The Ancients

by Adam-Clay Webb

  “Shade…” he whispered. Somehow, he was certain that he needed to find the boy, and find him immediately. He struggled to his feet, his sudden panic and immense hunger making it difficult to stand.

  He grabbed the grey hat Jin had given him and fixed it on his head. He felt the mana within him stir. He closed his eyes for a moment, and for that immeasurably short time, saw Shade, and saw his dilemma. He vanished in a blue cloud.

  He gasped, appearing in a totally different place. I shifted, he immediately realized. But he had no time to dwell on that. His body went numb as he felt the energies around him. He looked around. What the hell… He had never felt such intense and malicious power in one place.

  He looked about, seeing three menacingly powerful men standing within a massive barrier. Vis knew it. These men were councillors. They each wore a mighty black glow of arcane power. One of them, the youngest is seemed, was holding a sword of black mana, and was walking toward a boy who appeared to be dead. This boy was covered in blood, and his clothes, which were once white, were now red and brown, and all torn up. A black mist of mana rose from him.

  Vis’ body shook as he realized it. This boy was Shade, and the councillors were here to kill him. Three councillors had converged upon one boy. No matter how strong this boy was, how could he survive? The three councillors turned their attention to the boy who had just appeared, whose blue mana was just thinning out to nothing. His appearance no doubt intrigued them greatly.

  Shade, feeling Vis’ presence, used the last of strength to raise his head and look at him. Vis saw in Shade’s eyes that he was at the end of his rope. Shade couldn’t stand, and his wounds were severe. But seeing the wounds and tiredness on the councillors, Vis saw that Shade had put up a fight. Vis marvelled at this. How could a boy pose a challenge to three of the most powerful sorcerers in the world?

  “Vis… you idiot… why did you come here?” Shade’s voice struggled to go forth. Vis knew that there was no escape. The barrier around them would not allow him to shift out. “You were not supposed to die here,” Shade said.

  “I didn’t imagine someone stepping in a fight like this to defend this brat!” the councillor with the sword said. “So tell me, little one, how will you save your friend? Do you even know who we are?”

  The other two councillors snickered. They were men with sinister faces and frightening auras.

  After a few seconds, Vis felt a newness come over him. He looked down at Shade, and at the councillor who was about to finish him, then at the other two. The boy gripped his grey hat and fixed it on his head. He looked at the men again, but this time, with a different vision, a deeper perception. His eyes bulged as he struggled to understand what was happening. As he looked at each councillor, he saw, in immeasurably short moments, their entire beings. He saw into their minds – their memories, their thoughts, their intentions – into their lives, into their souls.

  The councillors furrowed their brows as they heard a snicker come from the boy in the weird grey hat. Shade too was confused. His vision blurred as he struggled to maintain his consciousness.

  “What’s with this kid?” one of the councillors asked another. “Is he like this other one?”

  “No,” the response came. “His magic is at the fourth level. Yet his fear has disappeared.”

  “This must be his acceptance of death,” the councillor with the sword said, then snickered a little. “He is brave – ready to die, unlike his friend here.”

  “Your leader, Lukia, has not sent you here to kill this boy,” Vis said. “This is an unauthorized mission that you took upon yourselves, for your own perverted thirst for battle,” the boy said. These words made the three councillors look at each other.

  “Who does this brat think he is?” the one with the sword asked.

  “Marrikus Mhuric,” Vis addressed, looking at the same man. “You will not touch that boy.” The councillor’s face reddened. This level of contempt was no longer amusing. “For if you do, I will bring to light your scheme against the Holy Council, and your alliance with the Silver Hawk and the Red Giant.”

  The councillor froze up. The sword he had gripped tightly was now released, and the black mana that had forged it thinned into nothing. The other two councillors there looked at Marrikus with the same expression.

  Silver Hawk and Red Giant were code names given to two of the most wanted, most dangerous arcanines that the council had sought after. Missions to locate and assassinate these sorcerers were extremely covert, classified and ranked at the highest level. Only councillors should have known these names.

  “Marrikus!” one of the councillors blasted, his mana flaring up. Vis stepped back from the stifling aura. “Explain yourself! Why does this boy even know of these men?!”

  But Marrikus was dumbstruck. He stammered until he finally managed to form some words. “This brat. He’s obviously trying to turn us against each other. Let’s kill him and kill the arcanine!” he said, and his mana roused about him. Marrikus stared at the boy in the grey hat with a sense deeper than fear. This boy… How could he know of such things? Who the hell is he?!

  Shade, in the slight consciousness that was left in him, marvelled at this miracle that was happening before his eyes.

  “And you, Chaddix,” Vis said, turning to another. “Eight months, one week, and two days ago…” Chaddix began to shake. “Should I continue?” Vis asked. The councillor, wordless, shook his head. “If my friend dies, Lukia will get word of--”

  “Enough!” Chaddix stopped Vis.

  “And you,” Vis said to the councillor who had belted out at Marrikus. “Do not act like you are better than your filthy companions. The things you have done to reach councillorship are despicable. Your crimes may be buried in the distant past, but I can dig them up, no matter how well you have hidden them.”

  “Who are you, boy?” the councillor asked him.

  “I am he who knows,” Vis answered. “And this here you look at is a shadow of myself, a mere clone. I am everywhere, and I see everything.” Vis walked up to him. “You, heal the boy, and then leave, never to seek after him again.”

  The councillor looked at Vis with jittering eyes. Then, after a few seconds, he went over to the nearly dead Shade. He gently lay the boy on his back, his shaking hands going into position. As he touched Shade’s neck, he lost consciousness. Then, within seconds, his grave wounds were undone.

  “Now be gone,” Vis said. The three councillors looked at each other ashamedly, and then they vanished, and the barrier disappeared.

  ***

  That night, Shade awoke from a memory that had made itself a recurring dream. As he was about to get up, he grabbed his stomach and clenched his teeth. “Shit,” he muttered. He noticed quickly that he was wrapped in bandages. He was on a thick blanket, and a warm fire was close by him. He held his head as dizziness came on. “This place…” He was on the same beach that he had taken Vis to just weeks before.

  “Don’t try to stand,” Vis’ voice appeared.

  “How… How did you--”

  “I don’t know,” Vis answered, then sat beside Shade, who struggled up to sit. Vis helped him up.

  Vis grabbed on to his hat as the wind was about to blow it from his lap.

  “I am an arcanine. My power is of a special strain. Yet I couldn’t defeat those councillors.”

  “Even standing against them proves your strength,” Vis said.

  “But you… without lifting a finger, you drove fear into them, and made them leave,” Shade said. “Your eyes, somehow they see beyond.”

  “I remember you told me to walk my own path, and follow my own dream.”

  “Have you seen it? Your path?”

  “No. Not yet. But I do see my dream. I have been seeing it for a long time.”

  “What is it?”

  “To achieve omniscience.”

  The wind stirred up, as if it were disturbed by this blasphemous aspiration that Vis spoke of.

  “Knowledge is the ultimate
power,” Vis said. “I want to see all things, know all things, and understand all things – from the beginning to the end. I want to see the past and the future as clearly as I can see the sky.”

  “Vis, there is a strong chance that the councillors will try to find and kill you – at least those three who we encountered today,” Shade said. “With your power, you are a great threat to them. At their level of magic, they could have easily put a mark on you that will lead them to finding you easily.”

  Vis was troubled by this. Of course, he had just threatened and affronted three of the highest officers of the state, and three of the world’s most powerful men.

  “Jin left,” Vis said.

  “The old man?”

  “Yes. He told me that I needed to stick with you until the spirit of truth is ready for me,” Vis said. “By that, he means that--”

  “I should train you.”

  “Will you?”

  “I owe you my life twice over,” Shade said. “This debt can never be repaid… The least I can do is stay by your side.”

  And so their partnership began. Together, they trained and studied, and worked on their secret project, the creation of what they would later call the Crystal Eye. School was no longer on their schedule. Shade now lived at Jin’s house, where Vis would return to whenever he left his parents’ place. Vis’ powers grew immensely. As his mana grew stronger under Shade’s rigorous training – training that had to be done on remote islands and in vast deserts from time to time. His prowess was no longer only in his unique perception. He was now a strong fighter, and could wield spells very few of his teachers could use.

  As his mana climbed past the fourth grade into fifth, and reached even to sixth, as three and a half years of intense training elapsed, Vis learnt to control his abilities with such effectiveness that he could clearly read thoughts, and see people’s memories, desires and fears as clearly as he could see their faces. His mind had become so powerful that he now wielded the ability to impose his own thoughts upon others – casting upon them dreams indistinguishable from reality.

  Shade’s power grew immensely as well, but his progress was less visible than Vis’. His magic increased its level steadily, not finding its limit. But something would soon happen that would drastically change everything.

  Chapter 21: Third Path

  Vis watched from a safe distance, amazed afresh at Shade’s magnificent mana. From time to time, Shade would summon as much mana as he could find in him, and push himself to break his limit. This exercise was usually followed by days of exhaustion, but Shade felt that it would allow him to eventually push through arcane magic, and reach, and even surpass Oga’s level. Although he worked diligently with Vis on the Crystal Eye, his faith in it was not enough for him to rely on what it could theoretically do. Through the years of training and working with Vis, his goal never shifted. He was certain that he would one day unlock magic strong enough to take him into the distant past and undo Oga’s existence.

  This time’s different, Vis pondered with squinted eyes. He had to step back even further, though he was already a great distance from Shade. He blocked from his face the rough wind that Shade’s aura had whipped up.

  With clenched teeth and tight fists, Shade summoned about him black mana that was far viler than the mana of any Ogal Councillor. He belted a loud cry as his mana made a transcendent rise. In the centre of the storm of raw power that made Vis retreat even further stood Shade, who could see his dream. In that moment, he could nearly stretch forth his hand and grasp Oga’s power. The earth began to shake, and even tear apart.

  “Shade!” Vis called. Something felt too dangerous about this. Vis stepped forward, but stood motionless in his tracks when he noticed a legendary transformation. “This is… Impossible…” Vis knew quite well what was happening. Shade’s black mana had turned white. He was at the bridge, the same bridge that only two before him had reached, the two considered to be gods.

  Shade’s bellow tore through the air and a blinding white light shone through his eyes. This boy, a teenager, was now more than an arcanine. But as suddenly as the mana had turned white, the storm of power vanished, and the place calmed and quieted. Vis stared on at Shade, who was standing with a trembling body. Usually, the exertion of all his mana would leave him stumbling, but this time, he was still on his feet. Vis moved up to him quickly.

  “Shade,” he said. “You’ve gone past the seventh!”

  But something was wrong. Vis saw on Shade’s face quite clearly, as he reached close enough, a look of terror, a dreadful countenance. “Shade…”

  “It’s gone… It’s all gone,” Shade said, his pupils jumping wildly.

  “What?”

  “My mana, it disappeared,” he said worriedly.

  Vis realized that Shade was right. He could sense no mana whatsoever in his friend. Even if Shade’s mana was drained, Vis would still be able to see his level of magic, but now, he sensed nothing. Vis remembered at that moment the first time he saw Shade, and tried to perceive his level of mana. Back then, Vis could sense no magic in him. But this time, things were different. In that, this time, instead of sensing nothing, he was sensing a strange, unfamiliar energy. This was not magic.

  “Shade, relax!” Vis said, and grabbed him, hugging him. Shade shook in Vis’ arms. He felt powerless, he felt as if his life was taken from him. He now felt that his mission, his dream, was no longer reachable. He had no purpose. Only now did he feel the grief and anger of the death of his family. All along, he was sure that he would have had his justice, but now, his magic had vanished.

  “Your mana will recover soon,” Vis said. “You visited the bridge, so you will need some time to recover, that’s all. It will come back stronger than ever!” Vis said, trying to sound certain.

  Shade nodded. He wanted to believe. He needed to.

  But days passed, and Shade’s misery and confusion became maddening. He now found it impossible to eat or sleep, or work on the Crystal Eye with Vis. He would throw tantrums every hour, and Vis would struggle to calm him, until things became too severe. After leaving Shade alone for a few minutes one day, about two weeks after the visitation of the bridge, Vis entered the house to see Shade kneeling, his face soaked with tears and a knife at his throat.

  “No!” Vis shouted and ran up to him, grabbing the knife away from him.

  “Leave me alone!” Shade blasted, and stood quickly, flinging a punch in Vis’ face, and then another. The frightened Vis made a backward stumble and fell. Somehow unable to move for a moment, he watched as Shade ran out of the house.

  “Come back!” Vis finally bade, rising to chase him. By the time Vis reached outside, Shade was already in the distance. Vis tried to shift toward him, but somehow, it was like his mana was frozen up. Vis watched as he ran up into a wilderness. Vis tried once more to shift, but his mana simply could not operate. He finally made his way up into the wild woods that was about a mile behind Jin’s house. He searched for hours, for days, but saw no sign of Shade. Vis sank to his knees in despair. “Shade!” he bellowed with the last of his strength, then fell on his face into a forced sleep.

  When he awoke many hours later, he walked back to Jin’s house, his clothes dirty and ripped by thorns. He plumped into his favourite chair and pulled his hat down over his eyes. There he drifted off into another sleep.

  After an hour, he was suddenly awakened by the grip of a hand on his head. “Still wearing my hat I see,” a familiar voice came. He stood quickly and turned to face Jin, who looked as if he had aged twenty years since he had gone. He was now frail and feeble, and was struggling to stand with a cane. Vis pulled his fist back and landed a thoughtless punch in the old man’s face. Releasing his cane, he fell back helplessly, and Vis grabbed the stick before it could fall. The straight-faced Vis went over Jin’s feeble body and held the stick down to his throat.

  Jin looked up at Vis with grim eyes. “You have grown so much,” he said. Vis didn’t know what to say or ask. He bent down an
d helped Jin up, and helped him into his usual chair. Then he returned the cane to the old man.

  The two sat and looked at each other without words for several minutes. Then Jin spoke; “I have wrestled long with the spirit,” he said.

  Vis said nothing. He just waited for the explanation. He knew that answers would come.

  “When the spirit first noticed you, it was drawn to you because of your sharp mind. It became certain that you were made to be its next host. But after observing you and seeing your potential, it realized that you were not to its host, but its replacement,” Jin said.

  Vis’ brows furrowed.

  “The spirit, as I had told you before I left, is nearing its end. Its death is now at the door. Oracle had created it as a protector of truth. But now at its death, a new entity has been created to continue its work, and even at a greater level.”

  “Created? By whom?” Vis asked.

  “The spirit believes – I believe – that there is a high power, an elevated existence that has seen Oracle’s work. This existence, whatever it is, has placed in your mind a power of perception and knowledge even beyond that of the spirit. With the power within your mind, you will be able to see through time, to perceive all things, and become the ultimate oracle. You, Vis, were created to be the guardian of truth, the watchman of time.”

  Vis stood. “My dream to know all things… are you telling me it was implanted in my mind by this mysterious existence?”

  “I believe this power chose you because you already had this dream, Vis.”

  “You said you had gone to prepare the spirit. What did you mean?”

  “When the spirit saw your potential, it became afraid. Never before had another possessed a mind more powerful than that of the spirit’s. It feared that if it made you its new host, its essence would simply dissolve in the vast power of your mind – much like a drop of blood in an ocean.”