(Project) Draegoan: Chapter 2

While the Shade haunts Emperor Ogdein, a far greater trouble haunts the old wizard Garron, who sets out to investigate the signs of a coming threat.

 

                Garron coughed slightly as he squinted into the rising sun, the stifling wind brushing his grayed hair back. The blinding light was tinged a faint red by the smoggy horizon, which shimmered in the already hot morning. He pulled his horse to a stop as he rubbed his eyes, annoyed as stinging sweat trickled into them, coupled by the sun’s painful light in front of him. His stomach grumbled impatiently; he had not eaten in the few days since leaving the city of Cardar in Kandria. Traveling across the sweltering deserts in the dead of summer did not help his hunger or fatigue either. Food and rest were a mere trifle to him at this point, however. He had felt the spell that had been cast. It was immensely powerful for him to have felt it from all the way on the northeastern coasts. It was bad news to feel anything that powerful from so many thousands of miles away. He did not know exactly what it was, but he had a few ideas. He hoped that what he had found in Cardar strengthened his theory.

                Four days ago, he had been searching the vaults of the city of Cardar for a certain book. He was in search for information about magic, as well as his ancestry. His distant grandfather, Amudo, who had been alive during the last of the Trinity Wars, a worldwide conflict that had ended over two thousand years ago, had lived out his final days in Kandria. Kandria was once a hub of intense magic and research centralized in its capital, Cardar. In the times of the wars, Wizards from around the world had gathered there to learn more of magic. Afterwards, many of them had retired to Cardar, where they continued their research.

                Amudo had been a Wizard, and so was Garron.

                Certain powerful Wizards had the ability to greatly enhance their lifespan, giving them many years to research magic. Amudo was one such Wizard. He had been one of the best at it, living from the second Trinity War to over two hundred years after the Trinity Wars had ended. None had come as close as the ancient Feldein, a magic-bound race and civilization who had used magic to give themselves eternal life, but many men like Amudo had stretched their lives into many hundreds of years. During the reign of these Wizards, magic was commonplace. In cities of magic such as Cardar, magic practically ran rampant.

                Now, however, the only traces of magic that remained in Cardar were a few ancient books and artifacts. The book Garron had come for was one of these books in question. It was written by Amudo himself, and described many valuable theories on magic, especially its fall.

                Some years after the Trinity Wars, Amudo had traveled to the ancestral homelands of the ancient Feldein. There he began an intensive study of magic, compiling his findings in several volumes of books. Many praised his magnificent and accurate theories on the history and composition of magic. It was often said that he was one of the greatest Wizards to exist.

                In his last days, Amudo had found evidence pointing to the decline of magic. His postulation asserted that the flow of magic had been ebbing away since some time between the first and second of the three Trinity Wars. He had claimed that some force had placed what he described as a “valve” on the flow of magic. He suggested that this valve had been closed, and the magic remaining in the world was draining away as it was used, instead of returning to the land to be used again. He stated that eventually all magic would be spent, and the world would wither in time. The Council of Light, a group of Wizards that governed most of the world then, arrogantly cast aside his theories. They argued that magic was far too powerful of a force to be able to disappear or fall into decline. They declared that his theories were outlandish and radical, and his proof only paper thin. Even so, Amudo had stuck with his side of the debate until the bitter end, all the way to his death.

                The Council had been surprised at Amudo’s death. With his enchantments of longevity, he would have lived at least another hundred years. That he died so suddenly and of no outside forces puzzled them. One by one, however, they noticed slight differences in their day to day uses of magic. Things could no longer be so easily accomplished through magic, and more Wizards began dying of old age before their time.

                Then one day, the Feldein disappeared.

                Not only the Feldein themselves, but their ancient homeland vanished, as if into thin air.

                This convinced the Council that Amudo had been right all along. The Feldein were tied so completely to magic that it was almost a part of them. Their lifespan was infinite because of their powers of magic. That they would suddenly disappear off the map told the Council that there was a great crisis upon them. So much of their world was built upon magic that it seemed impossible to live without it.

                Day by day, more things of magic vanished. Creatures of magic faded from the land like the Feldein, and death tolls of the eldest Wizards ran high; none of the existing Wizards could help either, as their magic was fading and weakening as well. Their power waning, the once great Wizards were diminished to fractions of their former selves.

                Magic had not completely faded, however. Places of incredibly powerful magic remained in the world. The remaining Wizards hypothesized that this was because the force pulling magic away from the land was not large enough to pull suck concentrated power away. However, these places began to seal themselves off. Probably, the Wizards assumed, to prevent as little loss of power as possible. Wizards were still able to perform their duties, but the potency of the spells the Wizards were able to perform was like child’s play compared to their power just years before.

                The decline was still evident, regardless of what traces remained, for fewer Wizards were born every day. The valve Amudo had spoken of was still draining magic away steadily, but still no one could counteract it.

                And so the drain continued through the ages. Garron was one of the last Wizards alive. When he had discovered his abilities and learned of the fate of magic, he devoted his life to finding an answer to the decline of magic, hoping to continue the legacy of his ancestor. Already he could tell that he was running out of time.

                In the other two books written by Amudo that Garron had recovered, he learned that too little magic in the world interrupted the flow of natural life. Garron saw this in action; every year there were more droughts, more ruined crops, and more barren soil. Forests withered and grasslands browned. There was not enough magic to sustain the natural elements in the ground, and the wildlife was dying as a consequence. Thus far the damage was not extensive, but Garron knew that there was not much life left in the land.

                Gazing back across the wasteland, Garron idly stroked the leather satchel that contained his spoils. In it were two volumes of research by Amudo, his personal journal, as well as the volume he had just recovered from the vaults in Cardar. The fourth and final book was probably the most important of all the books written by his distant ancestor, for it likely contained his final conclusions of some of his most shocking theories.

                Garron had learned that Amudo knew that the decline of magic was not natural. Some other force had placed the valve on the flow of magic for some reason or another. Amudo had concluded in an earlier book that whatever it was that happened occurred after the first Trinity War, but before the Second, shortly before Amudo was born. The most intriguing of Amudo’s theories pointed to a strange group of creatures that he had read of in an old Feldein text as the culprits. It was said that these were the first of the creatures of magic to disappear.

                Based on his own findings, Garron had found that these creatures disappeared almost immediately after the supposed date that magic began to fall. The first noticeable effects were not seen until after the Trinity Wars had ended. This fact greatly puzzled Garron. He had his own theories on the matter, however.

                Then there were the prophecies. They were fairly recent, within twenty years. He had come across the book of prophecy while searching for the second volume of Amudo’s records. It contained a few unsettling and disturbing passages.

                There were several prophecies he had seen that seemed to oddly connect to some of the things written in Amudo’s books. Things of great alarm: a darkness visiting the land, keys of some nature and a seal for something. He did not exactly know what they meant, be he had a feeling that he might find the answers in the last of Amudo’s research.

                When he had felt the spell four days ago, however, his thoughts about the mystery left him, and were replaced by pure terror. He had never heard of a spell that could be sensed across the world. What scared him the most was he was almost certain that the spell had not originated from anywhere on the continent of Nanthos.

                It was common knowledge that if a person sailed far enough south on the great sea, they would eventually reach a place that drove even the toughest sailors mad. For this reason, the southern sea was known as the Sea of Terror. None had ever gone through this “Wall of Insanity” that seemed to be almost like a barrier, and none had come through it either. Many believed it to be the edge of the world, for it had been there as long as anyone could remember.

                While he had not been able to pinpoint the exact source of the disturbance, he knew it had originated far to the south. It was far enough south that it could have come from the barriers in the Sea of Terror. But to cast magic, there had to be a Wizard.

                For there to be a Wizard, there had to be land for the Wizard to walk on. Something was down there. Something that no one knew anything about.

                Garron knew that he had to do what he could to find out what was down there. He only hoped that whatever it was would not be able to go anywhere fast. His newest priority was to get to the Kingdom of Galdur. Beirm, the capital of Galdur, had been the central location of the human forces in the third Trinity War, a battle against the ancient dragons which had threatened man and Feldein alike. Besides that, it had an extensive historical library. Garron hoped that perhaps there was an old text that contained information on the geography in the times of the Trinity Wars. Amudo’s theories could wait for now, and for all Garron knew, the turn of events could be connected to his search.

                Garron had been to Galdur’s library and vaults before, in search of location of the Feldein. None of the books, however, noted their homeland. Not even Amudo’s annals revealed the location of their lands, and he had been there himself. Garron had assumed that the Feldein had not permitted him to tell of their home. Much was not know about the Feldein for this reason. They had withheld much information from humans while they still existed, often distrustful. As far as Garron could tell, the only detailed description of the mysterious Feldein people that remained in the world was in Amudo’s journal and in a few spots in his research, but even those observations were largely uninformative.

                This time he would be searching for something that was even more elusive than the ancestral homelands of the Feldein. That place must still exist. Garron was now looking for something that as far as he knew, never existed. Regardless, he had to find something to explain the magic he had felt, which in itself troubled him, because it did not seem possible to feel magic so powerful in a world where magic hung by a mere strand of silken thread.

                He shook his head, as if trying to scatter away all his churning thoughts. That was not the issue now. The point was, it happened, and he had a job to do. He spurred his horse onward, small puffs of dust spreading upward as its hoofs battered the hard packed dirt.

                As the stale hot air rushed around Garron, blowing his gray hair back, he contemplated his next move. Galdur was over two weeks to the southeast, assuming he did not stop to eat or sleep, something he was not going to do. He groaned inwardly, realizing that he would have to go through Sarthia, which he did not particularly look forward to. Sarthia was a large and generally barbaric nations ruled by whichever brute had the most muscles. Though not outwardly aggressive to other nations because of the constant state of domestic disorder within its borders, they constantly killed each other instead. Because of this, there was at any given moment a riot somewhere, while chaos or destruction ruled supreme somewhere else. Travelers were best to avoid staying in towns, cities, or even roadside stations in Sarthia. In fact, most travelers avoided the country like a plague. Garron, however, did not have the time to reroute himself through Kardor, further to the south. The fastest way would be to travel with all haste through the southern tip of Sarthia, not stopping for any reason.

                It would probably take him about three days to pass through Sarthia and safely into Galdur borders. Garron decided that he would stay a day or two at the next inn he could. Four days of riding and starving without sleep were taking their toll, and he needed rest; he was still another three to four from the border between Kandria and Sarthia as it was.

                The sun was beginning to reach high into the sky when Garron felt something odd about him. Though it was almost past midday, it felt darker somehow. If felt as though a cloud had scudded its way in front of the sun, but when he looked up, there was not a cloud to be seen. The sky looked discolored, almost grayish. Something was wrong, but Garron could not put his finger on it. He checked over his shoulder. Then he saw it.

                Something big and black and it was coming straight for him.

Author's Note

This piece has been updated according to the reviews, after being restored post-crash

Please feel free to leave new reviews.

Reviews

[Melissa M.]

This is a good chapter and very interesting, however you throw a lot of info out in this one. I would condense it as much as possible. There are a few repetitive lines as if you mention it and then Garron thinks the same thing in different words. Most of the information about Amudo's research can be tightened up, as you say essentially the same thing a few different ways.
Another suggestion is to break up some of the info between this chapter and the next or a previous chapter. Rather than having Garron think about all of this at once, perhaps have him start on it, then be interuppted by the Urgun, then continue the flashback at another time.

Also there are a lot of typos in this piece. Too many for me to go back and point out. I would suggest giong over it slowly.

[Thetrueartistinme2021]

What inspired you to do this? You are a very good writer with what you wrote(or typed) down. It's the best writing I've ever read from. Keep up with the good work