the spell book and saw the name. Oppps... wrong name.
A pillar of ice flew through the portal and a purplish light filled the clear sky.
A huge paw reached out from the portal and gripped the ice pillar. It was long
and black in color with scales all over it.
The king of dragons had arrived.
It pulled its head through the portal and slowed squeezed its gigantic body
through to float in the air above Sinth.
Sinth starred. It had to be as big as a small castle and he could sense the sheer
power of it even as it floated above him.
The dragon looked at him immediately. His mind started to shred as the
creature absorbed his mind. He lay limp on the iced that covered his chest.
"Interesting, little human. I see your need." The monstrous voice shook the ice
he lay on.
He looked up and his eyes went wide. There was a big ball of purple fire
forming in the dragon's mouth.
"Ummm... no... please..." he begged.
The fire rained down on him and the ice fell away. He felt a burning heat and
his body completely incinerated. Ahhhh.... he screamed in his head.
He shook his head. Dream fire.
The ice was gone and Sinth collapsed to the ground. Ah, it hurts. Dream fire
could remove something from reality and put it in another dimension. The
dragon had skillfully removed the ice and left the two humans alive.
He looked down at the woman. She was still breathing and slightly pink. The
dragon must have taken the cold from her body as well.
"Ah, that must be my sacrifice," the dragon said from behind him.
He turned in shock. The dragon's big maw was right behind him.
"Sacrifice?" he stuttered.
"Yes, sacrifice," the dragon confirmed.
"Me?" Sinth scuttled backwards a little.
"No, not you. The other human." The dragon moved over top of Sinth and he
felt its hot breath on his face as it stood high above him.
"Ummm... sir... I mean... king of dragons," Sinth said.
"Yes?" The dragon was looking at the woman hungrily.
"I... um... how do I put this... I just saved her from some robbers and she isn't
really a sacrifice..."
The dragon looked at him with a raised eyebrow, or at least that was what he
would have done if the dragon was human.
"Ah, you have prepared some robbers for me. You are a thoughtful one, aren't
you..." The dragon paused for a moment with a question in its eyes.
"Sinth," he offered.
"Sinth, yes, you look like a Sinth," the dragon said.
Sinth had no idea what a Sinth was, it was just a name after all, but the dragon
seemed to know. He nodded. At least he isn't going to eat me.
The dragon looked around.
"Well, where are they?"
"They?"
"The sacrificial robbers. I do love the evil ones. Very tasty, you know."
"Oh."
The dragon gave him a hungry look and glanced at the woman. Sinth smiled
weakly.
"I'll take you to them," he said.
"Oh, good. Do hurry." The dragon looked at him impatiently.
Sinth summoned a small disc of ice and cast a spell on it. He was going to
have to find a way to get the dragon to go back to its dimension. It could stay for
as long as he lived unless he banished it back. Unfortunately, the strength to
banish this one would require a high mage or two.
He hopped on top of the circular piece of ice and it hovered upwards. He
hoped that the robbers were still running out in the open; otherwise, this would
go badly.
He flew along the green grass as the wind he had created pushed the ice pad
along. The dragon flew along above him on its big wings.
Sinth looked around. Where are they? He saw them running ahead of him.
"Sir, just up ahead."
The dragon saw them and shot forward with tremendous speed. Sinth would
have thought that the dragon would have taken his time, but he flew low and
inhaled.
The five men flew up in the air and then disappeared into the dragon's mouth.
It flew upwards and did a small barrel roll before flying back down to hover next
to Sinth. It burped.
"That was tasty, little Sinth." It still looked hungry.
"I'm glad," Sinth said with more than a little fear.
"So, Sinth, who should I eat next?"
Sinth looked up at the dragon and saw he was completely serious.
"Dragon, would it be alright if you returned home. There was a little mistake."
The dragon looked at him for a moment and then lifted itself up in front of him
with a stern look.
"Sinth, aren't you an evil wizard? Why are you so squeamish? I thought we
would kill a few villagers and maybe raid a castle or two." The dragon looked
hurt.
"Well, I'm not very evil and I meant to summon Argamen."
The dragon laughed.
"Argamen, that snow lizard? Why would you do that? You know how weak
that ugly snake is?"
Of course Sinth knew. That's why he wanted to summon him because he
would have been easy to banish.
The dragon looked down at him waiting. What am I supposed to do? The
dragon looked at him sternly.
"Little human, I am bored. Perhaps, I will find my own food."
Sinth reached out a hand, but the dragon was moving back towards where they
had left the woman. He realized what that one was about to do.
He pulled out his spell book and looked up a spell. He was going to have to do
something dangerous. Something he had always been bad at.
He flew forward at top speed and started to catch up with the dragon lazily
flying through the sky. Sinth concentrated. He vanished and appeared just next
to the woman as the dragon started to inhale again. He flew into the air and used
the ice pad to block the breath trying to pull him in.
Fire burned over him for a second and he saw his disc starting to melt.
I can’t let this happen!
He lifted the woman into his arms. Her eyes snapped open and she screamed as
the dragon's big maw came closer and closer. He looked behind him and put all
his energy into forcing the pad to move upward. He shot upward.
The world spun for a moment and he lost his bearings. The world was a mix of
colors and he felt ill enough to vomit on the woman.
Hold it together, Sinth. The ladies don’t like it when a man vomits on them.
Sinth spun midair and threw the woman into the air. She started falling
immediately and he knew that he had no time at all to turn this situation around –
something that he was not confident that he could do, but with no choice but
become this beast’s lunch, he was feeling motivated.
He threw his amulet out into the air in front of him and clasped his hands
together. This was going to hurt – A LOT.
The earth is my master and I am its servant. Time is a torturous master and
she knows my will. Accept me if you must and take what you will. I beg of you –
hear my call.
He hoped that the God of Time wasn’t busy right now because as he ripped his
hands apart and the world dimmed to a dullish gray, he was either going to die or
the spell would have the effect that he hoped that it would achieve.
