Magic Spawn Origins

Magic Spawn: Chapter 31

by Meredith Skye

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The tombstones, the black night sky, and the cold wind all ceased to matter to Ehina as she left Rian in a fit of anger. He and his foolish Earth friends had no idea what they were up against! They had no chance to fight against a powerful wizard such as Molan. And Rian refused to listen to reason.

How did he ever mistake that small, sickly humanoid for a human child? Didn't they see that he was different? Surely they knew. She tried to imagine the mother bringing the child home as a baby, spawned that day by the wizard. Hadn't it been imbued at that moment with the wizard's knowledge and power? Wouldn't Molan's corrupt soul have entered into the body and made it an abomination?

Unless somehow the spell had been interrupted. The Arlunni had discovered and attacked Molan ten years ago. He had escaped at that time and they hadn't been able to track him down. He must have hidden here on Earth.

Was it possible that the wizard had not yet made a connection to the magic-spawn? The child had the power of speech and appeared to act independently. Did the creature have a soul—or only the illusion of a soul?

Too late. Now, it belonged to the wizard ... utterly. Or else he couldn't have done the powerful death magic that had been wrought in the crypt—bringing to life so many skeletons and summoning the other creatures. No, the boy must be helping the wizard!

So, it didn't matter about the past: or whether the boy had seemed alive to Rian; or whether he could act like a human. When the wizard possessed the child, he destroyed everything that came before. Whatever soul the boy had was gone now.

It was sad. Sad that Rian and his mother had saved the boy instead of leaving him to die. Sad that they'd made the child a part of their family, unaware of his suspicious origin and terrible hidden powers. Sad that Rian now must give up his brother as lost.

But there was no avoiding the tragedy.

Ehina stumbled in dark, catching herself against an old tombstone. The night had turned deathly quiet. Now she was alone on a strange world soon to be in the control of the wizard Molan and his minions. Perhaps she was as foolish as Rian and his friends. All she had was a sword; she was alone. What could she possibly do against this wizard?

Why had she allowed herself to be summoned to this world? She could have stopped it. She could have gone to the Guardians and told them about it. They would have sent a squadron of true Enforcers, fully qualified to deal with this.

She had lied.

Ehina herself wasn't an Arlunni Enforcer, merely an acolyte in training, hoping for induction someday into the Order. But she'd waited a long time, all her life, and many of her friends had already won their title as Enforcer. Why? Didn't she have what it took? Or was she weak ... flawed somehow?

The fog closed in around her. The accursed darkness of this world haunted her, though she suspected this to be a spell cast by Molan.

She took a deep breath. She must control her fears. How many hours had she trained for a mission like this? All her life. If she could only succeed against such a foe as Molan then surely the Arlunni would see that she was capable. They wouldn't pass over her again!

But against Molan ... even the name gave her shivers. As did the thought of a magic-spawn. The stuff of children's nightmares.

Carefully she made her way up the slope, using all of her skills in stealth, walking lightly so as to make very little sound, stepping on rocks without leaving a trail.

Finally, she arrived at the entrance to the crypt. A dozen skeletons guarded it--if their numbers weren't an illusion. She'd heard stories about Molan's abilities to fool those who attacked him, either to mask the numbers of his army--or to make it seem like it was three times as large. Molan had many talents.

She felt torn. There was too much at stake. If she failed, then the Arlunni would never know that Molan survived and had woken once again. She had to get back and warn them.

Ehina withdrew back down the hill, out of sight, preparing a teleport spell that would recall her to Arlunn. Every Enforcer and acolyte were trained with this spell for emergencies such as this.

Drawing power from the amulet around her neck, she touched the recall stone and uttered the spell. She felt it activate and power up. Familiar energy gathered around her in preparation for teleport. Then suddenly it faltered and faded.

"No!" she cursed, forgetting herself. Something was wrong about this world. It had a dampening effect on spells. None of the spells she'd cast had succeeded, not without the amulet. She looked closely at the amulet. The power of that rune was gone. There was no getting it back now.

She'd have to cast the spell herself, then. This world was so far away, perhaps completely unknown to the Arlunni. Gathering all her energy, she concentrated, harder than she ever had in her life. This had to work. They couldn't fight Molan on their own.

But the familiar magical fields were nowhere to be found. She felt as if she were grasping in the dark. Even a simple spell might prove impossible to cast in this far-flung world. She collapsed to her knees, letting go. It wouldn't work.

Perhaps there was another way. Perhaps Molan had access to the other dimensions, but to find his gateway, she'd have to enter the crypt and face whatever minions he had there. Not an attractive prospect.

If she circled back along the fence, and found a place to wait--then maybe when Molan ventured forth to find victims, she could search for for an astral gateway that might lead off of this world. Surely, he had one. Some of the creatures he had summoned were very powerful. With the magical dampening field on this world—it would be easier to cast such spells from a null plane, a created reality—one such as the Nethermost Realm. The world from which Molan originally came. Slowly and carefully, Ehina made her way back towards the wizard's lair.

For awhile, she waited. The fog made it difficult to see, so she had to pick a spot fairly close. Several skeletons still stood guard in the clearing in front of the crypt. Other than that, there was no activity. Soon, her patience grew thin.

To her right, she saw that the path continued. She followed it, wanting to find the edge of this place.

Behind her, she thought that she heard a noise and turned to stare into the darkness. The night was still and silent. She couldn't see anything there. After awhile, she continued on.

Still, she had a feeling that she was being watched.

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