That very same night, I learned how deep the Lowborn's hatred of magic had gone. We made our stay inside of a simple inn located on the outskirts of the cities and along the coast. I found myself fortunate that I had found an inn that would take the two of us, but to my chagrin, it had also only had one bed. I insisted that my companion take the bed and I would be fine sleeping on the floor, but after Gabriel insisted that I was welcome beside him, I did not pass up his generous offer. That night, Gabriel lay sleeping in my arms, his head pressed to my chest his hands locked around the back of my neck. In the dead of night, I feared my heart would beat so loud and furiously that it may very well wake the man I had undoubtedly fallen for.
It would not be my heart that would wake him, rather it would be a Lowborn clad in white robes with his face obscured behind a shroud. The only proof of his identity was the tail that hung behind him and his scaled hands, the very same hands that grabbed onto Gabriel's hair and wrenched him from my arms. He was dragged from the inn, kicking and screaming, reaching out to me as I trailed just behind him unable to catch up the moment the Lowborn had entered a massive crowd. I pushed and shoved my way through the sea of people shouting out his name, pleading with anyone who would listen that Gabriel was innocent. The Lowborn had not seen this however.
I was forced to sit idly by while they humiliated him, throwing rotten food and stones at him while the strung him up against a wooden pyre with kindling set at his feet. A single Lowborn atop the stage held out his hands with his eyes closed as he sang out what I could only assume was a hymn or prayer as if to mark Gabriel a sinner. I tried to wade through the crowd only to be stopped by a set of guards standing just before the stage that forced me back despite my screaming pleas. I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't take my eyes away as the Lowborn doused Gabriel in oil and set his body ablaze. His screams drowned out by the cheering and revelry made by the crowd around him.
That night, I howled out to the full moon like a beast possessed, rage and grief gripped me so tight I thought I would never escape. The only thoughts I had were of Gabriel and how if only I held a better understanding of magic I could have saved him. That night still haunts my dreams to this day and would be the first act that would propel me into understanding more of the arcane.
Gabriel had previously made mention of a library located somewhere out in the sea, a singular white spire known as the Ivory Tower. It had been where the knowledge of the world had been compiled. It was there that magic had evolved from its barbaric roots as a weapon of war to a tool to help others. The following morning is when I set sail towards this tower by the first mariner that would take me. The trip only took half a day, but it left me alone with my thoughts for some time as the mariner did not speak the same language as I did and I could not understand his own tongue. For those painful hours out in the vast ocean, the only thoughts that consumed my mind so thoroughly is what punishments I could enact upon those who had taken Gabriel from me. I had a firm understanding of medicine and the human form, I knew exactly how to keep a person alive well beyond their point of expiration. The thought of ripping open a Lowborn to see what made them tick both exited and frightened me.
These thoughts must have been painted clearly on my face as when I finally made it to the Ivory Tower, I was approached by a young woman in a robe of white and gold. Her skin was scaled, but not like that of a Lowborn. It was smooth and held a blue tint to it; her features were slender and held more in common with a fish than she did with a lizard. Her name was Chislon and she had claimed to know my purpose for being here and offered me a deal. I would spend one year here, learning whatever it was I wished and if by the end of that year, I still held a desire to strike down my enemies with the arcane arts found within this immaculate library, she would not stop me. In the end, I spent six years there and learned more about the art of healing magic than I had ever imagined while pushing the boundaries of what could be done with it.
When I had exhausted the knowledge that the tower held, I found myself lusting for more, knowing that somehow, someway there would be a way to not just prolong a life but to bring it back. I searched the tower far and wide consulted mages from all around and all of them said that such a demand could not be met with magic. That is, till I came across a tome older than any other located inside of the library. It explained the origins of magic and how they had come from a horrid beast of the deep, an ancient god known as The Gaping Maw. With how well hidden this tome was, I knew asking another about it would only instigate retaliation and forewarnings I was unwilling to entertain.
Oh, what a damned fool I was.