Kade slowly regained his feet, then put out a hand and helped Salarus as well. He whispered a hurried question to the mage as he did so, “How much mana do you have; any chance we could take this guy out twice?” Salarus looked at him with an indulgent smile.
“I very much doubt we took him out once, but I’ll be far from defenseless in a few minutes.” He made a gesture of thanks toward Anton, and the small stone man shattered back into countless shards, which whirled toward the Sorcerer before seamlessly merging into a pair of stone-gray boots. “Anton will channel mana into me through the connection to the stone, but I doubt we’ll need it. Come.” He walked back to the center of the room with all the dignity and swagger of a conquering King, and Kade did his best to emulate the taller man.
Once they were again in front of Karthas, Salarus addressed the Elder, “Have we performed to your expectations, Great One? Surely defeating even the tiniest piece of you must be considered a marvelous achievement.” Kade recognized the false flattery for what it was, and saw the Karthas appeared to as well, but a smile grew on his face anyways. Kade had to force himself to maintain his blank expression as he watched the smile extend well beyond the limits of a human mouth, nearly bisecting the Elder’s entire head, and transforming the look from mirth to predatory as it did so. At last he spoke once more.
“You are correct, mage, yours is an accomplishment most worthy of respect. Should you manage to complete your Trial, I will consider granting you each a boon.” While Salarus appeared to be struggling to contain his excitement, Kade was doing the same with disappointment–he had been hoping the trial was over after such an extreme challenge. The Elder seemed amused by both of their reactions, and let out another horrible sound that may have passed for laughter before speaking again, “Continue, Children of Iros, and face what you truly are.”
When he finished speaking, he was simply gone as if he’d never been, and in his place were two doors. One was marked with a staff, and the other with a chain. Salarus looked more disturbed by this than he had been by encountering Karthas himself, and spoke his worries. “I was afraid of this. The final piece of our Trials will be separate, and I’ll be unable to assist you.” Kade wasn’t sure if the man’s commitment to his word was somehow wrapped up in his personal mission or unrelated, but he knew he didn’t want the man to lose his chance at completing the Trial simply out of concern for Kade.
“Your responsibilities to me have been more than satisfied. I’d have died on my own in minutes, and we both know that. Now it’s time for you to go take what you earned. I’ll just have to do the same,” he tried to sound far more confident than he actually felt, and met Salarus’ gaze unflinchingly. At last the Sorcerer appeared resigned.
“In truth, I think there is little I could do regardless. Everything in here is under the control of Karthas; if it were as simple as walking through the wrong door to cheat, these Trials would be meaningless. I wish you luck, Kade, it was…good to have an ally by my side.” Kade didn’t miss that this was the first real acknowledgement of Kade as anything more than a burden, and smiled widely.
“Good luck, Salarus; I hope you get what you came for.” The taller man smiled then adjusted his steepled hat slightly, and began to walk toward his door. As he pushed against it, he paused and shouted back.
“Call me Sal,” and he was gone.
Kade smirked and nodded, though the man wouldn’t see it. The moment he found himself alone in the silent chamber though, any illusion of safety melted away, and he decided it was best to proceed quickly. He walked up to the chain-marked door, and taking a deep breath, plunged through.
***
Sal looked about the new chamber, far smaller than the last, and shook his head sadly. Deep down he knew it would be the same nonsense he’d experienced before, but had hoped Karthas would somehow just let it go. He supposed that was impossible, as the Elder was actually deep in the Trance, effectively incapable of growth or change, but it didn’t make this any less insulting.
He walked forward, completely ignoring the Aspect of Karthas that watched him from yet another throne off to one side. He focused instead on the cloaked being standing at the opposite end of the chamber. It was his third time seeing some version of this Elder, though each time there were subtle differences in its appearance. After his second trial he’d expended considerable amounts of his family’s resources to get any sense of who this might be, and had at last found the name: Alomagus the Weak. The very first Sorcerer, and of an unknown generation. It was clear that even Karthas didn’t actually know the Elder, merely his Lost Legend.
Alomagus was proof that the prejudices around Sorcery were truly ancient, and Sal thought he had a good notion as to why. Regardless, this was his third Trial that had ended with facing this false-Sorcerer, ironically making his own Path to Power far simpler than many who had come before him. On queue, Karthas spoke.
“Look upon this, upon your future. The greatest practitioner of your so-called Path. See his weakness, see his folly, and abandon this pathetic course you have set for yourself.” Salarus sighed dramatically, anxious to be finished with this farce. Finally the cloaked Elder began to move, revealing wasted limbs and a pointy rat-like face as it cast its ‘spells’. Karthas spoke again, as he had the previous two Trials, “Face the might of his so-called Sorcery, and accept the truth.”
At last the pathetic creature began to unleash its meager power, which was still at Primus level even if it was plain and straightforward. Balls of fire slowly meandered through the air in Sal's direction, an insult to the weakest fire-Elementalist, and the efforts of a toddler compared to one of Sal’s abilities. The tall Sorcerer tried to take the battle somewhat seriously, but that was anything but the Trial’s intent. He casually deflected two of the fireballs with his staff, then caught another and forced his will into it, causing it to transform into lightning before his eyes.
He let the sparks die in his hands, and looked to Karthas with an expression of triumph he knew was lost on the Elder. What Sal had done would have been considered remarkable, if not impossible by almost anyone with a basic understanding of how energy worked on Iros, even if it was utterly impractical. It was a demonstration of the true capabilities of Sorcery, and a mastery of power that few would ever grasp. Karthas didn’t appear to notice.
Sal once more let out a dramatic sigh as he advanced on his opponent, deflecting bouts of fire with little effort. He remembered his first attempt at this fight, newly Awakened and barely capable of using Sorcery at all, even then the attacks had been pathetic, though Sal had been forced to dodge them physically. He had spent hours trying to use his weak spells to destroy the false Alomagus, understanding his opponent was meant to be weak, but somehow unable to do him any harm.
As Sal reached his target, he used another Sorcerous technique that should have changed Karthas’ mind forever on the spot, imposing his will and his mana on the lesser spellcaster, whose flames simply died out and wouldn’t reform. Then with a final sneer at Karthas–only for his own benefit–he repeated the maneuver that he’d discovered all those years ago, lightly striking Alomagus on the shoulder, which shattered him instantly. It was only after he’d completely exhausted his mana and resolve that he’d struck his opponent in his first Trial, which fulfilled the conditions of victory: he could use anything to defeat the Sorcerer except magic. Karthas’ whispered words echoed once more through the chamber.
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“Witness! Witness how the fool cowers and falls at even a taste of real might! Know the truth of your folly, and step away from the false-Path forever!” Sal knew his part too, which was easier as he truly believed in it.
“No. This is my Path. I will not bend, I will not falter. Not because of the words and sneers of a thousand foolish Keepers, not because of the arrogance of some overblown Abbot, and certainly not for you.” He stared daggers into the giant, longing for the day that he’d have the power to show the Elder the truth of Sorcery in person. Karthas simply stared back, unimpressed.
“Go then, foolish Child. Continue to waste the pitiful existence you’ve been given, and take your power with you.” At that a new energy erupted inside Salarus, and he knew the Elder was true to his word. As the chamber dissolved around him and he was once again lost in darkness, he could feel that he at last walked the Path of the Magus.
**
Kade entered the new chamber and immediately blinked to clear his vision. While he was obviously still inside the mountain, his confusion had come from seeing the room filled with numerous individuals from the outside world. He walked slowly into the chamber, eerily quiet as every person just stared lifelessly at him. At the end of the chamber was Karthas, watching him approach from his throne, disdain clear in his expression.
Kade walked suspiciously past Edwin, Selina, Graves, and more. He stopped suddenly half-way to the throne, as he realized one of the figures was Nicky, staring at him just like everyone else. “This is sick,” he said to the giant, who ignored his words. Kade continued walking, past Markis, and Alara, even two barely remembered drinking buddies from a tavern. At last he was before the Elder, who spoke to him with obvious scorn.
“Was it arrogance that made you think you could invade my Soul, monster?” The words shocked Kade, as Karthas seemed to be addressing him with far more intensity and focus than before. Even the words he directed at Sal had the feeling of reading a script, but this felt truly personal. “Perhaps you thought you could convince me of your blasphemy, but I am not so easily cowed. Look out across this chamber, look at the ‘friends’ you have made. See the shame you bring to yourself, and to our very world.”
Kade wasn’t sure how to react. He wasn’t aware of any blasphemy, until he considered his spear. But this didn’t seem to have anything to do with that. The Elder continued, “You come here seeking power. I can grant you that power, but for what? To what use would you put this new strength? Would you slay your enemies and use their bodies as stepping stones to greater challenges? Would you rid this world of your hated kin, knowing that inevitably it would be your sacred duty to slay your own Children in the name of Iros?
“More than anyone alive, you need to understand the cycle! It is us, it is everything, it is Iros!” The last was a furious roar, and Kade found himself retreating slowly back through the small crowd, even spotting a copy of Sal as he did so. The Elder continued to rage, “You will be taught, Child. You will learn your lessons or you will die. This is your trial. Look around at the faces of those you bow to, those you hide behind, those you chase after like a filthy hound, and see your enemies. There is no leaving this chamber while a single one lives.”
Karthas punctuated this with a wave of his hand, and Kade saw that the door behind him had vanished, and more–his right hand held a vicious, executioner's ax. When he looked back up, the lifeless expressions were gone, and instead every single person was talking at once, begging him to spare them, pleading with him not to take their worthless lives. Some collapsed to their knees, others hung from him like they were drowning, but none stopped their wailing for a moment.
The noise was overwhelming, the desperation surrounded him, and soon he realized his own voice was among them as he tried to keep the ax away while they swarmed closer, many weeping openly. “Please! Get back, I won’t hurt you! I won’t hurt any of you, please!” His words meant nothing to them, only seeming to enrage Karthas, and making their pleading even louder. Suddenly Edwin was pulling him into a death grip.
“You don’t know what I’ve seen Kade, you don’t know what I’ve done! I killed them you know, I killed all of them! Over and over again. He made me do it, but I had to do it, and in the end I wanted to do it! Oh please Kade, release me, release me from this!” Kade was even more overwhelmed by the sudden change in tone. Begging for their lives had been horrible, begging for their deaths was breaking him. Soon they all joined in. Pleading for him to end their suffering, to stop their pain, not to force them to live in the terrible anticipation of death for a moment longer.
Kade was losing his mind, now holding the ax high above his head as everyone he’d known on this world that had shown him a moment of kindness struggled to pull the blade toward them, desperate to meet their end at his hands. He was screaming now, lost somewhere between desperation and conviction, just shouting “no!” over and over as he vainly tried to resist the hands clinging to him. He could hear the amused laughter of Karthas over it all, and it turned Kade’s desperation to rage. He could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him, threatening to tear him apart.
Suddenly Nicky was there, and the rest seemed to quiet so he wouldn’t miss her words. He looked into the eyes of his dead friend, as she spoke, “Please Kade, I thought you cared about me. I died because I gave my power to you. I felt my body ripped to shreds inside that Elder. It wasn’t quick, and I felt myself die. Don’t make me go through that again, please put an end to this horrible existence!”
The terrible pleading was the final straw, and Kade felt himself give in, letting down some unknown barrier inside of him. The ax slipped from his fingers and his hands fell to his side, as a furious beeping struggled to penetrate the fog that was gathering in his mind. He was staring at Karthas, numb, no–cold–as the rest of the world seemed to fall away. He could tell the Elder recognized something was wrong, as his horrific too-wide smile slipped away, and he began to stand up.
Kade was only half-aware of what was happening, as his mind was somehow in two places at once. He was staring at the giant before him, but also looking into a blinding light. This time he nearly recognized it, and the chains that still wrapped endlessly around it, but it was still blocked–despite the few rays of light being almost too bright to look at. This time it felt different, looking at the chains, he knew they were his, knew they were somehow him even. And that meant they were his to control.
With no real effort or conscious thought, he loosened the chains–though an instinct he didn’t understand stopped him from removing them entirely. The moment the light began pouring out, his vision snapped back into focus, and it was just him and Karthas. With only a thought the pleading constructs were knocked away from him, and he was advancing on the Elder, arms raised before him. Karthas leaped off his throne, bellowing as he did so, “The cycle is all!”
“The cycle is dead!” Kade roared back, and unleashed the frozen death that lived inside him. Energy poured forth with overwhelming force, once more like a damn bursting inside him, and Karthas was lost in the flow of blue-green energy–though Kade felt the chamber vibrate as the Elder’s enormous body was slammed back against his throne. For a brief moment Kade could see him there, still staring with defiance as the endless waves of energy washed over him, and then finally through him.
At last Kade somehow felt the presence of the Elder vanish, and the light slowly died within him, the chains once more tightening around his soul. He collapsed to his knees, consciousness fading as a strange new power was born within him.