by Luka Petrov
“I’m confused,” Agnes said.
“Look. The shortest one and the tallest one will average out to be the average weight. If we assigned a numerical value to these cylinders, we could call the tallest cylinder number nine and the shortest one number one.”
Agnes responded, “OK. That makes sense.”
I continued, “Let’s put them in the middle on each side of the circle. Then, what numbers would come next?” I asked.
“Two and eight,” Agnes responded.
“Right!” I confirmed. “And where would we position those so that they averaged out with the nine and one in the middle of the circle?”
“They would do best if we put them on the corners but put the number two colder closest to the number nine cylinder and the number eight cylinder closest to the number one cylinder.”
“Brilliant,” I responded. “You are getting the hang of this. What would come next?”
“Seven and three,” Agnes answered.
“Correct, madam. Where do they go?”
“Let’s put the seven closest to the number two, and the three closest to the number eight.”
I moved those cylinders according to what Agnes suggested, and then asked, “Which numbers are next and where do they go?”
“We have six and four next in the sequence. We must keep them on the outside of the circle to balance it out.”
“Correct. Which order?”
“Put the four by the nine and the six by the one,” Agnes suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” I confirmed. “Now the last cylinder?”
“That would be the middle of the sequence and it goes in the middle of the circle,” answered Agnes.
“Right again. You are very quick at this,” I said.
Agnes blushed, and then said, “I had a good teacher.” That response, in turn, made me blush.
Since we had the proper configuration, we watched the center part of the pedestal sink down into the outer pedestal and activated the door to be unlocked.
“Thank goodness we are out of there,” I said as we exited the study. “Now, let’s get back to Yves. Hopefully, she has made it this long.”
We ran back up the stairs, leaping for each of the floating steps back to the bedroom chamber where the mirror portal was. As we approached the portal after entering the bedroom chamber, the mirror, distorted, alternative dimension began to vanish. The bed that was attached to the ceiling slowly disappeared.
“Wow! What is going on?” Agnes asked.
“I don’t know, but let’s get out of here quick,” I suggested.
Both of us leaped through the mirror and were transported back to where Yves was dueling Lord Almer.
Edward and Agnes fled and manages to escape before the mirror shatters into dust.
We came through the portal and I saw Yves and the evil Lord in mid-battle. Except they appeared to have been frozen in time while Agnes and I were in the alternate dimension. Agnes and I jumped down from the chest of drawers where the mirror was attached to. I opened my sack and took out both the magic book of spells and the Magi Staff.
Moments later, Edward and Agnes returned with the book and Magi Staff, ending the battle.
The Lord must have seen these items because he stopped himself in mid-battle and started to weep.
“What is the matter?” I asked.
Through sobs, the Lord replied, “I did not know you had the magic spell book. You were able to get the Magi Staff. Seeing these items together brings back such guilt. For so long, I have felt so guilty for what I had done. I should have never burned Janey to death. In order to get that magic spell book, you must have crossed paths with her sister.”
“Janey’s sister?” Yves asked.
“Yes, she is the headmistress of Sleparth, School of Witchcraft. You must have met her and that is how you got the magic spell book,” The Lord assumed.
“I had the spell book long before we made our way to Sleparth. But Headmistress Windlebraugh did give me this sack to hold the magic spell book in after she saw me lugging it around,” I replied proudly that I got the spell book on my own merits and showing the Lord my nifty Bag of Holding.
The Lord responded, “That means that you are the one deserving of the magic spell book and the Magi Staff. I no longer must protect them; they are with their rightful owner. For the first time, I feel free. I no longer have to uphold my oath to the Eldritch god because I have fulfilled it to completion. Use these items for the battle ahead. You will need them. They will amplify your power and make it so you can subdue the evil Demon Lord.”
Lord Almer looked toward the horizon out of the window and said, “And on that note young ones, I am free. I will live the rest of my life grieving for the loss of the only woman who I have ever loved, and I will spend the remainder of my days as a renunciate. I bid you all a farewell.”
The Lord disappears and the group gains 100xp each.
After the Lord left his castle, our feet began to tremble and shake as the ground shook. “Guys, we have to go to get out of here now,” Yves shouted, barely able to stand on her feet. We run as fast as we could down the stairs. I was relieved to have the stairs actually be joined in a staircase as we moved down them in a fury.
The castle crumbled from the ground rumbling. Perhaps the mirrored dimension had finally collapsed, collapsing this dimension as well. For whatever reason, we escaped the castle crumbling to the ground by the skin of our teeth.
Thankfully Mr. Purcell was waiting for us in the dinghy on the sandy beach. “Hope you guys got what you needed, you can’t go back and get it,” Mr. Purcell mused as the four of us launched the beached dinghy into the ocean, pushing it into the crashing waves as we waded into the sea up to our knees before climbing in.
“We did, Mr. Purcell. Thankfully, we did,” I replied. I was truly grateful to have the comfort of Gilmore with me as this journey was becoming more than I could bear. Having a link to my past was all I needed to keep pressing forward to keep fighting. That link was to my early days here in this universe and through Mr. Purcell, I was able to connect to my emotions for the first time since I reincarnated in this world.
Mr. Purcell and I paddled the dinghy until we reached Purcell's mercantile vessel. Mrs. Purcell was waiting for our arrival and helped us aboard. I assisted the couple with tying down the sails and within minutes we were underway, back to Santa Rocha.
The way back to Santa Rocha was far less entertaining than the way to Barnard Island. It was also far less dangerous as well since two pirate ships did not have a battle in the middle of the ocean. The dock men helped us tie the ship down on one of the sloops and Yves, Agnes and I disembarked. Mr. Purcell asked as we headed off, “Where are you guys headed now?”
“We will be setting up camp just outside of Gilmore and we will prepare for our attack,” I stated. “How about yourself?”
“We will head to another far away land. We are confident that Emma is safe at her boarding school, and we cannot live in Gilmore while it is under the rule of the trader, King Harold.”
“What happened there?” Yves asked. I was curious to know as well since we would be preparing for our attack on the Demon Lord and knowing who was on whose side would be easier.
“He became the eternal servant of Lord Abraxas,” Mrs. Purcell replied. “Just like his father. He is making sure that Lord Abraxas has the best army in all of the land.”
Mr. Purcell chimed in, “Ed, you are our only hope in all of this. If you cannot do it, then no one can. We will be cheering you on from afar.”
“Thank you, that means a lot. You have no idea,” I responded, nearly not believing the very words that we’re leaving my mouth. I really cared for these people. These two people were Emma’s parents, and I treasured the moments that I had with Emma. Perhaps I let this whole magic thing and becoming the greatest mage that this land has ever seen get a little too much out of control. After all, life was more enjoyable with the relationships that I’ve built, not the magic t
hat I’ve learned.
We waved goodbye to the Purcell’s and Agnes, Yves and I headed back toward Gilmore to set up camp and to prepare for our attack. The trek was similar to the way to Santa Rocha, long and boring. As we approached Gilmore, our plan was not to get very close as bounty hunters were roaming the Enchanted Forest and we did not want to be spotted by the Gilmore army or Lord Abraxas’ minions, but we wanted to get close enough to understand what was going on there and the best course of action for our attack.
We set up camp, careful not to allow our fire to get too big and for us to be spotted by our enemies, but large enough that we could warm our feet and roast the Elder Berries a little. While all three of us out of exhaustion watched the dancing flames of the campfire in some sort of trance, Yves broke my thoughts.
“What is that?” Yves asked.
“What is what?” Agnes responded.
I glanced up to see what Yves was referring to. “Holy shit!” I whispered under my breath. Plumes of black smoke billowed from Gilmore. “They surely cannot be torching the village,” I stated.
“Well, they could,” Yves retorted. She did have a way with words, that was for sure.
“What do we do?” Agnes asked. “It will be impossible for us to rest knowing that Gilmore is being burned to the ground as we speak.” Agnes did have a point.
“Let’s get closer so we can find out what exactly is going on there,” I suggested. Yves put out our fire, and we packed up our camp and inched toward Gilmore.
Hiking toward Gilmore was the toughest thing. Panic came over me as I wanted to run and protect the first home that I knew in this land, but we had to move with the utmost caution as the Gilmore army and Lord Abraxas’ minions were on the lookout for us. This could be a ploy to bring us back to Gilmore, but who could ever really know what the Demon Lord was up to.
“Ed, they need us there now. They need us to rescue them,” Agnes said with panic as we came closer and saw the glowing embers of buildings. The villagers scurried around and were panic-stricken. Mobs of the inhabitants of Gilmore fled, running to the outer edges of Gilmore.
“We can’t go yet. We are not prepared,” I warned Agnes.
“We have the Magi Staff and the magic spell book. We have everything we need,” Agnes contested.
“I have not mastered the twelve spells to at least stand a chance against Lord Abraxas,” I reminded.
“I thought you were going to be a master mage. Why haven’t you been able to master these spells yet,” Yves chimed in.
“I was hoping when I got the Magi Staff, that that would be the missing piece to master these spells,” I argued.
“And?” Yves asked.
“I haven’t tried yet. But I don’t feel as though my magic has activated any further since we acquired the Magi Staff.”
“Now as good of a time as any to find out if we can begin our attack on Gilmore and begin with Lord Abraxas,” Yves said hastily.
I took out the Magi Staff and the magic spell book from my sack. I tried not to let the screaming horrors that came from Gilmore to could my concentration, but it was nearly impossible to do so. Reading the magic spell book and Magi Staff in hand I attempted the first spell.
I muttered the prescribed magic words and closed my eyes. I felt an orb form between the Magi Staff and my free hand.
“Whoa!” Agnes whispered with excitement. “I wonder what it does.”
I grew the orb larger between the head of the staff and my hand. Watching the yellow clouds swirl in-between the to endpoints was fantastic to watch. I went to hurl the orb at a tree to practice at aiming it at a target, and the orb disappeared into a puff of smoke.
“Well, that was a letdown,” I stated after seeing my energy go up into thin air.
“It was,” Yves confirmed. “What was that?”
“It was supposed to be cloud frost. It would deal out sixteen points of damage if done correctly,” I explained. “I suppose I am going to need some work on it. However, that’s the farthest that I’ve got it. I’ve been working on that one since we got the spell book and haven’t even been able to get it to that point without the Magi Staff.”
“What do you think we need?” Agnes asked. “What are we missing?”
“Besides practice,” Yves shouted. “We don’t have time for Ed to retreat to a cave for years and years to cultivate his magic.”
“Yves is right, we do not have time for that. We are going to need a shortcut,” I suggested. “But what?”
Yves took a moment and stared off into space. “We need to find Archmage McAllister. He kept the magi staff and the spell book. He could help Ed learn the spells. Hell, he could help us fight Lord Abraxas. Where do you think he went after we left him at the Dragon Tomb?”
“I haven’t a clue,” I replied. “He did not say where he was off to. We didn’t think we would need him any longer either.”
“Well, that was a shame,” Yves replied. “Should we head back toward the Dragon Tomb to see if we can find him?”
“Yes, let’s head back that way,” I suggested.
We headed back in the direction of the Dragon Tomb, traveling on the edge of Gilmore, careful not being seen by any of the armies that guarded Gilmore.
We moved carefully through the thick lush brush of the Enchanted Forest. The forest seemed to be different each time we passed through it. The forest, despite us spending several weeks in here, never felt comforting. I was accustomed to listening to the birds chirping, the random rustling of the leaves as animals scurried from us, but those noises still kept me on edge. I was not scared of them; I just did not find comfort with them.
We would have to travel for miles and miles to make our way back to the Dragon Tomb. It was on the other edge of the forest, the opposite side from where Gilmore was. The thought of making the trek once again worried me. Especially since the situation at Gilmore heightened. Things were suddenly getting tenser in Gilmore and the end must be imminent for that village, which made my position even more necessary. Even though we were headed back to the Dragon Tomb to attempt to find Archmage McAllister, there was no guarantee that we would even find him. None of us had any idea of where he ventured off to after he thanked us for finding him.
He could have returned to his home village, and I had no idea where that was. “Hey, guys. Are you sure that we should go back to the Dragon Tomb?” I asked.
Yves responded, “It’s the last place that we saw Archmage McAllister.”
“Right. But do you think that he will still be nearby?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But perhaps we could ask around and find out if they saw a man wandering around with no skin left,” Yves suggested.
“That’s right, the pitted fiend was eating his flesh. I’m sure the Archmage went to a healer,” I suddenly said as I had just thought of that.
“Where are there healers that are close to the Dragon Tomb?” Yves asked.
“Again, I’m not familiar with that part of the forest. If we go over there we could search for healers and figure out where he is,” I rationalized.
We kept moving onwards in the direction of the Dragon Tomb. I was more confident in our plan once we arrived over there since we would be looking for the nearby healers and had a strategy at least. The Archmage had nearly all of his skin removed from the pitted fiend and he would need to get healing quickly. We needed to get over there and begin our search of all of the nearby healers.
As we trekked and trekked during the night, a rustling of leaves had come from behind us. Leary of the noise, I quickly turned around. As I turned, I shouted, “Yves, Agnes get down now!”
I sent a firebolt in the direction of where I heard the rusting of the noise. I did not hit anything. Thinking that I was going crazy and becoming paranoid, I caught my breath.
“What was that?” Yves asked. “Are you starting to hear things and are going mad?”
“Strange. It must have been nothing,” I replied, surveying the bushiest and seeing absolutely no
threat. I rationalized that I had just been hearing things.
As I calmed myself down, standing in the path I heard a cackle and knew instinctively who it was. “Oh no,” I whispered to Agnes and Yves under my breath. Just then a rope net came up from the ground before I could realize what was occurring, enclosing Agnes, Yves, and I and suspending us in mid-air attached to a tree. We swung helplessly, toppled on top of each other, Agnes elbow jutting into my ribs. Shit! This is it for us!
“We’re done, aren’t we,” Yves replied.
“This time, yes,” I said as four men surrounded us from either side of the path.
“We meet again, Edward,” a voice came from a man who I did not recognize by his physical appearance since it was dark but recognized him by his voice.
“We do Aragon the Wise. We do meet again,” I muttered.
“Aragon the Wise? Damn it!” Yves said under her breath. “Right when we had a plan of how we were going to tackle the whole issue of not knowing how to use the magic spell book and the Magi Staff—”
“Ssshhhhh!!!” I attempted to cover Yves’ voice. It did not appear that Aragon the Wise heard Yves. At least I hope he didn’t.
Aragon the Wise continued with his diatribe, “You brats had us tracking you all over this forest. You had been moving from one end to the other and crisscrossing it all over again. We were closing in on you when you entered the Temple of Terror. We had closed in on you by the Masquerade Mountains where we were located just north of the Lake of Despair. You had snuck past us before you headed into the Temple of Terror, we were right on your heels at that moment. We waited for you to come out of the Temple of Terror, but again, we had just missed you. We then followed you to Santa Rocha. We were closing in on you before you boarded the pirate ship. We made camp just outside of Santa Rocha. We were not sure if you would come back, but if you did, we would be ready. We had been trailing you ever since and had finally closed in on you. And so now here we are. You did not think you’d fool Aragon the Wise, did you?