The Lamplighter (Lamplighter Saga Book 0) Read online

  “What was that?” she asked as Theseus released her.

  “A prayer, though some would think it more of a spell.” He leaned forward and looked into each of her eyes. “I learned it during my travels years ago. It calms those that hear it and soothes one’s Bloodlust.”

  “No, I meant…” Pearl pointed to her head. “What happened to me?”

  “Oh, your Bloodlust. Much more powerful than I thought it would be.” He placed a finger in the middle of her forehead and another on the top of her head. He mumbled a few words with closed eyes, then smiled. “Good. No residual effects.”

  “What is my ‘Bloodlust?’?” Pearl asked, as she inspected the spots her had touched with her own fingers.

  “The Bloodlust, and its companion the Forewarn, are what remain of ancient instincts humans possessed when we were simple hunters. A way to catch prey faster than us and defend ourselves against beasts deadlier than us. The Bloodlust helped the ancient hunter focus on a prey’s vulnerabilities, while the Forewarn alerted him to a predator’s proximity and movements. These two instincts may seem like feelings and urges coming from within you, but truly they’re physical and rely on external stimuli. Our eyes can detect muscle contractions in another living being, telling us where and how it’s going to move, while our bodies can detect subtle changes in our environment, like shifting wind or air temperature. Factors we usually don’t notice, but can alert us to danger.

  “But how..?”

  “The Fire of God is a construct of enlightenment as well as destruction. Being this close to it has awakened your Bloodlust and Forewarn.” Pearl stared at the fire and, for a moment, felt it staring back at her. “The one that awakens first is typically the more powerful of the two. Be wary, Pearl. While the Bloodlust will guide you to your enemies’ weaknesses, it will also leave you vulnerable, and to rely on it too much will reduce you to nothing more than a feral beast.”

  “What about my Forewarn?”

  “Let’s spar again.” Theseus raised his sword. “Focus on not getting hit. That should encourage your Forewarn to wake up.”

  “Should?” The ringing of clashing swords, echoing off the walls of the chamber like the inside of a bell, drowned out Pearl’s question, which went unanswered. Pearl’s Bloodlust, much more contained now, directed her only to Theseus’s most vulnerable openings and didn’t scream at her or turn her vision red. But she didn’t feel any other sensations or voices guiding her, no matter how many times she blocked Theseus’s sword. Save for the occasional grunt, Theseus attacked in silence, his assaults growing more complicated. Pearl struggled to defend herself, as one thrust she parried brushed against her arm and a jolt of pain made her jump backwards. A warmth dripped down her arm and soaked into her shirt. The ward’s haze gone from Theseus’s sword, blood smeared the blade’s edge.

  He’s trying to hurt me, Pearl realized as Theseus charged at her. Pearl blocked a slash to her side, but as their blades touched, Theseus spun in the other direction and slashed at her other side. Pearl managed to meet his sword in time, but with her sword feeling twice as heavy and her arms exhausted from sparring once already, she doubted she would stop the next attack. Then, she noticed the leg Theseus had spun on tensing up again, the other leg lifting off the ground, and his torso tilting away from her, subtle details she wouldn’t have noticed.

  A new voice, cautious and calculating, alerted her about an oncoming kick from Theseus. She hesitated and the sensation screamed at her, just as her Bloodlust had, as impact grew imminent. She leapt to the side and Theseus’s foot swung out through the empty space. He lunged at her with a roar, and Pearl’s Forewarn told her to jump out of the way, while her Bloodlust told her to stab at his exposed chest. Pearl listened to the former, leaping out of the way, and Theseus’s sword cut through the air and shattered when it hit the ground. Her Forewarn made her jump straight up and she watched as a large chunk of Theseus’s sword shoot right under her.

  “And that would be your Forewarn.” Theseus tossed his broken sword aside without a second glance.

  “You were trying to kill me,” Pearl shouted, throwing her sword down. “Your sword didn’t have the ward around it.”

  “Your Forewarn wouldn’t have awakened unless you were in danger.” He grabbed her arm, examined the cut he had given her, then placed his hand over it.

  “Why would you do that?” Pearl asked.

  “Because that’s how mine awakened,” Theseus told her, his voice full of frustration. “That’s how Father Alexander trained me. It’s the only way I know.” He pulled his hand away and walked to the chamber’s doors. He had healed her cut, leaving only a blood stain on her sleeve. “We will both have limits to overcome in your training. There’s one more thing to determine before your training truly begins.”

  They climbed the stairs to the landing beneath the Farm room, the one they had skipped on their descent. The lone door here was made of a dark metal, and marked by five unrecognizable runes forming a circle in the center of the door. The runes pulsated like a heartbeat with violet light. Theseus grunted as he strained to pull the door and released it once it was halfway open, its own weight swinging it the rest of the way. Theseus gestured Pearl in and followed after her, pulling the door shut behind them. Layered circles of runes on the floor glowed one at a time in a cycle, from the smallest in the center of the room out to the largest encompassing almost the whole room, their violet light punctuated by the darkness between one circle dimming and the next one shining to life.

  “Welcome to the Magic Room, where you will learn the mystic arts.” Theseus pointed to each of the room’s four corners and four brazier burst into life with green flames that drowned out the light of the runes. Pearl stared at the green flames and walked to the closest brazier. She didn’t feel any heat, no matter how close her hand got to it. From behind her, Theseus explained, “It’s falsefire. It provides a light like fire without an elemental quality to disrupt the mana in the room. The light strands throughout the rest of the house use mana gathered from the Flame, so they can’t…”

  Theseus’s voice trailed off, and the echoes of Pearl’s sobs filled the room. Since her arrival, Pearl had heard the word “magic” spoken so nonchalant, it still seemed the thing of fairytales. Of all the things she had seen and heard, nothing had shaken her as the falsefire, actual magic she could see and touch. The immensity of reality fell on her shoulders. She trembled and cried as she remembered every insult, mean name, and degradation she had suffered at the hands of the New Bethlehem townsfolk. All of these wounds started with the accusations of Pearl’s mother being a witch, and now they could be true? She could endure them when they were founded in superstitions, but now felt their full sting.

  “Were they true?” Pearl demanded. “Am I a witchspawn?”

  “All you have seen, even before coming to Lightholme, and this is what shakes you?” Theseus asked in return. “You have been surrounded by magic your entire life.”

  “I’ve been despised my entire life because of magic,” Pearl screamed, her tears cooling her heated face. “Hated by those around me. And if magic is real, I am the Witchspawn they cursed me for being.”

  Pearl could feel her Bloodlust stirring to life, telling her where to lunge at Theseus’s body, but she turned from him to cry alone. He approached her, his heavy feet thumping on the stone, and squeezed her shoulder, first too hard, then so soft she thought he had let go. But she bumped into his hand as she turned around. He looked down at her, the sounds of different words trying to leave his mouth combining into a verbal mess as he searched for the right thing to say. “I…when…you have…Damn it.”

  He paused, then punched the palm of his hand. “This isn’t how your training is supposed to go. You’re supposed to receive an education to aid in the removal bias you have towards magic. But I don’t think even that could help you. Listen. Whether you’re a witchspawn or not, doesn’t matter. Your mother…Her path is not yours, whichever path that was. Your path, Pearl, is y
ours and yours alone. It will lead you to strange places and people. There will be times when it will challenge you in any number of ways, and your strength and ideals may not seem like enough. But stay true to yourself, trust your instincts, and remember how strong you are and how much you’ve endured, and the path forward will always be clear. You shape what happens to you. So you’re a Witchspawn and dead men spoke ill of you? Do these thing truly define you? You are no different than when you walked into this room.”

  A smile crept onto Pearl’s face and the tears stopped as an overwhelming desire to hug Theseus filled her. But before she could move, she yelped as something poked and pinched her all over her back, causing her limbs to twitch and her body to go limp, then stiffen like a board. She blacked out at one point, but somehow remained standing. Theseus spun her around with a jerk on her shoulder and struck her arms, chest, and stomach multiple times with the tips of his fingers, his hand shooting out like attacking serpents. He finished with simultaneous palm strikes to her chest and forehead, neither strong enough to knock her down. Then something like lightning blasted her in the same spots and threw her backwards onto the ground.

  She grabbed at her chest as a painful, tickling shiver flowed out through her body to her fingers and toes from what felt like a new heart beating next to her real one. It felt weak like a discovered muscle and its weakness made her queasy. Theseus picked her off the ground and held her up, her own legs incapable of doing so. She tried speaking, but could only sputter out, “Wha..?”

  “Your ability to use magic relies on your body’s ability to circulate mana throughout your body.” He placed a hand on the middle of her chest and closed her eyes. Energy, like a wave of warmth, spread from Theseus’s palm into Pearl and her fatigue faded as the beat of her new “heart” improved, until she could stand on her own. “Since you’ve never used magic or mana before, I had to manually start the circulation. Your body, not used to its own mana flow, attempted to compensate for the weak flow, exhausting you. I’ve supplemented the mana in your body with mine own, which I’ll have to do before each magic lesson, until you’ve naturally strengthen your mana flow.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “With practice, like any other muscle.” He pulled out a scroll from the only cabinet in the room, tucked in the corner and made of the same metal as the door. Pests had eaten away at the loose end of the scroll, leaving the paper jagged much to Theseus’s agitation. He drew a hidden knife from his sleeve and cut a straight edge onto the paper before cutting off a rectangular piece off. He started to roll the paper back up, but stopped to cut off another rectangular piece. With the scroll back in the cabinet, he presented the two strips of paper to Pearl. “First, however, we need to discover your attunement.”

  Pearl didn’t bother to ask and Theseus didn’t wait for her to ask. “Every soul resonates with a specific element, one of the primary four: water, earth, wind, and fire. Depending on which element you’re attuned to, certain spells will be easier to learn and use, and we’ll know where to start your training.” He waved the paper strips. “Watch.”

  Theseus placed a strip on the ground and knelt beside it. He pricked his thumb on the tip of his knife and dripped three drops of blood onto the paper. The blood drops soaked into the paper, then, to Pearl’s surprise, turned into black ink, moved across the paper, and grew three times their size. The three spots stretched out into lines, arching and connecting until they drew the image of a fist grasping a bolt of lightning. The air above the paper crackled and sparked, and a tear ruptured in the middle of the lightning bolt.

  “Lightning,” Theseus announced, the violet light of the floor’s seals casting an eerie glow on his face and shining in his eyes. “The Weapon, the Power, the Sky-Fire, the Cloud-breaker, the Herald, the Judgment, the Punishment, the Guilt.”

  “Wait, lightning wasn’t one of the four elements,” Pearl pointed out.

  “I said that there were four primary elements.” Theseus crumbled up the paper. “A variety of other elements exist. Lightning is one of four impure elements that are combination of adjacent primary elements.”

  “Adjacent?”

  Theseus let out a huff of air. “Discussing alchemy, the study of elements, and the expansive catalog of associated theories would take days we can’t waste on subjects you don’t need to know. Simply put, lightning is the impurity formed from wind and fire, which lie adjacent to each other on the elemental meta-structure.” He placed the other slice of paper in front of Pearl and held out his hand. “Now, let’s see your attunement.”

  Hesitant, Pearl gave Theseus her hand and after a quick poke on her thumb, three drops of blood fell onto the fresh strip of paper. Just as before, blood turned to ink and danced around the paper, before meeting in the center and stretching into an image of a triangle with three progressively smaller flames within it, one inside of another. The paper’s edges smoked, then singed, and glowed with a soft heat.

  “Fire. The Light, the Warmth, the Youth, the Will, the Summer, the Soul, the Untamed, the Dragon, the Phoenix, the Emperor, the Igniter, the Sun, the Sword, the Purger, the Consuming, the Wrath.”

  “What does all of that mean?” Pearl asked. The image had her eyes locked to it.

  “Titles given to each element, reminders of what they’re capable of, both good and bad. It’s up to you to decide how you use your magic and which of these titles applies to you.” Theseus clapped his hands together, startling Pearl. “Time for your first lesson.”

  Theseus stretched out his hand, palm up, away from his body, and focused on it, his face strained with concentration. His hand tensed for half a second, and then, hovering above it, an orb of lightning crackled and popped into form. “Summon your attuned element as a simple ball. Nothing more, nothing less. This will teach you the basics of magic: gathering mana and utilizing it.”

  “You act like it’s so simple.” But Pearl stood up anyway and focused on her palm. Muscles in her hand, arm, and face clenched, but nothing happened.

  “You’re mimicking the physical efforts well enough,” Theseus chuckled as she exhaled with a puff of breath. “But you couldn’t see the inner workings. Focus beneath your muscles, on the mana flow within and throughout you. Direct it to your hand. The concentrated flow will feel like muscles contracting beneath your real muscles. Concentrate your gathered mana on the space above your palm, which will feel—“

  A small ball of fire whooshed into existence above Pearl’s hand. A nervous, shaky laugh tumbled out of her mouth, broken by huffs and puffs as the effort left her breathless, like she had run up the entire spiral staircase. Proud of her work, she turned towards Theseus, sticking out her hand to show him, but the sudden movement launched the fireball at him. The fire burst against the cold stone wall behind Theseus, who had leapt aside before the ball left Pearl’s hand, leaving a small sprinkling of red sparks in the aftermath. Breathing became more demanding for Pearl, and she could only manage short, shallow breaths. She fought to remain standing, her shaking legs threatening to bring her down.

  “Deep breaths.” Theseus inhaled and exhaled with Pearl, giving her a pace to follow. Once Pearl’s breathing stabilized, Theseus stared at the scorched spot on the wall and warned, “Like I said, you control what your magic does. You’re certainly more capable than I had anticipated…”

  “Is that bad?” His trailing off left her somewhat unsettled.

  He didn’t look at her and continued to study the burnt wall. “No…not bad nor unheard of. Just unusual. Indicative of some natural aptitude for magic among your parents and ancestors.”

  An image of her father’s ice magic clashing against the serpent’s fire entered Pearl’s mind. “Maybe…”

  “But thankfully for us, it means we’ll be able to progress through this part of your training faster than I thought. I honestly thought this lesson would take the rest of the day.” The falsefire torches dimmed as Theseus helped Pearl to the door. With one arm supporting Pearl, Theseus pushed the metal d
oor with his other arm, grunting as the door inched ajar. He smiled at Pearl, and the swell of pride made her heavy body that much lighter. “You did well today. Tomorrow, your training begins, and let me assure you, it will be grueling. A month from now, you will dream of today.”

  Theseus sat Pearl down on the stairs so he could use both hands to shut the door. As the door crawled shut, the torches within flickered one last time and died out all at once. The seals on the floor continued to glow and, before the door closed, Pearl imagined some part of her remained inside, and would remain there as she moved forward into the stranger, challenging days ahead.

  Chapter　6

  Summer’s end hung on the horizon of tomorrow, painting the leaves amber, cutting the days shorter, and chilling the nights. The cool breeze felt frigid on Pearl’s tears. She pulled her legs into her chest for warmth as she sat and watched the sun setting behind the hills. She enjoyed the solitary quiet, but knew the Khaous would break it once Nightfall came. She appreciated the break from training. Theseus’s words rung true. A month of training later, and Pearl longed for the day when the extent of her training included a short sparring match with blunt blades and creating a single ball of fire.

  She remembered wishing for death after the first day of real training, her body aching so much as she laid in bed that night. Despite the agony, she had awoken at the crack of dawn the next day to begin her training again. Each day, the process repeated, never getting easier. Sleep passed in the blink of an eye, allowing her to recover just enough strength to get through another day.

  Mornings followed the same routine, starting with a breakfast of fruits, breads, and eggs while the sun rose. Then, they would go to the Gymnasium and perform a series of stretches Theseus called ‘yoga’ to help ease any pains from the previous day and clear their minds and spirits in preparation for the tasks ahead. According to Theseus, “Yoga originates in the Far East, in a land called India, taught by yogis, who practice to achieve total enlightenment.” Pearl became fond of yoga after the first few sessions, and found pushing her flexibility and endurance to their limits more rewarding than she expected, though knowing what followed often spoiled the morning session.