Untold Tales

Strife and Resolve

It had been at least a day since the girls battled Dreadbane. Time being of the essence, Zorlon and Malveron led them to the Astromancer Academy, where they would hopefully get help on their perilous quest to free the King and Queen. To say that their impression on the academy's starmaster, Nova Terron, was not so great would be putting it mildly.

There Nova storming through the halls with an irritated expression, having seen Arkayna's poor progress. Zorlon was following behind him, trying to assure him things would be just fine, so far to no avail.

"Absolutely outrageous!" Nova shouted, marching on. "The Dragon Disk goes dormant for a century, and now it chooses incompetent children as Mysticons? What is this realm coming to?"

"Starmaster, please be reasonable." Zorlon replied, his tone full of plead. "You haven't seen them in action like I have, they have outstanding potential. All they need is time to adjust into their roles."

"Time is not on our side!" Nova whirled, pointing his finger at Zorlon, who recoiled a bit. "Even now, Dreadbane is plotting to gather all the codex pieces for Gygax knows what! Something that will bring forth the apocalypse, that much is certain."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Believe me, they will rise to the occasion when the time comes, but the key word there is time. These are not warriors, these are young souls how have been given granted powers they don't fully understand. They must be treated with care, understanding, and above all patience."

"Patience eh?" Nova raised an eyebrow. "That would be a good word for the so called 'Dragonmage' to learn. She's perhaps the worst of them all." He them summoned an image of her lugging buckets of water, complaining while she did so. "Her arrogance is absolutely deplorable, and will no doubt lead to the realm's destruction."

"With all due respect, I suppose any of your other students were so different?" Zorlon retorted, arching an eyebrow.

Nova then stared daggers the younger mage. "You best mind your tone, Icestone." He said coldly, until he was but an inch away from Zorlon, nearly at eye level. "After all, I'm the one who got you where you are, you would be nothing without my teachings. Or have you forgotten?"

That hit a nerve with Zorlon, as he narrowed his eyes at his starmaster. "I haven't forgotten." He crossed his arms as he went on. "I also haven't forgotten that I became one of your best astromancers in time. That's what it takes to become well versed in the mystic arts, it takes time. I taught Malveron and Tazma knowing this, and they became talented young mages for it. Sure, there were bumps in the road, but I was still patient with them and that patience paid off with Tazma being a top level astromancer. Or have you forgotten?"

Both mages glared at each other for what seemed to be hours. It was almost as if they were communicating with each other telepathically. If that were the case, the look in their eyes concluded that it wasn't exactly a friendly argument.

"For all our sakes, Zorlon, you had better be right about these four. Frankly, from what I see, they're not suited to protect all of Gemina." With that, Nova stormed away, leaving his subordinate.

Zorlon could only rub his forehead out of frustration from that argument. He then began half heartedly stroking his beard, his face full of concern. He remained hopeful that the girls would rise to the occasion, if the previous battle with Dreadbane was anything to go by. Nevertheless, they were still new to their roles, and had a lot to learn before they could even call themselves Mysticons... Arkayna especially, being their leader.

"Gygax, please help them on their quest." Zorlon sighed, hoping the girls would be ready for whatever comes their way. He then face balmed as he heard Arkayna storming through, making her way to Tazma by the sound of things. "Yet another flame I have to put out." He sighed.

***

"This is a dark time, my fellow astromancers." Nova said. "One of our own kin, Tazma, had let her ambition to lead on the path her to the of darkness. You did very well to bring this to my attention, Zorlon." Zorlon himself was looking down at the floor, his expression disheartened. He tried his best to brimg Tazma away from the dark arts. Alas, he failed miserably. "Despite this set back, the Mysticons still need to continue their training. In other words, they need a new solon."

Zorlon looked at Malveron for a moment. He wanted so badly for Malveron to step up and become the solon he was training so hard to be. Yet, from the expression he could see on the young mage; a combination of sadness from betrayal and nervousness to take the step, he could tell Malveron was not quite ready. With a look of resolve, Zorlon faced his master.

"I'll do it." Zorlon flatly said, earning confused looks from his fellow mages.

"You?" Gandobi inquired. "What could you possibly offer these incompetent children?"

"Experience." Zorlon replied firmly. "For centuries I've trained young mages to use their gifts responsibly. Malveron here, being one of them. With formal training, I know they will become the heroes of legends they were chosen to be."

"A likely story." Quaserala said, her tone doubtful. "Yet, Tazma was your ward too, was she not? What's to stop you from failing them like you did her?"

"One failure doesn't change years of success." Zorlon replied. "If you'll let me, starmaster, I'll gladly make amends. But only... if Malveron assists me."

"If what now?!" Malveron said, shocked.

"Preposterous!" Gandobi exclaimed. "What could possibly-"

"He's someone who can understand them!" Zorlon shouted, causing Gandobi to recoil. "It would benefit them to have someone closer to their age train them, someone they can better relate to, someone who can learn along the way. That is, with your kind permission, Starmaster.

Nova stroked his beard for a moment to ponder this. To everyone's shock, "Permission granted."

"But starmaster, he-"

"I'm aware of his failure, Gandobi!" Nova snapped. He then turned his attention to Zorlon. "Which is why I leave you with this warning; what ever happens to these young warriors, falls directly on you. Are you ready for that burden?"

"I am." Zorlon said without hesitation.

"Very well, this meeting is adjourned. Come Gandobi, Quaserala, we need to purge the academy of anymore traitors still lingering." Just like that, the astromancers dispersed.

"W-wow, Zorlon." Malvaron said. "I don't know what to say."

"You earned this, Malvaron." Zorlon said assuring, placing his hands on the young mage's shoulders. "This is your chance to show everyone what you can do."

"Yeah, buddy." Doug said, in a sad voice. "I guess you'll be moving up in the world, woo." The cyclops cheered half heartedly. "I guess, I'll see you later."

Zorlon looked at Malvaron for a moment, arching an eyebrow. The young mage then gave an expression of insistence, saying to let Doug join. Zorlon then gave a big sigh. He had nothing against Doug personally, but he knew the big guy could be a bit of a cluts. Nevertheless, Malvaron hinted that he would only help if he had Doug to help out. And so...

"Say...Doug." Zorlon said, hesitantly.

"Yeah?" Doug said with an innocent puppy dog eye, which Zorlon somewhat winced at.

"I could use another assistant. I don't suppose you would like to..."

"Oh thank you!" Doug said, catching Zorlon in a bear hug, crushing the poor mage in the process. "I promise, I'll be the best assistant I can be, you won't regret this!" Zorlon quickly pulled away, catching his breath.

"I'm sure." He said, after a few deep breaths. "That just leaves one thing. To lay low and practice in secret, we'll need our own base of operations. In other words, a secet stronghold."

"I know just the perfect place." Em said, after a moment of thinking.