by Ryan Sova
“But even with this barrier, the world was still not safe. Even though this demon could not affect the world directly, there were still ways in which he could inflict harm on it. He could do this by heaving giant boulders at the Earth, which would then turn into fireballs as they entered our planet’s uppermost regions and then slam into the Earth, causing explosions that would devastate all life on Earth. You see, the Gods in their great wisdom saw this coming and for this reason they gave us power so that we could protect ourselves.”
Eliak interrupted King Noah, “So, I have a question? This demon, why was he limited to just heaving boulders at us? Why couldn’t he send a whole planet to collide with us or even make our sun explode?”
King Noah answered, “I don’t know. Perhaps he didn’t have the strength to do such things. Or perhaps he wanted to save the Earth so that he could create his own forms of life on it after we were gone. I know that he did at least try to kill us once by crashing the Moon into us. The only thing that I know for sure is that the Gods warned us before they departed that the demon would be coming for us all.”
Nephal interrupted King Noah, “So you told us about the Gods for this sun. What about all the other stars in the firmament? Were our Gods rulers over all the stars as well?”
King Noah answered, “No, there are other Gods that rule over the stars.”
Eliak then asked, “So how many Gods are there?”
King Noah answered, “I don’t know. Our Gods never taught mankind anything about the stars, only that other Gods rule over them.”
Nephal asked, “Could this demon have come from another star?”
King Noah answered, “Quite possible, but again, I don’t know. What I do know is that after the Gods left us for the last time, a year or two later, screams in the language of magic could be heard from the heavens. The sorcerers of the time interpreted the screams and warned the populace that the screams were commands to all of the elements of the Earth to rise up and to destroy all life. Fear gripped the inhabitants of the world and they waited for the tempests, fires, and tremors that would bring about their utter extinction. But those calamities never came. The elements had been commanded by the Gods not to heed to words of the demon and the demon was powerless to compel them with his might due to the impenetrable barrier between him and the Earth.
“After the screams in the heavens ceased, then came the fireballs. Thousands of boulders heaved from the reaches of space came to our world and turned into fireballs as they entered the upper region of our Earth, well above the clouds. The sorcerers used the gift that the Gods had given them and destroyed each and every bolder that reached our Earth long before they ever reached the ground. The demons last attempt to destroy us was with the Moon. Our ancestors suddenly witnessed the Moon growing in the sky at an alarming rate. They acted quickly and gathered the sorcerers into one place. Then they waited for the Moon to turn to fire. This signaled to our ancestors that the Moon was now out of reach for the demon. He would no longer be able to exert his force on the Moon now that it was within the barrier surrounding the Earth. This was their chance. They used their combined strength to push the Moon back, forcing it away from the Earth where it returned back to the heavens again once more.
“Then everything went quiet in the heavens. The demon suddenly stopped his efforts to destroy us. We wondered if he was still there or if he had moved on to some other star in the firmament. Days turned into months, months turned into years, years turned into centuries, centuries turned into millennia and still the heavens were quiet. But then something strange happened. The dead started rising.
“Some of the other sorcerers argue with me and say that this isn’t necessarily the demon’s doing. They say that maybe one of the sorcerers from another nation has learned how to raise the dead and is using this power to gain control of the world. But that theory would mean that there is some kind of magic on this Earth that I am not aware of. Some kind of power available to man that I have not learned. I simply do not believe that this is true. This demon is back and he has found a new way to kill us all, by using our own dead against us.”
Nephal then asked, “So what does this all have to do with us?”
King Noah answered, “When the Gods gave the first men the power to wield magic, their strength with this power was incredibly strong. Then as the generations passed, this power faded over time. Some believed that this was due to tainting in the bloodlines and set out to keep all magic user bloodlines pure of non-magic users. Even with keeping the bloodlines pure though, the magical power of the sorcerers continued to fade with each generation. This was only a slight deterioration though mind you, most sorcerers are still inherently very powerful, even now. So this magical deterioration continued to occur for thousands of generations when suddenly an anomaly occurred. Someone who was born to a non-magic mother and father had the gift of magic in his blood. And what’s more, this man had the same power as the sorcerers of old did. His magical power was pure, undiluted.”
Eliak interrupted, “Is this man still alive?”
King Noah responded, “Yes, very much so in fact. He’s me.”
King Noah paused a moment, then continued, “Now, there are many signs that can show that a person might be sensitive to magic. Maybe you can since you can see when something bad has happened in an area that you are standing in. Maybe you can see loved ones after they have passed away. Maybe you see murders and other violent acts in your dreams at night. All of these signs as well as many more could mean that you are sensitive to magic. But there is one other sign that has recently occurred which undeniably defines you as a magic user, the ability to sense the dead.”
Nephal responded, curiosity growing inside of him, “Does that mean that I could be a sorcerer?”
King Noah answered, “No, not just a sorcerer. You two both have the potential of becoming the most powerful sorcerers on Earth.”
There was a moment of silence in the room as both Eliak and Nephal grasped the enormity of what they had just learned. Then Eliak broke the silence, “Why has it taken you guys this long to tell us this? We have been on the road for almost a year now. If we are both powerful sorcerers, wouldn’t it have made more sense to just bring us here straight away?”
King Noah answered, “The problem with that idea is that the sorcerers in Bragsdale are far too busy to take on training two students. I determined from the beginning that your friend Atonick would be your teacher when he arrived here, which is what the plan still is. Until just recently though, it was more important that Atonick oversee the transfer of that lady prisoner you were bringing. If your group had succeeded in bringing her here, we could have studied the magic that has taken a hold on her and found a way to break the demon’s control over her. We might have even gone as far as freeing all of the undead from his grasp. As there was no way to safely teleport the undead prisoner without putting one of our sorcerers in grave danger, our only choice was to have you all make the journey on foot.”
Eliak responded, “Atonick could have still trained us on the road though.”
King Noah responded, “No, he couldn’t have. Magical knowledge is a dangerous thing. There is a reason why we try and limit how frequently we use magic in the presence of non-magic users. Let me use this analogy to better explain.
“Say I bought two men in front of me and tasked them with lifting a heavy boulder. The first man that I selected is a mighty man with arms the size of tree trunks. He squats down and grabs firmly onto the boulder. His giant muscles ripple and he lifts the boulder off the floor. Then the mighty man sets the boulder down and the second man takes his place. The second man is a ten-year-old boy. He squats down just as the first man did, but is unable to lift the bolder. I then tell the boy that he must lift the boulder or I will have him killed. So the boy tries again and this time exerts everything that he has. In his desperate effort, he tears the muscles in his back as well as the muscles in his legs and arms and falls to the floor a cripple.
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nbsp; “You see, I gave the boy a task that he does not have the muscle strength to accomplish. Using magic also requires the use of a muscle, only this muscle is not in your body. This muscle is a muscle of the mind. It is possible for a non-magic user to learn the language of magic, just as it is possible for that ten-year-old boy to learn how the mighty man lifted the bolder. But the moment that the non-magic user starts speaking in the language of magic, it will tear the muscle in his brain and he will go mad.
“If Atonick had started training you at a public inn, where anyone could have heard you, we would have placed everyone nearby you at risk. Between this and the necessity of safely transporting the prisoner you had, we could not start your training until all of you had arrived here at Bragsdale.”
Nephal then asked, “So when do we start our training?”
King Noah responded, “Heragald will be bringing Atonick to Bragsdale sometime in the afternoon today after he has had some time to sleep. You two should get some sleep yourselves. Then you can spend the day enjoying the city. Tomorrow morning your training will begin.”
CHAPTER 13
Garry woke up. The first thing that he noticed was the throbbing in his head, followed by the burning sensation in his nose and throat. Garry sat up. This caused his head to start throbbing more. Garry moaned in pain.
He took in a deep breath, immediately noticing the strong smell of gas fumes in his car. Garry opened his car door and took a step outside of his vehicle, closing the door behind him. Garry looked at the rest stop building behind him and decided to walk towards the open field facing away from the building. Garry felt dizzy as he started walking and slowly made his way into the field.
In the two-minute time frame that Garry had been awake, he had learned a very important lesson. If you are going to load your car up with gasoline, your car will invariably fill with gas fumes. Then try sleeping in that car and you will not wake up in a very pleasant mood. The only reason that Garry even woke up at all could be attributed to the only intelligent thing that Garry had managed to do before passing out, which was rolling his windows down (he had actually done this several hours earlier while he was still on the road).
Garry looked around. He had no idea what time it was, as he had no phone and was not willing to go back into his car to check the time. From the looks of it though, it seemed to be about an hour till dusk. The rest stop had a few cars parked in it but was mostly devoid of people, which was something that Garry was grateful for. Fewer people meant a lower chance for Garry to draw attention to himself.
In his long midnight drive from Richmond, Garry had reached the Wright City Rest Stop in Missouri. He had stopped twice for gas on the way here. Garry had used gasoline from his trunk rather than stopping at a gas station. This was done to limit the number of people he encountered while on the run from Virginia. His hopes were to be able to get far away from Virginia without leaving a trace as to where he went. Garry knew that every stop he might make along the way was yet another potential witness who could call in a tip for police investigators. So far, he had not swapped out plates again since leaving Richmond. He would wait until he had reached his next city before doing that, which would be Provo Utah.
Of the eight gas containers in his trunk, Garry had emptied three of them and had used about three-fourths of his fourth container. Garry was grateful for the type of car that he owned. His Honda Civic could make forty-four miles to the gallon on highways, which would most certainly save him a lot of money in the coming days and weeks as he traveled sporadically back and forth across the country.
As Garry was looking around, he spotted a picnic table with a canopy not far off. As there was no one nearby this picnic table, Garry thought that this might be a good place to go sit down. As Garry was walking towards the picnic table a wave of nausea came over him. He stopped, waiting for the vomiting urge to become overwhelming. The wave of nausea soon passed. Garry cautiously started walking towards the picnic table again and then took a seat. Once Garry had taken a seat, another wave of nausea hit him. This combined with the throbbing headache, dizziness, and burning sensation in his nose and throat made Garry’s life at the moment rather miserable.
Garry folded his arms and laid his head down on the picnic table. He still felt very tired in addition to all the other ways in which he currently felt miserable. While sitting at the picnic table, Garry determined that there was no way that he was going to be able to safely drive anywhere tonight feeling the way that he did.
As Garry was sitting with his head resting on the table, the sun eventually set and nighttime came. Garry now felt slightly better, having spent a little more than two hours in the fresh air. The rest stop had also been fairly peaceful with only a few cars coming and going. His nausea waves had almost completely subsided by now. The dizziness, headache spells, and burning sensation that Garry had been suffering from since waking up had subsided a bit, but was still there, even now. Garry laid down and tried to make himself comfortable on the picnic table bench. As uncomfortable as the picnic table bench was, Garry was not sure as to whether he would be getting any sleep at all. To his surprise though, Garry was soon fast asleep.
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Nephal woke up to the sound of knocking at the door. He got up and answered the door. Once the door opened, Eliak stated, “Are you going to sleep all day, Nephal? Atonick just arrived about an hour ago. Hurry up and get changed so that we can go and explore the city.”
Nephal closed the door and started getting ready. The bedroom that Nephal was staying in was the nicest bedroom that he had ever seen. The room was located in one of the upper chambers of the palace. His bed was massive and was adorned with a set of extravagant silk sheets. There were no thick blankets on the bed, however, as it was far too warm for such things in this part of the world. The doorway leading to the hallway was at the far end of the room to the left of the bed. Located next to the doorway, also to the left of the bed, were three massive closets that could have easily contained just about everything that he and his wife Debra had ever owned. On the far side of the room, just opposite to the bed, was a rocking chair. Two end tables were stationed on either side of the rocking chair. On the right side of the bed was a large window that overlooked the city below.
Nephal was still feeling a bit sleepy as he was getting ready but managed to prepare himself in a reasonable amount of time. Once Nephal had exited the room, Eliak anxiously led him outside of the palace to where Atonick was already waiting for him.
As soon as Atonick had spotted Nephal, he called out to him, “Greetings stranger.”
Nephal responded with a wave, “Greetings.”
Once Nephal and Eliak had reached Atonick, he addressed them again, “I don’t suppose that either of you have ever seen Bragsdale before. There is nothing like it in all the kingdom!”
Atonick led Nephal and Eliak as if he were a tour guide giving a tour of the city.
“Bragsdale was founded by King Noah almost four-thousand years ago,” Atonick stated.
Eliak responded a bit shocked by this news, “So how old is King Noah then?”
Atonick answered, “If I am not mistaken, he is four-thousand-twenty-two years old. I could be off by a few years or even a few decades though.”
Nephal responded, “Will he ever die, or will he just live forever?”
Atonick answered, “Everyone, even powerful sorcerers will eventually die. Though, magic can prolong one’s life for a crazy amount of time, especially for someone as powerful as King Noah.”
Eliak then asked, “So, how old are you then Atonick?”
Atonick responded, “Me, I’m only thirty-three.”
After a short pause, Eliak continued, “Is there anyone else that is as old as King Noah?”
Atonick answered, “I think that Heragald is about eight-hundred and ninety something. Talmadge and some of the others in the council are in their mid-three-hundreds. Everyone else is a normal human age.”
The conversation between Atonick
, Nephal, and Eliak went quiet for a short while after that. All of this recent talk about magic had made Nephal and Eliak think again about the reason why they were both here. It was still a bit much for both of them to take in, even now, realizing that they were both potentially powerful sorcerers, possessing a power that might one day match what even King Noah can do.
Throughout the rest of their three-hour tour of the streets of Bragsdale, Nephal and Eliak had managed to learn a great deal about the history of the city and its foundation. They had learned that when Bragsdale was first founded, King Noah and his followers were actually rebels. King Noah had taken the knowledge that he had learned from his masters at the Unbardigo Order and formed his own magical faction, The Council of the Magi. At the time of King Noah’s rebellion, the magic users of the time were under the belief that they were the supreme race on Earth and had a God-given right to rule over all the non-magic users. The Unbardigo Order led a campaign of terror, death, and slavery. They had managed to recruit a vast non-magic army by using offers of power, authority, and freedom from the atrocities that the common man was constantly subjected to by this horrible order. Back in those days, the common man who was not a member of this supreme race had but two choices: join the Unbardigo Order as a member of their army and inflict unspeakable brutality on your neighbors, or have those brutalities inflicted on you and your family.
In those days, the common man was treated more like a barnyard animal than as a man. If you didn’t serve a purpose for the master race, you were a waste of space to be discarded. The sorcerers inspired their subjects with fear, terror, and death, regularly using their power to show man how weak and insignificant they are, putting on magical shows that killed thousands of innocent people, all for the sole purpose of keeping the people in constant fear of their masters. This form of terrorism was very effective and kept the people in a constant state of hopelessness.