As I entered the gate everything around me turned into an iridescent blue. It was similar to jump space, but I was much freer in my movements. It was not like being in a tunnel or a room, more an endless sea of blue. Looking back over my shoulder I saw him again, that black specter that always joined me. This time he was much nearer, and coming for me. Instinctively I knew that if he reached me I would die, and I could not let my team down. I was still holding a wand, so I turned it on him and poured into it all my anger over the death of the Dark Knights. The blast hit him and sent him reeling back, just long enough for me to fall through the other side of the gate.
As I came through the gate I felt myself falling towards the floor, but something caught me just in time. Soon I felt the Black Adders silently communicating with me once more, all urging me to be quiet and not move. I wanted to scream in pain, as it felt like my back was on fire, but looking through their eyes I saw Andreya maintaining an illusionary wall that perfectly mirrored the wall behind us, and an old man staring at the wall as if searching for us. I did my best not to move, not even to breathe, for what seemed like years and eventually he turned and left.
Once he was gone, I felt myself being lowered to the ground and immediately Kellyn rushed to my side. “Sir, it looks like you took a hit just before you made it through the gate. You are hurt pretty badly; I will do what I can.” With that I felt her warm hands on my back and energy leaving her, passing through me. As she worked I lost the communication link with the Adders, but I felt a deeper connection to her. I felt her think, “Sir, I know what demon chases you, and so long as there is any power left in me, it will never catch you.” Then I had a vision of her standing between myself and that dark specter. She was holding up her staff and glowing brightly while the specter fought fruitlessly against her.
Then it all faded away and I felt a weight on my back. Soon I was able to re-establish communication with the Black Adders, but Kellyn was not there. “She is overtired, sir. We need to find a place for her to rest,” said Jerran.
She was the weight on my back. With Gafar’s help I was able to get up, and pick her up. “Then let’s find a safe place,” I said. Andreya lowered her illusionary wall and we began to move out when he appeared again.
It was the same man as before. He was wearing a long, flowing, dark purple robe covered in glowing symbols. He had a tall pointed hat and a long white beard. In his hand he held a staff, but one completely unlike the sleek black staves of the Magi. This one looked more like a tree, with a crystal ball on top instead of leaves.
“Welcome, Black Adders, I have been waiting for you,” he said in a grandfatherly voice. “The little one needs rest, as do you all. Come, I will show you a safe place.”
With that he turned to leave, and I started to follow him. The others seemed uncomfortable with this, so I told them, “My instincts say we can trust him, and rarely am I wrong about a person.”
That immediately put them at ease. I got the feeling from them that the instincts of a Black Adder were far better than any scanner. It was then I realized that they had finally accepted me as one of their own.
That room exited directly on to a stone spiral staircase. We followed the old man up the stairs to a heavy, wooden door. The door opened by itself with a loud creak as we approached. The room on the other side resembled a military barracks, with a line of four beds down each wall. In the center was a large table covered with food and drink. Once we were all in the room, the man said, “I will return shortly. I must see to your safety.” With that, he closed the door and left.
I laid Kellyn down on one of the beds and asked, “Can we do anything for her?”
“No, sir. She just needs to sleep a while and she should recover completely,” said Major Jerran.
I took some food and pulled up a chair next to her bed. “Eat up and rest while we can,” I ordered. “Anyone have any idea where we are?”
“Sir, this room is sealed. None of us can see beyond it. I assume this would also keep anyone from seeing in, so I dare not try to break the seal,” answered Luke.
“Very well. We wait then for our mysterious host to return,” I said.
We all ate and drank while we waited but there was not much conversation. No one seemed to like the fact that we had stepped out of one mystery into an even bigger one. I kept reliving that vision of Kellyn fighting the dark specter. What could it all mean?
“Sir, he is here,” Darnath said just before the door opened.
The old man entered the room, and pulled up a chair next to the table. After taking a drink he turned to us and said, “I know you have many questions for me. Let me see if I can answer the obvious ones first. My name is Mantis, and you are in my tower. I have been watching the developments of your battles for some time now, and when you opened the gate I intervened and redirected you here. You would probably like to know where my tower is. Well, that is complicated since it is not known for its ability to stay in one place. Relative to your understanding, it is best to think of it as lying on a planet in a different, but similar universe.” He stopped, looked at Andreya and said, “I must compliment you on your illusion. Masterfully done. I have not seen your equal in all my travels. Had I not personally redirected your journey to my gate, I would have never known you came through.”
Andreya blushed a little and said, “Thank you, sir.”
“Mantis, you said you were watching the colony and brought us here. Why?” I asked.
“Well, that is a very long story, but you need to hear it so I will do my best to be brief.” He paused and refilled his glass from the jug of mead that was on the table. “It starts in a time so far back that no one really knows how long ago it was. At that time the known universe was limited to just one planet, and all men could do was guess at the meaning of the lights in the sky. There were two powerful kingdoms on that planet, one in the east and one in the west. These two kingdoms hated each other, and were in a constant state of war. They were well matched, and locked in a stalemate for decades when the Kingdom of the East found the Tome of Power. The Tome of Power was a book that contained information on how to tap a power that no one had known even existed. It was a kind of energy that flowed through and around everything. Using the information in the book, it was discovered that some people were gifted with the ability to tap and channel this power. This gave the Kingdom of the East a powerful weapon to use against their hated enemy. Seven men were trained in what became known as the art of Sorcery. Those seven men wielded great power, the like of which had never been seen before, and they could conjure up foul beasts from the underworld to do battle for them. They could even animate the dead to continue to fight. It was not long before the Kingdom of the West was completely overthrown. The sorcerers then turned on their own king and seized the throne for themselves. That ushered in an era of darkness where the entire known world was forced into slavery. No one could resist their power.
“Then one day a young man appeared on the scene. History does not record much about him, but we know that he had great power of his own. His power surpassed even the combined power of the seven sorcerers, effortlessly turning back their beasts and spells. The sorcerers never came out to fight him, preferring to send their slaves to do it, but none of them could hurt him. He took on twelve apprentices to whom he taught his art. Once he felt they were sufficiently trained, he left. History does not record where he went, but we do know that the twelve moved to attack the sorcerers with great speed. Five of them were killed in the battles that followed, but they soon forced the sorcerers into hiding. It was then they took to calling themselves wizards.
“With the sorcerers gone, the seven remaining wizards freed the lands from the dark curses of the sorcerers and issued in an era of peace. The wizards began to train others in their arts so that there would always be someone around to defend the lands against the sorcerers should they return. The long and unbroken peace lulled the wizards into a false sense of safety, and they became lax in their vigil. Secretly the sorcerers returned, and following the example of the wizards began training others in their arts. Then one day they struck. Instead of just seven sorcerers there were hundreds, and they brought all kinds of foul creatures with them. The wizards rallied to defend the land but were forced to retreat from the northern continent.
“That brings us to where we sit today. The Second Great War between the wizards and the sorcerers is stuck at a perpetual stalemate. Both sides are scrambling to find some advantage over the other, and it seems we are doomed to relive the history all over again.”
“Okay, let me take a guess. The ones we call the Magi, you call sorcerers?” I asked.
“The title ‘Magi’ has been taken to refer to anyone who can tap the energy, so both wizards and sorcerers are considered to be Magi.”
“So it seems your war has spilled over into our Empire. Why?” I asked.
“Remember how this all started, how the Kingdom of the East and the Kingdom of the West were locked in a stalemate until the Tome of Power was found? The sorcerers are trying to repeat that feat now to break this stalemate. We do not know what they are looking for, or why they think they can find it in your Empire, but they are searching for something they think will give them the edge again. Of course that means we are doing everything we can to discover what they are looking for and claim it before they do. The obvious question to ask next is why we watched your fight with them and did not help. After all, the enemy of an enemy is a friend.” He paused to take out a small box from a hidden pocket in his robe. “Well, the answer is simple; to do so would devastate your lands. Let me show you something.” He traced a square in the air that somehow turned into a window. The view out the window was not something you would ever want to see. It was a war-torn land that looked like it could never again support life. The window faded and he said, “If we come and meet them in battle there, all your worlds could look like that.” He let that comment hang in the air.
I knew the power of the sorcerers, and if the wizards were equally powerful, then Mantis’ fear could very well be realized. “So the alternative is to sit back and hope you find this new weapon before they do?” I asked.
“Not a good plan, I know, but until recently it was the best plan we had.” He stopped and sighed. I could tell he was about to ask us to do something distasteful to him. “There is a better plan, but it will require all of you, and could very well be the death of you.”
“Mantis, we are Imperial soldiers. Death will not deter us from defending the Empire. It is obvious your enemy has made us an enemy, making us your friend for now. What is your plan?” I asked.
“In this box are seven rings. These are not ordinary rings, as you might guess. If you take them from the box and put them on, you will be signifying your acceptance of my proposal.” He pushed the box towards me, paused and looked us over. “Until recently, we knew nothing of your Empire or of any of the other nations existing in your universe. About fifty years ago we discovered that the sorcerers had begun to take an interest in you, so we investigated. At that time we saw no evidence that there were any Magi in your realm, so we were baffled by the sorcerers’ interest. We assumed they must be looking for reinforcements. Soon after, we discovered why they were searching your realm so heavily, and this worried us, so we began to study you closely. It was then that we learned of the Black Adders, and realized that any move the sorcerers made in your realm would start with them. So we planted a spy on the colony to monitor the situation for us. When the sorcerers made their move and took over the colony, our spy was killed with the rest. We thought the Black Adders had been wiped out. This was very troubling, as there was no one left in your realm capable of defending it. So we began searching for a plan that could save your realm without jeopardizing our own defenses.
“Well, I won’t bore you with the details; I will just say we came up with no plan that you would like. That all changed the day we discovered Vydor. It was obvious to us that he was gifted with the power to be a Magus, so we began to watch everything unfold. Then when he met up with the six of you, we had our answer.” He stopped to drink some more. “I should clear something up first; what you call psionics and what we call magic is one and the same. You are all Magi in your own right. Untrained and inexperienced, but that will all come with time. What we are proposing to you is that you seven form a new Council of Wizards for your realm. This is not a position to take lightly. If you agree to it, everything that you are and believe will change. As the ruling Council of Wizards you will answer to no mortal. You will have to break your allegiance to your Empire, your families, and everyone else. You will stand alone with only each other to depend on. This is important to ensure that the Council can act always in the best interest of the entire realm, and not just those of one political group.
“A Council of Wizards has three primary objectives. First and foremost is to prevent the sorcerers from ever getting a foothold in your realm. Should they ever get a foothold, you must do everything in your power to remove them. Second, you need to master all aspects of magic, not just each of your specialties. Finally, you must maintain absolute authority and power over all forms and uses of magic in your realm. To accomplish all this you will eventually need to raise an army of wizards, and appoint them to control sections of your realm, with wizards in training under them as their replacements. We can provide you with the details of how we worked all that out here. That will get you started, but you will probably need to tailor it to your realm. The result of this will be to force the sorcerers into a war on two fronts and give both of us the edge we need to win safety for both our realms. If you should all accept our proposal, I will appoint Vydor as grandmaster of the Council, in keeping with the ranks you have already established.” He paused and looked around the room. No one said anything, as we were trying to digest what he had said.
Then he looked at me and said, “Vydor, you have already surpassed the others with the little bit of power you have learned to use. You see, each of you has all the powers of the others, and more. You just need proper training to unlock them.” He stopped there and looked like he was waiting for a reply.
“All this assumes they do not find this weapon they are looking for,” I said.
“Of course both our forces will have to search constantly for that, too. If it is what they think it is, then whoever finds it wins the war.” He paused there and then continued, “It also assumes that each of you has a strong moral core which extends well beyond our primary objectives. You must all swear to strive to do good in every way, without counting the cost. Based on what I know of each of you I am not concerned about this, but it must be said.”
“What if they have the same idea and plant a Council of Sorcerers?” I asked.
“Then we risk them raising a second army of sorcerers, which would force us back into a stalemate, this time with both our realms devastated by the war. That is why they must never get a permanent foothold in your realm. The lives of everyone in your realm and ours depend on your preventing that,” was his reply.
“Assuming that we accept this burden, how do we get back there, and what will our first move be?” I asked.
“The plan is simple. Right now the sorcerers think you are all dead. We will wait for the planet to be destroyed by your armies, which I consider a most devious plan! They have no idea that it is coming because they do not consider floating rocks to be a threat. The confusion of the forced rapid withdrawal, and the devastation to their number caused by it will give us an opportunity to slip you back into your realm unnoticed,” was his response. “After that you must work to build your own power quickly while trying to find out what you can about this weapon they seek. As yet, you lack the skill to combat them, so you must avoid any direct confrontation until you have sufficient knowledge to put up a fight. This may mean letting them take over another planet and getting a small foothold. I know that contradicts what I have already said, but we have to face reality. If you met them in a direct fight now, you would all be killed, and that would hand the realm over to them.” He stood and looked around the room again, then continued, “Now I know I have given you a lot of information to consider. I will leave you to talk about it alone.” He pulled a small bell out of another hidden pocket and said, “Ring this bell when you are ready for me to return. Until then you are safe here. Rest, eat, and think.” With that he left the room.
I could tell no one was really sure what to do next, so I reached out mentally to the others and said, “Everyone, eat and get some sleep. I do not want anyone to talk about this right now. Each of you must think about what we have been told. We will meet back around this table in twelve hours. At that time we will discuss this idea fully and freely without regard to rank. When Kellyn wakes, I will brief her on what has transpired while she rested.”