Chapter IV - Taking Flight

 

Chapter IV – Taking Flight

            Master Lorien was waiting patiently for the two in the Master Chamber, located on the top floor of the Order. The Master Chamber is where the majority of arcane training and conditioning takes place in the Order. The Chamber, guarded by a set of double magic doors, was heavily woven with magic barriers and laden with intricate designs around the frame. It was made of a cool silver metal, ever shimmering even in complete darkness. In the top was set a large, clear-blue crystal that appeared to power the magic ever flowing through the doors. As the Mage and Warlock approached the doors, Master Lorien released the protecting shield around the doors and allowed the two entry.

“It’s about time,” Lorien greeted them; “you are late.” Alagar knew at once who he was referring to. As soon as they entered the room, both of them noticed a floating, glowing orb hovering directly above a stand in the middle of the room. The stand was inlaid with a bowl and a pool of sparkling water. The first thing that Alagar noticed as he entered the room was that he was not alone, for the air was filled with the scent of magic. That could only mean one thing; there are others here…..Alagar thought to himself.

“We apologize, Master Lorien,” Kenon answered, breaking Alagar’s train of thought, “Alagar wasn’t feeling well when I found him.”

“Is everything alright?” Lorien addressed Alagar directly now, “how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Alagar answered, “it’s nothing to worry about. Thank you for asking though Lorien.”

“That is another matter I was going to address,” the Master Mage started, “from now on you shall call me by Master Lorien or just simply Master. Today you start your training, and I shall be instructing you.”

“Assuming that I still want to be instructed at all?”

“Well, well you are a fiery one aren’t you? Master Colbalt said as much.” From out of the shadows across the room strides a young mage dressed in a black, sleeveless, collared vest, a blood red strip running down either side. Three leather straps held it in place on his chest, as well as a thicker strap around the waist. His eyes contained a blazing fire, matching his short red hair atop his head. He wore black trousers and a black fingertip-less glove on his left hand, and brown, more heavily padded glove also wrapped with a leather strap on his right. As he closed the distance from across the room, sparks crackled at his fingertips

“And you are?” Alagar replied.

“Alagar, I would like you to meet Kayne, one of our brightest mages studying here at the order,” Master Lorien said as the other mage continued to stand there, the smug look of confidence on his face at the Master Mage’s complement. After the introduction, a silence fell over the room, as a thick haze rose between the two young mages as they began a heated rivalry.

            The long pause ended abruptly, as an old grandfather clock, situated between two of the Northern windows, started to chime its rounds. The entire room instantly felt as if it had dropped ten degrees, or so it felt, in temperature as a result of the two mages breaking their intense glare. Master Lorien cleared his throat in an attempt to continue speaking

“As I was saying, Alagar, it has been decided that you shall be admitted into the class of the Red Mages.”

“WHAT?!?” Kayne interrupted quickly, the heat from before returning in a matter of seconds.

“Hey,” Alagar said, “I don’t like it anymore than you do. And Lorien…excuse me, MASTER Lorien, I only agreed to join this Order, I never agreed to be TUTORED with these who are no more than spellweavers. I don’t think I need…..”

Before Alagar could utter another word, he felt his entire body being restrained by some unbreakable force. Unable to continue speaking, let alone use any magic, he was helpless; his capacity to use magic severed from his will.

‘What you need,’ Alagar heard the Master Mage’s voice say, but his lips were not moving. ‘is to be conditioned. Your magical power may be strong, but your mind is weak. Any neophytic mage that knows any simple spell in the magic of the mind would cripple you from your unprotected mind in an instant, just as I am at this very moment.’ Alagar then felt control slowly return to his body, and his thoughts begin to clear.

“You need to learn discipline, of your mind as well as your body. Without it, your fights will be brief, and without a single blade being drawn from its sheath.” Master Lorien continued aloud.

“You should do well to listen…”

“YOU should do well to learn it as well!” Master Lorien shouted, cutting Kayne off midsentence as he seized control of his mind and body now as well. Just as quickly as Master Lorien had taken control, he then let him go, leaving the spell-bird gasping for air. The Master glared at both of them, clearly a warning.

“Are you both finished? May we proceed with training by any chance?”

Suppressing the urge to laugh at the novice on the floor, and struggling to regain his breath, Alagar nodded along with Kayne in agreement.

“Good,” Master Lorien said, “I’ll now direct you to your classes and introduce you to your instructors. You will most likely know or at least recognize most of them, as all but two are on the Counsel. Come now, wouldn’t want to keep them waiting now would we?” Master Lorien then directed the two to the Eastern side of the room. In the center of the numerous book cases there was a concave opening made of stone. Engraved into the floor in the center of the opening was an extremely large seal, about the size in diameter of the trunk of a large oak tree. The engraved signia was of an intricate design and glowed faintly blue around the indents in the stone. As Master Lorien walked over to the opening, a faint white light began floating up from the stone floor around the emblem carved there. It rose in a thick cylinder up to about shoulder height, and then faded away. The light looked like a million tiny beads of light drifting up towards the ceiling until they disappear into the air.

“This is an Ingress gate. It’s one of the Orders oldest secrets contained in the knowledge that has been preserved from the old Kingdom. It is used for instantaneous transportation from one gate to the next. It’s one of the main reasons things get done so quickly and efficiently around here. It activates when it senses Gate magic, something you will learn to control and manipulate in your class on ancient artifacts. Now this way please.”

Master Lorien stepped into the Ingress Gate and disappeared in a flash of white light. Next, Kayne did the same. Just as Alagar was about to step foot inside the ancient artifact, an enormous blast coming from somewhere else in the Order sent him flying back on his heels. Explosion after explosion sounded throughout the halls. Head ringing and back sore from the fall, Alagar struggled to return to his feet and clear his head from the constant pounding. From the outer windows he saw a dark cloud quickly approaching from the West. silver specks raining down from the cloud dropped in rapid succession, then darted forward through the air at tremendous speeds, each one of them finding their mark along the sides of the Order.

“The Order is being attacked” Alagar thought horrified, to himself. Finally straightening himself, Alagar ran to the balcony. From the edge of the balcony, he could see the entire left side of the Order, being bombarded with the silver projectiles being launched from the cloud that hung at a steady distance out over the cliff side. All at once, the barrage stopped hitting the side of the Order, as an invisible wall began extending out from the building, blocking the oncoming attack. Multiple mages appeared on the other balconies further down the side of the Order, hands raised with blue sparks engulfing each of their hands. The silver escaping from the cloud doubled, and then tripled, a constant wave of magic being thrust at the defensive shield along the walls of the Order. The shield held for minutes, although if felt like hours to Alagar, before, in a flash of light, the shield turned red. Lasting for only seconds, it occurred to Alagar that the red coloring of the shield was caused by one, or maybe more, of the newer mages collapsing from the strain of keeping the shield active. Immediately after the brief flash of red, the shield dropped back a few feet towards the Order, resulting in higher strain from the other mages. At the head of the defensive shield was Lord Colbalt, commanding the mages in the correct formations in order to power the massive shield protecting the order. The remaining mages spread out, in order to cover for the area lost by the fallen mage. Just as they were in position again, another two mages fell to the strain; there simply weren’t enough mages skilled enough to endure this kind of strenuous magic use. Just as the shield looked on verge of collapse, the silver missiles ceased to fire, the last of them bouncing off of the withering shield. Alagar looked out to the distance, to where the cloud was still hanging. The black cloud suddenly seemed to shiver, as if in pain, and then it started to collapse in on itself, a great wind enveloping the Order and pulling everything inward towards itself. Sending a rumble across the plains, every remaining window in the Order shook then broke as the tiny fragments of glass flew out into the empty chasm of space between the cliff face and the Order. Back in the study chamber, Alagar dodged multiple books from the falling bookshelves being hurled in his direction, out the window and then over the balcony. The room suddenly emptied itself, leaving Alagar alone to witness the next attack on the Order. The black cloud, collapsed to a point where it was no bigger than the Order, then exploded outward, sending a wave of pure blue energy in every direction. Alagar ducked just in time for the wave to pass over him, obliterating anything in its path. As it passed over the mages in defense of the Order, only about half of them reacted in enough time. After this final assault, the black cloud reappeared. This time, about a dozen mages were tearing through the air, instead of the silver projectiles. These magi, however, were dressed entirely in solid black, the majority of them wore a black hooded cloak, but six of them, three on either side of the center, were wearing a black cloth covering his or her mouth and nose, and had no hood on their cloaks but rather a half cape draped over one shoulder. They flew through the air extremely fast, coming in a V-formation, lead at the center by the only mage who was not dressed solely in simple black. This mage, clearly the leader, was dressed in a black tunic, a blue belt around the waist, a long sleeved black overcoat and a solid black cloak lined with silver edges. Alagar was the only one standing after the wave of energy to witness the tremendous speed at which they traveled through the air, crossing the distance between the cloud and the Order in mere seconds. Before he knew it, the Mages were upon the Order, unleashing orbs of pulsing deep blue energy on it. The mages lead by Lord Colbalt finally recovered, Alagar saw, as orbs of red, blue, green and yellow were unleashed on the other mages. Many missed, but in the first round two found their mark, knocking the black mages out of the sky and down to the abyss below the Order. Alagar was about to head for the Ingress gate when, out on the balcony, stood the leader of these attacking black mages. Before he could react, the mage was upon him, pinning him to the rear wall of the room with the same crackling blue energy the others were using to bind his wrists, ankles and waist. He quickly learned that struggling to free himself only made the bindings close tighter around him.

“Be still,” commanded the mage, now standing at the center of the room. To Alagar’s shock and extreme surprise, it was not the rough voice of a male mage, but the soft, crisp, commanding one of a female. As if in reply to his thought and to confirm his prediction, the mage removed the hood of her cloak, revealing the face of a young, female mage. Her hair was the same deep black as the robes she wore; her bangs were braided and tied in a headband fashion, while the back was left unbound so that it hung to her waist. Her eyes were glowing blue, crackling and sparkling, as if a mystical blue lightning had been captured within them. Her face was lean and angled, showing little lines of concentration, making the ease of holding her controlling magic clear.

“The more you move, the more it will hurt. Now come,” she said, dismissing the bonds that held Alagar with a wave of her hand, “we haven’t much time.”

Before Alagar’s feet even touched the floor, he unleashed a fury of crackling blue lightning toward the other mage who had foolishly turned her back to him.

She quickly turned and raised a shield of blue magic; this time, however, the strain of holding it was evident. “You are as stubborn as I’ve been told you were,” her voice rang above the snapping of magic, “we aren’t here to hurt you, we’re here to get you out of here,” she explained.

“Get me out of here???” Alagar replied as he dispelled the lightning, stupefied.

“Yes, now are you coming or not?”

“What in the name of daemons are you talking about? You attack the Order, and then you act like you are rescuing me?”

“We ARE rescuing you.”

“You’re mad.”

She turned to him and sighed, “Look, I don’t have time to explain right now but if we don’t hurry, I’m afraid you’ll find out what I mean by ‘rescuing you’ very soon.”

At that moment, the door burst open. Kayden and two other red mages, red sparks crackling at their fingertips.

“Kill them both!” Kayden screamed as the three of them began unleashing a volley of red magic toward both Alagar and the girl mage standing beside him. Alagar immediately deflected the energy that was being thrown at him into the wall on his left, collapsing one of the remaining sections between where the windows had been. As he did this, the mage girl used her binding energy again to pin the three of them against the wall.

“Wretched hell cat!” spat Kayden in a fury of hatred and disgust. “Go back to your daemon spawned hell!”

“Kayden, what is your problem? Why did you try to kill me as well, it’s her you want!” Alagar said.

“Pah! We knew they’d come for you eventually. Master Lorien tried to ignore it but the rest of us are not complete morons!”

“Hold your tongue daemon!” the girl mage lashed, snapping Kayden’s jaw shut on his tongue with her will controlling magic.

“What are you talking about? Before I found out about what?” Alagar said completely bewildered and confused.

“Haven’t you noticed by now??? You are NOT one of us! Master Lorien thought differently but I saw through the lies and knew you could never make it here, you’re too pathetic!”

“It’s time to go, Alagar,” She said through clenched teeth, “before more of them come. My bonds won’t hold them forever. We have to leave now or we’ll never make it,” the girl mage said as she backed towards the balcony and held out her hand. “Come with us, you will be safe.”

Confused, Alagar reluctantly took the girl mage’s hand and immediately felt his feet lift off of the ground.

“Don’t let go,” she said, “it’s a long way down.”

Before Alagar knew what was happening, he was sailing out off of the balcony and toward the black cloud that hung in the distance. Still not sure why he was doing this, he battled to calm the many questions racing inside his mind before they threatened to overtake him. The last thing he remembered was feeling a wave of calm rush over him and looking over his shoulder to see Master Lorien gazing out at him from one of the towers with a look in his face that Alagar could not discern as Alagar sped away from the Order and into the darkness.