Ascension of the Warlock (Book 4 of the Death Incarnate Saga)

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  “You better go, My Friend. Cage is no fool and has proved himself to be correct more times than any child his age can reason. Should the abandoned colony have lost secrets, it would be best to discover them before it is revealed in yet another massacre. You have my backing.”

  Theresa stood and stomped away before launching herself outside.

  “I feel the effects.” Megdline said as she held a ball of light between her fingers. “You boys be on your best behavior while I go to bed. Don’t stay up too long. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

  “I will be along shortly.” Zikon said as she walked around, kissed his cheek and walked across, with Frill, to a door leading to a short hall where the bedrooms lay. While she walked away the sorcerer said “Cage, in a few months you’ve done more than I ever expected a man capable. I have not said this to anyone other than Theresa, but the reason I chose caution when I learned a warlock met my beloved instead of siding with having you killed was because I sensed something wrong and I think the Great Prophet did to. I was uncertain why events have been changing so suddenly, but after your arrival things began moving again around here. I cannot explain it well and is so confusing it cannot be articulated, but I sensed you were destined for something great and when we began observing you it was clear my choice was correct. You are a man to be feared, but you aren’t evil as the coldhearted warlocks we had read about. I do not know what your future holds, but I will be there to offer support of any kind within reason. Before you go speak with your mates and I get some needed sleep, may I ask a few questions now that we are alone?”

  “As I told Granny, you can ask whatever you want, but if I do not answer it is for a good reason. I do not want to infect Raliea with my knowledge for it will result in disaster in some way, likely beyond your comprehension. Technology and some sciences are off the table. Anything personal I’m an open book. Ask away.”

  “Well, my most pressing curiosity has to do with your arms and feet. I’ve never seen such an application of magic before and wonder if you’ll permit me to take notes and examine them. Will you allow me to do this?”

  In answer Cage simply laid his long arm across the table in front of the sorcerer after pulling his arms through the robe and letting it fall around his middle. Zikon leaned back to remove several sheets of paper and his pen, giving thanks to the original maker who smiled. Then he pulled out a length of gold cord with markings of a measuring tape and immediately took multiple measurements of every conceivable inch of the armguard from its overall length, width, individual finger lengths, knuckle joints and even fingernails. Cage realized Zikon was a thorough and highly detailed person who would not leave even one minor aspect remain unknown. Every measurement was detailed and put on paper. Zikon spent ten minutes on one arm before asking for the other and then for the boots. Zikon asked “Strange I didn’t notice before, but why do you think Ceembura make this flap below the balls of your feet and support beneath your toes? I thought these were boots, but your toes are just like your arms only without an engraving or gems.”

  “I think because the boots change.”

  “Change? How so?” Zikon allowed Cage to take his foot off the table. “I’ve studied some of Ceembura’s notations and theories concerning binding both magic and flesh as one, but not this change.”

  “Well, the boots have special properties that my arms do not. Yes they are as strong as tempered steel and as pliable as skin, but my boots adapt slightly to different environments. When it’s cold they get hard and porous as granite, but on somewhat hot surfaces they go smooth and feel like leather. But fire makes the skin bubble just like normal. But what I never told anyone, not even Granny, is that when she helped me make the second smaller island where my tribe uses to safely keep the livestock, I noticed a third change my boots undergo. My feet need to be saturated for no less than an hour, which they were when I stood out and transferred dirt and rocks out on the sandbar, and the flap begins to adhere to my toes and lengthen into flippers that really speed my swimming ability.”

  “Really? Adaptable magic is very complex.” Zikon rubbed his chin considering. “Do you mind if I can study this adaptation of magic?”

  “Sure, but personally I’ve researched it thoroughly. It also seems to act independently. If you get a bucket of ice and a bowl of warm water I can show you that each boot adapts on its own unlike linked magic or an animals survival mechanisms which alter every aspect as a whole.”

  “I would very much like to see that.” Without getting up, Zikon reached an arm to the nearby kitchen area, turned on a sink to fill a huge floating bowl with warm water while a second bowl scooped a mound of ice from a wall grown freezer. He then levitated the two huge mixing bowls over and sat them on the ground before Cage who immediately submerged each foot and Zikon saw the reaction and noted that subject retained full sensory after the application as if it were natural skin. “How long must I wait?”

  “You can passively scan my boots, but it will take about two minutes for my right foot to fully change in the ice. That change is quicker. My left will require some time to turn into more of a flipper.” Cage responded.

  The leader of the First Council got permission to send his magic to get a clearer understanding of the unique magic bonded to flesh and said “Remarkable!” like a young boy learning about something fascinating. “This magic is so intricate and subtle that it can be overlooked without even realizing the applications. The magic in your skin isn’t like steel at all. It resembles more like supple dragon scales in strength, but on human skin.” This piqued Poli and Ulon’s full interest and everyone could feel their magic blending with Zikon’s to analyze the properties. “This binding process has altered your skin down to the very genetic level so that it can be repaired like actual skin and not a lifeless object. I wonder if he actually used some actual dragon essence in their creation.” He speculated. “Oh, I sense the change you were speaking of. The foot is sealing its heat and closing every pore to retain integrity so that the flesh isn’t riddled in frostbite… oh, its thickening and using trapped air as a barrier between the frigid temperatures and your blood. Remarkable!” Zikon quickly noted his observations as fast as he could. Then Cage took his chilled foot out and allowed the sorcerer to feel the porous alteration. “It is completely different than before.” The pad of his finger rubbed against it. “May I take a sample?”

  “Only if I have your word neither you or any who get this sample use it against me. If it has my DNA it could be used to create a weapon capable of targeting and killing me. It is all too easy to create an antigen or pathogen with malicious purposes in mind.” Cage took his foot off the table.

  Zikon regarded Cage for a moment before stating “You have my solemn vow that these samples will be in no way used for such malicious purposes. We do have studies here that focus on micro particles and life, but ours and dragon laws do not allow anyone to create or release harmful pathogens into the air. You know so little of Twilight’s many laws, but on this not even the dragons would overlook such dishonorable methods. The only things we release are special microbes meant to make life be as healthy as possible. Even Vika has learned not to use biological warfare thanks to dragons and isn’t allowed to ever release anything anymore because the dragons scrutinize all atmospheric conditions and any harmful ones are destroyed and tracked to the origin of release and severely dealt with. I know you have no reason to trust this, but it is the truth.”

  Cage offered a hand. “Take your sample, but know that if it is used and I somehow survive, you will be responsible and only one of us will walk away.”

  “Understood.” Zikon stated sincerely. He reached into a pocket and magically removed a test tube and glass stopper filled with a clear liquid. “You will need to strip your ward so I can use magic. The density of your new skin cannot be penetrated easily and I’ll have to create a knife with a sharpness of a molecule to get the flesh sample. You will not feel a thing.” Zikon held the open tube in one hand while conj
uring a purple knife of four inches that resembled a scalpel and true to his word he painlessly sliced off a wedge of meat from Cage’s forearm. For the first time since putting them on, Cage watched blood flow from his arm. A blue light sprung up from the wound and knit the injury till the hard skin re-grew and became flawless.

  The sample dropped into the tube and Zikon held it up and looked closely how he took a deep chunk to see how the hard skin only took up the epidermis and dermis, but didn’t affect the blood or sections of visible nerve. Neither the sorcerer or warlock had seen magic so specific that it attached to flesh without corrupting other tissues.

  “Grandpa, I cannot do anymore magic since I’ve not altered the siphoning rate, but before I go speak with my mates can you tell me two things I cannot figure out on my own, if you know that is.” Zikon sat the tube down and focused on Cage. He gestured to continue. “Firstly, I didn’t speak your language until Ceembura’s gauntlets did magic to rewrite my brain so I can speak your universal tongue, but how could that be done and why is it I can understand other groups. Are there other languages on Raliea?”

  “I know of what you speak, but only in principal.” Zikon admitted. “What Ceembura did was rewrite words to bind to your memories so you could associate properly. There are humans on other planets who speak different languages because the dragons do not keep one sentient species bound to a planet so that if there is catastrophe the species won’t be wiped out, but here on Raliea many thousands of years ago my ancestors worked a spell which bound all humanity to understand a common language. Ceembura must have realized the possibility of another human from a different world would need to speak our tongue so the person wouldn’t be nearly as confused, which in your circumstance was a blessing. As for how it was done, I cannot say without doing research for I never looked into it. All I do know it was an intricate spell as detailed as your gauntlets and boots for one mistake would have killed you and released your spirit from your body.”

  Cage considered that possibility and nodded that many things could have gone wrong. “Okay. For my second I need to know how my black diamonds were keyed to me since I didn’t make them. I know personal gems first need to be created and shaped by the person’s mana by using crystals or gems anyone can use. I never made these, but even before I knew their worth Granny tried applying her mana, but it rejected her. How can this be?”

  “Such is the beauty of black diamonds and why they are so coveted.” Zikon nodded to himself. “For just one of those diamonds in your hand I would give all my worldly possessions without question. Not only can they store mana beyond any other gem, but they recognize only one user. It is a phenomenon that selects only the worthy recipient and I believe it was how it brought you to Raliea. Only five mages on the Magical Council and the dragons seek these diamonds so greedily. Even a black diamond the size of a grain of sand can hold twenty times that of my amethyst.” He tapped his staff to show the large, flawless egg of stone. “This is a secret I’ll only share in this room, but I have two black diamonds safely hidden in the core of my staff. They aren’t anywhere near those you have, Cage, but I won’t need to worry about fully saturating my gems for a few more centuries. Once black diamond’s find an owner, they will only work for that individual until said person dies.”

  “Hey, Ulon!” Cage turned around to stare towards the dragon couple. “Is this true?”

  “Unequivocally.” The rose colored dragon rumbled. “Those four identical, dense black carbon gemstones are worth an entire world in our kind. Never have I seen such gem carbon so large and four you have bound. Priceless they are. Covet them greatly you must. Do you know how one came by them?”

  “No.”

  “We can find out if you want.” Zikon purposed.

  “Really? How?” Cage asked with a bit of excitement.

  “Necromancy.” Zikon saw a murderous look set in Cage’s eyes and they were frightening. The sorcerer knew he had to act quick before something bad would happen. “Don’t misunderstand me. There is much of necromancy you do not understand. You’ve only seen the darker side of the practice. Cage, we practice necromancy, but for a beneficial way, not to bind spirits and corrupt them into ghosts. Would you like to see the proper use of necromancy.”

  “If you hurt the dead I’ll kill you right here and now.”

  “I believe you.” Zikon truly did. It has been centuries since anyone ever made him feel so frightened and it wasn’t pleasant. “But no, this will not harm the spirit if done properly.” He promised. “What you know from my wife, who is terrified of the practice due to my grandson’s murder and my being forced to destroy him irreparably, is that the dead need to have something to bind them. To use a spirit as an unstoppable weapon you must render them into a ghost and bind them to an element like fire, water, air and earth and send them on a path they must follow.” He held up a finger. “But to call on a spirit you give them something to hold and allow them the option to come or go. Since for a spirit it is difficult to bind them to a body form that can be seen since their consciousness is spread, we ease their trouble by offering our mana to hold them together. After I left my mother’s influence I haven’t made a ghost since, but I’ve summoned well over ten million spirits in my lifetime. The skill is invaluable for seeking answers… if they are willing, and I never force them otherwise.” He emphasized and watched Cage’s anger lower. “Daku, as I’m told, often spoke to long dead griffins he knew.”

  “How would one go about summoning a spirit they didn’t know?”

  “Nothing would happen.” Zikon answered and saw Daku seemed amiable to teaching this subject to Cage. “You must have met them, find someone who has or the spirit reveals itself on his or her own, but to do that they must have been adept in magic in life. It takes a great deal of focus for a spirit to pull its consciousness together and cloak it in an image only the sorcerer classes can clearly see. Wizards and below don’t have the power to see the spirit.” He grabbed his staff and turned his seat. “If you are agreeable, I’ll summon Ceembura.”

  “Go ahead.” Cage allowed.

  Lacing mana to the words, Zikon began to speak in an otherworldly voice while his amethyst twinkled of magic. He felt Cage’s magic sensing everything around him so he could understand. “I send out these words for Ceembura the Skull Mage, creator of the gauntlets and boots who chose Cage the warlock. Please come to my voice if you are willing to meet us.”

  “I’m already here, Zikon.” Came an eerily Familiar voice and Cage, with a firmer understanding of his gifts, watched and sensed a foggy mist gathering between Daku’s resting hands and condensed into a humanoid form. He felt how Zikon pushed his raw mana forward to a point right where Ceembura gathered and appeared in his white glowing form. The dead sorcerer looked around the room before spotting Cage and saying “Lord Death, we meet again.” but the voice came from the air, not the spirit among them.

  “Good to see you Ceembura. I know you’ve been following so I guess you’ve been eavesdropping again.” Cage said and watched the spirit smile. “Everyone seems to want to know how you made my new skin, where you found the diamonds and how the skull pillars with those huge crystals inside are so powerful only a dragon could be responsible. But before you answer I need to know if you are in distress.”

  “I am well.” Ceembura waved a hand, though he didn’t move from the spot Zikon kept feeding his mana. “And yes, I’ve been following your progress closely, but your expression was worth it when you shattered the control crystal that protected the island for five thousand years.”

  “I never told that to anyone, not that I heard your fading laugh. At least I know it really is you.” Cage admitted. “By the way, these are awesome.” He held up his fist. “They saved my hide more times than I can count.”

  “That is well known and you have exceeded my every whim and purpose I ever thought my greatest creations capable of doing. As to your inquiries and discussions, How I made them I already told Zikon and the First Council to figure it
out for themselves, but yes I did use powdered dragons scales as the base ingredient. The recipe resides in the archives to duplicate it, but you’ll need to figure the spells and how to properly craft them.”

  Zikon exploded, but mana no longer laced his voice. “When I asked you didn’t answer! Why are you now telling him and not us?!”

  Ceembura leveled his spectral eyes on the now standing sorcerer. “You are not Lord Death. Cage is and is destined for great things as we’ve all seen in his short time from Earth. Only he has the power to return those who are broken to whence they were and are meant to be. What you never learned and that only the griffins and dragons know is warlocks are the only living beings capable of healing a spirit, but it was the elites who were lords over life and death. We spirits have a deep relationship with the warlocks and their loss after the Great Divide had deeper ramifications than anyone truly knew. I’m still a young spirit, but the ancient spirits are allowing me to explain that the warlocks were a great loss to us because only they could fix us without destroying our spirits entirely.” His head cocked as if listening to something none in the room could. “And I’m being told that he will slowly learn just how important such a relationship is. Spirit laws are more flexible with warlocks so you should be thankful to him since I’ve been permitted to speak like this. We will protect Lord Death as best we can, but until he fully realizes his potential I cannot speak further. Now that I’ve explained myself, sit down.” Zikon was obedient, but his expression and glow dimmed at the realization of what he heard. “Making new skin through bonding of magic is both intricate and complex, you will have to learn for yourself and have a willing dragon to help.” There came a growl and heads turned to Ulon and Poli glaring at Ceembura. “Yes, you treasure your scales and it is against your laws to offer your flesh to lesser races and no I won’t reveal the dragon who helped me. You can growl all you want, but look at what one of your scales is capable of.” He pointed to Cage. “It is compatible, your scales on our flesh. Go ahead and tell your elders, I still won’t give you my only friend’s name. Your kind needs to stop seeing us as lower beings… never mind, dragons won’t accept us till our species is fully developed, to be seen as equals.” He waved his arm to the upset dragons who didn’t offer a retort. “Lord Death, as to the diamonds and the pillars, I had help. My dragon friend who bent their laws and associated with me was a dear friend who liked my revolutionary idea and helped put the very protection that kept the island safe for five thousand years and we together found the original black diamond gem uncut in the rivers of an erupting volcano, in the Fire Mountains.