Then returned Jimson to the palace of winds, to muse over his defeat and recover from his wounds. At last the call came from Celandine, and he rose to his feet, and brushed the ashes of ruined Cathas from his garments, and entered her hall. There she greeted him kindly, and bade him sit before her, and inquired as to his exploits in the demirealm of Reverie.
"Oh, Magistra," Jimson did admit, as the sweet smoke of
"And what lesson hath thou learned from this combat, my Jimson? - for there be no experience that does not contain within it the grain of wisdom, hath one eyes to see and ears to hear."
"Magistra, I have learned not to combat the guardians of the archmagus of Cathas."
Whereupon Celandine laughed and called for tea and sweet drink. Then, as Jimson refreshed himself, she laid a hand upon the emerald tablet, and began to speak; and Jimson listened closely, for Celandine only recorded her words within the stone when she spoke of great matters indeed.
"Thou knowest well, my Jimson, that the magus doth not simply have or have not; know or know not. There be levels of mystic power and learning through which the magus must pass to attain the goal of archmagistry, the mastery of magic. Each initiate must master each level of knowledge individually, and there be levels past which some initiates may never pass, if they be limited by mental or spiritual shortcomings.
"I have seen thee advance from the lowest circle of magery, the first, to near the highest circle of magery, the nineteenth. And thou knowest from thine own studies that the circles of magery be twenty, as the most ancient of writings, even those that hearken to the aeons before the Concordat, mention only these twenty. Now I shall risk much, my Jimson, and speak to thee of a secret known only to a select number of magisters who do protect it with their lives, be thee willing to take upon thy shoulders the burden of such knowledge."
"Magistra," Jimson said humbly, "the hour I turn my back on knowledge, I shall no more be fit to be called magus."
"Then listen carefully, for this be dread knowledge, and worth thy life to speak of carelessly. There be a proverb thou may have heard in thy travels: Hes aval ru draicu, maruk shal mortao ru draicu."
"I have, Magistra," Jimson said respectfully. "And I have heard its sister proverb, hes mortao ru draicu, maruk shal aval ru draicu. To become a dragon, one must kill a dragon. And to kill a dragon, one must become a dragon."
"Know you why there be but one dragon of each dominion at a time?"
"I do not, Magistra."
"Dragons breed not as mortal creatures, nor be they wont to travel much together, for they be peers and thus perilous each to the other. A dragon be born of an archmagus who hath advanced through the ten circles of archmagistery, beyond the twenty circles of common magistery. I know not if there be a limit to the number or kind of dragons that may exist, but I do know that no two dragons have lived of the same dominion at the same time, though it has happened that soon after the death of a dragon, the next to be created will be of the deceased dragon's dominion."
"Magistra, I have truly never heard of this. Will you tell me of these ten circles of archmagistery?"
"I shall, for thou be my dearest apprentice, and close upon the time at which thou must make thy choice whether to risk the perils of such study.
"Now, nine be the stages of protomorphism, divided each into three divisions, the Base, the Median, and the Haute. Tenth be the stage of final metamorphosis, that does transform the archmagister into the Essential, the true dragon. And two be the paths one may choose to follow through these stages; the path of the Creator, or the path of the Destructor. For the archmagus who chooses to become Essential, one of the two essences must be chosen and adhered to; Creation or Destruction. Now, there be those who do claim the essential dragon must be a Destructor, for in the womb the mortal was part of creation, and the path of evolution does lead logically to destruction, but I believe this philosophy to be flawed.
"Nevertheless, that thou may make thy decision fully informed, allow me to propound to you the ways of both the Creator and the Destructor.
"Now, I have known a archmagister who was then called Savin, who desired to travel the path of the Creator. For each stage of the Lowest metamorphosis, Savin did travel from one end of the earth to the other, gathering to her the flesh, blood and bones of great defilers and enemies of life; and she did also take their artifacts of destruction, both old and new; and the very ashes of the ground they did destroy in defilement and warfare. Savin travelled even into the toxic ocean, to venture into the Empire of the Ebon Depths, and gathered there many evil relics from the nameless creatures which dwelleth therein. Then one night she did cast the spell of Essential Revelation, drawing upon the potency of these items, and wresting with their akasic resonances, and wresting the darkness of their making and using into a shape that she could wield for the salvation of life. Then this shape she did absorb, three times in succession, to complete the Low metamorphoses."
"With your humblest pardon," Jimson interrupted, "what spell is it the Creator cast?"
"That," Celandine replied gravely, "be a spell I shall teach thee, when it be time and thy choice be made. Be patient, my Jimson.
"Now, when Savin did undertake the Median rites of metamorphoses, she did abandon all friends and companions and did appoint herself guardian of a realm, the realm she did invest with the power of the artifacts she had previously gathered and subsumed; and this realm she did protect and nurture from defilers and destroyers, and all that was evil. And Savin did also travel from one end of the earth to another when she was not protecting her land, and gained the favor of three great beings of weal, who granted her three favors, one from each. Whereupon Savin drew upon the vitality of the land and the virtue of the favors for each stage of her Median metamorphoses.
"At last, upon the land Savin had imbued with vitality and guarded all these years, she did gather to her friends and companions, and granted them the beneficence of the realm, and carefully watched to ensure no evil touched their hearts or minds, or encroached upon the peace of her realm. And three times her friends freely and willingly brought to her gifts wrought of the land she had created, and three times the love of these gifts did provide her with the energy to metamorph. Thus Savin completed the Haute metamorphoses.
"Now the last stage of the metamorphosis was at hand, and Savin did search far for the relics to aid her in this final ritual. In the heart of her pleasant realm she did seal herself in stone and crystal, and capture the sun in a great diamond, and did work the last revelation while her friends continued her great work of protecting and enriching the land. She did emerge after two years as an essential dragon of molten gold."
"Your words are thought-provoking," Jimson mused, his tea cold and forgotten before him. "The path of the Creator seems lengthy, but worthwhile in the final analysis. Pray, Magistra, what path does the Destructor follow?"
"I have also known an archmagister called Atophan, who did decide to follow the path of the Destructor. For each stage of the Low metamorphoses, he did seek out great and ancient documents from one end of the earth to the next, and even as Savin did, he searched the salty and poisonous waters, and talked even to those who were not of this world. Then he did create a keep filled with art and wealth, and filled it with servants and courtiers. For each stage of the Low metamorphoses he did pass through, he drew upon the life of all those who dwelt within his keep, and they did die and turn to ash, as he leeched them of their energy. And many were the spells he was forced to use to divert suspicion and allay fear.
"After three such devastations, Atophan did move from his keep, and built a palace of stone, encrusted with gems and filled with greater riches. And within this palace he gathered again servants and courtiers, and warriors and merchants, and even he called to himself a creature of another plane, that did speak with him and accompany him whither he went. And as surely as it did serve Atophan here, so he did serve it there, and their companionship was a strange and complicated one. Yet three times he and this familiar destroyed all who dwelt within his palace, whereupon Atophan passed through the Median metamorphoses.
"Now Atophan did call upon a great and powerful army, and did tell them his familiar had turned against him, and the three plagues of death that had caused his palace to whisper grey with ash had been this familiar creature's curse. And Atophan did tell the army that this monster had fled to its home plane, and did arouse the warriors to battle fever, and marched at their head through the planes. There his army did encounter the three great creatures Atophan had made a pact with, one of which was his own familiar, and the other two of which he had also befriended and served and brought here to aid him. Each man and woman of the army was slain as Atophan and the three powerful aides enacted his metamorphoses; and three times Atophan did do this, at great expense in magery and riches."
"You have spoken of the slaughter of thousands," Jimson murmured, as Celandine did pause to sip at her own sweet liquor. "Either Atophan shaped minds as the wind shapes the sands, or I despair of the wisdom of our people."
"To enact his final metamorphosis, Atophan did not need either to shape minds or to prey upon the gullible or greedy; he did travel to the neighboring realm, which was a place of peace and goodwill, and did kill there the Creation-bound and golden-eyed dragon that guarded that realm. His spell did defile the land for miles around, and destroyed the innocent people who dwelt within that circumference of death."
"Your stories, Magistra, would seem to share a time and place," Jimson remarked, eyes fixed upon Celandine. "The fate of one player has been determined, but what happened to the other?"
"Atophan did become an iron-eyed dragon, and rules to this day in a land far to the east."
Jimson did think awhile, and then roused himself to speak again to the lady of the palace of winds, who waited patiently upon her young magus.
"It is plain to me from your words, Magistra, that the creature I fought in Reverie was the archmagus of Cathas, a Destructor in metamorphosis; but what am I to do? Must I truly become a dragon to kill that dragon?"
Whereupon Celandine sighed, and looked sternly upon her apprentice, who shifted and turned in discomfort at her gaze.
"After nineteen levels of magistery, my Jimson, hath thy mind become so lost in webs of power that it can no longer riddle a child's proverb? Close thine eyes, and think a moment, and tell me what thou hath decided."
Jimson closed his eyes, and thought a moment, and declared:
"Magistra, I have decided my legs are numb from sitting here all this while."
And then she lifted her hand from the emerald tablet, and the wise words with which she enlightened Jimson have been lost to time.
