The Mage’s issues

The Mage’s issues

‘What did you find?’ Sheila asks.

‘Nothing, just some more corpses, that’s all’ I respond nervously.

She can see I’m hiding something. She walks past me and sits down beside her father. Moving his coat, she reveals a bloodied letter. My heart almost stops as she reads it. Her hand moves to cover her mouth as her eyes brim with tears. She drops the letter and moves both her hands to her father’s chest.

‘NO!’ she screams, as a warm, soft blue glow comes out of her hands.

What starts as warm and blue soon becomes burning hot and blinding. She focuses all her energy on bringing her father back to life. Nobody knows what will happen.

‘Daddy! No, please!’ she yells.

Her father’s coat catches fire and emits a small shockwave. When the sand settles down again I see Sheila’s been knocked on her back, her cheeks wet with tears. It’s quiet for a second, then her father starts breathing heavily. His body hasn’t been fully restored yet, but he’s breathing. Sheila cries with happiness, and Dean holds her hand.

The man’s body begins to spasm violently, coughing up blood and flinging his arms around randomly. Sheila wants to get up, but Dean stops her. She saved his body, but his mind is long gone.

He gets up and staggers around. When he sees us he grabs a knife from his boot and flings it around wildly. Sheila starts to cry again, burying her face into Dean’s chest. Her father sees her crying and attacks her with the knife. Dean tries to protect her, but he doesn’t want to kill him. So I have to.

I load an arrow onto my bow and take aim, shooting him directly in the heart.

‘Why did this happen?’ Sheila asks, still silently whimpering.

‘I’m sorry’ I say, hoping she’ll understand.

‘I… I can’t even save my own father.’

I feel dizzy, like the ground is moving. Oh wait… it is.

The ground begins to vibrate, and a heap of bodies sinks into the ground.

‘What was that?’ Geirolf asks. I’ve been so distracted I barely noticed he was still there.

Before I can tell him I don’t know, a large worm comes out of the ground. Apparently, we’re dessert.

It dives into the ground before we can attack.

‘Where is it?’ Dean asks.

‘How am I supposed to know?’ Geirolf shouts.

The creature jumps up behind Dean, knocking him to the ground. Geirolf slashes it with his swords, but it isn’t very effective. I try to shoot it in the eye, but worms don’t have eyes. S**t.

‘Sheila, help us!’ I yell, but she doesn’t react.

The large sandworm goes back into the ground, jumping back up seconds later behind me. Dean pushes me away, but the worm’s teeth cut his back.

‘Everybody! Stop moving!’ I yell.

They’re doubtful, but do it anyway. When it comes back up again, the worm circles around. After a period of searching, it goes away again.

‘Why did that work?’ Geirolf asks.

‘Worms don’t have eyes, they hunt by feeling the movement in the ground’ I respond, ‘We’ll have to move carefully.’

We get back on our way with Sheila riding Geirolf’s cow, who has been named Craig. She’s still in shock.

‘Sheila’ Dean asks, ‘Would you mind healing me, please?’.

Sheila just keeps mumbling silently.

I pick up the pace to talk to her, but Dean holds me back.

‘Don’t’ he says.

‘I can’t just let you bleed to death.’

‘I’ll be fine, she won’t.’

I sigh, ‘We have to do something’.

‘We can’t help her, she’ll have to get over it herself.’

‘I was talking about your injuries.’

Dean grunts as he rips off a piece of his cape.

‘Could you help me with this?’ he asks.

I take the piece of cloth and tie it around his back. It’s far from perfect, but it will have to do for now.

‘I don’t see how you can stay calm’ I say.

‘Patience is a virtue’ he laughs.

‘I know that patience is important, but most people tend to forget about it when they’re bleeding.’

‘Not me.’

I’m not actually worried he’ll die from blood loss, it’s the infection that worries me.

The city looks mysterious, but peaceful at the same time.

‘Hello?’ I yell, my voice echoes through the buildings. ‘Anyone here? We could use some help.’

‘Who goes there?’ a low, rumbling voice makes my spine tingle.

‘I’m Noyala, these are Dean, Geirolf and Sheila. According to our map, this is Veneficus.’

‘Your map is correct, what do you want?’

‘We’re tourists’ Geirolf says gladly.

A dense fog passes over the town, when it disappears, the town is filled with people. Everything seems cheery.

‘Sorry for the rude welcome’, a long bearded man walks up to us, ‘but in these times us mages must be careful.’

‘So this is Veneficus?’ I ask.

‘Yep’ he responds.

I sigh in relief, ‘Finally’.

He leads us into a tavern and we sit down at a table with him. Geirolf ties Craig to a pole outside the tavern while confused onlookers watch. On the table next to us some men are watching a fight between two small clay golems.

‘Tell me’ the man says, ‘what exactly are you looking for?’.

‘It started as curiosity’ I begin, ‘but things got complicated’. I tell him the entire story, from when Sheila read the map to us sitting down at the table.

There’s a long pause, then he opens his mouth to speak.

‘Yeah, I see why that would be a problem.’

‘Can you help Dean?’ I ask, hoping he’ll say yes.

‘I’m sorry, Noyala. There are no longer any mages here specialized in healing. They left a while ago. Your only option is that friend of yours, Sheila’.

‘She’s too traumatized to be of any use’ I scoff, ‘I wish I could help her, but I don’t know how.’

‘I know a necromancer’ the old man says, ‘Perhaps he could talk to her.’

‘I thought necromancers were evil?’.

‘That’s a stereotype!’ he says, insulted.

‘I’m… I’m sorry, I did not mean to offend. Where can I find him?’.

‘He works at the morgue.’

‘Thank you sir’ I say, ‘I’ll come back when anything happens.’

‘I’m sure you will, madam, I’m sure you will’.

I enter the morgue, it smells like death. No surprises there.

Candlelight is visible from around the corner, and so is a strange, purple glow. A corpse is lying on a stone table, candles surround the remnants of the deceased. The necromancer throws some ingredients into a small fire, his light green robe swings around as he casts his spells.

I knock on the wall to get his attention. He turns around and is surprised to see me.

‘Someone’s seen better days’ I jokingly say.

‘That’s my wife’ he says, strangely calm.

‘I’m… I’m so sorry’ I try to apologize, not off to a grand start.

‘What can I help you with?’ he asks.

‘Long story short? My friend tried to bring her dead father to life but he tried to hurt her so I had to kill him, now she’s traumatized.’

There’s a pause, ‘Yeah, I see why that’d be a problem’ he says eventually. ‘But I don’t see how I could be of service.’

‘I was hoping you could talk to her, explain that it’s not her fault.’

‘Sure’ he says, ‘I could do that’.

‘If it’s not too much trouble, of course’ I add, ‘Normally I wouldn’t ask this of anyone’.

‘Not at all. I’ll meet you in an hour at the tavern, I still have to finish this. In the meantime you should explore the town.’

‘Thank you’ I say, and quickly turn around to leave.

Me and Dean explore the town while Geirolf is fighting some large golems for amusement, both his own and that of others. Sheila is taking a nap in the inn.

‘What should we do?’ I ask.

‘We could visit the libraries, maybe we’ll learn something useful.’

‘Sounds good.’

We sit down in a large study room and read some books about random subjects. A school of children enters, an old man sits them down on wooden benches and begins to tell a story. The red stone on a nearby pedestal lights up and portrays images on the dark wall.

‘Today I’ll tell you kids about the Great Mage War’ the old man coughs, ‘I’m sure you’ve all heard of it, but I’ll explain it in detail’.

My parents didn’t have enough money for school when I was young. They taught me how to read and a few other things, but never have I learned all that much about the war. I put down the book, rest my head on my arms and listen thoughtfully.

‘It started with two empires’ the man begins, ‘The Koston empire and the Dandrus empire. They were the most powerful empires in existence, but both wanted to be the best. Both had large armies, consisting of warriors and mages, the latter of which had been trained in battle magic. Battle mages became more common as their power became more apparent. The Koston and Dandrus empire recruited more and more battle mages, and the tension between the empires grew dangerously. Then, by a reason unknown, they finally started fighting. The war was long and fierce, many died. Both sides knew that an injured soldier could easily be healed and would soon fight again, so they had to be sure as many enemies as possible were killed, resulting in millions of deaths, both of the innocent, and those of the guilty.’

The image on the wall changes into a destroyed village. No survivors seem to be present. The children listen quietly.

‘Many magical weapons were used during the war, which made it the most destructive war in all of history. Has anyone of you heard about the Flame Soldiers?’

A child raises his hand, ‘They were Kostonian soldiers specialized in fire magic. Their minds had been linked so they could fight as one team’.

‘Very good, Jacob’ the man smiles, ‘That is indeed the story. The Flame Soldiers could fight together without having to talk, they saw through each other’s eyes and felt whatever the others felt. They were the perfect army, until Dandrus mages caught one of them and messed with his mind.

Then they all went mad. Nobody was safe. It is said that they have created their own little community now, in the forest. They have been renamed the Followers of the Flame, because they now see fire as something godlike, worshipping it in their temples. Does anyone know the name of a different magical weapon?’

Another child stands up, ‘The Pebble of Disaster, sir’

‘Yes, indeed’ the man touches his beard, ‘The Pebble was a most peculiar weapon. A Dandrus weapon, it was a die-like rock which had many sides. The amount of sides changed whenever it was used. When thrown, it cast a random spell, which could either make you rich, or make you dead. It was released in a Kostonian village, the creators expected people to throw the pebble around in the hopes of becoming rich. Instead, the Pebble was soon discovered to be a trick.

That was the history lesson for today, children. Open your books and study.’

‘Excuse me, sir’ I say as I walk up to the man, ‘I was listening to your story and was wondering, what happened to the Pebble?’

He laughs, ‘Good to see that the young haven’t lost their interest in history. The Pebble was locked up in a cave, which is now known as the cave of Jimm.’

‘Where is this cave?’

The man shrugs, ‘It is said that the Followers of the Flame know the location, but so far nobody has been dumb enough to ask.’

‘Okay, thank you.’

I sit back down and continue to read my book, but I find it hard to concentrate. Looking through the window at the clock tower, I realize we still have to stay here for a while.

‘You’re not planning on doing something stupid, are you?’ Dean asks.

‘What if I am?’ I respond.

He smiles, ‘I’ll join you’.

I continue reading until Dean has finished his book. We buy some of them and leave again.

Author's Note

I'm still having trouble with giving exposition, so help is very much appreciated.