A Tale of Two Knights

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I will have to take care of the lich that has caused the problems, but it will be impossible, as I have lots of things I have to attend to." The wizard stated. His voice was old, but it wasn't raspy. It was deep and clear. "What's your name?" The wizard asked Ludo.

"Ludovicus" He responded. "That name translates to brave. Very nice. My name is Gandel. I have been studying magic for over an entire century, and I am a master at magic." Gandel responded. "I see potential in you, as not many would have been able to get a dracolich to fall like that." Gandel hurried into his study room, and picked up the tray of elder cones that Ludo had seen earlier. The inside design of the cones had golden light shining in a spiral inside of the elder cones. It looked mystical, and Ludo could feel the magic inside of the elder cones. A wind breeze blew past, and Gandel asked "Do you know what these do?" Ludo didn't know what elder cones did. All he knew was that they could be sold for money. "No," Ludo truthfully answered. "Inside these elder cones, the great gold mystical power, you feel it don't you? Well, that is mana. The spiritual energy that allows for magic." Gandel responded. At this point, Ludo took the elder cone that he had found prior, and examined it.

It looked like a normal elder cone, except it seemed that a lot more of this mystical thing known as mana was in it compared to the other elder cones.

"Seems you found an arch cone. They are like elder cones, except they hold more mana than normal." Gandel explained. "Here. Hold the arch cone, and focus. Close your eyes, and relax. Think of absorbing the mana inside of the arch cone. Breath deep breaths." Before long, Ludo found himself completely mesmerized by the experience. A tingling sensation was present in his entire body. He then suddenly felt energetic. His body awoke from its tired state, and he opened his eyes.

The first thing he looked at was the arch cone. It was out of mana. The gold energy surrounding the cone was completely gone. Then he realized that he was levitating a couple inches off the ground, and the gold energy, mana, was flowing around him in a pattern. Suddenly it stopped, and he went back on land.

"Now you can do magic," Gandel said proudly. Suddenly, a look of concern went on Gandels face. "You are a knight of Estonia?" He asked. "Yes," Ludo said.

Gandel hurried upstairs, and Ludo followed. They came to the top where Gandel took a key and opened a cabinet. The cabinet opened with some force, but inside, was an assortment of items such as runes, protection charms, magical necklaces and rings, even dragon teeth and claws and talons from griffins, the spike from a tail from a manticore, a basilisk's fang, a cockatrice's eye, even a Elder primordials horn. Ludo stood in amazement. The amount of things he had managed to do, Ludo was sure he would not be able to do in ten entire lifetime, and more.

Finally, after searching for a bit, Gandel found a smooth shiny red gem that gleamed in the light. "This is a fire gem." Gandel said. "You can merge it with any weapon, such as a sword, and it will be able to turn aflame, or even do magic like shoot fireballs out of the blade. I wish you luck on your journey, whatever it may be, and if you ever need something, you can always visit me anytime, anywhere. However, I still need to find a way to get rid of the lich. This will be difficult, but can you slay the lich for me? I have to attend to things all the time because I am so busy."

Ludo thought for a second, and decided yes. "Great. Now, I have pinpointed his location by using a mental spell. He is in the nearby hills in a dark cave, 1 mile away from here. Turn east when you find the great arch tree and then head until you find the cave." Ludo slid his sword in his sheath, and waved goodbye. This next mission would be extremely difficult for him, but it was to repay the kindness that Gandel had shown him. When Ludo was out of the dreamhold, he decided to test his newly found magic based attacks on a dead tree. He channeled his mana and energy through the blade and a crackling sound was heard as the fire was shot through out of the sword, and into the very center of the tree.Within moments the tree was all up in flames. It quickly ate through the tree faster than a mouse could scurry up its hole, and in the end, all that was left of the tree was embers.