Tritan
Is that … a princess? Archmage Tritan asks himself as he observes the first group to approach his tower in years. He’d sensed their presence hours before had sent shades to divert any dangerous creatures from their path. Now they had finally arrived close enough for him to watch them through nearby shadows.
At first glance he had dismissed the party of 20 as a group of travelers seeking to cross the mountains on foot. Of course when he noticed that 15 of them were uniformed guards and there was one girl wearing a dress, slippers, and tiara, he quickly began to revise the opinion.
He rose and began to pace the field that had been his home away from his tower for the past few decades. It was a simple clearing in the forest with a pavilion made of shadow covering it. Mosses and lichens blanketed the ground and formed a perfect place to experiment with spells. His last home had unfortunately disappeared into some sort of dark void when one of his experiments went awry. Gerald never let him hear the end of that. Of course, Tritan reflected, hundreds of homes did end in a similar manner so I suppose he does have a point there.
If those uniformed guards are all less than archmagi of the sixth level I should have no problem against them if they’re looking for a fight. That really has to be a last resort though… If I kill them, I’d have to kill that princess too, and killing someone that beautiful is a crime to men everywhere… There may be many fish in the ocean, but definitely not many that look like that.! He thought to himself while grinning and blushing slightly.
While Tritan was hundreds of years old his body and mind had frozen at about 24 years: Not aging or maturing a day since.
After mulling over the risks of getting a lecture on his worthlessness, Tritan finally turned to ask Bob, his Garden Gnome, about their intentions.
“Hey Bob! Could you tell me what this group wants?” he asks while innerly cringing in preparation for stinging reply.
“Sure, sure ask the f------ garden gnome about every g----- problem you have. What am I, your personal library? Wait don’t tell me I can already see just what you think you…..” Bob dissolves into unintelligible grumbling while Tritan sighed in relief: He’d gotten off easy that time. As an immortal, omniscient being, Bob occasionally went on tirades that lasted for years at a time, spewing forth streams of words that would make sailors’ grandmothers blush.
“Ha” Bob replies smugly, ”They want the same thing I do: for you to get up off your fat, lazy, worthless a-- and do something about the world. Now do something useful for once and turn me on my side. I need to take a nap and I’ll get a m------------ bedsore if I stay on my back anymore and Yes I can f------ get Bedsores you uncultured b------...”
Tritan sighed and turned the stone gnome over. Bob was a somewhat ironic being. All powerful magic required balance, so when a prehistoric mage had cast a spell to grant himself omniscience, his body had been shifted into the least threatening thing in the vicinity, which happened to be a garden gnome. Ever since, he had remained in his former tower watching the world with longing until Tritan had found him. Tritan took him along and deep down he knew that even though Bob was constantly grumbling, he was a close, reliable friend and didn’t really mean any of it.
“No I’m not your friend you emotional idiot, and yes I do f------- mean it all you meaningless piece o…” Bob spoke up sleepily while Tritan sighed and built a shadow array to take him to his tower.
Ellyria
“Princess!” A familiar voice sounded behind Ellyria.
“Yes Anders what is it?” Ellyria asked while turning back to face her head guard.
“Your Highness please, my men can make a stretcher in ten minutes and you can rest your feet while we continue to walk.” Anders said with a pleading tone. He had been honored with the position of her personal guard when her first guard had died protecting her 3-year old self 20 years ago. Ever since, he’d been a father figure to her, His scarred face always in a supportive grin or occasionally a conspiratorial wink.
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Ellyria sighed. This morning they had spotted the Archmage’s tower at the end of the valley. Excitedly, she’d underestimated the distance they had to walk and insisted on wearing formal clothing to make a good first impression. What that led to was a sweltering march in layers of clothing that she hated on a good day, but now despised completely. Still she couldn’t let the men carry her. They were already holding massive packs, and she knew that while they would gladly take her too, it would be torture for them.
“Please Anders! I’ve already said no. I couldn’t bear to be more of a burden on this trip.” She replied
Anders shook his head,” You’re not a burden princess! Without you we’d never had thought to go looking for an archmage to help save Deria! I’m sure this one will help us! Those others were all just crotchety old cowards.” he said emphatically.
“Thanks Anders...,” Ellyria says sadly as she looks off into the distance,” sometimes I worry if We’ll ever find someone to help us… and of course you always pick those moments to cheer me up!” She finishes with a smile to assure Anders even though she had actually lost hope once ten magi had refused her.
Anders shook his head obviously unconvinced by her attempt, but before he could answer her he was interrupted by the scout’s arrival.
“Report.” Anders commanded the scout, suddenly aloof and stern.
“Sir, the tower is about 3 hours walk up the road. No discernible defenses but the lens shows that there’s been active magic at least a week ago. Also your suspicion that the way was cleared for us? It was completely right sir. Some sort of shadow chased away a three-headed griffon from me and I spotted nothing more dangerous than a horned rabbit.” the scout reported.
“So the magicker is welcoming us? That’s good news right?” one of the guards asks.
“Yes the “magicker” as you call my master is eagerly awaiting your arrival. Which, of course, is quite a good thing for you because you won’t dissolve into nothing when you would have undoubtedly ran straight into an active defense.” a refined voice answers.
All the guards jolt, immediately jumping to scan their surroundings, which led their attention to the figure rising from a small shadow in the center of their camp. It stood about a head higher than the tallest man in camp, and had a thick trunk and limbs. It was made of black shadow and had a shiny, steel gray, expressionless mask for a face.
“Greetings, assorted guards, servants, and royalty. I am Gerald: Archmage Tritan’s golem. He asked me to take you to the tower and take care of you there while he arrives. So if you’d please prepare to go…?” the figure ends with a questioning tone.
“ Um Excuse me, but what do you mean ‘Prepare to go’, we still have a 3 hour walk ahead of us right?” Ellyria inquires politely.
“No silly,” The golem replies with an almost mocking voice,” I’m an Archmage’s golem. I have a slight fraction of his power. Just enough to transport your group through the shadow realm to his tower actually. By prepare I meant pray to a various god or perhaps sacrifice a small cudly animal. I hear that you humans enjoy that sort of thing. Maybe dance nude in a tribal style for some ceremony? I’ve never quite understood the fascination Tritan and Bob have for you short-lived brutes. Anyways HERE… WE…. GOOOOOO!”
Gerald raises his hands and a shadowy sigil appears underneath the party. It pulses with power once and all the people disappear into shadows.
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Whew! First Chapter Done! The next chapter will also be mainly exposition, but I’ll pick up the pace as they set off on the Journey to Deria. As always comments and questions are welcome! : D