Emptiness

by Viktor Zólyomi

  It turned out swiftly, that he was not just any kind of mage. He was a black magician, master of the so-called Dark Arts, the darkest arts of magic: black magic! Those like him, practitioners of the Dark Arts, are despised and feared by many. For their power allows them to extend their life much longer than arcane magic can. A human mage for example, may extend his life no longer than a thousand years or so, at best. However, a human black magician may live up to several thousands of years, perhaps even tens of thousands of years. The catch is, that unlike practitioners of arcane magic, black magicians do not gain their empowered vitality from magical energy, but from souls. They must devour the soul of a living creature of their own race every now and then. This is what they called The Blackest Ritual. In the beginning of their life, they must perform this rite around once a decade. As they grow in age and power, they can drain more and more power from a single soul, such that the ritual only needs to be performed every few centuries.

  Some believe that this grants them eternal life, but we mages know that it is not true. The Blackest Ritual takes its toll on the mage who performs it, each and every time. To my knowledge, no black magician has ever performed the rite for a twenty-sixth time. Some black magicians refer to this as the curse of thirteen, saying: thirteen souls make us rise, the next thirteen make us fall. Still, even with just twenty-five rites performed, a black magician may live perhaps even up to ten thousand years, or even more.

  At the cost of the lives... and souls... of twenty-five living beings...

  For this reason, many despise black magicians. But on that day, on the day when the dragons nearly dealt the final blow to the lessers, on that day a black magician was celebrated as a hero throughout the land.

  He used his immense power to do that, which arcane magic cannot do. He animated an army of fallen warriors as undead creatures, and sent them to do battle against the dragons. He cast the kind of life-force draining spells on the dragons that some of them simply fell out of the sky. He was even able to animate some of them as undead dragons, and he sent them against their own kind.

  With this, he turned the battle in favor of the Ess'yerian Alliance, and the allied armies regained their confidence, and fought the dragons back with unparalleled battle fury. The Dragon Lords did not anticipate this turn of events, and never even considered the possibility of retreat. They themselves descended onto the battlefield with all their fire and wrath. Yet even their power proved to be too little on that day. They could have fled, but their pride wouldn't let it. They fought to the last breath. The last breath. Each and every last one of the Dragon Lords lay dead by the end of the day...

  The Ess'yerian Alliance was victorious! And they had all this to thank but one man: Kurt Aurach! A black magician...

  He became a celebrated hero. When the time came to re-enforce the Alliance and the Supreme Council was formed, he was offered to take Keldel's place and be the human member of the Council.

  But he declined.

  Not long after, he disappeared.

  No-one knows why. Perhaps he anticipated what would come. Perhaps he knew that many of the victors would want revenge on the dragons, and would want to take the war to Draconia, and thus begin a war that is now known as the Time of Retribution. Perhaps he knew this and didn't want to take part in it.

  Only one thing is certain. He saved the lesser races from the Dragon Lords, and even today he is remembered as a hero. Even as Jenathar has branded him an outlaw along with all other black magicians, the legend of how Kurt Aurach brought about the victory of the Alliance lives on. On the surface, no-one dares to cheer his name, and they all still feel uneasy about the dark nature of his power. But he is still a legend, and he is remembered as a hero.

  After the end of the Time of Retribution, he returned once again. After about a century or so, he left our world for good. I do not know exactly when he moved to Kh'Tal, but he has certainly been here for many long centuries. He is the supreme power on this plane. All here know and respect him. Or fear him.

  Jenathar would never come here, to the place where his greatest and single most hated enemy resides. He fears he would be attacked and overwhelmed, and he especially fears that Aurach would not let him leave. They say that Aurach immediately learns if someone enters this plane, and he decides whether he allows them to open a Portal back or not, and that he and Jenathar are the greatest of enemies. At the time, I didn't know anything about the reasons behind their quarrel, but I knew enough. I knew that Jenathar hated and outright feared Aurach. My only hope was that Aurach would hear my tale and at least consider my request before killing me simply for being a former student of Jenathar.

  I stood there, in front of his door, waiting. Waiting and thinking hard on what I shall say to him inside.

  I knocked on the door not long before dawn. The massive door opened for me almost instantly, and as I walked through I glanced behind me just in time to see the coming of the storm. That was the first time I saw that dark raincloud. It was threatening, yet strangely beautiful. A truly unique sight in this alien world.

  *

  After the door closed behind me, I felt like I had entered a whole new world. The interior of the castle was even more magnificent than the outside. In here, it was not dark at all. Magical lights were illuminating the place, and it was just appropriate, not too bright. A delicately adorned carpet lead from the main door towards a large hall, at the end of which were stairways leading up. The walls were covered with beautifully crafted works of art, paintings and carvings of every kind that one could imagine.

  I walked forward on the carpet slowly. I was expecting that someone, or something, would come to question me, but nothing came. Having reached the stairs I saw that there were many doors leading to other parts of the castle, yet, something inside told me that I should head upstairs. So I did.

  I walked up to the next level and followed the central corridor until I found a massive wooden door, carved full of magical runes. The door slowly opened as I approached.

  I cautiously stepped inside, and found myself in a magical laboratory of sorts. It was huge! At least five times the size of the Summoning Chamber in Re'Cas. In this enormous room, I could see the largest variety of magical equipment that I had ever seen. The far end of the room was completely empty, save for several large pentagrams painted onto the floor. On the wall, there was a carving shaping a door. A Gateway!

  Among all this magical equipment, I didn't even notice him. Yet there he was. As I admired his laboratory, he approached me.

  `Welcome, Jason! How do you like my laboratory?'

  I turned towards the voice, and I was surprised at what I saw. I expected his appearance to be much darker. He was dressed in comfortable, but casual clothes, no wizard robe or anything similar. He was dressed like a common man, not like a wizard of great power. His appearance was that of a man in his late fifties, only his gray hair betrayed some of his true age. He walked tall, like a man full of strength. He carried no staff.

  `Yes, I am astounded! I've never seen anything quite like it.' I answered, and I bowed my head respectfully. `It is magnificent, as everything else I've seen in this world so far.'

  `Kh'Tal does have a magnificence unlike any other world, yes. My laboratory is nowhere near like that.'

  `You are humble, my Lord. Rest assured, this laboratory is deserving of being called magnificent, and more.'

  `I am flattered.' he smiled. `But enough of this my Lord thing. There is no need for such formalities. I am no Lord in this place.'

  His words came as quite a surprise.

  `Are you not Kurt Aurach?' I asked him.

  `Oh, I am, I am. And this is my humble abode, but a Lord I am not. I live alone here, mostly.'

  `But you are the supreme power on this plane. At least that is what I have heard.'

  `Supreme power? That's a little bit of an exaggeration. I'm just an old magician who has retired from the rest of the Multiverse into this peaceful environment...'

  `Peacef
ul?'

  `Yes, peaceful. Full of dangers, but peaceful. And free. Untamed, if you will.'

  I did not understand what he meant, but in time, I learned it. Kh'Tal was a wild world, where settlements are sparsely scattered throughout the land, and there is no such thing as a king or emperor. The small settlements have a mayor or governor or something similar, but each settlement is free. There are no countries, there are no borders. The untamed wilderness separating these settlements is border enough. In such a state, there were no wars fought. At least not on the surface.

  There were also no racial tensions in Kh'Tal, as the lands were dominated by humans. Besides them, the only truly intelligent species of Kh'Tal were the dragons, but they were rare and lived a secluded life in the wilds. There were countless intelligent creatures in the wilderness as well, such as the werewolves, but none of these creatures formed a real society. There were no orcs, no trolls, no dwarves, nothing like that. There were elves around, but they were not natives. They were all Arghardian night elves who had come to Kh'Tal long ago. They were called outlanders by the natives, and they usually stayed away from people.

  `Now tell me, Jason, why have you come here?' the old mage asked. Only then did I realize that he called me by my name, for the second time in fact, when I had not yet told him who I was.

  `How do you know my name?'

  `I have heard of you. I stay away from your world lately, but I do keep an eye on it. As John's number one apprentice, you have been in the center of attention there several times before.'

  `John? Do you mean... Jenathar?'

  `Why yes, of course. You know him as Jenathar, but I've still known him as John. John Athar. That was his name when he was my apprentice, and my friend. He only changed his name later on. He changed it to cling like the names of the great mages of ancient times thousands of years ago, those of the Draconian Brotherhood. He has long been obsessed with power, and he always demanded respect. He even wanted his name to match his hunger for power, I guess.'

  The Draconian Brotherhood. The mages under the rule of the mighty Voi'Shek. The Dreamer, as many called him. Legends say their power was unmatched, and they even enslaved the dragons. I've heard some say that the dragons started the Great War as a form of revenge for their enslavement by the Brotherhood. Rumors, perhaps, but they're not so hard to believe...

  `If you know who I am, why have you allowed me to enter so simply?'

  `John has never tried to return to this place since his last visit so many centuries ago. He never even sent one of his agents. So, it makes me think that you have come without his knowledge, and most definitely against his will. Am I correct?'

  I nodded to him.

  `Yes. I've come against his will. But he now knows that I'm here.'

  `Why have you come? Why have you thrown away an apprenticeship under John's tutelage?'

  I sighed deeply, and I began to explain my reasons.

  `Because I need your help. Something has happened to me, I do not understand what. I transformed into some kind of monster, and killed my fellow apprentices. Unwillingly... The monster acted all on its own, and I could not control it. Jenathar would never accept that kind of excuse, he would have me killed. So I fled to this world, the one and only place in the Multiverse to where he would never follow me. I must find out what happened to me! I must know how it happened, and why!'

  He raised his eyebrows.

  `I see. Why have you come straight to me, here?'

  `Because you are, as far as I know, the most powerful wizard in this world! I do not know this place. If you do not want to help me, then please guide me to someone who might! I will do anything in exchange, anything at all! I must know what has happened to me...'

  `I might be able to help you. I think it's better if I try first than somebody else in this world. There are many skilled mages here, but your case seems better suited to a black magician, and the only one in this world right now, as far as I know, is me.'

  I bowed my head in respect.

  `Thank you!'

  `Don't thank me yet, I do not yet know if I can help you. I will try. Now come, tell me exactly what happened.'

  *

  I told him everything that happened. Everything. Every detail that I remembered. From the time when I felt that sharp pain in my heart to the way I fled to this world. He listened carefully. He seemed to have noted everything in his mind. When I finished, he asked me a few things. Most notably, about the dagger which I had stabbed myself in the heart with that night. He asked me to show it to him, and he examined it for quite some time.

  Then he gave it back and told me to stand into one of the pentagrams on the floor. Then I felt a strong surge of magical energy.

  `What was that?' I asked.

  `I magically sealed the laboratory.' he told me.

  `How...? You didn't even wave your hand...'

  He smiled slightly.

  `Haha! No, indeed not! But I do not need to.'

  `Then how did you cast the spell?'

  `It was no spell.' he replied. `It was magic.'

  This left me baffled, and rightfully so. He spoke of things I knew nothing of at the time.

  `I... I don't understand.'

  `What is magic, do you know?' he asked.

  `Of course I do.' I replied.

  `Do you? Well, certainly you know of magic, and you can wield magic, but do you know what it is?'

  `I don't understand what you mean.'

  `Then your answer is no. I guess John didn't explain it to you. Let me tell you then, before we begin.

  Magic is the power to manipulate the world by our mind. It is the ability to do anything you desire, as long as you have enough willpower and you are able to access a sufficiently large amount of magical energy. Magic is the ability to make your thoughts become reality. You think it up, and it happens.'

  `I don't understand... All I know of are spells, spells that do strictly what they were designed to do... If they were designed at all...'

  `Spells are nothing more than patterns. Patterns created with the purpose of letting magical energy flow through them. The pattern decides what is to happen, but it is the magical energy that makes it happen, and, it is the mind which commands the magical energy to make it happen. The same can be achieved without the use of these patterns, so long as the mind is strong enough to focus the energies necessary for the desired effect.

  Think of magic as water, and think of a spell as a river which flows along its bed. The bed determines where the water will flow. Without the bed, it flows nowhere. But if one has the power to make the water flow simply by the power of one's mind, there is no need for a riverbed.'

  `So... you are saying that when I cast a spell... I could do the same without speaking the words and moving my hands?'

  `Actually, I am saying much more than that, but good that you brought this up.

  Magic needs but one thing to be kept under control, and that is the mind! Hand movements, magic words, and similar things are only there to help focus the mind better. With experience, one loses the need for such things, and resorts to it only in certain situations. Like when a fighter takes his one-handed sword in two hands to better control it, or to deal greater damage. Or if he's exhausted by the battle.'

  It was astounding to behold such power. I have never seen anyone do something like this before. I've seen Jenathar cast spells, and he always used hand movements, or waved his staff. Although his movements were usually much shorter and simpler than what I've been used to as I learned to cast spells.

  `You are saying that what you did a minute ago, was something different?'

  `An experienced mage can cast any spell without hand gestures and magic words. But magic is more then casting spells in this manner. Magic is not limited by patterns, or spells, as most of us refer to them. Magic allows you to do anything you wish, as long as you have enough willpower and magical energy. I need not resort to a rigorously created spell to seal the room. I just need to think of sealing the
room, and the magical energies at my command make it happen.'

  That was amazing to learn. I had no idea. It was an exciting knowledge, so much that for a moment, it made me forget all my troubles.

  `That's amazing!' I told him. `You mean that we can do anything we want? Anything at all? I never knew magic was so powerful...'

  `Actually, it is not. In principle, we could do anything. In practice, we are limited by the simple rule that if we do not possess enough magical energy to do that which we desire to do, then we cannot do it. All creatures have a limit to the amount of magical energy they can control at any given time. We mages can do great things, yes, but we are not all powerful, and can never be. Sadly, some of us are unable to accept that...'

  His face turned sad as he said those last words. Later, I understood he was referring to Jenathar.

  `We can continue to speak of magic later. For now, we should get to what we planned. Now that the room is sealed we can begin.' he said.

  `Why have you sealed this place?'

  `Because I must try something, and it might turn out... badly. If the laboratory is sealed, at least the outside world will remain safe.'

  His words made me worried.

  `What will you do?'

  `I will try to trigger your transformation again.' he said in a casual tone.

  `What... but why? How? Do you know what caused it?'

  `I am not sure, but I have a suspicion. If I am correct, then this monster has been there inside of you for a long time, dormant, waiting to be able to surface from you. I hope I am wrong...'

  `What if this creature... surfaces? I fear I will not be able to control it.'

  `Let that be my problem, Jason... I have lived long, perhaps too long. In the worst case, the monster will kill me. No-one lives forever, Jason. It is natural that all life comes to an end. In time, everything must die. Even the Multiverse itself. Perhaps my time has come now, who knows...'

  `I hope not...'

  `In any event, if the monster kills me, you shall have to seek another to aid you. I regret but I cannot recommend anyone specifically in this world. I guess you should seek out a lich somewhere in one of the countless hidden crypts in the surrounding forest, and try to get them to help you. Even if you do find help, I fear you will likely be stuck in this world... but don't worry! I will do my best not to fall. I have lived long, but I do not wish to die just yet. I have so much more yet to do in this life...'