#wizard trauma

[kimberly-earthfriend]

When do you stop being “young wizard” or [wizard’s name] and start being just. “The Wizard” ? Is it after your Ravenwood graduation? Is it when you join the Arcanum?

Were you always just “The Wizard” to them?

[kimberly-earthfriend]

Meet the Wizards - Rowan Duskhaven

Rowan has changed a lot since the last time I shared them, so I figured I better give an update!

They’re my young wizard, saviour of the spiral, hero from Earth etc etc. Until they aren’t. They started off being kidnapped by Ambrose and told to defeat Malistaire at just 12 years old. But honestly, they didn’t mind all that much. Their home life on earth had been pretty terrible, and school? Even worse. And besides, they quite liked the idea of learning magic and fulfilling a grand destiny (what bookish 12 year old wouldn’t?)

They got selected for the spiral cup, though according to the rules they were far to young to compete. Really, it was just a guise under which they could go to wysteria to meet their new mentor - Kimberly Earthfriend - and recruit her for the fight against Malistaire. This, unfortunately, would turn out to be the worst “decision” of their life, insofar as they were allowed to decide anything as the young wizard.

Things went well for a few worlds, they defeated Malistaire, and then Morganthe showed up. Rowan did not like how uncomfortably familiar the ambitious shadow mage seemed, and began to have some doubts about the quest. They had already seen that Malistaire was just a grieving man, a man who needed therapy, not violence. And now they were beginning to see what could happen if they ever dared to rebel against their Destiny.

Avalon. It was the turning point in Rowan’s wizarding journey, even though most would call it Azteca. Together with Kimberly and Anya Silverblood, they sought out the Lady of the Lake so they might be granted the sword of kings to defeat Morganthe. Unfortunately, it would not be Rowan who was granted the sword. Nimue, furious that Merle had put the weight of the spiral on the shoulders of a child, sought out the fates and rewrote Destiny, selecting Kimberly as the bearer of the sword and allowing her to become a knight of the silver rose instead. This did not sit well with the Young Wizard, but they supposed it made enough sense. After all, Kimberly was born and raised in Avalon. Of course the stone would determine her as the rightful ruler. It was just a blip, that’s all. But deep down in their soul, resentment was beginning to grow.

The fall of Azteca was not so much the turning point as the straw that broke the camel’s back. An entire civilisation destroyed, and Rowan believed it was all their fault. If they had just been better, if they had been good enough to get the sword, they could have defeated Morganthe before it came to this. But now they were gone. And Rowan was gone too. They fled Azteca, following the resurrected Malistaire to Darkmoor and beginning to learn Shadow magic. They became obsessed with “fixing” the wrongs they had caused, and wanted to bring Azteca back to its former glory. Malistaire informed them that sadly there was no shadow magic strong enough to stop Xibalba. But he once had dealings with a group who possessed a device that might just do it: the world synthesiser.

By the time Kimberly and the others arrived in Darkmoor under the law of Kan Dvasi, Rowan was long gone. They fled back to Wizard City, cloaking themself in shadows so as not to catch the attention of Ambrose or the other professors. There, they met with Duncan Grimwater and Greta Darkkettle, and began learning of the Schism. They were quickly initiated and began working their way through the ranks, determined to get the attention of the Old One and gain access to his World Synthesiser.

On a journey to Empyrea, they reunited with Micah Stormweaver, the astral wizard they had befriended in Celestia, and sparks flew. They hit it off in no time at all, and now they had a guide to the stormy wastelands of Empyrea.

It was though him that they discovered Mellori. If they caught her and broke the paradox chains, then surely the old one would take notice. Never mind that that could destroy the entire spiral. Their obsession with fixing Azteca had blinded them to the other destruction that they wrought. They no longer cared who they hurt, who got in their way. They just had to fix the past.

As the only person who could walk the Astral plane, it wasn’t hard for Rowan to heal Mellori. The problem was finding her body. Pretending that they wanted to make up for the past and help Kimberly, they offered to walk the Reverie together. But then, while Kimberly was fighting her nightmares, Rowan slipped away, “rescuing” Mellori and carrying her off into the night. Thankfully they were caught and stopped by the Luphilim before they could break the chains, but walking the astral plane and healing the Raven child had been enough. Finally the Old One was listening.

He asked them to the summit in Karamelle, and it was here that he told them of his office in Arcanum, and of Lemuria. If they could check in on Lemuria and get to his secret lab, they would have free reign over the World Synthesiser, and could create whatever they desired, provided it worked towards the final goal of reinstating the first world. They readily agreed, calling Micah to fly them to the Arcanum and sneaking into the old one’s office under cover of night

How they managed to get into the shrunken world of Lemuria, we do not know, but I suppose if anyone can do it, it’s the Young Wizard. They made it to the lab in the centre of Telos and discovered the template for the Scion of the Old One right along with the synthesiser. They donned his armour and decided to play along with his little test, just to prove that they were still a worthy and capable wizard. They joined the team of Lemuria heroes, and when the time came, they finally faced off with Kimberly, revealing their identity in the final battle and attempting to claim the synthesiser for themself.

If they had just listened to the Old One and taken the synthesiser right at the get-go, of course, they could have achieved their goal. But they were defeated, and stayed on in Lemuria, finally seeing the error of their ways and vowing to do better by truly helping the citizens of the lost world

Eventually, Kimberly invited them on a Walkabout in Wallaru, so that they might find themself and find their peace. They departed with Dasein to the Dreaming, finally at rest.

[kimberly-earthfriend]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

"Kimberly wished that moment could last forever, the five of them sitting peacefully on the shore of utopia, a campfire blazing behind them and the sounds of happy people laughing, eating and playing music all around. Maybe the Killawahoo festival wasn’t so bad after all, despite its disturbing roots. For just a moment, everything was perfect. They knew that it wouldn’t last, but that didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that they were together, and together, they could take on the world."

Kimberly Earthfriend did not sign up for this. When the Young Wizard quit their quest after the fall of Azteca, she was left to pick up the pieces. And so she finds herself in Lemuria, helping Dasein to restore the fractured memory he inherited from the Old One. But everything is not as it seems when the Killawahoo volcano erupts. Will this be the final straw that makes Kimberly confront her past?

Soooo I wrote a little songfic about the wizard in Lemuria. Song is “Haven” bc We Banjo 3, I highly recommend giving it a listen.