Brittle

## Set in Stone (Detailed Background Story)

### Chapter 1: The Wizard of the White Cave

The elven wizard stared intensely at her marble table, carefully examining how the different pieces of rocks and minerals would react to her magic. She was hoping that some of them would prove useful enough to be used in her current project since she was growing impatient of continuously failing to find a suitable material. What is her project you might ask? A great catastrophe was coming, and it was her duty to prevent it or, in worst case, stop it. However, in this matter she was alone. Neither the townsfolk, her colleagues at the academy or other potent individuals believed that a danger was lurking around the corner. Of course, she did not blame them for not believing her since the only proof she had was constant nightmares and horrific visions, but that did not stop her from harbouring negative feelings towards them. They were all blind to the truth and it would cost everyone dearly if the catastrophe was not prevented. She wanted to protect everyone, but for that she needed assistance of others both for magical and workforce purposes. If she could not receive help from the people she already knew then why not just create people that would help her, she thought. Well, when she said people, what she really meant was gargoyles. They would make for excellent assistants, and since the wizard have had a interest in them since early childhood, building them would be like killing two birds with one firebolt.

And that is why she was currently experimenting with the rocks and minerals. She wanted to see if any of them was compatible enough with her magic to be used for building great gargoyles. Fortunately for her, the stones she was testing were the first ones of the week. Not so fortunate for her, she had been doing this for the past two months. For each new stone, a new hope, and for each failure, another sigh. She was getting tired of following the same procedure over and over again, collect testing material for an hour or two, try to connect the stones with her magic for several hours and by the end of day be disappointed since the stones are either all melted or lay in several pieces on the floor. And this day would prove no difference. By the end of it almost all stones lay splintered on the floor, stretching as far from her marble shelves to the hall entrance on the other side of the room. The wizard did not utter a single word, she simply picked up a small piece of stone and threw it away like she was trying to hit someone with it. Clearly frustrated, her mind could only delve in the possibilities of why she had not found any compatible material. Is she searching the wrong areas for test material? Is her magic too potent? Is her magic too weak? These were just a few of the many thoughts she had while standing with eyebrows crossed.

Well, enough was enough, it was already night time and she was not getting anywhere at this pace. She thought she might as well go to sleep and continue tomorrow. As she moved toward the bedroom she looked around the experiment room. Aside from the multiple stones scattered around the room, everything seemed normal. The books in the bookshelf were all organized and the candles on the walls were burning as bright as ever. With a simple snap made by her middle finger and thumb, she extinguished the lights in the room and entered the other. It took a few seconds of walking before the wizard reached the bed, but once she stood yawning beside it she simply threw away her hat and jumped onto the bedsheet. It was too much of a hassle to completely undress when she was this tired, so she closed her eyes, tried to let her mind become blank, and eventually fell asleep.

Since the wizard was an elf she did not require sleep, but it had become her preferable method of resting compared to meditation under the last couple of years. Not only did she feel like it was more satisfying but the horrible visions she constantly experienced was something that could not be simulated in a trance for some reason. The only way she could find hints or clues about the catastrophe was through sleeping and then witnessing the nightmares. Of course, having nightmares ruins the whole purpose of sleeping but sometimes sacrifices are required for the greater good as the saying goes.

This night the wizard seemed to have the same vision as the previous night. First came the black mist from the sea which violently engulfed everything it passed by. The mist went past the nearby town with a mean velocity slightly higher than of the average person running, almost as if it wanted to see the fear on the locals faces while it inevitably caught up. After the entire town was covered by the pitch-black darkness the next phase followed just like before. People who had inhaled or come in contact with the mist meet terrible fates. The fortuned ones either died from suffocation or what seemed like extreme pain throughout the whole body, however, the majority did not receive the luxury of dying quickly. They either turned into bloodthirsty cannibals with an appetite for the person next to them, or slowly melted into nothing but a black goo which resembled the likes of an ooze. However, there was one thing all the victims had in common besides dying, their veins turned dark as the night and they started bleeding in abnormal amounts. The wizard has witnessed the same scenario before, but this time, she glimpsed something new as well. While the town was currently being consumed by the mist there was a magic caster of some sort whom created a luminous barrier which repelled the mist. Unfortunately, the person could only hold the barrier for a few minutes before it finally gave in. Because it was difficult to see what was going on the wizard could not conclude much. Was the spell created by the caster or was it a common spell she just did not know about? Did the barrier collapse because the caster failed or did the spell have a set time? Could the caster move while holding up the barrier? So many questions yet no answers. Aside from this event the nightmare would continue like the previous one without anything new showing up, just an endless show of darkness and agony.

The wizard suddenly awoke from her nightmare, sweat running down her forehead with heavy breathing filling the room. She quickly looked around like she was still inside the dream and eventually settled down once her mind caught up to reality. She still felt exhausted. Of course, it was no surprise considering the nightmare that had plagued her for the last two nights. Snapping her fingers, the few candles on the walls became lit and most of the shadows were now gone. Grabbing her napkin from the bedside table she wiped her head and then unwillingly got out of the bed. Even though the night had been the opposite of relaxing, the bed still felt as comfortable as ever. Once standing, she immediately put on her hat and went to the experiment room. Since the sun was up there was no need to light the candles, instead, she proceeded to the marble table while occasionally stepping over a pebble or two from yesterday’s attempt. She grabbed the bag of stones which, for some reason, felt much lighter and smaller than the usual ones and poured the content onto the table. While doing this her eyes remained closed as she simultaneously concentrated her magic. She threw away the bag and continued concentrating. For three hours she tried to make the test material react with her magic and this time it felt very different. Where she would normally feel resistance towards her magic she instead felt… Embrace? No. It was more like nothing was in the way, just a path with no obstacles to hinder her influence. She almost lost her concentration because of the excitement she felt for experiencing something so different from the ordinary. However, there was something more that was different. Normally the wizard could only insert so much of her magic before the material severed the connection, however this time, she had at least given five times more than that and it did not look like it was going to stop anytime soon. As much as she wanted to speculate the reason behind it, she remained calm in order to not lose her concentration like she almost did before. After one more hour she felt the connection closing. Finally, she opened her eyes.

There were no stones on the table. She was confused. Where had the stones gone? She had been influencing something for the past 4 hours, so it must have been the stones. Speculations spawned in overwhelming numbers as an attempt to try explaining the mystery before her. Just as she was losing her grip of the magic she saw how the white marbled table started glowing, and then, she had a realization. The reason why the bag felt so light because there were no stones inside, the reason why so much magic could be absorbed was because the table was the target which was obviously much larger than her testing stones and the reason why the table reacted to her magic was because it has been naturally exposed to her magic over the course of many decades. Everything finally made sense. She had done it! Under all this time and the answer had been right in front of her. There were no materials more suited for her project than the ones she was surrounded by every day! Excited by her newly found discovery, she started to demolish many of her everyday equipment. Her shelves, her tables and her chairs were just a few victims in what she would later refer to as the think twice hunt, with an emphasis on the words “think twice”.

After a whole week of collecting material, sculpturing and reading, the wizards gargoyles were finally finished. One was made of granite with a bulkier and rougher design thanks to the amount of granite available. The other one was made from marble with a rounder and more polished design thanks to the sculpturing characteristics of the marble. Of course, the wizard was no master sculptor, which is why both gargoyles resembled each other in many ways despite their distinctive designs. They were brothers, and you could say those similarities was a way to show that. But before they were truly complete she needed to bring them to life with her magic.

With careful hand movement and whispering of ancient words, the ritual had begun. It took the wizard a couple of wearisome tries before the ritual succeeded. Upon its completion, the granite and marble statues before her came to life. First their wings started moving, then their arms and then the rest of their stoney limbs. You could sense how the gargoyles emitted enormous amounts of magic before it started to slowly diminish into a steady state. And at last, they opened their eyes. The eyes looked around curiously. What is this place? The gargoyles thought. However, before they could find the answer, they saw the short elf standing before them and their eyes could not help but to become fixated on her. She opened her mouth and said with a smile;

“Hello my darlings. My name is Alanna and I am your master.”