The Vault of Kings

by Matt Taylor

  “Samara, watch out!” Sylas and Torren both yelled in unison.

  They heard a scream coming from the tent and redoubled their speed, moments later crashing into the tent where they saw a man holding Samara with a knife at her throat.

  “Don’t come any closer, or the girl gets it!”

  Samara whimpered at his gruff voice, tears running down her face as her body shook with fear.

  “Help me!” she whispered in a choked voice.

  “Let her go!” Sylas yelled.

  “I said, stay back! Now, unless you want sweet cheeks here to get it, you are going to do exactly as I say. Back out of the tent now!”

  Sylas and Torren hesitated for a moment, not wanting to comply.

  “Did I stutter? I said back out!” The man pressed the knife firmly against Samara’s neck, drawing a bead of blood.

  “Okay! We’re going!” Torren replied.

  Keeping their eyes fixed upon Samara, they both backed out of the tent slowly.

  “Hang the door open, so I can see you leave,” the man instructed, keeping the knife firm against Samara’s neck.

  Torren drew the door flap open and then secured it to one of the main frame poles so that it would stay open.

  “Now, keep moving.”

  Torren and Sylas continued backing up until they were out of the tent. The man exited the tent, keeping a tight hold on Samara. “Now, one of you has the stone, yes? Bring it to me, or I’ll slice her neck!”

  “What stone?” Torren said, trying to delay for as long as possible, “there are plenty of rocks by the river if you’re looking for something to skip.”

  “Don’t play games with me, boy. I know very well that you are in possession of the Stone of Darkness. Bring it to me now, or she dies!”

  The man suddenly backed up and tightened his grip around Samara, “Stay back! I’m warning you!”

  Taken aback by the sudden movement, Sylas turned around and saw both Uthren and Geode approaching them. They had killed the other men and still had glowing eyes and hands. Samara looked at Uthren and with terror in her eyes, squeaked out the words “help me.” Uthren and Geode continued to walk towards the man, ignoring his threats.

  “Stop right there!” The man said, pressing the knife against Samara’s neck even harder, drawing more blood. “Don’t think I won’t do it!”

  They stopped walking but kept their gaze fixed upon Samara.

  “It’s going to be okay, Samara,” Uthren said as he lifted his right hand towards her, the glow of Light elements lighting up the area around them.

  Then, a bright yellow light appeared around Samara, covering her body with the protective Light energy that Sylas had seen Uthren use on him just moments before.

  The man gritted his teeth, “I warned you!” Then twisting his body, he brought his knife hand across Samara’s neck in a slashing motion.

  “No!” Sylas and Torren both shouted.

  Samara closed her eyes and let out a scream, but to the man’s surprise, Samara’s body did not go limp and fall to the ground. Instead, the knife slid harmlessly over her neck, defying his expectations.

  Uthren then raised both hands high above his head and pulled them down, causing a brilliant beam of Light to descend from the sky, smiting the man where he stood. His grip on Samara released, and the knife fell from his hand. He took a step backward and then fell to the ground, incinerated by the deadly beam of Light Magick.

  Samara ran to Uthren and wrapped her hands around him sobbing. Uthren returned the hug, and the light from his eyes and hands faded into the night.

  “Are you alright, Samara?” He asked softly.

  She nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes, “I think so.”

  Relieved, Sylas released a breath of air he had been holding, then feeling light-headed looked back at his arm. The giant gash continued to pour blood onto the ground, his arm now completely numb. Stars glittered in his vision as he fell to his knees, trying to resist the urge to faint.

  “Sylas!” Uthren exclaimed.

  Kneeling down beside him, he again made the symbol of Light, and his hands and eyes began to glow. He placed his hands on Sylas’s arm, causing Sylas to scream in pain. Resisting the urge to pull his arm away from Uthren’s hands, Light began to circle around his arm and enter into the giant gash. He felt the same warmth that he had felt when attempting to conjure Light Magick earlier that day. The heat entered his arm, and he instantly felt the pain start to subside. The blood stopped flowing from his arm onto the ground as his arm muscles began to weave themselves back together, working their way up towards the outer layer of skin. Finally, his skin pulled itself together, leaving a scar where the blade had penetrated.

  He looked with astonishment at the long white scar that now stretched across his arm. The pain had completely left, the only sign that he had even been injured at all was just the gnarly scar that he now wore. Uthren then tended to Samara, healing the small cut that she had on her neck, then proceeded to ask Torren if he needed any healing.

  Torren shook his head. “No, I’m alright.”

  Uthren nodded, and the yellow glow left his eyes and hands. He then turned and looked at the man who was still wrapped up in vines.

  “Let’s find out exactly who these people were. We need to know who sent them and how they know we have the stone.”

  They all walked over to where the man was lying on the ground. He struggled against the vines that held him captive but to no avail. Geode made the symbol of Nature with his hands and resumed the dark green glow of Magick. He stretched out his hand, and the vines around the man tightened around him and lifted him into the air, so he was floating upright, just slightly off the ground.

  Uthren walked up to the man and with an open palm, slapped him across the face. “Who are you, and who sent you to find us?”

  The man spat at Uthren. “Do what you want, mage, I ain’t talkin’.”

  Uthren signed. “You will find that Magick can be… rather persuasive.”

  He then made the symbol of Nature, and just like Geode, his hands and eyes began to glow a dark green. He raised his hand in the air and then clenched it into a fist, and a small thorn sprouted from one of the vines wrapped around the man’s chest, poking outwards away from his body.

  “It would be a shame if more of these thorns were to continue growing from these vines, but inward instead of outward,” Uthren continued.

  The man clenched his teeth. “Do your worst!”

  Uthren sighed, then once again clenched his fist.

  Several small thorns sprouted out from the vines that wrapped around his chest and arms. They pierced into his skin and continued to grow. The man shrieked in pain, a bead of sweat formed at the top of his forehead, and his breathing rapidly increased.

  “The thorns will continue to slowly grow in size until you are skewered like a kebab. Now tell me, who are you and who sent you here? Was it Maelos himself? Or do you work for one of his puppets?”

  “Alright, alright, I’ll talk! Make it stop!”

  Uthren waved his hand and the thorns that pierced the man’s body retreated. Red spots of blood began to mark the man’s clothing, where the thorns had exited.

  “My name is Raymond. I’m a part of a band of thieves called the black hand. We’ve worked under the hand of Maelos for the past ten years. We were stationed at an encampment just outside of Shilvrst when we received word from The Dark Mage that the Stone of Darkness had been moved. He told us that he had a vision that the stone had been taken from its hiding place, and it was crucial that he get it back. He commanded us to retrieve it and bring it to him. We went to Shilvrst searching for clues to its whereabouts when we again received word that he had seen another vision and that the stone was near the river to the east.”

  The man grimaced again from the pain that the thorns had left in his body. “That’s when we stumbled upon your camp. We figured that it was you who had the stone, who else would be camping by the same river for no good re
ason?” The man stared deeply into Uthrens eyes. “We are but his minions, the ones who happened to be closest to the stone at the time of its discovery. There will be many others that he will send to retrieve it. Powerful mages and warriors, those who are much more skilled than we are.”

  His face darkened with hate and malice as he spat the last sentence, “You won’t survive the onslaught that he will send. He will get the stone, and then he will bathe the world in darkness.”

  “Hasn’t he kind of already done that?” Torren asked, a bit of attitude in his voice.

  “Merely becoming the supreme ruler of Evendreil is not his end goal, boy,” Raymond responded. "With the stone, he will be able to unlock his full potential and become the ultimate and immortal ruler of the world.”

  “Immortal? How is that even possible?” Torren asked.

  “That’s above my pay grade boy, I don’t know the details, I just know the end goal. And I know that he gets whatever he wants, his power is limitless! He will find a new hiding spot for the stone until the time is right-”

  The vines started squeezing Raymond tighter and tighter. He screamed out in pain, unable to finish his monolog, until Sylas heard the cracking of bones, and his scream turned into a gurgling wheeze.

  A loud CRACK followed, and Raymond’s body fell limp. The vines then dropped the lifeless body to the ground and retreated back to the tree from which they sprang.

  “Geode, I wasn’t done,” Uthren said.

  “We heard enough Uthren. There was no more information that he could give us. Besides, if we are indeed known to Maelos, then that means I need to leave for Shilvrst to warn them now and return to you as swiftly as possible. If he’s going to continue to send people to hunt us down, you will need me here. We cannot meet up at Gelendor, I have to be with you until we reach the city.”

  Uthren still looked frustrated but agreed. “Right, leave for Shilvrst right away, we’ll await your return here. I’ll keep the others safe.”

  Geode nodded, turning towards the town of Shilvrst. “I’ll be as fast as I can, but if I’m not back by tomorrow night, you must go without me. There will be others that can help keep you safe in Gelendor, and it would be much safer there than in the middle of the wilderness.”

  “We will wait for you, but we’ll leave if it becomes too dangerous to wait.” Uthren responded. “Meet us just a bit further down the river when you return. I’d like to move away from this battle scene in the morning.”

  Geode looked up at the moon, the rain had stopped, and the what little clouds there were had given way so that the moon shone even brighter down upon them. He took a deep breath and then started jogging back towards Shilvrst.

  Sylas looked back down at the long scar on his arm. It’s only been one day and half of a night since we left home, and I’ve already almost died.

  Uthren saw the concern on his face and walked up to Sylas, putting his hand on his arm.

  “It should be as good as new, besides the scar. You did well, Sylas.”

  He then looked at Samara and Torren, “you all did well. Go ahead and get some sleep if you can. I’ll keep watch for the rest of the night. We shouldn’t be too far off sunrise anyway.”

  Looking off into the distance where Geode had left, Sylas asked, “Will Geode be alright on his own?”

  “Geode is one of the most skilled warriors I have ever met Sylas, not to mention a powerful mage. He can take care of himself. Now you three go get some rest, I’ll see you again in the morning. I’ll teach you how to perform Light healing Magick while we wait for his return. I can see already that this will be quite useful to you all.”

  Looking back at his scar and then to Torren and Samara, who both nodded, Sylas agreed and started off towards his tent. He didn’t see his sword on the way back to the tent, which made him nervous, but remembering the incredible display that he had seen both Uthren and Geode perform calmed his nerves.

  He crawled into his tent and laid down on his back. Closing his eyes, he thought of his family back in Shilvrst. Please let them be okay.

  Sylas awoke to the sound of birds singing in the trees around him. He sat up in his tent, and his back cracked. To his surprise, he actually slept reasonably well and felt rejuvenated upon waking up. He found his boots and laced them up and then exited the tent. It was a beautiful fall morning. A bit cooler than he would have liked, but the sun falling on his skin helped to warm him enough that he decided he didn’t need to retrieve his jacket from his pack.

  He stretched his arms and then remembered that his sword was still somewhere on the ground. Most of the mud and grass had dried in the night save some of the morning dew, leaving his sword laying in a pile of slightly damp dirt not too far from his tent.

  He wiped the dew off the blade on his pant leg, then sheathed the sword and started off in the direction of Torrens tent. Just as he was approaching, Torren exited his tent.

  “Hey, Sylas, how’s the arm?”

  “It feels like nothing happened apart from the scar.” He said, running a finger over the scar on his arm. It was positioned slightly above the elbow, running all the way across the top of his forearm in a nice straight line.

  “Pretty cool that healing Magick, right? I can definitely see how it would come in handy.”

  Sylas nodded, “I guess what Uthren is going to teach us today must be the same spell that Samara was trying to do when we met her to talk about going to the crypt. She will probably pick up on it really fast.”

  Torren shrugged, “Yeah, maybe. But we can’t let her think she’s better than we are, we have to keep her humble.”

  He gave Sylas a wink and then stretched his arms, and in the middle of the stretch, flexed his biceps, then raised an eyebrow and looked at Sylas. “Man, I’m looking big this morning!”

  Sylas tried but couldn’t keep back a smile and laughed. “Okay Mr. Humble, let’s go find her then and meet Uthren.”

  Torren chuckled and followed Sylas towards Samara’s tent. Torren and Sylas approached Samara’s tent, and Torren gave a couple knocks on one of the outer poles.

  “Samara, are you still sleeping?”

  No answer.

  Torren looked at Sylas and shrugged, “do you want to take a peek inside?”

  “Are you kidding me? No way, she would kill me If I looked in there without her first giving permission.”

  Torren smiled, “Okay, Sylas is coming in, so I hope you’re dressed!”

  “Torren! No, I’m not coming in, go ahead and take your time Samara.”

  Torren laughed and then looked up and saw Samara and Uthren sitting together on the side of the river where he had been teaching himself and Sylas.

  “Ohh there she is, she’s with Uthren already. Guess you won’t get to take a peek.”

  Before Sylas could say anything, Torren walked off towards Uthren and Samara. Sylas sighed and took off after him.

  Arriving at the river bank, Uthren greeted them and then instructed that they sit down.

  “As you can tell from last night, we are most likely going to continue to run into trouble on our journey. I believe that because of this, the most crucial spell for you to learn as of now will be a healing spell, closely followed by some basic combat spells. Two of you have already seen how important it is to know how to use Light to heal,” he began.

  “Torren and Sylas, I’ve caught Samara up to about the same point that you two got to yesterday, so now all three of you should be at about the same page. I realize that Torren still has yet to tap into his inner life, but we can work on that some more today. So far, Sylas is the only one to open his second mind, and he didn’t really do it successfully. I hope that we don’t cause another episode for you in trying again Sylas, are you willing to give it another shot?”

  Sylas nodded.

  “Good, now all of you again make the symbol of Light and tap into your inner life, bringing it forth into your hands and hold it there until I give further instruction.”

  All three of them m
ade the symbols without any errors and closed their eyes. Sylas reached down and found the pool of his inner life. It was much easier to find this time, and he assumed it would continue to get simpler as he learned to recognize the feeling.

  He brought the tingling sensation up from his stomach, into his torso down his arms and into his hands. His hands felt warm and alive again. He opened his eyes and looked over at Samara and Torren. They were both still sitting, concentrating on finding their inner life. Uthren looked at Sylas and gave him a smile.

  “Remember to clear your mind and focus all of your energy into finding that small light within you. Once you find it, let it take control and work its way into your hands. Imagine it inside of your blood, pumping its way from your stomach into your hands.”

  They sat for just a bit longer until Samara’s hands and eyes began to glow, and she let out a sigh of relief.

  “Very good, Samara.”

  They all turned and looked towards Torren, whose eyes were now open. He broke the symbol with his hands and placed them in his lap.

  “Go ahead without me, I’ll watch for now.”

  Uthren nodded and returned his attention to Samara and Sylas.

  “Now, bring your inner life from your hands up into your head and open your second mind. Remember, as this is a feeling that is unique to everyone, I cannot help you figure out what it is. Once you feel it, let it embrace you and imagine yourself removing your soul from your body and allowing it to rise up and out of your body. As it leaves, you will gain the ability to think and observe with both your first and second mind, and we can move on to the last step.”

  Sylas closed his eyes again and moved the energy from his hands up his arms and into his head. Upon entering his head, he felt the energy pulsing throughout his entire body, the same feeling that he had last time. He was yet again aware of every fiber of his being, every bone, hair, and drop of blood, all performing their functions while awaiting his next command. Sylas was about to imagine his soul leaving his body but then hesitated. Fear swept over him at the thought of having the dark visions again.

  He stopped, and the very blood inside his body seemed to stand still. He was about to back out when he heard the voice of his father echo in his mind, “if you keep your heart and mind focused on what’s right, darkness won’t be able to overpower you.”