II - Under Watchful Eye

The Lore of a Loremaster

Topic/Postby Liandrix » 05 Nov 2012, 20:58

Liandrix carefully picked his path on the grassy hills that lead south, away from Lordamere Lake. Falen had kept them at a brisk pace for the past hour and not for the first time Liandrix wondered if Falen had plans to reach South Shore before dawn. They had started out after sunset and now the darkness surrounding the pair was almost absolute. The only thing that kept it at bay was the reading orb Falen had apparently taken from the Archives.

Liandrix was about to voice the question of how Falen knew where he was going when all of a sudden he took a right turn and vanished into a dense line of trees. Liandrix dove in after him and followed the now miniscule light in front of him, all the while dodging branches and keeping his clothes from tearing.

The shadow around them seemed to thin the farther they penetrated the woods and Liandrix quickly realised that there was a large source of light up ahead. Judging by the flickering Liandrix could tell it was a bonfire. When they arrived at the makeshift camp Derreck was rummaging in a pack, throwing out what seemed like ingredients on a piece of ground he had cleared of leaves. Falen threw the orb carelessly on the ground and approached Derreck.

“Do you have everything?”

Derreck grunted, and Liandrix, who had etched closer to the proceedings, noticed that Derreck had not only cleared the leaves off the ground but had drawn what seemed to be spells in the earth. It was a large circle divided into seven pieces by a star, and each part had a sign drawn into it. Liandrix had read enough about runes to know that these were not runes at all, although the circle and star seemed to be a basic element for a drawn arcane spell.

Meanwhile Derreck was busy dividing the ingredients over the seven signs, covering them up with earthroot, seaweed, woodsplinters and what seemed to be the skins of potatoes and some more spices and herbs Liandrix could not identify in the gloom.

“Are you ready to experience magic you’ve never seen before?” Falen said from behind Liandrix.

“I don’t think I’ve ever even read about it before,” Liandrix said uncertainly.

“You wouldn’t,” Derreck said from his position in the circle, “aren’t many books about Troll magic.”

So it was Troll magic they were attempting Liandrix thought. He had never seen it before, and the only reference he had found was in his own book, heavily despised by the Holy Church of the Light who called it the magic of nightmares. Suddenly Liandrix wondered what the mages of Dalaran would think on the use of Troll magic.

“This Troll magic relies heavily on these attributes and rituals, we’ve tried out some simple stuff together, but this particular ritual required three people,” Falen explained as he threw his travelling cloak over the reading orb.

“What sort of rituals have you tried?” Liandrix asked, his curiosity boiling.

“Simple stuff,” Falen replied. “Small hexes and incantations, but this time we wanted to try something else. Something big.”

Derreck seemed to be done with the ingredients. “We’re going to summon Troll spirits,” he said bluntly.

Spirits?” Liandrix asked aghast, “like … ghosts?”

“No, spirits,” Falen said. “Spirits are the foundation of Troll magic, it’s how it works. According to their belief any object holds a spirit, which is why we use them for our spell.”

“So why here?” Liandrix asked next. Something about this whole idea was bugging him, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. He felt like it was something he had read not too long ago, but he could not recall it. Aside from that, his curiosity seemed to dim his feelings of worry, and also, Liandrix was sure he had never read anything on Trolls before.

“There is a small ley line here, a strong source of Arcane power,” Falen explained. “We’ll be sure to need it for a spell of this magnitude.”

The feeling nagged at him again, stronger this time, and for a moment he lost his curiosity as he thought about why this all made the fine hairs on his neck stand on end.

Derreck looked around, as if he was looking for something he dropped, then straightened. “All right, everyone take your places.”

“Just pick one of the longer points of the star and stand on its tip,” Falen said as he himself picked one with his back to the bonfire.

With his curiosity back in place he made to stand on one of the star points and Derreck did the same. Liandrix looked down at the inscriptions in the earth. What was it about this that wasn’t right?

Then Falen raised his hands and silence seemed to suddenly press in on them all, the roaring of the fire behind Falken seemed to dim and the sounds of the forest grew weaker. Then he started to chant. Falen spoke a number of words Liandrix had never heard the language of. In fact, he was surprised that Falen was capable of pronouncing the words; they sounded strange in his ears, as if Falen was chewing his tongue while he spoke them

Nothing aside from the silence happened for a moment and Liandrix waited patiently on his spot, sometimes throwing Derreck a look to see if he had to do anything specific, but Derreck just stood there, waiting. After a while Liandrix thought he heard a point where Falen started over, and a moment later he recognised the end of the chant. He was repeating it over and over again.

Minutes passed and even Derreck seemed to be wondering what took so long. Liandrix himself was wondering if Troll magic was supposed to be this slow when suddenly the fire behind Falen shrunk to half its original size. Liandrix stared at it and suddenly recalled the words he had told Master Cohlien about a frostfire bolt.

If conjured with an additional binding solely between the attributes needed you could make ice burn like fire.’

Why did this pop into his head all of a sudden?

Falen stopped in mid-chant, and another silence was added to the former.

“Falen?” Derreck asked, his voice uncertain.

Falen was still standing in the same pose, his arms and head slightly raised, his mouth half open as if he had forgotten his words. His eyes weren’t moving.

A dull hum struck the air and Liandrix’ eyes shot back to the bonfire. Then everything happened at once. The humming noise disappeared and the fire suddenly popped out, leaving not even smoke behind. Falen stumbled forward, catching his breath as he tried not to fall over. Derreck started forwards, but before he had made a second step fire bloomed into existence behind Falen again with a roar that made the earth shake. The bonfire burst into life, twice as big as it had been left before the ritual.

Liandrix had one second to appreciate the heat coming from the fire before the circle and star on the ground started glowing, thick smoke billowed up from within the circle. Liandrix looked down and saw that the outlining of the drawing was glowing, but that the seven unfamiliar drawings had turned black as coal, as if they had been on fire seconds ago.

Suddenly Liandrix understood. The connection between the fire, the bindings of frostfire, the spell drawn in the sand, the strange markings and the hum in the air all linked together. He suddenly felt like fainting.

“Falen,” Liandrix said weakly from his end of the spell. He cleared his throat and shook himself mentally.

“FALEN!”

Falen seemed frozen on the spot, trying to avoid the blaze of the fire behind him. His feet seemed stuck to the ground. Behind him the fire seemed to grow even bigger.

“Falen! You need to—“

The fire suddenly changed colour. The bright orange and yellow hues were replaced by blue and purple shades. Then with a thundering roar that went through bone the entire wall of blue flame shifted towards the spell on the ground, engulfing Falen entirely, his scream dying as quick as it started. The fire reached the middle of the circle. Liandrix’ eyes met Derreck’s but before either of them could open their mouths the night exploded in a purple blow of sound and heat. The impact hit Liandrix like a brick wall and flung him into the darkness.

The world around him seemed to have vanished. There was no light, no sound, and no movement around him. No, there was sound. It was a constant high tone that Liandrix couldn’t place. It filled his head and made it throb. Well if he felt pain than surely he had not yet died.

Liandrix rolled over on the grassy floor. Apparently he had landed on his back. The impact had driven the air out of his lungs and it felt as if he was using them for the first time as he drew a deep breath. Slowly normal forest sounds began to return to his hearing, and after a moment he could discern his shadow. That meant there had to be light behind him.

But before Liandrix turned around to meet the source of it he noticed that his shadow had a purple tinge. His heart faltered as he remembered the colour of the flames before they had exploded. He forced himself to turn around and he met with a towering substance he couldn’t possibly name. It was at the same time liquid and solid, smoke and earth, fire and water. The creature seemed to have no limbs or other attributes that would give it a clear definition. But it clearly had a mind of its own. It approached Liandrix, forcefully showing aside bushes and trees in order to get to him.

Liandrix scrambled to his feet. At a second glance he saw that it had shrunk a lot since he saw the fire column engulf Falen, but somehow it did not ease him in the slightest. His mind raced, trying to order his thoughts. He had forgotten the conclusion he had pulled right before the explosion.

Suddenly the monstrous creature jumped at him; or rather, it projected itself from its middle and the top and bottom followed. Liandrix jumped aside, too dazed to even think of casting a shield of some kind. Again he bounded to his feet and didn’t turn around until he had put some distance between him and the glob of magic. It was still heading for him, making a strange sound Liandrix thought sounded like a giant rumbling stomach. What had they conjured?

Liandrix sought the peace in his mind, a trick his mother had taught him. He decided to test out the creature with small magical pricks to see how it responded. He started with casting a small shield without elemental attributes, but the monster ran through it as if it were smoke. Next he tried a small frostbolt, a firebolt, and even a frostfire bolt, all the while retreating step by step. His attacks did not seem to affect it at all.

Suddenly it stopped. Liandrix stopped too, peering anxiously at the giant mass. It was widening itself, stretching out as if creating a barrier between Liandrix and what lay behind it. Liandrix could see through it more easily now and the trees behind the creature shone with a dark purple glow.

He felt it rather than heard or saw it. Goosebumps appeared all over his skin as he whirled around to the sound of another monster that looked exactly like the stretched creature in front of him. Now Liandrix understood the other monster’s movements: it was making sure he could not escape. Its sides grabbed at trees and pulled bushes from its place as it crawled to form a wall of smoke and curling water around him and the other creature.

Then Liandrix spotted something in the creature behind him that made his knees weak: Inside the other monster Falen floated, lifeless, still in the same posture as before with his hands protectively around him, but his eyes blank. His edged appeared blurred in the monster. Another understanding thundered through his mind: the creature hadn’t shrunk. It had multiplied during the explosion.

Liandrix heard a growl behind him and he realised with a shock that he had been walking backwards into the wall of magical substance that was the other creature. Suddenly the creature with Falen lunged in the same way the first had, its middle shooting towards him.

Liandrix had no way out. No way to stop it coming and no way to avoid it. In a wave of panic he dove on the ground, arms first. His hands had almost touched soil when suddenly there was an impact to the ground that shook the nearby trees. Earth shattered beneath his body and around him a wall of dirt flew up to meet the purple blobs of magic. It stopped the advancing one dead in its tracks.

Liandrix struggled to his knees as he tried to make sense of what happened. He found himself lying in a deep hole in the ground, a few feet below the monsters. The stunted monster lunged again, covering the hole. Falens face swam before Liandrix’ clouded mind. His head felt thick and heavy, his arms would no longer move. He felt weak and helpless as the water that turned into gas covered him. He was about to join Falen. The world turned purple.

There was a flash of blinding light and Liandrix covered his eyes with heavy hands. The light hurt his eyes and shone through his eyelids even with his arms blocking it. When the light was gone, so was Falen. There was a gaping hole in the mass of the creature where Falen had been, and the gassy form slowly covered it again, regrowing itself. Suddenly an arm plunged through the crack that was still open and without waiting for Liandrix to reach out and grab it, it buried itself in Liandrix’ robes and pulled him through the creature.

The sensation of going through the creature felt bizarre and seemed to last an eternity. Liandrix could only describe it as falling apart. His hands and feet seemed removed from the rest of his body, his head swam worse than ever, his hair pulled at him and his eyes hurt as if he hadn’t closed them for days. It felt as if he was slowly being erased from this world.

And then suddenly he was through. With a deep breath Liandrix entered the darkness of the forest. He landed among the leaves and small branches scattered across the forest floor. His strength and mind seemed improved from the moment he had been covered by the creature, and he turned around to face his saviour.

In the darkness, framed by the purple light of the magic that they had summoned with Troll magic, Wald rose from his crouching position and towered over Liandrix. His grey, poor-looking robes and long lanky hair were in place, but instead of a confused look in his eyes or a childish grin on his face he wore his features like a warlord on a campaign. It was all Liandrix could do not to quail under that look.

With both hands Wald grabbed Liandrix’ shoulders and brought his face close to his as behind him the creatures both rose as if preparing to attack.

“Stay on the ground,” the old man said. He had spoken in a normal tone, and yet; it had not been a request, it had been a command.

Liandrix hastily raised his hand, pointing in alarm to the purple gas cloud that was now hovering dangerously close but Wald had already turned away before he could open his mouth. Liandrix stared as Wald spread his arms aside, as if to say he knew not what to do. There was an impact to the air that blew back Liandrix’ hair and both creatures stopped moving. Wald raised his hands and from the ground under each creature a golden circle rose to enclose them. It split into four circles and encased the substances that were both gas and water and solid.

The creatures resisted. Both were emitting squeaks like frightened dogs and attempted to escape their bindings but every time a part of them pushed beyond its golden cage it seemed to burn itself and retract. Wald brought his hands together with apparent difficulty, and the creatures followed, their prisons colliding to form one creature in one round cage, the bright shafts of light turning in place, round and round.

The scene seemed frozen aside from the moving golden bars. Wald and the creature were no longer moving. Liandrix still sat on the ground behind him and tried to make himself as small as possible. It took minutes before something happened. A dull hum struck the air around them that quickly rose in volume until the darkness positively vibrated. Liandrix was surprised the trees around him were not struck by the power that radiated from the old man in front of him.

This can’t be Liandrix told himself This is Wald, my crazy roommate.

Slowly the gold of the rings turned ashen.

I must be dreaming … or dead.

The rings were black now and the creature seemed to burn until it had all turned into a big black mass. The air now shook as if there was an earthquake without earth, or a tornado without wind. It seemed to reach a pitch at which point Liandrix pressed both hands firmly against his ears in an attempt to shut out the horrible feeling of his brain turning inside-out.

The black ball of smoke suddenly shrunk to the size of a marble and the feeling of relief that washed through Liandrix as the air and his head suddenly stopped trembling were short-lived as in the same second an explosion that came from within the black marble thundered through marrow and bone as it blasted Liandrix against a tree, his right arm crunching under the rest of his body.

There was a short moment of clarity mingled with a stabbing pain in his arm during which Liandrix seemed to be overviewing the scene from above. A lingering fog of light surrounded Wald while the orb that had exploded was nowhere to be seen and the darkness seemed to be closing in from all around him. The realisation that he was falling from up high where he had hit the tree struck him right before he met with the ground, and the darkness became absolute.

*
"The motivation to study the Arcane should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.."

~ Loremaster Liandrix Emmot
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Liandrix
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