This story was written for NANOWRIMO. If the idea is the seed then this would be an egg, maybe a soft boiled egg. I have come up with the major things I would like to revise and I am going to begin now. It wont be as fast as when I put it up initially, but please, if you have the time, give my second draft a try! Also if you feel like it please give me feedback on the changes. Thank You

“In this work we will cover the life and times of the Wizard Awiel Jadu. This short synopsis will give the reader an idea of where to look should they be focusing on one aspect for study and information. The reader should simply locate their topic and reference the chapter listed at the end of the paragraph. All complaints, queries, additions, or request may be sent to the author, Ellington Wribbly currently located in the City of Jadu in the blue shale roof tower on Green Street.

First we shall explore Awiel’s humble roots in the little known House Jadu. This includes early training under his grandfather who himself was once chosen as head scholar and archivist for the very sizable Inkholme Library. However after his release from service Moraig did not venture on to any position of importance. So it was eighty years in to the Third Wizard War (form here referred to as the Third War, and so on with the Second and First) that even Wizards with small talent such are Awiel’s parents were called to the front lines. Awiel himself was only five at the time and from here he was cared for by Moraig who was too elderly to be called. It is with this man that Awiels career as a Wizard truly began as Moraig instilled in him a love of books, knowledge, and the written word. To learn more of this period of Awiel’s life please see the section titled, “The Early Life and Times of Awiel”.

Next this work will cover the period of military training that Awiel received. Once Awiel turned twelve he was required to register with the local War office. He avoided being called though until he was fifteen years of age. While in training, which by this time was conducted by wizards to badly injured to return to the front lines or out of texts, Awiel found that his aptitude for learning from the written word served him well. He soaked in all of the knowledge available at the facility and even delved in to personal caches of his fellow students. In short Awiel excelled at learning the art of war. To learn more of this time in his life please refer to the section titled, “Coming of Age and Military Studies”.

The third section of this work covers the discovery of Awiel as a Wizard of repute. Due to his high skill, unprecedented spell accuracy, and power Awiel was assigned to defense of the Capital. For several years he was a part of King Leminas’ High Court. He made many connections at this time and was allowed access to the whole of Inkholme. He spent equal time at this point currying favor and researching magics of all types. He is credited with several major military breakthroughs during this period. In order to explore this exciting time in depth please turn to the section titled, “Courtly Ambitions and Military Excellence”.

Despite the additions credited to Awiel the war was not ending as swiftly as King Leminas wished. In a boastful moment Awiel claimed that he could end the war in less than a year if he was allowed to fight. Awiel was perhaps surprised that the King took him at his word and the next day he was assigned as Captain of a special detail on the front lines. Some say that the Queens growing interest in the young spell caster had much to do with the abrupt decision. Awiel was well on his way to keeping his word to the King when he was taken in by a desperate trap set by the enemy, and was pulled in to a fierce firefight. This information is detailed in the section, “Assignment, Military Gains, and Downfall”.

After the fight was over Awiel was left severely, some say mortally, wounded. The fight had been planned over the Greensong forest as a last ditch effort to make sure that if nothing else happened at least the Wizard Awiel would be lost and the fighting could resume more evenly if not at an advantage to the enemy forces for many of those wizards assigned to Awiel’s unit were the best King Leminas had. Very little is known as fact about this time. It is known the the Witch of Greensong, Miron, found and gave succor to Awiel as he healed. Several theories abound and are presented here, but much of what is reported could not be validated and should not be regarded as fact. If you wish to learn more please see the section titled, “Lost Days”.

What is known is that after a time that was more than a year, but less than two, the Wizard Awiel reappeared to end the war. He had missed the deadline he had given his King, and unfortunately for that stately fellow he was not of a mind to win it for him anymore. He had gained a staff that held a crystal foci containing the Daemon King Sliver, denizen of the fourth circle of Hephezta. By his side came the Witch of Greensong with all the power of the Calief Stand at her call. In the space of one night they ended the Third War, and perhaps all such wars, with the creation of the Greater Contract and lifted an island of earth half a league in to the air. In order to do this a Calief seed and the Daemon foci were grown to sizes rivaling even that of either Wizard Kings Palace. It was indeed the great Calief that now holds the foci nestled in its heart, that pulled the island of earth from the ground leaving a crater larger than Leminas City itself. Water has since filled the area and it is now known as Lake Jadu. This feat was not without is costs though. The first and most immediate was that the Greensong along with the Calief Stand was wiped off the face of the earth. If you wish to read about this time please see the section, “In a Single Night”. Please note that this section only superficially touches in the Greater Contract as there are so many other works, including an excellent one by this author, that cover the subject in great detail.

The final section of this treaties will cover the aftermath of the wars end. It details the actual formation of Jadu City, and its emergence as a center of learning for wizards. It also discusses the everyday function of Jadu City itself, for when the war ended many parochial lords and Hedge casters began to try and horde magic caches. The City travels along major ley lines and maintains them correcting any attempt to alter their course and the creation of artificial nodes. It also serves as a very large reminder that some very powerful wizards are against the use of spell casting to attempt world domination. They assist where they are needed as wizards settle in to the Greater Contract and its restrictions. Read more in the section, “Setup and Daily Life aboard the World Watchdog”.

There is a small bit of information after this stage but as it is the subject of my current work I did not include it in detail here. I will say that the afterword discusses the issue at hand a little to give the reader a taste of what is in the works for the writing of the thing will likely be the work of the rest of the authors life. It is there we will just mention the birth of the only progeny to date of the Lord and Lady of Jadu City. At this time the boy is but a toddler but showing signs of following in his fathers footsteps. What are the repercussions that face he and his parents as he grows to accept the role of contractor to two very powerful familiars? The Greater Contract will someday fall to this young lad to maintain. This new type of enforced peace is, like the boy, in its infancy and it will be the subject of a study to come whether such a thing can be maintained for any length of time.

All complaints, queries, additions, or request may be sent to the author;

Ellington Weebly
Blue Slate Tower
Grundle Street
City of Jadu”

Prologue Excerpt from ‘The High Wizard of Jadu’

It seems an age ago now that the last and greatest Wizard War, the third of that name, ended in fire and death. The story is one that most will put down as the romantic daydreams of adolescent wizards and I will admit it seems surreal. I record here the most complete version of the tale as told by a toothless and gnarled old spell hack who claimed to have been there on the last day of the War.

Who will remember the cursed Spell Kings who started that last War, any more than they recall those who began the First or the Second? No one will recall their names even now. Who wants to call that misfortune down? I will tell you the name that none will ever dare forget, the Grand Wizard Awiel and his Lady Miron of The Greensong.

Now Awiel was pressed in to service by one or the other Idiot King when he was a small boy. By this time the War had been going on long enough that there were precious few grown and fully educated casters. Even hacks like myself were impressed and given terrible knowledge. We would burn our lives out trying to cast spells such as those over and over. No one cared. The aeries were emptied of each war hawk and noble griffon. The dragons were all hunted to extinction and whole magical races were wiped away for fear that they would become an asset to the opposite side.

Awiel himself was a terror for he had the power and talent to cast the spells and he could handle the repeated casting. He became the enemy everyone sought and although he was smart and agile it was only a matter of time before he was caught. No one is certain who actually landed the blow but it was deemed well enough placed that he had died. Of course what really happened was that Awiel escaped death and descended into The Greensong. Perhaps he would have succumbed to his wounds, to exposure, or the predators that abound there, but instead Miron came upon his badly injured body.

I am told that she cast healings that were extraordinary to behold and still it took a year and more for him to recover. In that time the two fell in love and Awiel’s soul yearned for the quiet peace that Miron had shown him there in the deep woods. At that point Awiel decided that he would end the fighting and create a place of sanctuary for all wizard folk who did not wish to participate in strife. It would be a bastion of learning and also a watch dog on the world to ensure that another War of such scale never came to be. Awiel made a pact with a King of the lower realms, and his lady begged aid of The Greensong.

Awiel used his King, Sliver, to drain the magic from the combatants for two whole days. The first to die were the Spell Kings who had so corrupted themselves that they could not exist without the flows. A fair number of their underlings died this way as well, though more slowly. While those who had not given ourselves over were spared, although no few went just a little insane.

In that two days the King Sliver had fed the whole of the magic he gathered into The Greensong forest. The sentient grove of Caleif trees absorbed and held to the very end. I have heard tell from those who have ventured there that the skeletons lay still bone white and shattered as if from an inner force. In the end only a single Caleif seed remained. In the last moments of the day when the oldest and largest of the forests trees were failing they fed a song of power through the Lady Miron, turning her hair to a silvery white, and in to the last seed. The Caleif grew a thousand years worth in the space of the song. Its trunk enveloped the focus crystal that held the Underworld King in its heart and the roots of the tree delved deeply in the soil. Then with its last breath the forest fed all the remaining power it had held into the ground and set the tree, all the ground it had been able to hold with its roots, and the two spell casters half a league into the air.

The city was called Jadu after those who created it, and for the next fifty years it traveled the ley lines and gathered all those who would would come and honor its purpose, or who merely wished to escape those factions that still existed in the land below.  The Wizard and his Green Lady worked as tirelessly as any and under their care, and the watchful presence of King Sliver and the Calief, the city grew and prospered. The came the truly blessed day that Miron found she was with child. Through their powerful familiars they knew it would be a boy, and on him would rest their hopes for an heir to bestow both contracts of King and Calief to ensure the future of all they had built.

Awiel sought and received Mirons permission to name the boy after the thing that had sustained him up until he had met her. She graciously agreed and in the early spring, when the Calief flowers were still tiny buds Raige Jadu, heir to the Magic City, was born.