The rat made a sharp turn to avoid Frank, then another sharp turn to avoid the fireplace resulting in it scurrying in the same direction as before, narrowly escaping past Frank’s legs. He hurriedly stomped after the rat to no avail as it ran towards Christofer’s bed in an attempt to gain some cover from the large threat hunting it.

  The moment the rat entered inside the spell circle, color drained from Christofer’s shoulder and the rat stopped dead in its tracks. Lines lit up as the rat’s veins glowed red hot, similarly to what copper wire would have done had high voltage run through it. The rat uttered a tiny squeak before exploding into tiny puddles of blood on the ground. Some of the puddles then caught fire.

  “Shit! Not again.” Frank said dejectedly, before hurriedly running for a rag to stop the fire.

  Christofer shifted in the bed. The wound from where the troll had bitten him was throbbing with pain briefly before letting up as color returned to his shoulder, allowing him to breathe again. Frank moved up to the counter, uncorked a green potion bottle and poured its contents onto a rag. He laid down the wet rag on the counter before drilling the cork back into place and carefully set it down into the wooden frame again. Gerard sat down in the rocking chair and lit up a pipe, he sucked in a deep breath and blew out a wave of white.

  “Aaah, that’s the stuff.” Gerard coughed a bit and pinched the pipe with two fingers “We really need to figure out how to tone down the power within that field or we’ll risk burning my house down”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask. But, where is here, where are we?” Christofer asked.

  The captain crouched down and looked at what had just happened.

  “You’re gonna ignore that?” and gestured at the exploded remains.

  Christofer glanced down and took a deep breath.

  “Yep.” he replied.

  “Depends on who you ask, if you’re talking to the natives, it’s called Njardheimr. The home for Njard, one of the local gods of the sea.” Gerard answered.

  “Now, if you’re asking in the halls of the southern lords, it’s the heart of the Jardham Archipelago. The biggest island in a flourishing trading nation. If you say anything else while you’re there, you’ll get in a lot of trouble,” he cleared his throat. “Wouldn’t recommend it. It’s not fun.”

  The captain shook his head just as a knock came at the door. It startled him out of the strange thoughts that had been rolling through his head, and he turned to the door instead of sulking through even one more moment.

  “Come in,” he said facing the closed door.

  Frank hurriedly moved and crouched down next to the bed and began to extinguish the flames by pressing down on them with the wet rag.

  “Sir?”

  The voice was deep and uncertain, letting the captain know who it was before the man even moved all the way in from the hallway. Ike walked further inside. The captain focused on him.

  “Yes?”

  “Is he ready for transport?” Ike asked.

  Christofer turned from Ike to the captain, and then to Gerard, who shook his head.

  “He’ll need a day, maybe two. A professional druid might get some semblance of control over that overflowing mass of magical energ–”

  “Would you be able to speed up the process if I pay extra?” The captain chimed in. “The southern lord must’ve known we’re close to their territory by now.”

  Gerard absentmindendly pondered the question for a while. Then spoke up.

  “Frank, grab that bottle you used to douse the flame earlier. There should be at least about half of the potion left in it. While you’re over there, grab a red potion bottle as well.”

  The steady exhaling of misty puffs of smoke formed a misty layer that floated along the ceiling.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Ah here we are,” Finally finding the page, Gerard read aloud. “The first step for channeling is to relax the body with the basic four-fold breath”

  “Why does it sound like you’re reading an instruction manual?”

  “Because he is. He failed that druid exam decades ago.”

  “What?”

  “...You breathe in for a count of four, you hold for four, you breathe out for four, you wait for four, and then you start againyou just do that. It helps your body not to freak out when your consciousness sinks deeper. You following so far?”

  “Not a word.”

  Gerard sucked in another deep breath from the pipe and turned another page. Grunting as he coughed out some more white smoke,

  “Hm? Eh, it’s probably fine.” he gestured with his hand as he focused on the book. ”Now, Frank.”

  As a bottle touched his fingertips, he gripped it, uncorked it and poured it into an empty larger potion bottle which was given to him by Jack, the man dressed in the brown monk hood. Gerard closed one eye and bit his tongue as he carefully poured half of the contents into the empty bottle, then poured another half from the red bottle which started to react with the liquid. Gerard handed Frank the now half-full red bottle before sucking in a deep breath from his pipe. He blew it into the bottle in his hand and quickly stuck the cork back in to keep the white smoke from escaping.

  “Next step is to drink this potion. Then close your eyes… Considering the taste, that is usually the normal reaction anyway.” Gerard said as he wiped off the tiny amounts he spilled on the table with his sleeve and started to shake the potion bottle vigorously.

  The liquid inside the bottle shifted colors as it splashed against the glass sides of the container, from a bluish purple, to a bubbling orange. Gerard handed Christofer the potion.

  “Some have said that pinching your nose helps to drink-”

  “Bottom’s up,” Christofer interrupted and emptied the contents down his gullet., Tthe taste gave him goosebumps so, he shook his head to get the remaining liquid down, then closed his eyes.

  “Hm. I guess that works,” Gerard unconsciously commented, “Well. Now; No more talking, Norseman. Focus your attention inwards. Focus on the sensations that appear in the body when you’re breathing.”

  “You can choose a specific place in the body and follow the sensations of breathing there. For example around your nose, chest or stomach. When you’re breathing, know you’re breathing in, follow the sensations. When you’re breathing out, know you’re breathing out.”

  Something felt strange. The airy voice of the gecko resounded in Christofer’s ears.

  “It seems like the liquid contained psilocybin.”

  ‘Psilocybin?’ Christofer thought and grimaced, he had heard of that name before.

  “Correct, the main component of magic mushrooms. We’re in for a trip.”

  Gerard shuffled forward with his cane, with the book under his arm and snapped his fingers.

  “This is no time for dillydallying, Norseman. I need you ready and focused for as long as you’re able.”

  “The chemical completely disrupts the normal communication networks in the brain by connecting regions in the brain that don't normally talk together. As you know, you know more than you see and you see more than you know. We understand the mindset of the ritual on at least a logical level.” The voice of the gecko echoed.

  Christofer heard a page being turned and then Gerard’s voice once more echoed through,.

  “Simply follow the sensations of the air, coming in and out from the body. Everytime our mind wanders, we identify which object that appeared, what drew our attention; Was it thoughts? Sounds? Emotions? We silently identify the object.”

  “Focus on the last time you instinctively used magic. Visualize the object in your mind. Tap into the deep. Follow the sensations as the blood flows through your body.”

  Christofer sucked in a deep breath and focused the tingling sensation of his blood flowing around his body. He felt buzzing sensations in his temples and the building sensation of a headache. The sensation was familiar. He focused on the sensation of the blood flowing into his right hand. The pain was not familiar. The capillaries under his skin glowed with an emerald colour. It felt like his bones and muscles were going to burst.

  “Stop channeling.” Gerard warned. “Hrm, this is dangerous. Can’t have you channeling as if you were going berserk. Exhale, calm down, Norseman.”

  Christofer exhaled and where there had been a glow previously, a steady forking path of bruises showed on his arm. He could feel the pain throbbing in his arm so vividly that he could feel his pulse just by sitting still. His questioning gaze was asking if this was normal.

  “Uhh- shit, this...”

  “Don’t worry, that’s just the result of your shallow blood vessels exploding.” Gerard dismissively replied with such a nonchalance that you’d think it was a common question.

  “Oh, okay.” Christofer replied with mild shock, but a few seconds later he snapped out of it.

  “Wait a second. What the hell?”

  “We might need to start slow, it seems.” Gerard leaned back in the rocking chair.

  Christofer uneasily massaged the arm, his heartbeat felt so strong, it was uncomfortable. He leaned forward as the Gecko slithered back into existence, a flush of heat crept up from his collar.