Crystal Throne (Book 1)

by D. W. Jackson

  “If four scions could do this much damage what are our chances of making it to our destination and back home?” Thad asked Humanius, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible as not to alert the others to his fears.

  “My sister’s children have never been much for war,” Humanius replied. “She designed them to fight against magic with magic. With the exception of the three that remain, they had very little chance of winning that battle. We might not have a great chance at completing our task, but there is always a chance no matter how slim.”

  “I don’t find that very reassuring,” Thad said as Humanius turned away and started walking down the path toward his sister.

  CHAPTER VI

  After two more days of travel, they had not come across any more scions and for that Thad was extremely grateful. At first, the crystal surroundings were breathtakingly beautiful, but now Thad barely took notice of it.

  To keep his mind occupied Thad had taken to practicing with his sword knowing that his magic would be of little aid during this trip though his mind still tried to find anything that might aid them against the formidable scions, but so far he was coming up empty handed. At night, he prayed that Maria would visit him, but so far she had been absent from his dreams. He didn’t know if it was harder for her to contact him here or if she hadn’t been looking. She was an odd woman, sometimes she would barge ahead with little care for his wishes and others she would hold back thinking she might put him in danger. He didn’t know if that was the case this time, but he hoped that she would contact him soon. It had been far too long since he had looked upon her face and right now her smile would do great for his shattered spirts.

  “It won’t be much longer now,” Humanius said, seemingly listening into his thoughts. “The capital is only a few more days away. It was a large and grand city stretching more than twenty miles across with buildings that touched the sky. I don’t know how much is left, but it should still be a sight to behold.”

  “What will we find there?” Thad asked trying to picture the city.

  “My father’s palace,” Humanius replied with a wistful look on his face. “It was a massive building, the largest in the city with more than a thousand rooms. Growing up, my sister and I used to play hide and seek with the servants. The palace itself was built long ago to hide the doorway. In the lowest sections of the palace is a massive archway made of a strange metal. My father only took me there once, along with my sister. He told us then of what the world once was and what had happened along with our family’s solemn goal. Our job was to safeguard the gate and to make sure that it never reopened. When my father learned how to make stronger children he noticed a weakening of the gate. The more magic that went through the gate, the weaker it got and it was beginning to stress the gate.”

  “Will the gate show us how to fix ours?” Thad asked with hope starting to build up.

  “Not the gate, but my father’s library. There are numerous books salvaged from the time before the crossings,” Humanius said his eyes wandering again. “There is one book there that should tell us how to fix the gate as well as how to build one in your world as well. It was bound in dark leather and smelt of rosewood. My father kept it hidden among the numerous other books he had collected. It had no title on its spine but each member of the royal family signed the first page of the book. If we can find it then we will find our answers.”

  “How big is this library of yours?” Thad asked torn between wonder and trepidation. Knowledge had always been a love of his, but the thought of going through a mountain of books while scions stalked them was not an appealing thought.

  “I don’t know the precise number, but I do remember as a child that I could not see from one wall of the library to the next. It was vast and my father’s pride. He spent most of his life combing over those books and that is something to be said given how long he lived.”

  “Do you have any idea where the book might be found among the countless others?” Thad asked hopefully.

  “No,” Humanius replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I spent a great deal of time in the library, but my father spent even more time browsing those dusty shelves and every few days he would change its location. My father was many things and anal was chief among them.”

  “At first I thought you were trying to cheer me up,” Thad said with a grunt. “It seems though you wanted to give me a glimmer of hope then douse me in enough doubt to drown me.”

  “That was not my intention, but I have never been great at comforting those around me,” Humanius said in a way of explanation. “As dauntless as it all seems, we will prevail, otherwise your world will end up just as this one, though that might not be the worst of the consequences.”

  “What could be worse?” Thad asked not really wanting to know the answer to his question.

  “As I told you, a long time ago a man opened bridges between this world and others. Though it has been decades since those bridges were opened the veil between this world and them has already been weakened.”

  “What does that mean?” Thad asked though he was sure he already knew the answer.

  “Just as my sister and I used our power to break through one of the already weakened veils, it is possible that as the power between the worlds builds, other bridges will break down until the entire Omniverse is reduced to what you see here.”

  “That doesn’t sound very promising, but I find it hard to care about worlds that I have never seen,” Thad said. There was a lot to take in and the news did not leave a good feeling within him. It was bad enough to have one world depending on him, let alone a countless number of others.

  Shortly after Humanius left, Thad found himself once again watching the scenery, but using his magical eye instead of his natural one. He had spent hours looking at the landscape, but Thad had never thought of looking at it though another perspective.

  With his natural eye, there were different colors of gems and crystals, but they tended to blend together after looking at them for an extended period of time. With his magical eye, they stood out and Thad could tell where the grass and ground met. The colors didn’t stay the same, but they seemed to pulsate with life. Unable to help himself, Thad felt himself reach out with his magical senses and he felt the world around him reach back.

  It was an amazing feeling. The entire world had its own life and Thad was touching it. Thad started to feel his hold on his own person disappear as the world around him pulled at his very being. Just as the last strand of his consciousness began to unravel, Thad felt something pulling him back into himself.

  Let go of it and come back to yourself.

  When Thad opened his eyes all he could hear was Thuraman’s words echoing in his ears. Looking around, Thad noticed that he was sitting on the ground and Bren and the others were gathered around him. “Looks like I was careless,” Thad said with a weak smile.

  That is one way to put it. I expected this foolishness with your son, but I was sure that you were brighter than that. Have you not learned that magic is dangerous, especially when there is this much of it floating around? Fool, dammed fool.

  Thad ignored Thuraman’s words knowing there was little he could say in his defense. The staff was right; what he had attempted to do was pure foolishness, but at the same time he didn’t regret it. In those few moments that he was bonded with the world around him he had learned something that he doubted few others could ever comprehend, even Thuraman who was a creature of magic. The world around them wasn’t alive in some obscure fashion. The truth was far more surprising. The ether and core of the world was made up of those who had passed, adding their own essence to the collective. That didn’t mean much considering the current position. It couldn’t help, but it meant that there was more to a human besides what could be seen. That knowledge lessened some of the fear and doubt that had been weighing down upon his shoulders since he had decided to follow his son on this suicidal mission.

  “Are you ok father?” Bren asked his face slightly
crinkled though his voice showed no real sign of worry. Thad wasn’t sure what that meant, but he tried not to let it bother him at the moment.

  “I am fine,” Thad replied hesitantly as he got to his feet. “I was trying to search our surroundings when they decided to search back.”

  “You must be careful my friend; there is more magic in one square acre here then there is in the whole of your world,” Humanius said, lending Thad a hand. “I wouldn’t even dare to try to reach out. Magic has a way of taking you, though the more you can hold the more dangerous it is. If any of us had tried that, then the world would have pulled back with its entire force. Luckily, you were just a moth that nearly got drawn into the light of the candle. I would suggest that you be more careful in the future.”

  “I will do that,” Thad promised. Bren and the others slowed down their pace to allow Thad to keep up.

  As hard as he tried, Thad couldn’t keep up. He felt weak and his body was sluggish and didn’t want to heed his commands. It was almost as if his body was rebelling against him after his out of body experience.

  Thankfully, Humanius got everyone to make an early camp. Thad didn’t complain, but he was sure that his friend knew of his weakness, though he didn’t use that as an excuse for stopping. If he had, Belaroan would have complained and demanded that they continue on until dark.

  Shortly after they stopped, Thad found a place to place his blanket. There was no real soft spot on the ground since it was all composed of crystal, but he could at least find one that was at least partially smooth.

  Thad was tired, but he didn’t want to sleep just yet. Making sure that no one else could see him, Thad pulled off his boot and checked over his foot. Most of it was still flesh, but the bottom half of his heel was now completely made of crystal and there were a few larger spots on the top of his foot.

  Thad moved his foot to make sure that he still had his full range of movement. After a few moments he was sure that the crystallization wasn’t causing problems. The few places where the crystals seemed as if they should cause him pain didn’t, so he knew that his enchantments were working like they were supposed to.

  Sitting his boot aside, Thad started rubbing his feet. His spells kept the crystals from taking over so quickly, but it didn’t stop regular pain from creeping in from the long hours of walking. After massaging the pain away, Thad left his boot off in order to allow his foot to air.

  Are you still thinking about what happened today? I know the call of the magic can be tempting, but you will be lost within its light.

  “Does that include you?” Thad asked curiously. He had spent years with the staff, yet he only knew a small amount about it in the end.

  “Yes,” Thuraman replied. “Did you think that just because I do not have flesh and blood that I do not feel the call of the magic. I do, and in some ways I feel it much more than you. The only real difference is that if I let it in my core will still work, but my conscience, as you know if, would be dissolved. I would be joined with the magic, though honestly, I don’t know what the end result would be.”

  “That is interesting,” Thad replied as all the possibilities ran through his mind. What if when Thuraman connected with the rest of the magical energies he could put a voice to their thoughts? If so, then he would have access to more knowledge than any other being alive. They might even be able to find out how to close the doorway without having to find the book Humanius had been talking about.

  You do know that I can hear everything you are thinking right now, and I find it very alarming that you would be willing to sacrifice me in such a manner. I shouldn’t be surprised, sacrifice has always been in you. You have tried to kill yourself any number of times to get at your goal even when there were much easier and smarter ways to go about it. This time though, you will find that you are out of luck; I do not have the same self-destructive tendencies.

  “I didn’t mean for you…” Thad started to explain, but there was little he could say when Thuraman could read his every thought unless he was actively guarding against it.

  I know what you were thinking; whether you would ask me to do it is something completely different. In the end, it doesn’t matter because that is something I would never even consider. My life is my own and I don’t wish it end…Not yet anyway. Now that we got that out of the way are you feeling better? I know the magical energy pulled most of your energy from you when you were connected. I tried to replenish what I could, but there was only so much that I could do given the circumstances.

  “Honestly, I feel as if I hadn’t slept for days. I am worn out and all I want right now is to sleep, but if do I will wake up too early and will be just as tired in the following days. I need to stay awake until I would normally sleep so that I won’t suffer for days.”

  Sounds like nonsense to me, but then again I don’t have to sleep. I would suggest you get your rest and keep an eye on your foot. If too much of it turns to crystal then it will be hard for you to keep it from everyone else. Talking about that, did you have to cut off your toe? I have seen you do many things I didn’t understand, but that even made me feel uneasy.”

  “I didn’t have to, but if I hadn’t, I would have been in a lot of pain and walking would have become nearly impossible,” Thad replied. “It was the best choice given what was going on. Even had I been back in Farlan, I think I would have cut it off. As it was, it was only a hindrance.”

  If you say so, just keep an eye on it. If you have to keep cutting off body parts I don’t think there will be much left of you by time you return back home.

  “Is that concern I hear in your voice?” Thad asked with a mental smirk.

  I spent years trying to get your son to find you and return you, of course I am concerned, I don’t want all my hard work to go to waste this fast. You could be grateful and try to live for a few dozen more years at the very least.

  Sitting back Thad let out a smile. “I will try.”

  CHAPTER VII

  As they came closer to the old capital city that housed their target, Thad spent more and more time alone. It was not that he wanted to separate himself from the others, but as time passed he found it harder and harder to talk to them. His son also spent a lot of time alone at the beginning of the trip, but as the days had passed he had started talking with Belaroan and Humanius. Bren’s drive for knowledge was envious and many of the conversations he overheard interested him, but Thad found himself holding back. The last time he had talked to Bren was to ask his son if he had a spare set of gloves. Bren had quickly given him a pair, and Thad had tried to think of more to talk about, but no matter how he tried, nothing came to mind.

  As he walked at the back of the group, Thad tugged at the gloves that now adorned his hands, covering the small flakes of crystal that had started to appear. The way the crystals spread reminded Thad of how blood poison moved through the body. He had seen it a few time during the war with the Brotherhood. Often time when someone took an injury, it turned bad and their feet and hands started to turn and rot. The longer that it went untreated the more of the body that was lost to the disease, but unlike blood poisoning Thad knew of no way to cure the disease that currently plagued him.

  Lifting up the cuff of one of the gloves, Thad looked at one of the light pink crystals that glittered on his palm. He could feel the magic stored in the crystal, but he could hear no voice coming from it. Thad wanted to reach out and touch the crystals that have begun to cover him, but after what had happened last time, he was afraid of losing himself to the magic.

  Pulling himself from the depths of his own thoughts, Thad began to look around. Off in the distance, Thad could see what he believed could only be the palace Humanius had spoken of. It was massive, even from this distance Thad could tell that it was larger than any other building he had ever seen before. The top of the palace looked like a spiral reaching to the sky and past, so that you couldn’t even see the top of it through the clouds, it was like a manmade mountain.

  Though Thad wa
s sure they were still a full day’s travel from the palace, they began to pass more and more buildings. Not only were they passing more buildings, the buildings began to get larger with each passing mile until Thad’s neck began to cramp from looking up in an effort to see the tops of them.

  It was not only the buildings that had changed, but the roads on which they traveled had as well. The roads stretched and rose from the ground in odd formations. Thad found himself looking at them wondering how and why they needed so many roads.

  “They were built thousands of years before I was born,” Humanius answered the unasked question, startling Thad as he had not noticed the god’s presence. “My father told me that long ago our people made things that seemed wondrous, even when compared to magic and they did so with only their knowledge of the world around them, but as magic took over the world those things began to fail and were lost to the passing of the ages. Though the roads serve no real purpose, my people kept them to remind of what happens when people reach too far past themselves.”

  “Not every place in this world must be like this,” Thad said as he looked around and marveled at the crystalline beauty of the world around him.

  “I wouldn’t know what the rest of the world looks like,” Humanius said looking off in the distance. “We live on an island, a large one, but ever since the war that nearly destroyed our world, it was taboo to leave our own land. It was believed that the rest of the world had perished and in all the years we flourished not once had an outsider ever arrived to our land, so it is more than possible that nothing lies beyond our own shores. Even if there had been people beyond they would be long gone thanks to the cancer that has turned everything to crystal.”

  “Brother, I think we will soon have guests,” Belaroan called from the front of the group.