Chapter III - Dark Mysteries

-So today is your big test, Rounrianthas of Parthanasti?
-Yes, master Tartas... softly said Roun, bowing his head.
-And you feel prepared to take it, don't you?... You are ambitious and skilled...yet... I'd rather not give you my blessing. But this matter, of course, is out of my hands...
You have the heart of a warrior and the sharpness of a politician, you have noble blood and you could easily ascend to a Lunthosz position... you could lead our people and do great things... Yet you choose to walk the slippery ways of magic.
-I might do great things with my magic too, Master...
-Your magic? Magic does not belong to anyone... It hovers like a bird of smoke in the air and whispers in your ear sweet and delusive words... It bites your heart with a fang full of poison and delight. Its bite does not kill but neither can be cured. It does not hurt but slowly devours your soul. It gives you power that will constantly try to take over you, to posses you. And you will fight it till one of you will subdue the other.
-Then so I shall do. And, Master, you know that even if its desire would be upon me, I shall rule over it and it will not defeat me.
-Maybe, or maybe not... Do not defy its power, as it feeds from your own...
Roun, its in your heart that lies the seed of your destruction. It's buried deeply in there and waits for the right time to be awakened. I saw it in you, shining in your eyes while you were casting your spells. Your heart is not for magic. Not for Elven magic. There's a starving wolf hidden in you that traces the smell of power, of the darkness... it's kept silent by your Elven blood... but the other...the other will unleash it...
-I am Rounrianthas, Thosz of Parthanasti. My blood is pure!
-Your blood wears the seal of the night, Roun... But some things are better not to be spoken of... May Demius guard your steps and your words of magic! If you are determined to take the test, so be it!
-I am determined, Master Tartas...
-I was afraid of that answer... yet I was prepared for it... Enter the left door!


Roun woke up early in the morning. He loved to be the first to hear the bitter-sweet song of the awakening forest. The fire quenched but was still steaming. Lem was enjoying his deep morning sleep and didn't hear his friend's delicate moves. Careful not to make any unnecessary noise, Roun raised up and faded into the forest. He was very fond of his morning walks, all by himself, through the tall and rough woods of Dul'Aran that he came to love. They were so different from the ones in Qualinesti. The Elven spirit seemed there to catch in a contaminating embrace the spirit of the nature. Trees were supple and shaped in delicate forms, like sculptures. Ivy-clad trunks raised from the ground heading to the sky like arrows and all land seemed to be tamed, subdued to the spirit of order and perfection.
There was not such a thing in Dul'Aran. At the border of the Elven territories, Dul'Aran seemed to borrow a lot of the ruggedness of Gundharosh, land of the orcs.
Dul'Aran was a dangerous place to live in, and the only reason the two elf kids were free to wander its forests and deep caves was that in Qualinesti, at that time, was even more dangerous. The Rhym, a plague brought by the humans, decimated hundreds of Elves. The terrible disease had no mercy and made no difference of race or noble blood. Many died, even from the leading families and Elven medicine could do nothing to stop it. Those who could send their kids away, in distant lands, some of them even in the other races' territories. And thus, Roun and Lem got to Dul'Aran, the wildest of Elven lands, often pillaged by solitary orcs who found in that savage environment a familiar touch of their natural habitat in Gungharosh.
-I'll fix some elegant breakfast, Roun said to himself as he walked under the heavy foliage. Some gingus fruits would be a delicious alternative to Lem's barbarian wild dove roast.
Gingus fruits were hard to get since ginguses were boarder species with both roots and moving branches that protected furiously the fruits against any attempt of plunder. But Roun knew a spell he wanted to exercise. He hid himself in a more secluded place where he had a good view of the gingus from. He closed his eyes and started to cast the spell. But the words of magic started to melt in his mind with other words, that were not his... words of power and runes he knew he couldn't even pronounce... And fear invaded his thoughts, fighting desperately to tear himself out of the trance.
-Don't fight it... it's useless...subdue...whispered the words, that were not words anymore, nor a voice, but a song of emotions and thoughts mixed together and deliriously shouting in his mind. Roun's will was all focused in one point, to sustain his being in front of the boiling power trying to overcome him. Let go... whispered a fragile thought melting like a wave in the tempest. Let go... whispered another one... A sweet feeling softly touched his heart, like the kiss of the wind... Let go... Slip away...
Roun tried to resist it, but the warm embrace of nothingness started to swing him into a sweet surrender.
-Let me blow through your veins the words you never knew... all the magic is yours... you know that... just let it be... let it wave inside you, let it blossom...
-You will not master me...
-Let go... and you will have it all...
-I can't...no... I'm scared...
-Let it slip away through your blood... let it be one with you, your love, your lust, your everything... and it will give you everything...
-I... can't...
The words faded away and his mind seemed to drive away the misty clouds of magic. Yet he wasn't prying the gingus anymore... he was sitting on a cedar branch at the edge of the clearing he and Lem spent the night. Lem was still sleeping. He could see him well from there. And he could see another thing: A tall Elf, wearing dark robes getting closer to him, an orb in his right hand, that he moved following the incantation. Roun knew what that meant. He must have been a renegade, wearing the dark robes of evil magic, exiled from Elven lands for his drive for darkness. Roun knew both him and Lem were in great danger. In those time of chaos and desperation, Elven children from the high families, that were sent away for their protection, could fall victims to the greed of bandits and mercenaries that used to keep them prisoners until they got a redemption. Some of them were brutally killed by their kidnappers. And the Elf was not an ordinary thief. He was a renegade magic user, his heart full of hatred and torn to the darkness.
"He's gonna kill him..." Roun thought. "I must do something..." And with the urge of despair, he tried to get together the words of a spell. He knew few offensive spells, and most of them weak...but... at least he could distract the renegade's attention and wake up his friend.
-Ragnarak vorbur liam ktor! whispered Roun... Ragnarak gurg! A shiny wave slipped through the air hitting the dark robed in his back. The wave broke into a scream that shook the old trees and echoed in the cliffs. The renegade jumped away in pain and turned to look after his opponent. Lem woke up in fear and raised up to his feet. He looked for his bow but he couldn't find him. With a slip of the hand the renegade sent a spell directly in Lem's chest. Lemalian fell down struggling to escape the hold of hundreds of invisible wires. Then he turned to Roun, and started to spell the words of another spell. Roun knew it not, yet somehow he seemed to understand it... like he was hearing again the word of a long forgotten poem. There was no poetry in that incantation, since it raised a spell of the death. Words of magic, strange and alien, started again to play in his mind... words he understood but yet, he never knew...
-Let me fight him, they whispered... Let go... Roun saw the sharp light of the combat spell the renegade casted coming closer and closer. Time seemed to froze in that one second between the last word of incantation and the moment the victims falls down under the crash... And then... the words formed in his head... his lips murmured the words... and the dark Elf's spell broke into dazzling drops of light. He spelled another spell and then another... But the dark Elf was good, parring them away. Yet he could not resist the hurricane of Roun spells... difficult and fast combat spells that were coming from the unknown, growing and blasting in his blood like a voluptuous embrace of power. Roun was one with his magic and felt it growing more and more powerful in his mind... in his heart.
-Stop! shouted Lem. You're killing him!
Roun heard his friend call. But he couldn't stop. He didn't want it to stop.
-He's one of us... You can't kill... the desperate words of Lemalian faded in Roun's mind as he was spelling the words of a killing spell. A dark spell... forbidden...
-Taj devakor! He whispered... and a devious pleasure flooded his heart as the smell of warm blood floods the hawsers of a hungry wolf.
The renegade fell down...dark smoke starting to raise from the body...
Lemalian, freed from the magical bundles, slowly came towards Roun, a bitter look in his eyes.
-He was going to kill us both...whispered Roun, pointing his eyes to the ground.
-He was Elf... he was one of us... We don't kill our own kind...
-I don't know what happened to me... I couldn't stop... I...I have to...
I have to turn myself in...
-And become a renegade too? Not this time...
-I killed one of us...
-The wolf did, not you.
Roun quivered and raised his eyes. Lemalian's green, sad eyes started to become ashy.
-The wolf did it this time... and Lem's face started to change its appearance, getting old, transforming in the oblong face of Tartas, while the savage forest of Dul'Aran was fading in the background. His own appearance started to change, his childish features transforming in ones of an adult.
-Master Tartas! So, I failed you...
-You failed me when you refused to listen to my advice and give up magic.
Yet, you've passed the test.
-But I killed him.
-And he didn't succeed in killing you.
-But the spells were not mine. I know not those combat spells. And the last one...
-You were given access to the same knowledge he mastered. And you were better. You'll keep that knowledge as you'll keep the touch of death in your heart. Remember Roun, although it was all an illusion, the wolf asked for his kill and you gave it to him. It is the wolf you'll have to learn to master. Otherwise, your magic will own you and will devour your soul.
Now go, you know all that I know... there is no more I can teach you.


Roun was not in the excellent mood he expected to be after passing the test. He wasn't an apprentice anymore, but a White robe magic user. And he was young... maybe too young. There were few to pass the test at his age and most of them were human. Yet, he made it! But at what cost... He knew what he had to do next. He had to move to human lands in the misty Saligredan, a place of woods and vast, smooth, silent lakes where there was more magic than in all Elven territories. Saligredan was a place of meeting for wizards in all Atri. Magic was everywhere around and great masters were sometimes willing to teach the secrets of their art. It was there that Roun could improve his skills. But there also were some inconveniences he had to take into consideration. First, his family would be most discontent with his decision. He was going among humans, with no reason to force him to, only to grow into some bizarre occupation they already considered dubious and inappropriate for an Elven Thosz. And then, there was Astara. She understood his drive and motivations, but still wouldn't like to see him gone for gods knew how much time. He had to ponder his words and well choose his arguments. But he was determined to leave with or without his family's blessing.
-Good evening, master Roun! the servant greeted him. I hope you had a day of blessing and serenity!
-Not quite, Drudian, not quite...
-Then perhaps some cardoa flower tea would do you well...
-It actually would, but a little later. Is my father home?
-Yes, both him and lady Thalida are in the upper rooms, doing their meditations.
-Well, I won't disturb them, then. How about Astara, did she come here today?
-She did, master Roun. She's in the gardens right now, she got out for a walk.
-Thank you, Drudian, said Roun heading towards the gardens and getting prepared for what it thought to be the easiest of the confrontations he still had to face that day.