The Path of Giants, B.T. Narro [the speed reading book .TXT] 📗

to find a place to sleep with no daylight left. This way I would have time to practice as well. I looked forward to lifting myself with dvinia. It was an endless thrill to soar high into the air. It almost felt like I was flying. One day I wouldn’t need so much concentration, and I could actually enjoy it.

Not yet, however. I always felt a great deal of stress when it came time to land, and for good reason. Sometimes my ankle began to hurt even before I picked myself up, the memory of many breaks at the forefront of my thoughts.

There was a major difference between wrapping the dvinia around my waist like a thin belt versus extending the dvinia to enclose most of my torso and hips. I could hold myself much easier the more dvinia I wrapped around my body. The energy knew I wanted it to grab my target—in this case, me—just by my adding the note G to the usual spell.

Leon wasn’t the best teacher, but he had a way of helping us find ways to learn on our own, even if he was an ass about it at times. I also had to thank Charlie for so many recent discoveries about what each individual note could do. It was through experiments designed by Charlie that I learned that adding notes of G to my spell told my mana I wanted it to grab my target.

Charlie still wanted me to find out what notes of A did, but there were no known spells that used any notes of A. I would have to compose a spell of three octaves of A just to test it, and I was not familiar with the feeling of any octave of A. Perhaps when I had more time I would, not that I had any idea when that would be.

It had become an uncomplicated feat to lift myself slowly when I had dvinia wrapped around my arms and torso. But the strain of hoisting my whole self into the air was just like physically picking someone up and holding them in the air. But in this case, there were no adjustments I could perform to make the process easier, like changing my posture or positioning. There was no difference in how I used the muscle of my mind as I lifted myself higher and higher. It was just one clean motion. Up I went.

It was always tempting to put my full strength into it and soar into the air, but just like trying to throw another person into the air as high as I could using my arms and body, I was likely to overexert myself and sacrifice precision for power.

Each day, I found that I could go higher and higher, and today was no exception. I had dismounted and tied my horse to a tree. It wasn’t the tallest tree, but it wasn’t small, either. Soon I found myself high enough to see over the top of it.

I held here, nervous to go higher. I looked down at my horse as he looked up at me. He no longer seemed nervous about this strange occurrence as he once did.

Once the spell was cast, I no longer needed to focus on the individual notes. Casting a complicated spell was like getting my body ready to hoist up something heavy. Once I had lifted it, I only had to pour my focus into strength, not technique.

I knew I was reaching my limit when it felt like I was losing my hold on the spell, my mind jittery. But I noticed something that forced me to hold myself up longer. There seemed to be a group of people rushing out from Granlo, many of them with weapons. I grew nervous when I noticed one with a bow. They would be upon me soon.

I let my spell go. I fell quickly. The ground came at me fast as I laid out a sheet of dvinia between me and the grass. I still hadn’t gotten used to the feeling of breaking through my own spell. The force at which my body tore through the dvinia that I was trying to hold together with my mind always gave me a sudden but brief headache.

It was much better when I actually caught myself, as I had failed to do this time.

At least it slowed me enough not to break anything as I landed on my arms and knees. A horrible pain traveled through all my limbs. I quickly healed myself using three notes of F, but I could only heal one limb at a time. I had just gotten rid of the last pain in my legs when the group came up to me.

One man stood in front of the rest, a sword in hand. He spoke first. “Come with us and don’t put up no fight, or we’ll kill you dead here.”

They think I’m a dark mage. “You have me mistaken,” I said.

The lead man ignored my statement. “The king decreed that it’s up to him and the people to keep dteria from spreading, and dteria is exactly what we’ve seen. I’m the sheriff of Granlo. You’ll stay with me until one of the king’s men arrives. I don’t know what they’ll do with you once they take you to the capital, but your best chance of living is by cooperating.”

“There’s something else besides dteria that can lift someone into the air.”

“Hell there is!” shouted one man with a distended belly as he pointed his pitchfork at me. “We ain’t gonna believe your lies. I say we stab him dead now and save us the trouble.”

I finished healing by then and slowly stood up with my palms out. One man aiming an arrow at me made me especially nervous.

“I’m a sorcerer of the king, and I have the papers to prove it.”

“And I have papers proving I’m the lord of Livea,” said the pitchfork-wielder. “I say shoot him, Earl.”

“Sheriff?” asked the bowman.

“Hold on,”