Elder Brinhad poured himself a hot cup of coffee to hopefully burn away the lump of phlegm that had accumulated on his old throat. He had tried by a complicated series of spells to make it disappear permanently but the darned mucus kept coming back. This time, however,the coffee did the trick and he cheerily moved his mind to dwell on the last couple of years of his life,in particular the appearance of that boy Damien.
There had been a couple of strange occurrences that accompanied his appearance, apart from the Snows finally conceiving a child. The beast forge was now teeming with more animals than before.
Neralak seem to have multiplied in numbers over the years,not that anyone was complaining. The proceeds from these beasts served to sustain the entire village. However, Brinhad possessed an ability to sense power. He was able to sense hidden power nomatter how power the mage was. Which is why he was surprised when he first met Damien. He sensed nothing.
It was one of two things. Either the boy had no power at all, a possibility he quickly ruled out: Damien had magic. The other possibility was that his magic was deeper than his senses could detect. The thought caused a shiver to run down his spine.
He finished his coffee and collected his walking staff and made his way to the Snows abode. He could have teleported there but decided that walking there would be good exercise for his aging body.
The walk took him close to two hours but the elder was happy he made it regardless. He found Damien's father chopping wood manually which amused the Elder. Apparently he wasnt the only one who occasionally did things the manual way.
Richard was fond of the Elder, so upon seeing him approach he was genuinely happy for his arrival. He threw down the axe and gestured to the elder to come closer while he sat down on the tree stump he had been working on.
"To what do I owe this pleasure, Elder Brinhad?", said Richard good naturedly.
"Probably your son, Richard" replied the elder, making himself comfortable next to Richard.
"I should have guessed you wouldn't venture from your home to merely check on us."
"Well , two birds one stone , they say." A silence fell between the two but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. The elder at length broke the silence.
"Your son is strong, isn't he?" he ventured.
" More than I can fathom", Richard confirmed quietly.
" To what degree would you say he is strong?"
"If you can't sense it then you must know his mana pool is huge", said Richard with a chuckle.
"The first time I came across him was after I felt a suffocating aura in the Beast forge. The neralak actually died because of it",
"How do you explain you being alive if the Neralak collapsed under the aura", the Elder quietly probed.
Richard paused briefly before answering. " I think he somehow directed his aura entirely towards the beast whilst allowing me enough to remain sober and find him. I think I was destined to find him",
The Elder slowly nodded his head, seeing the logic of such a view.
"Well then, watching him grow up is going to be interesting ", he said, rising from his perch.
" That is all I wanted to ask, Richard. Thank you for talking to me about this. I should make my way back home before my wife Mary starts looking for me",
" Sure thing. I'm here if you need me for anything". With that he began making his way back to the town. He was cheerly whistling to himself as slowly negotiated the small foot path through a wooded area enroute to to Suffolk when an omnious presence filled the atmosphere.
He paused with fear, the hairs on his neck prickling up, his ability to sense mana pools telling him that this aura was not... native or natural. A rustling to his right announced the arrival of the owner of the aura, who stepped into the pathway. Actually, it was more of a ' what' than a 'who'. Elder Brinhad tried to understand what the thing was as it made it's way to block his path. It had no eyes on its face and no mouth,the face appearing to be a smooth surface covered in three, blue vertical lines that ran down to its neck. It had three short horns protruding from it's forehead, glowing with energy and Brinhad surmised that it was its mana pool. This was unnatural and the elder felt a deep sense of foreboding.
The creature had a lithe body covered in blue lines,glowing with some kind of energy. Another rustling to his left announced a similar creature making it's way on to the foot path. Before long, his path was blocked by four such beings and the Elder knew he wasnt going to see his Mary again and his young son, Paul. As the creatures moved closer, he resolved to at least go down with one of the creatures if he was to die here.
Elder Brinhad was no push over. He released his full intent into the atmosphere and drew out a thin sword from his walking stick. The creatures hesitated for a moment, having expected the elder to be an easy kill, which was clearly not going to be the case. One of the creatures lunged but was caught on the elder's elbow as he leaned into the attack. The other creatures jumped in but the elder cast a barrage of fire missiles at them all and they stayed the attack.
He grabbed a handful of dirt and muttered into his hand. The dust coagulated into solid spheres that erupted into blue flames. The discs shot out from his outstretched palm and connected with one of the creatures, which dropped down dead. One flew swiftly towards him and he ducked and thrust his thin sword upwards, catching the creature on the core. Two down, two to go.
The elder was beginning to think that he might actually make it back home in time for dinner.
His joy was quickly dispelled when Zarnaroth stepped into the path. His bulk towered over the old man and the restrained intent caused him to buckle to his knees. The Elder looked up into the demon's eyes and he knew there and then that this was the end. His mind quickly flew to thoughts of that young boy who harbored so much power and his appearance in this world. It seems the boy was sent here for a grand purpose, he thought. He hoped that his death would be avenged and hoped that the world would be able to survive this coming onslaught. His thoughts were disturbed as the demon shifted slightly, no words spoken.
Zarnaroth made a slight movement, and Elder Brinhad's head slid smoothly from his shoulders, his body collapsing to the ground...dead. His movements had been so fast that it had only appeared as a slight movement from a third party view.
"Leave everything as it is", he said to the creatures, who had been now moving to collect the bodies. " They must know what's coming to their world".
Zarnaroth and his underlings stepped into a portal and disappeared, leaving the narrow path quiet, Elder Brinhad's head slowly trickling the remainder of blood through cleanly severed veins and arteries.
The war between realities had begun...