The Warlock's Shadow

The Enigmatic Amulet

That night Mom gave me a very ornate amulet that looked like a magic circle. It was a couple inches in diameter and made of deep green jade. As before she said that it belonged to Dad and that it was supposed to be handed down when she felt the time was right. The dragon shifted as she put it around my neck. The amulet was strung with a wheat braided metal chain which helped distribute the somewhat weighty piece. Mom didn’t exactly know why I was supposed to have it, it was apparently a sort of dying wish.

As soon as my dragon realized there was another in the house, they initially acted like territorial cats. They circled and hissed at each other. Normally dragons understand each other and didn’t really pay each other any mind but, this was not a normal circumstance. Eventually they seemed to want to tolerate each other for now. Both gave each other a lot of side eye for the rest of the evening which, despite Mom’s displeasure of me wandering off in my depression, ended up being pretty pleasant. The only annoying thing was the dragon ate most of a package of bacon during breakfast.

Once I made it out into the bright daylight I could see the details of this wild dragon much better. I could see it was male, and that his scales weren’t black but a very deep violet that made him appear black. His eyes didn’t glow exactly, but the irises were a rich crimson color that I suppose could appear like they glowed in the right light. He also had tiny spines along his back and the top of his head making it look like a mohawk.

#

I wish I could say that the school day was pleasant. Sasha informed me that everyone actually did notice that I wasn’t present during the ending of the ceremony. They clutched their basketball sized, birthday cake looking egg close as we walked. To say they were impressed that a dragon was on my shoulders was the understatement of the millennium.

“How in the world did you get his deep violet scaled beauty?” They said as they attempted to give my dragon’s head a soft scratch. The dragon snapped at them playfully. “Does he have a name?”

“No, not yet,” I laughed as Sasha kept trying to pet it and the dragon continued with the playful biting. I told them everything that happened after I wandered off and even after I had gotten home and showed off the amulet around my neck. Though Sasha was impressed and didn’t see the harm in it, Lisa sure did.

“So, you sat on an egg as it happened to be hatching and it imprinted on you?” She said with all the love and warmth of a chainsaw. “Do you understand how much trouble you’re going to be in?” Of course this news spread through the student body like wildfire. Even before school started a few faculty members came out and asked me to explain everything to them immediately.

I was brought to the Principal’s office. It was bigger than I expected, about the size of a classroom. Two teachers accompanied him, Mr. Roland and Lief, the Botany teacher. The room’s walls were lined with certificates, degrees, awards and other achievements. Bookcases filled with tomes old and new made up an entire wall on their own. The desk was large and ornate with dragon claws for the feet.

“Mr. Umbra,” Principal Ashrith began. “You can imagine the confusion we all have regarding your recent companion, I’m sure?”

“Oh, right. Yeah I’m sure it’s kinda different, huh?”

“Tell us how it all started?” Asked Leif. I obliged by giving them the full rundown, leaving out the events at home. They all looked at each other a bit concerned. I wasn’t sure what they were thinking. The dragon on my shoulder looked up at me and over at the teachers.

“So what do we recommend?” The Principal asked his colleagues.

“What do you mean, recommend?” I asked.

“Well, Alex, what you have is a wild dragon,” Leif said. “They are unpredictable and are, well, completely wild. They aren’t bred for this kind of work or symbiotic companionship.”

“Now hold on,” Mr. Roland said. “Let’s not be so fast to judge. We don’t know much about wild dragons so this could be a good opportunity.”

“We don’t even know if this dragon has the same effect that ours do,” Leif scolded.

“How about we ask Alex?” Mr. Roland said as they all turned to me. “Alex? We’re aware your magic isn’t or wasn’t quite where we expected it to be. But with this new addition, would you care to give us a short demonstration?”

“Um, yeah,” I said shyly. “Okay.” I held out my hand and let it ignite in the strange black fire from yesterday. My hand shook from nervousness. Slowly the flame started to turn into ink and consumed my hand and started to go up my arm. I shook and put it out.

“Sorry,” I said embarrassed.

“Don’t be,” Mr. Roland smiled. “Darkness is often misunderstood and can be difficult to control.” He walked over to me. “Especially when you’re not used to magic flowing through you all the time.”

Mr. Roland stood behind me casually, hands in his pockets. “I say we let him keep it. It could be beneficial to him. I’ll even be his mentor.” Leif and Principal Ashrith looked at each other sidelong.

“Are you sure this is a charge you’re willing to take, Alistar?” The Principal said.

“Absolutely. Any consequences will be my responsibility,” he said confidently. “I have full faith in Alex that he can control his magic,” The dragon looked behind him at Mr. Roland and gave a quiet chortling sound. He looked down at it and gave a small laugh. “And keep an eye on this wild dragon as well.”

Principal Ashrith took a moment to think and gave a deep sigh, “Alright,” he said. “Let it be so. But I’ll hold you to your word, Alistar. If anything bad happens as a result of this dragon or his magic, it’s all on you.”

And with that meeting I had a mentor. It took a few days for my dragon to realize he had to roost with the others during the day but he got the hang of it. Oh, and over that time I finally figured out a name: Nocturne. I thought it was fitting with my affinity and his appearance.

#

Days turned to weeks. During that time I had to deal with the drama that came with having a dragon before anyone else. Pushed around, bullied, lots of various rumors float about. Luckily, that started to die down as one by one dragons started to hatch spectacularly. Much different than Nocturne’s hatching. These eggs began to glow before the shell just disappeared completely and a dragon sat in their lap. Unfortunately for me, they could understand their own dragons, whereas I still couldn’t communicate with mine. I had to rely on tricks and training, like a pet. It definitely didn’t make me feel good about it.

Out of all of these hatchings there was one strange occurrence. When the Egg Ritual happens the dragon that is in the egg is the same gender as its human companion. However this time was different and not many people knew why. Or wouldn’t say why. Samuel’s dragon companion was female. She was a beautiful emerald green with short golden spines going from the crown of her head down to the tip of her tail. He would mope around school thinking they had messed up the ritual but had the assurance of the staff that he was fine, he just had to listen to his dragon and he would figure it out.

Meanwhile, I had started asking teachers about my amulet and if they knew anything about its purpose or why my Dad would have left it to me. But no one had any idea as to its whereabouts or its general use or purpose. Most thought that it was just some decorative jewelry passed down. But my Mom had said it was special and important, and kept refusing to go into any details. I couldn’t explain it but I could have sworn that I felt some faint pulsing from the amulet itself. But when I asked others to see if they could, it stopped.

I started to become obsessed with figuring it out. While in the library one day I bounced ideas off of Lisa and Sasha. “Do you guys have any ideas? It’s driving me nuts,”

“Sorry, Alex,” Lisa said. “I’ve looked through every book that would have any amulets, or medallions, even magic circles, I can’t find anything.”

“What about that book we got from Crowley?” Sasha said. “We haven’t looked through that one yet.”

“I left it at home so I’ll have to check it later,” I leaned back and put my hands behind my head. “Speaking of though, should we stop by his store? It’s been weeks, I’m sure he’s forgiven us already.” At least I hoped he did.

The rest of the day proceeded as normal. Once we were outside for our free period our dragons were released from the roost so they could come back to us. Nocturne found me pretty easily, Lisa and Sasha’s dragons took a few more minutes.

Sasha’s dragon was golden with small red spines and dark eyes. They agreed on the name Topaz. Lisa’s dragon gracefully glided around as graceful as she was before smoothly landing on her left shoulder. It was a beautiful icy blue color who’s tail looked like it had small spikes of ice. They settled on the name Zero.

After the official end of school we all walked over to Crowley’s bookstore passing through his concealment charm and carefully walking in. This was Lisa’s first time inside since we showed her the store. We walked around not seeing Crowley anywhere. We took the opportunity to wander around. Lisa stayed close to Sasha and grabbed and yanked at their ear whenever Sasha was about to wander off, do something stupid or both.

Crowley eventually found us deep inside his store. “I trust the elf girl is going to keep the stupid one in check?” he said, pointing his fingers of each hand to each other in a finger pyramid of contemplation. “Or do I need to blink you outside again?” He readied a snap.

“No, no,” I said quickly. “Lisa is keeping a close eye on them. But now that we found you, do you know anything about this?” I showed him the jade amulet.

“Hmm,” he said, pondering the amulet. “It is truly a curious item. I’m afraid I haven’t seen its equal so I wouldn’t be of any help I’m afraid.”

“Well, that sucks,” I sighed. “Thanks anyway, Crowely.”

“Meanwhile, can I get these?” Lisa said, breaking the awkwardness with a stack of books on the counter. After Lisa paid we walked out and all headed back home. I offered to help carry some books but Lisa didn’t seem to need much help.

#

Over the next few days whenever I had free time I would be in the library going through anything and everything I could try to find out about this amulet. I decided to ask Mr. Roland if he had any ideas since he ended up becoming my mentor. I thought he might be a good person to ask.

“Well, have you tried asking any other teachers about going to the archives?” He asked.

“The archives? I didn’t even know the school had archives,” I said. “Are they like, in a spot in the library where students aren’t supposed to go but the only thing that stands in the way is a velvet rope?”

Mr. Roland had a good laugh, “Oh no, not at all. It’s a place under the school with very old books for more indepth research purposes, usually for the faculty. You might be able to find something there. Here, let me write you a permission slip.” He grabbed a piece of paper and a very ornate pen. He drew what seemed like a complicated magic circle and runes but nothing appeared on the paper then handed it to me.

“That should get you inside for a couple hours. I’ll give you a pass to go there now to skip this class and next to do some research.” He told me how to get to the basement and sent me on my way. It took longer than I thought to get down to the basement but I eventually made it.

The doors to the archives were large and ornate. The double doors were carved with scrolls, filigree and, of course, dragons. Two large dragon faces were carved in the front in a menacing look as if they were guarding secrets. I showed the paper and the eyes of the dragons lit up and slowly opened. The paper burned up in my hand as soon as the doors opened.

“Guess I can’t save that for later,” I said as I started to walk in. The archives were dark and lit only with torches. The stacks of books went up into what appeared to be an endless ceiling with ladders attached to reach the higher shelves. I walked down the main aisle, large tables on the floor for studying as if it was once meant for many more people to be down here.

I got to work as quickly as I could and went searching anywhere I could. Row after row and shelf after shelf I searched as much as I could but I wasn’t finding anything close to the amulet my Dad posthumously gave me. I was high up on a ladder looking wherever I could until I came to a faded book that looked like it was well used. I opened it up and started to flip through it but my hands fumbled and dropped it. Sighing, I went down the ladder and saw the page it happened to fall on showing a drawing of the amulet I wore.

I looked closer at the book seeing that it was a journal. I vaguely recognized the writing but couldn’t place it. It talked about it being a key for many locks, whatever that meant. I read on and it talked about a large dragon living deeper under the school, saying it was some kind of guardian and showed a circle to draw to enter that was part of some sort of previously forgotten magic. Was hard to really make out what the writing said. I read further through the journal out of curiosity as it detailed out some pretty complex magic. I flipped to the front only to find written on the front, ’Property of Maximilian Umbra’.

“What?” I shouted. By instinct I looked around making sure I wasn’t disturbing any nonexistent patrons. I found Dad’s journal. The book he wrote his secrets and life and his magical knowledge who knows how long ago, just to hide it here. Did he plan on me finding it? Or was it meant to be hidden away so no one would find it?

Bang.

The double dragon faced doors began to close. “Crap. Time’s up,” I grabbed Dad’s book and started to hightail it for the opening. I was able to make it with just enough time. By the time I reached the doors they were about ten feet apart and I ran as fast as I could between them. Once I crossed the threshold I looked behind me and the doors closed with a thud. The eyes of the dragon faces grew dim then were once again wooden. I looked down at the book still in awe that I actually have my Dad’s book.

“I can’t wait to show Lisa and Sasha,”

Immediately I went outside, Nocturne must have been looking for me as he smoothly dove and latched onto my shoulder and made himself comfortable wrapping around me, and found my friends and showed them what I found.

“Alex, this is amazing,” Lisa said with genuine excitement. It was odd seeing her showing legitimate emotion. “You can learn all you want about your Dad that history doesn’t know.”

Sasha also took a look at it, “So cool. It’s like you can pick your Dad’s brain without having to dig him up,” Lisa and I looked at them flatly. “That was insensitive wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, just a bit,” I said, snatching the journal from him. I laughed letting him know I wasn’t really offended and we all shared in that. “So, In Dad’s journal he talks about this guardian under the school, and says something about it being absolutely enormous.”

“What?” Sasha said. “I thought those were a myth, like Giraffes or Ostriches.”

“Well, Dad says he saw it and even talked to it and that it spoke.”

“Talked? Like how we talk to our dragons?” Lisa asked. “Or how our dragons speak?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “He’s not very clear. You guys want to come with me?”

“Pft, duh,” Sasha said. Lisa nodded in agreement and gave a smile.

“Awesome,” I looked through the journal a bit more where Dad talked about the guardian. “It looks like we need to get into some places we otherwise might not be allowed to, but I got to research it a bit more. We should probably do it on a weekend so no one is here.”

“Agreed, this Saturday?” Lisa suggested. We all agreed and settled on early that day. We went home and I went to my room and sat on my bed and read the whole journal, or as much as I could today. I didn’t tell Mom about the journal yet. I mean, I figured I had to eventually but it’s been a lot lately emotionally between us so, I thought it better to hold off for now.

Saturday finally came and I read all that I could of the journal and of what Dad said of the guardian and where it lived. We all got to the school early in the morning, Nocturne, Topaz and Zero followed their normal routine and flew up to the roost. We all swallowed hard and went on.

“Alright, according to the journal we need to start at the back of the school. There should be a large rock between two trees.” We made our way to the back finding what we were looking for. It was a boulder that was about eight feet tall with a flat face lodged between two thick and old trees. The trees looked like they grew around the boulder.

“What now?” Lisa asked. I looked down at the journal and flipped the page. I took off my amulet and gently held it against the flat face of the rock. Immediately it glowed and a portal opened up to a staircase moving deep into the ground. The staircase was quickly swallowed up by blackness.

“Did anyone bring a flashlight?” Sasha said.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I can kinda see in the dark, at least a little bit.” Both Sasha and Lisa looked at me with a bit of confusion.

“Dude,” Sasha said. “That’s awesome,” Their face lit up with excitement of my newfound trick. I explained to them both briefly that I figured out I could after the Affinity Ritual. Apparently Sasha and Lisa’s physical traits had not yet surfaced. We started to move down into the stairs and into the perceived darkness.

The stairs wound left and right and eventually spiraled down to the left. We had to form a small chain in holding hands since I was the only one who could kinda see. To me it was like seeing by moonlight of a full moon. Where you could make out shapes but all definition was lost.

“Hey I think I see the bottom,” I said as we were coming up to a straightaway on the stairs. We stood at the bottom and I looked around. It was a large cavernous room with rough stone walls. The darkness here was blacker than black. I couldn’t see anything past a few feet in front of me. I looked to my right and happened to see an unlit torch which I grabbed from the wall.

“Can either of you light this?” I asked, handing it off to one of them. I wasn’t sure who grabbed it but soon the torch was alight. I opened the book again to see the next step. The light from the torch showed the raw rock of the walls, but didn’t see much else aside from some filth here and there in the edges where the rough floor met a wall and occasionally spread out in the middle of the floor. “According to the journal, what we’re looking for should be just down at the other end of the cavern.”

We walked together slowly and carefully to avoid the piles of filth. It was difficult to say what the piles were exactly but all we knew was that they were gross. Brown and a little slimy with bits of who-knows-what, we didn’t want to know. Eventually, as we stepped forward the ground trembled and something moved in the pitch black in front of us.

Hoooommmmm.

A noise from the blackness boomed. A large face appeared on the edge of the light. To say that it was enormous would be an understatement. If the three of us stood on each other’s shoulders we might be the same height. The face was long, its eyes were bright blue and its scales were white as snow. There was bushy fur above its eyes like brows, and horns with the looks and size of tree trunks came out and back at the top of its head.

“It’s…it’s…,” Sasha was stunned into silence for once.

“It’s a dragon,” Lisa said in awe. “A really big dragon,”

“Hmmm, Is that you Maximilian?” It said looking at me. Its voice was deep and old and strangely friendly. It took us all by surprise as it wasn’t like how dragons were supposed to talk. This wasn’t a form of telepathy like normal. This was its honest to goodness voice.

“It talks?” Shouted Sasha.

“Um, n-no, I’m his son, Alex,” I said in a shaky voice. “Wh-who are you?”

“I am Kur, the guardian of this land. Older than recorded time, mightier than the strongest typhoon, more powerful than any earthquake and devourer of liars,” it said in a grandiose and serious tone. “Has your father never mentioned me to you?”

“I’m not sure how to tell you but, my Dad died when I was just an infant. He and a few other Knights fought in a big battle and he never came home. Only his dragon did. At least that’s what Mom tells me.”

“Hmm, that is unfortunate,” he said in a sad tone. “He was always kind to me. And took his time to visit when he could.” He sighed. “I suppose you want to get into the vault then?”

“Vault?” We all said. I looked through the book thinking I missed something.

“But you’ll need the key. I can’t help you open it without the key.”

“He never mentioned a vault in his journal, at least as far as I’ve read. Just that this was some kind of key. Would this work?” I showed Kur the jade amulet and his face moved a bit closer, moving a bit sideways to get a better look.

“Oh,” he said. “That’s the key you need indeed. That will save you a lot of time.”

“Well what do we do with it?” I asked.

“Hmmm,” Kur said thoughtfully. “Just touch it to that wall over there.” A great claw came out of the darkness to the edge of the torch light and pointed at the nearby wall. We all made our way over and I carefully placed it on the wall. Unlike before where a portal opened up, this time the wall gave way and fell slowly into the earth. The amulet started to glow and pulse after the door was open.

“You guys believe me now?” I said showing off the amulet to them. “I told you it was doing stuff like this for a while now,”

“Oh we see it,” Sasha said. “How could we not? So what’s inside the room?”

We peeked inside and saw an array of many different antique items. Among them was a large mirror that the amulet seemed to be drawn to. We walked in seeing swords, cups, armor, and other random objects. The mirror began to react the closer we got to it. It began to pulse in time with the amulet. I reached out and walked closer, the pulsing of both objects getting faster and faster.

“Careful, Alex,” Lisa called out.

I stepped further on until I was a few feet away until both were a steady glow. I looked into the mirror and suddenly instead of my reflection I saw my Dad. And I don’t mean the resemblance between him and I. I mean that this was like watching a movie.

“Guys, look,” I said. And pointed to the mirror.

“Is this the Convergence Battle?” Lisa said, watching. We saw my Dad riding on a large version of Glace as he slung spells with his allies to a dark figure on a dark dragon. They all flew around like a giant dog fight in the air. His allies surrounded the dark figure

“Warlock Blight,” My Dad shouted. “For your crimes of attempting to extend the convergence, attempting further merger of the FeyWild and other dark and forbidden magic you are hereby banished to the Void,”

The other Knights on their respective dragons held him in place and his dragon in place with a binding spell. My father held up the amulet that I now had and willed magic through it as it glowed brightly. Behind the man that Dad called Blight a portal of pure blackness opened and began to pull everything into it like a blackhole.

Blight looked behind him as he resisted against his binds. “I might be banished but that doesn’t mean I still don’t have help on the outside,” He held up his hand and unleashed a wave of darkness that washed over the sky then vanished. “Now you’ll never be able to locate any of them. They will do my bidding even when I’m gone. You still lose,”

“Enough,” Dad shouted, obviously enraged and shot a beam of light towards Blight. At the same time Blight shot out a missile of darkness towards Dad and both hit simultaneously. They both gave a pained shout. Dad’s allies let go of Blight upon impact and he fell into the Void portal which snapped closed as soon as he was through.

Dad fell through the sky looking lifeless, his friends caught him and Glace, who had changed back to his smaller form, before they hit the ground. The mirror faded back to normal but was still blurry.

“Alex, I’m so sorry,” Lisa said and she and Sasha hugged me. It wasn’t until then I realized I had tears in my eyes. I blinked and sniffled.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m okay.” They let go but still stayed close.

“If that amulet can open a Void portal, that thing is dangerous in the wrong hands,” Lisa said.

“Yeah, that Blight guy seemed like a lot of bad news.” Sasha agreed.

“We need to keep the amulet somewhere safe. The convergence is only a couple years away,” I added.

“Agreed, Blight said that he had followers fifteen years ago. Who knows how many he had and how many are still loyal to him to get him back?”

“Yeah, and who knows what this thing is really for?” Sasha said. “I mean, Alex, your Dad used it to open a portal, but who knows if that’s what its true purpose is?”

We all promised to stick together and uncover what this amulet actually was and what it was used for. We walked out of the room, not before telling Sasha to put down a set of gaudy robes and overly ornate cups, convincing them that the items could be cursed or haunted or something.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Kur asked.

“Sort of,” I said. “We saw something play out on a mirror inside.”

“Ah,” Kur mused. “That must have been the Mirror of Memory. It shows you the last memory of the previous owner of any item you hold. It evidently reacted to Maximilan’s amulet.”

I gently touched the amulet realizing that it really was Dad’s last memory before…well you know.

“Thank you for the help, but we should get going, it’s awfully late,” Lisa said. She was right. We said our goodbyes to Kur who thanked us for the visit and hoped we’d see him again.

“We’ll try to visit as often as we can,” This seemed to please him as he smiled, I think. Once we got topside and went back onto the school grounds the portal in the boulder faded away. It was later in the morning and the school still seemed empty.

“Well, hello, Alex,” a voice said behind us as we walked away. It startled us all not knowing how much they saw. “Getting in some extracurriculars?” We turned, it was Mr. Roland.

“Oh, just coming by to um,” I was at a loss. What should I say?

“We came by to check on an urban legend,” Sasha said.

“Oh really?” Mr. Roland said. “I’m intrigued, what legend would that be?”

“You know, the one that says if you kiss this stone between the trees at Wyvern Glade Academy it will grant some good luck?” Sasha smiled their fanged smile hoping he’d buy the lie.

“Ah yes, I know the legend,” he said. Phew, that was close. I had no idea that it was an actual legend. “Well I hope it worked in your favor for you three. See you later,” Mr. Roland walked off back into the school. If we were to come back to see Kur again at some point, we were going to have to be very careful from now on.