《Wizard of the modern era》 1. The death Aslona, Year 327th since the birth of the Savior of humanity Fortress of learning, currently under siege Arunaro Ferro I awake with a single thought "Today will be the final day of my life". While I will not bemoan my fate, I will say that I wish the circumstances weren''t as such as to make such a prediction so trivial. It does, however, make going out with a bang just as easy. Very few wizards have the luxury of preparation for their own death, most dying violently by execution, assassination or in battle. Tonight the shields protecting the fortress will fall, upon which the inquisition will breach the school and slaughter everyone who remains. Unfortunately for them, the only remaining person is me, with everyone else having teleported away to a nearby village, from where they spread and try to hide. Because I am the eldest and the most recognizable person from the arcanist order, I chose to stay behind to make sure none of our secrets remain for the inquisition to take. I rise up from my lavish bed, enchanted by me for maximum fluffiness. I hope that I get to keep it in the afterlife. A look out the window reveals to me a scene of orderly chaos, the inquisitions military camp waking up. The site remains unchanged from the day before, a multitude of tents, people, horses and even a portable house for the detachment commander, Shanaera Kriskian. Shanaera... Uncomfortable memories of youthful love spring up when I think of the name. We used to be classmates in the holy order, childhood friends, maybe a bit closer. Sadly when I found knowledge of the orders folly, she found religious fervor. I was young and foolish, I believed I could convince her to join me in discovering the secrets of arcane, but sadly that''s not what happened. She called me a heretic and attacked me instead. Broke my heart. After my escape, I began acting less rash, slowly gathering allies and knowledge over the years. I never really had any more relationships however, my heart still broken. I stop reminiscing and decide to do what has to be done. I slowly change my nightgown into my magician robes. They are made of the highest quality silk we could buy (not that high sadly) and it''s colored white despite the fact that I''m a fire mage. Dividing wizards by element was stupid, with everyone having equal potential in all magic. Lots of people disagreed, however, claiming that there existed "affinities" that influenced a person''s ability to perform magic. I never really cared for that, i call myself a fire mage because i like to set things on fire, not because i can only set things on fire. I get out of my room, the stone halls of the school unusually silent, my footsteps being the only sound. I go over to the canteen and grab breakfast prepared by a cook yesterday. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.While potatoes and chicken wouldn''t go on the "top 10" list of last meals, it would still rank fairly high with how well they were prepared. During breakfast, I think about the many regrets of my life, never having learned to cook, never having married, never punching Jaono''s shit-eating grin after making a pun. I''m gonna miss that man, having buried him in the school''s courtyard a week before, after we recovered his body from the inquisition. Punching a dead man wouldn''t bring him back sadly, not that I tried. After my awfully depressing breakfast, I go on a depressing walk to the library basement. While everyone took all the books they could carry, we still have some tomes that would be disastrous should the holy order find them here. I double-check the wards on the door, making sure it will not allow anyone access for the next 10 years. Hopefully, the holy order will forget about this pile of rubble by then and living arcanists will be able to recover it. After checking the wards, I decide to check the main event, "The Arcane Bomb". Both name and construction are simple, if not trivial. All it does is store immense amounts of magical energy akin to a ritual, however, unlike a ritual it does not have a way for the energy to be used. The moment any of the enchantments that store the energy breaks, the resulting explosion should level the castle and anything kilometers around us. With this much energy, everything should vaporize instantly, without any pain whatsoever. I hope. With the sun slowly approaching the top of the sky, i decide it''s as good of a time as any to finish everything. I arm a rune that will cause disturbance in the bomb in ~10 minutes. I don''t really want to just end it instantly, wanting to have a chat with the inquisition before I die. After arming the bomb, i go to the front gate, a very fancy door, elaborately enchanted for flair, rather than protection. The real protection this place has is the Barrier-stone. I walk out slowly, seeing that the inquisition already has ward-breakers pushing at the barrier. One of them spots me and shouts in alarm, running off to get Shanaera and the rest of her posse. I can see her walk over here from a mile away, thanks to the big standards representing the savior command always likes to carry around important people. After a few minutes, they reach the barrier, Shanaera approaching me in order to talk. "Have you finally decided to surrender, heretic? There may yet be salvation" She says, her tone revealing that she''s not really convinced that either of those things will happen. "Not really no, I mostly came by to have a chat before my inevitable capture or demise" - I smile the sad smile of a deadman. "Even then, offering salvation to someone who knows that it is no insurance of the soul, just of the mind that believes it can persist after death" She sighs at the heresy I freely spout. "I suppose your soul is beyond saving then. I always thought you misguided Arunaro. I will pray for you" "And I will hope for some semblance of an afterlife for you" I respond. I quickly check my timepiece, it shows that 10 seconds remain before the explosion. "Goodbye, Shana. I always loved you, even if you hated me" She tries to respond but then stops as the rune is broken and mana escapes. Just as the posse starts grabbing their swords, everything turns white. 2. The soul Void between worlds, the domain of gods The river of souls Arunaro Ferro Being a disembodied soul is weird. Everything feels fluffy and nice to the point where i would say this is heaven if not for the disconcerting feeling of my memories and feelings slowly eroding. Everything is also pure black, at least until i extend my mana-sense and see the beauty of the afterlife. I am being ferried along a metaphysical river of mana extending away from what i think is the metaphysical representation of Aslona. Everywhere around me, there are many more tributary streams, extending from many other places, which i assume are representations of various other world. I steel myself, trying to keep hold of memories as they are slowly and surely washed away by the stream, the mana taking on a bit darker color, my soul becoming a bit brighter and lighter with every missing detail. I take a look around, seeing how the brightest souls float upwards and slowly, gently get pulled back into the various worlds, while uncountable others darken the river with their memories. The dark patches sink below the river, somewhere i cannot see. Sometimes i hit such darkened patches of the river before thry fully manage to disappear and i feel memories of other souls. Someone ate pie and played boardgames on their eighteenth birthday, someone else is in something called a hospital in severe pain due to a broken leg. These flashes disappear from my mind as soon as they appear, my soul rejecting them. Im not sure which memories of mine were the first to go, the process seeming to go for the faintest and least cared for first. The battle for my ego seems futile, but the last thing i would do is give up. The passing of time in a timeless void is extremely hard to count, i found out. Especially because i cannot actually make new memories here, everytime i try to think back farther than a moment ago of this ethereal existence, i draw a blank. I managed to hold onto most important memories, but many years of my life are beginning to fade away. I cannot remember names of countries, vegetables, most of my students names and some esoteric overly specific incantations that are used once and never again. My will remains strong however, the fear of ego death far surpassing the calming effect of the river. At some point i realise that i can absorb miniscule amounts of memories from the river in order to stave off losing the important parts. For an indeterminate amount of time, i gain and lose countless random fuzzy memories to try and keep my ego alive. I won a game of poker for a Million dollars due to pure luck, my wife births a child, i discover the secrets of immortality, i get a doll from my brother, i play tag at a park and many more things are remembered and then promptly forgotten.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Suddenly, i feel a disturbance in the river. First i am pushed by a wave of mana, and so are many souls alongside me, some of them light enough to fall out of the river and uneasily float upwards, no longer held down by the current. The cause of the disturbance seemed to be a world that suddenly popped up in my mana sight. While it was there before, emitting souls to the river and grabbing new ones, it was nigh invisible due to not emitting any mana whatsoever. The next thing i feel is a pull, the world sucking up enormous amounts of mana from the river at once, as if it was water trying to fill a previously empty bottle at the bottom of a bathtub. The pull is enormous, to the point it starts diverting the souls from the river into itself. Considering this is my only hope of escaping this place with my ego reasonably intact, i try to propel myself with what power i can muster towards the world. It takes a bit of effort on my part, especially due to the hefty weight of my memories, both new and old ones slowing me down, but at some point after what felt both like a moment and eternity i am propelled towards the boundary lf the world and sucked in. Everything turns white. Void between worlds, the domain of gods The river of souls The keeper of the river I feel a pulse of mana in the void between the worlds, heralding either the destruction of the world or the maturation of one. I gaze upon the river, seeing that the automated systems designed to jumpstart mana generation kick in, diverting it''s flow. A few hundreds of errant souls get sucked in along this new flow, most light enough to be negligible in the grand scale of things. There are however a few deeply burdened souls trying to go alongside this new flow. The river by itself is enough to keep these out with its flow. Unfortunately that won''t do, the new world needing some sort of guidance about magic in order to survive the trials to come. I nudge a few of these burdened souls to their destination, like i did anytime a world awoke. After some thought, i decide to break the current order of things and divert the river a bit in order to send more souls in there. Mostly out of curiosity. It costs me some experience points alongside the souls which i will be unable to cash in, but the current system already supplies me enough experiences that i can afford to experiment. Who knows, it might lead to some interesting times in that world, which should be a net profit if my hunch is correct. 3. The Apocalypse Earth, 2012, december 21 Poland, Village of Wolf-Howling Stephen Morawiecki I awake in cold sweat, feeling as if i took 10 cans of energy drinks and was prepared for a marathon. An unknown previously feeling of power overtakes me, as does a peculiar need to exit the house and go into the forest. Slowly, i leave the bed taking care not to wake my wife Sophia. She doesn''t seem to be feeling the same as i do and she doesnt need to miss any sleep over this. I slowly make my way to the front door, not even bothering to grab any clothing or shoes because for some reason i have a feeling that i won''t be bothered by their absence. I walk through the snow, not feeling the cold, almost perfect vision despite the lack of lighting and lack of any discomfort from missing my shoes. Despite how energetic i feel, i walk in a half-daze, believing this to be a dream. Slowly i make my way deep into the forest surrounding my estate. Once i can no longer see the signs of any civilization, i sit down and take in my surroundings. The forest feels more alive than it should be in winter. While there are no birds flying around or bugs making noise, i can feel the forest around me. Once i realise that, i also realise that it''s trying to speak and that i can kinda understand it. The forest spirit''s message is that a grave danger is coming, and that the feeling of power is the herald of that change. It tells me that it will teach me how to use the power as long as i help protect it from the horrors that are yet to come. I accept it, both amazed at the fact that magic is real and that i can use it, and terrified at the images that are shown of what is to come. I spend hours talking to the spirit, receiving guidance on how to conciously access the power, rather than the unconcious use i already perform by seeing in the dark and not being harmed by the elements. The spirit taught me how to cast a spell which should regulate the amount of mana in the surroundings, telling me that it should help stop mutations from occuring in the village. I return home right as the sun rises, filled with excitment and dread. I need to master magic if whatever the spirit shown me will be true. For my wife and unborn child. There will be a lot of work to do. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Earth, 2012, december 21 Poland, Village of Wolf-Howling. A womb. Arunaro Ferro I pop into existence, not really knowing how or why. I am safe and warm but my memories are severely jumbled. I know that my name is either Arunaro, Annie or Melindias. I''ll go with Arunaro, since that''s what i seem to be called in most of my memories mentioning my name, with the other names being fainter and not really belonging in the picture that is my broken mind. One of the strongest memories is one of my death, which makes this either some sort of afterlife or necromancy, with the latter being most probable. Jumbled memories happen when both soul and brain is damaged and someone uses parts of other souls to fix the soul so that it can fix the body or inhabit a new one. The blast should''ve evaporated my body entirely, which means that my soul is now in a new one. I look inwards myself and notice that my body is that of an unborn child. That means that it''s possible that the theory of reincarnation is probably true, however the fact that i have my own memories and ones from other souls makes me feel that something went wrong during the process. Another weird thing about this body is the fact that i am not actually in it. The body is too small to handle all of my soul and i feel detached from it. Hopefully this shouldnt be a problem in the future. The sudden feeling of intense amounts of mana pulls me out of my stupor, as i realise that this is the most mana i have ever felt in my life. Its as if i decided to jump straight into a pool of pure mana and submerged myself. This is bad, very bad. Mana overdose is no joke, being able to mutate children and adult mages if they do not handle it correctly. Learning to cycle mana inside ones body is an important excersize for every mage in order to improve their capacity, which i proceed to do in order not to get overwhelmed and die due to all the mana. I feel some pain, realising that the connection body-to-soul is barely enough to handle all the power. I continue on, preferring some pain as opposed to mutations. As i do that, i realise that if my mother gets mutations of her own i might die or get them transferred to myself. I quickly attempt to cycle the mana out of her as well, but it''s too much for my soul alone to handle and my body isn''t developed enough to be of use. As i slowly start to panic, i suddenly feel a drop in mana levels around me to levels that are the maximum a human can handle. Seems like there is a mage nearby who felt the ambient mana and cast a spell to help cope with it. I say a silent thanks to the good soul who done so, and begin work on circulating the decreased amount of mana. I also help circulate my mothers mana veins so that she can deal with mana on her own without the need for spellwork. She''s gonna need it if these mana levels won''t drop by themselves. Length of time that a child spends within their mother escapes me, i hope that it''s something reasonable like 4 months or something. It''s gonna be a long stay.