The Science of Magic Trilogy: Book One “Mageville”

By Brian Neptune

This is a fast paced DND book. About the mages of the world .
A mage is anyone who uses magic . Wizards , witches , alchemist , sorcerers , and sorceress are all examples of a mage .
The science of magic is based on the philosophy that all technology and science is magic until it is understood . Quantum physics is an attempt to understand a deeper magic . Rubbing two sticks together to start a fire was magic in the beginning . But to use magic you dont have to understand all the underling physics . You simply have to believe and know the process . Someday maybe science will understand astral projection , telepathy , telekinesis and other mental magical feats . If so it will probably be quantum physics that makes the break through .
You dont have to look far in the modern world to see magic . Look at your cell phone , your computer , your high definition television or even a simple light bulb . All these things are in a sense the science of magic . Where magic has become common place . You see and use it everyday . There was a time only wizards had such power available to them . At times through out history you would have been put to death for displaying such power . For if government could not control the power they were threatened by the power .
Thus Mageville was created by society to isolate and control the uncontrollable magic . Until a time when the government could harness the power for its use . Thus through a joint effort by wizards and government we have harnessed lasers , flight , radio waves and all the other modern conveniences we take for granted .
But most of the governments of the world have a city like Mageville . And the war of magic and technology rages on world wide . The common mortal mankind oblivious to the war . But a great cycle of civilization is underway . Unstoppable in its momentum . The world will learn the price of magic .
The world is about to have a DND experience

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499025729

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Brian Neptune.

ISBN:              Softcover              978-1-4990-2574-3

                       eBook                     978-1-4990-2572-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Cover art by Brian and Jana neptune

Rev. date: 05/27/2014

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

About The Author

I dedicate this book to my wife Jana without whom

this book would have never been written

FOREWORD

T his is a fast paced DND book. About the mages of the world.

A mage is anyone who uses magic. Wizards, witches, alchemist, sorcerers, and sorceress are all examples of a mage.

The science of magic is based on the philosophy that all technology and science is magic until it is understood. Quantum physics is an attempt to understand a deeper magic. Rubbing two sticks together to start a fire was magic in the beginning. But to use magic you don’t have to understand all the underling physics. You simply have to believe and know the process. Someday maybe science will understand astral projection, telepathy, telekinesis and other mental magical feats. If so it will probably be quantum physics that makes the break through.

You don’t have to look far in the modern world to see magic. Look at your cell phone, your computer, your high definition television or even a simple light bulb. All these things are in a sense the science of magic. Where magic has become common place. You see and use it everyday. There was a time only wizards had such power available to them. At times through out history you would have been put to death for displaying such power. For if government could not control the power they were threatened by the power.

Thus Mageville was created by society to isolate and control the uncontrollable magic. Until a time when the government could harness the power for its use. Thus through a joint effort by wizards and government we have harnessed lasers, flight, radio waves and all the other modern conveniences we take for granted.

But most of the governments of the world have a city like Mageville. And the war of magic and technology rages on world wide. The common mortal mankind oblivious to the war. But a great cycle of civilization is underway. Unstoppable in its momentum. The world will learn the price of magic.

The world is about to have a DND experience.

CHAPTER ONE

H i my name is Zero. My full name is Zero Nintwo and this is my story.

It started when I was three. Something happened to my parents. I was told they were eaten by a dragon. But I since have reason to disbelieve it. Any way I never lived the life of an orphan.

The night I lost my parents I was almost three years old and because of my young age I went into foster care. I spent one night and day there. The second night my new parents showed up to take me home. And no child was ever loved more. But all the children in our village were loved. And all were orphans like me. All brought to our village at three years old. Every year more children but always three years old. In your town I might be different but in our village I’m average. They only take three year olds because they are young enough to train but old enough to start learning. Without the preconceptions of the mortal sciences.

The day I was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Nintwo was the best day of my life. The events still stay with me today. One of the first rules of magic is memory. Having a good memory is important for many reasons but in magic you learn to commit each day to memory and once you remember it you never forget. Each night you lay in bed and remember your dreams from the night before. Then you remember getting up in the morning and what happened next till you remembered going to bed. Then you went to sleep.

I grew up in a magical world where anything and everything was possible. My parents showed me magic all the time. Everything they did they did with magic. They taught me that everything was magic. From the way they turned television on and off with a magic wand to the sprouting of a seed. The television itself was magic. Life is magic.

As the saying goes seeing is believing. And since I saw magic everyday I believe in magic. In magic believing is half of the battle. If you don’t believe in magic you can’t do magic.

But all the children in our village were taught and shown magic. In our village you were taught in secrecy from adoption. You didn’t leave your house till after you were five. You could go in the backyard but not beyond. Beyond the backyard were monsters and only the magic fence kept you safe. In our village people teach their children about the monsters and evil in the world. You were never considered to young for knowledge. And it was always the truth. At least one version of it.

The houses we lived in were enchanted by our parents and thus protected.

By the time you were five and able to go out side in the front yards of the village. You had learned some magic yourself. And you knew your manners, how to behave around the magical people who lived in the village. Our village was enormous and not just in the eyes of a child. There were thousand of dwellers in our village. You also learned our village was unlike any other for a thousand miles. There were other towns and cities. But none like ours we lived in the magical realm. They lived in the mortal wilderness. I didn’t understand the difference for years but now I do. Or at least I think I do.

One of my first friendships was Jeff and Jim Sunfix. I was playing in the front yard for the first time in my life. When I met Jeff. Jeff is about my size and he is my age with short dark hair.He asked if I wanted to see some magic. I saw magic everyday so I wasn’t to excited. But I said yes to go along with him. He said he could teleport. I was impressed I knew that mom and dad teleported but they said I wouldn’t be able to for years. Jeff said he would teleport into his house he stepped behind a tree and said some magic words and poof Jim stepped out the front door and said here I am. I was amazed. But then Jeff started laughing behind the tree. He stepped back out and I saw that they looked alike. I had never seen twins before and they explained how the egg split and they were born. We became best friends and grew up for many years across the street from each other.

Every child in our town is home schooled. I knew what this meant by watching television. The television and my notebook were two great sources of knowledge. With my notebook I could open it up and surf the world on the web or create reports of my knowledge for mom and dad. And the television showed me information and stories from the mortal wilderness.

I was taught math, reading and writing for the first five years until I was eight. My dad says if you can read you can learn anything. Then the real training started. Before the magic I learned was playing. Like if your dads a fireman you might play fireman. My father was a mage so I played mage. We played other things also but mostly mage. The games we played all contained magic.

Now learning magic became work. There was so much to learn and it took so long. You would learn a spell by heart and practice it a thousand times. But to me magic was still fun. I love what I do. And my parents told me some day I would be glad I did.

We learned astral projection, remote viewing, alchemy, potions, spells, telekinesis, self protection, teleportation, defensive spells, combat spells, curses, flight and levitation. Although we learned the science of magic our powers were still limited. Just because you knew the science of a magic spell didn’t mean you could cast it. Everyone’s ability develops differently. I was good at some spells but Jeff was better. His brother Jim was good at it all.

The lessons were simple at first and were on safety in magic. It can be dangerous. But once you learned the safety. The lessons got harder and harder. Like astral projection. First you learned how to close your eyes and leave your body and look around the room safely. Then it would be the upstairs, then the upstairs and down stairs, then the whole house. After years of training you would astral project to friends houses for practice. But never outside of the village. There were evil powers in the world. Only grown ups with lots of experience could travel the world safely. And I heard my mom and dad talking about ones that didn’t come back. We learned about so many different forms of magic we didn’t learn a lot about any one thing.

On my thirteenth birthday I came down stairs mom was making breakfast. I said Good morning. She didn’t answer me back. Normally she would have said good morning back but today she should have said happy birthday. I said Good morning again. This time she looked up and said Good morning. She smiled but her eyes didn’t smile. I sat down at the table I was confused.

She turned from the magic stove with my eggs levitating over to the table. She smiled again but still her eyes didn’t. She said I guess I mean happy option day. I asked What’s happy option day or what’s option day? She looked at me and said It’s the biggest day in your life. So why have I never heard of option day before? I asked. She said You’ll hear all about it tonight when your father gets home from work. But for now I wanted to be the first to wish you a happy option day. She levitated the rest of my breakfast onto my plate and said Eat your breakfast while its hot. And then you can go out to play.

I begged her to tell me more about option day but she insisted she had work to do and I had to eat and she left the room. I thought I saw a tear in her eye as she left.

I ate as fast as I could so I could go out and talk to Jeff and Jim. It was their thirteenth birthday also. I guess that’s why we’re all three so close, triplets of a day. I knew if it was my option day it must be theirs too.

When I ran outside Jeff and Jim weren’t outside yet so I played hover ball until they came out. Hover ball is similar to mortal basketball but you levitate the ball through the hoop.

Soon Jeff and Jim came running out of their house across the street. The first thing out of their mouths was what is option day as the came running onto the hover court. I replied I had no idea and told them about my mother and what she had said. Their report was the same almost word for word.

We played half dragon hover ball kind of like horse in mortal basketball for most of the morning until lunch. But all we could talk about was what we each thought option day was. I thought it was the day we choose a career. Jim said it was to choose a different day for our birthday. We all decided Jeff had the best idea. He thought we got to choose anything we wanted for our birthdays. We decided at lunch we would grill our mothers for more information and come up with a plan after lunch.

At lunch it was much the same as breakfast. I sat down at the table mom fixed me peanut butter sandwiches and milk. I asked her again about option day? She said she wasn’t allowed to tell me much but that I had a choice to make. And I couldn’t be prepared in any way it was a choice of the heart not the head. As before she smiled but her eyes didn’t. I hoped the twins had better luck. I was getting worried.

After lunch I ran back outside to see what the twins had found out. Maybe since they were twins they would get more information. When the twins came back out they had much the same information I had. Their mother would say no more than mine. And they had to wait till their father got home.

When it was time for our fathers to teleport home we all ran home. We had decided that if Jeff was right about anything for your birthday we would each choose something different so we didn’t all choose the same thing. I was going to choose a speedboat. Jim would choose a go cart and Jeff would choose a motor cross bike. Then we would all share. It seemed like the perfect plan.

I got in the house and ran straight into my fathers back. He had just teleported into the house and I nearly knocked him down. Sorry dad I said. He straightened and looked at me with a sly smile and said All excited about option day I see. I said Yes tell me about option day I want to know I’ve waited all day. Its Jeff and Jims option day also and we’ve been talking about it all day. I was talking a mile a minute I was so excited. He looked at me and said I’ll tell you all about it soon enough for now go wash up for dinner. And he went into the kitchen to say hello to my mother.

I waited by the door before going up to wash up and listened. Dad said Hello dear and mom didn’t say anything. I peeked around the corner and they were hugging my mother seemed to be crying. My father said It’ll be ok dear he’s a good boy he’ll make a wise choice. He raised his head from hers and I ducked around the corner and up the stairs.

Now I was worried, mom was crying, I had to make a wise choice. That meant I could make an unwise choice. A bad choice. I was scarred now. I washed my hands and instead of going down stairs to eat I went to my room. I had to try and contact Jeff and Jim to see what they had found out. I sat in my meditation chair in my room and tried calling out to Jeff and Jim. I tried for a good ten minutes they apparently were not trying to call me. Young as we were we had to be trying at both ends or could not connect. I didn’t have the power to break into his conscious mind if he was doing something else. Then I went down stairs before dad got suspicious.

When I walked into the kitchen dinning area mom and dad were just getting ready to call me to dinner. I sat down at the table with mom and dad and before I could ask anything dad spoke up and gave thanks. When he was done he looked at me and said As soon as we’re done eating we’ll go up to your room and I’ll explain as much as I can about option day.

I was more scared than before I went up to my room. It sounded like punishment. Had they forgot about this also being my birthday. We were supposed to celebrate. I could hardly eat. I kept choking on my food and finding it hard to swallow. Time seemed to stand still.

When my father had finished eating he looked at me and said Well son are you ready. I had barely touched the food on my plate. But I said yes I was ready and we went up to my room.

We went into my room and dad sat on the foot of my bed while I sat in my meditation chair. My room was fairly typical for our village. All the houses were two story wood frame structures with four bed rooms upstairs, an attic for family magic, large kitchen dining area down stairs, an equally large living room and a basement connected to the catacombs. My room had all sorts of magical items around and charts of magical signs and star charts on the wall and lighted by an automatic oil lamp filled with magical protection oil.

My father began speaking Son option day is the biggest and most important day of your life. You will have to choose between two options. And your choice must come from the heart not your mind. You can’t study for it. You can’t be prepared for it in any way. You can’t know what your choices will be and think about it.

In a few hours some men will come from the society. They will set up in the living room. You will be summoned downstairs and they will ask you a question. Just one question with only two possible answers. And you will look in your heart for your answer. There is no wrong answer. It is a choice you have to make. And you have to make it alone. Your mother and I will be waiting in the attic. Put on your robe and please stay in your room until summoned.

We both got up he hugged me and left the room.

Worried, scared. No now I was confused. He said no wrong answer. But he had said to mom I would make a wise choice. I sat back down in my meditation chair and as soon as my mind was focused there were Jeff and Jim. I couldn’t make much of what they were saying. They were both thinking at once. I could tell they were both confused like me. I told them to quiet and once they had calmed down told them what my dad had said to me. They said their father had said the same thing to them almost word for word. We all new what was meant by the society. The magic society. They controlled the village they assigned the adoptions, the housing, the work, everything. What could the society want with us. What could they ask us. We didn’t know anything. This was the worst birthday of my life. But I put on my gray robe and sat on the bed.

So we waited. It seemed like days but eventually it was nine o’clock and my door opened.

Standing in the door was a dark figure in a hooded purple robe with black strips on the sleeves and a crest over the right side of the chest. He pointed at me and motioned for me to follow him. I followed him out of my room and down the stairs. There were five more hooded figures clad in green robes standing around a pentagram on the floor of our living room. I couldn’t see then but now know the pentagram was there all the time just hidden under the Persian rug in the center of the room. At the corners of the pentagram were five foot high candle sticks as I came off the stairs they started chanting and lit the candles in front of them.

The figure in the purple robe stopped in front of the pentagram and turned to me. He motioned for me to enter the pentagram. As I was about to enter he stopped me and said Your hand. I held out my hand. He pulled a dagger with a crystal blade and silver handle out of his robe and sliced my hand across the palm with its razor edge. I looked at my hand and closed my fist as the blood started to flow. He motioned me on inside the pentagram. I entered and the first figure on my left held out his hands. I walked over to him. He took my cut hand and held it over the candle and said Blood into light, light into darkness. And he allowed the blood from my hand to put out the candle. Green smoke rose from the extinguished candle. Then to my right the figure held out his hands. I walked over to him. He took my cut hand and held it over the candle and said Life into light, light into darkness. And the blood put out the candle. Blue smoke rose in the air. And to my right the next figure held out his hands. I walked over to him. He held my cut hand over the candle and said Death into light, light into darkness. Again the blood put out the candle. And red smoke drifted up towards the ceiling. Then the fourth figure held out his hands. I walked over and he held my cut hand over the candle and said Love into light, light into darkness. The candle went out. And yellow smoke rose upwards. Finally the fifth figure held out his hands and I walked over he took my cut hand and held it over the candle. As the blood dripped from my hand onto the candle he said Let all things come to light. As soon as the candle went out all five candles burst into flames and flared up two feet high. The figure in the purple robe then spoke. He said Zero you must choose magic or mortal. Behind you is the front door you can leave here through that door and rejoin the mortal world and be reunited with you mother and father. Or you can choose magic and go into the basement enter the catacombs and continue your education. The answer is in your heart. Your answer is final. If you choose mortal you will forever live in the mortal wilderness. Never to speak of us again. If you choose magic you are forever sworn to the society and its rule. To break this oath is death.

I thought that’s it? I need more information. What did he mean rejoin my parents? Rejoin the mortal world? Chose between magic or mortal? Would I still be able to do the magic I knew? What did he mean enter the catacombs? What waited for me there? How would my education continue? I was full of questions. But I knew not to ask. Father had told me there was no wrong answer. But how could that be?

There was only one answer for me. I turned towards the basement door and started walking. I had never been in the basement before. I had been told there were monsters in the catacombs. Ghost and evil spirits. Only the enchantment spells on the basement door kept them out. Now I had chosen to enter and face them. But anything to further my education. If this is what it took to move forward I would do it. I turned the door knob and opened the door.

As I opened the door there was a glow from a light coming up the steps. I had hoped there would be some light. I looked back at the figure in the purple robe. The candles around the pentagram in the living room went out. All I could see now was the steps down into the basement. I started down the steps.

As I got deeper into the basement I could see were the light was coming from. Sitting at a small table with a candle was a beautiful woman dressed in a red robe. The light from the candle cast a glow upon the walls and I could see shelves with jars full of magic ingredients and piles of magic gear on them. Her hood was back on her shoulders and her blonde hair filled the hood. I thought this might not be so bad. After all it was still my thirteenth birthday. Her blue eyes seemed to flash in the candle light. She stood from the table and said I will be your guide. She held out her hand and I reached out with my cut hand not thinking. As she took my hand the cut in my hand burned. My blood seemed to join us in some mystical way. She said Through this door lies the catacombs I can guide you but you must protect us. The large solid wooden door slowly swung open inside I could see nothing.

We entered the catacombs and the door slammed behind us. The air in the catacombs was cool and fresh. Not at all what I expected. We took two steeps into the darkness when I remembered my light spell. I Said the magic words lumminus cantos and a soft light glowed above our heads shinning down the long stone hallway. On the wall next to us I saw blood and claw marks in the stone. The ceiling was ten feet high and the floor was dirt littered with lose stones and pebbles. The beautiful blonde looked at me and said Now we can see. But they can see us. We started walking on in silence. Soon we came to a fork in the tunnel she stopped and said This way is shorter pointing to the left fork. Then she pointed to the right fork and said This way is safer. I thought to myself. I thought it was one choice today she’s the guide she should show me. But I looked at the tunnels and made a choice. I choose the short way. I wanted this to be over already.

We walked on down the tunnel and flies started being drawn to the light above our heads soon there was a strong odor in the air it was sickening. She looked at me and said one word. Troll.

The troll had spotted my light from around the bend in the catacombs. It came around the corner in that long looping stride that trolls have, it looks like their barely moving but they cover a lot of ground fast. The troll was thirty feet from us but would cover the distance in three steps. He had his war club raised and was snarling. It had a war belt with a gold buckle in the shape of a triangle with weapons and gear on it and wore leather clothing with strange red boots. I knew my powers wouldn’t reach him till he was close so I waited. One step, two steps. He was one step away ten feet when I went into action. I pulled my guide to the side pointed my right index finger at the troll and said. Smoke to stone . Green smoke flew from my index finger and billowed out into the trolls face. One whiff and the troll stopped in its tracks. As the smoke cleared the troll was standing where we had been a moment sooner.

My guide looked at me and said take his dagger and magic pouch. Stuck in the trolls war belt was a crystal dagger hanging from the belt next to the dagger was a small leather bag. I drew the dagger and used it to cut the leather bag loose from his belt.

Now my guide looked at me sternly and added. Finish him of with the dagger while he is still stone. I felt sick I had just escaped death and yet I had never killed anything in my life. I knew the troll was going to kill us. But it seemed so helpless and its eyes were still alive. But I knew what had to be done. I took the dagger and sliced at its throat. No blood flowed but rather purple sparks flew out of its neck as its head rocked backwards and fell to the dirt and rock floor.

My guide turned down the corridor and said. Well done but we should be going follow me. And she started off. I didn’t want to be left behind so I hurried after her. I caught up with her and we went on side by side.

As we came to a spoke of tunnels she took my hand and said This gets a little complicated through here. I was already lost and couldn’t have found my way out if my life depended on it. Which I’m sure it would have if we became separated. We turned this way and that, took the third door, turned this way and that, took the fifth corridor. It seemed to go on forever.

Suddenly she stopped. I heard a gulping and crunching sound up ahead. My stomach came up in my throat and it was hard to swallow. What now I thought.my guide leaned over to me and whispered into my ear Lucky you have the dagger. It was then I realized I still