Read Past

       This Spell is only available to pupils who have graduated from the University.  Read Past is a useful information gathering tool for any Mage who wants to find out details about the immediate past.
        Once cast, Read Past will inform the Mage as to what happened in the 10 yard area that surrounds the Mage, within the last 24 hours.  This knowledge arrives within the casting Mage’s mind as though it is a memory and the Mage can pick bits out of this information as they desire.
        At higher levels, Read Past can cover a larger area and it will give information on a larger time scale.  At the highest levels, it can be used to gain information on what happened hundreds of years ago on a scale that is nation wide. 

“Aye sir,” muttered a scared villager.  “This is where we found the body, just this morning!”
        Randall looked at the bloodstained spot on the mud and sighed.  He had trained for years, he had mastered the most complex of Magical Arts and what was he doing now?  Playing city guard for a bunch of peasants.
        Randall emptied his mind and chanted the words to the Read Past Spell.  He was almost overwhelmed by the images that flooded into his mind and it took him a few moments to search through them and fine what was relevant.
        He ‘remembered’ seeing a young woman walking through the square.  She wasn’t very striking or pretty, but Randall knew that this was the beauty of the village.  He ‘remembered’ a man who stepped out of the shadows and grabbed the woman from behind.  The Mage ‘remembered’ the woman’s screams as she was dragged into the shadows and brutally raped before she was beaten to death.
        Randall took a deep breath before speaking.  “The killer was a large man,” he said.  “He has short dark hair and a nose that looks as though it’s been broken a few times.  He stands at least 6 feet tall and he has blue eyes.  The killer was wearing a leather jerkin and patched, tweed trousers and he had a pair of clogs on.  Oh, and he had two rings in his left ear.”
        “Trom,” muttered the villager who had first spoken to Randall.  “Thank you sir, thank you very much!”
        The Mage watched the villagers hurry away and he sighed.
        “There has to got to be more to life than this,” he muttered to himself.

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