I could see no light at all in the room, so I got to my feet and searched for a window that may have been covered by shutters or heavy curtains. The floor was made of rock, yet felt as soft as sand to my bare feet. I felt the robes I had worn were taken from me. I was wearing something else; something uncomfortably alien to me. My beard was in knots and the hair upon my head was ruined from the earlier battle.
I hugged the wall, feeling around to find a window, a door, or some sort of exit from the room, but, nothing was on that wall; not even a dent or a crack in its stone structure could be found. It became clear that this room may be a garret or a cellar of strange design. I swiped my hand across the blanket of darkness to see if there were any ladders, because there were obviously no stairs around. I could find no ladder on the ceiling that could have lead to a first floor, so I got on my hands and knees to search for a trapdoor, with a covered stairwell underneath. Unfortunately, I could find no escape, and it was clear this was a magickal room. One could only enter through teleportation.
Once realizing this, I began to feel the energies around the walls that told me I was incapable of casting magick of my own. This room was a wizard’s prison and I was its prisoner. With a sigh of frustration, I sat back down on the bed and wondered how my family was faring in Rïdeneer. In the recesses of my imagination, I could see them searching for me outside the village, leaving no stone unturned.
It was obvious now that I had been kidnapped by someone, or something with mysterious intent. Just as I was about to lie back down in bed, I felt a presence suddenly enter the room with me; a strong one, full of excitement and glee. It was a masculine company; one that seemed pleased to be in my presence. A man’s voice spoke to me out of the darkness, with much enthusiasm and worship in his eager tone.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Master Äbaka.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“I am as you are. A prisoner trapped in the darkness with only one who can save me. I have been an enthusiast of yours for over a hundred years, and I must have your help, Master. My comrades and I, we need your help.”
“First of all, I am not your master. Secondly, I suggest you tell me your name, where I am, and how I got here, is that understood?”
“I am the one with the power over you right now, Master Äbaka. I think it would be wise if you cooperated with us, as we had to deal with the jaqae taking over our college campus.”
I let out a startled gasp upon hearing the strange man’s words. “Wait, you mean to say that Jobik has made his first move?”
“Precisely the point, sir, and the only way you are going to get out of here, is if you agree to assist our cause of taking it back. The beast is conquering campuses and fortresses of sorcery as his first move against the Fancore. Cities are also on his list. You are the man to slow them down until the chosen one is available.”
I thought about what he was telling me; help them fight off the jaqae invaders in exchange for my freedom out of this dark room? If he was truly a fan of mine, then he would have known that he could have simply asked me to assist. I would be most honored to raise a sword and staff against the enemy. I got out alive from the battle against Draäm, so why would old age stop me this time? Despite my disapproval of this strange man holding me captive, I nodded and answered with a grin on my face, “Well, of course I’ll help you! What made you think I’d say no?”
“Master, I was only taking the proper precautions in case you were actually one of them in disguise.”
“Fair enough; I’m assuming we’re going to have to teleport out of here?”
“You are quite close, Master, but I have developed a more spectacular method. Take my hand and I’ll show you.”
Having no choice but to trust this unseen stranger, I did as he suggested, and with the touch of his hand, I felt as though I was falling through a vortex of chaos. The force running through my system was so incredible as to be nearly horrifying. We were actually being shot through a worm hole in the outer fabric of time and space. It was a segregated reality meant to prevent powerful sorcerers like myself from ever escaping without the permission and escort of an attendant. This man was taking such profound measures to ensure I didn’t escape, but I could not cease to marvel the fact that he did this, as he was a much lower level sorcerer than I.
Through the wormhole, I witnessed everything that had ever happened to me, and saw those I loved in my life, dead and alive. It was a tunnel through time and space, piercing the veils of the past, present, and future, allowing me previews of what was to come. Everything in the images was a blur to what I could recall, and what I could foresee. There was a glaring light at the end that nearly blinded me, until it all came to a sudden end on the ground of a distant world most familiar to me. This was not Imga I, it was Imga XII; the old planet, where I grew up as a youth, hundreds of years ago.
It was night and the stars were lit bright in the sky with two bright-red moons. The world was much different than what I recalled, even the air tasted of a new breed. It was not as sweet as it once smelled and the grass below my feet was not as green, nor was the sky as vibrantly blue. The land was called The Fields of Eternity, my home land on the small continent of Dawnwish. It was in these very fields I planned to have a school of sorcery built, but lacking the necessary funds was always an issue for me. After I scanned the horizon, I saw the man who had brought me here, dressed in red, hooded, mage’s robes and wearing two dangling bulb earrings. He was quite tall and stood in colorful, silken boots that didn’t quite match his plain robes. He was an old man, possibly centuries old, like me. When I looked down to see the cotton pants and sleeveless shirt he dressed me in, I scoffed at him. Not in the least bit sorry for my discomfort, the man spoke to me about the tragic things that had happened.
“I owned two mage college campuses, both handsome fortresses below the mountains. One of them was here on Imga XII and the other on Salidiah Pulse, which was just recently stolen from us. The one on the other world is too overrun with jaqae, so I and my surviving students and teachers from Salidiah Pulse decided to take Imga XII’s back until we can find more reinforcements. Unfortunately-” he paused, fighting back tears, “there were no survivors here. I shall have these lands we stand upon be the construction grounds for your own college campus, provided that you see to the death of those demons who pillaged it. They are using it as their campout not too far from here. You are well rested, yes?”
He must have read the file that Jon wrote for me on the computer years ago, when Sui was a tyke and Molli Su was yet to be born. I didn’t know anything about this man, but if he was telling the truth, how could I pass up such a high-rewarding deal?
“I am, but,” I hesitated, “are you honestly gifting me with my very own school?”
“Yes, Master Äbaka. I am a man of my word and I promise construction shall begin right after the last breaths of those vile demons are drawn from them. That is our contract; what say you?”
At first, I had to take a moment to consider what happened to me when I fought against Draäm earlier. I may have survived the battle, but what I had told Sui in the laboratory was true. I was growing feebler. Accessing physical and magickal energy was a burden for me to wield, depredating my body in the process. I could feel my body hollow from the inside out on that night. The images from the battle against the thunger assassin and how hideously ill I appeared to be came to my mind before I could shake this man’s hand. I shook off all negative outcomes that whirled in my mind and nodded with confidence, grabbing his rough hand for a firm shake. Although I was old and becoming frailer, I knew that killing a few jaqae was necessary. And if getting a school of my very own was the reward, then consider my age not of much importance even if I died. With a few old fellow wizards to fill in as mentors, Sui and George would be able to go here and learn the ways of sorcery with far more benefits than if we were to continue at home.
“Where is m
y staff?” I asked, in a more stable mood.
“It’s at the camp in the mountains, above the campus’s remains. We should make it there by dusk if we travel without stopping.”
“I have to ask; what is your name, and what’s your story?”
“My name is Diruiyal Sanchezz. I was born and raised in Heflim on Imga XI until it was sabotaged by a hoard of orcs and savage humans. We moved underground to Davern-Stead with the dwarves. But when the Great War that had broken out between the dwarves and the goblins escalated, my family and I were forced to move to Imga XII, using a waystone. Zella was where we settled, but it was no safe haven. The streets in that city were a nesting ground for trouble with violent gangs, murderers, thieves, and rapists. We had to scrape by in a tiny hut next to a small storehouse where many people shopped; the storehouse you owned.”
Indeed, he knew who I was, as did all who I reunited with, from the streets of Zella. I owned a storehouse where I sold many rare items and trinkets when I was in my prime. I was not surprised to hear him call me out like that. I had a lot of customers who came around for many years, so I didn’t recognize him at all, like most. In fact, he was a little boy at the time when I calculated the math in my head. Anyway, he continued his story on and on for hours as we made our way to the defeated fortress on foot, but I lost interest in him. He was a talkative man, but he had a great deal to learn about luring an audience with his words. He finally came to the conclusion about how he became a student in the college that had just been taken over on Salidiah Pulse. He explained that he had won the title of Archmage when he saved the life of the previous one from an accident, caused by another mage’s deadly miscalculations with a powerful electric-blast spell. He went on to admit that he wasn’t given the title right away; he had to inherit it when the Archmage died of natural causes centuries later.
“I’ve been Archmage ever since. Still, I search for something more in life.”
“For you, what does it mean to be Archmage, Diruiyal? How does it make you so special from the other mages in the academy?”
“It is an honorary title given to those possessing high authority in the school. I am the Archmage, the principle if you will; and soon, once we have those damn monsters back in the ground where they belong, you shall be an Archmage!”
As we passed many landscapes over the Fields of Eternity, I realized that there were a certain set of hills that were unmistakably the same ones that led to my old home land, where I was raised as a child.
“As I recall, Zella was just a hike over those hills there. Does the city remain?” I asked, pointing at the gravely hills to the left of our path to the mountains.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Diruiyal replied, “I’m not sure, Master Äbaka. A lot of this land has been taken by evil, but I dare not check on it. For if a hoard were to see us, we would have to fight with pure magick and that would cause us both to lose a great deal of energy. We shall take the whole Fancore back one day and evil shall learn its place. But the main one that will fight against the Fancore’s foes will be the lady of fire: the chosen one.”
I agreed with Diruiyal a great deal. Our focus was on taking the college grounds back. We would have to rely upon steady feet to reach the camp in one piece. He asked me a few questions as we walked over the patchy grass.
“When do you think Jobik will ever stop, hmm? Will evil ever rest and give us a moment’s peace? Just how long do you think it will take before evil is ultimately vanquished? And can evil ever be vanquished forever?”
I silently studied him for a moment with my eyebrows raised, unable to find appropriate answers to those questions thrown at me from out of the blue.
“Maybe someday, Diruiyal.”
As many years as I had lived there in the past, never had I felt such dread in the air, as I did on my way to the camp with the Archmage. I lived there in the dark ages for almost four hundred years, but I could feel the depression and overall gloom increase, despite the remaining, if not torn-down beauty of the elder Imgan planet. The beast’s presence could be felt all throughout The Fields of Eternity, yellowing the grass and poisoning every living thing around the area. I felt nauseous along the entire walk. The power of Jobik was growing darker and far more powerful than even I had thought possible. The darkness of evil is a disease; the very thing that corrupts entire worlds. This world in particular; this was his main resurrection point, for some reason. We used the road to climb up the mountain, where the camp was set up. Diruiyal pointed to a dell that held the campus deep within, unseen through the narrow pass between the mountains’ bases. The dell was all stone, like the rest of the mountain. Even the ground was nothing but dry, cracked sand.
Our journey to the camp finally ended when we found the leather tents, campfires, and clattering pots and pans that were cooking rabbit haunches and other types of small game that venture in the dim of night. The mages here were only ten in count; hardly enough to take on what was out there. I had a feeling that a vast majority of the plan ahead was going to consist entirely on a saboteur or guerilla strategy. If Diruiyal thought we were going to face the monsters head on, he was gravely mistaken.
“Are you even prepared to take back your fortress,” I asked, “or are you just planning on rushing in with all your hatred and anger toward them?”
“Master Äbaka, do not be so haughty to think I didn’t plan anything yet. We are set up around the perimeter of where they lurk. We have catapults, traps, and archery weapons readied to burn them down. Even if there are a few minor damages to our fortress, I am sure we can handle repairing what we have wrecked. We need your help fighting these abominations, and I believe that you of all wizards are the right one for the job.”
I took a deep breath, knowing it would take a toll on me and possibly kill me, in a sense. But it had to be done. That fortress had to be cleansed for the sake of their fortress, my future fortress, and above all, I had to do it for the sake of the Fancore and my childhood homeland.
“I will be happy to assist you, reward or no reward; the satisfaction that I have helped those in need is repayment enough.”
“Then it is time for you to meet the other survivors. They are still recovering from loss, but they will soon be ready to face the jaqae.”
***
If someone you love is missing, so too is your comfort, no matter how much you try to ignore their absence and move on with your life. Of course, if you’re as imaginative as I am, you find ways to eventually cope with it. But I never said it was easy.
~Sui Bane Ozborn
In the middle of the day, George and I simultaneously woke up from a deep sleep, realizing yet again that we were warmly safe together, with the comforts of home. As I lay behind him, I kissed him on the cheek and caressed his shoulder with my thumb. He remained silent and made no movements as I did this. Normally, he would have spoken to me, greeting me a good morning, but he didn’t utter a word. Instead, he lay there for a moment, and then got up with a pessimistic look on his face. He got dressed and walked out of the room, leaving me on the bed to wonder. I stared at the bedroom door, which he had shut behind himself, and I asked myself, what is the matter with him?
Needing to find what was troubling George, I jumped up after him and got dressed in an expensive pair of teal robes, given me by Äbaka when he was training me in the basics of magick. I saw my mother sitting on the couch, imploring him to tell her what happened as she rubbed his back with concern for his unknown quandary. I stepped in to listen to what he had to say to her, and to my shocking unraveling, George uttered these words, as I shed a cold tear, “I miss my family…”
“You never told us you knew your family, George.”
My mother was hurt to discover that he had actually been holding back some of his past. We had assumed his family abandoned him like the rest of Shimbia. Too be honest, I was quite struck by this as well.
“When I was fourteen years
old,” he started, “my mother found a man she fell in love with, who was to be my new father figure, since my real father was cruel.”
That issue with his biological father was new to me as well.
“I wanted to see the world. My mother raised several orphans; my brothers and sisters. All of them were human and got to go out into the world and live their own lives. I was left alone, but I wanted to live with a few of them who went on to live on Dotari Prime in Galistar, but that man my mom loved made me stay. He warned me about how cruel the world would be to a cursed being like me and that I shouldn’t bother. I was ready to leave the nest, but they couldn’t see it, so I decided to run away in the middle of the night, and to this day, I’ve never returned home. Now I really wish I gave the man a chance. I hid from them when they came looking, crying when I saw my mother cry in the streets of Shi Shii, as he was there to comfort her. I resented the man for so long, but now I want to revisit my family and let them know I’m still alive.”
“We had no idea,” my mother breathed, “so they still live there? You told us before that they were forced to move because of you and that was why they abandoned you.”
“As far as I know, they still live there, along with my grandparents.”
With a sympathetic sigh and my hands placed behind my back, I stood there for a moment and thought of a way we could find them. We could all travel to Shimbia and spend time with them as two families. Perhaps together, we could learn where my forefather had vanished on such short notice, and how it was he vanished. When I approached him, I noticed he gazed at me with the most helpless eyes I had ever witnessed on a man. He was calling out for my help, and I was going to answer him right then and there.
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