Where is that?
No one really knows — it may be inside your mind. It may be inside the Deep. It may be the place where those two meet. It is the realm of spirit, perhaps the deeper level of dream. Now be still and let your mind open. Practise the exercises I taught. If you sense something let yourself be drawn towards it.
Rik did as he was told. He focused on the Elder Signs. He tried to empty his mind, to reach deep into his being, to touch the power that he had been told was there. Then for the first time he felt something. It was small and distant but it called to him. He tried to clear his mind and let it draw him. He noticed that the ground was drifting away beneath him, although Asea’s spirit was close. The higher they went, the faster they moved. There was no sensation of speed, but the world dwindled beneath them swiftly and it seemed that the stars were rushing closer.
No. What he had thought to be the stars were glowing objects much closer than the stars of heaven. They were like tiny blocks of land floating in this great void. Amid them was a glow. With an effort of will, he made for it, shooting after Asea at a speed that was breathtaking. Soon they hovered above the surface of a tiny worldlet. Its surface was inscribed with strange runes. Swirling patterns shimmered in his vision.
What is this?
Your place of power, your connection to the Great Deep.
He remembered what she had taught him about the Great Deep. It was the place where all magical energy came from. It lay below, above and around their home plane. It intersected with others. The gateways passed through it. It was the road to Al'Terra.
How can the Deep be within my mind?
All minds touch it one way or another. The difference is that a sorcerer knows it, and can use it. And there are things that dwell in the Deep that know this too. Demons can break through into your mind here, if you let them.
Why have you brought me here?
So that you could see it. So that you could begin to understand. And so that you could forge a link to the Deep. It is the source of all power. You must tap it to work magic. You must draw tau from it.
How do I do that?
I will show you. This place is your place of power. But there are dangers in forging a link with it.
What are they?
Listen and I will tell you.
Rik listened. All around him he felt the pulse of strange powers. He felt reality shimmer and twist. Perhaps it was the drugs he had taken back in the cellar, but he doubted it. He felt it was somehow connected to the very nature of this place.
Things are not how you see them here, Rik. This is an alien place. What you are seeing is only how your mind interprets something completely alien to it. It is trying to make the incomprehensible comprehensible.
That is a very strange concept.
No more strange than our existence back in Gaeia. There is a world beyond that we perceive with our six senses, Rik. This is one of the first truths of being a sorcerer. We do not see reality. We see only a slice of it. Dogs smell things we cannot smell, hear things we cannot hear. Your eyes can see into darkness where no normal human can see. A cat's eyes see further still. We do not see reality, only a slice of it.
Rik could see the logic of what Asea was saying but could not see how it related to what was going on around him.
Reality is a construct inside our minds. Normally the process is one way. Reality floods us through our senses. What sorcerers learn to do is take the model of the world inside their heads and force reality to conform to it.
That sounds mad.
Perhaps it is. But it can be done, but only in small ways, and only with enormous amounts of help. You need to tap energy to do it. You need to control and mould that energy and bring it into our world. The Deep is where that energy comes from. It is the source of all tau.
She had taught him often enough about tau, ambient magical energy, and how there had been more of it on Al'Terra than there was on Gaeia which was why the magic worked there was only a pale shadow of what it had been on the Terrarchs homeworld. He asked her why?
The walls between the worlds are thicker on Gaeia. It is harder to reach the Deep and the power must be drawn from further down in the well. It takes longer and it is not so abundant, at least in most places.
There are places where the walls are thinner, he said. He knew this to be true. Like at Deep Achenar where Uran Ultar, the Spider God came through.
Yes, and in those places, power is most abundant. They were the sacred sites of the old witches, the places of power of the demon gods. In truth they are simply weak points in the fabric of our reality, where alien energy bleeds in. It flows out from those places, like water from a spring. At such places even those with almost no magical talent can work spells, like Zarahel did, but as you get further from those spots, the power is spread so thinly that it might as well not be there. If you wish to use magic regularly you need a direct connection to a source. You need to be able to reach down and tap a spring of power.
And this is what we are going to do here.
No. This is what you are going to do here. Reach out and touch this wellspring. Place your hand in it. It will be painful but you will endure. It might destroy you. It might drive you mad. It would certainly do that to any human who tried this but you are only half-human.
What if I don't want to do this?
Then you will never be a true sorcerer. You will be at the mercy of your surroundings, and incapable of true magic.
Rik considered her words. As ever he wished he had some way of knowing whether what she was saying was true. Perhaps there were many ways of tapping power. Certainly there were tales that had hinted at such, and the Old Witch, his first tutor in matters magical had claimed this was so. Asea seemed to sense the direction of his thoughts.
Oh you will be capable of thanatomancy, of draining the life force of others and using it in your rites. You will be able to devour their souls as beasts consume food, and like food it will give you strength. In the long run, it will also turn you mad, and you will become a beast of shadow. Is that what you want?
Rik knew that he was being tested here. It did not really matter what he wanted. It was what Asea wanted that mattered, and he suspected that if he gave the wrong answer she would destroy him. He was certain that she did not want another dark mage running loose in the world. Did he want to be like that anyway? He did not think so.
It is not a case of what you think you want, Rik. It is a case of who you are. You are a sorcerer and the power calls to you. Eventually you will be tempted to use it and you will find the means to. You have walked too far along the path to change direction now. The question is how you will walk the path. It forks here — one way leads to shadow. The other way leads to mastery.
Not light?
No. Not light — but to a place where you will be the master of the power, rather than the power being the master of you.
But that way may lead to destruction or madness, here and now?
Exactly so. Now is the time to choose. Which path, Rik? Which path?
Sardec strode into the room. Rena looked up from her knitting. She sat in a chair before the fire. She looked very peaceful and there was a serenity in the way she smiled. Sardec let out a long breath and began to tug off his boots.
'Let me help you,' she said. 'Take a seat. I will pull them off.'
Unreasoning anger filled Sardec. He did not want to do what she said. Who was she to tell him what to do? 'I am not a cripple,' he said, all too aware of the lie contained in his words.
'I never said you were,' she said. She looked shocked and a little angry. Who was she to be angry with him? How bold she was becoming. Even a few days ago she would never have let such emotion show upon her face.
'You take too many liberties!' he roared. She backed off. Fear and something else showed in her face. In his
