Prologue

I

It was a chilly morning. Smog covers the vision. Crickets shared their echoes in the forest, but the sound didn't pierce a small cottage. A single man lives inside it, out of his mind. His cottage was full of terrible stenches. Once a warm meal, now rotten. Cobwebs sealed each door inside the house. Then, there was him with baggy eyes from reading piles of books nonstop. Yet, he still keeps reading the books like a maniac.

The books spread everywhere, covering the floors. It even made him nearly impossible to go somewhere in the house without going through the ocean of books. The stacks of books nearly reach the roof, making corridors with the wall of literature as its divider. The man wiggles around when reading his book, trying to get his shoulder to fit inside the wall of books. Cobwebs covered the old books. The man spooked even the spiders as he mumbles the word he reads.

"No... no... No!" he yelled. "It's supposed to be here!" he saw a torn page within his book. "Okay. It's alright. I just need to find the–"

Then it happened. A low growl below from the earth alerted him. It tingles the back of his neck. Something happened.

"No..." quietly he spoke to himself. "Not now."

He stood up and quickly rushed through the small book corridors. His heart beat so fast that he could hear it. The danger was here.

An Anomaly In Magic

II

A portal opened in the deep part of the forest. Five people in their cloaks walk around the damp area. One of them took a small step forward and saw his boots sinking to the ground.

"Should've worn something else," he told himself.

"We have come this far and we must press on to find the anomaly," the woman ordered all of her followers. "We must contain or possess the anomaly at all costs. It was simply dangerous if other members of the guild know this."

"As you wish, high sorceress."

The five sorcerers move onward towards their main objective. To a small cottage in the middle of the forest. The path was thick with floras, their robes easily got stuck just because a single stick was in their way.

"Can we just take off our robes? I'm certainly better off without it. And why is there an anomaly far deep in this forest? It's unbelievable to think there is one right here. A dank, cold, and wet forest. I don't even know what kind of anomaly we might encounter," one sorcerer commented on the situation.

"Well, whatever it is, this one is very different. Even I can't even comprehend such power when I feel it," the high sorceress was sure of it.

"Impossible. Mistress Kimbra, you know where we are, right? Lowest of the low. We're just a couple of days before arriving at mother earth's wall against the wildlands."

"I'm very aware, Tandem. That's why I'm very cautious," the high sorceress kept treading on.

The five kept going and the high sorceress can feel themself getting closer to the anomaly.

"We are near it. Be on the alert," Kimbra announces.

Behind the bushes and trees, they saw a poorly made lodge. They didn't expect the source to be from it.

They didn't expect the source to be from it [https://img.wattpad.com/45b6561c071372ce08329fb4609cc6f30cf63aaa/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f43423374517772465246306c63513d3d2d313238333637313635322e313733383065666133386562393361363730383835373236353133302e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"That's... That is the source of the anomaly?" a follower asked.

Before going any closer to the house, an elf slammed the door open. Blood showered his face, and his eyes were full of horror.

"What the..." one sorcerer didn't expect that. "An elf? They are still alive!? This is impossible!"

Everyone paused their breath as they witness the elf in dread. The group approached the elf cautiously. Tension raised as their eyes made contact.

"Are you okay?" the high sorceress asked the elf.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Stand back! Don't come any closer!" the elf warned them.

"We don't mean any harm to you," Kimbra raised her arms.

"No... It's not you! It's me!" he pointed to his chest aggressively.

The elf turned around, facing his cottage. His hand touched the wooden wall, quickly torching the building in a matter of seconds. It bewildered the sorcerers at what he was doing.

"You need help. Please, let us help you," the sorcerer Tandem takes a small step forward.

The man took a step back and hurried away, leaving the scene.

"By the gods..." Tandem inhaled in frustration.

The sorcerers gave chase to the elf. Running through the woods, the two sides exchange spells against each other. The high sorceress tried to make the elf submit by charging a spell, but the target was still a couple of steps away.

Tandem, one of the high sorceress's trusted allies, cast a huge spell, creating a devastating wind strong enough to destroy the trees in its path. Strong trees easily ripped apart like cotton. The forest could feel the tremors when the man cast it.

They stopped running when they saw Tandem cast the spell.

"No!" Kimbra shouted.

The spell left a field of a torn forest.

Her follower searched the empty field of dirt once the trees were and did not find the whereabouts of the elf. The sorceress stares at her companion, Tandem. She choked him from afar before dragging him closer and making him bend down.

"If you weren't trying to kill him, we can find answers from him," she closed her palms a little, crushing Tandem's trachea from pressure.

He begged, even though he couldn't say anything. The high sorceress released him and let the man breathe once again. She looks at the man on the dirt, panting.

"You're good at doing your task, Tandem. But by the gods, you can't follow orders," she scolded.

"Apologies..." he cleared his throat, "high sorceress."

"This is just a waste of time. No sign of the anomaly, nor the elf. If that elf is close, we can sense him right now."

With a sigh, the high sorceress ordered everyone to go back to the cottage. After a minute's walk, they found the burnt-down cottage full of black charcoal. They knew it was no ordinary fire; it was a spell. They search the remains of the cottage to find lots of burned books. Kimbra ventured inside to find more ash. But there was something that caught her eye. Something survived beneath piles of wood and ash. A single book in perfect condition. She snatched it from the ruins and placed it inside her cloak. Not long, a sorceress approached.

"High sorceress Kimbra. There is nothing we can find. What should we do now?" the sorceress ended her search.

Kimbra cast a spell beside the two of them. A bright portal appears.

"We head back," she answered.

Everyone left for the portal. The high sorceress entered last. Before leaving the scene, she cast her final spell. The ruins of the cottage crumpled up together like a ball before it vanished into oblivion.

III

The group gathered around after teleporting to a huge rectangular room. It's far quieter than the forest, people can hear their breathing and others. In the middle of the room, there was a long table and chairs enough for six people to sit. Tall mosaic windows bring in lights to the room from one side, the other side was a strong polished granite wall.

The group rested inside the room. Some of them leaned against the wall, and some cleaned their damp robes. The expedition was not as they expected, the same as the result. The high sorceress opened the window and witnessed the beautiful sunrise beyond the peak of snowy mountains. As the wind blows, the temperature falls. She can feel the coolness of the mountain's air.

"That place might be wet, but I missed the warmth," one follower removed his cloak and shoes. He covered it in dirt and mud, and people inside the room immediately checked the floor.

They raise the bottom of their shoes, checking the mess they have brought to the room.

"Great... now we are covered in dirt," Tandem took off his cloak and threw it on top of the table. "What did we find again?"

"Nothing. The guy disappeared when YOU attempted to kill him. But I don't know where he went."

"Yeah, thanks for the info, Horus. I'm oblivious of me trying to kill him."

"So you tried to kill him?" the female sorceress caught him.

"You too? Jasmine," It amazed Tandem. "Give me a break. I didn't want that. I want to make him fall so we can capture him," he then spotted a man leaning on the table across from him as if about to say something to him. "Are you going in on me too, Matt?"

"I said nothing," he shrugged.

"Alright! Enough for today... Leave the room," they angered the sorceress. "Keep quiet, say nothing to anyone. Not even your lords," she calmed her tone. "We don't want other guilds to know about this incident. Remember it."

Everyone looked at each other and left the room through the door with their mouths zipped. When everyone left her alone, she sighed. She reaches into her robes and pulls out the book she found before. It's an old book, the cover already worn out through the ages. The woman put the book on the table. She sat on the edge of the long table with the other empty seat attending to her reading.

The cover was made of brown leather. The language? Unknown. But the words... it's at the tip of her tongue, but she still can't determine what language it was. It was not the language the northerner uses, nor the southerner. It was also not the islanders in mid-sea use.

After pondering the words, she opened the pages of the book. The early page of the book was using the usual lettering. Coming to the middle page, she found dozens of letters she didn't understand. But there was a certain word using the strange letter that caught her attention. It's just a word written on paper, but it feels enchanting. Her eyes gaze at the strange word. She began sweating; it called her with such intensity. She feels something crawling up her arms like a palm of a hand. It attacked her, causing the sorceress to lose balance from her chair. She fell backwards and hold on to her throat as a burning pain tortures her. Such pain she must endure as it slowly climbs up to her brain.

Her eyes rolled backwards. Something was floating in the air horizontally. It's a black liquid blob, floating in silence. Everything seems not real. For a second, it almost formed itself into a human, but it changed back to a round blob. The black liquid behaves like olive oil mixed with water, shifting in the air, and slowly descending to Kimbra's position.

She was still laying down defenceless. She can't cast any spell, she can't scream or move. Then the moment has arrived. A large round eye emerged from the blob and stared at her from inches away. Kimbra can see its eye. It forced Kimbra to look at it. The round blob releases its liquid and enters the sorceress' from her mouth, nose and eyes.