Teliko Mageia: Curse of the Frozen Flame

by A. J. Carbonell

  “Unfortunately, we cannot aid you on defeating Kras. Too many of our people have been lost, and it doesn’t seem to leave the forest–we have decided to leave it be, and never stray in its domain. Please, have your stay here tonight and do as you must in the morning. It would be utter folly to attack Kras in the middle of the night.”

  “Thank you so much, mayor. We will leave in the morning,” Jael answered.

  “Wait!” the mayor exclaimed. “My brother was taken by the beast. I have not seen him in over a year. Should you... see any sign of him, belongings, anything...” Jael nodded. “Thank you, young mage.”

  Back at the inn, Jael and Vaan downed two cold drinks, then tucked away in a draughty upstairs room with two straw beds and two luxuriously soft down mattresses. Far from the wilds. “Vaan, do you still want to go with us? This Kras looks like a tough one to beat,” Jael asked, downright optimistically.

  “Ha! Please do not underestimate me, Jael. Could be that you’ll need me. To be blunt, what else am I to do with myself?” Vaan smiled ruefully, the pain of the loss of his companions still ever so evident in his sadly creased face. Vaan’s experience wore heavy upon him.

  Dawn came and Jael, Frekkis and Vaan readied to go to the Netherwoods. They were on the verge of departure when the mayor came and gifted a mysto called Flasher. “Please accept this token. It will send a signal to my marshals if you need to return quickly, they will bring you back–if they can.” If there’s anything to bring back. Jael was always aware of danger, yet it never haunted him. What was there to return to? What was there to live for, if not the challenge of the fight. “Take care and good luck.”

  “Sincerest thanks, Mayor Strooge.” Jael and Vaan thanked the mayor and left the town.

  The Netherwoods, to no surprise, turned out to be a dark and eerie forest, shrouded in a dark mist that obscured their vision. Contorted, twisted trees wore an etheric life, beings that seemed to be posed, as if to strike at any moment. Echoes of wailing noises, creatures living in the depths kept the woods raucously alive. Jael, Frekkis and Vaan carefully dredged into the forest. Over the morning they saw lizards, spiders, crocodiles and centipedes; strangely evolved and territorial, locked in a constant battle with each other. Gloomy birds eyed them noiselessly from the branches, their number increasing the deeper the party walked.

  After a while, they saw a small flicker of light between two towering trees. “Hey. There’s a small light over there. I think that’s the other side of the forest,” Vaan said. As they drew near the beam of light, it became clearer and clearer. A sudden gust of wind lashed through the forest gap. “Be careful!” Vaan whispered. The ground shuddered, and while the forest had chattered with angry, territorial life before, now it held its breath. Jael, Frekkis and Vaan quickly hid behind the towering tree. A massive creature approached from the clearing. It was indeed, Kras, the netherbeast. Its fangs as big as a mammoth’s tusks, its body size twice that of an average gorilla, and its claws gleamed razor-sharp in the yellow- gold morning sun, colour corrected by the mist to an ominous golden grey light. Kras’ nest was at the core of Netherwoods, a dank, rich tangle of foliage untamed by man. But its territory was an open area where rays of sunlight shone freely.

  Trees lay wasted around the creature.

  Jael and the others made to creep clockwiseabout the nest, avoiding the Netherbeast. Frekkis, ordinarily so silent, misstepped. Crack. Kras, massive and furiously alert, sensed them at once and moved in one large flurry of muscle.

  “Stop! Hide behind that tree,” Vaan hissed, and they hid as quietly as possible. Kras roared in frustration and came back to its nest of brawny mangled trunks, snapped like twigs. If it could do that to a tree, Jael’d no doubt one swipe from the enormous creature would break his soft body. But he was unafraid. He had magick on his side, and so long as the beast remained unaware of their tiny presences, it was a matter of waiting and observing, until he knew what the best magickal tactic would be to take out such a powerful beast.

  “Whew, that was close. Let’s go slowly and quietly,” Jael said. This time, they successfully continued around the nest, and would’ve gotten away with it had Kras not glimpsed the hem of Vaan’s cape. The Netherbeast roared and thundered toward them. “Run!” Jael exclaimed.

  Sweat ran down their brows. Jael’s legs burned. No time to prep a spell. They ran for their lives. Each thud of Kras’ stride struck the ground, rattled the ground. Jael blinked the burning irritant of sweat from his eyes as he’d no sleeve to wipe with. Each thud seemed closer than the last, and he dared not waste the time to look back in such a chaotic environment as the Netherwoods. Even as it was, trees and branches whipped and cut at any of his exposed skin. Kras with its long legs easily caught up to them. Vaan didn’t have Jael’s stamina. He breathlessly gasped, “Go, Jael! Go to Sanhera and I’ll distract the beast!”

  “No! We will go out of this forest together!”

  Vaan suddenly changed his course, and the netherbeast trailed him. Jael and Frekkis quickly followed. Vaan stopped and cast Golem Heart. Stone whipped up, encasing him in earthen armour. Upon closing to Vaan, Kras smashed him with its fist. For a moment, Jael feared the worst, but then Kras’ fist came up and Vaan was unharmed, thanks to his rock armour.

  “Earth Shower!” Vaan exclaimed, and rocks began to shower upon the beast and smoke shrouded it. Vaan quickly cast back Golem Heart. Jael’d finally found the focus to prep his own spells, and Frekkis too came to Vaan’s aid–Blazia and Feather Form. Kras emerged from the smoke, seemingly unscathed from Vaan’s attack. Kras struck the ground and a massive quake hurled toward them, shredding up all that grew in its path. Vaan blocked the uplifting earth with a spell Jael had not yet seen him use: Revolut.

  Even their magick seemed pointless. “Jael, try to burn the beast,” Vaan roared.

  “Frekkis, give me a boost!” As soon as Jael was before the massive face of Kras, its mouth yawned open, a blast of warm saliva splattered his face. It roared like thunder, and the gusts of wind threw him away. Frekkis took it worst, her body flung into a tree’s blunt end stump, and her left leg dangled unnaturally. She yelped in pain. Nothing a healing spell couldn’t fix, but Jael had no time to go digging about in his bag for mystos. “Steady, Frekkis. Rest. We can handle this.”

  Vaan immediately cast Upheaval, an earthen magick spell which drew formable spikes of earth up from the ground within an instant and focused on the Netherbeast. Massive earth spikes struck Kras’ jaw, and the beast staggered, eyes blinking heavy, groggy, a tell of pain.

  This only provoked the feral beast to an even greater rage. Suddenly, it rampaged toward Vaan, destroying everything in its path!

  “Golem Heart!” Vaan shouted. “It’s impossible to penetrate my armour!” Perhaps this was to reassure himself more than to threaten Kras or alert Jael.

  Left to right, Vaan was pummelled by the beast. Jael rushed to Kras and cast Explosion. It had no effect. Vaan’s armour began to crack as Kras battered him. Vaan, in frustration, added another layer of rocks to Golem Heart but still the Netherbeast easily penetrated it. Jael intensified his Blazia, digging deep into the reserves of his magickal energy. Finally, this began to do damage to the beast. It also drew attention to Jael as a threat. It stopped pounding Vaan and swatted Jael like a fly. Without heavy armour to protect himself, Jael was flung back. He gasped in pain, still vulnerable and foolish from the adrenaline of battle, stood up to cast Blazia. Abruptly Kras smashed Jael onto the ground with its massive fist. Jael’s focus flickered and went black. He staggered to his knees, stars and ringing dominant between his ears. Nearly unconscious. He hung on to the reality of nausea, the blood running down his split forehead and stinging his spotty eyes. He could not even manage to raise a hand to smear the syrupy drool of blood and sweat from his own face.

  Rage seized Vaan when he saw Jael. His eyes paled. Then at once they were pure white, and all energy snapped towards him. Thick with dust and earth, the air shrouded Vaan in a cloak of earthen breath.
Boulders whipped around him as he strode toward the Netherbeast. Vaan was gone. Only the trance carried him toward the hideous monster. One thought only. Defeat the beast. Destroy the monster. Decimate.

  The earth rumbled about them. Vaan quickly approached Kras, rapidly threw punches. The Netherbeast’s feral face contorted in shock and anger. Vaan rammed him with punches. It attempted to smash Vaan on the ground but Vaan easily blocked its fist with his stone left arm and the energy transferred through the beast, into the already wasted ground, which crumbled from the impact.

  The beast reared back and swung at Vaan once again. An opening. Vaan hit it from above with a flying rock and it flew back, into the ground. The earth shattered around it, and blood smeared the rocky soil as Kras slid metres back, propelled by Vaan’s trance. Rocks and boulders flew around Vaan and beat Kras, one after another, over and over again. The strength and endurance of the beast was incredible, but Vaan was relentless and continued his assault.

  A massive chunk of earth rose below Vaan, dragging him with it, and the walls of rocks rose around the Netherbeast. Enclosed in a cage-like rock formation, the Netherbeast was helpless as Vaan brought the chunk of earth crashing down on the Netherbeast.

  The moment life vanished from Kras’ eyes, Vaan fell to his knees. His hands tightened, digging knuckles into gravelly earth. His chest heaved, but when he looked up his eyes no longer bore the pale indication of entrancement. “What just happened?” Gasping for breath, Vaan stared, shocked at the colossal beast that now lay unconscious on the ground. “I can’t remember a thing.”

  Vaan went to Jael and Frekkis, who were both at the brink of collapse. He gently lifted Frekkis and carried her to lie beside Jael where they rested under the large arms of a stubborn hawthorn tree. Exhaustion destroyed any sense of danger. Vaan’s eyes fell shut.

  After a few hours, Vaan awoke and to his surprise, he saw a strange younger-aged man lying asleep near them and the Netherbeast nowhere to be seen. Had it limped off to lick its wounds? Clearly it hadn’t the desire to re-engage with them, as helplessly asleep as they were. Vaan shook Jael and Frekkis but only Frekkis stirred, and she stood up. Vaan felt a twinge of concern for Jael, but the young man still breathed steadily. “Frekkis–let’s go see who that man is. Come.”

  They made their way across the wasted clearing to where the stranger slept and Vaan exclaimed, “How is it that a man now lays where once there lay only a beast?”

  The man woke up, shock written across his face. “Who are you?” His eyes were wide, breath heaving, in a state of shock. “How did you get here?”

  “We defeated the Netherbeast at the very spot that you lay.” “What day is it?” the man asked.

  “Today is the 21st day of the Zula,” Vaan replied. “What year?”

  “Year 44 of the new Cosmos.”

  “It has been almost a year since I left Parabia. Right...” The man’s eyes darkened as the memories began to return and the clarity that came was not kind, by the look of things. “I got caught by this... Netherbeast.”

  “What happened to you?” Vaan asked, curious.

  “The Netherbeast consumes everything it defeats. As a mage, it absorbed my body and used my form, my energy. However, unlike the other victims of the monster, my magick protected me from total annihilation. Some part of me was kept alive in there. I have been a prisoner inside its depths. I could see, sometimes, through its eyes, looking on as it did terrible things... terrible things...” The man trailed off, lost in heinous thought. A small muscle above his eyebrow twitched, and his eyes seemed to look off into nothing at all. Finally, he added, “Thank you, strangers. Thank you for saving my life. I am Cret, Cret Strooge.”

  Vaan glanced back to Jael, who was still unconscious, and then to Frekkis, who had nothing to say about his meaningful glance. At least it was not lost on him. He sighed. Such a dramatic coincidence would have to wait to be relayed to Jael, who would surely appreciate such a tale. “Could it possibly be that you are the brother of the mayor?” he asked.

  “Indeed I am,” Cret replied and Vaan could not help but feel a smug sense of satisfaction. He introduced himself, including Frekkis and Jael. Upon trying once more to rouse Jael, he failed and cast the Flasher orb to notify the town marshals of Parabia that they were in need of aid.

  Upon returning to the town, a groggy Jael, limping Frekkis and Vaan, still befuddled by the mysterious magickal trance that had overtaken him, received a hero’s welcome. The best healers in all of Parabia cast healing spells upon Frekkis’ broken leg and Jael’s concussed skull. All were returned to the best of health. Before dark could even begin to fall, a grand feast was held in their honour, hosted by Mayor Strooge, in thanksgiving and celebration. Ale was drank, the best wine was opened, and an entire hork beast slaughtered and roasted upon a magickally imbued Blazia spitfire. If that were not enough, the mallow trees were in season and the best tiny tarts made of whipped cream and fresh fluffed mallow were served.

  On the next day, after a night of fine restful sleep that took them well past dawn and into the beginnings of afternoon, Jael and the others returned to Netherwoods and successfully crossed it.

  Though the Kras was defeated, they remained wary of other dangers. Finally, they made it through the clutches of the dark Netherwoods after one far less comfortable night but mostly uneventful night of camping. The following morning, they looked to the west where just beyond a misty greenish hill lay a ruin, the devastated town of Sanhera.

  Once known as the village of beauty, Sanhera was a small village inside of the far side the forest, nearing the Western Ocean. Here, the woodland parted into magnificent fields of flowers and tropical plants, a marvellous beach sprawling along the shoreline. Once the white sand faded away, the thicket again reclaimed the surrounding land both south and north, and the edge of the sea became stony coast.

  Entrenched at the westernmost part of the kingdom of Bristal, filled with magnificent flowers and coloured vines that tumbled from the misty untamed tangle of the Netherwoods, Sanhera was known as a place of beauty. The natives of this place were the family of Sanjuro. Sanjuro’s family broke through the forest and used their magick to evolve nature to grow for aesthetic. They were known to be kind-hearted. Sanjuro’s family welcomed every person who came to their territory, and many stayed, residing there. Not too long after, the elder of Sanjuro proclaimed it as a village, and named it Sanhera. It was said the women of Sanhera were the most beautiful in the entire kingdom; thus too, it was known as the village of beauty.

  Then, the Tiger Paw came and raided the whole village. Mercilessly, they killed men, women and children alike and burned the whole village down. Sanhera became a blackened ruin.

  Night had long since fallen when Jael, Frekkis and Vaan arrived at the site of Sanhera’s ruin. The devastated village was lit only by the dim pale eyes of the moon and stars. What walls there were had since collapsed if the buildings had not already been reduced to a husk by flame. Houses remained with only stone foundational pillars blackened by the bandit assault, and the once vibrant central well was now reduced to a sheer hole. Beasts roamed the area as they did much of Bristal. Certainly, some had made this ruin their bed. The cry in the night was no cry of a ghost, as much as a woman as it sounded.

  “Be watchful, Jael,” Vaan warned as they drifted through the wasted Sanhera. In search of what, answers? The words had hardly left his lips when a panther pounced from the rafters of a burned-out bungalow and struck Jael with its claws, wounding his left arm. Its eyes flashed in the glimmer of their torches and quickly disappeared.

  “What was that?” Jael cried.

  “It was quick! I didn’t even sense its presence,” Vaan said. “Be alert!”

  Surveying the dark Sanhera, Jael’s boot crunched over some mysterious and obscure residue. He winced. A crow dive-bombed Frekkis, attacking with its beak and quickly disappearing again. Frekkis, frustrated, howled aloud, and it echoed in the ruin. Jael snapped: “Frekkis! Enough! They might be too m
any for us to handle.” Frekkis quieted. Both Jael and Vaan readied spells.

  As they walked toward the central well, growls, howls, and roars accompanied them. Too aware of how quickly the panther, the crow had struck, Jael kept Blazia tight at hand. Alert, Vaan cast Revolut around the three. Numerous beasts rose from the shadows, surrounding them. A man approached from the gloom, scattering the beasts. “I am terribly sorry! My beasts are always alert for people entering this place. They have been trained to protect me at all costs. You have my sincerest apologies! You seem to be but young explorers. Am I right?” the man said.

  Vaan cancelled his Revolut and answered “We are travellers who seek to know about this village. May we ask who you are?”

  “I am Aldweihen, a beast mage. You may call me Alden! I am but a humble nomad and decided to make this ruin my home,” Alden replied.

  “I am Jael, these are my friends–we are mages too. Do you know the history of this village?”

  “I have stayed here for quite some time now… two years at least. Well! I’m afraid haven’t heard of what happened here. My mother used to tell me that this village was the Village of Beauty– now it is laid waste,” Alden answered.

  “I see,” said Jael. Frekkis moved away from him, sniffing at Alden. While most they’d met on the road immediately attacked them, this one seemed to be friendly, and she scurried around him and gave a little delighted yelp when he gave her a pet. “In your stay, have you found any mystos or artefacts? This village… it has been always been in my dreams. I think it has some connection with me.”