"Is it because I don't feed you enough meat? Or do you really just prefer greens?"
Eric stared at his strange little companion, utterly baffled.
Blush, as he'd come to call the creature, was happily munching away at a tuft of grass like a cow that had discovered paradise.
Eric rubbed his forehead. "Fine. If that's what you want, then graze away. At least you won't starve. And maybe grass really is good for you… somehow."
He shook his head and pushed open the great doors of the tower he'd been building. He didn't go inside.
Because there was nothing to step on.
The interior was an empty shell. From the outside it looked magnificent, but inside it was a hollow cylinder, no floors, no stairs, nothing. Just black emptiness, like a giant cardboard box standing on end.
A proper architect would have been scandalized, but Eric was not an architect. He was Eric. The tower wasn't going to collapse, so he built in whatever order he felt like. Floors could come later.
He had never actually seen Sauron's Barad-dûr, and his memory of Saruman's Orthanc was vague at best. But one thing was certain: his creation would not be outdone in size or height. In fact, his tower already dwarfed Orthanc.
Another legendary tower had risen into the world, yet it had no name. Eric scratched his chin. "Yeah… still nothing comes to mind. I'll deal with it later."
He sent Blush off to play and returned to his storeroom to haul out piles of stone and wood. Time to start the real work inside.
First came the floors. Then lighting. Then a library, a reception hall, and stairways spiraling upward.
Several days later the first level was fully laid out, divided into wide chambers. Most of them remained empty, but the library had already been completed and put to good use.
It was here that Eric forged his very first staff of ironwood, and here he built his first research table and arcane workbench.
These were the first true tools of his studies. From now on, everything he researched would depend on them.
The arcane workbench allowed him to craft enchanted items, while the research table let him unlock new discoveries and recipes. Research required special knowledge points called "aspects," fragments of understanding about the world's elements. He had discovered them before, such as when he studied water at Orthanc.
The problem was that an aspect could only be gained once from any given object, and every new discovery consumed them. When his points ran out, research simply stalled. Which meant, sooner or later, he would have to travel. Because true arcane study was impossible without exploration.
Eric pressed the tip of his new staff to a bookshelf, which shimmered and then folded itself into a hovering tome.
The Thaumonomicon.
Inside lay mysteries yet unsolved, waiting for him to piece them together.
He tossed Blush a strip of dried meat, sat at the table, and began sketching diagrams like a wizard playing some very serious game of connect-the-dots.
"The first life began when stone met water," he muttered, scribbling furiously. "Earth plus water equals life."
"When fire was tamed by order, it became energy, guiding civilization."
"Fire plus order equals energy."
"And when water becomes corrupted… well, that's poison for you."
"Water plus entropy equals poison."
On and on he worked, unlocking one aspect after another, until everything from the simplest to the seventh tier was mapped out. His stash of aspect points vanished in the process.
Eric leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's that. Can't go any further without gathering new material. Time for a field trip."
He tapped the table, thinking. "Besides, it's been long enough. I should probably check on that other little project too."
Strapping on his arcane lens, Eric left the tower. The townsfolk bowed or whispered as he passed, their eyes filled with awe and a touch of fear. Eric gave them a casual nod before stepping into the Nether Gate, racing toward Dale.
He hadn't gone far when he stopped short. A faint glimmer hung in the air by the path, like a transparent mote of light.
A vis node.
Magic in the arcane tradition required a staff, and a staff required fuel. That energy did not come from nowhere. It had to be drawn in.
There were many ways to charge a staff, but in the early stages of arcane research, there were two common approaches.
The first was through nodes like this one. They were natural wells of magical energy, invisible to the naked eye but revealed with a lens. They held aspects within themselves, slowly regenerating after being tapped. Essentially, free and renewable power. The only downside was time.
The second way was simple and brutal. Kill something. When a creature died, the raw essence inside its body was released, and a staff could absorb it directly. Efficient, yes. Civilized, not really. Most scholars preferred the gentler approach.
Eric raised his lens again. This node contained earth and fire. Useful.
He made a quick note of the location and stacked a few blocks as a marker.
Nodes didn't exist in Middle-earth itself, not in this form. Only in the Nether did they appear, and even here they shifted as if following him.
In Middle-earth, magic was born of will and spirit, power drawn from within. Arcane thaumaturgy was the opposite: power drawn from the world itself, from the energies woven into creation. The two looked similar on the surface, but their roots could not be more different.
Marking the spot, Eric continued toward Dale, pausing every so often to tag another glowing node and drain a bit of energy into his staff. By the time he finally emerged from the Nether Gate at Dale, dusk had already fallen. His staff pulsed with magic, and his backpack clinked with spare crystals and wands.
"That should last me a while," he said cheerfully.
The last rays of the sun bled over the mountains, casting long red shadows across the cobbled streets. Dale was anything but quiet. Merchants hawked their wares, children darted about shrieking with laughter, dwarves jostled shoulders with men in the busy market, and no one looked ready for sleep.
Eric smiled faintly. The city had grown more lively since his last visit. But with so many dwarves in town now, one had to watch their footing. A misstep could send either party sprawling.
And thus, in the glow of torches and the chatter of the crowd, Eric strode into the city.