The Sorcerer Prince

Chapter #11

     Seto opens up another trunk, dismayed to find more of the strange little cubes. Phantom growls as he tosses another book onto the floor. He didn't say anything about it, but the prince can't help but smile when he sees the familiar dumping some of the journals into a bag he found. He's keeping a lot of the old books that Seto wrote in another life. The books by other authors end up on the floor.

      "I had forgotten how much of a hoarder you used to be". Phantom scans the title and table of contents for another book before tucking it back onto the shelf.

     "In my defense, a lot of the stuff in here is ancient. Did you see that spear with the carved dragon? Weapons aren't made like that anymore". Seto picks up one of the black cubes, but jumps and drops it when it morphs into a bag of some type of dried bug. Alchemy stuff. He wants to assume that the rest of the chest is something similar, but none of the chests seem to have any sort of organization. There's a pile of discarded items building up on and around the bed in the back. "How are these cubes even possible?".

     "You're the only sorcerer I've ever seen who can do it. It has something to do with dark magic and tiny gates, but that's about as much as I know".

     "Dark magic seems...... useful. Why is everyone so afraid of it theses days? It seems like I used all the time in my last life".

     "Dark magic isn't dangerous, it's just the people who are born with it. Other magic types come with their own energy reserve that magic can be stored in. Sorcerers born with dark magic don't have any way to store it. Most of them resort to pulling life energy out of living things whenever they want to use magic. That's the dangerous part. You gained so much magic over your long life that using dark magic wouldn't drain your own magic reserve". Seto grunts, watching another cube expand and morph. He can only guess that the spell on them is pretty fragile. Disturbing them this much breaks the enchantment.

     "And what are we looking for? Exactly?".

     "Anything that has to do with magic's source. Somebody learned how to do it, and they must have told two others to get the three primary colors".

     "If I do somehow gain magic, will it still be purple, or a different color?".

     "I'm not sure. I want to say purple, but nobody's ever been in you type of situation before-", Phantom is abruptly cut off when the entire room shivers and trembles. Both prince and familiar freeze until the room stops shaking.

     "What was-".

     "The gate is failing! There's not much magic left in that crystal to keep this room stable. We need to hurry up and find something! Anything....". Phantom sounds a little more desperate now, no longer setting books aside to keep.

     "What happens if we're in here when the room collapses? Are we trapped?", Seto asks, worried. He takes another arm load of junk back over to the bed. It's all piling up rather fast.

     "Gates technically don't exist when the dark magic user in question isn't inside. If that crystal runs out of juice before we're out of here, then we don't technically exist. It would be like hitting the pause button until the gate opened again. It's happened a few times when sorcerers fell unconscious in their own gates".

      "And since this is my gate, and I have no magic.......". Trapped. That's what neither of them want to admit out loud. It's dangerous to stay, but Phantom is determined on finding some way to restore Seto's magic.

     The prince drops his load onto the back bed and stares at the pile in dismay. How are they suppose to find anything in here? He's just about to turn around and dig in another chest, but something shiny catches his eye. There's a small nightstand next to the bed that's remained untouched. A small, gold box is the only thing on top. A purple sand dial is the only marking on it. Seto first reaction is to pick it up and open it, but the lid doesn't budge no matter how hard he tugs. It doesn't even have a lock on it! Why would somebody keep a box that doesn't open? Since Phantom is taking all those books, Seto doesn't see a reason why he can't take the strange box. After all, this is suppose to be all of his stuff. The prince only hurried back to the familiar when another tremor goes through the room.

     "Ph-Phantom? I think we should....... leave".

"What!? We haven't found anything to fix your magic yet! Even if you have learned how to use a sword, which I doubt it, you can't fight that many sorcerers with a human weapon". The room shakes again, but Seto nearly looses his balance as the shockwave shakes a few more books off the shelves.

"That's why! This place is falling apart. It's too dangerous for us to stay!".

"Something has to be here to help you". The familiar seems so dead set on serving his former master. Even if he doesn't want to admit it, part of him wants things to go back to the way they were before.

"Phantom...... you don't have to risk your life for me anymore. I don't know exactly what happed in my old life, but I'm ok with just being human. You're more important to me then magic. We can find another way save my throne, I'm sure of it!".

Phantom bites his lip, an entirely non-familiar trait, and looks around at the gate. This will be the last time he ever sees it. He looks back at Seto. The prince isn't his master; just his friend. "You're right. The gate is failing. We need to leave".