Magician's apprentice

Initially, Michael and Alex conceived Living and Dead as a separate, non-serial novel. The first volume was published in 2010 under the publishing house of the Faculty ^[4] . The book sold well, and the publisher suggested thinking about a sequel.

If the basis of the first novel was laid by the world that Mikhail Kostin saw in a dream, then in the second volume - “The Magician’s Apprentice”, Mikhail’s early achievements were used for science fiction stories. The main preparation was as follows: the main character - a merciless mercenary and an alien fighter - gave an interview to a journalist, proving the correctness of his actions. Michael transferred this scene to the world of "Living and the Dead" and came to the images of Niro and Sanchez, and a little later other characters joined them ^[5] .

In 2011 , the "Faculty" published the second part of the series " Living and the Dead " - "The apprentice of the magician" ^[6] .

In 2012 , Snezhny Kom M Publishing House re-released the first two volumes of the Living and the Dead series, and also printed a sequel, The Third Force ^[7] .

The Consortium is aware of the danger of magic for its existence, but at the same time, understands its need for everyday life, therefore, strict rules for the functioning of magicians have been introduced in the United Territories of the Consortium (OTC). The most dangerous magic from the point of view of the government: fighting, human, necromancy, and other, concerning life and death - are prohibited. Bursts of such magic are tracked and punished. For violation of the law, the sorcerer, without any exceptions, is sent to a lifelong exile to distant islands. Other magical activities must be licensed. Most magicians are engaged in the service sector - street lighting, repairing appliances, security, etc.

Not all sorcerers are ready to put up with this situation. Ionea - a young and incredibly powerful magician - takes on the role of leader of the militia. OTC balance on the brink of revolution.

By the will of fate, the apprentice magician Pantor is forced to flee to the free, uncontrolled OTK North, fleeing the ossified bureaucratic machine of the Consortium. He is pursued by the bailiff of magical supervision, which, in turn, is faced with a choice: either he catches the criminal, or he himself will be in his place.

Unexpectedly, both the fugitive and the pursuer are involved in the upcoming coup. Without realizing it, they are becoming perhaps the key figures in the conspiracy.

• Pantor is the main character. Apprentice magician - Lord Messer. Graduate of the Faculty of Household Magic in Verolla.
• Vincent is the red-haired friend of Pantor. He studied with him at the faculty of household magic - flew out. Ladies man, joker, but far from stupid.
• Lord Messer is a middle-aged, highly respected magician. Owns a magic license of the third level of the second level. He organized a workshop, is engaged in private practice, teaches students. He is fond of necromancy.
• Sanchez O'Gira is a notorious journalist. He writes for the metropolitan newspaper Verolla's Lights. Appearance: strong, handsome, blond, cheeky and courageous face, thin elegant mustache on his face, lively eyes with a spark.
• Niro is the senior bailiff of the magical supervision department with a strong family and no less well-built career.
• Georges Derance - captain, head of the department of magical supervision.

The book is an ancient folio with magic spells, containing instructions for conducting rituals, including reviving the dead.

The figurine is a small idol that allows you to remember the visions caused by the dreamer.

• A mobile is a complex mechanical vehicle with a magic propulsion.
• MMO is a magically modified weapon. Enhanced magic firearms. Depending on the nature of the change, such a weapon can become multicharged, increase lethal force, rate of fire, etc.
• The MMP pistol is the most common type of magically modified weapon; it is distinguished by a lethal force and multiple charge from a conventional pistol.

- resurrection of a cemetery;
- saving the girl from the sacrifice.

• The United Territory of the Consortium is a continental state where magic is kept under strict control. Mechanical devices are modified by magic components.
  • Verolla is the capital of OTC, where a quarter of the population of the entire state is concentrated. Here are located all the most significant social institutions of the OTC. The main attraction of Verolla is considered the Consortium building - the highest on the whole continent. The city center is built up with high-rise buildings, while the main part of the city consists of low private mansions with gardens, where the wealthiest class lives. People on the outskirts live simpler, it is built up with unpretentious typical buildings - there are a large number of apartment buildings.
  • Utanava is a provincial town. Life in it flows calmly, measuredly, leisurely. The population of the city is not numerous. In the town: school, hospital, hotel "Shooting Star", the municipality, a small processing factory, the raw materials for which are supplied from a nearby quarry. The architectural ensemble is a two-story decrepit architecture.
  • Koriali is a western port town where prisoners are transferred from train to ship and sent to exile to distant islands.
  • Dredstown is the border town closest to the North. Squat and solid: the walls of the houses are dull, the windows are small and are located quite high or even begin from the second floor. The doors are massive and impregnable. The city is gloomy and unfriendly. For tourists, the narrow streets winding between the blank walls of nearby houses merge into an eerie maze. Visitors can stay in the гляд Best ’hotel, which is more unsightly on the outside. In the center of Dredstown is a bastion-like city hall. According to legend, the city belonged to the northerners before, and then, according to the results of the last war, it went to the OTK.
• The North is a territory where there is no centralized order; each is there for itself. Small settlements scattered throughout the North have their own power and their own laws. None of them cares about the neighbors. In general, nothing matters. But if someone comes to their land and does something against their rules, they can easily hang him. Right on the spot. Without trial. And the rules in each town are different, and what is familiar and normal in one place can easily turn out to be illegal in another. Magic is allowed. And for the fact that someone looked askance, they can kill using this magic. Nevertheless, all the northern territories have something in common. They hate OTC. And if the United Territories try to cross the border, the whole North will rise against them, because this will be an attempt on their foundations.
• The distant world is the realm of technological progress and the absence of magic.

Propaganda, system and control

The Consortium building was built so grand that people, looking at it, realized their worthlessness and worthlessness, but at the same time, somewhere deep inside, they flashed pride in their homeland, there was a desire to contribute to the development of the power of the United Territories. True, such thoughts, as a rule, do not last long. One has only to step as far as the patriotic mood disappears. But it’s better to drive unpatriotic thoughts away from you. The people elected power strictly ensures that crimes against the will of the people are not committed even in thought.

The power chosen by the people knows what they need and what not. The people of the United Territories need the simple benefits, comfort and convenience that science and technology provide. And people do not need magic, like everything else uncontrollable and unpredictable. Authorities say people want peace. And the authorities know this for sure. And most of the people believe everything that is planted in the OTC.

The status of a provocateur is fixed in society. Accusations of a popularly elected government are perceived as provocation. This is identical to rebellion against the will of the people and the foundations of democracy.

The example of the senior bailiff Niro and his perception of what is happening shows how ossified he became, a thoughtless cog of the system.

The free-thinking journalist Sanchez is trying to convey to the bailiff the real course of things: “You are used to working in your place. According to the protocol, charter, instructions. You go like a steam locomotive along the knurled rails. If something lies on the rails, or if they suddenly disappear, you start to panic. But you are not inert. System. And you just work in it. You are used to. It is not your fault. And the system is not to blame. Moreover, it is not bad. <...> We live in a country with a government and a state system. Only this shitty system. Although this does not negate the fact that a shitty system is better than its complete absence. As well as the fact that in other states known to us, everything is also crap. It’s just that there are problems of their own, both in power and among the people, and we have our own. <...> I am not against the authorities and the Consortium. And looking for a fly in the ointment is my job. ”

Niro, in turn, believes: “If I find myself in an unpleasant situation, then the system and the Consortium are not to blame. I am to blame. I didn’t do my job. <...> The OTK authorities have nothing to do with it. " However, he does not allow the thought that he could simply be framed.

In the depths of his soul, Niro has a fair sense of resentment, but the experience gained over the years does not allow the senior bailiff to see the essence of the problem. He tries to convince himself that the chief is right and that is simple: the criminal is indicated to the bailiff, he arrests him and prepares materials for the court proving the crime. Then the poor fellow is judged and sent to the islands. Always, because bailiffs always find evidence of guilt. There can be no mistake; conscience does not torment. There is no doubt. And there is no pity for magicians either, because this part of magic is initially banned, since someone who decides to connect his life with a semi-legal occupation initially walks along the razor's edge. And if, realizing this, people still get into magic, then there is nothing to regret if they fell off the line. Everything is simple. And his job is to take fines and send them to court. But now, for the first time during the service, it turns out that there is no one to blame and no one to be brought to justice. And if the culprit is absent, then Niro himself is to blame. It is reasonable, it is right. But something inside Niro rebels against such a formulation of the question. If he did not catch the criminal, then of course he is guilty, but why should he himself become a criminal because of this?

As a result, Niro, a man devoted to the system with all his being, his boss Georges Derance gives to the pieces of this system, but not because Niro has committed a crime against the authorities, but because the boss has a love affair with his wife, about whom the senior bailiff and does not suspect.

The journalist Sanchez, trying to help Niro, finds out the real circumstances of things, but cannot find irrefutable evidence, which means that the accusation will be unfounded. This is because Derance is the wheel of a common machine that helps it work as usual. And Sanchez is a grain of sand, trying to stop the movement of the car.

In turn, Niro accepts the accusation absolutely submissively, honestly repenting for the fabricated crime imputed to him, because he believes that “the system cannot be mistaken,” because even in his thoughts he cannot imagine that he can only become a victim of an unclean boss.

Not accepting what is incomprehensible

OTK does not like magic for its lack of control and unpredictability, so they try to limit it, to take control. Many ordinary citizens fear and dislike magicians.

However, in a world where magicians retained their power, a similar attitude towards technological progress is widespread. One of the first steps informs the authorities: “According to recent reports, heretics who exchanged the lords of the elements for the spirits of the machine are gaining strength, the Great Mother. If they are not stopped, then very soon they will take the whole line under their arm. Belief in the spirit of the car is strong on the frontier lands and continues to gain strength. The gifts of the elements are prohibited. Only the elect dare to invoke the elements. Those who do this arbitrarily are persecuted. The south of the frontier lands has already succumbed to this insanity. And the infection is slowly creeping north. ”

Kingdom Jester and Crowd

Sanchez - a journalist, appears in the book as a kind of rebel, a truth-seeker who goes against the authorities. However, he does not identify with the revolutionary, specifying that it is dangerous to be. He's more like a jester. A jester is allowed to tell the truth, but you can not cross the line of what is permitted. He knows why they love him, and knows why they put up with him. Any outrageous must have its own boundaries. And no shocking is worth risking his skin for his sake. Ideals and ideas are the same product as everything else. The main thing is to correctly present and sell more expensively, well, or sell yourself. There are sincere ones who shove their ideals into what is written for the sake of trends, power, censorship, the reader. But even if they move a bright idea, it still works for the system. And if it goes against the system, then the author’s system destroys the idea. Loyal author - honor and stable work; revolutionary - exile and poverty.

And he wanted to spit on readers: as long as his articles are goods, and goods sold, he spit on every fucking buyer. Where there is an angry grumble, there is a scandal, and any scandal attracts attention. The one who sells it, the one who prints it - here without them he is sure that he is nobody. And those who read ... yes they can vparit anything. He clarifies that even if he begins to write about how the gods came down from heaven and staged a brawl in a city park, they would still read it. There are, of course, those who are outraged, but they will read. If he starts to write with deliberate mistakes, a lot of fighters for the purity of the language will anathematize him, and a bunch of cretins will imitate his ingenious syllable. And at the same time, both will read it. They won’t go anywhere, as long as its editor offers them breakfast information for coffee, oatmeal and fried eggs. Even if he openly calls them all idiots from the front page, they will still read it. Moreover, most of them will accept this with enthusiasm. "Why? “Because they are idiots,” Sanchez shrugs.

At the moment when the magicians attacked the Consortium building, and Sanchez was in the square in front of the building, he looked around the crowd and mumbled sadly: "Herd." This herd is its audience. Those for whom he writes. Those whom he entertains. They do not care how terrible what is happening next. They only need to be entertained. They have long ceased to feel fear for someone. Until everyone is personally killed, there is no fear. They forgot how to feel someone else's pain. It hurts only when they kill a person close to you or cut off your hand. And if the neighbor’s hand is cut off, it doesn’t hurt, it’s interesting. Then he will write how it all happened. Or not he is another. And they will discuss it at breakfast. Even maybe they argue to hoarseness. Perhaps in this dispute they will have some kind of belief that they will defend in words. And in such disputes, those who now stand in this crowd will have an undoubted advantage. “I was there, and where were you at that time?” Such a debater would say. And his interlocutor will shut up under the pressure of argument. Because this onlooker was here and fought for his government and people or for freedom for magicians and people. What they fought for, they will come up with later, when they begin to argue. Now they just stand and stare. And he or his colleagues will throw them arguments in the dispute and positions that they will consider their own. And they will argue and defend "their" position until lunch. And then they will plant a new topic for fun, because forever procrastinating the same thing is boring. In a word - "Herd".

Respect for the Thinking

The disgraced journalist Sanchez, who considers the vast majority of his readers to be idiots, still singles out a small exceptional group.

“There must be respect for the reader,” Sanchez says, “and even more so, there is respect for the reader.” There are almost no readers. ” And he explains that it doesn’t depend on the circulation: any gymnasium can put letters into words. But this skill has nothing to do with the ability to understand what is written, not to mention reading between the lines. For this we need culture, education, upbringing, finally. And the Verolla Lights is bought by everyone, regardless of the ability to think.

Gift or Curse

After a moment at a bar in Uthanava, when Pantor nearly broke the law and did not use martial magic, he began to be torn by thoughts of his innate gift. Perhaps, the student of Messer thought, magicians are born that way. And it has been laid down since childhood. And one cannot escape from this, do not hide, do not refuse. Though forbid, at least do not forbid, but there can be no magician without magic. And in a critical situation, magic will control the magician, and not the magician, magic, dividing it into permitted and forbidden. " He thought that it was possible to restrain this in himself, but until a certain moment, until magic prevailed over him. Until consciousness turns off. After all, it is it that dictates what is possible, what is impossible. But then is magic a curse or, conversely, a blessing that many are deprived of?

The main character is trying to figure out what magic is for him. Yes, of course, this is a burden and responsibility. But his situation still differs from the position of Cassandra , where the gift of prophecy was really a real curse for her. It is more appropriate to quote Konstantin Aksakov ’s words about Peter I : “The gift of power is a great gift, but a gift is dangerous: directed in the wrong direction, it can do as much harm as good if it is for the good” ^[8] .

Centralized power

Before the start of the attack on the Consortium, the magicians of the capital were concerned about the situation in the regions, as could not guarantee support there. To which Jonah answered: “You are idealizing. Outside Verolla there is a small-town power, which in fact does not obey anyone, but curtsies and makes concessions to Verolla. Notice, I'm talking about Veroll, not the Consortium. They will agree with any authority that sits here, if only they would not break the usual way. They didn’t do worse. The consortium has no real power beyond the capital. And an illiterate magician who knows how to turn on lights in the evening is often not less respected than the mayor. ”

The described situation allows us to draw a parallel with real events in the history of mankind, when the main coup took place in the capital, and the inhabitants of the rest of the territory took over the new government with hope and faith in a better future.

Confirmation of the weakening of the influence of power in the regions can also be seen in a conversation with provincial magicians from Utanava: “So you lit up with magic, and nobody will run to knock on you. This is not accepted with us. Now, if I cast a spell and would light up for magicians from the control department, then yes. Although they, too, are looking at everything through their fingers. <...> Near Verolla, it is stricter. In the capital, in general, solid scammers. And the farther from the capital, the freer. That's why we settled here because we can do much more without a license. And if with a license, in general, almost anything. ”

Leader as a symbol

Ionaea realistically appreciates her role in the upcoming uprising: “I am only a symbol for them. There are no rebel leaders. There is only oppression of circumstances, and then a person comes who gives an impetus to what has long been ripe. Symbol. Banner. Portrait. As you wish. I'm not a gunsmith. I do not understand weapons. I'm just the finger that pulls the trigger. Poof! If I didn’t, do you think this would not happen? It would happen. Just a little later. ”

By the way, also in 2011 in Russia, the last final book of Susan Collins “The Hunger Games” - “ Mockingjay ” was released, where the heroine Katniss is offered to play the role of a symbol for rallying the rebels.

Crowd Value

The people are just a tool in achieving the goal.

• In a situation where magicians, contrary to the order of Ionea, began to attack the building of the Court in addition to the Consortium, the magessa intervened: “I forbid attacking other buildings. We are at war with the Consortium, and not with OTC. We are struggling with power, not with the people. Judges are the same people. And we still need them. We have magicians in subjection, good magicians. But among our supporters there are neither judges, nor bailiffs, nor officials. And if the magicians begin to do what they don’t know, then it’s better to immediately end this rebellion. ” She orders to send a group of students to take care of the safety of the common population: “They are still of little use, and we do not need extra victims. The calmer everything goes, the softer they will accept us. ”
• In a situation where the Consortium began to shoot at magicians, and the second and next volleys fell on a crowd of onlookers, Ionea was absolutely calm. To the question of her subordinates what to do, she replies: “Nothing ... Continue the assault. People are not blind, they had to understand that we took care of their safety, and the Consortium government opened fire on them to defeat. This will count towards us. Nothing else matters".

Manifestation of Freedom

At the meeting between Sanchez and Ionea, when Sanchez announced that he was writing a series of articles on the bailiff service of the Consortium Magical Surveillance Department, Ionea clarified:

Sanchez understood the truth that Jonah wanted to see, but he did not begin to write about it. He wrote that not a single power promising the embodiment of an ideal will ever embody the ideal, even if it is close to it. He wrote that the main thing, the most important thing is not to change ideals for promises, no matter how smoothly these promises may sound.

• Kostin M., Gravitsky A.A. The Living and the Dead. Apprentice mage . - M .: Faculty, 2011 .-- 400 p. - (Living and Dead). - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-904358-10-5 .

• Kostin M., Gravitsky A.A. The Living and the Dead. Apprentice mage . - M .: Snezhny Kom M, 2012 .-- 228 p. - (Living and Dead). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-904919-47-4 .

• Review in the magazine "Fantasy World" .