Chapter Forty-Three: Garth's Treasure

"I'm done, Master Malik!" Juliet spoke placing the last charm spell on Roscoe's seal and turned to her teacher.

"Excellent work Juliet," Malik spoke turning to the group of heroes, "now then, that leaves the issue of this creature of the Void, this Greed."

"We've already defeated his other friends, we can handle this abomination too," Kyler smirked.

"What about the Witch? Surely, she will attempt to stop us," Ash added looking to Connor who was in thought.

"Since Gabriel hasn't appeared yet, I suspect the Hero of Will must earn her seal as I did," Kyler spoke looking at Juliet.

"You are right on the nose with that one," Malik spoke turning to Juliet, "your ancestor Garth left important records and instructions if another Hero of Will is ever needed, your trial begins here in the Grand Library."

"Master Malik with all due respect I am no Hero, I've never even been in a true fight before!" Juliet spoke looking to Connor's group, "I am not the Hero they seek."

"You are and you will see for yourself," Malik spoke motioning for the group to follow him before leading the group to the lift.

Riding the lift to the top of the Grand Library the group all stepped out where they could see the growing darkness in the distance.

Shielding the sun from her eyes Juliet looked out across Samarkand to the buried city, "it's grown."

"It has, Juliet you are the only one who can prevent that creature from using the Spire," he spoke before turning to Connor's group, "as for all of you, go! Get to the barrier, I suspect he will allow you entrance."

"What about Juliet?" Connor asked seeing the man crouch down and touch the floor his eyes glowing blue creating Will markings that were carved in the floor to glow and move toward the symbol of the Guild Seal where it opened a portal.

"Step in Juliet, she is coming, I shall keep the Witch at bay," Malik spoke narrowing his eyes and looking in the distance with Connor and Roscoe who also sensed a dark aura make itself known.

"What?! No! Master Malik, we can fight her together!" Juliet argued watching her teacher smile and touch her shoulders before shoving her into the portal making her vanish.

"What you do that for?!" Mika yelled seeing Malik turn to the others.

"This is her test, none of you can aid her, besides, none of you are ready to battle the Witch, she is far too powerful, I will make sure she does not interfere but you must hurry to Asur-Keh-La, keep the creature at bay till Juliet joins you," Malik instructed holding up his hand and teleporting the heroes away from the library.

Once he was alone Malik slammed his fist on the ground destroying the portal before slowly standing to look to the entrance to the roof where from the darkness a pale-skinned woman with blonde hair, clad in blood-red attire stepped out.

"Well, well, well," Lady Grey spoke looking around, "I could have sworn I sensed a powerful Will user moments ago, tell me old man, where did you hide her away?"

"Hmph, if you think I'd tell you that Witch then you're a bigger fool than I suspected," Malik spoke with his eyes glowing blue while hers became red.

"This should be fun," Lady Grey smirked holding up her sharp nail to her lip while behind her in the darkness red eyes of her Soul Suckers all began to appear.

Elsewhere in the world the portal threw Juliet out, and sent her smashing against the floor with a grunt, "NGHH!"

Rubbing her head Juliet looked around to find herself on the top of a tower in the middle of a heavily covered forest.

"Master Malik?" Juliet spoke looking to the Cullis Gate she was thrown out of suddenly close, "NO!"

Running over Juliet opened a small hatch to get the Cullis Gate operational again using small sparks of Shock to try and power it up, "Come on! Come on!"

"Juliet," a voice echoed making Juliet spin around to try to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there?!" Juliet demanded looking around and walked over to peek over the edge of the bridge she stood on to see the entire tower she stood on had been completely covered in vines and roots of a tree that now sprouted from the highest tower.

Entering the broken doors to what had once been a powerful Will User lab now stood a mighty tree that burst through the floors above and stood high above hiding away the tower from the world.

Sensing traces of faint magic Juliet narrowed her eyes and approached the odd tree that had made it home inside the tower touching its trunk.

"There a spell on this tree," Juliet said aloud studying the tree before cautiously reaching out and placing her hand on the trunk of the tree.

At her touch, Will markings formed on the tree making its very green leaves glow and the massive roots at the base of the tree slowly spread apart opening a secret staircase down below the tower.

"Juliet," the voice echoed from below the stairs making Juliet gulp nervously and form an Inferno fireball in her hand to light her way before descending the stairs with the roots covering the secret entrance.

"Don't lose your cool Juliet, this is obviously one of Master Malik's tests, yeah a very crazy test," Juliet spoke to herself following the spiral staircase down till she entered a large room with the symbol of Will on the floor, which was a hand with twelve points all pointing in different directions.

"Hmm," Juliet hummed touching the large symbol on the floor sensing traces of very powerful magic, "the twelve basics of magical principles?"

Studying the floor Juliet followed each waving point to where magical orbs with different symbols floated.

Approaching one Juliet saw one orb had a symbol of fire and another a thunderbolt, each one requiring a different spell to unlock a massive metal door with several empty circular slots.

"I see, very clever Master Malik! This is a test, twelve Key Orbs requiring twelve spells, how clever," Juliet smirked moving to the center of the room to stand in the middle of the Will Symbol.

"Okay, so the twelve basics are the fires of Inferno!" Juliet spoke launching the fireball and hitting one of the orbs sending it flying over to the massive door, "followed by winds of Vortex!"

With each spell, she cast she hit every orb sending them all flying over to the large door till she reached the last orb, panting from using so much of her mana, "whew better get close for this last spell."

Approaching the last orb Juliet placed her hand on the metal creating a green glow, "Heal."

With the last spell, the orb flew to the door where each orb glowed and began spilling making the massive door begin to lower into the ground.

Slowly approaching the door Juliet gasped upon finding a massive lab seeing bookcases filled to the brim with books and scrolls, on different tables were collections of notes and experiments.

Looking around her attention ended up being drawn to a large brown book that floated over a pedestal with a light shining down on it.

"What's this?" Juliet spoke approaching the book and watching the cover slowly turn to her to reveal a Guild Seal embedded in the cover acting as a lock for the book.

Slowly reaching out the young girl grabbed the book from the air brushing the dust off its cover while tracing her finger on the seal, "how curious."

Removing the seal Juliet gasped when the book glowed and levitated out of her hand swinging open and began to flip through its pages before stopping at one section.

Attaching the seal on her sash Juliet grabbed the book again studying the page before her which showed illustrations of a sword with some notes.

'My experiments in imbuing magic and steel had proven a great success, by using the natural durability and its even greater ability to absorb light energy, I have successfully crafted a sword with Everblaze crystals, I have created the Channeler, without knowing, the Hero King Adam proved a great test subject to see the sword capabilities in the hands of a true hero.'

Fascinated Juliet looked at the detailed illustration of the beautiful sword before reading more of the notes, 'it did as I hopped, while holding my own magical energy it also absorbed the Hero King's natural magical talents and created a weapon that could send a burst of his magic energy in brutal attacks. This experiment had given me the much-needed information that I needed to create the Channeler sister blade.'

Flipping the page Juliet found an illustration of a sword that appeared similar to the Channeler but appeared much different in design and function, looking down Juliet read aloud the name of the blade, "the Syphoner."

'My experience with Lucien's horrid Spire left a very important lesson, that Spellcasters like myself can be left vulnerable when in the presence of the Black Shards. An anonymous letter if true given to me one Christmas claims another Spire will be unearthed. The way this person wrote that word made something click, did they mean the lost kingdom buried in my home of Samarkand? If this is true, I must leave my seal in the hands of someone truly worthy of it, as well as this spell book and the weapon they will need to defend themselves.'

Hearing the loud sound of stone moving Juliet gasped seeing the pedestal the book had been floating over slowly began to rise and slowly split apart revealing the sword of steel and crystal the Syphoner.

"This sword, this place," Juliet spoke looking around before closing the book and looking to the first page to see Garth's name written on the first page, "Garth."

Returning her gaze to the sword Juliet sensed something else other than the magical charms and properties surrounding the sword.

Narrowing her eyes Juliet studied the aura seeing faint images of the lab and whispered, "A memory charm! Did Garth leave this?"

Realizing she wouldn't get an answer to her question Juliet touched the crystal blade of the magical sword Juliet eyes glowed fully blue pulling her into the memory.

Blink Juliet found herself in the lab appearing as it did before just less dusty and a lack of cobwebs, it was also lacking colors, hearing the doors open Juliet watched Garth enter the lab being followed by King Adam.

'That must be Garth,' Juliet thought having not seen this man before till now then looked to the King tilting her head, 'his Will markings...his face he a spitting image of that the Hero from before.'

"Do you have everything you need Garth?" King Adam asked approaching the workbench where the Syphoner sword lay.

"Indeed, thanks to you I created the weapon my chosen descendant will need, as per these instructions," Garth spoke studying a letter in his hand.

Curious Juliet approached peeking from around Garth to the letter seeing it was a very detailed list of instructions but what caught her eyes was her name written in the letter.

"Impossible..." Juliet spoke seeing Garth set the letter on fire.

"According to the seer in five hundred years my descendant 'Juliet,' will need this weapon," Garth spoke picking up the Syphoner, "only she will have the power to use it to prevent Samarkand destruction."

"What?! What do you mean?!" Juliet demanded then sighed realizing the memory wouldn't answer her looking to Garth who made her gasp when she realized he had glanced over to her before looking to Adam.

"After everything we did to save Samarkand, I hate that we have to leave our unfinished business in the hands of our descendants," Adam spoke crossing his arms, "you think your little test is enough to determine their worth as a Hero of Will?"

"Of course, if they truly are my descendant then they are more than worthy of the title, however, I have no intention of leaving her defenseless like I was in the Spire," Garth spoke placing the sword inside the stone pedestal before closing it.

"Father never did tell Logan and I about his time there, nor did we dare ask, the look in his eyes upon hearing the Spire name alone...I never wanted to see my father like that again," Adam spoke looking at a painting of his late father that hung on the wall.

"Your father was a remarkable man, any normal man would have been broken under the horrors we endured, he fought, and never gave up, that's what allowed me to help break the chains that tried to shackle us," Garth spoke approaching his spell book on the table and closing it.

"Shall I leave you to it then Garth?" Adam asked seeing the spellcaster nod before using his seal to vanish and return to the Sanctuary.

Once alone Garth glanced over his shoulder to Juliet making the girl's eyes widen.

'Can he see me?' Juliet thought, 'That's impossible, memory spells couldn't possibly link two people five hundred years apart.'

"Are you the one?" Garth asked confirming that he indeed could see the woman.

"Are you really Garth?" Juliet asked tucking Garth's Spellbook under her arm while Garth still leaned over his copy in the past.

"I am," Garth spoke studying the young woman before him, "you must be the new Hero of Will, otherwise my spell wouldn't connect us like this."

"How is this possible, memory spells are only supposed to record an event you want, none of this should be possible!" Juliet spoke seeing Garth turn to her and place his hands behind his back.

"Indeed, that is correct, for a normal Will User they could only see the memory and not interact with the people in the memory, however, it can if both the caster of the spell and the viewer of the memory are exceptionally powerful," Garth explained.

"You're mistaken Garth, I am still an apprentice, I have even mastered the Teleportation Spell! I am not a hero, I don't wanna fight, I just wanted to study magic under my teacher," Juliet spoke seeing the man raise an eyebrow.

"You have little choice in that matter, my dear lady, considering what's at stake," Garth spoke slowly approaching before standing right in front of her, "if you had the power to protect others wouldn't you?"

"Of course, but I've never used my magic in real combat Garth! How am I to aid the Hero on this quest of his? My place is in Samarkand not in Albion!" Juliet spoke seeing a light appear and Gabriel appeared in the room.

"The threat is bigger than Albion and Samarkand Juliet," Garth explained looking to his left and holding up his hand making an image of Samarkand in the distance where she watched the black pyramid spire glowing before creating a massive explosion.

"No!" Juliet gasped watching the horrifying explosion create a blinding light that she had to shield her eyes from before blinking to see it was gone, "if that creature succeeds you mean Samarkand will be destroyed?"

"Indeed, if something isn't done our home will be lost, once the Darkness succeeds in eliminating Samarkand and opening the Void he will unleash his darkness upon our world, however, you can derail him," Garth spoke pointing to the pedestal making Juliet look over to where the sword was hidden.

"What do you mean? What special about that sword?" Juliet asked looking at Garth.

"When I crafted the Channeler, I made a weapon to be able to channel its wielder magic in powerful attacks, but then I consider situations like my time in the Spire where one would need to absorb magic instead," Garth explained, "the Syphoner was crafted to steal the forces of magic from whatever it strikes and channel it into its wielder."

"Wait..." Juliet spoke recalling what was happening in the buried city, "So if the Spire was activated, I could use the weapon to stop it?"

"In theory," Garth honestly replied.

"In theory? You never tested it?!" Juliet asked looking at the sword, "even one miscalculation and that weapon could end up emploading me!"

"Or turn the tide of war in our favor, you are the only one strong enough to use that weapon safely Juliet, anyone else would die," Garth explained.

"That's so much magic that my body would absorb, isn't it? What would happen to me surely my body couldn't handle it?" Juliet asked looking at Garth.

"Naruatlly you would have to safely and quickly expel the magic from your system," Garth spoke tapping Juliet's forehead then smiled, "You will know what to do when that time comes."

"I...I'll try Garth," Juliet spoke looking up to the man who smiled fondly at her.

"So much potential, you will do amazing things, Juliet, I can tell," Garth said making the young girl blush slightly in embarrassment.

"You think so? Thank you, hearing the great Master Garth say that is reassuring," Juliet spoke.

"It appears my time has come," Garth spoke seeing Juliet was starting to fade but for her, he was the one fading, "I waited a long time to meet someone as exceptional as you, my tower is now yours Juliet, use it how you see fit, use this as your sanctuary to safely improve your magical prowess."

"I will Garth," Juliet spoke seeing Garth vanish and everything around her return to normal.

Looking back to the sword inside the stone pedestal Juliet approached removing the sword, admiring its craftsmanship before attaching it to her back.

Before Juliet could think of what to do next an image of a violent battle between Lady Grey and Malik flashed before her eyes with her teacher being impaled by a Soul Sucker claws, "NO! Master Malik! I must get back!"

Seeing no Cullis Gate to get back to Samarkand Juliet quickly opened the spell book and flipped through the pages till she reached Garth's collection of spells, "there you are! I must learn the teleportation spell as quickly as I can!"