Avandor's Gift

I was alone. A prisoner of magic. The only thing that kept me going was the ability to sense Evander. The magic in his blood was like a constantly blazing beacon that illuminated the darkness of my existence.

I felt the change when he met with a being whose power and presence were magnanimous and foreign. The presence left and I felt him for a few hours and then he was gone.

His flame didn’t rekindle and everything remained dark. He was dead and I was alone.

“Tetyana,” he said crawling into my mind like the snake he really was.

“You caused this. Now he is dead!” I shouted at him.

“And by him I take that you mean the chuman. He was always meant to die, now we can move on.” He said apathetically.

“Yes we shall.” I felt a small shift within me, a fuse lit which set ablaze a raging fire. The walls around me cracked. I raised myself from off the dais and faced him. Magic swirled around me raising me from the ground. I no longer felt out of control. I was always fighting the magic and that was holding me back. I didn’t realise what magic was offering and now that I did I took it gladly.

“Tetyana, what are you doing?” I could feel him trying to siphon the magic from me and trying to bind me once more.

“You sound afraid and you should be.” I said advancing towards him.

“You don’t seem like yourself Tetyana. Who are you?” he asked as he backed away from me.

“Tetyana exists no more. I am becoming what I was meant to be. I am the beginning and the end. I am Alphandé.”

“This is impossible, you cannot become the staff.”

“Yet, I am the staff and more.” I still advanced. “As Alphandé I choose my wielder,” I outstretched my hand and placed it on his shoulder, “and you are found wanting.” One second he was and the other he was not. He opened a portal and had slipped through in time. His escape was only temporary. The second he used magic, I would find him and he would be destroyed.

I looked down at my hands. I had hands; I had a mind and a body. I had found the perfect vessel. I was no longer bound to an inanimate object. I was free and no power on this earth or in the heavens could or will ever hold me.

I was power.

I was magic.

I was Alphandé.

I was alive.

And because I could...I smiled.

I examined the memories of the changeling Tetyana whose body was my vessel. Several memories of both Envladane and Gé Addar lingered in her mind, they all involved the chuman Evander. I remembered him, my wielder and last true captor. He had the power to enslave me once more. Lucky for him, he lived no more. But there was one other who could take his place, his twin. But that wouldn’t be for much longer.

I opened the veils of time and space and stepped through.

I stood in a field of gold and in the distance stood an empty castle. There was no need to rush. Time, patience and planning were needed if I was to succeed. First I needed spies.

Several portals were opened and fifty white clad spectres stood before me. I saw looks of confusion and retaliation written into their faces.

“You were captive as I was for many years, join me and remain free, defect and die and I mean forever this time.”

Power recognised power. Surprise and retaliation faded into obedience. “We have much to do.” I said as I walked towards the castle and as expected, they followed.