Brothers

by Viktor Zólyomi

  Viktor Zólyomi:

  Rider of the Black Horse

  Part IV: Brothers

  http://www.rideroftheblackhorse.co.uk

  Disclaimer: All names and occurrences in this story are entirely fictional. Any similarity with actual people or places is purely coincidental. Story, characters, and artwork concept (map and cover art) are copyright Dr. Viktor Zólyomi, 2011, all rights reserved. All graphics (map and cover art) are copyright Juliana O. S. Medeiros, 2011, all rights reserved. The character Irea was adapted in this story with permission from creator Juliana O. S. Medeiros. Kindle edition published in 2012.

  For my mentor Jeno and my beloved Juliana,

  and for the song Painside

  1

  Contents

  Prologue

  Northwest

  A meaning

  Bodyguard duty

  Surrounded

  The secrets of planar travel

  Signs of trouble

  Aftereffect

  The only good demon ass...

  Raw materials

  Gratitude

  Lea and Joe

  The culprits always return to the scene of the crime

  Bleak future

  Calling

  Guess what time it is?

  Golems and dragons

  Find him, bitch!

  Blind feelings

  As the end draws nigh

  Promises

  Brotherly duel

  Ighttur-wor

  First thing's first

  Tensions

  Are you ready?

  Brothers

  Epilogues

  Cast of characters

  Prologue

  Out of the frying pan, into the fire

  Keehmor Keep, present day (10 minutes before Twilightfall)

  I stare at the dry corpse of the mage pinned to the wall. He seems oddly familiar...

  Yes. I remember now. He came here, to my castle. Came without invitation, appeared out of nowhere, just as I was in this room, studying one of my magical tomes. He claimed to be Voi'Shek, the long dead leader of the Draconian Brotherhood. I laughed at his claim, and told him to leave, before I got angry. I do not tolerate intruders in my home...

  But he wouldn't leave. He started casting some spell, and I thought, the Hell with him, and attacked him.

  I drew my sword and charged him, but he finished his spell before I could have reached him. The next thing I knew I was immobile and surrounded by darkness. Darkness, and utter silence. I saw nothing, heard nothing, even smelled nothing. Nor could I move.

  It was the end, I thought. He paralyzed me, blinded me, deafened me, and took my scent as well. Helpless like that, he could kill me easily. But death did not come. Nothing came. There was just the darkness, and the silence.

  How long has it been? I can't tell. I lost my sense of time. It all seems like it's been weeks, or even months. Maybe it was mere hours. I do not know...

  All I know is that at one point I started feeling my limbs again. I could move my fingers. Many long minutes later, my senses returned. I stood exactly at the same spot where I was when this strange spell struck me down, but the mage was not standing where he had been. Truth be told, after all the time in darkness with no senses, I even forgot all about him. But now that I've seen his dry corpse, I remember him...

  When my senses returned, I lowered my sword and I looked around. I almost immediately saw the corpse pinned to the wall. I walked to it, examined it, and now here I stand staring at it. The corpse seems almost mummified, yet the ice covering the body is still fresh, so he must have died recently.

  As I stare at the wrinkled body, something comes to my mind. Tales of something my old friend, Zack Sands had told me of the black magic spell known as the Blackest Ritual. This corpse looks just like what he told me all about what that spell does to its victims...

  `Zack... You did this, didn't you?' I mutter to myself.

  And I slowly smile. Yes, it had to be him. Slowly I realize that the mage must have cast some kind of spell on me that left me completely helpless and senseless, like a stasis field, or perhaps petrification. Zack killed the mage, and set me free. I owe him for that now. My good old friend has saved my ass...

  But where is he, I wonder...

  I turn towards the door leading up to the tower, and walk to it. I reach to open it, but it won't budge. It's locked.

  `I never lock this door...' I mumble to myself, and then step back and charge the door, shoulder first, trying to break it down.

  No effect. It must be a magical seal...

  Now why is the door sealed? Who dared?!

  Wait... A magical seal means that there must be someone up in the tower doing something dangerous...

  I'd better teleport up there fast!

  Wait... First I should see who, or what is up there. I don't want to end up like I did with the mage that claimed to be Voi'Shek...

  How was that scrying spell? Damn, even after all these years, spellcasting is just not my style...

  I step to the pedestal at the center of the room. The book I was reading when the mage appeared is still there. There are many powerful spells in this tome, there should be a scrying spell among the pages as well. I take the book and flip through the pages swiftly. A minute passes and I find what I seek. A spell that will allow me to see through the ceiling above me.

  I turn to the ceiling and slowly utter the words written in the book. A moment later, the ceiling becomes transparent to my eyes, and I can see what is happening above.

  `Well now... There's something you don't see every day!'

  It's Zack, fighting with a woman. A night elf. She is stunningly beautiful, so much that looking at her makes me ignore Zack completely. She moves swiftly with the grace and agility of a cat. She fights Zack with a black sword in her hand, and... Why, that's Zack's sword! Oh my, she disarmed him! What a girl! I must get acquainted with her later on! I hope they don't kill each other...

  Zack fights her with his two infernal knives, Doom and Chaos. Strange, his left hand looks very weird. Almost ghostly... But he fights well with the two Hellish blades, just like I taught him long ago.

  Suddenly the two of them lock their weapons together and stare into each others eyes. Zack smiles at the girl with a vicious smile on his face. Oh, I know that smile... He's up to something. Something nasty... Oh, I do hope he won't kill the poor girl...

  A few moments pass and... Oh shit!

  Lightning strikes... into... the glass dome above them, and... shards of shattered glass fall on the floor...

  `You son of a bitch!' I exclaim. `Do you have any idea what it took me to construct that dome?! And you just shatter it with lightning?! I ought to kick your sorry ass right now!'

  That idiot! He's ruining the dome of my tower! I'd better stop this, fast... How was that teleportation spell?

  Before I could do anything, lightning strikes into the dome two more times, and more and more glass shards litter the floor around Zack and the night elf woman.

  `That's it! I'm going to kill you...' I exclaim, and grasp the air with my left hand as if I was grasping a chicken's neck and trying to strangle it.

  As I angrily stare at the scene above, a violent wind rises in the room around the two figures, and picks up the shards. The shards circle around Zack and the girl, cutting into the both of them.

  `What the Hell are you doing?' I ask, slowly. The wind grows stronger and stronger, and not much later the whirlwind picks them up and raises them high above.

  Unbelievable... All this time, Zack just stood there silently, staring at the girl, doing nothing. Not a hand movement, not a magic word formed on his lips, nothing, and he created three lightning strikes and this violent whirlwind. His magical skill still amazes me...

&nb
sp; They are now being thrown around in the wind, as shards of broken glass cut into their bodies. Suddenly, Zack vanishes and reappears on the floor, away from the whirlwind. He looks up, smiling viciously. The poor girl is thrown about in the violent wind, and she suddenly releases the sword. It flies towards Zack and he catches it. So, this fight is over. As soon as the wind dies down, I'd better go up there before he kills her. Poor girl. She's so cute... It would be such a shame...

  The wind abruptly stops and she... She falls to the ground... The floor cracks beneath her as she hits the ground...

  `Poor girl...' I whisper to myself, as I run my fingers through my hair nervously. Such a fall would kill anyone.

  She raises her head as Zack crouches beside her, and as Zack speaks something to her, she suddenly smiles, and then starts to laugh, and Zack laughs with her.

  How can she still be alive? Amazing! She must have some kind of magic aiding her. She may survive yet...

  But what is she laughing at? Zack laughs, too, but suddenly he stops and the smile fades from his face. He glances to the side of the room, and his eyes go wide. Oh, I know that look in his eyes... He just fucked up something...

  I look in the direction he is staring. There is something glowing just above the ground. It looks like it's about to explode! I glance back at Zack, and I see his lips forming a familiar phrase.

  `Oh... fuck!' he exclaims. He arises and rushes to the glowing object on the floor, while the girl just laughs.

  I can't leave it to that cretin to sort out this mess...

  Without hesitation, I open the book on the last page. There is a spell there that was made for just such emergencies. As swiftly as I can, I utter the words of the incantation written there, and reach down to what magical energies I can access. As I speak the last word aloud, the spell takes effect, and everything up there abruptly stops, seemingly.

  Time stop, some idiot mage named this spell. Ridiculous. You can't stop time. You can only slow it down. True, this spell slows it so much that it almost looks like time has indeed stopped, but in truth it's very slowly flowing up there. For me, time flows as normal. Now I can go up there and fix this mess that Zack has caused.

  How was that teleportation spell again? Right, I remember.

  *

  As I arrive in the tower above, I immediately rush to the glowing object on the floor. It is a cube shaped black stone. As far as I can tell, it will explode in the fraction of a second after my time stop spell ends. I can't stop it...

  `Dammit Zack, you imbecile! Why must you do this all the time?!' I scream towards my reckless old friend a couple of feet away from me. He stands there motionless, unaware of my presence.

  Curses, what the Hell am I supposed to do? I can't just teleport this shit out of here, I can't teleport anything outside of the field where time has slowed. I must wait for the spell to end first, but if I do that, it will be too late to do anything. I can't cast spells as fast as Zack can, there's no way...

  All I can do is protect ourselves.

  I sigh.

  `You son of a bitch! If this explosion does major damage to my Keep, I'm gonna throw you in a room full of crocodiles and watch as they bite off your balls!' I scream at Zack. I know he can't hear me, but whatever. I had to let off some steam.

  I sigh again, and flip through the pages of the book.

  `Ah, there we are. Just what I need!' I exclaim, as I find the spell I seek. It is the most powerful protection spell I've ever known. Zack may know something better, but this will do fine. I step to him and chant the words as I point my right index finger at him. As the spell is completed, a transparent sphere littered with glowing magical runes appears around him.

  `Yes, that should save your sorry ass from the explosion, you idiot...' I tell him. Then I turn towards the night elf woman on the floor.

  She is truly beautiful, but now is not the time to admire her beauty. I quickly cast the spell on her, and she, too, is encased in a protective sphere. I slowly cast it a third time, this time on myself. Now, we should all survive this.

  I close the book and place it inside the magic pouch hanging on my belt. Then I look towards the cube shaped black stone. A few seconds, and the time stop spell will end.

  `Alright. Blow as big as you want. I'm ready for you!' I exclaim, and brace myself for what is to come.

  Northwest

  Somewhere in Draconia, present day (4 hours after Twilightfall)

  I awake. I shake my head and slowly stand up, and glance around. Damn I'm dizzy...

  As I observe the landscape around me, I shake my head again and rub my eyes. Then I look around once more.

  `This can't be right...'

  I close my eyes, and wait a few seconds. Then I open them and look around one more time. But I see the same thing. A vast, barren, empty plain surrounds me as far as the eye can see. Above me, I see a twilight sky, with stars shining bright. But something's not right. The star signs were never like this in Draconia... And why are they shining in a crimson color?

  `Where am I? Am I dead, and this is the Afterlife?'

  No. Zack and I once visited the Afterlife. It was not like this. Although the twilight sky was very similar, the landscape itself was largely different, and there were no stars...

  I look to the distance, trying to observe the mountains. They look familiar...

  Yes, these are the very same mountains that surrounded my Keep. Both the ones to the northwest and the ones far east. I am still in Draconia, and this is the place where my Keep should be standing. But where is my Keep?

  Slowly, the realization sinks in. I am where the Keep used to stand. But no Keep. The explosion, it seems, was much more powerful than I had anticipated...

  My Keep has been destroyed... And my golems, my precious alter golems, my proud creations... They, too, are gone...

  `Zack, you ignorant bastard! I'm going to kill you...'

  Well, if he's still alive, that is. I survived, and he was protected by the same spell, so he should also be alive. But where is he?

  I look around, but see no-one, anywhere. Suddenly, I see something shining on the ground about twenty feet away.

  Curiously, I walk to it, and crouch beside it. It is a cube shaped stone. Just like the one that blew up in my tower, but this one is transparent. I reach for it and pick it up.

  Strange... Perfect cube shape. I've never seen anything like it. To carve a stone like this is very difficult, and this doesn't even look like it was carved. It is glowing on one side.

  I stand up and turn it around. Now, the opposite side of it is glowing instead.

  `Now this is interesting...' I tell myself silently. I start to rotate the cube, and no matter how it's turned, it seems the face that is glowing is always the one that faces north. Or rather, northwest. Towards the mountains.

  It's almost as if it was telling me to go northwest. Telling me that there is something straight ahead. Something... I don't know what, but I can almost feel it calling me, drawing me, luring me...

  `Eh, why the Hell not? With no Keep, I've nothing better to do anyway. Let's go see where this glowing cube will lead me.'

  So, I turn towards the northwest, and begin to walk.

  *

  After about an hour of walking, I hear the sounds of combat to the west. I turn towards the sounds and try to make it out, but it's too far. Curiously, I walk closer. After a while, I begin to see the figures.

  It looks like a group of warriors. A few dozen of them. They look like the slave soldiers of the dragon army. What are they doing here? What are they fighting?

  They seem to be standing in a circle, and sounds of combat emit from the middle of the circle. Suddenly I hear a familiar voice.

  `Take that, you shitfaced cumsack springass faggots! You don't fuck with me! Do you hear me?! Do you fucking hear me?!'

  Then sounds of combat follow again.

  That sounds like Zack to me. Looks like he got himself in trouble again. I frown and shake my head, and slowly unshe
athe my sword from the scabbard on my back. With the Sword of Pain in my hand, I slowly approach the circle of slave soldiers.

  Then I remember something. I gradually slow down, and then I stop. I slowly sheathe my sword.

  `Hey, Zack...' I speak to myself, silently. `You blew up my castle. You destroyed my golems. You know what? Deal with this mess yourself!'

  I turn back to the northwest, and continue to travel in the direction the cube shaped stone is steering me. Slowly, the sounds of combat and swearing fade away in the distance behind me.

  A meaning

  Somewhere in Draconia, present day (6 hours after Twilightfall)

  So strange...

  Ever since I left Zack behind, I've been watching the twilight sky as I walked on. For some reason, it just won't go away. When Zack told me that it had persisted for hours, I didn't really believe him. But I've walked for an hour, and still the twilight is exactly as it was an hour ago. No change whatsoever. So strange... And those crimson sparkles in the sky, which Zack says are not stars, are likewise strange...

  I don't even know which way I am going. Or what I want to do...

  Indeed, what do I want to do?

  I slowly stop, and look around me. A vast empty plain is all I see in every direction. I have no idea which way the coast is, or how I could cross it to return to Ess'yer. Do I even want to return there? I do not know.

  Ever since Jason died, I simply could not find my place in the world. Ever since then, I've searched a meaning in my life, something to pursue, some kind of meaning to this existence. And then, out of nowhere and without warning, came that cursed lizardman and tried to take my amulet. The amulet Jason had given me, the amulet I held more precious than anything else I possessed. The lizardman, as much as I hate him, gave me a meaning in life: to fight him off, to thwart him, to kill him. Now that he no longer hunts me for the amulet, I am left once more seeking a meaning in my existence...

  Do I go back? Will I possibly find what I seek in Ess'yer? Or do I stay here? In Draconia, land of dragon-kind?