The Third Sign

by Scott D. Muller

  “Twelve hundred years ago,” blurted Merl. “You expect me to believe that?”

  “What I say is true. I give you permission to read my mind if that will help.”

  “Bah!” Merl said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I have never heard of this realm you speak of!”

  “Three Rivers is far north, across the I’jean sea, then almost four hundred leagues north of that.”

  “There is nothing the other side of the sea,” he spat. “The world ends. There is no more. I myself have sailed to the end and peered over the vast nothing.”

  “You must refer to the land of mist. Can I continue with my story?”

  “Aye, it is a fine story, that’s for sure,” he said snidely.

  To’paz frowned, “My brother Ja’tar, who is almost four hundred years my senior, and I both possess the gift passed to us by our father and mother. My brother is the current Keeper, master wizard, of a guild of wizards that guide realms, especially those that have just come to discover magic, although we call it the gift.”

  “So how is it that I, the most powerful wizard in the land, have not heard of such a Guild?” Merl pondered aloud.

  “You were not meant to.” To’paz sighed. “You are not of the old magic, and we’re forbidden by the Guild to make ourselves known to anyone, mage or not!”

  “And yet, here you are ... telling me.”

  “I tell you now because it matters not at this time. The realm, your realm has been Closed, which I will explain soon enough so that all of this makes sense.”

  She swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump that had formed in her throat.

  “Then I suppose you should make haste and finish your tale.” He said, reluctantly. “At least I may finish with this drivel in time to partake of my midday meal.”

  To’paz grunted and took another sip of her tea. She let the minty liquid sit on her tongue for a moment before she swallowed, letting the soothing liquid calm her queasy stomach.

  “Where was I? Ah, yes! My mother was a Dream Walker, a shaman who could talk to dream beings and the spirit beings as they passed into the nether after death, or visited in their dreams. My father told me that she died during my childbirth. He was the previous Keeper. He was gravely injured when I was just a small girl, just after Ror, when the Guild tried to rein in the final traitors. Luckily, he ascended before his soul was lost. I don’t recall much of those days. Most of what I know has been told to me by teachers and my brother.”

  “Traitors?” Merl asked.

  “The teachings called them traitors, but I cannot say for sure whether they were traitors in the true sense, or not. However, these magi were what we called Dark Magi. The Dark Ones studied magic that comes from a very shadowy place; surrounded by death, lost souls, and demons.

  They revolted against the Keep and started a war because they felt they were superior, they should be able to control commoners. They did terrible things to the people. They used dark magic to suck the life from the commoners to extend their own and used their gifts to force adulation. They stole their children, raped their older daughters, and made them swear homage to the Dark Lord with their blood and souls, all in exchange for power. The final battle was fought at Ror, although it took hundreds of years after that battle to track down those that escaped.”

  Merl had closed his eyes while listening to her tale, “What was done with these Dark Magi when they were captured?”

  “I don’t know,” To’paz shrugged weakly. “I was a very young mage at the time, barely in my teens and wasn’t cognizant of the Guild, nor its edicts. I am sure that they met a very unpleasant end. Rumors that were bantered about said that the Keep tried to return the souls back to their owners. It would have been very painful ... as I understand it.”

  “Convenient ...” Merl said, not trusting that he was getting the full story. This struck him as very discomforting.

  “I wasn’t raised by my father; I was raised by the White Sisters because my Father thought that things were too dangerous in the Keep. We were still hunting down the last of the Dark Magi ... and assassinations were known to happen. The Sisters have their own castle just over the hill from the Keep, although many of the Sisters lived in the Keep and were wedded to Wizards. It wasn’t a long walk.

  I was taken to the Academy just after my fifth birthday, and I stayed until my four-hundred-twenty-fifth year, when I asked for an assignment and was granted my own realm. This realm, we call it Naan. They call us travelers.”

  “Travelers?” he said. “Why do they call you that?

  “Because we go and live in a realm and make sure that evil doesn’t crush new magic. And we travel here using the gates of the ancients.”

  “What exactly are these gates you speak of, and where? I have walked these realms and never seen a gate to another time and place.”

  “No one really knows where they came from or who made them, but the gates allow us to travel between realms quickly. They’re hidden in plain sight. Some appear as arches, as a dais, or even as a cave. You might not notice them, even if you knew where to look. But using them is magical. It’s as if time stands still for the world and you move extremely fast. Therefore, we can walk great distances in just a heartbeat, even across water. Some of them are like ice.”

  “How do you mean that?”

  “It’s difficult to explain,” she said, struggling to find the right words. “It’s like you slide from one location to another, like being on a vast frozen lake, but not a lake, a path. That’s it; it’s like a frozen trail that you slide down faster than the wind.”

  “And after you get there, er ... here?”

  “We observe, protect. We report back on the progress of the magic and the realm. When realms are ready, they can be invited into the Guild.”

  “How long do you stay in a realm?”

  “As long as it takes for them to be deemed worthy and ready to join the Guild. It could be thousands of years.”

  “Worthy?”

  “I have no idea how the decision is made. The Guild is in charge of that, and only a select few actually participate in the verdict. I don’t even know the criteria.”

  Merl’s brow rose.

  To’paz noticed his skepticism and shrugged, “The gift keeps us from aging and allows us the years we need to master our craft, and we wear ancient medallions called Querds that cast the eternity spell for us so that we don’t have to think about it.”

  Merl eyed her up and down, “So where is this medallion you say does all this?”

  “It is back in my home, down the road.”

  Merl harrumphed, “And why do you not wear it, if it professes to do all this?”

  “That is the point of my visit,” To’paz said, tears welling in her eyes. “The medallion has ceased to work and I am dying. That is why I need your help.”

  “Well, you could have just said so!” Merl said, with a grin. “I can teach you my age spell, although as you say—it is far from perfect. We could work together to make it better.”

  To’paz smiled softly, “That is kind of you but, it will not work for me. Even if I could manage to learn your spell, I would still age far too rapidly. You only have to extend your fifty years, so gaining a year or two doesn’t really hurt when you can defer five or so years of age. It is one in fifty for a couple years gained. I would gain thirty in the first year, one in fifty, since I am almost fifteen hundred years old. The next year I would gain another thirty. It’s pointless, but thanks.”

  Merl just stared. Now that she explained it, he deemed she was correct. The spell wouldn’t help, not in her case.

  “Why has your ... what did you call it ... Ah, medallion stop working? Maybe you should quickly return home and fetch a new one!’ he deduced, not understanding.

  To’paz shook her head. “I cannot leave.”

  Merl cocked his head to one side. “You mean won’t!”

  “No,” she said in a whisper, “I really mean can’t.”

  “If you ca
n’t leave, maybe we can repair it?”

  A tear formed in her eye. “The medallion isn’t broken; it has just been cut off from the flow of magic.”

  “Cut off? You can’t just cut off the magic ... the magic is all around us, it’s in the earth and rocks and trees. If flows like the water, like the air we breathe.”

  “Yes, I agree, but the Zylliac makes that magic accessible to us, and it has been cut off from the realm.”

  Merl wrinkled his nose, trying to understand. “Zylliac? Who is this mage and why do you need him so?”

  “The Zylliac is not a him, it’s an it. It’s an ethereal being that taps into the magic of the universe and funnels it to us. I learned to talk and control the magic through the beast since I was very young, before I could walk. It is the only way I know of to command magic.”

  “And all the magi you know do the same, they talk to this beast?”

  To’paz seemed confused. “I gather you do not?”

  “No. Most interesting,” Merl replied, rubbing his chin. “It seems odd to me that you do, none of the other wizards I know contact or command magic through a beast. Are you sure that the wizards of old did so?”

  “I don’t know, but I suppose so,” To’paz said, releasing an exasperated sigh.

  “So if this beast is cut off, how did you just perform the tricks you did for me?”

  “I used magic I had previously stored.”

  “Stored how?”

  She shrugged and showed him her bracelet. “I stored it in this bracelet. I don’t know how it works. It was made by the ancients.”

  Merl reasoned, “So, you don’t actually touch the magic yerself? Interesting. Where did this beast come from?”

  “It is said that the original Ten wizards trapped it and managed to trick it into servitude. It allows us to control vast amounts of magic, but without the corruption of the need.”

  “Hmm, I don’t understand this need you speak of.” Merl said, stroking his chin.

  To’paz swallowed hard. “You know ... the euphoria of casting and holding strong magic.”

  Merl smirked, “I know the feeling, but I wouldn’t call it a need.”

  “Well, when you can control enough to move a mountain, the need to feel the rush of power becomes overwhelming. The beast deadens the feeling of the ‘need’.”

  Merl decided to have a cup of tea after all, and got up to get the water, “You said these Ten tricked the beast? Who are these Ten?”

  To’paz nodded her head in agreement, “The Ten were the strongest magi ever to rule. They formed the Guild and they built the Keep so that ancients could be trained. They were not considered to be nice by most, but they were brilliant and driven.”

  “Wouldn’t that imply that they had magic before this beast came around?” he asked, pouring the hot liquid into a metal mug and adding the correct amount of herbs.

  To’paz thought about that for a few seconds. It had never dawned on her that the Ten had magic before they captured the Zylliac, although now that Merl mentioned it, it made perfect sense.

  “I-I-don’t know,” she stammered.

  He walked back to the chaise and sat down. “I’m just saying it is or isn’t. However, by deductive reasoning, a beast that controls enough magic for an entire Keep of mages to fight these battles surely could have resisted the kind of magic I wield. No sentient beast would ever want to be controlled or be in servitude to another.”

  “I understand your reasoning, but since it is all I have ever known, I cannot say,” she said, in helpless resignation.

  “So ...” he said, letting the phrase hang in dead air. “You are now cut off from this magic. How?”

  “Well, as I understand it, after Ror, the Ten made totems that mark the boundaries of each realm. The totems contain strong magic and they can be closed, cutting off the realm from the magic of the beast.”

  “But why would you do such a thing?” Merl asked, furrowing his brow.

  To’paz took another swig of her tea, wetting her throat. “So that if a rogue demon, or heaven forbid, a Dark Mage appears and starts casting forbidden spells, that realm can be cut off from the magic and the rest of the realms can be spared.”

  “Spared? But you’ve locked the demon or this ... ah ... Dark Mage in! Sounds to me like you’re just going to make them angry and confine their rampage to a single realm instead of many.”

  “Yes, but now they can’t go from realm to realm destroying people, towns! They’re also trapped and will wither and die just as I will. They will die almost immediately if they do not have stored magic.”

  “Like your bracelet ...”

  “I am only alive because we can do as I say; my bracelet can store magic. It is my only link to the gift,” she showed him the five glowing stones. “When these no longer glow, I will wither and die.”

  He looked at the bracelet with a critical eye and could not repudiate her claim. The gems did indeed glow with a force he could not recognize, so she may be telling her genuine understanding.

  “So, why can’t you just leave, walk to another realm?”

  “Those of us born with the gift that control the Zylliac cannot leave, the magic won’t let us cross the boundary between the totems. It’s like pushing against a wall of air.”

  “But the demons, do they control the Zylliac too? Does the magic work on them? Does this beast serve the lower planes?”

  To’paz jaw dropped. She couldn’t answer because she didn’t know. She had always assumed that they did. She always assumed that all magic was through the Zylliac. She had always thought that Merl cast his magic the same way, but had figured out some way to hide the weaves from observation. Frankly, she had been surprised that Merl hadn’t been affected by the closing. As far as she could tell, he hadn’t been affected at all.

  She dropped her head into her lap and sobbed, “I-don’t know. I’m confused ...”

  Merl stared at the ceiling, “While my understanding of demons is not strong. You can’t kill them, per se, since they’re already dead. Only demons can slay demons. We can only send them back to the planes and then guard against them returning. Therefore, even if the magic in the realm vanished, the worst that could happen is they would turn to dark ash or sink back to the nether. Either way, they could always return to a different realm if summoned to wreak havoc once their powers returned.”

  To’paz’s eyes narrowed as she attempted to follow his circuitous reasoning, “But that would mean that the totems don’t safeguard the realms at all!”

  “Only from wizards I fear!” Merl replied sadly.

  “Only from wizards,” To’paz echoed bitterly coming to the same conclusion as Merl. “The totems are to prevent wizards from casting strong magic ...”

  “Seems so to me,” Merl said, knowing that the truth of the matter was that she and her wizards had been led astray.

  “That would mean the Ten were more afraid of us, than the demons or the rogues,” To’paz uttered, barely able to fathom the idea.

  Merl despondently agreed.

  By now, she was crying. It was all that Merl could do just to listen. He didn’t want to believe. It scared him to think of a race of wizards, guiding and controlling destinies, molding realms to be how and what they thought was right.

  “All the friends I have lost ...,” she cried, a sense of dread flowing over her entire being.

  “A great waste,” Merl granted, watching the emotions wash over her face and take control of her body.

  She showed remarkable restraint, Merl thought. She just learned that her own have set up the near extinction of her kind and she was showing more composure than most Kings and Queens he had ever met. His admiration of her rose to a new level.

  “If the Ten could control the beast to make the totems, then we should be able to reverse them,” she reasoned.

  “I would think so, but do you have the time?” Merl asked.

  To’paz solemnly shook her head. “No, I don’t think so, even with both of us wo
rking.”

  “How much time do you have?” Merl asked leaning closer.

  “Not long, fifteen years maybe ...” she said, unconsciously looking down at the bracelet around the wrist of her shaking hand.

  “That’s actually quite a long time,” he said quietly.

  “It’s a blink of the eye,” she replied. “I should have a thousand years more ... spells like this might take decades to decipher.”

  “Might!” he agreed.

  “I can’t take that chance,” she said.

  He shrugged. “I’m just saying that fifteen years is a long time. None of us knows how much time we have. It’s up to the gods. You could slip and fall, hit your head on a rock and ...” he snapped his fingers.

  “I suppose you are right ...” she said.

  “So what was this favor you said you need?”

  “Like I said, I don’t have much time and ...”

  “And what?”

  “I don’t know how to ask this,” she said, burying her face in her hands as she burst into tears.

  “It’s okay,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Just tell me what it is you needed.”

  She looked up with red swollen eyes, “I-I need to have a child, and I want you to be the father.”

  “A child,” he sputtered, “with me? But why?”

  “Not with you, from you. I need a child so I can raise him with the knowledge of magic and send my katra, my essence, back through the gate so my brother can resurrect me someday.”

  “Resurrect, what are you talking about? Resurrection isn’t possible.”

  She held out her arm and showed him the bracelet with the glowing stones and the bal’achar, “I can put my being into this stone and my brother knows how to get it out and put it into another.”

  “Into another person?” he said red-faced.

  She didn’t answer.

  He was furious now. “You would do that? What would happen to the person already in that body?”

  “Sometimes, we get people who are dead or dying and they cannot be saved, but by putting a mage into their body ...”

  “It just sounds wrong,” he said, turning pale at the thought.