by RJ Crayton
There was a knock, and he looked up, “Come in,” he said.
A dwarf entered, and he resembled Pylum in that he had tattoos all over his body and a small goatee. Only he had a thick mane of curly black hair atop his head. “Lord Zygam,” the dwarf said, “I cannot find them. I believe they are safe at Hakari Ahet.”
Zygam turned to the dwarf, his mouth a hard line. “How did they get here? How did they find her, even?”
The dwarf reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stone. It was the one Akilah had given me. I’d dropped it in the chaos after I’d called her.
“She had a trace stone?” He spoke with such venom that I was frightened. I could feel his rage. He wanted to hurt the dwarf, to kill him. I wanted him to stop. The dwarf had only brought the bad news. He hadn’t caused it. That’s when Zygam, put a hand to his temple, closed his eyes and said, “Dirah, are you there?”
That’s when I awoke, sitting bolt upright on the mattress.
It was mid-morning. The sun was already high in the sky and streaming in through the windows. Akilah asked me if I was alright, and despite my sweating and shaking, I muttered I was fine. “It was just a bad dream.”
She nodded, even though she didn’t seem to believe me. “Would you like to eat some food or talk to Pylum first?”
My stomach churned uneasily. It wanted calm, not food. “I’d like to talk to Pylum.”
She nodded and led me through the temple. The walls were bright, maybe limestone, but they didn’t seem to be made of blocks. Tapestries or murals covered many of the walls. The pictures woven in thread or painted in bright colors depicted the sun and glowing symbols. Some featured the moon and menacing men with swords. I thought for a moment that sometimes the painted images moved, the figures in them twirling and spinning, some even beckoning me near. Unease rushed through me. I turned my attention back toward Akilah, deciding to look at her and only her. The last time I’d been beckoned by a feeling, it hadn’t worked out well.
After a few minutes of walking, we had arrived downstairs in front of tall, ornately-carved doors. She knocked, and a moment later, I heard a voice tell us to enter.
Akilah opened the door for me and stood there, waiting for me to walk past. I did. Then she closed the door behind me, leaving me alone inside the room. I wanted to say, “Don’t leave me.” There was something unsettling about this room, with its high ceiling and walls of bookshelves. There was a desk across the room, piled high with books and trinkets.
There was one thing I was drawn to immediately. In the corner of the desk sat a crystal ball. Fortune tellers, or fakers, as Auntie called them, pretended to use them to see into people’s futures. But Auntie had told me that crystal balls were for the past, not the future.
I was walking toward it when the dwarf emerged from behind the desk, startling me. I should have known he was in here, as he’d told me to come in. But he hadn’t been immediately visible and I’d gotten distracted by the crystal ball.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
I waved him off. “I should have expected you.”
He nodded. “Have a seat,” he said and pointed to a chair.
Today he was wearing a plain brown tunic, and he looked slightly weary. I wondered if the battle of last night had taken a toll on him. I took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs opposite his desk.
He sat in the other one, facing me. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I need to find my aunt,” I said. “I thought I could do it by myself, but last night, the man, Zygam, he … he wasn’t what I expected.”
“What did you expect?” he asked, not an ounce of judgment in his tone. Simply curiosity.
“I don’t know. Scary, yes. Darkness, yes. But, not alluring. Part of me trusted him. He said he was my alab.”
Pylum’s expression changed to one of concern. “What did he mean?”
I stared at him and tried to concentrate on the conversation of last night. “He said he’d been my teacher, and he had known me when I was little. And last night I had a dream where I ran to him and was happy to see him. He kissed my head and called me ‘Dirah.’”
Pylum nodded. “He speaks the truth. Zygam was once trusted here. He was once a part of our group, and he taught you.”
“But I don’t remember any of that,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “I believe that is why he hasn’t been able to find you. Talitha has locked your memory and blocked your magic.”
I opened my mouth, confused. “What do you mean, she locked my memory?”
He put a hand to his goatee and stroked. “Think of your mind as a house. It’s the thing that is the bulk of you. It’s your inner sanctuary, the home for all of your thoughts and memories. Just like any house, it can be locked. If you don’t have a key, you can’t get in. Your aunt used her power as a mage to place the lock.”
I’d heard the term mage before, from Auntie, though she’d never fully explained the meaning. “Mages are people who do magic?”
He waggled his head slightly. “Sort of. They perform magic, are learned in it, and have magic inside them. But every mage specializes in a specific type of magic. Your aunt specializes in magic of the mind, listening to other’s thoughts, speaking to others in their mind, and mind control.”
“Mind control?”
He shifted unsteadily. “If she had been a mage of darkness, yes. But she wasn’t. Your mother had similar powers, only stronger. Both were mages of light. But one of them, and I suspect it was Talitha, locked away the memories of your early years, of your mage powers. Then Talitha did a suppression spell, one that makes you unable to use your powers. It only worked so well because she’d locked your memories.”
His face was so serious and his eyes as clear as day. I knew he believed everything he told me, only it felt wholly unbelievable. I didn’t understand. “You say she locked my memories?”
He nodded.
I thought the fact that I didn’t remember my mother was simply because I was young. I mean, how much do most people remember from when they were toddlers? Only, as I thought about my memories, or lack thereof, I realized I remembered nothing before my aunt. Nothing at all. Not even the slightest stray memory of a time before. At least, not until last night. I’m sure my dream, at least parts of it, were some of my memories.
My eyes veered to the tattoo of the sun on Pylum’s neck. It was just a dark line on his copper skin, for the moment. No glow. No magic.
“I thought I had a memory,” I told him. “Last night, in my dream. I think it was a memory. How can I have a memory if my mind is locked?”
He offered a solemn stare. “Where is your aunt?”
“Zygam took her,” I said. “Auntie hid me, but I overheard him. He said he put her in stasis and was taking her back to the temple.”
Pylum sighed, but the news didn’t seem to be unexpected. “I presumed he had her, based on your willingness to go to him. But, I didn’t know about the stasis.”
“What is that? I mean, I think I know, but I’m not sure.”
“It’s like she’s frozen. Her body is still and quiet, and her mind is … well, it’s sort of like your memories. It’s locked away for the moment. Unable to communicate. Like a bear that hibernates.”
“Will she be alright?”
He smiled, reached out and patted my hand. “She will be alright. We just have to get to her.”
“When can we go? I need my aunt.”
He shook his head. “You can’t go, not without training, and we can’t go, not without preparation.”
“Training?” I asked. “What kind of training?”
“In using your mage powers.”
I squinted at him. “The ones that are supposed to be locked away?”
He nodded. “Your memories are locked. Your powers are simply suppressed. Or were. It seems quite apparent they are no longer fully suppressed. When Zygam put Talitha in stasis, I believe the spell she used to suppress
your powers began to wane. She wasn’t stupid, so it is likely the spell was always connected to her presence. She didn’t want you to be without your power if something happened to her. So now that she’s in stasis and away from you, your magic is re-emerging. I’m not sure, but it’s possible that some of the memories that were locked away will also emerge.”
I leaned back in the chair and tried to figure out what exactly that meant for me. “So I’ll remember my mother, my father, the magic you say I know.”
“The magic you do know. Yes, that will come back to you. The memories are possible, but I don’t know if she tied your magic use to the return of your memories.” Pylum reached for the crystal ball. It was larger than those I’d seen in the market, where women tried to lure you inside their tent to tell you your future. It sat on a pedestal of carved obsidian. He held it out in front of me and said, “I want to show you a memory.”
I glanced from the crystal ball to him. “In that?”
“Yes, it’s a memory orb,” he said. “It allows us to project our memories. We often use the orb to show others a memory, or to re-examine it ourselves, in hopes of gleaning new insight. Now, I want to show you a memory from when you were two.”
I looked into the orb, and there was mist inside. Pylum had closed his eyes and seemed in deep concentration. The mist faded away, and inside the orb, I saw Pylum, in an office, in this office, only he looked younger. He was still a dwarf, but his face didn’t seem as wearied or aged. He seemed happy. There was still a desk in the office, one cluttered with belongings, but the chairs that should have gone with it had been pushed to the side.
Pylum stood next to the desk, a grin on his face as he held a chain with a large amethyst jewel dangling from it. The gem was the size of an apple, and intricately cut. It caught every ray of light that touched it. Pylum wasn’t alone. As the mist completely cleared, the scene panned out, and I could see Zygam standing near the dwarf. He was grinning, too.
“This is amazing,” Pylum said. “The Talisman of Elpida has been lost for eons. I don’t know how you found it.”
Zygam smiled, shrugged. “You know, they say finding it is a sign that a time of peace is to come, a reign of great power by a brilliant mage.”
Pylum shook his head. “You always have such, eh, unique interpretations of the prophecies, my friend,” he said, watching the dangling jewel. “The Prophecy of Light says that a powerful mage is the only one who can control this, and there is a chance for peace, but there is also a chance for great darkness. That mage could shift from the love of light to the greed of darkness. It is important that we’ve found it. We need to protect it.”
Zygam laughed. “We cannot protect it,” he said. “You can feel the power emanating from it, can’t you?”
Pylum looked at it and shook his head. “Somewhat, but it is not meant for me. Only the most powerful of mages can draw strength from this. To the rest of us, it is dangerous. If we don’t have enough power to properly merge with it, work in harmony with it, it can burn us out. We light from the inside out and perish in a ball of flame. It must be secured now that we have found it.”
Zygam nodded. “You’re right, Master Pylum,” he said, and he looked almost deferential. “Should I …” He started but didn’t finish. The doors to the room burst open and in ran a toddler, a little girl with chubby cheeks and shoulder-length straight black hair.
“Alab, alab,” the girl called, and Zygam knelt down and smiled as the girl ran toward him. Because Pylum had said it was a memory from when I was little, I knew that child was me. But it felt like I watched someone else. The two-year-old me wrapped her arms around Zygam’s legs and squeezed tight.
He picked little me up, grinned, and said, “You missed me, I see.”
A moment later my mother entered the office. “I’m sorry, Master Pylum,” she said. I leaned in to get a closer look at my mother. She was petite, maybe only five feet tall, but she had great presence and beauty. Olive skin, thick, curly black hair, kind brown eyes, and just a hint of mischief on her face. She turned to Zygam. “You’ve been gone three weeks, and it seems her mental connection to you has grown in that time. She’s known for the last hour that you’ve been back at the temple. I told her you’d come as soon as you were …”
She stopped talking, and I wondered why. But it would have been obvious if I’d been paying attention to anything in the room other than my mother. Little me was in Zygam’s arms and had reached out for the pretty gem. It had drifted from Pylum’s hands and was floating just inches from my little hands. It was glowing with a rainbow of light. The twisting colors of magic threaded through the gem, shooting small sparks from the carved surfaces into the air. It was hypnotizing, even though it was just a memory I was watching in a magic orb.
“Dirah, stop,” my mother said sharply, and little me looked up at her. The gem fell from the air, and Pylum caught it gingerly.
The adults in the room all looked stricken by what they’d seen, and even the child me seemed stunned by their reaction. Zygam set me down, and my mother waved me over to her. I followed her instructions, running over and taking her hand. My mother blew out a relieved breath, and as she tugged me from the room, turned back to say, “We will leave you to finish your work.”
Zygam was staring at little me with new interest, and then he turned his eye to the gem Pylum was holding. There was pure lust in his green eyes. He wanted it.
The image dissolved into mist and Pylum set the memory orb aside. “You see, you have the power within you,” he said.
“To control that thing, that amulet?”
“Yes. The Talisman of Elpida.”
“I don’t want to control it. I just want my aunt back.”
Pylum nodded. “We will get her back,” he said. “We will get her back from Zygam, as well as the amulet. He has them both. And we will need your help. We will need your power.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t a thing to be used in his fight. “I just want Auntie, nothing else.”
“You don’t have that choice anymore. He’s found you, and he will stop at nothing to get you to help him control the amulet’s power. Train with me, and soon we will be able to get your aunt back. But go in there like you did before, alone, and you will not succeed.”
I stared at him, knowing he was right. There was something strange about Zygam. I was drawn to him, yet at the same time I feared him. I wish I understood it. Perhaps I could understand if I had my memories. “If I train with you, will my memories come back?”
He took in a deep breath and then blew out slowly. “Perhaps. Your magic is powerful. Your memories were locked to help keep the magic in. If you had remembered doing magic, you would not have been able to hide from Zygam. As the magic comes out, you may be able to unlock your own mind. Or perhaps, memories associated with certain magic will rise to the surface. I’m not sure. Mind locking isn’t my strength. As mages of light, we tend to avoid locking a mind, if we can avoid it.”
“But my aunt didn’t avoid it with me?”
He nodded. “She did it to protect you. And it did. It severed the connection you shared with Zygam and kept him from tracing you all these years.”
I sighed. I loved Auntie still, but felt a pang of betrayal that she had done this to me, that she had disconnected me to an integral part of myself. She had locked away my magic, trapped it inside my mind. Only, she was the one who was trapped now. In a state of stasis. No matter what else happened, she didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve to be Zygam’s prisoner. I had to help her get away.
I stood and held out a hand to Pylum. “I will train with you, and you will help me get my aunt. After that, I can leave. Do we have a deal?”
He appraised me for a moment, then smiled and shook my hand. “We have a deal.”
I wasn’t sure if this was a good deal or not, but it was the best option I had.
Pylum looked up toward a window. “Much of the day is gone already,” he said. “Why don’t you get acquainted with th
e temple, and tomorrow we’ll start?”
“Will that be soon enough? I don’t want him to hurt my aunt.”
“He won’t hurt her,” he assured me. “He knows you want her and that as long as he has her, you will eventually come back to him. He just won’t expect you to come back fully prepared. But you will be. You’ll see your aunt again.”
With that, he ushered me toward the door. Tomorrow, I would start my training. That would be the first step to finding Auntie.
Tomorrow would begin the next part of my journey.
End of Book 1
Kadirah’s story continue in the Prophecy of Light – Unleashed.
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Preview
Prophecy of Light – Unleashed
Chapter 1 - Failing
I stared at the vase on the floor. I had been assigned one task: levitate the vase. It should have been simple. I’ve seen very small children here at the temple perform this task. But I’d been failing miserably.
“Can you feel it?”
I looked up and found Akilah standing there, giving me an encouraging look. At fifteen, she was a year older than me. She was taller than me, too. But I could’ve said the taller thing about pretty much everyone my age. I’m unusually short, at four feet ten inches.
I shook my head in response to Akilah’s question. I could not feel the vase. All I could say with confidence that I felt was air.
She smiled at me in that totally nonjudgmental way that said, No problem. I hated that she did that. It was kind and caring, but part of me wanted her to yell at me. I needed to get this. I deserved rebuke.