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"What kind of complications?" |
Zarwid was about to reply when he was interrupted by a soft moan coming from the next bench. |
"Mmm... Luz? Are you talking in your sleep?", asked the witch, eyeing the figure of her girlfriend with her vision blurred by tiredness and finally resting her gaze on the man. |
She immediately opened her eyes wide, looking at the two with a confused expression. |
"Luz...who is that man?" |
The human gave her a nervous smile. |
"Well sweet potato... I think I'll have to explain a lot to you," she exclaimed, running a hand over the back of her neck and getting a perplexed look from her girlfriend. |
"He's a WHAT!?" Amity asked with wide eyes as she stared in disbelief at the man, who gave her a neutral expression. |
"He is a deity, the God of Magic to be exact and also he said that he can take us home!", Luz exclaimed, showing an optimistic smile. |
"About that, I'm afraid it won't be that easy" Zarwid replied calmly. |
At this Amity gave him a skeptical look. |
"What do you mean? Didn't you just say that you were the God of Magic? Shouldn't it be child's play for you to do something like that?" she asked. |
"Normally yes, traveling between dimensional planes is easy for someone like me... but due to recent events I fear that any type of action involving a certain degree of manipulation of reality could prove... deleterious," he replied, tilting his head a little. |
"What do you mean?" Luz asked, raising an eyebrow. |
In response, Zarwid turned his gaze towards the window and, walking towards it, signaled the two witches to follow him. |
Opening the windows, the man noticed the storm which had now become only pouring rain. |
Raising his hands, Amity and Luz's eyes widened as they saw raindrops stop in mid-air as if time had been frozen. |
With a wave of his hand, Zarwid moved some clouds to reveal a deep starry sky where a red crescent moon stood out. |
A tired sigh left the man's lips, staring coldly at the moon. |
"The Blood Moon, a legacy of mockery from our ancient enemy" |
"Ancient enemy?" Amity asked, perplexed. |
Zarwid looked away and then looked at the witch. |
"Ahzmodain, the Lord of the Thirteen Hells, the Great Archdevil... and a God of Chaos," he replied, arousing a feeling of fear in the two witches. |
"When I and the other Eight Gods extricated ourselves from the cosmic void that was the Material Plane and decided to illuminate it with the stars and create habitable worlds, we chose this as our central home, Arvandil... and it didn't take long for creatures from other dimensional planes to find our little project, a... |
"But then he came...along with his infernal legions and from that moment on, Arvandil was never the same," he said, eliciting displeased expressions from the two witches. |
"Oof I'm sorry, that must have been terrible," Luz commented, placing a hand on his shoulder. |
Zarwid eyed the gesture and then looked at the human witch. |
"Thank you for your empathy, if I felt emotions I would smile at your kind gesture" |
The two witches looked at him strangely. |
"You...can't feel emotions?" Amity asked, confused. |
"As the central pillar of the Cosmic Libra that we Deities represent, my nature as a bearer of balance does not allow me to go slip between the spectrum of forces by being guided by emotions," he replied. |
"Mh it seems kind of... sad," Luz commented, giving him a regretful look. |
"Don't be sad for me, it's no use," Zarwid replied. |
"Anyway, is it because of that Blood Moon that you can't take us home?" Amity asked, eyeing the sky. |
"Yes, once that moon, Andil was part of this world before Ahzmodain tore off pieces of it and formed a semi-dimensional plane from which he sent forth his infernal hordes," he explained. |
"When the war ended and we drove the hordes back to the hells, the damage was irreparable so we decided to dismantle the dimensional plane and all that remained was that moon, even if for a short time, one month every century the moon turns of a scarlet blood and brings with it omens of misfortune... very often mortals... |
"And didn't you try to make the moon disappear or something?" Luz asked, crossing her arms. |
"We tried, but apparently the Great Archdevil's will is as stubborn as his greed and envy, the only thing we could do was let mortals solve any problem caused by the Blood Moon, very often the actions of heroes lead to the return of a status quo which in these circumstances is the best scenario we can afford," Zarwid s... |
"So we're stuck here until the Blood Moon ends?" Amity asked in a somewhat worried tone. |
"I'm afraid so, the event has just begun and it would be extremely inadvisable for you to leave with the risk of coming under the influence of the Blood Moon and risking sending you to an even more treacherous place," replied Zarwid with a nod. |
Amity huffed, slumping onto the bench with a demoralized look. |
"Great, we're going to be stuck here for a whole month..." she muttered, crossing her arms. |
Luz sat down next to her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and giving her a reassuring smile. |
"Hey don't worry hermosa, I'm sure everything will be fine and then think of it as a... forced vacation, plus I don't think this world can be more dangerous than the Boiling Isles... right?", she said, looking up towards Zarwid. |
The latter raised an eyebrow. |
"It depends on where you are," he replied in a calm tone. |
"Right and where are we exactly?" asked the human. |
"In a remote village in the middle of the Golic Steppe bordering the region leading to the Icetooth Mountains to the north," replied the God of Magic. |
"Ok and how dangerous is it?" Luz asked again. |
"Relatively little" |
"Oh good," Luz smiled. |
"Though lately an Adult White Dragon has made his lair in the mountains across the river to the north," the other revealed. |
"And the dragon is...dangerous?" the human witch asked back, a slight smile straining on her face. |
"Very, an Adult Dragon can level an entire city and a white one is considered the most feral of chromatic dragons," Zarwid explained, eliciting an unrelieved look from the witch of abominations. |
"And do you know what is the safest place we can go where there is no risk of being eaten by a dragon?" Amity asked with a slight snort. |
In response, Zarwid turned his gaze to their left. |
"There is a village about fifty miles west of here, in an inn there is an innkeeper who can offer you a meal and a room for your stay if you promise to run some errands for him," he said and then looked back towards the two. |
"I would advise you to stay there, you will meet very interesting people," he added, arousing curious looks from the two witches. |
"Oh, thank you...this will be very helpful," Luz said, showing a grateful smile. |
"Really, you're very kind," Amity nodded, smiling back. |
"I don't do it out of kindness, I simply follow the direction most favorable to achieving the balance of forces," he exclaimed. |
"And in achieving that goal, I will have to ensure that you two survive and that you leave no significant trace of your passage on these lands," he added and then approached them. |
"So, before I leave I will have to give you something that will guarantee you the ability to endure the adversities that the continent of Artania and the world of Arvan in its entirety have to offer," he revealed, eliciting curious glances from the two witches. |
"And... what would you like to give us?", Luz asked, tilting her head a little. |
"A spark of my essence, I will give you the ability that we have given to mortals to overcome the adversities of fate and become stronger," he replied, surprising Luz and Amity quite a bit. |
"I will grant you the ability to become those who with experience, ability and natural talent weave the threads of fate to become legends," he said, looking the two witches in the eyes. |
"I will make you become Adventurers" |
A quiet downpour of rain sounded outside the chapel where Zarwid impassively observed the two young witches while the latter returned the gaze of the God of Magic with curiosity. "So... the adventurers here are kind of superhumans?" Luz asked, raising an eyebrow. "In a certain sense, when we Gods finished the war again... |
The ticking of the clock combined with the tapping of the pen on her desk was a faint distraction from the boring and long-winded lesson of her physics teacher who had his back turned to her, dressed in a polyester shirt and ribbed trousers, the teacher was intent on writing on the blackboard while Luz paid little atte... |
"Following the wave lines coming from the Far Realm which consequently caused cataclysms throughout the Great Wheel and affecting the Weave, generating areas of Wild Magic or tangles of the Weave which cause the magic to produce unpredictable effects and areas of Dead Magic, that is, regions where the Weave was complet... |
The latter opened her eyes wide, eyeing the man. |
"Uh, sorry professor... I zoned out for a moment" |
"That's not good, you should stay more focused on the lesson," replied the professor. |
Luz sighed slightly. |
"Of course, I'll do my best," she nodded. |
"Could I offer you some dispassionate advice?", the man proposed, getting a nod of agreement from the girl. |
The professor approached the desk, placing a hand and looking straight into her eyes and at that moment Luz realized that the man's face was that of Zarwid. |
"You should wake up now" |
Luz raised an eyebrow, muttering something before being startled awake by a racket coming from outside. |
She sat up, looking around her and noticing that she was in the inn room with Amity, the latter having suddenly woken up like her. |
"Amity, did you hear that too?" Luz asked, worried as she received a nod from the witch. |
"Yes, I hear the sound of screaming out there," said her other, getting out of bed and looking out the window, her girlfriend immediately joining her. |
Their eyes widened, witnessing in horror what was happening outside the village. |
Part of the houses were on fire and the inhabitants were fleeing from... something, something ferocious. |
They exchanged an extremely alarmed look and then rushed towards the door of the room and downstairs where they saw the innkeeper blocking the door with tables and barrels while the customers were crowded in the room, talking to each other in tones full of terror. |
"Great night, huh? Nothing like a monster raid under the blood moon to give you sweet dreams," began the familiar voice of Merren behind them, nonchalantly descending the stairs and adjusting his newly worn armor. |
"Do you know what's going on out there?" Amity asked, looking rather worried. |
"Yup, just a slight case of feral vampires," the half-elf replied, walking past them. |
"Vampires!?" Luz exclaimed, surprised. |
"Yes, feral vampires, they differ from vampire spawn and full vampires in that they have just been transformed and are thirstier than a succubus in a priests" convent," he commented and then approached the innkeeper. |
"Hey boss, clear the way, I gotta go make a living out there," he said, nodding towards the door. |
"You can forget it! I won't let you go to that hell!", exclaimed the goliath, placing another barrel in front of the door. |
Merren narrowed his eyes in response, placing a hand on the goliath's shoulder. |
"Listen to me, right now the only thing that will make the difference in this village between a good morning and a good mourning will be a minimum amount of fireballs that I have to administer to those two-legged leeches, so why don't you do a good deed and you get behind the counter, uncork the best brandy in your cel... |
The innkeeper raised an eyebrow and then snorted and shook his head. |
"Whatever you say, boy, the funeral is yours ...", he murmured and then began to remove everything he had placed in front of the door. |
"Are you sure you want to go out there, all alone?", asked Luz, approaching the half-elf, somewhat worried. |
Merren shrugged. |
"Oh don't worry, I'm tough and then ...", he said, drawing his weapon, a long sword with a blade the color of embers with runes engraved on it. |
"My boss would pester me for a whole month if I didn't deal with this plague" |
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