"Journey's end. This is where the Sorcerer's story finishes. Or at least this part of it.

"This mud pit was ankle deep fourteen years ago. I stood in the center, feet planted in the mud, and I wished. Opened my spirit to the Forest, asked for a portion of its power, declared my glad acceptance of the price. I will walk out today and stand in the same place, and the mud will not stop at my ankles. It is deep quicksand now, and I will slowly sink down and be swallowed whole, and become part of the place I've always loved. I could not visit it during the fourteen years; returning prematurely to the source of my magic would have made a nice 'short circuit' and cooked me down to a valuable but dead gemstone. Besides, it's a big world and I went where needed. But always I was connected to the Forest, felt it close to me, saw its branches in the dark behind my eyelids as I waited for sleep. As the time approached, the connection became a gentle tugging which I followed back here.

"Now I shall walk in and sink and rest... forever? Perhaps, perhaps not. Even here, I may one day get bored..."

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