by Luka Petrov
Dazed and confused, I sat up. Suddenly, the problem at hand came rushing back to my heard. That’s right, I will soon be surrendered over to the Demon Lord to be his eternal servant. I preferred being in this barn and awaiting us to be cleared and sent to our families by the end of the day. And such is life.
“Oh no! So, this is it?” I asked. Realizing that my future was looking more and bleaker.
“Afraid so. Well, at least for now,” Agnes responded. “We had no choice, but to surrender over to Balfomeir. He would have killed us if the king did not instruct him to keep us alive. Despite our ultimate defeat, I did admire the spells that you were able to cast. You are truly an excellent apprentice. I don’t think half of the faculty at Draererth could do what I saw you do.”
“I’m sure they could,” I responded, blushing from the flattery, but still worried of my future.
I came to my feet, feeling weak, and worried as to what my future held. Was I going to be sent to the Abyss immediately, or would King Harold take the entire two days to send me over? If he were to send me over as an offering for the Demon Lord, he’d most likely allow me to say farewell to my family. At least, that’s what I hoped.
After I came to my feet, Agnes helped me walk over to the others. We joined my friends who stood in the barn's corner by the window of where we watched the battle take place. Shaking, we all reluctantly followed Balfomeir and what Lord Abraxas left of the Gilmore army. It was clear that we were out-matched by Balfomeir, and we had no choice but to obey. The Demon Lord wanted me, but I wanted nothing but to become the greatest mage that ever walked in this world. I would never surrender myself over to the Demon Lord, even if it meant that my friends would be safe. Since meeting them at Draererth, they had been nothing but barnacles on a ship, thirsty for my magical achievements. They were convenient as friends, but I had always suspected they had been only my friends because of my abilities.
We followed Balfomeir out of the barn and toward the center of the village. As we passed by the castle where King Harold lived, I saw that the king’s family’s flag at full mast, signifying he was in the castle. Probably deliberating my fate. I wish I had such authority as that to ponder the future of other people’s lives. We walked through the village, on the cold, cobblestone streets I grew to love. Now, they appeared cold and icy as they no longer comfort me. A place where I once knew as my home was now stark and devoid of any sentimental value.
My real home was Draererth, and that was left in rubble. The last vision I had of that school was leaving Hamon in the hallway, left to battle the Demon Lord. I prayed that he was all right and some him, some way made it out alive. I could not fathom he would have survived and perhaps that the account of the squire stating that there was no sign of life was accurate. If that was the case, I could not find a reason to go on. I could not live with the guilt of having someone sacrifice themselves for us. That emotion was too powerful, and I did not want to explore it.
We walked through the village square where I had taken Emma to the Heims Festival. I took in the village square as we walked through it. That was a glorious night I could almost see the festival vendors, and the cherry-flavored pretzel I shared with Emma that night. As we continued to be escorted, I grew angry. A fire formed in the pit of my stomach. So much has happened since that night. So much magic, mysticism, and wonder. So much had led up to this moment, and I grew angry once again. Angry at the Demon Lord, angry at the King, but most of all, I was angry with myself for leaving Hamon in his moment of need.
As we exited the village square, I refused to allow this moment to overshadow all the memories I had treasured even until now. The memories with Emma at the Heims Festival, memories of working at the bookstore, and memories of learning magic with Hamon.
Balfomeir led us to jail to the right of the village square. A wide pair of granite doors marked the entrance to this jail. Beyond the pair of granite, doors lied a narrow, grimy room. The previous prisoners littered the floor with small bones, which appeared to have been fowl that were eaten by the prisoners, broken stones, and dirt. “Get in there, you hear?” Balfomeir shouted as he flung the granite door open. The soldiers who escorted us to the jail corralled us, not allowing us to even dream of making a run for it. We reluctantly yielded to the soldiers nudging us into the jail with their bodies. “You’ll stay here until the king decides what he will do with you. I’m sure you heard, we have two days,” added Balfomeir. The sound of Balfomeir securing the lock after he slammed the door reverberated in my head.
We stood in the cold jail cell, and a sense of peace filled the room as we were left in the dark, stone-lined room alone. There was something utterly tranquil by being locked inside a cell of which would not get out of. Unfortunately, I knew what was at the end of this peaceful time, and it was not pleasant. I did not mind being locked in with these friends. They looked up to me in regard to my magical abilities, and because of that, I was willing to tolerate them. I admired them for being normal and learning what they could be given their meager abilities. Hell, if I were normal, I would probably be doing just as well as them. There were definitely individual parts I admired of their abilities, however, I could not wait until I would get rid of them. They were definitely helpful last night with the marilith trap we walked into, and Agnes was effective and casting a surrounding shield, but I needed to be by myself. Lord Abraxas wants me, not them. They only like me because of the magic I could perform.
We sat in the cold cell. I was off in the corner, sulking. I had no clue or plan of how we would get out of here. Perhaps I could barter with the king. King Harold was a friend of my dad’s, perhaps we could send someone in my place and call them Edward MacAra? I would feel a tad guilty, but only for a little while. Then I would learn as much magic as I could, and I would go save them. I would be in a debt of gratitude to them, of course, but at least I would not be the eternal servant of the Demon Lord. Someone else could do that, I am special. I need to be able to learn magic in order to save this universe from the Abraxas. I am sure that King Harold would love to hear my plan. The only problem, I need a suitable replacement, someone to take my place.
As I was looking around, I found the perfect person. He stood at the opposite wall from me. He would be the perfect replacement to take my place and to serve the Demon Lord until I was able to learn enough magic to come and save him.
“What are we going to do?” Walter asked. I am sure he would not be partial to this plan. I would have to trick him into getting him to take my place with the Demon Lord. In addition, I do not believe our friends would go along with my plan either. They disliked him and did not respect him for his magical abilities, but they could not get behind him taking the place of me.
I will have to work in secret and meet with the king to get him on board with my plan. Once I do that, the king could order him, Walter, to be given to Lord Abraxas. This plan is perfect! This way, Walter does something for the greater good of our village and I don't have to be the servant of the Demon Lord. It would only be temporary, once I learn enough magic to save him, I would. I would also defeat the Demon Lord and therefore saving the universe as my predetermined destiny. My predetermined destiny is much more important than Walter’s. However, Walter would be a part of the plan since he would sacrifice himself for me to learn the magic.
Cecily answered Walter’s question, “We will get out of here, that’s what we will do!” She tugged on the handle of one of the granite doors, only to rattle them against one another. Part of me was envious of Cecily’s road nature. She did things her own way, and for that I admired her. If anyone would get us out of here, it would be Cecily. However, somehow, I would have to sneak out of here in the thick of night to meet with the King and to discuss my plan. How was I going to do that?
“We won’t be going through there, that’s for sure,” Agnes surmised from Cecily’s attempt to escape.
I was awe-struck by the notion that the king would even dream of turning me over to Abraxas when it was
his destiny. I understand the King’s reasoning for wanting to give me in place his village being taken over by the Demon Lord. I realize that the king tried to give himself instead of me, Lord Abraxas did not want that. I could not wait to share with King Harold my plan.
I could not let my friends know what I was secretly plotting. Instead, I would have to act along with them, so they would think nothing was going on. “Do we even trust the Demon Lord that Gilmore has two days before they would surrender me?” I asked.
Walter replied, “There is no way to know if they could trust the Demon on anything.”
Cecily chimed in, disappointed by her efforts to escape the cell by going through the locked doors, “The damn thing won’t budge.”
Walter stated after realizing that Cecily could not open the door, “One thing I know for sure, we are not surrendering Ed to Abraxas. Do I have everyone’s agreement on that?” Walter was being sweet with that suggestion. Little did he know what I had planned for him. It only he knew, he probably would not be suggesting this. He probably would suggest that they turned me over to the Demon Lord now. I was feeling a little bad for this plan.
Everyone nodded their head. Yves reiterated, “It will be over my dead body. We will fight until the end to ensure Ed does not go with the Demon Lord. If we are to accomplish this, we must keep our magic sharp. We are going to put up a fight when we get the chance.” These declarations were becoming more and more difficult to take. These were acquaintances I had met at Draererth. We were not friends; we only were close because we are at the same place at the same time. Also, they only were my friends because of the magic I was capable of performing. I remember that they were so excited after seeing me perform fire bolts in the range at school. None of them could perform such a cantrip at that point, and I was the only one. After that, they seem to kiss up to me.
Walter seconded that notion, “Yves, that is a brilliant idea! We could have Ed teach us some spells he knows of the lost and unknown spells.” Walter turned to me and said, “Ed, that Blast of Eldritch was phenomenal! How do you keep doing spells like that?”
I felt I had to answer, but I could not tell my friends the actual truth. I could not tell them I made a deal in the afterworld and had an over-powered memory. However, I had to answer this direct question on why I am able to perform spells beyond my difficulty class. I planned my answer and responded, “Hamon made me do a lot of studying.” Feeling like I had come up with a plausible explanation, I even impressed myself at my wit.
“Ed! All of our mentors made us study a bunch. We all had to read tomes after tomes on spells. Why do you think makes you more special than the rest of us,” Yves rebutted my shrewd explanation? “If I remember correctly, I was put in the advanced class along with you. Yet, you can do spells that are infinitesimally superior to what I can cast. Why is that?”
Ugh, they were on to my incredibly plausible answer. I had to think of something better without letting them in on the truth. I mean, who would believe that they chose me to be this universe’s savior and had to gain the magical ability to defeat the Demon Lord. A thought popped into my mind, I’ll let them in on how I figured out the Lost Spells. I explained, “Well, since I was studying a great deal, I kept coming over these spells that were blank or had missing incantations. I asked Hamon what they were, and he told me they were spells that were either lost or not discovered by our Mage Order yet. He said once they were discovered, they would appear in the spell books. That’s why I got into trouble that one day when I battled Cecily at the dueling square and Osgood… er… Lord Abraxas challenged me to a duel. Remember that day?”
Walter’s eyes got big as he seemed to recall, “That’s right. The referee did not like the spell you cast on Osgood. That was a big deal. You had to testify to the Lead Council. We were all worried for you.”
I loved the fact they accepted this explanation as an answer and I fueled the fib, “That’s right. The Lead Council almost took my student status away from me. They wanted me to become a researcher and to discover the lost or non-discovered spells. But, Hamon. Hamon—” I broke down in tears. Tears streamed down my face. Emotions overtook me and I became nearly uncontrollable. My life was spinning out of control, and I was unable to stop it. My mentor was presumed dead. I am a live sacrifice to the Demon Lord, and my friends’ fate was not much brighter.
All four of them came over to me and put their arms around me. The warmth from their arms stifled my panic as I was able to take deep breaths and calm myself down. My friends were truly there for me and truly cared for me. There were much more special to me than any friends that I had in my previous life. In my former life, I was a loner and it was difficult making friends. All I cared about was scoring high on math tests and acing chemistry. I saw my friends more like a competition than people who could support me and people who I could confide in. Yet them comforting me eased the pain. I cared a great deal about Hamon. He sacrificed himself for us, and that was beyond what I could comprehend.
Walter continued the discussion regarding me teaching them magic, “If Ed teaches spells to form the Lost Spells or spells that have not yet been discovered yet, we would have an advantage over the spellcasters here in Gilmore. That way when we do get the chance, we can use magic that has not been seen before. Perhaps they would have a difficult time defending it.” Now is guys wanted you teach the magic; they want to know the spells that I know? That is very selfish on their part, I must get to the Kings soon and tell him of my plan to sacrifice Walter instead of me for Gilmore.
I had to interject, “Balfomeir was an opponent I did not consider. Despite being not necessarily overpowered being an Eldritch Knight, he attained a high level of abilities. Both in magic and in weaponry. I feared his abilities. I spared with Balfomeir early in the morning,” I relented.
“And?” Cecily asked. “It must have been before we woke up.”
“It was. I wanted to get out of the barn and go back to Draererth and see if Hamon was all right,” I explained. I controlled my emotions this time when I spoke Hamon’s name. I could not go down that path again. I refused to allow my emotions to get the best of me. It was only hindering my progress in solving this problem and to be frank, it got in the way of saving my life. I had to squash these feelings deep down. I had to. I was not going to get out of this any other way.
Yves countered my rationale of Balfomeir and not wanting to explore Lost Spells. She said, “We have a better chance if we learn spells that Balfomeir probably does not know. He will have difficulty defending them, even though he is a high-level Eldritch Knight. All we can do is prepare ourselves the best way we know how. The rest is up to luck and chance. And I prefer to make my own luck.”
“Yves, you’re right,” I responded. She did make sense. Once we were head to head with Balfomeir and I train these guys to perform spells that Balfomeir probably does not know I can leave them in the midst of the battle and go meet with the King and tell him of my plan. The plan to have Walter take my place. This will be perfect. I need these guys to do my bidding while I take care of myself. While I am free to learn magic, I will also be searching for Hamon. I am the best choice for someone to be searching for him. He was my mentor, and that bond is tough to break.
“Ed, teach us a spell that you know that is part of one of the lost spells,” Cecily requested.
I had to think about it. My memory seemed to be distracted by everything that had happened recently. “I know one we can all probably do that is part of the lost spells. It is called Firefrost,” I shouted, excited I could remember it. I continued to explain, “It’s an easy first-level evocation spell that should be quite effective. When you use your palm to move the runes and change them a little, you can send a wave of cold fire that will spread out to you your fingertips. Each enemy in a 15-foot cone will take cold damage and this spell will reduce their speed. They must do a successful Constitution save to reduce the damage and not be slowed down.”
I showed it against the wall far from w
here we stood. I concentrated and saw the glyphs that appeared in the atmosphere. Then with my finger, I drew an accompanying glyph of that incantation on my palm, a curling puff of blue smoke arose from my hands. I took that puff of blue smoke and held it in my hands and then threw it as hard as I could against the wall. As I did that, a bright blue flame emitted from my fingertips and the wall was covered in ice.
“Whoa! How did you do that?” Cecily asked.
I replied, “I read about it in one of the books that Hamon made me study.” Tears came to my eyes as I thought about Hamon. “Well, I found that a lot of the spell books had blanks in the directions or had blank pages altogether. I was then able to figure out what the words were and figure out what glyphs to draw on my hand. Here, let me show you guys how to do that spell.”
I demonstrated the glyph they should draw on their hand when they concentrated on Firefrost. They followed the movements of my hand with theirs. “All right, who is ready to cast this spell. Cecily, why don’t you give it a go?”
“All right!” Cecily responded. She stood where I was standing when I cast Firefrost. I could tell she was concentrating as I watched the runes appear in front of her as I watched over her shoulder. She traced the correct glyph on her palm with her finger. The blue puff of smoke curled between her two palms, and then she threw it and froze the wall once again.
“That was beautiful!” I shouted.
“Well, you are a good teacher,” Cecily responded.
“All right, Yves and then Agnes give this spell a shot!” I commanded, taking control of the lesson. If we could learn a few new spells, then we could give the Demon Lord a run for his money. We would be our own trained mage army, ready for battle. Agnes and Yves cast the spell as beautifully as Cecily did. “Walter, it’s your turn now!” I said.