Amon beca the dearest guest of the tribe. The caven invited him to live in the biggest house. Even Schrodinger got a pile of hay with a leather cushion. After Amon went to rest for the night, Lynk, the headman and tatro held a private conversation in the big cave of fire.
My dear friend, I have been treating you with good food and good wine. I told my n that you are a friend of the gods. When you were in danger, I gathered my best n to rescue you as soon as possible
Stop! Stop! Dont get into that, Im still angry with you! Get to the point. Are you requested for help from again?
Lynk whispered timidly, Ive promised you to trade all the Damasc iron in my tribe with you, and Ive sent my n to look for the relics you ntioned. You promised that I can get the gods power too once you find the relics. But its been years and you should know that you may never find it. Youve taken our best ingots but the things youve promised
tatro interrupted, Are you settling accounts with now? Ive brought benefits to you too. Ive told you Ill pay my debt next ti. I always keep my word.
No, no! I didnt an that. Youve been searching for the relics because you wanted to learn the divine power, didnt you? And your friend, he knows the power, so why dont you ask him to teach you? If he is willing to, ask for too. Weve made a deal, havent we?
tatro did not want to confess that he happened to et Amon just a few hours ago. He wanted to make himself looked tough. So he paltered, Of course, Amon will teach . Our friendship is tested by life and death! But he has no reason to teach you.
Yes, I, know, so I am here asking you. Our friendship is tested by life and death too! If you can help this ti, our tribe can offer you He stopped here, but his implication was clear. His tribe still had much more to offer tatro.
tatro was trapped with himself. He knew well that in the outside world, not everyone can learn magic. Only the nobles with the permission of the shrines were qualified. No mage would take the risk to teach a caveman, which violated his oath to the shrines and would get himself punished. Suddenly, he thought of why Amon travelled here and an idea hatched. Let tell you sothing. Amon ca here looking for sothing too. Sothing lost by the gods. If you can find it for him, I might be able to convince him to teach you the divine power.
What is the dear emissary looking for? asked Lynk with surprise.
I dont know. But I can send a ssage to tell him what you want for you. You can ask him yourself then.
Right! Lets do it now! Lynk stood up imdiately.
Its midnight! Besides, you want to visit him empty-handed?
I know what to do. Theres still good wine in the tribe. Ill fetch so.
You are always hiding the best from . Let go with you to see what you have.
When they stepped out of the cave, tatro asked half-intentionally, Do you really think Amon is the gods emissary?
Lynk gave him a foxy smile, Hes a mage. Thats what you called him. I guess your ancestor was a mage too, wasnt he? I understand what a mage is now. Now that my n think he is the gods emissary, then he is the gods emissary. He added seriously after a pause, Anyway, he does master the divine power. Nobody can deny that.
You dont even know which gods emissary he is!
Better than a bonfire, isnt it?
Youd better keep it between us. Your n will expel you if you say that to them.
Amon was ditating in his house. He occasionally raised his hand. A gleam would appear then grow into a fla. He was practising fire magic now. He learnt fire magic much faster than water magic. Now he could already summon a fla without the help of his staff. It was an incredible feat for ordinary second-level magic practitioners.
Amons staff was powerful. It could largely amplify the magic effect. Learn the magic in the fastest way with the staff, then study it and practice it without any dia. It had beco a standard procedure for Amon. A fla was summoned from nowhere and jumped like an elf in the air under Amons control. It was so amusing. But Amon had to control his excitent. He was still afraid that he might burn the house.
Staring at the fla, Amon was engrossed in his thoughts. The tribe was situated in a very high place. If he recalled correctly, he had passed three layers of clouds. So here was the place he could stay and wait. What he was going to do was to practice primary magic and keep observing the western sky.
Amon was worrying about how to settle down before eting the caven. The tribe was a good place to stay. The locals treated him well so he did not need to hunt and build an abode all by himself. That was why he played the fire magic tonight. CrazyOles advice was indeed helpful.
tatros voice ca from the outside, My dear mage, are you sleeping? This is tatro. If you dont mind, we have so good wine for you, and nice grilled pheasant for your cat.
Schrodinger quickly jumped out from the hay. Amon quenched the fla and said, Please co in. Im awake.
tatro opened the door and ca in with two slim cavewon, one carrying a terrine, the other carrying a wooden plate, on which so juicy at was sizzling upon a hot piece of stone. The cavewon put down the food and retreated. tatro put two stone goblets on the ground. One of them was empty and the other was filled with animal fat and had a lit grass stem in it. That was the simplest and oldest candle, the best lighting tool in the tribe.
Amon startled, You want to drink with in the middle of the night?
tatro shook his head, No no. Im here to offer our best wine to the gods emissary. He poured a goblet of wine and handed it to Amon.
Amon could tell with a sniff that the wine was flat. Though he did not drink much, he had a drunkard father. The wines sold in Duc were all selected. Amon could tell the quality of tatros wine by the sll. But it was already a good thing to be able to drink wine in the deep mountains. Amon stretched out his hand, Thanks. Co and drink with .
tatro waved his hands, My dear mage, I have to call you my lord outside. How dare I drink with you?
Amon smiled, We are with the caven now. Are you going to watch drink alone in the night?
As you wish! tatro got to the door and shouted, Give one more goblet! Apparently, he wanted to drink too, otherwise, he would have said How can instead of How dare.
Hearing Amon ask him to drink, tatro felt relieved. His plan was probably going to work. This mage was just a teenager, easy-going and good-natured. He did not have the arrogance that often grew with age and status of the priests in the shrines.
He was clearly in exile. Maybe his family had lost power or he happened to displease so high lords. His mission was an excuse for punishnt, an exclusion in disguise. How was a primary mage supposed to look for a supre mages item alone in the mountains?
tatros desire to learn magic was much bigger than Lynks, otherwise, he would not have gone so far into the mountains to seek his ancestors relics. In most circumstances, a mage would not teach him magic. But now in this isolated village, with such a poor mage, he might have a chance to get what he had been desiring.
The two drank and chatted casually. Inadvertently, tatro began to talk about his own story
tatro was born in a declined noble family. His great-grandfather was a priest in the Marduc Shrine of the Bablon City. He was a sixth-level mage, a step away from a supre mage. But in a battle between Bablon and Hittite, tatros great-grandfather was injured and had to get away from the battlefield using a precious flying scroll. The scroll did not have enough power to carry him back to Bablon safely. He died in the forests near the canyon of the Euphrate River.
tatros family nearly bankrupted after his great-grandfathers death, ruined by a huge debt. But then, a stranger ca to his family and saved his great-grandmother and his grandfather. The stranger was a hunter from Assyr. He found tatros great-grandfathers body, his belongings and his final ssage.
The hunter buried his great-grandfather according to his final ssage and brought his belongings back to Bablon City, which was so valuable that only a two-socket staff among them paid off the debt. The widow and her fatherless son thus managed to keep their manor, but the price was that tatros grandfather lost the qualification to inherit the position of priest, for a ridiculous reason that he was not a suitable candidate to learn magic since he had not awakened the god-given power in the rite.
It was a poor excuse since many positions of the priest were actually occupied by non-mages.
Life was tough and the declination of a family was full of bitter stories. Their nas were forgotten by the Bablonians. tatro even failed to inherit the noble title. People laughed at his grandfather for his weakness which led to the fall of his family.
According to the final ssage passed on by the hunter, tatros great-grandfather did not die in a sudden fashion. He died after earnestly praying to Marduc for seven days. In total desperation, he carved all he knew about magic in a cave, hoping that soone would find his body, bury him and bring his belongings back ho to his family. The hunter fulfilled his wishes.
tatro carefully observed Amons expression as he told the story, in which there was an obvious offence to the gods. What his great-grandfather had done clearly violated the oracles from the shrines. tatro found that Amon listened carefully. He did not get angry, nor did he try to reprimand him. tatro continued scrupulously
When he was young, tatro heard about his great-grandfathers story from his grandfather, which was a family secret that had been forbidden to leave the household. When tatro grew up, he lost the right to learn magic, so he chose to learn body arts and beca a fourth-level warrior when he was twenty.
However, tatro did not want to submit to his fate. He always dreamt of learning magic, which was not possible in Bablon City since no one would teach him. He was no longer a noble. Anyone who taught him magic would be punished by law. However, tatro thought about his great-grandfathers story. The knowledge about magic his great-grandfather had carved in the cave might be still there. If he could find that place, he might still be able to learn magic.
Enchanted by this idea, tatro went into the mountains between Bablon and Hittite many tis in order to find his ancestors relics. Since he did not have a detailed map but only knew a vague range, he failed every ti. anwhile, he beca familiar with a tribe of caven in the mountains.
tatro explained with a palpitating heart, My dear mage, I regard you as my dear friend and saviour of my life, thus I dare to confess such a secret to you. I am not seeking to be a sorcerer. My ancestor was a mage. I should have inherited his position and title according to the laws. But since he was slandered as a deserter after dying for his country, his descendants were treated unfairly. My only goal is to bring my familys na back to glory, and I need to prove my capability.
He waited a good while but did not hear a sound from Amon. Perturbed by the silence, he turned up his face only to be shocked. After a few seconds, he kneeled down and cried, Oh my dear lord! How can such coincidence exist? You are holding Mister Nietzsches token!
Amon was holding a small golden plate with a crest on both facets inscribed in wedge and pen writing, looking like a seal or a naplate from a shrine. Amon was sure of tatros identity when he heard him talking about his family history. tatro was a descendant of the dead mage which CrazyOle had found near the canyon of the Euphrate River more than a century ago. Before CrazyOle left her family, the widow gave him this golden plate, saying that he could co back to her family for help at any ti. Nietzsche carried that token with him in his travels across the continent since. He gave it to Amon at the eve of Amons departure, telling him that it might be useful in his later adventures.
A century has passed since the initial incident, so Amon was not sure if the widows promise was kept by his descendants. He decided that he would not say anything about this plate if tatro failed to recognize it, but now it was certainly not the case. He stood up and said, So my guess is right. You know Mister Nietzsche. But why do you kneel to ?
Its what I was told to do in case I see this plate. Mister Nietzsche has saved our family. He selflessly carried my ancestors belongings back to Bablon City. I will treat whoever holds this plate as my familys saviour, show him my greatest respect and help him as much as I can. Ive kept this image in mind since I was young. I even imagined eting Mister Nietzsche or his descendants.
tatros emotion was sincere because he knew that Nietzsche was a sorcerer who had learnt magic from his great-grandfathers notes. He had a deep impression of this token since in his childhood fantasies, Nietzsche was one of the most possible persons to teach him magic.
You did not tell the truth, said Amon. Mister Nietzsche was a sorcerer, but you said that he was a hunter.
Thats right, explained tatro. As you know, a sorcerer always has to hide his identity, so I dared not tell you Mister Amon, how do you have Mister Nietzsches relic?
Relic? tatro naturally assud that Nietzsche had passed away after more than a century. Amon should be his descendant or successor, otherwise, he could not possess the plate and show it to him before he ntioned Nietzsches na.
Mister Nietzsche gave it to . What a coincidence that we can et here! But thinking carefully, it is not a complete coincidence. Youve been searching your ancestors relics for so many years Get up tatro, lets drink. So you must be telling this for a reason, arent you? Amon pulled up tatro and sat down beside the table.
tatros face was flushed with excitent. He grasped the goblet and leaned forward, Mister Nietzsche gave it to you? So he is still alive? Then he must be a great sorcerer now! Can I see him? Can you bring to see him?
Amon waved his hand, Calm down, tatro! Im afraid that I cant bring you to Mister Nietzsche, nor can I tell you where he is. That was not included in what youre supposed to do with Mister Nietzsche, was it? You havent answered my question. Why did you bring up your family story tonight?
tatro recovered from the hysteria and realized that he was supposed to help the holder of the plate rather than ask for more from him. He took a deep breath and gently requested, Actually, I was wondering if I could learn magic from you. Thats also why I wanted to et Mister Nietzsche Mister Amon, are you also a
Amon cut off his question. Do you want to know if Im a sorcerer too? You have to know that although Mister Nietzsche used to be a sorcerer, it doesnt an that he will always just be a sorcerer. Its not difficult for a great sorcerer to beco a mage. And its been more than a century since he visited your family, replied Amon evasively.
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