“Hello, Father,” Christopher said suddenly, throwing the king off-guard. His voice was dark and chill, and King Richard shivered at its icy sound.
“Hello, Christopher, my favorite son,” King Richard said joyously, likely trying to brighten his mood.
It didn’t work. Never did. They both knew that he was an only child.
“It’s good to see you here so early. Please, come and sit down next to me.”
The skin on Christopher’s neck prickled as his father said those words. He had the strangest sense of déjà vu and impending danger rolled into one, but had no idea why. He tried to brush the feelings off and moved to take his seat.
“I hadn’t expected you two to come along, Adam and Talon,” the king said, pointing at his two servants, his voice sounding mechanical, like he was reading a script, “but you are most certainly welcome to eat with us. There’s plenty of room.”
King Richard’s face broke into a wide smile. The sight chilled Christopher to the bone, filling him with dread. He didn’t know how or what, but something was wrong.
Chapter FourThe Youngest Sage
“The past holds many lessons,
But also contains a great many dangers.
Tread carefully lest ye repeat them.”
Book of Gallian, 3:8-9.
Year 4999 (Present day)
Teryn crashed through the doors of the Blue Library to find the place deserted. He thought it odd for a moment, but then remembered it was late at night and the Book Warden, who was really a member of the Guild leadership, was mysteriously missing.
All the better.
He gently closed the doors of the building behind him and went over to the knowledge spell section to look for the tome he’d hidden earlier. Those events felt like a lifetime ago now.
When he reached the area where he’d hidden the book, he saw a corner of it sticking out, just the way he’d left it. He breathed a sigh of relief. Looks like he’d lucked out this time. Slowly he bent over to retrieve the tome, only to be stunned by a massive wave of pain that washed over his head, feeling like it was sloshing around in his skull.
The pain subsided as quickly as it had come, and he looked around to see what might have caused it, blinking a few times in the process to clear a few black spots that had formed in his vision, but he was still quite alone. He did a quick sweep with showme to see if any spells had been cast, but there were no lingering spell effects in the area.
Must have just been a headache, he assured himself.
Gingerly, he touched the lump on the back of his head. It was still as tender as before. He’d have to do something about that soon, but it could wait a bit longer.
He picked up the tome and turned it over to look at the inscription. Slowly, he uttered the words of the incantation, making sure to pronounce each syllable correctly as he traced the words with his hands. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he got the spell wrong.
As he uttered the last word of the spell, the air around him started to shift and change color and the book opened to its first page by itself. Teryn looked down at the page to find what looked like an image of a Sage running along a dimly-lit hallway. The Sage, no doubt, was Sage Gallian.
“The Jheriem, our Savior, be praised!” he called out. “It worked!”
He stared more intently at the image on the page and the Sage started to move like it was alive instead of a picture.
Teryn gasped, his eyes widening to take it all in. As he continued to stare at the magical moving picture, the air around him felt like it was starting to collapse inward, and the young mage had the distinct impression that the book was trying to pull him into it.
He strained, trying to fight against the sensation, but found himself somehow caught up in the whole thing, trapped like a rabbit, unable to escape. Part of the incantation he had uttered must have bound him to the moving images of the book, keeping him from averting his gaze or otherwise tearing himself away from the spell.
Teryn gave in to the magical impulses and let the spell do its work. Moments later, he was running down the dimly-lit hallway he had seen in the book. He stopped for a second and looked around to see if he could spot the man from the image, but no one was around. He looked down at his arms to see that his clothing had been replaced by Sage’s robes. His hands, too, looked different. Older, somehow, with dark splotches on otherwise pale skin.
Slowly it dawned on him. Somehow, he was inside the mind of Sage Gallian, living out the events depicted in the book. Teryn’s mind reeled as he marveled at the magic at play. No one alive could cast such wonderful spells. He’d never experienced anything as detailed as this.
A moment later, Teryn’s host body started moving again. At this point, he realized he was just a passenger in this story and not in control – if he wanted the answers he sought, he’d have to let the story play out as written. Any deviation, even if he could muster it – which he doubted – might damage the story and keep him from ever reaching the end. He let Sage Gallian’s body and mind take full control of his own head so he could watch the story play out as intended, reasonably certain that no real harm could befall him.
It was just a story, after all.
* * * * * * * * * *
Gallian continued running down the hallway, his run turning into a full gallop. He was scared out of his
