As they closed the door behind them, the boy nodded again to Jenn and made a motion to his forehead and a small bow and proceeded down the short corridor and around the corner to the starboard side, and a door squeezed against the rear wall. “For you ma’am,” he gestured.
“Thank you,” Jenn said as the boy opened the door for her. She smiled at him and went into the small room. As the boy closed the door behind her, she noted that small was the descriptive word. Her back against the door, she was in the only standing space in the room. Immediately to her left was a small table with a bowl inset in top. Apparently designed to keep the bowl from falling on the floor in rough weather. Ahead of her was actually a surprisingly decent, if short and shallow bed. It seemed to have a semblance of a real mattress and actual sheets. Below the bed were drawers inset in the base. Above the bed appeared to be some sort of box that ingeniously lowered from the ceiling. Upon closer inspection Jenn realized that it was another bed that could be lowered for an additional occupant. That would certainly be tight Jenn thought.
Well enough, Jenn thought as she put the small sack she that held her few belongings in one of the drawers below her bed. At last she’d be able to sleep in something like a real bed. For that she was grateful. She only wished, as she looked again at her sack, that she and Gastropé had been able to afford more in the way of spell components. They hadn’t had much time or money to gather many, just the very basics, and the few natural things she could find in a park they’d passed. Hopefully it would do. Most of her good stuff was still in her robe at Exador’s or on her horse. She wondered what Rupert and the demon had done with the horses.
She’d tried to gather components for the few spells she knew that she’d thought might be useful at sea, or against pirates. Unfortunately, having specialized in thaumaturgy, the science of earth magic, she could be very effective on land, but on water she couldn’t do much. They really needed a Sorcerer, someone especially trained in the element of water. Gastropé was a pyromancer, and while he thus had some very useful offensive spells, he was literally in his element of opposition while riding on a ship. Rupert of course wasn’t specialized in anything, and again, she doubted an animage could do much either. Assuming, of course, that Edwyrd was really an animage.
As she sat down on her bed, she noticed that the ship seemed to be rocking more. Apparently they’d gotten underway and were heading out from Gizzor Del’s small harbor. Five plus days on this ship was going to get tedious. At least, she thought, thinking of the guys, she had a room to herself.
A Treatise on the Nature of the Multiverse
by Heward
Editor’s Note: The following is a treatise believed to have been written by Heward. Heward in and of himself is an extremely interesting historical figure. He has been known by a great number of titles, all of which are attributed to the same individual. The likelihood of all such appellations belonging to the same historic and quasi-mythic figure is almost unbelievable, but nonetheless, tradition dictates that there was only one Heward. He was a man who’s life apparently spanned several centuries. In various times and places this individual has been referred to as Heward, First Sage of Sagemoor, Wizard of Armedia, Animage of Aremethia, as well as Knight of the Order of Bastion and Tae Kael Master of the Fourteenth Rose. If legends are to be believed he was also reputed to be a sometime priest of the God Hierelegon and also a Shaman to the Tribes of Dartsuth. Whatever the truth of these legends, he is held to be perhaps the most learned man in history on the nature of things magical.
In the beginning, and so in the end, are the Five Elements of Creation, and thus of Destruction. These Five Elements are Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. None of the Five should be confused with their more mundane manifestations upon the Planes of Men. The Five Elements are the ultimate archetypes from which all else is descended. We as mere mortals simply use the closest words in our vocabularies to describe these things which defy finite comprehension.
Thus when we speak of the Five Elements, we are truly speaking of a model, an interpretation of reality that allows us to comprehend things that are truly vast in proportion to ourselves. Therefore do not confuse Fire with that which cooks your food. While the fire which cooks your food is an Aspect of Fire, so is the lightning in the sky and the light of the sun as well as all forms of heat energy. All of these are Aspects of Fire. Fire is fast and direct and cuts directly to the point. Fire is the energy that drives creation, and the conflagration that destroys.
Likewise when we speak of Water, we mean all things liquidic in nature, moving and mutable. Acid and water are both Aspects of Water, as is knowledge and truth. For when we speak of knowledge and truth, both are relative terms that are not absolute. Water is also calm and engulfing, Water surrounds all in a shifting embrace. Water provides balance to creation and destruction, it regulates and calms the energy of Fire.
Earth is steadfast; it is the ground beneath our feet and the minerals in our bodies. Earth is that from which living creatures spring. Earth is hard and immobile, slow to change yet eternally loyal. Earth is iron and Earth is rock. It is the foundation upon which creation stands.
Air is ephemeral, it cannot be touched, it is both the life giving gas that allows us to live, and it is the suffocating smoke that chokes us. All forms of gases are Aspects of Air, as is the absence of gas, vacuum. Air is transient and fleeting. It may perceived one moment and not the next. Like clouds that are its Aspect, Air can appear to be many things. Air sweeps through with reckless abandon, like the wind it can be an element of destruction.
Spirit is the Element of Life. Spirit is the essence of life, it is that which provides sentience and that which directs the creation and oversees the destruction of the universe. Do not confuse the spirits of the Planes of men with Spirit, nor any bodiless such beings. While Spirit is akin to the energy of life, the life force, it is not Alive in itself. Only through interactions with other things may true life come. This may seem like a contradiction, Spirit is Life, but it is not Alive, and perhaps it is. Spirit in itself is a contradiction and perhaps the least understood Element. For Spirit brings life, and while the other elements may destroy the physical form of living creatures, only Spirit may truly destroy Spirit.
The Five Elements of Creation are in eternal conflict and eternal balance. As on the Planes of Men, Fire and Water are in opposition, as are Earth and Air. Spirit is in opposition to itself. However, this is not the only conflict, Water and Earth are also in opposition, although to a lesser extent as are Fire and Air. Fire and Earth however, tend to be in conjunction most of the time, as are Air and Water. Spirit is not directly in opposition to any but itself, and in fact it is the conjunction of Spirit, Fire, Earth, Air and Water that creates material life.
The Elements while in eternal opposition also come together in balance. It is the balance of the Elements that forms the Planes of Men. Only on the Planes of Men do you see all the Elements working together (and occasionally warring together). From the union comes life. From the union comes Man.
The eternal conflict between the Elements produces frictional energy. This energy is called Mana. Mana is what is left when two or more Elements collide. Paradoxically, Mana is also that which holds the Elements together. It is like a sticky resin, produced by damage, yet which provides healing and joining together. This Mana may be used to manipulate the elements, to summon or banish them, to combine them in union and to force them to destruction.
As Mana is produced by the conflict of the Elements in Opposition, so Animus is produced by the Elements in Union. As Spirit combines the other Elements in life and union, Animus, the Energy of Life is formed. Animus feeds upon the Mana generated by the interaction of the Elements, Spirit directs its growth and the other Elements provide its form.