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HTN 4-16 A wizard's secret
🕑 Added 2020-09-01 20:17:16 +0000 UTC
Heather rounded a corner and then dived back as a ball of fire raced her way. She scrambled away as the ball hit the wall and exploded, the intense heat causing her to cover her eyes. The flames subsided seconds later, leaving a burned ring on the wall.
“Alright, he still has magic, and I have this,” she said, looking at her scythe. “I can sprint but can’t close the gap fast enough.” She dared to peek around the corner and ducked back before the corner exploded in a cloud of fragments as a bolt of light struck it.
“How am I going to do this?” she asked herself and then heard a voice in her head. “He's too far down the hallway,” she replied to Webster. “I will be burned to a crisp before I get halfway there.” She listened to the reply and shook her head. “I can't do that!” she yelled. “I won't have control, and I can't take it off.” Webster shuffled around in her pack, and she felt decidedly uncomfortable as he pushed the crown to the top .“What do you mean I can take it off?” she stammered as his words continued in her mind. “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that, do you think it will work?”
“Who are you talking to?” Breanne asked as she came out of the wall.
“Where have you been!” Heather hissed in panic from the sudden interruption.
“I went looking for Frank and Quinny, but they were gone. I followed the tunnel, and it branched so many times, it became impossible to guess where they went.”
Heather nodded and took a deep breath. “I am out of magic power, and the wizard is too far down the hallway for me to reach before he fries me.” She watched Breanne drift closer to the corner, inspecting the damage before looking back with a slight smile.
“I will give you a distraction,” she said. “When you hear my wail, run as fast as you can.”
Heather nodded as Breanne passed into the wall and waited, gripping her scythe tightly. A few seconds later, there was a piercing wail, and she bolted around the corner using her dash skill to close the ground as fast as she could. She saw Breanne chasing after the wizard, who was stumbling through an open doorway.
When Heather reached the door, they were already inside, but the situation was dire. Breanne was bound in glowing chains in the corner as the wizard ran across an open room. The floor was made of large stone tiles, two meters on each side, and the walls lined with pillars. As he fled, the room seemed to stretch, the distance between him and her getting further. Dark gaps appeared between the floor tiles as they floated apart, leaving spaces that would have to be jumped to cross. Below was a blackness like ink, devoid of any detail or discernible mark. Heather stood in the door, afraid to enter the room as the wizard cackled from the other side.
“What’s wrong?” he called. “Is your magic not strong enough to cross the room?”
Heather looked down and told herself it was just an illusion. The floor was there, and the room was only a few meters across, she would be perfectly safe. No matter how she tried to believe that her heart raced, panic shaking her legs.
“Is he in here?” Legeis cried, causing Heather to jump again.
“Stop sneaking up on me!” she shouted and stepped away from the door.
Legeis looked into the room and across the gap to see the wizard preparing a spell.
“Woah, what happened to this room?” he asked.
“I think it's an illusion, but I can't tell,” Heather said, daring to lean over the first tile.
Legeis picked a handful of ball bearings from a bag at his waist and cast them onto the floor. They rolled across the tiles to the edge, falling into oblivion.
“That looks real to me,” Legeis replied as he too stepped back.
“Then how do we get across?” Heather pressed, knowing time was of the essence.
Legeis looked over the room and at Breanne, who hovered in one corner magically bound. “We have to jump the gaps.”
“All of them?” Heather mocked. “Look how far away he is.”
“There isn’t any other choice,” he said and stepped onto the first tile. He took a breath and ran jumping from the first over a meter wide gap to the next. The tile bobbed like a raft in the water when he landed, causing him to stumble. He got to his feet and ran for the next one, jumping the gap to the third.
Heather saw him crossing and knew she had to follow. She carefully stepped out and focused on the next tile before running. She jumped and cleared the distance easily, but found the landing tricky as the tile moved under her feet. Legeis was two tiles ahead, so she quickly jumped to the next one as the wizard started to laugh.
“Brave fools,” the wizard called. “You two would have been fun to group with. I bet we could have braved the depths of the underneath and come back with grand treasures.”
“I only play with nice people,” Heather replied as she landed on another tile near the center of the room.
The wizard nodded, holding his side where he was cut with one hand and raised the other. “Let's make it more challenging then.” He snapped a finger, and half the tiles suddenly fell away, falling into the void. Legeis was on a tile that fell, and he lunged back, throwing out a hand. Heather dived for the edge and reached as far as she could, using the scythe to reach further. Legeis barely grabbed the handle, sliding the flowered end to dangle above the nothing below.
Heather expected her shoulder or grip to fail but was surprised at how strong she felt. Legeis should be far to heavy to hold, yet she did, and slowly pulled, yanking him up by the scythe. He scrambled over the lip onto the tile that bobbed and shook as if about to fall. They now floated near the center of the room, unable to reach another tile.
“Now, I can deal with you are my leisure,” the wizard said.
“Heather!” Frank yelled from behind. She turned to see him and Quinny in the doorway, looking distraught.
The wizard smiled and raised a hand, chanting a few quick words. Behind Frank and Quinny, a wall of fire sprang up and began to move their way slowly. “I will dispose of your pets first, then deal with you,” he said, turning his gaze back to Heather.
“No!” she cried and ran to the lip, reaching out as if to pull them to safety. “Don't hurt my friends!”
“You are the ones who came to my home,” the wizard remarked. “I even gave you a chance to go away.”
Heather whirled around, her hands clenched in fists, the anger flaring in her eyes. “This isn't your home!” she shouted. “You are squatting in another player's lair. A necromancer made this.”
“Partly correct,” the wizard replied. “A necromancer, a dragon, and myself.”
“What?” Heather asked while glancing back to Frank and Quinny.
“We were working together, you see. We were trying to find a way to make use of the magics of control devices. The problem was most players don't choose a physical device. They use a special room or interface to see into the buffer. We needed some examples of the smaller ones to experiment on.”
“Why not use your own?” Heather asked. “One of you made this base after all.”
“We did, and we learned many things, but without more to test with, our research was stuck.”
Heather stood tall, going to the edge of the tile to boldly meet the wizard. “So, you stole the queen’s stone to continue your research. Why not find more players with stones to join you?”
“That is not as easy a task as you make it sound, and our research had to be kept secret. We couldn’t simply advertise on a town message board.”
“Secret from who?” she demanded as her gaze went back to Frank and Quinny. The fire was now only ten paces away, coming closer with every moment. Time was running out, and she focused inward, speaking silently to the spider in her pack. “Let's try your plan.”
“Pity you hadn’t come here and met me openly, I might have invited you to join us,” the wizard said with a nod.
“You didn't answer my question,” Heather said as she closed her eyes and focused, carefully whispering a few words. Her pack shifted as Webster moved in her pack, pushing something up. She reached over her back into the pack and touched what he was pushing, completing the spell. She felt a sudden weakness knowing her power was overspent and was dipping into essence. Still, she needed this one last spell to turn the tables and prayed she could hold on.
“I have no intention of telling you. That you don’t know means you are a fool or a liar. To think you did all this just to try and get that stubborn woman her crystal back.”
“I came here for another purpose,” Heather said as she focused on staying alert. “The stone was just an extra stop I made to help somebody in need.”
“What other reason could you possibly have to come here?”
Heather smiled as the flap of her pack opened, and a silver band appeared. “I came for the egg,” she said to stall him as Webster pushed higher.
“The egg?” the wizard stammered, a look of worry on his face. “How do you know about that? Nobody else knows it is here. Only she would come for it,” he added as the crown slid over Heather's head. There was a pulse of brilliant green radiance as the wizard shielded his eyes. When he looked, his face went long as Heather smiled with purple skin and blue lips.
“You!” he stammered with a pointed finger. “You're supposed to be dead.”
“I get that a lot,” Heather replied, dropping her scythe and running for the gap between her and her friends. She leaped into the air and was instantly bathed in green light. She arrived in a flash between Frank and Quinny, the fire now only a few steps away.
“Heather?” Frank gasped as she grabbed them by the wrist.
“Hang on,” she said with a smile, and instantly they vanished, arriving safely down the hall behind the fire.
“Heather, what have you done?” Frank asked as he reached for the crown.
She grabbed his hands and pulled them away, looking him firmly in the eyes. “We don't have time for that. I have to catch him before I lose control.”
“What about the other voice?” Frank asked. “She will have until moonrise to dominate you.”
“I have a plan for her,” she replied with a wink, then ran down the hall. “Webster, please tell me you're going to be resistant to fire like you were the cold.” His voice squeaked in her head, and she nodded with a smile.
The wizard stepped away from the edge as fire filled the doorway on the other side of the room. A silhouette appeared in the flames and laughed at him mockingly. There was a flash of green, and she was on the platform next to Legeis, who jumped back in alarm.
“Don’t worry, it’s still me,” Heather said and wondered for how long that would be true.
“How in the world did you do this?” Legeis asked.
“No time to explain,” she replied and vanished in another flash of green.
The wizard threw his arms out, a sphere of glass forming around him as Heather arrived on the other side, staring at him only a few paces away. She lifted one hand and spoke a command word, her scythe forming in her hand out of black smoke.
“Now, I believe you have some questions to answer for me,” Heather said as she stalked toward him, her green eyes blazing with light.
“The egg is where you wanted it!” the wizard hissed. “I never touched it, and made sure no one else did.”
“The goblins were protecting the egg, not you,” Heather said.
“The goblins delivered it and kept it a secret, but I was the true keeper. Why are you attacking me when I did what you said?”
“Oh, poor boy,” Heather teased. “We have gone beyond the egg. I want the stone, and I want to know who the necromancer that was working with you was.” The wizard floated back as she stalked in, her scythe blade suddenly bursting into flames and trailing black smoke.
“You know exactly who it was,” he said, eyes searching her for some clue. “You were there after all.”
Heather paused a moment and tilted her head. She hated this game where everybody knew something about her that she didn't know. It made her feel like a passenger in a car somebody else was driving. She frowned in frustration and raised her scythe, determined to test a theory.
“Tell me, what is my name?” she demanded.
“Your name?”
“Answer me!” she shouted, her voice suddenly sounding deep and reverberating as if howling form a pit.
“Hathlisora!” he shouted. “I helped make you this form.”
“This form?” she stammered, lowering her arms just a little.
The wizard pulled something from his waist and threw it down, filling the air with flames and smoke. Heather slashed at him in frustration, but her scythe passed through the air and struck nothing. She growled in rage and turned about, the fires doing little but toss her hair.
“I will crumble this mountain to dust!” she shouted.
“I don't know how you escaped your prison,” a voice echoed in the room. “But, I won't be a pawn in your game again.”
“My game?” she laughed. “This whole world is a game! I am just the one who intends to win it.”
“Ruin it you mean,” the wizard replied, his voice sounding distant and strained.
“I don't know what you mean,” Heather called out. “But I am going to find out.” She turned to the only door on her side of the room and walked up to it. As she approached, she heard it lock, and saw a faint magical glow on its surface. With a slight smile, the green stone on her forehead burst with light, and she was instantly on the other side.
“You can't lock your doors against me,” she said while stalking down the narrow hall. A dog-headed form appeared at the other end with a glowing red light in its chest. A ray of searing energy raced down the hall as she flashed away, arriving behind it. Her scythe cracked the golem's side as it swung around, battering her head. She flew a dozen paces, slamming into the wall and slid down, a trickle of blood marking her cheek.
“You know it isn't nice to hit a lady,” Heather remarked while rising to her feet. She dashed in with unholy speed, her flaming scythe whistling as it caught the monster firmly in the red stone. There was a sound like breaking ice, and pink light filled the hall before the stone exploded, tearing the golem's upper torso to chunks. It fell at her feet, a pile of black rock as Heather wiped off her cheek.
“Your golems won’t save you,” she said aloud and turned to walk down the hall.
“I don't need to be saved,” the wizard replied, his voice coming from nowhere. “I just need a little more time.”
She smiled to know he had to be in his sanctum, using whatever device gave him control. She was in his tunnels now, and there would undoubtedly be traps, but what trap could hold her? With graceful steps, she made her way down the hall arriving at three doors.
“Do you have anywhere left to run to?” Heather asked.
“You know me better than that,” the wizard replied. “How often was I was the one who hid the truth? How many times did I manage our escapes? Come, I am waiting for you.”
His words made her angry. She had no idea who he was or why he knew her. This constant mystery was making her head hurt, and for once, she was going to get a solid answer. The first door collapsed under a blow from her scythe. The wood falling into a pike of burning planks as she looked into a storeroom.
The next door she teleported through, arriving in a long narrow closet full of adventuring gear. Packs, ropes, weapons, armor, and more were stacked neatly on shelves. She realized this was probably loot taken from the ill-fated player attack on his lair. After being wiped out, the players must have given up and gone elsewhere.
The last door was at the end of the hall and was magically sealed. She blinked across it like the other and arrived in a far more exciting space.
“A library,” she gasped as her eyes looked around in wonder. The library was three levels tall with vaulted ceilings and grand chandeliers. Every wall was covered in shelves made of ornate wood, and on them were thousands of books. There were scrolls as well, and many items of interest like skulls, clocks, globes, metal tools, statues, and the like. She wanted to read every book and search for all the missing information she needed, but there was a pressing matter at hand.
“Welcome,” the wizard said as she stepped into the center of the room. The room's center was a mosaic floor, resembling a crude map with a golden 'N' on one side to mark north. It formed a large circle ringed by wooden benches and planters with green ferns and strange blue flowers. The wizard floated a dozen steps away, looking down as she stood on the mosaic. “It has been a long time since you stood in this room.”
“I have never been in this room,” Heather spat. “Now, I have questions for you.”
“Always more Questions,” he wizard laughed. “It took me a minute to figure it out, but I think I understand now. You haven't escaped, have you? You found a way to project a portion of yourself into her. You are using her again in some new plan.”
“Using me?” Heather remarked. “I am the one in charge; the other person hasn't taken control.”
“You’re a pawn then,” he said. “Just like I was, like we all were. She is using you for some purpose of her own, probably to escape again.” He paused to smile as he looked her in the eyes. “Hmm, I wonder if he would approve?”
“Who are you talking about?” Heather demanded.
The wizard dared to float lower, coming to just a few steps away. “You don't remember anything? You don't remember the plan?”
“I only came into this world a few weeks ago. I don’t know its history.”
The wizard leaned back with a startled look on his face. “A rebirth! So it has begun.” His eyes went to the green stone on the crown, and he smiled. “Will you tell her the truth this time?”
“What?” Heather asked.
“Quiet, girl, I’m not talking to you,” he replied and focused on the gem. “She will find out sooner or later. Maybe I should tell her now.”
Heather gripped her scythe and jumped back, holding it high as the wizard drifted out of her reach. “I am sick of you talking to me like I am somebody else.
“I am going to make this easy for you,” he said. “I hope you find what you are looking for.”
“I am looking for the kingdom heart,” Heather shouted.
“Pah!” the wizard growled. “You have no idea what you should be looking for, but I will help you. Lift your right arm.”
Heather shook her head, and the wizard laughed again.
“Do it, and I will give you the heart. No tricks or illusions.”
She felt uncertain but lifted her arm slowly, the bracelet of green stones slipping down a bit.
“Show us where the hand is,” the wizard said in a commanding voice.
Heather jumped as one of the green stones began to glow brightly.
“What did you do?” Heather asked.
“I gave you a gift and showed you the path,” he said with a smile. “But then, you don't know that yet. Here,” he added with a toss of his hand. A thin golden crystal flew through the air, and Heather dropped her scythe to catch it.
“Take that back to the fool in the city. Let her play the game just as the visitors intended.”
“You are just giving this to me?” Heather asked, now confused as to what was going on.
“I have no more use for it. The game has changed, and the process begun. I have business elsewhere now, and I have much to get ready.”
“You're leaving?” she asked, unable to believe what was happening.
He laughed. “I have no reason to stay. Your back and the egg is your problem now. Do you want me to stay and fight?”
“No,” she admitted finding the whole conversation awkward. She suddenly remembered Legeis and the secret of the golems. “Wait!” she cried and stepped forward. “We wanted to know how you made so many golems.”
The wizard floated down and hovered just before her as he nodded slightly. “I suppose I should tell you. You helped me discover the secret of it after all.”
“I did?” Heather asked as he pointed to the stone in her hand.
“Take that one floor down. There you will find a workshop and the answer you seek within.”
“Why do I need the heart?” Heather asked.
“Simple, you need an NPC spirit. The stone allows you to call them from the buffer,” he replied. “You did help me discover this; after all, you and Vallentis made an excellent team.”
“If we worked together, why did you drive everyone away? Why make the city a ghost town?”
“To protect the egg, of course,” he said with a bow. “After you were gone, I was the only one left to watch over it. I couldn't have a city sending hundreds of players into the swamps in search of adventure. I was run ragged, trying to keep them out of the caves to prevent them from discovering it. Not to mention Gwen sent everyone who would listen after me. It became impossible to get my research done.”
“You were helping protect it?” Heather asked.
“You told me too,” he replied. “Now, I am afraid I have more important things to do. Once I go, the golems that are left will crumble, and my portion of the base will revert to empty halls. Go and find your answers, and we will meet again when the time is right.”
“Why can't you tell me what is really going on?” Heather asked, her mind spinning with confusion.
The wizard smiled at her and bowed. “Because you made me promise not to.”
Heather watched as a glowing blue ring formed around him then radiated out like a star filling the room with light.
“Oh and, welcome home,” he said before vanishing into thin air.
“Home?” she muttered as she looked at the golden crystal in her hand. It was then she realized the bracelet was changed, a different stone was glowing now. She held up her arm and twisted it slightly, the glow always moving to another stone to point in the same direction.
“It’s a compass,” she said to herself. “But to what? The hand?”
“Heather?” Frank's voice cried out, and she turned to see him and the others rushing into the library.
“How did you get here?” Heather called in shock.
“The room was some kind of magical trap. It suddenly ended and was a normal room again,” Frank said. “Where is the wizard?” he asked as they closed on her.
“Gone,” she said with a shake of her head. “He isn’t coming back.”
“Gone where?” Legeis asked.
“I don't know. He said he had to get things ready,” she replied and held out the hand with the golden crystal. “He gave me the kingdom heart.”
“He gave it to you?” Frank asked as he scratched his head.
Heather nodded. “He told me it was part of the secret of the golems. There is a workshop below us with the rest of it.”
“He came right out and told you that?” Legeis asked. “I bet it’s a trap.”
Heather shook her head. “He said we worked together once and was trying to help me. Me and somebody named Vallentis.”
“Vallentis?” Breanne asked with a worried look.
“I take it you know him,” Frank said.
Breanne nodded with heavy brows. “He was assigned to researching new ways to animate the dead. He was responsible for what they called skeleton abominations, terrible amalgamations of bones and skulls.”
“Well, I don't know who that is,” Heather said. “I don't know why everybody thinks I am somebody I'm not. I am beginning to wonder if I am an NPC.”
“You're not,” Breanne said. “But something about you has connected you to this world in a greater story. Maybe it is why you are chosen.”
Heather nodded and rubbed at her cheek. “I want to go find this workshop.”
“What about the crown?” Quinny asked as all eyes focused on the cursed object.
Heather looked up as if to see the green stone on her forehead. “I guess I have to take it off.”
“Do you? I honestly like how you look,” Quinny said. “And it gives you more powers.”
“But she sometimes becomes that other woman,” Frank argued. “We need to take it off tonight.”
“Look at what she was able to do with it, though,” Quinny argued. “Besides, the other woman said she was trying to help when we took it off last time.”
Heather reached up and ran a finger over the green stone. “Maybe we can come to an agreement?”
“An agreement with who?” Frank asked.
“The woman in the stone,” Heather replied. “She wants to help and says she needs help, but I don’t think I can trust her..”
“This all sounds kinda creepy,” Legeis remarked. “Why can’t you take it off now?”
Frank folded his arms as he glared at the crown. “It's magically protected so it can't be taken off. It only weakens when it's under the moonlight, and then the women inside fights back.”
“Oh, I can take it off,” Heather said. “Webster had a brilliant idea. He is a clever little spider.”
“You can take it off?” Breanne asked with even more concern. “How?”
Heather smiled and spoke the word of calling she wove onto the crown. It vanished from her head and appeared in her hands in a flash. “See,” she said, then collapsed as the world turned black.
“Heather!” Frank’s voice echoed from far away.
Heather heard a strange hum as she lifted her head from the dark sand. Clouds raced over a sky so thickly they choked the light from above, bathing the world in an eerie gloom. Everything seemed surreal and muted, like viewing the world through a layer of glass. Ahead of her was a pyramid of crumbling stones, standing against a backdrop of jagged hills. She sat up and looked around, the landscape lonely and desolate, the pyramid the only thing that offered any change.
“Run!” a woman's voice screamed out. “Run, they know you are here!”
Heart racing Heather staggered to her feet, putting the pyramid behind her as she stumbled across the sand. There was a cliff wall in this direction too, but a narrow canyon was cut in the side. She heard a sound like a trumpet mixed with an elephant call. It was shocking and haunting, causing fear to grip her soul. She glanced back for only a moment to see black tentacles reaching down from the clouds. More reached down further back, and in the distance behind the pyramid, three groups of black ropes dropped from the dark clouds. She turned and ran as fast as her legs would carry her, desperate to get into the canyon.
With heaving breath, she ran into the shelter of the walls and quickly moved away from the entrance. The strange trumpeting noise blared again and was answered by another call in the distance. A rumble like thunder rolled overhead, and she saw a flash of lightning. For just a moment, it illuminated something in the clouds, something massive that reminded her of a slug ringed with writhing arms.
“I want to go home!” she screamed and ran deeper into the canyon. She pushed herself to struggle across sand and stones, running until her body said no more. With her chest hurting, she settled against the wall and put her head in her hands. “Please, I just want to go home,” she sobbed. “Show me the way home.”
A soft hum caught her attention, and she looked up to see the bracelet. The green stone on her arm now glowed blue and pointed back the way she came.
“What does this mean?” Heather asked as she stood and turned her arm, the light moving from stone to stone to always point in the same direction. She looked up and finally noticed the canyon wall on the other side, the blue light illuminating its surface.
Her eyes went wide as she read the words written in a hundred places. Some were painted, others burned, and some gouged into the surface. All of them said the same thing and floated over an arrow that pointed back to the pyramid.
“Home,” she read as the world faded away.
Comments
the plot thickens dun dun dun!!
