Wielder's Rising

by T. B. Christensen

  As he lay in the bed relaxing, his memory of the previous night returned. He must have looked like a fool, passing out while giving a demonstration of his power. He supposed Darian had been proven correct. He definitely was not a master wielder. However, even if he was weak in the ambience, at least he could wield some of it.

  They had left him in the master wielder’s suite after his performance, and he hoped that was a good sign. He finally propped himself up on his elbows and sat up, deciding to brave the light. The bedroom doors were wide open, and he could see Studell sitting and reading a book in the antechamber. Traven got out of bed and changed into some fresh clothes. He then left his bedroom and walked into the antechamber. This room was even brighter than his bedroom had been, and he had to squint against the light.

  He rubbed his temples and slowly made his way over to the chair that Studell was sitting in. The philosopher was so engrossed in whatever it was he was reading that he didn’t notice Traven standing at his side. Traven cleared his throat, and Studell jumped in surprise with a gasp.

  “Why’d you sneak up on me like that?” he exclaimed. “You could have given me a . . .” he trailed off as his breathing began to slow down. After a few deep breaths he said, “Oh well. It doesn’t matter. I’m fine now.” He then broke out in the biggest grin that Traven had ever seen. “You won’t believe the size of the library here! The books contain so much information that has been lost to the rest of the world. It’s amazing!”

  Traven couldn’t help but smile at the philosopher’s excitement. The man glowed with the joy of finding new knowledge and had a far off look in his eyes as he was no doubt reliving in his mind his visit to the keep’s library. He looked so happy that Traven hesitated before interrupting him. However, he really wanted to know what had occurred the previous night.

  “What happened last night after I passed out?” he asked.

  “Last night?” Studell asked with confusion as he was pulled from his thoughts. “Oh yes, last night. That was quite the display you put on. I didn’t know that you could even do that. Anyway, those elves with the skeptical faces sure changed their minds once your flame began to spin and turn into whatever that thing was you made. Even that Darian’s eyes got wide.” Studell paused and smiled at the memory.

  “Then what?” Traven asked, urging Studell to continue.

  “Well, then you had to go and pass out. That surprised everyone and caused a lot of discussion among the guardians. Eldridge had one of them carry you up to this room. I followed along, and the keeper asked me how long you had been wielding the ambience. When I told him for only a few weeks he looked very surprised. After we left you in your bed, Eldridge was nice enough to show me to the library.”

  Traven stood in silence. At least his display of the ambience had impressed them. However, he wasn’t sure if it was worth the headache that he had woken up with. He looked down and interrupted Studell as the philosopher began to read again.

  “Why did you hand them the chest yesterday?” he asked. “How did you know it was from the keep?”

  “That’s what the map said,” Studell said without looking up.

  “You didn’t say anything about that before,” Traven stated.

  “I know,” Studell said as he set the book back down. “The map said that whoever opened the chest was to return it to Faldor’s Keep. I assumed there wasn’t a keep left standing to return it to, so I didn’t mention it.” Traven wished the philosopher would have shared everything with him from the beginning. He wondered if there was anything else Studell was holding back.

  “Did the map say anything else?” he asked.

  “No,” the philosopher replied. “If you want to know anything else, I suggest you ask the keeper. He said he would be up to your room this morning to talk to you.”

  As if Studell’s words had been a signal, a knock came at the door. The door opened to reveal the bent over form of the keeper.

  “Ah, you’re both here. I’m glad to see you up and looking so well,” he said to Traven. Eldridge pulled some bread and cheese from under his robe and handed them to Traven. “I assumed you would be hungry since you didn’t make it down for breakfast.”

  Traven gratefully accepted the food and began to devour it as Eldridge took a seat next to Studell. Traven sat down in one of the chairs that faced them.

  “I guess it’s true,” Eldridge said as he chuckled. “The use of the ambience takes a lot of physical strength and leaves the wielder hungry.”

  Traven looked down at his hands in embarrassment. Had he really eaten all of the bread and cheese that fast?

  “Oh don’t worry, my boy,” the elderly man continued. “It is fascinating for me to see the things that I have studied all these years come to life right before my eyes.” He then paused for a moment with a thoughtful expression. “As for you not being a master wielder . . .”

  “I’m really sorry that I didn’t say anything about it right away,” Traven said. “I should have let you know from the beginning that I wasn’t anything special.”

  “Nothing special? Nonsense,” Eldridge stated firmly. “You may not be a master wielder yet, but you will most certainly become one.”

  Traven didn’t necessarily believe the keeper, but he was glad that the elderly man wasn’t upset.

  “You see,” Eldridge began, “I interpreted the language of Faldor’s vision incorrectly. Faldor stated that the wielder who was to be led to the keep would ‘be’ a master wielder. I thought it meant that you would already be a master wielder when you arrived, but now I see it meant that you would be a master wielder in the future.” Eldridge paused and broke out in a large grin. “It actually makes a lot more sense now, why Faldor did what he did.”

  Traven was trying to take in everything the keeper was saying but was having trouble following the elderly man’s ramblings. He jumped from thought to thought like Studell often did without fully explaining anything. He had heard Faldor’s vision referred to the previous night and now it was being referred to again. How could Faldor have known the future? Who was he and what had he done?

  “I can see that you have questions,” the keeper said while studying Traven’s eyes. “I will try to start from the beginning. Hopefully what is happening will then make more sense.”

  Traven settled down in his chair and got comfortable. He could tell it would be a long story. He listened intently as the elderly keeper unfolded the story of Faldor.

  “Faldor was a master wielder that lived nearly a thousand years ago. He was not only a master wielder but also one of the most powerful and certainly one of the wisest and most accomplished of the wielders of old. When the Wielder Wars began, Faldor became very worried.

  “A large group of powerful wielders had joined together and were intent on subjecting all of the lands to their rule. Each one would have the kingdom of his choice to rule when they were finished. In the past there had been plenty of wielders who had tried to take power by force but never before had such a large coalition of powerful wielders joined together.

  “As the war began, Faldor chose to remain neutral. He refused to join the coalition of power hungry wielders but also refused to join with the wielders who were trying to protect the freedoms of the individual kingdoms. He watched it all from a distance, hoping the conflict would end quickly. However, it soon became apparent that the war would continue to grow worse. There was warring between the different factions, warring within the factions, and constant betrayal and switching of factions.

  “The war continued as whole cities and whole armies were destroyed. Slowly, many wielders also began to be killed as the more powerful ones destroyed those who were weaker in the ambience. Faldor recognized that many of the advances and much of the knowledge of the ambience were also being destroyed. Each time a wielder was killed in battle or by assassination, more knowledge died with him.

  “Faldor realized that he had to do something more than just watch these events from a distance. He decided to leave his k
eep and gather as many wielders as he could in an effort to preserve the current knowledge and secrets of the ambience. He had visions of a world without wielders in the near future and worried that all knowledge of the ambience would be lost. He slowly was able to convince a number of wielders to return with him to his keep.

  “These wielders wrote down their knowledge of the ambience, preserving the secrets of the disciplines of the ambience that they had mastered. The wielders also experimented together, discovering even more of what the ambience was capable of. It was a great time of learning and archiving the grand knowledge of the ambience.

  “Unfortunately, despite the renaissance occurring within Faldor’s Keep, outside things had continued to get worse. Three of the most powerful dark wielders formed an alliance and succeeded in destroying all of the other wielders in the land. In their wake they left many destroyed cities and hundreds of thousands dead. Seeing the great destruction, even the elves who had loyally followed the three dark wielders became disillusioned and hid from the world of men.

  “The three dark wielders now had complete control of all that was left in the lands except for one place, Faldor’s Keep. Knowing that there was a group of wielders there together and afraid of what they could do, the three dark wielders gathered together a large human army and began their march for Faldor’s Keep.

  “The wielders of what had become known as Faldor’s council were worried that all they had accomplished in the past few years would be destroyed. Many of them were well advanced in years, and they knew they would be no match for the three dark wielders in their prime with their large army. The council turned to Faldor for guidance. Although he was younger than most of them, he was also powerful, wise, and had been the one to gather them all together.

  “As Faldor contemplated on what they could do, he began to have visions of ten stones. At first he had no idea what the visions meant. However, slowly he pieced together the importance of what he was seeing. Several of the wielders had been attempting to create with the ambience objects that would not only last forever but that would also be imbued with magical powers. They had not been able to create anything with magical properties yet, but theorized that it would be possible if a wielder’s life force was intertwined with the object.

  “They knew that some of the dark wielder’s had created monstrous beasts by wrapping the elements around live souls. Some of the council believed that a similar thing could be done to imbue inanimate objects with magical properties. No one had been eager to test this theory as it would mean giving up their life. However, Faldor’s visions led him to believe that creating these magic stones was incredibly important.

  “Faldor worked hard to convince the other wielders of the importance of creating the stones. With the impending invasion of the dark wielders and their army, the council and all of their hard work would be destroyed. None of the wielders wanted to die, but they were slowly convinced by Faldor that if death was imminent, it was better to choose the time and place and in so doing preserve their legacy. Wouldn’t it be better to sacrifice their lives creating something incredibly special that would last forever, than to be murdered by an attacking army? At first only a few wielders were willing to try, but eventually the others were convinced that creating the stones was the best course to follow.

  “The next step was to actually test the theory. One of the younger wielders who was far from the strongest but one of the sharpest in intellect volunteered to do it. He spent the next few days preparing for the important task. When he was ready, all of the council gathered in the great hall to witness his sacrifice and learn if their plan would work. They all looked on as he slowly created a small blue stone with the ambience. When it was completely formed but not quite solidified, he took a deep breath, and closing his eyes, let his life force be swept from his body and into the stone.

  “The blue stone lit up a brilliant, glowing amber before it faded back to blue and the master wielder fell to the ground lifeless. The other wielders watched in amazement. They paid their respects to the wielder for his sacrifice and then carefully approached the stone. As they approached it, it turned back to amber and began to glow slightly when they drew closer. Faldor picked it up and felt the heat emanating from it. It was no ordinary stone. The experiment had worked. The stone contained magic of its own!

  “The council called the stone a might stone and studied its properties. Upon learning the power that it held and understanding how important the stones could be in protecting the keep from the advancing army, the rest of the council decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. However, one of them would have to stay behind to use the stones and safeguard the keep.

  “They chose Faldor, he being the youngest of them and the wisest. Faldor’s apprentice was also chosen to stay behind and support him in defending the keep. The next day the remaining nine wielders gathered in a large circle in the great hall and created the other nine might stones, giving up their lives.

  “Faldor and his apprentice gathered the might stones and studied their magical properties. Several turned out to not be of any use in protecting the keep, but several others proved to be invaluable. With the help of the might stones, Faldor and his apprentice were able to protect the keep against the invasion and even kill the three dark wielders. With their leaders dead, the army returned to their lands, leaving Faldor’s Keep, with its treasures of knowledge, untouched.

  “Faldor and his apprentice were left as the only known wielders in all the land. Faldor knew that although they would have longer life spans than most, they would not live forever. Knowing of the importance of having the keep protected after he died, he devised a plan to preserve it. His visions foretold of a time in the far distant future when a wielder would return to the keep. He felt that it was essential that the keep be preserved until then.

  “Faldor wanted to enlist the help of both humans and elves in protecting the keep. To accomplish this, he fashioned special gifts using two of the might stones. First he crafted a beautiful sword using the ambience. In its hilt he set the ‘loyalty stone’. This stone would return to a wielder who called it. In the hands of a regular person, the stone would allow the sword to mold to his grasp and become almost an extension of him. Faldor then made an armband with the ambience. He set in it the ‘stone of endurance’. The endurance stone had allowed Faldor to continue wielding the ambience against the keep’s attackers long past the point where his normal strength would have given out. On the arm of a non-wielder, it would give the wearer greater strength, endurance, and longevity.

  “With these two special gifts, Faldor left the keep in his quest to enlist the help of both humans and elves. He first traveled to a small, remote village at the base of the Parched Mountains. He met with the village council and formed an agreement. The village would send four men to be guardians of the keep. For their service, Faldor gave the village the ‘loyalty sword’ that he had crafted.

  “He then left the village and journeyed to the base of Mount Morian. There he sought out the king of the elves. The king was very reluctant to continue any dealings with the humans after the great loss of his people in the Wielder Wars. However, he could not deny that Faldor’s cause was a noble one. He committed to send four elves to the keep to be guardians and accepted the ‘armband of endurance’ as a token of their agreement.

  “Faldor returned to the keep, passing the village along the way and bringing the four chosen young men with him. They would spend their time training and studying. After they had served as guardians of the keep for twenty years, they would return to their village and four other men would journey to the keep to take their place. In ten years, four elves would arrive at Faldor’s Keep and follow the same type of twenty year cycle as the four humans. Thus, there would always be eight guardians, four of which would have at least ten years of experience in protecting and maintaining the keep.

  “The first four guardians trained extensively in all manner of arms. They also spent time every day learning with F
aldor as he studied. When the first four elves came to join their fellow guardians ten years later, the human guardians had become skilled warriors and disciplined in the mind. The elves soon acclimatized to the routine of the guardians of the keep. Faldor’s wish of having eight guardians to safeguard the keep was realized.

  “Faldor also devised another way to protect the keep and the writings that it housed. He chose three might stones that he felt would be of the most worth to the keep and to those who remained within its grounds. In the center of the keep’s courtyard he built three stone pillars and melded them together at the top. Towards the top of each pillar he embedded one of the might stones. The first would give longer life to all within its range. The second would cast a cloak of invisibility over the keep and its inhabitants keeping them safe from unfriendly eyes. The third would amplify the effects of the other two.

  “Once his monument was completed, Faldor left the keep in the hands of his apprentice and the eight guardians. He ventured back into the outside world in search of a human who was devoted to learning and could take care of the keep’s library. He found someone worthy and returned with the keep’s first ‘keeper’.

  “However, to Faldor’s dismay, his apprentice had left the keep, taking six of the might stones with him. Two of the guardians had discovered Faldor’s apprentice at the top of the monument prying out a might stone. When they confronted him, he had killed them. By the time the other guardians discovered the foul deed, it was too late. The apprentice had fled the keep with Faldor’s golden chest and six might stones. Only the two remaining stones in the monument were left.

  “The betrayal angered and hurt Faldor deeply. The remaining guardians wanted to go after the betrayer, but Faldor knew that his apprentice would be too powerful with the six stones in his possession. He convinced the guardians that it would be best to stay and protect the library of the keep. That was the true treasure they had been enlisted to guard. Faldor spent the next twenty years teaching and training the keeper.