Before Lucas could respond to that weird interruption, Rowland returned carrying a staff larger than anything Lucas had ever seen before. It was a dark-mahogany-colored staff with two gold bands circling the middle. A blue decoration adorned each side of the gold bands, and a small, dark-black handle sat between the two strips. There were five gems affixed to the top of the staff, and each was a different color: one red, one dark blue, one light blue, one green and one purple. It was majestic.

“Here,” Rowland said. “It was my father’s. I had planned to learn how to use it and become a great sorcerer, but after I met Dennings, I couldn’t focus on anything other than keeping her healthy and fit, so I switched my focus to healing. Since I’ll never use this heirloom, you should take it and use it in my place.” With that, Rowland handed the staff to Lucas.

“Thanks,” Lucas said, taking the item. As soon as he picked it up, he could feel its power. The staff’s name, Pangea, fit its wealth of spells. It had five of them in total, each one costing 40 Arcane Energy. The first one was a Lightning spell called Static Web, which Lucas knew he’d end up favoring in the long run. Lucas had been on the receiving end of the next spell during his struggle to keep Linnaeus alive: it was Earthen Wall. The spell caused a foot-and-a-half-thick wall of earth to spring up in the spot chosen by the spellcaster. For each charge channeled, up to a maximum of five charges, the length of the Earthen Wall would be extended.

The fire spell Scorching Skull shot a flaming skull out of the staff. The skull wouldn’t move as fast as other projectiles, but it would home in on the target until it reached it. It would then explode on impact and engulf the enemy in flames. The last two spells were ones Lucas hadn’t seen before. There was Wind Wall, which created a gust of wind that could be channeled for up to five seconds in one direction. This spell allowed the caster to pick both the origin point of the wind and the direction it blew. Then there was the last spell, Exploding Tear. It was also an area-of-effect spell almost identical to Rock Lob, just with water. It shot a dense ball of water at a target location that exploded with golf-ball-sized projectiles.

Lucas’s face lit up as he looked at the list of spells. It was simply tantalizing, and this time he was the one who was thankful. “I appreciate this, Rowland,” Lucas said, clutching the staff tightly.