Shadow Mage (Blacklight Chronicles)

by Forrester, John

  Out of the corner of his eye Talis could see Nikulo trying to control the beast, but the turtle just bellowed madly, swung its head around and gazed at his friend. Beams of dark light sliced through the air and struck Nikulo, causing him to stumble about as if drunk and dizzy, and he fell backwards onto the sand.

  When Palarian clapped his hands, black strings snaked out and wrapped around the turtle, enveloping the beast in their entangling snare. Mara used the opportunity to race across the beach towards Talis.

  “Are you alright?” she said, and helped him to his feet. His chest still felt numb and his legs were wobbly and weak.

  “It was just trying to protect its eggs…over there in the hole…so many turtle eggs.”

  A smile spread over Mara’s face. “Mama turtle…looks like Palarian has her settled down…she’s sleepy now.”

  Talis sauntered over to where Palarian was tying the shadow cords to an iron rod lodged deep in the sandy soil. The sorcerer held an amused look on his face.

  “Such an amazing mystical beast…imagine, crystals of such quality lodged in its eyes!” Palarian wagged his head from side to side.

  “Will it hurt her if we cast the World’s Portal spell?” Mara said, her eyes staring sadly at the turtle.

  “I don’t believe it will…painless, I would think…take a bit of her bite away from her, but that might not be a bad thing. But why are her eyes crystals…living crystals? Who formed her, or should I say which god made her?”

  “Does it make it easier casting twin portals with two crystals?” Talis said.

  Palarian frowned as if lost in thought. “Twin crystals…twin portals. I don’t like the smell of it. Reminds me of a story I once heard in my youth, many thousands of years ago. But that couldn’t happen, could it?”

  What was he talking about? Talis thought. The old sorcerer started muttering to himself again, staring off at the black and grey fog wall far in the distance.

  “But that would mean… no, not that. Not again…the ancients prevented that from ever happening again. Or are we at the beginning of another Kyrian Cycle?” The sorcerer’s eyes were suddenly bloodshot and his face looked grey and deathly, as if mortally ill. He continued muttering in an unknown language, spittle flying from his mouth.

  “He’s gone mad,” Mara whispered to Talis, and gripped his arm. “What do we do?”

  Talis grimaced, watching the old man getting angrier and more disoriented and confused after each word he spat from his mouth. Nikulo stumbled over, rubbing his head vigorously, casting wary glances at Palarian.

  “What’s wrong with him? Did the turtle drive him insane?” Nikulo stretched his face wide and blinked several times like he was trying to clear something from his eyes.

  “Give him some time,” Talis said, and drew characters in the sand with a stick. “See…he’s slowly coming out of it, maybe an idea came to him. Whatever happens, we have to make sure he gives us the rune for our world… Let him go home if he wants, he’s waited so long.”

  Palarian stepped somberly towards them, his hands clasped behind his back. When he reached them, he looked up, his eyes black pools of terror.

  “I know we must do this thing…but I warn you, there could be dire consequences, to your world and mine. Are you certain you’re willing to take the risk?”

  “What do you mean…consequences?” Talis wrinkled up his forehead, wondering why the sorcerer was being so cryptic.

  “I’m forbidden to tell the story, my father made me swear a sacred vow before the gods. But I can tell you that if we continue on our path and cast the twin portals, there is a chance we’ll bring cataclysmic forces to bear on both our worlds. Would you risk it?”

  Did they have any other choice? If they didn’t cast the portal they’d be stuck here on this world, and Naru would continue to be ruled by Viceroy Lei and the Jiserians. He glanced at Mara for guidance, but she just shrugged her shoulders and looked at him like it was his decision. And Talis knew that the only way of ensuring he got both runes to both worlds was to cast twin portals.

  “We take the risk.” Talis exhaled, hoping he had made the right choice. “You open a portal to your world and I’ll open a portal to ours…we’ll do it at the same time. Agreed?”

  Palarian chewed on his fingernail, thinking, and finally nodded hesitantly. “Agreed.”

  Talis pulled off his backpack, and withdrew the blank rune tablets and inscribing tools. He started to hand the runes and tools to Palarian, but the sorcerer raised a finger to stop him.

  “You must inscribe your own rune…to your world, and I must create mine with my own tools.” The old man snapped his fingers and a blank rune appeared in his left hand and a silver and black inscribing tool in his right. He etched a complicated swirling character onto the rune, sighed as he inspected his work, and displayed it to them. Talis memorized the rune characters, confident he could cast them again in the future…if he ever needed to.

  “Vellia…my ancient home…so hard to believe I’ll be returning at long last. Now it is your turn, I’ll draw the characters for your planet, known to us as Yorek, the world tempted by darkness. Then once completed, we’ll simultaneously siphon power from the twin crystals and cast the binding over the runes.”

  “What if we fail?”

  Palarian chuckled brightly. “Then the next moment we’ll be standing face to face with the guardians of the Underworld…a quick and painless death. Not even the gift of immortality from the Zacrane Dagger could stop such a death….”

  Talis twisted up his face at the idea, but gazed at the sand where the old sorcerer was drawing runes both harsh and simple at the same time.

  “Yorek…farewell, world of my banishment, world of my regrets. Though the Isles of Tarasen, cold as they made be, ever warmed my heart. Fondness lingers among those fragrant pines….”

  Talis memorized the runes, ever mindful of trickery on the part of the old sorcerer, and inscribed the characters onto the blank tablet. He stared at Palarian until the sorcerer nodded and held the rune ceremoniously towards the north.

  “Twin forces, light and darkness, life and death, guide our minds as we bind these twin runes to open portals to twin worlds separated by time and space. We stand here on Chandrix, the stepping stone to many worlds, and give praises to all gods, asking blessings in exchange for our eternal devotion.”

  Palarian bowed to Talis and closed his eyes. “If the wind stirs from the north, this means the gods are willing, and we each picture our world and cast the binding.”

  Talis held the tablet tightly and gazed at the empty blackness behind his closed eyes, waiting for a sign from the gods. He felt a fever flush along his back, drops of sweat running down his spine. What if this was a mistake? Was returning home all that important, especially if doing so could risk everything he loved?

  But the gods answered with a gust of wind blasting from the north, and the wind felt more like laughter from the gods, a divine trick, laughing at the stupidity of mortals. Talis shrugged off his thoughts and focused on casting the binding spell, picturing the sun-baked streets of Naru, his mother’s smile, the hearth-fire at his house, out at the hunt in the swamplands holding Mara’s hand.

  He was going home.

  When he opened his eyes it was as if from a dream, a light-filled one, and the island scene around him had dimmed, a pervasive grey mist suddenly hissing through the air. Charna padded up to him, her tail twitching, golden eyes fearful.

  “Now we place the runes and cast the final bindings…” Palarian set the runes on the sand in front of him and mumbled words of prayer.

  Talis matched his movements and cast the closing binding spell, his hands trembling like an old man. As the World Portal exploded open in front of him, he glanced desperately at Mara and seized her hand, pulling her close. Nikulo huddled close as well, eyes afraid of the second World Portal churning and scintillating only steps away to their right.

  Palarian’s eyes were warm and tearful as he stared inside. “We
’ve done it…at long last…Vellia awaits my return….”

  A deep rumbling and thundering suddenly sounded in the sky directly above them. The mist had coalesced into thick black and silver clouds crackling with lightning. A huge pop sounded above and a third shadow portal formed in the sky, ejecting five flying figures, then it evaporated into nothing.

  Aurellia and Rikar descended from the sky, flanked by the three Elder sorcerers Talis had seen at the old Temple of the Sun. Their proud and mocking faces reflected the shivering light of the twin World Portals.

  “What have we here?” Aurellia said, studying the portals. “Twin portals? Could it be? And a turtle with twin crystal eyes? Ah…the ancient story is true… And let me guess, one portal leads to Yorek and the other to Vellia.

  “A new cycle has begun!” Aurellia shouted, and released twin arcs of electricity from each palm, one aiming at the left portal and the other aiming at the right. He drew his palms together and joined the lightning into one massive arc, clapped his hands together, and the arc remained fixed between the two portals, causing a lightning bridge to form.

  Palarian wailed in agony, waving his hands at Aurellia to stop, but the three Elder sorcerers sent shadow cords around his waist and neck and wrists and ankles, and tied the cords onto the iron rod that Palarian had summoned to bind the turtle. Tears streamed from his old, wrinkled eyes as he stared hopelessly into the World Portal that had promised to take him home.

  “You pitiful old fool,” Aurellia said. “Did you really believe you could kill me so easily? I am ashes and light, a child of death, a mother giving birth to demons. Your thousand years of studying the dark arts was only fodder to fool you into believing you could best me… A perfect ruse.”

  Aurellia laughed with his eyes but kept his mouth wrinkled and fixed. “You’ve found the legendary turtle, created by the gods at the founding of this world… I see your magic was sufficient to tame her. And now you share an interconnected fate. She upholds the twin portals through the force of her life, and you, through your magic and power, are fated to keep her alive. If she dies the portals collapse, and your hope of ever returning home dies with it. Keep her alive, faithful servant, and perhaps one day I’ll relieve you of your duties and allow you to return home.”

  Rikar strode over to Talis, his black robe flapping under the north wind, his dark hair long now, eyes black and glowering. He surveyed Talis and Mara and Nikulo slowly, his expression content and pleased. With the flick of his wrist he opened his hand and a stream of golden moths poured into the dark sky, swirling around like fireflies, their wings radiant.

  “The wisdom of nightmares brought you here to this world…I feel flattered that you still care for me enough to take the bait. Couldn’t stand the idea of me being tortured?”

  Talis shook his head. “I pitied you…but what brought me here was Mara. After spending time locked in the Netherworld caves, I pity you even more….”

  Rikar scoffed lazily and wagged his finger. “Pity yourself more.” He snapped his right finger and a web of shadows screamed out and yanked Mara away from Talis. With Rikar’s other hand, hundreds of shadow threads wrapped around Mara’s waist and flung her screaming into the World Portal leading to Vellia.

  “Mara, no!” Talis shouted. Not into Vellia, it was the wrong portal. But she was gone, and there was nothing he could do except clench his teeth and raise a hand to strike Rikar down, vowing to kill him for what he had done to her.

  “Now…now, my loyal apprentices,” Aurellia said, chuckling to himself. “Such eagerness and passion! Save it for the mission ahead in Vellia…you will need it. And remember your vow to me, young Talis, you are bound to me….”

  The dark lord turned to his Elders. “Faithful Raelles…enter the portal to Yorev and bring word to my loyal sorcerers and necromancers, come join the fight!

  “Relech! Rolovian! Through the portal, secure our entry, claim Vellia once again as our own.” Aurellia smiled as the wight-like Elders flew into the portal. “Now we leave diligent Palarian to mind the portals as we go to conquer Vellia.”

  Aurellia motioned Rikar and Nikulo towards the Vellia portal, and turned back to stare at Talis. Charna hissed at Aurellia as he came close, choosing protection inside Talis’s arms.

  “Your lynx…a gift from the Goddess…interesting… Unfortunately, you’re still unprepared for the dangers inside the world ahead…stay close to me, stay close to the Elders, else you and your friends suffer. Go now! On to Vellia, on to victory….”

  Talis stumbled towards the Vellia portal, his throat dry, heart heavy; he felt like a ghost walking. He never should’ve even thought of opening twin portals. At least with the portals open, the Jiserian sorcerers would leave Naru and join the fight in Vellia. Perhaps his family and city would be safe, for the time being. But his world might be in even greater peril in the future….

  I swore fealty to a monster, Talis thought. How could he have done it? Death would have been better… Holding Charna tight, he took one more step, and could feel the sickening pull of the Vellia portal as it yanked him aeons away through space.

  His first breath in Vellia: the sound of crashing waves, the smell of coconuts roasting, tanned villagers fleeing the ensnaring shadow spells of Rikar and Rolovian and Relech, and Mara cowering behind a wooden boat, shivering despite the heat.

  He ran to her, wrapping his arms around her trembling form, and whispered reassuring words in her ear. She nodded and sobbed softly, tears spilling from her eyes. We’ll return home, we’ll return home, I promise, someday we will.

  Above the vibrant palm and coconut branches, filtering between lazy clouds meandering across the blue vastness, Talis gaped at three gigantic shapes scarring the sky.

  Dragons.