Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Tree of Life (TS) - Ambrosia Software Web Board

"Impossible, they're dead!" Altérius stared back at Wizard in fury. "You knew! I must applaud you for hiding it so well."

Wizard's hand was nearly free of the kesh ropes. Then he was going to deal with Altérius. Unfortunately, Altérius noticed that a miniature man, in this case Silver, was approaching Wizard to help set him free. "Pity you didn't guard the secret of the Tree of Life just as well," he mocked as he slapped Wizard across the face. This was no ordinary slap, for it contained a burst of energy with it.

Wizard fell to the ground unconscious, again. Silver leapt on Altérius arm and bit as hard as he could. Altérius yelped in shock, but Silver had already leapt away before he could respond. Within another moment, Wizard had been set free and was being dragged away from the battle to a safe distance.

Altérius chuckled as he shot another bolt of energy after them. "Keep your old fool! It matters not to me!" With a jerk of the reins on his horse, he was galloping away from the battle, leaving his men to their deaths.

His only concern now was to reach the Tree of Life before the others. Then, they wouldn't be able to stop him.

* * *

After Shanadar had awakened him with smelling salts, Wizard began to feel more rejuvenated. The ropes intertwined with kesh were now gone, and he began to feel his full powers returning to him.

"It's good to be able to think clearly again," he commented with an appreciative smile to Shanadar. Before he could say anything else, though, a small pack of rogue mages had noticed the two and made them the target of several spells.

Wizard prepared to block them but was only partially successful. After a moment of recovery, he looked down to his empty hands, noting the lack of his staff. "Do you have my staff?" he asked Shanadar over the noise of the battle.

Shanadar was too busy defending them to easily hear. All around them there was the clash of steel, cries of pain, and the interruption of magic bursting off the rock walls. "What?"

"My staff. It channels my powers. I can't use all of my abilities to their full potential unless I have my staff!" he yelled as he kneed an attacking mage.

"Staff. Staff," Shanadar paused to think to himself. "Oh yes! Sécundus picked it up before we left; I think he still has it."

"Thank goodness," Wizard shouted in response as he tried to fend off the same mage again. After an unsuccessful attempt to knock the mage unconscious against a rock, Wizard found himself thrown onto the ground. "This just isn't my day. . ." he muttered as he climbed to his feet.

The mage clubbed him in the stomach and forced him against a rock. Placing his hand around Wizard's throat, he began to choke him. Wizard closed his eyes to telekinetically stop the assault. Without his staff, his spells would be more draining, but he had no choice.

The mage seemed sure of himself until he began to feel strange. He began to feel as though something were moving inside him. Wizard's eyes remained sealed. The mage's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. In another moment, he exploded into nothingness as Wizard telekinetically destroyed every part of him.

Wizard sagged to his knees, somewhat weakened. Shanadar, amazed that the mage had been so quickly dealt with, helped him to his feet. "Where is Sécundus?" he asked, hoping to retrieve his staff.

Shanadar looked around for a moment and then gestured to the distant side of the battle. Sécundus was swinging his mace all about him but was being steadily overwhelmed. Wizard and Shanadar began to make their way in his direction.

"Why don't you go attack that guy over there?" Sécundus pointed the mages toward Rapierian. One of them actually stopped long enough to look, and Sécundus slammed his mace into him. "I don't know how much longer I can stop you. . ." he said, stepping back. He was getting more than a little concerned when Wizard and Shanadar came to his rescue. Shanadar bludgeoned one of the mages against a rock. Wizard, being unarmed, could only push another aside.

"Sécundus, where is my staff?" he asked as he punched one's face.

Sécundus was still fighting fiercely, "It's over there. I dropped it when these bullies began to attack me."

"Excellent," he smiled before being punched right back by the mage.

It took a minute or two, but Wizard finally managed to get his staff back in his hands. He sighed heavily as he felt mana channel back through him. Feeling very refreshed to have his staff again, Wizard hurled several rogue mages away from him.

The actual battle lasted only a few minutes longer. By the time the last enemy mage was defeated, Wizard noticed that there was a large number of one person running around. This seemed odd. At first he assumed that the person must have the ability to cast illusions, but then he realized it was not an illusion.

Rather, some entity that could break into multiple pieces. Wizard watched as it separated into yet more copies. It seems that we can't beat it through normal attacks, he thought. He stepped back as he examined the situation. Not noticing that Enna was right behind him, Wizard fell over backwards.

Enna was startled by an old man suddenly flying over her head, and she accidentally cast a spell. When Wizard looked up, every single imitation had been frozen. The group carefully walked around, trying to decide what to do with the frozen Blys.

"We can't destroy them by ordinary means," Yomu commented.

"I agree, they have to be totally destroyed, otherwise more will come back," Wizard said. "We can either incinerate them through bursts of energy or. . ."

"Or what?" Shanadar asked, tapping one of the frozen Blys.

* * *

A few minutes later, the mimic was melting into oblivion. Rapierian, after some convincing, finally agreed to cast his burning shadows on the frozen mimic. Fortunately, when the pieces of the mimic began to thaw, it had lost its form of Bly and was again a black blob. After another few moments the blob seemed to evaporate entirely under the necromancer's magical fire.

Once all of their enemies were gone, Shanadar returned to questioning Wizard, "Who was it that kidnapped you?"

Wizard wiped his brow and sat down on a rock. "His name's Altérius. He was a mage that I once battled with. He's just power-hungry. Oh, he remembers you Rapierian; in fact, he mentioned you by name." (Here Wizard smiled, recalling what Altérius had said earlier: "Revenge on that stupid necromancer who shot lightning at me.")

"You said he was a mage you once battled with?" Shanadar seemed puzzled by Wizard's choice of words.

"Yes, that's right, was. He was defeated; I watched him die."

"How is he alive now?" Rapierian didn't seem overly interested in the conversation but still asked a question.

Wizard shrugged, "I don't know exactly. It has to do with Satori. Somehow, her death brought him back to life."

"Is this the guy we were trying to rescue?" Muse joined the conversation rather abruptly.

"I assume I am," Wizard said glancing around to make sure no one was behind him. "I am the Wizard, but you may call me Wizard."

After this ensued Wizard's introduction with all the new members he had yet to meet, including as Bly, Yomu, and Spectre.

"Well, what do we do now?" Sécundus questioned.

"We stop Altérius! I, the weakling that I am, gave him the location to the Tree of Life. We now must beat him there," Wizard seemed very frustrated with himself.

"I thought you said that you didn't know the exact location," Shanadar said, remembering his conversation with Wizard regarding the Tree of Life.

"I said that to protect you. I have run across, in all my research, information that suggests it is in the southern mountains, just east of the harpys' part of the woods. So there we must go."

"How quickly can Altérius get there?" Sécundus asked.

"I don't know, but we mustn't tarry. This isn't just a treasure hunt. It's a race against evil! If Altérius finds the Tree, the whole island may be in danger."

Everyone began to imagine the possibilities of what the Tree of Life may do and how much they would not want it in the wrong hands. So, not wanting to delay any longer, they set out.

Their heading was south, and they could only hope to catch up with Altérius to stop him. Rapierian remained near the back of the group, reading something in his book. He didn't seem as concerned as the others about the possibility of Altérius finding the Tree of Life.

Using Rapierian's map, the group was making good time over the mountains. There was some debate about whether they should just cross the mountains and then turn south over the plains or head southeast over the mountains.

At the moment, they were moving fast enough that it did not seem to matter. Already, they had passed over several mountains and were midway over the mountains (in an east-west direction). They had also traveled quite a few miles south.

Everyone knew that they must be getting close to their destination...

After some while of traveling the group entered a dense forest. The trees were tall and old and moss and ferns had grown large everywhere. As they prgressed further into the forest a thick mist arose, this did not boother some of the group but Silver seemed to be quite anoyed by it. After some time of walking Yomu (who was now grounded) spoke up, "Stop." he said turning his back to the rest of the group, "What is it Yomu?" someone asked, "We've... been here, before..". At this the group looked around to see if they could remember anything about their current surroundings, "Well... maybe, but you could just be mistakin because of the mist.", "No I think he's on to something." some one muttered.

"This mist is laced with Mana," continued Silver, "so either we're near a natural Mana-fountain, or we're travelling through a powerful spell." He glanced at Rapierian, "Perhaps -he- could tell us more, but I'd guess that this mist is either a Teleportation, or Madness spell, meant either to keep us in, or out of a small area." Silver addressed himself toward Rapierian, "We're very close to the Tree, aren't we?"

Spectre groaned. The mist was too close, and it seemed to swirl oddly. It smelt wrong, somehow, not like normal mist, sort of... sharper, somehow, more edgy. She wasn't sure if that was her imagination or not. No one was commenting on it. She couldn't hear what Silver had said over the headache that was building.
Different types of pain. She didn't know what was happening, and all she could do was rub her head from time to time as the pain arced through her skull.
Hadn't they been here before? She was going to point this out, but someone interrupted.

Rapierian glanced up from his book.

"Well, certainly! There's a tree over there and another over there—oh, you mean the Tree of Life, don't you? Well, I'm certain it must be somewhere around here."

Losing his patience, Shanadar snapped, "Just answer the question!"

"Which one? Can I tell you more or we near the Tree of Life?"

"Both!"

"Oh, sure, I can tell you a lot of stuff that I bet you don't you know."

"Just tell us about the mist!"

"Oh, that? Well, it's white and—"

"Just tell us how to get out of here!"

The necromancer looked around once.

"Well, it seems the mist is some sort of illusion that will keep you turning in circles. However, there is a way through, provided you can follow instructions exactly. It seems that certain landmarks (unique trees, rocks, etc.) can be followed to lead one out. I hear that the first one is a tree that looks like an old man, so like the old Wiz goat here."

The old-man tree was easy to find, once they realized that was who Spectre was mumbling something to. Following Rapierian's book, they went straight forward from the tree, but not before Wizard used his power to clear Spectre's mind a little; it wouldn't do to have a confused comrade, only Rapierian disagreed because he liked bugging them.

It was not far to a delicate-looking bush carved from stone, at which point the book told them to make an acute angle back & to the right, followed by a perfectly normal looking boulder that happened to be directly in their route. The book pointed them left from there.

About then Enna got so extremely bored that the moss started walking around looking for a pastry, so that it was nearly impossible to look anywhere without the risk of being confused. Luckily, the leaders were able to resist being affected, & they continued on safely. From time to time they would pass a wolflizard which would stare at them dolefully, or fill their lungs with the stench of death. It was not a pleasant labyrinth, but at last they made it to the end, & a verdant hollow gouged into the mountainside greeted their bemused gaze.

In the centre of the hollow, as if to Balance the approaching Tree of Life, stood a tree of death, it's saw-edged leaves like a flytrap poised on the end of sundewed limbs awaited the unwary creature. Only the whitened skeletons of wolflizards broke the monotonous pavement of ratlizard bones beneath the tree. No plant would dare enter its immediate domain...

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 29 November 2007 - 10:24 AM

Rapierian continued forward casually, not disturbed the macabre sight at all. To him, the tree was more of a matter of interest and the death and darkness that it reeked of something familiar and natural.

His book had discussed this tree. It was a sentinel that guarded the way to the Tree of Life. Anyone attempting to reach that Tree would have the life sucked out of him by this tree of death.

The book had stated that one with a knowledge of life or death could perhaps slip through the trap...

As the necromancer neared the ominous branches, they abruptly stirred, causing someone to gasp and step back.

The branches moved more and then shot out toward Rapierian. The necromancer held up his staff as the branches collided with him and he momentarily vanished under their assault.

Wherever the saw-edged leaves or branches touched the necromancer, green sparks shot out. After a few moments, both Rapierian and the tree began to ripple. A howling whine began to fill the area, growing louder by the minute and causing some to cover their ears.

Suddenly, the tree exploded.

Wizard threw up his hands and blocked the debris before any of it could hit the group. Recovering from their surprise, they cautiously entered the hollow.

Rapierian was staggering to his feet next to the tree trunk, which was yet intact. (Someday, the tree itself would regrow and once more stand vigil.)

"One less 'frightening' sight to scare Cythera's mightiest heroes," he sighed dramatically, before subsiding into a fit of laughter.

"Now what?" someone asked. "Where are we supposed to go now?"

At that moment, there was a rumble and the ground shook slightly.

Behind where the tree of death had stood, part of the mountainside slid back, revealing a shadowed pathway.

Readying themselves, the group ventured forward. Somehow, everyone knew this was the next and probably final step on their way to their goal...

Shanadar walked with the others, the resounding sound of footsteps breaking the silence resonated as the group trudged on monotonously. He had said little since they had retrieved Wizard, save for the occasional berating of Rapierian to keep the rogue Necromancer in line; all he wanted was to get his elderly compatriot home, but it was clear that this matter about the Tree of Life was far too important to ignore. It held the sort of importance that drives heros to questing; the importance that the Enforcer strove to avoid where he could, so that he might better serve to better the lives of those he was charged to protect in a more subtle and immediate manner.

But nonetheless, he had little choice in the matter. He had swore to see this through, and Wizard was adamant that his former kidnapper not reach the Tree of Life.

Then again, if Altérius knew the location of the Tree, he would not have been interested in Wizard's opinions of its location. If Wizard had not told the fiend, as he was sure he had in his delirium, the location of the Tree, Altérius would still be unaware of its location.

Shanadar paused an stole a glance back towards the entrance.

If Altérius was ahead of them, wouldn't the sentry tree already be fried as Rapierian had done to it? What if he was, in fact, shadowing the party, as they found their way around the numerous dangers and pitfalls prepared for them along the narrow path?

What, then, if such was the case, now that the Tree of Death was neutralized, what would stop him if he tried to follow?

As unlikely and pessimistic as it seemed, the Enforcer wanted as few risks taken as possible. After all, the whole reason they were on this damned crusade was a matter of paramount imperatives anyway. And, as such, he quietly moved closer to the Necromancer he despised within the narrow ravine, and made a quiet remark.

"Rapierian" Shanadar said in a low whisper, but in a tone that clearly denoted that he was addressing the Necromancer.

The Necromancer paused for a moment, perhaps surprised that the Enforcer was addressing him without adding an insult.

"Rapierian" he repeated, with a hint of urgency.

"What is it?" the Dark Mage replied, quietly, but nonetheless somewhat annoyed.

"Do you think you could set up a few traps?" the Enforcer queried, "Discretely?"

"Perhaps" the Necromancer mused in reply, "Why do you ask."

"Lets just say I don't want any surprises from behind" Shanadar said, then glanced around momentarily to make sure no one else was eavesdropping, "But I don't want to start a panic either."

Rapierian thought about it for a moment, before answering. "Considering you neglected to insult me, for once" he returned, "I'll take your proposal into consideration."

Muse continued along, following the others, clutching tightly onto her newly acquired spear. It had served her surprisingly well despite her initial uncertainty towards it. She rather preferred using weapons that allowed her some distance between opponents. However, she felt rather guilty for holding onto it, thus rendering this Yomu completely weaponless...oh well...he can fly...

Despite the spear, she still felt quite powerless, knowing that most of her magic had been depleted and was recollecting itself ever so slowly.
She looked down to her other arm in which she clutched the book Bly had allowed her to borrow. She opened it only to find that the pages would no longer turn.

"You've completed the basic course" said a voice behind her.

"Oh" Muse responded to Bly, who had apparently looked over her shoulder.
Without another word she simply handed the book back to him.


This morning she was bored as hell
She had somehow managed to find herself in a different world
discovered she had magical powers
used them all up in one instant
she had been attacked by a robot,ruffians, a dragon, and some other mages
somehow she was still alive and traveling with a group of mages, people who can fly, and one very unlikeable fellow
they had found the old wizard guy and now they were in a rather scary looking place looking for a tree


Now what.

They looked ahead into the pitch black tunnel ahead of them, "Gah, this looks like it could go on forever!" Muse said putting her hands in her pocket, which none of the other members but Bly recognized. The enforcer who had taken the lead with Wizard spoke up and said, "Do you smell that?". They had been in this tunnel for the better part of an hour when the faint aroma of fresh started to fill the cave, Wizard stoof still for a moment and exclaimed, "Ha! Well I'll be! I could have swore we were going deeper into the mountain!".

The group emerged into a wide, flat, stone opening in a clearing on the mountain, and directly infront of the exit of the tuunle was, a door. The massive door looked as if it could dwarf the mountain. 20ft stone pillars were lined perfectly to the door, but their bottoms could not be seen through the snow, on the door was a carving of a tree, the tree of life. The colossal carved stone door left the group in aw, "Deer lord!" someone shouted.

Yomu's memories hit him like an arrow, they periced his mind. The markings on this door he had seen before, deep within the catacombs of another mountain. "The box!", he whispered to himself as he reached into his bag, "No! It's gone!". Yomu felt foolish for not checking earlyer, if he had known it was missing he would have at least tried to recover it during their last battle. By this time they were almost at the door which from their distant scorch marks could be seen on it, "What is it Yomu?" Bly said giving Yomu a puzzled look, "The box I had, is gone." Yomu said in a somber tone, holding his head down, "It's just a box right? I'm sure it can't be that big of a deal." Bly said feeling sorry for Yomu, but not knowing the box's true power.

As they finally neared the door the scorch marks could be seen more clearly and while Rapierian was examining the burns Muse had overheard Yomu and Bly's conversation, "Say Yomu, just what did that box look like anyways?", Yomu looked over to her and said, "It looked almost liek a jewlry box but it was small, silver, and one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.". Muse thought of the box it seemed somewhat fimilair but dismissed the feeling after see saw a glint in the snow ahead.

She walked over to it and called back to Yomu and said, "Hey Yomu, what did that box look like again?" in her hand was a small, silver, box.

Bly was starting to have a good day again. His headache had just about vanished, and Muse had finished his spellbook's basic course in magic (and had given the book back to him). To add to that, the mysterious silver box (whatever its significance was) had just turned up, and this 'Alterius'...

...say, where was Alterius, anyway?

Bly opened the book, and watched as the page cleared and showed the normal use screen. Bly said 'Book, I want to carry out a geosearch on a magic user named Alterius. Notify me when the search is done.'

The chime that indicated the search was complete sounded almost immediately. And while everyone else was clustered around the box, asking questions, Bly opened the book once more. The page cleared, and displayed


Alterius
Magic User

Location: about 40 yards South-south-east of here (by closest landmark, 30 yards beyond nearby door)

Bly, realizing what this meant, quickly ran over to the others, yelling "Hey! Hey! I just did a magical search for this Alterius guy-- and he got there already! He's right ahead of us!!"

This post has been edited by SoItBegins: 06 December 2007 - 04:35 AM

As Muse made her way back towards the others, carrying the tiny box, Yomu's eyes widened and he was at her side in an instant, carefully extracting the box from her hands. Muse beamed as the others rushed around her. Finally she did something useful, but she wondered just why exactly this very important box had been laying as if tossed randomly into the snow. More so she wondered just what exactly it had to do with the Tree...She tried to remember something but just then Bly spoke up, stating that the guy they were after was ahead of them.

Muse wondered how he had gotten past the other tree, but shook off the thought. There were more important things to deal with at the moment. She felt as if her powers had halfway returned now, but she still held onto Yomu's spear tightly. She would give it back to him if he asked...but until then, she decided she'd just hold onto it. She sprinted back over to where Bly was. He knew more about her powers than she did, and he was the one who knew where this bad guy was. She figured she'd stick by him and await instruction.

"Does your book know how to get past the door?" she asked, not knowing whether that was a ridiculous question or not. It seemed to know a lot of other things.

Yomu stepped forth and spoke up, "I'm sorry, I should have told you all sooner." a puzzled look grew over the group, "This box, it must be the reason I'm here for you see..." Yomu told them of his quest into the catacombs of the mountains where he fought the basilisk, and he found the silver box. "What do you soppose it means I wonder?" said Bly, "Well we're having trouble getting in the door, it's most likely used for that! Yomu give it here." Yomu handed the box to Wizard, but when he tried to open it he couldn't, "Just a little-" Wizard gave up on strength and tried magic to no avail. Almost everyone in the group had tried to open the box, including Rapierian who couldn't and only said, "Must be broken.", until the enforcer passed it to Muse, "*sigh* Here Muse I give up, you give it a try.". Muse took the box and walked up to the door, she looked up at the door and starred down at the box, it was very pretty. As she looked at it she slid her fingers over the lid and with a light pull, light began to pour our of the box! Everyone gasped at this blinding light, and Muse had to cover her eyes. As the light engulfed the group a powerful voice could be heard, "All that I am to the worthy, and the worthy hath come.".

"Good, good! Just had I expected it!", Alterius stalked the group, the traps they laid for him were merely an insult. He had come to the door long before they arrived, and, had tried to open it. He tried to open the box but couldn't, and that's when he got his evil idea. He would make it look like he had already gone through the door, leave a scorch mark here, a ghost up ahead, and most importantly a carelessly tossed away box. The group had fallen into his trap and now it was to late to get out.

As the light started to fade away the group could feel it sucking them up, "What's going on?!" Muse screamed over the loud noise, but before anyone could hear her the noise stoped, and the light was gone, in fact all light was gone. "Muse? Is that you?" Some said hearing her scream in the darkness, "Yes, but where is everyone?". Yomu reached into his pouch and pulled out four torches and lit them, "Never know when you'll need a torch," he said as he tossed them to others, "and Muse tap the spear twice on the ground and it will act as a light scourc-" Yomu was interrupted by a gasp. "It-it's him!" someone cried out pointing ahead to, of course, Alterius. "My my, your more helpful than you look Wizard!" and as he said this Alterius jolted ahead into the passage, and the faint glow of his light disappeared as did his menaicle laughter. Wizard yelled out in frustration and Bly seemed quite upset that he had fallen for this trick. "Have I done something bad?" Muse said, Yomu looked at the frustrated group, "If anyone is to blame it's me, if I hadn't had the box... none of this would be happening.". There was a silence and then Rapierian spoke up, "Oh come on now! Where's that fighting spirit you heroes are so good at? We're here aren't we? Lets stop standing around and get moving, or I shall die of boredom!" after he said this he turn his back to the group and continued on. "He's right said Bly." and followed after him as did the rest of the group.

This was it. Moment away was Alterius, the tree, and perhaps the end of their long journey. There was no turning back their fates were written.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 06 December 2007 - 02:33 PM

Rapierian was amused by the turn of events. Considering that Yomu's box had somehow ended up ahead of the group, it made sense. Unlike the others, he was not really worried...


Ahead of them, the Guardian waited.

Mortals now drew near.

For eternities, he had guarded the Tree of Life against all unworthy, both to keep it safe and to keep others safe from it.

For almost all mortals, the Tree's fruit would ultimately prove to be a curse...

In addition, the Guardian sensed that among those coming were at least two dark beings who should never be allowed near what he guarded.

The best course of action was not yet clear to him. It was his duty to protect the Tree, but he was not a malevolent being. Wizard was with them, and, perhaps, the Guardian could trust to him to take the wisest course. Indeed, that thought and knowing why this group came here were a large part of what made his course unclear.

The spectral figure of the Guardian (a being who's physical form had perished before he even took this duty) faded back into the shadows to wait just a little longer.

As they journeyed through the dark tunnels, Silver was once more keeping the younger girls company. Enna, having come from the wild, was happily chattering on&on like a bird. Retsy on the other hand, though older, was terrified of every variation in the terrain, & Silver had his hands full keeping her from outright panic, until Enna noticed that her friend was upset. Then, working together, it wasn't -too- difficult to keep Retsy too preoccupied to be very afraid.

Bly could sense it. Something extremely odd was going on here. What was Alterius's stake in this? Why was the Tree so valuable? He had almost read it, back before he came here. What was it again...?

"...he who saves the apple is better off still, for he--"... What was it that that book had said?!

Bly put the matter out of his mind for now, and turned back to the main other problem. Something didn't feel right... what could it be? Was it what that semi-crazy fool, Magpie, had said about magic being lies? Could it just be his gut warning him about being within a mile of Rapierian?

In the end, Bly gave up trying to figure it out, but he unlocked the 'Restricted' page of his spellbook and got his new teleport spell ready.

Just in case.

This post has been edited by SoItBegins: 17 December 2007 - 04:50 AM

They had been in this dark, musty cave-maze for a long time. At last, they were nearing the end of their journey.

The giant doors had been opened thanks to Muse’s help, and the group rushed out of the tunnels, into the light. At first, it seemed that they were on the top of a mountain, as indeed they were. There was a stretch of nothing but snow and ice, but a little ways down this slipper path, they emerged into a fertile garden. There was something about this place that seemed calming. Despite that Altérius was just a short ways ahead of them, the adventurers began to feel relaxed and refreshed. Wizard felt something very akin to delight as his eyes washed over the beautiful surroundings.

In the middle of this sanctuary there rose a plateau and, on top of it, a single tree sat. The Tree was tall and colorful; somehow, the magnificence of this single Tree seemed to feed the abundant life and tranquility to the rest of the garden. On its branches could clearly be seen three red apples. “This must be the Tree of Life that we have been seeking. . . so it does truly exist,” Wizard took a step nearer the Tree of Life, staring at it intently.

Suddenly, Altérius came into their view as he appeared from behind a wall of large bushes. He was running towards the Tree. “Looks like you’ve lost again, heroes,” he mocked as he climbed within feet of the Tree. The group had nearly forgotten Altérius in all the splendor of the garden, but the party immediately set off after him as soon as they saw him.

A wind began to blow. Dust drifted around in the breeze -- tiny specks of black dust. They twirled and hovered randomly between Altérius and the Tree. Within another moment, the dust began to clump together. The growing black lump started to take the form of a man.

“You are unworthy!” A deep voice bellowed from within the shaping being. Altérius stopped out of surprise. Seconds later, the fully materialized figure of the Guardian was standing in front of Altérius. The group also stopped their advance towards Altérius upon seeing the Guardian.

The Guardian was cloaked in black, his face hidden under a cowl. He was tall, probably eight feet, and his large muscles made him look threatening enough to frighten even the stoutest of hearts. “You may not pass.”

Altérius was shaken for a moment, but only a moment. He somehow rekindled his courage and faced the Tree’s guardian without flinching. “A guardian?! Oh how novel. Well, what would it take for you to stand aside and allow me passage to the Tree of Life?”

“You are unworthy. You may not pass.”

“Well, you seem repetitive. Perhaps you are not an intelligent being?”

“Admittance to the Tree of Life is not bought. You are unworthy.”

Altérius glanced back at the group; they had started to creep closer again, hoping to grab Altérius upon his retreat. But that wasn’t what he had in mind. “Very well. I can see that you are not going to help me. Stand aside.”

The Guardian did not reply. He stood staring, at least it looked like he must be staring, at Altérius.

Altérius was not surprised by the Guardian’s reaction; he lifted his arms and flung a powerful bolt of energy at him. The Guardian slid back a few feet, but he absorbed most of the impact unharmed.

“You’re a little stronger than I had anticipated, but that poses no problem,” Altérius said as he was preparing another bolt. But the Guardian suddenly hit him in the chest. Altérius was not able to block the attack and was sent flying away from the Tree, over the group and into the mountainside. The blow was audible, and it sounded as though Altérius may have received a few broken ribs from it.

Wizard took a second to watch the Guardian’s next action, but it did not do anything further. Then Wizard, followed by the rest of the group, began running back to where Altérius was. They did not want to give him another opportunity to run now that he was behind them.

Altérius stumbled to his feet and held his head for a moment. “Whew, he was a lot stronger than I had expected.” Looking up, he noticed the group running towards him. His mood instantly shifted, and he became filled with hatred again. “Idiots, why can’t you stop following me!”

“Altérius, give yourself up! You can’t reach the Tree past that guardian, and, even if you do defeat him, we’ll be right here to stop you. Everything that you have done wrong is in vain; it is time you do something right. Surrender!” Wizard tried to talk reason into their enemy, but Altérius was not listening.

“Nothing I have done is in vain!”

“Oh no,” Wizard observed in shock as he watched Altérius. Altérius seemed to summon all of his mana to him. A thick cloud of fury and rage surrounded him; he was not going to run anymore. He was going to single-handedly fight with the group at last. The others in the group began to prepare their own spells.

Altérius began the fight. He leapt hundreds of feet into the air, and moments later, came crashing down on top of Wizard. He hurled Silver away, remembering that Silver had been the one to free Wizard earlier. Shanadar’s club flew into the air out of his reach. Altérius was about to fling Muse somewhere, but the group had recovered from the surprise of his landing and started to target their spells at him.

Rapierian shot a bolt of lightning at Altérius, which knocked him off of Wizard. Bly, having prepared his teleport spell already, suddenly materialized behind Altérius and swiftly swung his sword at his head. Altérius responded immediately, grabbing Wizard’s staff to parry the blow.

Altérius thwacked Wizard across the face with Shanadar’s club. Yomu dove onto Altérius, driving him onto the ground. Muse took advantage of the opportunity to shoot bursts of electricity into him. Shanadar grabbed his cudgel again and began to beat Altérius head with it. Altérius eyes filled with rage as blood streamed down his face. Altérius lifted his arms with all of his might, and everyone on top of him was catapulted into the air.

Wizard was able to get to his feet again. He retrieved his staff from Altérius with a telekinetic missile. Rapierian began to fry Altérius with lightning, but he recognized the necromancer and screamed. The lightning shot off into the mountain as Altérius deflected it away. Silver leapt onto Altérius back and began to encompass him in a metallic cage, entangling his arms and legs with vines of metal. Wizard helped Silver by holding Altérius in place as best he could. Altérius cackled evilly and began to float off of the ground, lifted by the sheer mass of mana he was using. He smiled as Rapierian shot another bolt of lightning at his head; the bolt was deflected ever so slightly to the side and went surging through Silver’s metallic net.

Electricity ran through Silver as smoke rose from his clothing. He winced in pain as the magic exploded around inside of him. Being unable to bear any form of magic that was too close too him, he lost consciousness for a moment. The metal slid off of Altérius, leaving him free. Silver fell harmlessly to the ground.

Wizard stared for a moment at the fallen Silver and then directed all of his attention back on Altérius. He shot a wall of telekinesis out of both hands that sent Altérius flailing back against the rocky mountainside, pinning him there.

By this time, the others had rejoined the fight. Yomu shot a fireball at Altérius. Bly teleported next to him and prepared a mystical arrow. Shanadar leapt towards him with his club and swung wildly at him, hoping to beat some sense into the mischievous mage. Muse did not feel that she could do very much yet, being new to magic, but she still managed to summon up a variant of fireball.

Bly shot his mystical arrow, but Altérius had worked his way out of Wizard’s telekinetic prison and was in the air again. Altérius dove down at Rapierian but was burned by several “shadows” that began to surround the necromancer. Wizard, standing near Rapierian, flung his staff into Altérius face and knocked him over again.

Silver was awake again. He threw several knife-shaped metallic blades at Altérius. The rogue mage was already off of the ground again; he dodged the first two blades, but in the process was skimmed by the third. He turned angrily towards Silver and telekinetically propelled the three blades right back towards him. Silver quickly dove out of the way.

“This guy doesn’t know when to quit,” Shanadar remarked as he ran back towards Altérius.

Rapierian launched another barrage of lightning at Altérius. Wizard waved his hand, trying to fling Altérius back against a tree. Altérius blocked both attacks and jumped into the air a third time. This time, Wizard leapt after him.

An aerial battle ensued between the two. “You are fueling your hatred too much. It has already taken you over.” Wizard telekinetically punched Altérius.

“I hardly think that is a bad thing. Look at the power I’ve gained! I can finally kill all of you!”

“Kill us? You’re losing. Just look at yourself.” It was true. Altérius was bleeding all over, and he had probably already broken most of the bones in his body. Had he not seemed to have an adequate mastery of telekinetics, Wizard was sure that Altérius was fall apart before his eyes.

“Losing? Ha! Maybe you’re jealous that I have this power and you simply can’t beat me?” Altérius pushed on. Bly’s sword flew out of Bly’s hand and into the air where Altérius was, he used it to attack Wizard.

Wizard, armed with his own sword, blocked most of Altérius’ attempts.

“Don’t you see, old man. I was given this power!” Altérius burst into laughter again. “It - it was a gift! Satori generously donated it to me upon her death! Ha!”

“You’re totally insane. . .”

“Insane? Oh yes. . . Watch this!” Suddenly, much to Wizard’s surprise, Altérius flew up hundreds of feet further into the air, but Bly’s sword did not. Bly’s sword shot back towards Wizard, who had to block it. Wizard assumed that Bly’s sword was meant to hit him, but it was not. Wizard’s own sword was pulled from his hand unexpectedly while he was trying to recapture Bly’s sword from Altérius’ mental grasp.

Altérius came flying down at an incredible speed. Wizard’s sword fell into his hand as it was pulled up. Altérius dove towards Wizard as fast as he could, but he was not prepared for Wizard’s next action. Wizard suddenly spun around, wielding Bly’s sword. The two collided.

In Altérius’ hand, Wizard’s blade pierced the old mage’s shoulder, missing his heart due to his sudden move to the side. Wizard’s aim had been true; Altérius had flung his stomach directly onto Bly’s sword.

Altérius gasped as the cold steel smashed into him. Wizard, not realizing that he hadn’t completely dodged Altérius, felt the blood running freely from his shoulder.

The group below watched in horror as the events unfolded. They wished that Wizard would return to the ground so that they could all engage in a fight with Altérius.

“Your power really helped you there,” Wizard smiled cruelly. “Ah, it feels good to be rid of you at last, after all you’ve done to me and the others.”

Altérius looked up at him. For a moment, his face was filled with sorrow and pain, perhaps he felt remorse for all that he had done, perhaps more. Then he became dark again. “You’re still nothing more than a worn-out, weak mage. . . you old fool.” He chuckled evilly.

Rage came over Wizard’s own face. “Old fool?” He seemed shocked that this man had the nerve to still call him an old fool even after he had finally defeated him. In this confused state, he lowered Bly’s sword and Altérius began to slide off of the blade.

Wizard made up his mind. this man was too evil to deserve any sort of peace. “Oh no, you’re not getting off that easily,” he yelled in anger as all of his power came into his mind.

“What are you doing?” Altérius could feel that something wasn’t right. Wizard was telekinetically invading Altérius’ body. Altérius tried to block him, but he was not prepared for an infuriated Wizard’s strength, especially wounded as he was.

The group was hoping that Wizard was not seriously injured, as he had not yet come down, even after apparently defeating Altérius. Wizard, forgetting the presence of everyone else but he and Altérius, probed inside his enemie’s beaten form. The rogue mage screamed without warning when Wizard began to destroy his bones. Crunching them together and shattering others, Wizard seemed to be gaining some sort of sadistic pleasure from Altérius’ suffering.

As Altérius continued to scream shrilly, Wizard’s face was unchanged. He continued to channel his power into Altérius for destructive means. Then, his face lightened and his eyes widened as he realized what he was doing. This was not necessary, even after all Altérius had done to him. Altérius should be tried and punished by the mages, or even Alaric, but not him. Altérius’ pleas finally reached his ears and he dropped his telekinetic hold of him.

Crippled, and slightly deformed, Altérius limp body fell to the ground. He slammed into the grassy garden hundreds of feet below. Wizard remained in the air for another few seconds, watching Altérius on the ground. He felt his shoulder’s wound again and descended to meet the others.

The rest of the group surrounded Altérius quickly. Once Wizard reached them, he could see that their long-sought enemy was dying.

“I. . . did not intend to get so carried away. I should have remained on the ground so that we could defeat him as a group. I’m sorry,” Wizard said this to no one in particular. And no one spoke for a moment.

Shanadar at last responded, “We may not have defeated him on the ground. Besides, that villain had this coming to him.

Wizard was consoled by Shanadar’s words, but he couldn’t help but feel that he had been too quick to anger as he looked on Altérius.

The group left Altérius to die in peace.

They walked towards the Tree of Life. At last, they had reached it. The Guardian descended from the plateau on which the Tree sat, gliding towards them. He did not appear to have feet to walk on.

Maybe now they could get some answers concerning the true power of the Tree.

It was time. Time to find out why this, this-- villain-- sought the Tree so badly. Time to understand.

Bly was trying to remember exactly what that alchemy book had said. He wracked his brain for a few seconds. Then he gave up, and decided to take the simple way out.

"Book," said Bly to his book of magic, "I authorize you to enter my nonconcious memory, at a point immediately prior to my return to Cythera. I was reading a book. I remember some of what was on that page, but I need the full text. Begin."

And as the book's page cleared and began to display an exact replica of the page from the ancient alchemy text, Bly turned to the others and said "I'm sure the information I'm dredging explains why Alterius was seeking the Tree so badly. Hopefully this text will give some answers..."

Bly took a glance at the page, and began to read.

'Verily, the great Tree is not of that worlde of darkness and of dreams; nor is it of our owne. He whosoever eats one of the red apples that grows on it, he shall gaine the capacity to see beyond; he who saves the apple is better off still, for he may make of it a drink, that, in its taste, contains the true essence of goodness.'

Below that was a recipe. The spellbook had helpfully added an annotation that explained the exact product of the recipe, and the expected outcome with one of the apples from the nearby Tree of Life.

Bly blinked, re-read the page, re-read the page again, then turned to the others.

"I'm sorry, but just below that my spellbook explained what will happen of you use the Apples from the Tree as they were likely intended. It appears that the only thing you will gain is the best apple cider you've ever ta--"

The bolt of lightning hit Bly at the base of the spinal cord, first sucking out every drop of his magic, then extracting nearly all of his life energy, then finally frying his nervous system with incredible force. Bly collapsed. At the same time, another, similar bolt assailed the Guardian. He vanished.

And Alterius, having fired the bolts, rose from the ground, like someone having cheated the Devil with the money for his own funeral.

This post has been edited by SoItBegins: 04 January 2008 - 02:03 AM

Altérius lay on the ground, eking out the last moments of his miserable life. He eyed the Tree of Life enviously with the one good eye he had left. This should not be the end. It could not be the end!

He had worked so hard to get here; he had carefully planned each step of the way. How was it now, that in the few minutes remaining before his victory, all of his plans came to naught?

“Verily, the great Tree is not of that worlde of darkness and of dreams; nor is it of our owne. . .” the one they called Bly began to read from his book regarding the Tree of Life’s powers. Altérius looked back at the Tree. What were the Tree’s powers? Did it matter anymore?

. . . Perhaps there was a way to find out. The Guardian had descended from the plateau he had been on and was now some distance from the Tree. Altérius gazed at the Tree, never having felt so helpless and desperate before. If he could just. . .

Altérius summoned all of his strength to him, the strength he had and the strength he didn’t. Too broken to walk, too beaten to even move, the dying mage slowly began to lift himself off the ground with whatever powers he had left. His body sagged as he was lifted out of the thick pool of blood that had been growing around him.

He moved weakly towards the Tree, getting ever closer. He had escaped notice by all of the group so far. Too tired to continue, his mind began to wander and his consciousness flickered. But his body pushed forward, being moved by pure instinct more than deliberate intent.

The Tree was just above him. Merely basking in its shade caused Altérius to feel more life flowing in him again. But he would not make it much longer. He stretched his hand towards the branches as far as he could, but it was not far enough. A branch began to bend towards him, pulled to him by his mind. He could feel one of the luscious apples against his fingertips.

One more stretch. . . At last! He had the fruit of the Tree of Life in his hands!

He put the apple to his lips and feebly took a bite.

"I'm sorry, but just below that my spellbook explained what will happen if you use the apples from the Tree as they were likely intended.” While Bly spoke, the Guardian’s form began to quiver. The cowl covering his face turned to face the Tree.

Life began to surge through Altérius again. All of his wounds closed, even the one inflicted by Wizard that had pierced his entire body. Blood ceased to pour from his veins, and energy renewed whirled around him. His bones were perfect once again, as well as his vision. Just one bite of the apple had provided him with more life and more energy than he had ever felt before. He glared at the group through eyes reddened with hatred.

“It appears that the only thing you will gain is the best apple cider you've ever ta --” A bolt of lightning suddenly struck Bly’s spinal cord, interrupting his sentence. The lightning surged through his body, sucking out all of his magical energy, and nearly killing him. Bly collapsed on the ground.

Simultaneously, another bolt of this lightning assailed the Guardian. The Guardian had sensed it and turned towards it in preparation. The lightning energy surrounded him for a moment before he vanished, tiny specks of ethereal dust drifted away on the wind and out of sight.

And Alterius, having fired the bolts, rose from the ground, like someone having cheated the Devil with the money for his own funeral. His eyes nearly took on a red glow as he stared at the group. His feet slid off of the ground, carried by the sheer volume of his telekinetic power.

He looked at his hands as magic flowed down his fingers and over his arms. He laughed so loudly that it seemed to block out every other sound. “I have won! I have won! Now, I will take this wretched island for my own and slay everyone who lives!”

The group was too shocked to say anything. Altérius shot another bolt of power from his hands, one intended to kill the rest of the group. Wizard created a telekinetic shield in front of him to deflect the bolt, but he was not strong enough. The bolt absorbed Wizard’s shield, though losing some of it’s potency, and shot towards Wizard. It slammed into the old man, sending him sailing across the garden into the mountain wall.

Muse looked desperately around, “How are we supposed to beat him now?”

The wind blew. For a second time since their arrival to the Tree, the group witnessed the Guardian’s figure take shape out of clumps of black dust drifting in the air.

“You! I thought I’d killed you.” Altérius prepared another spell to destroy the Guardian.

“You cannot harm me. I lost my physical form a long, long time ago.”

As if to test this, energy charged down Altérius’ arms and erupted from his hands in the direction of the Guardian. The Guardian was unmoved. The lightning shot through him and disappeared into the ground with a crash.

“If he can’t hurt you, then why don’t you kill him?” Shanadar shouted.

“He has eaten of the Tree of Life, and thereby received asylum from me. I can do nothing to directly damage him.” Despite how frustrating it was to the group, the Guardian did not seem in the least disturbed by the rules he was bound to follow.

Altérius nearly laughed another time, but the Guardian spoke again. “You, unworthy mortal, have violated the sanctuary of the Tree of Life. I must purge this place of all evil influence. . . I suggest you all leave.”

The Guardian transformed into a cloud of dust and disappeared. No one spoke for a moment; some members of the group had slowly begun to creep away from the Tree toward the cave maze they had earlier emerged from. Suddenly, everything started to vibrate. Then shake. Within seconds, it seemed that the whole mountaintop was quaking violently.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m leaving.” Rapierian, without even looking back, began to walk briskly towards their only exit.

“As much as I hate to agree with that rogue, I think he’s right,” Shanadar turned to leave as well. “Run!”

Somebody grabbed Bly; Wizard had recovered from Altérius’ attack, although he had injured his leg. The whole group set off as fast as they could to escape.

Altérius stood next to the Tree on the plateau for a moment longer, watching as the mountain seemed to fall apart. Then he glared again at the retreating group. Forget that stupid Guardian, if I can’t kill him! But them. . . I won’t forget.

Still feeling more powerful than he had ever before, Altérius felt certain that he could overpower the already tired “heroes” and still escape from here. Magic blazed over his arms as he lifted off of the ground. He telekinetically flew after the group, streaks of magic gliding through the air behind him.

“He’s following us,” Wizard shouted to the others as he limped along. “I hope we can get out of this cave maze faster than it took us to go through the first time!” Moments later they were back in the darkness of the cave, surrounded by the musty air they had been so relieved to emerge from earlier.

“I’m not really sure if being in this cave is safer than being in the garden near the Tree of Life. Out there everything was open, but here everything can collapse on us!” Sécundus observed as they ran along.

Wizard replied first, “This whole part of the mountain may collapse in the Guardian’s attempt to “purify” it. We’ll be safest if we can get out of here and away from the Tree entirely!”

“Besides, it’s too late to turn back now,” Shanadar gestured at Altérius, who was still gaining on them.

“You cannot escape me!” Altérius’ laughter echoed throughout the entire cave.

They ran into a larger cavern now. “I think it’s this way!” “No, I thought we came from the other way.” “Pick one!”

“There’s my rune!” Sécundus ran in front. “I placed several glowing runes along the maze so that we could find our way out.” Following Sécundus’ runes, they were able to find their way through the cave more easily this time, but Altérius continued to get closer.

“Look! There’s light up ahead; we’re almost out!” Yomu yelled.

Muse covered her ears as another burst of Altérius’ laughter taunted them. “It’s no use! Even if we make it out of here, he’s still going to escape, too.”

“Unless we can slow him down somehow. . .” Wizard stopped and turned to face Altérius.

“Wizard, no! This whole place is going to collapse any minute!” Shanadar tried to stop him, but the old man was persistent.

“Run! I’ll catch up as soon as I can stop him for just a moment.” Wizard closed his eyes and his staff began to glow more and more brightly. Altérius gained speed, smiling in the hope that he would finally crush this old adversary. He knew that Wizard didn’t have enough strength left to stop him.

Wizard was stronger than he had realized. With an audible bang, Altérius slammed into Wizard’s own blast of telekinetic energy. He fell on the cave floor, stunned for a moment. Wizard smiled at his success, but he knew not to dally. He would just have to hope Altérius would be stunned long enough not to have time to escape.

“Come on!” Shanadar called back to Wizard. Still limping, the mage turned and ran after the others.

Hmm. . . he’s still much stronger than I had anticipated, Altérius began to babble back and forth to himself in his unstable mind as he lay in the dirt. Putting both hands on the ground, he pushed himself up and continued pursuit of the group.

“Curses! I wasn’t able to stall him long enough, he’s still going to get out, too!” Wizard shouted in frustration after looking back.

“Maybe. . .” They could not see who had spoken at first. Then, the ghostly form of Satori materialized before them.

“Satori!” Wizard was the most shocked to see this apparition. “I thought you were dead!”

“I am dead. But my spirit is still bound to this world, because of the one who seeks to destroy you. When my body died by explosion, my life energy was released. It somehow joined to him,” Satori’s ghostly finger pointed to Altérius. “He now has life. . . and my power is still linked to him. I will stop him. Go!”

The light was just ahead of them; Rapierian had already made it safely out of the caverns. Wizard stared back as Satori confronted Altérius. Shanadar had to grab him by the sleeve to snap him back into reality. They all ran.

Altérius gasped when he saw Satori. “No, no, no, you’re dead! Get away from me!” He tried to run past, but he was pulled back by some unseen force. More and more rocks began to fall from the ceiling, as dust fell everywhere.

“You have robbed me of my sleep. You have forced my spirit to wander this world. You have misused my power to destroy those whom I died to save. . . You will not escape this time.” The ghostly Satori continued to float between Altérius and the exit. The cavern shook uncontrollably; it was going to cave-in any moment.

“No! NO!” Altérius tried to run past again. He nearly made some headway, but Satori was still blocking him.

Satori’s face showed that she was putting extraordinary effort into stopping Altérius. “Finally. . . I shall have the peace I have sought. . . “ Dust fell on all sides around her.

Wizard was the last one to make it out of the cave, behind Silver. He made a flying leap through the opening to the cave just as a large rock crashed onto the cave floor, nearly sealing the exit.

Altérius screamed as he realized his approaching doom.

Satori seemed to smile, the last thing visible of her face before a rock landed in front of her. It seemed as though she was almost taking on her physical form again as she pulled her power back from Altérius. Her blue, ghostly appearance wavered back and forth between her true form.

Altérius screamed a second time and dove for the entrance, but could not make it past Satori. “No! This isn’t the end! Never! You will never be rid of me, Wizard! Do you hear me, old fool! NEVER! I will haunt you to the day you die!”

*Crash*

A huge rock fell, sealing the cave entrance. The ground continued to shake for another few moments as the cave fell in on itself. Satori could no longer be seen; Altérius could no longer be seen. The group sat for a few minutes in silence, as the dust from the cave slowly cleared from the air.

Altérius’ last words remained on Wizard’s mind for quite some time.

Still no one had spoken when the Guardian appeared behind them. “You have finished your quest; your friends are all safe. Thanks to the help of Satori, this sanctuary has been cleansed. It is best that you go home now.”

“What about all of this? The Tree? What will become of the Tree of Life?” Sécundus asked.

“The Tree of Life is a strong, living tree. It will heal. All of this will heal. . . in time.”

Shanadar asked the next question, “And the fruit? Altérius ate one of the three apples.”

“There will be three again. There are always three on the Tree of Life.”

“What does the fruit do?”

“You have seen. It heals. The Tree of Life yields perfect, life-giving fruit. Despite the myths popular among your species, one bite does not grant eternal life. But, continual use does cause longevity of life. Being as perfect as anything in this world can be, it is also incomparable in taste to any other fruit you will find elsewhere.”

Wizard climbed to his feet. “What of Satori?”

“The one named Satori made her choice. Her spirit should now be at rest.” The Guardian stood for a moment saying nothing. “Farewell, heroes.” With that, he scattered away upon the wind.

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 13 January 2008 - 02:44 AM

Yomu stood and stared at the broken mountain side as his breathing began to calm. "..."

Above them was the sun. Yomu had heard many tales that ended with a dawn, but never a noon. A whole day had passed since they entered the chamber and only now was Yomu starting to feel sore. He had a gash in his left shoulder and the pain in his back to remember the batter with Alterius. The man was evil definitely, why he had come here, Yomu only knew fragments. Pondering on this Yomu fell upon the question of why he came.

He had his belongings back, and Alterius had never even known his name. Was it fate that he be at that tavern that night, that he should be the one to retrieve the key to the chamber of life? "Hm!", Yomu laughed to him self, "These are questions to ask to a preacher."


The guardian had returned briefly to give explanation to a few things, then seeped back into the mountain in gasish form.

Yomu turned around after the exit of the guardian to find Muse over Bly. Bly was still unconscious, Muse looked to Yomu worried and said, "I think he's dying!". Yomu could see the color disappearing from Bly, slowly turning pale. Yomu ran over and tried to think of what to do but his mind turned blank, then Yomu spotted something in his hand, a torn page. Yomu pried the page out of Bly's stiff hand. It was from a spell book, though Yomu could not understand it, it's formula was beyond his knowledge.

By now the others had gathered by him, "Looks terrible." Shanadar spoke out. Wizard stepped out from behind them and said, "It's no good, that blast hit him on the lower part of his spinal cord. Even if we healed his injury, he would be a vegetable when he woke up.". Yomu stood up, "What about this page? He was holding it very tight. Surly it must do something?" Yomu said handing it to Wizard. Wizard's face lit up, "My this is quite good, however the cost of this is devastating. I would not risk performing it, it would surly kill me in the state I am in now." Muse shouted, "The solution is in your hand! There must be something!", to which Wizard responded with a laugh and, "Oh yes, yes there is. Come over here Muse." Muse walked over to Wizard and he put his hand on her forehead.

"Now stay calm and close your eyes, there's still some stowed away magic in you yet." Wizard looked over the sheet one last time and his hand began to to spark! "My my!" Wizard exclaimed as bigger sparks flew out of Muse's forehead, "What's happening?!" Muse closed her eyes tight as Wizard began to chant and grasp Bly's hand.

"It's now over yet, come back." Suddenly a final flash was emitted from Bly and then it slowly faded away. *gasp* Bly inhaled deeply as he jolted up. Yomu saw through the tear in his clothing as the scar form the lightning slowly shrank and disappeared. "I see you found my page!" Bly yelled and then laughed. "What was that?" Muse said in awe of what happened. "Oh I'll let Bly explain if he wants. *yawn* That was tiring I think it's about time to head back." Wizard said as he walked towards cliffside.

Just as Wizard walked away a shiny object plummeted from the sky, it was Silver. "Ouch!" Silver had bumped Rapierian on the head and richoshayed over towards Yomu. "Are you all right?" Yomu said know it was a dumb question to ask but couldn't help himself from asking it, "Ugh, yes, I think I'll be fine. That blast of magic nearly got me! Good thing I flew just in time. Mind giving me a lift until I can pull myself back together?" "Sure" yomu said throwing him on his back.


"A lot has happened since I met all of you, why I did, I do not know and not all of it I understand, but I'm glad I came. Thanks for having me." Yomu said this with a smile but was sadden for he knew that once they were back at the tavern he would leave. It was not his way to stay at a tavern and relax, he knew he would go back to his own business of being a fetcher. At least he would have the memories.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 13 January 2008 - 03:05 AM

Bly awoke. After a second, the memories flooded back. At the tree. Reading from the book. Then, searing pain, and blackness.

His next impulse, to check to see that he was all there, brought more surprises. Seeing the page from his spellbook held in Wizard's hand, he knew exactly what had happened. "You found my page!" he said, laughing because he was glad to be alive. Somehow, the Book (which he had always suspected of being partially sentient anyway) had improvised a spell to revive Bly with the knowledge it contained. Sometime, he would figure out exactly what the book had done. Today he was just glad to have survived.

As the party set off for Cademia, safe now from marauding golems, incredibly tough wyverns, megalomaniac wizards (if you didn't count Rapierian), and the like, Bly knew that he would have to return to Earth soon. Even with the time difference, it couldn't last. His home was on Earth.

That said, he now knew the way here. And as he chuckled, watching Rapierian curse in 3 different languages as he rubbed the bump on his head, Bly knew that he would return.

Soon...

This post has been edited by SoItBegins: 13 January 2008 - 03:41 AM

Lush grass swayed and dust settled, Wizards steps made little noise as he wandered behind the group. Something was bothering him, something was not quite right. He turned, robes swishing as he spun around, the collapsed entrance to the tunnel sat barring the way to the tree of life.
And thus he thought, of the wind blowing through the trees. The call of birds, and of the peacefulness that had settled over the land. He outstretched his arm and flexed his will, the most prominent stone that had fallen glowed and part of it reformed into runes.

Wizard turned and began to walk back to the group....... laughter, happy laughter resonated throughout the forest, and then it faded. He smiled...

For someone who gave themselves redemption....
Who was a friend....
Who protected us....
Who endangered us....
Who was not ever truly loved or known...
We forgive you...
Rest In Peace.

Rapierian was somewhat annoyed that someone had managed to hit him in the head yet again. He wasn't actually cursing, more wishing that he had had more fun. Briefly, he considered destroying Silver, but he was forced to decide against doing so, mostly because he felt the others might complain.

He was amused about Satori's end (no one could ever accuse Rapierian of being a caring person; in fact, most made the opposite accusation) and Altérius's as well.

When Rapierian looked back for a moment, he saw Wizard creating the monument.

"Ah, so sentimental, aren't you, old Wiz goat?" the necromancer said when the other got close enough. "Well, either that, or you just enjoy playing with rocks. If you are grieved, perhaps, you should not have let her die? Ah, well, at she entertained us again, as she did last time she died! Is that not the most important thing?" He laughed and stepped away before Wizard could respond.

As they went along, he pondered the events. The necromancer was quite certain that there was more to the Tree of Life than the Guardian had let on, but he did not bother to tell anyone else so. The others might have been surprised to learn that Rapierian had no real interest in the Tree of Life. After all, he could always steal the lives of others . . . which always promised to be so much more fun.

Thinking about that future amusement cheered him greatly, and, as they went on, he began to chuckle and then to howl his mad laughter, causing the forest around him to echo with it.

Epilogue

Bly walked through the darkened passageways of LandKing Hall, musing about the events of (he now came to realize) the past several weeks. He was glad that he was alive at all-- without the assistance of his spellbook, he would have been another monument. It turned out that the book had combined two of the spells on the 'Restricted' page, the spell to rewind time and the prototype magical shield, to create a spell that would retroactively shield someone from harmful magic.

Bly was glad to be heading home. For one thing, he would be as far from Rapierian as possible. That nutjob of a necromancer had started laughing maniacally as the Wizard had been creating Satori's memorial, and hadn't stopped for at least half an hour. By the time it had ended, Retsy and Enna were both hiding behind trees.

The party had gone their separate ways at Cademia. Before he returned to LandKing Hall to prepare to return to Earth, Bly advised Muse to talk to King Alaric about returning home. Bly, on the other hand, instead of heading for the Hall immediately, took the opportunity of his return to clear up a number of small misunderstandings. For one thing, now the chroniclers who had spread the most inaccurate version of his story at least knew that he was not ten feet tall. As for Muse... he would have to look Muse up, see if she lived near his location on Earth. Maybe, he and she could become friends.

Bly continued to pace through the dark halls. At this time of the night, everyone was asleep. Well, almost everyone. A shadowy figure was standing a few dozen paces off in the hallway. Bly groaned. He knew that silhouette a little too well.

It was Magpie.

"Hello, Magpie," said Bly. "What keeps you up at this time of the night?"

Magpie grinned. "I had to stay up, and watch the warrior's triumphant return!" he said, brightly.

Bly wasn't at all sure what to make of that. "Whatever. Seriously, why are you up this late?"

Magpie grinned again. "Why are you up this early?"

Bly was beginning to remember why he generally tried to avoid talking to the fool. That said, he was just slightly glad to see him this time. Something Magpie said had been nagging at him.

"Magpie," he asked, "when we last spoke, you said something about magic being lies. What did you mean by that?"

Magpie's grin stayed prominent. "Because they are! You lied to the universe and told it you were not dead! And the universe believed you!"

It took Bly a while to figure that one out, but when he did, it didn't help. Magpie was referring to when Wizard and Muse had healed Bly with the page from his spellbook. Bly tried to reason with Magpie, even though he knew it was futile. "Yes, but--"

Magpie wasn't done talking. "Magpie has to be getting some sleep, so that he can know that he's woken up in the morning. One thing more, I have to say to you: You see your journey as a quest, as an adventure, as a game...do you not?"

Bly nodded. "Well, I wouldn't put it at all like that--"

"Well then. If it is like a game, then I ask you this. Did you win... or did you lose?"

Bly unsure of how to respond, said "Wait a minute--"

...but there was no one there. The hallway was empty, Magpie having vanished as silently as he had appeared.

Bly continued walking, until he found what he was looking for: the cupboard in which he had stored all his Cytheran gear when he had last returned to Earth. Bly then put all of his equipment and oboloi in it. As he was about to put his spellbook in, he was struck by a sudden thought.

"Book," he said, suddenly excited, "could you make a small copy of yourself, something I could take to Earth with me?"

A pause. Then, the spellbook began to shudder. A small, leather-bound book, about the size of a journal, appeared in a flash and landed on top of the spellbook. Bly took the journal and put the large book in the cupboard, then locked it with a magical lock. Now all that he had left to do was actually return.

Walking through the door of the magical chamber, Bly stood in the center triangle. The candles and braziers, as always, were lit, and the triangle was glowing. Bly closed his eyes, and with an exertion of magical power, dreamed he was back on Earth. It wasn't hard. He could feel himself fading into...




"...brary will close in 15 minutes. If you have books to check out, please take them to the Circulation Desk now. The Library will close in 15 minutes."

Bly sat up in his chair with a start. It looked as if he had nodded off again. He really would have to get more sleep one of these days...

Then the memories flooded back. Cythera. The quest to find the Tree of Life. The final end of Alterius. Had it all been a dream? It certainly hadn't felt like one. What could have happened?

Was it real?

Bly put the book he had been reading on a reshelving cart, and turned to leave the library. Then, he noticed that he had apparently left something on the table. The object was a DVD case, with a DVD-R inside. On the disc in ornate Gothic lettering, written with marker pen, was 'Spellbook'.

Bly looked at the case, blinked, shook his head, and looked at it again. Then, he took the DVD and walked out of the library, knowing three simple things.

It was real.

Cythera exists.

I will return.