Role

Chapter 1

You want it to all add up so neatly, don't you? But that is not
life. That is not even magic. We try to bend the rules of nature to
to our own whims, and you are worried about the why and when of
things?

Oh, but that is the paradox, isn't it? We study and research,
we experiment and try, ever seeking the order for that yet to be
discovered, ever shuffling and restarting. In the end, there is no
reason to it all, I assure you.

But at that time, of course, I did not know this. Still, you must
understand, those years being trapped in Glymarach were most formative.
Nothing quite like solitude and starvation to really set the mind to
focus. It was there that I was forced to reckon with my whims, my
choices... my suspicions and fears, really.

I did not like what I saw, you know. So I dove into my studies.
When one does not like one's reality, magic is ever available to
change it. Not always forever, no, but I learned there that not
only can the energy flowing through this world be harnessed to
reshape the world, it can be tapped into to shape one's own
thoughts and feelings.

And so I decided then and there, as destined for death as I was,
that I could indeed choose to bend my situation to my benefit. You
see? That would be the key to my future. That time, rotting in a
cell with nothing but the few incantations my guildmaster had urged
me to master as well as some elf or human student, it became my
time. And study I did. Alone. Away. Focused.

Yes, I was Liiga's, and though I resented her, and vowed revenge, I
was not Raik's or Hekkamos' or any other's. All Liiga wanted from me
was my feathered frame in her possession. But I had all the arts
I'd learned at my disposal to master, and all the questions I'd
discovered, to consider.

They say the cruelties of a dungeon can make a fellow mad. But I did
not lose sight of myself, no. I gained vision of the world around
me. Tendrils of mana flowing throughout, eager to be harnessed,
ignorant of their purpose. I learned, you see? I discovered that all
we were ever taught, was quite, quite malleable.

You disagree? You are wrong. And if you are right, I will make
you wrong.