All spirits in the world has an affinity. Some are attracted to the elementals; air, fire, earth, and water. Some are attracted to the environment; the plains, the mountains, the sea, the forest etc. Others are attracted to the emotions of the mortals; their joy, laughter, fears. It is these spirits that the group of humans is targeting.

The 5 humans had arrayed themselves in a circle around a stone slab. The circular stone slab had various magical symbols and glyphs inscription carefully chiseled into it and in the center of the slab was a small crystal, no bigger than a child’s palm. The group was nervous and perhaps sensing that, the lead human started to speak.

“The time has arrived. Everyone knows what he’s supposed to do. Everyone do his job and all of us will be mages before the season is out.”

“This is wrong,” the youngest one says. “We’re not supposed to be doing this. We should not be doing this.”

“Oh come on Jana! It’s a little too late to have second thoughts now isn’t it?”

The oldest human put up his hand to stop the argument before it starts. He had expected this and honestly, would have been worried if no one had put up at least some token objections. After all, what they are attempting to do was very dangerous.

“Jana, you are right.” The remaining 4 humans looked at the oldest in shock. He did not let them have a chance to speak and continued. “What we are attempting is something only High Mages are supposed to do. The 5 of us here…well, we’re not even mages. We are just apprentices…”

That was too much for the man who had belittled Jana. “Carvin, what are you saying? You were the one who suggested we do this!”

“That right Savian, I was.” The man called Carvin said. “But do you really think I wanted to do this if I had a choice? You think I really wanted to risk my life to do a spell at least 4 levels above my rank? I don’t but what choice do I have?” Carvin let his rage showed in his voice and gave his 4 companions time to digest his words.

“All 5 of us are talented,” he continued “but we are all commoners. The Mage Council would never allow us to be mages. They only promote the royals, the nobles, the soldiery, and rich merchants. Talent means nothing in this world and that’s just the truth. Being our betters’ apprentices is the best “people like us” can hope for but you know what; I refuse to live the rest of my life as an apprentice to a talentless fool who got his position just because his father is rich!”

A silence fell on the group after their leader’s outburst. He was right and they knew it. The Duchy of Yachium was a small kingdom ruled by the royals and the nobles. No matter how talented peasants like them were, they would never hope to rise to the rank of mages.

Not unless they did something that would take the decision out of the hands of the Mage Council.

That was why the 5 of them were now in a cave in the middle of nowhere. They were going to attempt to create something that should be beyond the abilities of simple apprentices; beyond even the skills of normal mages. If they could do this, the Mage Council would have no choice but to promote them. It was dangerous, illegal and truth be told, a little mad. However magic-users were nothing if not ambitious.

No other words were necessary. Their doubts had been cleared. The 5 companions began casting. There were many magical traditions in the world but almost all of them had one thing in common; they used the spirits of the world for their spells.

Shamans used animal spirits for their totems; paladins used holy spirits to strengthen their bodies; necromancers used death spirits to raise their unholy minions. Spirits were non-sentient magical beings that fuel the magic of the land and now, the 5 companions were calling every spirit they could.

The location of the ritual had been carefully chosen. The 5 had chosen The Keg Mountains because it was isolated and also because there was a forest and a small river nearby. The companions had dug a tunnel into Big Keg, the highest of the 3 Keg Mountains, and created a small square room at the end of it for their work. The nearby spirts heard their call and were arriving. Soon the small room was filled with spirits of all kinds and the group began the second part of the ritual.

As the other 4 worked to keep the spirits within the room, Carvin, their leader, changed his spell. He targeted the crystal and magically opened it up. Long ago, enchanters had discovered that crystals were good storage components for spirits and used them to house and store spirits.

“Now”

At Carvin’s command, the rest of the group forced the spirits into the crystal. The glyphs in the stone slab began to glow in power and the small crystal began to float in the air. The ritual was working!

Perhaps it was because they were overeager; maybe it was because they missed something in the casting; or it could even be because they were not as ready as they believed they were; but Carvin instinctively knew something was wrong.

“Wait, it’s too fast. Slow the…”

Carvin never got to finish his warning.