Magium: The Mage Tournament: Book 1

by Chris Michael Wilson

  This guy has a pretty big mouth for a healer. But can he put his money where his mouth is?

  I put my hands in my pockets and start walking slowly towards the white mage, trying to mimic Eiden’s casual demeanor and laidback smile. As I approach him, the mages that appeared to be part of his group are starting to panic, and they’re stepping aside in order to clear my path. When I stop right in front of the healer, looking at him with a smile on my face, I can see his sweat dropping from his forehead. Just as I thought. With the exception of Daren, healers are all bark and no bite.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask him. “Didn’t you say that this was the best time to strike? Well, I’m right here. Give it your best shot!”

  The blond mage attempts to grab his dagger, but his hand is trembling too much to be able to unsheathe it. I can see the fear in his eyes as he desperately looks around him for some support from his allies, but they’re all too scared to say anything.

  “Y-Y-You’re in luck, stillwater!” he says, finally. “I’ve changed my mind. I would much rather fight you on equal terms, after you’ve fully recovered. I never really liked unfair fights. We’ll see you again, soon. Come on, men, we’re leaving.”

  The white mage heads for the forest, and about ten or so mages are slowly starting to follow in his footsteps. After the whole scene has ended, I can see Eiden smirk from afar, while he takes his leave as well, by teleporting out of the clearing.

  Just as I was beginning to think that the danger was gone, I suddenly find myself surrounded by ten rock golems, each of them being at least twice my size. So there was also a powerful summoner amongst these mages. I was careless to let my guard down just because I scared off a few weaklings.

  “What’s the matter, stillwater?” I hear a voice coming from behind the wall of golems. “Why don’t you try and walk up to my golems like you did with that cowardly healer? Maybe you’ll scare them off!”

  “Barry!” screams Daren as he slashes through one of the golems and joins my side.

  There are still nine golems to go, and they have us surrounded. Daren won’t be able to destroy them all by himself while also defending me. I need to do something.

  It’s all or nothing. I take out my dagger and lunge at one of the golems in front of me. My dagger, however, barely even scratches the surface of the golem’s rock hide. There was definitely not enough power behind my blow. The creature seizes the opportunity and brings one of its huge fists down upon me.

  Luckily for me, I am fast enough to get out of its way and manage to escape unharmed. Meanwhile, Daren seems to be mowing down the golems a lot faster than I would have expected. He already downed three of them, and he’s moving on to the fourth. There’s now enough room for me to maneuver around, and these golems are pretty slow, so they shouldn’t be a danger to me anymore.

  Suddenly, there are several loud and painful bird screams coming from above us and almost immediately afterwards, we see five large hawks falling on the ground at the same time, each of them having been impaled with at least one icicle through their chests.

  Kate is standing behind us, with her hood off her head, and her signature cold look in her eyes.

  “Typical summoner tactics,” she says. “Distract the enemies with cannon fodder and then use a surprise attack from above. I am surprised that you actually managed to survive this long without knowing this, Daren. You must have been living quite a sheltered life while you were out on your heroic campaigns.”

  “Shut up!” Daren says as he cuts through another rock golem. “I was going to deal with those birds once they came down. Not everyone has fancy unlimited ranged attacks to use at their leisure.”

  One of the mages starts to scream very loudly, while pointing at Kate.

  “Aaaaah! A banshee! It’s a banshee! Quick, kill her before she fully awakens!”

  A lot of the mages who seemed to be on the fence about this whole fight until now are slowly starting to join the battle as well, in order to kill Kate. Hadrik is also quickly running towards us, probably looking to join in on the fun.

  The summoner mage is beyond himself with joy thanks to this latest turn of events. Now that I get a clear look at him, I see that he is about six feet tall and that he has long, pointy ears, green eyes and blond hair. I’ve travelled a lot in my life, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen an elf in the flesh. Usually, they are very isolated from the rest of the world and rarely go outside the Elven Nation from the Eastern Continent. I heard that they’ve been invited here too, but I wasn’t actually expecting any of them to show up. I guess this goes to show just how much of an importance the Magium holds for mages all around the world.

  “Hah!” he says, triumphantly. “This is what you all get for siding with a banshee, you lowly peasants. It’s time for me to prove to you why us elves are superior to you in every way. And I’m going to start by dealing with that monstrosity that killed my poor little hawks.”

  The summoner prepares to call more creatures into battle, but before he can act, Hadrik places himself between Kate and her attacker and starts panting heavily.

  “Hold on… Just… give me a sec…” he says, while everyone looks at him, confused. “Man… I just can’t get used to running with these short legs…”

  “Is this supposed to be some sort of a joke?” asks the elf. “You dwarves have always had a sense of humor beyond my understanding. Step aside, if you know what’s best for you.”

  “No can do, I’m afraid,” Hadrik says. “I can’t just stand idly by and let you hoodlums treat a lady with disrespect!”

  “A lady?!” the elf shouts. “I must admit, I’ve heard the rumors about dwarves drinking so much that they have ale running through their veins instead of blood, but I never thought them to be true.”

  “Aye!” Hadrik says. “And I never expected that old saying about elves never leaving home without a stick up their arse to turn out to be true, either. It’s a crazy world we’re living in, I’ll tell you that!”

  The summoner scowls upon hearing the dwarf’s words.

  “That ‘lady’ you are so keen to protect is a banshee,” he says. “She is a plague upon this land which must be dealt with immediately.”

  “Oh?” Hadrik says, with a smug grin on his face. “Is she, now?”

  “If you’re not going to get out of my way, then you can join these fools in their deaths,” the summoner says. “I’ve heard enough of your idiocy for one day.”

  Just as the summoner and all of the other mages are preparing to attack, a loud shout from Azarius the sage freezes everyone in place.

  “Enough!” he shouts. “There will be no more bloodshed this day. If any of you toddlers still feel like raising a ruckus, I am the one that you’ll be fighting next. Do I make myself clear?”

  “What?” the elf shouts. “Have you gone mad?! Do you realize what will happen if we let this evil monster roam free?”

  “I am well aware of the consequences,” Azarius says, “and I am willing to take full responsibility for my actions. You are, however, free to challenge me to a duel if you believe your cause to be the righteous one.”

  The summoner looks as if he were about to explode, but he ultimately decides to simply turn around and leave, without saying another word. The other mages who were about to join the fight are now all sheathing their weapons.

  “I am deeply sorry for not stopping this ridiculous fight sooner, my friends,” Azarius says, looking at all four of us, in turn. “I’m afraid that curiosity got the better of me and I couldn’t bring myself to end this before getting the rare opportunity to see the great hero Daren in action!”

  “Why are you helping us?” I say.

  “Well, I couldn’t just stand by and watch these overgrown bullies attack a defenseless young lady,” Azarius says.

  “Defenseless?” Kate shouts.

  “Young lady?…” Daren asks, confused.

  Before they get to finish their conversation, a mage dressed in black robes and with a
snake tattoo on his bald head interrupts them by making a loud tsk-tsk sound.

  “This will not do, Sage of the West,” he says. “This simply will not do.”

  Azarius turns to him, smiling calmly.

  “A follower of the God of Death honors us with his presence?” he says. “If I did anything to offend you, then by all means, please state your complaint!”

  “My complaint is simple, sage,” the mage says. “My god requires more sacrifices to be had this day, and you deprived him of them by interrupting this fight.”

  “Oh?” Azarius says. “But I was quite sure that despite his title, Ulruk, the God of Death only delves in necromancy and is not actually ruling the realm of the dead. Why did he suddenly begin to take an interest in the affairs of people who are still alive? If you are simply in search of fresh corpses, I assure you that there are plenty to be found lying around these parts after yesterday’s events.”

  “Do not question the great Ulruk’s judgment, heathen,” says the God of Death’s follower. “Your actions have angered my god, and now you will feel his wrath!”

  A mage who is wearing a silver circlet on his head and green robes grabs the necromancer by the arm.

  “Calm down, Zack,” he says. “There’s plenty of time left till the end of the day. We can just kill some more people after we get out of here and the number of deaths will be the same.”

  “Unhand me, fool!” Zack says. “I’m only travelling with you because my god ordered me to. Do not presume to tell me what to do! This matter has nothing to do with you or your God of Fate.”

  The necromancer pulls himself out of his ally’s grasp and starts casting a spell.

  “Tell me, Azarius,” he says. “Have you ever heard of the still winter?”

  “I’ve heard several accounts of it when I visited this continent in the past, yes,” the sage answers calmly. “But none of them were what I would call reliable. Supposedly, it was a great war that was waged on this continent between stillwaters and ancients some six hundred years ago.”

  “Indeed,” Zack says. “But what would you do if I told you that the remains of the stillwaters who died in that war can still be found deep underground, scattered throughout the continent.”

  As the necromancer speaks, dozens of skeletons are starting to slowly surface from the ground below us.

  “What would you do if I told you that I could bring these stillwaters back to life as my puppets, with almost all of their former magical prowess still intact?”

  The skeletons are now starting to attack all of the mages around us while they’re running away, screaming in terror. The sky itself has darkened as it started literally raining fire and brimstone. Kate is struggling to keep an icy roof above our heads to shield us from the flames, but it’s melting almost as quickly as she’s reinforcing it.

  “What would you do, sage? Tell me!”

  “Well, since you asked me so politely,” Azarius says, smiling. “What I would do is this.”

  The Sage of the West smashes his staff into the ground, and I can feel a very intense vibration in the air all around us. The skeletons have suddenly stopped rampaging and are all just standing in place, vibrating loudly. After a few seconds, all of their bones shatter into pieces at the same time, as the rain of fire is brought to a halt, and the sky is starting to clear up once more.

  Zack, the necromancer appears to be dumbstruck, as he desperately looks around himself to see if there isn’t at least one of his undead minions that escaped the onslaught.

  “That was an impressive spell, no doubt,” Azarius says. “But in the end, despite their ridiculous amount of magical power, those skeletons were only a bunch of old dried up bones bound together with magic. A powerful enough sonic attack can shatter any object as long as you correctly match its vibration frequency. Now, if I’m not mistaken, that spell of yours has a duration of about five minutes and can only be cast once per day. Unless you have some other trick up your sleeve, I believe there are a few persons who would like to have a word with you and your companion…”

  All of the mages that were being chased by skeletons a few moments ago have now surrounded the necromancer and his ally, and you can see that they are thirsting for blood.

  “I’m tired of your crap, Zack,” says the necromancer’s companion. “Every single time it’s like this. I’m tired of always having to save your sorry behind. Next time we’re in a town, you’re the one buying the drinks.”

  The mage with the circlet on his head then throws something on the ground, which explodes and fills the whole area with a thick gray smoke.

  “Quick!” says one of the mages. “Disperse the smoke! Don’t let them get away.”

  An air elementalist blows all of the smoke away, and we can see Zack and his friend a few hundred feet from us, running towards the trees.

  “After them!” shouts one of the mages, and they all start chasing the two of them.

  Eventually, the mages disappear into the forest, the only persons still remaining in the clearing being me, Daren, Kate, Hadrik, Azarius, and a young boy, likely in his late teens, who seems to be the sage’s loyal retainer.

  “It really never ceases to amaze me how easily people can be fooled by simple illusions like that!” Azarius says, while stroking his beard.

  “Illusion?” I ask. “Don’t you mean smoke bomb?”

  “No, no, I was talking about what happened after the smoke,” Azarius says. “The two mages you saw run towards the forest were in fact decoys. The real mages waited invisibly for everyone to leave and then they teleported away. I figured they learned their lesson, so I let them off with a stern warning for now.”

  “Barry! Kate! Daren!” we hear Rose shout from the other end of the clearing. “Thank the gods you are okay…”

  As she approaches us, she pauses to catch her breath. She must have been running all the way here.

  “What happened?” she asks us. “How did you all end up in this place?”

  “It was Eiden,” Daren says. “He teleported us here along with another fifty mages, probably in the hope that he’d get to watch us all kill each other, but he eventually got bored and teleported away. Most of the other mages left the clearing in a hurry a few seconds ago, chasing after some necromancer who tried to kill us all but failed miserably.”

  “I see…” Rose says.

  She turns towards Hadrik and walks over to him, offering to shake his hand.

  “You must be the shapeshifting giant from before!” Rose says. “I’m very pleased to meet you! My name is Rose. Did you manage to find the challenger you were looking for?”

  “Aye, lass,” Hadrik says, grinning, as he grabs her hand and shakes it. “I believe I have!”

  Did he just take a quick glance towards me when he said that? Oh gods, I hope not. Maybe it was just my imagination.

  “That is good to hear!” Rose says, smiling.

  She then turns towards Azarius.

  “I’m sorry, do I know you from somewhere?” she asks him. “You look very familiar.”

  “I do not believe we’ve met before,” Azarius says, “but my portrait appears in the newspapers every once in a while, so you may know me from there. My name is Azarius. Pleased to make your acquaintance!”

  “Master Azarius,” says the young boy standing beside him. “I do not mean to be rude, but may I ask why you chose to intervene in this fight? Weren’t you the one who taught me that banshees are foul demons that are not to be trusted?”

  “Henry,” Azarius says, “I’ve told you many times before, there is no need to be so formal when you address me. You can call me simply Azarius. As for your question, before I answer you, I must ask you this: Do you remember the first lesson I taught you about banshees? Do you remember why banshees need to possess human or animal bodies in order to survive?”

  “Of course!” Henry says. “The banshees were originally born on the magical plane of existence, but they were banished long ago and cursed to live the rest of their
lives on our earthen plane. On this plane, it is not possible to live for long without a physical body, so the banshees were forced to adapt, by stealing the bodies of other living organisms. Once it is seized by a banshee, the body stops aging, but due to the incompatibility between the banshee’s soul and the physical body, the link between the two will decay over time, which forces the spirit to change hosts once every few decades.”

  “Very good!” Azarius says. “Now, tell me, do you sense any kind of other-worldly vibe radiating from this woman’s body? Does her magical aura appear in any way to be different from that of any other mage you’ve encountered in your life?”

  “No, but, I do not understand… How can this be?…”

  The sage smiles.

  “That is because she isn’t a banshee,” he says. “She is a woman with magical powers. A woman mage, if you will.”

  “What?!” Daren blurts out. “How can you be so sure? You can’t possibly tell me that you are basing your entire reasoning on something so vague!”

  “You surprise me, healer in armor,” Azarius says, thoughtfully, as he strokes his beard. “The way you phrased your last sentence suggests that you do not believe this woman to be anything other than a banshee. And yet you seem to travel alongside her. Most peculiar.”

  Daren is looking a little flustered after hearing the sage’s remark, but Azarius pays him no mind and instead steps towards me.

  “What about you, Barry?” he asks me. “From what I could gather, the four of you are all travelling together. How would you define your relationship with the young woman named Kate?”

  “Oh, we’re not actually in a relationship just yet, but we’re getting there!” I tell him, jokingly.

  “Oh ho ho… I would stop right there if I were you, my friend!” Azarius says. “I can almost feel the young lady’s killing intent from here. But still, you seem to be on much friendlier terms with her than your companion. Tell me, Barry, do you consider her to be a banshee as well?”