Tenebroum

Chapter 176: Forever’s End

Leo was fighting imaginary enemies on the cliffs that overlooked the beach when the mage approached him. He had seen the man looking down on them from his tower many times, but he’d only ever seen him outside the tower before with Jordan. That would have been enough to mark the circumstance as odd, even if he wasn’t strolling toward Leo like he didn’t have a care in the world.

He wasn’t sure whether he would have felt the goosebumps of fear rising on his arms and neck if he couldn’t see the black aura that the man possessed, but then he could scarcely turn his sight off now. So, he would never know.

All mages had a touch of darkness in them, according to Brother Faerbar. Leo wasn’t sure why that was true, but it certainly seemed to be the case in the only two that he’d seen. It wasn’t the same darkness that he’d seen in the bad men who lived at Sedgim Manor, but it certainly wasn’t light.

Still, it was something that seemed to advance with age or perhaps with the casting of spells. He wasn’t sure which. Jordan’s soul had gotten much darker since they’d come here.

Compared to their host, though, Jordan’s soul was almost as pure as his own. The tower mage, which was all the children called the man, was so dark that he bordered on being a black silhouette, and Leo had trouble seeing the details of the man even as he approached him.

“What do you train so hard for?” the Tower Mage asked when he finally got close enough to speak without raising his voice too much. “The barrier protects us all. Your time would be better spent helping with the fields or—”

“Not all evil can be kept away with trickery and magic,” the boy said, paraphrasing a psalm that actually read ‘with planning’ instead of magic. “Sometimes a sword is required.”

Leo didn’t look at the mage, not after the initial glance. He found the swirling form that was more absence than man to be a little unnerving. Instead, he kept his eyes locked straight ahead as he swung his wooden sword in strikes that were as precise as they were repetitive.

“You think my magic will fail then?” the mage said in an amused tone.

“What I think doesn’t matter,” Leo said, not sure what to say. He might not be the eleven-year-old he was stuck as anymore, but he had no idea how to handle a situation like this. He wasn’t good at much else besides fighting. “No matter what you do with your spells, the darkness is already in here with us.”

That made the mage laugh out loud, and Leo had no idea if that was a good or a bad thing. “All mages are full of darkness, is it? I should have known you’d sound like a Sidrimite with that much light inside you.”

“No, all mages are full of darkness,” Leo corrected. “Jordan only has a little, but you…”

“Aren’t you precocious,” the Tower Mage sighed. “Well, how about I let you in on a little secret to ease your worries. This darkness… it’s not evil. Not like the undead that roam around, it’s… or has my apprentice told you this already.”

“Jordan?” Leo asked, finally stopping his strikes and resting his sword on the ground as he turned to face the strange man. “He hasn’t ever brought the darkness up. Not like this.”

“Well, that's typical,” the tower mage nodded. “No matter what Siddrim says, mages are not evil. It’s just that the longer they serve Lunaris, the more light she takes to make new stars.”

Leo nodded along like that made any sense, but truthfully, it sounded pretty dumb to him. If an evil soul let in darkness, and a good soul was one that was flooded with light, then giving away that light for magic would make you just as evil as any other reason, wouldn’t it? He wasn’t sure, but really it didn’t matter.

More than anything, the intensity of the man-made Leo felt like he needed to get the hell out of there. For once, he sorely regretted the way he spurred everyone else and their chores to focus on practicing alone.

“I… uhmm, that’s interesting,” he stammered, “But actually, I—”

“Oh, you’re not going anywhere, I’m afraid,” the mage said with a poison-laced voice. “I’ve been watching you, and I’ve decided you’re the perfect person to help me with my new experiment.”

“I don’t know much about magic, I’m afraid,” he answered as he started to back away slowly. “But I promise that when I find Jordan, I’ll let him know.”

“Oh, my apprentice can’t help me with this one, I’m afraid,” the mage said dismissively as Leo turned. He planned to bolt, but no sooner had he taken a step toward town than a pair of ghostly soldiers appeared in front of him with swords drawn. “This is an experiment that only someone overflowing with light like you can help me with, my dear boy.”

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A shiver went down Leo’s spine as he took in those words. As jarring as they were, though, they weren’t enough to stop him from studying his opponents.

No, they aren’t ghosts, he decided. Ghosts would have had black streamers and taint that tried to leach the color from the surrounding air. Whatever they were, these things weren’t dead. Instead, they were magical constructs that glimmered with iridescent cyan light.

Maybe they’re illusions, he thought more, hopefully.

That was possible, and for a moment, Leo almost tried to walk right through them, but the way they held their swords as he moved closer was enough to convince him an attack was imminent, so he lifted his own sword into a guard, not certain what wood would do against magic, but unwilling to go quietly.

“Nothing you do will make me help you,” Leo spat. “And if you hurt me, then Jordan will—”

“There is nothing that my apprentice can do to me that I cannot stop with a wave of my hand,” the shadowy mage said in a tone of utter assurance. “Even if I were to train him for a century or more, he’d never be more than a middling hedge mage. Now come along quietly, and I won’t have to hurt you… much.”

Leo charged the closest enemy and roared a battle cry as loud as he could while he lashed out with his sword. If this maniac didn’t want to hurt him, then that was his only advantage. Maybe he would hesitate, and Leo could fight free. Then he could…

His plan of action fell apart as he brought his wooden blade down hard on the first guard, making him shatter into a million glittering pieces like he’d been a stained-glass window and not a soldier at all. The other one brought his translucent sword down on Leo, even as he brought his wooden one up in a smooth overhand block. The result was just as spectacular, and the second illusion shattered as well.

For a moment, he felt excellent. Intellectually, he knew he couldn’t beat a mage, but part of him wondered if maybe the man was a fraud. That moment of confidence faded as soon as he realized that the pieces weren't going to vanish. Instead, they swirled around him like a constellation of broken glass.

“Just remember, I did offer to do this the easy way,” the dark mage said in a sardonic tone.

Leo had only an instant to process those words before the twinkling bits of magic closed in around him on all sides like a swarm of bees. He didn’t panic or try to fight them, though. He knew that would be hopeless. Instead, he lunged at the mage’s inky form. If he could just hit him, then perhaps he might distract him enough to ruin the spell.

Leo never made it that far. Instead, the magic overwhelmed him in a storm of stinging. He tried to fight them off, but everywhere they struck him, they stuck to him like tar. Bit by bit, he slowed, but he was practically paralyzed after a few seconds as what had been fragile as gossamer before hardened to become harder than wood.

Once that was done, it started to expand again. He was in a cage of sorts now, but it was a cage in the shape of a body, like one of the guards he’d just shattered. This time, though, it didn’t break; it started moving, walking back to the tower, one plodding step at a time.

“Let me out of here!” Leo raged, but it was useless. His hands and feet were stuck inside this weird thing, and even if he had enough air to breathe inside the thing’s hollow body, it practically muted him. He knew that no matter how loud he shouted, no one would hear him.

“Syraliam’s Shapable Servants is an awkward spell, but for moments like this… well, think of it as a way that I can bring you to my tower that doesn’t involve maiming or any other permanent damage. For someone else I might just bend their mind, but the light doesn’t take kindly to such tricks,” the mage explained as he started walking alongside his prisoner as if he cared about any of this.

All Leo wanted while the man talked was to break free and rip out his throat. However, like everything else in life, he simply wasn’t strong enough.

Still, as the minutes passed while they walked to the tower, that rage started to wane, slowly souring into despair. He wasn’t ready to give up or anything, but if things continued that way, then he might have. Then, as they approached the door to the tower, he saw his friends running toward him.

Some of them had wooden tools, others had farm equipment. It was clear that someone had heard his battle cry earlier, and the world had passed through sanctuary. Even a few of the villagers were coming to see what all the commotion was.

Jordan was not among them, he realized. Instead, he was standing in front of the door to the tower, barring the way like he'd known this was going to happen all along.

“Thank you all for coming to investigate the source of the trouble,” the mage said, addressing the growing crowd, “But I assure you I have it all well in hand.” The mage’s voice was calm, which, more than anything, told Leo just how little of a threat the small mob was to a man like him. “I just—”

“Get your hands off Leo!” Reggie yelled. His words were the leading edge of a chorus, and Leo quickly realized that almost everyone had shown up.

In the initial moments, he hadn’t noticed, but now that they’d stopped as the mage attempted to reason with the crowd, he could count almost a dozen pairs of glowing eyes looking back at him from the mob. Everyone was there. Well, everyone except for Cynara.

Where was she, he wondered, even as he hoped she was sneaking up behind them.

The mage ignored all of them, though, and instead turned to face Jordan, who stood there holding that book he carried everywhere now. “Don’t look at me,” Jordan said with a shrug, “I didn’t tell them. This is always the way it was going to happen once you decided you could use other people like pawns.”

“And who’s going to stop me?” the dark mage scoffed. “You?