Mercenary Tales.

Vexil. 

On a cold late autumn morning, in the Mage College of Vexil. One of the tutors lies behind the bakers building, attached to the kitchens which are part of the dormatories. 

It's a sunny morning, and on a day where he has no classes, he enjoys the heat coming from the building behind him, and the sun hitting the cobblestones he's lying on. 

Well ordinarily he'd enjoy it. But today he has a visitor. A former pupil of his, who is paying him a visit. 

And though he'd rather enjoy the heat coming from the bakers building, and the morning sunshine, he finds himself in conversation with his former pupil. 

"Thought they banned you from the city?" says Nol the college tutor, who in his deep rumbling voice adds "Or sent you into exile or whatever it was during the war". 

"They did" says Mira Reinholt the mage who sits upon a bench in the courtyard behind the dormatory kitchens. 

The once powerful mage continues with "But I'm allowed to visit nowadays" he follows that with "I helped out during the border conflict with Tuledare about a decade ago, so they gave me some leeway". 

The tutor is silent for a few moments, then Nol the dragon cracks an eyelid and looks at his former pupil Mira Reinholt, then in his rumbling voice says "Hmmmmm get into trouble a bit sometime ago?" followed by "You've got as much power as a hedge wizard nowadays". 

The mage Reinholt winces at hearing that. For though it's true, he has barely any magical power compared to when he was a younger man. He still doesn't like to reminded about it. 

"Yeah" says the spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster, who continues on with "Got most of it burnt out of me a number of years ago". 

"Oh?" says the massive dark red, almost black coloured dragon, who wonders how that came about, he follows that with "How did you manage that?". 

"No idea" replies Mira Reinholt who actually has no idea how he lost the vast majority of his powers, just that it happened when he went through a void that he accidentally cast. 

Not that he knows what happened at all when he went through that void, nor the fact that he went off world. 

Nol grunts, then after scratching the side of his head which is a little itchy, he looks carefully at his former student, who at one time was the most powerful mage to be found anywhere in the Southlands. 

The dragon who has been teaching here at the Mage College of Vexil for centuries, grunts again as he can't find out how Mira Reinholt lost most of his power. But he does notice something else. 

"What happened to that arm?" asks the tutor, who predominantly teaches combat magic. After all he does teach the young mages here at the college, more than the other types of spellcasters who are students here. 

The mage Reinholt holds up his left arm, then tells his former tutor how he lost it during combat with a dragon, who bit it off. A dragon, who was also friends with him, who also killed him, though only briefly. 

"We can get like that sometimes" says Nol after his former pupil informs him how he lost his left arm below the elbow. 

"Never liked that prick" mutters Nol after he asks Mira Reinholt what happened to the dragon who attacked him, and the once powerful mage replied with "Ah, some associates of mine killed him". 

"Well I hope you've been practicing your defensive spells" says the large red dragon who continues with "I know you mages can't be bothered doing so, and you always want to blow things up, but a good defense is essential in combat". 

Ordinarily that would be the case if the once powerful mage still had all of his vast amount of power, but ever since his loss of power he has learnt to use his magical defenses more often. 

"Actually I have" says the practitioner of magic, who then dryly adds "Tends to happen when most of your power disappears". 

"Wouldn't know, never had the problem" states the dragon tutor who has what can only be described as a smirk upon his maw. 

The mage Reinholt wryly smiles, then he frowns as he looks at his left arm, then he looks at his former teacher, and asks him "How can you". 

He's interrupted by Nol who tells him in dry tone of his own "You seem to forget, magic doesn't work on me". 

The once powerful mage grunts as he did briefly forget that magic doesn't work on dragons, then he nods when the massive dark red dragon tells him "That's a good spell on it, two in fact" followed by "A spell lock on a greater illusion, elven by the looks of it" he then adds "Even took me a few moments to see through it, doubt anyone will ever notice it". 

The dragon who has taught generations of mages, the most powerful of all the human spellcasters, also the rarest of the human practitioners of magic, then says "That's an ingenious looking clockwork arm you've got there" followed by "What's those steel rod things in it?". 

"Bolts" says Mira Reinholt, who spent five years here at the Mage College of Vexil, from the age of twelve to seventeen, when he graduated and became the youngest ever member of the Mage Council of Vexil. 

"It's a launcher" continues the swordmaster who has recently returned to his homeland, the city-state of Vexil. 

"Essentially like a hidden crossbow" adds the mage Reinholt who knows it's useless to lie to the dragon Nol, or to withhold information. 

The massive red dragon grunts, then rumbles "Ingenious alright" then the tutor says "Alright young mage Reinholt". 

Mira faintly smiles at being called that by Nol, as he'll always be young to the dragon, even though he's in his forties. 

"I know you didn't just drop by to chat with your old teacher about what you've been up to" says Nol who continues with "What is it that you want?". 

The spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster, hasn't spoken to his former tutor in twenty five years, just before he was exiled, during the build up to the Battle of Vexil. 

And the last few times the once powerful mage has been here in the city of his birth, he's avoided the Mage College as much as he could. 

The once powerful mage contemplates keeping the conversation going along the lines it has been, and telling him about his involvement in the recent war between the city-states of Tuledare and Phamal. 

Instead the practitioner of magic, who grew up not all that far from the Mage College, tells his former teacher about a problem concerning a spell he's had for years. 

"Well, I wouldn't mind some advice" says the Vexilian mage in exile, who follows on from that with "Magical advice" he then adds "About a spell". 

"Oh?" says Nol the dragon who suspected as much, the dark red dragon then asks "Any spell in particular?". 

"Rifts" says the spellcaster who was once the most powerful mage of his generation to be found anywhere in The Southlands. 

"What about it?" asks the oldest living tutor here at the Mage College of Vexil. 

"I can't do it" replies the mage Reinholt who attempts to keep a sour tone out of his voice, but fails. 

The dragon Nol blinks a few times, as if the bright morning sunshine is in his eyes as he looks at his former student. 

"Eh?" says a slightly surprised Nol, who continues with "You can't?" who follows that with "Well isn't that something" when the mage Reinholt nods yes in reply to him. 

Mira Reinholt then says "You'd be surprised, quite a few mages can't cast it" followed by "In fact a lot of spells that lesser spellcasters can do, mages can't". 

The Vexilian mage in exile then says in a slightly dry tone of voice "You know, because we're too busy trying to blow things up". 

The large dark red, almost black dragon grunts in agreement with that, as for centuries he's told his mage students to have a large variety of spells. 

But they tend not too, for after all, they're the most destructive of all the human practitioners of magic, and the most powerful. 

The mage Reinholt then goes onto explain how he's failed casting various rift spells. And the consequences of doing so, three times in particular. 

Once when he accidentally cast a rift/void which sent him off world, when he lost the vast majority of his power. 

And another time when he used a scroll, and created an uncontrollable rift, which sent him, and a lot of everything around him, including other people, to the other side of the world. 

Then more recently, just a couple of months ago, where he created a fixed portal of all things. Which took him to another plane of existence, which he was extremely lucky to come back from, thanks to a certain individual. 

After listening to his former pupil, the dragon Nol slightly nods his massive head, then says "Sounds like you've got a problem with time". 

"Time?" says Mira Reinholt in a tone of surprise, who continues with "As in". 

Knowing where his former student is going with this, the tutor here at the Mage College of Vexil interrupts him with "No not time like that". 

The massive dark red dragon then says "Time as in distance, or to be more precise space". 

After thinking about it for a moment, the practitioner of magic who was born and raised here in the city of Vexil says "I don't get it". 

Refraining from sighing, the dragon Nol says "When I teach you lot to teleport, do you know why I have you do it up in the air?" followed by "It's not for dramatic effect like you mages tend to indulge in, or because of my natural bias towards flight". 

"It's so we don't kill ourselves" says the mage Reinholt, who follows that with "So we don't go teleporting into something". 

"Exactly" says the teacher of mages and other spellcasting students here at the Mage College of Vexil, who then adds "The same goes for rifts, or for any similar spell, like gateways or portals". 

The dragon then explains how one has to imagine in ones mind's eye, the destination of one's rift, and how it has to be accurate. Mira Reinholt nods in understanding, as he knows this and he has done so, in his previous attempts to cast a rift spell. 

"So you know that, but the problem then arises because of time" says Nol, who continues with "Even if you saw the destination of the other side of the rift earlier in the day, or you saw it years previously, and accurately remember it" followed by "Over time, whether half a day, or decades, that destination would of changed in some way or shape, because it's the nature of time to do so". 

The large red, almost black dragon pauses for a moment or two, then he says "So you have to adjust your time element of the spell accordingly". 

The mage Reinholt sits there blinking, as realisation hits him after hearing the words spoken by his former tutor. 

The once powerful mage then asks the dragon lying opposite him "So how exactly do you adjust that?". 

"You guess" is the reply of Nol the dragon, who grins, then slightly chuckles in his rumbling way after Mira Reinholt the mage mutters "Guess" followed in a wry tone with "I'd rather fucking not do that" . . . . . .