"What is a wizard?"
Long ago, the person who had guided him onto the path of the supernatural had asked him that. Of course, Karl had been only twelve at the time and had no idea what the answer was. All he could do was give a vague response.
"Probably someone powerful and mysterious."
"Exactly."
His teacher's agreement surprised him. He had expected to be corrected and then told the real answer.
"Originally, 'wizard' referred to people who possessed mysterious magical abilities beyond the understanding of ordinary folk. That is where wizards began."
"So wizards have always existed at the edge of the conventional world. They know of knowledge outside it that is darker and more bizarre, and they command strange, obscure arts."
"Wizards believe that not everything can be explained or understood through words and writing. That is the greatest difference between us and scholars and mages."
"Mages believe there are hidden truths in the world, and that if they explore and understand them, they can explain everything with those truths and use them to plan and control all things."
"The relentless pursuit of knowledge is not always a good thing. In truth, it is a kind of arrogance to believe that once we have investigated and understood something, we can master and wield it. We must admit that the world will always be vast and unknown, and meet it with reverence."
"Wizards can set aside conflicts between the concepts of things and explore directly from their outward manifestations, then learn to control them according to their patterns. We need not deliberately understand the principles behind them, and we cannot know the world in its entirety as it truly is."
[The completely objective, true world is unknowable. We can only ever perceive the experienced world after it has been