Malik's Tale
Chapter 2
"Alright kid, the first thing I need you to do is prove to me that you can handle fighting groups of monsters. There should be a group of River Skale Tads down the road; bring me a scale from one of them and I'll teach you two new skills to start ya off."
"Fine…"
Malik walked down the road for a minute or two and came across the group of Skale Tads that Verata had spoken of.
He put his hand forward again and shot a ball of darkness out at one of the Tads, killing it on impact.
Malik walked over to the body and attempted to pry off one of the scales.
"Damn…things…won't…come…off!"
Finally he decided to give up. As he stood up to chase down the remaining Tads, he noticed the Tad he had killed had dropped a cane.
"What the hell is this thing doing with a cane?"
As he looked at it closer, he noticed that it had dark energy flowing through it.
"Oh it's a Chaos Staff! Heh, I could certainly use one of these."
Smiling, he picked up the cane and started toward the river. After a little while he came across the group of Tads he had seen before.
"Time to see what this thing's made of!"
He pointed the cane at one of the monsters, channeled his energy through the cane, and shot out a blast of dark energy that disintegrated his opponent. He walked over to where it had been standing and saw a burnt scale laying on the ground next to a broken flute.
"Huh? Hmm…guess someone lost it over here and the Skales broke it."
He picked up the scale, put the flute in his bag then went back to Verata.
"This is what you wanted right?" he said, throwing the scale to Verata.
"Yes, these scales are very hard to break off. It shows you have enough power at least."
"Now teach me the spells you know."
"Alright, alright I guess a promise is a promise."
Malik spent the next thirty minutes with Verata perfecting the spells before Verata finally told him he could stop.
"Alright, very good! You now know Vampiric Gaze and Deathly Swarm!"
"Hmm…this is all you can teach me?"
"Unfortunately yes. You have the potential to be a great necromancer ya know. Maybe someday you'll become stronger than me!"
"Maybe? Heh, next time we meet we'll see…"
As Verata left, Malik noticed another man walking toward him. It was the captain of the Vanguard.
"Excellent performance Mr. Blackstorm! I certainly am glad that you will be joining the Vanguard."
"I hope you know that if it wasn't for my parents I wouldn't be here."
"Yes I am aware of your parents forcing you to join, but now that you have been signed up to join there's no way to get out of it now."
"…"
"If you are looking to get stronger, I suggest visiting Devona near Ashford Abbey. She might have something for you to do."
Malik gave him one last look before he turned around and headed down the road toward Ashford Abbey.
"That must be Ashford Abbey…" he said, looking down a hill at a small town.
As he approached the entrance to the town, three huge worms shot out from beneath the ground and lunged at him. He jumped over all the worms and laughed.
"Ha! You guys aren't event worth my time!"
He thrust his hand out toward one of the worms and chanted an incantation. After he finished, his eyes started to glow red and he felt the life energy being ripped from his assailant and transferred into him. The giant worm squealed in pain then fell over dead.
After seeing this, the other two worms retreated back into the ground.
"Heh, didn't stand a chance."