Fantasy The Clueless Wizard (Completed)

[Yokai]

》Pick what to wear: explore the room.

A low whistle sounded as Arden stepped into the only unscathed bedroom, her gaze trailed over the furnishings and the sheer size of the room. It was impressive and she definitely wanted to spend some time exploring but first; clothing. No longer would she tolerate this nakedness!

As she crossed over to the dresser Arden was struck with the horrible suspicion that medieval people didn't wear underwear. And then, when she couldn't find a normal looking pair... well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd gone commando. The young woman snickered at the thought of Mel's horror and changed into a light brown pair of lace-up breaches, ones that sat comfortably around her waist and that she rolled up to her knees. A loose fitting white shirt, one that reminded her of pirates, was messily tucked into the trousers. Now, Arden wasn't masculine in any sense of the word but her outfit definitely gave her an androgynous appearance.

Once dressed she re-adorned the red cloak, picked up her stick -- now fondly named Watson -- and swept around the room curiously.

 

[ArcticFox]

After getting the clothes on, she also found a pair of worn leather boots at the bottom of the dresser. They were not extravagant by any means, yet they were strangely comfortable and she did need something to put on her feet.

The room she was in had all that was necessary. A bed, a dresser, some chests and chairs, a work table and a wash basin in one corner of the room as well as a small bowl that suspiciously looked like a chamber pot. That will take some getting used to. Mel also did not mention a bathroom and it was obvious that the Kingdom had no running water, which will be quite a change.

On the desk near the bed the only thing she found of interest was a crumpled piece of paper that proved to be a partially destroyed photograph. Taken with a camera. It showed a man and a woman holding a toddler in between them, all looking rather happy. Thomas's family maybe?

"Wizard Arden?" Mel's voice called from the hallway. He soon peeked through the doors. "Is everything alright?" When he saw her appearance he only nodded with approval. "You found something to wear. That's... nice. Can I show you the library now?"

- Ask about the photograph.
- Ask about a bathroom.
- Ask about the messy rooms.
- Go to the library.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask about the photograph.

A wave of sympathy passed through Arden as she stared down at the photograph; if this was Thomas and his family then she could see why he'd gone mad. He'd left an entire life behind whereas Arden had only just started hers. She'd never been terribly close with her parents, they'd been unhappily married for years and built their opinions on people around money and success. Arden wasn't much of a daughter to them and they were never parents to her. Still, she was their only child and now they had none.

Mel's voice broke through her darkening thoughts and she was quickly pulled back to the present.

"Aw, only nice?" Arden grinned playfully and then snickered slightly. Photograph still in hand she walked over to the elf and presented him with the photograph, dark eyes judging his reaction. "Before we shackle up in the library I've got a quick question: did this belong to Thomas?" She asked curiously. "This was his family, right?"

 

[ArcticFox]

The elf was just tinking how to respond to her first question, when she presented him with a photograph and he took it with a solemn expression.

"This was Thomas's, yes." He nodded with a heavy sigh. "He left his family in his world when the Tower brought him here. He never quite learned how to live with it. There is no way back from here, you know." He looked her with concern. "Will you be alright with that?"

- Answer.

 

[Yokai]

》Answer.

"My parents didn't like me anyway," Arden reassured him with an almost regretful smile. There was no need to make Mel feel guilty or remorseful, the elf seemed like he had enough to deal with. Her gaze flickered down to the photograph again. "You should burn that, it didn't look like you guys would be retrieving his body any time soon otherwise I'd have suggested burying it with him."

Immediately she fixed the serious, almost sad, expression on her face and smiled again. "C'mon! Don't you have a library to show me, priest-y boy?" Deflection was truly a subtle art.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Thomas's body will disappear soon. There is no need to bury it." Mel responded, putting the photograph in a pocket, before nodding again and moving down the hallway.

They went through an elaborate maze of twists and turns that made the Tower seem much more spacious on the inside than it looked from the outside. Perhaps that too was a part of its magic. Mel stopped in front of the tall wooden doors, carvings of dragons on it, emeralds set in their eyes. It was very extravagant. When Mel opened them, they walked into the largest library that Arden had ever seen.

Shelves to the sides were brimming with books and if that wasn't enough, the desks were overflowing with them. There were all sorts of strange statues throughout the room, huge scrolls and maps. And there was a skeleton suspended from the ceiling.

- Ask about the skeleton.
- Ask about the books.
- Ask about magic.
- Ask something else.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask about the skeleton.

There was absolutely no way that Arden was going to be able to navigate her way around this place. She was as good as lost at this point and it wasn't until they reached a particularly extravagant door that she managed to get her bearings again. There better be a direction spell if she could learn magic because Arden would probably die if she were left to her own devices.

Inside, however, was a completely different matter and Arden's jaw genuinely dropped at the sight, every other thought banished from her mind. This wasn't a library - it was a natural history museum!

"Is that a whale skeleton!?" Arden demanded incredulously as she stared up at the suspended skeleton in undeniable awe. "Look at all these books too! This is actually amazing!!" She continued to enthuse, wandering around the room with her head whipping in each direction like a badly controlled puppet. "I'm going to move my bed in here and live here instead!"

 

[ArcticFox]

"I don't know what a whale is." Mel blinked at her in confusion. "But Thomas mentioned it too. Maybe your realms were similar." He walked to stand directly underneath the skeleton, looking up at it. "This is a skeleton of a sea serpent. It is a draconean creature that dwells in the open sea. Usually not hostile, but can become dangerous if it feels threatened. "

The elf smiled at her next proclamation and shrugged her shoulders.

"You can do what you want, this is your Tower now, your home. You may redecorate as you see fit. But you will need a pair of able hands to help you with that and I have a couple of people in mind for the job." He said determinedly. "Would you like me to tell you about them, or would you like to take a look at the books first?"

- Examine the books.
- Choose your staff.

 

[Yokai]

》Choose your staff.

Arden was beginning to suspect that Thomas had also come from a similar world, if not the exact same one. They must be to have recognised the whale. But hey! A sea serpent was even more impressive than her original guess anyway. The question of where the skeleton came from and how they got it into the library was a different matter. Really? They had the ability to string up a hulking creatures bones but hadn't introduced indoor plumbing? Outrageous.

"I think once I start reading those books I won't want to stop," Arden admitted with a bashful laugh, cupping the back of her neck. There was a reason she'd gone into a degree like psychology that placed heavy emphasis on research. "So, yeah! Let's go choose that staff! I wanna see who you've got in mind, though I trust your judgement a lot more than I trust mine."

Logically thinking, Mel understood the necessities of this world and what was required to survive. Arden barely managed to live off of frozen food and a metric crap ton of coffee. He probably knew what was best.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Good." Mel nodded, apparently approving her decision. "While I will be here often to help you with the spells and teach you about our history, the ways of our community and the like, you will also need someone to keep the Tower clean and to prepare your meals. You might have noticed the mess that Thomas left." He gave an embarrassed smile. "I tried to stop him, I really did, but he was not himself at the end.

"For this purpose I have already selected two candidates, a half-elf who works for the Queen currently, but was very eager to meet a Wizard. And a human woman, who worked as an innkeeper for a few years in one of our most prestigious establishments. Both of them are professionals, I assure, it is only a matter of whom you are more comfortable with. They would live here with you after all, if you don't mind it."

- The human woman.
- The half-elf man.

 

[Yokai]

》The human woman.

Race and gender weren't important to Arden; though the fact she had to take into consideration non-humans was definitely strange. Neither of them made much of an impression when he suggested them and Arden couldn't tell what his own preference was. Head tilted in thought she mulled it over before finally answering. At least she was taking this seriously.

"Human woman," Arden said finally. "The elf dude works for the Queen, I'd feel bad if I stole him from her. Besides if he wants to meet me that bad the next time I go there I'll hunt him down and introduce myself. Easy~" She grinned.

 

[ArcticFox]

"Of course. I think you chose well. Miss Jacqueline will be glad too." Mel nodded. "And you will also need a guard. I don't know how is it in your world, but in ours the strongest races are considered to be varl and orcs. While, naturally, every race is allowed any sort of a job they wish, varl and orcs are given a priority on the positions that require sheer physical strength, due to obvious reasons. Varl are a race of giants, much taller than you or me, usually calm and reserved, people of few words. And orcs are the resident troublemakers, very short tempered and violent. The Queensguard has a lot of both varl and orc guards and the Queen would be happy to send a volunteer over.

We cannot strictly say that every varl or orc, or a member of any other race, is the same as all others, but there are certain dominant traits for each of them, which is why I am explaining it as crude as this to you. I know it might seem insensitive."

- Choose a varl.
- Choose an orc.

 

[Yokai]

》Choose an Orc.

Miss Jacqueline? Arden's brows climbed up her forehead at the pleasant sounding title and she instantly found herself hoping for a cute elderly woman. She'd always wanted a grandmother or even a decent maternal figure, this was her chance!

Wait... there were more than two races?

Arden blinked at him in befuddlement as he explained the natures of two races that she'd hardly heard of. Orcs were instantly associated with the unsavoury kind that were found in Lord of the Rings and she scrunched her nose up slightly at the thought. Then again... everyone had been unfairly attractive so far, it'd be nice to have somebody normal looking. Varls were completely unknown to her and that was a little intimidating too. However, out of the two races she had to rely on his description of their personalities. Volatile troublemakers or gentle giants?

"Guess it'll have to be an Orc!" Arden said with finality. "They sound much more fun than Varls! But thank you for explaining the differences anyway, in my world we only have humans after all~" She confirmed, just so that Mel knew that level of ignorance that he was dealing with.

 

[ArcticFox]

"I assumed." Mel nodded. "A lot of Wizards were human, it seems that the human race is very common in other realms as well. Uh... no offense." He said awkwardly, quickly turning to the nearest shelf.

"This library holds tomes of magical spells as well as books of ancient history and journals of your predecessors. They are all yours to read. I don't think you will have much trouble understanding the spells, I worked with Thomas and he seemed to be able to cast them only after skimming over a book. However, he did tell me, and the other journals confirmed, that you would eventually need to decide in which area you want to specialize. While you can learn many practical or unpractical spells, you can only fully master one of them.

Thus we have..." He took out a leather bound tome with golden engravings on it and flipped through it. "Zaul the Firemage, Uriella the Waterbender, Dawn the Arcanist, Rhal the Necromancer..." He made a grimace after reading the last name. "And so on. Uh, they were the ones that chose the names for themselves for the most part. In some very special circumstances it was the people of Blackcliffe that invented the names. You can choose your own one whenever you wish, you will also have a journal to keep anyway."

- Ask about the most famous Wizards.
- Ask how many Wizards there were.
- Ask about Thomas's specialization.
- Ask about different types of spells.
- Ask about the history of Blackcliffe.
- Ask about the society of Blackcliffe.
- Get to reading.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask about different types of spells.

There was still a disbelieving twist to Arden's lips, one that suggested she still didn't quite believe that it would be so easy. Instead she glanced over his shoulder at the names that filled the opened book with avid curiosity. Would she one day have her name written down? If so, Arden wondered what she'd even want to be remembered for. She hadn't missed Mel's grimace when he mentioned the Necromancer.

"What are the different types of spells and specializations?" Arden asked as her mind ran over the various daydreams she'd possessed as a child. It was every kid's -- and some adult's -- dream to have supernatural abilities and this was her chance. But she'd have to craft herself around the idea of what exactly she wanted to become. Arden really wasn't grand enough for this kind of stuff.

 

[ArcticFox]

"The ones I know the most about from the journals and histories are elemental spells: fire, water, earth and air. Those seemed to be the most popular ones among the Wizards. There are others too like mending both broken objects and wounds, necromancy as you heard, which is not what I would choose, binding spells that let a Wizard bind an animal, like a familiar. Some Wizards even succeeded in binding dragons.

And there are also those less known spells like Dawn the Arcanist used. Apparently at her time she made so many strange machinery that moved on its own will that she caused people of Blackcliffe to rebel against them. Everything was so automated that the people were out of jobs. No one knows what happened to Dawn, her memoirs and the history books are very vague there, but I have read that some of her machinery might be in the basement of the Tower still. But Thomas tried to get into the basement and did not succeed." Mel paused.

"That's all I can tell you from the top of my mind. I'm sure that there are many other possible spells in these books too and you will have better luck finding them, than me."

- Ask about the most famous Wizards.
- Ask how many Wizards there were.
- Ask about Thomas's specialization.
- Ask about the history of Blackcliffe.
- Ask about the society of Blackcliffe.
- Get to reading.

 

[Yokai]

》Ask about Thomas' specialization.

"I'd always considered myself to be more of a bard than a wizard," Arden admitted with an easy laugh, leaning back out of the Elf's space. Then again, didn't bards have to play an instrument of some sort? The only thing she'd ever been truly talented at was ballet and that'd probably making her a dancing bard or something... hey! That had a nice ring to it.

"So, what did ol' Thomas choose to focus on?" Arden asked, the question suddenly occurring to her when she began to ponder the influence of personality. She wasn't likely to pick something unless it really interested her, usefulness or not. It'd have to be fun - was there such a thing as mischief magic?

 

[ArcticFox]

Mel gave a sigh. "Thomas was unstable from the start. I think he showed the most interest in binding magic, he used to like walking the Violet Forest and conversing with animals. I think that was comforting to him - he said that most of the animals here are the same as in his own realm." His gaze grew distant for a moment as he reminisced. Then he shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Well, let's show you the books, alright?" The elf reached out seemingly at random and presented Arden with another leatherbound book, though this one's covers were deep blue. "These are The Basics of Elemental Magic. Try reading it. It might not make much sense at first, but you should be able to understand the concept."

- Read the book.
- Ask how come everything's in English.
- Ask Mel to read the book.
- Pick a different book to read.

 

[Yokai]

》Read the book.

An eyebrow was arched at the book before Arden hesitantly took it from Mel's hands. She was still a little dubious on the idea of suddenly acquiring magical abilities via reading. It all seemed too easy and for somebody who'd dreamed of escapism in her youth... it felt extremely surreal. If reading gave her magical abilities then Arden would read all day! Still, she pasted on her bestest and brightest smile for Mel. No need for them both to be nervous.

"Thanks, Mel!" Arden chirped, book tucked under her arm as she plopped down onto the floor. Her legs were crossed beneath her, cloak sprawled out around her in a crimson puddle. Feeling strangely nervous the brunette flipped open to the first page and squinted down at the words. What if somebody with awful eyesight arrived here without their glasses? Or worse, the tower chose somebody completely illiterate? What then?

 

[ArcticFox]

Arden could read the written words without any trouble, however they made little sense. The sentences did not connect to each other and some parts seemed to be some sort of improvised poems, while others looked like excerpts from speeches and others still were only a mess of random words.

Nothing in the book actually explained how magic is cast, if there was an incantation to go with it, or if one needed something as a conduit, or to strike a certain pose. But despite the book making little to no sense, Arden could feel something like a realisation in her mind. The longer she read the nonsense the more she understood it. Like it all came together, like it was some secret message written in an invisible ink that only reveal itself to her.

Magic was not difficult. It was something she always knew how to do, only she never tried it. All she needed was to concentrate on how she wanted to change the world around her.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Mel's voice broke her concentration. He was stomping on the floor where a loose piece of paper caught on fire. The elf quickly took the book away from her and closed it. "Maybe don't read the spells of fire in the library." He said with a small smile. "I can tell you where which book is, just tell me what you would like to start with?"

- Elemental magic.
- Healing magic.
- Necromancy.
- Binding magic.
- Arcane magic.
- Telekinetic magic.
- Ming control magic.

 

[Yokai]

》Healing magic.

Normally a sheepish smile would've been cast in Mel's direction at her personal blunder. Instead Arden only stared up at him in pure amazement, dark eyes practically swirling with ideas. There was something she wanted to look into but whether it existed to the extent she wanted was different. But first, she had to cover her basics. Healing was an obvious choice as Arden liked being alive but also... she suspected her following choice might be connected.

"Healing magic?" Arden asked, standing up slowly with a considering look. "And then... if you have anything on shape-shifting I'd really appreciate it." Being able to change her shape - not just into animals but other humans - could be quite fun and allow Arden to move around without being detected.

 

[ArcticFox]

"That are is only glamour, or mind control." Mel said as he picked out a thinned book with plain covers. "I don't think a Wizard can be a shape shifter, I have never heard of it. But, I know that you can use magic to persuade someone to think you are someone else. that is called glamour." Then he picked another book with green covers and silver letters. "This is the book of healing. I know there are many others in the library too, with time you will be able to remember where each of them is and you won't need my help any more."

With two books in tow, Arden was ready to start her magical studies. It would take some time for her to get used to the idea and the strange tingling feeling she felt while reading the spell book, but it shouldn't take her that long to be able to do basic spellcasting at will.

- Spend the rest of the day studying.
- Spend the rest of the day exploring Blackcliffe.
- Spend the rest of the exploring the Tower.

 

[Yokai]

》Spend the rest of the day studying.

Arden tried not to look too disappointed by the absence of shape-shifting books but the mention of persuasion caught her attention. That'd be useful, if a little manipulative. Instead she accepted the book of healing with another muttered thanks, brow furrowed in deep thought. Currently she already had a lot to learn and revise, it'd hopefully keep her busy until she figured everything out.

"I'm just going to read over these now," Arden explained as she walked toward the windows. "Make yourself comfortable of course!" She said over her shoulder, all distracted smiles and distant eyes. Finding a comfortable cushion she plopped it down in front of the glass. She curled up in her red cloak - technically not hers - and set about reading.

 

[ArcticFox]

As soon as she got to reading, Mel excused himself saying he needed to get back to his temple. While he was sort of a personal guide for her that day, he still had a calling as a priest. Arden still did not know anything about the religion in this realm however.

Evening came and then night and Arden was absorbed in the book of healing. With every read word she understood the spell better. Suddenly she started seeing a way to heal torn tissue, to close open cuts, to remove infection, to mend bones. She could not perform a surgery yet, fix someone's internal organs or replace them, but she could heal injuries and common colds. At one point she noticed she was starting to get hungry, but by that time she could barely keep her eyes open too and so sleep caught her by surprise in the library, in a rather comfortable armchair.

--

"Hey! Miss Wizard!" A deep voice called her from the outside.

As she opened her eyes she realised that it was already morning and someone was making a ruckus underneath her bedroom window. No, not her bedroom window. She was not in her bedroom. She was not even in her own world. She was in the Tower's library. This went on for far too long to be a dream. She was in the Tower's library. And she had just learned how to be a doctor, without a medical degree.

"Open up! I don't want to stand here the whole day!" The gruff voice was still calling for her.

- Look through the window.
- Call back.
- Ignore the voice.

 

[Yokai]

》Call back.

Drowsy eyes blinked out the window as the young woman yawned away her unexpected sleep. The irate voice caused Arden to smile, quietly amused by the interruption and not remotely annoyed. An almost cheshire grin transformed her features as she sat up straighter, one arm slung over her knee casually.

"Oh?" Arden called down, aiming for innocent but probably sounding far too pleased with herself. "Shall I come down and let you stand around inside instead?" The wizard laughed then, easy and carefree before standing up. She stretched out like an oversized cat and then paused. Wait... how did she find her way to the portal again? "It might take me a moment to find my way back to the portal though!"