The Monolith stood over the town unmoving. Its shadow blessed the people, granting them gifts of power as it shielded them from the Light of the Searing. No one questioned where it had come from or what it was for. They only worshiped the Monolith and stayed within its shadow, as without it, they would be at the mercy of the Light. The gifts they gained from the Monolith were used to better their lives under its shade and in the rituals they had to worship it. It was an immutable truth of the town, one that went before the oldest elders in the town could recall. Before the building of the town. It was so far back that it was just a part of daily life.
It was how life had always been... until the cracks started to form in the black structure. At first, no one actually noticed the cracks, keeping themselves busy with their lives. It was only the eve of a celebration of the founding when they first noticed the cracks. A novice priest had been sent to the Monolith’s base to make preparations, only to return as quickly as he left in a panic. A panic that was immensely infectious. The town was rather expansive and diverse under the shadow, with around eighty thousand residents, yet it took less than a few hours for most of the town to know the situation.
The best mages and stoneworkers moved to the base of the monolith to check the damage as the cracks grew more prominent, but with little knowledge of the exact nature of the stone the town considered sacred, it was hard to make noticeable progress on the cause. The best analysis magic came back with unknown runes, while the stone itself seemed to have properties that defied what was known. The more the two groups learned, the less they knew, and time was slowly draining away.
That was how it had been for two weeks. The current lead of the mason group, Mort Lycan, was busy testing his tools with one of the crumpled pebbles from the Monolith that had fallen in his tent. The wolf-based therianthrope had found no new results, and he was moments away from giving out a roar of frustration when one of the apprentices called to him from outside his tent.
“Mr. Lycan? Reports say the other side has gotten a breakthrough.”
“WHAT?” He leaped from his seat and turned to face the flap leading out. “Explain, now!”
“I don’t know myself, sir, I was just told one of the mages did something crazy and it got them somewhere. I don’t even know what they did.”
“That crazy coot,” Mort muttered under his breath, before standing to his full height and addressing the apprentice. “Alright, tell her I’ll meet her soon. Not like I made any headway here.”
The apprentice gave an alert, “Yessir!” before rushing off for more grunt work. Mort gave a grunt as he stepped outside to meet with the other half of the team. Even though it had been three weeks since the original discovery was reported, the campsite at the base of the Monolith was just as busy as before. The very fact that nothing made sense between their knowledge and the Monolith’s current state seemed to drive them further instead of discourage them, with many of the group either inspecting the stone and its readings, or hauling items back and forth. It was admirable, and if a calamity wasn’t on the-
An explosion came from the other side of the campsite as Mort was stopped from his pleased thoughts. While the mason’s had started looking into lesser used techniques to get answers from the Monolith, the mages had a more. . . volatile approach. They had started with just analyzing the Monolith and attempting to decipher the runes, but as the results came back with less and less returns, they all started to just try the runes themselves without translation. Mort had half a mind to think that the mage’s breakthrough was just a matter of some mistake they made, and this didn’t help his thoughts.
As he arrived at the Mage’s portion of the camp, he was immediately beset by half a dozen of the magical apprentices. Some tried to swipe his fur or pull his tail, to his annoyance. Mages were always taught that many things could be used as a component for a spell, and that even the most useless things could be used in casting for devastating effects. Unfortunately, this meant that most new mages had some tendencies that they would have to unlearn that made them nuisances to others.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for Mort’s presence to be known, and he had hardly gotten to the main clearing before a flash of blue and a torrent of water heralded the arrival of the head of the mages, a woman named Umi that had mastered most water spells. Her appearance had been affected by her chosen element as her hair seemed to be actual water, and her form never truly dry. “Thank you for making such a fuss, but we have important things to do still, and you all need to go help the others.”
Mort gave a sigh of relief as the rascals ran off, a few with some of his hairs yelling thanks as Umi chuckled at him. “Energetic lot, aren’t they?”
Mort didn’t answer the question as he crossed his arms. “What did you find?”
“Such a stick in the mud you are.”
Mort had to give an immense effort not to bare his fangs. “Lives are on the line, you wet fool! You expect me to just laze about and-”
A splash of water cut off his tirade as Umi snapped her fingers. “I expect you to not let your drive cloud your focus. Especially when magic’s involved. Even you know it reacts to emotions.”
Mort just stared. “Run that by me again.”
“The Monolith is magic. All of it.”
“You’ve got to be joking. That’s your big breakthrough? Even a toddler knows the Monolith is magical.”
“You didn’t hear what I said. The Monolith is magic. Not Magical, Magic. In particular, it’s dark magic.”
Mort blinked. “Can you explain this in a way I can understand?”
“The Monolith is a Void Stone. Think of it like the mana batteries we use, bringing magic into itself to sustain its form. When it’s no longer supplied with its needed amount of mana, its form changes. I’m not certain as to what, but it does.”
Mort blinked. “So. . . does this mean the Searing of legend is over?”
“I don’t know exactly. What I do know is this: the Monolith is no longer taking in the magic that made it this tall, and something will take its place.”
“I… don’t like that news.”
“Pity, because that’s the news I have.”
The two sat in silence as they considered the knowledge they had just gained, before a small quake hit the campsite. Mort dropped to all fours with a snarl as he looked around. “Tell your brats to knock off their magic blasts. Even if the Monolith absorbed magic, that’s not true for our camp.” He barked. “Last thing we need is all of our equipment breaking as well!”
“That. . . wasn’t any of our magic.”
This gave Mort pause as he looked at Umi. In turn, she shook her head and pointed towards the Monolith. It was no longer cracking, instead collapsing in on itself. The massive stone gave off a massive pull as the pieces that had fallen from it were recalled. Broken off pieces flew back to the stone, headless of what was in their path as the Monolith started to shrink.
Everyone at the camp could feel the pull as the towering structure that had defined their lives started to vanish before their very eyes. It was an odd feeling in the air for those not in touch with the magic the stone had given them for centuries, but for those truly in touch with their gift, the meaning was clear.
Clear enough that every mage at the camp felt the need to run towards the dense concentration of mana. Umi was no different as she rushed like the rapids of her spellcraft, dousing Mort in a massive wave from her unexpected spell. It was only moments, but with it, it felt like eons as the casters gathered at the base.
The monolith condensed before them, going from beyond the skyline to just above three feet in height. Pure black stone became olive skin as what looked to be a child formed in front of them, dressed in a dark dress. The only hint of her origin was her long hair, which was just as dark as the void she had come from. Violet eyes opened to regard the crowd as the being spoke.
“Where am I?”