Chapter 2

 

 

 

When they returned inside, Seline st down in the air like she had before. Even though he had seen this trick before, Seline saw his eyes go wide yet again. She knew he wanted so badly to ask how, but it had taken most of his willpower to carry the conversation this far. She thought that enough was enough and released the intimidation spell she had cast over him when she first entered the room. The rose on her staff flashed white and Taruk appeared to relax.

"How do you do that?" he inquired, shock registering on his face at how easy that had been. Seline smiled, she had known that he was this strong but needed to test it.

"It’s a simple spell, so simple that I don’t even have to prepare for it," she replied. "Now, the intimidation spell I had cast over you took a little bit more preparation." She watched his face as she said this, chuckling at his surprise and sudden comprehension.

"Well no wonder!" he said. "I could barely bring myself to talk to you." She simply smiled and nodded before continuing.

"Had you been any less strong of a person, you would not have been able to speak at all. I cast a very powerful spell on you Taruk."

"What? Why? Could it have harmed me?" He took a defensive stance as he inquired, she observed every standard trick of fighting that had been bred into him with his moves.

"There’s no need assuming that stance Taruk, I’m no foe to you. I merely had to test you. I needed to find out whether you were as strong, mentally, as I thought."

He relaxed a little but kept his guard up. "And why would you want to know about me?"

Seline’s face took a very serious look. She had allowed herself to be jovial, but now he had sped them to the point of business. "Will you sit?" she asked him. "What I have to say may take awhile." He could tell she meant business and sat quickly in a chair nearby.

"I was raised among the -Don’t look at me like that, this is part of the story and it’s all relevant so pay attention. At any rate, I was raised among the Wizards of Harmony in the Farrish Mountains in the far north."

"That explains the accent," Taruk thought, though he had never heard another being use it.

"I had wandered there as a very small child. They could tell I was one of magic, but not their kind of magic. In fact, I was the complete opposite. They knew it then but when I showed up at their door, they could not turn me away. They tried to steer my magic toward harmony but they could tell that I suffered immense pain when they did, so they stopped. As I grew older, my skin grew paler and my hair and eyes grew blacker. When I was younger, I could wear whatever clothing they provided for me; however, once I reached the age of 10 any clothing that did not contrast would burn my skin and act as a shield to my magic. It grew more and more apparent that I was a Kilike a Kaotica, a Child of Chaos. My nature, which they and even I battled with, leads my life toward chaos. I do not wish it but it happens. Despite our differences, those of the Harmony loved this Child of Chaos, and this Child of Chaos loved them as well."

She paused for a moment, her eyes growing misty. "Then, on day, it happened. I remember it well; it took place some two years ago now. The day began dark, which disturbed us all greatly because the mountains were rarely dark. Especially in our valley, which was guarded by magic. I had been able to find it because of my kindred spirit but it used to be lost to most normal people. An ominous cloud settled over the mountains, turning day into night. Then, he came with his warriors, the dread lord Barob. The wizards were powerful, but not powerful enough. They were so peaceful and their kind had not fought for generations. They did, however, put up a good fight and killed scores of the warriors before the last of them was taken. I was captured, the warriors thought me a pretty oddity their master might want to see alive before he..I can not bear to call it by name. It sends shocks of horror through my veins. I did now know what it was at the time, I don’t know that anyone knows what it is before they see it."

Seline stopped a moment and glanced at Taruk. He was listening with rapt attention, his eyes wide. "But I soon knew what it was," she said, staring directly into his eyes.

"The warriors led me through piles of bodies. Those of my loving teachers and fathers were near him, Barob. Only one was alive when I reached there, the oldest and kindest, Rumhi. He had been inside, we forbade him to fight. This hadn’t stopped them from finding him though. I cried out to him when I saw him and his old, filmy eyes searched for the direction of my calls. That was when I first saw the dread lord himself. He was eight feet tall and immensely wide. Power glittered from every portion of his body. His head was shaved and painted with dark blue lightning down the side. He was clothed in the remains of animal and human alike. His fierce green eyes stared hungrily at the old man and that’s when I saw him enact that which I can not say. He.." she stopped, her voice growing weak. "He is a Gralione a Farogadi, which translates into Collector of Magic; however, that may sound a bit mundane because it loses its true, ominous meaning in the translation to your language and even to mine. It is in the old language of the wizards. Their prophets told of his coming one day, from the lands even further to the north than our mountains."

Taruk was shocked. "I always thought the Farrish Mountains were the boundary of the world, at that point someone falls into the nether-regions," he said quizzically.

Seline nodded her head slowly. "That was what you were taught to believe. That is what everyone was taught to believe. Even I believed it, living there. Part of the Harmony’s job was to maintain a wall of magic between the lands north of the mountains and rest of the world. They thought they could go against prophecy. They were wrong. I have strayed from what I was previously saying, I suppose its because I’m delaying having to remember."

"You don’t have to say it…if you do not wish to," said Taruk, not wanting her to become upset.

Seline shook her head determinedly. "No, I must tell you. You must know everything I know if you are going to help me." She closed her eyes and kept them shut as she recollected, "He took Rumhi in his giant hands and a tattoo that was on his chest began to glow a pale blue color. I couldn’t see it up close at that point, and I felt my eyes longing to see what it looked like. Rumhi was transfixed by it as well, even though he could not see I, I believe he felt it-the magic. The warriors around me seemed curious about it, but it didn’t hold that binding fascination for them as it did for us. It separated from his chest and uncoiled from the intricate twists it had previously been in. The tattoo then danced, weaving itself around Rumhi. Its twists and turns and coils were beautiful. While it moved, it turned different vibrant shades. I wasn’t close enough that it held me in its spell, I had simply been fascinated by the aura alone. I soon remembered Rumhi though, and looked from the swirling tattoo to him. Then, I screamed. Which each swoop it made, it seemed to take a chunk from him. Not of his body but of his soul and his magic. It ripped it from him, and his body convulsed with extreme agony at each swipe. Each time I screamed again and my mind was filled with the pain of my old friend. The men around me chuckled and let me go as my knees gave way and I knelt upon the ground in my despair. They could not see what I was seeing. Well, perhaps they could see the convulsions but they had caused dozens even hundreds of people to convulse at their own weapons. It was nothing new to them.

"Seeing this triggered something within me as well, adding to my pain. For the first time in my life, I remembered something from before I had come to the wizards. It was the sight of Barob doing this to my parents. I could sense they were my parents, though I did not know anything about them personally, at that point. I was hiding, I wanted to help them but they had insisted I get in the secret compartment. They had caused me more pain than death ever could, however, because there were peepholes from the compartment that looked right out to where Barob brought them. That was the first of many things that would come back to me, and it was the most devastating. I’m haunted my nightmares that bring me new faces and events from my life, then almost all of them lead to their own destruction."


She stopped and looked through a window, pausing to watch some children skip by, then continued. "When Barob was finished with Rumhi," she began. "He tossed the body upon the piles of others like it was nothing but an old hat. Then, he turned his eyes to me. I could feel my heart sink as he looked at me. I was more frightened than I had ever been in my entire life. I knew the end had come. I wasn’t going to let him kill me on my knees, so I stood and tried to regain as much composure as I could. I didn’t say anything and neither did he, for a few minutes. Then he stalked toward where I was and towered above me. ‘A chaos witch,’ he said with a voice that boomed like thunder. ‘Reminds me of home.’ He must have seen my amazement and his mouth twisted in an evil grin. ‘Yes, home, north of the wall. But how has such a pretty little bird gone this far south?’ I barely heard anything but the words, ‘north of the wall.’ The wizards had never told me but now I remembered how I had gotten there. I came from the north entrance, not the south. I also remembered…the wall.

"It had been designed to destroy anything that tried to pass through it but it must have weakened. When I had wandered through it as tiny child of 5. At that point, it no longer killed things of magic but still killed any normal creature that tried to go through it. It may not have killed me but it was hard. When I walked through the wall, it felt as though I had been shredded up. I remember screaming a good 5 minutes until I ventured to open my eyes and see that I was still whole. The memory passed quickly and I focused back on Barob. He had stopped talking, sensing I wasn’t there for a few moments. The tattoo had returned to his chest, I saw now that it looked like a melted face. Its expression was haunting. His giant hand reached toward my face and he push it up by my chin toward him. ‘You look like that couple whom I first enacted the Rense upon. I didn’t find any children and it seems the rulers of Penan would have an heir.’ I knew it to be true, it was really my parents he spoke of, and now I remembered that it was a crook of a castle I had hidden in. This brought many more memories. My face was full of pain; I couldn’t hide it despite my dignity. He didn’t care. In fact, he enjoyed my torture. Not that I expected any less. ‘Oh yes,’ he said cruelly. ‘The Rense was young then. It had not ingested very many of your friends yet, it was merely indulging upon the wall they thought protected them. This wasn’t enough to give it very much practice, so I’m afraid their deaths were quite experimental and not very swift.’

"My rage got the better of me. Without thinking I picked up my staff, which they had thrown it by my feet, and muttered a few quick words. It infused with a bright white light and I brought its thorn studded side against Barob’s legs, it sent sharp crystal and shocking power into his flesh but it barely seemed to affect him. Sure, the crystals stung and little but he was seasoned in pain. The power was merely absorbed by the…Rense. If I had thought longer I would have realized that. He ripped the staff from my grip and broke it across the middle as though it were a twig beneath his powerful hands. With the crack of the wood I felt as though something had been broken inside me. I lost all my energy and sank to the ground amidst my own tears. My staff is almost an extension of me," she paused the story to explain, patting the polished staff at her side. "The crystals store magical power so I don’t have to build it all at once. Much of the time I use it to give myself physical energy as well.

 

"I expected to end then-to feel myself lifted from the ground and have my magic and soul stripped of me. Instead Barob wrenched me too my feet, his hands gripped tightly upon my arms. He stared at me with an amused expression. ‘I wouldn’t recommend such foolish actions,’ he said. ‘You’ll find they cost more than they gain.’ I stared at the ground, refusing to speak or even acknowledge him. This was, yet another, mistake, he slapped me around and finally forced my head toward his. Our faces were inches apart. His breath was surprisingly well scented, tinged with his endless droves of magic. ‘I’m to die-to lose my very soul and essence. How could I possibly make anything worse than the coupling of that with the mental agony I have been experiencing?’ I asked with tears. ‘I have nothing left to lose.’ Barob stared at me for a few moments and then replied, in a voice that sent biting chills throughout my body, ‘Things can always be worse, and believe me, they will be for you.’ He set me on the ground and released one of my arms then took his free hand and ran it around my face. ‘Pretty chaos bird,’ he said. ‘Perfect for a gilt cage.’"

Taruk had listened to her with horror. He had never cried in his 19 years, even as a child. But tears flowed freely from his now morose eyes. Seline had entranced him, dragging his mind into her past. No tears were visible in her eyes but they were distinctly tortured. She had bared herself to him so he could further understand what they were up against. He realized that now he considered them as "we." Before her tale, he had been uncertain about his participation but now he could not imagine himself sitting in his forge while such horrors went on. Perhaps this had been part of Seline’s goal but he had a feeling she knew he would come with her before she even entered the building. He wondered if her sudden silence meant she was finished but before he could inquire she began again.

"Going into what goes on in the war camps in unnecessary. I lack the eloquence to truly describe the depths of disgust I feel toward it. Rape, death, and theft are simple ways of life. I didn’t have to experience it much, I was kept away from it-in the tent of the master. It is a different world but one no less disgusting." She stopped and sighed. "We traveled back north, they had destroyed my friends to clear their way for when they were ready. It was an entirely different world than the one that I gradually remembered. They set up a semi-permanent resident in the castle, which once belonged to my parents. It was a personal slap to me that they chose that in particular. Every night I was tortured with my nightmares, more fierce than they ever were and have yet to be outdone; however, it also provided my salvation.

"A small group of survivors from the area attacked one day. I knew they were doomed and I have a feeling they did as well. One of the women found me in my cage and recognized me after a few minutes of recollection. She found a way to free me and together we fled the castle. A bolt of lightning from the enraged fingertips of Barob ended her life before we could get far enough away. It hurt me to leave her but there was no way I would ever allow myself to be a prisoner again. So, I continued to run and used the little magic that had regenerated within me during my flight to enhance my escape. I found a safe place to hide and rested for a day and a night, building immense amounts of power. I knew Barob would be after me so I didn’t use anymore time than I had to.

"At the break of dawn I unleashed a quarter of the power I had stored and used it to transport myself back to the ruined site of the Wizard’s home. I used more than simple magic, of course, but the details are unnecessary. I buried every one of my friends’ bodies, I couldn’t bear leaving them to further carrion birds. Then I used another quarter of my stored magic to repair the two pieces of my staff. It was devoid of any magic it had previously held but I powered it back up later. I was lucky that the break had been clean and few of the crystals had sustained any damage. I knew I couldn’t pause there any longer. I put a small amount of magic into my staff for an emergency and then used the rest to transport myself as far away from there as I could. Since then I have been wandering. At first I had no objective, I simply wanted to stay as far away from Barob as I could. I kept away from people in general; they all brought back haunting memories. I found that in seclusion my nightmares were minimal but I still had them from time to time.

"After a time I grew lonely and wanted to see the world. I had known very few people in my life and all those whom I did know were all dead. I found a world that treated me like an outsider but I had an undeniable love for it anyway. I found I hadn’t gone very far south and so news of Barob’s presence reached me quickly. People told of the horrific warlord who was sweeping down to consume them all. I saw my own fright in almost every eye I met, even those who claimed to be fearless. I knew then that I was going to stop him, no matter what the cost to myself; however, I also realized I couldn’t do it alone. My quest brought me to looking for people to enlist but none seemed right. I consulted an oracle high in the mountains. His name was Frederich and he was a man I had met in my seclusion and whom I had great respect for. ‘Two others will join you,’ he said to me. ‘Your mind will guide you to them and your heart will tell you whether they are right. Do not let either sense rule over the other’s domain.’ I protested that three was hardly better than one but he silenced me with a look. He didn’t support his point with words, merely with that look. I still couldn’t comprehend how it was possible but I accepted it anyway. When he sensed my cooperation he continued, ‘The fates will tell me no more. You must seek out the one of the wood, but not until you are three. Doing so before will mean your doom. You will need this to reach the one of the wood.’ With that he handed me this." Seline stopped and withdrew a plain white stone from around her neck. Taruk noticed it shimmered from within and he wanted to reach for it but Seline returned it to its original spot quickly.

"This," she said. "Is the essence of his being. The fates had revealed something else to him that day. Which was that Barob would come to Frederich’s home in the mountains soon and he was not going to give the warlord the satisfaction of claiming his essence. He probably would have given himself in order to create it regardless, he knew how important our quest is. When the rock passed from his fingers, a quiet smile settled on his face and he lay back to expire with peace. I buried yet another respected friend and began wandering again. I succumbed completely to my subconscious mind and allowed it to guide me. It took me here to you Taruk. Perhaps I am wrong but I do not think so. So, are you ready?"

Taruk fought back a surge of fear and nodded his head, dumbfounded.