Emptiness

by Viktor Zólyomi

  There was a slight, mischievous smile on his face as he said these last words. It made me believe that he knew well what he was doing. Yet, I worried for him. I knew best how powerful the monster was, and even I only suspected how much more power may lie in it.

  `Now, stand exactly at the center of the pentagram, and stay still! Soon, you will feel some pain. I apologize, but it is necessary.'

  He raised his hands, and a moment later a magnificent robe appeared on him. A gray-black wizard robe covered with countless runes, each of which was dimly glowing in a reddish color. It was obviously extensively enchanted, though I could not tell what sort of enchantments they were. He stepped close, and folded his hands on his chest. He simply stood there, he didn't move his hands, but I could feel his magic coursing through me. A short time later I felt the pain. At first it was barely noticeable, but then it gradually grew stronger and stronger. I knew not what he was doing, but I trusted his wisdom. The pain started getting weaker after a while, and then it grew stronger again. Weaker and stronger, weaker and stronger, weaker and stronger...

  Then I felt it!

  The same pain in my heart as once before... The pain Aurach had put me through was nothing in comparison. This sharp pain made me fall to my knees, and I screamed. Aurach stepped back several paces, and unfolded his arms from his chest. I could only hope he was ready to face the monster...

  My vision was blurred short after, and I felt myself changing. Moments later, I felt myself towering over Aurach. The monster had surfaced again! And again, I had no control over it...

  The monster lunged forward and struck at Aurach. He did not even attempt to jump aside. The very moment the demon's claws touched him, his image became blurred, and he became transparent. Ghostly, as they say. The claws just swept through him like he was completely immaterial. He then grabbed one of the demon's wrists with his left hand, and another with his right. The demon had another two arms, and they readily hacked away at his hands that were holding the monster. But it seemed like yet again, the old magician was immaterial. He steadily held the demon's hands, yet when the monster struck with one of its free hands at Aurach's grip, it struck its own hand instead, and wounded itself with its vicious claws!

  I felt the pain of that wound, and I heard the demon scream! Although for the demon, it was more frustrating than painful. It was only the beginning of its frustration.

  Aurach's image remained ever ghostly, and became all the scarier as two black tentacles seemingly grew out of his back, and struck like whips towards the demon's two free hands. These tentacles grabbed onto the demon's wrists in an iron grip, trapping it completely. It twisted and writhed in Aurach's steady grip, but couldn't get loose.

  Moments later, more tentacles appeared, and proceeded to grab hold of the demon, entangling it, tightly forcing it's arms to its torso. The demon screamed in anger, and tried to get loose even more vehemently than before.

  Suddenly, it ripped itself free of the tentacles, but not of Aurach's hands. It was still his prisoner, but it could move much better now. The tentacles disappeared without a trace, and soon something else appeared. A large, winged ghostly creature, a specter of sorts, summoned forth by the old magician with but a thought! No gestures, no words, just a thought!

  The specter attacked the demon, ripped the flesh of the beast. It screamed in pain, and tried to grab the specter, but it flew high above after the first attack. Then it flew back down and somehow ripped off another piece of the demon's flesh without getting caught in the monster's arms. Aurach still held the beast tight.

  Then, the demon screamed louder than ever before, looked straight at Aurach, and opened its mouth wide. That's when I learned that I truly had no idea how much power lay in that beast. For it breathed a huge ball of fire right into Aurach's face, which exploded and blew everything away within twenty feet. Everything in sight was burning, even the specter high above was caught in the flames. Aurach himself was still standing, unharmed, and still firmly holding the beast.

  The demon spitted yet another ball of fire at him. Then another, and another. Soon, the entire laboratory was on fire. All the magical equipment in the room seemed unharmed, but the furniture was apparently not protected against the fire. Everything was burning, the heat and the smoke in the room was nearly unbearable.

  Then, out of nowhere, a strong gust of wind came, and started clearing the air of the smoke in a small area around us. Then I felt water dropping from above. It was raining inside the laboratory! The demon was screaming in anger, but could still not get loose from the old magician's grip.

  The specter, with burning wings, swooped down from above and tore into the flesh of the demon once more. The beast caught it this time, and quickly tore it to pieces with its two free arms. With Aurach's flying ally destroyed, he was left alone to fight the demon.

  But the battle would not last much longer. A dark, glowing sphere appeared above Aurach's head. It started to spin rapidly, and every second or two a purplishly glowing projectile was released from it. The projectiles followed a seemingly wild trajectory in the air, and then at one point they turned towards the demon. The beast tried to deflect them with its arms, but there were too many of them. Each time a projectile struck the demon, it seemed to slightly weaken, while the glowing sphere started to spin gradually faster and emit more and more projectiles. It seemed that these magical missiles were draining the demon of its strength.

  Soon, it was overwhelmed by the hail of purple projectiles, and could do nothing more but scream in anger. A minute later, it weakly collapsed to the ground, and I felt that the monster was retreating into the depths from whence it came. Then I lost my consciousness.

  *

  I found myself laying on the ground in front of Aurach. To my surprise, I was uninjured. Uninjured, but greatly exhausted. The old magician looked at me with concern.

  `Are you feeling alright?' he asked.

  `More less...'

  I slowly stood up and looked around. The laboratory lay in ruin. The magical equipment seemed unharmed, but the furniture of the room was reduced to smoke and ash. The once great magnificence of this chamber was long gone.

  `I am sorry I did this...'

  `Don't be. It's replaceable. A few days and it will be as good as new.' he said with a slight smile.

  `Are you alright?' I asked.

  `Yes, quite. It was a close call, but I live yet.'

  It didn't seem like he had such a hard time fighting the monster, but perhaps there was a lot more beneath the surface than what I could see.

  `Have you learnt something of my... condition?'

  His face turned grim. He seemed like he was hesitating to answer.

  `Yes, I have.'

  He sighed deeply before he continued.

  `You carry the essence of a powerful creature inside you. One home to the planes we call the Hellish Planes, or simply Hell: a demon. I suspect it has been there ever since you were born. If I am correct, then one of your parents was in fact an extremely powerful demon...'

  I was deeply afraid he'd say something like that. Yet, I just stood there in silence for a long time, before I asked:

  `What kind of demon?'

  `I'd rather not say just yet. I must do further research, make some inquiries. It will take time.'

  `I understand.'

  `If you wish, you can stay in the castle until I am done. There are many guest rooms available. I could also teach you a few spells while you're here, if you like. As well as a little something about how to wield magic without spells, although you are not powerful enough to try that out in practice just yet. Well... perhaps you are. We will see.'

  `I would be honored!' I replied, bowing my head respectfully.

  He smiled, and summoned a lesser specter of sorts to guide me to my room. Once there, I immediately fell on the bed. The happenings of the past two days had exhausted me to my limits. The knowledge of what I had just learned, what I had feared, troubled me. How could this be? How come I never
learned of it before? There had to be signs. If anyone, Jenathar should have noticed. If he did, why didn't he tell me?

  I fell asleep with the burden of these questions weighing on my mind. And I was not even sure if I wanted to know the truth.

  Saddle up!

  In the Ess'yerian town of Drraum, present day (2 years, 3 months, and 10 days before Twilightfall)

  Aaron Chraem is one greedy little dwarf. I've heard some rumors over the course of the day about his greediness. The most extreme rumor claimed he'd sell his own mother if the old lady wasn't so skilled with the axe... Perhaps that is a little too harsh on him, but he is no doubt one very greedy merchant.

  I knew this since I met him. The fact that he wouldn't pay me extra for providing protection during this trip said a lot. Not like I care about the coin... Money was never a motivation for anything I did. For Aaron, it is quite the opposite. Money seems to be the only motivation in his life.

  Even now, he's arguing with the last few mercenaries about their payment.

  `If he gets a hundred smooth crowns, why do I get only ninety?' asks a tall, but rather skinny warrior.

  `Because you're not so well trained, that's why!' replies the dwarf.

  `Not so well trained? That's nonsense! I am as skilled as any other merc you've hired!'

  `You don't look like it, boy!' says the dwarf with narrowed eyebrows.

  It would seem he likes to call everyone boy.

  `So put me to a test!' says the tall warrior with anger. `I'll show you how good I am!'

  Aaron grunts some words under his beard, probably swearing.

  `I have no time for this! Alright, if you claim you're so good, you'll get the hundred smooth crowns... but you only get the half of ninety now. If you prove your worth on the way, you'll get fifty-five in Gatestown. If not, then only forty-five.'

  `But I should be getting thirty, not just forty-five! You said half! Don't try to screw me...'

  `Fine then, thirty...' says Aaron with a sigh.

  The other mercenaries, at least the ones that heard the conversation, all burst out in laughter immediately. The tall warrior looks at them with a smile.

  `You see? Nobody cheats me out of my pay!'

  He walks away to get his gear, but the mercs keep laughing, even harder than before. Aaron walks to me and - lowering his voice - he begins to complain.

  `I'll tell you something boy, this place ain't no good for hiring mercenaries. They demand a lot more money then they're worth, greedy sons of bitches that they are! You witnessed how little they are worth...'

  `Right.'

  `Well, at least this last one saved me some money. But I suspect he'll save me even more. I don't think he'll live through this trip.'

  `If you're so pessimistic, why not get more men? There is strength in numbers.'

  `Not in the kind of numbers I can get here... These guys are the best I could find, and the rest aren't worth a single smooth crown. At that rate I'd rather give my coins to the beggars, and that's something I never do! No, what I should do is take a detour towards the town of Ghaese before heading straight to Gatestown, but I can't spare the time. We'll have to try our luck as we are.'

  `Fine by me.' I reply, shrugging my shoulders. The less mercs we have, the more bandits I get to kill by myself. All the better.

  `I see you don't scare easy. Good! Now listen up, I have to go take care of some things now. The only settlement where we will stop on the way is Awyn, and that's two days from here so we need enough supplies until we get there. Keep watch while I take care of everything, will ya? I don't want these incompetent half-witted cretins to rip off part of my shipment while I'm away! Elven wine is always tempting for these bloody humans...'

  I nod and he walks away. So, the shipment is elven wine. Yes, that is popular among humans. It's rather expensive. But he seems to be a little bit too paranoid. These mercenaries wouldn't dare to steal anything. Not if they have a brain. One look at their new boss should be enough to make them think twice before they try to steal something. Aaron Chraem may be a greedy little dwarf, but he is also quite clearly a skilled warrior.

  Yesterday he was dressed in fairly simple clothes, but now that we're nearing the time of departure he's clad in a full battle attire. Wearing a fine piece of obviously dwarven crafted full plate armor and a matching helmet, and armed with a fearsome battleaxe which is almost as big as him, he is a fearsome sight to behold. Humans sometimes tend to underestimate dwarves because of their size, but those who have seen a number of battles in their lives - such as mercenaries - know well that a dwarf in a fine set of armor is like a brick wall. Except that this brick wall is armed with one very huge axe, and can slice up anything that gets near it with ease. Yes, dwarves may be short and bulky, they may be slow, but they can be extremely dangerous. Dwarves are well known and well respected for their martial prowess, even though they only excel in close combat. These mercenaries must be aware of that.

  Mercenaries... Interesting lot. They hire out for petty payment because fighting is the only thing they can do. Often they get fed up with this lifestyle and some of them eventually become bandits. Either way, they get to see a lot of fighting, but only the more skilled ones get to live through the truly tough battles.

  Most mercs are humans. Dwarves and wood elves very rarely hire out as mercenaries. They have a different calling, and most of them always find their way in life. The few that end up as mercenaries however are a prize for anyone in need of a merc. It is best to hire them both, as dwarves and wood elves are such complete opposites that they perfectly complement each other's abilities. Dwarves can fight off even a golem, yet they cannot hit a target with an arrow just ten feet away. The skinny and fragile wood elves can shoot their opponent in the eye from even a thousand feet away, but most of them can't put up a fight in melee range. I've seen exceptions though.

  Yes, I've seen one exception... And what an exception she was...

  But most wood elves are just as useless in melee as dwarves are from a distance.

  Humans in this sense are more versatile. Most of them can fight in close combat and in ranged combat equally well, though they excel in neither art of war. In other words, few are true masters of combat, but in exchange they are quite versatile. This makes them good mercenaries, as mercenaries must always be prepared for a variety of situations. It does not make them the best warriors, but it makes them the most easily adaptable ones, and one must often adapt to survive.

  Then there are those like me, who have some limited skills in magic. Warriors with magical skills can adapt to dangerous situations better than anyone. Magic, after all, provides for the ultimate versatility. Anyone who's ever seen a night elf in battle should know. Each and every last one of them are masters of the Arcane Arts, as well as masters of melee combat. They are quick, they use no armor, and they are lethal, usually focusing on the use of a single type of melee weapon. Unlike wood elves, they do not use bows. Magic is their way of fighting foes afar. Who needs arrows when one can conjure fireballs? Likewise, who needs plate armor if magic allows for a far greater protection?

  True enough, humans are only the most versatile and adaptable of warriors among pure fighters who have no magical skills. The most versatile warriors of them all are fighter-mages, and the best fighter-mages come from among the night elves. Quite frankly the most fearsome warriors of them all are among the night elves. Aaron could have considered hiring night elves as mercenaries, if there were any. The pale skinned night elves are more stalwart than the tanned skinned wood elves and can put up a fight in close quarters quite well, but they are notoriously proud people who are not keen on hiring out as mercenaries. Nor are they as greedy as humans - or some dwarven merchants - are. Money is no motivation for a night elf. They are driven by lust for power. An insatiable lust for power. That's what lead to the separation of wood elves and night elves ages ago. Night elves embraced black magic, while wood elves renounced it all their lives, and this made them break apart. For over two th
ousand years now, night elves no longer practice black magic, but the old differences between them and the wood elves somehow remained. As did the night elves' lust for power. Many of them pursue the Arcane Arts for most of their lives, and many of them become liches eventually. There is no price they will not pay for power...

  Power... Magic holds great power, but sometimes you don't even need magic to be powerful. Pure sheer strength also holds power. Anyone who ever fought a troll knows this well. Trolls are humanoid, but uncommonly tall, monstrous creatures, that are easy to mistake for mindless monsters due to their hideous appearance. Yet, it is not their appearance that is most characteristic of them, but their unmatched strength. Night elf warriors may be lethal, but a troll can be tough even for them to defeat. Trolls tower over all other races and possess a physical strength that is surpassed only by that of dragons. Trolls also regenerate their wounds fast, so they can take a lot of punishment before they fall. Their attacks are very damaging. They can toss huge boulders with ease, and in close range they can rip a man in two with their bare hands. They may have the appearance of a primitive and savage race, but they are very formidable in battle, despite their lack of magical abilities.

  The trolls are the only race that have not yet mastered the Arcane Arts. You can find mages among all other races. Even among the orcs.

  Yes, even the orcs know magic, although not many humans would expect them to. The proud orcs of Ordhiar prefer to refer to themselves as northerners, and while they are nowhere near as monstrous or even vicious looking as trolls, they have the appearance of a barbaric race. They are humanoid, but their skin is gray, their hair is typically dark and rough, and they often have several protrusions on their faces - especially on the forehead and chin - due to the rugged shape of the orcish skull.