Magicians

Chapter 10

Seajay

"Who's there?" I call out into the darkness.

Fires light suddenly all around the room. It reveals an fraile, old man sitting in a chair. He's surrounded by books and odd contraptions. He doesn't move, he just sits there.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

He doesn't say or do anything beside smiling.

"I am a magician, like you." he says in a raspy voice.

"No you're like me." says Macro.

The old man shifts his gaze to him.

"Yes, like you." he says.

"You were the one that was banished." says Macro. "But everyone thinks you're dead."

"I'm supposed to be." he says. "This place has kept me alive for a hundred and fifty years."

"Impossible." says Seajay. "You banished like eight years ago."

"Time changes here. It is erratic." he says. "Eight years could have been eight seconds of I was lucky."

"How did you get here?" asks Macro.

"The more important question is how you got in hear?" I sealed everything up, so I couldn't be followed into this place." he says with curiosity.

"We found and forcedlight an old entranced." says Macro.

"Impressive, but you are only beginning to scratch the surface." he gets up and slowly waves his hand at the wall behind him. Were are all bathed in a reddish light from all the torches hit lit up.

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

The man smiles and says, "He and I are the same. We both can manipulate all forms of magic. We can create and destroy life. We are all powerful. We can do anything."

I turn to Macro and he is just standing there with a look shock on his face.

"When I did the unthinkable and created an entrance to hell I realized that I am capable of anything. So I gathered resources from that place and examined it. I even discovered crystals there that did the most most horrible things to living beings, if you used them in the right way." he says with a wicked grin on his face. "They could force people into murder or cause them to hallucinate and experience their deepest, darkest fear. After some time I realized that they were slowly corrupting me as well, so I abandoned all of that. That's when I began dabbling in other things, good things. I created life. It wasn't anything big, it was just some small clay figurine. It followed my every order and defended me even if it was at the cost of its own life. I began experimenting on your magic, as well."

"Mine?" I asked him angrily.

"Of course. I wanted to see how you were able to create things out of thin air. I sent my minion to gather thing from you. Small things, of course, things you wouldn't notice. Basic spells, you long since discarded and I had it copy some of your notes and runes you left around your home. That's when I realized that all magic was intertwined. I soon taught myself to become less dependent on the crystals and began to create things from thin air."

"Why were banished?" asks Macro.

"Trac realized what I was doing, so he tried to kill me while I was sleeping, but only succeeded in killing my minion. He, then began going through my things and discovered my old research and he eventually stumbled upon my portal. So, he and the others banished me so I came here to live the rest of my days. Now that I told you what I know I can finally rest in peace. Feel free to take what you want from here." he said to us. He grabs a vial and drinks it, ending his life.