“A seer?” asked Southernstar. “So you are a disciple of Learion like us.”
“I think I am more of a tool,” Sane said sarcastically. “I have begun to think that my visions have been directed by Learion solely to further his own ends.”
“We of the higher races are not tools,” corrected Eldar, “In each of us exists the capacity to make our own choices, to find our own paths. The gods may try to steer us as they will, but ultimately our fates are our own to determine.”
Sane’s muscles pulled at whatever binds Eldar used to hold him in place. His staff was still in his hand and he drew on it to focus his power inwardly, examining the spell that was wrapped around him like a cocoon. He could sense the magic trailing back to Eldar like a spider’s web. There must be a way to exploit that link.
“That connection could be exploited,” said Eldar, again reading his mind, “but not by one of your limited knowledge. The more you struggle, the more you prove that I am right to hold you like this.”
“I am merely trying to determine my own fate,” Sane answered. There was no way out of this. They were far more powerful than him and they could read his mind, stopping any plan he might concoct before it even began, but perhaps that was a link that could be exploited too.
“This is the future that my world will suffer, if you do not let me go and allow me to take the grimoire.” Sane drew on his recent memories, recalling the waking vision he had in Wolfsbane. He could see it as clearly as if it was happening right in front of him. Byrn’s hand reached out to grab Sane as darkness flew off him in waves. His touch was like ice on Sane’s shoulder as Byrn grabbed him and death oozed from his very essence. Sane had tried to push him away, but Byrn gripped all the harder for his struggles.
His eyes were as cold as his grip and the spark of life that could be found in all those living was extinguished. Slowly, inevitably, Byrn pulled in Sane until the husk of a man’s lips were almost against the sorcerer’s ears.
“Don’t let him take me,” Byrn’s whisper was hoarse and raspy not unlike a dead man who refused to accept his fate.
“Who?” Sane had begged for the answer.
The husk turned his head to look behind him and Sane followed his dead eyes to the countenance of Xander Necros.
Southernstar looked to Eldar, but neither dragon said anything. Eldar nodded his head to one side to her. If there was a mental discussion playing out between them, then Sane was being excluded.
Then, he recalled an older vision. This one was less clear, because it came to him in a dream, but Sane found that as he gave himself over to the memory fully he could remember details that he had thought were long forgotten.
He could see it all as if he was a bird or, perhaps, a dragon soaring overhead. A supernatural shadow grew over the land of Wolfsbane beginning at the city and expanding out into the countryside. Healthy grasslands browned and flowers, once blooming, wilted as the shadow passed over them. A lone shepherd tending his flock aged decades in a matter of seconds before falling over in his field leaving a dead, shriveled husk where moments before stood a virile man. His flock, too, died from the shadow's plague, as did a wolf stalking the herd.
The shadow moved westward, extending over the kingdom of Aurelia. The Blackwood Forest died as the trees decayed and fell one after another. Mollifas fared no better as the largest city in the kingdom, home to hundreds of thousands of people, fell to the plague of darkness in a matter of seconds. King Janus, newly came to his throne, clawed at invisible hands around his throat as his eyes rolled back in his head and his body shuddered a death spasm.
The southern shipping port of Lion's Landing on the other side of the kingdom crumbled beneath the shadow’s approach. Women and children died in the streets of the once prosperous city. Sailors frantically ran to their ships trying to cast off before the shadow reached them to no avail. The ocean quaked and the boats capsized trapping the sailors underneath.
The North Lands fell next. Kellen wore his armor- now dull; its enchantment had faded- and stood against the shadow. His natural speed and strength did nothing to help him push back the shadow as others fell around him and in the end his blue flames that held its advance at bay for no more than a few seconds were extinguished by the dark and it took him as well.
Once the lands of man were emptied of all life, the orcs fell next as the shadow consumed the Dread Marsh and the lands beyond. Their mightiest warriors were as nothing when faced with the formless death that Korok had predicted long ago. Then the goblins fell. For all of their ingenuity, they could not hide from the shadow.
The shadow enshrouded every corner of Aurelia leaving the kingdom devoid of all life so that only the sorcerer, Sane, stood alone; the last protector of a dead land. Then the shadow came for him too.
“Enough!” Eldar’s voice roared through his head, making Sane want to cover his ears though it would have done no good even if he could have. “We will not become involved in your confrontations. That is not the way of the dragon.”
In opposition, to his words, Eldar released the spell that held Sane in place. “However, if your visions hold true, then I cannot prevent you from trying to avert such a disaster.”
“Then you will allow me to take the grimoire?” asked Sane. He rubbed at one shoulder that had grown sore while under the spell’s affects.
“You may borrow it, but it must be returned. Southernstar will accompany you to the land of the humans and once your trials are over- for good or ill, she will return with the book.” To Southernstar, he added, “Assuming you are willing, dear girl?”
“I am,” she answered after some momentary hesitation.
Eldar returned his attention to Sane, “The way of the dragon is one of non-violence. Though Southernstar will travel at your side, she is forbidden by our customs from getting involved in your conflict even if it might mean the loss of your life.”
“Thank you, I understand, but can’t we do something about Xander while he is here? You could freeze him as you did me.”
Eldar shook his head. “We will not move against him as long as he does not seek to do violence in our realm.”
Sane wanted to ask Eldar to take a more active role in dealing with Xander, but knew that he would only be wasting his time. Instead, he thanked Eldar for the aid he was given and left with Southernstar for one of the city’s many libraries.
“Your visions are quite strong,” she told him at one point. “As long as we are to travel together I could teach you how to focus that aspect of your magic, so that you can direct your foresight. In time that ability could grow so that you can project your mind into others as we do to communicate.”
“I would like that,” answered Sane.
Chapter 27
Grandraco was the only place in the entire world where every one of the remaining gods had a temple erected in his or her honor. It was certainly the only place near Aurelia where there was a temple to Kassani, the goddess of death. In Aurelia, the people seemed to be enamored with her sister goddess, Ashura, who was the patron of life, making Kassani seem almost like a villain in comparison though they were truly only opposites sides of one coin. That is why some referred to them as the sister goddesses, because without one the other could not exist.
The temples were enormous by human standards by virtue of the dragons’ girth so that they could easily enter for worship and prayer. Learion’s temple stood at the center in a place of honor while to its immediate right was Ashura’s temple, carved of mountain stone rather than the elven trees imported into Aurelia, and to its immediate left was Kassani’s temple. Further out and forming into a circle were the temples of other lesser gods like Vailon and Waicosson in positions representative of their natures. Vailon, god of war, had a temple besides Kassani’s and Waicosson, god of forests and the hunt, had a temple nearer Ashura’s. The pattern was not set to draw any sort of battle lines between the gods, but merely served as an ornate way to show how the gods were supposed to be connected.
/> Kassani’s temple was also a creation of stone. It had carvings of spirits and wraiths carved into its exterior walls coming off of columns and making swirling designs meant to depict her subjects between them. However, it was not a ghastly building to behold for Kassani was not feared by the dragon race and the ghouls that adorned her walls were not created with grim expressions, though they could not be categorized as happy either.
Inside, the temple was devoid of life until Xander entered. It was probably just a coincidence, as dragons would come here on occasion to commune with their ancestors and attempt to gain greater wisdom from the experiences of those who came before them. It was a shame that humans did not do so as well. How many various forms of magic had his race lost over a millennium of fighting? One only had to look at the dragons that collected and hoarded all manner of lore to have an inkling of the answer to that question.
He knelt at the altar before the statue of Kassani. The statue was in dragon form as the temple’s creators viewed all of the gods. It was a mutual conceit among the higher races that they only envisioned the gods as members of their own race. However, Xander liked the idea of seeing Kassani as a dragon. It was a fitting form for one that held ultimate power over all things living. In time all those who walked the earth would come to know her embrace, so Xander had no qualms about sending others to meet her sooner rather than later when it served his purposes.
“Goddess Kassani,” he whispered reverently with his head bowed, “please answer my summons.” He did not release any magic to call her to him. He did nothing but focus his mind on the statue before him and silently hoped it would answer in this place devoted to her. There was no power in the world that Xander knew of that could make a god come when they did not desire to.
He knelt in silence for a few minutes without speaking. The gods were slow to react and required patience of their followers. Sometimes the person praying would have to wait for hours and even days before their patron would deign to answer, and that was when the gods actually chose to answer them at all. It was just another way that they could remind their creations that they were the superior beings.
Finally, the air grew heavy and Xander felt charged with a great energy. Kassani answered, “My prodigal son returns. What name do you go by now?” Her voice answered demurely within his mind not unlike how the dragons communicated, but Kassani was nowhere to be seen.
Xander chose to look at Kassani’s dragon representation as he addressed her. “My latest incarnation is as Byrn Aurel, but for now I will continue to use the name Xander Necros to avoid confusion for the question that I must ask.
“When I took this body the previous owner, the first Byrn Aurel, told me that it was cursed so that if I ever took a life, then I would suffer the same fate. Is there any truth to this?”
“There is,” replied the disembodied voice, “Byrn Aurel or Byrn Lightfoot as he was known at the time was cursed by Ashura after killing a handful of sick and injured people on the grounds of one of her temples and I agreed to take his life should he ever kill again.”
“But why curse him so?” asked Xander. “Surely I and many others have killed more than this, at the time, boy. Why were others not cursed in a similar manner?”
“Decades from now your world will be on the brink of destruction and we have taken it upon ourselves to weave a solution into the fabric of your reality. Learion began it all by moving his chess piece, Sane, into a position where he would become entangled with Byrn Lightfoot and your daughter. They would learn magic together under Sane’s tutelage and over time a deep love would grow between them, but they never met. Byrn chose to return to Colum and fight the ogres at a critical moment. Alia escaped from Sane and Byrn was imprisoned.
“In order for us to give mankind the key to saving its world, their love would have to flourish and certain events would have to take place to make sure that still happened. We subtly manipulated other events so that Byrn was put in a cell near yours in Baj. Through you he met your wife and through her he eventually met your daughter.”
“But the curse?” asked Xander.
“Byrn’s potential was too great. He needed to be limited so that he would need the help of others for the first few years as he grew into maturity. Otherwise his course would have been too unpredictable. He could have grown drunk in his own power and that would have lead to too many possible futures to contend with.”
It was a sensation that Xander knew too well. The power could be intoxicating and since entering Byrn’s body he felt it tenfold. It was only Byrn’s warning about the curse that kept Xander from going directly to Mollifas and single-handedly laying waste to any that stood in his way.
“Then I have ruined your plans when I took Byrn’s body,” Xander guessed. There would be no romantic love between him and his daughter. Whatever the gods had intended was already wrought asunder.
If Kassani had been there in physical form, he guessed that she would have smiled when she answered. “Not at all. Our plans have already been achieved though Learion still views you as an unintended consequence that must be dealt with. I, however, see you as a potential solution to our future problem.”
He did not understand what she meant at first, but a spark of inspiration told him the answer. “Avelice. My grandchild. You wanted them to get together so that she could be born.”
“She is the culmination of three of the richest magical bloodlines in your pocket of the world even though her father’s side has a tendency to drown their magician offspring. One day she will command a magical power unknown in your time and as your kingdom’s future queen she will have an army of magicians and normal humans at her back. She is the light that will one day shine over your world. You may do whatever you wish as long as she is protected and ascends the Aurelian throne.”
“Then you will remove the curse,” he asked hopefully.
There was a short pause.
“What fun is there in doing that?” Kassani laughed. “The curse will remain intact, but know this my favored servant: The curse does not rest in you. It will remove Byrn Lightfoot’s soul from whichever host he occupies.”
Xander was still kneeling, but he bent his body forward in a deep bow to the statue so that his head almost touched the floor. “You have my thanks, my goddess, and I promise you that I will do all within my power to assure that my granddaughter will one day become the queen of Aurelia.”
“I know that you will,” was the last thing Kassani said. The air within the temple lost the charge of energy it held only seconds before that gave it an oppressive feeling. Xander was now alone.
He considered all that Kassani had told him and how it affected his plans to rule Aurelia. Eventually he decided that it did not affect them and more than that, if he did take up mantle of the king as Byrn Aurel, then it would guarantee that Avelice would one day have his kingdom as the rightful successor. If anything his conversation with Kassani only solidified his resolve that what he was doing was for the best, but now he knew that his actions would not only benefit magicians, but would eventually save the world.
However, Learion still viewed him as a threat and set Sane on a path that could lead to his defeat. He would either have to destroy the sorcerer or destroy the grimoire that held his secrets.
He left the temple for the libraries, using his magic to fly through the air. He would go for the grimoire first and if luck was on his side, he could surreptitiously remove the few pages that mattered and be on his way without any of the dragon race being any wiser.
For now, Sane was protected by the dragon’s code of passivity in their lands, but eventually they would let Sane go and he would be forced to return to the world below. Then if he ever crossed Xander’s path it would be the last thing that the sorcerer would do.
It took longer than expected for Xander to find the library he was searching for. The temples had unique designs on each of them, making them easy to tell apart, but there were no street signs or signs posted on the otherwise non-desc
ript buildings that might indicate what they were used for or which of them might be home to books or other artifacts. The dragons that lived here had little trouble navigating their streets, but a human who had only been to their city a few times before and the last trip being two lifetimes ago would have considerably more trouble, forcing Xander to stop and ask for directions several times.
When Xander was fairly certain that he had found the correct library he lowered to the ground and entered the building. Xander walked past rows of books upon shelves near the entranceways of varying sizes. The larger volumes were nearly as tall as the magician and went from there down to a size about half that of a traditional human book. The book size was an indication of who wrote the tome. The oversized volumes were the products of the dragons, while the smaller ones were written by goblins. The middle-sized races of humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs wrote the rest of the books, which were in limited supply. In addition to the wide array of authors that the libraries boasted, they also covered a plethora of topics. Not all of the dragon treasures were of a magical nature. Scattered amongst the first floor were cookbooks, books on horticulture, history, lore of the various races, and anthologies of anecdotal tales that may or may not have any basis in truth.
He approached a blue dragon that had pulled one of the larger tomes from its shelve and was perusing it on the floor. “Can you direct me to the section on magical spells and theory?” asked Xander.
The dragon looked up from his book with an upturned eyebrow. It was difficult to read a dragon’s expression, but he looked to be caught somewhere between mildly surprised and annoyed. “Second floor. Take the stairs in the back.” Xander started to walk away and the dragon added, “The other human is already up there.”
Sane.
Xander walked at a brisk pace for the stairs, not wanting to draw undue attention.
What had the sorcerer said or done to convince Eldar to release him so soon? It did not matter, but it proved one thing to the necromancer: Sane was more resourceful than he thought. Maybe he should be dealt with now.
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