Paper Mages

Every five years, the Mage Duels are held: apprentices enter the field to prove themselves by surviving. Many die. For a long time, nothing changed. Then Eltrest Grefaren's apprentice Variscitan died in the duels — an orphaned boy of exceptional promise and exceptional heart. Eltrest spent the next five years in isolation and emerged visibly aged, carrying a new magic. He placed a piece of paper on a table, set a Heliodor stone beside it, and with a word, created a small version of himself — a paper champion that thinks and acts exactly as its maker would, that feels no pain, and that can be made again and again. No apprentice needs to die in the duels anymore. Eltrest Grefaren changed life for every mage in the world.