08/05/2026
For a time, I found myself traveling alongside a battle-hardened old wizard. He was of the toadfolk, with wrinkly, green skin and webbed hands and feet.
We were both traveling toward the city of Willowreach, the grand Capitol of the province. We were together merely by chance, having both left the silken maiden tavern on the same day, and decided it best to stick together. He was always short-tempered and bitter with me, but I suspect he secretly enjoyed the company.
He preferred when I addressed him by Bogwort the croaking, but that was always such a mouthful, so I shortened it to "Boggy".
One afternoon, I was asking him question after question and he would give one or two word answers, as he always did. I eventually asked the question, "What made you want to become a wizard?"
He paused...
A look of recollection crept onto his usually sour face.
"A spell" he replied, as if lost in a memory.
"Fo you remember it?" I prodded.
He looked my direction for a moment. The toad then changed his direction and walked right past me and up a small hill.
Boggy gathered his staff and started whirling it around his small body, stirring the clouds above into a frenzy. Slowly, his circles grew tighter and tighter, angling the staff until it pointed straight above his head.
A burst of sparks and light erupted from the staff, reaching into the sky! The clouds he had gathered started rocketing up with the beam, as if being sucked into space.
The lights twinkle and shined, illuminating the area in a warm glow.
Boggy had a gleam in his eye. The kind of gleam you see children get while they play in the stream on a hot summer afternoon.
And for the first time since I met him, Boggy smiled.
A Novice at Heart
Spray Paint on Canvas
