Sin of Mages: An Epic Fantasy Series (Rift of Chaos Book 1)

by A. J. Martinez

  “What took you so long?” Akielas asked.

  “Try fighting thirty feet trolls with jagged clubs,” Auron remarked.

  “Wait. That is not her. This one is different,” Ganicus said, looking at Ember.

  “I know, Ganicus. She is the leader, and there are three more just like her,” Akielas explained.

  “You now have your own group of merry men,” Ember mocked. “They are in for a surprise. I almost feel sorry for them, especially that poor prince of the desert. Why don’t you show me where your father hides all the kaminyte, Prince Ganicus?”

  “Sorry, but I don’t even know where it is. If my father won’t show me, what makes you think you have a chance?” Ganicus replied with a cocky tone.

  “No problem at all. I will just force my way in.” Ember levitated as if there was no such thing as gravity. She gradually ascended up to thirty feet in the air then jetted into the palace. Ganicus jumped high with an air spell, propelling himself to Ember’s altitude.

  “Aerorae gosuo!” Ganicus yelled and unleashed a pulse of wind in an instant, pushing Ember miles away from the palace. The boy then fell and eased his fall, calling the air current around his body with his maju.

  Akielas lost sight of Ember in the sky. He then looked at Ganicus with pride. “Well done,” he said.

  “I learned from the best,” Ganicus responded.

  “Your aeromancy is much stronger than mine,” Auron compared, but he did not challenge the boy. He was honored to fight alongside such a brave and strong youth.

  “Now, it’s time to get rid of all these fiends,” Akielas declared. He ran up the stairs, and with an air spell, he jumped high up to the statue of Majithus, the god of the Zolan country. He stood on the head of the statue, balanced himself for his next spell, and whispered the ancient words with both hands together, “llumvrem umbra keen suz.”

  He focused his maju in his hands as he converted it into divine light. His hands were pulled apart by a spark that hovered between his palms. It was as if he held a serene spirit, like a tiny sun in his hands. It swelled and grew into a sphere thrice the size of his palm, and he raised it over his head.

  “With this light, I vanish all darkness. Return to the corners of Necrovania, fiends of Odiamus.” The sphere began to hum and the energy vibrated in Akielas’s hands. He was using a large amount of his maju to cast this spell. The sphere shot beams of white energy homing for anyone and anything that was woven of darkness. The energy beams coiled around, far and wide, pursuing fiends and exterminating them.

  Fiends that had climbed the towers of the palace immediately turned to ashes, once touched by the beams. Those that crawled rooftops were also vanished by the light. Akielas’s sphere unleashed countless beams, angelic lights like fairies that coiled and streamed throughout the city protecting the people and eliminated fiends everywhere. Even the trolls fell and could not resist divine magic. The fiends had no defense against its opposing attribute. Like fire is to water, so is darkness to light. Akielas had learned the art of divine magic, illumancy, from the fairy king. A creature of light taught Akielas how to convert his maju into divine energy and light that could heal, cleanse, and eradicate darkness.

  Within minutes, Akielas’s spell had ended the invasion of the fiends. The city was cleared, and his beams of energy left behind sparks of light to put the people of the city at ease. He jumped off the statue of Majithus and landed as his maju encircled wind around him.

  He saw Auron and Ganicus running up the stairs. They embraced him and laughed, complementing him on his grand spell.

  “That was incredible. I have never seen anything like it. What kind of magic was that?” Ganicus asked overly excited and awed.

  “That was illumancy. Divine magic, or white magic, as some would call it,” Akielas answered, feeling weary. “The light homes for darkness and eliminates it. It took a tremendous amount of maju. You two will have to fight Ember on your own. Sorry, but I had to do something to save the people of this city.”

  “Don’t apologize. We can take her. She and I have a score to settle,” Auron said. “Now that her fiends are gone, we just have to finish her and take back the crimson jewel.”

  “Crimson jewel? What are you talking about?” Ganicus asked.

  “It’s a long story. I will tell you later,” Auron replied, trying to remain focus.

  “Get ready. There she is again.” Akielas pointed up towards the sun. Ember’s silhouette stood in front of the sun as she floated in the air. The light blinded them. She then began to descend. The three men gazed at her, waiting to see what she would do next.

  Ember released purple steam from her body. She raised her hands high over her head, and an orb of purple energy began to swell and balloon.

  “Oh no,” Ganicus whispered, “I have seen this before. That other masked girl cast a spell just like that and destroyed Donkor Village. No! I won’t let it happen again, not in the capital city, not here, either.” He scampered all the way down to the port, and commenced his summoning ritual.

  Akielas stood there, not sure of what to do. Auron hasted down the stairs and joined Ganicus, opening his own mandarak next to the boy. Both mages summoned an Eedahlan using mandaraks. Creatures of the limbo emerged through the magic circles. Auron summoned a bird-like creature with wide red and black wings that stood on two legs like a human. Ganicus summoned a giant vulture. They both mounted their Eedahlans and flew up to stop Ember.

  Akielas could only watch them at that moment. He did not even have enough maju to summon Cleyross, his silver dragon. That purple energy. That is cosmo magic.

  Akielas knew that Ember was a user of cosmo magic, but he never understood how she did it. It was an ancient art that no one had performed since the time of Prodigus Kollos.

  “There you are!” A deep voice jolted Akielas from behind. It was King Mahamuth with his soldiers. “We have killed all the monsters that were inside the palace,” he said. “You were right, Akielas. I should have listened to you.” Mahamuth then surveyed the area. When he caught sight of the giant purple orb in the sky, his jaw fell and his eyes widened.

  “Great Majithus. What is that thing?” Mahamuth said in terror.

  Akielas did not know how to answer. It was destruction before his eyes, and he only wished he had enough maju to help Auron and Ganicus. I have to do something. I can’t just stand here looking at our demise. What can I do, right now? How can anyone stop a blast of cosmo?

  Akielas gazed up at Ember as she hovered below the enormous purple orb. It began to chirp purple lightning, and it illuminated the city with its dark hue. He saw Auron and Ganicus’s Eedahlans flying towards Ember. He saw how the energy of the orb zapped Auron’s creature. Auron’s Eedahlan tumbled and crashed into a granite edifice. Ganicus’s vulture was pushed back by the unknown force of the orb. The vulture spun in the air, crashed into the roof of the palace, and fell, rolling over the dome. As it fell, it began to vanish slowly, returning to the limbo. Ganicus could no longer hold on to the Eedahlan and fell helplessly. Akielas jumped to the roof with an air spell, propelling him up with a small amount of maju. He caught Ganicus and brought the boy down.

  Ganicus’s legs wobbled as he tried to stand up, but he fell to his knees and punched the ground.

  “I failed,” he cried. “She is untouchable. If anyone gets too close to the orb, it will strike or push you. Sir Akielas, what can we do?”

  Akielas could not look at the boy with eyes full of tears. He was not sure of what to do, either. For the first time in his life, he was out of ideas. He had never faced anyone with cosmo magic before. Never did he bother to learn about it like he did with the other elements. He thought it was impossible to cast. He thought it was something that Pridigus Kollos had invented for himself. An art lost in history or a lie passed down through millennia.

  “This town is going to be destroyed.” Akielas turned to Mahamuth. “We must leave at once. We can’t stop it.”

  “No!” Ganicus’s scream pierced
Akielas’s ears. “No!” the prince bellowed. “I will not give up. I still have power.”

  A golden light shined from within Ganicus’s armor. The boy pulled the necklace from within his chest plate. When Akielas saw it, he knew what it was and gaped in disbelief. It was the Golden Sun, just as he remembered it in illustrations he saw in scrolls of the library of Ironside. It was a medallion, golden with spikes resembling the rays of the sun. A red stone was bedecked in its center. Ganicus stood up, feeling the energy of the medallion.

  “Ganicus, you stole the Golden Sun,” Mahamuth said. He was not angry, but rather surprised as he gazed at his son glowing golden with the magical item.

  Akielas was speechless. Two years ago, he had given up the search for the Golden Sun, and now, one of his own students possessed its power and watched it manifest before his eyes.

  The golden light blinded them, and when it dimmed, Ganicus was clad in golden armor. A sun was embossed on his chest plate. He now stood with a gilded spear and shield.

  “This is…this is…one of the legendary Valiarmos. Magical armor forged by Prodigus Kollos himself. I never thought I live to see it,” Akielas whispered.

  “Father, I am sorry I stole the Golden Sun, but now, you see why we must use it,” Ganicus told his father, then kicked off the ground. He levitated without wings. The energy of his armor helped him take flight. Akielas saw him soaring, an orb of light in the sky, like an entity from the realm of light.

  Ember hurled her orb down at the city, once she saw Ganicus flying towards her. As the purple orb fell upon the city, houses and edifices began to crumble from the forceful energy. Ganicus flew under the orb and unleashed an energy blast, a white beam so blinding it was like the realm of light was opening its gates. The white beam pushed back the purple orb, like a spear of light piercing through a violet moon, propelling it back to its place. Ember lost control. The orb ascended higher and higher, and she had to fly out of the way. Ganicus’s beam pushed the orb beyond the clouds, and once it was out of sight, the orb detonated, thudding above like thunder. The explosion painted the sky with a gradient of violets, lavenders, amethysts, magentas, lilacs, and orchid hues

  Everyone watched the colorful explosion. It was a terrifying, yet beautiful, sight that even children romanticized. It was as if a nightmare had become a dream.

  “Unbelievable power,” Akielas whispered. Next to him, Mahamuth gazed at the prince above. A tear ran down the king’s cheek. Akielas looked back at the skies of Oba Oasis and saw Ember disappearing with a cloud of black smoke as usual.

  The golden light disappeared, and Akielas could no longer feel the energy of the Golden Sun. Ganicus began to drop from the sky. At that very moment, Akielas ran to save the boy. He used an air spell to propel himself forward and jumped over the canals of the palace. He jumped over houses and brick buildings, trying to get close to the falling spot of Ganicus.

  “Aerophos vellos!” he shouted a spell that increased his speed. He ran over rooftops and glided through the air with the last bit of maju in his body. He saw Ganicus above, the boy’s golden armor was gone. Akielas jumped and grabbed the boy; they both fell down to the crowd below.

  “Aerorae aevias.” He cast one last spell. For a moment, he floated with Ganicus but then landed on the cobbled streets with a thump. No bones were broken, but Akielas was tired and out of maju.

  The people of the city hasted to aid him and their prince.

  Eckxio

  The teleport crystal took him to the entrance of the Elfin village. Evee Iris. A pentacle was marked by the right side of the entrance. Traveling at such high speed using the crystal made him dizzy. Once the blue lights of the teleport crystal vanished, Eckxio saw the war in the village of his people. Never had he imagined Evee Iris under attack. The peaceful home of the Elves. They never brought danger to their village. Whenever there was war, the Elves left their village and marched into the forest to face their enemies. Somehow, Ember’s fiends managed to break into the village. The front gate was broken, and the creatures flooded the village with their darkness.

  Archers tried to take them down from the battlements atop the gate. Mage Elves fought with terramancy and aeromancy. Eckxio witnessed his fellow Elves dying before his eyes. Dark trolls grabbed them and tore their bodies apart. Fiends with sharp teeth crunched their limbs and spilled blood on cobbled paths. The Elves fought back with all their might, but their numbers shrank faster than their enemy.

  “No! Not in my village. Get out of my village!” Eckxio roared and ran into battle, drawing his sword and shield. His Tharos sword glowed. He leapt into the swarm of fiends and slashed through three of them at once.

  “Shine my blade, Tharos spirit!” he called upon the magic of his sword. Divine light shined from the white steel, a holy beacon. The fiends shrilled as the light pierced through their bodies made of pure dark maju. A pack of fiends turned to ashes, and dozens of Elves were saved from death.

  “If anyone knows illumancy, then it is time to use it,” Eckxio shouted. “These are fiends we are fighting. Dark creatures that fear all that is divine. Show them your light. Take them down with everything you have. This is our only home. We will not fall to darkness.”

  “All white mages! Unleash your offensive spells!” shouted a commanding Elf. They were all at Eckxio’s height. Five feet tall. Some were four feet in height. They wielded staffs and rods to cast magic. The archers stood on the battlements, shooting at fiends from above. There weren’t many warriors Elves like Eckxio.

  Elves were known for their magical abilities, rather than strength and muscle. Only a small number of Elves carried swords, shields, and blades enchanted with wind and fire. Most mage Elves specialized in terramancy, herbomancy, or hydromancy. Out of the hundreds of Elves fighting, only twenty of them used illumancy. Divine magic was not only for healing. Talented white mages could cast offensive spells shooting beams of white energy.

  Eckxio ran inside Evee Iris. It angered him to see fiends destroying the beauty of his village. Many of the bridges were broken; stairways that coiled around trees toppled and splinters fell from above. The village was a network of bridges connecting from tree to tree, similar to Mouah Cross. Inside those great trees were large amounts of space where the Elves made their home and traveled through. The stairs coiled up to ten stories high. Water fountains with statues had shattered between trees. Ponds and streams crimsoned with blood of Elves and bodies floating down the waters.

  Eckxio’s heart enraged seeing the damage that was done. He used the light of his sword to destroy fiends. He slashed trolls in half and took down countless fiends with just a swing of his sword. Only white mages were able to defend well. All other Elves struggled using herbomancy. They were able to fight but could not exterminate fiends.

  Some Elves became corrupted by darkness. The dark maju did not allow them to cast any spells. Then the white mages came and dispelled their curse.

  Eckxio saw trolls with giant axes trying to cut down a tree. It was the very tree where the chief of Elves resided. Eckxio ran towards the trolls. Thirty feet tall fiends hacked at the wide trunk. Mage Elves cast their spells of fire, earth, and wind but had no effect on the trolls.

  “Shine my blade, Tharos spirit. Rid us of this darkness.” Eckxio spoke to the spirit of his sword. It glowed; he lashed it and unleashed divine energy that cut through fiends like slicing flesh. Eckxio cleaved the trolls, and their bodies turned to ashes. He destroyed all fiends that attacked the elder tree of his father, the village chief and king of Evee Iris.

  Suddenly, his pet, a paploo fairy, flew out from within his chest plate. It swirled around Eckxio’s head, and he found it annoying at the time.

  “Not now, Nana, can’t you see I am busy?” he said as he lashed his sword at a canine fiend.

  The fairy squeaked and squealed, communicating with Eckxio. Then, its furry body changed from a light brown color to black. Its four leaf wings changed to batwings.

  “Black again?” Eckxio paused durin
g battle.

  Nana squeaked, and he understood what she was trying to say. A familiar enemy was approaching.

  “Is probably that white mask woman again,” Eckxio assumed. All the chaos paused around him. The fiends stopped attacking, and they all stared skyward.

  “Why did they stop?” Eckxio asked and immediately thought that it was a perfect time to take advantage, as they were distracted, but then he gazed up and saw his foe.

  “Absolutely impressive,” said the white masked person floating in the air, staring down at him. This foe looked exactly like the last one, except the voice was of a man.

  “You are not Ember,” Eckxio said.

  “No, I am not,” said the masked person clad in black. “She is busy at the moment, but don’t worry. I will be your entertainment for today. My name is Naunet.”

  “Are you the one responsible for all these fiends?” Eckxio asked.

  “Yes, these are my pets. Do you like them?” Naunet answered politely, but Eckxio thought he was creepy.

  “What do you want with the Elves? Why are your fiends attacking us?” Eckxio asked.

  “Oh, yes, wonderful question.” Naunet descended, his cloak billowing, and once he touched the ground, fiends gathered around him. He began to pace towards Eckxio fearlessly, and his fiends followed him. Canines and other eyeless creatures growled behind him, snarling and snapping their fangs. “You see. My fiends can sense items with cosmo energy. It seems that there is mythium somewhere in this village.”

  Damn it, I knew that is what they were after, Eckxio thought. He feared fiends would be in search of mythium when he saw them carrying it in the forest. His father, Sherwood, the village chief, hid the mythium in a chamber below the village. Such rare steel was important for magical use. Eckxio dreaded surrendering their supply of mythium to save the people. Such steel is not worth keeping if it meant the safety of the village.