The Sorcerer's Return (The Sorcerer's Path) (18 page)

Azerick nodded and Malek laid his palm on the sorcerer’s brow. The cleric began chanting softly and Azerick felt a relaxing warmth spread through his body. He felt himself floating
a moment before darkness overtook him. He knew the elf was out of sorts in the best of times and had no idea what to expect inside his mind in such an agitated state. Azerick spotted a flickering light and willed his body toward it. What he discovered upon reaching the light surprised him.

He stood near the far wall of a quaint bedroom. The walls of the room were made of what looked to be live tree limbs grown so close together they sealed the room from any draft or rain. It was like being on the inside of an enormous
, closed tulip. Tarth sat at a small desk brushing his hair. Flickering candles framed his reflected image in a halo of yellow light. An elfin woman of impossible beauty sat on the bed near the center of the room.

“Tarthanalis, I swear you are the vainest creature I ever met,” the woman said yet smiled lovingly at the back of Tarth’s head.

Tarth returned her smile in his mirror. “It is not vanity, Lahilonah. It calms me. My foster mother used to brush my hair every night to help put me to sleep.”

“It worries you,” Lahilonah said, her smile slipping.

“It is a foolish thing to attempt, but the people have chosen and I will not deny them. I am certain they would try even without my help, and that would guarantee disaster. At least I can give them a chance.”

“You are the most brilliant
elf I have ever known. You will not fail.”

“I wish I was as certain as you,” Tarth replied as he set down his brush and stood with obvious reluctance.

Lahilonah stood with him and crossed to his side. Plucking a small, blue wild flower from her long, golden hair, she deftly wove it into Tarth’s ebony locks. “Here, for luck.”

Tarth embraced Lahilonah and kissed her passionately. “I wish I could stay in this room with you forever.”

“That would be incredibly boring, and I rather enjoy our walks in the Grove of Heroes. Our people await their savior. Now go.”

Tarth
kissed her once more and left the room. Azerick suddenly found himself overlooking a large plaza. Unknown sigils inscribed in silver, or possibly arcanum, decorated the polished stones of the courtyard. Elves, wizards given the look of them, surrounded a large circular area near the center. Tarth took his place upon a raised plinth and stood behind a pedestal. Azerick gasped as he recognized the object open before Tarth. It was the Codex Arcana.

Tarth looked at each of the score of mages forming the circle. “Are you still certain you wish to attempt this?”

An elf wearing the robes of an elder spoke. “We must, Tarthanalis. The humans continue to expand and we must protect our way of life from their encroachment.” He looked pointedly at the Codex. “Even if they do not expand this far north, they or someone else will eventually learn of your possessing the Codex and seek it for themselves. The Humans’ Academy of wizards in particular would stop at nothing to claim it, and we dare not let such power get into their hands. They are a rash and irresponsible people, and the damage they could inflict if they had the Codex is too great. This is our only option.”

Tarth inclined his head once. “As you wish. Let us begin.”

Tarth began chanting in elvish, and soon the assembled wizards took up the songlike incantation as well. The runes within the circle glowed until they became too intense to look upon. The blue sky of midmorning went dark and the stars began shining down. Then the stars began to blur and the black sky turned grey and dull as the tiny elven nation began to phase out of its home dimension.

The ground
started to tremble. Several wizards, as well as those in the crowd watching the spectacle from the edges of the plaza, looked concerned. Tarth stood locked in concentration, but nodded to signal that the event was not unexpected. The ritual went on until one of the sigils flared up and left a black imprint in the stones. Tarth now looked worried.

Azerick shifted his vision to capture the astral energies of the wizards and the incredibly powerful spell they were enacting. All of the wizards’ auras glowed with power equal to any
mage he had ever met, rivaling and even surpassing Allister and Aggie. Tarth’s level of power vastly exceeded even those, but he was quickly losing control of the incredible forces at work.

“We are losing it!” Tarth shouted over the crackling energy and nervous conversations of the gathered elves. “We have to shut it down!”

But still the power of the spell continued to build and more silver runes flared and turned black. Cracks began forming in the polished stones of the courtyard and a small tear opened in the air.

“Tarth, we are losing
control!” an elder wizard shouted. “What is happening?”

Although Tarth spoke only in a whisper, Azerick was able to hear him clearly. “Something has taken control from the other side.”

The rift between dimensions tore open at that moment and began disgorging demons into the crowd of elves. Pandemonium erupted as the demons tore into the defenseless bystanders. Lesser mages, not tasked with controlling the spell, leapt to defend their people and began beating back the demonic minions, but the rift continued to grow and more demons leapt forth.

Elves in shining chain and plate armor shoved through the fleeing masses of civilians and engaged the monsters with steel and bow. The
number of demons spewing forth began overwhelming the elven defenders and was now rampaging through the pristine streets of the city, killing and destroying with glee.

Several demons began concentrating their attacks on the wizards desperately trying to close the rift. Half a dozen
grackin and belphor demons launched themselves at Tarth, but he was too focused on preventing the rift from opening any further to do anything about it. Lahilonah interposed her body between Tarth and the demons, hurling curses, fire, and lightning with equal fury. Her strength was not remarkable, but she compensated with sheer ferociousness.

The elf maiden pushed a host of creatures back toward the rift with her magic, but she was tiring quickly. Lahilonah looked around as she realized she was too close to the rift and needed to get back to Tarth, but she could not give up her assault or the demons would leap upon her and tear her to pieces.

Lahilonah unleashed a final wave of force, shoving the demons back and made to race toward the minor refuge of her fellows. Just as she turned, a black, spectral hand slithered out of the rift and wrapped around her slender waist. Her eyes met Tarth’s for just a moment before it pulled her into the dimensional gaping maw.

Tarth’s focus broke as he watched his beloved pulled into the rift. He looked at the gash in the air oozing demons and made a decision. Grabbing the Codex, he strode purposefully toward the rift.

“Tarthanalis, what are you doing?” one of his fellow wizards called out.

Tarth cut several demons down with a slashing beam of power. “We cannot close it from here. I must go through and close it from the other side.”

“No! We cannot lose you!”

Tarth looked at the rift. “I am already lost.”

The elf sent a pair of enormous blasts into the rift, clearing away the demons clawing to get out. Tarth then floated up into the rent in the air and vanished. Azerick’s world immediately disintegrated and he found himself looking over a very familiar landscape.

Not far away, Azerick
spotted a score of demons toying with Lahilonah like cats playing with a mouse before devouring it. The elf struck out with her magic, but she was weak and her spells feeble. Tarth stepped through the rift and choked back a cry as saw the demons mocking and taunting his love. A bluish-white curtain of arcane energy surrounded Lahilonah and burst outward, destroying her tormentors.

“Lahilonah, run through the rift!” Tarth shouted.

“Come with me! There is something else here, something terrible!” Lahilonah pleaded.

“I will be right behind you, but first I must break whatever has a hold of this.”

Tears poured down Lahilonah’s face as she saw Tarth’s lie for what it was. “I love you!”

“And I you. Please, get away from this place. Our people need you.”

Lahilonah ran for the rift. From a cleft in the ground, the shadowy arm streaked after her, unwilling to relinquish its plaything. Tarth severed the spectral appendage with a lance of power and breathed a sigh of relief when Lahilonah leapt through the rift. He turned his eyes back to the dark fissure as a pair of black hands sprouted from a cleft in the ground and heaved a huge demonic form into the open.

“You took away my toy, elf
. No matter; I shall play with you for an eternity,” Klaraxis taunted sadistically.

Tarth did not hesitate. He struck out with a bolt of power laced with Guardian magic. Azerick detected the strange power in the spell
, although it was significantly diluted compared to what Lissandra, or even Raijaun, had produced.

The attack and its power took Klaraxis by surprise. The demon lord howled in pain and outrage as he tumbled across the barren landscape, kicking up large clouds of dust in his wake. Tarth turned to the Codex and spoke to it. The book flipped open and he intensely studied the pages.

Klaraxis roared to his feet and charged like a bull, horns down even as he summoned his abyssal power to crush the impudent elf. Tarth opened a gate and stepped through just as Klaraxis unleashed his spell and charged through the space in which he had been standing a moment before. The demon spun around in search of the elf. A massive crack opened under his feet and he pumped his wings to avoid falling in. Before he was able to get more than a few feet in the air, a pair of gigantic stone hands reached up, grabbed him by the ankles, and pulled him into the open ground.

The cleft slammed shut with finality and Tarth began working magic to close the rift. With Klaraxis distracted and no longer working to keep it open,
Tarth was able to mend the tear between realities. He found relief knowing his people were safe despite having just doomed himself. Just as Tarth closed the rift, the ground exploded like a volcano, sending rock and dust high into the air. Klaraxis stepped from the cloud as a rain of stone pelted the ground.

“You surprised me, elf, but no more. You will pay for your effrontery in the most horrible manner of my devising.”

Azerick watched the epic battle unfold, but now familiar with the elf’s power, Klaraxis quickly gained the upper hand. Here in his home realm, Tarth was outmatched and fell to the powerful demon lord. Azerick looked on as time flew past; witnessing the tortures Klaraxis inflicted upon the captive elf for what must have been decades. Just as Azerick thought he could not bear to witness any more, the abyssal landscape vanished and he found himself back in Tarth’s quaint bedroom.

“Now you understand what your demon did to me.” Azerick jumped as Tarth’s voice sounded from behind him. “She loved me with all her heart. Not because of my power or influence, but because I was me. When I came back, shattered and lost, I was no longer that person. She still loved me, or tried to, but I could not bear to be near my people, and I was ashamed for it.
I was ashamed for being a coward. I should have refused them when they posed this insane solution, but I could not. I was afraid they would resent me for not trying. My vanity and desire to be loved by all nearly destroyed my people.

“
Do you know the worst torment? It was not the abuses inflicted upon my body, but the fear remaining in my heart and mind. For decades after I returned, I was certain I was still Klaraxis’ prisoner and, at any moment, he would tear away the illusion of my freedom and renew my torture. When I saw you, all those fears returned. I thought you were here to take me back.”

“I am sorry, Tarth, I had no idea, but Klaraxis is not in control of me.”

Tarth crossed the room, sat at the small desk, and began brushing his hair in the mirror. “I understand that now. Now that you are here, I see you for what you are and understand the nature of your shared existence, although not how it came to be. I suppose it is not important.”

“Tarth, what is this place?” Azerick asked as he looked around the room.

“It is the last bastion of my sanity. Sad, is it not? A mind once capable of delving into the furthest reaches of the cosmos now relegated to this paltry, speck of an existence. Something weighs heavy on your mind. What is it you came here for?”

“Do you know of the Scions?”

Tarth stopped brushing his hair and looked grim. “I do.”

“They are returning. I am trying to maintain the barrier trapping them in their prison, but it is only a matter of time before it falls.”

“The Guardians?”

“They are all gone. The last one gave her life to pull me from the abyss and used the last of her strength to reinforce the barrier. She was the same one who eventually saved you. She was your grandmother, Tarth.”

“My grandmother,” the elf whispered. “I never knew from where I came or who my parents were. It explains many things. Thank you. You have been in possession of The Codex Arcana. I can sense its influence upon you. I wondered if it would ever leave the abyss after Klaraxis took hold of it.”

“A creature of the Scions’ creation was able to enter the abyss and somehow took it away. I was a slave to it, but I escaped with the Codex.”