Performing a ritual was a time consuming, but simple, task. A wizard would take the reference material they would be pulling from, construct the spell pattern, and, once they were sure it was built to the correct specifications, they would trigger the entire construction. In a way, it was like building a machine from scrap, then using it before it exploded. For most of the popularly known spells, those being the ones with a pattern simple enough for wizards to memorize, then form and use extremely quickly, the explosion was the useful part of the magic. The ever popular fireball, for example, created a pearl of mana. Depending on how much care one put into it, the pearl could explode immediately, in a minute or so, or until it was jostled. Technically, the intricately crafted spells were used in trade, but generally only to adventurers who wanted to be able to throw magical explosions. Most actual wizards would want an actual pearl, which they could then use to store non-explosive spell structures.

Unless someone can read in the dark, reading takes light. Avery may have fed her candle to a monster in an effort to keep it contained, but the light spell didn’t have anything to do with fire. Reaching up to the ceiling of the tunnel, she presses her hand against it. When she brings back her arm, the handprint remains, glowing like fire to illuminate six meters of empty cave. Now that she could see though, there was a wooden box in the back. Not her concern right now though; she had a time limit before she was stuck trying to read in the dark in the middle of a spell.

From the book on botany, formulas of an antipathetic nature to the plants described were read aloud. Numbers given voice, the equations rode out to make their mark on reality. There were no omens, no side effects of magical power permeating the atmosphere. For a more powerful wizard, or anyone with money to spend on a pre-infused spell sheet that only needed the trigger, this spell could be finished in under ten second, with no other effects. This was only going to take more time.

Downstream from the cave and dumping ground, below the mesa that held the capital city, past the forest that grew from years of magical byproducts seeping into the soil, an equally powerful wizard was trying to sneak into an agricultural village. Normally, a person wouldn’t need to do that, but when they happen to be one of the smarter varieties of monster, discretion is the better part of valor.

Self-proclaimed as the Mage of Magic, the kobold was a cast-out from the typically magic revering society of child-sized lizards. Normally, when a kobold gained power beyond its ken, it was either a gift from the heavens or a reawakening of the power of dragons that ran through the veins of all kobolds. Just figuring out how humans do it isn’t the traditional kobold way. This led to some minor disagreements regarding how the parents of the clan leaders spent their free time, and the Mage of Magic deciding it was a good idea to explore the world a little.

As of now, as she passes a field on the way in, not a single traveler had taken a second glance at the less than meter high bundle of cloth that sat immobile by the side of the road when they passed by. Kobolds were scavengers, and knew what garbage looked like to the bigger species. Upon reaching an actual settlement, she’d be able to hide in dark places, and not have to rely on shoddy disguises and other people’s lack of interest.

Daydreaming while walking, the nocturnal lizard doesn’t notice the chicken watching her.

In the forest, but less content to be so lately, a black bear is enraged at how that elf creature cast magic on him and made him self-conscious about his life choices. He had gotten his head stuck in a beehive, and the druid had decided to make it so that wouldn’t happen again. Infuriating. The bear decided to go roar at some humans, that would be a stress reliever.

As it was walking back from its scouting mission, the not-currently a giant had its first encounter with magic, in the form of a hold person spell. It subsequently has its second encounter in the form of a spell of deep slumber.

Avery finally finishes the ritual. It took two more castings of her light spell to keep her ability to read, but it was done. The slime was worryingly close to finishing that candle, so it was a good thing she’d managed to beat it in the race they were, in the slimes case at least, unknowingly having. With a few final syllables, the novice necromancer triggers the spell, and her soul is sucked from her body into the black gem.