Sin of Mages
Rift of Chaos: Book one
By: A.J. Martinez
Copyright © 2016
A.J. Martinez
All rights reserved.
License Notes
This novel is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or; if real, used fictitiously. This novel may not be re-sold or given away to other people. This novel may not be reproduced or transmitted into any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system.
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ISBN: 9781943845835
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Table of content
Akielas
Auron
Willow
Eckxio
Akielas
Ganicus
Ember
Willow
Akielas
Eckxio
Willow
Akielas
Ember
Auron
Akielas
Auron
Willow
Ganicus
Ember
Akielas
Willow
Eckxio
Akielas
Akielas
Thunder thudded and heavy rain blurred his view. As he rode his silver dragon through the strong wind, he squinted and saw the tower reign from a small island. His old apprentices awaited him in that tower. It had taken Akielas years to find their whereabouts. You will no longer hide from me, Ember, Akielas thought. You will face me and we will end this. As his dragon, Cleyross, got closer, the great spike tower dwarfed its flight. The skyscraper seemed to touch the dark clouds of the storm. The dragon flapped its wings as loud as thunder. It roared and ascended towards the high floors of the tower.
From far away, Akielas saw her preparing a fire spell. The light of her flames shone like a beacon, brightening her white mask and horns that she wore to hide her past. He had stumbled upon her multiple times throughout his travels in Odealeous. Hunting her down and tracking her maju, he had witnessed all the destruction she had caused throughout the world. Now she could no longer hide. I found your hideout, Ember. In the northern oceans of El Nido. If you try to run away again, I will make sure to brand you with the mark of the divine and make sure never to lose you again.
Akielas stood up on the saddle of his silver dragon. The wind ruffled his cloak. His long black hair with white streaks was freed by the wind. His eyes focused on her like a hawk to its prey, and he balanced himself on the back of his dragon as it banked towards the tower.
Then he saw her make the first move. A red beam raced from her fingers at his dragon.
“Illumnos Tega,” Akielas chanted and spread his arms wide, releasing his maju. A crystal shield appeared in front of Cleyross as it flew.
When the red beam collided with the crystal shield, Cleyross was protected and the beam ceased. The dragon then opened its maw and coughed out a sphere of white energy. Ember flew out of the way, and the sphere detonated in the tower, creating a cloud of white smoke. Ember flew up high, her black cloak spread like batwings.
“Ember!” Akielas yelled. “Stop running away from me. I have chased you all over the world, and now, you have no place to hide.”
She did not respond, but when Akielas gazed at her silhouette in the dark sky, it seemed to swell and changed form. “I know all your spells. You can’t fool me, Ember.”
Ember descended in the form of a great gargoyle. It was the same size as Cleyross, fifty feet long and slim. The gargoyle screeched, and it irritated Akielas’s ears. It swooped, and when it swiped its claws, they slid over the dragon’s glossy scales. The dragon quickly bit into the gargoyle’s right shoulder, and the creature screeched so loud that Cleyross had to let go.
The gargoyle flew away from the tower and ascended higher towards the thunder clouds. “Cleyross! Follow her,” Akielas commanded, and the dragon chased after Ember in her gargoyle form.
The gargoyle rapidly cast fireballs and hurled them at the dragon, but Cleyross was agile and quickly reached the beast. Cleyross bit into the leathery wing of the gargoyle and yanked it off. It screeched again so loud that it pained the ears to get near it, like sharp nails scratching glass.
The gargoyle shape-shifted back into Ember. The white masked woman was clad in black. The five horns on her mask warped up, like a crown made for a fiend. Ember looked through her mask with one eye from a cracked opening. The strong wind billowed her cloak and revealed her slim curved body covered in scaly leather.
Ember thrust her palm with a grunt, and Akielas’s dragon was pushed back by an unknown force. It was like being thrown by a catapult. Cleyross lost control of its flight and spun in the air with Akielas on its back. Struggling to regain control, the dragon roared and burst opened its wings with a loud thud, like thunder. Akielas balanced himself on the dragon as he gripped the saddle.
Akielas gazed at Ember for a moment through the blurry view of the heavy rain. Cleyross waited its master’s command.
Then Ember spoke. “You have stalked me throughout Odealeous, my old master. I have had enough of you chasing me, trying to prevent me from accomplishing my goal.”
“You know why I am here, Ember,” Akielas said. “Your chaos ends now. Give me the Crimson Cosmo Jewel that you took from Auron. I don’t know what you plan to do with it, but I won’t let you use it.”
“My old master,” Ember said, spreading her cloak. Thunder sang above. “You have gone insane. Look at you. An old man. Your face is getting wrinkled, your hair is getting whiter, and your magic is getting weaker.”
“I have enough vigor to end your life, Ember,” Akielas bellowed, “you and the other three that betrayed me.”
“Tell me, Akielas. What will you accomplish by killing me?” Ember chuckled, and her cloak ruffled as she slowly drifted in the sky with a gust of wind and rain.
“Once I finish you, there will be one less threat in Odealeous,” Akielas replied and spurred his dragon. Cleyross shot towards Ember, and the masked woman dived down and veered away from her tower. She flew as a dark cloud leaving a trail of black smoke.
Cleyross spun around and chased her. The dragon dived like an eagle falling on its prey. The wind wrinkled Akielas’s face and he held on to his saddle. Within seconds, Cleyross was behind Ember.
Akielas saw a beam of red energy coming at him. He dipped and dodged the attack. She always uses the same spells, he thought. I will capture you and imprison you. If the dragon gods don’t punish you for all you have done, then I will. Akielas saw that Ember flew just above the ocean, and her speed split the waters as she jetted away from him. Cleyross descended, and once the dragon was close enough to the sea, Akielas released his maju and manipulated the water. “Aquas beastia!” he yelled, swirling his right hand like a whirlpool. A pillar of water rose and took the form of a serpent and coiled towards Ember.
Ember spun her body and saw the water serpent behind and soared, but the serpent caught he
r before she could go any farther. “I still remember. You are weak against water,” Akielas said as Cleyross brought him closer to his old apprentice. Before she could escape, he quickly prepared another spell. “Llumvrem phantom suz!” he shouted.
Akielas felt a presence behind him, like spiders crawling on his back, and stopped his spell. He spun around and saw a white-masked foe casting a pulse of wind. Akielas was pushed off his dragon, and he fell to the ocean. He caught a glimpse of Cleyross being struck by razor winds, and the dragon howled and fell as well. Akielas’s body plunged into the dark ocean. He held his breath in the water and took time to think about his next move as he slowly drifted. That was Jairo; I know it was him. Out of the four of them, he is the only one who knows aeromancy. It took an incredible pulse to knock me off Cleyross. Ember brainwashed him, and I am sure Naunet and Hertha will appear soon. They have all grown strong. I am not sure if I can take on all four of them at once, but I have to try.
Akielas spun in the water for another spell. Using hydromancy, he infused his maju with the water and chanted in his mind, “aquara whirlious.” His maju drew in water and pushed Akielas to the surface. Akielas burst from the water like a geyser. A pillar of water whirled around his lower body, and the master magus spread his arms, unleashing his maju. One of his apprentices approached him. This one was different. The white mask had horns on the side of his head pointing backwards. He floated in the air and stared at Akielas with one eye through a cracked opening.
“It’s been so many years, old master. I have missed you greatly,” the apprentice said.
“Your sarcasm won’t make me laugh today, Jairo,” Akielas answered in his aquatic pillar. “I see you have joined Ember in her path of destruction.”
“No, no, my old master,” Jairo said, in a polite tone. “With Ember’s plan, we can change the world for the better.”
“Jairo, shut up!” Ember chimed in and floated to his right. They both stared at their old master.
Akielas gazed at them and he could no longer feel the same presence that he once felt. He felt a cold and clouded presence, like the dark clouds of the storm. Something was clouding their soul, and Akielas could feel it using his divine magic. He once felt innocence and love from their maju, but now, they emanated lust and hatred
“Change the world,” Akielas repeated, “do tell me how you will change the world by destroying everything in your path.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Akielas. You are better off dead,” Ember answered and dashed through the air with a fist bathing in fire. Akielas thrust his palm upward and another pillar of water burst from the sea. The water forced Ember towards the dark sky.
Akielas heard his dragon roar as it flew to help him. Akielas released his maju, and his aquatic pillar dropped. He fell as if to dive into the sea again, but Cleyross caught him and ascended. Soaked on the saddle of the dragon, he looked back and saw Jairo and Ember racing through the sky. Both masked foes flew, leaving a trail of black smoke. Their endurance was great. There was once a time when both of his apprentices would be drained of their maju after a few spells, but now, their magic seemed to be at his level. They are much stronger than I thought. Ember should not have recovered from that attack so quickly.
Cleyross whirled its body with Akielas on its back to face Jairo and Ember. The dragon coughed two spheres of white energy. Ember and Jairo dodged them with ease and swirled in the air. Akielas clapped his hands together, forming a compound spell. Using the elements of water and wind, his maju produced lightning. “Trondass suz,” he shouted the ancient words and cast his spell. A beam of lightning ran from his fingers towards Ember. As the masked woman flew over the water, she banked left, and the lightning seemed to have touched her arm, affecting her flight. Her body skid over the water, like a rock hurled into a river. Her speed kept her body above water, and she had to pause in the air while Jairo streamed towards Akielas.
“Trondass chains,” Akielas shouted another spell and captured Jairo with electric strings. The strings paralyzed Jairo and sealed his maju. Akielas dragged him with his electric strings, like a dead body tied to a wagon. Jairo could not move, he could only scream from the pain. “Don’t think I ever forgot your weakness,” Akielas reminded. “One down and three more to go.”
The rain strengthened the lightning spell and Jairo yowled. “You won’t win, Akielas,” Jairo struggled to say as he groaned from the pain. “We are not the same students you once taught.”
A column of water burst from below, Akielas lost focus of his spell, and Jairo was set free. Akielas and his dragon were lifted by the column of water, but the dragon managed to roll out of the current. He saw the column freeze into an enormous block of ice. It sunk halfway and then floated above water. He knew who had cast that spell, the only one of his apprentices that specialized in hydromancy. From the sea he emerged, ascending with an aquatic ring surrounding him. He wore a white mask as well, except this one had a broken horn on its forehead.
“Good to see you again, old master,” said his apprentice. The ring of water kept Akielas away from him.
“It’s been a decade, Naunet. You are more powerful than ever,” Akielas complemented.
“Why, thank you. I will need all the power necessary to change the world,” Naunet said. “As long as you stand in our way, old master. I intend to kill you.”
“I will not die until I punish all of you,” Akielas rasped. Cleyross grunted, eager to battle, but Akielas held the dragon back. Then Ember and Jairo joined Naunet and faced Akielas. Jairo and Ember were still stiff from the lightning spell.
“Just like the good old days. Hertha is a little late, though,” Jairo said.
“Don’t worry. Let’s put our master to rest by ourselves. I am sure Hertha won’t miss him anyways,” Ember added.
“Oh wait. Here she comes now.” Naunet spun around, and from behind him, the fourth apprentice came flying in to join them. She was shorter and younger than the rest, but Akielas could feel that same dark presence. Hertha’s white mask had two horns rising from the side of her head like a bull.
“My, oh my. It is such an omen seeing you here, old master. How disappointed you must be,” Hertha said. Her voice was of a teenage girl, high pitched, bratty and cocky.
Akielas stared at his four apprentices. Their maju has changed so much, and they all hide their face with those ugly one eyed masks. Scaly black leather tights. Ghostly cloaks. Dark magic and an unknown motivation to cause destruction. Am I at fault as a father? Am I at fault as a teacher? Did I not raise them well enough? What could I have done to them to make them follow the darkness? I don’t understand. If anyone is going to end their chaos, it must be me. I will take responsibility for the damage they have done. I will carry this burden and their lives to the grave. The storm seemed endless, and thunder echoed from above. Akielas began to doubt his ability to fight all four of his apprentices at once. They were at his level. Master mages of their innate element. Akielas did have the advantage of knowing all four elements as well as dark and divine magic. Each of his apprentices had mastered one of the primary elements. Ember mastered the arts of fire, pyromancy. Jairo in the arts of air, aeromancy. Naunet in the arts of water, hydromancy, and Hertha in the arts of earth, terramancy. Along with dark magic, they were more than a threat to him. Akielas became nervous, and a ghostly cold shiver crawled up his spine. He felt as though today was the day he would meet his end. But I won’t go down without a fight, he thought. I will take them down with all the maju in my being.
“We will give you one last chance to change your mind, old master,” Ember said, hovering next to her companions. “There is still a place in my heart for you, dear master, regardless of all the things we have been through. Join me. Help me cleanse the world of its impurity.”
“I think you said too much, Ember,” Hertha said and giggled.
“Be quiet when I am talking, Hertha,” Ember snarled. “Dear master, I know you still love me. We don’t have to fight.”
; “Ember, you still have not told me what you are planning,” Akielas said, solemnly. He was in great anguish. Every thought of hurting his apprentices was like an arrow to his chest. He was not sure how he would kill his own children, but he knew that it had to be done. “Tell me how you are planning to cleanse the world of its impurity? The great Prodigus Kollos, himself, did not fully succeed in doing so. What makes you think that causing havoc will get you even closer to achieving his goal?”
“Unlike you, dear master, I don’t follow the teachings of the legendary Prodigus Kollos. Only geezers like you follow the old beliefs,” Ember mocked. “Don’t you remember? It was you who gave me the idea. It was you who started it. Had it not been for you, I would have never pursued this plan. You are the one that showed me how ugly the world was, and now, I will be the chosen one to cleanse the world of its impurity. I will be the next Prodigus Kollos. The old ways are for fools.”
“Ember, you have said enough,” Naunet interrupted. “Let’s just kill him.” Naunet dashed through the storm towards Akielas.
“Aerorea shasphia!” Akielas shouted and used his maju to create a sphere of razor wind around himself. Wind gusted with a savage ferocity, and Naunet was able to stop in time before he came in contact with the aero sphere. His cloak got caught in the sphere and was torn off his back.
Akielas pressed more of his maju into his spell and expanded his sphere of razor winds. All four of his apprentices moved away from him, except Jairo. The air innate apprentice managed to break through the shield of wind and delivered a mind blanking kick to Akielas’s face. Immediately, the aero sphere contracted and faded. Akielas bled from his nose, and his right cheek bruised. Cleyross roared and flew away from the four masked fiends, stalling for time until its master recovered.
“Cleyross, fly to the shores of El Nido,” Akielas commanded, while holding his face from the pain. Behind him, his four apprentices gave chase in the form of black clouds, leaving behind trails of smoke.
Sin of Mages: An Epic Fantasy Series (Rift of Chaos Book 1) Page 1