Chapter 4

 

  Ezrai clothed himself in his old armor. His blood red, scale plated cuirass rested comfortably on his chest. The scales on the shoulder of the armor were ridged. He put the bracers on his forearm slowly over the black silk he wrapped his arm in, his mind thinking back on the last time he put on his armor. “Aslet must have taken care of my armor all this time” he thought.

“Are you ok” Angela asked. She stood in the doorway of his room. He hadn’t been in the room since the first time he came to live in the tower, but the magic of the tower kept it from getting dusty.  Ezrai looked at her and smiled, apparently she had recovered from earlier events.

“Yea, Angela I’m fine” Ezrai replied. He placed the custom scale plated armor greaves upon his legs. The dark red armor covered his feet, shins, and end as a spike in front of his knees. He stood and looked into a mirror. He moved his arms and legs to make sure the armor didn’t restrict his movements at all.

“Is that armor made from the scales of a red dragon?” Angela asked. She walked into the room and sat on his bed. Ezrai could feel her eyes on him.

“I never thought I would wear this armor again. As I look at myself, I’m reminded of all the things I’ve done.” Ezrai stopped, turned, looked into Angela’s eyes, and turned back towards the mirror. ” I didn’t used to question what I did. Killing is what I’m good at, and I took pride in it. Does that make me a monster, or should I… no I am what I am. Whatever that is, killing is what is needed now.”

“Ezrai, what was that all about” Angela asked.

Ezrai turned to her and smiled. Red slowly bled into his silver eyes leaving his eyes to look like red and silver haloes, “Just thinking out loud, but let’s go get my sword from the old man.”

Ezrai and Angela walked out of the room and down a hallway to an illusionary wall. “Are you going to talk your way into having me hold you” Angela asked with a smirk.

“No, why did you want to hold me?” Ezrai asked. He walked closer and slipped one hand around her slender waist.

Flames began to cover Angela’s body. Ezrai held on to her tighter. The flames licked at his armor, but he didn’t seem affected in the least. “Is holding me worth burning?” she asked incredulously.

“To answer your first question, this armor is made from the scales of a red dragon. So, yes I don’t mind a little fire because I can’t feel it” He leaned his head in closer to hers. His silver and red eyes locker her eyes in his gaze.

“So burning is worth holding me because you can’t feel it?” Angela pushed him away. “So as long as it doesn’t cost you anything you will hold me. This must be how all men think.”

Ezrai held his hands up in surrender, “You know that’s not what I meant and you know it.” Ezrai put his hands down and his face became sullen, “Are you afraid of me?”

Angela laughed, “I didn’t know you could make such a face. Usually you have this annoying smirk.”

“But I was a cat. How could I have a smirk?” Ezrai laughed.

“Exactly! It was the most annoying thing ever, but no I’m not afraid of you. So you have killed people boo hoo. You aren’t the only one alive with a sob story. Now that you have this important piece information you can get over yourself.” Angela replied

Ezrai shook his head and smiled. He was honestly surprised how easily this woman could make him feel better, and make fun of him at the same time. “Thanks Angel. I really needed to hear that.”

Angela moved closer to him slowly. Their eyes connected as she drew in closer. When they were but hairs breadth apart she whipped her hand forward, slapping Ezrai across the face. Ezrai held his hand to his face in shock. “Next time you cast a spell on me with your eyes I’m going to do more than slap you” Angela threatened.

Angela jumped backwards, throwing herself through the illusionary wall and into the shaft that led to different places of the large magic tower. She smiled as her body dropped downward. The shaft was as wide as the whole of the tower.  The magic used to create it took five top notch mages, Aslet included. The shaft was a dimension all to itself. It existed and yet did not exist.  Magical ropes hung in mid air, connected to multi colored portals that transported you to its sister portal. The magical portals lined the walls of the shaft, filling it with a crazy assortment of colors. The magic ropes stuck out from the portal doors stiffly, becoming as hard and straight as stone, but when grabbed becomes as flexible and soft as the user wants. The absolute chaos yet order that magic represented was here in this bottomless shaft.  Angela swore it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Ezrai smiled as he watched her jump through the wall and followed after her. His armor reflected the shining light off the magic portals. He reached out, grabbed a rope and swung to the next one, calling out to Angela as he did. His eyes, still silver and red haloes peered through the darkness spotting her. Ezrai brought his arms to his sides and nose dived, trying his best to catch up to her. He laughed as he veered left and right dodging the slaps of the ropes. His eyes watered and his vision became blurry, but nothing could steal the smile in his heart.

 Angela tapped the brooch designed like wings on her robed and slowly her body decelerated. She began to float upwards. Ezrai yelled out her name so she could spot him. He spread out his arms and legs to slow himself, but at his speed there wasn’t anything he could do.  Angela floated to the right so she wouldn’t be directly under him, but Ezrai veered into the same direction.

“Stop we are going to” her breath caught up in her chest as Ezrai plunged straight into her.  Angela closed her eyes and screamed. Seconds passed before she opened her eyes, surprised to find herself still floating upward instead of hurtling down the shaft with Ezrai on top of her. She looked all around and found nothing out of the ordinary except white smoke floating under her. She had never noticed it before, but then again “anything is possible in this tower” she thought.  The sorcerers continued upward until she saw the right portal. Blue light swirled around a multitude of purple and golden dots. She grabbed onto the rope connected to the portal. It instantly softened and wrapped around her wrist. The rope pulled her into the portal. Bight colors flashed before her eyes and instantly she was in her father’s study. The Arcanist stone illuminated the room in blue light as before. She found her father standing over it with his hands outstretched, mumbling something she could only guess was a spell. Mist spilled into the room. Angela scanned the mist and watched, mouth agape as the mist began to solidify into Ezrai.

“I haven’t done that in forever” Ezrai winked.

“Ugh you are so childish. I thought we were going to die!” Angela screamed.

“Is there a reason you two have broken my concentration?” Aslet asked.

“I need my sword old man” Ezrai replied.

Aslet nodded and pulled a black cloth from beneath his robes. Ezrai followed Aslet as he walked towards a wall on the far end of the room. Aslet casually threw the cloth. It elongated as it twirled, widening to several feet in diameter, and slapped against the side of the wall. It was no longer a piece of fabric at all, but a magical, portable hole, a dimensional pocket. Aslet walked away leaving him to peruse. Ezrai looked inside the dimensional pocket. Potions, books, bags with money, knives, and some things that even Ezrai had never seen before. Ezrai continued to search until he saw it. Instantly he knew it was his sword. His hands trembled as he gripped the hilt. Slowly, he pulled out Silhouette, his magical great sword. The pommel of the sword looked like an eye with two swords piercing it, the symbol of the dark lord of vengeance. The hilt and blade both shone brightly as daylight struck it. Ezrai easily hefted the great sword as if it weighed nothing. He swung it horizontally taking out an imaginary opponent, and stabbed forward, skewing another. The half vampire searched around inside the hole and found its scabbard.

“The sword is beautiful” Angela commented. Ezrai slid the scabbard onto his back and rested the sword in its home. Angela continued,” Dad told me it’s called Silhouette but it so shiny.

“It’s a silver blade, blessed by the crazy priest who raised me. I will show you why it’s called that when your father completes me” Ezrai explained. The warrior walked over to Aslet, eyeing him suspiciously.

“You are wondering where your stone is?” Aslet asked.

“You already know why” Ezrai responded.

Aslet sighed and sat down in the chair behind his desk. “You already know the path that you are taking is leading you back to darkness. You are strong enough without it.”

“Lord Prius is a powerful man with powerful allies. I need to be at full strength. I know what I’m doing” Ezrai retorted. Ezrai’s fierce eyes met with Aslet’s golden orbs. The warrior couldn’t begin to read the old man’s expression.

With a sigh Aslet stood, “fine, you may have it back. It’s in the swamps near a small village.” Aslet placed a hand on Ezrai’s head and murmured an arcane phrase. The Arcanist stone shone brightly for a second before returning to normal. “The spell I just cast will you show you which portal you will have to take to get there.”

“How will I find it?” Ezrai asked.  

“I’ll place the spell t locate it within Angela’s mind. Go into the shaft and await her there” Aslet replied. Ezrai nodded and walked into the portal at the end of the study.

“Why didn’t you just cast the spell on him?’ Angela asked.

“He would have left without you had I done it, and he needs you even though he will never admit it” Aslet confided. Aslet placed a hand on her head and cast the spell.

“What do you mean and what is this stone?” Angela asked.

“Ezrai can do shadow magic, but he isn’t as powerful without the stone. He will have to face his demons and come to terms with what he has done in his past. That is the spell I have placed over where he must go.”

Angela walked towards the portal but stopped right she entered, turned and asked “you never told me what the stone was” Angela said to her dad.

Aslet played with one of his dreads before answering, “It’s his soul.”

 

Reviews

[Tina Kline]

This is a really interesting chapter and that my sound simple but its not, its interest in the story that keeps the reader reading and not giving up because they think what they're reading is too boring. I must say your attention to detail in this is excellent, just enough to keep the story going and explain what's going on and not so much it burdens the reader trying to get through it.

[Syldor]

I really enjoyed this story. Everything seems so well put together and I just love the interactions between Angela and Ezrai! I can't wait to read the next chapter.