Vegenrage: The Magic User (23 page)

She relaxes and tries to take things slow, trying to learn from him, and asks over and over that he teach her magic. She follows his lead, growing more comfortable with him. She can’t believe the energy he puts into looking through all the treasure, and she finds it fascinating. They go through all the treasure and find many very valuable magical items and books. He advises on a lot of items and books for her to keep in her Bag of Holding, and he gathers a lot of items as well. They spend hours, and it’s like a night at the most incredible magical item store ever, only everything is free. They go through all the treasure, and Vegenrage looks very tired and disappointed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t found it. I know it has to be here somewhere.”

“What are you looking for?”

“I need to find the Rose Unbar Key.”

“Oh yeah, we have only been looking for it all night. Isn’t all the things we have collected already enough?”

“What we have gathered is awesome, and that is an understatement, but we must find the Rose Unbar Key. This one item is needed to restore a balance back to the Maglical System.”

“You mean the solar system we live in?”

“Yup!”

“Well, we have looked everywhere here. It must be down there.” She points down the dark passage they have not explored.

“Well, I guess it could be down there.”

“Well, we have to go look to find out.”

He rubs his closed eyes with his fingers, looking very tired, then looks down the dark corridor. “Well, I guess it would be down there.”

“What is down there that has you so worried?”

“The unknown.”

“Well, it is time to make it known then.” She starts walking down the hall.

“Hold on, listen, I really do not know what is down there, so you be on your guard at all times, OK?”

“OK,” she says, and they head down the hall.

He casts his Staff of Light, lighting the way for them. Farrah walks close to him, putting her right hand fingers down the back lip of his pants, keeping him within arm’s reach. This is a simple tunnel dug out of the earth, and as they walk deeper into the darkness, the air gets damp and chilly. Chills run up and down Farrah’s back.

“How far does this go?”

“I don’t know.”

They walk on and on deeper into the unknown, and finally they come to a carved-out room with a cobblestone well in the middle of the room. Vegenrage raises his staff high over his head to give light to the entire room, which has a very high ceiling, maybe twenty feet high, and the room is about twenty feet wide in a circle. There is nothing here but the well rising four feet high in the center of the room. There is a red glow coming from the well, and they walk up and look into the well falling deeper than they can see, but there is a red glow at the bottom wherever that may be.

“What is this for?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like this. This doesn’t make any sense. There is nothing here. This well must lead to, well, for lack of a better word, hell.”

Laughter rises from the well.

“That is right, Vegenrage. This is hell, and you have proven worthy of my personal attention.” Long fingers grasp each side of the well, with long black claws pulling up out of the well, a human form that is apparently skinned. A massive bulk of a man with bulging muscles rises up from the well and stands facing Vegenrage and Farrah, who moves behind him. It stands six feet and is dripping blood. It has large black eyes with yellow pupils and a smile on its face. Outside of the strange but deadly black claws on its fingers, its form is human.

“Practu, the demon master of Kronton.”

It laughs with a sound like it has an amplifier in its chest, a very deep in tone, and it smiles. “Oh, you know, I just love it when I am praised.”

“So you are the owner of the Rose Unbar Key?”

“You don’t think a witch would hold the only power able to undo the splendid world I own, do you, magic man? A world free from outside interference. A world that you think you can release back to the universe. Did you come to bargain for the key?”

“What does he mean world he owns?”

“Oh, such a tasty morsel you are, little girl, and now with the curse lifted, you are truly innocent and pure, my favorite. So tasty, so sweet, so ready to be violated.”

“Come on, Practu, try and touch me. Vegenrage will cut you into little pieces and stomp your head in the ground. He will give you the end to your suffering you desire.”

“The end I desire, ahhhhahahahahaha! Little girl, have you not heard of the saying, ‘It’s better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven’? Well, if you don’t rule in heaven and can’t rule hell, then create your own hell to rule, and I rule supreme here, and you are mine to do with as I please.”

“I think all the pain and fear you live in is messing up your head, devil.”

“Ahhahahaha! What is your name, little girl? Ah, Farrah, and how did you come by this name? Let me guess. Vegenrage named you Farrah, didn’t he? And your heart throbs for him, so you love this name. Farrah, did you know that there has only ever been one angel on Kronton—well, one since Kronton was put in a bottle? What was her name? Ah yes, it was Farrahbeth. Did you know that an angel named Farrahbeth loved Vegenrage so much that she rushed to the rescue of the dying Vegenrage and she saved his life? Her throbbing, loving heart pumping and pounding for his love and was severed by the Lavtonium blade of Simtap. What did Farrahbeth get for her sacrifice? Ahhahahaha! Oh yes, she got a kiss, an angel for a kiss, a bargain I must say.”

“So what is going to happen here, Practu? Do you want to bargain for the Rose Unbar Key, or must I take it from you?”

Practu raises his head, laughing, and he raises his hands. Vegenrage and Farrah are swept in a rush of hot air blowing their hair back and whipping them with hot winds. They are now standing on a large rock in hell, with flames all around them and lava flows running alongside the rock they are standing on, and Practu is at the end of the rock, laughing.

“This is my world, and you are mine to do with as I please.”

Farrah hugs Vegenrage from behind him, putting her arms under his and grabbing his shoulders with her hands squeezing tight to his back. “I’m scared,” she yells, and her voice is barely heard because it is very loud with the sounds of flowing lava and rushing winds. Their eyes are constantly closing due to the wind and heat.

“Farrah, this is all an illusion. Stay focused and confident.”

“All an illusion, is this an illusion, Vegenrage?” Practu jumps into the lava and scoops a whole lot of lava by running his hand along the surface of the lava flow and throwing it at them.

Vegenrage is still holding his staff and points it at the lava flying at them, and a beam of blue and white light extends from the staff, producing a magical barrier. The lava and light meet, and the lava is deflected away from the two of them.

“Try and block this.” Practu follows it up, swinging both hands in the lava up and at the two, and the whole lava stream diverts and heads right for them.

Vegenrage puts both hands on his staff and points at the lava stream, and it deflects to both sides of them and falls back into the lava stream on either side of the rock they are standing on. Farrah is screaming as the lava is rushing by them, and the heat is intense, causing sweat to roll off each of them. This continues for some minutes. Vegenrage is yelling like he is exerting a lot of energy and strength to maintain the barrier preventing the lava from reaching them, and he is using all his energy to deflect the lava.

Practu stops laughing. “This is just the beginning. How long can your magic deflect my attacks? I will get you one way or another. It is only a matter of time.” Practu sinks into the lava and disappears.

“Vegenrage, what is he doing?”

Vegenrage sees a red dorsal fin break the surface of the lava followed by two more, and then a long tail breaks the surface of the lava and is moving quickly through the thick molten lava. “He’s becoming the Lava Serpent. Sit with me.”

Vegenrage sits on the rock, and Farrah sits behind him, clutching him and wanting this to end. Looking from above Farrah and Vegenrage, you can see large ice chunks form around them, and they form faster and faster until an igloo of ice has them encapsulated. A very large tail rises from the lava and swings at the two, striking the ice and melting a huge, long tail-shaped crevice in the ice, melting a lot of it, sending boiling steam into the air. After the strike, the ice replenishes itself. The head of the Lava Serpent rises out of the lava, and it looks like a seahorse but with huge teeth in its tube-like mouth, and the body is long, straight, and streamlined. Red scales cover it, with black scales dotted throughout its body, making it actually very beautiful, but this is not a nice serpent. It rises to the rock using its front legs to stand on, and its size is surprisingly large as it rises over the ice igloo and breathes fire from its round mouth, giving it a very focused and potent breath attack. The blazing flames are melting the ice fast, and the ice is replenishing itself but not fast enough.

“Farrah. it’s time for you to become the magic user you want to be. It is time to take courage and power and let your heart and soul do the rest.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You can, Farrah, I know you can. You have begged me to teach you magic, and it’s time to learn magic. Are you ready?”

“I can’t. I’m too scared.”

“Farrah, reach into Parnapp and get the Staff of Barrier Breath.”

“I can’t.”

“You can, and if you don’t, we won’t live. I wanna live. I want to teach you magic, now get the staff.” They are shielded from all the noise outside the igloo, so they don’t have to yell to hear each other, but they are still yelling.

Outside the igloo, Practu is hovering over the ice shield, and the flames and steam and lava flows are very loud, but Practu is loving it. He is winning the battle, melting the ice barrier and is getting close to his prize.

“Farrah, get the staff.”

“I can’t let go of you.”

“You must now get the staff, hurry.” Farrah reaches into Parnapp and feels around, retrieving the staff in its original state—black with gold underlying the writing circling up the staff.

“OK, I have it.”

“Read it.”

Farrah looks at the writing and has no idea what it says or what language it is. “I can’t read it. I don’t know what it says.”

“Concentrate. Do like you did earlier with Casaundra’s Cloth of Time Displacement and Varlana’s Agilaseed.”

Farrah looks at the staff and runs her hands along the writing, thinking,
I wish I knew what this said
.

The eyes on Parnapp open up. “It’s about time you put me to good use. You know, I am much more than just a stylish bag to be hung from your hip.”

“Parnapp, you are back.”

“Give me a kiss.”

“What!”

“Come on, we don’t have time to waste. Give me a kiss.”

Farrah lifts Parnapp, and the gold twine does not have to be untied. It just stretches no problem, and Farrah looks at the bag.

“Come on, kiss me right under my eyes. Just pretend I have a nose and a mouth.”

Farrah kisses where a mouth should be, and lips appear, smooching her, and she can’t let go until Parnapp’s lips break free with a loud pop. Parnapp’s eyes move close together, and his lips smile as he turns all red and falls back into place on her hip. Farrah feels all tingly and happy. She looks at the staff and reads, “The bearer of Vergraughtu shall be empowered to consume all dragon breath with Vergraughtu when these words are spoken aloud. I summon Vergraughtu, consume all breath.”

She speaks as she reads, and the staff starts to seep gold from within and transforms before her eyes into the magnificent staff that looks like a dragon. The dragon head of the staff comes alive just in time as the ice igloo has been melted to such a point that Vegenrage’s spell is shattered. Farrah points the staff right at the Lava Serpent, and the staff does its magic, consuming all the breath. This again is a fantastic visual sight. Vegenrage and Farrah are sitting on the rock, and Farrah rises to her knees, holding the staff up at Practu, and all the breath is funneled into the mouth of the dragon head on the staff.

In Vegenrage’s search through the treasure in Alisluxkana’s lair, he found Bricekleel, a long sword with a blade made of ice that never melts and is very cold to the touch. It is extremely sharp and see-through, and the hilt is made of Sky Blue Ice Jewel. This sword does ten times the damage to all attacks, because when struck by this sword, all the veins and muscles and bones that are struck become instantly frostbitten and the victim loses mobility due to the cold slowing down their metabolism.

As the ice igloo shatters and Farrah consumes Practu’s breath with the Staff of Barrier Breath, Vegenrage stands up and thrusts Bricekleel into the neck of Practu, just above the shoulder, and levitates upward, slicing a long cut up the neck right up to Practu’s head. He gets to the end of the slice, spinning in midair and coming around with the sword, cutting Practu’s head in half. The wound up his neck starts to hue in a greenish blue, kind of like an infection is growing from the wound, and this is especially deadly to the heat friendly demon. The jaw of Practu falls into the lava, and the serpent falls dying into the lava. But before it falls, Vegenrage makes another swinging attack full force, his arm fully extended and cutting through the neck of Practu, sending him dead into the lava for now.

Vegenrage floats softly to the rock. Farrah stands by him as the lava flows around them, and the rock they are standing on rises extremely fast. Farrah clutches Vegenrage as her stomach falls out, like being on a very fast-rising amusement-park ride.

“Now what?” she says, holding him tightly as the rock they are on rises through the earth, looking like they are going to be crushed, but the earth diverts to the side of them.

“We have to wait and see.” He holds her tightly, a little unnerved himself.

The rock stops as fast as it rose, and they are standing in the room where the well was. They look around.

“Is it over? Did we kill Practu?”