(This story is based off characters from the game Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.
The events of this story take place before the game.)
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As I walked through
the graveyard, I could not help but feel the eyes of the other townsfolk
on me. I know they still blamed me for everything that had gone wrong.
After my brother's death so many years ago, things appeared to be going
wrong. All my spells had been backfiring, more now than they had use to.
It's as if my brother's accident started a terrible chain reaction. As
I approached the Masoleum door, I looked up, and said, "Why did you walk
in on me, brother? Why did you do that?" I wondered if my brother
had had some sort of death wish that day. I had worked with a new spell,
and knew there were risks involve, and didn't want anyone hurt. Now, because
of that, the fields had been poisened, and a zombie occasionally came to
life.
As I walked
into the Masoleum, I could swear I heard outside the door, "She must plan
to ransack the dead, or ruin her brother's body more than she had."
I was almost
appauled at what they had said, but it was true. When I had finally reversed
what I had done to him, he was dead. I heard a second, kinder villager
say, "I think she is going to pay respects. It has been five years, and
she carries the Book of Protection. If she was evil, she could not hold
such a book." It had been nice of that villager to say I wasn't evil, but
most still thought that since I used magic, I was evil. If I had been a
Wizard instead of a Sorceress. If I was a male magic user, I would have
respect, but since I was a woman, they feared me. Even before what
happened to my brother, I was feared, but I had more respect. I honestly
think the loss of their respect happened when I lost my brother. I still
remember that day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I looked at the
spell book that I had been studying. It had said that in our world were
eight realms, and a temple to worship from. It also said that every so
many years, a hero of the realms was capable of becoming a legend. One
of the first traits of these chosen heroes was the ability to alter forms.
Another was the ability to use special techniques. I looked over the information
about altered forms and that each realm had a chosen form. For my realm,
which was dubbed the Province, it was the Medusa. I knew enough about creatures
to know that a Medusa could change creatures to stone at a glance. This
was one thing that I didn't want to risk. I walked to the door to my building,
and said to a nearby villager. "Ma'am. I need you to do me a favor. I will
be testing a spell in here, and it is absolutely imparitive that I not
be disturbed. Do you understand?"
It had been
one of the nicer villagers in town as she nodded and said, "I understand.
A Sorceress should not be disturbed when testing new spells. If anything
goes wrong, who should I call for help."
I thought for
a moment. Who could she call for help? Then I looked at the book. It had
been writen by the Mage Sumner. He was a legendary practitioner of Magic,
and knew more than anyone could ever know. "Have someone go and fetch Sumner.
He will know what to do." She nodded and I closed the door.
I walked over
to the book and read on how a person from my realm could access this form.
First, it said one must have a heart of good. That was one thing
I was sure I had. I had never done anything out of spite. Next was I had
to reach the beast inside of me. The next was to have a legendary item
nearby. It was listed that for the Province, it was a book know as the
Book of Protection. The last requirement was the one I doubted most. It
required the pressense, in physical form, or in spiritual form, of an evil
that would only threaten the realm. The book gave no reference on what
it could be, but something made me think it was in the graveyard if it
existed. My workshop was near the graveyard, since I hunted mushrooms from
there. I closed my eyes and then focused on all of those items. As I focused
on my spell, I felt it taking affect. I felt my hair changing, and my body
shifting in form. It felt odd. I also wanted to yell out in pain, but kept
myself from doing that. I propped myself up at the table as the spell started
to finish its task. I had indeed changed form. I wish I could have looked
at myself in a mirror, but I was afraid I would turn to stone. Then I heard
the woman outside say, "You can't go in there, your sister said no one
was to enter." My brother was outside.
I then heard
the door open as he said, "My sister will want to hear this." I heard him
close the door and say, "Sister, I have found a powerful spell for you
to look at." I felt him put his hand on my shoulder and spin me around.
Then I saw the horror in his face, and felt the fear as he turned to stone.
I quickly reverted back, hoping he would return to normal, but he didn't.
I immediatly
ran to the door and said, "Something terrible had happened. Someone go
the tower and fetch Sumner. I need his help." Then I noticed that a look
of fear was on everyone's face. They thought I had done something to my
brother deliberately.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I neared the door in the Masoleum that lead to my family's crypt, I breifly shuddered. Would his spirit forgive that accident, and what had happened afterwords? I then thought back to what I had done to make matters worse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been almost a week since I asked for Sumner's help. All I got in return was that he was not in, and I had to try and correct my mistake myself. I had never preformed a spell to change a statue back to a person. I had to try my best. It had taken me a while, but I found a stone to flesh spell. I quickly prepared the spell, and hoped it would work. When I finally completed and preformed the spell. I watched in horror as he didn't turn into a living person, but a rotting corpse. When the full horror of the situation occured to me, I just shouted out "NOOOOO" Everyone came running in, to see the sight. I knew some blamed me, but others blamed my brother for ignoring my own warning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I openned the
door to the crypt and hoped for the best. As I walked in, I felt his presence
in the room and said, "Brother. My dear brother. It is I, your sister.
I'm sorry for what happened to you five years ago. You didn't deserve
that to happen."
I was almost
shocked as I heard an unholy voice say, "That is what you think, dear sister.
It went exactly as I had planned. I have almost become what I set out to
be." I looked for the sourse of the voice and saw a form slowly rise up.
He had turned into some undead creature.
I started to
step back and a hand grabbed my ankle. "What did I do to you?"
I saw the erie
form smile at me as it said, "Nothing, dear sister. Everything you
did, did nothing to me. I did everything to myself. I have been doing this
stuff for a long time. Even sabatoging your spells during my rest. The
people never wised up, and now, when I leave this Masoleum, they will blame
you." There was an otherworldly laugh, and I finally freed my ankle. I
quickly pulled out the Book of Protection, and watched as a huge beam of
light shot at the being that used to be my brother.
As he yowled
in pain, I just said, "You destroied my brother. What are you?"
As I backed
out of the crypt, I heard the creature say, "I am a Lich, and that book
won't keep me here forever." When I slammed the door, there was only one
thought in my mind. I had to warn the villagers. They had to know what
to do.
When I reached
the outside, I was startled by how many people were there. I then saw the
town leader walk up to me and say, "So, you tried to summon an undead creature."
I shook my head
and said, "No. Something had taken over the dead body of my brother. It
called itself a Lich. If I hadn't used the Book of Protection, it would
be here right now."
The leader just
looked at me and said, "A likely story. You tried to bring this creature
to ruin us because of you own disgrace. Well, you no longer need worry
about our Province. You are banished. You and your evil is banished." I
felt them rip the book from my arms. Then they herded me to the exit of
town.
When they had
me out of town, with nothing but my staff, I looked off in the distance
to the tower. It was strange how it seemed to be an etherial entity. I
then felt something calling me to the tower. As I started the long trek,
I just said, "Sumner, I hope you can give me answers."
The end of the Sorceress Story.