Free The Tomes Of Magic by Cody J. Sherer Page A

on what to do next. He motioned for her to turn to the crowd and she followed his suggestion. She took a deep breath as she looked out over the crowd. They looked all looked at her in amazement, though she knew now why. Kadegar cleared his throat before addressing the crowd.
    “Emily will now be given a moment to speak her mind. It has been some time since a Royal Wizard has been accepted into our number, I suggest you listen to her,” He gave her a nod after he spoke.
    “It is a privilege to be here among all of you. I only wish that it could have come at a better time. Canai has become a dangerous place of late and I have every intention of seeing that changed. Many of you will disagree with me, but I believe it is time for us to extend our influence beyond the Isle of Magic. Owyn taught me a great deal about knowledge, but Rolin taught me that we must use that knowledge for it to be effective. Knowledge alone cannot make a difference. I know that some of you do not care to spread peace to the world, but that is my goal,” Emily summoned up all the lessons she had learned as a child and spoke with as much authority as she could muster.
    Kadegar watched the responses from the audience. The majority seemed to be in favor of what she had said, but there were pockets of those who disagreed. Emily glanced up at the Supreme Wizard, wondering what he thought of her speech. He gave no indication of whether or not he approved. One of the other experts stepped forward and began to speak to the crowd about the coming changes. It was strange for Emily to see how things worked on the Isle of Magic. She had been used to the way things were in the Galimdorian conclave. Owyn, much like Rolin, preferred to have the experts treat the students as equals rather than underlings. Kadegar had a different approach. He cared about the learning aspect, but allowed each of the experts a wide swath of teaching styles. The Supreme Wizard was the ultimate authority, but he did not treat the island like a school. Rolin and the others followed his lead in this, except that Kadegar saw his location as a kingdom. He was not just the authority in teaching magic, but also in every aspect of island life.
    Emily took a deep breath as she made her way to the side of the room. Kadegar had left in a rather abrupt manner after observing the crowd’s reaction to her speech. She had heard the lectures on classes over a dozen times and cared only about getting to her new quarters. Each of the factions within the Isle of Magic had their own tower. Kadegar rarely gave them recognition beyond calling them “groups,” but some of them were influential. Emily remembered back to when Owyn and Rolin were discussing their time on the island. The Royal Wizards were not named for their connections to royalty or their ability to rule, as Emily had once thought, but rather for their mentality. As with most rulers, the Royal Wizards knew how to contend with the wants and needs of those under them. Elementalists were of the mind that they needed to stick together to not be overpowered by the stronger groups. Dark Wizards specialized in death and dark magic, alienating themselves from much of the other factions. Wizards of the Light focused on light magic. There were other factions that Emily had heard of, but none were as prominent as those four.
    The tower for Emily’s new faction was one of the larger towers on the island. It was small in comparison to the tower that held Kadegar’s offices and living quarters. As the closest thing to a King on the island, his tower was more akin to a keep. His servants and advisers also had quarters in the tower. Emily entered the Royal Tower to find that it was nearly devoid of apprentices. Her faction consisted mostly of advanced Wizards. The ranking system ranked each person by his or her proficiency at each individual type of magic and their overall skill level. Beginner, intermediate, and expert were the three ranks for each type of