Pandemonia Chronicles: DAWN

CHAPTER THREE: TRAPPED!!

"I think this might lead to the roof," Jofur pointed at one of the many spiraling staircases in the room. "That's our best bet for escape."

"Why the roof?" asked Gestalt.

"Well, we obviously can't go out the front door!" Zaria stamped her feet when she shouted, which startled Gestalt a little. "Those nasty guards are, like, everywhere!"

"An Elemental Road is running over this castle," said Jofur. "Deus' presence here is kinda interfering with my magic and there are anti- elemental wards all over the place. Ordinarily those stupid soldiers wouldn't be a problem but I can't use my really big spells inside this castle. Plus, my magical power is just now recovering since we made the pact and I don't have enough juice for the big ones anyway. But, if we can get to the Road I can recharge."

"Elemental Road?" Gestalt was sincerely puzzled.

"You don't know what a Road is?" Jofur chuckled a little, but he was clearly trying his best to not laugh.

"I thought humans were smart!" Zaria made no effort to hide her snickering.

"Well, I guess it's not surprising," said Jofur. "Humans don't have much association with elementals like they were in the old days, before the Paladins started their 'Holy War' against us."

Gestalt didn't really care about what was common for the humans of this new world, but he was interested in hearing more about how magic worked.

"So, what is an Elemental Road?" said Gestalt.

"Time for Magic 101, I guess," Jofur coughed a little in a dull tone of voice, like he was imitating a very old man. "Listen closely, because I shall only tell you once:

"Magic is a supernatural force that exists naturally in the world, responsible for everything from the changing of the seasons to how much water is in a lake. Magic is, to put it simply, the building block of everything that makes up a world. Magic also allows the normal laws of the world's reality to be altered, but doing so requires a very large amount of magical power to be mustered into a single location and directed toward a single purpose.

"The flow of magical power throughout Terra is directed by the Elemental Roads, which are invisible to humans, but very obvious to Elementals. You can think of them as a series of roads where raw magical power travels throughout reality.

"Now then, each Elemental Road is connected to an Elemental Throne that can direct the movement and application of specific incarnations of magical force—such as Air and Light—and that Throne must be controlled by a powerful elemental in order to safely govern over the use of this incredible power—that powerful elemental is an Elemental Chief."

"Okay," Gestalt was trying to take all of this in.

"Don't interrupt!" Zaria lightly punched Gestalt's shoulder. "You have to learn this if you're going to be a magician!"

"Raw magic has no intelligence of its own," Jofur continued, still lecturing in the same odd voice. "It is just a force of nature. However, elemental beings are creatures whose bodies are a manifestation of magical power, but they possess a soul and are therefore an intelligent being. Elementals were created by the Old Gods to watch over the Elemental Roads and ensure they flow smoothly throughout the world."

A crooked smile shaped on Jofur's face.

"And any Elemental that has other ideas for their life gets turned into a teddy bear."

"I'm sure there was totally more to it than that," muttered Zaria. "But, I know it's not right to ask a Familiar what their crime was, so I'm not gonna ask."