Chapter Forty-Two: The Apprentice
"Soul Suckers? What in the hell is that?" Voltage asked following the Will User across the town where he had set up a small tent with many magic tools.
"The whole town reeks of a foul stench and there are traces of dark magic in the air, these factors allowed me to identify the creatures behind the attack," Malik explained while showing them a book of creatures.
"Soul Sucker, a witch trusted ally," Ash read adjusting her glasses, "physically attached and bound to her shadow the witch in control can unleash as many as three Soul Suckers upon her enemy, equipped with razor sharp claws, wicked speed and a hunger for mortal souls the Soul Suckers faithfully obey till the day comes for the creatures to collect their witch soul."
"A witch is behind this slaughter?" Neo asked looking over his shoulder to the carnage this town took, "they never stood a chance, these poor people."
"An average witch can use three, from what I could tell from the attack this witch has six Soul Suckers which means she must be a very powerful witch to be able to control that many," Malik explained narrowing his eyes at the illustration of the inky-like creature.
"A witch arriving to Samarkand just as we arrive to find the Hero of Will? This is no coincidence! Tirich must have sent her to capture the Hero!" Ash concluded.
"What did you say?!" Malik spoke his eyes widening when he heard the title and rushed over grabbing Ash's shoulders, "They know the Hero of Will is here?!"
"Hands off!" Neo growled approaching with narrowed eyes when Malik grabbed Ash.
"My apologies," Malik spoke stepping back, "you see I think I know who this hero is you seek, she is my apprentice."
'Just like the Fate Card Gabriel told us about,' Ash thought recalling the card referred to the Hero of Will as the Apprentice.
"Then she is in danger, we have to warn Connor, he is on his way to locate the Hero," Ash spoke grabbing her seal.
While Ash and the others were in Emberstone Connor and his group had split from Seth's group making their way to the entrance to the Grand Library.
"DAMN!" Mika spoke looking at how high the build went up, "It's huge! How many bloody books are in this building?!"
"I've heard many stories of this biblioteca, this library, some say it has every libro ever recorded, even has Old Kingdom tomes," Tercero spoke shielding his eyes from the sun while looking up at the massive building.
"Maybe it's smaller on the inside?" Connor spoke walking up the stairs to push open the double doors before his jaw slowly dropped upon seeing at the center was the service desk but around them were high shelves filled to the brim with books and a large spiral staircase led to more floors just as filled with books.
"Oh, come on!" Connor spoke a little loudly getting shushed by several patrons, "Sorry!"
"What the plan Connor?" Roscoe whispered, not able to sense the presence of any other Will user.
"Ugh we're gonna have to split up and take floors," Connor groaned, "I don't know what they will look like but they will most certainly have blue Will markings on their face and body like me and also have blue glowing eyes."
"Oh joy," Mika sighed sarcastically and walked over to a lift at the end of the building, "I'll take the lift to the last floor and work my way down."
"I'll start on this floor and make my way up," Connor spoke looking at Tercero.
"I'll use my Eagle Sense, surely something will stick out," Tercero spoke heading for the stairs while Connor began to look around the first floor.
Reaching the second floor Tercero blinked to use his Eagle sense to look around the large room seeing many glowing white and blue from the people in the room.
Blinking to turn his sense off Tercero concluded the hero wouldn't be as noticeable as Connor's aura was, and if what Gabriel said about cloaking magic rang true then she wouldn't appear with his sight, in fact with Eagle Sense she would be invisible.
Going up several flights of stairs Tercero stopped when he noticed by some tables with stacks of books was a blue hooded figure with a book in front of them, only able to see their back Tercero narrowed his eyes toward their hands seeing when they turned the page was Will Markings on their hands.
"Te encontré," Tercero smirked making his way across the library to the figure.
Lost in her studies the girl was unaware of Tercero approaching from behind, "I see, perhaps this could break the barrier."
Flipping the page the girl didn't hear the approaching footsteps till Tercero was directly next to her, "Disculpe, señorita?"
"OH!" the girl jumped in fright knocking over the stack of books having not expected someone to startle her from her studies, "Oh brilliant!"
"Lo siento! Sorry!" Tercero apologized not expecting the girl to be so easily startled and knelt down to pick up the fallen books with the girl.
"It's ok, I just get so focused on my studies I just tune out the word," the girl spoke placing a few books on the table and reaching for another at the same time with Tercero whose hand touched her hand making the two pull back from each other touched.
"Sorry," Tercero spoke looking up to the girl now able to see under the hood.
Before Tercero was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on, with stunning blue eyes and rich chocolate skin he could see her black hair dreadlocks formed into a ponytail that lay over her shoulder.
Even the will markings on her cheeks and forehead were designed beautifully, remaining speechless for a moment not aware some words slipped from his lips, "Tan encantadora."
Tilting her head in confusion the girl removed her hood, not familiar with the Spanish language, "huh? What does that mean?"
"Oh! Nothing señora," Tercero spoke quickly composing himself, and picked up the book and held it out to her, "sorry again for scaring you."
"No need to apologize, it was an accident," she smiled taking the book, and stood back up, "judging from your accent, I am gonna bet you're from the lovely LeDorada, what brings you to Samarkand?"
"I'm searching for someone very important for a mission I am on," Tercero explained standing up.
"You can remove the facemask, I promise the books here get dusted regularly," the girl chuckled taking a seat at the table again.
"Oh right," Tercero chuckled taking a seat across from her, "what are you studying?"
"It research mostly, my teacher, Master Malik, entrusted me to uncover a very important mystery we must quickly resolve," she smiled turning the page back to where she left off.
"I am Tercero, Tercero Rivera," the assassin spoke holding out his hand for a proper introduction.
Smiling the girl took his hand to shake it, "It's very nice to meet you Tercero, I am Juliet Dax."
Glancing down at the book Tercero was able to read a bit of the upside-down words and recognize one keyword and an image on the page, "the Spire? Why are you researching that awful place?"
"Well I actually have no interest in the place itself but I believe someone did a very long time ago, are you familiar with the story of Asur-Keh-La and the kingdom that came before it?"
"Un poquito," Tercero replied then recalled she wouldn't understand those words, "Sorry, a tiny bit."
"Well while the kingdom and its very name were lost, I uncovered some old tome here at the Grand Library, it spoke of a mad Pharoh whose very palace was nearly completed, a palace made of black shards."
"Black shards?" Tercero repeated, "Why not stone?"
"Because the mad Pharoh wasn't really building a palace, I believe his pyramid was a spire! This was during the time of the old kingdom! I suspect he was in a race to build the spire first in order to grant his wish like he thought but his people revolted, and his kingdom was engulfed by the first black storm, which I now believe is feedback from his palace still being active!" Juliet explained.
"So, the old buried pyramid is really a spire? This isn't good," Tercero spoke with narrowed eyes.
"My master and I suspect someone is trying to activate the mad Pharoh spire, they even went through the trouble to place a powerful barrier around Asur-Keh-La, no one can enter! Not even my master and he is a very powerful Will user!" Juliet explained.
"They're here for you," Tercero explained catching Juliet off guard.
"Pardon? Me? You must be mistaken, clearly, the threat behind all this wishes to use this spire to grant some crazy wish but is unaware of what the spire actually is," Juliet explained turning the page of her book.
"What is the spire?" Tercero asked.
"Well, whoever wrote this book was VERY misinformed, structures like these absorb and trap the magic in the world, it won't grant any wish it's a massive ticking time bomb, and who knows what a blast of magic that powerful could do to our world, could tear into a different reality for all we know! The first spire destroyed the old kingdom, from my understanding the one the mad pharaoh attempted to build it would have appeared smaller but would have been much more powerful," Juliet spoke.
"How is that possible? Small being stronger?" Tercero asked confused about how that concept works.
"Hmmm," Juliet spoke looking around and grabbing a piece of paper, "are you familiar with how lighthouse lenses work?"
"No," Tercero spoke watching Juliet chuckle and begin to draw a lens.
"So lighthouses use a lens called a 'Fresnel lens' it creates a bright beam of light using glass prisms set in a metal frame. These prisms change the direction that light is traveling in so all the light exits the lens in the same direction, the prisms do this by bending the light and reflecting it as well," Juliet explained, "the mad Pharoh was way ahead of his time, his pyramid was built like a Fresnel Lens."
"So instead of gathering the magic and sending it in all directions, it directs it in one direction making it stronger?" Tercero asked.
"Exactly! A concentrated amount of magic that strong all pointing in one direction, I fear what damage something like that would have done during his time! Planetary destruction I'd wager," Juliet speculated.
"Shit!" Tercero growled standing up and picking up his seal, "amigos! Greed's palace isn't a pyramid! It's a Spire!"
"It's a what?!" Kyler replied on the other end.
"The situation is worse than we thought, Seth! Warn the royal family! Connor, we're making our way over to the library! We got a witch to deal with now!" Voltage replied.
"Is that a guild seal?!" Juliet asked standing up to study the seal in Tercero's hands, "How fascinating! The magic I am sensing from this seal is truly astonishing!"
"Who the bloody hell was that?" Seth asked hearing Juliet's voice.
"The second héroe, Connor meet us on the fifth floor," Tercero explained.
"On my way up," Connor spoke being shushed again by a woman in the background, "how about you shush!"
"Second hero?" Juliet spoke, "What on earth are you talking about, I am no hero, good sir, I'm just a student."
"No Juliet you are not," Malik's voice spoke making Tercero and Juliet look over when the will user appeared in a beam of magic with Ash, Neo, and Voltage behind him.
"Oh lord!" Voltage groaned covering his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up.
"Sorry about that transportation magic without a Cullis Gate can really mess up the stomach," Malik apologized.
"Thanks for the warning!" Ash groaned also feeling sick and looked over to Neo who stood in place with his helmet still on, "how are you not sick?"
"I've been on many ships that entered slipspace, nothing upset my stomach anymore," Neo explained with a shrug.
"What the?" Connor spoke upon seeing Voltage, Ash, and Neo upon reaching the floor everyone was converging on, "How did you three get here?"
"Magic it would seem," Mika spoke descending the stairs, "so which one is the hero? The old man or the young girl?"
"You..." Malik spoke upon seeing Connor, "So it is true, an heir of William Black emerged in Albion, so you're the hero chosen to unify the three?"
"Connor this is Master Malik, he is the Court Wizard to the Royal Family," Ash introduced.
"Master Malik, what is going on? What is the meaning of all this?" Juliet asked her teacher.
"Juliet, my dear apprentice, you have been my first and only student for a reason, many years ago, when I found you, alone and orphaned I sensed it, a powerful magic unlike anything I've ever sensed, you are a descendant of the Hero of Will Garth, for many years I've trained, sheltered, and protected you for when the time would come," Malik spoke approaching a window.
"When the time came for what?" Juliet asked watching her teacher who slowly turned to her.
"The time for when you must earn the title of the new Hero of Will," Malik spoke looking to Connor, "that is why you came isn't it, Hero?"
"More than that, a creature from the Void is the cause of the barrier around the buried city, he has the power to spread corruption across the land, just like the darkness that nearly took your country five hundred years ago," Connor explained.
"Five hundred years ago?" Malik repeated going into thought before looking to Juliet, "So our enemies in Albion have sent a creature to attack the kingdom and a Witch to capture my apprentice?"
"I already sent some of my friends to warn the royal family, right now Greed is a major threat," Connor explained looking to Juliet, "they also have a dark Seer named Raven, we were told perhaps you can help us avoid his sight."
"A cloaking spell? That advanced magic, like teleportation, I haven't reached that level of magic in my studies yet," Juliet explained looking at Malik.
"A dark seer you say? That is indeed problematic, you said you sent others to the palace?" Malik asked looking to Connor who nodded.
"Can't have that," Malik spoke with glowing blue eyes and snapped his fingers making Kyler, Seth, and Jaya appear with their backs to them on the other side of the library with Kyler's hand up as if he was knocking on a door.
"Open up already! This is an emerg-...UGH, What the bloody hell did I eat?" Kyler groaned when that sick sensation hit him and blinked when he realized they were no longer in front of the entrance into the palace, "uhhhhhh what just happened?"
"Where on earth?" Jaya spoke looking around before spotting their allies, "Connor! What are we doing here?"
"Is this all of you then?" Malik asked seeing Connor doing a head count.
"Yeah, this is all of us," Connor nodded making sure none of his friends got left behind.
"Present me your seals then," Malik ordered making the others look to Connor to see if they should obey.
"It's okay guys, I believe we can trust him," Connor spoke removing his seal from his belt and presenting it to Malik.
"Yes, these seals will make excellent hosts for the charm, Juliet pay attention closely! This may be the last spell I may teach you," Malik spoke with his apprentice rushing over.
"Last time? Surely you're mistaken Master Malik, I still have much to learn from you," Juliet spoke.
Staying silent he held his hand over Connor's Guild Seal, "Now then, to cast the cloaking charm you must envision the item or person you wish to conceal then speak in a firm autorotative voice, CLOAK!" Malik spoke loudly with glowing blue eyes and Will markings creating the spell over Connor's seal.
"So, Raven won't be able to track us now?" Connor asked looking at his seal with a faint glowing aura that began to fade.
"To a degree, the spell will only conceal you if you avoid direct contact, for example, if you were to leave and talk to someone who has a connection to your enemies they will know a general area of your current location," Malik explained to Connor.
"That's better than having that bastard watching our every move!" Connor nodded putting his seal back on his belt.
"Now Juliet it is your turn, perform the spell on the other seals," Malik spoke watching his student approach Tercero who held out his seal to her.
"Okay, focus Juliet," she spoke closing her eyes and holding a hand over Tercero's seal, "CLOAK!"
In the Sanctuary Gabriel smirked watching each of the hero's cards slowly gain a new glow, "Checkmate."
"What was that, you blind old git?" Ginjer spoke looking up from a magazine she was reading.
"They found the Apprentice and now all our heroes have masked their presences from Raven," Gabriel smirked ignoring the Gnome taunt.
"Won't that also screw with your visions too?" Ginjer asked approaching the map table.
"To a degree, the map table is linked to their seals so even with the spell I can still track them, I also have the Fate Cards to show me what Raven won't see," Gabriel spoke looking at Samarkand seeing the darkness over the buried city still looming, "but I fear we won't stop what comes next."
"What comes next?" Ginjer asked seeing Gabriel remove a card from his pocket.
"Nothing good, Ginjer," Gabriel spoke setting the card on the map table where Ginjer snuck a peek seeing it was a black card and on it was the illustration of a white mask with gold, red, and purple décor creating flames on the white mask.