Hi Benny, I’m sorry, but I can’t come and see you again. My dad caught me sneaking back into the treehut after we talked last night, and he’s not letting me go anywhere. The tribe don’t mix with outsiders, and if I’d been caught by one of the elders, I’d be in much bigger trouble. However, sometimes the tribe take people in if they’re able to get to our village unharmed and unaided. I had to travel the woods alone myself when I came of age, like all of the tribe does to earn our adult gifts. I’m sure I can talk the elders into letting you take the gifts too, when you get here. You’re going to need me to tell you a few things, though. We are taught all about the woods in childhood, and how to survive the dangers. You didn’t get told any of that growing up, did you? You just know about the town you grew up in. I know your family were hoping to get through the gate, but no one ever does. I worry you’re going to get stuck in that horrible, muddy sinkhole that they call the City of Gate, bullied and beaten down by the gangs, or forced to join one and killed in a fight. It was nice talking to you in the line when you thought I was just another girl trying to get to H’vannah. Sorry about the little lie. My parents weren’t elsewhere in the line like I said. We live in the Darkwood. You should come live with us. I’m saying this all jumbled up because I’m just so excited to see you again. Anyway, you won’t ever need to worry about the gangs or the people coming after your dad in here. The barkskin trees protect us. You need to know how to get through them safely, and that’s what I wanted to write to you about. The first thing you need to know about is the seedpods. They’re all over the forest floor, and sometimes they even rain down from the branches. Wear some thick-soled shoes and lots of layers over your arms, legs and head. The seedpods are tiny and covered in nasty barbs. If one gets into your skin, make sure you rip it out fast before it takes root. You might be lucky and step on a dead one, but if they’re still pretty fresh, they’ll take root pretty fast and will not let go. Bring a knife with a narrow blade to pop them out without touching them. If you don’t get them out in time, it’s pretty gross. You might not want to hear this, but you’re a boy, and boys like gross things, so here goes. The barkskin seedpods send tendrils out under your skin, branching as they go, wrapping themselves around your muscles and twining together when they meet back up. They also thicken up as they grow, and soon you’ll have a living layer of woody armour under your skin. If you can stand the pain and keep moving, this armour will protect you from any more seedpods and any beasts that might be trying to bite or claw at you. That’s why it’s called barkskin. Some foolish explorer thought he might be able to live like that, but it’s always growing and as soon as you stop moving it is going to grow too thickly around your joints, and your face, send roots into the ground, and branches through what’s left of your skin. Not long after that, you’re just another fat-bottomed tree in the Darkwood. Like all the other barkskin trees. I don’t want that for you. If the tree manages to sustain you like that, and sometimes they do, you’ll never move from that spot again. Some of the elders, when they are approaching the end of their life, will choose to become a Barkskin Tree willingly, hoping to become one of the blessed ancestors that watch over us. Most people though, even if they are of the tribe, will just die when the seedpod tendrils tear the skin from their flesh, long before they begin to sprout roots or branches. So please watch out and make sure you take them out quickly.

The fundamental key to understanding the nature of magic is to grasp the relationship between its natural states. Just as water flows through us all, so too does magic, and that flow can be directed and controlled. While many lack the training or intelligence to know that they wield magic, many will use this natural source of magic to empower their actions. A brutal thug might channel their ‘rage’ into their blows. A healer directs the energies to banish illness and repair wounds. A performer channels their ‘gift’ into their music to engage an audience. All of this can be done because of the fluid state of magic. However, much more can be accomplished by those who have learned what magic is from those who came before and verified these teachings through study, experimentation and further development to draw their own conclusions. There are several ways that one could enhance and amplify one’s personal reserve of magic power for spellcasting, self-improvement and the creation of magical tools. The first comes naturally to many untrained spellcasters. Just as plants and other creatures might draw moisture from the air, so too can a wizard draw upon the ambient energies of life itself to restore their expended energies and bolster their reserves. An exaggerated form of this can be seen in undead creatures like the lich and certain varieties of vampire. While one should be careful not to take too much energy from the life around you, most mortals lack the capacity to drink the ambient energies so greedily. Of course, there are times when the ambient energies in a given environment are insufficient. There might be a dearth of life energies due to the presence of undead, or simply because there have been many magic-users present in the area. Just as there is no moisture in the desert, there can be no life to draw power from. It’s in those instances that a smart wizard will have prepared themselves in advance and created items that contain stored power. The materials needed to contain such energies are detailed elsewhere in this treatise, though it’s worth mentioning that the greatest material for this purpose is lykocite, otherwise known as lifeglass. The reason for this is simple. Lykocite is magic in crystalline form, just as ice is the solid state of water.