Caedmon left the cave and walked over to him in order to pick up the woman. Soon after, the others had also reached Faolan’s position, albeit with less graceful movements. The distance they transported the dwarf had been short, yet by the time they reached their destination, the lot of them were heaving, and they dropped the cumbersome dwarf with exhausted moans.
The wolf guardian lifted Ireli onto his left shoulder and then Ehreion onto his right. He looked at his friends. “I am uncertain what lies within the caves. The Ikalreev Prophecies do not describe the Four Trials in detail; only cryptic descriptions and foreboding script are provided within its bindings. Therefore, the length of time we will require remains unknown, but I do request your patience while we undertake the trials and awaken our magic to its full potential.”
Faolan nodded in understanding. “We shall await your return and hope for your safety.”
“Do not stray far from the cave as these lands are unfamiliar and untamed. Danger lies beyond these mountains, and in the forest, retain a hand on your hilt at all times,” Caedmon asserted, before turning and walking away from them.
“What if you fail to return?” Kellen shouted after the departing guardian.
The wolf stopped and turned back around. “If we fail . . . then the task falls to you to save this world. It is paramount the Initiate be stopped before the seal is opened. The First Seal lies to the northeast in the Niyere Mountains beyond the dangers of the Zajena Forest.”
Caedmon continued walking toward the trials, though one last word of caution echoed from the cave’s walls as the old guardian faded into the darkness: “Beware the forest; the Drey’kan are always near!”
There was a brief silence in the air with the ancient protector’s final words.
“Well, why did he have to go and say that? Honestly, his last words did not have to be so dramatic,” Treasach cried out from beneath the trees, an expression of disdain crossing his face. “’Watch out for the Drey’kan!’ Ah, what rubbish! I no longer care to worry; my heart cannot take it.”
The others traded surprised looks over the elf’s tirade. The prince’s irritated words continued for a time before he tired.
Time ticked away after the Ikalreev guardian and mages descended into the trials. Aili continued tending to Treasach, as he was still in pain from the jolting attack of the defensive barrier. The sting of the Ikalreev magic proved potent even after all these years.
The three veteran soldiers in the group heeded Caedmon’s departing words and remained vigilant to the sounds and shadows of the surrounding forest. Any time a twig snapped or the wind whispered, they peered into the forest and intently observed the slight movements produced by the dancing leaves and swaying branches. There was something unsettling about the forest, something that caused them to grow restless. Minutes elapsed and turned into an hour, and then Kellen and Gavina shifted their attention to building a fire to keep everyone warm in the deepening cold of the high mountain air.
Auvelia remained crouched low to the ground at the forest’s edge near where they made camp. She paid little attention to their movements and goals for keeping warm in the encroaching night; she felt at ease in the raw elements. As a Shadow Guardian, there were many times where she had frozen in the dark to stay out of sight, just beyond her enemies’ senses, and she had grown accustomed to the sensation. Her husband was aware of some lingering effects from her time in the guard, though even he was unaware of the persistent shadow affecting her psyche.
Her head was tilted sideways as she listened for distant vocalizations, and she whispered under her breath, “I hear no birds.”
Kellen had been constructing the log fire, but he glanced at her. “No birds? Then what do you hear?”
“A hollow forest,” she whispered.
Leith glanced nervously between them. “Ah, your wife is scaring me.”
“Shh!” Kellen snapped at the healer.
Auvelia’s head rotated and angled in a different direction, and she spoke softly. “I hear nothing but trees rustling in the wind. It is a hollow silence abated only by leaves and moaning wood. No birds chirp, and no animals can be heard moving through the foliage.”
Gavina glanced at the retired general to watch his reaction to his wife’s words. She knew the descriptions of the forest were abnormal but tried to quell her anxiousness.
“Do you hear anything else?” Kellen inquired. “Can you sense a presence?”
Auvelia closed her eyes and shifted her body toward the north, but she did not answer as she could not with certainty. She opened her eyes after a moment and shook her head without a conclusion.
“It is all right, dear. I trust your senses,” he reassured his wife, moving back to setting the fire as a cold bite of air caused a chill to run through him.
He half glanced at the others with a firm nod and told them, “We are fine.”
The healers and Gavina calmed after the tense moment and went about their camp making and patient tending in an effort not to worry. Kellen finished building the fire and managed to light it with a bit of effort. The campfire’s warmth was welcomed by the group and created several calming sighs.
Soon the daylight lessened as the sun moved behind the high mountains, and the night approached with elongating shadows. The air grew bitter cold as the wind rose and moved through the mountains. A harmony of cold-adapted insects began their chorus as the darkness of night fell, and those fond of each other sat close together in an attempt to share warmth. There they would remain while the mages endured the trials and awakened their dormant Ikalreev magic.
◆◆◆
The trials entrance led down into a long cave, which descended steadily deep beneath the massive Tri-Peaks. The floor had been carved into a stairway, and it was easy to travel on. The ceiling was devoid of stalactites, and the walls were smooth. The air remained fresh and easy to breathe as Caedmon continued down the deepening corridor. He theorized that there must be an Ikalreev spell aiding the continuous ventilation of the descending cave. Normally, the air deep underground would grow stale and uncomfortable to breathe, but not in this case. The air still felt similar to the air above ground.
Caedmon struggled to peer down the long, dark passageway. The only thing he was able to see was a faint blue glow at the distant end. It took him quite some time to walk down the lengthy passage, and he soaked in the overwhelming gravitas of what he was approaching and what he had been awaiting for so long.
The faint blue light brightened as he grew near the tunnel’s end, and as he emerged from the long hall, he saw a small round room with a pedestal in its midst where a blue flame danced ceaselessly. Illuminated script fully covered the room’s walls and glowed a pure white. Four doorless hallways extended beyond the room with a single, poorly lit glyph above each archway. A hovering platform waited immediately beyond each hallway’s entrance and floated above an element. The entrance on the far left had a platform suspended above a floor of raging fire. To its right was a hallway with a platform floating on water, and farther still was a passage with a platform hovering above open air; a seemingly bottomless abyss lay below. Lastly, on the far-right side of the room was a passageway where the platform hovered above a dense thicket of thorny vines.
Visibility was lost past a certain point down each passageway as the faint blue light of the small room faded into the deep dark beyond its reach. Caedmon knew what ultimately had to happen, but he was unsure if it was safe for Ireli and Ehreion to be placed on the floating platforms of their respective trial entrances while they were still unconscious. He didn’t know what might lie beyond sight.
“Have faith, Caedmon,” he muttered to himself, repeating the words he remembered his master telling him. “The seals wait for no one.”
He drew in a deep breath and then slowly released it with easing shoulders. The guardian walked over to the burning hall, and as he passed the threshold and stepped onto the platform, he felt a sudden wave of heat, which was held at bay by veiled Ikal
reev magic. He placed Ehreion down on the platform and stepped back into the small room, feeling the intense heat dissipate as soon as he crossed the entrance’s threshold.
The guardian watched as the platform began to move and faded down the blazing passage. Even though the hallway was brightly lit with fire, a darkness prevailed at the same distance as in the other halls and prevented him from seeing any farther down the passageway’s length.
When Ehreion disappeared from sight through the dark veil, the guardian turned and moved toward the hall with the bottomless abyss. He stepped through its threshold and felt a violent wind swirling chaotically around him. Caedmon carefully lowered Ireli’s frail human form onto the hovering platform and then withdrew back into the small room, where the wind abruptly ceased. He watched as Ireli’s platform began to move and also faded beyond the dark wall separating the common room from the trial beyond.
He shifted his gaze to the hall leading to his trial, and he hesitated as he stood before the platform just beyond the archway. The guardian was both eager and anxious about what he would witness in the trial ahead. He calmly breathed in and out for a few minutes, then stepped on the platform and prepared for the trial to begin.
The platform moved suddenly, and he braced against the motion. It took him down the passageway and beyond the dark wall of Ikalreev barrier magic. The small, dimly lit common room was left vacant and silent, with only a lone platform remaining and a single trial without its mage.
When he passed through the dark barrier, the exclusion magic caused all light to fade, and the wolf experienced temporary blindness. An uneasy sensation crept into him as he waited for light to return.
The platform continued steadily forward farther into the trial, and after a tense moment, Caedmon could see a faint light before him. It brightened and illuminated an isolated island of visible land within the perimeter of the exclusion magic. The platform stopped once it reached the illuminated land’s edge, and he stepped out onto the seemingly solid ground.
The old guardian peered around the small, isolated landscape and saw only barren ground. Beyond the faint light’s radius, nothing could be seen, and he was left to wonder. He was uncertain what he should do to begin the trial. He listened and watched his surroundings. There was no sound, no wind, and no smells in the air.
He called out into the empty room. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
No answer was returned, and he walked toward the center of the barren area.
“Hello?” the guardian cried out as loudly as possible into the emptiness beyond.
A loud explosion sounded in the deep dark beyond the light’s radius, and the wolf could hear movement outside his sight range.
“Hello.” A voice spoke behind the wolf.
Caedmon spun around and saw a lone figure standing behind him. The being was about nine feet in height and had a slender, frail form. His skin was pale and almost as light as snow. The creature had two eyes with orange irises, and thinning white hair was draped from his head at about six inches in length. The being was clothed in a magnificent and high-quality fabric, possibly silk; it was hard for him to tell at a distance. The clothes were thin and multilayered with a prestigious aura: gold and violet in color with stunning embroidery. His robes hugged his slender form delicately and made apparent his fragility.
The guardian saw a lone symbol burned into the being’s forehead and exclaimed, “Master! Is it you?”
The ancient being bowed slightly at his creation. “Yes, and no. I am a personification of Deraj Nairakaz. The Ikalreev Archmage you believe I am does not truly stand before you. I am an embodiment of his qualities and his legacy.”
Caedmon saddened, and his hope lessened at the answer. He wished he could see his master once more; it was a longing ache similar to the feeling a child might have for a dead parent.
“Sorrow is unbefitting for the great wolf guardian of the races,” Deraj’s magical form proclaimed. “A path you must avoid.”
The wolf guardian nodded at the projection and agreed. “Yes, master.”
“Why have you come to the Trial of Nature?” Deraj queried.
Caedmon failed to comprehend the being’s question. “What do you mean? You created the trial; should you not know?”
“I recognize why they were created,” the magical being told him, “You misinterpret my words. Do you know why you have come to the trials?”
The guardian hesitated as he thought about his answer and believed it could be a test. He pondered what he believed and what he thought the personification wanted as an answer and realized there could be a trick in the magic’s query to explore the stability of his mind. His master might have created this representation of himself to assess him, and he knew it was justifiable with all the endurance required to remain steadfast against time’s erosion, the influences of mortals, and the world’s temptations.
Caedmon glanced at the being and answered, “I have come to gain the complete power of the Ikalreev spell, to protect this world and prevent its ruination by stopping the Initiate.”
“An answer with blind focus and without heart,” Deraj remarked. “Why do you seek the power to protect this world?”
“I wish to protect all who are innocent and good in this world,” the guardian responded.
“Careful, Caedmon. Are you now an arbiter?” the magical being queried, “Do you decide one’s innocence or morality?”
“No.” The wolf shook his head in denial. “I am no judge.”
“If a soldier was under siege and a child was moments from being attacked but they were far apart, who would you choose to protect?” the Ikalreev Archmage questioned.
A commotion sounded on either side of Caedmon. He glanced to his right and saw a soldier in intense combat with two evil creatures: one small with wings and the other massive with enormous, clawed hands. Then a little boy screamed from his left, and he shifted his gaze to the slight child. An extremely long snake was slithering its way toward the scared boy. The old wolf thought about what course of action he would take in the situation.
“I would protect the defenseless child,” the guardian replied. “The soldier may survive long enough for me to aid him as well.”
“An instinctual answer,” the ancient being said. “Insufficient.”
Caedmon lowered his head in recognized failure.
“Would you save a boy or a girl?” Deraj asked.
The previous illusions disappeared and, in their place, coalesced new imagery. To the guardian’s left, a young boy was clinging to a cliff and rapidly losing his grip, soon to fall into a raging river below. To his right, a young girl was being dragged away by a massive orc. Both children were quickly slipping away, and the guardian’s decision had to be swift.
“The girl,” Caedmon asserted.
“Why?”
“Horrible things would happen to her.”
“A horrible incident would also occur to the boy,” the magical illusion informed his creation. “He would drown in the turbulent river.”
“Yes, but—” Caedmon began to say, but he was cut off.
“She is innocent?” Deraj queried. “Is the boy not?”
The guardian was frustrated by his illusionary master’s questions.
“You struggle to comprehend what I imply. Then why not make this harder?” the being pressured his creation. “There are multiple younglings, maidens, and weaponless males under siege by ogres. Who do you save?”
All around Caedmon appeared illusionary elves, dwarfs, and humans of all ages. Then several enormous ogres moved in on them aggressively with war clubs held high. There were too many ogres for the guardian to stop by himself, and he was unable to provide an answer to his master. The wolf shook his head in realization of his weakness and found himself failing his master once again.
“I want to save them all, but I am not strong enough,” he responded. “I can only focus the magic in a single way.”
“Why?” his master wondered. “At creation the m
agic was not limited as you limit it now.”
The ogres swung their clubs at the women and children as they scattered around the room. The commotion heightened, and Caedmon grew more anxious; even though they were only illusions, his inability to act frustrated him.
“Do you not feel it, after all this time?” his master added. “The magic’s heart within you?”
“What?” he exclaimed as one of the massive war clubs slammed into the ground, nearly missing a woman as she raced beyond reach.
“Do you feel the magic calling to you?” Deraj clarified. “The magic’s heart is always present inside you, and it will converse with you if you listen. If you are uncertain how to react, then the magic will show you the way. The magic will expand your mind and provide creativity when your mind dulls.”
Caedmon reflected on his master’s words and delved within himself. He searched for the sensation his master spoke of and tried to hear the magic’s heart. He closed his eyes and yearned to hear the magic’s call as he dove deep inside himself.
“Listen, and allow it to reveal its intrinsic reactions to the threats which lie before you,” the magical illusion instructed him.
The guardian breathed when he could finally feel it, when he could perceive it. The magic spoke to him in a way without words, as if showing him images in his mind. It showed him how it would strike out at the ogres and defend those fleeing from the dangerous beasts.
“Do as it commands,” Deraj said.
Caedmon opened his eyes, and a green glow illuminated them as the magic woke. He outstretched one hand and grasped the air. Hundreds of vines erupted from the ground and wrapped around the ogres. The beasts were halted in place, unable to move. Caedmon made another motion with his hand, and a wall of great thorned hedges surrounded the ogres without an avenue of escape. Finally, he made a third motion, and grass sprouted from the ground all around the ogres. The grass spun tightly and narrowed into a painful-looking field of needle-sharp protrusions.
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