Becoming the Sorcerer

Step 6: Inferno

Aldin's eyes were fixed on the motionless body before him, the once fierce gaze of his adversary now just hollow. As the Alpha's underlings fled or were captured, Aldin stood rooted to the spot, haunted by the secrets that died with those glazed eyes. Evan had acted without hesitation, but what had the vampire been about to reveal?

A grimy feeling enveloped Aldin as he stood there. The surrounding chaos quieted down, leaving a suffocating silence where even time seemed to pause. He was unsure how to feel about someone who had so readily resorted to killing. Although, he himself hadn't hesitated when he destroyed the two underlings. Could he really judge Evan? Something about it still felt off.

As he looked around the world came to a standstill, everyone frozen in place.

"What the..." he started, but his words were interrupted.

"Hello, Aldin," a voice said from behind him. "It's time for us to talk."

A woman stepped out from the shadows, her hair dark with streaks of red. She was dressed in leather armor, with vials strapped around her waist and a sword across her back, looking like a warrior out of a legend.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm the one who came before you. Alice the sorcerer, that's who I was until I met my end."

"What? I thought the Sorcerer couldn't be killed. And if you're dead, how are you here?"

"Well, aren't you full of questions. Can't be killed? That's a myth. We can be, but it takes a lot of power. Corthus was the end of me, as he was for all before me. And I am always near. We are irrevocably linked through time and space. It was time for us to speak so, here I am."

"You're saying, one person has killed every Sorcerer? How is that possible?"

"Corthus has been around for centuries and his thirst for power is insatiable. Magic has always been part of the world, but not mankind. And Corthus will stop at nothing to get more power."

"What do you mean not mankind?"

"Long ago, we fought just like everyone else, with strength and will. And for a time, we had magic. A mage, powerful and strong fought against demons to defend the world and eventually sealed the rest of it off from gaining power. Before that, magic was everywhere and almost everyone had it. As this mage fought against the demons, another mortal man who's twinned soul was ripped from his own, searched for a way to regain his lost magic. He found that he could gain temporary power through the consumption of blood. Not just any blood mind you but the blood of Dragons."

"Dragons?" Aldin asked.

"Yes, dragons. On a hunt with his king and warriors of the human lands, they came upon a dragon. As they fought it and slowly lost, a drop of its blood ended up in this man's mouth. Suddenly full to the brim with magical energy once more the man cast a spell that trapped the dragon. Before his king could slay it, the man asked permission to study the dragon for a night. With this he took vial after vial of the dragons' blood so he could study it and learn how the magic he had lost had once again returned. A few days later he ran out of mana, and it did not return until he drank the blood once more."

"What does that have to do with...?" Aldin began.

"Hush child, I'm getting there. After decades of study and a few dozen dragons being captured and tortured they captured the first Dragon. Havin wasn't the strongest of the dragons, but he was the oldest. In his blood the man believed he would finally regain what he had lost permanently. The night before he could use the ritual he had gained from a devil's deal, Tempus, the first sorcerer, claimed the Dragons soul. He became the strongest mage of the time. He was also the mage who was fighting against the Demon's. In order to stop them from destroying the planet and devouring all magic, Tempus sacrificed his own power to create the Veil."