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The Becoming
by
Jonathan Isenor
Silas sat in the library of Valkrie's basement studying. He was studying to become magician he had dreamed about it ever since he was ten. Now he was thirteen and studying under one of the greats. Magic fascinated him in all aspects. He studied for many hours a day learning what held their universe together. He studied many elements - fire, wind, water, and earth. Those were the basics ones, but there were more then that he also studied light and darkness. He would test himself after reading a chapter, for he knew the time for the Cave of Trails would come.
The Cave of Trails would determine whether or not he would become a magician. It would determine whether or not he would achieve his dream. Valkrie had told him yesterday that he soon would have to go through the trails. Then and only then if he passed he would become a magician and be able to go to Eldoor where all the magicians lived high above the other villages, on a floating island.
Eldoor was suspended in the sky not by the gods, but by the power of the magicians. No one knew how this worked nor did they question it, for it was useless. Silas closed his last chapter of the spell book and then tested himself. He was finally ready after months of preparation and dreaming. But first he would rest he laid his head down on the dirty spell book and closed his eyes. He slumbered off for quite a well before Valkrie entered the room and abruptly woke him up, by slamming his fist down on the table.
"Wake up, Silas it is almost time!" he yelled in an angry tone.
Silas could always tell when Valkrie was furious, his right eyebrow would twitch. Valkrie was tall and intimidating, he wore a black robe and had long silver hair that fell a little past his shoulders. His green eyes were piercing as if staring directly into the eye of an lion. Also he held a long black wizards staff with a red dragon on top of it. He appeared quite haunting to the public, perhaps that was why he had hidden away from people for so long. But if he had hated people you would have thought he would have gone to Eldoor.
Nonetheless Silas was afraid of Valkrie and sat right up upon being yelled at.
"I'm sorry, Sir. I'll never do it again I promise!"
Valkrie smiled at Silas.
"You're right you won't do it again! Because today after I test you, you're going to The Cave of Trails. Now come with me."
Silas followed Valkrie up to the roof of his home where a long silver staff with a blue crystal on top sat straight up on the other side of the roof. Following his instincts Silas dashed for the staff but Valkrie motioned with his hand and stopped Silas dead in his tracks.
"You want that staff so bad, you want to be a magician so bad and travel to Eldoor. Well here's your chance to prove yourself, get that staff from this roof using the knowledge you have learned from those books, and I will send you to The Cave of Trails."
Silas knew that there was going to be a test but this was going to be a lot harder then it had looked. How would he get the staff with a powerful magician standing in his way? This would prove to be a tough task. First Silas motioned his hand back towards Valkrie and tried to overpower him, but instead the force of Valkrie's magic threw him forward. Silas flew across the roof, and then stood and grabbed and tried to grasp the staff.
Valkrie stopped Silas yet again dead in his tracks, then Silas closed his eyes and mumbled something to himself. A sudden downpour of rain caught Valkrie off guard and Silas claimed the staff with ease. The rain stopped and Valkrie looked at Silas with his eyebrows raised in a amazement. For Silas had outsmarted him.
"Very good show, but now you be tested in The Cave of Trails. First the gods will test your wisdom, then your elements and finally your last test will to be to defeat the Black Dragon. Are you ready for these tasks?"
"I am ready." Silas replied while taking a deep breath.
Valkrie began waving his staff around hopping from side to side.
"Send this young man to The Cave of Trails, for he is ready to become a wizard."
Silas closed his eyes and when he opened them he was in a dark cave. There were torches on the wall and with a quick fire spell they were lit. Silas walked down the path of lit troches not knowing what to expect, then he saw an apple tree. Feeling hungry he rushed over and ate a couple apples and kept a couple for later. Then the tree disappeared and Silas kept on going through the cave; that's when he was approached by a beggar wearing a large brown sheet over his body and a hood over his face.
"You couldn't spare some food, could you kind sir?" he asked Silas.
Silas took both apples from his pouch and gave them to the starving man. The man smiled and disappeared. Silas knew that must have been a test of wisdom, next came the test of his elements. He came to a large room, which had two openings sprouting off opposite sides. Something began emerging from the floor of the cave, some sort of rock man. Thinking quickly Silas created an blue ice crystal, which fell on the monster, shattering it into a million pieces.
Next came a fiery demon in which Silas motioned for the cracks in the cave's floor to open up underneath it. The demon fell in and another monster was defeated. The last monster was a man made of water, the man shot it's arm out but Silas dodged and closed his eyes. A bolt of lighting struck the waterman causing him to be electrocuted and disappear. One of the cave's openings disappeared, leaving only one more test.
He had to face the dreaded Black Dragon. Silas walked down the path to the Black Dragon, he could hear it moving around. It knew he was coming and that made him uneasy. He kept going though; he wasn't going to give up on his dream that easy. He hadn't been studying all this time for nothing. He really wanted to be a magician and he was going to be no matter how hard it was.
Then he saw the Black dragon. It must have been twenty feet in height and twenty in width; it was huge. The dragon had thousands of black scales covering it's body. The dragon's face had horns emerging from both sides, it's silver teeth were large and haunting. The dragon was turned sideways and hadn't noticed Silas yet.
Silas knew he had to defeat it before he could achieve his dream. He cast a fire spell; a bright red blotch of fire appeared on the dragon's back. The dragon howled in pain as it turned and faced Silas - he had angered it.
The dragon breathed fire in his direction,
but Silas put his hand up and stopped the fire. The fire was in front of his
face and then he threw it back at the dragon. The dragon then turned around and
swiped at Silas with it's tail; Silas jumped over it's tail and landed on his
feet. Then a thought struck him. The floor was lined with
various roots and vines. Silas raised his hand and called the vines and roots
from the ground. The vines and roots twisted themselves around the dragon's feet
and snout. The vines held the dragon for a little bit before it broke out.
Killing the Black Dragon was proving to be no easy task.
The dragon ran at him at a fast speed,
Silas dodged the attempt at a tackle. Then he looked up and noticed a large
stalactite hanging from the ceiling. With a downward motion of his hand the
stalactite fell from the ceiling and slammed through the dragon's head. The
dragon let out a loud howl as blood poured from its
mouth. The dragon looked at Silas one more time before closing it's eyes and
passing on. He had done it, Silas had defeated the Black Dragon and with a flash
of light he appeared back on the roof of Valkrie's house.
Valkrie was smiling at Silas for he had known that he accomplished the great tasks of The Cave of Trails.
"So what do you say boy, ready to go to Eldoor?"
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