Silver locks of hair hung in front of Valian’s defiant eyes, loosened by his struggle. He stood on the outstretched sky arm of the tower with his sceptre raised high. The restless city stirred far below as the breeze caught upon his robe. His eyes were fixed on the dark clouds looming on the horizon, the work of the black hand no doubt.

With assassins in the palace Valian knew there was no room for a mistake. He had to keep the scrying eyes of the enemy from infiltrating the palace and giving away the princess’ location.

Yet for the scrying spell to form a storm cloud on the horizon, meant the warding spells cast over the kingdom were under assault. It was the kind of assault he knew Rainal couldn’t perform with his mage court alone. This would require mages of the black hand along with Rainal’s mage court to pull off.

Valian’s grip tightened on the sceptre, the orb that sat perched at the top of his staff shone out as a bright beacon over the city.

Three mages stood at his back, channelling their power into the sceptre, as three more stood guard at the top of the stairwell with spells ready for any assassin’s below.

…

Water dripped from obsidian stalactites hanging on a cavernous ceiling. Droplets spattered hard across the rock below, leaving the water to bead and trickle down into small pools.

The stone was cold and moist until it reached the bloody outer reaches of a magic circle. The moisture steamed off the rock and rolled like fog over the dry stone of the inner circle. Fifty paces wide, the circle had at its centre an obelisk carved out of god stone. The obelisk towered over the mages in black and red robes at its base. Its golden glow corrupted with traces of red and black, as the ritual below took hold of its power.

Rainal stepped through a mass of magician’s in black cloaks and pulled out a dagger, with one sharp motion he sliced into the palm of his hand. Binding his hand into a tight fist he dripped his blood against the glowing stone. Black energy sizzled up the obelisk upon its contact sending forth a shockwave through the ethereal realms.

The stormcloud on the horizon of Darlan swelled ever larger.

…

Valian’s strained, unsteady on his feet, he fought to maintain his balance at the pinnacle of the skywalk.

“Damn it! It is too late to stop them!” he screamed back at the mages behind him.

“All of you, fall back to the princess’ side in the catacombs”

“But what about the potential for long range spells? If we can’t stop Rainal’s mage court, can’t they set up attacks within the palace!”

“I’ll hold them off as long as I can, now go!”

Valian slammed his sceptre down onto the edge of the skywalk, and gripped tight to his staff as the other mages left him in sole control of the warding spell.

“I hoped I would never have to use this… But you’ve forced my hand” Valian muttered under his breath.

Wisps of red magic drew out from valians flesh and seeped into the staff, his eyes turned bright red as the power of his greatest spell swelled within.

Stratum unica spells were incredibly rare and powerful spells with the power to change the fate of nations, and the ability given by this particular spell was one Valian alone had ever wielded. The ability to turn his own body into mana, and command power that not even mage rituals could match.

*Now you will all realise the power I wield*

A crack of red light grew within his sceptre’s orb as Valian stood tall once more. He lifted it from the skywalk and thrust it toward the growing storm clouds on the horizon. Red streaks cracked through the dark clouds, as Valian’s eyes pierced through the clouds and into the dark caverns of the mage rituals.

…

The mages in black robes looked up at the god stone obelisk as it hissed and sizzled with wild streaks of red. Their faces turned to panic.

“Quickly! Guard the king!” a mage with a black hand shouted.

The god stone hissed and spat out violent bolts of red lightning from its core. The red cloaked mages of Rainal’s court dived towards their king, as the mages of the black hand spun up warding spells to cast the lightning to the side.

The fiery red of the bolts tore into the stone and drove towards the king.

Rainal was surrounded in a cloak of bodies, as hissing bolt tore flesh from bone, and lit it aflame.

With a sharp snap the spell ended, and the ominous swirl of black returned to the obelisk. Rainal looked down in derision at the remains of the mages who had dived to protect him.

“Pathetic”

“Double your efforts, do whatever must be done” he said as he made his way out of the circle.

The mage with the black hand nodded, and beckoned to soldiers standing guard just beyond the circle.

“Bring the girl,” he said with a cruel smirk.

Chain’s scraped across the stone floor as the soldiers dragged a small girl with tan skin and pointed ears to the base of the godstone. They tossed her at the mage’s feet.

The mage tenderly stroked his blackened fingers under her chin and stared into her eyes, “This isn’t your fault little princess”

“If only your father hadn’t run off to save himself instead of you, I could have used his royal blood instead”

Her eyes trembled as she looked into the cold black of his eyes.

“Have you ever seen this magical stone before?” he said with a whisper.

The mage snapped his blackened fingers around her wrist and thrust her towards the god stone.

“Can you hear it’s whispers?”

“No, please, don’t…” the girl cried out.

“Reach for the voices, do as they tell you, and they will grant you power enough to get away from here”

She looked up at the mage with uncertainty, but then reached out toward the stone. She could feel the power of the stone, and just beyond its threshold could hear her father’s voice calling to her. As her hand gripped onto the stone it glowed brightly and gripped back. A surge of whispered voices filled her mind as her eyes glazed over.

Drawn into a powerful trance, the stone now had her in its grip.

The black handed mage eyed the girl carefully and drew a dagger from his waist.

The girl searched deeper within the stone’s voices, until she found herself in a field of reeds with the voice of her father calling out to her as if she was finally home. Her blood in her veins began to glow with golden light as power flooded into her soul, and she indeed felt as though she could escape the grasp of the mages at her back.

SLASH

Blood splattered against the stone.

The shimmering crimson pool, drew into the obelisk, it’s dark flames intensifying.

…

The storm clouds tripled in size and now stretched from east to west as far as the eye could see.

A tear rolled down Valian’s eyes as he saw the body of the young princess of the desert elves fall to the floor of the cavern.

“You bastards!”

His defiant gaze turned into a snarl, as the flesh of his skin began to boil with red fire. Blisters burned on his skin, as the mana was ripped from his flesh by the power of his own spell.

Memories flooded to the back of his mind as the pain swelled to its peak.

“Valian, those aren’t the rules, how come you never play fair!”

“How dare you, I always play fair”

“Nuh uh!”

“I follow the rules of what I can do and you can’t” he said with a sly smile

“Mother! Valian is cheating”

“Play fair with your sister Val”

“It isn’t my fault she can’t use magic”

“Honey, you know she can’t play and have fun if you don’t give her a chance”

“Why should I?”

“Because, while caring only for yourself may bring the promise of glory, it will also leave you lonely and unable to share it. The things we accomplish in life, only matter, if we don’t just do it for ourselves”

“That’s stupid!”

“Is it? Well tell me, if you had to choose a reason why you were given the ability to wield magic, what would it be?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“Come on, what do you most want to use it for, beyond showing off” his mother said with a wink

“I-I want to be the most powerful mage in the nation”

“But why?”

“So I can be the hero that fights to stop evil, like SHAAA!!!” Valian replied with wide eyes

“And who do heroes protect?”

“Everybody!”

“And would a hero protect your sister?”

“Of course”

“So isn’t the first step to your dream, choosing to do right by your sister?”

“I guess so…”

“You guess so? Ha, you really are stubborn… Just like your father,” she said sweetly.

“Where is father?”

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“He should be back soon”

BANG RATTLE BANG

SMASH

His mother’s fingers wrapped tightly around his upper arm in an instant as she pulled him behind her.

“Victoria! Come to mom!!!” she screamed as reaching out to her daughter.

“Mommy, those men have Daddy”

The courtyard gates hung listlessly to their hinges as a handful of men made their way into the front garden dragging her husband behind them.

The leader nodded at a man to his right.

“No!!!” her father screamed, “Run Vicky!”

Vicky turned on the spot with wide eyes, unsure of what to do as the man lunged towards her.

“Get away from my sister!” Val said as he broke from his mother’s grip and drew up all of his magical force.

Red flames seeped from all of his body and drew into a pin prick of burning light. He thrust it towards the man’s face pursuing his sister, a bolt of fire zigzagged through the air and exploded upon the man’s face on impact.

Vicky was tossed free from the man’s grip. Val ran as fast as he could and swept up Vicky in his arms.

“Quickly, we have to run!” he said as he tugged her towards the hedges surrounding the courtyard.

“Ahuh!” she said with a nod

“Stay away from them” their mother shouted in the background as they fled into the shrubs.

THWACK

“They are hurting mom and dad!”

“I know… But we have to go!” Val said as he dragged her through to the other side of the bush and through a hole in the fence of the estate. He dragged her into the fields and ran towards the farmhouse.

“Quickly, get into the crawl space”

“But it is dark, what if there are spiders”

“Don’t worry, if any get on you I will burn them off”

“Okay…”

Vicky crawled into the crawlspace, and Valian pulled shut the wooden planks behind him.

RUSTLE RUSTLE

“You sure they came through this way?”

“Damn it, that kid’s spell really stung, yeah I’m sure it was this way”

“Shhh” Valian said as he raised a finger to Vicky’s lips.

“Mhm” she said with big eyes.

“Aha!” the man with a half charred face said as he pulled loose the boards to find them, “Got you!”

“No! Let us go!” Valian said as thrashing in the man’s tight grip as pulled back into the light.

“Or what?” the man grinned back as his partner climbed into the crawlspace and dragged Vicky out.

“AHH!” the other man screamed

“What?!”

“The damn brat bit me!”

“You need a hand?”

“Nah, I’ll just jam this in her mouth” he said as he wrestled his bandana around her mouth and pulled it tight. He tossed her over his shoulder and gave a thumbs up to his partner who then tossed Val over his own shoulder and walked back to the boss.

“Got the kids”

“Please, just let them go, they don’t have anything to do with this,” their father cried.

“Nonsense, sins of the father and all that”

“Just take anything from my estate, whatever you want, just not them”

“You offer me what is yours so easily, it must really mean nothing to you then, see… That is why I have to take the kids. To keep you honest, so you keep your word”

“No…” the father cried as Valian and his sister were tossed into the back of a carriage and taken away.

Valian watched as the manor house faded into the distance.

Vicky looked at him expectantly, her face flushed red from all of her tears. He couldn’t speak but with his eyes he told her with confidence that everything would be okay. No matter how bad the situation he would figure out something.

After a day’s travel they arrived at the base of a great white tower. After an entire day’s travel the white stone of the tower caught the moonlight as it broke in through small portcullis windows. Valian was thrown at the feet of a mage who stared down at him with cold black eyes.

Kneeling down, the man’s blackened hand gripped at the rope tied around his mouth as a mussel and pulled it loose.

“You are the one with magical potential are you not?” the man whispered.

“Leave my sister out of this, and I’ll do whatever you want!”

“And what could I ever want from a child such as yourself”

“I will become the strongest mage in the land! I could help you!”

“Heh, you are a bold one aren’t you?”

Valian looked back at the man’s cold eyes with defiance, he couldn’t be sure but it looked as though serpents swirled in the dark pools of his pupil’s.

“You aren’t scared boy?”

“Not even a little!” Val replied with a clenched fist

“Oh… Then let us test that. Throw him in the hole! Put the girl in chains and ready her for the ritual”

“But Marik, you said you’d leave them unharmed, we were just to take them for leverage”

“Yes, and now we have it. If the baron does what we have asked, all the better, but his children will be suitable compensation for now”

The man with the charred face pulled open a hatch and tossed Valian down into the darkness below. He hit with a thud as the ground rushed up to meet him.

Blood splattered from his lips, as his teeth bit through his lip on impact.

“Arrgh”

CHI CHII

Valian hurried to his feet, and rushed back to the wall on the other side from the sound.

“What is there?”

CHITTER CHITTER

The rattle of teeth, sounded from the other side of the room with unsettling ferocity.

PAP PAP PAP PAP PAP

Footsteps rushed towards him, no bigger than a child’s, but with speed that indicated bloodlust.

FLARE!

A sizzle of red energy shot from Valian’s bound hands, and thudded against the creature’s grey skin.

The creature was momentarily lit up by the spell. From what Valian could make out, it looked like a small goblin for the most part, except for its mouth which was filled with spoon-like teeth, with bits of rotten flesh hanging between them.

“What did you toss him down there with?” the man with a charred face asked the magician.

“A creature summoned from one of the plane worlds… A chitterling I believe it is called… Vicious little thing”

“But why?”

“Call it a test of the boy’s will”

“Isn’t that a bit much for such a young kid?”

“He said he will become the strongest mage in the land, if it was a lie then yes it will be too much. But if there was some truth to it maybe he will live”

…

“You dare sacrifice the blood of a noble child”

The boils on Valian’s skin turned to pits. Chunks of his flesh withered and drifted away with the flow of magic to his sceptre.

“I’ll take you all to the abyss with me!”

The tempest on the horizon glowed a dark red, as though Valian’s own blood filling the rain clouds.

…

The obelisk at the centre of the cavern filled with the Valian’s blood magic.

A dark ball of energy gathered at the top of the obelisk. The mages looked on uncomfortably as the dark mass spun faster and faster. Time seemed to slow as Rainal’s mages, and those of the black hand, prepared to counter the spell, but before they could raise their wards, dark rays spun out from the orb in a flash.

Flesh turned to ash, as dark rays spun out in all directions, and bounced off of the obsidian stone of the floor. Horrid screams echoed through the caverns, as mage’s were torn apart by the spell.

The mage with the black hand dived towards the godstone as drawing up a portal with his fingers.

SHOOM

A portal opened up on the far side of the cavern and he came spilling out the other side.

“... Valian?” the mage said with a smirk.

“Nice try. But as always, too slow”

He walked towards the obelisk as the red of Valian’s blood dissipated and the orb vanished.

…

Valian fell to his knees as the sceptre fell from his grip.

“I did what I could child… I’m sorry… Sorry I couldn’t save you…”

Memories of his own sister reflected in the image of the dead girl at the base of the obelisk. For all his attempts in life to gain power, he was still a step behind, and as a result too late to save the innocent from their fate.

Maybe his mother was right, maybe he had always been just a bit too selfish in life, to take that extra step forward to become a true hero.

He collapsed onto the skywalk, his blood pouring off its edges as the sceptre fell towards the city below.

…

The black handed mage stepped to the outer side of the spell circle and knelt down to channel magical power into it once more, and reactivate the scrying spell.

The dark clouds reached out over the sky of the city, and at last he could see into the palace unimpeded.

“Bring more sacrifices!” he screamed out to the handful of soldiers standing watch just outside the perimeter of the circle.

…

Mirio whispered under his breath as Gladly prepared to open the door to the mage tower.

“Its just a fight; controlled aggression, keep aware, keep calm, and focus”

As the halfling cracked open the door streaks of light shone through the crack. Scorch marks, and whisps of smoke were scattered throughout the room as the light in the distance faded. A mage’s outstretched hand, once before filled with blue light, flickered out like a candle in the wind before collapsing to the floor.

Three shadowy figures stood over the now dead mage, blood dripping from their blades. Mirio quickly scanned the room to find three more bodies, two assistant mages, and an assassin burned to a crisp.

“Here we go…”

Mirio sprung onto his toes and plunged into the room. The stale air of the room whipped into a breeze as he shot toward the figures. A cone of magic spun through the air as Gladly slung spell into the room.

Dazzling lights of all colours sprung from the spell sigil, tiny orbs chasing after the shadowed figures like a swarm of fireflies.

“That ought to help” Gladly said as he transitioned to another spell sigil in his other hand.

SHING SHING SHING

Blazing bullets shot from his fingertips causing the assassin’s to scatter.

FWOOSH

The slice of Mirio’s sword through the air was as close as could be to the assassins without making a mark. He spun in with his footwork and chased one to the far wall, drawing his blade across its chest as it slashed back at him with vicious curved blades. Mirio tossed the badly wounded assassin to the floor and spun quickly to face the other assassins as they circled around him to strike.

Purple flares shot out from Gladly’s fingertips and drove deep into the armour of the assassins.

Mirio spun and flicked the tip of his sword towards the assassins.

The assassins stared at him, and then their wounded compatriot at his feet. With no more than a glance at each other, they shot off towards the door.

“Oh no you don’t” Gladly shouted as he spun his arms, and brought forth a winding green flame.

“Haste!”

Mirio felt as if his bodyweight was lifted from his feet, as green flames fluttered around his feet and fists. He launched towards the assassins at terrifying speed. The flash of his sword lit up the room as he cast it in all directions, spinning and twirling in patterns that were all too hard for the remaining assassins to predict.

SLASH CRACK FWOOSH SLASH

Mirio stood over the last of the assassins with the tip of his sword pointed at their throat.

Gladly waved away the haste spell and jostled over to the downed killers at Mirio’s feet.

“What is it?” Mirio asked.

“Let me see their faces,” he said, peeling back their masks.

Gladly looked at the men emotionlessly as they were revealed to be the very same assassins that had left him for dead.

SHING SHING SHING

Purple bullets shot from his fingertips. Mirio looked on as Gladly moved through the room to finish off the other assassins Mirio had left wounded. He understood why Gladly had to do what he had to do, even though it wasn’t something he would have done himself.

Three mage’s rushed down from the upper stairwell in a panic.

“What happened? Did the others not make it?”, “Quickly there isn’t any time!”, “Yes, we must get to the catacombs! Valian won’t be able to hold off the scrying eye of the enemy for long!”

“Are you all that is left?” Mirio said as he looked at the other mage’s in the room that lay dead.

Three more mage’s rushed down into the room, the most senior of them nodded, “Just the six of us”.

“Then let’s not waste any more time,” Mirio said as he nodded back.

Footsteps echoed down the long halls as the mages and Mirio made their way to the doors of the catacombs.

The doors slammed shut and the red stone of the mountain catacombs surrounded them.