Resurgence of Ancient Darkness Read online

  “Do you remember any of the titles of the books you were reading?”

  “Yes,” I said, and proceeded to rattle off every one that I had read.

  “I am impressed at your masterful recall, but tell me, Dusty, what do all those books have in common?” he asked.

  “Master, they were all books on defense against charms,” I said.

  “Yes, they were, but defense for whom?” he asked.

  “Master, for magi?” I asked.

  “No, actually for very specific types of magi.” He thought about something for a while, then said, “Dusty, I have reviewed all your records here at the school. Your academic performance is less than stellar, which does not reflect how well you did on this mission. Even your own log about your adventures in my former realm shows you to be far more advanced than your schooling would indicate. Why do you think that is?”

  I sat in silence and did not answer. All I could think about was that my worst fear had come true: he was going to bounce me out of the school.

  “It is all right. You can trust him,” sent Master Shadow.

  I looked over at Master Shadow and back to Master Mathorn, who sat there waiting. “Master, I just don’t know. I tried really hard to learn all their formulas and such, but I guess I’m just too stupid to figure it out.”

  “Stupid, Dusty, is one thing you are not,” said Master Mathorn. “Misguided is more like it, and your training has been poorly fitted for your peculiar bent.”

  “My bent, Master?” I asked.

  “Yes; for example, none of the books you read in Syncillia would have helped you at all. None of them were for someone with your spell line. Simply put, you could not understand them. They were the wrong fit.”

  I sat there in astonishment. I had not considered that possibility.

  He continued, “I will get you some material from my personal library that will help you so that you can be better prepared next time. Dusty, I think your problem has been that you’re trying too hard to fit stereotypical models of what you think you should be, instead of discovering your own nature. I think this mission has shown that when you focus on being yourself you do rather well.”

  I could not fully grasp what that meant, but it certainly helped to bolster my confidence.

  The rest of the conversation centered on making sure that the Council had all the current information about our mission, and they questioned me extensively on the old man. They did not know much about him, and that seemed to bother them more than anything else we reported.

  They closed with a discussion about the structure of the new forces. Shadow proposed that we have two divisions in the military: one that would train wizards to work in groups of two and three among the mundane navy, and another as an elite force to work on ships like the Dust Dragon. Grandmaster Vydor liked this idea, and he gave Shadow permission to start building the force.

  Chapter Two

  As Dusty and I left the debriefing, he said to me, “Thank you, Master Shadow.”

  “For what, Dusty?” I asked.

  “For believing in me,” he said.

  “Dusty, you earned every bit of it. You are a fine wizard and a great friend,” I said.

  We talked for a little bit more, and then I took my leave of him. I had two problems I wanted to solve. The first was my marriage to Flame. I had spoken with Grandmaster Vydor about it privately over a telepathic channel during the debriefing, and he said that he would be proud to perform the ceremony, but now that Aleeryon was becoming part of our nation our marriage was already legally binding and official. This meant I really needed to find a way to break the news to my mother that I was already married. That should be fun.

  The other problem was how to select and train an entire army of wizards while trying to hunt down this new evil in our realm. I had a plan, and Grandmaster Vydor thought it was worth trying, but it would mean convincing my father to do something he had probably never before considered. He hated surprises, and I would be contacting him with two simultaneously.

  Once I had returned to my personal office on the Dust Dragon, I made sure the room was sealed and called my father.

  “Hello, son,” he said.

  “Sir, it is good to see you. I am sorry I have not called for some time, but I was on a full combat mission with a stealth wing,” I said.

  He smiled wistfully at that. “I understand. Did it go well?”

  “Better than expected, sir. We neutralized the pirate threat and destroyed a major sorcerer stronghold,” I said.

  “Excellent!” he said, his face beaming with pride.

  We talked a little about the mission for a while. He was very interested to hear about it. Once I felt I had told him all I could about that, I decided it was time to move on to my first surprise. “Sir, I need to ask you something.”

  “Of course, son; what is it?” he asked.

  “Sir, I have been promoted to head of the Battle Wizards, the newly-formed military arm of the school. At present we have only seven wizards with any battle experience or training at all. Due to the political situation developing in our region, we believe we need to scale up our military as quickly as possible,” I said.

  “I see. That is quite a problem. How many wizards will you have to work with?” he asked.

  “Sir, I do not know yet, but I believe it will be a small number,” I said.

  “I would imagine so, based on my understanding of how few graduate from your school. I assume you are looking for advice?” he asked.

  Now it was time to spring my surprise. “More than that, sir. I want to bring you out of retirement.”

  “What?” His tone and face betrayed a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

  “Sir, I would like you to help me to build this new military wing as well as possible,” I said.

  He sat back in his chair and said nothing for a while. “I assume that would mean moving out there, and I am not sure your mother would like that.”

  “Well, sir, I think she will be more willing to move out here than you believe,” I said.

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  “Sir, because Grandmaster Vydor will soon be performing a wedding ceremony for myself and Flame.” I decided there and then that I would not mention it was indeed only a ceremony and that we were already married. I was fairly sure my parents would put no stock in Aleeryon marriage customs, so I should be able to avoid telling them; at least I hoped so.

  To my relief, that brought a big smile to his face. “That is wonderful, son! Your mother is sure to be delighted.” He sat in silence again for some time. “So you want me to turn a group of green wizards into a fighting force?”

  “Yes, sir. I am planning two divisions to start: one elite and one regular division. I would place you in charge of the regulars,” I said.

  “Why me?” he asked.

  “Sir, being here among these wizards has shown me that, while we all have great powers, most of us lack knowledge of warfare techniques. We are in the process of planning the defense of our region against many enemies, and less than a handful of us have any real training. We need the knowledge of men like you if we are to succeed. Besides that, I need someone I can trust completely with this level of authority and power. You are perfectly suited to it,” I said.

  “Son, I am sincerely honored, but what do I know of magic?” he asked.

  “I assume nothing, sir, but that is not a problem. I will have an elite wizard appointed to you so that magic is not an issue. You dealt with all kinds of specializations in the past of which you knew nothing. This is no different,” I said.

  “I see. When would you have me start?” he asked.

  “As soon as you are ready. I can have a gate opened for you at very short notice. I assume you will want to come out for the wedding anyway,” I said.

  “True,” he said. “Let me talk all this over with your mother. I will contact you sometime tomorrow.”

  After that w
e ended the call. I did not need to wait for him to contact me; I knew his answer. I had seen it in his eyes: there was excitement in them when he thought about returning to duty. I was sure he would still be serving in the Imperial Navy had he not passed the maximum age of service.

  He was well past his physical prime, but his mind was still sharp, and it was that mind I wanted. His knowledge of military operations and his centuries of experience would be invaluable to me as I tried to build a fighting force out of these schoolchildren.

  Chapter Three

  After I left Shadow, I headed back to my old quarters. I had not seen them since I left Alpha Academy on our mission. It seemed like it had been years, but in reality Operation Show of Force had lasted only a little more than a month. As I was walking, lost in thought, Master Mathorn stopped me.

  “Dusty, here’s one of the books I promised you.” He handed me an old book. The leather cover and binding was cracked with age and the pages had yellowed. “You can keep it. I have another copy for myself. When you finish that, see me and I will evaluate your progress; that will tell me which resources would help you most.”

  “Master, thank you,” I said. The title of the book was “The Art of Deception: A Wizard’s Guide to Trickery, Shadows, and Other Tools of the Trade.” I wondered at that title. “Master, are you sure this is the right book?”

  “Yes, Dusty. Your specialty is concealment, which means your defense against charms will have to come from that art. This book is the best on your line and should be very helpful in your studies. I suggest you defer all other studies for the moment and catch up on with what this book teaches. It will help you to understand yourself better.”

  I looked again at the title and knew that, had I seen it in a library, I would have passed it by as unsuitable for me. As I traced the intricate artwork embedded in the cover, I tried to come up with a reason not to read it. I had to admit that it did sound interesting, but surely it was not the kind of book a wizard should be reading.

  “Dusty, when you came here, what did you want to be?” he asked.

  “I just wanted to help people, Master, and was hopeful that I could be like Master Kellyn.”

  “I see, but you’re not the same person. Once you had learned which powers you were gifted with, what did you hope to get out of staying here?”

  “I had no place to go, Master. I had failed everything else already, so I stayed and made the best of it.”

  “Do you still want to help people?”

  “Yes, but I’m a failure there too, as always.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Master, because all I did for the last month was kill people.”

  “Dusty, you helped free an entire nation from certain destruction, and you were pivotal in sealing a breach to the realm of the spirits while almost giving your life to prevent them from overrunning this entire realm. I’d say you are a success on a grand scale!”

  I just looked at him. I did not know how to take what he said. He had just recast my failures into successes, but I was not sure I understood how. I found it hard to believe that killing people could be the right way to help other people; it didn’t make much sense.

  “Dusty, you are trying too hard to be someone you are not. You’re not Master Kellyn, or Shadow. You are Dusty. Work through that spellbook and learn who you are. Embrace your powers and you will find that, by being you, you can help more people than you ever could before.”

  I looked back down at the book and contemplated its title again. “Master, this title sounds so dark. How could that be me?”

  “Dusty, there are two definitions for the word “dark” at play here. There is the “dark” which is a synonym for evil: that meaning of “dark” certainly does not apply to you. You are a grand wizard, but you do work in darkness; the kind of darkness that means lack of a light source. The concealment line of power in and of itself is just as amoral as are the rest of the powers. It’s what magi do with them that make them good or bad. That book could serve either purpose, as it is merely a guide on how to use your power, not a guide on why or why not to do things from a moral standpoint. Those you’ll have to work out for yourself based on your own moral compass.”

  I opened the book and flipped through the introductory and background material to the first spell. It was one to change your appearance so that you could pass unnoticed.

  Before I could get far, Master Mathorn reached out and flipped the pages back to the very first one. “No, start at the beginning. Starting in the right place is far more important than reading through it quickly, especially if you are saving time by going in the wrong direction.”

  “Master, I will do as you ask,” I said.

  “Good,” he replied and then took his leave of me.

  I continued my walk back towards my quarters, thinking about what he said. It sounded good, but was it right? I decided the only way to find out would be to start studying this book as he suggested.

  I spent most of the rest of the night reading the section of the spellbook which I always skipped over in other books. I normally didn’t bother with it, as I couldn’t see how it would help me, and all I really cared about was learning the spells. Master Mathorn’s speech had convinced me to study it, at least this one time.

  Chapter Four

  It had been a year since Master Shadow asked me to take over as head of Black Ops for the Wizard Navy following our return from Operation Show of Force. He told me time and time again that I was more than ready for this leadership role, but I found it hard to believe him.

  I looked over at Spectra who reached out and gave my shoulder a squeeze. I was more nervous than I could ever remember being before. Master Shadow had asked me to lead this rescue operation as part of the training for my new position. “Is everyone in place?” I sent.

  “Master Dusty, we are ready,” came the reply from Darkstone.

  “How about you, Spectra?” I sent privately.

  “Just get me in, and I can get us out. We can do this, Dusty,” she sent.

  With the changes that had come to magic, Spectra could no longer gate to a place unless she had physically been there. That meant we had to get her in through more mundane means, but once inside she could gate us all out.

  We were deep inside a space station in foreign territory. It had taken us over a week to sneak in and study the prison, but we were finally ready to make our move. Before us stood a multi-locked door that had a layered energy field covering it and four heavily-armed guards. “Darkstone, you have the two on the left. I’ll take the right, and remember that our goal is to disable, not eliminate. Everyone, we need to keep our cool, but move fast. Once we start our raid, time will be against us.”

  Black Ops was all about timing. I knew that in a few minutes there would be a shift rotation, and we could not move until that was complete. We needed as much time as possible between when we acted and when someone became aware of what we had done.

  The shift change came right on schedule, and once I was sure it was clear I gave the signal to move. Darkstone and I silently moved towards our targets. Once we were in range, we both cast our freeze spell that temporarily immobilized the guards. They could still see and hear, but not react.

  “Clear! Cymeion, you’re up next,” I sent.

  Cymeion headed to the control panel, and after what seemed like far too long, he was able to open the doors.

  “Move!” I sent.

  My team quickly and silently entered the prison complex. “Cymeion, seal us in. We won’t need that door again.”

  Once he had the door closed, he shortcircuited the control panel and summoned a wall of stone to cover it.

  “We have at most ten minutes until those frozen guards are discovered,” I reminded everyone and then led my team deeper into the complex. It was not long before we hit the next set of security barriers. As before, we froze the guards, slipped in, and blocked the door from the inside. We did the same with th
e next door.

  We had almost made it completely inside when the alarms began to sound. We were at the last door when the halls filled with the sounds of men yelling orders and emergency locks being set. The guards at the last remaining door drew their weapons and spread out. We could no longer catch them all in one freeze spell as they were too far apart.

  “More are probably on the way,” sent Spectra.

  “Take them down,” I sent back to her.

  She stepped out of the shadows as she cast her spell. Watching her work was almost hypnotizing. Her body flowed gracefully as if it were partly fluid. For a moment, all my attention was on her as she danced. Her movements were enchanting and enticing. I would have been happy to stay there all night watching her dance.

  The guards saw her and were pulled in by the dance, and for an instant they were completely enthralled. As one, they turned ashen and fell to the ground as their life force was drained from their bodies.

  “How long?” I asked.

  “These men are fairly weak. It could be days before they recover,” she sent.

  Before I could say anything, Cymeion was already working on the door. “It’s no good, Master. They have the panel locked out.”

  “Then break it down,” I sent.

  Cymeion took a few paces back from the door and cast his mage bolt. As a terramancer, his bolt was something akin to a cross-forged iron spear with a diamond tip. It slammed into the door, easily piercing the energy fields and punching a small hole through it.

  I tossed a flare through the hole so that we could see the other side. Now that we had a line of sight through the door I sent, “That’s good enough. Everyone, teleport through.”

  When we arrived at the other side of the door we saw a massive cat-like beast. His bright orange fur, spiked head, and massive claws were dulled with age, but the sight of him still struck fear into my heart. He was chained to the floor in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. He looked like he had been severely beaten, and his one remaining good eye stared right at me with malice.