Wulf had been born in the village and knew the moor and swamps like the back of his hand. Years ago it had shown that something had taken hold of the region, as it had become impossible to leave the marsh. The first assumption had been the protector of the region, Mkel, turning evil, but that had been disproven since as their patron had not been seen for a long time. It had just been much too powerless against whatever had appeared, as it seemed. The unnamed evil that had arrived had taken up to taking away one of their own every few years, but seemed awfully careful to not overdo it, strangely enough.

What were once huts on soft soil turned to pile dwellings when the moor had grown, what had been rituals to the regional patron in form of small offerings of roots and corn had turned to goats, but those had been ignored and proven useless when the first person went missing. If you tried to leave you wandered around for hours just to end up right where you started. Be it after hours, days or even weeks or months.

So, they had turned a bit creative, so to speak. When at one day a lonesome traveler had arrived and they had put him in a long since empty barn, he had been gone by morning. That had become their strategy for survival. Whenever a traveler had arrived that did not look especially important – they never did – that person was gone by dawn. Their guest (or guests) had turned into substitutions for what would have been a villager, not nice, not in the least bit ethical, but it helped survival.

They never watched, the sounds alone were telling enough.

But this time something felt different to the aged man. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something was decidedly off compared to the usual folks that ended up here. Most were criminals of a kind anyway, so that thing with ethics was a bit skewed anyway.

He knew their patron had tried to fight, he had in his youth once watched, but it had never amounted to much. Sadly.

Today he did, against all odds, open the curtains and looked out of his window. He normally never had and never did after that one time; it had been a gruesome sight. But what he saw now seemed unreal.

In front of the barn he could see their tormenter, a creepy thing with a vaguely oversized humanoid shape but with scales and the head of a crocodile, formed out of mire, sludge and vines. Opposite of it he saw the red-haired kid, but there might as well have stood a devil instead. His milky eye was glowing with the flames of the underworld, a red eclipse with a black slitted pupil and around him an aura of the darkest wavering shades, his lips spread wide, a maniacal grin full of sharp teeth.

No word was spoken as he raised his barely visible hand. He heard rhythmic metallic screeching, but similar to the sounds of swords clashing, but different in a disturbing way. He at first had trouble recognizing the sound, but as he watched the moving mouth of the kid he realized it was laughter.

All of a sudden deep darkness swallowed up the creature and bloodcurdling otherworldly screams filled the air. It was but a moment, as soon as the darkness had risen it had vanished and left behind a grotesque carcass of burst bones and a massive skull split in the middle with a crack, devoid of anything.

What happened next was astonishing to Wulf. A soft light filled the air, the darkness around the youth didn’t seem intend to do anything, but curious instead. He followed the direction the kid was looking in and Wulf was about to cry. Between the trees a very tall human stepped out, light surrounding them and the crown of antlers overgrown with plants on their head were very distinctive. It was an androgynous figure, clad in what could be leaves and vines, one that Wulf would recognize any day.

When he had been a young boy he had once gotten lost, nearly stepping into one of the various sinkholes he had not yet known to avoid and that being had appeared before him, guiding him home safely. It had been a few years before that evil had crept upon them, so he was more than sure that he was seeing their patron. Mkel hat returned to them.

Curiously he watched the proceedings. The youth cocked his head, as if studying their patron. Mkel inclined their had slightly. With a flourishing bow the youth answered. Mkel nodded and dispersed into thin air. The youth righted himself and turned around. As if knowing Wulf was watching he grinned, putting a finger in front of his mouth in a shushing motion and then in a sudden dark puff just vanished, the mist just flowing back into the barn.

Stunned Wulf blinked and pinched his arm, as hard as he was able to. No, no, he was definitely awake. Well, he wouldn’t be telling anyone much, but it seemed it was time for a proper feast. Overjoyed he went to the others. That horror being gone was a good enough reason after all. Starting to grin like a loon he started laughing. This was a miracle!

With a resounding umph Nic opened his eyes. Blasted Ivan, he really should get up on his own or the loon would never stop. It wasn’t even all that funny by now, but what should he do? When he slept he slept. And that was it.

Getting up he sighed. Heck, if he didn’t know otherwise he’d have assumed that he had been up all night and doing who knew what. The weird dreams he was starting to have recently weren’t that helpful either. He was aware that they were creepy to say the least but couldn’t quite remember what they were about either. Strangely enough he felt like he had eaten a full course meal afterwards, but was reasonably sure despite not remembering, that they were decidedly not about food. Today though he still felt hungry, like having had a snack, but not a very filling one. And tasting quite peaty to be honest, not all that tasty.

Ivan was for once still snoring though and not to blame for his awakening, Nic had just tumbled off the haystacks as it seemed. Just his luck, blast it. One of the horses had lain down, the other seemingly snoozing, as it was. Quietly he left the barn, the morning air rather cool and his breath showed itself as wispy puffs. Now there was the next strange thing, about the whole settlement seemed busy in preparation of something, like an upcoming feast or whatnot. The smell of roasted meat permeated the air and Nic could see barrels being brought to the big meeting place in the center. He had originally been too tired to take much note of it, but as it seemed there was a square in the center, where the land was drier and the ground not as likeable to just swallow you up whole.

A few fires had been started somewhen, though it must have taken some time to get that much going. He wasn’t quite sure, but there was a strange carcass upon what probably was supposed to be a pyre, a skull on top of a long log that was in the center of the pyre, right in the middle, just waiting to be lit as it seemed.

Right, different strokes for different folks, as the saying went. Now he also noticed that a few goats had been butchered and had been roasting for a while. That may explain the strange dreams. Still, he didn’t bother thinking about the taste he still had on his tongue and just sniffed the air appreciatively. Just like on cue his stomach started rumbling. Well, maybe they were just lucky then.

He was about to rouse the still sleeping Ivan, but that was cut short when that grey-bearded fellow from the night before appeared, obviously in a very joyous mood and just pulled him along. That he did so while waving around a half-way empty jug did just reinforce his belief of a feast being well under way.

After a while Ivan had finally gotten up as well, probably having smelled the cooking food and getting hungry by then. Nic had been dragged around by that bearded guy for a while, with him telling him many a story of their patron which though interesting were just too much. For whatever reason they all had been nudging him to set flame to the pyre, which he after much friendly cajoling did, calling up a Flame Sprite as usual. Or rather, tried to, as the thing did appear, make no mistake. It just was a bit bigger than he had expected. Usually the thing was small, no bigger than the flame of a candle would be. This one had the size of a grown sheep though and gleefully jumped into the middle of the pyre, setting it alight with a big whoosh that had sent Nic on his rear before vanishing again.

He didn’t mention that though and took the hearty laughter in stride. Since then he was sitting at a table, eating and enjoying the proceedings around him as much as he might. He didn’t really like being the center of attention though, admittedly. But well, for whatever reason it was nice enough.

By now he was just trying to inconspicuously exchange his never empty jug against Ivan’s whenever he could, he was really not much of a fan of drinking. But the bastard just exchanged them back, so he was stuck with the blasted things. And getting a bit tipsy, as it was, even with trying to just take it slow.

That was a bit hard with so many people wanting toast and being expected to actually drink afterwards.

He blinked and wrinkled his nose.

“Didn’t know you could drink tha’much.”

Shaking his head he turned to Ivan. “Didn’t eitha.”

Strike that, he was getting sloshed. Talking was hard.

The pyre was wondrously still burning, that had been going on the whole day and well into the night. Normally Nic would have wanted to know why that was, but as he was rather busy squinting and trying to just see one instead of three that was another thing altogether.

On the next day their progress had been admittedly slow. Nic was facing the mother of all hangovers and felt like death warmed over while Ivan was fit as a fiddle, and he knew the blasted loon had drunk a lot more than himself. They had to stop a few times as sitting on a horse didn’t quite agree with his stomach and it tried emptying itself even after he was left just retching up bile and his stomach definitely being empty.

“I. Am. Never. Drinking. Again.”

“Oh my, everyone says that!” Ivan had jovially laughed, causing Nic to wince. Fuck, that idiot could be loud.

bllergh

“Though in your case that might be a good idea.”

If he could have he would have told Ivan to stuff it where the sun didn’t shine.

That had been a few days ago, with thankfully nothing much happening. Soon they were supposed to arrive at that small settlement¹⁰ that was mentioned in the map. His boredom was piece by piece replaced with excitement, learning about magic was very much within his grasp. And with it his goal wasn’t that far away anymore either!

If the information was accurate there should by now be at least a village and the thought of it being filled with users of magic in various disciplines was like a dream come true. It was supposed as a place for research of some kind, but the information he had was a bit vague.

Even if there were just some users of elemental magic, he was sure they could point him in the right direction. But what he had read it would be a bit more diverse, probably. It had after all been a mixed group of about all fields imaginable, so his expectations were not all that small.

They had just been riding up a hill, when suddenly they stopped. He was about to snap at Ivan for that, but his friend’s openly gaping look stopped him short. Frowning he looked ahead and couldn’t help but start staring in wonder himself.

Yeah, a small commune of mages, it had said. Well, what he saw was neither small, nor a commune. Even with still being a good distance away he could spot a city he never even could imagine being that big.

“Well, I mean – yeah.”

“Nic, we are getting a new map,” Ivan stated in a tone that brooked no argument. Nic knew that specific tone well, if was one where disagreement was met with the forceful removement of teeth by fist if one was to contradict Ivan.

Nic just nodded absentmindedly, still taking in the sights he could make out from here. The gigantic settlement just had to magical in origin, some of the buildings were just that impossible to look at. They couldn’t have been built otherwise. Or still stand for that matter. There was a tower that looked like a winding snake and was so lopsided he was sure it should have tumbled down a long time ago. Another structure just looked like time had been stopped while it had been in the process of breaking apart and if his eyes didn’t totally deceive him there was even a house levitating around in a circle.

“Tell me, did I die and go to heaven?”

“Well,” Ivan chortled, “if that is your heaven I definitely took a wrong turn somewhere.”

Slowly they neared the city, Nic was fascinated with the look alone, his eyes sparkling with glee. Forget meeting his expectations, they had been blown right out of the window!

“Look! The gatekeepers are golems!” he exclaimed delighted. Truly, to each side of the wide gate there were constructs that dwarfed even the tallest man by a good measure and made those seem like dwarfs in comparison.

The golems themselves seemed to be made of glazed stoneware and shining metal, they were gleaming in the sunlight. Between the joints one could make out the magical energy that circulated through them, surely provided by a core of some kind, hidden away to the naked eye. Runes were visibly incised on various parts of the things, glowing with the power that coursed through them, sparking and shining like stars. After being studied by the golems for a short moment they passed them by and entered the city proper.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Nic couldn’t decide where to turn his head to. Everywhere was something to discover and begging to be looked at closer in his book. Stores with various substances, herbs and other goods he just had read about sparsely mentioned in books were proffered here in bulk. Robes, staffs, rods, daggers, talismans and it didn’t stop there any time soon. Most of the things were far out of his budget, of course, even without taking a closer look, but he did like this place very11 much already.

“How about looking for an inn as a first thing? The city will still be there afterwards,” Ivan suggested carefully. He wasn’t half as comfortable as his friend, especially since he felt his instinct giving him a feeling of an ominous foreboding. Something was bound to happen, and it would be spectacular in the worst way, he wasn’t just sure in what way it would come true. Hopefully that turned out wrong, his friend might not be a happy camper otherwise.

After finding suitable quarters they were strolling along the bustling streets of the place simply called All-Mag’Ick today. You really could find anything you could imagine here. And even more than that.

On the main streets, as Ivan noticed soon, there were the friendly and benevolent things. The more you ventured down the side streets and into narrow alleyways, deeper into bowels of the old parts, the more sinister, darker and questionable things got.

Sighing Ivan contemplated putting a leash on Nic but threw that idea out of the figurative window about a moment afterwards. His friend was trying to embark on a way where exactly those places would be of the most interest to him and himself trying to stop him would be a bit hypocritical.

Warlocks weren’t known for being benevolent or friendly and the less said about their methods, the better. Though not in character, but well, Ivan was already reasonably sure they wouldn’t be finding anything on the main streets that would turn out useful. Probably.

Though, there might be some friendly fellows, but Ivan couldn’t quite imagine them in that bright side of the city. Also not really being present in the daylight all that much. And throwing stones when he had been more than once eyeing some daggers which probably were cursed, well. Let’s just leave it at that. They sure did look good for using in dark corners or at night.

Did Ivan sometimes imagine things to be simple? Yeah, sure, but not on the things about morals. He did know what dirty work was involved, he wasn’t trying to romanticize anything. It was more of his worry that Nic with his unique talent for getting into trouble just met an unfortunate end at the wrong side, like ending up as a victim of a ritual or some such for one of those with such a desire.

Though he just couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched like an interesting ingredient and for some inane reason those stares fading as if there was a predator that already had staked a claim of some kind. Really, he probably should worry more for himself, now that he thought of it, though the exact why did elude him a bit.

Unbeknownst to him a slight sheen of shadow surrounded him, clearly connected to Nic in some way, though in a form that was invisible to his eyes, just recognizable to those well versed in sensing magical energy. There was a reason nobody spared them much of a second glance after all.

Soon.

Soon.

Soon, then darkness will be able to reveal itself to master. So much energy here!

Marvelous.

But many wanting to use master.

Preposterous, we have to protect the protégé.

Nodding the blackness acknowledged that. But master’s lakey as well.

Friend, he calls him friend.

He had to be marked, a show of power was necessary.

Just a little longer.

But still a good place, master could learn much.

But who would be suitable?

Giggling the blackness crept through the shadows. Let’s see who we can find.

After the third day in a row of pointlessly scouring the streets up and down – heck, he had even gone into alleys at night he had been sure they would be mugged or something – Nic was about to call it quits. He had no luck in finding anything particularly useful, nobody was talking to him and whenever he tried to initiate a conversation the person about fled as fast as their legs could carry them. It also was less than unhelpful that people flinched upon seeing his milky eye and some even shrank away in terror. Many even changed their behavior when seeing him up close or had somehow heard of him from others. He hadn’t been able to buy a single thing yet. Wait, that wasn’t exactly right, he had managed to buy one, one single book that offered a more in-depth overview of different disciplines of magic. And that wasn’t even all that useful to begin with. And even the shadier vendors, if comparatively friendly in the beginning turned brusque hostile after a few moments. It was enough to drive him up a wall.

On top of that all of them seemed to have an inkling what was up with him and his eye, but nobody spoke a word of it. Nic snorted, well, if the more popular streets were a bust, then he had to change tactics. There were some streets that the innkeeper had cautioned him of using but seems like they were about all that was left if he wanted to get anywhere. Right, off to the crooked streets and shadowy alleyways which just reeked of secrecy and taboos then. Normally that should have set all kinds of alarm bells off, but Nic wasn’t really thinking of possible dangers there.

So it happened that after meeting the same reactions in those hidden away doors or counters with their wares hidden from sight that Nic stormed out in a moment of absolute frustration and left before Ivan could even contemplate following.

“Well, that could have gone better. Sorry for that, but could you tell me what’s up with that?” Ivan casually started, regarding the witch or whatever she was with a piercing look. “At first he seems like your normal run of the mill costumer, the next you all treat him like he is the devil incarnate and gives him the stink eye.”

The lady owning the shop took a measured look at him, as if assessing whether he should even be deigned an answer, before looking down a bit shamed. The double standard was getting a bit grating.

“Had even one of you ever entered my village back home none except him, me and the druid would have even welcomed you at all, lest with open arms or anything other than contempt. Und even I would have done that just because of him,” he insinuated, his tone noticeably cool while looking around the shop nonchalantly. “An explanation would be grand.”

It was suspiciously quiet before the lady finally got up and just closed the shop. She once again took a long look at Ivan before motioning him to follow.

“I will try to explain to you what is going on, though much is shrouded in mystery. You should stay a while; it will get dark soon and the streets around here are not as safe for you as they are for your friend. The mark he bears guarantees his safety better than anything else could.”

Now that sounded particularly ominous. Curious though he might be, Ivan got the feeling he might have been better off not knowing what would surely follow.

Nic meanwhile was trying his hardest to turn the air blue. At first he had gotten lost and had been jostled by someone which caused him to lose his footing. In consequence of that he tumbled down a small steep path with a fissure at the end and of course he fell right into it. Just to land on a stack of bones, right in the middle of some catacombs. At least they hadn’t been all that sharp and no pointy ones stabbed him anywhere. Well, his landing had at least been comparably soft, for as soft as a stack of various bones was.

Since then he had been aimlessly walking through the badly lit corridors, managed to barge in on not only one but two different rituals of a kind which had been followed by him really taking his heels – not because of the magicians but the demons they had called up as he had managed to break the salt rounds keeping them at bay. On top of that he had taken an unwilling bath in some kind of river he had fallen into three times by now that might have been fed by water from who knows where, as it stank like rotting corpses. Or a zombie after having been animated after a few months of decay. Or someone very, very unhygienic.

To sum it up, his mood was at an all-time low, he still was lost and had no inkling where an exit might be found. Just what he needed this day, really.

All of a sudden he heard a loud cracking not far behind himself. Nic swallowed but did neither stop nor waste time turning around. He did walk faster though when hearing the sound again and was of the opinion that it had come nearer. Now not only were his alarm bells ringing, but his common sense, logical understanding and that little voice in the back of his head that usually was criticizing Ivan for his stupidity were all congratulating him sarcastically of successfully pulling a stunt worthy of his friend while accusing him of proofing himself a braindead lizard’s tail. It was absolute madness, now that he thought of it, that he was stumbling around in a badly lit underbelly of an unknown city. And that alone. Why? Because people treated him like he had the plague? And he had assumed nothing could happen to him? Well, pull the other one, since when was he that naive?!

Having given into the allure of blind panic he just started running, not particularly caring where to but just away from whatever danger there was. If he heard some weird rattling from the left he just turned right, if there was creepy rumbling coming from his right side, he turned left. Thanks to the dread he felt he abandoned all reason, so he did not notice how he just ran deeper into the darkness, all the while not far from him metallic scraping laughter could be heard.

Rituals are generally interesting things full of history and hidden meanings, though many details have been lost as time flew by. A long time ago symbolism didn’t solely consist of painted signs but was represented by appropriate deeds. Evocations had a very different structure and a lot more warnings accompanying the instructions which usually had been handed down by word of mouth and showing what to do, however gruesome many had been. But as with all things there had first came that bit about writing the rituals down and further following that was some idiot who just had do utter, “But wait, couldn’t it just work as well if we did X instead of Y and replaced this, that and that?”

And rituals with multiple phases spanning months were assigned most fitting specific dates, many steps were cut, and let’s not get started on the ingredients. Soon using human blood was exchanged to animal’s and even that was soon frowned upon, so people turned to using reed beet juice (until someone found something offensive to the color red).

What that did to the effectiveness one can only imagine. The phenomenon can be likened to cooking a bit. Just because they were red you wouldn’t make a strawberry cheesecake with tomatoes replacing the strawberries, right?

Rituals include a lot of details and ingredients, though in our case one was about to be completed that had started with what was likened to an accident with a falling sword. The young man wasn’t far from the destination after all.

Nic stumbled and screamed as his right hand grabbed the next thing in reach, which happened to be a rather hot torch. His initial scream of pain turned into one of panic as he noticed that there was no floor beneath him, and he was falling. Flailing he tried finding purchase but just managed to scrap his hands bloody on some jagged stone. Heck, he didn’t want to die, not now and not here of all places!

Though thinking back to this moment Nic would often be contemplating whether it wouldn’t have been better if he had. Some things get much clearer when one is older and has gained experience. Or had the unfortunate chance to see many a horror the world had to offer.

Beneath him he could hear the sound of splashing and though the smell was anything but nice, he might be luckier than expected. It seemed that the awful concoction that stunk to high heavens was about to be his salvation. The water splattered as he felt his back impact

on the slightly rippling surface. The forceful crash made him gasp, promptly noticing that he was no aquatic being and he choked on the foul fluid. His hands started burning and a creepy twilight suddenly illuminated the cavern he had landed in. As his sight was dimming and he was about to lose consciousness he heard a strange sound. It seemed to be laughter but was strangely metallic and scraping.

Finally.

The last thing he felt was something grabbing his hand with the burning sensation getting so intense he finally just blacked out.

************

¹⁰You may see where this one is going. Having maps that are up to date are kind of a vital thing. If available, that is.

11How it is with such places and moments. The front always looks great. But even a seeming utopia has his downsides. In this specific case, well. Let’s take a closer look. Places were magic is concentrated so highly are rarely a good thing for reality. Or physics. Or other things pertaining the natural order of things. Add the diverse spectrum, so you get spontaneously bleeding walls or eyeballs staring out of your vegetable soup. Those don’t even raise eyebrows anymore around here.