Legends of Belariath

Quillain

Sacred Scrolls of the Western Mountain

The Guild Master of the Western Fire Mages has had his eye upon the one named Soulic Dorean, or Scathien as he once called himself, for some time. He could tell that he was closely aligned if not side by side with the elemental force of flame and that perhaps, just perhaps, he might make a good edition to the guild. Thus he proposed to himself a test. He had contacts within his guild at the western mountain, an old friend of his by the name of Mutharin. Muthairn was a rather sadistic individual, but only if he was pushed. He trained alongside the Guild Master when they had gone to Flameforger to undergo their transformations into fire mages but never truely followed up on the training. Thus the power of the Guild Master grew while Mutharin stayed in his little level of power. None the less, he did follow orders rather well, so he gave him a mission around the same time he sent a message via courrier to the southern lands of Belariath to a small town by the name of Nanthalion.

Soulic was sitting at the bar within the inn, his dazed eyes tracing over the grains in the wooden bartop as the mug of steaming cider he had recently ordered lifted to his lips to be sipped and lowered back to the smooth and polished surface. The bartender cast a wary glance toward Soulic from time to time, but knew better than to remain looking at him for far too long. As of late his attacks have gotten more violent and far more frequent, normally stemming from a lingering gaze or mispoken words around him. He didnt even hear the loud thud of the inn door as a barbarian entered the inn, striding in with chin held high, and that superior look on his face. He had braved the wetlands and forests of Kolight to get here. He was proud of himself and he let it show in the typical barbarian fashion.

“Tender! Give me a drink and make it strong!” The loudmouthed barbarian sat down in a barstool beside Soulic thinking nothing of it. “I have been through the wetlands and forests of the northern lands of Kolight to reach this very inn! I have slewn countless monsters and creatures of the night! Their blood decorates my sword and bare hands for my deeds! I...” Soulic’s quiet voice cut him off at the source before he could continue any longer, his eyes still dazed as he concentrated upon the bar, “If you continue your ceaseless banter i will burn your vocal cords to a cinder.... now shut up...”

The barbarian blinked, and looked to the frail looking human mage, his eyes narrowed as he spoke in threatening tones, “What did you say you damned flatlander?” Soulic said nothing more, quietly staring down at the bar as he sipped from his drink. The barbarian mearly smirked and turned to look back to the bartender as he growled and slammed his fist upon the table. “Where is my damned drink! I want my drink and I want to know where i can find a man named Soulic Dorean! Be quick about it!!”

The words of his name being spoken caught his attention, his gaze slowly shifting toward the barbarian, those dazed over eyes begining to slowly clear as he watches him, but says nothing. The bartender on the other hand retrieved the barbarian’s obnoxiously loud order, setting it down infront of him before pointing to the mage beside him, making the large man quirk an eyebrow and nearly laugh. “You are to tell me that this fool is the one i have been sent to deliver this message too?” Soulic’s eyes narrowed, anger and insanity slowly seeping into those deep blue orbs as he groweld faintly. “Shut your mouth and give me the message before i lay your buring carcass outside of the inn....” It was a simple and very straightfoward threat, one that Soulic was never afraid to follow up on. Several people hushed upon the decleration of the threat. Even the bartender backed away, fear seen easily in his eyes, though he wondered why the mage had not yet struck down the annoying loudmouthed northern fool.

“Well i can see why the Guild Master of the Western fire mages sought you out, you have a rather firey temper flatlander!” The barbarian roared outlandishly, his framed well built form shaking with the noises that slipped from his mouth which only served to irritate the orange and red robed man even further. Finally the man calmed and clapped Soulic on the back as he spoke, “There are certain matters with which the Guild Master wishes to you to help with. You must travel north through the forests of Kolight and the wetlands beyond that to the western mountain where the three members of the fire mage guild there await you to retrieve some item of great importance!”

The mage had heard enough of both the message and messenger, and the slapping of the large oaf’s hand upon his back managed to make him spill his drink, the steaming hot cider spilling into his lap, and his hand clenched down tightly against both his mug and his staff, held in oppisite hands. He was finally pushed him over the edge. The look of pure unbriadled rage, anger and chaos sprung forth in his eyes as if they were blazing fires kindled within the depths of his soul. Thankfully for the bartender, he noticed this and was glad that he had seen it several times before and knew exactly what to expect. As such he quickly ducked behind the bar and headed off toward the kitchen until the little ordeal was over. Even a those closest to the pair at the bar quietly slid their barstools away, not wanting to get caught in the ensuing battle. Several others in the inn turned to see the two, some smirking, others moving away, a few more preparing spells of healing or herbs to deal with the barbarian once the mage was done with him.

Without warning, Soulic’s hands exploded. Flickering flames of orange and red swirled about his hands and upper arms as he growled under his breath. “You were warned fool, now feel the rage of the flames!!” He lept at the barbarian, slamming heavily into his chest with enough strength to knock him backward off of the chair, actually managing to suprise the large man whose eyes opened wide just moments before those burning flaming hands clamped down over his face and mouth, lines of flame leaping into the warrior’s mouth and down his throat, scorching and burning at his face and the inside of this throat, his thrashing continued but his screaming faded into nothing, unable to form words anymore as his vocal cords were burned away. His hands pulled back as he stood off to the side of the barbarian, eyes wide with rage as he unleashed his anger into the loudmouthed one before him, the flames curling around his entire face and head, burning away hair and flesh and leaving behind a faint acrid smell that Soulic was rather used to. Finally the courrier’s thrashing stopped. He had either passed out from the pain or had died, though it didn’t matter to the mage. When he stopped thrashing the flames dissipated into a faint smoke that rose from his fingers, reaching down and grabbing the man by his limp right arm and dragged him to the door with a bit of effort, kicking it open as he threw the man out of the inn and down the steps to land face first onto the ground, sprawled out in the snow that still covered the lands in the early weeks of spring.

His anger and rage sated, and the swirling winds of chaos within his soul calmed, Soulic finally walked back into the inn. His steps were slow and shuffling, his eyes dazed over as if nothing had ever happened. Such was his way, constantly subjected to the torment and pain of the chaos that swirled within him ever since his death. It seemed that since then he had grown ever more unpredictable and violent, as if the flames he had once served had taken a greater hold of him in the afterlife. As he sat back down at the bar, the tender had come back out from the kitchen, mug of steaming hot cider in hand, placing it back down infront of the mage. He knew better than to say anything to him of what just happened. The bartender just gave a quiet sigh and looked to the door as three of the present healers in the inn slipped outside to move the barbarian to the Healer’s Guild in town either to be healed or restored enough for either Unigo to be able to revive him or to give him a proper buriel.

As he sipped on his drink voices raged within his mind, the hissing sounds of flames that spoke to him, “You must accept this invitation....” “I have no reason to leave this place at the simple whim of a Guild Master i do not even know..” Why should he? He still had his studies here. He even had Soumis as well, the only anchor to his sanity, though he rarely saw her ever since his death, it was still comforting to have her presance around every once and a while when he was not subject to the whirlwinds of torment within his soul. “It issss a test you fool! He wishes to see just how powerful you may be at this stage in your studies. There is an object of great power there that you may recieve if you play your cards right. Go to him and see what it is, do not prove yourself a coward....”

Nothing was said out loud, such were the rather strange and constant conversations with himself that always went off in his mind. The fire was goading him, urging him to prove his abilities to someone he had no knowledge of nor even cared of. Still, he did enjoy the challenge. After long moments of deliberation spent staring down at the bartop tracing the wooden grains in the polished surface he decided that it was worth the skill and experiance that he would gain during his trip to test his own abilities. For the rest of that night however he just sat there quietly sipping upon that drink of steaming cider.

The night passed, and even as the sun arose he was gone from the tower, a note left behind that was slipped under Soumis’ door on his way out. The flame scarred staff he carried was held tightly in his right hand, the other left free as his fingers clenched and opened as he moved out of the front doors of the massive tower of magic and the place he had come to call his home, Unigo. He didnt look back after the first step from the tower doors, his mind set on his path and his goal, the voices within his mind goading him onward, taunting him to meet this challenge and exceed his expectations.

For weeks he traveled through the forests of Nanthalion, the trip had been uneventful so far, his food that he had brought along on the back on his back had held so far, but he was begining to run low. His mind swirled as the insanity and the chaos that flowed within his very core continued to gnaw at him, urging him onward despite his desires to return to his home where it was comfortable and somewhat safe and where he could unleash his growing rage in reletive peace. It was then that a single piercing voice shattered the arguement within his head, his gaze shifting off to the left into the depths of the forest even as his feet turned toward it, the flames urging him onward to perhaps find something that might just help him in this journy.

The young woman cried out in horror as the 3 goblins encircled her, grinning madly with crude dagger in their bony green skinned grasp. Her clothing was torn and dirty, and the fear in her eyes was readily appearent. She knew what the three had planned to do to her virgin body if they were to get ahold of her, and so her screams reached out into the depths of the forest in hopes of finding a savior. She would not be able to face her family again if she was defiled before she had gotten married, which incidentally was only a week away back at her home in the western mountain. Her screams echoed once again as she kicked out at the center goblin, connecting in it’s chest and pushing the ugly creature back another couple of steps, only to have her arms grabbed and her back pinned up against the tree by the other two, the third sneering and stalking forward, grabbing at her blouse and pulling at it, ripping buttons as the cloth parted under his grip. A white lace bra was shown underneith, containing the woman’s handful sized breasts, her chest heaving from her fear.

The second scream reached the mage’s ears, further guiding him. As he got closer he could also make out the chuckling of goblins. The flames urged him onward, promising him a chance to unleash his rage and anger if he were to go on, also persuading him that if he played his cards right things might be a bit easier for him in the future. Once more the young maiden’s screams reached his ears, and he finally located the source, standing at the edge of the clearing containing the four figures. A faint smirk crossed his face as he saw the backs of the three goblins and the terrified woman they were about to take for their own pleasure.

At the sight of the orange and red robes, the girl cried out once again for help, her words passing by the goblins to reach Soulic’s grinning face. To the goblins however it just seemed that she was once again crying out for help to the point where no one would be able to hear her, after all this was a very remote region of the Kolight forest. There was never anyone out here and it was a rarely traveled route at that. The goblins never turned to see Soulic raising his free hand, the other gripping the middle of that flame scarred staff with increasing strength, a soft breeze blowing about his hand before suddenly igniting into flames, swirling and flickering around his skin with the same chaotic and destructive intentions that swirled within the depths of his very soul.

The girl screamed in horror and ducked to the ground, covering her head and confusing the three goblins, until the middle one finally turned and spotted the mage, eyes widening in terror as the spell was unleashed. Flames swirled and gathered at the center of his palm as the intensity built more and more until it finally reached its breaking point, the gathered firey arcane force suddenly exploding outward in a formed bolt of fire, streaking through the air with a faint trail of smoke behind it’s destructive force. The goblin was too suprised to move, and took the bolt full force directly where it was aimed for... his face.

The goblin stumbled back and screamed in pain, the other two suddenly seeing their comrade’s head engulfed in flames that swirled and consumed his flesh, tripping over the screaming maiden and falling to the ground, his hands reaching up in a futile manuver to attempt to scrape the flames away from his burning face, managing only to peel off his own scorched flesh. Finally he fell still, pain overtaking him as the flames spread and eventually engulfed his entire body, the flames consuming his flesh as an acrid stench filled the air.

The other two turned to face the mage, who smirked and chuckled sadisticly, the flames still swirling in his palm which was now facing upward and flat, flames swirling upward and forming into a hand with a finger sticking up, curling back toward the mage in a repeating, and challenging motion to the two dumbfounded goblins. One drew its short sword, rushing forward and crying out in anger at the fact that his comrade had been killed. As the sword shot down in a very simple overhead chop the mage acted. His staff shot upward, smacking against the tip of the blade as he spun it in one hand rather skillfully, knocking the blade to the side to swipe down past his staff arm, just barely missing him as the other end spun around and cracked heavily into the goblins face, sending him staggering to the side.

The other goblin rushed in behind his partner, sword out infront of him as he charged as if he was going to impale the mage where he stood. As the first one was knocked to the side his free hand still covered in fire shot forward toward the charging green skinned opponent before him, tendrils of flame suddenly reaching out and wrapping around his wrist with an intense heat, making him scream in pain and drop his blade to the ground, but his momentum still moved him forward. Two more tendrils reached out, one wrapping around his face, the other around his legs and groin. That particular goblin dropped to the ground screaming in pain as the flames shot across his body, scalding flesh and sending him to a very similar fate as his first partner, the scent of burning flesh once again filling the air and mixing with its partner.

The last goblin standing recovered in enough time to watch his other friend die, sending him even more into a frenzy as he charged back in toward the mage. His hands extinguished as he gripped his staff tightly in both hands, spinning it around infront of him to deflect the sword strike to his casting hand, spinning around to the back of the goblin as the tip of his flame scarred weapon shot across to crack heavily once more into the creature’s head, sending him stumbling off to the side. This time however the mage did not relent, following behind as he spun his staff once again, the tip that had hit him in the head came around once more with a lot more force behind it. Slamming down heavily into the top of the goblin’s head, shattering his fragile skull and sending the shards deep into its brain where it quickly dropped to the ground, its life’s blood pooling around it from its nose and mouth as its last breaths gasped from his lungs.

His anger sated, the sadistic chuckling stopped, and Soulic turned back toward the cowering maiden, looking at her carefully. He could simply take her now, but for some strange reason the flames did not push him to do so this time. Curious at this he walked infront of the girl, speaking in a commanding voice, “Rise now girl and tell me where you are from.” Finally she looked up toward those deep blue eyes, strangely calm now despite the action that had just taken place, stammering through the words that streamed from her mouth. “P... please dont hurt me kind sir. I am from the underground village of the Western Mountain. I was sent to head to the town of Nanthalion to seek out a man of orange and red robes to lead him to my village as my father has instructed me. Are... are you the man named Soulic Dorean?”

Once again he was suprised at the turn of events, and now realized why the voices within his mind did not urge him toward his usual path. He said nothing to her and simply nodded, turning to walk away before calling out to her. “If you are indeed here to guide me, then you had best hurry and do so before i loose my paitence and you shall end up like those that were about to do you harm.” A harshness was in his voice, the girl’s eyes widening in fear as she looked back to the two burned goblins, shuddering softly as she quickly rose and did what she could to close her blouse and hurried to the mage’s side. “I... I thank you for your quick action in defeating them.... If they had taken me... I would not be able to face my parents or my fianceé.... I am still a virgin you see.....” She blushed softly at that admission, though the mage didnt seem to care. He spoke again, his voice just as harsh as before. “I care not about your pathetic life or of your family and soon to be husband. All i wish to know is how far I am from the Western Mountain and what i must go through to get there understand? Do not make me regret taking you along and end your miserable and pathetic life...”

She was shocked at the harsh way she was delt with, but she had her orders and would follow them or return as ashamed as she would have been if those goblins had had their way with her. She took a breath to steady herself before speaking with a bit of resolve, hoping to no longer anger him any more. “You are nearing the edge of the Kolight wetlands, from there it is a three day march to the north where you will reach the Western Mountain and the underground village you seek as your destination.” Soulic onlyt nodded to show that he at least heard and understood the words, but the woman didn’t seem done just yet. “Please head my warnings sir... There are many dangerous creatures within the wetlands. No one knows what they are but we have lost several of the villagers to them in the past in small skirmishes. They are strange creatures not born of nature. Rumor has it that they were created by a long dead necromancer in an attempt to build an army of superior fighters in order to spread destruction across the land, but he failed, ending up with the misshaped deformed creatures that roam the swamps.”

“Will you ever shut your mouth girl? I tire of your ceaseless bantering. I care not what or who these creatures are, because if they get in my way i WILL kill them do you understand me? Now, if you continue to speak i will do the same to you... so shut your mouth and speak only if i ask for it.” The girl shrank back slightly and lowered her head, keeping quiet once again, seeming to please the mage that walked tirelessly ahead to forge toward the boundries of the forests of Kolight. Already nearly half of his journey was over and he was somewhat rather pleased with himself.

Days continued to pass, rather uneventfull for the mage, which only served to slowly irritate him. The girl that walked with him however was grateful for she knew just what exactly lay within the lands and just how dangerous they could be to someone who did not expect it. Finally the two travelers reached the borders of the Kolight Forest which led into the Kolight Wetlands, the ground beneith their feet slowly becoming damper as time and distance continued onward. During that night they decided to take refuge at the edge of a small swampish lake. Sleeping rather fitfully, the mage constantly distrubed by his inner voices, the girl unable to sleep for fear of being attacked by either the mage or the creatures that roamed the lands in this area.

Soulic was awakened by a sense of paranoia. Something just didnt seem quite right to him. That was when he heard the sounds. The soft, nearly silent swishing sound of water being moved around by someone or something walking through it. He turned to the side to check and see if the girl was still there, and she was. The girl was curled up into the fetal position, shaking in fear . He moved to rise quietly, grasping his flame scarred staff in his right hand as he turned and walked to the edge of the swamp lake. What he saw wasnot what he expected, and yet he did expect to meet up with something that would likely have to cross his path and die. The creatures were horribly deformed, with misshapen bulgy heads, arms that eneded not in hands, but each in a long wicked looking claw with a rather sharp looking inside edge. Their knees were bent backward instead of forward, and as such they moved strangely, but fluidly. The mage figured that they could very likely jump a far distance if they needed to with an anatomy structure like that.

There were roughly twenty of the green skinned creatures, their maws hanging open as the moonlight glinted off of their increadibly sharp teeth. A loud collective growling could be heard coming from them, and the girl behind Soulic whimpered and moved back, away from the ensuing confrontation. In the depths of his mind however a voice called out to him, yelling at him, “Strike!!! You must strike now!!!!” He had no idea why he had to do so, he did not know anything about these creatures. However there were fire mages at the western mountain for a reason. His free hand was brought up as he began to chant softly, wind swirling and bathing his hand, starting to lift and swirl around his robes. As the chanting continued, flickers of flame began to ignite at the edges of those winds, dropping toward his hand one after another until a small collective flame gathered atop his middle finger.

That flame suddenly began to spread at a phenominal rate. Red and orange fire suddenly engulfed his entire extended palm and halfway up his forarm, the wind swirling about his body feeding those flames and urging them hotter and hotter as they began to swirl and gather at the center of his hand. This caused most of them to stop and stare in wonder, at least the smaller ones did. The three larger ones of the group knew better. They had fought fire mages before and knew exactly what would happen when that spell went off and hit the methane gas rising from the swamp’s murky surface. Those three crouched down before springing upward, clearing the water, and the mage’s head as those gathered forces were suddenly unleashed in a bolt of fire that would streak through the air angled toward the ground, and the moment it struck the murky water of the swamp’s surface, flame mixed with methane and the surface of the lake exploded in a massive burst of fire just as the three of the larger creatures landed behind him, turning to face him.

The others did not know what hit them, and the fearsome creature’s weakness was shown as their skin caught fire and burned long after the origional explosion had faded away, their wailing rising into the night air before it was sharply cut off, the echos dying away in the blowing wind as the smoke cleared away from the burning forms, the seventeen creatures floating still aflame as the fires worked to fully consume their combustable skin. The mage simply smirked before realizing that the three were still behind him, jumping forward and turning around just as the middle creature moved forward to strike. The wicked claw that was it’s right arm slashed down, nearly cutting his robes, but missed by an inch or so. The second claw came in but Soulic acted quickly, grabbing the staff in both hands as he snapped it to the side and whipped the butt end of the staff around to crack it heavily into the side of its grotesque head, staggering it to the side to have it knock the creature to the right off balance as well, allowing Soulic to turn and fully engage the one of the left.

He moved forward as the staff’s head snapped downward, the creature raising both claws up to block his staff, lashing out with one claw to open a deep gash in his right arm, causing the mage to wince before his anger and insanity slowly took hold, his flaming left hand pulling free of the staff to snap forward as lines of fire snapped out to wrap around the creature’s head and torso, it’s entire body suddenly exploding into fire as the flames spread outward. It started to stumble backward but the mage kept on pressing, circling around the back of the creature to stab at it’s back with the tip of his staff, pushing it into the other two as it flailed wildly.

Upon contact, just as the mage predicted, the other two burst into flames. However, as the first one fell to the ground twitching and thrashing as the flames consumed its sickly form the other two turned and rushed Soulic with flaming claws flashing back and forth in an attempt to fell the colorfully robed bringer of death before they too suscummed to the consuming destructive fires that rushed over their bodies, searing and blackening skin, ashes falling to the swamp floor with each movement. Soulic snapped his staff back and forth as quickly as he could muster to defend himself, and by the time the two creatures faltered and felt death’s embrace, Soulic had several light slashes on his arms, right shoulder, and a fairly light gash over his right hip.

As combat died down and the adrenaline faded away, Soulic began to feel the pains of his body starting to seep into him. His staff was dropped to the ground as the still burning left hand was brought to his right arm, resting it overtop of that deep gash as flames lept from his fingertips and dug into the wounds. Soulic only grimised slightly as the flames seared and burned at his flesh, cautorizing the wound before flickering down and across his body, licking at his other wounds until they too closed and ceased their bleeding.

His own form of first aid taken care of, he looked back to the girl who just cowered there. Her back was up against a nearby tree, her body shivering with her eyes closed tightly. He called out toward her, annnoyed at her cowardace, and it showed within his voice. “You had best get to your feet and get to moving woman before i force you to do so.... you dont want that....” Her head snapped upward, wide green eyes staring at him before nodding dumbfoundedly and finally rose upward, stumbling a bit over herself as she ran over toward the mage who had already turned and walked off down the pathway.

Things were for the most part uneventful during the rest of the journy through the wetlands. Several times however, they did have encounters with very small groups of two or three of the strange monsters that they had met at the lake. Soulic was growing quite weary of the entire trip, but the woman continued to insist that it would not be too much longer. Finally, the two emerged from the shadows of the swampish forest and into the grassland road that led to the base of the western mountain that could be seen in the distance.

The mage smirked and stopped at the edge of the swamp, the girl sighing in relief but stopped and looked at Soulic in confusion, not knowing why he had stopped there. For Soulic, the voices had surged anew. He was at his destination and this girl was no longer needed, and they screamed to him to do what he had forced himself to put aside. Madness slowly flooded into his eyes, that swirling mixture of chaos and insanity spread quickly. It was something the girl had never seen before in a man and slowly began to step backwards away from the insane traveler. He lost himself completly to the whirlwind of insanity that had swiftly taken over his mind, allowing those pent up sensations to burst free in a massive and violent explosion that would be centered upon this one girl.

He sprung forward with more speed than the girl realized that he had, his hand reaching quickly for her throat as the other snapped down to her left wrist that had by now wrapped around the hilt of her dagger as she attempted to unsheath the blade to try and fend off the crazed mage. She only cried out softly as those powerful fingers wrapped around her throat, her hand opening to drop her silver blade to the ground, thumping softly upon the damp ground as he suddenly turned and pushed forward harshly, slamming her back against the tree and knocking the breath from her. She began to find it hard to breathe as his fingers squeezed down just slightly against the flesh of her neck, and she cried out softly. “No! Please! Why are you doing this! Snap out of it!!”

He only grinned. A sick, sadistic smirk forming over his face as his eyes opened wide. His chuckle chilled her to the bone to the deep fear of what she thought he would do to her, starting to cry softly as tears streamed down her face. That sick, sadistic laughter echoing around her and forcing her to come to terms with what exactly was going to happen. As his hand pulled away from her wrist, it unseathed his own dagger, his staff by now lying on the ground beside the two as the dagger slid upward and the point was pressed to her delicate throat. A soft whimper escaped her lips, her body tensing tightly as her eyes closed, not wanting to see her death coming for her.

The dagger slid lower, catching up under the top part of her tunic, and her eyes snapped open widely once again as she felt the fabric being cut into. Her body started to shift and writhe as her hand lashed out, fingernails digging into the side of his face and scraping across. Soulic’s head snapped to the side but that sadistic chuckle continued to flare from his lips like a harbringer of doom and defilation for the young girl he now had in his grasp. The dagger jerked downward, the point poking into her skin slightly at his movements and making a sharp cut between the valley of her breasts as she cried out in pain, her body falling limp agains the tree at the sudden flash of firey pain. The dagger lifted away from her skin and continued to slice lower and lower, finally exiting the cloth of the tunic before both halves fell to the side, exposing her firm full breasts as they bounced slightly from the sudden release of the confining materials.

He continued his work, the dagger slashing downward some more as it slipped down the front of her skirt, slashing the waistband and cutting down through the cloth until it too fell away in a heap on the ground with her tunic, the woman closing her eyes and crying out in shame as her body was completly revealed to the eyes of the insane human before her. Her hands moved to cover herself, but the dagger suddenly embedding itself into the wood an inch or two from the side of her head was enough to make her hands pull away as her screams of terror launched themselves into the mage’s face and out into the grasslands beyond. A faint blue glow slowly surrounded the sash of his robes, and it began to undo itself as he focused upon his telekinesis spell. As the sash became undone and slid away from him it floated up and began to wind itself around the girl’s left wrist, the edge tying tiself to secure it in place as the folds of his robe fell open, his shaft standing half errect as his body began to respond to the sight before him.

The shash continued to move, winding around the girl’s back to her other wrist, tying around it as well as the mage suddenly pulled her back away from the tree, turning her around before shoving her front forward against it, his hand resting against her abdomen to force her to bend over at the waist as he quickly tied her hands behind her back. Her forhead came into contact with the rough bark as she screamed out once again for something to come along and save her. However, she doubted that anyone would help her like he had done with the goblins. The head of his blood engorged shaft slapped down against her bottom, still hardening as he reached down and grasped the base of his member, sliding it down between her cheeks toward the juncture between her legs.

As she felt the head of his shaft probing against her virgin lips she screamed once again, and began to sob in defeat. She would be utterly defiled by the man who had saved her. The man whom she had willingly led through the dangerous swamps. She cursed her fate that she was to be the one chosen to find him and lead him to her home. She could not believe that this was the man they had sent for to save their small underground village. Those thoughts were quite suddenly interrupted as the hand against the back of her neck suddenly exploded into heated flames, strangely enough not yet burning her skin. The sensation was enough for her to scream again anyway as her ears were continuiously flooded by the insanity crazed mage’s sadistic laughter.

“Yesss.... scream girl.... let your fear be heard by all....” His whispers hissed through his lips like the crackling of the flames he had sought to gain control of. Her screams flooded into his ears, and he smiled. Deep within the depths of his pain and chaos ridden soul a small part of him felt calmed at those screams. She would realize and experiance the pain and agony he felt every single day of his life. It was his purpose to perform this act, to share his pain and agony with everyone else around him except for those that he called allies. Finally her voice could no longer scream, her vocal cords worn out from her activities, all she could manage to do was whimper softly as she felt the bulbous head of his shaft rub against the tender untouched lips of her sex.

Suddenly, and without warning, his hips shifted, and suddenly rammed forward with as much strength as the mage could muster. The girl’s lips were spread open as were her inner walls, tearing through her hymen without so much as second thought as a hoarse scream of pain was torn through her lips. He buried himself inside her to the hilt with enough force to shove her body roughly up against the tree. The tender flesh of her body bruised and scraped against the rough bark before she was pulled away. He would give her no time to recover or even attempt to get used to the pain for while his body recieved pleasure from the sheer act of what he was doing, his soul continued to calm with each bit of pain he delivered upon her poor helpless form.

Her body slowly went limp with each thrust into her previously virgin flesh, sobbing heavily as she was shoved against the tree over and over, just praying that he did not defile her any further by releasing his orgasm within her depths. Unfortuantly she would be unable to choose that particular fate, and as he grew closer and closer to his release, his body began to tense. His balls tightened as his shaft swelled slowly within her, streching her unlubricated walls even further apart with each repeated thrust inside her. Finally, to her ultimate horror, he gave a final thrust inside her, holding tightly against her as his shaft throbbed. She cried out in anguish and defeat as spurt after spurt of his warm thick essance sprayed up into her depths, coating her ripped walls and filling her once virgin womb.

Time seemed to come to a standstill for the girl as he pulled away from her and casually tossed her to the side as she landed face down on the ground on her knees, her bottom sticking ludely into the air as the mage’s essance dripped down her inner thighs to the soft grass. His soul had calmed, the raging winds of chaos and insanity slowly died away to a soft breeze as his gaze shifted down to her body and slowly walked over to her. He kneeled down beside her, and quietly untied his sash from her hands before pulling his robes closed, casting clean upon himself as he closed the folds of his robe, tying the sash around his waist to secure it.

Without so much as a word to the sobbing woman laying on the ground before him he stood and turned, walking away, leaving her there in her defiled misery and defeat. He bent down to pick up the dagger she had dropped, and casually tossed it to her side with a grin before slowly walking down the pathway toward the mountain in the distance. The girl moved to slowly sat up, tears still streaming down her eyes as she sat in the grass, looking down at herself. A mixture of her virgin blood and his thick essance seeped from her abused body to collect in the grass. She began to cry, the glint of her dagger catching her eye only a few moments afterward.

He felt no remourse for the girl, however he was interested in seeing what she would do now that she had her dagger back, and he wasnt going to turn his back upon a very likely foe. As his gaze shifted back to the girl, he saw that she had the dagger in a reversed grip. He could not see the exact details, but he watched as her sillouette cried out in her final moments of anguish and trust her fist at her chest before slumping over onto the grassy floor. The mage only smirked, and even managed a soft laugh before turning and heading down the path on the three day trip that would lead him to the base of the Western Mountain.

Those three days passed without incident, the mage resting as needed, which was a little more often than normal from his wounds. Eventually he reached the base of the mountain, a small cave enterance within the side of the sheer rock face, which he did not hesitate to enter. As he walked and the light grew too dark to see from the outside, he called forth his own light, casting the appropriate spell as his hands exploded in bright light, flooding the cave as he continued to walk forward without missing a beat. He stopped as he approached a small chamber, looking closely inside it as his head peeked inside. A voice within his mind warned him to proceed cautiously, something was just not right with the room he was in.

He stepped forward cautiously, and suddenly paused in mid step as something caught his eye. The stone just below his foot in the center of the room didnt seem to be firmly embedded in the ground like the rest. Rather than tempt fate, he moved around what he believed to be the trigger for the trap within the room, and exited out of the other side, stopping to look back into the room, eyes narrowing for a moment as he moved to lean against the wall, wondering what the actual trap was. As he leaned against the wall, he suddenly went through it, the illusionary wall sparking slightly as he moved through it before settling. The mage having effectivly vanished from the corridor.

He blinked as he stood inside the small cubby, a switch to his side against the real wall beside him. He allowed his curiousity free reign as he moved to grasp the lever and pulled. He blinked as he heard stone grating against stone, and looked out in the corridor to watch two slabs of stone rise up, cutting off the chamber from outside enterance before a loud crashing sound exploded from the chamber within. Soulic simply smirked and reached back in, pulling the lever as the blocking slabs lowered back into the ground and he watched the ceiling rise back to its normal height. It was an interesting little contraption, but he gave no more thought to it afterward, re-emerging into the corridor to continue on his way to the village.

The corridor took several twists and turns, and he felt the passage slipping in a downgrade to move deeper into the earth around him and even deeper toward the core of the mountain. He was more careful the closer that he got to another enterance into another seemingly empty chamber. As he stepped inside he looked around on the floor for stones that just seemed to be out of place. On close inspection of most of the room however he didn’t see anything that would exactly count as a trigger for a devious and very likely deadly trap. Still he was cautious as he walked, inching forward slowly as he skirted around the walls of the smallish chamber. Suddenly as his foot pushed against a particular stone, it pressed down, and the mage froze.

The sound of stone grating against stone could be heard in several places within the room, but he couldnt see any of it move whatsoever. Now he was curious as to what challenging trap awaited him within this tiny room. He continued to move carefully, and suddenly he felt his foot reaching the edge of something. Strangely enough there was still floor there. Finally his mind came to the conclusion that the floor must be full of pitfalls covered by one single and large illusion of the stone floor. Slowly he felt out around the edge of the pit and once again held himself to the wall, moving closer and closer to the door with each step. Several times he stepped upon triggering stones that shifted the pits around the room, and each time he moved a bit slower, freezing and hoping one of the pits did not open beneith him.

Eventually he reached the door at the other end of the passage. As he stepped infront of the door and turned to go through it, his foot pressed another triggering stone, and in the shifting of pits one slid open under his feet. He jumped forward, trying to launch himself through the door before he could fall. Still he did fall through the floor a good two feet into the corridor, and he threw his staff upward as his hands reached out for an edge, managing to grasp onto one and hang there as the adrenaline coursed through his body once again, his arms working against his wounds as he pulled himself up and stumbled headlong into the passage, falling to the floor and breathing heavily as he grasped his staff, quietly looking behind him at the corridor, sneering at the trap he had left behind him.

Finally rising, staff in hand once again, he saw a second switch embedded into the wall and realized that it must be the reset for the trap as well. Knowing this he quietly moved along the corridor until it finally exited near the core of the mountain, and the small village of the Western Mountain was made known to him. It was small in size, and he figured out where he needed to go. The building that housed the fire mage’s guild of the Western Mountain was beautifully decorated with images of flames, some seemingly on fire thanks to illusions or actual spells cast by the fire mages within. He did not hesitate to move into the guild, the door pushed open and out of the way by the metalic tip of his staff before he came to a stop. Two mages clothed in various colors stood before him, arms crossed over their chests. Their firey orange and red hair shifted slightly every few moments as a soft breeze would waft by.

The first mage on Soulic’s left wore a strangely colored robe. At the very bottom it was pure white, and slowly shifted colors as th eyes traveled higher upwards. It shifted from white, to blue, to orange, and finally to red at the very top around the broad shouldered man. He introduced himself to Soulic as Kaleb and then fell silent. Kaleb was never really much for words, but when it came time for action he was not so tight lipped. He constantly wore a cocky grin upon his face and would always, as Soulic would later learn, taunt his opponent.

The mage to the right finally introduced himself as Warren. His robes were just as interesting as Kaleb’s, except that they were enchanted with an illusion, blackness covering most of it, except for a burning flame that Soulic could have sworn he could have touched if he reached out for it. Warren was far more talkative and rather cordial than his counterpart Kaleb. Just as if he was Kaleb’s oppisite, he never spoke in battle, prefering to strike with a hint of stealth. He did not have as stocky of a build as Kaleb did, but looks were always decieving. To compensate for the lack of strength that Kaleb had, if forced into battle he had learned to focus the entirety of his conciousness upon his foe, never stopping until either he was dead or his opponent disabled.

After the introdcutions, the two led Soulic into a smaller room with a single table, three chairs surrounding it, upon which was a map. Once they had taken their seats Warren spoke quietly. “Once again Soulic, thank you for coming all this way as per our Guild Master’s orders, he seems to truely believe in your skills as a growing mage of the realm of fire. Now, to the point of this meeting weeks in the making. You are to help us decend into the very depths of this mountain into a maze in which at it’s goal lies the Scroll of the Sacred Fireball, a spell that we must cast each morning into this passage...” As Warren spoke Kaleb pointed behind Soulic, and he turned to look toward a small shrine with what appeared to be a small flame shaped piece of metal atop a thin metalic rod, and Warren continued without missing a beat as Soulic continued to examine the small shrine in the distnace.

“If the spell is not cast, then the underground volcano will not provide its heat to this village, and the inhabitants will slowly freeze and die down here. The geothermal activity that it provides keeps this area inhabitable. Already the people have noticed that it is slowly getting colder and colder around here. The scroll must be retrieved within the next few days or everyone in this village will have to leave these lands upon which they have stayed for generations or stay here and die. We are assuming that you will help us since you have already traveled all this way because of a simple message.” Soulic finally turned back to face the two fire mages, nodding quietly while within the depths of his mind a plan formulated within those swirling winds of insanity. He would help them retrieve the scroll, but what happened after that would be up to Soulic’s decision as long as he was the one that got ahold of it.

The three mages sat and talked briefly about strategies before retiring for the night. It was during this that he learned about the mage that had stolen the scroll and hid it deep within his created maze. When they did finally head off to get some sleep, Soulic did notice it was slightly cold, and throughout the night periodicly cast warmth upon himself to allow himself to sleep with some sembalnce of comfort. Finally day came around, and there was a faint knocking on his door. Soulic rose from his bed and dressed himself before snatching up his flame scarred staff in one hand, the other reaching for the doorknob as he pulled the door open, Kaleb stood there quietly, and simply motioned for him to follow. It was time to leave for the maze and complete the task that he was sent here for.

There was no way to tell just exactly how much time had passed as they traversed the various caves and passages that led deeper and deeper into the very core of the mountain. Finally they approached what appeared to be two large intracatly carved stone doors, runes carved over its entire surface that seemed to be outlined in dancing flames. Warren quietly slid his hand over the surface, scowling softly at what he read, speaking before translating what the runes say. “This is the main reason we needed you here Soulic... “Only one who is allied with the flame, but is not yet fully consumed with it may open the gateway here...” Hopefully that means you Soulic.... Give it a try...”

He nodded, quietly stepping forward as he pressed his hands upon the doorway. The flaming “illusions” upon the runes suddenly flared and rushed at Soulic, swirling around his hands and wrists. He grimised at the pain that coursed through him as his hands were slowly burned, the hair vanishing from the surface of his forarms as the skin pinkened. Just as quickly as it had started the flames died away, and vanished from the stone door completly, the runes carved within also altering as the flames faded away from their enchanted boundries. Soulic pulled his hands away and stared at his arms.

An intracate pattern of burn marks had scarred from his hands up to his elbow. It was an interlocking weave that just seemed to tingle with the magics that Soulic had learned to control so well during his studies at the tower of Unigo. The voices within his mind seemed rather.... pleased at this turn of events. Suddenly the doors swung open, the two mages nodding in approval as they were opened. Finally the three ventured inside and were on their way, traversing the maze of tunnels that would hopefully lead them to their goal.

Time passed, and the three suddenly found themselves at a three-way seperation. Soulic took the middle while Warren took the left and Kaleb took the right. Once seperated Soulic knew things would get harder. However he knew that if he was the one to stumble into the chamber containing the scrolls, he could likely get out of the maze and out of the mountain back on the way to Nanthalion before they knew what had happened. As he walked he pondered the worst case senario, that being that he was confronted by both mages that led him here, along with the third mage that had hidden the scrolls here. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a wall off to his side suddenly swung out behind him, trapping him and keeping him from retreat.

Looking behind him he noticed a second passage was now revealed. Appearently the maze shifted its passages from time to time, making things much more complicated because there was no true way to backtrack. He could be lost in here for days upon end. He closed his eyes and concentrated, knowing the voices would guide him one way or another. Finally his decision was made and the orange and red robed mage continued down his previous path. Eventually he emerged into a completly empty room, a quiet scowl on his face. He was throughly annoyed that he had been led into a dead end. Still... the voices spoke to him, urging him that this was indeed the correct path.

He moved carefully through the room, his hands feeling along the walls, his feet sliding back and forth for anything that would move under a full step’s weight to make sure he didnt trigger a trap that would likely kill him. Finally he had completly circumvented the room, and after that, finished testing every inch of the floor. Not a single trigger for a trap had been found, but the mage still felt the presance of magic within the room, though he did not know where is was coming from or why it was there. Throughly annoyed with the voices that constantly spoke within his mind, he turned and left the chamber, his hand gripping tightly upon his metal capped staff.

He once again reached the passage that had changed on him before, and noted that it had yet to do so again. However since the path behind him led to a dead end he had no problems forgetting about it and continuing onward down the new one before him. Finally he emerged into yet another chamber. This one however was not as empty as the first, and a cruel grin emerged upon the sadistic man’s face. In the center of the room a man sat there in quiet meditation, eyes appearently closed and completly unaware of the presance of the mage.

As Soulic stepped toward him, the man’s eyes opened and he looked up at Soulic, speaking softly. “So... I see that you have encountered the dead end chamber along the only other path from this room...” He simply smirked as Soulic’s eyes narrowed upon the man. “I can tell by your frustration that you have.... I alone have the answers you seek, but do not think that I will talk too easily.... you will have to convince me that your cause is worthy before I go against my master’s wishes and tell you how to get to what you seek...”

He blinked suddenly after he spoke... and noticed the mage’s lips curling into a sadistic grin. His master had promised him protection from the fools that had dared enter his labarynth in a small circle carved of various runes and enchanted with powerful protective magics specificly designed to combat the power of the fire mages that would likely come after him. He realized however, that the crazed man standing before him was no fire mage. His hair did not have that orange-reddish tinged look and it did not sway with the draft that moved through the chamber. Soulic quietly moved closer, his staff dropped to the floor of the chamber as his hands exploded in fire, flickering and burning with intense heat as he stopped at the edge of the circle. “Do you truely believe this puny bit of protective magic will stop me from extracting what information i reqire from you?”

He then started to laugh. The insane mage’s sick sadistic chuckling slowly echoing through the empty chamber, and the man shrunk back in fear, he could already see the edges of the flame that he had summoned as they passed over the runes of the circle on the floor. Unable to be stopped, four lines of flame shot forward, through the barrier that could not stop the destructive magics because the caster was not yet a full fleged fire mage. The man’s scream echoed through the chamber as the flames suddenly wrapped around his neck and wrists, burning at his skin, blackening and blistering under the relentless flames of the mage who only laughed sadisitcly and stepped forward into the circle and closer to the screaming man.

He allowed the flames to relent, smirking and chuckling a bit as he spoke quietly, nothing more than a simple question. “Speak now fool or suffer the torment i live with every day of my life.... How do I get to the scroll!!!” All that Soulic got in return was screams of protest to not be hurt, not wanting to die. He screamed once again as the flame’s intensity increased even more sending that searing flame even deeper into the man’s body. “Ok! Ok! Please stop! I’ll talk!!” Slowly the flame’s intensity eased off, and Soulic only smirked, letting another line of flame wrap slowly around the man’s genitals causing him to stiffen in fear. “If i find that you are lying to me boy, I will make sure that you are deprived of what makes you a man before I incinerate the rest of your body into nothing but ash...” It was a simple cold threat.

He only nodded in fear as he began to speak. His words revealed the location of a hidden door covered in illusions in the center of the room that could only be opened if a specific key was located elsewhere in the maze. Also he revealed that there were switches upon the floor in various locations that when stepped on shifted walls in various parts of the maze to create an entirely new path in the large underground puzzle that had been created by Muthairn. However, most of them were hidden. Those that could be identified would have the mark that was on Soulic’s hands upon the surface of the stone on the floor. If he found those stones, he would likely find his way deeper into the maze and closer to his goal. It was also revealed that he needed to find one of those stones to open the way in the room whose exit was hidden by illusions.

However, when he was pressed as to where exactly the stone was within the room, the man faltered. He realized that his master had never told him the stone’s location, and he suddenly became very afraid. At his hesitation, the mage grinned sadisticly, allowing the flames to slowly heat, bringing more and more panic to the man’s eyes as he felt his flesh begining to burn once again. “Please! Please stop! I... I dont know anymore!!! He wouldn’t tell me the location!” Soulic only grinned at the man’s panic, letting the flames slowly run rampant over his skin, basking in his screams of pain as he spoke, laughing sadisticly. “It is too bad that he neglected to mention it to you... I suppose that means your life is forfit!”

The way the mage spoke, the myrth in his voice, set a true terror within the man’s soul. He realized there was no barganing with this insane one, and all he could do was scream as the flames suddenly exploded, wrapping around every inch of his body. The searing heat encompased every inch of his flesh, burning away clothing, blackening his skin. The last words he ever heard were his own screams and Soulic’s taunting. “Let us hope the afterlife is more forgiving to your soul than the flames at my command are to your body!”

Finally all that was left was a small pile of ash on the ground. The flames having lost their fuel slowly died away, leaving a soft trail of smoke that trailed from the pile of ashes to his smoking hands. A soft chuckle slipped from his lips as the chaotic winds of insanity seemed to flood away from his mind at the death. Quietly he brushed off the sleeves of his robes where a few flakes of ash had landed, and turned to leave the chamber, heading back to the one where he had thought he had found himself at a dead end.

It took him roughly an hour to traverse the passages that led to the chamber, often having to backtrack as it seemed there were more than one passage open. He assumed that one of the other mages, likely Kaleb, had accidentally triggered one of those switches. Finally he moved into the seemingly empty chamber. He paused, quietly looking around, activly looking for that symbol that was etched into the back of his hands from where he had opened the door that led into this long, and to Soulic, very annoying maze. A soft growl slipped from his lips as the floor and walls seemed completly bare.

Upon a whim, perhaps something imparted by the constant voices within the depths of his mind, he allowed his hands to burst into flames, closing his eyes and concentrating as lines of flame swept from his fingertips, gliding over the floor, touching it with the magical flames. He suddenly stopped, tilting his head to the side a bit as he held his eyes closed. There was a tingling within the burn scars atop his hands. As he pressed the flames even more the stone began to heat up, and the flames finally faded away, dissipating as the mage’s eyes opened and looked to the stone the flames had landed upon.

It was heated to a soft red glow, and within that glow he could see the faint markings that matched the symbol upon his hand. He grinned slightly, stepping forward to press his foot against the switch. As it decended into the floor, he once again heard that grating of stone.. and slipped backward out into the passage to make sure that he did not activate some sort of fatal trap. However as the sounds ended, and the room seemed to settle he realized that what the dead man in the previous chamber spoke of was true. Finally stepping back inside he inched his way forward, because he did not know if pits had opened in the room either because of the switch he had pressed. As he reached the oppisite side his hands pressed against the wall, seeking out the illusion that barred him from continuing onward.

As his foot came down upon another square of stone, his toes landed on solid ground. Satisfied that it was safe to continue, he placed his full weight on the floor and took another step forward. As he stepped out toward the center of the room the stonework under his feet suddenly collapsed out from under him, dropping him into a smooth stoneworked tunnel slide that offered him no chance of stopping. A yell of suprise was quickly heard from the mage as he dropped into a lower tunnel, firing out of the chute to crash into the ground, rolling over and over until he came to a stop in the midst of the pitch black chamber he had landed in, his dark blue eyes shifting about in an attempt to see something. Finally, he took the sense of mind to let his hands burst with light, casting a familiar spell to shed light upon the darkness that blinded him from any possible dangers that might be in the empty room.

He felt a dull urge within his scarred hands. They seemed to pulse and throb and lead him in a specific direction, the light flaring from his hands eventually falling upon a wall, and onto a door embedded within that wall. As his left hand reached toward the doorknob the scars within that hand flared to life, the same occuring upon the doorknob before it suddenly unlocked and swung open, revealing a well lit room, a red carpet leading from infront of the door that he stood within, toward the fireplace that rested against the center of the wall across from him. Books upon Books lined shelves along the other three walls, a broken gap in each wall because of another door that was placed within the wall. In the middle of the room a massive oak desk sat with parchments strewn overtop of its surface, a chair facing toward the fireplace.

Soulic however did not notice the chair or the occupant within it, his gaze was instantly drawn toward a small stand off to the right of the desk, atop which floated a strangely old manuscript, covered in runes and swirling with flames that kept it suspended. He knew at that moment that it was the item he saught, the Sacred Scroll of the Fire Mountain village. He felt drawn toward it, compelled to grab it, and he didnt realize that the man in the chair quietly turned to face him, his black robes swirling around him as he stood and pointed a hand at him, uttering a simple command as the scars on his hand, and the scars on Soulic’s hand began to glow. “Stop...”

It was all he spoke, and it was appearently all that needed to be spoken, as Soulic’s body suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his hands falling to his sides as his eyes took on a blank stare. His mind however, grew angry, his thoughts focused on the mage that had so easily seemingly taken control of his body, and realized from the pulsing of the scars in his hand that the mage had found a way to control him through the scars that he had recieved when he first opened the door to the labarynth.

The mage in black simply smirked.... quietly walking around his desk to stand before Soulic, inbetween him and the Sacred Scroll that he saught, speaking quietly, that enraging look of mocking upon the mage’s lips that only drove Soulic higher and higher to anger.... “Well, im glad to see you made it this far boy... Your friends should be along shortly, and you will be there to welcome them when they come to kill me... but we... yes we will have the drop of suprise on them, and they simply wont know what hit them. Then i shall keep you as my servant, since i have complete control over you due to your foolish move of opening the doors...”

He then quietly pushed two daggers into Soulic’s hands, telling him to grip the blades and to go stand by the door, which he did without hesitation. Moment by moment his anger grew, his insanity starting to slowly creep from his control once again, but his eyes and face were calm. The anger seethed inside him like a boiling pot of water, steam starting to rise... It was only a matter of time.

Two loud slams suddenly smacked upon the door he stood beside, the third crashing against the door, and knocking it from it’s hinges before shoving it forward, letting it crash against the ground as the forms of the two mages of fire that he had accompanied into the enterance of the maze were then revealed. Both Kaleb and Warren made their way into the room, the large stocky form of Kaleb standing silent, quiet, seemingly contemplative as he stared down the man in the black robes that stood in the center of the room with that faint smirk on his lips. Warren however strode forward, hand pointed accusingly at Mutharin as he spoke.

“Mutharin! We are here to retrieve what you have stolen! Return the Sacred Scroll of the Fire Mountain so we may keep our village alive! You have no clue as to how many people you will affect if that spell is not cast. Already the villagers are begining to feel the effects. Cold is creeping slowly into the town and already several are speaking of leaving before the town becomes un-inhabitable” Mutharin only began to laugh, simply waving a hand at Warren and cut off his speech as his laughter cut through and drowned out the smaller wirey man’s words as he began to speak in retaliation.

“Shut your mouth foolish one, dont you realize by now that I know of such concequenses? I did not decide to do this on a simple whim to kill off all the villagers and abandon this town. Such a thing affects me as well after all. No, I was asked by a very good friend of mine to do this as a test... A test for him...” At that his hand pointed toward Soulic. “It was done to test his abilities to see if he would be able to retrieve the scroll. Your very guild master was the one who put me up for this.” Warren blinked in shock, mouth hanging open slightly as he learned that this was seemingly nothing more than a game, and turned toward Soulic, anger flaring in his eyes and his voice.

“So you are the cause of all this! How dare you put a village in such danger over a simple test!!” Soulic could not move. He could not even speak. All he could do is what Mutharin commanded him to at the moment. The accusations of the smaller fire mage however continued to anger him, and Mutharin seemed to sense this... simply smirking before speaking once more. “You misunderstand mage. Soulic knew nothing of the test. He has nothing to do with this. It is the fault of YOUR Guildmaster that this occured. It was HE that stole the scroll and gave it to me with the instructions to keep it here while the test had been preformed. I must say that Soulic did a rather excellent job. Though he will still fail to retrieve the scroll and I will have him serve me for the rest of his life thanks to the Scars of Firamos that we now both share.”

With that, Mutharin gave a simple motion of his hands as a silent command was given, and as Warren watched on in sudden suprise, Soulic suddenly grasped his dagger, turning to the side as it suddenly ripped free of his robes and plunged deep into the side of Kaleb’s neck. The large man’s eyes widened in suprise as he reached for Soulic’s blade as it was suddenly withdrawn and he grasped at the hole in his neck, blood spraying out from the side as he dropped to his knees in a futile attempt to stem the flow of lifeblood from his neck.

Warren however quickly began to chant, drawing his own weapon and did not lunge at Soulic, but at the man who controlled him, seeking to break that control. Warren fell completly silent, the flame in the center of his robes flaring brightly, pulsing and flickering as he brought that thin line of concentration to focus upon Mutharin. Already he could feel the flames of Soulic lashing out against his back and the back of his head, but he was a mage of the flames and they did not hurt as much as Soulic truely realized.

Warren’s dagger lashed out at Mutharin’s hands, flames begining to swirl and flow around them as a small spurt of blood sprayed upward from the blade meeting flesh and rending it aside even as the flames lashed out at Warren’s eyes. Even the fire mage could not withstand such an amount of damage to his eyes, even if it was from fire. He staggered backward as his hands clutched his blinded face, and fell against Soulic, feeling his flames wrapping around him, licking at his face and his body with a growing intensity. Finally he felt his robes catch flame, starting to burn away his protective cloth and Soulic began to assualt him both physically and magically while Mutharin continued to assualt him with flames from the front.

Soulic’s dagger lashed and cut at the flailing man’s limbs and back, starting to cut into exposed skin as the robes burned away. Finally he felt the blade plunge point first into his back, ripping through his heart and left lung as his body finally fell limp. Both his companions dead now, there was nothing to stop him from following Mutharin’s commands completly now and nothing to help him break free, at least by Mutharin’s observation. He commanded Soulic to approach and stand before him, smirking slightly. “It seems you have failed your test, you are not worthy to be a mage of the flames. The guild master may not be too pleased with this outcome, but at least i gain a particularly useful servant... now to simply find a collar...”

With that, he turned his back to Soulic, unaware that the hold he held over the mage had weakened severly. The scars on his right hand had been damaged, and Soulic’s anger grew rapidly at the mention of becoming a servant to someone, as well as the collar that he said he was going to retrieve. His anger, his range and insanity flared and over-ruled the commanding presance and the power of the Scars of Firamos, and his dagger lashed out, striking out toward the back of the mage’s head, the blade dug deep into the man’s throat, ripping through his spine and his wind pipe... and his eyes opened in sheer shock, gasping out in suprise before slumping to the ground, and Soulic felt the hold fade.. and eventually vanish.

As his anger faded, he found himself standing alone in the room now, his prize within reach. He walked over to the floating scroll, reaching out with a slightly trembling grasp. He had been through much to reach this goal, and the flames that swirled around the scroll, imprisioning it, flooded into his hands. His scars glowed briefly before fading away, and the scroll fell into his grasp. He grinned and quietly rolled it up, his quest for the most part finished. Deep within his mind, he realized that this item held great power, the two mages that accompanied him were dead, and there was no possible reason that he could find as to why he should give it back to the village. After all, he didnt live there, why should he care?

The scroll was tucked away into his robes, and he stepped quietly out of the room, taking the passage that the two fire mages had come through, following it back to the enterance of the maze, which was strangely enough a relitivly straight line. Moving out of the maze and back toward the town, he moved around the outskirts, making sure he was not seen or followed. He rested when needed, but moved with haste, he did not want to be caught with the scroll after all. Finally emerging from the base of the mountain, he made his way home, thinking of the power that resided in his hands, and what he could possibly do with it.

The trip back was uneventful, and his return to Nanthalion was greeted with some fear by his various victems. However he seculded himself away in his room in Unigo to study the scroll, and was soon contacted by the Guild master who had set him up for this test. He was told that Soulic had done just as he expected, and that by now the village was likely dead, with most of its people moving to a warmer climate. He also stated that because he had performed so admirably, if he cast the spell contained within the message, that it would imbue the Scars of Firamos and enhance his attunement to the element that he wielded so well.

There were no instructions on if he should return the Scroll of the Sacred Fireball or not, so he would simply keep it, it may actually come in use for him at a later date anyway... However, he did cast the spell contained within the message, the paper bursting into flames that lept out at him, wrapping around his hands and up along his arms, causing him to cry out in pain and drop to the floor, rolling about as the pain surged through him. He felt the scars upon his arms flare and grow in power... and then it all faded..

As he fell still, catching his breath... he looked at his arms, and felt a dull pulsing throb flaring through them. He knew that the Guild Master did not lie when he said that they would enhance his ablitiy with fire magics... he could feel the power pulsing within him now. His quest was at an end... but he was still far from his goal... and so the mage returned to his dilligent training to one day become a true mage of the flames...

The End

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