Chapter VII: Adelia (Cont. II)

~~On the tip of……..JUST LIKE THEN~~

She had raced down the hallway, wrapping her cloak around her figure as she stepped through the shadows that slowly flowed down the hallway. All the doors were shut. The doors were never shut. She could hear the murmur of whispers beyond the doors, all were confused, but they were alive. Those in ‘Forgotten Lore,’ they were dead. She raced ahead, not knowing why, but knowing that she had to. The hallways continued until she reached the great alabaster doors of the Knowing Orb. It had been given as a gift to Maximure Univerisity by the founder, the great Maximus, one of the twelve Council of Watchers, or so it was said. They had said that the Knowing Orb contained all the knowledge of both the real and the unreal and when a question was asked the orb, it would grant the person whose hands held it the answer. She stopped as she saw the doors, still sealed and guarded by the two disciples of the orb. At the base of the stairs he stood, his cloak tossed aside to reveal a body crackling with magic, runes tracing his skin but not really there.

~~What is it then? What is there just out of sight~~

He had leapt to the top of the stairs and been repulsed by a powerful field of magic that sent his body smoking back to the marble floor below. He shattered the tile as he crashed, rising within a second, the smoke rolling away from his body. He mumbled something and with a wave of his hand the field of magic revealed itself, a glowing white aura that surrounded the disciples and the doors. He knelt down to the ground and for a moment she felt a rush as the unreal shadows that had coated the walls gathered around him. She watched with interest as the field began to ripple and the disciples, who each held a glowing white orb in their hands, opened their eyes. The elf had told her that the disciples never opened their eyes, that it took all their mind to maintain the great magical field that surrounded the doors guarding the Knowing Orb. But now, they were feeling the power of the man before them, he was even more powerful than the two combined.

The power of the wave of magic he released shredded the magical field and eradicated the disciples and shattered the door into nothing more than oak splinters. The disciples shadows, writhing in exruciating pain, were burned into the walls and seemed almost to have a certain life, but their physical form was completely gone. The figure rose to his full height, shuddering uncontrollably, and marched through the wreckage of the doors to the Knowing Orb.

And she had followed.

~~And now it’s gone again. Hiding……from who~~

She had entered the room quietly, watching him as he stood before the magnificent orb. It was the size of a giant boulder, levatating in the center of the room, crackling with intense magic and spiralling with the images of a billion events and people. She slowly crossed towards the orb, watching him as he stood before it.

“Tell me,” he rasped, “Where is the location of Cion Sky, my home…..”

And she had gasped. And he had heard her. His eyes opened and shot to the figure near him, his smile growing nasty and evil. “You……are you….” she asked with terror as she rose and walked towards him, she couldn’t help herself, she couldn’t stop herself from moving towards him.

“Yes. I am the cast away, the thirteenth watcher who the others despised too much. And now I shall pay them back for their rash judgement,” he growled, his voice cutting through her with anger. “For though they were able to cleanse my mind of many things, they were not able to take my identity, nor the power that I hold, nor the memory of what they did,” he hissed, his entire body shuddering with anger. “And though they have forgotten, I have not, and I shall remind them…..oh yes….I shall remind them,” he rumbled reaching up towards the orb.

~~The crashing of Palamare’s hooves~~

And something beyond her sight, some figure she saw but for a moment as a red flash, struck out, hurling Baen across the room and up against the wall with an angry hiss. And she had rushed and placed her hands upon the orb and felt the knowledge rush through her and send her recoiling back, her eyes hissing with smoke, and her entire body shuddering as she tried to remain awake. Through her bleary eyes she saw Baen hurl the figure aside, sending him out through the doorway that had been demolished moments earlier. And Baen had rushed for the orb with a fury never before seen.

He raised his hands to touch the orb, a grin crossing his face. It was shortlived.

“What pain did the disciples endure before they died!?” Baen’s hands touched, he was too late to stop himself as the orb shifted its answer from his own to her final scream. She slouched back against a pillar and watched as Baen screamed in absolute agony. His hands began to burn with an intense purple fire which flowed through his very veins and spilled out his eyes and mouth. He wrenched his hands from the orb, his scream piercing her very soul……..

“Run,” a voice whispered. It was the figure’s, but she could not see him, nor could she understand the voice. But she obeyed. She raced out the door and left Maximure University, heading for the city she had been ordered to find. Azurat. She looked back once, to see a figure, glowing with a purple fire that raged across his entire body, race from the University, disciples and guards charging after. He had not had his question answered….. but he knew who did……

~~How far are they? These men who come~~

“WAKE UP!”

Adelia burst up from her sleep in time to see Blackheart draw his sword. Her eyes followed Blackheart’s gaze. “That far,” she murmured.

*Palamare’s are horse like creatures, they’ll be explained in the next chapter.