Vegenrage: The Magic User (27 page)

“No, Fraborn, we will think, take some time, and think.”

“What is there to think about, Cloakenstrike? There is nothing left. We started this attack, and we will finish it with our lives.”

“Fraborn, Cloakenstrike is right. We must stay in control of our emotions. Look around and see if all is lost or if there aren’t things to be salvaged here. Maybe some of the humanors have survived, and we must find them. Cloakenstrike, can you venture out to the floodlands, see if maybe some hunting parties are still alive? Search the grasslands, rock lands, and forests. There have to be survivors.”

Cloakenstrike flies off without saying a word. Bastrenboar and Fraborn walk around the now-flattened and burning Hunoria homeland, looking for possible survivors, and what has happened here keeps them quiet and in deep thought.

Later on that day, as the setting sun brings on the evening, Cloakenstrike has returned from the floodlands with over fifty humanors. There are families of humanors that live in the grasslands and rock lands, but only twelve individuals have returned with Cloakenstrike. For the most part, the families living in the outer lands of Hunoria are very secluded and prefer to stay that way. He could find no humanors in the forest, which is still a very dangerous place with many carnivorous species, making travel here dangerous and living not possible.

The humanor returning from the floodlands are speechless and cannot believe what they are seeing. Literally, all of Hunorian history and society is gone. Being that the humanors are such young species, there isn’t a whole lot of history to have been lost, but for the remaining, it is very sobering. They make a fire and cook fresh meat brought back from the floodlands and talk about the situation they are in. It is very surprising the way there is not a lot of blame thrown around; there isn’t a lot of hostility thrown at Cloakenstrike for not having magic strong enough to see the humanors to victory. There is no humanor yelling at Bastrenboar for leading his army to defeat and losing the entire humanor race. Instead, the surviving humanors and Cloakenstrike talk about what to do to move forward.

The humanors have a very unique mind-set and thought process. They work hard at the task at hand and do not dwell on the past. Being as strong as they are and ready to take on physical challenge, it is amazing the way they don’t get mad at one another and argue or fight. They seem to always be calm and rational, the exception being that when a challenge is accepted, they follow through to whatever end, and it has cost them almost a millennium, losing their entire race that even now they talk about how to regain and bring back.

Bastrenboar feels compelled to tell the story of how humanors were once humans—the humans that were destroyed by the elves over a millennium ago. Bastrenboar and his army were being transformed into pigs by Arglon, and it was Cloakenstrike’s magic that prevented total transformation and created the humanor. Bastrenboar and his army of humanors took over the land owned by humans and called it Hunoria. He tells the survivors how he had hoped to gain the Snow Gold Trinket and return the humanors to their original human form. He has seen the elves wipe out the race of humans, and now they have wiped out the race of humanors.

Bastrenboar walks around the fire, telling the story. Of course, he leaves out all the bad things done to the elves by the humans, which were many and very despicable. He also leaves out the part about the humans that did survive the elven onslaught and were living throughout the rock lands and grasslands and highlands and were eliminated by the humanors that stole the women to further their race.

Those at the fire listen quietly and are motivated by his story, and what a powerful speaker Bastrenboar is. An hour later and he has the nearly seventy remaining humanor ready to follow him into the depths of hell. Bastrenboar calls upon Cloakenstrike to aid them and give safe sanctuary until they can rise up again and make another attempt at the Snow Gold Trinket, and Cloakenstrike obliges.

The next morning comes, and Hunoria is vacant of all life. Bastrenboar, Cloakenstrike, and the remaining humanor have gone without a trace. The families of humanors throughout Hunoria go on with life like nothing has happened, and all is quiet, all is peaceful, but all is not what it seems.

CHAPTER 22
Gwithen Awakens

Xanorax sits up in his bed. He looks around and rubs his head. Getting out of bed, he puts on his pants and descends into the summoning chamber to call upon Practu. He pinches the white powder and drops it over the black liquid, and it turns to clear water showing the battle between his master, Vegenrage, and Farrah. He watches as his master is slain by Vegenrage, and he cannot believe his eyes. He takes a step back and looks at his arms and says, “Life Stealer.” The deformity tears from his arms, and the pincers at the end snap together as he intended, and then the Life Stealer returns to its home in his flesh. Xanorax talks out loud. “If my master has been slain, how do I still maintain the power granted by him?”

A deep rumbling voice comes from the summoning well. “Because I have made it so.”

Xanorax steps back as a form grows from the liquid that turns red as it grows. This form has two large horns growing straight up from the top of its head, forming large
S
s, with each horn ending in a sharp point. It has a human face with a superior human physique that grows from the liquid all the way to its ankles. It has a belt with bearskin paints and pitch-black eyes.

“I am Zabkef, new demon master of Kronton. I have made it possible for you to maintain the Life Stealer and use its powers. And seeing how you have not used it even once yet with any success, I want to make sure you use it to its fullest potential.” Zabkef points his hands at Xanorax, and he lifts into the air and starts to shake, screaming in intense pain shooting inside his body. Zabkef laughs at Xanorax, who is almost unconscious from the pain, and lowers him back to the ground and releases him from his hold.

Xanorax falls to the ground, bent at the waist with his knees tight to his chest.

“Get up, Xanorax, get up and bow to your new master.”

Xanorax gets up, trying to stand up straight and recover, bowing to Zabkef.

“Pain makes you strong. Pain makes you able to take on the challenge before you now. There is a new order, and through you, I am going to lead it to destruction. There has been a reset to the worlds of the Maglical System, and Practu has been slain by its most powerful warrior. I have seen him, I have felt him, and you have faced him. Soon you will have the strength to defeat him.” Zabkef points his hands at Xanorax, and again he is pulsating with body-numbing pain, and he cries out as Zabkef laughs.

Blethstole sits up on his mound of gold and arches his back, raising his head up high and his tail up high. His scales all over his body flare up, attached only at the tip to his skin underneath. His wings extend up and open their full width and slowly flap. He starts to grunt in his deep dragon voice, which turns to long breathing moans. He does this for minutes then starts to sniff the air deeply. Finally, he stops.
Kronton is back
. He takes to the wing and flies out of his lair into the sunlit sky, a very rarely seen event. As he flies, he chants unknown words and flies through a Dimension Door and vanishes.

Gwithen is sleeping on her bed of gold, which is not even half the size or Blethstole’s plunder. She is soft white with her head lying on her front leg. Her tail is wrapped around her body, and she is so peaceful looking. She is breathing very slowly and hasn’t moved from this position in nearly a millennium. She starts to take deep breaths, visibly seen by her nostrils that widen as she breathes deeper and deeper. She opens her beautiful emerald-colored eyes and looks straight ahead. She looks from side to side, thinking she is still in a dream, and slowly raises her head. She stretches out her neck and extends her wings, slowly flapping them. Her tail moves to her backside as she stands on all fours and releases an awakening roar. She hops on her legs, remembering how to use them, and flaps her wings stronger and stronger until she is lifted, and she heads out her entrance into the frigid air.

Her lair is high up in the Shandeltowen Mountains, far out of reach of most living creatures. She flies to the high peak above her lair and lands roaring and shaking her body, releasing strong female dragon pheromones, which are irresistible to male dragons. She stays there for hours, releasing her scent and enjoying the feeling of being alive again and free from the magic that kept her dormant for so long. After she has finished releasing her announcement that she is back, she flies off toward the Wickenfall Forest, which is her favorite hunting land. She loves to eat the wicked creatures of the forest and bog, and she is really hungry.

Blethstole appears over a lush tropical forest, and he hovers, looking around and sniffing the air, turning his head from side to side. He lowers himself to the ground and walks slowly through the forest, and he is almost as tall as the trees he is walking through. “I hear you breathe. I can smell you. I know you are here,” he says as he walks. He starts to chant magical words and transforms into a small little beetle that flies to a concrete wall and lands on it. The beetle starts to rub its hind legs together and flaps its wings, which makes a musical sound. This is actually a spoken language he is producing, and a blue light starts to grow from the black beetle. He flaps his left wing slowly then fast and switches to his right wing, flapping it at different speeds, and then flaps both wings together, making a very interesting melodic buzzing sound. He stops the flapping of his wings to rub his legs together, which makes a different sound altogether, like a cricket. He does these sounds by themselves and in unison, making very interesting sounds, and the light around him intensifies, and he starts to grow.

Vegenrage and Farrah have rolled around in bed for a long time, enjoying each other’s company. Vegenrage switches to teacher mode and gets out of bed, adorning himself with what he calls lazy-boy pants, which are a soft dark-colored cloth. They have a stretchy elastic waistband and fit him nicely from waist to ankles. He wears soft dark-colored slippers and looks to Farrah lying on bed, asking her what she would like to wear that she feels very comfortable in.

She says she wants to wear lazy-girl pants like the ones he is wearing, only purple in color, with soft dark slippers like the ones he is wearing and a pink long-sleeved shirt. Purple and pink are her favorite colors, and Vegenrage says, “OK, so let’s start to teach you how to use and create magic.”

She is not able to magically create the clothes she wants to wear, so Vegenrage creates them for her, and they go to the front of the room and sit on the soft pillows by his golden study desk. He asks her about her education and if she is able to read. She explains how Alisluxkana kept some of her victims alive just so they could teach her how to read and write, and she is actually quite fluent in Noireen and Shasparian languages. They are very much the same, with minor differences. For the purpose of this book, we will consider these languages to be English and the common language spoken on all three worlds.

Vegenrage begins to explain magic to Farrah and points out all the books in the room that will help her study and learn how to create and use magic. “The first and most important thing about magic is that you must have complete control of your mind. You have to see in your mind exactly what you want to happen and then extend those thoughts and visions. Magic is all about the vision your mind creates and then having the discipline to extend those visions. Here, let me show you what I mean.” He extends his hand toward the doorway, and a book comes from the shelf all the way across the room, and he grasps it. “See, I simply saw this book coming to me, and it did.” He hands the book to Farrah, and she reads the cover.

“
Healing Techniques
.”

“Healing is the first and most important thing any magic user should learn. I still don’t understand fully this ability for magic users to live for hundreds or thousands of years, but the techniques of healing surely play an important part of this long life. The ability to heal the body internally and externally prevents disease, sickness, and rapid healing of wounds surely extends the life of a magic user. You need to read all the books of healing first and work your way around the room, reading all the other books. When you are done, you will be a very powerful magic user.”

She looks at all the books with wide eyes. “Oh my god. It will take forever for me to read all these books.”

“It will take a long time. Start with the healing magic and then work your way around the room.”

“Oh boy, I don’t know if I will have the patience to read all these books.”

“Well, how great your desire to be a great magic user will decide that.”

“You have read all these books?”

“I have read all these books, but there are some I have not read, and that reminds me.” He reaches to Behaggen hanging from the mirror on his dresser, and he floats over to Vegenrage’s hand. He reaches in and pulls out all the books he recovered from Alisluxkana’s lair. He sends Behaggen back and starts to read the stacks of books around him. Farrah watches as he puts his hand on the cover of a book, closes his eyes and, in a few short moments, opens his eyes, shrugging his head and nodding, giving away his approval or disapproval of the book he has just read or actually just absorbed.

“Wait a minute. Did you just read that whole book?”

“Yup.”

“That’s not fair. How do I do that?”

“Here, let me show you.” He hands the book to her. “Now put your hand on top of the book and just concentrate. See the words as they appear on the pages.”

She does so and concentrates for a minute. “I don’t see anything.”

“You have to concentrate. You have to let your mind do the work.”

She tries again. “I still don’t see anything. Let me try this.” She sets the book down and closes her eyes, and Vegenrage is lifted up in the air.

He starts to laugh, clutching his stomach with both hands. “Stop that!” He laughs louder and louder. “Stop that!” He is now kicking in the air and writhing around. “Farrah, stop it.” He can barely get the words out; he is laughing so hard from the magical tickling of Farrah.

“See, I can use magic,” and she looks on, laughing as she has magically lifted him in the air and is tickling him so much that he is almost crying from laughing so hard.

Vegenrage is rolling around in the air and laughing uncontrollably. Farrah is loving it; she has him caught in the first magic that she can visualize and control. She has a happy nature about herself and is laughing almost as hard as Vegenrage is. Finally, she lets him go, and he falls onto the pillows. She jumps on him, laughing, and playfully rolls around with him.

Vegenrage sits up, and the laughing smile on his face quickly turns very serious as he looks around. Farrah tickles his stomach, and he grabs her hands, stopping her, not saying a word, just looking like he is suddenly in deep thought.

“What is it? What are you thinking about?”

“Something is wrong. I sense, I feel danger. Very powerful danger. I have to go.”

“No, we have to go.” They get up and dress quickly. “Vegenrage, what is happening? What is the hurry?”

“Something very bad is happening. It’s time to get serious and be ready for something bad.”

They walk toward the entrance to Vegenrage’s home, and he draws a Dimension Door with his fingers, and they walk through it. They appear at the entrance to Logantrance’s home, and all the vegetation around Logantrance’s entrance has been cleared; it’s just all gone. There, leaning against the cement wall with the torches lit is Logantrance. He is leaning against the wall, looking up in the air, clutching his chest with his right hand, and gasping for air.

“Logantrance, I am here. What is it?” Vegenrage yells as he grabs him by the shoulders. “What is it? What is going on?”

“It’s inside of me. He has me. He is taking my life.” Logantrance falls limp, and his eyes close as he slides down the wall to a sitting position.

Vegenrage puts his hands on Logantrance’s head and concentrates. “No!” he yells and picks Logantrance back up. He punches Logantrance in the chest with his fist stopping just short of making impact, and a magical force of size and shape of his fist impacts. This wakes Logantrance, and he tells Vegenrage it’s too late. “It’s in me, he has me.”

“Logantrance, this is going to hurt but hold on.” Vegenrage sticks his right hand in Logantrance’s mouth. He continues sticking his arm all the way past his elbow, right down his mouth and throat. This is crazy looking and very scary. Vegenrage screams, “I got it, hold on, Logantrance!” and he pulls his arm out with what looks like a baby in his hand.

It is a baby and it has bitten Vegenrage’s hand like a vice, and he can’t shake it off. In a panic, he shakes his hand up and down, trying to rid himself of whatever this creature is. It has such a strong bite on him that the creature has bitten right into the bone on the back of his right hand. Vegenrage calms himself, bringing the baby covered and dripping blood to his face. “Demon.” He points his left index finger at the baby and extends a blade of force right through its head. This action releases the bite on his hand, and he throws it to the ground.

“I am no demon, Vegenrage.” The baby rolls to all fours and looks at Vegenrage. It starts to grow very fast, taking on its true form, talking as it grows. “I am one who takes. I am one who follows through. I am one who does not submit to the puny magic of inferior species. I am Blethstole, and no one imprisons me. No one enters my home, and I choose who lives and who dies.”

Farrah very wisely pulls Vergraughtu from Parnapp as Blethstole is speaking. Blethstole raises his head up and backward with a deep inhale and lunges his head forward at Vegenrage, who is standing in front of Logantrance to protect him. Farrah bravely jumps in front of Vegenrage. “I summon Vergraughtu, consume all breath.”

Blethstole unleashes his Breath of Decadence, and Vergraughtu works his magic, consuming the massive cloud of black death released by Blethstole. Blethstole halts his attack, looking at Farrah and stepping back. “So you have yet another ally amidst you. Oh, you are crafty, Vegenrage. You are sly, you are full of surprises. I shall let you all live for now. You can live in fear knowing that wherever you may be, day or night, I will be behind you ready to eat the little morsels that you all are. You tricked me once with your illusion, but now I return to the true Gwithen, who has awoken from her magically cursed slumber, and her retribution on those responsible will be swift and violent. Live in fear, puny mortals, because I will be watching, I will be waiting, I will be raining destruction on all those beneath me.” Blethstole flaps his enormous wings and rises into the air and zips through a Dimension Door.