The Soul of a Mage

Author's Note: Hey all! Thanks for the great reviews. In case you all haven't noticed I have myself a tiny little Chemosh infatuation courtesy of Amber and Ashes (there were too many Raistlin fangirls they needed some one else to put the rest of them on .) A lot of inspiration for this comes from that book, such as heavier god involvement and such. Anyhow this chapter keeps things rolling so read, review, and of course enjoy!

Petalwing: thanks so much for your super awesome review it really did help!

Ahn-Li Steffraini: I'm glad your enjoying the story...thanks for the review.

Guan: Thanks, I hope things get less time consuming for me too. It would definitely be nice.

Chapter 5: Undesired Knowledge

Dalamar gazed out the window of his master chamber in the Tower of Wayreth with a frustrated frown. An extremely ominous sign was present in Krynn's sky. A sign that was worrying every mage from lowest to highest ranks; all of the moons were missing. Tonight was supposed to be one of the year's best nights for magic, especially amongst Lunitari's worshippers. All three moons were to be present in the sky, and there was supposed to be an eclipse of Solinari and Nuitari creating the ultimate merge of good and evil and a surge in neutral magic. The absence of all the moons was certainly odd, however even more disturbing was the absence of the Platinum Dragon and his old Shalafi's Hourglass and the appearance of a new constellation on the right side of the Five-Headed Dragon. No one was quite sure what it was though, some claimed it was a clenched fist, others said it was a combination of all the gods symbols, and others still claimed it was nothing, simply a random arrangement of stars. Whatever it was though, it was not supposed to be there, and that was something everyone could agree on. Dalamar turned away from the window uneasily. As head of the Conclave he was expected to make some type of decision. Normally he would confer with Justarius and Gilthas, but due to Gilthas unfortunate condition and Justarius' mysterious disappearance he was forced to make it alone. He sighed, Gilthas' condition was surely the work of Takhisis, whether or not it was through Raistlin's nephew he wasn't sure. Now Justarius' disappearance just added more stress on him. The head of the red robes had left in the middle of the night leaving only a note for his daughter, the beautiful young female mage Jenna. The note had simply said, "I will return." Nothing else, no purpose or destination of his journey. He turned away from the window sighing. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

The news came to Tanis and Laurana in early morning when the sun was just creeping through their windows. Their son was dead, at least in the clearest way he was. Raistlin claimed it was a curse but when Laurana looked under the sheet she knew it was a lie. She had been a general and had seen the look of death before, and it was unmistakable. She fell to the ground weeping and Tanis looked on numbly. Caramon was crying as well. Aidan stood behind his father with a face lined with anger, sadness, and some other unidentifiable emotion. Maybe vengeance Laurana thought as she stared at the young man, yes that was it, vengeance was a feeling she was starting to feel strongly as well.

"Thank you for bringing him here Raistlin." Tanis said in an empty voice. "We'll be holding the funeral tomorrow if you'd like to stay for it."

"You can't bury him Tanis...haven't you listened to a word I said?" Raistlin said impatiently. Seeing the pained look on his old companions face he sighed, "I'm sorry for sounding so harsh, but Palin isn't dead. Burying him could be the worst possible thing to do; that would be giving up. I hadn't known you to be one to give up." Laurana stepped forward now.

"Well what do you suggest we do then?" she said in a cracking whisper.

"We will take him back with us to the Tower in Wayreth. There we will figure out what exactly the curse is and how to break it." Raistlin said. By we, he meant his son and the other mages, he felt horribly for what happened to his son in law but bigger problems were arising. Chemosh was holding another summons, only of gods of darkness. However he had requested Raistlin attend, as well, considering his position of neutrality, this was rather odd.

Laurana fell weeping again then walked into the house. Tanis stayed out there for another moment, "Please just save him okay Raistlin? Please he's our only child...please." Then he too entered their home gently closing the door. Heavy dark clouds, foreboding stormy times to come shadowed the sun.

"Well..." Aidan said tiredly.

"What son?" Raistlin said impatiently.

"I was wondering did you notice the sky last night?"

"Of course I did." Raistlin said with an aggravated sigh.

"What did you make of it?" his son asked quietly.

"Well I couldn't even sense Nuitari, Solinari, or Lunitari's presence here on Krynn and Paladine, well I think I know where he is...but I'm not sure why he went there." Raistlin spoke in his old voice now whispery and eerily soft. Sometimes when he was on Krynn he slipped back into the habit, sometimes he even let his godly eyes slip back into seeing things the way he once did, just to keep that thread of connection to humanity.

"What about the new constellation?" Aidan asked curiously.

"That I am at a loss for." Raistlin said puzzled. "I'm sure when I return to Gods Home someone can explain it...but until then."

"Was it good or evil?"

"It was nothing...not good, not evil, not neutral. I just have the most horrible feeling though, that nothing is perhaps worse than anything else." Raistlin said perplexed.

Caramon spoke now awkwardly feeling bad for intruding on their conversation, "Well to I bet you can figure out what nothing is if you know what all is...So what is all?"

"Balance." Raistlin and Aidan spoke at once. Silence struck the three men for a moment.

Aidan whispered his voice tight and fearful "If balance is all then doesn't that mean nothing is..."

Raistlin's body was glowing now as if ready to ascend into the heavens that very moment, "Chaos." And a second later he was gone.

Caramon and Aidan looked at each other then sighed. Raistlin wasn't coming back and they'd have to make the journey to the Tower alone.

"Well at least you got your answer..." Caramon said tiredly.

Aidan sighed, "The funny thing is I sort of wish I hadn't"

"That's the things are with Raistlin. You don't ask unless you really want to know. And trust me from experience. Usually you don't." Caramon said with a slight laugh.

A tear slid down Aidan's cheek as he looked behind them in the cart at the body covered with a sheet. "Uncle Caramon..." he whispered his thin body shaking slightly.

"Yes Aidan?" Caramon said quietly.

"Is everything going to be okay?" Aidan said his voice sounding much younger suddenly. Caramon was reminded of his brother waking from terrible nightmares when they were young.

"Everything will be alright Aidan, get some rest I'll keep watch." Caramon said patting his nephew on the back.

"Thank you." Aidan whispered before closing his eyes and resting his head on his crossed arms to sleep.

Caramon looked ahead they would be traveling through the same forest he had went through with his companions so many years ago. With Raistlin's help the ghost that haunted it would have stayed back, but now...Caramon crossed his fingers that all would go well, not for his sake, but for his poor nephew's.

Chemosh sat alone in the designated meeting place, an old temple of his. The dusty, moldy old Mausoleum smelled faintly of incense and burned rose petals from his worshippers, and black mages trying to summon a little of the god's magic. He wore a rich black velvet tunic and black leggings, his black silk under shirt was adorned with faded lace and his dark hair was tied back with a black ribbon. In his mortal form he was perhaps the most attractive god, a shocking fact for those who encountered him expecting a rotting corpse. He laughed at this notion, was death not as beautiful as birth? The completion of life's cycle, death was so misunderstood. What should be a revered and cherished part of life's journey, the ascension into the next stage of life, death was feared and despised. A punishment and not a reward as it once had been thought to be. Takhisis, the foul wench, had made it that way, she used it as a way to hurt mortals, she took those who angered her before their time, and long ago she along with Chaos had unleashed awful pestilence and war trying to destroy the balance. And who had the mortals cursed, Chemosh of course, all the evil was his fault. Well he'd be damned if he was going to take it any longer. Then she stole his holy artifact. A prized possession he had been forced to give up along with all the other gods to the maelstrom after the fury of the Cataclysm swallowed up Istar and it's Tower of High Sorcery where they had been stored. How she didn't was a mystery to him...he had investigated the Maelstrom and it was still impenetrable as far as he could see. He was ready to make a major change, the power had been in her hands too long, he was ready to take over and the sooner the better. He would need help though, his accomplices didn't need to know all of his motives, revenge upon Takhisis would be enough. Now all he had to do was figure out how he planned on doing it.

The main hall of the Tower of High Sorcery was full of angry and nervous mages. The previous night had been bad for all of them, the disappearance of the moons and the appearance of a new constellation had many people even more worried. With two of the Conclaves head leaders gone conspiracy theories were flying around the room, many of the pinned the blame upon Dalamar, leader of the Conclave. But when the powerful black robe entered the room all rumors about his involvement disappeared. The man they saw wasn't the youthful, handsome Silvanesti elf they knew, it was a tired much older looking man with a tense body and a stress lined face.

"Hello my brothers and sisters. As I'm sure you've all noticed last night had some unusually events." He looked around and felt like laughing. All of these men and women were staring at him waiting for the answers and what did he have to tell them, that he knew as much as they did. That they were probably all doomed faced by some catastrophic signs. "I have come to reassure you all that nothing is wrong. The gods were holding council so you may have noticed a few constellations were missing as well." He looked around again feeling tension building up in the room; they weren't buying it.

"What happened to Gilthas and Justarius?" one young mage shouted.

Dalamar looked aggravated, "Listen you want to know the truth?" he said his voice growing steadily louder. "I don't know. I don't know what happened to Gilthas or Justarius. I don't know why the gods of magic are gone, or Paladine, or Raistlin. I don't know what the new constellation means. I don't know any of this. But if any of you do it would really help me if you could tell me!

As soon as he finished shouting the silence was broke by a pounding on the chamber door. A mage standing nearby opened it and found a woman of incomparable beauty in a bloody cloak leaning on the wall struggling to breathe. Her face was glistening with sweat and there were long gashes of dried blood on her cheek. She stumbled to the front of the room where Dalamar stood mouth gaping slightly. She handed him a tightly bound scroll then started to fall but was caught by Dalamar before she hit the ground.

"Queen Alhana..." he whispered confused by the woman's appearance. He summoned for someone to take her to the infirmary for some rest and healing. Opening the scroll he read the words slowly feeling a sense of loss so profound he doubted it could be real. Everyone's eyes were on him. He shook his head and finally said in a sorrowful whisper, "It's gone..."

"What's gone?" a few people replied confused. But everyone who had came from Silvanesti understood, they had felt it all morning, something was missing, something horrible had happened.

Dalamar spoke a little louder now his eyes misty, "Silvanesti was destroyed this morning by a powerful force, a force that obliterated all that it came in contact with."

"The force you have named is Chaos." Raistlin whispered into Dalamar's mind "And you need to find a way to deal with it. Check through all my spell books, I've lifted the locks so you can touch them now. This will be a battle on mortal and immortal levels alike and you all need to be ready. Oh and my brother and son are on their way with Gilthas, you'll need to figure out how to lift his curse." When his Shalafi's voice stopped Dalamar laughed making everyone look around uncomfortably.

"Well it seems we are dealing with an ancient powerful god, who we'll have to fight, and we'll need to lift a curse not even the great Raistlin Majere knows what to do about as well. Be prepared all, this will be the true test of your abilities. As Dalamar spoke those words far away a fearful Caramon Majere entered the haunted woods gently waking his nephew to warn him where they were headed. And in Solace Caramon's youngest son studied furiously preparing for his Test, while Tanin and Sturm prepared to set off after their father, worried for how long he had been gone. In Panathalas Aurelia lay in bed sick from grief and pregnancy wanting to give up on life. While Crysania did the only thing she could at time when she had no control, she prayed. And in a land ravaged by terrible fire and destruction, where all life had been obliterated an old man with mouse colored robes and an old tattered hat looked on the burnt twisted trees and remnants of beautiful homes and cried.