Squinting, he could see a silver light shining in the distance. Lines formed and crossed and assembled into layers, building up into the figure of a man. Talis stared hard at a face that looked older than time itself: gnarled and wrinkled, and those eyes...filled with pain and wrath and misery. Aurellia.
A wry smile came to the sorcerer’s face as he extended a twisted, leathery hand towards Talis. His expression brimmed with cruelty and manipulation, and for a second showed a glint of the satisfaction of conquest.
“A foolish boy like you, chasing the phantom of a doomed love—she who is bound for destruction. Imagine that.” He laughed and coughed and choked on the phlegm lining his corrupted throat. He beat his chest, and a disgusting lump flew from his mouth.
“You, gaining something from the temple? Ha! Failure is all you’ll find, and death is what your family and friends will discover at the hands of the Jiserians. Look at your world—gaze at their destruction.”
He flicked his wrist and the scene showed Naru under attack, fires sweeping through buildings, children and men and women mesmerized—minions of dark sorcerers. Talis’s father and Balmarr stood together, battling against a mob of undead.
Aurellia’s eyes gleamed red. “This is what has come to your city. And you’re powerless to stop it.” A hint of a smile flashed over the snarl on sorcerer’s twisted face. He glowered in fiendish delight as his fingers played with a clump of straggling hairs growing out of a thick mole on his nose.
“But I’m pleased you found the temple. Alas, I’ll reward you with nothing.”
Talis could still hear the sound of Aurellia’s laughter as he woke in a fright. He glanced around the temple grounds. Charna lifted her head and nuzzled him, staring at him as if wondering if everything was alright. He scratched under her ears and she purred in satisfaction.
Tall, puffy clouds wafted across the sky, mounds of cotton that arched and stretched towards the heavens. The wind gusted up and sent a shower of leaves flittering by. Charna sniffed and her whiskers twitched. It smelled like a storm.
Talis remembered the Surineda Map. He stretched out the leather parchment and sent a silent command asking to see Mara, Nikulo, and Rikar. Soon three points illuminated on the surface, each scattered far away from the temple.
He found Mara sleeping in a field of tall grass swaying in the wind. “Time to wake up,” he said, and touched her shoulder.
She squinted. “Where are we?”
“I’m not sure…someplace far from Lorello. A whole other continent? But this feels like the Temple of the Goddess Nacrea.”
“It looks empty.” Mara rubbed her head, and pushed herself up. “Where are Nikulo and Rikar?”
“Over this way.”
In a gully, a stream wound its way along a birch forest. Nikulo stirred awake at the sounds of their footsteps. “So you’ve found me.” He yawned and stretched. “After going through that portal I thought I’d turned into mist.”
“That was the craziest sensation.” Mara stared off, as if remembering. “You all had it?”
Talis nodded. “I had a nightmare too. I dreamed of Aurellia.”
“I did too.” Rikar sauntered up to them. “He’s coming, you know. Those kinds of dreams are dreams of probing…where a sorcerer fixes your location and uses that knowledge to open a portal.”
“He’s coming here?” Mara’s face went pale. “I dreamed of him too…I tried to fight him but he was too strong.”
Nikulo hung his head and sighed a long tired sigh.
“You too?” Talis said, and frowned. “So this was all a ruse? Aurellia just wanted us to find the temple and then take the power for himself?”
Rikar flashed him a mock smile as if to say, You just figured that out?
18. THE WORLD PORTAL
In a violent upheaval, thick clouds rushed together, choking the light out of the sky. The sun withered. Talis couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. They’d made it to the temple and now Aurellia was coming to take the power for himself.
“Let’s hurry to the temple.” Talis glanced around, then dashed through the grass fields until he reached the temple entrance. He opened the wooden doors.
It was empty.
Lifeless, as if hundreds of years had passed and not a soul had stirred inside. He looked around. Old earthen jars lined the back. Above those sat an altar. Scrolls hung on the wall, flapping under the steady wind. The air contained a familiar scent, like sun-baked grains. In the center of the floor, eleven circles were burned into the wood, connected in an overlapping design.
Maybe the Goddess had left ages ago. He searched for clues. Did they come for nothing? But still, when he closed his eyes and immersed himself in the feeling of that place, he sensed the reverence and awe that only the Goddess Nacrea could instill.
Outside, a sudden gale whipped the air into a frenzy, clanging bells and chimes hanging from temple beams. He inhaled, then stopped his breath. Now it smelled of death, like an animal corpse rotting for days in the hot sun. A fly landed on his forehead and he swatted it away. Mara killed one, but dozens more surrounded her. Then more dove at his eyes and nose and mouth, and he spun around, trying to get rid of them. But even more came, thousands of them, a wave of blackness churning towards them.
Death was coming to claim them.
He sought refuge from the assault. The swarm had grown so massive it encircled the temple, as if a hive descending upon an enormous slain beast. Pressing his hands out, he repelled the flies away, the force of wind magic holding death at bay.
Then the swarm disappeared and the air fell silent. Only faint whispers in the wind. As they stepped outside, a grey pallor had fallen over the land. A plague had infested the trees and flowers and grass, draining the color out of the grounds.
Talis remembered a saying written of dark sorcerers: “We are the bringer of death to our enemies and darkness to the whole world. Our gift is in the purity we offer.” Glancing around, Talis felt a dark presence. Aurellia was coming. Talis’s shoulders stiffened, knowing his death was near.
“I told you he’s coming.” Rikar raised his hands and began mumbling words of magic, a binding, an acknowledgement.
Talis wanted to stop him, but the appearance of a whorl of wind in the sky told him it was too late. His lynx Charna came beside and pressed her head under his palm, then yowled and hissed, glaring at the appearance of a shadow portal. As mist and shadows billowed out, he cursed himself for letting Aurellia find the temple. But what could’ve he done to stop him?
A dark, suffocating fog descended over them. Expanding as the darkness increased, the portal scintillated with lightning flashes, booming a deep vibration, like the pounding of drums at war. Each boom sent a wave of terror coursing through his body.
The dark master was coming. Coming to claim this place. Now nothing could save Naru from the Jiserians. Nothing could save his family. They’d failed.
Every hair on the back of his neck raised as Aurellia strode through the portal, flanked by three hideous sorcerers.
“I’ve been looking for this place for four thousand years.” Aurellia grinned at Rikar. “You’re my ever loyal servant.” He faced the sorcerers. “Find it, faithful Elders.”
They flanked around at either side of Aurellia, their curled, claw-like fingers outstretched towards the sky. They searched the temple, sniffing the wind like hunting dogs after prey.
One stretched a finger at a towering oak far away and released a stream of electricity. It spread against an invisible barrier in front of the tree. Talis narrowed his eyes and stared. Something was stopping the flow. A magical shield? The sorcerer nodded and stopped.
“This is the place of power,” Aurellia said.
“But where is it?” One of the Elders scowled at Talis.
Aurellia gestured and the man strode into the temple while the other sorcerer darted over to the shield, and inspected the edge. What they were looking for? Charna circled behind Talis and pressed herself against his leg.
The sorcerer speared the ground with his fingers, until electricity and light illuminated the soil between his feet. How did he know of Light Magic? Cracks splintered everywhere, power seething underneath. Talis fell to his knees as the earth shook and swayed, jerking in a violent upheaval. What was he casting?
“What’s going on?” Mara whispered, and clung to Talis’s arm. Talis scooped Charna into his arms.
Then Relech blew a stream of ice from his mouth, aiming at the hole. Rolovian joined him, along with the third Elder, and they bent over, blowing ice crystals into the now widening hole. As they leaned farther over, their feet and legs lifted into the air, until they floated upside down, mouths aimed at the hole. Their bodies circled, the intensity of electricity and ice increasing each moment.
Aurellia’s eyes opened so wide Talis could see the red, hate-filled veins around his eyeballs. A look of fiendish delight consumed his face. He rose above the Elders, watching as the ground shook and splintered, opening up from the inside.
Talis, Mara, and Nikulo stepped far away from the temple. Only Rikar remained, gazing at Aurellia in a stupid mesmerized expression. They retreated until their backs pressed against the magical shield. Charna growled and hissed, yet she remained still, protected in Talis’s arms.
The temple groaned and dropped as the earth opened itself up, consuming wooden beams and rocks and trees. As Talis gaped at the destruction, his heart sank. The entire journey had been for nothing. He’d led Aurellia to the temple and now it was destroyed. Inside the hole was sea of churning earth and ice and electricity, a whirlpool draining into an enormous black crystal.
“World Portal,” shouted Aurellia, and he released a flood of inky-black energy into the crystal. The hole widened and strengthened, a swirl of dark matter.
“At last.” Relech stared in glee. Did they mean to leave the planet? Talis wondered if it was Aurellia that was trapped, not the Goddess Nacrea. Trapped here on this planet. The Elders dove inside and disappeared, shadows lapping around the space where they’d once hovered.
Aurellia faced Rikar, triumphant, his eyes shining. He stared at Rikar for a long time. The force of his gaze seemed to possess him. Aurellia extended a finger and Rikar was pulled to him. Rikar arched his back and looked down, surveying the World Portal.
“You will leave all this behind,” Aurellia said to Rikar. “And join me on an endless adventure into the unknown.” Aurellia flicked his finger and Rikar dove into the portal, a look of ecstasy and terror in his eyes.
Rikar was gone.
Whatever illusions Talis had of Aurellia were shattered in that moment. For standing before him was a completely transformed being, a sorcerer of limitless power, commanding light and darkness.
Aurellia faced Talis. “You know so little. But one day you might figure out a thing or two. If you dare, you’ll search for me in your dreams. If you’re afraid and cower in that city of yours, I’ll return and consume everything you hold dear. There’s no pity in the universe. We are the gods, we who possess the power of the twin forces.” Then he dropped into the portal and his shimmering figure was enveloped by the darkness. The portal closed and all that remained was a wreck of earth and rocks and the shattered remains of the black crystal.
Talis stumbled back onto the field. The magical shield around the temple had disappeared. The cool grass spidered through his toes. Charna bounded over to the edge and stared into the crater. The power was gone, erased from the world.
He sunk to his knees and closed his eyes. Why did they come here? His city was still in grave danger, and Aurellia had tricked them, getting everything he wanted. Now Talis was left with nothing, utterly powerless to defend Naru against the Jiserians. He didn’t even have a relic from the Underworld. Mara and Rikar had gotten theirs, but all Talis and Nikulo found was the doorway to the temple.
“We’ve failed.” Talis tried to stop the tears from flooding his eyes, but the weight was too much.
“It’s not your fault.” Mara rubbed his back. “Aurellia was the master of this game.”
Nikulo closed his eyes and pressed his hands towards the ground. “This place is still sacred…I can feel it. Whatever Aurellia destroyed hasn’t changed that.” He opened his eyes and stared at Talis. “Don’t give up.”
Nikulo was right. Talis could still feel the power of Light Magic inside his heart. So he let it rise, imagining the sun as a ball of scintillating fire. He prayed for the safety of Naru. His heart burned with love for the Goddess Nacrea and his friends and family. His prayer was simple and true. He felt the burden of guilt and regret slowly releasing from his mind. Perhaps there was still a chance.
The wind gusted up. The dark clouds churned until a ray of light knifed through and shone on the broken crystal. The earth swayed gently and rumbled. The intensity of light grew and the shattered crystal remains vaporized into dust. The wind strengthened and lifted the dust to the sky.
Then a calm ensued. Talis could see a wispy shape forming in the sky, made of flittering particles of gold and silver and white. Slender feet appeared, adorned with an anklet of gold and rubies and sapphires. The mist circled upwards and revealed a woman's form: pearl-white legs and willowy thighs.
Talis contained a gasp and pointed. Mara and Nikulo craned their necks around and followed Talis’s gaze.
The woman’s beautiful face radiated life and love and limitless power. Her golden hair flowed down to her hips and tossed and shimmered as she shook her head about in delight. She laughed and danced and spun around, singing praises to all forms alive and imbued with the light of the sun. As she twirled, a wave of golden light swept clean the rubble where the temple once stood, replacing it with a meadow filled with flowers.
Then she paused in rapt power, eyes closed in delight. She flung her head towards the sun and her cry pierced the sky, echoing to the far corners of the earth. Such a powerful cry unheard since the foundation of the world; not by the genies, not by the dragons, and surely not by any mortal.
“You summoned me?” Her voice sounded like a rushing wind coursing through a waterfall. “It’s been ages since I’ve visited this planet.” She glanced around with an inspecting eye. “There’s much darkness now. And the temple is gone. Where’s the crystal? Tell me, what’s happened?”
So Talis, Mara, and Nikulo poured out their hearts and told her the story. Of their quest, and of Aurellia and the Underworld. And of the danger their city was under from the Jiserians.
“I mustn’t interfere with mortals,” she said, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “Yet without a temple and the power of light to balance against the darkness, this planet will wither and die.”
The saddest expression crossed her face as she gazed at Talis. As if she glimpsed his future. Knew all of his weaknesses. His bones felt hollow and his heart empty, filled only with a tiny morsel of hope.
“You hold the responsibility for your planet’s renewal. Take this.” She handed him a small, black crystal. When it touched his hand, an immense power surged inside. “Go now to your city. Defeat those dark sorcerers. If you succeed, you’ll need to divine a suitable place to plant the crystal and erect a temple over the spot.”
She stepped forward and kissed Talis on his forehead. A delicate fire swept inside. He could see a point of light set against a dark field. The light burst into millions of ringlets. She smiled to Mara and Nikulo and raised her hand.
“Leave this place and never return. The earth must cleanse this defilement.” She flicked her finger and a golden portal appeared before them. “Brace yourself, for beyond you’ll face your enemies. Keep the crystal in your hand, and fear not, with it you hold vast magical reserves. I must leave you now. Remember, with light and love, darkness gives shape to the universe.”
With those words she spun high into the air. He
r form exploded into a billion tiny crystals glittering in the sun. What did she mean by that?
Charna came and nuzzled his fingers. “Get yourself ready…it’s time to fight.” She followed as Talis, Mara, and Nikulo strode towards the golden portal. Charna jumped into Talis’s arms, and he turned and together they leapt inside.
19. DEMON OF WAR
The temple of the Order of the Dawn was in flames. War raged in the skies above its shimmering golden dome. Dark sorcerers and necromancers battled against the wizards of the Order. From his vantage point, Talis could see the magical shield surrounding the temple had fallen. Each fireball hurled by the invaders smashed through the temple’s granite dome, igniting an explosion of flame inside.
He glanced around for a place to hide Charna. He motioned Mara and Nikulo to follow, and found the entrance to the apothecary's storage cave in a stone building a few paces away. He bent down to the lynx. “Stay here, I’ll come back for you.”
After he secured the door, he searched the skies for Master Viridian. After a moment, he spotted Master Jai hovering far above, and shouted for him. Master Jai dove and landed.
“The gods be good, you’ve returned!” He embraced Talis, then gripped him by the shoulders. “But where is young master Rikar?”
“He’s gone...” Talis sighed. “He left the world.”
“Slain?”
“No, he’s really left the world. It’s a long story.” Talis shook his head, then studied the battle raging in the sky above. “What’s going on here?”
“The situation is dire. Master Viridian is in a weakened state and has retreated to rest.” He pointed at a cloud of flying sorcerers. “More come every hour and we can’t hold out much longer. Are you able to help fight?”
Talis nodded. “My power over magic has grown. Let our enemies burn.”
“Then say no more, up you go.” He cast a spell around Talis, causing him to levitate. ”Move using your willpower, the magic obeys.” Master Jai studied Mara and Nikulo. “You must go help the others. There are so many injured, they need your assistance.”
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