The Warlock's Shadow

Dark Designs

(30 days until the Celestial Shadow)

We had stopped over at Lisa’s to finish catching up over the last couple months of studying for school. It was difficult to not just dive into everything we had been researching and forgo our studies. Luckily Samuel had been giving us regular updates whenever he could. We did our best to put our noses to the grind since none of us wanted to get kicked out and throw our dreams away.

Like Sasha and I, Lisa’s house wasn’t far from the school. It was modest in size but pretty lavish inside. Everything was pristine and had its own place. Ugh, neat freaks. The place looked pretty ritzy and fancy, and Lisa stood out like a sore thumb, in a good way I mean. I caught glimpses of her parents, both who were Elves, and both looked a bit stereotypical as far as Elves go. Very stylish and posh and proper. And of course Lisa is the one dressed in dark attire which honestly gave a good visual dynamic.

Upon hearing there was company Aerin peeked out from their room and saw Sasha. He immediately made for Sasha and clung to them happy to see Sasha again. Sasha also seemed happy to see their miniature protage. They played together briefly before Lisa’s parents called Aerin back to allow us to study. For some reason, Lisa’s parents always had some news channel running in the background on their fairly large TV.

Somewhere in the middle of our heads being buried in the library of books and Lisa’s parents putting out a platter of various snacks for us Lisa’s head popped up catching something interesting on the TV.

“Guys. Look,” Lisa said as she pointed to the TV and turned up the volume.

“Is that Mr. Roland?” I said, astonished.

“Recently, a former instructor at Wyvern Glade Academy, Alistar Roland was apprehended by The Knights after a brief struggle,” the Elvish news anchor said.

“During his booking and branding as a warlock,” the male half-elf anchor showed his scared mugshot on the screen. Mr. Roland wore a very large, mostly healed slash across his face that almost made his naturally handsome features more dashing. “Alistar Roland escaped custody and went into hiding. He is thought to have been a leader of one of the black magic cults centered around the infamous Warlock Blight.”

“The Principal of the Academy could not be reached for comment about the, now, former teacher,” the women anchor said.

“He’s a warlock now?” Sasha said.

“Does that mean?” I started and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Does that mean I did black magic too?”

“I don’t think so,” Lisa said. “But, even if you did The Council can figure out when a warlock is manipulating someone to unknowingly do their bidding. That way they don’t arrest someone innocent.”

“Right…right,” I said. It was true The Council was good at getting their man, but were usually horrifically slow about it. It apparently took weeks just to brand Blight a Warlock and even longer to issue his sentence after he too had escaped custody.

After our initial shock wore off, we hurriedly finished our school work and I pulled out the few books we didn’t give Samuel. I flipped through, what we now know as, Blight’s old book. It contained a lot of scary stuff. Lots of different black magic formulae, illustrations and spells. None of which, even translated, we couldn’t understand in the slightest. I also flipped through Dad’s old journal to see if I could figure out anything else about the amulet out as well thinking that I might have missed something. I took a closer look than I had usually given it, mostly because Dad wrote about boring stuff in his life at the time. That is until I flipped a page I hadn’t gotten to before. I started to read. It was written in almost scribbles, like someone was in a huge hurry to write it all down so it was hard to make out. What I could make out seemed to be talking about how the amulet reacts to celestial events. Dad wrote something about the amulet charging up.

“The amulet absorbs energy from the earth when it senses significant celestial events are soon to happen,” I said out loud.

“What?” Sasha said with a mouthful of snacks.

“It’s from my Dad’s journal,” I said. “Looks like your theory was right, Sasha. The amulet is charging up.”

“So that memory we saw when we first met Kur,” Lisa said. “Was that the amulet letting out all the build up energy?”

“Maybe,” I said. “It makes sense.”

The next day school was canceled. They claimed it was a teaching holiday even though we were never told anything about it. Chances were the school was dealing with the media backlash of having unknowingly hired someone now branded a warlock. Or they were trying to figure out the best way to keep us safe now that there was a fugitive on the loose.

With the free day presented to us we decided to do what teenagers do best with an unexpected day off from school, waste time and loiter in a public place. We headed to the park and found a picnic table in the sun to feel warm. Though spring was right around the corner, winter still held on with dying grasps making the mornings and evenings cold and bitter. Nocturne, Topaz and Zero decided to fly up into a nearby tree to hang out with each other and do whatever it was dragons do together.

While we talked and generally hung out I flipped through Blight’s book idly. Curious about what other things he may have written about. Any secrets that he may have written down or really anything helpful to use against him. I was so absorbed into reading that, apparently, I had zoned out pretty heavily and didn’t hear my friends calling me.

“Alex,” Lisa shouted. “Alex,”

I shook my head, “Huh? What’s up?” I said as I looked up from the book.

“We were asking if you were okay,” Sasha said. “You were pretty involved with Caelus’ book. Or should we say Blight?”

“I don’t think it matters what we call him,” Lisa said to Sasha before turning to me. “Did you at least find something interesting?”

“I think so, look at this,” I pointed to a hand drawn blueprint of what looked like the school library. “I think Caelus– Blight, ugh whoever, made or discovered a secret room in the library. Look, here, in the corner.” I pointed to a back corner of the layout of the library that was usually pretty dark.

“That sure looks like a doorway,” Sasha said. “Does it say how to open it?” I flipped through another page to look for the answer.

“Yeah, there is a handle hidden behind a few books, it says.”

“Should we try to get in when school opens back up?” Sasha said in a sly voice.

“I want to say no but, honestly it would probably help,” Lisa sighed. “As much of a bad idea as it could be.” She smiled knowing that we would end up doing this regardless.

It ended up being a couple days before school started up again. Pushing our deadline of the eclipse closer and closer. A notice was sent to every family’s crystal ball that given the current local danger level security was increased at the school and that it should go unnoticed by students. We were also advised that we shouldn’t worry and that despite the subtle security school days would be normal. They also gave notice that the remaining games of Golem Grapple were canceled due to student safety. Our school kept the wins it had but would not be able to participate in the championship game.

We walked into school when the morning bell rang and we saw what the school called a “subtle security”. There were guards at almost every doorway and every entrance and exit. Their faces were like stone, they all had very short cropped hair and were built like a brick wall. They all wore the same jet black suits with the insignia of the Knights on their lapels, two swords crossed in an X behind a globe and a small shield above it all to signify they were of the security division. They were also the only ones in the entire school who had their dragons with them. If this was subtle, I’d hate to see what the school would call an obvious security update.

Once we got to our free period we made a beeline for the library. I dug the book out of my bag as we got to the back of the room making sure no one was paying attention to us. I looked around trying to find the right spot.

“So where is it?” Sasha whispered. They started pulling books aside looking behind them hoping to find a handle somewhere.

“Calm down and be patient,” I whispered back. “Let me look.” As Sasha put the random books back, I found the spot in the book where it showed the room and what books that needed to be pulled to find the handle. “Here.” I pointed.

Lisa was the first to walk up and look at the books. “Does the librarian not rearrange their stock at all?” She said. “If his book is what, thirty-something years old you’d figure the library would have discovered this room by now.”

“I think the librarian has rearranged all the books. Let me see what Caelus said about it,” I said. I read on carefully. “He wrote down that he put an enchantment on the set of books covering the handle. That if someone grabbed them with intent to permanently remove them from that spot, they would stick to the shelf and wouldn’t be able to move.” I walked up to the short stack of very old books on the shelf covered in dust save for a few.

“It looks like someone was here not too long ago,” I said. “There isn’t any dust on these books.” I gently pulled the books without dust back and placed them on a nearby table only to be met with a blank back of the shelf.

“There’s no handle,” Sasha said. “What gives?”

“I’m sure there’s more to it,” Lisa said. “Right, Alex?”

“I think so,” I said looking through the book. “Oh, yeah, I missed this part.” I reached out and pressed the back of the shelf. It depressed with a click and when I let go, a handle appeared. I grabbed it, the instructions in the book said to turn and push, I did so. The shelf silently swung open as if it had been freshly lubricated.

It only cracked open enough for us to slide in and we gently closed it behind us. The shelf-door shut with a click. As soon as the door clicked shut a dozen large lamps around the room lit up. The room looked like a small study with a work desk that included some shelves at the back of the desk along the wall filled with papers, a few books and some scrolls, a square table big enough to seat two people on each side comfortably, and a workbench with odd stains and spills of mysterious fluids on it littered with strange and unknown tools.

I checked the makeshift blueprints in the book and it seemed to match the room. Despite the furniture the room seemed pretty large. We all stood at the doorway just taking in the room and what things might have transpired here right under the school’s nose.

Lisa was the first to step fully into the room to inspect it. She slowly walked by the work bench, inspected the strange tools, went to the work desk and pulled a scroll from a cubby hole from the upright portion of the desk and opened it. Sasha and I walked in as well and started looking around. Something was off but I couldn’t place it. The place seemed like it had been here for a century but also felt somewhat new. It was a strange feeling thinking what all kinds of things could have transpired here. The conversations, the history, the planning.

I stepped up next to Lisa and grabbed a book from the upright portion of the desk. It was hand bound manuscript less than an inch thick. It didn’t talk about much outside of contextless experiments that were being performed. What formulae worked, which didn’t and so on. I picked up the next one. Fear ran through my heart like a knife as I opened the notebook. The notebook showed hand drawn depictions of dragons. Only these images were images no one should have seen. The dragons were flayed open, illustrations with labels mapping out their inner workings, their bits and pieces. I felt sick thinking how Blight would have found these details. Could he really have been that horrible?

The reason why this was so horrific was dragons didn’t die in the same way as any other living thing did. Once a dragon’s life ended, its body burned up, bones and all and all their magic returned to nature. If Blight was able to map out their anatomy in such detail, it would mean–. No. No, I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to know who’s dragons these were who were shown in such a horrible, torturous and shameful way. I really would be sick if I did. I quickly closed the book and put it back.

“Alex, are you okay?” Lisa said. “Even in the lamp light you look pale as a sheet.” I swallowed hard.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. “Just don’t look at that book if you want to keep your lunch and not have nightmares tonight.”

I opened up a drawer in the desk to find one more book. It looked almost new, but that could be because it was hidden away. However a few wrinkles in the page corners looked out of place. I flipped through the book. It started off:

‘Society has the potential to use such power but are afraid to use it. They hide behind the guise of “unity”, “togetherness”, “for-the-greater-good”. These are lies told to the masses to keep them obedient and in line. Never allowing them to question or seek power. They are weak.’

I skimmed more of the book, it talked about needing to corrupt dragon’s minds and bodies, and how to do it. I mentioned it to the others.

Lisa and Sasha took it and skimmed it together. “This is horrible,” Lisa said, covering her mouth in shock.

“Why would anyone want to corrupt and enslave dragons?” Sasha said. “They’re innocent and have done nothing wrong.” They handed the book back to me.

It talked further about forming an army or fleet of dragons at his disposal. How to summon every kind of eldritch horror and nightmarish creature from the Faewild for nefarious purposes. It also listed places I didn’t recognize but sounded bad or evil. Places like Hades, Malabolge, Sheol. There were notes in the margins in a different handwriting that I didn’t recognize. More things further on were scratched out, others rewritten. I turned the page again and saw further on a few notes in that different handwriting than before:

‘The new generation has risen. I will be his most loyal. I will free him. He will rule all.’

“Guys, look at this,” I held up the small book and passed it to Lisa and Sasha to both read. They flipped through it about as fast as I did, looking equally as worried.

“Should we show someone? Tell someone?” Sasha said.

“What good will it do?” Lisa objected.

“We could show Principal Ashrith. He would know what to do, right?”

“I don’t think so, Sash,” I said. “Blight wrote that fifteen years ago. Who knows how old or new that other writing is and we have no idea who wrote it.”

“It’s obvious it’s Mr. Roland, right?”

“But we don’t know that for sure. We don’t have proof,” Lisa said.

“Of course we do,” Sasha said. “Just look around, there is no dust on anything. This place has obviously been used recently. If this hadn’t been used in the last thirty some odd years, think of all the dust that would be on everything,”

She and Sasha started to argue over what should be done with the small book as well as everything else in the room. Lisa had a point in that it wouldn’t matter if The Principal knew anything about it. Sasha also had a point that someone needs to know. But also on Lisa’s side, we didn’t know if it was Mr. Roland’s writing. He was only just arrested, and, well, on the run, so we could be jumping to conclusions. I interrupted and told them so.

“The only correlation we have is that Mr. Roland tried to get me to use that one magic circle–,”

“From Blight’s book,” Sasha interjected.

I sighed. “Yeah, okay you’re right there,” I admitted. “But, that’s just one thing. And we don’t know all the details of Mr. Roland being arrested.”

“Alex is right,” Lisa said. “They intentionally don’t release the details so no one goes and repeats what the one being arrested tried to do.” While Lisa went on to clarify to Sasha why it wouldn’t be a great idea to tell anyone, at least yet, I went and dug a bit deeper into the books and scrolls and pamphlets. I found a large folded piece of paper. I walked over to the large square table as I unfolded it and spread it out.

It was a few maps that were folded together. The map on top was a map of Elysia. But it was marked all over with lines and circles and Xs. I couldn’t make sense of it. The next one was another map of Elysia but I actually recognized this one, as it was a leyline map. It showed eight lines joining in the center of the map, which was also the center of the city, which happened to be the park. This also had many lines and Xs and circles written all across it. The last map showed the entire world. But it showed more Xs and circles and lines all over.

“Hey, guys?” I called out. “Do these maps mean anything to you?” Lisa and Sasha stopped arguing for a moment and came over to inspect what I was looking at.

“They look like battle plans,” Lisa said.

“How do you know what battle plans look like?” Sasha asked in a snarky tone.

“My Dad likes to collect old military stuff,” She said in a matter-of-fact tone. “His den is full of old battle plans from the last few hundred years. As well as a bunch of Elven military memorabilia from just as long ago.”

“Your Dad has a weird hobby, you know that?” Sasha said.

“You should see Mom’s hobby. She collects bones.”

Sasha looked at her uncomfortably, “Uh, what kinds of bones? People’s bones or animal bones?”

“Yes,” Lisa said with a smile like it was something normal.

“Why would there be battle plans here?” I asked to get back to the subject at hand. I looked over the maps with interest flipping between the localized ones and the overall world map. I tried to make sense of the movements and how Blight would have anticipated his enemies to move.

“Maybe he got really into that world conquering board game and wanted to come up with his own strategy?”

Lisa rolled her eyes loudly. “I really doubt that’s the reason, Sasha.”

The answer came into my head as soon as the rhetorical question had left Sasha’s mouth. “Unless…,”

“Do you think he actually planned out how to do it?” Lisa said. She looked over the maps with this new information in mind. “These must be his plans to take over the world if he ever got his way.”

“All those people whose lives would be ruined,” Sasha said lamentfully.

“All the dragons that would end up corrupted,” Lisa added. “Never to be themselves ever again. Forced to serve a master rather than be equals.”

“Wow,” Sasha marveled. “I’ve heard of having goals and taking on the world but, I didn’t think anyone would take it literally.” Despite the tension we tried to hold back the laughter. But we laughed a little harder and longer than we probably should have. Sasha’s gift of laughter brought us back from all the negative feelings and energies that were starting to build up.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” I said with a clearer head. “We won’t tell anyone about what we found, yet. We will keep this under wraps and use what we need at least until the Celestial Shadow is over. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Sasha and Lisa said in unison.

I’m not sure why, but a sudden inspiration came over me. Maybe my Dad’s spirit was with me. “Let’s make a promise, a pact, right now,” I said, brimming with confidence.

“A pact?” Sasha asked. “You’re not talking about like a “you-die-we-die” kind of pact, are we?”

“No, no,” I said. “Nothing like that. I want us to make a pact to stick together. No matter what happens or whatever comes between us. To stick together and stay united against Blight and whoever might still serve him. No matter who it is. Sure Blight and who knows who else might be out there has more experience, training, wisdom, and well, everything we don’t have. But we have things they don’t.” I looked towards Lisa. “We have your brains.” I looked towards Sasha. “We have your kindness.” I brought myself up, “and we have my Essence Weaving abilities.”

“Really humble there, Alex,” Lisa mumbled deadpan.

“Shush,” Sasha said, wide eyed and smiling on the edge of their seat. “He’s on a roll.”

“Let’s promise to just stay together. Promise to stand against all kinds of evil and protect what we hold most dear to us. In the best ways we know how. Even if we’re out matched, we’re still stronger when we’re unified than apart.” I looked at my friends longingly. “So what do you say, together?” I put my hand out.

Lisa put out her hand on mine and held on, “together,”

Sasha put their hand on both of ours, “together,” They gave a wide fanged grin.

As we shared in the moment together, my pocket started to glow. I dug inside and pulled out my amulet. It glowed brightly and steadily. The pale purple light looked a bit different. I couldn’t place how it was different, but it seemed warm and it gave me hope that we could actually do this. The hope that we have the strength to take on anything that was against us.

We heard the final bell quietly ring from behind the secret door saying the free period was over and it was time to go home. We quickly and quietly left the room and made sure everything was back to how it was when we left. Quickly leaving the library the school was still occupied by the Knights, unmoving. If I didn’t know better I’d swear they were statues. Seriously, did they move at all? As we walked outside our dragons found us right away and nestled on our shoulders and we made our way to the park.

Once we made it to the park the spring sun was still high in the sky warming the air. I took out my amulet and placed it in the center of the table we chose. It had changed to a slow and steady violet pulse.

“Do you think it initially reacted to our promise in that secret room?” Sasha asked.

“Who knows?” I said. “It’s been erratic and weird for a while and it’s just going to act more and more weird as the eclipse gets closer.”

“Wasn’t this the place where all the leylines in the area converged?” Lisa asked. “Like on one of those maps.”

“Yeah I think so,” I said looking around. “Do you think that the amulet is taking in as much energy as it can right now? Being at the leyline intersection?”

“I imagine it is,” Sasha said. “It’s so relaxing looking at it. It’s calming, like everything is going to be okay.”

“Yeah, it kind of is,” Lisa said.

“Hey, guys,” a familiar voice shouted. “Thought I’d probably find you here.” Samuel walked up with the books we let him borrow. He carefully placed them on the table.

“Hey, Samuel,” Lisa greeted. “Thanks for all the help you’ve been over the last couple months.”

“Yeah, it’s been a life saver,” I said. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” they said. “If you really wanted to do something I’d have to think about it.”

“It’s a deal,” I said. “Just let me know when you decide.”

We hung out with Samuel for a while at the park. The four dragons messed around with each other in the way other pack oriented creatures play. Pretend fights, teasing snaps and sounds that resembled laughter. We all had a good laugh as we watched Topaz sit on Nocturne’s head. We thanked Samuel again as he gathered up his dragon and left.

“Do you guys really think we can do that ritual Kur told us about?” I asked. “The one meant to keep the Void sealed up?”

“I don’t know,” Sasha said. “But how can you give a pep talk like you did and suddenly have doubts?”

“Sasha’s right,” Lisa said. “We can do it. We just need to harmonize together and we will be okay. Maybe the amulet will do the heavy lifting?”

“Maybe,” I said. “But we’re literally going to step into the lion’s den in less than a month. It’s something extremely dangerous. What if we fail at this weird ritual and Blight ends up escaping?”

“Like you said, Alex,” Lisa said as she placed her hand on my arm. “We have each other. Together we will be able to do anything.”

Sasha came up too and wrapped their arm around me. “That’s right. No matter what, we got your back,”

As my friends joined around me we shared in a more genuine moment than we did just before. This actually felt warm. It felt empowering. It felt, dare I say, hopeful. Maybe there was something to that hope stuff after all.