The Book of Warlock

The Book of Warlock 4. Here be dragons.

Lucinder stepped through the portal Gate, and nervously glanced around at her unfamiliar surroundings. It was inherently dangerous, coming to old, forgotten worlds such as this. The Master Mage had briefed her on what little they knew of her strange location, and none of it sounded good. "Here be dragons", he'd warned with a wrinkled frown, before sending her on her merry way.

Her MagiMetre whirred and beeped in her soft, grey-handed grip, and she hoped this would be an easy task to complete for much-needed merit. Her long ears pricked, picking up warbling tree birds and the rustle of leaves in the morning breeze. Thankfully this was a breathable planet, and she didn't have to needlessly deplete her limited source of Power just to function.

A High-Energy spike was far up ahead, judging by the luminous display on her gadget, and with a rolling of her shoulders, and a cricking of her neck to limber herself up, she began to tread.

Her eyes flitted to the nearby rocky outcrops, spying for big-toothed monsters, and to the deep forest behind in case something hungry came a-leaping. Be just her luck to wind up as a snack for some alien beast! Her heart thumped. She wasn't the adventurous sort. The past twelve years had been spent in cosy, sunlit rooms back at the Polytechnic, pondering the source and purpose of Magick, attending lectures and even giving a few of her own, attempting to narrow down the definition of the Universe's most cryptic source of energy and potential.

Magick was her life. She'd known since she was a young cub that this was her calling. She'd run around the local nature park with a crude piece of tree branch that she had dubbed 'Ethemerial', (because all registered amulets, staffs and totems had to have monikers), zapping at her pals, using her imagination to turn them into weird and wonderful creatures, like humans for instance. She'd paid attention in class, when they'd learned about the Institute of Sorcery, and one of the Institute's own DemiMages had graced them with their presence – letting them pass around an almost fully depleted charm, touching it and trying it on their wrist, hoping to capture their imagination and plant a seed of fascination in Arcane subjects.

It had worked like, well, a charm, on Lucinder. She'd taken books out of the school library telling the feats and achievements of some of the most powerful sorcerers of her time, and ages past.

It had all lead her to this. A position on the Council of Sorcerers. LayMage. It was entry level, and nowhere near as cushy as she'd like, but you had to start somewhere, didn't you? It was her current duty to track down artefacts of Power that weren't registered. Only those trained in the arts should have access to them, and here she was on her first official Retrieval, to bring back a Tri-Corn Horn sceptre that had been causing havoc. Wild, raw, natural magick was unpredictable and dangerous

Like the dragons she'd been warned of.

A shadow upon the ground in front of her nearly sent her diving into a handy, yet spiky, bush.

Collecting herself, she clutched at her necklace and crouched, staring at the circling shape. It was certainly dragon-like! Outstretched wings swooped, and long legs dangled.

She wasn't keen to take on a draconish menace. Not right out of the Gate! They were meant to be rare, and in hiding for the most part. Not just flapping about without a care in the world.

Her mind immediately went to a flee option. She had the Pocket Portal. One click, and she could be at another Gate within the world.

Ah, but the sceptre was so close! To bring it back, and have it put in the safety of the Hold would guarantee her job. As it stood, she was on a temporary placement under performance monitoring.

Trembling slightly, she remained, waiting for the airborne menace to change direction.

Her MagiMetre began shrilling. Hardly surprising, really. Dragons would do that!