“Use a power ring, Silurian,” Dorull said. “No point in not using the tools the boy has given us.”
“I suppose, you are right,” The Master said, still breathing heavily. “I guess I can be forgiven for needing assistance at my age.”
“Master,” Eril said. “I’m not sure I could even open one of these portals without using either my master ring or the power ring. I haven’t even tried. I’m surprised you weren’t using one.”
The old wizard grinned. “Well, then I don’t feel so bad after all.” He turned to Dorull. “Next step, old friend. Go through, we’ll shrink it, and you see if you can enlarge it from that side and come back.”
Dorull went, and was able to enlarge the portal and return working from the far side. That verified that they could all go and return safely.
They all went through the portal together. The portal emptied onto a paved path to the largest building in the center of the complex. They followed the path to a large door without any handle. Above the door was inscribed Library Repository in klathar. Beside that door was a small plaque that read Use lift lock. Caution: Do not linger longer than one hour without air enhancement.
Eril assumed that the term “lift lock” referred to the type of lock he had encountered previously. Unless you were a zdrell wizard, the lock was un-openable. As a zdrell wizard, it was as simple as pushing a latch, only with your mind. Eril reached out and activated the mechanism, and the door swung inward.
All three wizards stood, awestruck by the astounding vista. The sight that met their eyes was similar to what Eril had found in the library complex under the ruins: row after row of metal shelves. The difference was that here, the shelves were filled with books.
Entering the immense hall, they saw a reception table off to the side of the room. The table was empty except for a single piece of paper, or more likely the indestructible Veerum. As back in the cavern complex this had handwriting on it, but this time it was not written using zdrell script, but ordinary Klathar.
Welcome to the repository for all of the accumulated knowledge of the civilization of Klastra. I am so pleased that someone has finally come to reclaim that which was lost. We moved all of the archives from the whole planet here when it became apparent that demon wizards were intent on destroying all true knowledge of this planet and its past.
Everything we could preserve is here, even so, much has been lost. I hope that you and those like you will be able to learn some small bit from our poor example.
Take care. In spite of the excellent preservative nature of the atmosphere of this realm, depending on how much time has passed, many of the works here might be extremely fragile. Anything not on metal or Veerum must be handled with the utmost care until you can create copies. I wish you well in reclaiming the history of our world. Do not judge us too harshly, and try to learn to be better than we.
Sigmund R. Frallow
Chief Archivist
PS: You cannot stay in this realm more than an hour at a time without suffering lung damage that is difficult to heal. You can condition the air around you, but refrain from doing it in the archives as the atmosphere that is inimical to humans is also a great part of what makes this place an ideal location to store books.
SRF
“Well then,” Master Silurian said, after they had all read the letter. “We have approximately half an hour before we need to leave. Let us each go a separate direction to search for likely books. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes?” They all nodded and then started off.
Eril knew he wanted more information about portals and gateways, so he set off in a direction that seemed like that information could be found. In ten minutes searching, he found three more books about portals and gateways. He also saw any number of books with titles that tantalized and confused him, but he refused to be side-tracked.
He had to hurry to get back to the entry of the archive. Even so, both Dorull and Silurian were slower than him. They were both loaded down with three-foot-tall stacks of books.
“We have to hurry,” Eril said.
“Yes, yes,” said Silurian as he waddled with his load out the door. Dorull looked to be even more heavily loaded but unwilling to give up any of it. As they left the building, Eril closed the door with his zdrell. It locked on its own.
Eril followed and eventually ended up carrying three books from each of his senior’s stacks. They emerged on the other side of the portal and took what seemed their first proper breaths in hours.
They lugged their treasure up to Dorull’s study, then compared what each had selected. No one was surprised by Eril’s three picks. Dorull had found a section on the creation and maintenance of magical artifacts and had grabbed books all around that topic. Master Silurian had acquired a wide-ranging series of texts on everything from physical anatomy to materials magic to horticulture.
About half of the volumes they had acquired were made of Veerum, and half of those had some or all of their text in zdrell script, this was the case for all the volumes Eril had picked up.
When they began to examine the texts, those whose pages were made of paper or parchment, they found that the warning had been accurate. The pages cracked on turning and in one case began to disintegrate almost immediately. Eril was able to use the copying spell, together with Master Silurian to reproduce eighty percent of the volume before it dissolved completely.
After they had assessed or copied the volumes, Master Silurian sat back and said, “This may be the most significant thing we’ve found for ending the next Great War. If only we had more time.”
“What makes you think we’ve run out of time?” Dorull asked.
“Well, Eril killed that demon,” he held up his hand before Eril could correct him. “I know Filora killed the demon, Eril, but the demons won’t see it that way. You created that sword, and that is what killed the demon. The point is, they won’t allow this to go unchallenged. The demons will demand the humans go to war to remove Eril’s threat, and they’ll do it soon. Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen any attacks already. We are weeks, to months, at most away from open hostilities.”
“So, what can we do?” Eril asked.
“Frankly,” Silurian said, sitting back in his chair and looking at the ceiling. “I don’t think either side is ready. I’m pretty sure Grimor and the demon masters were planning on another two to five years before starting the next Great War. And, of course, our side is even less ready. The only chance we’ll have to organize is at the next conclave. If the demons give us that long, we’ll have to do all our organizing there.
“I think those power rings will go a long way, both to convince people we have power and that we have a chance. Even so, until actual war is declared, some will not believe, and some not even then.” He sighed.
“We have a lot of work to do. Let’s get to it.”
Postlude
Grimor
Master Jelnick, ruler of all Grimor and soon-to-be ruler of the entire planet of Klastra, had scarcely opened a portal to the demon realm when the enormous demon known as Karf burst into the room. Jelnick was taken aback. This was highly irregular. True, he had been about to summon Karf, but demons did not enter the human realm unbidden. He stood shocked as the demon began to speak to him in a menacing tone.
“I bring an urgent message to you from High Lord Kelf,” the demon rumbled. That Kelf would send a message was troubling, but that Karf was observing none of the normal etiquette for human-demon interactions was even more disturbing to Jelnick.
“My Lord says that you have failed. Not only have you not destroyed a line cutter in this world, but now it has been used to kill a demon. Your entire purpose for existence was to prevent this ever happening again, and you have failed.”
Jelnick glowered at the hovering demon. This was going from bad to worse. Of the twelve charzen, his entire corps of governors, he had lost contact with four and possibly five. Two of those were confirmed to have been killed.
He had been co
unting on using the charzen to overwhelm the Skrylaran forces, and now he’d lost nearly half trying to find and kill this new zdrell master. Worse, that wizard had been behind the defeat of his loyal forces attacking Jull. Now, the demon was telling him this new zdrell master had actually killed a demon. He stood grinding his teeth in frustration.
“What does Lord Kelf wish me to do about this?” he asked through gritted teeth. “I have already deployed all of my charzen, and used every agent I had in place on Skryla.”
“You must attack and eliminate this zdrell master and any of his allies,” the demon ground out. “Initiate this war you have been planning. Eliminate this threat to demon-kind, or you will be destroyed. This is the message of Lord Kelf.”
Jelnick wanted to tear his hair out. He was suddenly very glad that none of his assistants were present to witness this humiliation. The demon was making demands on him, this would not do.
“Neither you nor your Lord command me, Karf,” Jelnick began, then he saw that the demon had swelled in size. Suddenly Jelnick was hanging suspended in the air in front of the enraged demon.
“No, mortal,” the demon spoke the word like an insult. “I do not command. I only fulfill the terms of our contract. As mortals are so fond of forgetting things, you might have forgotten that our contract is binding solely on your ability to protect my kind from being harmed.” Jelnick felt the hot, fetid air from the demon’s words. “The only reason I have not killed you yet is that the demon who died will not be missed, either by Lord Kelf, or I. He was a renegade who would only come to your realm to hunt and kill zdrell masters. He obviously failed this time.”
The demon dropped Jelnick to the floor. He needed to regain control of the situation and do it quickly. He reached beneath his shirt for an amulet he hadn’t activated in centuries. As he did so, the demon roared, “No! You will not!”
Jelnick felt the amulet grow burning hot. He tore it free and threw it to the floor where it continued to grow hotter and hotter until it was a white-hot pool of molten metal.
“You are not sufficiently respectful of our agreement, wizard,” the demon said as it moved a claw in a slashing motion, causing bright thread of light to whip out and wrap around the last two fingers of Jelnick’s left hand. With yank, the fingers popped free from Jelnick’s hand and flew into the demon’s open mouth.
Jelnick fell to the floor in agony. The stumps of the two fingers were cauterized, so there was no bleeding, but the pain was worse than anything the ancient wizard had experienced in decades. He knelt on the floor writhing in agony.
“This should serve as a reminder. If another demon is injured or killed, the cost to you will be much higher. Now, set things in motion so that your forces attack Skryla while you, personally, find and eliminate this zdrell master.”
“The forces in Grimor aren’t prepared, yet. The war wasn’t supposed to start for another two years,” Jelnick gritted out through his pain.
“This is no concern of mine. Lord Kelf has spoken. You made the contract. Uphold your end, or be destroyed.”
With that, the demon went back through the portal, which closed without Jelnick willing it to happen.
They were not ready, but Jelnick realized it didn’t matter. He had strong allies in over half of the nations of Skryla. He had wanted the conquest to be nearly unnoticed. Now it would have to be a visible war, but what did that matter to him. He had made his bargain with the demons more than a millennium previous, and it had served him well. He would hunt down this zdrell wizard, regain his control of the demons and then he would rule the world. That was all there was to it. He would make the zdrell master pay.
The End of Part II
Help Spread the Magic of Zdrell
Note to readers:
If you’ve gotten this far and are taking the time to read this. Thank You.
I started on this journey in the fall of 2000 when a story popped into my head and refused to leave until I wrote it down. Along the way, what started out as a single fantasy volume has turned into a trilogy.
I’m not a full-time professional writer. I never really aspired to be one. Writing is just one of my many eclectic pursuits. The reaction to this volume and The Apprentice has been very favorable, and I appreciate all my readers. Writing takes time and this volume was originally started clear back in 2007. I finally finished the first draft in January of 2019 and it has taken me until now to finally get it publication ready and in your hands. Be assured that volume three will be completed much more swiftly, though I can’t promise it will be done before 2021.
The story of the return of Zdrell to the planet Klastra is important to me and readers have told me it is important to them too. Each volume in this trilogy grows in complexity and scope as the focus moves from one young boy to genuine world war. This book is significantly longer than the first volume and the third promises to be longer still.
With all that in mind, as a self-published independent author, your reviews and comments matter. I try to respond to all my fans’ emails. If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you buy your books. Tell a friend.
I’m not very active in posting but follow the blog at www.zdrell.com/blog or on Facebook.
Thanks for your support.
David K. Bennett
November 2019
About the Author
David K. Bennett (Dave to his friends), never set out to be a fantasy author. From a very young age he fell in love with Science Fiction and Fantasy, devouring almost everything in his Junior High library under that category.
His other love in school was computers and technology, which he pursued professionally, and still does to this day.
For years he toyed with the idea of writing, but never had a story of his own that demanded to be written, until the fall of 2000. The story that eventually became the Zdrell trilogy haunted his dreams until he finally sat down and started to put it on paper. After having written the first fifty pages and showed it around to various people whose opinion he trusted and who encouraged him to keep going, The Apprentice to Zdrell was born.
When he saw that at seventy thousand words, he had covered less than a quarter of the story he knew that one volume wasn’t going to cut it, and thus this trilogy was born.
Having never seriously considered writing a novel previously, Dave has had to do a lot of learning along the way. He continues to do so and hope you enjoy his efforts.
The Journeyman for Zdrell Page 49