Heir to the Sundered Crown (26 page)

*

He awoke to find himself in his dorm room. Only the purple sky and strange silver starlight betraying the fact that he wasn’t in reality there. Stood next to the rooms fireplace was the robed figure.

“I have long forgotten the confusion and the affects of first entering this place,” it said in its eerily distant voice. “I have been here far too long.”

Luxon plumped up the pillows on the bed before leaning against them heavily.

“Who are you? I feel as though I know...so much seems strange here,” he asked.

“I suppose it is time for me to reveal myself. I have appeared to you many times in dreams and at times of danger. I did my best to guide you, but alas here you are all the same.” The robed figure moved closer to the bed. Its long arms reached up and pulled back the robes hood. An elderly man with long grey hair revealed himself. His eyes were blue and kindly, his nose was long and proud and his mouth was small and serious.

“I am Aljeron, the first wizard of Esperia and your ancestor. I have been here for eons and yet I linger. For all of my faults I did not deserve what happened to me. I stopped Danon’s plan and was trapped here for eternity. My only solace is that he was trapped here also, but that may change and the world will fall,”

Without another word Aljeron pulled up his hood took Luxon’s hand and pulled him back outside.

“Hold on.”

Aljeron lifted his right hand into the air. He tightened his hold on Luxon’s hand with his left and uttered an incantation. The two shot off from the ground to soar into the sky.

Luxon screamed out. The world below shot past in a dizzying blur as they flew. Down in the forest he saw packs of Pucks running, Banshees drifting along the golden riverbanks. Beasts and monsters of all description, he saw them all as they flew.

Rapidly approaching was a line of tall mountains. Luxon shut his eyes tightly expecting them to smash into them. Instead Aljeron changed course and they shot upwards to pass over the peaks. If Luxon lowered his feet he was sure he would have been able to touch the mountain top with his toes.

They flew onward, crossing a sea of gold to reach another landmass. As they approached the air grew thick and the smell of decay and rotting flesh threatened to gag Luxon.

“We are here,” Aljeron said in his wraith like tones.

They drifted downward. Luxon staggered as his feet touched the ground and fell onto his face with a cry. The world spun and his stomach fluttered. He was going to be sick.

“There are things you must know about this place Luxon. You feel dizzy and sick yet, how can that be when your body is not here?”

Luxon wretched. He stood upright and stared at Aljeron as though he was mad.

“What do you mean my body is not here?” he asked slowly. He looked over his limbs. He felt like he was all there. He wiggled his toes and stretched his fingers.

“Only things created in the void can exist here physically. Things from your world that enter here... only their spirits can exist here. The body itself however remains in the other place.”

Luxon blinked a few times as he processed what he was being told. He was just a spirit? Panic filled him, if that were true then where was his body?

“Your body could be next to where you entered the void or, it could have been sent through one of the many tears spread across the world. It could be thousands of miles away from where you think it should be,” Aljeron explained sympathetically.

“You must also know that time flows differently here. An hour in the real world is like a year in the void. I have been here so long....” Aljeron’s voice drifted off.

Luxon looked at the wizard in sympathy. He was terrified but the spirit before him had been trapped in this strange place for thousands of years. To Aljeron himself that time would have felt like millions.

Aljeron drifted forwards and pointed. A vast crater surrounded by steep jagged cliffs lay before them. Blue flames surrounded the crater which at its centre lay a massive tower. The structure itself appeared as though someone had stabbed the very surface of the world from underneath so that the tip of a spear had ripped through flesh to protrude out the other side.

Luxon could now see what was causing the awful smell. Between the flames were three massive creatures surrounded by carrion. Each was the size of a castle. Their bodies were long and scaled. Massive clawed talons were attached to their four long limbs. At the top of their long necks was a snouted head with mouths full of sharp teeth. Upon their backs were massive leathery wings which they splayed open as they squared up to one another.

Luxon narrowed his eyes.

“What are they? What is this place?” he asked in awe.

Aljeron stood next to him. He raised his hand gesturing towards the tower.

“That is where Danon resides. Like us he is a spirit only but even here his dark will twists and corrupts. Those creatures are Dragons. Noble creatures that once walked our world in the days of creation, banished here when man appeared in Esperia. They were the favoured creations of the goddess of creation Aniron but were deemed too powerful to share the world with man. Now they are servants of Danon. Slaves to his will in this place.”

Luxon sat back on his heels. Danon himself was down in the crater. He would have laughed if it weren’t for the fear in his heart. 

“He resides in his fortress waiting for his chance to return to the world.” Aljeron muttered.  

“Cliria...”Luxon growled. Memories were coming back to him, the witch, Tentiv, all of it.

“The witch hoped to use you to free him. Instead she made a mistake and now we have a chance,” the old wizard said. “You are here with me something she did not expect. We have time on our side. Time enough for me teach you.”

Luxon looked at the wizard in confusion.

“I will teach you to become what you are destined to be.”Aljeron replied a faint smile on his lips, “A wizard.”

***

31.

Luxon’s palms were sweating. At least they would have been if he was actually in his body. Despite being a spirit in the void he felt all the same things he did when back home. He got tired, hungry, thirsty, and everything else besides. Aljeron had chided him for it, saying that he himself had long given up those mortal sensations. Luxon had simply scowled at the wizard.

Aljeron hadn’t lied when he’d said about teaching. Three days had already passed since his arrival and each had been filled with sermons. The first day had seen him learn and master the lowest ring of magic’s. To Luxon’s surprise it had been incredibly easy. Now though, Aljeron was teaching him the mid-ring. Spells, such as healing, transmutation and divining were proving tricky to master.

“No. You must see the object in your mind Luxon. Stop letting your mind wander and focus,” Aljeron infused from his perch in a nearby tree. The wizard had been using the small clearing outside of the strange cottage as a training ground and he liked nothing more than to drift lazily from tree to tree. Aside from being hugely distracting Luxon found himself more than a little jealous of the wizard’s control of levitation. His cheeks flushed red as he remembered his own near disastrous attempt at such a spell.

“It’s a bit hard to focus with you flittering about,” Luxon muttered under his breath. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated picturing the object Aljeron had described in his mind.

‘
The pebble with a blue streak’

He focused as hard as he could until his mind’s eye flashed away from the clearing. He almost cried out but refocused. He wouldn’t fail again. The spell was surreal in that it made him feel as though he had left his body entirely to fly through the forest. He could see trees, rocks, a small group of Pucks squabbling. He almost shouted out in joy when he saw the stone lying amongst a pile of other stones of similar size.

“Found it!” he said triumphantly. He shook his head to release the spell and once more the clearing came into view. Aljeron didn’t look impressed.

“Well. Where is it? You found it with your sight. Now summon it here,” the wizard said. With his arms crossed. “A wizard can summon what he needs into his hands at a moment’s notice.”

Luxon sighed. Once again he took a deep breath and focused. It felt easier this time as within moments he had once again found the stone. Now he just had to call it to him.

‘How do I summon a stone?
’ he thought. An idea popped into his head. He focused away from the stone but kept it at the back of his mind. He drifted back through the forest until he found the group of Pucks. Concentrating again he aimed his power at the creature.

‘Find this stone and bring it to me’
he muttered through gritted teeth. His mind was now in three separate locations and he was growing tired as he focused. He muttered the words again, trying to plant the suggestion into the Puck’s mind. The Puck looked around as though it had heard something. It sniffed the air and scratched at the ground before returning its attention to the other Pucks that were moving through the forest.

“Don’t understand words eh...” Luxon grumbled. He focused on the Puck again, only this time he turned his words into pictures. His head was damp with sweat as he tried to maintain control.

This time the Puck spun around on the spot before running off into the forest.

Luxon gasped as he released his link with the beast. Now, all he could do was wait.

Just as Aljeron was about to mock him again for his failure the sound of the Puck sneaking into the clearing caught his attention.

The normally vicious creature was acting like a puppy returning a stick. Slowly it crept closer until it gently placed the blue streaked stone at Luxon’s feet. The young mage smiled in triumph as the Puck scampered off back into the trees.

Aljeron raised an eyebrow.

“Very clever. Wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it was effective,” the wizard chuckled. He raised a hand and the stone flew into the air to hover around his head like some sort of insect.

A loud crash came from the forest. Aljeron cried out in alarm before drifting down to the ground to stand protectively in front of his young pupil.

Luxon was about to ask what was going on when he felt the ground shake. The sound of distant trees crashing to the ground roared through the forest and into the clearing. A booming noise drew nearer with each sound quickly following a shaking of the ground.

“Stay still Luxon. We have a guest,” Aljeron said seriously.

The booming drew nearer and nearer until the trees at the edge of the clearing toppled over like dominoes. The sound was deafening and the vibration ran up Luxon’s legs and into his head.

Emerging from the forest was the biggest creature Luxon had ever seen. The beast’s massive head swayed from side to side, its large snout sniffing the air. It was a dragon.

The dragon stepped into the clearing, but due to its enormous size only its head and long scaled neck could fit. The rest of its mountainous body stayed among the broken trees. It turned its head so that it could see the two magic users.

An eye the size of a wagon affixed its gaze upon them. The pupil alone was the size of Luxon alone. It blinked a few times as it focused. Huge leathery eyelids closed over the yellow tinged eyeball before it regarded them again.

Luxon couldn’t help but take a step back. The creature was overwhelming.

“So... Aljeron, this is the one who came through the portal. I had hoped to reach him before you did, but alas in my old age I’m not the Dragon I used to be,” in a voice that sounded like thunder.

Luxon froze in amazement. The dragon could talk?

The wizard stepped forward and affectionately rubbed the creature’s snout. A thin puff of red flame shot out of one of the nostrils as the dragon purred in pleasure. Luxon almost laughed. It reminded him of a giant cat rather than some ferocious beast.

Aljeron waved Luxon forward so that he stood in front of the dragon’s huge eye. It blinked again and the pupil widened. Standing so close to the beast Luxon could feel heat emanating from it. He could also sense powerful magic, the likes of which he had never sensed before.

“So... you are Luxon. Aljeron has told me a lot about you. Even his long years of peering into your world he sees something in you which he has not in any other,” the dragon rumbled.

Luxon looked away in embarrassment.

“I wouldn’t know. All I know is that I have to return to my own world. My friends need me.” He replied.

The dragon chuckled shaking the ground with its deep rumble.

“We all dream of returning there boy. Even I who have been here for time immemorial still dream of the blue skies and warm sunshine of Aniron’s creation. Alas, it is something that even we dragons have been unable to do,” the dragon said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Now now Umbaroth, not all hope is lost my friend. Luxon here still has a chance. I am sure that together we can find a way,” Aljeron said reassuringly.

The dragon lifted its head with its long neck. Luxon stepped back as the dragon stood to its fall height. Trees snapped and the ground shuddered as it moved. The beast was massive, taller than a castle. Now that it was clear of the trees Luxon could see that the dragon was covered in large thick white scales. Its belly was the colour of silver and large spines ran down the length of its muscular back. Its vast wings splayed outwards covering the light cast by the stars.

“Danon knows a way!” Umbaroth snarled. “Do not think the dark one has been idle these millennia wizard. He seduced my brethren with promises of power and freedom. I can feel that he draws closer to escaping here, and the boy,’ the dragon paused as it raised a massive talon to point at Luxon ‘the boy is the key. If he takes his power and combines it with the dragons and his own he will have more than enough magic to force a way out of the void.”

Luxon shook his head.

“No. Aljeron’s staff was the key!” he cried.