It was a moment longer before Malve spoke, “I am fine, help me to stand. I must finish the binding.” Servan looked as if he wanted to protest, but the look Malve showed them all quelled any meager protests they could manage. Glaring at Clyden, Servan took the sword from Clyden. He held it out near Malve, and she took the palm of her hand and placed it on the edge blade. With a quick downward motion, she sliced open the palm of her hand. Her blood was white, infused with magic as it escaped from the cut, turning to bright red when it touched the surface of the table. Malve placed the hand with the bleeding gash to the Eye of Bane. When she removed her hand, the stone absorbed the blood like sand in a desert with water. It was done. The slash in her hand mended instantly. She sat down heavily and sighed, Malve had bonded to the Eye of Bane, and she could feel just an echo of Varoosh.
One by one, the remaining magi picked up the sword and poured their essences into Bane, repeating what Malve did. Clyden was the last to go. Immediately after his blood was absorbed by the stone, a small slit lit up on the cover of the compendium. It was the keyhole, the release of the compound lock holding all the secrets to Varoosh’s magic. They all sat there in silence.
“Do you think he will look the same? It has been 400 years,” Servan said, breaking the silence. The hostilities in his demeanor earlier seem to vanish at the notion he was about to get his friend back.
“I think Varoosh is going to berate us for how long it took us to get him back,” Lizbeth said back to Servan before turning her gaze to Malve. “But we may have to wait another hundred years to see him once he gets back, eh Malve,” she teased her friend.
“150 years minimum,” Malve said embarrassingly in an awkward tone, her face turning red as she averted her eyes shyly away from her friends. For a brief instant, there was silence, and then all four of them erupted in rare laughter.
“Shall we open it?” Clyden asked, refocusing their attention back on the task. Malve, would you like to open the lock?” he asked Malve, offering her the sword.
“No, it should be you, Clyden. It shames me, but you are the one who never gave up on finding Varoosh. Besides, I will be somewhat satisfied with my 150 years,” Malve said with a small grin. The others nodded their heads in agreement while smiling at what she said.
“Very well then,” Clyden said. Servan stood and picked up the compendium and carried it over to Clyden, laying the book in front of him. The others got up from their chairs and moved to stand behind Clyden, each one of the Magi placing a hand on his shoulder. Clyden took Bane and turned the point of the sword towards the slit in the book. The light in the slit grew brighter as Bane approached closer. When the sword tip reached the slit, sparks erupted from the keyhole, and lightning arched up the blade stopping at the crossguard. Clyden pushed the sword in further; it was as if the book absorbed the sword, the pages on the side turned to a bluish-white color. There was never wind in the Fade Realm, but the book roared like a storm. The compendium swallowed sword quickly like a drunk lusting for wine, only leaving the Eye of Bane on the outside of the book. <i>The stone looks like a knob to a door. </i>In reflex to his thought, he grabbed the stone and twisted it as if opening a door.
The storm raging a moment before instantly vanished. The pages ceased to be bluish white. Its black leather cover changed in appearance. It went from just being blank and all black. The corners of the compendium were now decorated in gold leaf and the leather moved as if it was breathing. At moments, the cover seemed textured, switching randomly and quickly to different animated pictures. There was a dragon flying across the sky, a bird landing in a tree, followed by children running through a field. The book morphed from one scene to another fluidly and effortlessly.
“I have never seen anything like this before,” Lizbeth said. “The way the cover changes. It is amazing. When did Varoosh create such a thing?”
“Well, let us ask him,” Clyden said as he pulled Bane from the book. The sword’s blade was no longer a dull color, but it was polished brightly. “Servan the scabbard, if you would please.” Clyden handed Bane to Servan. Bane radiated with new life, and the runes were now clearly visible. Servan slid Bane into the scabbard, causing golden runes to appear on the leather. At the top of the scabbard, there was a grouping of runes he had never seen before.
“Do you know what this says, Lizbeth?” Servan asked Lizbeth, handing her the scabbard.
“I have never seen these before,” Lizbeth said. Her brows furrowed as she inspected them, turning the scabbard over in her hands to see if there were any more of the strange unknown symbols she did not know. “What could it mean? Are these letters? Something new?” Lizbeth asked herself aloud in rapid succession. “I have never seen these before. Another question for Varoosh when he is back,” Lizbeth shaking her head, concluded to the rest.
With that statement, Clyden opened the book and was visibly relieved when he saw words on the first page. What he did not expect to see all were all five of their names to appear in the book. Malve Hartswood, Servan Arlaman, Lizbeth Ratoval, Clyden Dergoz, and Varoosh Sanc were written in gold letters. He turned to the next page, and it was blank. Clyden turned another page, and it was blank as well. He opened it randomly, choosing a place well into the middle of the book, and yet another blank page stared back at him. With a long-winded sigh of disgust, Clyden sat down in his chair and pushed the book away. Each of them took a turn picking up the book and flipping through the blank pages.
“It must be locked still,” Clyden said, a tone defeat in his voice.
“Clyden, something did happen,” Lizbeth said, attempting to lift Clyden’s spirit. “Maybe there is another lock that we do not know about. Look, the first page isn’t blank anymore.”
“Maybe whatever this is, the final lock,” Servan said, pointing to the several runes on Bane’s scabbard no one ever seen before.
Malve took the book in her hands while the others theorized what to do next. The cover of the book changed again in her hands, turning into a scene of a ship at sea, the waves slowly breaking on its hull. <i>Why does the cover of the book change randomly? What are you trying to tell us, Varoosh,</i> Malve ponder? The cover of the book shifted again, and for a moment, Malve swore what she saw was an image of her with a hand touching her cheek. Something tugged at her memory, but before she could delve any further, the cover of the book shifted again. This time it was a stream. She opened the book to the first page. Malve touched each person’s name with her finger. When she got to Varoosh’s name, she touched it fondly and longingly said his name out loud, “Varoosh.” A light emitted from the book pages violently, blinding them. Malve dropped the book out of reflex. Varoosh’s name in the book turned black. When her vision returned, she saw Clyden holding the book. He was flipping the pages frantically.
“What did you do? The pages are full now,” Clyden said excitedly. The others got out of their chairs, surrounding him, pressing him from the sides, trying to get as close to the book as possible.
Malve tried exactly to remember what she did. “I was just looking at the cover, then I opened it, and I was touching Varoosh’s name and said his name. Then a bright light happened,” Malve recounted to them. Lizbeth took the book from Clyden’s hands.
“Servan,” Lizbeth said, and nothing happened. Lizbeth touched Servan’s name this time “Servan,” the same bright light occurred. This time Lizbeth was ready for it; she had turned her head away. The others did not anticipate this and were rubbing the sight back into their eyes with the fingers or the palms of their hands.
“A little warning!” Servan started to say.
“Clyden,” Lizbeth said. The same bright light appeared, and groans from her counterparts ensued. “Oh, I am sorry, but I know how the book works.”
“We all know how it works now,” Servan groaned. “Can you tell me how to make my eyes work properly again?”
“Sorry,” Lizbeth said sullenly.
“Give me that, before you blind us all for life,” Clyden said jokily, taking the book from Lizbeth, hastily laying it down in front of him. He touched Varoosh’s name. “Turn away now,” Clyden warned them, “Varoosh.” The bright light flashed once more. This time everyone was ready for it. Clyden began to turn the pages, and he noticed these pages were written in Varoosh’s hand. Clyden continued to turn the pages. It was like a diary, a collective of Varoosh’s life and memories. As he skimmed from page to page, Clyden recognized some of the stories. Clyden skipped about half the thickness of the book, and spells started to show up. On the page, there was a spell to turn ice into fire. He flipped more pages and saw other spells he did not know. He would have to return later to look at when he had time, Clyden thought to himself as he kept turning pages.
“This is the spell I helped with to make an egg hatch instantly,” Lizbeth said, stopping Clyden from turning the page.
“This spell turns one’s tongue black for a month for speaking falsely,” Servan said pointing at a spell on the opposite page. The others looked at him with befuddlement. “Well, it was meant for Malve.” Malve expression was rife with surprise. “What? It was during that time when Varoosh wanted to know how you felt about him. You were giving him mixed signals.” Malve face started to become indignant. Servan quickly assisted in turning the page.
The spells ranged in difficulty from simple to complex. There were ones they worked on together, some they had never seen before. They kept flipping the pages in search of the only spell that mattered right now. All four magi had to have been there for hours, flipping through the pages of the massive compendium. The weird thing was, even after flipping through half the book, it still seemed they were only at the halfway point of the book. The compendium was inexhaustible. Lizbeth, at some point, theorized the compendium collected every spell Varoosh ever cast. The book somehow managed to capture moments important to Varoosh, which explained all the stories at the beginning of the book. Lizbeth wondered if their names were also volumes in this book, and somehow, the compendium horded all their memories and spells. It was something to be checked on later, after they located what they sought. Finally, after hours of searching, Clyden found what they sought.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“This is it,” Clyden announced. On the page, there was a diagram of a giant circle with four little circles drawn on the outside. Lines extended from three of the four circles to a fifth circle centered inside of the giant circle containing Varoosh’s name. Each of their names appeared in one of the circles. Varoosh’s handwriting dotted the page randomly with notes and instructions. Lizbeth took the book from Clyden’s hands, studying the spell intently. Something sparked in her mind. In front of Lizbeth appeared an inkwell and quill. Lizbeth copied the pages from the book onto a conjured piece of parchment even though she had a photographic memory.
“This spell of summoning isn’t complete or isn’t right. Something is off with it,” Lizbeth said to her friends.
“What do you mean?” Servan asked.
“Just a moment,” Lizbeth said, flipping back to the first page. Touching her name, “Lizbeth,” she said without any warning again, causing her friends to gripe in unison as they were blinded again. “Sorry, I forgot,” Lizbeth apologized, holding the compendium while flipping pages, skipping large chunks of pages. “It is like I thought. Somehow this compendium has managed to rip from us our thoughts and the memories that impacted our lives the most. Fascinating! I can’t wait to ask Varoosh how this is possible.”
“Focus, Lizbeth,” Malve said pointedly. “You said something is off about the summoning spell. What is it?”
“Ah, yes, just give me a moment. The summoning spell was missing the catalysts needed. I helped him, inadvertently of course, with this,” Lizbeth said, skipping large portions sections of the book related to her, only glancing at the pages briefly to determine if it was the information she sought. “I am quite certain about what is needed, but I want to be sure. It was just a theory. Mind you, when I helped Varoosh with this. Ah, there it is,” glancing at the page as a flame flared around her, engulfing her momentarily, and she left the Fade Realm. The book she was holding fell with a thud to the table.
“She left?!” Servan said, looking at where the book dropped on the table. The remaining three looked at each other, confused as to Lizbeth’s sudden departure. Before any of them could voice any follow-up questions, a plain oak door appeared. The joints on the door cracked as it opened, and several large sacks were thrown through the door.
“That’s the salt!” Lizbeth shouted from the other side.
“Lizbeth?” Clyden asked as he was walking towards the door. Lizbeth stepped through the door, and it vanished just as another was appearing. It was plated in gold and carved on the door was the image of a dragon. Lizbeth opened the golden door, spilling sunlight into her library. Lizbeth ran through the door. The three remaining in the Fade Realm walked towards the golden door. A rounded giant bone was heaved through the door, forcing them all to dodge instinctively. It clunkily rolled before falling over. The bone was a colossal sun-bleached vertebra of a dragon and was milky white, almost like polished jade. There was a powerful aura radiating from it. The bones of powerful magical creatures often were used as catalysts in spells. Lizbeth ran through the door covered in soot, slamming the door as flames tried to leak through the closing crack before vanishing. She wiped the soot from her shoulders. Malve helped her dust it from her hair.
“Well, that is everything we need,” Lizbeth said, clapping the dust from her hands.
“Everything?” Servan asked, tilting the giant dragon vertebrae on its side, letting it rest on his hip.
“Oh, can you grind the bone to the consistency of flour? You have to do it without the use of magic, also,” Lizbeth told Servan. Servan looked at her questioningly, patting the smooth, jade-like pale bone lying against his hip.
Clyden took note of Servan’s expression, “I will help you with the grinding Servan,” Clyden said. The door Clyden used to enter the Fade the first time reappeared, and he stepped through it. Servan vanished from the Fade as Lizbeth did earlier, swallowed by flames. Servan, no longer being projected in the Fade left the dragon vertebra without any support, and it fell over with a loud thud on the floor. Another door appeared quickly, and Servan walked through it. Servan walked over to the dragon bone and tilted the vertebrae back on its side and kicked it. The dragon bone clunkily rolled through the door Clyden created. “This is the Kingdom of Loudas,” you could faintly hear Clyden explaining to Servan before the door closed.
“Is there anything I can help with?” Malve asked.
“Yes, before you step out, I need you to draw the ritual diagram on the ground. We will use it as a template to lay the salts and bone dust over it,” Lizbeth instructed as she handed the parchment she copied before to Malve.
“OK,” Malve said, studying the parchment carefully. Malve looked at one of the tall columns and visualized a winding staircase leading up one of them. It manifested, and she ascended the newly formed stairs. When she reached the top, Malve looked down at the floor. “Lizbeth, you are in the way,” she told her. Lizbeth did not respond to Malve’s request; she was sitting in her chair at the table, holding the compendium, and lost to the vast wealth it contained. “Lizbeth!” Malve said again. With no response from Lizbeth, Malve sighed, and she deconstructed the table in front of her and still did not get Lizbeth’s attention. A wry smile crossed Malve’s face, and the chairs and table vanished.
“Hey!” Lizbeth squealed as she fell to the floor. She stood up, rubbing her rear end. “Why did you do that for?”
“You will never change, Lizbeth. I did ask twice for you to move,” Malve said, suppressing her laughter.
“Oh, sorry. At least put the chairs back, Malve?” Lizbeth asked with an apologetic and embarrassed tone.
“OK,” Malve said. Three chairs materialized, followed by a red chaise lounge. Lizbeth beamed with delight. “Consider that, my apology.”
“Oh, and can you make me a night shroud about three times the size of the book?” Lizbeth requested as she jumped into the chaise and proceeded to make herself comfortable. The night shroud cloth appeared, and it dropped onto Lizbeth’s head, “Hey!” Night shroud cloth had the unique ability to absorb all light so long as the source of the light was behind it.
“Move Clyden’s thaum will you?” Malve said, pointing to Witch Devil.
Malve smiled at Lizbeth, protesting under the shroud. The two of them shared a complicated past, the same could be said of all the magi and their individual relationships with each other. Malve and Lizbeth once were enemies at one point, and after hundreds of years, they became like sisters. The endless adventures the two shared were some of her fondest memories. Lizbeth would drag her to the far reaches of the land in search of her books, or Malve would drag her to some hidden or lost city for exploration. They all were once like family, and when Varoosh vanished, everything between the four of them changed. Malve pulled away from her friends. In truth, they all pulled away from each other. Clyden and Servan fought with each other constantly. Mainly due to Clyden’s relentless search for how to bring Varoosh back. Servan wanted to move on and forget Varoosh, while Clyden was annoyingly searching and continuously beseeching the other magi for help. When they all gave up, Clyden never did. It was painful to be around Clyden and his obsessive quest to bring Varoosh home. <i>Varoosh, Clyden found you, he looked for you for 110 years and found you,</i> Malve thought to herself guiltily for giving up. Malve silently thanked Clyden in her head for returning hope to them. They were all going to be a family again.
“Exactly as shown, Malve. No mistakes,” Lizbeth said.
“It will be as you say, I have done this before,” Malve retorted.
Now that the room was cleared of obstructions Malve had enough room to work. Malve visualized the outline of the larger circle in her mind, and it slowly began to appear. One could conjure something as complex as a dragon instantly in the Fade, but when it came to powerful magical rituals, it could take hours just to lay a diagram. After a while, she finished the large circle. Malve looked at the parchment to get the locations of the smaller circles attached along the edge of the larger circle. The smaller circles would have rested at the north, south, east, and west points on a compass. They appeared in tandem, one after the other, until all four circles were perfectly spaced. The fifth small circle was in the center of the larger circle. Next, the lines connecting three smaller circles on the outside to the inner circle except for the northern circle were drawn. Below the northern circle on the parchment were summoning runes drawn, covering half of the circle. The runes began to appear on the floor. Malve worked diligently, making sure it was correct. When she was satisfied, she descended the winding staircase down the column. She walked over to the chaise lounge and moved Lizbeth’s legs. She sat down, sighing, “Finished.”
“Took you long enough,” Lizbeth said sternly.
“Well, you could have done all this before you projected yourself out the first time, you know,” Malve said back. A person physically entering the Fade could not manipulate things on a whim as someone projected in. They would have to wait several days before they could project themselves back in. Malve was the only one left projected in, so she would wait until the last moments to enter physically in case they needed anything else conjured.
“I did not think about that. Besides, I had to do important research,” Lizbeth said.
“Research?” Malve asked. There was something in the way Lizbeth had said ‘important research’ that raised flags inside her. Malve looked at the night shroud cloth and a moment of clarity registered in her. “You book rat, you have been using the shroud to cover up the light as you switch from person to person in the book,” Malve accused Lizbeth as she leaned over trying to see the page Lizbeth was reading. Lizbeth closed the book with her finger still marking the page. “What are you up?” she demanded.
“Book rat!” Lizbeth said, trying to sound indignant. “It is research!” hiding her face behind the book.
Malve knew Lizbeth all too well; she knew Lizbeth was smiling behind the book. Malve pulled at the large compendium, uncovering and exposing Lizbeth’s mischievous smile. Now she knew something was up. “Let me see this ‘research,’” Malve demanded, reaching for the book again.
“No!” Lizbeth said, panicking now. Lizbeth was trying to sit up now, but before she could, shackles suddenly appeared around her wrists and feet. A solid bar appeared around her waist, securing Lizbeth to the chaise. She dropped the book.
Malve picked the compendium up and opened it, and started to read it. The book was set to her volume. Malve looked daggers at Lizbeth before asking, “What were you researching?”
“I can’t remember,” Lizbeth feigned forgetfully.
“Your memory is perfect, Lizbeth,” Malve touted back.
Lizbeth smiled devilishly, and then teasingly began to recite what she read in the book from memory, “‘I do not know when I noticed Varoosh’s strong shoulders. His eyes are like fire rubies. His lips are soft and sweet.’”
“Enough!” Malve said loudly, leaping on top of her and covering her mouth with both hands, her face turning completely red. Lizbeth’s muffled laughter only made her blush even more. “I ought to leave you locked up like that,” Malve threatened her as she returned to where she was sitting in the chair.
“I am happy for you though, we have all missed him,” Lizbeth said to Malve, soothing the mood. “You are about to get Varoosh’s soft lips back,” she laughed. Malve shook her head, and she laughed like she had not in a long time.
“Do not think you will get away so easily,” Malve said menacingly, laughing as she started to tickle Lizbeth’s sides in revenge. The restraints on Lizbeth prevented her from escaping. Lizbeth tried to twist and fend off Malve as much as possible, but it was useless.
A door appeared, and Servan walked through it. Servan carried a sack over his right shoulder. It was the dragon bone dust needed for the spell. “It was nice of King Ledan; do you think his son will like the…” Servan trailed off from saying. Servan came to a complete standstill in the doorway, his jaw dropping, and he was astounded at what he was seeing. Malve was on top of Lizbeth, who was wearing shackles and with a metal ban over her waist, strapping her to a chaise lounge. The two women looked at Servan, and in an instant, the restraints on Lizbeth vanished. Both sat up meekly in the chaise now, as if nothing was going on.