by Nic Weissman
After thinking for a moment Thost nodded and headed towards the dark elf and then walked into the kitchen where he told Dreshpho that they would be away, surely, for a short time. Then, he came back and told Phoroz that the next time he'd visit he should open his portal outside of the house, because appearing that way was very intrusive. The dark elf ignored this comment and said that he would only steal them for a few moments.
One by one they crossed the portal, leaving the safety and comfort of their home behind. The feeling of vertigo at the time of the transition was, this time, intense but brief. After coming out on the other side, they were in a huge circular room with stone floors, walls and ceiling. The roof had to be more than ten steps high. A wide staircase curled over the wall, leading to the top level. Small floating spheres illuminated the room by magic. The room had furniture that allowed a dozen people to sit comfortably. There were some drinks on a table. Nobody sat down or drank.
“The wizard will see you now,” Phoroz said as he began to climb the lengthy staircase.
The group began to follow the dark elf, wondering who they were going to see this time. When they reached the next level, they entered a hallway that led to numerous rooms. They crossed the hall to the end of the level where another staircase, this time in zigzag, rose to the next level. Before entering, Phoroz took a torch from one of the walls, as if anticipating that they would find darkness at the top level. They followed him.
Indeed, the third floor was almost completely dark. They could make out the silhouette of a half-open door, because a very dim light illuminated the room. The dark elf walked over there, and stuck his head into the room.
“They're here,” he said succinctly.
“Make them come in,” said a dry voice from inside.
Phoroz opened the door wide and turned to the group, indicating with his hand for them to pass. At that moment the room happened to be illuminated with multiple blue lights hanging from every wall. They entered. It was a large room, a studio with a large table of solid wood between light brown and ocher.
“Tesero wood,” Ithelas thought, always noticing these things.
The room had several shelves with many books. Most seemed very, very old. Half a dozen chairs were arranged in front of the table. Phoroz indicated, with a gesture, for them to take a seat, while he sat in one of them. The rest of the group followed suit. Behind the table there was a much older man, almost senior, who was covered with a long and elegant cloak. His eyes were fixed on an ancient parchment in front of him and did not look up until everyone was seated. At that time he looked at each of them with great care and attention.
“Samar, Thost, Erion, Mithir and Ithelas,” said the man.
“So it is,” said Thost. “May we know your name?”
“You can call me Mengul,” said the old man.
The wizard rose from his chair with a cane and walked to the nearest shelf, where he placed the parchment he had been reading. Then he turned his cane and spoke strange words. A semitransparent shape about the size of a man appeared in the middle of the room. The old magician told him to bring drinks for the visitors and sat down again.
“You have done a good job. I wanted to meet you. But first, I guess you have questions. This is your chance to make them,” the man said.
The group members looked at each other. Thost took the initiative.
“What was in the box?” he asked directly.
The magician took a deep breath and began his story.
“Long, long ago, possibly the beginning of the Third Age, a powerful magician, tired of the constant battles and quarrels between the Republic of Rein, where he lived, and its neighbor, the Empire of the Nomads, decided he had to do something about it. He researched for a long time and collected powerful magical components to build a couple of artifacts. He sought two safe places on both sides of the border and there installed and activated said devices.” The wizard paused to look at them carefully and continued. “The orbs slowly caught the wrath of the people in the territory where they were and projected it to the opposite orb where it was stored. This produced a soothing and calming effect, reducing the tensions and quarrels between the neighboring borders. During the years when the orbs were active they had no relevant conflicts again and the magician thought he had reached his goal.”
The old man got up and began to slowly walk behind his desk as he continued his story.
“But, as it always happens with very powerful items, there were some restrictions. In this case if, for any reason, one of the orbs changed places or was simply turned off, then the connection between them was lost. At that moment, the deactivated orb would violently release all the accumulated anger over the territory in which it was located. In fact, this is exactly what happened, long after the death of the creator of the orbs. Someone accessed the orb that was located in the Republic of Rein and stole it. In the following days, a good part of the population, including women and young people, started crossing the border with a single purpose: to kill nomads. There was a terrible battle, but the total lack of preparation, coordination and planning led to the only possible outcome: a significant part of the population of Rein was annihilated. After that the orbs were lost. The legend then started talking about The Orb of Wrath, in the singular: a powerful object that could be used to cause wars. The knowledge of the original purpose of the orbs was lost in the annals of time,” Mengul said.
The old wizard stopped and, after looking at them again very seriously, took his seat at his desk wearily.
“For centuries the orbs were lost until a few years ago, we found out that one of them had appeared. We did not know where or how, but when the orb arrived on the scene, it could cause huge disasters. For over a year I've been researching intensely and with dedication to discover the location of the other orb. I had almost lost hope, when I got my hands on the inventory that an antique art expert had made to catalog all the valuables of a castle lost in the kingdom of Tylar, a couple of centuries ago. I was very happy, but not for long. A little later we realized that the new lord of the castle was very powerful, and even more dangerous. Fortunately we found this out just in time. A few weeks ago we learned that certain elements of the powers of Bor had the orb. I had little doubt what their intention was: to cause the onset of a war with Fugor. This could undoubtedly trigger a catastrophic series of events for the Kingdom. We had to send someone urgently to the castle to get the second orb. Meanwhile, preparations were made to find a secure location in Fugor and have everything ready before the first orb was activated,” said the wizard, finishing his story.
Mengul smiled at them then. It was only for a moment, but Erion was sure he had seen a slight grimace of joy.
“By now you will have realized that the second orb we so urgently needed was in that box,” said the old wizard.
“What happens now with the orbs?” Ithelas asked.
“They're both activated and cancel each other's action. At the same time, they are slowly draining the wrath of the Mark and of the border territory of Fugor. One of my partners has explained the situation to the marquis of Mositus. They know that if the orb is deactivated, the population of Mositus would attack Fugor in a suicide and crazy assault. A good part of the population would perish in the process. So, now it is the best interest of the Marquis to protect the orb and keep it active. Everything will be fine, but we need to ensure that no one finds the orb we have hidden in Fugor. Fortunately, the vast majority is still unaware of its existence which keeps it safe from our adversaries,” said the wizard.
Thost sighed, while the rest of the group held its breath. They couldn't imagine that something so dangerous had almost happened. Erion almost felt guilty for having made reasonable efforts to loot the damn castle when such serious events had depended on them. The fate of Bor had been in their hands in this incredible trip to the other side of the world of Oris.
“Why us?” Samar asked.
“Why not? You displayed different abilities that made you useful. The suc
cess of your mission confirms the wisdom of our choice,” Mengul said.
“And what do you get from this?” asked Mithir through Erion.
“That doesn't matter,” Mengul answered. “Enough talk. It's time to drink,” he added.
The strange semitransparent servant then came into the room carrying a tray with several glasses. Then he distributed among all of them except Phoroz, and left. Mengul raised his glass and looked at them in the eye with a respectful gesture. When he finished, he drank the glass in one gulp and they all followed suit. It was an absolutely delicious wine. Erion could not remember ever drinking a wine even remotely close to that one. Thost, who obviously had much more experience in this area, also had serious difficulty remembering drinking a wine of this quality.
“Well, let's talk business. If you're interested, I have a new mission for you. You'll have to travel far, and it will take more time than you spent in Tylar, but the rewards will also be much more substantial,” Mengul said. “Phoroz will inform you of the details. Now I must retire. Erion, could you come with me for a few minutes?” he added.
Erion nodded, surprised, and stood up. He offered his arm to the old man who leaned on him and on his cane, and walked out of the room. The whole group followed them with their gaze until Phoroz began to speak.
“This mission, should you decide to accept it, will take you to Darphem,” said the dark elf.
“The kingdom of the dwarves!” they cried all at once.
Phoroz walked to a shelf and took a scroll from it and spread it on the table. In it there was a design of a strange crystal ball mounted on a silver pedestal. The fact that the crystal ball had an oval shape instead of the usual spherical structure caught Mithir's attention.
“This is the Eye That Sees All. It is a powerful divination object and is the main objective of this mission. We have information that indicates that it may be in Nuberg, under the Sejemix massif,” said the dark elf as he stared at them with his disconcerting red eyes.
“But that is in the heart of the world of dwarves. Outsiders are not welcome in that land. How do you expect us to get there? Will we have one of those teleportation scrolls?” Thost asked.
“The answer is no. You will not have scrolls to open portals. They are extremely hard to come by. You will have to travel by traditional methods. I could teleport you to the border of Norvik with Ellis, but then you would have to continue on your own means,” said Phoroz.
“I appreciate it but it does not solve much. In addition, we would first like to go home and prepare for the mission, if we can go back there,” Ithelas said, really thinking about Ronu's health.
The cleric would hate to go without being completely sure she was fully recovered before starting an adventure.
“That's how we'll do it, then. When you reach Darphem, you will first go to Ram, a town at the entrance of the Kingdom. There you will try to get in touch with Kurbus. He is the gnome you saw with me the other day. He has good interaction with the dwarves and can help you move inside their territory. He may even help you get into the Kingdom under the Mountain. In any case, it will not be an easy mission,” Phoroz said.
“Why do you want the Eye?” Mithir asked, interested.
Phoroz looked at him for a long time. He seemed to have doubts about how to respond.
“It's the only way that we think will work to locate an adversary,” said the dark elf finally.
Mithir felt there was much more behind all this, but realized that he would not give them more details.
“You said that was the main objective,” Samar said.
“Indeed. There's something else we'd like to achieve. If you manage to enter the Kingdom under the Mountain, try to reach Nortowich. Once there, go and see Ar'lumin, an old friend of Mengul. He will tell you what to do. Take up what he asks of you as if it was Mengul himself,” Phoroz said. “Your next question will be about the reward,” he added, guessing their intentions.
Thost nodded but said nothing. The dark elf grabbed a bag from one of the magician's desk drawers and emptied its contents on the table. Several large and perfectly transparent gems rolled on the table.
“Here are ten perfect diamonds. Each one is worth about five thousand gold coins. This will be your reward if you get the Eye. If you also complete Ar'lumin's assignment, you will get four additional diamonds,” the dark elf said.
Phoroz then pulled another bag from his pocket and handed it to Thost.
“Here there are a thousand platinum coins. It is only an advance, and you can also consider it part of your pay,” he added as he picked up the diamonds and saved them again carefully.
Mithir gestured to Ithelas that he would accept the order and knew that he spoke for Erion also in this regard. Thost chatted briefly with Samar and Ithelas and soon came to a conclusion.
“We accept the mission,” the knight declared solemnly.