Wizard

''A WIZARD DESCRIBES PREPARING A SPELL Have you ever seen a scribe readying a page to copy a piece of text? The scribe scrapes the sheet clean, then carefully traces out perfectly straight lines to contain the text and set it in order. Finally, the scribe sharpens a quill and carefully forms each letter in the text, stringing the characters together to form words, paragraphs, and finally the whole page. Preparing a spell is like that. I have my spellbooks, the original manuscript. I begin the processes by resting my mind and body, erasing the detritus from the previous day. Sleep wipes my mental parchment clean. When I awake, a focus for a while. I cast off the details left over from my dreams and set my thoughts in order, just like a scribe setting the rules and margins on a page. When I finish, I have built a mental structure for my spells. This is the essence of magic. As I have continued to hone my magical art, I find I can create more and more mental pages to contain my spells. When I have created as many blank pages as my mind can hold, I turn to my spellbook and copy the spells I need. I don't use pen and ink, of course, I carefully review the arcane formulae recorded in the book and fill the empty structures in my mind with magical power. There's no feeling quite like finishing preparation for a spell. Thoughts swirl like autumn leaves through my mind. By sheer force of training and will, I force those mental leaves into motes of arcane power. The motes collect on the framework like beads of dew on a spider's web. The final result is a thing of stunning and sublime beauty. With every breath I take, I can feel the structure thrum with power.''

- Excerpt taken from 'Complete Mage' pg 34.