Legacy 7
by Redkage
“It’s not in here either!” Alron said, barely stopping himself from slamming a two hundred and fifty year old tome into the table. “It should be in here, I know it!”
“Excuse me.” The dull, monotonous voice of the librarian interrupted Alron in his ramblings. “May I remind you that this is a library?”
“Oh, yes, I apologize.” Alron said, somewhat embarrassed at himself. He was never one to really lose his temper like that.
The librarian pushed his glasses back into place. “If you would only tell me exactly what it is you are looking for, I would be able to assist you.”
Alron would have wanted nothing more than to ask for his help seeing how this man probably spent his whole life organizing these multitudes of books. However, every time Alron even though about what he wanted to know, he found the words lodged in his throat, unable to escape. “Thank you, but I am capable of looking for the info I need by myself.”
The librarian gave a somewhat offended look. “Very well then, I would just like to remind you to please keep silent. This is a library.”
“Yes, I apologize.” Alron told him. The librarian gave him another look before returning to his place at the front desk, and Alron returned to browsing through the big tome. He flipped through the pages at a fast pace. He had perfected his speed reading over the years so that he could flip through a thick book very quickly until he found the information needed. The only problem was that it might take him weeks, months, possibly even a few centuries to find what he was looking for. Although the Great Library of Elterra was the greatest collection in the world, it was also the biggest with hundreds of books about reading tea leaves alone. Even with Alron’s speed reading, it could take quite some time, time he didn’t have.
Still, Alron had been certain that what he was looking for was in The Collection of Significant Prophecies Volume MCDXXXIX, as well as in The New Age Visions, The Future Gospels and many other tomes. However, none of them had a single reference to what he was looking for!
He was about to go look for another book to see if he could find it somewhere else when suddenly the tiny crystal he had tied around his wrist started to flash and emit a low, soothing chime. “Is it time already?” Alron stood up straight. Since he could become so absorbed with his studies and forget the time, he had developed this crystal to flash whenever it reached the hour he had set it to. When Jasper saw it, he said that Alron should try and market it, but Alron laughed as he declined. He doubted some wrist ornament that would light up and make noises at a certain point of a day would ever catch on.
Alron placed a marker on the table to let the librarian know not to reshelf the books, the wizard hurried to the courtyard. When he reached there, he saw quite an interesting sight. Tyrune was seated cross legged in the center of the courtyard. There had been some snowfall the previous night so Tyrune’s bright red hair shone brilliantly against his frosted surroundings. However, that wasn’t what caught Alron. Tyrune was inside of what appeared to be a blue translucent bubble which hovered five inches above the ground with his eyes shut. Behind him a pitcher poured water into a glass seemingly by itself, the water changing colors from clear to red, yellow, pink then back to clear again before evaporating into a small cloud. As Alron watched, the cloud vapors formed various shapes like a sword, a suit of armor and a dragon before it started to rain directly back into the pitcher until it completely vanished.
No matter how many times he saw it, he just couldn’t believe how far Tyrune had progressed in the past month. It almost seemed as if the spoiled, muscle-headed brat he had such difficulty with had been replaced by a hard working and dedicated student. In fact, he was more than just a dedicated student, because Tyrune had reached a level in the past few weeks that would take years for apprentices to achieve.
“What took you so long?” Tyrune demanded with his eyes still shut.
“It was a long walk from the library.” Alron flashed him a warm smile.
Slowly the glass, pitcher and Tyrune himself were lowered to the ground, the bubble around him dissolved and he opened his eyes. “You’ve been late a lot lately. What are you doing in the library that’s so important that you keep on forgetting about me and leave me waiting here for you?”
If I could tell you, I wouldn’t need to look in the library in the first place Alron thought. “Let’s just say it’s a search for knowledge.” He told him, which was just about what he could tell him thanks to Zoster’s little spell. “Now then, let’s meditate.”
Tyrune broke out into a smile as he jumped to his feet, grabbing his quarterstaff and getting into position.
Back when Alron first introduced the active meditation, Tyrune could only manage to block blows standing still. Now, however, their meditation session looked more like a full battle, each one swinging and blocking in a kind of rhythm much like a dance. Alron swung his staff at Tyrune’s head, but the prince blocked it off and thrust his staff only to be parried and countered with a swing to the side. Nimbly Tyrune jumped back while twirling his staff as he used the momentum of his turn for a stronger swing, but Alron expertly used his staff at an angle to cause the staff to slide off course and lose power. Both of them jumped back, straightened up and finally opened their eyes.
“What an excellent performance!” Jasper clapped his hands. Sometime during their meditation battle, he had entered the courtyard and watched them from the side. “Really Master, you and His Highness have put on quite the show!”
“Thank you, but that was no show, but a simple meditation.” Alron laughed.
“Simple?” Jasper raised an eyebrow. “I’d like to see a complicated one.”
“That in itself is a contradictory term Jasper.” The elf smiled. “Although it may have looked rather intricate from the outside, the boy and I were simply following the flow of our energies and movements, nothing more.”
“Plus I’m learning quite a bit of stuff to use in a real fight.” Tyrune added with a hint of pride in his voice. “Though, why are you here Jasper? Don’t you have work to do?”
“Actually, Master Alron requested that I come out to aid him.”
“For what?” Tyrune gave Alron a suspicious look.
Alron smiled mysteriously. “He is here to help me demonstrate the Elven Arcane Archfire Spell.”
“Demonstrate it? But I thought you said it was one of the most difficult spell out there.”
“That is correct.”
“But…Jasper failed magic.” Tyrune gave them both a confused look.
“Also correct, but he is not the one casting it. Just stand back and watch.” The two of them walked a bit further out away from Tyrune. Alron took several long, deep, controlled breaths before he started chanting in a measured tone. Suddenly blue flames appeared and completely enveloped Jasper.
“What are you doing!?” Tyrune jumped forward in alarm, already chanting a spell. The snow on the ground, lying on objects and from the nearby rooftop suddenly flew at Jasper to try and douse the flames, but the moment the water made contact, it melted and evaporated instantly. “Jasper!”
“I’m alright Your Highness.” Jasper said from inside the flames. His voice was calm and unnerved, completely the opposite of someone who had just been set on fire. “There is no reason to be alarmed, I am fine. In fact, it is quite comfortable in here.”
Tyrune blinked and turned to Alron. “This is an illusion? You already thought me that.”
“I can assure you the flames are very much real.” The wizard picked up a stick and threw it at Jasper. The stick burned and turned to ash before it even touched him.
“Then how…I mean, Jasper is…”
The Eladrin waved his hand and extinguished the flames, revealing Jasper who didn’t have even a singed hair on his body. “The Elven Arcane Archfire Spell has great destructive properties, but what makes it different from other spells is that, when casted and controlled properly, it will only burn that which the caster wishes to destroy and leave those he does not wish to harm safe. In short, it is the greatest offensive spell to use to protect someone you care about.”
Tyrune’s eyes went distant as he took those words to heart. “But I thought you said it was a really difficult spell and that only a few wizards have managed to learn it.”
“Actually, learning the spell is quite simple. Casting it properly and controlling it that is difficult. It requires an absolutely clear mind, perfect concentration and immense willpower. It is these exact traits that you need to be able to completely control your inherit magical powers.”
“And…if I can do that, that means you don’t have to stay around and teach me, right?” Tyrune asked.
“Well technically speaking, yes. Once you have mastered this spell, there will no longer be need of me to teach you magic.”
Instead of feeling overjoyed with the idea of ridding the elf bastard who had caused him so much humiliation and strife, Tyrune felt some odd pangs in his chest. Although Alron was at times strict, he can also be very kind and enjoyable. At the moment, however, he was grateful that he learned to focus his mind well enough to shield his thoughts from Alron’s mind reading. If that elf bastard knew that, he’d never hear the end of it. “Well, um, I guess we should get started then.” Tyrune said.
“That we shall,” Alron nodded, “we’ll need every moment we can use if you are to learn the spell by the end of the month.”
“I’ll leave you two alone then.” Jasper nodded. “The less people around, the less distracted you’ll be.”
Because it was such a dangerous spell, Alron did not teach the exact spell right away. Instead, he gave Tyrune a much smaller, weaker version and surrounded them with twice the number of barriers than when they first started their lessons all those months ago. Although they were working with a lesser version of the spell, he was not going to take any chances. A single mistake backed by the overpowering magic inside of Tyrune could be disastrous. Slowly he taught the words to Tyrune, making extra sure he memorized it exactly. When he was sure that Tyrune could cast it correctly, he brought out a basket of sticks with some straw wrapped around them.
“Now then Tyrune, the goal of this is to burn off the straw only, leaving the stick underneath intact.” Alron demonstrated for him, a small blue flame running up the length of the stick and burning off the straw.
Nodding, Tyrune took the stick and casted the spell.
Ka-BOOM!
Both Alron and Tyrune were suddenly thrown back as the stick simply exploded the force enough to knock Tyrune back and send Alron flying into the barrier. Despite having just been blown up, Alron quickly recovered and was already casting the counter spell to extinguish any lingering flame.
It took Tyrune a moment before he jumped to his feet and rushed over to Alron. “Are you alright?” He asked him.
“I’m fine.” Alron tried to say, but Tyrune grabbed his arm and pulled back the sleeve, revealing a burn.
“Shit…I’m sorry…I…I didn’t mean to…” Alron saw and felt a lot of turmoil and guilt emanating from Tyrune.
“It’s alright, these things happened all the time to me back when I myself was a student.” Alron tried to pull his arm free, but Tyrune’s grip was too strong.
“I gotta fix this.” He said. “I just gotta…” Lowering his head, he focused magic into a single point, then kissed the burns. Alron sucked in his breath as a warm, gentle heat penetrating into his arms, followed by a soothing aura. Before his eyes he saw the burns heal over until there wasn’t a mark left.
“What’s going on here?” a loud voice bellowed. When Alron turned to see who it was, he held back a groan when he saw that familiar big nose.
“Just a bit of practice, that’s all.”
“Practice?” Nirvan’s eyes bulged. “I heard that explosion all the way from the other side of the castle!” With a wave of his staff, Nirvan deactivated the barriers and marched up to Alron.
“A minor setback.” Alron told him calmly. “I’m introducing him to the Elven Arcane Archfire spell.”
“Only a minor setback? Alron, you cannot teach that spell to that boy in a populated area! You need to submit a report to the High Mage Council, secure a remote location, set up proper barrier to contain-”
“See why people call him Nirvan the Fussy?” Alron turned towards Tyrune.
“Fastidious.” Nirvan stressed. “Nirvan the Fastidious. Honestly, I don’t know why I bothered coming here in the first place.”
“Why are you here anyhow?” Alron asked him.
“Oh I just needed to return something to the library so- Hey wait a minute!” Nirvan stood up straight. “I am a member of the High Mage Council; I am free to roam wherever I please and do not require reporting my actions to you!”
“Well while you’re here, how about finally giving me information about that terrorist we arrested last month.”
The wizard’s fist tightened around his staff. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Considering he made an attack on my pupil and nearly blew us all up, I think it does. Why won’t you tell me anything about him?” Alron frowned.
“Enough of this!” Nirvan pounded the butt of his staff on the ground. “I have much more important matters to attend to than to stand around here and be insulted.” Turning around, Nirvan marched off.
“Wait Nirvan!” Alron took two steps then remembered his charge. “Er, keep on practicing Tyrune. Last time the explosion happened because you were putting the same amount of magic into it as you would for a normal fire spell. Focus your energy as tightly and small as you can like you’re trying to squeeze water from a rock, and take it as slow and easy as you can.” Alron spoke a few more words and threw up the barrier around Tyrune once more before resuming his chase after Nirvan.
Even after what happened, he wants me to continue practicing? Tyrune thought. Suddenly he felt very faint and dizzy. At first he thought it was the shock from the explosion, but then he soon realized that it was another one of his dizzy spells. Unable to keep steady, Tyrune fell on his hands and knees, groaning as the world seemed to spin around and around, faster and faster.
“I got you Tyrune.” Small hands suddenly grabbed his head. “Easy there big guy, I got you.”
“Zos...er…” Tyrune could barely speak. Already he could taste what he had for breakfast as nausea crept up his throat.
“Shh, don’t talk.” Zoster said softly, holding Tyrune and running his hand through his hair.
Tyrune did his best to pull himself together now that Zoster was here, but this was one of the strongest dizzy spells he had ever faced. He felt so weak and helpless, like he wasn’t a 360 lbs. man with 29 inch arms and the strength of twelve men that he was.
“Don’t fight it; just let it do its thing.” Zoster whispered into his ear. “Trust me; it’ll be easier if you do.”
Right away Tyrune did as he was told and immediately he felt a difference. The intensity eased up and his stomach didn’t feel as sick. After a few more seconds he began to feel better as his dizzy spell went away.
“I’m okay now.” Tyrune said, sitting back.
“Are you sure? It looked like a really nasty one this time.”
“Yes…they’ve been coming to me more frequently and much stronger than before.” Tyrune rubbed his forehead. “Luckily I’m usually alone or out of sight when they hit me. But anyway Zoster, how did you get in here? I thought Alron put up a barrier.”
Zoster rolled his eyes. “That bastard was in such a hurry he didn’t even notice me slipping in before he put it up.”
“You shouldn’t be here Zoster.” Tyrune shook his head. “I need to practice, and it could get dangerous.”
“You need to practice?” The Tiefling looked at him sharply. “Tyrune, listen to yourself! You’re starting to act like…like one of them!”
“But Zoster, I can do so much good with all this magic!”
“Like how you nearly killed your teacher just now?”
Tyrune sucked in his breath. “I…I didn’t mean to…”
“Just like your father didn’t mean to blow himself up along with my village fourteen years ago.” Zoster’s voice was low, but carried a great deal of weight and power.
“I would never hurt anyone!”
“Your father probably thought the same thing, but he still killed everyone.”
Tyrune looked at his friend helplessly, feeling more vulnerable than when he was experiencing his dizzy spell. However, he gathered up his courage and stared straight into Zoster’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I can’t quit magic, not just yet. I made a promise that as long as I study hard, you wouldn’t get hurt. I know you don’t like this, you may even hate me for it, but I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
Picking up the stick, he casted the spell keeping Zoster in mind. The dry straw flared up in blue flames, but when it died out, the stick underneath was unharmed.
* * *
Where did he go? Alron thought as he walked down the hallways in search of Nirvan. Unfortunately the other wizard was suppressing his aura, making him impossible to trace through magic. Alron turned the corner and walked directly into another person.
“Oh excuse me…aren’t you Silas?” Alron asked.
The man gave a squeak and jumped. “M-M-Master Alron! I’m sorry, I d-didn’t see you there.”
“Settle down, I’m not Nirvan.” Alron told him. “Speaking of whom, have you seen your master?”
“N-no, sir, I haven’t seen him. He’s been very upset since…I mean, no I don’t know where he is.”
“Since what?” Alron asked intently.
He squeaked. “I…I can’t tell you. It would compromise the secrecy of the High Mage Council.”
“Well in case you’re forgetting, I am also a part of the High Mage Council.” Alron crossed his arms and looked down at Silas. “Which means you would not, in fact, be breaking the secrecy of the High Mage Council.”
Silas looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. Alron didn’t need to probe his mind to tell the man was struggling between his loyalties towards Nirvan or the High Mage Council. Finally, the skittish man gave in.
“About t-two and a half weeks ago, the prisoner we…er, y-you and Master Nirvan captured managed to escape.”
“Escape?” Alron looked at him in disbelief. “That man was a terrorist under interrogation. Nirvan would have undoubtedly set up extremely tight security around him.”
“He did.” Silas nodded, causing his glasses to slip down to the tip of his nose. “B-but somehow or another the prisoner got out.”
“Well, no wonder he was so upset when I inquired.” Alron rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Though how that man escaped puzzles me. Nirvan is much too skilled to have slipped up, unless…”
“Unless w-what?” Silas asked.
The wizard shook his head. “No, it’s nothing. But tell me, why are you and Nirvan here?”
“Oh, we had to return some tomes he borrowed from the library some time ago.” Silas pushed his glasses back into place.
“Book?” That was right, Nirvan did mention that before.
“Yes, Midwestern Prophecies, The Future Unfogged, things like that.”
“Prophecies?” Alron’s eyebrows rose in surprise, then he frowned. “Tell me, had he already returned the books to the library?”
“I believe they’re still in his room. Why?”
Alron didn’t bother answering as he walked away, heading straight for Nirvan’s quarters. It was easy to know where he would be staying since that man demanded to always have the same quarters reserved solely for him. Even though Nirvan visited infrequently, he scared the staff to make sure everything was perfectly clean and tidy for the wizard’s arrival.
It was the screeching that alerted him. Alron ducked and rolled just in time to narrowly avoid being beheaded. When he leapt to his feet, he saw the armors that had been lining the walls stepped off the platforms they had been standing on, surrounding him on all sides with their weapons pointed at him.
“Who are…no…an empty suit of armor can’t answer me.” Alron held his staff poised and ready.
The armored man behind him thrust forth his spear and Alron threw up a magical shield around him, but to his surprise the spear pierced right through his barrier as if it were paper. Alron quickly used his staff to parry it, and then whipped the staff back to strike the face enemy who had raised its weapon. The helmet flew off the armor and bounced on the ground, revealing…no one. Just as he had thought, the enemy wasn’t men wearing armor, but the armor themselves. “Which means I no longer need to hold back.” The corner of his lips curved upwards as he formed a fireball in his hand and threw it. The fireball struck the armors breastplate but extinguished almost immediately.
All at once the armors attacked, but Alron simply jumped, flying into the air and leaping 10 feet over the living armor and landed at a safe distance away. Alron chanted a quick spell and fired a light blue orb not at the armor, but at the ground before them. Shards of ice formed from where the spell struck, spreading and growing like a wild plant. The living suits of armor struggled to fight through, but the ice spread too fast. Soon, they were completely encased in a crystal like structure, unable to move an inch. Slowly Alron stepped up the ice, reached out with his staff and gently tapped it once. With a sound akin to thunder, the ice shattered and the metal broke into pieces along with it. In moments the ice vaporized leaving the heap of metal on the castle floor.
“What is going on here?” Jasper suddenly appeared, attracted by the commotion. “Master? What…why did you destroy these suits of armor?”
“These suits of armor just attacked me.” Alron said, poking a still intact helmet with the butt of his staff. “Someone enchanted them and their weapons to be magic resistant, then have them attacked me.”
“What!?” Jasper looked at him, appalled. “Who could have done this?”
“Who indeed.” Alron muttered. Then something caught his eye. Knelling down, he reaching out and pulled something from the wreckage and held it up.
“What is it?” Jasper leaned in for a closer look.
“It’s wire.” Alron said. “Magic wire.”
“Magic wire? Does that mean…”
“I’ll deal with it later.” Alron stood up. “Right now I have something more pressing to look into. In the meanwhile, can you check the areas and hallways leading to my room? I’d rather not have any more unfortunate surprises pop out at me.”
“Of course Master.” Jasper bowed. “I’ll also have what’s left of these armors inspected to see if we can find anything else.”
“Please do.” Alron told him, and then continued on his way. He had to hurry and get to those books before something else happened.
Fortunately the rest of the trip was uneventful and Alron managed to make it to Nirvan’s quarters safely. The door was naturally kept unlock since no one in their right mind would knowingly steal from a master wizard…unless they were also a master wizard.
Though what was inside Nirvan’s quarters would tempt even the most common of thieves. The carpet was a lush red, the furniture intricately carved works of art with velvet seats on the chairs and gold knobs. Even the curtains and bed sheets were of the finest silk.“Overly opulent,” Alron muttered, “a wizard only needs a place to study and light to read now where....ah!” He spotted the traveling chest that Nirvan carried around with him and walked up to it. Bending down, he examined the lock. Although it looked like a regular lock that an amateur could pick, it was actually an intricate and complex magic seal. Still in no time he was able to unlock it and swing the lid open.
“Here we are.” Alron pulled out the large, weathered tome out. “Now let’s see…” Quickly Alron flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the contents until finally.
“Ah-ha!” Alron said. He had finally found it! He started read the words when all of a sudden, the text began to fade! A trap! Alron thought. Someone had enchanted the book so that if someone were to read it, the words would vanish! There was no time to counter it, so all Alron could do was quickly read as much as he could.
In centuries past the Days of Hell shall an age brighter than gold shine,
When the Guardians of Light will bestow upon the world the Line,
And from that Line will the Hope of Tomorrow be born,
With the sapphire moon bearing witness and heavens dancing through the night skies.
Through him he will bring either salvation or destruction
Yet with Great Light there is also Deep Darkness that ever seeks to encompass all,
And out from the Shadows shall the Puppeteer emerge bearing the cursed mark.
He will blanket the Hope of Tomorrow with illusions, leading him astray from his chosen path.
Beguile the Hope of Tomorrow and bring him towards the Darkness.
For if the Hope of Tomorrow does not shine, forever shall that Light be gone.
A Guardian will serve as the Hope of Tomorrow’s lifeline,
Nurturing and guiding him to the high noon of life
Unbeknownst to him, however, that another shall guide him wrongly
His identity hidden and lurking within great shadows
Waiting for the time when he will seize it all.
When the Eve of Destruction looms nigh, the Guardian shall seek aid from the Keeper of Truths.
And the Hope of Tomorrow shall clash endlessly with the Keeper
The Keeper shall raise his hand, yet the Hope of Tomorrow shall still it with unwavering will.
Fight, Keeper of Truths, let thou not be deterred from duty, for if you fail, all will be lost.
And be wary of the Puppeteer, for it is he who shall decide the fate of the Hope of Tomorrow.
The Keeper shall teach while the Puppeteer shall ever play
With the Hope of Tomorrow caught between their midst.
Torn between duty and desire, neither road he cannot choose
The outcome shall be decided in trial by fire and if his heart waivers
Both Keeper and Puppeteer shall perish, and all will be lost.
The Puppeteer shall seek shelter with the Hope of Tomorrow from the Keeper of Truths,
But as the sands of time flow he shall be unearthed and revealed.
Yet the hold of the Puppeteer on the Hope of Tomorrow will never cease as long as he draws breath.
Act quickly, Keeper of Truth, for if the Puppeteer silences thy tongue before the truth be told,
History shall rewind, and the Battle that Never Ends will begin anew.
On the eve of year's death shall the choice be made
For better or for ill, only one can choose
The Keeper shall unearth the true face of Darkness which resided amongst them
Fires will burn and dance in savage fury
And at the final ring of the bell the Hope of Tomorrow shall lose that which he holds dear.
Alron tried to read the next verse, but to his dismay it became too illegible to read. As he watched, the prophecy disappeared, and new writing took its place describe something completely different. Putting the book aside, he picked the next one up, but his magic senses already told him that the spell had also activated in the rest of the tomes and had already rewritten them all.
Rewritten... “So that’s what happened!” Alron snapped his fingers. “All the books in the library about the prophecy was re-written! But if that’s true, then...what has Nirvan been doing?”