The big wyrm was restless as it awaited the return of the lizard men that it had sent to Earth to fetch a certain wizard. Had he sent enough to secure the fearsome mage? Sixty men was it enough? It took a lot of strength to keep the dimensional portal open to Terra (Earth) long enough to send 60 humanoids through, especially ones that were not smart enough to hurry.
Muskavalcic sneered at the thought of having to work with such fools as he paced back and forth wrestling with its decision. Finally, at long last, voices could be heard from the tunnel of the great cave.
In came three lizard men (Dylonians) the great red wymn did not recognize these men, immediately the creature suspected he was not going to like the news he was about to hear. The great red began to snarl and thrash as it hastened its pace.
"The news it asked in a deep brash voice", although the creature knew what was to come before it asked the question.
The leader of the three shuffled forwards, fear was etched deep upon the poor creatures face. "Regrettably master Muskavalcic we were not able to secure the Earthling Wizard", the lizard man said in a shaky tone.
"Insolent fools" the great dragon roared and whipped his tail around smashing the leader against the far wall some sixty feet away.
The other two were quick to bolt unfortunately for one he was not quite fast enough, and the great beast quickly devoured him.
The red wyrm half thought of ordering a search for the great wizard, but he was certain that Merlin was able to discern why the lizardmen where there and if he did that, he knew the great wizard would soon find him so why not fight him on his own terms. This time however, he was bound and determined this fight would end differently.
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Merlin followed Copernicus and the other men through the portal of the gate. His body flashed and pulsed and suddenly became cold as he was hurled through the depths of interdimensional space. The numbness faded from his body almost as quick as it started. A light flickered at the other end of the gate, moments later Merlin and his companions stood in a field near a stone obelisk.
There was a humble cottage a modest distance to the north, smoke was coming from the chimney. Copernicus began to make his way toward the cottage; he turned to gesture to the old wizard indicating that he wanted him to follow.
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The Earthen year was now 567AD, more than a Millenia had passed since Merlin had left the earth. A large venerable red dragon name Muskavalcic, paced his large cave, so glad he was to finally be out of the Plane of Hate where he was forced to reside for over 7 centuries.
It was rumored that the Wizard that banished him resided on Minlas to this very day. A long time for a human to live but the great wyrm new to trust his intel as he also knew that wizards at least good ones had spells and potions and other items to increase their longevity. He also knew that this particular wizard, a human named Merlin was the best spellcaster his eyes had ever seen and believe me when I tell you they had seen plenty.
The Dragon Wars, for that is what they were truly called continued for almost three hundred years. In the years that came to pass there were great battles between the wizards and mages, many of whom Merlin helped train. At every turn the Elves and humans were thwarted but still they came on.
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It was the Earthen year 865 AD when Merlin in an epic battle, stood to face the leader of the enemy. Much to the chagrin of the venerable red dragon the result was the same as there first encounter.
The old wizard could not conjure the power to outright destroy "Ole Musky" but he did manage to banish once again the venerable red and shut down his ability to open portals into other dimensions, even though it would be for a limited amount of time. It was this act of bravery that surprised even the greatest of spell casters. With their enemies general dissipated the tide quickly turned in the battle. The Dylonian's quickly removed themselves from the war as the spell placed upon their Emperor diminished once the great red dragon was removed from Minlas.
With the full attention of the great mages and wizards focused on what was now a disorganized onslaught from the dragons it was not long before most of the dragons either hibernated in their caverns or disappeared from the realm entirely.
The battles were epic but that is a tale for another time.
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None of us can really know the true meaning of our dreams, some say it is the minds way of acting out a fantasy. Others believe they can be premonitions of what is to come or perhaps a glimpse into your past or a past life. Some believe them to simply be thoughts in random order, having little to know meaning or relevance whatsoever.
Kyjus didn't know what to make of his recent dreams, all he could remember was the last part where he saves Princess Kelsee. Smiling if one could smile in a dream, he was startled awake by Weems shaking him and none too gently.
Kyjus slowly opened his eyes to see the shaggy gnome hovering over him. "Well thank the stars young master, I was afraid I was going to have to fetch a bucket of cold water to rouse you as you were so content in your sleep", Weems said showing a slight smile.
"Now if you would be so kind as too get up, I have taken the liberty of drawing you a bath and preparing your breakfast. I dare say you need to hurry as Master Sheplin is expecting you within the hour", Weems said as he picked up all of the clothes lying on the floor.
Kyjus just shook his head as he entered the bathroom, stripped, and climbed in the tub.
"Are you decent young sir", I would like to get your clothing articles for today's cleaning.
"Sure", Kyjus responded.
The little gnome entered the room and picked up his recently discarded clothes, took a towel from a nearby shelf and put it on the floor and a second and hung it near just inside the door for Kyjus. "I took the liberty sir in case you forgot".
"Thanks Weems and yes I did forget sorry about that, I don't mean to be such a pain and take up all of your time" Kyjus responded.
"Young Master, it is truly my pleasure to look after you and please don't you fret a bit that I do so. It is my charge from the council and one I perform without regret."
Kyjus gave him somewhat of an estranged look, so Weems thought this the perfect time to explain the way things were going to work around here. Since Kyjus was in no prepared state to not listen as he was unclothed and wet in the tub a perfect audience he would be.
"It is your charge young sir to save Minlas and perhaps Earth in the process. In order to do so you must become the greatest mage this world has ever known. This young master is no small task I can assure you. So, if you are quite thru feeling sorry for me, I say this and I only say it once. You worry not for the affairs of cooking, cleaning, etc. You need only concentrate on the affairs of mages and wizards. I can assure you sir of the two I say give me laundry any day of the week. Do you gather my meaning sir?" Weems said as he was leaving the room.
A loud sigh was all he got from Kyjus, but he knew that his message had hit home, he had only hoped that he had not frightened the boy too much.
Kyjus' head of course was swimming at the time; scared he already was of the days that lie ahead. Was there no way out, he thought to himself? He brushed that thought aside almost immediately. He had the sense that he was getting into something very big and there was no escaping it and of course the last thing he wanted to do was to try and face one of those Dopple
Now smiling, at least somewhat, he finished his bath and got dressed. As he entered the food pantry, he noticed there was orange juice, bacon, eggs, bread that was similar to a bagel and an English muffin mixed, and a bowl of absolutely delicious looking fruit.
About midway thru his meal the door swung inward followed by the entry of Syrus. "Good morning, Master Kyjus sir. Are you ready to begin your first step toward becoming a mage", Syrus said to him as he grabbed some bread from the table?
With a mouth full of food all he could do was nod yes and smile.
After breakfast Kyjus gathered his belongings. As he began to load them in his pack Syrus stopped him.
"If I may young sir", he said as he took the cloak and placed it on his back wrapping the sleek golden chains around his neck and fastening it with the ruby clasps. "It is quite beautiful, and it is now yours. You know what it does and now you should know its name, it is a Socratian Cloak, keep it safe and it will help protect you" Syrus said as he bowed.
He then grabbed the Staff and held it up to Kyjus. "This young master is your Elemental Staff. Keep this with you at all times and serve you it shall."
Syrus then peered over his other items and grabbed the spell book even though it was empty now, it had 148 labeled pages. He also grabbed the herbology book, but he set this back in the safe along with all the various reagents.
Kyjus glanced toward the few items on the table but before he could say anything Syrus beat him to it.
"Those will not be necessary young sir" he said again motioning to the door.
"Well then I should probably" was all he managed out of the next sentence when Syrus responded.
"Young master do you really want to tell one of the greatest Magical Teachers that our time has ever seen that you were late because you had to clean up?" The young mage could tell Syrus was getting just a little irritated with him.
He stood there a little stunned for a moment not quite sure what to say or do.
"I thought not and let me just say that I can assure you that Weems would not want those words thought, let alone uttered. Now if you please Kyjus we must be getting on with it. Let's say we go do our job and let Weems attend to his, shall we" Syrus said as he opened the door.
Kyjus could only manage a nod and feeling quite like an oaf he followed blindly.
He followed Syrus down the hallway and out to the main corridor. There was an on flux of people many varying types of species that he had never seen before. The volume of folks increased significantly as they exited the general set of corridors that were adjacent to his room.
There were some races he recognized such as the Gnomes, resembling Weems and a few Dwarves that all looked the same; short in stature, broad shoulders, long beards and long hair (although some were bald on their tops) And of course being Dwarves, most were of blank or sullen expression. What seemed the same no matter the type of inhabitant was that none of them gave him more than a passing glance.
Kyjus had also seen a few humans, which more than surprised him and gave him pause causing him on the first few occasions to produce more than a sidelong glance at them.
Syrus did not look at him, but he must have felt Kyjus' eyes upon him as he responded to the look without missing a step, "yes there are other humans on Desmonia, not many but you may see a few. I can't explain the situation now but other than being human don't expect there to be many other similarities."
With that statement Kyjus was more than a little confused and his reaction must have shown it as Syrus again spoke, "I cannot get into the reasoning now but perhaps we will talk of this later, for now we must keep moving as your hour of training grows near and Instructor Sheplin is not patient and that is putting it mildly young master."
Kyjus surmised the conversation was over at that point as Syrus had directed his attention to a rather large humanoid coming this way; a behemoth was a more appropriate term. At first Kyjus thought Syrus to be preparing a spell of some sorts and he was beginning to wonder if there was to be a battle. But unlike all of his other spells nothing happened with this one, there was no loud bang, no explosion, no fire, no webs, in fact as odd as it ways things seemed much quieter than normal.
Kyjus thought on that for a second, no noise, not even the sounds of falling footsteps came from the corridor. What perplexed him was that he could still hear his and Syrus' feet hitting the marble hallway.
Kyjus had noticed that the behemoth had stopped about fifteen feet away from their position. Syrus too, had stopped and now motioned for Kyjus to hold his position against the wall. Syrus then motioned to the two dwarves near the giant and pointed towards Kyjus.
The Dwarves nodded that the understood and headed toward Kyjus, who at the sight of two battle ready Dwarves headed his way, decided to take a step backwards. It was then that he had heard Syrus voice in his head, "Easy young master, these Dwarves have been sent to protect you. I am going to need a few minutes to talk to Tolseth. It is the Council of Elders belief that you are safe on Desmonia, but no chances are to be taken with your safety so please allow us our precautions."
Kyjus nodded to nothing or no one in particular. He was not even sure why he did it other than the fact that it just felt like the right thing to do.
The two Dwarven figures stoically held their ground directly in front of Kyjus, one to his immediate left the other to his right. It was there they stood silent without moving, they offered no conversation or hint of recognition toward Kyjus who was now watching as Syrus and Tolseth went straight down the main corridor into a cubby that appeared to be a dead-end.
Kyjus was curious with nowhere to go would they simply talk at the edge of the busy corridor? Then he noticed that Syrus now held up his staff, was this going to be the end of Tolseth. He quickly dismissed this line of reasoning as the angle was not quite right, but still he watched unable to pull his attention from the situation. A swirling blue light appeared at the end of the staff that grew to a mist and then Syrus and Tolseth were both gone.
All the while the Dwarves stood unmoving like some great statue.
At this point Kyjus merely shrugged, if he was learning one thing in this world its whatever he thought to be the truth, well it was often something else altogether. The truth was something far more complicated then he once imagined but one thing he now firmly believed was anything seemed possible.
Kyjus now turned his attention back to the main hall where he now noticed everyone, even the giant folks, were giving he and the Dwarves a wide birth. On the one instance that someone had gotten a little too close, the dwarf on his left let loose with a guttural growl putting his hand upon his axe. That was about all it took for the surprised humanoid who let out a yelp and quickly scurried to the other side of the corridor.
Kyjus somewhat chuckled at this, but the stoic dwarves gave no notice other than his hand no longer rested on the long glimmering shaft of his two handed axe.
Completely bored at this point, Kyjus began to study the pair of stout figures standing directly in front of him. Looking at the axe bearer of the two, his armor appeared to be of a fine mesh material that was most probably made from some soft metal giving it a semi-metallic appearance.
He wore a helm that was somewhat squared at the top and formed in the front to leave the essential parts of the face room to function. He has a shoulder and neck guard made of the same material as the shirt but instead of being silver it was navy blue.
Lastly, he wore a pair of crimson hardened leather pants and over those was a metallic mesh squirt the exact material of the chest piece but like the neck guard this piece was also navy blue in appearance.
On his shirt was a patch. Embroidered into the patch was a picture of a shield with a dragon painted on it.
As impressive as this garb was the Dwarves gear to his right was even more impressive. The colors of the armor were the same as his counterpart, however instead of crimson pants his were silver in color. All his armor appeared more cloth like in nature versus the metallic look of the axe-bearing dwarf.
Kyjus then turned his attention toward the weapons strapped to the stout figures back. The shaft of this Dwarfs weapon was much shorter than his counterparts and instead of sporting an axe at the end of the shaft he wielded a hammer. In looking at this particular hammer he could see that it pulsed blue, the pulsing was almost to the point of being distracting.
Under his mace was a small shield, there was some sort of carving or picture inscription on it, but Kyjus could not quite make it out what it was as the mace was obstructing his view. From what Kyjus could see of it however, he would have to guess that is was the same type of inscription that resided on his counterpart's chest piece.
Kyjus stood and watched the comings and goings of all the travelers through the hall; he was amazed at how no one came near the dwarves. Kyjus also continued to look for other humans or at least some races that he recognized but other than a few Elves there were none to be seen.
It was at this point that Syrus and Tolseth reappeared. Syrus motioned for the three of them (Kyjus and the two Dwarves) to make their way over to join them in the cubby. Walking to the cubby Kyjus had noticed that one of the Dwarves had set up position in front of him while the other toward his flank. To maximize security was the reason Kyjus figured but it all seemed weird, one thing is for sure and that is these Dwarves were well disciplined.
"Kyjus you might be interested to know that Instructor Sheplin is waiting for us, he prepares the lessons for today even as we speak. I also want you to know that Baldor" Syrus paused and motioned toward the Dwarf with the two-handed axe "and Rallos" he gestured to the cloth wearer of the two, "have been assigned to you by the council. They are here for your protection; they do not take orders or requests from you, but I can assure you they will end their life to attempt to save your own. Is that understood," he said as he put his hand on Kyjus' shoulder.
Kyjus nodded.
"I am hoping that puts you at ease somewhat but just to let you know what all this means, they will follow you pretty much everywhere you go, they will not enter your apartment, but they will be staying in the apartment just opposite mine. Weems is seeing to their things as we speak" Syrus finished.
Kyjus chuckled and Syrus looked at him.
"Sorry I just picture Weems lugging all the Dwarves things around and appearing very happy while he was doing it, I just found that funny is all" he responded to Syrus inquisitive look.
"Well of course he is happy silly lad, what other way would a gnome be" Syrus missed the point of the joke of course and Kyjus felt it best not to go any further with the conversation.
"Now as I was saying they will not enter your apartment unless you're in immediate eminent harm so to that end all three of our rooms will have scrying devices so all you need to do is activate them and the three of us will respond accordingly" Syrus said as he nodded to Baldor and then the doorway.
Kyjus nodded to the old Mage that he understood so Syrus did not press the issue.
Kyjus watched as Baldor walked up to what appeared to Kyjus to be just a dead end to the wall. He then removed his two-handed axe and held it straight in front of him. He heard the dwarf mutter something and then he saw a faint blue glow form a doorway on the wall and then there was a click. He didn't fully understand what was going on, but he was hoping the Dwarf was not going to try and chop a hole into the wall.
Moments letter a secret door revealed itself in full and Kyjus was beginning to understand what was going on in this world. Magic was very real here and the existence of it in items and objects was very real as is the use of it among many of its people.
It was like Kyjus dreamed about, perhaps he was one of the chosen and perhaps magic did run in his bloodline. Regardless of either of these things Kyjus had to admit that his body was wracked with excitement and perhaps even a little trepidation as he waited for things to unfold.
Syrus then walked through the secret doorway and motioned for him to follow. He did so and the pair of Dwarves brought up the rear of the procession with Tolseth choosing not to follow disappearing from sight as the secret doorway closed.
The hall they were now in was made of simple stone; it was three foot wide and much skinnier then the hallway they just came from. Gone were the eccentric marble floors and gold sconces inlaid into pillars every twenty-five feet. Also gone were the pillars that were partially built into the massive walls, it was interesting to only see part of the pillar in the corridor walls, Kyjus had to admit that he had never seen anything quite like it on Earth.
The light was starting to dissipate in the hallway they were now walking. The torches were getting increasingly less frequent and were now replaced by the sounds of trickling water. The corridor was starting to have a slightly more horrific feel then one of comfort.
Kyjus turned to hopefully catch a glimpse of the doorway that they had entered but it was gone along with any comfort that it could have provided. Kyjus felt this a bit odd since they had not traversed more than one hundred or so feet down the hall.
Feeling a slight panic inch into his soul he took a few deep steadying breaths to calm his nerves. He could tell there was now a slight decline in the in the tunnel. Only one torch could be seen at this juncture and the light immolating from it was not sufficient to keep the corridor lit for safe passage. Kyjus could feel Syrus slow down the pace of the group to compensate for the poor lighting.
He was on the verge of panic, so he turned to the one thing he had that gave him some comfort, his staff. Syrus had recently told him of great things that can be done when a Mage and his staff were intertwined as one. Kyjus was sure this would at some point in his life as a mage, be of great benefit, however at the moment all Kyjus wanted was some light. He gripped the staff even tighter due to the anxiety that he was now experiencing.
He wasn't afraid of the dark and hadn't been since he was six but if you couple the dripping water, the tight corridor with no room along with the darkness it became a somewhat spooky place.
Almost on the verge of desperation at this point he wished for some light to help him, and his friends see down the corridor. It was at this point the corridor began to grow brighter. At first the light appeared as a feint glow, slowly it focused and channeled its energy into a beam. The beam extended for some sixty feet in front of Kyjus and at first it seemed very bright. All of the party members eyes quickly adjusted, and it became bearable within a few moments.
It almost seemed to Kyjus that the light was adjusting to his desire, but he immediately dismissed that as preposterous or perhaps just a silly notion. At any rate it didn't really matter to Kyjus who made it or how the light arrived in the tunnel. He was merely glad of the fact as they would not have to traverse this corridor in almost absolute darkness.
Kyjus had thought to thank Syrus for creating the light but as he did the old mage turned around toward the Dwarves. Kyjus turned to see what the old mage was looking at, he could see that both of the Dwarves sported rather stunned looks on their faces.
"It would seem that Instructor Sheplin was right about this pup having a bit o magic burned into his soul now wasn't he" the Old Mage said to them.The Dwarves didn't respond to the question figuring it was in fact more rhetorical in nature than anything else, they did however manage to regain some of their composure.
Kyjus looked from the Dwarves back to Syrus and was about to ask him what on Earth he was talking about but as his gaze met Syrus' the old mage nodded his head down to his staff.
Kyjus was startled almost to the point of dropping his staff as he stared at the light that was now pulsing from the end of his staff. "What, I mean how in the world did you do that?" he managed to ask feeling somewhat dumbfounded.
"Not I young master, although I dare say I am a Mage of reputable talents I could no more operate your staff then you mine. It was you that created the cone of light young master not I," he replied.
"Me, no this could not have been me; I mean it couldn't have been all I did was," Kyjus voice trailed off in somewhat shocked silence as he contemplated the events.
"All you did was what? Wish for some light perhaps", Syrus finished his thoughts for him.
"Aye and some fine wishing ye did too lad and none too soon if I do say so meself, as I am certain too many more steps in the darkness was going to be some trouble for us. Luckily you have helped us avoid that situation so many thanks to ye," Baldor said as he raised his helmet a scant inch from his head. Of course, he was being kindly dramatic as the Dwarves were never in any true danger with the ability of darkvision at their disposal.
All Kyjus could do was stare surprised not only that he had created a cone of light with his staff but now also that one of the Dwarves had actually said something. Both seemed shocking to the young mage.
With no response or questions foreseen Syrus continued their course down the selected corridor.