Chapter 20: Acceptance

The following days and weeks were filled with much, more half mad philosophical ramblings about magic and eggs and other seemingly banal topics that Munatius's half genius could spin into near epiphany. The days were also heavy with mind warping experimentation, opening inconceivable perspectives into things Mathias had previously believed himself to understand so well.

Some time after he arrived, though his perception of time was too skewed to know how long it had been, he found himself working once again in a strange and complicated spell of some sort, completely unaware of what it was he was helping to accomplish. The floor was lined with seemingly random objects, books, pots and pans, fire wood, even bones. Mathias surmised that it was the material they were made from that mattered, not the objects themselves. They were arranged into crude circles and what seemed to be symbols.

He was holding an old rolled up scroll that looked like it might turn to dust at any moment, and watching Munatius as he walked around the arranged items, sprinkling little bits of blood from a glass bottle. The aged wizard nodded at him.

With incredible care, Mathias very slowly and gently opened the scroll. He knew that he was to read from it, so expected it to be of one of the myriad, probably ancient, languages he was familiar with. He was surprised to be only half right. The language of the spell was shockingly his own. He looked up at Munatius, who nodded to him again, a bit more emphatically.

Mathias read aloud from the scroll, "Bind these materials. I call upon the ancient powers, and the four winds. I call upon the light of creation, and abomination. Supply us, o holy powers, with the labor we tax of you."

The blood drops on the stone floor all began to sizzle as if sitting on a hot pan. Munatius walked to the side of the room where a large bloody sack was sitting against the wall. He brought it over near the center of the seeming randomly assorted items and dumped out its contents. It was filled with large chunks of raw, somewhat spoiled meat.

As the meat plopped onto the ground, tiny wet flecks of decomposing animal flesh speckled Mathias's face. He winced, as an anger started to well up within him. He had been growing increasingly frustrated with the old mage, but he did get results. The smell that soon emanated to him, was even worse still.

Munatius barked out his part quick and annoyed, "Yes! Give us what we ask you for. Do what we want. Make all this shit into something useful! Ugeedna!"

There was a sudden powerful shock wave that pulsed through the room. All the randomly assorted items melted away. Another moment and the hunks of meat began to shift around, and grow. Globular chunks morphed and pulled away forming grotesque lumpy limbs. When the abhorrent shifting and mutating ceased, there stood several small, lumpy, slightly man-like, hunched back creatures.

Munatius grabbed a pile of torn up burlap, other harsh fabric, some very basic sowing tools, and tossed it all at the things, while shouting aggressively, "Well dress yourselves now and get to work! You've much to do!" They scrambled to take up what he had provided and immediately got to work fashioning basic primitive clothing. Grunting and growling in inhuman high pitched tones.

Mathias watched with something bordering disgust. It was a feeling he was growing rather accustomed to. He shook his head, finally protesting, "What the hell was all of this for? More little creatures? Your home and the surrounding area is already infested with similar freaks of nature."

Munatius looked over at him and retorted defensively, "Well I like little monstery critters. It's good to have eyes and ears all over the place." He frowned smugly, and looked over at his new creations, "These one's a re a little smarter, I've actually got something very important in mind for them. They can do it quicker than we could."

"And what is that?" Mathias asked, stone voiced, more than a little fed up with half answers and riddles.

Munatius laughed, "Well I'm sure you know by now that you[ll see. But we have other things to talk about first."

He turned without waiting for Mathias to respond, and started walking out of the room. Mathias quickly stormed after him, unhappy with reply, "Wait! He reached him and grabbed him by the shoulder.

Munatius looked up at the younger sorcerer with an annoyed gaze. Mathias barked out, "I need to know what we are doing here. You told me that you would be freely giving me the knowledge I seek. That does not feel like what is happening."

Munatius sighed deeply, "Boy, I'm tying. I really am, and I know it's not all your fault, but you need to understand that I do the things I do, the way I do them, for a reason." He shook his head and laughed at himself, "The best reason. Because it works, well."

Mathias remained confused, and increasingly exacerbated, "I thought the whole point of all of this was that we don't have to do magic the same way it's always been done?"

The aged wizard rolled his eyes with an exhausted befuddlement, "My boy, you are supposed to be incredibly intelligent, yet grasp so very little." He turned to stand square shouldered with Mathias, looked him in the eyes and spoke more seriously, "I'm not repeating some ancient shaman or druid's words and actions. I am doing what I have found to work best, myself, for me. I do not mean to tell you that your powers will become random trifles that you achieve at a whim, only that your greatest means lie outside the realm of some other long dead mage's accomplishments. Find them, remember them, master them."

Mathias stood resolute and silent, Munatius continued, "My spells seem to work better when I tell no one, even those participating, what the purpose of the spell actually is. Secret magic, I like to think of it as." He laughed happily at his own perceived wit.

Mathias sighed, shaking his head and frowning, "So I imagine that means you can't tell me what those things are off to accomplish then either?" The lunacy and genius of the old man played right on the edge of each other to a maddening perfection. Enough to drive Mathias wild, but still hold him with curiosity.

Munatius just kept laughing, "No, I suppose I cannot."

Mathias shook his head. He already knew better than to protest. He asked another question nagging at him, one he felt was more likely something Munatius intended for him to ask, "And what of that spell that I read? In my own relatively modern language, yet such ancient and vulgar display of power?"

Munatius smiled, "I believe you have already sussed out the answer to that one."

Mathias's expression shifted, a semblance of a smile returned as the tiniest laugh escaped through his nose, "I guess it should not matter what language I use. The things I command are not truly based on aural vocabulary anyway."

Munatius nodded as his grin stuck in place, "So long as you have faith in it, and your own ability. The words are just a guide."

He turned away to the creatures they had created. They were mostly clothed now in the crudest version of the word permissible, but they all started scurrying off out of the room. He could not help but wonder to what ends these things would serve.

Munatius nodded and bowed toward the door they had exited, and the two of them followed behind. In the hall Mathias's iron guardian stood waiting in silence. The old wizard looked up at it, patted it vigorously on the chest, then turned back to Mathias, "Do you think your fellow could help them? They can handle the finer details without problem, but they cannot lug much around at once. Some muscle would be a great boon to their, and by extension our own, work."

Mathias paused for a moment, staring at what was thus far his most significant accomplishment. Then nodded in the affirmative, "That's fine." He then nodded to the guard and it followed off in the direction the creatures had gone.

"So what will we do now, then?" Mathias asked.

Munatius answered without a hint of trepidation, "Oh, well I have been preparing another procedure, like the one we conducted when you first arrived."

Mathias was slightly taken aback. He had almost forgotten that they had butchered a man together already, "Must it be now? Can it not wait until I have improved? Come to understand more?" The truth was that he hoped to escape any participation at all. Though he had seen and caused untold bloodshed, what remained of anything like a conscience still turned his stomach at the thought violence not directly in the name of his family.

Munatius shook his head solemnly in the negative, "I've been spending almost all my time away from you, preparing it, for the last few weeks, and I can wait no longer." he sighed with the slightest hint of worry, "I've waited too long already..." He stroked his beard in thought, "I will have to use Lawrence this time."

Mathias was taken aback all the further, "What?" There were a myriad of reasons it seemed insane, "What vitality could that man retain? Is he not your loyal servant? Surely you could find a sacrifice that would not so upturn your way of life?"

Munatius laughed as he motioned to two chairs next to a stair case, "Come sit Mathias."

The two men sat across from each other and Munatius continued, "It's very sweet that you have come to feel some kinship with the man. But it's really no question to me at all."

Mathias was still surprised, "Well, he has been kind to me, helpful. He has prepared all of my meals for the last couple months. I can't help but feel something, can you? After all these years?"

Munatius chortled in a much more reserved sigh-like laugh, "No. I'll not lie and say I feel no affection for him. But in the face of my goals, there is no question. The goal here is to live. Lawrence will buy me a few more days, maybe a week. If I get to work, seriously, it should be no trouble at all having a more suitable sacrifice ready in time."

He shook his head, "The rest of the decade or so he might live would be spent in increasing torturous servitude. True mercy would have been killing him half a century ago."

Mathias did not seem overly relieved. Munatius's laugh picked up a little, "You know, you were the sole cause of my distraction. So in an indirect way it could be argued that you are responsible for his death." His laugh grew to semi-roarous.

Mathias stared him down with angry eyes that judged harshly, though deep down he knew that he was in no place to judge anyone. It was not lost on Munatius, who took the opportunity to drop a bombshell he had been holding back, "Do you know what day it is today?"

Mathias was somewhat struck by the question. It called to his mind just how warped time had become, both before and after his studies here with Munatius. There was something else too, something terrible rising within him.

After a moment of no answer, Munatius supplied it himself, "Today is the anniversary of your wife's death. Your son's birthday" Their eyes were locked and did not break, "It has been a full year since she was taken from you, and your he was born."

Mathias was shattered all over again, somehow worse than when it had all happened. He could not speak. The boldness of the statement, his own surprise that he had forgotten, and all the crushing returning grief. He had known that it could not be far off, but the mind altering nature of his work with Munatius had reeked havoc on his temporal awareness. He stood up, suddenly overrun. He had held it back so long. At once he wished the crumple to the ground in violent sobs and die, to strike Munatius's head clear from his body, to destroy all the world itself, and to keep working as hard and as fast as he could.

"I do not say this to taunt you." Munatius added after standing up himself, "It is necessary, as everything we have done, to get you to where you need to be."

Mathias inhaled deeply, paused while holding the breath, then exhaled even deeper. His brow furrowed as a familiar rage filled his being, but the only thing as powerful as his rage was his mind, which bayed him from ending the wizard's life. There was a reason that the elder;y man so pressed on him. He could decide after hearing it if it was good enough to spare his life.

Munatius continued to chuckle, "I can see I had better make it good." He was as ever ready to tease Mathias, without any extra trepidation, "You see, she... they, are your reason. Your reason for doing all of the horrible things you've done."

He stared frankly into Mathias's eyes, "And you consider it all justified." He turned away, shaking his head and waving his hands, "But of course when you step back with an ounce of objectivity and reason, things you somehow remain to excel at, you must know that it does not really justify it. Not at all."

He turned back to Mathias and smiled, "But you don't care, and good for you! I don't care either. Not about the things you've done, not about the things I've done. We do them for our reasons, and our reasons are absolute. To question them is to question our existence, our universe."

Mathias's hardened face began to soften, as the sinister wisdom and truth of Munatius's words settled into his psyche. For the first time in many years, since childhood, he felt intellectually overwhelmed, like he did in his early studies under his father, less so with the monks at the monastery. He knew that it was absolutely true, but had never for an instant actually stopped to consider it. He looked up at Munatius, but said nothing.

"It seems I've earned the right to continue." He laughed, "You know, I don't mind killing Lawrence at all. I don't mind killing anyone to extend my life. Not women, not children, not even babies. I can get almost three months off of a good baby!" He seemed electrified with excited energy at just the thought, "I wish to live forever, because I cannot stand the thought of dying. That's all I want, and while I know you are considering the pursuit of eternal life, but that is not your end goall."

Mathias shook his head, "It's not."

"It's a means to an end." Munatius replied, already knowing everything it seemed, "You've never even spoken aloud what you intend, have you? Have you ever even fully thought it?"

Mathias's gaze was unflinching, as tears welled in his eyes. He merely shook his head in the negative.

"Say it." Munatius quickly demanded, "Say it to me now, out loud, and be reborn in purpose and resolve. Cut the last meager restraints holding you back. Say it!"

Mathias breathed in heavily again, looked into the ancient and wise sorcerer he, for the moment at least, respected like no one else on earth, "I mean to bring them back, complete, as they were, by whatever means necessary, however long it takes."

Munatius nodded with that smile that now seemed tattooed on his face, "Yes, embrace it, the selfishness of it, the horribleness of it." His next words came much harsher, as the smile finally disappeared, "Don't hide from it."

He stepped forward emphatically and took Mathias by the shoulders again, "Hiding from it, and the way you've been working, they blind you. You've been thrown into the water, and I give that you've made a few good kicks, but it's time to swim, or drown."

Mathias looked at the mad wise man. After a moment, when Munatius released his grip on his shoulders, the younger sorcerer asked, "What do you have to gain from all of this?"

"You mean besides possibly escaping your blade?" His laughter returned, "Trust me, dark power growing in the world does me very well. I assure you my reasons for everything are quite self serving." He looked at Mathias one more time, "Now prepare. We will begin the procedure just after dusk."

Mathias looked back at him for a moment, then nodded, "Yes, I will be ready." Munatius left the room. Mathias remained for almost an hour, alone with his thoughts.

Later, as the sun went down, Mathias, accompanied by the iron doll that had been Benjamin, found Munatius in his study, where the procedure had been performed before. The old wizard was already hard at work, making adjustments and calibrations. This time however there was no cauldron.

"We won't need to force feed him that sludge?" Mathias asked.

Munatius answered without turning from his work, "No no, that would be of no use. The old man has no youth to steal, all he's got is a little bit of his life essence." He cranked a few more of the nobs around, then slammed a metal panel shut.

He stood up with a little bit of trouble, and turned to Mathias. He had already started to look frailer before, but appeared truly ancient at this point, almost corpse-like, "Have your wonderful little guard go and fetch Lawrence now."

Mathias slowly turned to his iron guardian and nodded. It quickly exited the room. The two sorcerer's were silent for a time, as Munatius continued tweaking his contraption, and Mathias merely stood by and watched.

Finally Mathias asked, "So, in taking his life essence, what is it exactly that you rob him of? Other than his life?"

"Everything." Munatius answered instantaneously, "It will break down the base material that makes up his soul, utterly obliterating him."

Lawrence's exceedingly troubled voice came faintly echoing from down the hall the iron guard had exited before. It steadily grew louder, along with the plodding trod of the guards heavy iron feet.

"What is this all about?!" The terrified old man shouted half hysterically.

They came into the room, the guard holding Lawrence tightly by the shoulders. He was struggling feebly against the thick metal grip, continuing to shout, to beg, "Master no! I have served you well for so long!" He seemed to have a good idea what was happening.

Munatius stood up from his work, but did not acknowledge Lawrence in the slightest. He nodded to Mathias, "Alright then, restrain him in the chair. I want to finish up quickly. I'll have to cook my own dinner tonight, until I can teach some of those damned flea men we made to cook."

"Munatius!" Lawrence screamed out desperately, "Please don't do this! You can't do this!" The feeble old shrill voice broke with terror, pure and complete.

Mathias looked at the condemned old man, then nodded to his guard. Lawrence cried out as he was lifted up again, and placed into the chair. Mathias walked to him slowly, and began fastening the restraints himself.

Lawrence was screaming in primal mortal horror. Not even forming words, just loud, desperate screams. He looked at Mathias, caught his gaze, "Master Cronqvist! I have been a good host! A humble, generous man to you! Please! You can't allow this!" He pleaded with complete and utter desperation.

Mathias could not break his eyes from the old man's. His breath became rapid and shallow, as a wave of guilt swept through his chest. After a moment he was able to rip himself away, and turned to Munatius, who was watching him.

"Don't you have an incantation to give? Strangely it was in Latin last time, when such dead languages are not supposed to be necessary." Mathias asked with a hint of anger fueled scolding.

Munatius smiled, "Latin is my first language boy. My father taught it to me when this land was ruled by Claudius the wise. But yes, it was mostly for show. I needed it to look like the magic you were you used to." He chuckled, "And I also needed to prove to you that it works either way."

Lawrence was still screaming, pleading for his life. Mathias turned slightly back toward him. Munatius took large powerful steps, and menacingly approached Lawrence with a scalpel like blade in his hand. He grabbed the other elderly man's head, and carved a circular symbol into his cheek. The restraints kept him from being to struggle away.

Munatius turned back to Mathias, "Carve this symbol, all over him, his face, his body, his arms. Try to do fifty at least. He's old, close to death as is, needs to be amplified." He held out the blade.

Mathias reached out and took it, staring at it for a moment before turning to the hysterical Lawrence. Blood trickled down his face from the symbol. Mathias walked over to him and began cutting away his clothes.

"Please no Master Cronqvist!" Lawrence continued to grovel. Mathias ignored him, and after cutting open his clothes, he took the small blade and started cutting into the old man's flesh.

"Ahh!" He screamed out primally in pain. Mathias continued away, marking more and more of the arcane circles into the thin dry skin. By the time he had done a dozen or so, Lawrence fell back still. Not yet dead, but what little energy he had was spent. He cried quietly, flinching with pain at each new cut. He was the image of absolute despair.

It was not an easy thing for even Mathias to stomach. In a brief moment of weakness he stopped, and looked down into the pitiful, bloody, old man's eyes. Lawrence shot back too life, renewed in violent desperation, "Help me!" One of his arms miraculously broke from its restraint and he latched onto Mathias's collar, screaming more, louder than he had likely ever screamed in his life, "Help me!"

Mathias was stunned frozen, his heart racing like it had not in some time. Munatius stomped over with a small wooden club smacked Lawrence in the four head with devastating force. There was a loud crack and Lawrence fell back and cried out.

"Get down you bloody fool!" Munatius called out, "Don't be an imbecile!" He smashed the bat into Lawrence's shinbone, cracking it loudly. Lawrence screamed out in paid again. Munatius came in close, "This is happening. Get over it." He quickly knocked him again in the head.

Mathias was almost driven to intervene, but caught himself, and remembered everything Munatius had said. He had done terrible things, much worse than killing a single old man. It was well past time that he made peace with his process and charged on forward completely unencumbered.

Munatius examined Lawrence's body. The elderly captive was barely conscious and drooling. Munatius looked back at Mathias, "You've done enough, he's ready. Have your guard hold down his other arm." He motioned toward the mechanism, "Go ahead and crank it up, I'm sure you remember the process."

Mathias did as he was instructed, twisting the cranks, pulling the levers, all in the specific order necessary. Munatius cranked the chair Lawrence was strapped into, pushing into a more upright position. The guard held his free arm down. Lawrence started to come to again, groaning in pain from the bashes to his face and leg, as well as the still fresh and bleeding carvings marked all over his torso.

He started feebly at one final protest, "Not.. the deal..." He struggled out each syllable, his voice rose again into a scream, "My... soul! This wasn't... our deal!

Munatius was standing just in front of him, holding two small glass vials. Mathias pulled the final lever, and the mechanism opened, revealing the glowing crystal ball. Munatius shook his head, "Oh Lawrence, I'm sure you weren't going any place nice. You should be thanking me."

They were the last words Lawrence would ever hear. He screamed as his body contorted and suddenly emaciated, like he lost twenty pounds in an instant. The strange liquid poured from his eyes, and Munatius caught it in the vials, then quickly shot them down, before smashing them onto the floor, just as he had the last time.

Lawrence sat motionless, his skin now a dull gray-white, his face frozen in anguish, his eyes blank white pools. Munatius stood up just a bit straighter, took a deep breath. His energy had returned, but he retained the extreme agedness. He turned to Mathias, "Go and rest now. Think about the reasons for the journey you've taken, the journey you continue. Tomorrow is a big day." With those words the old wizard made his way out.

Mathias remained, looking at Lawrence's body. They were apparently just going to leave it there for now. His mind soon drifted back to his family, his year of such solitude. He leaned over and brought his hands up to his head, rubbed his temples and sighed, "A whole year..." He stood there for close to half an hour before heading back towards his room.

As he walked through the old halls, his curiosity got the better of him and he stopped off in the make-shift library, where the fleshy creatures had been at constant work since their creation. It appeared they had by some means multiplied, as now there were close to a dozen. Each and every one of them was hard at work, furiously copying down the contents of Munatius's myriad collection into strange arcane tomes of eerily identical make. For such crude creatures they possessed surprising writing skill and speed. Their work was impeccably legible.

The next morning Mathias awoke for the first time with no knock from Lawrence announcing breakfast, but that fact meant little to him. The act of the previous day's procedure had served as a threshold. Nothing would stay his hand now.

He arrived in the kitchen to find Munatius awaiting him. He was holding a thick grimoire, the exact image of those in which the flea men had been scribbling the night before. Though this tome was considerably larger. The old man smiled when Mathias walked over to him.

"It seems our time together has come to an end." Munatius said with genuine emotion in his voice. He handed the book over to Mathias. Who slowly took it.

"I don't understand. You've taught me almost nothing." He said as he flipped through the pages.

Munatius laughed, as he often did, "Oh my boy. I've taught you everything that you needed me in order to learn. Everything else, you can figure out. It's all in that book."

Mathias was stunned, it was an astounding gift. He had heard no accounts of one sorcerer transcribing the entirety of their work to another. It like giving away all your children. He was confused, he flipped through the book and saw the enormity of it, but still doubted, "What? The breadth of knowledge within these halls could not fit in a single volume, not even one so thick." He shot a disbelieving glance at his aged tutor.

Munatius laughed even more and shook his head, "Come on boy... it's magic! Every single text in this castle has been copied into this magical collection, and fused together into a single book. Merely check the glossary, and you will find whatever you are looking for within. If not, you know where to find me and teach me one of your lessons."

Mathias could sense the power of the book, similar to some of those he had already encountered from his father and others. It would be the greatest boon to his work yet, but he still did not understand. He looked back at Munatius, shook his head, "Why would you give me this?"

Munatius shook his head as well, his expression hardened slightly, but the smile stayed, "Well because I value my life of course. You of all people should know that by now."

Mathias's expression turned a bit stern, "You fear that I'll slay you?"

Munatius chuckled quiet and grimly, "My boy, you have encountered six magic users in your journey thus far, and you have slain all five that precede me. I would be a fool not to."

Mathias did not react emotionally to the fact, though he may have a day earlier, "None of them were willing to share so freely."

"Well, then you see my point don't you? I give you this gift, you leave here, and never return." Munatius delivered the last words with more edge than Mathias had yet seen in him. There was a hint of fear as well.

Mathias actually enjoyed the apparent fear in the old man, and pressed it, "Well, what is it now that stops me were I so inclined as to end your life? I have everything I need from you."

"Ha!" Munatius laughed with a genuine excited glee, "Well I would be a fool not to think of that." He tapped on the spell book, "Should I fall by your hand that book will turn to ash. A safety measure, that you should not need concern yourself with so long as you leave here in peace, at once."

Mathias stared at the old man menacingly for a moment, then back down at the book, "A fair trade." He looked back up, "But it had better not fail me, ever." Munatius shrunk away slightly.

Mathias turned to head back to his room, "I will gather my things."

"Wait." Munatius called out, "I offer you one more gift." He pulled out a map from his robe, "A possible next destination in your journey. I've given you what I have, and while it will certainly open doors to you, many of the answers you seek, I do not have, but others may."

He stepped toward Mathias and handed him the map. Mathias took it and opened it. Munatius continued, "Those who work and trade in human souls. Those who toil in even darker magics."

The open map showed a long path east, all the way to Kievan Rus. It would be quite a journey. Mathias pondered as he stared. Munatius spoke up, "Go now, and go carefully. The road is dangerous, and the destination worse. You seek the great Yaga. She will show you things that even my own wicked soul would flee from in horror."

Mathias examined the map carefully, nodded, and was off to his room. He was gone before midday.

NOTE TO READERS: Thank you so much for all the reads and reviews! You guys give me life. I wanted to let you know that I have been splitting writing this between my own original novel, which I now have fairly complete (4th draft.) I wanted to know if anyone here would like to be a beta reader and try out a few chapters? If so email me at Alexcalvo2808 at gmail dot com, with the subject "Beta reader."

Thanks!

Also I want to assure you guys that I will finish this story! And do have a sequel in mind already, but there is a good chance that soon after I finish this one here I will be working it into an original story, and for that reason taking it down from here. That won't be for some time though, but if you are a fan, feel free to save it.