My entry for the current writers jam.

Word count given by Wordcounter.net : 3,141

Chose the theme of Glass:

Lighthouse on the Glass Sea

They say that you can always tell those who walk the path of magic by their eyes. As they delve deeper and deeper into the arcane arts, their eyes change. Come across any experienced wizard and you will see that their eyes are always deep-set, always with a strange sparkle, and always with unusual coloring. Most strikingly, their eyes always carry a look of deep sadness.

The Archmagus of the school was no exception; her eyes bore all the telltale signs of being imbued with the traits of those who studied magic. I always felt that the Archmagus had exceptionally sad eyes, but the look she gave me now with those sparkly seafoam green orbs was downright heartbreaking.

She stared at me in silence from across her massive desk, its expansive surface filled with an assortment of books, artifacts, and baubles. In fact, her entire office was a visual cacophony of all the unusual trappings one might acquire in a lifetime of studying magic. A finger bone here, a staff there - even the tapestries that lined the walls seemed to shift and change color.

I had never been in her office before, and the curious part of me wanted to closely examine every object and every nook and cranny. However, those sad eyes of hers seemed to spellbind me into uncomfortable silence.

I had no idea why I had been summoned here. The day had started usual enough with breakfast, followed by the standard morning classes. The only thing of note was later in the morning, while we tended to the school's herb garden, we did see a horseback courier gallop through the courtyard. However, a hurried courier in itself was not an unusual sight, given the importance of the magic school and those who dwelled within it.

It was while we were having lunch when a strange hush fell over the dining hall. The room darkened, and I found myself illuminated in a light green glow - the sign that I had been summoned to the Archmagus' office.

The dining hall erupted in chatter then. Rarely did anyone get summoned to the office unless they were in extreme trouble.

"It's time they got rid of you," I heard one student remark as I stood to leave.

"Doubt she'll be back," I heard one whisper to another. "Usually if they summon you, that's it."

I jumped back to reality when three sharp raps sounded on the office door. At that, the Archmagus finally broke eye contact with me and glanced towards the door.

"Come," she said in a soft, yet authoritative voice.

Daven, the boy who had remarked about it being time for the school to get rid of me, entered.

Daven never liked me and constantly mocked me for being a "book mage". I had always excelled at academics, but in pure magical talent, he had me beat and he liked to remind me of that fact. He gave me a look as he passed me by and placed a small device on the table. Daven turned to leave, but the Archmagus beckoned him to stay.

"Do you know what this is?" the Archmagus asked, motioning to the item.

My heart sank as I knew where this was going.

"It's the device that they bring to the villages to test for magical power," I said. "We all had to make the little needle jump before we were invited to the school."

The Archmagus gave a slight smile.

"Do you remember how you did?" she asked.

"Not well, Archmagus. I only got it to go to the first marker."

She held out her hand to the device. "Pick it up, please."

I picked it up and hesitated.

"Go ahead," she said.

I began to concentrate, remembering the instructions that we had been given when the school scouts came to my hometown. I felt the universal energy gathered by me flow into the device.

I closed my eyes and felt the device begin to warm. I did my best to push as much power as I could into it.

"Open your eyes and tell me what you see," the Archmagus said.

I forced my eyes open to stare at the instrument. The needle hovered over the first marker, just as it had two years ago.

"It's at the first marker," I said.

"Now give the device to your classmate here."

I turned and handed the device over.

The Archmagus nodded to Daven, who then performed the same procedure as I had just done.

I saw the needle jump up to the 5th marking.

"A typical result," the Archmagus said. "It's about what we would expect from a student who has been in the school for this long."

She looked to my classmate. "You may go," she said. "And do not speak a word about what you saw here."

"Yes, ma'am," Daven said. He shot me another dirty look and gave me a satisfied smile as he passed by.

The Archmagus leaned back and stared at me with those sad eyes again. "Absolutely no progress," the Archmagus said.

"If I let you continue here, you'd only get hurt when your class moves on to higher-level magics. I can't send you home either."

I kept silent and only nodded. The sinking feeling in my heart only intensified.

"Of course, we told you that when you first came here."

I nodded, remembering the lecture that they gave to the first years. I vividly recalled the Archmagus and the school staff on stage getting us to repeat the mantra "Once a mage, always a mage."

"What do you think we do with failed mages?"

I gulped. The words "failed mage" hit me like a barrel of bricks.

"I... I'm not sure, Archmagus..." I stuttered. I thought of the extensive graveyard on the school grounds. Would they...?

The Archmagus gave me a slight smile, seeming to read my thoughts. "Please, it's not as bad as you think. We have a place for you."

The Archmagus pulled a letter from a desk drawer and examined it for a moment. She also dropped three small glass marbles in front of me. They glowed with a faint green light.

"Do you know what these are?"

"Yes, Archmagus," I nodded. "Mage Spheres. If a mage needs to cast a spell that requires much energy, they can rely on the spheres to give them a boost."

"And why do we need to do that?"

"Some spells are just that powerful, way beyond a mage's natural ability."

The Archmagus nodded and turned her attention back to the letter. "And where do these spheres come from?"

I thought back to a first-year lecture. "The Glass Sea," I said. Aware of the name, but not quite understanding what that meant. I remembered something about the name being a misnomer.

"Good," the Archmagus said. "Good. You should do fine apprenticing under Magus Ladev. She has written and requested some help at her lighthouse."

"Apprenticing?"

"Yes, young one. We send... less promising students to apprentice on the Glass Sea to harvest the glass to be shaped into these spheres. The area is infused with magic, and after a few years of apprenticeship there, students tend to come back to the school with their raw magical abilities somewhat... boosted. We're not sure why. Magus Ladev is studying the effect, actually."

I relaxed a little. It was humiliating, but it looked like it wasn't the end of the line for me. The Archmagus gave me details about my destination and what Magus Ladev would expect from me, but for some reason, I couldn't quite relax as she looked at me with those sad, seafoam green eyes.

**

I could only describe Magus Ladev as "Bouncy". She was young for a Magus, maybe only a decade or so older than my own sixteen years. Her eyes hadn't even taken on the pallor of magic yet. They were brown, bright, and somehow full of a certain vigor that I never saw in the school administration.

She embraced me in an enthusiastic hug when I arrived on the stoop of her workshop at the base of a lighthouse on the edge of the Glass Sea. She hadn't been expecting an apprentice for some time, and had been quite pleased that the school had sent me along so soon after making the request.

"Oh my," she said as she showed me around the structure. "I thought I'd have to wait years... Most do... but here you are! How wonderful!"

As she bustled me around, showing me every nook and cranny of her very unorganized workshop, I stopped to look out a window on the vast expanse of blasted terrain that stretched out to the horizon.

"Has anyone explained yet?" The Magus asked when she saw me gazing out an extremely dusty window. "Why we call it a sea when there's no water? Why there's a lighthouse when there are no boats? Well... none floating anyways..."

I nodded, "The Archmagus told me that this area used to be a giant lake, before the lightning storms came and blasted the area with magic."

"Right, right! A lake so big that it needed its own lighthouses! Can you imagine! Bless the mages from back then! Before the storms, the magic was running out, weakening! Oh! Those poor people when the water went away! Many abandoned settlements around... but the lightning brought us back! The glass brought us forward!"

"I never heard that part before," I said.

Magus Ledev opened her mouth as if to say more, but stopped herself. A look of concern crossed her face. She measured her next words.

"Sorry, if you couldn't tell I ramble. Just part of an esoteric part of my research... rumors in old manuscripts... nothing more. You just need to help me around here. Gather the glass after a storm... help me turn it into spheres. It's not hard... even a child could do it."

She looked around the messy workshop. "And maybe help me keep the place tidy, yes? I know it must be disappointing to be sent here, but I promise after some time you'll be bursting with power."

She gave a little half-laugh at this. "Yes... bursting."

**

The next few months were uneventful. Magus Ledev would give me tasks for the day, which were mostly housework and organizing the workshop and living area. I would often complete my chores and then have hours of free time to explore the area and do as I pleased. I even had access to some of the Magus' books shelved in the common area. I pretty much had the run of the place except for the Magus' bedroom/study and the lighthouse itself.

I was told I was forbidden from the former out of sheer embarrassment over its "state," and from the latter for my own safety. Magus Ledev told me that the lighthouse tower was centuries old and in disrepair, with no upkeep done since the time before the lake had become the Glass Sea.

As for the Glass Sea itself, it was indeed a victim to frequent, almost regular storms. At least once a week, lightning and thunder would crash over the dry lakebed for hours, yet no rain would come. It was almost as if Mother Nature herself were angry at the area, as if the place were an abomination that somehow slighted nature. The morning following these storms, I would be directed to search the sand for places where lightning struck the earth and recover any glass found to be turned into mage spheres.

I thought the task would be easy, given the sheer amount of lightning striking the sandy surface, but I often wandered for hours and returned from these day-long expeditions empty-handed. It almost felt like busy work, something to keep me out of the way. After a few weeks, I felt the whole apprenticeship situation was starting to become bizarre.

As time continued, Magus Ledev became less cordial. Although still upbeat and friendly, I felt like the longer I spent with her, the more annoyed she became with my presence. One night, while trying to sleep, I overheard her muttering from her room. Curious, I silently crept next to the doorway and peered through the keyhole. As always, she kept the key latched on the other side so I couldn't see anything, but I could hear.

"When... when will it be my turn?" I heard her mumble. I wasn't sure if she was dreaming or talking to herself as she scribbled away at her notes. "She came so quickly too... I thought I would join them by now back at the school... to have the eyes of magic... I've checked the Lighthouse several times already and the reflector is set to change her, I just need her in the right place... In the right storm... I need the eyes of seafoam green. The magic is in the sand... it will change her... change her to glass."

Something tipped over in her chamber and she uttered a curse. "Oh no, no, no... the ink! My work."

As she shuffled around, I returned to my own sleeping area and gave thought to what I had just heard.

** 

A few weeks later, I was awakened by a loud thunderclap. I settled back, trying to get back to sleep, knowing that Magus Ledev would no doubt send me to scour the lakebed for glass the next morning.

Then, I felt someone shaking me. "Get up, young one! It's time! Yes, time to hunt for glass!"

I looked up at Ledev with bleary eyes. "Shouldn't I wait until the storm has passed?"

The Magus shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no! This time there will be glass for sure! I saw a huge bolt of lightning strike near the bluffs! If you go now, the magic will be fresh! So fresh!"

I pulled myself out of bed, knowing there was no point in arguing in my position as an apprentice. As I gathered my clothes, Ledev rushed around, collecting items and components... almost as if she was... packing?

"Remember, the bluffs. You need to be out by the bluffs! That's where the magic happens!"

I bundled myself up as best as I could and headed out into the cool night air. Slowly, I made my way down the hillside from the lighthouse towards the lakebed.

The lightning tonight was strange. As I approached the bluffs, I could see distant flashes in the sky. Usually, it would just be streaks of white light, but there was a color about the flashes: greens, blues, and pinks.

I cautiously approached the bluffs and then dodged behind a particularly tall rock and waited. Minutes passed as I listened to the thunder. Occasionally, a colorful flash of light would illuminate the sky.

Suddenly, a ray of piercing white light swept across the bluff—the lighthouse beam. It lit the area for a few brief seconds before sweeping away in a circular arc. After the light had passed, the areas it struck sparkled and snapped for a few moments.

It wasn't long before I heard footsteps approaching. As they drew closer, I could hear the voice of Magus Ledev calling.

"Young one? Are you all right, young one? I lost sight of you, so I decided to brave using the lighthouse to try and find you. Did you make it to the bluffs?"

I stayed quiet. I peeked out and saw that the Magus's movements were slow, deliberate, like she was following a set path.

"Young one? Have you been changed already? Are you ready to be my new eyes?"

She stopped just behind the rock I was hiding behind. I could hear her breathing, searching.

As the beacon from the lighthouse reflector hit Magus Ledev, her form instantly transfigured. The change happened so rapidly, there wasn't even time for a scream to escape her lips.

"This is what they were planning for me," I thought as I watched a new set of magical orbs fall to the sand where the Magus had once stood. They had planned to reduce me to something to be harvested, converted into a "useful" thing for those in charge. At some point, their view of me switched from being a potential mage... a person... to a set of magical glass eyes, the next stepping stone for Magus Ledev to move into the upper ranks of magic. The whole "gathering glass" thing and been mostly a ruse to get me here, to make me cooperative.

I had been lucky that everything worked out. Every chance I got, I snuck into Ledev's chambers to learn as much as I could about her plan to use the lighthouse and the storms to convert me into her new set of "Magical Eyes". The lighthouse reflector had been set to follow a very particular path along the bluffs, and I managed to change the angle of the reflector without her noticing. She had even taken the bait to follow me onto the lakebed, content in the knowledge that she would be safe if she followed her set path.

I thought about every instructor back at the school, every Mage and Magus. I thought about the extremely sad eyes of the Archmagus. This scenario had to have played out thousands of times. A weak student sent away to disappear. They would tell their little lies about being able to come back to the school—and they did come back, just not in the way they were told.

I crouched down and picked up the remains of Magus Ledev, looking into the "pupils". The colors shifted and swirled. Was she in there? Was her soul trapped? Is that why the "eyes" of elder Mages always looked so sad?

I knew I had some time to look over the Magus' notes, but I couldn't linger at the lighthouse forever. I'd find out the truth, and then I would have to move on. It probably wouldn't take too long for the school, and then the wider society of Mages, to figure out what happened here. Could I have been the first one to put together the puzzle? There had always been rumors of renegade mages, but they were few and far between.

I looked out over the blasted landscape of the former lake and wondered about the number of lighthouses dotted around its edge. How many "apprentices" were out there right now? Could I get to them? Warn them? Join forces with them?

A clap of thunder jolted me, and I decided to make my way back to the workshop. First thing was first—I had to give myself a fighting chance. I'd have to figure out how to replace my own eyes with the two orbs that I held in my hand.

And then, I'd shatter the system.