The Continuing Adventures of Draco Moonbeam

Draco left the following day. He exited the town on the road leading west. As the locals had stated, it was better to take a little extra time to go through High Church on his way to Voridia than to deal with bandits on the road. Not that he wasn't capable of defending himself, but rather he preferred to avoid further unexpected conflict.

The road west led away from the lowlands of Vasanna and into low hill country. Forests were more common than grassland, and farms were much fewer. The road itself was somewhat less worn, not as pitted or rutted by wagon wheels.

The first day along the road was completely uneventful. Draco spent the time enjoying the woodland sights, the squirrels that chattered at him, the occasional deer by the edge of a forest, the sounds of the water passing through small streams that cut across the road.

He spent that night sleeping under a large oak tree. He cleared away the acorns on the ground, and smoothed out the dust and leaves.

The second day was the same as the first, and Draco found his mind wandering.

He spent time in the afternoon during one of his rest stops to practice mindfulness in simple meditation. He attempted to regulate his breathing as he closed his eyes and focused on his inner being. He listened for all sounds and stimuli, and acknowledged them. He paid close attention to the various thoughts that invaded his mind and then attempted to block them out one by one. But he was largely unsuccessful. He found himself easily distracted and unable to concentrate on the present. So he decided to keep traveling to see if he could reach High Church by nightfall.

As his mind wandered he found himself contemplating the existence of magic and his ability to manipulate energy through it.

Magic came in many different forms and varieties. Generally it could be categorized into several types.

There was energy magic, the kind that Draco excelled in.

There was charm magic which manipulated the minds and hearts of sentient beings, taking their will from them, such as what was utilized by the witches.

There was illusion magic which manipulated perceptions usually through visual images which looked and sounded real but had no actual physical substance.

There was elemental magic which was useful to manipulate the earth, water, air, and fire in their raw forms. Weather controlling magic was merely a manipulation of the air and the moisture within it.

There was physical magic which manipulated the laws of physics to move or change objects. Examples included telekinesis, levitation, flight, and making things larger or smaller.

There was natural magic, useful for communing with animals, plants, and other non sentient life and to control them.

There was dimensional magic. This allowed the user to teleport objects or people from one location to another or from one point in time to another, to enter and exit the ethereal dimension (often referred to as the world of spirits), and to communicate with beings great and small from other planes of existence or universes.

There was divination magic. This allowed someone to see things far away, discern hidden things, read minds through telepathy or to predict future events with some degree of accuracy. This was sometimes called clairvoyance, an old french term meaning to see clearly.

There was healing magic which was very useful for restoring life, curing diseases, and undoing wounds to physical bodies.

There was necromancy which imbued dead flesh with an alternate form of life but without actually bestowing life. That magic was also called dark magic and was used to create and control the undead.

Other types existed also. It existed in many, many forms. Draco surely didn't know all the ways in which magic manifested itself, just as he didn't know all the types of life that populated a world.

These various types of magic generally used spells to create the desired effects. Spells were usually composed of words, hand or body movements and sometimes physical objects. The actual words used were not very important. But they were useful in channeling the focus of the spellcaster's mind. Without that focus these spells would not work no matter the words used.

Draco preferred to use Spanish as the language of his magic. Back on Earth, Latin was often used.

There were also magics that were used to imbue objects with powers. A blade could be enchanted to be sharper than any armor or to never break. Arrows could be enchanted to more easily find their mark. Armor could be enchanted to be impervious. Potions could be created to endow the imbiber with various desired effects. Wands and staves could be created to cast spells more quickly. And certain one of a kind objects could be made extremely powerful in unique ways to become artifacts, rare wonders.

Spells were sometimes taught by one magician or wizard to others. They would at times create schools of magic to teach apprentices or guildhalls where members paid dues for acceptance into that society to advance in their abilities.

However, if a very experienced wizard developed a brand new type of spell, he often would be loathe to share it since it gave him a distinct advantage over others.

Draco's mind pondered these things as his feet kept moving. But eventually the sun began to approach the horizon and shadows lengthened.

As evening fell, he decided to once again camp out under a tree. He found a suitable spot, created a small fire to cook a dinner, ate, then laid himself down using his cloak as a blanket and his pack as a pillow.

He had barely made himself comfortable when a few noises in the woods got his attention. Something was moving out there through the leaves, but he couldn't see it. As the noises continued, Draco became uneasy.

He decided to turn on the lights.

"Haya luz!" he said as he pointed to the night sky.

Immediately the sky lit up as if by a bright firework. But instead of fading quickly, it stayed bright.

About 25 yards away in the woods in all directions, a pack of large wolves slowly circled his small camp. There were about a dozen of them, and they already had him surrounded. They snarled at the light and seemed to wince from the brightness.

Quickly but without sudden motions, Draco got to his knees and picked up his pack. The wolves watched him with teeth bared.

He fastened his cloak securely while kneeling and put on his hat, simultaneously reaching into his pocket for the obsidian horse. He put it down on the ground and said, "black bridle on."

The horse sprang to life and Draco jumped on as the wolves sprang at him. Darkness again fell over him as the spell wore off. The crescent Moon's light was barely enough to see by.

He quickly took the horse to a full gallop on the road, clutching its black mane as the wolves gave chase. They barked and howled as they got closer. Draco's mind raced as he grasped at options.

He looked sideways at one exceptionally large wolf. It was black instead of gray and was missing an ear, presumably lost in a fight at some point. It snarled menacingly and was almost upon him.

Draco yelled, pointing his finger at that wolf, “Relámpago volante!" The lightning flashed at the wolf, but it quickly dodged the blast, leaping aside for a moment. It again caught up to the horse and began biting at its legs.

"Cuchillos," he yelled out as several small blades of pure light sprayed out from his extended fingers at the wolves, each one catching a wolf in its side. Some of the wolves dropped away, too hurt to continue the chase. The big black one, however, took the magical blade in stride and kept chasing him.

"Haya luz," Draco yelled and pointed at the black wolf again. A blast of light burst from the wolf's eyes and it fell back, temporarily blinded.

The wolves then stopped the chase.

Draco kept up the full gallop another five miles until he came to the walls of a town. He dismounted and shrank the horse to a pocket sized statuette. He then yelled at the gate keeper who woke up from his post and opened the gate to allow Draco Moonbeam to enter High Church.

A sense of security came over him as he saw the actual church building on the town's second highest hill. Suddenly exhausted, he searched for an inn and took a room.