Battlemage Eric of the Wood

This is the story of Eric the Battlemage, his mentor Hex Mage Borak of the Havens, and Eric’s journey toward finding his familiar, Spike the fox.

The Blue Wizard Bastion was filled with philosophers and tinkerers, and ever since he was a boy this made Eric feel out of place. He was strong. He was supple. He overpowered and outcompeted all his peers in sport and games.

In his twelfth year, when it came time for Eric to become an apprentice to a wizard, he naturally sought a battlemage as a mentor. He wasn’t aggressive, it wasn’t violence that led him in this direction. Eric didn’t want to fight for fighting’s sake, but he felt a sixth sense that he was built to steward power and force for the sake of civility and the common good.

Initially, Eric was unable to find even a single battlemage among the sages, enchanters and alchemists that made up the Blue Wizard Bastion. Everyone seemed to know of battlemages, but no one ever managed to introduce Eric to one.

One day a shipment of food and supplies came in from the Red Wizard Bastion and a wizard rode in alongside on his horse. His cloak was torn with blood on it and there was an unmistakable exhaustion on his face.

The leader of the transport caravan called out to the town square saying, “Hear ye all, you have supplies here for the fall and should thank the Red Wizards for being so generous in a difficult season. But more than that, you should thank Hex Mage Borak of the Havens. He saved us from outlaws on the road.”

Eric thought Borak looked fierce and composed at the same time, exactly the sort of mentor he had been hoping for. He knew the man wasn’t a battlemage, but… hex mages were still mages, and they could in theory train young wizards to be hex mages or battlemages just the same.

After following Borak through the town streets for a while, Eric swore he saw him turn into a particular tavern, but when he went in Borak was nowhere to be found. Upon exiting the building Borak was sitting at a table outside and he asked Eric why he was following him. Eric told Borak of his desire to be mentored and to Eric’s great surprise, Borak agreed. Borak said he’d been looking for an apprentice for some time and asked Eric to meet him at the gate of the Blue Wizard Bastion in the morning so they could go for a ride to the Fey with the intention of both getting to know each other and doing some wizarding exercises. This became a daily occurrence for nearly 3 months with almost exact repetition.

One day, out in the Fey, Eric saw several vultures, which was a bad omen, signifying something dead, whether human or animal. He and Borak ventured closer when they were jumped by four goblins from the left side of where they were standing. One goblin was in the process of opening its mouth to bite Borak’s neck when Eric exploded with flames killing it and the others in a single burst of desperation and rage. Borak rose from the ground and thanked Eric. Both shaken up they decided it would be best to forgo exploring what exactly had attracted the vultures and instead turn back to the Blue Wizard Bastion to rest and recover.

On the way back from the Fey, different animals kept coming alongside Eric and looking longingly. First, a bird landed on his shoulder, second a snake came up out of the undergrowth. He asked Borak what was happening and Borak explained that wizards have familiars, and at an undetermined time during the process of becoming a named wizard, creatures present themselves to be partners.

Eric saw a fox come up and he gravitated toward it. It was majestic and strong as he hoped to be one day. He asked Borak what he needed to do. Borak looked at him and said, “nothing, bonds that form are unspoken and it looks like you and this fox have chosen one another.” On the way back to the Bastion, Eric decided he would name the fox Spike, and Eric and Spike become a formidable pairing, known years later all around the land.

Entered by: 0xa9fB…66e9 and preserved on chain (see transaction)