The Ten Universal Spells are legendary in their usefulness. Of the ten, only the Three are known at this time. Older texts speak of them as if they were common, yet the portions that name them are in damaged sections of those selfsame tomes. The most sought-after volume, The Gifts of Heaven, exists in only three copies that I am aware of. I’ve had the honor of examining each copy, and to my utter horror and chagrin, each one is missing the very sections that are rumoured to hold the specifics of each spell! — Excerpt from Thee Searche Fore Thee Tenne: Updated Version originally written by Sir Edward of Seine, late 4th Cluster. Edited by Eric the Wizard, of the Royal Court of Kathelon, 5th Cluster.

  “So, what’s your class, Finn?”

  The words that I had hoped to avoid seemed to echo in my ears. There was a moment when I thought it would be good to get it out in the open. Maybe these old magic users would be okay with it. The logical part of my mind shut that down quick. They might have been old, but if they were anything but competent users of their magic, I’d be shocked. Or dead.

  Ding, ding.

  The sound of a bell being struck saved me. It came from the waiting area, like one of those on the top of a door in a shop. I gave a silent prayer of thanks to whatever deity made those bells here.

  Cole sighed and stood up. “It’s my turn to deal with customers, isn’t it?” he said, heading for the front.

  Despite the desperate need within me to learn what I could about how Mages went about creating a spellbook, any type of spellbook, the fear that it would bring more focus to my class was not unwarranted. I needed to keep the focus on becoming a full guild member. I knew I wasn’t yet, only because the Voice had not deigned to inform me I had completed the quest. My rhetorical purse was still ten gold lighter, not forty gold heavier.

  Looking at the other two members of the Guild, I laughed nervously. “So, when do I get a copy of the Identify Item spellbook? I’d love to get started on wading through this massive collection of magical items.”

  Archin grunted, obviously done with me for the moment. The woman put down a gauntlet with articulated claws and sighed. “I suppose it is my turn to teach you,” she announced and walked over to a locked cupboard. She removed a simple key and used it to open the cupboard. She looked at the eleven almost identical volumes within and pulled one out reverently. The old woman clasped it to her chest and bowed to the rest before relocking it and turning to me, the book held out.

  “This, young Finn of the Enchanters Guild, is your copy of our sacred spell. Handle it with care and joy. For no one outside these halls may know of its existence.”

  Her tone and bearing affected me in the same way as when I looked upon the stained glass and carved altar of the Basilica of St. Mary’s. My family didn’t go there often, preferring to go to Ascension Parish most Sundays. It was an odd memory, as I had stopped going to church when I turned eighteen. But the essence had the same flavor.

  Even though I was nowhere near being even spiritual anymore, I could only receive the book with similar reverence. “Thank you… I’m sorry, I never caught your name,” I said.

  The old woman gave me a sincere smile. “Why, my name is Marin. I thank you for the kindness of asking, Finn.”

  Her wording was strange, and she must have noticed my curious confusion. I was about to open my mouth to ask, but she held up a hand.

  “You’re Earthborn, so you may not know. But I am from Noom. We can’t offer our names, as they are not ours to give,” Marin explained. “They belong to all the Noom. So I am grateful that you asked, as it makes things so much simpler.”

  I found myself fascinated by this cultural tidbit. I’d need to ask more questions about Noom later, but only after I was well established within the Guild. In the meantime, I needed to learn the spell to help identify some of the magical items. After which, I needed to get out of there and rejoin Harper. I sat down on a bench and opened the spellbook.

  Spell Name: Identify Item

  Level: 1

  Range: Touch

  Cost: 10 MP

  Identify Item is a unique spell that exposes the properties of magical items to the caster. This information can be shared with others at no further cost. One of the ten Universal Spells, Identify Item can be learned and used by all magic users, regardless of class. Early levels of this skill only identify the base information of items. WARNING: This spellbook is for the explicit use of the Enchanter’s Guild, and the use of this spellbook by anyone not in good standing with the Guild will lead to the self-destruction of this spellbook prior to the learning of this spell. Subsequently, if an individual is no longer part of the guild, they will lose access to this spell.

  It took two hours of using Identify Item on somewhere around two hundred items before the Voice was satisfied.

  ‘Quest completed: Join the Enchanter’s Guild! Finn the Mage has completed all the requirements for this quest. Bonus requirement completed: complete the quest without informing the Guild of your class! Finn the — shhh — Mage has somehow gotten into the Guild without letting anyone know his class! I’m actually impressed that he learned not to go around telling everyone what his class was! Maybe he can learn… nah! He’ll find a way to mess this up, too. Quest rewards: fifty gold coins! Twenty percent off all future magical item identifications! A Fancy Hat! Bonus Rewards for completing hidden requirement: Detect Mimic Skill. New skill! Detect Mimic is an active skill, meaning you must actively be looking for mimics. Will detect any type of mimic. Not only is it useful for enchanters, but if you are entering a dungeon, treasure room, or evil lair, it is also very helpful! Finn will need to use it often, so he doesn’t lose a hand from a mimic disguised as a treasure chest… or an eye from a peephole mimic! On second thought, maybe he should stock up on bandages and healing potions. Early levels of this skill do not detect higher-level mimics. Remember, a mimic is nature’s way of culling people of low intelligence…’

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  There was a pause, like the voice was struggling to hold back something. The weight and pressure of dread fell over me as I waited. I didn’t know if it was a piece of information necessary for me to move forward, or something more dire.

  ‘… like Finn the Mage.’

  Nope. Just another dig.

  Groaning, I stretched my back. “You know, guys, I think I am done for the day. I need to go meet with the Royal Wizard about some quest-related stuff. Would it be okay if I came by tomorrow and knocked out some more items?” I asked.

  The three looked at each other. “Um, sure!” Cole said hesitantly. “You took care of several items rather quickly. I think a few more days of this and we’ll be caught up! Thank you, Finn.”

  “Of course! See you all tomorrow!” I said and walked out into the waiting area. I felt good about the work. Oddly enough, Identify Item had no added sensation, unlike all my other spells. It was kind of refreshing. And I felt like I had accomplished something.

  Harper looked up from the book she had been reading. “Ready to go?” she asked, closing the book and setting it on a small table next to her chair.

  “Yes, sorry that took so long. The Voice really made me work for it.”

  Vessa leaped down from the cushion she had curled up on and bounded over to me, giving me a happy chirp, and I scooped her up.

  Harper stood up and started for the door to the street. “I figured as much. What were you doing for so long?”

  I hesitated, only for a second, before opening my mouth. I couldn’t tell her what I had actually done, as that might violate my membership. “Oh, just enchanting stuff. Moving things for them. You know, the usual.”

  Harper just looked at me for a moment before nodding. “Okay. I get it,” she replied, heading out of the Enchanting guild.

  Vessa draped herself over my shoulders and gave my face a nuzzle. ‘What really took you so long? I’m so hungry,’ she thought to me.

  “Hungry? Well, I’m pretty sure I have something you can eat in the saddlebags,” I replied, following Harper out the front door. Our horses were hitched next to the Enchanting Guild, in the empty space where the fake building had been. I forgot to ask them about how they did that, I thought.

  We rode through the crowd without another word, Harper leading the way and Vessa devouring some biscuits I had grabbed for her before getting in the saddle. The crowd as a whole had not lessened since I had gone into the Enchanter’s Guild. I wasn’t too surprised, but part of me had expected that most people who were heading toward the nicer areas of the city had already done so for employment.

  I had had an acquaintance in my program who had lived near one of those all-inclusive, rich people gated communities that were basically an entire town to themselves with shopping and services within the confines of the community. According to him, they had thirty to fifty workers for each man, woman, and child that lived within the walls in their fancy houses. Those workers had to commute into the community every day for their employment. He applied to several colleges because he worked there, just to get away from it.

  We moved with the stream of traffic toward the center, and it was nearing lunchtime, according to my stomach. Despite that, or because we were moving with traffic, the rest of the ride to the Royal Library was rather quick. I made a mental note to get some lunch after meeting with Eric and reluctantly gnawed on one of the biscuits I had in my inventory.

  When we arrived at the Royal Library, we were quickly surrounded by the guards. They parted before a man in a familiar hat.

  “Stand down!” ordered the guard captain, who had been there prior and had almost stabbed me. He nodded to Harper and glared at me. “Royal Wizard Eric has let us know you are allowed to enter. However, I would prefer that you be under guard for your entire time here. Will you submit, Mage?”

  There was no reason for me not to, so I nodded my head and dismounted. “I’ll go along with that, Captain. However, I would feel more comfortable if it were you doing the guarding. I know you aren’t going to just skewer me out of fear.”

  The guard captain grinned. “Oh, I will. But three others will also guard you, just in case you get through me,” he said.

  Vessa leapt onto my shoulder from the back of Rocks before the mounts were led away. “Why doesn’t that man with the funny hat like you? Is this another Mage thing?”

  “Yes, it is. I’m sure he means well, so it’s okay,” I muttered to her.

  “What was that, Mage?” growled the guard captain, looking at me with suspicion.

  “Just explaining to my baby dragon what is going on and that you’re just doing your job,” I said. I should have just thought the answer to her.

  “That would have been easier, Finn,” she thought back. “You should get a hat like that, for me! We could pretend to be pirates.”

  “Baby dragon?” the guard captain said, surprised.

  Harper stepped up next to him. “Yeah, that’s Vessa. Isn’t she just adorable?” she said smoothly, putting a hand on the man’s arm. “Why don’t we head in? I’m sure Eric is just dying to see us!”

  “I… yes. We should,” he said. “A dragon?” He looked a little shocked at the hatchling, then shook his head and led the way.

  Three guards armed with crossbows joined the captain in escorting us, mostly around me. We didn’t pause in the foyer, even though I wanted to look closer at some of the designs in the marble. Vessa was swinging her head around trying to take it all in, giving me whiplash from watching her.

  The main part of the library didn’t differ from what I remembered. With three stories of books and marble everywhere, it was a sight to behold. Yet the echoes of the heavy boots of the guards and their crossbows ruined the whole damn thing.

  Eric didn’t look up when we entered his large office, lost in his thoughts.

  Harper stopped at the table he was sitting at and just stood there for a moment. “Eric,” she said softly.

  Startled, he looked up. “Harper, what a pleasant surprise! And Finn! Good to see you, as well…” Eric paused, looking at the guards. “Is Juan still in the main library?”

  “He’s not… Eric, Juan’s dead,” Harper said, her voice breaking. “He fell, protecting us.”

  Eric stood up, his eyes crinkling in concern and deep sadness. He stepped around the table and embraced Harper. “It’s okay, Harper,” he said tenderly. Tears ran down his face, and he looked much older. “Oh, gods. I’m going to miss him.”

  The two stood there in shared grief for a while before Eric stepped back and pulled himself together. “Thank you for telling me. Where did you bury him?”

  “We haven’t yet. He fell into that chasm to the south when the bridge of Ankana’Zuul ripped apart under the weight of the ogre he was fighting,” I said. It still wasn’t easy to talk about, but Eric needed to know.

  “An ogre? That son of a bitch fought an ogre?” He asked incredulously. “I can believe it, but I wish I had gotten a chance to look at that bridge. Juan told me about it years ago, and we were planning on getting together an expedition so I could study it…”

  The old Wizard went back around the table and sat heavily.

  “We thought we would stop here first, before going in front of the Council,” Harper said. “We’re going to need a lot of help to retrieve his body. And we had some questions that you might be able to answer.”

  “Questions,” Eric muttered. “Yes, having something else to focus on right now would be nice. Ask away.”

  “Eric,” I said, glad for the distraction. “How the hell am I supposed to find a frozen night in lace?”