A Light Born

A Flicker of Light (first in a series of three short stories)

At first the ash felt awkward on his skin, the raven guarding is soul should have been a thing of comfort, but Toland wasn’t particularly fond of it. However, it had been six months since the ash had first found his face and he found himself feeling incomplete without it.

“The villagers of Batta are too fresh for a strong military presence. If we want to pass through the city without being tasked, we cannot wear the ash, Cross.” Toland looked over at his fellow adventurer of the last three months. Three months since the purging of Belegaria and the founding of a new nation.

“Tolz, what if something happens.” Cross and Toland hadn’t run into a lot of trouble in their journeys, but to say they were uneventful would be an outright lie. While their search for artifacts in the wake of evil’s absence in the newly cleansed peninsula of Belegaria hadn’t been fruitful thus far, they had found a handful of relics of Leechian’s reign, mostly manuals for the former military and a handful of books about training paladins that would be given to Arias when the path took them to New Belegar. The price of these books was paid in the blood of black orcs hiding in the mountains, an easy exchange for such things.

“We will be fine, stop being so worried. We are just going to stop in for a few days and listen for the locals to see if they have heard rumors of anything. New people to a new land are sure to explore their new home, and they’ve had more time to do it than we have over here. We’ll lay low for a day or two and if we don’t hear anything then we will swing south through the Noram. Hardly an easy trek, impossible for an army, however, it shouldn’t be too bad for just the two of us. Perhaps we will find a necromancer’s hideout or something.”

“Fine. We’ll do things your way, but if something happens and I have to kill zombie you, well, I guess I will already have to kill you, making us even. Never mind, let’s go.”

A few days of wandering the city turned up nothing, but Cross happened across a conversation that piqued his interest on his way to meet with Toland before leaving Batta. Listening in, he heard a tale of a mound of dirt that was emitting light at night, about an hour’s walk northwest of the village.

“We should check it out.” Cross wasn’t expecting an argument, but Toland’s response wasn’t exactly what he was expecting either.

“Sounds like a waste of time. Perhaps it is just an after effect of the lifetree’s growth.”

“Tolz, that’s just why we should check it out. The villager said it started a week ago, if it was an after effect of the cleansing of the black spell, it would have happened sooner.”

“Fair. We should be able to get their rather hastily, and it’s almost dusk. Once the sun sets I imagine it will be easy to find.” Toland reached into his pouch and pulled out some ash, the raven returning his mind to normal. “It was nice to pretend for a few days that I didn’t have things to do.”

“I don’t think I will ever know that feeling, Major. Let’s go.” The two left the gates of the city and found the mound of glowing dirt with the ease Toland had predicted. What Toland did not predict was the three hours of digging to get to the source. As the dirt shifted the light grew brighter and brighter, until it was nearly blinding. At the bottom of the pit shined a small stone touching a root. When Toland grabbed it, the light suddenly stopped emanating from the clear, quartz like stone.

“Maybe you are holding it wrong.” Cross took the stone from Toland’s hand and it shined once more, with vibrancy similar to before but not quite as strong. Toland took it from Cross’s hand and it was empty once more.

“That root is the Lifetree, I can feel it. Paladins know these things.” Cross told Toland, figuring it might be an important piece of the puzzle.

“Then I would assume that the stone reacts to light energy. Looks closely, it still glows a bit when I hold it, like it holds the energy for a moment before it vanishes. Cross, try healing the stone.”

“That’s not how it works Tolz.”

“Damn it Cross, you know what I mean.” Cross took the stone and focused light energy into it. When he handed it back to Toland, the stone held the light in itself. It didn’t emanate, like previous, but it was holding the light energy in itself.

“Cross, I do not know what to call it, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t useful somehow.”

“I have a few things in mind. Toland, we should head to Belegar, Arias will want to see this.”

“We will, but first, let us sweep through the Southern Noram. I have a feeling that this discovery will not go unnoticed.”

A Reoccurring Darkness (second in a series of three short stories)

“I knew we would find something. The stone is handier than we could have hoped for.” Toland was holding it out, watching the light dim gradually has they knew they were heading into something dangerous.

“I would rather you were using it has a flashlight instead of a zombie finder. I’m happy to kill the zombies, I just want a flashlight when I’m doing it.” Cross wasn’t particularly thrilled with where he had found himself. The Noram mountains weren’t the tallest on the continent, but to find snow in the normally tropical Belegaria wasn’t something he was expecting, or had packed for, with his mini vest nearly frozen to his skin. “Can we go straight to Belegar after this? Please?”

“Funny, I never expected someone so eager to take the leaf of the Lifetree on their shoulder to be so unwilling lead.”

“Tolz, I will end you. You know that if I hold the stone it just gets bright, and I can’t use it like this.”

“I’m aware. Just a little gentle ribbing, Paladin, nothing more.” The winds of the mountain tops weren’t forgiving, but has they continued forward, a structure in the distance began to come into focus. “Up ahead lays the source of woe.”

“Yeah, I saw it like two minutes ago, old man. Source of Woe, do you always have to be such a downer?”

“Cross, you are just upset about cold you are. I would hardly call myself a downer. Even if I would, it is preferred to your incessant rambling about how hard your nipples are.”

“Plenty of people like talking about my nipples, Tolz.”

“And I am not amoung them. May we press forward and kill the zombies or necromancers or orcs that wait for us now?”

“If you insist, guy.” The closer they got to the structure the more intimidating it looked. Black metal spires with sharp edges sprung forth from the ground surrounding it, a spike fence of gleaming black metal against the white snow.
Cross and Toland weaved through the metal until reaching the doors. The keep didn’t look particularly large, but there was no telling how much of it was dug down instead of built up. The halls were covered in cobwebs, the halls had clearly not been used in a long time. Searching through rooms revealed a mess of nothing, empty shelves with empty bottles and empty vials sitting on them. The stone was still reacting, there was something here to find. Moving silently through the rooms, Toland and Cross searched until eventually they found a stairwell in back. When it was approached, the stone began emanating darkness, making it hard to see.

“Give me that!” Cross snatched the stone from Toland’s hand, and it was neutral, neither illuminating nor dimming the room. They descended down the staircase to find their presence unnoticed by something hurriedly working around a large lab. The figure was rotting, like a zombie, but was not the mindless thing that Cross and Toland had encountered before. No, this was something different. After a minute of watching it work, it stopped and looked up to see Toland and Cross, weapons drawn.

“A Paladin? Here? Not now, I’m not finished!” The creature yelled out as cross quickly put his large sword through his chest.

“Easy enough, Tolz. Looks like he was working on something.” Cross looked down has the body vanish into a trail of smoke, behind absorbed into a well of black sludge behind held in a bird bath in the corner of the lab.

“That’s worrying. What do you know of liches, Cross?”

“I know all I need to about them – you kill them and they keep coming back.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that. I’ve heard Corvus mention them before, but I do not know how to stop him from coming back.” Toland looked at the sludge stirring, and smoke began to rise out of it. The lich stood before them again, this time ready for battle.

“I hope you aren’t expecting this to go as well as|” The lich stopped speaking as cross lobbed his head off with another swing of his sword.

“Tolz, this might start to be a problem soon.”

“Agreed, oh cold one. Belegar is a three day’s walk from here. If you run, you can make it in two. Find Corvus and bring him here.”

“What are you going to do?” Cross’s question is answered as Toland watches the smoke rise from the fountain once more. Toland swings his mace downward, knocking the lich’s head down and the cracking of his bones is the only sound he gets to make before he retreats once more into the sludge.

“Do try and hurry, Cross. If you must stop for a jacket, don’t take more than five minutes. If the tailor offers to hem it after you cut it in half in front of him, politely decline.”

“Yeah, being a smartass is sure going to make me hurry up and save your life. See you in three days, Mourner.” Cross immediately took off down halls and the back down the Norams, sliding as much as he could on his shield. The trek felt much longer than it was, running through the night got him to Belegar in the wee hours of the morning in a day and a half. He made it to the Paladin Academy’s library, a place where Corvus was known to be found when he had time. Luckily for all parties, sans the lich, Corus had time that night.

“I’ll have time to explain on the way, but we need to move, now. Do you have a horse?”

“I’m sure Jayne won’t mind one missing when we explain what is going on. Speaking of which, Cross, what is going on?”

“First horse, then explaining the trail, then a nap. It’s been a really long day.” Corvus grabbed his bag of things, his shield and sword, and an extra cloak that was left at the library earlier. He threw it over the clearly frostbitten Cross and got them both up on the horse, Cross barely managing to explain the route before passing out. Corvus lashed him to his chest and followed the route, making it to the fierce metal fence in a day’s time. Upon arrival, Corvus woke Cross up, who was still sleepy but forcing himself awake quickly, due to the direness of the situation.

“You still haven’t told me what we are doing here, Cross.”

“Let’s see if the Major is still amoung the living first, shall we?” Cross and Corvus hurried through the hall, straight to the stairwell. When they got to the lab, they immediately saw Toland, barely standing, striking down the lich once more.

“I’ve lost track of time, but I’m not dead, so I don’t really care if you are late or early. Nice to see you Corvus, wish it were under better circumstances. Do you know what we need to do?”

“Yes, smash the phylactery.” Both Toland and Cross stop and stare at him for a moment.

“Cover it with Salt?” “Burn it?” “Speak the magic phrase?” Toland and Cross went back and forth with twenty solutions between them in disbelief of the truth’s simplicity. Has they went over this, Corvus walked over and smashed the fountain has smoke began to seep out of it once more.

“Nope, just smash it. Now that we have that out of the way, I want to investigate this lab further. Mind waiting a day?” Corvus turned and looked to find Toland and Cross already sleeping. “Looks like I’ll have two…” Corvus muttered to himself, turning and losing himself in his work.

A Glimmer Ablaze (third in a series of three short stories)

When Toland awoke, he found himself in a unfamiliar room. He was underneath a pile of sheets and hay that he pushed to the side. There was a bed stacked on top of the one he was laying on, and has he sat up he saw a young man reading books at a desk.

“By the creator, you’re awake!” The boy squealed. “I’ve read so much about you. Headmaster Arias speaks of his travels often.”

“Ah, the academy then. Corvus has mentioned something about that while I was in and out.” Toland responded. You would be wary to call Toland a morning person, and this morning he felt like he had spent the night drinking with Veleno. “And you would be a cadet then? Training to become a Paladin?”

“One day I’m going to be just like Cross! Traveling around the continent killing evil and finding cool stuff! I’ll run around and do flips and break shields and smite all the bad guys!”

“You have more in common with him than most people I’ve met. Could you point me towards the main hall? I have things to do.”

“Like what Mister Major?”

“I’m not sure what I have to do, only that there is something that I have to do. Now, which way do I go ever bouncy one?”

“Take a left and you get to the library. Take a right and you can get out of the building. Hey Mister Major, before you go, can I ask you something?”

“Of course cadet. What is it?”

“Do you think you could get Cross to come here so I could meet him?”

“I’ll make sure he comes and speaks at the academy very soon. Until then” Toland said, reaching into his bag “Take this.” He handed the boy one of Cross’s minivests. Cross’s bag had been ripped open while they were traversing the Southern Noram and Toland had a handful of Cross’s personal effects with him. “What’s your name, Cadet?”

“Everyone just calls me by my family name – Corthos.”

“You don’t say. Hmmm” Toland left the young cadet behind, making his way to the library, hoping to find Corvus. The halls of the academy were clean and well lit, but Toland couldn’t help but imagine a future where the light energy stone he had found with Cross earlier would line the walls and use the energy of the Lifetree for light instead of torches.

“Well, that took you long enough” Corvus said to Toland has he walked through the doors to the library. “It’s not like you to sleep for three days. That poor cadet you shared a room with thought you were dead at least a dozen times.”

“I assume you got everything you needed from the lich’s lair”

“One day you won’t go straight to work and we’ll be able to have a conversation has friends.”

“Apologies Corvus. How are the wife and kids?”

“A fair point Toland. I got everything and then some. The lich made multiple notes about a rival who lived in the Northern Noram. He says that he had an artifact with great power to corrupt those around him. He wanted it, but never got around to making his way around to killing him to take it. Although I am loathe to say it, you should finish the Lich’s old mission.”

“My smiting arm is a bit sore, but I think I can manage. You’re sure I just need to smash the thing, right?”

“Quite sure Major.” A look of relief fell on Toland’s face has Corvus tossed him a map ‘This should be where he’s hiding out at, according to the lich’s notes. Jayne has informed me that some soldiers went missing in that area a few weeks ago, I suggest you make haste to search for survivors.”

“You won’t be joining me then Corvus?”

“Too much work here. I must continue my studies if we have any hope of being to use any of the things you find. Light energy and dark energy are rather perplexing forces. They seem to operate, at times, as if they had a mind of their own. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel.”

“Funny. I assume Cross is still sleeping?”

“No, actually, he is having breakfast with Arias.”

“Fair. If there is one thing that he does more than sleep, it’s eat.”

“I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW” Cross shouted from down a hallway

“Corvus, just kill me now. He’s going to let an arrow hit me in the arm or something now.”

“Major, I will do no such thing. No go eat breakfast and then go kill a necromancer.”

“If I must, Corvus.” Toland said has he left his friend to his studies. The headmaster’s office was full of books and empty plates, Cross has made quick work of his meal”

“Unnfff I haven’t had anything to eat in days Tolz. Days! I don’t know what meat this is, but it’s delicious!”

“Hi Toland. How have you been?” Arias looked over to Toland while offering him a plate that he was holding on to for him.

“Better once we find and kill a necromancer, Headmaster.”

“Another one Tolz! Is that all we do these days?”

“Yes, Cross, as a matter of point, it is all we do. Corvus has found mention of a necromancer in possession of a powerful artifact that corrupts those around it. We have a map, and if we ride then we should get there in short order.” Toland sat down to eat and looked over to Arias. “So, tell me how things here are going, Arias.”

## 3 days later

“At least your remembered a cloak this time.” Toland remarked, the frigid mountain winds dusting white over every exposed surface.

“Tolz, I will end you. How far out are we?” The Paladin looked to Toland’s scout nature for answers he couldn’t, for lack of a better word, divine.

“It should just be over this pass, here. Do you sense anything?”

“I sense that I’m still tired. Don’t you think we could have stayed for an extra day to sleep?”

“Not at all. If there is a chance for survivors, then we must make haste. You can sleep when you are dead, Cross.”

“I guess that’s something to look forward to, after all.” Cross said has the pair made it over the last path and saw a large black gate covering a cave before them.

“I believe we have found it.”

“Really Tolz? What gave it away? Was it the dark dingy metal grate, the pile of skulls sitting next to it, or the stench of death on the air?”

“The map, actually. Come on now, let’s go inside and kill evil or what have you.” The pair dismounted their horses and threw down some hay for them to eat. The door swung open with easy, a notable contrast to the rigid nature of the lich’s front gate. The ground had footprints in it no more than a few weeks old, preserved by the lack of air movement in the cave. The cave started to wind until it had no longer been nature’s design and moved to a rigid structure, very similar to the design of the lich’s liar.

“Tolz, why do you think all of these evil lichs and necromancers have all this black rigid stuff on the walls? These places are always nearly identical to each other. You think they all get this stuff from the same place?”

“I’ve never really thought about it, I’m usually too into the moment of smiting evil to take away things like that. I imagine that it’s just an issue of ease. Perhaps Maegamarth enjoyed this style and had a lot of it laying around for others to take?”
Toland would have kept rambling on, but has they turned a corner a group of soldiers, now clearly zombies, dressed as New Belegarian soldiers, were standing at the end of the hallway. Toland drew his favorite mace and his mourners shield has Cross unsheathed his sword. Toland and Cross moved forward as a cohesive unit, with a combined purpose and pace that only comes from a shared motive and many months of fighting together. The zombies moved to approach them, but their charge closed the gap too quick for any kind of reaction besides dying. Toland took his mace, spinning it in his hand, the weight of the head carried down to his hand by the blue flames on the side, and landed it straight between the neck and shoulder of the former soldier to his most left, the one closest, and hence posing the most danger, to Cross. As Toland did this, Cross spun his sword and body around Toland’s back, cleaving the creature to the furthest right. With only one zombie left in between them, both swung to dispatch it before it had any time to react. Using the momentum from his downward motion against his foe, Toland swung his right foot out and put his full weight forward into his shield, knocking the zombie right into the blade of Cross, who had placed it at just the right height to take off the his head as he fell downwards.

“While I doubt there are any survivors, I would hope that we find some.” Toland said, keeping his weapons ready. He walked down the hall, Cross right behind, until the pair came into a large room. A single soldier was standing in the room holding a mirror in his left and his sword in his right. A man in a black cloak lay dead at his feet and covered in dust.

“Soldier, report!” Toland called out to him. The man turned around, the veins in his face pulsing and black. His eyes were held wide open, his pupils extended to cover the size of his iris. His mouth had a grin on it that stretched from one ear to the other.

“Don’t worry Major… the necromancer is dead. They’re. All. Dead.” The words left his mouth had an unsettling pace, his tone almost supernaturally high pitched.

“What happened to you?” Toland asked. The soldier before him grasped the mirror tight.

“I… feel… everything around me. But you. You… are…different.” The soldier pointed at Cross. “Different. Must.” Before he could get the last words out of his mouth Toland had closed the gap between them, spinning his mace has he brought it from his hip to overhead. The head of the mace carried weight to it while it spun and connected with the mirror in the soldier’s hands, shattering it. Glass shards flew everywhere, but Toland ignored the pain. He looked down, mid swing, and saw the Soldier’s face return to normal has his mace came down on his skull. That’s about when the adrenaline stopped and Toland found himself in a larger amount of pain then he had previously considered possible. He collapsed to the ground, and looking down saw a rather large chunk of glass sticking out of the side of his right chest.

“Hold on Major, you’re going to be fine.” Cross said, rushing to his side. “I’m going to try and remove it, this is going to hurt.” Cross lifted the Major’s mace handle into his mouth, hoping it would help with the pain about to hit him. A quick glance at the Toland’s face saw the veins in his face pulsing and black, similar to the soldier before him. Cross was worried, but continued on. Toland bit has hard as he could, and Cross went to remove the glass. However, instead of coming out cleanly, the glass broke in his hands.

“Alright, time for some light energy healing? Fair warning – I’ve never tried anything like this before.”

“Cross, just finish the job.”

“Tolz if you don’t shut up right now I will.” Cross covered the wounds with his hands and began to pour light energy out of them, focusing Toland’s wounds. Instead of going to the wounds, however, the energy flowed straight into the mirror. Not sure at what was going on, Cross poured more energy into it. Eventually the mirror shard starting pouring out the energy, and grabbed the skin around it and pulled it inward, closing the wound off and surrounding itself with Toland’s flesh. Cross was exhausted, but the bleeding had stopped. He looked up, and Toland’s face was returned to normal. He had a new radiance about him, and his dark black hair seemed a little brighter. “You alright Tolz?”

“More than alright, I feel fantastic.” Toland picked up Cross and carried him outside to the horses. “I feel like I could throw a stone from here and reach the capital.” Toland reached into his pocket for a stone, and when he pulled it out, it was glowing brightly. “Well I’ll be.” Toland lashed some rope to the other horse’s reins, and set Cross up on his horse. He looked up at the Major, and before passing out, managed a few words.

“Is that grey hair?”