by Robert Spina
Oriapow walks in from behind Hornspire, and the seven magic users look at one another in a very awkward and uneasy situation.
Logantrance smiles, putting his hands on his head. “I can’t believe it!” As Farrah walks to the circle joining the magic users, Logantrance runs to her.
“My queen, you are still alive.” Farrah looks at Bastrenboar with a blatant look of unacknowledged disregard.
“Farrah, how did you survive? I saw what Hornspire did to you. How did you?” Logantrance hugs her as she hugs him.
Farrah takes a step back and raises her left arm to Logantrance, revealing a gold band around her third finger. Logantrance grasps her hand and pulls it close so he can inspect the gold band.
“A Band of Life. You are a most surprising and resourceful young woman, Farrah.”
“Vegenrage found this in the lair of Alisluxkana. He gave it to me along the Smildren Sea and said this would marry us forever. I told him I would never take it off. I did not know it was a Band of Life until just a little while ago. Oh my god. Vegenrage.” Farrah goes to Vegenrage, who is still lying motionless in the sapphire bed.
Meanwhile, Oriapow walks to the Octagemerwell and picks it up. He walks through a Dimension Door, giving Cloakenstrike a very mean look. Bastrenboar walks through a Dimension Door of his own and so does Cloakenstrike. Farrah, the Dagi, and Logantrance look at Vegenrage’s motionless body.
Farrah puts her hand on his chest. “Vegenrage. Vegenrage, wake up.” She shakes him.
“Logantrance, what is wrong? Why isn’t he waking up?”
Oriapow, Cloakenstrike, and Bastrenboar walk out of the air right next to them. They all look confused.
“What is this? Are we in some sort of trap?” Bastrenboar looks to the others for an explanation.
The Octagemerwell floats out of Oriapow’s hands and fuses with the bed Vegenrage is in, and the bed becomes a mix of sapphire and emerald. Wogenkeld starts to flip through its pages, and The Wattsverocy comes free from its hiding place underneath the clothing on Logantrance’s back. Both books hover in the air and join, becoming one. The book falls hard on the podium, and Vergraughtu, now a real dragon only the size of a small dog, jumps onto the book. He is black with golden streaks all throughout him and is looking very mean, showing his teeth and grumbling.
“Vergraughtu, is that you? You could take your form at any time. You know I would’ve done anything to help you return to your real form.”
“Shut up, all of you, shut up. There was no prophecy. No real prophecy. That rambling idiot Hornspire wrote all his dragon prophecies, and I used the foolish ones that bought into it to further my power to live forever and control you all. The only real prophecy is knowledge, understanding, and using that to increase the power that already exists. You were not the only one that knew of Vegenrage’s dreams and their presence, Logantrance. I homed in on this human just as you did. I knew as you did there was something special about this human, and it is pure magic, the ability to just think it and it happens. No one and no being other than Vegenrage has this ability until now. Now that I have figured the way to use him as a vessel for myself …” Blood starts to trickle from Vegenrage’s neck. “Now that I have planted the demon seed in him, he is mine for the taking.”
“Logantrance, Vegenrage is bleeding. What is happening to him?”
Vergraughtu spits a black dart from his mouth, and it strikes Vegenrage in the neck. The dart turns to black powder and fuses with Vegenrage’s blood, entering the hole created by the never known mosquito. The miniature Vergraughtu deflates and falls to ash on the book, and the book goes up in flames. Vegenrage starts to shake.
“Logantrance, we have to help him. We have to do something.”
“Hurry, everybody, hold him down.”
He is starting to shake violently as everyone rushes to hold his legs and arms down. Logantrance starts to chant a spell, but everyone backs away, except Farrah, as Vegenrage’s ribs pop up and out and fall back down. Everyone can hear his bones breaking, and Farrah is crying.
“Logantrance, help him.” Farrah has to fall back with her hand over her mouth, crying as the head of an incredibly mean-looking dragon rises from Vegenrage’s chest. It is black, but the head sits on a bipedal neck not that of a four-legged animal. It continues to rise, showing frills growing out the back of its head, and it has long ears and long whiskers. It has very pronounced ridges covering its glassy large brown eyes that seem to look right through the spectators. The neck has yellow scales, and humanoid arms reach out from Vegenrage and put its hands with long black claws for fingernails on the sides of the bed. Farrah falls back on the ground, almost out of breath in horror, and the others back up slowly, speechless and scared as well.
The silence is almost painful, and the creature continues to rise from Vegenrage’s corpse. The dragon head rises black on top, black down its back and yellow down its chest and belly. The head is dragon, the neck and shoulders are a mix between dragon and human. The arms are human, with dragon claws on the fingertips. Its skin is scales, and it has wings. The abdomen thickens as it goes down to the hind legs. It crawls out of the bed very slowly, looking at the horrified magic users, who, out of fear, huddle close to each other. Its hind legs are very long, and it stands up tall, tilting its head slowly from side to side, looking over the magic users. It is thirteen feet tall, very slender with a long thick whiplike tail. It extends its long narrow wings and flaps them very slowly, looking at the magic users, slowly swaying its head back and forth with a quiet and terrifying hiss. It turns, jumps, and with a powerful flap of its wings, is gone.
Glossary
Adronpee—A Salcendreepe
Agilaseed—Magical boots once owned by Varlana
Ahnkle—A Glaborian dwarve
Alitch—A Glaborian dwarve
Alisluxkana—A once beautiful woman, now a master witch
Alluradaloni—A seductress who steals the life force of men and women, giving her eternal life
Angribe—An Erkensharie magic user
Arglon—A Ugorian magic user
Arman—One of the Ugorian guard
Bag of Holding—A small pouch that can store almost any object of any size in it
Bailseize—Brown dragon
Band of Life—Will restore the life of the wearer up to three times
Barrier of Force—An invisible barrier made of magic that repels all that touch it
Barrier of Magic Deflection—A barrier that deflects all magic spells
Bastrenboar—The first and now leader of the humanor
Behaggen—The first Bag of Holding
Bell of Realm Reset—When struck, this will reset the realms of Wherlerria back to their true home Kronton
Belron—Mournbow’s personal servant
Bengwile—A servant of King Trialani
Biyardus—A dwarven archer
Blethstole—Black dragon
Blythgrin—A dwarven Dagi
bog owl—An owl that lives in the Bore Bog
bog wolves—A species of deadly wolf that live in the bogs south of Erkensharie
Bondlagorm—A small four-legged animal living in the Bore Bog
Bore Bog—A large bog west of the Terrashian grassland surrounded by the Blimith and Crisdor Seas
Bore Worms—Flesh-eating worms
Brad—Sarah’s father
Breath of Aquaisen—Blue dragon breath attack
Breath of Biopleen—Peach dragon breath attack
Breath of Broam—Brown dragon breath attack
Breath of Decadence—Black dragon breath attack
Breath of Glasand—Fluorescent green dragon breath attack
Breath of Grianaslenth—Yellow dragon breath attack
Breath of Halgespace—Purple dragon breath attack
Breath of Gustament—Gold dragon breath attack
Breath of Molten Metal—Silver dragon breath attack
Breath of Rot—The breath attack of Drase
Breebellow—A dwarven
Dagi
Breezzele—A village in the Krinston Realm
Bricekleel—A long sword with a blade of magical ice
Brimonious—Glimtron’s father
Bronsilith—Leader of the Ugorian bowelves
Cebleeth—An Erkensharie magic user
Cage of Draining—Drains both the magical and physical energy of its captive
Cannonbolt—A large magic harpoon shot from its caster
Carbonheight Hills—The great hills made out of carbon
Carboul—A Glaborian dwarve
Casaundra—One of Altrar’s most distinguished female warriors
Casson—A Salcendreepe
Casur—The southernmost inner gate to Ugoria
Changenoir—A man that can change into a terrifying cross between a bear and a werewolf
Charumpaboon—A very large mix between a chimpanzee and a baboon
Churcher—A Glaborian dwarve
Clawbominal—A four-legged carnivore living in the Krasbeil Mountains
Cleapell—Casaundra’s magical clothing
Cloakenstrike—A very powerful human magic user
Cloak of Concealment—A cloak that can conceal the magical presence of its wearer
Cloak of Reflection—Reflects all magic back at its caster
Cocoddlebrew—Alisluxkana’s broom
Corksez—Captain in Mournbow’s army
Crayeulle—An Erkensharie magic user
Creenberk tree—A small tree found only in the Erkensharie forest
Cremnole—A Stone Giant
Creshian Forest—A forest to the south of the Ugorian Kingdom
Crisdor Sea—A sea on the planet Kronton
Dagger of Speed—A normal dagger but, when thrown, hits its target instantaneously
Dagger of Motion Slowing—A dagger that disrupts the blood flow of anyone stabbed by it, killing them quickly if not removed
Dagi—The only dwarven magic users in all the realms
Dagi Bluffs—Home of the Dagi
Darnsack Realm—The territory from the Crisdor Sea to the Pinegrow Forest and to the Blimith Sea
Debbreir—A Glaborian dwarve
Decadic Marshland—The great acidic lands west of Mirrimya Mountains
demon seed—A growing entity put in a host by a dragon
Diamond Skin—Very strong magical barrier just above the skin
Dimension Door—A magical door that can lead to any location the caster can visualize
Dormins—A Glaborian dwarve
Drachen clan—First magical order of the planet Kronton
Dragon Feast—When all the dragons take to the skies and feed on the humanoid races until their hunger is satisfied
Dragonmire—Metal magically altered by dragons
Dragonslayer—A Foarsbleem arrow that can kill dragons
Dribillion—Leader of King Trialani’s personal guard
Dribrillianth—Diamond dragon
Drimdree—A Glaborian dwarve catapultist
Drumbolt—A demon that can form from all earth
Drypes—A Glaborian dwarve
Dwarve—The dwarves of the Maglical System are not “dwarfs”; they are dwarves. They are a humanoid race about half the size of humans.
Earth Elemental—Earth that can materialize into any form when summoned
Eebil—A Glaborian dwarve
Elbutan Forest and Highlands—Large forest with high hills and long valleys on the planet Kronton
elementals—Creatures summoned and formed from air, water, or earth
Elkwar—An Erkensharie warrior
Elvennell—A plain-looking leather armor that repels all attacks by elven weapons or by someone with elven blood
Emily—Sarah’s mother
Emzwer—A Mountain Creek Dragon
Erken tree—The dominant tree in Erkensharie, and it only grows here.
Erkensharie elves—Live on the planet Fargloin and rule the Erkensharie territory
Erkensharie language—Language spoken by the Erkensharie magic users
Farrah—Saved by Vegenrage and named by Vegenrage; she is his greatest admirer
Farrahbeth—Vegenrage’s guardian angel
Fillismrend—A Stone Giant
Fimble—A Glaborian dwarve
Finkelbrim Realm—The territory owned by Erkensharie elves
Foarsbleem—Strongest metal on Fargloin
Fraborn—A humanor
Gairdennow—Gold dragon
Gandleleem—A bowelf serving under Bronsilith
Gannream—Mountain Creek Dragon
Gardimension—A very small gargoyle that can teleport hundreds of miles at a time as it flies
Gimstril—A Ugorian elf
Gisewear—Fluorescent green dragon
Glabor Mountain—Home to the Glaborian dwarves
Glaborster dwarves—Live on the planet Fargloin and rule the Glaborian Mountains
Glagrokwood—A very rare wood growing only in the Glaborian Mountains
Glownted—A metal similar to lead
Glurtain—A Glaborian dwarve
Golems—Very large frog-like men living in the Glaborian Mountains
Gosebek Lake—A great lake east of Ugoria
Graybazelle—A six-foot tall greyhound with shoulders and hips of a lion and a head like a gazelle with spiraling horns
Greeter—A dwarven Dagi
Grenlew—A dwarven Dagi
Gripzon—A commander in Bastrenboar’s army
Grizenlorm—A mix between a werewolf and a bear with a long ratlike tail, very similar to a Changenoir
Groglegoya—A great winged demon
Gilderblek—A leader of the dwarven archers
Guylumbree—Grey dragon
Gwippen Uprising—A natural wonder. This is the birth of the Gwipps River.
Gwipps River— Forms at the Gwippen Uprising, flows south, separating Ugoria and Hunoria.
Gwithen—The white dragon mare
Helmet of Missile Deflection—Deflects any missile that is thrown, spit, shot, flung, cast, or fired at the wearer
Hobgoblins—Scary humanoid creatures with a liking for live flesh
Hornspire—Ancient dragon who foretold of dragon prophecy
Imblogbem language—A language spoken by a race that died long ago
Inglelapse—Mournbow’s personal magic user and friend
Jetter—A leader in Mournbow’s army
Jocklyn—King Shane’s personal scribe
Johans—One of Corksez’s top fighters
Kana—A beautiful woman who became Alisluxkana
Kertinkpice—Pink dragon
King Estine—King of the Erkensharie elves
King Gracepian—King of Shaspar
King Glimtron—King of the Glaborster dwarves
King Shane—King of Shaspar at the time of Blethstole’s attack
King Trialani—King of Ugoria
Krasbeil Mountain Range—A large mountain range on Strabalster, overlooking Hunoria
Kreil—A Glaborian dwarve
Krimzill—A Glaborian dwarve
Krinston Realm—The territory northwest of Shandeltowen Mountains on the planet Kronton
Krumsel fly—These flies feed on the molting Treestriders and then become the next generation of Treestriders.
Kwerston—A young bowelf
Lava Serpent—A serpent that can swim through molten lava
Lavtonium—A very hard red metal that turns red-hot when touching something
Lavumptom Drawer—A one of a kind magical weapon imbued with the Night Jewel
Lavumptom Sword—Only ten of these were made. Made out of Lavtonium, Vullumptom, and chrome steel imbued with the sky jewel.
Ledgehorn—One of the most powerful magic users from the Krinston Realm
Leebentin—A Mountain Creek Dragon
Lentoz—An Erkensharie magic user
Limms—A dwarven Dagi
Limsil—A Ugorian magic user
Logantrance—Master magic user
, Vegenrage’s mentor
Lushantor—A commander in Bastrenboar’s army
Lycans—A breed of werewolf living in the Mindsunk Bog
Lyleede—A leader of the Salcendreepes
Mage—One who can use magic
magical Blade of Sharpness—A magical blade that extends from the fingers and/or thumb
The Magic of Krinston—A very powerful magical book written by Ledgehorn
Maglical System—The solar system Vegenrage now makes his home
magic user—Those that use magic
Meamante—Maroon dragon
Mezzmaglinggla—Female Mountain Creek Dragon
Mindsunk Bog—A very large bog in the center of Wickenfall Forest
Mirrimya Mountain—The home of Blethstole
Mogle Lands—The lands south of Ugoria
Morlinvow—A great magic user
Mountain Creek Dragons—Only dragons ever to live as a family
Mourbarria—The castle on Mytek Mountain owned by Mournbow
Mournbow—Ruler and owner of Mourbarria
Myrenthia Mountain—The first mountain in the Glaborian Mountain Range
Mystical Erkens—Home of the Erkensharie magic users
Mytek Mountain—A mountain on Kronton, home to Mournbow
Necklace of Intensity—When worn, this necklace increases strength, stamina, alertness, magical ability, and the power of magical items two times.
Net of Magic Absorption—A net absorbing the magic of anyone caught in it, making the net stronger
Niegeganther—A large catlike creature
Night Jewel—The magical jewel on the Lavumptom Drawer
Noireen language—The common language in the Maglical System, much the same as Shasparian
Nordiath—A Stone Giant
Octagemerwell—The heart of Fargloin and all elven magic
Ogres—Large humanoid creatures with fat bellies and a taste for raw flesh
Orcs—Larger-than-life beastly men
Oriapow—The father of modern Erkensharie magic
Oriapow Genie Book—The white gold prison that holds Oriapow
Orgrange—Orange dragon
Osworns—A Stone Giant
Parnapp—The sixth Bag of Holding