The Rival

The silvery outline of the moon reflected on the surface of a stream where a man knelt to wash his face. A diversity of symbols covered his robe as well as the sleeve he used to dab the water from his eyes. Each symbol represented an accomplishment or a conquest. Yet, together they radiated power and status that only a master can obtain by the capture of a wizard more powerful than himself. Though slightly weary, he listened and sensitized his entire body to sense magic that radiated or popped in the air. He didn’t wait long before a surge of energy sent the feeling of needle punctures up his neck. Instantly, he knew the spell his rival recited. They found him.

“This way!” A man shouted a short distance away.

Once again, he was on the run.

“So, this is how a criminal feels?” he contemplated as he ran into a clearing. “Now is the time for something esoteric.”

In the center of the clearing, he stopped then knelt as he waited for his opponents. A few seconds later, his neck reacted to the magic in the air. In a blinding flash of light, several of his rivals appeared , surrounding him from a distance. Silently, he laughed at their timidity, but at the same time, he commended them on their caution when they kept distant.

“Greetings, Churell. I see others have joined your chase.”

“Greetings, Ryan. Yes, they have, unfortunately,” he shouted from across the field. “But I want you to know that I found you by my magic.”

“Noted. But, I still posses the symbols, until captured or dead.”

Before the other wizards could make a move, a pale blue light outlined Ryan’s hands, which lifted and arched over his head.

Uncertain, the other wizards conjured different spells for protection. Fear settled in as the strength of Ryan’s spell was far beyond their level. Before the rivals could counter the spell, winds of three hundred miles per hour battered their protection spells just before heat of more than one thousand degrees Celsius exploded and the lone wizard disappeared as his rivals were thrown back several yards. The intense heat not only disoriented the other wizards’ ability to track the magic, but also disintegrated the remaining particles in the air, which gave Ryan a clean get away.

Seconds later and miles away, Ryan materialized on the edge of a town. However, as the King’s Royal Wizard with over ten years of victorious challenges, any attempt to suddenly appear anywhere within the Integrated Realms (IR), would be problematic. Perhaps even beyond the IR, because many rulers from other nations fought his king to procure him for their kingdoms. Yet, he wanted a respite, which called for anonymity. Ryan smiled at the thought that his King was also in a similar challenge at this very moment. With a single thought from his mind, his robe turned inside out and he hoped to go about undetected as he stepped into view of the townspeople. With a glance around, he recognized the small village of Poinelle. Confident he had hours to waste, since no one screamed his name, he quickly located the only inn in the village.

By the oddly shaped structures, which they passed off as buildings, he sensed the town only had one wizard at a lower echelon of apprenticeship. Without magic, the structures couldn’t possibly stand and it brought a smile to his face.

A faint cry caught his attention and he followed the sound to a little girl who cried on her knees near the town’s well.

“Why are you crying, little one?”

“I can’t find my bunny puppy.” She sobbed with huge tears.

His heart melted at the sadness in her eyes. And although he didn’t know what a bunny puppy looked like, he intended to find out. “Don’t worry. We will find him. What’s his name?”

“She’s a girl. Her name is Waffles.”

For several seconds, he wondered if he should speak to her parents. “Where are your parents?”

“They’re looking for Waffles.” She sniffed then inhaled her sobs before she said, “My brother is over there.”

He turned to see her brother watching them. Politely, he waved. “I’m glad he’s watching over you. Now, close your eyes and tell me when you see a picture of her in your mind.”

The little girl didn’t answer, but closed her eyes.

“Do you have the picture?” He prodded.

Her little head bobbed enthusiastically.

Ryan spoke a few words in a whisper and her bunny puppy appeared in his hands. “So that’s what they look like,” he marveled at the cow like spots as he handed the creature to the child. However, when it barked and wagged its fluffy tuft of a tail, he shook his head. “Now that was odd.”

The girl skipped away, cuddled to her bunny puppy.

“Stranger things have happened,” Ryan commented as he continued to head toward the inn. As he neared the inn, his neck sensed magic again and he froze in awe that Churell found him so quickly. His last spell was so minute that only a master could have detected it. As two wizards appeared at the Inn’s entrance, he relaxed slightly. One was a boy who had challenged him over a year ago. However, the other man he hadn’t met. His old enemy sniffed the air and Ryan cursed silently. He backed into an alley as the young man turned to face him. Nevertheless, out of sight, he was certain the young man named Ronnoc recognized his magic. As quietly as he could, he kept his sight on the backside of the building and kept a steady pace as he hunched over. But, just as he reached the end of the alley, a familiar voice called to him.

“You there! Who are you?”

He wanted to hit something, but turned around and appeared confused as he pointed to himself. “Me, sir?” The Royal Wiz kept his voice light and youthful.

“Yes, you. There’s no one else here.”

The boy’s companion chuckled.

For theatrics, Ryan cautiously and timidly glanced around then said, “No, sir. Just me, sir.”

“Did you see anyone moments before? A famous wizard? Ryan of Nayr?”

“No, sir.” Ryan sensed rather than saw the young man’s smile and realized his minor mistake.

“Really?”

“Well . . . I might have.” He changed his story.

The young man stepped closer. “I thought only wizards wore robes. Odd that you have no magic symbols, but I smell something familiar about you.”

“Maybe your nose quit working, sir?”

Ronnoc shrugged. “Perhaps. But if Ryan is your friend, you might want to call him now.”

“Why, sir?”

“I know many who wish to meet him.”

Once again, his neck reacted to the magic in the air just before several other wizards appeared in an effort to trap him.

“And here they are. We only want to say hello.”

There was only one way out.

Reluctantly, Ryan removed his hood and straightened his bent knees as his robe turned right side out to display the symbols of power.

Surprised and somewhat nervous, the other wizards stepped back.

“He’s only one.” The young man reminded them.

“But he’s the greatest wizard in history.” One of the boy’s companions commented nervously.

Exasperated, Ronnoc groaned as he gestured toward the famous wizard, “He’s aging.”

Ryan smiled. “It’s been a long time, Ronnoc. How have you been?”

“Grounded, because of you. But I’ve missed you.”

“Aww, how touching.” He remembered their farewell battle and fought to contain his laughter. “I see you got the smell out of your robe. And, I wish I could say the same, but I’ve been too busy to take notice. It’s been one challenge after another. And before you know it, every wizard is a rival.”

Pushed by jealousy, the young wizard cast the first spell, his eyes pinched with anger.

Knowing his opponents move, Ryan caught the youth’s simple spell then disappeared. On a deserted mountaintop he reappeared. It was one of his self-appointed duties as a Royal Wizard to protect the villagers from his rivals’ greediness for power. He dropped to his knees then stood up as their magic sparked around him. “Took you long enough to find me.” Nevertheless, for a youngster, Ryan was impressed with the boy.

Not a young wizard with many words, Ronnoc and the others attacked with a variety of elemental spells. For hours they threw, rolled, and even shouted spells, but Ryan avoided and diminished each and every one they cast.

To anger them further, the Royal Wizard yawned at their feeble attempts to capture him.

When his rivals stopped, he advised, “None of you are ready to challenge me. What do you do with your time? I mean seriously, Ronnoc. I know you will use magic. And before you cast a spell, I can sense it, which means that I have enough time to determine what type of spell you will use and devise a counter spell for it. My advice to you is to find a good spell book and apply it.”

Angered to tears, the youngster ripped off his robe and threw it off the edge of the mountain, but it magically appeared on his body seconds later as he dropped onto the ground to pout.

Sympathetically, Ryan accessed the young man’s anger as childish, rather than evil or cruel. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

He captured the young man’s attention.

“If you’d like, I will help you.”

Slowly, he approached Ronnoc as the others backed away then knelt beside his young rival.

“You’d help me to defeat you?” His youthful brow lifted with extreme doubt.

Ryan nodded. “Yes. In all honesty . . . I’m getting bored with the constant challenges.”

“Told you he was getting old.” Ronnoc shook his head as his acquaintances laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh. But I want to settle down and raise a family.”

“Don’t you want to give this chance to your son?”

The Royal Wizard shook his head. “My son will decide his own future.”

“That’s a very noble gesture, Royal Wizard Ryan. And I accept.”

They shook hands as a bubble swallowed them.

“Churell!” Ryan growled.

Ronnoc mocked with delight. “Seems someone caught you by surprise, oh great one.”

His Royal status symbol and power symbols began to flash to warn the wizard what he already knew. Nevertheless, caught was not captured in the rivalry for power and every detail counted. “Yeah, yeah. But if he wins, it would be senseless for me to teach you to defeat me when it has been done.”

It took the young man only a second to make a decision. “Let’s burst this bubble.”

Together they burst the bubble created by Churell’s group then vanished only to reappear in a forest.

He looked at the stream with familiarity, before he said, “We need to run.”

Ronnoc ran after his teacher then asked as he caught up, “So why were you in a village? I thought the rule was to lay low and out of sight?”

“I was hungry.”

“Conjure up some food.”

Ryan lifted a brow at his apprentice, who appeared to have understood.

“Oh. They’d track your magic.” A few more thoughts flittered through his mind. “Guess that’s how you kept tabs on me?”

“Precisely.”

“Then how did he surprise you?”

“We need to get as far away from the lingering spell, mix scents with the animals and that sort of thing to make a clean getaway.

Amazed, the young wizard chuckled. “So that’s your secret. Sweet, I’m already learning.”

They ran for several miles, rubbed their magic symbols on animals then stopped near a waterfall to rest.

“Hey, teach?”

“Er.”

“What?”

“You said teach, and I said er. Together it makes teacher.”

“But you teach.”

“Stay with me. I teach, which makes me a teacher. But if that’s too difficult, master works for me.”

“Well, psychologically you are teaching me to master you, so if you brainwash me into calling you master it would hurt my chances to master my master. But if you’re a lowly teacher you can be mastered.”

Ryan chuckled. “Now use that kind of logic and apply it to your magic.”

“How?”

“We have a lot to do.”

“I know, right.” The apprentice shook his head.

“I like you.”

Ronnoc genuinely smiled. “I knew you missed me too.”

Ryan held up his hands to cast a spell.

“Wait.” His apprentice warned, “They’ll trace us.”

“Not with this spell. And it’s time to return to the palace.”

“So, some spells can be traced while others can’t?”

Ryan chuckled. “All spells can be traced, but some leave stronger traces than others, while some may not leave a trace at all, unless one knows what to look for.” He touched the youngster’s robe and disappeared.

Moments later, at the King’s side, Ryan took his seat on his Royal Wizard throne beside his King. However, just as he got comfortable on the cushion, the throne room doors burst open. The sound resonated through the hall. Only King Nai Daq’s sigh, which was more of a loud groan, superseded the echo.

As a competitor in the games, Ryan knew all too well how tiresome a challenge could be, but when the fight was over him, it wasn’t so bad. He tried hard and barely managed to contain his grin as he kept his eyes closed. It felt so good to sit down on the soft warm velvet. Then, his King chuckled.

Ever so merrily, the King turned to his wizard and announced, “It’s for you.”

Ryan muttered several curses to himself as he opened his eyes. It wasn’t for several seconds that he realized the time then opened his arms as he stood to greet his opponent. “Churell, nice to see you again.”

“I can’t say the same.”

“Shame. I thought we were getting along quite nicely.”

Offended, Churell snarled. “Your day has just begun, Ryan. Because, I intend to take those symbols today. Need I remind you that I nearly had you captured on top of Mt. Lozayc?”

The Royal Wizard’s apprentice arrogantly interrupted, “And need I remind you, you had help. Technically, it wasn’t you. Face it. You can’t defeat Ryan of Nayr, the greatest Wizard of all time.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m his apprentice.”

Gasps and expressions of utter shock echoed through the throne room.

“That went over well.” Ryan muttered then turned to face his distraught king. “I meant to tell you.” He cleared his throat. “A few hours ago, I took on an apprentice.”

Concerned, Princess Jules asked, “But, why? Do you grow tired of us, my Lord Wizard?”

“No. Of course not. I . . . Can we discuss this later? In private?”

Saddened by the news, the Princess nodded. “Of course.”

“You should have told me as soon as it happened.” The King complained. “This is distressing news.” Nai Daq hit the throne’s armrest. “Damn it, Ryan. I just fought three battles over you this past hour and you tell me you’ll be leaving us?”

“Not exactly, your Majesty. However, due to the delicacy of the subject matter, I hope you’ll grant me permission for a private discussion.”

Absently, the King nodded. “Very well. But as soon as everyone leaves, you and I will talk.”

“Thank you, your Majesty.”

Churell finally found his voice. “You can’t be that stupid, Ryan. It’s every wizard for himself. You train that boy and he will turn against you. It’s the law of wizardry! Even idiots can grasp that all wizards are rivals.”

“I’m aware of the consequences, Churell. Thank you for your concern.”

“Concern, hell! If you teach him your tricks, I’ll have to defeat not only his magic, but your mutated spells, which means double work for me.”

“Mutated spells?”

Frustrated, Churell nodded. “UGH! It’s complicated and I’d rather fight you or him.”

“Sucks for you,” Ronnoc replied.

A crimson smoke appeared in their rival’s hand. Yet, before it could take shape, Ryan and his apprentice squelched the spell with extreme prejudice then wrapped Churell in a pillar of magical blue fire.

“No rivalry is permitted in these halls!” The King shouted.

“My apologies, your Majesty,” the rival confessed as the fire faded.

“Don’t let it happen again. There are children here.”

Churell straightened his rob as his prison vanished. “Of course.” In an attempt to contain his rage, he cleared his throat before he announced, “Your Majesty, I am here to challenge your Wizard.”

Ronnoc corrected before Ryan could stop him, “Wizards.”

“The challenge is for one man.”

“No. Student and teacher are a team until the deal is completed.”

“Student and teacher? Don’t you mean master and apprentice?”

Ryan stood up, before his apprentice caused confusion on a massive scale. “It all means the same thing.”

“I know, but it’s psychological. At least stick to tradition.” Churell complained in utter disgust.

“I knew it.” Ronnoc cheered triumphantly.

With a gesture, Ryan calmed his student down. “Yes, yes. Now, as you may now know, Churell, challenges may only be requested during the spring and summer months. As of two minutes ago, summer is now over. I wish you a happy fall and winter. Good-day.”

Churell vanished in a rage and left behind a swirl of ice and wind, which the apprentice vanquished easily.

“He’s a bad one.” Ronnoc pondered. “Still . . . he needs to learn the rules.”

Ryan patted his apprentice’s shoulder. “And that sets us apart from the others.”

For several hours, The Royal Wizard watched as his apprentice toured the throne room with the Royal family while he sat on his throne. Part of him would miss the attention, but he figured he would be too busy once his family started. Even the games he would miss, but his desire for a family and peace tipped the balance. He was content with his decision.

Ronnoc reached his side. “Teach, may I speak with you in private?”

“Sure. Just let me speak with the king.”

“Not necessary. I already told him everything.”

“Everything?” Ryan grew nervous.

His apprentice nodded. “Everything. Except,” Ronnoc’s eyes were cautious as he added, “I changed one minor detail.”

Concerned, the teacher magically hauled his apprentice to his private study not far from the throne room then waved a hand and the door locked itself. “What did you change?”

“Well, Teach. I’m famous just being your apprentice and it feels great.”

The direction became obvious. “Yes, but you’d be even more famous if you mastered magic to take my symbols.”

“Thanks, but I’m content with this status.”

Angrily, Ryan ran his fingers through his sandy hair, which knocked the hood of his robe off his head. “What? That’s not our deal!”

“I know, but now that I know you, I don’t want to fight you. I’d rather fight with you. As wizards, we’re always positioned against each other. Why can’t we fight together? Set a new trend for Wizards.”

“I don’t want to set a trend, I want to settle down, maybe with the King’s daughter, Jules, who keeps . . . never mind. I took you on so I can be free to live my life in peace.”

“Sucks for you, because I can’t fight you.”

“Then,” Ryan growled. “I’ll let Churell best me by surrender.”

Disturbed, Ronnoc shook his head. “Cheating isn’t allowed.”

“Says who?”

“Me. I won’t let you surrender and I’ll bring this issue before the king.”

Before the teacher could say another word, the apprentice lifted his hand and in a flash, smiled, then disappeared to snitch.

“Looks like I’ll need another apprentice.”

Only Ronnoc’s voice echoed in the room. “It worked so great this time. Yes, let’s try it again.”

“I changed my mind. I don’t like you, Ronnoc!”

“Well, everyone loves you, including me and Princess Jules.” After a brief pause, his apprentice announced, “I told her about your feelings.”

Ryan fought hard not to smile, but lost the battle. “What did she say?”

“Ah ha! I knew you liked me.”

“My smile isn’t for you.”

“Yes it is.” Ronnoc’s voice teased.

Though he felt somewhat silly, Ryan answered the voice. “I wish I hadn’t taught you that trick. It’s annoying. You’re like a kid with a new toy.”

“I am a kid and it’s better than a toy. I’m undetectable. Ha, ha. You’re talking to a ghost.” He laughed then sang, “I’m famous, I’m famous.”

A book appeared and Ryan picked it up then magically threw it.

“Ouch! Oh, that hurt my head. How did you do that?”

“That’s another lesson entirely.” He smiled as he walked out of the room. “Stop being annoying.”

“I may challenge you after all.” Ronnoc groaned in pain. “That hurt.”

After a sigh, Ryan nodded. “So did your ‘I changed one little detail’ comment. But now we’re even.”

“Hardly.”

They argued all the way back to the throne room.